Chapter 11
The front gates of Las Noches were like something from a painting by Salvador Dali. Huge pillars placed at random spots, a vast expanse of rough hewn slate tiles paving the way to the pair of front doors. A fountain, nearly the width and length of a soccer field, which surely had never had water flow through it in the entire time it had been here. Jushiro appeared at last, standing on the lip of the enormous bowl.
Sosuke smiled. He stood right next to what resembled a throne. "So, your shunpo is not up to par, is it? It took you an awfully long time to get here," he commented. Jushiro didn't dare answer. He simply smiled ever so slightly. "Well, while you are catching your breath, I'll tell you some trivia about this place where we stand now. I think you should get a proper impression of Las Noches before you die.
"It was built by the late, great King Barrigan. He reigned as the King of Hueco Mundo until he agreed to allow me to rule Las Noches. You know, it's interesting that you mentioned World War Two. I used to give Barrigan tributes, often, and he'd usually take them here. Our deal was sealed right here where I stand, " Sosuke told Jushiro, pointing to the tiles under his feet near the great doors, "after I gave him Adolf Hitler's Hollowfied soul as tribute. Barrigan devoured him right here."
"Wait a minute! Zaraki was sent to take care of Hitler! How did you get ahold of him?" Jushiro asked. And here I had always thought everybody was far too busy to cause trouble during that war! What was Aizen doing?
"You're right of course. Kenpachi did his job, and did it well, delivering the Hollow of Hitler to Hueco Mundo with one slice of his nameless zanpakuto! I merely collected him, and brought him to meet his ultimate fate here. Remember, old man, one of the very first things we are taught about Hollows in school is that they eat eachother in order to gain more and more power. Barrigan wanted to eat a dictator. What better one than Adolf Hilter?"
"I...I truly don't know what to say about that. While that could be considered justice, certainly, having someone like this Barrigan gain his powers by eating him..." Jushiro sighed.
"Barrigan, by the way, had been my Segundo Espada, just to refresh your memory. And to be sure, Kaname considered it justice. All I considered it was a means to an end..." Sosuke shrugged. "Well, obviously that trivia is not nearly enough to even annoy you, let alone outrage you. But Barrigan was a hungry king, insatiable, it seemed. All those times Gin and I went to Birkenau camp...you do remember what Birkenau camp was, don't you, Ukitake?"
"Sosuke, please, don't tell him about all that!" Gin gasped, after having been so uncharacteristically silent.
"Oh, why not? I think it's time that he knew the truth about what we were doing there, don't you?" Sosuke scoffed.
"No, no I don't think so, Sosuke," Gin answered in a near panic.
Jushiro frowned deeply. "For you to bring up the second Auschwitz concentration camp doesn't bode well! You told the Court Guard that you were cleaning up the place, as it had become a breeding ground for Hollows. At the time, this seemed like a very reasonable explanation. What were you two miserable bastards really doing there?"
Sosuke laughed, and it was a cold, horrible laugh indeed. "When the Nazis unloaded their prisoners from the overcrowded trains, they would sort them in groups. One group, the smaller group, would be sent to the right, to the third camp, the work camp, where the able-bodied, mostly men, would be worked to death, starved and possibly die from disease. The other group, mostly old people, women with children, and of course, those very children...would be sent to the left. To the gas chambers, to the crematoriums... Those souls, of those people, bombarded Birkenau camp! Barrigan had heard of this, and he craved those souls as well. I would feed him those souls, especially the children's, as though they were grapes I was feeding my master." Sosuke watched Jushiro's face for a change in expression, and laughed even louder at the sight of the horror crossing the elder Shinigami's face. "I stooped to conquer too, Ukitake! While you made deals with Mayuri to try and screw me over, I was solidifying my power base. Barrigan was addicted to those little one's souls, so pure, so young... He must have fancied that it would help him stay alive, since most Arrancar don't live nearly as long as Shinigami have the potential to. Those poor, poor children! First they get gassed to death, then, their little souls are taken to Hueco Mundo and fed, one after another, in a line, to a frightening Hollow King! They whimpered and cried, looking for their mothers, but those women had already been eaten, so they had no one. Look at you, the weak Shinigami! How your tears flow down your pale face! Aren't you angry yet, old man? Aren't you the defender of women and children, Ukitake? Well, what does it matter? You could never have stopped me, just like you can't stop me now!" Sosuke sneered.
Jushiro struggled mightily to remain focused and calm. His reiatsu threatened to blaze out of his skin, so he made a decision to let it slowly flow, like turning a faucet on, little by little increasing the flow, so he didn't melt the entire palace complex down with it...
Ichigo stirred on BawaBawa's back at last. "I can sense something. What's that?" he asked.
"You're getting better at detecting reiatsu, finally!" Shinji commented. "It's slowly increasing, too."
Shunsui looked excited. "Ichigo-kun, don't you know who that is?"
"No. Oh wait! Yeah, I think I do! You mean...that's?"
"That's Jushiro!" Shunsui announced happily.
"Oh, my goodness! He's..." Nel'liel gasped. Her two fraccion began to tremble in eachother's arms.
"Yeah, he's that strong!" Shinji drawled.
"Are you kidding? He's got a long way to go yet. He only does this if someone's really pissed him off. His body can't always withstand his own reiatsu," Shunsui explained to Ichigo.
"I...I don't know if I'll be able to get much closer to that area," Ichigo admitted, having a little trouble breathing.
"Just as well, since we don't want you anywhere near Aizen anyway," Shinji shrugged. "Wow, you're trashed! Since when are you so weak that you'd be battered like this? Who did this to you anyway?"
"Just shut the hell up, Shinji!" Ichigo snarled. "I have to get closer, I have to stop Aizen!"
"Listen to me Ichigo! When we make it where Jushiro is, you need to get to Jushiro, got it? He'll be able to take care of things from there!" Shunsui told him.
"Alright, fine! But, what about you two?" Ichigo asked.
"Our only real mission here is to get Jushiro out of Hueco Mundo in one piece. After that, if we inflict damage on Aizen and company, that's just icing on the cake," Shunsui answered.
"Hey, bullshit! I'm going to get my revenge on him!" Shinji announced angrily. "Ichigo, I will be staying here if that's what it takes. I will not leave Hueco Mundo until I have destroyed him. If I don't come back, you have to tell the others. Hiyori will take over things at the warehouse..."
"Which is plenty of incentive to keep you alive, Shinji!" Ichigo grumbled. Hiyori as the captain of the Visoreds? No fucking way!
"Gin, I beleive that I am beginning to detect a few visitors. They're heading for the front door. Perhaps you should bring them over here, so they can see the old man's dead body hanging from the rafters or, maybe his head up on a pike. Yes, that's more like it...more bloody," Sosuke suggested.
"Right!" Gin answered.
"Bakudo #62: Hyapporankan!" Jushiro called out. Gin had turned to leave, but bars of bright light started to persue him. The Hundred Steps Fence hunted him, nearly catching his shoulder once, another finally pinning his leg to the stony floor. He cried out and fell. Sosuke was there in an instant, grasping the bar of light with his bare hand and causing it to shatter.
"Move, Gin! I'm not going to help you again!" Sosuke warned him as more bars of light rained down over their heads. Gin used shunpo to vanish. Sosuke dodged a few more of the rods, but then got pinned down by his chest.
"That was uncharacteristically sacrificial of you, Aizen," Jushiro commented coldly, remaining on the bowl of the fountain. "Gin will most likely be facing Shunsui. That's not a good match-up for him, unless his sword skills have improved."
"Never mind," Sosuke snarled, reaching up to grasp the bar of light and breaking it apart as he had with Gin. Then he rose to hsi feet and finally drew Kyoka Suigetsu. "Your dear Kyoraku has never faced an enemy like he will be facing when Gin gets to him. Just as you have never faced an enemy like me. I see you, old man! Closing your eyes won't keep you from becoming Kyoka Suigetsu's unwitting slave!"
"I will not become your zanpakuto's next victim, and you won't trick me with it's powers, either. You barely managed to fool Retsu with your illusions. What makes you think you have a chance agianst me?" Jushiro commented coldly.
"You must be going senile! You have already been subjected to Kyoka Suigetsu's powers. You have no hope of resisting him again, now that you've seen his illusion," Sosuke snickered. "Closing your eyes won't protect you! I can control all five senses, all you're doing is cutting yourself off from one of your own senses, rather than protecting yourself from the first exposure!"
"Ah, but the question is, have I really been exposed to your shikai, Aizen?" Jushiro asked. He had sealed his eyes shut, not wanting to open them by accident.
"I demonstrated Kyoka Suigetsu's false shikai for a rather large audience of important people. Don't you remember?"
"No. I was home sick that day..." Jushiro answered.
Sosuke's brows drew down. "No, I'm sure you were there..."
"Oh, that's alright that you didn't notice I wasn't there. I don't wear bells in my hair or wear an expensive scarf. I don't paint my face in different colors, and I don't even hide my zanpakuto inside a walking stick. And no offense to my dear friend, but pink...it's just not happening on me. Nor was I there the day you were discovered 'dead' by your poor vice-captain. Nor was I able to attend your memorial service. Too ill to sit through it while coughing the whole time. Sorry about that."
"You went to Central 46 to appeal Kuchiki's sentence!" Sosuke reminded him. "I'm sure you saw them in the chambers! That's when you were exposed to my true shikai! I even saw you out the window, going in!"
"I had a coughing spell, and I had to send poor Sentaro and Kiyone in without me, not wanting to annoy the 'Central 46' with my illness," Jushiro admitted. "Almost two thousand years ago, when I was merely a student, I fell ill for the first time. And at that time, my sensei told me that my illness was my Dark Gift. Perhaps I never truly understood, until today, what he meant by that," Jushiro admitted.
"So, you've never seen Kyoka Suigetsu? Are you sure about that?"
"No, I'm not," Jushiro confessed. "I wouldn't know whether I saw it or not. Isn't that it's very nature? Still, I'd rather not release my shikai on something as piddling as this. That's why I have my eyes closed."
Sosuke smiled, and it was a genuine one. "It's possible that you haven't! Well, I'm not too upset, it would have made things a bit too easy for me anyway. So close your eyes, but I'm warning you, as a sighted person, you will never be able to fight me off while blind. You're no Tosen Kaname!" Sosuke roared and lauched himself forward, brandishing his zanpakuto.
"Thank God for that!" Jushiro retorted, and blocked Sosuke's first attack. Yes, it's true that it's not easy fighting while blind. But I must completely trust my third eye now!
Sosuke attempted to strike again, but Jushiro dodged that as well. He leaped from the fountain to the slate tiles below. Sosuke dashed before him, as he went in for what he thought was the kill...Jushiro brought Sogyo no Katawari down...and in one swing, one perfectly timed blow...
"No!" Sosuke gasped, as the blade sliced into his chest, deep into his body. Jushiro drew out his blade, and Sosuke dropped to the floor, blood flowing freely and staining the tiles.
After flicking his blade to clear some blood off with a twist of his wrist, Jushiro retreated about twenty feet away. He opened his eyes, saw Sosuke struggling. "All waves, now rise and become my shield. Lightning, strike now and become my blade!" Sogyo no Katawari separated into those two distinct blades joined together with the red rope and the five keys dangling from it.
"What are you going to do? Make me come after you? I can't," Sosuke admitted.
"You don't think I'm that stupid, do you? With my zanpakuto in it's shikai form, I can now tell that you are indeed not using yours," Jushiro explained.
"How do you know that?" Sosuke asked weakly.
"Because my blades would have started absorbing Kyoka Suigetsu's attack. Since they are not doing so, I can only conclude that, yes, that blow I dealt you is fatal. But you and I both know you can save your own life, don't we? I would hate to think, after killing my Kaien and nearly executing an innocent young woman, after sending your captain and seven other people into a criminal exile, after all this trouble, after all the lives you shredded to gain power, that one blow from my sword would be the end of all this. It's time, Aizen, to put the mask on," Jushiro told him coldly.
"If your shikai would have been able to disrupt Kyoka Suigetsu, then why did you do this?" Sosuke asked.
"Because releasing one's shikai so quickly in battle is what little boys do, Aizen. I told you I didn't really want to release my Shikai while just swordfighting with you, I'm more than capable of handling someone with your skills with the sword. You're wasting time arguing with me, put the mask on, or you'll die!" Jushiro ordered him.
Sosuke glared at Jushiro. "You really did this to force me to transform! You stupid old bastard! If I do that, you will undoubtedly be overwhelmed."
"So what's stopping you? If you are so powerful with it on, then do it! Why are you hesitating?" Jushiro asked heatedly.
Struggling to rise enough to keep his head up, Sosuke muttered, "You will regret this sorely, you old fool." And then, he made a motion with his hands, as though he was putting on a pair of glasses.
"Now, we can fight truly," Jushiro told him, holding his released zapakuto at the ready. Sosuke stood up...wearing his Hollow mask, fully healed, and raised his own zapakuto. And with that, they charged into eachother, and the clash began!