Bleach Portal

Episode 23 - The Sentence Of Rukia, Before The 14th Day!

The big, dark thing overshadowing Ichigo was, of course, Bonnie-chan, who passes over Ichigo’s head, shaving off a bit of hair in the process, and head-butting Ganju, who then skids away, finally coming to a halt a distance away. He gets up and compliments Bonnie on the nice hit, but says they have no time for that today, and that he needs a ride. Bonnie’s eye glints and he head-butts Ganju once more, but this time, Ganju lands on her back. We now see that on Bonnie’s side are the words “4-wheel drive”, and Ichigo shouts after Ganju, asking if he’s running away. Ganju retorts that he isn’t, but will settle the score tomorrow, so don’t turn into a seed and float away to escape. Ichigo begins to say something, but the rest of Ganju’s friends and their boars run past him, spinning him around. Ichigo pushes up his glasses then puts a hand on Ichigo’s back, saying that he doesn’t know what to say.

The next day, Orihime says that she hopes Jidanbou will be okay, because although his wound has healed… Chad cuts in, saying that people with big bodies have plenty of endurance, and for most injuries, are fine. Orihime and Ishida agree with him, though Ishida is wondering what kind of person Shiba Kuukaku is – Yoruichi wouldn’t tell him anything specific. Orihime remembers that Shiba is the only person able to enter the Seireitei without using the gate, so Ishida says he must be well-known mystic. Orihime, on the other hand, feels that it must be a pure-breed cat with a pedigree certificate, such as a Persian, American Short hair, or a Dalmatian. Chad tells her that just because he is an acquaintance of Yoruichi doesn’t mean he’s a cat – furthermore, Dalmatians are dogs. Ishida adds that from his name, you could tell that Shiba must be a grand, muscular man, like a samurai. Chad’s idea differs, his being a hermit-wizard type old master. Orihime sees the light and stoops down to draw what her mind thinks on the ground: a cat-eared buffed out samurai wizard, with a tail. Chad says that he doesn’t even know what her drawing is of, and so she asks if he could be a skinny samurai with sandals. Ishida insists that Shiba must wear a cape, but Orihime, equally vehement, refuses. He then wonders what’s keeping Ichigo, and goes to check on him.

When he finds Ichigo, Ishida is shocked to hear that Ichigo is not going, or rather, will go after settling scores with Ganju. Ishida tries to drag Ichigo out the room, but Ichigo says that Ganju will think he ran away. Orihime arrives, and Ishida asks her to help peel Ichigo off the floor. Ichigo argues that he’ll beat Ganju real quick and catch up with them, but his sentence is cut short by Yoruichi, who uses her claws to leave three nice, parallel lines on Ichigo’s face. It asks Ichigo if so much blood has rushed to his head that he has forgotten his original goal – Rukia’s life depends on their journey. They don’t have time for a chest-thumping contest between the two of them.

Rukia, meanwhile, is sitting on a chair in her cell as the doors open and Renji comes in. Rukia asks him if the date of her sentence has been moved up. He replies that it is 2 weeks to her execution, and use of Soukyoku has been approved, so they’re moving her to the Shrine of Penitence, cell four-deep.

Chad, Orihime, Ishida and Ichigo walk along the path, led by Yoruichi. Ichigo comments that they are pretty far from the village and asks if they are going the right way. Ishida pulls open a map given by the elder, and says that it should be around here, and if he has complaints, why not he walk up front. Orihime says that Shiba must live out here to keep his identity secret, but Yoruichi says that isn’t the case – it’s the fools nature to like places like this. It adds that although the addresses change often, the look of the house is always the same – it’ll recognize it once it sees it. Yoruichi stops, saying that they have reached Shiba Kuukaku’s house. They are shocked to see a house, by which on each side a hand holds up a banner that reads “Shiba Kuukaku”. Yoruichi is pleased with itself, but Ichigo and Ishida say that being recognizable or not is not the problem, and the thing about him liking secluded places must be fake – they just don’t let him live in town because of his house. As Yoruichi says that this time, its arms holding the banner, Ichigo and Ishida’s hearts are given another jolt – there’s a new theme each time!?

Yoruichi starts to walk to the house, as do Orihime and Chad, but Ishida and Ichigo will not. Ishida doesn’t want to enter that sad excuse for a house, while Ichigo is worried that people will see him going into the weird house. Yoruichi calls to them, and they have no choice but to go. Ishida looks up at the extraordinarily tall, large chimney which has its top sealed, wondering why it is that way. They are stopped suddenly by two look-alike “gatekeepers”, each one standing on one of the hands, who call them infidels and mock their fashion sense. One says that he sees one is a Shinigami, then jumps to the ground, followed by the other. The two of them (both are taller than Chad) say that they, Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko shall never let them pass. Yoruichi steps out from behind Ichigo’s leg and waves at them. The two are so shocked they just scream, “YORUICHI-DONO!”

Shiroganehiko stays outside as Koganehiko leads them down into the house. Ishida says that the house is one weird thing after another, and Orihime wonders how one would get up to the other floors. Koganehiko apologizes for being so rude, as they did not know that they were Yoruichi-dono’s companions. Ichigo says to himself that there aren’t Yoruichi’s companions while Yoruichi apologizes to Koganehiko for not informing them of its visit.

Koganehiko says that Yoruichi is so great and thoughtful. They hear some knocks from inside the room, and Koganehiko slides open the door. Yoruichi walks up to the woman who sits inside, who greets Yoruichi casually. Chad, Orihime, Ishida and Ichigo are shocked to see that Shiba Kuukaku is a woman, and Yoruichi replies their outbursts, saying that no one even said Kuukaku was a man. Noticing the four behind Koganehiko, Kuukaku asks who they are.

Yoruichi sits and tells Kuukaku that the purpose for its coming here was to ask for a favor. Kuukaku says that it usually is the case, and asks if it is trouble, which Yoruichi confirms. Kuukaku laughs and says that it’s been awhile since they’ve talked like this, too. She loves trouble, so bring it.

Rukia, her face covered by a cloth and red cord around her neck connected to 4 poles carried by mysterious people, is being led across a bridge by Renji. Before them is their destination: a tall, cylindrical building with few and narrow windows. Once inside, the cloth and cord from the collar on Rukia’s neck are removed, and Renji asks her if she can see it from the window: the Soukyoku, the two tools that will be used in her execution. Those imprisoned in this tower are meant to repent of their crimes by gazing upon the Soukyoku from the small windows built into the tower. Therefore, the tower is called the Shrine of Penitence. One of the masked men asks for Rukia’s hand, and with a purple ball of energy from two fingers and a command, the cord around her wrists coils itself back into the collar on her neck. The 4 men pick up their poles and stand, thanking Renji for leading the transfer procession. They start to walk out, but Renji does not, instead looking at Rukia. Renji then marches over to Rukia, putting a hand on her shoulder and telling her about the Ryoka that had entered Soul Society: 5 of them, 1 of them an orange-haired Shinigami with a Zanpakutou as tall as he. Rukia’s head whirls around, a look of disbelief in her eyes.

Kuukaku takes a puff on her pipe, saying that she thinks she gets the situation, and accepts the job, since Urahara also has his teeth in it and she couldn’t refuse even if she wanted to. Standing, she says that she trusts Yoruichi, but not the rest, so she will send one of her minions (little brother) with them. She says that he’s still a useless brat, and goes to a door, where she shouts to her minion, asking him if he’s ready and telling him that she’s opening the door so to be on his best behavior. Kuukaku slides open the door, revealing a man in colorful clothes, bowing to them and introducing himself as Shiba Ganju. He raises his smiling face and the 5 guests are shocked to see that it is the Ganju from the previous night. Ganju opens his eyes and looks at them, blinking twice before it registers in his mind. He and Ichigo leap up at the same time and point at each other, screaming. Kuukaku looks at them, puzzled, asking if they know each other.

Renji walks along a corridor, asking himself how many days it had been since he had seen Rukia’s face so alive. He thinks to himself that since it was Ichimaru who intercepted them, they would be most probably be dead by now. But he wasn’t planning on telling her that. He hears someone calling his name and sees 5th Division Captain, Aizen Sousuke, waving at him and asking if he could speak with him a moment. As he flips through some books, Aizen says that it’s been a long while since they’ve talked like this, since Kenpachi (11th Division Captain, Zaraki Kenpachi) took him away to his squad. He asks if Renji is now in 6th Division, but Renji just asks what Aizen meant to talk about. The latter goes to the door and draws the curtain close before asking Renji if he was close to Rukia. Renji’s eyes widen but he doesn’t answer. Aizen looks back at him, saying that he doesn’t have to hide – he knows they were close since their Rukongai days. He then asks if Renji thinks she should die, and Renji replies that he doesn’t understand.

Aizen asks if he doesn’t think it strange: her being charged with the unauthorized lending of spirit power, the subsequent loss thereof and exceeding the time limit; all of which are serious crimes, but the immediate return of her faux body, the revocation order, the reduction of the grace period by 10 days, and lastly the use of the Soukyoku on a Shinigami of rank other than captain; are all unprecedented. Aizen cannot help but think that all this is moving according to a single will. Renji’s eyes widen as he asks what exactly he means, and Aizen replies that he has a bad feeling. True enough, there is someone eavesdropping on their conversation – Ichimaru Gin. Aizen begins to say something, but an alarm is sounded, calling for an emergency division captains meeting.

Meanwhile, a fight has ensued between Ganju and Ichigo, with Kuukaku, Yoruichi, Chad, Orihime and Ishida watching on. Ichigo flings Ganju though a door, smashing it down, and Ganju retaliates by kicking Ichigo away, running back up, grabbing his legs and stepping on what’s between. Koganehiko sits placidly outside, but the door is suddenly smashed down by Ganju crashing though it. As the fight continues, Kuukaku’s pipe is suddenly knocked out of her fingers. She looks around for it, and sees it lying on the floor. But Ganju gets there first, stepping on and breaking the pipe. In a fit of rage, she gathers energy into her hand and creates fire, using it to blow up the house/separate the two fighting people.

Ganju and Ichigo are blown away, and Ishida, Chad and Orihime, Yoruichi sitting on her head, just manage to get out in time. The house and the arms collapse a little and Ishida comments that Kuukaku’s way of stopping the fight was too drastic. Chad says that he thinks he understands why she has to move so often. Kuukaku, her foot on Ganju’s head, reproaches the two of them for starting to beat each other up the minute they meet, jacking the house up. Ishida, Orihime, Chad and Yoruichi watch as Ganju tries to say something but is shut up by his sister. Seeing them, she asks if they’ve got anything to say. They say that they have none, just as Ichigo stirs and asks what just happened. Kuukaku finishes torturing Ganju and starts towards Ichigo, who begins to shiver. She pulls him up by his hair and says that this is her house – if he has a problem with the way he does things, then get out! Ichigo, sweating, apologizes, and Kuukaku puts him back down, saying that as long as he understands. Ichigo falls to the floor and crawls over to Ganju, commenting that his sister is scary.

At Kuukaku’s order, they all stand, and she orders Koganehiko to go up and help Shiroganehiko prepare, while the rest are to shut up and follow her. They do, through a lit corridor. Ishida (being a nerd) asks how there is light even underground, even though he saw no power facilities. Kuukaku says that they have firefly creepers in the holes in the ceiling and inside the frames on both sides. Ishida asks if that is a plant only grown in Soul Society, but Kuukaku ignores him as they arrive at the room. She orders Ganju to open the door, and he walks up to the door. Ishida tries to clarify his doubts about the firefly creepers, but is hushed by Ichigo, who tells him not to upset her. Ganju pulls open the door, revealing the base of the chimney Ishida was admiring earlier, which Kuukaku walks towards. She tells them that she will be using this to get them into the Seireitei, via the sky. Ishida and Ichigo are stupefied as she adds that she is Shiba Kuukaku – Rukongai’s number 1 fireworks maker.

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