Here's another one. The only chapter for about two weeks I'm afraid, since I'm in Florida on holiday for Half-Term and thus away from my computer. I hope you like the chapter, though, and that more people review, follow and favourite than have been so far. I'm probably just spoilt since my other two stories seem to be getting more interest, but the lack on Savage is a little disheartening. This is an action filled chapter, hope you all like that.
Again: Please Review/Follow/Favourite
"I can see you... Byakuya Kuchiki!"
Soi Fon, of the Stealth Force, heard that exclamation. But was not, at this point, paying any particular attention to it. She had sneaked forwards, while the attention of everybody present was elsewhere, and placed a small string of yarn on the shoulder of a certain clown-faced Captain that had been inching forwards towards Ichigo earlier in the events of today. He had clearly had a... hungry look on his face, wanting to examine the intruder. That had... bothered Soi Fon. She knew it would also anger Yoruichi so... why not mark him as their target?
That was why, now, she was stood in close, though not suspiciously so, proximity to him and his Lieutenant, awaiting her ex-mentor's arrival. Soi Fon was sure that it would be soon.
"Nemu?" Kurotsuchi gained his creation's attention, indifferent. "Deal with the traitorous third seats." The Captain kept his attention on the battle that involved his new-found test subject.
"Yes, sir." The robotic girl drew her blade, and appeared behind the unprepared form of Kiyone Kutetsu. In a flash, she had cut her opponent down. Not a killing blow, but plenty to render her incapable of assisting her captain further.
"Kiy-ohh!" Her fellow, Sentaro Kotsubaki, began to call for her, likely to check she was alive, but felt the AI's blade cut into his unprotected back, too.
"Hold it, Kurots-" Ukitake's worried yell was halted, along with his running over to assist his subordinates, by a cane slamming into the ground in front of him. He looked up to find the face of his long-time mentor staring back at him, emotions unreadable.
"Nobody move!" Yamamoto ordered.
"Genryuusai-dono..." Ukitake trailed off.
"The Lieutenant is unimportant! He will be easy to replace, and can be left for later along with the prisoner." He said, convincingly. Yamamoto had predicted that Abarai Renji would mount some sort of attempted rescue. Though, admittedly, not that it would take place at the time of the execution itself. "You two, however, are Captains of the Gotei 13!" He directed at Shunsui and Jushiro. "Your crime of treason cannot be forgiven for even a moment! You know what this means." He readied himself for the coming fight. He would have to battle his 'sons' lest the traitor catch wind. On the upside, this would help the Head-Captain understand the strength of his subordinates better; something he was always in favour of.
"Okay Dokay! No choice, then! Let's g, Jushiro!" Shunsui Kyoraku grabbed his old friend by the shoulder, and they vanished in a flash of Shunpo; soon followed by Nanao and Genryuusai.
Kurotsuchi, left behind, just grunted in reaction to the four vanishing, assuming that he was now alone to observe the upcoming bout between Captain Kuchiki and the Ryoka. That thought was forcefully removed from his head as he sensed a fast moving blip coming towards him, his silent lieutenant, and the Reiatsu-hidden Soi Fon.
Even so, he had not reacted fast enough to avoid the disguised figure of Yoruichi Shihoin as she crashed into him in a blur of Hoho.
At the same time, a foot crashed onto the shoulder of Myuri's creation's shoulder, heel first, and sent Nemu to the ground in a heap. Soi Fon promptly followed Yoruichi's signature, being quite fond of the idea of hurting the disgusting captain and not wanting to miss her shot.
-()-()-()-()-
Byakuya looked pissed... Or at least, Ichigo figured this was what the stone faced noble looked like when angry.
And Ichigo was delighted about that. Right now, he was very, very happy to be able to get under the posh bastard's skin before the fight started. He, in Ichigo's, and all the others, mind deserved it for being such a colossal douche-bag.
'King, I've gotta say; if you don't let me at least cut him up a little, I'm gonna be real ticked off. I get that the others might wan' a go, too, but this dickwad deserves a lot of pain. I mean, I ain't sentimental or any of that shit, but even I know that lettin' your sister get hurt like that is a total dick move.'
'A good a summary as any. Is it just you that wants to fight?'
'No, Ichigo. I'm afraid that myself, Tabigarasu and Kikoo all certainly want to be involved in this fight. We imagine it will be the culmination of this... trip.'
'I do too! I can just talk for myself.'
'Great... So, all of you? How do I manage that? I'm not sure this dude's worth using all of you at once, after all.'
'Hmm?' The Old Man was silent for a few seconds, having a conversation with the non-verbal spirits. 'Well, Tabigarasu is the easiest to use alongside any of the rest of us. And you would usually dual wield me and Hichigo. It should be plenty doable.'
'… Yeah, I guess you're right.'
'Ooh! I want you to use my Bankai, too!' Hichigo added, not wanting to miss the opportunity.
'That really would be overkill.'
'So?'
'So, I don't think it's worth wasting the first time I use a Bankai in a fight I could win without. If he surprises me, and manages to force it out of me, I'll use it. If you want, I'll see if I can find another fight after this.'
The Hollow just huffed, and fell silent as he waited for his Shikai, at least, to be used.
Outside of Ichigo's head, the Reiatsu of the two fighters collided, as their blades did the same. Senbonzakura and Nejibana's sealed katanas smashed against each other and the resulting force cratered the ground beneath the Human and Shinigami.
"So you have mastered the Flash Step." Byakuya commented, as the two appeared on opposite sides of the created hole. Ichigo responded with a shrug and a nod. "However-"
"Shut up. I knew you'd act aloof; tryin' to analyse my fighting style, learn my weaknesses and all that. Even if you think you don't need to. But I'll warn ya now. You don't have time to be doin' that. If you don't fight with everythin' you've got... I'll kill ya. Use your Bankai!" The katana, shockingly, vanished before the 6th Squad Captain's eyes in a flash of blue Reiatsu. It was replaced by a small, vicious-looking Tanto-sized-blade.
The Kuchiki head was further shocked by the Ryoka's next actions. Ichigo placed the blade against his left arm, and drew it across his bandaged flesh. Blood poured down the man's forearm and drenched his hand in an instant.
"Savage, Tabigarasu!" A clawed gauntlet formed on the Ryoka's left hand, running up to his elbow, and was quickly duplicated on his right. Though there was no visible explanation for his blood reaching the hand with no wound.
Useless bandages fell to the ground.
"I must ask; why is it that you are wearing those bandages? I can't imagine that you would be dumb enough to come to fight me with such... injuries." Byakuya asked, expressionless mask still present.
"Eh? Oh, no I'm not injured whatsoever. You see..." He rubbed the back of his head, a little sheepish. "This woman that's helping me demanded that... since she was the first girl I saw naked, and since I apparently have a tendency to lose my clothes when I'm fighting, she's entitled to see me like that before 'that stuck up Baka', by which I think she meant you."
"And who would this woman be?"
"Yoruichi Shihoin... Ah. I'm guesssing you know her, then." The Captain had had a strange, involuntary tick in his eyebrow.
"She is a... rather irritating woman." He had visibly fought off his instinct to call her something less polite, before focusing back on the matter at hand, and peering at the red gauntlets with a frown. "That is not one of the forms I saw when you were freeing the criminal."
"You mean your sister." He corrected, with a scowl at that fact. "And I realise that this isn't the same, dumbass; they're my Zanpakutos." Two blades, one an abnormally long katana, and the other a Wakizashi, appeared in his right and left hands respectively.
"I see." No, he didn't. "And what is responsible for your own physical changes?"
"Changes? What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, an eyebrow raised.
"You have aged." Byakuya pointed out. It was a rather obvious change.
"I've aged? What do you mean?"
"I mean you look older. Are you being deliberately stupid?" He received a scowl in response, and Ichigo directed a question into his inner world.
'Apologies, Ichigo. I thought we had discussed this. Being in a Reiatsu-rich environment meant that the time spent in your inner world with us affected you. Don't worry, you didn't age the number of years you would have done with that length of time in the real world. In fact, it has been beneficial to you; your spirit form has only aged a few years, and this means that you are closer to your peak age at the moment. Around... 18? 19? I am not sure of the exact amount of time.'
'Right... anything else you need to tell me about this?'
'Do you know that your spirit form will age at the rate of a Shinigami?'
'No...'
'Ah. Well, it will. So you don't have to worry about your lifespan being shortened by that ageing.'
'Fine. But please try to tell me stuff like this in the future. I'd rather not have to find out from my enemies. Although, to be fair, I think Yoruichi mentioned something about it in passing. But it must have been one of the times where she wasn't fully dressed, so I wasn't paying all that much attention.'
'Get back to the fight, Kingy! This shit's boring!'
"Eh. Something about being in a Reiatsu-rich world." Ichigo shrugged, as he readied the two blades, each held well clear of his body for their expansion. "Come Forth, and Pierce the Sky, Zangetsu!"
A flash of blue light covered Ichigo's form, and the two blades changed. Byakuya couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened. Did this Ryoka somehow have... more than one Zanpakuto? This was even more abnormal than Captain Kyoraku and his two sealed blades.
These two, combined with the crimson gauntlets on the orange haired man's forearms, made for an admittedly... intimidating sight. But, even so, the Ryoka boy would have done little more than find out his Shikai's form... forms in the month since Byakuya had cut him down. This fight would still be entirely one sided.
"I suppose I must commend you, Ryoka. The progress you have made in such a short time is truly impressive. Few officers of the Gotei 13 could achieve their Shikai in only a single month. But you are still 100 years to early to see my Bankai!" He sneered at the commoner in front of him. "Now; I will cut you down, before I catch my traitorous Lieutenant and execute him and my Sister by my own hand."
"You are going to kill your sister..." Ichigo repeated, tone dangerously calm. "Is that what you just said? Complacency is one thing. To be able to ignore her being killed. I was going to put you six feet in the ground for that, anyway, but more because I owe you that much. But to actually take her life?" Ichigo snarled. "For that; I'm going to tear you apart! I'm going to obliterate you." The man placed the tips of his blades against each other, and his eyes glowed electric blue as he focused his Reiryoku on the two. They melded together and formed into a, slightly larger, Khyber knife without the gap in the blade like that he had previously held in his right hand. Next, a plain, red hilted, katana appeared in his free, left hand.
"Ignite, Sear and Incinerate. Rise from the ashes of those felled by your blade. Kikoo!" The blade shuddered, glowed a brilliant orange, and grew rapidly. It morphed into the familiar, though in a far smaller scale, appearance of the Sokyoku when the execution tool had been sealed. It was a Nagitana with a dark grey, bordering on black, body and a gleaming head. The back of the blade itself was fire red, while the front was a shining silver.
"Hmm." Ichigo extended it, and gave an experimental swing; the air in its trail shimmered with heat, and Ichigo nodded. "Just to let you know, I don't have a lot of experience with Kikoo, so I'm going to give Zangetsu their satisfaction before I give her a turn." He flipped Kikoo over in his hand, and stabbed it into the ground, cutting through the rock like a hot knife through butter. He drew back with the Khyber knife, and it began to glow a bright blue; his Reiatsu gathering inside the blade and condensing.
"Getsuga... Tensho!" A crescent of blue energy flew towards the Kuchiki clan leader, cutting through the ground in its path. The Captain, however, managed to move out of the way before the attack reached him, resulting in the only damage caused being that of a deep trench carved through the spot he had been in only seconds before.
"Getsuga Datsu!" A voice sounded from behind the effeminate captain. He spun in time to see another attack approaching him. This time, however, the arc had broken up; creating a barrage of smaller energy projectiles.
The Captain leapt aside once again, and avoided the vast majority of the fast moving, blue darts. Two of them did, nonetheless, graze his right arm, and Byakuya gave a pained hiss as they gouged a pair of troughs in his flesh.
"Tensho!" He vanished in a flash of Flash Step, as the first attack slammed into the ground from above.
"Datsu!" He vanished again, as a torrent of the smaller attacks passed through his after image.
"Tensho!"
"Datsu!"
'How much Spiritual Pressure does he have?' Ichigo had appeared once more, having had his attacks dodged, and barely seemed to be breathing more heavily than at the beginning of their bout. Byakuya, meanwhile, looked dishevelled. His arm was bleeding noticeably, and the dust brought up from the 'Tenshos' had coated his left side; he had only dodged the second by a narrow margin. The Noble narrowed his eyes at his opponent, frustrated.
"It's no fun if you don't fight back, Byakuya." Ichigo shouldered the Khyber.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura." Was the response he received. Ichigo raised an eyebrow as the sword split, becoming a cloud of 1000 smaller blades, looking like rose petals. He wasn't sure what the strength of them would be, but it was easy to find out.
"Getsuga Tensho!" The energy wave roared towards the cloud, in a test, and Byakuya looked shocked. The petals and the Reiatsu collided, and the result was obvious.
Byakuya's blades were scattered by the powerful attack, and Ichigo snorted.
"How's that supposed to beat me? If I can disperse them with a single attack?" Byakuya waved his, now sword-less, hilt, and the thousand tiny blades rocketed towards Ichigo.
"Getsuga Datsu!" Their were significantly less of Ichigo's projectiles, but the number coming at the ornage haired man was significantly decreased. Ichigo vanished in a blur of Shunpo, and appeared behind Byakuya mid-swing. Zangetsu passed through another after-image, and Ichigo scowled; having expected to at least graze the Noble.
He raised his Khyber knife just in time to block a strike from his side, and his eyes met those of Byakuya. The Noble was soon unnerved, though, as Ichigo smirked.
"I think you're forgetting something." The smirk turned into a grin. "Kureata!" He barked, as his left hand, balled into a fist, crunched into his opponent's stomach. Blood sprayed from Byakuya's mouth, and he was thrown back in a daze.
"Hmm. You're more resilient than you look. That should have been a real damaging hit." It was true, that attack concentrated all the energy that Ichigo could send in a projectile using Tabigarasu into the gauntlet itself. Although...
'Hey, King? Why'd you hit him with a punch? Ya should've made the most of the claws, ya dummy.'
Ichigo had gotten used to avoiding fatal shots with Tabigarasu; mainly in his training with Hat 'n' Sandals. It might be a good thing, since he didn't want this fight to be too short. Else he'd disappoint Kikoo and Nejibana. It was about time for the Kuchiki bastard to use his Bankai, though. After all; Ichigo didn't really know how to hold back with Kikoo yet.
That also explained the need for him to remove the clothing on his upper body, lest he roast himself with the immense heat.
The 6th squad Captain watched, helpless as he staggered to his feet, and saw Ichigo vanish only to appear next to the Nagitana buried in the blackened stone. His large, black blade vanished from his right hand in a burst of blue Reiatsu as his left gripped the shaft of Kikoo. The Human-Shinigami channelled a stream of Reiatsu into the Nagitana, and fire flickered on the base of the blade. It was rather... unspectacular when compared to Ryukin aka. Anyone who had seen the Sokyoku used, or had seen Yamamoto fight with his Shikai, would think the Shikai of Kikoo unimpressive.
Until Ichigo fought, that is.
Ichigo Kurosaki raised the Zanpakuto over his head; loosening the grip he had on the body of it as he spun the spear-like weapon in a smooth circle, getting used to the weight of the Shikai he had yet to actually hold.
The hybrid lowered the Nagitana, and the air around it rippled as he gripped it with his right hand, too. Drawing back, he spun his body; in a similar manner to what Nejibana had trained him in. Using a pole-weapon tended to be more of a gymnast like style than the brutal, harsh movements of the other three Zanpakuto. Of course, it would be difficult to use an ordinary Nagitana when you were trained in the use of a trident; one was a stabbing weapon, the other a cutting, but Nagitana's control of water depended on spinning and slashing her.
"Hono!" A wave of fire rushed towards Byakuya, and the man managed to right himself just in time to dodge in a burst of Shunpo. He appeared, seconds later, a hundred meters to the left. Ichigo appeared next to him a second later, with his pole-weapon raised. "Cha!" The air rippled as Kikoo dropped, and a burst of immense heat came from its head.
Ichigo saw the man appear again, his arm extended and the katana's tip pointed downwards.
"I will admit that I am surprised, Kurosaki. You have progressed far further than I thought possible. In fact, I would have shown you this already, had you relaxed the barrage of attacks. Bankai." The katana dropped, and sank into the ground, following which countless, giant blades appeared to raise from the ground behind the injured man and scattered like that of his Shikai. Millions of the tiny blades now formed a massive, pink cloud above the pair.
"Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
The pink crashed down on Ichigo, and Byakuya watched calmly as he was, certainly, killed.
"Ahhh. That would have hurt. Cha." Something slammed into the back of the Kuchiki head, and he was thrown forwards with his back feeling as though it was on fire. "Y'know... I'm a little annoyed. I saw you when Kikoo came out to play. You underestimated her just 'cause she's not flashy. She ain't a fire type of Zanpakuto. Otherwise she'd be a really shit execution method, wouldn't she? Cruel and unusual punishment includes burning them 'til death, after all. No, she controls heat. Of course, that includes fire to an extent, since heat can easily turn into fire, but it's the heat that'll kill ya." He smirked. "Well. It's the heat that would've killed ya. If Nejibana didn't want a turn."
Ichigo wanted to try something out anyway. Something that he hadn't had much ability to practise, but that he'd gotten permission to experiment with, since it helped the Human-Shinigami get to know his partners better.
"Ignite, Sear, and Surge, Boiling Waters and Heaven. Nejibana. Kikoo." The Nagitana changed quite significantly in the time that it took for Byakuya to turn to face the Ryoka. Its shaft had changed to have blue twists and spirals running up the length, but the more obvious change was the strange trident-Ji that was now on the previously blunt end of the pole and the deep blue, horsehair tassel next to the three-pronged spear.
With a swing, Ichigo sent a torrent of frothing water at his standing, though hunched, opponent. This attack, however, was easy enough for Byakuya to block. His blades formed a wall of petals that the boiling hot water broke against.
Unfortunately, the Shikai produced more and more superheated water with each swing. And Ichigo was perfectly capable of swinging it repeatedly, meaning that Byakuya was forced to maintain this tactic of defence lest some of it get through and worsen his, already nearing broken, body's condition. That resulted in the long haired man missing the fact that Ichigo was approaching the wall of rose petals, drawing nearer to the defender with each wave of water.
As Ichigo reached the wall, he changed tact, channelled his reiatsu into increasing the heat, and gave a larger swing; a large cloud of steam shot forward, passing around the petals, and blinded his opponent. Slipping past the blades, Ichigo blurred forward and appeared in front of Byakuya with his curved blade drawn back to slash across the Kuchiki Noble's torso.
Byakuya, flinching back, managed to avoid too serious a blow, simply a long, thin slash that stung quite distractingly. In response, he raised his hands and the cloud sped towards Ichigo far faster than they had been so far.
"My bankai moves twice as fast when I choose to use my hands to direct the blades." The Captain stated, as Ichigo vanished in a flash of short-range shunpo. On reappearing, he dodged yet another strike, and swung his blade in wild blow, sending a wave of boiling water at the Captain, who now had little in the way of defence.
The attack connected, and Byakuya let out a gasp as the searing pain from his back doubled. This acted as a distraction that Ichigo easily capitalized on as he charged forwards, and stabbed forth with Nejibana's three prongs, the trident piercing Byakuya's right side, and then being pulled harshly back out of the man's torso. Byakuya took an uneven step backwards, then another, and dropped to a knee before struggling back up; only to be sent back to the floor by a fist slamming into his gut; another dribble of blood falling from his mouth.
"Why?" Ichigo questioned. "Help me understand why you were going to kill your sister. It makes no sense to me." It really didn't. Ichigo would have died in a second to protect Yuzu or Karin, but this man was perfectly willing to kill Rukia with his own hand...
"The law..." Byakuya began, pushing himself back to his feet, a reformed Senbonzakura now lying a his feet. "Must be upheld above all else. When a criminal's sentence is announced, it must be fulfilled."
"You value the law above the life of your own sister?" Ichigo hissed in response.
"Sympathy to one's relative... how pointless. Fortunately, I have never been burdened with such worthless sentiments. They matter not when compared to the law. The Kuchiki clan is one of the four great noble families. We are duty bound to serve as examples to all Soul Reapers; how could we enforce the law if we are not willing, ourselves, to obey them?"
"I don't understand that. In your place I would have torn down the government brick by brick rather than bend to such idiotic rules. I would fight the law and whatever it stood for if that was what it took!" The defeated man's eyes widened as Ichigo turned away with a scowl. "I don't feel any need to kill you any more. I don't like you; I just don't give a damn about your fate. But know this; if you come after Rukia again, I won't hesitate. I'll cut you down."
Ichigo vanished in a flash of Shunpo, and the Captain of Squad 6 fell to the ground, defeated.