Sorry for the delay, here's another chapter to satiate everyone. It's not as long as it should be, but I'm trying my best to wrap up this arc as smoothly and gracefully as possible.
Rukia Kuchiki's eyes widened as she struggled in the kido bonds that her fellow Lieutenant and now psychopath Momo Hinamori had put her in. There was no time, however, as Momo's zanpakuto fired off a massive blast of crimson energy towards Orihime and Rukia.
Rukia screamed as it surged towards them, trying to at least urge the redhead to get out of the way. What business did a human like her have in a fight of Shinigami? She'd get herself killed.
"Run, Orihime!"
Orihime Inoue stood strong as the blast hurtled towards them, insulted by Momo and now Rukia's approximation of her as a weakling. True, she was more a lover than a fighter, but that gave them no right to simply cast her away.
"Baigon, Hinagiku, Lily!"
Momo Hinamori's eyes were brilliant bemusement mixed with laughter on her countenance as her massive blast exploded on Rukia Kuchiki, however her wild glee was soon replaced by confused rage as she found Orihime Inoue once more in between her and Rukia unharmed with her golden shield up.
Momo was filled with spite and a great deal of rage, insulted that this pertinent human had dared to block her blast, or even been able to do so in the first place.
"What the hell are you, bitch?!"
"I told you…I'm not letting you hurt my friend. And I'm not going to let you die either. The bloodshed stops here!"
"Tch, I'll turn you to dust! Aid me, Captain Aizen!"
Swinging Tobiume back down, Momo began to fire off volley after volley of crimson orbs towards Rukia. Meanwhile, Orihime walked unscathed through the blasts, blocking them with her golden shield calmly as she advanced closer and closer to Momo like some sort of indestructible machine.
Momo's eyes widened in exasperation and rage as she poured more and more energy into her blasts, trying her best to blow away the defiant human girl once and for all.
"What the hell are you?!"
The answer came from the sonorous voices of Orihime's glowing Shun Shun Rikka, a chorus of radiant voices as powerful and defiant as Rukia's soul.
"Orihime's powers are intensified by the power and emotions of her heart. As long as Orihime truly believes in herself and her mission, there is nothing that can stop us."
Hinamori began to grind her teeth, gasping in frustrated rage as blast after blast was contained and blocked effortlessly by Orihime's glowing shield.
"So…be it…I had hoped not to have to use this new ability of Tobiume's…Captain Aizen helped me perfect it…I'll take this entire cliffside and area with me if I have to! After all, you can't stop me with just defensive moves, human coward!"
Orihime felt the emotions broiling within her, whispering under her voice quietly but full of firm belief.
"Tsubaki…"
"What's that you said?! Tch, it doesn't matter. You die now! Akanami, Tobiume!"
Charging a particularly nasty blast of crimson energy within Tobiume's strange form, Momo Hinamori whipped her sword down as powerfully as possible, sending a massive surging wave of red destructive energy coming out of it towards Orihime.
True to her word, it was enormously powerful, far more destructive than her basic blasts, and it was heading right towards Orihime and the hapless Rukia.
"Tsubaki…believe in me as I believe in you…"
In an instant a massive burst of golden energy slammed into the wave of red energy, beginning to flip and overturn it completely at first and then merely sending it back surging with even more power from Tsubaki. As if a low tide had reached the extent of its dominion on the sandy beaches and was propelled then back into the sea it had issued out of, the blast merely hit its high point and then collided right back into Momo Hinamori.
Momo for her part was ripped quite badly, the uniform she barely deserved in tatters as she was sent flying directly off the cliff's precipice and into the abyss below.
She barely had time to scream, shouting her "Captain's" name as she disappeared from view off the cliff. Soon however, her scream was joined by Orihime's distraught guilt, the young redhead pacifist falling to her knees in confusion and regret at what she had done. Truly, it had been overkill, and now the emotions and power that had only minutes ago been sufficient to raise the dead and blast through walls were turned slight and befuddled.
She had taken a life.
What did I do?! What did I do? I'll never…I'll never fight again!
Rukia Kuchiki could only watch on as her distraught friend burst into tears. Simply said, there was nothing she could say.
For her part, Momo Hinamori found a brief tranquility as she descended into the freefalling abyss off the cliff's precipice. Falling through the air, she felt as if she were floating like a snowflake and could feel Captain Aizen's eyes and touch all over her wounded body. It was as if he were watching her at that very moment (and knowing that dastardly fiend, perhaps he was from within the bowels of his hellish kingdom) and that made her both calm and resigned.
After all, she had failed him utterly and completely. All that she deserved and all that was ultimately awaiting her at the ground rushing towards her was, after all, death.
Momo Hinamori closed her eyes, an in an instant she was swallowed into darkness. It felt damp and peaceful, and soon she was gone.
Captain Unohana thanked her lucky stars that Minazuki had been able to swallow Momo Hinamori completely in midair, it had been a close call after all, the Lieutenant had nearly slammed into the ground.
Now she was safe for the moment healing inside of the flying whale-like creature's belly as Captain Retsu Unohana and her Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu sat calmly upon Minazuki's back as it flew through the clouds.
Unohana gave a calm smile.
"She'll be okay for now, though the scars to her psyche and mind…who knows how they shall be dealt with."
Isane grimaced, nodding in sad and silent agreement.
"But for now, we'll take her away from here, literally.
"It seemed as if she were under some sort of spell, Captain."
"Indeed, you know whom this business stinks heavily of…"
"Aizen…"
Uryū Ishida found himself completely and utterly overwhelmed as he took yet another one of Nemu's vicious fists directly to his face. These were not normal blows, they were countless and speedy and more than enough to draw blood with the slightest hit.
Was it his sense of chivalry that halted his ability to defeat her? Or was it merely a matter of a man skilled in ranged combat finding himself woefully unadapted against such a vicious close combat opponent?
Regardless of the reasons, Ishida could feel the blood pumping in his skull with each terrible punch and kick of the female Lieutenant, and with each blow he could feel two voices.
Ryūken Ishida, admonishing him for his weakness and foolish inability to survive as a Quincy.
Kaworu Yamamoto-Genryūsai, insulting him for taking on something as antiquated and extinct as chivalry.
However, neither voice mattered in the end, all that mattered were the terrible punches that the Quincy was stubbornly taking.
Even at his highest Hirenkyaku, he was outmatched by this silent and ruthless woman who had suddenly entered some sort of crazed berserker mode without emotion or senses.
Still, with multiple broken ribs and bruises already, he refused to fight back in any real effective way. Effective being the key word.
Whipping out one of his Gintō tubes, he quickly spoke as he threw it towards Nemu.
"A silver rod strikes the five-fingered stone bed - Quintuple Restraining Frames! Gritz!"
In an instant it enveloped the crazed Lieutenant in a giant barrier shaped like a pentacle, intended to keep her bound and trapped while Ishida figured out what to do.
However, in an instant her fist slammed directly through the barrier and struck Ishida in the left cheek, sending him flying bloodily and bouncing off against the ground a couple times.
The pentacle barrier merely collapsed in a giant explosion of dust and rubble as Nemu Kurotsuchi walked out calmly from within, completely unharmed.
For Ishida's part, the punch had knocked out a couple of his teeth, and given him at least a bit of crazed sense as voices once more rattled from within his skull.
Ryūken Ishida, telling him to analyze her weak points and calmly defeat her without emotion.
Kaworu Yamamoto-Genryūsai, telling him to turn her into dust as he intended to do with Yoruichi.
Ishida ignored both voices, and suddenly inside his rattled mind a scene was playing out over and over and over.
Mayuri gasped for air, slowly glancing up, apparently coming to, his long fingernail held up in the air and moved almost tenderly in the direction of Nemu's head.
Ishida stiffened, about to shoot an arrow but having stopped at Mayuri's movement. Was he actually caressing his "daughter", showing some sort of human emotion?
Nay, the long nail revealed its purpose, clicking into a heretofore unseen slot in the side of Nemu's neck like a key entering a lock. The nail clicked to the side of the slot and all of a sudden, Nemu stiffened, as if listening to silent orders from Mayuri.
Mayuri gave one last vile smile afterwards and then slumped back down to the ground.
Steam began to spew out of the side of Nemu's mouth and her nostrils, making Ishida's eyes widen and causing sweat to comically drape down his forehead. What in the world was this?
Nemu's eyes were fiery and suddenly lifeless, her expression robotic as she spoke in a monotonous voice.
"Entering…berserker…mode…"
Ishida's eyes widened in realization, gazing at the small nail-thin slot in the side of Nemu's neck, so very unnoticeable but quite obvious in closer inspection. This closer inspection, however, consisted of Nemu's fist directly through Ishida's chest and out his back.
He gasped, spitting blood on her solemn porcelain face and thanking the gods for the opportunity he had been given. This had, after all, been the only way he could defeat a close combat opponent in his situation, getting too close for comfort for both of them.
Trying to collect his energy with Nemu's fist still sticking out his back, the Quincy slammed a silver tube as hard as he could into Nemu's strange neck slot.
"Tilt the goblet to the west - Emerald Grail! Wolke!"
In an instant the explosion enveloped her, surging through the slot in her neck and sending both her and the Quincy flying away from each other in the midst of the fiery chaos.
Nemu Kurotsuchi rose minutes later, though it could very well have been hours, gazing calmly at the bodies of Uryū Ishida and Mayuri Kurotsuchi both scattered around her and heavily wounded.
She couldn't remember a thing, but there was one clear resolution in her now calmed head.
"I have to…heal them both…"
Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya watched calmly as Kaworu Yamamoto-Genryūsai emerged from the wreckage caused by Hitsugaya's shikai attack, the former Captain staring calmly at Hitsugaya despite his terrible wounds opened up from the previous vicious battles he had had to go through.
Truly, Kaworu was a bloody mess, the battles with Kenpachi, Ukitake, Komamaru, and Shunsui leaving him tattered and heavily wounded. Getting slammed into a wall by Hitsugaya's dragon truly didn't help, especially as he was just in the midst of his father's estate and tower, so close yet so far.
However, for all his blood and chaos, Kaworu seemed serene and calm, staring at Hitsugaya's swaying ice wings and menacing-looking blade from a distance.
"You, possessing one of the great cursed dragons. What a joke!"
"What the hell are you talking about? Where's Hinamori, you bastard?"
"I don't know who the hell you're talking about. As for the cursed dragons, they lay thrice in history, the cursed dragons of the nobility, Inazuma, Hyōrinmaru, and Ryūjin Jakka. Each possess lordship over an element of the heavens, ice, lightning, and flame. My father sealed them away into special hosts on defeating the noble families and uniting Soul Society under his rule."
"You mean-"
"Indeed, my father, Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai possesses the last cursed dragon. And your blade there and your pitiful body, I suppose, hold the cursed dragon of ice. Surprising to see him wielded by such an utter welp, let alone a welp using his first limit release…"
Tōshirō Hitsugaya grit his teeth, flashing in a vicious shunpo directly behind Kaworu and swinging his blade high up into the air.
"Bankai: Daiguren Hyōrinmaru! Ryūsenka!"
"Tch. How stubborn. Kowasu, Inazuma…"
The ice began to flow from Hitsugaya's sword to his body, starting at his right arm which the ice formed onto in the shape of a dragon's head and then around his sword hand, encasing it up to the hilt; which also changes from the shape of a four-pointed star to that of eight-pointed star. The ice continued forming up over his shoulders with two large wings sprouting from his back and a long tail. The ice then formed down his left arm encasing his hand in a claw. Hitsugaya's feet also began to encase in ice in a similar manner to his left hand, ending in vicious ice claws.
In an instant the ice flowed out from his body towards Kaworu, only to meet the former Captain's upraised cross-spear which blasted away the ice in a current of electric power that shattered and melted it.
Hitsugaya was startled, but held himself together in a brisk shunpo away from the blast of golden energy.
"Fine, if that won't work, then…Guncho Tsurara!"
The Captain swung his sword down, sending a volley of icicile-like daggers flying out of his blade towards Kaworu.
For his part, Kaworu met the volley of ice with another swing of his spear and a muttering of words under his breath.
"Inazuma…Bankai! Adauchi Raikiri!"
The cross-spear quickly transformed into a trident-like spear and met the volley of ice daggers in a vicious burst of reiatsu that turned them into nothingness and sent Hitsugaya flying backwards into the wall of Yamamoto's tower.
In an quick flash step, Kaworu was in front of him, plunging his spear straight through Hitsugaya and out his back into the wall. Kaworu watched in satisfaction as the short runt of a captain coughed up blood from his clearly mortal wound.
"You're two hundred years too late, you little shit! You can barely use your dragon's full power! You're NOTHING!"
Kaworu's eyes widened as the response to his shouting did not come from Hitsugaya's corpse, but from a Hitsugaya directly above him. Indeed the Hitsugaya he had "killed" suddenly revealed itself to be a mirror-like sheet of ice which shattered into a thousand pieces.
Tōshirō Hitsugaya floated above with a grim smile.
"And you, my friend, are a thousand years too arrogant. Hyōten Hyakkasō."
Kaworu looked up into the sky, his eyes widening as the true power of the cursed dragon of ice was revealed, a massive surge of snow slamming down from the heavens itself towards the former Captain's position.
It seems that the sky itself has risen to battle me, Yoruichi. So be it.
Raising his spear up to meet the wave of snow, Kaworu's eyes widened as her suddenly glimpsed what seemed like a flower made entirely of ice blooming onto his weapon.
"What?!"
In an instant, more of the icy flowers were growing all over his limbs and torso.
Hitsugaya merely shook his head, watching from above.
"Hyōten Hyakkasō, whoever touches the snow instantly freezes like a flower…"
"What the hell?!"
Kaworu struggled to move as the flowers of ice bloomed all over his body, covering him entirely from head to toe and encasing him in a massive pillar of ice.
"When the last of the hundred petals falls, your life will be over."
Then, merely silence, Hitsugaya alone with the tall grouping of ice flowers that had encased Kaworu, nothing else moving, no sign of life.
The Captain sheathed his blade and turned around, sighing. Something, however, bothered him at that instant.
There was a hand on his shoulder.
Turning around, Hitsugaya glimpsed Kaworu's hand burst out of the ice, resting onto his right shoulder, Kaworu's frosty lips moving from within the ice.
"Releasing…final limit…Inazuma…"
Hitsugaya had no time to scream as massive wings of golden energy surged out from within the pillar of ice, turning it into lukewarm water. The hand that had been gripping his shoulder was soon joined by another one, which grabbed him directly by the face and began to slam his head repeatedly into the wall of Yamamoto's tower.
From within his private quarters, Yamamoto looked down with a sigh, sipping his tea as each smash of Hitsugaya's skull against the wall shook the ground ever so slightly.
"Tsk. What an irritating ruckus."
Captain Retsu Unohana sighed from within her fourth division headquarters and medical facility, gazing at the inert and heavily wounded bodies of Ukitake, Rukia Kuchiki, Momo Hinamori, Uryū Ishida, Nemu, and Mayuri.
Isane Kotetsu sidled up alongside her Captain, shaking her head at all the forms of the wounded. It was entirely too much chaos and bloodshed.
"What a mess, Captain…"
"If this isn't a mess, it'll do until the mess gets here, Lieutenant."
"Broken bones, burns, sword wounds, massive blood loss, what can we really do, Captain?"
Retsu Unohana sighed, staring at her sheathed sword and then glancing back at her Lieutenant.
"Something is happening, something we can't control…only the Captain-Commander…only he can sort this out now…"
Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai strode through the hallowed halls of his quarters, staring quietly at the portraits of the Yamamoto-Genryūsai line. His father, his grandfather, even his brother Gendo was represented there in a small portrait.
Such a proud lineage, how had he produced such a murderous son of a bitch? One had to wonder.
Shigekuni turned around as the ruckus from below had quieted down, gazing silently at the doors to his quarters.
In an instant, the doors toppled over completely, chunks of his guardsmen falling over with them to reveal the haggard but defiant face of his son Kaworu Yamamoto-Genryūsai.
Kaworu was a grim sight, missing a few fingers, covered in blood that was as much his own as of his enemies. Clearly the former Captain had seen better days.
Shigekuni turned around still silent, strolling back towards his throne and taking a seat as Kaworu spoke. How much it was like that fateful day so long ago.
"Father…"
Shigekuni looked up sternly, replying monosyllabically.
"Boy."
General Yamamoto sighed, sitting in his seat in his large chambers and watching as his only son open wide the front door and stepped inside.
"Why do you disturb me?"
"You know why, father…Tell the squads to turn back! I will not be a part of this murder, but I will also not allow anyone else to commit it as well. There are other ways of dealing with the Quincy. They are living and breathing, they do not deserve to be stepped upon like mere vermin!"
"There are laws that must not be forsaken…laws that keep the balance of the world and our society."
"Laws that condemn an entire race to death?!"
"You disappoint me, Kaworu. I had hoped you would one day be a worthy successor. I thought you of all people could understand the worthiness of law and order."
Kaworu's face darkened, and he shook his head.
"You presume to call this law? This forceful brutality? This killing? I KNOW now what law means in this existence. Law means pain. Let me show you my law, father."
He reached at his hip and pulled out a small tantō, which he held in front of him confidently. However it was clear his hands were trembling.
"Kowasu, Inazuma!"
His father made no move, the wistful man simply staring at his son and sighing.
"You would draw your blade against me?"
"You're out of line father! Uncle agrees with me!"
"Oh, brother Gendo? He has been taken care of already, I'm afraid."
"Taken care of?! Father?!"
"The penalty for resisting the laws of the Shinigami society are severe, I'm afraid."
"Shut up! You have no heart, embroiled in your laws and convenient moralities!"
The old man only snorted, shaking his head.
"What do you know, child?! What do you know of sacrifice? Of strengthening and defending the Soul Society all of your life? You play these child's games still, bluffing and biting!"
Kaworu strode forward determined towards his father, who in response rose as well, reaching for the sword at his own hip.
"You will realize that life is complex and unfair. That sometimes, lives must be taken for the world to be balanced!"
A massive burst of flame hurtled all around them as the old man spoke these words, but Kaworu seemed mostly unharmed.
"It's called slaughter!"
"It is called order, boy! This isn't show and tell! This isn't a child's game! This is ORDER. THIS IS PUNISHMENT!"
Kaworu only smirked, charging forward to meet his father's outstretched blade.
"Show and tell? Let me show you something, and tell you something as well."
Their weapons clashed as Kaworu hissed out his angry words.
"This, that I show you, will be the last thing those eyes glimpse. What I tell you, is spoken to my weapon, not to you. BANKAI!"
Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai's old, wistful, and usually supremely calm eyes suddenly twisted into surprise and confusion.
The massive ivory hall buckled and shook with the explosions that would follow.
Shigekuni sighed, faced once more with his son, for what he hoped was the final time. Leaning against his staff while still on his throne, the old man shook his head sternly.
"You've made a grave mistake in strategy, boy. You never had any of my tact in you…You killed us all with what you did, boy, you killed my image of you as my son."
"Stubborn as always, you never listen…"
"You're not my son…"
It's the truth. You're not my son. You never have been. You're an orphan. Did you ever hear that word? You operated here today and on that day like one. I should have seen this coming. I should have known that under this all, these past years you've been building your hate for me piece by piece. I don't even know who you are because you have none of me in you, you're someone else's. This anger, your maliciousness, backwards dealings with me. You were a mistake, an orphan. Did you get that? Now you know.
"Then what about mother?! I know the truth, she never died in childbirth!"
"You…you have none of me in you."
"I thank the gods I have none of me in you. You killed uncle, you killed them all, and I remember now, what happened to my mother…or at least I think I do…I raided the records on my way up here. She didn't die in childbirth, I remember her face now!"
"What do you know of that day and age, boy?!"
The pendulum heads in an unfamiliar direction…the saga continues to unfold right before our eyes, but for the time being Father Time takes us back to a brief moment in time…opening the window to not all but just enough, highlighting only key moments and passing over most others…
What many have tried to keep from the public eye, and now, what many in the public eye will now come to know.
Turn back the pendulum.
General Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai sat calmly inside the iron tower, gazing at metal table before him full of soldiers and bustling men all loyal to him and all ready to give their urgent reports.
"General! The noble armies are converging on our positions."
"What are their numbers?"
"A thousand of the Kyōraku, two thousand of the Itachi, another thousand of the Ukitake, and four thousand of the Shihōin clan."
Shigekuni gave a stern nod, the wrinkles that would soon grow to cover all of his face just barely present on his younger countenance.
"And the Kuchiki clan?"
"They remain yet loyal, their reinforcements shall arrive by tomorrow."
"So be it. Deploy our armies into battle, the noble clans shall pay for starting a second civil war."
One of the soldiers at the table grimaced in Shigekuni's direction, daring to speak up.
"And what of your…wife?"
"What of my wife, sergeant?"
"You know as well as I do, she is a noble hostage. Even if the exchange of hostages occurred years ago at the end of the first noble war, we still have a duty to honor our end of the agreement. All hostages should be executed as punishment for the noble clans beginning a second war. We have already put the entire Ukitake and Itachi hostage families to death for their clan's impertinence."
Shigekuni remained silent, gazing down at his feet in indecision.
"What are your orders, general?"
Only the night before he had been dining with his wife Asuka and their newborn son. No one had seen the potential for war coming, least of all the noble hostages. Could he really condone their deaths? Could he order the execution of his own wife?
And if he did not, would that not be a grave impertinence in front of the values of absolute law and justice that he subscribed to? Would he not be an utter shame as a general, a man truly not fit to bring the many hundred rogue clans of Shinigami together under one dominion?
All these questions hurtled through Shigekuni's mind and more, however, he merely decided to change the topic for the time being, glancing back at his soldiers.
"I will handle Asuka Kyōraku's fate myself. That is only just…"
They had fallen in love over the period of years she had been exchanged as a noble captive to ensure peace. He, the rough general full of war and justice, she the soft noble with a heart full of compassion, it was an appropriate cliché that romance subscribed to.
Having paused for a moment of introspection, General Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai finally rose from his position at the table, Asuka's almond eyes still within his mind.
"Gentleman, we deploy for battle immediately."
Short chapter, the next chapter is a flashback chapter detailing what happened during the noble wars with the various Shinigami clans, as well as Shigekuni, his wife, and baby son.
It shouldn't take too long to write.