Akio sat across from Captain-Commander Kyoraku, who was currently arranging some papers on his desk.
"So… why did you call me here?" Akio asked, a bit impatient. It was early in the morning and he was supposed to be preparing for a training session.
"Just one moment… all right there we go it's all set up," Kyoraku looked up from the papers on his desk, "Tell me Akio, do you remember the four great families of Rukongai?"
"Sure, they were minor annoyances back in the day, they'd sell drugs and weapons and anything illegal that they could get their hands on, but they were never really a threat to the existence of Soul Society since well… without a prosperous population, no one would be able to buy their goods," Akio answered.
"They disappeared about five hundred years ago, and we thought that they had just destroyed themselves in a war or something, but about nine years ago, one of the families emerged again, except this time they held influences in all the previous territories of the families," Kyoraku began, "They have been ramping up their production and selling of just about everything."
"Do you think that the 500 year gap was the families fighting it out until the winner absorbed the resources and manpower of the losers?" Akio asked.
"I'm not sure, strangely enough, we have information that indicates that this family calls themself the Takanashi family," Kyoraku stated, "None of the previous families used that name. It's incredibly common among lower class citizens in Rukongai. But more importantly, it is your surname."
"So do you want me to go wipe them out? I could probably do it quickly if you inform me of their headquarters," Akio leaned back in his chair.
"No, they have gathered too much influence, especially among the poor in Rukongai. A frontal battle would be disastrous, we would lose the thin amount of faith that is held in us by the citizens. The Takanashi family seems to have more goals than just making money," Kyoraku responded.
"I feel like there's something else that you aren't telling me here," Akio pointed out.
"According to informants under the command of Sui-Feng, they have been seen using a previously unknown martial art that incorporates kido, and some quite… unorthodox uses of reiatsu. I believe that it is one you would recognize, given that you invented it," Kyoraku's words shocked Akio.
"I see. I never completed it before I was sealed, but there was one other who had some knowledge of how it worked. Are you implying that he is involved in the family?" Akio sat up in his chair.
"Most likely. We have seen officers in their ranks that have reiatsu amounts that are comparable to that of a captain, and they seem to have a hierarchy based entirely on strength now, not wealth," Kyoraku continued.
"But we can't just exterminate them because a rebellious population of Rukongai is more dangerous than any army," Akio finished Kyoraku's train of thought.
"Exactly, what we need is to be subtle about things. We need to counteract the propaganda machine that is the Takanashi family. They've been spreading ideologies about how we oppress free thinking and whatnot," Kyoraku said.
"Which, to be fair, we do. We have an entire prison for people who think things that we don't like. The citizens of Rukongai have never really liked us, and now they're being shown that there is someone out there with the power to take us down. Someone that won't kill them," Akio interrupted.
"Yes well… change takes a lot of time here, and the Central 46 are stubborn. Regardless, I want you and Squad 10 to investigate this family. Find out about their true goals, their full strengths, and the identities of their top leaders. Squad 10 has one of the highest populations of former lower class citizens of Rukongai, including their captain and their lieutenant. I believe that you all probably have the best understanding of what those citizens are feeling, and have the best chance at solving this issue without causing a full on revolution," Kyoraku ordered.
"Ok great, but why tell me? I'm not the captain," Akio asked.
"I will inform Captain Hitsugaya of this decision later today, but I wanted you to know first because now it is up to you to train Squad 10 for this task. Make them strong enough to battle the Takanashi family," Kyoraku rubbed his eyes a bit, "I will keep Squads 11 and 12 as far away from this as I can, they are the worst options to go to for a solution. Other than that, feel free to work with any other squads as you see fit."
"Again, I am not the captain. Captain Hitsugaya will make those decisions, but I will report to him," Akio stood up, "Is that all?"
"Yes, it is, you are dismissed," Kyoraku answered.
Hitsugaya sat in his chair, shocked at what Akio had just reported to him. He had heard talk about the great crime families of the past that more or less ruled Rukongai, but he had not expected to ever have to deal with them, they had been gone for far longer than he had been alive. Everything that Akio had explained told Hitsugaya that this would probably be his greatest test as a captain so far. This would not be about just combat ability, this would be about reaching the hearts of the citizens of Rukongai and beginning to fix the damage done to them by Soul Reapers in the past.
"So, I suppose that we'll be needing to travel to Rukongai a lot more?" Rangiku posed the question.
"Yes, we need to make sure that the citizens know that we see the world they live in. It was smart of the captain-commander to assign this to our squad, we should be well suited to interacting with the citizens," Hitsugaya confirmed.
"And we need to find a way to figure out what the Takanashi family's actual goal is, if we can find that it contradicts what they have the masses believing, then we can discredit them," Akio added.
"Either discreetly capturing an officer or infiltrating the family would be good ways to go about that, I suppose," Rangiku proposed.
"Capturing an officer would be a safer bet. None of us could go truly undetected in the family," Akio said, before closing his eyes and thinking for a few moments, "I… have something that I want to show you both. Please allow me to pull you both into my inner world."
Hitsugaya and Rangiku exchanged a glance before nodding as Akio pulled them into his inner world. They saw Kagayaku Yari standing beside a cage. Inside the cage, there was a green blob of energy that floated.
"This is energy I stole from him during our battle, using a forbidden kido. It's forbidden because if I am careless and let his energy free, he will take control of my inner world and cause my sense of self to be utterly destroyed," Akio stated, far too calm for what he had just said.
"...And why would it ever be a good idea to use this kido?" Rangiku asked the question that Hitsugaya had been thinking.
"Because for one, it traps their reiatsu in here, and the victim can not regenerate or summon it at all unless I let it free, though the amount of his reiatsu I have is insignificant compared to the overall amount. Secondly, if I know enough about the nature of the abilities of the one who possesses the reiatsu I steal, I can create a sort of copy of them in my inner world and train against them. Their reiatsu makes the copy very authentic. Neither of those reasons is why I wanted to show you both this, however," Akio explained, "Given that this is basically a piece of his being that I stole, it can talk to me as if it were actually him."
Kagayaku Yari, sensing Akio's intent, waved her hand over the cage. The cage glowed before it turned into a smaller glass box.
"I see you brought some friends with you Akio. I see that the Gotei 13 still has no qualms with child soldiers," the orb spoke.
"I need to ask you a few questions. You will answer them and then I will seal you again," Akio looked down at the energy as he spoke.
"You'll be getting answers from 700 years ago," The orb responded.
"Better than no answers. So tell me, what do you think about the policies of the Gotei 13 regarding Rukongai?" Akio began.
"I could argue that the Gotei 13 treat the average hollow better than they treat the average citizen of Rukongai. At least the hollow is given a swift death rather than a painful life," The orb lost shape a bit as it spoke as if the shape of the orb depended on the mental state of it.
"What do you think could solve this?" Akio asked. The orb regained shape and was still for a moment before speaking.
"Revolution."
"Ironically enough, that may be exactly what he is trying to achieve now. I guess not a whole lot changes in 700 years huh," Akio taunted, "Now be quiet."
Kagayaku Yari waved her hand again, and this time a solid steel cube emerged around the orb. It was a barrier stronger than the cage.
"That taught us nothing we didn't already know, but it did help me remember who I am talking to. He considered himself to be a philosopher of sorts," Akio stated, "Much like I hear Aizen was. Enemies with complicated ideas are the most dangerous, they are able to sway others."
"So the only way that we can beat someone like that is…" Rangiku began, "To combat their own ideals with our own. Even if we kill them, we can't consider them defeated until they have admitted that they are wrong."
"Correct," Akio stated, "And I want our entire squad to come together and discuss our ideals. I want our entire squad to think of a way forward, to think of a way to better Rukongai. If we are posed with a question that causes us to doubt in our own cause, we have already lost," Akio stated.
"That's… genius," Hitsugaya said. It was here that his young age was very much felt to him, he found Akio and Rangiku to be ages ahead of him in terms of worldview, largely thanks to their ages.
"I want to enter the Nest of Maggots. I want to see what is considered dangerous idealogy among soul reapers these days. I would like both of you to accompany me," Akio stated.
"We can do that," Hitsugaya responded. Rangiku nodded.
"Good. Let us go immediately. I believe we need to obtain permission from the captain of Squad 12 to enter, correct?" Akio questioned.
"Yes that is correct," Rangiku responded.
"I'm sure we can manage that," Akio said.
Hitsugaya nodded and Akio brought everyone back to the living world, his inner world fading as Kagayaku Yari looked at him with a concerned face.
"So you say you want access to the Nest of Maggots so that you can debate the inmates?" The captain of squad 12, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, looked at Akio with a puzzled face, "Absolutely not. That is one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard. They are locked up to prevent the spread of their ideas, not to give them the opportunity to share them with a soul reaper as strong as yourself."
"And yet they allowed a former captive to become a captain," Akio retorted. He had done his homework on Mayuri.
"Indeed they did. Are you implying that I am not deserving of my position?" Mayuri questioned.
"I am implying that there may be knowledge to gain from those who are locked away," Akio responded.
"Could you just let us in this once? I would be in your debt," Hitsugaya offered.
"Having another captain owe me a favor would be quite convenient… I suppose I can let you three in. Just be prepared to stay locked in if I deem it necessary," Mayuri relented. He had to admit that he was curious about what would happen, "And I will accompany you."
"Fine by us, now, let us in," Akio spoke.
"Give me your zanpakuto first," Mayuri retorted.
The three obliged, and their zanpakuto were stored just outside of the Nest, along with Mayuri's zanpakuto. As they entered the prison, they saw prisoners roaming about. Some looked more insane than others. Some looked violent and some did not. Akio walked ahead of the group a bit, entering into a mob of prisoners gathered around something. As Hitsugaya reached the front of the mob, he saw Akio standing before a prisoner who seemed to be the largest there.
"Are you the top dog in here? The biggest and baddest?" Akio asked with a smirk.
"I don't recognize you, are you a new guard or somethin'?" The hulking prisoner responded.
"I'm here to have a nice long chat with you all about philosophy. I just want to get into your mindsets," Akio chuckled.
"Fuck off," the prisoner spat on Akio before attempting to punch him. Akio didn't even bother to move, he just stood there and took the punch without flinching.
"Going after the biggest and baddest guy is a horrible strategy in prison. It gets you noticed, it gets you to be on the top of people's lists in terms of who to kill. But being noticed is exactly what I want here. My friends and I would like to talk with you all, and I will remain here until that happens," Akio smiled, "C'mon Captain, Lieutenant. Let us have a chat with these prisoners."
Hitsugaya and Rangiku moved to stand beside Akio. An elderly prisoner approached them, staring at them.
"What do you want to talk about? Perhaps as your elder, I can implant some wisdom on you all," the old man had an entirely different air around him than anyone else in the prison did. Akio knew that he had found exactly what he needed. This man may not be the strongest in the prison, but prisoners were not placed here because of strength, they were placed here because of the ideals that they held.
"Why are you here?" Akio requested.
"I spread my ideas about why I believed the Central 46 and Noble families should be removed from power," The old man spoke.
"What were your reasons?" Hitsugaya asked.
"For the Central 46, I believed that their lack of accountability made it impossible for them to ever truly have the best interests of the average citizen in mind. They all too easily made what they would call hard decisions, but I am sure that for them it was a no brainer to have large amounts of Rukongai citizens killed whenever Quincies would cause an imbalance of souls," The elderly man spoke.
"And what would you say should have been done in this situation? When an imbalance of souls is created, it is a danger to all," Akio countered.
"Outside of large massacres of hollows, it should've been sufficient to have members of the Gotei 13 sacrifice themselves. It is what we lived for, after all, we were meant to defend Rukongai, not massacre it," The man rebuked.
"Would weakening our military by doing that not endanger more lives?" Akio asked. He was asking questions that he believed could prompt responses that would be enlightening. He was not asking questions that sought to validate viewpoints that he held.
"If the citizens of Rukongai had more trust in us, we would have more recruits. If we had more recruits, we would not need to worry about losing even a thousand soul reapers as much as we do with our current numbers," The elderly man spoke.
"I see. What were your reasons for wanting the noble families removed from power?" Akio asked.
"They have too much power while having too little of a view on the true state of Rukongai. I believed that people should only govern those that they understand, and even within the first districts in Rukongai, there is no true understanding by the noble families," the elderly man spoke. Hitsugaya thought back to his childhood. Even though he had grown up in one of the first districts, he had been poor there. He could not imagine how bad it was for those all the way at the edge districts.
"I see. I can not argue against you there. How about everyone else? What got you all locked up?" Akio asked, turning to the crowd of prisoners. Many of the answers were similar, though there was a group that was more or less just insane, that much was for sure. Not everyone there had good ideas, heck many of them had only the basic thoughts in their head. It was clear that even while in captivity, the old man had continued to refine his ideals.
Hitsugaya was not sure what Akio's endgame was here. He was confused when Akio turned towards Mayuri.
"Whelp, it seems I hold beliefs that would get me locked up in here. So lock me away," He stated.
"You and I both know that you would never be locked away like this. Don't you see? This place is where people with dangerous ideals go when Soul Society can't make use of them," Mayuri grinned a crookedly, "Do you now understand the nature of this place?"
"I do," Akio turned to Rangiku and Hitsugaya, "What do you both think?"
"I… I agree with a lot of what the old man said," Rangiku admitted, "I never would've thought that way even just 12 years ago, but after Ichigo Kurosaki was introduced to Soul Society… I have a feeling that those ideals would be shared by a far larger number of soul reapers now. Especially at the higher levels."
Hitsugaya nodded in agreement, "I can tell you right now that almost every captain has at least thought of such things. Even if they did not believe them strongly."
"And what does that tell you about our society?" Maturity questioned.
"We struggle to let go of the past, in large part thanks to the isolation of our leaders?" Hitsugaya answered.
"Exactly," Mayuri grinned, "go on and change Soul Society, it should be quite a show."
"You won't be disappointed," Akio promised. Mayuri led them all out of the Nest.
Hitsugaya stood in front of 200 people, the entirety of Squad 10 was gathered. They had been briefed on Squad 10's assignment and posed the question of what they believed the biggest issues in Soul Society were. He was unsurprised to hear many members of the squad nervously admit that they believed Central 46 was at the heart of the problem. He had a tendency to accept those from poorer districts of Rukongai into his squad when perhaps other captains would not, and it seemed that now it was working in his favor. The point of disagreement was on what to do about Central 46. Some members of his squad believed that it should be done away with and replaced with a different governing body, and some believed that just removing the anonymity and having them live with everyone else. There was one thing that was clear, however, all of Squad 10 expressed their willingness to undertake this mission, even if it was dangerous and could risk absorbing their entire life until it was done.
"I do not expect you all to agree on everything, but what I do want is for you all to understand one thing. Whatever change we want in Soul Society, we want it done peacefully," Hitsugaya grabbed the attention of all his subordinates, "We need to be able to believe in our own convictions if we wish to overcome the convictions of others."
There was resounding agreement among his squad, and Hitsugaya felt relieved that it had been so easy. He supposed that Ichigo truly had changed all of Soul Society, by changing the hearts of the captains, he, in turn, changed the hearts of those who served the captains.
After the meeting was adjourned, Hitsugaya decided to seek out Akio; he still hadn't trained with him that day yet. He found Akio in battle with Rangiku. She had her Shikai unleashed and Akio seemed to still be in his base state. He dodged around the tiny blades of ash that made up Rangiku's Shikai, being careful to not let any of them even graze him. Hitsugaya had never seen Rangiku battle this hard outside of an actual fight for her life.
He watched as Rangiku gathered everything she had into a decisive strike, leaping towards Akio to attempt to sandwich him between her ash blades and herself. She cast a kido that shot fireballs at Akio, and he grinned as he gripped his blade tightly. Akio collided with the fireballs, but his momentum did not stop as he came out of the flames and slammed the dull side of his blade into Rangiku's stomach, sending her flying across the clearing that they were battling in and into a tree. Akio flashed beside Rangiku and went to put her in checkmate when his eyes widened. Hitsugaya quickly realized what had happened. Rangiku had hidden blades behind the tree during their battle, and intentionally challenged Akio head on when she was positioned at just the right angle to be flung into that tree. Such a strategy was genius… and not at all something he could ever see Rangiku having tried in the past.
Akio smiled a bit, "You got me. I walked right into your trap huh?"
"I only won because it was sparring, if you'd used the sharp edge of your blade you could've cut me in half," Rangiku said, releasing her Shikai as she breathed heavily.
"You can't be faulted for your opponent holding back, and arrogant opponents often will. If you can checkmate an opponent before they use their full power, it is still a victory. You won against the enemy you faced and that is all that can ever be asked of a warrior," Akio praised her.
Rangiku looked like she was going to say something for a moment, but she just smiled and nodded her head in acceptance before nearly falling to her knees from exhaustion. Akio managed to catch her, however, and helped keep her upright.
"Oh Captain Hitsugaya, I didn't notice you. Give me a moment to help Lieutenant Matsumoto to her room so she can recover, then I can train with you," Akio greeted him.
Hitsugaya nodded and watched Akio and Rangiku leave.
Akio walked Rangiku back to her quarters, he may have overdone things a bit, his last blow to her had seemed to really have affected her.
"Are you sure you're all right? Apart from using the blunt side of my blade, I didn't hold back on that last blow. I still think we should check to make sure I didn't break anything," Akio stated.
"I'm fiiine," Rangiku said, though Akio doubted her words, "It's nothing serious."
"There's nothing wrong about admitting when you're hurt. It doesn't make you weak. At the end of the day, you still won, and needing medical help after the battle doesn't change that," Akio insisted, "At least allow me to use some basic healing kido on you, to ease the pain if nothing else."
"You're incredibly stubborn, you know that?" Rangiku chuckled a bit.
"I have been told that many times," Akio smiled as they reached Rangiku's quarters. Akio helped Rangiku in and watched as she laid down on her couch. Akio walked over to her and his hands shone with a green light as he began healing her. Once he was sure that she would be fit to train again the next day, he stepped back.
"Thank you Akio," Rangiku said, "Now go train Hitsugaya before he gets too impatient."
Akio smiled, "Yes ma'am." He left the room and returned to Hitsugaya.
Hitsugaya only had to wait a short time before Akio returned. Akio gestured towards Hitsugaya.
"Today I will use my Shikai against your Bankai. Now, enter my inner world so that we may battle," Akio declared. Hitsugaya nodded and allowed himself to be pulled into Akio's inner world.
When Hitsugaya opened his eyes, he saw that the inner world was built differently than usual, it was an empty field. In the distance, the barracks of Squad 10 were visible, and Hitsugaya supposed that Akio had simply brought them to a different part of his inner world than what had been shown so far.
"Unleash your full power, I will not hold back the power of my Shikai," Akio gestured to Kagayaku Yari, who stood beside him before glowing and disappearing, as Akio held his Shikai in his hands. Hitsugaya unleashed his Bankai, preparing himself before he flew at Akio, jabbed at Hitsugaya with his spear, but Hitsugaya stopped outside of its range. Light shone at the tip of Akio's spear, and a large beam of light that reminded Hitsugaya of Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho blasted out at Hitsugaya.
Hitsugaya created a wall of ice to stop the blow and flew above, raining icicles down on Akio, who launched another beam into the sky. Akio's Shikai was incredibly simple compared to his Bankai, it just let him shoot beams of light from his spear. At least, that's as much as Hitsugaya had been told.
Akio sprung into the air and his spear clashed with Hitsugaya's sword, which sent Hitsugaya careening into the ground. Akio landed, jamming his spear into where Hitsugaya's head would've been if he hadn't dodged. Hitsugaya swiped his sword and a jagged row of ice sprung out of the ground and nearly impaled Akio, but he dodged. Akio landed a small distance back, before grinning.
"You fight well, but a Bankai isn't the only source of power for a captain. How's your kido?" Akio raised his left hand at Hitsugaya and a moment later a pulsating red sphere that crackled with electricity appeared right in front of his palm. Hitsugaya had never seen a kido like that before.
"This is a secret kido, only known to the former Captain-Commander and the royal guard! Of course, since I invented this one I know it as well," Akio shouted, "I challenge you, do not dodge it. Take it head on."
Hitsugaya gripped his blade, deciding that he would take that challenge. He summoned up a large amount of power and began chanting the incantation for a powerful barrier kido, one that would hopefully block the sphere.
"Are you ready?" Akio yelled, the sphere in front of his hand had gone from the size of a small boulder to that of a soccer ball. Without waiting for a response, Akio fired the ball. It moved incredibly fast, so fast that Hitsugaya almost lost track of it. The ball slammed into Hitsugaya's barrier and he noticed that the barrier was breaking. Hitsugaya reinforced it with ice from his Bankai, creating a huge wall in front of him. The wall began to crack and Hitsugaya decided to put it all on the line, gathering as much ice into his wings as he could and creating a shield out of his wings in front of him. He stabbed his sword into the ground to keep himself from being blasted back, determined to stop the ball head on. A moment later, his wall of ice shattered and the sphere collided with his wings, placing a tremendous amount of pressure on him. His wings began to crack and a red light shone through them. Hitsugaya's eyes widened as his wings shattered and the ball slammed into his chest, sending him flying. He saw Akio racing to catch him, assuming that his subordinate had not meant for his attack to be as powerful as it was.
Hitsugaya put his all into stopping the sphere, trying to push it off of him. The sphere seemed to be an extremely dense ball of reiatsu, very simply, but it was very meticulously crafted and there was something strange about that sphere that Hitsugaya could not figure out. Hitsugaya felt himself reaching his limit when a voice that he recognized spoke into his head.
"Use it all," Hitsugaya recognized the voice as Hyorinmaru's, but before he could ponder the words, the sphere froze solid and immediately stopped all motion. Hitsugaya noticed that he was taller and when he looked behind him to try and see the petals that usually accompanied his Bankai, they were gone. He didn't know how Hyorinmaru had done it, but he had skipped the usual waiting period and forced Hitsugaya into his matured form without waiting for all the petals to fall.
"Well now, that's certainly something," Akio stopped a few paces from him, "The only two people I'd ever seen stop that kido were Yamamoto and Ichibe. I expected you to dodge once you realized you couldn't stop it, I wanted to teach a lesson about not being goaded, but somehow you stopped it. And it seems like you aged yourself."
"Usually when all the petals of my Bankai crumble, I enter this state where I have aged my body up so I can fully use my Bankai. This time… it seems Hyorinmaru cut the line and did it for me," Hitsugaya responded.
"Your power has grown incredibly, and more than anything, you seem to have turned that sphere into nothing more than a simple ball of ice," Akio kicked the sphere and it just shattered, "You just froze energy."
"Anything that I freeze has all of its functions stopped," Hitsugaya stated, "Are you still willing to continue."
Akio smirked, "Absolutely."
Akio launched a beam of light at Hitsugaya, who dodged it. On top of his Bankai being more powerful, Hitsugaya was faster and stronger in this form. Hitsugaya was behind Akio in an instant, nearly managing to catch him and freeze him, but Akio was able to escape. Hitsugaya kept up the pressure. Dodging jabs from Akio's spear and managing to get past Akio's optimal range of attack. Hitsugaya trapped Akio with a sheet of ice at his feet, managing to finally land a blow as he swiped his sword past Akio, missing him on purpose, rather he froze all of Akio up to his chest.
"I believe I win," Hitsugaya stated.
"Against my Shikai? Absolutely. Can you keep going? I'd love to see what comes next," Akio grinned and Hitsugaya nodded. Akio then closed his eyes and opened them with a shout. The spear that had been held in a frozen hand disappeared, and seven spears made of light shot down at Akio. Hitsugaya leaped back and saw that Akio had attacked himself to destroy the ice. He was now in his Bankai form.
"This is Tengoku no Hikari. I will now show you what I can do when I fight with my Bankai," Akio stated. He had an entirely different air to him now. He oozed with confidence.
"Bring it on," Hitsugaya grinned. He had never felt this type of excitement. Fighting an opponent this strong without it being a matter of life or death, felt exhilarating.
Akio flicked his wrist and three of the spears flew at Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya froze them, but Akio had used the spears as a distraction, instead getting behind him and kicking Hitsugaya some distance. Akio noticed that part of his leg had become frozen after kicking Hitsugaya, and a few explosions of light engulfed him and the frozen spears. A moment later, the ice was gone.
"Your ability is magnificent! You can immediately stop all functions of anything you fully freeze! You can even freeze my Bankai's light!" Akio was grinning ear to ear. He made wings of light appear at his back and flew into the sky, raising the seven spears above him and letting them morph into hundreds of knives. The knives rained from the sky, causing smaller yet still powerful explosions where they landed. Hitsugaya dodged the explosions, making wings of ice and flying up to freeze Akio. Akio was not giving him enough time to use his 4 second flash freeze, so he had to get closer.
"A powerful Bankai, but nothing too complicated," Hitsugaya stated, flash stepping behind Akio in an attempt to catch him by surprise. He also had icicles from all angles attacking Akio, at least one of them would be bound to get through.
"Excactly," Akio closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them his eyes were glowing, though Hitsugaya could not see that. Akio's eyes were usually blue in color, but at this moment his irises were a shining sparkling gold. Akio immediately made small barriers of light at each specific spot where the icicles would've struck him, all while dodging Hitsugaya's strike.
"How did you-" Hitsugaya began before Akio cut him off.
"You're my captain, so I'll tell you," Akio turned to face Hitsugaya, who now saw his glowing eyes. "I told you, my Bankai manipulates light. I can only control so much at one time, but I can still manipulate light. Instead of relying on light to naturally reach my eyes, I can pull it to my eyes from any angle. To put it simply, I have a full 360 degrees of vision when I use my Bankai like this."
"Incredible…" Hitsugaya stated before his eyes widened as a piercing pain shot through his head. His first thought was that Akio had attacked them, but Akio's surprise told Hitsugaya that wasn't the case. Hitsugaya lost focus as his Bankai dropped, and began to fall to the ground before Akio caught him and set him down gently.
"What happened? Did you reach your limit?" Akio asked.
"I- I must have. I thought I had longer. When I last used this form I was able to keep it up for longer…" Hitsugaya was confused.
"Let's call it a day for now then. You did well," Akio nodded at Hitsugaya before his inner world faded.
Hitsugaya awoke in his bed, surprised to see Akio and Rangiku looking down at him.
"Uh… why am I here? Why are you two here?" Hitsugaya requested.
"When I attempted to take us out of my inner world, you fell unconscious. I carried you to your room and got lieutenant Matsumoto so I could ask her if anything like this had happened to you before, which I was told it hadn't," Akio explained.
"I was just pushed to my limit. You did unleash your Bankai after all," Hitsugaya reasoned.
"I suppose that's true. Don't use that form again for some time. It seems to take a heavy toll on you, which is to be expected from forcefully aging then unaging yourself," Akio said.
"All right," Hitsugaya replied.
"So Captain, I hear you outclassed his Shikai?" Rangiku sounded excited.
"He didn't use any kido once I entered my aged state, but I guess I did overwhelm just his Shikai," Hitsugaya admitted.
"It's my fault for not using kido. You can only fight the enemy that is in front of you. Even if they are not at their best, a victory is a victory. Never forget that," Akio praised Hitsugaya, "You are both strong. Have pride in yourselves, both of you beat me today and will continue to beat me as I use more and more of my full power until you both surpass me. Believe in yourselves." Akio exited the room before they could respond to that, and Hitsugaya was left speechless, as was Rangiku.