The Silence From Darkness

The moonlight was sure bright on that night. Shining in the dark endless nightsky, outstanding even the small stars. Beneath all this was a small piece of darkness in the middle of all the blade of grass. This small darkness was a girl. She cared not of what is in her way, she walked with bare-foot and her eyes only gazing that what is in front of her.

At that time, another young woman, with raven and snow-white hair and purple eyes walked past. As the radiant moonlight shone down upon the two, Yukikaze could only inquire about this girl's disinterest.

As Asuka continued to walk, she stumble and tripped when her tiny foot hit a small rock, making her fall into her face.

Immediatly noticing this, Yukikaze attempted to help Asuka up, offering the small girl her hand. Without hesitation, she asked, "...Hey, are you okay...?"

"Okay?" Staring at Yukikaze, Asuka displayed a curious expression. "Okay..Okay.." Repeating this words, she continued lying on the ground while simply glaring at the girl beside her. "Okay.."

"...Yeah. Are you...okay...?" Confused by this glace, Yukikaze could not comprehend this girl. It was as if all brain functions were working at 120%, but she still couldn't understand this being in front of her. Exchanging pleasentries with others was not Yukikaze's strong point, so she immedately became silent.

Grabbing hold Yukikaze's hand, Asuka turned from lying position to sitting position. She began analyzing Yukikaze's hand like a small child and stared at her own hand. "Okay..." In an almost affectionate way, she layed her small head to Yukikaze's hand and closed her eyes.

"U-Uh..." Freezing up, Yukikaze could only stare up at the night sky, somewhat unsettled by physical touch. "G-Gah..." Suddenly shifting her gaze to a nearby paddock, Yukikaze then continued, "T-That's...good that you're okay. I think."

While having her head rested at Yukikaze's hand, small tears of blood flowed out of Asuka's eyes with the reason being unknown. Her mind was then filled by images she is unfamiliar of but it made her succumb to pain. She stood and jumped away from Yukikaze, landing on the blades of grass. She screamed as she fell down to her knees, holding her aching head.

"Wait, what the...?" Yukikaze exclaimed, rushing over to the small child. Unable to react properly in such a dire situation, due to circumstances related to her creation, all the Reigai could continue to say is "Are you okay?" as a sort of mantra, repeating such a phrase sounded as if Yukikaze was insane.

Several tendrils of somesort of black substance emerged out of Asuka. The aura it released rotted all plants around them. "Go...Away..." She spoke, somewhat concerned for Yukikaze's well-being.

"What the...?" Surprised by the young girl's killing aura, Yukikaze summoned her blade to her hand, cautiously watching Asuka's night-colored tendrils, stating the obvious, "Something's wrong."

Asuka's shadow seemingly stretched out towards Yukikaze, reaching Yukikaze's own at her back. From it came a shady creature that appeared physically like Asuka. The creature raised its arm and formed its hand a spear-like object. With it, the creature sent its arm forward with the very intention of impaling Yukikaze at the back.

Allowing herself to be pierced, Yukikaze merely sighed. "Utsusemi." Revealing the "Yukikaze" who had been impaled to be merely an afterimage, the true Yukikaze Hyouyoshi translocated a fair distance away, gripping her blade tighter, before uttering, "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." Holding her Zanpakutō out in front of her, Yukikaze twirled it in a circle counter-clockwise. As the sword was spinning,, the blade, hilt and tsuba turned completely white. The tsuba became a hollow snowflake-like circle and a white ribbon formed from the pommel.

Asuka then started to levitate, her head now uncontrolled, bowing down which allowed her face to be covered by her bangs. Blood dripped across her face and through her clothes, drenching it red. Her powers turned the calm atmosphere into something so tense that dark cloud accumulated which hid the bright stars and the moon itself.

Gripping the hilt of her artificial Sode no Shirayuki, Yukikaze declared, "Some no Mai, Tsukishiro." The edge of the katana became illuminated in a polar chill, as the Reigai rose her blade into the air. Twirling Shirayuki around her wrist, Yukikaze performed a devastation slashing motion, as a ring of ice began to form underneath Asuka's feet, threatening to encase her with frightening speed.

As Asuka began to be enveloped by the freezing cylinder of ice, she moved not for a few moments. Her eyes still glowing red which tinted the icey glass. It was then that the ice started spurting black liquid. Coming from this unknown substance are several black spears that targeted Yukikaze.

As the spears lacerated her body, the Reigai was blown back, her body flailing along the ground at a tremendous velocity. Eventually thrusting Shirayuki into the ground, Yukikaze stopped her uncontrollable flight, before uprooting her blade from the ground. Silently raising her arm, pointing her sword in Asuka's direction, Yukikaze then uttered, "Ice Shot." Swinging Shirayuki around, Yukikaze launched a vibrant display of ice shards towards Asuka's direction with incredible speed and force.

Unfazed, Asuka started to *walk* towards Yukikaze, ignoring every piece of shard that pierced through her. In a blink of an eye, she was infront o Yukikaze's face, her index finger nearing Yukikaze's chest which, if left alone would start an essentiam inferno infection.

Immedately utilizing Shunpo to translocate herself away from certain death, Yukikaze generated magenta energy points around her person, before beginning to preach, "Limit of the thousands hands, respectful hands, unable to touch the darkness. Shooting hands unable to reflect the blue sky." As she continued the incantation, the energy points multiplied at an astonishing rate. "The road that basks in light, the wind that ignited the embers, time that gathers when both are together, there is no need to be hesitant, obey my orders. Light bullets, eight bodies, nine items, book of heaven, diseased treasure, great wheel, grey fortress tower." At that moment, the magenta points launched themselves at Asuka, intending to obliterate her. "Aim far away, scatter brightly and cleanly when fired! Hadō number ninety-one, Senjū Kōten Taihō!"

Raising her hand, Asuka planned to blocked the assualt but a sudden surge of pain came to her head. "AHHHHHH!!!" Screaming out of pain, she fell to the ground and began shaking. As the Kido came nearer, Asuka could do nothing but glare.

The Kido dissipated, as Yukikaze remained stoic in the face of this spectacular failure. "...Huh. Odd." Gripping Shirayuki tighter, the Reigai uttered "Fridgid Rush." Forming a sleek platform of crimson ice under her feet, Yukikaze sped towards Asuka at an extreme velocity, before lifting herself off the ground while twirling around in the air, aiming to slash her foe.

From Asuka's back came several limbs of dark-matter, she remained in pain but her powers would not allow her to get struck by an outside force. One hand blocked the blade while the others surrounded Yukikaze. From this black limbs, strange-looking eyes opened. Blood-like liquid flowed out from the eyes, making a red pool from where Asuka lays down. All at once, the limbs forwarded towrds Yukikaze.

Yukikaze was impaled by the limbs, as she dropped her blade. Shirayuki fell to the ground as it began to fade. Yukikaze's body remained still, as white reiatsu surrounded her person.

Slowly but surely, Asuka stood but had trouble while doing so. Her posture was shaking that it would seem that any moment she could fall again. Limping as she struggled to walk, Asuka was in a bad shape, not by physical means but her mentality is unstable. Every step she took made her look like one of those zombies found in movies. As she got close to Yukikaze, the white reiatsu that Yukikaze released became tainted by Asuka's black and sinister one, then once more, she reached for Yukikaze's chest.

In an instant, Yukikaze was nearly killed, only for the Reigai to translocate herself away utilizing Shunpo, out of Asuka's grasp. Utilizing telekinesis, Yukikaze summoned Sode no Shirayuki back to her hand. In a few minutes, she would break down into reishi particles and scatter to the winds. As Shirayuki became immersed in white ice, Yukikaze thrust her blade into the ground, declaring "Daiyon no mai, Juhaku." creating a trail of ice in Asuka's direction of her intended target.

Unable to react just as fast, Asuka ended up as an ice sculpture. Barely did Asuka twitch, unable to move or anything. However, its never something she can't handle on her own. The bloody trail she left behind soon started to move on its own, the blood-like liquid creeping together. It formed two new Asukas, same as the original but lost the ruby-like eyes the Asuka incased in ice possesses. The two copies then moved around Yukikaze, both forming a black katana which reflected the white glow from the ice.

Sighing, Yukikaze, knowing that she only had two minutes left, grasped the hilt of Shirayuki, uttered "Bankai." Glacial ice flowed from Yukikaze's body, her blade gains wings on the tsuba, a longer ribbon from the hilt, and a golden crescent attached to said ribbon. The blade became far larger, now shaped like a double-edged sword. Three flowers of ice formed behind her, each consisting of four golden petals shaped like crosses. "Taikyokurensa no Akarishirayuki." Spinning Akarishirayuki, Yukikaze declared her final attack, "Saigo no Mai, Rengoku Hyōya!" At that moment, Yukikaze concentrared all her power into her Zanpakutō and stabbed it into the ground, causing a cage of ice to spring from the ground, threatening to entrap her opponent- and herself.

At the final moment, Asuka shattered her the ice encasing her and quickly went to Yukikaze. Kneeling in front of her, she had both of her arms wrapped around Yukikaze's legs like a young girl embracing her mom. Around her was the Essentiam Inferno creeping harmlessly.

The cage of ice hardened as it stretched for miles at an astounding rate, transforming anything and everything in the area, including living organisms sans Asuka into completely frozen statues, before shatting into a million pieces in a titanic explosion of ice.

A huge blob of black liquid then emerged after the explosion of tiny ice shards. Evaporating, the liquid faded away which revealed a crystal-solid Asuka protecting Yukikaze from her own technique. Her arms then fall-off, shattering at the moment it hit the ground.

As Yukikaze was protected from her own technique, she lifted glanced down at Asuka in utter bewilderment, before utilizing Shunpo to translocate away in an instant.

"Must not..." Struggling inside, Asuka's thoughts were at conflict. Her instincts telling her to go for the kill but deep inside she didn't want to. The chaos within her mind was not only giving her pain more that she could handle, but the destructive reiatsu she releases causes more than just simple tremors.