Chapter 11: Uncoiled
(Thanks going out to Fire Vixon (Sorry about the wait for this one! But it's back now. Enjoy!), Kyuumihaira (Ah, and there will be more angsty feels...many, many!), Picklez80 (Well, what goes around comes around...), and Kittykins (Lol, oh yes, Tetsuya is doomed. Can't help loving his bad boy cousin! Poor thing.). I appreciate your support of this story. You guys are the best! :) Love you, Spunky)
"I still don't think that we should take the risk of separating," Tetsuya hissed softly, following the path of Orochi's black eyes to where rows upon rows of heavily armed soldats waited in the shadows of the dying trees, "Arashi can handle the soldats. You should engage the leader and I will position myself to attack when he attacks you. You know that was when the quincy we fought was most vulnerable to damage! Orochi, let me help you!"
"You are protecting our child, Tetsuya," Orochi reminded him, curling an arm around him and bringing their lips together, "You know you are not up to the rigors of that level of battle."
"And you know that sometimes even those not up to the rigors of battle are forced to fight anyway! The lives of our kin are on the line and we are the only ones who can protect them! If all of us do not give everything, we could lose more than each other, Orochi. You, Arashi and I are all that stands between that army of quincies and the heart of the Kuchiki family! And our child, just like us, must be ready to lay down his or her life to defend that."
Orochi's hand curved gently around Tetsuya's pale face and his hardened eyes glared down into the blue depths of his lover's infuriated ones.
"And what if I agree to this and our child is lost? Will I watch you break apart all over again, Tetsuya? Watch you drown in the rain that would fall endlessly until you disappear into it? I don't want that," Orochi insisted, kissing Tetsuya again and lacing their fingers together, "You must let me brace the leader of the group while you and Arashi destroy the soldats. You must kill all of them, Tetsuya. Otherwise, even when the leader falls, our kin will be overrun."
"Orochi!"
"Please," Orochi said in an unusually quiet tone, unlike any Tetsuya had ever heard his dark cousin use before, "do as I ask. Protect our kin. Protect our child. I give you my word, Tetsuya. I will come back to you."
Tetsuya stood frozen, stunned to speechlessness as Orochi's lips sought his desperately.
He has never done this...asked me to do as he willed. From the beginning, Orochi was one who demanded and simply claimed what he wanted. He never asked for anything from me, but overwhelmed me and stole it...even to my own heart. Yes, that he stole too. And now he stands in front of me and asks...he asks for the impossible.
A jolt went through him as Orochi's hands touched his face and the dark eyes met his again, sending chills down his spine.
"I wish that I could be with you right now," he breathed into Tetsuya's ear, making it blush fiercely, "Just one more time before this all plays out. But the time for that has come and gone, and there is nothing left but to face our enemy and earn the happiness you and I will know after this all ends."
Tetsuya let out a soft, resigned breath.
"And what happiness is that?" he asked, shaking his head, "Are you in such a hurry to have to choose between your good name and the half-blood trash you brought home?"
"Tetsuya..."
"I once cried because I had no idea that you loved the first child we made together. It was unbearable to think that you could look down on something so beautiful as our child would have been. But to think of you losing everything, having your father turn his back on you and disown you over me...Orochi, I can't..."
"Shh, you let me worry about my father. And leave that for now anyway. We need to focus on getting rid of these enemies. Take Arashi and go up on that ridge, into the trees. I will circle around and attack the leader from behind as you draw the soldats to you."
"Orochi..." Tetsuya objected.
"Go. Give me an opening, Tetsuya. Make it a good one," Orochi said, turning and flash stepping away.
"Orochi!"
Tetsuya let out a frustrated breath.
Master, if I may? Arashi's wispy voice whispered into Tetsuya's mind.
"What is it?" Tetsuya asked absently, his eyes still looking in the direction Orochi had gone.
I think I have a strategy we can use that will eliminate the soldats and place you in a position to surprise the leader.
"Go on."
Orochi has circled around to the right. If you move around the left flank and we make a triangle formation, I can draw their attack, then after Orochi attacks the leader, you can first attack the rear guard of the enemy, then when they are down, assist Orochi in his battle.
"Are you sure that you can handle taking all of the soldats head on, Arashi? There are hundreds!"
Didn't you just express confidence in me doing just that?
"Yes," Tetsuya answered, coloring slightly, "although I have to admit, I was being a little impulsive. We have to be careful. We have no one to help us if we are overrun."
We won't be. Go, Master. I promise you, I will defeat the soldats on this end. Just make your attack on the rear guard a good one.
"I will," Tetsuya promised.
He watched as Arashi slipped into a waterform, then he used one himself to cover his passage into the forest. He moved slowly, minding carefully the position of the enemy that had spread out across the area, waiting to engage the hidden shinigamis they could sense, but could not yet see. He could see that the men looked bored and impatient, proud and self-assured.
But judging by what happened...the thousands of lives they took in the first battle...they have reason to be confident. The Gotei appears to have been unable to stop them. Orochi and I could not stop the officer who came to the manor, but could only delay him long enough for the family to flee. We barely escaped with our lives...which tells me it's foolishness for him to attack that officer on his own.
But he won't exactly be on his own.
Not that Orochi knows that.
He moved cautiously to the back of the gathered group, then began a mental countdown that Arashi could hear in his mind as well.
Commence your attack in 5, 4, 3...
He felt Arashi's power begin to build and began to raise his own. Somewhere nearby, Orochi's reiatsu began to rise along with theirs. The gathered soldats exchanged glances and looked at their leader.
"They're attacking! Stand your ground, and when you see them, KILL THEM!" the officer shouted as Tetsuya's countdown went on.
2, 1, NOW!
A fury of concentrated ice blades exploded in front of the soldats, while another surprised the less expectant rear guard. Screams erupted from the dying soldats as the leader roared furiously, directing those not hit to attack the now visible attackers. The officer turned on Tetsuya, firing a volley of quincy arrows that the nimble shinigami escaped using his blistering flash step. As the quincy officer closed in, Orochi attacked suddenly from behind, slashing the officer and drawing a wounded howl of mingled pain and determination.
Tetsuya blanched as a second quincy officer appeared suddenly behind Orochi and moved to attack.
"NO!" the blue-eyed shinigami cried, flash stepping furiously and plunging his weapon into the officer, then breathing a scathing command, "Touketsu Shima!"
"KILL THE HORSE!" the officer bracing Orochi ordered the swell of soldats.
Arashi, I can't get to you! Tetsuya cried out in his mind.
I will be fine, the stallion promised, Let's finish them!
Tetsuya sensed the release of another huge volley of ice blades and turned his attention back to the officer he had impaled.
"Kudakero!" he said, willing the ice that had surrounded the officer to break.
To his surprise, even though the ice shattered, the officer's body remained whole.
"Fool," the officer growled, surging forward and firing more arrows, "I had time between your first attack and your second to use my blut to keep your second spell from breaking my body. Now, you are going to pay for your foolishness with your life!"
He fired an arrow at point blank range, watching as it tore through Tetsuya's body. A moment later, he gave a shocked gasp as the shinigami's slender body broke apart and fell to the ground as a puddle of water.
"What the...?"
He blocked a heavy slash from Tetsuya's sword with his blut and grabbed the offending blade.
"You are stubborn," he observed, "but you must know you are fighting a losing battle. Our forces decimated the Gotei 13. What chance do you think you have?"
He lowered his eyes and gathered reiatsu into his body, making it glow bright white. Tetsuya tore his weapon free and flash stepped away as the quincy loosed what looked like a huge blaze of light, and before the stunned shinigami's eyes, the trees stricken by the light were cleanly cut in half.
"My power is called 'Edged Light,'" the quincy officer explained, "It will cut through anything. If you are in its path, you will be sliced in two. And don't expect your power to protect you. I saw the form you used to escape, and I will send my edged light in all directions at once to destroy your path of escape!"
Tetsuya gasped and launched himself into the air as the light flared out in all directions around the quincy.
Arashi, don't let the light touch you!
"Orochi, the light will cut you!" he screamed.
Relief flooded his body as Orochi's body shimmered and shifted to snake form, dropping him below the attack zone and giving him a clear opening to strike the second officer. Tetsuya aimed a fury of ice blades down at his enemy as Orochi aimed his strike at the lower leg of his opponent. The quincy facing Tetsuya's ice blades fended them off with an explosion of white reiatsu. The officer facing Orochi snarled and aimed his bow at the snake as it bit down on his calf.
"Die!" the quincy seethed, loosing his arrows.
To his surprise, the snake's body broke apart and splashed to the ground in a puddle of water.
"What?"
"They're working together!" his comrade shouted, "Use your vollstandig!"
Tetsuya and Orochi looked on in horror as bright white wings formed on the backs of the two officers and the reiatsu around them swelled dangerously.
"Get out of here, Tetsuya!" Orochi roared, "I bit one of them. I can handle the other!"
"We should fight together!" Tetsuya insisted, "Arashi just communicated that he has finished the soldats and is coming to us!"
"You have to leave!" Orochi insisted, "Go, Tetsuya. I will hold them back until Arashi gets here!"
You are not going to be able to win this battle as you are, a feminine voice whispered into Tetsuya's reeling mind, Tetsuya, our shikai and even our bankai are not enough.
"They have to be enough!" Tetsuya panted, "Re-kuhime!"
You must trust me, the zanpakutou spirit warned him, Withhold your attack until Arashi arrives and then do exactly as I say. The attack I have in mind is powerful enough to defeat them, but it will take a lot out of us. We will not be able to fight for very long. We must win quickly once we attack.
"I understand," Tetsuya said uneasily, watching from within a cluster of trees as Orochi split his body into a group of snakes that attacked from numerous directions at once, landing several bites. The quincy officers swore, but seemed unaffected by the venom.
"Orochi's poisons are usually swift in paralyzing or killing his enemies!" Tetsuya noted in dismay, "They aren't being affected at all!"
Noticing his attacks weren't working, Orochi left one group of snakes attacking one of the quincies, while he gathered some of the snakes and made a larger one that slid up a tree trunk and honed in on the other quincy. As the unsuspecting quincy tried to help his comrade with the attacking snakes, Orochi sent the larger snake dropping down and looping around the quincy's neck. He tightened the coil swiftly and sank his fangs into the quincy's neck.
"L-let go, damn you!" the quincy croaked, tearing at the snake's tightening body, "Y-you can't...augh...kill me this way! My blut will...!"
"Your blut will protect your blood supply from being cut off," Orochi's snake form hissed, "however, the compression will force your veins inward and will still eventually cause the bones in your neck to snap!"
The quincy staggered and stumbled about, ripping at the snake as the smaller snakes held his comrade at bay. He moved unseeingly closer and closer to the edge of a ravine that ran alongside the forest, until he teetered nearly at the cliff's ledge. Orochi tightened his hold until he heard the bones in the quincy's neck snap and the man stiffened and gave a strangled shriek. The snake uncoiled forcefully, spinning the helpless quincy off the edge, then watching it plunge downward. It slithered back to where the second quincy was escaping the smaller snakes and moved to curl around him.
"It's not happening!" the remaining quincy shouted, raising his bow and firing at the incoming snakes.
Orochi gathered in all of the snakes and formed into one great snake that slithered madly about, evading volleys of arrows and looking for an opening to attack. Nearby, Tetsuya heard hoofbeats and sighed in relief as Arashi finally reached him.
Climb onto Arashi's back and sheathe your sword in his body, at the base of his neck. Give the command 'Shinigami Tenba,' and we will take a new form, Re-kuhime directed him, Your body will be sacrificed to give the two of you a divine form. This is the only chance we have to defeat the remaining quincy. Let Orochi make an opening, then Arashi will attack. We will have one chance. We must finish him quickly!
"We will," Tetsuya said, launching himself onto the stallion's back and raising his sword.
He drove the weapon into the horse's back, at the base of his neck.
"Shinigami Tenba!" he cried, watching in wonder as the reiatsu exploded around them.
Tetsuya felt the strangest sense of first dissolving, then being wrapped around Arashi's equine body. Part of him sprouted as feathery wings on the stallion's shoulders. Another bit of him formed a sharp black horn that sprouted from Arashi's forehead. Blue armor wrapped around the horse's face and chest and sharp spikes formed on his hooves. Arashi reared and loosed a scathing battle cry, then aimed himself at the quincy, where he had begun to force Orochi towards the edge of the cliff.
Move out of the way, quickly! Tetsuya's divine form whispered into Orochi's mind, sending him in snake form, slithering away as the winged unicorn attacked.
His hoofbeats shaking the ground and his war shriek shattering the air, the divine stallion employed a blazing flash step, striking the quincy before he could move out of the beast's path. The quincy screamed in terror as the unicorn's horn impaled him, tearing through even his blut and forcing both off the ledge. Reiatsu exploded out of the horn and tearing through the enemy's body, melting part so that it flew off the end of the divine stallion's horn and started to fall.
Tetsuya, the form is unstable! We can't hold it anymore! Re-kuhime's voice howled in his mind.
Tetsuya aimed himself at the far edge of the ravine, sending the divine beast soaring towards it. Their reiatsu flashed fitfully, and Tetsuya felt them breaking apart from each other. As they crashed down, the blue-eyed noble's eyes captured a final glimpse of the enemy, plummeting into the ravine, but his mind registered something horribly gone wrong. The quincy's hand was wrapped tightly around the tail of Orochi's snake form, carrying it along as he fell.
"OROCHI!" Tetsuya screamed.
The winged unicorn crashed down onto the far side of the ravine and Tetsuya's body re-formed and rolled away. Arashi rolled over and came to his feet for a moment, took two staggering steps, then collapsed again. Tetsuya gained his feet and stumbled back to the edge of the ravine, still screaming his lover's name. He fell to his knees, peering into the blackness and unable to learn his cousin's fate. After a few moments, he collapsed entirely and went perfectly still.
The forested area went deathly quiet in the wake of the battle, and the light of the reiatsu gave way to the darkness of the shadows that had descended over them at the order of the quincy king.
For several hours, nothing in the area moved. Tetsuya and Arashi remained, unconscious and alone at the top of the ravine, while a heavy mist rolled in, obscuring the area even more. Night fell, and even then, nothing moved. It wasn't until some hours later that a point of light appeared in the blackness above them, then, like a curtain, the shadows were drawn back and morning came.
On the opposite side of the ravine from Tetsuya and Arashi, flash steps sounded and Byakuya, Rukia and Renji appeared. The looked around curiously, examining the melting ice and hundreds of dead soldats.
"This was Tetsuya and Arashi's power," Byakuya observed, "They kept the quincies from finding the evacuation site!"
"But where is he?" Rukia asked, looking around, "The seal on the hideout is still in place. Where is Tetsuya, if he is not inside?"
The three flash stepped through the forest, searching among the fallen bodies, but finding no sign of the missing shinigami or stallion. They burst out of the trees and onto the cliff top at the side of the ravine.
"Over there!" Renji exclaimed, pointing, "They're on the other side!"
The three used their reiatsu to create footholds as they passed over to the other side of the ravine and rushed to where Tetsuya and Arashi laid. Byakuya knelt at his cousin's side and examined him quickly.
"Is he all right?" Renji asked anxiously.
"He seems only mildly injured, but his body is depleted of reiatsu. His spirit centers are dangerously burned. He will need immediate healing."
"Arashi looks the same," Rukia reported breathlessly, "Nii-sama, what happened to them?"
"I am not sure," Byakuya answered, "We will figure it out later. Let's get them to the hideout for treatment, quickly!"
He lifted the unconscious shinigami and flash stepped away as Rukia and Renji regarded Arashi's collapsed body.
"You mean, we have to carry him back?" Renji complained.
"Shut up and get his back end!" Rukia snapped.
"Why do I get the horse's ass?" the redhead moaned.
"Let me think..." Rukia huffed, straining as she lifted the horse's upper body.
"Hey, that's not nice!"