Thus Quoth The Raven

Okay gonna go straight into Chapter Four with this one. I want to get this done as soon as possible, or I'll forget and my fans will salivate until they drown in their own saliva. I'm wickedly evil like that, don't let me fool you. Anyway, enough of the technical mumbo-jumbo, time to go ficwards! By the way, the name of this chapter is in honor of my friend's screenplay, The Death of a Puppet. I really hope he gets someone to make it into a movie!

/disclaimer

Chapter Four: Death of a Puppet

"Bankai."

If the arrancar's eyes could get any wider, they certainly would have burst out of his skull. "Huh?" it said weakly.

Still held in place by the rikujokoro, the arrancar was freed of the chains that bound him as they vanished into the air. In Kensado's hands was the seemingly unreleased form of his zanpaku-to.

The arrancar was about to make a taunt about the size of his weapon when a massive surge of electricity struck the ground around him, followed by thousands of lightning bolts. Once they struck the ground, the lightning transformed into large pillars.

"Senbonzanten Raisagashou," Kensado finished. The pillars shot chains from their centers, each one coiling around the helpless arrancar. The breaking of bones could be heard coming from within.

"Nice try… but I'm still here, shinigami!" a muffled voice cried out.

"You're resilience is admirable. But this is where it ends."

Kensado let go of his sword as it turned into a thunderbolt. As the chains detached from the pillars, they morphed into a large black box, encasing the creature within.

"Senbonzanten Raisagashou… Hitsugi no Raiken." At Kensado's final command, the pillars each turned into thunderbolts, which flew toward the box. After positioning themselves around it, upon being joined by Kensado's blade, the swords skewered the box and its helpless victim.

As the box and the swords vanished, and his zanpaku-to reverted to its sealed state, Kensado inspected the remains of his foe. There was no question that the arrancar had perished. If the thousand swords of lightning piercing him hadn't finished it, the insane surge of electricity that followed certainly had. NOTHING could survive that amount of electricity without being made of metal.

"Still… just to be sure…"

Kensado approached the arrancar he'd caught with his bankai first. He held out his fist toward the corpse and called out, "Hado 54, Abolishing Flames." The destruction spell hit its target, incinerating the body completely. He walked over to the one he'd killed with senka, and repeated the spell. He then stood up and walked toward the Sixth Division, seemingly oblivious to the mass of onlookers that had been watching the fight for some time.

Sighing, Kensado flicked his bang back in front of his left eye. And with a shunpo, he was gone.

Realizing they'd seen the last of the show, the crowd began to disperse, leaving two very stupefied captains: Ichigo and Rukia. It was the former who spoke first.

"I'm glad he isn't like Byakuya."

"Me too, otousan," said a small voice at his elbow. Apparently, the bakudo on the door (Number 81, the Splitting Void, to be exact) had been released, and the children emerged from the danku to see how the battle had ended.

"GAH! Yoruhime, don't do that! I nearly jumped out of my konpaku!"

Rukia sighed as her husband took her children back into the house. She then spoke aloud to seemingly no one.

"Have you been watching this whole time, nii-sama?"

"Of course… Rukia," said the man at her shoulder. Upon his raven hair rested a kenseikan, and around his neck a very expensive ginpaku kazahana no uzuginu (in plain English, a scarf). His name was none other than Byakuya Kuchiki.

"Now I can see why you have such faith in him," he continued.

"He is a Kuchiki, nii-sama."

"How long has he been capable of bankai?"

"A few years now. Only he and Ichigo really know."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

"Ichigo trained him night and day. He taught Kensado how to wield loose weapons, so that he could handle the chain better."

"And senka?" Byakuya asked.

"Also Ichigo's doing."

Byakuya's eyes widened slightly. "With that oversized meat cleaver?"

Rukia nodded.

"The mechanics seem… unpleasant."

"Do you think he's ready for a Captain's position?" Rukia asked.

"Such skill should not go unrewarded. I shall recommend him to the soutaichou." Byakuya peered at Rukia for a moment. She was being very conscious of herself, a thing that was entirely unlike her. The only time she had ever been this way in front of him was for two nine-month stints in the distant past… Byakuya smiled inwardly.

"And Rukia?"

"Yes, nii-sama?"

"Tell your husband I said congratulations… again."

Oh no! Rukia thought frantically. How did Nii-sama know that I'm-

"Pregnant?" Byakuya finished. "I didn't. Your reaction was plain enough." And then he was gone.

She walked toward the house, hand over her currently-small stomach. How am I going to break the news to-

"Ichigo!" She blurted aloud. She had bumped into him on her way back.

"Hey," he said coolly. "What did Byakuya want?"

"He just wanted to talk about Kensado."

"Oh. Well, what about him?"

"He's going to be recommended for a Captain post."

"Really? Sounds great. What division?"

"I don't know." Rukia sighed. "Ichigo? Can I tell you something?"

Ichigo frowned. "What is it?"

"Do you remember your birthday a couple of weeks ago?"

Ichigo grinned sheepishly. He put his hands behind his head and blushed. "Yeah, heh heh, I remember… we nearly woke the kids."

"Guess what?"

Ichigo's eyes got really wide. "Don't tell me. You're-"

"Yep."

His eye twitched slightly. "Um, Ichigo?" Rukia asked as she took a step back.

Ichigo finally exploded, a shower of words booming from his chest. "WAHOO! YA HEAR THAT, SEIREITEI? I'M GONNA BE A DADDY! AGAIN!"

Rukia sweatdropped.What do you know, he does have the 'crazy gene'.

She looked over at her children and sighed. This is going to take some explaining…

Am I evil or what? Come on… you know you want to say it… go on… say it…

Ichigo: You're evil.

YAY! Anywho, figured I'd post this one and then take a year long break. Just kidding! I'm not good enough yet for that kind of an attitude. Reviews would be nice. I'm not asking for them but I do need some feedback on my writing. Otherwise, I'll suck at this probably forever. Later, taters!