AN: Only two reviews for the last chapter? That's cold T.T
actually, it's not a big deal really, because... all this junk is basically filler.
Oh, and I feel like I should warn you... in chapter six, I end up doing something that many bleach fans would consider irredeemably perverse.
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The Striking Snake
ch5
What is it that...
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"Right here, right now?"
"You heard me."
"Yeah, yeah," said Gin. "Just checking. Boy, sure is a good thing I've got Kon on me."
The tall silver fox tossed the green pill into his mouth. In an instant, he was standing beside himself, dressed in the loose black kimono of a death god.
"Funny, Shinigami usually have white Obi sashes, not green." Uryuu looked at him critically. "And are you kidding me? That's barely a pocketknife."
"Don't knock her till ya try her. Besides, I hate long unwieldy swords anyway." Gin's grin intensified. "Kon, watch the match from a safe distance. And you, Ishida... explain to me the rules of our little duel."
"Very well." Uryuu reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like some sort of round... biscuit, but white as chalk. "The match begins with this."
"Huh?" Gin regarded the strange object. "A biscuit?"
"This, Ichimaru-san, is hollow bait." He twirled it in his fingers. "It is made with compressed reishi that mimics the smell of human reiatsu. If I crush this, many hollows will be drawn to Karakura town. So the challenge is this: the one who defeats the most of the gathered hollows in 24 hours is the victor. Easy to understand, I hope?"
Gin cocked an eyebrow. "For someone who claims ta be a protector of Karakura... that's cold, Ishida," he purred. "Yer putting a lot of people at risk for our game."
The Quincy lowered his eyebrows in a cruel smirk. "Keep your morality to yourself, Shinigami."
He snapped the hollow-bait, and Gin watched as it crumbled into dust.
"I need not worry about the people of Karakura. I can kill every hollow that makes its way here." He pushed his glasses up slightly. "And if you have the confidence to challenge me as protector of Karakura... you should be able to do the same."
There was a loud, echoing wailing over the rooftops of Karakura.
In a flash, the archer's bow was out, an arrow loosed. "That's one down. I hope you - "
A flash of focused green reiatsu tickled his senses, and Uryuu turned to see the tall Shinigami dragging his blade across the mask of a hollow behind him. "Keep yer eyes on your own fights, Ishida," purred Gin. "I ain't the type ta lie about my accomplishments, and I don't think ya are either, so let's just focus on the killing. If we're watching each other's backs instead of our own, we'll both end up dead."
Uryuu smirked. "As you wish," he replied, drawing his bow once more.
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Sitting on the bench, Tatsuki sighed.
She had recently won the gold medal in the Tokyo karate championship, and she was on track for the national competition. The team was training more and more often in preparation.
And yet Tatsuki was feeling a little disconcerted from her training. There was a reason, but she certainly wasn't telling anyone about it.
She sighed again, finally glaring at the pair of oblivious ghosts floating over the practice field. They had been flirting all day, and Tatsuki was growing extremely irritated with their constant background noise.
Dammit! She had been happy her entire life with not seeing ghosts. But ever since that sleepover at Orihime's house and those foggy, dreamlike memories of Ichimaru and Kuchiki slaying the strange monster... and then the incident with the T.V. medium and the monster in the abandoned hospital, again seeing a strangely-dressed Gin slaying the beast... she had been seeing more of them every day.
It was driving her nuts. The ghosts weren't used to people who could see or hear them, and thus they tended to carry on as if they were invisible - which could disrupt her thoughts at the worst of times.
"Tatsuki-chan!" She turned her head to see Orihime waving at her. "Can we talk for a second?"
Tatsuki swatted at another ghost which had floated up beside her, then realized what that looked like to Orihime. "Um. Er, sorry. Yeah, what did you want to - "
Both girls started as a sudden chill rolled over them. It was immediately followed by a distinctive crashing sound and a thousand tiny jingling noises. From the school, Tatsuki could hear some students yelling about how all the windows had shattered simultaneously.
Eyes widening, Tatsuki sprinted towards the school building.
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"Goooowaaaaahhhh - !"
Two quick flicks of Gin's blade, and the hollow died.
"Three," he muttered to himself, inwardly grimacing beneath his grin. "I know they'll be hunting Karin... damn, she won't be in school right now."
Where did Karin Ichimaru go after school? She often practiced soccer with some neighborhood kids, but where?
Gin forced himself to be calm, slowing to a leisurely-seeming walk. His narrow eyes closed completely, and his mind focused on the spirit world.
The pallid, reeking souls of hollows were everywhere, mostly converging on him and Ishida. The Quincy was no longer restraining himself - his spirit was like a bright pillar of azure light, the metallic feel of his steely pride permeating the area. Gin's own overpoweringly dry and cold reiatsu was also loose, attracting the attention of more than a few hollows -
There were two more congregations. Smaller than the ones around him and Uryuu, but noticeable. At the epicenter of one was... steely strength, determination, and... warmth, overbearing good will. He couldn't say for certain, but he would guess that was Tatsuki and Orihime.
At the center of the other... red-hot, outspoken emotion, violet arrogance, youthful ferocity. That was unmistakably Karin.
Gin's smile was like the jaws of a steel trap. He hated the thought of leaving his classmates alone, but he knew Tatsuki was strong - and even though his friends were important to him, his sisters came first.
Another hollow appeared in front of him, and he cut it down like it was paper. "Four." There was another at the end of the street - too far to reach quickly.
Damn that archer, thought Gin. If only I had a ranged weapon...
"Range?" A sultry yet menacing voice sounded in his head. "Do you wish to spear your enemies from afar?"
Gin's already slitted eyes narrowed to micrometers.
"Speak my name, Ichimaru Gin, and wake my power." Man, that voice really was weird. "Speak my name! My name is - ..."
But there was only silence, as if the word was cut out of the air.
"I can't hear ya," whispered Gin. "I can't hear yer name, whoever ya are. I'll do fine on my own, thanks."
He sprinted. The hollow was stalking a human, and he was too far away... too far... he needed to move faster than mere muscle could propel him.
Well, no time like the present to experiment...
Gin momentarily abandoned his battle-focus and instead concentrated on his spirit body, willing himself to become the purest expression of velocity. He felt his reiatsu collect behind him, and burst.
In the blink of an eye the scenery shifted by almost a hundred feet. He found himself between the oblivious humans and the hollow.
A flash-step. Not bad, for his first try.
Gin turned his attention back to the world, slicing the hollow's mask in half. He had no time to waste.
"Five..."
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Yasutora 'Chad' Sado was busy being berated by his fellow band members when a sudden chill ran through his system.
"Eh? Chad, are you listening?"
The tall boy turned. He could have sworn...
And then the street exploded in front of him.
A massive cloud of dust rose. Around Chad, people were coughing and babbling about a gas explosion.
Chad's brow lowered slightly. Gas explosions were... fiery, and the crater in the asphalt was blasted downwards, not up and out. This had looked more like... something heavy had hit the street at high speed.
But there was nothing there...
No, there was definitely something there. The dust was settling, but a large area remained... hazy. Blurry. It was shaped like some kind of... monster.
The haze shifted, and Chad heard - as if coming from underwater - a loud, freakish scream.
The 'haze' charged towards him. The immense teenager crossed his arms instinctively - and a great force impacted his forearms.
So much for nothing being there.
The monster lashed out again, and this time, even the immovable Chad gritted his teeth with the pain.
But the thing wasn't attacking anyone else yet, only him. It was big, and could cause a lot of collateral damage...
He had to take this fight away from the populated street.
He pushed the invisible monster's... whatever it was, off him. As fast as he could, he ducked around the blob and headed towards the industrial districts.
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"Ichimaru! Look out - "
The soccer ball hit Karin square in the center of the forehead, breaking her daze.
"Oh... sorry." She rubbed her forehead. The boys cowered in shock, probably because she hadn't yelled at any of them.
"Ichimaru, what's up with you? You're not concentrating at - "
"I'm calling it a day."
Karin proceeded to ignore the boys, blithely walking away. She didn't feel like talking to anyone right now. Behind her, they raved and threatened, but she paid them no mind - she could beat them all up, probably even all at the same time.
If she was honest with herself, she hadn't been in the mood for soccer for a while. Ever since around lunchtime, there had been a weird feeling in the air. It worried her, somehow.
She sighed as she reached the gate of the park. Then she stopped.
There was a very tall, strongly-built teenager with dark tanned skin leaning against one of the gate pillars and breathing heavily. Karin had only seen him once or twice before, but he did kinda stand out.
"You're Gin's friend, aren't you?" She said. "The parakeet guy... what was your name? Chad, wasn't it?"
"Yeah..." The young man's brow furrowed in confusion before realization dawned. "You're Gin's little sister," he observed.
"Yeah." Karin raised an eyebrow. "Hey, why did a grown-up like you come down here to the park? Did you - "
She was abruptly cut off as Chad picked her up bodily and leapt forward, charging a full eight feet in a single bound. Behind them, where he had just stood, the ground erupted into a plume of dust with a loud crash.
"What - what was that?!" She stuttered.
"Something big and dangerous," replied Chad. "And I can hardly see it. It may be after you."
Chad set the girl down, turning to face the beast. The huge blob of haze in the air appeared to have stopped moving.
Not that a lack of movement meant much. It could be re-assessing the situation, or preparing a stronger attack...
The haze shifted. Indistinct as it was, Chad couldn't follow it.
Karin's eyes widened. "Mister - uh - Chad! Behind you!"
Chad whirled and stepped back, crossing his arms again in case he misjudged the distance. The haze flashed before his eyes, and more dust filled the air.
Then he looked again. The haze was gone.
He gritted his teeth. "Ichimaru," he said in a low voice. "Can you see it better than I can?"
"It's right there! It - wow, you really can't see it, can you?" Karin bit her lip. "Duck! It's swinging from the right!"
Chad ducked, and rolled. It was hard to follow the monster's movements when all he had to go on was a vague patch of what looked like heat shimmer.
Without hesitating, Karin jumped up on Chad's back, clamping her legs around his torso and gripping his shoulders. "Look, I can see it clearly. You can't. I'll be your eyes, 'kay?"
Chad hesitated. "But you'll be at risk - "
"I've seen these things before," she hissed. "And I'm not backing out now. I want to know what connection these things have with Gin, damn it - ah! Left!"
Chad blindly raised his left arm, and felt something strike it with the force one might expect from an out-of-control car. He staggered.
"Chad! Are you okay?"
Chad only wished he could see it more clearly.
He had always been strong, and he had always sought to use his immense strength to defend those weaker than himself. He cursed that he was apparently too weak to best this monster.
There was the faintest of voices, like the whisper of a breeze through the grass.
Is this strength, this protective power, what you truly want?
His eyes narrowed.
Would you call this power... your deepest desire?
Chad felt something stir within him. He raised his giant right arm, bringing behind it all the power he could muster.
There was a flash that momentarily outshone the sun.
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The tiny yet lethal blade twirled, spun, and struck.
"Twelve."
Gin was on a roll. He grinned all the time, of course, but his glittering teeth hadn't been hidden for ten full minutes.
He landed, bounding forward again and stabbing the wakizashi into another hollow's mask. "Thirteen!" he sang joyously.
Abruptly, he felt a pulse of reiatsu that he didn't recognize. Unlike the emotional, crackling reiatsu patterns of his various friends, this one was calm and hard, like a stone wall - unmoving and invulnerable, built to defend against anything.
He knew who that was. It was Chad, and he was right near Karin. How Chad's spiritual power had suddenly rocketed was beyond him, but Gin didn't particularly care - he was just relieved that Karin was probably safe.
He skidded to a halt as he gutted his fourteenth hollow. Perhaps it was time to step back and re-assess the situation. From what he could sense of the jam - uh, Quincy - he was probably doing slightly better on raw numbers, but neither of them seemed to be pursuing an effective containment strategy to prevent civilian deaths. 'Kill every hollow you see' was all very well, but -
Gin winced as a headache struck him. Then he staggered, feeling a ringing in his ears. The cloying reiatsu of the weak hollows all around him was suddenly overshadowed by a much deeper, darker taste of despair.
He looked up across the rooftops, towards Karakura's central park.
And, before his slitted eyes, the sky ripped open.
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