Chapter 4 - Renewed Bonds, Spirit Thunder Clash!

"C-C-Captain Soi-Fon…!" Takashi quivered as he saw the Captain of the Stealth Force, standing before him, with a hateful and accusatory stare upon him.

With speed unmatched, a solid punch clocked Takashi in the jaw, making him stumble backwards. Unable to make himself raise his sword against her, she grabbed his collar and yanked him off the ground with her right hand before shouting at him, "After all this time…after what you done…after what you're doing, you!" knee to his gut, "Don't!" a kick to his left ribs, "GET!" a slam to the ground, cracking it underneath him from the force, "To call, me CAPTAIN, Takeshi!" Coughing up blood, Takashi gasped and gurgled from the pressure around his collar.

"Y-Ye-Yes, maam! I*gurgle*am sorry it had come to this…" Takashi mind was spinning, his head felt like it was hammered from all sides, and he could taste iron tinted bitterness of his own blood in his mouth. He was then release from the death-like vice that Soi-Fon put around him then backed away from him, enough so he could see her lithe figure, clothed in black garments typical of all Soul Reapers and the Squad Captain Haori, representing her status and position in the 13 Court Guard Squads.

"Why?" Soi-Fon asked in a quiet voice, cold yet with a hint of sadness, when suddenly she shouted at him, "why did you leave, Takeshi? Why did you…pretend to die, and sacrifice your position as Vice-Captain on the Stealth Force, of being a Soul Reaper? Why did you change your name?" Soi-Fon was now on the verge of tears. Takashi now began to feel uttermost shame and sorrow that he hurt his Captain. He was confused at why she was hurt that a 'subordinate' of hers was more precious then the others. Other than the fact that he worked better than Omaeda, the fat lazy pig, was hardly news to himself but he now recalled how many times she personally recommended the toughest or the most insane missions to be assigned or paired with her. As a result, he turned his eager energetic nature to a hard-working, disciplined, lethal hand of the Stealth Force. He recalled how proud he was when he was promoted to Vice Captain. He could remember it like it was yesterday:

The hall was filled with the Stealth Force that was currently available in the addressing chamber, where Captain Soi-Fon sat on a ornate throne-like chair, overlooking her subordinates like a queen over her servants. Takeshi stood before her not five meters in front of her, straight back and shoulders tense, due to the intense training he had endured. His eyes were trained to hide emotion, but he could hardly contain the enthusiasm he was feeling. Then a garbed Stealth Force member presented the Vice-Captain armband to him before declaring,

"You, Takeshi Sai, after fulfilling the requirements and duties that were assigned to you, are hereby promoted to Vice-Captain of Squad Two and the Stealth Force." At that Takeshi beamed at this visibly, if only through his eyes, appraising his Captain.

With a bow, Takeshi humbly accepted the armband and in unison, the whole Stealth Force bowed in respect to their new superior, before rising again. After firmly attaching his armband around his right arm, Soi-Fon stood up and said, "Dismissed!" The entire chamber then shimmered and all but Soi-Fon and her new Vice-Captian, Takeshi Sai, were in the chamber.

Takeshi then busted into joyous laughter and began holding his chest with feigned restraint. The Captain, obviously annoyed and confused by her newly appointed subordinate's hysterics began to twitch before asking sharply,

"What are you doing, Takeshi?"

After chuckling lightly from recovering his event, he answered with a big charming grin, "I finally did it, Captain! I made Vice-Captain!"

"I thought we established this during the ceremony?" In an annoyed way, Takeshi could tell she was still confused.

"I'm just so glad, no, happy that I got to be one step from you, Captain Soi-Fon. I get to better used by you, serve you, work with you, to better the Soul Society and honor the Squad. Most of all, honor you."

"Yes…well…" Soi-Fon was obviously from Takeshi's pov. not prepared to be flattered in such a way, at least not in honoring way. She turned her head sharply to stare at the open space of the Squad Two courtyard, a sign that Takeshi understood as her way of being nervous.

"Don't let it go to your head, lest it blow it up in the process!" She said sharply, quickly unsettling her own nerves before turning back to him before continuing, "you're one of my most trusted, and clear-headed subordinates. Let your position go to your head and your useless to me, understood?"

"Yes, Captain! I wouldn't want that now would I?" He winked at her, causing her to huff if not sport some scarlet on her cheeks.

"You're dismissed for now, Takeshi," Soi-Fon ordered back to business, if not still a little flustered.

"As you wish, Soi-Fon." With a glimmer in his eye, a charming smile, and a final wink he Flash Stepped out of the hall.

Captain Soi-Fon then collapsed on her chair unprofessionally, slopping her legs over one armrest while supporting herself over the other. Touching her cheeks and feeling they were still warm, she faintly smiled before faintly biting on her lower lip.

"Looking forward to have you work for me, Takeshi."

Years past, and indeed the two enjoyed each other's company more than the other would admit. At least Soi-Fon wouldn't. But Takeshi wouldn't overstep his good terms with his superior either. They both secretly enjoyed their missions together, their debriefs, his attendance to meetings, his untimely arrival for unwinding after a long stressful day. Sparring Partners. Leader and follower. Companions. Friends.

It wasn't until too long that everyone was talking about how Soi-Fon actually had a soft spot. That she had the capacity for friendship and normalcy. Unfortunately for everyone else who tried to approach her, she'd greet them in her usual if not colder self, disbarring any evidence of any 'nice side'.

It wasn't until one night that everything changed for them both.

"And then this hollow had these tendrils you see and they started squeezing this spirit like this…" Takeshi made some obscene suggestions to his chest pretending he had feminine 'parts'.

"Really? That's revolting! What happened next?" Soi-Fon asked, like a giddy high school girl, wanting to know all the dirty details.

"What happened? I stared there drooling for a sec before snapping some pics! I got some if you want…"

"Takeshi!" Soi-Fon clocked him on the head leaving a considerable bump on his head before he moaned in response.

"Owwww…Soi-Fon! That hurt!"

"Takeshi! What really happened?" Demanded his superior with crossed arms, feigning anger.

"Okay, okay, I Flash Stepped up to the hollow's face and cut his head in two, and saved the spirit before sending her to the Soul Society." Takeshi looked at Soi-Fon who then giggled into an uncontrollable laugh. Takeshi joined in the laughter, realizing what a pointless story it was.

"You can be a real animal, you know that, Takeshi?" Soi-Fon said that with a hint of humor underneath feigned disapproval.

"You haven't seen my wild side yet, Soi-Fon." He said while their faces were mere inches apart. Soi-Fon blushed and darted her eyes away from his, biting her lower lip with a slight smile of embarrassment.

"Takeshi…" She whispered but felt compelled to look back at him. His wild blue eyes, neat top-knotted head and clean-shaven face inviting to her. To Takeshi, the shade of scarlet to her near pale features and Onyx eyes were dazzling beyond comprehension. As they were about to close the distance, a sudden rap of knocking from her personal door alerted her and Takeshi.

"CAPTAIN SOI-FON!" Yelled a Stealth Force member bowing to the floor revering her before speaking further, "we found one of them, Captain! He's ready for interrogation!"

"Excellent, I'll be there right away!"

"Yes, Captain," and the Stealth Force member Flash Stepped away from view.

"What's this about, Captain?" Takeshi switching back to a professional, if not worried tone.

"I'm sorry to keep you out of the loop, Takeshi. But you were busy with other assignments and I think it was best until now you know."

Worry lurched up farther from his heart to his throat, before he asked her, "Know what, Soi-Fon?" She inhaled and exhaled as they both hurried down the barracks and into the interrogation chamber underneath.

"We have been dealing with a number of rogue Soul Reapers going by the name of , the 'Liberators' and they've been evading us until now."

"Soi-Fon? Why are you leading me to the interrogation chambers? Don't you usually let the torturers deal with them?" There was a cold deathly silence as the approached the doors with embalmed in bold letters "INTERROGATION CHAMBER:OWNED BY SQUAD TWO/STEALTH FORCE," As they entered there was a loud whine and hiss from the heavy metal doors as they entered a deceptively dark room.

"Oh, so you're here, excellent! I have everything here, per your requests…"

"How is the prisoner?" Soi-Fon cut the observer in lab coat off while she observed the life signs and then the prisoner himself.

"He's resilient, I'll give him that. But he's just a Second Seat member. He won't last too long…" The man said as Soi-Fon observed a bald man with a scar over the bridge of his nose and a confident look in his eyes.

"He won't take long. Leave us!" Soi-Fon said in a harsh commanding tone, and was given immediate obedience as he left the room and the doors whined and hissed at his exit.

Takeshi turned to glare at Soi-Fon as he asked with raised volume, "Why did he say, 'your requests'? What does he mean by that?"

Soi-Fon then shot a resentful glare back him before she said, "It means EXACTLY what it means, Takeshi! I'M the interrogator! I have been ever since my promotion to Squad Captain!"

Takeshi stood dangerously close to Soi-Fon, his eyes shooting darts right into her own eyes, "Why did you lie to me? Why didn't you ever tell me you were the interrogator?"

"SUBORTINATES, should never have to think that hard about that, Takeshi! US Captains of the Stealth Force HAVE to lay down the rules, and IF you're caught by the Stealth Force, they're going to think twice because no lackey is going to interrogate what I can!" With that she somersaulted over the monitors and approached the strapped prisoner and began interrogating him. Takeshi never saw, no, never wanted to believe that Soi-Fon was this cold, and heartless. Even to other Soul Reapers.

Takeshi then thought after all this time, after building a bond between the two of them, after accomplishing and learning so much from each other, Takeshi had no idea what her real intentions were. He knew she was dangerous, but the fact that she would do something so callously even if it was him? He couldn't allow himself to be bonded to someone as emotionless as that.

After extracting the information, Soi-Fon returned to her normal self. It took a few days before they could find the rouge Soul Reapers' lair so they had time to kill. Soi-Fon began acting like nothing happened and began conversing about odd things and the happenings of the Soul Society, even gossiping on what schemes Matsumoto had for driving Captain Hitsugaya mad. But Takeshi felt as if the life was sucked from him, as he saw the prisoner beaten, burned, and pried apart in a matter of minutes before he broke in whimpers and confessed everything. He felt like he could never look at her the same way again.

"…So they found out that Matsumoto hid sake all over Captain Hitsugaya's office and he threw a…" She paused as she noticed the deadness in Takeshi's eyes before asking in a soft tone, "hey, Takeshi? What's the matter, you look beat?" The fact that she appeared to have forgotten what she said to him or what she did to prove a point, made him even angrier. With a huff, Takeshi abruptly stood up and walked toward the door.

"Takeshi!" She yelled grabbing his arm, not to the point of pain but of firmness. He shook it off and said, "I'm retiring for the night, Captain. You should get some rest too, kay?" With that he opened the sliding door and shut it softly before darting away.

Soi-Fon couldn't explain it, but she felt a sudden pain from his abrupt departure, something that she thought that wouldn't happen to her. She reached for the door but halted. Clenching her fist she slammed, her hand through it, cursing her weakness.

It wasn't until soon afterwards, that they located the base, and found where the rogue Soul Reapers were hiding. Soi-Fon immediately dispatched Takeshi after them, somewhere around the outskirts of the Soul Society. There was heard of a terrible battle. There, they found the bodies of all the rebel Soul Reapers and the bloodstained garments of Takeshi Sai's. After days of no news of his reiti detection or his body found, he was announced dead and was given a memorial. It was there after the funeral, that Soi-Fon wept for the second time in her life, someone left without her. Leaving her behind in the world out of betrayal or death. She vowed never to be close to any subordinate, any person, ever again.

After nearly fifty years of hardship, battle, sweat, blood, and lost, Soi-Fon finally began to mingle with the other Captains, visited with Yorouchi, and began to have a 'public' life in the world of the living on her days off, she thought she was done with surprises or heartbreaks. Yet here was the man, the man who started her life anew, gave it more meaning beside the mission. When he 'died' she felt she lost a dear friend to her, a part of her heart, something she hadn't experienced since Yorouchi's 'betrayal'. But it was different, more intimate then she ever felt. Now he stood here, defending a potential enemy, mocking her with his pure existence and rebellion to the Thirteen Court Guard that he swore to protect and the oaths that he pledge when he became Vice-Captain of the Stealth Force.

With that she began to tremble, before allowing herself to fall to her knees and sobbing in her arms, whispering softly, "W-w-why…Ta-tak-Takeshi! Why? Why, why, why…?" She asked as she sobbed sorrowfully in front of him, oblivious to him crawling towards her. She didn't even deny his battered arms wrapping around her. His whispering to her that he was sorry, did little to comfort but his presence was all that mattered. She embraced him, weeping bitterly.

Cloud saw Takashi being whisked away by one of the white haori clothed individuals to a nearby area. Cloud made a mental note to get retrieve him after he finished up here. Cloud counted up to seven haori clothed individuals he assumed were 'Captains'. One was as radically different as the other in both physical characteristics and their demeanor. But it didn't matter to Cloud ; he was going to kill them all as long as they kept attacking him, end of story.

One of the biggest ones of the group, broad shouldered, had an eye patch over his right eye and a scar on his left eye, had a mad smile on his face. He raised his sword towards him and the cloth slipped off it revealing a very jagged blade, as if it looked more of a hybrid between a saw and a katana. Its handle was bandaged and had a sphere on the bud of it and possessed no guard. The sword itself seemed to be vibrating, as if hungry for battle. The man began to laugh maniacally before shouting, "My blade!…Its hungry for battle and is being fed your energy! Let's…" he then galloped maddeningly, yellow energy encased his being as he ran across the invisible path in the sky towards Cloud, "have some FUN! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Cloud observed none of the other Captains made any intentions of joining the fight. He then smiled at the oncoming berserker, twirling the sword in his left hand in front of his opponent. Cloud then ushered the familiar power he once used just earlier but added the spike of power he has now to his left spinning sword.

"Thundara blade!" He shouted as he threw the lightning encased sword as staggering speeds toward the berserker. His own energy clashed with the lightning, crackling the air around him and causing sonic boom, before his own blade clashed with the power soaked sword. His maniacal grin turned to a surprised gasp as he noticed the Ryoka wasn't there. Cloud wordlessly slashed behind the berserker, cutting him in the side as he evaded his strike. He threw the unhanded sword back at Cloud before slashing one handedly striking at him, with incredible force. Cloud managed to grab his sword back, but deflect the blows by the madman's attacks with effort. The man's power seemed to be unnaturally beastly to Cloud. Cloud kept using his dual blade combo to his advantage, quickly parrying and counterstriking with one then the other. The huge man kept laughing insanely, ignoring the gaping wound on his right side as if it was merely an itch.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! That's it! Keep it up! Don't slow down! Cut me! Attack me! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the man shouted as he kept dancing around with Cloud's agile movements and dual buster blades. Cloud spun one of his blades, gathering a bluish hue while guarding against another sword slash of the large man's jagged blade. Cloud then gritted his teeth as he managed to push the insane man across the air while bringing a blue aura coated sword upon him. With a mighty roar he struck at his foe as he returned the favor, coating his own sword in yellow howling energy. As the swords struck, a loud howling boom ripped the air around them both, staggering all of the nearby Captains back a bit.

After the air cleared, Cloud had imbedded half his sword into the monster man's chest. Cloud winced at feeling his own chest was cut diagonally to the right up his chest, blood oozing from it. Cloud was panting from the exertion, knowing his limit was almost reached, but he knew a close proximate attack of that he always used back when he was alive, would tear vehicles to shreds. So why was his blade only cutting part way into him, he wondered.

The man then began laughing again, vibrating Cloud's sword in his chest. He then gleamed madder than before. "I like you, kid! Nice try with that attack! If only you cut me with both swords, you might've actually killed me," the man then grabbed Clouds throat with his free hand while stabbing him in the gut. Cloud gurgled, but under the vice grip of the man, he could hardly protest. He felt like he had a pike run through him while his neck was being crushed by an iron clamp. Pain jabbed everywhere, and his breath was fading. Cloud desperately summoned an attack of what remained of his strength into the sword in his right hand still imbedded in the mad man's chest. He gasped one final word, "Thu-thu…thundar-a!" a sudden surge of energy transformed into crackling electricity around the air before striking the sword into Cloud's imbedded blade.

The man actually began wince and spasm from the onslaught releasing his chokehold on Cloud. But Cloud wasn't done yet. He then concentrated the electric energy into a bolt, searing right through the man's chest, leaving a hole on the other side the size of a fist. The man began to chuckle as he pulled his sword from Cloud's gut. Cloud coughed and gasped in pain from the jagged blade pulled from his injured chest.

"You're strong *cough* I'll give you that, but in any case," the man gestured lazily to the wounds Cloud had, "you're in no condition to fight. Which means my fun is over." Before Cloud could protest, the large man struck him on the head with the butt of his sword. Pain instantly racked his head, his vision blurred white before diving into darkness. Cloud slumped to fall but was caught by the man with his free hand about his collar while resting his sword onto his right shoulder.

"Well…that could've gone better," said a garish costumed man, tilting his grass hat forward.

"If Captain Zaraki would not indulge his thirst for battle, we might've handled this more professionally," answered coldly a man with a air of nobility and arrogance rolled up in one.

The said Captain barked back at his mocker, "Hey, say to this guy! He wanted to fight just as badly as I did! He had the look in his eyes, I could tell."

The garish clothed man then crossed his arms and said, "Well we better patch him up and bring before the Head Captain, before something else happens."

Captain Zaraki began to whine as he slumped the bleeding unconscious form of Cloud over his shoulder, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't want the old man yell at us again, gotcha."

With that all three Captains whisked away from sight, leaving only a scarred battlefield as evidence of them being there.