Chapter 14: Dying
It was…Kuchiki Byakuya.
Sakura let her right hand fall upon the hilt of her zanpakuto as the noble figure in front of her stood with a narrowed gaze. "You're one of the ryoka, aren't you?" he spoke in his cold voice. Sakura swallowed hard and replied with a polite tone, "Yes, I am." He drew his zapakuto and strode towards her, "You're Kurosaki Ichigo's. The girl named Sakura, am I correct?" Her reflection reflected on the Kuchiki's blade. Sakura, knowing that there was no way to escape, drew her blade and prepared to fight. 'I just seem to have rotten luck today.' Sakura thought as so suddenly the Kuchiki disappeared from her gaze. She quickly drew her sword to the right, countering the Kuchiki's blade with hers. His dark blue eyes narrowed and he jumped back. She gritted her teeth, she wasn't prepared enough to fight him this soon. She ran towards him, her zanpakuto prepared to slash at any moment but he beat her. He almost made a deep cut on sakura's right shoulder but she quickly dodged his counterattack. The two were so engrossed in fighting that they never noticed there were eyes that were watching their every move. Sakura ducked when Byakuya unleashed a horizontal slash and she slashed upwards. The Kuchiki barely dodged it, her attacked caused a long bleeding cut along his abdomen. His robes fell to his sides, revealing his muscular six-pack abdomen. Sakura's cheeks flushed into a deep crimson but she focused her attention in their fight. The noble Kuchiki cocked his brow at the growing blush upon the young girl's cheeks. A smirk played along his lips and he shunpoed once again. Sakura sprinted a few feet from her previous position and deflected the Kuchiki's blade once again but this time the noble was sly. He muttered an incantation and Sakura noticed and she tried to jump out of the way but the Kuchiki wasn't going to let her escape anytime soon. "Byakurai!" he cried and a thunder-like ball that had a hue of indigo flew quickly towards Sakura. Finding no way to dodge it, she tried to deflect it with her sword. The small ball hit her skin and she slumped to her knees. The spell paralyzed her left arm and burned the hem of the sleeves a bit. Sakura was now panting and she slowly stood up on shaky knees. Finding there was no chance of victory, she finally made a decision, "Make him bleed, Ryuketsu."
The young Kuchiki stood frozen in his tracks, 'This girl does not stop astonishing me.' Sakura's blade turned into a dangerous blood red color and the hilt changed into a more intricate design, with clothes clad in red and black. "So, you've found out your zanpakuto's name." he said and drew his blade in front of his face. "Chire, senbonzakura." He spoke and his blade diminished into smaller blades that turned pink due to the light's reflection. Sakura lunged at him with amazing speed but he had made use of Senbonzakura as his shield. The red blade had such difficulty that it never moved from its spot. Sakura looked up at him, his eyes widened. Her once cerulean blue eyes were now a murderous blood red. She jumped back and sheathed her sword; he calmed a bit and prepared for her next move. Sakura bent a little, her upper body bending forward a bi. Her left thumb raised the guard a bit from the entrance of the scabbard and her right hand was a few inches above the hilt. He arc a brow at her but nonetheless, he was prepared for any strikes. Then without warning, sakura drew her blade and made her way towards Byakuya. Sensing her attack, Byakuya let an array of his blades at her. She ran through them, they graze upon her skin, leaving bloody cuts as marks of their paths. Sakura slashed at the Kuchiki, wounding him at his other shoulder. Blood dripped from both their clothes, the cheery blossom blades pushed her back by a few feet. "You're so persistent." The blades upon his sword once again but now he held its blade facing the red plates of the rooftop. He released it and it was swallowed by the roof. Swords ascended behind him, "Bankai. Seonbonzakura Kageyoshi." Then the swords behind him erupted into thousands of cherry blossom petals. Before Sakura could grip anything, the blades slashed through her skin. Each one, leaving a deep bleeding gash upon her pale flesh with little difficutly. Sakura tried hard to fight them off but she couldn't, then she felt herself falling from the roof because of the blades. She shunpoed and landed onto her feet but fell to her knees because of the pain; she looked up at the man in front of her. He stood, his chin up high and his eyes narrowed down upon her small frame. His scarf was slowly collecting the blood from his wound. She used her zanpakuto to help her stand up, as soon as she looked up at the roof he was gone. Immediately, her eyes widened. 'No he can't be..!'
Ichigo was running a few steps and he felt his cousin's reiatsu grew. He stopped in his tracks and he looked behind him. He could sense Sakura's reiryoku but he couldn't pinpoint as to where she was. He looked up in front of him, there was so many steps and he ran towards the top. Just a few more steps from the top, he felt Sakura's reiyoku vanish and he quickly looked behind him. His brown eyes widening every second and he wanted to go to where she was, "No! Sakura!" Ichigo looked in front of him, 'only ten more steps,' and he looked down, 'and yet a hundred more steps towards Sakura.' He closed his eyes and sweat trickled down his brow. 'Damn, itoko.' He took a few steps down but suddenly he remembered what Sakura used to tell him even when they were still young, "Ichi-nii! Don't mind me, just finish what you have to do." He mentally cursed and looked back at the rooftops, "Sakura, be all right." He immediately sprinted to the top of the stairs.