Seireitei Under Siege
In retrospect, Anrak supposed that he owed his sister yet another heart-felt "thank you" the next time he saw her.
Yoruichi had been quite adamant in not letting him hit the streets for his third day as Kurosaki's replacement, instead saying Kisuke had a plan to take care of things, and that Anrak should stay in bed and rest. At the time, he'd argued with her about how unnecessary it was to rest any longer, and that his wounds had healed enough to get the job done.
Of course, she hadn't listened, and had instead sedated him again to shut him up.
That had been two days ago and now he was grateful for the extra rest afforded to him, as he had made a full recovery…and the timing couldn't have been better.
He cut down a trio of hollows in rapid sucession and dodged out of the way as a cero blast destroyed the ground he had been standing on a split-second earlier.
The Seireitei was under siege from Aizen's forces and the captains of the Gotei 13 were all elsewhere at the moment, leaving the Seireitei's defense in the hands of the three-thousand lesser shinigami, including himself.
At least old man Yama had seen this coming and had made sure to plan accordingly; there were some seven-hundred and fifty shinigami stationed at each of the four gates into the Seireitei, along with the Kidō Corp behind the wall, maintaining an added barrier to defend the city. Even the instructors from the academy had been called into action to serve in coordinating the defenses and act as battlefield commanders.
Four captains had been dispatched to Hueco Mundo to assist Kurosaki and his friends, while the remaining captains, including Yamamoto himself, had gone to the fake Karakura to engage Aizen and his top soldiers.
Anrak had wanted to go to Hueco Mundo with his own captain to find Renji but once again, he'd been denied and was instead left behind to help guard the Seireitei. He supposed that he could have disobeyed and followed Zaraki, but Renji's eight days weren't up yet and disobeying a direct order from Kenpachi Zaraki was tantamount to suicide.
He was part of the group guarding the West Gate and while the battle here was fierce, it was slowly winding down; sure, the advancing hollows had them outnumbered, but it was quality over quantity in this war and most of the hollows were weak and mindless beasts as opposed to the well-trained Soul Reapers.
Other hollows, the stronger ones, like the Menos before him now, were being quickly targeted and eliminated by the seated officers such as himself.
As he cleaved upward with his fully-empowered zanpaktou and ripped the creature in half, he did take a certain pride in noting that the other officers were having a harder time than he was, and that they were working together while Anrak opted to fly solo.
Hey!
Well, solo aside from his trusted companion, Kage Shitsukoi.
That's better, baka!
His pride evaporated as he took a quick moment to glance out at West Rukon 1, or rather, what remained of it.
All the buildings had been virtually demolished in the fighting, and many were engulfed in flames. Blood stained the streets, with bodies laying everywhere, belonging to both shinigami and civilians who'd been unfortunate enough to get caught in between the two armies.
At least the hollows didn't leave corpses when they died; instead, they dissipated into purified spirit particles which would then reform into a pure soul elsewhere in Soul Society.
They did bleed, though, and black hollow blood was everywhere.
The entire scene was something straight out of a nightmare and the sounds were no better, screams from both hollows and Soul Reapers filling the pungent air.
Yes, the West Gate would hold, but at a heavy cost.
Even the weather itself was miserable today; dark gray clouds obscured the vibrant blue that was the norm and a strong, chill wind blew in from the north.
At least I'm in a good mood today!
Of course you would be… he thought bitterly.
Spying some of his comrades in need, he took off through the battlefield, jumping over bodies and cutting down minor hollows to reach them.
They were two rookies and one of them was badly injured, with his friend trying to carry him away from the front lines. Anrak glanced at the wounded youth, noticing a missing arm and a shredded leg that was likely to follow it soon, if the man even survived such injuries.
God damn you, Aizen…
"Go, get him out of here! I'll take care of this!" he commanded the unhurt shinigami, interposing himself between them and the hollows trailing them. The younger reaper needed no more prodding as he picked up his bloodied friend and ran for the gate and the first aid station that lay beyond it, leaving Anrak to face the hollow horde alone.
The hollows, six of them in all, came at Anrak like a pack of rabid dogs, but they were outmatched. Stepping in, he caught the middle two with his initial swing and catching the attention of the other four. As one lunged at him, he grasped it by it's wrist and flung it into two of it's companions, using the sword in his other hand to impale the remaining one through the chest.
Three down, three to go.
Briefly, he wondered how the battle for the fake Karakura was going, as well as how the other three gates were holding up.
He wasn't overly worried about the South Gate, as that was where the bulk of Squad 11 had been stationed, along with his friend, Enjeru, the sixth seat of Squad 7. They'd been part of the same graduating class at the academy some one-hundred and ten years ago, and while they hadn't known each other too well at the time, they'd became friends since then, specifically in the past four years, as they realized there were only nine members of their class still alive within the Gotei 13.
Anrak suspected that number would be even smaller by the time the battle for the Seireitei was over.
He had confidence Enjeru would survive; what the man lacked in swordsmanship, he more than made up for with his kidō abilities.
The other seven…
…well, he hoped they survived the conflict.
But those hopes were not high.
He ducked another claw swipe and came up blade first, striking the hollow's chin and powering upward through it's skull and boney mask.
Four down.
That left the East and North gates to wonder about; how were they holding up?
He kicked the fifth hollow hard, sending it through the wall of a burning house as he brought his blade down onto the left shoulder of the other monster, tearing down to it's right hip. The creature screamed as it died, and it's brother answered as the flaming roof collapsed down on it, burying the beast.
Anrak took a moment to wipe the sweat of his brow with the back of his hand; the pitched battle had already gone on for over two hours and the physical exertion combined with the heat from all the flames had left him nearly soaked with perspiration. His standard-issue black shihakushō was tattered and torn, covered with dirt and blood and he wasn't even sure how much of the blood was his own and how much came from trying to help other reapers.
At least they seemed to be winning now, with the number of hollows beginning to dwindle significantly.
But that was still only this one gate…
He'd noticed over the past hour that there were less and less shinigami present at this battle and at first that had worried him into thinking that more of his brethren were falling before the onslaught, but he'd noticed some thirty minutes ago that small groups ranging from five to ten at a time were being redirected somewhere by the token battlefield "commanders," the academy instructors, though he didn't know where or why.
Was one of the remaining gates in danger?
Less thinking, more fighting, fool!
Kagi was right, as Anrak saw a shinigami fall to the ground wounded, a hollow with scythe-like arms standing over him, poised to deliver the killing blow.
"No!" roared Anrak, flash-stepping over in an instant and intercepting the deadly scythe with his own zanpaktou.
Enraged at the interference, the hollow shrieked in his face. Anrak scowled and shoved the scythe-arm up and away, then reversing direction and slashing back downwards diagonally across the creature's now-exposed chest, slicing it open cleanly.
As the hollow's corpse fell apart, he reached down and carefully helped the injured shinigami to his feet, taking care to avoid the large gash in the man's shoulder. The other man's right arm hung limp and lifeless from the deep shoulder wound…there was absolutely no way he could fight in this condition.
"Come on," Anrak said, "I'll escort you back to the aid station."
The other reaper nodded gratefully and the two headed back towards the gate.
The aid station doubled as the command post for the West Gate and it was nearly as chaotic as the battlefield, with the injured laying everywhere as healers and volunteer medics from the Rukon ran about frantically. The stench of death and blood was heavy here and there was a disturbing pile of bodies off to one side for the unfortunate patients who had been beyond help.
On top of the pile was the body of the injured youth from earlier, his mauled leg was missing, most likely amputated in a failed attempt to save him.
Mentally, Anrak cursed Aizen again as he left his wounded companion in the care of a volunteer medic. He turned to head back out into the hellish battleground, but paused as he heard the token commander yelling at a messenger.
"How the hell are we supposed to find a specific Soul Reaper in the middle of all this? What's so damned important about this guy, anyway?"
Curiosity piqued, Anrak ventured closer, listening intently.
"Unknown, sir; all I was told was to find Anrak Ushii of Squad 11." said the messenger.
That certainly got his attention; why would anyone request him specifically?
"Look, unless they can give me a damn good reason, I'm not going to waste time looking for a single man!" bellowed the commander.
"Excuse me, sir, but you don't have to waste time looking; I'm right here." said Anrak.
The commander whirled, his expression furious from either the request or Anrak's eavesdropping, it wasn't clear which. The older man sized him up quickly and scowled in disgust.
"You're Ushii? Why in the hell are they asking for you over there?" his tone clearly stating that he felt Anrak to be beneath him.
He forced himself to remain calm, despite harboring a sudden desire to punch the man's teeth down his throat.
"I have no idea…sir." he said, forcing the 'sir' at the end.
"Go on, then. Get out of my sight." spat the commander, turning his back to Ushii.
He was about to ask where he was supposed to go, but the messenger beckoned him to follow. Without another word, Anrak took off behind the runner, cutting through the empty streets and rooftops of the Seireitei, heading towards the North Gate with all haste.
When they arrived, Anrak found himself greeted by the two people he would have least-expected to see; Satsu and Takk, of Squad 5. He hadn't seen the two of them since he'd rescued them in Karakura weeks ago and yet they had apparently been the ones to send for him.
"Are you guys in charge of this gate?" he asked, confused. The commander, wherever he was, should be the one dispatching messengers and calling for backup, not two unranked shinigami.
"Not really, but with the commander dead, we had to do something." Satsu explained.
"So we asked the messenger to go find you." Takk finished for him, with the messenger in question vanishing, perhaps going to find more reinforcements.
"Why me? What's going on here?" asked Anrak, now more confused than ever.
"We remember that night in Karakura…what that lady said about you being captain-level and hiding it… Sir, we need you right now." pleaded Satsu. "The men feel like the captains have all abandoned us and we're getting hammered out there…even our commander is dead!"
"Dead?" echoed Anrak in surprise, "How? What happened to him?"
Takk answered by grabbing his shoulders and spinning him around to look out at the battle and he pointed out a lone figure dressed in white with dark red hair, wielding a sword…with what appeared to be a partial mask on the left side of his face.
"An arrancar…" breathed Anrak and Takk nodded.
"Commander Osun said he'd handle it, but that thing cut him down in seconds! We've been getting reinforcements in from the other gates in small groups, but it's not going to be enough with that Arrancar running around!"
Anrak probed the Arrancar's spiritual pressure as Takk spoke, estimating him to be on the level of a mid-level to high-end Lieutenant.
No wonder they've been having trouble; he's easily the strongest hollow I've ever seen!
"Do you think you can take him?" asked Satsu quietly.
Anrak tore his eyes away from the Arrancar and looked around, momentarily ignoring the junior shinigami. The battle here was going nowhere near as well as the battle for the West Gate and it reflected on the face of each and every man and woman present, their despair and fear making the air thick and oppressive.
They'd lost all hope and with that gone, they'd soon lose the battle, too. The hollow horde was already pushing the army of Soul Reapers back, inching closer and closer to the gate that they so desperately needed to protect.
"It won't be enough…" observed Anrak softly. "Look around; they've all but given up already."
"What are we supposed to do, then?"
"We give them hope, somehow…" Anrak said, trailing off as he spied something jutting out from a pile of rubble that used to be someone's home. Quickly, he ran over and dug the object out out, with Takk and Satsu looking on in confusion as he examined his prize.
"This'll do." he said, as he begin to rip a couple of holes into the white bed sheet.
"What are you-" asked Takk, but he cut himself short as Anrak slid the tattered white bed sheet on over his shihakushō, slipping his arms through the holes he'd ripped into it.
"It looks like a poor man's haori…" said Satsu, still not quite understanding.
"And at a quick glance during battle, it'll look like the real thing." said Anrak.
"Are you out of your mind? Impersonating a captain is a major offense!"
"I'm not claiming to be a captain at all; I'm just going to wear this and stop holding back. The others…they'll see what they want to see, what they need to see."
He smiled as he saw the understanding dawn in their eyes then; the troops needed to see a captain, to know that they hadn't been abandoned, and Anrak was going to give it to them and maybe, just maybe, restore their hope.
"What do you want us to do?" asked Satsu.
"Keep fighting. Don't give up and make sure that no one else does, either. We can still win this…we will win this."
With that, Anrak finally let go of the tight leash he'd been keeping on his reiatsu for decades, letting it flow freely and openly. Takk and Satsu took a steep back, their eyes wide and their legs buckling under the pressure as they fell to their knees under the crushing weight.
Anrak turned his attention to glare at the Arrancar standing out in the battlefield, who was challenging the lesser shinigami to come try their luck, asking if there was a worthy challenge anywhere in the lot of them.
Careful what you ask for… he thought as he narrowed his eyes and drew his zanpaktou from it's scabbard.
"Sing, Kage Shitsukoi!" he commanded, summoning Kagi into her shikai state. Inky black shadows began to roll down the blade from an unknown reservoir hidden away in the hilt. The darkness clung to the blade, coating it and turning it from the silver of steel to a deep onyx even as the shadows morphed the shape of the blade into something different, shifting the blade's curve into something that was decidedly more wicked.
Kagi's transformation finished, Anrak gave a fierce war cry as he charged in, hoping his bold declaration of battle would help invigorate the flagging spirits of the other shinigami on the battlefield.
The Arrancar looked up at the sound, eyes going wide in surprise at the prospect of actually being attacked and he narrowly got his own blade up in time to block Anrak's strike.
Even then, the sheer force of the impact sent the Arrancar flying backwards, tumbling end over end in the dirt, but Anrak didn't relent in his assault; not even giving his foe time to stand up again, Anrak fell on him with a flurry of savage swings.
Scrambling backwards under the onslaught, the Arrancar barely managed to block the attacks, and was only able to get back up after he flung a handful of dirt into Anrak's face.
Cursing, Anrak shielded his eyes with his left hand as the Arrancar got to his feet and thrust his blade forward. He lowered his hand just in time to see the blade speeding towards him and narrowly dodged, taking a quick slice across his left shoulder.
Focus! demanded Kagi inside his head, There's no way a beast this lowly should be able to harm us!
He felt a tiny trickle of blood run down his arm, but he paid it no mind; it was an insignificant injury, too shallow to leave a scar and far too minor to distract him from fighting.
Grinning malevolently as if he had the upper hand, the Arrancar pressed the attack now, attempting to drive Anrak back.
It was a futile attempt; Anrak defiantly stood his ground, blocking and deflecting every slash and thrust his foe could throw at him. Deflecting one thrust, he stepped in and smashed the Arrancar's nose in with the hilt of his zanpaktou, sending blood flying.
Why is an Arrancar's blood red, while regular hollows have black blood?
Focus, Anrak shot back.
The shinigami ducked underneath a wild and angry swing that was meant to sever his head and raised his blade quickly to block a second attack coming downward, coming up and kicking the Arrancar in the gut with all his might. The force of the kick sent the Arrancar flying back again, this time through the wall of a house that was otherwise undamaged, despite the chaos around it.
The Arrancar didn't stay down long, as it came charging out of the hole with his sword poised to impale Anrak straight through his heart. Anrak merely sidestepped and swung his blade at his opponent's neck, but the Arrancar fell to his knees at the last second, narrowly missing the blade that swung over his head as he went sliding across the dirt.
The masked man grinned, dark green eyes gleaming madly as he tilted his head back to look at Anrak and fired a cero over his shoulder.
Swiftly, he raised his zanpaktou and turned it sideways to block the incoming red death with the broad side of the blade, condensing his own spiritual energy around his body in a protective sheath.
The energy struck the zanpaktou and exploded, and Kagi greedily drank in all the released energy, growing stronger as she did so. As the smoke cleared, Anrak could see the blood-groove had filled now and he grinned.
This fight was over.
He leapt towards the arrancar, blade held high with the promise of death. The Arrancar held out his blade and opened his mouth to speak, almost as if he were trying to release his sword, but it was of no use; before he could utter a sound, Kage Shitsukoi connected, shattering the Arrancar's sword into a thousand pieces under the tremendous impact and continuing her way down to the torso. The dark blade sheared through the flesh and bone effortlessly, leaving a trail of black fire in it's wake that consumed the body, incinerating it.
There was no time to gloat over his victory as a small army of hollows fell upon him, perhaps looking to avenge their fallen leader. There was a flurry of jagged teeth and sharp claws from all sides and it took all of Anrak's concentration to block and counter every attack, but he had no intention of dying today.
Blood sprayed into the air, none of it his by some miracle, as hollow after hollow fell to the black sword.
He barely had time to finish them as he felt a clawed hand land on his shoulder from behind, razor-sharp talons digging into his flesh. He thrust his blade over his shoulder, just in time to impale the adjuchas behind him through it's open mouth as it went in to take a bite out of his neck.
Jerking free as the hollow dissolved into the air, he took a brief moment to assess his injuries, rolling his shoulder and flexing the muscles to make sure the damage wasn't too severe. There was some pain, but it was minor, nothing worth stopping over.
You're being sloppy, Kagi chided him. He ignored her admonishment; despite their strength, he knew experience played a crucial role in any battle and this was his first major battle, dwarfing even his fights in Karakura earlier in the war.
Anrak took a moment to survey the battlefield, noting that the air felt different now, not as heavy or as desperate as before. As his blue eyes scanned across the raging warzone, he could see that the other shinigami were fighting with renewed vigor and he could feel a definite shift in their attitudes from earlier.
Hope had returned.
No longer did he feel despair or defeat emanating from his fellows; now it was hope and pride and an unwavering will to crush the hollows and protect the Seireitei. The tide was turning as more and more hollows began to fall, their death cries filling the air as the shinigami forces pushed forward, forcing the advancing beasts from Hueco Mundo back away from the gate.
Anrak allowed himself a tight grin, content with the knowledge that the Seireitei would not fall this day. The wind blew around him and the tattered haori fluttered in the breeze and for a moment, Anrak allowed himself to forget that it was just an old white bed sheet he'd taken from a rubble pile, instead feeling as it it were the real thing. He felt a surge of pride as he watched the army of shinigami force the hollows back, pride in his fellows and in himself, pride that a century of training had paid off, even if it wasn't the grand reveal of his bankai that he'd envisioned.
But now wasn't the time to think about such trivial things as pride; now there was a war that still needed to be won.
"Keep fighting!" he bellowed over the sounds of battle to his comrades, "I want more men reinforcing the left side of the gate!"
Immediately, the air was filled with a chorus of "Yes, Captain!" from several hundred shinigami as they intensified their efforts, oblivious to the fact that the man commanding them was only a lowly tenth-seat.
Anrak charged towards the last remaining adjuchas, feeling renewed by positive energy now emanating from the other soul reapers. His wounds were forgotten now and the only thing that remained was a desire to crush the remaining hollows and drive them all away from the Soul Society, back into the black hell that was Hueco Mundo.
The adjuchas saw his approach and leapt into the air, attempting to somersault over him to avoid the blade, but Anrak had other ideas as he reached up with his left hand and grabbed the creature by his ankle, then slamming him back down onto the ground roughly, sending cracks through the earth below under the impact. Mercilessly, Anrak spun his blade into a reverse-grip and stabbed downward, impaling the beast through it's abdomen.
With the death of the adjuchas, only a pair of Menos and a few lesser hollows remained on the field. He looked at the towering Menos that stood shoulder to shoulder, each one the size of a small skyscraper from the human world.
Time for more kidō practice! cheered Kagi.
He held out his right hand, open palm facing towards the twin behemoths.
"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hadō #33, Sōkatsui!" he shouted, allowing his full reiatsu to flow into the spell.
Lightening crackled around his fingertips as the spell launched forward towards it's targets, the bolt-like tendrils spreading ever wider as they went until they formed a massive wave of blue fire that surged across the ground, rising up high enough to be eye-level to the giant Menos.
He shut his eyes against the blinding light as the spell made contact and obliterated the hollows, leaving nothing but their shrieks echoing across the devastated landscape.
As the death cries of the two Menos faded, total silence finally filled the air.
No more screams, no more sounds of battle, nothing but an eerie quiet.
It was finally over; the hollows had all been destroyed or driven off.
He stood, drinking in the quiet sound of nothingness and the relative peace it meant for a long minute before a victory cheer originated from somewhere across the scarred battlefield, a cheer which quickly spread to all the other shinigami present.
He couldn't begrudge them their celebration; it had certainly been well-earned after such a hard-fought battle. For a brief moment he joined in, adding his voice to the collective and knowing that the residents out in the Rukon could hear the sound of triumph from miles away.
Anrak's victory cries lasted only a brief moment though as he remembered that he couldn't afford to stand around much longer, lest someone recognize that he wasn't really a captain; he knew that his friends were right, that impersonating a captain carried severe penalties and he wasn't anxious to find out just how severe they were.
With a quick flash-step, he vanished out of view of the other shinigami to find cover. He suppressed his reiatsu again and peeked around the corner of the barely-standing house he was hiding behind to look back at his fellows, all of whom seemed to be confused as to where their mysterious 'captain' had went.
Pulling back around the corner and out of sight, Anrak smiled as he pulled off his ripped and humble homemade haori, holding it at arm's length as he examined it. It was more ragged now that it had been to begin with, stained with both the crimson blood of his compatriots and the black blood of the many hollows he'd slain.
A strong gust of wind blew and Anrak smiled softly as he released his grip on the bed sheet, letting the wind carry it southward, into the sky.
"Thank you…" he murmured, acknowledging the contribution of the simple bed sheet to the fierce battle.
With that, he turned and walked back around the house to rejoin the other shinigami in their celebrations. He caught up with Takk and Satsu who greeted him warmly and together the three of them joined in with the others in wondering just who the mysterious captain had been, and where he had disappeared to.
No one noticed the tattered old bed sheet as it sailed by overhead on the wind.
