I suspect this might be rather anti-climatic. Also Rei's Zanpakuto's name is Sode no Amekuroi - I changed it slightly, but it basically means Sleeve of Black Rain. Anyway, I don't have much to say. There's only two more chapters left, so I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did and thanks for all the reviews, you guys are wonderful!
Hiro coughed, blood slowly dripping from the corners of his mouth. He shook his head and spat blood from his mouth as he rose to his feet. He was bleeding in places he didn't even know existed. The Eleventh Division had made it self comfortable, was drinking something and chattering to each other. The third seats – when the hell everyone appeared he was still working out – were sitting with their taichou, surprisingly quiet as they gazed at the gate. Kurosaki had come back, his arms were folded across his chest and he was staring out of the same gate the two third seats were. It was as if they could actually see Rei and Rukia tearing Juninran apart. Matsumoto was staring at her taichou; the man was bleeding as much as he was if not less. And the less part was pissing him off. It was almost as if she wanted to run to him.
Something flew through the open gate and slammed into a building nearby the Tenth division fukutaichou. He frowned and straightened up from his slightly forward bent position. He studied the dust as he watched it clear and his eyes widened in shock. Rei was stumbling out of it. She looked smaller than she has ever looked to him in her whole life. There was blood, far too much blood for her small body. Her hair was matted with it, it was drenched in her clothes and she was leaving trails of it behind her as she stepped, struggling, from the debris around her.
Her movements were sluggish and it scared him. The graceful liquid was gone. There was a glazed, dead look to her eyes and a shake to her hands that he wasn't familiar with. She had never sported that look before, not even when Zaraki nearly beat her to death. It was as if with each step she took pain echoed through her small body.
Rukia's shunpo was graceless and more a thud than a step. She was bleeding just as badly, but she was more alive than Rei was.
Hiro completely turned his back on Hitsugaya, knowing it was a mistake, but unable to look away from the companion he's had for the last seventy-eight years of his life. His eyes widened as the released zanpakuto her hand started to dissolve, breaking into a fine black dust before disappearing completely. Her hand curled in on itself, clutching at something that wasn't there. It hit him like a bomb. Hammered into his gut and slammed over his head with a force that almost sent him to his knees.
She was dying.
Kuchiki managed to push her to the brink.
She was dying.
Kuchiki…Kuchiki managed…Kuchiki managed…
SHE WAS DYING.
Her hand uncurled and she sank forward. Her knees hit the ground harshly, her hair swaying and her eyes closed as she started to fall forward. His hand loosened around his zanpakuto as he disappeared and reappeared in front of her on his knees, catching her around her middle with one hand behind her head. She rested her head against his shoulder. Her breathing was erratic, it puffed against his neck in short, shallow pants. The back of her shihakusho was soaking wet with blood, it was soaking into his hands and staining his hands and covering even his blood. He couldn't feel her heartbeat. Normally if he was this close to her, pressed so tightly against her, he could feel it. He could feel the even thudding that had always seemed so eternal. Her skin was cold and clammy against his hot and sweaty skin.
"Rei," he whispered softly, "don't leave." His hand tightened in the material of her shihakusho and her hair and it was as if he was juice pressing blood from her hair and the black material. The Kuchiki princess did this. How could the Kuchiki princess have screwed his dark princess up so badly? How could this happen when Rei had always grinned and said it would be the easiest thing on the planet, that she wasn't scared, that it was ok, that they were not going to loose to some stuck up kid and a princess from a family she doesn't belong with?
"Né, Taichou, I love you." She whispered softly. It was as if her breathing sped up and it hurt to say each word. "Sorry…" she whispered painfully, "…I lost."
He tightened his grip on her, holding on tighter as her words faded slowly. He knew what was happening. An Other was dying. In the center of her chest a black hole was slowly forming, representing the darkness they were created from. It was slowly spreading over her body, folding in gluey globs over her body, reaching, pressing, touching every part of her that would need to disappear. He closed his eyes when it started to creep up her neck and finally there was a soft hissing sound and the only thing he was grasping was an empty shinigami uniform.
He rose carefully. The uniform smelled of water and snow. It smelled of fresh blood, water and snow. He could practically feel his spirit force climbing around him, lashing out in black waves in various directions.
His foot hit the side of Kuchiki's head before the uniform fluttered to the ground. Her head snapped to the side and he twisted his body around, slammed both hands into the ground and forced his feet hard against her chest. She crashed into the group of Eleventh Division members just as the uniform hit the ground. His hair fluttered in front of his eyes, flashing between pure onyx black and snow, ice white. He grabbed his zanpakuto in the process and disappeared before Hitsugaya could appear in front of him with a downward slash. He held the blade in both hands as he stood over her. He went down with the blade, pressing his knee beside her hip. It would've pierced he straight through to the hilt if it wasn't for the annoying pink blades stopping him.
He shoved his hand through the pink blades, ignoring the pain shoot up his arm as it tore his skin to shred and ripped the girl up. The blades immediately shot away. "I told him I would kill you if she died."
"Shut up." She whispered. "She didn't want this!" she spat. "You weren't good for her."
Hiro narrowed his eyes. "You think you can justify what she did? You can make it alright? You are wrong." He stated simply and shoved her against the wall, ignoring ever member of the Eleventh Division that rose to their feet. "She hated you. Don't come up for her. You'll just ruin who she was." He sneered. "Die."
"If you loved her," his blade stopped inches from her skin, "you'll let me go and honor her wishes. You heard her."
He dropped her as if she burnt him. He had always known that Rei didn't fight like someone who planned on living. For an Other that wasn't uncommon. Since they were the only Others that have ever lived past ten years, he had thought that it would go away with time. He had ignored it, pretended that she didn't fight like someone who went in it to die.
He stepped over the fallen Kuchiki. He would deal with her later. He would kill her as slowly and as painfully as she had killed Rei. And when he was done, he would heal her and start over again.
He stretched his hand out, feel the air around him turn colder and colder, and grasped the hilt of an ice blade. He flipped it over and slammed it backwards, forcing it to the hilt through the Kuchiki's shoulder and into the wall. He flicked his wrist and water burst from the end, spilling over her and freeze from the point of contact with the sword. "Stay there, Princess. I will kill you later."
He brought the sword up to protect him from Hitsugaya's attack. The spirit force coming from the attack ruffled at his hair again. He glanced over his shoulder; having stopped Hitsugaya's attack inches from his head and let the hilt go, slamming his fist into the shorter man's gut and sent him crashing into the wall beside the Princess. He grasped the hilt again and spun around to head to Rei's shinigami uniform. He picked the ice blue ribbon up and shoved Mizumaru into the ground before tying it around the guard. He grasped the blade in both hands, crisscrossing his hands over each other to do so.
He took a slow even breath. He was first and foremost a soldier. The annihilation of the enemy came before personal emotions. His duty was to eradicate the enemy, to honor Rei's name and to leave it at that. "Sorry to have kept you waiting, Toshiro," He said calmly, "but I will kill you now."
"Glad you think so." Hitsugaya muttered.
Hitsugaya blocked the downward slash of his sword and the kick he sent towards the older male's side. He racked his sword's blade down the other's and smirked as Hitsugaya's eyes dropped to the sparking blades. He shoved Hitsugaya away and arced the blade towards him, smirking as a rushing ice tiger slashed at him twice before he managed to destroy it. His attacks inelegant and rash. There was no method to them. They were powerful and destructive but left too many openings and he knew it. He couldn't count the openings on his one hand and he knew that if he didn't get it together soon he was going to die.
His parries and blocks were becoming less graceful and less powerful and less everything. It was like he lost his will to fight with Rei. He shook his head as he skidded away from Hitsugaya again. She wouldn't want him to throw away his life for no reason. She would want him to fight until the end, until his opponent defeats him because he's stronger than because he gave up. And that was exactly what he planned on doing; he was going to destroy Hitsugaya. He won't let him win and when he did win, he was going to destroy Kuchiki, whether Rei wanted to die or not.
He brought his sword up in a defend and kicked out, surprised when Hitsugaya caught his leg. The other male's fingers clenched painfully around his ankle and for a moment he stared at him in confusion. Hitsugaya dropped his sword and grasped his leg with both hands before swinging him hard into the Sekkiseki wall. The white haired man had his sword tightly in his grasp before Hiro hit the ground. He shook his head and wondered when he started underestimating Hitsugaya so badly. He flickered out of existence; slashing upward and leaving a harsh gash across Hitsugaya's back from his left him to his right shoulder. He ducked the backwards swing of Hitsugaya's attack and slammed his hand into Hitsugaya's face. The white haired male blocked the attack, but he twisted his hand around and grabbed onto his wrist, slashing his sword in a random direction. Blood spurted from Hitsugaya's shoulder wound and he smirked, flicking away before Hitsugaya could respond with an attack.
The other male was breathing slightly more rashly, but he figured with the wounds he had just acquired and the wounds he had already been sporting, he would be breathing faster.
"Didn't you say I'm overconfident?" his eyes widened as he looked down. "There's a big difference between you and me, Hiro." The man said calmly. His back to Hiro's chest and his blade pressed against Hiro's chest in the area where his heart would be. Hitsugaya's one hand was wrapped around the hilt and the other placed at the end, ready to shove back before he could move or try to think of moving. He frowned down at the older male, wondering exactly what the hell he was talking about. "You lost the will to fight the moment she died." Hitsugaya glanced back. "But that isn't what makes us different. You grew on my weaknesses. But I always concentrated on my strengths. This fight was tipped in my favor from the very beginning. You are powerful, Rukia probably would've died if she had to fight you, but you are not stronger than me."
"You never were."
"My story isn't nearly as interesting as Rei's." He murmured slowly. "I always thought she would be the one to walk away from this alive. Always seemed more right for it. Trust me, you didn't know her the way I did. The massacring of your Division, Inoue's death, those were little things compared to the stuff she did before. Granted, she did it all on my order, so I don't really know which of us is worse. I guess you can say me." He wrapped his hand around the blade.
The kid was right; in essence he did loose his will to fight the moment Rei died. "I was there, when those idiots were freaking you out enough for you to create something like me. I can remember you had been so pissed about the stupid freaking ice dragon thing that kept you up most of the night because it scared you to go to sleep. I don't really know why after that incident it took so long for you to see him again, but it is an amusing concept, I'll give you that. I jumped out of the tree after you killed them, never seen a kid freeze anything to death so fast. You passed out of course, can't expect you to remain awake. I thought you were and idiot, I thought someone with your kind of power should have bigger dreams than sitting around eating red sugared beans all day. I picked you up; too you home and dumped you on the front porch. You're six years older than me; do you know that? I thought it was the biggest disgrace to be created by a six year old damn kid. But then again when I didn't disappear after ten years I figured I'd have fun. Never planned on meeting you again. I bet Omae didn't tell you that in the first ten years the only thing you feel is a dull throbbing pain, annoying as hell, but easy to ignore. After ten years, the exact second ten years is up though, now that is hell."
"I spent my years training with various things. Figured out I could wield a zanpakuto and then spent my time randomly fighting people. I couldn't die. What were the chances of me actually getting hurt too badly in a fight. By the time I reached the age where I found Rei I was pissed off. I was growing stronger with emotions I didn't really feel and the people around me were just staying weak. Rei was something else though, never thought I would meet something like me, much less in the form of a snotty, princess like kid. She dropped the attitude soon, quit demanding to return to Soul Society so she could become a real princess. Of course she grew up, eventually learned, embraced Rukia's emotions and eventually she was fighting dirty with the best of them. And then of course Omae came into the picture. I hope the little snot is dead. She was like a doting mother."
He huffed darkly. "If she wasn't spoiling him, she was training him and if she wasn't doing that she was just talking to him. It annoyed me. He was weak, couldn't do anything and was most often just in the way. Buts she loved him, would've done anything for him. Of course I figured I was around longer and he was taking my soldier away so I made him an offer I knew he wouldn't take. And in turn he made her an offer she never would've taken and in the end they split up. She chose me over him, which I knew she would do." He tilted his head to the sky.
"I'm not dying, why are you telling me this?"
"Because Hitsugaya," he said slowly, "Knowing your enemy, even if they are dying, can teach you something for future battles." He patted the older male on the head. "And besides, I told you I would tell you this. Want to know what I really do regret?" the white haired taichou frowned. "I regret underestimating you. You were always just the annoying kid, yelling at older people to leave you alone, you were never strong enough or smart enough for me to really bother with you. And that was my mistake. I should've thought further than my nose."
"Why?" Hitsugaya questioned after a moment. "Because it might've kept her alive or because you don't want to die?"
"Not everyone wants to stay alive, Hitsugaya. We're made to die. I couldn't care about dying or not dying. I wanted power. But I'll give you this," he smirked and leaned forward into the blade, the teal eyed man's eyes widening in shock and trying to pull the blade away. "I am not really dying, I'm just returning to where I came from."
He tapped a bloodied finger against Hitsugaya's head. "I'm going back, but given a chance I will be back, and I will destroy you."
He smirked as Hitsugaya managed to rip his blade away. It was already too late. His zanpakuto dissolved into a black dust before disappearing and slowly the globs of black gluey stuff started to spread over his body. He tilted his head to the sky. "I'll say something else as well, I'm not sorry about having Rei kill Inoue. After all, you're going to be in that state for a bit longer, even if you do have an excellent healer like Unohana taichou."
He gave the white haired male a two fingered salute. "Sayonara, Hitsugaya taichou, for your sake I hope we don't meet again."
For the first time in a century his head was empty. There was no fear of anything, no insecurity, there was just nothing. And he couldn't say it was a pleasant feeling. He was so used to the constant voices in his head that the sudden silence was a bit unnerving. He guessed that considering what he was going through now it didn't really matter.
His only consolation was that at least Rei would've enjoyed the silence.