Said nice wide open space just so happened to be where there previously had been laboratories, previously being about half an hour ago. The Twelfth Division was too busy looking for a safe air-tight space in which to tide out the battle to actually remember what had happened, or rather, what had caused the fight.
Some would say that it had been because Kuchiki-taicho had been doing the division inspecting that week, and that Eleventh had just given him a real hard time, and as such, the normally unflappable noble had been in a bad mood. The fact that Kurotsuchi-taicho had been his ordinarily uncooperative self had not helped matters much.
Some would say that it had been because Kurotsuchi-taicho had been handling a particularly expensive project which had just blown up in his face as Kuchiki-taicho walked past. Perhaps it was the reiatsu that he emitted subconsciously that had triggered the fragile equipment.
Whatever the reason, there were now two furious captains fighting it out within the Twelfth Division compound, the one place in Seireitei where there was unlikely to be any wide open spaces to fight in. Twelfth did not fight. They made things to do their fighting for them. They made up stuff, they mixed stuff with stuff, and then invented new stuff to replace the old stuff. They did not fight. There were no training grounds within the area. Those who wanted to train were transferred out within a few weeks. There was no space in Twelfth. Space was a concept reserved for the meeting tables.
And so far, as Akon who was crouching in a newly created corner in the newly created courtyard had counted, they had wrecked three power generators, gotten dangerously close to Kurotsuchi-taicho's private lab, as well as leveled the entire fourth section of the compound, and were still showing no signs of stopping.
This was no good. They were in Twelfth. All around them were chemicals, reiatsu processors, delicate equipment that if triggered wrongly, would blow up in your face. It was a miracle, really, that as of yet, nothing had blown up. As of yet, at least. A shockwave ripped through the compound as Konjiki Ashisogi Jizou reared up for another charge. He winced.
Senbonzakura Kageyoshi rose to the sky, along with its now furious wielder, not that anyone would have been able to tell by his facial expression, really. Purple fumes rose to the sky in plumes, as shinigami passing by ducked and ran faster, holding their breaths. Sharp petals of metal rushed towards Kurotsuchi-taicho, and it was not long before the shimmer of shunpo could be seen all around.
Akon winced as they clashed, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi impacting with Konjiki Ashisogi Jizou. Had it been under controlled circumstances, it would have been a figurative gold mine for him, and for the whole division to observe. But as it was, half the division was in danger of immediate death. As a matter of fact, so was half of the Eleventh Division, but the brutes didn't count, so Akon did not bother thinking about them. This would mean that there was absolutely no chance for him to analyze the fight. Oh well. Give and take. Give up the opportunity, and take the chance to keep himself alive.
Instead, he did a very un-scientific thing. He closed his eyes, curled back into a ball, and prayed that it would end without any shinigami dying, or more importantly, without him dying. He did not want to die anytime soon.
And it sort of worked, because after the incredibly loud explosion, he would put it at about 180 decibels, and the earth-shaking tremor, about a 4.3 on the Richter scale, everything was quiet. No clashing of metal, no cackling, nothing. No dangerously high reiatsu, no loud exclamations, no shimmering of shunpo. Nothing. Something was wrong. He tentatively sniffed at the air. Funny. The poison seemed to be gone.
Opening his eyes, he fanned at the smoke around his face, a horrible feeling settling in his gut. Smoke was not a good thing. And oh crap. They had been fighting next to lab fourteen. Oh no. Not lab fourteen. Wasn't lab fourteen where Kurotsuchi-taicho kept all his more precious, more delicate, and half a million times more dangerous experimental results, designs and liquids? No, no, no, no, no. This was bad. Really bad. Getting up from his curled position at the newly-created corner, Akon scowled slightly as he tried to see into the smoke.
It was useless. There was nothing he could see. There was probably nothing to see as well. He took in a deep breath.
"Kurotsuchi-taicho! Kurotsuchi-taicho! Is there a need to call in the Fourth Division?"
He winced and prepared to run for his life. There was no response.
"Kurotsuchi-taicho! Kuchiki-taicho!"
He cringed, awaiting a sound scolding from Kurotsuchi-taicho. Still no response. He was getting increasingly worried. This was not good, not good at all. A light purple liquid oozed towards his foot, and instinctively, he stepped back, bending down to take a closer look.
Bloody hell no. No way. Oh God. Please. No. He whimpered softly, pulling the finger which had nearly touched it back. He rose from the floor, following the trail of purple liquid with his eyes, or at least as much as he could see amongst the smoke. His eyes caught the telltale white cloth and black diamonds. Crap.
He took a tentative step forward, his mind whirling with the possibilities. Being relatively high up in command, he was privy to most of the captain's new projects. The reiatsu-sucking liquid was something that Kurotsuchi-taicho had wanted to try for some time now, after hearing that the previous Twelfth Division taicho had come up with a reiatsu-sucking gigai, and that Kenpachi was wearing a reiatsu-sucking device.
Well, he couldn't really blame the man. Kurotsuchi-taicho was a liquid specialist. He himself was mostly liquid, so it made sense that the new thing he had invented would start from being a liquid, no? Which brought him back to the topic at hand. The fact that there was a large amount of the so-far-not-fully-tested liquid on the floor. They knew that this stuff had nasty side effects, which was why it had not, as of yet, been announced to the rest of the Division. The side effects were not known to him, only to Kurotsuchi-taicho and fukutaicho.
As such, Akon didn't want to know whose haori that was, really. He really did not want to know. He did not want to figure out if he was about to die via poison or via sharp metal petals. He really did not want to know. But you know, curiosity killed the cat. He kept on walking towards the haori, even though he really did not want to find out who that was, in a way, he needed to figure it out.
Skillfully dodging the slowly oozing liquid, he moved towards the haori, closing his eyes and trying his best not to look. Too bad. In for a penny, in for a pound. His eyelids parted slightly, as his heart thumped in his chest. He forced himself to look. And bit back a yell of shock.
"Kuchiki-taicho?! Is that you?"
A pair of confused grey eyes stared back at him.
"Pardon?"
