A Bleach Fanfiction
Those Who Harbor Bad Luck
Chapter 9:
Brewing the Storm
"So why are we here again?" Ichigo's curiosity granted. Vincent couldn't just ignore the boy when he was about to help them fix their problem. At least he had shown decency and waited until they were once more standing near the gates before asking, "I thought you wanted to go that-a-way." Jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, Ichigo indicated back at Seireitei.
Vincent's smile widened across his face as he looked back at the orange haired death god. "Oh, don't worry we will," his tone was factual as he answered, but he didn't give a direct answer. With a curt gesture of his hand, the order was given and Gabriel left their presence – leaving only the sound of a whisper in his place. "But there are some things we need to accomplish. First things first after all. We need to let our fourth man know things are going well, and Gabriel there needs his weapons back."
"What about you? Don't you two need your zanpakuto?" Vincent turned back to Ichigo, staring at him with a blank expression. "What?"
The other man shook his head absently while the Aizen look-alike went on, "Alothos and I didn't bring our real zanpakuto. Hell, I had to fight with Gabriel to make sure he only came with a few weapons! Even then I had him leave all but one outside of Seireitei."
It was Ichigo's turn to return the blank stare. When he spoke, it was plain that he didn't believe what he was told, "He has more than one zanpakuto?"
"Technically, no," Vincent wondered how best to explain – letting a momentary silence cast itself over the three men. "Truthfully, he only has two zanpakuto – twin blades. Vicious little things they are, but good for their purpose. Gabriel, however, doesn't like limiting himself to only those two blades. He doesn't believe that they are suited for just any situation…. Just most." Vincent chuckled softly before he went on, "All of those other swords are just regular weapons with nothing special about them. With the exception of that katana Gabriel carries."
"What do you mean?"
"Call it a gift from a friend of his, long ago. It's special in more than one way, though. For example, if you had the chance to observe the katana you would find runes inscribed along its entire length – on both sides. What's written in those runes makes it very rare to him. That sword is priceless."
"Then why did he bring it here – what did he think was going to happen if you guys were caught?"
Vincent sighed, this time it was his turn to shake his head. "Out of all the swords he brought, that one he brought in honor of his friend. He believed it would bring good luck to the mission."
"You lost me," Ichigo shifted his weight and folded his arms across his chest.
"Don't worry about it," Gabriel spoke up. Ichigo jumped slightly and began searching around for the tiny fighter. "Behind you," the tiny assassin said.
Startled Ichigo lept away and flipped an accusing finger at Gabriel. His voice picked up to that of a surprised anger as he shouted, "Gah! You! What the hell?"
Because Ichigo hadn't been around the Minstrel a long time, he didn't know how long Gabriel had been right behind him. Instead, because he was so engrossed in trying to figure these strange visitors out, their conversation had given the assassin enough time to sneak back in without notice.
When the representative shinigami finally calmed down, his eyes roamed over Gabriel. He was looking for whatever had changed on the man, as though it should have been entirely obvious.
He wouldn't see anything, at least not physically. But to Alothos and Vincent's keenly tuned senses, Gabriel's signature was fuming. A partial problem with the two sister organizations, was that their sense's of reiatsu and signatures were different. One couldn't really sense the other. To those from Requiem, a person with reiatsu would feel like a simple person who lived in the mundane – at least, until they unleashed their powers. When released it invoked a feeling that made a Minstrel's skin feel the air growing thicker than it was and it crawled as though alive.
While he wasn't positive, Vincent expected that the same thing to happen visa-versa.
"Shy Shen is growing restless," Gabriel commented absently. "He slowed me down, I had to restate your order not to move," shrugging the whole thing off, the assassin knelt and began removing weapons from under his jacket. They were all beautifully made. Each individual blade was crafted by a master smith under Requiem's direct pay – and when the blades were finished it was Gabriel who inspected them personally. It allowed him to take the best ones first, after all. The midget wouldn't be caught dead with a bad weapon.
With slow, methodical movements, the assassin began strapping each blade onto his person. A few daggers were tucked beneath his boots, several leather baldrics were fitted across his chest and a single belt looped around his waist. With or without that last sword, Gabriel certainly looked the part of a Minstrel – a soldier of life and death, conducting both to the tune of balance they all listened to.
Returning to his full stance, shoulders squared, hands at his side, and feet spread apart, his silver eyes rolled over the other three men, "My suggestion is that we finish this as soon as possible."
Ichigo, not understanding what that entailed, tilted his head to one side. "What do you need me to do?"
"Survive," Vincent commented. The youth didn't have time to ask what he meant.
The next moment and Gabriel was set upon him, the daggers from his boots already in hand and clashing with Zangetsu. The clash from the swords rung in the air, and the earth beneath Ichigo's feet slipped as he was pushed back.
"What the hell are you doing!" His cry fell on deaf ears as the short fighter jumped away, gaining his footing for the next attack.
The battle was soon underway in a ferocious set of whirling attacks. Ichigo, to his credit, was a defensive wall as Gabriel laid into him with his dervish attacks. Vincent found himself thanking the higher gods that the boy was a sturdy fighter – already had he been tempered by tough fights that honed his instincts.
Yes. Ichigo would make a perfect distraction. Now it was time to set all the pieces in motion. There would be a mountain of paperwork for him to fill out when he returned to Requiem (not to mention the amount of apologize and explanations he'd have to give to Central), but if the Gotei Thirteen killed this arrancar, who knew what would happen.
Worse, he thought finally as Alothos and he turned from the ensuing battle, is what would happen to their beloved sister organization if they didn't kill the arrancar.
How much time did they have left?
From somewhere near the First Division's grounds, Momo and Toshiro once again found themselves running together. They ran down the long, winding, walls of Seireitei's maze, and towards the reiatsu of Kurosaki. Neither of the two really talked, only ran, as they shared fear and hope about what was happening.
Their feelings didn't need to be conveyed through words. Instead their emotions now hung in the air with tension the other could read. Questions bound back and forth between their heads, and still they ran in silence. The steady rhythm of their footfalls mixed with their breathing, giving the two childhood friends only that sound, and the distant calls of battle.
Meanwhile, Genryusai sat in his high-backed chair in his division's grounds. His brow was furrowed in thought, and his eyes were sternly fixed on the empty wall on the other side of the room. Memories were what danced in his head, moreso then any questions he could have asked. There was a pensive air to the empty office as he waited. The old leader slowly reclined against the back of his chair. Ominous words drifting from his lips as he drew himself out of his memories, "Don't make me kill you, boy."
Outside of that office, chaos stirred. The captains had taken their respective divisions and started combing through Seireitei. It was a massive military movement that hadn't been seen in months. But after Aizen, the Gotei was quicker to mobilize, and smarter.
Only a handful of the captains were sent towards Ichigo's position while the others focused their efforts on the slowly rising problems around Seireitei. Reports were coming in of the battle taking place between Ichigo and the mysterious man Gabriel, as well as the other two tall intruders who were running around – seemingly at random. They would be at one side of Seireitei and then another. It seemed ridiculous that two men could move at such amazing speeds that reports were starting to come in simultaneously of their positions and placed them at two spots at once!
The clouds darkened Seireitei's walls as they circled above. A steady growing storm brewed with lightning forking the sky. There was a feeling shared among all the shinigami that day. It was fear, but not like that same primal one you feel when you meet something you do not understand. It was the familiar feeling of an oncoming doom. Much like a guillotine blade hanging above their heads and waiting to fall. It served to steel them all, and drove them harder.
They were shinigami, this was their home, and they would not see a repeat of what had happened after Aizen.
Char: How ya' doing everyone? I apologize for it taking me so long to get this chapter out, but I've been splitting my attention elsewhere to further my writing experience. This chapter was already halfway finished and had been sitting around waiting, so I figured it was about time to get it back in action. Not to mention life has its hand in things, but I don't believe I need to tell you guys all about that. There are a few things I do need to catch you all up on, as it will make the reading experience of this much more enjoyable from here on out.
In this chapter (if you've been paying attention, and I hope you have) I've changed how I refer to the mis-translated "squads" of the Gotei. Squads are small 3-4 man units and so it doesn't make sense to call something filled with enough death gods to be a division anything other then that. Next is the difference in my writing. If you go maybe three chapters back (heck maybe one or two) you'll be able to pick out differences in tone. I've thought about going back to revamping these older portions, again, but have decided against it. My writing is going to continue to improve and so it's 1) more a hassle to rewrite and update all the older chapters as well as 2) let you see how I'm developing my stories as a writer.
I don't know how many more chapters of this I'll be able to write before the story needs to start winding down, but it's entirely possible I write as little as 4 more. I hope not to, as it would take from you the readers, but we'll see where things go.
Later~
