A/N: Dammit, it's been a almost a week, sorry about that. Not much schoolwork yet, but going to school everyday itself's driving me restless enough not to be able to sit down and write. That's it for my whining(for now), go on.
Just Ichigo and Rukia abandoned the limp form of Renji three foot away from the crowd, Shinji announced the next pair of combatants. A good portion of the group cringed as Ikkaku and Tetsuzaemon let out a unison of deafening warcries. With wolfish grins on their faces, they zipped towards the center of the field all while shouting what sounded like threats, insults and obnoxious bickering to work each other up.
Ichigo thought he caught the pair of them complaining about lack of sake, but he could have been wrong.
At reaching the designated area, the two over-excited shinigami stood forehead-to-forehead, visibly snarling at each other as a pair of canines starving for blood would. Ichigo blinked. Here he was thinking he had been feeling competitive.
The pair spun around with an audible crisp rustle of fabric and strutted away to the individual starting points 50 feet apart.
Shinji reached for the whistle around his neck and yelled, "Alright, you two- HEY, I didn't blow whistle ye- oh, what's the point." he ended with a sigh and flicked the whistle away as the two sprang at each other without waiting, yelling their heads off.
It was unbelievable how they could try to kill each other off and keep the streams of insults going at the same time, Ichigo thought.
The captain beside him flopped backwards onto the grass into a crouching position, knees drawn halfway, an elbow resting on each side and arms draped down the length of his legs. Pair of golden-brown eyes warily regarded the pair of combatants.
Ichigo set down Zangetsu behind him and dropped down too, cross-legged. He saw the other shinigamis move to settle down too in a line facing the combatants. Except for Renji, who seemed to have fallen immobile on the exact spot where Rukia and he left him to rot.
Speaking of Rukia... he spotted her far to the other side of Shinji, feet tucked beneath her in a kneeling position. Nanao and Isane sat to her right, Rangiku and Hinamori to her left. Rangiku, always the over-exuberant spirit, had already got her mouth's engine running well over speed limit, excitedly jabbering away at her four audibly-overpowered companions.
Left to the girls and directly next to Shinji was Yumichika, knees also drawn up halfway to rest his elbows on. His zanpakuto was balanced on the ground with the tip of the scabbard set down, fingers of his right hand loosely circling the middle of the scabbard to keep it upright. Narrowed wisteria eyes darted left and right as they followed the movements of the fight.
CLACK! Tetsuzaemon fended off a crossed scabbard-and-blade from Ikkaku...
Right to Ichigo sat Kladias, cross-legged, elbows on her knees. Her chin rested on the back of her right hand while the left arm hung limp in front of her, hand aimlessly tracing circles in the grass. Her dark crimson eyes were bright as she stared unblinkingly at the ongoing combat.
Next to her, Hisagi was leaned back on both elbows, one leg straight in front of him and the other bent up halfway, knee pointing up. Along with a frown, there was a slight bored look on his face. Kira sat next to him, hugging and resting his chin on one knee, the other leg straight.
Tetsuzaemon's yelling drove to the extreme end of profanity as Ikkaku's swing missed his sunglasses by a hair's width.
Ten minutes into the fight, dead silence among the spectators struck Ichigo strange. He cocked his head towards to Kladias and commented,
"No cheering - poor sportsmanship much?"
Still staring straight ahead but a smirk forming on her face, she stated, "When two bloodhounds are trying to rip each others' throats off, leave them alone. Some learn it the hard way, you just got a special treat."
Ichigo let out a quiet "Hmph" in response. Continue the silence, fine by him.
But apparently, Kladias had other ideas-
"So you and kido, not friends?"
Oh PLEASE let her not start at him about that-
"What'd you think? No. Shut up." Ichigo snapped, annoyance perking up, desperately hoping that he wasn't blushing.
Kladias let out a bark of laughter and teased, "Ouch, touchy. Just saying, someone won't be teaching kido once the training division starts up."
His frown deepening, Ichigo was digging around for an acceptable comeback when someone beat him to it. Sort of.
"Look who's talking, Kurozachs."
Kladias snapped her head towards the speaker, "And who's that, Hisagi?"
The vice-captain had a smug look on his face, "A shinigami who went through a course of preliminary kido and failed every. single. practical on the exam." Ichigo saw Kira lean forward to peer from across.
Kladias's voice rose in pitch, "A course? It was a lousy hit-and-run load of crap!"
Hisagi didn't miss a beat, "Just because you couldn't handle the material, doesn't mean that it was crap, as you call it."
A snarl, "I handled it fine-"
Kira cut in, "By breaking the examiner's tibia-"
"That's shin bone in plain language-" Hisagi whispered at Ichigo-
"-cleanly in two?" Kira finished, displaying a sheepish grin with a hint of mischief on his face.
Kladias snapped, "That ancient drag deserved it! He and his philosophy should've DIED centuries ago. Besides, it was him, so-called the kido-genius, who was too sloppy to magic up a defense."
Hisagi shot back, smirking, "Be extremely grateful that the rest of the examiners had the decency to see it as a potential; had they not, you'd be-"
Something moved-
Bzzz- CRACK!
A flash of intense neon-blue light issued with the sound and rendered Ichigo blind for the second time in less than half an hour, he realized with annoyance. Moments later when the black dots disappeared from his vision, he glared at the scene in front of him. Then he raised an eyebrow.
It appeared that Kladias had attempted to dedicate another set of scars to Hisagi's face; her tense body halfway turned, left arm outstretched towards him, bone standing out from the back of her hand and fingers curved to a classic set of cat-claws. Hisagi seemed to have managed to fend her off somehow, though; a foot away from his face, the back of his clenched fist kept Kladias's claws hovering less than an inch away.
"Bakudou Number 8, Seki," small smirk, "that elementary reiatsu manipulation of yours is not going to cut it against me, Kurozachs." he stated loud and clear as he lowered his fist, giving his head a slight tilt as he stared down at the snarling subordinate.
Kira mused in his two cents, "Don't strain that arm, Kladias-san. It was supposed to send you flying far off, in case you weren't aware-"
Same crackling sound, same flash of light-
Ichigo heard Hisagi let out a pained yelp and clamber up to his feet - couldn't know for sure, since he was blinded once again for the love of freaking puppies and daffodils. Thoroughly irritated and still blind, he sprang up and roared out,
"The HELL did you do, Kladias?"
The culprit drawled, "Calm down, sport - I just put an end to an unfinished business." from where the sound was coming, she too seemed to have gotten to her feet already.
When Ichigo's vision returned a second later, he saw Hisagi doubled over, clenching the left of his face with both hands. Kira seemed to be in a state of panic, hysterical voice shooting a question after question of well-being at his fellow vice-captain.
Hisagi straightened up and roared at Kladias, hands still clutching his face,
"What is with you and my tattoo today-"
Kladias speedily interrupted, "That was for Kensei-"
"Captain Muruguma to you-"
"His god DAMN majesty - that should cover for a while - for yelling the eardrums out of my head this morning!
"That will not cover, and why am I taking the heat for my Captain's doing? Not to mention that he certainly did have the right-"
"The hell he does!"
"WHAT? Who do you think you - ugh, never mind that. You are unleashing your anger on the wrong pers-"
Seeming to be playing deaf, Kladias whipped up her arm to point at the spot Hisagi was still clutching, "You copy the shit off of the asshole's chest onto your freaking face and forget about it, fanboy? Gotta give it to the genius who got the entire Central 46 drunk enough to put you in charge of anyth-"
Uh-oh. Ichigo felt Hisagi's aura shift-
Hisagi ripped his hands off of his reddened cheek and spat out, "Watch your mouth, Officer Kuro-"
Heavy flash of reiatsu,
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! BOTH OF YOU!"
Silence.
...
Ichigo heard a sound of fist on flesh in the distance. Tetsuzaemon let out a roar that would've made a lion shrivel up.
He twisted around and looked down to Shinji, who had been the one to snap and bellow out. He spotted the captain still crouched on the ground, glowering up at Hisagi and Kladias. Yumichika and the five girls stared frozen still, wide-eyed, since when, he didn't know. He turned his head back to-
The hell? He found himself on the side of an overpowering staring match.
It was evident by Hisagi's face and body language that the usually self-composed vice-captain was on verge of completely losing his head: coal eyes shining with malice; an uncharacteristic snarl turning up a lip to reveal a set of clenched teeth; entire body impossibly taut with hands clenched to fists at his sides; aura around him demanding justice by death.
Kladias was in more or less a similar state: dark crimson eyes unusually bright as if calling for blood they were the color of; huge, predatory full-teeth snarl might as well been a grin except that it was drained of all its humor and amusement; hands still in her pockets but upper body straightened up from her usual slouch, neck muscles strained; wordlessly screaming her signature bring-it-on-jackass attitude with the volume turned up sky high.
Snap of a string and someone was going to DIE.
Ichigo felt and saw a couple thumps of Shinji's reiatsu slam the pair of them down, buckling knees and breaking eye contact. Wide-eyed astonishment flashed across the their faces as they were struck out of bloodlust, turning around to the captain. There was a look of agitated embarrassment on Hisagi's face, a pissed-off snarl on Kladias's.
Shinji, now standing, growled, "Seriously, kiddies, cut it out. You two might as well be a married couple."
Eyes and mouth widening in an emotion along the line of horror, Hisagi started to garble up a protest but Kladias spat out faster-
"Not a chance, Shinji - I would've divorced him already."
Hisagi let out an exasperated groan, turned back to her and was about shout when a twin blast of concentrated reiatsu whooshed through the entire group, blowing hairs back and rendering everyone silent.
The reiatsu had come from the shikai releases of the two combatants; Ikkaku was now twirling around his spear/sansetsukon with a maniac grin on his face, Tetsuzaemon roaring out a laughter, swinging a huge falchion-like zanpakuto.
They didn't seem to give a damn if anyone was watching or not.
"See? Even the two out there are telling the pair of you to shut up. So do." Shinji caught Kladias opening her mouth, "NOW! You were out of line, Kladias, and that's saying something. You," he pointed a finger at the fuming woman then jerked a thumb over his shoulder with the same hand, "next to the girls, end of the line-up. And stay there-"
Kladias yelped, "The hell I'm being ordered to a time-out!"
Shinji's voice hardened, "You are. Last chance before-"
"YO! We're done!" Ikkaku's yell cut him off from afar. Tetsuzaemon and he were now walking towards the group side-by-side, zanpakutos lowered to their sides still in shikai forms. Ichigo spotted swellings and some blood on both of them but no serious injuries, which came to him as a surprise as the fight seemed - and sounded - raucous to the extreme.
Ichigo got the glance of rest of the shinigamis getting to their feet then hollered at Ikkaku, "Who won? You two went shikai ten seconds ago!"
"Shut it!" Ikkaku snapped, apparently annoyed. From a small smirk that appeared on Tetsuzaemon's face, Ichigo supposed that the pair of them had an agreement beforehand or something of similar.
"No winner? That's fine," Shinji snapped his fingers once, drawing everyone's attention, and continued, "why don't we kick out one of them to the fieldnow," - a brief glare at Hisagi and Kladias - "I'm sure we could all use a peace of mind."
Ichigo suggested, "Why not send out both?" Now, that fight'll be interesting to watch...
Shinji retorted warily, "And have a twin case of murder at my hand? No."
Still, it'll be fun to watch... Nevertheless, Ichigo let go of it.
The captain turned to Isane, "Please prepare two boxes and draw one from each this time, Isane-san; the vice-captain and the 3rd seat of the 9th division in one, the rest who haven't gone in the other."
Her response was immediate, "Yes, sir!"
The tall woman walked up to the front of the group. She raised her hands chest-high, palms facing down. Shortly after, a small transparent box appeared below them each, numerous strands of light swirling inside the left box, only two inside the right one.
Looking to the box at the right, she spoke in a professional voice, "One of the next combatants-"
The box pulsed with a soft glow then vanished, a single strand of light left in its place. The light then distorted its shape: a flower insignia with three horizontal lines beneath.
"White poppy, three - 3rd seat officer Kurozachs Kladias, of the 9th division." she interpreted.
Isane started again, at the other box this time, "The officer going against her-"
The box went through the same process, resulting to a different flower insignia with two horizontal lines below.
"Snowdrop, two - vice-captain Kuchiki Rukia, of the 13th division." she finished.
The earlier freak-out about Kladias flashed through Ichigo's mind - his head snapped towards Rukia just in time to catch an unusual mixture of emotions slip beneath mask of a shy smile. She let out her good-natured chuckle for everyone to hear, a hand rubbing the back of her neck.
Shocked, Ichigo gave her a wide-eyed look of what-the-HELL which she ignored, bending down to pick up her zanpakuto and turning away to sprint towards the combat area.
"Hey - hurry the hell up, Rukia! Let's have some fun!" Kladias waved and hollered from farther out, having gotten a head start. Ichigo caught a note of excitement in her voice and glimpse of her pearly whites; the lethal Tasmanian Devil from few moments before had been replaced by her usual brash self.
Shinigamis around him tossed a comment or two at Ikkaku and Tetsuzaemon before falling silent. No one else seemed to have noticed the quirk with Rukia.
Feeling slightly dizzy and frowning, Ichigo dropped down onto the grass before anyone else, assuring himself that he was being paranoid to be feeling uneasy. It's just a practice combat!
But then...
One of the emotions he recognized on Rukia's face was something he had never seen before on her: pure malice. It was the intention to kill, determination to tear limbs apart, to destroy. There was a possibility that Kladias wasn't getting out of the fight alive.
But the prominent emotion hadn't been malice. It was fear. Sheer, absolute, unreasonable terror that froze the core of his heart just by looking at it.
Rukia was terrified of Kladias. Why?
...
Shinji's whistle let out a shrill screech, signaling the combat's start.
See ya later!