Bleach Portal

Episode 16 - Encounter: Abarai Renji!

Rukia runs away from Ichigo’s home, just as two people dressed like Shinigami appear, floating in midair. One with red hair and tattoos on his forehead performs a scan on her, and decides that she is indeed Kuchiki Rukia. As Rukia runs, she thinks back on the time when Ichigo took her Shinigami powers, when Mahana had asked her if she had the hots for him, when she first came to Karakura High, when she asked him how to drink from a packet, when they saw Don Kanonji, when she had knocked him unconscious and dragged him away, when he refused to believe her story that she was a Shinigami, when Orihime offered to make a sweet-bean dish for her.... She has decided that if she must eventually leave, then all the memories would be nothing more than shackles; the feelings of sympathy, friendship, closeness – all bothersome things unnecessary for a Shinigami.

She tells herself that she’s a mess that has stayed too long in the human world. The red-haired guy from earlier, standing atop a lamppost shouts that yes, she does get it, making Rukia stop in her tracks. He draws his Zanpakutou and tells her that since she had stayed in this world too long, she only has a few minutes left to live. He appears close to her, calling her by her first name, and she, his: Renji, Abarai Renji. Her eyes widen in fear as Renji jumps down from the lamppost and swings his Zanpakutou at her. She manages to dodge in time, but the ground in front of her turns green and a strong wind is created. Renji comments that despite pursuers from Soul Society closing in behind her, she was so lost in thought that she did not notice them until he spoke. He does not care that she is in a faux body, but in the past two or three months, she has gotten too soft.

He orders her to tell him the whereabouts of the person who took her powers, but Rukia insists that her being in a faux body does not mean that her powers were taken, let alone by a human at all. Renji says that it must be a human, for if not she would not have human expressions on her face. He goes on to say that they were both from Rukongai, yet she was lucky enough to be adopted by the noble house of Kuchiki, who spent a lot of effort and money on her to become one of the Shinigami elite. Being from the house of Kuchiki, she has no right to wear human expressions on her face.

Flower petals fill the air as Renji asks “Captain Kuchiki” if what he has said is correct. The word “Captain Kuchiki” has shocked Rukia intensely, and as Captain Kuchiki steps up behind Rukia, Rukia turns around and slowly, syllable by syllable, calls him “Byakuya nii-sama”. Renji takes this opportunity to swing his Zanpakutou at Rukia, but Rukia dodges again, though she is cut on her cheek. He reminds her that the transfer of Shinigami powers is a felony, and that the Brass was kind enough to leave the execution to himself and Byakuya, instead of the Correction Corps. He again orders Rukia to tell him to location, as he and Byakuya are here not only to capture her, but to kill the person who stole her powers as well.

He reminds Rukia that she did not dodge his first two attacks, but rather, he had let her. The next, would kill her. Byakuya watches nonchalantly as Renji takes another swing at Rukia, which she again manages to jump and dodge. However, his next attack, though she did dodge, sent her rolling away until she managed to gather herself together again. Renji raises his Zanpakutou, but suddenly notices a blue light reflected on it. It is Ishida’s arrow flying straight at him, and then right past him and Byakuya.

As Ishida walks up, he says that the two of them are armed, but are attacking an unarmed girl – an unpleasant sight. Renji is shocked that he can see them, and demands to know who he is. Ishida replies that he is Rukia’s classmate that hates Shinigami. Rukia asks him why he is here, and Ishida replies that it was a coincidence, as he had wanted to go to a 24-hours sewing shop; not because he had sensed the Shinigami’s spirit power and brought the bag along as an excuse to be outside. Before he can finish his speech, Renji slices the bag off, leaving only the handle in Ishida’s hands. He once again asks Ishida who he is, but decides that it wouldn’t matter as he was going to kill Ishida there and then. As Rukia tries to intervene, Ishida stops her, and repeats to Renji what he said before: that he was a classmate who hated Shinigami. He then says his full name, Ishida Uryuu, when Renji calls his previous answer “not answering”. However, his intentions behind revealing his name, was such that even Renji, a Shinigami, would know the name of the man who defeated him. Renji begins to shiver, and says, determined, that he will kill Ishida.

Back at Ichigo’s house, it is 2 AM. Ichigo has just finished with the toilet and is wondering when Rukia would come home, but decides that in that case, he would take a break from Shinigami work that night. He suddenly hears weird noises coming from behind the toilet bowl, and looks behind to find a crying Kon taped there with masking tape. He asks Kon what he is doing there, as he was supposed to have gone on a journey. Kon, unable to reply, just struggles against the masking tape.

Kon, now free, is emitting a particularly foul smell, so Ichigo sprays him with some air freshener. Kon gets pissed and jumps on Ichigo’s face, asking him if that is how he treats his best friend who has endured long hours of suffering. Ichigo retorts that Kon was never his best friend. Kon, by some stroke of luck perhaps, remembers Rukia and tells Ichigo that she is in trouble. Ichigo pushes Kon away, causing Kon to bounce off the walls and the ceiling, finally landing on Ichigo’s table next to an envelope. Seeing it, he points it out to Ichigo and asks Ichigo if he had noticed it at all all this time. Ichigo picks it up, wondering what it is. Kon tells him that it is obviously a goodbye note, and Ichigo asks him if that was the case, why he was taped to the toilet instead of on some journey. Kon replies that it was not he who wrote the note, but Rukia. He then recounts what had happened that day.

He had stopped by here to say goodbye to Rukia before leaving, climbing up to the window. He had instead found Rukia writing the note at Ichigo’s desk. Ichigo seems shocked that Rukia would leave without a word, but Kon says that no one would care about him (Ichigo), since Rukia left anyway even though he (Kon) was with her. Kon, his face wet with tears, looks at Ichigo intently as he takes out the letter, then jumps onto his shoulder to read it. The two of them look at the letter. It reads, “Enjoy deciphering this”, and the rest is mainly gibberish neither can understand. They then notice another readable thing at the side, next to a picture of a raccoon. It reads “Here’s a hint”. Seeing that the main part of the letter has so many “tas”, he decides that the raccoon must be a tanuki, and removes all the “tas” from the letter. He then is able to read the letter properly, and it reads: “For my own reasons, I must leave. Do not look for me and do not worry. After you read this letter, burn it. And if you can, hide out for a while.”

Ichigo does not understand still, as the letter states no reason for her disappearance. However, Kon (looks like he’s smarter than Ichigo…), seeing that Rukia wants them to burn the letter and hide out, knows that something must have happened between her and Soul Society, and so as to not involve them and the people around her, she left on her own. Kon even says that Rukia might be dead.

Ichigo tells him not to let his imagination run wild, as nothing will be solved by sitting around and talking. Ichigo decides to switch to Shinigami mode to go save Rukia. Kon readily agrees, until he realizes that it would mean Ichigo sticking his hand into his mouth to retrieve the soul candy. So he then starts running away from Ichigo, but eventually, he is caught, and Ichigo begins digging around in Kon’s stomach. However, before he retrieves the soul candy, a voice sounds from the window. There sits Urahara, with his cane. He asks if there’s anything he can do to help, and smiles.

Meanwhile, Ishida has just been beaten by Renji and is wincing in pain on the floor. Rukia notices that Renji has once again improved his skills, and that she can do nothing to stop him at all. Renji raises his Zanpakutou, ready to deliver the finishing blow. He tells Ishida to remember the name “Abarai Renji”, the name of the man who killed him. As he begins to swing his Zanpakutou downwards, the ground beneath him suddenly cracks and rises. He jumps away, landing on a fence, asking the person before him who he is.

“Kurosaki Ichigo, the man who’s gonna take you down,” replies Ichigo. Renji, noticing that Ichigo dons Shinigami clothes, asks which squad he is in, but then notices the immense size of Ichigo’s Zanpakutou, and questions it. Ichigo asks if it’s considered big, as all along he had only Rukia’s to use as a yard stick. Renji reminds himself that the size of one’s Zanpakutou reflects one’s spirit power, and so asks himself how a “kid” could have such a large Zanpakutou. Noting Rukia’s reaction to Ichigo, Renji concludes that Ichigo must be the one who stole her powers. He then jumps and attacks Ichigo multiple times, who defends with his Zanpakutou each time. He asks Ichigo if his Zanpakutou’s size is only for show, and as Ichigo raises his Zanpakutou and swings it downwards at Renji, Renji evades it by jumping into the air above Ichigo. He then counterattacks, successfully delivering a blow to Ichigo’s right shoulder, which begins to bleed.

Rukia begins to run toward Ichigo, but Ishida grabs her ankle, telling her not to. Renji stands over the kneeling Ichigo, telling him that it is over and that he will die and Rukia’s powers returned to her, and subsequently, she will die in Soul Society. As the lamppost flickers and goes out, Renji calls Ichigo an idiot, as he had ignored Rukia’s warnings. Ichigo, an “overnight Shinigami”, could not possibly put a scratch on a real Shinigami like himself and Byakuya.

However, with one swing of his Zanpakutou, Ichigo does. At this, Byakuya speaks, saying that Renji had relaxed too much. He says that he has seen Ichigo’s face before, in a report by the Secret Mobile Corps that Ichigo had wounded a Menos Grande, sending it back to Hueco Mundo. Renji begins to laugh, and mocks the quality of the SMC, which he says has been sliding lately. He cannot believe that Ichigo could have wounded a Menos Grande, after all, while Ichigo’s Zanpakutou is huge, it is otherwise a total disgrace. It is obvious that Ichigo is unable to control his spirit power. He then asks Ichigo the name of his Zanpakutou, and Ichigo is unable to answer, and instead marvels at the fact that they name each of the Zanpakutous.

Renji mocks Ichigo, saying that he cannot even ask his Zanpakutou its name, and will not be worthy of fighting him, and wouldn’t be for 2000 years. With that, he transforms his Zanpakutou into a much larger thing made of seven rectangular plates with flat spikes coming out of each plate. “Howl, Zabimaru!” shouts Renji as he jumps into the air and tells his Zanpakutou that before him is his food. At first, Ichigo manages to block Zabimaru with his Zanpakutou, but the force is too great and he drops his Zanpakutou, allowing Zabimaru to cut into his left shoulder. Zabimaru’s seven plates are now separated by a lighter-colored, flexible material. As Renji pulls Zabimaru back toward himself, the longest part of the blade, which is the end, makes Ichigo’s wound even deeper. Blood spurts out of Ichigo’s wound, and as Rukia and Byakuya watch on in terror and indifference respectively, Renji retracts Zabimaru. Ichigo falls to his knees, a look of utter shock on his face.

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