Legacy of the Moon
Arc I: Forbidden End
Chapter 12: A Bond in the Making
However, all the soldiers of Stealth Force landed down on the ground empty-handed because the thing which was there in the sky was not Yoruichi but only her orange jacket. "Damn! We lost them, all that was their strategy to escape us." Soi Fon muttered angrily.
"Hisagi, we will find them on the surface," Kira said to Hisagi. "Hmm!" Hisagi responded. "You, stay on the surface as well, Iba. I will protect the building of Squad 1," Komamura spoke to Iba before leaving. "Let's go Renji, we will pursue them through the sewers," Byakuya ordered as he jumped into the underground pathways. Yes, Captain, I am coming," Renji replied and then began to follow him. "Come Yumichika, don't fall behind," Ikkaku spoke to Yumichika while jumping into the sewers. "Huh! I wore a new uniform today." Yumichika muttered and then he jumped down hesitatingly.
The Urahara Shop, World of the Living…
Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu were still there along with Jaken, two-headed Dragon Yokai, Royakan, and all the other Yokais who came along with Jaken in order to help Sesshomaru. All of them were extremely worried because even after so many days they haven't received even a single update from either Sesshomaru or from Urahara and Yoruichi. Moreover, they were strictly told by Kisuke Urahara that they won't be taking any action on their own without receiving any sort of signal from him, Yoruichi, or Isshin. All of them closed the shop and gathered in the underground training space.
Suddenly Jaken's attention was caught by the chatters of other Yokais who were saying that Sesshomaru might already be dead and they are only wasting their time and lives in this foreign world. Now Jaken got angry at them and began to rant about Sesshomaru's greatness and power. Royakan who was sleeping got disturbed by the noise and he asked Jaken to stop shouting. Royakan then approached Ururu and Jinta along with Jaken in order to convince them to do something about the situation. Both of them successfully managed to convince both the kids and then all four of them approached Tessai in order to convince him though it seemed more like they were simply forcing their decision on him. In the end, Tessai had to accept their proposal but with a condition that first, they will enter Soul Society in order to make sure that both Urahara and Yoruichi are doing fine, only then they will move to the Hueco Mundo to find Sesshomaru. Both Jaken and Royakan agreed on this after some arguments and then Tessai activated the huge inter-dimensional traveling device in order to open a portal to the Soul Society. As he did, all of them rushed inside it like an angry and frustrated mob. It was very different from what Tessai decided as he wanted to sneak into the Soul Society without anyone noticing them.
Meanwhile, in the Soul Society…
Both Yoruichi and Isshin had already escaped the sewers and reached the area of Squad 4 while several squads were still searching for them in the underground ways. "Haha all of them must be cursing us to their heart's content right now," Isshin said to Yoruichi while laughing at the fact that most of the squads were still carrying out the search operation in the sewers. "Indeed but where is Kisuke?" Yoruichi responded and then asked him. "He entered the building of the Department of Research and Development the moment I used Getsuga Tensho," He replied to her.
On the other hand, Urahara had successfully reached the laboratory located inside the building of the Department of Research and Development. Due to the ongoing disturbance in the Soul Society, the security inside the building was minimal. Urahara took complete advantage of the situation and started to access all the secret information which was stored in the servers. However, he didn't find much information about Sesshomaru except that he is a demon, and Soul King banned the interaction of demons with any Soul Reaper or Hollow, a very long time ago. After accessing all the secret data in the laboratory, he decided to find the information related to Sesshomaru in the library.
Far away from him, Yoruichi and Isshin parted ways because Isshin wanted to find Rangiku to ensure her well-being. Yoruichi proceeded towards the area of Squad 2 to deliberately gain the attention of the troops in order to buy more time for both Urahara and Isshin. However, soon enough she was confronted and sieged by none other but Soi Fon and the Stealth Force. "So, finally I have caught you, Madam Yoruichi." Soi Fon spoke upon appearing right in front of her. "I was expecting you, Soi Fon." She replied with a smile on her face. Now in the blink of an eye, Soi Fon approached Yoruichi in order to attack her but she immediately dodged her kick and backed off in order to prepare herself. "So, you want a fight, is that it?" Yoruichi asked in a playful manner. "Any doubts about it?" Soi Fon replied while rushing towards her. Yoruichi rushed towards her as well and then both of them attacked each other with some powerful punches and kicks which produced mild pressure waves upon clashing.
"There is important news for you, Captain." A messenger from her squad said to Soi Fon upon arriving there. "What is it?" She asked. "Both Isshin and Urahara are captured." The messenger replied. Soi Fon smiled after getting the message while Yoruichi doubted the messenger to be true and murmured, "how can it be? There's no way they can get caught this easily."
"You heard him, don't you Madam Yoruichi? Now there's no use in fighting, you should surrender as well," Soi Fon said to her but Yoruichi ignored her and continued fighting. Now she started to look for an opportunity to push Soi Fon away from her and escape from there, in order to find the truth about this information. "Hado 31, Shakkaho!" Yoruichi muttered in the middle of the fighting while generating high-temperature flames on her palm and shooting the collected crimson energy as a blast towards Soi Fon, which she couldn't completely escape since it came to her as a shock. However, she saved herself from the heavy damage which the technique could have done to her but she ended up falling on the ground hard. "I see, so you have changed the way you battle." Soi Fon spoke to her in a serious tone while getting up. "I had to because currently, I don't have enough time to spend with you," Yoruichi replied to her and escaped from there.
Palace of the Olympian Gods, Heavens…
It was a breathtakingly beautiful palace located within the highest known realm which was connected to the Mount of Olympus of the World of the Living. It was the residence of Selene, Goddess of the Moon along with several other Gods and Goddesses. From there she used to regulate all the moons of the universe with her power and authority.
Selene's beauty was beyond what a human mind could perceive. She had an extremely fair complexion with golden blonde hair. Her golden crown was actually more like a helmet covering the upper half portion of her face with her long hair coiled inside of it. A long transparent piece of cloth was attached to the back of her helmet falling up to her hips. She was wearing golden armor on a softer inner armor inside of which there was an exposing dress made up of very thin white fabric. She was a well-endowed Goddess with large firm breasts and wide hips. Her long and beautiful legs were fully exposed from the lower portion of her dress which was hardly covering them. She was also wearing golden high-necked sandals with an armor-like appearance. Her overall appearance was that of an amalgam of both a warrior and a beautiful Goddess.
Lately, she seemed to be disturbed by something. "It's Sesshomaru, but he seemed to be hurt and in a life-threatening condition. It's such a misfortune that I can't even leave this place. I have no choice but to aid him using my power, I hope it would be enough," Selene whispered to herself upon sensing Sesshomaru's situation and then she began to direct her healing energy to him.
The Hueco Mundo…
Ever since Halibel had pierced Sesshomaru's heart in order to break the first seal, something had changed in the Hueco Mundo. As if she had altered the very natural functioning of the world of Hollows since a large amount of them had started to appear all over the place. Powerful elemental Hollows such as Hooleers, Giant Hollow Fortresses, and Sand Hollows had started to abandon the secret portions of Negal Ruins and began to travel to the upper portions. Even the Menos Grande had started to move to the white desert of the uppermost section more frequently than usual.
Since Aizen was in the Hueco Mundo all this time, the knowledge of all these large-scale and critical changes in the Hollows reached him quite fast. He couldn't figure out the reason behind all this but it didn't take him long to make good use of it. He created a large number of Gargantas in the uppermost sections of the Hueco Mundo in order to direct as many Hollows as possible to the Soul Society. He deduced that this move would buy him more time as his experiment was still far away from the point where he wanted it to be.
An unknown underground portion in the Negal Ruins, Hueco Mundo…
The devastating scenario of that area was enough to conclude the level of damage that occurred due to the destruction of La Prisión Real. However, it seemed to be designed in such a way that the entire damage remained constrained within the chamber, and thus only a little part of the rubble fell into the lower chamber while both Sesshomaru and Halibel had fallen down along with it.
The chamber which was right below La Prisión Real was Catacumbas Secretas (English: Secret Catacombs). It was also a gigantic chamber that contained a few large graves made up of rocks and a circular pool of glittering water at its center. Halibel fell down on the edge of that pool but Sesshomaru fell right into it. It took her a few moments to come back to her senses and figure out where exactly she was and what was happening in her surroundings.
She looked here and there to find Sesshomaru and soon enough she noticed the pool right beside her. "I..It's hard to believe but..is it really water? And that too in the depths of Hueco Mundo?... Oh no, he must have fallen inside this pool. I must bring him back before anything happens to him." She murmured to herself shockingly and jumped into that pool without wasting any moment. Since she possessed shark-like abilities thus it didn't take her long to reach Sesshomaru who was unconscious, bleeding, and drowning in the depths of that pool. She immediately rushed towards him and grabbed his hand before he could have gone down any further. She pulled him into her arms and started to swim back to the surface.
After they arrived on the surface and she made him lie down on the ground. She noticed that the symbol of the crescent moon on his forehead was glowing while he was still holding his Tensaiga firmly which also seemed to be pulsating at the moment. However, he was bleeding heavily from his chest and wasn't breathing at all. Now she quickly untied his damaged armor and put it aside, afterward she removed all of his upper clothes and pressed his belly in order to make him vomit the water after which he coughed and started to breathe a little. Now she tore the sleeves of his kimono into strips in order to dress his injury. She took the piece of her broken Hollow Mask out of his Kimono, placed it on the wound on his chest, and then dressed his wound with the strips and pieces of his kimono.
Note: Halibel's Hollow Mask's remnant proved to be a good material to absorb her destructive energy which entered Sesshomaru's body when she pierced his heart.
She was observing him with a lot of concern in her eyes and she was also worried for him as he was still unable to breathe properly. "It seems the symbol of the moon on his forehead and his sword are transferring some sort of healing energy to his body and maybe that's the reason he is still alive, after all that. But he is in pain, he still can't breathe properly, I have to do something about it." She spoke softly while putting one of her hands on his cheek and then she slowly leaned down on him. She parted his lips with her hand and put her mouth on his in order to blow air and ease his breaths. Soon enough his breaths turned to normal and though she pulled back a bit yet she stared at his face for a few minutes as the feelings she had for him, began to overwhelm her.
After a few days
It's been a few days and Halibel took care of the injured and unconscious Sesshomaru all this time. She explored several other portions of that underground structure and also managed to gather a lot of resources such as water, clothes, etc. It was only because of Moon Goddess, Selene's powerful healing, and Halibel's care that Sesshomaru survived such a life-threatening phase. And then, one day he regained consciousness, he was feeling weak and dizzy and his vision was blurry. Halibel was also glad to see him awake but she couldn't say anything to him because of the guilt of injuring him fatally while he protected her several times during their journey. The burden of the guilt that she was carrying all this time on her suddenly increased several folds when she found him awakened.
He didn't say anything to her either as he was busy trying to figure out where he was and what was happening when he was unconscious. It didn't take him much time to realize that they were still inside some underground structures of Negal Ruins while she took care of him all this time. After a long pause, she got a bit close to him in order to remove the old bandages from his wound, though she was still not saying anything and avoiding eye contact with him. After removing the bandages she started to clean his wound with a wet cloth. "Ahh!" A slight moan escaped Sesshomaru's mouth when mistakenly she pressed a bit harder on his wound. "I am sorry," she spoke to him in a low voice. "Where are we?" He asked. "We are right below the chamber inside of which you fought against the Orkos," She replied.
After she dressed his wound, she noticed that he was trying to get up on his feet but was unable to do so. She felt bad upon seeing him in such a miserable condition and thus she stood beside him and stretched her hand toward him. "Hold my hand, Lord Sesshomaru, don't try to get up on your own in this condition," she said in a soft tone. Sesshomaru stared at her face for a moment as she referred to him as Lord Sesshomaru but then he grabbed her hand and got up by her support. For a moment both of them stared at each other without realizing that they were still holding each other's hand. "You shouldn't feel guilty," Sesshomaru said while breaking the silence between them as he turned his face away from her. She also snapped out of her thoughts and immediately released his hand. "No, I should… after all, I am the one who brought this upon us," she responded in a sad tone while looking down." Sesshomaru spoke after a break, "you have already done more than enough, Tia..so, do not blame yourself anymore, alright?" Halibel mumbled while looking towards his face, "mm..hmm." Now both of them headed towards the uppermost portion of the Hueco Mundo together.
The White Desert, the uppermost section of the Hueco Mundo…
Sesshomaru and Halibel had successfully arrived on the uppermost section and currently, and they were heading towards her hideout. Halibel insisted that he spend some time in her hideout because he was still not fully recovered from his fatal injury. On their way, they were also noticing the berserk nature of the Hollows which was due to the destruction of the first seal. They were sensing multiple Gargantas at close and far distances as if a lot of Hollows were going out of the Hueco Mundo.
While they were on their way, suddenly they felt an immensely powerful spiritual pressure and it seemed as if it was approaching them.
The nature of that spiritual pressure was exactly similar to that of a Shinigami but it was so powerful that none of the two were ready to accept that it really belonged to the one. "Tia, you must go now, it seems that this spiritual pressure is coming towards us," Sesshomaru said to her in a serious tone. "But..what about you?" She asked with concern. "You will only be in my way that's why you must leave and don't worry about me, I can take care of this alone," he replied while moving away from her in the direction of that powerful spiritual pressure. "I see, so it's a goodbye," she said in a rather sad tone. "I will come back to you once this is over," he replied as he walked away. "Oh," she responded with slight shock as his words clearly meant that even he wanted to meet her again.
To be continued…
Author's Note:
Hello, my dear readers, I hope you are enjoying the story so far. The middle phase of the ongoing Arc is finished with this chapter. Now the final phase will commence from the next chapter and it is going to conclude the Arc with... sorry, I can't give you the spoiler.
I wanted to inform you guys about one more thing in this Author's Note. Selene the Goddess of the moon is an OC of my fanfiction. Her name and plot are inspired by Greek Mythology while her appearance is inspired by the character Athena from the game Warriors Orochi IV: Ultimate.
If you have read all the chapters so far or even some of them then let me know through your valuable comments/reviews what you think about the story. Or you guys can also ask me questions or doubts if you have any. I will be looking forward to your comments.
Take care and stay tuned…