Backtracking timeline-wise all the way back to the Soul Society Arc.
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Ichigo forced himself upright on his knees, trying to keep the pain from pounding in his head. He glared across the bridge to the last thing standing between him and the white tower that held Rukia.
"Move," he rasped, trying to force the weirdest looking shinigami he'd seen through pure will alone, "out of my way!"
The shinigami(?) frowned back at Ichigo, the scar under his eye almost flattening into a straight line at the pull of muscles. "You're the one that attacked me!"
"You're the one keeping me from saving my friend!"
"You're... friend?" A wide hand came up to hold the straw hat on his head as the other boy turned to look at the tower. "Your friend is locked up in a tower?"
"What's it to you, bastard?" Ichigo growled, pressing Zangetsu's tip to the ground to pull himself to his feet. That damned shinigami barely looked hurt after all Ichigo had thrown at him. And what the hell was up with that stretching thing? Ichigio knew there were shinigami with strange abilities, but this one didn't even have a sword!
"Why are they in there?"
"She won't be, not for long. Because I'm going to save her-"
Ichigo's jaw clicked shut as half the side of the tower collapsed on itself. The shinigami's arms snapped into place, a grin filling up half his damn face.
"If you were saving your friend, you should've said so in the first place!"
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Ichigo forced himself upright on his knees, trying to keep the pain from pounding in his head. He glared across the bridge to the last thing standing between him and the white tower that held Rukia.
"Move," he rasped, trying to force the weirdest looking shinigami he'd seen through pure will alone, "out of my way!"
The shinigami(?) frowned back at Ichigo, the scar under his eye almost flattening into a straight line at the pull of muscles. "You're the one that attacked me!"
"You're the one keeping me from saving my friend!"
"You're... friend?" A wide hand came up to hold the straw hat on his head as the other boy turned to look at the tower. "Your friend is locked up in a tower?"
"What's it to you, bastard?" Ichigo growled, pressing Zangetsu's tip to the ground to pull himself to his feet. That damned shinigami barely looked hurt after all Ichigo had thrown at him. And what the hell was up with that stretching thing? Ichigio knew there were shinigami with strange abilities, but this one didn't even have a sword!
"Why are they in there?"
"She won't be, not for long. Because I'm going to save her-"
Ichigo's jaw clicked shut as half the side of the tower collapsed on itself. The shinigami's arms snapped into place, a grin filling up half his damn face.
"If you were saving your friend, you should've said so in the first place!"