Author's note: Hey guys! This chapter will be the continuation of chapter 16. Since there were a lot of people that wanted me to name chapters, I'll name this chapter since I already have a good name in mind. xD I may or may not re-name chapter 16. If you guys have some suggestions, please tell me! ^_^
But I should go ahead and warn you guys: I am thinking of doing an alternate ending for this story. As you guys noticed, I'm already at the point where Captain-Commander told Hitsugaya, Inoue, and Matsumoto about Aizen's plans and stuff. So, if I keep going with this pace, I may end up doing an alternate ending. But at the same time, I may or may not do a sequel. So many people love the story, so there's a possible sequel. ^_^ Also, my goal is to finish this story at chapter 30. Short, I know. I'm sorry. But hey, that may or may not happen! Plus, I'm thinking doing some cute, "fluff" omakes just to give you guys something to read. ^^ But anyhow, I would love the reviews and critic. ^^ Though I've made many Naruto fanfics (their mainly on quizilla), Bleach fanfics, and a few Soul Eater and FMA fanfics, I'm not an expert. Lol. I'm just doing this because it's fun and it's a good hobby. Plus, it'll help during school (writing essays and doing papers are crudy to a lot of my classmates, I think it's as easy as baking cookies! xD). Anyways, I'll be quiet now. Enjoy chapter 17!!!
Oh, and sorry for the slow update...TT_TT
Chapter 17: Death shakes Dragon
"Usagi, are you ok?" Tia asked suddenly. I guess I was in a trance like state because Tia shook me. I blinked.
"Huh? Oh, Tia..."
"I thought you had gotten sick since your face showed distraught."
"Oh, forgive me. I didn't mean to do that." I looked down. "Anyways, to tell you the truth, the only reason why I didn't deny Aizen-sama is because….He was like a King and I thought it would be nice to be lead by a King, instead of being killed by one….."
Tia stood up. "It was nice talking to you, Usagi. But I must return to my fraccion. I hope you feel better."
I nodded. "I understand and thank you."
When Tia had left, I put my head down on the desk. Memories started to surge through my brain again. It felt good to remember things that I had forgotten that previous year, but at the same time, it hurt. My head was throbbing with pain, which I couldn't even explain. Maybe if I took a nap…maybe the pain would go away…
XxXxX
"Let them burn, Yasusuzume!" I commanded. The blade turned red and small sparks of fire formed around the sword. "Hey, that's new."
"Yeah, cause you finally got bankai…I thought maybe this would be a new thing." Yasusuzume replied.
"Well, thanks for that."
Though I wasn't supposed to be training while I'm in Karakura Town, I didn't give a crap. If I'm going to defeat Akemi, then I must get stronger. I took in a deep breath, and then sliced a few trees in one swing.
"Darn, my powers are neutralized…"
"Did you really just realize that, Hikari?" I turned around and saw Hitsugaya leaning on a tree, as usual. I made a face.
"Well, excuse me for my stupidity." I said sarcastically. Hitsugaya smirked and walked over to where I was.
"I told you to stay by someone's watch at all times." He said. I sighed.
"You're not my babysitter." I murmured.
"But I'm your captain and you're my third seat."
"Hmph…" I sheathed my zanpakuto, found my gigai, and went into it. "Hitsugaya-kun, do you think Akemi will come back?"
He sighed. "Yes. She will. That's why Matsumoto and I have decided to make sure you are safe."
I twitched. "I know you are trying to protect me and all, but could you please let me do as I please WITHOUT someone following me?"
"You're strong, I get it. You want to get stronger; I understand. You said that a thousand times already and it's getting on my own nerves. But you know what happened when she arrived. I'm not trying to pull you down or anything, Hikari but I'm only telling the truth."
I looked down. "I understand that I wasn't prepared. I thought she was the Akemi-sama I knew…but she isn't."
He frowned "I know she was your sensei during Academy years. I know she was the former lieutenant of squad 2. You adored her. She was your role model. When she died, it killed you internally. But you have to face the fact that she is part of Aizen's arrancar army. How she became that way, I don't know. As part of the Gotei 13, we have to kill her."
I winced. "I know that much."
Suddenly, I heard Hitsugaya sigh. "If you can't stand up to kill Akemi, then go back to Seireitei. As your captain and as a friend, I know you're going to have a hard time dealing with this."
I couldn't hold it in. I made a fist and slammed it in his face. "I CAN STAND UP FOR MYSELF! WHEN THE TIME COMES, I'LL KILL HER MYSELF!"
Hitsugaya sat up and smirked. "Glad to hear."
I blinked. "What?"
"Are you deaf? I said I'm glad to hear." He touched his cheek. "Though, did you have to punch me that hard?"
Then, that's when it hit me. Hitsugaya equals captain. He has amazing reflexes. Even from that distance, he could deflect that punch like it was nothing. Yet he ALLOWED me to punch him. I blinked again.
"Sorry…" I murmured. Then, I let out a sigh. "I give up. Since you're a captain and since Matsumoto is a lieutenant and I'm just a third seat. You guys are a rank higher than me. I'll let you keep any eye on me…As long as I can train peacefully."
"Agreed." Hitsugaya and I shook hands on it. "What are you going to do now?"
"Well, before YOU came along, I was thinking of training the entire day. But I guess I'll go and randomly do something."
"Alright."
"Well, what are you going to do?"
"I already finished the report. I don't think there's anything left for me to do. Usually, I go and sit at the park and watch the sunset. But since it's still early in the afternoon, I don't have anything else to do."
"Well, that's nice. Hm, I guess we can do that later. But I guess-"
Suddenly, both Hitsugaya's and my phone gave the hollow ringtone. Er, well, MY hollow ringtone. We both took out our phone and flipped it open.
"There's a hollow close to where you and that other arrancar fought." Hitsugaya said quickly. I stuffed my phone into my pocket and replaced it with soul candy. I quickly ate a piece and went to my shinigami state. I turned to my gigai.
"Meet me at Inoue's house. Got it?"
"Yes ma'am!" The gigai rushed away and by that time, Hitsugaya was already on his way to the area. I used shunpo to catch up to him.
XxXxXx
I arrived at the hotel where I had fought that Hikari girl.
"The hollow has been released…" I thought. "Akemi-sama will be so proud of me when my plan works out!"
When I felt the shinigami's spiritual pressure, I suppressed mine and slowly crept into the shadows. My plan: To get the shinigami to lose her stamina and then when she's too weak to fight, I'll destroy her! Sly, yes…but it's effective. Every fighter knows that much.
XxXxX
Hitsugaya and I arrived at the hotel. A huge hollow was standing before us.
"Dang it." I said with aggravation. "I thought it would be that arrancar chick!"
Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and took out his zanpakuto. "If that's the case, would you rather let me fight the hollow or-"
"No, no. I'll kill it." I took out my zanpakuto and dashed towards the hollow. "Let them burn, Yasusuzume!"
The blade turned bloody red and sliced the hollow in half. I landed gracefully and gave Hitsugaya a cocky look.
"Too easy."
Suddenly, I heard another loud hollow scream. Hitsugaya and I looked up and saw bunches of hollows appearing from the sky.
"Aw sh*t." I cursed.
"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!" Hitsugaya commanded and his zanpakuto formed a massive ice dragon thing. I cursed again under my breath. It was below zero degrees and I was freezing my frickin butt off and I bet he wants me to die of frostbite.
In a flash, Hitsugaya froze all of the hollows. He turned his head.
"Wanna finish it off?"
I grimaced. "Y-Yeah….S-Sure….L-Let them burn, Y-YasuSuzume!"
A huge blast of fire shot towards the frozen hollows, and soon enough, they were destroyed instantly.
Little prickles of snow started to fall from the sky, making my condition worse. I sneezed.
"I HATE THIS!" I yelled. "It's too cold!"
"I would like to say the same thing to you except changing that last line. It was too hot when you used your zanpakuto." Hitsugaya complained, which was very rare coming from the miniature captain's mouth.
"I only used my shikai!"
"Yeah, same here."
I glared. "Whatever."
XxXxXx
I grimaced at this sight. I had brought all the hollows that I could summon and they were defeated without any pure effort! Akemi-sama had given me another chance to defeat this shinigami and what did I do? I not only wasted it, but now she will kill me in a flash! Oh, what am I to do? I can't return back to Hueco Mundo! I have to finish this. But with that white haired captain in the way, I'll never be able to even touch her! Unless….
I called in the next set of hollows, but in two different areas, each on different sides of the town. I looked at where the pair stood.
"What? MORE HOLLOWS?!" Hikari yelled. The captain shrugged.
"You take the west side. I'll take the east. We'll meet up at Inoue's house."
They dispersed. I smirked and knew that Hikari was going into her own demise. Though, the name Inoue sounded familiar. Where have I heard that name before….Hm, well, no need to ponder about that now. I turned and dashed towards the west side of town.
XxXxX
Hollows, hollows, hollows. Too many hollows! I was on my way to the west side of Karakura town when I bumped into Matsumoto.
"Rangiku-san!" I exclaimed. Rangiku brushed the dirt off her uniform.
"Hikari-san! What are you doing here?"
"Going to fight some hollows!"
"Wait, do you want me to come with you?"
"No! Maybe Hitsugaya will need your assistance! Now if you would excuse me!" I dashed past the ginger haired girl and went towards the direction of the hollows. They were already attacking people, so I had to make this quick. But there were so many of them! I can't defeat them with my shikai alone….
"C'mon! Let's use the bankai!" YasuSuzume chirped. "No one is here to see it!"
I pondered about it for a quick moment and agreed. I pointed my zanpakuto to the front.
"Bankai!" The sense of adrenaline zoomed into my veins. "TaiyouSuzume!" A blast of fire exploded from my zanpakuto and swirled onto the blade. I shifted my stance and pointed the blade at the hollows.
"Fire blast!" I large circle formed, surrounded the hollows, and destroyed them. I looked around to see if there was more. I sensed no one…or so I thought. I returned my zanpakuto to its unreleased state and put it back into its sheath.
"That took too much energy…" I thought to myself. Suddenly, an immense amount of spiritual pressure was sensed. Before I could do anything, I felt something stab through me. I gasped.
"Heh, looks like I caught you." I heard Lita murmur into my ear.
"You son of a B*tch…" I murmured back and fell onto the ground.
XxXxX
I finally did it….I killed her! I KILLED HIKARI! I smiled. Now I can return to Hueco Mundo with a good feeling that I had finished the job.
XxXxX
"Taicho, are you ok?" Matsumoto asked. I looked around. We had destroyed all the hollows in the east side of town, but during that time, I felt a strong spiritual pressure. I knew it was Hikari when she activated her bankai but there was another one…..
"Something is wrong, Matusmoto." I replied. I tried to sense Hikari's spiritual pressure, but I didn't sense it. Suddenly, worry shook my all other. I turned to face Matusmoto.
"We need to go now!" I used shunpo to dash towards the west side of town.
XxXxX
I had never seen Taicho so shook up in my entire life. He was sweating and his face showed fear. As we were dashing towards the west side of town, Taicho was getting faster that even I couldn't catch up.
"Taicho! Wait up!" I yelled but he didn't hear me. He just sped up.
XxXxX
I arrived at the west side of town; Matsumoto soon after.
"Taicho, what's wrong?" She asked. I turned to face her.
"Do you not sense it?" I replied. Matsumoto gave me a look.
"There's nothing to sense…"
"That's the problem."
Then, as if the epiphany suddenly hit her, her eyes widened.
"Hikari!" She said.
"You look on that side, I'll look on this side."
"Yes sir."
We dispersed in a flash.
"Hikari…please be ok…" I thought.
A few minutes later, I arrived at a park. I noticed that there weren't many people. I looked around. I didn't see anyone until I saw a tip of a zanpakuto sheath. My eyes widened and I dashed to the area. I stopped in my place. On the ground, I saw Hikari, pale and blank.
"Hikari!" I yelled. I dropped to my knees and felt her pulse. I waited for a moment, tension high. I had mixed amount of emotions throughout that entire moment. Surprise, anger, misery, etc. First Aizen with Hinamori and now….An arrancar with Hikari. I couldn't protect my two best friends. If I can't even protect those two…then there's no way I can protect anyone else. For the first time since becoming a captain, I felt a small tear trickle down my cheek. H*ll, now was watching. Matsumoto wasn't here to see this. I would have cried when I saw Hinamori in her "death" state after Aizen had stabbed her but a shinigami doesn't cry in front of their enemies…But this was different. Even if this was one small tear, it held all the pain, sorrow, and worry as it fell down my face.
"Please….be ok…" I whispered as the tear touched Hikari's pale cheek.
Note: I'm going to upload an "Omake" after this chapter. But this is a different "omake". My omakes are little fun things from the story. For instance, I'm going to add questions from reviewers like you, maybe add an extra character profile of my OC, etc. So please, nice reviewers, ask ANY questions that you have. I won't bite. ^^ But if you don't…then MAYBE I'll bite….JUST KIDDING! ^^ But seriously.
