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The Striking Snake

Ch25

Unraveling Threads

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"... thank you, Matsumoto."

For once in her life, the blonde lieutenant of division 10 had a serious expression on her face. "Don't thank me... I should have been there sooner. I waited until I felt you two fighting. I should have gone looking for Ichigo as soon as I found out that Momo had escaped."

Tōshirō looked at the unconscious figure in the bed before them, an uncharacteristically sad look on his face. "She believed I was conspiring against the Gotei 13. Me, her oldest friend. She had a letter in Aizen's handwriting which confirmed it... but I still can't believe she didn't trust me enough to even give me time to explain." He sighed. "Kurosaki as good as confessed that he'd made Aizen write that letter - and that he murdered him. If I hadn't lost my head and attacked him, I'd be able to testify before the central 46 and get him locked up for few millennia at least."

"Ichigo..." Rangiku shivered. "If you say so, captain... I find it hard to believe they'd fall out like that, though. They were such good friends, not long ago..."

The child prodigy looked sideways at his lieutenant. "Don't let your history with Kurosaki-taichō cloud your judgment, Matsumoto," he said softly. "People change. I know he means a lot to you, but he's still the prime suspect in this murder case."

Rangiku nodded, and set her expression. "I won't. Don't worry, Taichō. I won't let you down."

Both officers looked up, however, as a small shadow flitted across the ray of morning sunlight that shone through the east window of the hospital room.

"Oh, a hell-butterfly..." Rangiku held out her hand. "I wonder what this is about..."

Her eyes momentarily glazed over as the elaborate psionic extension released its message into her mind. As the butterfly continued on its journey, Rangiku frowned.

Tōshirō cocked his head. "What is it?"

Rangiku paused. "It..." Her frown deepened. "There's been another change to the execution schedule. It... it's taking place today, at noon. This butterfly's late. It was supposed to arrive last night."

Tōshirō's jaw tightened.

"Captain?"

Tōshirō didn't respond. He stared out the window through slitted eyes, regarding the morning sun.

"We only have a few hours..."

"The order's from central?"

Rangiku frowned. "Of course."

Tōshirō cocked his head slightly, the fingers of his right hand twitching slightly.

Rangiku Matsumoto often gave the impression of laziness bordering on total incompetence, but - contrary to the opinions of the lower ranks - even the richest, mightiest noble would have encountered no small measure of difficulty should they attempt nepotism. Sōtaichō Yamamoto was not an easy man to impress, and he was not in the habit of offering a seat in the pantheon of twenty-six to those who could not impress him.

And thus, despite her decidedly unprofessional image, Rangiku WAS a skilled lieutenant. Reiatsu fluctuations that would have been invisible to a lower-ranking shinigami were not hard for her to discern, especially when they were from a source as familiar as her captain.

There was a tiny, barely-perceptible drop in the air temperature. Tōshirō was stressed, far more so than he should be. His reiatsu was tightly controlled - too tightly. Beneath his shock of white hair, she could tell the prodigy's brain was working a hard unpaid overtime.

"You know what, Matsumoto?" He said, seemingly innocuously. "Let's take a little walk."

"Captain? We shouldn't be late," She said, her brow furrowing. "All captains and lieutenants are expected to be there..."

"I think I'll risk a reprimand for my peace of mind," Tōshirō countered. "Besides, if all's well, this won't take long. Come on."

X-X-X

Gingerly, Gin applied a piece of bandage tape to a fresh cut above his eye - almost the same place Ikkaku had struck him in their fight. So long ago it seemed, now. The injury Shinsō had given him was much rougher, though - knuckles simply weren't as precise as blades.

"Well, that about does it for me!"

Gin, Shinsō and Yoruichi looked around to see Renji - his zanpakutō in shikai, and no longer manifested. However, he looked different. His hair seemed slightly rougher, his gaze more wild. And most strikingly, the simple lightning band tattoos that had adorned his torso and forehead had grown of their own accord, lacing across his pectoral muscles like jagged black scars left by some monstrous beast.

Renji looked Gin dead in the eye, his expression serious. "I'm going now. I'm going to head out through the sixth, then up the secondary road through to the citadel. Anyone in my way will either move or die." He sighed. "Time's just about up, Silver. I've gotten stronger, but I doubt I can take Byakuya. I'll try, if I run into him, but I don't think I'll win."

Gin's grin faded, though his eyes remained narrow.

"I'm still counting on you, Gin. There's a few hours yet. Make it count."

With a hiss of flash-step, Renji vanished.

Yoruichi sighed. "We're out of time, Gin. Even with a free route straight up the mountain, you've got no more than two or three hours."

Gin's smile returned, wider than ever, and just as menacing.

He flash-stepped across the rock, his fist slamming into Shinsō's face before she even had time to stand up. The snake-woman wasn't uninjured, but she recovered her footing quickly - just in time to deflect another equally vicious punch.

Shinsō shifted her weight left, then swung a right hook. Gin seemed to fall for the feint, but barely blinked as her fist impacted his face. He retaliated with a brutal low punch to her stomach.

"No more mincing words. Give me Ban Kai."

With difficulty, the zanpakutō spirit straightened, and sneered back. "I told you, I'm not giving it up."

Gin's teeth glittered beneath his smile. "It wasn't a request."

Shinsō's eyes barely had time to widen before Gin grabbed her arm and viciously wrenched it around. There was a visceral crack of bone, and a gasp of pain.

Yoruichi quickly stood up. "Gin, what are you doing?"

Gin didn't respond, instead electing to swing a hook into Shinsō's kidney. With a rather nasty smacking sound, the spirit folded like a wet paper towel.

"You think... I can't take pain?" Shinsō gasped from her kneeling position. "Just because... you punch harder... doesn't mean..."

"No, I didn't think so." Gin's voice was suddenly cold. "That wasn't t'cause more pain. That was about showing you I'm serious."

Shinsō looked up quizzically. From her vantage point, Yoruichi's eyes narrowed.

"Ya won't give if I ask nice, ya won't give if I beat ya flat. So I'm done asking." He reached down and grabbed Shinsō by the throat. "What I want, I take."

"Gin..." Yoruichi stood up, but her student continued to ignore her.

An eerie green glow filled the cavern as reiatsu flames began to flicker across Gin's form. His reiryoku surged as he cleared all distraction from his mind - surpassing what his limit had been, even moving past the apocalyptic power level he had reached in his fight with Shunsui. His body radiated emerald death.

"If ya can't offer me Bankai, then I think I can live without yer services. So here's my offer."

Gin's other hand joined the first, and he abruptly squeezed. Shinsō's gurgle was cut off by the sudden constriction, and Gin leaned close, his blood-red eyes opening.

"Give me what I want... or die."

And, even as her face turned purple, Shinsō smiled.

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"Jūshiro!"

The white-haired captain turned to see his oldest friend approaching, still limping slightly.

"Shunsui! Should you be walking yet?" He said, concerned. "Your injuries were pretty bad when they brought you in..."

"Ah, well, you know Unohana-san," Shunsui said offhandedly. "Miracle worker, she is. As long as I keep from straining my left arm, I should be fine. She even said the aches should go away after a day or two."

"Good." Jūshiro looked around, almost furtively, but for once his limpet-like third seats were nowhere to be found. "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

"First of all, the boy's alive," Shunsui said. "And, more importantly, I find myself far more confident that he can halt this debacle. See, you'll never guess who showed up to scrape him off the rubble."

Jūshiro raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

Shunsui chuckled. "None other than the infamous Shihōin Yoruichi."

"You're not serious!" Jūshiro's widened. "Dear me, that's going to hit Soifon hard. But what stake do Kisuke and Yoruichi have in this? They've been gone a hundred years; why now?"

Shunsui's expression darkened slightly. "I heard her talking. She implied a connection between this invasion and Aizen Sōsuke... although she seemed surprised to hear of his death."

Jūshiro's eyes narrowed slightly. "Intriguing. Still, without more information, we must assume our plan is still the primary feature in stopping the execution. If nothing else, our little toy may prove useful for stopping other powerful flames."

"Yes." Shunsui nodded. "I have high hopes for Ichimaru, but I doubt even he can win if he comes up against a Bankai. Not to mention the captains now have a good grasp of his kidō ability. No... he may halt the execution, but he cannot be relied on to fix this completely by himself."

"Well, here's to hoping you're wrong," said Jūshiro. "Do what you need to get ready. I'll meet you there."

X-X-X

With a flicker of flash-step, Tōshirō's feet landed on white stone.

The entrance to the chambers of 46 was housed by a small, circular building in a much larger enclosure of white limestone walls. The floor of the enclosure was a pool of water; access to the entrance itself was only over a white rock bridge.

Tōshirō approached the heavily barred door warily, but there was no sign of a response.

"This is Jyūbantai-taichō, Hitsugaya Tōshirō! I need to speak with the council of 46 regarding a matter of the highest urgency!"

There was no response. Far away, a bird call echoed over the Seireitei.

"Captain..." Rangiku hesitated. "Maybe we should just - "

Tōshirō blurred. In the space of a fraction of a second, he had whipped Hyōrinmaru from his sheath and swung a broad, two-handed stroke. There was a ringing of metal.

The lower right half of the grid of bars clattered to the ground, cut cleanly through from corner to corner.

"Captain!" Rangiku gasped, shocked at the sudden display of brashness from her normally level-headed Taichō. "You - the rules - this is a serious offense!"

Tōshirō didn't look away from the compromised door. "Tell me, Matsumoto... what can you hear?"

Rangiku paused, and listened.

There was barely a breeze to disturb the morning air. The chambers of 46 were north of the first division barracks, and the first division grounds tended to be much more quiet than those of other, rowdier divisions.

In the distance, the bird called again.

"I... I hear nothing..."

"Neither do I," replied Tōshirō. "Which is odd, because cutting the door like that should have triggered more than fifteen alarms, at least six of which I would be able to hear."

Tōshirō kicked the door, smashing the wood and knocking the rest of the bars loose.

X-X-X

"A- Abarai-san! I don't know how you got out of your cell, but I must ask you to - ".

Renji flash-stepped forward and slammed his fist into the fourth seat's gut, laying him out almost instantly.

He had blazed through the sixth division grounds as effortlessly as you please. Ahead was a massive raised walkway flanked with rows of tall, windowless towers. Renji had been a lieutenant for over fifty years, but he had yet to learn exactly what purpose those towers served, beyond looking dramatic.

He remembered his subordinates as tougher, somehow. Oh, he'd gotten stronger, but they should still have been able to at least force him to draw his sword! Perhaps, if he still had his life and rank after all this, he'd arrange to step up the division training regimen...

Renji stepped forward onto the huge walkway. Ahead of him, down the corridor of towers, lay the sixth gate to the citadel.

He could tell immediately that he wasn't alone. Reiatsu reading was hardly his strongest point, but there was one spirit whose signature Renji could have picked out of a cloud ten thousand strong.

He looked up. There was a figure standing on the roof of the farthest tower. The person was too distant to make out any details, but it didn't matter.

Renji knew exactly who it was.

He squared his shoulders. "Kuchiki-taichō!" He shouted, as loudly as he could muster. "I thought you'd be at the execution grounds already!"

With a hiss of flash-step, Byakuya appeared on the walkway floor, ten or eleven meters in front of Renji.

"Lieutenant." Byakuya's voice betrayed no emotion. "I was not aware your arrest had been lifted."

"I know, right? Strange," Renji unashamedly lied. "The sixth seat just showed up and unlocked my cell, telling me I'd been released."

Byakuya's brow lowered by a micrometer. Both of them knew Renji's story was pure bullshit, but there were more important things at stake than military formality.

"You are out of uniform, lieutenant."

Renji looked down at his bare torso. "Oops, sorry," he said. "I was up training before dawn. Got an little intense, and I kind of forgot to get a new uniform after I was done."

Byakuya did not move.

"Very well," he said at last. "Return to the barracks. There is no need for you to attend the event at noon. I expect the reports done when I return."

Byakuya turned to leave, but stopped when he heard a whisper of steel. He looked back.

Renji held his sword out forward in a clear challenge.

"Sorry, Kuchiki-taichō... but I can't let you do that," he said, his voice uncharacteristically calm. "I'm gonna have to ask you... to stand out of my way."

Byakuya allowed the tiniest hint of a frown to grace his features. "Stop this foolishness, Renji," he said coldly. "If you back down now, I may let this drop."

Renji smirked. "Didn't you hear me?" He said. "I can't let you go. This isn't about winning or losing. I'll die before I let you kill Rukia."

Byakuya's expression was unreadable.

"Go away," the captain said at last. "Give up this foolishness."

Renji rolled his eyes. "Jeez, are you nobles born with sticks up your asses, or do they insert them as a first birthday present?"

Byakuya's look of disdain increased. "I always knew you were crude, Abarai, but I thought you above petty insults."

The smirk returned to Renji's face. "Oh, I'll show you what I'm above, Captain," he said. "I'm above the highest level I've ever been before. And whether you like it or not... one of us is going to leave walking, and one is going to be carried."

Byakuya turned to properly face Renji. "And what has made you suddenly so powerful?"

"It'd be more effective to show you, really..."

Renji drew his sword around, holding the blade horizontally and pulling it up to his face. A crimson inferno lit up around his body.

Byakuya's hand drifted to his sword. Renji hadn't been kidding - his reiatsu had grown sharply since he had last felt it.

"This it, captain!" Renji called. "I will show you what a man can achieve when you make him truly desperate!"

The flagstones beneath Renji's feet began to crack. Renji widened his feet, solidifying his stance.

"Ban Kai!"

Byakuya's eyes widened.

"Roar! Hihiō Zabimaru!"

The world was washed away in a surge of red-tinged light.

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