Chapter 13: He Had a Week to Get Orihime to Heal His Arm, and He Wasted It Training

7 August, 2001 – 13 August, 2001

There was so much blood, and Sasuke didn't think he could see straight. Kaien's body lay before him, labored breaths the only sound inside other than that sickening noise of teeth gnawing on human flesh. It was a hollow, but at the same time it wasn't like any hollow he had ever seen.

It wasn't much larger than a person, but its body bent in unnatural directions. The limbs were too long, too skinny, the spine protruding from its back. The nails that came in points like claws pierced flesh with ease. Its white mask was partially broken, likely from an earlier attack by Kaien, if the cracks and the blood coating its head were anything to go by.

Kaien groaned as the creature bit into the already mutilated flesh of his shoulder, fingers twitching around the broken remains of his zanpakuto. His eyes were resolute, staring at Sasuke. 'Don't do it.'

Ignoring him, Sasuke tried to be completely silent, raised his blade, and the hollow turned around to face him. Where the mask had been broken he could see an eye—previously warm brown eyes that stared down at him with mild amusement, cold and unfitting on that face.

The hollow did something that he'd thought was impossible for a skull. It grinned.

It turned around, standing on its two legs and leaving Kaien's body to turn towards him, all smooth movements and fake kindness.

"None of you understood my true identity."

Sasuke attacked first; bringing his blade down in a wide swing. And he should've hit his target—did hit it, cutting into its shoulder—but the creature ignored the weapon, as if it didn't exist. Blood spattered across his face and his body jerked, and where pain exploded across his shoulder (but that wasn't quite right, was it? The injury wasn't in the shoulder, but was it? He wasn't sure anymore) the rest of his body went numb. Soon, so did his shoulder, and he collapsed. He thought he could hear the hollow speaking, laughing; thought he could hear Kaien. But static drowned out anything else.

His vision was fading, but he could see something staring back at him. Konoha's symbol, lying in a pool of blood. (His blood?)

He heard Aizen's voice. "You're not even worth killing."

When Sasuke awoke, his eyelashes were wet. He blinked the discomfort away, staring up at the lackluster walls. They didn't have the ceiling stains of his bedroom, but they were familiar nonetheless. Memories of defecting from Konoha were playing through his mind.

His hands clenched around the bandages that wrapped them, whole body tense and misty eyes glaring up at the white ceiling. Since when had he let himself get so complacent? Why had he forgotten why he needed power?

Why was he so weak…?

"Oh, you're awake." Sasuke turned slowly, trying to school his face back into something more normal, to see Captain Hitsugaya leaning against the doorway to his room. "They were starting to think you were dead."

"Hitsugaya," his eyes trailed over the bandages peeking out from under the other's shihakusho, "What the hell happened to you?"

Hitsugaya's face darkened, and that was all it took for Sasuke to understand. He rubbed at his aching shoulder, just above the new injuries, before sliding out of the bed to get properly dressed.

"Aizen defected," that was nothing new, "along with Ichimaru and Kaname." Sasuke tried not to let the surprise show, but he twitched anyways.

'Kaname?'

"…I see."

"The ryoka are still here, recovering from their injuries." Hitsugaya paused, but Sasuke had no need to say anything. He was sure the other already understood. "You were right. He looks like Shiba Kaien."

He didn't want to think about that now. Didn't want to think about the implications behind that statement. (The dream was still fresh in his mind.) "Where's Matsumoto?"

Sasuke turned to see Hitsugaya's annoyance as he strapped both his blades to his waist, the Captain's façade sliding off to showcase something more familiar. "Creating a mess in my office."

"Sake?" He smirked at the deepening scowl he received in response, but it slid off his face soon after. "…How's Hinamori?"

Hitsugaya turned away, but Sasuke caught a glimpse of something far too familiar in that expression. "See for yourself."

"Guess who's here~?"

Sasuke held back a groan as a familiar presence came barreling down the road. He'd hardly left the Fourth, but his Fourth Seat was bound to send him back if she got her arms around him.

He dodged as Ojima Kanon launched herself at him, but she righted herself quickly, whirling on him with teary eyes. When she sniffled, snot retreated back up her nose before dripping back down again. "U-Uchiwa-s-senpai! You're alive!" She sobbed, getting his bad arm in a death grip. He hissed when she pulled it the wrong way, but she didn't seem to hear over her own sobbing. "I-I thought yo-you'd…"

Sighing in annoyance, Sasuke attempted to extract himself from her grasp, only partially succeeding. "Ojima, let go of me."

"I-I'm sorry, U-Uchiwa-sen—I mean, Vice-Captain." She sniffled, eyes red. She was acting like a child.

"Just let go."

She jumped, finally releasing him. "O-Oh, right! S-Sorry, U-Uchiwa-sen—I mean, Vice-Captain."

That was going to get annoying. Fast. (Scratch that, it already was. He didn't talk to her much, but if she was going to do this every time they spoke. Why hadn't he done something about this sooner?)

"…You don't have to call me that."

She was starry-eyed, and Sasuke shuddered at the memory of the Academy. "You mean, Vice-Captain?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

"Oi, Uchiwa," Sasuke's brow twitched as he turned to see Kurosaki's face staring back at them. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend."

Ojima's face went as red as her hair. "G-G-Girlfriend?!"

"She's not my girlfriend, Kurosaki."

Ojima looked back at Sasuke with wide eyes. "Uchiwa-senpai, is this Vice-Captain Shiba and Ms. Miyako's son?"

"Who?"

"This looks fun."

Sasuke held back some rather unsavory comments as he tried to find a way to word it nicely. "No, Ojima, he's not. This is the ryoka, Kurosaki Ichigo." He turned to the quizzical expression on the aforementioned ryoka's face. "Kurosaki, it's none of your concern. This is Fourth Seat Ojima Kanon."

Ojima jumped into a bow. "It's an honor, Kurosaki-sama!"

"Eh? Er, there's no need for formalities." Sasuke's lips twitched in amusement; Kurosaki had probably never been referred to like that before.

Ojima, on the other hand, didn't quite seem to understand either. "Then… Ichigo-sama?"

Sasuke let the smirk take form on his face at the increasingly frustrated look on the orange-headed ryoka. "Just leave it Kurosaki; it's a lost cause."

"But—"

Sasuke kicked him in the shin and left.

"So, did you see her ribbon?"

Sasuke didn't answer, dodging a blade that nearly sliced clean through his shoulder, responding with his own swipe. Kurayami flipped away.

"Today it was green and pink with white polka dots."

They clashed once more, and Sasuke growled at the tittering, slinging with more fury than before. Kurayami blocked him, the two in a standstill for several seconds.

"I still don't think we've seen the same ribbon twice."

Sasuke jumped back, swinging once more with one hand as the other went around with a kunai. Kurayami blocked both, kicking at Sasuke's feet and knocking him off-balance. He sliced again, aiming for the neck, but Sasuke took the attack in stride, dropping all the way down, the blade snatching a few strands from his head. Using his left hand holding the kunai as leverage—and how he loved being able to use both arms, even if it was just in his inner world—he kicked the kunai out of Kurayami's hands, pushing with his arm to send his body up and out of range of the other's blade.

"I mean, unless she's making new ones out of the old ones."

Kurayami gave him no time to recover, launching himself forward and sweeping in for another attack, the ring of metal clashing on metal resounding in his ears.

"What number does that make it?"

Sasuke held off the chokuto with his own, swiping at the spirit with the kunai. Kurayami leaned back, just out of range of the weapon's tip, but Sasuke wasn't done, bringing his leg up to follow with smooth movements. His foot connected with the blonde's shoulder, sending him stumbling, but he didn't quite fall, recovering quickly enough to block Sasuke's next attack.

"496?"

Sasuke growled at him. "Shut up, Kurayami."

He pushed forward, relentless in his attacks, trying to make the zanpakuto shut up. They locked into a standstill, Sasuke not giving up, trying to push forward, overpower him. Kurayami stared back, sharingan swirling. Red eyes. Cold. Dying.

"-suke? Sasuke!"

Kurayami was staring at him, face far too close and in his personal space. Sasuke growled at him, pushing him out of the way. It was clear they weren't sparring anymore, if the other's empty hands were anything to go by.

"You blanked for a minute there."

"I'm fine."

Kurayami's brows furrowed. They both knew he was lying, but since when had that stopped him?

"You've never done that before. What the hell man?"

Sasuke stepped away, turned, flourished his blade with one hand. Electricity crackled along the steel. "It was nothing. Come on."

Kurayami stared at him for a minute, before pouting and crossing his arms as he flopped to the ground, legs crossed beneath him. "No," he replied petulantly. Sasuke watched this spectacle incredulously. This was supposed to be his zanpakuto, not Naruto's, right?

"The hell? I can't get any stronger if we don't fight!" His voice came out low and animalistic, surprising even him for a moment.

Kurayami scowled back at him. "And it's back to power, power, power! Well, guess what? I'm done!" The bastard had the audacity to pull a face at him before turning around so that his back was facing Sasuke. "Go train by yourself!"

Sasuke's brow twitched. (He was so done with this little shit right now.) "Fine," he bit out, and opened his eyes to the courtyard outside the Thirteenth Division barracks. Some subordinates were watching him with curiosity; he glared, and they went scurrying off.

'Damn it.'

"Abarai," Sasuke rose a brow at the sight of the redhead. With all the chaos, they hadn't really spoken since that night with the prison bars separating them.

"Sasuke," The man's brow twitched, "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Likewise," Sasuke muttered, eyes scanning the Eleventh Division's training hall. It had been very quickly vacated, with the exception of the two Vice-Captains and a dozen unconscious men spread out around the expansive room.

"Is the Eleventh really the strongest in Seireitei? Between this and Ichigo, I'm starting to doubt their competence."

'No kidding.'

The somewhat annoyed look on Abarai's face morphed into a grin as his eyes lit up maliciously. "Since you're here, I think this is a good time for a rematch." He didn't toss the wooden blade in hand so much as threw it at Sasuke like a spear. Sasuke caught it with ease, flipping it around so he could get a proper hold on it.

If Abarai was asking to get his ass kicked, who was he to refuse?

"Suit yourself."

Sasuke took position across from Abarai after moving one of the bodies of the Eleventh out of the way, propping the Itachi no Kinen and his zanpakuto against the wall beside Abarai's Zabimaru. Abarai had definitely gotten stronger compared to the last time they'd done this; but then, so had Sasuke.

Abarai attacked first, lunging forward with a raised blade and a guttural shout. Sasuke knew he was weaker than Abarai physically—the guy had been a part of the Eleventh for good reason, after all—but he was faster, more agile, more flexible, and more cunning. (And smarter, but that was so obvious it wasn't even worth mentioning.)

He sidestepped the attack, using his own blade to redirect it away from his body as he jabbed the tip forward. Abarai jumped back as Sasuke's weapon came a mere hair's breadth away from his nose, readying his stance once more. Let it never be said that Abarai wasn't a fast learner, however, (he wasn't a Vice-Captain for nothing) as when he attacked again, he aimed for Sasuke's left side, knowing full well it was his weak point. Sasuke twisted his body, bringing the bokken around to block the attempt.

"You think I haven't learned to compensate for my weaknesses?" Sasuke scowled at the redhead for the slight, even as the man returned the look with a sharp grin.

"Just repaying the favor."

With all the honed reflexes of a veteran, Abarai jerked his wooden blade back, arm folding in as he switched hands before snapping his other arm straight, jabbing Sasuke in the shoulder before he could bring his blade back up from the awkward position.

Pain jolted along his clavicle and down his arm, and with that half second of hesitation, Abarai struck the side of his leg, bringing him to one knee the way he'd done back in the Academy. The redhead grinned, placing the tip of the bokken against Sasuke's neck.

"Guess the tables have turned." Sasuke's eyes narrowed up at that smug face.

"Making bankai made you cocky." His lips quirked up in an amused smirk at the sight of Abarai's confusion, tapping the man's ribs with his own wooden blade for emphasis. "If this were a real battle, you would've been cut in half the moment you struck my knee."

"Wha—?"

Whatever indignation he'd been planning to spit out was interrupted by raucous laughter, and both Vice-Captains turned to the source of the interruption. Sasuke's brow twitched at the sight of Kurosaki's face as he stood (something about that face made him want to hit it, sometimes).

"He got you there, Renji," Kurosaki chuckled some more before finally seeming to get ahold of himself, stepping out of the doorway of the room and towards them, unslinging his large zanpakuto from his back to place it beside the others. "Oi, spar with me, Sasuke."

Sasuke glared at the wolf's grin, tossing his bokken back towards Renji (who barely caught it, startled by the sudden action as he was) and walking past Kurosaki towards the line up of swords. "No way," he grumbled, rubbing at the ache in his shoulder.

'Damn that cocky bastard.'

Kurayami's laughter echoed in his mind. "He got you good."

'Shut up.'

"Why not?" Kurosaki's brow furrowed in frustration, and it actually made him look somewhat childish. Sasuke's face hurt from the amount of effort it took to not outwardly roll his eyes.

'Because you're a monster.'

"I bet you some of the other Captains have already told him that."

'Who the hell gets bankai that fast?'

"Thanks to Abarai, my shoulder hurts like hell."

Kurosaki blinked, apparently not understanding what that meant. "He didn't hit that hard, did he?"

Abarai glanced at Sasuke, but he just gave the man a kind of half shrug. The man could do what he wanted; Sasuke didn't particularly care all that much. (Kurosaki would find out one way or another.)

"His shoulder's… messed up. Bad." His eyes flickered towards Sasuke and away again, and Kurosaki only looked more confused.

"Aw, he's trying to be sensitive."

'I don't give a flying fuck. He's just making this more confusing.'

"Can't he just get it healed by Unohana or something?" Sasuke could see Abarai struggling for an explanation as he strapped his blades back to his waist.

"You gonna rescue him?"

'I'm going to rescue myself from this inane explanation.'

"She can't do anything. I've tried," Sasuke cut in, turning to look at Kurosaki with thinly veiled annoyance. "My rotator cuff has been torn beyond repair. I've lost most of the movement in my left arm and shoulder."

Kurosaki still didn't seem to quite understand what he was saying, but he wasn't saying anything more, brows furrowed in thought. (That earlier assessment about his brain being bigger than Naruto's might've been wrong. Sasuke would have to amend that.)

Sasuke brushed past him, intent on heading back to his own division now that he'd blown off some steam. (Maybe do some individual training in their own halls.)

"Then why do you carry two swords?" Sasuke froze halfway out the door at the question. "Only one is your zanpakuto, right?" Everyone had always assumed or made their own conclusions. No one had ever asked him before; not since…

"I've been wondering, Sasuke, but what's up with the katana? I've never seen you use it."

Perhaps there was more similarity between them than just appearance.

"…It was my grandfather's." Kurosaki raised a brow, obviously expecting him to continue, but Sasuke left.

"It was given to me by someone important." Sasuke shrugged, though his eyes couldn't quite stay on his Vice-Captain's face.

Kaien raised a brow. "Well obviously, if you still carry it around. But aren't blades meant to be used?"

"…It's not meant for senseless fighting."

Kaien smiled. "Is there such a thing as senseless fighting, though? You know what the Captain told me once?"

He grunted noncommittally in response. Sasuke wasn't particularly interested, but he figured he'd have to humor his superior. Kaien didn't seem to care, continuing on anyways.

"There are two types of combat: the fight to protect life, and the fight to protect honor. Do you think one of those is senseless?"

(Sasuke couldn't remember his answer.)

When Sasuke entered his inner world, his zanpakuto was nowhere to be seen. He sighed. Now Kurayami was avoiding him. There wasn't a whole lot aside from forest, forest, and more forest when it came to places to look. He sighed; there wasn't much point in looking. If he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be.

Sasuke headed towards the Uchiha Compound, looking up at the walls looming above him. It had slowly been growing larger; his childhood home was no longer the only thing there. Uncle's senbei shop was there, a path leading past buildings winding throughout. It wasn't exact, of course. The dirt path through the Compound led to unknown places, creating a layout that was nowhere near a normal home. He passed doors that had no building, or buildings that had no doors. Some had doors but no way to open them. (He'd spent hours trying one afternoon.)

So he headed back to his own home, sliding open the door. He took his shoes off habitually, hardly glancing around at the empty home. This place haunted him—in his dreams, his memories, and even his own inner world. He couldn't escape. He let his feet drift, let his body choose where to go.

It took him to the engawa staring out onto the courtyard, trees rising up from behind the wall.

He sat down beside the blond man already there, glancing out the corner of his eye to see the fox mask watching the garden. Mitsu was completely still, aside from the rustling of his hair in the slight breeze that was always present there. Sasuke shifted his own position, crossing his legs and closing his eyes as well.

It was a long time before they spoke again. And unlike before, when they spoke, it wasn't Kurayami that was doing the talking.

"You want more power."

Sasuke opened his eyes, stared at the courtyard. With Mitsu, there never was a need to explain things. He always seemed to know.

"The abilities of a Shinigami are very different than that of a shinobi." His head tilted, mask hiding whatever expression may be on his face. Somehow, Sasuke didn't think he'd find an expression anyway. "You realize that to some extent, but you have yet to understand what the biggest difference is."

"Then tell me what that is."

There was a long moment of silence before Mitsu seemed to relent in some way. (Perhaps an internal argument with Kurayami.)

"…You are not alone anymore." Sasuke pressed his lips together, trying not to say something distasteful. Mitsu must've sensed something—his agitation, annoyance, something—because he stood, turning to face Sasuke, drawing his blade. "Do you wish to spar?"

The response to the last chapter was tremendously positive, and I gotta thank you guys for that! ^^ I'm getting a lot of people saying they really like my characterization of Sasuke. *^* Thank you, you have no idea how happy that makes me…

I was just frustrated with the same questions I'd already answered five times, and I'm sorry to the rest of you for that.
(On that note, though, another thing some people pointed out that I actually completely forgot about for the last two chapters; yeah, SASUKE DOESN'T HAVE THE USE OF HIS LEFT ARM. IT'S USELESS RIGHT NOW. So thank you Synchronicity911 for reminding me of that, haha.) But looking back, I'm actually laughing my ass off now, because before last chapter, Sasuke had never actually fought neither the Shinigami nor the ryoka? So how would you even know whether he was weak? Logic guys.
And another thing on that, as you've probably seen from this chapter. In order to get stronger—particularly to bankai—shinigami need to have a strong bond with their zanpakuto, and need to communicate with them. Evidently, Sasuke has some trouble with Kurayami sometimes. (I personally see Kurayami as a lot like Sasuke's younger self, from before the massacre. I don't think Sasuke deals with the reminder of his own immaturities well, haha.) He and Mitsu are two peas in a pod, though, even if he doesn't always understand the guy.

But to answer a few other questions, we won't be seeing any Uchiha for a while yet. Particularly not Itachi. That stuff's waaaaay down the line. Also Andromeda asked if Aizen was responsible for what happened in Fox Track. I… can't comment on that. Spoiler alert and all that. And to the Guest who asked about a Toshiro POV, I hadn't even thought of that, to be honest. It actually does sound like a good idea though. This chapter, as you saw, kind of needed to be Sasuke's POV because character growth, but I may do a chapter in his POV in the future… ;3