Rei groaned, rubbing her eyes. Hang on a minute. She was being carried. In someone's arms. But who? And why?
She peeled her eyes open, looked up, and saw Nakami's face above hers. He glanced down, and smirked. "Yo. You awake now?"
Rei blinked, then yelped in shock. "Why the hell are you carrying me? Put me down!"
He chuckled. "That's not a very nice thing to say, especially since I was kind and considerate enough to volunteer to carry you all the way back to Ichigo's house after you passed out earlier. Don't I deserve a thank you, at the very least?"
"Fine. Thanks." Rei grumbled. "Can you put me down now?"
"Why should I? It's plenty cozy like this." Nakami smirked cheekily.
Rei's mouth fell open in indignation and her face flushed red. "Why you-----!"
"You really are a tsundere, aren't you?"
"Like hell I am!"
Nakami laughed, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, holding her in his arms. He didn't put her down.
Rei yawned, curling up inside the spare closet and closing her eyes, trying to get some sleep. She gave up after some time, sitting up and scowling. "Do you really have to just sit there and watch me? It gets creepy."
Nakami shrugged from his seat in the opposite corner. "My job is to monitor you here in the World of the Living. I can't do that if you're left all alone, now can I?"
"Whatever." Rei grumbled, pulling the covers over her head and going to sleep, fully aware of those emerald green eyes watching her, as if they could bore right through her blanket.
"Wake up, Miss Asaka. Wakey wakey!"
Rei groaned, sitting up. "What now?"
"You'll miss breakfast if you don't hurry up." A voice said. Nakami. Rei glanced up. Nakami was kneeling next to her, prodding her shoulder.
"Did you get any sleep at all last night?" Rei asked.
"Yeah. Don't mind me. You should hurry."
"Okay, okay! Just let me get dressed---"
"Want me to help?"
"No way!" Rei pushed him out the door. "Wait for me outside, and don't come in. If you peek I'll punch your lights out!"
Rei huffed, straightening her Soul Reaper robes. "Geez . What now?"
"We've got orders. Large numbers of Menos have been detected around the city. To be precise, Gillians and Adjuchas, and even a Vasto Lordes." Nakami replied.
Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "What the hell are Adjuchas and Vasto Lordes doing here?"
Rukia answered. "They're attracted to Rei's Spirit Pressure. The Soul Society is sending other Soul Reapers to help us out."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up." Rei held up her hands. "They're attracted to me? My Spirit Pressure?"
"Of course. Your Spirit Pressure, even while contained like it is right now, it's much greater than any of ours. To Hollows, the greater the Spirit Pressure, the tastier the soul. So to them, you're like a piece of extra delicious candy."
Rei sighed. "Well isn't that just great. I'm a piece of candy."
"I wonder how you taste." Nakami remarked.
Rei rounded on him. "Do you know how wrong that sounds?"
He shrugged. "I was just wondering what you'd taste like to a Hollow."
"I don't even want to know." Rei turned back to Rukia. "So anyway, who are the reinforcements? And when are we meeting them?"
"I'm not sure exactly who's coming. And as for when we meet them, they should be coming right about------" Rukia checked the clock. "---now." She glanced out the window.
Rei looked too. Sure enough, down below, several figures Flash Stepped into view. She recognized a few. There were lietenants Abarai and Matsumoto, along with four others she couldn't name. One young man had red and yellow feathers on the corners of his right eye. Another was completely bald. The third had tattoos over his face, including the number 69 on his left cheek, and the fourth had blond hair and an expression like he wished he was anywhere but here.
Rukia pushed open the window and leaned out. "Oi, Renji! Up here!" She waved down at them.
Lietenant Abarai looked up. "Rukia!"
"We'll be down there in a second." She called, sliding through the window and leaping down to the ground. Rei, Nakami, and Ichigo followed.
"Lietenant Abarai." Rei greeted, kneeling down.
"Hey, Rei." Abarai said. "Don't mind formals. Call me Renji."
"Yes sir,-----Renji."
"That's better. Have you heard what's going on?"
"Yes sir. Menos have been gathering in and around the city. What're the orders?"
Renji stretched his arms. "They're simple. We'll be stationed around the city, at strategic points where the Menos are gathering-----"
"Blah blah blah, yeah yeah, whatever." The bald guy said. "We just kill them all."
"Only if they attack first." The feathers-guy added.
Renji spoke up. "We'll be split into groups. Ikkaku, Yumichika." He pointed at the bald guy and the feathers guy. "You two will patrol the northern side of the city."
"Got it." Feathers/Yumichika said.
"Rangiku-san, Hisagi-san. Take the southern side."
"Right." The young man with the tattoos, Shuhei Hisagi, nodded.
"Rukia, Ichigo. Eastern side."
"Understood."
"Rei, Haruto. You two take the western side."
"Yes sir." Rei bowed her head.
"Kira and I will patrol the center of the city." Renji said, nodding at the young blonde man. "Is that understood, everyone?"
A chorus of 'yes' and 'got it' sounded.
"Alright. Let's go."
The Soul Reapers blurred out of sight in pairs, heading to their stations.
"You ready?" Nakami asked.
Rei smirked, her hands hovering over the two long knives at her waist. "You bet."
The two of them Flash Stepped to the western side of the city.
"Well, would you look at that." Nakami remarked, glancing down. Below their feet, a large black hole had opened in the air, right above a tall building. Dozens of Hollows, both normal and Gillian, were crawling out.
"Guess we see whether they're here to cause trouble or not." Rei said, leaping down in front of the Hollows. "Hey, you with the horns." She called.
The Hollow leered at her. "You smell tasty. And you're a Soul Reaper. I will eat you!"
Rei stood firm. "Why are you here?"
The Hollow chuckled deep within its throat. "We smelled an especially tasty treat here. Such Spirit Pressure! Both Soul Reaper and Quincy. Such a treat for us."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, thats----hang on. You smell like a Quincy. But you have a Soul Reaper uniform. You must be the tasty treat we've been looking for."
Honestly, how stupid could this Hollow get? "Maybe, maybe not. What'll you do?"
"That's easy. We'll eat you!"
The Hollows lunged at her, but she dodged and leaped high into the air. "I'll be generous and give you all two options. Head back to wherever you came from, or attack me and die. Which will you choose?"
"That's easy. We eat you!"
Rei sighed. "I thought so." She drew Ina from its sheath and released it, its gold blade shining in the sunlight. Two quick strokes later, the horned Hollow disintegrated into black powder.
The other Hollows and Gillians roared in anger and hunger, attacking. Rei gritted her teeth, drawing out Zuma and releasing it as well before going to work. Gold and silver blades flashed, and Hollow after Hollow disintegrated.
However, the tide of Hollows wasn't stopping anytime soon. And this time, Adjuchas were joining in. Rei slashed her knives, before turning to face Nakami. "A little help here?"
"What's the magic word?"
"Hmm. How about, 'help me and I won't be forced to strangle you'?"
"Nope. Try again."
"Fine! Please?"
"Alright. Since you asked nicely, Miss Asaka." Nakami stood up and drew his zanpakuto. Its long thin blade gleamed, and Rei noticed patterns engraved into the metal, like waves.
"Hang on. This is the first time I've seen your zanpakuto. What's with the waves?"
"Hmm? Oh, this is Suiro. He has some----special talents. Allow me to show you" Nakami placed a hand on the flat of the blade, before running it over the wave engravings and releasing it. "Rush, Suiro."
Rei's eyes widened, as the blade lengthened and changed, becoming a pure black scimitar with a silver edge to the blade. The blade became curved, and the sunlight bouncing off of it seemed like water.
"Suiro. Water dragon. Water." Rei murmured.
Nakami nodded. "Exactly. Water." He swung the blade at a Hollow that lunged at Rei, and she could've sworn she heard the sound of rushing water as the blade swung through the air.
"That's pretty cool. Do you have a bankai?"
"Yes, though I'd rather not use it. It's a little inconvenient in these kinds of battles."
Nakami swung his zanpakuto, and an arc of water splashed against the Hollows, disintegrating them on contact like acid. He quickly engaged an Arrancar in a duel, his blade smoothly slicing through the air, leaving behind a trail of acid-like water. "Hey, Rei. It'd be a good idea if you used bankai instead. These Adjuchas are pretty tough, not to mention I think there's a Vasto Lordes over there."
Rei, who was mesmerized by Nakami's fluid movements, handling his zanpakuto with such ease, snapped out of her trance and blushed. "Um, well, I don't have one."
Nakami suppressed a chuckle. "Well, well. What do you know, the badass Rei Asaka, the girl of legends, doesn't even have a bankai."
"SHUT UP!!! IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!" Rei snapped.
"Of course it's not. Let's see, what about Bloody Rose?"
"Can I even use it now that I'm a Soul Reaper?"
"Don't ask me. I'm not a Quincy, remember?" He smirked.
"Yeah, yeah." Rei sheathed her swords and tapped the Quincy cross on her chain bracelet. Immediately, as if waiting for her touch, a brilliant blue light blossomed, before suddenly dying again.
"Huh? What---?" Rei blinked, tapping again. This time, not even the blue light appeared.
"Why hasn't Bloody Rose appeared yet?" Nakami hollered from a hundred meters away, fighting yet another Arrancar.
"I don't know! It won't appear!" Rei shouted back. Oh well, I'll just use my zanpakuto. They're plenty strong enough to buy me time so I can figure out what's going on.
She reached down and gripped the handles of her swords, tugging to pull them out. They wouldn't come out of their sheaths, like they were glued inside. Rei gritted her teeth, pulling as hard as she could. No use.
She snarled in frustration. What was going on? Why couldn't she draw her weapons? She had just put them away a minute ago.
Suddenly, she felt something behind her, and instinctively dodged to the side, just in time to avoid a blow from an Adjuchas Hollow, who leered at her.
"So, you're the one our Lord told us about. You seem to be suffering a handicap. Is something wrong? Why don't you draw your weapons?"
Rei scowled. "Did your Lord do this? To my swords? To my bow?"
The Adjuchas laughed, showing off a set of pointed shark teeth. "Perhaps. Perhaps not, though I don't think it's the latter."
"Why you stupid--------"
"Ah ah ah, no insults, and I may just decide to give you to my Lord in one piece." The Adjuchas chuckled. "But I can tell you're going to die anyway, so I will tell you my name."
"Why the hell would you do that?"
"It's a tradition, that in a battle, we tell our victims our name before defeating them. As I shall defeat you."
"Who said you're gonna beat me?"
"You have lost the use of both of your weapons. I'd say I have a fair chance of killing you, at the very least."
"And I say you're pretty stupid and naive for someone with such a smart mouth." Rei snapped. The Adjuchas's eyes widened.
"Just because I don't have my swords or bow doesn't mean I can't kick your ass." Rei continued. "I may not know this hakuda or kido that the other Soul Reapers know, but before my father and mother died, they taught me to observe my surroundings and use whatever I can."
"That's too bad for you. I don't see any zanpakuto floating around in the air for you to use, or other Quincy bows hanging on the tree branches."
Rei smirked. "Very funny, mister ugly. But once again, you're wrong. There are zanpakuto in the air, and bows on the trees. You just have to see them. Watch and learn."
She lunged downwards towards the park below, towards the small group of trees. She gripped a long branch and ripped it from the tree, so she now held a crude sword.
Without wasting a moment, she leapt from tree to tree and wrenched an iron bar from the park bench to serve as a dagger, with its sharp point. She slid it under her belt.
Rei adjusted her grip on the tree branch and shot upwards, swinging at the Adjuchas, who dodged. She gritted her teeth. The branch was the opposite of her swords, with all the weight on one end instead of balanced out, making it hard to aim.
"Is that all? You showed impressive arm strength when ripping up that tree and park bench, but other than that, you don't seem very threatening."
Rei smiled. "Is that so?"
Taking advantage of the leaves on the branch, she faked a swing, while reaching for the iron bar at her belt. Then, still faking, she grabbed the bar and hurled it like a spear, which pierced clean through the unaware Adjuchas's throat.
He gasped in shock, his eyes widening, mouth opening, looking downward in shock at the iron bar in his neck.
"What----is----this? How----?"
Rei was grim. "I told you. I can use anything. And about your name----" She stepped up to meet the Adjuchas eye to eye, and slowly pulled out the iron bar, sending a thick stream of red blood flying through the air from the wound and splashing down onto her face and the front of her robes.
"----according to you, when someone is defeated, the victor tells them their name. You lost, and I have won. So I suppose you should hear my name."
The Adjuchas's wide eyes bore into hers, and she met them steadily. "My name is Rei Asaka, Squad 6 third seat. And the last female Quincy. You can tell your Lord that, if you ever see him again. Though I suppose he already knows."
The Adjuchas was already starting to disintegrate into black powder, his eyes still wide and transfixed, until he dissolved entirely.
Rei looked down at the iron bar, still dripping red blood, and felt hollow inside. Was this what Soul Reapers did? Kill? And kill some more? Until they too were killed?
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Nakami. "Yo, Miss Asaka. What's with the branch and iron bar?"
Rei wiped the iron bar off on her sleeve. "I had some equipment malfunctions, so I had to improvise." She replied simply. "What about the other Hollows?"
"I took care of them."
"All?!"
"Yeah."
"That's pretty good---"
"Why thank you."
"---for a royal pet." She finished.
"What did you just call me?"
"A royal pet."
Nakami's eyes flared, before he regained control of his temper. "I guess that's what you could say to describe me. But I'm much, much more than a pet."
Rei wiped the blood off her hands on her robes. "I know. But there's something else. That Adjuchas said something about a 'Lord', who did something to----jam my weapons."
"You mean their Lord did that? But just who is this 'Lord'?"
Rei frowned, sitting down on a building rooftop, thinking. "Let's see, um----- so-----Hollows. Has there been any recent trouble with Hollows? Aside from the usual 'Soul Reapers killing Hollows to protect others' thing."
"Well, I haven't been a Soul Reaper as long as the others, so I don't know that much."
"Exactly how long have you been a Soul Reaper?"
"Um-----ten years."
"And how long have you been a lieutenant?"
"A little over ten months."
"Excuse me? So you're really a newbie?"
"You have no room to call me that when you yourself have only been an official Soul Reaper for less than eight days, Miss Asaka."
Rei fumed. "Whatever. We'll just ask Lietenant Abarai when we meet up."
"You know, you don't have to be all polite in normal conversation. Just call him Renji. Everybody does."
"It's habit to call him Lieutenant Abarai."
"Then break that habit."
"Whatever."
Renji and the others arrived around ten minutes later, soaked in sweat and in few cases, and couple splatters of Hollow blood. And all of them did a double take at Rei, who was drenched from head to toe in thick red blood.
"Rei!" Rukia cried. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
Rei shook her head. "Jeez, Rukia. Relax already. It'll take more than a stupid Hollow to make me bleed."
"Then whose blood is that?"
"An Adjuchas's."
"But how are you covered in blood? And why are you holding a metal poker?"
Rei glanced down. The iron bar did look rather like a poker. "I had to make do. And that reminds me," she turned to Renji, Rukia, and Ichigo. "We need to talk. Now."
"WHAT?!!" Renji, Rukia, and Ichigo all yelped. "You can't use any of your weapons?"
Rei shook her head. "Nope. Not a single one."
"But how did this happen?"
"I have no idea. I just sheathed my zanpakuto and tried to summon Bloody Rose, but it wouldn't appear. After that, it was like my zanpakuto were glued inside their sheaths."
Rukia leaned forward. "And that Adjuchas said something about a lord? Was he the one who jacked your weapons?"
"Again, I have no idea. That Adjuchas only hinted at it." Rei replied. "But there's one thing that's been really bugging me. I need to ask you guys something."
"Ask away." Renji said.
"Nakami and I came upon this possibility, but neither of us knew much about it, so we thought we'd ask you. Has there been any recent trouble with Hollows rising against Soul Reapers? Maybe a few years ago, or maybe even a century? Anything."
Rukia frowned. "Um, well, there was that time, with all those Arrancar and Espada and Aizen-----" Her eyes grew huge. "But that's impossible! You're not thinking-----"
"What are Arrancar and Espada? And who's Aizen?" Rei demanded, leaning forward.
Rukia stammered. "Surely you don't think------but it's impossible-----he's still locked up------"
"Who's locked up? How is it impossible? I need to know!"
Renji sighed, closing his eyes. "Fine. About two years ago, Rukia was sentenced to death. Long story. Anyway, we found that a man named Sosuke Aizen, the former Squad Five captain, was behind it all, and had betrayed the Soul Society along with two other Soul Reapers in hopes of destroying the Soul Society and creating a whole new world, where he would rule. He used a substance called the Hogyoku, which had unbelievable properties, to give himself unimaginable powers. He also created Arrancar; Hollows that have removed their masks and gained the powers of Soul Reapers. However, the Arrancar he created using the Hogyoku were far stronger than the others."
"Also, of all the Arrancar, Aizen selected the ten strongest and made them Espada; the most powerful Hollows under his command." Rukia added. "These Espada were strong enough to defeat a Gotei 13 captain."
"And what happened to Aizen and the Espada?" Rei asked. Even Nakami looked curious, as he leaned forward.
"Most of the Espada were killed. A few of them went into hiding in Hueco Mundo, doing who knows what. As for Aizen, he was defeated in a battle against Ichigo and was sealed away. He's currently imprisoned in Muken, the eighth and lowest level of the underground prison in the Soul Society."
Rei looked down at her zanpakuto, then at Bloody Rose. "Is it possible that he's the 'Lord' that Adjuchas mentioned?"
"I don't see how he could be. I mean, he's locked up and under constant watch."
Rei knew this should've reaasured her, but it didn't. She still felt something bugging her. "Hey, Rukia. Do you know if it's possible for me to see this Aizen?"
Renji, Rukia, and Ichigo all did a double take, gaping at her. "Y-y-you----want to actually see----- Aizen?"
"Is it possible?" Rei asked again, this time more forcefully.
Rukia relented. "It might be, with authorization from the Head Captain."
"Then that settles it. I'm going back to the Soul Society."
"Now? Right now?"
"No, dummy, I'm going next year. Of course I'm going now! What are we supposed to do when all the Soul Reapers can't even unsheath their zanpakuto?" Rei snapped, back to her usual cold demeanor. "Someone, lend me their zanpakuto."
"Why?" Rukia questioned, puzzled.
"I would think it's obvious. I can't unlock the gate to the Soul Society without a zanpakuto."
Rukia stood up. "Fine then. But I'm going with you."
"Me, too." Renji said.
"Guess I'll tag along." Ichigo added.
Nakami stretched. "Well, guess that settles it. We're all going."
Rukia drew out her zanpakuto and unlocked the gate, and the five of them stepped through into the Precipice World.