Dealing with Loose Ends

This article, , is the first of a series of one-shots dealing with Itazura's attempted rescue of Tomoko Saitou, which also documents the war being fought in Heisekai. This particular chapter features Itazura, Kentaro, Akiye, Hawke and David who are joined by the villains Suitai Shiba, Shinji Mitsuhide, Kojima Taira and Zatoichi.

Itazura, who was ever the dogged combatant, was quickly being pushed to his absolute limits! Oda commanded more than a few well-trained and powerful underlings outside his four brothers, and right now Itazura had the misfortune of running into no less than four of them! The young warrior was confident in his abilities... but this was taking the bloody piss. He was very quickly being driven back.

“Son of a...!”

Itazura twisted in mid-air to evade the blade of one Suitai Shiba who was the disgraced uncle of Kenji Hiroshi. He was a tall man with his family's common black hair and eyes and sported a moustache and a small goatee. One of his allies, a man known as Zatoichi, whom Itazura had once trusted as an ally, wore a black ensemble with bandages wrapped around his eyes. His fist impacted Itazura in the chest and his elbow strike subsequently sent him crashing to the floor!

“This is impossible!”

Itazura could sense Tomoko. She was nearby; probably in an underground base of operations. Oda had obviously left these four to guard the location.

“If only Fuji and the others where here.”

Sadly they weren't however. The Captain-Generals of the Shuten had gathered together along with the pirates of The Serenity in order to hold of Oda's seemingly limitless army of Soulless. Right now a war was being waged for control of Heisekai and all the pieces had been cast. Kenji and Kusaka where planning to strike at Oda himself, Rosuto and Meian where keeping Oda's eyes and ears focused on them so Kenji and Kusakc could move freely, and the Shuten was fighting for control of their realm. That left Itazura with the seemingly impossible task of rescuing Tomoko out from under Oda's nose.

“Give it up, boy!” Zatoichi called.

The third and fourth of Itazura's enemies where just as strong as the first and second. Shinji Mitsuhide was a very far out relative of Itazura's and the other, Kojima Taira, was a former Captain in the Gotei 13. He still wore the white haori; probably to mock his former position. Shinji on the other-hand wore a blue sleeveless top and a pair of blue trousers. The fact he was so colourful was the only thing that enabled Itazura to block his incoming strike!

“The whole lot of you... can go to HELL!”

The Reissen blossomed upon Itazura's Zanpakuto and the resulting surge of energy sent both Shinji and Kojima flying! With that accomplished Itazura surged into the heavens to attack Suitai and Zatoichi, but he may as well have tried to attack the heavens. Suitai flowed around his strike and landed three quick jabs to his stomach before Zatoichi uncurled with a devestating hook that almost unhinged Itazura's jaw!

“... Damn it...”

He was finished. How could he prevail against this? He simply couldn't. Suitai drew his Zanpakuto and prepared the finishing blow...

“Sokoha!”

A blue-coloured energy blast forced Suitai to reconsider his attack and when he evaded it and moved again to strike at Itazura, his strike was instead intercepted! The one who clashed with him was a black-haired youth without a shirt who wore a pair of high-waisted black trousers. Red eyes stared deviantly into Suitai's and the force behind the strike held the older Shinigami's blade in-place.

“Been a while... uncle.”

“Kentaro Shiba!” Suitai acknowledged.

“Get the fuck away from my cousin!”

Kentaro then performed what was perhaps his greatest demonstration of his Zanjutsu mastery. He not only sent Suitai trailing back but he also turned to meet an attack from Zatoichi, which left the white-haired man with a deep gash cut into his side. He then disappeared in-time to evade Shinji and when he reappeared he turned aside Kojima's attack and proceeded to kick the man in the jaw, before again diverting Shinji!

“What are you waiting for Zura!? She won't rescue herself! Go, damn it!”

“But...! Can you keep this up?”

“He doesn't have to.”

Itazura spun at the sound of a feminine voice. Akiye, dressed in green trousers and a sleeveless white top, was flanked by Hawke, dressed in Shinigami black, and David, dressed in his father's old green outfit. David had removed his right arm from its sleeve and the light reflected off a length of wire wrapped around his right arm.

“Kentaro just beat us here.” Hawke admitted with a bit of reluctance. “We have time before our father's make their move. So we figured we'd pull your ass outta the fire.”

“Unless you don't need us?” David asked with a cheeky smile.

“You guys are great! Thanks... but what happened to all those guards?”

“I cut through those low-level mooks a minute ago. Now get out of here!"

Itazura knew what Kentaro was capable of. If he said the guards where dead then they where dead. Kentaro himself smiled as he recalled their rather gruesome death. He'd charged his Zanpakutō with lightning-based Kidō and proceeded to cut through them all using the Niten, leaving not one of them alive. And truth be told he stopped counting after he cut through fifty.

Now,” Kentaro asked aloud, “I think its time my uncle and I got better acquainted. Tell me something uncle: are you ready to be bested by your grandnephew?”

“Cocky little bugger aren't you? So much like your grandfather that it's almost sickening.”

The four new arrivals divided themselves out in order to face a single opponent apiece. Kentaro and Suitai disappeared, the sound of steel already echoing as they departed. Hawke immediately singled out Shinji and declared he was a mere pretender of the Kori legacy and that he wasn't deserving of the power he commanded. David, not caring who he tangled with, ended up being paired up against the former Captain of the Gotei 13. That left Akiye and Zatoichi.

“Ready little girl?”

Akiye merely rolled her eyes.

“Oh, I'm ready. But the question I have to ask is this: are you?”