A/N: I've uploaded the pictures of the twins like I promised. The link is now on my profile. I'll put the link at the end of the chapter as well.
Also, thanks to Yemi Hikari for pointing out an error I had in the story. (It's been fixed now, so no worries.)
Enjoy!
Recap:
Just as Midori feared, Head Captain refused to listen to Midori's request of not letting the boys go to the mission. When she attempted to retort, Head Captain said that he would send someone else with the boys if she didn't want to go. Midori returned to the 10th barracks in a sour mood, but that mood was instantly lifted by the behavior Kaito was exhibiting upon her entrance. Of course, as his sister, she knew he was up to no good, ultimately leading to the depressed chibi Kaito sulking together with Mamoru. Midori then began to feel bad about punishing them and eventually thought of an awesome idea. She said to the twins that she'll only remove their status of being grounded if the boys agree to fight seriously this time. Surprisingly, both of them are pumped up upon hearing this deal with Midori and have agreed to fight on a serious note.
The wind blew softly as Midori glanced to see if everyone was in their places. The twin boys stood in front of their opponents with serious expressions on their faces. Mamuro's turquoise eyes looked into his sister's eyes with determination that he will defeat her in this battle. Midori returned his gaze by smiling subtly, but that disappeared quickly when she looked over to where Jushiro and Kaito were standing.
Kaito had the strangest expression on his face, the kind where Midori would've never imagined seeing him with. It seemed like his face wasn't showing any kind of expression or emotion. His eyes were serious, not filled with any sort of mischievousness nor determination, only seriousness. His mouth wasn't curved up into a smirk nor was it frowning. It was just straight. The fact that the usually mischievous, cheerful, Kaito had straight, serious face and that alone was scaring Midori.
She looked over to Jushiro and noticed that he also had a somewhat concerned, confused expression as he looked at Kaito in front of him. She returned her gaze back to Mamuro and noticed that he was also looking at Kaito as well, but to her surprise, he wasn't concerned at all. He just looked at Kaito for a few seconds and then returned his attention to Midori with indifference as if that was perfectly normal for Kaito.
Finally, Midori drew in a breath. "This battle will have two parts to it. The first part will check to see how your hand to hand combat is. Then, for the second part and at my command, you may use your katana. The battle will stop after one of us is beaten, surrenders, or when Jushiro and I say that you may stop. Is that understood?" She looked at everyone else and after seeing them nod, she commanded, "Let the battle begin!"
"Come, Mamuro. Show me what you've got." Midori exclaimed while taunting Mamuro with a motion of her hand.
"Don't expect me to hold back, Midori-onee-chan!" He exclaimed as he flash-stepped out of sight and reappeared behind her. He tried to kick her in the side, but Midori was slightly faster grabbed his leg, stopping his movement.
"Impressive. You're pretty fast."
Mamuro smirked and used his other leg to knock her down and performed a backflip to stand a good distance away from her. "You see, I specialize in hand to hand combat while Kaito is amazing with the katana. Of course, we're just as good if we were to switch, but better in one specific area."
Midori got up from the ground and looked at Mamuro with serious yet slightly amused expression. "I see. I guess I shouldn't underestimate you."
Mamuro and Midori both disappeared and reappeared behind each other. Midori grabbed Mamuro from behind her and flipped him over her head. He used his hands to break his fall and kicked Midori in the stomach as he pivoted on one hand and stood up. They immediately engaged in close combat with almost equal strength, but of course, Midori is holding back, so it's not really equal. Mamuro continued to rain his attacks down on her and Midori continued blocking, every now and then, suffering from an impact. She continued to analyze his strengths and weakness while he attacked her. When she had enough of his kicks and punches, she stopped both his kick and his punch, grabbing his limbs, causing his turquoise eyes to widen in surprise. Midori's lips curved upward in amusement and slammed her head into Mamuro's.
"GAH!" Mamuro yelped in pain and was sent flying towards Kaito, who was currently getting ready to charge at Jushiro after suffering a blow to his side. A few seconds too late, Kaito noticed Mamuro coming at him at incredible speed and tried catch him or at least stop him from crashing into him, but it was all in vain. Both boys were taken out and were forced to make impact with a tree a few feet behind them. After not moving for a while and grunting in tremendous pain, the twins slightly opened their eyes only to close them immediately and coughed out blood simultaneously. Kaito, however, coughed out more blood than Mamuro due to the fact that he acted like a cushion between the tree and his brother, probably suffering the most damage made from that impact.
Midori and Jushiro both ran up to the boys in alarm, trying to make sure that they were okay and keep them from losing consciousness. Midori bit her lip as tears began to well up in her eyes. She glanced at Jushiro as if to ask him for a favor and he nodded with determination. She was about to lift Mamuro to take him to Squad 4 along with Jushiro carrying Kaito, but Mamuro held his hand up stopping her immediately.
"Midori-onee-chan…" The white-haired boy began while slowly opening his eye weakly. His eyes were unfocused and slowly refocused on his environment, glancing from Midori and Jushiro. "Kaito…?" His eyes widened in realization as he shot up from on top of Kaito and immediately slouched beside him wincing in pain. He looked hastily towards his twin in alarm, placing his hands on both of his shoulders lightly shaking him. "Kaito! Kaito, are you okay? Wake up. Kaito!"
The twin coughed out more blood before barely opening his eyes, clearly unfocused. He was breathing heavily and after coughing a little bit more, he finally spoke. "…Mamuro?... Are… you okay?"
"Stupid, don't worry about me. Why didn't you dodge?"
"…" Kaito looked to the side, contemplating about what he should say. "I couldn't… I didn't see you until it was too late."
"Liar! You could've done it. Even if you didn't see me until it was too late, you definitely did hear me coming!" Mamuro strengthened his grip on Kaito's shoulders, forcing him to look towards his way. Suddenly, Mamuro felt himself being lifted off the ground and being carried by someone's side, the distance between the two boys slowly increasing.
"This is not the time for you two to be fighting about why who did what." He glanced up angrily at the one who carried him. His turquoise eyes widened and then softened after seeing his sister's face with tears running down her cheeks. She kept her gaze forward as she walked in the direction to the 4th Squad. "You are injured, but Kaito's condition is worse. We will discuss this after you two are taken to Unohana."
"I'm sorry, Onee-chan…" Mamuro looked to see the unconscious Kaito being carried carefully in the very concerned and tense Jushiro's arms.
A/N: Here's the link: (Remove the spaces)
http:/ /quizilla. teennick. com/ stories/2314 0073/pictures -for-hitsugayas -past