The Yagami Manor
The water rushed down the stream that flowed into the large koi pond in the center of the garden. Cherry blossom trees surrounded the reed covered banks of the pond. Masaru watched the fish swim in synchronized circles harmoniously. A servant walked out into the garden, "Master Yagami, there is someone here to see you!"
Masaru nodded and headed inside through the main hall to the front doors of the manse. He walked out the open door and signaled to the guards to open the gates. A figure flash-steeped forward at him and he brought his Zanpaktou to bear. Another Zanpaktou collided with his in a clash of sparks. Hikari smiled at him and disengaged. "I'm just testing you," she said.
Masaru smirked, "Is that how things go in Squad 11?"
"Pretty much," she replied, "We test each other to see if they are worthy of holding their position. To be a member you have to be prepared for any situation."
X
A shinigami stood on the rooftop of a watch tower near the Yagami Manor. Ten masked figures dropped onto the roof around him. "You know what to do," said the shinigami.
"Yes sir," said the leader of the group, "We already have ten more of our task force surrounding the manor as we speak."
"Good," replied the shinigami, "Kill them all just to be safe."
The ten assassins flash-stepped away from roof to roof.
X
"Apparently the captain-commander already has a mission for us," said Lieutenant Hikari.
"Which is?" asked Masaru.
"He wants us to investigate Hueco Muendo for signs of Arrancar activity. He said not to engage them though," she replied.
Masaru pivoted to avoid a silver blade aiming for the side of his neck. He whirled on his assailant and knocked the dagger aside. The assassin flash-stepped out of harm's way as Masaru's Zanpaktou sliced for his throat.
Masaru smirked as ten more flash-stepped into the courtyard forming a circle around him. He began to chant a Kido spell, "Way of Destruction 58: Tenran!" A tornado swelled up around Masaru and pulsated off in two quick waves. The assassins were hurled off their feet and collided with the walls surrounding the courtyard.
Hikari laughed as ten more leapt over the wall, "They're mine," she said to Masaru. She sprang forward and unsheathed her Zanpaktou carving a bloody swathe through her enemies. "Shear through the earth, Paradasu!" she cried. The guard eroded away and leather wrapped around the now chiseled blade to form a grip. Hikari caught the transformed sword and sprung forward at the leader.
X
Thirty more assassins entered through the front gates pushing them open by force. A shinigami entered amidst their wake. A servant rushed up to the shinigami, "Oh good another shinigami! Please assist us!" he cried. The sound of steel flashing through the air and sinking into flesh echoed across the courtyard. A moment later, the decapitated servant's corpse slumped over and struck the pavestones.
Akane shoved the front doors open and unsheathed her Zanpaktou, "First, you all trespass in my mansion. Then you proceed to wreck my shit and kill my servants; I don't think so. I'm going to start chopping people up," she bellowed in fury.
She released her Zanpaktou, "Slice through the sea, Oshankingu!" Her blade dissipated into the air and a thin strip of metal stretched out of the hilt ten feet. She whipped it at the nearest assassin slicing his left arm off at the forearm. She flash-stepped forward and swung the shikai at a group of assassins. They ducked under the vicious attack and charged her at once. She pressed the teardrop jewel and water exploded out of the guard.
The assassins skidded across the courtyard, knocked aside by the torrent of liquid. She flicked her shikai upward and the water gathered into a wave almost ten stories high and came crashing down on the assassins at the entrance. They all choked and spat water out and lay stunned and sprawled on the street. The water surged out the gate and the serpent formed swallowing them whole. The serpent circled and slammed through the wall and devoured another group of five and moved to another still stunned on the outskirts beneath the wall.
Hikari sliced off the hands of two assassins and impaled another in the chest. She whirled around as the shinigami swiftly fired two Kido spells at her, "Bakudo 9: Geki!" "Hado 31: Shakkaho!" Red light engulfed her and forced her to a halt and a trance-like paralysis engulfed her senses. A ball of red fire shot for her and struck her straight in the chest. Masaru covered his eyes as his lieutenant disappeared in a huge explosion in just a few seconds. The flames dissipated after a minute and the dust and ash settled. Hikari still stood frozen by the Bakudo spell. Her Shihakusho was torn in places shredded by the blast. Only a little of the hakama remained just covering her waist down to her upper calf. Her kosode only covered most of her chest with shreds of it draping down to her naval.
She looked up at the Shinigami with her hollow eye showing. Her eye patch lay discarded on the ground and burnt in places. The shinigami recoiled from the hollow eye. Hikari flashed an evil grin. She unleashed her reiatsu with tenfold power and shredded the spell constricting her. She pointed her shikai at him, "Hikatokage no rakuen!" she cried. Her sword exploded in a bright blast of white light and reemerged as two separate blades a black with white leather guard and a white with a black leather guard. She flash-stepped forward with far greater speed than the eye could even follow. The shinigami barely had time to deflect her frenzy of attacks.
Hikari brought her blades down in a X-slash and her blade slashed through the shinigami's Shihakusho and into the flesh. Blood exploded from the wound and he collapsed dazed. Blood pooled around him. She walked away to assist Masaru and Akane with dealing with his minions. The shinigami sprang at her lunging for her exposed back.
White and black fire streamed off both of her swords and engulfed the desperate shinigami. He writhed in agony on the pavestone as layer by layer of flesh burned away. He tried to attack her again and again but collapsed. He looked up at her with almost all of the bones in his face showing and howled in fury before chanting another Kido spell, "Hado 88: Hiryūgekizokushintenraihō!" Lightning crackled a as a massive bolt flung from his palm a few inches before backfiring and striking the shinigami. He disappeared in a huge explosion of electricity. Great tongues of white fire rose into the sky from the blast. The shinigami stood frozen hand still aiming the spell all of his being devoid of flesh or life. The bones still stood blackened and charred until a gust of wind blew through to disintegrate them into a pile of ash and swept it away in the breeze.
Another shinigami stood watching the scene unfold out of sight, "You are a fool, Amadai Yusari!"
Masaru looked up at the direction of the voice and saw the silhouetted figure disappear in a flash-step. "I think there is another beyond this attack, "he said to Akane, who was still observing Hikari sweep through the remaining assassins and cut them down as they fled. Two jumped up onto the wall and tried to jump down into the streets of Seireitei before being incinerated by her Bankai.
Her swords reverberated back into its natural form before she sheathed it and walked over to Akane and Masaru. Akane summoned a servant, "Fetch her a robe from my quarters please. A moment later the servant returned with a flowing jet black silk robe and Hikari slipped it on. She retrieved her eye patch and slipped it back on. She tied her sash around her waist and slipped the sheath of her Zanpaktou inside the sash.
She grabbed her fallen squad emblem bade and strapped it to her thigh. Masaru sent out several Hell butterflies all over Seireitei. Several seated squad members of the squad flash-stepped into the ruined courtyard. "What happened?" asked the fourth seat, Yukiko Sakura.
"A large task force of unknown assailants assaulted my manor moments ago led by a shinigami by the name of Amadai Yusari, do any of you know him?" asked Captain Yagami.
"Yes, he was a member of Squad 3 actually," said Sakura.
"Why am I not surprised," sighed Akane.
"It's a matter Kazuhiro and Katsumi can investigate covertly while we are gone," said Captain Yagami, "For now myself, the lieutenant and third seat will go to Hueco Muendo on a secret operation. Try to earn the other squads respect while we are gone."
Masaru pointed a finger at the mansion's gates, "Keikaigi!" A gargantuan opened and Masaru, Hikari, and Akane vanished within leaving Seireitei behind.
A/N: Another chapter down! Sorry for it being a little shorter I was rushed by Lieutenant Hikari. Hope you enjoyed and this is just the beginning of the plot of my arc start to rise. Until next chapter!