270 270. A Space Tear

"Miss Orihime, please come in. We just had a small house warming party, since you are our neighbor let us get to know each other."

Shinobu smiled and said happily.

Orihime hesitated for a moment before agreeing, "Alright."

Shinobu and Leo led her inside and gave her a piece of cake and some juice.

Just as Orihime was enjoying her cake a white figure rushed in through the window.

"Ah!"

She was startled and exclaimed.

"Snow, you are finally back."

When Orihime got a good look at what it was she was surprised. Her eyes turned starry when she saw Snow.

"Miss Orihime, this is Snow. Snow, this is our new neighbor."

Snow was nestled on Shinobu's shoulder. She raised her head and stared at Orihime with her bright blue eyes.

So cute!

Orihime shouted in her mind. She stretched out her hand to touch Snow, halfway through she stopped.

Shinobu smiled, "Don't worry. She won't bite."

Orihime took a breath and bravely extended her hand. She touched Snow's feathers. It felt soft and very comforting.

Kii.

Snow let out a satisfied yelp. She flew to Orihime and sat on her lap.

"What kind of bird is it?"

Orihime asked while softly rubbing Snow's head.

Leo chuckled, "Snow is a snow falcon. An extremely rare breed."

Snow falcon? Was there a bird like that?

Orihime was confused. After a moment she threw that question to the back of her mind.

A while later Orihime left. She thanked Leo and Shinobu for their hospitality.

Watching her leave Leo had a peculiar expression on his face.

"What do you think?"

Shinobu suddenly asked.

Leo shook his head, "She is definitely human. But her powers are far too different from a shinigami. And...

"And what?"

Seeing his expression Shinobu asked curiously.

Leo closed the door and said, "A strange power is brewing inside her. I can't comment on how strong it is since I have no idea as to what kind of abilities people from this world have."

"But one thing is for sure. Her ability is definitely crazier than a logia devil fruit."

Shinobu raised her eyebrows in surprise, "That's shocking coming from you. Well, it looks like we have a lot to look forward to."

Leo smiled, "That we do."

...

A few days passed. Leo and Shinobu quickly adjusted to this new world. They got acquainted with several of their neighbours and joined a few neighbor associations.

Chojo had come by during this time. He brought along Hanako with him. Shinobu gave her a full check up and stamped her healthy.

Both of them could see an awkward mood between the two. They smiled and stopped from commenting on it. It was their personal life, after all.

Kisuke also came by during this time. He gave Leo a few books related to zanpakuto forging as well as research notes from division 12.

The soul society has been around for a thousand years, it's justifiable to see a few crazy people who focused their research on zanpakuto.

Coincidentally Orihime also saw Kisuke, he found that both of them knew each other. Kisuke, Rukia, Ichigo, Orihime, these guys were a group.

After getting the notes Leo focused on it for a few days. When he cmpletely read through them he frowned.

Like Kisuke said, a zanpakuto is forged from a shinigami's soul. Only a shinigami's soul can be used to forge a zanpakuto. And only one person could cut out a piece of soul without the slightest injury and forge a zanpakuto.

However it wasn't completely useless. Among the research notes one caught his attention.

A researcher once questioned as to why only a shinigami's soul could be used to forge a zanpakuto. He came up with several answers and even more questions.

In the end he concluded that only souls that retained their original form and had a certain level of spiritual strength could become a shinigami. And only those few souls can be split to forge a zanpakuto.

The man wanted to challenge this. He experimented like crazy, ignoring the bottom line of many rules. In his path the number of people he killed numbered more than a thousand.

In the end he was put to death by the soul society, however not before he reached an answer to his question.

Leo hated the man for his cruel experiments, but he was still fascinated by his ingenious thought.

I need to find a way to control my spiritual energy better.

He thought to himself.

"Food is ready. Are you done?"

While he was lost in thought Shinobu's voice came from the kitchen. Leo closed the book in his hand and walked to the dining table.

He sat down. Shinobu came out with two plates.

"Any progress?"

Leo nodded, "Slight."

Shinobu smiled, "That's good."

She filled the two plates with food.

As they were half way through eating they frowned. Both of them looked out through the window.

They could see hollows flying everywhere.

"What's happening?"

Shinobu asked.

Leo shook his head. He spread out his spiritual sense and found a large number of hollows running all around the town. He also saw Ichigo and another young man killing off these hollows.

"I'll be back soon."

"Hm."

...

Ichigo was cutting down hollows left and right. But there were just too many for him to handle.

"Uryuu! Dammit! Why is there so many of them?!"

He asked exasperatly towards another young man wearing glasses.

The young man named Uryuu frowned. He didn't expect the little game he proposed to draw in such large number of hollows.

"It doesn't matter why. Right now we need to take care of all of them."

Uryuu raised his hand and drew on the bow condensed from spiritual energy. He fired shots one after another.

Just as they were being overwhelmed by the sheer number of hollows Leo landed infront Ichigo.

"Ichigo, what is happening?"

Leo's sudden entry surprised Ichigo. He looked a bit embarrassed as he explained what was happening.

A wry smile appeared on Leo's face, "So you wanted to see who was better by killing the most number of hollows. For that you used a bait to draw these things to where humans live?"

Ichigo quickly shook his hand, "Hey, it's not me! That damn four eyes did it!"

Leo looked over at Uryuu. The kid had decent spiritual energy, and his technique were very interesting.

"Anyway, I'll take care of it."

Ichigo quickly asked, "What's your plan? Do you need any help?"

Leo shook his head, "No need."

He raised his hand towards the sky and muttered, "Merciful Rain."

Suddenly both Ichigo and Uryuu felt the air churn. Flashes of sharp rays swirled around the sky. In an instant the sky was filled with swords with their blade pointed to the earth.

Uryuu's eyes shrunk when he saw this.

Ichigo was also shocked to see the sky full of swords.

Leo moved his hand down. The swords hanging up above flashed and disappeared.

Hollows that were running around the town halted in their steps. Swords dug into their body and turned them to dust.

Watching the hollows around them turn to nothingness Ichigo and Uryyu failed to respond.

"Well, I'll be going home."

Leo spoke. This woke them up.

"Wait!"

Uryuu suddenly called out.

Leo asked, "Is there anything you need?"

Uryuu took a deep breath to stabilise his emotions and asked, "What was that?"

Leo smiled, "Merciful Rain. One of my sword stances."

He replied and was about to leave. However at that moment the air trembled.

A long tear appeared in the sky. There was only darkness behind the tear. From the darkness two huge red eyes looked down at them.

Leo looked at the tear and suddenly smiled. He pulled out the medallion and saw it humming.