"The Phoenix Effect"
BtVS/Bleach crossover
Note : To be on the safe side I plan on having this start after the season finale of BtVS and a week after the first episode of the Anime series Bleach. To those who would point out the potential differences in time from the date the BtVS finale aired and when the first episode of Bleach aired in Japan I would ask for tolerance and flexibility. The whole purpose of fanfic is to explore possibilities and to twist how things originally went in the specified TV shows/movies/books/games. As such a little 'artistic freedom' is warranted.
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Japan, Two Years After the Collapse of Sunnydale,
An Abandoned Shrine in the Middle of Nowhere, Night Time"Are you sure this is the place Giles?" Xander asked as the reunited Scoobies covertly observed the abandoned structure from the cover provided by the trees.
"For the tenth time Xander YES!" Giles replied as he returned his eyes to the binoculars so he could complete his examination of the area immediately around the building.
"So-orry! I just thought that it was a little strange that some kind of super dark demonic magical ritual was being done in what's supposed to be holy ground." Xander said putting up his hands in the universal sign of 'no threat here' or 'hey don't shoot the messenger'.
It had all started about two weeks ago when one of the seers the new council had on retainer had a vision with portents pointing to something evil and probably demonic getting a major power increase and becoming a 'God of Death'. There were other bits and pieces that came with the main message but nothing that made any sense either to the seer herself or to any of the research-o-maniacs that he swore lived in the library. A head of blonde hair, three figures lined up in front of one another and a katana that burst into flames so bright that it was enough to force the vision to come to an end. He still wasn't sure what that meant, given how little he knew about the specifics of how the whole 'see the future' thing worked, but he guessed that whatever source was sending her the info overloaded her brain and caused it to break the connection or fry. In any case the gang spent the next week examining every bit and piece of what the seer saw and it all point to Japan and an abandoned shrine. Now most would think 'needle in a haystack' right? Right. However thanks to extensive records kept at the recently reopened Japanese branch of the council they had a list of every shrine in Japan and pictures of them to boot. After that it didn't take long to find the place from the vision although looking at it now he was left wondering what the hell was keeping that thing upright. There were boards and support beams missing everywhere making it look like a disaster waiting to happen to his ex-carpenter trained eye. So either the demons they were after weighed about as much as a feather or the shrine was WAY sturdier than it looked.
"It does seem to be somewhat of a contradiction but I suppose it is Dra'Koth's way of spitting in the eyes of heaven." Giles said as he put the binoculars down having completed his once over of the target area, "Defying them by holding a foul ritual right where they can see him and could hypothetically intervene."
"So why don't they?" Xander asked as he worked to understand what the glasses wearing Brit was saying, "Where are all the guys and gals in Romanesque armour with spears and swords and stuff?"
"While I hate to destroy your illusions never in recorded history have the legions of heaven ever appeared on Earth in the manner seen in popular modern media." Giles replied closing his eyes while cursing the American educational system, "They work in more subtle ways that defy comprehension by our mortal minds. I'd wager that their only action to prevent this ritual from succeeding was ensuring that one of our seers was alerted to it in the first place."
"So basically instead of getting of their heavenly butts and doing something real for a change they just forwarded the problem to us?" Xander asked rhetorically as he mentally mouthed off to the PTBs for once again being all hype and no show, "It just fills you with confidence that the leaders of the side of goodness are such proactive and hands on don't it?"
Hearing a rustle of leaves behind him both he and Giles whirled around with their swords drawn ready to skewer or hack whatever threat was coming at them from the rear. Fortunately for them it turned out to be allies rather than enemies as the two men watched the remaining three members of their group emerge from the shadows of the forest.
"Took care of the patrols Giles but we probably got five minutes before someone'll get twitchy and hit the alarms." Buffy said walking right up to them completely ignoring the fact that two sharp and deadly weapons had been pointed at her moments ago.
It probably wasn't that she didn't think they could use the blades but rather than she was impatient to get back to her sabbatical from slaying that she had been on ever since the new Council got up and running. After the Sunnydale battle and once everyone had managed to get patched up from battling the army of Turokhan everyone had gotten to work getting a hold of whatever was left of the old Council's holdings. It wasn't much considering that the First had been hitting Watcher safe houses worldwide in order to cripple the organization as well as kill all the potential Slayers it could find but still something was better than nothing. It took a year but eventually they managed to get things so that matters weren't so heavily dependant on the core Scoobies and they could afford to catch some R&R. For Buffy that apparently meant getting seven years worth of downtime in because while the majority of them only took a couple of months off she had walked out of the main Council headquarters that day and was only now returning to active status. That being more because she had been in Japan when the vision came through making her the senior Slayer on site and therefore the best person for the job. Didn't mean she was any happier to have to deal with an interruption to her extended vacation.
"No problem B 'cause strictly speaking these guys were fuckin' lightweights." Faith said as she stalked her way towards them a couple steps behind her sister Slayer, "This Dra'Koth guy must be one o' those 'quantity over quality' types if this is the best he's got."
"Perhaps or it might be that he keeps his more competent and deadly warriors close to him in order to deal with threats such as us." Giles theorized as he took the dark Slayer's words into consideration, "In any case I can detect no signs of arcane traps in the immediate area around the shrine nor could Xander perceive any military style weaponry."
"Not that that means much of course." He said recalling what he had inherited that fateful Halloween night, "Any merc worth the name would make sure to hide his little party favours so his target couldn't see them until it was too late."
"Be that as it may we had best get moving." Giles said as he hefted his bag of ingredients and weapons up onto his shoulder, "If our estimates were accurate Dra'Koth should be beginning the ritual in the next few minutes. It is imperative that we stop him before he can complete it!"
"Then we better hurry 'cause I'm picking up some major mojo flowing around here and it's getting worse." Warned the final member of the group as Willow looked at the shrine and saw things only she and maybe Giles could perceive.
"Alright then ramblers let's get rambling." He said in an effort to lighten the mood somewhat and get the gang into their winning groove.
" Nice Xander but a little corny don't ya think." Faith said with a grin that the others mirrored since they all were quick to pick up on what he was trying to do.
"Hey, it's me!" he said and without a word more he began his military approach towards the shrine with his modified AK-47 ready to go.
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Twenty Minutes Later, A Hidden Chamber Deep Beneath the Shrine"So anyone got a plan 'cause this one ain't workin'?" Xander yelled over the sounds of battle that echoed throughout the chamber as the Scoobies gave their all to stop one seriously evil looking Dra'Koth from sticking his katana through the chest of a naked Asian teenage girl chained to the wall.
Getting down to the chamber had been easy enough since Giles' theory about the head honcho keeping all his best fighters close by proved to be true. Unfortunately those few skilled warriors were damn good at what they did and were managing to hold off the Scoobies allowing their master to continue his dark ritual. Both Faith and Buffy were throwing down with the heavy hitters up close and personal while Willow and Giles worked to bind the magic of the one sorcerer that wasn't involved in the ritual. As for him, well, he was using his AK to take shots of opportunity and to give his buds some breathing space whenever their respective opponents temporarily got the upper hand. Aside from that though there wasn't much he could do with such a storm of melee and magical combat going on everywhere. Even before he lost his eye he wouldn't have tried running through all that because for all his years of fighting the darkness he still wasn't quick enough or agile enough to get through something like this in one piece. Unfortunately it looked like his shortcoming was going to be the death of them because no matter how hard the Scoobies fought none of them were making headway quick enough to get to Dra'Koth in time.
Funny name considering he looks like a cross between Riddick and Pierce Brosnan. He thought as he tried to get a clear shot through all the fight to take the demon out.
It was a pretty accurate description in that the demon had Vin Diesal's height and build but had Brosnan's face and hair with blood red eyes that screamed demon. Dressed in red and gold robes appropriate for a dark ritual he was advancing on the girl who was probably a virgin sacrifice because 'hey' what would any dark ritual be without one of them. The former Zeppo, former Key guy and founding male member of the Scooby gang knew that if someone didn't do something quick the demon guy would get what he wanted and then it would all be over. This of course left him with the question 'do what?' and to that there was only one answer he could think of even though the thought of it had him questioning his own sanity.
Still if the rest of the gang react like I hope they will then it should work out okay. He thought as he took one last look at his friends, I hope.
Jumping over the alter he had taken cover behind he ran straight towards Dra'Koth determined not to let anything stop him be it his own fear or the demon's bodyguards. He got a quarter of the way there before everyone else caught on and just as he'd hoped all three bodyguards immediately tried to intercept him either by break off their current fights with their chosen sparring partners or by sending implements of death his way. Chaotic dodging kept some of it from hitting him but the rest was handled when his half-baked prediction came to pass right on time. By taking a bit of their attention away from Buffy, Faith, Giles and Willow gaps began to show up in their defences that did not exist before. Where before they fought the Scoobies to a stalemate his friends were now beginning to score some serious hits that caused the matches to turn in their favour. That wasn't to say that some of the bodyguards' attacks failed to do damage because even the near misses managed to hurt him through flying debris alone. Slices in his jeans and a nasty bleeding cut on his forehead were all signs that he was evading serious injury by the slimmest of margins.
Don't I always though? He thought rhetorically remembering all the times he managed to avoid getting killed or paralysed or something.
True the fact that he was now missing an eye told him that his good luck in avoiding serious injury came with a couple of limitations but considering what him and the gang had been through since the Harvest in Sunnydale he was still pretty fortunate.
He reached the three quarters mark before Dra'Koth actually noticed that something was up and turned to see what was going on. Deciding that now was not the time for his famous dry wit he brought up his AK and starting firing off short bursts since going all out could endanger the sacrifice if a stray shot got past Mr. Demon. This had two results both of which were a mix of good and bad news considering the situation he was in. First he managed to score a direct hit on the demon with one of his bursts and given the roar of pain Dra'Koth let out it definitely hurt. The bad side of this was that now Mr. Red Eyes had a serious mad on for him and no doubt was putting 'kill Xander painfully' at the top of his to do list. The second effect this had was that it had the bodyguards going postal trying to come to the defence of their master to the point where they were willing to take serious damage if it meant they had a chance of doing it. This gave the Scoobies a real opportunity to put their sparring partners down quickly since defence apparently wasn't a priority for the bad guys anymore. So it was no wonder that this caused things to hasten towards a conclusion a lot quicker than it otherwise would.
"Your feeble attempt to kill me will not succeed human!" Dra'Koth yelled as he attacked with his katana lashing out with a series of slashes both vertical and horizontal, "I will kill you and then complete the ritual that will grant me the powers of a Death God! I will become one of the most powerful demon lords on the planet and all will bow down before me!"
Death God? Not God of Death? He thought as he tried to bring up his AK only to have it sliced just shy of his fingers, Don't tell me Giles mistranslated something!
With its ability to fire in question he had no choice but to use his formerly functional firearm as a melee weapon in order to block or parry Dra'Koth's attacks. It did not work out like he'd hoped because while he was successfully keeping the blade from cutting anything vital the damage on the AK was accumulating fast. It wouldn't last long and then he'd be completely unarmed against the demon and his sword which was not a situation he was fond of in the least. That meant that he had to put an end to this fight in a hurry before things tipped nastily in Dra'Koth's favour and that meant he had to go on the offensive. Parrying one more slash he surged forward intent on shoving the sharp point his weapon's barrel had been turned into through the demon's heart (assuming it was anywhere near where a human's heart would be of course). The high ranking demon bellowed as the improvised spear pierced his skin and when the slashes of the katana ceased coming at him he thought for a moment that he had hit the sweet spot ending the fight for good.
A star AND tweety bird inducing right hook quickly disproved that notion since it sent the former Zeppo flying a good eight feet before touching down and skidding to a halt in front of the human sacrifice. Fighting the mess the blow had made of his head he pushed himself into a sitting position and did his best to get into any type of defensive position in order to buy enough time for the rest of his senses to come back to him. By the time they did though there was nothing that could be done but watch a sequence of events transpire that have never occurred in recorded history nor would likely be seen again for a very long time.
Dra'Koth was coming at with in a feral fury, the combination of his injuries as well as the potential ruining of his master plan causing him to fixate on destroying those he deemed responsible, intent on tearing Xander LaVelle Harris to pieces. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, as their minds were focused on more important self-preserving matters, the ritual that had been put into motion by the demon was reaching optimum acceleration and would reach critical mass in moments. Finally the teenage Japanese girl who had been up until this point in an unconscious drugged state had regained consciousness. However she had only five seconds to take a look at the mess she'd gotten herself into before the final event took place changing everything forever. It was at that moment, five seconds after the girl came to, Dra'Koth thrust his katana all the way through Xander's stomach and into the stomach of the teenage girl's chest. Had the demon been a little more lucid and a lot less crazed he never would have done such a thing. This was because according to the specifics of the ritual he wanted to perform, the one that would transfer the girl's hidden power into his body, he needed to plunge his katana into her chest at just the right time. The ritual did not require a human male who had spent the past nine years fighting evil and had been born on a Hellmouth to be impaled on the blade as well. As a result things took a rather unexpected and unpredictable turn.
No doubt Buffy would say 'understatement much?'.
Due to the interference of one young man and one hothead of a demon the ritual was sent into chaos that the founding members of the Scooby gang knew meant trouble with a capital T. Energy exploded from the spot where the demon, young man and teenage girl were throwing everyone in the chamber who had been standing off their feet to varying degrees. For those closer to ground zero the force of the explosion was enough to toss them into the air but for those on the periphery of the blast they just got knocked on their collective butts. Those were the effects horizontally. Vertically on the other hand it was much more dramatic as the energy released by the trio shot upwards disintegrating the ceiling of the chamber as well as everything above it until it reached the sky itself. Like a fountain the energy maintained this state, throwing of intermittent flashes of energy to the sides up at the top where it could rise no further. For a few seconds none could see through the glaring light the pillar of light and so the fate of Xander Harris, the demon Dra'Koth and the teenage girl was unknown. Fortunately the phenomena seemed to take pity on them all and without warning vanished with a twinkling of blue sprinkles leaving a somewhat bewildering and for most terrifying scene before them all.
Lying on the floor with most of his clothes in tatters was one Xander Harris not moving at all save the steady rise and fall of his chest. The only positive thing about what they saw was that there was no sign of the wound caused by Dra'Koth's sword at all. No bleeding hole in the young man's gut, hell the sword was gone, and both Dra'Koth as well as his sacrifice had vanished as well. Not that they gave a shit where the demon had gone and any concern they had for the one time sacrifice was overshadowed completely by their concern and fear for the life of their closest friend. Both Buffy and Willow tried the normal ways of getting a reaction from him in the form of shaking him and when that failed slapping him across the face. When that didn't work Faith decided to try the sleeping beauty method even though the roles were reversed in this case with the valiant princess trying to wake up the sleeping prince.
Needless to say when that failed it only added to her emotional agitation.
As the emotionally shattered Scooby gang began to employ every healing technique and method of revival they could come up with as well as employ they were completely ignorant of the voice of their friend yelling at them from not fifteen feet away at the top of his lungs.
Then again how could they?
After all only those with deeply spiritual powers can perceive the spirits of the dead and while both Watcher as well as Wicca had senses beyond those of normal people they did not realise that the explosion of energy moments ago had left the senses they needed to see their friend temporarily blinded.
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Two Hours Later, Kyoto City Hospital, ICU Waiting RoomThis is even worse than when we all got trapped in the frat house with the inch tall fear demon! Xander fumed as he paced in front of his friends in frustration.
Of course he might have felt better if his friends took notice of his pacing and tried to calm him down but near as he could tell they couldn't see or hear him at all. He had tried to communicate with them in other ways but they had all been so distracted with getting him to the nearest major hospital as quickly as possible that they'd ignored him. They'd travelled to the abandoned shrine light so there was no pen & paper to write with or even Willow's laptop for him to type in a message for the gang to see. When they had finally arrived at the hospital he had thought that this was a good thing as it gave him the opportunity to acquire a pencil and a piece of paper but then reality smacked him upside the hear. While a pencil levitating in mid-air and writing on a piece of paper with no human hand holding it might be just another day at the office for the Scooby gang it would cause chaos if everyone else in the hospital saw it. Given that his body was currently in the hands of people uninformed of the true nature of the world he wasn't willing to risk someone tripping and stabbing him someplace important with a scalpel.
That left sticking close to the gang and hoping that sooner or later a chance to let his friends know what had happened to him would present itself. Not that he himself knew exactly what had happened aside from getting a katana getting introduced to his vital organs, pain, disorientation and finally getting his head back on straight only to find he'd gone through a wacky makeover. Gone were the military style clothes he'd worn on the mission as well as most of the hardware he had strapped to his body when they'd left for the shrine. Instead he was wearing a black kimono and hakama with a white sash around the waist along with century out of date Japanese sandals with white socks underneath. Oh and he had a generic looking sheathed katana tucked underneath the sash that he hadn't messed with too much since he didn't want to risk the whole 'you played with it so you agreed to it' trap. Still he had a pretty good hunch that his new look was somehow tied with what had zapped him out of his body.
Wait a second! If I got yanked out of my body why don't I just hop back in? he thought as he felt like smacking himself for missing such an obvious solution to his problems.
"Ya really don't wanna do that kid." Came a thick male Brooklyn accent from behind him, "At least not yet anyways."
Spinning around he came face to face with someone who looked like a cross between a mobster and a pimp with a face that looked like it belonged in a Dick Tracy comic book. Still he didn't have to wait too long for his mind to put the various clues together and come up with a name to match the person in front of him.
Whistler, Balance Demon for the PTBs, had decided to pay him a visit.
So he did the first thing that popped into his head.
WHAM!
"Ow! Yer really pickin' up some of the Summers' bad habits ya know that!" Whistler said as he rubbed his sore jaw from his position on the floor.
"Depends on your point of view and right now my point of view is that after all the grief you've caused Buffy over the years you're lucky you got off with just a punch!" Xander growled with only the possibility of the balance demon having useful information keeping him from trying out his new katana on the guy.
"Hey! I didn't do anything but pass along info and do a few errands for the Powers!" Whistler said sounding a little pissed at everyone blaming him for some decision the PTBs made, "I'd like to see you say 'no' to them when they tell ya to do somethin'!"
"Take me to 'em and I'd be glad to! In fact I've got a few issues I'd like to have a little chat with them about myself." He said completely honest and looking forward a bit to airing some grievances with the being that thought they could screw with his friends' lives.
"Maybe some other time kiddo but right now I'm here to give you the 411 on what happened and why ya can't just hop back into yer body." Whistler said knowing it would be bad for the both of them if he agreed to Xander's request to talk to the PTB, "As you know Dra'Koth was plannin' on sacrificing that girl so he could get death god powers. The thing is that he didn't know as much as he thought he did an' was playin' with fire to begin with. Anyway when he stabbed you in the gut the blade went on and pierced the girl's heart setting up an event that quite frankly no one thought could happen in a million years."
"Why is I don't like the sound of that?" he asked rhetorically.
"'Cause you got better survival instincts than yer friends?" Whistler offered mistaking what the former Zeppo said for an actual question.
A Glare was all he got for his troubles.
"The way Dra'Koth originally planned it was that at the peak of the ritual he'd thrust the end of the katana through the girl's heart and the powers'd flow into him." Whistler said moving things right along, "True that is one way of getting a Shinigami's powers but only if they're willin' and only after they fully manifest. Dra'Koth was probably smart enough to know that tryin' to take a Shinigami's powers when they have full control of them was a bit stupid so he was plannin' on using the ritual to get the powers without risking his own skin in the process."
Typical demon. Wants power but isn't willing to stick his neck out to get it. Xander thought as he jotted down another reason why he hated the demon.
"However like you have a knack for doing you messed things up for him. This however is where things get complicated so you might want to brace yourself." Whistler said as he carefully moved himself out of the former Key Guy's reach, "The ritual that Dra'Koth was doing only needed two people to work but when you added yourself to the mix it threw everything outta whack. Instead of him getting the Shinigami powers they were sucked into you which is why yer sportin' the new look."
"The reason why ya can't just jump back into yer body is because you'd destroy it if ya did." Whistler explained paying extra attention to how close Xander's hand was to the hilt of the katana, "Right now you got a ton of spiritual power inside of ya, some ya got from Dra'Koth but most from the girl, an' if ya went back into yer body you'd overload it completely. We're talkin' instant cremation here kid."
"And you wonder why people think about shooting the messenger." Xander muttered as he went over to an empty seat and sat down in order to deal with this revelation.
"So the higher ups talked things over and they agreed that for the time being you should go to a place called Soul Society which is pretty much the Shinigami's HQ." Whistler said taking the kid's lack of hostile response to be a good thing, "You'd be assigned to one of the Gotei 13 divisions and pretty much live like one o' them until we can figure out a way for ya to get back into yer normal body."
"Who exactly are these Shinigami anyways? I thought there was just the Gods of death and maybe the Grim Reaper." Xander asked deciding to get the important info up front rather than wait until he was actually in Soul Society (what kind of name is that?).
"HA! You think a handful of gods of Death handle all the spirits of the world by themselves?" Whistler asked with a chuckle after hearing a mortal's idea of how life after death works, "They're like the C.E.Os of their respective companies with dozens and dozens of employees workin' under 'em organized into divisions and sections. The Shinigami are the Japanese branch of the life after death gig and are in charge of sending the newly dead around here to their ordained destination. Basically think of 'em like a combination of customs officials and boarder patrol guards."
O-kay. Xander thought not really getting the balance demon's explanation of the Shinigami aside from them being a group of not-quite-Grim-Reapers.
"Look they'll explain it all to ya when ya get there." Whistler said apparently picking up on the founding male member of the Scooby gang's cluelessness.
"Hey! I haven't agreed to anything just yet." Xander said trying to avoid committing himself to anything just yet.
"Well then choose quick kid because with the spiritual energy you're putting out it won't be long before some dimwitted Hollow shows up looking for an early mornin' meal." Whistler said taking the time to look up and down the hall to see if his prediction was a little early coming true.
Xander did not like the sound of that and while he still wasn't keen on following the balance demon anywhere he didn't want one of these 'Hollow' things getting people hurt just trying to gobble him up.
"Fine. Let's go." He said taking a long look at the gang before turning back to Whistler.
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One and a Half Months Later, Soul Society,
Barracks of the 10th Division of the Gotei 13
"Ye Lord, Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man, Inferno and pandemonium, The sea barrier surges, March on to the south!" Xander chanted arms out in front of him with both palms aimed at the target, "Way of Destruction 31 shakkahō!"
With the naming of the Demon art a red ball of energy, about the size of a bowling ball, flew from his hands towards the target about thirty-five yards away. For a few brief moments there was nothing but then in a blink of an eye the sphere made contact and an explosion burst forth from the point of contact tearing apart the matter that had gotten in the attack's path. Normally he would be quite pleased since the incantation had gone off without a hitch and the sphere had successfully been let loose without any damage to himself. However right now he was feeling distinctly discouraged since instead of hitting his chosen target, a framed picture of Mayuri Kurotsuchi, that'd he'd hung from the ceiling. Instead he wound up hitting the top right corner of the bookshelf behind the picture utterly destroying the books there and scorching those along the edges. Considering the books were records and paperwork he didn't consider them too big a loss and thankfully the demon art hadn't set the neighbouring books on fire so damage was minimal.
Somehow though I don't think the damage Captain Hitsugaya will do to me will be quite as minimal as I'd like it to be. He thought as he started to sort through the pieces of paper that had fallen to the ground after the initial detonation, Better see what I can salvage from this and hope that it keeps Mr. Short an' White from kicking my ass too hard.
It had been a month and a half since he'd been brought to Soul Society by Whistler and during that time he'd come to wonder if the PTBs had sent him here 'for his own good' or just to get him out of the way. Oh the balance demon had said that the Captain of the 12th division was the perfect person to figure out a way to allow him to return to his own body on Earth. According to Whistler he didn't have to worry about his body dying without his spirit in it due to a quirk in the ritual but that it would still be in everyone's best interest for him to return to his old life as soon as possible. Given that the PTBs and Whistler were rarely concerned with the well being of the individual, often more concerned with the universe as a whole, he was suspicious of them and wondered what the real reason was for wanting him normal and home so quickly.
Probably don't want me to throw this place out of whack as well. Xander thought with a frown as he examined a piece of paper in his hand to determine if it was salvageable, After all they're major obsessive about their 'plans' and probably have a few for this place too.
From what he'd seen since he'd arrived here Whistler's description of the place was pretty accurate after Captain Hitsugaya had explained the purpose of Soul Society and the Shinigami. Apparently the Shinigami were in charge of sending the souls of the dead onto their destination when the spirits didn't go there naturally. When they did this it was called a soul burial and basically sounded like a ghost fading into nothingness. It was also a Shinigami's duty to deal with the Hollows which were monsters with creepy white clay masks that fed on the souls of the dead that had yet to move on. These 'soul vampires' were apparently very attracted to those with high spiritual energy and considered the soul of a Shinigami to be a delicacy. Given how many people lived in Japan he was surprised there weren't Death Gods coming and going all the time to deal with the flow of deceased people or attacking Hollows. He would have been happy to help out with that while he was here but that and other things had been made forbidden to him leaving him very annoyed and very bored.
It had been when he had been brought before the thirteen Captains of the Gotei thirteen that he had been informed by the Commander-General that while he would be granted a place to stay among them until his dilemma was solved he would not be instructed in the ways of the Shinigami. The official reason was that it would do him little good to learn the demon arts spells or how to properly wield his zanpakutō since he'd be restored to his human state soon enough. Given the looks he had gotten from some of the Captains and the whispers he'd heard behind his back though he had a hunch it was something more… ugly… than that. In any case it had been Captain Hitsugaya that had been assigned to keep an eye on him and a room had been provided at the tenth division barracks for him to stay in. For the first two weeks he'd split his time between helping out with chores around the barracks and Kurotsuchi's lab where the mad scientist pokes him without end to find a way to return him to his body without destroying it. Eventually though boredom of doing chores and growing annoyance at being that chalky faced psycho's lab specimen caused him to look for something more entertaining to do. In the end that something was covertly watching students from the Shinigami academy train in the forest. Normally spying on a Shinigami would be difficult if not impossible since one of the first skills the students learn is the ability to sense the spiritual energy of others. After a few close calls though he managed to find a group that was sufficiently lacking in that department that he could observe their training without being picked up by them. Thus began his secret training in the ways of the Shinigami that near as he could tell had gone unnoticed by the entire Gotei thirteen.
Not exactly a complete education considering that you need at least two people for some of the exercises but still informative. He thought as he tossed a book blown beyond the hope of recovery into the nearby garbage can.
Given that he had to train himself in secret the workout sessions were random, happening whenever he thought he could find a suitable location and enough time, but bit by bit he was coming along. Despite this little mess of his he wasn't stupid enough usually to train indoors but business had begun to pick up in the Seireitei making it almost impossible to find an isolated spot to practice. So he had decided to use an old records room deep in the basement of the tenth division's barracks for practice since he figured that the combination of many feet of concrete and unappealing location would be enough to keep others from hearing him. Unfortunately if the explosion he'd just caused was any hint he doubted there was anyone in the entire building who hadn't heard something. Someone would definitely be down here soon and since there was no way he could avoid getting hit with the blame for it the best he could hope for was to make it look like he was taking responsibility for his actions.
Five minutes the door opened swiftly to reveal the duo of Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya and lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto with both of them having one hand on their zanpakutōs. Both looked about the room, zeroing in on the damage he'd caused, before focusing their attention squarely on him with the obvious question in their eyes.
What to say? What to say? He thought as he struggled to think just the right way to explain the mess, Might as well go with my strengths.
"Don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you a rat in here spontaneously exploded after taking one look at ol' Kurotsuchi's picture would you?" he asked trying to make it sound both feasible and quite amusing at the same time.
Matsumoto looked like she was fighting a giggle but all Captain Hitsugaya did was raise an eyebrow clearly waiting for the real reason there was a smoking bookshelf corner in the room. Now the Xan-man knew that he could try and bluff his way out or even just clam up and say nothing but given how strong he figured both the Captain and lieutenant were he didn't think that that was a healthy course of action. Therefore he had no choice but to cave in and tell them the truth no matter how miserable the punishment would likely make him later.
"Didn't think so. I was just, sort of, getting some training in and figured this room was far enough out of the way for it." He stated looking anywhere but right in the Captain's eyes, "I didn't mean to blow off a corner of the bookshelf but… well… let's just say my aim needs work."
Saying nothing Hitsugaya walked calmly over to the damaged bookshelf, examined the area around where the attack hit, before looking down at the damaged books themselves. Eventually he looked up at the worried former Zeppo and examined him for a few moments.
"Shakkahō?" asked the Captain in order to confirm what he suspected had caused the mess around him.
"Uh, yeah, I was aiming for the picture there." Xander replied pointing briefly at the picture of the 12th division's Captain still hanging from the ceiling.
"I thought it was understood that you were not to try and learn our ways Xander?" Hitsugaya asked implying severe punishment depending on the one eyed carpenter's answer.
"Actually Commander-General Yamamoto-Genryūsai said that it was forbidden for anyone to 'teach' me how to be a Shinigami." Xander replied pointing out the small technicality that might keep him out of getting punished, "He never said I couldn't teach myself by watching others."
Both the Captain and the lieutenant of the tenth division went wide eyed for a moment at the sight of someone with no official rank among the Gotei 13 using their supreme leader's words in such a way. It was a moment later that Captain Hitsugaya turned the tables on him when he turned around and began to take his leave without saying a single thing in rebuttle to the former Zeppo's words. It wasn't until the young Captain got to the door that he spun around and pointed a finger at the picture of the 12th division's Captain.
"Way of destruction number four: byakurai" he declared and with a brief flash of blue light a bolt of lightning shot from his uncurled finger spearing the picture right in the middle destroying it completely.
Both Xander and Lieutenant Matsumoto looked at the Captain wondering why he had done that and for what reason since neither had ever seen him do something like that before.
"I can understand how the Commander-General's words might have been misinterpreted by you especially given how new you are to Soul Society." Hitsugaya said frigidly looking Xander right in the eye, "However just the same I cannot let this incident pass unpunished. For the next two weeks you'll aide the fourth division run errands and clean the Seireitei from top to bottom. I believe they just began work at the academy yesterday so you can start your work there. You'll take orders from and report to Captain Unohana while you aide her division. Is this understood?"
"But Captain wouldn't that—" Matsumoto began before being cut off by a glare from Hitsugaya.
"I believe Xander knows what he's in for Matsumoto." The young Captain said sternly before continuing out the door, "Now come. I believe we still have a sizeable amount of paperwork still to do."
"Of course Captain." Masumoto said with a grin as she caught onto what her superior was up to, "See you later Xander. Work hard!"
What the hell did she get that I do--? Xander thought as he tried to figure out what had caused the busty redhead to go from protesting to grinning in under a minute and quickly understood, Why that sneaky little brat!
With a sneaky smile of his own on his face he trotted out of the records room imagining all the things he'd learn while 'enduring' his punishment.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The Cliff of Sōkyoku, Three Weeks Later, Mid-DayWell isn't this a fine way to top off a miserable morning! Xander thought to himself as he stood next to Captain Kyōraku and his lieutenant Nanao.
For the past two weeks he'd been secretly having the time of his life as he secretly observed the various training exercises of the Shinigami in training. If Sunnydale High had been more like this it would definitely have been him that received the label of geek or know-it-all rather than Willow. True he had to cover up his observing with cleaning this or sweeping that but given that he hadn't been caught once since he started he was confident his cover remained intact. However the last while had curtailed whatever learning he might have been able to do as the entire Court of Pure Souls was put on alert for some ryoka or unauthorized spirits that had managed to get inside. Every division was mobilized and were told to apprehend the intruders on sight no matter what the cost. Seeing everyone around him in such an uproar his curiosity had gotten the better of him so he'd grabbed the first Shinigami to cross his path, some kid named Hanatarō, for answers. According to the fourth division member a group of ryoka from the human world had broken into Seireitei and if the rumours were true intended to rescue a young woman named Rukia Kuchiki who was to be executed soon. He hadn't been able to get anything more out of the timid teen since he seemed to be in quite a hurry to get somewhere.
Over the next few days the ryoka had managed to cause quite a commotion and actually managed to defeat most of the eleventh division including the monster known as Zaraki Kenpachi. Unfortunately while this did surprise the Shinigami and actually caused the governing body of the Central forty-six to move up the execution date considerably. To both him and Captain Hitsugaya this stunk, though he was considerably more vocal about it than 'Whitey' was, especially when added to the assassination of Captain Sōsuke. That led him to where he was right now which was standing for both Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto at the execution of Rukia Kuchiki. The Captain hadn't given him a reason choosing instead to give him a piece of folded paper with instructions to give it to the Commander-General once he arrived at the Sōkyoku. Not happy about being left out of whatever private investigation the two were performing he nevertheless did as he was told as repayment for the learning opportunity the Captain had given him. He had a arrived at the place of execution a little before the condemned did and had handed over the note to the Commander-General immediately. Whatever was written in the note surprised the elderly Shinigami because Xander clearly saw the old guy's eyes open much wider than they usually were when he was calm. At the time he had wanted to ask what was in the note but decided that now wasn't the time for such things and simply waited. Yamamoto-Genryūsai, after reading the note, tucked the piece of paper into his uniform and told the former carpenter to stand by the 8th division members.
When he had seen the young woman, Rukia Kuchiki, that was scheduled to be executed the first thought that had come into his head was 'she does not deserve to be killed'. She just looked so ordinary and in terms of physical appearance didn't seem much older than Buffy was when she started slaying. Wondering what exactly she had been found guilty of he carefully leaned over and asked Lieutenant Ise what crime Rukia had committed. The lieutenant was at first surprised that he didn't know but then obviously remembered who she was looking at and promptly explained. Apparently while on a routine Hollow extermination mission to the real world Rukia Kuchiki, whether willingly or unwillingly, had her powers transferred to a living human being. That apparently was a major no-no among the Shinigami and he could see how giving such powers to a John or Jane America might be a bad idea. Added to that crime was the fact that she stayed in the real world way past what Shinigami were allowed and that only made her previous crime that much worse since the only reason she stayed there was to supervise the teenage guy who had received her powers. While Lieutenant Ise seemed to be fine with the chosen punishment he couldn't condone it at all. Sure this Rukia girl might have broken the law and caused some problems in the real world but killing her was just going overboard. If they wanted to punish her then they should have tossed her in jail or gone after the teenager who had taken her powers. After all it was highly unlikely that she had broken the law on purpose or at least to that degree and once the human was dealt with a few decades in prison should be enough to teach her a lesson. Sadly since he didn't have a rank within the ranks of the Shinigami much less one high enough to challenge the ruling of the Central sixty-four all he could do was stand here and watch.
"Very well. Just as you have asked, I shall send the ryoka back unharmed the dawn after your execution." Declared Yamamoto-Genryūsai after hearing the condemned woman's request.
"Thank you." Rukia said sounding genuinely relieved that her friends, the ones who had come to rescue her, would be sent back to Earth unharmed.
"How cruel." Lieutenant Kotetsu said softly so as not to be heard by everyone, "He doesn't plan on sending them back alive."
WHAT!? Xander thought as he heard what the lieutenant had to say.
"It isn't cruel, Isane." Said Captain Unohana as the experienced healer took her place by her lieutenant's side, "It's mercy."
Those words were all he needed to hear to know that what Kotetsu said was true and it made him both sick to his stomach as well as mad that the person who everyone in Soul Society should look up to was lying right to the face of a person minutes away from being executed. The Shinigami were supposed to stand for something good, honourable and noble but here was the most revered and powerful member of their group lying about sparing the lives of friends that Rukia obviously held quite dear. In his opinion Rukia at least deserved an honest answer out of the old geezer before being executed.
"Captain Unohana! Where have you been?" Lieutenant Kotetsu asked in surprise at her superior's stealthy arrival and lateness to the execution proceedings.
"If it is an unavoidably death, then at least let her have no regrets, no matter how small they might be. Even if it is something small, at least let her be at peace." Captain Unohana said elaborating on the reason for the Commander-General's decision to lie.
Sweet words but it still doesn't change the fact that the old man is lying to her and plans on killing Rukia's friends! Xander thought angrily even though he could understand the Captain's point of view, If there's a place where Shinigami go when they die then Rukia will know the instant she crosses over that the sack of bones lied to her and then there'll be hell to pay!
Keeping his opinions to himself he watched as the priests in charge of the execution encircled the giant spear, Sōkyoku, and began to form a series of hand seals to release the weapon from its confinement. With every seal they formed the Xan-man could see a blue energy field begin to form around the spear growing ever brighter with intensity.
"Release Sōkyoku!" yelled the Commander-General.
With those words the field of energy that had been crackling around the weapon like a campfire took a leap forward in strength becoming a blazing building both in terms of size and strength. Soon after the energy centred itself on the wooden stakes driven into the ground around the weapon that were tied to thick ropes that he presumed kept the spear sealed. Then one by one the thick ropes snapped, as though the weapon had broken them through sheer strength alone, flying into the air and began to unwrap themselves from the middle of the pole part of the weapon. Once completely separated from the tool of execution the ropes shot outwards in every direction hitting the ground more like steel girders than rope. Once the rope had been dealt with three cubes rose from the platform where Rukia stood and pulled her into a position similar to being tied to a cross before lifting her high into the air towards the top of the scaffold.
"Nanao-chan." Said the deep smooth voice of Captain Kyōraku drawing the attention of the one-eyed Scooby down to him, "Don't look so pained. You'll make me sad too."
Okay so maybe he isn't a complete chauvinistic slacker after all. Xander thought as he caught the obvious attempt by the man wearing the straw hat.
"I'm not making this face because it's painful." Said the Lieutenant looking away from her Captain.
It looked like the woman might say more but before she could a spout of flame erupted from the ground where the bottom of the Sōkyoku was planted quickly becoming a Washington monument sized column enveloping the spear completely. Just about everyone, with the exception of a few Captains, backed up in surprise at the pillar of fire making it clear that executions using this tool were rare. As the spear, barely visible within its cocoon of flame, rose into the air the fire began to take on a perceivable form. However it was not until the transformation was complete that he saw what the form was. It was an awe inspiring shape of a bird, a phoenix if he remembered what one of Giles' books said, and it spread its wings easily the length of a football field.
"Now THAT'S impressive." Said his smart mouth out loud before he could stop it.
Fortunately the rest of those in attendance were too shocked by what they were seeing to take any notice of what he said.
"King Kikou." Said the Commander-General as he spoke the name of the bird of flame, "He is the true form of Sōkyoku's spear, the final enforcer of extreme punishment. When he pierces through a criminal, the sentence will end."
No kidding! One bite from that flamin' Polly and its instant cremation for whoever is on the receiving end. Xander thought once he had his mouth firmly under his control.
With a surge of heat he watched as the phoenix flew forward to carry out the unjust sentence given to Rukia Kuchiki and despite his desire to put a stop to it he knew he had neither the authority or the strength to so. No matter what kind of progress he had made in learning the ways of the Shingami nor how some high ranked members seemed to like him somewhat there was no way he could stop such a powerful beast. All he could do was watch and hope that the chalk faced psycho found a way for him to go home soon because right at this moment he couldn't say he liked these Shinigami that much. Not if they were so willing to deal out death to those that broke the law much less to one so undeserving of it.
Then something happened that he had no doubt would be spoken of in Soul Society for years to come because just before the Sōkyoku would have made contact with Rukia it came to a crashing halt. It was almost as if it was an ordinary bird that had suddenly flown into a thick pane of glass and was unable to go any further. All the other Shinigami were floored as none could understand how one of the most powerful weapons in Soul Society could be stopped. It wasn't until a few moments later that the flames that the phoenix was composed of clear enough for everyone to see what had stopped the method of execution in its tracks. Although to be perfectly accurate, and understand the unparalleled shock of everyone present, it was actually a who that had stopped Sōkyoku as the clear form of a man wearing a cloak of some kind and a huge sword on his back could be seen.
"I-impossible!" exclaimed Captain Soifon as she was no doubt trying to comprehend what she was seeing with her own eyes, "Did he stop it!? He was able to stop the Sōkyoku spear that has the explosive power of one million zanpakutō with only one zanpakutō! Just what is he?"
A hero that's what! Xander thought with glee as he saw hope for Rukia for the first time since this whole execution started.
"Nanao-chan, is this boy possibly the one that the ryoka guy mentioned?" asked Kyōraku as he like the other Shinigami took in the sight before them.
"Yes. His physical characteristics also match the reports sent in by the different divisions." Lieutenant Ise replied with surprising composure considering what she was witnessing.
"I see…" Captain Kyōraku stated as he used one hand to keep his straw hat on in the wind generated by the power of Sōkyoku, "It means that, in the end, they were the ones who made it in time."
Is it just me or did I catch a Captain implying that he might have been planning to interrupt the proceedings a bit? Xander thought as he contemplated what he'd just heard.
With a roar that sounded entirely inappropriate for a bird the phoenix backed away from the man that had prevented it from doing its job and prepared itself for another assault. The man seemed to know that and so when the Sōkyoku charged forward towards its target the orange haired guy charged as well. It was Super Shinigami versus the flaming chicken, round two, but before the two combatants could lock up once more a thick crimson cord shot out of nowhere and wrapped itself around the neck of the phoenix before falling to the ground. Just about everyone turned to see who else had decided to interfere with this lawful execution but it was Isane who gave them names. The group was composed of three people: Captain Ukitake, co-lieutenant Kiyone Kotetsu and co-lieutenant Kotsubaki. The first was most certainly the one who had roped the flaming vulture and he seemed to have one big ass shield making it clear he was ready to get violent if he had to. Then the conspiracy got two more members as both the Captain and the lieutenant of the 8th division leapt to where the end of the cord had hit the ground and plunged it like a stake into the ground.
"Hey, pretty boy. You really made us wait." Kyōraku asked jokingly to hide the full extent of how happy he was that the gang was all here.
This caused everyone's attention to be split between the man that had dared to challenge the Sōkyoku and the two Captains that looked to be rebelling against the Gotei 13. Personally he was having a great deal of trouble keeping the crazy smile he wanted to use watered down to a grin since he was almost certain now that Rukia would be saved.
"Sorry. It took awhile to release." Ukitake said apologizing for his lateness, "But, I can do it with this!"
With a little too much drama he brought forward the shield he'd brought with him for everyone to see. It was kinda shaped like a V but right in the middle was a intricate square-like design with distinct symbols engraved both at its corners as well as in the middle. Obviously this was something special and not something just anyone could buy at the local armoury.
While he didn't know what the special significance of the shield was Soifon apparently did as she immediately ordered her lieutenant to stop Ukitake and Kyōraku immediately. Apparently the two division leaders intend to use the shield to destroy the phoenix and that was something Ms. Snippy did not life. Fortunately the big guy was smarter than he looked and wasn't stupid enough to try and take on two Captains by himself. That was all the delay Ukitake and Kyōraku needed as they both unsheathed their zanpakutō and thrust them into the grooves apparently made for them in the shield. Channelling not only the power of their zanpakutōs but also the shield itself up the red cord ensnaring the phoenix the former Zeppo watched as in the blink of an eye the Sōkyoku exploded raining little bits of flame down on everyone.
That was all it took for Xander to lose what restraint he had as he broke out the widest smile he had since he was sure that without the 'official' tool of execution the entire thing would have to be called off. However the guy that had started the entire mess apparently wanted to make sure all the Is were dotted and the Ts crossed because with a back flip, a twirl of his sword to build up momentum and a vicious stab he unleashed a blast of spiritual energy down into the scaffold that completely split it in two.
"Th-the Sōkyoku scaffold…" Isane said without knowing she was speaking out loud.
That feeling was pretty much what all the Shinigami were experiencing since the intruder had just done the impossible twice as far as they were concerned. First he stopped the Sōkyoku in its tracks and then he destroyed the scaffold that had a defensive power equal to the phoenix's offensive power. Even for someone like him, to whom the weird and the incredible were pretty commonplace, this was a sure sign that this guy was no pushover or weakling. Now though the guy had to make his exit with his friend and something told the former carpenter that leaving would be a lot harder for the teen than getting here. If it came to it though he'd lend what help he could since they were both on the same side not wanting Rukia to be executed. Hopefully his aim had improved enough that his demon arts spells would actually hit what he aimed them at.
Before either the orange haired guy or the Xan-man could make a move one more person decided to add himself to the guest list in the form of Lieutenant Renji Abarai. It was obvious the guy was pretty beat up but still determined to help get Rukia to safety no matter how much it hurt to move.
"So you've come, Renji?" yelled Mr. Red from the top of the scaffold.
"Renji!" Rukia exclaimed in joy as she saw her friend.
"Rukia!" Renji yelled back looking like he was in significant pain.
"Thank goodness you're still alive, Renji!" Rukia yelled with joy.
"I thought you'd come." Mr. Red remarked as though everything had gone exactly like he'd planned.
"Of course. If I didn't come, who would save Rukia?" Renji said with a tough guy 'tude.
Then Mr. Red did something that had both ally and enemy questioning his position as Rukia's rescuer since he threw her at Renji like she was a pillow with her screaming the entire way down. Even worse was the fact that while Abarai did catch her the power behind the throw was enough to send both him and Rukia skidding backwards along the ground hard enough to leave a trench.
Definitely needs to work on his rescuing skills! Xander thought as he rolled his eyes at Mr. Red's recklessness.
"Idiot! Ichigo, you bastard!" Rukia roared back at the redhead once she got to her knees.
"What would have happened if I'd dropped her!? You jerk!!" Renji yelled adding in his own two cents.
"Take her!" Ichigo said completely ignoring their words, "Don't just sit there! Hurry up and take her away! That's your job. Don't let go of her even if it kills you."
Renji needed to further incentive and took off with Rukia in his arms as fast as he could run given his injuries. Most of the Shinigami, primarily the lieutenants, were frozen in shock that yet another of their comrades had decided to rebel against Soul Society but one Captain was not and decided to snap the others out of it.
"Why are you so surprised, fools!?" Soifon yelled in anger both at the traitors and her own people, "Chase them! All lieutenants after them!"
Once permission was given by their proper Captains Isane, Chōjirō Sasakibe and Marechiyo Ōmaeda took off in pursuit of both Rukia and Renji. For a moment Xander was tempted to try and intercept them but stopped himself before he committed himself to it. He held no illusions about where he stood on the grand scheme of things and knew that even with the few surprises he had up his sleeve he wouldn't be able to beat all three of them. Fate, it seemed, agreed with him since in the blink of an eye Ichigo went from being atop the scaffold watching his friends making their escape to right in front of the pursuing lieutenants. Planting his sword in the ground he made his challenge clear which did NOT go over well with the lieutenants as they released their zanpakutōs to the shikai level. Not that it did them much good since in the space of five seconds Ichigo managed to take them all out of the fight for the foreseeable future. A blur of motion though caught his eye and as if from nowhere Captain Byakuya Kuchiki appeared behind the redhead intent on cleaving him in two. Ichigo was up to the challenge though and easily managed to take a hold of his own zanpakutō in time to block the attack. With that initial clash though the battle had been joined and it was clear neither participant would appreciate outside interference. That was okay though since he had a feeling they'd have their own little drama going on right here very soon.
"Sister…" whisptered co-lieutenant Kiyone Kotetsu stared at her fallen sister Isane, "Sister!"
Without hesitation Kiyone began to run towards her sister but given the atmosphere going on right then it was not the smartest move she could have made. Her fellow co-lieutenant shared this opinion apparently as he ran after her.
"Wait, Kiyone! Hey!" Kotsubaki yelled as he tried to catch up to her.
He didn't get far though since in the time it took him to take two steps Captain Soifon had moved from where she had been and with a single blow sent the man with the goatee flying into the air before crashing to the ground unconscious. This stopped Kiyone in her tracks as well as turn around which was a smart move since ignoring the angry Captain at that point would have been a fatal mistake.
"Wait, Soifon!" Ukitake said as he tried to move and intervene.
A thunderous thump from Yamamoto's walking stick as it struck the ground in Ukitake's path stopping him from going any further.
"Don't move!" Yamamoto bellowed with barely controlled anger.
"Genryuusai-dono!" Ukitake said in shock at the elder Shinigami's action.
"The one who ran away with the criminal is a lieutenant. If we assign a replacement for him, the replacement will work." Yamamoto said firmly with his eyes never leaving Ukitake's, "Afterwards we can take our time catching him. However, you are the ones I cannot forgive. As captains, you have done things which you should not have done. You are not ignorant of what that means."
Knowing that her Captain was in big trouble Kiyone tried to move to come to his aide but was stopped by Ukitake with a word and a negative shake of his head.
"Alright, then there's no choice!" Kyōraku said as though he and Ukitake were taking their leave from a party, "Shall we run away for the time being, Ukitake?!"
With a blur of movement they were both gone and Lieutenant Ise vanished with them to some other place in Soul Society most likely. A good idea since he didn't fancy being caught in the middle of a battle between two Captains and the Commander-General given his aversion to pain and death. Yamamoto vanished soon after leaving only a handful of people still at the sight of the unexpectedly cancelled execution. Unfortunately for him and Kiyone though they were left there with two Captains one of which had a seriously bad attitude along with a short fuse. Turning towards Kiyone to make the suggestion that they make a break for it while they still could he found he was too late and just managed to catch Captain Soifon knock the redhead co-lieutenant to the ground with a roundhouse kick to the head before bringing the same foot down hard on the thirteenth division members chest. Hard.
"Trash. In doing this, you have forgotten the pride of being part of the Gotei thirteen. It is an embarrassing betrayal!" Soifon said with contempt and anger as she increased the pressure her foot was putting on Kiyone's chest, "But be at ease. I will make sure you cannot make this embarrassment worse. I shall bury you immediately."
"Okay that's quite enough of that!" Xander said as he charged Soifon while drawing his own zanpakutō.
Slashing at her waist he was not surprised at all when Soifon vanished from her position over the seriously in pain Kiyone but then again he had never expected to hit her in the first place. He had slashed with the intent of getting her to move away from the co-lieutenant so he could use one of the hat tricks he'd been practicing for the past several weeks.
"Disintegrate, Black Dog of Rondanini. Look upon yourself and burn. Tear away your own throat!" he yelled as quickly yet coherently as possible while pointing at Soifon, "Way of Binding number 9: geki!"
With a look of surprise on Soifon's face the Captain was enveloped in a crimson light that froze her entire body in a rigid paralysis. Taking a moment to feel some pride at managing to pull off that spell right he tempered the pride with the fact that the only reason it worked was because the Captain hadn't expected him to be able to do demon arts at all much less a binding spell. She wouldn't fall for the same trick twice and would most certainly not be taken by surprise again which meant that he had to knock the wind out of her sails with his next move.
"O Lord, Mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man, Truth and temperance, Upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws!" he chanted quickly, almost stumbling over a few parts, "Way of destruction number thirty-three: sōkatsui!"
With those words a ball of neon blue energy shot out from his outstretched hand towards Soifon and as it exploded he thought that he had actually managed to pull it off. However the dirt cloud kicked up by his attack's effect parted briefly and he could see no Soifon where he thought she should be whether it was on the ground or standing up. It took an instant for the truth to click in his head before he whipped around to look behind him and saw Captain Soifon standing there looking even more pissed than she had before if that was at all possible.
"You dare to use demon arts on me even though it is forbidden for you to even know them!" Soifon said looking to be about one minute away from blowing her stack, "Who taught you? Which one of the traitors violated Soul Society law!?"
"No one taught me Soifon. I merely watched and learned and practiced what I learned." He replied as his mind worked a galaxy a minute trying to figure out how he could stay alive now, "As for breaking your laws… well if executing someone like Rukia Kuchiki for something that was obviously not her fault is an example of Soul Society law then it can all go to hell!"
"You--!" Soifon growled with narrowed eyes and clenched teeth.
"Yeah, yeah! Look I'm willing to bet that we both have things we'd rather be doing and people we'd rather pound into the ground then each other." He said trying to sound both confident and impatient, "So let's get to the part where we see which of us is stronger shall we?"
"Snort As if a Captain of my stature would waste time with someone who hasn't even graduated from the academy." Soifon said with a sneer as she reached for her zanpakutō and drew it from its sheath.
Instantly Xander found himself surrounded on all sides by members of the Special Mobile Corps of the Shinigami that had answered their leader's call to arms.
"My subordinates in the Special Mobile Corps will be more than enough to deal with you." Soifon said as she began to turn away, "Just like you should have been dealt with from the beginning! Kill him!"
With that Xander could spare no more attention keeping track of Soifon as he was literally up to his neck in sharp and pointy trouble. The next few moments were a blur of motion and instinct as he tried desperately to protect himself from the blows both physical and magical being rained down on him by the ninja clad warriors attacking him. However for every two blows he actually managed to block four more managed to get through with his late defences only partially able to decrease the damage done to his body. He tried to fight back but his sword skills were barely above that of an amateur and without time to speak the proper incantations the effectiveness of his demon arts attacks was cut by two thirds. Not surprising considering the Special Mobile Corps were like black Ops units back home which meant they were the cream of the crop. The only reason he was managing to stay alive, in his opinion, was because these people were taking him lightly due to him not being an academy graduate. They likely thought him to be nothing more than a wannabe Shinigami and were only gradually stepping up their efforts as they grew impatient waiting for him to die.
They aren't going to have to wait for very much longer at this rate! He thought to himself as he forced his body to get back to its feet after a particularly nasty sword slash and kick combo one of the Corps members hit him with.
His sword up in a shaky grip he could see them advancing, their legs tensing in preparation to pounce on him and end his life, and for the first time since Caleb he began to feel true fear. Oh there was always a little bit of fear when you hunted demons, fear helped keep you alive, but this was the first time he wouldn't have the gang backing him up. No matter what situation he got into or how bad it seemed he had always had the comfort of knowing that either Buffy, Giles, Willow or Faith would be there to bail him out. Here though, in Soul Society, there was no one really that he could really call friend or at least not to the point where they'd put their life on the line to protect his. In short he was alone, facing no less than ten highly trained warriors, and his body felt like it would grab unconsciousness in a second if given the opportunity.
Looks like my luck has finally run out! He thought as he waited for his enemies to make their move, All these years of fighting the good fight, surviving things I had no business walking away from, and this is where it all ends.
It does not have to end Alexander.
"Huh?" he asked in shock as he tried to find the voice, female, that had just spoken to him.
It was then that he noticed something that he had missed during the last couple of seconds. The entire world around him, and the people in it, were frozen in place like someone had pressed pause on their DVD player's remote. Everything from the dirt being kicked up by the fighting to the members of the Special Mobile Corps coming at him to Ichigo's fight in the distance was frozen in time with no signs of moving again any time soon. He was about to speak again when a flickering orange light came into existence behind him bathing the entire area in its glow and stretching his shadow quite far. Turning towards the source he was quite awestruck at the sight before him both because of its beauty and because of the power he could sense. Standing just a little bit shorter than him was a woman of obvious Japanese descent wearing a combination of leather clothes that would have looked at home in Faith's closet and ancient Japanese armour. With a sword in her hand, a bow and quiver of arrows tied to her back and an ornate piece of armour protecting her right shoulder as well as upper right arm it was clear that she was a kick ass warrior. She was not human though, the hair made of flames that floated up into the sky for a foot or two before disappearing kinda made that clear. If that hadn't convinced him the fact that little flicks of flame seemed to dance along the surface of her clothes and skin would have done it.
It is possible for you to still emerge victorious in this battle. Came the words of the woman even though he lips did not move an inch, Only the fear which grows inside of you is keeping you from embracing the power still burning bright inside of you.
"While I usually make it a point not to contradict women who can control fire I'm afraid you're wrong if you think I have enough power to win this." He thought trying to be both polite and honest with this mysterious woman, "I mean sure I got a boost of spiritual energy when I FUBARed that ceremony of Dra'Koth's but I'm using every scrap of it already just to stay alive and I'm STILL getting killed here."
You are wrong Alexander Harris. Thought/spoke the woman of flame wisely, Up until now you have only been tapping into spiritual power that has been yours since birth. The energy you gained from the girl, Kamizen, and Dra'Koth still waits within you begging to be released.
"Assuming you're right what do I have to do to access it?" Xander asked not entirely believing or not believing the woman of flame before him.
Merely accept their power as your own and it will join with what you already had. The Fire Lady thought/said with a tranquil smile, I too will lend you my power as you are now my bearer and so are as much a part of me as I am of you. All you need do is release my power from your zanpakutō by calling my name.
"What is your name then?" he asked now willing to trust in the woman's words.
You know what it is. It has been in your mind since you first laid eyes on me. Said Fire-Lady with an amused grin, Now time is about to resume around you. Remember this Alexander: let your courage and nobility shine brightly and no darkness will ever be able to defeat you.
With that bit of cryptic advice the woman flickered out of existence like a fire dying out and he could feel the world of Soul Society beginning to move again. His time out slipping away from him he quickly moved to heed his mysterious advisor's words and looked within him for the power she claimed was still waiting to be used. Closing his eyes he focused his entire mind on looking for the power and while he had his doubts initially the moment he truly acknowledged its existence it appeared before him as bright as the sun itself. He felt like smacking himself a thousand times for missing it and with no hesitation whatsoever he dove into the sphere of fiery energy embracing it completely. With it he felt born anew and with him the battle as well.
Showtime! He thought as he prepared to open his eyes.
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Same Area, Same Time, Captain Soifon's Perspective"That's enough playing around. Kill him now so we can deal with the rest of these traitors." Soifon ordered as she glanced at the battered form of the boy Hitsugaya had been assigned to take care of.
In her mind this was something that should have been done from the moment the boy had been brought before the Captains of the Gotei thirteen by that foul messenger of the Powers Whistler. He was an abomination, an insult to the young woman who might have one day become a Shinigami herself, and should have been wiped from existence immediately. Only the authority of the Commander-General, who had decided to agree to the request of the Powers to take care of the boy, had kept her from slaying him on the spot. He was a mistake that should never have been allowed to come into being and his actions here today proved that beyond a reasonable doubt. His actions though provided her with all the justification she needed for ordering his death and there was nothing the Powers could do to stop her.
"At once Commander!" replied the leader of the group that had responded to her summons.
"I… unh… think you should reconsider you guys." Spoke the boy as stood straighter and looked at her with an inner fire that had not been there a moment ago, "You're on the wrong side here so don't throw your lives away over a mistake."
"Silence fool! The order has been given. You will die at our hands." Said the leader of the Special Mobile Corps unit, "Accept it."
"Well I just got four words to say to that idea." The boy said and then all at once a crimson energy exploded out from him enveloping his form and stretching out fifteen feet in every direction.
So strong was the energy that those who did not evade it in time were thrown back to the ground with parts of their uniform smoking as if it had been touched by a flame. Not surprising because now that she looked at the crimson energy it did seem to conform to the shape of fire as well as move like fire would. She wanted to believe that this was just some last desperate attempt by the monster before her to intimidate his enemies but her ability to sense the spiritual pressure of others told her what she was seeing was real. Her subordinates in the Special Mobile Corps unit though were stubborn and refused to accept this display of energy in front of them believing it to only be a trick. Opening her mouth to order them all to keep their distance she was just a second too late as five of them leapt towards the battered boy with weapons drawn. Unfortunately for them the boy's words were there to fill the silence for her.
"RISE AND BURN, AMATERASU!" Alexander yelled and with those words scorching flames exploded outwards from where he stood and swept over everything in within twenty feet of him in a tsunami of fire.
The zanpakutō of Alexander Harris had been released to its shikai stated and Soifon began to worry that anyone that made a mistake of underestimating him from this point on would not get the chance to make a second one.
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Note from the Author: While I know a lot of you canon 'Bleach' fans are likely preparing to flame me over some conflicting or inconsistent facts in this drabble/short please read this before you write or send anything. First off I know that based on the information provided by the anime series a person with high spiritual energy is not born a Shinigami and so does not receive the uniform or a zanpakutō until after they graduate from the academy. This is contradicted though by one Ichigo Kurosaki given that after the powers he gained from Rukia were destroyed and he got them back beneath Kisuke Urahara's shop he was reborn as a shinigami wearing both the uniform and with his zanpakutō. I know that the going theory online is that Ichigo is the reincarnation/reborn Kaien Shiba but as that has not been clearly stated in the official series I felt it gave me an opening. It is my theory for my Bleach universe that while some people do need to actually enlist and be given their Shinigami gear there are some people who are born to be Shinigami. They have all the necessary abilities and equipment already ready and waiting inside of them and only need to find them to claim them. Whether this was the case with Xander or with the teenage girl Dra'Koth intended to sacrifice I'll leave up to you. Still, Caleb did call Xander 'the one who sees', but see what exactly?
As for the perhaps too fast rate at which Xander was learning demon arts I explain that by saying that the only reason he sucked at schoolwork at Sunnydale High was because he didn't find it interesting. Making things go boom or stopping someone bigger than him in their tracks would easily be enough to make me interested in learning so why not Xander huh?
If you have any other problems or questions please email them to me.