Part two – Hisaigo
Chapter 9 – Plan
Exactly two months has passed since Hisaigo took over seireitei and the thirteen divisions. The survivors of the massacre are Toshiro, Hikari, Raven, Naomi, Ketu, Ratiasu, Crystal, Rukia, Byakuya, Renji, Rangiku, and Haruka. Raven, Naomi and Crystal was healed up by Ratiasu after she ran away with Rukia and the others. Everyone else are all under Hisaigo's full control. The only way to free them is to kill Hisaigo. But if Ratiasu was to heal their wound they will also get better but will stay in a coma. Luckily he won't absorb any into his sword until everyone is at his control so the survivors have a chance to save them. Seireitei has completely changed, Hisaigo has changed it to his liking. There is the central room where he is, surrounded by seven layers of thick and high walls that are impossible to break open or climb over. The only way to get through is to beat the gate keeper at the gates which are guarded by two controlled captains or vice captains.
Their base is located on a mountain side to the far east of seireitei like a cave sort of building. The building itself is relatively large with many rooms and levels with over twenty rooms in total. The building used to be a monastery type building but now that Hisaigo has taken over no one dares to come, so it makes the place a perfect hiding place as no one comes by. A week after they escaped each person took it in turns to espionage on seireitei and see what was going on. They planned their attack, for three months after that. Raven refused to spy and said it was pointless. Ratiasu also refused saying it wasn't her style but everyone else did.
Two weeks after they escaped Naomi became depressed remembering how helpless she was when Raven was badly injured. She blamed herself for not fully mastering her bankai and not being strong enough to help Raven when he needed it. So to that she left the group with tears in her eyes the only person who tried to stop her was Crystal who was the only one to see her leave. She wasn't able to convince Naomi to stay and in the end she went with her to get stronger. The day after that Raven noticed they were both missing and deduced from that that they both left. Raven who cared too much for his sister and now has feelings for Crystal left suddenly and went to look for the both of them to say it wasn't their fault. This in turn made Ketu think about how useless he was as he wasn't able to protect Ratiasu. He did many days of thinking in his room alone until one night he wrote one word on a letter to Ratiasu and left. The word was 'sorry' a single word that broke Ratiasu down to tears. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't talk. For three days, she stayed in her room crying, it took every one of her friends to calm her down and get her to start talking again. Though when she came out she said she'd go looking for him but everyone knew that if she left they'd stand no chance because only she had the power to cure everyone, so again it took all of her friends to persuade her to stay and to convince her that Ketu will return soon. After that she stood at the edge of the mountain every morning and night waiting staring into distance. But now at the present time she has given up waiting everyday but instead is now thinking about other things like the seireitei invasion, this kept her mind off Ketu although secretly she is still very sad deep down in her heart.
Hikari was constantly coming up with battle strategies on how to go about attacking, (most of which were good if they had more people). They were four shinigami down and only had nine people left. Hollows and many other soul reapers were constantly on watch and it was nearly impossible for a sneak attack with so many eyes watching. So Hikari has planned a direct approach i.e. run at the gate and kill anything you see, simple but it should work. Problem is the first wall has two gates and the two soul reapers guarding (unknown who it is yet) they can go to either gate so Hikari has decided to divide the remaining eight into two groups to attack both gates at once and take out the two guarding. When the two guarding have been taken out both gates will open and they can meet in front of the second gate. Then after that they haven't been able to plan anything because they couldn't see that far in. Villages and town outside the seireitei have been terrorized by the hollows and the people have either been killed or have ran and hid somewhere. There are still some villages that are left untouched because the hollows haven't reached that far out. And also some other villages left because they've been able to put up a good resistance.
It was a beautiful night sky, the moon was shining, and the stars were glistening and twinkling. All was peaceful there were many villages below but no one lived there anymore it's all deserted no hollows come by here either knowing that there's nothing to find. Ratiasu was sitting on the edge of the cliff staring into the darkness in deep thought about everything that was going on but especially about where Ketu has gone. A light breeze blew over the cliff, Ratiasu silver hair flew up in response, reflecting the moonlight, and shimmered. Her scarf caught the wind and floated about in mid-air. She closed her eyes and laid down enjoying the breeze.
'Hey Terri. It's not good for your health to be out every night in the cold.' Rukia just walked out of a large double door behind her and light was flooding out. Ratiasu just laid there and didn't answer pretending to be asleep. 'Hey I'm serious. We can't have you catching a cold on the day before out attack. Are you even listening to me?'
Ratiasu sat up. Stretched and yawned, 'Oh sorry Rukia, I was asleep. What did you just say?'
'Don't pretend you didn't hear me,' said Rukia a bit annoyed. She sighed and said, 'Come on, let's go back in you need to be with us to hear the plan of attack for tomorrow.' Rukia walked back in, 'Come back in at the most five minutes, meet us in the dining hall, we will all be there. By the way don't catch a cold.' She closed the door behind her and darkness fell again.
A high shriek came from a distance that sounded like a hollow being killed. 'Another soul reaper that's still alive? Could it be? No, maybe I just imagined it, or maybe it was Ketu. Arhh, my mind's playing tricks on me, guess I should go back in then.' She thought. She got up and made her way to the door but before she opened it she heard another screech, she shock her head violently and decided it was her imagination, opened the door and went back into the warmness of the cave/mansion.
She stepped in and blinked a few times to adjust to the light. Just behind the door was Haruka who looked like she had been standing there waiting for a while.
'Oh, hi Rika, how long have you been standing there?' said Ratiasu looking at Haruka to her right sounding surprised.
'Only for as long as you have been outside. Have you noticed that you tend to think out loud a lot? I heard you talking about Ketu, Raven and the others who have left so I thought you were talking with someone. But then I looked and saw that you were talking to yourself.' said Haruka sounding intrigued.
'Do I?' asked Ratiasu looking embarrassed because she just remember what she was thinking about, 'well, I guess I do then. But let's keep what I said between you and me okay?'
'Why? What's wrong with you and Ketu in a city called Venice in the real world? Alone and-'
Ratiasu jumped in front of her and put one finger to her mouth, 'Shush,' she whispered ferociously, 'that's a secret and it's going to stay that way. It's private information ok?'
'Alright, alright, calm down I'll keep that a secret. But what about the times you were talking about with Ketu in seireitei. Hmm… I remember you saying something about being in his house a lot I can't quite remem-'
Ratiasu laughed uncomfortably and grabbed Haruka's hand, 'well, looks like it's time for that big meeting about tomorrow's invasion come on now we don't want to be late, ha ha.' She said that in a nervous giggly way. She pulled Haruka along with her as she entered the main hall (which was the dining hall).
The room was lit by four magnificent chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The room had five other door altogether on its four sides. A large oval shaped table stood in the centre of the room with nine chairs surrounding it evenly spaced. The table was empty at the moment. The room had a high ceiling going about eight metres upwards. The room was made from very fine looking wood and looked very old. Out of the nine seats around the table, only four was left unfilled. Haruka and Ratiasu sat down at their usual spots next to each other.
'Well only two left now,' said Rukia, 'good of you to make it Terri.'
'Ah well, you know, I can't stay out there forever,' said Ratiasu in a sleepy way. 'Although I would probably enjoy it if I did.'
'We don't have time to stare at stars and daydream. I hope you are prepared,' said Byakuya in a non-caring mood.
'Don't worry, I'm always prepared for anything,' said Ratiasu holding her arms up in a ready position.
'Humph, whatever you say.' whispered Byakuya and Ratiasu was just barely able to hear him.
'So, who are we waiting for?' asked Haruka. Looking around the table at everyone's faces and counting.
'I still don't understand how an unranked soul reaper like you could have survived these attacks.' said Byakuya in a most rude way.
Haruka stood up and banged her hands on the table, 'Just because I'm unranked doesn't mean I'm weak, I'll take you on right now if you want,' said Haruka grabbing the handle of her sword.
'Hmph, I don't have time to waste on a weakling,' said Byakuya coolly.
'Why you,' she glared at him and was about to do something when one of the five doors linked to the hall opened and Hikari stepped out.
'Sorry I'm late, I had to-,' she stopped noticing Haruka and Byakuya, 'Oh am I interrupting something?' she walked slowly to her seat.
'No, no, of course not, please sit down Captain Uera,' said Byakuya politely. Haruka let go of her sword and slowly sat back down also glaring at Byakuya.
'Looks like we are still one person short, does anyone know where Rangiku is?' asked Hikari laying down a map of (new) seireitei.
'Knowing her, probably washing her hair or doing her nails for the hundredth time,' said Toshiro in an annoyed tone. They sat there for five minutes until finally, a door opened and Rangiku walked out with a wet towel around her neck.
'Sorry I'm late but my hair was getting a bit dirty so I thought I better wash it,' said Rangiku happily walking to her seat by Toshiro.
'We are at war here and you're washing your hair? Well that's Rangiku for ya,' sighed Toshiro, 'well at least the meeting can start now.'
'Yes indeed,' said Hikari. 'So,' she looked around the faces, 'is everyone ready? Shall I begin?'
'Well, sometime today would be good,' suggested Byakuya.
'Ok then,' she pushed the map into the centre of the table and stood up. She walked over to the lights and switched them off leaving the room in almost complete darkness. She pulled a remote control type of object out of her pocket and pressed a button. The map shot up to a height where it was easily visible by everyone and turned into a 3-D hologram of the seireitei. 'Sorry, but this map only shows us two layers of the walls, I can confirm that there is seven layers in total.' She walked back to the table and pointed at a gate shaped hole in the first layer of wall. 'This is the first gate that we discovered. At that time it wasn't guarded but we couldn't enter. Now the second gate is located on the exact opposite side of the wall,' the hologram turned around and the second gate was there. 'This gate when we spied on it was guarded by what looked like two vice-captains, we couldn't confirm who they were because we couldn't get close enough without being seen, but we are sure that they aren't captains because we didn't see any of the two wearing white captain uniforms. Now our strategy is simple, basically. Divide and conquer. We have confirmed from an anonymous source that if we are able to defeat both vice captains then both gates will open.'
'How much do you trust this anonymous person?' asked Renji slouching in his chair.
'Well, I trust him with my life, is that good enough for everyone?' she replied looking around.
'Yeah, if you trust this guy then we will too,' said Haruka.
'Good, then I'll carry on. We will divide ourselves into two groups each group attacking either gate. The group that attacks the gate with the guards will have the honour of taking them down, but try and not kill them Ratiasu will be able to heal them once you bring them to her. We will rendezvous at the second gate. Here,' she said pointing to another gate this time on the inner layer of wall. 'That is the plan, it's simple but it should be effective. I have divided us into two groups equal in strength. First group A will have, Toshiro, Byakuya, Renji, Rangiku,and group B is Haruka me, Ratiasu, Rukia. Group A will go to the gate nearest to us and group B will go to the gate furthest away. If group A see the two guards they are not to attack until a day has passed because that's how long it's going to take group B to reach the other gate. We need to time this right, so exactly one day past the time we leave we shall attack. When the gate opens both groups run for the second gate and we'll meet there. Which ever groups arrive first shall start off the attack on the two guards.' She clicked the button again and the hologram disappeared. She turned on the lights and stood by her chair. 'So any questions?' She looked around again, 'No? Well then get a good nights sleep everyone, we set off at sunrise.' No one said anything, everyone just got up and left to their individual rooms. Ratiasu stayed behind.
'Did you put us three in the same group on purpose?' asked Ratiasu.
'Yes, so we can keep an eye on Haruka. I know that she won't release her sword in front of someone else who's not her friends so if the two guards are there we can take them out with Rukia and Haruka won't need to do anything then.'
'Good plan, I like it,' she yawned, 'well, I'm off to bed, see you in the morning.' She left without another word. Hikari stretched and also left. A minute later the dining room was empty, dark and silent.
The building was shaking the walls were crumbling. Ratiasu just woke up, 'What the hell is going on?' she screamed putting on her clothes and charging down stairs. Everyone was already there, they had their swords out.
'Terri, I'm glad you're awake, come on we need to get out,' shouted Hikari. Everyone rushed out side at that sentence.
'Such high spiritual pressure,' said Renji looking around outside for the source.
'So this is where you've been hiding, Guess I got lucky,' it was Kenpachi, he had no eye patch on, his spiritual pressure was blasting the building to pieces. Kenpachi didn't look any different except he had a mark that was two circles one in the other, two triangles put together inside the inner circle with a cross in the circle on his forehead. That the was sign that he was controlled.
'Ha ha ha ha, little ants, you all shall be crushed,' screamed Kenpachi releasing all his spiritual pressure.
'Well said Zaraki, we shall finish them off together,' shouted Mayuri appearing next to Kenpachi. 'You will all die you insects, BANKAI'