Part Four: Day of the Forsaken Return
"You've got a pretty big mouth there to be shooting off such harsh words. Especially considering we haven't been introduced yet, and I make a point of knowing an enemy's name before I have the pleasure of killing them." Each word left Ikkaku Madarame's mouth as if drooled, his tongue edging at the corner of his lips; this whole speech was turning him on. Beside him, Yumichika Ayasegawa was doing his usual daisy-eyed stare, as if he was focusing on his reflection in the back of Ikkaku's baldhead. But Ikkaku's interest seemed to be spurred by the strange accent of his opponent, perhaps they were in the Sereitei for the fame of those present. "No doubt you've heard of me already, 3rd Seat Ikkaku Madarame of 11th Squad, the most ruthless fighting unit in Soul Society."
"At least in this Soul Society." Ikkaku's eyebrow twitched at the comment, it had not come from the previous speaker. He gawked for a second, almost as if he were urging the speaker to repeat it. Right on cue, Igor sighed, rolled his shoulders and then yawned. "You're no better then slack-jawed yokels in this place. Have you never stepped off this island? Your society is so up-tight it doesn't even have a mercenary unit, just annoying outside citizens that don't know the first thing about greeting visitors."
"What did you call me?" Igor's comments had not been directed at Yumichika, but he knew the slack-jaw comment had hit the pretty-boy on a personal level, it was meant to. Not too long ago, after Igor's whole depressive and suicidal I'm a mistake of nature phase, he'd turned pretty-boy and been hammered with so many insults from his best friend, that being Rintakara, that he'd given up just to save her from loosing her voice. That, and young Sascharissa had been getting older and starting to look at him in the wrong kind of light.
"You heard! Goodness me, you're hair is in an awful state. It's no wonder you're not already bald like your companion! Such awful taste of uniform and colour coordination too! I mean, orange on black? It looks like Gull just hacked a load up on you!" The grin was what made Rin grin herself. When someone was easy to pick on, there was that toothy grin on Igor's face. It was the one that made him look like a wolf, though his ever-present fangs pressed tightly on his soft lower lips. It was then insisted by a gently licking of the fang, a sign that meant quite clearly there was a fight coming.
"UGH! I cannot stand for such rudeness from two weirdoes with an obvious lack of style!" Yumichika growled as he drew his sword, ready to fight.
"Enough talking! I'd love to see these two clowns get past the best of 11th squad. Just tell us your names and lets get this over with!" Ikkaku issued the challenge and the grins emerged ever more, though Rin's remained hidden beneath her mask.
"Captain Rin Ninel and Lieutenant Igor Rasputin of the Schwarzeis Stadt Mercenary Unit, Eurasian Soul Society. Let's dance…" They both growled and in unison their swords were drawn.
Yumichika was the first to react, pulling out the curving sickle of his zanpako-tu and aiming to take off Igor's head. He was surprised when quick as lightning, Igor was in the air as well, and as Yumichika was diving a neat foot was swung and clocked Yumi onto a rooftop. Igor smiled, he hadn't fought another quick opponent in a while, and as Yumi rebounded, slowing on his heels and then darting forward, Igor dodged. As he dodged, Yumichika swung his sword blade around again, the three additional blades extending to catch at least a little flesh if Igor moved, but Igor was ready. When the blades aimed to catch his stomach, the light blue sword shimmered, thing like a fencing blade and caught the scythe edge. As Yumichika recoiled, pulling his arm back to aim another swipe faster then the eye, Igor's blade reappeared, and caught a fleck of hair from Yumichika's fringe as he managed to leap back in time for a lunge. Though Yumi was annoyed, he smiled with amusement as the blade came round and their swords clashed. They were held for a second, and then Igor kicked Yumichika away, to check briefly on his captain.
To be honest, Rin was slightly bored with her opponent. The fight had barely begun and she'd calculated the first two blows and dodged them, guessed the quick lunge and then butted Ikkaku in the side with the bottom of their curling blade. She knew Ikkaku was a lot slower then Igor, but that only meant he was going to use a lot of force in each swing. Not only that, but Ikkaku was one of the smartest fighters she knew, his style of battling was more then equal to her own, falling short only of one person; Ivann…
"You're not from around here, yet I know you've figured me out because you've got an odd glint in that clear eye of yours. Depth perception doesn't seem to be a problem for you." Ikkaku grinned, hoping to catch his opponent off guard with a quick speech, but as he lunged forward again, it was the elbow of his opponent, joined by a swinging kick to his stomach that caught him off guard. As he collapsed onto his back he choked for a second before growling his annoyance. "I don't like dirty fighters, a typical mercenary move I suppose!"
"Not really. You assume me Ryouka, but in all honesty, Mr Madarame, I'm not allowed to kill anyone on this mission. You're just delaying me in delivering a message with Old Man Yama." Rin snorted gently, then she turned her back on him and started walking. At this point her companions, even Igor, leapt to her side, ignoring the two, who were slightly bruised but not damaged, Ikkaku growled in annoyance. "We're not finished, either of us! No fight is over till one of the opponents' swords' break!"
"My Captain has forbidden me to fight more, Mr Ayasegawa. He has reminded me of our mission and thus I must fulfil it or sit in front of the Inquisition for failure!" Igor bowed patiently, and in surprise, Yumichika bowed back. Ikkaku was stunned, but he could see Yumichika's fringe had been trimmed, Igor had a black eye forming, and Yumichika's lip was cut. They were not going to get into a full-blown blood battle when they were equally matched. But Ikkaku assumed his fight still winnable; after all he was not even bleeding!
"Cowardice!" Ikkaku growled as he launched toward Rin. He dodged back and forth, knowing with her back turned, his opponent would probably be smart enough to assume a straight charge. Ikkaku swung his sword, and it came round, heading for Rin's shoulder. But Ikkaku was not surprised when the coiled sword, made so intricately into spirals that it seemed fragile, came to meet and hold it. Rin crouched with one foot outstretched and one knee bent, holding the weight. It was then Ikkaku's eyes glinted and he swung his scabbard around to knock Rin a blow. In a flash though, there was another sword holding Ikkaku's scabbard. Confusion burnt in his eyes and he looked at his own sword, the intricate spiral was missing and what seemed like half a sword was holding him. Then he felt weight pulling him down, arching his back against his permission, Captain Ninel had pressed her weight onto him via the angles of their swords and had back flipped right over Ikkaku. When the sword was released, Ikkaku was given an unceremonious kick in the buttocks to put him to the ground.
Ikkaku's mind was fuddled as his chin grazed the earth. Those swords… There had been one that coiled and then had split, as if two individual spikes had made the coiling? Why was the sword so important? Why was the name Rin now clanging about his head? Ikkaku blinked, his mind filling with memory…
A/N: Flashback time! Ducks for safety
It had been an odd day in 11th squad when Ikkaku had met the "cleaner", in fact he'd heard from one of the other members that Captain Zaraki was fighting a woman in the training area of the squad. That seemed kind of strange, there were no women in Sereitei that would be a match for his captain, let alone even bother trying to fight with him. But Ikkaku had scooted along the rooftops to find out. To his surprise it had been the truth, though the fight was not proper, it was actually a training session.
"Control your swing and you might be able to rebound faster to hit me, Little One." There had been the kind of grin on Captain Zaraki's face that was normally only reserved for when Yachiru had done something to amuse him, like drawn a picture of him killing things. This was new, obviously the captain knew the stranger fighting him, but in one look at the emblem on the opponent's shoulder, Ikkaku choked. Captain Zaraki was teaching a member of squad twelve to control their swings more efficiently? This had to be a weird prank or he was asleep. Ikkaku hopped off the roof and stood beside the wall of the building to watch, surprised that Captain Zaraki must have shooed the others away. His mind started working, who was this woman?
Kenpachi's sword swung in an arch that threw his opponent's arms wide and then flung her backward. Ikkaku grinned, but then he saw the blue hair swing around and the stern face of the fiery woman who was obviously not going to let herself loose. She got up quickly, and managed to parry the next sword swing and dodge to the side. Kenpachi turned to take a stab, the sword tapped his shoulder… No blood at all?
"Lucky shot, but unless you were careful, you couldn't take an opponent that way!" Zaraki snorted and swung around, he grabbed the wrist of his opponent, surprisingly gently, and then swung his sword around to hit her. Instinct hit the woman, she jerked her arm at his grip, still held, but she let her other hand slide over it and something happened to her weirdly shaped sword. As Zaraki's came down, a second sword caught it and the blades began to grind against each other slowly as the faces met and eyes locked with fire. But Ikkaku could swear he saw a slight flush on the girl's cheeks, and when she dared to blink, Kenpachi butted forward, knocking her onto her back. But she managed to fall with her legs up, caught his side, and unfortunately threw him on top of her.
"That explains it!" Ikkaku voiced out loud as he stepped toward the groaning couple. Kenpachi lifted his head, he'd managed to pin his opponent beneath him, both their swords lost on the ground. He looked at Ikkaku as if he was terrified, a look that made Ikkaku grin cheekily. "You're having a bit of fun with a bit of tail! Odd choice though, she's a Mayuri-Pet isn't she?"
"WHAT?" Came the plaintive cry from beneath Kenpachi, he was pushed off her with surprising strength, indicating she'd had a similar situation before and then she stood and glared Ikkaku down. Ikkaku blushed in embarrassment; he could barely meet her brilliant green eyes as he noted how beautiful and almost cute her face was, not to mention how amazing her chest assets were. Kenpachi had good choice, until the voice came at him again and he knew he was very much mistaken. "Repeat that again, Baldy and I'll give you a tail!"
"OH! I know you; you're that chick who Ichinosae wanted to marry! I'd have thought he'd scared you off the eleventh squad hunks?" Ikkaku grinned, he could not help himself and attempted to pose and flex his muscles making it obvious to her that he was shirtless and a good looking man. But though he winked at her, the sword, knotted back together in its strange Alicorn twists, was jabbed toward his face. He noted that, after staring at the design for a few minutes, Kenpachi had been fighting with his shirt open, and the young woman was blushing crimson. But instead of her ending the argument, it was his captain.
"Mind your manners Ikkaku! She's Lord Uso's daughter and our guest. If you dare say anything mean to her, I'll bash you into a wall!" Kenpachi's growl was one that shook Ikkaku to his core. He could not imagine this from his captain, his memory of Kenpachi with women was that of drinking and joking and inevitably getting bored because there was a lack of battle. But to note that girl had title and needed to be treated with respect, that was an oddity. When Kenpachi turned and spoke to Rin in return, his head itching at the back of his head, Ikkaku wondered if he was seeing Kenpachi Zaraki the gawky teenager rather then Kenpachi Zaraki the terrifying war-monger. "Ikkaku didn't mean anything rude. He's just a bit stupid that's all. I hope you'll train with me again soon, it's nice to fight knowing you need to be under full control."
"I'd like to…" Rin had begun but there had been an annoying whining sound, a screech of a bird perhaps, from the 12th squad barracks nearby that called Rin back with amazing rudeness and made her growl in return. "Maybe later, dear friend, I've got to get scolded by my Captain. Bye Kenpachi, bye Ikkaku!"
With that said, Rin was gone in a flash, but she returned and over time she trained with Ikkaku too, even bested him a few times when they thought with a weapon in each hand. Ikkaku had been very fond of Rin, she'd looked after them all, fed and humoured them and he'd sworn Kenpachi had probably been in love with her. But no doubt she had been killed alongside her twin brother all those years ago.
With a growl of newfound annoyance, Ikkaku charged. There was no doubt that this enemy knew something about the situation and it needed to be beaten out of him. Such old memories had been buried away a long ago for all involved. The only memory that was kept alive was that the name could never be mentioned around Captain Zaraki for fear of having your head go through a brick wall, and that at the funeral, Yumichika had blubbed his eyes out and stolen one of Ikkaku's shoulder whilst the other had been occupied by Miss Nemu Kurotsuchi crying.
"MURDERER!" The scream escaped before he could think, and his spiritual pressure burst around them so that Yumichika and Rin's companions were flung onto their backsides. Yumichika had no idea what was wrong but Ikkaku was very determined and was running at his enemy. Rin just sighed, sometimes the insults got old, and when Ikkaku turned to Hozukimaru for help, Rin threw one of her blades. Ikkaku dodged it, but Rin said something and the blade came back. Hozukimaru was cut in half in a flash and Ikakku's face was spurting blood. But Ikkaku did not stop his charge until a foot came to his face, and as he jolted in the air, a fist hit his crotch. It was over, Ikakku curled up with a grunt on the ground; but Rin was not willing to drop it and she lunged forward with one of her nailed hands…
"Let's go, I don't think Captain Yamamoto will mind us interrupting his toe-nail clipping session!"
A/N: I Lied! There was only one flashback and this one was short! Not bad, two chapters in a day, I'm getting better!
Next Time – Part 5: Dance to a Skirmish – Brother to a Freak
Ikkaku's face is about to interrupt a captain's meeting and the captains are going to get very scared. Who are these rude intruders? Why is Kenpachi missing another meeting? Why does Captain Byakuya Kuchiki find himself glaring at the intruder's bottom with interest? No flashbacks in this part, but I don't think it'll be a long one. The title by the way is in regards to Ikkaku and Mayuri … Find out why, soon!