Hinamori's Apprentice
Chapter 46
Who is that girl? Momo thought to herself as she lay on the ground semi-conscious, She looks like… no, she's definitely that girl that was included in the report. But wasn't she killed in battle? Why is she here?
"Senna… how did you survive?" Aurion asked calmly, regaining his momentarily lost composure.
"You should know the answer to that. After all, you're here for the same reason I am," Senna replied. Aurion's eyes narrowed at this.
"Where is Yochito?" he said tensely.
"So now you care about Yochito?" Senna said with a glare, "He's been missing for a while now, yet you only now decide that you care about his whereabouts? It figures. After all, he was nothing more than a tool for your ascent to power, after all."
"Where is he?" Aurion repeated. Senna's eyes suddenly filled with tears.
"He's dead," she whispered, "He used his powers to revive me, but in doing so sacrificed his own life."
"I see…" Aurion said, stroking his beard in contemplation.
"It's your fault," Senna whispered, "You manipulated him with your poisonous ideology and led him astray. You made him use so much of his power helping you that reviving me cost him his life."
Aurion remained silent, to which Senna seemed to take offense.
"Well? Don't you have anything to say? He was loyal to you and because of that he got killed! Don't you have any remorse?" she yelled.
"What's happened has happened. There's no changing it," Aurion said coldly.
"Actually, there is," Senna said with a determined look, "By sacrificing himself for me, Yochito left me his powers. As caretaker of his powers, I want the power he gave to you back!"
"What? You can't mean-?" Aurion began, but stopped mid-sentence as he saw Senna lift her arm, palm facing him, while closing her eyes. His immediate reaction was to raise his sword.
"Tenth curse, death!" he shouted, but before his Zanpakuto could activate, it suddenly turned into a mass of fine threads that were quickly sucked into Senna's palm.
"What is this?" Aurion said in panic. But he already knew. The tips of his fingers and toes had become the same as his sword, disappearing and turning to threads that were recalled by Senna. With each passing second, more of Aurion disappeared as the threads came from him as if from a spool.
"You can't do this!" he screamed at her.
"I can," Senna said firmly, "Yochito gave you a new body so you could continue your plans. I am now taking it away. The power he used to revive you is wasted on someone like you."
"But- my dream! My vision!" Aurion said, only his chest and head remaining.
"Your dream was a naïve fantasy and the means you intended to use to achieve it were brutal beyond comprehension. Your vision of this world will never come to pass. Goodbye, Aurion."
Aurion let out a final scream as his head turned to threads. Within seconds they had been withdrawn into Senna's body. Momo and Toushiro, who had been watching from the ground, looked on in awe. This girl had just defeated a man who had once been a rival to Yamamoto. Due to their injuries, they didn't notice Senna approaching them in the next several minutes and extending threads that connected with the backs of their necks.
They suddenly felt renewed energy as their reiatsu was partially replenished and their wounds mostly healed. They shakily got to their feet, looking at Senna with wonder.
"Thank you…" Toushiro said after several minutes of silence, "But what just happened."
"It's hard to explain," Senna said, "I suppose you could say… I was avenging an old friend."
"That doesn't really explain anything," Momo said.
"I know," Senna laughed, "I guess the most important part is… this friend of mine. He was an experiment created by Soul Society, with truly wondrous powers, but was deemed too dangerous and sentenced to death. He managed to escape though, and went into hiding. One of his powers was the revival of people who had been "erased" but not killed. That includes me, though my story is even more complicated, and it also includes Aurion, who was executed in a method that erased his existence, but did not truly kill him. My friend revived me first, and for a while we were able to live happily together. Then he revived Aurion however, and ended up falling under his sway. I felt I had no choice but to follow him in serving Aurion, but I should have told him about what a mistake it was. Aurion treated him like dirt, despite being responsible for his renewed life. Yet Yochito continued to serve him, both in pursuit of fulfilling the fantasy-like vision Aurion told him of the future, and to get revenge on Soul Society for their treatment of him. I think he began to wise up towards the end, but by then it was too late. It wasn't long ago that it happened. Yochito and I were in a fight, and I was killed. Yochito's powers are meant to restore a person who has been erased, not someone who has simply been killed. He managed to bring me back, however, but it was at the cost of his own life. I gained his powers, however, and vowed that I would make Aurion pay for using Yochito like that."
"That's… certainly an incredible story," Toushiro said.
"Indeed," Senna nodded.
"What are you going to do now?" Momo asked.
"I have some hope that I might one day revive Yochito. By taking back the power used to revive Aurion, I might have enough strength to do it. First, however, I'm going to gain mastery over these powers. I don't know how long it will take or if it's even possible, but I won't give up until I've found a way to bring my friend back," Senna said, "As for you, I recommend that you work on getting your friend back as well."
"Karin!" Momo said, remembering why they were there, "That's right, we need to keep searching for her!"
"That won't be necessary," Senna said, "Karin Kurosaki is currently fighting in storage room 14B. Go through that door over there, go down two floors on the first flight of stairs you see, then go straight until you see the entrance. She was able to escape her cell, but is now fighting against a really nasty guy, so you should get there as quickly as possible."
"We understand. Thank you," Toushiro said.
"I have to go now," Senna said, "Say hi to Ichigo for me!"
Before they could ask how she knew Ichigo, Senna had disappeared.
Usagi yelled in anger as Karin sliced through his left wrist, only a small amount of skin keeping his hand attached to his arm. Usagi now bore several serious injuries, while Karin had only minor cuts and scratches. His situation did not make him any less arrogant, however.
"You little bitch! I'll kill you for that!" he screamed, turning his weapon loose to use as a whip. By now Karin knew how to counter this, and leapt away while simultaneously striking at Usagi, forcing him to turn his weapon rigid to block the blow.
Karin nearly smiled. She was winning. She wouldn't have thought it possible just a short while ago, but it was really happening. She was beating Usagi Usaki.
As his situation grew more serious, Usagi became increasingly reckless, leaving many openings as he attacked Karin. Karin did not let herself become too complacent, however. The tide of the battle was in her favor, but she had not won yet.
Usagi stabbed at her, but Karin merely sidestepped and took a swipe at his ankle, delivering a cut that sizzled and smoked. Karin had been using her Zanpakuto's ability to vibrate and store energy to increase its cutting power. Usagi did not act as if the repeated wounds he was receiving were affecting his fighting ability, but the look on his face, a combination of panic and rage, told Karin that her attacks were slowly having their desired effect on him.
While Karin dodged and blocked his attacks, Usagi growled curses under his breath, furiously attacking Karin and lacking the calm, snide demeanor that was typical of him. This recklessness soon cost him, for in his zeal to attack Karin, he had stuck out his weapon too far as he swung it down, causing it to completely miss Karin.
Karin immediately spotted the opportunity. Before he could bring his weapon back up, Karin used her left hand to grab onto it, at the same moment swinging her sword in a wide arc.
Usagi shuddered for a moment. Then, his upper body separated from his lower half and they both fell to the ground, sliced cleanly from the right hip to just below the left shoulder.
Karin breathed a sigh of relief, wiping sweat from her forehead and wearily sitting down. It was finally over. She had won…
"It's not over."
Karin jumped to her feet, eyes wide. She looked down at Usagi, whose upper half had pulled itself up with its remaining good arm. His face was contorted with rage, twitching and shaking. Karin backed away, unable to believe what she was seeing.
"I'm not losing… I'm not dying at the hands of a damn brat!" Usagi screamed.
Karin was too shocked to respond. It was impossible. She had cut him in two! There was no way that he could still be alive! Usagi's expression suddenly turned into a twisted smile.
"I can see it all over your face," he giggled, "You're asking "How is he still alive?" Well, I'll tell you. I'm not like you. When your body is destroyed, it's the end for you, but I've evolved beyond that. I am a superior being to you, which is why I'm going to win this battle."
Karin was unable to react to what Usagi said, still shocked at what she was seeing.
"Need a demonstration? It will be my pleasure…"
What remained of Usagi's body began shaking and convulsing. His horrible black eyes seemed to swell and bulge out. As Karin watched, she suddenly snapped back into her senses and realized that she needed to get out of here. It was too late, however.
Usagi's eyes suddenly burst out of his eye sockets along with a large amount of black liquid. Karin didn't have time to react, and was hit directly in the chest. The slimy fluid seemed to instantly permeate her skin, going inside of her. For a moment, Karin's mind was blank and she was still with stunned silence.
Then, she let out a scream and collapsed to the ground. She could feel it inside of her. Horrible, slimy, cold, and evil. She felt it flowing through her veins, making her entire body feel cold and painful. As it passed through her heart, she felt horrible stabbing pains. Nausea overtook her as it entered her stomach, but she found herself unable to vomit. It was agony as the evil liquid spread throughout her body. She instinctively grabbed her sword, wanting nothing more than to end the pain, but her hands were shaking so badly that she almost immediately dropped it.
She gasped as her lungs began to fill with the fluid. Every breath became shorter than the last as her lungs became filled with the slimy cold evil. Soon, she wasn't even able to breath, only pathetically open and close her mouth like a fish out of water. Her mind became fuzzy. Everything faded for Karin as her brain was deprived of life-giving oxygen. Within moments, she had blacked out.
Karin found herself on a rocky beach. She blinked in surprise, looking around with confusion. Why was she suddenly here? She had been on the ground, inches from death, just moments before. Was she dead? Was this where Shinigami went after death? No, that wasn't it. She now recognized this as her inner world. But why was she here?
"Denryu?" she called to her Zanpakuto, "Denryu, can you hear me? What's going on?"
Karin's only answer was a faint laughter coming from behind a nearby pile of rocks. Karin gulped and slowly approached.
"D-Denryu, is that you?"
"No…"
As Karin came around the rock pile, she saw the back of a black haired person facing away.
"Who are you?" Karin asked.
"Who am I?" the figure quietly asked, "I am Karin Kurosaki."
The figure turned around, revealing itself to be completely identical to Karin. Well, almost identical. In place of Karin's eyes were the black pulsating eyes of Usagi.