Hinamori's Apprentice
Chapter 31
Mansamusa gazed over Karakura town from above, analyzing the situation.
"There are three Shinigami present, as well as several other spiritually aware individuals," he announced to the assembled group, "There is no doubt that they are allies of the Quincy, and will fight to defend him. We will need to spread out both to engage them and to search for the Quincy. It is possible that the Quincy is in hiding, so be sure to stay alert for any sign of him. We need him alive. Fubaika, circle around the perimeter of the town going east."
"Yes sir."
"Heisen, you circle around the town to the west," Mansamusa ordered a female arrancar with hollow mask fragments below her eyes.
"As you wish, sir."
"Senna, Yochito, go straight into the heart of the town to search."
"Very well," a robed man said.
"We'll get right on it!" Senna said energetically.
"I'll search more discretely. Engage any opponents you encounter, but remember that our primary objective is the Quincy. Now go," Mansamusa ordered.
The gathered warriors scattered in the directions they had been ordered, heading into Karakura Town to find their prey.
---
"Let go of me!" Uryu shouted, struggling against Sado as he held him back.
"You can't go out there," Sado said calmly.
"I'm not going to just stand by while everyone else puts themselves in danger!" Uryu said.
"They're after you. Don't be so quick to throw yourself in the jaws of the enemy. If you are captured, it will make the efforts of everyone who fights for you pointless."
"I can take care of myself! I don't need the protection of Shinigami," Uryu said.
"Then will you accept the protection of friends?" Sado asked, "Please Uryu, it's important that you stay hidden. Whatever they want you for, it can't be good. There will be other opportunities for you, but right now you must remain hidden."
Uryu stopped struggling and took a deep breath, thinking about Sado's words. After several painfully long seconds, he let out a resigned sigh.
"Very well," he said grudgingly, "I'll stay here."
Sado nodded and let go of Uryu, turning to leave. Uryu watched as he left to join the battle, frustrated that he was unable to aid him in it.
---
Ichigo and Rukia leapt from roof to roof across Karakura town.
"You're sure they're this way?" Ichigo said.
"The sensor is acting a bit odd, but there are definitely two sources of spirit energy in this general direction!" Rukia said.
"No we're not," someone behind them coolly said.
They turned to see two figures. One was Senna, whom Ichigo immediately recognized. The other was a rather nondescript brown haired man wearing heavy robes. Ichigo and Rukia immediately drew their swords, as did Senna, but the man did not make a move.
"Senna, I'll leave this to you. I'm going to wait this one out," he said.
"Are you sure, Yochito?" Senna asked.
"Yes, I'd rather watch for now," the man named Yochito said.
"Don't play games!" Ichigo said, "There are two of us and two of you! I've already defeated this one before, so I'll inevitably be fighting you!"
"I don't really feel like it," Yochito said simply, sitting down atop the building they were on, "Besides, the girl can't fight Senna, she already has an opponent of her own."
"What?" Rukia said in surprise.
At that moment, a female Shinigami with pink-streaked hair appeared, attacking Rukia from behind. Rukia only barely managed to block the strike. She turned to face the woman, who wore an insane smirk upon her face.
"I am Fubaiku," she said in a voice much softer than her rough appearance suggested, "I will be killing you today."
"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, turning to help her. Before he could however, Senna blocked his way.
"You're fighting me, remember?" she said with a smile.
"Shut up and get out of the way! I already defeated you once before, I can't waste my time with you now!" Ichigo growled, "Bankai!"
Ichigo's reiatsu surged as he used Bankai. His zanpakuto became smaller and completely black, and he was now adorned with a ragged black jacket. He turned to Senna, wanting to defeat her quickly so he could go help Rukia. He swung his Bankai at her forcefully, but to his great surprise, she blocked it. Ichigo had a look of shock on his face, to which Senna smirked as she pushed his blade away and attacked.
Nearby, Fubaiku was already fighting Rukia. Their swords clashed, with Fubaiku forcing Rukia back as they fought. She was very strong, and her blade seemed to hold exceptional menace. At several points, Rukia tried to use Kido, but Fubaiku never allowed her enough of an opening to do so.
"Is that the best you can do?" Fubaiku mocked, "I was hoping to get a real fight out of this!"
"I think you will find that there is plenty more that I can do. Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia said. With a gust of icy wind, her blade changed, turning pure white with a ribbon attached to it. "Some no mai, Tsukishiro!" she said, holding her zanpakuto upside-down while making a slashing motion.
The ground beneath Fubaiku glowed, and she leapt away only just as a massive pillar of ice formed, reaching into the sky. It shattered moments later, sending ice shards raining down as Rukia and Fubaiku faced off.
"Very well then. I too will release my zanpakuto," Fubaiku said, "Breathe, Dokazeta!"
A powerful gust of wind blew, and Fubaiku's blade disappeared, leaving only the grip, which had turned into what looked like some kind of scoop. Rukia stared at it, trying to determine what her opponent's weapon did. She kept her guard up, not wanting to find out the hard way. Fubaiku grinned.
"Wondering what it does? Let me show you," she said. Rukia held up her sword defensively as Fubaiku lunged at her. When she was a few feet away, she flicked her wrist, and a cut suddenly appeared on Rukia's cheek. Startled, she leapt back, wiping the blood off in shock. Fubaiku laughed.
"You're probably wondering why you're bleeding even though my blade is gone. I'll tell you why: my blade is not of metal, it's air!" Fubaiku said loudly, "When it's spinning at a high enough speed, the air used by my Dokazeta can cut just as well as any other blade, but unlike a metal sword, you can't see it! Can you block a sword you can't even see?"
Rukia did not respond, merely glaring at Fubaiku.
"Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren," she said, sending an icy blast at Fubaiku.
"Aori!" Fubaiku shouted, thrusting her sword forward. A powerful blast of wind countered Rukia's ice attack, stopping it in its place.
"Hado 33, Sokatsui!" Rukia yelled, thinking quickly. A blast of blue energy shot from her palm towards Fubaiku, but she dodged it.
"You're not going to beat me like that!" she mocked. Rukia did not respond to her taunts, instead preparing for another attack.
---
Toushiro looked over his opponent as he stood in the man's path.
"Very impressive," the man said, "I was intending to go in more quietly than the others, but you detected me all the same. You truly are gifted."
"Who are you, and what is your business here?" Toushiro asked coldly.
"Quite direct, aren't you?" the man laughed, "I am Mansamusa, Deputy-Commander of the Fourth Rising. I believe you know what – or should I say, who – our target is."
"In that case, tell me what the 'Fourth Rising' is," Toushiro said.
"Not one for manners, are you? When you want to know something, you have to give people a reason to answer," Mansamusa said, pulling out a long, blue-green crystal spike.
"Fine, I'll give you a reason," Toushiro said, gripping Hyourinmaru tightly in his hands. He leapt at Mansamusa, swinging his blade down upon him. Mansamusa blocked with his spike, a look of amusement on his face.
"You are certainly hasty. I take it you're new to being a Captain?" he said.
"I am Captain Hitsugaya of the Tenth Division," Toushiro said, "The time I've been a Captain is irrelevant to our battle."
"Are you sure that it's so irrelevant? Because from what I've heard, you've been Captain of the Tenth Division for less than a decade, whereas I was Captain of the Tenth Division for over five hundred years."
Toushiro's eyes widened at this statement.
"You were a Captain?" he asked in shock.
"A long time ago, yes," Mansamusa responded.
"Why did you betray Soul Society?" Toushiro asked.
"It's a long story, one not suitable right now," Mansamusa said. With that, he twisted his spike around in an attempt to spear Toushiro through the stomach. Toushiro managed to leap back at the last minute. He looked at his opponent, quite aware that he would need to use his full strength to win this battle.
"Bankai! Daiguren Hyourinmaru!" he yelled. Ice flowed over him, encasing his arms in ice and forming huge ice wings behind him.
"So that's the Bankai I've heard so much about. Curious, very curious," Mansamusa mused, "Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to fight you a bit more seriously."
---
Sado grunted as he was knocked back by the arrancar. He barely managed to stay on his feet as he skidded backwards from the impact. The arrancar in front of him was female, with red-orange hair and hollow mask fragments on her cheeks.
"Stand aside and tell me where the Quincy is," she demanded, "If you do, I'll let you go."
Sado did not bother answering. He drew his fist back and lunged at the arrancar with another punch. With a look of annoyance, the arrancar moved out of the way of the strike and grabbed his wrist, throwing him into a nearby wall effortlessly.
"You can't defeat me, so stop being so irritating," she said, "I am Heisen, the last of the arrancar. Someone like you cannot possibly hope to defeat me."
Sado grunted and attacked again. He released an energy blast from his fist, which Heisen dodged quite easily. She seemed quite annoyed at this point.
"Okay, seriously: Stop it! You can't win, you're just wasting time for both of us. I'm not going to hurt your town or friends, I just want the Quincy," she said.
"He is one of my friends," Sado said quietly.
Heisen's eyes narrowed slightly at this.
"I see. In that case you will be useful bait in luring him out," she said, "Burn up! Infierno!"
A wall of fire surrounded Heisen, causing Sado to flinch at the heat. When it disappeared, Heisen had changed. She was now covered in white armor except for her arms, which were coated in flames. The mask fragments on her cheeks had expanded to cover her upper face. She grinned at him.
"How do you like it? This is my resureccion. With it, you are as good as dead. I won't kill you though, only use you as bait for the Quincy. Tormenta de Fuego!" Heisen said. The flames on her arms began to expand, becoming hotter and more intense. She held her arms as if to fire the intense flames at him, when suddenly, she froze.
A beam of light stuck through her chest. She looked down in shock, the flames disappearing. She turned around to see Uryu Ishida behind her, his energy bow held up.
"I believe you were looking for me?" he said calmly.
Heisen looked as if she were about to scream in rage, but only mustered the energy to whisper "Damn…" before dissolving into dust from the strike. A Seele Schneider fell to the ground, the blue energy gone. Uryu walked forward to pick it up as Sado looked at him in shock.
"You said that you would let us handle it!" he said.
"I did… for a while," Uryu said simply.
"Uryu…"
"I wasn't going to let you be injured on my account. Now come on, we should both seek shelter. The others are still battling, and we will just get in the way," Uryu said.
---
Ichigo ducked as Senna slashed at his head.
"Nice dodge, Ichigo!" she said, parrying his retaliatory strike.
"Stop talking like you know me!" Ichigo said irritably.
"But I do know you!" Senna protested, swinging at Ichigo's side, "We were friends!"
"Don't take me for a fool! I think I would remember being friends with someone like you, and if we were friends, you wouldn't be attacking me," Ichigo said, fighting Senna.
"It's nothing personal! I'm doing this out of gratitude to my master for saving my life," Senna said.
"Who is your master?" Ichigo yelled at her. Senna blocked his sword's strike and struck him in the stomach, knocking him back.
"That is something I cannot tell you," she said calmly.
Ichigo gasped, clutching his stomach. She was far stronger than last time. In fact, she was fighting him on equal ground, even though he had thoroughly outmatched her previously. What was going on? He tried to think of what was different from when they fought before. Perhaps she was wearing a limiter last time, or hadn't been taking the fight seriously in the first place. No, that didn't make sense. She was definitely stronger than before, not just fighting better. Ichigo was greatly confused by this girl. Everything about her was strange, yet at the same time he felt a sense of familiarity. On top of that, he did not sense any evil intentions from her. When she said that she considered Ichigo to be a friend, she seemed to really mean it, despite him not having any memories of her. He gripped his sword tightly, unsure what to do.
"Ichigo, look over there!" Senna suddenly said, pointing behind him. Ichigo nearly rolled his eyes.
"Don't try such childish tricks on me," he said.
"It's not a trick Ichigo! Your sister! Your sister's in danger!" Senna yelled at him.
Ichigo's eyes widened, and he turned in horror to see Yuzu standing atop the roof of her school, dangerously close to the battle. Only a short distance away from her, Rukia was fighting Fubaiku, and from the appearance of it, losing.
Ichigo immediately began to shunpo towards Yuzu, wanting to get her out of the dangerous area, but just as he did, Fubaiku released a wind blast towards Rukia. Rukia managed to dodge it, but the blast of air continued, hitting the roof of the school and knocking Ichigo off the edge.
"No!" Ichigo yelled, desperately using Shunpo to get to her. It was too late, however. Ichigo could tell that he wouldn't reach her before she reached the ground. She seemed to fall in slow motion as he watched in horror.
At the last moment however, just a few feet before hitting the ground, a large number of thin threads shot towards Yuzu, wrapping around her and stopping her fall. She was held in mid-air for a moment, shock in her eyes as she was slowly lowered to the ground. She shakily looked around for a moment, unsure what was going on, before running off, taking shelter inside the school.
Ichigo's eyes turned to the source of the thread, and saw to his shock that they led to the one Senna had called Yochito. The threads withdrew into the sleeves of his robes, and he merely watched passively as Ichigo approached him in shock.
"Why?" Ichigo asked, his voice shaking slightly from the shock of what had just happened, "Why did you save her."
"Why wouldn't I?" Yochito shrugged, "There would be nothing to be gained from an innocent bystander dying, and in fact it would probably just lead you to seek revenge against us. I had the ability to save her, so I did."
"Thank you," Ichigo said slowly, "However, this does not change the fact that we are enemies."
"Of course," Yochito nodded. No sooner had he done so, however, Senna leapt in to attack Ichigo. Ichigo easily blocked her strike.
"Now that your sisters out of harm's way, it's time we started our fight again," she said.
"Senna, don't," Yochito said, "My meditation has been broken, you won't be able to combat him right now."
"Meditation… Wait, you were doing something to transfer power to her, weren't you?" Ichigo asked Yochito.
"I was," Yochito nodded.
"Why didn't you fight me yourself to begin with?" Ichigo asked.
"I don't care for fighting, and besides, Senna is an old friend of yours, so I thought it would be polite to leave you to her," Yochito said.
"She's not my friend, I don't even know her!" Ichigo protested. Yochito smiled benignly at him.
"You'll find that what your mind remembers and what actually happened are two different things," he said with a slight chuckle. A single thread shot out of his sleeve, and before Ichigo could react it touched him on the forehead. Ichigo froze, his eyes wide. Memories that he had forgotten he had flooded into his head.
For a moment, Ichigo was frozen in shock, but then he slowly turned to Senna, recognition finally dawning on him.
"Senna… it's you…"
---
"You bitch, you did that on purpose!" Rukia yelled at Fubaiku, slashing angrily at her.
"It worked, didn't it? I distracted you enough to make you let your guard down," Fubaiku said with a smirk, pointing at Rukia's bloody left arm.
"Attacking an innocent bystander… you're a monster," Rukia growled.
"Better a monster than dead!" Fubaiku laughed, lunging at Rukia to stab her with her sword of air.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura."
Fubaiku's eyes widened as what looked like petals encircled her. Moments later, she was covered from head to toe in cuts from thousands of tiny blades, falling to the ground. Rukia stared in shock at her, turning in shock to the person who saved her.
"Brother…" she gasped as Byakuya stood calmly, his face expressionless.
"Rukia… We've come to your assistance in this battle," he calmly said.
"We?" Rukia asked in confusion.
---
Toushiro was knocked back by Mansamusa's blow. A large cut on his forehead bled profusely, and his uniform was torn in several places.
"You are quite skilled for your age," Mansamusa said calmly, "But I'm afraid your efforts are in vain. Someone as young as you cannot defeat me, regardless of comparative skill. It would be in your best interest to stand down."
"I am a Captain of the Gotei 13. I will not stand down, and I will not surrender. I will fight you, and I will stop you," Toushiro said.
"I see. If that is the case, you will have to be killed. It's a shame. I hate to see such young blood shed. But with your attitude, it would seem I have no choice…"
Mansamusa leapt at Toushiro with great speed, striking with his crystal spike in an attack that would certainly cause Toushiro severe injury. Before it could connect however, a pair of blades stopped the attack.
"Hello Mansamusa. It's been a long time, my old friend."
"Captain Kyouraku!" Toushiro said in shock. The old Captain stood between him and Mansamusa, his pink haori blowing in the wind.
"Shunsui Kyouraku…" Mansamusa said, "My, it truly has been a long time."
"Indeed. I was surprised to see you alive, let alone a traitor…" Kyouraku said sadly, "You were a good friend, but if you have turned against the Gotei 13…"
"I have," Mansamusa confirmed.
"I see…" Kyouraku said, "Captain Hitsugaya, let us take him together. This is an opponent that it would be unwise to fight alone."
"Very well," Toushiro said, holding his sword up to fight.
---
"Senna… it's really you," Ichigo said, too shocked to comment on the arrival of two additional captains, "Why are you fighting against Soul Society? How did you survive?"
"I'm afraid that I'll have to interrupt you," Yochito said, "It is my turn to battle you."
"What did you do to Senna?" Ichigo asked him, holding his sword aggressively, "What have you people done to turn her like this?"
"We did nothing. She is with us on her own free will," Yochito said.
"I'm taking her back with me. I won't let her remain in your hands," Ichigo said, "You've practically already lost this battle. We have two more Captains to fight you now, so you should really just surrender."
"Lost the battle? Whatever do you mean?" Yochito asked politely.
"You're not going to be able to capture Uryu," Ichigo said, "That was the entire reason you attacked, so now that he's safe and we have reinforcements to fight you, you've as good as lost this battle."
"And what makes you believe that the Quincy is our true objective?" Yochito asked quietly.
---
Jidanbo stood outside the western gate of the protective wall around Seireitei. It was quiet and calm. Birds were singing and there was a pleasant breeze.
Suddenly, there was a buzzing noise, and the air nearby distorted. Jidanbo immediately grabbed his axes as a man emerged from the warped air.
"Halt! I am the great Jidanbo, guardian of-"
The man cut off Jidanbo with three energy blasts to the chest, which toppled Jidanbo to the ground.
Usagi slipped his gun back inside his robes, looking at the gate in front of him with a smirk. Using his glider, he floated up into the air, going higher and higher until the gate looked like little more than a thin line. He put a hand into his pocket and fumbled around a moment before withdrawing a small object that looked like a thick coin. He held it between his fingers and gave it a playful kiss before dropping it and covering his ears.
A flash as bright as the sun illuminated Soul Society, followed by a massive shockwave that nearly made Usagi lose balance atop his glider. After regaining his composure, he looked down with glee at the smoking ruins of the wall, flying down to the huge gap in the wall. As the smoke cleared, more figures became visible, causing Usagi to grin.
"Ah, so you did come! I thought you might have skipped out on me!" he laughed, looking over the numerous brown-robed warriors. They were armed with an assortment of weapons, and some were mounted on hollows with metal masks and reins. He looked at the mass of warriors expectantly, but they didn't move.
"Well what are you waiting for? Go in and fight!" Usagi said in annoyance. They still didn't move, making Usagi growl, "Come on you stupid jerks, go in and fight before the Shinigami arrive to defend the wall!" They still didn't move.
Usagi was becoming extremely irritated when in the distance, from another section of wall, there was another explosion. The warriors immediately raised their weapons into the air and let out harsh battle cries, now rushing into Seireitei.
"Well, I suppose that works too…" Usagi said, flying into Seireitei atop his glider as the warriors flooded into the walled city.
Thanks for reading! Thank you to oOoHKoOo, theblueturtle6, Thunder Claw03, nexuswarrior, The Great Pineapple MEKI, war90, DIMITRILOVER21, Nathan J Xaxson, DigiPal, Guibin, moonlight gabriel, and Psyco101 for reviewing! Please review!