Disclaimer: Bleach, its characters and its settings aren't mine.
WARNING - Strong language
Ever known someone so well you don't need words to know what they're thinking? Chad and I are like that, we had a whole conversation without saying a thing.
He's going to kill me, literally beat me until I bleed out and die. I've never seen him mad before, not like this. No one else knows it, but he's going to fight me flat out. He wants my life and he's going to take it. Nearby buildings are going to get leveled, it's going to be devastating.
With the ten percent patch I've got no chance of holding my own, let alone beating him. The way it is I'm not getting off until he decides to stop hitting me. Unless he changes his mind that's going to be too late.
I could almost hear him call me Sado. He wasn't happy with that at all.
I almost answered out loud, but I didn't need to. He knew I was named after a friend, he just didn't seem to care. Under his student uniform his hands had armored up like he was going to beat up Espada. At least the spike things hadn't torn open the top of his uniform, he was restraining himself just enough not to ruin his jacket.
Neither of us had said a word yet, we were going to fight and I didn't even know why. The warrior part of me assessed him unconsciously, the rest of me felt rotten for looking at him that way.
The only weakness Chad ever had was his speed. If you haven't seen Chad hit something with your own eyes I can't even explain how hard he hits. With my patch on I'd feel over-matched even if I had Zangetsu; this isn't going to be a fight, it's going to be an execution.
For once my cover didn't matter.
It was like Chad's words formed in my head. I'm going to beat you very badly Ichigo.
The look in my eyes said I'm not going to fight you, Chad, and just that hint of a smile from him said you can't outrun me anymore.
And then the strangest thing happened. Something snapped inside me. The sheer pigheadness just broke something. Finally the words came out:
"We'll do it your way on two conditions." I'm sure people looked at us strangely, just starting in the middle of a conversation like that. All my attention was focused on Chad.
"One, send your little friends away. Two, not on academy grounds. We'll make some distance from campus then we can light up the entire fucking sky."
The volcano rumbled at me. "And if I say no?"
I didn't need to answer out loud. A lot of people would get hurt, our audience weren't captains. Either of us opens the taps and students start falling over and bleeding out their ears.
"Done then. Let's go."
I turned and walked away. Chad took a few minutes to explain to the crowd he'd prefer we were left alone. When El Directo's fists start to glow people usually get the point.
Nobody followed us but I could feel the eyes, oh so many eyes.
Either Chad kills me or I've got some major explaining to do, to the school officials, to the shinigami - I can't believe my cover is going to be blown like thi-
No! Goddamn it I walked away from a run-in with Ukitake, I am not ready to lose yet! One friggin' step at a time here but they haven't got me yet!
Chad waited until we had some cover and shunpoed. I was right behind him. He was heading for open country.
He wouldn't talk to me, not at all, ignored my every taunt. I was angry, I'll admit that. I was angry because he was angry. The only thing he said was "pick up the pace."
He wanted this, I didn't but I had to go along or - one more bloody time I'm being dragged-
Chad started picking up steam, like he wanted to show me I no longer have a monopoly on speed. I don't know what the hell made Chad so angry but I'm not ready to die yet, I'm not willing-
His anger is rubbing off on me and why the hell shouldn't it? Who the fuck does he think he is? So he got killed – so did I! So did everyone else in Soul Society! And he has a place here – how dare he look down on me – I'm the fucking exile here! I'm the one who's not welcome here or in the mortal world or even Hueco fucking Mundo! Does he think this is what I wanted?
You want to go Chad? We'll fucking well go!
He gave me a look over one goddamn shoulder, I'm going to knock it off his stony goddamn face!
I can resolve this, and I'm going to. How the hell could he think everything was my fault? By what twisted thought process- Yeah, so he'd picked up my power, no one forced him to fight! He did it because it was the right thing to do and he knew the bloody risks!
My teeth are starting to hurt I'm grinding them so hard. Maybe this is just what both of us needed, someone to pound on who can take their kingsized lumps and like them. Nobody had seen me shunpo, they'd figure he carried me. My cover is still good and I am not going to die over this. And I'm not going to be found either. He wants to get me caught Chad can do it the proper way, go and tattle like a snot nose kid. There's not going to be any glory for him, not on my back.
Yeah, this is what we need, what both of us need, four years of frustration and somebody who means something to take it out on.
Purity of my rage. I pulled up beside Chad and started to pass him. He lit up like a Christmas tree and pulled up beside me. Like me Chad favors the brute force flash step method and like me he's got a lot of brute force to work with. Unless I switched up patches and risked the shinigami noticing me I couldn't stay ahead of him.
Yeah, well, tough, it wasn't about that.
I don't even understand my own damn feelings!
We were already a lot of miles from the academy and going strong. No one was following; even the upper years who'd managed a shunpo or two weren't in our league. One flash step? Very impressive, now try the next thousand. There isn't a student at the academy with the power reserves to tail guys like us.
The way Chad is venting my ten percent is invisible, it's completely overwhelmed. All the cover I need - I am not going to get caught here. And I am not gonna die-
I'm gonna die - I was turning into the fist even as it was coming towards me, and Chad caught me a good one. It took everything I had to shield myself the punch shot me through two and a half tree trunks, put a ringing in my ears that I wasn't sure was ever going to go away.
He was right there, had a foot coming at my head. Chaddo? Using his damn feet? I barely moved in time. He manged to wing me, spun me right off my own feet. The boot that followed had me spitting blood.
Chad was my friend once. I don't know this man. I'm going to back him off before he kills me.
My fists aren't enough, even amped up. I pulled Byakuya's trick and flashed up behind him, kicked him as hard as my human powers could. It took some of the fight out of him, enough to get a grunt, but Chad can soak up ungodly levels of punishment, stagger a few seconds and then be back in the game.
I am not going to win this - I'm faster but like this I'm not fast enough - Chad landed another, almost broke me on a rock.
Suddenly I'm losing badly. I simply can't do any damage the way I am. He's not letting up and I can't keep enough air in my lungs to talk.
Pull off the patch and there'll be ten captains here in under two minutes.
A weapon, any kind of weapon-
I have a weapon. It's a hellishly good one too. It doesn't work on everyone, but it'll work on Chad.
I swung a punch at his head with no spirit pressure at all, just a normal human punch. It took a lot of effort; I had to redirect the force elsewhere. Try to bottle it and it'd burst out, then Chad would kill me.
The look of disgust on his face was absolutely alien, like I didn't know the guy at all. He knew what I was doing.
I caught him twice more in the head, it didn't even shake him. Of course it wouldn't, I'd vented all my spirit pressure away. Meanwhile I'd wondered if I'd broken my hands on his skull.
Chad won't fight unfairly. If I won't use my pressure neither will he.
Chaddo just whaled on me and I returned it with interest. El Directo is human too, and I'm not the skinny fifteen year old I was. I'm a strapping big nineteen now. I think Chad figured that meant I could take more.
Yeah, well, I can hand more out, too.
He started aiming for my bad side; with the missing eye I'm at a disadvantage. I'm better with my feet though, so I countered by rocking his skull every chance I got.
Suddenly things were a lot closer to even - I'm still quicker even if he is stronger. With the pressure out of the way it might take all day but -
We don't need no fucking spirit pressure.
Fought for almost an hour. Doesn't seem that long? Try it some time. By the end the giant had fallen and the giant killer was laid out under a tree. Like a fight I once had with Zaraki, we both lost.
I'm just surprised neither of us broke anything too serious, though I guess I shouldn't be. With the power scaled back our spirit bodies are pretty tough. Still, we were pretty banged up. I know my nose is broken, my remaining eye has gone black, a bunch of cracked ribs, snapped wrist on one side, broken hand on the other, what feels like a broken ankle and quite possibly all the bruises in the universe.
Quit laughing, I think I got off light.
The fight had been over for maybe twenty minutes when Chad finally managed to sit up.
"You still fight well."
I sort of, almost mostly managed to get myself sitting.
"Like you don't? When did you get so fast?"
"It's almost all I've worked on. My speed was my greatest weakness."
"It's not anymore." Then something else came out. "A lot of people assume my speed is a great way out of problems. There are a few drawbacks, Chaddo. It's great in a straight line, but the arrancar figured out to surround me and pile on the moment I stopped moving, pinned me down with weight of numbers. Pull the net tight enough and you can't get out. And it's kind of hard to leave the battlefield if your friends are still fighting. Don't get me wrong, that speed has won me a lot of fights, but force of numbers eats the advantage."
"My weakness had always been my speed," repeated Chad. "Now that I've mastered the flash step I'm more rounded as a fighter."
"I'd agree." He didn't seem to have any weakness at all, his defense is incredible, his offense is unbelievable He once told me about the time he fought Shunsui. That'd be a very different fight now, Shunsui would be working.
Chaddo climbed to his feet.
"I won't be able to speak to you Ichigo. I'm not sure I would if I could. Too much has happened, I'm not sure we're friends anymore."
Chad never lies. And time changes all things, even the ones we want to hold onto most. "I can respect that. Maybe some day we can be friends again."
"I don't know that that will happen," he answered. "Things are different now Ichigo. That life's over, I'm starting with a clean slate." Then he offered just the slightest hint of a smile, shook his head. "Sado Kon. Be well Ichigo."
"You too Chad."
I felt him build his energy to shunpo off.
"I'm glad it was you Chad."
He grunted, touched at his bleeding face. Then he shrugged. "We both needed this."
It wasn't funny enough to laugh but I guess it had to be said. "What are friends for?"