Disclaimer: No I do not own Bleach.
Heart of Wind
Chapter 10: Stone and Bee
Asura stretched his legs out and smirked at the giant of a Death God that stood at the other end of the school's expansive football field. "It's a good thing nobody is using this place, huh?" When he received no response, he wasn't surprised very much. "Yeah, Sandal Hat Loser said you guys would be pretty quiet, considering you're puppets and all. Oh well, I don't need conversation to make the fighting fun. Just be sure to keep me entertained, alright?"
Kuroku stomped his feet into the grass, indenting the dirt slightly. Then he slowly drew his Soul Slayer from its shoulder sheath, the weapon absolutely massive.
Asura smirked and charged right at him. "Let's…"
"Yurasu, Ishifukyuu!" Kuroku drove his giant sword into the dirt and roared at the top of his lungs. All around him the ground shook, and then that shaking extended outwards like a ripple in a pond, until the very foundation of the football stands were shuddering.
Asura had stopped charging, and had a single gloved-hand on his hip. "What are you doin? Geez, don't get all…" His sentence was cut short as a huge pair of stone jaws exploded out of the ground and came crashing closed on both sides of him, making it appear as if he had been swallowed by the earth.
Kuroku slowly stood up and pulled his Soul Slayer out of the ground. Turning, he started to walk towards where Kemura was.
"Lousy sneak-attacking son of a…" A roar came from the mound of earth that had swallowed Asura. "That was a cheap shot!" The stone jaws shattered into little fragments and he came charging out like a freight train, running straight at Kuroku without looking like he was going to stop.
The giant Death God drew his Soul Slayer again and stabbed it into the earth. "Yurasu, Ishifukyuu!" Once more the earth shook.
Asura was just a few inches from the Kuroku when a giant wall of granite leapt up between them. Kuroku felt the wall shudder as Asura crashed right into it. He focused his energy into the earth once more, preparing to use his Shikai to end this quickly so he could return to master Kemura.
"That's it." Asura punched the wall as hard as he could. "Rock Destruction!" Then the wall exploded, sending Kuroku flying as he was pelted by shards of granite. "You won't run anymore from me!" He launched in and punched the giant right in the gut as hard as he could.
Kuroku gasped, and then roared, driving the blade of his sword down towards Asura's open shoulder. Asura countered by slamming his forehead into Kuroku's masked face as he could, knocking the giant off balance.
There was a moment of recovery between both of them, and then they were at it again. It was a slow battle, with each hit having enough power behind it to break steel. Finally they broke away when Asura stepped backwards to prevent himself from getting elbowed in the back of the head. "Now I'm sure of it…"
Kuroku hefted his enormous Soul Slayer up, the blade coming inches from Asura's nose.
"…you're not a puppet." Taking another step back, the punk brushed back his spiked hair and frowned in displeasure. "From what Sandal Hat Loser told me, a Death Puppet doesn't have any will of its own, and it'll fight like a zombie. It's different with you. When I connected hits on you, your body instinctively tried to get out of the way. You've got a will to live, which means that you're one of those willing bastards, huh?"
Kuroku chuckled from underneath his mask, stabbing his Soul Slayer into the ground and using its hilt as a prop for his elbow. "Not bad, apparently you have been informed about us."
"Not a whole lot, beyond the fact that you guys are lousy cowards." Asura readjusted his earrings, the silver trinkets clinking slightly as his hands moved them. "And I didn't like what I heard at all. If there's one thing I can't stand, its some coward pretending to be a zombie so that I might go easy on ya."
"Is that what you think?" The giant Death God pulled his weapon up out of the dirt. "You are quite wrong, boy. I am no coward…I will show you right now." He slid into an attack stance. "I'll cut you down where you stand."
Asura lifted his hands, assuming a martial arts stance. "Please try, I'd love to beat the crap out of ya." His eyes widened as something latched onto his ankle. "What?" Snapping his head down, he saw that some rock had formed around his right leg, encasing it in stone.
"You're too slow, boy!" Kuroku launched in and threw one heavy swing with his weapon down at Asura's head.
Asura gritted his teeth and managed to use his hand to slap the weapon away just enough that it didn't hit him. Unfortunately his body's reaction to such attacks was a roundhouse kick with the right leg, but with his current predicament that was impossible. ("Most of my counters are with my legs…but without my right leg all I can do is use my hands, unless I can take him down with my left leg in one hit.") And then he had to put his full focus into deflecting that stabbing sword once more.
"What's the matter boy, can't you defend yourself with such a minor handicap?" Letting out a bellowing laugh, the Death Soldier pressed on his attack, each swing getting just a little closer to Asura's body. "You can't repel my attacks forever, boy! And the moment my blade connects you'll be dead! If you have any last words, say them now!"
Asura narrowed his eyes as he slapped the blade away again. "One thing, and one thing only…"
Kuroku sneered underneath his mask and hurled the handful of dust he had been holding right into Asura's eyes, while at the same time bringing that blade crashing in towards the now defenseless boy's shoulder. ("He fell for it!") The blade struck Asura's shoulder with enough force to crack and shatter the rock prison that held his foot. "You've been easily defeated, fool."
Asura slowly lifted up his head, revealing he had closed his eyes right before the dust had hit them. "What are ya talking about?" He glanced over at the heavy-bladed Soul Slayer, which had sunk an inch into his leather jacket. "You didn't even cut my jacket."
Kuroku took a few steps back, taking his blade with him. Sure enough, Asura's jacket wasn't even scratched. "That…that can't be possible!"
Asura brushed some dust off of his shoulder and cracked his knuckles. "I'll tell ya exactly what I intend to do…I intend to break your face." A second later he was standing on the other side of the giant Death Soldier's body, bits of white bone from the shattered Hollow mask on his knuckles. "And I gave fair warning too…oh well." Without even looking back he continued towards the rooftop. He had to make sure that Takai was going to be alright.
Meanwhile, Kuroku stared at the blood pooling at his feet. ("What was that? Was it a punch?") Then he collapsed face-first to the ground, his body badly broken.
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Ryushin lifted his eyes up and glanced at the two exact duplicate Death Gods. "Homorue-san, I assume you understand they aren't twins, right?"
"Huh?" The blond-haired Death God glanced at the much smaller Ex-Captain with a bit of confusion in his eyes. "Wait…if they aren't twins, then what are they supposed to be?"
Ryushin slid into a defensive sword-fighting stance. "I would bring your eyes forward, if I were you."
Homorue looked at the two 'twins' and realized they were both charging in towards their opponents in perfect harmony. Each and every step landed at the exact same time as the other's, and it made for a rather eerie sight. Then Homorue remembered his self-training, and he relaxed enough to slip into a defensive fighting stance himself. ("This is it…this is the moment I was waiting for. With my training, will I be strong enough to defeat opponents of this caliber?")
Ryushin's eyes narrowed as he watched their approach. ("Something is very wrong here.") He knew instinctively that the chance these Death Puppets were exact twins with perfect rhythm was very low. It was more likely an illusion, but Kemura didn't seem the kind of person to play along with a servant's game. ("No, I'm sure they're both real, but one of them isn't what he appears to be.") Turning on one heel, he prepared to block.
Both of the twins suddenly sped up, and shot past both sides of his, changing sides in mid-move so that they proceeded in an X shape. When they both finished, Ryushin dropped to one knee as blood exploded from a pair of very deep slash wounds on his arms.
("W…What was that?") Ryushin didn't fully understand exactly what they had done. One moment they had been moving to attack, and he had been ready to easily counter them, and then the next moment they were moving at a speed that was beyond flash step. ("Could they really be that fast?") As he looked at the torn slashes along his arms that went from elbow to wrist, he calmed down. ("No, it isn't beyond flash step…or else that attack would have killed me. They somehow reached an incredible speed, but it is a speed that leaves them unable to stop themselves properly for a strike.") Storing that information in the back of his mind, he slowly forced himself to stand up.
Homorue felt sweat building on his forehead. That speed he had just seen was way beyond anything that should have been possible. ("I can't falter…I can't falter or else Ryushin-san will die.") Yelling out a battle cry, he charged in towards one of the two with his sword held above his head.
Both of the twins slowly turned their masked heads to watch the approaching Death God, and then in unison they charged right at him, again in perfect rhythm.
Homorue slid to a stop and ran to the right, hoping he could throw off their disturbingly perfect harmony in motion. But no matter how fast he ran it seemed like they were somehow able to constantly adjust to his position. ("I cannot falter here…I will not let Captain Unohana down!") Spinning, he snapped his sword up to aim into the air. "Come!"
Both of the Death Puppets silently came towards him, their swords back to slash right through his body as soon as he came in range. And then they seemed to blur right before they reached him, fading away like mist in the wind.
Homorue dropped to one knee and gritted his teeth in complete and utter agony as two very deep slash wounds exploded to life on his chest, sending a huge spray of blood all over the dirt in front of him.
"Homorue…" Ryushin leapt to his feet, all of the pain in his wounded arms forgotten. "Odori, Haiiru Tenshi!" His Soul Slayer crackled with grey sparks and transformed into its white and black dagger forms. ("It looks like I have no choice. These Death Puppets are stronger than I thought.") He slowly closed his eyes, and felt the daggers in his hand pulse.
Both of the Death Puppets turned to face Ryushin. And then they charged, again mirror images of each other through their movements.
"Dark and Light mix…" Ryushin's eyes open, both irises glowing silver. "…the unholy god cries, the holy goddess laughs, and all is thrown to Chaos!" Both of the daggers began to glow their respective colors, and the air around him became distorted.
The Puppets continued to charge, unafraid of whatever power that he was charging up.
Ryushin frowned at how foolish of a choice this was. ("This ability…this power isn't meant to be used while I am injured, but I don't have a choice in the matter. If I don't defeat these two, their impossible speed will kill us both…") "Unveil the truth…"
"Way of Destruction 33; Sokatsui!" A blast of blue lightning slammed into the back of one of the Death Puppets, sending it stumbling to the dirt in a burst. It slowly forced itself to its feet, and then along with its twin turned to face their attacker.
Homorue smirked through the blood staining his teeth, while the horrible wounds across his chest and stomach continued to bleed onto the ground around him. "I…I'm not done."
"Don't be foolish, your body is already in critical condition!" Ryushin shouted as loud as he could, trying to bring the attention of the Puppets back on himself. ("They need to be within striking distance of me, so stay down!")
Homorue spat onto the ground. "Sorry Ryushin-san, but I have to request that you stand back. They're mine."
Both of the Puppets charged, apparently having decided to finish off Homorue before they could move on to the much more dangerous Ex-Captain.
Homorue slowly licked some blood from his lips, and lifted the blade of his Soul Slayer up to point at the two. A cold win blew through his hair, and his blue eyes shimmered for a moment. "I can't match your speed, but I don't have to. Kantsuu, Hachikusen!"
A veil of silence held over the area…and then that silence ended when his Soul Slayer's blade exploded, sending a spray of long thin metal needles towards the two Death Puppets.
("Shikai?") Ryushin's eyes widened, and all of the charged power he was planning to use for his best accessible attack faded. ("Urahara told me that he wasn't working very much with anyone, and that he went off by himself most of the time. So…is this why? Did he train himself to learn how to use his Soul Slayer properly?")
Both of the twins did a spin, barely breaking the stride of their charge while easily dodging the cloud of needles that had been flying towards them. Then they picked up speed, both bodies turning into blurs as they prepared to flash cut right through the Death God who was now only holding a hilt.
Homorue didn't flinch in the slightest, even as he felt two strong blasts of air fly past both sides of him. A few seconds passed…and he turned to face the two twin Death Puppets, both of which were standing straight with dozens of metal needles sticking out of different parts of their back. "You both made a mistake when you attacked me. If you had been smart you would have killed me. Because you didn't…" He lifted up the bladeless hilt he was holding. "…you became the marked prey of my Thousand Bees. My blood was on your swords, and that is what killed you both." With a slight sucking noise the needles all shot out of the backs of the two twins. They seemed to pile on top of each other neatly right over the hilt in Homorue's hand, and then they melded together, returning his Soul Slayer to sword form. "It doesn't matter now…they struck most of the pressure points on your body that controlled movement. Therefore…"
Both of the twins collapsed face-first to the dirt, unmoving.
"…you've lost." Sheathing his weapon, Homorue smiled softly at Ryushin and then collapsed face-first to the dirt, blood pooling around his body.
Ryushin sighed and walked over to the fallen Death God, stabbing his white dagger into the man's back almost casually. ("That is an interesting technique. For it to work, he would need to have knowledge of acupuncture techniques. I wonder if that means he is part of 4th squad.") Tilting his head up a little to look at the fallen twins, he lifted his eyebrow at what he saw.
There was only one of the twins on the ground. In the place of the other one was a katana.
("So, his Soul Slayer had the ability to become a clone of him, hence why it could copy his movements perfectly.") Ryushin sighed in frustration. ("Even Urahara doesn't know for sure where these Death Puppets are coming from, but there is one thing he is one hundred percent sure of…and that is these Death Puppets were taken control of while alive.") It was disgusting to think there were people out there who could do this, who would do this. And yet he was an Ex-Captain. He knew all too well the lengths some men would go to for power. ("I will find out who is behind all of this, and kill them. That I swear.")
End of chapter 10
Yo Takai, aren't you done yet? Come on man, lunch isn't over yet and I never got to finish my bento!
Don't rush me, Asura! Don't you understand that this guy is way more powerful than that weakling you fought?
Boy, prepare yourself. You will not live through this.
Author's Notes: Apparently, we are no longer allowed to respond to reviewer posts in our chapters. I don't see the point to it, and honestly I don't like it one bit. Anyway, as such I will be sending all reviewers of these chapters replies to your listed address if you are a member of this website. If you aren't…well…I guess leave an email address if you want me to respond to your review. Thanks in advance to those who review.