Turn Back the Pendulum
Disclaimer: I don't own bleach or its characters.
Prologue
Kira Izuru was having a stroll around the soul society. He took a deep breath as he observed the scenery of trees around. It's been a while since he breathed the air of peacefulness.
A year had passed since the fight with Aizen with more than half of the Gotai 13 injured, including the old man Genryuusai. The fourth division worked restlessly during the first two months to cure everyone up. Because of that, the fourth division was now well respected by everyone.
Many of the war participants, most notably Renji and Toushiro, were spending the whole year to train themselves. They couldn't accept that the substitute shinigami, Ichigo, was actually the one who defeated Aizen. Now that Ichigo and his friends were gone they had to muster up strength to replace them, or so they thought.
Speaking of ichigo, his title as the substitute shinigami was officially ripped off his chest. He was probably having his long lost peaceful moments back in Karakura town after years of fighting, and so were his friends.
Everyone knew that Rukia suffered the most from their loss. No matter how much she tried to hide it, the sadness was still present on her features. But she's not the only one who had to carry the burden of losing the loved ones.
"Ichimaru-taichou…" Kira murmured. He exhaled the air deeply, as if that would cure the ache in his heart.
He and Rangiku also had lost a person dear to them, Ichimaru Gin. Unlike Aizen who was jailed and Tousen who was gone forever, his existence was unknown. He would like to keep on dreaming on being in his side as a fukutaichou like he used to. Kira wanted to laugh.
How pathetic was it for a dead to dream on the dead.
*SRAK!*
Kira jolted from his thought and turned his head swiftly to the bushed on his right, but he saw no one. The wind blew afterwards, adding more certainty to Kira's conclusion.
'I'm being parano-'
Kira swiftly jumped from his spot, barely avoiding a bloody sword that nearly sliced his stomach in half. As he glided in the air toward the nearest tree, he couldn't help but to feel familiarity to the sword.
He landed on the branch as the tip of the sword sunk to the bush on his right before. So he was not paranoid after all! Moreover, the sword had given Kira had the slightest and most absurd idea.
'Shinsou! But it's impossible-'
*Slash* His thoughts were interrupted by the expanding sword aimed to his head. He dodged it by getting of the branch. As quick as he landed, he made his way away from the attacker, trying to lure him out.
Kira would have attacked back instead of playing cat and mouse had he had his sword. The situation had came to be called 'peaceful' this year that shinigami carrying around swords were no longer appropriate. In other words, he had no other option but to play dodge ball with him.
Okay, that was a big lie.
He could attack back with a kido, but seeing shinsou in the hands of the attacker prevented him from doing so. And worse, Kira's mind was in a mess, trying to distinguish the possible reality and the impossible wish he had.
Unconsciously Kira spent his time pondering on his thought as he waited for his plan to work. God had to be on his side for no attacks were dealt as he caught himself in a near-trance position.
Honestly, he had never let his guard down that much before, not even once. Maybe it's because this battle was like no other, because he was facing himself, his own long buried wish.
Kira regained his focus back as he saw the bush trembled. No wind blew upon them, so that had to be the attacker's. He was right. Soon afterwards a small pale bare foot came out from it.
'The attacker is a child?' Kira was confused, so he decided to observe more. He couldn't help but to notice black specks staining his foot.
'A murderer.' He judged. He furrowed his brows in anger and disgust.. He was not going to play it easy just because that murderer had his former captain's sword. But that could mean…
Kira had barely done theory of his former captain's death when it immediately dissolved into dust as he saw a pale boy coming out from the bushes with purple-silverish hair. The boy's fox-like smirk added another piece to Kira's puzzle.
"Finally, I found ya…" The boy greeted in kanto dialect.
Words were stuck in his throat as he stared at the child. His face tremendously resembled to the face that Kira wanted to see. The only difference was the black specks which covered several parts of his body and his blue hakama.
"What are you looking at?" The boy asked, still had the eerie smirk on his face. Kira gulped in nervousness. All intensity and will of fight had dissolved along with his previous theory, it might seem. Kira was left struggling to find the reality.
The boy shrugged at the fidgeting Kira before he got on his stance. Swiftly, he dealt the next blow aimed at Kira's left arm. His mental state had made the boy capable of slicing his shoulder.
Kira backed away while grabbing his bleeding shoulder. He gritted his teeth and bowed his head.
'I need to focus! I can't let the third division lose its leader anymore!' He told himself, even repeated the first sentence like a mantra.
The boy wasted no time in slicing Kira's flesh, drawing blood here and there in high speed. Kira tried to dodge them, but the boy's attack became more and more aggressive, as Kira hesitation on letting his defense mode off remained high.
The green grass was painted with fresh crimson drawn from the writhing Kira's flesh. In one swift motion, the boy stabbed him on his right chest, drawing enormous amount of crimson liquid.
Kira's consciousness slowly faded away. He barely realized when the boy withdrew his sword. As his body slowly fell onto the ground, his hand acted in reflex to grab the boy's hakama and ripped a piece of it with all strength he could muster up.
He fell painfully on the ground with a tint of consciousness left within. With his blurry vision, he saw the child walking away from him. He tried to call him one last time,
"I…chi…maru ta..i…chou…"
before allowing the darkness to take over.
Reviews and critics are well needed.