Chapter 36: The Spirit King I
Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.
A/N: In case you're wondering what Toushirou's form looks like… This is what I was working on… My drawings are improving? Let me know. crystallinex. deviantart #/d3e4xh7 [Again, get rid of the spaces. Ugh, I really need another way to do this…]
…
Chapter 36
The Spirit King
…
Hikifune Kirio had not known what she was signing up for when she had accepted the promotion. She had expected to lead shinigami as she did back when she was the captain of the Twelfth Division, running the occasional errand, and protecting the King.
Yet not only did the King turn out to be entirely something else than she'd thought, she also had to use her zanpakutou abilities to clean up after 'comrades' like Shakuin.
Though his was of one of the Four Great Noble Houses, he certainly didn't act like a noble. He just touted the name around. If it hadn't been for his spiritual abilities, she got the distinct feeling that he wouldn't have been recruited in the first place.
Or else Soul Society and his clan were more than eager to get rid of him.
Pursing her lips, she swept up the remaining pebbles beside an unconscious Shakuin Senchyuu.
Presently, he stirred and groaned.
"Urghhh… Hikifune…?"
Neatly depositing the pebbles, Kirio said coldly, "So you're awake, Shakuin. A pity."
Senchyuu froze in the process of working out a kink in his neck.
"What did you say?"
She turned away from him. "And all the more deaf for it."
He leapt to his feet, and immediately looked as if he regretted it.
"Augh…"
Clucking her tongue, Kirio remarked, "Be grateful that you're still alive. From what I could tell, that boy was strong. Why did you pick a fight with him anyways? We have no reason to turn away help from fellow shinigami."
Grimacing, Senchyuu managed, "He's Kurosaki Isshin's son."
Kirio froze. "Isshin…"
"Yes." Senchyuu spat. "The man that 'saved' us all, as you and Kuchiki like to say."
She sheathed her sword with one fluid movement.
"That would be because he did. You are either a very faithful or very stolid man, to still harbor a grudge over his so-called 'betrayal.'"
"But he unleashed his – "
Then they both felt something clashing against their own spiritual energies, overwhelming them and even conquering them.
Kirio recognized the calibre of the spiritual energy. The same calibre as the one Isshin had used aeons ago. But it wasn't Isshin.
"Th… this is…" Senchyuu carped, until Kirio quelled him with a look.
Kirio, though younger than Senchyuu, was not only more powerful, but also in better shape than he and his voice died in his throat.
"If you are done babbling, then go on ahead towards the antechamber, where I believe the main battle is taking place. Our fellow shinigami may acquire your assistance. You will ignore the spiritual pressure just now. Understand?"
Her tone left no room for argument.
She sent him off without healing him, and as he staggered off she lapsed into deep thought, awash in memories that she'd rather have not remembered.
…
Alerted by the feeling of familiar spiritual particles, Isshin looked up.
Yoruichi noticed his distraction.
"What's wrong, Isshin?"
"…Something's going on."
Repressing the urge to roll her eyes, Yoruichi ground out, "Could you be any less specific?"
Without bothering to answer her, Isshin ran out of the room.
"Oi! Wait!"
As they dashed after Isshin, Urahara narrowed his eyes. If he wasn't mistaken, this energy was…
…
Karin stared at the transformed Toushirou.
"Tou…shi…rou…?"
Though he had transformed, that posture was unmistakable.
So it had been Toushirou in the whirlwind the whole time. He had been the cause of the freezing temperature.
But Toushirou focused only on Aizen.
"Prepare yourself, Aizen."
If Karin had thought the temperature was cold, it was nothing compared to Toushirou's voice as he leveled his sword of ice at Aizen.
And Toushirou struck.
But Momo moved with alarming speed and blocked the blow with a bare hand.
"Momo…" Toushirou said with disbelief.
Aizen smirked. "Oh, you won't get to me, Hitsugaya-'Taichou.' You'll have to go through your precious childhood friend first."
Karin looked up in shock. The girl that helped hollowfy people was Toushirou's childhood friend?
Smirk widening, Aizen asked rhetorically, "Or was it more than 'just friends'?"
Toushirou clenched his teeth, unable to look at Karin, who he knew was looking at him, confused. So he forced his mind back to the battle at hand, and stared at Momo, who looked at him with disturbingly blank eyes as she called him by his childhood nickname.
"Shirou-chan. Why – are you attacking – Aizen-Taichou?" Momo said in her halting manner of speech.
Toushirou roared, "I should be asking you the same thing! Why are you protecting him? He threw you away like a rag doll! He drove you insane!"
Though Momo flinched, she didn't relent one bit. Instead, she threw his sword off and launched the next attack.
For an instant, Toushirou thought back to the time when Momo had believed that he was the one who had murdered Aizen. When she had held her sword at his neck. At the memory, he hesitated. That single moment was the only opening Momo needed to strike.
Blocking her attack with an ice wing, Toushirouo growled, "Move aside!"
Her stance firm, Momo said, "No. Not even for you, Shirou-chan. Not if you're going to attack Aizen-Taichou." Her words had grown firmer, smoother.
Though his eyes widened in fury, Toushirou still couldn't attack his childhood friend – once the person he had loved.
Instead, he sent a particularly strong blast of wind, which made Momo falter. But after that brief moment, she stood her ground again. Toushirou caught a glimpse of an uncharacteristically hardened face expression before she lowered her head.
Then, she too went through a transformation. She bared her teeth, revealing pointy eyeteeth; her sclera turned black; her irises turned bright yellow.
All the while, Aizen watched with a smugness that made Karin's blood boil. He was enjoying this. Pitting two childhood friends, maybe more, against each other. Contrary to what she would have thought before, she didn't feel betrayed by Toushirou. That girl was in his past; he'd either buried her or would have told Karin about it eventually. What angered Karin was that Aizen watched on the sidelines like he was watching a show. As if all he needed were popcorn and a comfy seat.
Did Aizen have even one scrap of humanity in him? He must have, when even arrancar did.
How had he become so monstrous? What was his motive? He couldn't have started out this evil, this manipulative.
All these questions were running through her mind, but she shoved them aside; she had neither the leisure, nor the patience to carefully examine the complexity of Aizen's psyche.
No.
Not with Kyo dead.
Unsteadily, Karin stood up, casting one last look down at Kyo's lifeless body.
Her eyes shadowed, she turned to face Aizen, who was still observing the battle between Toushirou and Momo.
Radiating fury, Karin flexed her hands.
Then she began to glow.
All at once, Kyo's powers – her powers – that she had believed disappeared when he had died, wired back into her body, reentering her soul. At that moment, she felt Kyo's spiritual pressure merge with hers. They reinforced each other, becoming whole once more. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Koutetsu took a deep breath for the first time in ages.
Karin opened her eyes. Was this what Kyo had meant when he said he would be with her even after he'd died? That his powers would return to her, their rightful owner?
She felt empowered. Like Kyo was right over her shoulder, watching her.
By the time Aizen realized that the hair-raisingly immense spiritual pressure belonged to Karin, she had already summoned her swords.
But they were no longer the crimson swords they had been before. They were longer, lighter, and so red they appeared black. But most of all, they gave off a searing heat. Though Karin felt the heat, her hands did not burn. On the contrary, her body was heating up; even the normally heat-resistant marble cracked under the feet.
Her hair floating eerily independent from Toushirou's wind, Karin said, "You have nothing… nobody to hide behind anymore, Aizen."
Aizen recovered quickly.
"So it seems. Very well then. I shall face you myself, and you can experience first hand just how wide the gap between our powers is. You will regret ever opposing me."
Karin pointed a sword at him and replied, "We'll see about that."
In the next moment, she was behind him. But she turned, because he was no longer there. To anybody else, his voice would sound from everywhere, much like the creepy kid's had. But for Karin, it came from only a single place.
So it shocked him when she pinpointed him directly and was pointing her swords at him once more.
Aizen swerved away from the sword just in time to escape its blade.
But not the heat.
The heat tore through his white hakama, and his skin sizzled, and his eyes widened with confusion before immediately narrowing again. He skidded back, with a horizontal tear across the chest area of his hakama.
"…How…"
"Your hypnosis won't work on me, Aizen." Karin said. "When I merged with Kyo again, my hypnosis 'counter' was reset. You need to perform a ritual in order for your hypnosis to work, right?"
She didn't know how she knew this; it just flowed from her mouth. Was Koutetsu speaking through her?
Then she merged the finally whole Koutetsu into one, and an ornate blade appeared.
Aizen started laughing.
"I admit you've pulled one over on me." He finally unsheathed his sword. "But do you think that you, a mere infant in the ways of the sword, can defeat me, who has centuries of experience?" He disappeared before Karin had the chance to answer. She felt his cold blade against her neck. "You should have taken my hand while you could, Kurosaki Karin."
To his surprise, she smirked.
"Do you really think your sword can cut me now?"
Aizen froze. Firmly, Karin pushed his blade away with her hand and calmly stepped away.
"You can't cut me. You really shouldn't have made Kyo as powerful as he was." She stopped to think. "Oh, would I have to thank Titiritero for that?" Her eyes swiveled over to Aizen once more. "But now I have double, no… triple the power I did before. You've heard of the expression, 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,' right?"
She raised her new blade once more, tendrils of smoke now curling up from its surface.
"You're not walking away from this fight alive."
…
After he had released his bankai, it had only been a matter of time before Ichigo had defeated the mossy-haired man.
'Mossy-man's skills must've been rusty.' Well, he probably didn't get much fighting practice in this dimension. "When I get my hands on that pathetic excuse of a father…" Ichigo flexed his fingers. But as he ran, he wondered what exactly his father could have done that was so bad, that Senshyuu hated him so much.
Ichigo skidded to a stop as he saw somebody who looked like a female version of Byakuya in the room ahead. She turned to face him, and he saw she looked older than Byakuya; her face was slightly lined.
But she had the same level gaze and austerity as Byakuya.
Ichigo struggled to find a diplomatic way to phrase his question. "Um, pardon… but do you happen to be a Kuchiki…?" Fail. Ichigo grimaced inwardly at how that came out.
She pretended not to notice his blunder.
"I see that my clan's name precedes me. Tell me, are you acquainted with my nephew, Byakuya?"
"Yeah." Though Ichigo knew that she hadn't introduced herself, he asked, "What did you say your name was again?"
"I did not say my name, but my name is Kuchiki Seishou." And she, like Byakuya, also lacked a sense of humor. "Now would be a good time to introduce yourself, though I have a good idea of who you might be."
Wary of revealing his last name after the disastrous consequences the last time, Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"
Breathing in through her nose, "You are a Kurosaki, are you not?"
As he stiffened, she sighed, "Judging from your wary reaction, I see you've already met Shakuin Senshyuu." As Ichigo moved to unwrap his sword, Seishou said, "Save your strength, Nameless One. I am indebted to your father."
Thoroughly confused, Ichigo lowered his hand from the hilt of his sword. One considered his Oyaji a traitor, and another was saying that she owed him?
"…Indebted?"
"Yes. Now will you introduce yourself? I have yet to know your given name." This time, Ichigo could detect a trace of impatience in Seishou's voice.
"Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo finally said. "How are you indebted to my father? It can't be the same reason he's considered a traitor, can it?"
Seishou gave him an appraising look. "You are very sharp, Kurosaki Ichigo. Yes, it does, but I will explain it as we run."
…
Meanwhile, Toushirou still struggled with Momo. Seeing Karin start to fight against Aizen, he shouted, "Karin!"
Angered, he tried to maneuver around Momo, but whichever direction he moved in, Momo was there. Had she been this fast when she was alive? She wasn't even using a sword, but he found himself driven back. At this rate, he'd have to use…
"I'm telling you to move, Momo!" Toushirou roared again.
She resolutely shook her head, her yellow eyes narrowed. "You'll try to kill Aizen-Taichou."
Finally, his patience snapped. Even if it wore the shell of his childhood friend, the shards of the Hougyoku now reigned in the control panel.
Vienta finally arrived at the chamber. She didn't even need to hide her spiritual pressure. Immediately, she zoned in on Momo and lunged. Before Momo had time to react, Vienta sliced through her from behind.
Though Toushirou had prepared himself to kill Momo anyways, his heart lurched when he saw Vienta slash her deeply from behind.
No longer able to support herself with spiritual particles, Momo fell out of the air. As her transformation faded away, she reached out with an arm.
"Shi…rou…cha…n…"
Toushirou had to make a split-second decision. He looked from Momo to Karin. Then he looked back at Momo.
'I'm sorry, Karin… Wait for me!'
Swooping down with his wings of ice, Toushirou caught the bleeding Momo, cradling her in his arms.
Vienta landed some distance away, watching passively, knowing that Momo was dying.
With the fatal blow, Momo's mind seemed to finally have returned.
"Shirou-chan…" she breathed.
Her name was stuck in his throat; he couldn't answer.
She smiled at him. 'That dumb smile again.' With that smile, he realized with a jolt that her sanity had returned.
He laughed croakily. "I haven't seen you smile that dumb smile for ages, Hinamori."
Momo attempted to laugh, but coughed out blood instead; she was in too much pain. "Shirou… I mean, Hitsugaya-kun." She looked earnestly, if not weakly, up into his eyes. "You've… grown taller."
"And you haven't grown at all. You're no closer to catching up with Matsumoto than three years ago." Toushirou tried to banter back. After all, she didn't have much time left.
Though Momo tried protest, she broke out into a coughing fit. "…I'm sorry, Shirou-chan."
Tears threatened to fall from his eyes.
"For what, stupid?"
"For burdening you with my…" she struggled with the next word, but squeezing her eyes shut she was able to make it out of her throat. "My suicide. I realize… now how much it had pained you." When she saw Toushirou try to talk, she shook her head and continued, "And… for everything else… I did… to hurt you."
With enormous effort, she raised a hand to touch his cheek.
"Good…bye… Shirou-ch… I mean… Hitsugaya…ku…"
Her hand dropped.
She was dead.
Toushirou's heart dropped like a stone, as he stared down at the girl he had once cherished. Her soul disintegrated from his arms, leaving a few broken shards of glass in his hands. Toushirou swallowed, tears of ice falling from his eyes.
"Stupid… I told you… it's Hitsugaya-Taichou…"
He bowed his head, and his hands enclosed around the remains of the Hougyoku.
After Momo's death, Vienta too, started to fade.
"I have completed my mission. It's time for me to go as well." She closed her eyes and spread her arms, seemingly embracing the nothingness. Then she slowly turned to wood, which then dissipated into dust.
Toushirou gazed at the area Vienta had vanished.
Suddenly, pain struck him like lightning, and he doubled over as he felt the burning in his chest.
'Shit… I can't retain this form for much longer…' He looked towards Aizen. 'I've got to go help Karin fast.'
But to his surprise, Karin was holding her own.
He noticed that her weapon had undergone a transformation as well. It's guard looked larger, the sword looked darker and her sword sizzled as it contacted Aizen's sword. He looked over at Kyo's prone body and he realized what must have happened. Kyo had died and his share of powers that he had been fostering had returned twofold to Karin.
Toushirou clenched the remains of the Hougyoku before stashing them into his hakama and attacking Aizen as well.
Karin spotted him as he did. "Toushirou!" she cried out, surprised.
Her surprise was all it took for Aizen to knock her away. Too late to regain her footing, Karin slammed into rubble of marble, and slumped to the floor. Blood trickled down from her forehead; she didn't move.
Aizen straightened, and examined his body.
"To think she could injure me like this… It seems that I underestimated her."
"Aizen!" Toushirou yelled out, furious. "Is that all you can say? Hinamori is dead! Kyo is dead! Karin – ! Karin…"
"Oh, I don't think she'd die from a weak blow like that. Maybe I should go finish the job."
Toushirou radiated fury, and his body gave out a blue glow. 'This is it.' Hyourinmaru didn't answer, but he could picture him closing his eyes in resignation.
"Saigo no Tensou Juurin!" (The Final Subjugation of the Heavens)
Toushirou raised his sword and cried out, "Hakuten no Ryu!" (Dragon of Pure Skies) and he swung down his sword towards Aizen.
There was a blast, and all was quiet.
…
The Spirit King looked on, intrigued by the turn of events. He absently balanced a scale of souls, but paid no attention to it, too busy looking at the battle. A soul screamed as it fell off the scale, and into Hell. The King ignored this.
"Oh? Isn't that technique of a similar caliber as the one that shinigami used to seal me with?"
He searched around seemingly nowhere, until he found what seemed like nothing. But he had found something, something only his eyes could see.
"Aha. I remember you, Kurosaki Isshin."
The Spirit King suddenly showed his face, and though it was round like a child's, the expression was nothing like what a normal child would wear.
It was full of bloodlust.
"Yes. I have a score to settle with you, Kurosaki Isshin."
…
Aizen lay debilitated on the floor.
Slowly, Toushirou walked over to him, with only a single question on his mind. When he stood over Aizen, he asked, "Why?"
Coughing out blood, Aizen asked, "Why…. What?" He hacked out a few more coughs. "Why did I betray Soul Society? Why… did I attempt to become Spirit King?" Even on the verge of death, a corner of his mouth tugged up, as if he knew something Toushirou didn't.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He wiped the blood from his mouth and examined it with disgust. "But I think once you hear – if you believe me, that is – you'll regret ever wanting to know."
Though Aizen looked as sly as usual, Toushirou could somehow sense the truth behind his words. He opened his mouth to ask what Aizen meant, but abruptly, his ice wings and sword shattered.
Aizen looked at him, appearing vaguely amused. "Looks like your time's up as well. Hitsugaya-'Taichou.'"
Next to go was Toushirou ice armor covering his right arm and half of face. Last of all was Toushirou's long hair.
Toushirou lowered his eyelids as he stared down at Aizen.
"You're going to die, Aizen."
Smirking, Aizen breathed out, "So it seems." Rolling an eye over to Toushirou, he asked, "So do you… really want to know the truth about the Spirit King? Why the sun here is fake? Why… everything is made of marble? Why this place… isn't teeming with people?"
At Toushirou's face, Aizen made out a chuckle.
"Why… the look of surprise? There's supposed… to be a royal family… and quite numerous… too. And the royal servants. But no one… is here except… for the Royal Guard and their pawns." His breathing was ragged and irregular now.
Toushirou kept quiet.
"Well, even if you don't… want to know… Humor me by listening."
Toushirou was tempted to slice Aizen's throat then and there to prevent him from getting anything he wanted, but he realized he no longer had a zanpakutou.
So he scowled but listened.
…...
"Karin! Karin, are you okay?"
Karin opened her eyes, and she saw the hazy figure of Toushirou before her. It seemed like his previous appearance had been restored; his hair was short again. She blinked, and her vision became clearer. With Toushirou were the others. Yuzu, Ichigo, her father, an injured Ikkaku, Rangiku, Tatsuki; all the other shinigami, and arrancar. Only a scant few remained unscathed. There was the Kuchuki Seishou woman as well, as well as a few others she didn't know.
"…Thank god… You're all still alive." She almost didn't recognize her own voice.
Slowly casting a glance around, she spied Aizen's figure. Toushirou, seeing the direction of her gaze, quietly said, "The battle with Aizen is over."
To her surprise, she didn't feel any triumph. Only emptiness. She looked over to Kyo's body. Despite the protests of the people around her, she shakily stood and stumbled over to him.
Yuzu was sniffling. If not for his deathly pale face, he could be asleep. Kneeling beside him, Karin took his cold hand and murmured, "Thank you. Kyo. The other half of my soul."
Toushirou was at a loss for words. He simply put a hand on Karin's shoulder, offering what comfort he could. But suddenly, Toushirou staggered. He grit his teeth as the pain gripped his very soul. He fell to one knee.
Karin stared at him, alarmed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.
"Toushirou! What's wrong?"
But he couldn't answer. All he could do was let out a strangled yell. He collapsed into her arms, and Karin gathered his body to hers. She asked urgently, "What's wrong with him?" She twisted her head to look around at the shinigami. "Is he hurt?" When only sad eyes looked at her, she fought the wave of panic that threatened to overcome her. "Say something!"
Isshin looked grim, as everybody watched Toushirou's yells elevate into screams of agony. His screams only stopped when he lapsed into unconsciousness.
Seishou stepped forward. "He has gone into the first stage of loss."
Bewildered, Karin asked, "First stage of… What does that mean? Loss of what?"
Unexpectedly, Isshin answered for her, "Loss of shinigami powers."
Karin froze.
"Loss of…"
Closing his eyes, Isshin turned away. "That's right. He'll lose all his spiritual power. All his reiatsu."
Instinctively, Karin clutched Toushirou even closer to herself, frightened by the very idea that it was possible.
"…How do you know…?"
Isshin didn't have time to answer, as a swirling light surrounded Karin, transporting her and Toushirou, whom she held onto, to another chamber.
When Karin opened her eyes, a familiar figure lounged before her, with a peculiar scale in front of him.
"…You!"
He was no longer transparent, and his now visible face made him look like a pale, moon-faced child.
The child was bedecked in his unmistakable imperial robes. If Karin hadn't been holding Toushirou, she would have run up to the kid and grabbed his collar, shaking him to an inch within his life for sending her and Kyo to that room.
Calmly, the kid said, "Yes. Me. Though I would prefer you call me 'Your Highness.'"
Karin's eyes widened.
"You mean you're the Spirit King?" she said incredulously.
Tilting the scale just a little bit, he replied, "Isn't it obvious just by my clothes?" He swiveled an eye towards her, looking annoyed. "What, you want me to wear a crown on my head and dance holding a sign saying 'I'm the Spirit King' for everyone to see?"
In any other situation, Karin would have found the expression funny, but as of now, she had nothing to say in reply to that. Instead, she asked, "Why did you bring me back here? We… Toushirou… defeated your enemy." She glanced down sadly at Toushirou's head in her lap. 'At a high cost…' Toushirou had lost his shinigami powers as a result. She glared back up at the King. "Aren't you satisfied?"
Looking back at the scale, he said lazily, "Nope. I have a vendetta against your father, you see."
Karin frowned. "Against… Old Beardy?"
The King snorted at the name. "That's an interesting nickname for him. Is that supposed to be a term of endearment or something?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "He took something from me, so I plan on taking something from him. And then kill him slowly and painfully."
There was a faint screaming noise from the scale. Karin glanced from the King to the scale, unsettled, both by the scream and the threat he had made to her father.
"Whoops." The King remarked.
Uneasily, Karin asked, "What was that noise just now…?"
The King nonchalantly said, "Just a soul falling into Hell. Except this soul didn't do anything to deserve it. I meant to shove another soul down." He tapped the scale again, and another small scream was heard. "I really should take out the other soul that fell in by mistake. But I'm too lazy. It happens all the time, so I just don't bother any more."
Karin's eyes widened with horror.
"You… toy with people's souls like that?" Her horror quickly turned to anger. "Are we no more than trash to you? Why don't you wait for shinigami to come and perform a soul burial?"
The King shrugged. "There are areas where shinigami aren't posted. And you guys aren't trash. Just another boring chore for me, the King, to complete. Except there's no end to you humans. You're like cockroaches."
Out of nowhere, he pulled out an abacus and he flicked a bead, and yet another, but more agonizing, scream echoed.
"You know, I only keep the Royal Guard around just to lessen my work for me."
When Karin looked taken aback at this admission, the Spirit King complained, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to multitask hundreds, no, thousands of things at the same time? And I don't even get any appreciation for all the things that I do."
He sourly flicked another bead on the abacus, and this time a ghostly image came out of it, and rose up into the air before disappearing.
"It sometimes makes me regret eating my maste – " he abruptly stopped, as if he had said something he shouldn't have.
After a long pause, the King continued to speak, his voice light and airy as usual, but his face extremely dangerous. Karin suddenly wished that his face had remained transparent.
"Sorry. You've just heard something nobody's supposed to know."
And he raised a hand to leisurely cover his face.
Sensing the danger, Karin flash-stepped away and carefully placed Toushirou on the floor.
When the King lowered his hand, his face was neither transparent nor of a child's.
It was a terrifying mask even more grotesque than a hollow's, and Karin looked on in horror as he stood, no longer looking like a child. In fact, he looked like a giant all of a sudden. He opened his mouth and revealed that it was pitch black, not unlike a garganta.
When he spoke, his voice was also no longer childlike but demonic.
"You'll have to die now."
…
…
A/N: Ahem. That's it for this chapter folks. Tune in next time! I think there will be about two to three more chapters. (finally an estimate!)