protectively around the girl, almost fully enveloping Orihime in a bright golden sphere.

How very interesting.

However, her defense wouldn't last much longer. Orihime stared calmly at him from behind her shield, but she was already sweating and trembling under the strain as a strange glow grew to encompass her shoulders. Clicking his tongue, Kurotsuchi evaluated and discarded several possibilities. He needed to hurry and immobilize his subject without doing her or her spawn any real harm. He preferred his specimens be as close to pristine as possible before he started dissecting.

One thing was for certain, Kurotsuchi decided as he detached his smoldering hand with a pained hiss. This former ryoka wouldn't get as generous of an offer from him this time as his research subject as when she wasshoulder to the squad members he frightened when he landed practically on top of them before he disappeared in a swirl of dust and reappeared further down the road on top of the storehouse roof.

Jumping from roof to roof as if he were playing hopscotch, Ichigo noticed a flash of scarlet on the building ahead. He gathered reishi under his feet to shunpo and pushed off, coming to land beside Renji in an instant. They simply nodded at each other and continued onward, side by side.

They were closer now and Ichigo could sense a flare of strong emotion twining through his wife's reiatsu. It was nothing more than what Ichigo expected. Orihime had obviously overdone it. Yet another thing he would grumble about when they got home later.