"You know, you didn't have to scare him like that," Rangiku said to Tamotsu as they walked through the Division Ten barracks. "He's just doing it to make sales on the paper. Everyone gets articles once in a while."
"He made me look ridiculous," Tamotsu responded. "I was portrayed as helpless and incapable."
"Shuhei isn't that bad of a guy. You should talk to him once he wakes up."
"Yeah, maybe I did overreact. Just a little bit." Tamotsu sighed and leaned against a wall. "Just so much to figure out still. All this newfound power and..." He trailed off. He wasn't sure he could trust anyone else with knowledge of the white butterfly just yet.
"And what?" Rangiku asked. "You know you can trust me with anything."
"Its nothing. I'm just going to head out for a bit."
Rangiku said nothing as Tamotsu walked away. She had always worried about him but still pressed him to strive for something higher. Seeing him walk away this time though, she wondered if he would be able to live up to what she had suggested to the other Captains.
Finding himself walking outside of the Seireitei and into a secluded area, Tamtosu found himself sensing familiar traces of reiatsu. It had been a while since he had met Kai Socrius, a Shinigami who remembered parts of his life as a human, but after a rocky start they had earned their respect for each other. As he approached he felt other reiatsu he did not recognize. As well as two Captains. Soi Fon and Byakuya Kuchiki.
The group seemed to be standing around as he approached, deep in some discussion. "Hey, guys," Tamotsu said as he approached. "Got a private gathering going on here?"
Byakuya looked over at Tamotsu and raised his hand. "Hado Sixty-Three. Raikoho."
A large burst of yellow lightning erupted from the Captain's hand and shot straight toward Tamotsu. Instinctively, Tamotsu erected a Danku barrier and braced himself as the explosion of energy struck the target and shook the ground.
"Hey, whoa there! Captain Kuchiki, what's the hubbub about?" Tamotsu lowered the shield to find the Captain standing indifferent to what had just occurred.
"Socrius, that is they type of reaction time I would expect from you," he said, speaking to Kai. Kai nodded. "I apologize, Toshiyuki. The only reason I used such a powerful spell was because I knew you would be able to deflect it without trouble."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence I guess. What's going on here?"
"Captain Soi Fon and myself are training these Shinigami in advanced Kido and Shunpo techniques. You are welcome to join us if you so wish."
"No offense, Captain Kuchiki, but I think my level of Kido is good enough. And I suppose Captain Soi Fon is teaching Shunpo? I still can't manage the basics."
"Is that so?" Soi Fon asked. "From what I heard, you were able to move quite quickly despite your proposed inability."
"That's different," Tamotsu said with a defensive tone. "I was using reiatsu pretty much like rocket thrusters from my feet. That wasn't Shunpo."
"Regardless of that, Shunpo technique is meant for speed. And you can move fast."
"Well, yeah, I suppose. But I still don't think I'll need any Kido training."
"Very well," Byakuya said. "If you believe yourself to be so competent in that field then perhaps a duel will suffice."
"Duel? Against you?" Tamotsu scratched the back of his head. "Gee, I wasn't expecting anything like that. I suppose we could do that."
Byakuya nodded. "The rest of you take a break. Watch how we perform our techniques."
"Hey, Captain Kuchiki. How about we place a bet to make things more interesting? A wager perhaps?"
"What do you propose? I doubt any of your Kido techniques will land on their intended target."
"Okay then," Tamotsu said, approaching slowly. "If I am able to land one of the Kido techniques on you, you owe me a shrimp dinner."
"And if you fail?" Byakuya asked.
"I'll stay and train with you. Agreed?" Tamotsu extended his hand in the offer of a handshake.
"Very well," Byakuya said, taking Tamotsu's hand. Half a second later, Tamotsu channeled Hado 11 directly through his arm and hand and into Byakuya, the sudden electrical jolt causing the Captain's hair to stand on end.
Running back a couple of steps, Tamotsu called out, "You owe me a shrimp dinner!" Running further a couple of steps, Byakuya was suddenly standing in front of Tamotsu. His eyes were fixed on the younger Shinigami. "For the record, I didn't use the spell until after the handshake."
Byakuya reached over to his side and unsheathed his zanpakuto. "Scatter, Senbonzakura," he said. The blade fell apart into a thousand shining pink petals and began to swirl in a circular motion.
"Hey, wait just a minute!" Tamotsu cried out. "I thought this was supposed to be a Kido duel!"
"You agreed to a duel," Byakuya responded. "However I do not recall stating that it was intended only for Kido. It is true that you did indeed have success in landing one spell, but I will be the one who says when the duel is over."
The pink petals flew forward toward Tamotsu, who fell backward and allowed the petals to fly only inches from his face. The swirling mass came down again and Tamotsu jumped out of the way.
"You cannot win a duel by only dodging, Toshiyuki," Byakuya said. Motioning with his hand, the swirling mass split into two and came at Tamotsu from both sides. Jumping forward, Tamotsu unraveled his zanpakuto and lashed out at Byakuya. Waiting until the last moment, Byakuya dodged by using Shunpo and appeared again directly behind Tamotsu. Without looking back, Tamotsu ducked down as Byakuya's hand came across for a strike.
"Impressive. You were able to perceive my presence without looking back. But I would call that a lucky dodge."
"Its only lucky if I can't do it again," Tamotsu responded, a challenge in his words.
Byakuya's eyes narrowed as if accepting the challenge. A blue glow began to emerge surrounding Tamotsu's body. With another Shunpo step, Byakuya came at Tamotsu from the front. But before he emerged from the step, Tamotsu was already in motion and fell backward. He rolled in the air backward, gaining the high ground. The glow faded and Tamotsu found himself in the path of the glowing swirls of Senbonzakura. The mass was spreading into a wider area, too much for him to dodge. But did he have to dodge? Something that he had learned in his martial arts training was that one offensive technique could be neutralized by another one.
Facing the oncoming mass, Tamotsu raised his hands in front of him. "Hado fifty-eight. Tenran!" A burst of tornado-like wind erupted from his palms and collided with the miniature blades. The entire mass passed harmlessly around him, converging once again into a single mass.
Byakuya stared, then made a gesture with his hand. Immediately, the mass of shining blades opened up and surrounded Tamotsu. They condensed into a sphere of shimmering pink petals, leaving no opening.
"Kuchiki Taichou!" Kai called out. "What are you doing?"
"Remain where you are, Socrius," Byakuya responded. "This is his test."
Inside the swirling mass of pink, Tamotsu found there was no way for him to escape. He could use Sho and Tenran to move some of the blades, but with the speed of their swirling there wouldn't be enough time for him to escape. He had to move them all at once, but he didn't know of a single spell that could do it. Or did he? He had modified Kido plenty of times before so why not now? Drawing in his power, Tamotsu concentrated and then extended his arms and legs as a burst of wind erupted from him in all directions. The technique worked and Tamotsu was able to escape through the several gaps before the sphere reformed.
As soon as he was free of the glowing sphere of blades, however, Tamotsu found that Soi Fon was charging at him. Her zanpakuto was in its released form, a black and yellow finger ornament. He spun as she flew past him. He felt a scratch and looked to find that a white butterfly mark had formed on his right shoulder.
Ironic, he thought. It had almost been like a mockery, but he would be the only one who would understand it. Snapping back to the moment, he realized the graveness of his current situation. Captain Soi Fon attacking me with her Shikai?!
Jumping down from the air and landing to the ground, Tamotsu ran as fast as he could and hid behind Kai. "She's trying to KILL ME!" Tamotsu shouted.
"Toshiyuki!" Byakuya said. "Your duel still commences. Do not dishonor yourself by running away!"
Before he could respond, Tamotsu found that Soi Fon had used her Shunpo to appear behind him. Ducking as she struck again, Tamotsu ran and jumped into the air. She was faster, no doubt on that, but Tamotsu believed he could at least anticipate the direction of her attacks. Reaching deep within himself, he found the power that had recently assisted him against Byakuya's attacks.
A burst of reiatsu to his left announced the arrival of Soi Fon exiting Shunpo before he could see her. By the time she was within view he was already dodging her attacks. The glow of energy appeared once more around Tamotsu and Soi Fon's actions seemed to slow. This did little to assist with his dodging speed but he was able to see clearly where each of her attacks would be aimed. What had seemed like random thrusts before now had a clear pattern.
He was struck twice more, once on the right side of his chest and once just below his left ribs, but the pattern soon became clear. Six strikes, though in rapid concession, were aimed at the same points on Tamotsu's body. In slow motion to his enhanced vision, he began to move his hand as fast as he could. He sacrificed a stab to his right hand as he moved. First strike, he thought. Keep moving and close tightly now.
It seemed almost agonizingly slow, but Tamotsu counted the strikes as each one confirmed his thought on the pattern. Two, three, four, five, NOW! Tamotsu's hand landed on his expected target, grabbing Soi Fon's wrist as she was in mid execution of the sixth strike. Although surprised, Soi Fon did not slow and changed her tactics by executing a crescent kick aimed at Tamotsu's head. He saw it coming and was able to easily dodge. But that, it seemed, was merely a distraction for him to loosen his grip on her wrist. She freed herself and jumped back. Tamotsu stood panting. The hyper awareness that he experienced must have had an effect on his reiatsu level as he normally wouldn't have been so winded.
"Impressive, Tamotsu Toshiyuki," Soi Fon said. "I wouldn't have thought you capable of matching my speed enough to grab my wrist like that."
"Lucky catch?" Tamotsu said, a weak smile appearing on his face.
"Perhaps. Let's put that to the test!" Pushing herself forward, Soi Fon increased in speed as Tamotsu lunged forward as well. Tamotsu screamed as he lifted his hand for a punch, but then was surrounded by a cloud of pink smoke. Soi Fon stopped as the smoke rolled over her. Jumping above the cloud she could see a stream of mist trailing a hundred yards in the opposite direction with Tamotsu running as fast as he could away from her. Soi Fon smiled and allowed herself a brief chuckle before landing next to Byakuya and Kai.
"What was that about?" Kai asked. "Were you trying to kill him?"
"You idiot," Soi Fon said. "That wasn't even half my normal speed. Everything I did I had to slow down to what a normal Shunpo speed would have been like. If I were really trying to kill him, he'd be dead already."
"You said this was a type of test. Just what is it you're testing him for?"
"Several of the Captains," Byakuya stated, "have been asked to test Tamotsu Toshiyuki to his limits."
"To what purpose?" Kai asked.
"The purpose of this test is to see if he is to be removed from his position as Third Seated Officer in the Tenth Division."
Shade, thought Tamotsu as he finally stopped running and collapsed under a tree. Cool, relaxing shade. He hadn't known why the two Captains had attacked him the way they did, but frankly he didn't want to stick around to find out. Looking at his robes, the butterfly patterns had faded away. He was glad. Although he had never witnessed it, he knew that Soi Fon's Shikai was a two-hit kill. Had he been struck in the same place twice by her Shikai, he would have died. But why attack him like that? And Captain Kuchiki had allowed it?
Not sure what to make of the situation, Tamotsu fell back to the ground. After a couple of deep breaths, he suddenly felt another reiatsu presence. Acting as soon as he felt where the reiatsu was coming from he spread his legs apart as a black blade came upward, directly out of the ground! Rolling into a backward summersault, he dodged as the second blade came up. Again, it was directly out of the ground. Grabbing the side of the tree, Tamotsu stood sideways and looked down at the two protruding blades.
"Captain Kyoraku?!" he cried out. "What do you think you're doing?!"
The shadows below Tamotsu began to rise out of the ground as Captain Kyoraku emerged. The shadows fell off him like a black ink and revealed his famous pink kimono.
"Easy there, Tamotsu," Kyoraku said. "You seemed relaxed and I wanted to play a game with you."
"A game?! What kind of sick, twisted kind of game is that?!"
Kyoraku smiled as he adjusted his straw hat. "Kageoni," he said. "Or Shadow Demon. We can manipulate shadows to our advantage. Like so." Thrusting one of his swords into the ground, Tamotsu jumped away as it suddenly appeared behind him in the tree. As Kyoraku lifted his sword, it seemed to retreat into the tree.
"I see," Tamotsu said. He grabbed the handle of his own zanpakuto and it unraveled in front of him from his shoulder. "Let's see if I get this right." He thrust the whip against a tree where a shadow was, but rather than going into the shadow it cut through the branch.
"Very close," Kyoraku said. "But the rules of the game state that its our own shadows we use." Kyoraku thrust his blade into the ground again, this time protruding from the branch above Tamotsu. He dodged and landed on the ground.
Without hesitating, Tamotsu thrust his whip full force into his own shadow. This time, the whip disappeared into the ground and re-emerged under Kyoraku. Kyoraku was quick, however, and dodged without problem. Again, Tamotsu thrust the whip down. Rather than having the single strike, Tamotsu's intentions came clear to Hinohebi. Kyoraku dodged again, then the whip retreated into his shadow before he was able to move all the way clear. It re-emerged behind Kyoraku, who dodged once again.
As before, the whip retreated downward and into the shadow once again. Three more times this worked, but Hinohebi's length finally ran out. The blade at the end of the whip stopped a good twelve inches from Kyoraku's face. Kyoraku laughed. "Not bad," he said. "But now your whip has to go back through all those shadows again for you to use your weapon."
Tamotsu pulled the whip and jumped as Kyoraku thrust his sword into his shadow on the tree next to him. The blade emerged, but Tamotsu was well out of the way. "If that's how the game is played," Tamotsu said, "then maybe I'll just stay clear of the shadows. Now standing in the clearing ten feet off the ground, Tamotsu looked down at Kyoraku.
Kyoraku smiled. "Very well, then," he said. "New game." Jumping up into the air, Kyoraku jumped above Tamotsu and raised one of his swords. "Takaoni!" Kyoraku brought his blade down as Tamotsu brought the whip up to block. The strike made contact, but the power was more than Tamotsu had expected. He fell down and stopped himself short of slamming into the ground. Jumping up, he cleared Kyoraku and went higher into the air. But he had forgotten that Kyoraku, unlike himself, was able to use Shunpo and found the Captain already above him.
"Takaoni is like King of the Mountain," Kyoraku explained. "Whoever is on top is the stronger one." Kyoraku struck out twice more and Tamotsu dodged.
"Whoever's on top, huh?" Tamotsu commented. He lashed out with his whip. Kyoraku was confused at first since the attack didn't seem to come directly toward him and reacted too late when he found the whip wrapped around his left leg. With a sharp tug, Tamotsu managed to pull the Captain far enough down that he was below. That accomplished, Tamotsu unraveled the whip and let loose a crack that caused a shock wave.
"Very good," Kyoraku said. Tamotsu turned to find the Captain had used Shunpo to escape once again, now standing on level ground. "You catch on quickly, I'll give you that. Next game."
"What?!" Tamotsu exclaimed. "Just how many of these games do you have, anyway?"
Kyoraku only smiled. "Irooni," he said, raising his swords. "Black!" Kyoraku lunged forward and slashed, Tamotsu able to dodge the brunt of the blow but still managing to get cut. A small spurt of blood appeared where the sword slashed and Tamotsu gasped.
Catching his breath, he faced Kyoraku. "A color game, huh?" he asked. "Shout out a color and you have to hit that color?"
"Basically, yes."
"Very well then. Pink!" Tamotsu lashed out at Kyoraku and managed to cut the pink Kimono. As he had done, Kyoraku was able to dodge the brunt of the blow but still received a cut. Jumping above Tamotsu, Kyoraku descended. Jumping up to face his opponent, Tamotsu readied his own attack.
"White!" Kyoraku said. He brought the sword down, but Tamotsu was turning.
Using the blade on the tip of Hinohebi's whip, Tamotsu cut through the white sash that held his robes together and had his back facing Kyoraku when the blade struck. There was no visible white for him to cut, striking black instead. Kyoraku smiled at the ingenuity Tamotsu had demonstrated, but the smile faded as Tamotsu's spin continued and he displayed glowing blue eyes. "Brown," he said.
Kyoraku used Shunpo and jumped away as the whip came close to his head. Breathing a sigh of relief, he suddenly opened his eyes and found that his normal lock of hair that came down his face was missing. Looking back, he saw Tamotsu with his left arm extended to the side with a few strands of brown hair in his hand. The glowing blue aura around Tamotsu seemed to fade and Tamotsu let the hair drift off in the breeze.
"Sorry, Captain Kyoraku," Tamotsu said. "But I don't really want to play with you anymore." Without waiting for an answer, Tamotsu began running off away from Kyoraku.
Captain Ukitake appeared suddenly beside Kyoraku. "So what do you think?" he asked. "I wasn't able to test him myself like we were hoping."
"He learns fast," Kyoraku said. "And he's adaptable."
"Do you think we're doing the right thing?"
"Yes. I believe we're doing what's best for him."
Sweat poured from Tamotsu's brow as he came to rest against a wall deep within Seireitei. In only a short time, he had fought against three of the Captains of the Gotei Thirteen. Were they trying to beat him up? Was this some type of sick joke? Or did Byakuya rally everyone against him for the cheap win on their bet? He didn't know. All he knew was that he was tired. He wasn't able to rest long, as a large dark shadow appeared behind him.
"Hey," a deep voice sounded. "I saw you playing with Captain Kyoraku. How about you and I have some fun?"
Tamotsu turned around shakily to find Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, a large smile on his face. "Captain... Zaraki?" Tamotsu said, his voice quaking as much as his body was.
"Come on," Kenpachi said. "Just for a couple minutes to pass the time. I won't take no for an answer." Kenpachi pulled his sword from its sheath raised it to his shoulder. Without thinking, Tamotsu grabbed his whip and lashed out. That single motion was an acceptance of the battle request.
Kenpachi knocked the whip away and lashed out at Tamotsu. Tamotsu fell backward, the blade nearly brushing against his nose. Kenpachi struck again, this time Tamotsu was able to block using Hinohebi. A sudden pounding began in his head, but Tamotsu forced himself not to think about it. Blocking another blow, Tamotsu was thrown back several yards.
The pounding began anew and Kenpachi ran forward. Tamotsu grabbed his head and screamed as Kenpachi's blade came down. "Don't get distracted!" Kenpachi cried out as he struck down. A sudden blue flash appeared and was then covered by a cloud of dust and debris as Kenpachi's blade came down. No movement occurred in the dust for several seconds as it began to clear.
"Hardly worth my time," Kenpachi said, disappointed. He started to pull his blade away but it seemed stuck. "Huh?"
The dust cleared. Tamotsu was on his knee, a blue glow surrounding his body as he held Kenpachi's blade just over his shoulder with his bare hand. Despite the power behind the blow, and the blade was downward against Tamotsu's hand, no blood poured out. Tamotsu opened his eyes and a fierce burst of energy erupted from him. Throwing Kenpachi's blade, Tamotsu spun around and fired a Sho Kido spell at point blank range against the Captain. Kenpach flew back nearly ten yards and landed on his back.
No movement for a second, then Kenpachi began to stir. His shoulders were shaking. Slouching forward on his knee, Kenpachi's shoulders began to shake more fiercely. When he raised his head, Tamotsu could see that that a large smile crossed over it as the Captain began to laugh maniacally.
"Hell, yeah!" Kenpachi said. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" Kenpachi lunged forward and Tamotsu blocked, so focused on his enemy that he failed to notice that Hinohebi had reverted to her sealed sword form.
...
Kyoraku and Ukitake ran as fast as they could. They had sensed a sudden rise in reiatsu within the city, knowing that it had belonged to Tamotsu. Rangiku, too, seemed to have sensed it.
"What's going on?" Rangiku asked. "I thought you were done with his tests."
"We were," Ukitake said. "But when he ran off, I didn't expect anyone else to test him. And not within the city."
The trio could see clearly where the battle was, brief eruptions of blue and yellow reiatsu combined with clouds of dust rising from the streets. There was no question as to who he was fighting.
Moments later, they could see clearly the battle. Nobody dared to intervene, but Rangiku stared with wide eyes. There was her brother, a fierce blue glow surrounding his body and in his eyes. He fought with a sword rather than his whip, which was surprising enough. But for him to be not only fighting, but holding his own against Kenpachi Zaraki... That worried her far more.
Tamotsu blocked another strike from Kenpachi. He knew he couldn't match the man's power, but he was able to deflect and spin. Once close, he let loose a slash of his own which hit home and cut through Kenpachi's robes and the skin underneath. Jumping back to dodge another blow, Tamotsu jumped up and gave a swing at the large man's head.
Kenpachi blocked quickly, but Tamotsu continued his momentum with a kick. With his spare hand, Kenpachi grabbed Tamotsu's foot and threw him away. Tamotsu landed on the ground, his reiatsu-enhanced body leaving a trail carved out of the stone as he slid to a stop. Kenpach laughed harder as the two exchanged blows.
"Come on!" Kenpachi screamed. "Let it out! Let it all out! Don't you dare hold back on me! Ha ha ha!" The two exchanged several more blows, Tamotsu parrying and counterattacking against Kenpachi's all out offensive. The glow around Tamotsu intensified as the battle wore on.
Tamotsu and Kenpachi both fired a striking blow, their swords met in the middle. Sparks flew from both blades as each of them tried to power through the other. Tamotsu's glow intensified further, only to be matched by Kenpachi's own reiatsu release. The power from both sides increased steadily for a few seconds, then dramatically rose. The ground below them cracked and crumbled, everyone knowing that one would have to give soon.
The blow came suddenly as Tamotsu was thrown back when Kenpachi threw his full force into the remainder of the swing. Crashing through two solid walls and coming to rest halfway through the third, the glow around Tamotsu had faded completely. He dropped his sword and fell to his knees, only vaguely aware of the Eleventh Division Captain approaching. Looking up, he saw a large smile on the man's face as he rested his own blade over his shoulder.
"Heh. That was fun," Kenpachi said. That was the last thing Tamotsu heard before the entire world faded into blackness