Apologies, this chapter ended up being posted a few hours later than usual. Blame exhaustion from the past week for that. Anyway, here it is. As ever, reviews are greatly appreciated.
Chapter IV.
Leonardo narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"
"Captain Kougami Eiji," Eiji said between sips of sake, "I'm not usually in for this whole 'saving' thing, but I couldn't bear watching the two of you flirt anymore. It was a tragic romance that could never be."
"We're not ..." Ishida protested.
"Shush, Quincy," Eiji said softly, "I'm tryin' to be cool and aloof."
Peering back at Ishida, he calculated the boy – and he was a boy, Eiji didn't put him any older than seventeen or eighteen – had maybe thirty minutes to live. Could be interesting – a time limit, if nothing else, got the blood going.
"But - ..." Ishida began.
"Oh, relax," Eiji said, waving a hand. "Take it easy, have a drink, you're probably going to be dead before I'm done here."
Leonardo snorted. Eiji hated the sound a little – it was the kind of sound posh people made when they were uncomfortable. "Your first mistake, Captain Kougami Eiji," he swept into a low bow, "was assuming that I wasn't expecting this."
"'Cuse me, Turtle-boy?" Eiji asked, turning a little.
"Someone always sweeps in to save the day. I knew that the moment I gained the upper hand," Leonardo said, tightening a hand into a fist, "and I made preparations. El Hongo."
Eiji's gaze flicked to one side, then another, as in a wide circle about him, green needles formed in the air, hanging towards him with a faint and sickly glow.
"These needles will impale you and then grow, devouring you," Leonardo said, "they target whoever has the highest spiritual pressure – which right now is you, Captain Kougami Eiji. So you could say that your second mistake was to be powerful."
With a snap of his fingers, the needles shot downwards. Eiji let his spiritual energy flow out, taking a step forward and vanishing, reappearing behind Leonardo. "Your thirty-second mistake was assuming I never learnt to dodge."
Leonardo snorted again. Eiji strongly considered ramming Kyoujin Ikazuchi into his mouth. His fingers twitched around the hilt.
"Your third mistake," Leonardo said as the needles curved around, "was not assuming that my El Hongo needles could change direction."
Eiji grinned, turning sharply to grab Leonardo by the shoulders and hold him steady. "Nah, I figured that. Your one-hundredth mistake was thinking I didn't. Your seventh mistake was having a body." He shoved Leonardo forward into the path of the needles.
They drove into him, the glow brightening for a moment before shattering with a flash. Leonardo threw his head back, laughing shrilly. "Your fourth mistake was thinking that my own abilities could be used against me, Captain Kougami Eiji!"
Eiji cocked his head, blowing out a long breath. "Do you ever stop counting people's mistakes?" He tilted his head, hooking a finger into the ring on Kyoujin Ikazuchi's hilt and sliding him out slowly. "Don't you ever get tired of it, man?"
"Never," Leonardo said, scraping a claw over his mask, "I am disease. Disease is perfect, exquisitely adapted to whatever situation it finds itself in ..."
"You've been waiting to monologue all day, haven't you?" Eiji asked, finishing his draw and swinging the sword about on his finger. "Please, go on, I'm rapt."
"... Of all the beings of the world, standing at the top, above God himself, is pestilence, radiant, the true angels of the - ..." Leonardo went silent.
He turned his head down, the green lights of his eyes flashing brighter, at the sword protruding from his chest, just beneath his core. The cables squirmed slightly, reforming connections where the sword had split them.
"Irrel ... irrelevant damage," Leonardo said, a little disbelievingly. "How ..."
"Don't get me wrong," Eiji said, "I'm fast, but you're faster. You could have dodged that, and had me impaled on your talons before I could have struck another blow. But you were so busy talking, man."
"I will heal," Leonardo said, craning his head around.
"Man, congrats," Eiji said, reaching to his obi and pulling a bottle of sake from it, pouring it over Leonardo. "But I don't think you can do that with my sword still sticking through your chest. Listen: Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye bears the name of Man."
Leonardo snarled, turning to slash at Eiji. Eiji leapt out of the way, dragging Leonardo with him, the talon swiping through his sleeve.
"Disintegrate," Eiji continued cheerfully, "you black dog of Rondanini, you. Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws."
"Twin incantations?" Leonardo scowled. He slashed again, snarling as Eiji dodged out of the way, letting go of the sword for a split second before catching it again.
"Oh, you're a fast one. Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat," a wide grin spread over Eiji's face, "Binding Art Number Nine: Strike. Destructive Art Number Thirty-Three: Blue Fire, Crash Down."
He dragged his sword out, kicking off Leonardo as the explosion sounded. As the blue flames swirled up, a column of orange fire shot up between them, exuding a clogging smoke.
"Huh. Stronger than I expected. I should dilute this stuff," he remarked mildly.
Leonardo's scream rose up through the roar of flames. As the smoke cleared, Eiji saw him crouched, swathed in fire and red light, struggling. The glow was starting to fade, even with pain and fire distracting him. He wouldn't be distracted for long.
"Let's go, Little Kyou," Eiji murmured to Kyoujin Ikazuchi, focusing energy around his heels to push himself back down, sword out, the tip pointed at the back of his head. With a rip and a shatter it drove through, emerging between his eyes as Eiji's feet landed on his shoulder. "Ow, ow, burning."
Leonardo drew in a sucking breath. "Epidemia."
Eiji kicked off again, withdrawing his sword as a cloud of green smoke headed for him. With a flash, he flickered away to another rooftop. Heat hit his back. As the green smoke washed over him, he realised that Leonardo was behind him.
"I have five abilities," Leonardo said, "and my Epidemia is the third. As a disease is infectious, so am I, and my Epidemia will spread my injuries and ailments to any who are caught in it."
"You're kind of a bastard, Little Leo," Eiji remarked mildly, wincing as burns sprouted across his body. "I'm not looking forward to the head wound."
Leonardo snorted. "Luckily for you, I've already healed that. But I made certain not to heal everything until you were properly afflicted."
It was strange, feeling a hole appear in his back and then in his chest. His body expected the cold rub of metal against flesh, recoiled at the idea of a wound simply forming with no cause.
"Your great, fifth mistake, Captain Kougami Eiji," Leonardo murmured smugly into his ear, "was ever thinking you should injure me."
"Wow, that was a pretty big mistake," Eiji murmured dazedly, touching the wound on his chest. With a long, morose sigh, he flicked Kyoujin Ikazuchi around and drove it through Leonardo's gut. "Your ninetieth mistake was thinking I cared. Your sixth mistake was having a stomach area. Huh, that really hurts," he looked down as another wound formed on his stomach.
"You," Leonardo snarled, "are insane."
"Hey, don't misunderstand me, man. I'm terrified of dying. But you know, they say that if you're going to do something you're scared of," Eiji turned his head, grinning at Leonardo, reaching around to pat him on the shoulder, "you should bring moral support."
Shuki crooked herself into a low bow. "We bow, Vasto Lorde."
Michelangelo inclined herself slightly, drawing a hand through her hair. "If you insist, dearest."
Shuki looked to the side. The girl was alongside her, hands to her hairpins, ready – quite calm, quite prepared, quite professional, like any of the soldiers Shuki had fought alongside before. "Hey, girl. Go and heal your friend."
"But - ..."
Shuki flicked her across the nose. "You've done a good job, but there are only two people I care to fight alongside. Heal your friend." She turned back to Michelangelo. "Ma'am. Would you like to retreat? Your comrades are being dealt with as we speak."
"I'll pass, thank you," Michelangelo replied. "Tell me, darling, do you intend to fight an unarmed Hollow with your sword?"
Shuki chuckled, lifting her zanpakuto. "Rouzeki and I are one person. She isn't a weapon any more than my arm is. Truth be told, she doesn't even have a taste for violence. She's a prim little bint, finds it 'distasteful'." She winked at the blade.
Michelangelo tilted her head. "Then we dance, my love."
With a flicker, she was close, her armoured foot driving down towards Shuki's head. Shuki raised her sword to meet it, the porcelain cracking as it hit the blade. With a grunt, Shuki shoved her away, diving to one side, her sword flashing through the air at Michelangelo's side.
"Ooh, you fight dirty," Michelangelo laughed, spinning out of the way. "La Incendio!"
A wave of fire burst out, rolling towards Shuki. Shuki spread her legs out, widening her stance as she slashed back and forth, cutting through the flames. They broke into embers around her, spraying to either side. Shuki grabbed her sword with both hands, hefting it about in a heavy swing, the air rippling.
Michelangelo raised her arms, shielding herself as the wind pushed against her. Shuki leapt forward, sword clanging against the Vasto Lorde's arms, porcelain splintering and cracking.
"So brutal, my love," Michelangelo purred, "but so foolish as well. La Incendio."
Shuki flickered away, reappearing behind her. "I'm not that slow, 'dear'." Her sword drove down into Michelangelo's shoulder, splitting through the cracks there to cleave through flesh.
"As Leo would say, the snugglemuffin," Michelangelo gasped out as blood spurted through the cracks, "you keep making mistakes. El Hambre."
She threw her arms out, light gathering about her. Shuki backed off, flickering away to stand in front of Orihime and Chad protectively. "Girl, you can do shields, right?"
Orihime nodded.
"Throw one up. Do not let it down until the battle is over," she said, flickering away again.
Michelangelo tossed her head back, glowing almost blindingly bright before bolts of yellow energy started to come off her body, spinning and arcing through the air, splitting and dividing again and again until they turned the sky golden.
"Isn't it beautiful, my loves?" Michelangelo crooned. "Our own little world, encased in eternal light and heat, with me as its queen."
From the light, balls of fire emerged, streaking smoke behind them as they descended towards Shuki, gathering speed.
"I'm not as pragmatic as Donatello, and I'm not as sneaky as dearest Leo," Michelangelo said, "but nobody can do sheer destructive force better. Come, my love, don't scowl so – you, the girl, the boy, and every living thing in a kilometre radius will be incinerated. Where we were there shall be a desert where nothing can live for a thousand years."
"I," Shuki said firmly, "will kill you."
"Oh, my love, you are overreacting terribly. What's a few hundred people?"
"That isn't why I'm going to kill you," Shuki said, "I'm going to kill you because, no matter how much Ginrei tells me I need to master it, I will always hate the demon arts. Way of Binding Number Eighty-One: Splitting Void."
The square of white spread across the sky, filtering the gold and the amber light of the fireballs through a translucent shield, softening their glare.
"That large? With no incantation?" Michelangelo asked, taking a step back.
"It's weak as all hell," Shuki said, shrugging. "There's a reason that captains usually keep it small. It's stronger that way. But I figure your fireballs will explode as soon as they hit something." As she finished the last word, the sky lit up with a sheet of fire, rippling against the shield. Cracks spread along it, fragments drifting away to allow motes of fire through.
Michelangelo took another step back, raising a hand. A bright violet cero formed in her palm, blasting outwards. Shuki swiped her sword through the air, splitting the energy beam along either side of her. "Try harder, 'my love'. Or when you came to attack a teenage girl and a teenage boy in the town where their friends and families could be put in danger, were you not expecting to face a captain of the Gotei Thirteen?"
Michelangelo stammered, looking up as the golden sky faded back to the night, the shield disintegrating. "I didn't ... I'm not ..." She took another step back, raising her hands. "I will kill you, dear. Don't you dare try to threaten me."
She dashed forward, a sword of fire jutting from her hand. It sparked as it clashed with Shuki's sword, whistled as it flew over her head, sizzled as it just barely scraped her haori.
"La Incendio!" Flames burst out of her hands. Shuki's sword gleamed as she cut through the air, bisecting the fire.
"El Hambre," Michelangelo said, a glow gathering around her. As the first bolts of energy slid off her, Shuki blurred around her in a wide circle, deflecting them back down towards the ground, where they fizzled out.
Michelangelo flung herself into the air, an energy ball charging ahead of her palm. "Cero!" Shuki vanished before it hit her, reappearing behind her, a bare heel slamming into her back and throwing her downwards. Michelangelo landed on her feet, panting.
Shuki rested her sword against her shoulder as she landed. "I'm not Ginrei, who will give you the honour of an elegant death and mourn the passage of a good enemy. I'm not Eiji, who will let you go because you amused him with a good fight. I gave you a chance to retreat, and I would've given you a dozen more if you hadn't put innocents in danger."
Michelangelo bit back a snarl, straightening up and tossing her hair. "I'm not afraid of you, my dear. El Hambre was far from my best technique. It was the second of five. Shall I show you the third, darling?"
"You can show me whatever you like," Shuki said, "it hardly matters, does it?"
Michelangelo chuckled shrilly, running her hand through her hair. "You shinigami are so arrogant. It's amusing for a while but it grows ever so tiresome. "La Espesjimo."
She threw back her head, arms going wide as she was swathed in an orange glow, hidden from view. With a wail, she exploded, bolts of flame rushing through the air to crash into the ground with flashes of light: One at the roof of a building, one demolishing a telephone poll, one cratering the ground near Orihime while one wound through the air and then dropped to where she had been standing.
"My," a voice said.
"My," another said.
"My," another said.
"That never gets any less weird," a final voice purred. From the wreckage of each flash arose a Michelangelo, porcelain still glowing faintly. "So, my love? Are you impressed with us?"
"Cloning yourself?" Shuki said, turning a hundred and eighty degrees so that she could look at each four in turn. "Impressive. I'll never be able to handle that on my own."
"Just ..." a Michelangelo said.
"What we were counting on," another finished.
They had him cornered now.
"First Dance: White Moon," Rukia said, Sode no Shirayuki's ribbon describing a circle around Donatello.
He gave her a dry look, flickering out of the way of it as the ice rose up, as he had done with the last nine pillars of ice. This time, he appeared directly in the path of Zabimaru's bladed whip. With a surprised noise, he caught the blade, the wires between them straining. He shoved it away, turning as Rukia wound her ribbon about, a circle appearing beneath him.
He vanished again. As he reappeared, Ichigo swung his sword down. "Getsuga Tensho!" A wave of black burst from Zangetsu's tip, colliding with Donatello's outstretched palm and driving him backwards.
Ichigo sped around behind him, setting his blade against his back. A quick hand across his face manifested his Hollow mask, his eyes turning yellow. "Getsuga Tensho."
Black energy exploded outwards, the shockwave splitting the clouds open. Ichigo landed by Rukia and Renji. "Think we got him?"
"Depends how you define 'got him'," Renji said, raising a hand. Rukia set her sword against the ground, tapping points in it. "Get ready."
Donatello emerged from the shockwave, soaring down towards them.
"Next Dance: White Ripple!" Rukia yelled, a wave of ice bursting from her sword.
"Way of Destruction Thirty-One, Red Fire Shot," Renji said, sounding more than a little put out.
Ichigo swung his sword down. "Getsuga Tensho."
The three attacks collided with him, obscuring him for a moment before he batted them away with a wave of his hand. Closer now, Ichigo could see the damage. Thin cracks were spread across his torso, a few wider ones oozing blackish blood. One miniscule crack bisected the visor of his mask.
"How durable is this guy?" Renji muttered. "Maybe we should all give him our swords, it might make things quicker."
"You don't mean that," Rukia said airily.
"Nah," Renji grinned. "I don't. How's your plan going?"
"Going just fine, Renji. Stop mothering me."
"I'm not mothering you."
"You're mothering me. Like a hen. 'Oh, how's your plan going?' I can execute a plan without you sticking your big nose into it," Rukia snapped.
"My nose is average sized!"
"It's weird. Like your eyebrows. Everybody thinks so," Rukia said.
"Er. Guys," Ichigo started.
"Stay out of this," they said together.
"You've been nobility too long, Rukia," Renji smirked, leaning down towards her, "you've started to get fancy notions of what noses should be like."
"I have no fancy notions," Rukia replied.
"You have fancy notions!" Renji said gleefully. "You spend your whole day judging people's noses."
Rukia turned on him, jabbing him in the chest. "Well, you know what? I may spend my whole day judging people's noses, but I don't go around thinking 'huh, how should I lose my kosode today? Oh, no, I tripped in the mud and the entire top half of my clothing was torn off! Won't somebody please save me?'"
"It's not deliberate!" Renji replied, flailing.
"It's like your life's aspiration is to marry a tailor," Rukia said. "It's pretty sad."
"... Excuse me," Donatello said, raising a hand.
"Stay out of this!" They yelled.
"Better than marrying some lord, and we both know you will. You said you were going to marry me!" Renji yelled, jabbing a finger at himself.
"I was seven! I also said you smelt like manure and cooties, and that's truer now than it was then!" Rukia said. "Oh, everyone says it's a 'manly fragrance', but we all know what that means."
"Fine. I don't want to marry you," Renji said. "I'll marry somebody else."
"Like anybody will marry you."
"Lots of people will marry me!"
"Name one!"
"I ... I ..."
"I?"
"Ichigo!" Renji said, dragging Ichigo over.
Ichigo struggled against him. "I – what? No! I'm not going to - ..."
"Stay out of this!"
"But," Ichigo protested, "you're dragging me into this!"
Donatello cleared his throat loudly. "Enough."
All three went silent. Donatello floated to the ground, eyes glowing bright. "Kuchiki Rukia, young adopted daughter of the noble Kuchiki family, sister to Captain Kuchiki Byakuya. You wield Sode no Shirayuki, the most beautiful snow and ice zanpakuto in Soul Society, as voted on by the Shinigami Woman's Association, with power over ice. You trained beneath Shiba Kaien, and your captain is Ukitake Jushiro."
He turned, peering at Renji. "Abarai Renji, from Rukongai, a childhood friend – and informal fiancé, if I'm hearing correctly – of Miss Kuchiki. Lieutenant beneath Kuchiki Byakuya. You wield Zabimaru, a melee-type zanpakuto that takes the form of a bladed whip in its first release and a tremendous living snake skeleton in its final release. Trained beneath Aizen Sosuke, and later Kenpachi Zaraki.
"You see, I have studied all of you. I know your abilities. I know what to expect. So do you really think you can stop me?"
Rukia shrugged. "Worth trying," with a flicker, she appeared behind him, ribbon marking a circle out. "First Dance ..."
Donatello humphed, digging his heels against the ground. He slowed to a stop as Zabimaru wrapped around him, holding him in place.
"White Moon," Rukia finished.
Ice started to spread up his legs. With a groan, Donatello broke his bounds, sending Zabimaru flying apart, its wires torn. He smashed through the ice, speeding away as another pillar froze. "Come now, Miss Kuchiki! Eleven pillars and not a single one has caught me."
Ichigo sped behind him, sword swinging down at his mask. He caught it, kicking Ichigo backwards. "This assault is pitiful."
"Eleven pillars," Rukia remarked, her ribbon forming another circle. "That is a lot."
As the twelfth pillar formed, Donatello stared at it. "That isn't even anywhere near me."
"You say you know all of our techniques," Rukia said, "but how old is your information? If we were to never improve and never learn anything new, we'd be slaughtered in battle. Look at the pillars."
Donatello frowned, turning on the spot. "A perfect circle."
"We predicted your movements from the start," Rukia said, "and planned for them. Fourth Dance: White Storm."
Each pillar glowed, then collapsed into white light and snowflakes, swirling inwards on Donatello. Several moments later, a block of opaque ice hit the ground.
Eiji panted, clutching his stomach. "Oh, man. This is – I could've thought this through better, right?"
"Quite so," Leonardo said. "As you slow and falter, I regenerate, slowly but surely. You will have no moral support."
"Guess I'm stuck, then," Eiji said, raising his sword. "Don't get me wrong, man, I like Little Kyou here like my own adorable swordy baby brother, but he's kind of – psychotic. You know what I mean? He gets a bit scary at times, to be honest."
"You're babbling, Captain Kougami Eiji," Leonardo replied.
"I guess I am. Well, you've forced my hand, man," Eiji grinned. "Laugh it off, Kyoujin Ikazuchi."
Shuki landed in a crouch, her shoulder smoking. "Ugh."
"You were right," one of the Michelangelos said, "you can't handle this on your own. Ask the girl and the boy for help. Pull them into this, there's no need to be high and mighty, my dear."
Shuki shook her head, getting to her feet. "I'm not on my own, though," she said, resting her sword against her shoulder. "Rouzeki may not like fighting, but she can muster up some fury for special occasions. She hates you as much as I do."
"Cute," another Michelangelo said.
"Glad you think so, 'darling'," Shuki said. "Pulverise, Rouzeki."
So, that's that for this week, chapter five will be up in a week. I've been checking my traffic stats, so loads of thanks to everyone who's been reading.