Chapter VIII
Dead Ends

The inside of the house was dark and damp. The air felt heavy, and the windows were closed. It was hard to believe that anyone had lived here before. They stood in a small hallway that leads into a living room. Behind that was a kitchen, with the wall opened up so you could see from one room into the other. There was a counter to their right with some kind of bottle on top of it. Barely any light shone through, giving the house a creepy feeling.
“It smells in here!” Naruto complained, sniffing the air. “Kind of like some kind of rotten couch!”
“A rotten couch?” Ichigo repeated. “What are you talking about?” He glanced from wall to wall, observing the various paintings that hung from them.
“Like a couch that gets all mildewy and nasty,” Naruto answered. “You know, it smells like it went bad, like food or something.”
Ichigo shook his head. He began to walk down the hall, noticing a door to his right.
Naruto caught something in the corner of his eye. “What’s this?” he asked, picking up the bottle that lay on the counter.
Ichigo took it and looked at the label. “It’s a nutrition drink,” he read. “Says it stimulates your cells to regenerate much faster.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It heals us,” Ichigo replied. He tossed it to Naruto, who just barely managed to catch it, not expecting Ichigo to throw it. “You should put it in your bag. We might need it.”
“Okay,” Naruto did as he was told.
They both walked down the hallway, arriving in the living room. There was a coffee table in the middle, surrounded by two couches. A television was set up on the wall. Another counter was to their left, a lamp and a notebook on top of it. If they continued straight down, they would arrive in the kitchen, but they stopped there.
Ichigo took a look at the counter, picking up the notebook. “Someone wrote in here.”
“What?”
“It looks like a journal,” Ichigo reported. “But look, it’s dated from five years ago. Whoever wrote this is long gone.”
“Read it,” Naruto suggested.
“I arrived at this house,” Ichigo read. “It has a horrible smell.” Naruto coughed. “I have no idea what’s wrong with this place. These monsters are everywhere! Mostly those dog like creatures. I know that Cheryl is at the school.” Naruto’s eyes lit up at the mention of the school. “I’m going to find her and take her home. I hope whoever reads this will know, if they haven’t discovered the monsters yet, be aware, they are here. And watch the skies. There is one kind of monster that flies. I find those to be the most dangerous. I left the key I found back in the doghouse. Someone else may need it.” Ichigo paused, and then read the signature. “Harry Mason.”
They were silent for a moment. Finally, Naruto spoke, “So this Harry guy was looking for his daughter here. And he went to the school to find her.”
“It didn’t say daughter,” Ichigo replied. “It could have been his sister or friend.”
“I guess,” Naruto said. “But what was that about the flying monsters?”
“We haven’t seen any,” Ichigo explained. “But I guess we’ll have to keep our eyes open from now on. Besides, we have a radio. I’ll bet this Harry Mason didn’t have a radio to warn him.”
Naruto nodded, and then moved into the kitchen. “What else can we find here?”
“Let’s take a look around.”
Ichigo and Naruto looked around, trying to find anything useful or suspicious. All they found was some documents about the mortgage on the house and other useless things. The cabinets were empty, and there was nothing on the couches.
Naruto was shuffling through the kitchen when he let out a weird noise. Ichigo rushed over to help, and found him holding some kind of white box with a label on it. “What’s this?” Naruto asked. He examined it for a second. “Oh, it’s a med-kit!”
“Good,” Ichigo replied. “We’ll need that too.” Naruto placed it in his pouch.
Naruto went into the living room. “Did you find anything in here?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Ichigo replied. “But I’d say we spent enough time in here. Let’s get going.” Naruto nodded. “We can use this place as a base in case we need to restore our wounds, or if we need to rest.”
Naruto agreed, and they began to leave when Naruto called out, “Wait. We didn’t try this door yet.” He was pointing to the door in the hallway that they saw when they first walked in.
Naruto tried to open it, but the knob wouldn’t budge. “Oh, not again!” he groaned.
“Shut up,” Ichigo replied. “Just use this key; I’m sure it works for this door too!” He handed Naruto the house key.
Naruto anxiously turned the key, but it wouldn’t even fit. “It won’t work,” he complained.
“Oh well,” Ichigo replied. “Let’s go anyway. We’re looking for the school, not whatever’s behind this door.”
Naruto agreed once again, and they exited the house through the front door. The ash hadn’t slowed, it still fell rapidly, obscuring the view down the street.
“I’ll mark this place on our map,” Ichigo announced. “That way, we’ll remember where it is.” He placed a red circle around the area on Levin Street that they were.
“Right!” Naruto exclaimed. “So where do we go next?”
“Well,” Ichigo began. “It would definitely take too long if we searched this whole area trying to find a certain road.”
“So we’re giving up?” Naruto asked, amazed.
“Of course not,” Ichigo replied. “We’re just going to split up.”
Naruto became even more amazed. “Split up? But how will we communicate?”
“We can’t.”
“Then how will this work?”
“This is our new base,” Ichigo replied. “After one hour, we’ll both meet back here. No excuses, just get back here in an hour and we’ll be fine.”
“But how will we know when an hour is up?” Naruto asked.
“Use your best judgment. This is the best way. We can cover twice as much ground this way, and maybe meet up with the others.” He paused. “This reminds me, if you see anyone, tell them about this house, so we all know where to go.”
Naruto nodded. “I get it.”
“So I’ll go up and down this street, while you go on Bloch Street. Search everywhere.”
Naruto took a look at the map. “So I go south onto Matheson, then east, then south again.”
“Yeah.”
“And that’s Bloch Street?”
“Yeah.”
“All right,” Naruto stood up. “Let’s get going!” He began to walk in the direction of his street, looking back at Ichigo. Ichigo took of using Flash Step and was out of sight in an instant. Naruto walked through the fog, holding his kunai in his hand. He was fumbling with it, head down. He rubbed his fingers along the blade, twirled it in his hand, and even tossed it in the air.
After a short while his pace began to slow, and he eventually kneeled down and sighed. “Man,” he said. “This sucks. I’m so bored.”
As he said this, the radio began to static violently. Naruto sighed again, as he got back up. “I can’t get a break!”
An angry Dog emerged from the mist, noticing Naruto standing there. It began to attack, but Naruto was much quicker and stronger. With his kunai, he easily ripped through the Dog’s skin, and gutted it. Its blood spilled out as traces of its cut up organs dropped to the floor.
It laid there, blood flowing around it, as it quickly died. Naruto pressed on, not wanting to stop for fear that more monsters would find him. He was nearing the end of the street. The intersection was barely visible. As he got closer, he squinted harder. He finally got close enough. “Good,” he said. “At least this one isn’t broken.” He turned and began to head down Bachman Road.
He walked for a few feet and had to stop, as this road was ripped out of the ground too. “Oh, what the hell?” Naruto exclaimed angrily. He stomped his foot on the ground. “I still have about forty five minutes to look around before I need to go back. What should I do?” He kicked a rock off the edge of the pit as he thought.
He started walking back, his hands in his pockets. “All right, maybe I’ll just take a look around town. I mean, I didn’t find anything, and we’re already split up, what could go wrong?” He paused. “But where should I look?” Thinking, he finally came up with an answer. “I know! That alley from before. I know something was there, but we couldn’t find anything. I’m going back!”
Determined, Naruto walked north, up Bachman Road. He met a few Dogs along the way, and killed them with ease. His fear of the monsters had faded away into the back of his mind. Naruto passed the café along his travels. He glanced at it, noticing that one of the windows had been broken.
“I guess I could always check this place out too,” Naruto said as he stepped through the broken glass, careful not to cut himself. Once he was inside he glanced around.
The inside was completely normal. Aside from no one being in here, and the broken window, this looked just like a normal café. He was standing on a booth, and beyond that was a little bar, with stoves and cooking materials behind that.
Naruto jumped down, and walked over to the bar. He rubbed his hands along it, noticing how smooth it was. “So this is a café,” he said. “I wonder what you do in here.” He walked around, taking the place in. A red object caught his eye. He walked over to it, and noticed it was yet another notebook. The pages were worn and faded, but the writing was still legible. Naruto read out loud, “I’m writing this for anyone else who might experience the strange events in this town.”
Naruto looked at the bottom, and saw the name, Harry Mason. “This guy again?” Even so, he continued to read. “I don’t know what’s going on here. My daughter is missing. I have no idea where Cheryl might be. I just woke up in this café and there was a police officer here. She said her name was Cybil Bennett. She gave me a gun. I found some supplies here too. For some reason, a have a broken radio that statics when any creatures come by. There’s one that broke into this place, but I managed to kill it. I have to find my daughter, and if anyone else reads this, please help.”
Naruto put down the notebook, and glanced over at the broken window. “Something did break in here. But what? And where is this Harry Mason guy? This seems like it might have been his first entry in the notebook. But why does he only write in notebooks that he finds? Why can’t he just take the thing with him?” Naruto wondered about a lot of different things as he walked away from the bar. “Well, there’s not much else I can do right now. Not here, anyway.” He stepped out of the café and made his way back to the alley. He walked past the café and up Bachman Road. No more creatures came to impede Naruto’s progress. He traveled freely, and quickly arrived at the entrance to the alley.
He peered inside, unsure if he should go in or not. As he stood there, a deep moan emerged from the alley. Naruto took a step inside. “I guess I have no choice. There’s no other way to the school, and this alley is just plain weird.” He walked further inside. He turned a corner to find the bloody wheelchair, which had stopped squeaking.
He shifted passed it, a dark feeling creeping up his spine. He began to grow nervous the deeper he went. He shuffled near the wall, and made his way down the alley. He moved into the fence area, and started to shift through it.
The same moan pierced the air, much louder and closer this time. Naruto glanced around, in fear of what lurks behind him. He saw nothing, and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. Still, he continued to move through the fence area.
He wound up at the brick wall again, a dead end. “Something’s not right,” Naruto whispered.
The moan turned into a fierce growl from behind him. Turning around, Naruto saw a Dog with starving eyes locked on him. Naruto began to draw a shuriken. “I’m not in the mood for this,” he said, bored.
The Dog charged, and Naruto went to circle him, hoping to attack its left flank. A sharp pain exploded into half of Naruto’s body. He yelped and dropped to floor, his shuriken sliding a few feet from him. He glanced up to see a huge brick wall.
“Damn,” he muttered. “I can’t move in here, it’s too narrow!” He got up, and faced his enemy. He swung his hand, yelling, “Not a problem!” Nothing happened. Shocked, Naruto held up his hand. “No! Where’s my shuriken?” He saw it a few feet away. He rushed to it, when a Dog emerged from the fog and bit at his leg. Naruto felt a small amount of pain, as the Dog ripped through a piece of his clothing. He stopped to face it.
That’s when he noticed that there were two Dogs now. “Crap,” Naruto swore. “So you’re the second one?” He glared at the Dog that bit his leg just now. “I guess I can just even these odds!”
Using the Shadow Clone Jutsu, two clones appeared beside Naruto. They all prepared to fight, when Naruto brushed up against one. “Move!” he ordered, trying to get past him.
“Shut up!” The clone yelled. “It’s this guy! He won’t let me get by!”
The other clone growled, “It’s not my fault, the walls are too close!” He shuffled around, trying to get past the others.
The Dogs took advantage of this situation, and lunged at the defenseless Naruto. A clone disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the real Naruto was cut on the arm, yelping in pain.
Naruto grew angry. “Okay, now I’m going to beat you into a pulp!” Naruto threw his hand back, and prepared for the Rasengan. After getting a strong sized blue sphere in his palm, Naruto charged at one of the Dogs. It tried to dodge, but faced the same problem Naruto did. It scratched against the wall, and Naruto was able to hit it full force with the Rasengan. He pushed it deeper and deeper into the creature, as he pushed past broken bone and flesh. Blood exploded onto the street as the Dog collapsed in a heap of dead meat.
The second Dog growled at the loss of its partner. It attacked, immediately destroying the clone. The real Naruto charged himself, only to be knocked back by the Dog. He scratched his elbow, but got back up. “Damn,” he grumbled. “I don’t have to fight you!” He leapt over the creature, landing on top of the brick wall. He peered into the distance. He could only see fog. Even the streets were obscured by the falling ash. His foot slipped, and he nearly fell, but he managed to regain his balance. “That was close,” he said, wiping sweat from his forehead.
The Dog rammed into the wall, causing it to shake slightly, but that was enough to force Naruto to lose his balance completely. He fell to the ground, but was able to land safely on his feet. He looked up just in time to see the Dog charging again.
Naruto spun around as the Dog leapt passed him, and then he swung his leg around, performing a roundhouse kick on the Dog’s spine. Once he connected, Naruto could feel nothing but bone. Like there was no meat there all together.
The Dog shook its head, then reared back for another round. Naruto performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu once more. “Now try this!” He prepared for the Rasengan, yet again. The energy swirled around, materializing in his palm. He thrust it forward, aiming right for the creature’s face.
The Dog learned from his partner’s misfortune, however. It easily dodged to the side, but not enough to smack into the wall.
The Rasengan smashed into the wall, cracking a few bricks, and making a lot of smoke. Now Naruto could barely see the monster that was right in front of him. “Damn, what now?”
“Hey!” A voice called out. It belonged to the clone, which was lost somewhere in the new smoke.
Naruto closed his eyes to think quietly. The clone screamed, and Naruto yelled, “Will you shut up?” A slight change in the smoke burst a few feet from where Naruto was standing. “Damn, he must have gotten hit.”
Then Naruto gasped, having an idea. “All right, let’s go!” He took a shuriken, and threw it where the smoke changed. Small traces of blood spewed from the mist, and then dropped to the floor. Naruto waited for the Dog to attack. After three minutes, nothing happened.
Once the smoke dissipated, Naruto could see that his guess was right. The Dog lay there, motionless. “I knew it!” Naruto called out. “The smoke that changed was actually just the smoke from my clone being destroyed! Man, I’m smart!”
“You’re still so damn cocky, kid,” another voice mocked, emerging from behind him.
Naruto spun around to see Kiba and Renji standing in the alleyway. Kiba had a few scratches, and Renji’s Shihakushô had blood stains splattered all over it. Renji’s sword was also unsheathed in his hand. “Kiba! What are you doing here?”
“Well,” he began. “We searched our spot for at least a couple hours, but when we went back, there was no one there!” His voice sounded angry. Akamaru barked along with him.
“That’s what happened to Ichigo and me, but we did see Rock Lee and Orihime there,” Naruto replied.
“I see,” Renji said.
“Oh, Renji,” Naruto said. “I forgot that you were with Kiba!”
“What?” Renji growled. “I’ve been here the whole time! How could you not have noticed?”
Naruto scratched his head. Laughing, he replied, “I don’t know, sorry!”
“Where is Ichigo?” Kiba asked.
“Oh, that’s right!” Naruto gasped. “We found a good base, if you want to know.”
“A base?” Renji sounded surprised. “How? We couldn’t even get into any of the buildings!”
“We had a key,” Naruto explained. “Do you have a map?”
“Yeah, actually,” Renji replied, pulling a map from his Shihakushô. “We found it at some gas station. The door was already opened.”
Naruto pointed to Levin Street. “There’s a Dog house on the lawns of one of the houses on this street. It’s unlocked now, you can go inside.”
Kiba and Renji looked stunned. “All right!” Kiba yelled. “Way to go, shrimp!”
Renji glared at Kiba. “Shrimp? The best you can come up with is shrimp?”
Kiba glanced at Renji. “It’s just a little thing I say to Naruto to piss him off.” Kiba looked at Naruto to see him staring at Kiba with a frustrated face. “See? It gets to him!”
“Nevermind!” Naruto exclaimed, irritated. “Just use this house whenever you’re tired, or need to rest.”
“What are you doing right now, anyway?” Renji asked.
“Ichigo and I are looking for the school,” Naruto replied.
“It’s a few streets that way,” Kiba answered, pointed to the west. “What are you doing all they way over here?”
“Some roads are completely blocked off,” Naruto said.
“What’s that mean?” Renji asked.
“It means that you can’t get through some roads!” Naruto exclaimed.
Renji became frustrated. “I know that, you idiot! Why are they impassable?”
Naruto shook his head. “I don’t know. They just are. You can’t get through. They’re bottomless pits, and the other end is way out of sight.”
“How can that be?” Kiba asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“This whole town doesn’t make sense,” Naruto said.
“So you’re trying to find alternative routes?” Renji asked.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah,” Kiba began. “We searched all over Sanders Street. We couldn’t find anything, and all of the buildings were locked! So we went back to the clinic to regroup. We waited for a few minutes, and no one showed up!”
“We went back too,” Naruto explained. “But we saw Orihime and Bushy Brows there.”
“Really?” Kiba said. “What did you do?”
“Well we didn’t go back to our streets,” Naruto explained. “We decided to come here. Actually, Ichigo and I decided to come here. I have no idea where Orihime and Bushy Brows went.”
“How did we all get split up?” Renji asked.
“No one had a watch,” Kiba replied. “So no one had any idea how long two hours was.”
“Yeah,” Renji agreed. “Anyway, where are you going now, Naruto? It doesn’t look like you were heading to the school You’re too far north.”
“I decided to check out some other things first,” Naruto answered.
“Fair enough,” Renji said. “Well, Kiba and I are off. I’m sure you can handle yourself.”
Naruto nodded. “Fine, but where are you guys going?”
“We don’t know,” Kiba answered. “We haven’t decided.”
“You should help me at the school,” Naruto said. “I could use your help.”
“That’s what Ichigo is for,” Renji said. “Wait, where is he?”
“We split up to find a street that will lead to the school,” Naruto answered.
“Why are you even going to the school?” Kiba asked.
“Well,” Naruto hesitated. “I think that Sasuke might be there.”
Shocked, Kiba asked, “Sasuke? Really?”
Naruto nodded again. “He might be.” Naruto seemed to stare off into space, deep in thought. “I don’t know for sure though.” He paused. “So have you seen anyone else since we all split up?”
“No,” Renji replied.
“So it’s just you two?”
“Two?” Kiba asked. Akamaru barked from behind Kiba’s leg.
Naruto sighed. “Oh, right, sorry boy.” He scratched Akamaru’s ear. “You’re the only good dog around.”
“So you saw those monsters too?” Renji asked.
“The Dogs? Yeah, you too?”
Renji simply coughed as he held up his Zanpaku-tô. It was dripping from dark red blood.
“Got it,” Naruto replied, understanding what Renji meant. “Okay, I’m going to head out now.”
“Good luck with Sasuke,” Kiba said.
“Thanks,” Naruto replied.
And with that, they parted ways, Naruto walked out of the alley, and quickly lost sight of them. He stood in the entrance, staring at the sky. Ash fell on his face, leaving a small black mark. “Well,” he began. “I couldn’t find a way to the school. I have no choice but to go back.” He turned to the right, and began to head towards the house on Levin Street.

* * *

Ichigo wandered for a while, aimlessly down Levin Street. So far, he found nothing but Dogs and houses. He was standing at the Levin Matheson intersection. “I wonder where Naruto is. I hope he found something, there’s nothing here!”
He sat down. “I can’t believe we can’t get to the school, it’s right over there!” He pointed randomly to the right. The fog obscured anything in that area, even if there was a school there, you wouldn’t be able to tell.
“There’s nothing left to do,” Ichigo announced. “I guess I just have to go past this intersection too.” He began to travel south, past the broken traffic light at the intersection. The southern side of the street was pretty plain. No more exciting then the first half.
A twig snapped, and Ichigo could just barely make out a Dog in the distance. Gritting his teeth, Ichigo drew Zangetsu. “Come on, I’ll kick your ass!”
The Dog charged, which was predictable to Ichigo at this point. With a swift horizontal slash, he hacked off the beast’s face. It crumpled to the floor, blood spurting everywhere. Ichigo felt a sickening feeling as his stomach lurched.
“Damn, all this blood is making me feel weird,” Ichigo said. “There wasn’t this much blood when I fought Byakuya at the Sokyoku!”
Still, Ichigo moved past the bleeding body, which lay limp as a large pool of blood enveloped it. Ichigo walked down the road, passing houses and lawns. “Everything looks the same!” Ichigo yelled.
He walked up to a house and tried the knob, but it didn’t turn. He tried another house, only to have the same result. He tried another and another, until he had tried every house on this half of the street, but to no avail.
“Two things left to do,” Ichigo sighed. “I can either go all the way down the street or go back to Naruto.” Without hesitation, Ichigo walked down the end of the street. “I’m sure he’s not back yet, anyway.”
Ichigo walked down the street, the fog making everything in his sight blurry. He approached another intersection.
“Weird,” Ichigo stated. “I should be at the intersection by now, but where is it?” As he walked, he saw that the intersection was no longer there. Instead, it was replaced with another large, bottomless pit.
“No!” Ichigo complained. “Dammit! What now?” He growled angrily. “There’s no way to get to this school!” He kicked a rock as he turned away from the pit. “I guess I should just go back to Naruto.”
Ichigo walked north, back in the direction of the house they were using as a base.
Ichigo walked quickly, so he could arrive before Naruto, making sure he wasn’t late. He walked with speed, but didn’t run. “I know I could use flash step right about now,” Ichigo said to himself. “But if I move too fast, I could run right into a pit without even knowing, and I don’t have Naruto’s clones to get me out this time.”
He started to pick up the pace, and began to jog. He passed house after house, fully focused on arriving at the house.
Suddenly, Ichigo felt a piercing pain on his ankle, as he fell to the floor, slamming his face into the pavement. Bits of blood dripped from Ichigo’s nose. He wiped it off with his sleeve as he got back up, only to see a Dog hunched over him. It snapped at his neck, but Ichigo grabbed its face, holding it back as best as he could.
Its jaws snapped and snarled, rabid saliva flying everywhere. It pushed with all its might to reach Ichigo’s neck, but Ichigo managed to hold it back.
Ichigo twisted the creature’s neck, tossing it to the ground. Ichigo got up as quickly as he could, and drew Zangetsu. The Dog also regained its stance.
Ichigo smirked. His leg shook as blood poured from the puncture. “Damn, that hurts, you bastard!” The Dog ignored him as it charged. Ichigo lifted Zangetsu to protect himself, when another explosion of pain exploded onto his back. Blood sprayed the ground, as Ichigo fell to the floor. He used the blade of Zangetsu to stop his fall. He was down on one knee. Ichigo turned slightly to see a second Dog circling him.
“Crap,” Ichigo sighed. “There’s no way.” The Dogs sensed his desperation, feeding off of it. “There’s no way,” he paused, then, full of excitement, Ichigo yelled, “There’s no way I have to use Bankai on you bastards!” He stood up, and held Zangetsu in front of him with two hands. The cloth at the end wrapped itself around Ichigo’s arms. He glowed a blue aura, concentrating on gathering power. “Ban,” he started, but was interrupted yet again, by a huge explosion.
The blast came from beside Ichigo, ripping a Dog to pieces. The Dog’s head rolled to the ground. Confused, Ichigo stopped gathering power, and looked to find the source of the explosion. “Naruto?” he called out.
Ichigo saw a man with very large spiky black hair. Ichigo looked for other details, but the hair was all he could notice, as the man literally vanished into thin air. It looked as if he had used flash step. Ichigo stared in confusion. All of a sudden, another explosion erupted behind Ichigo. Once Ichigo turned, he saw that half of the second Dog’s body was ripped off. But it was nowhere to be found. Half of its body was missing.
Ichigo stared in wonder as the Dog bled to death in a matter of seconds.
A few minutes went by, and Ichigo fell to his knees, the pain returning to him in his back. His own blood spilled to the floor. “Damn, I need to get back,” he paused. “But who the hell was that?” Ichigo began to limp back to the intersection.
He slowly made his way back to the house. He limped his way past the fence, and up the stairs. He opened the door and stepped inside. He limped over to the couch, and fell on top of it. He lay on his stomach, so the blood wouldn’t spray all over the couch. He waited for a few minutes, until he began to doze off. His head began to spin as he fell asleep.
He was woken up by a hard shake. Opening his eyes slowly, Ichigo noticed Naruto was standing over him. He had blood on his face and leg. Black ash stained his face. “What took you so long?” Ichigo asked weakly.
“What do you mean?” Naruto asked. “It looks like you just got here.”
“How can you tell?”
“You left the door open,” Naruto replied. “What’s wrong?”
“Let’s see,” Ichigo began. “My back exploded! What the hell do you think is wrong?”
“How did that happen?”
“A freaking Dog got me.”
“A Dog got me in the back too,” Naruto replied, showing Ichigo a deep gash on his back, which still bled.
“You seems fine to me,” Ichigo groaned.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Naruto replied as he shut the front door. “But we should get to more important things. Did you find anything?”
“Yeah,” Ichigo replied. Naruto’s eyes lit up with hope. “But it wasn’t a way to the school.” Naruto’s heart sank as he looked away to hide his disappointment. “I found someone.”
Interested again, Naruto asked, “Someone? Like Neji?”
“No. It was someone else, that I don’t know.”
“What did he look like?” Naruto asked.
“He had spiky black hair. He was strong too.”
Naruto yelled, “It was Sasuke!”
“That was Sasuke?” Ichigo asked. “But I thought Sasuke was your age, wasn’t he?”
Confused, Naruto replied, “Yeah, he is.”
“Then this guy wasn’t Sasuke. He was a lot older. He was a full grown man. But he wasn’t a monster. Well, he had monstrous strength,” Ichigo chuckled.
“You fought him?” Naruto asked.
“No, he killed the two Dogs that were attacking me.”
“What did he do to make him so strong?”
“He,” Ichigo paused. “ripped one in half, and the other just exploded.”
“Exploded?”
“As in nothing but the head was left,” Ichigo explained.
“I know what an explosion is!” Naruto snapped. “Did you talk to him?”
“No, he left before I could get to him.”
“And you just let him go?” Naruto asked.
“Of course not!” Ichigo yelled. “He just vanished. I couldn’t even tell if he was moving really fast, like a flash step, or if it was something completely different.”
“Someone as fast as you couldn’t even keep track of this guy?” Naruto asked in amazement.
“This guy is real strong. I have no idea who he is, but I know that we’re not alone in this town. Besides the monsters,” Ichigo said.
“He wasn’t from that other group that’s supposed to meet up with you?” Naruto asked.
“If he was, he wasn’t wearing a Shihakushô,” Ichigo replied. “He also didn’t have a Zanpaku-tô. So I don’t think he was a soul reaper.”
“Damn, this is getting more and more complicated,” Naruto said. “And what are we supposed to do? We can’t even get to the school!”
Ichigo nodded, understanding Naruto’s frustration. “Let’s look at the map.” Ichigo took out the piece of paper in his pocket. He used the red marker to mark out the dead ends that he discovered. “And what about you, Naruto? Find anything?”
“No.”
“Damn.” Ichigo crossed out the street that Naruto was patrolling.
“I did run into Kiba and Renji though.”
Intrigued, Ichigo asked, “Yeah? Where are they?”
“We went our own ways,” Naruto replied.
“You dumbass! Why didn’t you have them come here?”
“I told them!” Naruto snapped. “They wanted to go out on their own, not me!”
“Whatever,” Ichigo sighed. “As long as you told them about the house.” He paused. “Did they have anything to say?”
“No,” Naruto replied. “They don’t even know where they’re going.”
Ichigo fumbled around with the map. “What do we do now?”
“I have a good idea,” Naruto said. “We could heal our wounds.”
Staring blankly, Ichigo agreed. “Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea.”
Naruto took the nutrition drink from his pouch. “This probably doesn’t heal you as well as a first aid kit would,” he said, as he gulped the drink down to the last drop. Then he reached into his pouch yet again and drew out the med kit. He opened it up, and began to work on Ichigo. As he worked, he felt a sting, and drew back.
“What’s wrong?” Ichigo asked.
“My back stings,” Naruto said.
“Let me have a look.”
Naruto turned around for Ichigo to see. Much to Ichigo’s surprise, the wound was being healed right in front of him. It quickly closed up, and became invisible. “Damn, that stuff works fast!”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Naruto replied. He continued to work on Ichigo. “So I guess this med kit takes longer, but I’ll bet it works better too.”
“Yeah,” Ichigo said, ignoring the occasional twinge of pain. “The label only says it speeds up the regeneration of cells. I’ll bet it doesn’t clean the wound. So once we get back to the Hidden Leaf Village, you should have a professional look at that.” He paused. “Speaking of which, do you know what you’re doing?”
“Of course!” Naruto snapped. “I’ve had training in this field too!”
Ichigo sighed, laid down, and put all his faith in Naruto.
After a few minutes, Ichigo could feel a bandage placed onto his back. Naruto sighed, “There, all done.”
Ichigo sat up. “Thanks,” he said. Naruto nodded. “I guess we should try something else,” Ichigo said.
“Try what?”
“We need to find a new way to get to the school,” Ichigo announced. He stood up and put Zangetsu on his back.
Naruto stared. “How are we going to do that?”
Ichigo shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Naruto stared blankly. “Okay, that makes sense.”
Ichigo walked over to the kitchen. He saw the door next to the bulletin board where they got their map. It had three locks on it. “If only we could get through here, but it’s so obviously locked!” He kicked the door. Naruto walked over to him.
“I wonder where the keys are,” Naruto said. He reached for the knob.
“Don’t you ever learn?” Ichigo asked. “That’s not going to work; we’ve tried it so many times before.”
“I know,” Naruto replied. Still, he grabbed the knob and turned. It clicked as it turned, and the door cracked open.
Ichigo and Naruto stared in disbelief. “What the hell?” Ichigo yelled. “How the hell does that work?”
“That’s dumb!” Naruto yelled.
“Yeah, but I guess we shouldn’t curse our own good luck,” Ichigo said. “Besides, that Harry Mason guy was trying to get to the school. I’ll bet he found the keys and unlocked this door.”
“True,” Naruto agreed.
They both eagerly emerged from the doorway, and entered a backyard. It had a round table with two chairs and an umbrella. It was completely fenced in, with a wooden fence, instead of a picket fence, like the front yards.
Ichigo took one step down, and they heard a siren in the distance. It was a monotone sound that got deeper and deeper. As it sounded off, the sky grew darker and darker. It got so dark that they could no longer even see their own hands. They stood in complete darkness as the siren stopped.