The Guns of Karakura

Chapter 12: Retrovertigo

Ichigo looked over at the Espada's impassive face and frowned: he had just about had it with the guy's mysterious act.

"You say we should get going back to where we'll be stayin'," he said slowly, "but I don't travel with a man who's name I don't know, and I sure as hell don't let him walk behind me."

Ulquiorra held the gaze of the kid's eyes for a moment before he nodded; if dealing with insignificant formalities was what it took to bring the buck into line, then so be it.

"Fair enough," the Espada replied levelly. "My name is Ulquiorra Schiffer. I already know who you are, Kurosaki Ichigo – don't go wastin' your breath on my account. If that's made ya satisfied, might I suggest that we get on out of here?"

"What, you afraid o' those two?" Ichigo shot back with a smirk, referring to the pair of gunslingers at the bar. Ulquiorra looked at Ichigo with a blank face

"No, but I have no desire to ride out tomorrow with a sick horse."

"Fine, fine," Ichigo continued, brushing off Ulquiorra's silent disdain. "We'll get goin'. But first, I gotta make sure my pals are all right back on over at the hospital – they should have been back here by now."

"Very well," Ulquiorra allowed, and the three of them got up and walked out the doors of the bar. Matsumoto and Shunsui exchanged relieved looks but said nothing, anxiety knotting in their guts as they felt the air thicken with something other than the pressure of the coming storm – the appearance of an Espada outside of Las Noches meant that either Aizen was moving or someone was moving against him, and that was as good an omen of bloodshed to come as ever there was.

As they walked out into the pale sunlight once again, Rukia sped up her pace subtly to sidle up alongside Ichigo, sparing Ulquiorra a quick glance over her shoulder before nudging the orange-haired youth in the ribs.

"Huh? Rukia? What is it?"

"I really don't think we should be trustin' him," Rukia whispered as urgently as she could without raising her voice. Ichigo looked over at her and frowned for a minute, before shrugging.

"I ain't really seein' many other choices ," he said, "you're gonna need to trust me on this."

"Ichigo, I know that—"

"Rukia," he hissed, "I really don't need you actin' like this, okay? Just get behind us and keep your eye on him."

"Whatever."

She wanted to place a hard elbow into Ichigo's ribcage, but she figured such theatrics could cause the Espada behind them to get suspicious. Rukia decreased her pace to walk behind the two men, her agitation showing in her stride. The Espada watched her fall behind, his lack of an expression showing that he understood exactly why she was now taking up the rear.

What's her deal? He'd thought that maybe they'd taken things a little fast the other night, but a girl asking you if you loved them, followed by a 'yes', usually meant you were in the clear. So why was she acting so touchy? As the trio reached the hospital, Rukia glared hard at Ulquiorra as he stopped, allowing her to enter before him. The Espada didn't seem to notice the scrutiny – or if he did, he simply didn't care.

"Oi, Renji; Ishida!" Ichigo shouted out as his boots clomped like horse hooves while he made his way through the halls, not seeming to mind what invalids might have been sleeping behind the doors he was thundering past. "Where the hell're you guys? We were waiting on you at the saloon, but you were taking forever! What's wrong?"

Ichigo finally heard what he recognized as the voices of Renji and Ishida behind a closed door, along with one that belonged to a young woman whom he didn't recognize. Gripping the rusted knob, he yanked the door open, ready to shout again before a pair of stern looks from both Ishida and the young woman he was sitting next to stopped him cold.

"Kurosaki," Ishida said pointedly, the edge in his voice hitting harder than if he'd been shouting, "please keep your voice down. This is a hospital, in case you didn't see the sign outside, and as such, it's a place of rest. Rest, like what Abarai here needs to get in order to recover." The young woman sitting next to him nodded firmly, the disappointed and hurt look in her wide gray eyes enough to make even the worst of sinners fall on their knees and weep apologies.

Ishida's trained eyes were quick to sweep over the newcomers as they entered the room, his instincts still running on high alert since he'd seen the strange gunman cut that bullet clean in half.

The same gunman who was now standing in the back of the room, near the door, his green eyes as cold and sharp as ever. The knife-fighter's hands clenched instantly; what was he doing here? Ichigo's demeanor didn't seem to indicate that he was being held hostage, but the green-eyed gunman seemed like a lone wolf through-and-through… so why would he have joined up with Ichigo?

All the same, the Jew told himself evenly, slowly unclenching his fist, odds are Kurosaki is working some kind of angle, however insane it might be… best to hear him out before I make a move.

"Don't worry about me, Uryuu," Renji chimed in raggedly as he opened his eyes and scooted himself up into a sitting position. "With that guy here, I don't think the deaf would be able to grab any shut-eye. But that's not what matters; you said you 'ere in a bar before this, Ichigo? Tell me you brought me a beer, or I might actually make you pay for wakin' me up."

"What?" Ichigo snapped back. "Are you an idiot, Renji? You know saloons don't let you take drink offa the property!"

The red-head grumbled something that sounded like 'Fuckin' excuses,' but Ichigo continued on as if nothing had been said.

"Anyway," he said, motioning with a jerk of his thumb to Ulquiorra, "this here's Ulquiorra Schiffer, and he's gonna be heading with us out to Las Noches… says he's got some business to handle down there, same as us. Renji, you good to walk?"

"Yeah, I should be," Renji answered with a nod, swinging his legs over the side of the bed with nothing more than a small wince to show for it. Testing the pressure on one leg and finding that it held up well, the gunslinger was on his feet a few moments later.

"Lookin' like that's a 'yes'," Renji said with a satisfied grin, before he half-stumbled forward as his injured legs begged to differ. But Ishida and Orihime had seen that coming, and swiftly braced the patient under his shoulders, one on each side. Ishida tensed slightly as he felt his arm resting over Orihime's, but took his mind off of it by speaking.

"We'll support him for now, Kurosaki," he said. Orihime nodded as well, nudging the two men forward and moving with them as they worked out a rhythm to their steps.

"Judgin' by how fast he's healin'," Orihime observed, "he should be good to go by tomorra, if we can keep the pressure offa his legs."

"Good to hear," Ulquiorra said flatly, looking around at the frayed timbers that had begun to creak in the wind. "Let's get on – I don't exactly trust the roof in this storm."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Espada," a calm, smooth voice spoke up. "This building has weathered far worse than a little rain… and so have I."

The travelers looked towards the doorway to see a tall, graceful woman standing there, her long black hair tied in an elegant braid that fell down over her shoulder to rest on her chest. Her blue eyes were wise and kind, but those in the room that had been trained to fight could see the steel lurking behind them, waiting to snap.

"Miss Unohana!" Orihime exclaimed, half in relief and half in anxiety, glad to see her mistress again but knowing how odd this scene must look. "These people're all friends of Mister Abarai here – we was jus' on our way out. Once I get him over to where he's stayin', I'll come right on back!"

"That's fine," Unohana said with a smile. "He certainly looks like he could use a hand or two, and who are we to deny help to those who need it?"

Orihime nodded happily, glad to have remained in her mistress's good graces and led the way as the group walked out of the room. Ichigo was much more subdued than he had been when entering, even going as far as to nod his head in respect to the hospital's head as he passed by. Ulquiorra was the last to leave, and spared Unohana no more than a glance as he walked by – he was in no mood to lengthen his brush with the woman in any possible way.

It was only when the group was again outside on the front porch and Ulquiorra was safely away from the hospital's headmaster that the Espada allowed himself to exhale in a rare display of relief. Rangiku Matsumoto and Shunsui Kyoraku he could take down with only minor risk to his own safety, but not Retsu Unohana. He didn't care if she'd left the killing business behind; he didn't want to be the reason she picked up her guns again.

He would be glad to have his back to this spit of a town come sun-up; of that, the Espada was beyond certain.

"Okay, all of you listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once."

Ichigo, Ulquiorra, Rukia and Ishida stood around the table in the larger of the two rooms Ichigo had rented for the night, the group still and intent. Orihime was busy tending to Renji again, who had been put down in the bed to rest some more.

"Come sunrise, we're going to head out towards Hueco Mundo. I don't care how long it takes, and I don't care how hard the road there is. Ulquiorra's promised to guide us there, and I intend to follow him as far as he's willin' to lead. Any of you havin' second thoughts an' want'n to back out, now's the time to make yourselves heard."

Ishida adjusted his glasses, the normally thin sound echoing loud and clear in the silent room.

"I have a feeling that what I'm looking for and what you're hunting lie on the same path, Kurosaki," he said. "I'll follow you as far as you need, but just know that as soon as I find what I'm looking for, I'm goin' after it."

"Understood," Ichigo answered with a solemn nod, "and I don't blame ya for that. Glad to have what help I can get, while I can get it."

"I'll come with you, too, Ichigo," Rukia said, looking hard at Ulquiorra as she spoke. "Lord knows without me there to watch your back, you'll probably wind up dead in a ditch three miles outside of town."

"Thanks for the vote a' confidence, Rukia," Ichigo said edgewise, "but I'm glad to hear you're down to ride all the same. I know Renji's good for it," the orange-haired youth continued, Renji wincing slightly as Orihime replaced another set of bandages.

"There," she said in her drawling voice. "Since I know he'll be ridin' with y'all no matter what I tell him, it'd be right improper to send him off with dirty dressin'."

Orihime stood and smiled, giving Ishida one last glance on her way out before passing through the door and out into the hallway. The Jew stood as she left, his eyes meeting hers briefly before she vanished out into the hall. Not a soul in the room missed the movement. Ichigo gave Ishida a crooked grin, but a stern look from the black-haired youth told him that a single word would be enough to justify the loss of his tongue at the edge of Ishida's knife. Ichigo let the grin linger for a moment before he dropped it and coughed. He looked out the window at the storm that was now all but on top of them and frowned.

"Well, I know it ain't really that late," he said, "but with this storm goin' the way it is and the long day we're lookin' at tomorrow, I'd say it makes sense to grab our shut-eye now while we can."

"I agree," Ulquiorra said, lifting his silence at last and walking towards the door. "I made arrangements for the room at the end of the hall. I assume by the way the beds are arranged, that y'all got claims to this and the room across?"

"Yeah, that's right," Ichigo said casually, masking his inner surprise at the sharpness of the Espada's eye: he'd only seen the rooms in passing, and the doors were only open slightly, and yet he had gathered that much about them anyway?

Ichigo was just glad this Espada was on his side – he couldn't even imagine how strong and cunning the others would be.

He and Rukia left after Ulquiorra, leaving the room to Ishida and Renji. Rukia, for her part, was dead silent the whole walk to their room. She continued to give him the cold shoulder even as she undressed down to her underwear and slipped underneath the sheets of her bed, her back to his.

"Rukia," Ichigo said finally, his brow creased in irritation, "what is it? What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

"Nothing, Ichigo," Rukia said flatly, but with enough force in her tone to put a premature end to the young man's attempt at conversation. "Good night."

Ichigo sighed and looked up at the ceiling, left to wonder what he'd done to get Rukia so pissed off at him.

Hopefully, she would be calmer in the morning.

A boom of thunder seemed to laugh loudly at him for thinking something so stupid, but Ichigo shut his mind to the outside world with a frown and closed his eyes in sleep.

Renji stepped out of the hotel and stretched in the morning sunlight. The smell of rain still lingered in the air, but the skies were clear and the day was already growing warm. He turned his face up to the east and grinned.

It felt damn good to be out of that bed.

He'd only been stuck in the hospital for a day, but it felt like it had been at least two years since he'd walked around. He wasn't used to being pampered and waited on and that Orihime girl had done both almost non-stop. He was prepared to do what he always did when he got shot: whiskey until the pain stopped. Still, he had to admit that she was a goddamn wizard with medicine. He'd been feeling the cold breath of the reaper at this time yesterday and now he was ready to ride, feeling more fit than he had in ages.

He smiled as the rest of his team appeared in the road, the four of them upon their horses, Ishida carrying the reins of the fifth and final steed. Renji stepped off the porch and into the sand below, his boots leaving deep indentations in the still damp earth. He walked up and took the leash from the bespectacled knife-fighter.

"We figured we'd give ya some extra time to get ready," Ishida said as Renji faltered on his first attempt to mount his horse. "Wouldn't want you to wind up back in the hospital right away."

"Ya know," Renji replied as he successfully leapt into the saddle, "that was right kind of ya. For a Jew, you ain't so bad."

Uryuu Ishida chuckled and opened his mouth to reply when he saw Orihime and Unohana walking down the street towards them. He went to smile at the girl before he noticed that her eyes were cast down as she walked. The two healers were soon next to them, the elder woman smiling up at Ichigo.

"If ya don't mind, Mister Kurosaki," she began, the weathered lines in her face doing little to mar her beauty. "I was hopin' I could ask you to take Miss Orihime with you."

"What?" Ichigo asked in astonishment. Renji could tell that the rest of the group was equally as astounded at the request. Lord knew he certainly was.

"See, Miss Unohana," Orihime began, her eyes still pasted to the ground. "They don't want me to be botherin' them none."

"N-no, it's nothin' like that," Ichigo said, his smile widening nervously. "It's just that…" he turned to Unohana. "Well, where we're headin' ain't exactly the safest place for a young lady such as her."

"Which is exactly why I reckon that she should go with you all," Unohana said. "I've been down in the south desert before. It's been ages, but some things you never forget and I won't never forget how dangerous it is down there. If the bandits don't kill ya, the scorpions and rattlers will."

"Exactly my point," Ichigo began again. "Orihime here is a medic, not a fighter."

"Come on, Miss Unohana," Orihime murmured. "Let's go on an' stop pesterin' these folks."

But the older woman was not deterred.

"And that is exactly my point. Orihime is a wonderful healer. By the time she's my age, I wouldn't be s'prised if she learns how to cure death itself. You all need someone down there like her."

Retsu Unohana shot the briefest of glances at Ulquiorra, her blue eyes meeting with the Espada's green ones in a silent threat. The younger gunslinger looked away and lit his cigarillo, his eyes suddenly interested in the desert that stretched to the southern horizon.

Ichigo did not notice. "Well, that's right nice of ya, but I'm afraid we ain't got a horse for her or nothin'."

"She can ride with me," Ishida said quickly. His cheeks flushed with red and he immediately looked down at his hands. "If Miss Orihime doesn't mind, of course."

While he was concentrated on tying his hands into knots in his saddle, the young Jew completely missed Orihime look up from the ground and smile for the first time all morning.

"Accourse I don't mind," she said before returning her eyes to the ground. One of them peeked up at him from beneath her eyebrows. "So long as everyone else is fine, too."

Renji smirked and looked over at Ichigo. The orange-haired gunslinger returned the look and nodded. It was obvious that these two were pretty head-over-heels for one another. It would be down-right cruel to say no to the request.

Which was perfect.

"Well, I dunno," Ichigo said teasingly. "Ishida rides slowly enough as it is. I dunno if we can afford to lose any more time than we already will."

"Mister Kurosaki," Unohana said politely, despite the stern look in her eye. "I have patients to return to. I don't have all mornin' to wait for your answer."

Ichigo's smile fell.

"Well," he said, "as long as she's feelin' up to it, we'd be happy to have her."

"That's good to hear," Unohana said with a pleased smile to rival Orihime's. "She don't own too many belongings, but what she's got is still in the hospital. If you don't mind, we'll go fetch them?"

"Yeah," Ichigo replied. "We'll meet y'all there in a short while."

The two women walked away, Orihime with an added bounce in her step. Renji and Ichigo both turned and looked at Ishida, smiles wide. Even Rukia, who had been deathly silent all morning, seemed to be grinning at the young man, her eyes bright as she smiled. Ulquiorra didn't seem to care one way or the other, his deep green eyes still looking south.

"Well well, Ishida," Renji said, bucking his horse into a slow trot. "Looks like ya sure made yerself quite an impression on lil' miss 'Hime."

"Yeah," Ichigo chimed in. "Never in my life did I think you could pull in a catch like that little beaut!"

"Oh, leave him alone you two," Rukia quipped with a chuckle as she came up alongside Ishida. "She's a very lovely girl, Ishida."

"Shut up," the young Jew snapped. "I was just tryin' to be polite to a girl who's too shy to admit she wanted to come with us."

The trio of hecklers looked at one another before bursting out in laughter. Ishida frowned, his face turning red.

Ulquiorra suddenly set his horse moving, albeit slowly. He turned his head over his shoulder to look at his companions.

"Let's get on," he said calmly. "The girl shouldn't take too long, I s'pose. I'd like to get to the next town before nightfall."

Rukia glared at Ichigo, her eyes screaming for him to do something. Even Renji could read that look – she wasn't happy traveling with the Espada and she wanted Ichigo to know it. Renji could commiserate, even if he personally didn't give a damn one way or the other. This Ulquiorra fellow belonged to the gang that killed Ichigo's dad, but if the orange-haired gunslinger was fine following him, Renji couldn't see a problem with it.

Ichigo ignored the look Rukia was drilling into him and followed the Espada towards the southern edge of town. Renji sidled up to Rukia and tried to make eye contact with her, but the Kuchiki princess kept her brow knotted and her vision sternly forward.

Renji kinda felt bad for the girl. He didn't know the details between her and Ichigo, but he was fairly certain that their cute little flirting had gone up to the next level. She must have felt like she was suddenly taking second place to Ulquiorra. That in itself wasn't enough to make Renji pity her; just because you gave it up didn't mean that the lucky guy had to obey your every whim. He'd broken several hearts, including his own, with that philosophy.

But to be dethroned so quickly by some strange gunslinger had to be a painful shot to the ego for her.

Whatever, Renji thought as he began to follow the rest of his group. She's a tough little thing. If Ichigo gets too bad, I'm sure she'll slap him into shape.

Orihime came out of the hospital with a small bag over her shoulder. Ishida stopped to help her up onto the saddle, but Ichigo and the Espada simply kept on heading forward.

"Jesus the man," Renji exhaled as he sat down, his back against a thin tree. "I ain't rode this hard since… we'll I never rode this hard."

"Maybe you should try keepin' in shape," Ishida said as he sat down next to him, handing the red-haired gunslinger a water-skin. "This ain't so bad."

"Maybe Mister Abarai's needin' me to check his bee-hind," Orihime said cheekily. "Soundin' like he's got the saddle-sores."

Ishida and Orihime laughed. Their cutesey behavior was starting to get on Renji's nerves. They'd been pretty much absorbed with each other the whole day.

"Well ain't you just little-miss talkative now," Renji said, tossing the water-skin at her. Still, she was definitely the bright spot in their caravan. She seemed to be able to make Ishida lighten up and even laugh, so that was a change. And her goofy laugh was somewhat contagious; even Renji found himself grinning when she giggled.

The other three members of their party weren't nearly as talkative. Ulquiorra hadn't spoken a word since they left Junrinan – he'd simply led the way at a quick pace with, not caring who could or couldn't keep up. Ichigo had followed dutifully, as the Espada was sure to have known he would. And Rukia…

Rukia was sitting by herself, her back propped up against one of the numerous boulders that littered the plain they were on. She was eating lunch alone and, despite Renji's best efforts, she didn't want to join him and Ishida and Orihime. Which would have been nice; that way Renji would have had someone to carry a conversation with while little miss sunshine and Jew-boy did everything but lick each other.

"I got ta piss," Renji said unceremoniously, standing. "Don't sneak anything inta the rest of my lunch ya two…" Ishida and Orihime were looking off at the horizon together. "… yeah."

Renji walked around the backside of the nearest boulder and unbuttoned his fly. He'd heard of a recent invention that they used up north called a "zipper". It supposedly made the unfastening of a pant much simpler, but he'd have to see it to believe it. As far as he was concerned, his denims were fine the way they were.

With a sigh of relief, he unleashed the stream that had been nagging at his belly all day. His head tilted back and he looked out at the landscape with relaxed eyes. He knew that the area to the south of Rukongai was mountainous, but this was his first time ever seeing it. There was definitely more rocks than he was used to, but, oddly enough, the ground was growing greener as well. He figured he might as well enjoy it while he could – beyond those mountains to the south was the unforgiving desert of Hueco Mundo.

He re-buttoned his fly and stepped out from around the boulder, coming face-to-face with Ulquiorra Schiffer. He leapt back suddenly, startled by the sudden appearance of the Espada, a cloud of smoke wafting up to his face.

"Sorry, amigo," Renji said, hoping his Spanish didn't sound too bad.

The green-eyed gunslinger said nothing as he stepped around Renji and postured himself to urinate. Renji quickly made his way out from the rock, snorting out some smoke that was still in his nostrils.

I don't care how good it smells, he thought as he sat back down against his tree, if that kid ain't careful, he's gonna become a lunger.

The red-haired gunslinger sat down against his tree, pulling one of the revolvers from the holsters at his waits. He looked down at the right pistol of his Zabimaru pair, his thumb rubbing affectionately over the crimson grooves in the handle. He knew he needed to clean the poor bastards and he figured that now was better than never. He cracked the gun in half and reached for the rag in his sack.

"Alright," Ulquiorra said as he came from around the impromptu latrine, "let's get on."

Renji groaned, slipping his pistol back into the holster as he watched Ichigo eagerly mount his horse. He stood, grumbling under his breath about the lack of respite he was getting because of this Espada's seemingly endless energy.

"No," Rukia said, her voice hard. "We're not goin' anywhere."

Renji froze in mid-step towards his horse. While he did enjoy the idea of an extra moment of rest, he wouldn't have snapped at the Espada like that. After all, from what Renji had heard, the green-eyed gunslinger could easily kill any one of them without blinking an eye. And he figured the short gunslinger wouldn't hesitate, either.

"What?"

It was Ichigo that spoke first, breaking a silence that seemed to have lasted at least an hour.

"Rukia, what's got you all riled?"

Rukia whirled on him.

"Don't you play dumb," she hissed. "Ever since this Espada showed his face, you've been followin' him like a lost pup."

"Calm down now," Ichigo said, "Rukia."

"No!" Rukia yelled. "All we've done since he showed up was step on eggshells. I'm sick an' tired of makin' sure he's happy!"

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, his pupils tightening into beads. "Stop that nonsense. Ulquiorra here's my only ticket to Aizen. If you're thinkin' that I'm gonna let that chance slip on by, you got another thing comin'."

"Oh?" Rukia asked, tightly. "You'll follow his word before any of ours?"

Ichigo looked surprised at the question, his brown eyes looking carefully at each member of the team. They finally turned to the Espada behind him. Ulquiorra had remained silent throughout this whole outburst, his face still, his horse still pointed towards the town that he was leading them to.

Ichigo turned back to Rukia.

"What do you think this is?" he asked. "Did you forget why I came out here, Rukia? Did you forget about my father? About my little sisters? For all I know, they're worse off than dead, and it's my fault!"

"So what? That's all you care about?"

He remained silent atop his horse.

"Don't you care about what we want anymore?" she asked, her voice quivering slightly. "Don't you care about what I want?"

He sighed.

"'Course I do, Rukia. You know I do," he said, turning his mount. "But if you forgot why I started in the first place—"

"So it is more important than us?" she asked. "More important than me?"

"Yeah. It is," he said, turning his horse away. "And it always has been."

Ulquiorra kept his eyes on the quartet for a second longer, his gaze impassive, before he also turned, the two of them heading south towards vengeance.

Rukia stood stiffly, her back towards the other three people. Renji risked a quick glance towards the two people next to him, their expressions nearly as mortified as his own. He took a step forward and put a hand on Rukia's shoulder. She began to shake suddenly, and she turned, throwing herself into his chest. Shocked, her placed an arm around her as she wept into his shirt.

"Hey, hey," Renji said, his black eyes glaring at the retreating form of Ichigo Kurosaki. "Don't you worry your pretty little head."

a/n

Hola, amigos! JasoTheArtisan here, droppin' the latest chapter if "Guns". Well, Jazz wrote the first half and I wrote the second – that seems to be the pattern we're rockin' here. Either way, we both hope you dug it and we both would love to hear you opinions on the chap in some reviews!

We're really on a roll with this story, so expect another update sooner than later!

Jaso and Jazz