Kataku
Chapter Ten: Hitsugaya Toushiro, An Angel in Disguise
"Zaraki-sama..." Kira stood, frozen to the spot. Where had Zaraki come from? Had he been watching from a distance? He was speechless, and could only stare at the imposing figure of his previous lord.
"What are you doing outside, Kira, when you can't fight at all?" Zaraki wondered, speaking as if they weren't in the middle of a bloodbath. Of course, Zaraki was always calm in war except when he was causing the bloodshed-- then he just got excited. It was said that he always seemed most at peace in the middle of chaos and suffering.
"I...I was looking for you, Zaraki-sama, and Yumichika-san," Kira finally found his voice.
"More sentimental feelings in a time of war," Zaraki muttered, "how foolish."
"Zaraki-sama," Kira said again, feeling much more at ease with the respectful honorific than the -san he had used in Ichimaru and Ichigo's presence, "please stop fighting this war."
"Have you lost your mind?" Zaraki wondered. "Not that it would be too surprising... do you remember who I am? To ask me to stop fighting is like asking a man to stop breathing."
"If you must fight, war with Aizen-san, not Ichimaru-san." He caught himself just before saying 'Ichimaru-sama'; he didn't need Zaraki thinking he'd switched his loyalties so easily.
"What's with you?" the war monger asked. "Aizen's my ally and Ichimaru my enemy, you're asking me to betray them?" Of course, Zaraki would betray Aizen if it suited his interests. He had only established the alliance because he knew Shokkaku was the strongest of the remaining five nations, though Kan did seem more battle-hungry.
"Even so, you're not loyal to Aizen-san," Kira stated, knowing for a fact it was mostly true, "and he's a backstabber. Ichimaru-san is much more reliable than he seems."
"Zaraki-sama!" The group looked to see Ichinose staring intently at his lord. His eyes seemed to ask something vital and his body language was that of one waiting for an order.
Zaraki nodded and placed a hand on Kira's shoulder, which caused Ichigo to tense and prepare to defend the weaker boy if necessary. However, Kira only looked at him, for once calm. "It's alright, Ichigo-san."
Ichigo wondered how Kira could question his loyalty to Zaraki when he was so trusting of him, but shoved all thoughts aside as Zaraki began to speak.
"Hey, everyone, listen up!" he bellowed, his loud voice reaching throughout the battlefield and booming over the clanking of swords. "Change in plans! From this point on, Shokkaku is our enemy, join forces with Kan!"
When the Kyuukaku soldiers looked to each other in confusion, Ikkaku joined in. "What's wrong? Didn't you hear him?!" He had been told about Zaraki's decision before they departed. He was just as confused, at first, but then Zaraki told him that Ichinose had relayed to him earlier what happened while he was out and about the meeting he had with Hinamori. He also revealed to Aizen that the spy he had killed was from Shokkaku, and that he didn't think Aizen could be trusted.
"Aizen went behind my back and made plans of war without me to attack Choukaku!" Zaraki informed them. "He can't be trusted and won't be forgiven!" The soldiers, upset as well about missing out on the action and following their leader's words, turned on the ones they had just been fighting beside and the clash of forces resumed.
Kira offered his old leader a smile. "Thank you."
"What are you thanking me for?" Zaraki wondered. "I didn't make my decision for any reason other than the one I just gave."
Kira's smile didn't falter as Yumichika joined the two at the castle's front door and spoke to Zaraki. "Since I'm sure you have things covered here, I'll retire for now and take advantage of my time in Kan to speak with Kira-kun."
"We can talk without being interrupted, in my room," Kira suggested, and just as he was about to walk inside, Ichimaru walked out. Frozen to the spot, Kira felt his body act of its own accord and bow to him. "Ichimaru-sama..." He could feel Zaraki and Yumichika's gaze on him, but didn't dare to look them in the eye.
Ichimaru, smiling as always, ignored Kira and looked to Zaraki. "Ya turned your back on Aizen-san pretty quickly, didn't ya?"
"Aizen was the traitor," Zaraki assured him, "he should have known I'd want to lead the attack on Choukaku."
"Remember, though, Choukaku's your ally now," Ichimaru reminded him, "Don't go attackin' them unless ya really want t' be my enemy again, too."
"So we'll be allies until I have a reason to attack you or anyone but Aizen again," Zaraki surmised.
"Or Kuchiki-san," the silver-haired lord added. "Mikaku an' Choukaku might be allies, but we an' Mikaku certainly aren't."
"Good luck getting a rise out of that bastard," Zaraki muttered, obviously already having tried such several times.
"Then allies we'll be," Ichimaru stated, holding his hand out, "and a pleasure it is, Zaraki-san."
Said man cast a wary glance to the hand before grinning and taking it. "I've had enough of talking, though. Ikkaku!"
"Sir!"
"Let's get us some action!" Ikkaku's grin was enough to show his consent and the two raced off into the dwindling sea of soldiers.
After the lord was well out of sight, Ichimaru turned to Kira. "Ya know, I think Zaraki-san had more than one reason t' switch sides."
"I wouldn't be so positive," the younger one said, "but either way, I'll return inside now." Ichimaru nodded and Kira disappeared from sight with Yumichika in tow.
"Let no one escape!" Hinamori commanded as best she could. All around her, soldiers were shouting, fighting, killing, and dying by her order. Her hand stayed steady, but her heart was in a fuss-- was this really the right thing to do?
"Hinamori-sama!" a soldier shouted out. He ran up to her, panting and injured in a few spots, "Our side is well on its way to victory, but Ukitake-san seems to not be here."
If anything, Hinamori looked relieved at this information. "Our goal is not to bring Ukitake-san any harm, just to prevent Choukaku from aiding Kan in the war. I believe that because of our surprise attack, we've accomplished this well enough, though the distress signal that was sent should be attracting much unwanted attention from Mikaku."
"Your orders?"
Hinamori nibbled on her lip, surveying the land around her. The beautiful scenery was drenched in blood and flame, and everywhere there were soldiers dead or dying. For such a calm and peaceful place, the scenery looked like Hell itself, and tears welled up inside of her to think of how Ukitake would react when he saw his kingdom in ruin.
"Call everyone back, stop the battle now. We'll return to Shokkaku immediately; no one here will be aiding in any war for a while to come." She sighed as the soldier ran off. "I'm glad Ukitake-san isn't here, he surely would have been injured if he was."
Within ten minutes, all of the surviving members of the group she had brought with her were gathering together. Just as she was about to give the order to head back through Kyuukaku, a soldier off to her left shoved her to the side. Startled, she looked to him to see what was wrong, when an arrow protruding from his chest answered that question. It didn't take long for her to find the enemy: A large group of soldiers with blue armbands and Hitsugaya leading them.
"Hitsugaya-san," she whispered before narrowing her eyes. "Why are you here? You should be defending Kan."
The small lord gave her an uninterested look. "It's really none of your business, you being the enemy, but Ichimaru-san assured me he was fine and that I should instead come here."
"There's no way Kan can defend against Shokkaku and Kyuukaku at the same time," she told him.
"I know that," he said, irritated, "but I'm not going to base my judgments off of my own train of thought. If Ichimaru-san says he's fine, then I'll just trust him."
"There's no reason for you to be here," she said, her voice once again soft, "I'm withdrawing my men and leaving."
Hitsugaya looked past her at the torn scenery of the once-glorious Choukaku. The rich land looked dirtied and smoke billowed through the clean air. He turned his cold gaze back to her. "For a crime like this, you won't get away so easily."
Hinamori watched, stunned, as the whole of the Shikaku army attacked, each soldier passing by her, one by one, to slaughter her own defenses. It took mere minutes for the already-exhausted third of the Shokkaku army to be annihilated, and Hinamori was left the only one still breathing. The added bloodshed only worsened the state of Choukaku's scenery, but it was a necessary vengeance for the peaceful land.
"Surrender," was the only word that Hitsugaya spoke to her, demanding and forceful. There was no way she could win against this army-- she couldn't even fight off Hitsugaya in the defeated state she was in.
She slowly sunk to her knees as her head lowered and her body shook. "I never wanted to come here," she whispered with tears spilling out in her words. "I didn't want to, but Aizen-sama said I had to."
"Aizen isn't to be trusted," Hitsugaya told her.
"That's not... that's not true!" she insisted. "Aizen-sama, he is a good man, I would follow him to the ends of the world if I had to."
Teal-green eyes closed in disappointment. "Then that's just where you'll be headed." He turned away from the girl and to Matsumoto, who had remained by his side. She looked saddened, but not ready to speak out against Hitsugaya's decision.
When she finally registered that her lord had told her to take most of the soldiers back home, she looked to him. "What are you planning to do?"
"I'll use Ukitake-san's Ichou to contact Ichimaru-san and inform him of the situation, and also to relay the information to Ukitake-san back home." It had been a struggle, but together with Urahara and Hisagi, Hitsugaya had managed to convince Ukitake to stay in Shikaku. The sickly man had wanted desperately to run home once he heard it was being attacked, but Hitsugaya assured him that if he was injured, the situation would be far worse. "Mikaku will be arriving shortly, I'm sure of it," he continued. "I'll use the remaining soldiers here to care for the wounded until they arrive."
"Alright," Matsumoto agreed, casting one, last glance back to Hinamori before turning to her underlings. "You heard Hitsugaya-sama, I want fifty of you to remain here to aid the wounded and the rest follow me!" A chorus of agreement was shouted and the voluptuous woman bid farewell to her leader before departing.
After she was out of earshot, Hitsugaya turned back to Hinamori. "I'm not going to kill you, I have no reason to, but if you really wish to seal your fate, get out of here and return to Aizen before I change my mind."
Hinamori had composed herself and finally stood once more, her tear-brimmed eyes glowering with frustration, confusion, and disappointment. She stared hard at the lord. "My fate is Aizen-sama," she told him. The two spoke nothing more to each other as she pulled what was left of her pride off the battlefield that had become Choukaku's land.
After discussing his options with Hitsugaya, Ukitake decided to gather Urahara and Hisagi and head back to Choukaku to do damage control. As promised, Hitsugaya granted them transportation home and they headed off to the east.
Shortly after their departure, Hisagi (who had been staring out the small window) sat up a little straighter, drawing the attention of the other passengers. "What's that?" he muttered.
"What is it?" Ukitake wondered, joining his subordinate in gazing out the window. Across the barren tundra of Shikaku was a parade of soldiers marching behind a much shorter leader. At first, Ukitake thought that it was Hitsugaya already returning home, but he knew that must be in error-- he communicated with the young leader not an hour again through the Ichou.
Urahara sent a glance out the window before sitting back. "Ah, so it's Rukia-san."
"Rukia?" Ukitake repeated, looking more closely. Sure enough, the younger sister of Mikaku's lord was marching steadily ahead with a large number of Mikaku soldiers in her wake. "Stop, please," he ordered the driver, who immediately did so. The three stepped out of the carriage and Ukitake called out to Rukia.
The black-haired girl stopped in her tracks and looked across the dry land towards the lord she thought she was heading to defend. "Ukitake-san?" she asked, before rushing to his side. "Are you alright?"
The older one offered her a smile. "I'm fine, and yourself?"
Rukia, instead of answering him, barraged him with questions. "Why aren't you in Choukaku? Have things quieted down there? Are you injured? What about the city, how many are injured? Do you still need us?"
Ukitake raised his hands in a defensive gesture, trying to calm her down. "Rukia-chan, please, relax." He placed one hand on her shoulder to emphasize his point. "I was never in Choukaku, I've been staying with Hitsugaya-san since before the attack."
"But you're heading there now, right?" she asked, much more calm than before. "I'm coming with you."
"It's fine," he assured her, "go on back to Byakuya."
"At least take some of my soldiers as guards on your journey there." She was desperate to try and help this man, who was so precious to both her and her brother.
"I have two of the best guards this world could offer," he said, motioning to Hisagi and Urahara, "but thank you for the offer."
Defeated, she sighed. "Nii-sama was planning on sending Renji out with most of our remaining troops a day after I left, in order to come and assist you and your kingdom."
"How thoughtful of him," Ukitake remarked, smiling, "but is all of that really necessary?"
"You know how dear you are to him," she thought, studying the sickly man, "maybe even more so than I am, how can you ask something like that?" Instead of questioning him, she simply shrugged. "You know Nii-sama, always ready to take action where he deems it fit."
"Very true," Ukitake agreed, "but please, if you see Renji-kun on your way home, tell him to turn back as well. I fear that, with everything that's been happening, Aizen-san will target Mikaku as well. Also, can you tell Byakuya that I appreciate everything he's doing for me, and that when things are settled in Choukaku that I'll visit him again?"
"I know you two have been friends since you were children," Rukia said, "but just how close are you two?" She had certainly never heard anyone address her brother so informally, and definitely never with his approval. Yet, Ukitake seemed to do it so freely. Even more interesting, Byakuya, who was always so appropriate and formal, referred to Ukitake as Juushirou, and not by a proper title.
"Well, let me put it this way," Ukitake began, placing a hand on her head. "We're close enough that, if anything should ever happen to him, he's asked me to watch over you and care for you as if you were my own sister."
Hearing this news for the first time, Rukia immediately saw the man before her in a new light. She had always held a respect for Ukitake, having known him her whole life as her brother's dear friend, but she could never pinpoint why he was so admirable when he seemed so fragile. She finally realized it-- where Ukitake lacked in physical strength, he made up for twofold in mental strength. He wasn't a dangerous opponent or an intimidating one, but his friendships were true and his bonds strong. The fact that he was the only lord out of five that her brother considered worthy to announce an alliance with spoke depths about his character. At least, that was what she thought.
"I'll report your message as soon as I return back," she promised, "and have a safe trip."
"That's my line," he commented, chuckling, "and thank you, Rukia-chan, I'll speak with you soon." He nodded to Hisagi and Urahara, who both waved a farewell to Rukia and followed their lord back to the carriage.
(searches for excuses under a few rocks before giving up) Maybe I'll find one during the next couple of chapters. ANYWAY. I can't even remember what happened in this chapter x-x. So... we'll just move on to the reviewers!
Flawed Imagination, judikickshiney, HeroJess, Hair-Noodles, fangirl666, Lady Charliie. Thanks for reviewing!