Disclaimer: No I do not own Bleach.
Heart of Wind
Chapter 5: A lesson in cutting; The Sword's true power
Takai was sent into an insane backwards roll, his entire body shuddering from the pain of having been essentially hit by a bolt of lightning. Then his back tagged the overhang of the roof and he was launched into the air and over the edge of the building.
"Takai!" Asura had leapt into the air to avoid the most damaging effect of the lightning. He realized that worrying about Takai now wasn't going to solve anything, and he turned his head to look down at the cloud of dust that Kemura had created. ("A Soul Slayer gets more powerful, and so does the Death God wielding it?")
As the smoke cloud cleared, there was a loud ringing noise and Homorue came sliding backwards out of the cloud with his Soul Slayer held in one shaky hand. "Come on, you bastard!"
"Bold words, for someone about to face an opponent they cannot defeat." Kemura came charging out of the cloud, his sword aimed to come up high and tear through Homorue's body. "Here I go, boy." Then their blades clashed in an explosion of blue sparks, both weapons coming to a rest in a position pressed against each other, as the two Death Gods clashed their spirit forces to try and determine who was stronger.
After a few seconds, Kemura spoke calmly. "I see, so you are stupid."
"Excuse me?" Homorue tried to sound just as calm, but his spirit force was getting completely overwhelmed.
"Despite the fact that our bodies and weapons are made of spiritons, metal is still metal. Shogeki, Aoihekireki." Then Homorue was screaming as lightning leapt from the blade of Kemura's Soul Slayer, through the blade of his own, and then into his body. "You see? Against Aoihekireki there is no chance of survival if you are a Death God using a conventional Soul Slayer, because I'll simply blast you when our blades touch." Then he kicked Homorue in the stomach and sent the now-smoking Death God across the rooftop. "Your skill in battle is notable, but otherwise…" He turned and used the flat of his sword to smack Asura's fist away from him. "As for you, you have some nerve attempting to attack me like that, when you don't even try to hide what little spirit power you actually have."
"Heh, sorry to disappoint you, mister high and mighty, but I ain't folding to the whims of somebody like you!" Then Asura leapt in and slapped Kemura's blade away, his hand latching onto the flat of the blade while his other hand came rocketing in towards the man's face. "Let's see how well you take a punch!"
"You don't seem to have very good hearing." Kemura spoke calmly, unafraid of the approaching fist. "Shogeki, Aoihekireki." Then his Soul Slayer's blade became alive with blue electricity that arched into Asura's body. "You don't touch…" His eyes widened in surprise and he threw his head to the side to avoid a fist that, to his senses, felt like it might take his head off if it landed. ("Impossible….")
Asura sneered, his entire body shaking but his grip on the Soul Slayer's blade was unrelenting. "You want to shake me off? Not a chance!" Then he drove his fist in again, and once more Kemura was forced on his heels to dodge.
("How is this possible? I know that my dear Aoihekireki is attacking his body with her full power, and yet he is somehow struggling against it enough to fight back!") Turning, he tugged on the hilt of his Soul Slayer to try and free it, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't free his precious Soul Slayer from the grip of this brute. "Unhand my sword, before I kill you with extreme…" He growled as he was forced to dodge another punch, just as rigid as the last. ("Now I see…my lightning is affecting you more than you are letting on. All you can do is punch at me like that, and such a form of attack will never touch my face, fool.")
Asura continued to sneer while he punched, even though he had lost all feeling in his body. ("I ain't backing down…Takai, hurry up and get your ass back here. Your spirit force was so strong…strong enough that maybe you could beat this guy.")
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Takai slowly opened his eyes, and felt the grass under his fingers. ("When did I take a…") His eyes snapped open and he sat up, realizing he was lying in the grass outside the school. "How'd I get out here?" Looking down at his Death God robes, he remembered clearly. ("There was an explosion…a big one. It threw me out here.") Looking back at the rooftop of the school, he could that incredible spirit force from before battling it out with someone…probably Asura. ("Even against an opponent like that, that nutcase is still fighting.")
He felt a pulse come from something at his feet, and reached down to pick up his Soul Slayer. "I wish I knew how to unleash your Shikai…I wish I knew your name." He said this rather half-heartedly, mostly because he was still creeped out that none of this was a surprise to him. ("This weapon is different than Homorue's…it's special in a way I can't even hope to understand yet. However…") An image flashed in his mind of the incident in the park, and he remembered how it had felt. ("That feeling of wanting to cut so badly that I wouldn't let a thing like distance get in my way. That was the feeling that I felt when I somehow slashed those Hollows in half without being anywhere near them. Is this some kind of technique that the sword has? Is that my Shikai?")
Somehow, he knew that going in to help Asura was pointless right now. ("He's a Vice Captain class for sure, and that means that his power is far above what I have at the moment. He's been holding back for most of the time, which makes me wonder whether or not this is because of his class and the rules enforced by Soul Society, or because he's toying with us.") No, the answer to the problem was somewhere in this sword. ("Can I really unlock you that easily? Is it just a matter of will? Mind over matter?")
His mind was reeling now with the idea that it was that simple. If he just unleashed his full power then he could surpass Kemura, that much was clear. Why was this such a mental drama for him…why couldn't he bring out this power that gave him such amazing abilities?
("Maybe it's just a pointless venture…maybe I'm just wasting my time trying to bring out your Shikai. I should just go and fight…and die.") He knew he would die, there were no foolish ideas of victory in his head. There was nothing riding on this fight for him. It wasn't to save Asura, since the damn fool threw himself into this mess, and it wasn't to save Homorue, if just because he respected the guy too much to treat him like a weakling.
("Why did I leap into that fight so easily? I did it not because I like to fight, I know that unlike Asura I don't derive pleasure from combat. And yet something about that scene was wrong, and I had to do something about it immediately. Why…why can't I just clear my head and remember what it is that this power wants me to remember?")
"It's because you aren't really ready yet." A quiet voice spoke out from behind him, and he slowly lifted his head to look up at the speaker. "You aren't quite ready to know the complete and utter truth about your power. No…I could easily unlock your full strength, but doing so would just cause your body to explode like an overripe melon hit with a sledgehammer."
Takai slowly looked up, and his eyes widened at who he saw. "Who…are you?"
The speaker was a dirty-blond haired man wearing a green robe. His eyes were concealed by a green and white striped hat that was on top of his head, and he covered his face with a small hand fan. "Me? Just a friend here to speak with another friend, but apparently I came at a rather bad time, because from the looks of it you're getting utterly demolished."
Takai narrowed his eyes slowly. "You can see me, so I know you're not totally crazy. But what can you do to help me? You said that you unleash my full power."
"I could…" The man snapped the fan closed. "And thinking about it I will. I'll let out just enough of your power that you should be able to deal with your current problem, and from the looks of it your body will know how to handle that power."
Takai just sat there, looking at the ground as he listened to this. "No…that's fine." He slowly stood up and brushed himself off, before sheathing his Soul Slayer and looking up at the school rooftop. "I'll deal with this problem in my own way."
The man smiled mischievously. "Somehow…I knew you'd say that. Well, good luck then and give it your best shot."
"Sure." Takai ran towards the school rooftop, and leapt up into the air towards it rapidly, his eyes looking ahead. ("I'm thinking about this too much. Regardless of whether I can win or not, I have to give it my all.")
Kisuke Urahara smiled reminiscently as he watched Takai disappear to the rooftop. "He's just like her… 'I'll never take the easy path to power, because that path teaches you nothing'."
"I was surprised when I felt her spirit force, but even more surprised to find it isn't her…it's him that possesses her spirit force." The voice came from the other side of the school wall. "Urahara, you have something to do with this, don't you?"
"I might…so…" Readjusting his hat, the man smiled. "I bet 4000 yen that he'll figure out how to perform her signature attack."
"Idiot, I'm not going to bet against you." The voice grew momentarily angry, and then calmed. "I wish I could help them…but if I fight too much…"
"There's no need to explain it to me, don't forget that I already know how to unlock it." Urahara rested his back against the wall and closed his eyes so that he could feel the fight better. "Do you think it's possible for him to win? Not as a hopeful, but as a realist."
"No…he's going to come close to winning, but then Kemura will realize that he can't win by holding back, and so he'll let out more of his power than Takai's current level of strength can handle." The speaker readjusted the collar of his school uniform. "Of course, that doesn't mean a thing. He'll live…"
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Kemura watched as Asura collapsed to the ground, the boy's body smoking so much it nearly disappeared within that smoke. "You were a tough ant, that's for certain. But an ant is still an ant, and despite whatever you try I will always surpass those who are too foolish to be considered strong."
Homorue slowly stumbled to his feet. ("It was bad enough that I was at half power before this whole thing started, but after that last attack I feel like my spirit power is drained. I can't even use any Demon Arts now, and even if I did they wouldn't have any effect on a Vice Captain class opponent like this guy.")
Kemura turned slowly, his shadowed eyes locking onto Homorue's form. "So, are you ready to die yet?"
"No…not quite yet." The blond-haired Death God lifted his Soul Slayer and called up what little reserves of power he had left. ("I can't win, but maybe I can injure him.")
Kemura closed his eyes and sighed. "Your perception is horrible."
"What?" Homorue's eyes widened right before he was screaming in pain as lightning arched from the ground straight into his body.
Kemura glanced down at the tip of his Soul Slayer, which was resting in the rooftop surface. "You should have sensed the power of my Aoihekireki. Or is my spirit force so incredibly powerful that your puny mind can't understand it?"
Homorue collapsed to his knees as the lightning died out, his eyes unable to focus anymore. ("Wow…am I really that unskilled?")
Kemura lifted up his Soul Slayer to strike the final blow. "I would tell you to be proud that you made me try, but you didn't…you're filth of the lowest kind. Even average Death Gods have pushed me farther than this, and don't use the fact that you're tired as an excuse. No…it's time to end your pitiful life." Lightning crackled along his Soul Slayer's blade. "Die…"
"You first!" Takai screamed as his sword came crashing down, knocking Kemura's sword to the side.
Kemura's eyes widened in amazement, as he was nearly thrown off balance by the force of that attack. "When did you…"
Takai slowly lifted his eyes to come close to Kemura's. "Let me remind you of something important…I hate cocky people!" Then he slammed his sword up and nearly took Kemura's head off with the force of the blow, but the Vice Captain managed to block…barely.
Homorue's eyes widened, despite the fact he was exhausted. ("Impossible…this guy is a Vice Captain…how can Takai push him back like that?")
Kemura stumbled backwards. "You bastard…where did you get such a burst of strength?"
"From the fact…" Takai's eyes locked on onto Kemura's body. "…that you piss me off!"
"That's it?" Kemura found that hard to believe. "Human anger doesn't create that much power…"
"I don't think you understand." Takai grasped the hilt of his Soul Slayer with both hands. "I've gotten pissed at only three people in my entire life. One was my father for being a bastard…one was a guy who got my order wrong at the ramen shop…third is you."
"I'm afraid I don't follow your bizarre human logic." Kemura's Soul Slayer started to crackle with electricity. "Am I supposed to be afraid of the fact that you are angry at me?"
Asura coughed weakly and lifted his head. "Let me…tell ya…why you're a dead man…"
Takai slowly bent at the knees, his body surrounded by a pulsing aura of spiritual energy that flared bigger and bigger.
"Takai is the laziest guy in the world…" Asura coughed a couple of times… "But...in his heart rests the angriest guy I've ever seen. As such…that anger builds up…and when he lets it go at something…"
Kemura's eyes went incredibly wide, as he was nearly mesmerized by the beautiful aura of swirling blues that surrounded Takai's slightly squatted body. ("This power…it's…it's…")
Takai's arm started to move, almost as if slow motion. "Jigen Kizu!" Then he slashed upwards, and in the blade's wake there was a shimmering crescent of light that exploded in a straight line towards Kemura.
Right before the blast could reach him Kemura's mind managed to finish his sentence. ("…Captain class!")
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Urahara took a step to the left, as did the person on the other side of the wall. A few moments later a giant slash in the wall and ground appeared right where they had been standing, the slash in the earth going about fifty feet away from the school before it thinned and ended. "Well, it looks like I win 4000 yen."
"I didn't accept your student bet, fool." The voice was impressed though. "Maybe I was wrong. Do you think he actually killed Kemura?"
"You of all people should know Kemura's limits…" Urahara sighed. "No…despite the power you and I both know the execution was too slow…."
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Takai looked down at his arm, which was spraying blood everywhere. ("What happened…I hit him…right?")
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"…and therefore…"
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Kemura stood right next to Takai, his eyes still wide. "Incredible…but far too slow of an attack."
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"…even though I really do wish it was otherwise…"
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Takai stared at the sword sticking through his chest. ("I intended to kill him…I wasn't going to hold back. So why, why did he manage to beat me? I…I…") Then his eyes clouded over and he fell.
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"…there is no way for those three to win against Kemura at their current level."
A sigh came from the other side of the wall. "It can't be helped, can it?" The sound of retreating footsteps could be heard. "Urahara, if you could please go make the preparations, I'll deal with Kemura."
"Are you sure that's wise? I know your real strength, but that Faux Body you're in may not be able to handle dealing with him." Urahara was slowly walking away from the school, now speaking to himself more than anyone else. ("However, I owe you that much. Very well, just don't die….Ryushin.")
To be continued…
To Darksoulkai: Thank you very much. Well, everything should be alright since Bleach is the best anime ever. (At least compared to current animes.)
To Illiterate Guy: You, sir, are an oddity then. I mean that in a good way though, because most people seem to hate the concept of original characters in a fic.
To G.O.T. Nick: Trust me, it is by far the best anime series I've seen in a while.
To Seeker of the Soul: As Kemura said, he had no interest in divulging his story to a group of weaklings. Maybe Ryushin can wrench it out of him.
To Time Mage: I'm glad you feel that Kemura is badass, but if you compare my characters to characters in the actual Bleach show you'll find youself horribly disappointed, got it?