SailorStar9: After getting Chapter 2 out, this is Chapter 3 of this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.
Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny. Heck, even the pairings aren't mine.
Chapter 3: Clash! Rukia vs. Rukia!
With the four injured Shinigami laid out on the ground, Ishida watched as Guardian Frost activated an area-wide Lacuna Release healing spell.
In a construction site...
"So, it's you, Kira." Matsumoto turned to Reigai Kira. "Are you here to fight me?"
"I really don't want to, but given the situation, I have no choice." Reigai Kira replied.
"Don't you remember you lost once?" Matsumoto reminded.
"I remember it very well, but..." Reigai Kira answered. "Sorry, I'm not the person I was back then. I suggest you don't take me lightly." he drew his Zanpakutō and attacked Matsumoto, both fighters taking the fight to the unfinished building skeleton.
"Just as I expected, Matsumoto." Reigai Kira remarked, both fighters then took the fight to the ground. "You are good."
"You don't seem any different than before. Matsumoto stated.
"Raise your head, Wabisuke." Reigai Kira activated his Shikai. "You are familiar, of course, with the power of my Zanpakutō, Wabisuke."
"It doubles the weight of whatever it strikes." Matsumoto recited from memory.
"Correct." Reigai Kira affirmed. "The opponent, unable to bear his own weight, grovels on the ground."
"With his head bowed down as if in penitence." Matsumoto continued. "Thus, the name 'Wabisuke, the penitent one', right? But..." she was cut off by a pile of falling steel bars and she jumped back to avoid them, only to have Reigai Kira appear behind her. "Aren't you the one who's forgotten the power of my Zanpakutō?" she asked, Reigai Kira having pushed her back. "No matter how heavy it gets, there's no effect. Growl, Hai..." she gasped in mid-summon when her Zanpakutō was weighted down, causing it to crash onto the floor. "What did you do" she gaped, seeing her falling Zanpakutō crash into the bar piled below, cutting straight through it.
"How many times did you block my strikes?" Reigai Kira asked.
"Three times." Matsumoto answered. "There's no way it could become that heavy."
"When Kageroza created us, he improved our powers." Reigai Kira snorted. " "The original's Zanpakutō was capable of doubling the opponent's weight. But my Zanpakutō increases it tenfold. In other words, if you took three strikes, it weighs 1000 times its original weight much too heavy to hold. If you cannot hold it, you cannot activate Shikai. You're not getting away." he chased after Matsumoto who had jumped down to retrieve her Zanpakutō.
" Hadō #31..." Matsumoto was about to fire the Shakkahō spell when Reigai Kira struck several metal poles lying on the side down on her. "For an impostor, you're strong." she admitted, forced to hide behind one of the building's supporting pillars.
"An impostor, you say?" Reigai Kira echoed. "We possess the same memories as the originals, and what's more, our powers are greater. We impostors are superior than the originals. Can you really call us 'impostors'? Who decides which are real and which are the impostors, I wonder. What I do know is only the superior will survive." he thrust out his Zanpakutō, just as Matsumoto stepped out of her hiding place, forcing the 10th Squad Lieutenant to crash onto the pile of steel pipes below. "This will be a fitting end for you." he rested the curved edge of Wabisuke against Matsumoto's neck.
"Can an impostor cut this?" Matsumoto asked, lifting the shielded rod to block out Reigai Kira's sword. "You're such a dummy." she chuckled, her cut scarf falling down to reveal a steel pipe hidden under the cloth. Letting the weighted pipe fall, she Shunpo-ed out of harm's way, allowing the pipe anchor Reigai Kira down. "Growl, Haineko!" she activated her Shikai at the trapped Reigai, the dust cloud reverting Reigai Kira back into mannequin form as he fell over and dissolved into dust.
Nearby...
"Is she my Reigai?" Rukia met her Reigai counterpart face-to-face underneath a train railway.
"It's like looking in the mirror." Reigai Rukia echoed her original's thoughts. "It's creepy. It's not a fun feeling."
"You're right." Rukia reached for her Zanpakutō. "One Kuchiki Rukia is enough. I will defeat you."
"You're the one going down." Reigai Rukia retorted and the two attacked each other.
"You're not bad, impostor." Rukia admitted, the two Rukias clashed with each other several times.
"I'm honored to be praised by the original." Reigai Rukia mocked. "But this is just the beginning."
"Lieutenant Kurotsuchi?" Rukia blinked when Nemu appeared behind her.
"Kuchiki Rukia." Nemu started, her crackling eyes revealed that she was the real Nemu's Reigai and she threw a punch at Rukia, who side-stepped to dodge the attack.
"You're a Reigai, too?" Rukia snapped, ducking Reigai Nemu's fists and kicks.
Forced into a stalemate against her own Reigai, Rukia was sent to the ground by a kick from Reigai Nemu.
"You're not getting away." Reigai Rukia declared, following her original as Rukia took the fight to higher ground.
"I wasn't planning on running away." Rukia retorted, the two Rukias clashing once more on the railway, only to have Reigai Nemu cut in, kicking Rukia to the ground.
The two Reigais followed behind Rukia closely and was about to double-team her again when Nemu jumped in, kicking her Reigai off.
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." Rukia took the opening. "Some no Mai, Tsukishiro!"
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." Reigai Rukia released the same attack. "Some no Mai..."
"Too slow!" Rukia snapped, releasing her attack a split second faster than her Reigai clone.
Meanwhile, both Nemu and Reigai Nemu were decking it out with Hakuda, Nemu gaining the upper hand when she stabbed her hand knife into her Reigai's chest. Withdrawing her hand, Nemu watched impassively as her Reigai collapsed to the ground, reverting back to her mannequin form and vanished in a swirl of dust.
"Is this their main body?" Nemu picked up the Reigai pill that was left behind and crushed it between her fingers.
"Let that be a lesson, Reigai." Rukia hissed, removing herself out from the ice pillar, her Reigai falling into the water below.
"Kuchiki." Matsumoto had also arrived to the scene. "Looks like you won."
"There are no enemies in the vicinity." Rukia reported. "Let's join the search for Kujo Nozomi.
"Good idea." Matsumoto agreed. "We can't sense her Reiatsu, so I don't have a clue where to look." she walked off with Nemu.
"Your guard is full of openings." Rukia stated, her crackling eyes revealing that she was the Reigai.
"You were the Reigai?" Matsumoto gasped, defending herself after Reigai Rukia took out Nemu.
Omake: Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book
Hisagi: (Still unconscious as he feels the healing Kido wash over him) White garments? (His sight returning slightly as he spots the white bodice of Guardian Frost) Could it be... are angels coming for me? No, wait a minute. (Pauses his thoughts as a blush covers his cheeks) In the Real World, I've heard there are beautiful women known as angels in white who care for the ill. That must be it. One of them must be caring for me.
Ishida: (Gapes in shock as Hisagi sprouts out blood from his nose) Is he all right?
Guardian Frost: (Sighs) I don't even want to know what he's dreaming about.
Hisagi: (Moans happily) This is bliss...
SailorStar9: In the next chapter, Inoue and Sado find Rukia, Nemu and Matsumoto washed up on the shore of the river. As Inoue goes to heal them, Sado is attacked by Renji's Reigai. as Sado is confronting the false Renji, the real Renji appears and attacks his impostor, both eventually defeating the Reigai.
Now that's done, read and review.
