STOP ME WHEN YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH

No, Fuck Off

"Ichigo, wait!" Nel calls after him, her newly fixed fracción following after her. Apparently Dondochakka and Pesche were all messed up, too. Courtesy of Szayel. They don't look too different, surprisingly. They're faces are young and not ugly like their masks, so they've got that going for them.

"No, Nel. I can't do that," Ichigo shakes his head, walking away from her faster. He forces his Reiatsu away to cover him from peering senses.

She uses sonído to reach him, and snatches his arm. He whips around, a snarl at the ready. Her face makes him pause.

"I know something in your plan has failed. I know that's why Ichimaru was looking at you," Nel states.

"Shhhh! Gin or Tousen could be listening," he snaps in a hushed voice.

"No one is here. I promise. If you need something, just let me know. I will bail you out of trouble. You just have to ask."

He knows he probably looks as frantic as he feels, yet her eyes bring him an odd and temporary sense of peace. "I have to check on my fracción. I need to make sure they're okay. Stay away from me, Nel. For your sake, stay away."

"I won't."

"Then watch your back."

He takes his arm out of her grip and uses shunpo to his palace. He needs to be sure that everyone is okay. Oh, please, everyone be okay. Please tell him nothing happened while he was away.

He gets to the palace entrance, and he chokes up. The doors are knocked off its hinges. Why is the door knocked off its hinges? A part of him already knows the answer, yet fears it nonetheless. He slips into the entry way of the palace, going over the door as quietly as possible. This feels wrong. He can't sense anyone anymore. Why? What happened?

A voice murmurs softly into his ear, urging him forward. He doesn't bother looking upstairs in his room, and simply heads for the fracción quarters. The sitting room before the quarters is a mess, the struggle evident in the burn markings and broken, misplaced furniture. There's blood, too.

Oh god, he's going to be sick. What's he supposed to do now? He doesn't know what else than if not to move forward. The voice continues to offer him sweet words and gentle encouragements while Ichigo himself stalks forward.

In the fracción common room, his fracción are on their knees, their hands shackled in front of them. Gin paces before the line of beaten and bloody warriors known as Ichigo's friends. Tousen stands off in the corner, merely sensing the movements of his colleague. Rukia isn't here. Why isn't Rukia here?

"Kurosaki," Tousen greets. "Why don't you join us?"

Ichigo screws his eyes shut. This is bad. Really bad. There is little he can do in even less time. What should he do? He sucks in a big gulp of air, and walks into view for everyone but the blind man to see.

Chad's face is covered in more blood than hair, his nose still dripping. His knuckles are busted and his arms are heavily bruised. Uryū's glasses are gone, yet the scrapes around his eyes must've been from the lenses shattering while still on his face. There's two cuts to his right arm, one on the wrist and one from his mid forearm to his shoulder.

Mizuiro has a black eye, it so swollen, he can't see through the healing flesh and salty tears. There are cuts littering all over him, but none are as threatening as Uryū's. Keigo is beside Mizuiro as always. The brunet has a fat lip, and a little bit of blood is getting into his eye. His chin is scratched up, too. He's breathing loudly, and is shifting in constant discomfort. Did he break a bone? From this angle, Ichigo would have to guess his leg is fucked.

Inoue, bless her soul, is the least harmed. Her powers aren't defensive, so she probably had to surrender when the rest of the group was taken down. To be fair, there's a few cuts on her from close calls with a sword. A chunk of her hair is missing, and there's a cut across her throat like a sword was pressed there in warning - another reason to surrender. Tatsuki has to be in the worst shape. She probably took all the hits directed at Inoue with her titanium skin. She's covered head to toe in cuts and bruises, her knuckles busted and nose broken. There's trails of blood coming from her mouth, too. She probably got hit in the stomach really hard. God, if that's the case, she's got some broken ribs.