Sorry if there was any delay on this one, I hit a slight mental block while typing this one, it's probably going to be my worst chapter yet... sorry again, its still a hefty 3.5k, but trying to focus this chapter away from my main charecter was like pulling nails out of my hand, I just couldn't do it without making a mess, still I did the best I could, and heres the chapter to prove it!
Yoshirou was concentrating hard, sweat beading his forehead. Ever since he had arrived back at the barracks, he had retired to the training room. Everybody who had been using the room respectively left when he started to prepare, but they had all gathered by the door, curious as to what their leader could be training for, after all he was practically godly in his natural Kido control, they had never watched him practice any of his techniques, he never needed to, so what could it be that he would request usage of the training room for? However, they were slightly disappointed upon seeing what he was practicing, the higher seats of the squad were aware of the techniques required in Hoho, if they couldn't use it themselves, but for a man like their leader, surely this was a relatively minor technique? Those from the higher seats decided to just leave and get about their own business, but the weaker members were entranced by what they were watching, after all this man was literally teleporting constantly about the room, it was an amazing sight to see. Hours passed, as the older members noticed, the squad barracks had become very quiet, suspicious; they decided to visit the training room again. Upon arrival, they were surprised to see the room was still in use and the younger members still standing there, surely even they would get bored of seeing shunpo used non-stop? However, after watching the astounded faces of those still standing there, they decided to peak in again. Nearly all of them dropped in surprise, for just inside the room there were two people fighting each other with high speed movements, blow after blow raining down on each other. Now this would normally not surprise them, although their squad specialised in kido, it was important to keep the body healthy, so sparring was often used to keep in shape, no what took all of their attention was that the two people who were fighting weren't two people, but one. There were two Yoshirou Kenshin's fighting each other.
I still don't see the point in using this high speed movement to create an after illusion of you, the point of this technique is surely to disappear, not to remain visible? All you're doing is exhausting yourself on a technique you can't really use.
Wrong Taiyou, this technique is perfect for me, what is the main weakness of Kido? It is that you need to chant your techniques to gain the most out of it, if there is more than one target, then your opponent may make a mistake. Also, if you didn't notice, I can also combine this with my normal fighting style, after all what kind of person wouldn't be surprised at fighting two people simultaneously? Soi Fon was right, my distance with this technique still sucks, I haven't even gained a metre after training for the last two hours, but she said my speed between steps was fast, what if I instead improved that? As you can see, it seems to work. I can now make another version of myself by constantly jumping back and forth between the two points. It's still not perfect, but it seems from the guys watching at the door that it must be a pretty convincing technique.
Yoshirou fell to the floor, exhausted after his non stop tirade of his technique. I suppose your right about one thing, this is bloody exhausting! I'm going to have to practice a lot with this if I want to use it in combat. The other squad members, upon seeing him collapse, rushed in to help him. "Are you alright Kenshin?" "What's wrong with him?" "Well that's bloody obvious, he's exhausted himself." "Oh you mean whatever he was doing exhausted him?" "C'mon Taichou, lets get ya somewhere more comfortable." Yoshirou felt multiple hands grab him and life him slowly to his feet. "Don't worry guys, I can walk! I'm just a bit tired, c'mon give me some room!"-Yoshirou asked. The hands supporting him let go, but after he nearly fell again, the hands returned around his arms, holding him up. "Stop playing tough Taichou! I dunno what that was you were doing but nobody does two hours of practice and comes out perfect!" "He's right." "What was that you were practicing? It was amazing!" "Don't bug him recruit, can't you see he's exhausted?" "Sorry, but I really want to know!" "I think we all do, but we got to respect his privacy!" "C'mon, let's find him a seat, recruit get him some water." Yoshirou found himself being steered towards the nearby bench. Heh, these guys, I can always count on them to help me when I'm down. "No need, I think I'm retiring for tonight. Actually, has anyone seen Kira about?"
(5 hours earlier Squad 6 Barracks) (P.O.V change Aizen)
"Ah, you must be Kira Hazuki? A pleasure to meet you." Aizen said his usual smile on his face as he greeted the young lady before him. "You must be here to accept the invitation I gave Yoshirou-kun then?" "Y-Y-Yes, Aizen-Taichou, I was told that you had offered to let me train with your Vice-Captain."-Kira stammered, surprised to have been greeted by the resident captain. "There is no need for formalities Kira, you can call me by my name alone, I find that using titles just creates tension in my squad, I have no doubt that Yoshirou-kun does it the same way."-Aizen said. "Now, come along, I believe Hinamori-kun is in the courtyard at the moment, although she does seem to wander around when I don't keep my eye on her, she may be in a number of places by now. Come; let's see if we can find her."-Aizen joked with a soft laugh, leading the way towards the barracks. So, this is the prospective Vice Captain that he has chosen? Aizen thought. This almost seems humorous, this man that will present the biggest threat towards my plan has chosen a Vice Captain that is perhaps the weakest candidate I have ever heard of, what is it he hopes to achieve by making her his Vice Captain?
Soon enough, Aizen and the accompanying Kira reached the courtyard where just as he predicted, his young Vice Captain was walking about, doing whatever task she had been attending to. "Hinamori-kun, may I have a moment of your time please?" Upon hearing his voice, the girl spun around, a smile lighting up her face as she saw him standing there, although it changed to a slightly quizzical one upon seeing Kira. "Aizen-Taichou! There's no need to ask me permission like that, of course you can have any time you need… sorry Aizen-Taichou, but who is the lady accompanying you? I don't think I've seen her about before" "Ah, of course, introducing Kira Hazuki 12th seat of the Kido Corps." Beside him, Kira made a slight polite bow. "I'm sorry to push this task onto you, but I promised a friend that she may be allowed to train with you, is there any way you could take care of this?"-Aizen asked his Vice-Captain. "Oh, that's no problem at all Aizen-Taichou! I'll take care of it immediately!" Hinamori said, reaching her hand out towards Kira "I'm Momo Hinamori, although friends just call me Momo, it's nice to make your acquaintance!" Taking her hand, Kira replied with a smilair statement "Hello Momo, if it's alright that I call you that. I'm Kira, sorry to be taking your time, but my Taichou wants me to train on my Bakudo, and he says he doesn't have the time to train me personally." "Oh, that's not a problem, it would be fun to have a training partner, by the way, you said your Taichou, I thought the current Kido Corps had no leader?"
This banter continued for a while, I had best observe this woman Aizen thought as he sat down on a nearby bench. After all, Yoshirou must have chosen her for a reason, I shall find out why. As he watched, the two girls, now best friends according to how they were acting, started to practice. First off Hinamori started to show examples of her own Bakudo, ranging several spells from skip incantation Horin (1) all the way to skip incantation Enkosen. She then asked Kira to give an example of her own spells. However, this didn't go so well, as after trying to cast the same start spell as Hinamori, she found the rope going out of control, smashing the tiles about her before Hinamori cancelled the out of control spell for her. Wait a second Aizen thought. What was that I just sensed? Aizen focused his senses upon the distraught form of Kira, he could sense her reiatsu, meager as it was, flowing from her. However, there was an even tinier source of reiatsu flowing from a pocket within her uniform, on further focusing, he devised the source was actually five even smaller sources summed together.
"Kira, a moment if I may?" Aizen said, walking over to the two girls. "Sorry to interrupt, but I felt a reiatsu source covering your own, I'm afraid that might be causing some disturbance on your own reiatsu flow, perhaps you should remove whatever this items are that are emitting the reiatsu?" "Oh, you mean these?"-Kira asked, fishing some bands from her pocket. Upon seeing the bands, the reiatsu that he was sensing was now starting to feel familiar. Those bands that Yoshirou had at the meeting? Why are they emitting his reiatsu? "Yes, those would be the offending article, would you like me to hold onto them for you?"-Aizen enquired. Kira seemed to falter for a second, but she quickly passed the bands to him. "There, that should make your training easier. Now Hinamori-kun, I'm afraid I have some business I must attend to, could I ask you to take care of Kira?" "I will, Aizen-Taichou" Hinamori replied, flashing a small smile before returning to the task at hand, namely cancelling another out of control spell for her troublesome companion.
Aizen walked into his own room, where he started to examine the bands within his hands. Immediately he could tell that there was something strange about the objects, they were old, incredibly so considering their near perfect condition. Either he has kept good care of them Aizen considered. Or there is some kind of spell woven into the bands that maintain its condition. Judging from how he wore them, this was not the former. Flipping the bands about, he realized the patterns suggested an order of usage. Perhaps degrees of which to seal the reiatsu? He was about to dismiss them as nothing more than a per functionary tool when he noticed some engravings upon the inside of the first band. Salvation? Checking the other bands, he found other symbols. Punishment, Cleansing, Breaking and Destruction… His interest now piqued, Aizen left the room, heading for his squads library. It was one of the additions Aizen had made when he took over the Captain role for the squad; it was received rather well by the squad as a whole and allowed him to keep some of his reference information without any ramifications. It was this information he was now heading to. After rifling through multiple old scrolls, he came across the one he needed, The Punishment and Execution Equipment Compilation. It was here that I first thought of using the Soukyoku Stands to my advantage, how strange that I may discover something that will aid my plan yet again.
Opening the long scroll, he scanned down the lists, looking for possible matching's to what he had thought these bands might be. He wasn't sure if he would discover what he needed, but it was an opportunity worth taking. Sure enough, he found a listing that matched the objects he now held, although the picture included showed them as brown bands compared to the coloured ones in his hands, the symbols upon the inside matched. The Chouin Gakutaikon, how quaint, he would call them the Soul Sealing Bands, when they should be translated as the Soul Stealing Bands. They seem to be a forceful torture implement once used by Soul Society to force a confession of the individual, however all examples were destroyed 1000 years ago after legislation passed by Shigikune Genryuusai Yamamoto outlawed such brutish torture methods. So they would destroy such a small article, yet preserve the Sōkyoku, the ceremonial weapon of execution? That just shows the inequality of this rule imposed by the Sou Taichou. So, the bands work by forcibly removing the reiatsu of the user, slowly killing them by the decay, the more bands utilized, the more pronounced the effect. The average time it took for full removal of reiatsu for one band was a week, faster for when more bands were in use, this was a last resort method to force the confession, either they would give the information, or face a slow agonizing death.
Aizen slowly rolled back up the scroll as he considered what he had just learnt. That may be so for the original article, but this example I hold here definitely isn't conforming to what is said in the texts. As a test of this, he placed one band around his arm. He felt a miniscule loss of reiatsu for a fraction of a second, but then the removal stopped. As I thought, the reason why the band's omit a reiatsu of their own is because they have stored within them a tiny amount of Yoshirou's reiatsu, this allows them to define the difference between their intended user and other reiatsu, but I can't understand why the bands were given to him, nor how he has been able to use them without slowly killing himself. This is a complete mystery; I suppose this will have to be a second article I will research in the days ahead, I doubt he himself is fully aware of these bands, so this cannot be a plan by his hand, but if not him, then who…?
(P.O.V change: Kira)
"You did it!" Hinamori exclaimed as she watched Kira finally master the Horin spell before her. "That's not too bad for only a few hours work, you mastered a new spell!" "Yea, but it's only like a level 9, and only with the incantation too, it still sucks." Kira replied, rather annoyed that her efforts had only rewarded her one new spell. How does he do it? He simply needs to read about a spell and he could practically fire it straight off, I never understand how he can do this so easily."Kira?" Hinamori inquired, seeing that she wasn't concentrating again. "Oh sorry, I was just thinking about stuff, say can we take a break now, I'm rather tired."-Kira said, heading for the bench. Hinamori soon followed, seating herself beside Kira. Wow, I really did a number on this area Kira realized as she overlooked the courtyard, there were cuts and broken flagstones littering the area. "Erm, sorry about the mess I've made Momo." "Oh, don't worry about it; Aizen-Taichou is too kind to be the type to punish people just because of a few mishaps." "Oh? You really think rather highly of Aizen-Taichou."-Kira observed. She saw as a small smile appeared on her face. "Yes, he is a good man; did you know he saved my life before? When Renji, Kira and… Oh sorry! You and him share the same name don't you?" "Really? I thought Kira was a girl's name?" "Oh it is? I didn't know that… Anyway, I'll call him Izuru to save confusion. As I was saying Renji, Izuru and I were all on a training mission during the academy days when the mission went wrong, a huge hollow appeared. As we watched, the senior class members were cut down, all besides one and even he was getting tossed about like a rag doll. We tried to help him, but all we could do was distract it and run. But it didn't work, a whole lot more appeared. Just as we thought it was over, Aizen-Taichou appeared, along with Gin-Taichou, being his Vice-Captain at the time. I still remember what he said to me clearly, You stuck it out well, you must have been scared. Everythings all right now, now you can rest and leave it to us… He then overpowered and destroyed all of the hollows with absolutely no effort, it was amazing to see, but he still had such a peaceful expression on his face…"
Hinamori trailed off with that comment, a distant look on her face. "Wow, you really do respect him… is it more than just respect I wonder?"-Kira asked, but all she got was a light chuckle from Hinamori. "You're asking me whether I care about my Captain or not? Yes I do care about Aizen-Taichou, I care very deeply, he is the presence I feel that will always protect me and shelter me." Kira was surprised that she had gotten such an honest and open answer, after all Aizen looked a lot older than the girl who was in front of her, even she herself was older than Hinamori, if only by a tiny amount of time. For her to say such an open answer, perhaps she loves him? Kira thought. "How about you Kira? Don't you share any feelings for this Yoshirou you were referring to?" "Taichou? Hahaha that's a good one! That man is such an idiot, there's no way anybody could like him! He's lazy, carefree, uncommitted, unbelievably stupid and those are just a few of his faults!" However, Hinamori was now pulling a strange face; it suspiciously looked like she didn't believe a word she just heard. "Surely you need to be close to someone in order to know their faults the best? And from how you were describing him earlier, it seems vastly different compared to the list of faults you just pulled up."
Kira had no response to that. Do I care for him? How would you define that I care for him? I want to help him, to support him and to see that he is happy, is that caring for someone? Is that what it means to love someone…? These questions continued to plague her, when Hinamori suddenly got up. "Oh no, it's getting dark! I have a load of work to do! Sorry Kira, but I really have to go, is there anyway we could arrange to see each other again? I had a fun time today." "Sure, I'll make sure to come back here again, that's if Aizen-Taichou will let me back in after he sees the mess I made!"-Kira joked, indeed receiving a laugh from Hinamori "Well, I'll see you again another day!" With that, Hinamori practically dashed towards the barracks, busy to finish whatever she had to do. Do I care for him then? Kira thought, leaning back against the wall as she considered the question. That tale that Hinamori told me… That reminds me of what happened years back to me…
(4 Hours later, P.O.V change Aizen)
So, in the end I could do nothing towards those bands. Aizen mused as he walked across the grounds. Their original purpose is deeply engraved into them, I'm surprised that anyone could modify that magic, but someone has, and for the sole purpose of being a tool for Yoshirou Kenshin, but just who has the power to do this? As he continued, lost in his thoughts, he walked through the courtyard that he had left earlier, and stopped in surprise. There on the bench was the sleeping form of Kira Hazuki. The girl, she is still here? She is another mystery, as to why Yoshirou chose her as his Vice-Captain, the only thing I can come up with is that he may be emotionally tangled with this girl, she had no real power, nor an attitude that could serve his purpose, the only thing that comes to mind is emotions. Walking over to the sleeping girl, Aizen resumed his normal facial expression as he lightly shook the girl's shoulder. "Uungh, leave me alone Taichou, just five more minutes…" What the? Seems I was right, are these two eloping? "No, don't let the fish fly out the window…" …no she is simply sleep talking. "Kira, you really should wake up." Upon hearing a voice, Kira suddenly shot up, looking for the source. "A-Aizen-Taichou, what are you doing in my room?" "Sorry to say this Kira, but you seem to have fallen asleep in my courtyard."-Aizen replied. Kira's eyes seemed to grow massively in surprise. "Well, I'm afraid it is too late for you to be leaving this area, what with all the Ryoka going about nowadays, now how about staying here for the night? My 3rd seat has been accepted into hospital due to some injuries she received during a routine mission, so her room should be empty, I have no problem with you making use of it." "Th-Thank you Aizen-Taichou"-Kira sleepily replied. "There is no need to thank me, I would be a most disgraceful host if I couldn't accommodate one weary person, now follow me please."
Kira soon found herself within a small room, not much unlike her own quarters, although the flowers on the windowsill were different. Well that was kind of him. Kira thought as she laid back on the bed. Why couldn't Taichou be as nice as that? He always seems so far away to me, why couldn't he be like he was back then… Those were Kira's last thought before she slipped back into sleep, once again re-living that vivid memory from years back, the day that she was saved by him…
Well, there you have it, sorry that the ending sucked so much, and yes, I plan to create another flash back save that parodied what happened to Hinamori, I have no intentions of making it remotely the same however! After all, Yoshirou is in no way alike to Aizen, so expect a completely different scenario.
The next chapter will be up probably later today, I am already 3500 words in, truth be told these were meant to be the same chapter, but I realised people probably wouldn't apreciate slogging thru over 8000 words in one shot, so i split the chapter in two. See ya when the next chapter is up!