LOTUS
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach… that's for sure
A/N: This chapter is a little crazy, but bear with me, having to describe so many zanpakuto REALLY gets on my nerves after awhile lol, anyway ENJOY!
Special thanks to my Beta Reader: MyNameIsARickRoll :D
The two mysterious figures eyed the short, spiky-haired boy standing just a few feet in front of them.
"Uhh, you area captain, right?" Braxis asked with one eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Of course I am, Toshiro Hitsuguya, captain of the 10th division." He replied firmly.
"Oh sorry, for a second I thought you were a little kid playing dress up." Braxis said chuckling.
Toshiro's face immediately turned red with anger and it was evident that he was holding himself back.
"Captain Toshiro Hitsuguya, we do not wish to fight you, please, let us stand down and retreat, you'll never hear from us again I promise you." Katsuo bowed, trying to show respect.
The others immediately froze all baffled, by the once enemy now trying to plead his way out of the situation.
"Are you serious?" The captain burst out, as surprised as anyone else.
"You guys are pathetic, first you attack us without even explaining to us why, and now you are acting like complete cowards!" Ichigo snapped at Braxis, who's eyes looked completely unimpressed.
"I never said anything about surrendering, but c'mon it's 8 vs. 2 that's totally unfair, plus 1 of those 8 is a captain completely-
"Sweep away the earth! Mizurixyuu (水竜)!" Katsuo suddenly leaped towards Toshiro grabbing his blade and whipping it into the air, water sprayed into every direction, when Katsuo slashed the blade it had been to far away to hit Toshiro, but instead blasted out in a streak of water almost like an entirely different blade being shot towards Toshiro. Rangiku quickly jumped in front of the attack to shield her captain, pulling out her zanpakuto and blocking the attack with a vertical slash, but the water simply ignored her blade, passing over Rangiku's zanpakuto and continuing on its path. Rangiku swiftly jumped towards her left, but could not completely avoid the attack- water had scratched her right shoulder, then deteriorated in the air.
His zanpakuto was bright silver, almost white, with spiral carvings all along it's thin blade, it had a circular guard which was diagonal, going over the blade, it was navy blue, underneath was a silver hilt with navy blue grip.
Katsuo's expression was serious, he pushed his glasses up with his middle finger, then put his guard up. "I'm guessing you are the vice captain then... I'm afraid that attack can only be dodged."
Rangiku readied herself to strike back, but Toshiro gave her a firm look and she lowered her guard.
"Enough, I want answers, why has Lotus targeted Rukia Kuchiki?" Toshiro ordered questioningly, crossing his arms.
The question was random, Ichigo sure didn't understand, he glanced at Rukia, but she just shook her head, meaning she didn't get it either. "Lotus"? What or who is "Lotus"? Even Rangiku looked puzzled.
Katsuo looked back at Braxis, whose zanpakuto was sheathed once again. He exchanged the same firm look.
"What's Lotus?" Uryuu asked The two shinigami standing in front of him (Rukia and Ichigo) they both said nothing.
"To put this bluntly, what the hell are you talking about?" Braxis inquired, although no chuckles followed.
"Don't play dumb, why have you been sent to attack Rukia." Toshiro pushed on.
Katsuo stared down at the floor, only the glare of the sun reflected in his glasses could be seen.
"Dammit! It was a trap!" Katsuo screamed.
Within a few seconds the school underneath them was shaking violently and the walls began to crumble further, Chad punched a hole through the wall and Uryu, Orihime Ichigo Rukia and Renji followed, Toshiro and his vice captain escaped from the hole that had been made earlier, and Braxis smashed through one of the windows and was followed by Katsuo, all of them scrambling in every direction, the school had been completely obliterated. Ichigo was struck with a pang of worry, what if someone was still inside, but was pulled back into the current events.
Katsuo was standing beside him, watching as the school was swept away leaving only a cloud of dust hovering over the ground.
How come they didn't run, they could've easily escaped when we were all distracted?
Two small specs could be seen approaching behind the pile of rubble that was once Karakura high school.
"Look what we have here, a bunch of clowns!" Came a high man's voice, as the two people from behind the rubble pressed further toward the ten of them, which had gathered on the dirt field behind the school.
One of the men was nearly a foot taller than the other about 6,7, the taller one had a heavy build, he had a fat round nose, his eyes were brown and narrow, he was frowning, a few black bangs could be seen from the hood of his battered dark red trench coat, although his arms were bare, not within the sleeves of his coat, which simply hung on his head, underneath he wore a black tank top, with dark red pants with black stripes down the sides that matched his coat, and black boots.
The shorter man wore the same pattern of dark red and black, except he was wearing something that looked like a military-jacket, which was unbuttoned, underneath was a white shirt, and followed by plain dark red pants, and a pair of black and white pointy dress shoes. His hair was chin length, jet black and dishevelled, his eyes were deep blue. He looked younger than the taller man. A golden sheath hung from his right hip.
Toshiro raised his zanpakuto and pointed at the pair, its silver blade shimmering in the sunlight.
"Explain yourself, before you get any closer." He demanded.
The two halted, they were about 15 feet away now.
"I'll handle them." The large one claimed, grabbing the hilt of his blade which was now noticeable behind his husky figure.
"Go ahead." The other replied casually.
"Begin, Haetorigumo (ハエトリグモ)!" in a flash the zanpakuto had transformed into a dark grey bulky thing, that most resembled a butchers knife, although the blade had no hilt, instead it looked as if a piece of the blade had been cut out in between the gap was a metal bar, which the man was using to carry the weapon.
Immediately he leaped towards them, hammering his blade onto a random spot in the middle of them. Ichigo quickly put up his guard and returned a slash, but his opponent was able to pull away and block the attack, the large man swiftly lowered his sword, preparing to uppercut, suddenly he changed his stance and began slashing side to side pushing Ichigo backwards, Ichigo ducked avoiding one of the foes attacks, then countered with a rapid uppercut, the enemy just barely blocked the attack.
Toshiro watched Ichigo fight with the other individual, the others had scattered away from the area where the fight had started.
The guy that Ichigo is fighting is strong, but Ichigo has the upper hand, that could only mean two things, Lotus sent two Vice Captain to complete the mission, or the one standing in front of me is the captain level.
Rangiku, which was standing to the right of Toshiro, must've noticed too, she instantly readied herself for battle.
"You're Toshiro Hitsuguya Captain of the 10th division, correct?" The mysterious figure asked.
"What if I am?" Toshiro snapped back.
"I am Yori Takata, Commander of the 5th Brigade." He paused for a second then pointed in the general direction of Ichigo's battle. "That is my 2nd in command, Shin Nakayama." He then turned around revealing a symbol on the back of his jacket, the black outline of the flower, filled in with elegant tribal designs, obviously a Lotus.
"The seven petals on the outside of the Lotus represent the 7 Brigades, the 7 petals on the inside represent the 7 Gicho, the 7 strongest members among Lotus, and the centre, which could represent none other then our leader. I have been sent to inform you that we do not wish to start a war with the soul society, nor do I wish to fight you, but if you protect those two young men, I'm under orders to kill anyone who may become an obstacle." Yori informed, keeping the same blank expression throughout his speech.
"If you didn't want to start a war with the Soul Society than it was a foolish decision to target one of our own, we can't just allow you to attack us without consequence." Toshiro stated getting ready to launch an attack.
Ichigo countered again, once again having it blocked by his giant enemy.
Dammit! Whenever I try to give myself some space this guy just pushes harder.
The enemy came back with another attack, this time he narrowly missed Ichigo, hammering the ground, then he pulled his sword back to his right, preparing for another slash.
Now's my chance!
Just before he could launch his attack Ichigo jumped back, then raised his own sword.
"Getsuga Tensho!" He screamed swinging Zangetsu downwards sending a wave of blue spiritual energy barrelling towards Shin.
Shin attempted to dive to his right, but was too slow, the attack smashed against his right shoulder, sending blood spraying over his already-crimson attire.
He paused, rubbing his wound; his expression was now a slight smile. "You're a decent opponent after all." A hoarse voice remarked.
"Rangiku, go after him!" Toshiro barked, as Braxis began to fade into the distance. Katsuo sighed as he noticed what his companion had done.
Rangiku charged after him, not getting very far before he stopped and turned around.
"This is such a hassle! Why not just let me go?" Braxis stated.
"Well, it'd be less of a hassle if you'd stop trying to escape, now we can do this the easy way or the hard way." she shot back.
Braxis groaned. "Do I have to fight you; I wouldn't take much pleasure in beating up such a good-looking chick."
"Oh that's sweet, but, it's not nearly good enough to get you out of this."
"Suit yourself." He said chuckling.
Braxis whipped out his zanpakuto with his right hand, than raised it above his head. "Snarl Setsudan (切断)!"
The blade was silver, it was the shape of a katana, but, it was more like a saw then anything, one side of the blade was rowed with large teeth, Braxis' zanpakuto had no guard, its hilt was a bronze colour with black grip, hanging from the bottom of its hilt was a little blank wooden doll of a man, connected by a short thin silver chain.
"If you're not going to stand down I will, unfortunately, have to fight you." Yori sighed then slowly unsheathed his zanpakuto with his right hand, the blade pointing downwards, it had a blue-ish tint to it, the hilt was bronze with navy blue grip, the guard was the most unique thing about it was square, but was covered in a beige fur.
"I'd like to introduce you to my zanpakuto, Shishisuimin (獣睡眠)."
Toshiro made the first move, disappearing for a split second, then re-appearing, beside Yori, with a swift flick of Yori's blade he was able to block the attack, countering, holding his sword with just his index, middle finger and his thumb, Yori made what looked like tiny movements that turned out to be quick slashes.
Suddenly a sound erupted across the sky, almost like the squeal of a distant kettle, Yori stopped attacking, jumping backwards, so that Toshiro could not launch an unpredictable attack.
"I didn't want to fight at this level, but our time has run out, and you chose to battle me, something I did not anticipate."
Yori brought the hilt of his zanpakuto close to his face, still holding it downwards in that unusual way.
"…Bankai."
Note: Gicho means chairman!
Zanpakuto included in chapter: Mizurixyuu (Water Dragon), Setsudan (Disconnection), Shishisuimin (Sleeping Beast), Haetorigumo (Jumping Spider)
