a/n - Welcome to chapter 19
***Four Days Earlier***
Layne went flying through the air, propelled by Getsuga Tensho
"Dammit" Layne growled, jumping to his feet after a hard landing against one of Urahara's rocks
"Come on Layne" Ichigo called, resting Zangetsu on his shoulder "Kon could have dodged that one, don't tell me that your giving up already"
What the hell is going on? I saw it coming, but I just couldn't move
A little way away, Urahara and Yoruichi watched the two of them spar, Ichigo totally destroying Layne, even though at this point, with both them in Shikai, their power levels should have been roughly equal
"He's scared" concluded Yoruichi, narrowing her eyes "He can't even move at a tenth of his full speed, and hasn't managed to avoid any of Ichigo's attacks"
Urahara watched as she got up, waiting for the other shoe to drop
"It occurs to me, Kisuke… that we don't know anything about what makes Layne over there tick, we don't even know if he knows that he's scared"
Urahara nodded, but turned away from Ichigo and Layne's spar
"As important as that is, you still haven't told me what you found out from the Gotei 13, and you got back yesterday"
Urahara sounded miffed, but since the Soul Society hadn't been able to provide really any information during the official session, the only thing she had got was a vague account from Kyoraku and Ukitake, Yoruichi felt they shouldn't take it easy
Wait a minute, maybe that's what's gotten Layne so scared
"Back in a sec Kisuke" and Yoruichi flashstepped next to Ichigo, whispered something in his ear and flashstepped back to Urahara, sitting down, detailing most of the information she got in Soul Society,
"Soul Society has agreed to lend their aid in this, but I got the feeling that Yamamoto, Ukitake and Kyoraku were holding something out on us"
"So who are they sending?" Urahara asked, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen and staring at it, preparing to make some notations on it
Yoruichi gave him a wtf look and snatched the paper from his hands
Shinigami Zanpakuto Bankai Phrase
Yamamoto Ryujin Jakka … "Reduce all Creation to Ashes"
Sasakibe Gonryomaru --- "Bite"
Soifon Suzemebachi Jakuho Raikoben "Sting all Enemies to Death"
Omaeda Gegetsuburi --- "Crush Them"
Kira(Izuru) Wabisuke --- "Raise Your Head"
Unohana Minazuki … …
Isane Kotetsu Itegumo --- "Run"
Moll Sora --- "Rise Inside"
Hinamori Tobiume --- "Burst"
Byakuya Senbonzakura Senbonzakura Kageyoshi "Scatter"
Renji Zabimaru Hihio Zabimaru "Howl"
Komamura Tenken Kokujo Tenken Myo'oh "Roar"
Iba … --- …
Kyoraku Katen Kyokotsu … Flower Wind Rage and Flower God Roar, Heavenly Wind Rage and Heavenly Demon Sneer
Ise … … …
Hisagi … … …
Hitsugaya Hyorinmaru Daiguren Hyorinmaru "Sit Upon The Frozen Heavens"
Matsumoto Haineko --- "Growl"
Kenpachi --- --- ---
Ikkaku Hozukimaru --- "Extend"
Yumichika Fuji Kujaku --- "Bloom"
Yachiru … --- …
Kurotsuchi Ashisogi Jizo Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo "Rip"
Nemu … --- …
Ukitake Sogyo no Kotowari … "All Waves Rise Now and Become my Shield, Thunder Strike Now and Become My Blade"
Joel Riku Way to the Dawn "Make Your Choice"
Layne Roxas Final Form "Drift"
Ichigo Zangetsu Tensa Zangetsu ---
Sexy Shopkeeper 3 Benihime … "Awaken"
"A list of the current Captain's, Lieutenants and other people of the equivalent fighting level" Yoruichi assessed, scanning the list
"Since someone spilt milk on the digital copy I was working on, I had no choice but to use the paper" Urahara deadpanned
"I already said I was sorry, but that's no excuse for signing yourself as Sexy Shopkeeper"
"Yes it is" Urahara replied curtly, snatching the paper back from her
"What was with all those blank spaces" Yoruichi couldn't resist doing a little teasing "Not having all the information doesn't sound like you at all"
"Well obviously the Lieutenants and Seated officers don't have access to Bankai, with the exception of Abarai-san and Bluzer-san, and Kurosaki-san has no need to release his sword, so I've detailed it with dashes where a section doesn't apply and dots where I either don't have the information, or felt there was no need to place it there"
Yoruichi nodded and returned to watching Ichigo and Layne spar, "I don't know who they are going to send, but I'd hazard a guess that it will probably be either Renji or Joel, maybe even a Captain"
"Hmm"
Ichigo took in what Yoruichi had whispered to him and smirked
She vanished and he turned to Layne
"So, that woman Layne, she was pretty terrifying wasn't she"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"It's obvious now, the reason your fighting so badly is cause you've been scared shitless by that woman who nearly killed my sisters"
"You seem to be taking that pretty lightly yourself" Layne pointed out, raising an eyebrow "Don't insult me like that if you're completely calm"
"That's what pisses me off about you" Ichigo said, pointing Zangetsu at Layne "I've never seen you get angry once, are you even human?"
"I'm not going to fall for it no matter how much you insult me; I don't get angry because I don't want to, and that's all there is to it"
"Well, whatever"
Ichigo suddenly launched himself at Layne, swinging Zangetsu in an arc that would of cut Layne in half had he not brought Oblivion up block.
As it was, the sheer force behind the blow threw Layne to the side, forcing him to roll and stand up again to regain his balance
He's going all out, but I still should have been able to at least block that effectively… What the hell is going on!
"Hey, are you serious? I thought this was just practice"
"What's the point of practicing if you don't go all out?"
Ichigo pointed Zangetsu forwards and placed his free arm against his sword arm
"Bankai!"
This was the first time Layne had ever seen Ichigo release his Bankai, so he watched in amazement as Ichigo appeared from a pillar of smoke, his oversized meat cleaver having shrunk down to the size of a daito and his clothes had changed to a long a sleeved coat with a red inner lining, that was ragged and torn down near his feet
More importantly, Layne could actually feel the raw power radiating from Ichigo now
"What's that, you're moving even slower than before" Ichigo said with a smirk…from behind Layne
Layne's eyes widened in shock and he ducked and jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding Tensa Zangetsu
"Holy Shit, are you trying to kill me!"
"I'm going to force out whatever it is that's wrong with you! Getsuga Tensho"
Layne couldn't move fast enough to avoid the blue crescent of energy and it caught him straight on
He coughed up some blood and knelt down
This might really be it, Ichigo's serious and I can't seem to summon the strength to fire off a Rain, let alone use Bankai… I should just admit defeat and get the hell out of…
"What the hell am I thinking?" Layne muttered, picking himself up
"Fine Ichigo, I'm scared shitless of that woman" he called out "I've never met someone who could kill so indiscriminately…and she was strong too"
Ichigo used his hyper speed to appear next to him "How strong?"
"She said that she'd been using five percent of her total strength" Layne said, simplifying the figure to save some time "Until that very last flashstep where she got close to me"
"And you believed that?"
"Of course, the only way I could have gone faster than that was if I was in Bankai"
"Then next time it happens go Bankai, so what if she can go even faster"
That's right…I'll never know until I try
As soon as Layne realized this, he immediately felt like something had removed a weight that was around his heart, and he could suddenly feel like something was still weighing down his arms and legs
"Zangetsu told me…" Ichigo continued "That I should forget fear, to look forward, walk forth and never ever stop, because that fear will cause death"
How come Roxas isn't that philosophical?
"Ichigo… can you just wait for a second, I need to talk to Roxas"
Ichigo nodded, and Layne sat down on the ground, thinking as hard as he could of that barren lake
He suddenly appeared in the very spot he had been thinking of,
"Well this is a nice change from waking up on the ground" Layne muttered to himself "Now where in hell is Roxas?"
Layne stared around, but the only defining feature of land was the two trees on one end of the lake
"That's where we usually talk"
Layne headed for the trees
Ichigo watched as Layne simply sat there, eyes closed
Do I look like I'm sleeping when I'm in there too?
The area darkened and Ichigo turned around, seeing a familiar sight
That's a…Senkai Gate!
Ichigo turned around to catch a flash of long white hair, and pink cloth
Kyoraku-san and Ukitake-san…what could they be doing here?
Layne arrived at the trees and did a full 360, attempting to spot Roxas, or that weird Carbon Copy of himself that had been here last time
"Guess I might just have to make some noise to attract some attention then"
Layne outstretched his left hand, and with a flash of white light, Oathkeeper appeared there which a relief was, because Layne hadn't been sure it would
"You got three seconds to pop out from wherever you're hiding dude" Layne called out
Nothing happened
"Alright then"
Layne jumped into the air and turned towards the lake
"Riptide Strike" he shouted, swinging Oathkeeper in a straight arc down, aiming for the trees, being the only thing he could really destroy
"Three…Two…One…Rain!"
Excellent, I didn't think I'd be able to do it
The familiar green crescent of energy shot downwards and looked like it was about to destroy the tree when something came out of nowhere and somehow sliced clean through the energy
Layne looked closer
Black…Oathkeeper?
"Nice Layne, just nice" Roxas complained, dismissing the strange keyblade and watching as Layne landed next to him "You interrupt a guy as he's sitting on the toilet? I know you really hate that, so why do it to me?"
"You better not be pissing and shitting in my reiatsu pool" Layne growled, Black Oathkeeper forgotten with that comment
"Of course not, now what's up?"
Layne took a deep breath
"How come you're not inspiring like Zangetsu?"
Roxas facefaulted
"That's the most dumbassed question I've ever heard"
"Then help me out" Layne said with a grin "I'm scared shitless of that woman, it's not a totally paralyzing fear, but I wasn't even sure I could do that Rain from just before"
"Have you ever really felt fear before?"
Layne thought back
"I've been afraid but never like this"
"That's because you've only been afraid for stupid shit like 'Am I going to get caught', that's nothing like proper fear, Fear for your own life, Fear for others"
"What about in Soul Society?" Layne argued "I nearly died quite a few times there"
"But were you ever truly afraid?"
Layne shut up and just listened
"In the Soul Society, I was doing all I could to support you, but I didn't need to because you believed in your cause and it didn't matter to you whether you died or not, so therefore that fear for yourself was extinguished. Your fear for others only extended to Joel and Moll… One of whom you beat yourself and the other was never in any danger at all, because she was either with Yoruichi, Yourself, Joel, or saved by Ukitake, so you had no reason to fear for your friends"
"But what about Ichigo and the others, why didn't I feel fear for them"
"You were nowhere near as close to them, as you are now…and therefore could insulate your heart from them"
Layne sat down, absorbing this
"But at that park, you saw Ichigo's reaction to his sisters very nearly getting torn apart by that woman, felt the fear for Orihime and Chad as they threw their attacks at her, the fear that she might turn her attention on them"
Layne recalled that moment and realized that his heart had stopped for a couple of seconds but he had been to adrenaline pumped to notice it at the time
"So…what do I do about it then?" Layne asked slowly "If I can't fight effectively, then I'll be no help to anyone"
"Master the Fear" Roxas said with a grin "Place it with your anger, hate, disappointment and failure"
"How?"
"It's like you said to Ichigo, that he needs to believe in his friends more… you do the same, They will all do exactly as well as you expect them to"
"But what about me"
"You can't tell yourself my life doesn't matter, because even if it doesn't to you, there are people who will be devastated if you died, even more people than just Moll and Joel since you came to this place, but what you can do, is make sure that you are doing your utmost to surpass your friends expectations, and never look back, too much self reflection leads to no confidence"
Layne stood up, and despite his status as Layne's Zanpakuto spirit, Roxas got the feeling of standing in front of a burst dam
"Thanks… Roxas" he said, vanishing from the inner world, just as easily as he had entered it
"That guy" Roxas said, shaking his head
"For his sake, you'd better hope he'll be ok" The Carbon Copy said, coming around from behind one of the trees with his arms folded and grinning widely
Roxas summoned the black Oathkeeper and handed it to the Carbon Copy
"If you could just use Oblivion, I wouldn't have to lend this one to you every time that guy shows up with Oathkeeper"
"You're too noisy" Roxas said, looking out across the lake
Layne… you must become stronger!
"Ichigo!" Layne called, rising up, the heavy feeling completely gone from his body
"About time"
"I've gotten rid of it" Layne said, grinning and cracking his neck
"Gotten rid of what?"
"That useless fear keeping me down"
Layne raised Oathkeeper into the air and tightened his reiatsu into a tight shell around his body
Ichigo raised his own reiatsu to equal Layne's rising levels
He wasn't kidding when he said he was strong
"No holding back right?"
Ichigo nodded
"Bankai!"
Layne's reiatsu charged the air and green bolts of it crackled through the dust cloud that he had raised around him
When the cloud cleared, Ichigo was extremely surprised to see that the only physical change to Layne was the addition of two gloves that appeared to be made of thin glass and filled with water
"Come on Ichigo, let's spar!"
Urahara, Yoruichi, Ukitake and Kyoraku watched them in surprise, having sensed the Bankai release
"He managed to achieve that in three days" Yoruichi told them all, "Without access to your three-day method Kisuke"
Ukitake and Kyoraku looked suitably impressed, and Urahara only smiled his usual mysterious smile
"Still think it won't be enough then" she asked "Even with Layne apparently back at full strength, if his Bankai is anything to judge it by"
Ukitake shook his head, looking sternly at the other three, "I can't believe that Yamamoto-sensei is entrusting Kira's defeat to the Lieutenant-rank, capable though they may be.
The reason Kyoraku and Ukitake had snuck away from the Seireitei was to provide Urahara, Yoruichi, and Ichigo's group with all the information, not just what Yamamoto would let be dredged up from the Seireitei's history
Having been the ones who had taken her down at the height of her power, Kyoraku and Ukitake understood full well just how much threat Kira posed to the Soul Society.
"Yade Yare" Kyoraku said lazily "I forgot just how much trouble opponents that forced us to go full strength were, eh Ukitake?"
"We were fighting Yamamoto-sensei just recently" Ukitake pointed out
"I got very drunk afterwards; you can't blame me for not remembering"
Ukitake sighed
Ichigo and Layne were both exhausted, and covered in injuries from where they had been testing each others endurance
Layne's swords had reverted to their sealed form and Zangetsu was back in Shikai, and the two lay back down breathing heavily
"Water…and compression… huh?" Ichigo said, taking deep breaths in between his words
"That…black…Getsuga…is…no…picnic…either" Layne replied
"Yade yare" Urahara said, appearing next to them "Some of those injuries will require Inoue-san's attention; I hope you two didn't overdo it"
Layne and Ichigo turned their heads and looked at Urahara's training ground
For a fifty metre radius from where they had been fighting, all the rocks had collapsed and the land was basically flat and featureless now
"I think we may have over done it just a little"
If Spirit of Seas counts as overdoing it, than yes, yes we did
"It doesn't matter, I'm glad to see that you are yourself again Trell-san"
Layne grinned and then grunted in pain as one of the wounds on chest suddenly spurted blood
"How about, getting Orihime here then…before I bleed out" Layne asked weakly
"Of course, and then we'll sit down with Ukitake-san and Kyoraku-san and they will tell you and Kurosaki-san about that woman you faced in the park…her name is Kira"
Layne was glad he had a name to put to that face, constantly referring to her in his head as that bitch felt like an overuse of the word
"But she had a really, really nice rack"
Quiet you, whatever you are
Urahara had picked both him and Ichigo up and was heading towards the main room of the store so Layne didn't bother to complain, he probably couldn't even move anyway
Kira huh, so that's who it is
An image of Kira's orange eyes, and pure black Zanpakuto flitted though his mind
Kira, the person who taught me fear
a/n - how's that? I thought a little flashback might replenish my mojo... it also helps that i got more than four hours of sleep last night XD
The list is as Urahara knows it at this current point in the story, meaning he has no idea as to the Bankai's of Yamamoto, Unohana, Kyoraku or Ukitake, and Ikkaku and the zanpakuto's of Nanao, Yachiru, and Iba. nor anything about Hisagi's release
Which allows me to get a little creative =D or i could just wait for Kubo-sensei to give us the official stuff...which would probably be better than whatever i could cook up by myself XD
Reviews, reviews are always appreciated i like reviews =D