Dark Green
Chapter Two – One Man's Vengeance
As mentioned previously I changed Kamichi's Resurreccion name and in doing so decided to change his release command to something a little more fitting as well, just so my readers know.
Tite Kubo owns Bleach
The clock struck ten as trees shuttered, relinquishing their loose leaves to a cool wind blowing across the graves of Karakura cemetery. The kanji engraved faces stood vigilant watch over the changing world those they had been created for had long since departed.
Amongst the markers a lone apparition's gaze rested on one particular stone marked with the kanji for 'Akita'. "Hey…guess it's been awhile since I last came to visit."
Kamichi Gyakujou understood where his new body had been taking him a few blocks back; his mood turning as somber as the current locale.
"Sorry, but you know that I've been to this place too many times in my life," he put his hand on the stone apologetically. "I hate these fucking places…"
Kamichi choked up on suppressed emotion until a few deep breaths leveled him out some, and then just stared off into space for a moment. His tone held no feeling when he spoke again. "You can't even hear what I'm saying, can you? You're probably in that world of shinigami. I hope you are…" he trailed off, not wanting to pursue that thought.
"Even if you could see or remember your old friend what would you think of me now? Can I even be thought of as the same childhood pal you once knew?" Kamichi muttered as he unzipped his vest and pulled down the scarf, exposing his mask fragments and hollow hole.
"I've taken the form of the enemy. Even if I could become a human-err, soul, again…why would Soul Society even ponder welcoming me. I'll never be able to get to wherever you have gone." He shadowed his eyes under dark magenta bangs.
"My lust for power was my true downfall. It has corrupted my soul, twisting it into this unholy form that permanently separates us from one another. Even now I feel this was what I desired, what I'd never had…the strength to change what is. I was a fool," the surrogate arrancar looked to the stars and let his melancholic expression ease into one of acceptance.
"This is a just punishment for my errors. All of them." He chuckled sadly then once again fixed his gaze upon the grave in a look of longing.
"Forgive a young broken fool and his self-centered ambitions," he beseeched his late friend as he turned on a heel and plodded away heavily.
Before he left Kamichi took a final glance over his shoulder and gave a quiet promise, "I'll bring flowers next time, the ones you like," then turned and flew away into the night.
XXXXX
The Darkkiller, Kamichi Gyakujou, had been lazily floating across Karakura Town airspace since his gloomy visit at the graveyard. That had been an hour ago but he'd yet to work up the energy for much more than a change in course. His lack of inspiration wasn't helping the situation much either.
"Just brilliant, Kamichi old boy, you've got the power…so now what?" he asked himself while scratching around the hole in his chest, "…perhaps I didn't think this through well enough before its execution."
The new arrancar rolled his eyes around in deep contemplation, 'Yep, didn't think it through enough.'
For a brief moment his mind again went blank as the lyrics to If Only by Deadsun flowed out from his mouth.
Then with the subtlety of a building collapsing the memory of his murder flashed in front of his eyes, replaying several times and suddenly pausing at the moment Kamichi had seen the perp's face.
Once the memory of his last moments ended he froze midair in a state of shock. When the shock passed it turned to rage; Kamichi's pale features twisted into a dark and murderous look.
"I don't know what I should do. But I know what I want to do!" the arrancar shouted, his blue-purple eyes shined so bright one might think there was electricity crackling in their sockets.
Something inside shifted and Kamichi Gyakujou was gone…only Darkkiller remained.
He streaked off across the sky and set his glare on all below him, scrutinizing every street, side-street, alley, and even the rooftops.
'Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE ARE YOU?' Darkkiller shouted over and over within his mind even though his malicious focus didn't falter.
The warrior would not be stopped in his quest for bloody revenge until his murderer was destroyed in entirety. He was still in this town and the young arrancar would find him.
Kamichi felt distant as the instinctual part of himself took hold; it had been a long time since he'd felt this sensation. He was still connected enough to feel the pulse from Soberana Tormenta though and looked down at the dirt.
In a dead-end alley was the very object of his vengeance holding a gun on some poor schoolgirl.
"There you are." Darkkiller smirked coldly in a low voice and drew his sword.
XXXXX
"Give me the fuckin' bag girlie!" the thug shouted at his cornered victim.
"O-okay…just p-please don't hurt me!" the frightened girl stuttered and tossed him her book bag. The mugger picked up the spoils without taking eyes off his mark.
Just as he proceeded to rifle through the bag for the good stuff a gust of freezing wind rushed passed and he turned at the sound of metal against brick from behind. Both people were horrified as a long line scratched itself deep into the wall, neither able to see the surrogate arrancar stalking forward with Soberana Tormenta reverse gripped in hand.
The girl pressed herself against the back wall while the mugger dropped her bag and fired his gun in Darkkiller's direction.
The bullet missed completely and hit the wall instead; a second hit the ground at his feet, a third ricocheted off Kamichi's hierro protected shoulder, and a fourth deflected off his forehead as the unseen avenger grasped the murdering scum's gun and squeezed.
He screamed in pain as Kamichi crushed the handgun around the grimy trigger finger with unnatural strength before kneeing him in the sternum, making the guy double over and gasp for breath.
Darkkiller watched briefly in deranged glee then plunged his blade through the man's spine, paralyzing the murderer/victim so he fell onto his stomach; and trying to crawl away was useless once Kamichi planted a heavy foot between the killer's shoulder blades before stapling him to the concrete with Soberana Tormenta.
As Kamichi walked around to the prep's front the creep could see him and instantly recognized the young man he'd shot during another recent job…then a booted foot came down, crushing his fragile skull like a gory egg full of strawberry jam.
XXXXX
Kamichi sighed as his adrenaline lowered and Darkkiller receded back into the core of his being. Then he noticed the girl was still cowering at the back of the alley.
He pulled Soberana Tormenta from the thief's corpse and sheathed it while walking towards the second female he'd saved that night, scooping up her book bag along the way.
At first Kamichi thought she could only see her bag floating towards her but when he held it out she looked him directly in the face.
"Wh-who or…what are you?" she asked shakily and stared up at the young arrancar.
Kamichi didn't really hear what the girl said since he was too focused on her face, in particular on the butterfly shaped clip in her hair, until she spoke again.
"H-hello?"
Gyakujou snapped back to reality, "So you can see me. How curious," he mused.
"What are you?"
"A killer, now take your bag and run home." he held it out to her.
"I can't move! What's happening!" The girl shouted in panic as she struggled.
Kamichi noticed familiar chains wrapped around the struggling girl and the gutter behind her. 'Hello, what do we have here?' Kamichi wondered.
"Damn you! Damn you, ya little fuckin' bastard! Look what you've done!" the mugger's soul roared in rage.
In his distraction Kamichi had completely forgot about his killer and now looked at the twisted spirit in disgust and loathing.
"Yeesh, you're just as ugly as a ghost," he grabbed the chain and pulled it taught, "And your voice is annoying as Hell!" the arrancar spat and severed the chain with a karate chop. The section binding the girl disintegrated instantaneously and freed her.
The young surrogate looked at the section of chain in his hand with an eerie grin.
"Run home kid…you don't want to be around for what is about to happen." he ordered in a low, frightening voice. The girl decided to take his word for it, quickly snatching up her bag off the ground and booking it down the street.
Once satisfied that he and the scared soul were alone Kamichi gave the chain in his hand a sharp tug that yanked the sorry bastard to him, whipping the opposite arm up to grab him by the throat and slam him against the brick wall.
"You know something? You're even uglier at six inches." Arrancar Kamichi sneered and drew Soberana Tormenta with his left hand.
"What are you gonna do?" the soul whimpered anxiously.
"I'm going to have you help test this new body of mine." he insinuated with another eerie grin and thrust his blade through the killer's chest plug.
He swiftly withdrew it and backed up as the human soul let out a scream of raw agony and ripped itself apart in an explosion of energy. The pieces spun back together high in the air and reconfigured into a new entity. The massive hollow came crashing down to earth in a cloud of debris, exuding an aura of malice.
Its appearance looked similar to a long-legged spider covered in armor plating riveted in place. The limbs and neck looked like thick cable, each leg ending in a clawed, suction cup-like foot and a series of vents ran along its back under its hollow hole. Its mask was domed shaped with a pointed chin, a long antennae sticking out of the forehead, and a crosshair shaped marking on each cheek.
Kamichi came out and whistled at the hollow's sheer size; it had to be two or three stories tall. It jerked its head at the sound and glared down at Kamichi.
"Now look at that handsome face." He chimed, holding his arms out.
"You are DEAD, kid." the hollow growled at the surrogate arrancar.
In a flourish Kamichi drew Soberana Tormenta and took a battle stance, somehow it felt natural to hold his sword in a reverse grip so he went with it.
"You are welcome to try!" he challenged with a smirk.
The hollow howled and smashed the ground where the youth stood but he was already gone in a wisp of sonido, now standing in midair a couple blocks away. The hollow spotted him and jumped onto a building before propelling itself straight at its target. Kamichi dodged with another sonido just for the hollow to land on another building and look for him.
"Testing cero." Kamichi muttered as he charged a blue-purple attack in his open palm and aimed it at his target.
The hollow felt it coming and jumped onto the roof just before the cero impacted. Then it leapt through the air and clashed its teeth with Kamichi's katana sending them both crashing to the ground.
Kamichi planted his feet and pushed against his sword arm with the other, 'I never thought something that size could be so maneuverable.' he thought before dodging another clawed foot. He retaliated with a flurry of slashes to the hollow's claws and armored face.
While the attacks didn't damage his opponent much they were easily pushing the creature back, until it opened its mouth and fired a shot of spiritual energy at him.
The shell streaked passed a surprised Kamichi's head, singeing the tips of his hair, before hitting a storefront and exploding.
The arrancar dodged as more shells flew towards him and returned fire with a barrage of ceros that his opponent, in turn, dodged. After a few minutes of this monotony Kamichi decided to try something bold. He made a beeline for the hollow with intent to launch a cero point blank as it fired its next shot.
He was almost in range when the insect's abdomen suddenly whipped upwards and the vent in the end opened. It was too late to sonido away as a huge arcing ball of energy shot from the large barrel and engulfed young Gyakujou in an even larger explosion.
The hollow laughed in victory…until it saw the punk that killed it come soaring out from the fireball and land down the street from it. He was a little scuffed and panting hard but otherwise alive, and that made the creature royally pissed off.
As Kamichi caught his breath he gave the credit for his survival to years of fine tuned reflexes. If he had released his cero a split-second later that mortar shot would have gone off inside lethal range. This little surprise proved that while his new arrancar powers had made Kamichi stronger, it had also made him dangerously overconfident as well.
'I'd best not push my luck from now on.' Kamichi mentally decided and again took his stance, 'Range Kamichi, Fire and Maneuver, that's what you've always been best at…FIRE and maneuver.' he chanted in his head briefly then got an idea.
'He follows the same principle: Attack then move. But his movements are only being focused on me and my attacks, which leaves him open to counterattack between the two steps…and with the way his head is positioned on that huge body…' Kamichi allowed a faint smirk as his plan formed. The execution was the only problem he could see.
Kamichi held his palms close together at his right side to supercharge his cero and fired it at the hollowfied murderer. It jumped over the attack like planned and the arrancar threw his sword while simultaneously firing another cero. The idea was for the hollow to counteract the cero while Soberana Tormenta swept in from the side like a boomerang to sever the monster's vulnerable neck.
But before either could make contact the hollow cackled and retracted its legs and head into its body so both attacks were only deflected. Kamichi launched a volley of bala blasts at the battering ram intent on crushing him only for them to be deflected, so he rolled off to the hollow's side and avoided the attack altogether. Soberana Tormenta returned to Kamichi's hand in midair while the spidery hollow extended its limbs and perched on a rooftop.
"Got anything else PUNK!" the hollow roared at its foe.
Kamichi didn't hear the words clearly since he was looking intently at his katana. The sight of it spinning through the air made something click inside. A trio of strange green symbols spun into a circular pattern in his mind's eye then swirled together into something like a blueprint depicting (what he guessed was) a new technique.
Kamichi's face relaxed, "Yeah…I got something new just for you, Bug Tank." he declared and switched his sword into the opposite hand.
"Bug Tank" readied itself when its foe charged another cero in his right palm but tilted its head in confusion when the surrogate arrancar laid his palm flat and stared into the orb.
Kamichi focused on the reiatsu of the cero in his hand willing it to change shape, then the orb of destruction flattened until it became a Frisbee sized disc that started spinning faster and faster.
Bug Tank didn't know what the little shit was doing but decided to end it before he found out by retracting into its ramming form mid leap, firing shells at it did so.
Its killer ignored the rain of energy, grasping his new cero and throwing the razor edged discus at his charging foe. The hollow couldn't dodge as the blue-purple blade sliced through the air towards him.
The spinning attack nicked the right side of his mask and damaged the leg sockets as the disc cero carved a giant gash down the length of Bug Tank's torso in a spray of crimson blood, virtually unimpeded by his steel skin.
Sonidoing out of the way, Kamichi was pleased at seeing Bug Tank crash to the street with its extended limbs splayed about itself and blood continuing to ooze from its fresh wound.
"I wonder what other things I'm capable of." he muttered to himself in curiosity while glimpsing at his right hand then switched Soberana Tormenta back into it. He landed at street level and strutted cautiously towards the motionless spider.
It suddenly righted itself putting Kamichi in his fighting stance but if its shaky legs and ragged breathing were any indication...this fight was almost wrapped up.
Bug Tank looked at his mortal enemy with pure hatred, "God damn you ya fucking freak."
Kamichi gave a deadpanned stare and decided to end it by crossing his arms in a blocking stance, "Commencing final test: Resurreccion." he said in a firm tone.
"Strike him down!" he started. Then a blurry object flew in from nowhere and nailed Bug Tank with a falling dropkick, eliciting a pained cry as his steel head was driven into the asphalt before losing consciousness.
Kamichi was in disbelief…for the second time that night someone was meddling in his affairs, his one question being who it was this time. He didn't have to wait long for an answer as the smoke and dust cleared.
Staring him down with golden cat-like orbs was a curvy, dark-skinned woman wearing an orange over-shirt with her long purple hair done up in a ponytail. To say she was attractive would do her no justice…she was a freaking Bombshell!
He blushed, averting his gaze to refrain from ogling her.
It didn't work too well.
"See something you like?" the woman teased with a smirk and crossed her arms, accentuating her rather large "assets".
"I-identify yourself." Kamichi demanded, losing his threatening tone to a stutter.
The woman frowned, "Yoruichi Shihoin, the Goddess of Flash. Now who are you and what is an arrancar doing here fighting hollows? Did Aizen send you here on some form of mission?" she questioned in a stern voice.
Kamichi made to answer but was suddenly distracted by the tearing sound behind Yoruichi, which caught her attention as well.
While the pair had been talking, Bug Tank decided to make an "exit stage right" by tearing open a Garganta.
"NO!"
Kamichi bolted past Yoruichi and fired a cero at the retreating hollow. It jumped through and the cero hit a building, the spatial tear slamming shut in the vengeful arrancar's face.
"No." he muttered in disbelief and felt through air where the Garganta had been, his mind unable to process that it was gone.
Then the reality sunk in.
"No. No! No! No! NO! NOOOO!" the surrogate arrancar shouted louder and louder, his grip on Soberana Tormenta so tight he drew blood. He fell to his knees in a shaking heap.
Yoruichi felt a pang of sorrow amongst her confusion at the sight; reminding her of how Soifon broke down and cried at her feet. The boy wasn't crying, but he was just as broken.
"You robbed me of my vengeance…" Kamichi trailed off lowly and stopped shaking.
More surprising to the Goddess of Flash than his words was that he suddenly spun on a knee and threw his zanpakuto with lethal aim straight at her, his face awash in murderous fury. She jumped backwards over the boomerang and landed atop a lamppost as it returned to its master's hand.
"I'll see you dead for this, Yoruichi Shihoin." Kamichi growled as he rose to his feet.
Said woman tensed for battle, letting her face become serious. She was in for a tough fight.
"I will eliminate you!" Darkkiller declared loudly before sonidoing in front of Yoruichi and slicing down with his reversed blade. He cut the post in two but his target was already behind him prepared to counter with a kick.
Kamichi blocked Yoruichi's spin kick with his forearms but it still knocked him across a few blocks, 'Her strength is greater than her size would suggest,' he thought and glanced back just to see Yoruichi delivering a knee to his gut, followed by an uppercut to his chin, then a kick to his ribs, a cross jab to the face, and finally a sideways spin kick sending him to greet the pavement. It eagerly yielded to his impact in a cloud of dust and debris.
Yoruichi rubbed the leg she'd been kicking with. 'It doesn't hurt as much as last time. His hierro must be weaker than other arrancars.' she concluded and stared down the smoking crater.
Kamichi lay on his back in said crater temporarily concealed by said smoke and groaned out a simple, "Ouch."
XXXXX
The goddess wondered if her opponent was dead until a blue-purple cero streaked out from the dust and she used shunpo to escape its path. Kamichi fired bala after bala without success as Yoruichi shunpoed out of the way with ease.
'She's too damn fast! Her speed renders any ranged attacks ineffective no matter how heavy the flak I throw up. Have to bring her into mid-range where her movements are more restricted. If she closes the distance between us completely…I might have to use my release mode.' the surrogate arrancar summed up in his head.
Yoruichi had dodged another volley of ceros when the arrancar's zanpakuto flew in from the right. As she spun to dodge, her ears caught the static buzz of sonido and saw Darkkiller charging another cero in the peripheral vision. Thinking quickly the ex-Shihoin princess finished her spin with a well-aimed foot to her opponent's arm, the cero discharging off target across Karakura's skies.
Darkkiller grabbed her ankle with his free hand and caught his returning blade. "Let's see how fast you are with one leg!" he cackled.
She'd have none of that and twisted into a flip kick ending in his chin. The dull pain loosened his grip so she wrenched herself loose and skittered out of reach.
"Fricken twice," a pissed Kamichi muttered bitterly, rubbing his abused jaw.
"That fucking tears it!" he cried and crossed his arms in a blocking stance. Yoruichi, who could guess what was happening, took up a fighting stance.
"Strike her down! Soberana Tormenta!" he shouted his resurreccion.
But nothing happened.
He didn't feel any different, he didn't transform…he didn't change at all.
"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!" the surrogate arrancar cursed in outrage, waving his arms above his head, "WHY IS EVERYTHING JUST EFFING WITH ME TODAY?"
Yoruichi on the other hand was relieved, taking a moment to catch her breath while her opponent had his little tantrum.
"YOU BETTER START COOPERATING YOU LITTLE FUCKER!" Darkkiller shouted in frustration to the sword gripped in his hands.
As if in response the hilt crystal glowed and for the second time the three green symbols spun into pattern in Kamichi's mind and again they swirled together into a new blueprint.
"That's better." Kamichi smirked, sheathing his zanpakuto. "If I have to fight on your terms then the least I need is a small advantage." he chimed confidently and cracked his knuckles.
The Goddess of Flash put up her dukes and took a fighting stance.
Kamichi let his reiatsu out like a waterfall, surprising his opponent with its sheer density, and then started compressing it into his appendages. "Reiatsu Concentration!" he shouted as his hands and feet were engulfed in flowing energy.
The newborn arrancar smirked. "Let's finish this." Then he was right in front of Yoruichi, ready to strike with a glowing fist. The increase in his speed momentarily surprised her and she just narrowly avoided the punch, though it did ruffle her hair. There wasn't much time to think about it as she blocked his knee with her forearms then immediately did the same to a left haymaker. But then came the intense pain of an energy enhanced punch slamming into her side – probably causing internal damage – eliciting an audible gasp from Yoruichi as she jumped back and grasped her injured ribs.
Kamichi was ready to strike again but the goddess beat him to it, shunpoing in with a flurry of lightning fast (and painful) jabs to the head and torso followed up with a double fisted downward slam. Once again dear Darkkiller was sent plummeting to terra firma in a meteoric impact at the base of an apartment complex. The resultant pressure wave shattered glass and set off car alarms in every direction for blocks around.
Descending slowly so as not to agitate her injuries, Yoruichi hoped with heavy breaths that her foe was either unconscious or wounded badly enough that he would consider talking things out.
'Yeah…right.' she thought incredulously.
To confirm her expectations, an explosion of blue-purple reiatsu cleared the area of rubble; and a rather ragged looking Kamichi glared at her with a look saying 'you got anything else'.
"For fuck's sake!" Yoruichi facepalmed, eye twitching in exasperation at his persistence.
"If your reiatsu level is any indication you must have been a shinigami of Lieutenant rank or higher so therefore you must have something more. Right?" Kamichi shouted excitedly, something that had become more common since his transformation.
Yoruichi looked down in thought. She did have one technique, but was hesitant about using it now between her current injuries and that it would probably kill the boy. So of now it was a last resort…if she couldn't shut him down soon.
"Perhaps…" she suggested with a smirk and Kamichi smirked right back.
"Ready?" the feline woman inquired to her young adversary.
Darkkiller loosened his stance in response, ready to maneuver. Then they surged toward each other using shunpo and sonido before swerving off to their respective right. Yoruichi swung her leg, which sent a number of small knives at Kamichi. He dodged by jumping into the air and fired a quick-charged cero from his right palm. It almost hit his opponent but she ran out of the smoke and he quickly fired four bala blasts; two impacted long of the woman to stop her and the other two hit short to box his target in. Perfect.
Yoruichi looked up at Darkkiller only to find that he'd vanished. In the next second he sped in from behind; and when he got close, he simultaneously spun and crouched under her expectant punch, balancing on his hands and one leg while the other shot out in a reiatsu concentrated kick that nailed Yoruichi straight in the chest. Yoruichi was sent flying like a bullet, where she crashed hard into a solid wall. She curled up amidst the rubble, clutching at her chest as she tried desperately to breathe with her likely broken ribs.
"Damn," Darkkiller said, taking long strides up to his incapacitated opponent, "You still alive?"
"Technically…yes." Yoruichi croaked, "Can't…breathe."
Darkkiller drew Soberana Tormenta and raised it above his head with both hands ready to stab, "Just close your eyes and it'll be…quick…"
Kamichi's eyes went wide in shock as a haunting memory flashed through his mind of an identical situation from another time, another place…and with a different woman.
"Shunko!" shouted a feminine voice.
A bright white flash of reiatsu blinded Kamichi for a moment and when he could look again the last thing he saw was a woman's fist coming straight into his- KABOOM!
The explosive punch had Kamichi going beddy-bye instantly, Yoruichi standing over his sprawled out form taking long, uneven breaths.
When she noticed the shallow rise and fall of his chest Yoruichi was positively dumbstruck. Even after attacking with shunko he was still alive!
"You really are tough, Arrancar." she said sincerely, not knowing his name, and then readied for her own finishing blow.
"Hold it, Yoruichi!" a man called from close by.
Yoruichi looked over to see a shaggy haired blonde man approaching. He wore a green striped bucket hat, wooden clogs, a brown kimono, and a long green jacket. Beside him was a tall, muscular, and mustachioed man in rectangular glasses and a blue apron.
"Kisuke. Tessai." Yoruichi wheezed before falling over, Kisuke using shunpo to catch her as she grasped her injuries. "Tessai, get the young arrancar," Urahara gestured to Kamichi as he hooked his old friend's arm around his shoulders.
"Right boss, I'm on it." The bespectacled man replied before trotting over to collect Soberana Tormenta and heft Kamichi's unconscious body over his shoulder.
With the task complete, the group vanished with their captive in a final wisp of shunpo.
And cut! Wow, that chapter took a while. This was my first time writing fight scenes so let me know how I did.
Surprise! Kamichi can't use his resurreccion? How can he suddenly create new techniques? What's with the memory flashes? What will Urahara do with his captive? And when will Mashiro fit back in? All will be revealed next chapter.
Until then, Darkkiller9 is signing off.