Disclaimer: Bleach, its characters and its settings aren't mine
Look, I could go into a long cursing tirade about life, the universe and everything, but I'm not going to. I can't even remember the damn details and it doesn't matter anyway.
Tatsuki is on the ladder.
Yada yada yada, I'll spare you all the pissing and moaning. Tatsuki is going to realize just what I'm swinging at these poor defenseless little snowflakes and she'll go batshit wild. That woman, I swear. Then she'll tell Rukia – Tatsuki will be the death of me yet. What the hell is she doing on the ladder? She doesn't even have a Zanpakuto!
Nah, don't panic. She can't rat on me, not while she wants something from me. The only way she's going to get it is by not giving me away.
I can't even get worked up anymore - my nerves are shot. All the-
Damn I'm tired. I need a night of sleep.
Entire frickin' universe is messing with me.
I didn't want to be in this damn challenge. Why is this happening to me?
There's Tatsuki and her little gang.
Let me back up a little. There's an illegal fight club on campus. You bring your money, put it down and then take your chances. Sort of an unofficial tournament.
Anyways, I'm broke, I need money badly. I don't know what arrangements have been made to pay for my stay here but I need cash.
So here I am.
I've brought my 'shikai' with me. It's a nodachi longsword, black, with manji cross guard, also black (disguised for tonight with some lovely green ribbons). I've also added a meter of green ribbon off the pommel.
My apologies to Rukia's Zanpakuto. You guessed it, I'm taking my bankai to the student body.
Across the room (and it's a big room, there are at least two hundred people here) Tatsuki's friends are rubbing her shoulders and encouraging her – like what kind of asshole encourages you to try your luck bare handed against someone holding a sword?
Thankfully Tatsuki's name is on the far side of the board from Sado Kon, so she won't be my problem unless she makes the final round. And really, what are the odds? Everyone else has a Zanpakuto, honey.
Sixteen fighters, fifteen matches total, four for me. I'm in the first scheduled bout. First contender on my side of the ladder, a scrawny first year kid who looks like he could also use the money.
Sorry buddy. Maybe next time. I need that prize money the bookies put up.
Shinigami fight club. Ikkaku would have loved it.
Bankai or not I have to admit I feel a little self-conscious, standing here without my shirt on. Does anyone else have their bankai going?
No?
That's a shame. I do. Hell, I even thought of wearing my mask, except I'm probably easier to recognize with it on then with it off.
And the bell sounds!
Round one- first round to... Ichigo! Yes, I managed after a few minutes to trick a first year into overextending himself. Palm to the top of the head and I move up the ladder.
He wasn't bad, I guess. Probably a good fit for Eleventh, at some point. I should take his name for Ikkaku-
Gee, I feel very proud of myself. Perhaps I'll mug some old ladies later, maybe take some candy from babies too.
It's obviously a slow night, I gather they don't usually let four first years onto the ladder at one time. I'm guessing they don't bring enough fans. Still, the ladder has to start somewhere. Call this amateur night.
Thankfully three of those first years are on my side of the chart (I get to fight another next) so nobody will suspect me for winning. I am, after all, in second year.
Haven't really been paying attention to the other matches. Too busy scanning the crowd for anyone I know. So far I haven't seen anyone, thank God.
Round two rolls around, my ticket to the final four.
And it goes to... Ichigo. As the French would say, Quel Surprise! Or something like that, those are the only two words of French I know. That was my other first year opponent.
Congratulations, I'm now officially a bit player in Shinigami fight club.
I went back to watching the crowd until they called my name for round three, first of the semi finals. I was paired with a fifth year guy. Bow, raise swords-
I let this one drag out for almost five minutes then- Yay! Another win for Ichigo!
And there was still nobody I knew in the crowds.
You know, this next part is really unforgivable. I have no excuse for not knowing in advance – all I would have had to do is watch some bloody matches rather than concentrate fully on everything but – I can not afford to make this kind of stupid mistake and get surprised this way, stress is not an excuse. My titanic arrogance- unforgivable!
My opponent in the finals?
Tatsuki.
And I was surprised. That's the worst part, was that I was actually surprised. Tatsuki versus academy students and here I figured that I was the only one who was going to have a cakewalk-
Just who the hell do I think I am?
I really am better suited to fighting on my own, doing that whole Lone Warrior thing. Because it looks like I'm incapable of trusting a comrade - or an ex-comrade – to get anything right.
Most of my ex-comrades want to kill me. I should really pay more attention to what they get right.
And here we are, Tatsuki glaring at me from across the circle, me, standing here without a shirt, Zangetsu resting across my shoulders. She's got a Soi Fon costume on. Minus the haori, of course.
Tatsuki knows exactly what the hell she's looking at.
I wonder if I should take off her head and just me done with it. She's the competitor, not me. I just want the prize money, but Tatsuki wants to win. Doesn't matter that these people never stood a chance against her, she wants to beat them anyway.
So she can tangle with me.
I suspect Tatsuki will bring in a lot of money on the senior ladder. Girl has talent and an excellent teacher, what can I say? Excellent teachers - Soi and Yoruichi are teaching her the other stuff.
I can't turn Zangetsu loose on Tatsuki. It ain't safe, the old man has a lot in common with dragon girl. We're going to have to do this the other way.
Tatsuki thinks she's a demon in hand to hand - she would have been the best in Japan for girls in her age group if she hadn't had her arm in a sling at the time. Of course, she wasn't fighting someone who uses spirit energy. I suspect that will make a difference.
Zangetsu doesn't like being stuck in the ground very much but he likes being underfoot even less. So I stood him up by jamming him into the floor. Then I raised both fists.
Me and Tatsuki, no holding back. I don't know that Tatsuki or I will particularly enjoy this, but put it this way, it wouldn't surprise me.
People were starting to boo because I wasn't going to use my Zanpakuto. They'd been watching the matches, they figured Tatsuki would roll right over me without it-
-Engage!
Tatsuki blurs forward – the fists are already bouncing off me – she's quick, but nothing like as quick as she thinks. And she hits hard, but not as hard as she thinks. She's pulling the punches, at least a little, but she's still swinging too damn hard. Now I've got Numero-level (I am on the patch after all) iron skin going on top of a touch of that whole invulnerable Zaraki thing, so at her current level Tatsuki's going to break with her tiny little paws on me. For now – Tatsuki's spirit control is worse than mine – she can't do jack unless she's angry and even then her power builds with her emotions. That said, at her top end Tatsuki is more than a match for anyone else in this academy, and that's including the teachers.
Shit, I'm not wearing a coat - one of these kids is going to decide Tatsuki should have marked me with those fists and I don't even bruise-
Well I'll cross that bridge, turn around and blow it up with Gran Rei Ceros when I come to it-
Right now I'm fighting Tatsuki.
You know what? This is good. Admittedly I'm glad she can't do Soi Fon and Yoruichi's Instant Warcry technique - Flashcry is bad news. I'm absolutely awful at it (it requires advanced kido control) but when I power up my fists it doesn't make much difference.
Tatsuki jumps back, fists up, reevaluating me – she's figured out her regular rib busting punches aren't going to be enough-
Annnnd-
Engage!
Tatsuki is fast and she's back on the offensive. That damn Hakuda club will be after me again for this one but they'll have Tatsuki's ass joined up before sunrise.
I'm starting to work here - when I say she's not as fast as me she's still damn fast, and I'm trying to stay under the radar. Only problem is I absolutely have to win. So I have to stay faster than Tatsuki, only not so fast that Soi Fon comes to investigate the second year who handed Tatsuki her ass.
Every blow I'm blocking - good - Tatsuki's too worked up to realize that I want to be on the defensive. I can match her, even looking like I can't match her. When I-
Attack!
Got her!
And she dodges!
Shit – here it comes - Tatsuki figured out I was playing possum and opens up the taps, really starts to blow. Shit, she was holding back, now it looks like I was too, and how could I have anything in reserve before when I wasn't even attacking-
Tatsuki's too ferocious to hold back - I'm going to have to finish this quickly - shit shit shit I'm going to have to go on the offensive and do it fast – she's getting mad and building pressure - she's not getting around me yet but the kettle is starting to boil. She's a hell of a lot stronger than she looks, a lot stronger than any of the other first years, shit, at full blow (and me aside) there's no one in this academy who can match Tatsuki, even with a Zanpakuto-
Have I said SHIT yet?
That pressure is getting stronger fast - Tatsuki has to build to it- she can't just turn it on yet – and I'm seriously corked back here – I've got pressure in reserve, even with the patch, but start opening the taps and people are going to notice fast-
She's glowing like a Goddamn light bulb -
-I don't have all that much more than she does with this fucking eye patch!
Time to go to-
Then Tatsuki breaks the sound barrier and goes to Shunpo. Feet and fists are slamming off me like machine gun bullets. Her control is lousy but her power is still building – I noticed those last few punches-
There is absolutely no choice here.
Kurosaki goes to Shunpo. I'm going to overwhelm her while I still have some credibility with these people - any moment now they're going to start wondering why I'm not dead of my injuries.
Tatsuki is matching me and she's still gaining speed. Good, that's what I want, keep going Tatsuki - faster and faster, any second now, and -
Boom.
She's hit it! She's going so fast that no one but me can see her! The feet and fists-
BAM!
I dropped Tatsuki like a bad habit.
It's over.
Sorry Tatsuki. I need that money.
Tatsuki's as touch a fighter as I've ever seen but she's got something she can't help. She's wiry and strong but she's got a neck that's smaller than my right arm. As good as she is she can't compensate for a fist that's bigger than both of hers, she simply doesn't have the muscle mass to resist.
I just hope I didn't break her jaw.
Shit. There she is, laid out on her back, arms and legs going like an upside down turtle. I feel a little ashamed of myself. Oh, not that I'm being chivalrous here – Tatsuki's a warrior, not a woman, if you get my distinction. It's just that we'd never fought for real before. Most of my life I counted Tatsuki as a good friend, even if we were never particularly close after puberty. And here we are, me having knocked the shit out of her.
She'd have done the same or worse to me, don't get me wrong. But right now she's the one on the ground.
Vizard destroyer of worlds. All my life Tatsuki thought she was the toughest thing on two legs. Even when I became a shinigami and got strong, even after she figured that out, Tatsuki figured she could handle me in a fight. As long as I didn't have a Zanpakuto.
Well, she's just be disabused of that concept. There's a very short list of people who've killed Espada-class arrancar and the only people who weren't past or present shinigami Captains to make that list were yours truly and my boys Chad and Uryu.
Tatsuki - oh look, I think she just remembered that.
Jeeze Tatsuki.
Pride. Remind me not to indulge – if it were me on the ground, and any one of maybe ninety nine percent of shinigami standing over me, I'd already be dead.
Glad we had this out Tatsuki. I offered her a hand to stand up. Rubbing her jaw she glared at me, then actually reached out and took it.
That's right Tatsuki, behave for Sensei.
And so it was that I won the final match on the junior ladder. I've got a down payment on my tuition for the year now, and the weaselly little guy just told me that I made the senior ladder.
Next Friday I'm in the big leagues.
So to speak.