Disclaimer: No I do not own Bleach.
Heart of Wind
Chapter 9: Internal Battle; Call the name of the Hunter
Takai slowly lowered onto the ground. "I will not listen to this…no…not if it's you!" His eyes narrowed as he looked at the chain that was wrapped around him. "So be it. Against you I cannot hold back at all." Then he disappeared within an explosion of visible spiritual pressure that exploded to life around him. "Prepare yourself, old man."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Urahara knew what she was gathering energy for. ("So early in a fight, and yet she's preparing to summon her Bankai already.") He knew the real risk behind this though. With the seals preventing her soul from destroying Takai's soul in place, trying to use Bankai would result in complete and utter spiritual annihilation for both of them. "Don't you understand what the repercussions of your actions will be?"
"I don't care!" Takai sneered angrily. "I'll bring you to hell with me, old man. Ban…"
Urahara prepared himself to move at a moment's notice. He knew how dangerous Kyaru's Bankai really was. It was the perfect ability for someone with her unique kind of maneuverability, and even he wasn't fast enough to escape it if she somehow activated it.
Takai stood rooted to the spot, the raging waves of spiritual pressure around him both dropping and then shooting up at once. "Knock it off…" Takai grabbed the blade-chain and squeezed the flat sides of it as hard as he could. "I won't let you kill me in your mad bid for revenge against this guy!"
"Shut up! Don't you understand that because of him I lost the man I cared about?" Takai seemed to be yelling at himself.
"I understand just fine, but I don't give a damn! If you don't give me back my body…" Takai jerked his arm up to his neck, the blade of the Storm Hunter pressed against his throat. "Then you'll never get a chance at revenge. Leave him to me. If I lose, then he's all yours." He stood silently, feeling that heavy spiritual force from before slowly fade away.
("Very well. I will step down for now. But understand that you will not use my Soul Slayer as a way to cheat. Use your own power.") Then the blade-chain condensed back into sword form, as Takai found himself alone in his mind. "Sorry…about that."
Urahara inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. ("That was far too close.") Then his eyes widened as he was forced onto the defensive by a sword swing he had no choice but to block. ("His speed has increased…")
Takai pushed forward with all of his will. "I intend to end this right now, so fight me at full strength!"
Urahara immediately recovered, and Takai found himself on the defensive as that horrible spiritual pressure from before nearly threw him away again. "My full power? I wish to train you, not kill you." Then he smacked Takai's Soul Slayer out of the way and elbowed the boy in the ribs. "However, if you really want me to turn up the difficulty…"
Takai was already out of breath from the blow to the ribs, so the follow-up sword thrust at his head was nearly unavoidable, except that he luckily managed to bring his sword up to catch the edge of Benihime before it could chop into him. ("Crap…why did I have to try and act cool?") Then he realized Urahara was no longer in front of him. ("Where did he go?")
"Above you, Ito-san!" Urahara felt that had been warning enough, and then from his aerial position he unleashed another crescent of spirit force from his Soul Slayer, which slashed down towards Takai…and crashed down right on top of him. "…oh come now, I gave you fair warning too…"
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Takai threw up his arms to protect himself as he felt a blazing warmth come over him, and then it stopped. When his eyes opened he found himself alone in the rocky training ground Urahara had been using. ("Where am I? Where is he?")
A loud, almost head-splitting sigh of air blew past him. "So, whether it be by accident or not, you have come."
Takai turned around and immediately froze at what he was staring at. It was a giant white snake as long and as big as a subway train. "W…w…w…"
The snake snapped its tongue out, the slick appendage coming dangerously close to Takai's face. "I suggest you get over your surprise quickly, because otherwise we're going to have some problems with you somehow surviving against your opponent."
Takai shivered at the whispering tone to the creature's voice. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't you remember the last thing that happened to you before you suddenly wound up here?" The snake's giant body writhed slightly, the entire motion like some kind of wave. "Kisuke Urahara will bury you if you do not fight him seriously, foolish child."
"Who are you calling a foolish child?" Takai's hand snapped down to grab his Soul Slayer, but it wrapped around nothing but air. "Wha…" Looking down at his sheath, he realized his sword was gone. "Where did it go?"
"Are you that dense? I thought you shared memories with her, at least to an extent." The snake hissed in displeasure, as if it hated the very act of speaking to him.
Takai's eyes went wide as memories flashed through his brain. "You're…you were the one who took control of my body when that Hollow attacked me."
The snake hissed in agitation and its tail snapped down, shattering a large boulder-like stone right next to Takai. "You're missing the bigger picture, fool!"
Takai frowned, as if he was suddenly having very unpleasant memories in his mind. And then that frown faded and he snickered confidently, as if no longer afraid of the creature that could most likely swallow him whole. "Who's the fool? I hope you aren't speaking about me, because I know a lot more than you do. Or have we so quickly forgotten how I tricked you the first time we met?"
The giant creature looked momentarily taken aback, and then lunged right at Takai, jaws snapped wide open. Then with a loud thunderclap of air pressure, it brought those jaws to a earth-shaking close right in front of Takai's face. The force from this was so great that the nearby ground shook like it was in the middle of an earthquake.
Takai barely flinched. "I won't back down on this one. If you brought me here, that means you're ready to show me how to unseal you, am I right or what, Storm Hunter?"
The snake hissed in irritation and withdrew its head. "You are a pest, even when it isn't the original you. However, I cannot be called by that name by you." Its coils writhed slowly. "I am not Storm Hunter…at least, not to you."
Takai smiled. "Then? Who are you?"
"My name is…"
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Urahara's eyes snapped wide open as he felt it…a surge of spiritual pressure far beyond what he had expected. ("Did she come out again?") Then he realized that something was coming out of the crater his attack had caused…
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Asura wiped away some of the blood from the cuts on his face and snickered calmly. "So you're not just talk after all."
Ryushin rubbed at the bruises on his face and frowned. "The same goes to you. However…" He gripped the wings of his sword's hilt. "I will not hold back!"
Right before he could unleash his Soul Slayer though, there was a loud explosion that came from the location Urahara and Takai had been fighting.
Both of them immediately stopped their fight. If there was anything more important than their fight, it was that one.
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Homorue couldn't move…he couldn't believe it if he hadn't have seen it with his own eyes.
"I'm amazed….to think that kind of power existed…." Urahara spoke calmly, his original surprise gone. "And to think you figured it out so quickly…" He pushed his hat down a little bit onto his head. "Ito-san, you're truly a monster."
Takai slowly sheathed his Soul Slayer, its body still that of its sealed form. "I'd thank you for the compliment, but I have a feeling you're not too happy with the result."
"Not at all." Urahara cheerfully snapped open his little hand fan, which he seemed to produce from nowhere. "I'm very happy with this result. Congratulations…if your attack had continued, it would have cut me down where I stood."
Takai closed his eyes and turned to walk away. "I have two days, correct?"
"That's correct."
"Then I won't waste time. Come on Urahara-san, I'm not done with you yet." Takai walked away with a purpose in his step that hadn't been there before. He knew he could win now. ("Against Kemura, I can win!")
"Who would I be to refuse such an offer?" Urahara started to follow, but slowed for a moment and spoke off to his side. "This boy, Ryushin…he's got the potential…"
"You didn't use your Bloodmist Shield, did you?" Ryushin's wounds no longer were a problem. Honestly, nothing short of a fatal wound would truly hurt him. "Why? I thought you were planning on going all out against him."
"I meant in the training. Believe me, Ryushin…that boy has the potential to defeat Kemura now. His skill is just waiting to be refined, like her's was." Urahara clicked his fan shut and walked after Takai.
Ryushin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Jeez…he's not taking this seriously at all…" Then he turned and ducked under Asura's kick, which otherwise would have connected with the side of his head. "And you're not taking me seriously either."
Asura sneered. "You ain't worth being taken seriously!" And so their battle continued.
Homorue had disappeared from his seat. He had his own preparations to do.
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Ryushin froze as he felt the sheer force of Gensuraku's attack. ("Damn it…they're that powerful?")
Kemura sighed. "I suppose Gensuraku is right. We cannot play around any more, there are things to do and all that. Good-bye, Ex-Captain." Then his blade was moving, quickly disarming Ryushin. "And with that, your life ends."
Ryushin turned on one heel and flash-stepped across the roof, his sword back in his hand. "It was impressive…for about two seconds. However…you are not my opponent."
Kemura turned to face his Ex-Captain. ("What was that? Where did that increase in speed come from?") "What are you talking about?"
Ryushin closed his eyes and rubbed his index finger under his nose. "I never promised to kill you. However, Takai-san did."
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The masked Death God snapped his fan up and a giant tornado started to build at his feet, and then it dissipated. "Burn and cry…"
"What are you talking about?" Takai slowly held up his Soul Slayer to point right at Gensuraku's face. "I'll chop your face off in one hit with my new attack." Then he disappeared as a giant tornado made of fire came to life around him.
Gensuraku directed the tornado to close in around the boy…
A single line of light went through the tornado's center, and then it split in half. And from the center of the two halves of flame, Takai slowly dropped to the ground. Gensuraku didn't show surprise. He simply changed tactics and ran towards the boy with the fan back to create another destructive tornado of wind. "Your techniques are dull…" The moment Takai's feet touched the ground his blade flashed and Gensuraku's Soul Slayer exploded into dozens of little bits of sliced metal. "…your skill is lacking…" Gensuraku's chest exploded into a spray of blood as three huge slash wounds appeared across it, going from his left shoulder to his right hip. "…and you're dead." The masked Death God collapsed, his head having been removed by the fourth of those attacks.
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Kemura stared in confusion at Takai, who was slowly approaching him. ("What…is this? How can his power have increased that much?") Turning to face Takai, he snarled angrily. "Old fool, I'll show you that this whelp is 1000 years too early to take me on. He can't even control his Soul Slayer's most basic abilities…"
Ryushin smiled slightly. "Good luck, but I suggest you bring out the other Death Puppets that you have in hiding. If you don't, then I'll have no choice but to vent my frustration on you."
Kemura stiffened in surprise. "How did you know their name?"
"I know a lot of things, but that isn't important right now." Ryushin rested the flat of his Soul Slayer on his shoulder. "Bring them out, or else you'll have to contend with the four of us."
"Four?" Kemura heard the shifting of feet and turned to see Asura and Homorue stand up slowly. "Weaklings like those two aren't even worth a fraction of my power…observe." He let three-fourths of his spiritual power leap out, creating a powerful and forceful pressure around the rooftop.
Homorue fully stood up and opened his eyes. "Is that it?"
Asura's eyes opened, reflecting that wild fire in his spirit. "If that's really all you have…then you had better take us seriously."
Kemura slowly relaxed, his surprise gone. "I see. Very well…come out now, Kuroko, Myteriutsa, Myteriutso." Three forms seemed to materialize around him, each one wearing Death God robes and Hollow masks. One of them was huge, and the other two looked exactly the same.
"A pair of twins and a big bastard?" Asura cracked his knuckles. "Big man is mine, you and the little bitch can choose your opponent from the unimaginative duo." Then he started to approach the giant Kuroko. "Let's take this down to the football field. I want to see just how tough you really are." Both he and the masked Death God flashed out of sight.
Homorue met eyes with Ryushin, and then they both flashed out of sight, along with the masked Death God twins.
Takai smiled confidently. "Alone at last. And now…the real battle begins! Let's do it, Kemura Ushudan."
"You're quite confident…considering that you have no idea what my true power is or what my Soul Slayer can truly do." Kemura sneered. "Come, weakling."
Takai snapped his Soul Slayer up, the blade glittering with blue light. "Jigen Kizu!" Then he slammed his sword downwards, a crescent of shimmering light tearing through the ground towards Kemura quickly.
Kemura's sneer didn't relent. ("Just as fast as before…foolish boy. He should have learned his lesson last time.") He could tell by Takai's stance that he had put his full swinging power into that attack. And that meant his back was open, just like last time.
Flash-stepping right behind Takai, he pushed the blade of his Soul Slayer in towards the small of Takai's back. ("You cannot protect yourself, just like before. Be smitten by my might, weakling!")
Takai glanced behind him, his eyes meeting with Kemura's. "What are doing? Are you trying to kill me with that kind of speed?"
Kemura immediately realized his mistake, and his mental restraints on his spiritual power dropped just in time to give him the speed to reposition his blade to stop a downward swing that would have chopped him in half.
Takai held his blade pressed against Kemura, not letting up on the pressure in the slightest. His face came inches from Kemura's, and their eyes met…relaxed ice against angry fire. "I'll tell you this only once, Kemura Ushudan. If you take me lightly again…I won't hesitate to chop your head off just like I did to your henchman."
To be continued…
To G.O.T. Nick: Naw, you won't get to see that Bankai for a while, most likely, if ever.
To Nananshi Minamino: If you're going to call them weak, at least spell their names right. And they are needed. Both of them are plenty strong as well.
To Darksoulkai: I can't spit these chapters out at a daily basis, but you never know I suppose.
To Time Mage: Fighting Asura with a Soul Slayer wouldn't teach him jack, except maybe how to avoid getting yourself cut into nice little party-treat sized bits. But Asura's good enough to know not to let that happen. As for Kyaru, wrong wrong wrong. All will be revealed about her in later installments. For right now it's time to watch post-training Takai, Ryushin, Homorue and Asura fight it out with Kemura and his Death Puppets.
To Seeker of the Soul: Feel sorry for 'me'? Interesting position to take on the subject.