• Published 10th Jun 2018
  • 3,847 Views, 581 Comments

Bleach: Heart of a Hero - Blackdrag-rose



Sombra was defeated, but his soul survived and traveled to a new world. He joins Ichigo and his friends as they invade Soul Society in an attempt to save another... while trying to remember his long forgotten past and who he really is.

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Substitute: Cleaning Up

Since it appeared that no one was coming to investigate the sounds of what happened to the clinic, and Sombra was absolutely sure of that fact, he picked up his speed and jumped to the nearest rooftop, while carrying Rukia, before continuing in such a manner as he headed towards the Urahara Shop. He was surprised that the Shinigami would give Rukia the information that the shop even existed in the first place, which meant that they had to know where Kisuke was located, though if that was the case he wondered what Kisuke and the others sold for Shinigami that would have Soul Society give Rukia the note. Even as he thought about it he had no idea what the situation between Soul Society and Kisuke was, and while part of him wanted to know the other part was saying that it wasn't his business and that he'd find out when he was ready, so he kept quite and continued to jump from roof to roof as he headed towards the shop. Fortunately Rukia was focused on her wounds and not on the fact that he knew where to find the shop, since she couldn't find it on her own, allowing him to be silent for the moment as he headed towards their destination.

By jumping over all the rooftops he managed to get to the shop rather quickly, where he silently thanked Yoruichi for teaching him Hoho over the last month, though as he reached the area outside the shop, and landed on the area in front of the entrance, he spotted Yoruichi waiting outside... no doubt because she felt his reiatsu coming in close with a second one that was unfamiliar to her.

"Ah, Yoruichi, just the cat I was looking for," Sombra said, to which he walked up to the entrance and made sure that Rukia was stable, though the Shinigami was currently staring at the cat and was glancing between the two with a look of confusion on her face, "Listen, something's happened at the Kurosaki Clinic and I need to ask Kisuke what we can do to fix it before Ichigo and his family wakes up... and Tessai should be able to help fix up Rukia at the same time."

Yoruichi, sensing that now might not be the best time to speak, nodded her head and headed inside the shop, leaving Sombra outside with Rukia, where he did his absolute best to put pressure on the wound and stop the majority of the bleeding... though fortunately he didn't have to do that for long, as not a few moments later the front door of the shop opened and both Kisuke and Tessai appeared.

"I heard that something happened at the Kurosaki Clinic," Kisuke said, playing it off that he had been waiting to see what Yoruichi was doing before he went to bed for the night, while in reality he knew that they weren't ready to give the Shinigami the truth just yet, before he looked at the situation in front of him and glanced at Rukia and the wound that she had at the moment, "Come in, Tessai and I will do what we can... for both your wound and what happened at the clinic."

Sombra nodded and followed the duo inside, making sure that Rukia was fine as she walked into the clinic and didn't bleed everywhere, though Tessai beckoned them to a room that was near the kitchen and had Rukia sit down in the middle of the room. While that happened Kisuke stood nearby as he looked at the note that Sombra had handed him after helping Rukia to the seat, clearly thinking about what was going on at the moment, but what really interested Sombra was the fact that Tessai's hands glowed with a green color for a moment before he started channeling the reiatsu he was gathering and focused his mind. From there Sombra watched as Tessai seemed to slowly mend the wounds that Rukia had been given, surprising him for a moment until he remembered that this had to be some of the Kido that he had been told about during his training, the one aspect of his training that he hadn't gotten around to doing yet.

"Okay, what happened at the clinic?" Kisuke asked, because while Tessai was working he knew that he could easily figure out exactly needed to be gathered, but at the same time his task would be even easier if someone told him exactly what the problem was.

"A Hollow attacked the clinic and injured both of Ichigo's sisters and his father," Sombra replied, knowing that Rukia would be focusing her energy on healing at the moment, which meant that it was up to him to tell Kisuke the information that he was asking for, "we were inside Ichigo's room when it happened, were Rukia explained what she was and what her job entailed, before both Ichigo and I noticed that the Hollow had attacked the clinic and busted down part of the entrance in the process. From what I could tell his room seems to have a high concentration of reiatsu inside it, making it hard to sense anything that might be happening outside it's walls, which is why we weren't able to feel the Hollow until it was almost on top of us. There's also the fact that Ichigo, for the moment anyway, is channeling the powers of a Shinigami, ones that he borrowed from Rukia..."

"...which is why her Shinigami attire is white, instead of it's usual coloration." Kisuke said, understanding exactly what was going on at the moment, and how serious the situation could become if Soul Society figured it out on their own, but that only made him focus on the wounded Shinigami that was in front of him, "So, Miss Rukia, how much of your power did you end up giving to Ichigo Kurosaki?"

"Actually, it's Rukia Kuchiki," Rukia answered, revealing that she didn't have a problem with revealing her name to the shop manager, especially when she had a feeling that the person in front of her might be one of the infamous figures that she had been told about during her training, "and, if I'm being honest, I only meant to give him half of my power so he could handle that Hollow, while I used the rest of it to heal my body. Instead he ended up taking all of my power into his body when he transformed into a Shinigami... so right now I have no power to defend myself with, meaning that he'll have to step in and do my job for me, until I get my powers back."

"Ichigo will also need someone to help him when you aren't there to teach him the ropes," Sombra added, to which he noticed that both Kisuke and Rukia were turning towards him, while at the same time Yoruichi nodded her head, as she understood what he was talking about, "I've been watching over the town for the last month, surely he and I can work together and take care of the spirits that need to be sent to Soul Society, and even purify some of the Hollows that might come looking for a meal."

"That sounds like a plan." Kisuke said, to which he moved towards the door and started to head out, though as he did that he stopped and turned back towards the group that was inside in the room at the moment, "I need to get a few items before you two depart for the clinic... items that will help you get around the damage that was caused to the building and help the family at the same time."

Sombra nodded his head as Kisuke walked out of the room and headed to the storage area, where he had whatever items he wanted to give them, before turning his attention towards Rukia and Tessai, where he watched as the wound closed after some time and the bleeding stopped as well... to which Tessai pulled his hands back and nodded, before letting Rukia stretch and find that the man had mended her wounds like an expert.

"Th... Thank you." Ruki said, which brought a light smile to Tessai's face for a moment, though once that happened she turned and looked over at Sombra, where it appeared that there was something on her mind that she couldn't quite figure out at the moment, "How did you know where the shop was located?"

"This is where I lived for the last month, after I arrived in Karakura Town," Sombra replied, as he was sure that he had explained this to Rukia when they were running around the town and sent the spirits to Soul Society, but even as he thought about it he decided to explain it to them again, "I also used that time to explore the town, which is why I was able to get here so quickly."

"I see." Rukia said, though at the same time Sombra could see that she was thinking about something that was going on at the moment, but he didn't press the issue, as they had some work they needed to do once Kisuke came back out with the items he had in mind.

Fortunately Kisuke returned to the room a few minutes later, where he held a device cylinder like device that looked like it was something that one of the kids Sombra had seen earlier had been carrying, a candy dispenser as he recalled Jinta calling the device. In reality it was a device that wiped the memories of an event from the minds of those that the user was targeting and replace them with a new one, though it required being used in the face of the person who needed their memories changed, as in both of Ichigo's sisters and his father. In addition to that Kisuke informed Rukia that, until she got her powers back, that she was going to need to use a gigai to blend in while Ichigo took over for her as the Shinigami that was supposed to protect Karakura Town, once they told him the news that he would have possession of her powers for an undetermined amount of time. Of course, since he was running a business and couldn't just give things away for free, he told Rukia to come by in a day or two and they could get this transaction paid for, even though Rukia said that she would be good for it, but the fact that Ichigo and his family were in need of attention had him change to getting them taken care of before getting his payment for the items Rukia would be buying.

Sombra remained standing where he was while Kisuke took Rukia into a different room of the shop, though a few minutes later he returned with the Shinigami, where Sombra noticed that she walked a little weird, which had to be the gigai that they had mentioned, and that she was dressed in a high school uniform that happened to fit her... though it appeared that Yoruichi had found the pack that Rukia had left behind, with the clothes she had brought with her in case she needed to use a gigai, and brought it here, answering the unspoken question of where the uniform came from.

Once everything was squared away, for the moment anyway, Sombra led the way back to the Kurosaki Clinic with Kisuke and Tessai following after him, though the latter was carrying Rukia so she wouldn't fall off a rooftop and hurt herself again, much to her displeasure. Kisuke was only coming to survey the damage and to see what he could do, as Sombra guessed that there might actually be a connection between the shop and the clinic since he wanted to be sure that no one got hurt, while at the same time Tessai wanted to be sure that everyone was perfectly fine from the attack before it was wiped from their memories. It also didn't take him long to get back to the clinic, where he found that none of the neighbors seemed to care about the noise and there still weren't any noises of emergency people coming to check out what had happened, giving the group some time to land nearby and show Kisuke what happened. At the same time Tessai set Rukia down and they made sure to group the family together, which meant carefully picking them up and setting them down in the same area before Tessai channeled some of his reiatsu and mended their wounds... while at the same time Sombra carefully dragged the unconscious Ichigo, who had reverted back to his original Human form, up to his room, tucked him into the bed as best he could, and closed the door before he rejoined the others.

As he walked back down to the first floor, and noticed that Tessai was already done with the family and was starting to move them back to their rooms, Sombra spotted Kisuke leaving a note on the counter that was directed towards Ichigo's father, Isshin Kurosaki he noticed, before he headed outside... where Rukia was standing as she stared at the device that she must have already used on Ichigo's family.

"This is about all we can do for them at the moment," Kisuke said, though as he spoke he looked at the hole in the wall that had been created by the Hollow that Sombra and Rukia had fought, before Ichigo utterly defeated it in a few swings of his sword, "we'll just have to wait and see what the morning brings."

Sombra could tell that Rukia hated the idea of waiting, especially since her powers were gone, but at the same time Kisuke was kind enough to offer her a room for the night, since she had nowhere else to go at the moment, and she took the offer since she knew that fact, but also promised that she would be finding her own place soon enough. As Kisuke and Tessai took Rukia back to the shop, to get some actual sleep, Sombra stayed behind so he could make sure that the family was safe from harm, in case another Hollow appeared in the town and tried to attack them, to which the group nodded and departed from the area. Once they were gone Sombra jumped up to the roof of the clinic and sat down on it, where he closed his eyes and focused his mind, allowing him to feel the reiatsu in the town while his body rested for whatever happened the following morning... though while he did that, and before his mind was completely calm, he felt two Hollows enter the town for the briefest of seconds, before disappearing entirely as they went back to Hueco Mundo.

He wasn't sure what he had just felt, but at the same time he decided that, since the Hollows had retreated, it wasn't worth looking into and slipped back into what he was doing... allowing him to relax as he slipped back into the same dreamless sleep that he was used to having, while he waited to see what tomorrow brought them.


Just like the last few times he slept outside, and did so on top of a building, Sombra woke up to the sun's rays hitting his eyes in some manner, to which he stretched as he opened his eyes and stood up, finding that morning was upon him and that the family would be discovering the hole in the wall any moment now. What actually happened, however, was that no one in the family was even awake yet and he went down to study the hole that had been created, finding that part of the living area had been smashed during the attack, where he was thankful that no one had been seriously injured in the process. The only unfortunate thing was that, since it was Sunday, none of the family seemed to be eager to get up and continued to sleep as the hours ticked by, but when none arrived, and they still weren't up, he went back to the Urahara Shop and asked Kisuke if he knew what the problem was, only to discover that, by looking at the device that Rukia had used, the family would be asleep until Monday morning and that they would miss the entirety of Sunday thanks to the setting that Rukia had accidentally picked.

As such Sombra spent the entirety of Sunday watching over the Kurosaki Clinic, finding that people seemed to take an interest in what was going on and, by some sort of device that Kisuke had left behind when he wasn't looking, seemed to mutter something about a truck accident and left, leaving the Kurosaki's alone... and soon day turned to night, where he slipped back onto the roof and took up the same position he had used earlier, so he could wait for morning to arrive.

When Monday moving did arrive, however, the sounds of Ichigo's sisters woke Sombra up, to which he got moving as well since he wanted to see what other effects the device Kisuke had sold Rukia had, but before he could do that he heard the sounds of Isshin Kurosaki opening a door, one that happened to go to Ichigo's room. As such he moved until he had a good position so he could see what was going on, though as he stood near the window he found Ichigo's father staring at his son, who was still asleep from last night's events, and it appeared that he was getting ready to wake him up in some manner, one that had to be common for this particular house anyway. It made sense that he would go after his son, since both of his daughters were already awake and had started their days, but that didn't stop Sombra from watching what was about to unfold, as he was interested in what was going on.

"Good morning, Ichigo!" Isshin happily said, jumping and positioning himself so that he could plant both of his feet in Ichigo's stomach, a surefire way to wake someone that was sleeping, though at the same time Sombra noticed that it was a dangerous move that he was pulling off.

Of course he was also worried for Ichigo's safety, especially after what happened the previous night, but what surprised him was the speed that Ichigo used when he snapped his eyes open, flung the covers off of him, and grabbed his father's head with his left hand, before pinning his stunned father to the floor.

"Jerk," Ichigo said, where he glared at his father for a moment, showing Sombra that despite the fact that this clearly happened all the time for this family, which would worry a normal person, Ichigo had no love for constantly being awoken in such a manner and was growing tired of the game his father played, "you've got some nerve trying to break your son's neck first thing in the morning."

"Well done, my son." Isshin replied, sounding happy about something, maybe the fact that Ichigo managed to grab him without hurting himself, but at the same time the entire thing confused Sombra to no end, as he didn't understand why they were doing this, "I have nothing left to teach you."

"Wait... it's Monday?" Ichigo commented, realizing that he must have missed something important, since the last thing he clearly remembered was that it had been night, which caused some memories of the previous night to come back as he grabbed his father by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up a little, "How are Yuzu and Karin's injuries?"

"Injuries?" Isshin asked, confusion written on his face for a moment, as he didn't seem to understand what Ichigo was talking about, which told Sombra that the memory device that Kisuke had sold Rukia had worked like a charm, since he didn't remember the attack or getting injured, "What are you talking about?"

It was in the following moment that Isshin and Ichigo headed downstairs, and Sombra followed by heading over the roof and stood up there as he listened for the conversation to continue, though in the process he noticed that both of Ichigo's sisters were standing outside, staring at the mess in front of them. Not a few seconds later the father and son duo walked out and stared at the mess as well, though while Ichigo was shocked by what he had seen, and the fact that none of his family remembered the events that happened two nights ago, his father was pleased that no one had gotten hurt.

"Man, it was a miracle." Isshin said, staring at the mess that had been caused last night, though at the same time Sombra noticed that the note Kisuke had left behind was tucked into one of the pockets that his coat had, "The truck rammed so far into our house, but we're all uninjured."

"It's more of a miracle that none of us woke up." one of the sisters, the black haired one that was Karin Kurosaki, said, though at the same time she glanced over at her father like he was an idiot or something, telling Sombra a little about the family dynamic that they apparently had in play, even if it was one that he didn't understand, "Thanks to that, the truck driver escaped."

"It's alright," the other sister, Yuzu Kurosaki, spoke up, but as she did so Sombra noticed that she seemed to be holding some cooking utensils, meaning that she must either cook for the family when their father was busy or that was her job for the family all the time, when she wasn't at school anyway, "He'll probably come back later to apologize."

While the two sisters talked about the 'truck driver', and whether or not he was coming back, Yuzu said that if Ichigo didn't eat his food soon, which she had apparently made before the father and son had come downstairs to survey the damage, he'd be late for class. Sombra found it amusing to watch what was going on, as Ichigo was shocked by what he had discovered and seemed to slip back into a normal life, but at the same time it was clear that he was thinking what had happened last night and why his family didn't remember any of it. Sombra said nothing as he stood on top of the roof, as there was no reason for him to interrupt the family at the moment, but the moment that Ichigo departed from the house, to leave his family in charge of the mess while he went to school, Sombra followed after him, shadowing him like Yoruichi would do for him. This time around, when Ichigo slipped into the high school building, Sombra gave him some space and walked in as well, finding that next to none of the students seemed to have the ability to see him and that he needed to carefully weave his way through the hallways... while at the same time keeping Ichigo in his sights at all times, which included when he accidentally knocked a girl with a larger chest than most girls that Sombra had seen, a girl that went by the name Orihime Inoue.

It quickly became apparent that some of the students, like Orihime for instance, were scared of Ichigo's 'mean look', causing some annoyance when he was only trying to help the girl back onto her feet, but at the same time Sombra discovered that it was already lunchtime for the school. That made sense to Sombra, since Ichigo had taken his sweet time getting to the building and had purposely taken a few twists and turns in his route so he could think about what happened last night, but at the very least he headed into his classroom and met up with the rest of his friends. Sombra, on the other hand, stood by the open doorway and stared at the students for a few minutes, deciding that almost all of them were ordinary Humans, save for the young man that was sitting by himself and happened to be wearing a tie for some reason, but what interested Sombra was that he could feel some sort of power coming from him. It definitely wasn't the power of a Shinigami, which made him wonder if the young man belonged to one of those special groups that Kisuke didn't name when he was explaining the various realms to him a month ago... though his thoughts were interrupted as the group started talking about a transfer student, which was when Sombra noticed that Rukia was standing near him and she silently approached the group.

Ichigo's reaction to Rukia appearing before him, confirming that part of last night had actually happened in some manner, was interesting enough since he froze up, but then she showed Ichigo her palm and he seemed to freak out a little... though that only made Sombra raise an eyebrow when she came back by him, showing that she didn't want Ichigo to make a scene while threatening to kill him. Sombra had no idea what game Rukia was playing, since she knew that she didn't have any powers and that he wasn't likely to draw his sword and strike down the protector of Karakura Town, not when he had no idea what was going on at the moment, but he said nothing as he watched Ichigo, who seemed to be so shocked that he didn't even notice him standing there. As Rukia walked out of the room, however, Sombra found that Ichigo turned to talk to his friends for a few more moments, before excusing himself as he headed down the same path that Rukia had taken, to which he silently followed the pair as they headed outside... because something told him that this was a conversation that he would want to hear so he could understand what was going on.

Sure enough Rukia headed outside, to a secluded spot where they could converse without anyone interrupting them for some time, and came to a stop, which caused both Ichigo and Sombra to stop near her as well, but while Sombra stood still Ichigo made the first move rather quickly.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Ichigo demanded, because he would have figured that Rukia would have gone back to Soul Society and left him alone, though now he was annoyed that she was here and had threatened him in this manner, especially after what he discovered this morning.

"Oh my, how scary." Rukia replied, acting like she was playing with Ichigo for a moment, which Sombra was able to pick up on thanks to the many times Yoruichi had done something similar to him, though he knew that it was only in her nature to do things like that, "What ever is the matter? Is something going to happen to me?"

"First of all, quit talking in that disgusting way." Ichigo stated, as he didn't care too much for what Rukia was doing at the moment, because he wanted answers and she was the only one, in his mind, that could tell him what happened to his family and their memories.

"Oh dear, is it impressive that I learned it in two nights?" Rukia commented, though Sombra had the feeling that she had been practicing this sort of thing before she came to the World of the Living, as there was no way that Yoruichi had spoken to her last night.

"Oh forget it." Ichigo said, dropping the first matter entirely, as he decided that it was better to get to the reason why they were talking out here and not waste any time, especially since he had classes that afternoon and needed to make sure he knew the homework from the ones he had missed before he headed home when school was over, "Anyways, what are you doing here? I thought you went back home to Soul Society, or whatever you called it."

"Fool, the only ones that can return there are the Shinigami," Rukia replied, her earlier attitude disappearing in a moment, as now she was looking at Ichigo with a serious look in her eyes, one that made Sombra prepare for any sort of fight that might erupt between them, "I no longer have that ability right now."

"Excuse me?" Ichigo inquired, because as far as he knew Rukia still had the majority of her powers and could have easily gone home, which was why he was curious about what she was saying and wanted to know why she hadn't packed up her stuff and gone home yet.

"Two nights ago, my Shinigami powers were nearly consumed by you." Rukia said, to which she simply stared at Ichigo for a few moments, as she was hoping that he'd understand what happened and at least offer to help her, since she couldn't do her job anymore, "Thanks to you, I am forced to use this flux body... this gigai. This is a temporary body that's only dispensed for emergency use, or at least that's their original purpose. Shinigami that are extremely weakened, like I was after the battle with that Hollow and losing almost all of my powers, have to enter one of these to wait for their powers to recover, the time of which can vary depending on the situation."

"Is that so?" Ichigo said, where he thought about what he had seen in the classroom earlier, and the fact that his classmates had spoken and interacted with Rukia before his arrival at the school, before he bothered to speak what he was thinking about, "So that's how my classmates could see you."

"That's correct." Rukia replied, pleased that he seemed to be understanding the specifics that she had just told him, while at the same time finding that Sombra was taking an interest in what she had said as well, though she guessed that was because she had told him that he would be assisting her until further notice... meaning that he was either wondering how long it would be until she was back in fighting condition or that he was going to assist Ichigo for now.

"And what about him?" Ichigo asked, to which he pointed at Sombra for a moment, as he knew that the mysterious person was definitely not out to do him harm, since he had gone out of his way to assist a stranger that had tried to follow him several times in the past, "Why isn't he using a, um, gigai like you are?"

"Because they only work for Shinigami," Sombra replied, causing the two of them to turn towards him for a moment, because he had thought about it for some time and came to the conclusion all on his own, one that made perfect sense when he thought about it, "I'm not a Shinigami, not like Rukia is, rather I'm an Arrancar, a completely different type of spiritual being that exists in the four known realms."

"Four known realms?" Ichigo repeated, where he tilted his head to the side for a moment, as while he guessed that Sombra had been right about being different from Rukia, because while their clothing had looked the same Sombra's had a different color than the black Rukia had on her attire, there was also the strange bone white crown that was around the horn on Sombra's head.

"There's the World of the Living, where we're located," Sombra stated, recalling what Kisuke had told him when he asked the question, even though he was going to do his best to not overload Ichigo at the moment, "Soul Society, were Rukia is from, Hueco Mundo, where I'm from, and Hell, where sinners and nasty spirits are sent."

"Anyway, Ichigo," Rukia said, cutting into the conversation, because once more she was surprised by the information that the Arrancar possessed and wanted to know how he knew what he knew, though for now she had something that she wanted to tell Ichigo, "from here on, until my powers return to me, you will be helping me with my work as a Shinigami. I mean, it's only natural since you're the only one in Karakura Town that has the powers of a Shinigami at the moment. You don't have the ri..."

"I REFUSE!" ichigo stated, to which he crossed his arms in an 'x' shape to indicate that he wasn't going to go along with what Rukia was talking about, even though he had no idea what being a Shinigami entailed, something that Sombra was interested in learning about since his studies didn't reveal that to him, "I'll be damned if I EVER fight a monster like the one I fought two nights ago again."

"That's absurd, you fought magnificently." Rukia stated, which was the honest truth, because while she was sure that Ichigo didn't have the training on how to swing a sword, like she did and she suspected that Sombra did as well, he proved that his instincts were correct and made sort work of that Hollow, impressing her in the process.

"That's because my family was attacked." Ichigo said, to which he lowered his arms and turned his head so he wouldn't have to look at Rukia, even though both she and Sombra were surprised by his lack of care for the rest of the people that were living in the town, "Not to be cruel, but I couldn't fight for total strangers. Sorry if it seems like I'm betraying you, though."

"I see..." Rukia commented, though as Ichigo turned around, and showed his back to her, she pulled out another item she had bought before she departed from the shop this morning, a red glove with a special skull marking that was surrounded by flames, and slipped it over her right hand, "then I have no choice. HEY!"

Sombra watched as Ichigo turned around to look at Rukia, who rushed forward and slammed the palm of her right hand into his chin, though that was when the interesting part happened, as it seemed like she was ejecting the Shinigami version of Ichigo, his soul as it were, because not a few seconds later Ichigo's body collapsed on the floor with Rukia standing beside it... and, standing not a few steps away, was Ichigo in his Shinigami attire, complete with his sword, and he was freaking out at the sight that was before him.

"M... My body!" Ichigo said, though at the same time he looked over himself and found that he was wearing the same clothing that he had been wearing the night before, when he stabbed himself in the chest with the sword that Rukia had told him to pierce his heart with, "Dammit, what did you do to me?"

"Come with me." Rukia ordered, though she made no move to move Ichigo's body to another location as she walked away, to which Ichigo followed after her with a look of annoyance on his face while Sombra carefully moved the body out of the sun, so they could find it when they got back.

Together the three of them walked away from the school grounds and headed over to the nearby park that, according to Ichigo, had another spirit of a young child that had died recently, though the boy was killed a week or two earlier than the young girl he had helped earlier. While they walked Ichigo asked how far Rukia was actually going to take them, since he still had classes he needed to take, where Rukia told him that the Plus that was inside the park, the young body, was likely going to be attacked soon, as she had orders from Soul Society saying that a Hollow was going to appear any moment now. Of course the moment she actually said that Ichigo and Sombra heard the sound of the spirit calling for help as part of the park equipment fell apart, as something had hit it, to which they all turned and watched as the young spirit ran away from the spider-like Hollow that was chasing it. Sombra, acting on the same impulse that he had acted on several times since he first found himself in Karakura Town, jumped over the barricade that was in front of them, drew his sword, and lashed out at the Hollow, driving it back a bit while the spirit hid away in the ruined equipment... while at the same time Ichigo, seeing what was going on, jumped over the barricade as well and started to move, only for a voice to stop him in his tracks.

"Wait." Rukia said, knowing that, while Sombra was more than enough to take on this Hollow alone, this would prove to be an effective lesson for Ichigo, as she disliked how he treated her job as a Shinigami, which he had to perform since he stole her powers, and wanted him to see the spirit side of the world like she did.

"What?" Ichigo asked, as with both him and Sombra working together they could take down the Hollow, as both of his companions had called the mask wearing monsters, in no time, which was why he was curious as to why Rukia was telling him to wait in such a manner.

"Why should you save him?" Rukia asked in return, beckoning to the scared spirit that was hiding in the equipment, who she would have rushed to save since it was both her job and the right thing to do, which also made her stare at Sombra for a moment, since he was the same way, "That child is a total stranger to you, isn't he?"

"That doesn't mean I can just not save him." Ichigo stated, though he knew that if the Hollow got around Sombra it would head straight for the spirit, something that he wasn't okay with now that he was seeing it happen before his own eyes, "Not when he's being attacked right before my eyes."

"DON'T BE SELFISH!" Rukia replied in kind, raising her voice so that Ichigo would get the point she was trying to make, especially after the comment he made earlier when she was telling him that he'd have to take over her job for an undetermined amount of time, "Shinigami must be fair towards all souls. Wanting to save only those that you can reach, only those that you can see... this work isn't that convenient. If you want to save that child now, be prepared to save all of the other spirits as well. Be prepared to save them, even if it means chasing them around and maybe even sacrificing yourself in the process. And, if you want proof, just look at Sombra... he's not even a Shinigami and yet he's risking his own life to save a spirit that's under attack, no questions asked and no complaints given."

Ichigo stared at the scene that was playing before him, where Sombra, someone that wasn't even a Shinigami, was doing everything in his power to save the spirit that was being attacked, to which he growled for a moment as he stared at the spirit in question and recalled what nearly happened to the little girl yesterday. In the following instant he tore his large sword from it's sheath and hacked at the Hollow's front right leg, tearing it away from the body, while Sombra nodded his head and did the same with the front left leg, causing the Hollow to roar in pain.

"Are you prepared to do what is necessary, Ichigo?" Rukia asked, knowing that the movement had to be a sign that he was actually willing to consider what she had told him, especially since an Arrancar was willing to do things like a Shinigami would, but she wouldn't know until he answered her.

"No, I ain't ready." Ichigo replied, shocking Rukia for a moment, though Sombra knew that it wouldn't be this easy to cause someone to change their mind about the situation they were in, "Be prepared... I don't care about that. I'm helping Sombra save this kid because I want to save him! Are you different, Rukia?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rukia inquired, because she couldn't believe that Ichigo was now questioning her, but while that was going on Sombra seemed to be staring at the area around them, tracking the spider Hollow that had gone invisible after both of it's front legs were hacked off in such a manner.

"When the clinic was attacked, you risked your now neck to save my own." Ichigo stated, to which he left the Hollow in Sombra's hands for a moment as he turned to face Rukia, because she was who he was interested in talking to at the moment, "At that moment, when you made your decision, where you thinking about your duties as a Shinigami? When you risked your life like that, it wasn't for the same reason you just told me about... and for me, I ain't doing it for those reasons either."

It was in the moment that he said the last word of his statement that both he and Sombra thrust their swords into the area in front of them, where the Hollow had been moments ago, though this time the Hollow materialized in front of them with both of their blades impaled in it's mask, indicating that it had tried to sneak up on them while they were busy talking to each other. A few seconds later the duo pulled their blades back and stood there for a moment, just as the Hollow collapsed on the floor and dissipated like all the other ones that Sombra had defeated since he started hunting them, but it was more rewarding to save a spirit this time around. Once the Hollow was gone Ichigo walked over to where the young boy was hiding and asked if he was okay, only to get the same reaction he had gotten out of Orihime earlier, to which he told the spirit that if he didn't want to be scared like he had been just now, when the Hollow was chasing him, then he had better move on already... to which he tapped the hilt of his Zanpakuto on the boy's head and left the marking behind, where the three of them watched as he sunk into the ground and disappeared, just like the old man from yesterday.

"That was an excellent Konso." Rukia commented, though at the same time she refrained from mentioning that it had been used by someone that had no knowledge on the subject, as right now she didn't want Ichigo to ignore her and the orders that Soul Society would give her in the future.

"I'm heading back to school, so I can get my body back, and then I'm heading home." Ichigo replied, as right now he had a lot on his mind and didn't want to talk about what Rukia had said, to which he sheathed his sword and started to walk back to the school, leaving Sombra and Rukia behind.

"Don't worry, he'll come around to be a Shinigami at some point," Sombra commented, though at the same time he sheathed his own sword as he watched Ichigo depart from the park, before he turned towards Rukia, who was watching the young man leave the area, "until then, you just have to be patient and help him understand the world that he's pulled himself into... and hope that he doesn't shut the door and ignore you."

"Right." Rukia said, to which she walked forward the moment Ichigo was gone, as it was time for her to get back to the class that she had gotten herself into to keep up appearances, before she glanced back at Sombra, "You know, you would have been a great Shinigami if you had been sent to Soul Society, instead of Hueco Mundo... but, well, I'm happy that you are on our side."

Sombra had no idea what Rukia was talking about, once more making him wish that he had his memories so he could understand what some people meant, but at the same time he nodded his head and let Rukia head back to the school so she could do whatever it was she wanted to do. A few seconds later Sombra followed after the duo and headed back towards the school as well, just so he could keep an eye on both of them in case one of them ended up getting into trouble before Ichigo was able to get home and think about what Rukia told him... all while wondering what was coming their way next, as he had a feeling that more Hollows were already on their way to the town.

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