Many Years Ago

Shima Akuma was a young girl that had run away from a home that already abandoned her. She remembered coming across the large door that blocked off soul society from seretei before she had fainted from hunger and exhaustion. But where was she now? Without opening her eyes she took a deep sniff, ramen…

It wasn't the cheap kind of ramen that Akuma was most familiar with either, it was the rich kind. The kind that took hours just to stew the broth just right…her mouth got wet. She peeked open one eye. She was looking out at a green lawn with many sakura trees. There was a man sitting in front of her with his back facing her. Even though she couldn't see his face, she recognized him. He was the one at the parade with the straw hat that told her about that orange haired man. She sat up and saw the ramen next to her, "Ojii-san!" Akuma smiled at the started man.

"I'm not 'Ojii-san'! I'm Kyouraku Shunsui!" he turned to see that Akuma was already devouring the bowl of ramen. He smiled and took a sip from his sake cup.

Kyouraku-taicho had kept a close eye on the girl since he met her. There was something about her. Was it her pure white hair? Or maybe her bright red eyes? Or maybe it was just the way she spoke, softly but confident.

He saw her wander in front of seretei and faint. Curious, he had thought, why did she come here? He didn't delay and quickly went to pick her up. He had many questions to ask the girl but he worried that she would not know herself, she's only maybe 10 years old…

"Was the ramen good?"

Shima had finished the whole bowl already and nodded her head wildly, "It was really good!"

Kyouraku-taicho smiled, "So what's your name?"

She smiled brightly back at him, "Shima Akuma!" Kyouraku was amazed at just how vibrant this young girl way. It was if she didn't remember why she had come here. Akuma stood and brushed off her clothes, "Thank you for feeding me what not but I have to get back home. My mom is probably-" she was frozen. My mom? She remembered, she didn't have a mom anymore…or a dad…they had left her…"Oh…"

Kyouraku felt like he understood the situation. She had left her home. It must have been a shocking moment as she didn't remember for a moment. But it was clear to him that she no longer had a home, "Before you go," Akuma looked at him with big, near-teary eyes, "do you want to hear a story?" She sat down next to him and nodded, "Hmmmmm, what kind of story would you like to hear?"

She looked down and thought. What kind of story…? She sat upright as she thought of what she wanted, "Tell me about him!"

Kyouraku furrowed his eyebrows, "Who..? Ahh you mean Kurosaki Ichigo?"

She nodded and folded her legs under her so that she could face Kyoraku-taicho as he spoke.

"Well, he was a human," her face lit up. She didn't usually hear stories about humans, "he was 15 years old and there was something special about him," it was clear that Akuma was already invested in this story, "he could see and talk to spirits like you and me…."

It took Kyouraku well into the night to get to the part just before Ichigo was to fight Aizen. By that time Akuma was becoming drowsy.

"No Ojii-san! You have to finish the story," she yawned and rubbed her eyes.

He shook his head, "Now come on. I'll finish the story for you tomorrow, so you should lay down and get some rest," he picked Akuma up and laid her into the bed he had set out for her.

"You promise you'll finish it tomorrow?" she was already snuggling up to the covers.

"Mhm, I promise," he tucked her and stood as to leave.

"Don't disappear…"

Kyouraku sighed as he closed the door. What am I getting myself into?

As the years went by, it was understood that Kyouraku had adopted her as his own child. She was fascinated over Kurosaki. The first book she ever read was about him and his life. She wanted to be great like him. Akuma enjoyed watching as the men of the squad trained, one day they were training their kidou. Akuma was amazed. It was like real magic.

Being the daughter of a captain, she wanted to follow in his footsteps. Kyouraku-taicho was the first person to believe in her and help her with her dreams. She wanted to make him proud. The whole day she stayed in his office trying to teach herself kidou. She felt like she understood the basic idea of it, but something wasn't working. "Way of binding," at that moment Kyouraku-taicho walked in, "no.1 sai!" now that her cantation had a target it worked. Kyouraku's arms were pinned behind his back.

"Oww oww oww. Aku-chan what are you doing?!"

She sat there wide eyed, it worked? "Ojii-san! It worked!" she got up and danced happily around the room, "It worked it worked it worked!"

"Ow ow ow, Aku-chan! Quickly negate it, let me out of this!"

She looked at him with her head tilted, "How do I do that?"

After he was finally freed, Aku-chan told him the story of her day. She taught herself kidou? Without a book or an instructor? He knelt down to her, "Aku-chan, do you want to become a Shinigami?" her face lit up and she nodded wildly.

It was decided that in a few months she would attend the shinigami academy and train there. She visited often and heard that there was a unit being created to search for Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Do you think he's out there ojii-san? Just out there in rukongai having a drink and relaxing?"

He nodded in response and sipped from his sake cup.

Akuma had made Kurosaki Ichigo her goal. When she was stressed or down she would think of him, and all of that hardship he faced to motive herself. It wasn't a normal crush for her. It was like she knew it was her destiny to find him. It was an obsession, but it was more than that. It was as if there was an unspoken connection to him. She pictured that their reiatsu complemented each other. In school, they kept a piece of his reiatsu so that if one of them felt it out in the field they would recognize it and be able to locate him. She remembered it so very clearly. She tried to focus on it, she wanted to always remember the way it felt. She idolized him. Her only wish was that she would be able to meet him one day. To shake his hand, work alongside him. But that chance was taken from her.

Present day

Akuma couldn't believe the news, Ichigo's not here? What have I been doing all this time?! He won't be here? I won't ever get to know!

She felt herself losing her grasp on the situation. All eyes were on her, Kyourane's, Hitsugaya's, Enkimura's, Renji's and Raiden's. Raiden! She had talked with Raiden, she had a job to do. As much as it hurt to know that Ichigo was lost…she couldn't lose herself yet. She needed to stay in control. She needed to get back to Yuki. She could figure the rest out later. She stood up and tried to smile at the crowd. They all looked at her horrified, "Shima-taicho are you ok?" it was Enkimura that opened his mouth first.

She smiled as best as she could, "I haven't really eaten anything…just got a little fatigued is all," they nodded solemnly. Kyourane-taicho didn't like it. She didn't like her white hair, she didn't like seeing Raiden here so soon after seeing Yuki. The pieces didn't fit.

That's when the alarm went off, "NEWS TO ALL SQUADS! MINJI YUKI, THE FORMER 5TH SQUAD CAPTAIN IS A TRAITOR TO SOUL SOCIETY. SHE ESCAPED, KILLING SEVERAL GUARDS IN THE PROCESS-" Raiden glanced at Shima, this was the moment he had been waiting for.

"Sensei!" Raiden put on a face of distress and ran off.

"Raiden!" Hitsugaya went to follow him but Shima held out her arm.

"ALL SQUADS MOVE WITH EXTREME CAUTION! MINJI YUKI WAS ONCE A FOLLOWER OF AIZEN. IF SEEN YOU ARE ORDERED TO KILL!"

Hitsugaya didn't think about Shima, she really left….

"Hitsugaya-taicho!" Chou watched as a kidou blew through Hitsugaya's side.

"Y-yuki," he collapsed. The pain shot through his side. He didn't understand that he had just been shot through his side by Akuma. His vision became black when he hit his head on the ground.

"Taicho!" Renji glared at Shima with his hand on his sword, "Shima-taicho! What are you doing?!"

Akuma smiled, one down…three to go…

Suddenly the alarm came back on. There was no announcement just the alarm, Maximum security…Raiden better hurry up….

"Howl, Zabimaru!" Renji went right in for an attack, he couldn't allow Shima to keep standing after what she just did. His attack landed but she blocked it with her bare arm. There was no blood. She turned her head to Renji. Both her eyes were now red, "Soozoo suru, Yasei Shikkyaku!" her reiatsu suddenly exploded, pushing the three away from her.

Chou knew the fight was on, "Absorb, Bakemono!" there was no holding back against someone that sneak attacks a captain, "Enkimura! Grab Hitsugaya-taicho and take him away from here," Enkimura stared wide eyed at her, "And then hurry back here to take her out,"

"Hai!" he quickly grabbed Hitsugaya and left taking him to a safe location, the fourth squad.

There was a cloud of smoke surrounding Shima Akuma, "I must thank you Chou," Chou twitched, how dare she drop the honorifics, "for getting rid of Enkimura. Now the fight will be easier," the smoke began to clear and Renji and Chou couldn't believe the sight. They had both thought that they had seen her bankai. But this was completely different. Chou could now see the silhouette of her bankai. It was a tall staffed scythe. Chou was frozen she didn't know what to do.

The scythe had a thick staff. The base of the staff was wide and had a chain wrapped around it. The staff became thinner at it reached up to the blade, and the chain followed still loosely coiled around the staff. The blade jutted out of the staff in a straight line, it then turned in two sharp angels before it ended. As the smoke cleared, Chou could see that there was now a white jacket on Akuma. There were buckles that were unstrapped…it looked like a strait jacket that had come undone. It was terrifying.

Chou was startled; Akuma suddenly raised her head to look at Chou. There was a wild look in her eyes that Chou feared. Akuma lunged forward, what speed! She swung down hard, Chou was able to block it with Bakemono but it wasn't the blade that was pushing down on Bakemono, it was the staff. The blade of scythe had come down past Chou, she had been struck on the back of her shoulder. The curved blade was poking deep just under her shoulder blade.

But the attack wasn't over. Still having Bakemono raised with Shikkyaku pressed down, Chou saw out of the corner of her eye a bright red light around the scythe's blade.

Kidou? A bright red light emerged from the blade. It was a heavy, precise hit. Chou fell to her knees, she had managed to use one of her black spheres around her own shoulder to avoid the latter part of the blow, but the initial energy of the strike hit her.

The scythe can create kidou attacks? No…this isn't the energy of kidou….it's just reiatsu?! This is the power of her bankai?!

"It looks like you seem to understand!" Akuma laid the scythe across her shoulders, "That attack was a kidou!"

Chou couldn't speak, the blood was pooling at her knees. Her head felt heavy.

"A kidou of my own creation!" she laughed wildly.

"Kyourane-taicho!" Renji couldn't comprehend what had happened but he knew the situation was bad. He had never been good at kidou and now he was up against a kidou master! He tried to pay close attention to the attack. The last blow seemed like kidou at first but it wasn't any that Renji knew. It seemed like Akuma had forced her own reiatsu into a kidou attack changing the nature of the attack all together. He didn't know how to fight against that. But he had to try.

He swung zabimaru, the blades all separating, he would keep this a long range battle. Akuma blocked the attack by using the staff of the scythe to push the attack to her right, she sped forward; her window of an opening was short.

Renji watched her swing her scythe down. He had no choice, "Bankai!" Akuma's jumped back before attacking, "Hihioo Zabimaru,"

Chou was laying on her back, the blood was pooling too fast. She turned her head to watch the battle. The fight was in full swing. Renji had released his bankai. Akuma was slicing the kidou like attacks at him. Zabimaru couldn't attack, he was too busy blocking. I have to help…

Chou used the last of her strength to grab Bakemono. She focused, she wouldn't have enough energy to trap her entire body, but she would be able to trap something.

As Akuma was swinging down for an attack she saw a black sphere cover her right arm. She shunpo's a safe distance and looked at the sphere and then turned to Chou, "You're still alive huh?"

Chou didn't understand. She had never seen someone act so calmly with a sphere around them. She should have been in agonizing pain! Or a state of mental shock! But Akuma looked down at the sphere with amusement.

"W-why?" Chou's voice was only a whisper.

"Why?" Akuma smiled, "Why would Akuma's worst fear scare me?" she took a step toward Chou, "I already am her worst fear!" beginning to laugh again she swung down at Chou.

Chou thought it was the end. It's over. I can't block. I can't do anything….I'm going to die…I'm not going to be able to save Michi….

"Bankai-" Bakemono is a very stubborn zanpaktou due to the fact that she is arrogant. In that sense she feels that her shikai is enough to destroy any opponent. Chou is only able to use her bankai at the moment of death. Only at the moment where Bakemono realizes that she will die if she doesn't use her bankai, "Subete no kakaru kemono"

Akuma jumped away, the black sphere around her arm constricted to the shape of her arm. It looked like she was wearing a black glove from her elbow down to the tips of her fingers. She looked down at the hand, what is this…? She balled the black hand into a fist a few times, I can move it again….

Renji ran over to Chou. He had never seen her bankai before, "Chou! Chou are you ok?"

Chou stood up, the wound that was once bleeding profusely had cauterized. Because her bankai can only be used in the face of death, there must be a healing aspect to it. She held in her hand a long whip. "Renji, get back," she cracked the whip, there were small black spark-like objects that flew from the tip. She sent her whip flying toward Akuma. Akuma held out her scythe. Instead of the whip wrapping around the staff of the scythe, it turned at the last moment and instead wrapped around the black arm. Chou ripped at the whip and it uncoiled from around Akuma's wrist. Akuma looked at her arm. She felt no pain from the attack, nothing happen- it's spreading! The black glove spread further up her arm. Now her entire arm, shoulder to fingertip, was trapped.

"What is this?!" Akuma was getting frustrated. What's taking him so long…

Chou grinned, "Why don't you let me hit you a few more times and you can find out!" She attacked again. This time Akuma dodged, but Chou had already anticipated that and shunpo'd right behind her striking her fully on the back.

Akuma shunpo'd further away. Again there wasn't blood, the black spread from her shoulder to where she had been struck on her back.

Akuma growled, something wasn't right. She had been faster than Chou so why did her body feel sluggish? She looked at her arm, the black suddenly constricted tighter around her arm and back.

Akuma screamed, it felt as though her very energy was being sucked out of her. That's it!

Chou smiled, "Have you realized?" her whip wrapped around her own arm, "my Bakemono likes to play with her food before she eats!"

Both of them started attacking together. Akuma could easily deal with Renji's attacks, but Chou's attacks seemed drawn to her. No matter how far she dodged, Chou was right there, ready with the follow up.

Akuma Snarled. Her entire upper body was now covered in the black, it stopped just above her hips and just below her neck. She was breathing heavy. It had been a long time since she had fought with so much energy…

She smiled.

…but she was all warmed up now.

Akuma shunpo'd behind Chou and swung down her scythe. The whip wrapped around her arm protected her skin and acted like a shield.

Akuma smirked, "Devil's finger," the chain that was wrapped around the staff came loose to reveal a sharp dagger-like blade at the end of it. Before Chou could do anything, Akuma stabbed Chou's led with the dagger.

"Chou!" Renji began to move to attack but it was too late. The dagger glowed in Chou's leg and released a large attack. Chou stumbled out of the explosion, there was a huge gash in her leg.

"I'll tell you what you've got some think skin," the scythe was laid across her shoulder, Akuma was spinning the chain with the devil's finger on the end of it, "Not many people can come out of that attack without a hole in them,"

Chou was breathing heavy. That attack had hurt. It was as if all of her pervious kidou-like slashes were a charge for the Devil's Finger. The more slashes she got in, the more energy was forced into the Devil's finger.

"You see, there's too much energy lost when creating your own kidou-based attacked," Amuka smiled, "So I store all of that energy right here in the Devil's finger. And release it once it's anchored in my prey. Your precious whip may play with her food, by mine likes to tenderize its prey before it gets slaughtered!"

Akuma was about to attack again, there was no way that she could fight back this time. The black had already loosened its hold on her. Before she could take the first step a garrganta opened behind her. "Tsk, things were just getting interesting too. Consider yourselves lucky! I wasn't told to kill you!" she stepped into the garraganta and it began to close, "Till next time!"

Chou collapsed, she's gone…her bankai broke. She had used up too much.

"Kyourane-taicho!" Renji was running to her, "Chou!"

She let her eyes close, they were too heavy for her to keep them open. She's gone…

Everything went black. Chou could see a small flame in the distance. It was small and purple in color. It flickered as if there was wind blowing it out.

Chou tried to protect the flame, she didn't know why, but she couldn't let the flame die. It had to stay burning. Please please please!

But the flame died.

Dun duuuuuuun! Queen of suspense right here! Don't worry I won't make you wait too long for the next thing. Just as a translation: Shima's bankai is called The Wild Falling.

Chou's is called: the all consuming beast.

Hope you enjoyed and your feed back is always welcomed!