Reckoning of the Shiba Brothers

This article, , features Meian and Rosuto Shiba as main characters, with secondary appearances from Kenji and Tomoko, as well as the Illusive Man and the Soulless.

"Rosuto needs help." Kenji said.

Meian had been in the middle of a shower when Kenji had entered and he had been forced to cut it short. It was the reason why Meian was standing with nothing but a towel to cover him.

"Rosuto has faced trouble before and returned alive." Meian countered as he patted himself dry behind a folding screen.

"This is different!" Kenji exclaimed. "I have a bad feeling about this. Please, Meian."

Meian stepped from behind the folding screen in his small-clothes. He walked towards his dresser and began dressing himself. He picked out an aqua-blue kosode, a white shitagi and a pair of white hakama. As he turned his back to Kenji his younger brother caught sight of the scars lining his back and shoulders. Kenji knew the story behind them. After Rosuto's exile Dastan, their father, had blamed Meian for his downfall and subsequently had him lashed. Meian had explained that it had put a sour note on their relationship. At times Kenji had been happy he'd kicked his father in lumps back when he was amnesiac.

“Will you do this for me?” Kenji asked.

Meian weighed his youngest brother’s words for a time. He had been passionate in his plea and a tad desperate as well, though Meian suspected why. He needed not only Oda looking elsewhere but also whoever was watching from the shadows. Meian suspected that it was the Illusive Man who had previously targeted Rosuto, though he had no way to be sure. If it was then Rosuto was indeed in danger as well, not just his daughter.

“… I will.” Meian answered.

“Thank you.” Kenji said, sighing.

“For a moment you reminded me of mother.”

He said no more. Before Kenji could even answer his oldest sibling Meian disappeared with an impressive flash step that took him clear of the Upper Heights and down to the Docks of Horiwari. Once there he opened a black-as-night gateway that would take him to Heisekai whilst bypassing the Dangai. It cut down on travel time tremendously and in only a few moments Meian swapped the backdrop of Horiwari for the oceans and islands of Heisekai. He sensed Rosuto through their Renkai bracelets and immediately sent him a mental message.

''“Kenji wishes for a diversion so the eyes of Kohai Tochi are not focused on him when he moves to strike Oda. He has requested your and my help for this.”''

“Can you come to me?” Rosuto sent with a tinge of desperation. “Oda released an army of Soulless on the Royal Palace and I can’t keep everyone safe for long.”

“I’m on my way.” Meian sent back.

And so he moved out. He put no limits on his Shunpo steps and took massive strides with his long legs, even introducing additional steps to speed his progress along. It wasn’t like Rosuto to ask for help with anything so readily and Meian had got to know his brother well in the last sixteen years. He was worried and that caused Meian no small degree of worry. Besides, the Renkai enabled one to sense the emotions and thoughts of the one who shared its pair and in Rosuto’s mind Meian had glimpsed a young girl with blond hair hiding behind a wounded Rosuto, who Rosuto fought tooth and nail to protect. So this was Rosuto’s daughter?

“My niece…” Meian whispered, with a sense of pride. She was a beautiful young woman and judging by Rosuto’s thoughts she was much like her deceased grandmother. “I’m coming!”

Meian never broke stride even as he appeared amongst the army of corpses Rosuto was engaging in a small courtyard that was filled almost to bursting. The Soulless where animal-Human hybrids who had been experimented on to create spiritual creatures with poison-laced limbs and a hive mind, who sadly ignored injury unless one used sufficiently strong fire. Meian had saw headless ones attack without hindrance in the past. They where truly an abomination and not to be taken lightly. The numbers before them could kill even the most powerful being given time.

“I am here, Rosuto.”

He bisected one unfortunate Soulless who moved to attack Rosuto from behind and Meian fell in beside his younger sibling as the latter let loose a wave of incinerating fire from the edge of his Zanpakutō!

“I’ve been fighting for hours.” Rosuto claimed.

Meian didn’t need to be told that. His brother was covered in wounds. His left sleeve was soaked through with blood and his right leg was dripping with the stuff. He also couldn’t see out of his right eye from a gash in his forehead, which hadn’t been caused by a sword. Meian accessed the Renkai and furnished his sibling with a surge of spiritual power which seemed to give his his second wind.

“You fought with the Illusive Man?” Meian asked.

“Yeah, though it didn’t go too well for him, either. He jumped me along with six of his cronies after I got go Tomoko first. I torched them.”

“Good. And who caused these injuries?”

“The six cronies and a few Soulless got me.”

“You say that so casually it frightens me.” Meian answered. “You recall their limbs are poisonous?”

“And here I thought my legs where shaking from fatigue. Of course I know! Why else would I be struggling!?”

Meian wasted no more time. Rosuto may have got a second wind but that would not last long. The wounds he had suffered where already weakening him from within. All Meian had to do was glance into his brother’s mind to see how much of a strain he was under. Lesser men would have fallen long ago! But Rosuto was far from normal. He was a son of the Shiba clan and a born survivor. A little too much was just right for him and he was fighting to protect his daughter, which could move a man to incredible feats. But even he had his limits and he was quickly approaching them. Meian bypassed his Shikai and went straight to Bankai!

“Gekiryū Kaiyōmonshi!”

Meian’s twin katana dissolved into two sickle-like blades and torrents of water surged forth from their edges. The water was acidic in nature and Meian directed the waves into a single point, where he then swirled them with his hand to mimic a whirlpool. He sent the whirlpool into the heavens and expanded it so the Soulless where funnelled down into the depths, where he was waiting with his sickles. Aside from the water manipulation Gekiryū Kaiyōmonshi employed a Flowing Water Technique. The pressure of its swings were simply too much to protect against normally and they followed the arc of every swing. Meian slashed back and forth across his body at regular intervals and every time he did the Soulless suspended by the water died in swaths.

“Thanks,” Rosuto whispered, who was now kneeling and panting, completely breathless. He was clutching at his chest.

Meian acknowledged his brother with a firm nod. There was a greater number of Soulless than Meian had anticipated, but if he kept this up only a short time longer…!

“Meian, move!”

Meian had only seen the figure once before but he was fit to recognize him all the same even years later, though Rosuto's warning through the Renkai helped very much. The Illusive Man, who had perfectly disguised his spiritual power, moved towards Meian’s exposed flank with a sword at the ready.

“Get on your bike!”

Rosuto, despite his injuries, put himself between the Illusive Man’s sword and Meian’s side, taking the strike in his brother’s place! The blade passed right through his stomach and out through his back and, coupled with his existing wounds, was enough to drive Rosuto past his limitations. He buckled and vomited blood but no further harm came to him. Meian, who felt a rush of desperation and love through the Renkai bracelet from Rosuto, lost whatever calm he usually held. He and Rosuto had had their differences but he was still his brother. Meian lost his grip on his self-control. He brought the entirety of his whirlpool to bear as a glob of acidic water in the palm of his hand and launched a devastating wave of pressurized water right over the top of Rosuto and right at the Illusive Man!

“You will not touch him again!”

Spiritual power was loosed from Meian in waves! He created a depression in the ground beneath his feet and blew entire walls of the Royal Palace to bits, but even so he didn’t let up the force of his spiritual output. It was the only thing stopping what remained of the Soulless descending on Tomoko.

“… Meian… Tomoko…!”

Rosuto pushed against every painful urge coursing through his body; the wounds, the poison and the blade lodged in his stomach. He pulled the blade free and only retained consciousness by temporarily sharing power with Meian, who couldn’t quite believe his eyes. Now on his feet proper Rosuto surrounded his hand in spiritual fire, which soon began burning black. He released the flames backwards from Meian’s location and reduced not only that portion of the Royal Palace to ash but also whoever – friend or foe – was fool enough to be standing there.

“… You will not see the Suzaku dead this day…!”

But Rosuto fell to the floor face first and Meian, now safe from attack from his flank, proceeded to direct all his considerable power and focus on the Illusive Man, who was managing to shield himself from the onslaught of the waves.

“Block this.” Meian dared.

Meian sent the Illusive Man flying! Once the fool of a man landed in the ocean he was doomed unless he experienced a miracle. It was much easier manipulating existing water and Heisekai had oceans of it. Meian forced his foe to the depths and only then sealed his Zanpakutō.

“Rosuto, are you alright?”

There was only the briefest sign of a pulse when Meian scooped him up in his arms and it was quickly fading. His body was just too damaged at present and the poison of the Soulless was too long in his system. Rosuto had put up a consierable fight but it had taken its toll and the Illusive's Man's parting strike had made the situation even worse.

“Is there nothing you can do?” The young girl asked, tearful.

“… There is one thing I could try.”

It wasn’t easy and it had been almost a century since he tried it last and he wasn’t even sure if it would work. It was the kind of Kidō made forbidden long ago but Meian was bound by those rules no longer, and even if he had of been he was not about to watch his brother die without giving him a chance.

“Stay strong, Rosuto. Mother always said you where the survivor. Prove her right!”

Meian readied the spell. Blood flowed from Rosuto’s body like water and he expertly kneaded it with healing power, cleaning the blood before cycling it through the body with traces of that same healing power buried within. The process was lengthy and required precise control and focus so the patient didn't die. Meian had already been working for ten minutes and he had only cleaned his blood. Now it was time to heal the body. That he did with a spell developed by Ino to accelerate the healing process well beyond the normal speed of traditional Kidō. Once he was finished Meian supplemented Rosuto’s spiritual power with his own via the Renkai and the result was almost immediate! Rosuto awoke with a gasp followed by a pained groan.

“All I remember was a light and not wanting to walk towards it.”

“Daddy, you’re okay!”

Tomoko all but smothered him and Meian, a tad breathless from his exertions, stepped away to give them space.

“Meian,” Rosuto called. “Thanks.”

“You are welcome, brother.”

End.

Next Story > Cutting to the Heart of the Matter.