Ruka Kusabana held her ground, confident, strong, as several hollow gathered around her, swinging and pounding aimlessly, attempting to devour her mouth-watering soul. With one swift swing and a tirade of flame, the shimmering sunset blades of Ruka cut through each of them, plowing wave upon wave as they came, sand spraying everywhere and melting into small chunks of glass. With a giant burst of flame, Ruka covered nearly the entire battlefield with flame as the sand quickly melted into glass. The hollows were trapped in the thick layer of glass, and they struggled to break free. Instantly, Ruka wiped them all out with nearly one blow of her two swords.
Raine held up his sword in a defensive stance. The hollow swung at him, gnashing their razor claws through midair, as they barely missed him by inches.
"Domu Raito!" he yelled as he slashed several hollow, a wave of glowing jade plasma slicing through all of them, collecting their spirit particles. The wave circled around Raine, encircling him as it grew smaller and smaller, surrounding his blade. He smirked as the hollows watched, dumbfounded. He stabbed one hollow, a giant dome of light expanding farther and farther with such explosive power, that it took out nearly the entire hollow surrounding them. With another strike, the dome collapsed, unleashing a blinding light, as Raine darted, using shunpo, and took out the remaining hollow that were blinded by the piercing white light, which slowly faded to a dim green light and softly faded into thin air. The charred, tainted sand was empty, soaked with scarlet blood, and clumped together into tiny glass lumps.
I (Raine) sheathed my zanpakuto… "Right… to find Aizen now…" I said "And to help Ichigo."
Ruka nodded to me as she began to run up the sand dunes, towards one of the closest pillars. "I have received word, Byakuya, who was sent here like us, has defeated one of the Espada, Mayuri (boy he scares me) has defeated the 8th Espada, and Unohana is here to tend to the injured. We need to get Orihime, defeat the remaining Espada that are here, and head back to Karakura Town."
"What about Aizen?.." I asked as we kept on running.
"He… he left back to Karakura Town… to make that key he speaks of…" Ruka answered.
"A key?"
"It's a long story."
"We've got time."
"We don't actually."
"I'm sure we can-"
"RAINE!!!" Ruka screamed as she grabbed me by the collar and pulled me behind as a giant chunk of debris landed right where I had stood a few moments ago. I was startled, but we continued to make our way closer to the towers.
"Why did you come anyways?" I asked Ruka.
"Along with Kenpachi, Unohana, Mayuri, and Byakuya, I was sent here to investigate the events occurring here. We needed to stop this havoc before it got out of hand. We were too late. Since I knew Urahara had the fastest method of reaching here, I followed you to his shop, because I knew you would end up being sent to Hueco Mundo anyways, the Captain Commander was planning on assigning you the job. But you seemed to want to have a go at Aizen… Tell me… Why do you desire his death so much?"
I continued running and remained silent before sighing and replying, "Because it was he who is responsible for the death of my father…"
Ruka nodded and looked forward… "Is that why he appears in your nightmares?"
I nodded.
"Revenge will not solve that y'know Raine… you will then after only desire more revenge, and more, until you end up becoming sour and bitter, and your personality will die with it. You would become arrogant and desiring more power, sooner or later, you'll be worse off trying to become an Arrancar for more power." Ruka said.
"I do not look at this as a matter of revenge… It is a job that needs to get done. Aizen is an enemy of Sereitei, he is an enemy of my family, and he is an enemy of my friends. I find there to be no reason to show him mercy."
"Then we shall stop you first before you even lay a finger on Aizen-sama" A voice called from in front. We skidded to a stop, spraying some sand as neared two Arrancars positioned in on top of a tall wall overlooking the battlefield. One of them was a well-endowed female, tan, with spiky blonde hair. She wore strangely revealing Arrancar clothing, covering the top of her torso and going up over her mouth, exposing her bare stomach. She wore the typical hakama pants in an Arrancar uniform. Her broad sword was sheathed on her back…
"I demand you to stop." She said.
Ruka stepped forward. "And I demand to know who you are!?"
"I am the third Espada , Tia Harribel, and I will be your opponent…"
I looked behind her. A fairly tall and muscular man, with a bright red frayed faux-hawk that ran down his entire head, stepped out from behind her. He wore basic Arrancar robes with the hakama, and his sword was sheathed across his back, with a chain holding it in place. He smiled, revealing his jagged teeth, like that of a shark, his mask was composed of ribbed, ragged teeth surrounding his right eye, and his hollow hole was on the right side of his chest, aligned with the mask.
"And I…" he pointed to himself cockily "Am Kano Raggerjaw, former 4th Espada." He glanced at me, a glint in his eye hinted he meant business, serious business…
"You will allow us to pass." Ruka stated blankly, already expecting her request to be denied.
"You expect us to say yes to that?" Kano chuckled. "How about we hack you to pieces first, eh?"
I had no time for this. I darted off in the opposite direction, hoping to find some other opening in the wall. As I began running, Kano suddenly appeared in front of me, unsheathed his sword, and held it out, to allowing me to pass.
"Sorry, I ain't letting you get past here without killing me first!" He smiled.
I calmly opened my eyes and smiled. "Are you challenging me? It's been awhile since I've had a good fight."
"Heh, funny how you act like such a toughie, especially when you know you are going to die." He stepped closer to me.
"Do you expect me to behave like a coward?" I asked, I did not draw my zanpakuto.
"You haven't even drawn your sword." Kano's smile faded.
"Don't need to…" I replied "You're not worth it, if I'm fighting an Espada, I want to fight a real one. You're a former Espada, regardless of your ranking number. You're not even worth the challenge; I'd rather fight the real 4th Espada… Ulquiorra is it?"
His eyes flashed with anger. He darted towards me, barely missing me as I zipped out of the way… He swung at me furiously, his anger fueling each of his swings. He finally stopped as I landed softly in front of him.
"Someone's got a bit of a temper..." I began to turn away. "I have no time for you… See ya later, FORMER 4th Espada!"
Kano was enraged, in barely any time; he had grabbed me by the back of my head and launched me into the nearest wall.
Pain surged into me as I slammed into the wall, crushing into the thick stone, leaving a giant mark. I rubbed my face where I had felt the impact.
"Shi….. iit…" I groaned as I stood back up, sand and dust distilled in the air, creating a fog.
"I'd love to see how much of a tongue you have when I rip it from your mouth." Kano appeared from the mist, his face twisted into an insane smile.
I stood up, agitated… I reached to my left hip, where Raito was sheathed, and drew my zanpakuto…I coughed… "Blind the Enemy... Raito… Hisui-Emerarudo!" My zanpakuto transformed into the beautiful pearlescent silver-gold blade that reflected the daylight.
"Tama Tsukiakari (Jade Moonlight)" My Zanpakuto hummed with a soft green light.
"What a cheesy little thing you have there… is that all it does? Glow with a pretty color? That's really pathetic. I'll jut finish you off." He held out his finger, a glowing giant red ball began to grow around his finger, energy collecting as it grew. It made a loud electrical noise, as if it were charging. In seconds, the ball spewed out into a giant red beam of pure energy that charged straight towards me. My eyes widened as I watched it come closer…
I was reminded of my dream… I would not let this happen.
I darted out of the way, the cero missing me by inches as it tumbled out into the dunes behind me…
"Cero…" I managed to say. I was dazed, was it really that easy for them to produce a Cero?
Kano smirked… "Yes stupid, a Cero, was it really that amazing? I'm surprised you underestimated me that much…"
"Former Espadas cease to amaze me…" I spit out. I was beginning to get annoyed. Kano, once again, rushed towards me, sword raised in hand.
He swung, energy bursting out and shoving me backwards.
I blocked his oncoming attacks with my zanpakuto… "Domu Raito!" I screamed…
My sword grew brighter and brighter as I charged towards Kano, slamming into him, and piercing my blade into his left leg…
A giant dome of light began to spread, tearing the flesh of his leg as it grew… Kano's eyes widened… "The hell!?" He called before a giant explosion of light pierced into the skies, the entire landscape tainted with jade. The explosion expanded, and collapsed upon Kano, I jumped backwards as I watched him dodge the oncoming collapse of the explosion. I used shunpo to appear behind him, slashing y sword and causing a massive wave of pure light acidic energy to strike him… the wave surrounded him and flowed into the shape of a sphere around Kano. He kneeled in the center, light pouring on him, as his skin began peeling away… He looked at me angrily, his teeth grinding, He burst out into energy, the red matter tearing apart my dome of light. He shot out several ceros at one time, each of them hurtling towards me from a different direction.
I held up my zanpakuto, a wave of light acidic energy absorbing and protecting me from the four ceros coming from the right. I used shunpo to dodge the remaining four ceros aiming from the left.
"Crap…" I looked to Kano, who was smiling hysterically; this dude had some serious issues… it was if he had a split personality, getting enraged for the most stupidest things, them laughing and smiling as if it was all just a joke.
"Alright… you are really pissing me off." He appeared in front of me, striking my sword, it's blade clashing with mines. I spun around, smacking the side of his head with the pommel of my sword. He kicked towards me, I stepped back, but his foot caught me in the gut as I stumbled backwards. I lunged for him, he dodged, jumping, stepping on the blade of my sword and kicking off into the air, flipping over me and landing behind me, he slashed towards my back. I ducked and finally cut a deep slit into the side of his cheek.
Blood seeped from the wound.
Kano lunged again, this time leaving no time between his strikes, continuously slashing and striking at maximum speed, almost faster than my shunpo…
Left, right, up, left, right, left, down… there was no order to his attacks, he was just jabbing at me, and I was having trouble escaping as his sword began to pierce through my flesh in several places… I fell back. He shoved his hand into my neck. I gagged as I fell backwards…
As I lay on the ground, stunned and in severe pain, clothes torn and blood seeping from several gashes around my body, Kano raised his hand, pointing his finger at me. The same red ball began to form, except as it formed, it became more and more like the blade of a circular saw… It grew brighter and brighter, the red ball becoming bigger and more ragged, bigger than any cero he managed to produce before… I lay on the tile floor, looking around; we had broken into one of the rooms of a large building… The walls were tattered and destroyed, and the tile floors were cracked in several places, reflecting the bright red light of Kano's cero…
It grew bigger and bigger…
"Move! Move you idiot!" I began to say to myself, but my body would not budge. I could not respond to myself, I was frozen, lying there… defenseless…
"G'bye loser!" Kano shot the cero… it spun towards me, its red ragged edges spraying sparks and flames and burst of pure energy… The heat began to rise as it came closer and closer to me…
Time slowed down… The cero was inches from me…
"Move!!! MOVE!!!" My mind screamed… "YOU WILL NOT DIE HERE!"
My arm twitched… I grabbed the hilt of my sword, suddenly heavier than it was before, and I held it in front of me, my body was limp…
"Tama Tsukiakari…" I croaked, my sword hummed to life, a giant projectile of green energy burst out, becoming a full sphere of green acidic energy, it impacted with Kano's cero, eating the spirit energy and cutting directly through it… the two halves of Kano's cero spinning off into several different directions, missing me completely…I stabbed my zanpakuto into the ground, and forced myself upwards, slowly standing up despite the severe pain… I looked to Kano, my face twisted in pain and anger, and the definite fear of defeat…
"You just won't die... accept your death… that's all yer good for, your family seems to have a good history of death… What a joke, the Shiba clan." He knew what he was doing; he was forcing me, taunting me, persuading me to attack him…
"Guess you'll be the next in line to die…" He was serious, but his face showed hints of mockery…
"I… will not… lose to you…" I panted, sweat dripping from my tangled black hair…
"How about I show you why I think you're just a joke…" he grabbed me by my hair and burst through the ceiling of the room, he zoomed upwards, the wind slapping against my face as we ascended. We were reaching higher and higher into the sky… that is, until we reached the roof of Las Noches. Kano flew through the hole that I had made previously… I looked around… We were still ascending?
Kano stopped in midair; I dangled underneath his form grip on my head. He threw me, launching me, my body unresponsive as it was hurtled towards the distant sand dunes of Las Noches…
I slammed into the sand, right next to the colossal walls of Las Noches castle.
Kano landed in front of me… "Espada ranked 4 or higher aren't allowed to release inside of Las Noches… So I dragged you out here so I could kill you much slower… much more painful, than I had originally intended on killing you before."
"Aren't you a former Espada?" I blurted out as I lay on the ground…
He smiled. "I'm better than that loser, Ulquiorra Cifer…"
"Anyone that can give Ichigo a tough time is not a loser…" I thought to myself.
"Stand up and fight. I'm not fighting a limp body, there's no fun in that!" Kano kicked my side.
I was pissed. I was in severe pain. I was tired. I was enraged.
"Enough of this shit!" I dragged myself up, my body screaming in pain, I ignored it. I had no time to waste… I had to kill Kano.
"Oh, finally decided to become a challenge?" Kano raised an eyebrow.
I held out my sword, almost losing my balance… "Kano… you'll be the one regretting having me make this decision…"
"What?" His eyes widened…
I closed my eyes, allowing my zanpakuto to draw in spirit energy… my tattered robes began to flow with the settle wind hat circled around me as I drew in energy…
My eyes opened… they were pitch black… My brows were furrowed… I was in position… Raito glowed brighter… I had drawn in enough energy…Glaring at Kano, I screamed…
"Ban-kai!"
Everything grew brighter until it reached pitch white, there was so much blinding light. Kano threw up his arms and shut his eyes… The light began eating away at his spiritual energy, his reiatsu… A giant dome of light towered over him surrounded by waves of pure green energy…
"Internal Collapse…" I said.
The giant dome collided against Kano, another dome growing from within him, beginning to tear him apart, eating his reiatsu from the inside, He screamed in excruciating pain as he slowly began to be eaten alive… little by little… blood pouring from his mouth, the domes collided, the waves crashing against the dome, then everything collapsed against Kano, becoming smaller and smaller until it reached the size of his body…
"You're finished…" I reached out and touched the small dome surrounding the severely injured Kano, who was slamming against the walls of the dome, his voice muffled… "The more you touch it… the more you will be devoured by my light… the light of the jade moon… the light of the emerald sun…" energy began to seep from my arms and legs…
I stepped backwards… "Explode…"
The dome warped inwards, crushing Kano, then exploded… outward, creating an explosion the size of an atomic bomb… Green light blinded Kano as he fell to the ground, crushed, destroyed, his robes torn to nothing, his zanpakuto shattered on the ground… His skin covered in blood and in some places, his bone was exposed… He was a bloody mess… smoke seeped from his body…
I began to walk away…
"W…wait… I'm not done…" Kano reached out from behind me, his face was nearly disfigured, and he could barely move without tearing more flesh…
"Hmm?" I turned around and faced him… He had managed to stand up, but blood was pouring from his torn open skin… I could see where the "4" had been scarred out, on the left side of his chest, which was nearly torn open…
"Impossible… you should be dead…" I said.
"I…. ca-can still…. kick your…. ass…" He stepped forward and grabbed my shirt, the blood staining my shirt as he held it tightly…
"You'll….. you'll see…." He wheezed.
He let go of me and stepped back…
He bent over and picked up the shattered remains of his zanpakuto… the bright red hilt was all that had remained intact.
He held the pieces in his hand… and squeezed, the chunks of blade slicing his hand as he clenched, more blood dripping from his clenched fists… Softly but with some confidence… Kano managed to say his release…
"Rip Flesh… Sangre de la Espina (Blood of the Thorn)" A white liquid formed around both of his hands… he began hollowfication… thorns formed up on the ridge off his back, where his spine was… His arms were covered in bony-like thorns… his legs were covered in the same thorn-like material… the only piece of his robes that had remained was a loincloth fabric around his waist, which hung barely below his knees…
His hands disappeared, and only two massive spiky blades remained as his forearm and hands, the blades ran up to his elbow, and extended far in front of him. Each of the thorns on his body began glowing with a bright red tip of energy… the blades were covered in a light layer of cero energy… his entire body had healed, save a few scars… his hollow hole had re-formed, his Espada number "4" was once again visible…
My eyes widened… "The hell?" I said in awe… This guy was insane; I was going to have to kill this guy…
"Try attacking me now… Raine…" he smiled…
"I was really hoping you'd be more serious about this, former Espada Kano Raggerjaw…" I brushed a lock of black hair away from my face.
We both had our swords drawn… We were both ready… This fight would determine our fates… It was a fight to the death!
