CHAPTER 46: ESSENCE OF BATTLE

Tayomi moped around the 5th Division's barracks, her heart beating wildly. According to their sources, Aizen was planning to attack them the next day. Even though she had a feeling that he would only be sending over his underlings and would not attack them in person yet, she could not help but worry. Since he had decreased the number of his New Espada, as well as their Fraccion, it would not be much of a baseless assumption to say that the power of The New Espada had heightened drastically. It was likely that they would need at least two people to take on the fourth Espada. Maybe even three, if the situation required it.

Hinamori looked at her Captain, both of them awaiting orders from the 10th Division on where they would stationed at. As the superiors of the Gotei 13, they would definitely be fighting head-on with the Fraccion and the New Espada. Tayomi looked at her hands, feeling a surge of lightning and power surge through her veins. She felt as if a heavy burden had been placed on her shoulders all of a sudden. The fact that Captain-commander Yamamoto asked me to do this... It shows how grave the situation is. And how I will be a determining factor for our victory in the battle against Aizen. He had entrusted such an important, crucial task to her. She could not mess up. But before she could even mess up, she had to accomplish it first. Staring at her palm, she knew that she had yet to master it and that she had so little time left to do it. The clock was ticking. Soul Society could not wait. Everything... The final blow would completely depend on her. Everyone's future was now riding on her shoulders and none of them knew that. As much as she hated hiding things from Hitsugaya, the task entrusted to her was confidential and not a single Captain knew about it.

At that moment, a hell butterfly fluttered its wings, landing gently on Tayomi's palm. Listening to the message, Tayomi got up immediately and headed to the chambers of the Central 46, while Hinamori left to protect the South Gate and meet Matsumoto there.

Tayomi arrived at the Seijotokyorin of the Central 46 and spotted Ichigo and Hitsugaya there. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Hitsugaya there. She never felt good hiding anything from him. He smiled at her and waited for her to run forward and hug him, but instead, she simply walked towards him slowly and smiled. Ichigo raised his eyebrow, instantly sensing that something was wrong.

"We were told to wait here by Sou-taicho, right?" She asked, with a severe tone of voice.

"Yeah." Ichigo nodded. "But I don't know why he asked us to guard this area, of all places..."

"One of the members of the New Espada is expected to attack this area." Hitsugaya replied coldly. "As for which one, we'll find out soon enough."

They waited patiently for someone, something to arrive. The Central 46's chambers had been absolutely silent and deserted ever since Aizen massacred the Central 46. No one had dared to wander into the area, believing that it was disrespectful to the dead members of the Central 46. Looking down at her palm again, she could feel a strange wave of power surge through her veins, causing her hand to hurt immensely. It felt as if her palm was burning up. It must be the effects of the training... Perhaps this feeling will tell me the element of... All of a sudden, her thoughts were interrupted as a hell butterfly landed on her shoulder.

"Shuu-kun and Kira-kun... Their battle just began." Tayomi muttered in shock.

Hisagi and Kira stood side by side, glaring at their opponents. Their opponents seemed very familiar, looking exactly like the two Arrancar they fought at Fake Karakura Town, at the four pillars. One of them had long blonde hair and wore purple eyeliner, his hollow mask covering one of his eyes like a mask. As for the other Arrancar, he had a larger build with all sorts of red-coloured tattoos covering his arms and his forehead, his hollow mask wrapped around his neck, with one section protruding outwards like a beak. Standing at the entrance of the West Gate stood their opponents, who were smirking right at them. Hisagi cringed when he recounted his battle and Kira simply frowned. It seemed that Aizen had managed to revive their opponents somehow, but something was weird. They possessed identical appearances to their past foes... However, the markings on their bodies and the hollow masks had slight differences in them. Kira was convinced that these Arrancar were different from the ones they fought previously and Hisagi seemed to share the same thoughts too.

"GRAGHHHHHH!" The bulky Arrancar roared dramatically. "I, ARANA REDDER ,WILL WIN! WIN! WIN! AND BEAT THE IDIOTS BEFORE ME!"

"Hm." The blonde Arrancar smirked. "How uncivilised. Greetings, pathetic Shinigami. Please do me a favour and remember that it is I, Finner Carias, who put an end to your miserable existence."

Hisagi and Kira gripped their Zanpakutous tightly and unsheathed it. Arana was clearly the more hasty one, as he went in to Ressurrecion immediately, transforming into a hawk with a fiery red beak and red wings. Finner simply smirked again and prepared to shoot a Cero, which was fired with precision, speed and power. Kira narrowly dodged the stream of flames shooting out from Arana's beak and Hisagi managed to avoid the purple Cero that had been blasted at him. Taking a deep breath and trying to calm down, he gripped his arm, attempting to stop his newly-inflicted wound from bleeding. He instantly realised the arrogant look on Finner's face and the fact that he and Kira had been separated. He pulled himself together and rose to his feet.

I hope the others are having a better time...

In the Underground Assembly Hall of the Central 46, Soi Fon stood waiting behind the door, anticipating the arrival of her opponents. She wondered who her opponent would be and which member of the New Espada she would be pitted against. Rolling her eyes, she spotted Shunsui lazing around in a corner of the hall, while Kenpachi stood right in front of the door, an evil grin wiped all over his face as he imagined the fun he would have with his opponent. Soi Fon grumbled, wondering how Captain-commander Yamamoto distributed the manpower of the Captains. Being stuck with two other Captains was alright with her, but being stuck with Kenpachi and Shunsui was just intolerable for her. It was beyond disastrous, in her opinion. She was stuck with a killing fanatic and a lazy bum. Things could not get any better than that.

Kenpachi turned his head left and right wildly, eagerly awaiting the arrival of his opponent. He licked his lips, unable to contain his excitement for the bloody battle in store for him. He tightened his grip on his Zanpakutou, happily anticipating the time when he would swing his blade with brute force and slice into the tough hierro of his opponent. As for Shunsui, he leaned his weight against the wall in a corner of the Assembly Hall, wondering when his opponent would show up. Sighing and lowering his straw hat such that it covered his eyes, he yawned and patiently waited of the New Espada to make his appearance.

Hitsugaya noticed that Tayomi was unusually silent and strangely cold towards him. He knew something was wrong. He felt like asking her about it, but he was on duty. There was no possibility of 'slacking off' and settling his personal problems during his work. However, she seemed so distracted... It might potentially affect her performance in combat and harm her in the process. He had to thrash things out with her. He simply had to. Tayomi glanced at him from the corner of her eye, fully aware that Hitsugaya was about to do something reckless.

"What's wrong?" He asked her coldly.

Tayomi looked up at him with innocent eyes and shook her head.

"No, it's not fine." He grabbed her hand tightly, his turquoise eyes burning into her purplish-blue eyes. "Something's wrong. You can't hide it from me."

"Nothing's wrong!" Tayomi retorted, trying to avoid his gaze.

Hitsugaya was sure that she was hiding something in her heart. Since she was unwilling to tell him, perhaps she preferred to keep it a secret. This time, he simply pulled her close to him and held her tight. Tayomi was a little shocked by his sudden gesture, but felt a lot less uneasy in his arms. She was tempted to tell him everything, but she knew she could not. Captain-commander Yamamoto had clearly told her that it was private and confidential and that she was not allowed disclose a single piece of information about it. She could not tell him. Sighing, she buried her face in his chest, trying to calm herself down. Concentrate on the battle. CONCENTRATE. Ichigo felt like a lamp post standing there, watching to two Captains. He blinked twice before Tayomi and Hitsugaya noticed his presence. They drew back abruptly, blushing madly.

Hisagi contemplated releasing his Zanpakutou, but decided against it. He had to use it as a last resort. Going all out at your opponent from the beginning of the battle was never a wise thing to do. Kira knew that he should save Wabisuke for later and decided to get to know his opponent better before unleashing his full power on his opponent. Arana flapped his heavy wings impatiently, waiting for his opponents to make their first move on him. As for Finner, he smirked once again and prepared to unsheathe his Zanpakutou.

"Well, Shinigami." Arana cackled. "What did we tell you? I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"

"Exacta." Finner spoke calmly.

Hisagi gritted his teeth. He waited for his opponents to make their next move, hoping to observe a pattern in their attacks. Glancing at Kira, his friend had the same amount of determination he had. Kira shot a look at Hisagi, wondering what their next move would be. Staying separated was not exactly the best plan. Somehow, they had to position themselves next to each other again, so that they could battle the two Fraccion together. One way or another, they would emerge from this battle victorious. They would never let Aizen's forces overwhelm them. Never.

Author's Note:
YAY Battle has started! Initially, I wanted to start with Yumichika and Ikkaku's fight, but decided to save it for later :D
I may not update as quickly because my exams are drawing closer than ever T.T
Next chapter, battle continues XD
Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter ^.^ Please review!