Los Niños de Izanami: Confirmación

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

The Labs
As Daisuke noticed Sakura's nautious appearance, slightly worried about her, before he caught something out of the corner of his eye. What appeared to be the growing size of the police headquarters, Daisuke opened his eyes wide and gaped at the foreign sight.

"Its...its...huge!" Daisuke said exasperatedly as he leaned slightly to his right as they circled towards the HQ of the Police Headquarters.

It was indeed a massive place (and it was a wonder why Kenta complained). In a matter of fact, it was the third largest facility within Yūrei, only succeeded by the military headquarters and the king's castle. As the bird started its descent towards their destination towards the "garage", they could see it was a sort of massive pit where other birds were stationed at. There was a great deal of people regulating the birds, giving out instructions, following commands, and overall doing their jobs. It was a constant round of business and work. But the workers didn't mind - they liked their job, after all.

In an elegant manner, the bird swooped down in its own "parking place" and landed for its driver and riders to get off.

"This is larger than our Division's Barracks back in the Soul Society!" Daisuke exclaimed as he hopped off in a graceful, acrobatic manner, Kukkyona already getting off in his slow deliberate mannerism.

"This certainly is impressive," Kukkyona said with approval as he looked around the large headquarters where he saw just a few moments ago many birds, and people regulating them like humans would regulate aircraft on aircraft carrier.

Remaining silent, Sakura allowed herself to jump off of the bird and look around. The noise caused her to frown slightly, and the sound of many people talking was not appeasing to her, even if the area was massive enough for a comfortable effect. She placed a hand on her hip, her head turning around this way and that to look around. Based from what she heard, there were a slew of languages being spoken to each other in a considerably fluent manner, not all of them bothering to speaking with the same language. Some spoke English, some spoke Japanese, others spoke Spanish, and so on, and so on. Yet, they seemed to understand each other perfectly, adapting to each other's foreign vocal culture and exchanging it for their own.

Multilingualism at its best.

Kenta focused his attention on the aisle that separated both sides of the "hangar" to a set of double doors at the end. "I'll take you to the labs right away and contact the commander." He explained, making a gesture with his hand for them to follow him before walking down the aisle himself.

"Of course," Kukkyona said somberly, walking in sync with the young officer, leaving Daisuke to follow whom briefly turned around with a bright smile and beckoned Sakura to follow, urging her to stick close to them as he followed his own father in step towards where Kenta would be taking them.

Taking a deep breath and then exhaling, Sakura allowed herself to follow their trail, shifting her arms to fold them across her chest. Although her eyes were averted from Daisuke, her voice was clearly speaking to him. "You really shouldn't try and get so close to me." She said in disapproval, her tone solemn. "After all, we don't know each other that well."

As they continued to walk, Daisuke heard her voice, but simply responding cheerfully in kind, "Ah! But that is why we invented something called, 'socialization,' where we can understand each other by talking to each other and being friendly to one another. That is, after all, where the term, 'Friends' come from you know?"

The girl could've sworn she heard sarcasm within that tone of his. This made her narrow her eyes a little. "Well, the ones that invented that obviously never heard of the term sociopath, and apparently, neither have you." She retorted, a rather cold edge to her words. Inwardly, she was uncomfortable with the notion Daisuke was attempting to hand out to her. Instead of making her feel good, it was giving her the opposite effect, as if he was simply hurting her instead of helping her. But she had too much pride to allow him to see her discomfort. In her eyes, that would simply be discounted for as weakness.

"Oh I don't know about that...I'm pretty sure you've just been out of practice and you need someone to cheer you up, talk to you, and hear you vent," Daisuke said still cheerfully, looking back with a edge of concern in his voice, noticing she was mentioning the term sociopath, not exactly something people want to mention when meeting someone new.

Kukkyona noticed the areas were starting to get slightly more guarded and less authorized by the multingual core that made up most of the center of Yūrei's 'garage', and closer to the dimly lit sections, noticing a particulary odd shaped structure guarded with two distinguished guards in black cloaks, similar to the ones they met before.

"Is that the laboratory, Kenta?" Kukkyona asked in a low tone, not wanting to interrupt the current conversation Daisuke was having with the ex-cultist behind them.

"Yeah...." Sakura muttered, lowering her arms and placing a hand onto her hip. Her glare at Daiyaku did not subside, but it faded to something akin to annoyance. "Because I would just love to listen to a fuckin' chatterbox like you."

"Yep. Hold on a second...." Pressing a hand against the doors in order to lean on them, Kenta clicked on his earpiece and lowered his head. "This is Sonoda to Setsuko." He reported, a "commander" tone back within his voice.

"Setsuko here." Avaron's voice came once again on the other end of the frequency.

"Meet me at the labs, if you're not pre-occupied. The two Seireitei Shinigami and a green agent are within my company, and we're about to decode pieces of information concerning the status of this city. Containment procedures in danger of being nullified."

A pause on the other end. Then: "I understand. I'll be with you in a few minutes. Over and out."

"That sounds like Officer Avaron...or is she more like your superior officer, Kenta?" Kukkyona asked cooly as he heard the extent of the conversation, waiting to enter the laboratory with his son and the socially challenged girl behind him.

Daisuke just chuckled, scratching his chin as he sheepishly smiled, "Yeah, I guess I am kind of annoying to hang around at times. But," he added, looking truthfully at her, his eyes narrowing and his smile softened a bit, as he spoke softly, "I swore an oath to my friend...that I'd protect anyone that was precious to me, even if they didn't want to be protected," as he said this, his headband uncannyily shined a glimmer, showing the Kanji words 'Remember the Mourning,' before her eyes.

For a moment, her eyes widened, and the scowl faded from her face. The expression faded as her attention fell to the headband that he wore. It briefly distracted her from the words that he spoke. It was only three words, and yet it was such a meaningful phrase. To think that such complexity could come out of something so simple on the outside was a rather amazing trait within people, but it was a feat to think such things and be accurately right about them. Had it been another, it would've put a rack in the metallic walls that were built up within the conscience, the first step to opening up.

But she was not such a person.

She grit her teeth briefly, narrowing her eyes in what seemed like a display of anger. Her face flushed a moderate red, the feelings clear on her face. It lasted only for a brief second before she jerked her head away from Daisuke, closing her eyes. "Don't say wierd shit like that all of a sudden!" She scolded him.

After eyeing the two for a moment, Kenta once again set his sights on Kukkyona and smiled a little himself. "Naturally. She's the backbone of the police force, the highest power within law enforcement. I've had the luckiness of having her as a personal partner on missions. She may be a bit outward in nature.... but in the end, she gets the job done."

"She sounds like a remarkable woman. I'm glad she was the welcoming commitee we had when we entered, otherwise, things with your subordinates might've turned out for the worst for all of us," Kukkyona spoke plainly, first with respect and admiration, then with simple matter-of-fact tone in his voice.

Daisuke saw the change of reactions before his eyes, knowing she felt 'something' for people somewhere in herself, behind that very rocky and hardheaded exterior. However, it didn't seem like she would open up to him overnight, but he still felt a little bit sad she still didn't talk to him more openly. With a sigh, Daisuke turned around as he finished speaking, "you'll get used to it. I'm a true poet...at least that's how I was teased about," Daisuke added in a joking tone, turning his head back with a wide grin and winked at her, showing his mostly relaxed nature unfold to her.

Before Sakura could respond, however...

"Yeah, she sounds like a real peach, don't she?"

Avaron's voice sounded right behind the group, particularly behind Daisuke. Kenta's eyes widened slightly, and his body stiffened at the sight of her as she gave a friendly pat to Daisuke's back before folding her arms across her chest. Sakura herself gave a raise of the eyebrow at the other orange-haired woman's sudden appearance, but decided to remain silent and out of the conversation for the time being, now that her own personal talk with Daisuke was "broken" temporarily. "Sorry. When I said a few minutes.... I meant several seconds." She apologized, a small smirk on her face.

Kenta nodded in respect. "Glad you could make it." He turned back towards the door, bending over a little to look over a passcode lock on the door itself. Letting his fingers do the work, he typed in the code quickly, and Sakura couldn't help but notice how quickly his fingers were moving. It seemed to be a long passcode, but Kenta was able to enter it within seconds and opened the door, allowing them to step inside.

Daisuke felt himself stiffen, almost yelp at being surprised. He turned around, a slight blush on his face as he waved his arms and his mouth agape in ecstatic shock, "How-did-you-do-that?! I-didn't-see-you-com...I mean...," he said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his neck, chuckling as he corrected himself, "ahem...I mean, nice to see you, Avaron."

Kukkyona let out a mental roll of the eyes, issuing a low sigh of resignation, hearing Daisuke act his embarassing typical self, but his eyes followed the fast movements of Kenta's fingers pressing the codes into the console. Despite its fast movements, he was quickly able to memorize the code in case of future use if ever needing it later.

He entered behind him, ushering the others to follow without motioning or speaking, as his mere presence began to leave it was like a cloud letting the sun shine back onto the earth below...more or less it was to Daisuke, as he turned to follow, making sure to be nearly in sync to Avaron's steps, supressing the urge to stare at her dazzling face.

The First Moves of Chess
Avaron, meanwhile, had turned her attention to Kenta, as he was speaking to the group in general. "We have a scanner in the back, perfect for that little capsule of yours, elder." He explained, raising his hand to point in the direction he was going. "I can just set it up to identify the type of material you have, you can place it in and--"

"Stop right there." Avaron interrupted with a slightly stern tone, jerking a finger in front of his face in order to shut him up, earning a rather surprised look from him. "I am not putting you in a position to touch anything even remotely hooked up to the main network."

He cocked an eyebrow in confusion and shock. "Why?" He asked, his voice whispery from the disbelief he was feeling.

"After that little stunt you pulled with your boys? I think that's reason enough."

"Wha--" The young officer cut himself off, now in shock and displeasure at her choice of words. "Y....you said you wouldn't bring that up again...!" He hissed in complaint. However, Avaron looked over at him to pass a falsely sweet smile at him.

"Oh, right, I did...." She replied innocently. "But you forgot to make me pinky swear to it."

"Oh, for the love of...." Kenta slapped a hand to his face in exasperation, lowering his head in slight embarrassment.

Kukkyona looked left to Kenta's shocked and displeased face during the ordeal, and back to Avaron's stern, sarcastic appearance to his right. He then looked straight ahead as he was parallel to the two of them, Daisuke standing quite perplexed next to Avaron, wondering what she meant by, 'his boys,' knitting his brows down as he tried to think what it meant...or forget about it.

"Is this going to be a problem?" Kukkyona looked over to both Kenta and Avaron, wondering if this would impede their rate of finishing the decoding of his information capsule.

"....no." Kenta muttered, a bit sourly. "The captain's able to set up the system herself, pretty much any one who can understand computers can...."

"Then we leave at your word then, Captain Avaron," Kukkyona politely nodded his head towards Avaron with a sign of respect in his voice, also unintentionally cutting off anything else Kenta would have muttered under his breath.

It was here that they managed to stop in front of the machine serving as the scanner. It was considerably wide, its height a little over half the size of Kenta himself. It looked quite like a scanner one would find within the world of the living, except there were two major differences. One was the small "desk" that came out from the side which supported a laptop with a DOS window on it. On the other side, there was a sort of holder which looked like two metallic cup holders facing each other with a certain amount of space between them. What connected the holders was a beam of light connecting them. Avaron took her spot at the laptop, fingers moving to type in and begin the process. "All right...." She muttered. "All you have to do is slip in the capsule within that light holder. The light will act like a sort of tractor beam and hold it up while the scanning process begins."

Kukkyona produced the cereal sized capsule delicately in between his fingers, showing the intricately designed device between his thumb and forefinger, the stream of data passed the nearly microspopic digital display on the capsule. He moved his hand forward and slipped into the said light holder, watching suck it in, as said like a tractor beam, and the machine began scanning the data within the device...

Daisuke meanwhile looked over to Avaron, trying to see what she would do with the device next, watching her every movement as she preformed her work over the foreign modern-looking device with effortless control and understanding. He thought her soft hands looked nice moving so fast along all those controls and keys...

"Congratulations, Captain. You seem to have nagged yourself a fish."

Kenta was the first one to notice Daisuke's stare at Avaron. He closed his eyes and shook his head in a slight, sage manner. But he didn't allow himself to say anything, for it would've just embarrassed the poor man. He drifted his attention towards his superior officer as she watched the DOS window, typing occasionally and otherwise allowing data to appear within at a rapid rate.

Sakura also noticed. Cocking an eyebrow slightly, she put on a small smirk at Daisuke. His own feelings couldn't have been any more obvious at that moment, and it amused her greatly. But she too didn't say anything, placing a hand on her hip and idly standing.

As the data appeared, Daisuke turned his eyes away in order to keep himself from staring too long, but alas, someone already noticed his gaze. He turned around to strike up a conversation with Sakura, but noticed her what could be seen as a slight smirk with a sublte cocking of the eyebrow, causing him to upraise an eyebrow in return.

"What? Do I got something in my hair?" he joked, but was inwardly nervous, almost suspecting she saw him staring at Avaron...but that wasn't possiblely conceived in his thoughts. Or was it?

As the data began to be fully open, a stream of encrypted letters appeared over the numbers, a series of blanks over each paragraph of information with the cursor over the first of dozens, the information if written down, would've spanned at least 200 pages worth of detailed intel.

"Well, it looks like the 12th Division knew what they were doing when they made this...." Avaron said lightly, fingers once again moving over the keys and typing. "The security level placed on it's clearly the result of a professional." She looked over the scren carefully. "Now, set "Meanie" to 5, identify the program type...." The last bit of wording was to herself.

Sakura, deciding for his sake to keep her voice low, allowed her smirk to become more knowing. "Gee, I don't think that's for someone like me to tell you. Why don't you ask your little crush over there?" She asked tauntingly.

Kukkyona slightly upraised his brow at the term 'meanie' she just used, but shrugged it off mentally, producing a single sheet of passwords both in numerical nature and as well as in different phrases, words, even poems, "Captain Kaze Sasayaki is known for his unique sense of encrypting. No one in his entire Division, not even the Stealth Force, can fully grasp the method behind the madness of his codes and passwords," Kukkyona explained as Avaron would read the strange list of passwords and pass-phrases.

Daisuke did almost full-on blush as she mentioned 'crush', then looked back at Avaron to see she hadn't heard, sighing lowly with relief, then turning back, a look of desperation and caution crossed his face as he raised his left hand to make a 'quiet' gesture to his lips, "Don't say a word of this and I won't tease you about your boyish appearance, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah...."

Sakura rolled her eyes in exasperation, looking back over towards Avaron as she spoke with Kukkyōna. "No kidding...." The female officer muttered. "Attempting to hack this manually would be next to impossible, and it would probably kill somebody if they stressed themselves thinking about it. However, it was a good thing the boys I managed to prepare for this way ahead of time." Smacking the enter key with her index finger, she turned her attention to the light holding the capsule within. It turned from a light blue to a bright green, with a series of holographic numbers running through the light. She raised herself up from the screen, placing her hands on her hips and looking on in a content look. "In a minute or two, our information will be decoded and processed, courtesy of my personal program. The only problem is that afterwhich....."

The content look faded, and she let out an aggravated sigh - in conjunction with Kenta's own.

"....the military's going to be involved in this case." Kenta summarized dejectedly.

"Yep."

The depressed manner in which Avaron and Kenta was hanging her head was comical, a sweatdrop forming on the back of their heads.

Kukkyona looked at Avaron, then back at Kenta over his shoulder, before returning his gaze, answering in a almost tone, "You and the military still have a tense relationship I see..."

"Will this cause you problems?" Daisuke asked, trying to distract himself from Sakura's teasing of his own emotional predicament with Avaron, as he too looked back and forth from the two, sweatdropping himself at seeing them act in such a comical fashion that was so unlike their previously shown professional mannerism.

Avaron sighed, once again focusing her eyes onto the screen. "Well, no..." She admitted. "Matter of fact, this will benefit us more than anything else. It's just..."

"The soldiers under the military have a habit of belittling law enforcement, ever since the beginning of the old General's rule." Kenta explained, walking past Kukkyōna in order to stand beside her and get a better view of the screen. "They shoot, in a matter of speaking, we shoot back, and we've got ourselves competition in order to gain His Majesty's respect."

"Damian Seken?! I've heard of him...his skill has made him infamous to the Soul Society's Soul Reapers, a tactician of amazing skill and power, his prowess is often the topic of folklore for the more novice Soul Reapers," Kukkyona stated with a hint of surprise and admiration, though he contained his cool composure as he explained the knowledge of his exploits in the Soul Society.

"Why do you loathe the competition? Its a great way to improve your own skills while building up a healthy relationship with your divisions, or moreover, that's how the 13 Court Guard Squads work anyways," Daisuke said with a confused, yet enthusiastic tone, smiling at both Avaron and Kenta, curious why they dreaded the whole competitive predicament they were in, he even winked back at Sakura, forgetting the whole earlier near-embarassment with his musings.

"Healthy?" Avaron turned her gaze towards him with a look of astonishment. "As if....the closest thing to healthy would be us pointing our guns at each other and not pulling the trigger. That.... or pulling the trigger and happening to have empty clips."

Sakura merely huffed, turning away from Daisuke. However, as Avaron turned back towards the screen, she turned her head back towards him with a cocked eyebrow. "So...." She stated casually, the smirk returning. She still made sure to keep her voice low in order for Avaron to not hear them. "When you plan on telling her?"

"As I expected," Kukkyona said solemnly, expecting the tense relationship to still be harbored even after the infamous Damian Seken's death. He looked over to inspect the screen, expecting her acclaimed 'state-of-the-art' scanner to be finished by now...

Daisuke looked over and whispered harshly, "Tell her what, pra tell?! I just think she's an attractive woman...err, I mean charismatically, yes, yes that's what I mean. What's it to you anyways? I thought you didn't care about my feelings?" He said, trying to derail her line of questioning as he looked back at her from what used to be a flushed nervous expression, to a humored smirking expression, wondering why she would bother trying to goad or tease him in this way.

"Because I find it to be funny, seeing people getting all flustered just because they find someone attractive...." Sakura answered smoothly, raising one of her hands up briefly. Then, she lightly smacked him in the center of his chest with the back of her hand. "So lighten up, shit-face. It was a joke."

Sure enough...

The numbers faded away from the light, and the green light turned back to its light blue color. "And~ we are done!" Avaron said confidently, once again leaning over the table to display the results. "Even with Meanie, cracking this particular set of codes proved to be a nuisance, but it's done. All of the data's decoded, but..." She paused for a moment. "There's a ridiculous amount of information here, a little over two hundred pages worth. Not exactly a printer-friendly amount...."

"Only downside of this particular device is that it records information of the particular observer's or partaker of the capsule if you will, into specific detail as well over the last 72 hours, which was the gap of time we lost contact with them as they exited out of contact. Its relatively a new device that's only been regulated within the Deep Cover Ops for about 6 months, they're still working out the kinks in its practicality," Kukkyona explained matter-of-factly, not really deterred or annoyed about the length of information they have to decode, considering he'd had to endure more than often predicaments involving patience. It came at the price of being the head of a Noble Family, and all the many crisises or drama he has to endure on a near day to day basis, even moreso including his Captain duties.

"Thanks...I'm glad you have a sense of humor after all," Daisuke said with a slightly sarcastic attitude, before rolling his eyes at her after sticking his tongue out at her, turning his back on her as he crossed his arms, now feeling quite irked by the irritating girl.

"Over two hundred pages and we have to read through all of them...." Avaron slowly lowered her head, letting out a tired breath. "I can already feel the headaches." She raised her head, a contemplative look on her features. "Well, I guess we're going to have a lot of reading to do for the next few days, might as well start as soon as possible. Every second counts concerning the situation...." She turned her body, straightening up to face the group in entire, save for Kenta. "In the meantime, why don't you two head back and go about with your regular activities? I'm sure waiting here for possibly up to a week would be out of your conscience."

"I appreciate the offer, but I must decline. Is there quarters that you may allow use for myself or my son, if he wishes it? I want to be on site, and nearby in the slightest change of the information that you uncover," Kukkyona stated plainly and seriously, putting his arms across each other as he looked Avaron dead in the eyes to wait for an answer.

Daisuke held his head in a downcast manner, muttering, "I really liked that suite," before he raised his head, saying, "I'm staying wherever my father is staying. It would be unfitting as a future Noble Head to lounge around while the current Head resides in less acommadating of retire."

Avaron's frown turned slightly sympathetic, as with her raise of the eyebrow. "Sorry, but that can't be done...." She answered, emphasizing with a shake of her head. "HQ only permits the ones on-duty to stay on base. You can find a hotel close to here if you want, but that's the best I can give you."

However, this sympathetic look immediately turned to one of slightly exasperated and questioning look when Sakura spoke up. "Yeah, give the police some space to work...." She said in annoyance. "Can't exactly concentrate with you people breathing down their fucking necks all the time...."

"I can tell how much you want them to be as far away from YOU as possible," Daisuke quipped, knowing she did cause a crisis just only less than an hour ago with the police, and he could imagine if she didn't like being in a police station.

"That is fine," Kukkyona stated, not in the least perturbed for being rejected to stay, unfolding his arms, before he said, "but I'd like a form of communication for updates on your progress. It IS Seireitei information you're holding onto, despite your connection in it, so I'd appreciate some cooperation between us, if possible."

"Yūrei and the Soul Society of Japan didn't make that treaty just to keep each other in the dark." Avaron reminded him, putting on an assuring smile. "We do the best we can as the situation allows it. Don't worry - we'll keep you updated." Taking a few steps aside from the scanner, she stood in front of a cabinet and pulled open one of its drawers. She reached inside, pulling out and tossing something small to Kukkyōna. It was a communicator, the same one that the police officers themselves used. "Just make sure to keep that with you at all times, and we'll be just fine."

After nodding to her statements, he deftly caught it with his left hand, slightly rubbing his thumb over the communication device thrown to him. He looked back Avaron, bowing his head reverantly before he spoke calmly, "I wish for the speed to finish this matter and leave it behind us. Daisuke, Sakura, come," Kukkyona said in a swift, commanding voice, though it wasn't terse or rough, just to the point.

Daisuke looked up, and nodded to his father, before nodding to Sakura saying, "Let's go. I'm pretty sure you don't have a place as nice as ours to stay for the night, so I'd suggest coming with," he said with a smile, reassuring her that as much as their relationship was rocky, he wanted to invite her with a decent place to stay.

"Just a moment."

Before Sakura could open up her mouth to retort to the statement, Kenta allowed himself to speak up and walk towards the group in general. "Sakura will meet up with you later. I need to speak to her in private." It was a rather firm tone, one that was not interested in any say otherwise. Sakura got the idea quickly, scowling and shaking her head in disapproval. But she turned around and walked off towards the exit, Kenta right behind her. Avaron herself could only stare in slight surprise at the sudden move Kenta had made, but said nothing as the two walked off and exited the room.

"Uh okay...later I guess," he said towards Sakura and Kenta as they walked off, furrowing his brows in a perplexed expression, turning towards Avaron smiling softly back, saying, "see you later, Avaron," before leaving in sync with his father, who was not in the least deterred from the situation, taking everything in stride as they departed from the labs they entered.

"What do you think that was about? Do you think Kenta is actually going to interrogate her?" Daisuke asked his father worriedly, often thinking his father perceived everything the clearest out of anybody he knew.

Kukkyōna just stayed silent for awhile as they reentered the 'garage' of parked birds, heading towards the area where the Japanese-speaking people were, ordering someone to get a 'transport' for them quickly back to the hotel, before he got a understanding nod and went to secure one for them. He turned over, crossing his arms as he looked at his son with a unreadable expression on his face, too calm to be seen anything other than utter peace.

"You worry about the girl for nothing. She is in the hands of a honest and skilled young man of high ranking status in this city. Not to mention his superior happens to be one of the few people outside the Seireitei I respect for good reason, so you need not to worry about her," he said, totally understanding despite any denying his son was about to do.

"I am not worried about her! She's totally unreasonable, not to mention she hit me when I tried to ask-, okay so I did grab her and she did tell me to colorfully to leave her alone...and I tried to be nice to her this entire time...and, ugh! Forget it," Daisuke fumed and sighed, his face hot and flushed and his arms crossed over each other, and his brows knit as he kept fussing over her. He'd rather think about the firm, commanding, yet beautiful and graceful Avaron, but his mind and heart consistantly dragged back to Sakura. Why, he asked himself, '''why do I care about some ex-cultist who wouldn't give the time of day for me helping her up from the ground she tripped on when a perfectly fine looking and commanding woman would be better to spend time with? Ugh my head'',' Daisuke caressed his temples as he thought about it too hard, a bird now suddenly brought to bear besides the two Hayates.

Kukkyōna took a agile leap up to the nearest part of the back, then Daisuke vaulted up as well, knowing he'd have to wait for an answer again as the bird took off as fast as when they first rode it, but this time, a much bumpier ride was under way for them.

Clash of Beliefs
It was within the late night that Sakura returned.

It was easy to find them, considering their unique spiritual pressure that she was capable of sensing. After Kenta had released her from questioning, she headed straight for the building they were located in. Of course, she had to put on a "nice lady" act for the attendant at the desk and explain what was going on so that she could see them without qualms. After that, she headed straight up to their rooms, walked down the hallway, and was now standing right in front of the door with a somewhat defeated look on her face. She was holding a moderately sized bag in one of her hands. Based from the heat coming from the bag, as well as the smell of chicken in the air, it could be safely assumed that Sakura had stopped by a shop in order to purchase the goods.

Not having the key on her, she steadily knocked on the door and waited patiently.

"Enter, Sakura," said Kukkyona from a writing desk not too far from the extravagant beds nearby, pen and ink jar in hand, he was writing something down on paper, Daisuke was outside, slightly looking over his shoulder to see that Kukkyona was speaking to someone, someone at the door.

"Could that guy be any more pushy....?"

Deciding to disregard the sentence, Sakura grasped the door handle and opened it. She stepped inside, her high-heel boots making a muffled thumping against the carpeted the floor. Shutting it behind her, she raised the bag up to their view. "I.... brought something, in case you guys were hungry." She said dryly, somewhat wearily. "At the very least, the shit's something to snack on."

Kukkyona looked up from his writing, giving a once-over at her appearance then the sack she carried, pointing over to the small table round table with 3 tables seated around it, apparently it was rented recently as if someone drew near, the new smell would permeate their nostrils for a few moments, "You can set it over there. I appreciate your efforts."

"What he means is," Daisuke began to say as he quickly crossed the large room, slightly looking over his shoulder with a terse look at his father as he went back to his writing, he turned back to her with a smile, saying, "you didn't have to go through the trouble, but I have to admit, I am a little hungry. How about we take the seats over here and you can take a load off...you look worn out," he said with a empathetic tone, leading his arms towards it as he walked nearby, but gave her breathing room to walk by herself. One could also notice he was wearing a black overcoat over his casual attire, completely obscuring everything he was wearing, even his Zanpakuto, the high collar covering his neck only leaving his face unobscured.

"With everything that happened, I think I'm ready to pass out on the floor...." Sakura grumbled, moving over to set it on the table. "Do you mind if I lay on the bed, or do I have to suffer a bit longer?"

Daisuke opened his eyes wide, hearing this pleading tugged his heart strings as he sighed with a sense of joy she wasn't going to rage about anything now. "Of course you may, Sakura. Just lay on my bed over there," he said, pointing to the bed to the left-most of the two beds across from the table, already neatly made and untouched.

"I can just eat what you got me, and then sleep on the cot I rented out on the balcony," he said, pointing the large balcony outside the suite, in the open air and overseeing the night sky of the city.

"....thanks...."

With that word, Sakura moved over to the bed and fell on it, rolling on her back. Her muscles and bones immediately relaxed upon feeling the soft bed beneath them, their movements finally allowed to cease. Her expression still held that weary look, but her eyes were slightly narrowed. "A few questions, my ass..." She muttered in irritation. "Felt like I was taking a survey or an interview. Guy just couldn't shut up...."

"What did he want to know? Your childhood? I thought he just wanted to know your old connections to the Red Sun or something like that, right?" Daisuke queried as he took out what looked like a sandwitch, taking a bite into it, he slightly moaned at the good taste, and began to chew thoughtfully as he looked over at the reclined Sakura, watching her breathe a bit more relaxed, even if facially she was a bit irked.

"It was...." Sakura confirmed, arms out and spread from her side. Her knees were slightly bent, with one higher than the other. "But you'd think that from one subject, there wouldn't be so many questions. Apparently, the guy was ready all of his life to question an ex-member of some fucked up cult."

Chewing thoughtfully over what happened and what she said, he swallowed before a few moments pause came, only the sounds of the pen scratching into the paper, leaving a number of eloquently written letters that formed words, unknown in nature due to the far-off distance of the paper and pen, though the sounds were still there.

Daisuke finally broke the silence, asking what was sitting in the back of his mind, "Why did you leave them? The Red Suns I mean...cults are kind of brainwashed groupies right? So what made you want to leave them?"

Sakura didn't speak right away. She closed her eyes, letting the question sink into her brain and stew for a moment. Her mouth was concentrated in a thoughtful frown, her fingers slightly clenching and unclenching with the smallest of movements. "Of course, people like you would hold that sort of mentality. Allow me to explain something...." She opened her eyes to a half-lidded position. "Tell me... do you have a religion of your own that you believe in? Are you one with Shinto?"

"The Soul Society doesn't really have a 'religion' we believe in," Daisuke began to explain, biting his lower lip deciding on how to explain it. He then turned to look at her half-lidded eyes, saying, "we really believe in the will of the Soul King, and everything that is handed down from him is Divine Law, and the rights given to him is Divine Rights. We don't worship him per say...but we moreover acknowledge his omnipotence keeps the Soul Society intact, and without him, the World of the Living would descend into chaos," he paused for a few long moments before he said with a soft smile, "but to answer your question, our Noble Family does pay its respects on a monthly basis to each of our resting family members for either their courage as a Soul Reaper or the honor of bearing our Family name, or both really."

"It's different for people like me...." Sakura said, shifting her arms to place her hands behind her head. One leg crossed over the other. "For the few that are able to retain their memories after crossing over to Soul Society, their religion and beliefs cling with them. My own belief was in the legend of Izanami's children, the ones who dedicate themselves to a life of monitoring existence." She allowed her eyes to drift over towards Daisuke. "Contrary to what the rest of the crowd has been saying to you... Red Sun isn't some sort of cult. It's the name for this group of deities born from the flesh of Izanami-no-Mikoto, the true goddess of death and creation. Many people focus on the ones that follow the traditions of Red Sun to the point of radical extremism. That causes discrimination towards believers like me and dismisses them as occult and destructive."

She shifted one hand out from underneath her, extending it towards the ceiling with her fingers outstretched from the palm. "The reason I left? It's normal for someone to be of the same religion and still disagree over what's right and what's wrong..." She explained. "The cult I was in had a habit of being particularly masochistic and almost insane in their views of Red Sun. Their members usually self-mutilated themselves in various, gruesome ways in order to pay for the sin of being of "mortal mind". They even had others inflict their own form of pain and torture just to add insult to their own injuries..."

Her voice seemed to trail off at that point. She narrowed her eyes, clenching her teeth slightly and balling her extended hand into a fist. Then, she closed them once more, lowering her arm back down to the bed.

Daisuke put down his sandwitch, a solemn look crossed his face as he let what she said soak in, feeling almost mortified to the point of paling, but...instead he just thought for a long while. Thinking on how to comprehend on what she just told him would even make sense. The Red Suns were actually gods that exist, but the majority of their followers were so radical, it was almost parallelism to the extremist Catholics in the World of the Living or the Muslim religion.

He then looked over, a look of understanding and empathy was in his eyes but his face didn't show any other emotion as he spoke, "So...they did that to themselves huh? I understand now...why you don't like people touching you or getting close to you..., did you used to get...injured in that way, or was it forced on you? I won't pry if you don't want to answer," Daisuke turned his face slightly away from her contorted, closed eyes to look back at his half-eaten sandwitch, mulling over the depressing thoughts now threatening to cloud his mind.

"There wasn't any exceptions in who got slapped and who didn't." Sakura answered bluntly. She shifted her gaze back to the ceiling, staring in an almost blank manner. "Women like me were subject to various kinds of abuse, even moreso than the men. Torture, rape, you name it, it happened to me. It wasn't because they saw us as inferior. But rather, it was they revered us, seeing pain as the only way to keep the mind aware of how corrupt the world truly is. It was a twisted brand of honor, and the sad thing is...." She allowed herself to smile bitterly. "....there wasn't any resistance to it. We fucking loved it, treating it as the drug that kept us alive. The very thing that should've drove us away was keeping us within."

"So that's what it was like," Daisuke said lowly as he heard every word Sakura said, now facing his chair towards her, clasping his hands together and folding them on his lap as he leaned forward to give her his absolute undivided attention. His concerned gaze did not leave her face, that bitter smile, the show of honest cruelty that they subjected to themselves, came from expressions...and Daisuke could only grasp how it really felt.

"I've never been through that kind of ordeal...raised to be revered for the morbid practices they worshipped of a cult. But I have seen war...and war is certainly terrible when you have to cut down your friends and comrades in order to stop it," Daisuke said solemnly, a plain look of sadness and hardened resolve crossed his eyes, the two emotions clashed and his eyes became a little spaced...as if he was reliving that particular rainy dark day, where many good comrades and friends died...so the Soul Society could live.

"War.... is just another product of the corruption that is within the spiritual and physical world." Sakura said, her words switching from that of explanation to that of her own thoughts. "Everyone who engages in war is guilty and deserves to be punished, no matter who they are, no matter what the reasons. In that sense.... the three of us aren't so different. We've fought.... we've felt the pain.... and we've taken lives. We all take part in the dance of death, and we can never stop. Not now.... not ever." Her words seemed to chill even her own lips as she spoke the words of nihilism.

Daisuke felt his teeth grind, as he looked downwards, balling his fistst up before he responded in a honest, passionate tone, "I don't kill like a monster because I love the thrill of taking a life! I fight to protect, I kill Hollows to cleanse them, I'd give my life to protect those I see as precious, whether they don't want to be saved or not," he looked up at her, despite her uncaring morbid speech, he meant those words to hang in the air, to let her how honest he felt about his duty as a Soul Reaper and as a comrade to others.

A silence.

Sakura's eyes widened, the words striking her body like a hammer. Her entire body seemed to freeze up. A shiver went through her very nerves, her mind registering every part of what Daisuke had said. She closed her eyes, allowing the silence to sink between the two of them like a fog. Her fists slowly clenched, and she took in an audible breath.

First, there was a giggle.

Then, a chuckle.

And then finally, a laugh. It was a laugh not only filled with the humor, elation, and amusement, as if his words were a joke. But it also held spite, disappointment, and her malevolence within the containing sounds. It was the very emotion she was feeling challenged into what would've otherwise been the typical display of happiness. A simple-minded person would've deemed her insane, out of her mind with the sounds she made. But the men in her company were far from simple-minded, their understanding beyond that of the norm. Therefore, they could understand faster than anyone ever could at that point in time.

She shifted her body to face him, keeping herself prostrate on the bed. "All right, then...." She spoke, a smile clear on her face. Her eyes were squinted at him, similar to that of how a cat narrows its eyes before it strikes at its prey. "When you die for that cause.... to protect who or what you value in its purest term.... then I'll make sure to weave the silk on your grave myself." This expression, combined with her words, would make her aura all the more eerie and somewhat terrifying.

Daisuke's eyes widened at the string of wierd sounds coming from the girl after the long few moments of silence, sweatdropping at the scene of her hysteria, knowing she found something amusing about it, though Daisuke wouldn't call it insanity. He knew he had his days where something made him almost bust a gut because of a obscure joke.

Then her eyes opened and narrowed in a feline-predator kind of way, as she spoke in a kind of creepy way, but one Daisuke interperted differently. He actually chuckled a nearly quirky laugh of his own, suddenly saying with a wink, "I hope its very pretty, and I appreciate the thought. However, I don't plan on dying until I outlive my old man," he thumbed over to Kukkyona, who absorbed the entire dialouge while not skipping a beat in his writing on the paper with his pen.

"Right...." With the smile still on her face, Sakura turned away from him, her back facing him. She closed her eyes, taking in another deep breath. "I'm going to sleep. Make too much noise, and I'll wake up and cut your nuts off."

"Noted," Daisuke said with a chuckle, already her aggressive nature was starting to rub off on him, as he took the chicken tender sandwitch with him outside, before he whispered, "sleep peacefully, Sakura."

The First Strike
As he walked pass his father, Kukkyona spoke in a low tone as he paused in his writing, "Be careful of your feelings with her. She's a dangerous one, and we have no idea the depth of her powers either."

Daisuke whirled around, his face reddened hotly at the mention of feelings for Sakura, whispering heatedly, "What feelings?! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"I won't pry, and I won't confide to her, seeing as she would, as she eloquently put it, 'cut my nuts off.'"

Daisuke sweatdropped, asking rhetorically, "How much did you hear of that conversation?"

"In all seriousness though," Kukkyona said turning his left eye to sideglance seriously at him, saying lowly, "she's a entity I've not sensed before. She's not a Soul Reaper or a Hollow, so she's an unknown element we're not aware of, her potential in strength could be greater than mine. Watch yourself." The elder left it at that, even as Daisuke raised a hand to interrupt, he went back to writing on the paper, already on the 3rd page, the entire prior two pages written in eloquent Kanji letters.

Daisuke sighed, leaving him to walk outside to the cot he set up on the large overhanging balcony, flopping onto it, rolling over to rest on his back, as he stared up at the stars over the city, mulling over the things that Sakura, and his father have said. He couldn't be more confused right now, and the last thing he needed was more confusion entering his mind. He wanted to sort this thing out...now, but he didn't know how.

Sometime later...

Kukkyona had finally finished his writing, falling asleep on the bed opposite of Sakura's, resting peacefully with a simple deep inhale and exhale. Daisuke outside, tossed and turned in a restless sleep, only able to half-sleep, his body refusing to drift into a deep slumber with the thoughts clouding his mind.

The thing that would bring him out of his slumber was a lone, repeating sound.

''BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!''

It was the communicator Avaron had gave him. It gave a constant set of beeping noises, enough to penetrate the thick fog of sleep surrounding his mind and alert him back to the outside world.

A soft sigh vented through the parted lips of Kukkyona, as he reached for his communicator, sitting upright on his bed as he responded in a weary tone, "Yes...any news on the intel we gathered?"

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!!!

What answered him was the sounds of gunfire and explosions going off in the background. Avaron's tense voice managed to come through, despite the high volume of the effects. "Kukkyōna-taichō?" Her voice managed to speak clear and true to his ears. "Sorry about the wake-up call, but is this a good time to string you a long for a bit of direct assistance?"

After that was said, there were constant cries, shouting for backup, alerting friendlies to enemy troops approaching their position. It was clear that some sort of engagement was taking place at the coasthead between the police and some unknown force.

Kukkyona steadily began to dress, having set down the communicator and turned a 'speaker-phone' setting, so he could talk while he dressed appropiately, "What's the casuality list, and what's the threat? Rioters, Hollows, or is it the Red Sun cultist agents?" As he finished the list off of questions, he picked up each Zanpakuto and fastened them within his sash, wrapped around his waist, the red cloth hung around what looked like a more darker choice of clothin, his white scarf was being wrapped around his neck with his other hand as he continued to prepare himself for confrontation.

Daisuke however, had sensed unusual presences from afar, following with his unprompted wake-up by the beeping within the suite. He used Flash Step, shimmering from one point to the other, his overcoat fluttered around his neck, legs, and arms as he flew from one rooftop to another as he saw a rising smolder of smoke in the distance, as well as the sound of weapon fire being exchanged.

"Adjuchas-level Arrancar, a multitude of them, are attacking the coasthead outskirts!" Avaron reported, hiding behind cover of a manually erected blockade. Beside her, police officers were firing their guns at white-coated, hooded figures that were charging at them. There was a mix of bullets being blocked, swords being swung, and bodies getting ripped apart by bullet fire. Bala and the occasional Cero were being fired as well, and some unfortunate officers managed to get caught in the crossfire. "Casualty status is unknown, and the threat level is at yellow!"

This was followed by her rising up from her cover and leveling her own pistol at the attacking and fighting figures. She opened fire, every bullet hitting their mark and several of their enemies going down.

Meanwhile, as Daisuke was heading towards the area....

"Planning to leave without me....?"

The presence of Sakura had graced him. She was jumping from building rooftop to rooftop, a small distance behind as she pursued Daisuke. The night wind whipped at her clothing, and chills were running down her spine at the feel of that as well as the sight of the smoke.

"Any idea who's leading the enemy," Kukkyona finished fastening his clothes together, his scarlet hair draped along his shoulders, just touching the white scarf that was wrapped snugly around his neck that draped down to the small of his back, the rest of his attire now fitted and ready, his Zanpakuto now apparent in their display, and was now wearing a black cloak in the similar size of his Captain's Haori, but bore no insignia of any kind.

Daisuke looked over his shoulder as she joined his leaping from roof top to roof top, her own clothing whipped around her lithe body in the chilling night air, giving her a almost predatorial look. Daisuke chuckled, winking at her as he responded confidently, "Not at all. If you were feeling as restless as I was, there was no way you could sleep through Avaron's communicator device ringing. Despite that fact, I saw smoke and fire long before I sensed the presence of so many Hollows, I think you'd be aching to get in on some of the action," he finished with a enthusiastic tone.

The two of them sped from the roof tops towards the spot of confrontation, the explosions were much louder, the smell of smoke was now becoming vaguely aware, and the shouts of combatants falling in battle, fighting with their might, was alarmingly close.

"None at all! The only thing I could go by is guesses, and even those are too damn vague at best!"

Sakura turned her gaze to look up at him, a smirk of her own gracing her features. "Who am I to pass up a good time to cut loose?" She answered back, quickly turning her gaze back towards the front. "Especially when the lot of 'em's a bunch of sitting ducks ready to get popped...." Her boots collided with the brick of the roof, and she skidded to a stop. "Hold right here!" This command was followed by a wave of her hand. "Get over here and crouch out of sight."

Bending over, she looked down at the ground several stories below them to see a squad of foot mobiles with blades drawn and their movements scourying every bit of the alley they were walking through. "Ahijados soldiers...." She muttered, mostly to herself but loud enough for Daisuke to hear. "They must've gotten tired of waiting around...."

Kukkyona picked up the radio transmitter, switching the toggle from 'speaker-phone' feature to the 'normal-talk', holding it a mere foot away from his own mouth as he walked at a calm pace, his scarf flowed gently across his shoulders and back with his scarlet hair, his face becoming more and more illuminated from the darkness as the moon shined dimly on his serious solemn features, "What's your position, Captain Avaron? I can be there garunteed within 2 minutes..."

Daisuke stopped in sync with her movements, slightly unnnerved at how attuned she was to combat, though from her past as a cultist member of the Red Suns, and a true believer, he had no idea currently what she could be capable of.

Thanks to his Spiritual Veil Overcoat, he was able to passively block his Spiritual Pressure, allowing his hidden perch with Sakura to remain hidden, although he didn't know how Sakura was able to effectively do the same, but he remained quiet of his queries, watching the Ahijados soldiers, garnered in white cloaks and their Zanpakuto drawn.

"Alright...I think I can take the front two without being noticed if the rear is taken out. Think you can handle that?" Daisuke asked as he motioned towards the rear two Arrancar, as he readied his left hand on the space below his Zanpakuto's hilt, thumbing the blade unlocked, ready for a quick draw at a given notice as his eyes carefully trailed the stray soldiers.

"Handle it? Please..."

Sakura rolled her eyes at the hidden implication of his words. She leaned forward a little, her legs tensing up and ready to spring at the given moment. She waited patiently as the Ahijados soldiers continued to move slowly and cautiously. However, they seemed to be relying more on their first five senses rather than their sixth. She, as well as he, was in a perfect position to take them out within a good amount of seconds.

Then, she boosted herself up, performing an elegant front-flip before beginning a bold descent downwards. An anticipating grin was on her face, and her eyes flashed with an eagerness that only her desire for battle and blood could drive her to. Within the silhouette of the moon, she looked like a bird of prey swooping down to capture the helpless mice that happened to be scurrying through the grass. It was a perfect way to describe the situation at hand.

She descended.

SLICE!

She wasted no time in shifting her hand, a sword seemingly materializing from her palm within a millisecond of the wrist twist. The first target didn't have time to even look when her blade sliced cleanly through his neck. His body froze up, all body functions stopping as the nerve center was disconnected from its controller. Then, as the head fell off, blood sprayed towards the sky in the form of a crimson geyser. The body fell to the cold ground, the red liquid staining the ground underneath their feet.

At the same time this was happening, Sakura was performing a ballerina spin. Her second hapless target had time to attempt to raise his blades up in an effort to defend himself and escape death's grasp a moment longer. However, his efforts came far too late, and cold steel tore cleanly through his midsection. His weapons escaped his hands, and his own body froze for a millisecond before it followed its partner. His two halves collapsed like rocks, leaving the killer to stand in front of what would be Daisuke's own victims. They immediately spun around, their swords flashing and raised in an effort to kill her. Yet she did not allow herself to raise in defense, a malicious smile gracing her beautiful features.

She knew what was coming.

Daisuke could only blink for a second at how fast she was, the grace she employed against her enemies and how quickly, not to mention easily she slayed them. She left him his targets like she said, the three turning on her, leaving him room only for a second as he descended soundlessly, his cloak fluttered around his body as the only inclination of his descent, dropping his right hand to the already unlatched Zanpakuto sword, preforming a Iaido style slice with expert poise and grace upon the enemy.

As his sandals hit the pavement, his sword already clicked back into the sheathe, blood spurt from the first Ahijado's neck spurted blood like a leaking faucet, he tried to clutch it as he gurgled and choked on his own blood, falling to his knees before falling in spasms onto the ground. But not before the arm of the approaching Ahijados soldier suddenly sliced open from the second cut-through of the attack, his arm falling slump onto the ground while his own stump discharged blood, causing him to shout a feral cry as he charged towards Daisuke to slash towards his brow.

Daisuke twirled expertly with the ball of his foot, side-stepping around the slash, landing a powerful Hakuda strike on the Ahijado's temple, a loud snapping sound was heard as his neck was lodged out of joint, and soon from the crackling sound of force, his body flew in a pinwheel motion, soaring through the alley-way to land like a rag doll further out of the dark, bloody battlefield they've carved.

The last Ahijados lunged, stabbing his own sword towards his chest, to which Daisuke uttered lowly as he crouched low and slapped both hands expertly onto the incoming blade, halting it, "Hado #11, Tsuzuri Raiden," a sudden bright yellow glow of electric energy traveled from the palms of his hands, up the blade into the Ahijados soldier, causing him to spasm and scream soundlessly as his vocals were burned out and his skin charred and crackling from the violent energy crawling in and out his nervous system. His body suddenly spasmed, eyes rolled to the back of his head, and then Daisuke let go of his sword, a slight cut formed on the bottom sides of his hands, letting the dead soldier fall to the ground onto his side.

Daisuke looked over, figruing he was not nearly as impressive as Sakura's entry and execution, but at least he got the job done, letting out a crooked smile, "Didn't expect you to jump so soon. You fight like a natural."

Kukkyona meanwhile was using Flash Step at a far more accelerated pace, moving from one roof top, to another, suddenly appearing onto the battle lines within a mere minute forty seconds, startling a couple of officers as they raised their weapons they saw he wasn't a Ahijados, then recognized him from before.

"C-Captain Kukkyona?!" One of them called out surprised, but Kukkyona halted anything else he might've said, raising a hand, asking,

"Where is Captain Avaron? I'm here to reinforce your defenses," Kukkyona said with calm and collect that only a combatant of centuries of experience would have.

Sakura closed her eyes and smiled cockily at the praise. "Don't flatter me just yet." She chided coolly, opening her eyes to look over at him. The sound of more gunfire could be heard within the distance, meaning that there was still fighting going on. "We've got a long ways to go before we've shown each other the full extent of our abilities."

One of the officers managed to step up, a somewhat nervous look on his face. "She headed a few blocks left of us in order to scout out more of their numbers. She went with Sergeant Sonoda and his squad and told us to keep watch down here, b-but we also saw a mass of foot mobiles follow their path soon after. We haven't heard from them since!"

"Agreed...," he tapped the hilt of his Zanpakuto, smiling humored while saying, "Kyoi Abata is getting anxious for battle. He's already making wagers on how many of them we'd get in the first strike. He's so reckless like that, I often try to keep from releasing him straight away," he admonished before straightening his face into a hardened serious expression as he heard more gunfire.

"C'mon...let's get moving," Daisuke ushered with a nod, jogging past her, before initiating a Flash Step, moving at accelerated paces to head towards the enemy line once again.

Kukkyona narrowed his eyes, looking towards the alley where the frigthened officer pointed, making a few steps towards that direction. The wind blew by their position, his scarf and hair flew around him and his dark cloak, his hands remained at his sides as he said, "Hold the line here, officer. I'll be back with Captain Avaron shortly," he said in a smooth, confident voice, immediately of disappearing via Flash Step afterwards, the slight sound of a sword grinding on stone was heard in its aftermath as he left.

He moved swiftly and quickly, trying to see if he could sense the enemy, hoping he would find the Captain fighting for her life as well.

That being said, Sakura twisted around and allowed herself to follow close behind, her own speed technique causing her to vanish with a ghost-like VOOM. She kept on his tail, her eyes searching around for any more threats.

On Kukkyona's side, in the area where he was approaching, a battle was taking place.

Avaron was huddled against a building alleyway, bruised and with minor injuries. However, her eyes were concentrated and narrowed, her body alert and ready to react at the slightest happening. Her situation was looking rather bad, to be honest. After she had split up from Kenta and his own squad so that they could hold another part of the town, she had been abruptly cut off by a multitude of Ahijados. She managed to fight them off, but had been pressed to retreat several blocks. Now, the survivors of the duel were converging on her position and ready to tear her apart.

Of course, she was no helpless victim. She closed her eyes, bringing the back of her Kidō pistol to her face as if in prayer for good luck. She took a discceet breath, waiting patiently as the six Arrancar came closer and closer. It would take skill and patience in order to survive what was to come, and had it been a lesser woman, she would've been victimized and killed quite easily. The cult members were no joke, having taken out a considerable amount of her forces. If she made one slip-up, she would die and all of her squadron's hopes would be taken down with her.

The first time had to count.

She made her move.

Instantly, she rushed from cover and rushed at the team, unleashing a volley of shots in their direction. Her lethal accuracy as well as the sudden change of pace had caught them off-guard. Within seconds, three were downed and dropped. The other three took this time to rush at her, forcing her to re-coil and take aim quickly on one of them. Pulling the trigger, she first shot at his hand, and then swerved the barrel to fire at his head. The first bullet managed to tear through the target's fingers, and the second hit dead in the center to end his life permanently.

The two managed to close the distance.

The nearest one raised his blade and unleashed a flurry of swipes. Avaron's eyes widened in shock, and she broke out of her ironsight stance in order to avoid being cut down. Swipe after swipe, the blade was nearing her person, and it would be only a matter of time before the second managed to trap her. Thinking quickly, she dodged under one more swipe and moved underneath his guard. Her free arm reached out andwrapped around his, and she turned her body to twist his arm in a painful lock. He let out a howl, dropping his sword in pain and trying to shove her off.

The second charged in, his own blade raised. However, Avaron was ready. Swinging a leg up, she landed a hard kick right in his chest to stun him and force him to the ground before suddenly releasing her captive. She angled her gun to point off to her side, shooting the newly freed enemy and killing him before he could make a move. Then, with deadly reflexes, she swung her gun towards the final enemy--

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!!!

--and promptly extinguished his life forever.

After the final gunshot, Avaron waited for a moment to catch her breath. She was panting, sweat falling down her face. However, she was smiling a little at her victory, twirling her gun around her finger as a means to show-off a little. It was all right - she had just faced horrifying odds and came out like a professional. There was still more to go, but now with those six Arrancar dead, she could breathe a little easier....

"Captain Avaron," Kukkyona spoke as she breathed easier from her exceptional execution of the 6 Arrancar, witnessing it all firsthand, but supressed the urge to intervene, truly wanting to witness the skills of a Non-Soul Reaper against Spiritually empowered beings like Arrancars. After what he just witnessed, it would truly take a great number of the cultists to bring even one of the officers down, if they were anything like their commander.

"I saw the battle firsthand...impressive footwork and marksmanship," he said a cool collect voice as always, looking over the Arrancars bleeding, smoking corpses, not bothering to examine them to see if they were dead, clearly from the marks, they'd wish not to live through it. "I came to reinforce your forces, but I see they're spread pretty thin...where would you have me go first?"

Daisuke halted ontop another rooftop, Sakura was nearby he knew, his cloak billowed around him as he took his right foot and pressed it on the edge of the building and looked down, seeing a barrage of gunfire exchanged by a few squads of officers and what looked like 3 times their number of Ahijados coming towards them, some batting away the yellow streams of gunfire with expert timing, others blurred away, while the others were less fortunate, their bodies' sprayed with blood and gore as the rounds ripped them apart effectively, leaving them to bleed out in the streets they were rushin in from.

Daisuke did not even need to debate this, seeing as a time for action rather than planning, he used a Flash Step, reappearing deftly with the sound of a spark being set off as his signature tell-tale sign, startling some of the officers but halted as they saw his attire and features were most certainly not of the Ahijados.

"Stand back and reinforce the city farther inwards. Ahijados are infiltrating further into the city and you need to get the city reinforced while you can," Daisuke commanded as he unsheathed his Zanpakuto with a loud scraping sound, humming in the air as his Spiritual Pressure gradually began to climb.

"You think you can take them by yourself?! Kid...let us do our jo-" he was cut off as Daisuke's Spiritual Pressure skyrocketed, a bright red aura surrounded himself and his Zanpakuto, his eyes glowed red of his resolve to kill his enemies, anyone with Spiritual Energy would've felt a nearly burning choking feeling from his Spiritual Pressure being so close and flaring.

"Get out of here....now...before you get caught in the crossfire!" Daisuke yelled out, further encouraging the weary officers to run back, already 3 Ahijados reached their lines, leaping towards them with swords slashing towards them. However, within burst of three Flash Steps, Daisuke slashed each and every of the Ahijados soldiers through their abdomens, causing them to scream in pain as they fell effectively defeated and now bleeding themselves in the streets as Daisuke's Zanpakuto bled and began to ignite.

"Now...Blaze Eternally...Kyoi Abata!" Daisuke's Zanpakuto suddenly changed shape slightly, two hooks extended from the near edge of his Zanpakuto's blade, curving forward like horns, and flames suddenly crawled the whole length of his Zanpakuto and blazed brightly around himself, his cloak billowed around him in a violent and dramatic fashion as he gazed at the chargin onslaught of enemies.

With a raise of his newly transformed Zanpakuto, he yelled out with declaration his Zanpakuto's attack as he swung downwards, "Kasai no kushiyaki, Kyoi Abata!" A sudden large stream of flames sprayed from his sword, enveloping a whole line of enemies in its fiery embrace, causing a good 8 of the Ahijados soldiers to be caught immediately, being too close to dodge, as their bodies were consumed in fiery embrace and thrashed violently on the ground before their charred corpses laid still.

Upon the rooftops, Sakura was watching the battle with astonishment. Her face was illuminated by the fires that enveloped their enemies with a merciless intent. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of their charred bodies as they were incinerated. Her ears picked up the screams - music to her tainted ears. A shiver ran down her spine at the newfound feelings, and she couldn't help but laugh in a moment of ecstasy. "Yeah!!" She shouted, raising her sword in the air in a battle cheer.

Upon hearing Kukkyōna's voice, Avaron snapped her head upwards, eyes widening slightly at the sight of the elder. However, she broke into a small smile, holstering her gun upwards. "Nice to know someone out there appreciates the talents of the police...." She said lightly. However, she was quick to take on a more serious tone, turning her gaze towards the road ahead of them. She lifted her gun in order to point down the road. "This attack claimed a lot of good lives, but we were able to push them back. Right now, they're regrouping for one final defense and falling back as we speak. I've managed to radio in vehicle support, but I couldn't relay the coordinates to attack due to a weak signal. If you can get me on the rooftop of one of the buildings nearby the beach, I should be able to radio them in, and we can corner them all."

Daisuke's conentration blocked off any retorts he would've thrown at Sakura's battle cheer, but the effect was not lost to him. He felt invigorated by the encouragement, even if it wasn't directed for him, he felt it none-the-less, his body blazing in a thick, sparking red aura as his eyes vehemently looked upon the oncoming cultist soldiers, their bodies curled through the standing flames before their white, slightly charred cloaks came into view as they crouched low to the ground as they charged towards him, intent on using their pure numbers to overpower him.

Daisuke was counting on that. As they closed in on him, he used Flash Step, disappearing for a split second before reappearing above them, a fiery sphere gathered around the 'horn' spikes of his Zanpakuto before he growled out, "Kami kizu o moyashi, Kyoi Abata!" letting loose a condensed, fireball towards the gathered group below, two managed to whiz away before it impacted, but by then it was too late for the 5 others, as a large explosion rocked the street below, completely ripping apart the two in its blast radius before launching the others in a screaming, pinwheeling, charred projectiles across the battlefield, their bodies crashing into various parts of the street or into nearby buildings, spreading small fires around the area.

Daisuke landed back amongst the aftermath of his technique, his black cloak emanated a few fires from his own technique, but gave him a menacing appearance as he reappeared on the other side, red eyes glowing with killing intent, it almost made him look like a demon to the eyes of the Ahijados soldiers.

"If you continue...I assure you, you will die here!" Daisuke roared out in a menacing guttural voice, his eyes gazing brightly upon the remaining dozen Ahijados, the others have retreated to fight in another battle less lethal to their lives.

The lead Ahijados soldier simplly cocked his neck to one side, then the other, making audilbe cracking sounds, before he charged forward, the other Ahijados charged with him with battle cries, their swords shining brightly in the wake of the fiery light and the moonlight above, their white forms raced across the streets towards him like a pack of wild animals.

Daisuke then moved his Zanpakuto to be parallel to his body, holding his other palm to rest at the back of the burning blade, surprisingly not harming his palm due to the heightened attunement with his Zanpakuto and himself, waiting for a few seconds as they approached he uttered lowly the beginning of a Kido spell, "Hado #32, Okasen," suddenly a sphere of gathering yellow energy formed at the middle of the parallel set Zanpakuto, then discharged in a wide arc, claiming the first 6 of the mindlessly charging Ahijados, slicing them and incinerating their bodies in its violent wake.

As the others leapt into the air to avoid it, they descended with blades singing into the air, meeting a burning hooked sword, sparks and clangs of swords erupted as Daisuke began to simultaneously exchange parries with 6 Ahijados soldiers, forcing them back with amazing strength so he could clash swords with the other 3 coming at him.

He then stepped around a thrust of one Ahijados, severing his torso in a incerating slice, causing him to slightly gurgle before spasming, his halves arleady seared shut by his hot blazing Zanpakuto, before vaulting over another, slicing into another Ahijados soldiers shoulder and past his heart, causing near instaneous death as his body was lit aflame by the Zanpakuto's aura.

As another Ahijados thrust forward, he palmed the wrist of the sword hand before twisting around his Zanpakuto so the pommel smashed into his throat, crushing it, and causing him to choke and die a horrible death as Daisuke repelled another enemy, his eyes glowing back into the faceless soldier, feeling the fear radiate from him despite his undying resolve in attacking him. He then lit his Zanpakuto aflame, uttering, "Kyoi Abata," and discharged a large, potent amount of flames as he shoved him back, enveloping him in red hot fire, causing him to scream backwards as he cartwheeled into a building, smashing into it violently, before falling limply to the ground.

Then two at once attacked him from behind, to which Daisuke responded by using Flash Step once more, moving only a few feet forward, missing their sword strikes completely before turning around and extending his hand, uttering another incantation, "Bakudo #4, Hainawa," a rope of yellow binding energy was thrown from his palm, tying both of the Ahijados soldiers' Zanpakuto together, slightly stunning them at their predicament. Daisuke then rushed at them, moving in several bounds, the two desperately tried to break the spell, but were a second too late, as Daisuke grinded the edge of his Zanpakuto along the street, enveloping it into flames before throwing a wave of fire at them, causing a pyrotechnic explosion, blasting their screaming forms into ashes instantly, their weapons flew backwards, razor hot projectiles as they flew into the opposite building with a crash, causing another small fire amongts the battlefield.

Daisuke held his Zanpakuto in the stance he left it in his execution, his eyes began to dim and the enemy was defeated here. He stood up straight and tall, not so much as a scratch on himself, as he flaked his sword outwards, depositing a few flakes of ashes and blood off his Zanpakuto while reverting it into its sealed form, and sheathed his Zanpakuto with a audible click amongst the crackling and burning flames around him.

"One battle down...," he said lowly, a somber look was shown on him, showing he had no enjoyment for cutting loose in this manner, slaying the Ahijados, but felt a sense of relief that he stopped their mayhem here.

Kukkyona quickly grabbed a hold of her shoulder, saying, "Brace yourself," before taking her with him in whizzing motion, a sound of his Flash Step emanated in the sound of a sword grinding before it was gone as suddenly as it arrived.

His body and Avaron's rushed over ground in a very swift fashion, moving from one building top to another, before they arrived within less than a couple minutes, within enough time to here violent explosions and plumes of flame emanate in the distance, sounding off Daisuke's own battle, but did not distract Kukkyona as he stopped on one of the building tops where she desired, releasing her swiftly as he halted, looking at her expectantly.

"This is close enough," he proclaimed calmly, knowing that he calculated correctly.

"Ugh...."

Unfortunately, Avaron was not used to such travel. She blinked a few times, stepping forth a little and shaking her head in order to clear out her head. Fortunately, it only took seconds for her to recover her bear. She pressed a button to her earpiece, contacting her desired reinforcements. "This is Setsuko to Vehicle Team Foxtrot, do you copy? Over!"'' She called out, walking towards the edge of the roof to look down. She could clearly see Ahijados moving through the street at a rapid pace.''

However, her luck couldn't have been better.

'''BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!'''

Her eyes widened as she witnessed three pulses of Kidō energy hit the multitude head-on, blowing their numbers and bodies apart. ''"We read you five by five, Captain...."' The low, gruff voice of what presumed to be the leader of the vehicle unit said. At the base of the building, a convoy of jeeps and trucks mounted with heavy Kidō cannons were driving on the road, stopping in front of the building they were on. ''"Looked like you could use the help...."

A relieved grin broke out on Avaron's face. "You damn bastard.... showing up late and taking all the credit! We'll meet you at ground level. Out." With that, she cut the connection and turned towards the other captain, sheathing the gun on her waist. "This might be where we'll have to split paths, unless you want to come along..." She explained, taking a few steps towards him. "I'll be directing the convoy from their point of view in order to keep it effective as possible. Reports told me that your son had showed up beforehand with that woman in tow. Might want to meet up with him and see how things are on his end....right.....?"

There was a reason her voice trailed off.

For within the end of her words, her ears picked up the sound of flute playing, loud and clear. The tune was haunting, its slow and deliberate rhythm sending a chill down her spine. It was strange enough to hear that alone.... but it seemed as if it was being broadcasted over the city. Below her, the escorts of the convoy unit stopped, expressions of confusion and wonder as they looked around for the source. "What in the hell.....?" She muttered in disbelief.

Kukkyona looked around, suddenly hearing the strange flute sound being broadcasted...or the impression of being broadcasted around the city, its tune eery...and almost like a calling card.

"The attack on the city was a ruse, Captain Avaron," Kukkyona said with affirmation, feeling a strange omnicience approaching their position, "the real fight is about to begin..."

Daisuke looked over at Sakura's position, waving her down, saying, "You going to gawk at me all day, or are we going to keep moving?" He chuckled after what he said, smiling brightly again to encourage her to continue on, but suddenly heard the strange flute sound abound their location, echoing through the city in its eery sound.

"The hell...is that music?" Daisuke muttered aloud as he looked around in disbelief, wondering where on earth that could be coming from.

However, instead of disbelief, Sakura's face contorted to one of apprehension. Out of the mass, she would be the one to recognize where such music came from, as it was within the scriptures of Red Sun. Immediately, she gritted her teeth, eyes narrowed at Daisuke in urgency. "Hayate!!!" She called out. "Get your ass up here and follow me!! We're taking a little detour!!!" She sheathed her sword and turned her back, not bothering to check if Daisuke was following her. The commanding and urgent tone she had taken would ensure that he would.

Out of the corner of her eye, Avaron spotted something standing on a building on the opposite side of the road. He looked like a homeless man, with a red hood covering his head, a trenchcoat covering his torso, bandages covering his hands, and slightly tattered blue jeans and sneakers covering his legs and feet. However, what had gotten her attention was the way he stood - like a commander overlooking the progress of a battle between his soldiers and the enemy. It was all too clear from the aura he was emanating from his person that he was one of the leaders of the assault.

She raised her finger to point. "Over the--!" cc However, she couldn't finish the rest of her sentence.

A terrible aura swept over her, pressurizing around her entire body. Her face immediately changed to that of horror, and she collapsed on her knees, her body shivering and shaking in an involuntary manner. Her skin had gone pale, and the life in her eyes had instantly vanished. Despair.... depression.... it was washing over her like bad water, and all she could do was quiver in terror at the newfound feelings....

"S-Sakura!" He started to say as she commanded him, quickly using Flash Step to catch up to her, his cloak billowed around his arms, neck, and legs as he leaped from one building top to another, managing to keep a reasonable pace, he began to yell over to her, "the hell is this music?! Do you know what it means?!"

Kukkyona himself widened his eyes as he saw the figure, and the exuding aura that was filling his own body with foreign feelings to the composed and collected Noble. After a few moments of feeling it, he narrowed his eyes at the man standing across from him, suddenly grabbing Avaron by her shoulder and brought her to stand behind him, now flaring Spiritual Pressure of his own, drowning out the foreign emotions with pure resolve and will, his body glowed a dark red as his eyes reflected his resolve to stand firm in the wake of the powerful aura.

"Stand behind me, Captain. My own Spiritual Pressure should drown out this wave of emotions he seems to be exuding," he knew she wouldn't like it, but his massive Spiritual Pressure would also keep her down inadverdantly because of its dense feeling in the air, though he tried to direct it in the wave the hooded man's exuding will-breaking aura.

His voice carried with a commanding tone, calling out to him over the great expanse, "I know you're the leader of these Arrancar, and also a conspirator of the Red Sun cult operating here. But what I want to know, is your name, stranger!"

Her orange hair whipping across her face as she continued to fly across the rooftops, Sakura could only look back over her shoulder. "At the moment, it means only two things. One.... we've all been duped into thinking that this was a victory. Two.... there is at least one being of Red Sun that we're going to be meeting as of this very moment if we keep going the way we are...." She turned her head back, eyes searching around and her senses active.

Behind Kukkyōna, Avaron had fallen on her hands and knees, breathing hard and a distraught look on her face. "M... Oh, K-kami...." She managed to sputter weakly, now that Kukkyōna's energy was protecting her from the horrifying aura that had permeated her just moments before. She looked over her shoulder at him. "I owe you my life on that one, Hayate....."

On the opposite building, the figure remained silent at the commanding tone. If he reacted at all to the demanding words, he was not showing it and was truly a master at hiding the emotions underneath. He raised a hand, slowly and deliberately towards the Shinigami Captain to point a lone finger. Then, he flicked that finger slightly in the air, indicating a gunshot being fired. In that same slow and deliberate manner, he lowered his arm back down, and the depression-induced aura faded from their minds and bodies completely. He continued to stare at them a moment more, not moving an inch.

Then, he turned away, vanishing in a cloud of black smoke.

The music stopped.

"Hold on a minute! The Red Sun are REAL?!" Daisuke croaked out in a unbelieving sputter, not meaning to be rude, but he thought deities are usually either overwhelming beings holding the fabric of chaos and order together, or near-non-existant, at one point in time they did but left humanity and the passed away souls to their own devices.

He just gawked at her as he kept up his speed and movements with hers, trying to figure out how she knew all this...and how the hell she knew it was a Red Sun they were about to meet.

"Hold it!" Kukkyona yelled out angrily, after arching his brow at the 'gun shot' the hooded man imitated. He then preformed a Flash Step so fast, he was on the rooftop the hooded man was on less than a second, reaching his hand into the smoke, trying to sense him before he got too far away.

However, he was completely gone. There was no trace of the man left, nothing left to sense. He had simply vanished into thin air, as if he had never been there in the first place. Avaron slowly allowed herself to get up, the sweat still prominent on her face as she stared at the opposite rooftop with apprehension and fear. "....a hundred and something years old....." She muttered softly, the wind chilling her bones far than she ever thought it could. "....and I have never experienced something like that. What in the hell was that thing....?"

Kukkyona let a disconcerted expression cross his face, as the being simply vanished, without a trace of its presence or unusual aura.

"Never in all my years have I felt a being that...frightening," Kukkyona voiced aloud, looking straight in the direction he saw that figure eerily disappeared. He turned around, and swiftly returned to a traumatized Avaron, reaching a hand down to help her onto her feet, asking, "Are you alright, Captain Avaron?"

Daisuke suddenly turned his head about as they were still in motion, saying aloud, "I-It stopped?!"