Underworld Dreams

[Kefka]

A Bleach fanfic based a long time after the events of Aizen.

Chapter 1: Enter the Demons


“One, Two, Three, Four!”

The young shinigami students screamed in unison as they practiced their sword skills in the dojo. The classroom had 20 students in them, all wielding wooden swords that they swung in unison. Their teacher casually walked around the dojo, tapping his wooden sword against his shoulder as he studied their form, making sure they were perfect. All the students tried hard to do their best, especially since the teacher of this class was one of the Gotei 13 Protection Squad Captains.

Kurokawa Taiki walked around the dojo as the students performed this basic 4-strike combo that he used as a warm up in his classes. On occasion, he would swing his sword down and trip a student whose stance was too wide, saying with a rather jokingly tone “Stance is too wide.” He always did tricks like that, even knocking the sword out of a student’s hand for not having a good grip on it. He figured if they can’t hold onto a sword in practice or keep a good stance, how would they combat hollows or other monstrosities that threatened the World?
It was rare to see a captain in the academy, and even more rare to see them teaching classes. Kurokawa Taiki was an exception though, as he was extremely skilled at using a sword, earning himself the title of “Greatest Swordsman in Soul Society”. Because of this, he wanted to help strengthen the swordfighting skills of the new recruits, so he began to teach classes in the Academy that dealt with swordfighting. Most of his classes were high advanced classes, but this current class was one of the basic ones he taught to help strengthen the mold of the students.

Just then, Taiki spotted a young female walking by the open dojo door. He recognized that figure anywhere and he gave his wooden sword to one of his teaching assistants, an upper classman, and headed out the door. When he got out into the hallway, the female ran into his arms, hugging him and giving him a kiss gently on the lips.

“Hey Hisa..” Taiki said, looking down at the girl in his arms. “Didn’t expect to see you, shouldn’t you be teaching?”

The girl was Hisa Safaia, a young attractive female and vice captain of the 6th Division. She had an athletic figure that included curves that made any man take a look when she passed by. Her hair was black and tied up into a ponytail, the usual style she wore her hair in especially when she was fighting. Safaia was also a skilled swordsman and taught in the academy, although none of her classes were on the level of Taiki’s advanced ones. It was through the academy that these two teachers met and eventually became the lovers they are today.

“I decided to let the class end early since the students were doing a good job, plus I wanted to see you.” She responded, smiling at him.

“Oh, I’m glad to hear that. I wanted to take you out for some ramen…..” Taiki started saying until he spotted a hell butterfly floating through the window and approaching them. The butterfly delivered its message, which told Taiki that a Captain’s Meeting was taking place shortly and his presence was required.

The young Captain sighed as he looked at Safaia. “I’m sorry…looks like that ramen is going to have to wait.”

Safaia nodded, “It’s alright, I’ll catch you around after the meeting hopefully.” Taiki leant in, planting a kiss on her cheek causing her to smile as he headed off to the meeting room. Safaia stood there for a minute or two, daydreaming before a voice she didn’t want to hear snapped her out of it.

“Pretty girls like yourself shouldn’t be daydreaming in the middle of the hallway…someone might try something.” The voice said, coming from a figure leaning against the wall behind her.

Safaia turned around and looked at the man with his black frizzled hair and his deep green eyes. “Pardon me Sakakibara-taichou…but I wasn’t aware that was any of your concern. Shouldn’t you be going to the Captain’s Meeting as well?” Her tone was a little fiery as she said that, showing her disdain for the man.

Higashikuni Sakakibara was the captain of the 10th Division, and was the most arrogant person in the Gotei 13. He thought he could own anyone in a fight, be it with swords or with words. He was the only captain that had two swords for his zanpakuto in its sealed form, and took pride in his dual wielding abilities. Beyond that, he was a true player and flirted with any girl he came in contact with in hopes of bedding her later that evening. He had always had his eye on Safaia, but Taiki had come into the picture and threw his gameplan off. However, that didn’t stop him from hitting on her when Taiki wasn’t around.

Sakakibara shrugged as he pushed himself off the wall and slowly walked towards her. “Yeah I’m heading there now..I wanted to make a detour to enjoy the view.” As he walked past her, he looked behind and glanced at Safaia’s ass. “And what a view it is….”

Safaia turned around, folding her arms across her chest as she looked at him, “You done staring at me with that disgusting look of yours? You’re never going to get me in bed with you.”

Sakakibara chuckled as he looked her over. “There’s no harm in trying now is there? Mmm damn, how did such a man like Taiki manage to get such a hot piece of ass…I’ll never know.”

“Because he treats women with respect and not like pieces of meat like you do.” The busty female said, anger rising in her tone.

The arrogant captain ignored the comment as he gave her a wink before shunpoing off, heading to the meeting. He didn’t care if he was late or not, he never liked going to those meetings in the first place, thinking they were a waste.

“Damn….I hate that man.” Safaia said under her breath as she walked off to go on with the duties she had to do in the Academy, awaiting Taiki’s return.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the captains were all gathering in the meeting room, waiting for the meeting to commence. There were a few stragglers, but most had already arrived. Taiki had already arrived and was waiting patiently for the meeting to begin, as he looked around the room at all the captains who were there already.

Yamamoto Genryuusai, captain of the 1st Division and Commander General of the Gotei 13 Protection Squads, was still there and ruling over all 13 divisions with his strong wooden staff and iron will. It was obvious he wasn’t happy that some of the captains were late arriving to the meeting.

Next to him was Baiko Horigoshi, the captain of the 2nd Division. He was a tall dark skinned gentleman that was a strict militaristic captain. His captain’s jacket had the sleeves ripped off, showing off how muscular his frame was as he had his arms folded across his chest.

The 3rd Division Captain was standing next to Baiko, talking with him about various executive decisions. His name was Bunrakuken Kurogane; a blonde hair, blue-eyed man that had his shinigami outfit perfectly clean and pressed to perfection. Kurogane was a perfectionist, and wanted everything to be done right. He was a close friend with Baiko and they often shared ideas of how to run a secure division.

Michizane Hosokaya stood there like a statue, his long ash gray hair down his back. He was an old man and the Captain of the 5th Division. He was a man of very few words and he spent most of his time in his headquarters, but he was renown for his kidou skills, even rumored to have created his own kidou.

Suddenly, someone nudged Taiki in the ribs and leaned over to whisper in his ear. “Hey Kurokawa….don’t you think that Hosokaya-taichou looks like he could be Yamamoto-taichou’s brother? They look so alike…it’s almost scary.”

Taiki turned and looked at the man, “No I don’t Date-taichou…stop pestering me with stupid remarks like that.” Taiki replied to Gonnohyoe Date, the 9th Division Captain and local prankster of the Gotei 13. Date had long silver hair that he took great pride in.

Finally, the remaining captains filed in, including Higashikuni Sakakibara. As Sakakibara walked by Taiki, he turned to look at him and smiled, “Your precious girl is missing you….” Taiki just shook his head, amazed at the arrogance of the man. He knew that he flirted with Safaia, but Safaia wouldn’t go for a man like that at all, so he didn’t feel like intervening.

Yamamoto tapped his staff three times on the mahogany floors. “The meeting will now begin!” The ancient captain bellowed in his voice, making all the captains turn to face him quietly, respecting his authority.

“I have called you all here today for an important issue. In the past week, we have been monitoring some rather unusual activity on Earth. Particularly, some unknown spirit forces have appeared and are causing havoc. We have sent scouts to gather intelligence on them but they were all slain in battle. This has become a serious issue…” Yamamoto said.

“What do you wish for us to do?” Settan Senmatsu asked in an almost disinterested tone. Senmatsu was the captain of the 11th Division, and although he was a great fighter, he had a rather disinterested personality. He rarely showed enthusiasm in things, which of course bothered some of the other captains.

“I am requesting one of you to head there to investigate the issue and bring back information for us so we can prepare the right squad to send in there to take care of the problem.” Yamamoto answered.

“Just to gather information, you are saying a captain couldn’t take on these forces alone?” Date said, dropping the prankster act when pressing issues were at hand.

“We are unsure..but they are strong enough to pose a threat to our covert troops, so we can’t say. Any volunteers?” Yamamoto asked.

Taiki took a step forward as he looked at the Commander-General. “I’ll do it Commander-General…I am curious about these forces.”

Just then, Aya Konoe stepped forward, fidgeting a bit. “Umm…Yamamoto-taichou. I would like to make a suggestion.” Aya Konoe was the captain of the 6th Division. She was a young attractive woman that had purple curly hair that reached down to her neck. Her main problem was that she tended to be rather shy and fidgety.

The old veteran captain turned to the young female, looking at her. “What is it, Konoe-taichou?”

“I would like to offer my fukutaichou…Hisa Safaia to accompany Kurokawa-taichou to the real world. Safaia knows the real world rather well and could prove of assistance to the brave captain.”

Yamamoto nodded, before turning over to Taiki. “Do you accept, Kurokawa?” Taiki nodded in approval that he accepted Safaia coming along with him.

Sakakibara rolled his eyes as he mumbled; “Of course he would accept…they’ll probably rent a motel room while they’re out there…”

“That settles it then…Kurokawa Taiki and Hisa Safaia will be going to the real world. Meeting is adjourned.” Yamamoto bellowed, closing the meeting with another loud tap from his staff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taiki walked out from the meeting hall and headed towards Safaia’s personal quarters. After a few minutes of traveling, he finally arrived at her place, letting himself in. When he entered, Safaia was dressed in a long midnight blue robe as she relaxed on a sofa. She turned her head and spotted Taiki walking in.

“Hey Taiki….was waiting for you.” She grinned at him.

Taiki just looked at her laying there on the sofa. “I see that…what if someone else had walked in besides me?”

“Nah, they would’ve knocked unlike you.” She answered, standing up and walking towards him. “So what was the meeting about?”

“We’re going to Earth on a mission..” Taiki replied, “Both of us.”

“I’m going?? Really?” Safaia said, grinning widely at the chance of heading to the real world. When Taiki nodded and confirmed what he had said, she went off to get dressed and get ready to head out. With Safaia getting ready, it was Taiki’s turn as he made the preparations in his division to take care of itself while he was out. In a few hours, both of them were ready to head to the real world.

Taiki and Hisa stood outside the gate portal that would take them to the location of these attacks. The two shinigami turned to each other and gave a nod before slowly walking through the gate and were sent to the real world. Their destination was a peaceful city during the middle of the night. Hardly anything stirred during the night, which was a perfect time for the creatures of evil to run amok and cause chaos.

Taiki and Hisa stepped out of the portal and into the human city. They landed on a rooftop and started to jump from rooftop to rooftop. They were constantly on the lookout, attempting to detect any weird spirit force that was in the area.

“Do you sense anything?” Taiki asked Hisa as they traveled throughout the city.

Hisa shook her head, “No I don’t detect any…wait, I just sensed something.” Feeling a sudden spike in reiatsu that quickly faded.

Taiki nodded, “Me too…it’s coming from the shipyard. Let’s go!”

The two shinigami entered the shipyard grounds. It was a large area with metal storage containers stacked all over and cranes looming overhead. In the darkness, the cranes looked like metallic hands, reaching down to grab whoever came close. The containers were stacked high in some places, almost creating metallic mountains for the shinigami to navigate their way through. They landed on some of the lower containers and looked at each other.

“I think it’ll be best if we split up and see what we can find…” Taiki said to Hisa, as the pair stopped walking, trying to detect the reiatsus.

“Yeah…we’ll cover more ground.” She replied, as the two split up to explore the shipyard. Even though they detected the unknown reiatsu in this area, the spirits were hiding it, making it harder to track down the location exactly.

Hisa walked through the shipyard slowly, the moonlight shone between the towers of containers around her. After walking for a couple of minutes, she felt a presence up ahead on the containers. Leaping up onto the containers, the young female shinigami ran to see who it was.

There was a figure standing there stretching…or what appeared to be stretching. The figure was a short, stocky man. He was dressed in a blue jumpsuit, which hugged his body, showing that he wasn’t exactly the most fit person in the world. His hair was brown and disheveled, and he had a pair of goggles on his head. When he heard the sounds of Hisa approaching, he jumped and spotted her.

“Who are you?” The figure said, eyeing the busty lady, “You look like another one of those shinigami…although a rather attractive one.”

Hisa sighed, seeing that even weird creatures hit on her, it wasn’t just other male shinigami. “I’m Hisa Safaia, Vice-Captain of the 6th Division and who are you?”

The man chuckled as he jumped a foot towards her, grinning. “Good…I might actually get a challenge from you. I am Ogawa Keito…the youngest of the Kaito Brothers.”

Hisa blinked, “The…Kaito brothers…?”


Meanwhile, Taiki was on the other side of the shipyard, exploring for any forms of life. As he was walking down one of the container-made alleys, a figure walked out a couple meters affront of him into his path. The figure was a tall, slender man dressed in an open vest to show off his chest and a pair of karate gi pants. His body was athletic, unlike the figure Hisa was confronted with. His hair was black and reached down to his midback with green highlights through it.

“Ah…I see there is another shinigami that decided to come.” The man said, drawing the katana that he had on his left hip.

Taiki saw the man drawing his sword, and slowly drew his own, seeing that this person enjoyed to fight with a sword. Sadly for him, that was Taiki’s specialty. “What do you want here?”

The figure smiled, “I’m here to kill..it’s that simple. The name is Takuno Kaito…the middle brother of the Kaito brothers. Now that you know my name, it’s time to get down to business!” After saying that, the man rushed towards Taiki with his katana, preparing to strike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Kefka]

Chapter 2: Bounto or no?


Hisa Safaia looked at her opponent, wondering what powers he possessed. He didn’t look physically threatening, but he must have something up his sleeve since he spoke so arrogantly. The young 6th Division fukutaichou drew her sword, both hands holding onto it as she eyed him.

I can take him… Hisa thought as she ran towards the short man. She leapt into the air, and came at him with a downward slash, hoping to split him in two. However, Ogawa just raised one hand and grinned at her.

“Shield!”

Her sword was stopped 6 inches from actually touching him by some invisible force. She looked bewildered, not seeing anything there but feeling a barrier between her and the youngest of the Kaito brothers.

“What the….” Hisa muttered out, trying to figure out what happened, but while she was caught off guard, the short fat man held his palm open upward and a ball of dark energy began to form in it. It was a small ball, approximately little bigger than a baseball, but he threw it at Hisa. When she got hit by the orb, it exploded in a small blast, sending her flying back and into a tower of containers, crashing right through the side of one of them.

“No one can touch me…I am invincible.” Ogawa said, looking over at her. “I will destroy you myself, and prove how powerful I really am.”

Hisa got up, dusting herself off and adjusting her outfit. She mumbled to herself, “Stupid shield threw me off guard…” looking over at him. “As for his black orbs or whatever…they don’t do that much damage.” She examined herself, seeing not many wounds from the explosion. It appeared that all the orb really did was just knock her back.

She leapt out from the container and back to where Ogawa was. She grabbed her sword tightly and ran at him before shunpoing to the side to lash out a strike. However, his shield again deflected her strike. Luckily, she managed to shunpo out of the way of getting hit by another black orb, appearing on the other side of him.

This went on over and over. Every time she thought she was close to striking him, the annoying man would just deflect it with a shield or roll out of the way when he couldn’t get his shield up in time. She had managed to avoid the black orbs, only getting hit by one since the original orb blasted her back.

Hisa had broken a sweat fighting Ogawa, and he just grinned at her, loving how she couldn’t touch him at all. He hid behind his shield efficiently, using it as his primary fighting tactic since he wasn’t as strong as his brothers were.

“Damn I hate that shield…” Hisa said, “I wonder how Taiki is doing……”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Takuno lunged at Taiki as their swords clashed. Back and forth in the alley they went, their swords clashing constantly with the occasional miss in between. Takuno wasn’t a bad swordsman, he was rather skilled in the way of the katana, but his actions were forced and he didn’t move as fluently as Taiki did.

Takuno leapt back a couple feet looking over at Taiki. Suddenly, his sword flashed a bit and a huge gust of wind was created. Taiki looked quizzically at the guy before quickly raising his sword to deflect what appeared to be nothing. However, the containers all around Taiki were sliced in half, the pieces falling in on themselves, noises echoing through the shipyard.

“Rather impressive….” Takuno said with a little smirk, “Nobody yet has been able to detect that attack and manage to block it.”

Taiki just looked over at the man, “I’ve seen techniques similar to that before….so your silly games won’t work on me.”

“I’m glad…a real fight at last!” Takuno said, grabbing onto his sword once more before coming after him. Taiki played the role of the patient fighter, letting his opponent come to him and reacting off his moves. When Takuno gave the shinigami captain an opening, Taiki would take it and strike, hoping to kill him.

The fight seemed to back and forth as they scaled the containers, climbing them in graceful style, before leaping off them at each other for a clash. Taiki landed on one of the containers, and spun around quickly, his captain’s jacket floating up by the speed he turned to block the attack from Takuno.

Not bad… Taiki thought, He might actually make me try….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sparks scattered across the metal surfaces of the container like marbles that had fallen out of a jar. Hisa thought she had found an opening and unleashed a kidou spell at Ogawa, only to have him at the last second deflect it once more, causing the sparks to scatter. It seemed that the only way to beat Ogawa was to break through his shield with brute force.

Ogawa ran towards Hisa, but couldn’t keep up with her, as she was taller and more nimble, able to jump around and dodge his black orbs. She hopped from one container to the next as he chased her around. Eventually, their chase lead them to the edge of the shipyard, where a boat was docked. When Hisa arrived at the clearing, she stopped short and looked up at the boat.

“There’s someone on there….” Hisa said.

Sure enough, a figure walked towards the edge of the boat, looking down at Hisa and Ogawa who was close following her. The man was dressed in a full dark grey suit and a eggplant colored tie. His hair was short and fiery red, all spiked up like actual flames. Over his eyes, he had a pair of designer sunglasses that had a red tint to them. It was obvious that he was in a whole new class than Ogawa was.

“What are you doing Ogawa? You still haven’t finished her off?” The man said, a little anger in his tone.

“I’m sorry aniki….but she’s a quick one.” Ogawa managed to stammer back, showing obvious fear of his brother.

“Aniki….?” Hisa said to herself, before looking back up at the man, “So he must be another one of the Kaito brothers….”

“You guessed correctly little lady. Allow me to introduce myself…” The man on the boat said. “I am Akira Kaito, oldest of the Kaito brothers.”

She nodded, “That’s good to know…but what exactly are you people?”

Akira just smirked at her, “We are special…although deemed “rejects” by Kariya…but we shall prove him wrong…” After he finished talking, he took out a cigarette and lit it, taking a couple of puffs from it.

Hisa thought for a moment. “Kariya…..wait, so that means that you are Bounto!!”

Akira chuckled at the word “Bounto”. “My lady…we are more than just bounto…as you probably found out by now, Ogawa here has some interesting abilities, and he hasn’t even used his doll yet, have you Ogawa?”

Ogawa just shook his head no, not saying a word. Akira turned back to Hisa, “We have been modified to do more than what simple Bounto could do….behold!”

He extended one of his hands forward, and a jet of fire emerged from it and flew down to the ground towards Hisa. She jumped back to avoid the flame, only to see it split into three separate flame jets. The one in the middle crashed into the ground, scorching it, while the other two jets curved upwards and chased after Hisa. She fired two kidou spells, and managed to stop the fire from chasing her.

Akira just laughed overhead at the show. “You see my lady….I am much more difficult to avoid than Ogawa could ever be…”

Hisa gulped as she looked up at Akira. This man was definitely a challenge, and she didn’t know if she could take him on with Ogawa possibly giving him support. “I better call Taiki and tell him to get the hell out of here…” she said, pressing a button on the cell phone in her pocket, giving Taiki an alarm message on his own phone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taiki jumped out of the way of another gust of wind, slicing two containers in half right down the middle. He turned towards Takuno, only to get interrupted by his cell phone beeping.

“Shit….must be Hisa.” Taiki said, remembering what the procedure was. When either one of them used that alarm message on their phone, it meant they got enough information and were heading out. So, Hisa would be opening the gate to go back to Soul Society. He sensed where Hisa was located and started to run towards her.

“Where you going? Scared?” Takuno said, laughing at him as he chased him down.

Taiki shunpo’d closer and closer to her. Meanwhile, Hisa was avoiding Akira’s fire jets as she frantically began to prepare to open the gate to Soul Society. When she sensed Taiki’s reiatsu was closing in, she sighed.

“Finally! That guy was taking too long….” She said as she jumped to the top of the containers. “Unlock!” Hisa yells as her zanpakuto begins to glow. The blade transforms itself into a key and a door appears affront of her: the door to Soul Society. She slides the key into the lock and unlocks the door. Once she withdrew the keyblade, her blade turns back into its regular katana appearance. As the door opened, two hell butterflies flew out of it and into the night.

Akira looked up at the door, figuring out what she was planning to do. With both hands extended towards her, he just grinned as two of the containers near Hisa burst into flames, causing her to stumble a bit to regain her footing, not expecting the blasts to randomly come from nowhere.

Just then, Taiki jumped up onto the containers, and saw Hisa and the open gate. “I see you’re having fun…” Taiki said making his way up towards the gate.

“Oh, I’m having a blast…literally! I’ll tell you all about it on the other side. Hurry your ass up.” She said, walking through the gate, leaving this world and entering Soul Society once more. Taiki jumped up and into the gate, watching it close behind him, leaving the Kaito brothers there in the shipyard with themselves.

Takuno finally arrived at the scene and looked at his other brothers, figuring out that the pair must’ve escaped. Akira looked down at Takuno. “You didn’t finish off the male?”

Takuno shook his head, “He’s a good swordsman. I think he’s a shinigami captain…no wonder I couldn’t finish him that quickly….I’m guessing the girl got away too?”

Akira nodded as he leapt from the ship down to the cold cement floor. “Yes…and that isn’t good. Now they know about us…..the boss isn’t going to be that hapy….” He said, the first time in any of his words that he showed a slight weakness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taiki and Hisa sighed as they stepped out of the gate and back into Soul Society. Taiki turned to look at Hisa.

“Why did you pull us out?” He asked, wanting to finish his fight with Takuno Kaito.

“Because…” Hisa started, “I was in trouble. Unlike you, I was taking on two of them Kaito brothers, while you were just taking on one of them.”

“Oh…” Taiki responded, “What exactly are they?”

Hisa then proceeded to tell Taiki about how the Kaito brothers were modified or mutated Bounto that had achieved their own powers beside the power of the dolls. She then told him about Ogawa Kaito and his shield. Lastly, she finished up with Akira Kaito and how he seemed to be the head of these three.

“Interesting….we better go report in right away so Soul Society can plan what to do.” Taiki said.

Hisa nodded, and the two of them walked in stride over to 1st Division Headquarters to report in.

[Kefka]

Chapter 3: Strike Team Shinigami


Taiki and Hisa arrived at the headquarters and an immediate Captain’s meeting was held shortly after. This was a new experience for Hisa. She had never attended a meeting of this magnitude, only being a vice-captain. The young shinigami was a bit nervous being in the same room as all 13 captains at once, knowing she was the weakest one there.

As usual, Yamamoto tapped his staff to announce the beginning of the meeting. All eyes turned to him, awaiting his words.

“Kurokawa Taiki and Hisa Safaia….please step forward.” The Commander General said.

They both stood forward into the center of the room. Now all eyes were on the two of them. Hisa was nervous, being the center of attention. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her arm. It was Taiki’s, almost telling her without using words to calm down and that everything will be alright. She just smiled, looking up at him. He was always the calm one when it came down to business. Before she got lost in her thoughts, the loud voice of Yamamoto snapped her back into reality.

“What is your report on the enemy?”

Taiki spoke up first, taking a step forward. “I engaged one of the enemies. His name was Takuno Kaito. Apparently, he was a swordsman and fought decently with his sword, even using some weird techniques of his own to cut from far away..I believe it was wind, but not entirely sure.”

The old captain nodded, looking at him. “So you only engaged one of the enemies?” Taiki nodded, confirming that statement. Yamamoto then turned his attention onto Hisa “Hisa Safaia….how many enemies did you engage?”

Taiki took a step back and let Hisa come forward. She did, having regained her confidence. “I engaged two enemies in total Commander General…the first was named Ogawa Kaito and had some sort of impenetrable shield that my sword or my kidou couldn’t break through. The second one was named Akira Kaito and he appeared to be the leader of these three. His power dealt with fire and some sort of fire kidou that I haven’t seen before…..”

There was a little murmuring here and there in the captains as they awaited Yamamoto’s response. “So there are three enemies in total, correct?” The two of them nodded as they waited what the answer would be. “But we still don’t know what they are…”

Hisa then remembered what Akira was talking about. “Oh oh, the leader mentioned something about modified Bounto. I’m not sure what that is..but I heard him say it.”

Yamamoto winced a bit, not wanting to hear the word Bounto again after the Kariya incident. Aiko Arato, the captain of the 12th Division, stepped forward. She was a woman who was a genius in science, but could blunder over common things and even tripped on occasion. “That means that they each have a doll…did either of you see them use a doll?” Taiki and Hisa both shook their head no.

“Hmm…that means that they have more power than they showed.” Aiko mused.

Yamamoto then spoke once more. “We will send three well-skilled shinigami to take care of them: Each one specifically able to take on one of them. Any volunteers?”

Taiki spoke up, “I believe I am the most suited to take on the sword-wielding bounto.” Yamamoto looked at him. “I agree….Kurokawa Taiki will be sent out again.”

Hise turned to look at the Commander General, “What about me?” Yamamoto shook his head, “You have done enough…you won’t be going back. That is all Hisa Safaia.” Hisa sighed as she looked down. She wanted to prove how strong she was, but never got the chance. She turned around and headed out of the chamber as the captains debated on who to send with Taiki to take on the Kaito brothers.

As the captains were deliberating, Bunrakuken Kurogane the 3rd Division Captain spoke up. “I would like to volunteer my fukutaichou, Kajou Masato, he should be more than capable in handling the job at hand.” The captains discussed it over. There was no debate that Masato was a skilled shinigami, almost like a miniature version of his taichou, so he was a good choice. It didn’t take long for him to be officially added to the list to go with Taiki.

That left one slot left to go against the Kaito brothers. A large foot stomp was heard, drawing everyone’s attention to the 8th Division Captain, Ryunosuke Hachirobei. “If that pansy from the 3rd Division can go fight these things..then a true warrior needs to go as well. I suggest my vice captain as well, Yamashita Makoto, to go and kick some Bounto ass.” It wasn’t a secret that Hachirobei loved fighting, and he had the scars to prove it. His words always reinforced this idea, and people sometimes compared his love of fighting to a former captain…Zaraki Kenpachi.

So it was decided, the team to go to the real world to fight the Kaito brothers would be:

Kurokawa Taiki, 13th Division Captain
Kajou Masato, 3rd Division Vice-Captain
Yamashita Makoto, 8th Division Vice-Captain

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taiki went back to his quarters and sat down on his couch, finally being able to relax. He hadn’t really been given that much time before going out to the real world to finish off the Bounto threat: only 2 days. Just then he heard some noise as someone walked in. It was Hisa, dressed in her shinigami robes, and she looked disappointed.

“Why do the higher ups never send me out on a mission?” Hisa complained, “I can fight just as good as most of the men, but nooo…leave me out just cause I’m a girl.”

He sighed, looking over at her. “Sweetie…” Taiki said, using that instead of her name to sound more on a lover basis than shinigami basis, “You’ll get your chance eventually. I’m sure of it.”

Hisa just sighed to herself as she sat down on the couch, leaning back on it and looking up at the ceiling with her eyes closed. Her body’s curves just flowed so perfectly, her breasts pointing out from her body as Taiki looked over her body in detail. Hisa opened one of her eyes and spotted him looking her over. “Don’t stare too hard…..”

Taiki just smirked, “What?” he said with a sheepish grin, “I’m just admiring the view.” Hisa sat up and turned to face him. “Well…since you have 2 days until you have to leave, let me give you your going away present early..”

“Oh?” Taiki said, “What could that…” his question was interrupted by Hisa wrapping her elegant arms around his neck and giving him a kiss, pulling the captain down on the sofa with her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two days had gone by rather quickly. Taiki spent the time with Hisa, finally getting some alone time with her so their relationship could develop even more. Masato was getting last bits of mentoring from his captain, making sure that he was fully prepared to do the job perfect, as was expected from the 3rd Division. As for Makoto….he was training those two days, making sure that he could kill even more efficiently than before.

The three were at the world gate already. Taiki was in the center of the group and obviously the designated leader of the team. To his right, was Masato. Masato had silver hair that was short and neatly groomed. His robes were clean exactly like his captains, and his medium frame fit them nicely. He looked like a model, and was fancied after by a number of the female shinigami.

In comparison, Makoto looked like a barbarian to him. Makoto’s hair was long and black and disheveled. He was taller than Masato, and his body was more athletic and ripped. One look at him and you could tell he was a born fighter. The world gate opened, and the three slowly stepped through and into the real world.


The three shinigami landed in the center of town and looked around. “Hmmm…” Taiki said, “Looks like they aren’t together and have spread out in the city, judging by their reiatsu. Split up boys, we’ll each take down one of them.” The two vice captains nodded in agreement with Taiki and they all split up into different directions. Taiki knew where he was going, he was going after Takuno Kaito..since they had some unfinished business.

Taiki traveled across the city, narrowing the distance between him and one of the Kaitos. He eventually tracked down the reiatsu to a construction yard. At this hour, no work was being done there, but the cranes loomed overhead and materials were stacked all over. Taiki slowly walked across the dirt, looking for his opponent. Just then, Taiki sensed the reiatsu and looked up at the scaffolds of the building that was being constructed. Sure enough…..Takuno Kaito was there.

“Well well…looks like you’re back for more. I was hoping you weren’t such a pansy.” Takuno said, arms folded across his chest, looking down at the captain.

Taiki smiled, “Last time I was just here to gather information. Now I’m here to finish you off for good.” He answered, his tone like a smart alleck to counter Takuno’s attitude.

The Bounto scoffed. “I’ll like to see you try….” With that, he unfolded his arms and reached to his back to draw his katana. Taiki drew his katana and looked up at his opponent, readying himself for the fight to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Masato made his way through the city, tracking down the nearest reiatsu he could find. He had sensed this reiatsu was the nearest, and decided to take it out himself. As he got closer, he saw that the Bounto was located on the rooftop of some warehouses. When Masato landed on the rooftop, he spotted his target: he was a short man dressed in blue attire.

“Let me guess…” Masato said, “You must be Ogawa Kaito.” Masato had read the reports about the previous encounter and knew what he was up against.

Ogawa just glared at him, “Another shinigami huh?” The Bounto said, forming a black orb in his hand once again, “I’ll definitely finish you off…you don’t look that hard.”

Masato just smiled at him, a smile that almost seemed arrogant. “Looks can be deceiving……”


Makoto knew his location easy…it was the exact same one as from the previous encounter; the shipyard. He headed there, eager to test his skills in battle. He didn’t know which opponent was waiting for him, but whoever it was will learn the meaning of pain.

When Makoto arrived at the shipyard, he proceeded until he got to the clearing where the large ship was docked. Sure enough, just like last time, Akira Kaito was on the boat. This time however, he was standing on the guardrails, looking down at whoever approached.

“What in the world….?” Akira said, looking at the man’s appearance, “They let rugged beasts like you be shinigami?”

Makoto growled at him as he drew his katana, “Shut up you queer…I’ll tear you from limb to limb!”

Akira just sighed as he stretched out a bit, looking at Makoto. “You’ll regret those words…silly boy.”

[Kefka]

Chapter 4: Ogawa, the Invincible?


Moonlight shone down on the rooftops of the warehouses as the shinigami squared off against the Bounto. Kajou Masato, 3rd Division Vice-Captain, looked at his opponent as he drew his katana, holding onto it with both hands. His opponent was the youngest of the Kaito brothers, Ogawa Kaito. Ogawa just grinned as he held the black orb in his hand, ready for the fight to begin.

Masato ran towards his opponent, preparing to strike. Ogawa hurled the black orb at it, but Masato just jumped up into the air over it and came at him with a downward slash. The slash clashed into Ogawa’s shield, his strongest technique he had in his arsenal. Masato jumped back and landed down on the metal roof, before lunging back for another strike. However, it had the same end result as the last move and was met with the invisible shield.

“I told you…it’s useless.” Ogawa said as he formed another black orb, this time striking Masato’s sword with it. The orb blasted the young fukutaichou back to the other end of the warehouse, almost falling over the edge. Masato just managed to get his footing back as he looked over at the short annoyance.

“That shield really is a pain….got to be a weakness to it.” Masato said as he stood fully up, analyzing the situation. It was a lesson he learned from his captain to always analyze and think before rushing into a situation. You die if you just rush it, it is better to plan beforehand. Masato clenched onto his sword as he took two steps forward. “Let’s see….”

He began to run towards Ogawa, just like he did before. Ogawa smirked, seeing that the foolish shinigami hadn’t come up with any new strategies. Suddenly, Masato disappeared out of his view using shunpo, a quickstep technique that shinigami had. Ogawa jumped back, not knowing where he went. Just then, Masato appeared to his left and came at him with a slash. Unlucky for the shinigami, the Bounto had detected a reiatsu spike near him and turned in that direction just in time to raise his shield and deflect the attack.

“You’re a quick one…much faster than that girl.” Ogawa said in an amusing tone.

“I’m glad you find this amusing.” Masato replied with a sly grin.

Ogawa was wondering why was the shinigami grinning at him. He then noticed an interesting sight. Masato only had one hand on the hilt of his katana. Ogawa looked to where his other hand was, and found it pointing down at the Bounto’s feet, a small form of energy being concentrated at the free hand.

“Hadou 4: White Lightning!” Masato said as he fired off the kidou spell at the feet of the short Bounto. Ogawa had to leap back a few meters to get out of the way of the blast, watching a small portion of the roof explode and cave in to the warehouse.

“You sly devil. That was a dirty trick.” Ogawa said in rage. He quickly formed two black orbs and hurled them at the silver haired shinigami. Masato however was ready for them and just dodged them with ease. He saw he was getting to Ogawa.

“You aren’t that invincible it seems…” Masato said as he came at Ogawa again, not letting up on him. He wouldn’t give the short man any rest, as he came from all angles, trying to find an opening in the shield. With an occasional kidou spell here and there, it kept Ogawa off balance so he couldn’t throw that many black orbs at Masato. However, that shield was still holding him back.

After awhile of this back and forth and going from one rooftop to another, Masato paused as he needed to figure out what to do. He was getting nowhere with this annoying shield. But then, he thought of something he hadn’t tried yet. Masato charged Ogawa one more time, trying his plan out. When he was almost there, he performed shunpo once again, this time going out of sight entirely. Ogawa jumped back, not expecting that as he looked around.

“Where did he go?” Ogawa said, getting a little nervous as to what he was up to. Masato jumped up from one side, flying in the air towards him. He turned and put his shield up, but didn’t expect Masato to keep flying. The shinigami went over Ogawa’s head and swung his katana down at the Bounto’s back, slashing at his left shoulder, drawing blood with the cold steel of the blade.

Masato landed back down on the ground, as Ogawa turned around to see the shinigami. He was shocked to get hit, looking at the blood trickling down from his shoulder blade. “You…you bastard!” Ogawa barked at him.

“You’re through…” Masato said, shunpoing once more as Ogawa readied to block the attack. However, Masato had figured it out, and suddenly Ogawa felt a slash across his back, this one a bit deeper than the last slash, bringing Ogawa down to one knee.

“I found out the secret to your shield…” Masato said with a grin. “Your shield only protects your front. If I attack you from the back quick enough so you can’t prepare for it, you’re defenseless..” Pointing his katana at Ogawa.

“You’re through.”



Ogawa broke out into laughter. “FOOL! You honestly think that’s all I got.” Ogawa fished out from underneath his shirt a scarab that was hanging from a necklace. Masato looked curiously at the scarab, wondering what he was up to. Ogawa pulled the scarab off and threw it to the ground affront of him. “Now you’re in trouble…..

Defend, Garuda!”

The scarab began to glow brightly as it floated up into the air. In a flash, the scarab exploded and a monster appeared in its place. It was a large robotic creature. The robot had no legs as it just hovered in the air. The body was made of a shining metal, as a large circle was engraved into its chest. It had two large arms on each side of the body with fists that were as big as wrecking balls. The head of the robot was a slender and sleek design; the glowing eyes peering at Masato as it slammed its two heavy fists together, preparing for battle.

“Hmmm…now that is interesting…” Masato said as he looked over the giant robot known as Garuda.

Garuda floated towards Masato, its heavy fist coming down trying to punch him. The shinigami jumped back, watching the metal arm go through the warehouse roof, leaving a large hole in it. The arm retracted back to Garuda’s side as it came at Masato again, this time using its left fist. Masato attempted to block the attack with his katana, holding it in a defensive position as the fist closed in. It made contact, and the shinigami felt a huge force pressing against his blade. He tried to hold on, but it was too much and the sheer force sent him flying back 20 meters onto his back.

“Damn…that fist sure can pack a punch.” Masato said as he slowly got up, looking over at the massive robot. “I guess I got no choice…..

Break, Shatterheart!”

Masato’s sword shattered into a hundred pieces, each piece resembling an ice shard. The shards slowly came back together to form the blade of the katana again. The blade was now a bluish tint, showing traces of the ice elemental sword that it was.

“Interesting…an ice-based zanpakuto?” Ogawa said, looking at the katana. “I wonder what it can do…”

“Here, I’ll show you..” Masato said as he swung the katana. In the middle of the swing, the sword shattered into a hundred pieces, each one now a small icicle. All the icicles flew towards Garuda, piercing into his metal body. As the ice began to melt, beams of white light shone out from the holes. Suddenly, Garuda shattered himself as Masato just grinned, the ice slowly returning to reform his sword.

“Looks like your doll wasn’t all tha….” Masato started to say but was stopped by what was happening. Right where he had just killed Garuda, he saw a dark mist and Garuda materializing again. It had returned, and not a scratch was on it. He was snapped out of his shock by Ogawa’s stupid laughter.

“Garuda is invincible! No matter how many times you strike him down, he’ll always get back up. You can’t win.” Ogawa said.

It was time for Garuda to get revenge. The circle on Garuda’s chest began to glow brightly. Masato didn’t know what was going to happen, but whatever was didn’t look good. Garuda fired a large beam of energy from his chest right at Masato. Masato had to shunpo out of the way and to another warehouse roof. He looked to where he used to be standing seeing that entire half of the roof was annihilated by the beam.

Garuda floated over to Masato, going after his target. Masato again tried to use his zanpakuto, the icicles flying at the large robot. This time, the robot put his arm affront of him, the majority of ice hitting his left arm, causing it to shatter, leaving his body intact. The arm slowly reappeared by the time he made it to Masato. He then attacked by punching at Masato. Masato jumped up over the fist and landed on Garuda’s right shoulder, thrusting his sword into the shoulder blade of the robot. Garuda’s left arm came around and swatted Masato off his shoulder, sending him flying into the side of a building, going through the wall and inside. The cut in the shoulder was deep enough and sure enough, Garuda shattered one more time…only to reappear moments later.

Masato struggled to get up, being shaken up from the swat. “Ok…the robot really is indestructible.” He walked out of the building he had flown through and jumped back to the rooftops where the fight was going on. He then shunpoed around so that Garuda couldn’t hit him with his attacks as he closed his distance to Ogawa. When he was close enough, he swung his katana, releasing the icicles right at Ogawa from his blind spot. Ogawa noticed the ice storm coming towards him and quickly managed to put his shield up to defend himself.

The ice shards all hit the shield, freezing it over. However, not one of them pierced through the shield to get to Ogawa. They just melted, leaving the shield perfectly intact since it wasn’t made of any physical material. “Ha! Even your ice can’t break my shield! I told you that you are going to die here.”

Masato sighed, seeing his attack had failed. He didn’t have time to fuss over that, as Garuda was charging another energy beam. He got of the way as he finally stood on the same roof as Garuda and Ogawa. He knew the only way to win was to kill Ogawa directly. Garuda wouldn’t fall, so he had to go after the one that could. Masato only had one more thing in his arsenal. It was a technique he had refined through countless days of training and experimenting with his zanpakuto. He took a deep breath as he looked over at his opponent. “Here goes nothing….”

He started to run towards Garuda, katana in hand. The large robot came at him with his fist, bringing it down like a meteor as it crashed through the warehouse roof. Masato jumped over the fist, but landed on the arm of Garuda. He ran up the arm and leapt off it, looking at his true target: Ogawa. He swung his sword, releasing the ice shards once more.

“Fool…I told you that doesn’t work.” Ogawa said as he raised his shield once more in anticipation of the attack. However, this attack was different. Instead of all hundred icicles being scattered, they slowly came together and created one large icicle. Ogawa’s eyes went wide when he saw this and even wider when the icicle hit the shield. A large piercing noise was heard as Masato landed to the ground, only a few feet away from the Bounto.

Blood flowed down to the metal roof; Ogawa’s blood. The icicle had pierced through the shield and right into the chest of Ogawa Kaito. He was dumbfounded, not expecting that to happen as he fell to his knees.

“H-h-how did this happen..?” Ogawa stammered, looking up at his opponent. Masato smiled at him as he looked at his defeated foe.

“It’s simple; by concentrating all the ice shards into one region, I can strengthen the piercing power of my attack to devastating results…results that even your shield can’t block.” The shinigami said gloriously.

A large thud was heard behind Masato and he turned around to see what it was. It was Garuda hitting the roof, his body no longer hovering in the air. His metallic frame began to rust and fade away since his owner had been dealt a fatal blow. When Masato turned his attention back to Ogawa, he saw the Bounto laid face down on the roof, a pool of blood around him as his own body began to fade into blue spirit particles. It took a few minutes, but the only trace of either of those two were the pool of blood and the destruction caused to all the warehouses in the area.

Masato sighed, relieved that his fight was over. However, there was no peace for the young shinigami. He felt trouble coming from the shipyard. He couldn’t put his finger on one of the reiatsus, but he knew who owned the other one belonged to.

“Damn that Makoto…what has he gotten himself into now???” Masato said as he rushed off towards the shipyard to see what was going on.