The orange-haired boy disappeared from sight, leaving no traces behind.
The answer to his question was revealed when he noticed that the blond guy from before snatched Ichigo and now stood in the air.
Suddenly, Grimmjow also had a bad feeling. Like something strong was coming. He instinctively reacted and moved away, creating a gap between himself and Ichigo.
At that moment, an arrow of blue energy pierced the air where Grimmjow was.
The arrow struck the place where the Arrancar had stood a few moments ago, dissipating after hitting the roof, but the damage was minimal.
"What was that?!" He muttered under his breath as his gaze followed the trail of the arrow.
Standing in the distance holding a black bow was an auburn-haired young man with sharp eyes. The teen wore a sweatshirt and pants, as if he was just going out to a convenience store.
However, his reiatsu was no joke. Even Grimmjow was put on guard facing him.
Before coming here, the arrancar had read Ulquiorra's report from their first invasion to Karakura town. One of them mentioned an auburn-haired teen strong enough to cut Yammy's arm and force them to retreat.
"Kurosaki Shirou."
Shirou lowered his bow and looked at the Arrancar. He scanned the battlefield at once, noticing Ichigo's unconscious self in Shinji's hand.
Narrowing his eyes at the blond boy, he asked with his eyes about what was the meaning of this.
Shinji didn't give an answer. Instead, he only grinned and waved his hand. And then, he pointed in one direction, to which Shirou responded by following it.
In the sky, he could see a blonde girl flying toward him on a creature that looked like a dragon.
It took a while, but she soon arrived and stopped near him.
"Y-You! Why did you suddenly run off like that!?" She asked him, panting.
"Sorry. It was an emergency." He replied curtly.
Ninny was about to retort when she saw what happened in front of her.
The boy's twin brother, Kurosaki Ichigo was being held by the blond boy, who had an amused smile. Meanwhile, a clearly dangerous person was looking at them with a scowl.
His eyes were narrowed into a glare. His fists were clenched tightly.
She gulped in fear.
She knew danger when she saw one.
"Who is he?" She asked in a low voice.
"An arrancar." He answered with certainty.
Everything from reiatsu and his appearance showed it. There was no way Shirou would mistake his identity since he had met a couple of Arrancar before.
And now there was another problem other than the arrancar.
"Ninny, can you help my brother over there?" He said, referring to the blond Shinigami. "I will handle the arrancar."
Having seen Ninny's capability before, he trusted her to be able to catch his brother.
He had a bad feeling. Something told him to take his brother away from here immediately. His brother's left eye was completely black.
That couldn't be a good sign, especially after he heard that thing from Urahara.
As much as he'd like to save Ichigo by himself, the arrancar was too dangerous.
True enough, he noticed the arrancar disappeared from where he stood before.
Shirou's sense of danger flared. He immediately let go of his bow and created twin swords in each hand. He then swung one sword to his right, blocking Grimmjow's fist with his blade.
The blue-haired arrancar had used his sonido, appearing in front of him in an instant. However, the boy wasn't taken by surprise and was quick enough to block the attack.
The impact was heavy. A normal human would have their bones shattered from the force, but the auburn-haired teen had his body strengthened by reiatsu.
"Hahaha! Not bad!" Grimmjow grinned widely.
"..."
Shirou said nothing, but he swung his sword forward to attack. His blade blurred in the air as it moved with incredible speed, cutting through the air like a knife through butter.
The Arrancar jumped back to avoid the strike. The tip of the sword barely touched his skin and made a cut.
He then swung his other sword, this time with more power behind the swing.
Once again Grimmjow dodged it easily, jumping away from the attack range. However, he failed to see the third sword that Shirou traced midair and was forced to block it with his bare hands. A cut appeared on his left hand.
Grimmjow clicked his tongue in annoyance.
This kid was annoying him.
Meanwhile, Ninny was flying to the blond boy with a panicked face. She didn't come here for a fight.
She was here because her friend asked her to accompany him, and she didn't think she'd be involved in a fight against a creature called arrancar.
'I just want my Achievement!' She cried mentally.
But she was a member of Wing Bind, the organization that dealt with the dangerous dragon. She had seen and faced the danger herself, so this shouldn't be anything special.
Rescuing someone from another person who somehow stood in the air wasn't the weirdest thing she had seen or done.
Ninny controlled her dragon and made a stop in front of the guy, pointing her small trumpet-like pipe toward him. She made sure to fire her magic in case he did something to harm them.
The man smirked as if sensing her wariness, but didn't make any move. "What's this? You come here to play music?"
"Hah?! What the heck do you think this is? A playground?!" Ninny retorted angrily at his mocking tone.
Shinji raised an eyebrow at the sight of the blonde girl riding a giant bird. She was dressed like a witch from the Harry Potter movie. It made him question whether this was really happening.
'Just what is this?' He wondered to himself, but then he remembered something. 'Ah, it must be that western branch or something. They are here?'
He looked at the girl with an amused look.
Playing along with the game, Shinji grinned and said, "Yes."
Ninny froze. "What?"
"This is a playground," Shinji stated matter of factly. "And I'm playing with my toy." He grinned widely as he pointed at the orange-haired teen in his arms.
The man then looked at Ninny and said, "What? Do you wanna join the fun too?"
Veins popped up in Ninny's temple when she realized that he had been playing with her. The Witch didn't know how to feel, she was annoyed by his teasing tone but at the same time curious about his intention.
Why would someone with a strange, non-symmetrical bang criticized her? And most of all...
What did this weirdo mean by playground and playing with a toy?
"Are you making fun of me?!"
"I don't think so, little lady. But if you insist..."
"I will fucking kill you!"
"Try it!"