“Broken Innocence” Chapter 4

Rukia heard the commotion and turned her head, widening her eyes, “You Guys?”

“Hey Rukia, we’re here to save you and Ichigo as well as to wipe out this new threat,” the first girl said.

“YOU WON’T WIPE OUT ANYTHING!” the Hollow screamed.

He broke free and tried to hit the first girl. She quickly dodged and looked at the second gal. As soon as the Hollow got close, the second girl stabbed it right in the head and ended the battle.

“Whoa…” Rukia said.

“So that’s the way you’re gonna greet us? With a ‘whoa’?” The first girl laughed.

“You guys are as silly as ever… good to see you, Naoko and Tamura,” Rukia said calmly, “What brings you guys here?”

“A bunch of Hollows have been arriving in the area lately. We were sent to hunt them down… Noticed you were here so we came to see you. Been a long time, since we've seen each other, Rukia,” Naoko said. We thought we would drop you a visit since you never come home anymore.

Ichigo heard them speak and screamed, “WILL YOU SHUT UP AND JUST PULL ME BACK INSIDE DAMN IT?! I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID REUNION! GET ME BACK UP BEFORE I FALL AND HIT THE CONCRETE!”

“Jeez, Ichigo!” Rukia said, “I’m strong, remember? I can lift you!”

“I DON’T CARE; JUST PULL ME UP BEFORE I HIT THE GROUND!” Ichigo yelled.


Naoko looked outside and saw him, “Oh, is that your boyfriend, Rukia?”

Rukia blushed and Ichigo screamed back, “NO SHE’S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND! NOW PULL ME UP!!!!!!!”

Tamura rolled her eyes, walked over, and pulled both of them inside. Ichigo gasped for air and Naoko teased him.

“Ah, so you’re a pretty buff guy. C’mon man, you should be the one helping Rukia up, not her helping you. You’ve got some good muscles there.”

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” Ichigo yelled, blushing as he did.

Rukia ignored them and started looking around for the child. She wondered where he had gone.

“Where’s the kid?” Rukia asked.

“What kid? This kid?” Naoko grinned and poked Ichigo.

Rukia shook her head as Ichigo growled. “No, I mean that kid that was here earlier. Where is he? He was with that Hollow.”

“I don’t know. When I turned my back, he must have left. Have you seen him Naoko?” Tamura asked.

“Huh?” Naoko sipped some soda from a machine in the Food Court. “No, but I did see some dude eating some Menos Grande Burritos… And…. wait… there’s another HOLLOW outside!”

Ichigo rushed to the shattered remainder of the window, and leaned out, observing the strange spectacle below.

“What on earth?!” he shouted. The frog-like hollow looked up from its would-be victim. The eye-slits in its mask narrowed when it spotted the substitute Soul Reaper and it let out an attempt at an earth-shattering roar, but it sounded much more like an earth-shattering croak. The sukiyaki vendor scrambled away, drawing stares from the surrounding crowd who saw nothing of the drama playing out around them.

A dubious expression fell over Naoko’s face. “What was that? A burp?” she said. Apparently the hapless creature heard this comment, because it hunkered down, gurgling with rage. It pushed off with its enormous and lengthy long legs, flying up four stories to meet Ichigo.

“Oh yeah?!” Ichigo shouted brashly. “Two can play at that game!” With that, he leapt out the window, zanpaku-to drawn and ready for action. In his mind, he heard the steady pulse of “Kill it, kill it, kill it,” but nothing of “You can’t fly.”

The abomination belched again; blasting Ichigo’s hair back from his forehead with a stench so strong, it was almost solid. However, the ever single-minded hero took no notice. Ichigo’s zanpaku-to collide with the hollow’s open mouth, sending sparks showering below, it was ready to devour Ichigo in one bite.

“DIE!!” Ichigo screamed. He pushed harder, unconsciously focusing his spirit energy into the blade of the sword. The soul-cutting sword began to push though the Hollow’s mask. It screeched, belching saliva all over Ichigo, but he was again un-phased.

A wordless yell escaped his throat and Ichigo pushed through the monster, cutting it in half along the spine. It gave a blood-curdling hiccup as it faded into oblivion.

It was in that instant that Ichigo seemed to realize that he was still 10 meters off the ground.

“Ah man!” he cried, flailing his arms and legs wildly as he began to fall the rest of the way down.

“Ichigo!” Rukia shouted as he hit the ground with a resounding thud. Tamura looked over at Naoko with a wry smile.

“That was just way too cliché for me,” Naoko said.


After scraping Ichigo up off the ground, the two other Soul Reapers left while Rukia and a very sore Ichigo headed back to school.

Ichigo entered his classroom unseen and greeted by pandemonium. Kon, the mod soul left in charge of Ichigo’s body, was leaping from table to table wearing a pair of strawberry-print panties on his head. Tatsuki, the class’s resident tomboy and martial artist, was chasing after him, a study in fury. Orihime sat in the corner, beet red and on the verge of tears.

“Kurosaki! You’ve made Orihime cry for the last time!!” Tatsuki shouted at the top of her lungs. She leapt into the air, poised to deliver a bone shattering kick to the face of the would-be pervert.

“She’s gonna kill my body!” Ichigo said aloud. Chad glanced around from where he was sitting passively as if he had heard something. Ichigo flew over a pile of overturned desks and tackled himself just before Tatsuki’s deadly shoe connected with its target. Instead, she hit the chalkboard, creating a complex spider web of cracks before falling on her head, sending up a cloud of chalk dust.
“What’s your problem?” Kon yelled. He was lying on his back and to the rest of the class, it looked as though Ichigo Kurosaki, tough guy of the school, was suffering from a seizure and screaming to the gods while wearing Orihime’s undergarments on his bright orange head.

Suddenly, his stomach seemed to cave in and he coughed up an orange sphere about the size of a gobstopper. His body went limp and his eyes were blank. Rukia walked over silently, grabbed his ankle, and dragged him out of the room unceremoniously. Soul-form Ichigo followed.



Broken Innocence Chapter 5