As Ninny and Shinji clashed into a strange fight, Shirou and Grimmjow fought fiercely in the distance.
They clashed swords and fists with each other, exchanging blows. Each clash caused sparks to fly, and the force behind each blow sent shockwaves throughout the area.
The battle between them was intense and fierce. Shirou was using his traced sword to defend himself against Grimmjow's attacks. He traced a bow and fired an arrow when he gained distance, but Grimmjow easily dodged it.
In terms of speed and power, Shirou lost to the Arrancar.
"Trace On!"
Still, he had a variety of weapons that he could use. Kanshou and Bakuya were still his favorite weapons to fight with, so he kept them out. Shirou had to move faster, tracing different swords and swinging it to attack. He also used them as projectiles to attack his enemy.
"Damn you, you pest!"
Grimmjow gritted his teeth in anger, but Shirou ignored it and kept tracing more and more swords to throw at him. He was getting desperate to kill this boy, but it wasn't working.
After a while, he stopped and looked at Shirou with a smirk.
"Hahaha! If you want to fight, I will gladly give you one."
Slowly, Grimmjow grabbed the hilt of his sword. He was ready to unleash his power when someone stopped him.
"Stop right now, Grimmjow."
Shirou was surprised when the man suddenly appeared. A dark-skinned man wearing glasses and a white coat suddenly stood behind Grimmjow and held his hand, stopping him from releasing his Zanpakutou.
The boy recognized the man immediately. It was one of the captains who betrayed Soul Society with Aizen.
'Captain Kaname Tosen.' He remembered the man's name.
"What?!" Grimmjow growled angrily, trying to shake the hand off.
However, his efforts were in vain as Tosen held him firmly. The blind man ignored Grimmjow's glare and spoke with his deep voice. "We will retreat now."
"What are you-"
"It's Aizen-sama's order."
Just like before, when someone brings out Aizen's name, the blue-haired Arrancar immediately shuts up. He grunted in frustration.
Then, Grimmjow turned around to look at the teen. A frown on his face, he looked like he wasn't happy at all about the situation.
"Tsk, what a shame. I will have to kill you later. Your name was Shirou, right?" He said as he turned around, putting his hands inside his pockets. "Remember my name, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques!"
Grimmjow and Tousen both stepped inside the garganta that they opened, and the hole to Hueco Mundo was closed soon after. They left, leaving no trace behind them except destruction on the buildings nearby.
With the fight ended, Shirou panted and let his weapons vanish into thin air. But he couldn't relax. His brother's condition was more important.
So, he immediately turned toward the direction where Ninny, Shinji, and his brother were.
They were still on a chase, with Ninny shooting magic toward Shinji who evaded like he was playing with her. The man with a bowl cut used shunpo skillfully to avoid the attacks, laughing as he taunted her.
"Come on, little lady~ Is that the best you can do?" He said with an annoying grin.
"SHUT UP!"
The girl was so annoyed that her cheeks had turned red. Her face was twisted in anger, and she looked furious. Her blue eyes glowed in rage as she glared daggers at the man, who was laughing at her.
All this time, she used magic that focused on capturing the man so she didn't harm Ichigo who stayed in his arm. However, anger had blinded her, so she decided to use her powerful magic.
Raising her hand, she began her chant.
Power gathered above her head. Light formed, turning into a long spear-like shape. This was one of the highest grade magic used to stop movement.
Usually, Witches only used this to deal with dangerous dragons due to the spell difficulty and power. However...
"The high starry path at the edge of the night, forming the queue of White Alva. Leeds wreath, light right, thereupon in the end do we look up towards the heavens."
... Ninny was way more pissed than usual.
Rainbow color surrounded her. At the same time, light formed and intensified above Shinji's head. The Visored looked up and noticed the danger. He smirked and dropped Ichigo into the air, jumping away from the magic's range.
Seeing Ichigo falling from the air, Shirou immediately went there and caught his twin. "Ninny!" He called her name to get her attention, but it seemed her focus was too high to hear him.
She ignored everything around her, even Shirou who had just caught his brother, focusing entirely on her chant.
When she finished, she activated the magic. "Supernal Jail!"
Luckily, the magic activated right above Shinji even when he was moving at fast speed.
The magic exploded into a torrent of rainbow color, spreading around Shinji like a jail made of light spears.
Almost immediately, Shinji was caught unable to move. He tried to destroy the magic, but it was futile.
"Hah! Why were you shouting earlier? Do you think I would miss my spell?" Ninny swept her hair back with her hand as she looked at Shirou with an arrogant face.
Shirou looked at her haughty attitude and smiled wryly. It seemed like he looked down on her too much. She was stronger and more skilled than she seemed.
"I will give you the credit for that." He complimented her.
"Of course! I am the greatest Witch in the world!"
'At least she doesn't become a brat when praised.' Shirou noted. His impression on the blonde witch improved slightly, and he looked at her.
She was indeed a great witch, as expected of a member of the Wing Bind, the organization that specialized in dealing with dangerous dragons. He would have to be careful around her.
For now, though...
"Can you explain why you did this to Ichigo, Shinji?" He turned to the blond guy who got jailed in spears of light.
He tried to escape but he couldn't move. He could only move his head and mouth, so he did his best to act normal. Shinji looked at Ichigo on his twin's hand and smiled a little bit.
"Oh? What do you mean? I just helped him because I thought he's in danger." He answered innocently, "Can you not accuse me of doing something I didn't?"
"I can't trust the words of a suspicious person like you," Shirou narrowed his eyes. He was in a bad mood after everything that happened today. "Are you one of the Visored?"
"Ooh! How do you know that? You know a lot of stuff, eh? Are you sure you aren't spying on us? Well, I guess it's pretty easy to find information on me. After all, I am in front of you right now."
"Don't mess with me. Tell me what your goal was, and why are you messing with Ichigo?"
"Hey, I wasn't lying earlier, I saved him. Besides, what kind of enemy saves the hero?"
"A weird one, perhaps?"
"Wow. You really are rude to your elders, aren't you? I am older than you!"
Shirou didn't answer him, and instead shrugged his shoulders.
Would it be okay to leave Ichigo in his care?
At first, Shirou was thinking he would take his brother back. But after seeing his condition, it would be the better choice to let him recover at a place who knew more about Hollows.
In the end, the decision was up to him and Ichigo.
But now, Ichigo couldn't make that decision, so it was up to him alone.
"Are we going to toast him?" Ninny flew closer to him and asked with an eager tone.
"No," Shirou replied. "It's not like he's our enemy, I think..."
"You don't seem sure."
"I don't have enough info about him. For now, we can't do anything." He said and looked around, "Well, I have someone's assurance, so I am confident in my decision."
"Oh?"
Shinji seemed interested in the last statement. "You have someone's assurance?"
"But I won't trust you fully, so... Take us to your base. I will decide after that."
Shinji didn't have the right to refuse, but he didn't feel bad. In fact, this might be a good thing.
He grinned and said, "Fine by me. Just follow me then, but..."
His gaze moved from Shirou to Ninny.
A haughty smirk on his lips.
"... can the little girl keep up?"
"You bastard..."