Chapter Ten

Bait

Hiroki moved from rooftop to rooftop, trying to sense the Captains' pressures. He figured it shouldn't be that hard seeing as besides himself, the only others that should be putting off spiritual pressure that he could feel would be the Shinigami. After a few minutes, he could faintly sense their pressure. He realized that it was coming from the direction where they had entered the World of the Living earlier that day.

But before he could congratulate himself, he suddenly had a feeling that someone was behind him. He turned just in time to see Sho roundhouse kick him in the stomach, sending him flying backward. He crashed into the railing that encircled the rooftop he was currently on. He gasped as he felt the air leave his lungs. He glanced up while still trying to regain his breath and saw Sho standing across the rooftop staring at Hiroki with a smirk.

"Ow," Hiroki groaned as he stood up.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sho asked. "You were supposed to stay at the warehouse."

"I won't let you attack those Captains," Hiroki responded.

"So you did hear us. No matter, it's not like you can stop us by yourself."

"I thought Sadao didn't want to fight? Why has he changed his mind?"

Sho wagged his finger at Hiroki, "No, no. See, you don't get to ask the questions here. You're a traitor. Wait, no. To be a traitor, you'd have to have been on our side to begin with."

"I am on your side," Hiroki yelled.

"Is that why you constantly broke our rules? Is that why you sided with the enemy and brought them here? For someone who seems to claim to care about us, you don't really listen to us, do you?"

"That's not true."

"Oh? Then tell me: did you learn why we individually hate Shinigami before or after you brought them here?"

"I…"

"I know Makoto and Chiyo told you about their past. But you never asked before deciding to go talk to the Shinigami. You don't know about Hitoshi's past; how he watched as his Shinigami father cut down his Quincy mother and then killed himself out of some kind of madness."

"I was just trying to give you a home."

"Enough with that bullshit! You don't care about giving us a home. You only cared about playing hero. You wanted Makoto to see how great you are. I bet you think you care for her."

"I do care for her!"

Suddenly Sho was next to Hiroki. That wasn't Hirenkyaku, Hiroki's eyes widened right before his face was slammed with Sho's fist. Before the second punch could come, Hiroki kicked out, hitting Sho's leg. Sho staggered and Hiroki took the moment to use Hirenkyaku and get away.

"What was that?" Hiroki called out. "What did you just…?"

Sho turned toward Hiroki, his smirk gone, replaced by an expression of calm anger, "And you never even tried to ask Maiko and myself about our past."

"Would you have told me?"

"Probably not. But Maiko definitely would. As for what I just did, you know exactly what it was."

"Shunpo," Hiroki whispered. "But how?"

"Simple: I can't manipulate Reishi, so I had to learn how to move quickly without it. I did it mainly to keep up with Maiko though she's still much quicker than me."

"What do you mean you can't manipulate Reishi?"

"I meant exactly what I said. Apparently something happens with twins when they're born to Quincy and Shinigami. The inheritance of abilities split. And you'd think it splits evenly, but it doesn't. Maiko received all of the Quincy and only part of the Shinigami. I received the rest of the Shinigami and none of the Quincy. That's why she can still use a Shikai and manipulate Reishi. But she will never be able to achieve Bankai. As for me, I will never be able to use Hirenkyaku nor can I bring in Reishi. I will never know what it feels like to move it. I will never be an actual Splintered."

"I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"Save your pity. I didn't tell you all that for you to feel sorry for me. I said it so that you can understand why I hate you. You betrayed the group that took me in even though I'm not one of them. Now draw your sword because I'm not letting you get away without a fight."

Hiroki wanted to say that they didn't have to fight, but one look at Sho's face told him that they were past that. He reached down and pulled his sword from its sheath. He also decided that he wouldn't use his Shikai unless he had to. As he readied his blade, he watched as the rain fell on to it and slid down the edge.

"Before we fight," Hiroki said. "Tell me about your and Maiko's past."

"There's not much to tell," Sho said, pulling his blade out as well. "We were abandoned. Our Shinigami father went back to the Soul Society and our mother didn't want to look at us because we reminded her of him. So she left."

"Not that you probably care, but I am sorry."

"You're right, I don't care," Sho replied, smiling though Hiroki noticed it was a smile tinged with sadness.

They clashed in midair, Hiroki using Hirenkyaku and Sho using Shunpo. Their blades rang through the rain. They each pushed off each other and Sho moved behind Hiroki swinging his blade horizontally toward the head. Hiroki ducked and kicked back with a foot into Sho's chest. Sho turned his body so that while Hiroki's foot didn't directly connect, it still managed to brush against it. Sho used Shunpo to put some distance between the two combatants.

"I hate to admit it, but it seems like you've gotten a bit better," Sho said.

"Well I have done some fighting since the last time we fought," Hiroki replied.

"Apparently," Sho suddenly moved forward, his blade's point headed directly for Hiroki's chest. Hiroki's reflexes kicked in and he put his own sword up and knocked Sho's blade up into the air. Sho then let go of his hilt with his left hand and grabbed Hiroki's wrist. He then brought his Zanpakutō down again. Hiroki couldn't block so he moved his body to the side. The blade passed through the air where Hiroki had just been. Hiroki then punched Sho in the face causing the man to let go of Hiroki's wrist. It was now Hiroki's turn to put distance between the two of them.

Hiroki glanced over in the direction of where he had felt the Captains. He could still feel them which made him wonder why they weren't investigating what was happening. While they wouldn't be able to feel Sho, they should be able to feel him. Unfortunately, they probably couldn't hear the fight due to the rain, but he figured at least one would come over to take a look from the spiritual pressure alone. Maybe they were following their orders and they thought that interfering would be the same as evoking combat? Whatever the case, Hiroki quickly realized that he was probably on his own in this fight. Hiroki looked back at Sho who was wiping blood away from the bottom of his nose.

"If we continue like this, there won't be a winner," Sho said, the blood causing him to sniff. He held his sword out in front of him and spun it. "Swap, Basho Dorobō." His blade shrunk until he was holding his Shikai kunai.

"I won't use my Shikai unless I have to, Sho," Hiroki called out. "Unlike you, I don't want this fight to end with your death."

"That's sweet of you," Sho replied, then was immediately in front of Hiroki, striking at him. Hiroki put up his blade and blocked, but as their steel clashed, Sho dropped his weapon into his open left hand. He then managed to slash Hiroki on the arm before using Shunpo to back off. Hiroki silently cursed himself as the mark formed on his arm.

"I know your tricks now," Hiroki said. "They won't be as easy to reproduce as they were in our first fight."

"You keep telling yourself that." He snapped and they switched places. Sho immediately threw his kunai at Hiroki who moved his blade up to counter the projectile. Sho then took the opportunity and used Shunpo to get behind Hiroki, his leg headed for the nineteen-year old's head. Hiroki turned and put his left arm up to block the leg attack while he used his sword in his right hand to block the kunai. When the kunai hit, Sho once again snapped. They switched again and Sho grabbed his weapon. Sho then used Shunpo to get behind Hiroki and tried to stab him in the back. Hiroki managed to use Hirenkyaku to get away at the last second.

"You're going to have to use your Shikai," Sho yelled. "Stop underestimating me and thinking you'll survive this fight without it."

Hiroki was hesitant to use his Shikai. He wasn't sure what blessing he'd get or how many he hadn't discovered yet. It would be fine if it was the speed blessing, but the sharpness wouldn't help him against Sho's speed. And he was sure the Hinoken blessing would injure Sho and possibly worse, so Hiroki really didn't want that one to appear. As far as he knew, he had a one in three shot of getting the blessing he wanted. He didn't like those odds so he still told himself not to use Shikai.

Sho lunged again and right before he reached Hiroki, he snapped. Hiroki now had his back facing Sho and, assuming what was going to happen, turned to block the next attack. But the next attack didn't come from that direction. It came from above. Sho had used Shunpo to get above Hiroki, his blade headed directly for Hiroki's head. Hiroki managed to move just enough to where the blade scratched the side of his shoulder instead. Hiroki cried out as the deep cut occurred. While that had been Sho's third snap, and the mark on Hiroki's arm was gone, a new mark was now on his right shoulder.

Hiroki put distance in between them and put his left hand over his shoulder. He wasn't surprised that when he pulled it away, there was blood covering his hand. He sighed. He now had an injury to his dominant shoulder which would hurt everytime he swung, and he still had the cut on his leg from the first time Sho hit him. Taking those two things into account, along with being freshly marked, he realized the only way to end this fight with him surviving was to use Shikai. He just prayed he'd get the right blessing. He put his sword in front him horizontally and pressed his left hand on the flat of the blade.

"Bless, Kamihime," he commanded. The white ribbons tied around his wrist and golden, glowing letters appeared in the flat of the blade where his fingertips had been touching. He let out a breath in relief as he saw the characters for "speed" written on the blade.

"That's more like it," Sho chuckled.

Suddenly Hiroki was behind Sho, but instead of bringing his blade down, he just sent a kick into Sho's back. Sho was launched toward the side of a building but before he made impact, he snapped. The two switched sides. Sho managed to stop himself from flying backward now that he didn't have a building behind him, and Hiroki was now next to the aforementioned building.

Sho used Shunpo to get closer to Hiroki, but Hiroki was easily able to put his blade up and block. The resulting clash sent a shockwave of pressure behind Hiroki which left a circular indent in the building behind him with cracks coming off of it. Hiroki grabbed Sho's left wrist with his left hand. Sho snapped and now Sho was holding Hiroki's wrist. He then lifted one of his legs and kicked straight into Hiroki's gut. This sent Hiroki backwards as he felt the air leave his lungs for the second time in their fight.

Before he could recover, Sho was already in front of him. While Hiroki was faster now with his Shikai, he could barely recover before Sho was on the attack. Hiroki couldn't even find an opening to back away, much less get the upper hand. Sho attacked left, right, up, down, from every direction. All Hiroki could do was move his own blade to block. He also knew Sho had one more snap to use.

Finally, Hiroki moved so that he used his left hand to block, and while he knew Sho's kunai would connect, it was the only way to surprise the assailant. Sho's Shikai sliced through the palm of Hiroki's hand causing Hiroki to shout in pain. But it had the intended effect. Sho paused just long enough for Hiroki to put distance between the two of them.

Hiroki reached down and cut some of the bottom of his robe. He tied that around his wounded hand to hopefully staunch the bleeding. He now had three injuries whereas Sho had zero. Hiroki tried to ignore the pain in his shoulder, leg and hand, but it was getting to the point where it was extremely difficult.

"You really need to start trying to injure me," Sho said. "Or you won't last in this fight. I've already cut you three times, and I'll continue to do so until you decide to stop holding back."

"We could just stop fighting," Hiroki chuckled. "I mean that would also take care of all this. Besides, what will you do when those Captains come and investigate?"

"To be honest, I thought they'd be here by now, but I guess I'll have to do something else to get their attention," Sho replied with a slight smile at Hiroki's confused expression.

"You want them to come here? Why?"

Sho was silent for a moment before responding, "You know how my sister's ability is to disguise people's spiritual pressure when she marks them?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure what that has to do with my question."

"Well, since her marking is a part of her Shikai ability, it has its…limitations."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that if anything stronger than a Shikai is released from a marked being, that mark disappears and the person's spiritual pressure is no longer hidden."

"I said, 'what do you mean?'," Hiroki repeated.

Sho sighed, "You really don't get it, do you? There's one other thing I should say. You know how I told you about how Maiko and I were abandoned?"

"Yeah?"

"That was when we were really young. Thirteen years ago. A year later, I learned Shikai. Do you know what I have taught myself in the twelve years since?"

"Wait, you're not saying you-."

"Exactly. Though, I'll be honest: I don't have mastery over it yet."

Sho threw his Kunai directly above him, "Bankai. Mugen no Basho Dorobō."

Hiroki had to put both arms in front of him to keep from being blown away by the release of spiritual pressure. He glanced up at the kunai that was still hovering mid air above Sho. He watched as suddenly hundreds, if not thousands of kunai appeared and shot out of where the original floated. Where the knives landed, they stuck whether it was roofs, walls, the street, streetlights, etc. Some even slammed into Hiroki's sword, but were luckily reflected when hit, and while some scratched Hiroki, none made direct contact with Hiroki's body itself. There was a carpet of kunai fifty meters in every direction. The original kunai fell back down toward Sho before he caught it.

Sho then moved to one of the Kunai below him and picked it up. Suddenly he threw it at Hiroki and then moved to another and did the same. He continued this while Hiroki, with his speed blessing, was able to reflect each knife thrown at him, but that was all he could do. He also noticed that every time Sho moved, the Splintered member crept closer and closer. Unfortunately, Hiroki couldn't even take a moment to move away.

But before Sho reached Hiroki, he snapped and the two switched places. Sho immediately grabbed a kunai and hurled it at Hiroki again. Hiroki deflected that one as well. Sho started up the pattern again, throwing knife after knife. It's fine, Hiroki thought. He used his third snap, so he'll have to hit me again before he can do what he did before. Hiroki continued to defend and deflect as Sho moved forward. Right when Sho got to the point where he snapped last time, Hiroki used Hirenkyaku to close the distance thinking that he would be able to catch Sho by surprise. Then Sho snapped and they switched places.

It was Hiroki who was taken by surprise, and Sho took advantage of that as a Kunai landed into the back of Hiroki's leg. He yelled out in pain and staggered. Sho was suddenly in front of Hiroki, a kunai at Hiroki's throat.

"Just so you know," Sho said. "Despite what you may believe, I take no actual pleasure in killing you. Makoto will be sad though."

Hiroki watched as Sho's face tensed as he was about to commit the death blow, but the expression was quickly turned to one of shock as he was slammed into with what appeared to be a chinese dragon made of ice. It propelled him, crashing into the side of a building. Hiroki watched as ice began to form on the surrounding area of where the dragon hit the building. Hiroki turned to his right and saw Hitsugaya standing there, his sword in hand. His Zanpakutō seemed a little longer than usual and had a chain hanging from the bottom of the hilt with a crescent-shaped blade at the end of it. Hiroki assumed this was what his Shikai looked like.

Standing a ways behind him were the other two Captains. Hiroki realized that he had been so focused on the fight that he had stopped trying to sense the Captains. He groaned as he tried to stand, pain now in both legs along with his hand and shoulder. He slowly made his way toward the Captain of squad ten.

"I didn't know that they had achieved Bankai," Hitsugaya said as Hiroki approached.

"Why didn't you come sooner?" Hiroki asked through gritted teeth.

"Our orders," the Captain simply answered.

"Then what made you come at all?"

"When we felt the Bankai equivalent release of spiritual pressure, protection of the World of the Living overshadowed any orders from the Head Captain."

Wait, Hiroki thought. So they didn't come because of me… He shook his head to clear the thought. It didn't matter. What mattered was that he was saved whether that was their intended objective or not.

"So is he-?"

"Dead?" a voice interrupted Hiroki's question. "No, but it was close." Hiroki and the three Captains looked up to see Sho floating in midair, two kunai in his hands, staring down at them.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Captain Zaraki demanded loudly as he and Byakuya approached Hitsugaya and Hiroki. "I thought you killed him. Don't tell me you can't."

"He must have moved away before he could be frozen," Hitsugaya replied. "It's fine. It won't happen again."

Hiroki watched as a smirk crept onto Sho's face. At first Hiroki was confused. What could Sho be so confident about? He may have a Bankai but he was up against three Captains as well as Hiroki. Then an expression of realization crossed Hiroki's face as he remembered what Sho had said earlier about trying to get the Captains' attention, and how Sho had never answered Hiroki's question as to why.

"Wait, it's a tra-."

"Bankai. Ryōshi no Keimusho."

Another massive release of spiritual pressure caused Hiroki to put his arms up. He also realized that he recognized the voice though he wished he didn't. He glanced up like he had with Sho to confirm his suspicions. Makoto was standing behind him and the Captains, her arm outstretched though Hiroki didn't see her sword. That was when he noticed what was above

A glowing purple rectangular jail that appeared to be made from Reishi hovered above him and the Captains. Without thinking, Hiroki shoved Hitsugaya to the side before the jail came crashing down, trapping himself and the other two Captains. Suddenly Hiroki felt his Shikai revert back to its sealed state. Though he noticed Hitsugaya's sword stayed released. Byakuya drew his sword and held it vertically in front of himself.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura," he said, but nothing happened. He pointed at one of the bars. "Hadō number four: Byakurai." Once again, nothing happened. "It appears we can't release our Zanpakuto or use Kidō. In fact, I don't feel connected to any kind of spiritual power."

"That's because you're not," Makoto yelled while moving to stand next to Sho. "My Bankai allows me to choose who I wish to have their reishi connections severed if they are in my jail. That goes for connections both within their bodies and without. It'll affect both Shinigami and Quincy."

"But why?" Hiroki shouted and noticed she couldn't look him in the eyes. "What's the point of this?"

"It doesn't matter," Hitsugaya said. "What matters is that we stop them, and right now I'm the only one not imprisoned."

"You can't take both of them," Byakuya said.

"Excuse me?" Hitsugaya replied, anger flashing in his eyes.

"What I mean is you can't take both of them as you are. You're sealed. Right now, you can't even access your own Bankai, and we're not entirely sure what his," Byakuya nodded toward Sho, "Bankai is completely capable of. You need to return to the Soul Society and inform the Head Captain of what has occurred."

"I can't just leave you three here."

"You're a Captain. Your duty is to the Soul Society. With the two of us trapped, it has currently lost two of its strongest defenders. Now go."

"And if you think I'm going to stay trapped," Zaraki yelled out. "Then you must be dumb." He raised his blade and slammed it into one of the bars. The blade met the bar but nothing happened.

"It's pure, condensed Reishi," Byakuya responded, irritated. "Right now, we only have our physical strength and none of our spiritual ability to back it up. The only way we'll be freed is if she decides to lower the prison or she's defeated." Zaraki let out what sounded almost like a growl, but didn't say anything else.

"Alright," Hitsugaya said. "I don't like this, but I agree. Someone has to go inform Captain Kyōraku about this." He eyed Sho and Makoto as he turned to the side and inserted his sword into the air where half of it disappeared.

"Release," he said as he turned his sword sideways. The sliding doors appeared and he entered. The doors shut and disappeared leaving Hiroki and the two Captains still imprisoned while Makoto and Sho looked on. Hiroki stared at the two Splintered members.

"You still haven't told me why?" Hiroki asked Makoto again. "I was obviously bait to lure the Captains here. Why did you go along with this?"

"Hiroki, please," Makoto answered, still not looking him in the eyes.

"She doesn't need to answer your question," another voice rang out behind the jail. Hiroki turned to see Sadao standing there, umbrella in hand though curiously not using it even while the sky was still pouring. He nodded toward Sho who then snapped. Suddenly Hiroki and Sho switched places so now Hiroki was beside Makoto and Sho was within the reishi prison.

"Wait, why would you…?" Hiroki's voice trailed off as he stared in confusion.

Sho laughed, "Anyone that enters my field is automatically marked meaning I can switch places with them. And the marking doesn't disappear until I'm defeated."

"But why put yourself in the prison with us?" Byakuya asked, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword.

"Simple," Sho smiled. "I don't plan on staying." Before anyone else could do anything, Sho snapped again. Byakuya and Zaraki now found themselves looking down on a completely confused Hitsugaya.

"How am I back here?" he asked, looking around shocked.

"Wait," Hiroki said. "If you're here then that means…"

"Correct," Sadao answered. "Sho is now in the Soul Society."