"You promised to always keep a listening ear for those who are voiceless,"
The aura between the man and I flurried as the strangest feeling I'd ever known overwhelmed me. It was as if a wall of flame collided into me, and the fire seeped into my pores and made itself home within me. I had no idea just what in Kami's name was happening, and I couldn't figure out how to even begin to comprehend the feeling of something possessing me. All I could do was keep staring into that blinding white light; eyes and mouth agape, breathing shallow, and completely numb by the new entity within me.
"Yet you've neglected to keep that promise. Not just to them, Akinoyo,"
Air filled my lungs to capacity. My jaw snapped shut, and that light flicked to black like someone shut off the light switch.
"But to me,"
Wait—what?
The blue sky met my eyes as I blinked. My head craned forward to the man spitting words at my face while shaking me by the grip on my kosode. The reiatsu within me exuded out of me as if a blacksmith utilized his bellows to stoke his fire; the energy gaining complete control of the immediate atmosphere around me. The man was pushed off me as a result, and as he caught his ground, my arms snapped through the invisible restraint holding me back; I rose to my feet, and stood tall with my full attention on the assailant in front of me.
The only thing about this was…
…it wasn't me staring at him.
My arm quickly took hold of my zanpakutou's hilt behind my right hip, and unsheathed the blade with zero difficulty.
"What's this? Where did the sudden bravado stem from? We both know you have no idea how to use that, dear," He unsheathed his own zanpakutou at his side and held it forward in preparation for a strike.
Before I could even question what was happening, the man charged at me; his zanpakutou above his head for a lethal, downward swing that I wouldn't be able to defend. I couldn't move my body to run; all it did was stand there with my zanpakutou held out defensively. Whatever this was that was happening wasn't good; my internal panic skyrocketed out of control, and I couldn't even do anything about it.
This man was going to lop my limbs off and take me by force. All I was doing was standing there waiting to be his victim. What the fuck was going on here? Why couldn't I control myself? Had I finally slipped into insanity and this zombified state was the end result? The feeble attempt of taking out the zanpakutou I hadn't the first clue in how to use, and then standing there waiting for him to slaughter me like a helpless animal? Just what kind of sick joke was my uncontrollable body trying to pull?
"The difference between you and I,"
My arm rose; the zanpakutou I held with my right hand positioned in front of my chest horizontally. The man took to the air, and gravity had him falling down toward me like a guillotine. It wouldn't be more than five seconds before I was done for.
"Is that I don't break my promises,"
My left hand met my right, and in a blink slid against the dull side of the blade back to the tip.
"This will hurt, Akinoyo. Consider it payment for my services,"
The control was all her—this was all her making poor decisions in my body. Not only was the entire situation nerve-wracking as it was, but the fact that I literally had no choice in what was about to happen completely terrified me.
The fire she stoked within me raged instantly; my skin burning as she exuded the energy.
"Howl!"
The blade disappeared; two forearm-sized blades with golden brass-knuckles as part of the hilt left in each hand.
Both blades rose to parry the man's attack. I could feel my mouth form a smirk up at the man as my crossed armed position caught his zanpakutou—his face intrigued at my action. I pushed him off, and stood at the ready for his next attack.
"You think just because you can use your zanpakutou that it will be the deciding factor in this bout? You're sadly mistaken, Kiteyama Akinoyo!" He rose two fingers, and for the first time, a pump of energy—no, reiatsu—radiated from him that even I felt.
Purple tendrils came from his fingers straight at me; the feeling malicious and all around predatory.
"Move!" I screeched.
A snide chuckle rumbled in my chest at my screech only the two of us heard.
She side-stepped me in a graceful twirl away from the hungry tentacles, and within moments I was in front of the unnamed man; swiping inward with the blade held in my right hand. He parried easily, to which my left came in for the kill. He flashed away from the finishing blow and I was quickly maneuvered into pulling the most acrobatic stunt I'd ever had in my entire life; she back-flipped me away from the lightening shot at me.
I landed in a crouched position, and the man wasted no time for me to regain my stance to assess him. He fired off countless shots at me, to which my possessed face grinned and dodged in a scattered formation along the pavement. My body moved so quickly—had I been able to do this even more effectively prior to this?
"The naivety you repetitively display is insulting. You really think this is the extent of our power?" That elegant voice of superiority countered my thought.
In the meantime, she flashed me in from behind the man for another attempt at his neck; the man striking back with his zanpakutou and a defensive point-blank shot at my torso.
"I didn't say that this was the extent of our power; I'm merely questioning since this is my first time seeing it. You need to quit jumping to conclusions," I retorted back.
An audible chuckle escaped my lips this time, as she defended against the combination slash-attack the man was executing.
"This new audacity you possess is so revoltingl; what an arrogant, impudent leech you've become. Must you always bite the hand that feeds you?"
"When that hand constantly smacks me in the face with insults, yeah—you're damn fucking right I'll bite back. How do you expect respect when you don't give it?" I shot back at her.
"What's so funny, Kiteyama Akinoyo?" the man appeared from behind, and stabbed straight for my abdomen.
I didn't quite know where I was right now, but I mentally clenched and yelped from the action; waiting for the impending strike that would seal my fate. With all the banter back and forth between her and I, and the actions she displayed that complimented her words, I didn't think that she would lose—I didn't think we would lose. Kami, I was such a—
"Coward."
My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
The man's blade phased through the right side of my abdomen; a translucent, wave-like blur replacing the section entirely. I grabbed the blade without hesitation with my left hand.
"You've underestimated me. Perhaps you'll be wiser in your next life,"
Without another moment to lose, my body twisted in a back slash straight with my right hand at his neck, and successfully lopped off his head.
If I had control of my hands, they'd be at my mouth; a weak attempt at fighting the strong yank on my uvula.
"Y-Y-You…why d-did—"
"I said he underestimated me; I never said that I underestimated him. Try to listen more intently when others are speaking, Akinoyo," she responded aloud as she kicked his body away from us. "Be patient, and wait."
Okay, no. I wasn't about to be patient. She just used my body to kill someone without flinching. What in the fuck was there to be patient about? The bloody fucking head on the pavement sure as fuck didn't make me just want to gingerly have a seat to sip some fucking tea! What were we going to do now? Yeah he tried to abduct me, but did that really—
"Please, your internal banter only infuriates me more as the seconds pass. This isn't over, Akinoyo—he has not yet deceased."
"Oh, well pardon me for my apparent disarray from the visual of blood spurting out of the man's neck upon his decapitation in which you dutifully executed. As my common sense recalls, once the neck is severed and there is no longer a cranium attached to the rest of the body, that means you're fucking dead! What the fuck do you mean he's not dead? That's the biggest load of—"
On cue to prove my—clearly logical—anatomic reasoning false, the body she kicked away began to convulse on the ground; the palms of his hands pushing himself back up.
"Yet again, your lack of patience and observational skills are costly." She scowled at me. "Just stay quiet and let me handle this."
As much as I wanted to just back hand the absolute fuck out of this snobby bitch of a zanpakutou, it wasn't like I had too much choice in the matter. She clearly knew more about the situation than I did—might as well let her have this one.
"I'll adhere on two conditions." I bargained. "1. You interrogate this guy. 2. You let me work things out with you. Deal?"
The head on the pavement began decaying as if a thousand years had passed in mere seconds; I watched as it shriveled, and looked back to the body thrashing about.
"The second is a hard bargain,"
She lifted my left hand, and slit the blade held by my right across the pad under my thumb on my palm. The blood immediately seeped out of the wound, and she used the two forefingers on my right hand to wipe it up.
"However, the sweet sound of silence outweighs your ignorant chatter,"
The man's body grew it's head back in one horrendously fast—not to mention nauseating—bulging excretion, and the mouth of the muscular sphere of peeking brains and teeth ripped open in a gasp for air.
"We have an accord," she smirked through my lips.
As the morphing creature inched toward me, she quickly shoved my left sleeve up to my elbow. With my own blood on my fingertips, the kanji for wood was drawn along my veins. True to my word, I zipped my lips, and continued to watch through my own eyes the scene about to unfold.
The man—missing only the skin on his face—cackled with such a sharp hack that had my head snap up at him. His partially lidded eyes looked up at me as his posture slowly and sporadically straightened.
"What happened to the defenseless, shrieking lamb from last night? The reports didn't mention bipolar behavior; the nature of your actions is truly intriguing to me, Kiteyama Akinoyo." He grinned through the half-regenerated strands of skin covering his gums.
"Your words confirm my assumption; you're the same assailant from last night."
Wait.
His grin widened as his hand pulled at the flesh on his cheek. "Tell me—which face would make your insides tremble? Perhaps of the one of the man you murdered?" his still developing skin began to change along with his facial structure—he was being serious; he could change to look like anyone he desired.
Oh Kami. No. I …I didn't want to see that man; I couldn't, I—
"I will leave the decision of which face you want me to annihilate up to your discretion," She smirked.
In an instant, he charged at us with his zanpakutou. In a quick motion, I lowered my hands close to the ground, and—as if lifting an invisible, heavy force—brought them back up in a strained fashion. Through the concrete below, thick tree roots shot upward at the last moment.
"Where in the—"
The man crashed straight into them, and in a single hop, I was at the top of the branches; perched and peering down at the sinister shape-shifted man below. My left hand rose swiftly, and with a flick of my wrist, over half of the roots separated; squirming in the direction I pointed with my two forefingers.
The man met our height in the air, and as he attempted his next attack, my fingers swiped in his direction; the roots pummeling into him before he could execute the attack.
I was literally in awe at the whole scene. If I had control of my own jaw, it'd be agape from the mind-boggling maneuver she just had me execute.
"At least you're impressed by something truly magnificent for once," she told me internally.
With a graceful motion, she balanced on one foot, and let my body carry into her movements. I spun down counter-clockwise into the next attack, directing the now spiked—yet flaccid—wood at him. The wood tendrils complied, and flowed through the atmosphere down at the ground. He dodged the initial attack, and shot a few more lightening bolts at me. She quickly lurched me upright; fingers straight and flexing upward to direct a barricade of wood to shield the attack.
As the previously directed wood followed the man, my right fingers dipped into the open reservoir of blood on my palm, and transferred it to my right palm. My left forefingers took the smeared blood, and quickly drew the same kanji on my right wrist.
A wind far colder than the atmosphere made itself know at the ending stroke of the kanji; a violent collision and the sound of fragile, hollowed shards shattering against the pavement below snapping my focus back toward the main event.
"Akinoyo-chan!" Rangiku's voice sounded nearby.
Toushirou was now trailing the assailant below me; his speed so impeccable that within seconds he caught up to man and was mere seconds away from executing his first strike.
Without warning, she rose my hands fiercely upward; my face scrunched in focus as she pumped extra reiatsu into the movement. In a flash she launched me off our perch in a speed I never thought possible; heading straight for the two of them and passing Rangiku's approaching figure without even a glance.
Toushirou sliced through the tidal wave of wood she sent crashing down on him, and with his delay and shout for my halt, my eyes briefly met his in warning. I quickly passed him after the affirmative eye contact, and closed in on the fleeing assailant.
As I ran, both hands with pointed forefingers were pulled forward before me, and the wood fell into flank on both sides. My left hand directed the wood on my left to proceed faster than my feet toward the man. He dodged in a calculated, yet scattered formation, and as I directed the wood to counter his movements, my body took other counter-active measures. The wood enclosed in on him, and I infiltrated through the only opening I left to go in for the execution.
His reiatsu flared visibly around him—a graphite aura that sent waves to stop my flash toward him. I pierced through it like a bullet through a paper target, and twirled into a right-hand dominant slash attack.
He guarded, and as the attack was about to land, a distraction had both our heads snap to meet the interference.
"Akinoyo!" Toushirou shouted as he closed in faster than anticipated.
Unprepared for the quick appearance, the trick that saved my ass earlier didn't save me this time. In an instant, his reiatsu powered, pointed hand stabbed into my abdomen like a spade. I coughed up scarlet as the man spat his words.
"Consider yourself lucky, Kiteyama Akinoyo,"
I rose my head to peer into him; my eyes fierce and unwavering through the immense pain in my abdomen.
"You will come back to us whether you want to or not; however many of your shinigami companions you wish to sacrifice is up to you—they won't be around for much longer regardless," he grinned maliciously.
"This notion you have of your escape is comical," the serious expression worn turned to a mischievous grin. "You're precisely where I want you,"
With a quick finger maneuver, she flipped the blade and gripped by the outer finger-holed handle meant for metal hand-to-hand combat; the sharp ridges pierced into my palm, but all in the effort for the sharp end of the blade to face inward for the finishing blow. Once the position was met in the faster time-span than the blink if an eye, the point of the blade pierced through his cheek and up through the rest of his skull.
While I internally shrieked at the sight, my unfazed zanpakutou sliced clean out through his face. The urge to throw up was too real at the delicious eye candy she graciously bestowed me. Yet another disturbing image to decorate the wall of my actual operating memory bank.
"Akinoyo-chan!" Rangiku called with sheer urgency as the two of them approached.
I yanked the man's hand from my gut, and kicked him several yards away before turning to my two al—
"Stay back, Hitsugaya Toushirou and Matsumoto Rangiku." She threatened.
…my two…not allies? What the fuck was she doing?
Toushirou and Rangiku stopped in their tracks at the tone of voice; Toushirou inspecting me warily. "Akinoyo, what happened?"
"Exactly what your eyes have witnessed; the prey has become the predator." She answered.
Just what in the Hell was she—
The corpse began squirming to life yet again; hands scrambling and scratching around the pavement as his face redeveloped.
"Taichou!" Rangiku alerted.
Toushirou stepped forward with his own zanpakutou ready to finish the job; she stepped me in front of him with our own blade pointed at him.
"Don't make me repeat myself, Hitsugaya Toushirou," She threatened.
At my reaction, he stared deeply into my eyes, the glaze in his own changing—betrayal perhaps? I wouldn't doubt it with what this bitch of a zanpakutou of mine was fucking pulling.
"What do you think you're doing? He's here to help us!"
"You're not Akinoyo—that much is clear. Who are you, and what have you done to her?" Toushirou pointed his zanpakutou at me.
Screaming came from the man, and we all knew that our limit was almost up.
"There's the sharp wit of yours; I knew you would figure it out quickly. However, now isn't the time for your questions. To show my gratitude for prior assistance, I'll repeat myself one last time: stay back. Take one step closer, and I will show no mercy to you or your Fukutaichou."
I didn't even have to see it to know that the man was almost to his feet; mere moments away from pouncing on me like a starving jaguar. Whatever she was trying to prove, she needed to knock it off and get her head back in the game.
"You're injured; you need to stay back. Let us take it from here." Toushirou countered sternly.
A chuckle rumbled deep in her throat; her portrayed dignity for being refined preventing her from letting it fully surface.
"You are a shinigami after all," she turned her back to Toushirou; watching the man finalize his regeneration. "You will never understand the strife of the prey,"
The man leapt at me as I'd predicted; angry and malicious—his pot shot at me for revenge. I leapt right back at him, both blades ready and eager to slice into him as easily as margarine. We crashed into one another, his force dominating over mine with an extra push of his reiatsu to back it up. He pushed me back, and I barrel-rolled gracefully to my feet; that smirk ever present on my lips.
The man quickly turned tail trying to make a break for it since the outnumbering clearly changed the gravity of the situation. However, my zanpakutou had no such self-restraint to let him leave.
My arms straightened outward horizontally in a crucifixion position, and—with severe strain—commanded more wood to rise from the ground. More roots rose from the sides of the man; thicker than I'd ever seen and heavy enough that I felt like my arms would fall off even though I wasn't physically lifting anything. She commanded the wood to quickly encase over the man by bringing her arms inward, and a large, cage-like dome began forming. As the man tried to escape, she flashed into the spacious cage with him.
Meeting the wall of the wooden barricade, the man turned to defend against me as she hurled me toward him. With reiatsu aiding my force, she struck down on him like a hammer on a defenseless nail. He pushed me off and came back at me with his own zanpakutou ready for revenge. As I flew back from the force in the cage, Toushirou and Rangiku proceeded forward toward us for assistance.
My prideful, stubborn zanpakutou caught sight of it and wasn't having it. As we flew back from the force, she expanded the wood to create a more solid barrier to keep them out. As she did this, our enemy took the opportunity while we were distracted. He came in with a diagonal slash at my chest, and she quickly turned my body to take it on my back shoulder blade rather than chest. I fell to the ground, and quickly attempted to rise back to my feet, only to be kicked back down to the pavement.
He stepped down onto my stomach, and held the tip of his zanpakutou to my throat. I looked up at him; my eyes displaying the accurate message that he was going to be ripped apart the second I got out of this—even though my actual eyes glazed in terror.
"They didn't tell me you regained the ability to utilize your zanpakutou; I'll make sure we don't take you lightly when we officially recruit you."
"State your name, and state your purpose." My zanpakutou commanded like she was the one holding a blade to his throat.
"My, my, aren't we quite the pretentious one," he dug the tip into my throat—she didn't flinch; just kept that prideful gaze on him. "You'll know who I am soon enough—just you wait, Kiteyama Akinoyo."
Without warning, the barrier cracked loudly with a forced intrusion—Toushirou and Rangiku surely behind it.
"You're lucky those vermin are here—they've given you another day of freedom," he looked down at me in disgust as he withdrew his zanpakutou and quickly sheathed it. "Until next time, Kiteyama-Sama,"
In an instant, he was gone; smoke left in his place.
Toushirou finished breaking down the barrier, and in a flash he and Rangiku were around me.
"Akinoyo-chan!" Rangiku called, that worry ever present even with her zanpakutou out and pointed at me.
My blade pointed at them immediately. "Do you even realize how costly your interference has been?" she questioned; thick with resentment. "Be warned, Hitsugaya Toushirou and Matsumoto Rangiku, the next time either of you interfere, your heads will roll along the pavement."
"Hey! Just what the fuck do you think you're doing? Don't talk to them like that!" I snarled at her.
"Who are you? Where's Akinoyo?" Toushirou didn't miss a beat—even with my blade pointed at him.
She lowered my arm; the dual blades resting congruent on each side. "You're gazing upon her—I am her spirit." She answered. "Be still now,"
She rose my hands, pumping out our shared reiatsu as she inhaled deeply. In a concentrated, and heaved motion, she brought them down; forcing all the wood in her command back into the earth. The ground shook with the forced substances breaking through the pavement, and within a few strained moments, all the wood utilized as a weapon receded back from whence it came.
Once the task was complete, she took a few breaths, and reverted the dual blades back to a single katana in my right hand.
Toushirou sheathed his zanpakutou—as did Rangiku—and stepped forward. "Where is the assailant?"
"Disappeared in an untraceable smoke." She answered quickly. She stepped forward toward him, and Toushirou met the fierce gaze she had through my eyes as she halted directly in front of him.
"With the first interference, my debt to you has been retracted; I no longer owe you for assisting in the release of Kiteyama Akinoyo." She gracefully in a single motion began to sheath our blade, stopping before completely sealing it.
"For the second interference, your payment will be safeguarding this wretched body until it has fully healed. Luckily, she attempted contact earlier in the day, and I was able to shatter through the remnant of the barricade separating her and myself in time to defend her. Because of this however, she will be out of commission for seven days at the minimum." She explained.
"Although with the injury caused ultimately by her severely lacking guardian, she may be out of commission longer than that."
"If your pride dictates you to blame others for the failure of your own choices, then by all means take comfort in your misconstrued belief. I will safeguard her as well as yourself during your unconsciousness—rest assured." He retorted intelligently.
"Need some water for that burn?" I grinned at Toushirou's comeback.
She let out a composed laugh as her palm settled down on the hilt of the 95% sheathed blade. With the two forefingers of my left hand, she delicately pressed the pointed fingers into his chest.
"Let's hope you're right Hitsugaya Toushirou. Until next we meet,"
The guard clanked against the scabbard with the push of the sudden close, and I lost consciousness as soon as the sound faded with the passing waves.
-x-x-
"In a mirrored world, are you beside me?"
My eyes drank in the reflection settled at my chest level; the color of the liquid I soaked in absorbing into my retinas and causing the delayed recollection.
This…this was…
I bit my lip, and stared at the reflection beside my own; tears threatening to escape my eyes from fear rippling within me. Her hands reached down to the liquid, and she swirled her fingers along the surface with a giggle.
"All you think about now is him, isn't it?" she smiled.
As I tried to gain control of my emotion to express my disagreement, her body disappeared behind mine; her face still reflected by where she wedged her head in the crook of my neck. Her arms disappeared into the liquid as she draped them under my arms and around my sides.
"And here I thought I was still your everything," her arms wrapped around my torso, and her palms rested over my bare breasts; fingers gripping the succulent flesh as she squeezed herself into me. "Have you forgotten your debt to me?" she whispered as her lips grew closer to my ear.
I rose my hands to take hold of hers, but there was nothing there even though I saw and felt her in the reflection. A quick glance over my shoulder where her face should have been proved it—I was hallucinating. I looked back to the settled reflection once the ripples passed; her form still appearing and still curled around me. I began to tremble.
"M-Miyuki, i-it's not like that; I h-haven't—"
"I remember first meeting you, Akinoyo-chan,"
The door in the real world I was in slammed open; a shadowed man standing in the threshold with his hand still on the cracked and scarlet stained door he slammed open. My trembling amplified tenfold, and as my body reacted with the basic recoil, a light, soft warmth tickled my nerve-endings from just under my earlobe.
I looked back into the reflection of the blood-filled, clawfoot tub I was in to see Miyuki's lips ghost along the side of my neck after the heated press they made on my skin. She squeezed me tighter, and began trailing a line of soft kisses downward along my neck.
"It was similar to this—no?"
The footsteps of the unidentified man stomped forward toward me, and as I attempted to move my head to look, Miyuki used one of her hands to move my reflected face to focus only on her.
"You keep fooling yourself, Akinoyo-chan," she kissed delicately. "You know you cannot go on living this way," the hand still on my breast slithered down along my scarred stomach; tracing each and every scar along me as she descended further downward—my heart palpitations critically rising.
"You know he isn't enough to satisfy you; he isn't suitable as my replacement,"
The man grabbed my drenched hair, and held a knife to my throat; my body frozen from the reflection's restraint.
"You've always belonged to me—you can never belong to anyone else."
Miyuki turned my head in the reflection up to where the man stood on my left. I met his glowing and vibrant hazel eyes; that smile on his shaded face as gruesome as they come.
"Tell me, Kiteyama Akinoyo," his deep voice began. His face bent down toward me, sending my nerves into complete overdrive at the recognition of the human I murdered.
"Would you rather die looking into the eyes of your worst fear, or,"
His face morphed; his hair changing in a quick wash of snow white color. As his face settled, my heart sank to my stomach, and I knew this would be how it ends.
"Of the eyes of your most beloved?" Toushirou's voice asked me.