Chapter 15
Wh-where am I? I thought groggily as my eyelids fluttered open to see a wonderful view of the Seireitei.
"You're up. Kori got you good since you've been asleep for a day," Kane smiled and I woke up completely, trying to undo the bonds tying my hands. "Don't try. You can't undo those, my dear."
"Screw you." I spat and struggled to my feet.
"You're always a delight to talk to, Seika. I never know what you're going to say next."
"It's not going to be nice."
"Have you heard word from your sister?" Kane asked Kasai.
"No. I can't feel her either. But the Soul Reaper feels quite alive, I'm afraid." Kori explained and I smiled wickedly.
"You shouldn't take him so lightly, Kane. It might be your last mistake," I snickered and Kane glared at me.
"I have taken your behaviour lightly, Seika. I would not suggest you push it." Kane explained and I snorted.
"I hope I'm the one that kicks your ass, you bastard."
"Since Kasai will not be joining us, we'll have to start now before they decide to interfere. How do you like the view, Seika? We're on Sokyoku Hill, the centre of the Seireitei," Kane informed and he grabbed my hair before pulling my head back so I looked up at the sky. "You be a good girl now, Seika."
I blinked from the brightness before gagging as Kane pressed his wrist to my lips, his salty blood flowing into my mouth. He pulled his wrist back after a few seconds and began stroking my throat until I was made to swallow whatever was in my mouth.
Kane backed away quickly as I tried to puke the blood back up when I spotted the white light and lovely sensation.
"What the hell...?" I gasped as the white light enveloped me in a giant white vortex. I screamed in pain as I was lifted into the air and forced into my Altered form.
Once the transformation was complete, the fire exploded outwards like a deadly wave, covering Kane and Kori as the explosion spilled over the edge of the hill. I gently touched the ground and stretched my wings before Kane had me pinned to a wooden cross. I screamed and tried to slip from his grasp when Kori appeared with an ice spike and an ice hammer and hammered my left wing into the wooden cross.
My scream echoed painfully through the Seireitei and I could feel multiple spiritual energies coming quickly. I was whimpering by the time Kori had hammered my other wing, my hands and feet to the cross as well before they lifted the cross high above the hill, leaning over the edge so that my face looked up to the sky.
"Behind you is the beginning of the portal from this world to the Underworld. The more your blood drops into it, the stronger it gets. And I must say, your Altered form is quite a picture, especially when you're covered in your own blood," Kane informed. "And you want to know the best part? Once the first drop of blood opens the portal, you lose your soul chain and nothing can bring it back." He laughed as the spiritual energy I felt earlier appeared in front of us.
"By the orders of central forty-six and Head Captain Yamamoto, you are hereby under arrest." A young woman declared sternly and Kane began to laugh as my blood began to drip from the feathers of my wings.
"You're too late, Soul Reapers. You can't stop us now. Please, enjoy the show. It's just beginning." Kane roared and his spiritual energy became corrupt and disturbed as his body was covered in a black smoke before he reappeared.
His black hair was longer with white streaks through it. He wore a tattered black shirt with tight black pants, black boots, and a long black coat with tattered ends. His wings were like dragon's wings and were as black as darkness itself. And on his hip rested a large sheathed sword with a long hilt.
I was too engrossed in his new appearance that I barely heard the portal below me crackle to life as my blood dripped down into it as the first of the monsters could be heard before more began to crawl out.
They ignored me as they walked around me. I guess they're going to be the line of defence until greater demons arrive.
"Let her go!" A familiar voice yelled and I looked around to see the orange haired Soul Reaper.
"Ichigo!" I screamed and tried to pull my wings from the spikes but it only made me bleed more.
"Quiet!" Kane snarled at me and I felt myself being drained as Kane began to look more demonic, growing large black horns and a long spiked tail from underneath his coat. "Her power is incredible! So sweet and powerful. It'd be a shame to waste her so I'm going to use every bit of her!"
A huge wave of black spiritual energy flowed from his blade as he pulled it out and lunged at the young girl, making her fall to her knees straight away as the others behind her exploded into a shower of blood.
"No! Ichigo, don't!" I screamed and pulled once again. The spikes were pulled out from my wings and I was able to stretch them but I still couldn't move so all I did was make things worse.
I heard a strong voice amongst the screaming as Ichigo called on his Bankai. His outfit had changed. Ichigo's robe was replaced with a long-sleeved, ankle-length black coat with red lining that was closed at his chest, then flared out into ragged ends.
His Zanpakuto actually shrank down to a daito (Japanese long sword) with a black blade instead. The guard had four prongs bent out and the end of his pommel had a small length of chain with a broken link at the end.
"A Bankai so small is no match for my Zanpakuto. Even in its sealed form, I'll still kill you! " Kane yelled and Ichigo disappeared from my view before his attack was blocked my Kane's large black sword.
"Ichigo, get away!" I screamed but Kane continued to absorb my powers as the demons kept crawling out of the portal and fighting the Soul Reapers that survived Kane's first attack.
Ichigo's spiritual pressure weakened as Kane tapped Ichigo's cheek before stabbing Ichigo in the chest with his huge two handed double edged sword. Ichigo's spiritual energy shrank as his hand dropped his sword.
"ICHIGO!" I wailed and Kane looked over his shoulder to look at me.
"That's the most emotion I've seen come from you. Does this boy mean something to you?" Kane asked as he picked Ichigo's weak body up by his coat. "Do you have some feelings for this substitute? He isn't worth our time."
"You're wrong," I growled as the spikes holding my hands and feet just dissipated from my spirit energy before I gently dropped to the ground. "He's not worth your time because you don't deserve him!"
I felt my wings heal over as I held my hand out by my side. Kane gave me a terrified look as a katana formed in my hand from mere shadows. The cord wrap was a dark aqua with a silver chain attached to the pommel. The guard was a diamond with its sides caved in with the pattern of roses and thorned vines. The blade was longer than an ordinary katana and had floral designs etched into the silver blade.
"What are you doing? We're supposed to take over the Seireitei together!" Kane exclaimed as I walked forward, stepping gracefully over bodies, making sure my heels didn't slip in blood.
"You kill my father, I can grieve over that. You kidnap my friends, I can kick your ass for that. You kidnap my brothers, I can never forgive you for that. But you go and hurt one of the most important people in my world?" I said and crouched. "I'm going to kill you for that!"
"Th-that's impossible! All your power should be mine!"
"My power doesn't belong to you and neither do I!" I screamed and raced past him with lightning speed, cutting up his right arm without his knowing. He turned around to fend off my next two attacks but he wasn't quick enough as he lost three fingers trying to grab my sword.
I dug my heel into his gut and kicked off of him before driving my sword into his chest, pressing myself against him as his large bat wings twitched and expanded, contrasting against my blood stained white bird wings.
His hands wrapped around the sword's blade and I backed up, pulling the blade out and watched him tenderly touch his chest wound.
"Ouch. I admit, Seika. I was not expecting you to do something like that." He smirked and pulled out his sword. The blade glistened in the light and made me uneasy. "Now I have to kill you."
He charged at me and I brought my blade in front of me as sparks erupted from where our blades clashed. I grunted as I backed up a step but a flap of my wings and I was making him back up.
"I'm the superior one because I don't fight for myself." I informed and pushed off of him before pointing a finger at him. "Hado ninety. Kurohitsugi."
His body was enveloped in a black box before several black spears pierced through it. I embedded my sword into the ground before resting Ichigo's weak body in my lap.
"Ichigo, don't you dare die!" I cried and pressed his head to my shoulder as I stroked his hair.
The black box shattered to reveal the lacerated body of Kane. His horns were broken at different lengths and his wing were in bloody tatters. The demons around us suddenly disappeared as the portal compressed and then exploded into a blinding white light.
"Seika Kimura." A woman said and I looked up to see a woman with short blonde hair and blood red eyes in ancient armour. Behind her were three other women; one with dark grey skin, one with spiky pink hair, and the last one had white robes and long brown hair.
"You're..." I trailed off and she knelt down in front of me as the other three walked to Kane.
"I am Atsuka Kimura. Your power is far beyond that of my own or the other Ancestors."
"That doesn't matter to me. I just want Ichigo to live."
"The boy who sacrificed his life for you. His name is Ichigo?" She asked and I nodded as I held Ichigo.
"Help me," I whimpered and looked into her red eyes. They showed no fear and no anger, just compassion and complete affection. "I need him to stay alive."
"Why do you ask me to save him when it is you who has saved him? You gave him a reason to live and a reason to die. You should be happy."
"But I don't want him to die!" I screamed. "I want him to live. I need him to live."
"Then you will find a way to bring him back. We are only here to announce you as the Dark Queen of the Darksiders and to claim back Kane. We can't do anything else," Atsuka replied sadly and walked off to Kane.
I looked down at Ichigo's limp body before I wrapped my hand around the grip of his Zanpakuto and pulled it to me.
"I want you to show yourself." I demanded and allowed my spiritual energy to flow into his Zanpakuto, forcing the spirit out from the sword. Time slowed down before the scenery turned into shades of grey and a man appeared with long brown hair in the same coat as Ichigo. "Your name. Please, tell me your name."
"Zangetsu." He said casually.
"Tell me what to do. I can feel that you know how to save him."
"A child as strong as you should ask the advice of your own Zanpakuto."
"You won't exist if he dies."
"And has he died?" Zangetsu asked and I froze. If Ichigo had died, I wouldn't have been able to talk to his Zanpakuto. "I'm trying my best but his opponent had absorbed most of our power which had forced Ichigo into submission and I cannot reach him."
"That's why you can't help?" I asked and he nodded before walking towards me. "Then all I need is to give him back his power."
"He doesn't have long until he can't be reached altogether so act fast, child."
The world returned to normal as I laid Ichigo on his back and got to my feet before racing over to the Ancestors and pulling Kane's sword from his hand, much to the Ancestors dismay.
"Seika, what are you doing?" Atsuka exclaimed.
"I'm giving Ichigo his powers back. I won't let him die," I growled.
"But Kane's power is in that sword as well!"
"That's why I'll take it while the sword is in contact with Ichigo and myself."
I pushed Atsuka out of my way as I marched towards Ichigo. I held Kane's sword high above my head as I stood beside Ichigo.
"Please, work." I cried and thrusted the sword into Ichigo before a black explosion erupted from the both of us. I could feel the sword dissolve through my fingers before I was forced backwards until my eyes readjusted to the light to see that the other Ancestors except Atsuka had left with Kane and Ichigo was trying to sit up. I scrambled to my feet and wiped my eyes before lunging at Ichigo and hugging him.
"I thought I'd lost you!" I cried.
"Seika? You look different," Ichigo explained and I looked up at him.
"What?"
"Your hair... it's black. And your clothes have changed."
"You were near to death and all you can comment on is how I look? I wonder how Zangetsu puts up with you! I wonder how I put up with you!" I exclaimed and stood up before looking at my new attire.
My shirt was a black midriff armoured top that barely covered my breasts and connected up to a collar around my neck that had the pendant from Takashi's necklace embedded in it, making it look like a halter neck so my large, white angel wings could stretch out freely. My gloves were white that went to my elbows and was attached to my middle finger with two silver bands around my wrists.
My skirt was a soft black piece of material around my left leg where a black scabbard was attached with a dark aqua hanging cord, leaving my right leg uncovered except for the small thin strap that went over my hip. My legs were covered with black thigh high boots that had silver armour plates from halfway up the calves to just below where the boot finished around my thigh. The heels on the boots were an inch tall and were thick so I didn't fall over on pencil thin heels.
"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked.
I wiped my eyes. "I'm crying, dumbass. I really thought you were killed because of me!" I wailed and ploughed into him again before kissing his lips.
"I believe this is yours," Atsuka said behind me and I turned around to see her holding my sword. "Your Zanpakuto, Seika."
"I... have a Zanpakuto?"
"The Darksiders is a long forgotten race of Soul Reapers who, like a Zanpakuto, had a final form called the Altered form which was the true form of the Darksider. Only the most powerful Darksiders receive a Zanpakuto but for you to summon yours so effortlessly is incredible."
"Yeah, yeah. I get all that, but why do I look like this?"
"When you gave Ichigo back his powers, your power that Kane corrupted flowed back into its original owner and clashed with your pure energy. It should have killed you but it only made you so much stronger than Kane. A perfect heir to the Darksiders throne."
"Darksiders throne?" Ichigo questioned as I helped him up before he picked up Zangetsu and leaned his weight onto it to stay up.
"The Dark Prince has been defeated in battle by another Darksider. The Darksider that had defeated him earns the new title as the Dark Prince or Queen in this matter. May I have your hand, Seika?"
I put my right hand out warily and she took it before she drew a flower onto the fleshy part of my palm under my thumb. As she drew the simple design, the lines spread out to become a more detailed flower that looked like something between a rose and a lily.
"This is the Night Rose. This tattoo can be felt by other Darksiders, Soul Reapers and Hollows and tells them to beware. It shows that you are royalty as well as someone who is a skilled and powerful fighter. Once you revert to your soul form, you will only be allowed to Alter if your heart truly desires it. Do you understand?"
"I do. Thank you," I smiled and she kissed my cheek.
"I have to leave so we can take care of Kane. He'll be placed under a deep sleeping spell for many years to come. Good bye, Seika." She smiled and began to disappear. "Ichigo. You should feel lucky for such a girl like her to want to save a Soul Reaper like you. She'll keep you safe."
I watched her disappear until Ichigo placed a warm hand on my shoulder as I returned to my soul form. I still had my daggers around my belt and my Zanpakuto scabbard was still attached to me as I sheathed it and looked at him.
"You really saved me?" He asked and I blushed.
"Are you having trouble realising that a girl saved your life?" I grinned and he shrugged.
"It entirely depended on the girl that saved me. I guess I can make an exception this time."
"Nice knowing you too, Ichigo."