I do not own Bleach or any of the characters.
Tap
Kurai groaned, eyes opening slowly as his head began screaming at him to go back to sleep. He forced his eyes open and looked down at himself. He was in a medical bed in the Squad 4 barracks. His missing arm had been restored, likely Captain Unohana's doing, or maybe Orihime, and Haruko lay in her sheath on the bedside table to his left, Kanisawa sat beside him, sleeping lightly and Nemu was in a chair across the room, also asleep.
Kurai picked up his zanpakuto, reaching out mentally to check on Haruko, remembering what had happened to her shikai form. He found her but she was unresponsive, almost like she was asleep, or comatose. He tried to wake her but she wouldn't stir, so he set her back on the bedside table and sung his legs over the side of the bed, carefully putting weight on them to test them. Sure enough, they gave out almost instantly and he fell back onto the bed. The noise stirred the two women who both looked to him and smiled.
"I'd tell you you shouldn't be up but you wouldn't listen," Kanisawa smiled. "How's Haruko?"
"She won't wake up," Kurai stated. "I think she's in a coma. Can't say I blame her after what she shielded me from."
"Are you okay?" Kanisawa questioned.
"Sore," Kurai snorted. "I feel like shit."
"I bet," Kanisawa nodded.
"How long have you two been here?" Kurai questioned. "How long have I been out?"
"A little over a week," Kanisawa stated. "We were starting to worry you wouldn't wake up. I came to visit you for a few hours each day, when I had free-time, but I think Nemu's been here the whole time. I think she leapt in her chair and has barely eaten since you got here."
"Oh," Kurai nodded. "Speaking of, I want food. And ice cream. From the World of the Living."
"I'll see about food," Kanisawa laughed. "You'll have to get the ice cream yourself when you're better."
Kurai smiled and nodded and Kanisawa turned and left. Kurai turned his attention to Nemu and realized she looked tired.
"You've been here for over a week?" Kurai questioned.
"Yes," Nemu nodded. "My duties at the Department of Research and Development were taken over by my captain, since it took him a few days to recover after your fight, and then he wished to find something to do to keep his mind off of his failure."
"I see," Kurai nodded. "But what I really wanted to know was, why were you here for over a week?"
"I wished to make sure you were okay," Nemu stated. "And I had an offer to extend you when you awoke."
"Let me guess," Kurai grimaced. "Mayuri's lab rat?"
"No," Nemu said shaking her head. "My offer is that I have a number of tests I could try on you to make you more resilient and more difficult for you to be killed."
"I'd have a body structure like Mayuri's?" Kurai clarified.
"Not exactly," Nemu said shaking her head. "If the tests are successful, your body structure would be no different than it is now. However, I must warn you that if it does not succeed, you will likely die."
"I'll make you a deal," Kurai smiled. "If you keep Mayuri as far away from me or anything being injected into me during the tests, you've got a deal."
Nemu nodded just as Kanisawa walked in with a tray of food. Kurai smiled and began to eat the food quickly, finishing in a matter of minutes before setting his feet on the floor again and using Haruko to stand then to support himself up.
"How soon until we can get started?" Kurai questioned looking to Nemu.
"Right away," Nemu nodded walking over and handing him his ring Gigai and the chain he had put it on. "I believe this is yours."
He stared at it for a moment before nodding slowly and slipping it over his head. He followed Nemu out of the hospital then to the Research and Development building when she strapped him to an examination table. As she was filling syringes and typing on a computer, Mayuri stepped into the room.
"Ah, wonderful," Mayuri cooed spreading his arms gleefully. "You've successfully brought me a new test subject."
"You need to leave," Nemu stated simply, not turning away from the computer.
"Excuse me," Mayuri snarled.
"You need to leave," Nemu repeated turning to him with a blank expression. "In order for Kurai to agree, he and I agreed that you would not be present during the tests. I will oversee them myself but you must leave."
"How dare you tell me what I can and can't do in my own department!?" Mayuri spat. "I will not stand for this!"
"Then go not stand for it somewhere else," Kurai spoke up. "Otherwise I'll slip these restraints and get my zanpakuto."
Mayuri stared at him for a moment before turning and exiting the room, grumbling to himself as he did. Kurai set his head down again as Nemu walked over with a syringe filled with a green liquid.
"Tell me it's an anesthetic," Kurai winced as she pushed the needle into his skin.
She shook her head before depressing the plunger. Kurai's eyes widened as pain raced through his veins, which glowed green under his skin. He bit back a scream of pain as the pain spiked then faded, then spiked again with every heart beat, his vision beginning to fade. Finally, the pain faded and his vision returned slowly, allowing him to see Nemu readying another syringe. Kurai grit his teeth as she pushed it into his skin and depressed it, instead of pain, however, chills raced across his skin, the blue liquid inside mixing with the green that was still glowing there. Both faded and Kurai groaned as his head suddenly grew fuzzy, feeling as though there was no oxygen going to it.
"The first was the primer," Nemu stated. "In order for the tests to work you needed to be on the edge of death. During the time that you were blinded and your mind numbed with pain, I injected three chemicals into your veins. The blue substance I just injected was to bring you back and restore you. The other three chemicals should begin to take effect momentarily. You will feel some discomfort and pain but it should pass. When complete, your body will be more durable and faster. The amount is impossible to guess."
Kurai opened his mouth to speak but stopped, his voice being pinched off but a throb of pain starting in his heart and shooting out through his body. At the same time, his Spiritual pressure spiked, surprising Nemu and nearly taking her to her knees. Then, it was over. Kurai blinked in surprise, thinking maybe he had imagined it. Then it happened again, only more violently. Nemu staggered over to her computer, quickly punching a few keys and running a scan. The screen flashed red and an alert appeared in the center. She cleared out of it and completed the scan as three more spikes coursed through Kurai in quick succession. She fell to her knees during the last before standing and looking at the screen.
"You're...I see," Nemu muttered turning back to Kurai, surprise and apprehension on her face. "This was a very bad idea after all."
She pulled a pair of sekkiseki shackles and rushed over, placing them on Kurai then attaching them to the table just as another spike coursed through Kurai, again bringing Nemu to her knees. Even with the shackles it was getting more violent. She glanced at the drawer where she had three more pairs just as Mayuri stepped into the room, eyeing Kurai with a look of something between mistrust and smugness.
"You're a monster boy," Mayuri growled. "It's no wonder you could cut through my bankai. I should kill you. However, I am interested in how this works out."
He grabbed the other cuffs as Nemu stood. He quickly fastened them to Kurai's other arm and legs just as a single massive spike shot through Kurai, the pain enough to make his body jerk, ripping the table's restraints free but not affecting the sekkiseki shackles. The Spiritual Pressure was bearable this time and as Kurai fell still again, the computer beeped, displaying a normal readout.
"You should get him to the training ground," Mayuri warned. "I'm not the only captain that felt his power. A couple will not feel safe with some...like him, in the Seireitei."
Nemu nodded and unshackled Kurai, picking him up, as he had fallen unconscious and grabbing his sword before rushing to a concealed trap door leading below the ground to a massive chamber and maze with every wall, the floor, and the ceiling made out of sekkiseki and that could be changed and rearranged as Nemu wished using a tablet she had with her. She set Kurai in the center then retreated to the edge of the maze and rearranged it at random, quickly scanning it to make sure there was an exit where she was. Just as she did, Kurai stirred, sitting up and looking around.
"Nemu?" Kurai called out.
"I'm here," Nemu called back. "You'll be performing a series of tests to test the effectiveness of the enhancements. I believe you will perform better than any subject in the past. First, you simple need to find your way through this sekkiseki maze. Ready? Begin!"
He grabbed Haruko and sprinted into the maze, sensing for her Spiritual Pressure. As the Spirit Energy she was emitting bounced and reverberated through the room, it provided him a form of sonar map of the maze. He grinned at his newly enhanced sensing abilities and speed, making it to the exit of the maze in exactly one minute three seconds without needing to use Flash Step.
"Good," Nemu nodded typing for a moment as the walls all sank into the ground and several projectors extended from the ceiling. "Now defeat these holograms. Any injuries you receive will be as electric shocks but you will find it close enough to actual combat to provide a challenge."
Kurai nodded, drawing his zanpakuto and experimentally reaching out to Haruko. Nothing. He sighed then sprinted forward as a group of several dozen humanoid hollows like those Aizen had had him hallucinating appeared. He sprinted through their ranks, slashing and killing them right and left, more and more appearing around him as he did. He blocked a slash on his left and jumped, kicking another in the head and separating it from the hollow's shoulders. He flipped into the air, slashing a pair of hollows on his way down before spinning and removing the legs of five. He stood and leapt into the air, flying away from the hollows and holding out his hand.
"Hado Seventy Three, Soren Sokatsui!" Kurai shouted, firing the spell at the hollows and obliterating them all.
"Impressive," Nemu commended as Kurai landed on his feet and looked around.
"Next?" Kurai questioned.
"The final test is single combat," Nemu stated. "Unfortunately, there is no way for my holograms to be powerful enough to compare to an actual battle. For that, we must return to the Soul Society. However, those Spiritual Pressure waves you sent out have the captains...wary, of you. it may be best to skip the final test for a while."
Kurai nodded and they returned to the surface to find Kenpachi speaking with Mayuri.
"There you are," Kenpachi growled. "I knew it was your Spiritual Pressure. You've tapped into something very interesting, and very strong. I want to test it."
"I should have guessed," Kurai sighed drawing his zanpakuto. "You're out of luck, however. Haruko is currently comatose. You'll have to settle for just this."
"Stop!" a commanding voice bellowed.
They all instantly dropped into a bow as Head Captain Yamamoto walked forward looking at Kurai suspiciously.
"Now is not the time for this Captain Zaraki," Head Captain Yamamoto stated. "Kurai, you have been given an assignment. You will be going to the World of the Living with Renji Abarai to guard it and to aid Ichigo Kurosaki in a certain matter."
"What matter?" Kurai asked.
"You will know it when it arrises," Head Captain Yamamoto stated. "Now go."
Kurai nodded then stood and glanced at Nemu.
"I'll record a fight with Ichigo and send it to you," Kurai promised before leaving by Flash Step, finding the Senkaimon open and a Hell Butterfly waiting.
He sprinted through, the butterfly going with him and a moment later, he was a hundred feet up over Karakura Town in the middle of the night.
"Alright Ichigo," Kurai sighed. "Which way?"
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