What up, it's Gunshot. I've got a short and probably unsatisfying chapter for you today. Sorry.
I'm planning some pretty magnificent stuff for the events following this, bankai training and the rescue itself, etc... so I guess you should pray I can write fast enough to get it in on time. And that I don't collapse and die or anything.
Whatever. If you like it, enjoy.
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The Striking Snake
Ch22
Ripples
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"Hadō 91: Senjū Kōten Taihō."
A plume of magenta fire rose from the slopes of the citadel, bathing the whole Seireitei in a pink glow.
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Two wide amethyst eyes stared out through the window of the Senzaikyū.
The battle had occurred directly below the window, but it had for the most part been too far away for her to discern details, except when a particularly powerful attack kicked up dust and rubble.
But what Rukia's eyes could not make out, her reiatsu sense felt as clear as day.
Gin had faced down Shunsui Kyōraku, the man rumored by many to be almost as powerful as Unohana - and by some, second only to the sōtaichō himself. Worse, he had driven Shunsui to use his utterly terrifying shikai. It had been painful to observe, feeling the warrior and the assassin ripping into each other like sharks.
Shunsui had landed a critical blow. Gin had fallen. His reiatsu had darkened; she had been sure he was dead... and then somehow he rose from the grave, with full force and then some. His reiatsu had skyrocketed past his previous level, only slowing once it had surpassed some captains Rukia knew.
She shivered at the memory of the cold green fire that had glowed in the streets below the tower. Human souls were simply not made to withstand the presence of a reiatsu like what Gin's had become - indeed, the popular wisdom was that one simply could not reach the level of a captain without becoming at least a little bit inhuman...
"Hadō 91: Senjū Kōten Taihō."
And Rukia had been forced to look away, to prevent herself from being permanently blinded.
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"Onmitsukidō! Kyōraku-taichō is engaging the Hyapponzashi, but there remain at least three other ryoka at large - and preliminary reports suggest that their hostage may have defected." Soifon glared at the assembled ninjas. "I do not want this guerrilla war lasting another day! If you have not apprehended all remaining invaders by sundown, I shall be very... disappointed."
Every second division soldier knew well enough to fear Soifon's 'disappointment.' With a single washing hiss, the entire assembled contingent vanished, flash-stepping away.
I have my own target to find. I knew it would happen eventually...
And then a bright magenta glow washed over the Seireitei, quickly followed by an earsplitting boom.
Soifon whirled to look back at the citadel - only to see a massive cloud of smoke and dust billowing from the crater that had been stamped into the hillside. The blast zone itself was not visible from where she stood, but the damage to the nearby buildings would have been obvious all the way out to the wall.
Whichever one of them cast that, the situation has become dire. Shunsui will need backup, and I know I can get there in less than a minute... Soifon bit her lip. Sorry, Yoruichi. After a hundred years, a few more minutes won't matter.
Soifon flash-stepped away.
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Jūshiro's head shot up as the ground shook slightly. He scanned the reiatsu in the air.
Ten modular energy dumps... that's gotta be Senjū Kōten Taihō. He pinched the bridge of his nose. I can still feel Shunsui, albeit weakened to complete impotence in battle. The boy is gone. Dead...? Either way, our plan has become more important than ever.
He pushed aside another box, opening the one beneath it. It must be here somewhere... I'd never have given something like that to the SRI...
His hand closed around hard, grayed wood.
"Aha!"
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The rapid tapping of footsteps ended in a skidding halt as the pink light washed over the Seireitei.
"Heh." Kenpachi straightened. "I may not be much for kidō, but I can tell when one is better than eighty. And that's definitely up there."
Yachiru raised her eyebrows. "Wow..." she said. "For one of the ryoka to cast such a high kidō..."
Kenpachi grinned, his visage as terrifying as any shark. "The only beings that can cast a kidō like that are the kind of beings that stand even with captains," he said. "And if one ryoka's that powerful, the rest can't be far behind! Come on, Yachiru – this hunt just got a lot more interesting!"
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Ichigo looked up, regarding the darkened ceiling. Even through a mile of deathstone and earth, the power of a nineties kidō was too great to go unnoticed.
"Wow, you were right, Taichō," he said. "Quite a kid. I definitely see why you were interested."
The other nodded. "Indeed. He has a great deal of potential. Who knows - with a little incentive, he may even turn out sympathetic to our cause."
"What about Rukia-chan, though?" Ichigo scratched his chin. "What if he stops the execution? Isn't it important?"
The other figure nodded. "It will surely be more convenient if he fails. In that case, we can move to the next step completely covertly, and Ichimaru will certainly side with us if he never knows the engineering behind her death." The man shrugged uncharacteristically. "However, it is of little consequence. Did you truly think I did not have a contingency plan? If he stops the execution, it will merely be a slight inconvenience."
"All the same," the orange-haired captain replied, "I feel like we should put one last push into speeding up the schedule. No sense in being incautious, right?"
His companion tilted his head, but then nodded. "Perhaps you are correct," he said in a low voice. "I will arrange it. I think... three days' time is the best that can be done."
"Certainly wouldn't want it sooner," Ichigo mused. "That Tōshirō is getting downright suspicious, and he ain't the only captain with second thoughts. But I think three days is safe."
"Yes... uniquely talented though Ichimaru is, I doubt he will be ready to face an unrestrained Kuchiki lord in just three days. To say nothing of the old man himself. There are too many improbable coincidences that would have to stack in his favor." The shadowy figure smiled. "Even if Kisuke could do the impossible, and bring a child to Ban Kai in a mere few weeks of training, there's no way he could produce something more deadly than Byakuya's."
In the darkness, Ichigo grinned.
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Gin raised his head, forcing his vision to focus. It didn't work. The blurriness persisted.
His shihakusō was burned down to a pair of charred shorts, And the right side of his face and head had been stripped of hair and a fair portion of skin. Most of his upper torso looked homemade hamburger, the bloodied meat pocked with grey and black strips of cooked or charred flesh. A shard of rock six inches long was embedded in his stomach, among numerous other pieces of gravel and broken concrete.
Across the twenty-meter crater in the paving, he saw the vague figure of a shirtless, haori-less Shunsui shakily pushing himself up, struggling to free one of his arms. Was it pinned? They were both lying in the collapsed ruins of large buildings...
He coughed, gurgling as his ripped lungs and cracked ribcage made themselves known. "Sorry... Rukia..." He gasped. "I almost... made it..."
He coughed again, a fountain of blood spraying from his mouth. His chest didn't rise again.
Across the crater, Shunsui slipped, fell back, and didn't get up. Casting the Bakudō without an incantation had put a heavy pull on his reiryoku, which was already below full strength from the fight. The barrier might have cut the spell's power in half, but even half of Senjū Kōten Taihō would have been enough to atomize weaker shinigami; it was the second-highest Hadō that did not require the user to sacrifice body integrity. Even with the full incantation, most captains would hesitate to take the risk of deploying it - with the sheer volume of power the spell discharged, a backfire would be lethal.
As it stood, Shunsui's haori had been disintegrated, and though he had turned to shield his face from the blast, his right arm and shoulder were badly burned - the power of the spell overwhelming even Shunsui's godlike reiatsu.
Even after all that, he might have limped away, but his left arm was wedged at the elbow between two fallen girders with a mountain of ruins on top of them. In his weakened state, there was no way he could pull himself free, and Katen Kyōkotsu - a blade well able to cut through the debris trapping him - had fallen a good two meters clear of where he had landed.
Shunsui lay back, letting his eyes close. "Heh. After all that, he still took me down," he laughed softly. "You're really something, Ichimaru Gin... Rukia doesn't know how lucky she is."
He could feel the reiatsu of Soifon approaching, with Nanao close behind. And... another reiatsu signature, one he hadn't felt in a long time...
Well, it's out of my hands now... might as well take a nap.
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Two flash-steps sounded at the same time.
There was a moment of silence as both figures stared at each other.
"Yoruichi..." the captain finally managed.
The feline looked over the other, noting the golden obi sash. "Captain of both the second division and the kidō corps... you've done pretty well for yourself without me, Soifon."
Soifon's hand went to hilt of the wakizashi hanging across her back. "I had a lot of time to improve."
"Ah..." The cat put its forepaw across its head. "I'd worried it would be like this. I don't have time to work through it right now, Soifon."
"That's all you have to say? That you don't have time?" Soifon's shoulders shook. "You vanish for a century, and now you don't have time for me?"
The cat sat down. "Make you a deal," Yoruichi said at last. "You'll see me again in three days' time, and you'll have your satisfaction from me then. But in light of what is happening in the Seireitei right now, I cannot let Ichimaru die. Too much rests on his shoulders."
"What?" Soifon's eyes narrowed. "You mean Aizen being murdered? How is this boy connected to - "
"Murdered? Aizen?" Yoruichi blinked. "How... unorthodox of him. No matter... you will learn soon enough exactly what is going on, and exactly how important a role both Ichimaru and Aizen play. But now I must go, before the boy drowns in his own blood."
"You aren't going anywhere, Yoruichi. I may not be as fast as you standing, but there's no way you can outrun me with the boy on your back."
The feline put a paw on Gin's inert shoulder. "Oh really?"
There was a flash of purple, and Soifon's eyes widened. Her face turned red and she threw her arms up to block her vision. Unfortunately, due to the uneven ground, she lost her balance and fell.
She scrambled to get up, but Yoruichi had already vanished along with Gin. The crafty cat's reiatsu trail was already too scrambled to track - Yoruichi hadn't gotten rusty.
Soifon gritted her teeth. "Classic trick, and just the thing I should have expected from Yoruichi, too," she muttered. "Three days, Taichō... you'd better keep that promise..."
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