Chapter 4 – A Long History Lesson
It was all quiet; the medical room was filled with injured people. many were unconscious. There was a smell of dry blood and medicine in the air. Members of squad 4 could be seen frantically running around the corridors, into other rooms and areas. The injured captains and vice-captains were all put into one especially large hall with high ranking squad 4 members with them.
The sunlight was flooding into the room, it had been one day since the first skirmish, the captains and vice captains of squads three, five and seven were there getting treated (except Raven who still hadn't come back yet). Ratiasu was sitting on a chair by Ketu's bed. Her head was lying on top of him with her silver hair spread out everywhere, glistening in the sunlight. Her scarf was also lying on the bed, her arm was hanging off the bed and she was gripping her necklace tightly. Both of them were asleep.
Ratiasu had had a hard night as she had healed everyone in the room, so you really couldn't blame her for having a lie in. The other members of squad 4 had tried to heal them, but had failed. The same went for the members of all of the other squads who had been wounded. Squad 4 was able to stop the blood flow, but the cuts wouldn't close and all of them stayed unconscious (except for those who Ratiasu had healed).
Ketu had woken up twice during the night but had found Ratiasu sleeping on him so he just went back to sleep. All the vice-captains had already woken up and were lying in their beds with their eyes open waiting for someone to come and say they can go. Mayuri came in on three separate occasions, always asking the same questions about taking one of the soul reapers to do some research on their wound. Every time it took several members of squad four to push him out of their headquarters (the sight was very comical to all those who watched).
Hikari's wound was the easiest to heal, as it was only a shallow shoulder wound. She was also the first to wake up after being healed. Haruka often came by to visit her but it was hard for her because seeing as she was the only soul reaper from the three squads to not get a single scratch, many soul reapers wanted to know how she did it and what the battle was like. This time she came by and brought one of Ratiasu's coats with her, which she put onto Ratiasu back like a bed cover. Then she walked over to Hikari who was already sitting up.
'Hey are those two going to be okay?' asked Haruka nodding at Ratiasu and Ketu .
'Don't worry. I know Ket's going to be fine because Terri healed him. And Terri's just tired at the moment after healing all of us, so after a long sleep she'll be fine as well.' Hikari replied tiredly.
'So how are you doing Kari? You seem tired, shouldn't you go back to sleep?'
'No, no I'm fine. I'm just tired because I didn't sleep well last night what with Ratiasu randomly walking round and everyone else muttering and talking. It was really hard to sleep.' She yawned and stretched her arms, 'but then again you can't talk, you always look pale' she laughed.
'Ha ha, very funny, you know that this is just my normal skin colour. Anyway what are they going to do about this Usaitar then? I mean, he is just too powerful to be let off the hook.'
'Don't know, they're supposed to be having a meeting with all the captains and vice-captains but as you can see we can't go to it. I guess they'll send us a message when they've got all the details.' She looked out the window at the ever so calm Seireitei. 'I'm surprised Usaitar hasn't shown up again though, you'd think since he wanted a war he'd be taking this chance when three division are down to attack us. Well being a strategist that's what I would have done.'
'Well don't say it like that, I mean if he does attack we're all done for.' said Haruka biting her lower lip.
'Don't worry, we still have ten captains and I think that's more than enough to stop an invasion. Now, I really do need something to keep my mind off things. Hmm…'
'I knew you'd say that so I brought this,' she took out Hikari's shogi board and pieces from a bag. 'Now that you're unwell, I may have a chance at beating you.' she said placing the pieces on.
'Awww, you are so considerate Rika. But you can't beat me even if you had a million years to get better at the game.' replied Hikari.
'Fine, let's go then, I'll go first.' said Haruka. And then they played shogi, which occupied them for the whole day. They didn't even notice people coming in and out of the hall/large ward.
Rukia came by once to look for Ratiasu. 'Hey wake up, we've got a meeting now, hey.' she whispered shaking Ratiasu slightly. Hikari and Haruka were too absorbed into their game of shogi to notice this.
'Don't wake her, let her rest' said Ketu who had just suddenly opened his eyes and slowly sat up.
'Captain Zakura. It's nice to see that your better.' said Rukia bowing to Ketu who was now stroking Ratiasu's hair. 'But we need her for the meeting, well I need my vice captain to be there.'
'She's had a hard night, everyone you see in this room was healed by her I think she deserves a rest, and besides you can just tell her what the meeting's about after it right?'
'I guess you're right.' Rukia stood up and walked towards the door, 'don't let her work too hard, I need her back soon. Take care of her now.' And with that she left. Ketu stopped stroking Ratiasu's head, laid back down and fell asleep once more.
It was a while before the next visitor came, which happened to be Crystal. She walked straight to Naomi who was awake and sitting up, deep in thought at the time.
'Tell me, what happened with you and Raven? Why did he just suddenly run off? I've never seen him this mad. Actually, I've never seen him with any emotion. Tell me, what happened that made him this mad? I mean, as soon as he saw you injured he went completely berserk. I need to know this!' said Crystal urgently she was on the verge of tears.
'So is that why he isn't here' Naomi replied looking rather sad, 'I thought he'd forgotten, but obviously not.' She sighed and looked away.
'What happened, please tell me,' stressed Crystal, who seemed more determined than ever to find out.
Naomi sighed again, 'Well, I guess it's about time you knew what our past was like. After all we have been friends for a very long time.' She paused and looked out the window. 'It started in our lives in the real world before we died. I know you probably know that normal souls forget their past lives when they die, but our death was so tragic and bloody that neither raven nor I forgot. It was a sunny day like today a beautiful Saturday morning. We were watching the news that morning, it was about a serial killer who just recently just got out of jail, we obviously didn't care at the time cause people are released from jail all the time. But that day, we should have cared. Our mum and dad both were out on a day trip so it was just us two in the house at the time. We went about our business as usual that morning. We even went shopping together. But when we came back that's when it all happened. The house had been broken into, the windows were smashed tables were broken everything was a mess. We'd thought whoever did this had gone, but we were wrong. They had remained in the house waiting for us to return. The killer saw me first and shot I thought I was dead but before the bullet hit Raven jumped in the way and he died immediately after that,' she stopped tears dripping down her face. 'Then he went for me, I stood no chance, I tried to run, I tried to call for help. But the killer shot me before I could do anything. Raven's spirit disappeared. I didn't know where he went. Maybe a soul reaper had already sent him off. I realized as soon as I was dead that the person who killed us was the serial killer who was just released.' She paused and wiped her tears. 'I waited there as a spirit, I didn't know what to do I saw that the killer stayed behind as well. For hours I stayed and waited, nothing happened until when my mum and dad got home. As soon as they saw mine and Raven's dead bodies they immediately phoned the police, but they never made it on time. The killer killed our parents as soon as they put down the phone and he then fled. I couldn't watch anymore so I ran, ran as far away as possible and never looked back. Later I ran into a soul reaper who sent me here. I also wondered soul society for a few days on my own until I finally met up with Raven here. He said as soon as we met that he'd never let me hurt again, he said he'll protect me no matter what it takes he couldn't stop apologizing for letting me die when we were human, after that he hasn't had any emotions at all, I haven't seen him smile or laugh in a long, long time.' She sobbed some more and smiled weakly. 'I guess he ran off this time because he felt responsible for me getting hurt now that he has the power to stop me getting hurt. I hope he's alright, I can't stand it if something happened to him.' After that she broke down completely.
'Don't worry, I'll find him, and I'll bring him back safely. You just wait and see, I'm not a captain for nothing,' stated Crystal in a determined voice. She stood up her white haori flashed in the sunlight and she stormed out the door in a quick pace.
'Good luck. Crystal' whispered Naomi a drop of tear slid down her face.
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Meanwhile in the hall of squad one a meeting has just begun. However, Hisago was nowhere to be seen so Shunsui took the 'stage'.
'Hello everyone nice of you all to come, I regret to inform that Hisaigo has disappeared. As soon as Usaitar appeared he has never been seen, also the whole of squad 1 seems to have just vanished as well. When I arrived to propose this meeting there was no one here so I decided to send for this meeting anyway because by the looks of things we may need it.' There was a lot of murmuring among all the captains and vice-captains, they weren't standing in an orderly way, they were standing anywhere they pleased, there was no order in the hall. 'I have found out some very useful information regarding Usaitar that you people need to hear, it's a shame that squads three, five and seven couldn't join us today but that's understandable. However does anyone know what happened to vice-captain of division thirteen and captain of division nine?' Rukia looks like she was about to say something but decided against it and shook her head. Everyone else seemed to have no idea what is going on, so no one answered Shunsui's question. 'Very well then, but if any one of you do see them after this meeting, please can you tell them about the meeting's contents.' He took a deep breath and carried on, 'After our first meeting about this Usaitar fellow I took it upon myself to do some research on this person so I went with Crystal to the library and what we found out was quite disturbing.' He paused and looked up and back down again. 'Usaitar has a LONG history. His first appearance was approximately six hundred years ago when he first arrived in soul society. He also had a twin sister who was with him all the time. Both of them had unusually strong abilities. I.e. his sister had incredible speed which was unmatched by any, she was and still is the fastest person in soul society.'
'Incredible speed, could it be? No it can't be… she'd be six hundred years old then, no it can't. I'm thinking too much. But could it?' thought Rukia, who was then thinking about Ratiasu.
'Usaitar had incredible power, which was also unmatched. They both entered soul society academy together and were both deemed prodigies at a very young age. One fateful day his sister was invited to join one of the four noble clans of that era. Obviously she didn't want to leave Usaitar but he urged her to go so in the end she did. Usaitar got bored, without his sister he had no one, he was always top of his classes and his classmates despised him because of that.
'How cruel, to be hated for what you are. He must have felt really lonely,' thought Soifon.
'He hated every moment he was at the academy, so he requested that he graduated earlier. They told him to do a test and obviously he passed and he came into seireitei before his sister under division thirteen. He had no friends there; he entered as a complete unknown but quickly rose to captain by slaying the original division thirteen captain. After that he became completely power hungry and spent all his time in the library, trying to find a way to make himself more powerful. He didn't even notice when his sister entered soul society, he paid no attention to her. He spent day after day in the library until he came across an old book of forbidden spells and techniques. In the book there was one spell to make your own zanpakto unbeatable. All he needed was souls, he needed to kill ten captain and vice-captain level soul reapers and a hundred other soul reapers to achieve that power. He did, he went on a massacre killing everyone he saw, and no one could stop him. It was known as 'the white massacre'. He killed all that he needed to and his power was unprecedented, after that he changed his name to 'The White Soul Reaper' because that power turned his skin completely white and he wore nothing but white after that. He continued killing, his sister tried to stop him but he stabbed her as well. She fortunately didn't die, probably because Usaitar saw who he was attacking and didn't have the heart to kill. She just stayed in squad 4 for a very long time without waking up. At the same time, Usaitar had killed almost all captains and vice-captains the only one left was the head captain. It was a fight of the ages with Usaitar being equal in strength to the head captain. The fight went on for days but in the end the head captain sacrificed himself and smashed Usaitar's sword into a thousand pieces before he died. All members of squad 1 then swarmed in and subdued him. His sword was too powerful to be destroyed so all one thousand pieces were hidden in different locations. He was banished from soul society forever. But he returned very shortly and looked for the pieces in stealth, amazingly after his five hundred years of searching he had found nine-hundred and ninety nine pieces and had already reassembled his sword, which took him ninety years to do. His sword is nearly back at full power but not quite yet and at the moment he is still beatable, but all he needs to do is find the last piece and that's the end of soul society. In ten years he has never found the last one thousandth piece, because only one person knows where it is and that was, his sister. But problem was his sister's whereabouts was unknown to him. He never found the last piece so he went to Hueco Mundo to get help to destroy soul society. He thinks by destroying it the last piece will turn up somehow. He's on the lookout once again and invading soul society with his army, if we are to stop him it must be now otherwise if he finds his sister and the last piece that's the end.' As soon as he said those last words, the hall was filled with an extremely powerful spirit pressure and someone blasted the door open and walked in.
It was Usaitar and his high-pitched laughter again. 'You don't know how right you are. And when I'm through with you lot there won't be anything left,' he laughed.
To Be Continued...
Chpater 5 will be up on saturday