A/n: Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites. Okay - last week was one of my biggest week's of this month. I swear, starting up work again really did something to me, speaking of which I keep screwing up at work. It's not the good kind either, it hasn't been clicking like it normally does - I don't know what's wrong Dx
But anyways, let's ignore that and continue shall we? Just to remind everyone, this is set during the Bount Arc but there won't be many referenced to the Bounts. Okay? Okay, let'sa go! *Mario jump*
Disclaimer: Agua the Awesome A.k.a Luafua cannot and will not own bleach, or any of its franchise. It belongs to Kubo, and Kubo only. In fact, the only thing that I own are the Oc's. I also own the cover image except for the logo, which is on a site I would post up here but fanfiction doesn't allow links and all that jazz
WARNING: There is a little bit of swearing, but hopefully nothing too bad for our readers – thank you.
Chapter 11: Mission
The air was heavy with two surges of reiatsu overcame one of the many forests in Western Rukongai. Soul Society paid no attention in these forests, and let life form naturally in the earth. A brunette figure appeared in sight, narrowing her chestnut orbs as she lifted the steel coated blade in front of her to block a brutal attack from the offender. A smirk grew on the figure that owned raven hair, pushing down hard so that the brunette will stumble on her feet.
Stumble on her feet the brunette did, her eyes widened in brief surprise; trying to find a way to go around the attack but another strike from the attacker sent her flying off her feet to crash into a tree. A snort came from the raven haired woman as she stood tall, holding her own blade over her shoulder.
"You're not focused Laria, what's on yer mind?" Tahani wondered with an all-knowing sneer, the same signature sneer that she would have when she would show whenever she was winning. Of course this only made Laria stand up swiftly, her face was stern and her eyes were locked with Tahani's. The fourth seat raised an eyebrow in confusion, noticing that Laria was too distracted to be training.
"Stop assuming the worst Tahani," Laria responded coldly, ignoring the sharp pain burying itself in her back from the previous attack and raising Tsuki okami again to charge at Tahani. She let out a war cry, using shunpo to attack from behind, however Tahani had already seen the attack coming and blocked it with a smirk.
"Now, now Laria - don't ya think I wouldn't have asked if I believed ya?" With a flick of her wrist, Laria was pushed back into the air. Her eyes had hardened with annoyance, before she raised her free hand in front of her face. As it started to glow faint red, Tahani instantly realised on Laria's next intentions. "Holy cra-!"
"Shakkaho!"
Tahani's eyes widened as the dangerous red ball of energy darted her way. Considering that Laria was much better at using kido that using a sword didn't help the situation. The kido blasted behind Tahani as she jumped away for safety, but Laria was in front of her with her hand out.
"Shakkaho."
Tahani raised her blade in front of her, she couldn't dodge the attack so she might as well go through it, "Hunt 'em down, Aisutaiga!" Upon command, the single blade had turned into two daggers and it gave Tahani enough time to raise them in front of her face and rebound them off her new enhanced weapons of death.
Laria dodged her rebounded attack and distanced herself away from Tahani, her eyes observing the fourth seat's faster movements. It was a special ability that came with the zanpakuto that Tahani raised her speed when she released her weapon. Most of the time, the release would catch everyone off guard and Tahani would now be four times faster than Laria was. She gritted her teeth in annoyance, blocking another attack from Tahani who had smirked darkly.
"Why not use kido anymore?" Tahani wondered snidely, finding an opening and plunging her blade into Laria's ribs. Luckily for the brunette, she managed to use shunpo before the wound got too deep and held her hand on the small gash showing by her side. The cut, despite its tiny size it burned due to the dropping temperature. Another one of Aisutaiga's abilities was every cut it made gave the muscle a frozen reaction to it so the wound would only get worse as time wore on.
Her hand covered the wound, a scowl formed on her face as Laria raised the blade horizontally to point towards Tahani. "If you think that using kido would stop you, then you weren't as strong as I thought you were."
Tahani growled with excitement, rushing forward to get up close and personal to prevent Laria using kido. She knew that Laria is taunting her, and she knew very well that Laria could defeat her by using kido. Kido was a scary, dangerous thing at the hands of a master like her. Laria lunged forward; nicking Tahani's left shoulder before her daggers locked the blade in place. The raven haired woman smirked proudly, lifting her daggers so that she could yank Tsuki okami out of Laria's grip and send it over her head. Just as she did that, Laria narrowed her eyes, removing her hand from the side and pointed towards Tahani's left shoulder.
"Hado four: Byakurai." A bolt of light appeared from Laria's fingers and struck Tahani through the same shoulder that she was previously injured in before. Tahani let out a yelp, flinging her daggers into the air to nurse the new injury. She cursed when the scarlet liquid filled her hands - she was not expecting Laria to do that!
Laria narrowed her eyes sharply, using shunpo to get past Tahani and pick up her blade. Before she could prepare herself for another attack, Tahani caught one of the daggers with her good arm and slammed the weapon roughly against Laria. The raven haired woman had always been stronger than Laria, easily overpowering her from the attack.
A wince came from Laria when she remembered the slash from earlier; constantly reminding her that it wasn't going to stop any time soon. She knew that she needed to get Tahani away, but the brunette didn't know how to distance herself away.
"Come on Laria, ya can do better than that!" Tahani taunted, her smirk expanding when Laria let out an angered scoff. No, she couldn't move from her position, she would have to do something she hasn't tried before. Laria focused on pouring the reiatsu on her blade, letting it shimmer a silvery light as it powered up.
This surprised Tahani, her eyes picked up in the blade but it was suddenly yanked from her. Tahani's eyes widened in shock, nearly losing her footing in the position that she was but the fourth seat recovered from the action early, preparing a swift strike from her partner.
Laria used her reiatsu to add power into her attack, and this officially knocked Tahani off her feet. She let out a surprised yell, landing on her bottom which gave Laria the opportunity to finally do it. Raising Tsuki okami in the air, Laria's reiatsu stirred from her body and shot up drastically.
"Reflect your light, Tsuki okami!" The zanpakuto turned pure white and divided itself into two swords. Tahani saw the release, noticing the difference in power and hopped onto her feet to charge at the brunette. She definitely had to get Laria close now! "Tsukisofu!" Laria commanded fiercely, sending an energy blast of black and white power towards Tahani however the taller woman used shunpo to move out of the way, which resulted in a huge power explosion in the background.
"Geez, that attack is crazier than ever!" Tahani mused, picking up her other dagger before wincing slightly. That injury hurt like a little bitch. She looked up, noticing that Laria had prepared for another Tsukisofu and sent the attack directly towards the raven haired woman. The fourth seat raised her reiatsu and fought back the aura with her two tiny daggers. It was powerful, but it wasn't as strong as the first one because Laria used just a moment ago.
She gritted her teeth, forcing back the attack with a war cry and let the attack explode in front of her, which knocked her off her feet and sent her flying in the air. Tahani's eyes widened once she saw Laria purposely shatter the fragile sword and point towards the fourth seat with a yellow light forming in her hand. Her feet planted on the ground, directly charging at Laria again.
"Bakudo thirty, Shitotsu Sansen!"
The three miniature triangles shot themselves out of the larger one and headed straight towards Tahani. She realised that she was too far to reach Laria on time and looked behind her to see the large tree that she was going to implant into, her smirk grew faintly. So this was a loss?
"Hiya guys~" Hozumi sang as he appeared right in the middle of the battlefield, waving in Tahani's direction. Both girls widened their eyes in horror at the sight of the unseated officer. There he was, standing in the middle of a dangerous fight that could possibly injure him or worse?
"Hozumi, move ya moron!" Tahani snapped furiously, firmly planting her feet into the ground to halt her movements. Laria narrowed her eyes, and looked like she was about to face palm herself from the sheer stupidity from the subordinate. How did he graduate again?
The man pouted childishly and folded his arms as he slowly turned towards Laria, oblivious to the bakudo heading his way, "Don't be rude Tahani-chan, I was only trying to be nice-WAH!" He was suddenly bound by a three triangles that Laria formed. She was intending on getting Tahani, but no... the fool had to jump in the way… didn't he? Before he could collide with Tahani, she moved out of the way, only to see him slam into the tree. His head smacked against the tree, which was going to give him a bigger pain than a hangover.
"Ya dumbass…"
Hozumi had spoken too soon.
Tahani was mad alright, yeah sure it prevented her loss but it didn't prove that Laria was capable of defeating her. What kind of Shinigami wentrunning in the middle of a fight? Thank Spirit King that he wasn't in the eleventh division, he would've died in the first minute.
Hozumi could only let out an innocent chuckle at the sneering fourth seat with a dark glint in her eyes.
-:-
"Are ya stupid?"
"Ow, of course not! OW!"
"What are ya then? Because I know even a brainless hollow wouldn't go in the middle of a fight!"
"But I didn't think that you and Laria-chan would be fight so seriously - OW!"
"I'm from the ELEVENTH DIVISION idiot! I'm gonna go full out!"
Laria ignored the fact that Tahani was slamming a fist into Hozumi's gut as he tried to break out of the bakudo but found it futile. Getting beaten up by an enraged woman wasn't going to get him out. He was just going to have to deal with bumps bigger than his head, besides that was the least of his worries.
Hozumi couldn't stand lectures, and Laria was definitely going to give him a lecture for his foolishness. Had he not been focused on the fight that the two females were having? Sensing out a battle would've been no problems for the unseated officer.
Comical tears rushed down Hozumi's bruised face, and then Tahani picked him up from the front of his shihakusho and proceeded to slap his face silly.
"Laria-chan! HELP!" He screeched, eyes now swirling in comical swirls, "I promise to do the paperwork and your paperwork this week!"
This seemed to interest Laria, her eyebrow raised in curiosity as she saw more tears from the man. If he at least done the paperwork, it would mean less for her and the captain and that would be less stressful for her. Her eyes closed calmly and she released the bind that Hozumi had. He grinned in realisation at first, and then he saw that Laria had no intention on helping him fend off Tahani.
"Wait! Laria-chan! Ow! You said you would help me!" Hozumi yelped, now using arms to protect his face from the raven haired woman.
"You never said to stop Tahani, you needed my help so you got my help releasing the bakudo you had on you." Laria commented flatly as she returned her zanpakuto into its sheath. With the weapon now safely secure, Laria narrowed her eyes when she heard another girlish shriek from the man. Is he really male?
"Okay, okay! I promise to do it for three weeks!"
Now that was a deal that Laria couldn't help but smirk at, Hozumi was definitely desperate if he wanted Laria to help him. When she gave a look towards Tahani, the woman paused before dropping silently Hozumi towards the ground and went to retrieve her daggers.
"Stupid hedgehog."
The reason of Tahani's insult to Hozumi, simple - Hozumi had wild messy hair with some of the strands looking like they could defy gravity. It gave a spiky result, which made the fourth seat come up with the brand new nickname. Laria sometimes wondered if she and Yachiru were related somehow, considering that they made up nicknames for their comrades.
Hozumi let out a wounded moan, crawling on his hands and knees. His head tilted when he noticed Laria cringe, and look down at the wound that she received from Tahani. Speaking of the wounds, he also noted that Tahani had a fresh wound on her shoulder. The male furrowed his brow in confusion - had both women managed to inflict enough damage on each other?
Laria sighed in annoyance, walking to Tahani to heal the shoulder wound that she received. The hado had pierced through her shoulder, however the kido had been too weak to go completely through which was a slight relief for the brunette. She may be able to heal, but Laria was no expert in healing - healing significant wounds would be too far for her level.
"So, Aoki-san… why did you come charging recklessly into a fight?" The brunette questioned, letting the bluish green light do the work of healing wonders. Tahani seemed to be curious about Hozumi's intentions as well and gave a curious look to the unseated officer.
As if it had been magic, Hozumi stood on his feet instantly and grinned in realisation. "That's right! I came here because Captain wanted to speak the three of us!"
The raven haired woman turned to give Hozumi a sceptical expression. "Why would Hitsugaya wanna talk with me?"
Hozumi held his chin in deep thought as his thick brows drew together to form a frown, "I didn't ask myself, but if Captain Hitsugaya wanted the three of us, I think it's kinda serious." He stated, looking away with a distant look in his eye. The trio had fallen silent; save for Laria's healing but after the third seat found the wound closed, she let that go as well.
Laria felt like she had distanced herself from the captain since Aizen had betrayed Soul Society. She had been too weak, unable to fight for her captain's life before Aizen had pierced his blade inside her stomach like a knife through soft butter. Captain Hitsugaya had not spoken to her much about it, but she couldn't help but feel guilt and rage spiralling in her gut. It was only best for her to give him the space that he needed so that he could figure things out on his own.
"Then we should go," Laria looked over to Tahani who had a gentle smirk on her face, as always. How come it was so hard for Laria to have a smirk or a smile on her face, when her best friend could do it like it was breathing? "We wouldn't want ta keep him waiting, now would we?"
-:-
Hitsugaya let out an even sigh, scowling darkly at the paperwork that Aoki was meant to complete. The foolish man probably rushed to get Alfero and Rosa because if he had stayed then he would've gotten a scolding for his laziness.
At least he wasn't a complete and utter idiot like most thought he was. It wasn't like Aoki would go run in the middle of a battle, in fact Hitsugaya doubted anyone was that stupid.
With Matsumoto quietly filling out her paperwork back in her own room, Alfero training with Rosa, Hitsugaya found himself able to do his own paperwork, however one report caught his eye. Aoki had meant to give this to Alfero, but Hitsugaya took a peek at it anyways.
The report was issued the week before the ryoka invasion, and though he was muttering curses to Aoki he realised that now this would be essential for Soul Society itself. That's when Aoki went to go get the duo from their training session. He just hoped that Alfero hadn't been wounded when she returned, he needed someone of her rank to go do this mission immediately.
It also felt as if Alfero had acted differently to him since Aizen's rebellion. She still worked when she needed to, and owed to him the respect but she was often leaving immediately as soon as she was finished her work. Before the entire crises happened, Alfero would always give Hitsugaya a reassuring smile before leaving but now she would barely look at him.
It seemed that the third, fifth and ninth divisions weren't the only ones affected by Aizen's betrayal. After all, Alfero had been Aizen's friend and she learnt how to fight with a zanpakuto because of him, but that gave her the biggest opening after Hinamori. Aizen knew all her moves, and could easily predict each attack. Alfero's moves were a lot sloppier since she had gone into a blind rage, but Hitsugaya was still baffled about her reaction into seeing her own captain go down.
His hand clenched unconsciously, glaring at the sheet in front of him. Aizen will regret, everything that he had done to his friends… wait… did he jut admit that Alfero was his friend? No, she was his loyal third seat, the same girl that nearly got killed by both Aizen and Ichimaru.
A knock from the outside made Hitsugaya snap his head towards the sound, scowling darkly when Rosa slid the door open with a smirk on her face, a mischievous twinkle in her midnight gaze. Following after the raven haired woman, Alfero and Aoki had entered the room with apologetic looks towards their captain.
"Here they are sir~!" Aoki declared proudly, raising his hand above both their heads. Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow when he saw Alfero avoiding his stare, it was odd - almost two weeks ago and she was standing up to him but now she looked like the same girl who had just joined the tenth division.
The captain stood up calmly, giving Alfero the main report. Once she had briefed over the paper, her eyes widened slightly and gave a stunned look towards Hitsugaya. Well, not the reaction he was expecting from her, "We got a report a while back about a study group of Shinigami to do basic research between hollow and Shinigami reiatsu. I've spoken about this to the Head Captain and he's decided that the three of you will go to eleventh district of Western Rukongai to investigate this base and bring back anything that looks remotely suspicious."
"But Captain Hitsugaya…" Rosa spoke up with a confused frown on her face, "Isn't this something that the Twelfth Division should be working on a mission like this?"
"I had thought of the same thing," Hitsugaya confessed, turning away from the group. "However, when we spoke about it in the meeting, it turns out that this group wasn't assigned by Korutsuchi…" He glanced back at the group, watching Alfero's eyes widen at the words.
"This was assigned by Aizen!" His third seat realised, tightening her grip on the paper. She clenched her jaw, keeping a low growl under her throat. Rosa had narrowed her eyes darkly at the thought of Aizen, while Aoki had a concerned frown on his face. "It would've made no suspicion back then because Aizen wasn't… And Central forty-six were massacred; we just assumed it was normal..." Alfero looked like she wanted to tear the paper in to shreds but before she could do anything, Hitsugaya grabbed her wrist. The look that she gave him was priceless; her eyes were uncharacteristically wide with shock and her lips had been parted slightly.
"Alfero," Hitsugaya muttered as if she had been in that room. Her chestnut eyes blinked at him, almost as if she was trying to see if this was really a dream or not. He had to admit that staring in her eyes was almost nostalgic, as if he had seen them before he became a Shinigami. Had they always looked so familiar? "I'm putting my trust in you to figure this out." When he released her hand, the warmth from his skin disappeared; after all she didn't have icy cold skin like he had. His turquoise gaze moved away from her eyes, looking anywhere else but her eyes.
Alfero looked like she had just learnt the meaning of life through his stare. Her eyes narrowed, back into the determined stare he was use to seeing. She bowed her head in response, ignoring the wide smirks of her taller comrades.
A/n: As you can see, this story is going to make its turn. Anyways, I might post next week - in fact I hope I do but it really depends on how work will treat me. I'm not saying they're being bullies - I just wish I knew why I'm screwing up so badly, this didn't happen when I had my first job. Maybe it had to do with me being extremely quiet - I don't know, if I did then I would slap myself *Literally* and tell myself to stop it and do well. Hopefully I'll manage but damn its hot during the day.
Please review
14/10/2013 - Heat... the heat... *Drops dead*
