Ichigo couldn't breathe. He couldn't see nor feel, couldn't move or hear anything other than the blood rushing through his veins.
He didn't understand. What'd just happened—how did it happen and why? His brain struggled to process the events of ten seconds prior; it had been too sudden, too improbable. There's too much going on that didn't make sense that his brain didn't know what to prioritise.
Wait, was he in pain? There was an ache in his chest, one persistent enough to pierce through the haze of confusion that shrouded his mind. If it managed that then it had to be important, right?
Like a valve being turned, the ache grew into pain and then agony. It spread out from the centre of his chest, flowing through his veins till his whole torso burned. His lungs expanded and Ichigo sucked in a breath, his vision sharpening to see the confused countenance of the captain of the Eleventh—Zaraki Kenpachi.
His exhale went less smooth than his inhale, muscles jerking to force a bloody cough from his throat. Ichigo looked down, seeing the blade of Zaraki's shikai stuck in his chest.
'Huh?'
Recovering from his initial shock, Zaraki pulled his blade back. Ichigo struggled to remain airborne, stumbling on rapidly weakening feet till he regained a stable stance. Something dislodged from his kosode and he looked down to see it fall to the unforgiving ground, breaking apart on the cobblestone street below.
It was his mask—Getsu's heart. Getsu's heart lay in pieces on the street, joining a length of steel Ichigo recognised. Dragging his eyes up, away from the street and towards the hand holding the blade he'd used to defend himself, Ichigo wished upon any Kami that would listen his worst fear weren't a reality.
The Kami had forsaken him.
Zan's blade—one half of the most beautiful duo zanpakutō—had been cut in half. Little pieces of fractured metal crumbled from the spiderweb cracks the damage had caused, falling down to the ground where it joined the larger half that had been separated.
'It broke'.
The nonchalance, the blatant disappointment in Zaraki's voice, caused something to snap in Ichigo—both in mind and core. An unbridled fury, one only rivalled by the time he witnessed his sister be reborn a Sinner, coloured his vision red. His body moved on autopilot, fist connecting with the captain's jaw.
'HOW DARE YOU!?'
Zaraki's head snapped back and Ichigo's next punch hit him in the stomach, the Bala he fired forcing the man back.
'HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!?'
White ooze crept up the colomn of his throat, the beginnings of his mask forming along his jawline but Ichigo didn't notice—wouldn't even care even if he did. Zaraki had broken Zan's blade. Zan got hurt—his Zanpakutō gotten hurt. Ichigo wouldn't stop until the man regretted ambushing him, until he knew exactly how much pain he'd caused.
Before Zaraki had a chance to recover Ichigo lunged for his throat. His skin bleached white while red lines drew themselves outward from the hole in his chest. Short spikes grew out from under the helmet-like mask now adorning his head, eyes a liquid gold laid in pitch.
Of course, Zaraki didn't realise the damage he had done, both with his actions and words. He grinned wide, teeth showing in excitement at Ichigo's sudden willingness to fight. 'Ha! That's more like it, Kuro—'
Claws wrapped around the man's throat but failed to pierce skin. Ichigo growled, reiatsu spiking and blood started to trail down Zaraki's neck. Another spike in power and Zaraki got hauled over Ichigo's shoulder like yesterday's trash and thrown down to the street below. Ichigo snarled at the captain from his vantage point in the sky. When Zaraki made the mistake to laugh Ichigo released a Cero to the heavens above, breaking another seal with a mighty roar before diving after the man.
Hurt Moon. Hurt Slaying-broke Slaying. How dare, how dare, how dare he!? Paint street with his blood. Break bones; grind them to dust. Burn remains to ash!
His thought were fractured like the sword of his soul. Rage—of both his own and from Moon—combined to cloud mind and tunnel his vision. He wanted—no, demanded retribution for the violence against his soul. To inflict harm on those he loved came with a price, a price that will be payed in blood and Ichigo intended to collect as brutally as possible. Just to make the culprid feel a fraction of the agony he'd caused.
Zaraki tried to fight back but Ichigo wouldn't let him. He separated the man from his sword and kept on the onslaught of Bala and claws. The man's laughter quickly faded.
Soon, he had the man pinned in a crater created by his own body. A Cero charging between his horns. All he had to do was let go and—
Ichigo angled his head back, releading the Cero to the sky.
His mask broke apart and he gasped as if starved for air. He heaved, breath after breath, trying to reduce the fury that burned him alive from the inside out to a manageable simmer. Kami, if he had been one second later he would have—
Ichigo looked down.
Zaraki did not look good.
Blood painted the man's skin, drenching his torn uniform and matting his hair. Zaraki missed his right arm from the elbow down, his left burnt completely black. He had long since fallen out of his shikai yet still clinged to life through sheer stubbornness. He even had the energy to grin at him, smile missing various teeth.
'Fuck—shit!' Ichigo immediately pressed his palms to the man's burned chest and cast a kaido, head snapping about in search of people who could help. With the fight over, the crowd that had gathered dared to come closer, though no one reached out to help. 'Don't just fucking stand there! Get a healer!' The green glow around his hands flickered and Ichigo let out a curse as he turned his attention back to healing.
From all the kidō, kaido had always been his weakest. It took an certain amount of patience and focus that Ichigo did not quite have. His strength lay with offense, stricking quick and hard and not giving your opponent a chance to hit back. He could heal small injuries if he really tried but why would he if high-speed regeneration got the job done almost instantly?
High-speed regeneration couldn't heal others, though.
Zaraki sputtered out a cough, 'Yer not gonna kill me?'
'Do you want me to kill you?!'
'Eh'. Zaraki shrugged, the movement causing more blood to spill from his lips. 'Wouldn't have minded if you had; I didn't stand a chance'.
'Stay still, damnit! I got trouble healing you as it is!'
'I didn't ask you to heal me'.
'And I don't want you to die', Ichigo snapped back. 'Kami, how the—why did you ambush me?!'
Zaraki frowned, 'Cuz you said I should'.
'No, I didn't! Why would I say that? When do you think I said that?'
'It was in—in yer letter', Zaraki said in between coughs. 'Said ya wanted to move up our fight'.
'Letter? I never send you any—'
Two pair of arm wrapped around Ichigo's upper arms and dragged him off and away from the injured captain.
'What the—' Ichigo started to struggle, trying to break free and continue healing because Zaraki was still bleeding—'Hey! Let me—'
A hand obscured his vision, a murmur too soft to discern the words off his only warning. Diziness hit Ichigo like a freight train, knocking his consciousness down to peter on the edge of nothing and awareness. Some more murmuring, louder this time yet less understandable than before. His conscious faded soon after.
#
'Don't let your guard down', Suí-Fēng warned. 'He has a fast metabolism; that shan't keep him under for long'.
'The fuck are you doing here?' Zaraki asked, bearing no mind to the two healers that had hurried to his side now that Ichigo had been "subdued".
'Neutralising the threat', Suí-Fēng answered.
'The Hell are you on about?' Blood dripped down Zaraki's lips as he spoke, sending the healers into a fit trying to get the man to lay still as they healed him. 'We were just sparring'.
'He nearly killed you'.
'So what? Last I killed a captain, I got offered the position'.
Suí-Fēng's brow twitched, 'A fight between Shinigami is done with hohō, zanjitsu, hakuda, and kidō'. She gestured to the scorchmarks on the street left behind by Cero, 'This did not fit that criteria'.
'Since when are there fucking criteria?' Zaraki asked bewildered.
'There always have been. You just got lucky you happen to adhere to them on accident'.
'What a load of bull'. Zaraki pushed himself up to sit despite the adamant protests of the healers. 'I started it, he finished it; end of story'.
Suí-Fēng glared at the her fellow captain, whom returned it with a stoice look of his own.
'Taichō'.
Their stalemate got interrupted by one of the Soul Reapers holding on to Ichigo. Zaraki grinned a bloody smile as Suí-Fēng turned her head away to glare at her subordinates instead. 'What?'
'In which cell do you want us to lock him up?'
Suí-Fēng looked Ichigo over, finding him no worse for wear aside from obvious fatigue. She glanced back at Zaraki, noticing the healers were making headway fast—faster than reasonably expected considering the extend of the man's injuries.
So her eyes hadn't deceived her, Kurosaki had indeed been using a kidō when her subordinated dragged him away. She only had been wrong in her assumption it had been a hado, it had been kaidō.
'Bring him to the Fourth'.
The two showed surprise at her words, sharing a look with one another. It made Suí-Fēng frown, she had taught them better than that. When neither made any indication to move, one even turning towards her to question her decision most likely, Suí-Fēng cut them off.
'Both of you are to report to my office after you have brough Kurosaki Ichigo to the Fourth. Have I made myself clear?'
'Y-yes, Taichō!'
The two vanished with Kurosaki in tow and Suí-Fēng shook her head. She didn't want to send him to the Fourth, either but if Zaraki vouched for him, there wasn't much she could do. She noticed the broken blade on the ground and scowled. Sloppy. She ordered another subordinate to take the broken blade piece to the Fourth as well.
With that taken care off, Suí-Fēng turned her attention back to the captain getting healed on the street. She walked over, retrieving a notepad and pen from her uniform. There had been collateral damage and concern among the people due to the fight and a report would have to be made. She opened it up with a flick of her wrist, her other hand flipping to a blank page and clicking her pen. 'Tell me what happened'.
'One of his zanpakutō broke—'
'From the beginning, Kenpachi-Taichō', Suí-Fēng clarified. 'You said you "started it". Begin with why you started a fight to begin with'.
'Cuz we had an agreement', Zaraki said. 'I wanted to fight the kid again so we picked a date'.
'When did you decide on a date?'
'A month or two or so? I don't remember'.
Suí-Fēng pressed her lips into a line as she wrote the testimony down, not liking the lack of specific dates. 'And you planned to fight today?'
'Nah, we made plans to fight next month'.
Suí-Fēng paused her writing, 'Then why did you attack Kurosaki Ichigo today?'
'I got a letter. It said he wanted to fight after his next visit here'.
'And you are sure that letter was send by Kurosaki Ichigo?'
'Tch, not anymore. Kid looked surprised when I brought it up. Said he didn't send any letter'.
'Do you still have the letter?'
Zaraki shrugged, 'Probably. Don't know where it is, though'.
'Hmm, I'll send someone over to look for it then'. Suí-Fēng scribbled it down, adding a side-note to remind her. 'So, Kurosaki Ichigo arrived here. What did you do?'
'Waited till he headed back to the Senkaimon'. Zaraki scratched the side of his head, 'I'll admit, I got a bit excited and used my shikai. Swung my blade at him, cut right through his, got stuck in that mask of his. Kinda feel bad about breakin' his sword, the kid loves that thing. Don't blame him fer losing it like that'.
'Elaborate on that', Suí-Fēng said. 'How did Kurosaki "lose it" exactly?'
'Punched me here—' Zaraki pointed at his jaw—'then gave me one hell of a punch in my stomach—didn't think the kid had it in him. Next thing I know, he's all white and wearing that mask and started handing my ass to me'. Zaraki retold the fight the best he could, smiling throughout the story and praising Ichigo's ruthlessness.
—'Just as I thought he was gonna kill me, he aimed that Cero up and turned back normal again', Zaraki finished up. 'Kid freaked out and started healing me—that is, until yer cronies dragged him away'.
Suí-Fēng hummed as she wrote the story down, not quite liking the image that was forming in her mind.
'Soi-Fon Taichō?'
She looked up at the two healers, 'What is it?'
'If you're done interrogating, can Kenpachi-Taichō go to the Fourth now?'
'We have done our best to heal him but we need more people for that'.
'Tch, I'm fine', Zaraki waved off, casually tearing open a wound in his side in the progress.
'Listen to the healers, Kenpachi-Taichō', Suí-Fēng said to her peer. 'I will come by if I have further questions'. She then turned to the healers, 'You can take him, if you can. I'm done for now'.
Leaving the healers to the impossible task of getting the captain of the Eleventh to the Fourth, Suí-Fēng went to make a round to each of her subordinates investigating the scene.
No, she didn't like the play of events one bit.
#
To be continued