Chapter 9: Akumakoru

"Hitto, you bastard! What are you doing?!" Matsumoto shouted out as she stumbled sloppily over to where traces of the barrier were still slightly visible. "Why are you drawing your Zampaku-to against the captain instead of that Hollow?!"

"Do I really have to explain myself again? Geez. What a pain," Hitto's voice fired off like a firecracker, an unfamiliar confidence spread over his tone like a thick cream. "Draw my Zampaku-to against this Hollow huh?" Hitto placed his hand gently onto the belly of the massive bird, who had since their first encounter, nearly tripled in size. With a small chuckle and a dark smile, he looked out towards Matsumoto, tripping over herself as she moved. "This Hollow is my Zampaku-to."

Matsumoto stood perfectly still in shock. "How can your Zampaku-to be a Hollow? It doesn't make sense." Feeling unusually weak, she tumbled down onto the ground, fighting back the dizziness from her wounds, noticing the Haori of her captain still tucked around the belt of her uniform. "I thought your Zampaku-to caused your movement speed to elevate...your strategic intelligence to rise and spiritual pressure to temporarily create a shield!" Hitto's blue hair shimmered in dark, matching color with the feathers of his bird, which was now nuzzling the officer in an affectionate manner. "That's why...you said that is why Hollows tended to appear when you drew your sword! That's what you said!"

"Squad Ten never knew the true nature of my Zampaku-to. How could the military, or the whole Soul Society for that matter, allow me to fight the enemy by bringing out the enemy?!" Hitto shouted, anger beginning to tingle in his words. "I had to train for years with this Zampaku-to before I could truly master it," Hitto sighed, running his hands through his hair. "It's name, AkumaKoru, which means demon call. It calls to nearby hollows and baits them out to destroy whatever stands in my way. I become their master. Or at least, that's what it used to do." Hitto began walking towards the barrier, where Matsumoto was now struggling to stand back up. "Out of all of the various Zampaku-to in the entire history of the Soul Society, my AkumaKoru is one of the few that has managed to evolve and change it's purpose."

What is with this tingling? That barrier! Did it do more than just throw me back? Why do I feel as though...my spiritual pressure is being drained away?

"Oh don't try to fight this barrier's effects Rangiku, it only quickens the depletion process," Hitto snickered as he closed in on Matsumoto's position.

"Hitto!" Hitsugaya shouted, enraged as he charged at the distracted officer. With a flick of Hyorinmaru's hilt, the sparkling Ice dragon-form came crashing down in Hitto's direction only to be stopped by the enormous mass of his huge Hollow. As it flapped it massive wings, the icicles flew off course, leaving only a small few to push into the body of the glimmering black bird.

In a bright flash, Matsumoto watched in horror as the barrier that had once encased Hitto and her Captain dissipate, only to reappear again, this time closing in on the smaller area around the massive bird and Hitsugaya. Black smoke began to bounce off of the sides of the barrier, causing sparks to shoot across it's edges, and obstructing Matsumoto's view into what was happening to her captain. Hitto however, now continued to walk slowly towards her, free of the barrier.

"Toshiro!" Matsumoto shouted, still struggling to stand.

"That barrier is created by my bird. It's name is Oniguru. And that barrier is something only Oniguru can create, or destroy." Hitto continued in his explanations. "It sucks up spiritual pressure to heal the wounds inflicted to it's feathery body, and I can control that barrier just as easily as I can control that bird." Having reached Matsumoto, Hitto knelt down next to her placing a hand on her shoulder.

Why can't I STAND?! Come on Rangiku, Move!

"I should think you would be impressed Rangiku-san. You have no idea how hard it was to befriend Oniguru," Hitto boasted as he grabbed Matsumoto's limp chin in his hand. "At first, any manner of hollows would come in from the precipice world. And a lot of them would attack me along with whatever it was I was fighting at the time. The first time I met Oniguru, I knew my purpose was to master him." Hitto twisted Matsumoto's chin, forcing her gaze away from himself and over to the chaos of the barrier, feathers and icicles slamming up against the sides. Every now and then, she could her the faint snarls of Hitsugaya in tandem with the squawking of the massive bird. "I trained myself to the brink with that goal in mind, waiting for Oniguru to come out once more..."

"Ro...ar...Haineko!" Matsumoto mouthed between pursed lips and a forced jaw, having slightly unsheathed her Zampaku-to while Hitto was blathering on. A cloud of thin dust blew into the sky, surrounding their two bodies. Hitto clenched his teeth and jumped back abruptly, attempting to dodge Matsumoto's sudden attack.

"Oniguru! NOW!" Hitto screamed, thrusting his hand towards the massive barrier. The crystalline red structure collapsing, Matsumoto watched as the enormous black bird moved towards Hitto, using it's wings to create gusts of wind to blow away the knife-like dust. Several iced over wounds covered it's entire body, but it seemed completely unaffected by Hyorinmaru's freeze.

That barrier! It's healing the wounds my captain inflicts before he can even react!

As the cloud began to thin, the bird opened it's massive beak, a brilliant orange light glowing in the back of it's throat, quickly growing in size.

Cero! I...I can't move!

...I can't move I can't MOVE!

The bright light, transforming into a laser like beam, shot out towards Matsumoto like lightening. Time slowed in her eyes as she watched her evident destruction ricochet towards her. Unable to lift her body, she raised one arm in front of her face out of pure instinct, realizing that here, in the presence of her captain and someone who betrayed them both, was the end. Her body was propelled backwards once again as something blunt impacted her. She tumbled backwards along with whatever collided with her, splaying out completely flat as she came to a stop. But she felt her heart still beating. Lifting her head, she stared off at the distant Hitto, who appeared to now be scolding the gigantic bird about something. Whimpering as she lifted her upper body up by her hands, she glanced over to her left and felt her breath catch in her chest.

A meter or two away, Hitsugaya lay flat on the his back, his face displaying a large but shallow scratch. His chest had been impacted, leaving two or three very painful looking bruises, and his hakama had a massive blood stain on his left leg just beneath a tear in the fabric, presumably where Oniguru may have actually taken his leg between it's massive beak. "Taichou!" Matsumoto shouted, watching Hitsugaya peel himself off of the dirt.

Looking up at Matsumoto, Hitsugaya smiled, clearly trying to put any amount of ease and comfort back into his lieutenant, "I'm okay Rangiku." But his smile slowly mutated into pure shock, as the familiar crystalline barrier erected itself solely around the area where he now crouched. Looking across the landscape, he let out a small but intense sound, close to that of an over-exaggerated gulp. Matsumoto, confused, tried to follow the captain's gaze across the landscape, searching for whatever had caused him to react so panicked. Her eyes widened in horror as she caught the glimmer of the moonlight against the blood-soaked metal laying in the dirt between herself, limp and immobile from Hitto's attacks as well as Oniguru's draining barrier, and her enemy.

It was Hyorinmaru.

Matsumoto realized she was now fighting alone as Hitto moved closer to her, Oniguru only a pace or two behind him.