67 Growing Frustrations

"Haaaa....haaaaa....haaaaaaa..."

Despite swinging his sword with all his might, goosebumps spread across Ichigo's battered body as he stared at his opponent, a muscular man with short, spiky, pale-blue hair, light blue eyes, and a bone mask covering his right cheek, resembling the maw of a beast. Like other Arrancar, he wore a white hakama with a black sash around his waist, but his top consisted of an open, high-collared white jacket with a soot-black interior, the collar folded down instead of sticking up. He also had a large hole in his lower abdomen and a sword strapped to the left side of his waist, emulating the Zanpakuto of a Shinigami, but he had yet to draw it since the start of the fight, seemingly not needing to.

"That last attack wasn't half-bad," said the wild-looking man, grinning from ear to ear as he stared down at Ichigo with only mild abrasions on his body. "It's 'almost' enough to make me take you seriously," mused the man, grabbing the hilt of his Zanpakuto as he considered drawing it.

"Che...."

Clicking his tongue, Ichigo forced himself to stand straight despite his body's protests. Thus far, he had been getting thrashed one-sidedly by the blue-haired Arrancar. Even when his attacks landed, the man blocked them with his body or grabbed his sword with his bare hand. As a result, Ichigo was currently standing in the middle of a large crater after being sent crashing into the ground twice over.

"That's the spirit, Shinigami..." mused the blue-haired Arrancar, drawing his Zanpakuto ever so slightly until a deep, baritone voice stated, "It's not nice to bully the weak."

Turning his head to see who had spoken, the blue-haired Arrancar's eyes widened, pupils contracting as a fist impacted squarely with the center of his face. He would normally shrug off such a blow and laugh, but this time he was sent reeling backward, his body forced to flip several times as he was launched high into the sky.

"Unfortunately for you, I enjoy bullying those who do, regardless of how weak they are," remarked Ohta, shifting his gaze to Ichigo to say, "Go and make yourself useful somewhere else. This one's mine."

Without waiting for Ichigo's response, Ohta used Shunpo to bring himself to the same altitude as the blue-haired Arrancar, adopting a toothy grin as the man stared daggers at him while covering his mouth and nose, blood leaking from both.

"You're pretty tough," remarked Ohta. "Ordinarily, a blow like that would have knocked the head off an unprepared Captain. I guess you Arrancar aren't the fodder I thought you were."

"You cowardly bastard..." growled the man, grabbing the hilt of his sword with his right hand as he added, "You're going to regret not finishing me with that sneak attack..."

Before the Arrancar could draw his sword, a black portal opened near him, within which stood the familiar figure of a golden-haired woman with aquamarine eyes and large breasts, further emphasized as she stood with crossed arms.

"Grimmjow..." said the woman, her voice low and threatening as she narrowed her eyes and added, "Lord Aizen commands that you return..."

"Harribel..." growled the blue-haired Arrancar, evidently called Grimmjow. Before he could speak further, however, his head abruptly whipped back, his body drawn toward Ohta's outstretched hand as he declared, "You're not going anywhere."

*fwooooooooom*

Interrupting Ohta's attack, a beam of golden light cut between him and Grimmjow, emanating from the short, unusually wide, and predominately hollow blade of Harribel's Zanpakuto. At the same time, the air quaked as golden Reiryoku surged from her body, exuding an intense Reiatsu as she said, "Yamada Ohta...this man violated Lord Aizen's orders to invade the Human World of his own accord. However, I cannot permit you to kill him. If you insist on fighting, I, Tier Harribel, will be your opponent..."

"You say that like I'm supposed to be intimidated," mused Ohta, bringing his palms together and grinning as he quipped, "Sorry, chocolate tits, but these hands are rated E for Everyone."

Punctuating his jest, Ohta's Reiatsu flared outward, his expression serious as he shouted, "Balance the Scales, Kuroinu-no-Anpu...!"

Responding to the release of Ohta's Zanpakuto, golden light gathered in the hollow of Harribel's Zanpakuto before she thrust forward, releasing it as a spear-like blade of energy. To her and Grimmjow's immense surprise, Ohta didn't even try to dodge it, backhanding the dense mass of Reiryoku with his left hand, fracturing it like a glass pane.

Taking advantage of the duo's shock, Ohta's figure, now adorned in his bare-chested, jackal-themed attire, vanished from view, reappearing next to Grimmjow instantly. The movement resembled Shunpo but was, in fact, a pure display of speed, evidenced by the shockwave that rippled through the area as he kicked the stunned Grimmjow, shattering the man's left arm and leaving a visible indent in his ribcage, fracturing several and causing a wave of force to wrack his insides.

Though his body remained in place for a brief moment, conforming around Ohta's foot, Grimmjow was ultimately sent flying at breakneck speeds, his body producing several shockwaves as it broke through the sound barrier and reached upwards of Mach ten.

Turning his attention toward Harribel, the gold-haired Arrancar staring at him with widened eyes, Ohta questioned, "Where'd your confidence from before go? Weren't you going to be my opponent...?"

Regaining a serious expression, Harribel replied, "What you've witnessed thus far is not our true power. Were we to unleash our Resurreccións, this city and its inhabitants would be in danger. And no, that isn't intended as a threat, only to remind you of what's at stake..."

"I don't know..." replied Ohta, the inverted triangles in his eyes exuding a fierce luminance as he said, "It sure as shit stinks 'feels' like a threat..."

Disappearing from view, Ohta rematerialized right in front of Harribel, his hand centimeters away from her face as a black sphere condensed in his palm, distorting the surrounding space. The high collar covering the lower half of her face immediately tore away, but Harribel managed to avoid the world's worst facelift thanks to the bone mask that lay beneath, covering the lower half of her face and neck. She also utilized a strange variant of Shunpo to escape backward, but while her speed was tremendous, Ohta was waiting for her when she reached her terminal point, standing behind her with a cold glower.

"Too slow..." muttered Ohta, grabbing a large handful of Harribel's golden hair. She reacted by stabbing backward with her Zanpakuto, but while her blade was able to pierce his various layers of invisible protection, it barely left a shallow cut as it scraped across his obliques.

Forming his right hand into a spear, Ohta intended to stab Harribel in the back but stopped when something warm pressed against his right temple, accompanied by a man 'suggesting,' "Let's end things here for today..." in a lazy-sounding voice.

Turning in the direction of the voice, Ohta found his vision obscured by the business end of a peculiar pistol wielded by a man with a narrowed, blue-grey eye and unkempt, wavy brown hair that extended to the base of his neck. A bone eyepatch covered his left eye, making it seem like his face was hollow, while his outfit consisted of a form-fitting white jacket and similarly tight black pants with grey fur adorning his collar, sleeves, coattails, waist, and calves. Even with a gun pointed at his forehead, Ohta felt the man looked pretty badass...

"You're pretty strong..." remarked Ohta, his voice calm despite his bones vibrating under the strain of the gunslinging Arrancar's ludicrous Reiatsu. The man didn't even appear to be exerting his Reiatsu purposely, but the air solidified and crackled in his immediate surroundings.

Shattering the tensions, though every hair on Ohta's body remained standing on end, the childish voice of a girl, seemingly emanating from the gun's barrel, said, "Ewwwww! Don't go sticking me in other people's faces, you stupid shit for brains...!"

"Not now, Lilynette..." said the gunslinging Arrancar, his expression and tone lazy, but there was a fierce glimmer in his eyes as he locked gazes with Ohta.

Releasing Harribel's hair from his grasp, Ohta raised his hands in mock surrender, adopting a toothy grin as he replied, "Sure...I guess I've had enough fun for one evening..."

While Harribel moved to stand behind him with a vexed look on her face, the lazy-looking Arrancar slowly retracted his pistol from Ohta's forehead, stating, "Lord Aizen does not wish for either side to reduce their numbers before the final battle. He intends to crush all of you in one fell swoop, so use this time to prepare as best you can..."

"You should also prepare yourselves..." retorted Ohta. "The next time we meet, I will be much stronger and nowhere near as 'agreeable'..."

Exhaling a faint sigh through his nose, the laze-looking Arrancar used one of his two pistols to scratch his head as he said, "Yeah...I figured as much. What a pain..."

Half-turning toward Harribel, presenting his 'blind spot' to Ohta, the man added, "We're going in." in a firm tone. Harribel nodded in response, but before tapping the air to open a Garganta, she cast a meaningful look in Ohta's direction. He had no idea what she intended to convey, but there was definitely traces of 'something' in her previously indifferent, analytical green eyes...

("What the Hell?) Ohta asked himself. ("Don't tell me grabbing her by the hair turned her on...")

Leaving Ohta's internal speculations unanswered, Harribel, alongside the gun-wielding Arrancar, stepped into the Garganta and promptly departed. At nearly that exact same moment, Soifon appeared next to Ohta, asking, "Are you wounded...?" before following it up with a pouty, begrudging, "My Lord..."

"Come here..." said Ohta, gesturing for Soifon to come closer. The pout on her face intensified, but she immediately complied with his command, her body tensing when Ohta abruptly pressed his middle and ring fingers to her crotch, digging into the fabric of her hakama as he said, "I'm in a bad mood right now. Don't make me fuck you right here and now..."

Swallowing nervously, Soifon averted her eyes and responded with an uncharacteristically meek, "I apologize if I offended you..."

Retracting his hand, Ohta caused the near-imperceptible blush in Soifon's cheeks to deepen as he sniffed his fingers and asserted, "You're horny," in a confident tone, subsequently questioning, "Were you and Yoruichi going at it before the alarm triggered?"

"We weren't 'going at it," replied Soifon, continuing to avoid Ohta's gaze as she admitted, "I was servicing her..." in a faint, nearly inaudible tone.

"That's kind of hot," remarked Ohta, ruffling the pouty Shinigami's hair as he teased, "I'll have to watch sometime. For now, give your report. How is the situation elsewhere...?"

"5th Seat, Sub-Adjutant Yumichika was critically injured, but his wounds were successfully mended by Inoue Orihime. Other than that, there were no major injuries on our side. The enemy, however, lost four Arrancar and dozens of lesser Hollow," reported Soifon.

"That's better than nothing..." muttered Ohta, still feeling annoyed that his opponents had, once again, fled. The one with the pistols even made him feel fear, something he hadn't experienced since Zaraki's 'surprise' frontal assault. Ohta believed he could win, but the man's Reiryoku, Reiatsu, and the speed with which he appeared were leagues beyond any opponent he had faced thus far, sans Aizen...

("I'm still not strong enough...") thought Ohta, continuing to ruffle Soifon's hair until the scowl on her face gradually gave way discomfited blush. She actually enjoyed having her head caressed, so even though she wanted to remain angry, it became increasingly difficult to maintain a grimace as her chest and stomach filled with a fluttery sensation...

"You have soft hair..." remarked Ohta, causing the frown on Soifon's face to deepen. However, while it was true his words frustrated her, the thing that angered her the most was how her pussy clenched when he praised her...

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..

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(A/N: Ohta is slowly taming the bee-cat...also, daily reminder that this is not a harem fic.)