Chapter 18-tweedledum tweedledee

'so you're back, why couldn't you stay dead' Hikaru thought siting outside his squad

Hikaru had been thinking about how to deal with the assassin without getting the other captains involved, he suddenly sensed someone behind him, he turned round to see Isane standing there, "what brings you here lieutenant Kotetsu?"

"I wanted to become stronger and you're one of the strongest captains" she said

"fine, I need a distraction" Hikaru drew his right sword and charged at her his strike being blocked at the last second, "this is how I learned"

Hikaru jumped back and got into an attack stance, "you need to be faster" he charged and Isane got into a defence stance but Hikaru flashed behind her stopping his blade before it cut her neck, "and you need to be more flexible"

Isane hit him in the stomach with the hilt and jumped out of his range while he was distracted, "good at least you're creative, everything is a weapon if you just believe" Hikaru pulled out his second sword and flew at her again, this time she counted his strike and punched him in the face.

"good you're anticipating my moves with your instincts, there is no time to think in battle you just do" Hikaru disappeared then reappeared above her, she flashed out of the way and fired a shakkaho at him before the dust could settle he jumped out of it and started to slash at her wildly, "once you got your opponent on the defence never let up not till they're down" Hikaru broke her defence and kicked her in to the barracks wall, she dropped to the ground.

"you are strong for a soul reaper but you are not strong enough to stand up to a captain" Hikaru started to walk away

"well I want to be I want to protect my captain everyone else can and I'm afraid I can't" Isane forced herself up and took an attack stance before charging at the captain

Hikaru grabbed her sword with his bare hands, "your captain can protect herself she doesn't need you to do it"

"but I want to help her, the way she helped me" Isane tried to free her sword to no avail

"then play to your strengths, your good at healing do that" Hikaru dropped her sword, "being a soul reaper isn't about the strength of our blades it's about the strength of our spirit and you have a stronger one than some captains"

"but if you really want to become stronger, try to cut me" Hikaru walked a few paces away from her

"fine" Isane charged at him, Hikaru turned his body to doge her attack Isane spun round to slash at him but he just ducked and swung his sword upwards cutting her arm, Isane jumped back "why did you do that, I thought"

"you need to dodge my attacks as well as trying to cut me" Hikaru explained

The two went at it for about an hour with Isane receiving many cuts all over her body and Hikaru didn't have a scratch on him, it started to rain "hey it's raining you should call it a day and go inside" Hikaru dodged a stab to his shoulder but Isane was determined to beat his challenge, she charged at him and Hikaru side stepped and tripped her up sending her in to the wet mud "now you're all muddy you should go back to your squad and clean-up"

'no' Isane thought 'I owe my life to captain Unohana and I will repay her anyway I can' Isane jumped off the ground and started to slash at Hikaru not letting up and giving him no chance to strike back, for a moment time seemed to slow down when Hikaru was ducking under her blade she quickly turned the blade pulling it downwards and cutting Hikaru on the arm.

"well it seems you always had what it takes to protect your captain" Hikaru started to walk away

"no you taught me, didn't you" Isane was unclear on what had happened

"I didn't do anything, you could always protect your captain you just didn't know it" Hikaru walked in to his squad leaving Isane in the rain

Meanwhile in squad 12, Mayuri was running simulations on a spirit particle accelerator, "all these results yield nothing" Mayuri angrily threw something across the room

"you need to focus the resulting energy from the collision through another focusing crystal and it wouldn't hurt of refine them more" Mayuri heard

"as confident as always Hikaru" Mayuri said with venom in his voice

"oh I'm not Hikaru" Mayuri turned to see the assassin with his swords out,

"claw out, ashisogi jizo" Mayuri released his zanpakuto giving his chuckle as he did, "oh this is exciting I can't wait to cut open your head and see how that tiny brain of yours works"

The assassin charged at him Mayuri flashed behind him and attempted to stab him but the captains strike was blocked , "great now to make sure he comes" the assassin said

"what are you babbling about?" Mayuri asked

"nothing you need to worry about" the assassin pushed Mayuri off him and flashed behind him and slashed the captain across his back then he appeared in front of him and slashed his chest the assassin attacked Mayuri from all angles until he was on his knees, "I have a message for him, tweedledum tweedldee the number I'm thinking of is the number" the assassin disappeared leaving Mayuri bloody on the floor

Minutes later Nemu found him and healed her captain, now all the captains were in a meeting , "THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE, THIS ASSASSIN IS TO BE FOUND AND KILLED ON SITE HE MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO ATTACK ANY MORE PEOPLE" the head captains stick struck the floor, "now captain Kurotsuchi what can you tell us"

"the assassin was incredibly fast I am ashamed to admit it but I could barely see him, the assassin also told me which captain he would attack next" Mayuri said

"who is it?" the head captain asked

"Renji" Mayuri told every one

"what did he say exactly?" Hikaru asked

"tweedledum tweedledee the number I'm thinking of is the number" Mayuri recited

"so it would be the number 3" Byakuya said

'7' Hikaru thought 'he is trying to draw me out'

"the assassin is trying to draw all the captains to one place so captain Abarai will call the rest of us when the assassin attacks" the head captain dismissed them

End of chapter 18