ICE HEART
vi. open
❝THE SOUL SOCIETY IS DOOMED.❞

For some strange reason, all of the Shinigami had gathered at Ichigo's house and decided that they wanted to enter the house through the roof. Kori No Joō had a feeling that falling through the roof would most likely result in a few injuries, and just to ease the zanpakutō's worries, Ayame rejected the group's offer to join them like it was the plague, and that's how she ended up outside the window by herself, until the blonde-haired woman felt a familiar spiritual pressure nearby.

Suddenly, the white-haired Captain flash stepped next to Ayame, sitting down beside her on the roof as he glanced over at the female, "Ayame, what are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Captain Hitsugaya." Ayame chuckled lightly, a small smile on her face as she looked up at him.

"If you must know, I didn't want to join them idiots in jumping down from the roof." He grumbled slightly, slightly irritated at their childish and stupid behaviour.

"That makes two of us." Ayame let out a soft sigh as she watched her legs dangle from the side of the Kurosaki home, "I just wish that this whole war never existed. Nobody would have to get hurt. Nobody would have to die."

Toshiro's eyes narrowed at her statement, "Nobody will die."

She let out a small scoff, "We both know that's a lie."

And they did. Both of them knew that at least one person would die, but there was no way to prevent that unless Sosuke Aizen surrendered, which seemed highly unlikely.

From that point on, the pair remained silent as they listened to the conversation that was occurring inside Ichigo's room, waiting for the right moment to barge in.

"Is this a mission or a party?" Ichigo questioned with a hint of irritation in his voice.

At that point, the white-haired male decided to open the window and make himself known to the other Shinigami while Ayame stayed hidden on the rooftop, deciding to stay out the conversation for a while longer.

"In any case, we're not sure why but we know that Aizen has an eye on you, Ichigo Kurosaki, and that's not good."

Rangiku snapped her head around to face her Captain and smiled brightly, "Hey, Captain Hitsugaya, you should've come down through the ceiling with us! We didn't do that much damage after all! Wait, where's Captain Kireina? I thought she was with you?"

"Have you been out on the window ledge all this time - in plain site? What if the neighbours report a silver-haired elementary student burglar?" Renji questioned with his eyes narrowed.

"That never occurred to me, oh well."Ayame's thought with a slight giggle.

"And the effect of hanging around idiots is already taking place. My Queen, please be cautious. I don't want your senses dulling because of this mission." Her zanpakutō warned.

"I'll be fine, Kōri no Joō. You worry too much." Ayame assured her zanpakutō.

"Shut up!" Toshiro instructed Renji, irritated with the fact that he was called an elementary student, before he decided to explain to Ichigo about the situation that the group were currently in, "It's true enough that an Arrancar is born when the mask is removed from a hollow, but simply taking the mask off an ordinary hollow wouldn't result in anything particularly dangerous. Anyone who was serious about declaring war on the Soul Society would need something big, something strong, Menos level and above."

"Above a Menos? Hold on, are you trying to tell me that there are hollows out there that are even stronger than a Menos?" Ichigo asked, attempting to take the new information in.

That was when Ayame decided to join in the conversation, despite her still being on the window ledge, "Well, what do you think he was saying?"

A few yelps of shock were heard from inside the room as they tried to discover where the blonde-haired female was hiding, so she decided to end their small game of hide and seek and crawled through the window, rolling her eyes at their behaviour.

"Yes, there are hollows that are even stronger than a Menos, to be more specific, there are three different classes under the name of Menos. The first is the Gillian - the lowest class within the Menos and there are many of them. Their main characteristic is that they all look exactly the same." Ayame explained, crossing her arms over her chest as she sat on Ichigo's bed.

Toshiro nodded, agreeing with what the blonde-haired female was saying, and decided to add to it, "The Menos that you banished from this world soon after you gained the power of a Soul Reaper was of this kind. I guess you could call it a foot solider."

"That... was a foot solider?" Ichigo stuttered in shock, seeing as it took almost all of his power to defeat that Menos and it was the lowest class.

"They're tremendously big, which intimidates some Soul Reapers. Although, their weakness is that they're slow. They aren't exactly smart as well. Their intelligence is only slightly higher than a wild animal, therefore, it's hardly any trouble at all for a Captain or a member of the Royal Guard Squad to subdue and kill one of them. Though, the problem is the next level. This class is called the Adjuchas. They're somewhat smaller than the Gillians, and there are fewer of them but they're highly intelligent and much better fighters, they also control the large numbers of Gillians. And finally, there are the Vasto Lordes. The highest class within the Menos. They're equal to humans in size, and there are very few of them in Hueco Mondo. But I'm not going to sugar-coat this in the slightest, the grim truth is that these Vasto Lordes are believed to be even more powerful than the Soul Reaper Captains are. Exactly how much power the Menos have gained by turning into arrancars is still unknown, but now that three of the Captains have deflected from the Soul Society to lead the Menos there is one thing we can be sure of: if Sosuke Aizen - former Captain of Squad Five - now has more than ten of those Vasto Lordes under his control, then the Soul Society is doomed." Ayame explained to them bluntly, knowing that the Menos shouldn't be underestimated.

Soon after her explanation, Renji was shoving his hand down a stuffed bear's throat to try and find a soul candy that was stored within the thing, which was extremely amusing to watch.

"Mission accomplished. Here it is." Renji smiled proudly as he grabbed the Soul Candy out of the bear's body, flipping it around in his hand as he began to look at the green pill.

"Ugh, that is totally disgusting!" Rangiku grimaced, leaning in to get a closer look, "You got the soul out of him without too much trouble, it's certainly constructed simply."

"Hey." Ichigo spoke, attempting to get their attention.

Rangiku continued to ignore the orange-haired Shinigami, "That's the Department of Reseach and Development for you!"

"I SAID HEY!" Ichigo yelled, growing frustrated very quickly.

"What do you want?" Renji asked, sighing loudly.

"Any idea when you guys are gonna leave?" Ichigo questioned.

Tilting his head with confusion, Renji glanced back at Ichigo, "What do you mean Ichigo? We're not gonna go home. We're staying here until our fight with the Arrancars is done. No one leaves till then."

"Y-You'll be staying? Where the hell are you all sleeping? Let me make this perfectly clear, we don't have enough space for you to stay here." Ichigo informed the group.

"Awww! You don't mean me, do you?" Rangiku whined.

"WHAT THE HELL?! NO WAY! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME? YOU'RE THE LAST PERSON I WOULD LET STAY HERE! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT I WOULD IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Ichigo shrieked in horror.

In retaliation, Rangiku decided to tempt him and seduce him by undoing a few of her shirt buttons, further exposing her very large chest and causing Ichigo and Renji to blush profusely and scream.

"AHHHHHHH! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? YOU CAN'T CHANGE MY MIND BY UNDOING A BUTTON!" The orange-haired male yelled.

A frown appeared on Rangiku's face before she lifted up her school skirt slightly, making Ayame facepalm at her stupidity. Ichigo was a very stubborn person, from what Ayame could gather, so when he had an idea in mind, then he would never change it.

"NOT EVEN IF YOU LIFT YOUR SKIRT A LITTLE!" Ichigo added while covering his eyes with his fingers, "DAMMIT! I WILL NOT GIVE INTO TEMPTATION. A MAN LIKE ME DOESN'T GIVE INTO TEMPTATION."

"Really? Then why are you peeking through your fingers?" Rukia questioned from behind Ichigo, causing a few in the room to let out small laughs.

"Well, for now I'll be Orihime's guest and sleep in her bed!" Rangiku exclaimed, giving up the idea of sleeping at Ichigo's house.

Confused, Ichigo turned to face the orange-haired female, "What do you mean? Did you already get her permission?"

"There isn't any rush. She's the kind of girl who doesn't know how to say no." Rangiku beamed brightly, "Captains, how'd you like to come?"

"Anymore time with that idiotic woman is poison. I will not allow you to go there!" Ayame's zanpakutō growled.

"No way. I won't." Toshiro told her sternly while the blonde-haired female simply ignored her, hoping that Rangiku would forget all about her and continue walking to Orihime's house.

Rangiku, however, was not taking no for an answer and continued to convince the white-haired Captain, "You should come~! It'll be fun~!"

"For you maybe." He sighed as they began to walk away.

Ikkaku stepped forward, glancing back at Yumichika as he spoke, "We better get going as well."

"You have somewhere to go?" Ichigo asked the bald male, a hint of shock laced in his voice.

"Of course I don't. There's no need to worry, last thing I'd do is depend on you." Ikkaku responded, a smirk on his face, "I'll find a place to stay on my own."

"Alright, and keep that wooden sword of yours out of sight!" Ichigo yelled as Ikkaku and Yumichika strolled off into the distance, with Ikkaku holding his sword on his shoulder.

Renji released a small sigh, stepping forward, "Well then, I guess I'll be going to Urahara's place for a while."

"You're gonna mooch off him again?" Ichigo turned back to face his red-haired friend with shock plastered on his face.

"I wouldn't dream of it. Just what're you saying? However, there is something I wanna ask him about." Renji added, turning around and putting his hand up to wave at the three of them.

"Oh, is that so?" Ichigo smirked, knowing that Renji didn't have a question for Kisuke and was just going so that he could mooch of him, but the red-haired male didn't want to admit it.

"You be careful now~!" Rukia shouted at her childhood friend, waving at him as he continued to walk towards Kisuke's shop.

"I'll be on my way then." Ayame smiled brightly at the pair, "It was nice to finally meet you, Ichigo."

"Yeah, you too. Do you know where you'll be staying?" Ichigo questioned with his eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Yes. Unlike the others, I plan where I stay before I rush into a mission, even if it's a last minute mission." Ayame chuckled before facing the pair, "Stay safe you two."