:based on my usual style of fighting, Zabimaru will expect me ta come at him swinging, and just beat him down using my fists,: I thought as we stared at each other across the stone floor. If I wanted to beat him in any decent amount of time, I was going to have to take him by surprise.
:Fine then, I guess I'll do that.:
In the space of time that I'd been Captain Kuchiki's Lieutenant I'd done more than just learn his rhythms and pauses to the style of fighting he's mastered, I'd also been observing the way he used and manipulated kido. Now, I'd never tried any of it myself, I knew my limits when it came to using my spiritual power but the recent mastery over my chakra might have given me just enough of an edge ta pull it off. There was a spell I'd seen him use once, it was varient on one of the shield spells. Instead of creating a barrier that would deflect any attack from the outside it sort of surrounded the target and reflected spiritual attacks from the inside back at the caster. Well, basically anyway, the barrier spell would absorb reiatsu attacks, ans well as syphon off the reiatsu of the people inside its perimeter for a period of time up until it reached a certain threshold... I'd have to keep Zabimaru within the "ring" defined by the edges of my barrier spell until that point because if he broke the circle the spell would backlash on only me (and most likely take me out). Once the threshold was reached, I, the caster, would have a limited window of time to get out of the way before all of that stored reiatsu struck whatever was still left inside the confines of its perimeter all at once. When Kuchiki had done it, the explosion that had followed had rocked nearby buildings on their foundations.
The first step in the spell was a four part process, I had to chant a hado at four different points to define the cornerstones of the perimeter. And just so that Zabimaru wouldn't know what was going on until too late, I should disguise my setting up that spell under other actions.
"Hey monkey, yer circus just called and they want their peanut vendor back!" I called over to him taunting my buddy while I surreptitiously muttered the chant for the spell.
"Bones of the Earth and blood of the mountains," I murmured.
I felt my factitious reiatsu gather in and push against the barriers of the binding seals I'd replaced on my body to get all that roiling power boiling beneath the surface to settle down so I could concentrate on my mission again. It was as eagre to be free and out running amuck as it ever was, and I missed Zabimaru's capable handling of my binding marks already; it was much more difficult for me having to mainain my seals on my own. I was tempted to slide open one of the sluice gates on one of the Chakra's just to see what would happen, but now was not the time for that and I instinctively knew that I wasn't quite ready for it yet. I'd just work with what I was accustomed to for now, there was plenty of time to experiment later.
I fixed the image of the bakudo spell in my mind carefully, mentally laying out all of the turns and crossings and twists that the channels of the spell would follow, not quite daring to make the usual gestures that would let me track my progress for fear of giving the game away. Once I had it settel firmly in my mind I drew off a sizable piece of my own personal reiatsu power.
"You who dwell in the deep, deep down." I murmured, centering the glowing thread of reiatsu and pulling it over to connect that power to the empty channels of the spell.
Fed by my personal power, that spiraling knotwork pattern of the higher-level Bakudo lit up as power bled into it, making the channels of the spell glow softly in my minds eye like strands of purest moonlight. As usuall, my stubborn reiatsu pushed and pulled at the limits of the spell and my own desire to cage it in, but I checked it, forcing it to go where I willed it... and for a minor miracle it actually did! Usually I had to fight with it, herding it this way and that, pulling it back as it pushed, but it steadied out with only a minimum of fight this time. It still popped little bit here and there, but it didn't sting nearly as much as it usually did and there was no attempt to break away and backlash on me! It was with a heart much encouraged and brimming with confidence that I finished off the spell.
"Seal the winds and waters, call forth the great wall. Bakudou 87, hanpatsu kabe," (rebounding wall). I placed my hand, palm down on the floor as I chanted the release of the spell.
The spell glowed softly on the floor under my hand for a short moment then faded signaling that that part was done. One down, three more to go.
In a ruse, I charged at Zabimaru, swinging my fist to land a good punch in but he moved out of the way. One of his enormous forearms moved to counter but I'd been expecting that and I ducked. I'd fought him once so I already knew many of his moves. So I was expecting it when Snakey struck out at me as the momentum of his strike carried him past me. I turned my automatic block into a dodge that brought me at right about the area I was looking for to make my second mark. I gathered in my reiatsu and softly chanted
"Bones of the earth..."
My reiatsu still fought as it always did, but this time it didn't fight me as hard and I was able to chant and release the rest of that part of the spell with fewere difficulties than i had ever had for a bakudo. But then Zabimaru decided it was time to go on the attack, that was fine, I needed to hide my movements that'd let me manuever into a better position to set the rest of the spell in place. He put his right hand before his face two fingers held straight the rest curled into a fist, prepratory to firing off some kind of spell. He was surrounded in an emerald green glow and the black stripes that matched my own tattoos glowed in answer. He let out growl and then punched his other fist into the ground. From that point to the point where I was standing a line of disrupted earth shot up in great jagged spikes towards the sky like a cat who had chosen to unsheath its claws.
"Gaah!" I yelped in surprise nearly loosing my grip on the developing spell as I dodged quickly to the left.
"You should be more wary of whom you choose to taunt boy," Zabimaru informed me. "I have been around for centuries longer than you have even in your previous incarnations Young Soul."
I filed that one away to ask about later and forced myself to concentrate on setting up the third pillar of the spell. The other two hummed quietly in the background of my mind, pulling on my reiatsu far more gently than I was accustomed to, so it was with relative ease that I managed to murmur the chant for the third time and place the spell.
"Yeah yeah, whatever!" I yelled back to him. "Quit yer yappin' an' fight. I don't wanna have ta stick around here for my next few incarnations waiting fer you ta getcher baboon tail in gear!"
I charged back at him, closing in to exchange a few blows. He'd get suspicious if i didn't try an' fight the way I usually did, and I didn't have all of the parts of the spell set up yet. Truth to tell I was a little surprised myself that I was able to juggle a spell this complicated and with this many parts to it. Or, I should have been surprised, the old me would never have believed it and would have just known that I was bound to drop one or forget to do something somewhere. I would have kept second-guessing myself, knowing that kido was my weakest subject, and by doing so I would have likely caused myself to fail. But I didn't feel that way anymore; yes I knew that I still had a lot to learn when it came to the fine art of the demon arts, but now i knew I could do it, I knew I had it in me to succeed. Oh, I'd try, and most likely fail the first few times, and probably for a lot more times after that... most likely I'd try and fail many times over and over again, but as with everything else, I would try my hardest every time but this time I'd do it knowing that in the end I would succeed.
I skidded to a halt after I dodged to the left, the air was filled with dust from Zabimaru's attack, which suited me just fine, it gave me the right amount of cover for me to complete the spell. I traced the other three points of the spell I'd already laid with my mind and adjusted my position slightly and, after tugging my recalcitrant reiatsu into place, laid the fourth seal to the spell ont he ground. I felt the points connect and the wall spring up, but as the caster I was the only one aware of it. Zabimaru wouldn't see it or sense it unless he broke the lines of the spell. All I had to do now was keep him in the middle of it. Geeze, that Kuchiki... only he would think up a hado spell that sneaky.
"Looks like you have the advantage when it comes ta distance Zabs, same as always, but I've fought with you long enough ta know ta take the fight in close. Be forewarned an' don't act surprised, when here I come!"
I rushed at him, at the last moment trowing myself into a skidd to try to take out his limbs. Due to his lower center of gravity and the way he had of distrubuting his weight, Zabs always had the solid foundation of a rock, but he could move nimbly and Snakey was a force to be reckoned with due to that whippy tail of his and his bite. Still... there was a chance that I could surprise him under all this cover.
"Too slow boy," Zabimaru informed me, extending his fore arms and pushing his main body up off the ground as I passed right under him. Snakey struck me in passing, nailing a hit on my shoulder when I was to slow to squirm out of the way. I pivoted on one fot and pushed my wiehgt back the way i had come, fighting momentum in order to try for a sweep kick on one of the two arms that were supporting his weight. He shifted so that his weight was supported on one arm and swung at me with the very arm I had been aiming for. I was sent flying a foot or two (still well within the perimeter of my spell thank goodness) and skidded to a halt.I charged right back in, just the same as i always had. Zabimaru would be expecting it after all. I just had to keep his attention focused on me, and endure exchanging blows with him for as long as it took for the threshold guage to fill up. Even as i charged at Zabimaru, he in turn headed straight on the attack with me. We met in the middle exchanging blows and blocks with equal ferocity and unmatched enthusiasm. We'd never say so out loud (but then, we wouldn't need to) but both of us were having the time of our lives. He landed a good solid punch in my stomach that knocked the wind out of me and I returned the favor by pounding a double-fisted blow right on his nose that caused him to reel back and shake his head. He hated those. In reply, snakey coiled back and sprang for my bandana, pulling it down over my eyes and blinding me just long enough for babs to pound me flat with one massive tree trunck of a forepaw. I let out an ignominiuos oof! as I kissed the ground, full body length, on my belly.
"Give up boy?" Zabimaru asked, his tone amused.
He knew better than that, but he was clearly enjoying looking good in front of all of his old friends in the Earth Court. Fine, let him bask in their cheers, I could sense that I had some ways to go until the gage was filled anyway.
"You know better than that, Zabimaru," I grunted as I heaved to my feet and threw myself back into the fight.
He sideswiped me with a massive blow that sent me rolling along the ground for a few feet. I got back in and charged a quick skakahou on the fly bursting a flare before him that distracted him long enough for me to dash around to his side and knock him over with an unexpected shoulder-bump. He rolled easily and his back limbs sent me up and over flipping me on my back where he nearly finished the fight with a downward strike (his palm was flat so he wouldn't actually kill me) to my head but, instead of rolling out of the way I caught the massive forelimb he sent flying at me from above, grabbed onto it and twisted over,sending the rest of Zabimaru spinning after it. As he rolled to regain his equilibrium I grabbed an handful of fur and sent my leg up over his spine while he regained his normal standing posture with his massively broad shoulders supporting a long, powerful neck and shorter back limbs. I dug a toe in and climbed up hanging on like a burr.
"Sssstupid!" Snakey informed me, springing for my exposed back in an attack he probably hoped would finish the fight.
I freed up on hand and caught him behind the head, even as babs, underneath me, tried to shake me off. He shook his great thick fur like he was trying to get rid of water, and reared back and plunged forward. He also reached around with his powerful forelimbs, trying to pluck me off but I had chosen that one spot on the back that no-one coud ever quite manage to reach and there I clung like a tick. Just because the image amused me, I pulled on snakey a little bit until I had a long enough coil of snake and straightened up a little bit, still clinging like a bronco rider from out of one of those old Wild West movies I'd seen in the human world. As Zabimaru bucked and plunged and twirled snakey up around my head yelling an enthusiastic
"Yeee-haaaw!"
Zabimaru caught the joke and the fact that I was teasing him. His reply was to roll over on his back. Of course I rolled clear in time but the insult was there.
"Yer no fun!" I called to him. My gage was almost up.
"And you a most bold and impertinent wielder," he replied. He went on the attack again and I deflected, blocked and dodged the blows keeping him well within the bounds of the circle.
"Hold still ya little monkey!" Snakey hissed at me as I blocked another in a string of unsuccessful attacks.
"Hm, what do you think Snaketail, does it not seem unusual to you that Renji's fighting style has become so cautious?"
"Caution this!" I snapped, flashing in to land an upper cut to Babs' jaw followed by a sideways slap to hit snakey. Both attacks met with minimal success but we had been exchanging blows around the ring long enough for that bakudo spell to have absorbed enough of Zabimaru's power. Even as he moved to return the strike, I felt the gauge fill up to its limit. The blow landed and I rolled with the punch then kept rolling right out of the lines of the spell. I didn't have much time or I would be caught in the blast as well.
"Running away from a fight Renji?" he questioned me. "Shall i take this one as my victory then?"
"The fight's already won, zabs, you just don't know it yet," I replied and waited.
A half a beat later the walls of the spell manifested in a glowing screen of light suspended int he air before me. They met at the top like a pyramid and they were faily bursting with power. I saw the flash of realization dawn on hisface and he ducked down, bracing for the blast. As Kido spells went, the one I'd set hadn't been as powerful as it could have been. After all, I'd wanted to win the fight not actually kill him, but even so...
I sheilded my eyes as the walls hummed in vibration and then there was a blinding flash of pure white light as the walls disappeared and the spell exploded outwards form a central point, landing on poor Zabimaru. Sure glad I hadn't been there. I knew that the spell wouldn't kill him but I couldn't help worrying a little; i'd never done a spell as complex as this and even though I thought that I'd gotten everything right I could still have made a miscalculation. I was also relieved to note that several of the denizens of the Earth Court had erected barriers of their own around our fighting ring to contain any collateral damage from the fight.
The dust began to settle and clear after the immense explosion and the barriers that had been placed around the ring to contain the damage flickered out layer by layer.
"Surprising," Genbu noted mildly. "You Have Given Us A Good Fight, Mortal Soul Reaper. You Have Our Permission To Continue To Travel With The Nue, Baboon King Zabimaru."
"Hey buddy," I said, crouching down and nudging at him. "Ya gonna nap all day or are we gonna git movin' on findin' that Shadow basterd?"
Zabimaru sat up and dusted off his forearms. Blinked slowly at me once and said in a private channel
::It is well you have mastered it then, you will most likely need it in the future.::
He meant how to use Kido, but somehow I also sensed another weight to his words and I breifly wondered what kind of trouble he thought we were gonna get into.
I raised my head and looked across the ring at Genbu.
"There's sumthin' I need ta know," I said to him clearly. "I'm lookin' at fightin' some Shadows, you heard o' those right? Former Believed who faded into the Nature Spirit version of the hungry dead?"
Genbu's gaze flickered up to me and he regarded me for a very long moment.
"We Are Aware Of Thier Presence in The Dark Between, Mortal," He said. "What Is Your Quarrel With Them?"
"Soul Reapers keep the balance between the souls in the Mortal Realm an' th' ones that travel to the Soul Society," I said. "Those Shadows have been taking spirits from both realms, kid spirits, and I think they're up ta sumthin'. One of 'em turned me inta a mortal an' I owe it some payback. I need a spell that will make me able to bind a Shadow since it seems that me an' Zabimaru aren't able ta actually kill one."
Niether snakes nor turtles had eyebrows to raise but I could just feel it happening anyway. There was another pause. Finally Genbu summoned a nearby court servant to speak for him. I'd heard that this was some times the way of Great Personages, but I'd never seen it myself, even the Kuchiki and his most Kuchiki-ness never reached that level of hautuer. At the same time I was kinda glad he'd done us the favor of finding someone to speak for him because listening to Genbu's voice was not comfortable in any sense; the words and their force of the being behind them shivered through my body and soul and it felt like standing in a gigai next to the base speaker at a rock concert. Not comfortable and if you did it to long it left your ears ringing. The little Earth Court servant said on his masters behalf
"You seem to have missed out making a connection on a few critical details. The Shadows have cast off their connections. This means that, though their Realms might once have supplied them with a connection to their previous places of worship, it is the case no longer."
"Yeah so?" I asked, what of it? That didn't tell me how ta kill one.
"Soooo Because of this lack of connection, there is no longer any power coming in to replenish the power that it uses over the course of getting by in the Dangai. It takes power to build portals, and power to cross gates, power to fight with other beings that they come across. The simple function of existing in this place without an anchor in it costs power. Little by little thier power erodes away like the waves of an ocean washing over a pebble or the wind howling over a mountain. If you leave the Shadow be, it will eventually fade to nothing."
"That's not gonna work fer me," I said. "I can't afford ta wait around fer it ta fade. I need a way to haul it up by its throat and drag it back with me to prove it even exists. No offense or anything, i know you're supreme in yer own fort, but you don' get out much do ya? If ya did you'd know that things are movin' pretty quick out there."
Genbu looked bth surprised and amused by my audacity.
"Suppose that such a spell exists and I could give it to you," Genbu's servant said. "It is ludicrous to expect that you would get something for nothing. Even in the mortal world that is simply not the way things work."
"Well, I guess I'd be willin' ta offer ta do ya a favor in return fer yer help. I could go kill somethin' for ya if y'd like."
The servant gave a snort of distain at the suggestion that I might be able to do something for the Emperor that the most powerful fighters of the Earth Court couldn't, but the seven vari-colored heads of Genbu all turned to regard me with interest and a moment later so did the servant. It said
"Mortal's may cross barriers between realms that a being of spirit would find impenetrable. In my master's long history as Emperor of this Court he had suffered grave insult and infringement on his divine power but once. A Being known as the Katschei... he stole something from this realm that is of enormous value. In return for this Court's help with a spell that will bind even ancient gods now faded, we would request that you might go to his Realm and bring back that which he has stolen from His Celestial Radiance."
That sounded good ta me. Go ta a different realm and steal back something. A catch occured to me, what if that something was something cumbersome and unwieldy?
"What kinda sumthin'?" I asked next suspiciously.
"A box," the servant replied.
One of Genbu's snakes flicked its toungue out and an image of a small chest about a foot and a half long, by three quarters a foot wide by a foot or so high, made of intricately decorated metal-bound wood appeared in the air before me. I could carry that easily.
"The box has in it a precious collection of Heartsblood Diamonds, the rarest stones in any realm," Genbu's servant said.
So go there and get a box of rocks? No problem. I frowned for a moment, Katschei... I'd heard that name somewhere before.
"I do this an' you'll give me a spell that'll let me catch a Shadow and hold it pinned?" I asked, just to make certain.
Always best to be sure when you are entering into a contract after all. Especially one that probably involved you risking your neck.
"In exchange for this service my master promises that he will give you a key to unlock the way to defeat the Shadows."
Not quite the same thing, but it sounded close enough to what I was looking for.
"Ya gotcherself a deal." I said. "C'mon Miss Isana, let's go. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we c'n get back to huntin' down your son."
"One Moment Warrior," Genbu said. "We Require Collateral Against Your Safe Return."
"I ain't got nuthin'," I said. I automatically put a hand to my Zanpaktou signalling that he wasn't getting Zabimaru; we were a team and there was no way i was going anywhere without him.
"I will stay behind as collateral," Isana said, softly. "I know that renji would not abandon me here, so I will stay against his safe return."
Hey, that made my job a lot easier, now I wouldn't have to worry about the little missy picking stuff up off the ground!
Genbu gestured and a portal opened up next to me. He must have some serious power to be able o do somethin' like that without even breaking a sweat. Then again, he was Genbu of the Earth Court, I was betting that there were still people out there somewhere who worshipped him.
"Good Fortune To You, Warrior," he said.
"Don' need it, but thanks anyway," I said, turning towards the portal. "Me an' Zabimaru'll beat this guy to a pulp and get back yer diamonds."
That went better than I thought it would. Originally when I wrote this story, I skipped the fight scene between Zabimaru and Renji, deciding that I;d write it later but I kept putting it off. Finally as it came time to post it I just knucked down and started writing and this was the result. I'm pleased I hope you all liked it too. The riding cowboy part was a moments burst of giggling madness... my housemates, if they didn't think so before, now surely think I'm a little crazy. I hope you liked it and please stay tuned for more exciting chapters. Next up, it's all Renji all the time as he sneaks into the Katscheis castle and finds things other than what he expected.