The dark, damp, eerie cave emanated a slightly musky scent, and a faint dim light flickered and shook with the soft chill of wind that blew in and out. The sky was a deep indigo, dotted with the bright stars that illuminated the darkness. The crescent moon, faded, and hidden behind a gray, feathery cloud, peeked out and gave off a soft glow. The trickling drops of water falling from the roof of the cave casting a reflection from the moon, sparkling like diamonds in the dark depths of the cave.
I tightened my hand on the grip of my sword, my palms sweaty and clammy, the fabric of the hilt becoming colder and colder from the soft chills of the wind. My eyes darted around, my instinct on high alert, the adrenaline rushing through my veins. Soft whispers blew in with the breeze, where they came from, I did not know.
A loud crash sounded off the wall of the cave. The muscles in my arms tightened, my hand's grip on my sword grew tighter. I cautiously made my way into the menacing mouth of the cave, the light 'click' of my sandals grew silent as I stepped inside, I took one last deep breath before being swallowed by the black abyss.
My sword gave off a soft green glow, illuminating the caverns. The soft rustle of my robes and my very footsteps were the only noise that could be heard within the deadly silence of the cave. I brushed a lock of my wavy black hair from my face, and my breathing grew heavier. I descended down the rocky pathway that led me deeper into the cave. Stacks of rocks and stalagmites jutted from the ground, sharp and prickly, like the teeth of a monster.
As I climbed through a small opening in the pathway, climbed onto a small opening, only a small pillar of light peered through a crack in the ceiling. The floor I stood on was smooth and even, there we no flaws in the rocky ground. The place was quiet; a place of peace, my sword dimmed itself, giving off less of a green glow. I slowly sat on the ground, my robes soft and comfortable. I closed my eyes and breathed in the fresh air that drew in through the ceiling, much better than the musky air at the entrance of the cave.
I was calm. I finally had the silence I needed to communicate with my zanpakutou. I called out with my mind… A faint voice that whispered out two names…
"Hisui… Emerarudo…" (Jade… Emerald…) were the two names of the conjoined spirits of his zanpakutou. They poured out from the motionless sword that lay on the ground, reflecting the light of the moon, its glow fading as the spirits exit the sword. I sat there, my mind tickling with thoughts as I prepared to communicate with my spirit.
Two spirits arose, two robed figures, one male, one female. The male, Hisui (Jade), had short, shoulder length pale hair, the color of the moonlight. His skin was pale and glowing, shadows masked his eyes, which were sunken in deep. His grin was creepy and wide; much more wide than the typical human's mouth. The female, Emerarudo (Emerald), had long black, raven hair, which flowed with invisible wind, and cascaded down her shoulders in beautiful swirls. Her eyes, also sunken into her white, pale skin, were halfway hidden by the long lengths of her hair. She too, wore a long flowing white robe, and her bright red lips were serious and straightforward. The most interesting feature about these two spirits was that one of their arms were connected, by the male's right arm, and by the female's left arm. A faint green ring of mist swirled around the area where the arms were conjoined, as if they led into a different realm.
I opened my eyes, facing the two spirits that stood before me….
"Hisui… Emerarudo…" I whispered. Their heads turned to me, and they smiled faintly at me.
"You summoned us?" They responded in unison. I stood up, pushing another lock of wavy black hair from my face.
"Erhm… Yes I did… I felt I needed to practice more with bonding, y'know, strengthening out attacks through relationship." I scratched the back of my neck.
They looked to each other and nodded. Within that instant, their connected arm pulled out from the alternative dimension, and they separated, each drawing the same zanpakutou. I picked up my zanpakutou from the ground.
"Very well Raine… We shall now show you more techniques when wielding us, as perfected and exceptional as your skills are; it is always necessary to polish up a bit every once in a while." They both smiled.
The grip of the sword I held was no longer cold, but it glowed with the warmth of life…
The two spirits raised their sword, suddenly flashing brightly with a green plasma coating, glowing brightly and reflecting off the tiny droplets of water within the cave. It seemed as if daylight was pouring into the cave from a tiny sun…
I raised my sword in defense… "Blind the Enemy!" I shouted, as my sword, too flashed brightly.
They zoomed towards me, swords at the ready, from either side of me. In defense I parried both strikes, and I ducked the second attack. Using shunpo, I was able to dodge a surprise strike from behind, the blade of Hisui's sword whistling behind me as it sliced through the air. Emerarudo held the sword out towards me, causing a giant mass of green plasma-material that rushed towards me like a wave of flowing emerald water.
I was smacked against the opposite wall by the overwhelming wave of green energy. Coughing from the dust that flew, distilled, throughout the air, I moved my crumpled body and stood back up, panting from the amount of training.
The spirits smiled at me cheekily… "What's the matter? Is our master getting too tired to fight now?"
I knew the game they were trying to play, swiftly, I brought down my sword and yelled "Domu Raito! (Dome of Light)" causing a giant dome to expand around the two spirits, and as it spewed bright light, nearly blinding me, it grew smaller and smaller and smaller, causing the cave to rumble violently as the dome collapsed upon the two unsuspecting spirits. As the dust settled and as the blinding light faded, I noticed my two spirits standing there unharmed, untouched.
"Hisui… Emerarudo…" I managed to say.
"I do hope you would expect us to survive our own attack, however had that attack been done on anyone else, they would have been finished," the both of them stated blankly in unison.
I smiled. Count on my spirits to make my day.
They lashed at me once again. I was caught off-guard, their blade barely slicing the skin of my cheek as a small drop of blood scattered in the air.
I blocked their next hit, and I roundhouse kicked them, causing them to spiral backwards.
They unleashed another beam of green energy towards me, using shunpo, I was able to dodge it in time…
"You guys don't cut me a break do ya?" I asked, wiping sweat from my forehead.
They smiled, as if they were content with their performance… I began to walk towards them… sheathing my sword.
"Good jo-" I was cut off by a loud howl that rang from the outside…
In an instant, a giant hollow, a Menos Grande smashed in through the wall of the cave.
"What the hell is that doing here!?" I pulled out my sword once more and charged at it at full speed. It watched me closely, observing my every move. It's deep, black eyes gazing at me through its white pointed mask.
As I neared it to strike it directly in the face, it opened its mouth to a fearfully giant size, its teeth spread wide apart as A red glowing sphere began to form.
Shots of lightning connected to the red sphere, and It grew larger and larger, collecting more energy as it went, draining me with its energy. My Zanpakutou spirits watched in fear from the side as they realized what it was about to do… That Menos Grande was preparing a Cero.
I watched, dazed and confused as the red sphere grew nearly to the size of my entire body…
In a second, the Menos Grande shot the Cero, a beam of red light charged straight towards me, faster than any shunpo I'd ever seen…
"Holy…" I managed to say, and as the red beam nearly struck me, I heard a distant scream…
"NO!" Hisui and Emerarudo jumped in my way, taking the full blast of the oversized red Cero.
I watched as their fragile robes tore with the energy, the fiery light crushing their very skulls and their skin ripping apart and peeling back like paper under flame. Their hair was singed off in a second, and they were nearly reduced to dust.
"HISUI! EMERARUDO!" I yelled helplessly as I watched the deaths of my Zanpakutou spirits…
Their heads turned to me, their eyes tearing with sadness, their skin charred black, as the flame devoured their entire body…
I reached out, tumbling through the air, but all I could feel was their last dying breath… My heart thudded, and nearly stopped. I could not survive without them… I was nothing… They were my soul… I watched as my skin began to peel apart… I turned to the Menos Grande, who began to transform into a human-sized figure… He stepped towards me, chuckling in amusement. His brown hair fell was brushed back, and he wore long white robes… With every step he took, my heart jumped. He held out his hand…
My eyes widened as I recognized the figure right away. I reached out in anger, as pressure slowly began to build upon me. My spine cracking and crushing, I spat out a glob of blood, my nose bleeding uncontrollably. I fell to the ground; I clenched the rocky surface with dirt-encrusted fingernails… My eyes grew blurry, and my ears crushed so I could no longer hear my screams of pain. I clenched my fists, tears pouring down my cheeks, and with the last final blow of extreme pressure, I began to crumble… Before I was reduced to nothingness. I screamed the name of the man who had caused my spirits and me this much pain. The name burned within my throat as I roared it with my last breath…
"AIZEEENNNN!!!"
……………………………………………
I awoke from my bed, sitting straight up, beads of sweat dripped from my forehead. My chest rising and falling as I breathed heavily…
"Had that been a dream?" I thought to myself… I looked around…
I was in my familiar room in the ninth-division building of Sereitei. My room, a simple white-walled room with lightwood floors and rice paper doors. I looked about, noticing the excessive shelving on the wall, each self covered with expensive and rare jade, silver, stone, and gold incense pots, giving off an exotic, sweet scent. My Zanpakutou was lying on a plush cushion besides my bed, next to the many paintings of Koi-fish I had recently painted. Golden light trickled down from the stained glass, circular window on the ceiling, casting beautiful designs on my floor. On one corner of the room were compact bookshelves with rows upon rows of books.
I was happy to wake to a place as peaceful as my room… I brushed a lock of black hair from my face, but proved fruitless as more hair tumbled down. I looked around, much calmer. I lay back down, rubbing my hand on my face, tired, stressed…
I was due to become the ninth division's new lieutenant, or vice-captain, whatever they called it…. I was supposed to be assigned to captain Kusabana Ruka, some female. Not even sure who or what she did, but I figured she must be pretty powerful. I half-smirked, thinking how much of a burden I might be on her. "I think I'll go easy on this captain, I'd rather not lose my rank again due to silly behavior… " I thought. Raine Shiba, member of the Shiba clan… That's who I was, cousin to Kaien Shiba, who used to be a lieutenant too… He and I looked a little different, my skin was more tan than his and my black hair was wavy and nearly shoulder-length. My eyes were the same color as his, though, that strange crystal clear turquoise color. I was only similar in appearance to him in the eyes, jet-black hair, and body physique, but otherwise, I took more after my father… Kaien's uncle… I was the only son of Kaien's uncle… I remembered training with both of them. It was such a long time ago, when I had finally learned the name of my Zanpakutou.
"Raito Hisui-Emerarudo…" I whispered, looking to my Zanpakutou. The sword glowed a soft green and hummed in response. I smiled. They were safe…
My door flew open, causing bright light to flood in from outside.
"RAINE! Get up you idiot! You're going to be late for your initiation as lieutenant for the ninth squad!" The voice of Abarai Renji bellowed from outside.
"Eh, shut up will ya?" I said, stepping off from the bed and putting on my appropriate shinigami attire. I wore the basic black robes with a green, long-sleeved undershirt. The sleeve of my right arm was torn completely, exposing the torn remains of the right arm of the green undershirt… I fastened my Zanpakutou to my cloth belt, white, and fastened with a knot in the front…
Impatiently, Renji scoffed from outside. "Will ya hurry up?" he said as he barged in; I looked up, semi-startled.
"You should have more patience…" I said, he raised an eyebrow, or eyebrows… I am not exactly sure how many eyebrows he intended on having. Renji was slightly taller than I, with long red hair tied up in a ponytail held in spikes above his head, giving it the appearance of a bright red pineapple. He had excessive tattoos running all over his body, and a headband covered where his forehead tattoos were and wore the basic shinigami uniform with the Sixth Division lieutenant shield armband on his left arm.
He held out a small armband shield almost identical to his, though the black symbol printed on the face was the symbol for the Ninth Division (九) and a small Buttercup symbol underneath (which stands for oblivion). I beamed as I tied it onto my left arm, just above my elbow. It fit snugly, grasping onto my arm as I wore it proudly, choking the left sleeve of my uniform. Renji sighed impatiently. I laughed softly.
"Alright, alright, lets go then…" We stepped out from the room, closing the door behind us.
"Is she ready too?" I asked.
Renji answered. "Ruka just became captain about a week ago… They needed a replacement for Kaname Tosen."
I was reminded of the previous Ninth Division Captain… I then thought of Hisagi Shuhei, who had gone into hiding, we had not seen him recently… At around this point, a good friend of mine's, Kurosaki Ichigo, had just decided that he would enter Hueco Mundo, or so he told me, he was expecting to save Orihime, his friend, from Aizen's clutches…
Renji seemed really jumpy lately, as did Rukia… They both seemed a little weird… Though I was not entirely sure, I decided I'd ask them later…
As we walked across a long platform of neatly tiled ground, I looked up to the sky, the wind was fresh and cool, and the sun reflected off from the polished floors.
We neared closer and closer to the gardens, where most of the 9th division was meeting. Pink petals from the cherry blossom trees tumbled to the ground like snow in the winter, and water trickled from an unknown fountain somewhere in the distance. I looked around as Renji and I stepped in through an open archway, to the open fields of the gardens.
"Why hello there." I jumped from the voice, clumsily stumbling backwards as I turned around. There stood a fairly short woman, or at least not as tall as I was. She had long brown hair that seemed blonde from the sunlight, which was tied back into a neat ponytail with one bang hanging on the side of her face. Her eyes were hazel, and she wore the basic shinigami uniform with the white Captain's haori. She had a sheathed Zanpakuto to her left side, the hilt a bright red with an orange hue. She had a thin physique, with fair skin and she held on to a small notebook in her left hand. She was the Captain of the Ninth Division, Ruka Kusabana.
"Oh, heh, hello." I laughed nervously, regaining myself. "Sorry about that, been a little jumpy lately, I haven't had much sleep."
She smiled a little, holding out her hand, I placed my hand in hers and we shook our hands. Renji leaned against the wall, chewing on a piece of straw as he began conversation with the other members of the 9th Division.
"Nice to meet you properly. I'm Raine Shiba, new lieutenant of the Ninth Division." I said.
"So I've heard," she replied, "I am Kusabana Ruka, Captain of the Ninth Division." She placed her hand back to her side.
"Well then, now that we've got that out of the way, I am sure you know everyone in the squad correct?"
I nodded, "Yes." I was happy to see that everyone had gathered here today for this event. The other lieutenants from other divisions came later. I sat and spoke to many of them, smiling, acting polite, and trying to mask my anxiety. We had spent most of the day getting to know one another, though I was already good friends with Renji, Rukia, and Kira, for I trained with them usually. I made a final speech at the end for the members of the Ninth Division, introducing myself properly, and I spoke with all of the captains.
But after all of that, much later on that evening, everything began to quiet down, and I finally had some peace to sit by the koi ponds and watch as they drifted lazily through the pool of water. I smiled, tossing in small crumbs of the loaf of bread I ate. They pecked at it, swimming swiftly away as I observed them closely.
"They are beautiful aren't they?" I stumbled once more from the sudden voice behind me, falling into the pond and scaring away all of the fish.
My Captain, giggling a little at the fact that I had just thrown myself into the water, stood there, arms crossed, with the notebook still in her left hand. She scribbled something down in the notebook, satisfied, she closed the cover and tucked it within her robes.
"What are you writing in there!?" I looked up, noticing what she had done.
"Oh, nothing, nothing that concerns you at least." She smiled cheekily.
My eyes narrowed to slits as I pulled myself out from the pond, soaked and dripping with water.
"Can you please stop sneaking behind me? That really freaks me out, I'd hate to see you do that when I'm sitting on a cliff-side." I said with an annoyed tone.
She laughed a little. "Sure, I'll take note on that."
I wrung out my robes, wondering how many extra robes I had.
"Anyways, I came here because I need your assistance." Her humorous expression returned to seriousness.
"What did you need my help with?" I shook a few droplets of water from my hair, which was now tangled, wet, and covering my face.
"Well… We just received a pile of new reports, which need to be filed and edited for updates. We do have a few members out there investigating the whereabouts of any Hollow or Arrancar, but we need to get this stuff done. " She did not change expression.
I nodded. "Right lets get this done then.
We walked over to the Ninth Division quarters. Today was going to be a long day, I could tell already…
The next day, I woke refreshed and renewed, but I was however, quite disappointed to find that we had a brand new stack of reports on our desks, Ruka seated at her desk scribbling away on the documents. Knowing Ruka might say something about it, I scurried outside before she could see me.
I felt the need to train once more, to practice my abilities, so I had snuck to the training grounds, where I hoped to find Renji who was probably training with Zambimaru and Ikkaku Madarame. I peered through the open archway that led down to a rocky path into a deep pit, which was used for training…
It was completely silent and empty.
"How odd…" I said aloud. Usually they're here training, and if not, even Rukia was there practicing with her Zanpakutou. I shrugged, confused slightly, and more annoyed that this would mean I would have to go back to the office and complete the reports for the articles.
I sighed. Then it I heard footsteps from around the corner.
"Eh, Rukia, you think they'll notice when we're gone?" The familiar voice of Renji spoke softly from the distance. My eyes widened.
"When they're… Hmm…." I thought to myself. I had recalled those two talking about Ichigo's decision to head into Hueco Mundo to save Orihime, but I never thought they would go as far as to follow him… If they were going, what the heck, why not I go to? I turned around and looked as Rukia headed to the tower that contained the gateway to Karakura Town…
I followed behind them silently, both of them wearing cloaks, and armed with their Zanpakutous. I was lucky enough that I had decided to bring mine's along today, I thought to myself. Why did they choose now to go off into Hueco Mundo? And how did they plan on getting there? As long as it got me from avoiding another packet of paperwork, I was more than fine.
It was not long before Renji sighed and turned around, I jumped a little, not expecting him to sense my presence.
"Where do you think you're going Raine?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Wherever the heck you guys were going." I crossed my arms. I wasn't losing this one, I was not going to back off and decide to act upon it later.
"That bastard Ichigo decided he would run off without us… I'm not letting that happen, we're coming with him." Renji smiled.
Rukia looked to me calmly. "I suggest you stay, if we need your help, we'll contact you don't worry, you need to continue the investigation on Shuhei Hisagi's location, we can count on you Raine."
Using flash step, they disappeared from before me.
I blinked. "What the… What where they thinking!?" I began to run back to the building. I sensed the sudden lack of Rukia and Renji's spiritual pressure. They had left to Karakura Town… on their way to Hueco Mundo…
As I headed back towards the barracks, I heard a sudden scream from far away. I turned around, wondering where the sound came from. The furious roar of a hollow followed the shrill scream.
"Crap!" I said aloud, "Another damn hollow!"
I jumped from the wooden floors, to the open sky, and dashed forward, the wind whipping wildly through my wavy black hair.
"I'm glad you spotted one in that short time you were gone." A familiar voice popped out of nowhere.
Surprised, I stumbled in mid-air and crashed down to the ground, my face digging into the soft dirt as I crash-landed into a patch of green grass in front of the borders of the outlying forests where the hollow scream had come from.
I heard laughter from behind me, from the same familiar voice… I pulled myself from the dirt…
"You should stop scaring me like that, I can get killed one day." I brushed myself off, annoyed and tense.
The voice from behind me had come from my captain, Ruka Kusabana. She landed on the ground gracefully, and observing my appearance, she scribbled something down in her notebook.
"Hey! What are you writing in there!?" I peered from behind her shoulder. She merely smiled, snapped the book shut, and lightly tapped the top of my head with it.
"That's none of your business Raine…"
My eyes narrowed. "I'll find out some da-" I was cut off by the loud roar of the hollow once more…
"Crap!" I unsheathed my Zanpakuto. Ruka mimicked my action, pulling her blazing orange sword from its hilt; it seemed to absorb the heat from the sun, radiating the excess heat in several directions.
She looked to me and nodded. There were several other roars, there were more than one hollow out there…
A hollow burst from the trees, spraying leaves everywhere, it was giant, monstrous, an ugly gray color with a red striped mask that had the appearance of a rhinoceros's face. Its arms slammed lazily against the ground, it held its head up to the sun and let out a menacing roar. Several more hollows followed from behind it, a tall spider-like hollow aimed for Ruka, jabbing its stinger towards her.
I held out my sword… "Blind The Enemy! Raito Hisui-Emerarudo!" In that instant, the glistening blade of my sword melted until it reached the hilt. A green plasma-like wave shifted through the air, and I directed it straight towards the hollow. It struck it directly in the center, exploding upon impact, a giant brightly glowing green dome grew from the inside, tearing the hollow apart in an instant and absorbing it entirely, giving me more energy. I continued as my wave of green plasma continues to eat up the rest of the hollows on my side, flashing a bright blinding light, which disabled their sight entirely.
Ruka held her swords in a defensive stance. Stern and serious, she called out. "Burn… Suzaku!" Her sword burst into flames as a phoenix-shaped flame flew from her sword, spreading flame in all directions. Her sword turned into two glass-like katannas connected by a long golden change, they glowed brilliantly like the afternoon sunset. Afraid of being roasted, I created a shield of plasma around me, blocking the flame from striking me.
Ruka jumped up, and with one swift swing with both swords, completely split the hollow in half. I watched as the hollow shattered upon impact of the flame, disintegrating into mere ashes. Her swords blazed even brighter, and she held out one of her swords directly straight, her spiritual pressure growing greatly as a projectile of flame, like a burning tornado led by the phoenix, pierced all of the hollows in a complete row, cleaning off the rest of them. She threw her other katanna, which stabbed another hollow, the chain extending and the blade piercing the chest of the unsuspecting hollow.
She landed back down. Her hair slightly ruffled, as she re-adjusted it into a tight ponytail once more. Her swords went from a burning tirade of flame back to the steaming sealed silver blade. She sheathed her sword.
The green plasma collected and gathered until my silver blade was intact. I sheathed my sword.
"Well… that was… interesting…" I looked to Ruka in awe.
She smiled. "I bet you I could beat you in a battle any day!"
"I was hoping for more of a self esteem booster like, 'good job!' or something, but this?" I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Good job lieutenant!" She said sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes.
"Well, now that we got these handled, and we still have all those reports we have to look through, why don't we head back and get it done?" Ruka said, knowing my reaction would involve avoiding it in every possible way.
"Actually I do have some paintings I never finished…" I smiled.
I was whacked across the back of my head with the notebook. "Paperwork. Now. Painting pretty pictures comes later."
I sighed and smiled, "Such a weird person you are, using a notebook for a weapon…"
I dodged another oncoming whack from the notebook. She chased after me as we ran all the way back to the Ninth Division building…
It was a few days after Renji and Rukia left, and Sereitei had made little mention of their whereabouts. It seemed no one really noticed or knew they were even gone. Everything had been quiet, and we had finally completed all stacks of paperwork. Not much action happened at all, other than the fact that Ruka decided to spar against Hitsugaya. Fire against Ice… Not a good combination. I remember seeing both of their swords clashing, the blazing heat enveloping the icy crystals, but they grew stronger and overpowered the flame… the ice dragon Hyorinmaru against the fiery phoenix Suzaku.
Neither of them had won, for after getting carried away, they ended up knocking each other out… both of them ending up sick the next day, Ruka with a cold and Hitsugaya with a fever. Boy was that fun teasing my captain about that, and rumor had it that Ruka secretly liked Hitsugaya, but it was never proven and if I ever did ask my captain, it would result in the continuous smacking on my head with the notebook.
I sat next to Ruka, on the edge of a cliff, overlooking all of Soul Society, the breeze whistling through our hair. We were calm, and we sat still admiring the beauty of the landscape. Cherry blossom petals sprinkled around us, dancing with the wind with every sway and blow.
I was generally concerned on Rukia and Renji. And my mind went at ease when a small black Soul Butterfly landed delicately on Ruka's fingers, relaying a message.
"Raine, I need you to run a general scan of Karakura Town if that's alright with you." Ruka spoke and looked to me, scribbling something down in her notebook. "Ever since Rukia and Renji disappeared… We have no one else really to depend on. I'll keep an eye on things back here."
My heart jumped. "Sure! I'll do it!" This would be my chance to convince Urahara, the owner of the Urahara Shop in Karakura Town.
"Excellent. Prepare whatever you need. You'll need to head out in about an hour." She said, closing her notebook and allowing the small butterfly to drift away slowly with the wind.
I nodded, standing up. "Thank you Captain. I should…erhm… might be back soon. Be safe while I'm gone!" I began to run off…
"You're telling me to be safe?" she called out from behind me. I chuckled lightly before using shunpo to flash away.
I was guided to the gates, and I walked through the bright light as I stepped out into the human world… into Karakura Town.
It was night; the moon glistened off from each of the shiny buildings that stood in the city. There were barely any cars driving around, and tiny squares of lights from each window dotted the cityscape. The stars glistened, and clouds drifted in the sky.
I looked around, as I jumped from the open gateway onto the tip of a pole, overlooking the town. I wore a beige cloak, which many had questioned why I chose to wear it, little did they know my intentions were to head to Hueco Mundo to help Ichigo save Orihime.
Following orders first, I made a quick scan of the town, checking for any hollow activity… None, everything was peaceful and quiet, the way it needed to be.
Knowing my way to the Urahara shop, I skimmed the tops of the buildings, my cloak flowing behind me, my sandals making barely any noise. I darted over to the small Urahara shop tucked away behind a large building. I landed in front of the doors and looked at the overall structure… simple, wooden and plaster two-story structure with a large sign with the symbols (浦原商店） in the front underneath the porch wooden awning. I cautiously slid the two main sliding rice paper doors apart, stepping into a small shop. It was deadly silent, and it seemed as if it was abandoned.
"Hello?" I croaked out. My throat was dry. I cleared it and repeated. "Hello?"
"What brings a shinigami like yourself to my shop?" A tall silhouette peered our from behind the back-room doors. He walked down the small aisles of the shop, filled with small and cheap items. He walked with what looked like a cane until he reached the broad moonlight, which shone upon him, revealing his face. He was a tall man, because of the tall traditional Japanese wooden sandals he wore. He wore a long green coat, and a striped green hat. He held a cane in one hand, despite the fact he had no actual need for it. His blonde hair fell from underneath the hat and parted around his nose. His face seemed one to be taken seriously, but then he smiled foolishly. He was Urahara Kisuke.
I cleared my throat. "I need your help."
"Raine! Welcome, its been awhile!" He welcomed me inside.
"Thank you." I smiled and stepped the door. Urahara peeking out side and sliding the door shut behind.
As we settled ourselves in, Urahara preparing tea on he table. I began to speak.
"Well. Basically I needed help with…"
"I already know what you need help with." He cut me off in mid sentence.
I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what is it exactly that you think I need eh?" I crossed my arms after taking a few sips of the tea.
"You want to go to Hueco Mundo don't you… to follow your friends… But tell me… What is the real reason you desire to go there." His hat shadowed his eyes, giving him a mysterious appearance.
"It is simple. It is coming to a point where Soul Society is threatened, as are the lives of my friends. I've already lost track of Rukia's reiatsu… I don't know what happened to her…"
He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm… Yes, it appears she has been injured, fatally wounded even. Well, its come to the point where things are getting out of hand and they'll need the extra support. Then again, how would I know if you are ready to enter such a dangerous place?"
"I'm pretty sure I can handle anything that is thrown at me perfectly fine." I took another sip of the tea.
"Well then… Why don't we head on down to the basement… to get ourselves prepared here." He stood from the table; I followed him down into the basement, down a long winding flight of stairs in a dark corridor.
We stepped out of the corridor into a giant room, unbelievably large for a basement, covered in rock, like a giant battlefield. I had figured this was most likely used for training.
He turned to me… "Well then. You say you're ready for Hueco Mundo eh?"
My gaze fell upon him. "Yes, I was hoping we could get there by toni-"
"You wont be going until tomorrow morning, when I'm finished with my preparations." He smiled innocently, most likely expecting a heated reaction from me.
"Very well. What must be done must be done. So what are we doing until then?"
He simply continued to walk away from me.
"Hey! Wait! You didn't answer my question." I ran after him.
He pulled out his cane, unsheathing a hidden sword from inside the shaft.
I stepped back. He was pointing the sword straight at me.
In defense, I unsheathed my sword. "Whoa! Hey chill out! I didn't say anything offensive!"
He merely smiled, and called out. "Awaken… Benihime!"
The cane transformed into a sleek, medium sized sword with a crimson tassel that dangled off from one end. The hilt had a decorative bend and a U shaped decoration instead of a cross-guard.
He dashed at me, clashing his blade with mines, disappearing, then reappearing from behind me. I turned around and dodged an oncoming kick headed straight towards me. I blocked another blow. This guy was coming at me fast, and from all directions, I almost had no way to defend myself. Using shunpo, I zipped away. Surprising him a bit. I could detect his feelings from here. His reiatsu was growing fast.
My eyes widened. "Oh shi-" I had time to say before being smothered by a spray of pure red energy.
I jumped up into the air, and dashed, then, I turned around, locating my target. I darted towards Urahara, watching as his hat flew off. I darted around him, slicing and striking every time I passed by him, proud as I had struck him several times as he attempted to block. His eyes widened.
I landed, bursting pure reiatsu from my, my body glowing a light green, my spirit thriving with energy.
"Not so fast!" I heard, and a kick came from behind me. Urahara kicked me down.
"Crap!" I got up, and decided to release my zanpakuto. I held out one hand, my sword hand, and yelled.
"Blind the Enemy... Raito Hisui-Emerarudo!" My sword burst into green energy, my blade lightly melting little by little. I dashed towards Urahara, taking him by surprise and slicing his coat.
"That… was my new coat…" He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh well." I managed to spit out. At this point I was panting, holding up my sword in a defensive stance.
He flew towards me, mercilessly cutting with his sword, but using extreme technique I had never witnessed before. Able to block the oncoming tirade of the attack, I blocked his sword with mines, and a green wave of pure green plasma energy crashed against Urahara at his side.
"Now… two attacks at once? How did you manage that?" Urahara asked, lowering his sword.
"The spirits of my zanpakuto are two spirits connected together, I have the ability to split their attacks so that one can attack from one side while the other attacks from the other side. A simple technique of mines." I shrugged.
Urahara nodded, turning away and sheathing his sword. He lifted his dusty hat from the floor and placed it back on his head. "Well it seems you are ready… Bu-"
"Wait, that's it? I thought we were training… We have yet to go as far as bankai!" I complained.
He stopped walking, but did not turn around to face me. "My bankai… is not suitable for training… It would be very unpleasant for you to endure such a power. I will not be activating it anytime soon, thank you. We are done for the day. I suggest you get some rest… Tsukabishi should be able to help settle you in for the night."
I did not think talking back would be wise, so I followed his instruction, and made my way back up the corridor as Urahara began to make preparations. Tsukabishi, Urahara's close muscular friend and personal assistant in the store, was able to help bring me the necessary supplies to sleep for the night.
I was tired, but worried about whether or not the Urahara would be able to get the gate open. I lay on the makeshift bed, deep in thought, until I slowly began to drift off to sleep…
………
"Is he awake?"
"Not now, no, but I agree with your decision…"
"I knew he was up to something like this."
"You wish to accompany him?"
"Indeed."
"Well in that case, allow me to make the proper preparations, Kusabana Ruka."
…..
I awoke the next morning, the sunlight blinding me as it shone through the windows. My mind was much calmer, yet anxious about the outcome of my journey. I had detected a flaw in Rukia's reiatsu, and Chad's reiatsu was faltering, Ichigo's reiatsu had disappeared for a short time, and I thought something wrong had happened. I needed to go there to help them. I needed to save Inoue. I needed to face Aizen…
"Up already?" a familiar voice called from the open door.
"Yes, Urahara-san. Did you get everything prepared?" I rose from the bed.
"Excellent, then lets get started, make sure you have all of your belongings, I'd hate to see you leave your zanpakuto behind, though I would find it very funny if you did so." He walked down the hallway and down the stairs as he continued to talk, not realizing no one was listening.
I put together my stuff, but I had the slightest inkling that I was being watched…
I picked up my zanpakuto, which glowed softly as I attached the green satin ribbon to my belt.
After finishing everything, I walked into the basement, where I noticed Urahara had set up two large wooden beams on either side of a canyon wall. He was fastening one last section before looking down to me.
"Ready then?" He asked, smiling.
I nodded, and grasped my hand around the hilt of my sword, allowing its energy to flow into me.
He began chanting in some odd tone, and he began saying a series of complex words in a soft hum I could not make out. As he finished chanting, the wooden beams began to glow a deep purple.
"I was able to modify the gate so that it could lead you closer to Las Noches, you should be able to catch up with everyone else." He called out over the loud buzz, the beams grew brighter and brighter, and suddenly, energy shot up through the beams, tore through the air, and ripped open a black tear in the sky. Inside, black clouds swam endlessly in nothingness, it was a gateway to oblivion.
"Make sure to use your reiatsu to create a pathway to hold you up. Do not fall, or you will forever be jumbled in between words and you'll never find your way back. Keep moving straight forward, as the gate should lead you there." He called out again.
I looked forward into the Garganta, "Right. I'll be on my way then. Thanks Urahara." And with those last words, I dashed right into the open mouth of the Garganta, and into the dark abyss before me…
I heard footsteps behind me as I ran, a long pathway with my reiatsu winded behind me. It was a clean path, with a few rugged bumps. The footsteps behind me grew nearer but I did not look back, but ran faster.
"Sheesh are you that afraid of me?" A voice called out from behind.
"Oh Cra…" I nearly tripped over my path of reiatsu, almost keeling over the side.
"ARE YOU CRAZY!" I turned around to see my captain, Ruka Kusabana. "And what the heck are you doing here!? I could have gotten killed! Are you insane!?" I waved my arms frantically into the air.
She scribbled something down in her notebook and continued to walk past me, leaving a trail of reiatsu behind.
"I might be a little crazy." She said calmly as she walked on by.
I stared after her and sighed, "Sheesh… Who woulda known?"
I began to run in the same direction. "C'mon, follow me, Urahara said to head this way."
She followed silently behind, running as if with no effort.
We continued on through the Garganta, until I could see a light growing bigger and bigger, until we reached the edge.
Not paying attention, Ruka accidentally bumped into me, causing me to fall through.
"OH CRA--AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" I hurtled down and face-planted into the white sands of Hueco Mundo.
Much like last time, Ruka gracefully landed beside me.
I stood back up and shifted the sand from out of my robes.
"Okay… Watch where you're going next time." I turned to Ruka.
"Well, we got to where we needed to be. So lets do what we have to do, find Orihime, Ichigo, and the others, and get outta here. This place is already giving me the creeps."
We had landed on top of a massive white building; we were on a dome, which capped what looked like a ghostly white castle. Four colossal towers stood evenly on either side of the castle. There were several other smaller structures of the same ghostly white material that stood surrounding the castle. There were smaller pillars that stood towards the center of the dome. The sky was pitch black, with the exception of a few stars and a faded crescent moon. The landscape was completely covered in sand dunes, a faint light blue color. Dead trees dotted the landscape every now and then, and it was silent… Deadly silent…
"We're here…" I said. "Las Noches…"
"Well how do you suppose we can get in? I didn't see a door anywhere. And plus, we're on top of the building. We're sure to get lost eventually." Ruka added in, scribbling something in her notebook.
Curious, I peered over.
"This is the one time I'm telling you what is on this particular page… I'm recording basically where we are so that we don't end up in the same place later. Perhaps I can make a quick sketch…" Ruka snapped the notebook shut.
"There is no time for that. Plus, I'm guessing the only way we can get in is if we break in…" I said
"I see no windows…" She looked around.
I face-palmed. "Allow me to demonstrate…"I pulled out my zanpakuto.
"Don't waste any unnecessary energy, Raine."
"I got it." I released my Shikai. "Raito Hisui-Emerarudo!"
My sword melted into a plasma-like glowing green blade, a giant wave of plasma came from behind me and surrounded my body. My sword elongated the cross guard morphed into a more decorated cross guard, with tiny intricate and ornate images of a glowing golden moon. The fabric around the hilt elongated and a long jade silk sash unfurled and whirled with the wind. The sword glowed brilliantly to the point where it nearly blinded my captain. My faded hilt turned into
Ruka stepped back, astonished. "What is that!?"
I raised my moonlight sword… "My sword has two releases, and it depends how it releases if it is day or night. If it is day, Emerarudo's blade, the golden zanpakuto, will take over and my attacks will be more vibrant, but when it is night, Hisui takes over and is fueled by the moonlight, my sword turns into a faded gold-silver and the blade elongates fairy longer than my original Shikai. Emerarudo's special attack is "Domu Raito" (Dome of Light) but Hisui is specialized in "Tama Tsukiakari" (Jade Moonlight). I can combine these two attacks when I wish."
With my sword raised, I stabbed it into the thick white stone of Las Noches. The green energy began widening and widening the small incision. A giant column of light tore open a wide gap in the ceiling, my spiritual pressure building as it cut a perfect circle into the ceiling. My sword returning to its original form, I sheathed it. Ruka stepped forward, peering into the open gap alongside me.
"What the heck? Its…. It's daytime in there!" I noticed the same sand and more structures inside, the looked like an endless daytime sky. It looked like a city within a castle. There were several outlying buildings, and in the center, I noticed four giant towers that led up to the roof where we were. Everything was the same white color, however, did not appear as ghostly. I heard several loud bangs, and noticed that several tower structures were destroyed from battle.
Ruka, gesturing for me to follow, leaped into the open gap and plummeted through the open sky. I jumped after her, my hair and robes whipping wildly around me as drew closer and closer to the ground. I used spiritual presser to soften the blow of my land, allowing me to lightly land on the ground. We looked around.
"Right… lets go then." We darted off in the direction of the nearest reiatsu.
Ichigo suddenly sensed the reiatsu of two other shinigami… He was tired, and his mind was cloudy, and his energy was draining. Fast.
"Keep your eyes on your opponent." A sleek smooth voice called from behind him. Ichigo turned around fast enough to block his opponent's attack. His opponent dodged a swift swing of Zangetsu, and darted back to the other side of the room.
He had frayed shoulder length black hair with a white helmet, which had formed due to his composition, that of an arrancar's. His skin was a ghostly white, and his pure green soul-less eyes had tattoos of teal tears pouring down to his cheeks. He wore a slim fitting Arrancar robe. He was Espada # 6, Ulquiorra Cifer.
Ichigo furrowed his brows. "I think Raine and Ruka were sent here with the other captains." He guessed as he continued to battle, his bankai sword zipping through the air with his extremely powerful blows. He did not know how long he could hold off Ulquiorra, but he had to do anything to save Orihime… Even if it meant his own death…
"Mae… Sode no Shirayuki…" The beautiful pure white zanpakuto that Rukia held in her hand turned in a circle, causing a cold fog to rise.
She detected two other people in Las Noches, but she could not figure out who they were, but she was almost certain that one of them had been Raine. She remembered telling him that he should wait for further instruction before coming, but she was grateful that he had come anyways, they needed all the help they could get.
She held out her zanpakuto to the Arrancar that stood before her. Rudobon, an Arrancar clad in white, his head not revealed, as it was covered by what looked like the skeleton of an antelope. He was released, with several hollow-like braches reaching out from around him, and more and more Exequias pour out from each of the branches.
"You cannot beat me, Aizen thinks me not worthy enough to become an Espada, well, I shall show you know I do well possess a power more worthy than any other Espada's." Rudobon sneered.
Rukia gazed angrily at him… She had to get rid of this guy and catch up to Ichigo… She dipped her sword into the ground four times in a semicircle in front of her… her sword glowed and small frosted petals fell around her. A giant ice circle formed around her as she called out. "Tsugi no mai… Hakuren!"
Renji detected Raine and Ruka getting closer as he fought alongside Sado in battle against several oncoming waves of hollow.
"So, he decided to come anyways… Good, we needed more support anyways." He mumbled to himself as he dodged an oncoming blow from a hollow. He slashed them, and waved his Zanpakuto in the air…
"Howl… Zambimaru!" he smashed his snake-like zanpakuto into the line of hollows, destroying them upon impact, and causing several of them to disappear.
"Sado-kun, I need you to get those over there and stop concentrating over here." He pointed to another grouping of hollows.
"Okay." Was all he would say in response, and began attacking the other hollow with his massive strength.
More hollows crowded around them, and they became overwhelmed…
"Burn… Suzaku!" A massive pillar of flame wiped out the entire mass of gathering hollows surrounding Renji and Sado-kun.
"Captain Kusabana!" Renji turned to see her running to the scene, followed by Raine Shiba, her lieutenant, who unsheathed his sword.
"Lets handle these guys, you two continue on and help Rukia!" Raine called, followed by the loud command. "Teki o Mekura (Blind The Enemy) Raito Hisui-Emerarudo!"
They both began slaying the hollows, as Renji and Sado made their way to Rukia, who was overwhelmed by the number of her opponents…
"We've got to get to Ichigo… before its too late…" Renji thought. "We came here to save Orihime and everything turned out to be a huge mess. "But first, we gotta help Rukia!" He and Sado reached the giant wall where Rukia stood facing Rudobon… They were just in time to experience the giant wave of ice that flowed from her sword to the unsuspecting Arrancar, who was frozen instantly…
………………
Tia Harribel stood atop a large pillar overlooking the battlefield of Las Noches. She observed the opponent she found to be most interesting. That captain in particular who had the fire zanpakuto, her reiatsu seemed to be the strongest at the time being.
Kano Raggerjaw stepped out from behind her… He was interested in the lieutenant that fought alongside her…
"So we gonna kill 'em?" Kano asked.
"Not yet," Harribal replied.
"When we do fight them, can we play with them a bit, y'know, tease 'em and torture 'em?" Kano smirked.
"Yes… be as merciless as possible… The Shinigami are not welcome in Hueco Mundo…… Kill them off as you wish, I have decided I am going to fight that captain-class shinigami."
"So be it."
"Kill them. And show no mercy… They will witness the true power of Espada…"
END OF PART I
PART II COMING SOON! :D!
...............
...............
PART II BEGINNING!
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!
(Back in time…)
Ruka watched helplessly as Raine rushed off to find another entrance, Kano leaped from the tall wall, and followed closely behind him in hot pursuit, leaving Ruka and Tia Harribel alone, standing there.
Tia's hair swayed gently with the wind, staring menacingly at Ruka, like a predator about to pounce.
"You're subordinate seems to be desperate to defeat Aizen…" She finally said… Ruka glanced at her.
"What he desires is none of your business… Let us concentrate on what I desire… I desire access to the inside of this wall…" Ruka said, running her fingers over the hilt of her zanpakuto…
"That will not be happening, sorry, I'm afraid I shall defeat you before you get the chance to…" Tia said confidently, her mouth hidden behind the collar of her robes…
"Then what must be done, must be done…" Ruka wrapped her hand around the hilt of her zanpakuto, the sword burning within her hand as she pulled it from it's sheath, reflecting with a soft orange glow…
"Good, someone who gets to business finally, I have no time for small talk." Tia still stood there, sword un-drawn, hands at either side of her.
"Are you not going to draw your zanpakuto?" Ruka asked.
"I do not believe it is necessary…" Tia responded.
Ruka jumped towards Tia, as Tia rushed out of the way, to the opposite side of Ruka's direction. Ruka swung her blade, barely missing Tia by millimeters, chopping a few strands of her blonde hair… Ruka rushed forward again, this time taking Tia by surprise, she stepped out of the way, as Ruka changed direction and came from Tia's left, successfully tricking Tia, and slicing a gash into her left arm… Tia glanced at Ruka, a glint of anger shimmered in her deadly eyes.
"You were able to cut me, I'm surprised… but you will not do as well once I have drawn my sword…
She reached behind her back, grabbing the long hilt of her zanpakuto… She drew it slowly but carefully, releasing it from its sheath, and spinning it around her finger from a ring at the end of the pommel.
It was a broadsword that was hollow on the middle, with the edges of a normal sword… Energy flowed through it, as she clashed her blade against the sunset blade of Ruka.'s zanpakuto…
Ruka stepped back… Tia lunged forward, jabbing her blade towards Ruka's stomach. Ruka disappeared and appeared behind Tia, thrusting her blade, but being blocked by Tia's broadsword. Tia zoomed forward, Ruka responding and blocking, striking. Sparks flew everywhere… scattering amongst the sand as the blades clattered against one another. They were almost an even match, both of them like graceful dancers as they fought, with extreme precision and technique. Tia spun, and struck Ruka at her side, cutting right at her hip.
Ruka screamed in pain, and looking up, darted forward once again. Tia floated into the air and dodged the oncoming attack.
"You are no match for me, Captain-class Shinigami…" Tia muttered to Ruka, staring at her with confident eyes…
"You are too proud of yourself…" Ruka responded. "You will die like the other Espada who lay out there…"
"They are nothing… they lack power… the power that only I can harness…" Tia's mouth remained hidden behind her robes. Ruka held her zanpakuto in a defensive stance… Ready for whatever strike Tia had next to unleash on her…
"They lack power," Tia continued… "You shall experience the full caliber of my power!" She moved at an extra high speed, striking and swaying, stinging with her dangerous blade, going into a complete frenzy of merciless attacks. Ruka dodged several, trying to keep up, but finally getting the hang of her attacks, she caught up to the speed, striking and defending. Tia shoved her; throwing her backwards into a giant room surrounded by pillars, light streaming in where the wall was broken from where Ruka had been pushed in…
Ruka stood up, her neat pony had been undone, and her light-brown hair was now flowing freely with the wind that brushed in… Her haori was torn near the right hip, and she was fairly worn… Tia Harribel stood in front of the hole, her stance ready, her sword pointed straight out towards Ruka… She sighed, as if she were ready to say something… She drew back her sword, it's silver blade collecting spirit energy as the blade began to glow a bright yellow within the hollowed portion of her blade…aiming at Ruka, and she called out:
"Ola Azul! (Blue Wave)" A projectile of pure blue energy rushed towards Ruka like a ribbon-like wave… Ruka dodged it in time as it crashed against the pillar behind her, causing dust to fog the room, and chunks of debris to spray everywhere… The room illuminated with a blue glow…
"You believe you can stop me? We haven't even reached the climax of the battle yet!" Ruka held her zanpakuto in both of her hands. "You do realize that once I do this you will be finished!"
Tia Harribel did not seem interested, but her eyes did glint with a slight hint of fear for what was about to happen…
"Burn… Suzaku!" Ruka's zanpakuto engulfed entirely into flame, revealing two golden glass-like katanna's in either hand, with orange silk hilts, connected by a golden chain. She held out one of her katanna's a whirlwind of flame bursting from the tip as it collided with the awe-struck Tia Harribel… the flame pushing her outside and smashing her against a giant column. The flame wrapped around the column, crumbling it under the extreme heat and pressure. Tia was covered in heaps of debris and flaming hot chunks of charred stone… the sand around the column had melted to glass from the extreme heat… Tia climbed out, charred and covered in scars… her hair was slightly more messy and shaggy than it had been before, her braids slightly frayed…
"You have brought this too far, shinigami…" She growled, as she stepped forward from the rubble. She stood straight, holding her zanpakuto tightly in her hand, she reached her hand to the zipper of her Arrancar robes, and pulled the zipper down. The bottom half of her face was covered in a hollow-fied mask that resembled a skeletal jawbone of a shark's with razor sharp teeth. The hollowfied mask continued down to her breasts, like ribbed armor, covering up until just where the peak of the breast was, revealing most of her chest…
Ruka's eyes widened… "Raine would have loved to see this…" She thought in her mind.
"Destroy…" Tia began… "Tiburon (Shark)" a crash of a giant wave of water splashed around her like a cocoon, she began transformation… when the water cleared off, her clothes had been removed, and had been replaced by an armor of Arrancar hollowfied bone… her mask no longer covered her mouth, but still covered her breasts, and continued down as long spualders on her shoulders. Two prongs extending far beyond her back resembled shark fins, and the blade in her hand resembled that of an enlarged shark tooth with gills on the side… her boots were long and elongated, covering up until above her knees…
"Ruka…" Tia looked towards her, her mouth straightforward and emotionless… "You will witness the true power of the Trecera Espada…"
Ruka was awestruck, but holding her two flaming zanpakutos firmly in her hands… ready to pounce at any given moment…
She had to be aware. She had to win this fight. She had to burn the enraged shark with the flame of the fiery phoenix…
Ruka swung both of her blades, striking the giant blade that Tia Harribel wielded. Fire blazed from her zanpakuto, Tia Harribel ran backwards, keeping distance between the two opponents. Ruka threw one of her katanna's fire circling around it as it charged towards Tia like a torpedo… The chain extending, Tia dodged out of the way, only to be followed by the chain as the katanna pierced her left leg, allowing the chain to wrap around her, squeezing Tia as she was wrapped tightly within the chin's grip, the katanna still pierced in her leg…
"Burn…" Ruka said, as the chain slowly began to glow with heat, catching on fire, and burning Tia Harribel, who at last resort screamed… "Cascada!"
A giant rushing surge of water blasted straight towards Ruka, smashing Ruka against the wall with its great tsunami-like force. The water surged out from the building and began to cover almost half of the entire floor of Las Noches.
Ruka's zanpakutos were reduced to steam. "Great, out of all my opponents I had to get the one with water…" She mumbled to herself.
"You do realize your bound to destroy almost all of Las Noches…" Ruka said, analyzing most of the damage Tia had done…
"It is worth the punishment, I am determined to defeat you…" Tia stated blankly.
"You are too arrogant…" Tia's cockiness was beginning to annoy her …
Ruka held out both of her zanpakutos straight out, fire beginning to circle around them, as it collected more and more, charging as heat began to collect into the blade itself… A giant tornado-typhoon of flame burst forward, straight towards Tia, the entire place engulfing in flame, the room glowed bright orange as the flame neared Tia.
"La Gota!" A giant burst of water, in the shape of a shark tooth, burst forward and smacked against the tirade of flame, both of them battling for dominance, the two attacks twisting and turning in midair until they disappeared into steam…
The steam drifted throughout the room in puffs of clouds… Tia stood on one side, Ruka on the other, staring at each other until the steam cleared off…
"It's beginning to seem more and more like we are an even match…" Ruka said. "But I hope you do realize that I have only released up to Shikai level… I cannot wait to see how well you would put up with bankai…"
Tia's eyes widened… "That is not your full power!?" She stepped back…
Ruka grinned. She had the upper hand in the battle now…
"No… this doesn't even come close to what I am capable of doing… Allow me to show you…" She smiled.
"Ban-Kai!"
Ruka swung both of her blades, striking the giant blade that Tia Harribel wielded. Fire blazed from her zanpakuto, Tia Harribel ran backwards, keeping distance between the two opponents. Ruka threw one of her katanna's fire circling around it as it charged towards Tia like a torpedo… The chain extending, Tia dodged out of the way, only to be followed by the chain as the katanna pierced her left leg, allowing the chain to wrap around her, squeezing Tia as she was wrapped tightly within the chin's grip, the katanna still pierced in her leg…
"Burn…" Ruka said, as the chain slowly began to glow with heat, catching on fire, and burning Tia Harribel, who at last resort screamed… "Cascada!"
A giant rushing surge of water blasted straight towards Ruka, smashing Ruka against the wall with its great tsunami-like force. The water surged out from the building and began to cover almost half of the entire floor of Las Noches.
Ruka's zanpakutos were reduced to steam. "Great, out of all my opponents I had to get the one with water…" She mumbled to herself.
"You do realize your bound to destroy almost all of Las Noches…" Ruka said, analyzing most of the damage Tia had done…
"It is worth the punishment, I am determined to defeat you…" Tia stated blankly.
"You are too arrogant…" Tia's cockiness was beginning to annoy her …
Ruka held out both of her zanpakutos straight out, fire beginning to circle around them, as it collected more and more, charging as heat began to collect into the blade itself… A giant tornado-typhoon of flame burst forward, straight towards Tia, the entire place engulfing in flame, the room glowed bright orange as the flame neared Tia.
"La Gota!" A giant burst of water, in the shape of a shark tooth, burst forward and smacked against the tirade of flame, both of them battling for dominance, the two attacks twisting and turning in midair until they disappeared into steam…
The steam drifted throughout the room in puffs of clouds… Tia stood on one side, Ruka on the other, staring at each other until the steam cleared off…
"It's beginning to seem more and more like we are an even match…" Ruka said. "But I hope you do realize that I have only released up to Shikai level… I cannot wait to see how well you would put up with bankai…"
Tia's eyes widened… "That is not your full power!?" She stepped back…
Ruka grinned. She had the upper hand in the battle now…
"No… this doesn't even come close to what I am capable of doing… Allow me to show you…" She smiled.
"Ban-Kai!"
Fire encircled Ruka, her katanna returning to its sealed state, as eight of her golden sunset glass blades, blazing with pure orange flame, formed, hovering behind her spread out as if they were wings, four on each side of Ruka, enabling Ruka to fly. All eight katannas were connected by the same golden chain at their pommels, and they blazed with uncontrollable flame…
Tia Harribel stepped back. "How did you-…" She was cut off by the loud cry of the phoenix as an enormous fiery phoenix emerged from behind Ruka, spreading its wings of flame as it spun upwards into the sky…
"Die…" Ruka was serious, her hair flipping wildly in the fiery wind, her robes flapping around her. She held out her zanpakuto, as she began to rise into the skies above… The giant head of the fiery phoenix Suzaku rocketed towards Tia.
Tia's eyes widened. "Cascad…" She almost said
"It's pointless!" Ruka broke in "You're finished!"
The giant phoenix head of fire collected more and more flame, completely encircling Tia as it neared her, a tornado of flame following and wings spreading gracefully, the fire dancing with every flap…
There was nothing Tia Harribel could do. She was surrounded in a fiery hell of fire, there was no way of escape, and her attacks would be pointless. The heat grew stronger, pounding at her as the tips of the flame licked at her dangerously, burning her slightly. The phoenix was nearing her, she stood straight, accepting death.
"You will not die today…" Another voice called, as the figure stepped in front and blocked the phoenix, smashing into it with his bare hand and redirecting the attack elsewhere, the fire extinguishing instantly… As the smoke cleared, Ruka gasped as she saw who stood before her, his face calm and collected. His lock of chocolate brown hair tumbled down across the side of his nose. His white robes flowing lightly as he stood back up into position…
Ruka stared at the person, completely taken aback… "Aizen…" Was all she could say…
Aizen smiled and brushed the dust off from his shoulder, turning to Tia Harribel…
"Tia, seal yourself again… We are ready to leave for Karakura town… I shall speak to you about your punishment later…"
Tia Harribel blinked. "Punishment?"
Aizen turned around and began to take a few steps forward, but stopped. "You released within Las Noches… You know that is highly against my rules."
"It was necessary…" Tia snapped.
"It is not difficult to relocate to the outside of Las Noches…" Aizen responded…
"Would you rather have let her have her way anyways and successfully pass through to defeat more of our kind?" Tia expressed with a hint of annoyance.
"Harribel… You would have been defeated anyways, seeing as I had saved you from death a few moments ago. As I stated earlier, we will discuss this later." Aizen continued to walk off, Tia turning to Ruka and smiling.
"You are too late… By the time you arrive your beloved town will be destroyed…"
Ruka's eyes widened, as she watched Tia follow behind Aizen… rushing towards Aizen, she raised her zanpakuto to strike him…
Aizen grabbed her burning zanpakuto with his hand…
"You are foolish, Captain Ruka Kusabana…" He used one quick shove to throw her nearly a mile away from where he stood…
Ruka flew backwards, watching as Aizen and Tia grew smaller and smaller in the distance, until they became dots in the endless sands… her flame leaving a trail behind her, as the fire strands that spewed from her blades faded, and her bankai was reduced back to its sealed state…
"I… almost defeated her…" Ruka said, slowly drifting back down to the sands, crash landing into a dune, grains spraying everywhere as she struck the ground. She lay there, stunned, defeated…
……….. Her eyes opened……………
She sat back up and stared off into the distance, trying to determine where Aizen and Tia Harribel had disappeared. She pulled out her notebook and scribbled something down, placing it back into the folds of her robes.
"Agh!" She screamed when she tried to stand up… She was severely injured, her left leg broken completely from the impact of hitting the ground. She half-limped a few steps…
"Raine…" She said. Wondering where he was and if he was able to get through. She felt a sudden surge of energy, her eyes widening as she realized what had happened…
Raine had just activated his bankai… Did it really need to go that far? Was he so desperate to end the battle that he resorted to using bankai!? His bankai was forbidden… Kano must have been a powerful opponent… as was Tia Harribel…
Determined to find them, she attempted to detect their reiatsu… With little to no success, she dashed in the direction where she had been thrown from, hoping to catch up to Aizen in time… In time to stop him before he could reach Karakura town…
She skimmed across the sands, lightly touching the ground, slower than usual because of her damaged leg, but still able to reach there within minutes. The tall white buildings growing nearer and nearer, se reached one large white cylindrical building, which towered above her as she stared up at it. It seemed endless…
Guessing that this was where Aizen was most likely inside of, she held out her hand, thrusting forward and calling out the incantation…
"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. "
A ball of blue energy began to form within her hand… becoming larger and larger, until it became the size of a normal basketball…
"Blue Fire! Crash Down!" A blast of blue energy burst from the sphere, breaking an entire hole in the thick wall, smoke rising and the dust settling. Rubble tumbling down from the open gap in the wall… Ruka stepped through the makeshift hole she made. She was in a dark empty circular room, with three doorways on the exact other end of where she stood. Pillars lined the walls, orderly and neat, a plain white color.
She ran, somewhat lop-sided into the central doorway, dashing down the hallway, and reaching stairs, a very narrow stairway, which led up into pure darkness… Ruka darted up the steps swiftly, nearly tripping on several steps before reaching the top, which was another room, this time, completely white and well lit, the polished gray floors polished so well, she could see herself clearly in the ground…
She continued down a hallway, with arches leading to the end. She did not stop, she began to sweat, but she would not let anything hold her back, not even her broken leg…
She reached a giant room… two double doors opened; she stepped silently inside, observing the room. The room's ceiling was endless and led up to complete darkness… The obsidian marble floors glinted with what little light was in the room… White pillars against the wall lined the entire room, and in the direct center, stood a giant slab of obsidian marble, with a smooth white throne, composed of geometric rectangular shapes, sat alone in the center. Rocky formations covered the opposite side of the room from where the throne sat, the side where Ruka had stepped in, where it was extremely dark, enabling Ruka to hide amongst the shadows…
She peered out, and gasped.
Aizen was standing there, accompanied by Gin, Tousen, and his faithful gang of remaining Espada… Tia Harribel, Coyote Starrk, Baraggan Luisenbarn, and their subordinates…
He opened a Garganta, and relayed a message throughout all of Las Noches, placing Ulquiorra in charge as he began to step into the Garganta leading into Karakura Town, followed by the rest of his accomplices…
"No!" Ruka ran forward, her broken leg stumping her ability to run properly… She followed after them, the Garganta closing up behind them, Ruka reached out, hoping to make it in time as the portal grew smaller and smaller…
She jumped forward, reaching out, in the air, nearing the closing doorway… She slipped through the open gap, falling onto her reiatsu path in the middle of the indigo abyss… Aizen and everyone else had disappeared…
She stood back up, panting and relieved. She stared forward, noticing the portal on the other side of leading to Karakura Town… She ran faster again, the path following her as she hurtled through the opening into the fresh air of Karakura Town… She tumbled down from the Garganta, onto the deserted streets o Karakura town…
Ruka looked up. She could see the Arrancar facing the Shinigami… There was going to be a fight, she could tell…
Things were about to get much worse than the way they were in Hueco Mundo, Ruka was almost certain of it…
..............(Back to Kano and Raine).............
..............(Back to Kano and Raine).............
"Rip Flesh… Sangre de la Espina…"
His hollowfied form was treacherous…
Kano stood in front of me… the sharp thorns protruding from his skin glinting in the light from my sword…
"You're gonna have to learn not to mess with our kind!" He roared, twisted in insane anger…
"You are allowing your rage to take over…"
Kano glared at me, his chest heaving as he breathed heavily in anger…
"Raine Shiba… my rage shall be responsible for your death!" Each one of the hundreds of thorns protruding from his skin glowed a bright red…
My eyes widened… "Holy…" I gasped as I realized what was happening…
He was about to shoot more than one hundred of those buzz-saw red ceros at me…
Clenching more and more, his rippling muscles bulging from the stress of creating the ceros. The red light growing brighter as each individual cero grew larger and larger. I shot out a small ball of light energy; It bounced effortlessly off from his bare skin, spiraling and absorbed by the blinding red light… The loud sound emanating from the hundreds of ceros…
I stepped back… I could not let him strike me down… For the sake of my friends, for the sake of the Gotei 13, for the sake of everyone… I could not lose this battle.
He charged towards me, using sonido, he raised his arms, slashing at me with his blades. I darted back, using shunpo, I dodged and missed the majority of his attacks. He jabbed at me; the tip of his blade moving so fast, I could barely see it…
He pierced the spot right above my stomach…
"GAAHHH!!" I yelped as I fell down to my knees, spitting out a glob of blood…
His ceros still charging, he threw down his blade upon my neck, I moved, barely dodging decapitation…
I used Senka, enabling me to disappear from in front of him and appear directly behind him, hoping to confuse him… but to no avail, I swung my blade at him, his blade meeting mine's in a powerful clash, green and red light spewing everywhere… I pulled my zanpakuto back…
"Domu Raito!" I shouted, and the green dome of light energy grew directly over Kano, trapping him and shrinking down to his body size…
Using only one of his ceros, he blew away the dome, shattering it, the chunks of acidic light plopping around him, sparkling as they fell softly to the floor…
"No way…" I said…
He smirked; his cocky attitude was getting on my nerves… he leaned forward, his ceros getting larger and larger, till they were about the size of a normal plate…
"Sangre de la Espina… Matar (Kill)…" The several hundreds of ceros shot at me, about ten at a time, pounding at the air as they rocketed towards me.
I jumped into the air, using shunpo to avoid them, only to be met with ten more ceros, all of them hurtling to the grounds with such explosive power, I was nearly blown away from the mere impact of them hitting the ground.
"Stop moving you lil' punk!" He shot more at me, all of them slicing the air… One of them striking my chest… The blade began to cut into me as it exploded directly in my face… I flew back, my mind jumbled, my body weak, and a burning pain from my chest, the excruciating pain becoming more and more unbearable as I was blinded by the red light…
"Shi…iiiitt…." I muttered weakly as I hit the ground…
"You see now that you have no hope of defeating me!?" Kano stood over me, holding his bare foot over my head…
"I shall crush your head into powder…" He thrust his foot down, I rolled out of the way, his foot slamming into the empty sand, spraying grains everywhere…
I stabbed his foot with my zanpakuto…
My sword gleamed as Kano shrieked in pain, and as I dug further, the light of my blade grew stronger… a blast of acidic green light energy tearing through the flesh, incinerating, and absorbing the remains… His leg remained a bloody stump… blood pouring out form the end, trickling to a steady flow as he quickly re-grew his leg, skin and bone encircling around the wound, and closing up the gaps until the foot was back to normal…
"Flash regeneration…" I stood back up… "You bastard…"
He closed his eyes, standing still for a moment. I watched closely, awaiting his next move, watching every twitch of his body…
He held out his arm, the heave blade pointed straight out… with a flick of his arm, his blade glowed a bright red color… blood soaking the blade as he held it forward…
"This blade is now covered with cero energy…" the blade hummed like a saw, I realized that the blade had now became a bony-cero saw blade…
He opened his eyes, flicking his head to the left, a crack in his neck, as he readjusted himself, as if ready to continue fighting…
I lunged towards him, he was gone instantly… he appeared right behind me and dug the blade into my shoulder, the explosive power cutting deeper and deeper into my shoulder blade… I screamed in pain, darting forward to avoid the blade's final blow…
He threw out his arm, covered in the spiny thorns, as it made impact with my face, he slid his arm across, each tip of the thorns digging into the skin of my cheek, tearing away at the flesh… I used shunpo to disappear, I reappeared in the air, dashing away from him… only to hear a loud noise coming from behind me…
I turned around, about another ten ceros followed behind me… I dodged them all, drawing my zanpakuto so I could absorb the energy from one of them, allowing the remaining chunks to fly off, exploding in a giant red beam of light. I whirled around in mid air, directing my sword to Kano, the cero had turned green, and more spherical, and it glowed much brighter as it hurtled in midair towards Kano… He had little time to move, the cero struck him on the arm, exploding with ten times more the power of his original cero… The green light bursting and an ear-piercing sound ringing through the air…
I appeared behind him… I re-ignited my ban-kai… the blinding light flooding all of Hueco Mundo as Kano stepped back, his eyes covering the excessive light. The open sky had turned to a pure pitch white…
I smiled… my eyes flooding with an inky black color until they were completely covered…
A giant dome of light, surrounded by waves of green acidic energy, towered over him… He had been blinded… Now was my chance… The dome began sucking away at his reiatsu, the red ceros charging at each tip of the thorn faded as they were sucked; I began to glow as I gained more energy… Kano's excessive spewing of energy was benefiting me…
"Internal Collapse…": I had said once again, the Dome collapsed to about Kano's size, the waves of green energy not changing or moving… Kano began to tear at the unbreakable acidic energy of the dome with his blades… having no effect on the dome whatsoever, but merely supplying it with more energy, feeding it to me… Then the giant green waves of pulsating light crashed down on the dome… smashing up against Kano, compressing him, and then exploding, a giant nuclear green explosion… the force of the attack did not even budge me, as I darted directly through the attack itself, slashing Kano's back, leaving a giant bleeding scar… I had used more energy this time… I was sure I had killed him…
I had cut a deep hole into the sand below… Kano, laying facedown in the sand, his thorns torn and broken, stumps still sticking out form his skin… all clothing destroyed, and his excessively scarred skin was bare and bleeding, his red hair scattered in disorder… The scar on his back so deep his bone was exposed…
I disappeared from the top of the ridge, and to the bottom, where Kano lay… He was trembling in immense pain… he attempted to pull himself up… slowly rising…
I watched him; he was in a worse condition than me… barely having the strength to pull himself up. Blood dripping from his mouth, he lunged out at me with whatever strength he had left…
I was never really good at Kido, but I had learned a few techniques that were use I held my hand out, and recited the incantation…
"Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!" My hand glowed…"Six Rods Prison of Light" …
Six wide beams of glowing yellow beams of light slammed into Kano's midsection, trapping him in place, in a flower like design… He was stuck, and hung limply from the beams of light…
"You were too sure of yourself… You don't know what it's like to have to fight to save others, that is a trait all Arrancar and Hollow have… That is what makes you alike… You are all the same, heartless…" I spoke to him, he glared at me angrily, his face scarred, and he was weak…
"You… you bastard…" He said, thrusting his arm into my chest with what little strength he had left, but it had dug deep enough to do damage… I coughed, tugging myself away from the blade, and staggering back to the floor…
"Tama Tsukiakari!" I yelled, my blade glowing to life as a projection of jade light spat forth and struck Kano's head… I watched grimly as the beam of Jade light incinerated his head, absorbing it and tearing it as it tore through the open skull…
The yellow beams of trapping light faded… and his body flopped to the ground, decapitated… a stump left for a neck… staining the white sands of Hueco Mundo a bright scarlet red…
I frowned as I sheathed my zanpakuto… I clutched the open gash on my chest…
"There's no way I can heal this in time…" I muttered under my breath, as I stared at the torn up body of Kano Raggerjaw… I began to walk away, half limping, slowly and steadily, back into the castle of Las Noches…
