Brought Together Chapter 37:
The Final Fight
Takashi smirked suddenly, and lunged forward toward Ichigo. Choji saw his chance and teleported between Takashi and Kuro-sama. He grabbed Kuro-sama's shoulder, and teleported out. Apparently he gave a signal to the others, because everyone in the force except Choji and Takoi came in, weapons ready.
Takashi, who had stopped when he heard the teleportation behind him, snarled and lunged at Ichigo again. Ichigo dodged, but unfortunately, Shiro was behind her, and he got a slash on his arm. He dropped his weapon, and Takashi saw his chance. As Ichigo lunged at him, he teleported in front of Shiro, and grabbed him by the neck. Everyone froze.
"HA! What will you do now?" Takashi shouted. He lifted Shiro off his feet by the neck. Shiro was gasping for air, but while Takashi was laughing at the others' shock, he managed to lift his good arm, and punch Takashi in the face. Takashi dropped him, and immediately, Ichigo swooped in and teleported Shiro out of the way.
The others, seeing that Ichigo was looking at Shiro's injury, immediately formed a circle around the two, as Ichigo took a look at Shiro's wound, which was still bleeding. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Shiro," Ichigo said.
"It's not your fault," Shiro said. "I should have dodged when you did."
"I'm going to heal this injury," Ichigo said. "You've already lost more blood than is really safe." She put a hand over the wound on Shiro's arm, and her hand started to glow. Suddenly the wound started to close. When she was done healing, she asked Shiro, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm kind of dizzy," Shiro admitted.
"Can you teleport?" Ichigo asked.
"Hai, I think so," Shiro said.
"Then teleport back to the village, we'll handle things here," Ichigo said. "I don't want you to get hurt any more than you have already."
"Hai," Shiro said. He teleported off, and Ichigo stood up, just as Choji teleported back in.
To everyone's surprise, Takashi hadn't attacked yet. He was simply dodging everything thrown at him. When he saw Ichigo get up, however, he seemed to be getting ready to attack again. "So, are you ready to fight, Ichigo?" Takashi asked. "It won't be the same as last time though."
"You want to fight me one on one, right?" Ichigo asked. "Fine. Bring it on."
The others, except for Kisshu, looked shocked. "Guys, give them some room," Kisshu ordered. The others obeyed. Ichigo got into position, and Takashi lunged again. Ichigo dodged to one side, and Takashi turned. Ichigo lunged forward, and her blade struck his.
Nothing happened. The others were shocked. Usually the lightning surrounding Ichigo's sword would paralyze her opponent, or heat up their sword. This time nothing happened. Takashi took advantage of the others' shock to lunge at Kisshu. Ichigo, the only one who didn't seem shocked, flew after him, then, just before his blade touched Kisshu, Ichigo lightly poked his shoulder with her sword.
Takashi spun so fast that Ichigo's blade cut his cheek before she could move. "Weren't you paying attention during that last training session?" Ichigo asked. "Don't take your eyes off your opponent."
Takashi snarled and shot forward again, trying to stab Ichigo. Ichigo side-stepped him, and as he tried to turn, she kicked the sword out of his hand, catching it before it hit anyone. Now she held two blades.
Takashi looked shocked. Ichigo, taking advantage of this, crossed the blades, and shouted, "INAZUMA NO TAMA!" (Ball of Lightning, in Japanese) A small ball of lightning sped towards Takashi, and hit him in the chest. Strangely, it seemed to be absorbed into his body, rather than creating a hole in his chest.
The others, even Kisshu, were confused by this, until Takashi suddenly clutched his chest. He was gasping for air. Suddenly he collapsed.
"Ichigo, what did you do to him?" Kisshu asked.
"That ball of lightning was meant to cause his heart to be paralyzed, rather than his body," Ichigo replied. "He should be dead by now."
Kisshu walked over to Takashi, and flipped him over. Then he checked for a pulse. "You were right, Ichigo, he's dead," Kisshu said. "That's pretty amazing."
"What should we do now?" Ichigo asked.
"We have to go back to the village and make our report," Kisshu said. "I guess we should bring Takashi's body back with us."
"Hai," the others said. Shunko and Arashi picked up the body, and the force teleported back to the village.
Next Chapter coming tomorrow, I think!
