"Idiots," she heard a voice hiss as she started to regain consciousness. "You got the wrong one."
"You told us to grab Kyouraku's whore," another voice responded angrily. "She was with Kyouraku and it looked like they were together." Nanao tried to move and discovered she was tightly restrained. Trying not to groan she blinked her eyes open cautiously and found herself in a dimly lit cave. Three vaguely humanoid creatures argued in front of her.
"I also said the whore was pregnant," the first voice growled. "Does this woman look pregnant to you?"
The third one grunted and muttered, "How can you even tell? They all look the same."
"They blow up like a bloated carcass," the first one, who was obviously giving the orders, yelled. "It isn't that hard to differentiate. And which one of you blundering morons thought it was a good idea to bite and poison her? If it really had been the right woman it could have made her lose the baby."
"You said to subdue her."
"So knock her over the head or something, don't bite her. It's the baby that really matters after all."
Nanao tried to wriggle again and finally looked down to assess her restraints only to find herself in some sort of cocoon from the shoulders down. This couldn't be good.
"Awake, human?" the leader asked moving towards her. As it got closer Nanao could make out more of it's features and she felt bile rise in the back of the throat. What she'd at first mistaken for somewhat human from a distance and standing still didn't look even close as it moved towards her. The creature's body, completely nude, was dark brown and covered entirely in fine hairs. It's arms would have been normal if it hadn't been for it having six of them all ending in claw like fingers, but the most disturbing part was the six eyes that blinked independently from each other. Well that is if you didn't count the dripping pinchers that protruded from the corners of its mouth.
"Yokai," she breathed.
"See? Even the human has more deductive reasoning than the two of you put together," the creature said crouching in front of her in a distinctly unnatural way. If this was the most human form it could take on she did not want to see it in its true yokai form. She could only assume it was a type of spider demon.
"What do you want with me?" she asked trying to struggle again.
"Nothing," the creature said cocking its head to the side and blinking at her with four of its eyes. "Unfortunately my associates aren't too bright and grabbed the wrong woman."
"What do you want with Kyouraku's woman?" she demanded trying to keep it talking while she tried to find a weak spot in the cocoon.
"We were offered good hunting grounds in return for snatching her," the creature said simply. "Seems she's the key to something our employer wants."
Nanao felt sick. Of course the Kyouraku family had told Kiyoko the dangers if she was carrying a boy, that the baby would be the key to the dimensional gate the Spirit King had entrusted to the Kyouraku family, but how did someone else find out? Kiyoko wouldn't really have been stupid enough to spread it around, would have she? "So you can let me go then," Nanao said knowing it was futile but figuring she'd give it a try.
"Sadly," the creature said caressing her cheek with two of its left hands, "you've become a liability my dear. But don't worry. Your death won't be in vain," it said gesturing to the cave around them. "After all, the children are always so hungry when they are first hatched."
Nanao realized for the first time that the cave walls weren't glistening from moisture, but from hundreds of eggs the size of her head. Just when she thought the day couldn't get any worse.
"Stay with her," the leader snapped at one of its lackeys. "Just make sure to get out before the children hatch or they'll take you too. You, come with me. We have a woman to capture. If you want things done right and all that."
Nanao breathed a sigh of relief to have the creature moving away from her, but it was short lived as an egg near her gave a little shiver. She really did not want to die by being eaten alive by baby spider yokai, but things were not looking good right now. Her head was spinning and her body aching from whatever venom was in their bite and the restraints didn't allow her even a hair's breadth of room.
She glanced over at the thing left to watch her and noticed it had already crept up the wall and seemed to be sleeping. Not that she knew what a sleeping spider looked like. Deciding to take her chances, as there wasn't much other choice, she lit a kido fire in her hand hoping to burn through the restraints. Nanao held back a small cry and let the spell go out instantly. Kido didn't normal burn its wielder, but that was when it was in the open air. Enclosed like her hand was there was no way for the heat to escape. Beyond that it seemed that her cocoon was made out of thin individual threads of silk that while melting rather easily landed flaming hot on her skin and stuck.
Nanao tried to struggle against the bonds again or move any part of her body and found it completely futile. If she was going to get out of this she was just going to have to tolerate the burns. Hoping to leave one hand usable she decided to work with her left, as it wasn't her sword hand. Biting down hard on her lip and trying not to whimper she set the kido blazing in her palm again. Tears sprung to her eyes and she tried her best to tolerate it as millions of little strands stuck and burned away over her flesh, the heat adding to the pain.
She wasn't sure when she blacked out again, but she woke to light seeping in through the cave front and her hand feeling like it was still on fire even though the kido must have gone out when she fainted from the pain. She noticed the creature was gone from its spot on the wall and felt the panic build. If the creature had left that meant there wasn't much time left.
Clenching her jaw and fighting back her scream she started the kido up again. She'd melted enough of it to at least give her hand and arm a tiny bit of room to move. She couldn't stop the sobbing whimpers the pain wrenched from her, but at least this time she remained conscious as her hand burned free of its bonds. The charred flesh that emerged from the cocoon casing hardly even registered as her own hand for a moment. She took a second to rest and then started burning more of the cocoon away from her now that she could burn around herself with her free hand instead of frying herself further. It didn't matter much though as she couldn't quite imagine being in more agony. Even the kido whip her father's men had taken to her hadn't hurt this badly.
She dragged herself from the sloppy melting remnants of the cocoon a short time later and instantly got her sword in hand as the eggs around her started shivering more consistently. Stumbling in the direction of the light she kept her eyes peeled for the creature left on watch while her hand throbbed in pain.
She found the thing crouched over another cocoon making wet chewing noises and she tried hard not to see what exactly it was eating. Instead she gave Kage the silent command for shikai and set off a kido in the creature's head splattering its flesh across the cave walls. It was then that she heard the skittering noises behind her. Turning she choked on another scream as huge baby spider yokais started gathering in the gloom of the cave. Backing up as the creatures swarmed forward she tried not to gag as they spilled over the body of the yokai she'd just killed and ripped off flesh in small bloody chunks. Shunpoing for the entrance she didn't pause to see if they were following her. She had to get to the Seireitei and she had to warn Shunsui. Those things were coming for him.
It took her a few minutes to sort out her location, but they were high enough up on a hillside that when she climbed up a bit she could make out the Sereitei a couple dozen districts away. Doing her best to place a numbing spell on her destroyed hand she started bolting for home. The toxins in her blood made her feel like she was going to vomit at any moment, but she just pushed harder for the Sereitei wall. There would be a nice warm bed in the 4th waiting for her if she could only make it in time.
Twenty minutes later she was panting at the gate and spotted a familiar head up ahead of her.
"Jyuushiro," she yelled, too exhausted to be polite.
He turned and looked at her in surprise and then was at her side in one quick flash step. "Nanao-san, what happened?"
"Where's Shunsui?" she demanded trying to stay on her feet.
"He stayed at his family's, said there was something they needed to discuss. He said he'd come back this morning," Jyuushiro answered wrapping an arm around her waist to support her and frowning at the sticky strands still clinging to her red dress and skin. Then the frown turned to shock and he reached for her left arm. "Nanao what happened to your hand?"
Nanao pulled free of his supporting arms and turned back towards the gate. Not looking back she flew into another headlong shunpo in the direction of Kyouraku family estate. She could only hope Shunsui had overslept and was still home, but usually he was quick to wake and leave his family's house. She scoured the road as she flew down it and finally noticed a couple walking up ahead. Assuming he might have Kiyoko with him it would make sense he wasn't using shunpo. She touched down in front of them just as a creature reared up behind them from its hiding place next to a boulder on the side of the road. There was no longer anything humanoid about it.
"Nanao-chan?" Kyouraku asked confused.
"Move!" she shouted, her right hand already glowing with kido flame. He didn't question it. They'd worked together long enough to trust one another in that respect. He simply jerked Kiyoko to the side and she let the blast slam the creature back. She moved to their side as the creature shook off the hit and started moving again with an angry yowl. She turned to face it and noticed movement from the other direction out of the corner of her eye. A second and a third creature were coming out of their hiding spots and she knew there wouldn't be time to defend all sides. Kiyoko had wrapped herself tightly around Kyouraku in her panic and was making it terribly hard for him to get to his swords without have to physically shove her off which Nanao doubted he'd be able to bring himself to do to a pregnant woman. He was more likely to take a hit than possibly cause the woman harm even if he wasn't fond of her.
Suddenly a flash of white moved into the way and Ukitake had cut off the attack of the creatures on their other side. Nanao brought her focus back to the creature lunging at her directly and slammed another kido into it. The thing screamed and rolled. The creature was tough, but not invincible. She threw a halen at the joints of its legs and watched it take a few stumbling steps on the remaining four legs before it fell hard in the dust before her. One quick shunpo and her blade through the back of its head ended the creature's life. Spinning around she was just in time to see Ukitake dispatch one of the other spider yokai. The third was nowhere to be seen.
"It had to be spiders," Ukitake said with disgust in his tone as he looked at the splattered blood along his blade. "I hate spiders."
"What were those things?" Kiyoko wailed sobbing into Kyouraku's shoulder.
"You should know," Nanao bit out viciously. "Who did you tell?"
"What?" the woman cried cowering away from Nanao and further into Kyouraku.
"Who did you tell about the baby? About the youngest of the youngest? Who did you tell?" Nanao demanded.
"They were after the baby?" Shunsui asked, stiffly allowing the woman to cling to him.
"They were looking for Kyouraku's pregnant woman," Nanao said, "And they said it was the baby that was important."
"How did you get involved?" Ukitake asked.
"They got us mixed up," Nanao explained. "They saw me with Shunsui and thought I was Kiyoko-san. Bit me and knocked me out when I left the party last night."
"And your hand?" Ukitake asked.
Nanao nearly growled at him when she saw Shunsui's focus switch to her burned hand and the worry that passed over his features. "Had to burn my way out of a cocoon before their children ate me." Saying it out loud made her realize something else. "Oh kami, the baby yokai. They're ravenous."
"And?" Ukitake asked as Shunsui tried to get a closer look at her burned skin.
"Can you help them back to the Seireitei?" Nanao asked Ukitake panic welling up inside her.
"Of course," Ukitake said looking surprised. "But what are you doing?"
"They'll be headed for the Rukongai to eat," Nanao shouted as she bolted away for the third time that morning.
She heard Shunsui call after her, but she didn't have time to wait or explain. If those yokai were headed for he Rukongai they would kill hundreds of defenseless souls. Nanao sent her reiatsu searching for her brother's and sent a distress signal as soon as she found him. Hopefully he would understand and gather some people together and head her way.
"I'm going after her," Shunsui said trying to peel the crying woman off of him.
"She won't appreciate it," Jyuushiro sighed. "Beyond that you have bigger problems right now."
"I don't care," he answered sharply. Last night had not been fun. Most of it had consisted of Kiyoko wailing and denying any knowledge of a drugged drink. His family, while furious if it was true, hardly wanted to believe him. Much of his father's ranting had consisted of yelling at him for once again trying to shirk responsibility. He'd agreed to take Kiyoko home and help her get her stuff to move back in with his parents, but was still infuriated they wouldn't believe him. Not that he should have expected any better. "She's going to need help with those yokai."
"She can handle it or she would have asked for help," Jyuushiro said accepting the sobbing woman from him.
"Have you met Nanao?" Shunsui asked with a snort.
"They aren't going to hurt the baby are they?" Kiyoko asked wetly.
"Shun," Jyuushiro said nodding his head to her.
Shunsui sighed. Nanao was right. Despite how much he currently hated the woman, he couldn't do the same to the child. "We're not going to let them hurt the baby," he placated. "Besides Retsu-san thought it was a girl the other day when we went in so that makes her technically useless to them. We'll just have to get the word out."
"Please, don't let them hurt the baby," the woman mumbled and then burst into a fresh round of tears. Kami, he hated seeing women cry. Shunsui picked her up into a cradle hold and nodded to his friend.
"Shunpo?"
"Seems best," Jyuushiro agreed. "Stop worrying about Nanao-san. How bad could baby yokai be?"
They were following a train of blood a half hour later and that was about all the baby yokai left in their wake. Nanao felt her stomach give a heave when she noticed a piece of finger near a shrub the beasts must have missed. At least the blood was fresher and they were getting close.
"Hold up," Mamoru said motioning for the group to stop.
"What are we waiting for?" Nanao demanded.
"We hit the territory line," Mamoru admitted sheepishly. "That's Watanabe family lands."
"So what?" Nanao asked glancing at the men with them.
"We can't cross into their territory lacking express consent without starting a war," Mamoru sighed.
"So we're just going to let these things keep killing?" Nanao asked outraged. "Because of some invisible line?"
"They aren't our problem anymore," one man offered. "It ain't our people that they're killing now. It's Watanabe's problem."
"How do we get consent?" Nanao asked sharply.
"It'd take days," Mamoru answered.
"So we go in and ask for forgiveness later," she said.
"Nao, we can't."
"Well I can," she said darkly. "I'm not Higurashi, I'm shinigami and I can go wherever I damn please."
"You can't take these things on alone," Mamoru said grabbing for her arm. "You're already injured."
"You haven't left me with much of a choice," she argued and stepped around his reaching hand.
"At least call the shinigami for back up," he said.
"No time," she answered and started moving again. She got a few meters out before she felt her brother move back up to her side. She glanced at him in question.
"I sent the rest back to get in touch with the Watanabe and put out a warning," he said pacing her. "If we get in trouble the Higurashi can just punish me to avoid a family dispute."
"What will that cost you?" she asked seriously.
"Not my life," he said with a shrug.
"Kei-san won't be please you chose me over them," she said simply.
"I'm avenging the deaths of citizens within the Higurashi territories we've pledged to protect," he said calmly. "At least that's the way I plan to play it. Besides, Kei-san isn't an idiot, he already knows our loyalties lie with each other just as much as they do with our respective work families." There was silence for a few moments before he added, "Speaking of, how'd it go with Kyouraku-san?"
"We're hunting deadly spider yokai and you want to know how it went with my ex?" Nanao asked incredulously.
"Seemed like a better conversation than asking whether or not you'd noticed that finger joint back there," he said unapologetically.
"As well as could be expected," Nanao said with a shrug as they tried to determine which route the baby yokai had taken. So far they seemed to travel in a pack, which wasn't great for their victims, but at least made them easy to follow.
"So you two are getting back together then?"
Nanao made a face at him and they both moved off to the right. "We aren't back together. I still have things to do and he needs to learn to be," she trailed off trying to think of the right words.
"How to be less of a father and more of a lover?" her brother supplied.
"Gross," Nanao said glaring at him.
"Come on," Mamoru said holding up his hands in a gesture of defense. "It's kind of true."
"You do realize we were sleeping together, right?" Nanao asked noting another drop of blood on the trail. At least they were still headed the right way. "I hardly think he saw me as a daughter."
"Still doesn't mean he didn't treat you like a kid in day to day life," Mamoru said with a shrug.
"Just don't put it that way," Nanao said. "It's creepy."
"You're the one that decided to date an old guy," Mamoru laughed.
"You really are as bad as a girl," Nanao chastised. "And he's not old."
"He is too," Mamoru replied grinning. "Don't lie about that."
"Men mature slower than women," Nanao answered stiffly.
"At least that particular man does," Mamoru agreed with a snort.
"He can be serious when he wants to be," Nanao sighed. "He just doesn't often want to be."
"Nao-chan you don't have to defend him. The moment you said you slept with him again I'd pretty much figured out I was screwed," he said.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked sharply.
"It means you're in love with the idiot and the idiot would do anything for you," Mamoru answered. "I'm going to have the moron in my life whether I want to or not."
Nanao was quiet a few minutes as they continued tracking. "Do you really dislike him that much? I thought you both were getting along better before, you know."
"Oh, Nao-chan," Mamoru said nudging her with his shoulder. "I'm just giving you a hard time. I've told you before, if he makes you happy I'll tolerate him."
"I don't want you just to tolerate him," Nanao said finally meeting his eyes. "Its always bothered me. If you don't like him, then there is something I'm not seeing."
"I like him just fine," Mamoru said with a small laugh. "If I'd met him at a random bar we probably would have been good friends. What I don't like is him dating, corrupting, or hurting my baby sister, and you have to admit he's done all three."
"I am not corrupted," she said with a huff.
"Oh yeah? What's the pile driver position?" he asked seriously.
Nanao turned bright red and glanced away from him. "What does that have to do with anything? Rangiku-san could have taught me that just as easily as Shunsui-san."
"But she didn't, did she?" Mamoru answered laughing as they started to reach the top of the hill they were walking up.
"It's not like he asked to try it. We were just discussing positions," Nanao said simply.
"More than I ever needed or wanted to know!" Mamoru said throwing up his hands and Nanao laughed although it died on her tongue a moment later as they crested the hill.
"Oh, oh no," was all she could get out as she started shunpoing down the other side.
What lay below them was a swarm of baby spider yokai. From the blood and bits of humans still intact it seemed the mass of them had come along a group of children. Most of the yokai were still feasting, but a small group had broken off chasing after the two survivors who were running for their lives. Nanao shunpoed over the large group, knowing there was no one left to save underneath the swarm, and landed in between the fleeing children and the on coming monsters. The kids at least had enough Rukongai sense to keep on running. Nanao yelled after them to warn whoever was further up the road. One yokai lunged at her and she incinerated it with a high level kido. Apparently the babies weren't as tough as the adults. The rest of the small pack chasing the children skittered to a halt in front of her. A moment later Mamoru was at her side.
"Tell me you can do that to all of them," Mamoru said next to her.
Nanao did a quick scan of the entire swarm's numbers and took stock of her still aching head and screaming damaged hand. "No, I highly doubt I can," she answered honestly. He'd already pulled his sword, but she didn't plan to use Kage till then end. She'd been foolish recently and really didn't need anyone catching on to what her sword's ability actually was.
"Great," he muttered watching the small group in front of them as they hissed and seemed to be trying to decide what to do. It was obvious the yokai babies hadn't met any resistance so far during their feast.
"We should take these ones out," Nanao said. "The rest of the swarm will be done soon, and then the sheer numbers are going to be overwhelming. We'll have to attack and retreat and do it in bursts."
The group in front of them had obviously decided Nanao was a one hit wonder and on some unidentified signal started towards them again. Mamoru sheathed his sword and the two siblings started firing off kido rapidly. "We're attracting attention," Mamoru said nodding towards the larger group as they started falling back along the path as they attacked. They'd taken out the first line of monsters that had been chasing the children, but the swarm had obviously finished their current meal.
"It'd be best if we could split them up. Thin them out a bit," Nanao said reading her next kido attacks for the onslaught.
"And how do you propose we do that with just the two of us?" Mamoru asked.
"How many do you think you can handle on your own at once?" she asked thinking quickly as she fired off her current spell at a lead yokai.
"I don't know," he said. "Maybe a half dozen at once?"
"Fine, do it," she answered concentrating on a shielding box spell. It'd be weak spread over so many, but at least it would space out the attacks. The kido spell slammed down over the majority of the group and she instantly felt the strain as the spider yokai trapped inside started throwing themselves bodily at the shield walls. At least a dozen had escaped the trap.
Mamoru blasted off kido on the loose yokai as they stumbled back and Nanao tried to maintain a hold on the spell. Two of the creatures slipped passed his kido onslaught and Mamoru had to draw his sword to dispatch them. "How's that working?"
"Not well," Nanao growled out, feeling the swarm beat against her shielding. "We're going to have to come up with another plan."
"We need to fall back, Nanao," he said surveying the scene in front of them. "It's a game of numbers and they simply have too many."
"Shit," Nanao muttered as she felt hairline fractures creep through her spell. "If we can get up the next hill we'll at least have the higher ground advantage."
"Let's do it," Mamoru said and they both slipped into a shunpo up the next hill. As Nanao released her hold on the ever-dwindling spell, the spider yokai rolled out in a wave as they'd been climbing on top of one another within the confines of the kido box to rage against the shielding wall.
"I might be able to mix a shielding spell with an offensive fire spell and create a circle of flame around them," Nanao said squinty her eyes down at the hoard and wondering if she could make one large enough. "Then pull it in tighter and tighter and burn them all at the center."
"Have you ever done it before?" Mamoru asked looking at her in surprise.
"No, but it should work in theory," she said already sorting through spells in her mind as the yokais righted themselves and started advancing on the hill.
"Are you insane?" Mamoru asked focusing on her. "Mixing spells is dangerous and difficult enough on its own. Doing it on the fly with no practice or forethought is suicide."
"I wasn't made a fukutaicho just because Kyouraku Taicho liked me, brother dear," she said dryly already lining up the spells she wanted and tweaking the incantations as fast as she could without degrading the integrity of the spells themselves. The very natures of the spells she wanted to use were contradictory, one solid and constant, one swift and temperamental. It was like trying to mix oil and water, it just wouldn't work unless the proper bonding agent was added. She thought of the correct third spell to add to the twisting power in her mind and brought them together.
Fire erupted in a circle amongst the raging swarm. It wasn't nearly as large as she'd hoped to get and it flickered and sputtered but held in the end. She started tightening her hold on the circle of light and drawing it closer and closer to its center forcing the spider yokai trapped within it to try and skitter back and climb over each other to get away. Nanao closed her fist and the circle slammed shut in one solid column of fire before going out and leaving one perfectly charred circle on the ground.
"There's still too many," Mamoru said next to her. She glanced over at him and saw him appraising her with his eyes.
"I'm not sure I'll be able to make the ring any bigger," she admitted shaking her head.
"We're going to have to start doing this the old fashioned way," her brother said with a grimace as he set his feet and brandished his sword at the first group of yokai squirming over the remains of their charred brethren.
"We can't fight this number alone," Nanao said slipping Kage into her hands. She was going to hold off on her shikai for as long as possible. She wasn't even sure she'd be able to use it effectively in this situation. There were so many she wasn't convinced she'd be able to take them out all in one attack and that attack would leave her incredibly weak if she didn't black out completely. She couldn't be a hindrance to Mamoru by working at power levels above her ability right now. There were more yokai than when she'd attacked the hollows with her shikai, and she'd barely managed to pull that off. Plus she'd been in top form at the time which was not nearly the case now.
If you'd practiced, Kage hissed in her mind.
Too late for that now, she thought back. The best thing to do at this point was rely on her regular kido and her blade for the ones that managed to get too close. The first surge of yokai swarmed them and all thoughts left her mind besides the next spell, the next foot fall, and the next swing of her zanpaktou. Trained muscles responded to her call and her body fell into the deadly dance she'd been learning since she was a child.
It wasn't enough. It quickly became clear that they were being overwhelmed. She felt one yokai hit her back and turned only to see Mamoru expertly slice it off her with his sword. Nanao slammed a kido attack up and into the next monster.
"We have to fall back," Mamoru yelled over the shrieks and hisses of the yokai around them.
"I'm going to clear a path, watch my back," Nanao said spinning around and focusing a concentrated blast of kido through the yokai that had been trying to box them in. She and Mamoru shot through the opening and shunpoed out, stopping a good distance off from the swarm.
"Damn, they're fast," Mamoru said panting and watching as the yokai started towards them again. "We aren't going to be able to keep this up. We need backup."
"How long will that take?" Nanao demanded.
"A while," he said crossly, "but there isn't any point in getting ourselves killed.
"Mamoru you saw what they do," she argued. "There's a village down the road. I saw it from the top of the hill. The yokai will massacre them."
"Yes and they'll do the exact same thing if we get ourselves killed here," Mamoru said. "It will be for nothing."
"We can't just give up," Nanao said desperately even though she didn't see many other options either. "I told those children to warn them, but we have to give them time to flee."
"One more stand, Nao, to slow them down," he said glancing back up the hill they'd just bolted down. "Then we open up a path and fall back. We need more numbers."
"Agreed," she said and prepared for the next assault. Once again she slipped into the dance though she felt her kido waning. Kage was brought up in defense more and more. Suddenly she felt one of the yokai slam bodily into the back of her legs and drive her down to her knees. She struggled to untangle herself from the creature and get back to her feet, but another yokai sprung again at her back and she had to twist and roll to avoid it. A creature flew at her face and she whipped her zanpaktou up driving it through the side of the spider's head and snapping the blade loose again. Fangs sunk into her thigh and she let out a cry of pain as she simultaneously threw a blazing kido at the yokai's eyes. Suddenly she was overrun as she fired kido and tried to stagger back to her feet. The baby's venom obviously wasn't as potent as the adult yokai, but she could feel a burning numbness spreading through her leg. Nanao dimly heard Mamoru calling for her as she crashed her blade down through another skull. There were far too many and they'd come on faster than she'd thought they would. They'd obviously learned from the last attack. A yokai landed on her shoulder just as she managed to regain her feet and she brought her hand up too slow to fire a spell. The monster suddenly went up in a ball of flame and she turned to thank her brother only to find Kei near her striding into the melee.
"Took you long enough," Mamoru said making it to their side as yakuza men and women joined the fray. His sword arm hung limply at his side and Nanao could see the fang wounds in his arm.
"You know the Watanabe," Kei said with a shrug. "Had to observe all the formalities although my guess is they'll forgive your border crossing just this once." Kei casually raised his sword and decapitated two of the yokai that had made it passed the now solid defensive line.
"I felt your presence on the rise a solid minute ago," Mamoru said glaring. "What were you waiting for? A dramatic entrance?"
"Just curious to see if shinigami-chan would let loose again," he said grinning easily. "But once I saw your sword arm going I didn't think we could wait for the girl to show off."
"You left us in the center of that just to see what I would do?" Nanao hissed.
"Yes, darling," he replied easily. "You should be careful."
"Careful of what, you?" she demanded bitterly and then felt her bitten leg give out on her.
Kei laughed as he caught her smoothly. "Careful of that leg. The poison takes a little while to kick in fully."
"Get your scheming hands off of me," she demanded.
"Fine," he said letting her go, and she stubbornly tried to balance with her one good leg before Mamoru sighed and slipped his good arm around her for support.
"Can your people handle it from here?" Nanao asked coldly.
Kei glanced over at the battle and shrugged. "Anything can happen, but I would say so. Both the Watanabe and the Higurashi have more forces on their way. We know better than to depend on shinigami showing up in time."
"Then I need to get back to the Seireitei," she said ignoring the jibe. "There are still full grown versions of these on the loose."
Kei narrowed his eyes at her. "Are the adults coming this way too?"
"I don't think so," Nanao said shaking her head. "What they're after is already back in the Seireitei. You shouldn't have any more issues with them once you've managed this swarm. Mamoru has a communicator if you need to get a hold of me."
"We don't need your help shinigami-chan," he said with a snort of distaste.
"Do as you like," she said shrugging and too tired to fight. "I'm headed back."
"Will you be alright with your leg?" Mamoru asked with a frown.
"I'll kido brace it till the poison wears off," she said trying to move the numb ligament. "I'll manage."
"We could have Shin-san look at it," Kei offered off handedly.
"I'll have my own people look at it, thank you," she answered sharply.
"Aw, and here I was thinking you were trying so hard to be one of us, sweetheart," Kei said grinning.
"I have always been, and will always be, a shinigami," she growled. "That does not mean I cannot also be an ally. Frankly I would never want to be a part of an organization that would let innocent people die because of invisible territory lines."
"Because your precious shinigami rules don't ever allow for innocent people to die," Kei spat.
"Not if you were in the 8th division, you self-congratulatory ass," she shouted, and was surprised to find it was true. She'd often scolded her Taicho for bending rules, but he'd have never let a rule stop him from protecting a life. "You hate the Gotei 13 without having every interacted with more than a handful of shinigami looking for trouble in the Rukongai. You don't even try to understand us. At least I'm making an effort to understand all of you. We're people, and we're flawed, but we do the best we can just like your people. We're not all powerful. We can't be everywhere we're needed in the Rukongai, which is why I'm out here trying to make that better in the first place. We aren't enemies, but if you are too much of an ass to listen I will find someone who will. You aren't the only yakuza family in the Rukongai. I was just hoping you'd be some of the most open minded."
"Who's self-congratulatory?" Kei demanded. "You admit that it's the shinigami's fault these things are even here. You expect me to bend a knee and thank you for cleaning up the mess you created."
"It's not a shinigami issue," she said stonily. "They'd have come no matter what, but if we were what you think we are we'd have let them roll over the Rukongai with very little care as long as it wasn't our people."
"I hate to point this out, but you are the only shinigami out here," Kei said motioning to the yakuza men and women driving the beasts back.
"And that won't change if you don't let us help," she argued angrily. "Look, I obviously haven't changed your mind and I need to be getting back to the Seireitei. I'm sure we can take up this debate again next time."
"As you like, shinigami-chan," Kei said with a shrug and a frosty grin.
Nanao gave him a cold glare and turned as best she could with her numb leg. She launched herself into an awkward shunpo and hoped Kyouraku and Ukitake had made it back to the Seireitei without any problems.
A/N: Sorry for the cliff hanger! Hopefully this lives up to expectations.