AN: Welp, this chapter is late. My apologies.

Buuuut, yesterday was the big day! It was my first day of school this year. I'm hoping it's as much of a breeze as last year's was. I don't know tough with Algebra, all honors classes (including Honors Spanish), music, dance, art, and PE. My school really loaded our schedules up this year. :T

Anyway,I present to you chapter….*checks online* thirteen! Yay! I love the number thirteen, ya know? It's my lucky number…

Also, the last chapter didn't get very many reviews, so I'm hoping this one has better results.

WARNING – Minor romance-type stuff, fighting, badly written fight scenes, stupidity, dramatics, swearing, OOCness, council bashing, short chapterness, cliff hangers, and other fun stuff. c:

That's all for now.

Happy reading!

The New Guild in Town
Chapter Thirteen: The Gathering

"You know I'm not going to go with you without a fight, right?" Ichigo asked, drawing the sword that was sheathed at his hip.

"I expect nothing less from you, Ichigo." Makarov said calmly, ditching his floral shirt in preparation for his magic.

"Please be prepared." Ichigo warned, taking up a loose stance.

"Of course." Makarov replied, rolling his shoulders.

They were standing in the small clearing behind the guild, surrounded by tense guild members of Hollow Moon and allies. Shirosaki was standing off to the side, mask on, blade drawn, and looking ready to kill.

That was most likely going to be the case if Ichigo began losing in the fight, however small that possibility was. Harribel was laying a calming hand on his shoulder, muttering words of reassurance to him.

She herself was watching worriedly however, her heart screaming at her to put a stop to this. However this was a fight between Ichigo and Makarov, one where Ichigo was defending his honor, the guild's honor, and his innocence. Hopefully Makarov would be able to think sensibly and listen to Ichigo's side of the story before he was wounded too badly by Ichigo.

Orihime was standing near them, hand clutching the hem of Ulquiorra's jacket for reassurance. Ulquiorra did nothing to stop her, instead laying a hesitant hand on her head in an awkward calming gesture.

Ichigo stared down at Makarov with a scowl. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Makarov muttered, and flexed his body, suddenly growing around ten times his original size. Ichigo wasted no time either, launching himself high into the air and swinging his sword down as he descended. It left a long shallow cut going from Makarov's shoulder down his chest.

Makarov winced in pain and reached up and swatted Ichigo's much smaller form to the ground.

Ichigo landed on his back because he was caught by surprise. He quickly lifted himself off the ground, and glared up at Makarov.

Well obviously just slashing at him isn't going to work. He's too large right now. It's almost like fighting Yammy. Ichigo thought, sparing a second to glance over at the giant. But it'll have to work for now.

Makarov took the chance to swing his fist at Ichigo, but Ichigo quickly Flash Stepped away just in time. Losing his balance, Makarov stumbled, giving Ichigo an opening to jump in and give Makarov another minor wound.

He quickly backed off, putting some space between Makarov and himself.

"I still don't know why you're doing this, old man. I didn't do anything, but you're still going to try to capture me?" Ichigo asked, dodging Makarov's fist once again.

"Why would the Magic Council put wanted posters up everywhere – " Makarov swung his leg out to kick Ichigo aside and succeeded, "If you're an innocent man?"

Ichigo groaned from his landing spot, a good twenty feet away from where he was standing before. That was definitely going to leave some painful bruises, maybe even a cracked rib or two.

Lifting himself painfully once again, he looked straight into Makarov's eyes. "Because they're a bunch of lying, cheating, scandalous, idiots. They're trying to force my little brother into submission by capturing me, and cover their own asses." Ichigo spat, raising his sword again.

He dashed forward and pushed himself off the ground, gripping his sword in a way where it would no doubt stab Makarov, and with Ichigo's added force, would probably go as deep as the hilt.

However there was a cry from below, one quite unfamiliar to Ichigo, which made him hesitate.

"Ichigo! Please, stop!"

He made a split-second decision and performed an acrobatic flip, landing unsteadily on his feet before swiveling his head to find the source of the cry.

There stood Erza Scarlet, out of breath and sweating, staring at Ichigo, her friends behind her.

Lucy waved nervously, Natsu doing the same. Gray was watching with a frown and Happy was flying above.

"You don't…have to do this…" Erza panted, and it was unclear which of the fighting pair she was speaking to. "You can…work it out other ways!" She exclaimed.

"Erza stand back. This is between Ichigo and me," Makarov said sternly, getting into a fighting stance once more.

"No! Master, we agree with Erza! You shouldn't be doing this. And I'm pretty sure if you were thinking clearly you wouldn't be!" Lucy shouted up at him. "He's only a kid, Master. And you want to send him to the Council Jail?"

Ichigo looked up at Makarov seriously. "I'll explain myself peacefully if you'll listen peacefully. I mean, I don't want to fight you Makarov; or at least not in this way, under these circumstances."

Makarov looked down thoughtfully at both Ichigo and his guild members.

"Please Master, I'm begging you. Give Ichigo a chance to explain himself to us! Please…" Erza pleaded, finally catching her breath.

Makarov gave a frown rivaling Ichigo's scowl in grumpiness, before slowly shrinking himself back to his normal size.

"Fine. But if I don't like what I'm hearing, I'm going to resume my capture of you. Understood?" Makarov asked and Ichigo nodded. He was instantly joined by Shirosaki, who began uncharacteristically fussing over him. He was shortly joined by a worried Harribel.

"Are you alright Master?" Harribel asked, and Ichigo nodded, wincing as Shirosaki pressed one of his growing and quickly becoming tender bruises along his ribs.

"No you're not, Master. Nelliel!" Harribel yelled, and the green haired woman quickly made her way over.

"Shh! I'm fine! Shiro can heal me!" Ichigo hissed. His brother shook his head.

"I haven't been able to master healing bruises of anyone other than myself yet, only cuts and the like." Shirosaki frowned, checking for more bruising.

"See, so just stay quiet and let us heal you Master. Please." There was something about the way Harribel said it that made Ichigo grudgingly agree to allow Nelliel to slobber/puke all over him once they were inside.

"Let's head inside." Rukia said, gesturing everyone. Harribel helped Ichigo through the rocky and uneven terrain on the way to the front of the guild, shooing Shirosaki ahead to keep an eye on Makarov.

Erza quietly approached Ichigo, and looked him over.

"I'm sorry Ichigo. If I had tried harder at stopping him, perhaps your fight might have been avoided and you wouldn't be hurt like this…" Erza apologized sadly, but Ichigo quickly shook his head.

"It's okay Erza. I'm sure it would have happened one way or another. No need to apologize. Besides, it's not that bad. Nothing a little spit can heal anyways." He grinned at her, and Erza felt herself blush.

She looked at Harribel who was glancing worriedly at Ichigo. "Can I help?" She asked, gesturing at where Harribel was supporting Ichigo.

"I don't really need any support, Harribel's just being – " Ichigo started, but was interrupted.

"Of course." Harribel said.

Erza then moved over and held Ichigo's left side with Harribel on his right, helping him inside.

AN: Ok, uhm…yeah. Sorry about the shortness, bu I really wanted to hurry and get this up. Until next time. Review!

~ Luci-chan

EDIT: 09/03/13 - Hey guys, thanks for all the support so far. I'm going to be putting this story on a (hopefully) short break in favor of my other stories. This is due to a number of reasons, a few of which I'll list here. 1) This story isn't getting as many reviews as before, so it's gone down on my scale of importance. What can I say, I'm a greedy author that loves reviews. ^-^ 2) My other stories have not been updated in FORVER, and I feel the need to update them. 3) School is seriously kicking my ass. And it's only the fourth week. D: 4) I've joined dome new fandoms to pass time until the next chapter of Bleach came out, and now I'm in them for life. Homestuck, Hetalia, Harry Potter, and Free! to name a few.

Hope to write for you all again soon - Ciao!

~ Luci-Chan