A New Threat

Months later in the soul society in the shimizu Mansion,a sudden crash interrupted their moment. Startled, everyone in the room shot upright, wondering what the disturbance was. Kazuma and Shinji were instantly on high alert. Anyone that could enter the Shimizu estate either unnoticed or by force could be considered a dangerous opponent for most present in the house. Takeshi sprung upright immediately, unconsciously moving himself between Akane and the source of the sound.

It soon became clear that whatever had entered the estate was headed towards the very room they were in since the shouts of people calling stop combined with the occasional crash were steadily coming closer.

Meanwhile, the rest of the seven prodigies had joined Takeshi and had formed a barrier between Akane and the door, all of them having their hands on their zanpakutō, ready to draw them at a moment's notice.

They didn't have to wait long. Soon enough it became evident who the intruder was, at least to Kazuma, who had begun frowning the second the reiatsu of the intruder was close enough to identify. Moments later, Shinji and Mitsuki had an identical frown on their faces as they too recognised the owner of the reiatsu.

Kazuma didn't get the chance to share his news though. A resounding crack echoed through the room before the door was blasted apart in a cloud of wooden splinters, causing the inhabitants to shield themselves from the onslaught of wood that was now barraging them.

Slowly, the remnants of smoke cleared and a lone figure could be seen standing in the doorway, sword drawn.

"Hayashi Toru, what in the world are you doing?", Shinji asked sternly.

"Yoshikune-san", Kazuma stopped him, "he's my fukutaichō, that means he's my responsibility".

Hearing the man being identified as the former 'near-fiancé' of Akane, Takeshi instantly tightened his grip on his sword's handle.

"Now, please explain this disturbance", Kazuma continued.

"I'd rather have you explain something to me 'Taichō-san' ", Toru said.

"Watch your language young man. You're already in trouble as it is, using such a disrespectful tone against your direct superior will only make it worse".

"Doesn't really matter though, not with what I'm about to do that is".

Hearing his fukutaichō explain, Kazuma immediately drew his sword, unwilling to risk anyone inside the room. He was too late though.

The words had barely even left Toru's mouth before he found himself being smashed into the wall opposite to the doorway by Takeshi's elbow, cracking several of the wooden planks in the hallway.

Takeshi had instantly heard the malice in the rogue shinigami's voice and had come to the conclusion that he still wasn't over his jealousy he had apparently displayed when hearing about Takeshi and Akane's relationship.

Not wanting to risk any bystanders, he quickly dragged a still dazed Toru along the wall until he had reached an exit to the garden. Knowing his opponent was a fukutaichō, he knew that Toru would snap out of his momentary daze quite quickly. Deciding not to waste any time, he smashed him through the panels separating the interior from the outside air, before finally letting go of Toru, causing him to sail in a graceful arc through the garden.

Kazuma, Shinji and the others had meanwhile run out of the room to follow Takeshi and, if necessary, lend a hand. The only thing they saw was Toru crashing into a tree standing near the edge of the garden.

Takeshi followed. Landing outside, intending to quickly take out Toru. He didn't get the chance though. Toru had already crawled up and drawn his sword. Now he stood upright in a combat position, ready to face his opponent.

"I assume you're the Sawada brat", he spat.

"So what if I am".

"Great, one of my targets willingly attacks me, now I can use this as legal self defence.

Takeshi frowned, the man had clearly lost it. He'd already entered private property and had made it quite clear that he would attack. Not to mention the fact that he'd done so right in front of two taichō, including his own superior.

"After I'm finished with you, I'll kill the rest of the scum in there, and then I can take my time with what should have been rightfully mine, after I cut out the infection of course".

Takeshi froze, he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He didn't even realise it when he drew his sword. Anger had suddenly come crashing down on him, or rather, he was now alight with a fury that had previously not been known to him. He knew that he got quite angry, even to the point of terrifying people, when they even insinuated harming Akane, but he had never felt like this. It couldn't be described as hate anymore. Instantly, he knew that this fight wouldn't be over until one of them was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Not that he was planning to let that happen, no, if he was done with that guy, he'd make sure they would have to use tweezers to pick up the pieces.

Unconsciously, his reiatsu flared brightly, so much that it had already begun distorting the atmosphere around him. Resembling a predator stalking its prey, Takeshi started to circle Toru, making sure that there was no one in the way of the fight.

"Heh, so you think you're powerful eh?", Toru sneered, "well then let's see how you handle this".

Switching his sword into a backhanded grip, he dragged the blade over the sheath.

"Ensnare him, Kuromizuhiki".

Instantly, the sword morphed into a glove fitting snugly around his hand, a faint glimmer appearing in the air around him.

His grin faltered a bit when he noticed Takeshi's expression hadn't changed, but soon enough it was back in full force. Twitching his fingers slightly, he launched his attack.

Takeshi jumped aside just as the attack came tearing through the yard, leaving nothing but deep cuts in its wake. The trees that had been standing behind him suffering a similar fate.

Toru laughed.

"I must congratulate you on dodging that attack, though you probably never even saw it coming, you must've reacted to the slight movement of my hand, nevertheless, you didn't dodge it completely".

"A cut like this is nothing", Takeshi said as he ignored the small cut that had appeared on his left shoulder.

"Besides, to me, your attack is more than visible", he continued, "your weapon is that glove, which has a thin strand attached to each fingertip. It's quite obvious you know".

Growling madly, Toru again launched an attack. Takeshi watched calmly as he saw five separate strands sail through the air. As opposed to the previous attack, this time Toru had made sure that the strands didn't touch anything while they bridged the gap between the two combatants.

He couldn't help but grin as he used shunpō at the very last moment to dodge the attack, which again gave the gardeners something to worry about.

"How", Toru steamed as he watched his second attack miss.

"Didn't I tell you?", Takeshi replied as he reappeared behind Toru, "I can see your attacks".

Takeshi struck, his sword creating a whistling sound as it cleaved through the air. Toru reacted on instinct, moving his gloved hand in between his body and Takeshi's zanpakutō.

The resulting clash sent a shower of sparks into the air.

"So you do deserve the title of fukutaichō", Takeshi remarked calmly as he engaged in a power struggle with Toru, each trying to push the other back with their respective weapons.

"Fool", Toru shouted as he moved his fingers again, "your weapon is occupied, but I only need my fingers to attack".

Noticing the strands settling themselves around his body, Takeshi broke away, again using shunpō to move out of the way, just before the trap closed.

Takeshi growled in irritation before he threw himself at Toru again. Showers of sparks soon began erupting all over the garden as the two combatants began clashing with increasing frequency.

Shinji whistled as he witnessed Takeshi weave through the intricate pattern that Toru's shikai had formed in mid-air.

"Care to make a bet?", he casually asked Sakamoto, who was standing next to him together with the rest of the group.

"No use in doing that", he responded casually, "and it's no use trying to make a bet with anyone else here. Takeshi's everyone's favourite in this fight, and besides, with that look on his face, I'd say his opponent doesn't stand a chance. I hope he's made his will".

"Alright", Toru fumed as Takeshi kept dodging attack after attack, "You've asked for it".

"Bankai".

The second Toru released his sword for the second time, Kazuma and Shinji had begun to move. The fight had begun to go out of control at that point. What surprised them, was Takeshi moving in front of them, his back turned towards his superiors.

"Please, leave this to me", he asked, keeping a wary eye on the cloud of smoke that had gathered around his opponent.

"Are you sure Takeshi?", Kazuma asked. He'd seen Toru's bankai before, and while it was immature and somewhat incomplete, it still held a lot of power.

"I'm sure", Takeshi answered calmly. He knew the fight would be over within moments if he let the two taichō behind him take care of it. But he felt that would be almost the same as giving up, something he had vowed he would never do when he was protecting Akane.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Kazuma turned around to see Shinji standing there. Nodding in acknowledgement, both the taichō moved back to the group of people still standing near the gaping hole the fight had left in the door.

"Don't worry Akane", Shinji smiled as he saw Akane standing there, hand firmly clasped together, "He'll be fine".

Just at that moment, a wave of reiatsu came crashing down over them. Toru had finished releasing his bankai.

Takeshi watched with mild interest as the smoke slowly cleared bit by bit. His eyes widened when he finally got a full view of his opponent.

Where there once had been a glove with a thin strand attached to each finger, there now was a single wire, or rather, cable. The glove had disappeared completely, the end of the cable completely covering Toru's lower arm. It was however, the size of the cable that worried him. He'd heard stories about bankai being extremely powerful, but also extremely large in order to maintain that power. It was said that after a shinigami achieved bankai, he would need at least another ten years of training to fully master the complex movements behind it.

The cable was easily twice the width of Toru's arm and laid at his feet, curling around his body several times in wide arcs. He estimated it was at least twenty meters in length, though he knew things such as length could chance in a moment's notice.

"Thank God the garden is so large", Takeshi said to himself as he estimated the distance between Toru and the mansion. It was enough, just as long as he made sure he lured his opponent away from the bystanders. Not that it would prove to be a problem, with Toru in the psychotic state he was in at the moment.

Takeshi was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed a faint shadow suddenly appear on the ground. Instinctively throwing his body to his right, Takeshi felt something big move past his body. His brain instantly recognised the object, Toru's zanpakutō. With a loud crash, the cable smashed into the ground, its sheer weight causing it to sink several inches into the soft earth.

"Damn he's fast with that thing", Takeshi muttered before ducking to avoid the cable again as it snapped towards him with surprising speed. The crash behind him indicating that it had felled a few trees.

"Why can't I hit you", Toru shouted as he pulled back his zanpakutō for another attack.

Takeshi didn't answer. His mind too focused on dodging the massive cable as it came flying towards him. It was surprisingly flexible, whipping this way and that, destroying the environment whenever it was in the way. This easily convinced Takeshi that is was not a good idea to get hit even once by his opponent.

Finally, Toru stopped attacking, still fuming because of his inability to hit Takeshi. He was too caught up with his own madness to notice that Takeshi had not even launched a single attack. He had been too busy dodging to do anything else.

Takeshi looked straight in Toru's eyes as he settled down after having been forced to dodge attacks for at least five minutes straight. Small sparks were already beginning to run down his entire body from irritation.

"Thanks", Takeshi grinned as he grabbed the sheath of his sword. Placing one end on the earth, he raised his zanpakutō.

"Scorch the heavens. Slash the sky", came the release phrase for his sword.

Instantly, lightning flashed around Takeshi, the blast clearly more controlled than before. As the light faded from the garden, Takeshi stood there, his zanpakutō firmly gripped in his hands.

"Zanraiden", Takeshi said, right before he released his full power into the atmosphere. The distinct smell of ozone filled the air as stray sparks shot off him. Most of them were contained to his body though, arcing all over him. The wind added to the pure force of the reiatsu radiating off of his body.

"Holy, ...", Kazuma muttered, a perplexed look on his face. Shinji couldn't help but agree. The release itself was a lot less impressive than before in terms of being a flashy show, but the amount of reiatsu currently radiating off Takeshi was incredible. It was stronger than even Toru's with his bankai released. It was so powerful that it was literally influencing the atmosphere around Takeshi without a conscious thought.

Toru on the other hand was completely oblivious to the power coming from Takeshi. He was cackling madly as he prepared to attack again, his earlier frustration completely forgotten.

"You think releasing your zanpakutō will make any difference concerning the outcome of this battle? You're a mere third seat, what could you possibly do against a fukutaichō that has a power equivalent to that of a taichō", he laughed.

"For your information, it won't change the outcome of this battle", Takeshi whispered.

Toru froze, the voice had come from right behind him. There was no one in front of him anymore.

"You bastard!", Toru shouted as he turned around, whipping out his free arm in the process. He hit nothing but air.

"You have no hopes of defeating me, with that kind of speed", Takeshi said.

Toru's head whipped around towards the source of the sound. There he was, standing no more than ten meters away from him.

"Damn you, I'll kill you", he yelled, raising his arm.

"With what if I may ask?", Takeshi replied calmly.

Confused by his opponent's words, Toru finally noticed the slight difference in weight on his arm. There, in front of him, laid his bankai, completely severed from the small stump that remained on his arm.

"How ...", was the only word he could speak, confusion and disbelief overtaking him.

"Simple actually, when two separate entities of reiatsu collide, the weakest will receive damage", Takeshi replied before bringing his sword, raising them to chest-level.

Feeling the sudden surge in reiatsu, Toru swallowed

"It can't be, you have also achieved bankai?".

"No", Takeshi replied, "far from it. This is simply my real zanpakutou".