Episode 5 – Stocks and Bonds

"Overpower! Choshinsei!" a massive voice yelled from overhead.

The man who had captured and mutilated Nakamura Ryuuhei looked up in complete surprise to see a brawny, overpowered figure racing straight down towards him. His spiritual energy blasted from him in a bright, flaming red aura. Two single-bladed battle axes chained to his wrist with shackles were glowing hot with energy, held over his head ready to drive through anything in their path. He wore no shirt, but his chest was crisscrossed with chains that were held in place with padlocks at the intersections. However, his face wasn't visible through the flames of reiatsu that was charging straight toward the barrier with full force.

"Tueri spiritus intra-" the man started to say.

Too late. The newly arrived warrior struck the top of the barrier with the full blunt of his strength. Reiatsu blasted in all directions as his two axe blades impacted the barrier. The shock of the blast was enough to cause the Hollow standing nearby to vanish completely. It even knocked the caster down on his back. Cracks quickly crisscrossed their way around the barrier's edges, and some streams of reiatsu began to pour through. The cracks widened and grew, and the barrier began to cave in.

"Ahhhh!" he cried, raising one of his axes above his head and striking down once more. The entire barrier shattered in a flurry of glass-like reiatsu. The caster sat wide eyed with fright as reiatsu fell straight down onto him. A blast of rubble and dust blew up from the ground, and the energy from the blast was enough to shatter Ryuuhei's binds. Ryuuhei fell forward, blood falling from the gash in his chest. Before he struck the ground, someone rushed over, caught him, and rushed away from the blast zone. He lighted down with Ryuuhei's unconscious body on a nearby rooftop, and laid him down as gently as possible. The figure stayed kneeled beside him, placing his hands over the wound. His hands started to glow lightly, and the wound began to seal itself.

Meanwhile, the dust and rubble began to clear. The first attacker stood above a very beaten and unconscious opponent, the dagger broken in two next to his hand. Around him was a circle of concaved concrete; the force of the strike had broken the ground below him as well as knocked him out. On the ground surrounding them were countless inscriptions, all drawn in a circular pattern. They weren't too different from summoning circles you'd see in spiritual and demon lore.

"He wasn't much trouble at all," he said, returning his battle axes to their original katana form. He slid his Zanpakuto through one of the chain links near his side. Taking a deep breath, he slid a hand through his red-orange hair, which was rather short cut. He proceeded to grab his unconscious foe by the collar of his shirt, picked him up, and threw him over his shoulder. He turned and walked out of the alleyway, stopping at the intersection of the alley with the sidewalk. He looked straight up towards the rooftop where Ryuuhei's wounds were being healed.

"Oi!" he called out. "I've got another one here for you to heal! Sucks that I'm not allowed to kill anyone…" he muttered, shifting the body on his shoulder slightly.

"Well, hurry up and bring him up here, then!" the other called down.

"Fine, fine… but I'm going to at least have some fun getting up there," he grinned.

Instead of simply leaping up to the rooftop, which he easily could have done, the man sprinted towards the wall of the house, jumped and grabbed the top of one of the windows. He situated his feet on the windowsill below, and proceeded to climb up the side of the house before hauling the caster's body over onto the roof before climbing up himself.

"Why do you always need to be so reckless, Shigehito?" the other man said, still healing Ryuuhei. This Shinigami wore the typical uniform, but also carried a small pack of medical supplies at his side. He wore glasses that were placed almost directly beneath his almost bowl cut hair, which was completely black and gelled so that it spiked at the bangs. His Zanpakuto was sheathed at his side, the light blue-green ribbon on the hilt standing out against his black uniform. A tassel swung from the hilt, a small silver disk hanging at the end. It paled in comparison to the size of the guard, which was many times larger but was the exact same shape and color. They both shone faintly in the light of the spiritual energy emanating from his hands.

"You know I like being a bit on the edge, Masato," the Shinigami named Shigehito said, rolling his shoulder. "Ah, but did it feel good to let loose for a bit."

"Well, I've almost finished first aid on Ryuuhei here," Masato said. "Let me take a quick look at the damage you did to this other one."

"Tsk." Shigehito spat. "What, you don't trust me to know my own strength?"

"No." Masato said with a leer. "No one from Squad Eleven holds back when they fight. It makes my job that much harder when we need to do stuff like this. For example, you broke two of this guy's ribs, torn one of his triceps, and even dislocated his shoulder!"

"It would have been worse had he not defended himself with that knife." Shigehito said.

"So you were meaning to kill him?!" Masato yelled, a vein throbbing in his forehead.

"So what if I was?" Shigehito shrugged. "He's fine, isn't he?"

Masato's eyebrow twitched with annoyance. "Yeah… it'll take some time, but he'll be fine. Same goes for Ryuu-"

Masato stopped short as he realized Ryuuhei had awakened. He tried to sit up, but flinched with pain.

"Hey, take it easy." Masato said. "I only just finished first aid. You still need more medical attention before you're ready to move about again."

Ryuuhei groaned, laying back on the ground. Masato turned his attention to his other patient. Placing his hands over the rogue caster's chest, they glowed again as he started to mend his wounds. Shigehito took a seat nearby, the padlocks rattling against the chains on his chest.

"Of all the people they could have sent me with…" he muttered, "why did they send me with you? You're nearly useless in battle."

Masato leered at Shigehito again. "That's all you Squad Eleven Shinigami can think about, isn't it? Fighting. Well, there's more to a fight than just winning. Preparation for future fights is important too. And to do that, you can't just sit there with open wounds and head towards the next fight. You need to make sure you are prepared, both physically and mentally. You're lucky I'm here on orders, otherwise I wouldn't bother with you fighter types."

"Oh, can it, will you?" Shigehito said, laying back on the roof with his hands behind his head. "Just do your job."

Another vein throbbed on Masato's forehead, but he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on his work. "While you're just sitting there, at least contact the captain of Squad Seven. She'll want to know what happened to her lieutenant."

"No need for that." Michiyo said, lighting down on the other side of the rooftop. She wore a concerned look on her face that relaxed only slightly seeing Ryuuhei breathing lightly. "Is he going to be alright, Masato?"

"I completed first aid, but you need to get him some real medical attention."

"Thank you," she said with a grateful glance. She kneeled down next to Ryuuhei, taking one of his arms and slowly bringing him up off the ground.

"Captain…" Ryuuhei stammered, wincing as he sat up.

"Don't worry about anything right now, just rest easy. I'll be taking him over to Matsuo's place," she said to Masato, supporting Ryuuhei on her shoulder.

"Right. We'll meet you there shortly." Masato said in reply, turning his attention back to his work.

With that, Michiyo rushed off toward Matsuo's dorm room, the sun starting to rise as dawn approached.

"That should take care of it for now." Masato said, finishing his treatment of the unconscious rogue. "Do you mind?" he asked Shigehito, motioning towards him.

"Oh, fine. But only because it would drag us down if you had to carry him." Shigehito said with a grunt. He lifted the body onto his shoulder again, and the two headed after Michiyo toward Matsuo's dorm.

"A human? You were bested by a human? This guy?" Matsuo asked in disbelief as he paced back and forth in his living room. Everyone had arrived at Matsuo's dorm a few hours before. Ryuuhei sat on the couch in the middle of the room, his torso covered in bandages. Masato and Michiyo both were working to bandage the still unconscious assailant behind this entire event on a chair nearby. Shigehito stood against the wall on the far side of the room, arms crossed and not really paying attention to the conversation. Matsuo made sure the door was locked and the shades were drawn, so as not to attract any unwanted attention. Ryuuhei had just finished going over what had happened, and Matsuo was still trying to get a grasp on the situation.

"Yeah. That guy right there. Played a pretty nasty trick on me, too." Ryuuhei said with a slight snarl at his attacker.

"And the Hollow didn't do anything that entire time?"

"No." Ryuuhei said, looking back at Matsuo. "It just stood there."

"Did you happen to get a look at its eyes?" Matsuo said quickly.

"What? No. I was more worried about killing it first, and then I was more concerned about my own safety."

"And at that point," Matsuo continued to question, "Do you know how exactly he was able to cast those spells?"

"All I know is he recited some quick incantations." Ryuuhei recalled. "They were sort of like what we do when we need to cast a quick Kido spell. It wasn't anywhere near the full incantation."

"And yet it was still strong enough to keep you imprisoned?" Matsuo said with a troubled look. "This doesn't bode well…"

"Did you happen to notice anything unusual?" Michiyo piped in, referring to either Masato or Shigehito.

"I had to hurry and get Ryuuhei out of there. I didn't see anything aside from the barrier before it was brought down by Shigehito." Masato said.

"The only thing I noticed was these stupid scribbles on the ground." Shigehito said. "Of course, I couldn't tell what it was after smashing that guy into the ground."

"Do you know what these drawings were drawn with?" Matsuo asked.

"Why the hell would I know that?" Shigehito said, giving Matsuo a weird look.

"Good lord…" Masato groaned, pinching his brow.

"Well, there's one piece of evidence that's probably erased by now." Michiyo said with equal annoyance.

"There is one thing I noticed about his spells…" Ryuuhei said, creasing his brow in thought. "They were definitely in Latin."

"Latin?" Matsuo asked, even more confused.

"Is there an echo in here?" Ryuuhei said, glancing around the room before giving Matsuo an irritated look.

"Well, we'll know more once he wakes up." Masato said, standing up.

"Well, we know so far that he meant to lure you there." Michiyo said.

"Which means that the Hollow that was chasing him was being manipulated somehow." Matsuo said, developing a train of thought.

"Do you think he was controlling the Hollow directly?" Ryuuhei interjected.

"It's certainly not impossible." Michiyo said. "But those spells were able to both contain you and restrain you at the same time. He also was able to manipulate them at will. That would still take quite a lot of spiritual prowess."

"The only other possibility would be that someone else was controlling the Hollow at the time, and therefore would have had to have been nearby." Matsuo said.

"And he did say that he was part of a group." Ryuuhei added.

"So we have a group of rogue spiritually aware humans, but we don't know the extent of their abilities." Matsuo concluded.

"That's exactly what you are up against," said the formerly unconscious captive.

Everyone turned quickly to see their hostage awake, but not moving an inch.

"Bakudo Number Four: Hainawa!" Michiyo called out. A bright yellow ribbon of light flowed from her hand and bound him to the chair he was sitting in.

"Is that really necessary?" he asked with a grin.

"Purely precautionary." Michiyo said with a leer.

"I know what I'm up against." he said in reply. "I don't plan on trying anything against all… five of you." he said after glancing around the room.

"Now, that's not very polite." Matsuo said, standing in front of the chair. "You know you're supposed to introduce yourself before we give you any sensitive information like that."

"You know what you're up against, and my name isn't going to do you much good." he said, still grinning. "The name's Ryota Taro."

"Taro…" Michiyo started to say. After a brief pause, she drew her Zanpakuto and in a flash had it right against his neck. "Those who pick fights with my squad members pick a fight with me. And I'm not usually one to talk things out."

"Easy, Captain…" Matsuo said. "He's no good to us dead."

"I never said I'd kill him." Michiyo said with a snarl. "Although he damn well deserves it."

Sheathing her Zanpakuto, Michiyo turned away from Taro, holding back anger that she wanted to let loose. Taro breathed a sigh of relief as the blade moved away from his throat.

"You guys might want to try and hurry to get as much information out of me as you can." Taro said with a wry smile, his grey eyes meeting Matsuo's. "Because you're right; I wasn't alone when I trapped his sorry ass in my barrier. But just like you've got powerful people here to back you up, I've got powerful friends who don't want me to give anything away. Trust me… they'll be here soon."

Matsuo walked over to Michiyo, their backs to Taro. "I know we shouldn't trust him, but he's right there. He's not alone. They may come after him like when you went after Ryuuhei."

"So what do you suggest?" Michiyo asked. "Should we torture it out of him?"

Just as she asked that, Masato gave a startled cry. Turning around, Matsuo and Michiyo turned to see Taro shaking heavily, almost like he was suffering from some sort of seizure. It became increasingly violent as Taro's head shook and his hands tore into the arms of the chair.

"Masato, what's going on?!" Matsuo shouted.

"I don't know! He just got this scared look on his face and then he ended up like this!"

Taro shook more and more violently, so much so that the chair started to shift and slide along the carpeted floor. His mouth began to foam before gargling shouts began to be heard coming from his throat.

That's when they felt it. An overwhelming sense of spiritual energy was forcing its way into Taro's body. It was piercing his being, reaching for his soul.

"No!" Taro suddenly shouted out. "You swore! You swore to keep me alive! You said you'd rescue me! You traitor! You damned traitor! I'll ki-"

Before he could finish his curses, Taro's soul was torn from his body. The force caused his body to shatter on the inside; everyone heard the bones shatter. Yet the Chain of Fate, which connects the soul to the body, was still intact. However, with one flash of light the chain was severed. Taro's soul was unable to scream it was in so much shock. His eyes rolled back into his head, and with a final cry and a flash of blinding light, his soul vanished.

Everyone in the room was shocked into silence at what they had just witnessed. No one spoke a word for many moments until Masato managed to speak a few words; words that everyone was thinking, but didn't really need to ask.

"What just happened?"

"Someone just forced a soul out of a living body." Matsuo said, stunned. "Someone pulled the soul from the conscious body of a living person."

Everyone else stared back at Matsuo, wide eyed.

"That's… impossible…" Ryuuhei stammered.

"And yet somehow, someone was able to, and without physical contact." Michiyo said in disbelief. "Get me a connection with Soul Society! Now!" she commanded, jolting back into action.

"Y-yes, ma'am!" everyone said in reply. Ryuuhei tried to get up, but his injuries wouldn't allow it.

"You just rest for now, Ryuuhei." Michiyo said.

"R-right…" Ryuuhei said, disappointed that he couldn't help.

Eventually, everyone got together the necessary equipment needed to fashion a temporary communications link to Soul Society.

"Get ready to make the call-"
Before a call could be sent, a signal was received through the communications link. There was no visual image, only text that was typing itself out on the screen. As they watched, the following message began to type itself out:

"Attention. This is a message to all Shinigami currently stationed in the state of Michigan, United States, North America:

The spiritual readings received by the Shinigami Research and Development Institute have reached alarming levels. A state of emergency has been called, and all Shinigami currently posted in this area are advised to use any means necessary to investigate and stop this new threat to the World of the Living. Reinforcements will be sent upon request, and all spiritual restrictions are hereby lifted until further notice. Report back on anything that would be considered vital to this case.

This is a direct order from the Captain-Commander of the Gotei Thirteen.

Proceed as directed."

END EPISODE 5

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