Chapter Fifty Five: Moonlight Goddess
Hirata stood at the edge of the abandoned village for a long while, following the shifting reiatsu of his friends until they had faded completely from his awareness. Despite his own criticisms of the technique, Shunsui's proficiency in Hohou had indeed improved over the course of the last few months, and it was not long at all before Hirata knew he was entirely alone in the snow.
He swallowed hard, as a surge of panic and fear washed up through his young body. He felt dizzy and sick, his hands shaking and he clenched his fists tightly, struggling to contain the terror that now flooded his every thought.
He had asked them to go. He had asked for it to be this way. He had done it for a reason, and...
He closed his eyes briefly against the tears that longed to fall.
I may never see either of them again.
The thought pounded against his brain, and for a split second he wanted to run after them, to canvass the landscape for their means of escape and to follow them to safety. He didn't want to be here, in this desolate, empty land...he certainly didn't want to give his life for a Clan he hated and values he despised.
Yet still he did not move. Still he remained there, alone in the snow, drawing cold air into his lungs as he attempted to force the logic over the fright.
He was an Endou. He had no choice. And besides...
If I never see them again, the chances are they'll still manage to escape. Between now and the Council coming - how much time? Time enough, I'm sure, for them to be out of Seimaru's reach. But that...that's what I have to make sure of.
He swallowed the rising bile that threatened to choke up into his mouth, taking another steady breath of air into his lungs.
Then he refocused his senses, instead reaching out across the landscape in search of a darker, more cloying presence than that belonging to either of his friends.
Seimaru. Where are you? I'm sure you're not far.
Hirata bit his lip, then, not without misgivings, he flared his own reiatsu up from its habitual neat control, turning his back on the path that he knew his friends would have taken and instead beginning to walk purposefully down the uneven track that led towards the Endou manor.
Every step was an effort, but as he plodded resolutely through the snow, he felt his feet sink down through the crisp white surface as if weighed down by the burdens of his Clan that now hung heavy over him. His sister. His mother. His father. Even his Grandmother. Though Yayoi was long gone now, somehow Hirata felt that her piercing gaze was also watching him - commanding him forward and preventing him from making an escape.
"A coward isn't a person who is afraid. A coward is one who runs away."
He muttered the words under his breath, encouragement given him by his beloved father so many years ago now, when Hirata had confessed tearfully to being scared of Seimaru and his Uncle Mibune's wild, psychotic rages. Hirata understood now what he had not known then. That he could run - and run forever, but he could not escape. This was his home. These were his kin. And he was bound to them just as much as they were to him.
The only escape from being Endou-ke was death. It just depended on which way the axe would fall.
"So you did come here, after all."
The voice was colder than the snow covering the fields for miles around, and at the sound of it Hirata froze in his tracks as though he had been struck by a sudden bolt of lightning. He had not felt Seimaru's approach, yet the other was unmistakeably there - and as he raised his gaze in trepidation to face his cousin, he realised that the other had probably been stalking him from a distance, waiting for a good opportunity with which to strike.
And one more thing.
Hirata could also sense the distinctive, foreboding aura of the illegal reidoku. It was localised and controlled at present, so it did not seem as though the Clan leader had ingested any of it - but it was still there, and still, unmistakeably, full of dark, raw power.
This understanding sent fresh waves of fear rushing through his body, but somehow he controlled them, standing his ground as he met those cold, pale eyes.
"Seimaru." He said softly, and Seimaru snorted, striding forward and bringing his hand down briskly and firmly across the young boy's cheek. Taken off guard, Hirata slipped on the icy surface and went flying, his glasses shooting off into a nearby hedge as he tumbled to the ground.
"Seimaru-sama." Seimaru's words were hard and he glared down at the younger boy in derision. "I am your Clan Leader now, Hirata. You should learn to speak to me with respect."
Hirata merely stared up at him, and Seimaru sighed, kicking an idle foot at the other's spindly, thin frame.
"You are supposed to have gotten stronger." he said mockingly. "You are supposed to have come back here, all guns blazing and sword drawn, ready to challenge me for the honour of the Endou. Yet this is it? This is what Misashi-jisama put his hopes in? I wonder why I bothered. You are just the same as you were before, aren't you? Just as weak. Just as simple. Just as feeble and just as easy to crush beneath my feet as though you were nothing more than an insect."
He bent down, grabbing Hirata by the throat of his kimono and hauling him to his feet.
"Say it." He murmured, his tones menacing and dark. "Seimaru-sama. Say it. I want to hear you acknowledge me before I send you to your death."
Hirata stiffened, casting his cousin a defiant look.
"I told you to say it." Seimaru's grip tightened. "Acknowledge me! Or are you too much of a coward to even do that?"
"A coward is someone who orders someone else's murder behind closed doors." Hirata snapped, sudden anger flooding through him as he remembered Eiraki's tears and the aftermath of that night. "Grandfather. Me. Genryuusai-sama. Maybe even Father. I'm not a coward, Seimaru. And I won't acknowledge you. No matter what you do to me...I won't."
"I see." Seimaru's expression twisted into one of displeasure, and he released his grip, letting Hirata fall heavily once more onto the hard, unforgiving ground. "Then you haven't lost that unpleasant attitude you had the last time we spoke. Never mind. I will still kill you - so it's up to you how you die. Acknowledge me and I'll make it a quick death. Refuse and you'll meet the same fate any traitor to the Endou-ke meets. A slow, painful one in the family dungeon."
Hirata flinched, fear momentarily touching his senses, then he rallied himself, scrambling into a kneeling position and glaring at his cousin through unfocused yet determined eyes.
"The traitor to our Clan is not me." He said coldly. "The traitor to our Clan is the one who plotted and schemed and had Grandfather murdered in cold blood! Grandfather was the head of this Clan and you can't be acknowledged as his successor, because you are the one who ordered his death. I know the law of the Endou as well as you do, Seimaru. I know that to claim the Clan from a living Lord, you have to challenge him and kill him outright on the field of battle. You did no such thing. You had him murdered. Therefore the Clan cannot acknowledge you. And nor shall I!"
Seimaru stared at him, and for a moment Hirata was sure that the rage boiling in the other man's aura would be enough to melt the snow and ice even without the release of his sword. Yet just as he was preparing himself for another physical attack, Hirata heard the sound of laughter.
"It doesn't matter what you think." Seimaru said softly. "You may suspect me of murder, but that is all it is. A suspicion. You were not here when Grandfather met his tragic accident. You know nothing of the circumstances. As it happens, I have an alibi for the moment he died. I was with the Endou council, you see? The Endou council and among them your own father, all of whom accounted quite happily for me on that particular day. The Unohana Clan even investigated Grandfather's death fully and comprehensively, under Misashi-jisama's watchful gaze. I ordered it to be that way, and their verdict was accidental death - that there was nobody of the requisite power or motive abroad that day who could have stifled Grandfather's life so quickly he did not have time to draw his sword. In the end, you can have no real complaints about my accession. As you see...your fancies are just that. The desperate claims of a jealous, hopeless, feeble brat. There was no murder here. Just an accident. The Council have ruled it so, and that's all."
"Urahara Keitarou." Hirata said accusingly, pulling himself to his feet. "Aizen Keitarou. Your scientist in the shadows. He was the one who killed Grandfather. You might have been accounted for - you might even have engineered it so that Father was the one providing your alibi. But I know that it was Aizen and I know it was done on your order. And when the Council know it too..."
"You shouldn't have said that name." Seimaru shook his head, his fingers closing around the hilt of his weapon. "Now I have to execute you here and now as a traitor to the Endou Clan. Knowing about and supporting traitor Urahara is against Council Law. I am honour bound to kill you now...you should have kept that information to yourself."
"Hadou no Ichi: Shou!" Hirata flung out his hand just in time, deflecting the swing of the still-sealed blade and pushing himself some three or four feet back in the snow, enough out of Seimaru's immediate reach for him to breath. "You might want to keep things a secret, but you're not the only person involved and no matter what you say, the truth is there for all to see. Your secret assassin doesn't seem to be so bothered - he seems quite happy to claim responsibility for Grandfather's death to all and sundry."
Seimaru's eyes became slits and he glared at Hirata as if seeing him anew.
"You've spoken to the District brat." He murmured, and inwardly Hirata berated himself for his carelessness. "You must have done...somehow you've seen him and spoken to him about this. Even now that wretch confounds me...but...hrm. It seems that, after all, he's not with you."
He paused, as if checking the area for hidden reiatsu, and Hirata gathered his wits, shaking his head.
"How could I have seen Ukitake-kun?" He demanded, his tones as derisive as he could make them as he voiced his lie. "Unless you're confessing to being involved in his disappearance, of course. I came here to settle things with you - I'm simply repeating what's being said among people who inhabit this District. That Shouichi-sama was killed - and he was killed by your order."
His eyes became slits.
"You wouldn't be so foolish as to try and breach District Eight, too, surely?" He said softly. "You doing that would be an act of war - and kidnapping a registered shinigami would also be a crime before the Council, wouldn't it?"
"You think you're so clever all of a sudden." Seimaru snapped. ""You try my patience far too much considering the precarious nature of your position. Do you realise how easy it would be for me to snap your neck like a twig? You shouldn't provoke me. I might prefer to suffocate you slowly - breaking one bone at a time."
He smiled coldly.
"And you're wrong. Compared to me, that District boy is nothing but a peasant without bloodline or support. Even if the Council call him shinigami, he can barely hold a sword. He is nothing. He doesn't matter. He can be erased and the world will move on as if nothing had ever happened. You may cling to him, but in the end, that's all he amounts to. Another common wretch who aimed too high and got burnt."
"Like the girl you killed, in the town in District One?" Hirata demanded. "The one who was spying for you and for Aitori - the one who was involved in your web?"
"That isn't even worth answering." Seimaru smirked. "If I remembered every peasant I killed I'd have a considerably clogged up memory."
"Megumi-san." Hirata nodded. "Her death began it all, and now here we are. The reidoku. The scheming. The treason against the Shihouin. The fall of Kamuki-sama. All of those things began to open up when Megumi-san was murdered. So how can you say that a District born person has no effect? Killing her had a huge effect. You don't even care, but it did. Kai-kun's family...they almost fell apart because of what was going on between you. And..."
"I have no knowledge of what you mean." Seimaru cut across him. "The Shihouin were foolish, careless and desperate. They sought more than they rightfully could claim and have been punished by the Council accordingly. The Endou-ke supports that justice. End of matter."
"You can try and twist it all you like, but there's proof." Hirata's voice shook slightly. "Evidence of your treason, Seimaru. Evidence you don't have. Evidence that - if you kill me - can still convict you and take from you this Clan. I kept it hidden, after Aitori-sensei was killed. I thought I had to - I thought that if anyone ever saw it, the whole of my family would perish and I couldn't let that happen. So I kept it and I protected you as well as protecting them. But now there's nothing left here to protect. I don't even know if my Father lives - and as for the Clan..."
He twitched his lips into a look of distaste.
"I don't want this Clan. It's rotten, empty and full of worthless, outdated values." He added scornfully. "I have no interest in it and I never have had. If Grandfather had lived, maybe I would never have come back - the life out there is much happier than the one here. But things changed. I only came here because someone needs to stop you. And there's nobody else to do it - so that someone has to be me."
"And you really believe you can stop me?" Seimaru arched an eyebrow. "I'm not afraid of you or your proof, Hirata. I know that you gave it to the District boy, and if he isn't with you, ready to jump out and kill himself to save you then he's still in the custody of one of my men. You won't be able to prove anything against me, so your pretty words are as worthless as our family's values apparently are. You've wasted your time and your life - if you don't even want the Clan, you should never have come back at all."
He smiled coldly.
"Your father lives, for now. But that can change at any time, you know. Even if you manage to escape me here...you'll never manage to find out where he is."
"The proof is in District Eight." Hirata ignored the veiled threats, facing Seimaru bravely as adrenalin pumped through his veins. "Ukitake-kun may have had it, but he did not have it when your people lured him and kidnapped him and did whatever you did to my sister to force him to leave the Kyouraku manor. I don't have it, either. I wouldn't be so foolish as to bring it near to you when it's the only thing stopping you from killing my Father and I both with that cursed sword of yours. It's still in District Eight and if you kill me, you'll never know where."
"You little..." Seimaru lunged for the younger boy in anger, but even without his glasses Hirata was able to predict the movement and he darted back, taking refuge behind a nearby tree as he faced his cousin solemnly.
"Ukitake-kun is not my only friend." He said softly. "You forget that I chose allies for myself once already, Seimaru. Those allies now have that letter. If something happens to me...by default, something will happen to you."
A cold smile touched his lips.
"They are assassins, if you remember."
"Are you daring to threaten me?" Seimaru's eyes widened in disbelief. "A worm like you daring to tell your Clan Leader what to do?"
"In your eyes I'm already an exile." Hirata shook his head. "And I told you. You're not the leader of this Clan. If anyone is, Father is. He's Grandfather's son and he wasn't involved in Grandfather's murder. Neither of us have a valid claim to this land, Seimaru. Yet one of us is going to have to die over it anyway. Maybe both of us, in the end. That's what the Endou-ke is...a slaughter ground for greedy nobles who think they have everything when they have nothing at all."
"You've certainly learnt to use a lot more words than you seemed to know when you still lived here." Seimaru said nastily, running his fingers against the blade of his weapon. "Is that what your fine school has done for you? Taught you to bore your elders with meaningless rhetoric about right and pride and moral worth?"
He sighed, shaking his head.
"Besides, if the letter is not in your hands, you are of no interest to me anyway." He said flatly. "If it's in the hands of others, I will sever those hands and since you've told me who holds it, I will know who to target with my blade. You've been quite helpful even though you didn't realise it - or did you really think I was just a fool who'd take your bone and run with it without looking for the rest of the skeleton?"
Despite himself Hirata stared at his cousin, alarm stirring in his pale eyes, and Seimaru laughed.
"Subete o moyase, Yojinmozu." he murmured, and little by little the sword began to blaze into life, the lick of amber flames forming around the tip as he swung the blade lazily in Hirata's direction. With his vision compromised, it was only his sharp senses that told the younger boy how quickly the ball of fire was coming towards him. Just in time he threw himself to the cold ground, watching in horror as the flames engulfed the tree that moments before he had been using as his shield.
"Time to melt some winter snow, don't you think?" Seimaru observed off-handedly. "I had hoped to kill your District friend in front of you, but it seems I'll have to do things the other way around. You first. Then your father. Then that brat. And then...the people you dare call 'allies'. I'm not afraid of Shihouin Shadowcats or their weak, bleating kinsmen who can't carry out the most simple tasks. With everything so fresh and recent, nobody is going to listen to them if they start bandying about so called evidence. You gave it to the wrong people, Hirata. I'll simply claim the Shihouin forged it to try and shed blame. Maybe Aitori himself did it. Who knows?"
He raised the sword again, and Hirata shuffled back on the snow, fear paralysing his heart as he felt Seimaru's reiatsu building for another attack.
He's going to curse me.
The realisation shot through him like a bullet.
He's going to do to me what he did to Shunsui-kun and...and then he's going to watch it kill me, little by little. That's what he wants...what he's always wanted. To curse me and watch me die so that he knows I can never fight back. He doesn't need the reidoku to kill me. He doesn't even need to release his sword. Against his strength I have nothing but basic kidou...and without my glasses, I can't even see clearly what's going on.
"Chi ni." Seimaru tilted his weapon, glinting the cold winter sunlight off its red hot surface as he began his sword's special attack. "Ju..."
"Bakudou no Sanjuu Kyuu. Enkousen."
A woman's voice ripped through the cold winter air, followed by a rush of familiar, reassuring reiatsu forming a circular shield between the frightened Hirata and Yojinmozu's blazing blade. As Seimaru swore, Hirata was aware of someone at his side, a hand resting gently on his shoulder as if to tell him he was no longer alone. He turned to face her, blinking through his blurred vision, and was comforted to see a haze of dark and violet, with two unmistakeable gold smudges for eyes directed straight at him.
"Midori-sama." He murmured, and the woman grinned, nodding her head.
"You sit tight there for a moment." She advised lightly. "I know Genryuusai-sama prides himself on pushing his students, but this is a bit ambitious even given that fact."
"The Shihouin jezebel again." Seimaru's eyes narrowed and he lowered his weapon, eying Midori in undisguised disdain. "Do you follow this runt of a boy everywhere? An Endou who constantly needs a Shihouin to protect him should be stifled at birth before he has a chance to bring shame to his Clan."
"I'm not here because I followed Hirata." Midori got to her feet, putting herself bodily in front of the young Endou boy as the kidou barrier flickered and fragmented into specks of light. "I'm here because it's my duty to be here. As representative of District Two for the Council of Elders - I'm charged with the duty of bringing you to Inner Seireitei."
"Bringing me to..?" Seimaru echoed, then he smirked, shaking his head in derision. "You think you can do such a thing? You can't take me anywhere. This is my land. These are my laws. You have no right to be here - to come like this and make demands is a clear act of war and I am within my rights to defend myself!"
"If you do, I'll defend myself too." Midori's fingers rested against her obi, and though Hirata could not make it out, he was sure he felt the faint, pulsing reiatsu of the Shihouin princess's demon blade. "I wouldn't come here without Akekage. But I don't want to fight you again - it was tedious enough the last time, and that's not my duty. My duty is to bring you back to Inner Seireitei to answer questions before the Council. Attacking your cousin doesn't look particularly good to begin with - you might want to think a little more carefully about your demeanour given the charges that will hang over your head."
"You have no right." Seimaru repeated. "In District Seven, I make the law!"
"And even so, you are subject to the laws of the Council." Midori stood her ground. "If you continue to defy me, I will have to take you by force instead."
"And if you continue to get in my way, I will have to kill you and then save the brat for later." Seimaru's eyes glittered with malicious intent. "To curse him would be overkill. To curse you...far more entertaining."
"Sheath your sword, Seimaru." A second female voice entered the conversation at that moment, and both Seimaru and Hirata started as a faint smile touched Midori's lips.
"Of course, you didn't think I'd come here alone?" She asked softly. "Though it would have been my pleasure to drag you off kicking and screaming by myself, with the history there is between us, the Council decided that it would not be wise. As Hirata's ally, I felt that it was important I come to help him. But as a Council shinigami and member of the Gotei - I have to obey the decision made by the majority vote."
"And I decided that if someone else was coming, it might as well be me."
Kyouki strode into the clearing, her sword already drawn from its sheath as she approached them, tapping the weapon pensively against her leg as she surveyed the scene. "Well, Seimaru? I've told you already. Sheath your sword and come with us - else we will take you by force."
"I have no intention of doing anything either of you tell me." Seimaru spat out. "Women may have rights where you come from, but in my District, they're kept where they belong! I will not be talked down to by a couple of jumped up Clan hime who think they have value beyond breeding and a right to a political opinion! My business with Hirata is no concern of yours - get out of here, the both of you, before I call Seventh Squad to incarcerate you instead!"
"I think that's unlikely." Kyouki's tones had an unpleasant edge to them, and despite himself, Hirata shivered at their sound. "I imagine by this time Guren-sama will have taken charge of the squad and confiscated all weaponry - and that your council of nobles will be well cowed by Genryuusai-sama and his companions. All that is left is bringing you in, Seimaru - and that is what we have come to do."
Seimaru did not respond, but the defiance in his aura was enough to tell Hirata he intended to fight, and Kyouki sighed, casting Midori a sidelong glance.
"I'm overruling you, this time." She said briskly. "With experience, if nothing else. You take the kid and keep him safe. His life is important - remember what was said at the Council meeting about this sorry excuse for a Clan?"
Midori sighed, but she slowly nodded her head.
"You're not the only one who'd like to use a little force." She said reluctantly. "But all right. I can see you're serious - and if that's the case, Hirata will probably need me to protect him. I've heard about Gekkoushin - if Seimaru hasn't, God help him."
An unpleasant smile touched Kyouki's lips.
"He'll soon find out." She said simply, turning her attention back to the Clan leader who glared at her in undisguised disdain. "But enough talking. Since it's clear you won't sheath your sword, Seimaru, I'll even things up by releasing mine. Just don't regret it, when I do. Gekkoushin's not a very forgiving lady, and I like to give her her way."
Her smile widened, but the coldness in Kyouki's aura still gave Hirata chills.
"Kagayaite, Gekkoushin."
All at once the copse was filled with a bright light, and despite himself, even Seimaru was forced to shelter his eyes from the sudden glare that burst forth from Kyouki's elegant blade. In the confusion, Midori took her chance, grabbing an unprepared Hirata firmly by the shoulders, and pulling him forcibly into shunpo, rematerialising to one side of the copse and reaching for his discarded glasses.
"Here is probably not safe either." She explained, as the other boy blinked at her in dazed confusion. "But nowhere will be, right now. In the shelter of Kyouki-sama's zanpakutou and with mine ready to go at any time - that's the best place for you for now. Here. Put those on. At least then you can see if danger's coming at you."
"Th...thank you." Hirata murmured, doing, as he was bidden. "Midori-sama, you came...to..."
"The Council came because you finally did the right thing and gave up that letter to Kai." Midori said matter-of-factly. "And not a moment too soon, by the looks. Though I expected at least to find the Kyouraku boy with you. I understood you'd left together - but he's not here."
"We found Ukitake-kun, and so Shunsui-kun took him to safety." Hirata shook his head. "I told him to. I told him...Seimaru was...was someone I had to face alone."
"And he listened?" Midori was surprised. "You're becoming more forceful in your commands, if that's the case."
"Ukitake-kun was coughing blood and he didn't look very well. It's so cold here, and he's been...we don't know where." Hirata replied. "We don't know what he's been through, or if he needs medical help. So I wanted...I didn't want him to get in Seimaru's way like that."
"Sensible." Midori nodded. "You really do care about that boy, don't you?"
"Yes." Hirata chewed down on his lip. "It might sound silly but...since we began at the Academy, it's been like having an older brother always protecting me from the things that scare me. I'm scared of a lot of things, Midori-sama. I'm scared of this, too. But I know nobody can protect me from this one. So I wanted...to be able to protect Ukitake-kun instead. Somehow."
"Well, I understand your feelings." Midori sighed. "But still, facing Seimaru by yourself wasn't the smartest idea, in all truth. Good thing we got here when we did."
"Mm." Hirata turned his gaze back to the two shinigami in the centre of the clearing, as the light faded and both Kyouki and Seimaru were once more visible.
"Do you think that by dazzling your opponent, you can win?" Seimaru demanded, his grip on his sword shifting as he prepared to charge forward to meet Kyouki's blade. "You've sent up a lot of light, Kyouki-sama, but I don't see much change. Your sword looks just the same to me...just a bit of metal that Yojinmozu and I are going to melt. Kouen Kougeki!"
He swung his right arm briskly down, slicing through the air as a flare of vibrant red-orange flame coursed through the winter atmosphere, sending faint steam up as it seared towards where Kyouki stood. Hirata instinctively flinched as he anticipated it's impact, but Kyouki merely snorted, bringing her own weapon up and cutting the fire blast in two, sending each part careering harmlessly past her. They struck two more trees to either side of her, sending them up into a blaze, and Seimaru shook his head.
"You won't get any benefit from doing that." He said softly. "My sword's fire is under my control. Even now, I can tell that flame to lick across the frozen grass and consume you, haori and all."
"I see." Kyouki looked thoughtful. "Very well. Then I'll fight fire with fire. In a manner of speaking."
She lifted her sword, pointing it to the sky and, hovering her free hand over the hilt as she did so.
"Yo ga aketemo, ten ni nokotte. Hitsuki." She murmured, and in an instant the weapon glowed a vibrant golden, stray light trailing from the edges as it moved through the air. As Seimaru commanded his fire forwards, Kyouki slashed Gekkoushin down, a sudden beam of light blazing from the tip of the blade. It crashed against Seimaru's flame, and the clearing was lit up for a second tme with a dazzling bright light as the two spells mingled and collided with the burning trees, exploding them into a mass of shattered wood and fragmented spiritual energy. As charcoal shrapnel was sent flying in all directions, Kyouki darted back, raising her weapon in front of her face, and Hirata saw a golden sheen spread out from either side of its blade, providing a shield from the resultant debris. On the other side of the explosion, Seimaru uttered a curse, slipping into shunpo and re-materialising some feet further back to avoid being splintered by the black shards of flying wood.
"Hadou no Ichi: Shou." Midori raised her hand to deflect away stray fragments that had shot out in their direction. "Kyouki-sama! Please, be careful where you're aiming! You could have impaled both of us then, if you hadn't been careful."
"That's what you're here for, isn't it?" Kyouki seemed unrepentant, raising her weapon and shifting at speed across the grass towards where Seimaru was only just recovering his stance. "In case of moments like that. Don't moan, Midori. You're Kidou is more than up to it - else you'd never be able to light that demon blade of yours!"
Before Midori could respond, the two zanpakutou clattered against one another, and Yojinmozu flared with energy, Seimaru gritting his teeth as he poured his hot, angry reiatsu into his zanpakutou. Kyouki merely offered him a playful smile, slipping into shunpo and re-materialising behind him, tilting her weapon so that the sun glinted off her blade. Unlike Seimaru's weapon, which had only reflected the weak light faintly, Kyouki's sword seemed to be drawing on this energy, a soft haze of light spreading out around its golden surface as she brought it down towards the ground.
"Hitsuki no Kagayaki." She murmured, and the haze of dazzling light spread out all around her, blurring her body and making it harder for Hirata to pinpoint where she was. Seimaru was having the same trouble, he realised, for the nobleman had paused, his weapon clasped so tightly in his hand that Hirata could almost see the white of his knuckles. For a moment, the gentle haze of light seemed to drift and settle, bringing an uneasy calm to the clearing. Then, with a sudden gleam, Kyouki's blade appeared from the midst, sweeping ruthlessly down towards Seimaru's right shoulder. Metal met flesh, the razor sharp edge of the golden sword slicing though the tendons and muscles in Seimaru's shoulder and he let out a yell, instinctively slipping into shunpo and re-materialising across the other side of the clearing.
He dropped to the ground, his left hand clutching his right shoulder as blood ran through the expensive fabric of his clan robes, streaking across his skin and pooling around the hilt of his blade. Somehow he had kept his grip on his weapon, though Hirata did not know how, because Kyouki's aim had been direct and decisive and even from this distance he could tell that she had aimed to disable Seimaru's sword arm.
"That stubborn fool." Midori obviously felt the same way, for she let out a sigh, shaking her head slowly. "With his arm cut up like that and he still won't drop his blade? Kyouki-sama's going easy on him. She could've sliced his head from his shoulders in that last attack, but she didn't. And yet he till won't relinquish Yojinmozu and surrender?"
"This is Seimaru." Hirata shivered as a chill wind whipped through him. "He doesn't surrender. He'll keep going...till someone dies."
"Well, in that case, it will be him." Midori said matter-of-factly. "Because he's no match for Kyouki-sama's sword. I'm probably not a match for Gekkoushin, either, and I could quite easily have killed your cousin two summers ago. He doesn't stand a chance."
"I wonder..." Hirata's heart skipped a beat, and he grabbed Midori by the arm. "Midori-sama...Ukitake-kun said that Seimaru...that he has...reidoku."
"What?" Midori's eyes opened wide. "With him? Now?"
"Yes." Hirata nodded his head. "And he does...I could sense it before he released Yojinmozu. He hasn't taken any yet...but he has it with him."
"Is he a complete idiot?" Midori demanded. "No wonder he's fighting so hard - he doesn't want to be taken with evidence like that on his body."
Hirata turned his gaze back on his cousin, reading the dark, resolute waves of reiatsu that surrounded his body, and he knew that that was not the reason Seimaru was fighting.
"No." He murmured. "He's doing this so that he can kill me. So that he can kill anyone and everyone in his way, and hold Seventh District, just like Grandfather did. He hasn't cast his curse on Kyouki-sama - that means he's holding on to it so he can use it for me when the battle ends. He's holding back too so far...this isn't everything he can do."
"Then that will be his death, probably." Midori said matter-of-factly. "I'll say it again. Even if he has reidoku, he's not a match for Gekkoushin."
"You must have nerves made of steel, not to have loosed Yojinmozu from that last slash." Kyouki raised her voice, swinging her blood-stained sword idly as she walked towards the still crouching Seimaru who was breathing heavily on the ground. Specks of red spattered across the snow as she walked, yet she paid them no attention, pausing a few feet from her opponent. "Or perhaps I didn't sever through your limb as effectively as I thought I did. Still, if you drop your blade now, I won't continue. I don't want to kill you here...I'd like to see you answer for your misdemeanours in the proper place, rather than on the end of Gekkoushin's sword."
"You don't think that a lucky swing like that can stop me from fighting, do you?" Seimaru snorted, glaring up at her defiantly. He released his grip on his bleeding shoulder, grabbing the trailing end of his obi that had worked loose in the battle so far and tearing a strip from it, wrapping it around the wound and holding the ragged fabric with his teeth as he fastened a makeshift bandage around his injury. "Did you forget for a minute which Clan I was born into?"
He grimaced, taking the hilt of his sword in his left hand and using it to pull himself to his feet, standing upright once more as he faced Kyouki defiantly. Pain rippled through his aura and Hirata knew that Gekkoushin's strike had hurt Seimaru badly - yet even so, he was ignoring it, and Hirata knew that his cousin was not going to be taken out so easily.
Despite himself, he felt faintly sick at the thought.
He doesn't believe in Kidou, but he was first trained in swords by Mibune-jisama. To be trained by a madman who leaves bruises and blood on his own son in practice matches...he can fight with both hands. He'll keep fighting until he can't move any more...that's what it means to be an Endou in battle.
. "I'm a soldier. I trained two handed from when I was six or seven." As if echoing Hirata's thoughts, Seimaru's words carried clearly through the crisp, smoke-dusted air, a bragging note in his harsh tones. "You have to do that, when someone smashes your right wrist from its socket before you even begin then chases you down with the intent of slashing you open. I can fight you just as well with this hand as from the other...and a little pain is nothing I can't deal with. I was taught to fight for my life, not just to win a practice round. You've barely touched me in comparison to the training I went through with my father as a boy."
"I see." Kyouki's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, her gaze flitting to the wound. "Your power is fire, and Gekkoushin's Day Moon blade can cut you, but because your power is fire, you can draw on it and stop your bleeding from running out of control. My reiatsu is too similar to yours in this form, isn't it?"
"As you say." Seimaru smirked. "I don't know what your sword's native power is meant to be, but when you slice through me with a hot blade, my body instinctively draws on its own power and it deflects the worst of the pain of the attack. Hence I can still fight - and you'll have to try far harder than that if you really want to stop me, Kyouki of the Shiba."
He swung his sword across in front of him, flames springing up from the frozen ground to form a blazing shield between them.
"You'll have to find a way to break down my fire first." He observed, a mocking note in his tones. "It may not be cursed fire - yet - but it's real enough, and if you touch it, it will consume you just as readily as any other flame. Believe me. It will protect me so long as I command it to - if you can't get past it, how will you be able to drag me away to the Council at all?"
"Mm." Kyouki looked thoughtful, glancing at her blade. Then she nodded, shrugging her shoulders.
"Very well." She said softly. "Then how about I fight you with night instead of with day?"
"With...night...?" Seimaru blinked, looking nonplussed, and Kyouki grinned.
"Hi ga shizundemo, sora ni hikatte. Yozuki." She murmured, and Hirata let out a gasp as the golden blade began to glimmer and change, a sudden chill surrounding the head of the Shiba Clan as the weapon began to glow a soft, winter blue. She cast it down against the ground, and a burst of freezing white energy surged forth from the weapon's tip, powering through Seimaru's fire shield and causing the Endou Clan leader to dart out of its line of attack with an exclamation. Hirata's heart leapt in his throat as he realised what had happened - though the flames still burned merrily on either side of where Kyouki's strike had hit, through the middle there was a gleaming path of crystallised energy, as though Gekkoushin's beam had simply trampled the fire into going out.
"Ice...?" He whispered, and Midori shook her head.
"No. But just as effective." She murmured. "Haven't you heard about Gekkoushin's twin moon powers before? Kyouki-sama's simply turned her blade from day to night, that's all. And the light of the cold, midnight moon...is freezing enough to stifle any fire."
Kyouki glanced at the broken fire shield, then nodded, a grin touching her features.
"Yes. We'll try that instead." She reflected. "Well, Seimaru? I'm ready for you. If you can still fight me...come."
Well, he hadn't planned it quite like this.
Keitarou picked his way carefully across the uneven landscape, his brow creased thoughtfully as he tracked Juushirou's flickering reiatsu towards the place where the young boy had taken shelter. Following him was not hard - no matter where he moved or how, Keitarou simply had to focus his thoughts and he could feel the young boy resonating against his own senses. It was not an ideal situation, he acknowledged to himself darkly, glancing up at the sky as he tried to work out from the hazy sun what time of day it was. He was dealing with a limited amount of time now...time in which he had to make sure his protegee didn't get too far out of his reach.
But I didn't think he'd be so foolish as to use his sword to break out of there. Not now, of all times - not with so many dangers around him. I warned him, after all. I told him that it would be better for him to stay put. Perhaps I should have been more forceful, but I did think that keeping tabs on him would be enough.
He sighed, rubbing his temples.
I don't want to waste the opportunity, however. You made your decision, Juushirou. Let's both hope that you live to see it through. If that's what you want, then I won't stop you. But...without my help, the Council will slaughter you. And...I'm not about to let that happen.
In the distance he felt the distinctive flare of Seimaru's zanpakutou blade, and he frowned.
So you're fighting too, are you, Seimaru? Very well. That at least keeps you out of my way for the time being. Probably, your idiocy will buy me time and provide an adequate distraction. Especially if you use the reidoku - though for the time being, I won't have the opportunity to see my work in its final testing stages. Still, this is more important. I should have time enough to reclaim my test subject and remove the effects of Chudokuga's web before it can have a permanent effect on him. I underestimated his willpower. I underestimated his foolishness. And to take Shikiki with him too...the situation just became especially grave.
He paused at the end of the path, narrowing his gaze as he picked out Juushirou's distinctive presence. Shikiki was with him, he could tell, but there was someone else there too...a reiatsu that he did not clearly recognise, yet even from that distance he could tell it belonged to someone of considerable spiritual potential. Had the Council arrived already, then? Consternation crossed his features, then he shook his head. No, surely not. Whoever was with Juushirou had strength, but it was raw and untrained. Like Juushirou's, it still required polishing.
Well, then. A friend. A fellow student, perhaps. A young fool who slipped through the Senkaimon with the boy Hirata and somehow found himself in District Seven?
A faint smile touched Keitarou's lips as inwardly he made up his mind.
In the end, perhaps, this is better. In the end, showing is far better than telling in many respects.
He leant up against the sheer stone face of the hill path, pursing his lips as he considered his options.
I have some time, yet. Some little time, perhaps, but enough to make my warnings a reality. Already I can sense his confusion - he doesn't know truly if I'm his friend or his foe, which is more than he did when we first stepped into the Senkaimon in District Eight. If I can show him plainly how reckless he's been...if I can make him regret it enough...then he will come back to me of his own accord. No, more than that. He will need me in the absence of anyone else to fight his cause.
He crept closer until he could bring the young boy in sight, seeing for the first time the companion that was with him. They were disagreeing on something, Keitarou realised, and the taller boy seemed to be paying far more attention to Juushirou than to anyone stalking them in the shadows.
Although Keitarou knew that he could not be detected - not by those with such a feeble command of their potential, in any case.
But I was right. The other one is a young boy. Perhaps...Kyouraku, from his appearance. I would say so, at least. Someone you care for, Juushirou? Someone that you're pulled back towards instead of focusing on the plans I have to make you stronger? Well, this will do just fine. While Seimaru is busy...we'll play a little game of our own, shall we?
He slipped his tantou knife from his obi, running his finger along the blade.
"Enkairaishi: Zenrei." He murmured, and across the clearing he saw Juushirou stumble, his hand going to his chest as the tendrils of latent spiritual energy began to seep their way through the young District boy's body.
Immediately the others crowded around him, and Keitarou nodded, returning the weapon to its resting place.
That would do, then, for now. There should be enough time. Enough time to do what he needed to do, and still disappear from sight. Enough time to...
He faltered, as a sudden, unmistakeable reiatsu filled his senses, and his eyes widened as he registered what it was.
So. After a hundred years, you've finally come after me, have you?
His lips thinned, and he cast Juushirou one last glance, regret in his eyes.
In that case, I can't stay here and watch things happen. I have to make sure nobody disturbs you - and I have some unsettled family business of my own to finally bury, too. Take heart, Juushirou - wherever I am, you can rest assured I will be watching over you.
And with that he closed his eyes, slipping into shunpo as he shifted through the threads of spiritual energy, returning once more to the place where Shouichi had drawn his last breath. Absently his hand went to the breast of his hakamashita, fingering the badge of the Endou hawk that he had hidden under for the past few weeks.
Somehow, in that moment, it disgusted him, and he slid his fingers around it, pulling the pinned crest from the fabric and tossing it down into the empty river basin. It bounced and rested against the rocks that had taken Shouchi's life, and Keitarou nodded, satisfied. He had finished playing at being an Endou. Now he would put an end, too, to his being an Urahara.
I know that you'll come after me, so I'll let you find me.
He gazed down at the dry river bed for a moment longer, then turned on his heel, making his way to the heart of the abandoned village to wait.
And then we'll see how things are, won't we? Nagesu-nii.
"Juu!"
As Juushirou stumbled, Shunsui was immediately alert, catching his friend's falling body as a spasm wracked through the younger boy's chest. He gasped, coughing violently, and as blood bubbled at his lips, Shunsui was aware of the glitter of fright and pain in his companion's hazel eyes.
"Juu-nii! Juu-nii!" Shikiki hovered at the boy's other side, fear in her own expression. "Oniisan, we can't walk any more! Juu-nii is sick again...he needs to rest!"
"We're out in the open, and I can't shunpo any further." Shunsui bit his lip, sliding his hand across Juushirou's back to support the other's shuddering form. "Shikiki, I don't know this land at all...but you're from here, aren't you? Do you know where we are?"
"Mm." Shikiki nodded her head. "It's not far...not far from where my village used to be. Except it's all burnt and gone now, so there's nowhere to shelter. But there were trees...if the trees are still there."
"Do you think you can run on and see?" Shunsui glanced at Juushirou's ashen features, alarm gripping him as he realised how heavily the other boy was breathing. "See if there's enough shelter there for Juu to rest properly. I'm not a physician and I can't do the clever healing kidou stuff that others learn - but if we can stop moving, and keep him warm...if we can do that..."
"I'll help too." Shikiki said fervently. "I'll help Juu-nii, too, Oniisan."
"You can help best by running on and checking the area for a safe shelter." Shunsui said gently. "All right? I'll stay with him, so nobody will hurt him - and if necessary, I'll carry him to wherever you find."
Shikiki cast Juushirou a hesitant glance, but at length she sighed, nodding her head.
"I will." She agreed. "It's okay, Juu-nii. We'll find some place safe an' then Shikiki will help you an' your chest won't be hurting so bad any more."
With that she darted off through the snow, and Shunsui sighed, tightening his grasp on Juushirou's body as he felt another shudder go through the other's thin frame.
I wish Mitsuki was with us. I'm sure you do too. People might mock healers and call them weak but I swear, Juu, right now I would rather have her than an army of shinigami with swords drawn.
"You really don't take the cold that well, do you?" He murmured out loud. "We've been here before, Juu. You and me, stuck out in the freezing cold while you choke blood all over me. You'd have thought I'd have had enough of it the first time around - I guess neither of us learns our lesson particularly well."
His brows knitted together.
Dammit, and just like before, even though I know you're hurting, I can't do a damn thing to help you.
"Shun...sui." Juushirou managed, then, "Let...me...go."
"Not a chance. You'll fall over." Shunsui shook his head firmly. "I know you're worrying about Hirata, but ranting and raving at me about it on the trip here is probably what brought on this attack. You weren't well before - which is why he sent you away in the first place. At least have the decency to sit quiet and let people look after you. We want you get you out of here in one piece, if it's at all possible."
"Let...me...go!" Juushirou's expression became one of desperation, and Shunsui felt his friend's hands groping for his chest, trying to push space bodily between them. "Please...let...me..."
"What are you doing?" Shunsui stared at him in confusion, reaching out to touch the other's brow. "Are you fevered? You're being really stubborn, even for you. You must be..."
Words faded on his lips as his fingers brushed against Juushirou's skin.
"Ice cold." He whispered. "Juushirou, what..."
"Let...me...go." Juushirou took advantage of his momentary lapse in concentration, finding the strength from somewhere to shove the other boy away from him. He struggled to his feet, taking an unsteady step or two forwards in the snow as if consciously trying to put space between him and his companion.
A sense of unease washed over Shunsui.
"Juushirou?" He murmured. "Where are you going?"
There was no answer, as the white-haired student merely took another two or three steps forward, drawing a ragged, hoarse breath of air into his lungs. Even without seeing his features, Shunsui could tell from the tension in the other's fragile frame that he was in pain, and struggling against something - but was it simply to take in air, or something more?
Shunsui got to his feet, ready to grab hold of his unsteady companion once more, but as he did so, he felt the flickering, raw surge of his classmate's spirit power swelling and engulfing the other boy's body in a faint, blueish haze of energy. His heart in his throat, Shunsui found himself remembering the flare of power that Juushirou had unleashed once before to defend them from a Hollow, but even so he knew that this was not the same as then. There was something else in this flare...something dark and indistinct, yet something that struck fear through to the core of Shunsui's heart.
And then, Juushirou turned and Shunsui saw for the first time true emptiness in the other boy's hazel eyes.
For a moment, there was silence. Then Juushirou's brows furrowed into a look of grim resolution, and he raised his right hand.
"Hadou no Yon." He murmured. "Byakurai."
Author's Note: Gekkoushin
Yay! Kyouki's sword finally gets its debut!
There's no end of irony in my mind about the vague similarities between Kyouki's zanpakutou and the shadow/light power that we now know belongs to Katen Kyokotsu. Gekkoushin has actually been devised in my mind since Second Manuscript, when it was first mentioned in a conversation between Tokkun and Kyouki. I wanted it to be in a similar vein to Matsuhara's sword, since this is one of the reasons that Kyouki and Matsuhara worked together so much in the first place. In fact, it can be said that because of the similarities in their swords, they developed an understanding and from that understanding, Matsuhara met and fell in love with Tokutarou's unfortunate mother.
It would be wrong to say that Kyouki's zanpakutou is the same as Tensonshin, however, or the same as Katen Kyokotsu. Gekkoushin means "Moonlight Goddess" and Kyouki's spirit power relates to light and dark but also to other more abstract things such as eclipse and reflection. The sword has two key aspects of release with distinctive commands:
"Yo ga aketemo, ten ni nokotte, Hitsuki." (Even if the dawn comes, linger in the heavens, Day Moon.) and "Hi ga shizundemo, sora ni hikatte, Yozuki." (Even if the sun sets, shine in the skies, Night Moon.).
Within those releases, Kyouki's powers are similar but on the opposite end of the spectrum. Her 'Day Moon' (Hitsuki) attacks make the blade turn golden and allow her to meet fire with a beam of hot light and flare bright dazzling light into the battlefield, as well as create a haze around her to conceal her whereabouts from the enemy's view (Hitsuki no Kagayaki). The Night Moon (Yozuki) attacks make the blade turn blue, and instead of hot light, the weapon casts out a beam of freezing white energy which is kin to an ice attack without actually being formed of ice. Night Moon also allows her to cloak her surroundings in darkness as though it were night, and reflect an image of herself in a place where she is not (Yozuki no Kage).
Both releases allow her to use the blade to form a shield of light to protect herself.
Of all of the Council of Elders, Kyouki is the shinigami closest to achieving Bankai (aside from Retsu and Guren who already have it, of course!). For that reason, she does not always have to call the commands to power her zanpakutou, and her attacks are highly varied and of a strong level. Hence why Midori said that she's not a match for Gekkoushin and why the sword has such a fearsome reputation around Seireitei.
Let's just say that Kyouki's the ultimate in strong, capable women in the Meifu world xD.