Chapter 10: Zaraki the Butterfly
Soifon leaned against a tree lazily, watching her lieutenant run around the training grounds. Honestly, how hard was it to catch five hundred black butterflies in one area? The training grounds seemed literally carpeted in a swarm of moving black.
Hanatarou ran up panting to her. He was drenched in sweat, and a carpet of black butterflies swept away to allow him to run up to his captain without crushing them underfoot.
"What, Yamada?" asked Soifon.
"Soifon Taichou, am I allowed to use kido?" he asked breathlessly.
"No. Flash step only. Nothing else." she stated.
He sighed sadly, before pouncing on one, catching it carefully and trapping it within his fingers.
"Got one!" he said happily, placing it back in the crate.
"Yamada, I suggest you improve as quickly as possible," she said wryly, watching as he attempted to swipe at another one.
"Why, taichou?"
"Because catching them one by one is not going to work....obviously."
Suddenly Hanatarou felt a rush of wind blow his hair back, and he blinked in surprise, for his Captain wasn't in front of him leaning on the tree.
"You have slow reflexes too."
Hanatarou spun around, surprised. His taichou stood behind him, and in one hand, wings beating rapidly, were several black butterflies.
"The key is to be fast. Relax. And then strike." Soifon released the butterflies.
"Get back to your training, Yamada."
"H-hai!"
Soifon sighed, leaning back, as Yamada danced around the training grounds as if it was some sort of meadow.
A thought occurred to her. Hanatarou was always the type who did things better under pressure. He'd proved it several times. But if she started timing him, that wouldn't be enough.
"Yamada!"
"E-eh? Tai-yeeep!!!!" Hanatarou cowered as Soifon flash stepped to him.
"Hurry up." the black butterflies danced among them. The proud captain, and her tiny lieutenant sitting in the midst of black butterflies.
"Taichou?" Hanatarou had a sinking feeling.
"W-why is your zanpakuto out?" He hadn't even seen her activate it, and it was already in shikai form.
"I'm taking this training seriously, Yamada. We're trying to make this as real as possible. Unfortunately, hell butterflies don't participate in fighting."
"W-what do you mean taichou?"
"It means, that you'll be catching butterflies while evading my attacks," replied Soifon coolly, hiding a smirk.
Hanatarou's jaw dropped. "B-b-but Taichou! I can already barely catch them!"
"Like I've said. Be fast. Relax. And then strike."
"B-but-"
"No buts. I advise you to make as much of your time as possible. The Stealth Force is not for weaklings, Yamada. I don't need a weak lieutenant. So I'm training you. I didn't do that for Omaeda, so I suggest that you be glad I'm taking up this time to make you stronger. I've seen you do flash step. It's slow, but you can do it."
"T-thank you...Taichou..."
Then a full smirk came upon Soifon.
"Don't thank me...you'll be cursing me soon enough."
Then Soifon flash stepped right past him, and Hanatarou's eyes widened, feeling a Homonka grow on his arm.
"Ahh! Taichou! Are you going to kill me?!?!"
"No, but we're making it as real as possible. Better hurry and chase your butterflies, Yamada."
And Hanatarou sped away in a frantic race.
Soifon shook her head, putting away her zanpakuto, and allowing the Homonka to disappear on Hanatarou's arm. She wasn't so idiotic as to actually try and kill him with Suzumebachi, but as she had said, she needed to put more pressure on him. She had been considering calling up Zaraki, but she had quickly discarded that idea because Zaraki would blow up the Stealth Force's training grounds and also probably rip the butterflies in two with that freaking large reiatsu. Mayuri was a big no-no.
Hanatarou wasn't relaxing though. He didn't understand how to fight. At least there were ten butterflies fluttering in the cage though. An improvement from the other day when he had only caught three. Hanatarou needed to figure out how to catch them for himself. She could tell him how to relax, to find the right moment to allow a reflexive hand to shoot out and catch the hell butterfly, but he needed to discover that for himself.
Meanwhile, Ukitake was dragging large sacks of presents for all the people in Seireitei. Yachiru had convinced him to deliver a ton of candy to the twelfth squad, he had been passing by the Stealth Force's training grounds.
He peered in, watching as Hanatarou jumped at butterflies.
"Oh my! It seems that the Stealth Force has a lot of fun!" he said, smiling as Hanatarou landed flat on his face and failed a capture.
"I should try that too! I'm sure Kiyone and Sentarou would love that!" he said, humming as Hanatarou sat up miserably from the ground, panting hard from using so much shunpo. I bet everyone would love chasing butterflies! I bet it relieves a lot of stress!"
Meanwhile, Hanatarou, contrary to Ukitake's thoughts, was feeling a lot of stress.
Too bad it was going to get even worse.
Soifon had decided that Hanatarou might possibly improve if she wasn't glaring at him the whole time, and had left for other captain duties.
Coincidentally, Mayuri was "strolling" along the Second Division. He felt some antagonism towards the captain of the Stealth Force, and had some anger he wanted to vent on some test subject.
He looked in, cackling.
"Just what is that imbecile doing, chasing butterflies?!" he cackled. He raised an eyebrow, watching as Hanatarou tripped over his feet and fell, sending hell butterflies drifting away in small ripples.
Mayuri had a brain flash.
"Of course! No one will ever suspect me of this plan! They can't prove I did it! It's genius! Nemu!"
"Hai, Mayuri-sama?"
"The poison I created today- hand it to me! We have a new test subject!"
"Brilliant, Mayuri-sama," replied Nemu as she handed to him a small vial.
Cackling, Mayuri poured the liquid on the ground by the training grounds.
"We don't know the side effects, but I'm sure we'll have spectacular results!"
"Mayuri-sama, if the Stealth Force-"
"Shut up, Nemu!"
An acrid smell turned up from where Mayuri had poured the poison, and he rubbed his hands excitedly as a hell butterfly drifted near the spot.
"It's changing!" said Mayuri excitedly. "Let's watch for awhile, Nemu! We can collect data!"
"Hai, Mayuri-sama."
"Hm...I smell...something weird." Hanatarou sniffed the air, puzzled, pausing his training. "Taichou?"
He suddenly saw all the hell butterflies shoot away as a black cloud, aiming towards a section of the grounds. Hanatarou chased after them, flash stepping. Butterfly chasing did seem to help some what.
"Huh? Why are all the hell butterflies grouping here?" Hanatarou squinted, but he couldn't tell what was going on because of the thick swarm of flapping wings.
"Well, whatever it is...since they're so distracted...maybe I can grab a lot of them," said Hanatarou, though he was wondering why they were so interested in that section.
He reached out a hand, trying to remember what Soifon had said. His hand shot out.
And he screamed.
"HIYEEE!!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HELL BUTTERFLIES?!?!?!?!" he yelled, retracting his hand hastily.
The butterflies had grown teeth and Hanatarou backed off. What was going on?
"Someone help meeee!!!" Hanatarou screamed as the butterflies grew a great deal larger, and it became a black swarm of ominously flapping wings that filled the training grounds. Soifon had erected a simple barrier to prevent any butterflies from escaping during Hanatarou's training, and Hanatarou screamed as he became the one being chased by black winged butterflies that had begun to drool.
"I-I-I-I'M NOT TASTY!!! DON'T EAT MEE!!!!!" Hanatarou shrieked again as he shunpoed off. The butterfly swarm seemed to change shape, until when Hanatarou had dared to look behind him, the hell butterfly swarm had taken the shape of a gigantic, larger butterfly that floated off in surprising synchronation. It was much faster, and Hanatarou yelled, running around from the crazed butterflies.
"TAICHOU!!!!"
Hanatarou frantically looked for Hisagomaru, but he realized that he hadn't brought it along for the training.
"NOOO!!!!! I MUST FIND THE ENERGY PILLS!!" Hanatarou screamed and grabbed a few of them in his pouch, popping them in his mouth.
"Yes! I can do this! I am now full of energy!!" Then he screamed, loosing his balance and flash stepping into a tree. The giant butterfly shaped swarm floated to him.
Hanatarou, watched, scared as the swarm's shape changed again.
"I-I'M NOT AFRAID OF BUTTERFLIES!"
"Hmm...Nemu, did you get any data before we poured it?"
"We discovered that whoever is infected by the poison will be able to see people's worst fears and they can monopolize that and use it for their advantage." stated Nemu monotonously.
"Excellent! How will these hell butterflies do that?!"
"HIYEEEEEE!!!!" Hanatarou shrieked as the swarm changed shape into...Kenpachi Zaraki. Of course, a black butterfly horde made into a shape of Kenpachi Zaraki (you couldn't see the eyepatch because it was already black, but the smart butterflies had organized themselves so there was a gap for Kenpachi's typical maniacal grin, shown by some of the hell butterflies baring their fangs.
Though the butterfly swarm Kenpachi couldn't talk, its leering grin nonetheless shocked Hanatarou, feeling about the same equivalent as if the real one was already in a battle to the death with him and laughing.
"Hiyyeeee!!! SOIFON-TAICHOU, HELP!!"
Hanataro's voice echoed throughout the barracks, and sounded rather irritating to Soifon.
She walked toward the sound, not bothering to rush things.
"Hm, probably got stuck in a tree...again." Soifon scoffed.
"HIYYYYEEEEEE!!!!" Soifon raised an eyebrow as Hanataro ran across the field flapping his arms and blubbering like a cockatoo.
Scowling, Soifon snapped, "YAMADA!!! Do you realize that YOU are suppose to be chasing the butterflies? NOT the other way arou....what the hell is that?"
Soifon gawked at the huge mob of hell butterflies that resembled Zaraki for some particular reason, "...that's not a tree..."
"SOIFON-TAICHOU!!! HELP!!!" Hanatarou screamed and ran around in circles
Soifon smiled as a brilliant idea popped in her head, "Yamada! Catch!"
She reached into her cloak and fumbled around until she found it. Boy, was she glad she didn't have time to return it earlier.
Hanatarou squealed and caught a strange looking device. He almost broke into tears at the thought of his captain actually trying to help save him. He shouted joyfully, "THANK YOU TAICHOU!!! It's...a..." Hanatarou suddenly recognized the object and paled... "It's....a..."
"12th division device that allows hell butterflies to track certain targets quickly and more efficiently."
"..."
Soifon-taichou eagerly trying to get him out of a fix...too good to be true....
"EEEEKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Author's Note: Hey! Sorry for the late update...again. :P
Hope you enjoyed and please review!