Elsewhere, many of the other captains recognized the reiatsu coming from Unohana and were surprised. It had been a long time since anyone had felt her unleashed self. The older captains like Kyōraku and Ukitake turned their heads at the same time, with the former tipping his hat up.
"Oh ho, this is a nostalgic feeling," the god of flowers chortled. "Maybe someone finally got her angry enough."
"This is serious, my friend." Ukitake appeared troubled. "Could the Ryoka have forced her into a fight?"
"If one of them did, they are in for a slapping. It's been a long time since she let herself go like this."
At the division 1 command HQ, Captain Yamamoto looked out the window and then returned to reading.
"This should be interesting," was all the old man said in his usual tone.
***
Sakaki crossed blades with Unohana, the woman he'd been in love with for almost 2 centuries. As he looked into her eyes across their warring swords, he wanted so much to tell her now.
But would that change anything?
Chapter 3 – Understanding is a 3 Edged Sword
New OP .com/watch?v=1avIuOEqt84b
***
Their blades clashed again and again as Sakaki struggled to stay upright in the face of her tremendous aura. He might have shown the initiative in accepting this challenge, but his own powers were simply not at the level they could have been. Of course, considering his opponent, even two hundred years of training might not have changed the outcome.
In one effortless flip of her blade, Unohana backhanded Sakaki with enough force to send him skidding across the field. He clutched at the ground and managed to stop himself from hitting a wall, then paused for a breather.
"Still holding yourself back?" Unohana frowned. "Afraid you might hurt me?"
"Actually, I'm afraid you might hurt me, which is pretty obviously what you are trying to."
"If you are quite done feeling sorry for yourself, come at me." Unohana held her sword at the ready. When Boruto made no effort to obey her command, she gave a desultory shake of her head, as if remonstrating a child.
The next sign of her displeasure was a long blade sweeping towards his throat, which Sakaki barely managed to defend against.
"Did I do something to upset you?" Boruto gasped as she attacked again, only to be blocked. "Cuz the only thing I regret back then, was not knowing you were a captain when we first met."
"And did learning that information make you suddenly feel inadequate?" she retorted, long sleeves flapping and billowing as her sword sang through the air.
The rogue shinigami jerked his own weapon about in a desperate effort to protect himself from the net of edged steel he found himself in. "I was a boy at the time! How was I supposed to feel?"
"You are a boy now to still be talking like that at your age." There was no trace of mirth to be found in her tone.
"That's how you've always seen me all these centuries." Sakaki pushed back, finding that ancient recrimination and hurt to be the impetus he needed to go on the offensive. "I'm just another upstart who's always cockeyed and naïve to the world. What do I have to do to prove myself to you?"
The captain's scorn was evident as much in her swordplay as her words. "I'm not the one that needs something here. You just have a problem with indecisiveness, but I am not holding it against you. Your greatest virtue is determination, but you are so insecure that you hold yourself back. That's why you won't allow yourself to speak out or try and make something of yourself. Are you so intimidated by me that you lost any semblance of hope?"
The anger inside was turning into a cold clear fury that sharpened his senses rather than diminishing them. "You don't scare me." Sakaki sidestepped and lunged forward. His blade drove into white fabric, and for one horrific moment he thought that it had pierced her flesh. A second later Retsu was drifting around him, Minazuki sweeping in a killing arc while his own Ryuudou proved to have simply gone through the gap between her sleeve and robe. Shocked, the conflicted warrior found that lethal blade hanging a mere hair's-breadth from his face. Light glanced off it as she angled the weapon slightly, and he saw his own wide eyes staring back at him along the length of mirrored steel.
Then it was withdrawn, leaving him trembling with exhilaration and fear.
"You've been lying to me for ages," his soft-spoken opponent spoke from behind him. "I've come to know you…very well, Saki-san."
"I told you to stop calling me that." Sakaki shivered, then turned and raised his zanpakuto in readiness once more.
"Make me." Unohana was smiling, almost as if she were enjoying the fight.
***
Unbeknownst to either of them, at this exact same time, Ichigo was having a tough time dealing with Kenpachi Zaraki, as the lunatic seemed to be so tolerant to pain that it was beneath his notice. Ichigo had sliced the man's chest, but it was more an insult to the squad 11 captain.
"Is that the best you got, bub?" Kenpachi asked as he brushed at the light wound. "Come on, you've gotta have more in ya, right? Bring it on!"
Ichigo drew a deep breath and charged at the big man again.
***
Sakaki was hard pressed to get past Unohana's defenses. When he came at her from one side, she wasn't there anymore. He tried to go behind her and suddenly she was above him. She knew exactly how he was going to counter her moves and stances before he could even execute them.
She knows me so well...
And then she cut him.
He stopped a few feet from her and waited as blood started to drip from his left arm. She was serious.
Sakaki had turned his sword back to its double-bladed form. The change helped, as his current combat method was a style that the captain wasn't familiar with. She had seen him train before, and she would know any basic style he attempted with a regular katana. It was almost a tribute to their relationship that she could recognize and handle him so effortlessly.
Despite the duel, he had never felt closer to Unohana. Watching her gaze intensely at him, pushing against him, and her slightly elevated breathing; he was as lost in the fight as she was. He realized that a part of him didn't want to end this. She was looking at him and him alone, acknowledging him, even respecting him by choosing to bare her blade like this. Wasn't that better than the casual dismissal of before? As life-threatening as this situation might be, it was still… good, right?
But like all good things, it had to come to an end.
Sakaki readied for a final attack, drawing on every scrap of reiatsu he could currently bring to this fight. Letting things play on like this would only end in him being worn down by her seemingly bottomless reserves of energy. That was a loser's tactic. A coward's. The old Boruto Sakaki's way of doing things. But no more. Never again would he casually choose the path of least resistance. So resolved, Boruto breathed in, focusing all his attention on the warrior maiden watching him tranquilly from across the way.
He breathed out, and charged towards Unohana Retsu one last time.
She stood her ground, gripping her sword with both hands and raising it above her head. Sakaki drove straight at her, intent on nothing else but winning. His power, his speed, they all seemed strong enough to accomplish his goals; if he could just get inside the reach of her long blade, he would win, hold her helpless at the edge of his sword. He could almost envision the scene now, it was so perfect.
Then Unohana brought her sword down to meet his in one swift parry, and the fantasy shattered just like that.
Ryuudou Harou kissed Minazuki again, but this time the healer's weapon was driven by such force that his sword was chopped in half. Had it continued, she would have cut right through his shoulder, but the blade stopped right at his neck.
Sakaki stood dumbstruck in front of her, his sword gone, his confidence shattered. He was beaten.
"Well?" he whispered, staring at her face, wishing for that to be the last thing he ever saw in this world.
"Well, what?" she asked back almost coyly.
The vanquished fighter licked his lips. "Not going to finish me?"
"Now where did you get the idea that I was going to do that? I am just proving a point with you."
He couldn't bear this. He was inches from her face when he stopped. She had him right where she wanted him.
"Who are you?" Unohana asked suddenly.
"What?" he asked back, but she pressed her blade on his shoulder, drawing blood.
"I am asking the questions here…" she pointed out, but repeated herself regardless. "Who are you?"
"I am… Boruto Sakaki? OW!" She applied pressure to the wound again.
"Not the right answer, Saki. I already know your name." Retsu paused a bit. "Who are you?"
"I am…I am the 10th seat officer of Division 6-!" He winched in pain as the wound bled even further.
"Wrong… answer! That is only your title, what other people call you when you choose to hide behind formalities."
He was bleeding badly and her sword was wedging deeper. The 4th Division captain narrowed her eyes and looked at him closer.
"Who are you?"
Sakaki was growing desperate. "I am the son of-" This time it was even more painful as he felt the bone of his shoulder splinter. She even pulled her sword back, cutting more, but he kept standing. That much, at least, he was determined to accomplish.
"Are you so unable to answer a simple question without falling back on references and genealogy and what other people call you? Have you nothing of your own? Nothing to stand on that isn't provided, defined, stamped, sanctioned, numbered and approved by others?" She moved closer to him. "How can you be expect to fight when you have no idea of who you are? Do you know how many have stood like you are now in front of me- proud, defiant, so full of their own bloated selves, confident that they are better? Special? Favored? What of you, Sakaki? Being so lazy, held back and apathetic, that you can't even speak plainly to me? Are you willing to die for the cause?"
"Do you want to kill me, Retsu?" Sakaki looked up at her, wondering for the first time what the answer really might be.
"Oh, I would not kill you. You can take my sword off of you at any time, but that would mean that you admit complete defeat to me. And defeat right now for you means incarceration and most likely a traitor's death. You could drop your sword and surrender to me. But your pride will prevent you from doing so. If you believe that your undertaking is right, then you must risk your life itself on the premise that this universe will not let you die."
Of a sudden, a most chilling smile graced her lips.
"Unless you're wrong…shall we find that out?"
***
Sanosuke was done questioning the men that were present at the squad 6 barracks and had gotten nowhere with them. His little team regrouped as they tried to form a plan.
"Well, they don't know anything," Kato announced unnecessarily.
"Really, Oh Buddha? You figured that out all by yourself with your divine wisdom?" Genji retorted sharply.
The Third seat stepped in between them. "Stop it, both of you…where was he stationed before here? He's been around at least 2 other divisions before ending up in this one." Sano mused to himself for a few moments, then turned to cast a look towards the mounting column of energy that marked Unohana Retsu in the far distance. "Let's see…"
***
Sakaki was still standing, albeit weakly and in pain, but upright nonetheless.
"Am I making you uncomfortable? You don't like such discussions?" She asked so calmly, but the mask was off, revealing the cold and deadly entity lurking just below the surface of a benevolent healer. "You'd rather be off on your so-called adventure, wouldn't you?"
"I…I don't know what you want from me," the prisoner gritted from between clenched teeth.
"And why might that be? You are Sakaki, a principal character of this story. You tolerate all this by your whim. At a word from you, the Hand of Fate will dip his pen on the paper and carry you out of here by some impossible plot twist, away from harm, away from this pain…because you suddenly have a destiny."
She was right about one thing. "We all have a destiny, Retsu-san."
"Do we?" She leaned in closer to him. "How magnanimous of you."
"Sometimes we don't see it. I didn't see it for a long time until I saw the face of that boy and how determined he was, how much in charge of his destiny. He isn't like us, taught to not see ourselves as important to the world."
"Taught…by people like me? Perhaps. But are we the destroyers of dreams…or protectors of the public good?" Unohana smiled, but then as if to tease him said, "Call out, Saki-san! Call out to the universe! If it hears you, surely it will respond."
She then pulled her sword back towards her, completing the slash on Sakaki's shoulder. Blood ran heavily from the deep wound as he was finally brought to his knees.
"Call out, I say!" She turned her head up and around, then looked down on her fallen opponent. "Silence…nothing…"
In an instant, he could stab her with his broken sword and end this. He could back away or run, but something inside him commanded he stand his ground. This was his moment to prove something about himself to this woman. The few that knew this side of Unohana Retsu understood the real reason why she was so scary, intimidating… terrifying. Someone who was the captain of a division of healers, innocent and graceful, restorer of health and hope…but she was also the taker of life.
"Do you know why you are here?"
"Here?" Sakaki glance up, bemused.
"Yes," the imposing female gazed down on him. "Here, now. In this place, in this life."
"I was born here. I was…meant to be here."
"Meant? By whom?"
Were there no easy answers to be found in this life? "I… don't know."
Unohana pressed him mercilessly. "Then how can you be so sure?"
"I don't know!" Boruto called out in despair.
A slow, purposeful shake of her head. "No, you don't."
His shoulders slumped in weariness. "Does it matter?"
"What do you mean?" She was crouching down before him now.
"If I believe I am here now for a reason then-"
"And if the world said otherwise?"
Anger flared. "Then the world is WRONG!"
"And you are right?" Retsu adopted a musing expression, glancing around at the tranquil garden where they currently resided. "Well, perhaps the world is right and you are wrong, have you ever considered that? That you are wrong?"
At least this had a clear response to give. "Yes…sometimes. But I do not regret my choice. I live with it. I know who I am and I don't need to answer you."
Unohana's features became gentle again, and she placed her hand on his cheek.
"Then you understand…" And at that, she tilted his head up 'til he was looking at her directly. "What am I to you, Sakaki?"
"You…"
He looked down and away.
"Still not willing to give me an answer." His old teacher sighed briefly. "And you said yourself that you will not leave me waiting anymore. So what am I to you?"
Sakaki thought for a moment and looked back at her.
"You are the one who brought me here."
"You brought yourself here. That isn't an answer to my question."
He tried to get up, using his broken sword to help support him as he stood tall again.
"You are someone I care for deeply."
"And?" Unohana rose as well. She was not looking at him as though he were a mere stripling anymore, unworthy of her consideration. Maybe she never really had, he considered. Maybe it was just in my head, this idea that I was unsuited to approach her or even speak my mind to her. How much time have I let slip through my fingers, for fear of being proven right?
Whatever it is, it just came to an end.
"And…I love you with all my soul. I will die for you…I will live for you and nothing else. You are the only reason why I am here, wearing this uniform, holding this sword. You are why I wear this on my arm." He noted his scarf, now drenched with his blood, turning it a deeper crimson red. "I have never said it to you because I can never seem to find myself worthy. Someone like you who has seen so many things, experienced so much more than me. How can I measure up to you and confess my love without sounding like some lovelorn sap and expect you to return it?"
"I told you before, Sakaki…It isn't me that that had to be shown your worth. I've been waiting all this time…you've just been too thickheaded to realize it. And you know I don't like to be kept waiting."
She then held her sword high again, commanding her spiritual energy to grow. Sakaki fell back as she released her zanpakuto. A huge mouth appeared behind him and opened wide.
***
Apparently the battle, whomever it might have been between, was over. Unohana's reiatsu had dropped back to manageable levels, allowing Himura and company to approach the scene without fear. Sanosuke walked into the garden to find the captain alone. No trace of an enemy to be found. Had she obliterated her assailant so completely, he wondered? No real surprise there. The poor dead bastard should have known better than to challenge this particular opponent.
Sano motioned his men to go on without him, then made his way over to where the top-ranked officer stood. "Um, Captain? Forgive my intrusion, but I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind."
Unohana turned to him. Her smile had returned and her eyes narrowed.
"Yes, what is it, Himura-san?"
How to put this? Best tread carefully, wouldn't want to offend the Captain, she might still be spoiling for any excuse to atomize someone. "Umm…well, you were once the superior of Sakaki Boruto. As you know, the man's defied orders, and his arrest is top priority. Do you know where he might be if he were seeking shelter?"
"No, I do not." A casual, off-handed answer.
"But-" Before he could say more, the graceful figure turned her head and looked at him with such intensity that he would have believed she could make the sun change colors on command.
"Did I not make myself clear?"
"No, Ma'am…I'm sorry to…bother you on…whatever you were doing." Sanosuke suddenly remembered his presence might be demanded elsewhere and left fast. He wasn't immune to Unohana's more terrifying aspects, a disciplinary action being the least of the troubles that could befall him were he to press the matter further.
When he was gone, Unohana spoke without turning around. "Let him out. He should have had enough time inside you."
Minazuki rose up in a nebulous cloud from beneath her feet. Upon once more achieving full corporeal state, the giant green manta then vomited Sakaki back out. The recuperative gel surrounding him disappeared. His wound was almost gone, save for a scar that would have required further healing. The recovering rogue got up slowly.
"He's gone?"
Special Insert song - Beautiful World Acoustica Mix by Utada Hikaru"Yes." Her sword resumed its form back at her side. "Well, don't you feel absolutely horrible now? I, a captain, just lied for a fugitive. You better make it up to me, Saki-san."
Boruto wasted no time in doing so. Crossing over to where she stood, before the lady could articulate anything further, he took her face in his hands and kissed her.
Surprised but wholly open to the experience, she returned the kiss.
Bow chica bow wow, partner…
The two held each other for quite some time. Perhaps longer than might be advisable. This was borne out as Isane Kotetsu, Unohana's vice-captain, walked in on them.
"Captain, I just want to report…" She stopped dead in her tracks. The vertically-advantaged deputy could only see her captain's back and not who she was kissing, but she could tell it was a deep, passionate kiss with someone. "OH…! I'm-I'm sorry for interrupting!" Isane then hightailed it out of there as fast as the Goddess of Flash herself.
Sakaki stopped first and looked about, the moment ruined by the unexplained intrusion. He blushed several shades of red and was glad whoever that had been hadn't seen his face. Unohana had a smile of contentment and elation all over her face.
"I guess this isn't the best time," her lover mumbled.
"Well, better late than never." And she gave him a meaningful look. "Just don't wait another couple centuries to have dinner with me." She let go of him first.
"You know, I liked the way you had your hair back a hundred years, though. Perhaps you can go back to that look?" The admission came out of him in a rush.
"You've just kissed me," his battlefield angel pointed out. "Doesn't mean I'm going to dress myself up for you. Now go, you have a job to do."
"Yes, oh captain, my captain."
Sakaki returned his sword back to his side and was about to walk out of the garden when Unohana called to him.
"Sakaki…" He turned back to her. "Don't hold back anymore. You wanted to impress me. So…impress me."
Sakaki smiled and inclined his head gratefully. Then he disappeared. Unohana laughed lightly, pleased to find even her life could still be filled with surprises. She walked around a corner, to find Isane blushing behind a notebook. The serene sorceress strolled passed her.
"Come, Isane. There's much work to do."
"Uh… yes, Captain, I'm right behind you." The tall lieutenant fell into step with her leader, determined not to inquire who that had been kissing Captain Unohana.
***
Sakaki ran like the wind. Central 46 was his first target. He had a few friends within the government of Soul Society. People owed him favors for their current positions, so he'd call in those favors to get Rukia's files.
As he approached the fortified complex, however, something very peculiar stuck out. The front door… it was sealed. Boruto then also realized that the guards weren't there.
That isn't a good sign…What do you think, partner?
"I think you should keep quiet, I need to focus." Sakaki walked down the bridge leading to that grand pavilion cautiously. Acting on instinct that had proven invaluable in keeping him alive all this time, he took his sword out in preparation.
As Sakaki walked closer to the main doors of Central 46's compound, a premonition of danger came from around him.
You feel it too, partner?
Yeah...It's familiar...but it can't be…
What?
This feeling, it almost feels like...a hollow!
At this realization, a pair of shadows detached themselves from the wall rising out of the water behind him, swords drawn to attack. Sakaki was quick to defend himself.
"Who the hell..." He jumped back to put some distance between them, giving him a chance to size up his opponents.
The pair was dressed like Shinigami, but there was something off about their appearances. Despite the fact that all Divisions wore the same uniform, each possessed subtle markings and differences that could easily be distinguished by a veteran. These two were dressed very plainly; no way to tell who they were working for.
"Who are you? What squad?" Sakaki demanded.
The pair looked to each other. The one to his left was a black-haired man, tall and skinny. The other one next to him was a short brown-haired bruiser with a livid scar on his face. His hair looked like it was some animal he had killed and slapped on top of his crown.
"Not answering me, eh? Fine. I'll just beat it out of you."
The duo didn't bother to argue, only attacked him without a sound.
Sakaki defended himself, taking both attacks simultaneously on his own weapon. Whoever these guys were, they were no Unohana Retsu. A surge of his reiatsu beat them both back at the same time, knocking the shorter of the two into the lake surrounding this area. When he came back to the surface his hair was bobbing along the waves, revealing a bony helmet covering his head.
"You are not shinigami." Sakaki stated the obvious. "Who are you and who do you work for?"
The two glanced to one another. With a nod of confirmation, they both vanished, leaving only sonic booms to mark their passing. More disturbed than ever, the wary shinigami attempted to track their reiatsu, only to find that nothing was coming up.
So much for getting them to answer his questions. He turned and walked towards the front door to Central 46, stopping to examine the barred gate that stood solidly before him. He picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it to the doorway. Several bolts of lightning struck and vaporized the missile into dust. Frowning, Boruto regarded this obstacle thoughtfully.
"Maybe Yoruichi knows something about this."
***
Making his way back to the hideaway, Sakaki walked into the room to find his old colleague in her cat form, alongside a sleeping Ichigo. The young man was gravely injured. "Must have been one hell of a fight," he said as he walked in.
"Unfortunately, it will take me some time to heal him." Yoruichi's usual raspy cat voice sounded rather glum to his ears.
"Well, fortunately for you, I just came from the 4th squad, and I have adapted a very useful zanpakuto for this occasion." He took out his sword again and changed it into a small manta ray.
"How did you get Unohana's zanpakuto?" Yoruichi asked, interested.
"You don't want to know," Sakaki replied back as the mouth of his healer-beast opened and started to shallow Ichigo whole. "I just hope I can do this right."
For his part, Ichigo felt warm and comfortable, like he was floating in a pool of energy. It felt very soothing to him, and he was just about to give himself over to this sensation, when suddenly he found it slipping away. He felt the loss of this warm rejuvenation from his feet, and then his torso. He moved his arms up only to touch a...mouth?
Nonplussed, the aghast teen suddenly realized that whatever this 'mouth' was, it was enclosed around his head!
"Oh god, get it off! Get it OFF!!!" Ichigo shouted from inside the Minazuki mimic.
Yoruichi was chuckling somewhat as Sakaki ordered his zanpakuto to spit Ichigo out, leaving him covered in a translucent goo that was rapidly being absorbed into his skin.
"What the hell was that?!" the fully-rejuvenated ryoka shouted.
"It worked, that's what counts," Sakaki supplied cheerfully.
Yoruichi prowled about them. "Be thankful, Ichigo. If Sakaki wasn't here, it'd take you days to fully recover."
"Yeah, whatever." Ichigo tried to get up, but felt an intense weariness that soon had him falling back down.
"It'll take a couple hours for the effects of this thing to stop." The veteran from Squad 6 patted his newborn familiar. "I could put you back inside and finish the healing."
The boy's eyes burned. "Put me inside that thing again and I'll throw you a beating."
"I'm not even that good at doing this. Healing is tricky sometimes," Sakaki said as he returned his sword back to normal.
"I thought you got the whole mimic trick all figured out," Yoruichi spoke up. "You made quick work of that one guy with the water attacks."
"It takes time for me to try out a new ability to see what I can do with it, much less use it effectively."
The cat only gave a shrug. "Well, Ichigo's almost better. Put him back in and we'll have him up and at 'em."
"I am not going to be fish food again!" Ichigo shouted, joining in the conversation.
"This thing is just mimicking the abilities and image of Unohana's Minazuki. It's a perfectly natural method of dispensing with injuries, you know."
"I am NOT going back in that thing!"
"Then rest up," Yoruichi pronounced loftily. "You aren't fully healed and you'll need your strength if you are to save Rukia."
"That aside..." Ichigo turned to Sakaki. "Who are you?"
Not big on remembering people he's met several times, I see. Must be something psychological. "Oh, me? I'm the guy who just saved your ass from several days of being bandaged like a mummy."
His attempts at humor had no affect on the boy's memory. "You got a name, Doc?"
"Sakaki. I'm a 10th seat officer in division 6."
"And why are you here?"
Suspicious, aren't we? "Obviously, to help you. I think you are doing the right thing, you've got good intentions and your actions have had an effect on me. Up until now, I've been a bit on the lazy side. So I suppose I can forgive you for slapping me around on our first encounter."
Ichigo looked closer to him and then slapped his fist into the palm his hand.
"Oh, you were that guy at the gate!" the boy exclaimed in a tone of immense revelation. "Sorry, pal. I didn't overdo it, did I?"
"I underestimated you...I won't do that again." Sakaki shot back with a somewhat adversarial smile.
"Easy, boys," their mutual savior purred from between them. "We're all friends now. So let's work together."
Ichigo adopted a scowl that seemed to settle into his face like he was born with it. "Fine...so, Sakaki, is it? Thanks for carrying me back. I hope I wasn't too heavy."
Sakaki raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Wasn't me that dragged your ass back here."
"So who did? Were my other friends here?"
"Yeah, you could say that."
Ichigo was surprised at such a comment. He turned to the were-cat's small black form, who gave him a look as if to say, 'What? Got a problem believing it?'
"Yoruichi?" He was clearly confused. "How is that even possible?"
"Ichigo, how many talking cats do you know in the world of the living?" Sakaki raised a good point, then glanced down at the person in question. "I guess you have a habit of being tight-lipped on the subject, eh, Yoruichi?"
"It slips my mind," the kitty yawned dismissively, and then transformed into her human form.
Ichigo's reaction was the stuff of legends.
After the predictable screaming died down, Sakaki sat back a bit and then noticed a strange mask on the floor next to Ichigo.
"Hey, what's this?" He picked it up and passed it to Ichigo, who examined it with the selfsame curiosity.
"You're lucky, Ichigo," Yoruichi said. "If it weren't for that mask, you'd be dead right now from Kenpachi's attack."
Ichigo took the mask, looking a bit puzzled at even holding it, like it was the first time he'd seen this thing before.
"Funny. Thought I threw it away after what's-his-name from squad 4 asked me about it."
Yoruichi was visibly disturbed at this revelation.
"Just give it to me then, and I'll look after it." She accepted the mask, with Boruto looking on uncertainly.
It can't be possible, but I better watch out just in case.
"Anyway, I used this artifact to transport you here." The thing she was holding had the skull of a bird and feet. It rather looked like some wand a witch doctor would use. "You just put spiritual energy into it and it'll allow you to fly."
"Then how did you get here?" Ichigo asked Sakaki.
"The stairs," he said plainly.
"So let me get this straight," Ichigo continued. "I know who you are, Sakaki, if not your motives for helping me out there, but...who the hell ARE you, Yoruichi? You can shape-shift, carry around weird artifacts... Mind telling me who you really are?"
Sakaki turned to the Shihōin princess again, a bit surprised that she hadn't told Ichigo everything about her by now.
"I guess since you asked, I'll be honest... I am-"
The long-overdue explanation cut off as they all felt a very powerful energy that settled on their shoulders like a lead blanket.
"I know this feeling...it's him!" Ichigo said. "Byakuya!"
"My captain? How do you…?" Sakaki then answered his own question. Right. Obviously. "So it was your ass that got kicked when he went to the living world."
"It's coming from the Senzaikyuu!" Yoruichi noted, and then spotted Ichigo trying to run off. "Where do you think you're going?!"
"I gotta go! Ganju and Hanataro are in trouble!" Ichigo grabbed the little device and activated it, flying off.
"Wait!" Yoruichi shouted, but it was too late. The boy was gone, "Stupid punk kid!" She turned to Sakaki.
"I know," he sighed. "This time I've gotta get his ass back here." He got up and returned his sword to his side. "It'll be tough if I have to fight my own captain. I haven't fully healed from my previous battle."
"We'll make due. I've still got some tricks up my sleeves."
"Now that you've got some sleeves on," Sakaki said as he jumped off the cliff and started running to where Ichigo was going.
If I am feeling this right...the captain is ready for all-out war, something I haven't felt in years. I hope that boy knows what he's getting himself into.
…Probably not.
To be continued…
