Rain, Forgive Me

Chapter Twenty-Eight: If you're strong enough, come at me

Riina was catapulted into her reality, the one that seemed to be so far away from her peaceful inner world. Well, it wasn't so peaceful anymore, ever since Genkaku attacked her. However her injuries that were sustained were merely an illusion and she was perfectly fine…for now.

The world regained perfect picture quality within seconds. She felt her sword grow heavy in her right hand as she waited to be fully alert and aware. Fumio was a head of her with an emotionless face. The same dark blue hair and hollow mask that she remembered were part of his characteristics. He had such a cold aura about him that Riina felt chills on her skin. She was finally all the way altert now and held her zanpakuto in her hand.

"If you can't defeat me, there's no way you'll stand a chance against my master." He said. He didn't even bother to withdraw his sword, instead he just stood there waiting for Riina to make the first move.

'It's like he didn't even notice I was gone.' Riina thought. She gripped her hilt. 'This time, I'll defeat him. I know I will.' She tried to help her confidence. "So, you're waiting for me to make the first move eh?" She smiled a bit.

With that she flash stepped toward him. "You're making a mistake!" She yelled almost mischievously. Planning on striking him in the stomach. But as soon as she got close enough, he vanished away. 'I forgot how quick this guy is!' Riina quickly looked around but didn't see him anywhere.

Suddenly she felt herself be forced backward. His sword had clashed against hers. It was pure instinct that kept her from being sliced down right then and there. She had blocked with her own sword without a moment to spare. She was forced backwards in the sand. The sand blew upwards from the force driving it away and made the red head's eye sight blurry.

She blinked continuously for the sand particles to get out. Fumio retreated in an instant and Riina was stuck in the cloud of sand. She coughed a little and quickly wiped her right eye to help get the sand out. Of course, lowering her guard wasn't the best idea.

She felt a blade slice down her back lightly, like a threat more than a death sentence. Riina twirled around and felt drops of her blood crawl down her spine. But as she turned she saw no one. 'No, he's even faster than I remember!' Riina squinted.

"You're still so weak. You can't even keep up with me. I could have killed you right then. I was taking it easy on you."

Came his bone chilling voice. Riina growled. He was right about that, she would have been dead by now if he hit her with all his might. Suddenly, he made a new move. He ran around her in a circle, as if entrapping her.

He ran so fast that the sand picked up and formed into a mini tornado around them. Riina glanced right and left and she even twirled around in a circle in an effort to keep up with him, an effort that only made her dizzy. He was soon going so fast that she saw multiple bodies of the same tall and slender man.

They were everywhere in the circle, he was going faster than her eyes could even wish to keep up with. She held out her sword in front of her but had no idea where he would strike from! The sand rushed around them and made sounds similar to that of water. Riina hissed at this.

She then felt a rip and light scratch on her arm. Then on her back, then on her leg! Then almost everywhere! Cuts pelted her from every direction nearly at once. He was so fast she couldn't even block a single attack. Multiple cuts began to gather all over her skin. Her kimono ripped a little at every spot.

She felt stinging from all over her body. She had to block the strikes before he tore her to shreds. She felt metal pierce her cheek deeply. And was gone before she could even blink. She used her left hand to grab onto her face to try to help the pain. But touching it only made it sting worse. Blood dripped from her body in little amounts but it was painful from the multiple cuts.

The inside of the circle that Fumio entrapped her within was relatively calm. Most of the air was heading his direction and forming a growing sand tornado from his movements. This was the perfect circumstance to use her shikai! The air would travel in his direction… wait…

'No it won't. Genkaku said the new shikai only works if you hit them. Dang it! What good will that do me? This shikai is starting to look weaker than my old one.' Riina furrowed her brow and felt another slice to her arm. 'So, what can it do? Genkaku said it makes them hallucinate something specific. Things…claws itching and poking under their skin. But how is that any better than my old shikai?'

She felt another cut on her skin. She flinched. "Ugh. Well since I have to cut them, maybe the effects will start quicker?" She whispered.

'Guess again..'

Riina looked down at her sword. 'Genkaku? Help me out here!'

'I can't do anything for you. But I can tell you that when you cut into the enemy, it will take longer than it would have if you had kept your old shikai.'

Riina felt another cut. 'Ow! Well why the hec did I get this stupid shikai if it doesn't help anything?!'

'Idiot, stop jumping to conclusions. This takes longer than the previous attack you had however, this one lasts longer.'

"How long?"

'As long as you can manage. It all depends on how much spiritual pressure you use. Another thing, the longer you keep the hallucinates in them, the more chance they have of becoming…'

"Becoming what?" Riina asked and felt another scratch.

'You'll find out if it happens.'

"Dang it Genkaku, you can't ever tell me anything!" Riina yelled.

"Having a conversation with your zanpakuto?" Riina heard a voice to her side. She quickly jumped away from the being but bumped into the sand tornado and was thrown back into the circle. The sand pelting her and getting into her cuts making them sting worse.

The man stood there for a second. "The sand won't slow down for a few seconds. Why don't you come and face your enemy…"

Riina stood up as quick as she could and held her zanpakuto out. "Shut up! Dissipate, Genkaku Shoujou!"

… nothing. Nothing happened. She stood silently for a second before she noticed that her zanpakuto had not changed forms.

"Have you forgotten how to use your shikai?"

"Stop talking to me!" Riina yelled. 'Darn it sword, work!' She huffed. 'Never mind, I don't need you, I'll do this by myself.' Riina charged at the man for the second time. She swung at him once, then twice. Then several more times. He dodged each time without even thinking about it.

Finally he caught her hand and Riina's eyes widened. Fumio swung his sword at her with his other hand. Riina ducked meaning that the sword would either cut Fumio's arm or he would let go. He let go immediately and his sword missed. Riina jumped up from her position and prepared to strike again. This time her sword barely sliced his mask. Nothing happened to the mask really. Just a little un seeable scratch.

Riina huffed and jumped backwards to get away for a few seconds. Meanwhile, the sand tornado had settled down and the sand fit back into its place.

The red head focused spiritual pressure into her hand but before she could complete this Fumio swung at her waist area. Riina refocused her spiritual pressure to her feet in an instant and jumped up quickly but not quickly enough.

The bottom of her kimono, below her feet, was cut by the blade and the fabric caught on the metal. The motion along with her kimono being caught, caused her to go flying to the ground and when she hit it at such quick speeds she felt her back crack and ache. She hit the sandy ground face first, coughing as she did so.

The wind got knocked out of her so she couldn't breathe. Fumio saw an advantage and stabbed downward. Riina rolled away the second she saw Fumio's shadow over her on the white sanded ground. She rolled away in time and then kicked upwards.

Her heel swiped under his chin and made him stumble backwards a moment. Riina jumped to her feet in a swooping motion and tightened her grip on her hilt. She felt her flaming white spiritual pressure rise from her hand. Finally, able to breathe again she regained some of her strength and placed it into her right hand.

The flames engulfed her just as Fumio was recovering from the kick and was charging at her with his sword blazing through the air. It was going by so fast that a whistle sound was heard from the air being misplaced.

CLANG! The sound rang through the air smoothly. It was a joyful sound because Riina could feel the new heaviness of her blade. Riina held unto her hilt tight enough and was able to focus hard enough that she was ready to perform her shikai.

"Dissipate Genkaku Shoujou!" She yelled and at once a transformation took place. Her spiritual pressure blinded her and she felt energy spike through her entire body. Her wounds seemed less painful and she felt reenergized.

Power coursed through her veins like none she had experienced. Seemingly, the shikai had magnified her powers but in all reality it was Riina who had advanced. Adrenaline pumped through her all at once and the feeling was incredible to say the least. Her fingers tingled in anticipation to swing the new sword.

Black spiked metal in the shape of a thin flame was at the end of her hilt. The metal glowed in the light almost and was as magnificent to hold as it was to look at. The red head couldn't help but laugh at her excitement, the eagerness spilling out with her laughter.

She chuckled one more time slightly before she was able to see clearly in front of her. Fumio had braced himself twenty feet away with his arms in front of his face. There were little remains of what used to be his perfectly white sleeves. Though the rest of his clothes were in almost tip top shape. His mask had a little detail of burn on it, blackening you could say.

Interestingly enough, the tips of his hair were burned off as well.

Riina couldn't deny her curiosity to look down at herself. She did so and saw that her sleeves were gone along with the bottom half of her kimono, which left it to be reduced to a skirt. And her ponytail holder had burned away as well. Her hair floated around her in her spiritual pressure. Maybe it was a good thing her body was that of a mod soul's, if not her hair probably would have been disintegrated. Then again, her skin was in perfect health… well besides the cuts so maybe she would have been fine because it's her own spiritual pressure causing the flames.

Her little past shoulder lengthed red hair, the same length it had always been, now flowed around her like there was a gentle wind pushing it. Riina smiled deeper. She was ready to attack now, she felt more confident than ever. Her image blurred then vanished.

It suddenly reappeared in front of Fumio. He wasn't expecting this but he was just as fast, maybe faster than she was and was able to get out of the way. Riina swung again, still unable to hit him. However this time he had to block using his sword. Her sword was heavier than his and was pushing down with more force.

He was forced back a little before he used his speed to get away. "Ha, I see now!" Riina finally came to a conclusion and didn't mind sharing it out loud. "You're pretty good at speed but your strength is less than average." Riina ran at him again but he was too quick and disappeared. Though at least now she was able to see his movements.

She swung at him when he came near her to strike her. But he missed because of this and retreated again. This went on for what felt like minutes before he stayed retreated. Finally he showed something Riina wouldn't have expected till later, a little sign that he was a living being.

He was panting slightly, trying to catch his breath because he was getting warn out from running. Riina knew she'd be able to get him now and took the opportunity.

She appeared behind the man and swung at him hard, but missed yet again. Though she did come very close. She growled a little but then smiled again, this was just too much fun. Now feeling superior she swung at him again, this time she actually nicked him. Blood poured down the skin deep cut that was on his arm.

The man still showed no emotion in his face. "Appears that I can no longer take it easy on you." He said panting lightly. "Mukuchi no tori (mouth less bird) release." With that, the man was surrounded by a gust of air and tremendous light.

Riina squinted and grunted a little at how powerful the gust was. When the sand settled on the ground Riina could see this man's release. Nothing too special by the looks of it. His mask had went to covering part of his face and neck to his whole face and part of his chest. His sword was also thinner. There really wasn't too much change.

But when he lifted the sword to a striking position Riina could feel the sudden spiritual pressure around him. It was huge and compressed on her like a load of luggage. She grunted.

He was gone! How long had he been out of her sight? He left no trace of his presence it was like he was never there at all.

"I have only a fraction of my master's speed and you still can't keep up with me. It doesn't matter though.." His voice came from now where and when Riina looked around she saw no one.

"Because now you're dead."

The words were soft spoken but she could hear them clearly. She felt the heat of his breath tingle against her ear. He was right next to her and she couldn't even blink as a reaction. Her eyes widened just slightly before she felt pain through her stomach. The blade went from her backside through her front like cutting through butter.

Riina looked down in horror and spat out blood. As he kicked her body off of his sword, the metal clanged a little. Her body slid off in a single motion but blood covered the sword and ground. Riina fell down on her face and was unable to move.

She just collapsed and didn't even take in a breath. It was too painful to even think of moving a hair. Her spiritual pressure dropped suddenly, leaving her hair to fall down with her. And her much light clothes stopped their movement as well.

Then she got a little strength. She moved up to a crawling position, her hands were shaky and she coughed up even more blood. Her arms quivered with her weight.

"You're still alive?" The man asked calmly. Not showing any surprised notable to the situation.

Riina got up and turned towards him. Her body ached. But even though her mouth tasted of metal blood and it was pouring down her chin. She couldn't help but grin. Her spiritual pressure rose again. "Is that all you got?" She chuckled. "If you think you're strong enough… come at me." Her blood filled grin widened.

Fumio's face stayed the same but he retorted, "Foolish girl." Before he appeared next to her in a wisp of wind. But his eyes suddenly widened. There was a sword in his midsection.

Riina sent spiritual pressure waving into her sword and at once the sword turned into a black haze and went in through the open hole in his chest. The shattered bone fragments of what was once his mask, fell to their demise.

The haze streamed in all at once and Fumio grunted and his eyes went wider. Appealingly, the process was painful and the girl could see the small sand sized hallucinates glide under his skin. An overall gruesome sight was before her.

Suddenly, Fumio swung at her with his sword and she dodged with plenty of time. She had forgotten that this process would take longer than before… longer than eleven seconds.

He swung again and again viciously and his face finally showed some emotion- rage. The sword was blocked by her hilt a few times. The sword came at her head and she had to limbo backwards to dodge its swiftness.

Then the time came that her sword did its job, even though it did take more than twice the time. Fumio stopped in his tracks and glared down at himself. Gasping as he did so. He took his blood stained sword and sliced himself with it. The whole time there was a deep fear in his eyes.

Riina neared him and he reacted with more violence then she could have guessed. He swung at her madly and actually sliced her a few times. Riina gasped at his new found rage but just when he could have sliced her again he began frantically nipping away at his skin again. He gasped and grunted as he gave himself multiple insertions of cuts but seemingly it wasn't enough to get rid of the apparent illusion that something was crawling under and out of his skin.

Riina felt a drain on her body. Her spiritual pressure was flooding away from her. But she needed him to apply a harsher amount of force to his body. So she used what she had left to keep him in that state of mind. It was unwise to get near him in his maniac state. So she merely stayed back and waited.

Though for a second time he ran at her out of the blue and began to swing at her. She was now much slower and was unable to dodge all of his blows. 'Just a little longer…' Riina thought when he quit for the second time and chopped at himself.

She was unable to keep out her shikai any longer, it had been long over a minute time wise. She panted as her zanpakuto flew out of his gaping wounds and gathered on her sword, reeking of his blood. The red fluid dripped down unto her hand.

She looked up at him again and was prepared to lounge at him. But his new behavior caught her attention. The man who was once so calm and collected now attacked himself endlessly, his yells were loud. No, they weren't yells, they were shrieks. His blood curling shrieks told of the pain he was in as he chopped ever deeper into his skin.

Riina frowned a little, a bit disgusted with the whole thing. This new power of hers… kind of scared her. She was unable to watch this suffering anymore and she flash stepped behind him with her last ounce of spiritual pressure and sliced his head clean off from his body. The surest way to kill in her opinion.

Though now with his head rolling around she wanted to vomit even more at how gruesome it was. She closed her eyes and held her blood stained fingers over her mouth to stop herself from gagging. She then tip toed away because her whole body tingled with a nauseous sensation. Till he was finally out of sight, then she stopped and sat down for a second.

With all of her power and adrenaline gone, her wounds stung more than before. She cringed as she sat knowing that this action only made her pain worse. But now that she was down she most certainly didn't want to make the painful trip back up to her feet. So she stayed.

'Akahana!' Riina remembered and looked around, but the woman was nowhere in sight. She sighed and held unto her deepest cut hoping the bleeding would stop. She needed to clot it up, put pressure on it, but her hand only let the blood seep through her fingers. And dang it she was all out of useable cloth!

Well… possibly not. There might have been one single article of clothing that she could use, that wouldn't be torn off or drenched in blood.

Riina blushed. 'No… not here… not now!' Riina then shook her head, she had to use something to help and besides, there was no one around. She inhaled deeply a few times before rubbing her hands together, this had to be quick.

Fwoosh, her hands reached under her kimono. Swish! She lifted the material up and off. Why did her bra not come with conventional straps and hooks, then she wouldn't have had to pull the thing over her head exposing herself momentarily. 'Oh yeah, because I was too cheap to buy the other ones.' She remembered.

Swoosh! The front of her kimono was once again tightly wrapped around herself. She then realized that she could have done this without moving her kimono at all, to which she slapped her forehead. 'That's what I get for being rash.' Riina thought and placed the soft material over her stomach. The material helped surprisingly, and her stomach stopped bleeding. Then she addressed her other wounds to the best of her ability, by cleaning them up.

She sighed thinking of what she could do next. It was a good thing Akahana wasn't around, she was too weak and beat up to fight in this state.

BOOM! Riina's head jolted to the side. Spiritual pressure? Such a huge amount that it felt like an explosion. Who did it belong to? Riina's eyes widened.

She stood up suddenly and ran, without flash stepping because she had no energy left nearly, to the area she felt the pressure come from. She had to get there! But her legs just weren't moving fast enough!

The only question was, would she get there in time?