Hinamori's Apprentice
Chapter 27
Toushiro and Usagi faced off, Toushiro glaring and Usagi grinning widely.
"As Captain of the Tenth Division, I order you to surrender," Toushiro said, his voice deadly serious, "If you surrender and submit to interrogation, I will not kill you." This only made Usagi laugh.
"You? Kill me? What a hilarious thought! Just look at yourself; you're in no condition to be out of bed, let alone to fight. You've got bruises and broken bones all over the place! I'm quite honestly amazed that you are even able to move," Usagi said, pulling his weapon back and flying backwards on his glider.
"Tell me what it was that attacked me in the human world," Toushiro said, walking forward slowly but steadily, "It had the same warriors that attacked me before, and I know that you know what they are."
"Oooooh, you get straight to the point, don't ya?" Usagi chuckled.
"Tell me who and what it was," Toushiro repeated.
"Why are you so eager to know? Hoping for a rematch? I doubt it would end any differently than last time," Usagi said.
"I'm not interested in playing around," Toushiro said coldly. He lept into the air and slashed at Usagi, who dodged the strike by twisting in place on his glider to deliver a retaliatory jab, which Toushiro blocked.
"Your reflexes are still good, despite your condition," Usagi noted, "What happened to make you heal so quickly…? Oh-ho! I see now! That girl down there healed you!" Usagi pointed down at Momo, causing Toushiro to scowl.
"Leave her out of this. It was the Fourth Division healers who healed me," he said coldly.
"You say that, but I sense her reiatsu throughout your body. It's as if you had absorbed her reiatsu, and it continues to heal you even now. That won't be enough to save you, but it's interesting nonetheless. To see a strong reiatsu and a weak one bonding so well is a strange sight indeed," Usagi chuckled. Toushiro glanced down at the hand that Momo helped heal before glaring at Usagi.
"Momo isn't weak," Toushiro said. He leapt higher into the air, slashing at Usagi's midsection.
"Oh? You really think that? I thought you were called a genius," Usagi said, flying backwards to dodge, "They said you were a rare prodigy and a shinigami genius. How is it that such a person can view someone like her as anything other than weak? I know the mind of a genius, seeing as I am one, and I know that to a genius, all others are insufferably low and frustratingly stupid by comparison. It is impossible to not look down on them. Surely the boy genius who graduated the Shinigami Academy in a single year and was among the youngest shinigami to ever achieve bankai or become Captain in the Gotei 13 cannot help but look down on someone so insignificant."
"You're wrong," Toushiro said, "I have never looked down upon Momo, not even once."
"Then perhaps your reputation precedes you," Usagi said coolly. He pointed his sleek silver gun at Toushiro and fired a blast of blue energy bursts. Toushiro dodged them all masterfully, making his way towards Usagi until he was close enough to cut at him with his zanpakuto. Usagi blocked the strike, and grinned upon seeing Toushiro's angry expression.
"One wonders how you did it," he said, "You have amazing power – Omega-pattern reiatsu that is large and heavy – and you achieved it at a young age. Not only did you gain incredible power at a young age, you were able to control it, and even gained enough control to take control of the most powerful ice-type zanpakuto in Soul Society. You also are a skilled swordsman, and your body is much stronger than the skinny little boy you look like. Your keen mind is also quite unique. It makes one wonder how you attained such power."
"Hell if I know," Toushiro said, staying in a defensive position. Usagi smiled at this.
"Yes, that's what I thought. You are not as unique as others say you are. They think to themselves 'Look how strong he is at such a young age! Imagine how great he'll be when he grows up!' Those people are woefully mistaken. You are not some super-shinigami. You're just an average Captain who happened to gain your powers a little bit earlier than usual. You're near your limit right now. The reason you do not have complete control over your zanpakuto's power is not that your power is just immature, it's that your power is weaker than that of your zanpakuto, and you'll never gain mastery over it."
"If I were weaker than my zanpakuto, I wouldn't have been able to force it into submission and gain bankai," Toushiro said coldly. Usagi chuckled.
"Ah yes, bankai. Why don't you show me that right now?" he said with a wide grin, "Come on, show me your bankai. Surely you could defeat me in an instant if you used it, don't you agree?"
Toushiro remained still, glaring up at Usagi without moving from his defensive stance.
"That's what I thought," Usagi said, "You're too weak to use bankai right now. That girl's reiatsu may have given you enough strength to leave bed, but it wasn't enough to heal you completely. Your body can't handle bankai right now; it would put too much stress on you. That's the case even when you're not injured, isn't it? Your young body isn't capable of handling the massive expansion of power that bankai provides. Thus, bankai exhausts and strains you so much that you can't maintain it for more than a short time. You truly are just a kid who happens to have been granted a few nifty powers and a Captain's haori. You're in way over your head whenever you attempt to play the part of Captain. I bet you haven't even hit puberty yet." Usagi broke off in giggles as Toushiro stared coldly at him.
"I'm not interested in petty taunts," Toushiro said, "If you will not surrender, I will take you back to Seireitei by force."
"Is that so? In that case, I guess I'll just have to kill you," Usagi pointed his gun at Toushiro, who jumped out of its path before it was fired. This did no good however, as instead of a blast of energy, a massive cone of flames erupted from the barrel of the gun. Toushiro attempted to dodge, but the attack was over such a wide area that he was unable to prevent his robes from being singed. When the attack was over, he stood with his sword held in front of him, now ready to leap away much more quickly in case of further attack.
"That's no ordinary gun," he muttered to himself. Usagi laughed at this.
"Really now? What was your first hint? The fact that it can do this?!" Usagi fired again, this time in a rapid-fire mode that shot pellets of silver-blue energy. Toushiro dodged and leapt out of the way despite the nature of the attack, and managed to leap into the air and land just behind Usagi, putting his sword to the man's neck.
"Just what are you exactly?" he growled. Even from behind, he could tell that Usagi was grinning, and he was about to threaten him further when he disappeared. Toushiro stared in shock at the empty spot where Usagi had been moments before. Before he could contemplate further however, he felt something pressed up against the back of his neck.
"Bye-bye, little boy!" Usagi shrieked, pulling the trigger of his gun before Toushiro could react.
Nothing happened. Toushiro took the opportunity to jump away. Usagi tried to fire the gun again, but this time there was a strange noise and a bit of smoke emerged from the barrel. Usagi grumbled loudly and ejected a small silver capsule from the weapon.
"Damn it, not again," he said irritably, stuffing the object back into his robes. Toushiro took the opportunity to attack, bringing his sword down in an overhead slash, which Usagi barely managed to block with his black rod. He was still grinning, but it came off as rather forced now.
"I'll ask you again: What the hell are you?" Toushiro said.
"Oh, I'm just a guy with a few hobbies," Usagi snickered, "Analyzing, inventing, playing around with people like you, you name it. I suppose you could call me an inquirer/gadgeteer/inventor/enforcer/genius. I know what you're thinking: 'this guy is so amazing that attempting to categorize him is a futile effort!'" Usagi burst into a snorting fit of laughter at his joke, with Toushiro looking on unamused.
"I see, so you're just a freak. Probably working for someone else because you find the work to be fun," he said, "You build your little gadgets for whomever it is you work for and they let you test them on their enemies."
"Ah, so your reputation as a genius is not entirely undeserved," Usagi laughed, "Unfortunately, knowing that won't help you to defeat me. I know everything about you, and thus know your greatest weakness: your worthless affection and sentiment for little bugs!" Usagi flew a short distance on his glider and pulled out a small silver orb, which he held out as if to let go. Toushiro was puzzled for a moment before realizing to his horror that Usagi was directly above Momo and Karin.
"No!" he yelled. He rushed at Usagi, but it was too late. Usagi dropped the silver orb, which fell towards the immobilized Momo and Karin below. Toushiro dove after it, desperately trying to reach it before it could reach them.
Usagi watched with a satisfied smirk as Toushiro dove towards the orb. A short distance from the ground, the orb erupted in a massive explosion. Usagi flew a few feet back, as even this high into the air the shockwave and heat were very intense. He looked down in satisfaction, confident that his opponents had been annihilated. When the smoke cleared however, he was surprised to find that they had indeed survived the blast.
Toushiro stood above Momo and Karin in bankai, his ice wings stretched over the two girls to form a protective shield. His bankai quickly crumbled, the strain of maintaining it too great for him in his weakened state. He was able to use it for a moment to protect his immobilized friends, but it had taken up nearly all of his remaining energy.
"That was quite impressive," Usagi said, "But ultimately it is futile. You are now too weak to fight me, and I am going to kill those two after I'm done with you. You've failed again to protect your little friend." Toushiro's eyes widened with rage as he glared at Usagi.
"Be quiet," he said, his voice soft but full of anger.
"Oh, did I say something insensitive? Do you not like to think of how you were unable to protect your friend from being completely broken and nearly killed? It happened practically right under your nose, so I imagine that you would feel pretty guilty about it. What was it like, seeing her on the ground in a pool of blood? Did it make you feel helpless? Did you feel despair at the realization that she had been completely and utterly broken and you could do nothing to stop it?"
"Shut up!" Toushiro roared, his reiatsu suddenly flaring up, "Set upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!" A massive ice dragon was summoned as he slashed his sword forward. Usagi, taken by surprise, raised his black weapon, but was caught in the torrent of ice and water, freezing his arm and the rod with it. He began to reach into his robes, but before he could, Toushiro was upon him, and with a swift slash cut his glider in two.
Usagi fell to the ground, landing roughly. He attempted to reach into his robes for another weapon but Toushiro stepped on his hand and pointed his sword at his throat.
"You're under arrest," he said coolly, "You will answer all of my questions. If you don't, you will be interrogated by the special forces." Usagi merely smiled at this, despite his current situation.
"And what questions do you have?" he said in an oily voice.
"I want to know who or what it was that attacked me. I also want to know who those robed warriors are, why the Quincy is being targeted, and who is behind all of this," Toushiro said. Usagi looked like he was about to laugh, but stopped when Toushiro shot him a glare. After a moment he answered slowly.
"The being that attacked you has no name. You needn't know who or what he is. All you need to know is that now that you've encountered him, he will hunt you. Consider him the embodiment of pure and unbridled aggression. Once he has set eyes on his prey, he will hunt them to the end of the Earth. I wouldn't be too eager to face him were I in your situation…"
"How did such a being come to be working with a group such as yours? Just who is your master to be able to control such a beast?" Toushiro asked, "And for the record I still want to know about the importance of the Quincy and why that female shinigami attacked him." Usagi gave a huge fake yawn.
"You're boring me, little captain," he said lazily, "I don't feel much like answering any more questions. If only I had some way to disappear from this place – oh wait, I do!" Before Toushiro could do anything, Usagi disappeared with one last burst of laughter.
---
Ichigo swung his sword one last time, knocking Senna's out of her hand and causing her to fall to the ground. She reached for the sword, but Ichigo put his foot down on her hand as she did so, causing her to cry out in pain. Ichigo looked down at her, almost in pity. She had lost this battle. Even without bankai, he was more than a match for her. She was in rough shape, while he was uninjured.
"Why did you attack me?" Ichigo asked.
"Because I was ordered to," Senna replied, "The same reason that I attacked the Quincy."
"So that was you," Ichigo said, his expression hardening. Even as he felt anger towards his enemy however, there was something else, a strange sense of familiarity and empathy for this girl. He didn't know what to think, so he opted to act as he should. He pointed his zanpakuto at her chest. "Tell me everything you know."
"I can't do that, Ichigo," Senna said, a small smile still on her face despite her situation.
"You've used my name several times. How do you know it when you have never seen me before?" he asked.
"You don't remember a thing, do you?" Senna said with a small laugh. Ichigo felt uneasy all of a sudden. He didn't remember ever meeting this girl, yet there was definitely… something about her that seemed familiar.
"I'm putting you under arrest. You will be interrogated by Seireitei. If you cooperate, I will guarantee good treatment for you," Ichigo said.
"How very Captain-like of you, Ichigo," Senna laughed, "You've been practicing."
Ichigo eyed the girl suspiciously. She knew who he was, and she had attacked him and apparently Uryu, yet he did not feel any hostility from her. She did not seem to be the type who would be working for the enemies of Soul Society, yet if her actions were any indication, she certainly was. He would have to take her to be interrogated, it was the only way to get to the bottom of this.
As he thought about this, he suddenly felt a prickling feeling on the back of his neck. He instinctively turned and realized that there was a man standing behind him. He was dark skinned with a thick moustache and covered in dull blue and white robes. He quickly turned his sword to the man, who gave a short bow.
"Good day, Ichigo Kurosaki," he said politely, "I am Mansamusa. I apologize for the inconvenience, and will be taking Senna now." Ichigo held on to his sword, not letting his guard down.
"This girl attacked me, and I will be taking her into Shinigami custody," he said.
"Yes, I'm sorry about that. It seems that one of my subordinates mobilized our forces without permission. I do not wish to fight you, only to take Senna back," Mansamusa said.
"I assume you're with the same organization that she is in, then?" Ichigo said, "If that is the case, you are an enemy of Soul Society, and I must defeat you as well."
"That is unfortunate," Mansamusa said. He pulled a long object wrapped in white cloth from behind his back.
"Strange things have been happening for a while," Ichigo said, "We Shinigami aren't exactly stupid. If I let someone who is clearly involved in a conspiracy against Soul Society go, I wouldn't be upholding my obligation as a Captain-to-be."
"Do you really want to be a Captain?" Mansamusa asked calmly, "I have heard of you before. You are from the living world, are you not? Shouldn't you care more about living out your life as a human than prematurely becoming a Captain? What of your friends and family? Are you abandoning them for the glory of Captaincy?"
"I'm not interested in discussion with you. Either surrender, or prepare to fight me," Ichigo said. Mansamusa sighed. There was a whooshing sound, and the next moment Mansamusa was behind him, holding Senna in his arm.
"I-I'm sorry for losing sir," she said shakily.
"It's alright, Senna," Mansamusa said. He turned back to Ichigo, "I'll say it again. I don't want to fight you. How about this: if you allow us to leave unharassed, I will spare the next Shinigami that I would ordinarily kill. You will be saving a life if you agree to let us leave."
"You won't have the chance to kill any Shinigami ever if I defeat you now," growled Ichigo.
"I see," Mansamusa said calmly. Suddenly there was a whoosh, and another figure came onto the field.
"Damn it Ichigo, I told you to wait up! I'm not as good with Shunpo as you, you have to slow down!" Rukia yelled, not noticing Mansamusa, who glanced briefly at Ichigo before looking back at Rukia.
"No, don't!" Ichigo yelled, but it was too late. In an instant, Mansamusa was behind Rukia. The cloth around the long object was gone, revealing it to be a long sharpened spike made out of strange green crystal. He held it against Rukia's throat as if to decapitate her.
"How about it, Kurosaki?" Mansamusa said, "My offer is still in effect. Allow us to leave, and I will spare the next Shinigami that I would normally kill." Rukia looked between Ichigo and Mansamusa in panic, not knowing what was going on.
"Ichigo, what the hell is-"
"Be quiet Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, fear for his friend making him very tense. He glared at Mansamusa, who merely looked back passively.
"What is your answer? Will you allow us to leave?" he asked. Ichigo was silent for several long, painful minutes, before finally nodding. Mansamusa removed his weapon from Rukia's throat and in a flash, disappeared with Senna.
Thanks for reading! Thank you to nexuswarrior, war90, Chillis, Thunder Claw03, Zer0Justice, Revolation, The Great Pineapple MEKI, I-Love-Manga1804, DigiPal, Blackheart, moonlightgabriel, and Psyco101 for reviewing! Please review!