Disclaimer: I don't own the works created by Tite Kubo.
A/N: I would like to thank Yumi-taichou8 for being a beta in all regards and for being a good angel when it comes to bouncing out ideas. Thank you!
Chapter 3: Darkness Continued
The street lamps glowed warmly, illuminating the main areas of the park and creating shadows were the light couldn't reach. Trees and bushes were thick with leaves, creating various shapes in the darkness and casting illusions. Even the wind gave life to these shadows as it whispered softly through the night. Still, with years of training and experience, Rukia found it difficult to tell apart flora from foe.
But that alone wasn't her main concern. For the world was cast in a blue-gray light that, apparently, only the spiritually aware beings, just as herself, could see. It contained no source. A fact made hard to believe as large balls of flame hovered lazily over the stone path-ways, turning bright green if any living being moved into their line of sight. Figures, appearing in what appeared to be black cloaks, floated like wraiths over the tree tops. Red eyes and scythes made hard to notice in the dark had Rukia nervous and taste the sour flavor of fear in her mouth.
However, she barely had enough time to dash under a lilac bush before one of the robed creatures made a slow bypass over the area she once occupied. It had been roughly 6 to 7 hours since her last transmission to the Soul Society and with night underway, she was still alone. Waiting for back-up or orders. Two things she doubt that could happen. At least, not on time.
She shook her head furiously, shaking away the doubt and fear that threatened to overwhelm her. Now wasn't the time to allow such nonsense to rule her and cloud her judgment. She needed a clear head for the current situation and she needed an able mind to stay alive, to escape or, at least, to gather as much information that she was able before help came or she was able to return to Soul Society.
Slowly she looked through the branches. With a slight gasp echoing from her lips, she pulled back just as a large creature materialized itself before her hiding place. A moment after, she had to quickly dodge as a large scaled extremity crashed through the heavily scented branches. Somersaulting out of the way as the flowering bush busted into tiny fragments, she quickly drew out her zanpakuto as she came face to face with her adversary.
Easily towering over her, the creature proceeded slowly toward the shinigami; knowing full well she had very few options. Its human features stared humanly down at her which was at odds with its four legged body. Half-human, half-dragon, the beast was definitely no Hollow.
"Damn!" she exclaimed as she pushed herself backwards as the beast hurled its scaled wings at the spot she once stood. She barely escaped but was caught up in the tremor and shockwave, flying a few dozen feet before crashing into the ground. With no time to spare, she picked herself up and dashed to the nearest grove of trees.
Once again, she was hurled from her feet but not from the creature that was pursuing her. Her senses warped with the sudden pitch of spiritual pressure, making her sense of reality far from her mental grasp. White light flared, blinding her as a loud crash echoed through the park, momentarily making her deaf. With a loud thud, she crashed into the ground. Her consciousness faded away soon after.
It was some time before she regained her awareness.
Getting back up on her feet once again, Rukia held up her zanpakuto, a groan on her lips. She swayed in surprise as she took in the damage around her. Around her was the remains of what appeared to be a spiritual attack gone purposely lose. Fissures, upturned flora, and destroyed benches. The cloaked creatures were evaporating in flames, their black robes floating in the wind as black ash. She couldn't see any of the flaming balls of fire and a few yards before her was the carcass of the dragon like being. Walking slowly toward it, she instinctively knew it was no longer alive.
"Who could have done this?" Rukia whispered aloud, questioning…
What exactly is going on?
The shinigami woman slowly gazed around her, noticing claw marks and other strange abrasions that she didn't notice from moments before. As she continued to glance around, this time for the evidence of the one who could have done the sudden assault, a sudden pearl of blood-curdling laughter pierced through the night air.
"A humble human should have a better hobby than playing with the dead," a soft voice cackled behind her. With little signs of movement, Rukia shifted about, her zanpakuto flashing as she positioned her weapon before her.
Long silver-white hair, red eyes, long slender fangs and a female form were the first few traits she quickly noticed of her new enemy. But before she was able to move or think of what to do, the strange woman before her smiled, her voice echoing around them, "But then, you don't smell like them or any human." A hand flashed before Rukia, the long fingered appendage happened to be tipped with sharp claws and a long fore-finger indicated the strange creatures scattered through out the vicinity.
"What?!" Rukia exclaimed in confusion.
What manner of creature…?!
"Are you a dense child?! Hmmm… I wonder if you taste like one!"
Rukia instinctively poised her body in a defensive poster as the demon sprinted toward her, energy spiraling from her finger tips. Rukia barely escaped her foe's assault as foreign power from her opponent soared through the air with a sudden surge, thrashing into trees and stone. A sudden power sphere detonated right behind Rukia, causing her to swiftly somersault with the force. Landing unhurt a few yards from her prior location, she slowly posed herself at the ready. Without hesitation, she forced herself to face the white haired woman, who began to circle around her.
"Who are you?" Rukia demanded after a few seconds, her violet eyes narrowing at her foe.
"You have nice reflexes and a beautiful looking weapon but unfortunately, I don't think they're the same caliber as mine," the female teased, ignoring the question while she crossed her arms. With a quick movement, she placed her hands into the dark depths of her long robes and quickly removed a pair of long-barreled automatic guns.
Rukia frowned, her mind wondering about the absurdity of the weapons of her opponent. She didn't have a much time to question the kind of firearm as her opponent swiftly lifted her arms. Sprinting to the nearest set of trees with out a second thought, the woman's first shots narrowly misses her. The shells ricochets off the trees and stones which disappears in a mass of shadows surrounding Rukia, who's only action was to curl defensively in response. An insignificant action as a bullet nicks Rukia's left sleeve, the sheer force pulling her off her feet and hurling her backwards.
Spiritually charged hand guns and ammunition? she thought to herself as she lands quickly, yet unsteadily, to her feet. What the hell?!
Without wasting an instant to think on what she was doing, Rukia quickly dashed to the end of the forest park, stumbling into the nearest ally across the street as she risked a glance behind her. It was in hope that she could lose her foe and to gather her scattered bearings. She needed at least a minute before she was able to fight once more. Or gain the opportunity to catch 'her' by surprise.
Suddenly, without warning, her opponent swoops down at her from above. With out a moments pause, the woman thrusts out an arm and grabs Rukia by the neck. And with a quick fling of her wrist, Rukia was tossed hard onto a brick wall.
Before the female was able to move forward for another pass, Rukia quickly climbs on to her feet, rolling through the trashed covered concrete and casting kido as she fled. She knew she had little choice to do anything else. Turning around once reaching a dead end, she smirked in grim satisfaction as she saw her foes smile vanishing from her face as she reels back, strands of silver hair flying through the air as one kido spell barely misses her head. Stunned for a second, the woman seemed to realize that her new 'friend' was stronger than she expected and wasn't going to go down so easily.
Rukia hurled another kido spell into the woman's body, but the black-clad female seemed not to take any notice of it as she lazily evades the spiritual attack. A sinister smile slowly spreads across her face which, in turn, causes Rukia to growl in frustration.
"I've walked this world for centuries, young one," the woman purred as her body unexpectedly contorts and undertakes on an abnormal stance. "Show me what you've learned in the short time you've been here!"
"If you insist!," Rukia exclaims through clenched teeth, poising her zanpakuto. "Dance, Sode No Shirayuki!"
The woman unexpectedly howls in pure pleasure as Rukia's zanpakuto flashes into a brilliant white, which in turn, was followed by a long white ribbon that dances swiftly into a circle around her slim form. Air thickening with sudden cold, Rukia's foe didn't waste any time, quickly melting into an all-consuming wraith before launching a bombardment of shadows.
"Dance number 2...Hakuren!" Dipping her zanpakuto four times in the air before her, Rukia's spiritual pressure formed into blades of white ice which sparkled in the dim light for a brief moment before launching toward her adversary as an avalanche of ice and snow; obliterating the solid formed shadows as it went. Rukia's eyes narrowed in concentration as her cold spiritual assault cuts through her foe's shape-shifting body and severs it in half. Quickly disintegrating, her enemy's assault breaks apart causing her adversary's sudden scream to fade abruptly into the night. With a sigh of relief, Rukia stumbles onto her knees.
"Is that the best you can do?" A faint whisper suddenly echoes in Rukia's ears, growing to a crescendo as she gasped in realization that the sound is coming from right behind her. She staggers to her feet and turns in surprise but only to see her own shadow rising in the moonlight; a thousand fragmented wraiths whirling from the main, red eyes glowing in the darkness. Rooted in her place by an unbreakable force, Rukia barely had the time to raise her weapon before the swirling blackness transforms into a giant mass of teeth and claws which, in turn, lunges at her.
Without warning, a discharge shuddered through the air, the compressed fire exploding throughout, sending everything before Rukia…flying!
The ravenous explosion, burning flames, halted mere inches from her face. The heat wasn't that intense but it was enough for her to drop to her knees once again, clutching her zanpakuto but she dared not to raise or do anything with it. She couldn't do anything at that precise moment, for her emotional state was beyond her control.
A sudden whisper of fabric rustled softly beside her, causing her to leap unsteadily to her feet and to revolve to the side to face her new enemy. Taking by surprise even more, Rukia swayed in shock as she took in her new adversary's appearance. She was female and stood a few inches shorter than her. Her shikakusho was brightly ornamented with red ribbons and a red-orange obi which was totally at odds with her child-like appearance. With her mahogany colored hair, robes and obi blowing slowly in a brief breeze the 'shinigami' simply ignored Rukia as she lifted her right hand before her and closed it.
The sudden action caused the flames to instantly burn down to embers before evaporating to ash. With out saying a word, young woman before Rukia slowly turned, glancing briefly at her and then, quickly began her departure.
"W…wait!" Rukia stuttered, after all that happened she couldn't allow this person to just walk away. But her fight with her strange opponent had drained her more that she realized for she couldn't take a step without stumbling.
However, the shinigami before her turned and smiled at her with dark green eyes. A moment that didn't last for very long. With out making a sound once, the woman turned and left, fading into the shadows of an alley-way as her voice echoes softly behind her, "Be aware, this isn't the last you'll see of them."
Watching the girl vanish into the darkness, Rukia knew at that moment that this was no longer a brief and temporarily change. This was the beginning…
Of what, she did not know.
Meanwhile
Atsuko Shinohara, 6th seat of squad 7, blinked her brown eyes. Seating across from her captain, she couldn't believe why she was here but most importantly, what she just heard.
"Excuses my…perplexed query captain but you sincerely believe that I'm capable?" she asked, tilting her head to one side. "The Captain Proficiency Test is devised to examine the expertise of an individual and contemplate if they have the potential of being a squad captain…"
"I'm well aware what the test is about," Captain Sajin Komamura interjected calmly, placing his elbows on his desk so he could rest his muzzles on the top of his folded hands.
"But you are stating, captain, that I'm capable of at least taken part and perhaps, passing!"
Leaning slightly forward, Captain Komamura stared at her for a full moment before saying simply, "Yes."
"But sir! I don't believe I'm competent enough to undertake the test to begin with," Atsuko protested, brushing a strand of forest green hair behind her left ear, "I apologize for my informal disagreement and childish behavior. I can't permit myself to agree."
Captain Komamura allowed a sigh to escape his muzzle as he folded his arms across his chest. "I'm fully aware that you acquired your zanpakuto's bankai 50 years ago but what I don't understand is why you managed to keep it secret all these years, especially when the events of the Winter War emerged and ended not to long ago. If you have a decent enough reason for your actions, I would love to hear it!"
Atsuko shifted her gaze to the floor in shock. She never knew that her captain was aware of her abilities. Then again, who was she fooling? Herself! She was such a foolish woman but in the end, she honestly believed she did her best to keep her bankai under the radar. It was all because she believed she had a long ways to improve before even considering the role of captain. A foolish thought and not to mention a unintelligent one.
However, the events of the Winter War and now this new threat came unexpectedly and her eyes, a little to soon. A thought that she knew full well was pure selfishness on her part but she had to be honest with herself, having the lives of squad members in her hands and command was something she feared the most. She couldn't bring herself to be such a responsible captain or even become one.
"To be honest captain," she began, looking up to face Captain Komamura, "I felt that I needed additional time to perfect my competence. I fear for the lives of those if I did managed to become captain. I truly don't want the role of captain at the time."
"And now?"
Atsuko took a deep breath as she hesitated, "My belief and sentiment haven't changed. I'm not optimistic if they ever will."
A long moment passed between the two shinigami. A moment of silence that seemed anguishing for Atsuko, for she knew full what he was going to say.
"I appreciate the honesty of your response even if I believe it's a bit selfish. Feelings can change over time but the lives of those in danger don't have the luxury to wait for other individuals to change their mind in order to save them. I would appreciate that you consider taking the Captains Proficiency Test and reconsider your thoughts about it. We have three squads that need new captains and not a lot of time. I believe one of those squads would be well taken care of if you were elected to be their captain."
Now that the topic of 'lives' were brought into focus, Atsuko couldn't help feeling ashamed. If she was captain during the Winter War, she might have had more influence on certain events. Influence that might have helped those lost in the battle or…anyone. She might not have been much help at the time but it would have been more to what was received.
"Yes, Sir. I'll reconsider it," she mumbled in apology, lowering her eyes.
"Then you are dismissed!"
"Yes, captain!" she responded, getting up from her seat.
No word was uttered after that, for there was no reason for it.
Walking down the halls, Atsuko thoughts began to stumble over themselves in a nervous pace. The choices of her past, the Winter War, the new threat and the Captains Proficiency Test all ran into a vicious circle and with no order to her thoughts, she stopped in the middle of the hall, closed her eyes and slowly took five deep breaths.
In order to gain focus and maybe, a little closure, she abruptly made a decision. A decision that would decide everything.
She was taking the test.
After all, what were the odds of her passing?
A/N: Sorry for the long delay here, it wasn't my intention to put this story on hiatus. Anyways, I hope Rukia's fight with the vampire and the vampire's weapon, along with Atsuko introduction weren't to much. If I made any mistakes of any kind, I would truly appreciate the constructive criticism. Please and thank you. If anyone would be willing to help me with creating two more characters to fill in as captains of either squad 3, 5, or 9 and possibly, any thoughts on myths they would like to see in up coming chapters, please PM me. Thank you.