I have to warn you before hand that this chapter is pretty violent with all the fighting scenes.

Standard disclaimer : I do not own Bleach.

right, turning left

Chapter 14 : Crimson sky

"Kurosaki-kun, don't be too hasty. We should stay and fight together."

A figure flickers and appears in front of me, stopping my sword by holding its edge single-handedly. It was none other than Mitarashi-sama.

"Heh... so you are that brat's leader huh? Lucky for him. He would've died and still had no idea what hit him." One of the Arankaru with a bulky build mocks.

I bite my lower lip hard to fight the urge to yell back right away. Much as I hate to admit it, what both of them said are true.

What would Rukia say if she sees me like this?

Baka, don't just attack without thinking! That's called suicide! Use your brain if you have any and think!

She would probably yell at me like that. She used to be there whenever I fight, always giving me orders, bossing me around and yelling at me how I should fight. But she's not here now. And I'm glad she's not here to witness this. I have a gut feeling that this will be a nasty fight, very nasty fight.

I will not lose, Rukia. This is the battle I fight for you, for us.

"Bankai !" I release my bankai and the rest of our scout also releases their zanpakutou. I grit my teeth and hold up Zangetsu in defense position.

"Perfect, we are in even number. Pick your favourite, boys."

They scatter and encircle us in the centre. We are now standing back to back, each facing an enemy. Black against white. Good against evil. Then there is an utter silence. The air is dense with immense spirit pressure and killing intent. Neither us nor them move. The only sound that can be heard is the rustling sound of zanpakutou, crying out for the thirst of blood. Any movement will break the tension and trigger the battle right away.

With a single shuffle of feet, thus the battle begins. Both parties lunge forward and metal clashes with metal in the air.

"Che, how pathetic! You mean this is your ban-kai?"

My opponent is that bastard who mocks at me. He lashes out at me first but I merely evade and dodge his attacks, carefully observe the pattern of his moves and strikes. His zanpakutou is in axe form with double edge. His strikes are powerful enough to crack the earth when it hit but not fast enough for me.

"What's the matter, brat? Too afraid to strike?" he taunts.

He seems over-confident with that constant smirk plastered on his hideous face, covered by half skull mask. He will definitely pay for underestimating me.

"Are you finished? You're too noisy." I cut him off.

"Big mouth you have. This is merely warm-up. I haven't release my full strength yet."

Suddenly I can feel his spiritual force leaps up, its sheer pressure sandwich against my chest, making me harder to breath. But I plant my feet firmer into the earth and stand still.

In a blink of eye, he vanishes before my eyes. His speed has doubled! I scowl. Looks like I can't afford to hesitate either. I swing Zangetsu to my back and block his axe just in time. I knew the tricks and I already seen through his moves.

I can win. I will win.

We both leap backwards after our blades clash. Without wasting another second, I charge forward again at my highest speed and release Ten Sa Zan Getsu (Heavenly Chain Cutting The Moon) at him.

We have a deal to fight together. Now take all the strength that you need, old man.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO... Impossible!" he roars as I slice his body into half.

His black blood spatters to my face and drips from the tip of Zangetsu slowly as I watch him crumble into dust. One is out. I turn to help others to combat the remaining Arankaru.

Damn... they are so stubborn. Why don't they just die? We have been fighting for hours and we are now panting for breath. I'm at my limit and I know they are probably close to theirs too. The smell in the air stinks with the coppery tang of blood and other body fluids. We have lost half of our scouts but they are only left with three. We are still at advantage, sort of.

I think I had a slash across my back, a stab in my right thigh, a numb right arm and some broken ribs. Fatigue and blood lost had taken a toll on me. But I struggle to stand despite every muscles of mine screams in pain. My eyes begin to see double and I have to shake my head and squint my eyes to see.

I can't fall here. Rukia is waiting for me. Inoue, Karin, Yuzu, dad, Kon... are waiting for me too. No, I can't fall here.

You look awful. Need a hand here? I can help you defeat those guys and then you can go home. And everyone is happy. It's him again. My head begin to spin with his voice echoing inside my head.

Shut up! I don't need your help. The offer sounds tempting enough but I will not fall for that bait.

Why? I'm only showing concern for you, for us.

Us? There are no us. Only you and me. Don't ever mix that up, idiot!

Admit it! You need me. You can't go on by yourself. If not because of me, you would have been long dead.

Won't he ever stop talking? He's so annoying. Arg... my headache is killing me. My limps give away and I collapse to my knee at last. My vision blurs again before darkness envelopes me. For a second, I thought I saw the world around me suddenly tint with crimson. The last glimpse I caught was Zangetsu old man appears again.

When my eyes fluster open and I look around me, I'm no longer in the battle field but in that world again, lying on the surface of that same building perpendicularly. Actually physically I'm still at the battle field but spiritually, so to speak, I'd entered my inner world.

This is not good. The last time I entered here was the fight with Zaraki Kenpachi three years ago. Zangetsu old man had given me a second chance to claim back my zanpakutou. But this time, I'm not sure why I am here again.

"So, you have waked up. Get up now. Fight me. If you win, then you can go back and continue your fight. But if you lose, I shall take over and fight for you." the hollow side of me says coldly.

"What! This is crap! I have no time for this. I'm leaving right now."

"Unfortunately, I can't allow you to do this." he starts spinning his sword by the hilt wrap.

I turn to face Zangetsu for support but that old man only wrap his hands, standing on a stick and watching us silently. Apparently he doesn't intend to help me either. I'm on my own. The situation really sucks! After all the shit I went through, I still have to fight with my hollow self!

Before I can think any further, my hollow self already threw its sword towards me leaving me no room to think. I manage to dodge but I tear my wound as I land heavily on my knees. Blood begin to sip through my robe again.

My head can't think straight any more and I barely dodge his attacks to stay alive. This isn't a fair fight in the first place. But the world is never fair anyway. God must hate me huh? I cough out more blood and lean most of my weight on my sword for support.

"Do you surrender?"

"Never."

"Very well. Take this." He swings his sword at me. I'm too battered to move and I thought this is it.

But suddenly Zangetsu old man appears before me and the sword in the hand of my hollow self vanishes. "You can't kill him. Hush, leave now."

I see and hear nothing after that.

Author's note:

I'm sorry that I left a cliff hanger at the end of chapter 13. The truth is I don't really know how to write a fight scene. This is the first time I ever try to write a fight scene. I'm really nervous here about how it'll turn out. Hopefully it's not too bad. : P

rukiaprincess :

You are such a sweetheart. Do you know that? Give you lots of cookies and ice cream. ; )

Danny-171984 :

About Renji and Rukia, I share the similiar view with you. I think they are like a family, they might drift apart but there's a strong bond that'll always bind them.

Thanks for the reminder of anonymous reviews. I didn't aware of that. I guess whether I get many reviews or not is beyond my control. I love to get reviews, but even if I don't, I'll still continue to write. : )

I hope I didn't disappoint you for the fight scene. Do let me know if there's anything that I need to improve.

mikeee :

Err...sorry for the cliff hanger. But thanks for enjoying the story. Actually I didn't decide any writing style for the story in the first place because initially it was meant for two shots. But when I continue the chapters, I decided to stick to that 'style' : )

seal-chan :

Thanks, I hope you like this chapter as well.