Chapter 26: Conflicting Captains

Byakuya's POV

As Kurotsuchi begins to fiddle around with the various objects that are stacked up in his cart, I watch Zaraki as he fights the large Espada all across the sandy landscape. The brute was obviously having 'fun' in his battle, his maniacal laughter echoing throughout the area as he continued to swing his sword left and right.

"Why doesn't he just destroy the Espada already instead of toying with him? His actions will only make him angrier, and in the end, stronger."

"What can I say Senbonzakura? Kenpachi Zaraki is a headstrong and stubborn individual who loves a good fight. He will even lessen his own abilities in order to make his battles more equal, and to prolong the battle for as long as possible . . . It's a sadistic and cocky tactic that he's become known for."

"Lessens his own abilities to prolong the battle huh? That is sadistic."

"HEY PRINCESS!"

"I should correct him, but why should I even bother?" I mutter to myself as I looked at him, a frown now on his face as his opponent lay flat on his back.

"HEY! DO YOU MIND FINISHING OFF THE BIG GUY HERE WHILE I TAKE A SMALL BREAK?" he asks, his sadistic smile back in place as he stabbed his blade into the ground.

"He did not just ask you that question." Senbonzakura voices for me as I close my eyes, inwardly holding in a small groan at Kenpachi's idiocy.

"What's wrong?" I ask as I begin to walk forward. "You can't finish off the Espada by yourself?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'M NO PUSH OVER!" he yells at me as his smile became a sneer. "I figured you wanted a shot at him before this battle was over. I was only trying to be nice."

"I never realized the word 'nice' was in his vocabulary . . ." mutters Senbonzakura as I shake my head.

"Although it is necessary to destroy the Espada you've been battling with for the past thirty minutes, I'm going to have to decline your 'generous' offer," I tell him with my stoic look in place. "The job of finishing off this enemy is reserved for a barbarian like yourself."

"Oh really?" he tells me as I notice the Espada staring angrily at the both of us. He opens his mouth widely, summoning his spiritual power to form the beginning of a Cero. He fires it at the both of us, but we managed to get out of the way before it could hit.

"So you think you don't need to finish off the Espada for me, huh Princess?" he asks me gruffly as we reappear a few feet away from each other. "How self-righteous can you be?"

"I am not being self-righteous," I tell him simply as Senbonzakura shifts back into his blade form. "Since you started this fight, it is only fair that you finish it. The task is all yours."

"Hmm, sounds like you just don't want a nail getting broken in a fight," he tells me snidely as he shakes his head. "What? You don't think you can take him? Even if you use Bankai? Do you think this will hurt your precious pride?"

I send him a sharp look as soon as he mentions the word 'pride', and he sends one right back at me.

"Interesting . . ." I mumble as I drop my blade to the ground, summoning my Bankai without much of a thought this time around. "You think I can't take on the Espada with my Bankai? Or are you just saying that to get me to fight you?"

"It may be a little bit of both," he tells me with an evil grin in place as he readies his blade. "Come at me Byakuya Kuchiki! Let's see what you are really made of."

He really has a death wish. I think to myself as I charge toward him, my blades poised and ready to strike, but then I see the Espada approaching us from the corner of my eye. Looks like he wasn't through with us just yet . . .

"You're in my way!"

Minata's POV

"Even though what that Espada did was monumentally idiotic, is it wrong to say that I actually feel bad for him?" Mizukiri asks me unsurely as we watched the scene before us. "No one is safe when Captain Kuchiki and Captain Zaraki get into one of their disputes, and he just got the brunt of it."

"I know right?" asks Yachiru as she turns to us with a smirk. "But it's always fun to watch. Ken-chan loves to have his fun."

"Yes, but sometimes his "fun" gets him into trouble." I say as the Espada regains his footing. His bulbous form contorts and shifts before he becomes shrouded in his own spiritual pressure. Once it dissipates, he glowers at both Byakuya and Kenpachi, now looking twice as large than he was before, his lower half resembling the body of a . . . caterpillar?

"Now that's a big Arrancar . . ." mumbles Mizukiri as I notice Byakuya and Kenpachi readying their weapons. "How do you think the captains will stop the beast this time?"

"Hmm, like that," I say as they take the creature down with a practically a few strikes of their blades, finally stopping the creature for good. "They may not like each other, but they manage to get the job done nonetheless."

"You make a good point master . . ." says Mizukiri as we all shunpo over to Kurotsuchi's position, just as the two bickering captains did as well.

"Now that you two are done, we can head back to the Soul Society. I have experiments to get to." mutters the mad scientist as his daughter opened up the Garganta.

"Yeah, yeah . . . whatever you say doc." mutters Kenpachi as Yachiru climbed onto his shoulder. As they all entered the opening, I slowly lagged behind to see Byakuya staring at the area we left Rukia and Isane, his eyes looking slightly unfocused.

"Are you okay Captain Kuchiki?" I ask just before I took a step into the garganta.

"I'm fine." he tells me as he turns to face me. "I just have a few things on my mind, that's all."

"I understand." I say with a small nod of my head before entering the Garganta. With everything that's been going on these past few days, who wouldn't have a lot on their minds?

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