Kuchiki Byakuya, Captain of the 6th, faces off with Kurosaki Ichigo, unappointed leader of the intruders. The air around the bridge that leads to the white tower hums heavily with spiritual pressure.

"...I..." Rukia steps up behind her rescuer. "...Ichigo...!"

"What?" he doesn't bother to look back at her; his eyes are still trained on Byakuya. "I came all this way, so it's too late to tell me to withdraw." If the worried look on Rukia's face is any indication, that's most likely what she was going to tell him. "I won't back down," He says. "I'm not kidding. I came here for the sake of rescuing you."

Suddenly, Ichigo snaps at her over his shoulder, "I don't give a damn if you say something like you wanna be executed here! I'll rescue you even if I gotta drag you out!" He points at her accusingly, "Your opinions from here on out will all be dismissed! Got it, moron!?"

"Wha..." Rukia is shocked by the outburst and quickly falls into her old mode of dealing with Ichigo - i.e. lots of yelling. "What's with that! You mean, you're going to ignore all of the advice from the one being saved!? That's such a despotic rescue technique!!"

"Shut up! The one getting rescued shouldn't talk like that!" Ichigo yells back at her. His arm swings out, motioning behind them. "You should be over there screaming 'Help me~!!' and trembling like a leaf!!"

Ichigo and Rukia glare at each other in wordless rage, blood-vessels popping in anger. (1)

Eventually, Rukia regains her temper and she can't help a small, sad grin quirk the corners of her mouth, "You're the same as ever... You still never listen to a word I say..."

"Of course I don't!" Ichigo faces away from her, "The only stuff you ever say is out of worry for me! At a time like this you should be concerned over yourself!!"

Rukia pauses, watching him.

Ichigo turns back around and smiles at her, "Don't worry! I won't die!" It reminds Rukia of a similar confident and protective smile that had been offered to her long ago in the same manner. The memory saddens her but Ichigo keeps talking, regardless of her expression, "I plan to get a little stronger this way." Rukia shuts her eyes tight, as if that could push away the sudden ebb of sadness.(2)

Farther down the bridge, Ukitake stares at Ichigo in shock. "...Byakuya," he asks. "Who's that?"

Byakuya looks over at the Captain of the 13th, "He's irrelevant. For the moment, he is just a man who has gone over an elder brother's head." He faces forward again, "He is nothing. Simply an intruder. I will extiguish him and it will be over."

"This trivial war," Byakuya says, "will all be over."

Ichigo steps forward, hand reaching for his hilt, "...You're taking things rather easily, huh. You didn't come slice at me even when I was talking to Rukia."

"...Who do you think you are talking to," Byakuya walks towards him. "Are you saying that I would need to catch you off guard? Don't talk big, Boy."

An explosion of Byakuya's spiritual pressure suddenly engulfs the area. It doesn't cause damage to the bridge, but the people who stand on it can certainly feel its effects.

Rukia is forced to her knees by the overwhelming pressure. She looks over at her companion, "A... are you alright, Hanatarou!?"

"Yes..." Hanatarou clings to the railing to keep his footing. "s... somehow... you... as well..."

With determination marking his expression, Ichigo draws his blade and holds it steady, not letting himself be effected.

Byakuya notes this, "...Ah. Within this spiritual pressure, your countanance hasn't changed at all... It seems your skills have improved considerably..." he says to Ichigo. "I do not know how you regained the power of a Shinigami, but you could have lived peacefully on your world like that... Instead, you came to a place like this to throw away the life you recovered... Such a fool."

"...I didn't come here to thow my life away," Ichigo says in full confidence. "I will defeat you and return home."

"...I must have told you already..." Byakuya has a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Don't talk big, Boy."

And then - Byakuya vanishes.

"He's gone!" Rukia looks up in panic as she recalls a similar incident on the night she left the real world, when Byakuya had moved faster than Ichigo's eyes could see. "It's 'Shunpa'!!!"(3)

The rush of air around Ichigo, the passing of an instant, and the stab of a blade.

In the flash of a moment, Ichigo does the one thing he wasn't skilled enough to do in their first battle - he blocks Byakuya's attack. (4)

"...I talk big, huh?" Ichigo holds the flat of his blade against his back, effectively guarding himself from where the tip of Byakuya's sword presses against it. Ichigo turns his head to smile confidently at his surprised enemy, who stands behind him. "I can see you, Kuchiki Byakuya."

The separate quickly, breaking the deadlock in burst of spiritual pressure. They face each other again and the hum of energy resumes.

"...I understand now..." Byakuya says after a silent moment passes. "I can see that somehow your skills have developed more than I thought ...I have no choice."

Ichigo returns to a ready stance.

"Before you congratulate yourself on that strength of yours," Byakuya calmly holds up his blade vertically. "I will show you."

Rukia tenses up, aware of what Byakuya plans to do.

"Even if you were to struggle for 1,000 years, you can't bridge the gap," the pressure in the air around Byakuya increases as he prepares his next move, "when it comes to a crucial difference of strength."

"It's no use! Ichigo!!!" Rukia screams. "Run~!"

"Scatter," Byakuya commands his sword -

- but before he invokes its name, a woman appears out of nowhere with a strip of cloth in hand. The strip has suddenly been wrapped around Byakuya's blade from tip to hilt. It seems to effectively seal the sword (for now at least).

The 5 people on the bridge are shocked at this newcomer's sudden interference.

Ukitake stares, "...That's..."

Even Byakuya is surprised by her appearance, "...You are..."

"Yoruichi!!!"

She turns slightly to face the two captains with a serious expression. It seems that things are about to get a little more complicated.

(1)Ahh, the good old days... I love it when they argue. It's so damn amusing! ^_^
(2)10 bucks says that it's Sir Kaien who Rukia remembers once smiling at her.
(3)As in the "vanishing step" - the attack where Byakuya vanishes and stabs his enemy within a split second.
(4)HELL YAH!! I've been waiting to see that since vol.7!! XD

Note:
-Oops, gotta get to afternoon class! Bye!

-I've lost count of which volume of Jump this is... I might just change all of the summary titles and put in the chapter numbers instead. What do you guys think? EDIT: Well, for now, I'll just assume it's Jump#8...

-The way that the captains react to Yoruichi-san in the next chapter will go a long way towards explaining who she really is (or maybe even what she really is...). Wouldn't it be totally kick-ass if Yoruichi-san had an even higher rank than the captains? Well, I guess that's not possible - otherwise there wouldn't be a need to infiltrate Seireitei...

-Will the Ichigo fight continue or has Yoruichi-san effectively stopped it? If she has, then why do Byakuya/Ichigo fights have to be so damn short!?

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