Wow, that was fast even for me. But I drank a lot of coffee! Go coffee!
"What is your name, Espada," I cried. The man cocked his head his head in my direction and for a moment I thought he was a woman. "My name is Luppi, the Sexta Espada. What is your name, shinigami?" My reiatsu flared as soon as the word 'shinigami' left his mouth. "I no longer reside with the shinigami, Luppi-sama. I left them as soon as I learned this." The man's eyes widened as my red colored reiatsu turned silver.
My hand rose to my face and in an instant it passed over my face and I saw the world through hate filled eyes.
Matsumoto couldn't believe her eyes when her young friend was covered by a mask. A hollow's mask to be exact, the mask sent shivers through her spine as the girl's reiatsu flared around her and sent shock waves around the battlefield. Kurohime lunged at the espada, lopping off the white tendons before they had a chance to touch her.
She could see that the espada was having a hard time keeping up with Hinamoto's speed and the density of her reiatsu was practically choking them all. Suddenly, the espada was flying to the side, only to bounce back to the opposite direction, like a ball.
When she stopped, the blond saw Luppi covered in blood with bruises and cuts everywhere. "Damn you, bitch. Damn you, shinigami!" Hinamoto froze in her tracks for only a moment when a white tentacle slammed the girl to the ground. "Hinamoto-chan," Matsumoto cried. No answer. "Don't worry, Rangiku-san. I'm okay." Although Matsumoto couldn't turn around, she saw the younger girl standing out of the corner of her eye, her parasol dripping with blood.
"Ahahahahaha! Have you had enough, shinigami! Kurohime's mask was broken at the top left corner and blood ran from her forehead down her face. "I thought I had asked you to stop calling me that, Luppi of the Espadas. Now you are going to force me to pound it into your head." Luppi laughed at her. "A shinigami who has hollow abilities beat a true hollow? Don't make me laugh, girl." The tentacles reared their tips in the air.
"Are you not a hollow who has shinigami abilities? You are sadly mistaken that you are a true hollow, Espada. I am also sure that your creator was a shinigami, am I right," Hinamoto whispered. Then she opened her parasol. "I can't fight in the sun for very long, the heat makes me anemic." Matsumoto saw this was true when the portion of Kurohime's unmasked face was returned to its pale color when she hid herself under the parasol.
The espada looked at her and laughed once more. "A shinigami who has an aversion to the sun? You are weak, shiniga-" A red blossom spread on the espada's leg, a black anken protruding from it. "Beware, Espada. Those who laughed at me have died in the most horrible ways imagine, so I warn you to be careful of who you decide to tread on." Another anken flew to his abdomen.
Matsumoto was frightened by the girl's odd threat, but she saw the girl will use anyway necessary to strike her enemy down. But suddenly, Kurohime waved her hand in front of her face, the hollow mask disappearing and Kurohime's eyes reverting back to their normal color again.
Toshiro saw Kurohime's hand pass over her face and traces her reiatsu still lingered over the area, but it was different. He crept quietly back to the battlefield and froze the Espadas tentacles. The Espada said something to Matsumoto and tried to raise his weapon, but to no avail. "What . . . What is that?"
Toshiro revealed himself to the arrancar, "Never ignore you opponent. You were careless." As Toshiro was saying this, he saw Kurohime throw two ankens at the Espada. Blood splattered to the earth when he rasped "You're still alive?" Kurohime smirked and gave a rough tug and four bloodied ankens were pulled from the Espada's body. "My Hyorinmaru is the ultimate ice weapon. You can shatter it, but as long there's water around, it will always reform."
"Don't," the arrancar said. "You're finished now. Thanks to your negligence, I had more time prepared. Your weapon may have eight arms . . . But mine has all the water in the atomsphere." Hitsuguya saw Hinamoto flick her index finger and one anken found it's way to the arrancar's shoulder. "Your body has enough anthesetic to make you numb to the pain as my poison corrupts your body, Espada."
She yanked out the anken and nodded to him. Toshiro said quietly, "Sennen . . . Hyoro." All four ankens suddenly sunk into a huge ice prison and were pulled out as soon as they touched the pillars, leaving a small red blotch on the clear ice. "Sorry, but I had to use something to clean my weapons, Hitsuguya-taicho." Then she turned and walked away from the battlefield.
I sensed Shinji's reiatsu coming from the warehouse and I rushed to meet him. But Hachigen told me he had left to where Ichigo was. I got there just in time to hear Shinji say, "Don't you have any control? Every time I dodge your attack, you destroy something. It makes me think twice about dodging them."
Then he spotted me and smirked. His opponent tried to attack him and I saw it was the arrancar that had fought Ichigo Kurosaki the night before. Next, I heard a whoosing sound, it was Shinji, who had decided he had enough of playing with the arrancar. His hollow mask had brought me back to the moment I saw it. I snapped out of it when he fired his cero, the blast that I had to shunpoe just to dodge.
Somehwere far above the clashing pair, I felt a pressure in the sky and looked up. A crack hed opened and saw an arrancar come down. He stopped the one with blue hair and a yellow beam suddenly enveloped them. I watched as the Negacion shrink back into the garanta and closed.
Toshiro watched as he saw his Sennen Hyoro crack into pieces and the Espada rear his frozen head. "I'm sorry. You couldn't kill me, Taicho-san." His face contorted into a sneer. "Don't forget my face. Next time we meet, I'll twist off your little head and smash it!"
"I've had it! Let go off me!" Toshiro sighed and thought 'Don't they ever shut up'? His wounds were minored so they were easy to heal. His thoughts kept wandering until his eyes caught Kisuke, standing a small cliff, talking to Kurohime. She nodded and sighed. Kisuke patted her back and she gave a small smile, but it didn't look real. Kisuke turned to look at Tessai, but he seemed to have spaced out.
Kisuke Urahara . . . I know what they sat about him, but he remains a mystery. He's been in deep thought since the arrancars left. In any case . . . Considering the number of Espadas, we got off easy, he thought. Toshiro turned to Matsumoto and said "Matsumoto! Were you able to contact the Soul Society?" His fukutaicho turned to him and shook her blond head. "No," she replied.
"Mistress, are you okay?"
I sighed and replied, "Yes, Shirobara. Why do you ask? You haven't addresses me as 'mistress', so is this important?"
"Kisuke Urahara, he sent you to help the Kurosaki boy, didn't he? He knows something is going to happen tomorrow, right Mistress?"
"I wish he was wrong, but I've saw and I must, Shirobara. Are you going with me, then?"
"Of course, Mistress. I would follow you to the ends of this world and into the next,"
I smiled and went to bed.
The next morning, Toshiro got up early in the morning. He checked his communicator and heard a dial tone. Something was not right, so he called Matsumoto, only to receive a grim report.
Sunade was fast asleep, so Hitsuguya snuck over to Hinamoto's room to tell her. But she was also asleep. Toshiro saw a spare bit of parchment on her nightstand and searched for a writing utensil. It took a couple of minutes, but he wrote her a note to meet him at Orihime Inoue's apartment.
After folding it, he left it next to the girl's pillow and turned to leave when he heard her murmur his name. Hitsuguya went over, thinking that she had called him, but he saw that she was still asleep.
Hitsuguya went over to Ichigo Kurosaki's house and opened the window, seeing the boy was already awake, he urged him to hurry as they rushed to Orihime's apartment.
Waiting for them were Renji, Ikkaku, Rangiku, Yumichika, Rukia and Kurohime. "Is the reiha interference gone, Matsumoto." The woman replied, "I think so."
Toshiro stood by Rukia Kuchiki and Kurohime. The screen in front of him shuddered and turned to clarity, with Ukitake in the middle. "Ukitake? Where's the Yamamoto-soutaicho? The sickly man looked down and said "There is some news that I thought I should tell you first."
"Why?" Ukitake sighed and said "Because I was the last person who saw Orihime Inoue when she entered the Senkaimon gate and returned to the world of the living. Judging from you reactions, I think that she never arrived." Ichigo was the first to speak up, "What's going on? What happened to her? Where did she go?"
"Her fate is uncertain. The two guards that were assigned to escort her through the Senkaimon returned alive. According to them, Orihime Inoue was abducted by an arrancar and possibly killed." Rukia Kuchiki stepped up next to Ichigo and shouted, "Ukitake -taicho."
"I'm sorry I had to say it. We don't know anything for sure. All we know is that an arrancar appeared and she disappeared with him."
Ichigo looked as he was going to explode and he did. "What the . . .? Orihime's not dead, no way? You don't know what you're talking about! Look at this." My wrist was injured in yesterday's battle. Nobody over here could heal it. But it was completely healed when I woke up this morning! And there were traces of her reiatsu over me and you're telling me she's dead?"
"Yes," Hitsuguya looked up at the screen once more and saw Yamamoto-soutaicho. "It is most regrettable. If what you said was true, then perhaps Orihime is still alive. But then, that implies betrayal. Had she been abducted, she would have not been allowed to visit you. In other words, if Orihime healed you and disappeared after, then she must have joined the arrancars of her own free will."
Ichigo held his fist out as to punch the screen, Renji Abari stopped him. "We understand, Yamamoto-soutaicho, so as leader of the advance team, I will go Hueco Mundo and open the eyes of the traitor Orihime Inoue." "You may not. Now that we know that the arrancars are battle ready, you will return immediately and prepare for battle . . . To defend the Soul Society." Rukia Kuchiki looked s she might faint. "You . . .you want us to abandon Orihime?"
"Exactly. She is only one girl and we have the fates of the worlds to consider," said Yamamoto calmly. "With all due respect, Yamamoto-soutaicho . . . I cannot obey that order."
"I suspected as much. Fortunately, I took precautions." A Senkaimon gate opened behind the group and Kenpachi Zaraki and Byakuya Kuchiki stepped out.
"You heard the Soutaicho. Come with us." "Do not resist, we've been ordered to use force if necessary." Behind Toshiro, the Soutaicho's voice sounded once more. "Hinamoto, Kurohime. Your absence in the Soul Society was once marked as betrayal, but now we know. You must come back to defend the Soul Society."
Beside Hitsuguya, Kurohime stiffened and boldly announced, "No, I will not, Soutaicho. You should have known long ago that after I faked my death I had no intention to return." Behind her another Senkaimon gate opened. "Very well, I have also taken precautions for this."
A man with blond hair and a woman with black hair tied in the back with a ribbon stepped through. The man spoke first. "Forgive us, but you must come back to the Soul Society." Toshiro felt Kurohime's reiatsu spike with anger.
"How could I when that place brings back so many pained memories! I would be betraying myself and my life if I went with you," she snarled. "Very well," whispered the man. "My name is Izuru Kira, fukutaichio of the Third Division and she is my third seat, Takarai, Seion."
"I don't care what your names are! You are never going to touch me!" Toshiro watched as the girl charged at them in blind rage and drew a fan from her skirt. It was made of ankens and she slashed at Seion. "Please, calm down, Hinamoto-chan. Or you'll cause trouble for all of us."
Kurohime rebounded and her reiatsu broke the wooden floor, sending splinters flying around the room. "How dare you call me by my name? I will never go back to that horrid place ever again!" Toshiro placed his hand around Hyorinmaru as he watched Kurohime raise her parasol.
But he saw Izuru shunpoe behind Kurohime as she charged at Seion Takarai in blind rage. The woman clashed with Hinamoto and he saw tears run down her porcelain face. But she gasped when Izuru hit the back of her neck. "Damn you, damn you all to hell." And she slumped to the ground and the woman gathered her in her arms and together they walked back intot their closing Senkaimon.
I woke up in a dark room, my hands chained together with seki seki hand cuffs. The woman who was known as Seion Takarai was adjusting a cold towel on my forehead. "You've woke up then, . . . Uhh . . . What should I call you?" I recalled our short battle that I had reproached her for calling my name. "Hinamoto would be fine, Seion-san."
She smiled down at me and my heart panged for she looked just like Miss Saihete. I remembered her warm gray eyes as she had put a towel on my forehead when I first met her. I also remembered when those eyes had turned cold and lifeless and I had wept bitterly when she died.
"Why am I here, Seion-san?" She looked at me questionably and sighed. "No, I don't. But I was ordered to escort you to Squad Ten when you wake up." I realized that until the Sou-taicho summons me, I would be quarantined in the Squad Ten barracks. She pulled my arm gently and I got up slowly.
A sudden shock of dread hit me. "Where's my parasol?" I felt my skirt and the ankens I kept there were gone. "Hitsuguya-taicho took them and said he would guard them until you need them." Then she opened the door and I walked out.
Actually, it was more like marching. I felt like I was going to be executed. The jeering crowds and the flying rubbish grazed my face.
"Go back to hell, you were-demon!"
"Look at her witch garb! She looks like she dressed for a funeral."
"Do you think she can talk to other demons?"
"You're not welcome here, you demon!"
The sun was glaring in my face and Seion Takarai looked remorseful at my awful treatment. One soul reaper tried to attack me with a dagger, but she stopped him. The sun was so hot now and I felt so weak. So very weak.
Toshiro was working on the endless stacks off paperwork that had been left for him over the days since he had been gone. Someone knocked on the door. "Seion Takarai, third seat of Squad 3 reporting in with Kurohime Hinamoto." "Come in." The door opened and the woman walked in, carrying Kurohime in her arms. "What happened?" Seion Takarai looked downwards and replied, "She fainted in the sun, I picked her up and ran here as fast as I could, sir."
He nodded and said, "You can leave now and give your report to Yamamoto-soutaicho." Seion bowed and left his office. He looked down at Kurohime on his sofa. She looked very uncomfortable and her skin was a blaring pink.
He sighed and took her back to his room, trying to ignore the envious looks of the female soul reapers and the glares from the male shinigami. He set her down on the futon and sat down beside her.
"Why do you think she is here, boy?"
Hitsuguya ignored this question and went back to the office to get his paperwork. Back at his room, he finished a couple of stacks of paperwork before Kurohime woke up. "What the . . .? Where am I?" Then she spotted Toshiro and sighed. "I fainted, didn't I, Hitsuguya-taicho? He nodded and she looked ashamed for a moment, then she got up and walked over to a corner of his room.
"I'm still surprise that you have this, Hitsuguya-taicho. It was not even perfected yet." Hitsuguya smirked then frowned. 'Still', she has been here before, he thought. Hinamoto broke his thoughts, "Do you not recognize me as Sunade Iryina? Was I here before? I was, but only to help Yoruichi-sama." Then she smiled, revealing two pointed canines. "I was here in your room, standing here before, talking to you. Do you not remember?"
He recalled all his memories and picked one. "The cat, you were the cat, weren't you? But you gave yourself away and assumed the identity of Sunade Iryina."
He was smart after all, I thought. But Sunade Iryina was a woman from the correction corps while Sunade was my gikongai. "Yes, I was the cat, but these things prevent me from switching forms." I gestured the cuffs and walked away from him. "So what do I do know, Hitsuguya-taicho? Do you have any ideas why I am here?"
He shook his head and returned to his paperwork.
It was late that night when I dared to make my escape. While he slept on the futon next to me, I limped over to the bathroom and with as little noise as possible, broke the chains with physical strength, not with my reiatsu. The cuffs were still there and I had to smash them outside against stones. I went back inside and whispered to Shirobarakaze, "Don't worry, I'll come back, soon."
Yeah, Seion Takarai is my friend waz-up-woMAN's oc. Go and check the story out! Really good! It's called Misery Can Be Love! Anyways, reviews! Coffee Rules!
