Title: A Shifting of Life
Chapter: 43
Fandom: Bleach
Word count: 1,459
Total Word Count: 59,370/60,000
Characters: Somehow the characters got mixed up. Same with the last chapter. Sorry about that.
AN: Holy shit! So close to the end! I can see the end of the tunnel!
Please remember that my drabbles are taking a back seat at the moment due to a rabid bunny that is molesting my brain (calling it Black Veiled Saviour) and my insistent luck at finding new songs and bands to enjoy.
"He will not be easy to defeat," Harribel stated, tapping Tiburons hilt as it sat across her lower back. Soi-fon nodded as they stood on a wall, watching for the portal to open and release Ugaki to their sight, her own zanpactou resting against her lower back.
"Who would have thought that the twin Bounts would spill about his Ugaki person," Soi-fon hummed, eyes narrowing in thought. "We will need to get to him while the Doll is distracted."
"Yes. You are knowledgeable about stealth attacks correct? I will take the Doll on myself while you get into position," Harribel stated, getting a sharp nod as they shifted on their feet, feeling the power build before an opening appeared and a dapper looking man appeared. He was wearing a white button-up shirt and pressed pants. His hair was neatly combed to the side and he wore a pair of glasses that he fixed as he stepped out of the portal.
Looking around as he closed the portal behind him, Ugaki played with his cards, feeling his doll Gessel vibrate in anticipation of what was to come. Soothing it, he allowed the portal to fully close behind him and started to walk towards a large, unused storage warehouse where his fellow Bounts that had come before him were to be waiting for his arrival.
A ribbon of yellow energy stopped him from going any further, forcing him to flip backwards and out of the way of the destruction.
As the dust settled down, he found himself facing a beautiful woman standing on a piece of upturned walk way, holding what he would have assumed was a zanpactou if not for the fact that it was much shorter than a normal one and was missing the middle of the blade.
The woman who was holding the weapon was wearing a long sleeved top that covered her breasts up until just under her nipples, the collar reaching up to cover most of her face. Her hair was an almost bleached shade of blond while her eyes were a teal color and her skin richly tanned.
A hole sat in the middle of her exposed stomach, making Ugaki frown heavily.
"You are not a shinigami at all," he stated, feeling as if the woman was smirking at him behind her collar.
"You are correct," she responded, voice silky smooth as she easily walked over the broken rubble. "I am an Arrancar. To be precise, one of Aizen-samas Espadas, his third," she stated, holding her zanpactou out before her. "My name is Tia Harribel and I am here to help stop you and yours from trying to fulfill the plan of a woman whose mind is fractured."
"An Arrancar," Ugaki said slowly, eyes taking in every detail of Harribel, mind already whirling and calculating what he was to do. "I have heard rumors of hollows whom have torn off their masks, giving them abilities much like a shinigamis but I had no idea you were working with the shinigami," he said, Harribel shrugging one shoulder.
"It has happened due to several factors. None of which you will find out about. I am obligated though to offer you the chance to give up and come peacefully," she told him, Ugaki standing straight and stiff with a glare at her.
"He pulled out a small mat that started to float before him and replied, "Zeige dich, Gesell." Harribel smirked behind her mask as the small floating creature's that was Ugakis doll appeared. Pulling out the first card, he smirked as he placed it down upon the mat with three others, Gesell flashing a light and forcing the woman to cover her eyes as he quickly drew a fifth card.
Laying it on the mat, he created a spear that was sent at her.
She barely dodged out of the way, barely, her eyes squinting, making Ugaki scowl.
"Such an interesting ability of your doll," Harribel mused as the spots dancing across her vision finally disappeared. She saw a flash of black amongst the shadows around them and made herself ignore it once she knew what it was.
She didn't want to draw any attention to Soi-fon and what she was doing. She had to concentrate on distracting Ugaki, giving her partner time to get into her place.
"It will not save you," she stated, her zanpacto glowing as she shifted her stance into a fighters stance.
"I will not be defeated," Ugaki snarled, eyes narrowing as the eyes flashed once more. They created shadows all around them before the shadows created a spear to attack Harribel, barely nicking her side as she dodged out of the way of them.
Pulling her sword back as a glow wrapped around itself in the middle, still dodging out of the way of the shadows, Harribel launched her own attack, unsurprised when Ugaki and his doll moved out of the way. He landed where they wanted him to, but she still had to lunge out of the way as a large, purple, almost demonic hand, appeared out of the shadows.
As it grasped and reached for her, she growled and fired a cero at it, destroying it only for a second one formed and landed a hit on her. The hand slammed her into a wall hard, leaving an indent in the wall and her crying out in pain.
Shaking her head as it buzzed with the sudden pain, she stood up slowly and glared at Ugaki. The man just smirked at her as he played with his cards. He laid another one out on the mat and sent another barely dodged attack, Gesell laughing brightly next to him.
He shifted and frowned heavily as his body throbbed and protested suddenly before relaxing again.
Harribel smirked at the frown, catching Soi-fon hiding deeply in the shadows of a doorway, Suzumebachi curled around her wrist and sitting on her finger, looking innocently deadly. The assassin was smirking as she rolled her shoulders and looking smug.
The Arrancar fired another Ora Azuru towards him, forming a ribbon and destroying the ropes of shadows that were heading towards her. She was unsurprised when another demonic hand blocked the attack with a hard smack. The Bount twitched again and rolled his head and shoulders in an attempt to calm himself.
"Are you feeling a little uneasy, Ugaki-san?" Harribel asked getting the Bount to snarl at her as he swayed back and forth on his feet. "Or perhaps unwell is the better word?" she asked, one finger hooked in the circle in the end of Tiburon, twirling it lazily around her finger. "I offered you the chance to give up, but you didn't take it."
"What the fuck did you do to me?" Ugaki asked, his vision blurring and clearing as Gesell whined next to him, the various parts of it blinking and bobbing heavily.
"It wasn't actually me that did anything," Harribel chuckled, shrugging with a smile as she once more grasped the hilt of her zanpactou.
"It was me," Soi-fon stated, coming out of the shadows as Gesells parts fell to the ground and flopped feebly. Ugaki groaned and came to rest against the wall in an attempt at staying upright.
"What's happening to me?" he growled, feeling as if his body was disappearing on him. The words that came next confirmed his worst fears and making his eyes widen.
"Suzemebachis special shikai technique is a poison, a venom that is, that is placed on your skin," Soi-fon stated. "As my seal spreads out, it eats away at your power, dissolving your body. I must hit you twice in the same spot though for to work, which I was able to do when you dodged the two times from Harribel-sans attack. It is called Nigeki Kessatsu."
"Death in Two Steps," Ugaki chuckled as he fell to his knees, his vision going black as the venom did its work. "How appropriate."
The two women watched as the doll and Ugaki slowly went to dust, the wind that danced around them taking the dust away. Harribel slid her zanpactou into its sheath as Soi-fon released the shikai state of her own zanpactou and slipped it into its own sheath.
"We have reports to fill out once you are cleared by the 4th to do so," Soi-fon stated, watching as Harribel pressed her hands at her ribs and back, checking the cuts that were only bleeding sluggishly.
"I'm going to be a brilliant collection of colors if nothing else," she stated, the two heading for the 4th. As Harrible was seen to, Soi-fon left for her own division to start writing her report, knowing the third Espada would join her once she had been cleared to.