Yo! I wanna thank everybody for the reviews for the last chapter. Cause of the response from the last, I plan to write one more chapter after this one before I write the first few chapters for my Naruto story, unless I happen to get a major brainstorm for this story or a lot of reviews telling me to continue writing this. I will return to this story after I have posted the first couple of chapters and flip between the two stories.
Speaking of my Naruto story. I have decided on Sakura's zanpaku-to. At first, thought of giving her Rangiku's, cause I could have a lot of fun with the two. But as I began think up and expand on the story of the 13 Court Guards in my story. I found myself wanting to include Aizen's betrayal, all be an altered version of it. And at the same time felt that Sakura should get a captain's zanpaku-to. So I decided to give her Aizen's.
Also, I still haven't quite decided on Neji's, though I am leaning sligthly towards Byakuya. But I can go either way. You tell me.
Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. If I did, Aizen probably would have done something like this.
Chapter Six
Renji was getting annoyed as jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Chasing after this punk was growing old, fast. Especially considering he wasn't the best at flash steps. True, he wasn't on par with captain Kuchiki or Yoruichi, but there where at least four or five of his fellow lieutenants that were better at it then he was.
Keigo glanced back and yelled out, "C'mon tattoo face! Would you like me to slow down for you?!"
The taunting wasn't helping either. And that nickname. Oh how he hated that name.
"Maybe I should walk! That should be slow enough for you!"
"Maybe I should break your legs! That'll slow you down!" he yelled back.
"You'd have to catch me first in order to do that tattoo face!" Keigo retorted.
Renji smirked. "Guess you forgot about my zanpaku-to! Roar Zabimaru!"
Zabimaru shot out at Keigo's legs. It almost reached him, when he sonidoed away at the last second.
Keigo was now standing to his left on the roof of a house across the street. "No, I didn't forget about it. I was simply waiting till we far enough away from the others. Now we can fight without worrying about any interference. And it looks like we're in familiar setting." he said, pointing in front of him.
Renji turned to the right. There, a block away was an apartment complex. The one that Ikkaku and Yumichika were staying at. But why was he mentioning it?
A moment later he remembered. Keigo and his family lived there. But again why mention it?
Keio lunged at Renji, both kamas in his hands. Renji raised Zabimaru and blocked the attack. Keigo's kamas were pressed against the side of Zabimaru, neither were able to overpower the other.
"Hn. Is this the best you got arrancar? If it is, then I'll beat you with no difficultly what so ever." Renji gloated.
A grin spread across Keigo's face. "Oh? Is that what you think, tattoo face? Let me tell you something. I haven't been fighting at full strength. Or using my full speed for that matter."
Keigo disappeared with a static buzz and reappeared behind him and attacked. Renji barely managed follow him and block the attack.
"Not bad. But I can still keep up with you."
Keigo's grin grew wider. Again he sonidoed, but this time, the arrancar was too fast for him to keep up and pain shot through his back as two cuts opened up on his back.
"How about now?"
The arrancar was taunting him. The cuts were shallow, but that wasn't the point. He was too fast for him to keep up with.
There was only one thing Renji could do if he wanted to beat him. "BANKAI! Hihio Zabimaru!"
Keigo leap back from the sudden burst of reiatsu and smoke that filled the air. The smoke cleared, revealing the large skeletal snake form of Zabimaru. Keigo stared at it for a moment. "Wow. Now that's a little nostalgic." he said before turning his gaze back to Renji. "Let's see whatcha got."
With a flick of his wrist, Zabimaru's head shot out towards the arrancar. Keigo leap out of the way, while Renji barely stopped Zabimaru from tearing through the roof of the house Keigo had been standing on.
"What's the matter tattoo face? Afraid of hurting the vermin that live here?" Keigo asked from a neighboring rooftop.
Renji didn't say anything. Instead, his zanpaku-to shot out again at the arrancar. This time however Keigo sonidoed way from the attack. And again Renji stopped Zabimaru from crashing through the roof.
This time however, Keigo used Renji's pause for stopping his zanpaku-to to attack him from his left side. Renji countered by hitting him with a part of Zabimaru's tail that was still coiled around his feet, sending the arrancar flying backwards. Before Keigo could regain his composure, Renji send the head of his bankai, it's mouth closed, at Keigo and hit him head on. Driving him into the street below, leaving Keigo laying in a small crater.
As he started to pick himself up, Renji with a confidant smirk, "If that's all you got, you might as well surrender. My Hihio Zabimaru is too big for you to beat. I can use it to attack you and protect myself at the same time. How do you plan to beat that? Especially with those puny kamas of yours."
Keigo looked up and had his own confident smirk on his face. "It's not the size that counts, it's what it does."
Keigo's grip on his kamas shifted from the handles to the broken chains and started spinning the kamas. As he did, to Renji's surprise, the chains grew longer. He threw them at Renji, and to his growing surprise, the chains continued to grow.
Renji raised a section of Zabimaru to defend himself, only to have the kamas move, like it had a mind of it's own, around the lengths of Zabimaru and slash him across the chest.
The kamas returned to Keigo, who said, "You like my kamas. They have the ability to extend, similar to your zanpaku-to but it also moves by my will, without any movement on my part. That's how it moved around your oversized zanpaku-to with such speed. So what were you saying about my 'puny' kamas tattoo face?"
Renji's right eye twitched. He really hated that nickname.
He didn't say anything, instead he waved his arm and sent Zabimaru again at Keigo, who was still smirking. Keigo threw his kamas again. This time they wrapped around Zabimaru's head and several connecting segments and drove it into a nearby parked car, tearing through the car and into the pavement beneath it.
Before he could pull Zabimaru back, the kamas let go of his zanpaku-to and shot towards him.
'Crap!'
Renji raised his left arm to block the attack. He screamed as the kama blades impaled his left forearm.
He pulled Zabimaru back and in the process, it dislodged the kamas from his arm.
Renji glanced at his injured arm. The wounds weren't fatal, but his arm was pretty much useless for fighting until he could get it healed.
This was getting interesting. At first, he thought this punk was gonna be annoying to fight but in the end, would prove to be no real challenge against his bankai. Instead, the arrancar was holding his own against him and has effectively disable his arm. He had to finish this quickly, before a civilian got caught in the crossfire. The longer the fight dragged on, the more likely a bystander could get hurt. It looked like he was gonna have to make a call or else things could get messy.
Fighting back the pain, he reached into his pocket with his left hand. He pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial. As he put it to his ear, the kamas surged towards him. He barely blocked them with his bankai.
Renji stared at the kamas embedded in his zanpaku-to and smirked. "Nice try-"
Suddenly his cell phone exploded, slightly burning his left ear and hand.
He turned to Keigo, who had a cocky grin on his face. His left hand was at his side, holding both chains. His right arm was up in the air, his right index and middle fingers pointed at Renji, with a small trail of smoke rising from them. "Didn't see that coming did ya? You thought I had have a chain in each hand in order to use my kamas' ability, didn't ya tattoo face?"
"I was more surprised when you destroyed my phone. The other arrancar believed that they could beat
me at full power. I figured your just as cocky." he replied.
Keigo laughed and said, "I'm cocky, but I'm not stupid. I know about the seal that limits your power in this world. I'm not like Grimmjow's thugs or like many of the others that were sent here, I'm more then willing to fight you while your at less then full strength. It makes things easier for me."
'Damn. I was hoping he would be like all the others. Cocky enough in his own abilities and strength to believe that he could beat me even with my seal released. Hopefully, Rukia will make the call before long or this could get bad.'
Keigo leaped onto Zabimaru, exactly where his kamas were stuck, pulled them out and leap away as Renji tried to counterattack him.
"Well, I've disabled one arm, let's see how many other limbs I can get." Keigo said before charging the soul reaper, his kamas raised and ready to strike.
Renji swung Zabimaru at the arrancar. He had to finish this quickly before this night got any worse.
Elsewhere
Chad shook his head, trying to clear his head. This was the first time he ever traveled by flash step or whatever the arrancar called their version. And needless to say he didn't like it. It left him disoriented and a little sick to his stomach.
He looked around at his surroundings. He was in a park. He was familiar with this park, but couldn't remember it's name. He did remember that this park was about six or seven blocks from where Ichigo and the others were.
And there was something else. Something worse. There were people, mostly kids and teenagers, walking around the park. Things could get really bad, really fast.
He turned to where Mizurio was standing. Mizurio was calmly standing there, like he was waiting for him to recover.
"For someone who's built like a rock, you sure don't handle sonidos very well."
Chad knew what was going to happen. They were going to fight. Thought of using his fists against a friend, even in the state he was in, felt like a betrayal of his Abuelo and all he taught him.
"I don't suppose I can ask you to surrender Mizuiro?" a weary Chad asked, hoping that he could reason with his friend.
"No. I don't suppose I can ask you to stand down?" Mizuiro replied.
"No."
"Well then. We have a problem."
"Mizuiro, I'm sorry."
"Are you apologizing to me because I became an arrancar, and you see it as partially your fault?"
"No."
'Forgive me Abuelo for what I must do.'
Mizuiro raised an eyebrow. "Then why?"
"This." Chad replied as he raised his transforming right arm (the second version of his right arm he earned after training with Renji, not the shield arm) and sent a blast of energy at him.
Mizuiro responded by firing a cero. The two shots collided and exploded, leaving a crater in the ground between them.
"Not bad Chad. But you're gonna have to try harder."
"Please Mizuiro, surrender. I don't want to fight you." he pleaded.
"Sorry, but that's not gonna happen. If you want this to end without any violence, then stop whatever is preventing us from returning to Hueco Mundo." Mizuiro replied.
"Can't do that."
"Can't or won't?" Mizuiro asked in an annoyed tone.
"Both."
"Then this can not end peacefully." Mizuiro said before firing a cero at him.
Chad rolled out of the cero's path while firing off another energy blast which Mizuiro dodged as well.
Thankfully, both hit trees and exploded away from anyone. But longer they were fighting here, the greater the danger was to everyone in the area.
He had to end this before someone got hurt.
As Chad stood up, Mizuiro raised both of his arms, his palms facing him and fired a barrage of belas at him. Most exploded around him, while several hit him directly, pushing him back.
When the barrage stopped, Mizuiro smiled a smile that was frighteningly similar to the smiles that Mizuiro usual wore before all this happened.
"I'll tell you a little secret that stays between us. I have the fastest belas and ceros outside of the top four Espada. So don't tell anyone, especially any of the Espada. Most of them are paranoid about Keigo, Tatsuki and myself. They seem think we're planning to replace them." Mizuiro's smile turned to a dark grin. "Of course, they're right. I wonder they'll react when we deliver four soul reapers, including a captain, to Aizen."
"Don't do this. It isn't you Mizuiro."
Mizuiro's expression changed to one of irritation. "It is now. I ceased being the weak, pathetic human being I was before, when I died and was reborn. I now see how disgusting and pathetic the majority of the human race truly is. Don't get me wrong, there are a handful of people, yourself included, that deserve to called human beings."
His expression changed again, this time to disgust, "But the rest are just vermin. Worse than vermin actually. They're violent, greedy and stupid. They fight each other over land, natural resources, or because their leaders or "gods" say so. And they call hollows and arrancar evil and vile."
"Let me ask you this. Do you think it will stay that way if Aizen become a god? No, it's not just the Soul Society that will change when it happens, this world will as well. It will become a better place, and maybe the vermin of this world will become worthy of being call humans. Then again, they may just remain vermin." He chuckled and added, "I'm starting to sound like a fanatic, despite the fact I'm not. I don't really care about this world or the vermin that inhabit it. Well then shall we continue?"
To hear Mizuiro, a boy who never said a hate-filled thing in his life, say such thing, was like someone pulling out his heart and stomping it. Chad couldn't help be feel guilty about what happened to all three of them. If only he and others told them about their powers, the Soul Society, Aizen and everything else. Maybe things would have turned differently. Maybe they would have resisted what Aizen did to them. Maybe they would have fought and beaten the darkness that wrapped their minds. Maybe...
Chad's thought were interrupted by a cero slamming into his chest. It flying backwards, stumbling over some bushes and rolled down the side of the hill he wasn't aware they were on.
He managed to stop at the foot of the hill as he bumped into two small people, likely children. As he got up, his stare focused on the hill, he said, "Sorry for bumping into to you, but you have to leave now.
"What?!" a familiar voice shouted out. "What's going on here?!"
Chad turned his head. He gasped, behind him were two young girls. Girls he knew. They were Ichigo's younger sisters, Karin and Yuzu.
The two had no doubt decided to walk through the park on their way home from school and because of that decision, the two of them are now in grave danger.
Before he could say anything, another cero flew through the bushes at them. Chad quickly knocked the girls down and covered them with his body, shielding the girls from the blast.
The cero slammed into his back. It hurt, but he had experienced worse. Both girls were unharmed but were now panicking. Out of the two, Karin was panicking the least. She had at least some understanding of what was going on, having been there when he first gained his powers.
Karin asked in a weak voice. "Are you okay?"
He nodded.
"It's one of those hollow things, isn't it?"
"No. It's much worse." he replied.
Yuzu, confused and scared, asked "Hollows? I don't understand? What's going on?"
"Nows not the time for that. You have to-"
He was interrupted when Karin gasped and her eyes bulged out. Mizuiro was close enough that his spiritual pressure was effecting her. To a person of Chad's spiritual power level, it wasn't powerful enough to effect him. But to Karin, one who could only see and sense spirits, it was suffocating.
"Karin? What's wrong?" Yuzu asked her petrified sister.
At that moment, Mizuiro stepped through the bushes. He stared at the trio for a moment before saying, "Chad, why don't you tell Ichigo's sisters to leave. Worms don't interest me."
"Mizuiro?" Karin stammered out.
"What? Where? I don't see him." a confused and scared Yuzu said as she looked around.
Mizuiro raised an eyebrow and stared at Karin. "So you can see me. Here I thought only two-er I mean just Ichigo had any spiritual power in your family. I'll rephrase that. A worm and one too weak to pose any kind of threat doesn't interest me. So why do you take sister and get out of my sight before I change my mind."
But Karin was still being affected by Mizuiro's spirit pressure and unable to respond.
Mizuiro took a step forward and an evil grin spread across his face. He unsheathed his saber, raised it and saluted the trio. He said, "So be it." before he sonidoed.
Mizuiro reappeared behind Karin, his saber raised over her head. But as he brought it down, Chad thrust his right arm in the swords path, preventing it from hitting it's target. And before he could withdraw his sword, Chad punched him in the side with his left hand. Mizuiro stumbled back and clutched his side.
Pain shot through Chad's hand, and he swore he heard something break. He forgotten about an arrancar's steel skin.
"Run! Take your sister and go!" he shouted at the Yuzu.
Yuzu nodded, still just as terrified. She grabbed her sister's arm and half-dragged her away.
Mizuiro saw them leaving and raised his free arm at the fleeing girls. He fired a barrage of weak belas at the girls' feet as they ran. None of the shots actually hit the girls, they just exploded around the already terrified girls. Then the most sickening thing happened, Mizuiro started to laugh.
Chad began to feel an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time, anger. Rational thought was pushed aside by raging emotions. It didn't matter he was a friend. It didn't matter that he was as much a victim as the girls were. All that mattered was destroying the arrancar.
He let out an enraged roar, startling the an arrancar, before he hit it in the stomach with an El Directo fueled by his rage, increasing it's strength beyond what it was normally capable of. A blinding and deafening explosion filled the air.
When his rage passed and the smoke cleared, Chad looked around for some sign of Mizuiro. But all he found was Mizuiro's scorched saber sticking out of a nearby tree.
Then the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. (metaphorically speaking as a ton of bricks hitting him wasn't the same for him as it was for a normal person) He must have killed Mizuiro. Chad fell to his knees, his head slumped down and punched the ground. The first time he used his fists in anger in years and he killed a friend. His Abuelo would be ashamed of him.
He heard a familiar static buzz. Chad looked up and saw Mizuiro pull his sword out of the tree with his left hand while his right arm hung limply at his side. Mizuiro's right sleeve from the elbow and down was gone, with burn marks on the rest of his sleeve. The exposed portion of his right arm and hand were burned pretty badly.
Chad watched as Mizuiro inspected his saber for minute before saying, "That's an impressive attack. If I hadn't blocked it with my sword and sonidoed at the same time, I wouldn't be standing here. Hell, that attack could have ripped me in two, if it a bit more power behind it. Thought that probably would have been a bad thing for you and any living thing near us."
He sheathed his sword and said, "That's some temper you have there Chad. Don't think you've beaten me just yet. I still have another trick up my sleeve."
Mizuiro took a deep breath, then his throat started to swell up. He tilted his head back as his cheeks swelled up as well. He held it there for a second before he brought it back down and opened his mouth. The second he opened his mouth, a green cloud shot out at Chad.
Remembering what the red cloud did to that car, Chad wisely dove out of the way the cloud.
The cloud quickly dissipated after it left Mizuiro's mouth, leaving behind a trail of dead grass.
Mizuiro let out a small cough before saying with pride, "See. Tatsuki has the physical strength and durability. Keigo has the speed and is the most skilled out of the three of us when it comes to weapon combat. I have a mastery of ceros and belas and my special ability."
A grin spread across his face. "You see when I was first made into a hollow, I had an ability. My body was a living factory of poisons, toxins and diseases which I could use to infect anyone I desire. I retained that when I became an arrancar, though in this form I'm limited on how much and which strains I can use it. Though if I wanted to, I could cover large part of this park with toxins that could kill anyone or anything. Of course, such an action would leave me painfully paralyzed for at least fourty-five minutes."
The thought of Mizuiro as a hollow and how he grinned as boasted about poisoning anyone in the park, filled him with guilt. Again he found himself wishing he had done something before all this happened.
But it was too late for that. He saw that now. There was only one thing he could do. Beat Mizuiro without killing him and help find a way to change him, Keigo and Tatsuki back to who they were.
He raised his right arm and fired an energy blast. As he predicted, Mizuiro fired a cero to stop his shot.
As soon as Chad fired his shot, he did the one thing Mizuiro would never expect. He started running behind his own shot.
As soon as the energy attacks collided, he leap through the explosion, ignoring the minor burns he received. The instant he cleared the explosion, he fired another blast at the stunned Mizuiro.
The blast hit Mizuiro in the chest and sending him crashing into a park bench where he lost consciousness.
Chad walked up to Mizuiro's prone body. He reached down to pick the unconscious boy. Only to see Mizuiro's left arm shoot up and fire single bela while his right arm grabbed his saber and slashed his chest.
Chad stumbled back a few steps, clutching the cut on chest. Mizuiro transferred his sword to left hand and let his right arm fall back to his side.
Mizuiro stood up and said, "That was a crazy stunt you pulled there. But it isn't over yet."
Chad grimly nodded at his friend. It wasn't over yet, not by a long shot.
Elsewhere
Ichigo swung Zangetsu down, blocking Tatsuki's punch with the blade. As soon as her fist hit the side of the blade, she sonidoed behind him and attempted to punch him form behind. But Ichigo was just as fast. He turned and block the punch with his zanpaku-to. Again Tatsuki sonidoed behind him and again Ichigo turned and blocked. This continued for another four times.
On Tatsuki's seventh attempt, it looked like it was gonna be the same as before. However at last second, she opened her fist and grabbed Zangetsu and held it in place, catching Ichigo off guard. Before he could counter what she did, Tatsuki repeatedly punched Ichigo in face with her free hand.
She then pulled on Zangetsu and tossed Ichigo behind her.
Ichigo quickly got back to his feet and the two charged each other again.
Fist and blade met once again. Ichigo's zanpaku-to cut a shallow line into Tatsuki's left shoulder while she slammed her right fist into his stomach, causing him to cough up some blood and back away for the arrancar.
Tatsuki was growing annoyed at Ichigo. Their fight had been going on for a while now. He had released his bankai. But was still holding back and as such had only inflicted some minor injuries to her. Ichigo's wounds, on the other hand, were much worse. His left eye was starting to swell shut from a nasty right hook she hit him with. His lip was cut and there were cuts and bruises all over his body.
He was still afraid to go all out against her. She had seen him fighting Grimmjow a few days ago. He was much stronger then he was right now. He should have by now forced her to call to have her seal removed or release her own zanpaku-to or both. Instead he was trying to fight her while avoiding inflicting serious, possibly fatal, wounds to her.
It was complete bullshit. You can't fight a person and try to avoid hurting them at the same time.
Ichigo charged at her again.
'Time to show Ichigo just who he's fighting.'
She grabbed a nearby streetlight and with a few tugs, ripped it out of the ground. The sight of this surprised Ichigo and he dropped his guard for a moment as he was running. A moment was all Tatsuki needed.
She swung the streetlight like a baseball bat, hitting Ichigo with it. He was sent flying a couple of blocks before he hit the ground and skidded across the street for another block.
"Home run!" she cheered Ichigo as came to a stop.
Discarding her now bent homemade bat, sonido to where Ichigo was.
Ichigo was on his hands and knees, trying to get up. Before he could get any further, Tatsuki kicked him in the face. The blow sent him onto his back. Tatsuki pulled out her sword and stepped on top of him. If Ichigo wasn't going to properly fight her then see might as well end this.
Ichigo swung Zangetsu at her. But she block it with her left hand, which cut said hand. Ignoring the new cut, she drove her sword into his arm and into the ground beneath the limb. Ichigo screamed in pain.
"It's a shame Ichigo. If you actually fought me at full strength, you likely would have beaten me. Instead, you insult me. You think I'm too weak. That if you don't hold back you'll kill me."
She spat in his face and drove her heel into his stomach, causing a groan to escape from his mouth.
"Had you fought me with everything you had and lost. I would have spared you for giving me a good fight. But because you insulted me, I won't be as merciful. Goodbye Ichigo."
She pointed her right hand at Ichigo's face, and prepared to fire a cero, when something hit her in the chest. The force sent her flying backwards, and crashing into something hard and made of metal. She blinked and looked around. She had hit the side of a delivery truck and was half-buried under the contains of the truck.
But she did care about that. Someone had interrupted her fight. Again.
She was gonna kill whoever it was.
I'm gonna end it here. Please review.