I do not own Bleach or any of the characters.
Grudge Match
"Hello again, Mayuri!"
Mayuri stumbled away, Kurai turning toward him, zanpakuto extended toward the Captain. Mayuri glared at Kurai with only a hint of recognition.
"Who the hell are you?" Mayuri growled, holding Ashisogi Jizo in front of himself with his remaining arm. "You seem familiar."
"I had better," Kurai growled. "This will be the second time we've fought, only this time, I'll kill you! I know you well, Mayuri. Your shikai has a poison along the blade that paralyzes the victims and makes it impossible for them to move, yet leaves the pain receptors unchanged, if not extra sensitive. Your bankai releases a deadly poisonous gas which you, and I suspect Nemu, are immune to. You use that syringe to regrow any lost limbs, however you only carry enough for one treatment because you don't expect to need it more than once, leaving you now with only one arm to fight with."
"We've fought before you say?" Mayuri mused. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."
"No?" Kurai growled. "How about Angel? Do you remember her? Although, I suppose you never do find out their names do you?"
"If you're referring to one of my numerous test subjects, no, I have yet to bother to find out their names," Mayuri sighed. "It's a waste of time. Now would you mind getting out of my way so that I can finish off the Quincy. I promise, I'll be with you in just a moment."
"Sorry," Kurai smirked. "Ishida, I'll handle this fucker. You save what strength you have left. You'll need it."
"Why are you so desperate to be killed by me?" Mayuri sighed.
"I'll be the one killing you," Kurai promised. "I'll make you pay for what you did to Angel. ANd I'm going to make you pay for treating your own daughter like a piece of trash!"
"Daughter?" Mayuri snorted. "She's nothing more than a tool. A piece of junk that is very rarely able to adequately follow instructions."
"Shut up!" Kurai snapped.
"Oh fine then," Mayuri sighed. "If you're going to put up so much of a fuss, I suppose I'll oblige you."
He suddenly appeared to the left of where Kurai had been but Kurai was already behind him, zanpakuto protruding from Mayuri's chest.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment," Kurai growled. "I've been training day and night with one goal in mind, kill Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Now you'll die."
"You're a traitor!" Mayuri spat.
"No," Kurai growled. "I'm no traitor. I'm the next head of Research and Development. I'm well within my rights to kill you for your spot as Captain."
"I don't see two hundred squad members, do you?" Mayuri growled swinging Ashisogi Jizo over his shoulder but missing Kurai who had leapt away, ripping his zanpakuto sideways out of Mayuri. "You can't be captain without them."
"Relax Mayuri," Kurai growled. "I won't be captain by killing you. All I have to do is kill you and have the captains whose support I already have give me a recommendation."
Mayuri leapt away from Kurai and landed on his feet, holding a hand over his wound as if to slow the bleeding.
"What did I ever do to you!?" Mayuri spat.
Kurai sprinted through the laboratory, searching desperately for what he knew he would find. Angel was there somewhere. That much he knew. He knew that Mayuri wanted to see what was so special about her. He knew that she would be undergoing horrible experiments and that she would die. Unless he could find her in time.
"Where the hell are you!?" Kurai growled skidding through the last door and seeing Angel on an experimentation table.
And Mayuri beside her.
"Ah, I see," Mayuri nodded. "You were the intruder back then. I remember now. Yes, she was a truly disappointing experiment. In the end, she was simply a filthy, good-for-nothing human."
"Watch your mouth!" Kurai snapped.
"Very well," Mayuri sighed. "Regardless of what may or may not have happened back then, it means nothing now. So tell me, are you truly fighting me for that this time? Or is it something else."
"For her," Kurai growled before jabbing a thumb back at Nemu. "And her. You will learn to treat people with respect, no matter where they came from."
Mayuri leaned back, laughing so hard he nearly toppled over. Then he wiped a tear of mirth from his eye and grinned.
"That brat is not a person so your argument is invalid," Mayuri sneered. "However, if you truly wish to fight me, so be it. Let's see you handle my bankai."
His sword opened the mouth at the base of the blade and began to expand, forming a caterpillar looking thing with a golden head resembling that of a human infant and wearing a short red cape with a silver rind over its head, completely white eyes, and a purple cloud of poison spewing fro its mouth.
"Behold, Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!" Mayuri shouted.
"That far already Mayuri?" Kurai grinned holding his zanpakuto out, blade down. "As much as I would love to prove that your bankai can't even defeat my sealed zanpakuto, I think I'll play this one safe. Grow, Haruko."
The usual field of grass and flowers appeared around him, covering both the ground, the sides of the walls, and the tops, however, this time, the flowers all released a blue smoke that stayed confined to the perimeter of the grass, which was under Kurai, Nemu, and Ishida. The blue smoke was much less obvious than the purple smoke which soon reached them and filled the area, seeming to blow the blue smoke away.
"That poison gas, as you well know, will cause your painful death in minutes," Mayuri laughed then stopped as grass wrapped around both Ishida and Nemu. "What are you doing?"
"Do it," Kurai instructed and Haruko healed both of them.
"Why, why would you help me?" Nemu questioned. "I am Mayuri's subordinate, your enemy."
"You are not my enemy," Kurai stated. "Mayuri is the only Soul Reaper who I currently wish to kill. You he very nearly killed himself, that makes you my ally. I don't care if you're his daughter and lieutenant or not. I don't care if he created you to serve him or not. I will not stand by and watch him treat you like dirt."
"But, I have to stop you from fighting him now," Nemu stated.
"Nemu, you don't have to follow his orders," Kurai stated. "You don't have to listen to someone who doesn't care if you live or die. But if you want to restrain me, feel free."
Nemu looked unsure but made no move to restrain Kurai.
"Don't worry," Kurai smiled at her. "I'll make it quick."
"Enough of this!" Mayuri shouted. "Attack!"
Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo sprouted at least a dozen blades just below its head and began to charge forward, destroying everything in its way as it did and moving fast but much slower than Mayuri was able to with his shikai. Kurai sighed and crossed his arms.
"Too slow," Kurai stated as the behemoth of a weapon reached the circle of grass. "Now!"
Grass shot up with blinding speed, wrapping around the blades and pulling down, driving the blades into the ground before beginning to bind the rest of what was in the circle.
"What!?" Mayuri gaped. "That's impossible! Are you using bankai!?"
"No," Kurai grinned. "What you're seeing is my shikai. I prefer this form even to my bankai. While more powerful, and much much larger in scale, my bankai is all me. In this form, in shikai, Haruko is in control of herself and is capable of fighting alongside me. The only exception being the swords she forms from her grass for me to use. It's not me binding your bankai, it's Haruko herself."
"Your zanpakuto actively battles alongside you!?" Mayuri spat. "And how the hell is my poison not affecting you and the Quincy!?"
"Haruko," Kurai shrugged. "Her grass is offensive. Her flowers, are defensive. Any poison that enters her radius is analyzed in seconds and she begins to release the antitoxin from the flowers, you may have noticed the blue smoke? It didn't just block the poison's effects, it permanently immunized myself and anyone else that inhaled it. Meaning Ishida. Nemu too, if you didn't make her immune. The poison used by your shikai was also analyzed, thanks to both Nemu and Ishida's wounds. Now the three of us are immune to that as well. In addition to curing and immunizing anyone inside of all poisons, Haruko had the ability to release a variety of toxins of her own, ranging from deadly poisons that I'm immune to, to a pain neutralizing toxin that works similarly to the humans' morphine except much more effectively and without the threat of addiction."
"You brat," Mayuri growled. "You released your shikai solely to immunize yourself to my poisons didn't you?"
"More or less," Kurai shrugged. "Also to stop your bankai's charge. Now, would you like to see the offensive side?"
He held his hand out and Haruko grew him a sword. then, he began walking forward, the circle of grass following and Haruko restraining more and more of the bankai as it entered the circle. Finally the circle reached Mayuri and grass bound him in place. Kurai didn't attack him, though, instead, he turned to face the bankai, standing about the middle of it, and held his sword up, the blade extending. He slashed horizontally, the grass letting go and retracting a split second before Kurai's grass Zanpakuto bisected the bankai, cutting through it with ease before also cutting a second gash through Mayuri's side, just below the first. Mayuri screamed in pain, the grass releasing him and Mayuri staggered away, his sealed Zanpakuto forming in his hand again as his bankai faded.
"You bastard!" Mayuri raged. "You broke Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!"
"Yes," Kurai nodded. "Luckily for you your zanpakuto can reform its bankai from the poison released while in your shikai form, making it impossible to destroy your bankai permanently, like a normal one. Anyway, it's time for me to finish you."
"Damn you you bastard!" Mayuri shouted raising his zanpakuto. "I'll kill you for this!"
And with that, he drove his zanpakuto through his chest. He coughed up blood then exploded into blue sludge, what was left melting away into the same substance.
"I see," Kurai smirked. "So you still resort to that when necessary, huh?"
"That was a close one," Mayuri's voice sighed. "You almost had me."
Kurai shorted his zanpakuto blade back to normal and held it over the ground again, Haruko reclaiming it before retracting and returning to her sealed state.
"You're much stronger than I originally thought, and much stronger than our last encounter," Mayuri commended. "But in this form, I cannot attack you, and you cannot kill me. In this form, I can retreat to my base and tend to my wounds. This is a draw. Goodbye, my future test subject."
And then, he was gone, having slipped under the walls while he spoke. Kurai sighed, sheathing his sword and turned to Nemu who shrank back from him in fear.
"Don't worry," Kurai smiled. "Like I said, I have no intention of harming you."
"Well...thank you," Nemu smiled, still nervous. "No one's ever bothered to defend me before the two of you. Will you still try to kill him?"
"I...don't know," Kurai sighed. "I wasn't intending to fight him to begin with. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Nemu smiled. "You healed me of my wounds and I was already immune to the poison."
Kurai nodded looking to Ishida.
"I'm fine too," Ishida stated. "I don't think we were ever properly introduced though. Uryu Ishida, last of the Quincy."
"Kurai Mori," Kurai bowed. "Third Seat of Squad Eleven. And this is my Zanpakuto, Haruko. Probably the best friend I've ever had."
"Nice to meet you," Uryu bowed. "I take it you've got no quarrel with me and my friends."
"No," Kurai sighed. "I'm hoping that Ichigo is able to save Rukia. She is my oldest friend. I healed Ichigo when Renji and Byakuya left just for that reason. I'd have healed you too but your wounds weren't life threatening."
"I see," Uryu nodded. "You sure you should be saying that in front of her?"
"I won't tell," Nemu promised. "I owe you both for not killing my Captain, even if that was your intention, and for defending me. I may owe you my life."
"I doubt it," Kurai shrugged. "Your wounds didn't look entirely life threatening. You'd probably have been fine. Still, I'm happy to help."
Nemu smiled and nodded and Kurai looked up at the sky. It was already night. He still needed to find Ichigo.
"What will you do Nemu?" Kurai questioned.
"Head back to my squad," Nemu stated. "I still have use there."
"I see," Kurai nodded. "If you need me, all you have to do is ask. Same goes for you Ishida. Although, I'm not sure how you would get ahold of me."
"I'd figure something out," Uryu shrugged. "Anyway, I'd better go. After all, we came to save Rukia. Can't be late."
"Ishida," Kurai spoke up stopping him. "You'll never make it to Rukia alive."
"What do you mean?" Uryu questioned.
"There are several captains between us and them," Kurai stated. "However, if you were in the custody of a captain, say, Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, you'd be allowed to survive."
"You're turning me in?" Uryu growled.
"My captain will want to fight Ichigo again," Kurai explained. "Helping Ichigo survive will be the most effective method of doing so."
"So one of the captains will be on our side?" Uryu questioned.
"Yes," Kurai stated. "But you'll need to be wounded."
Uryu nodded and held his arms out to his sides. Kurai darted forward, slashing Uryu across the stomach and then along his right side, blood splattering across the ground as Uryu collapsed, Kurai catching him.
"See you around Nemu," Kurai smiled before leaving using Flash Step, taking Uryu with him and arriving at the Squad 11 barracks in minutes. "Hang on Ishida, almost there."
He carried the wounded Quincy to Kenpachi who looked confused.
"What're you bringing him here for?" Kenpachi growled, the orange-haired female Ryoka off to one side looking worried.
"I figured that you could use his strength when you help Ichigo so that he'll live to fight you again," Kurai grinned.
"How do you know I'm going to help him?" Kenpachi growled.
"Why else would she be here, Captain?" Kurai smirked looking at the girl. "Plus, I know that you and he ended your fight in a tie. And you don't like anything but a victory."
"Fine," Kenpachi grinned. "Heal him girl."
The girl ran over beginning to heal Uryu.
"Thank you, Orihime," Uryu smiled. "And you, Captain."
"Save your thanks," Kenpachi grinned. "I'm not doing it for you."
"Still," Uryu sighed. "What about you Kurai? What will you do?"
"I have something to take care of then I'll meet up with you guys," Kurai stated.
"Good luck," Uryu spoke up. "Whatever you're doing."
Kurai nodded then left. He went to a building a good distance from the Central 46 Compound but that still had an unobstructed view of it. As he waited, his mind wandered back to his time in the academy, and to the friends that he had made there.
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