A/N: Sorry for the long delay, this chapter was written awhile ago and ended up getting rewritten into multiple smaller chapters. I also lost some direction (shocking) and from here on out will try to go back to what I had originally envisioned for this story: gritty violence and a focus on relationships/various pairings (not just sexual/romantic) that I found interesting. Thank you all who are still interested in the story, I know it is rough (unbeta'd) and pushes OOCness.
As requested - Team Recap:
Team one (stealth): Kill Ichimaru
Team two (rescue): Rescue Prisoners
Team three (kido): heal the injured
Team four (grunts): Take care of intangibles
Team five (Head): Take out Aizen
Warnings: some graphic violence with Zaraki and Yachiru. I'm not sure where it came from and despite the unpleasantness I wanted them to create a rather visceral reaction.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is bleach nor do I profit from my admiration.
Chapter 10 Unpleasant Surprises
10 months: Urahara's Underground Training Area
"Alright. Team one will go on their own first, sneaking in undetected and setting a trap for Ichimaru. Teams two, three, and four will go in shortly after. Start together, at the first sign of trouble, the rescue team will split off taking half of the kido team with them. The remaining members will stay and assist team four in dealing with whatever hollows they encounter. "
The assembled shinigami, vizards and the living stood quietly in Urahara's basement. They had all trained hard and there was a grimness to their faces that some had never worn before. Even gentle Hanataro stood fiercely, his training in combat and evasive maneuvers giving him a mature confidence he never had.
"Oi, and after?" Yoruichi called out from the back of the crowd. She had planned this mission out with Urahara as much as Ukitake had and already knew the bleak answer. However, Kisuke often forgot to slow down his thoughts for everyone else and Yoruichi knew no one would venture to ask.
Ukitake stood and addressed what remained of the Gotei 13, his regal bearing instantly bolstering the solemn mood and causing the shinigami to straighten up quietly as they shifted to attention.
"There won't be a retreat. Should you fail in your objective, try to survive and re-assemble. Once we get there, we will become independent cells. First accomplish your team mission, then move on to destroying Aizen and the hogyoku. If you become separated, revert to guerilla tactics. You've all been briefed on Ashido in the Menos Forrest and how he has survived all these years. Keep in mind that regrouping may not be possible, so remember to ask this and more importantly, remember the answer: 'When winter falls and summer springs with what will I be left?.' We know for a fact that Aizen did not see Inoue Orihime's journal before her first kidnapping and therefore can use this safely for awhile."
Ukitake paused, taking a deep breath and feeling a fierce sense of pride as he looked around at his soldiers staring back at him resolutely. "Stay vigilant."
With that, Urahara quickly muttered the incantation to open the garganta and Yoruichi, SoiFon, and Ishida silently and without ceremony disappeared into the swirling blackness. As the other teams waited, some practiced combat moves, others sat quietly together, some napped. There was a nervous energy in the air and everyone was anxious and at the same time hesitant to begin their descent into Aizen's dark realm.
Around dusk, Ukitake quietly stood up from where he was conversing with Shinji and Love. Conversations died down as the expectant shinigami quietly moved into position. With a nod from Ukitake, Urahara opened the garganta again and waited for the next three teams to walk through. To their credit, no one became sentimental or emotional. Rather, a grim determination gripped the apprehensive while an impatient confidence buoyed those ready to fight. As the last person walked through, Urahara closed the garganta and turned to Shinji, Ukitake and Kyouraku with a rueful smile.
"Now my friends, we wait and we have faith."
10 months 3 days: Hueco Mundo
Renji was injured badly. A large hole in his left side where his spleen should have been made it impossible for him to effectively swing Zabimaru, even if he had enough reiatsu to pull his zanpakuto together again.
They had made their way to Las Noches with relative ease, going through the Menos Forest and picking up Ashido without any major incidents. In the sands, the fourth team had split off to fight Grimmjow, Yammy and hordes of gillians while half of the kido team stayed with them and the other half continued on. Frustrated, Renji was the last to leave, helping to fight off the hollows that emerged like cockroaches from the sands. It wasn't until he knew the rescue team was well on its way into Las Noches when Renji finally pulled himself from the fighting. Glancing back at his friends, Renji saw Iba desperately fighting off Grimmjow and hesitated in his retreat as he saw him go down. A rookie mistake and one that Iba, a former eleventh, would have torn him a new one for such stupidity. In his hesitation, Renji was slow to acknowledge the long since forgotten Wonderweiss who suddenly appeared lunging towards him with impossible speed. Feeling the kid hollow impale him in his left side, Renji quickly turned and swung Zabimaru down on Wonderweiss' arm, slicing it off cleanly. Ripping the severed appendage out of his body, Renji stumbled back as Wonderweiss fired up a cero. Kira appeared beside him, his eyes hooded and emotionless as he used kido to bind the hollow before he could release his cero.
"Abarai-kun, get out of here." The blonde muttered as he calmly walked towards the child, Wabisuke already released. Renji shoved down the bitter regret that ate at him as he fled the sands, a hand pressed to his heavily bleeding side and Zabimaru screeching at him for leaving his friends behind.
Cautiously the team descended into the twisted bowels of Las Noches. Grimacing, Renji struggled to block the memories from his last visit when Szayel had tortured him and Ishida for fun. Lisa was looking at him oddly and he shrugged back, not wishing to slow everyone down to tend to his wound.
Sado was breathing hard, sweat drenching his brow as he struggled to keep up. Renji vaguely remembered him getting hit by a hollow but hadn't thought that much of it at the time. The kid was tough and had suffered far worse during their training with Urahara. Mentally shrugging, Renji concentrated on staying upright as he fought dizziness and the searing pain in his side.
Suddenly Renji crashed into the back of Ise who turned and promptly smacked him in the shoulder.
"What the f-"
Renji abruptly shut up as he followed Ise's narrowed gaze. Nemu stood ahead of them in the tunnel, her quiet manner unnerving. Growling, Kensei stepped forward, unsheathing his zanpakutou.
"Wait Mugurama. " Hitsugaya commanded as Nemu turned her back and began walking down the tunnel. "It's a trap."
"No shit kid." Kensei snapped, instantly sending Hitsugaya's reiatsu skyrocketing. The two captains remained alert but the tension filling the air only served to set everyone on edge.
"Stop." Lisa said in a low voice. "We need to be alert. Abarai, do you remember anything from your last time here?"
Renji instinctively clenched his fists, his mind throwing up mental blocks from the hell he survived under the mad scientist and his games. "Yeah, the rooms change, the tunnels move, and Szayel's labs are full of shitty things. What else you gotta know?"
Snorting, Lisa moved towards the front of the group and squinted into the darkness. "Mayuri really has defected and he will be that much harder to bring down now. His twisted interests were barely kept in check in Seireitei, I'm sure he has much freer reign to-"
A shriek from the back of the group turned everyone's attention as Hiyori instantly transformed and took off down the tunnel.
"Fucking hell you stupid bitch!" Kensei snarled as he followed suit and chased after her. Quickly, the rest of the group followed, trying to take precautions as they shunpo'd blindly in the darkness, following Kensei's blazing reaitsu.
Stumbling into blinding light, they spread out instinctively as their eyes adjusted to a large, open lab. Standing directly in front of them, Mayuri was holding a struggling Hiyori in the air, her legs kicking uselessly and her mask already gone. "Goddammit, don't you ever learn?" Kensei shouted, causing everyone present to wince as they unwillingly remembered the last time Hiyori was goaded into action.
Turning, Mayuri smiled at the rest of the team before he once again focused on Hiyori, his painted face twisting hideously as he began strangling his former superior. Immediately, Kensei released his bankai and attacked, rage emanating off his reiatsu. Before he was able to reach the crazed scientist, a bigger body appeared and threw him across the room.
"…Kenpachi?" Hitsugaya stuttered incredulously. The captain of the Eleventh looked like a shadow of his former self. His head was shaved and the fire in his eyes was gone. "What the hell is going on?"
Zaraki didn't even acknowledge Hitsugaya as he attacked Kensei. This time the vizard was ready for him, their fighting less about skill than about brute strength.
Hearing Hiyori's strangled gasps, Hitsugaya quickly snapped back to attention, leaving the two captains to fight each other as he unsheathed Hyorinmaru. Releasing his shikai, Hitsugaya launched himself at Mayuri, his reiatsu spiking as he saw Hiyrori's body go limp and get tossed carelessly aside. Mayuri turned and smiled at Hitsugaya, sending off alarms in his head as the painted devil calmly crossed his arms and waited. Swinging Hyorinmaru down, Hitsugaya barely had time to dodge as a cero was blasted at him from above. Skittering a few feet away, Hitsugaya looked up to see a familiar and chilling face.
"Momo…" Hitsugaya froze as he saw his childhood friend swing at him for the second time in his life. "Momo stop it!" He shouted angrily as she attacked. Blocking her thrusts, Hitsugaya was shocked at how powerful she had become. Angrily he quickly parried her attack, trying to hit her with an open palm, only to have his wrist grasped in a bone crushing grip. Shocked teal eyes widened in disbelief as he saw the bone mask materializing over her twisted features.
Stunned, Renji stood by Shuuhei and watched as Hitsugaya was thrown across the room and crashed into a wall.
"Baka!"
Renji felt a body crash into him a split second after his arm felt like it was set on fire. Looking down, he saw it hanging uselessly at his side, three bloody gashes severing most of the tendons in his forearm.
"Shit shit shit!" Lisa was cursing under her breath as she skillfully dodged Mayuri's shikai. Turning she saw Renji staring at his useless arm as Shuuhei tried to perform a healing kido.
"Ise! Get him away!" Lisa screamed as she was forced back by Mayuri, her bone mask forming as the scientist cackled. Shuuhei calmly released Kazeshini as he blocked Mayuri's next attack, enabling Lisa to fully release into her hollow form.
Nanao appeared next to Renji, quickly moving him to where Hachi was reviving Hiyori. Ugly bruises were already forming around her neck but she was awake and sitting up.
"I'll take care of it." She said in a hoarse voice, glaring at Hachi as he was about to protest. Quickly she tore a piece of Nanao's hakama off, causing the formal fukutaichou to hiss in annoyance. Expertly, Hiyori wrapped Renji's arm, explaining his injury in low tones.
"Your arm is useless now, the bastard's got poison in his zanpakutou. You'll still feel pain until we can get you fixed, when I was…fukutaichou, we often had to bandage up lab assistants he took his wrath out on. Stupid Kisuke never knew how many people got hurt…all in the name of fucking science." Hiyori moved efficiently, her nimble fingers prodding and massaging as chaos spread around them. "I can't remove the poison, but I can heal the gashes for now."
When Hiyori finished, Renji quickly moved to get up. Stumbling slightly he caught his footing before Hiyori kicked his feet out from under him. "Baka. You're hiding another injury. Do you really think you are going to help anyone like that?"
Renji glared rather venomously at the small vizard. Growling, Hiyori smacked him across the face with her flip flop. "No! You're only going to get Lisa or someone else killed. Use your tiny brain and stay here!" Turning she shunpo'd back to Lisa and Mayuri, ignoring Hachi's protests for her to rest.
Sado was bent over with his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. His normally chestnut complexion was a sickly shade of gray as he coughed up blood.
"Sado-san!" Hachi moved to the young man and placed a solid hand on his back, frowning in distress. "Please sit down, you are in no shape to fight!" Hachi pleaded as Sado stood unsteadily and collapsed.
"Godammit!" Hitsugaya shouted as he saw Sado go down. Everyone who could stand was fighting and in addition to the troubling revelation that Momo was a vizard, Hitsugaya wondered just what the hell happened to Nemu.
Turning, he saw Zaraki get thrown across the room, for once the blood-thirsty captain was overpowered by raw, brute strength. Kensei shook himself a few times before he lifted his mask off, his sclera still black.
"Hiyori?" He yelled across the room to Lisa, taking a moment to watch her and Shuuhei work in tandem against the deranged ex-captain of the twelfth division.
"I'm fine asshole!" Hiyori shouted back as she reappeared next to Sado, sitting on his chest as Hachi quickly assessed his injuries. Before he could retort his attention was diverted as Zaraki stood up in the rubble and shook himself off.
Pressing his lips into a grim smile, Kensei shook his head as he reached up to pull his mask down. He didn't want to fight Zaraki but he wasn't going to back down either. He could tell the big man's heart wasn't in the fight and Kensei found himself trying to incapacitate him rather than kill him.
Hitsugaya swung hard at Momo, hoping to catch her off balance as she turned her yellow eyes on Renji and Sado behind Hachi's barrier where Ise was trying to close Renji's side and Hiyori tried to keep Sado down. Quickly she dodged his attack and fired off a cero at the injured group, her face twisting as the barrier held.
"Ise! Get those two out of here and back into the tunnel! Go!" Lisa shouted as Momo aimed another cero at the two. "Hachi! Hurry up and neutralize that hollow!"
Ise quickly hooked a slim arm around Renji and Sado as each protested and shunpo'd them back through the tunnel and away from the fighting, leaving Hachi and Hiyori to cover them as Momo continued to blast ceros.
"Momo stop it!" Hitsguaga growled, trying to catch her fleeting attention. Momo laughed as she backed up, pausing to smirk over her shoulder before she took off, Hitsugaya instinctively giving chase and leaving the rest of the group behind. Passing into another room, Hitsugaya paused as Momo disappeared into the darkness, her laughter the only trace of her presence. Reluctantly, Hitsugaya released his bankai and honed his senses to pick up Momo's reiatsu. Momentarily confused, he realized there were other people in the room, two of which he recognized.
"Tag, Shiro-chan." Momo hissed in his ear from behind, a cero glowing in her hands. Jerking violently, Hitsugaya threw himself back, his hands twisting in her shitagi as he attempted to drag her down and throw her off balance. Her body complied with gravity and she rolled away easily, the cero blasting down through the floor. Standing he was about to unleash Hyorinmaru when a powerful cero blast hit him from behind, sending him through the wall and into the middle of Kensei's fight.
Momentarily stunned, Hiyori ran towards an unconscious Hitsugaya, her mask forming mid-stride as she zeroed in on the tall, grotesque form that just blasted Hitsugaya's body through the wall like a rag doll. Lisa lifted her own mask up as she caught Shuuhei's eye and jerked her head towards the figure.
"Hai." Shuuhei nodded as he followed Hiyori through the wall opening. As the smoke and dust cleared, Shuuhei cautiously approached the tall hollow.
"Teme!" He snarled in surprise as he barely recognized Kotetsu Isane. Screeching, the Fourth division fukutaichou turned her yellow eyes on Shuuhei, her mouth hanging slack as she stalked towards him. His gray eyes narrowing, Shuuhei swung Kazeshini towards Isane, pulling hard on the chain as she carelessly knocked the twirling blades down.
"To your left!" Hiyori shouted urgently as Nemu appeared beside him. Jumping back he felt Nemu's zanpakuto slash down his back, his shihakushou flapping as the material sliced open. Grunting, Shuuhei quickly fired off successive kido blasts as Nemu gracefully skipped away. Knowing better than to give chase, Hisagi took the momentary pause to mutter the incantation to bakudo #62, Hyapporankan, ready to throw the rod of light at Nemu the instant she materialized.
As Hiyori fought Isane, Nemu appeared in the floor below, looking up through the opening Isane's cero blasted open. Gritting his teeth, Shuuhei gripped the bakudo rod as Nemu held up Yachiru, still dazed and unresponsive. Cautiously, Shuuhei watched Nemu shunpo and land gracefully in the wall opening between the two rooms.
"Mayuri-sama." Nemu called out, causing everyone fighting to pause. Laughing, Mayuri clapped his hands gleefully as he backed away from Lisa to stand in front of Nemu. When Lisa moved to follow, Mayuri raised his hand and looked at Zaraki. Hesitantly Zaraki turned his gaze on Lisa and raised his reiatsu before he disappeared in a flash of shunpo.
"Fuck." Kensei muttered as he pushed himself to reach her before the fallen captain. Zaraki appeared between them and Mayuri, his chest heaving as he drew his zanpakuto and leveled his gaze at Lisa.
Hissing, Mayuri snapped his fingers, his eyes widening in anger as he saw Zaraki hesitate. Instantly Nemu popped Yachiru's arm from its shoulder socket, causing the little girl to let out a heart-wrenching scream. Instinctively Zaraki's reiatsu exploded, his suppression collar gone as he bore down on Lisa and Kensei, the fighting spark finally ignited in his eyes.
"Kensei! Take him out!" Lisa screamed as she threw herself backwards, trying to give Kensei the clearance he needed. Without hesitation, Kensei released, his zanpakuto transforming as his body rippled into his hollow form. Putting his shoulder down and bracing himself, Kensei absorbed Zaraki's attack, digging his feet into the floor as the two powerful captains collided. Swiftly Kensei left himself open to Zaraki's second attack, taking a gash to his thigh as he twisted around behind Zaraki and buried Tachikaze's twin knuckle blades deep into Zaraki's kidneys. As he fell to his knees, Zaraki cursed Mayuri every name under the sun as the berserker rage began to fade from his eyes.
Outraged, Mayuri turned and backhanded Nemu as he ripped a still screaming Yachiru from her arms. Turning to Zaraki, he quickly stabbed Yachiru through the hand with his lone extended fingernail, twisting as the sharp point pierced and exited her small hand. Hearing his daughter's screams, Zaraki howled in fury, the very sound chilling Kensei to the bone as rage, pain and desperation laced Kenpachi's cry. Ripping Tachikaze out Kensei swiftly swung again, this time curving his arms and landing the blades between Zaraki's ribs, puncturing the lungs and cutting off the inhuman keening. Shaking his head, Kensei pulled the blades out and stepped back as Zaraki's body went into shock.
"Give up you son of a bitch. He's the only one you can use her against and he can't protect you anymore." Lisa called out coldly, her mask still in place as she raised her zanpakuto to Mayuri.
His face twisted with rage, Mayuri threw Yachiru on the ground, stomping on her tiny body as he released Ashisogi Jizo.
"Kensei, Hachi, Lisa, raise your reiatsu!" Hiyori shouted as she shunpo'd to stand with the other vizards. Standing as a line of defense between the shinigami and the grotesque zanpakuto, each vizard released their full power, acting as a reiatsu barrier to repel Ashisogi Jizo's poison.
Cursing, Mayuri grabbed Nemu by the hair and fled, Isane and Momo following as Ashisogi Jizo covered their retreat. Using Tachikaze, Kensei motioned for Shuuhei to release Kazeshini as the wind zanpakutos quickly dispersed the poison.
Exhausted, the battered team moved to gather the fallen and regroup. Gently, Hiyori jumped down to the lower room where Yachiru had fallen in Mayrui's retreat and picked up the broken body, hugging her close as she swiped absently at her running eyes and nose.
"Thanks…batfang." Hiyori started as Yachiru nuzzled her face into Hiyori's track jacket. "HACHI!" Hiyori called frantically as she pulled away to look at the little girl. Quickly the others dropped down to where Hiyori was kneeling, Hachi setting up a barrier to protect them as they healed the injured.
Opening her eyes, Yachiru looked around and carefully stood up. Walking unsteadily to Hachi, she poked him in the stomach with her uninjured hand and giggled when he jumped. "Where's Ken-chan?"
Kensei dropped down with Kenpachi over his shoulder, his face grim as he stared down at the tiny girl staring up at him. Unceremoniously he dumped Kensei's body to the ground and squatted down until he was nearly eye-level, clearing his throat as he tried to think of something to say that wouldn't result in tears. Unexpectedly, Yachiru pulled back and punched Kensei under the eye. Too stunned to react, Kensei suffered three more punches before Yachiru stopped.
"Ken-chan's heart wasn't in that fight. You have to promise to fight-" She scowled before she suddenly stopped mid-sentence, her small nose twitching in the air as she slowly turned back to Hachi. Holding out his large hand, he held a small toffee candy from the world of the living, hoping she would be like most children and be distracted by sugar. Swiping the candy from his hand, Yachiru attacked him in an effort to find more of the sweet confection, much to Hachi's distress.
Shuuhei jumped down with Hitsugaya, gently laying him on his stomach in front of Ise, his backside burned and already seeping as body fluids rushed to the damaged surface. Shaking her head curtly, Ise instantly set to healing the tenth division captain.
Absently, Shuuhei rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hand as he waited to get his own back bandaged before he suddenly looked around sharply.
"Ise-san, where are Renji and Sado?"
In the tunnel, Nanao had been guarding Renji and Sado, negotiating with them to stay still long enough so that she could work on their injuries. Exasperated with them both as they refused treatment and tried to get back to the fighting, she finally bound Renji with bakkudo 30, Shitotsu Sansen, using the three beams of light to pin him to the ground. Efficiently and through a litany of unladylike curses, Nanao managed to pin Sado down with a fierce gaze as she began to heal his internal injuries.
Before she was completely done, piercing screams echoed down the tunnel as they recognized Zaraki's spiking reiatsu. Fearful blue eyes collided with furious crimson ones as they both realized the implications.
"Go! Unbind me and go!" Renji shouted as Ise continued to work on Sado with grim determination.
"That was Yachiru-san. Hiyori and the others will look after her, my orders are to tend to your wounds." But Nanao looked back a few more times as she felt various reiatsus spike alarmingly. Torn, Nanao made up her mind as more shouting mixed in and Yachiru's screaming was suddenly cut off. Casting a lighter binding spell that she knew Renji would eventually be able to break out of on his own, Nanao hoped he would stay put until the last of her kido completed its healing effects. Looking down at the snarling 6th division lieutenant, Nanao used as much force as her exhausted body would allow. "I'm going to check on them. That spell will wear off in about fifteen minutes, plenty of time for the bleeding to stop. You will not move from this spot until that happens."
Turning she glared at Sado as he moved. "You will stay with him, your injuries are not fully healed either. I will be back to get you."
Cursing, Renji continued to struggle against the spell, infuriated that he was forced to sit out. As he felt more reiatsus flare and fade, Renji struggled to get to his knees. He knew, knew that he couldn't break the damn binding spell. Hell he wasn't Ichigo or even Kensei, the only two known to break out of a binding spell, but if he could just get closer he'd be able to get there faster and he wouldn't feel so goddamn helpless. Sado sat calmly, his quiet nature for once infuriating Renji as he struggled against his bindings.
Abruptly, Renji felt the air around him quiver and he instantly froze, trying to pinpoint the reiatsu that was being masked. He was too far from the others to call out for help and the binding hadn't loosened yet. Sado gasped beside him, his breathing suddenly pained as he fell to the ground, sweat pouring off his brow as the reaitsu grew to unbearable levels. Breathing hard on his knees with his arms pinned behind him, Renji stiffened as he saw a figure appear in front of him.
"Renji, you do always get yourself in such predicaments."
Renji snarled as Aizen appeared in front of him and patted him condescendingly on the head. Reaching down, Aizen abruptly grabbed a fistful of Renji's hair and yanked his head up forcefully. Waiting for Renji to meet his gaze, Aizen smiled slightly. "Shall we go visit your captain?"
Instantly Renji stopped struggling and stared at Aizen in disbelief. Against his will, Renji felt a stab of hope at the thought that Byakuya was still alive. Aizen chuckled softly as he snapped a collar around Renji's neck. "I must thank Ise-san for making this so easy. I didn't think you would be bound helpless and waiting for me, what a pleasant surprise."
Aizen pulled Renji's hair tie free and let the crimson strands fall. Turning to look at Sado, Aizen bent down and extended his index finger until it was right above Sado's heart. As he pressed his finger firmly into Sado's chest, Renji saw Sado's eyes widen and his body go rigid.
"You fucking bastard, what did you do!" Renji snarled as he struggled against the bonds with renewed effort. Flaring his reiatsu, he wondered vaguely if anyone else fighting realized Aizen was within reach. Had Mayuri only been a diversion? If they hadn't followed Nemu would they have been able to take Aizen down here in the tunnel?
Aizen stood up again, turning back to smile down at Renji. Grabbing the back of Renji's shihakushou, Aizen quickly dragged him down the tunnel and away from the labs, shunpo'ing through the labyrinth and emerging up top in the throne room of Las Noches.
Preview: What happens to Renji in the throne room and what the other teams are doing.