Rangiku sat on the edge of the 13th Division koi pond, occasionally poking a stick into the water and watching as the fish within swam away. The flicker of the torches reflected off the pond's surface, casting shadows around her. Her sensei, Lieutenant Mikihara, had been visiting Captain Ukitake and she had tagged along, as per her role as the personal student. They had trained again in the morning but the lieutenant had been distracted the entire time and had eventually decided to give the 13th Division captain a visit. The young recruit had been told to wait outside. It'd been half a day now and she was bored. Yawning widely, she flopped down onto her back, gazing up at the sky. It had seemed a calm night…but the start of storm clouds had begun to form above, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Quite a nasty night out, isn't it?"
Rangiku jumped at the male's voice, sitting up and turning to see a shinigami approach, messy dark hair and a cheerful expression on his face. He sat down beside the young recruit and offered her his hand. "Nice to meet you. Kaien Shiba, 3rd Seated officer of the 13th Division. And you are…?"
"Ran…Rangiku Matsumoto of the 10th, sir."
"Hmm… I assume you're waiting for your lieutenant then. Rei Mikihara…she sure is something…" The man looked wistful for a moment, a curious expression on his face. "If you're her student, think you could put in a good word for me? I've been trying to ask her on a date but…she keeps evading me for some reason…"
"With good reason, Shiba-san." A gauntleted hand swept out and cuffed the 13th Division member around the back of the head. Rangiku looked around to find her sensei return, looking worn and tired but slightly less worried now. She offered her student a wary smile before adopting a mock glare as she looked at the man. "Don't you have better things to do than pestering my apprentice? Anyway…your captain wants you. Better go see what he wants."
"Alright, alright, Rei-chan… But I'll see you around." He grinned, despite the hand gesture she gave him, before hurrying off back inside the headquarters, leaving the two behind. Mikihara sat down next to the recruit, tucking her hakama around her as she gazed out over the water's edge. "Sorry for making you wait so long, Rangiku-chan. I had to…speak with Captain Ukitake for a while. He always seems to know how to calm someone down…and I needed that…given the most recent events."
"I understand, Lieutenant. Hmm…" It seemed colder suddenly. Rangiku hugged her shihakushou tight around her shoulders to keep from shivering. As she watched, a cold mist began to hover over the koi pond, thin slivers of ice forming on the water's surface. Overhead, thunder rumbled as storm clouds gathered, threatening to break open at any moment now. "Lieutenant…? What's happening…?"
She turned to her sensei only to find that her typical troubled look had returned, the older woman's features twisted in a mask of confusion and pain. "It feels like…the captain. His reiatsu release is so great it's affecting the weather… Somewhere out there, Captain Matsumura is still alive."
--
The silence endured… The wind had died down, the forest returning to its natural state again. Captain Shihouin remained standing, a cold sweat breaking out across her brow. Her wide-eyed stare met her father's…only to find that his own face was twisted in a confused expression, eyes moving from her face to where his fist had struck her square in the solar plexus. "What…? What did you do, Yoruichi?"
"She did nothing…" Shihouin's eyes widened in shock as she slowly turned her head. Behind her, the bloodied figure of Captain Shiro Matsumura stood there, an open palm pressed against her back, directly opposite where the elder's fist had struck. The surge of his reiatsu died down as he relaxed his stance, catching Shihouin as her legs gave way and laid her down carefully. Rising, he faced the elder, blank stare meeting blazing yellow eyes. "I did…"
"You…" The elder's features returned to the smirk he'd worn before as he realised who was confronting him. He walked forward along the branch until they were only a few feet away. "Shiro Matsumura…so you finally show your face. I was worried that you might've died before now…but now we get to finally find out which of us is the greatest hakuda master."
"I did almost die…" Matsumura tugged his shihakushou aside to reveal the bloody mess where the Hollow had punched into his chest. The severe injuries that'd almost caused him to bleed to death had been frozen over, ice sealing his wounds closed. "I froze my wounds shut to stop the bleeding. It almost made me pass out several times… But you'd try to kill your own daughter for the sake of a hakuda contest of power?"
"She's a disobedient child… She should listen to what her father tells her to do. The way she is now…she'll bring disgrace down on the Shihouin name. But enough talking… I have waited long enough for this chance to fight you. Prepare yourself, Matsumura!" With a burst of speed, the elder shot forward, his reiatsu surging in a blaze that left a trail of shredded wood beneath his feet.
Matsumura gritted his teeth, widening his stance and raising his hands just in time to catch the first slaying punch and divert it by rotating his body to the left. The first struck the tree behind him, shattering the thick trunk into splinters. Stepping inside his guard, Matsumura snapped his elbow down on the elder's extended arm and then lashed out with his fist. A block stopped it short then the next as the captain slammed his second fist towards the elder's side. Another solid punch and they flew apart with explosive force. Matsumura landed lightly on a tree branch but then swayed. He could taste blood. His temporary repair of his body was holding but wouldn't last in a prolonged fight...
"Alright...let's go again." Matsumura snarled as he pushed off from the tree, bursting forward and lashing out with a kick. The elder dodged aside, letting his foot shatter the tree trunk behind. A series of quick punches connected against his forearms as he raised them in a guard. He pushed forward, drawing near enough as he gathered his reiatsu to release it in a single explosive attack. The elder drove a kick at him, pushing him back slightly just as he unleashed his attack. "Tenrai Arashi!"
The captain struck forward with both hands, his palms lashing out in a storm of blows moving faster than the eye could follow, each delivered with devastating power behind them. His hits connected with flesh and bone. The enemy's face seemed to disappear behind a screen of striking limbs. He seemed to be grinning. Without warning, hands clamped around his own, his rapid movements suddenly halted. 'What...?!'
"I saw through your technique, Captain Matsumura. I could read the lines of your reiatsu and just had to trace it back to your own body. And now..." His wrists rotated, twisting Matsumura's arms around for a breaking motion. Even as he began to resist, the elder drove his forehead into his face, slamming a knee up into his gut before releasing his grip on the captain and delivering a powerful kick that sent the younger warrior flying backwards. "You'll have to do better than that!"
His back had only just struck the tree trunk behind him before a hand closed around his throat and slammed his head against it. Matsumura's head exploded with pain but his senses kicked in fast enough for him to tilt his head to one side, avoiding another punch. Clapping his hands together, the captain stabbed forward into the other man's chest and then parting them forcefully, beating aside both the grip on his throat and the fist curling against the wood. A downwards palm strike cracked the elder across the opposite shoulder before a forward kick threw the enemy aside. The old Shihouin landed a few feet away, teeth bared and fists clenched as he raised them before his face. Matsumura fought down a grimace of pain and tried to maintain his composure as they both prepared for their next assault.
Another burst of speed, another exchange of blows. Punches and kicks came in from all sides hard and fast, met by slashing blocks and parries, devastating strikes neutralised before being countered. To an observer, their movements would have been almost invisible as the battle took a step up to the next level of strength and speed once the initial clash had been resolved. They knew that neither held the clear advantage and the time had come to cease holding back anything if they wanted to survive. His blank stare locked on the other man's unflinching gaze. The slightest lapse in concentration or moment of hesitation and the enemy would cave the other's ribcage in and shatter their skull with a single strike.
Even with all his focus drawn on his defence, several solid hits connected with his body, each sending waves of pain coursing through him but robbed of enough energy to kill him. Not that the enemy needed to. Matsumura was weakening. Even if he hadn't been hit, the prolonged battle was steadily starting to tax his already drained strength. He had resorted to drawing too much power from his zanpakutou, Shiroiken's blade shattering as he channeled its power into his own body to try and patch himself back up again. He'd already been pushing it by neutralising the killing strike for Yoruichi. His breathing was heavy and his heart was racing faster than it should after fighting for so long...and then even if he'd been at full strength, this battle could still go either way.
"Disappointing, Captain Matsumura... I expected even more from you but I'm beginning to wonder if my desire to fight you was misplaced." The yellow eyes of the elder flashed in the gloom of the overhanging trees. His reiatsu was flaring, strange auras surging all around the former Special Forces commander. What the hell...? What has he done to himself...?
"Was the life of your daughter worth less to you than proving you were the greatest warrior, Shihouin-sama?" Matsumura's voice was a low hiss as he doubled over, hand clutched to his chest as he fought to regain his energy. "If so...then I will have to stop you. With your kind of power but lack of honour...if left alone, you're far more dangerous to Soul Society than we believed. As a captain of the Gotei 13...it is my responsibility...my duty to put an end to your activities."
"That's a lot of big talk from a man near death... And yes...Yoruichi has disobeyed me and is unworthy to carry on the name of Shihouin. Her death would just be one of many who had to be purged along the path in refining the ultimate art. You remember Tenji? Maybe Suikou? They too felt like you…and so they too had to be…removed. None of you have gone to the lengths I have to become the ultimate warrior. You lack the commitment to do whatever it takes and I shall destroy you for your inferiority." The elder raised a clawed hand before him, palm facing to the sky before clenching it into a fist, a crushing motion to emphasise how he extinguished the lives of those who'd challenged him.
Matsumura felt a chill running down his spine. Tenji Kotaru… Ayame Suikou… Two former captains of the Gotei 13 and comrades of his who'd also been famous for their development of hakuda styles. Both had been slain under mysterious circumstances though no witnesses were ever found, nor had further investigations drawn any leads. In the end, the cases had been filed as unsolved and over time, Soul Society had forgotten they even existed. And now their murderer stood before him.
The 10th Captain's fists clenched as he straightened up, reiatsu steadily rising to a peak and spilling over. Ice began to form across the surface of the trees around him, webs of frost crawling outwards from where he stood. "I wasn't sure about what to do with you before…but now I'm certain. Although it might upset Yoruichi, I'm going to kill you, you bastard."
"Tch… If you think you can. I have had enough of this. Now…I shall show you the true power of the destruction fist." The elder took his stance, drawing on more reiatsu and preparing for his assault. His smirk widened as he pushed off, surging forward in a flash, dark energy writhing around his limbs as he struck. Matsumura was rooted to the spot by the force of the enemy's spiritual pressure. The elder seemed to move in slow-motion as he flew through the air towards him.
The world seemed to darken, an inky blackness rippling into existence all around them, streaked with deep purples. The elder's hands moved with a surge of deep crimson in an arc, forcing a burning circle as he struck, nine attacks blazing their way through the distance between them simultaneously, striking for Matsumura, targeting the nine points of instant slaying. Oppressive reiatsu and countless years in refining the assassination arts of the Special Forces were combined into the Shihouin Fist of Destruction's final technique. Few had ever witnessed it, the only features of the scattered reports confirming the name; the Nine-Fold Shadow Killing Fist.
Then the elder struck. Reiatsu raged to a greater level, the trees all around splintering and being torn up by the roots, falling away from them. The wind howled furiously, whipping up into a storm around them. With a deep breath, Matsumura drew in on himself, focussing his own strength to form a calm in the core of the tempest. His hands moved in a flash, raised high and tracing vast arcs on either side of him as they swept down, slashing around as nine streaks of light arced forward for him. His spiritual pressure flared and then vanished. Both men came to a sudden halt, all movement arrested. The elder let out a gasp, his eyes widening in surprise as he found his arcs of killing energy being drawn in to a single point between them, caged between Matsumura's hands. Salvation fist technique breaker…and the return strike…
With a single thrust of his right hand, Matsumura drove the compressing energy forward, shattering through the elder's hastily thrown up defences and connecting with his chest. The reiatsu he'd redirected away from him suddenly surged forth again, blasting into his opponent and hurling him backwards, flames erupting from the sheer friction of colliding spiritual pressures. The blind captain let out a roar as his own body strained under the effort of utilising the technique; struggling against the force of the killing strike and redirecting it back towards its user. His already heavily-damaged form screamed and he sank to a knee, looking up through sweat-streaked fringe to see the crumpled form of the older Shihouin, uniform shredded and smoke rising from where he sat, propped up a dozen metres away against a tree that had just managed to bend without snapping under the force of impact.
"Ugh…" Matsumura dropped down to the ground, kneeling low and clutching a hand to his chest. He might've overdone it. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, shuddering racking his body and forcing him to slap a hand down to steady himself. So it was finally over… He needed to check on Yoruichi and then regroup with the others… With a groan, he forced himself to his feet, limping slowly over to where he'd left his former apprentice. He barely caught the sudden flash of reiatsu as death lashed out at him without warning. He dived forward, rolling and staggering to his feet. "Shit…"
"So…close…Shiro Matsumura. You…almost…got me…with that last one." The elder stood there, blood soaking his ragged uniform. His features were twisted in an insane smirk, narrowed eyes blazing golden in a sea of black. His clawed hand, still smoking with burning energy drew back from the point where the captain's head had been a moment before. Slow, controlled steps carried the elder a foot away from Matsumura, gazing down, still wearing the same sadistic grin. "I told you… I have gone…further than any of you…to gain the power to be the greatest. Now I'll destroy you and…purge your name from existence. Die, Shiro Matsumura!"
The elder surged forward, all earlier signs of injury or fatigue disappearing as he charged, clawed hands crackling with reiatsu. In his altered vision, Matsumura could see streaks of black tearing through the air in the wake of his enemy's hands. He had one technique left… The problem was whether he had enough energy to pull it off…without killing himself in the process. He gripped at a nearby shattered tree trunk to drag himself back to his feet, the charred bark coming apart in his hands. Well…it was either try it or die for certain.
His final technique, the succession technique that only Rei had ever been able to even attempt without passing out from the strain it placed on the body. The Soul-Severing Fist of Salvation…a technique to destroy all darkness and evil that stood before him. He'd never needed to use it since the Unification War near the founding of the Gotei 13. As the black blades of the elder's hands sliced through the air, burning with dark flames of destructive energy, Matsumura raised his hands, fingers extended and open palms held together as he drew together his reiatsu. Pure darkness struck from both left and right as he drew back his right fist. The earth beneath his feet cracked, unable to withstand the spiritual pressure. The black strip of cloth that concealed his eyes fell away, revealing his blank eyes blazing with blinding white fire.
"Die Shiro Matsumura!"
The earth began to shudder violently as the elder struck, both roaring hands rending the air with dark light...and then stopped. Golden eyes widened in sudden shock. "What...is this?!"
"I told you...I would kill you, Shihouin-san. For Yoruichi... For Tenji Kotaru and Ayame Suikou... To stop you for going this far to gain your powers and end this threat before you endanger Soul Society. You sought to prove that you were the greatest...but..." The elder's movements came to a halt, held suspended before him. Both strikes exploded against an invisible wall of reiatsu. He tried to move but Matsumura's power had captured him. A roaring silence surrounded them both, everything beyond his sphere of control suddenly becoming non-existent. "...I'm far older and stronger than you'd ever know. Goodbye, Shihouin-san."
A pulse of pure white light burst from Matsumura's fist as it connected with the elder's chest, shattering all hastily raised defences standing before him. His hand struck home, smashing into the elder's chest. The elder's eyes stared blankly past him, over his shoulder. For a moment, nothing happened before a beam of light speared into his chest, the lance ripping a large hole out the other side before fading. Even as the body shattered, the elder's spirit seared and then broke, falling apart and scattering to the winds. Matsumura averted his gaze as the elder fell forward, sinking to his knees and dropping face down, unmoving. With slow movements, the captain let his arm drop to his side. He sighed heavily. "That was...a bit too much..." Without another word he slumped over, collapsing in the dirt too.
--
"Is he awake yet?"
"...just about I think. Hey captain! Wake up! Captain Hikifune is getting naked!"
"I think you shouldn't have said that, Kiyoshi..."
Matsumura's fist punched upwards, cracking Nakamura across the chin as the seated officer shouted in his face. The captain felt himself pulled upright by his third in command, the other voice, Maeda, resting their superior's back against a nearby shattered tree stump. His vision swam slowly back into existence. His two officers, looking beaten but held together with emergency bandages were there, Nakamura on his ass and rubbing his chin with a wince where Matsumura had hit him. The other officer looked bored at his comrade's antics, now sitting back with his katana resting against his shoulder. In the rays of the early morning light through the thin mists, another group of black-clad figures were resting.
"You got to them in time then?"
"Yes, Captain." Maeda nodded, inclining his head to the group, around twenty figures, including the familiar figure of the female assassin he'd defeated the previous day and the bleach-haired mad scientist from the 2nd, Kisuke Urahara. The 3rd seated officer looked grave for a moment. "We reached them just before the assassin squads arrived and warned them in time to stop them being killed outright. It was a vicious fight and there were casualties but we got around half of them out alive."
"And the captain? What's Captain Shihouin's condition like?"
"She's...awake. Though not exactly in the best of shape, mentally and emotionally from the looks of it. She's over there if you want to see her." Maeda jerked a thumb behind him where a lone figure sat alone, away from the others. Matsumura nodded, easing himself to his feet, swaying slightly and limping slowly over to her. Pain wracked his body but he forced himself to move, steadily dragging his limbs until he slumped down next to the dark skinned captain. She didn't look at him for the moment, averting her eyes but failing to hide the silent tears running down her cheeks. He sat in silence next to her, not bothering her until at last she turned to him, naturally yellow eyes contrasting with the burning golden still imprinted on his vision from the previous night.
"Sensei...?"
"Yes, Yoruichi?"
"Just tell me one thing. Since the civil war, the older captains and members of the noble circles called you the True-Sighted for your ability to read the spiritual energy of a being to a far greater degree than any other in Soul Society. When you saw...and fought my father...was he possessed? Was an entity controlling him and his actions? Was he responsible for what he did? Did he...mean everything he said...?"
Matsumura was silent. The elder Shihouin had been the one in control. He had bound the darker power of a Hollow within himself in order to augment his already considerable power. Everything he had done, he had intended to do. The creature he had destroyed utterly had been the man Yoruichi had called father. Her own blood had tried to kill her. In the end, there was no other way to see it.
"He was already dead, Yoruichi." He lied. "His spirit had already been cast out and his body inhabited by a darker spirit. The person we saw today was not your father. He remained honourable and loyal to the clan and Soul Society to the end."
A pause. She sniffed, wiping her eyes on her haori sleeves. A few more moments and she managed to compose herself. "So...what happens now, sensei? Somehow I have a feeling bringing you in isn't an option so what's our next course of action?"
"Damned if I know..." Matsumura sighed. Enhanced hollows, traitors, his own comrades hunting him down... "I'm not sure, Yoruichi... We need to act with caution once we have an idea of what to do. For now, I think we'd better just watch and wait..."