Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, or the characters.
Warning: Byakuya shows up! Try not to faint...(Just kidding. :D)
Note: This chapter is mostly like fighting scenes and stuff...
A Failed Mission
First Encounter
"Kill him!" Screamed a voice at the top of his lungs.
Shinobi came at him from every corner, surrounding him from the outside of Kilika. He had nowhere to run, and the only way to get out of this was through them.
The man looked out the corners of his eyes, and took a quick sweep around. Four on the right. Three on the left. Five in the front, and another three behind him. He smiled without emotion in his eyes at their red, angry faces.
"Anger does not strengthen your katana." He hissed, exploding into movement. In preternatural speed he stabbed one of them in the chest. Then, the rest jumped at him at the same time. The man turned, his sword following his movement. He slashed two of them in their stomaches, blood flailing everywhere.
"Ugh," one of the men groaned as the callous rouge lashed at his neck, red-black liquid gushing out. Three of the men managed to cut the rouge before getting stabbed by his blood-soaked katana.
The rouge was fast, his movements a blur while he cut the shinobi that were in his way, his katana swinging in amazing speed from left to right, and back again, his enemy's flying away from him, blood staining the beautiful dark sky.
"Die, Kuchiki Byakuya!" Shrieked a voice from behind, while charging at the rouge with his sword raised to attack.
The rouge swung around, his midnight hair swept his face from the motion. He raised his sword to block the shinobi's attack.
In one swift motion before the shinobi could react, he hacked his head off. Blood splattered everywhere, cursing the beauty of the night with death.
The rouge, Kuchiki Byakuya, looked around at the dead body's basking in the moonlight, blood covering everything. Byakuya's hand shot up and wiped some of the blood away from his cheek. He looked around for more enemies, then started walking away when there weren't anymore. No regret showed in his callous face as he looked at them.
Byakuya continued walking down the uneven dirt path that led to Spira. Blood stained his clothes, his katana unsheathed and resting against his shoulder glistened with blood. He walked away from the grotesque scene, alone, just like he had several other times.
* * *
Toushiro ran rapidly through the trees, starting his new mission. His movements so fast that his surrounding seemed to blur together. He had to reach Kilika as fast as he could. That was were Kuchiki Byakuya was last sighted. If he traveled fast without stopping, Yamamoto-sama estimated that it would take him at least three days to get there. Before departing, Unohana-san gave him some herbs to keep him awake and to put his hunger at bay for a while.
Toushiro heard twigs snap and bushes bristling from behind. Someone was following him. The short white-haired boy picked up the pace, and swept around the trees in a confusing pattern, hoping to get rid of his pursuer.
Although the footsteps were further away, the person was still pursuing him. Toushiro slowed down to see who it was. The footsteps slowed as they got closer to him, keeping a distance, not wanting to be found out.
As Toushiro ran through the trees, deliberately slowing, from the corner of his left eye he caught sight of a red-headed shinobi.
Toushiro wasn't supprised that Matsumoto was pursuing him. At the meeting she had asked to go with him, but was denied by Yamamoto-sama. Toushiro smirked and started to run faster, ignoring the loud footsteps trailing him.
Pretending that he didn't hear her, Toushiro ran at a steady pace. He was conserving his energy so that he would be able to run without stopping before reaching his destination.
While running, Toushiro's mind slipped back to the meeting and what Yamamoto-sama had said.
* * *
Flash back
"Come in, Hitsugaya Toushiro." A gruff voice said from the other side of the door.
Toushiro opened it, silently stepping into the room, Matsumoto tailing behind him. He walked closer to where Yamamoto-sama was seated and bowed his head respectfully. Matsumoto followed his lead and bowed her head before handing him the report. Sasakibe Chojiro, Yamamoto-sama's right hand, took the papers, then handed them to Yamamoto-sama.
The old man skimmed through the pages, his eyes quickly darting right and left.
"Good," he said gruffly, after looking through the report. Then, his dark brown eyes squinted at Toushiro, looking him up and down. Without taking his eyes off the short white-haired boy, he continued, "Chojiro, give him the report on Kuchiki Byakuya."
Sasakibe handed Toushiro a small pile of papers. The sheets contained Kuchiki Byakuya's past along with his his description.
Yamamoto-sama sat quietly, watching Toushiro as he read about Kuchiki Byakuya's historic murders. When it looked like the white-haired boy was almost finished, Yamamoto-sama said, "As you can see, he's a gifted killer and he started at a young age. I need you to eliminate this murderer. You're to go alone, but I think that you can handle it. You might even come back alive. Don't bother returning without fulfilling your mission." He added, his voice full with authorization.
Toushiro opened his mouth to reply, but Matsumoto beat him to it. "Yamamoto-sama, will you give me permission to accompany Hitsugaya-sama on this mission?"
"No." The old man said without hesitation. "You'll only get in the way. This mission is only for the elite Shinobi."
"But Yamamo-"
"Silence!" Yamamoto commanded, his eyes narrowing at her, daring her to speak again.
"I apologize for my subordinates rudeness. It won't happen again." Toushiro quickly said, when he saw Yamamoto-sama's threating gaze on Matsumoto.
When he spoke, Yamamoto-sama looked away from Matsumoto, and his intense gaze swerved to Toushiro.
"Now that you know what you must do, leave." The old man aforementioned, then added. "And, if you complete it and are still alive, you can be excused from missions for a month."
Matsumoto was about to speak again, but one look at Toushiro's face silenced her.
Toushiro bowed respectfully and retreated without glancing back. Matsumoto shadowed his movement, then apologized for her rudeness before following him.
* * *
Back to present
The sun was starting to set, the scenery was beautiful and peaceful. It made Toushiro want to stop and fall asleep to the setting sun.
Unohana-san's herbs were fighting against the drowsiness, and Toushiro didn't feel tired. He continued with his steady pace, with Matsumoto tailing behind.
Toushiro knew that Matsumoto would get tired soon, but he couldn't stop. He had to finish his mission, and when he got back, he would have a whole mission-free month.
After a while, the sun finally set and it was dark. Toushiro was merely a shadow moving through the forest. Surprisingly, Matsumoto still managed to follow him in the pitch-black darkness.
The small boy ran throughout the whole night, Matsumoto following quietly, oblivious to the fact that he knew she was there. She had slowed down when it started getting lighter. She was losing energy and would soon lose sight of him.
When the sun started to rise, Toushiro had reached an uneven dirt path leading to Kilika. He ran at the edge of the forest, the path visible to him, but he was invisible to the people on it.
While he was running he started to pick up speed. Matsumoto was far behind. Toushiro couldn't hear her anymore, and his hearing was adequate.
By mid-day Toushiro was starting to get tired; he had slowed down tremendously.
His breathing was becoming more rapid, and his heart beat faster. The short boy's stomach growled when he smelled food from a passenger with a cart full of the aroma on the dirt path.
He was about to stop and eat, but he had to finish his mission. It was his top most priority. His stomach could wait.
Toushiro grew more and more tired as the day wore on. He was also running slower and slower, and Matsumoto was completely out of sight.
The sun was setting and Toushiro knew that he would have to rest before fighting with Kuchiki Byakuya. He started walking, then he saw a dark shadow walking on the side of the road, bordering the forest line.
Toushiro realized that he hadn't seen anyone on the road for hours, and he became suspicious.
As the short white-haired boy and the shadow got closer to each other, Toushiro started to make out a heavy, black cloak on the person. The hood of the cloak covered about half of the person's face, making it impossible to detect if it was a man or a woman.
Toushiro wanted to know who it was, so he stepped out of the forest and into the road where the person could see him.
The cloaked shadow also moved onto the road and began walking towards him.
Toushiro's ice blue eyes reflected the light from his katana as he unsheathed it. The shadow stopped about fifteen feet away from the boy and unsheathed his katana as well.
"Are you Kuchiki Byakuya?" The short white-haired boy asked, loud enough for the shadow to hear.
"Depends on who wants to know." The cloaked man replied, his voice deep and mesmerizing.
"I'll say it once more," Toushiro spat, "Are you, or are you not Kuchiki Byakuya?"
The man took off the cloak and threw it to the side. The mans long raven hair rustled in the wind, his piercing gray eyes staring at Toushiro.
Toushiro kept his katana low to strike from a low position and ran towards Kuchiki Byakuya, his quarry, his emotionless facade portrayed.
Toushiro swung up at the rouge shinobi, but his movements were slow and sluggish. Kuchiki Byakuya easily deflected the attack with his katana, then in a lightning fast motion he swung at Toushiro's neck.
Toushiro swayed out of the way, the sharp, silver blade grazing his neck. He speared his brand at the rouge, hoping to pierce his heart. The rouge stopped it with his katana.
They kept swinging their katanas at each other, both equally matched. Despite Toushiro's grogginess, he could still concentrate on the battle.
Then, Kuchiki Byakuya managed to cut Toushiro's arm. Toushiro yelped in pain. The katana had went deep into his bone. Toushiro jumped away from the rouge shinobi in pain, his throbbing arm swinging uselessly. Before Toushiro could protect himself, Byakuya swung his katana across Toushiro's back.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Matsumoto was running slowly, hoping that she wold soon catch up to Hitsugaya-sama.
After a couple minutes of running, Matsumoto heard a loud, painful cry. It sounded like Hitsugaya-sama's voice. Matsumoto picked up the pace and ran with all her strength, getting closer and closer to the sound of clanging katanas.
When Matsumoto finally got close enough to see two figures fighting, she ran even faster, staying hidden in the forest.
The red-head hid behind a tree watching, Hitsugaya-sama's mangled body fighting . His movements were slower than the other mans. Then Hitsugaya-sama managed to cut the tall dark-haired man on his chest. The man didn't give any indication to being cut. He continued lashing out at Hitsugaya-sama as if it never happened.
Matsumoto was shaking in fear when she realized who the dark-haired man that Hitsugaya-sama was fighting was. The red-head heard a painful wail then a thud, she strained her neck forward to see what happened. She gasped in horror. "No...no no no no!" She muttered horror-struck, shaking even more.
Hitsugaya-sama was lying face down on the dirt in a pool of his own blood.
Matsumoto didn't know what else to do but run. Fear seemed to consume her, she felt sick. She ran away, leaving her master's corpse in the hands of the merciless killer.
Tears streaked down her face. Despite her low energy, she ran for her life. If Hitsugaya-sama couldn't defeat Kuchiki Byakuya, then surely she couldn't. She was filled with grief and pain.
"I will avenge you." Matsumoto swore as she ran back to Soul Society, her organization, to tell them the horrifying news.
-
Whew, I finally managed to write it! I'm so sorry for not writing earlier, but I had to do study for my finals. They also gave me a lot of homework and stuff, because schools almost over and stuff. I'll have more time on my hands in the summer and I will probably update faster than I am now. Anyway, I hope you liked it, and I'm sorry if you're dissapointed at how it turned out. I don't really like it myself, I think it could have been better, maybe, I don't know...Anyway please tell me if you liked it or not, thanks for reading. :]
~Scattered Cherry Blossoms
P.S. Thanks Psy-chan for finding my many grammar mistakes and fixing them!!! I appreciate it, and thanks Shi-chan for also editing, and for helping me with the fic.