Hey, I've rewritten and revamped! Feedback is appreciated.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach or any of the original Bleach characters. I own Jess, Nick, Ben, and their zanpakutōs.
'No! I can't die! Not yet! I have to find them! I need to find out what happened to them! Bi-'
'I am doing my best, but our current condition is complicating things.'
The reiatsu bearing down on us drew closer.
I've fought many powerful Menos in the past, but this spiritual pressure made them seem like mere insects. It could have been that I was so weak and disoriented, laying there in the middle of nowhere at that moment, that this being seemed stronger than it was, but I could hardly see or hear anything over the reiatsu, much less stand upright under its pressure!
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" I recognized that voice. Of course I did. I knew all of their voices. All of the important ones, at least. The problem was I couldn't identify who the voice belonged to. The reiatsu was so loud that I could barely make out what the voice was saying. I tried to focus on the reiatsu. Maybe if I could identify that, then I could figure out who or what this person was. My efforts were useless, though; the spiritual force was so strong that I felt numb. I was no longer able to see or hear or feel anything.
I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword when I felt an icy hand try to pry my zanpakutō away from me. There was no WAY I was going to give him up! He was my other half! We'd been together from the start! He might not have been right next to me at the beginning, but he was still there, and I knew he was! Whenever things got hard, he was my strength. With the power that we had, my own will power wasn't enough to control it. I needed him!
I called out to him through the bond that we shared, screaming his name. I got no reply. Our bond was broken. We were separated. He couldn't hear me. It wasn't my fault, and it wasn't his. We weren't to blame. It was all this creep's fault. This thing with the oversized reiatsu pulled my blade from my hand without ever letting up on the pressure. I clung to my consciousness in futile desperation. I was fighting a losing battle, and it wasn't the admirable kind.
The thing sneered again, but I couldn't understand a word of it anymore. I could tell from its aura that it had no intention of killing me.
Its loss.
When I woke up, it would learn of its devastating error. If it thought it could torture me or something, let it take its best shot. It was in for a surprise. Whatever it might have planned, it would have to deal with hell first. No, not hell, worse than hell. This thing would get the pleasure of facing a woman's wrath.
I let myself slip into the welcoming darkness with the thought of revenge as my only form of comfort.
I would take him back, and then I would kill it.
I glared at the wall. Yes, I remembered what happened. I wasn't happy about it. When I awoke, I had found that my situation had changed. I was locked in a little white box with no sword. My condition hadn't improved, but at least it didn't get worse.
I closed my eyes and listened carefully only to frown. I was completely surrounded by a light buzzing sound. I listened harder, trying to hear past it. The buzzing was still all I could hear. I reached out with my mind, calling out to him.
No answer.
I did hear a distinct echo of my inner voice, though. How strange. It sounded as if I had called out loud and the sound had echoed off of the white walls around me.
My hearing wasn't getting me anywhere, so I couldn't rely on my unique skill any longer. I grimaced as I opened my eyes. Well, I opened my right eye. I couldn't open my left eye at the moment. I took in my surroundings again, hoping to catch something that I missed before. I was completely surrounded by white. The walls were white, the ceiling was white, the floor was white, even the clothes I now wore were white. My usually pale skin seemed even paler in this setting. It wasn't just from my surroundings, though. I felt sick. I felt empty, like I hadn't eaten in days. While my stomach was empty and had been that way for a long time, the void within me wasn't cause by malnutrition.
I missed him.
I needed him.
He was my second soul.
We were two parts to one whole.
I was nothing without him...
Enough!
I would go insane if I kept going on like this! I needed to get out of here and find him instead of moping. I listened again, leaving my eyes open this time. I still couldn't hear anything besides that buzzing noise. Was it some kind of white noise machine? Whatever it was, it was annoying! I tried again, but I could only see the white walls and hear that stupid buzz. I groaned in frustration and pounded my fist against the wall. A sudden wave of weakness crashed through me causing my knees to buckle. I caught myself and stared at the wall again.
Oh.
That made sense.
The walls were made of sekki stone. That was probably another reason why I felt so weak.
Sekki stone reduces and negates reiatsu. Proximity increases the effect. I'm sitting here in a box of it. The walls must have been making the buzzing sound and blocking out everything on the other side. To the best of my knowledge, sekki stone had only ever been used in Soul Society. That didn't mean it couldn't be found or made somewhere like Hueco Mundo, more specifically Las Noches.
Stupid Szayel.
This greatly reduced my chances of escape. I wouldn't be able to collect enough of my reiatsu to punch through a sekki stone wall in one go, and I wouldn't have enough energy after the first punch for a second. Without him, I had extremely limited control over the power I had. Especially that one. The one that was completely and totally under control right now...
I touched the side of my face lightly. Sure enough, my hand was met with the smooth texture of the strange white substance that was plastered there. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I couldn't hear or see anything, but I could feel something; something that wasn't there.
I felt the shadows of the thoughts and emotions that he had felt just before we lost contact with each other. The thing on my face was a parasite that lived off of us both. It remembered what he felt when I couldn't feel him. He had separated us intentionally. He broke our bond before it broke from the strain. He did that to protect us, to protect me. He locked the majority of the parasite's power away with himself so that I could control what he left with me.
I wouldn't be able to do anything truly devastating, but I could use it to get me out of this little hell-box. Once I was away from the sekki stone, I wouldn't feel at weak, and I would be able to fight. That was important. Whether I was in Soul Society or Las Noches, I wouldn't be making anyone happy when I broke out. I stood in the dead center of the room with my harms held out in front of me.
Okay, they cheated first. I was minding my own business, and they jumped me when I was injured, locked me in a sekki stone prison with no windows or any visible form of ventilation, and they took my zanpakutō from me. So, I felt no guilt about cheating back.
"Shakkaho-Sokatsui!" The Shakkaho burst from my left hand and the Sokatsui from my right. This was my miraculous skill with kidō. I didn't like using kidō, so I only used it when I absolutely had to, but I had figured out how to use it without ever having any kind of teacher or someone else to watch. On my own, my kidō would never be strong enough to break through sekki stone, but I was suped up. I wasn't an arrancar or a vizard, but I did have a hollow mask. It was less than half of a mask, but it still increased my power. It strengthened my reiatsu and allowed me to control it better, which let me increase the power and control of my kidō.
The dust cleared quickly, displaying the small hole in the wall. The wall hadn't been as thick as I had feared. I would just be wasting my strength if I shot another blast, though. The wall around the hole was weakened, so now I could use my favorite method of handling a situation.
When in doubt, break stuff.
I balled my right hand into a fist and focused my reiatsu using what I had of my mask. I gripped the ground with my bare toes before I kicked off the ground and into the wall. I extended my fist and my voice simultaneously, watching the wall crumble under my advance. I caught myself when I landed on the other side. I saw that I was in a hallway, but didn't get a chance to look for more. I felt the parasite shift on my face. I couldn't see out of my right eye anymore. It would do this to me when I overexerted myself.
Using my hearing, I could "see" reiatsu. I guess it worked like echo location like with bats and whales and stuff, but I would "see" darkness with blobs of colored reiatsu around their owners. It got really weird when I found super strong reiatsus. I once found one so strong that my hearing bled into my other senses as well. I was able to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel every part of the reiatsu. The only reason I didn't suffer from sensory overload was because the reiatsu was being perfectly controled. But, I digress. From what I could "see" of the situation at hand, I needed to start moving. I took off down the hall. The adrenalin pumping through me helped me keep my pace up. I listened for his voice and reached out with my mind, but it was hard to deal with so much stimulation at once. Going from utter silence in my little box of doom to a world made entirely of spirit particles was literally deafening. I tried to tune everything out as best as I could and just try to find his voice, but it was a struggle. I heard physical voices shouting, most likely about my escape, as well as several decent sized reiatsus flaring and fluctuating as each creature prepared for the possibility of battle. Luckily, being in a world made of spirit particles meant I at least had a general idea of where the walls were as I ran through hallway after hallway. Finally, I felt my surroundings change. I was no longer in such a close, cramped space, but a wide open area. I had made it outside. The feel of the sun on my skin was refreshing after the stale, murky air from whatever building I was in.
If I was going to be able to do anything, I would need to get my mask off. Because of how unique my mask was, it was a double edged blade, even more so than a vizard's mask. It helped me, but it would make it harder for me to distinguish different reiatsus from one another or focus on just one. If I could get the thing off, I would be able to focus instead of being completely overwhelmed. The problem was I wouldn't be able to deal with it without him.
'WHAT DID YOU DO, YOU STUPID GIRL?'
'Oh, hi, it's you. I was just looking for you.'
'Silence! What did you do to trip so many alarms? After I saved your sorry ass, you-!'
'Yes, yes, I owe you. AGAIN. Just tell me where you are so I can come get you. I need to get this thing off of my face, the sooner the better.'
'You will have to remove some of it on your own first. You will become quite lost and disoriented if you continue as you are.'
'You say that like I don't get lost and disoriented normally, B.'
'It is not as dangerous to get lost in the wilderness or some city or town in the living world. Here, there are several hundred beings currently hunting you. And I told you I hate it when you call me that.'
'Yeah, yeah. You wouldn't have any idea what kind of creatures they are, would you?'
'No. I tried, but I mostly kept myself locked away. When I did open up, they were running their tests.'
'So you couldn't tell if it was Kurotsuchi or Szayel who was probing you?'
'No.'
'Damn.'
'However, I do not recall Las Noches being so crowded. It is much more likely that we were abducted by the Gotei 13 than by the Espada and their Fraction.'
'Do you really want to take that chance before I can see?'
'No. That is why I told you to take off some of the mask on your own first. If this is Soul Society, you'll want to remove all of it.'
'I can't.'
'Why not?'
'They put me in a sekki stone prison-cell-box-thing.'
'How articulate of you.'
'Shut up! The point is I used up most of my strength breaking out,' I huffed. 'Speaking of which, I would still be there if you hadn't been your awesome self and locked away most of the parasite's power.'
'You are welcome. However, my seal will not last forever. If you do not have the strength to remove even some of it, you will need to find me as soon as possible. Until then, I will see what I can do about restoring your sight.'
'What would I ever do without you?'
'You would most likely suffer a-'
'Yeah, that's what we call a rhetorical question, stupid.'
'I know. I have told you not to speak to me in such a manner, moron. I will not tolerate your childishness.'
'Yeah, well-'
'Remember that I am more than capable of making you life miserable if you do not treat me with respect.' Neither of us said any more. I nursed my bruised ego, trying to ignore his chuckling at my lack of poise. I locked enough of my attention on him so that I could still track him, but left enough free so that I could still focus on my surroundings and, hopefully, not run into anyone or anything. The parasite was still blinding me a bit, making everything blur together. I hoped I still had depth perception. I could feel him manipulate the parasite so it was no longer quite so overbearing. I was now able to distinguish the general shapes of things. With some careful maneuvering, I managed to make my way on top of a taller building to get a better view of the area. This place was like a maze, but had no roof or ceiling over all of it.
I was in Soul Society.
I couldn't help but let relief wash through me at this revelation. While I might not be safe here in my current state, I could prove to them over time that I was an ally. In Hueco Mundo, I would just be totally screwed. I leapt down from the roof and began darting down the street once more. It was much easier to find him now that he had cleared up some of my 'sight'. I was so anxious to get back to him I focused all of my attention on his reiatsu. I ran and ran and ran until I stopped. I laid there on the ground trying to figure out what just hit me. I slowly sat up and focused on what was in front of me.
I looked with my ears, not with my hands; the last thing I needed was to reach out and end up frisking one of the captains. I suppressed a shudder and focused again on what was before me.
A wall.
I got hit by a wall.
I stood and brushed myself off. My face heated up in embarrassment and anger. My blush only worsened when his laughter rang in my head. Apparently, he found my pain humorous...
'I'm so glad I amuse you. Get back to working on the mask, you bum.'
'I am multitasking.'
'Riiiiight...'
'Just because you have the attention span of a gold fish-' I jumped when he was interrupted. High, bubbly giggles floated through the air. This was yet another voice I recognized.
Fortunately, there was only one person who I could think of that laughed like that.
Unfortunately, she was not exactly who I wanted to run into in my current situation.
I turned my head to face the source of the sound on top of a wall to my left. Even though I couldn't see anything at the moment thanks to my mask, facing things and people brought me a sense of comfort. At that moment, my left eye was completely covered by my mask. It worked like an eye patch, effectively keeping my eye locked shut. My right eye was different, and much more complicated. My mask started out as a simple, bone-like ring that fit around my eye. When I wore it, the circle would become black, and my already keen hearing would improve even more. When I used more of the parasite's power, the mask would grow across my face. Sometimes, when it starts to fight back, it takes away my physical sight in exchange for being able to see only spirit particles. The particles themselves just give off a gentle buzz, but reiatsus have stronger sounds, each one unique. My mask currently stretched across my eyes and around some of my head.
"Hi there! You look pretty funny. Are you a hollow? Oh! Or an arrancar?" I groaned to myself; it was her. Any other time, I would be ecstatic to meet her. Now, not so much.
"N-no," I croaked out. I hadn't thought about it before, but it had been weeks since I last spoke aloud, may be even months. "I'm a shinigami, like you."
"Really? I think you're lying. Shinigami don't have hollow masks. Well, Ichii does, but he's special!" I could only see her bright pink reiatsu, but I knew her well enough that I could envision her beaming and tilting her head to the side in that oh-so-cute way of hers.
"I'm special too. I can take my mask off, but I need to have my zanpakutō to do it. Do you think you could help me find my zanpakutō?"
HOLY CRAP! I JUST ASKED KUSAJISHI YACHIRU FOR DIRECTIONS! WHAT WAS I THINKING?
"Maybe. Are you suuuuure you're a shinigami?"
"Positive."
"Okay, then!" I watched her, well her reiatsu, jump down to the ground. "I'm Kusajishi Yachiru, vice captain of the Eleventh Division. What's your name?"
"I'm Jessica."
"I'm gunna call you kitty, cause your mask looks like a cat!" It looks like a samurai helmet, but whatever. If she thinks it looks like a cat, then more power to her. "Let's go!" She grabbed my hand and took off. She let go after a minute, but I didn't stop following her. Keeping her happy was now one of my higher priorities.
"Yachiru, where do you think they're keeping my sword?"
"Probably with Mayurin at Squad Twelve."
"No, I'm pretty sure I was just there. My sword wasn't."
"Really? Hm...Oh wait! I remember now! At the vice captains' meeting last night we talked about a special sword." She stopped dead in her tracks causing me to nearly run into her. "Were they talking about your sword?" she frowned. I didn't know how to answer that. It most likely was him that they were talking about, but would Yachiru see me as the enemy if I said yes? I really hoped not, but she did seem upset at the idea.
"I don't know, it might be. My sword is special to me, but isn't every zanpakutō special to their shinigami?"
"Yeah... I guess so..."
"What's wrong? What's so special about that sword?"
"It's backwards." I didn't need to ask what she was talking about. That was him. My zanpakutō wasn't a katana like every other zanpakutō. Well, almost every other. He was a sakabatō, a reverse blade. It was a sword that has the cutting edge on the inwardly curved side of the sword. The blade's orientation causes it to be nearly incapable of killing. It's only typically used by master swordsmen since superior strength, speed, and precision are required for it to be wielded with lethal effectiveness. That said, I hadn't the slightest idea why my sword was one.
"Where is it now?" I just had to grit my teeth and ask. If Yachiru hated me, then she hated me. I could never side with her or anyone over him. Silence was my only answer. "I understand. Thank you. I'm glad I got the chance to meet you." I could tell from the change in the flow and tone of her reiatsu that she was sad about this turn of events. I walked past the tiny girl and searched for his reiatsu again, hoping I could pinpoint him a little better now.
"I don't know where they put the sword," she called after me. "I wasn't really paying attention." I couldn't help but smile at her. She was so sweet and she seemed to really want me to be her friend. I wanted to tell her that we could be friends after all of this blew over, but I was hesitant. Not that it mattered.
"I bet Nemun knows, though! Nemun's really smart!" I jumped at her sudden excitement. I guess she wasn't ready to give up on our young friendship just yet.
"That sounds like a good plan, but I can't go see Nemun."
"Why not?"
"I'm kind of playing hide and seek with the other shinigami."
"Really? Can I play?"
"Sure," I said with a stroke of genius. "You have to keep me hidden, okay?"
"Yay! Let's go find Nana! She's smart too! She might know where your sword is. I'll ask her and you can hide! Come on, let's go!" I silently prayed that she wouldn't get us lost finding Nanao. At least we weren't going to Nemu. I didn't have anything against Nemu, and I would still have to be careful to not let Nanao find me, but Nanao wouldn't go nuts and do whatever it took to capture me, in one piece or several, and then hand me over to Captain Freakenstein. Sure, I'm a Spartan in my battle philosophy, but I know the difference between being brave and and being stupid. I followed Yachiru as we wound through the Seireitei until we finally ended up...somewhere.
"Where are we?"
"We're at Byakkun's house."
"What?" I whispered. As scary as Kurotsuchi Mayuri sounded right now, I think I'd rather be found by him than by Kuchiki Byakuya.
"Don't worry, there's a Captains' meeting right now. Come on." I followed her closely trying to figure out what she was planning and why Nanao would be in the Kuchiki manor. "Quickly, down here." She opened a secret hatch in the ground and crawled through, holding it open for me to follow.
Huh.
It's just like in all those 'after-the-show-comedy-cartoons' about the Shinigami Women's Society. I stayed close behind her as I followed her through the tunnels and listened carefully to see how many shinigami were down here. There were about ten who were all higher ranks and a handful of others. I would be as good as caught if they noticed me.
"You wait here, Kitty. I'll go ask Nana about your sword." She darted off before I could say anything. The only thing to do was to wait for her and hope that I could keep my reiatsu hidden.
"...ou know where they're keeping it?"
"The Ōnmitsukidō took it into custody to prevent it from being stolen after that breach in security in the Bureau of Technology and Research earlier today."
"So it's in Division Two now?"
"Possibly, but they probably hid it somewhere else for security's sake." Crap. If Yachiru didn't have a specific destination, she was going to get me lost for sure. I left as quickly and quietly as I could. I pushed my growing guilt to the back of my mind. I didn't want to just abandon her like this, but I couldn't wait any longer. As much as I loved the little cutie, B came first.
Once I was outside again, I took off doing my best to keep to the shadows. I listened for a few specific reiatsus. Luckily, I was able to find and identify the ones I wanted. A large, wild golden cloud of reiatsu was off a ways to my right. I didn't take the time to reflect on the fact that his reiatsu had a coppery taste with a tone that I couldn't quite identify, I was just glad to see that Zaraki was far enough away for my safety and that Yachiru wasn't close to him, which meant that I wouldn't have to worry about her recruiting the beastly captain to hunt me down. An equally large reiatsu was off to my left. This one was a beautiful shade of burnt umber and had a smoky flavor and sounded like a warm, comforting, crackling camp fire. I marveled at Yamamoto's power. He was so strong and so in tune with his zanpakutō that I could almost hear echoes of Ryujin Jaka's voice. And unlike Zaraki, he kept his reiatsu naturally reigned in. Zaraki used his eyepatch, but Yamamoto used his own control. I quickly jerked out of my stupor when it dawned on me how far away the two reiatsus were from one another. A quick glance told me that the other captains were also spread about. The meeting must have ended.
The Ōnmitsukidō have my sword, so Soifon was probably guarding him or was at least close to him by now. Suzumebachi has a bee-like appearance, so I tried to single out a powerful light yellow reiatsu that had the subtle sound of buzzing bug wings. I was on the move as soon as I found it. I used the parasite to suppress my reiatsu as I got closer. I made sure to still stay back, though. I watched her reiatsu closely. It seemed like she was making rounds. Since Kurotsuchi had me first, they probably got information from any tests he may have done on me. They might know that I can hear and 'see' reiatsu. This could be a trap. I would just have to take that chance. I could hear a collection of weaker reiatsus around her, but they were stationary. They must be guards. I wouldn't be able to do anything until Soifon left. I tried to follow his reiatsu again, but I couldn't pinpoint him now. They must have improved the security to keep him locked in after the Captains' meeting. I could tell that I was closer, but I wouldn't be able to find him without some help. As soon as Soifon was far enough away, I put my haphazard plan into action.
Phase 1: I did some sneaking around until I found a few lone sentries. I knocked them out before they knew what hit them. Once the area was clear, I checked each one of their swords, feeling the shape of the suba on each one. I found one that was similar to my own and hoped that either the color matched mine or they wouldn't notice if it didn't. I hid the other zanpakutōs so they wouldn't know what I was up to and continued on my way.
Phase 2: I looked for a small group of guards who would unwittingly help me. I stood with my back to them. Took a deep breath, and let them find me.
"Halt! Who's there?" I heard medal clink as they readied their weapons.
"H-hey, i-isn't that-" I smirked at them over my shoulder. They gasped when they saw my mask.
"Thanks for sucking at your job, boys. Without you, I didn't think I'd ever see my sword again." I held the zanpakutō up so they could just see it.
Gotta love the power of suggestion. I disappeared without a trace before they could pick their faces up off the ground.
"H-how did she-"
"She didn't. She couldn't have. She has to be bluffing!"
"Yeah, there's no way she could have stolen it back!"
"Soifon-taicho would have stopped her."
"..."
"Why would she bluff?"
"Maybe we should check. You know, just in case." The others agreed and they all started off toward their captive.
Phase 3: I followed silently. I waited just out of their range as they stopped before a huge door. They carefully opened each of the many locks and then the door itself. They kept saying how they were sure that I was bluffing and that I couldn't have taken back my sword, but that tiny little spark of doubt was all it took for them to feel the need to check. They finally made it to the final box. They opened that and I could see my zanpakutō lying there surrounded by his reiatsu.
"See? I told you she couldn't have gotten to it."
"And I told you I couldn't do it without you boys." I sprung from my hiding spot and snatched my sword from his place before they could move to stop me. I drew my blade, glad to have him back in my hand where he belonged. "Thanks again." I smirked and knocked them all out with a few swift strikes. Having a reverse blade made it easier to do so without killing them.
'It took you long enough.'
'I'm here, aren't I? Now how about we get this thing off of my face?'
'Very well.' I sheathed my sword and held it in my left hand, gripping the left side of my mask with my right. I could feel the strange material crumble under my fingers as I ripped it off. The left side of my face would be fine as usual, but the right side wouldn't. I could already tell it would have scarring.
Again.
If I left the mask on my face for an extended period of time, it would begin to root itself to my face, the longer it was on my face, the deeper the roots. Ripping those roots out was never pleasant. It's times like these that make me wish I was a vizard instead of a whatever I am. I finally got down to just the eye piece. It was different from the rest of the mask, so it wouldn't just crumble. I had to pull it off separately and very carefully so I didn't physically blind my eye. Just before my fingers touched the ring, my body froze.
"That's enough." Another familiar voice with an equally familiar reiatsu. My right eye was still stuck on 'spirit mode', but I could actually see out of my left eye again. Good thing, too. Captain Courteous' flaring reiatsu was almost deafening. I looked down at myself without moving my head to see yellow ropes that looked like they were made out of lightning.
Bakudo.
I found that my mask affected my kidō, so I assumed that it would be affected by kidō as well. It wasn't. I could hear the spirit particles in the rope and see them with my right eye.
"You left them alive. Why?" the captain demanded. For a stealth master, Soifon sure doesn't beat around the bush.
"I didn't come to kill, and I'm not looking for a fight. I just wanted to get my zanpakutō back."
"Interesting. I didn't know that arrancar call their swords zanpakutō as well."
"I don't think they do, then again, I've never bothered to ask one."
"Do you honestly believe that you can convince anyone here that you're not an arrancar when you have a broken mask?"
"I certainly hope so. If you use me as your basis for information on arrancar, you'll be totally screwed when you try to fight a real one."
"Soifon-taicho!"
"Wait, Soifon-taicho!"
I froze. Those were two voices I would never be able to forget.
"Soifon-taicho, please just-"
"Ben, look!" They were in my blind spot so I couldn't see them, but I could feel their eyes on me, and I could feel their familiar reiatsus.
"Jess?"
"Hey, Jess, just relax, alright?"
"Don't do anything reckless. Just put your sword down and-"
"Would you two morons please not talk to me like I'm three? I am relaxed, and I'm not going to do anything reckless. I'm crazy, not stupid." I heard their eyes roll and almost laughed.
Almost.
"That doesn't mean I'm just going to hand my sword over, though." I kept myself somber to show them I meant business. "They took him once, and I had to run all over Soul Society to find him. No one is going to take him again."
"We won't let them take it. Just show Soifon-taicho that you won't fight."
"You don't get it! I'm lost without him."
"Jess-"
"Nick, I had to get directions from Kusajishi Yachiru!" Ben cracked up.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to get here if it wasn't for her. I had to ditcher her, though. She's probably going to hunt me down now or something."
"Kusajishi-fukotaicho is the least of you worries. You are here by arrested-"
"Soifon-taicho, please-!"
"No! The two of you must know your place. That thing is not the girl you have been looking for. Your friend is dead."
'This isn't getting me anywhere! Any ideas?'
'You need to break the bakudo.'
'And how do you propose I do that?'
'Be creative.'
"Jerk!"
"Um, Jess, insults aren't going to help in this situation."
"I wasn't talking to any of you. Stupid, egotistical, glorified steak knife." I still had my sword in my left hand, so I focused on moving that thumb. Once I managed that, I used it to flick my sword a few centimeters out of its sheath. It wasn't much, but it was enough. Thankfully, Nick and Ben were unknowingly helping me by distracting Soifon. Ben, being the gung ho, trigger happy, nut job that he is, was trying to pick a fight with Soifon, and Nick was trying to literally knock some sense into him. I pushed my thumb down on my blade, cutting right to the bone. I pulled the digit back and listened to the blood drip onto the ground. I shut my eyes to help me focus on the pain, and held my thumb as close to the spirit ropes as I could.
"Haien!" A blast of purple energy burst from my thumb, incinerating the ropes. Some of the blast shot past and blasted the ground giving me a kind of smoke screen. I leaped away, trying my hardest to avoid Soifon's reiatsu.
"Hado #88: Hiryugekizokushintenraiho!"
"Crap!" I didn't know what "Hiryu-geko-fuji-shiatzu-high-ho" did, but I did know that the higher the spell's number, the more powerful it was. I was in no condition to take a hit from an eighty-freaking-eight! I held my hands out in front of me to quickly summon a shield,
"Bakudo #39: Enkosen!" My shield formed as a huge wave of blue electricity blasted toward me. Even with what I had left of my mask, the shield was barely strong enough to stop some of the blast. I landed on the ground in absolute agony. She had blasted me through all of the defense walls, landing me in an open courtyard. I groaned and only just managed to pry my eyes open. I stared up at the now starry sky. It was a velvety blue with no sign of any sunlight. The sun must have set right after I escaped from Dr. Freakenstein. I forced myself to focus; this was no time for star gazing! There was no way in hell that I would last another thirty seconds against the captain of both Squad Two and the Covert Ops. I grit my teeth and forced my arm to move through the pain to grab my mask. I had to get it off.
"Bakudo #9: Horin." The orange tendril wrapped around me, locking my arms to my sides. Soifon walked up to me. I really didn't like the way her reiatsu was flowing now. She grabbed a fistful of my long blonde hair and pulled me up to her eye level.
"You are too dangerous to leave alive," she glared at me. The stealth master raised her sword to plunge it into my throat.
"No!" I gasped in fear.
"Beg all you want. It won't save you." She didn't understand! I wasn't afraid of dying. I died once already. I was terrified because I could feel my mask starting to grow again, this time of its own accord. My sense of self-preservation was taking over and so was the parasite. It would either attack Soifon or kill Ben and Nick before she could kill it.
"Get your ass in gear, you old fart!" My sudden outburst startled Soifon, but only for a moment. Her glare deepened. As she brought her sword forward to end my existence, I swung my legs up, kicking her arm away and planting my feet on her chest. I could feel him using his reiatsu to increase my speed and power beyond what I should be able to handle. If I survived this, I would be hurting. I kicked off of Soifon, using her for leverage. I slipped out of her grip and kicked her across the court yard.
I landed on my side on the other side of the courtyard.
I moved onto my knees.
I felt the parasite taking over as the mask stretched across my face.
I felt B fighting it with me and giving me strength to fight it.
I braced myself for the pain.
I slammed my face into the ground.
I felt my mask shatter beneath the force, the eye ring with it.
I knew it wasn't gone, though; it would reform on the hilt of my sword like it always did.
It just hurt like hell on the rare occasion that it did break.
I didn't care.
I was no longer in danger of losing myself to it.
I suddenly became very aware of just how much pain slamming your face into the ground causes.
I grit my teeth to keep from screaming.
"Jess!"
"Jess, what the hell?" Nick and Ben shouted as they ran over to me. I groaned into the ground as they rolled me over.
"Is there a reason you just smashed your head against the ground?"
"Ma-mas-ma-"
"Your mask? You almost bashed your head open so you could take off your mask? I get that Soifon-taicho wasn't listening, but if you hadn't resisted in the first place-"
"L-lo-los-si-"
"Losing? Of course you were losing! How could you possibly hope to survive a fight against Soifon-taicho, much less win?"
"You would be the one to worry more about that than yourself!" I gave up. These two were idiots. They're my best friends, the big brothers I never had, and they're ridiculously smart. They were still idiots. They were terrible listeners, and they rarely use those big brains of theirs. I forced my eyes open once again. It had been so long since I last saw them.
Nick pretty much looked the same as I remembered him. He had the same curly chocolate hair that was a little shaggy but still neat. He still had that round face that gave him a mature, 'little-boy' look. His dark brown eyes were soft and unchanged, but the glasses behind which they sat were new. Instead of the old thick square frames he had before, he had, suave new ones that completed his 'Clark Kent' look. He seemed more muscular that he was before, but he still had the presence of a thinker and planner, as opposed to a fighter like Ben.
Ben had changed a little. His buzzed brown hair had grown out. It was spiky in parts and some hung in his face. He had dozens of little scars across his face and neck. They didn't distort or detract from his features, but complimented them. Ben had always been a fighter, even if he didn't always look like it. His appearance matched his personality much better now. His square jaw and the little bit of stubble that covered it certainly didn't hurt his new tough-guy look. I was more than a little glad to see that his crystal blue eyes were unchanged. Even if the rest of him had changed even more than it did, I would still be able to recognize him by his eyes. I don't know what it was, but something about Ben's eyes was just so unique.
"Both of you stand down. I told you before, your friend is dead. That abomination is a danger to the Rukongai and to Soul Society. It must be destroyed."
"Soifon-taicho is correct. This threat is real and must be dealt with." I gasped. This new person's reiatsu was pushing the very air from my lungs. I was barely able to understand what the voice said, but I could hear enough. It was an old voice that emanated strength, control, and power. Coupled with the familiar blazing reiatsu, I knew it was Yamamoto. "However, Soifon-taicho, I will deal with this personally. This girl has much to tell us. She is to be taken to the fourth division where Unohana-taicho will see to her. When she is ready, she will stand before us."
This is a Haiku
to tell you "rate and review"
so please and thank you