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This article, Cutting to the Heart of the Matter: Kentaro's Vengeance, is one quarter of the second part of the story starting with Cutting to the Heart of the Matter, featuring the battle between Kentaro Hiroshi and Nakajima Kōhai.
Although it was Ichihara whom Kentaro and Akiya had floored it was not in his direction Kentaro now walked. He had squared his shoulders and adopted a look of fierce hatred. His fists where clenched and his lip was curled in a snarl, his furrowed brow and eyes staring a hole through the downed Nakajima. He brushed shoulders with Hawke.
“He’s mine.” Kentaro claimed.
There was no arguing with Kentaro when he got like this. He wasn’t like Kenji in that regard. He could be talked down from a confrontation with the right words. Kentaro couldn’t. Once he set his eyes on a target… Well. Hawke knew his cousin well. Right now Kentaro would settle for nothing more than a complete and devastating victory.
“Get up!”
Kentaro landed a swift kick to Nakajima’s ribs! The larger man was lifted clean and rolled over twice in the air before impacting the broadside of a pillar. It crumbled around him; thankfully the ceiling held.
“Isn’t this what you did to Akira!?” Kentaro roared.
Again he began assaulting his still stunned target. Hawke must’ve almost cleaned the head from his shoulders with that earlier closeline because Nakajima’s eyes where still swimming when Kentaro landed two quick punches on his jawbone!
“You battered him down and then kicked him about the place! How does it feel? I bet it hurts!”
His following kick was caught and Kentaro found himself slammed into the floor by Nakajima’s counter. There the two scuffled on the floor before they both returned to their feet and abandoned their fists in favour of their swords.
“Now you’re in my element boy.” Nakajima goaded.
“We’ll see.”
The resulting skirmish was one of delicate slashes and parries laced with pinpoint dodges and carefully performed feints. Kentaro gave up ground deliberately so he could move away from a patch of floor strewn with rubble, where he then attempted to turn Nakajima’s attacking momentum against him. He failed and for his trouble came away with a gash cut into his ribs!
“You have skill, boy, but skill is a poor match for experience.”
Kentaro upped his assault! He dropped into a Form II stance with a two-handed grip. He wasn’t hoping to batter through his defences; he was too strong for that. Instead he waited, giving the illusion of impatience. And Nakajima took the bait! Kentaro switched to a one-handed grip and spun, catching his foes strike near the handle. His spin took him right beside Nakajima who caught on too slowly what it was Kentaro was doing. Kentaro’s free hand plunged a dagger deep into Nakajima’s side!
“When it comes to dirty tactics, dog, I’m the more experienced man.”
“Whisper, Muhenshin!”
Kentaro was blasted clean across the room by a tomoe-shaped spinning disk! It knocked the younger man clean through the side of the building they where in and even drew a concerned look from his colleagues.
“Have another!”
Nakajima loosed no more than three at Kentaro before bursting into hysterical laughter.
“My Shikai alone brings you low! You aren’t worthy of your father’s blood.”
But as the dust settled Nakajima didn’t see what he expected to. Instead of Kentaro lying in a pool of his own blood beaten and broken, Kentaro was standing with little more than a busted left arm. He had raised it to defend himself from the first attack and it now hung loosely at his side.
“You’ll remember this as the day you almost killed Kentaro Hiroshi!”
The young man burst forward like a rocket! But his foot caught nothing but Ichihara’s solid rib-cage-like Shikai construct. He was then sent skidding back again by another spinning disc, which Nakajima followed up with a series of swift sword strikes! Kentaro was hard pressed to avoid the onslaught and only done so in the end by activating his own Shikai ability. Nakajima’s blade struck his skull!
But Kentaro only chuckled.
“My Zanpakutō lets me create fields of darkness I “fall into”.” He began explaining. “It’s what allowed me to survive your earlier attack.”
With an edge in surprise Kentaro ducked as he released his power. Before Ichihara could avoid or raise his own barrier in defense Kentaro sliced him open from waist to collar bone! Blood flowed like water.
“Sōkōha!”
Kentaro sent Ichihara’s body flying with a spiritual blast to the stomach! Certain the man was dead he turned his back and slashed his Zanpakutō through the air to clear it of blood, at which point he promptly returned it to the sheath on his back.
“That was for Akira, you son of a bitch.”
With his little brother’s defeat and hospitalization avenged Kentaro began walking away. Akiye was having a tough fight in Ichihara and he had a mind to drive that tyrant into the floor for trying to attack Shinrei and his father years ago. But a blast of wind made him look over his shoulder! He immediately wished he hadn’t. A towering monstrosity of a warrior taller than the building Kentaro had been thrown from appeared. Nakajima had released his Bankai.
“Die you little bastard!”
He hated the very idea of being beaten by this moron. But there was no way in hell he could stop that blade on his own. His own strength wasn’t enough! And there wasn’t any hope of his Zanpakutō’s ability would stop it either. He’d eventually run out of juice and when he did the colossal blade would be waiting to crush him.
“Only one thing left to do then…!”
Kentaro gave in. Averian had once been stopped by Kusaka and his newly acquired Bankai. As a parting shot he stabbed Ino – Kentaro’s mother – whilst she had been pregnant with him, where he then channelled his power through them both in an attempt to kill them. He had failed but ever since Kentaro had had a part of Averian’s epic power running through his veins. It was that power he gave into! His hair suddenly grew in length and black markings appeared on his back and shoulders.
“The only one dying today IS YOU NAKAJIMA!”
Kentaro caught the Bankai’s blade and proceeded to toss the thing like an over-sized rag doll! Only then did he move towards Nakajima. He drew, slashed and then sheathed in one fluid movement; managing to strike twice. Nakajima’s head rolled along the floor and his body slumped in a heap -- bisected at the waist -- before his Bankai had even hit the floor. It never got the chance. It disappeared the moment its master’s life ended.
“Cunt,” Kentaro whispered.
The young Hiroshi released the transformation to amazing fatigue. He dropped to his knees with blurred vision…