Face to Face at Last

Itazura had been woken in the middle of the night by Hiei and Kain, and when they told him what they’d learned he sheathed his zanpakutō across his back, strapped on his bokken at his waist, and holstered both his firearms to holsters on the left and right of his chest respectively. When he turned to leave he pulled on his tattered white jacket and looked a hairsbreadth away from doing murder. Kain pushed off the wall to join him and looking as equally annoyed, and Serena slid out of the doorway of the room she and Itazura shared and fell in beside him. Both nodded their heads as though to say “we’re going too”. Hiei had disappeared to rouse Shiro.

‘How old is the information?’ He asked Kain.

‘I came to tell you the minute I heard, so about twenty minutes.’ Kain replied. ‘And it came from a spy who’s given reliable intelligence before, and from sources the Shuuten think I don’t know about.’ That meant that Hiei had heard about it at around the same time as Kain had then.

‘So the chances of it being false are slim? Lovely,’ he was almost running through the corridors now with a white-knuckled grip on his bokken. When he appeared at the entrance to the Shuuten’s barracks he was greeted by Gin Nakamura.

‘I heard,’ he fell in beside him as well and gave a thankful nod to Kain, and the group made a bee-line straight for the docks. ‘Though I ask you remain vigilant. This could be a trap.’

A fine point, but even if it was false information, he couldn’t bring himself not to act on it; yet Gin seemed to know that as well. ‘Hold on, Mariko, I’m coming.’ Itazura swore.

Apparently she had been captured by rebels on Boon Island. Kain’s contacts reported that she had been attacked by a man and woman and bested in combat, so they claimed that the rumours of her capture were true, though Itazura knew his sister well. If there was the slightest chance of escape then she’d take it… but he couldn’t leave her there either. His mission in Heisekai could run along and take a dive off the nearest cliff for all he cared. Ino’s included! Mariko was his sister and he wasn’t going to abandon her. Not while there was still breathe in his body and blood coursing through his veins. And if this was the work of Yoshinari Yasuhiro…! Then the father would meet the same fate as the son.

‘I need passage to Boon Island,’ he said to the captain of a small vessel.

The docks were quiet and mostly deserted and the smell of the sea permeated the air and hung heavy like a cloud. This early in the morning the people out and about were short and far between, but Gin had soon roused one captain from the cabin he kept on his own ship.

‘And I wanna get my hands on the royal treasury, but I know that ain’t gonna happen, lad.’ He answered, and Itazura saw red.

Itazura picked him up by his collar and pushed him against the side of his own boat! ‘You’re gonna get your ass on that boat, take me to Boon Island, and be quick about it! I’m in no mood to listen to you rant on. You’ll get your coin, and more besides, but you leave now.’ The man gulped, so for incentive, Itazura surged the Rei Furashuu around his palm as a veil of killing intent. ‘Get moving. I don’t need you to sail the ship, but I’ll get there quicker with you at the wheel. Do we understand one another?’ He was fuming but it was clear his was a calm rage.

Before an hour had passed the captain had his crew roused and the ship set to sail.

‘That was beautiful,’ Kain remarked once they where underway. ‘Scary and intimidating,’ he laughed. ‘It was very enlightening my young friend.’

‘And I thought you where a little lamb,’ Serena jibed. ‘I guess I was wrong.’

‘I just hope we aren’t too late… Mariko…’ He set his eyes on the horizon as though it would speed his travel.

‘We won’t be,’ and Shiro squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. ‘Just be ready, Zura. If she is a prisoner, do not hesitate. Get to her quickly and kill anything that stands in your way; because they won’t show you mercy.’

‘Wonderful night isn’t it!? It was only then they noticed the presence of Toshie. ‘You can’t forget about me that easily, Itazura! Or did you forget about our deal!?’ He looked at Serena and Itazura immediately punched him on the mouth!

Now only three days, an annoying teacher, and the sea stood between him and his sister…

Mariko had been sleeping at Ranmaru’s bedside when she’d been woken by Fujimoto and Shiori Nakamura.

‘We’ve got some information,’ Shiori told her softly and calmly: like a mother breaking bad news to her child. It was one of the things she really liked about Shiori. She reminded Mariko of her mother, Yukimura.

The female Captain-General was dressed in a silk nightgown with her hair unbound, with slippers on her feet and a comb still in her right hand. What business was so urgent that she’d come dressed for bed, and even forget to leave the comb behind?

‘Though we honestly don’t know what to make of it,’ Fujimoto concluded.

He was dressed solely in a pair of black boxers, meaning Mariko saw more than her fair share of hardened muscle. When she blushed furiously and looked away, motioning with her hand at him, Fujimoto looked himself up and down, excused himself a moment, and then returned with one of Ranmaru’s tattered yellow jackets draped over his shoulders.

‘Sorry about that,’ he said somewhat nervously.

Mariko was curious to what led them here in the early hours, though her mind wasn’t really awake yet. ‘Start over from the beginning,’ she asked rubbing sleep from her eyes. ‘What information are you talking about exactly?’ The fact they’d neglected that told her just how big of a rush they where in.

‘The information that says Itazura’s been captured by rebel forces on Fortune Island, even though he had Hiei, Shiro, Kain, Serena and my grandfather aiding him.’ That meant Fujimoto didn’t place much faith in the information, and the look Shiori wore meant she didn’t either.

‘… Is there any chance it could be true?’ If they really did have Itazura then it was an utter disaster!

‘None,’ Fujimoto said smoothly. ‘My grandfather knows the criminal elements on Fortune Island better than anyone, and he agreed to look after your brother.’

‘And Kain himself is a careful man,’ Shiori added. ‘They wouldn’t let Itazura get himself caught… then he himself is a smart young man.’

‘… So, what do we do?’ Mariko was finding it very difficult not to be hysterical right now! All she wanted to do was strap on her zanpakutō, rouse her three male friends, and be on the fastest boat to Fortune Island.

‘… Trust me,’ was all Fujimoto said. ‘You may know your brother best of all, Mariko, but I know how the minds of men and criminals work. Hiei and Shiro were never much for subterfuge I’m afraid. My grandfather even less so,’ why he laughed at that she couldn’t fathom. ‘Itazura, however, will follow his heart; meaning he’ll make a b-line straight for Boon Island to help the sister he loves.’

‘… and right into a trap,’ she concluded. ‘How do you know he’ll take the bait?’

‘Because that’s exactly what I’d have done if I were in his shoes,’ Fujimoto maintained. ‘But about that trap…’

‘We’re going to spring one of our own.’ Shiori revealed.

‘You see, going by what I was told earlier by Koga regarding your attacker, and by what I interpret with this recent news, I think someone is trying to get you away from us.’ He was pacing now, but Mariko was following his trail of thought. ‘Whoever orchestrated these rumours -- there hasn’t been a single shred of actual proof to call them anything else -- forgot one very crucial piece of the puzzle.’

‘… and what’s that exactly?’

‘I’m Fujimoto Nakamura,’ and he flicked his fringe aside and grinned broadly, ‘and if I’m good at one thing, it’s interrupting people’s plans. Trust me, Mariko. They want to catch two little birds in their nets; I wonder how they’ll react when instead they snare a hawk?’

Fujimoto meant every word he’d said when he’d told Mariko he meant to keep Itazura from harm. And now, three days on, he was even closer to ensuring he kept that promise. He found that the rumours had been spread by none other than Gengetsu and Anko -- two individuals the Shuuten had long ago linked to Bansui Amatsuki and the Collective Vices. What really surprised him was that it was currently Yoshinari Yasuhiro who pulled their strings. He had even learned where Itazura was to be attacked as he rushed to help his sister, who was supposedly being held captive.

Sometimes he truly scared himself.

He walked into the ambush zone as bold as brass. It was near the docks, and three separate areas had been set up leading up to this location that he guessed would hopefully tear away Hiei, Shiro and Gin. If those three where gone then they could swoop down upon the others and defeat them in their confusion. Oh, it was a sound enough plan, he had to admit. They just hadn’t counted on him.

He drew his bokken slowly. ‘Let Loose, Namininoru.’ The bokken became a steel katana with a golden guard shaped like a gourd that spilled forth water like a fountain. He swung that katana through the air and released waves of cascading liquid. Here in the docks the buildings where made mostly from wood, which meant little in the face of the weight his waves carried. In merely three slashes the entire area in-front of him had been cleared, and he now had a clear view of the ship he knew Itazura and his other comrades to be on.

‘We can do this one of two ways,’ he said aloud to no in particular. ‘You fools can continue hiding or I can kill you where you stand. The choice, my stealthy friends, is entirely up to each of you.’

When close to one-hundred individuals greeted him by flash stepping onto the area he’d just cleared Fujimoto admitted he hadn’t been expecting so many of them. ‘Eh, it doesn’t matter, really.’ He’d faced greater numbers during the civil war and then he’d been weaker than he was now. Taking a ready stance the Silver Wind of the Shuuten beckoned his enemies to come on.

‘Be sure and anger him,’ one of the assembled said. ‘I heard he gets lax when he gets mad.’

Itazura’s boat.

‘That’s Fujimoto!’ Itazura was nearly in the air before Gin pulled him hastily back on-board.

‘We where foolish,’ Gin said at last. ‘If Fuji is here…’

‘… He’s here to stop us walking into a trap!’ Hiei finished.

Itazura wasn’t really in worry. All he knew is that close to one-hundred masked men and woman dressed in the staple black of Shinigami with at least some spiritual power had appeared before him! But Gin was being sloppy, and he’d loosened his grip… He noticed the faces of his allies; saw the tension in their eyes, the tightness of their jaws. Hiei looked angrier than Itazura had ever seen him and Shiro had his fists clenched tightly enough that they shook. Gin was focused on his grandson fighting -- a white blur amidst countless black.

‘… I’m sorry…’ A Rei Furashuu parted both he and Gin, and Itazura was away before anyone could lay a hand on him!

He flash stepped across the ocean and closed the short distance between their boat and the dock in only thirty seconds, and a second Rei Furashuu carved a pathway by which he reached Fujimoto. He arrived just in time to duck beneath Fujimoto’s leading strike and defend his back!

‘Itazura…! They’re after you, you moron!’

‘So we gathered,’ he bit back.

The two stood back-to-back in a moment of reprieve with their zanpakutō held firmly in their hands. Itazura circled around his mentor and kept low, using Fujimoto’s extended range to great effect, while he covered and deflected whatever Fujimoto couldn’t intercept in-time. ‘You really are a one-of-a-kind kid, aren’t you?’ Fujimoto said over the clamour. ‘I had a good teacher,’ Itazura replied. ‘He would have done the same.’ Fujimoto couldn’t help grinning at that and turned quick enough to take a slash in the back that was initially meant for Itazura. ‘Yeah, well, that teacher’s a right fool at times.’ Itazura cleaved the attacking woman’s stomach open. ‘Are you alright!?’

‘Focus,’ Fujimoto barked.

Yoshinari.

Yoshinari had watched from a distance, but now he walked towards the sight of the battle under the guise of a common grunt, with a device to disguise his approach. Young Itazura truly was a fool… Fujimoto had given him a chance, and now he came personally and threw that chance away. Foolishness only a child could be capable of.

‘Die,’ he whispered.

The blade of his zanpakutō flashed straight and true and pierced through Itazura’s exposed back and out through his chest; mere inches from Fujimoto’s face, who let loose a roar that made even Yoshinari’s skin crawl. Withdrawing his blade he called off his grunts and took a few cautionary steps back.

‘Never send a child to do a man’s job, Fujimoto. This is the result.’

Fujimoto looked truly grief stricken as he cradled the body of his student in his arms. “Itazura...! NO! Yoshinari, you pushed and you pushed... Well, congratulations, because you've succeeded. You wanted to anger me? Mission accomplished! I'll crush your corpse under an ocean! Bankai, Namininoru Zentai no Ryūkō Tenkū!”

Rain began to fall in sheets and Fujimoto returned to his feet with a whispering Itazura in his arms, held like the child he was. Fujimoto’s eyes shone with an otherworldly light, and spiritual energy emanated from him in waves of pure force. The people around him began to cower and fear and Yoshinari took this as a very good time to make scarce his presence. He left behind a scene that came straight from a nightmare.

Shiro watched from the boat as the men and woman surrounding Fujimoto where lacerated as though by countless little blades. In truth they were. ‘Fujimoto’s Bankai… the rain becomes his weapon. Each raindrop is like a tiny blade, and he can control them with nothing more than a thought.’

‘And that’s his Bankai broken down to its barest bones. You don’t want to see what he’s really capable of.’

In mere seconds the battle was over and Fujimoto looked at his young student with an expression that showed well his anger at what happened, his hate for the one that caused it, and finally the love he felt for the boy. What he was about to do was risky… but worth it. ‘Chi Sōsa,’ blood curdled forth from like a wave, and he forced that torrent directly through the wound in Itazura’s chest, and watched as it began to stitch up and pull together. But when he was vanished Fujimoto looked drained and unsteady, and only the hand of his grandfather, Gin, stopped both from toppling. Itazura slept peacefully and Fujimoto heaved for air like a man who had seconds ago been close to drowning.

‘… Look… after… him,’ and darkness took him.

Next Story >.