Chapter Seventeen: Zorro's vs Senbonzakura

"Oh Fuckberries" Yoshiro muttered to himself. "of all the people that it could have been to run into from soul society. It just had to be this guy; this is going to get ugly real fast."

'ok here I got to think of something quick.' He thought to himself. 'he's gonna want me dead, no doubts on that. I did nearly beat his little sister to death after all. He's also one of the stronger captains of soul society that's a fact. He also just killed of the Septima and didn't seem to get too beat up for it either. Not to mention the fact that I can't use my resurreccion within the compound sections of las noches, without the risk of the outburst of energy from it causing most of the place to collapse from the shockwave. Just what the fuck am I gonna do?'

'shit….. that's it!' he realized internally, 'the training grounds on this side of las noches aren't to far from here. If I can lure him their I can unleash my full power, without causing any unneeded collateral. Now I just need to get there before he manages to kill me first.'

"not gonna lie, I'd rather be staring down the captain general than you right now." Yoshiro spoke up.

"then you are well if aware of who I am then I take it?" replied Byakuya.

"indeed I am, I am also well aware that you have nothing but hatred for me and would love to see me dead at your own hands for what I did to Rukia. Even though you probably won't believe me, I am sorry for what I did to her. Not so much I suppose for knocking her around but more in the sense the sheer brutality of it. it was over the top and uncalled for in hindsight. I allowed my own personal emotions to overtake me and I lose control a bit." Yoshiro said a bit solemnly.

Byakuya narrowed his eyes a bit in confusion at this and then retorted. "when I planned to find you Yoshiro Abe, I expected certain things. To hear you to essentially apologize for your treatment of my younger sister was not one of them."

"I imagine so, though I suppose that's not going to keep you for wanting to kill me and all that. It's not a big deal, we're enemies in the middle of a war after all. While I don't hold any grudge against your sister anymore, I can't say the same for soul society as a whole, or atleast it's leadership. After all if they hadn't given the order to kidnap me, I probably wouldn't be here right now. I'd still be living the quiet cozy life in Karakura with my girlfriend." Yoshiro piped.

"perhaps you should have considered such things before you engaged in an intimate relationship with a hollow vasto lord woman?" Byakuya replied a bit coldly.

That comment pissed Yoshiro off a little. "Oh don't try to pull that shit on me ok mister 'I went against all the rules of high society for the woman I loved'. You sound like a fucking hypocrite talking like that and yes the data file we have on you here did include the info about you and your late wife." He snapped back.

Those were not the wisest words to use in the current situation.

Byakuya said nothing and simply narrowed his eyes in a dangerous manner. Then flashed in an instant in front of Yoshiro and made slash at the arrancar's throat. Yoshiro barely had time to react he quickly ducked back and down. He twisted around, brining the heel of his foot around, he caught Byakuya in the chest with it, knocking him back a bit.

Byakuya responded by using shunpo to get behind Yoshiro a fair distance and spoke. "Hado #73 Soren Sokatsui" two massive bursts of blue energy shot out from Byakuya's hands, Yoshiro didn't have the time to dodge and ate the attack head on.

Yoshiro was sent a good distance away, it felt as though his whole body being violently electrocuted from the attack. He slammed into the ground outside the remains of the Novena's lair sending huge wave of sand into the air from the force of it. needless to say it really fucking hurt. Yoshiro picked himself up, his top slightly torn up from the attack.

"ok that sucked something hard." He muttered to himself. Sadly he couldn't say more when his opponent appeared in front of him to launch another kido attack his way. "Hado #78 Zangerin" Byakuya calmly said while swinging his blade in front him. As he did a huge burst of yellow energy shot towards Yoshiro. He was better prepared for the kido attack this time and used sonido to dodge in time. A large 100ft tower from behind took the hit and was completely leveled.

"alright time to go on the offensive myself a bit here I think" chimed Yoshiro as he drew Zorro's and made his move. He used sonido to get right in front of Byakuya and slashed at his face. Byakuya keeping his eye on his opponent's blade immediately brought his head back to dodge. This was exactly what Yoshiro wanted as he had his other hand in a fist pointed at the chest of the captain and simply uttered "Bala". Byakuya was to focused on the blade at his face and couldn't dodge the other attack in time, he took multiple rapid shots to his chest. Knocking the wind out of him and launching him away hard into some rubble.

Seeing this as his opportunity to move, Yoshiro started to sonido to the training grounds near his location knowing Byakuya would follow him. He was about halfway there when he suddenly heard from behind. "Hado #88 Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho" Yoshiro looked and saw a gigantic electric blue blast of energy come his way. "what kind of dragonball z shit is this!?" he exclaimed, Yoshiro quickly extended an arm out and focused his energy, a sphere of white energy appeared, and he let it rip "CERO!" he shouted.

A large beam of white collided with blue, a mass detonation went off and sent thunderous shockwave that caused a small earthquake in the area to go off. Sand and debris went everywhere. Yoshiro didn't bother to stop knowing he still had to reach his destination. He kept moving and soon saw the training grounds in sight. Then Byakuya suddenly appeared in front of him a tried to slash him, Yoshiro brought Zorro's up and blocked the strike, their blades now locked with each other.

Yoshiro using his raw strength forced Byakuya's blade down and spun around to catch Byakuya with a fisted back hand. The soul reaper captain dodged and made a move behind his arrancar opponent. He lunged forward in order to stab him through with his blade. Yoshiro twisted to avoid most of the strike but still received a cut on his right side. He quickly reached out and grabbed Byakuya's sword arm with his left hand, he held up his right directly at Byakuya as a white sphere of energy began to build. "cero" he calmly said.

Yoshiro let go of Byakuya as the cero hit the soul reaper sending him flying away. It wasn't a strong cero, but it would still do some decent damage, plus it would buy the time he needed to make it his destination. He quickly used sonido to keep traveling and he finally reached his destination. He turned around and waited for his opponent to arrive, then the real fighting would start. He didn't have to wait too long.

The soul reaper captain appeared some distance away looking a little ruff for wear and an obvious annoyed expression on his face. His captain's haori was completely gone and the upper left half of his uniform was gone. He had cuts and some burn marks from the cero as well.

"how much longer do you intend to run from me arrancar?" Byakuya spoke slightly annoyed.

"I don't anymore actually, seeing how I brought you right where I wanted to." Chimed Yoshiro.

"know this arrancar, no matter what tricks you try, it shall result in your defeat. I will avenge the slight you handed to my sister and by extension my family. Then I shall proceed to wipe out the rest of the arrancar I find as the beast that they are. You may have appearances and personality's now akin to people, but it does nothing to change the monsters in need of extermination that you all are." He said with icy cold conviction.

"you really shouldn't have said that." Yoshiro retorted in a low growl like manner and began to flare his spirit energy. He charged forward at Byakuya head on. the soul reaper raised his blade in anticipation but then his opponent suddenly used sonido to appear behind him and delivered and vicious punch to the back. As Byakuya flew forward, Yoshiro suddenly appeared before him and a slash with his blade. Byakuya was able to use own sword to redirect it enough to avoid a serious wound but it managed to slice into left shoulder a bit. As Yoshiro prepared to make another strike, Byakuya decided to amp things up.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura" he spoke. Suddenly Yoshiro saw Byakuya's blade disappear and suddenly the soul reaper was surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of sakura looking petals. Yoshiro was no fool he knew that those supposed petals were deadly. Then the blades came launching at him. Yoshiro dodged and weaved and tried to get in close to Byakuya. He couldn't get passed the damn petals no matter how hard he tried. "Hado #54 Haien" Byakuya spoke calmly.

A blast of purple energy came at Yoshiro and landed in front going off in fireball like explosion. Yoshiro was forced to quickly adjust to avoid it but then he saw the petals coming right at him. He quickly dove down and moved himself forward as quickly as he could, but he couldn't avoid it all fast enough. The blade like petals hit him across the outside of his right torso and tore him up. When he landed away, the side of his vest worn torn up and bloody with numerous cut marks running across it. Yoshiro could feel his blood seeping into his hands as he held onto the wound, trying get some time for his regeneration to do its' thing.

"face facts arrancar, you cannot win." Spoke Kuchiki

"you know what? I really tired of that condescending, high class attitude of yours, even Sung-sun knows when to turn that shit off." Yoshiro spoke with a tinge of venom. He suddenly whirled his arm up and shot bala from it. Byakuya not expecting the sudden attack was caught in the face and sent flying back. it was all the time Yoshiro needed. He took some of his blood and focused his energy around it, the white sphere of energy appeared and suddenly felt incredibly more empowered from before. He held out his hand towards the soul reaper and shouted.

"GRAN REY CERO!" he roared

A gigantic beam of white energy flew off towards the soul reapers location and went off. The blast of the gran rey cero put the earlier blast to absolute shame. The entire training grounds suddenly felt it was violently being ripped apart from the magnitude of it. Yoshiro had jump back away for his safety from it all. Once the dust began to settle Yoshiro looked around for any sign of the soul reaper.

'did I vaporize him by chance?' he thought to himself. Suddenly he had his answer when a cloud of sakura like petals flew at him from behind. He quickly used sonido to avoid them and give himself space and looked at where they came from. He saw Kuchiki standing a fair distance away he looked more beat up but alive none the less.

"how did you survive that?" Yoshiro called out.

"I moved out of the way and casted Bakudo #81 Danku to help shield me. If not for that, I would be dead for sure. Now, it's time to put an end to this." Byakuya spoke with determination. He held blade out pointed down towards the ground. He dropped the blade and it phased into the ground as if it were made of water.

"Bankai: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi" Kuchiki calmly spoke.

Suddenly the whole area went dark and thousands of sword blades suddenly appeared all around. Yoshiro knew he was suddenly at a disadvantage before he could do anything the blades began to fly right towards him. They were much faster than before, Yoshiro was moving and dodging with all the speed and agility he could muster. Sadly for him it wasn't quite fast enough as suddenly one the blades caught him right through his right thigh. Blood gushed out as Yoshiro struggled to keep up on his bad leg.

"you fought well Yoshiro Abe, but this is where it ends for you." Byakuya spoke.

"Don't be so sure of yourself, let me show you what I can really do Byakuya." Yoshiro retorted he held Zorro's out and down in front of him with both hands.

"Conquer: Rey De Zorro's!" he yelled out.

Suddenly Yoshiro became engulfed in white energy that completely surrounded him, the presence of his energy started to spike up to incredibly high levels. The suddenly the dome of white energy exploded out, sending a thunderous shockwave almost on par with the gran rey cero blast from before shook the entire area. When the dust settled, Yoshiro stood there in his resurreccion form, double bladed naginata in hand, his injuries from before healed thanks to his transformed state.

Byakuya stood in momentary shock from what he was seeing, his opponent was suddenly dressed in what was akin to old world style Japanese battle armor, he wielded a decent sized double bladed naginata, he kitsune like features adorning his body. Whisker marks on his face along with black wave like swirls that existed on his face where his mask fragments had been. Fox ears and three long fluffy fox like tails. The most concerning thing though was all his previous injuries had healed due to his transformation, not to mention the sheer amount of spiritual energy the boy was now putting out. He was release state was far, far stronger than that of the previous arrancar he had fought.

"what's wrong Kuchiki? You seem a little shook." Yoshiro chimed.

Regaining his composure Byakuya addressed the arrancar. "it would seem the reports about your strength were no exaggeration. Since no one to date had ever seen your release state, I found it hard to believe your claim you told Rukia that your power was that of a vasto lords to be nothing more but a bluff. It would appear that you were telling the truth." He retorted in his usual manner.

"then you know just how outgunned you are even with you being a captain are against me. I'm willing to give you the chance to surrender here and now, so this fighting doesn't go any farther, captain Kuchiki."

"hardly Yoshiro Abe, you may have me beat in raw power, but I have much more training and experience on the battlefield over you, to make up the difference." Byakuya replied coldly.

'he has me beat there.' Yoshiro thought to himself. 'like he said though, I have him beat in raw power and I intend to use the advantage to its' fullest that I can against him'

"this ends here and now." Spoke Byakuya "Gokei"

Suddenly Yoshiro was surrounded by nothing but the petal blades. They all launched from all around at once. Yoshiro put his weapon out to create a defense hoping to form it before they hit.

Byakuya watched as his Gokei attack struck, that would at last be the end of things. As he hoped to begin to relax a little, he noticed that his petals were stuck in a sphere like shape. That shouldn't be happening unless….unless. they were forced to keep that shape because they're somehow being blocked. Suddenly the sphere exploded from a thunderous shockwave. From the center point of the blast stood Yoshiro, unscathed. Byakuya was stunned blocking his Gokei attack shouldn't be possible.

"how did you stop my attack?" he asked

"here's the thing" began Yoshiro "my release powers are based around to manipulate and control shockwaves and such, all around me, through practically any and all things. To stop your blades I used a technique of mine called 'Fuerza De Blindaje'. I use my power to create a bubble of shockwave power around me as a shield to block and then repel any attacks that come at me. Now I do believe it my turn Kuchiki." He finished a bit playfully.

Yoshiro used sonido as fast as he could and appeared right in front of Byakuya. Before the soul reaper could react, Yoshiro placed tip of one his naginata blades right in front of Byakuya's chest and simply with a stare that could freeze hell over and spoke with an icy cold tone that would make his mother proud.

"Choque De Temblor"

Byakuya felt the air tighten around where the tip of blade was and then the blast slammed into his chest. He could feel his ribs break and his chest cave in slightly from the force. As it exploded it sent thunderous shockwave coursing through his body causing it to shake violently and sent him rag dolling though the air with no control. He crashed into the ground hard tumbling around before he slid to a stop.

Yoshiro watched carefully to see what could happen next. Slowly he saw Kuchiki begin to stand up, slowly but standing none the less. He chest was slightly caved in and he was coughing a lot of blood. Though he seemed still willing to fight, he summoned all his blades in front him, he was going for a final do or die attack it would seem. As the numerous petal blades formed together creating fewer yet more powerful blades. Yoshiro took stance with his naginata pointed behind him and began focusing his energy into the blade farthest back preparing for his swing.

"Senkei!" Byakuya spoke. At the same time Yoshiro swung his blade around full force yelling.

"Terrmoto De Barrido!" he proclaimed

At that an assault of sakura colored swords launched from one side of the battlefield and large wall of white shockwave energy flew across from the other side. Both attacks collided in the middle of the battlefield, both halting the other for a moment, Yoshiro continued to feed his energy into his attack as did Byakuya for his own.

Then suddenly, it looked as though the very air began to crack like glass from clean across from one side of the field to the other and going a good 150 ft into the air. This was precisely what Yoshiro was looking for, terrmoto de barrrido was essentially a massive sized version of choque de temblor. That could also block other enemy attacks before exploding in an earth reshaping shockwave of force at his target area.

Then the cracked air shattered like glass all at once and shock of force that felt like a mass earthquake launched through the very air and ground all at once. Byakuya's sakura blades shattered immediately, there remnants scattering back towards Byakuya. The very earth was upturning in large chunks all around, sand and debris being thrown everywhere. Byakuya having used the last of the strength he had for his final attack saw it had failed and seeing his opponents coming his way, he knew at that moment he had lost. When the force of everything hit him, he was immediately thrown violently off his feet into the air caught in the mass shockwave blast doing his best to endure the damage of it all.

Yoshiro watched as the side of the battlefield in front of him was essentially being terraformed from his attack. After a minute or so everything stopped at last, needless to say the battlefield was completely unrecognizable from earlier.

"I might get in some trouble later for that one" Yoshiro muttered out loud. He reached out with pesquisa to see of he could locate Byakuya, surprisingly he could sense his presence. It was faint but there none the less. He used sonido to quickly travel to where he had felt the soul reaper captain.

He found Byakuya sprawled out unconscious hanging on his stomach over some overturned stone. His sword had returned to its normal state, he was certainly alive but he was all sorts of fucked up and wasn't going to be fighting again anytime soon. Yoshiro stared at the downed captain contemplating whether or not he should just finish him off. After a few moments of thinking he decided that he shouldn't do it. He still felt a need to atone to Rukia for his overzealous beating her back in Karakura. Perhaps sparing her brothers life when he held it his hands would suffice.

He went and slung the unconscious captain, along with said captain's sword over shoulder. He reached out with pesquisa if he could sense Rukia anywhere, he found her back in the heart of the Novena's lair. She was also in much better strength and health then what she had been earlier, then he felt two other soul reaper presence's there. 'they must be healers from soul society to help with their forces here I imagine.' He thought to himself. He turned his head to the unconscious Byakuya on his shoulder and spoke. "lucky for you I dare say." And then he sped off with sonido, Yoshiro chose to stay in his release form. Since there was sure to be more captains around. He didn't want to have to risk trying lure another one away to one of the training grounds just to release again.

After traveling for a few minutes he arrived at his destination. Upon seeing him Rukia immediately went wide in her one eye from fear and took some steps backs. Then she noticed who was slung over the Quinta's shoulder and fell to the ground perhaps assuming the worst. Then two new faces showed up, both also women. One had very long black hair in a braid that went down the front of her body, then a silver haired woman. The silver haired one had an arm badge and the black haired one had a white haori. A captain and a lieutenant it would seem, both looked at who was slung over his shoulder and immediate gasped in shock themselves. Also probably fearing the worst as well. Yoshiro took a few steps forward, all but Rukia immediately reached for their blades.

"relax, I'm not here to fight you. I'm just here to return this guy to you. He's not dead just so you know, granted he ain't doing so hot but he's alive none the less." Yoshiro chimed. He then gently laid Byakuya on the ground with the captain's sword and stepped back hands out to show he meant what he said. After he took a few more steps back, the two women immediately ran over and began working on Byakuya. Yoshiro watched for a few moments and then turned to leave when a voice rang out.

"wait!' Rukia exclaimed. Yoshiro turned to look at the her as she continued to speak. "why did you spare him? By all accounts you should have killed him, but you didn't, so why?" she asked with wonder

"because, believe it or not I feel regret for what I did to you in Karakura. I had my eyes opened recently that putting all the blame on you for what happened to me was wrong. I didn't really want to fight him you know." He said gesturing at Byakuya. "But I knew the moment we ran into each other that it was gonna happen no matter what. Guess you could say me sparing his life after I beat him is my way of trying to apologize for brutalizing you like I did. Like you said, by all accounts I should have killed him once I won but I didn't. I've made you suffer enough unnecessarily as it is. No need to add anymore to that." He finished.

Rukia just stared at him, not knowing what at all to say. Before anything else could happen he quickly turned on his heel and used sonido to travel away back towards his wing of las noches. He reached his wing and walked into the main living area, needless to say everyone was surprised to seem him in his release state.

"what the fuck happened!?" Emilou yelled. Yoshiro quickly went into detail about what had happened recently, though he left out the part of sparing Byakuya.

"damn so, the Novena and Septima have kicked the bucket." Chimed Emilou. "next question, why are you still in your release state?"

"easy, there probably more captain class soul reapers running around, it makes it more convenient to just keep to my release for now, until all the threats have passed." He retorted.

"can't argue that one." Pitched in Luppi.

"so how are Cirucci and Dordoni?" Yoshiro asked.

"they've stirred a bit, but they are recovering just fine. I do believe the worst has passed." Spoke Luppi.

"good to hear, I guess now-" Yoshiro began until he stopped once he felt an outburst of energy, one he was familiar with in fact. He groaned in response. "what the fuck is he up to now." Everyone else began to feel the energy too.

"What the hell is Grimmjow doing now?" asked Emilou.

"Not sure Emi." Replied the blond arrancar. Yoshiro felt out with pesquisa to locate Grimmjow and whoever else may be with him. He suddenly felt two other presences with the Sexta, two he recognized. "mother fucker, Ichigo and Orihime are both there with him." Yoshiro practically growled out.

"this isn't going to go well is it?" questioned Emilou

"most likely it is not. Well we might as well head off to see this train wreck playout." Chimed the Quinta.

A/N

Author: Another chapter down, first time writing most of a chapter as a fight scene. Hope it turned out well. I have to say I love all the support I've gotten; this story is barely a month old by the time of this writing and it already has over 4,000 views and bunch of follows, favs and reviews. Seeing these things really helps drive me to keep going with the story. Thank you all so much and as always, please review!

'Conquer, Rey De Zorro's' means Conquer, King of Foxe's

'Choque de temblor' means Tremor Shock

'Fuerza de Blindaje' means Shielding Force

'Terremoto de Barrido' means Sweeping Quake