WARNING! This Chapter, compared to everything else I have written, is fairly graphic, and in turn, should probably be rated M. I doubt this will deter anyone from reading, but, I figured I might as well give a little heads up.
The moment Ichimaru had begun to read from the scroll, Soifon started yelling, screaming for everyone to back up and get away from Keiko. But, like the rest of the crowd, her yells died down, and all she could do was stare as her protege screamed and writhed in pain. Tears threatened Soifon's eyes, almost -feeling- Keiko's pain through the younger woman's screams and cries of agony. No words would reach her lips as she continued to watch, continued to stare, dumb-founded, as Keiko's hair changed.. as her body snapped back.. as her eyes opened. She could feel the change in the younger woman's aura and knew that Keiko was gone.
"Kei..?"
The soft voice pushed some sense into Soifon, and she turned to see Shuuhei staring at Keiko's body. The Captain knew he wanted to run forward, but she also knew it would be suicide. Reaching out, Soifon grabbed Shuuhei's upper arm tightly and moved closer to him to murmur: "That's not Keiko anymore.." When Shuuhei turned to look at Soifon, she felt her heart break just from the looks on his face - confusion, pain, sorrow, denial. Soifon could only shake her head.
Another gasp rippled through the crowd, and immediately, Soifon looked back over to Keiko. She had slumped forward and a black aura ignited around her body. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled in warning, and the Captain glanced up, noticing that two Shinigami were closer to Keiko then they should be. Eyes widening, Soifon yelled out: "Get -away- from her!" But it was too late.
In the blink of an eye, Keiko leapt at the nearest Shinigami, her fist slamming into his face so hard that the bone of his nose was forced back into his head, straight into his brain, instantly killing him as blood and brain matter actually oozed out his ears. But she didn't slow down. She leapt again at the second Shinigami, this time a hellish cry ripping from her throat as she grabbed his shoulders, her claws sinking into his soft flesh before her mouth, open wide and showing off sharp fangs, closed down on his neck. He fell, Keiko on top of him, her hands refusing to let go of her prey, even as she pulled her head back, ripping out the Shinigami's throat, neck bones cracking with ease, veins and arteries snapping apart like string. Unlike his companion, his death would be slower; he would lie there, seizing until he bled out.
Soifon clasped both hands over her mouth, afraid that she might throw up from the grotesque display she had just witnessed. As a Captain and as Soushireikan, Soifon had never witness such acts of brutality before. Hollow would always kill mindlessly, eat the souls of their victims, but never had there been a bloody mess as what Keiko had just done.It was nothing more than proof that Keiko was truely gone, replaced by a mindless animal. The crowd backed up as far as humanly possible, all afraid that they would be Keiko's next victim.
Blood and gore dripping from Keiko's mouth, her entire face blood-stained, she moved off the body of her second victim and fell to her knees. Her head fell forward, and the long clots of red hair fell over her face, covering it from view as her arms fell limply at her sides. All she did was sit there, her aura sparking and growing around her.
"What is she doing?" Shuuhei whispered, his face contorted in all the emotions he felt, his voice raspy as though he had cotton in his throat.
"Waiting," Soifon replied, her eyes glued to Keiko's body. Brow ruffled, Shuuhei turned to look at her. "This has happened to her once before. The first time the Chishio no Rouzeki is ever triggered is when a Shinigami reaches a certain age. What happens is very similar to what you've seen so far, but it takes much longer for the mindlessness to come. That was why we were able to get the seals on her in time, to prevent her from losing herself completely..."
"What.. what's happening to me?!" a much younger Keiko screamed, staring at her hands as thick claws formed from her nails. Not caring if she ripped her face off in the process, she reached up to quickly remove the head and face covers of her Onmitsukido uniform. Tears streamed down her face, both from the pain coursing through her body and the strange things -happening- to her.
Grasping onto the younger woman's shoulders, Yoruichi quickly turned to yell: "Soifon! Get Soutaichou-dono! Tell him what's happened, now!"
"H-hai!" a younger Soifon stuttered staring at her comrade. Gasping as she saw Keiko's hair change color, she quickly turned and ran.
"Shihouin-sama.. what's -wrong- with me..?" Keiko whimpered, oblivious to the tears of blood she was spilling.
"You'll be alright, Keiko. Just stay with me," the older woman forced a smile.
"But.. but I want to kill.."
"For the first time, the mindlessness has sunk in.. but it hasn't used Keiko's body before. It's waiting.. adjusting.." Soifon murmured, remembering the first time she had ever seen the Chishio no Rouzeki.
"Captain-chan continues to not disappoint!" Ichimaru finally spoke up, laughing gleefully. "It appears Aizen's experiment was a success! Well, then, I guess I'll be leaving you folks to deal with the mess!" With that, the traitor laughed, let go of Matsumoto and disappeared with the scroll.
No one spoke. No one moved. Every single Shinigami in the area, Captain and newbie alike, just stared. After closing her eyes and shaking her head, Soifon looked up and turned towards Genryusai-soutaichou. Although there was no emotion apparent on the Commander General's face, Soifon was certain he was feeling just as she was - hurt. Without the scroll, there was nothing they could do. When he nodded, ever so slightly so that she was the only one who noticed it, Soifon sighed and bowed her head. Leaving Shuuhei's side, she weaved through the crowd until she was standing before Kenpachi, the big man, like everyone else, staring at Keiko. When he finally noticed her, he looked down.
"You know what you have to do, don't you?" Soifon spoke quietly, hating every word that left her mouth.
"What?" Kenpachi raised an eyebrow, staring at the smaller woman.
Soifon sighed again. "Keiko wasn't just trying to teach you how to use your bankai... She was training you to -kill- her."
"What tha hell are you talkin about?" Kenpachi snarled.
"It all started out as a ploy," Soifon scowled, turning to watch Keiko again. "Saying that she would teach you, that was a lie at first, a cover. She needed to see if you really were as strong as everyone said you were. When you proved that you were, she knew that you would be the one to help her. Yeah, she started to actually -want- to help you, but always, in the back of her mind, she was making sure that you'd be able to do it."
"Yer fuckin crazy..."
"Don't you get it?!" Soifon started to yell, whirling around to stare up at Kenpachi. "She knew that you were the only one who could kill her if it came to this! Keiko is -GONE-! That -thing- over there," she pointed behind her, "is just the shell of her body! Her mind is gone! If we don't do something about it, if you don't kill her, she will kill -everyone- in Soul Society! Do you -think- she'd want that?! Think about it!" The tears finally fell past their borders, flowing down Soifon's cheeks.
For a few moments, Kenpachi stared at Soifon, her words slowly sinking in. Tilting his head up, he brought his eye to settle upon Keiko, to stare at her as she just -sat- there, her aura growing with each passing moment. Was that the truth? Was everything she did for him, everything she put herself through only to make sure that in the end he would kill her? Everything was beginning to make sense. That didn't mean Kenpachi had to like it.
With a sneer, Kenpachi looked away from Keiko, his eye falling on 69. Apparently he hadn't heard a word of what the amazoness said, because he only continued to stare at Keiko. The look on his face was so... disgusting. Love. Yeah, Kenpachi could recognize that when he saw it. And that weakness disgusted him. Closing his eye, the big man sighed, trying to get his own thoughts in order. So, the woman wanted him to kill her if this shit happened. Guess he couldn't disappoint.
"Whatever," Kenpachi muttered, literally shoving the amazoness and any other Shinigami out of his way. Without unsheathing his zanpakuto, he walked right up to Keiko, feeling the mindless, primeval energy her aura gave off. It wanted to kill, not because it needed to eat, not because it needed to survive, just because. As he neared her, he could feel a spark in her aura, as though, without looking, she knew someone or something was nearing her. Reaching out, because he really didn't know what else to do, he tried to grasp her shoulder, to force her head back so he could look at her.
But she was fast. Her closest arm flicked out, swiping his arm away before her other arm followed through, her fingers curled tightly, claws flying swiftly at his face. Kenpachi quickly leaned back, barely avoiding her hand. Apparently, this infuriated Keiko, because she shrieked, quickly getting to her feet and lashing out, repeatedly swiping at his face with each hand, left, then right, repeated, causing Kenpachi to back up. Getting down right fed up of this tactic, Kenpachi reached out after dodging yet another swipe, grabbing her wrist with one hand and forcefully raising it into the air, his hand other curling into a fist and slamming it right into her solar plexus. It stunned her, as he felt the muscles he had a hold of weaken, but only for a moment. With another shriek, Keiko leaned into him, quickly spinning around with such strength it forced Kenpachi to loosen his hold on her wrist. She followed up the spin by using gravity to pour as much power as she could into her elbow, which she smashed right into his chest. There was enough force in the hit that Kenpachi's body flew through the air, stopped only by the wall his back barreled into.
"Well shit," he coughed as dust and debris rained down on him. Getting to his feet, Kenpachi reached up and ripped his eye patch off, his own aura once more flaring out around him. Fighting with Keiko without her seals. It was one of the things he wanted more than -anything-, but how was he supposed to enjoy a fight where his opponent acted like nothing more than an animal? There was nothing -to- enjoy.
Before Kenpachi could do anything else, Keiko dashed forward, leaping into the air and falling down towards him, her clawed hands once more aimed at his face. Unable to completely dodge her movements a second time, despite the fact she wasn't as fast as she had been with her bankai, her fingers slashed through his right shoulder, blood splurting out of the fresh wound, covering his shoulder and the right side of his face. For a moment, Kenpachi stood, surprised. The wound didn't hurt, but he could actually feel a tingling near the ripped flesh. The animal, oblivious to his pause, continued its assault, slashing out with another hand, but Kenpachi, quickly leaving his daze, once more grabbed a wrist before spinning both himself and Keiko around in a full circle and let her go, flinging her body into the building opposite of him. She crashed right through it, leaving Kenpachi to mutter under his breath and stalk right after her.
Leaping from the wreckage when Kenpachi was close enough, Keiko sunk her claws right into his shoulders, and her mouth snapped out at his throat as he fell onto the ground with her on top, straddling his chest. Kenpachi growled, bringing both forearms up in front of him and pressing them into her neck to prevent her from ripping out his throat. For a few moments, they struggled, Keiko desperately trying to get at his throat while Kenpachi did his best to ward her off. After removing one of his arms from her neck, he pulled it back, hand curling into another fist before he slammed it into the side of her head, dazing her long enough so that he could throw her off him and get up. His hand snaked out and he quickly unsheathed his zanpakuto, the blade actually shining.
Keiko sat on the ground, squatted on her haunches, her arms between her legs, palms pressing into the ground like a cat. Her hair was a mess, dirt and blood clumped into the long red strands. She stared up at Kenpachi, snarling, her claws digging into the ground
Breathing heavily, Kenpachi merely stared right back at her, his right hand tightly clasping the hilt of his zanpakuto. So, this was what Keiko was like when her blood rioted. He could feel her strength emanating from her aura, and he could nearly admit that at this point she was stronger than him. But, she was mindless - she couldn't use her mind, couldn't recognize her surroundings. The only thing on her mind was blood, of spilling it, whether it was Kenpachi's or her own. Because of that, he had the advantage. He could almost admit, as well, that if -this- happened to him, that if Kenpachi lost his mind and acted like an animal, he'd probably want to be killed too, simply because he wouldn't be able to enjoy a fight. "Guess you'll get your wish," he muttered to Keiko, fully aware she didn't understand him.
The animal ran at him on all fours, the image of that alone disturbing by the simple fact that the body was human, but everything else about it was not. When it neared it's prey, it was on it's feet, lashing out in a frenzy of swipes. Kenpachi did what he could to dodge the blows, but when one would wind up being too close to hitting him, he would block with his zanpakuto. Pain, apparently, meant nothing to the animal, because it repeatedly cut itself on the blade every time it was used to block. It moved back, then quickly forward on Kenpachi's side, mouth wide as it once more aimed for his neck. Instead, it got a mouth full of zanpakuto as Kenpachi brought it up to once more block it's attack. Snarling, Keiko bit down on the sword, the corners of her lips splitting and bleeding. Quickly, it let go and jumped backwards to squat down on the ground, it's eyes, though nothing but white, staring at Kenpachi.
Shaking his head, Kenpachi just stared at Keiko, lowering his blade. Was this how things were really going to play out? Was he really going to have to kill her and -never- get his rematch? A glint of metal caught his eye. Glancing to the side, Kenpachi eyed Keiko's zanpakuto, just lying on the ground where it had fallen from her back. And suddenly, quite possibly the most stupid idea came to him. Sheathing his own zanpakuto, keeping his eye on Keiko because he could feel her staring at him, he took a few steps to his right until he could bend down and pick up her zanpakuto. It was not released, so in his hands, it was nothing more than a katana. Fingers curling around the hilt, he just stood where he was, watching Keiko. Sooner or later, she would lash out at him.
Quietly, Kenpachi watched her, noticing the twitch of her haunches and hands. When it seemed Keiko lost patience, she shrieked and leapt at him, yet again, her hands slashing out at his face and neck. Dodging all of her attacks, except for one that actually passed him, two of her fingers slicing into his left cheek, he stepped forward, grasping her zanpakuto and shoving the blade right into her stomach, the spot, he hoped, where she generally impaled herself to release Chiakki. His free hand moved behind Keiko to press into her back and force her body against his chest.
Two very different shrieks ripped from Keiko's throat as she was impaled, one her own, the other Chiakki's. Blood began to pour from Keiko's mouth as well as her stomach and back where the blade had been run through, and her body began to writh and seize, her black aura sparking erratically around them. Ignoring Keiko herself, Kenpachi focused on her shadow instead, really hoping that his idea would work. As if on cue, Keiko's shadow disappeared and Chiakki shrieked as it stepped away from Keiko's body.
"What are you doing to my holy sanctuary?!" the demon screamed at Kenpachi. "How DARE you try to mimic our sacred pact!"
Kenpachi snorted, watching the demon. "I don't know if you've noticed," he grunted, using all of his strength to keep Keiko's body, and thus the blade, in place, to make sure Keiko didn't rip her entire stomach out, "but your 'sanctuary' as you put it, is dying."
"Let go of her!" the demon continued to scream and shriek.
"Can't do that, afraid," he smirked. "Because when I let go of her, she'll rip her own stomach out and die. And you know what happens to -you- if she dies, don't you?"
Chiakki could only scream and shriek in response, all those negative emotions Kenpachi had once felt from it now flooding from its aura. Suddenly, Chiakki silenced. "What do you want, human?"
"You're her zanpakuto. You know what's in her blood. Get rid of it."
"Why should I?!" it screamed in response. "The taint in her blood feeds my passion! It's fire is unlike anything I have ever felt before!"
"Well, if -you- want to die.." Kenpachi trailed off, making a big show of letting Keiko go.
Again, Chiakki shrieked, its chains rattling furiously. "STOP, human!" Silence fell between the two, except for the piteous cries of Keiko's dying body. Stepping out from behind Keiko, Chiakki walked right up to Kenpachi and lifted a hand, the skin red in color, to wipe the blood off his cheek. "What she will no longer be able to give me, I will take from you," it hissed before wiping its hand diagonally across its mask, leaving a trail of Kenpachi's blood. For a brief moment, the blood glowed, and Kenpachi stared at it.
Another shriek filled the air and Chiakki stepped backwards, disappearing in a swirl of red smoke which moved quickly through the air, straight into Keiko's mouth. Seconds later, black, viscous fluid dribbled from Keiko's mouth, down Kenpachi's chest as her body continued to shake. When the flow of liquid stopped, so did the shaking and her black aura literally disappeared.
Kenpachi quickly pulled her zanpakuto out of her stomach, letting the katana fall to the ground, but thankfully, no blood poured fourth; Chiakki would keep the pact it made with Kenpachi. Keeping his hand at her back, pressing her body against his so she wouldn't fall over, he waited, his own aura, although flaring freely without his eyepatch, calming and settling around them. A gasp emitted from the Shinigami all around as Keiko's hair, although still long, faded from red to black. When he finally felt her begin to move against him, he smirked and muttered, "What, not gonna' pass out on me?"
"If it'll make you feel better," she murmured. With a soft groan, she tried to move, but every muscle in her body screamed at her otherwise. She hurt. A lot. Sighing at that small defeat, she remained leaning again Kenpachi, eventually speaking up: "Why'd you do it? You were supposed to kill me."
Kenpachi shrugged, keeping his voice low as he replied: "You never gave up on me, so, why would I give up on you?" Yeah, maybe she had never really planned on helping him in the way she did, maybe she had only been using him at the beginning, but after spending so much time with the crazy woman, he had learned how sincere and truthful she really was. "Besides," he raised his voice, "I still want my rematch. Can't very well have that if yer dead."
Laughing, Keiko gained enough strength to move away from him and shake her head: "Well, I guess it's good to know you'll save my ass if I'm about to die just so you can get your rematch, huh?" Immediately, Shuuhei and Soifon were on her, Shuuhei pulling her body tightly against his, Soifon crying in relief.
Kenpachi simply smirked, disgusted with the displays of affection before him, but quite content with -himself-. Yeah, he had changed. He might not yet have his bankai, but he was different, and he was stronger for it. Turning around so his back was facing the happy reunion, he started off towards his Squad with only one thing on his mind: sake. He really needed a drink...
Owari.
Am I mean? Am I a terrible horrible individual? Probably. But, I won't lie. From day -one-, my plan was to never actually show Kenpachi gaining his bankai. The reasoning is simple: No fan, no matter how avid, could ever, ever, -ever- do Kenpachi justice by creating a bankai for him. It just isn't possible, no matter how much anyone could wish otherwise.
I did, however, leave things open to interpretation as well as the possibility of further writing. That, however, depends on whether or not I am inspired to write more as well as if anyone would be -interested- if I wrote more. Only time will tell.
My one big note for this chapter, because I know at least -one- person is either going to point it out or have a problem with it is - Kenpachi picking up and using Keiko's zanpakuto. It has been said that it is "difficult" for a Shinigami to wield another Shinigami's zanpakuto, that Tousen is the only one, known, to have done it so far. But my reasoning for Kenpachi being able to do it is as follows: Ichigo vs. Kenpachi - Kenpachi grabs onto Ichigo's shikai and pulls it to himself without the slightest problem. Again, I stress -shikai-. And yes, I realize he doesn't "wield" Zangetsu, but, I think, being able to grab, barehanded, another Shinigami's zanpakuto and pretty much control where it went says something. If Kenpachi could do that, then I don't see much of a problem in his picking up, holding and stabbing Keiko's own zanpakuto, which isn't even released to it's shikai.
Edit: Amagai vs. Ichigo - Yes, for those of you that watch the filler, Agamai grabbed Zangetsu and used it to toss Ichigo away from him. However, the way in which it was animated, he had a much harder time doing so than Kenpachi did.