Chapter 26: War part III

For some, seeing the appearance and then sudden disappearance of Komamura's Bankai was cause for major concern. The tall, masked captain was among the physically strongest within the Seireitei, so the fact that his very own Bankai had faded away like that was troubling.

All through the Seireitei, multiple battles and ambushes were taking place. Many wondered just what these individuals were while others tried battling them only to fail and be captured. These weren't like ordinary hollows. They wielded zanpakuto's and even were dressed in white uniforms of some kind. What was really disturbing though was the fact that these types of hollows were striking to kill, merely to disable or knock out. The soul reapers were caught completely off guard as the arrancar's made quick work of them.

Not too far off from squad eight was Kyoraku and Nanao surrounded by various arrancar in cloaks. The two stood back-to-back as they readied themselves for the fight of their lives. The rest of the squad had been knocked out and gathered back inside the main squad eight building.

"This is not good." Nanao stated in fear as she was looking for any avenue of escape only to find none as the cloaked arrancar made sure to leave no means of escape open to the two.

"No. No, it is not." Kyoraku said as he already had both his blades drawn and at the ready. He too could not find a way to get out of this and save his squad at the same time. Right now, though, he could only get Nanao out of harm's way as these were clearly arrancar and she was not ready for this. "Nanao," he started in a hushed voice.

"What?" She asked while feeling the pressure coming off of two of these cloaked figures in particular.

"I'm going to give you an opening and you're gonna run and hide somewhere. Understand?" His tone was one of seriousness, something that the young child had never heard from her uncle before.

"O-okay." Nanao mustered up her courage and prepared to run when the time was right.

"I don't think so captain Kyoraku." One of the hooded figures stepped forward and removed his cloak to reveal Ulquiorra in his usual wear.

Kyoraku looked to this new figure with narrow eyes. "And how exactly did you know my name, arrancar?"

Ulquiorra didn't say anything as another figure stood next to him and removed his cloak to show that it was Grimmjow. He gave Kyoraku a feral grin that made the old captain uneasy as he could feel that these two were definitely stronger than the rest surrounding them. He made sure to keep his focus on the others in order to keep Nanao safe while also being weary of these two.

"Surrender captain Kyoraku." Ulquiorra started as he had his hands in his pockets. "You are outnumbered and clearly distracted by this child being here."

"You have me at a disadvantage here mister arrancar." Kyoraku spoke as he knew he couldn't go full force with Nanao here, and these two knew that.

"Our names are inconsequential." Ulquiorra spoke once more as he reached for his zanpakuto. Grimmjow did the same as well and the surrounding arrancar leapt away. "If you will not yield, then we will have to force you to."

Kyoraku was beginning to sweat as he could feel their spirit energy and it was large. Larger than any hollow he had ever faced in the past, even the very few arrancar from a long time ago. He looked to these two and then down to his niece and saw her trembling form. He knew that if they fought, she would be crushed under all of that pressure or worse, hit by a stray attack of some kind. Taking a deep breath, Kyoraku decided to do the one thing that would actually catch everyone off guard. Quicker than they could see, Kyoraku picked up Nanao and used shunpo to take her inside of his office before quickly getting back outside. The two arrancar were moderately surprised by his move and drew their blades.

"Find the girl." Ulquiorra ordered a few of them. "He will yield when we have here."

"Before that ever happens," Kyoraku spoke in a serious tone, "I'll have already cut you all down by then." He rushed forward.

"This is gonna be fun." Grimmjow grinned widely as he and Ulquiorra rushed forward to meet the man in the middle of the courtyard.

Yeah, it is short, been having some serious writers block when it comes to this and other stories. It's almost done though. About five or six more chapters to really wrap things up.

Stay awesome, and as always...

PEACE!