Twilight Marionette: Sorry for the late update once again, we have been very busy over the last two weeks with guests both expected...
Twilight Puppeteer: And unexpected...
Twilight Marionette: The word is uninvited heh heh.
Twilight Puppeteer: At least you tried to be a good hostess this time.
Twilight Marionette: What are you implying about my social ability?
Twilight Puppeteer: -cough- Anyway, we'd like to thank every who reads her story and she appreciates both the compliments and the constructive criticism.
Twilight Marionette: That i do. -waves-
Twilight Puppeteer: So as both an apology and for the sake of continuity this chapter is much longer then usual. Hope you don't find her first attempt at a fight scene too bad. -winks-
Twilight Marionette: Silence! I saw that wink!
Disclaimer: No no you cant make me say it! Oh hey, that looks sharp, yes yes I see your point now, literally. I do not own Bleach or any of it themes, characters or stories.
Chapter 13: Do I know you?
Akatsuki turned her head just as the giant clawed arm swung down towards her on its deadly arc. The clawed hand smashed down against the floor hard, sending cracks across the pavement and up along the walls of the alleyway. Dust flew everywhere from the force of the blow and clouds of dirt blocked out the light in the narrow alleyway. The force of the blow sent Akatsuki's gigai tumbling several feet forward to the ground where it lay crumpled like a rag doll.
Having missed its prey the hollow quickly raised its mighty arms again and smashed downwards once more, this time aiming at the gigai laying prone on the floor. Its swing impacted even harder then the first, its blood seeking battle and souls and this time it felt that it had hit something above the ground. The force of the attack sent dust flying throughout the alley in a billowing cloud of debris. Its eyes tried to focus through the dust and as the dust cleared the hollow saw its victim standing beneath its clawed hand and it roared in frustration and anger.
Akatsuki stood with her left side to the hollow, her left arm easily blocking the force of those giant fists and stood there with her left arm raised in front of her head defensively. She felt the hollows arm shake in effort to push down on her, causing the pavement around her feet to depress further and more cracks to spread out from her feet. She looked up at the hollow with a dark expression and hummed curiously at the Hollow.
The Hollow felt strange as it looked down into its victims eyes, a ring of red now encircled her pupils and it felt its arms quaver slightly.
----------------------------------------------------------
"Ichigo?" Rukia repeated and waved her hands in front of Ichigo's face to snap him out of his daydream. He suddenly seemed to be staring into space as if something had just caught his attention. She followed his eyes but he didn't seem to be looking at anything important. She stepped back from him and slapped him gently across the cheek, snapping him out of his trance.
Ichigo shook his head and looked down at Rukia in surprise. "Hey! What was that for!?" he said irritably, not expecting Rukia to suddenly slap him.
"Hey! Its not my fault you were spacing out," Rukia pointed out and crossed her arms. Ichigo looked at her curiously and she turned away from him and shook her head.
"I was?" Ichigo asked, oblivious to what had just happened.
Orihime patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. "You just stopped walking all of a sudden Kurosaki-kun," she said agreeing with Rukia without being as mean about it. Ichigo glanced at her and she smiled back. Ichigo seemed to have something on his mind over the last few weeks. He had had been attending classes as always but had seemed like something was on his mind as of late.
Ichigo looked between Rukia and Orihime and shrugged in defeat. "What were you saying again Rukia?" Ichigo asked, having not heard the last of her conversation. It had been a strange sensation, one minute he was just strolling along with Orihime and Rukia and then Rukia had slapped him. He had felt something strange which completely distracted him. 'Well, whatever it is I cant feel it now.'
"It doesn't matter," Rukia said to be awkward and walked off ahead with her arms crossed.
"Come on!" Ichigo complained but was ignored.
Orihime patted him comfortingly again and skipped to catch up to Rukia and threw her arm around Rukia's shoulders. Ichigo ran to catch up with them and stayed two steps behind them. He felt compelled to look off in that random direction again, he was sure he had heard his name being called on the wind.
----------------------------------------------------------
"What is it?" Yumichika asked having noticed Ikkaku suddenly stop walking and turned his head towards the sun. At first Ikkaku seemed to ignore him and just as he started to walk over to him Ikkaku turned to face him with a evil grin on his face. "Hmm?"
It had been brief instant, like electricity going through his mind but he had definitely felt it all right. That feeling, it was the same as before. Ikkaku reached his hand up to his forehead to quell the burst of pain from within his skull. "She's here!" he said excitedly to Yumichika who returned his grin.
Yumichika wasn't sure what had just happened but he trusted Ikkaku's instincts, especially when it came to things like this. He reached up and brushed his fingers through his hair dramatically. "Shall we go then?" he said in his smooth casual voice.
"Just remember, she's mine!" Ikkaku said and ran off in the direction he had been looking, not even waiting for Yumichika to answer or even look back to see if he was following.
Yumichika smiled to himself. "It goes without saying," he said to himself and ran off after Ikkaku, sharing in his excitement.
----------------------------------------------------------
Yoruichi had swiftly jumped out of danger as soon as she had felt Akatsuki's grip on her lighten when she had called out her warning of the hollows attack. Looking down on it she could see it was a strong hollow, with muscle bound arms longer then its legs, making it resemble a large ape of some kind, however its mask resembled some kind of prehistoric monster. Yoruichi guessed that the hollow had been able to get so close without either of them realizing because they had been concentrating on each other. "She's got pretty good reactions," Yoruichi said to herself as she looked down at Akatsuki.
The hollow roared in anger and released the pressure of its attack so that it could try again, swiftly lifting its powerful arms to strike down on the Arrancar again. The moment the pressure was released Akatsuki leaped forwards, spinning in the air before a powerful mid air circle kick exploded into the hollows chest, the force sending it flying away from her and smashing heavily into the street beyond.
Yoruichi was impressed by the kick, it was a move she herself could use and knew that it took a fair amount of skill to pull it off in such a small space. However, Yoruichi was less impressed by Akatsuki's landing and cringed as Akatsuki's foot slipped as it hit the ground and sent her falling onto her bottom. Yoruichi jumped down and slinked her way over to stand in front of Akatsuki who was sat rubbing her behind. "Your balance leaves a lot to be desired," Yoruichi said sarcastically.
"Oh be quiet!" Akatsuki complained as she massaged her back. She met Yoruichi'sgaze and blushed in embarrassment and looked away and huffed. She got to her feet and dusted off her white kimono which was covered in grey dust from the first attack. The attack had taken her by surprise, the thought that a base hollow could get so close without her sensing it was strange, even if she had been concentrating on the Shinigami cat. She brushed the dust from her hair and sighed heavily and walked over to her gigai and stood it up right. She was about to speak to the cat again when she felt the hollows anger flare up and she quickly forced her way inside her gigai.
Yoruichi felt it too and quickly turned around to see the hollow forcing its way to its feet and roaring in the direction of the alleyway. "So your going to finish it off," Yoruichi said confidently.
Akatsuki walked over to Yoruichi and bent down and picked her up again, much to Yoruichi's annoyance. "No," she said in a happy voice.
"What are you going to do then?" Yoruichi asked curiously.
Akatsuki closed her eyes and smiled innocently even as the hollow started to charge towards her. "Run!" Akatsuki shouted playfully and ran off in the opposite direction, with Yoruichi held tightly in her arms.
"Why are we running!?" Yoruichi complained vigorously. This was not what she had planned at all. Not only had Akatsuki not been fooled by her feline form, but she was being forced to run away from a weak base Hollow. Even more strange was that an Arrancar was running away from it too.
"Because its chasing us!" Akatsuki answered back happily, she looked back behind her to make sure the hollow was still following.
"Its only chasing you because your running away from it!" Yoruichi complained.
Yoruichi was about to complain again when she noticed Akatsuki look over her shoulder again. 'I see, she wants it to chase her, that's why she's running away. She's trying to get it a area where less people can be become involved. Without a Zanpakuto on her she cant cut its mask in two and to use use a Cero in such a area would kill a lot of innocent people,' Yoruichi considered to herself and nodded approvingly. And then wondered why a Arrancar would concern itself about protecting the living.
----------------------------------------------------------
"Rukia?" Orihime asked happily.
"Hmm?" Rukia responded with a frown. She was trying to give Ichigo the cold shoulder which wasn't easy with Orihime beaming at her so happily.
Orihime brought her finger up to her chin as if in deep thought and hummed. "Kurosaki-kun has been distracted lately, what's going on?" she asked innocently.
Rukia sighed, it was so like Orihime to worry about everyone else, even after what had happened to her in the past. "Ask Ichigo, he's right behind us," she answered sarcastically.
Orihime bent over Rukia and whispered into her ear conspiratorially. "It would just be a secret between us girls," she hissed in Rukia's ear and looked from left to right suspiciously.
"I'm right here you know," Ichigo pointed out sarcastically but it looked like he was being ignored.
"I don't know," Rukia said flatly. She wasn't sure what Orihime was after but she wasn't careless enough to mention Akatsuki if Ichigo hadn't mentioned her yet, she could completely understand why Ichigo would keep that to himself. He was in a awkward enough situation as it was. And despite her weird personality Akatsuki was quite good at making herself a secret. "Maybe he has a girl friend," Rukia said evilly and grinned at the sound of Ichigo gagging.
"Rukia!" Ichigo gagged.
"A girl friend? Is that true Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asked excitedly. Before giving Ichigo a chance to answer she put her chin in her hands, feigning deep thought again.
"Orihime don't listen to her," Ichigo tried to say but was cut off by Orihime's rambling.
"That would explain why he's been so distant lately, yes indeed," she said excitedly to herself and nodded her head in agreement with herself. "So Kurosaki was trying to keep her a secret, I must follow him without him noticing!" She hit a fist into her hand and nodded with determination.
"Orihime I'm still right here," Ichigo said in a depressed tone and shook his head. He then slowly turned his head towards Rukia and shot her a evil glare since he was sure she was very amused with herself.
Rukia grinned to herself evilly and felt Ichigo's glare which made her shiver, but it didn't ruin her amusement. He wouldn't ignore her next time.
"Ignore her Orihime, she's just messing with me," Ichigo said still glaring at Rukia's back. Rukia turned around and failed to surprise him with her evil grin.
"Awwww, I thought she was being serious," Orihime said in a disappointed tone and patted him on the back.
Rukia was about to start laughing when a familiar beeping caught every ones attention and she reached inside her uniform and fished out her phone. She flipped it open and read off the information in her head and flipped it closed. "Ichigo!"
"Yeah, what is it?" he said sarcastically.
"There's reports of a large Hollow down town," she said with a serious expression and tone of voice, the joke over.
Ichigo nodded to Rukia and turned to Orihime. "Lets go! See you later Orihime!" Ichigo said as he ran after Rukia who had already gone off ahead of him.
Orihime watched them run off down the way they had come and waved at their backs, Rukia turning to wave back and Ichigo just grinned back at her. "Be careful Kurosaki-kun!" she shouted after Ichigo and smiled as he disappeared from sight among the people in the street. "But I am glad, that Rukia was only joking," she said to herself and laughed nervously.
----------------------------------------------------------
Urahara pawed his way through some very old and dusty boxes that had not seen a dust cloth in many years, even decades. In fact he had even forgot about this room until Akatsuki had asked him for a favour. He found a likely looking box and opened it up, careful not to breath in any of the decade old dust that he had disturbed. He clawed his way through its contents but did not find what he was looking for and resealed the box before sliding it back into place.
Urahara fanned himself before selecting a box at random with his cane and pulling it out from were it was tightly wedged. He looked inside and again there was nothing which he could use. "Haaaaaa, this is hard work, any luck Tessai?" he asked as he fanned himself again and covered his mouth away from the dust.
"Nothing yet," Tessai answered plainly. He too was looking through the old boxes for the item that Urahara was searching for, however he was far more efficient and practical about it and worked like a machine set to its task. "Why does miss Akatsuki want such a strange item?" Tessai asked curiously.
"I didn't ask," Urahara answered happily, not letting a small detail like that cause him undue concern. "The customer is always right after all," he added on as an after thought with his usual wry smile.
"I see," Tessai answered in his usual stoic tones. "This would be easier if you weren't picking boxes at random," Tessai said in a stern voice but without any hint of sarcasm.
"I'm insulted!" Urahara said feigning insult, "You'll hurt my feelings Tessai."
"I find that hard to believe," Tessai said seriously as he easily reached up for the boxes on the higher shelves and selected the next one in line. "Where is Yoruichi-sama, I thought I saw her earlier, was she not due to return today?" Tessai asked curiously.
Urahara smiled to himself. "Oh, I'm sure she's busy with our newest acquaintance."
---------------------------------------------------------
"I could run much faster if you just put me down!" Yoruichi complained as she was bounced up and down by Akatsuki carrying her.
"Oh be quiet!" Akatsuki snapped back. Akatsuki didn't bother to turn her head, her senses alone told her that the hollow had no intention of giving up and its aura was red with anger. But it was strange she thought, that a low level hollow would dare attack an Arrancar. Even a weak Arrancar like her who was no good at fighting was far too strong for it to deal with. Yet it seemed so determined. She wondered if the hollow was being attracted to Yoruichi'sspirit energy but decided that it was unlikely it could even sense Yoruichi as a Shinigami never mind her reiatsu.
Akatsuki suddenly cleared the densely packed buildings out to an open area. She quickly looked around for any sign that people were here but found none. In the centre of the square was a water fountain gently gushing water. "Awww pretty," Akatsuki said and walked over towards the fountain, acting as if she had forgotten the hollow was still chasing her.
Yoruichi climbed onto Akatsuki's shoulder and after brushing some red hair of her face looked around for the hollow and saw it barrelling towards them from behind. "You might want to deal with this first," Yoruichi said with only minor concern and climbed down from Akatsuki's shoulder and ran off to the side of the water fountain.
Akatsuki sighed to herself and raised her left arm so that her hand was level with her chest and half closed her fingers. In the space in between her fingers a black and red sphere of negative energy materialised and rapidly expanded so that it filled her hand, red tendrils of electric like Cero energy leaping from the spaces between her fingers. She turned and looked sideways towards the hollow which was now almost upon her, lifting its huge arms together to smash down on her.
Just as the hollow swung its clawed hands downwards Akatsuki flashed of sight of the hollow, the only noise it heard was that of static. Its arm smashed down into the ground, cracks spreading out in all directions. "I'm sorry, I really am sorry," said a kind but sad voice from behind it. It reared its body and roared in fury and started to run towards her.
Akatsuki pointed her arm towards the hollow and opened her fingers. The Cero blast roared forwards and crashed into the hollows body, its body turning to nothingness as it faded from vision, its eyes the last thing to fade from existence.
"I'm so sorry," Akatsuki repeated and brought her hand to her heart, she closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly. She opened her eyes after a brief moment and began to walk over to Yoruichi. She looked over to where Yoruichi had been standing but she was no longer there. Then much too late to flee Akatsuki felt the reiatsu of two shinigami rapidly approaching her, and one of them felt familiar but it wasn't Ichigo or Rukia. Akatsuki spun on the spot to face the two shinigami that had arrived from behind her.
"Hey," Ikkaku said with a evil grin spread across his face, his weapon resting on his shoulder. "Its you alright," he said as he flipped his Zanpakuto off his shoulders and caught it so that it was pointing at Akatsuki. Ikkaku guessed that this was his lucky day after all, now that he could see her he saw sure this was the girl he had fought before.
"Its me? What's me?" Akatsuki said and pointed at herself and smiled innocently. The tall bald man seemed to know her but he didn't look familiar to her at all. She squinted her eyes at him and tried to remember if she had ever met him before, it was only as his grin expanded that it clicked in her head. She had met him before. "Its you!" she shouted back at Ikkaku and pointed at him accusingly.
"Looks like you two know each other," Yumichika said sarcastically and walked off to the side of them both, fully intending to stay out of any fight that broke out.
"I know you! I know you!" Akatsuki shouted at Ikkaku again making him stressed out and a vein started to throb on his forehead.
"Damn right!" Ikkaku said walked closer towards her.
Akatsuki backed off slightly but didn't even think of running away. She was sure now, this was someone she knew, she just wasn't sure why. He might know why she couldn't remember what she had done to make her a traitor, or at the very least, why she had missing memories of the time before she woke up in the Kurosaki clinic. "What do you want from me?" she said defensively.
Though she backed off from him she didn't try to run and even though she spoke defensively she didn't show any sign of being scared or intimated of him. That was good Ikkaku thought to himself. "I'm here for pay back!" he said and his eyes narrowed as he focused on her.
"Pay back? From me? What did I do to you?" Akatsuki said confused and pointed at herself.
"Don't play dumb," Ikkaku said grinning.
"You defeated him," Yumichika added sarcastically from behind Akatsuki.
Ikkaku's forehead bulged as a vein nearly burst. "She didn't defeat me! She used a dirty trick to escape!" Ikkaku growled and glared past Akatsuki at Yumichika who smiled back at his friend innocently.
Akatsuki turned to Yumichika and pointed back at Ikkaku. "I defeated him?" she said with honest innocence.
"Shut up!" Ikkaku shouted at them both.
"How ugly, a man should accept defeat gracefully," Yumichika said mockingly. Ikkaku glared at him and he almost looked like he had forgotten his reason for being here.
Akatsuki turned back to Ikkaku and pointed at him accusingly and waved her arms about childishly. "You remember! You remember! Tell me what happened?" she asked excitedly.
Ikkaku was taken by surprise at her outburst. "What are you talking about?" he asked in a stressed voice.
"Tell me, what did I do to you, tell me please!" Akatsuki continued to plead enthusiastically with Ikkaku and was almost bouncing up and down happily.
"You OK?" he said confused.
"Tell me please, tell me what happened, what did I do to you, its important!" Akatsuki carried on excitedly.
Ikkaku had had enough and in one swift motion drew his Zanpakuto. "Draw you sword girl, were gonna have some fun," he said in an almost growl of a voice. She looked back at him and scratched her head in embarrassment.
"I don't have it with me, heh heh," Akatsuki said and laughed to herself.
"I hate unfair fights, ruins my fun," he said disappointingly. "Don't suppose your some kind of crazy skilled martial artist?" he asked hopefully.
"Sorry Shinigami-sama," Akatsuki apologised and shrugged her shoulders
"Then sorry about this kid," Ikkaku said honestly and began to charge her, however a flash of light flew past his face, forcing him to jump backwards defensively. The spinning object slammed into the ground just in front of Akatsuki, the light shone from its over sized blade. Ikkaku recognised that blade straight away, it was Kurosaki Ichigo's weapon, Zangetsu.
---------------------------------------------------------
"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed as he jumped from one building to the next with Rukia and Yoruichi just behind him. "So she was the hollow you picked up?" he asked back at Rukia.
"I don't think so," Rukia said with confidence, "The signal was that of a large hollow, not a powerful signature like an Arrancar."
"Indeed, we were attacked by a large hollow and Akatsuki led it away from the populated area using herself as bait," Yoruichi added on. "However it seems that you two weren't the only ones to pick up the signal."
"What are you gonna do Ichigo, things will get very complicated if you defend her from Shinigami," Rukia pointed out seriously.
"I don't know!" Ichigo growled under his breath "I'll think of something."
---------------------------------------------------------
Akatsuki was just as surprised as Ikkaku and looked at the large blade cautiously. She knew this blade, she had seen it before on the night she had first met Ichigo. She quickly turned in the direction that it had come from and saw Ichigo and Rukia stood with Yumichika. Ichigo grinned at her confidently.
"Now she has a Zanpakuto," Ichigo said and grinned at them both.
"Ichigo!" Ikkaku exclaimed.
Akatsuki looked at Ichigo calmly and understood at once. There was no way for him to intervene in this problem without putting himself against the shinigami. It was all he could do to throw his weapon to her. She looked slightly to his side and saw Rukia standing next to Ichigo. Rukia nodded ever so slightly to Akatsuki and Akatsuki looked away from her back to Ichigo. "Guess that makes things a little more even," Akatsuki said and smiled at Ikkaku who reacted by grinning.
"You think you can use that thing?" he said and nodded to Zangetsu. He wondered why Ichigo had thrown her his Zanpakuto but didn't spend very long wondering, she was right, at least now their rematch would be a bit more equal. He would just have to suppress using his Zanpakuto's greater powers.
"Fight?" Akatsuki said and pointed to herself. "Me? Oh no no no, I'm not here to fight you, I just want to know what I did to you that night," Akatsuki said and laughed quietly to herself, feigning embarrassment.
"Huh!?" Ikkaku snarled. "So your going to just run away, is that it? Even after Kurosaki Ichigo has thrown you his sword!"
"Is that an option here?" she said to herself and brought her hand to her chin in thought. She caught Ikkaku's glare and shivers ran up her spine. "Or I could just stay here and play with you heh heh," she said and scratched her head. She really didn't remember fighting this man, but she really didn't have any other leads to follow. And he seemed so certain of it that it actually gave her a little confidence.
Akatsuki grinned back at him and separated from her gigai and reached out her hand towards Zangetsu's hilt and wrapped her hand lightly around it. Even with such slight contact she could feel the blade trying to repel her as it didn't recognise her as its owner but at the same time it felt as if it were calling out to her to pick in up.
"If I win you tell me what happened that night!" Akatsuki suddenly burst out, taking both Ikkaku and Yumichika off guard and they looked at each other in confusion. "I need to know!"
Ikkaku's expression remained impassive for a few moments and then a smile slowly spread across his lips. He realized that her memory was missing just like his was and that gave her a reason to take this fight seriously, even if she acted as if she had no stomach for it. She didn't look like the fighter type but he knew better then to judge an opponent by how they looked. Even though her body language was all over the place and she acted like a child, her eyes had not left his own the whole time he had first looked into them. "That's fine with me," he said and took up his fighting stance and flashed towards her.
As Akatsuki tightened her fingers around the hilt she connected with the Zanpakuto and thoughts not her own flowed through her mind. "Your name, is Zangetsu?" Time seemed to slow down for a moment and she caught flashed of images in her head. A man dressed in a long black flowing coat of darkness, a strange blue sideways city and Ichigo, or at least it looked like Ichigo but had eyes she knew all too well. The images relented as soon as they had come and time seemed to flow again.
Ikkaku had launched straight into the attack with a swift shunpo followed through with a downward slice. Akatsuki was able to raise Zangetsu just in time to block the swing, sending sparks flying as the blade impacted against each other. He saw confusion in Akatsuki's eyes but didn't let that slow him down, directly following his first by pulling back and quickly launching into a sideways slicing motion. Again Akatsuki was able to move Zangetsu just in time to block the force of the attack, however this time his action pushed her backwards.
Akatsuki let Ikkaku's attack push her away from him, giving her valuable distance in which to react to his next attack which came almost a heartbeat later. His wild but accurate swings kept coming and coming, each one forcing her backwards with every hit. Zangetsu felt so heavy and it was all she could do to react fast enough to block Ikkaku's attacks. She knew what she wanted to do and how to move but she just couldn't do it with Ichigo's heavy, cumbersome sword.
"This isn't good," Yoruichi said to herself beside Ichigo.
"Akatsuki isn't a natural fighter," Rukia said in turn.
Ichigo didn't say anything, instead he watched Akatsuki struggle to move Zangetsu. He could tell that her reactions were good, as was her speed, but Zangetsu was unfamiliar to her.
"She isn't able to wield Zangetsu like Ichigo can, after all, its not her Zanpakuto," Yoruichi replied to Rukia.
Rukia wondered if she should have offered her sword instead but there was no proof it would have been any different than what was happening now.
"Come on! Come on! Come on!" Ikkaku roared with each swing, blood-lust and excitement raising through his body like fire. He loved this sensation more then anything else in the world. Ikkaku took a leaping downwards swing at Akatsuki which she barely managed to guard against, the force sending her falling backwards.
Akatsuki fell backwards from the downward force of Ikkaku's attack. Her body felt so slow and sluggish, even without Ichigo's Zangetsu. Ikkaku followed through with another volley of swings, not allowing her to gain her footing back and each attack threatened to knock her down. Sweat started to flow through her brow and her hands felt like they were breaking. 'Why!? Why do i feel so weak already?'
Ikkaku grinned and ended his volley with an unexpected feint and jumped behind Akatsuki and tried to swing his sword down from behind her. However Akatsuki was able to swing fast enough on the spot to block his attack but he kept the pressure up on her guard and leaned his face in towards her mockingly. "I don't remember you being so weak," Ikkaku said evilly, hoping to goad her into breaking her guard.
He was right, this wasn't the way she fought, not even close, she hated using swords. Then Akatsuki worked something out and a smile played across her lips and her eyes filled with a determination she hadn't had a moment ago. She felt the weight in her hands again and re tightenedher grip on Zangetsu.
Her expression confused Ikkaku and he suddenly felt her resistance fail, his blade pushing swiftly forward as Akatsuki pulled away from the fight and spun around Ikkaku with a spinning flip motion. However Ikkaku wasn't going to fall for his own move and quickly swung his blade out behind him to where she would be. But he felt no resistance of either sword or flesh. As the movement of his sword arm brought him around to face where Akatsuki should have been he found no one there. He quickly turned his head to look along his sword arm but his reactions weren't fast enough to dodge Akatsuki's kick to the face which crunched against his nose.
Akatsuki had spun around him and expected him to swing straight for her. As his Zanpakuto came around she leaped on to its blade and balanced on it as it finished its movement. She kicked Ikkaku straight in the face as he turned his head. The force of the kick made Ikkaku lose his balance and stumble backwards and Akatsuki leaped forwards and swung Ichigo's sword straight down at Ikkakuwho was able to block the blow, however he was already stumbling and the sheer weight of Zangetsu combined with Akatsuki's downward speed knocked him backwards to the ground and he rolled defensively away.
"Oh my," Yumichika said out loud to himself as Ikkaku was knocked away from Akatsuki.
"Ikkaku, was knocked down?" Rukia said in disbelief.
Akatsuki looked at Zangetsu as if she had never seen it before. She realized its weight was useful if used correctly, but her arms were already tired from holding it. She was used to wielding Hakumei who was far lighter.
Ikkaku flipped to his feet and swung his sword casually onto his shoulder and wiped the blood from his nose. His grimace turned into an overjoyed grin as he looked at the blood on his hand. "Now that's more like it!" he said happily, his eyes almost sparkling. "Nice move kid," he added on with a grin.
Akatsuki brought Zangetsu up and levelled it straight at Ikkaku and smiled back. She then swiftly took Zangetsu in both hands and ran towards Ikkaku. "I'm not a kid! Old man!"
"Who are you called a bald man!" Ikkaku roared and guarded her attack, their blades swinging in and out against each other in a intense flurry of blows, sparks flying frantically with each movement.
"I didn't say bald man," Akatsuki replied sarcastically.
"You said it again!" Ikkaku shouted.
"Oh my," Yumichika commented to himself and shook his head in mild disbelief. Ikkaku seemed to be really getting into it, even though he was having to lower his power to the Arrancars level to get a fair fight. He looked across to Ichigo and Rukia and smiled slyly and walked over to them, neither noticing until he coughed to get their attention. Ichigo turned to face him, though to Yumichika it was obvious he would rather watch the fight, but for what reason he wondered.
"You know her don't you?" Yumichika asked casually, making sure he didn't sound overly interested.
Ichigo stared him straight in the eyes and wondered if he really knew or was just guessing.
"I'll take that as a yes," Yumichika carried on and turned back to the fight. Ichigo didn't say anything and just followed suit and turned back to Akatsuki who was starting to struggle again under the weight of Zangetsu.
Ikkaku parried Akatsuki and ran his sword along the edge of Zangetsu taking advantage of there being no hilt. Akatsuki reacted by swinging Zangetsu out in a wide arc, throwing Ikkaku's sword off. Ikkaku grinned and instead of trying to bring his sword back in front of him he kicked forward, catching Akatsuki just under the ribcage.
The force pushed Akatsuki backwards but she didn't lose her footing, slamming the end of Zangetsu into the ground to slow herself down.
Ikkaku swung his sword onto his shoulder and grinning evilly at Akatsuki. "Come on, is that all you can do girl?" he said mockingly and launched straight towards her with shunpo, aiming to move too fast for her to react after being winded.
Akatsuki saw him move but wasn't able to reacted fast enough and was barely able to raise Zangetsu in defence. The force of the two Zanpakuto colliding sent Akatsuki flying backwards again. She raised Zangetsu in front of her again and felt her arms trembling under the weight of the Ichigo's weapon. Her vision started to blur slightly and she wiped her eyes using the sleeve of her white kimono while keeping one eye on Ikkaku.
Ikkaku could tell she was nearly done, he could see clear as day that her arms were trembling and her breathing had become ragged. She really wasn't a natural fighter he thought to himself, already her stamina was waning and she was on the verge of losing a grip on Ichigo's sword. Yet she still stared him down with those golden eyes, so full of life even though her body was giving up around her. Those were good eyes.
"Lets end this, we both know the next attack is going to take you down," Ikkaku said with neither mocking or concern, it was the voice of a professional fighter. Akatsuki's body seemed to give up and her grip on Zangetsu failed, the blade falling away from her right hand and only the lightest of grips from her left. Her head bowed in defeat and her hair fell over her face.
"I'm sorry sister, I'm just not like you," Akatsuki said to herself sarcastically. Akatsuki stared at Ikkaku from under her hair. Her breathing seemed so loud and slow. She felt a familiar sensation starting to flow through her and she smiled to herself. A ring of red surrounded her pupils.
Ichigo attempted to move forward but Rukia grabbed his sleeve to stop him. "Damn it Rukia, I cant just watch her die!" he nearly shouted.
Rukia gave him a harsh look and shook her head and turned back to Akatsuki, realizing Ichigo hadn't noticed anything, which was just like him. "No Ichigo look," she said and pointed towards Akatsuki.
Ikkaku pointed his Zanpakuto straight at Akatsuki and launched himself straight at her using shunpo knowing this time she could no longer react fast enough. Then suddenly she vanished from sight, all he heard was a static noise and suddenly his shoulder erupted in pain. He reached the end of his step and gripped his shoulder. He brought his hand away and looked at the blood dripping from his fingers. He spun around but this time he was the one who couldn't reacted fast enough and barely managed to guard as Akatsuki slammed Zangetsu down against his sword, the force cracking the ground below him. She pushed him backwards with the force and jumped at him and again slammed Zangetsu down towards him.
Ichigo watched as Akatsuki jumped at Ikkaku again, the force of the two Zanpakuto's suspending Akatsuki mid jump, her red reiatsu flowing over the edge of Zangetsu. Ikkaku grinned and his own reiatsu pushed against Akatsuki's. The explosive force slammed them far apart from each other, their feet trailing dust as their feet scrapped across the ground. They both came to rest facing each other. Ikkaku stared into those golden eyes which were slowly being polluted by red and remembered what had happened that night and felt his body relax slightly
Akatsuki's spiritual energy whipped and cracked around her like lightning. Ikkaku's reiatsu shot up in return and distorted the air around him as he took up his stance for one last big attack. Akatsuki gripped Zangetsu in both hands and raised it out in front of her. Ikkaku grinned happily and Akatsuki smiled cutely back. They both flashed towards each other, both coming back into sight just as their blades met in an storm of red and blue energy which expanded outwards till neither could be seen and it exploded outwards with a great burst of reiatsu.