Los Niños de Izanami: Culminación

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Children of Izanami: Climax Act I

Horrors and Nightmares, a Dark Truth Revealed

"In my years, I have witnessed and experienced pain of nearly all degrees."

At her desk, Avaron sat with a lit cigarette in her mouth and a paper in her hands. Her narrowed eyes scanned over its contents with a slightly frustrated look. Though she appeared to be skimming, she was actually taking in every word written on the sheet. After several seconds of reading, she put the paper down and gave a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. She lowered her head, keeping her pose for a minute.

"I have seen the mother hold her child as it died in her arms. I've seen my own comrades get slaughtered like animals on the field. War displayed every bit of it to me without regret or mercy, and I've somehow managed to push myself through it all and still keep strong. But I've never seen or experienced something so fucked up as this. I thought it to be nothing more than some faux religion that could be ignored. But it's true... every bit of it is true... and it's coming into fruition."

Slowly, she reached underneath her desk to pull out an HCA-50 Kidō Pistol, placing it within its respective sheath and standing up.

"I can accept that..."

She placed her hands in her pockets, calmly walking out the door.

"But I never knew that it was the fellow student I trained beside that caused it. Well... maybe I did, but I never thought it would turn out to be this way. Oh, well... serves me right for getting my hopes up."

"Let's get this over with..." She muttered, her cigarette flitting around in her mouth as she made her way towards the office of Taka Nakanome.

"-DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE?!" Taka's voice reverberated his office, as a thin cloud of smoke gathered and hovered around eye level, as he had been smoking and hadn't stopped since he came to his office, making a number of calls and looking over a large strategic layout map of Yuurei Okouku.

There was a lapse of silence as Taka heard the caller's response, before he slammed a fist into his desk, nearly indenting his knuckles into the cheap countertop, "I don't give a Damn about morale! Where the hell did the ENEMY go?! You don't surround and bombard an entire city then just leave! I want a report on this ASAP! Do you hear me?!"

After a brief line of response, Taka slammed his phone onto the reciever so that it rang out in a nearly painful sound, roaring out, "DAMMIT TO HELL!"

"Holy hell, Taka. What did Lady Luck do to piss you off?"

The door had opened up, revealing Avaron casually leaning against the doorway. Her arms were folded across her chest and her legs were crossed, a casually neutral expression on her face. Her cigarette was at the corner of her mouth, the smoke trailing into the sky. From the "do you mean" to the slamming of the phone", she had heard him vent frustrations out on an unfortunate subordinate. But by now, it wasn't new news to her.

"This whole war fucked up," Taka ran his gloved hand through his hair as he slumped onto his worn and weathered leather chair, leaning against it as he grabbed his halfway smoked cigarette from the ash tray to take another whiff, as he had already a good dozen stubs resting on them, three of them fresher than the rest, "I fight a enemy who's sole purpose is to create a utopia, something every f'ing being desires, but in order to do that, they have to F'ing kill this city. Why?! The Hell I should know!"

He then turned and swiveled over to look at Avaron with his single eye, slightly glimmering with yellow light with the built-in optic on his left eye, before taking the cig and pointing his forefingers offhandedly at her, "and you know somethin else screwed up? Not only has nearly every FREAKING Sector has taken casualties in sense or another, leaving Commander Sonoda's of Sector 3's completely free of casualties, but the enemy suddenly decided to play hide-&-F'ing-seek!"

"Yeah..." The smile faded from Avaron's face at the mention of Kenta. She closed her eyes and sighed, pushing herself from the doorway. However, she still kept her spot. "I've heard about the sudden enemy retreat by my own subordinates. Normally, I would be taken by surprise by this sudden and illogical change of tactics, but under these circumstances..." She took a look behind her. "Have you been outside recently?"

"Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten," Taka began as he swiveled his chair over to his drawn down shades, promptly pulling it down once before letting it roll up, showing a perfect view of the unholy "crosses" in the distance, "I have a fan-f'ing-tastic view of a giant obilisk that looks like it was shipped straight from Hell's post office! Though I'm pretty sure all we need now is a mountain of corpses, some fire and brimstone, and we got Armageddon!"

Taka let his arms fall to his sides before sighing, turning around to look at Avaron fully with a serious disposition now, crossing his arms, "Honestly, Avaron, I thought this was going to be some sort've sacrilidgeous "Holy War" that the humans had during their crusades. They'd come in, wage their petty crusade with their countless minions until they gave up and realized their gods aren't real. Now after the things I've seen and the stuff that's been happening...I dunno," he puffed another cloud of smoke into the air, before reengaging eye contact with his superior and comrade, asking her in a tired voice, "was there some more bad news you wanted to tell me, asides the obvious new view out my window?"

"Extremely bad news." Closing the door behind her, Avaron walked towards one of the chairs in front of the desk and sat down, folding her hands in her lap. "The entire underground shelter has been turned into an executing ground. I just got word that some members of Sector 3 have been slaughtering civilians and using the underground shelter as a means to escape the watch of the rest of our sectors. As of now, the population of the capital city's been reduced to nothing more than dozens."

"No....," Taka turned deathly pale, slumping down onto his chair, his pupil dialated and unnerved as he asked almost incredulously out loud, "no, why? WHY?!" Almost within a instant an enraged fist smashed through his desk as he stood up, his nostrils flared and his eye burned a deadly golden hue, "WHO GAVE THAT ORDER?! HOW DID SECTOR THREE GET PAST SECURITY WITHOUT US KNOWING?!"

"The same way Sector 3 recieved no casualties." Avaron's eyes narrowed into slits, her eyebrows slanting downward in her own quiet fury. She closed them, continuing to explain in a calm yet vehement manner. "As much as I hate to admit it... Kenta was the one who gave the order to kill them all. It was a move made to summon this damned hell on our city and assist the Ahijados. They may have fled, knowing that their goal was already accomplished...."

"...Or they're waiting to come in when our guard is down and raze the city in preparation of their F'ing utopia, dammit!" Taka snarled as he began pacing back and forth, fury boiling within him. Everyone he fought to protect, everything he saccrificed for, everything he swore to defend...dead and murdered no less by the same men who swore the oath and took up the badge of Overwatchmen.

With a loud yell, Taka lifed up his broken desk and threw it at the wall with one heave, huffing and puffing with uncontrollable wrath within himself, "Where's Sonoda?! Where is he, Avaron?!" He glared indirectly at her eyes, as he raised his hands up into clenched fists, as his eye glowed hotly, "I want to make him suffer a thousand times over for this horror he's allowed to happen!"

That was something Avaron had not been expecting.

SMASH!

Her eyes widened in shock as Taka hurled the desk into the wall, her mind having not registered the reckless move. However, once she saw Taka breathing uncontrollably, her leadership instincts kicked in. "Taka, get a grip!" She snapped in a scolding manner, bringing herself to stand up from the chair she was sitting in. "We do not act out of revenge, but justice! No matter what happens, we go by the book and the book only! Do you understand me?!" For a moment, she fixed a stern glare into his unique eye-sight, folding her arms across her chest.

She couldn't have one of her best men fly off the handle like this - not when she needed him.

"By the F'ing book?! Haven't you noticed, Captain?!" He waved a hand towards the window in emphasized exasperation, as he continued to yell out, "an ENTIRE Overwatch was perverted by Sonoda's psychotic inclinations of manslaughter and world destruction! Everyone of them went as far as you know "by the book" until now! We lost the city's populace save our current military and police forces, and we don't know what will happen to them when they learn their families and loved ones have been slaughtered by our OWN comrades!"

"And flipping your lid's going to help any?! Killing Kenta isn't going to bring any of them back!! The damage has already been done!! I know that!!" Avaron angrily retorted, gritting her teeth as she felt fury and self-loathing thanks to his words. She remained silent for a moment more, maintaining a vicious glare into her subordinate's eyes for several seconds. It seemed like she was ready to start an argument right then and there with Taka.

However, her expression immediately faltered. She calmly turned her head and body away from him, reaching into her pocket and spitting out a cigarette. "I came here because I need your personal help. As of now, no one else knows of Kenta's betrayal but you and me. If word of this gets out... chaos will ensue. I've already been through two Civil Wars. I don't want another." In her other hand, she had a lighter with its flame already lit. She stuck the cigarette end to the fire, looking over her shoulder solemnly.

"Kenta's position's at 117 Brooklyn Road, and he's maintaining a sniping position along with his own personal patrol. I want you to come with me so that we can corner and apprehend him."

Taka's breathe hitched as he saw his superior yell back, clearly feeling just as guilty and sickened with what had transpired. His eye lost some of the vigorous vengeful glow and his merely sagged slightly, a long sigh ensued as he heard her words, before locking eyes with her again in understanding.

"What about the Captains or the Soul Reapers? Don't you think we should get some backup in the event he escapes?" Taka asked with a note of caution, knowing that including people in the loop would be dangerous, but in the situation they were in he wouldn't want Kenta to escape. Not when he would pay for all the horrible atrocities he's committed.

"He's not going to escape." Avaron said simply, a cold tone lacing her voice. "It's one of the many advantages of being tagged along with him under Damian. We know each other far too well..."

"Lucky for us," Taka said with a slight gleam of excitement he would actually be allowed to hunt down his long hated rival and now turned-traitor comrade. He walked over to his smashed desk, going to the underside of it he pried out the cheap piece of covering to reveal a disembodied Kido rifle. As he took out the parts and put them onto the floor, he quickly assembled it as he kept in conversation with Avaron, "what's our mode of transporation? Kenta's probably got his eyes peeled for anyone coming into his proximity so using vehicles may be out of the question..."

"Anyone but police." Avaron corrected him, placing her hands on her hips and looking away from him once again. "We can get as close as the front door before they can have an excuse to do anything about us in broad daylight. So all we have to do is drive and kick down the front door."

"Sounds like fun," he finished cocking his rifle as he had everything assembled within record timing, a feral smile gleamed on his face as he grabbed his hat and placed it over his head, with a bandoleer of explosives and various pieces of equipment over hsi chest as he finished concluding, "that and the only people we have to worry about is his personal Sector 3 Overwatch, who've been said to be some of the most deadly and proficient of the Police Force."

"Other than my own personal unit, of course..." Avaron responded coolly, reaching out to take the doorknob in her hand once again and pull it open. "My ride's out front, and the destination's only block-long. We'll be there before you know it." With that, she stepped outside of the door and began to walk down the hallway, not needing to check behind her as she knew Taka was following close behind.

"Let's make one thing clear, Captain," Taka said with a low, serious tone as he checked his weapons carefully, following her with quick steady steps, "if I see that bastard and you're not with me, I'm taking the shot. That's all the Justice that those poor souls he murdered deserve and it'll be much more merciful than what he deserves."

It was a decision Avaron dreaded to make.

If she knew anything, she knew that Kenta was a clever and cunning man. She might as well have been the only one who truly knew him for what he was. His intelligence made him a deadly opponent to contend with - something that had been made apparent long ago when she fought that vicious gun duel against him. The logical part of her mind thought it was best to take his life, fearing that he would only cause another uprising the next time.

However, it was that very same connection to him that fought against that cold and tactical way of thinking instilled in her by Damian. She knew him, he knew her, and their minds were open solely to one another. There was a chance that maybe, just maybe, she could talk him down and make him step down from the path he had chosen. It sounded like nothing more than a dream in concept... but it was just as strong as the killing desire within her. It tore her apart just thinking about it.

Hearing Taka speak such words, though, did not suit well with her.

"Might I remind you who's in charge here?" She answered smoothly, though with a warning and irritated tone in her voice. "You'll do nothing unless I give the order to."

"Whatever you say, boss," Taka said in a low tone his eye filled with hate and his teeth ground together with malice and vengeance, his blood boiled for the chance to make Kenta scream for the thousands of people he slaughtered offhandedly.

"Look..." Avaron sighed heavily, shifting her hands to her pockets. "I understand your own personal vendetta with Kenta. But police do not kill unless they truly have to. Otherwise, how different would they be from the likes of cut-throats like him? What would the ones we saved think about us if we killed out of vengeance, because we decided right then and there that someone should die without any consideration for who we're supposed to be? They'd hate us more than they would've hated the criminal who was killed. Would that be right?"

At this point, she had stopped at the exit, pushing the door open and stepping out onto the sidewalk. Her personal car was right in front of them.

"Right," Taka sighed out, moving to the passenger side while getting a quick scope out in the event there was any company. After seeing the coast was clear, he was about to enter when he looked at Avaron, he simply said, "Just for the record, I told you so."

At that particular statement, a slow grin crossed the Captain's face.

"I know."

With that, she quickly jogged around to the driver's side, fishing out her car keys and pressing a button on the monitor device. Both locks sprang up into view, and she pulled the door open. She slid herself into the driver's seat, shut the door, stuck the necessary key into the ignition hole, and turned it in order to start the engine. As she looked through the windshield, she saw only the sidewalks, roads, buildings, and nothing more.

"This just makes it all the nervewracking..." She thought to herself, letting out a heavy sigh and lowering her head a little. "God damn it... after all this is over with, I'm just going to go out and do some serious drinking. The paperwork can wait..." She grumbled gruffly, placing both hands on the steering wheel.

"I can't imagine," Taka said in a almost grimacing blissful tone as he saw the nigh emptiness that made tif we live the entire city void as they drove towards their destination, "that if we live through this, how much quieter it will be thanks to this war."

Drifting memories, An awry first encounter

Taka's mind drifted back to his time in the Police Force's creation, after the Civil War's bloody conclusion. He saw among those among him that swore the pledge, taking the oath, and raising their arms in unison as the new Commanders of Sector Overwatches, he noticed one face that didn't looked revered or honored by the ceremony. One dark haired man who simply had a bland, emotionless expression with eyes hiding everything from within, standing mere meters away from himself. From the moment Taka's eyes laid upon him, he instantly detested him, distrusted every notion and every action, always believing something was amiss with him as if he had an ulterior motive to fulfill.

Months later, Taka approached him in his office, wanting to play the part of a good cop and offer him a salutations as a way to get to know someone as well as be a better comrade to one another.

With a rapid, upbeat knock, Taka was dressed in a white casual suit with black necktie, braided his hair back as he was back from a party with some of his subordinates and decided while the night was young and Kenta was still up and about within his office, decided to give him a break, "Yo! Commander Sonoda! I want to talk to you."

"Come in."

The man in question was sitting at his desk, reading over a report that had been filed in. He didn't look up from the door, allowing his voice to be the only indicator that he had heard Taka.

Taka forced himself to take a deep breath inwards before opening his eye and smiling a pleasant, cheerful smile, as he walked in with a bottle of wine in hand, cork still fastened and all, holding it up while he walked in, "Yo, Sonoda. How's it going?"

This was when Kenta looked up from his paper, meeting Taka's gaze directly. He was quick to take in the man's appearance first. It was obvious that he was about to head to a party... something that seemed to be too "unnecessary" in his eyes. However, if he felt any true disgust towards the revelation, he didn't show it. "Sorry, I don't swing that way." He muttered in a dry joke, already guessing what Taka's intentions were for him.

Taka let out a amused chuckle, knowing he must've picked up his classy dressed appearance as a innuendo of sorts. He quickly dismissed any irritation of already trying to pick on him, swinging his bottle and hand side to side in emphasis, "As tempting as that sounds, Sonoda, neither do I. I actually just got back from a party that some of my subordinates were hosting, but I left early," he walked to the front of his desk and gently sat the wine down, turning it over to show the year as one of rarity, showing something of more a friendship gesture than a "date" inclination, "I thought I'd swing by here and give you a break. We haven't really spoken in the past few months since Overwatch commands have been assigned. So, I thought I would be the one to break the ice, so to speak."

"Give me a break?" Kenta frowned slightly, shifting his attention back to the newspaper he was reading. "You make it sound like you're my superior. Besides... I'm technically on my break right now. I just prefer not to spend it in such a racket."

"Take it easy, Sonoda," Taka waved dismissively, grabbing one of the office chairs within the uniformly clean office before wheeling it over for him to take a seat, "and its not exactly foreign for commanders to come by and treat each other to drinks. Its a social thing, if you believe me or not, though I actually have yet to see you anywhere outside this office on downtime, and its starting to worry me and the others..."

"I go places whenever I feel like it. It's just that you and the others don't happen to see when I do." Kenta answered readily, shifting to the next page of his newspaper. "There's nothing to worry about, commander Nakanome."

"That's not something I'd be so casually to tell people," he said with a sheepish smile and a sweatdrop at Kenta's casual remark, before clearing his throat, "and its Taka when I'm not uniform, no need to label me by rank when I'm not on the clock."

Kenta shrugged lightly. "If you insist..." He said, shifting to another page. "Any updates or new news I should know about?"

Taka sighed slightly, knowing conversing with this man would take some time and patience. If it was common news that would get him to reveal a bit about himself, then he would play along.

"Well...there was a incident at the castle about some immigrant that was causing a little bit of a racket," Taka said with a amused grin, scratching his chin as he propped his arm with his other hand, "the guy was said to be a Red Sun philosopher and was kicked out of the Soul Society for believing in anything other than its laws...something like that. There was also some petty riots within the outskirts near the Museum District, close to that old Mausoleum, don't know why, they just started getting violent for no reason. Thankfully, no casualties were heard of, but they closed off access to the Mausoleum as well as other landmarks in the event that vandals would target the areas for reasons or madness who knows what..."

'"Pity that the Soul Society would treat its own citizens in such a manner..." Kenta commented dryly. "With that logic still in place, I can only wonder how that we managed to establish an alliance with them in the first place..."

"You sure its a good idea to judge things without firsthand evidence, Kenta-san? I've only told you what I've heard, there could be any number of reasons what really happened and who that person is. Don't you care about facts?" Taka asked in a polite, yet queried tone, as he leaned back in his seat, taking out a corkscrew as he simultaneously grabbed the wine bottle and began to screw into the cork.

Kenta cocked a skeptical eyebrow, looking up at Taka briefly before switching his gaze back to the paper once again. "If the situation proved to be more dangerous than expected, than Yūrei would never let such an immigrant come into the outskirts of it, let alone this capital city. The information flowing between us as well as the Soul Society would ensure that. Though... I could probably guess why you only heard of the incident rather than bother to put the pieces together."

POP!

Within a instant, the cork popped and comically ricocheted across the room before smacking Taka in the face, causing him to mutter unintelligible curses before rubbing his forehead. He then took the liberty of taking out the pair of wine glasses he took in with him and began pouring the liquid into the glasses, the bubbles hissed and crackled within as he spoke,

"It sounds like you don't trust many people, Kenta-san. Don't you think that's a little...unhealthy, for someone who's in charge of so many people?"

"Trust weakens people." Kenta said bluntly. "It kills the mental defenses and leaves even the strongest of fighters vulnerable to deception, betrayal, and trickery. Anyone and everyone can turn on you within an instant. It's a trait that only gets in the way of my duties."

"Trust has its benefits you know," Taka countered, placing a glass right in front of Kenta while placing the bottle on the desk and sitting back down, sipping his wine filled glass, "its necessary for effective strategies, teamwork, and building strength to have trust within others. Without it, everyone eventually secregates themselves from each other and split apart, making a organization as strong as its weakest link, and easy prey for those who would seek to destroy us and what we stand for."

"My sector has been run with cooperation, not trust. It has held itself together for years without my subordinates have to lean on one another constantly. Maybe you run by that philosophy, Nakanome, but I don't." Was the other man's reply.

"You won't gain any support by going by the old way of doing things,Sonoda," Taka said a little lowly, as gulped a swallow of his wine, before saying with a little uneased tone, "and I wasn't just talking about your sector. If you treat everyone with that mindset, no one will support or trust you either. In the end, no one will find you worthy of command if you trust no one but yourself."

It was the words that caused Kenta to stop reading the paper, dropping it on his table and revealing a cynical raise of his eyebrow. For a moment, he didn't allow himself to speak at all. He merely fixed a gaze on Taka's person, conveying an expression of annoyance and resentment. It was one thing to give an opinion. But it seemed like Taka was challenging him and the way he did things. He felt like he was being patronized by his fellow commander.

So he decided to fight back.

"Do you speak for everyone....?" He questioned, a quiet but vehement tone in his voice as he spoke. "Or do you speak for yourself and yourself only when you say that no one will trust me?" He placed his arms on the desk, his annoyed look turning into a slight glare. "Let's stop holding hands like a couple of school-girls, Nakanome. You don't trust me. You've shown that from the very moment you walked in my door."

"You know what?" Taka gulped down the whole glass of wine before setting it on Kenta's desk and leaned in close to him, saying with a forced smile, "I'm trying to be nice. I'm trying to be your comrade and get along with you. Its pretty hard to trust you when all you do is skulk in the shadows and reject any invitation at socializing with anyone. I understand you have a way of doing things, and I can accept that, despite how I don't like it. hell, Commander Raiton treats everyone like we're in a military operation, yet even he knows to accept other people's way of doing things and trusts others to do their jobs. If you'd actually go out of your way to trust SOMEBODY I'd probably wouldn't have to work the nerve to try and understand you!"

"Understand me?" Kenta scowled, his teeth gritting slightly. He leaned back a little when Taka leaned forward, picking up the smell of wine and trying to ignore it. "If you have to force yourself to be in my presence, then you might as well stop trying to. If it's one thing I can't stand, it's people who don't even have the guts to be honest about their intentions."

"I was trying to be your comrade, to find a reason to trust you," Taka said exasperatedly, standing up crossing his arms as he glared at him hotly, "but it seems you don't want comrades nor people's trust. You want everyone to do their job and leave you to your "work". Well fine! Skulk in the shadows, plot your schemes, but just remember something, Sonoda. If I find out that your "work" endangers the people of this country and this city I swear I will make sure you regret it," with that said, Taka turned around and walked out of the office, slamming the door behind him on his way out.

Bump.

Reality Beckons, Vengeance and Justice

"Hey, Taka. You still awake? We're here."

Avaron's cool voice brought him out of his thoughts. True to her word, they were driving up towards the building Kenta was stationed at. There were Sector 3 police officers walking away from the building in the standard patrol, their sub-machine guns holstered in their hands as they made their way down the designated paths. In front of the building were two officers, their weapons also holstered as the car made its way in front.

Avaron let out a whistle. "Looks like we're lucky. Doesn't seem like there are too much guards in the building, and they don't seem to register us as a threat just yet." She reported. "Good for us in the long run."

"Hm? Yeah, sorry," Taka said with a sigh, rubbing his hand over his eye, seeing the guards outside and patrolling like nothing was wrong made him slightly disconcerted, "it almost looks too easy, Captain. Sonoda is a sharp bastard, he must have a half a dozen plans for any contingency that's about to transpire. Should we take out the guards right now and just hope he doesn't notice?"

"Well--"

"Excuse me... commander Setsuko?"

Whatever Avaron was about to say was cut off when she heard a third guard right beside the window. He leaned forward to the driver window in order to meet Avaron's gaze directly. "We had not been expecting your arrival here." He said calmly. "Forgive me for asking, but what would be your business here?"

"It's fine..." Avaron calmly rested her arm on the seam where the window would've risen up from. "We're here to see commander Sonoda." With her other hand hidden from view of the officer, she jerked a finger towards Taka - a signal for him to leave the car and stand by.

Taka complied with a silent nod, opening the door and closing it casually while crossing his arms, waiting for any further directives or "orders". He remained in a nonchalant, casual appearance as he scoped out each and every guard, measuring them for prone physical deffects, weaknesses, armanents and behavior. So far, they were alert, but not for the proximate threat that had yet to rear its head. Yet...

"We're under orders not to let anyone in."

Avaron frowned a little, pushing herself out of the car and shutting the door behind her. "This is important." She said, her tone somewhat pressuring. "Unless Sonoda has valid reason to shut out fellow commanders from his position, your orders are nullified."

"I'm sorry, ma'am..." The officer, as calm as he was, refused to back down from the subtle threat Avaron made. He did back away from Avaron as she exited the car. "But we only listen to the likes of our personal leader. Your word has no jurisdiction as far as he is concerned." There was no expression in his words, his emotions carefully guarded in order to keep Avaron from reading him.

The captain's eyes narrowed into slits, her frown growing into a scowl. "...is that so...?" She said lowly. "I think your leader forgot who's in charge of him. He doesn't have a say in the matter, and neither do you. So knock it off and step aside--"

BANG!

It happened without warning. One of the officers behind the talking officer had pointed a pistol in her direction and fired, barely missing her head. There had been no hesitation, no mercy, and no regret. It was clear that no matter what she said, Sector 3 was willing to kill her either way.

This was the event needed for Avaron to spring into action.

She lunged forward before the lead officer could retreat back to his comrades. Within a perfectly executed CQC move, she grabbed him, twisted him around, and put him in a tight neck-lock. "Taka! Go for one legs on each of 'em!" She yelled, viciously tightening the grip as the officer in her hold struggled to break free.

BRA-BRACK! BRA-BRACK!

Taka had already saw the lackey behind the lead officer already move in for the kill, seething with bloodlust as far as Taka's eyesight could tell as he deftly unholstered his unbuckled Mauler, instinctively aiming for the two patrolling officers that had yet to respond, the force of the red-lit-slugs destroyed the knees and severed the lower calf and foot from the rest of the body, causing them both to drop down in screams. The next shot expertly shot one in the thigh of the assaulting officer then aimed for his shoulder, forcing him to drop his gun on instinct as his arm nearly was severed from his body besides losing all sensation to his gun hand.

"Done and done," Taka said cooly, without any hate or vengeance, as if it came upon instinct or casually as he eyed his handiwork, seeing that the various officers were all sprawled on the ground, despite their training have begun to wail and howl in pain, "nothing to them when they're the ones getting the drop on their heads."

"Now, then...."

Avaron turned her attention back to the struggling captor in her hold. "I don't know what you heard..." She stated calmly, her eyes narrowed slightly. "But it's obvious that your commander's pulled the wool over your eyes. My boys just got done uncovering a slaughter operation that wiped out the majority of the capital city's populace. The civilians are numbered by the dozens."

That stopped his struggling immediately, his eyes widening and his pupils shrinking. "N-no..." He whispered, his voice frantic and shocked. His grip on Avaron's arm became shakier. "Y-you're lying, he never told any of us about that! He would never--"

"A commander like me doesn't lie to her subordinates." Avaron interrupted him. "And I know each and every one of you like the back of my hand. So I can safely say I know what I'm talking about. There's no point in trying to defend him anymore. All we ask is that you take us to him."

Taka walked over to step in front of the captive, struggling officer, obviously the leader of the bunch and yet somehow was trying to feign innocence. He glared hotly at him before aiming a gun at the writhing, cursing man who tried to kill Avaron not too long ago.

BRACK!

With another shot, he stopped moving as a smoke hole rose up from the man's back where his heart would be. Taka cooly looked at the man in Avaron's possession, propping the gun upwards, but held it tightly enough to show he'd use it again in a heartbeat, "Let me make it simple for you, officer. You have two ways to walk away from here. The way that leads to your superior, or the way that leads you to a life of incapacitation or death. The choice is up to you, officer."

"Nnnngh...!" The officer gritted his teeth, knowing that they would find the man either way. "All right, fine!" He snapped. "He's on the roof of this building! I'll even take you to him!"

"Good..." Knowing that the odds were virtually in their favor, Avaron released him with an abrupt opening of her arms. In turn, he fell to his hands and knees, gasping for air. "But I'd rather you get your friends some medical treatment and tell them what's transpiring." She looked upward at Taka with comically peering eyes. "....you didn't happen to actually kill that guy, did you? That's why I said to aim for the legs."

Taka narrowed his eyes at her before looking at her blankly, "Don't tell me you actually felt sorry for the guy who almost killed you. The other two guys are going to be maimed for life, so exactly what made you think leaving them alive is a blessing when I injure them with the Mauler?"

"A police officer only kills when necessary." Avaron said. "If I wanted them dead, I would've just whipped out my HCA and shot them both right now. Besides..." She looked over at the wounded officer. "Human technology would've never fixed it. But luckily, the afterlife doesn't have that problem. Not to mention that if they really knew what Kenta was doing, they would've shot us on sight instead of letting us approach them in such a manner. Their commander is keeping them all in the dark..."

WHAM!

"FREEZE!"

Her gaze snapped up to see several more officers at the door, their guns aimed and leveled at both of them. The gasping officer looked up in shock, slowly bringing himself up to stand. However, he made no move to get away and rejoin them.

Within the instant the doors were knocked open, Taka whirled around and began firing, this time making sure there were no lethal casualties. As he began moving to avoid any potential fire, he managed to shoot each officer's knee out, incapacitating them effectively while stalking with a deadly attitude as his eye began to glow dimly, "My mistake, Avaron. The only one that needs to die, is the bastard who plotted this whole f'ing war!"

His coat flourished dramatically with each step as he walked past the screaming and howling officers, his gun held in a ready upright position, with smoke streaming out of the barrel from its recently fired rounds. If Avaron could see his gait compared to other times she's seen him, a dark vengeful atmosphere could be felt as his killing intent almost took form in a spiritual pressure in of itself.

"...I'm starting to think it was a bad idea bringing him along..."

A weary look on her face, Avaron looked over to the shocked captor. "Well? Now you've got yourself more work to do." She said bluntly, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "Better get callin'..." She walked off, indirectly listening to the sounds of the lone man as he began radioing in to his comrades within the building. Hopefully, Taka would not go overboard and become trigger-happy the moment he saw them.

All it took was for them to yell "Freeze" for her to know they were only waiting for a provoking to fight. Taka had shot first, despite the non-lethal way he did so, the damage to them would prove to be incriminating. She placed a hand onto her face in frustration, her teeth gritting together. She was going to have a serious talk with him after this was done.

As they walked inside of the building, Avaron let out an aggravated sigh as she caught up with Taka, her hand placing itself on his shoulder. "Hey, wait a minute..."

"I know you want me to act according to protocol, Captain, but this is war. There is no time to determine who is innocent and who is guilty. Despite what you think of that man out there was knowing, he was given explicit orders to kill you. They each might've been given the same tasks, despite their knowledge of Sonoda's endgame. If we hesitate, if we're slow, we die," Taka then turned his eye back at her, its stoic cool gaze showed nothing but belief within his logic, "I'll hear you anything you have to say right now Captain, but we will not have another chance to negotiate once we approach Sonoda. He will kill us given the chance."

Never before had Avaron felt so angry in her life.

She roughly turned him around, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him closer to her. Her eyes were narrowed into slits, an angry snarl on her face. "I will NOT have you TALK like those green-stained FUCKtards called the MILITARY!!" She hissed, glaring directly into his eye-set. "War doesn't give you permission to use indiscriminate force!! War does not give you an excuse to act out on your own accord!! But I do! By willingly discarding the standards that I've set, you're basically telling me to go FUCK myself!!"

Her narrowed eyes widened a little bit more.

"Is that REALLY what you're telling me here, Nakanome?!"

Taka was totally taken aback by Avaron's forceful physical actions, as his eye was widened and totally shaken out of whatever deadly aura he had conjured earlier. He lowered his gun and simply rested in the grasp of the smaller, angry superior as he looked pained at what she said about him and the military. The wound in his right eye that was covered was a testament to his service and honorary work within the military during the war, something he spited Sonoda for disrespecting him on.

"Excuse me for once being in the military, Captain," Taka said bitterly, before bowing his head, genuinely feeling ashamed for his words of choice, "forgive me...Avaron...I should know to act appropiately even under these circumstances. I will willingly go under court marshal for the untowards acts I've committed against the officers I maimed or killed. I will also leave you to your buiness with Sonoda and return to my office, if you so order me, mamm."

Avaron took in another deep breath, her expression softening to a more annoyed look.

"...don't be stupid."

She promptly released him, putting her hands in her pockets. "If I wanted either of those, I would have never called you here in the first place. Consider this a learning experience for you." She said, most of the anger fading away from her voice. "Trust your superior's judgment, follow their path, and breathe easy while you do so. I won't let you fall off." She walked past him. "Now let's finish this. I'll treat you to a drink once it's all over and done with."

"Yes, maam," Taka said solemnly, holstering his Mauler while unstrapping his Kido rifle from around his shoulder. With a cocking of the arming mechanism, he nodded with a firm acceptance before looking at Avaron, saying in a slightly smug attitude, "I'll hold you to that, Avaron."

"Mhm..."

With that being said, Avaron walked up to the elevator that led up to the second floor, pressing the button in order to open the doors. She stepped inside, promptly leaning against the elevator seam in order to keep it from closing.

"Why thank you, sir," Taka joked in a mock gentleman tone and bow of his head, fingering the front of his hat as he entered the elevator, turning around deftly with his rifle resting along his chest with both hands holding it. His back leaned against the metalic wall of the elevator with a sigh, his eye briefly closing as he muttered, "I'd like a shot of that liquid we sometimes got from the world of the living...what was it called? Vogka?"

Avaron pushed herself off of the doors and stepped right beside Taka, folding her hands behind her back. "Vodka." She corrected him, lifting one hand to scratch underneath her nose as the doors closed. The lift itself jerked a little before rising up towards the top floors. "That and some Rose Red would do just fine..."

However, their talking didn't go unnoticed.

Kenta was viewing the scene from a camera monitor computer, sitting in a seat with his hands planted on the desk. "Now this is truly hypocritical." He muttered in disgust, glaring at the screen in disdain. "Nakanome brands me for being trained under Damian Seken... but it turns out that he was previously from the military too. I always knew the dog was holding in more than he was throwing up, but this is just too ridiculous..."

"Sir!"

He turned from the computer screen to see a female officer approaching him. "Both of them are heading up to this floor. Should we prepare?" She questioned him, a calm yet terse tone in her voice.

He waved the comment off, turning back to the screen and looking at it briefly before standing back up. "No. Do not engage them. Let them come up to the roof." He answered coolly, shifting his hands to his pockets. "Make sure that medical team gets to the incapacitated, as well. It's only right that I see to the two intruders personally. Their target is me, after all..."

The female officer gave a respectful bow. "Yes, sir!"

"I could always go for that stuff," Taka said with a sigh, leaning back against the bulkhead, unintentionally locking his eyes on what looked like a camera on the corner of the elevator. His eye glowed subtly as it probed into its systems and began backtracking the feed before clicking his tongue, "Sonoda's leading us into a trap, you know that, Captain?"

"Mhm." Avaron answered bluntly, not bothering to look in his direction. "But from the moment we initiated this mission, I expected to be in a trap the whole time. So it's a good thing that I know how it works." She slowly pulled out her HCA-50 pistol, brandishing it in both hands and lowering the barrel to the floor in a holstered position.

"You talk like you've and Sonoda were in the same school with Damian Seken," Taka said pointedly as he armed his rifle, holding it downwards in kind as his superior was doing.

That abruptly rendered Avaron silent for a moment.

"Is he really speaking like he doesn't know? I thought I was dropping perfectly good hints here and there, but I guess I was being too subtle about it. Oh, well..."

The lack of Taka's awareness brought a slow grin come across Avaron's face, her eyes narrowing into a sly look as she turned her head towards Taka. "Gee, Taka..." She said lightly, though with humored sarcasm. "Was I being that obvious? I never knew."

Taka's eye widened, as he genuinely never looked into his superior's history as much as Kenta Sonoda's. Knowing that Sonoda had other pupils, he should've guessed among all of them, his superior and peer Avaron Setsuko was the one to be his equal and match.

"Oh," Taka said, with a slight hitch and pause within his voice, blushing slightly in embarassment in his own ignorance before he cleared his throat, "I knew that..."

"Sure you did." Avaron rolled her eyes. "Like I said, if I didn't bring you along, you wouldn't learn, would you?"

"Surrre," Taka said with an exaggerative tone, sighing as he crouched down and took up a kneeling position with the rifle's stock firmly resting against his shoulder, his single eye looking down the sights as he readied himself, "out of curiosity, how would you rate Sonoda's combat skill? I've never actually fought the guy in a real fight, so I'm just curious who I'm going up against..."

"Let's see..." Avaron tilted her head upwards in thought, closing her eyes. "The extent of his training allows him to take on the likes of even a Captain-level opponent. All it takes is a shot in the right direction to kill even a powerful opponent as long as they got a human body on them. He's one hell of a shot, and the chances of him missing his targets are next to impossible unless you happen to be behind cover the moment he strikes. All in all, he's a real mean son of a bitch..."

"Great," Taka sighed as he waited for the elevator to stop and the doors to open, "so not only he's a mastermind who's eluded us all and cooked up this stupid war for some sort've psychotic twisted armageddon plan he's got cause he hates the world, but he's incredibly smart and great with a gun. Next you'll be telling me he has Soul Reaper powers and has a Bankai..."

"Don't jinx us."

DING!

The elevator finally stopped to its designated location, and Avaron raised her gun up to the sky in a calm manner while her other hand was in her pocket. She stepped forward and took the lead, waiting until the doors were fully opened so that she could step through.

She was met with a surveillance room, one which was currently operated by Sector 3 officers. However, unlike the gunmen, the people that were within were not masked, revealing a plethora of surprised and shocked faces. Their bodies tensed at the terminals they were working on, and some even froze up entirely. But other than that, no one dared to make a move against the two that were progressing.

"Great, more annoyances," Taka muttered before standing fully and tall, his eye glowed menacingly as he cocked his rifle and shouted out to all of them, "I'm Commander Nakanome of Sector 4 Overwatch! Your Sector Overwatch and any other accomplices are under arrest for the manslaughter and genocide of Yuurei Okouku's Capital populace! Put your hands on your heads and get on the floor now, for we're in the middle of a raid here and we're calling in reinforcements to pick your asses up and off to jail!"

"Wait a minute, what the hell?!"

Needless to say, his demand didn't suit well with the crowd and even earned a few glares in his direction. The man who had spoke up stood up from his terminal and turned to face them, a scowl decorating his face. "Where's this coming from?! Sector 3 was evacuating the civilians in the underground shelters!! Commander, with all due respect, this is completely arbitrary!!"

BRACK!

"BULL....SHIT!" Taka shouted out to all of the Sector 3 officers, shooting upright that blasted a hole in the ceiling, the sound itself to shut up the majority of the outrcries and denials, "we have outstanding evidence...that your Commander...Kenta Sonoda...ordered your comrades to slaughter the civilians within the shelters! Avaron!" He then turned to her, his voice less vicious now he redirected it to her, and even though his eye glowed yellow, he spoke in a grave, sad voice, "show them the evidence."

"Mhm..." Avaron said calmly, lowering her gun and walking over towards the nearest terminal. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and her own scowl had formed on her face as she approached. Her presence was all that was needed for the woman at the panel to get out of her seat and immediately back off. The last thing anyone needed was for a pissed-off Avaron in such a situation...

As her fingers worked the buttons, Avaron pointed towards the woman that she had "hijacked" the computer form. "Jessie, be a dear and turn on the projector, would you?"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" The woman stammered, giving a brief bow before sprinting over towards the said projector in the front of the room and started to work on it.

"What are you all trying to play at...?" The outspeaker spoke again, disgust clear in his tone. "There's no evidence to be put against us. We've done nothing but ensure that this building was safe and secure. If we were ordered to do any kind of genocide, we would've been informed by our leaders first."

"And what if he didn't want you to know?" Taka asked pointedly, resting his rifle against his shoulder as he looked in a irritated lopsided manner, "what if he kept the ruthless part of his Overwatch to do his dirty work while he keeps a close eye on you sorry lot and make you blinder than the rest of us? That way, you'd all appear innocent and there would be a civil war within the ranks during the middle of a battle!"

"He would never--!"

"All right, it's on!"

The man's statement was interrupted by the woman's announcement. He, as well as the rest of them, turned just to see the computer turn on.

They were greeted with a shocking sight.

Within what looked like a detention center, several bodies lay bleeding and full of bullet holes. Some were men, but others were women and children varying from teen years to pre-teen years. The screen continued to flash from image to image, earning gasps and mutters of shock and fright at them. It was a grisly and horrible thing to see, and even more horrible to note that there was always more than one body to be seen in each picture.

"What about it, idiot?!" Taka asked the man who backtalked him, having already walked the progression as the images were still rolling, grasping his collar and lifting him off his feet into his glowing orbed face, filled with anger and distaste, "you'd actually think TWO Overwatch Commanders would come all this way, armed to the teeth, to just bullshit you with accusations?! Look!" He thrusted his gun towards the images, aiming to pointedly remark how each gruesomely torn body was grimly absolute, "YOUR SECTOR, no, YOUR COMRADES SLAUGHTERED an entire populace of the people you swore to protect! You'd think we wouldn't come barging in here without incriminating evidence?! This is absolute proof, asshole!!"

"GET OFF ME!"

Shaken up by the picture demonstration, the man yanked himself free from the commander's grip and glared at him for a bit more before turning his gaze around back to the images. "I can't believe this..." He muttered, dropping to his hands and knees. "We were played for chumps this whole time. We were used..."

"Eeyup." Avaron said, standing up from the computer and picking up her HCA-50. "But be glad that we didn't see you as criminals and only suspects to his cause. Now, all of you! To the ground, hands behind your head!" The commanding tone that she took with them caused them all to immediately obey, falling on their stomachs and laying their hands behind their head. "You will all be questioned on this matter and will be set free if you are found innocent. For now, however, you'll be put under detainment until further notice."

Confrontation, A Battle of Rivals and Traitors!

"Avaron," Taka spoke firm yet softer than earlier, as he gave a indicating look as he looked around the room of Sector 3 officers on the ground, "what are we going to do with them? You going to call in some people to secure them or leave them here and hope we can get back to cuff them all?"

"I already called them in." Avaron assured him, giving a small smile of amusement. "While you happened to be daydreaming in the car. They'll be here within a couple of minutes to apprehend these folk. We, however, are sticking to our regular objective." She turned away from him, quickly making her way towards the stairwell in the far corner that led to the roof. "C'mon!"

Taka nodded, saying lowly, "Right behind you," as his muscular body tensed and his rifle armed with readiness, follwoing her up the stairwell with steps following hers rapidly unconsciously. Despite how much his superior and peer wished to, and his gloved hands clenched his avoid a bloody conflict, Taka could feel the bloodlust that came from such debaucherous sadistic acts. He wanted to fight, and if he denied their offer of arrest, then Taka would as hell sure will give him a reason not to fight him and his superior.

It wasn't long before they reached the roof-top to meet their foe.

Being in the lead, Avaron was the first to come across the scene as she stepped onto the roof. It was the perfect setting for a fight; the space of the roof was rather wide and sported several air-venting machines and boxes to be used as cover. The Woosh of the rotor blades inside the machines made for an eerie setting. At the end of the "hallway" created was none other than their target, sitting on the edge of the roof with his legs dangling off the edge.

It was here that Avaron acted. She lifted her pistol upwards and pointed it at him, her voice sharp and commanding. "Kenta!!"

He turned his head around, a look of genuine surprise on his face as he looked over her form as well as the trailing form of Taka behind her. He slid away from the edge and stood up, a small smile gracing his face. "Ah, you managed to make it, after all." He commented coolly. "I was starting to fear that my subordinates had killed you. Good thing I was wrong..."

"Cut the bullshit, Sonoda, and stay where you are!" Taka said in a commanding, smooth tone. It wasn't full of the hot vengeance that he had earlier. Now it was a matter of righteous anger and duty-driven cause to bring this man to justice. Just how he was when he first signed up, and how he first met Sonoda.

"You're under arrest for the countless murders you have committed against this country and this city, as well as conspiring with the enemy and instilling a act of terrorism," He aimed his rifle from the hip, having a good wide aim on Kenta's form and a difficult position to dodge without being scathed or shot. "Anything to say in your defense before we turn you in, or do you have the gall to defend your actions as justified?"

"Terrorism? I don't know what you're talking about." Kenta said smoothly, resting his arms to his sides. "I haven't done anything to warrant such an arrest. My actions are simply something to bring about change; something that humanity has feared for far too long."

"And you think you're the representative for humanity? What the hell do you think you are, Sonoda? A prophet? A god? You don't have the right, morally or by authority, to issue any change that would bleed the world, no, the universe dry to change it," Taka said resolutely, his eye narrowing to a dangerous slit as he concluded, "that isn't paradise or change. That's perversion and Hell!"

"Oh, this is swell..." Kenta rolled his eyes. "You, of all people, are speaking to me about morality. I thought I told you before; if it's one thing I can't stand, it's the hypocrite of the people. I was watching from the security cameras when you two came in here. I should've expected some sort of killing instinct from you, Nakanome. But what you displayed was not only hypocrisy... but also how unable you are to control yourself in the times that it's necessary."

His eyes peered, a light frown coming across his face. "I can practically smell your desire to kill me and disregard protocol, commander. So why don't you do it? No one will know but the one standing beside you. You'll be regarded as the hero who killed the dark messiah. So go on... pull the trigger and take my life."

"I've never called myself a saint, Sonoda, and you must really like using that word when you know the definition so well," Taka said without faltering, his gun still ready but his tone hadn't changed either knowing Kenta would battle him with his sharp tongue before any real confrontation, "I will atone for my actions and my disregard to protocol. I may be weak, but I know when I must stand firm for my beliefs, like our Captain has taught us to do so," he momentarily smiled towards Avaron before resuming his concentration on Sonoda.

"Damian must've did a real piece of work on you, twisting you into this direction and making you the mastermind of this whole war. I wonder what kind've pathetic child story you must have, seeing your life crash or treat you unfairly, or endure some stereotypical war trauma that cracked your mind to its breaking point. I would love to make you suffer, but now that I think about it, I have nothing but pity for you, you sad pathetic little man.

Throughout the whole exchange, Avaron remained silent. She only allowed her ears to do any work, listening to the exchange between Taka and his personal nemesis. Her own expression was concentrated on her target, her pistol carefully leveled at him to cover what he couldn't. Despite clearly having him outnumbered and cornered, there was still something off about the situation. His calm stance, his casual demeanor... did he really have no regard for his own safety here? Or did they only think they cornered him? When it came to Kenta, it was all too nerve-wracking, even for her...

Kenta's slow smile didn't help matters for her, either.

"Villains need some sort of trauma catalyst for them to be the way they are. Is that really what you believe?" He questioned rhetorically, sliding his hands into his pockets. "That's a belief of instinct, a case of denial to the greatest degree. Some people have to be forced by something of equal evil. But for others, it's all a matter of taking in the environment around them. Sometimes, people like me just prefer to watch the world burn..."

He slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets.

His wrists flicked, his palms grasping around both barrels of the revolvers on his waist holster.

He pointed both of the barrels at each of his targets and pulled the trigger with sudden movements that made Avaron's heart stop. She couldn't find the ability to pull her trigger in time, her instincts forcing her to side-step--

BLA-BLAM!

A total of twelve shots were fired, six from each revolver.

"Sonoda!!!"

VRBRAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

A sudden clench and release of his rifle's trigger let loose a wide arc of crimson energy, the immediate timing of the shots were so close, the colliding forces couldn't be registered to the human eye at exact detail as Taka held his ground, only moving slightly out of dodging instinct at the sight of his guns flaring.

The small pillar of energy was enough to dig a relatively deep and heated trench along the rooftop, flaring outwards audibly shaking the building rooftop as it intended to take Kenta down with him in the 2 meter gait of death that Taka fired.

All Kenta had to do was leap to cover, dodging the two-meter blast of energy and taking cover behind one of the structures. A grin decked his face, and he spun his guns around his fingers for a few seconds to reload both of them. "This is gonna be fun..." He whispered, stopping the guns by their hilts. He holstered them in a ready position and mentally prepared himself for the fight ahead of him.

One against two.

It was fair enough with him...for the moment.

As Kenta took cover, so did Avaron. She held her gun in one hand while pressing her back against the structure of the air-venting machine she was hiding behind. Even if she had backup, she knew that it was going to be a tough fight ahead of them. However, she was more concerned about Taka than herself. Although he was in the military, he didn't have the training that she and Kenta had. That would be the perfect excuse for him to be the first target.

"Breathe easy, girl..." She told herself. "Taka can take care of himself..."

Taka had taken cover in suite on the opposite duct of Avaron, parallel in his position to her as he swiftly leaned his back against the metalic structure. He steadied his breathing and held his rifle up in a perpindicular position to his chest and shoulder, inhaling the raw scent of recently discharged slugs of his weapon.

He inwardly remembered the layout from the brief verbal ripousette he had with Kenta, noticing that the rooftop only had a good dozen meters or so in width, and had various venting ducts that scaled to about two meters in length and 2 1/2 meters in height. But knowing the composition and material rated against the penetration power of the weaposn on hand, all combatants faced incompetant cover as they'd be easy for their ammunition to rip apart.

Then, there was the experience factor. While he had been a war hero and a damn good fighter, he was not a personal lap dog or apprentice to the infamous tactician Damian Seken. His superior's skills were on par with that of Kenta's, he knew for sure, but Kenta's cunning and intelligence were higher above the two of them together. The fight was going to be tough as hell, and he knew he'd have to use that if he had any advantage over the traitor commander.

"Let's go," he whispered to himself, his eye suddenly took on a yellow coloration and began moving his iris clockwise as well as feed a number of information through his ocular HUD. His eye's implant was something he chose to do when he lost his other eye, aiming to bolster his vision on the side he still had while keeping it relatively intact. It was one of the few things he never directly informed Avaron or anyone else of, never using his occular implant unless he was in a pinch or a tough-ass battle.

While he "scrolled" through the different options within mere blinks of an eye, he selected his form of vision and quickly looked at the air duct. Within a few seconds, his eye's vision turned a surreal yellow that peeled away all structural hinderances, locking in on those of minute heat signatures and heartbeats. Seeing as Kenta's was the only one through on that side of the rooftop, all he had to do was back up, take aim and...

"Gotcha," he spoke lowly, before pulling the trigger, aiming for a more pentrative shot as he aimed for Kenta's back, intending on finishing him with one blow while he had the advantage. The crimson slug flew through the air duct at lightning speed, barreling through several others within a heartbeat as it screeched toward Kenta's backside, intending on killing him, ending his life once and for all.

It was fortunate for Kenta that he had managed to pick up the bare sound of his opponent's footsteps.

With a grunt, he boosted himself up and leaped right over his cover, performing a slide right over it. With his free hand, he aimed it at Taka's position and unleashed a trio of shots. He didn't have any time to check if they hit or not; as he landed on his feet, he spotted Avaron pulling herself from cover and aiming her pistol in his direction, her eyes narrowed as she tightened the grip on her gun.

"Fu--"

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Luckily for him, the first shots only barely missed him. Raising his two revolvers towards her, he unleashed his own fire while side-stepping to his next cover. She mirrored his movements, and their exchange of bullets was stopped when they made it towards their respective positions. From there, they started running, with Avaron abruptly stopping and running towards the side where Kenta was. Kenta was racing towards Taka's position, continuing to shoot in that direction in order to force him to use his own side-arm instead of the aim-required rifle.

"Grk!-"

Taka took a scathing shot across his cheek, shoulder, and one in the rifle's stock as he barely moved out of the way of Kenta's trio shots. He knew now the rifle would be a hinderance at close quarters and rapid movement, so he cast it aside, unholstering his Mauler, arming it for rapid succession.

"Let's dance, bitch!" He growled out as he began moving at high speeds, diving out while aiming his Mauler at the incoming Kenta, his eye gave him an advantage that put him on par with the incredibly skilled marksman that Sonoda is. With rapid pulls of the trigger, his high powered wide-radius slugs aimed to halt or change Sonoda's course if he wished to live as both Avaron and Taka would be focusing their fire upon them.

It worked.

Immediately, Kenta changed his path of movement. With another jump, he leaped on top of the machine he was about to run into and performed a front-flip over the next one, landing behind it in a crouched position. As he spun his revolvers around to reload them once again, he calmly walked to the other side of the machine and listened to Avaron's footsteps as she switched sides. Immediately, he could guess what she was doing; using Taka as a close-up distraction while she cut off possible exits of escape from afar - a good tactic of exploiting the situation he was in.

Without hesitation, he started running again to the other side where Avaron had been, raising his barrels and readying to fire at any sign of movement as he raced from cover to cover.

C-Clink, wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeez!!!

Directly in the path of Kenta's footing lied a Kido Incendiary grenade, one of the military grade issued weapons that Taka kept on possession and on hand from his time in the military. Having kept track of his movements iwth his eye, he systematically plotted his most predictable course away from the group. He threw it right before Kenta started running for cover, firing back to keep up the distraction as he moved back to the cover where he started.

"And..."

BRACK-BOOOOM!!!!

The incendiary grenade went off with dramatic burst of flames, destroying and wrecking the machinery he used for cover, making it more likely for him to get spotted and possibly injured by the explosion itself.

"Fuck!!!"

Kenta's eyes dilated as soon as he saw the grenade land in his path, stopping right in his tracks. Immediately, he pulled a retreat from the "hallway" and leaped back just before the grenade exploded. It almost caught him in its flames, the tongues licking at his clothing. However, he was able to pull himself back in time...

WHAM!

...just in time to receive a ferocious kick from Avaron, who had managed to sneak up behind him.

The force of her leg sent him into the remnant of flames, and he let out a yell as he disappeared behind their miniature wall. Avaron kept her gun aimed, her eyes peering through the flames for any sign of movement. "Tough love, baby." She commented, a frown on her face as she continued to analyze.

"Hope that hurt, you sonnavabitch!"

As Kenta's body was kicked back into the smoldering flames left by his grenade, Taka moved out of cover, his eye already identifying his mass within the blackened and burning area as he fired off a relentless spray of Kido slugs, aiming to hit him with the rapid bursts while he was off center.

While Taka suppressed that particular area, Avaron allowed herself to move in another direction. She moved quickly to the area that Kenta could escape to, running through the "alleyways" created by the remaining structures of cover. She kept her gun trained in front of her, careful not to be caught off-guard in the event that he was hiding. Her instincts were on full alert, and she was perfectly capable of reacting to any signs of ambush.

So when Kenta allowed himself to appear in her vision, she was all ready waiting and prepared for him.

Instead of shooting her outright, however, he instead rushed her, using the small alleyways to corner her so that she couldn't gain enough room to fire. Holding the barrels of his gun, he unleashed a set of skillfully executed swings at her face and torso in a barrage of C.Q.C. movements. She jumped back a little, parrying his attacks with the back of her wrist and her own pistol, as well. The result was close to a bare-fisted duel, with both combatants exchanging blows with a flurry of ferocity and aggressiveness. Both of them bore concentrated looks as they fought against each other, with one trying to gain the upper hand against the other.

It reflected Damian's own teachings.

"Dammit!" Taka growled as he vaulted the venting duct, standing up top to see where Kenta ran off to. As his eye began picking up residual traces of Kenta, he suddenly caught sight of his Captain closing in on him. As the two collided, he could see faint lights of the two merging and locking in close quarters combat, something that Taka was far better at than his marksmanship. However...seeing them fighting made him realize if he interceded, it would probably give an edge to the enemy rather than aid his comrade.

"I swear, I'm getting the worse luck in this fight," Taka grumbled as he leaped from his air duct to the burning air duct, maneuvering himself up high as he quickly closed in on his superior and peer's position, as well as Sonoda's. Within a few leaps and bounds, Taka was able to easily discern who was who with his eye, taking down the feminine build as his ally and the masculine one as his enemy. He lined up his sights, eagerly waiting for a break in the fight that would allow him an open shot. Then...he had it!

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!

"GAAAH-AAAAUGH!!"

The very last bullet had connected, tearing through Kenta's shoulder and causing him to emit a strangled scream. He fell on his back, scrambling to get up when he saw Avaron level her pistol at his head. He stopped immediately, narrowing his eyes and scowling at the clear advantage she had over him. She mirrored his expression, keeping her stance firm.

"Well, go on..." He growled vehemently, falling on his back and closing his eyes. "Go on and kill me already."

"That's not what I was made commander of the police force for." Avaron answered sternly. "We came here to stop you. A police officer never kills unless he or she truly has to. Now, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't hesitate to dismiss you as someone I can't negotiate with due to how skilled and dangerous you are. But I know you better, Kenta. This isn't what Damian wanted out of you."

"And how would you know what he wanted...?" The man gasped, letting go of one of his guns to hold his shoulder wound. "You were the one to side against him in the first Civil War! You were the one to directly challenge him along with all of the other rebels!"

"You mean that you didn't think that the oppression that the government was causing at that time was wrong?" Avaron demanded. "I only did what I did for the good of the people. You may be thinking the same is going on with your damn Reconstruction movement... but you forget that my actions gave them all a choice. You, however, stripped that choice away from them when you killed them in cold blood!"

That was enough to render Kenta silent, albeit he was still grunting due to the severe pain in his shoulder.

"What? Nothing to say?" Taka spoke aloud as he leaped and landed onto the metalic venting to Kenta's right and Avaron's left, his form bleeding slightly from the wounds that he took from Kenta's earlier shooting, but he showed no real fatigue from the fight that had transpired. "No preaching on how much good you're doing the world? No shouting of hypocricy others are committing?"

VROOOOOOM!

Another distant noise reverberated the city, large gusts of wind flew across the building tops, flourishing Taka's uniform as he dared not take his eye off of Sonoda at a crucial moment, knowing the noise was simply the sound of another inhuman cross rising at the perimeter of the city limits.

"You're really pathetic, Kenta-san," Taka raised his gun to aim at him as well, but he did no threatening maneuver to fire without being told so, "I wanted to be your comrade. I wanted to trust you, to have my back when the going gets tough. But in the end...you were right. Trusting you was the only evil I could've committed, and I have no regrets seeing you as my enemy up until this point!"

"It's not too late to give up this little game of yours, Kenta." Avaron said. "We have you cornered and your Ahijados friends are being dealt with as we speak. Tell us how to reverse this damn process before we all die!"

For a moment more, Kenta didn't allow himself to speak. Slowly, he closed his eyes and stopped moving. "...fine..." He whispered, using his bloodied hand to reach into his pocket. "You really want to know how to stop this? I have the key to it. I'm not exactly sure if it will work or not, but it seems that I have no other choice but to leave everything to you now." He pulled out what he had from his pocket, holding it up to view.

Avaron's eyes immediately dilated as she saw what it was.

A remote control.

"TAKA, GET AWAY FROM--!!"

Click!

BOOM!

"CAPTAIN!" Taka yelled out, pulling the trigger even as the building shook, hoping his aim would at least hit Kenta in the event and miracle he would survive.

From the very bottom of the building, a remote explosion tore apart the lower foundation. The entire structure caved in on itself, the rooftop falling inwards. Avaron found herself falling with the crumbling concrete to the ground, unable to do anything other than scream.

Then she hit the ground, and all was black.

---

The Hour is Nigh! Judgement Day Encroaching...!

"Nnnn...."

Avaron's world was filled with nothing but pain when she woke up. Through her bleary vision, she could see nothing but concrete and rubble around her. As she brought herself on her hands and knees, an intense pain seared through her body, and she almost collapsed again. As she looked down, she could see that at least her arms were bloodied up. A small pool of her own blood was starting to form underneath her.

She could safely say that she had been FUBAR'd.

With a pained groan, she pulled herself onto her feet, looking around the area with weary eyes. "Shit... Nakanome?!" She shouted, trying her best to ignore the screaming of her injuries as she stumbled across the concrete in an attempt to look for her comrade.

"Damn," Taka managed to utter nearby her, as he was somehow on his feet and standing over her on a cleft of rubble, his hands outstretched as if to proetect her from something even as small slabs of concrete were surrounding him, "wasn't fast enough...to save both of us....Avaron-chan..."

He then hacked out blood, as the revealing of why he had not moved was the source of his dilemma and doom. A thick metal beam stabbed through his back and out his gut, thick drips of blood splattered below him as he was directly overhead where the beam would've surely crushed her skull. His eye looked at her with normal color and his hat was lost to the wind of the blast, he had barely managed to evade the majority of the crashing detonation, however he managed to catch sight of a falling support bar heading towards an incapacitated Avaron. It was mere moments before she awakened, so in hindsight, she would've never woken up from her incapacitated slumber.

"Oh, no..."

Avaron's pupils dilated as she cast her eyes upon the scene. Immediately, she raced over towards him, ignoring the intense agony searing across her body. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." She hissed, her words panicked but her voice showing only tension. "J...just hold on, Taka!! I'll--" Immediately, she stopped herself, looking around for the reinforcements that were supposed to have shown a while back. "Damn it, this has to be the WORST time they could pick to be late!!"

"Where....is Sonoda...?" He asked out strained, but had a surprising amount of strength within his face, despite his impending wound that was obviously grave to his body, "is...he dead? Tell me he's dead, Avaron..."

"Forget him, I'm more concerned about you!!"Avaron snapped, her eyes surveying the severity of the wound. "Now stop talking!! You're not going to last long if you expend all of your energy here!!" She gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowed and her heart racing viciously within her chest. She knew that the wound was bad. But if she removed the metal rod that was through his gut, it would only increase fatality chances. There was no testing things when it came to someone's life at risk...

"Kenta, you better pray that you're dead right now..." She thought to herself, her fists clenching.

"I guess we're going...kaff! Going to take a rain check....on that beer, huh...Avaron-chan?" Taka coughed, sounding almost bemused about his current sitaution, already guessing that the outrageous pain flowing through him was something that couldn't be easily fixed. He knew that if there wasn't any miracle workers coming soon, he'd be a sgood as dead within a few minutes, let alone get the help he needed within that time.

"I said--"

Avaron abruptly stopped herself, her ears finally picking up what Taka was speaking to her. "...what did you just call me...?" She questioned him, cocking an eyebrow and frowning in disbelief. He referred to her by her name, her rank... but he never once added that particular suffix.

"What? You actually never noticed...?" Taka asked in a borderline rhetorical fashion, coughing as he laughed lightly, his lower lip and chin now lightly stained with his own blood. "Figures...I guess considering you were...my superior...I wouldn't ever...ever...stand a chance, haha, kaff! Kaff!"

He promptly looked down before looking back up at her, joking morbidly, "Its a shame I can...get that...off of my chest...but not...this...damn beam, hahaha kaff!"

You never noticed.

Those were the words that shot through her the most. There was no direct statement of it, but the implication was painfully clear. She gritted her teeth again slightly, her eyes wavering just a little bit. But inside, she was stricken with guilt. He had feelings for her, but she had chosen to ignore him and focus her problems somewhere else. It was bad that Taka was dying right before her very eyes.

But it was worse knowing that she could do nothing to appease him.

"Taka, please. You're going to make it through this, but you have to keep quiet until a medical team gets here..." She said lowly, trying to remain stubborn to the situation at hand.

"We both know...unless they show up...in less than a minute...that's not going to happen, Avaron-chan, kaff!" Taka gritted his teeth as he coughed even more, the color slowly draining from his fac as more blood leaked and dripped from the beam projected from his gut. "Just...do me a favor...and make sure...Sonoda is dead. Pr-Pr-Promise me that at least, Avaron-chan!"

It was a promise that Avaron really... really wished he wouldn't propose to her.

She had been hoping to reform Kenta, turn him away from what he was doing and spare the bloodshed in the process. What her subordinate was doing was asking her to go against her own judgment and kill her former colleague just to appease him. It was such a selfish proposal.

But then again, so was trying to help him.

She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and reached out to grab his hand. Her fingers squeezed tightly, ignoring the cold feeling that was coming in. "...yes, Taka. If he didn't kill himself with this... then I'll make sure to put the bullet in his head myself."

"Good...," Taka said with a soft smile, squeezing her hand back and shut his left eye with a grimace, gritting his teeth audibly and growled, "c-can you...get someone...to wrench this thing...out of my gut...Avaron-chan? Its...starting to hurt, kaff!"

"No."

Knowing that Taka's fate was sealed either way, Avaron slowly reached out to grab the metal rebar, her fingers tightening around the cold and bloodied material. Her fingers made sure to grip his tightly. She wouldn't let go until the last breath, until his life was truly extinguished. She knew that he was going to die. The least she could do was stick by him.

SPLURCH!

With a grunt, she ripped the rebar from his gut and cast it aside.

"Grk!" As Taka clenched onto the hole on his solarplex, grimaced and grunted as he slumped to the uneven concrete slabs beneath him, chuckling lightly, "that hurt....like a bitch! Kaff Kaff Kaff! Now....can you...call in somebody...Avaron...chan? I think...I got maybe three minutes...till I hit the red zone...."

A bitter smile came across Avaron's, her hand still keeping a firm grip on his. "...don't try to bullshit me, Nakanome." She said, almost in a cold manner. "We both know that's not true." It was made clear with that earlier statement; any aid would not show up within the minute, and Taka only had less time than that.

"Damn," Taka chuckled, wheezing slightly as he tightened his grip as the warmth began to fade from it rapidly, "and here I thought...I could bullshit my body...in giving me more time...," he reached a shaky blood spattered hand up to Avaron's face, brushing it softly as he smiled grimly, "take care of my men...when I'm gone....please?"

"You got it..." The smile became less bitter and more re-assuring. She reached with one of her own hands, resting it on the hand that lay on her cheek and ignoring the feeling of the cold and clamminess that lay within. "It's the least I could do..."

"I...I...," Taka's hands began to lose strength, the fingers lost their grasp and his eye began to dim as it began to lose its light, "thank you." With that, Taka breathed out a long breathed sigh as he smiled, as his head tilted to the side and his body became limp.

'I leave the rest...to you...Captain...Avaron...chan...'

Slowly, Avaron allowed herself to release her grip on his hand and stand up. Her face was overshadowed by her bangs, and the pain of her own wounds seemed to be nothing more than a distant memory compared to the pain in her heart. She always hated moments like these, where she had to hold the hand of her comrade as s/he died right in front of her eyes. She learned to mask those emotions long ago... but it didn't stop the hurting. She had just lost her comrade to the likes of another.

And she was left with the promise that would force her to abandon her ideals. Was it some sort of sick, cruel joke...?

"And another one bites the dust..."

She didn't need to be a genius to figure out who spoke behind her.

Immediately, she spun around and lifted her gun towards Kenta, who in turn had one of his revolvers pointed towards her. Her eyes were narrowed in concentrated anger rather than the fury she was forcibly suppressing inside of her. However, he held a solemn look on his own face. "A real shame he died a hypocrite, a fool who couldn't even bring himself to be honest with you or anyone else... even himself."

That was when Avaron noted one thing about him.

Despite having clearly been shot as well as the victim of the collapsing building, he had no sign of injury on him, no trace of blood, or any sign that he was even wounded. Her widened eyes and voice expressed clear surprise and shock, even as she kept her weapon pointed at him. "Your injuries...!!" She brought herself to say, trailing off as she continued to look at him.

"All thanks to our dear Hankami...."

A slow grin crossing his face, Kenta slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the black watch - the same one he had showed Tenshi. "It was very obvious from the moment everyone figured out what I was doing, they would seek to kill me. That's why this gem was given to me: I could complete the spell without having to fear someone's blade interrupting me in the middle of it. With this, I can die and come back from the dead. There is no such thing as killing me while this is in my possession..."

Slowly, he placed it back, the smile fading away.

"But...then again... even if I did have it, I don't think you would shoot anyway, would you?"

A scowl came across Avaron's face once more, and she tightened her grip on her gun. "And what exactly would make you think that?! You killed one of my best men!" She growled. "I have every right to kill you right now where you stand!!"

"But you can't."

Kenta's calm words were becoming more and more unnerving to her, and it was beginning to show on her face. "Because if you do, that just means you'll be going out of your boundaries. And for what? To fulfill the promise of someone who once belonged to the very organization we hate? Let's be honest with ourselves, Avaron... this isn't just a decision of wrong and right. This is a decision of duty and friendship. Kill me, and let yourself become just like the cold-blooded soldier prominent in the military... or lower your gun and stick to your beliefs, just like I believed you always would. What will it be?"

There was a deathly silence. Neither of the combatants moved from their positions, keeping their Kidō pistols trained on one another. Kenta's expression once again became solemn, and Avaron's became conflicted. Their eyes stared into one another, and neither one of them dared to break away.

Finally, Avaron broke it.

"...I can't do it." She said bitterly and brokenly, closing her eyes and lowering the gun back to her side. "I just can't do it..." Her gun hand slowly opened up, allowing the pistol to fall to the ground with an audible clatter. Her body was screaming at her not to pull the trigger, her hand having refused to cooperate with her. It was the tragic consequence of her having grown by him. While half of her refused to shoot out of fear of walking down the soldier's path, half of her also was still willing to believe that somewhere within there was her best friend. It may have been a foolish belief... but she couldn't help herself for looking at and leaning towards the possibility.

That was when Kenta smiled a little. "You are a respectable, honorable woman indeed..." He whispered, cocking the hammer back. "So I'll make your passing a quick one. Farewell... boss..."

He slowly tightened his grip on the trigger, and Avaron braced herself for what was to come.

CRRRRRRACK, BOOM!

The sound of impossible hardened tower clogs smashing into the concrete street behind Sonoda was heard, as an exhale of wind and force uttered from an arrival unexpected at this time. A flourishing of a white Haori ran across a well defined and endowed chest, a crest of blonde hair brushed across her tattooed forehead as her pigtails flowed behind her head. Her form rose up to a formidable height, nearly matching that of any tall and strapping military man, with a fiery anger sporting in her hazel eyes.

"What," with a vicious snatch of her hand and incomprehensible speed, the woman's voice bore a recognizeable tone for anyone who had saw her at the debriefing just hours before the battle started, "is the meaning," the vicious tactical vice grabbed the back of his head, the force behind it threatened to tear through his skin and skull just from squeezing it, "of this, Commander?!" She held him like that, and her face was filled with a righteous anger. No one needed to feel her spiritual pressure to sense the utter menace and outrage filled in her voice and body.

Needless to say, Avaron and Kenta were shocked.

Even more so on Kenta's case, considering the hand that grabbed his head.

The vicious pain that shot through his head almost immediately, and he let out a strangled yell as he shut his eyes tightly. It was all he could do not to fall to his knees, the grab rendering his body momentarily paralyzed. He ended up dropping his own revolver. "F...fuck...!!!" He hissed, trying to pull his own head by itself out of the woman's grip.

"C-Captain Taiyō Ikidōri of the 4th Division?!" The police commander exclaimed, blinking in dumbfounded and comical surprise at the other woman's sudden appearance. She had not been expecting the likes of Shinigami to be anywhere within the vicinity. But the fury and anger that Taiyō displayed rendered her almost shell-shocked. Had she been watching the whole time?

"The sounds of gunfire in a peaceful, protected city and reports of Police units being deployed towards this area, I had to assume there was another infiltrator of the Ahijados. The explosion had furthered my haste, and I had got here too late to save the other 37 men and women under your care, Kenta Sonoda," Taiyō directed her conversation to the squirming and writhing form of Kenta, her left hand holding his head fast with incredible control and strength, while her right hand balled into a fist with unkempt anger crackling her knuckles audibly, "and then I arrive to hear the final words between two survivors, both of them your comrades and allies, before one keels near death's door while you move in to dispatch the other. I could not watch another die from your hands, Commander Sonoda!"

Meanwhile, a young woman bearing the trappings of a 4th Division Soul Reaper, with the badge of a Lieutenant strapped around her left arm shimmered to visibility near Avaron, kneeling next to Taka, as she immediately began forming hand signs, asking aloud, "How long has it been since he slipped into unconsciousness? When did the protrusion been removed? I need to know this so I can operate on him as quickly and correctly as I can, Captain Setsuko!"

"He's alive?!"

Not taking the time to be surprised, Avaron immediately explained the situation to the young woman. "I removed the thing a minute ago, and he fell unconscious in half that time." She said readily, her eyes narrowed in a stern gaze. One of her hands clutched her side, wincing as she felt blood pool in that particular area. "Fuck, this hurts...!!"

However, she abruptly snapped her head towards the scene in where Kenta was held hostage by the Captain. Despite his face dripping with sweat now, he managed a mocking smile to his captor. "I don't want to hear the likes of you speak like you're some sort of hero..." He said vehemently. "And besides..." A malicious smile graced his face. "Thirty-seven? Add the millions of lives taken away from the capital city's populace, and you'll have yourself a more accurate estimation, Captain..."

Toshi nodded, briefly noticing the blood seeping into Avaron's uniform, saying briskly before tending to Taka,"I will tend to in a minute, Captain Setsuko. Please bear with me, "within a few more hand signs, she placed her palms over Taka's body, a thin blue sheen emanated across his whole body, making it suspend within a field spiritual particles that enwrapped him in a temporal stasis aura, "now to infuse his body with the proper amount of blood while removing any foreign spiritual matter and bacteria, as well as seal up his chest and back..." She spoke with a thorough and trained set of concentration on her work, not even registering what Sonoda was saying to his captor.

His words were poorly chosen to the enraged, yet intelligent Captain who had a vast recollection of the anatomy and the physical of the spiritual body.

CRACK!

Her fist connected with his shoulder, tearing the tendons, shattering the shoulder blade, and perforating the front of his chest due to the restrained, yet dangerous force she used.

"I'm the Captain of the 4th Division, Sonoda. Its not wise to provoke me to use my vast knowledge of the spiritual nervous system and integrity of the spiritual body to...induce further torment," she growled out the words cooly, maintaining her calm and keeping herself from punching a hole in the man...for now, while she still had him, "its obvious you're the one who planned this entire war, and your confession of slaughtering the populace within this city had something to do with the crosses in the distance, which is slowly but surely gathering the proper amount of energy to expel a catastrophic blast of unimaginable proportions. How, do, we stop, it?!"

With each last word spoken,sh stabbed her forefingers into his already broken shoulder, tearing into the tendons and twisting painful nerve endings to unthinkably high spasms of pain. Needless to say, the Captain while restraining her malice towards the man, was etching her anger while trying to solve and correct the damage the madman had concocted.

"NNNN.... GAAAAH~!!!!!"

Kenta's eyes dilated, and he struggled even more again as she shoved her forefingers into his very muscles. He gasped, struggling even more under the intense agony she was putting him through. However, once she was done, his snarl turned into a pained sneer, and he looked behind him at her with his dilated eyes.

"STOP it?!" He jeered. "I can't believe you would even THINK of such a thing!! This is not Aizen's move to destroy the Soul Society with a meager army or the Civil War that split this society apart so many years ago!! This is a movement made by gods, TRUE gods at that!! Once they have made a decision, we are unable to reverse it!! There is no reversal of the Plinian Eruption!!"

CRACK, SPLURCH!

Taiyō imbedded her fist through his broken shoulder and halfway through his body, before wrenching it out with a angry, relelentless glare upon her eyes as she held him aloft by his skull with her fingers alone, "You KNOW something! You wouldn't simply sacrifice your own life in the sake of "world improvement." No, you must know a failsafe....a backup plan, or some way to keep yourself alive from the oncoming devestation. What is it?!"

VROOOOOOOOM!

In the distance, as Tōshi began sealing Taka's chest and back, the thin blue aura flickered as another cross began uprooting itself from the perimeter of the city, raising itself up high, displaying its treacherous morbid visage for all those to see beyond. "I'm surprised the Daisuke-san or Captain Aizen hasn't begun attacking those obelisks," Tōshi spoke in wonder, even as she worked, directing most of her conversation to the injured Avaron next to her, "despite from what I've heard of the Hankami, no mere structure should hold against the force of a Bankai's power, should it?"

"You're really calling that a mere structure?!" Avaron panted incredulously. "I call that bullshit, Lieutenant, and you know it!! A mere structure wouldn't be able to exude this much energy and have such a sickening effect on us!! I hope you aren't taking anything for granted here!!"

"It's exactly what they're doing..."

Despite the intense agony running through his body, Kenta's tone was filled with nothing but disgust. "There are things in this world that you simply can't oppose, no matter how hard you try..." He growled, his voice hoarse and weakened from his nerves being rattled with the pain. "But you just don't understand that, do you, Captain? What you're trying to do is nothing more than an act of desperation, a last effort of self-preservation. You're nothing but a coward who just can't accept defeat. You make me si-!!"

That was when a sickening presence washed over all of them, effectively shutting Kenta up and driving shock into him.

Boots were walking towards them at a slow, calm gait. A black robed figure could be seen a distance behind Taiyō, a hood covering the entirety of its face. Avaron's eyes dilated in shock and fear as she saw him approach, recognizing him right off the bat. She had seen him before in the initial battle when she had been with Kukkyōna, when she had been hit with that terrifying wave of spiritual energy.

Now, he was back - and from the looks of things, he wasn't there for tea.

"Hey I was just saying-" Tōshi began saying before the sickening feeling washed over her, causing her once calm and casual visage to be utterly dissipated. Her eyes widened, pupils dialated, and her head turned with a gasping, shivering pause as she saw the oncomer, "w-w-who...is...?"

"?!" Taiyō's own eyes widened, feeling the immense power coming from the oncoming Hankami and could only recollect a personal testament from Captain Hayate's encounter with one of them. Despite the rage-filled anger that boiled up in the Slayer, the malicious and menacing presence within the Punisher, this one was of sheer dread and depression. As if foreign emotions overpowered your own and drowned you in a maelstrom of debaucherous unknown. This was the power of the Monitor, the Hankami of sheer dread and unwavering purpose.

Taiyō turned her head with a uncertain, and somehow terrified look towards the Monitor, her eyes equally widened along with dialated pupils as her body's proximity to the being was becoming undyingly intoxicating with dread. "Wh-What are you here...for...Monitor?"

The Monitor did not allow itself to answer.

Instead, it moved.

In the next second that passed, the Monitor had re-appeared in front of Taiyō, placing a hand on Kenta's good shoulder. In that very instant, all of the color they could see suddenly shifted into a mix of black and white. Everything looked as if it had came from a distorted ink painting. He had not moved, and there was no signal that he had used any sort of speed technique.

But only a second had passed, and after it did, Taiyō would find herself without her prisoner.

In that instant, the Monitor had snatched Kenta from her arms and vanished as quickly as he had come, leaving all of them alone and on their own.

"....good....god...."

Avaron immediately fell to her knees, sweat dripping down her face even as the horrifying aura subsided. Every part of her body tingled, and she felt as if she had been violated in the worst way possible. If he had shoved her into the ground and raped her right then and there, she could understand. But all he had to do was step in her presence... and it felt like nothing could be hidden from him. She never felt so weak and so vulnerable in her life, her body shaking as much as her breaths as she tried to keep herself under control.

Such was the power of the Monitor.

Tōshi shivered, gulping down air and forcefully tried to regain control over her senses. The sheer empathic energy that was emanated from the being was so intense, Tōshi had no time to react and had been overcome with the despair her comrade had faced. Fortunately, being a expert in manipulating her own Spiritual Energy as well as Healing arts of Kido, she was able to dissipate the foreign empathic energies from her system, coming out of her pores like a faint black mist, making her cough slightly from smelling it.

She immediately turned to Avaron, rushing over to her side and began to apply first aid Healing energy to Avaron's side, seeing it open further due to the incredible stress her body just handled, "Hold on there Captain...everything's going to be alright..."

"D...D...D-," Taiyō uttered out once the proximity of the horrible aura vanished, it only took a few seconds to recollect her body's functions and realized what happened. Unfortunately for her she did not like what had just transpired, tightening her fist to such extremes she punched a nearby building, shouting out, "DAMMIT!" With that punch connecting the wall, the sheer force of it, blew the building in on itself causing it to collapse fantastically and billow a gust of wind and rubble, even as she began to weep while standing.

"I failed....I failed to save those people we came here to protect...and now I failed to punish the man responsible...," she bowed her head, and her eyes watered with grief for all the deaths that had been committed and for only finding out about the massacre too soon.

"Captain," Tōshi said with care and concern, seeing the usually calm and stoic Captain who usually broke up fights and was against violence in this extreme break down this much, made her begin to worry for her emotional and mental disposition, "we should regroup with the Captains and the King...we have to come up with a plan to save the rest of Yuurei...right, Captain Setsuko?"

"Y-y-yeah..." Holding a hand up to her face, Avaron remained in the position she was and allowed Tōshi to continue healing her. "They don't know about Kenta's defection yet. I was hoping to corner him without causing too much of a ruckus, but it looks like we're going to need a lot more help if we're going to keep up. They need to know what transpired here...."

"I've found out only but an hour before your building was destroyed," said gravely, turning over with a paled and grief-stricken expression only a doctor and empathetic person could hold, "they were butchered, slaughtered by Overwatch officers as if they were cattle, something to bring about this damned prophecy that I should've forseen!"

Tōshi nodded, looking to Avaron as she spoke herself, "We notified Captain Kaze of the situation. We've already have some of the Sword Squad's agents tracking them down as wespeak to be executed on sight if they resist. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do on this end."

"That's fine..." Avaron muttered, closing her eyes in resolution. During the dialogue, she had managed to regain her breath again, though her face was still slightly sweaty. "We do our jobs, and everything'll be smooth sailing. I hope..."

"With all due respect, Captain Setsuko, hope didn't get the people of this city very far..." Taiyō said bitterly while hanging her head.

"Captain! We shouldn't be saying things like that! Why...what would someone like-"

"AVARON!" came a loud shout from a flying, descending orange haired Soul Reaper, with his black overcoat flourishing around his body as he raced towards her with a look of worry and fear etched onto his features as he landed deftly next to her, "I called into your head quarters to find out what happened, and then I hear your men being deployed to the building that you were....what happened?! Why are the crosses being raised all around Yuurei?!"

Avaron didn't need to turn to see who it was.

"Most of the city's populace is dead now. That's what happened..." She said, her voice grim and solemn as she opened her eyes once more. She shifted her position so that she was sitting on the ground Indian-style, her hands resting on her knees as she looked over at Daisuke with narrowed eyes. "And if we don't find a way to stop it, Judgement Day will happen possibly within the fucking hour. Those crosses are saying one thing and one thing only..."

She closed her eyes, hanging her head a little.

"We're all going to die soon."

Daisuke gritted his teeth hearing this. His body shook, and his voice started low as he heard what she said, "Why...are you giving up...so soon...Avaron?!" He then looked to her with his eyes blazing with determination and hope, as he waved his arm around the rubble torn cityscape they were in, "the moment we give up hope, freedom and life dies with it! Destiny is not some prophetical bullshit! Destiny is fulfilling your goals, dreams, and desires no matter what!"

Taiyō's eyes looked at Daisuke with surprise, yet calm acceptance of their fate. To see Daisuke not even flinch away at the possibility of giving up....she knew he was truly Kukkyona's son. She smiled lightly before whispering, "You're son is surely doing you proud...Kukkyona..."

It was something that shocked Avaron completely.

Her eyes widened, and her head spun to face Daisuke. She had fallen completely into silence, his words hitting a needed chord. Her mouth fell open slightly, and she found herself unable to say anything in response. She was bluntly telling it like it was, but did she really sound like she was giving up hope? Had the desolate situation really hit her that hard?

Why was she despairing like this?

She was still alive. She was still breathing, and it seemed that Taka Nakanome. She still had the strength to fight, to keep leading the helpless to safety. She still had the power to stop what was going to be an event of apocalyptic proportions. If her men saw her like this, what would they have thought of her? They would've fallen into despair, seeing their head of morale acting in such a... demoralized fashion. That was something she could not have at all.

"....you're right."

Her eyes narrowed once more, and she turned away from him, tilting her head to the side a little. "Even though most of it's gone, there's still life left within this city." She said, closing her eyes once more. "The Soul Society and Yūrei aren't dead yet. We're all still breathing, aren't we? We've still got the strength to fight this...." Slowly, she allowed herself to stand up, holding one of her shoulders.

"Don't exactly know how the hell we're going to do it..."

A slow smirk came across her face.

"But I'm not new to having to improvise."

"That's more like it!" Daisuke said with a wide grin, crossing his arms over his overcoat covered chest as he felt renewed with vigor.

Tōshi sighed, looking at the crosses beyond the horizon, "Without Kenta, the only real way to halt the Eruption is to somehow disable or cripple those obelisk crosses. Maybe if enough destructive power was applied to the right places, it would be rendered useless?..."

"The military is too frightened of the constructs to give orders to open fire, nor do we have the time to hit something of that magnitude and numbers," Taiyō said, cupping her chin with her hand while propping her elbow with the other thoughtfully looking at the most visible cross only a few miles away, "maybe if the Captains concentrated their strength against one or even multiple crosses, we could possibly halt the eruption...but we'd need someone to test that theory first with the equivalent power of a Bankai-"

"Leave that to me, Captain," Daisuke smiled in a eager fashion, before his body became enveloped in a red aura of his own Spirit Energy, his Spiritual Pressure slowly brimming to the surface, "I'd suggest everyone get back...my Bankai is a little....volatile."

With a deft unsheathing of his Zanpakuto, he raised it into the air before shouting out, "BAN....KAI!" With a large exhale of flames in a vertical fashion, as well as a buffeting heat wave that lightly singed the nearby onlookers, Daisuke's form became enveloped in a rich, red-yellow flame that transformed his appearance...into that of a man dressed in fiery garments, "I'm fired up now!"

"Watch it!!" Avaron gritted her teeth, having to turn her face away from the flames. The immense power that he was exerting sent a vicious chill down her spine, despite the heat. It wasn't common for her to see a Shinigami's Bankai up close... but when she did, it was always an intimidating sight. Considering that she had no "upgrades" of her own despite her rigorous training, it was a reasonable reaction.

Skidding his foot back a little bit, his Spiritual Pressure began to flicker and heat the very air around him, distorting it visually like static, as his body was encompassed in both flames and a veil of crimson spirit energy. Inhaling deeply before yelling out, he propelled himself like a missile, cracking the ground underneath him before his body soared like a fiery rocket towards the cross in the distance.

The sound emanated all around like a missile, as the fiery embodied Daisuke raced towards it, gaining on its position with every passing second. With a outstretched hand, fire took form and solidified into his Zanpakuto as he aimed it towards the cross.

"I'll hit you," he spoke lowly, as a fiery sphere was created on the edge of his blade, coming faster and faster towards cross, before he yelled out, "WITH everything I got!"

"Kami Kizu...Shawā Moyashi!!!" With a swift throw of the sphere, the fire replicated and expanded, sending dozens of fire balls towards the face of the cross, all of them screaming like bottle rockets before colliding with a series of pyrotechnic vibrant explosions, visible even from the distance the onlooker group he left behind. The fire bathed the whole front half of the cross, brightly ligthting up the air in their field of vision.

"So this is the power of Daisuke's Bankai?! Incredible!" Taiyō spoke as she felt a wave of heat cascade all the way towards their location from the large distance in between them.

"Hey! When did Daisuke get a Bankai?!" Tōshi shouted out indignantly and almost terrified that her Lieutenant compatriot had attained this much power.

Avaron remained silent, her eyes peering into the fire with an analyzing and calculative intention. She had to admit to herself that the display was one of violent beauty, and it seemed like the kind of attack capable of annihilating everything and anything within its path. But she couldn't allow herself to pay attention to visual images alone. She would have to wait until the final piece was finished.

She peered closely, waiting for the attack to complete itself.

Daisuke soared towards his burning target moving at the same speed he was before, raising his Zanpakuto to physically attack it. With a mighty thrust, he stabbed his Zanpakuto into the fiery bathed obelisk nightmare, slashing it around in a circle while discharging more flames around it, "Kasai Kawa....Kushiyaki!" As he swirled around the entire morbid structure, so too came a torrent of flames that began enrapturing it in its intense heat and power, roaring mightily, already blazing heated winds gusted in the horizon, turning the ground around it into ash and spread its mighty gait.

"He's...adding more flames to increase the temperature...and make it too hot for it to withstand?" Taiyō queried aloud, wondering about Daisuke's tactic, as she had thought he would finish it with one blow. Bankai's power usually increased a Soul Reaper's power by 5 to 10 times their strength, depending on how much training and completion the power has undergone. While Taiyō stared, she wasn't sure if Daisuke's Bankai was complete or not, just feeling his Spiritual Pressure made her as a Captain give pause.

He's incredibly strong for a Lieutenant. Is this the legacy of the Noble Hayate Family?!

This time, a reaction started.

The flames that enveloped the abomination did not last long. From the bottom up, the fire wave began to split apart and disintegrate, the flaming tongues disappearing almost as soon as they came. Within seconds and without the will of Daisuke, the flames had dispersed themselves. The obelisk, despite the powerful attacks on it, had not suffered a single scratch.

"WHAT?!" Taiyō uttered out, suddenly seeing the flames disappear altogether, the obelisk monstrocity somehow negated the spiritual energy fueled in the flames, wiping it off its surface and without any damage done to it.

Daisuke growled, his Spiritual Pressure far from dying out as he raised his Zanpakuto up above his head and charged at it, slashing at the surface of it, blazing flames exhumed with each strike as zoomed to and fro from all around the cross, hoping to find a weak spot. "Where?! IS?! The?! WEAKNESS?!"

"Idiot," Tōshi sighed, rubbing her forehead with irritation, "its a manifistation of the spirit energy harvested and merged with Shinsei. The Hankami must've harvested the passing souls' life essence and began constructing the towers with it, priming the power with their own natural essence."

Avaron's lip curled out of frustration at seeing Daisuke's attacks so easily negated. No matter how many strikes he unleashed, it was apparent that none of them were working. As soon as the fire touched the obelisk, it dissipated instantly and left no marks of injury or damage. She immediately turned towards the Lieutenant. "Lieutenant, is my commander stable? If he is, I want him up and out of here!" She said sharply, not willing to take the chance of leaving Taka exposed to a potential enemy attack. After all, the status of the Ahijados was yet to be revealed...

Tōshi turned her head towards Avaron, nodding to her with a faint smile, turning back to Taka as he breathed lowly and faintly, "He's stabilized, but I don't expect him to wake up for awhile. Its safe for you to move him, if that's what you're asking..."

Daisuke backpedaled away from the obelisk, recognizing the horrible feeling as something near close to what he felt with that man in his Soulscape...the man with the large sword...and Sakura...

"Its adapting to my techniques?" Daisuke spoke aloud, vaguely remembering one of the only reasons he fought Harbinger was to bring Sakura's Shinsei energy to adapt and overcome the Demon's control over their merge. "So this is the power of Shinsei energy....damn! I don't know if I can even scratch it with Jigoku Hashira...but," with a raging flames around his body, he suddenly gave a cry out, raising his Zanpakuto level to the large morbid superstructure, "I have to win! I HAVE TO SAVE THEM!!!"

Taiyō's eyes widened as she felt Daisuke's Spiritual Pressure skyrocket, and the heat became hotter than before causing her to feel alarmed. "Lieutenant!" She shouted, looking back towards Avaron, Taka, and her subordinate, "Get them out of here! Daisuke's going to release a large amount of Spiritual Power, and I doubt it will be safe being so close for the Commanders!"

Quickly, Avaron moved to Taka's side, reaching up and wrapping her arm around Taka while planting one of her arms around her shoulders. Quickly, she stood up, but was careful not to aggravate possible injuries the man had. "I'm ready when you are..." She said grimly, a stern stare fixing her face.

Tōshi nodded before a flourish of pink spiritual energy enveloped her as she crossed her palms together, uttering lowly, "Part the seas within your light, soar the heavens with haste. Sprint, Run, Dash! Screaming eagles guide us to our path, and leave none in our wake! Bakudo #47, Reddokāpetto!" Within a flash of crimson light, a square of 3 meters long and 2 meters wide was created, raising them all into the air as it hovered, looking back at her Captain for acknowledgement.

"Get them to the Mobile Hospital!" Taiyō said commandingly, walking towards the obelisk at the edge of the city's limits, where Daisuke was in for the fight of his life. She walked with a smooth, confident stride as her hair and Haori flourished in the basking wake of heated gusts, "I'll go help Daisuke! Go!"

"Right!" Tōshi nodded before looking to Avaron for confirmation, "are you ready, Captain Setsuko?"

"Idiot!" Avaron scolded. "It doesn't matter if I'm ready or not. Just do what you have to!"

"S-Sorry," Tōshi uttered apologetically before pressing both of her palms on the carpet, creating a slight pulse, before a incredible rush came over all of them, "let's gooooooooo!!!" With a mighty crimson blur, the three of them took off to the Mobile Hospital, leaving Taiyō walking towards the impending attack Daisuke was about to project.

"Daisuke," Taiyō whispered as she saw mighty, wide flash of red-orange light as Daisuke initiated his attack, "you never stop fighting for the people you love...do you?"

"JIGOKU HASHIRA!!!!!!!!!" Daisuke roared out, as a mighty pillar of fire crashed into the side of the obelisk, the sheer force sent a shockwave of heated air billowing in all angles, crushing the ground below for a good distance, setting it ablaze. The light could be seen for miles around, its brilliant flare shining towards the Mausoleum, the Castle, and even the catwalk, visible to all of the city's defenders. The fire encompassed the entire structure, roaring and twisting around it, blazing with incredible heat even as Daisuke continued to usher the fire towards it. "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

It was a brilliant display for all to see. The power was enough to destroy an entire army in one stroke, the fires consuming the mass of organic bodies that made up the cross. However, even as the flames consumed the obelisk, it still continued to stand in defiance. It was like taking throwing a can in a burning barrel; no matter how much of it caught on fire, it would never burn. Even the blazing passion that filled up the Lieutenant would never break the creation of the Hankami.

It only took a minute.

But when it happened, it would prove to be a rather shellshocking event.

Within seconds, the entire blaze was swept off of the cross and forcibly dissipated, leaving it to continue to stand as if nothing had happened to it.

"D...Dammit!!!" Daisuke yelled out, raising his arm up to swing his Zanpakuto's flames at it again...

SNATCH!

...until his wrist was caught by a face Daisuke had never seen, his pupils dialated and his eyes widened as he saw who took his wrist. His arms were muscular, the one that had grabbed him bore a crest of the Shiba Clan, with a flowing black cloak flourishing along with his equally black-raven hair, with a firm stare and serious gaze.

"We need to regroup...Lieutenant Hayate," he spoke in a serious tone, almost unlike his personality for those who knew him.

"Like Hell! Who the hell are you-" Daisuke tried to wrench free from his grasp, but Kaien moved in quickly, outstretching his left hand, emanating dark violet colors around his field of vision, "wh-what...are you...doing...?"

"Hakufuku," Kaien whispered, causing Daisuke's eyes to roll up into the back of his head, closing them and dissipating his Bankai's near-exhausted energies, allowing Kaien to safely catch him, "this isn't a fight we can win, Daisuke. Not this one anyways."

He looked at the obelisk with a hateful glare before taking off, moving Daisuke towards the direction of the Mausoleum, "We need to regroup. Kukkyona has a plan...and I believe it may be the only one we have left..."

Children of Izanami: Climax Act II

The Last Will and Testament of Death

"....do you sense that?"

Back at the Mausoleum, the Punisher perked her head up, and her closed eyes opened back up in a slightly annoyed gaze. She looked over at her brother, who was sitting beside her on the same bench she was on. "...the hell do you think?" She asked bluntly, scowling. "Those are my creations, after all. Of course I'm going to sense them!"

The Slayer raised a hand up defensively, leaning back a little at her response. "Hey, hey, I was just asking!" He insisted, though putting on a small smile. "I wanted to make sure if they were appearing. Wouldn't want anything to go wrong with our little reunion, after all..."

"Yeah..."

As the Melody walked over to sit beside his sister, she folded her hands in her lap and sighed heavily. "...it's really been quite some time, hasn't it...?" She asked quietly, looking away. "Since we've last seen her... and that time... she looked so..." She trailed off for a moment, folding her arms across her chest and trying to think of a word.

"Frail?" The Slayer supplied, cocking a slight eyebrow and removing his smile. "Weak? Dead?"

The Punisher remained silent, her eyes closed once again.

"Well..." The elder male shrugged, folding his hands back behind his head. "It's been quite some time. Hopefully, she'll look at least a little bit better. It'll be just like old times again... but this time, there won't be any need to leave her behind." The smirk returned to his face, and his tone turned somewhat mischievious.

"I bet she can't wait to see how much you've grown, after all these years!"

This was immediately followed by a reach of his hand, his fingers pinching at her cheeks. She yelped out of surprise and indignation, her eyes snapping back open again. "Hey!!" She snapped, slapping her hand away. "Knock it off!!"

"Don't be that way, sis..." The Melody whined, flopping his head down on her lap. He lay on his back, his hands folded across his chest and a mixture of exhaustion and pouting on his face. "Mom won't like a meanie for a daughter..."

"And who gave you permission to just lower your head on my lap?! I don't care if we are siblings!!" She raised her hands up, her scowl turning into a smirk of her own. She threw her fingers at her younger sibling's body, assaulting him relentlessly with a case of tickle torture.

"Hahahahah~!!!" The Melody's eyes widened in shock and surprise, and he started to squirm around. "S-stop it, sis!! That t-t-tickles!! Hahahahahaha~!!!"

"That's the idea..." Her grin growing even wider, she continued to tickle the poor boy relentlessly, with the Slayer looking away with a snicker of his own.

"We're here," Kukkyona spoke briskly and cooly as his body shimmered into view, his scarf and cloak flourished around him as he approached the Mausoleum's doors, with Hana following him behind, "I find that this is a bit nostalgic...I hope we can stop coming back to this damning place after this is over."

"Let's just hope we can appease to their good nature and sweet loving personalities," Hana sighed sarcastically, before reaching up with a hand and firmly pushed the door aside with ease, the mighty and large door opened with a whine and slam on its hinges, coming in to find the weird and almost cute scene with the Punisher...tickling one of her Hankami sibblings.

WIth a sweatdrop, Hana spoke up,"Ummm, did we interrupt something?"

The sound of her voice immediately caused all of the cheer to stop in its tracks.

The comically mischievous look on the Punisher was immediately replaced with sudden shock at the appearance of the two. As the two were now on the floor, she slowly stood up and fixed newly narrowed eyes on them both. "Well, I see that someone found the reason to come back here..." She said lowly, tilting her head to the side for a moment. This brought the Slayer's curious attention, and he automatically stood up, as well.

"Huh...?" The Melody looked on in confusion as he stood up by his sister. "Shinigami--"

"Go on, Melody."

The Punisher's voice caught his attention. She had a frown on her face, her gaze glaring at the two Shinigami who had gained the nerve to approach them again. "The bigger siblings have things to discuss." She said bluntly. "Go off and play." This earned a comically indignant reaction from the Melody.

"Hey!! Don't talk to me like I'm a five-year-- OW!!!"

Without hesitation, the Punisher had swiftly brought her open palm to his backside in an audible slap, and he jumped forward with a yelp. "All right, all right, I'm going!!" He complained, giving an annoyed glare towards his sister. "Jeezus, grouchy much..." He abruptly vanished without a trace, leaving the two Hankami alone with the two Shinigami.

"Quite the little brat you got there," Hana said wtih a teasing tone, arching a brow, she purposely joked, "yours I assume?"

"We need to discuss about the Plinian Eruption...and how to stop it," Kukkyona followed through, not letting the joke settle in on the atmosphere, his eyes perpetually stoic and cool, narrowed and slanted, he would not let the issue drop or be diverted. He meant to resolve this issue, and he was tired of hitting dead ends.

Had Kukkyōna not spoken, the Punisher would have gladly graced Hana with a rude response.

For a moment, she didn't allow herself to speak. Her lips curled upwards into a smirk, an amused glint in her eyes. She folded her arms across her chest, tilting her head from side to side as if working out any kinks. She kept her stare leveled at the both of them, even as the Slayer nonchalantly walked to stand beside her with his hands in his pockets.

"You came all the way here..." Her voice was low, but clearly held a mocking edge. "To talk about how to stop the inevitable? To talk to the ones you know are actively supporting it? I have to admit, Kukkyōna... I've seen plenty of stupid people in my life. But you - hell, while I'm at it, all of your kind have proven themselves to be pretty brain dead.

Kukkyōna remained silent, lowering his head so his bangs covered his eyes, his body grew still and he didn't utter a sound. He wondered why he had come here in the first place. Its like trying to negotiate terms with enemy that is planning to invade your land and hope they can spare you. It was really foolish...something that his old self hadn't attempted to do in over two hundred years.

"You're disgusting, you little bitch!" Hana growled out, her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched on and off, "that you can just talk down to us, and actually get a thrill as we all die, with you at the center of it all, laughing even as you join us in the next life. Its sickening!"

The Punisher's smirk grew into a small smile that clearly showed the markings of a slasher.

"Oh, please. If the very deities of the Red Sun were destined to die along with the remnants of existence, what point would there be in this Reconstruction? While you pass on to the plane where all souls will go when it is over and done with, we will be here to oversee the reconstruction of the world piece by piece. We will form it into what it was supposed to be..."

She swung a hand out in emphasis. "...not the shit-sack world that you mortals have turned it into!" She finished, a condemning scowl on her face as she met Hana's glare head-on.

In a minor comical element, the Slayer was idly seen scratching his nose while looking on with a casual expression at the two.

"My son," Kukkyōna spoke aloud, breaking the tense feelings Hana as she herself looked over to Kukkyōna's now raised head, his expression did not change, but the sound of his tone did slightly, "I came to speak with you, Punisher, on behalf of the respect I have for the bond between you two. I'd hoped that you would allow us a small fighting chance in surviving this....Reconstruction you're planning. For we both know, that Daisuke will not rest until he has found a way, not to just save us, but to save you Hankami from the future you're attempting to create!"

"C-Captain Hayate," Hana whispered, having never seen the Captain express feelings or emotions this openly in the presence of non-familyembers before. Or at least, not in front of her.

That was all it took for both Hankami to pull the most cruel move that they ever would do.

"BAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!!~!"

Both of them snorted, then began laughing loud and hard as they can, as if they registered Kukkyōna's words as nothing more than a joke. The Slayer was bent over, holding that pose for a brief moment before falling on his back, while the Punisher was holding her sides. Slight tears were coming from her eyes, and she immediately used one of her fingers to wipe them away. Opening one eye, she looked over at her fallen brother.

"A-are you getting this?" She managed to say, struggling to keep herself together. "This guy is truly saying that we need saving, and his son with a hero complex is going to do it!!"

"Oh, great and noble Daisuke!!" The Slayer mocked, raising his arms up in the air and waving them around. "Please save us from this great and terrible fate!!" That earned another set of laughter from both of them, as they clearly did not take him seriously.

"I thought so," Kukkyōna said, a sudden resuming of a serious dispassionate tone came into light, his hands lightly graced his hipsas he then asked once more,"since ou are not keen in believing me, then I will have to ask for your Eruption's "Link." He's key to this whole thing working, isn't he? I need to find him, and at least I can extract information from him and not waste your time as I already have."

"Don't you get it, fool?" The Punisher immediately snapped back into her serious demeanor once they were done laughing. She narrowed her eyes, walking towards the two with a slow and deliberate gait. "You're trying to ask information from your very enemies. Did that not occur to you at least once? Have you been paying to this conversation at all? This is for your own good, children. Your mommy and daddy's way of parenting you may be a bit overprotective. But in the end, you'll understand why we do what we do."

She stopped right in front of Kukkyōna, staring directly into his eyes.

"What are you afraid of...?" She whispered, her voice low and chilling to the ears. "Are you so paranoid of death that you'd grovel in front of us just to make us reconsider it? Were you expecting this to happen in a different lifetime and just not thinking about it? Are you simply too adjusted to the way you live life now? A life of control, sin, corruption, hatred....? Tell me just exactly what you are afraid of...."

"You haven't earned my respect to know anything personal about me, Punisher," Kukkyōna said coldly and cooly back, before he spoke out loud, "but I will tell you this. I do not care about this body, this life I'm living. My duty as both a father, a Noble Head, and a Soul Reaper of the Gotei 13 establishes to principle that all life is sacred, whether it be human, soul, Hankami or even Hollow. We do not casually dispense it, and we do not think lightly of it. My honor will not allow me to sit idly by, while billions will suffer, and my conscience will not let me rest until this body burns to ashes before I help all that I can survive your nightmare. I'm afraid, if I die, that I have done nothing to save them nor stop this! I'd wager you enjoy watching people suffer for all the pain and blood you suffered upon your birth, but I hold humanity and its essence close to my heart, just as my son does. And if you continue to disrespect that honor I have," he then narrowed his eyes, speaking with a killing intent and absolute unwavering threat, "I will crush you where you stand, Hankami."

His words tore into her good spot like a hungry dog.

She could care less what he said about her. All she paid attention to were the last words that he spoke. She could feel the killing intent seeping off of him like a poison, leaking into her skin and crawling through her pores. She slowly stepped back from him, licking her lips in clear anticipation. "Such murderous words, Kukkyōna..." She said, keeping her gaze locked onto him as she raised one arm up and pointed the other arm down. "When you looked at me, you conveyed nothing but disappointment. Now, I see that you're truly willing to kill me... but you're just a millenia too early to even try and fight me...."

As the Slayer slowly sat himself up to a squatting position, his eyes widened slightly as he saw the Punisher her arms together with the bottoms touching each other. Her hands were apart from each other, with the index and pinkie finger extended on each one. Her eyes began to glow a crimson red, the sneer ever so clear on her face. His mouth gaped open, and he immediately allowed himself to stand up. "Wait!! Punisher, no!!!" He shouted, his casual mood fading from complete shock as he ran towards his sister.

But it was far too late.

"VANISH, VERMIN!!!"

BOOM!

She unleashed an attack that consumed the very Mausoleum in its wake. A massive pillar of flames enveloped the spot where it was in, reaching to the very sky in a fearsome display of power. The red of the flaming tongues seemed to illuminate the entire capital city, and the power could be felt for miles on end. It was a frightening move, and it made the Slayer's reason of panicking so suddenly a good one.

"The hell?!-"

Kukkyōna's widened when Hana yelled out, already moving within a instant as his Flash Step left a sword scratch sound in its wake, while Hana followed, as the entire Mausoleum was enveloped by the fiery pillar of pyrotechnic origins. The sound was deafening, the air crackled, the power that reverberated created a static vision throughout the entire atmosphere.

Kukkyōna reappeared right in front of the fiery pillar that continued to burn before slowly dissipating into a smoldering husk of a building that used to house the dead of the city. His eyes narrowed and his body remained standing tall and upright, contrary to Hana's crouched and aggressive stance.

"Captain! She's insanely powerful," Hana breathed out looking to him for orders or direction, not sure on what the parameters were in battling a Hankami within the city.

"We fight," Kukkyōna said directly and without hesitation, his hand already reaching for his left hip's Zanpakuto, slowly wrapping his fingers around the cloth hilt while fingering it with a click out of its hilt, "contact Captains Aizen and Hando. They need to redirect their attention to our real enemies."

"But, what about the Ahijados?! They left without warning...what if they return-?!"

"Do it, Hana Yuugure!" Kukkyōna said with a commanding tone, not raising his voice or changing its steady cool tone in the slightest. Standing firm before the storm that was about to be unleashed, "we'll need the combined power of all the Captains we have here if we even hope to defeat one of them. That, and we may be able to find this "key" that connects and holds this Eruption together."

"Right...," Hana said with submission, putting her ear to her audio reciever, saying into it, "Captain Sasayaki! This is Hana, we need you to direct all of our forces into annihilating the Hankami. Keep the officers and men near the castle and standby the border. We may need the extra support without Captain Hando to keep the shield's integrity.

"You don't need to shout girl! I've been monitoring all of your progresses and I am already notifying Aizen and his compatriots. Honestly, you people have no faith in me," Kaze complained in a hurried tone before he cut off the connection, "also, while I'm at it, I'll send the Sword Squad Captain to retrieve that Daisuke brat, it seems he ran off towards a battle that's taking place near Commander Sonoda's sector."

"Waitaminute! Why is there combat WITHIN the city, and why did you bring the Sword Squad within Yuurei without notifying me-"

"They're coming," Kukkyōna spoke aloud, shifting his soles forward and behind, settling into a swordsmanship style as he prepared for combat.

Out of the flames, the Punisher walked out of the building, her crimson eyes overshadowed by her hair. In her heart, and despite her clear hostility towards the two Shinigami, a pain was growing. Wouldn't they understand that they would finally be at peace when the Plinian Eruption occurred? They would not have to suffer through their self-imposed catastrophe that made up the age.

She stopped a distance in front of them, raising her head to reveal cold, solemn eyes.

"Good Lord...!!"

The Slayer was soon to follow after her, batting away the flames that were still on his arm. Despite being caught directly in the blast, he was virtually unscathed. "Senkoku, what the Hell are you doing?" He snapped, clearly irritated as he fixed a stern stare on her. However, she didn't bother to turn back to him, keeping her gaze locked on the two newly made enemies. "I know they don't like what we're doing, but killing them like that... they're not the criminals rotting in Hell right now!"

"What makes you think that?"

Her cold, sharp tone made him look up in confusion. "They're opposing us. They've allowed themselves to think they are capable of destroying us. I've said my reasoning. They're just too deaf and dumb to listen, and I refuse to repeat myself. This is how shitty things have gotten when it comes to existence. I've watched it all ever since its creation, and all of it makes me sick."

Her pupils shrank, and her body was instantly lit with a flaming aura. Shockwaves containing immense power could be felt by all of them. In the blaze that she was, her eyes were glowing a bright and violent red. Her figure could be seen, silhouetted in the fire. "I won't raise my hand towards you...." She hissed. "Feel free to hit me with your best shots...if you truly think you can kill me..."

She tilted her neck to the side.

"...then I welcome my death with open arms!!"

And this made the Slayer know that there was no reasoning with her at this point. He sighed, closing his eyes and taking a few steps back from her. He wasn't going to get involved in this. They were misunderstood, and maybe even misunderstanding them to some degree. But he certainly wasn't going to drive the people he was supposed to watch over to their deaths. He would simply allow himself to watch as the events unfolded.

Kukkyōna made no response physically to the reverberations of power that came from her enflamed body, even as Hana twitched slightly from the display alone, they both realized she was no longer holding back. The supposed "damsel" in distress was now showing her true power as the mistress of Hell. And there would be no way for them to halt her wrath other than fighting for their lives.

"Very well," Kukkyōna replied cooly, his eyes narrowed at her as he decided to use a favored tactic he liked to use against powerful opponents, "I will end it then quickly."

SHTING-WHIZ!

Within a very instant, Kukkyōna's body shimmered almost faster than any eye visibly possible. He reappeared behind the fiery encompassed Punisher, already having drawn his sword and stabbing it twice, towards the two locations favored by this technique. The heart and the aligned spine with the gut.

"Senka," Kukkyōna whispered his initiated technique, even as his hair finally fell back down onto his shoulders and bangs along with his scarf, showing the deft speed that had been displayed to all viewers.

The Punisher did not move at all - and the Slayer knew why.

If it were under normal circumstances, Kukkyōna would've easily killed her with that move alone. However, it was that very instant in where their "half-god" persona came in. They were each protected with a special charm given to them courtesy of their mother. It was referred to as "Kami no Miryoku" - the gift that allowed them to defy death by anyone considered "lesser" than they were. He closed his eyes, turning his head away.

"Sorry, noble..."

WHACK!

When the sword connected with her, there was no damage received. Had she been an Arrancar, it would have been easy to assume that she had Hierro due to the effect. "But this just isn't the time to face us..." The Slayer finished, speaking mostly to himself but uncaring of who actually heard. "Mother didn't give us our power so we could get killed off so easily...."

In that instant, the Punisher spun herself around and sneered, grasping his blade with one hand. Her sinister smile and her anticipating eyes glared into the ones of Kukkyōna with bloodlust. With her free hand, she thrust her palm outwards in a blow aimed towards his stomach. It was a swift, short movement, and she stopped her palm inches from it. However....

VOOOM!

The man was hurled backwards as the force of her blow smashed into his body.

Kukkyōna grunted, wincing at the blow the Punisher forced him palm sent him hurtling into a pile of rubble, causing a uproar and explosion of debris and dust in its wake. Inwardly, he was surprised his Zanpakuto was halted so easily by the strength of her power alone, though as he began to analyze within his mind he realized it was more than that. As he rose from the rubble, slightly tattered but no worse for wear, Kukkyōna grabbed a hold of his right hip's Zanpakuto, realizing he'll have to unveil his power to her, seeing as mere swordsmanship won't cut it.

Hana gritted her teeth, already in mid-flight with her Flash Step upon seeing the Punisher retaliate so casually to the Captain, as her body became lit up with incredible white light and electric energy, throwing a fast-vicious punch with incredible power towards the Punisher's right jaw.

CRACK, BOOOM!

The sheer intensity of the power and energy that blasted from her fist sent a torrent of air pressure and energy taht collided with the buildings behind it for a good city block, thundering aloud with white light and electric crackling display.

But it just didn't work.

All her fist did was jerk the Punisher's head to the side. But she was quick to react. With her own immense speed, she grabbed the back of Hana's neck and thrust it downwards. She slammed her enemy's body into the ground with bone-shattering force, the pressure causing the very ground to collapse underneath them. With a loud crash, the very earth under their feet crumbled into a massive crater.

"This is what you get for defying your god..." She growled, switching her grasp. Cruelly, she grabbed the woman's hair and yanked her up. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Gak!" Hana cried out, despite her own incredible resilience the speed and power that the Punisher responded with took her off guard, and her body ached from the force she used to crush her into the ground. Knowing any normal Spiritual Power wouldn't work on this type of foe, Hana grinned with a small trickle of blood leaking from her gums even as she was painfully yanked up to face her her demon, allowing her to respond curtly.

"Well, Princess BITCH, I can tell you who I am gladly," her eyes suddenly glowed orange, then red, as her whole body became encompassed with a red aura, a foreign and unfamiliar spiritual power older than time itself became alight, roaring and shaking the ground and air around them, bringing a sense of deja vu for both Hankami, more ot the Slayer than the Punisher, "I am Hana Yūgure, and I don't take kindly to genocide or the mistreatment on my person!"

WHAM, CRACK!

Within the moment she spoke and the display of her power, she fluidly brought both of her hands into fists slamming them into both sides of Sakura's temples with enough pressurized force that it shook the cityscape for a good distance, before she grabbed a hold of her ears and hair, and bringing her forehead to slaminto Sakura's with equal force, intending on finally pushing the Punisher back.

It was here that the woman began to realize that maybe this wouldn't be something of annoyance.

The latter blow struck her face full-force, the impact forcing her to skid back. Her hand and a leg dug into the ground, and she ended up stopping herself in a crouched position. Her eyebrows were slanted downwards, and an anticipating smirk on her face. Although no damage had been done, the power put into Hana's attack was registered.

"I think I can have some fun with this, after all..." She thought to herself, allowing herself to stand back up.

Hana rolled her neck, side to side, a row of audible snaps and cracks could be heard as Hana reached for the two black swords sheathed on her back, her body continually perspirated and emanated her vast untapped power. Her eyes glared hotly at Sakura even as she slowly unsheathed her black swords, growling lowly, "I'm going to wipe that damned smirk off your face, Hankami!"

Though, a slight masculine undertone could heard while Hana had Sakura's attention as a steady rise of Spiritual Pressure could be felt where Kukkyōna was, as his voice announced his intentions, "Sear the open Air with your Malevolent Gaze, Burn the Earth in your Wrathful Dance, Steam the Ocean in a Vile Game, Laugh in the Ashes of your Own Flames..."

Then with a violent blast of fire that screamed out like a phoenix and roared afterwards, blazing the room in its hot heat even as Kukkyōna stood a few meters away from his opponent, holding both of his Zanpakuto out with fiery wings emanated near the guards of his swords while a fissure of flames spouted from the blades themselves, "Yaketsuku Tsuinzu!"

"The noble's back on his feet, eh...?"

Licking her lips, the Punisher decided that it was time to draw her own sword.

She grabbed the hilt and swung towards the blast, the force of the swung effectively stopping the flames from hitting her. "Even now, you don't even get half of what's going on, do you?" She taunted, the flaming winds billowing her clothing and hair. "You keep saying that all this will do for humanity is kill them all. You say that this is nothing more than a case of mass genocide. You think that billions will only suffer in the end."

She stabbed her sword into the ground.

"Your fear speaks to me more than any of your actions or words ever can!!"

With that statement, massive fire pillars with the width of the average building erupted underneath both Hana's and Kukkyōna's feet. Their potency would be enough to incinerate them both to ash within seconds.

Kukkyōna once again moved at once, seeing the Punisher stab her katana into the ground already motioned his instincts that had started to become attuned to the Punisher's fighting style. His body shimmered out of view within moments of the heated geyser of flames the Punisher discharged up from the ground, sending another pyre of flames into the sky alongside the one by Hana's location.

Though, to be fair, she wasn't standing there for too long...

WHIIIIIZ, SWING-SWING!

Moving at such speeds it was nigh impossible for anyone to catch sight of her as Hana vaulted zoomed over Sakura as she slashed both sides of her chest past her shoulders before appearing a few meters behind the Hankami. When she flicked her swords to either side, a magnanomious energy lit up along the cuts where Hana struck Sakura before a bright silver lit explosion emanated on point blank with Sakura, appearing as a fiery fissure shooting straight into the air and into the ground, the affects of Reason's power brought onto Sakura with relentless tenacity.

"Makes you wonder why the hell you aren't a Captain...."

The Punisher's snide tone came out from the flames as she walked out of the destruction in a calm and composed manner. She was still sneering at Hana, her sword held out to her side in a readying pose. "Then again, you all are oh so stupid and blind..." She added, as an afterthought. Of course, such speed wasn't blinding to the likes of her or her brother, who was still watching with analyzing eyes. She just didn't have the motivation to allow herself to move, especially considering that her enemy's weapons were made of Reason. Hopefully, they would figure out what was up soon.

To her, they were making themselves look foolish.

"Hōden Moeru!"

Kukkyōna reappeared not to far away as he unleahed a high pressurized geyser of flames towards Sakura, aiming to drive her into the rubble that used to be the wall, his eyes cool and composed even as he spoke, "We fight because we must. I know you Hankami have no sense of self preservation considering you have a shield of "immortality" around you, but I'd rather fight to preserve my own and the lives of countless billions than stay quiet and bleed slowly. We're nothing like-"

The Countdown to Oblivion, The Strength of Resolve

His speech was interrupted when suddenly Daisuke's Spiritual Pressure was felt all around, crackling and burning throughout the air, as waves of heated air flew throughout the town, even as far as they were, on the other side where Daisuke had activated his Bankai. Hana herself looked over into the sky to see a screaming rocket sounding embodied figure lunge towards the cross not too far off, before unleashing a blast of flames upon it.

"Daisuke?!" Hana immediately yelled out, wondering why the young Lieutenant had suddenly began attacking one of the obelisks far off into the horizon.

This caused the Punisher's and Slayer's eyes to widen considerably in that direction.

Immediately, the Slayer vanished and re-appeared beside his sister, his arms still folded across his chest. "It seems he's trying to destroy your creations, sis..." He commented coolly, tilting his head to the side. "Wonder what how he's going to react when it's not going to work, huh?" A smirk crossed his face, and he turned to look over at the Punisher.

However, his expression changed into one of surprise when he saw her own.

"Senkuko....?"

The girl's red hair was overshadowing her eyes, and her closed mouth was quivering visibly. It was here that Kukkyōna's words hit her once more. He had said that Daisuke was trying to save not only the corrupt society, but also the Hankami. She raised her free hand to her heart slowly, gritting her teeth slightly as the spiritual pressure washed over her.

The headband.

The way he spoke to her.

The way he treated her like a human being.

She was a demon, a monster, and a sick freak. Everyone knew that, and everyone despised her for it. That was the way it should've been from the beginning. But Daisuke always saw her as something else, willing to ignore her monstrous personality if it meant breaking through to her. The pain in her heart grew, tearing at her insides and threatening to break her.

She gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, remaining silent to her brother's questioning word.

As Hana and Kukkyōna both looked onward as their battle halted momentarily to see Daisuke's attacks brighten from the horizon. But then, without warning the flames suddenly disappeared from view and it was momentarily quiet. "Its not working," Hana stated as more a fact than a question, knowing that if the Hankami could repel powerful attacks with no sign of injury, who was it to say that they couldn't make their "creations" equally as resilient.

But then the Spiritual Pressure began rising even higher, as small flickering flashes of where Daisuke attacked the tower all over, even still producing no affect, his power still lingered like a boiling sun ready to set something aflame.

"Does my son frighten you, Punisher?" Kukkyōna suddenly asked curiously, as he lowered his flaming blades towards the ground, his cool unwavering orbs pierced towards her direction, "I'm not referring to his power nor his resilience. But his ability to see past the things which blind most if not every other being and then strive to protect it...to save it...to cherish it. Its something not even I as a boy had, and seeing him now, fighting to protect us all," Kukkyōna bowed his head trailing off, not bothering to finish as a mighty gathering of heated winds blew by, sparking and setting small fires all around as a growing light began to glimmer in the distance.

Then, within the wind itself, a mighty familiar yell could be heard, "Jigoku Hashira!!!!!" before a giant encompassing pyrotechnic napalm explosion wrapped itself around the obelisk, bearing down and attempting to purge the tower of its evil energies.

"Shut up..."

At Kukkyōna's words, the Punisher gritted her teeth in fury, and her head lowered. "Don't even try to act like you can read me...." She growled, turning her head over and fixing him with her crimson, cold glare. "Your son is nothing but a fool, a puppet for your use." She growled. "You Shinigami truly believe that the only way to live in this world is by a government controlling everything. You speak all of this shit to me about, pride, honor, and whatnot. But what's all of that worth if all you do is kill each other?! What is it worth when this very society is eating itself to death?! Can you tell me that, you pretentious fuck?!!"

"Sis..." The Slayer himself was shocked by the Punisher's sudden display of anger, stepping back from her a bit out of nervousness.

"He acts as he wills, not as I instruct him as much as I would like," Kukkyōna spoke, unphased by her abrupt retort and flare of emotions, as Daisuke's Bankai fell silent and the hot winds ceased to flow through, even as slight hissing could be heard from flames of both Daisuke's and Kukkyōna's earlier fire techniques, "nothing is perfect in this world or the next, Punisher. Us Soul Reapers protect those within our Society from those who've fallen into that of a primal path or those who would rather destroy us with anarchy.

However, even this is not perfect. But your alternative, is to strip away all freedom, thought, and hope and plunge them forcefully into a world you only assume is perfect because you say it will be. Now tell me, Hankami, which one is more preferable? Living in a world with potential, hopes, and honor-bound people alongside those with degradation, lies, and murder, or strip every single being and punish them all, and forcefully turn everything into a paradise?"

As the question hung in the air, Hana spoke more thoughtfully, "Wow...your guys' plan is almost the same as Harbinger's. Punish every f'ing being in the universe and then reestablish a new "better" world. I almost think I would've preferred being annihilated by a honest, delusional fool then a ragtag bunch of self-decieved idiot half gods who say, "this is for your own good,"...HA! F'ing hilairious this is!"

"Punishment?"

The Punisher's lip curled, and she spun around to face the two. Hana's provocative words certainly weren't helping to restrain her from attacking them once again. "You really think that this is just punishment? Nothing more than a hanging of all lives in existence, huh?" She said, her sword twisting with a threatening click. "You think this is just all assumptions and we're pulling this out of our ass? Then you know nothing about us. You're blind and ignorant, the animals who are caught in a bear trap and bite the hand of those that try to help them. If you're expecting punishment, then that's exactly what I'll--"

"That's enough, sis..."

"You've got to be kidding me, Slayer!!" The Punisher immediately rounded on her brother, pointing her sword at the two for emphasis. "Are you even listening to this?!!"

"Yeah..." The Slayer said bluntly. "But it's not like it makes much of a difference. They can fight, laugh, bitch and moan, and call us as much names as much as they want to. But it's already too late for them." He shifted his eyes towards them, holding his casual gaze. "So you can find out for yourselves if we're talking out of our asses or not. It's really that simple."

"We can do just that," answered a newcomer voice that appeared within a few footsteps, a long brownhaired man with Soul Reaper Haori of the 5th Division and white gloves came forth, having a calm and casual look upon his face as his hand rested on the pommel of his elaborate Zanpakuto, "or you can just forget this whole "Paradise" bit and go back to Hell where you belong...or was it just the Punisher who belonged there? I forget..."

"Captain Aizen," Kukkyōna sighed, looking at him with slight relief yet annoyance of his interruption, "I assume you brought him with you as well?"

"Of course," Ryouken said with a flash of white teeth as his Lieutenant, Senshi came out of his shadows with a eery pair of red eyes as they flashed towards the Hankami and the others equally disdainful, "I can't exactly tell him to sit out of a fight when he hasn't done much in the first place..."

"Honestly," Kukkyōna turned his head away from his Ryouken's gaze while smiling subtly, "you really can be a pain even now, Ryouken..."

Meanwhile a series of other Flash Steps initiated the arrival of Braeburn and Yōki's group, the ragtag bunch had tatters and rips, but most of their wounds and spiritual pressure have been rejuvinated for the upcoming conflict. Takashi gripped his sword in excitement, Rokotsu smiled widely as she hefted her large axe Zanpakuto Shikai, and Yoki looked concerned at the rest of the group.

"Oh, god damn it--"

Both Hankami turned to face the new arrivals with various expressions of shock and disdain, saying the same line simultaneously. The Punisher, out of instinct and reflex, looked over at the stern face of Braeburn and found him looking at her in particular. However, despite its clear anger, his expression seemed more pondering than anything hostile. He had his hands within his pockets, not making an immediate move to draw his sword. Perhaps it was because he was the only one who had a strong belief in Red Sun? Or was it because he too was thinking of the bond Kukkyōna was talking about?

However, she didn't have long to think about it.

"And here comes the cavalry." The Slayer snapped, irritation in his voice. He looked over at the Punisher, who chose to sat herself down Indian-style, and motioned towards them. "I really hope you knew that they were coming when you pulled that little nuke, and I bet there are more of 'em on the way! Real nice goin'!"

"Oh, piss off!" The Punisher shot back, shooting him a comically angry glare.

"Looks like a really big mess now," Yōki said to Braeburn with a reluctant sigh, tensing as she held her Zanpakuto's hilt as she knew the upcoming battle between them would be all or nothing, "wish I could've seen you in that cute suit again one last time..."

"What did I tell you about talking like that?" Braeburn abruptly turned his gaze towards the woman with a twitching and annoyed eye. "Don't make me kick your ass again..."

"I wanna fight that guy!" Rokotsu said like a giddy child, pointing at the Slayer who's sword easily matched and even outstretched in length by a few more inches and gait to Rokotsu's axe.

"He's a Child of Izanami and you want to take him alone? With that shitty shikai?" Takashi asked in a incredulous retort.

"Better than yours that was easily swiped away by that ugly hooded dude!" Rokotsu flashed a mocking smile.

"Why you-?!" And with that, the two began verbally sparring with each other in a typically comical manner as the rest of the people kept going on as nothing happened.

"God damn it, you guys!!" Off to the sidelines, Braeburn was now ranting angrily as he watched his two comrades spit off comical insults at one another. "Stop making Yōki and me look bad!!"

Ryouken slowly walked over around the two Hankami before standing next to Kukkyōna, "So, Kukkyōna-san? How powerful are they proving?"

"So far, the Punisher alone took a sword thrust to the back as if it was nothing...add that to the Shunko right hook which she took in stride, then a number of Philosophy strengthened physical strikes along with a Reason-based attack, she has yet to show any signs of injury," Kukkyōna said in a deadpan, nonchalant tone.

"So...what you're really saying is that we probably have no chance of killing any of them?" Ryouken asked incredulously, but retained a calm disposition despite their predicament.

"Its not that bad...yet," Kukkyōna said in a more jocular, frank tone which he cracked a slight smile, ushering a chuckle from Ryouken.

"They're just standing there," Senshi voiced aloud, something he rarely does without reason, his red eyes taking in both the Slayer and Punisher's current stances, "its as if we're ants to them...annoyances without any real threat to themselves."

"Its because their Eruption is nearing completion," said another arriving voice, as tower clogs clicked and clacked against the cobblestone street past a lot of rubble towards Senshi and the others, Taiyō Ikidōri herself looking quite displeased and angry, "all they have to do is sit back and put up with us for another few minutes or so...isn't that right, Hankami?"

"Got that right, Titzilla..." The Punisher said, snickering. "You can piss and moan all you want to. But it's coming, so you're better off keeping your mouth open." She stretched her legs out in front of her, shifting one over the other while keeping herself propped up with her hands.

"Maybe you can use those few minutes to... I don't know... do whatever it is you Captains do out of boredom?" The Slayer suggested half-heartedly, using one of his pinky fingers to scratch his eardrums. He allowed himself to sit down right beside his sister, his legs crossed Indian-style.

"At least I have some, red headed snot boy!" Taiyō jeered back, crossing her arms underneath her bust before narrowing her eyes at the two male Captains who now have gone silent as she had returned, "what are you two planning?!"

"Nothing-"

"-Whatsoever," both Captains responded with Ryouken answering last and Kukkyōna first, making her forehead vein pulse with comical rage.

"I know you two did something or are about to do something, so spit it out-!"

"Captain Hayate goaded the Hankami to fight," Hana said in a matter of fact tone, causing Taiyō to preform a incredible double leg kick towards the two elder Captains. The two comically dodged and began scurrying around the rubble, kicking up a cloud of smoke while they fought, "and here I thought you were Captains...," Hana responded with a sweat drop and rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, another arrival came landing next to the Hankami, in front of them more likely was the form of a black cloaked Kaien Shiba, with Daisuke's struggling form over his shoulder, "You," Kaien said with a commanding, yet irritated tone as he pointed at the Punisher, before slamming Daisuke's body ontop of Punisher's, "you keep him! I'm done trying to keep him sedated!"

"Wha--"

WHUMPF!

The Punisher's snappish comment was interrupted by the fact that Kaien - one of the enemies - had non-chalantly deposited one of his own allies into her lap.

"OOF!" She let out a grunt as he was slammed on her legs, her expression changing into comical confusion. "Wait a minute, why the hell are you giving me one of your pals?!" She demanded, not yet seeing who it was. "For all you know, I might as well could be thinking of making a shish-kebab out of his throat--"

Then, she saw a part of his face... and she froze up instantly. Her words had been forced down her throat when she saw him, a bead of sweat dripping down her face. Her pupils dilated, and her open mouth quivering once more. For some reason, and despite the fact she could've just punted him off rather easily, her legs felt so stiff and immobile while her "cargo" was touching them.

Maybe it just wasn't out of comical element, after all...

"Tch tch tch!" Daisuke winced as he rubbed his forehead, his eyes closed tightly before opening them widely, seeing Sakura's eyes wide and dialated, her mouth quivered and sweat began to pour down her browline. Somehow, this moment wasn't just the same as the moment he shielded Sakura from Braeburn's enraged attack. This moment...was fear of him just being near her.

"Sakura...," he said breathily, as he himself began to feel slightly nervous under such a intense gaze, not moving a muscle as he remained in the awkward, yet cold stiff posture he was on as he began to try to speak, "I...what's going on-?"

Then suddenly, a violent thrum crackled over the wide green shield that hung over the city, as the tower where Hando was specifically set began crackling in a bright array of Spiritual Power, shaking the very atmosphere in a way that scared even Hana as well as alerted the others as the barrier itself began to thrum and then flash out of sight, a number of pylons exploded in a number of areas around the city, one nearby exploded brilliantly, leaving several Kido members leaping for cover.

Within a thundercrack, the Kido Captain leaped from the tower precipice to the midst of the Soul Reapers and the Hankami, his form bent low before slowly rising up. His uniform was near the antithesis of the Gotei 13's, as he had a colorful cape and black-blue uniform shirt and pants, with a pair of thigh high black boots and a pair of yellow gloves, with the arced high collared cloak flourishing around him in the pure display of the low green aura of his Spiritual Pressure cracking the earth around him as he eyed the Hankami.

"Murderous heathens slaughtered people to usher your "perfect" utopia?! Sacriledge!" Hando spat out as a arc of his Spiritual Power grazed the outline near the Slayer threateningly, not even moving in a attack or aggressive stance other than yell straight to them pointing a finger at Sakura, "if your Utopia demands blood, then it is no paradise! Only a Hell befitting those who worshipped you!"

A arc of blue energy gathered on his finger tip as he primed it to hit Sakura right towards her forehead as Daisuke was currently bent out of the way when he stumbled off to see who had came. Now, as he saw that Hando really intended to attack Sakura, despite how effective it may or may not be, Daisuke's eyes widened and felt his hearbeat strike his eardrums. With gritting teeth, he leaped in between Hando, now facing his superior and comrade with a defiant glare, as he stretched his arms to either side to place himself as a perfect human shield before him.

"NO!" Daisuke shouted vehemently and angrily, not out of hatred towards him but of the action he was clearly about to commit, "Don't touch her! No one touch her! She doesn't need anymore pain! None of us do!"

"He's....protecting me....?!"

Despite the fact that it was a pointless gesture, the Punisher could only widen her dilated her eyes in shock as Daisuke stepped in front of her in order to shield her from his own superior's attack. Her heart was racing viciously in her chest, and sweat started to become more and more visible on the showable parts of her skin. "No...god damn you, stop it... let him shoot me... why can't you see that I'm the enemy here?!"

She still had her hand on the sword, her palm gripping it to the point where it seemed like it would break. Her hair was overshadowing her eyes as he stood up, her teeth gritting once more. She had the chance to strike him down, to end it here and allow herself to completely forget about him. But his words had stopped her from raising her weapon even an inch. He had spoke the words that had been her very thoughts. She didn't want more pain inflicted on these misunderstanding beings, even if they were acting like fools. She was doing this for their own good, to save them from themselves. Why did they not accept it?

Did Daisuke really understand her that much?

Right beside her, the Slayer could only stare in awe at the scene in front of him. Never before had he saw his own sister, as tough and ruthless as she was, slowly start to break in the presence of a lowly Shinigami. What had happened in the short time that they had been together? He could only think about it, closing his eyes and calmly turning away.

"This is why I told you to stay away from the humans, Senkoku. I did warn you, after all..."

That's when everyone's eyes turned to Daisuke and the Kido Captain. The fury and anger emanating from the Captain Hando was nearly dissipated entirely when he saw the compassionate and determined stare from the young Lieutenant, as he used his own body to shield the Hankami. Despite all his rage and fury that wanted to wipe the ones at the root cause of it all, Daisuke's words penetrated his heart and his resolve could not be stronger than it was now.

"Li-Lieutenant...?" Captain Hando began, his finger cancelled the attempted Kido as Daisuke refused to move and kept his angry, determined glare at his superior.

"Despite...all this that might destroy us, she has no evil intentions towards us! She just wants to make the world right and pure again," Daisuke said fervently, not looking back at her but keeping his arms outstretched and his body near her to keep her safe, "all you see is a monster, a master of Hell and instigator of torture and pain. While she is responsible for heartache and agony of those I care about, she feels pain one hundred fold our own and has lived it that much longer than any of us! So please, Captain, all of you," he bowed his head, saying in a desperate cry, "everyone stop fighting!!!!"

After his words came about, there was a faint gust of wind that cascaded the battle scarred ruins, as everyone fell silent. Some hung their heads, some looked on in awe or increduality. Hando himself let his hand drop and his own eyes closed, sighing heavily as the rest of the Captains had no inclination in halting anything.

"Unbelievable..."

The Slayer himself could only look in astonishment as he saw Daisuke's words seemingly stop any further hostility one could've taken against the Hankami. Slowly, he allowed himself to stand up, watching as even the vicious Kidō Captain stopped his own advance. A mere Lieutenant had stood up against the might of the Gotei 13 with only words alone and won. One could've taken the ruthless choice of punishing him for treason, for protecting the enemy. Yet none of them were taking that approach. Surely, Daisuke could've never held that power over them...

"You..."

The Punisher allowed herself to speak up, her voice shaking. Her red hair was still overshadowing her eyes. Her body was shaking slightly.

"You truly are a fool."

WOOSH!

With a speed that would've made Hana cry, she had placed her blade to Daisuke's back, the cutting edge gently pressing against him. If he so much as moved an inch, then she would cut him in two. Her crimson eyes were narrowed into slits, and her body aura exhibited nothing but venom and killing intent. "I am sick and tired of you trying to understand me..." She whispered vehemently. "You really think that underneath this hardened exterior, there's something to be salvaged? That the pain I've went through actually hurts me?"

Her pupils dilated once more.

But this time, they held a maniacal gleam to them, and her smile mirrored that.

"This is who I really am. I don't want to be saved by the likes of you, Shinigami. Don't you get that? This is my choice, my decision. There's nothing you can save from that."

"Sakura," Daisuke turned his head slowly, lowering his arms non-threateningly and slowly in sync with his head as he looked over to her face, a intact tear-stained and calm smile was shown towards her as he sideglanced her, given the current position she put him in that was all he could do, "its over. You don't need to suffer anymore..."

VROOOOOOOM!

With that said, the last obelisk began to rise out of the ground on the border limits of the city, rising with a thunderous sound before a low pulse was sent throughout the cityscape ground to each and all of the obelisks. Slowly, each of them began to thrum with the same sound as they did when they were errected. Loud horn-like blasts continued to get louder and quicker. The Eruption's countdown was drawing to a close...!

This brought the Punisher's and Slayer's attention towards the sky.

The Punisher immediately disregarded Daisuke and jerk away from him, pulling her sword away and grinning in anticipation. "This is it...!" She whispered, barely hiding her excitement as she felt the immense power wash over all of them. "This is where it begins!!" She promptly sheathed her sword, resting a hand on her hip. All they had to do now was wait until the final--

"I'm sorry, brother and sister..."

The voice of the Melody, seemingly out of thin air, had spoken, his voice coming from the roaring sky itself. This jolted the Slayer and the Punisher into surprise and shock right away. "M-Melody...?!" The male Hankami stated, completely dumbfounded.

"I've...heard that voice before!" Daisuke uttered out in bewilderment, as he heard the thrumming overpowered by the voice of a child, someone that had a completely different feeling than Sakura or the Slayer or even the Monitor.

"Am I dead yet?" Rokotsu asked aloud, almost irritably but also confused, whom only earned her comrades united sighs at her dumbfoundedness.

Kukkyōna narrowed his eyes as he looked upwards into the sky, remembering this voice vaguely as well as the figure and child-like half-deity of the Hankami. The Melody. "What is he planning?"

"Is he doing something that's against their plans?" Ryouken pondered aloud, as he too looked up to the sky that was currently roaring, but the voice was nonetheless overpowering the audible pulses of the obelisks.

"Shinigami..."

The Melody's voice directed its attention to them. "I had always assumed that you would fight until the bitter end for your beliefs. But, because of your comrades' words, you have allowed yourself to step down from the attempted killing of my brethren. It shows me that, despite your faults, there is still hope for your kind as well as humanity's. Therefore.... I will give you one last chance. The Plinian Eruption will destroy this land... but you will survive to fight on. If you are able to kill us, as well as destroy the link that has summoned us here... then the damage will be reversed, and everything will return to the way it once was."

"You...!!!" The Punisher was seething with rage, her body shaking and a feral snarl on her face. "You FUCKING TRAITOR!!!"

"I'm sorry, sis..." The Melody's words were filled with regret as he spoke. "But this is something that we have no right to decide. The world will eventually fall to Nirvana... but it will do so in a manner that is not the destructive solution that the link has summoned here. I can't let any more souls suffer..."

Nearly everyone present had saucer wide eyes at hearing this. Well...everyone except Kukkyōna, as he simply looked onwards to the other Hankami. The fact that a Hankami was acting against the will of the other Hankami, showed that they really did have a chance at fighting. And Kukkyōna thought that if they pooled all of their power together, they might've been able to destroy them...how foolish that would've been if not for his son's intervention.

"Daisuke's doing the Hayate Family proud. If only...his brothers and mother could see him," Kukkyōna said with a soft smile before resuming his stoic, unwavering gaze back into the sky.

"So...I'm not going to die?" Rokotsu asked comically with a 'o' on her mouth, causing all of her comrades nearby to drop down into irregular stances, disbelieving the dumbfoundedness in Rokotsu's words.

"Why...," Daisuke, after hearing the words reverberate his being, he then shouted out to the heavens where he assumed Melody's voice was residing, "why do we have to kill you?! Why can't the Hankami live?!"

"....maybe killing isn't the right word here...." After a moment of silence, the Melody's voice spoke out again with a bit of hesitation. "Because of our half-god status, we are unable to die. However, we can be struck down by blows that would kill anyone else in the event of something such as this. Once we are, it will be one step closer to reverting your world. Please do not be concerned for our safety."

"You really want to betray us?" The Slayer suddenly asked, narrowing his eyes and frowning. "To betray Mother? What do you think she would say if she saw what you were doing?"

"Oh, she won't have to see anything..." The Punisher seethed, one of her hands grasping the hilt of her sword. "Aside from his body skewered on my sword. Melody, do you hear me right now?! The second this is done, I'm coming straight for you!!"

"...very well. I'll be waiting... if you are able to show up...."

"Hold it!" Hana shouted out to shut everyone up as the loud thrumming began to hit its peak to near simultaneous beats of a drum, almost reminiscent of a heart attack for a series of mountains, "its here-"

Dance into Twilight, the Apocalyptic Showdown

VROOOOO-CRACK-BOOOOOOOOOM!

Within the glowing, crimson lit obelisks, a unified ring of light connected the crude grotesque towers together before creating the most incredibly blazing light...nearly taking everyone by surprise by its most destructive power as it rocked the city to oblivion within a instant...then carried on towards the horizon, blackening the surface of the once beautiful horizon while scorching the sky, turning its luminiscent blue sky to a blood red tint.

"....What...the...Hell?!" Hana stuttered as she tried to move around, still dazed by the brilliant light that consumed them, yet felt no pain. Well...almost no pain, discounting the fact she was shoved right onto her butt...which somehow met Braeburn's face.

Daisuke on the other hand was partially submerged in ash. At first, he thought he was sent to his Inner World due to some freak accident or that he was nearing death. However, as he heard the collective growns and the chilling overwhelming feeling that covered the entire land, he knew this was no nightmare. He spat and hacked as he raised himself out of the ash, looking around with a grim expression to see the once lively, colorful city reduced to nothing....within a instant. "Wow..."

"....your attempts to seduce me will not work, even in this particular environment, miss Hana."

Braeburn simply lay on his back, not bothering to move at all. His head was turned to the side, his jaw being "crushed" by one of her cheeks. However, his tone was casually sarcastic, and his expression showed comical indifference. The reason he did not move immediately was because that would involve pushing Hana off... which meant touching her.

And that was a big no-no.

"Oh!" Hana immediately sat up and turned around, holding a hand up to her mouth as she said out loud, "I'm so sorry! Are you alright Brae-san?!"

"Yeah..."

Calmly, Braeburn sat himself up and cocked his neck to the side. He narrowed his eyes, gaining a serious expression quickly as he examined the environment around them. "Well... as fine as I could be... when we're in a setting like this..." He bent one of his legs, resting his arm on it as he surveyed the environment around them. Such a visage brought a chill to his nerves, despite the moderate heat he could feel in the air. This truly was an apocalyptic world, the so-called "Paradise" that the Hankami were talking about.

And speaking of which...

"Nnnngh...!!!"

His attention shifted to the two Hankami that they had surrounded before - and his expression shifted to shock.

Both of them were expressing signs of severe weakness, their bodies shaking viciously and their mouths emitting groans and grunts of pain. The Slayer had fallen to his knees and one hand, his other hand covering his sweaty face. The Punisher, as mighty as she had stood, had been reduced to a shivering woman who had to rely on her sword as a crutch to keep from falling to the ground.

"G....god....damnit...." The Punisher hissed, her voice as shaky as her body. "W-what the hell did you do to us...?!"

"Your power has been lessened so that your enemies have a chance of slaying you. You still possess considerable power, but it will not be as if you can do away with them with a wave of your hand. You two, as well as the Monitor, have been selected as the three targets that will ensure their victory if they are killed. Once that happens, the place where the link is located will be revealed to all."

Hana hearing this made her grin in a almost dark, predatorial way as she cracked her knuckles, walking towards the crutching Sakura, saying, "Yo, Princess," with a sudden blur of movement, Hana reappeared beside Sakura, moving her fist into her cheek with prejudiced force, shouting, "BITCH slap!"

Kukkyona looked over to the Slayer, and began walking over purposely towards him, the flames on his Zanpakuto reigniting, as his eyes stoically and dispassionately looked him over, "If you are prepared, Slayer, we shall do battle now. I'd prefer if no one interfers," he looked over knowingly at Ryouken as well as the other disoriented group of Soul Reapers.

Ryouken shrugged, crossing his arms while saying, "Be my guest! But just to let you know, if he starts to kick your ass, I'm coming to pull your ass out of your own fire!"

"Not a problem," Kukkyona said dispassionately as he resumed his gaze at the Slayer and raised his Zanpakuto up in a dual sword stance, scratching the blades across each other to let a shower of sparks fly around him, "Come, Hankami. I'm eager to see how well we fare in our battle towards each other."

POW!

The force of the blow sent the Punisher flying with immense speed. She shut her eyes, gritting her teeth as she was knocked off her feet. However, this wasn't enough to disorient her further. With a forceful backflip, she was able to regain her footing and land back on her feet. With her sword in both hands, she leveled a cold glare towards her enemy. However, there was a smile on her face. Because of the earlier blows they had exchanged, she could safely say that this particular Shinigami could easily handle herself one-on-one. It was certainly going to be a fun fight ahead of her.

Slowly, the Slayer stopped his own shivering and resumed his casually indifferent demeanor. "You're shitting me, right...?" He asked bluntly, clearly not impressed by Kukkyōna's words. "Just because I've lost a little bit of power means you can automatically face me yourself? You got quite a pair on you, pal." Slowly, he stood up, unsheathing his massive blade from his back holster and stabbing it into the ground. One hand held the hilt and the other rested at his side. "But I suppose I can humor you until you've knocked yourself some sense."

"We shall see," Kukkyōna spoke evenly, shifting his feet a few inches to the left, and a few inches forward. Within a howling blow of wind that flowed across the ghastly apocalyptic land, Kukkyōna's eyes narrowed into a hawk-eyed stare at the Slayer.

He carefully regarded the Slayer's power beforehand, as he had witnessed even momentarily the city wide fissures of energy he threw at the Hanta as well as his incredible strength that he was able to hold his own relatively well against Harbinger, and then there was his incredible strength. Taking that all into account, even with his immortality taken away, it would be difficult to take on such a skilled opponent.

That's when Kukkyōna began planning out his strategy as he launched himself at him. Within a blinding blur, Kukkyōna appeared in front of the Slayer, slashing out a horizontal slash with his left hand's blade while uttering,"Shindāāku!" discharging a intense, condensed flow of flames that had tremendous cutting and burning power, intending on severing his head. While throwing the incredibly flashy flame strike at his face, Kukkyōna stabbed forward with his right Zanpakuto, intending on stabbing into his abdomen swiftly while burying his burning blade into his body.

Hana grinned sadistically as she began to envelop herself in her own Spiritual Power, saying, "I'm going to enjoy this-"

"Wait!" Daisuke called out, appearing via Flash Step between, and before both of them, as there was a considerable expanse between the two due to Hana's prior attack.

Hana let down her aura of Spiritual Energy, growling with an annoyed tone, asking in a presumptious statement, "Look, Dai-teme, but you can't keep protecting-!"

"I'll fight her," he said with a unshakeable resolve, as his hand was already unsheathing his Zanpakuto, his overcoat flourished around his body with his hair as he dramatically stood still between the two. His hazel eyes stared blazingly at Sakura, but there was no hatred nor fear within them. They were of a deadset mind to complete his goal, of what he set out to do and what he meant to do from the beginning, "I have to see this through. Please understand," he said with a sideglance, showing his resolved gaze to her, keeping Hana from arguing further.

"Tch, fine!" Hana turned around in a huff, shouting back at him, "don't expect me to catch you when she kicks your ass!" With that said, she vanished with a Flash Step, leaving the known battlefield between Daisuke and Sakura.

Daisuke took in a deep breath, before he resumed his gaze back at Sakura, settling into a fighting stance, not once letting his gaze move otherwise.

On the Slayer's side, everything seemed fine.

With a pull of the hilt, he yanked the blade out of the ground and spun it around in a horizontal circle using only one hand. The move generated continuous winds, and the blade itself was slicing into the ground almost effortlessly. In doing this, he ended up parrying both strikes made to his person, using his immense physical strength to knock his opponent off balance. Then, while grasping the hilt of his sword, he unleashed two vertical swipes at Kukkyōna. Despite the humongous size of his sword, his strikes demonstrated immense speed as well as power.

On the Punisher's side, however...

Her eyes immediately widened in surprise at Daisuke's sudden intervention, and she faltered in her stance right away. Her sword was lowered to her side, and her teeth gritted slightly as she watched him ready himself against her. She took a step back, fully aware of the situation she was in. Because of the Melody's treacherous actions, she had no way of being physically invincible to her enemy. From what she had seen in the battle with the Harbinger, he could even manipulate the very flames of Hell - her signature move. It was the perfect counter to her powers, and in that sense, they would have been considered even.

But what he held over her was psychological.

He was the first one to reach out to her, to try and grasp her heart in his hands. His motions of sensitivity, empathy, and kindness were torture to her. It was like an infant's first reaction to pain. She didn't understand it, it stirred up emotions within her that she wasn't used to, and it scared her to no end. Even now, as he stared into her eyes, there was no anger or a resolve to kill. There was only the desire to save, to protect. Even now, he was trying to understand her.

Her lips curled in a vicious snarl, her wavering eyes narrowing dangerously once again. However, her body was shaking with anger and fear. He was causing her to become weaker and weaker by the second! He was breaking her down little by little! If she didn't kill him now, then he would break her completely. She had to destroy him, no matter how much she didn't want to face him. She had to face him down and remain defiant to the very end.

She couldn't let this man change her.

Not now.

"Blaze Eternally," Daisuke broke the silence by speaking first, releasing the seal upon his Zanpakuto's true form as his long 6 foot Dai-katana blazed furiously before two blade protrusions broke out on either end of the double bladed weapon, his eyes stared unwaveringly at Sakura before her, "Kyoi Abata." With a sudden step, his body moved, and as it did, it moved faster than what he simply sparred her not more than a day ago. He reappeared before her, slashing his blade towards her chest in a vicious sweep, as a large gale of fire erupted forth, causing a mighty pyrotechnic explosion upon her area, "Kami Kizu Moyashi!"

Kukkyōna's eyes widened at seeing the sheer speed of the Slayer's rebuttal to his own rapid attacks. Knowing the sheer strength that the Slayer hung over him he had little choice but to-

SHING-SPLURCH!

Two vertical lines cut through Kukkyōna's body as a mighty splash of blood flowed freely within the air, a dumbfounded stare echoed through his eyes as the blade flowed through him...or it would have, if it hadn't been for the Haori coat that was left in three pieces in the wake of the Slayer's attack.

"Fushichō Yari!" Kukkyōna uttered unwavering and with haste, as his right blade aimed towards the Slayer's back as Kukkyōna's form had moved 5 meters behind the Slayer, giving him plenty of distance to keep away from a immediate counterattack as well as launch one of his fastest attacks upon him. Within a instant, a spear of condensed, high-sped flames discharged from Kukkyōna's right hand's sword, towards the Slayer's back, aiming to penetrate his body within a couple of seconds.

A grin crossed the Slayer's face.

With his own tremendously fast reflexes, he twisted and flipped his cleaver sword behind his back in order to block the attack. The flames collided with his sword, but despite the condensation of Kukkyōna's attack, the weapon did not suffer damage. But he was clearly impressed by the skill that the other man was displaying. He had dodged a point-blank attack from his sister and managed to evade his own strikes without hesitation or maybe even without difficulty. It was clear that he would have quite an opponent to deal with.

He stabbed his blade into the ground...

BOOM!

...and a pillar of energy, just wide enough to envelop Kukkyōna's body, shut up from underneath him.

"DAISUKE!!!!"

The Punisher's scream tore her throat, her rage being let out of her from her very voice alone. In response to the attack that her opponent made, she swung her own sword down on the flaming blade that was his own. The flames erupted all around her, and she could feel the heat singe her very skin. But she ignored it, as long as she didn't suffer any injuries. She pushed forward, gripping her sword hilt in both her hands and forcing another swing to throw him back. But she didn't hesitate in leaping after him in order to continue her assault on him.

While she leaped, she swung her sword again and unleashed a flaming arc projectile at his person. The flames were head-high and could easily consume his body.

"Useless," Kukkyōna spoke aloud so the Slayer could hear, having already moved the moment the Slayer stabbed his sword into the earth, he appeared in the air above him, "you and your sister show to have the same tendencies to overwhelm your opponents, regardless of the element of attack, from beneath. All I had to do was see a seemingly pointless gesture and translate it as a means to attack."

With a single move of his left arm pointing at the Slayer, a large extension of phoenix wings bloomed of fire screamed out from the blade while a phoenix head protruded from the edge of his Zanpakuto,

"Fushichō Ki!"

And then a violent scream was let out as a incredibly fast blazing phoenix avatar of fire flew towards the Slayer, before enrapturing it, and combusting violently. A pyrotechnic pillar of flames flew upwards, easily towering upwards right next to Kukkyōna's position as it had spanned a good 20 meters of area. His stoic eyes pierced through the blurring, monstrous flames, asking in a knowing voice, "Not done yet?"

As Daisuke's form flew from his own flames, something surprised himself. His eyes blinked slightly even as he flew out of the heated geyser he created just moments ago.

"Its not painful...?"

As Sakura's scream tore into his ears he felt the force throw him back, remembering she still had incredible strength of her own. As he was about to return the favor, she saw that he threw a flaming projectile at him. First thought that came into his mind at first was to DODGE it or BLOCK it, but as he felt that donning realization, his eyes calmed as the projectile drew nearer.

With a resolve burning within him as his body became covered within a fiery red aura of his own Spiritual Power that shook the air itself, he swung his sword into the projectile. At first collision with his Zanpakuto, it erupted, exploding wildly and flowed all around him. But as he had total calm and focus, the flames did not harm him as they heeded the command of its new master.

As he swung his Zanpakuto around, adding his own flames into it, it blazed hotly, turning into that of a blazing gold color as he uttered lowly words he did not speak before, "Jigoku Dangan!" (地獄弾丸 Jigoku Dangan ; Lit Translation, "Inferno Bullet,") The sphere moved at blinding speeds, as the golden flames screamed loudly and burst towards Sakura's form, exploding violently into miniature mushroom affect, the shockwave alone caused Daisuke's cloak to flourish around himself with his hair. His resolved face mirroring nearly that of his own father's, but for a different reason alone, as he asked aloud in a parallel simultaneous with his elder, "Not done yet?"

Both of the Hankami were enveloped in the respective flame attacks, their bodies hidden from view. It was so shocking to see the deities under such an inferno as they were. Of course, the Melody's intervention made it possible. But still, to see such powerful foes being fought off as they were was quite a sight to see.

However, it was not to last.

In the parallel statement that the Hayates gave to them, the Hankami answered with their own respective tones.

"Please."

VOOSH!

With a swing of their swords, they blew away the flames in order to reveal their respective forms. The Slayer was standing up, his sword off to the side and his eyes looking up at his opponent with amusement. The Punisher, however, was in a crouched position, and a look of hatred could be seen on her face as she glared daggers at her own enemy. Their moods were contrasting one another; while the Slayer seemed to be enjoying his fight, the Punisher wanted nothing more than to kill Daisuke quickly and be done with it.

Kukkyōna's gaze did not waver as he saw the Slayer throw off the flames, standing and looking to enjoy himself, "Normally I'd compliment your incredible Spiritual Power for being able to keep your body from being harmed from my Zanpakuto's flames. But as I see it, your Shinsei's energies seem to be far more powerful than the ordinary likes of Spiritual Energy," he then placed both of his Zanpakuto together, pointing them towards the Slayer, as a pair of wings grew on both sides of the respective Zanpakuto, heads of fiery birds on the edges as Kukkyōna was controlling them.

"I'll just have to strike at you until I see some satisfying damage done to you," Kukkyōna spoke without a air of arrogance but as a matter of factual need, before both of them discharged mightily towards the Slayer at intense speeds, intending on creating a much larger and hotter firebomb than before, "Sō Fushichō Misairu!"

Daisuke's eyes stared back as he saw her swing her blade, throwing off the flames that had consumed her body. Daisuke gripped his Zanpakuto's hilt tightly before propelling himself off the air, causing a a gust of wind in his wake as he flew down towards him, as he began a relentless assault of swings and thrusts at her, not wasting any energy and time in being distracted. The edge of his Zanpakuto bathed in flames from earlier swung hotly, humming and hissing through the air as it created a heated blur in the air from wherever it struck.

In response to Kukkyōna's attack, the Slayer raised his free hand up towards it.

VOOM!

A powerful energy blast, wide and large enough to consume the firebomb was shot from his palm and straight at his opponent. His next moves would have to be much more subtle and surprising if he wanted to take the noble by surprise. As much fun as it was, it would be a pain if the fight became a one-sided game of dodgeball. That would've been annoying for possibly both of them...

His attacks were not something that the Punisher couldn't counter.

She allowed herself to step back, putting her sword in front of her as a means of defense. As he attacked her, she stood her ground against him. Although she was countering and parrying with the standard swordset, she was also fighting with movements that were strikingly similar to capoeira. She was bending and twisting her body in a reflexive and quick manner, and it seemed as if she was showing off as much as she was actually fighting him. It was a brutal, yet elegant and rather attractive demonstration of swordplay.

Then, with purpose, she allowed herself to mess up.

As she performed an attack that ended up with her back to him, she didn't bother to allow herself to turn around when he responded with a thrust of his own.

SPLURCH!

"Ahhn~!!"

Her eyes widened, her head and back arched back, and she let out what could only be described as a mixture of a shameless moan of ecstasy as well as a yell of agony as the flaming blade ripped through her stomach. Her legs almost buckled underneath her, and for a moment, her hunched-over body shivered under the guilty pleasure that she had been delivered. A malicious smile came across her face as she grabbed the fire blade that had punched out her stomach in order to keep him from pulling it out.

Then, she did the unthinkable.

With disregard for her own safety, she channeled the flames into his blade and sent them straight to the owner, in a manner similar to the Tzusuri Raiden Kidō spell.

"Do you not understand, Sakura?" Daisuke's calm voice emanated through the heated hissing and roar of the flames she sent through her own body and onto his. The flames bathed his body, yet did not burn him, nor did it touch him in a normal sense. It danced to a near second nature around him, before flowing down his arms and back into the blade that was within her body, "flames don't harm me...not anymore..." with almost sad eyes as the blade within Sakura's gut glowed a hot red orange and gold, he spoke two words.

"Jigoku...Hashira."

VRRRBOOOOOM!

With Sakura as its epicenter, a large column of flames blasted outwards in a roaring outwards, the pillar flowed across the torn and apocalyptic landscape as it tore into what used to be the tower that Captain Hando used for the Kido shield. Upon impact, a large explosion that nearly blinded any who took upon its sight before forming a large mushroom cloud, sending a concussive shockwave throughout with large gusts of wind in its wake.

Kukkyōna flew from the column of energy that overtook his attack with such ease. When he landed on solid ground a few meters away from the Slayer, a thin hissing mist rose from his form as his skin bore signs of scalding from taking partial hit from the attack, "I've misevalutated your strength. You've certainly earned your place as a Child of Izanami as well as your befitted name, Slayer."

As he took notice slightly of the pillar of flames that exploded nearby, nearly right behind him, a burst of his Spiritual Pressure cooked and shook the air around him, a thin veil of crimson Spiritual Energy basked him as he took resolve against the Slayer, taking a swordsman stance, "I will fight you with strength I haven't used in many years, Slayer. Forgive me if I seem lax in my style."

SHING-WHIZZ!

As Kukkyōna suddenly propelled himself from his position, his speed alone got to the Slayer within a heartbeat, not even using Flash Step. As he bent his head low and raised his left arm high while having his right arm level with his face, he whispered aloud, "Nenshō Burēzu Bijutsu (燃焼ブレーズ美術, Nenshou Bureezu Bijutsu ; Lit Translation, "The Burning Blaze Arts,), Form 3," with a sudden series of swings that seemed to flow flames out like cutting jet streams, moving in a spiral manner towards and around the Slayer, "Ribājetto Yaku!" (リバージェットを焼く Ribaajetto Yaku ; Lit Translation, "Burning River Jetstream.")

On the Punisher's side, hell had certainly been unleashed.

Even in the midst of the explosion, the woman tilted her head back and laughed maniacally as the flames attempted to ravage her. The heat was so burning, and all of that pain exhilarated her even more. However, just like Daisuke, there was no significant damage done to her. Because she too could wield the flames, she could not be hurt by his Zanpakutō's flame-based attacks. To that extent, it proved to be nothing more than a draw.

The smoke cleared, revealing her on her hands and knees facing Daisuke from a distance away. Her body was quivering once more, her hair hung over her eyes. However, the feral smile could still be seen. "I knew that, kid..." She whispered vehemently, sitting herself up so that she would be on one knee. Her sword was held in one hand, while the other held the fresh and bloodied hole made in her stomach. "Can you blame me for having a little fun in this? Especially considering what you've done to me...."

On the Slayer's side, his eyes widened slightly as he watched the Captain appear before him so suddenly without the use of Flash Step. However, his reflexes kicked in, and he once again flipped and twisted his sword in order to defend himself from the fire. His free hand held only the index and middle finger pointed outwards, holding them in that position even as his other hand defended against Kukkyōna's attacks. "Glad to see you're not holding back anymore, but..."

His eyes half-lidded.

"That wasn't all to my attack."

BOOM!

As Kukkyōna closed in for close quarters, the energy blast that the Slayer had fired off reversed direction and threw itself like a comet towards Kukkyōna's position. The size of the explosion was large enough to consume half an average home, and the power of the attack would be enough to severely wound his enemy, if not kill him out right.

"Done to you?" Daisuke asked calmly, as he held his Zanpakuto before himself, his body flickered and flourished with motion as it had still felt the winds created by his earlier attack, "what have done to earn your hatred towards me?"

"Nenshō Burēzu Bijutsu, Form 7," Kukkyōna's voice carried as his form before the comet turned into flames mere moments before the mighty energized comet struck his bodily position, causing a immense explosion that reverberated a shockwave that shook the land for miles, "Nan Suteppu Meimetsu (難ステップ明滅 Nan Suteppu Meimetsu ; Lit Translation, "Flickering Flame Step,")

Kukkyōna appeared behind the Slayer, once more but increased his speed using Flash Step while he had created a bodily exertion of fire from his entire body to create a afterimage. His body now was a few feet in the air, his feet pulledwith his knees at his chest and his head bowed low as his two sword arms held the Zanpakutos across either side of his form, as whispered aloud, "Nenshō Burēzu Bijutsu, Form 5," with a single heartbeat he swung, and a mighty crossing X of high-powered cutting flames beared down on the Slayer, rising as tall as a building as the epicenter launched itself upon him, "Kunshuen Shūkaku!" (君主炎を収獲 Kunshu-en o shūkaku ; Lit Translation, "Reaping Monarch Blaze.")

The calmness of his tone...

The sudden shift from passionate to cool...

The very look in his eyes...

It was enough to make her snap and lose her cool completely.

"Don't you DARE PLAY INNOCENT WITH ME!!!"

Her rage once again coming to the surface, she vanished and re-appeared in front of Daisuke, her sword gripped in both hands. She swung it forward, slamming her blade into his own. However, she held back her strength so that the result would be a sword lock, just so he could see the fury within her dilated crimson eyes. "The way you've treated me... the fact that you're willing to push aside the monster than I am to find some sort of human being within me... the lack of hatred, lust, or fear that many others have held towards me... it makes me sick!!!"

Pulling her sword back, she started a series of violent and aggressive attacks, putting forth her very hatred and anger within each and every strike. She continued to pour out her emotions to him as much as she was attacking him.

"Every time you deny me...every time you insist that I'm not who I say I am...you hurt me more than any attack of yours could ever do!! Your very presence is destroying who I am, and in the end, I find myself fearing you, a lowly Shinigami Lieutenant!!!"

But by this point, she was slowly losing her resolve to fight. Though her expression was clearly angry, she could feel warm and salty liquid spill from her eyes. She knew that she was only opening herself up to him more than she would've liked. But what was the point now? He seemed to know her better than anyone else could have in that short time period.

"Why, damn it?!" She continued to demand, shutting her eyes tightly in an attempt to blink the tears back. "Why do you feel as if you have to save me?!"

It was this very breakdown that got the Slayer's attention.

Instead of blocking the attack with his own energy, he instinctively skidded back and allowed the blasts to collide with his former position, the light illuminating his shocked face. To tell the truth, he had never seen the Punisher act in such a reckless and emotional manner before. It sent a chill down his spine, watching as the tough-as-nails deity reduce herself to a sobbing and broken down woman right before his very eyes. A bead of sweat ran down his face, and he too could see why his sister seemed to fear him so much.

And he could only wonder why.

Daisuke parried each blow with his cool gaze slowly transforming into that of a sad one, as he saw her pain and feelings bursting forth from the very center of her being, and his feelings suspicions clear. She was hurting. As a Hankami she couldn't feel like anyone else should. All she knew was lies, pain, lust, and murder. Being Hell's warden has taken a toll on her psyche since day one. And...for the first time, he could understand why he heard her faint and hidden cries as she slept within the small dank hotel room that his father and himself shared.

As she lost the will to fight, and her words became final, he opened his eyes once more before a lone tear came down his left eye as he spoke matter-of-factly and calmly.

"Sakura,"

SHINK-SPLURCH!

"your eyes are still closed," Daisuke said softly as he swiftly thrust his Zanpakuto into her left part of her chest, straight into the heart. It was then at this time, Daisuke leaned forward, whispering something to her with his eyes close to hers, "when you wake up, I'll tell you your answer. Until then, it won't make sense until then. I'm sorry...Sakura..."

Kukkyōna landed back onto the solid ground, raising his Zanpakuto to cross before himself, faintly taking in everything that was happening on Daisuke's end of the battlefield. He closed his eyes briefly, before opening them again, "Do you understand what I was saying earlier, Slayer? Daisuke's true strength is not Spiritual Power or Intellect...but resides within the fiery will within his heart to protect all those dear to him. Hankami, included."

When the blade tore through her heart, The Punisher's eyes oppened back up, and a gasp escaped her lips.

It was as if all of his empathy, all of his kindness, and all of his sincerity had punched through her along with the cold steel. The blow stopped her movements, and she found her body unable to move any further. Her arms fell at her sides, and her sword was released from her hand to clatter to the earthen ground underneath them. She gritted her teeth, shutting her eyes again as she leaned against him. Her dilated eyes slowly reverted back to their normal size. But the light had been lost from them, and they looked as dead as she was about to be.

Never before had she felt so lost.

Never before had she felt so helpless.

"...s...sorry....Reaper...."

She managed to whisper hoarsely, before closing her eyes and falling. With a sickening splurch, she tore herself off of his blade and collapsed, lying deathly still.

And upon hearing Kukkyōna's words, the Slayer watched on with a seemingly indifferent frown as he watched his sister collapse to the ground. But the visual indifference lasted only for a moment. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily, his shoulders lowered a little. It was apparent that his sister had been severely affected by the influence of what he had assumed to be nothing more than an obnoxious ant. But it seemed that without a sword or a blade, he had brought her down to her knees. It made him severely question the justification they had in the Plinian Eruption.

There was always waiting until existence itself decided it was ready.

Could they have been wrong about the corruption of the world all along?

Slowly, the man lifted his massive blade onto his shoulders and raised his free hand out, turning back towards his opponent. "I forfeit." He said bluntly. "It's pointless to continue when I just saw what went on. Whatever game Melody's playing, I'm not interested in getting involved any more."

Daisuke looked down at her, as tears began to run down his cheeks, his Zanpakuto glowed and streamed a red trail of spirit energy as it resumed its sealed form as he dropped it down onto the ground. Following the metalic stabbing into the cracked, dry ground of what was once a street within the city, Daisuke dropped to his knees and began sobbing quietly

"I'm so sorry, Sakura," he said as he brushed her cold, near-lifeless cheek, before lifting her off the ground and cradled her still and bloodied body into his chest, his tear stained face buried into her hair, "please forgive me...Sakura!"

Kukkyōna arched his brow as he lowered his Zanpakuto slightly, but kept them alight in the event the Slayer was insincere or that it was even applicable to "forfeit" from this life or death struggle they were having. But at the rate he was going, Kukkyōna inwardly saw that he would eventually have to use some of his most destructive techniques to best him and even then there was probably a chance he couldn't defeat the Hankami singlehandedly. With a sigh, Kukkyōna considered the option carefully.

"Melody," Kukkyōna spoke upwards, asking aloud, assuming the entity was still watching, "can withdrawl be acceptable, or does he still have to...'die' so to speak?"

There was a moment of silence, as if the very question hadn't registered to the Melody until now. However, it wasn't soon to last. "I...." His voice paused after a moment. "I never really expected him to surrender as he did..." This brought the Slayer to close his eyes and smirk, lowering his hand to place on his hip.

"Yeah? Well, there's a lot of things you wouldn't know about me, brat." He remarked lightly, causing the Melody to emit a soft chuckle of his own.

"Very well..."

The Slayer's eyes opened back up when he heard a distinct bell noise, and he looked down at himself to find his body glowing with a blue, bright light. However, this visual effect lasted for only a brief moment. As soon as it came, it disappeared and turned the Slayer back to normal. "There. My spell has been lifted from you. Two of the free locks have been severed now."

"Guess that means Apashii's on his own in this one..." The Slayer whistled, tilting his head to the side. "I almost feel sorry for the guy..."

"I see," Kukkyōna defused his blades and promptly slid the blades back into their respective sheathes with a united click, "I'll respect your withdrawl. Though, I am quite...relieved we stopped when we did. For I fear, despite my declaration of a single duel, I was going to be...interrupted, by other unwanted arrivals," Kukkyōna said in a knowing, irritated tone as he looked with a sideglance gaze as a number of blurs gave way to a number of figures.

"Y'know, I almost got the feeling he didn't want us to interfere," Ryouken asked aloud as the the collective of Soul Reapers had suddenly appeared near the Hayate Captain.

"Facing off against one Captain is one thing, I doubted the Hankami would've wanted to face off against our collective strength," Senshi said with a bland, almost irritated voice of Ryouken's nonchlant question.

"Which leaves the Monitor alone," Captain Ikidori spoke out, shivering lightly at remembering the aura the being had, "I wouldn't mind having backup fighting that guy."

"Where is he anyways?" Ryouken asked aloud as he looked around curiously, "you'd think as one of the more collected and serious Hankami he would fight us next or at least make his presence known..."

"He's here," Kukkyōna said lowly, before closing his eyes, "he hasn't revealed himself yet..."

"I don't sense him within your area, I'm afraid." The Melody's voice rang out once again among the masses.

The Slayer snorted, rolling his eyes in disdain. "Typical. Whenever we're at Point A, he's all the way at Point C doing something else!" He said in complaint, throwing his hand up in the air. His eyes immediately directed themselves towards the sky. "Hey, Melody! Can't you just tell 'em where he's at?"

"No..." Was the immediate answer. "But I can tell you that he's deeper within the city. I can't pinpoint his exact location, but I can tell you that much...if your forces are in good condition to go..."

"We're as ready as we're going to be, facing something like him," Captain Ikidori spoke with a hint of trepidation, that she was actually going to fight a force of nature like the Monitor.

Ryouken nodded, as the others did as they all looked to each other for confirmation of a upcoming battle they all dreaded in facing. Even Hana walked among their ranks as they all readied to face him, but one they did not count on, was...

"I'm coming," Daisuke spoke aloud in a low voice, his form walked slowly past all the others as he trodded towards the Slayer, holding the frail near-lifeless body of Sakura as he handed her to her brother,"I've got some questions...I want to ask him before this is over."

The Slayer cocked an eyebrow, lowering his sword from his hand and reaching his arms out to take the female from his arms. But he allowed himself to remain silent, out of respect.

"...all right, what the fuck."

Of course, Braeburn did not have any... towards the Shinigami group as a total.

"You mean to tell me that you all didn't seem to care about facing these two..." He motioned over towards the Punisher and the Slayer. "But now you're facing another... and now all of us suddenly have lost part of or balls and/or ovaries?" He scowled, a deadpan expression on his face as he glared at each and every one of them. "You all are so fucking retarded. Just putting that out there."

"Brae-san!"

SLAP!

Hana appeared after glaring daggers at Braeburn as she was one of the few who was there to do anything to him and with reason, so she approached him and slapped him across the face after feeling his childish insult, "To put it into temrs you can understand within that childish ausie mind of yours, are you F'ING DAFT?! Kukkyōna challenged the Slayer and asked for no one to interfere, and Daisuke had a personal score to settle with the bitch, so I ditched him. Are you honestly going to insult the whole of us because we are actually aching to get some action in because we were respecting the words of Noble Soul Reapers?!"

"Forget him, Hana," Daisuke said with mild disgust in his voice before he turned and began walking towards the city, as the others began to leave even as Braeburn was insluting them," the Monitor is on a whole other level than these two. I fought him in Bankai, and despite the fact he had...proetection...his power was too great for me to handle back then. Now...I want to know why he did what he did..."

"Tch," Senshi huffed as he mildly stared indifferently at Braeburn before saying, "way to make yourself look like an idiot, again."

"Go easy on him, Senshi," Ryouken said with a mild smile as he gafawed as the group slowly but surely left him behind, saved for the Deep Cover Operations collective, "I think he was dropped on his head as a baby and grew up to hate the world for how he thinks!"

"Not helping, bastard!" Taiyo growled as she promptly slammed her fist into his skull, making him wince and moan in pain.

Rokotsu sat down on the ground and sealed her Zanpakuto, yawning, "I think I want to take a break..."

"Yeah...me too," Takashi sighed as he sat down as well, "they can go off and fight a crazy fight...I don't want to get caught in the cross fire."

Yoki looked at Braeburn thoughtfully, smirking lightly before she looked at the horizon where the Monitor lied, "Think it will be easy to take him on, with all those Captains and Lieutenants, Braeburn?"

The Australian, in question, didn't respond immediately.

Now, he had his palm on his face in a display of clear embarrassment, not for himself, but for the Shinigami who were going to engage. It just did not make sense to him. No one seemed to object against or even care about one of their own fighting by themselves against someone who could've killed them all simply with a swing of the sword. But when they all decide to join forces against the Hankami remaining, they seemed to express him and only him as a true threat. Didn't they realize that the other two would've killed them if they wanted to?

The concept of honor before reason was not something he liked.

"I am truthfully starting not to care anymore..." He grumbled, lowering his hand to reveal a comically annoyed expression on his face as well as the slap mark. "To me, Soul Society has just grown a set of morons. I really hope I'm not the only sane man in this..."

"I find your lack of faith, my dear Braeburn, disturbing," Yoki said in a mock imitating voice as she gafawed at Braeburn's comical woes.

In the distance however, a terrifying clash of auras was suddenly felt. The air rippled with two clashing Shinsei natures. One of which was the daunting Monitor's and one was the other unknown....feeling of death itself!

Despair and Death, The Half god sibblings rivalry!

In the nest of blackened buildings, the Monitor sat meditating. It had sensed the fight and the defeat of the Hankami siblings (at least in the case of the Punisher), and was well aware of the "game" that the Melody was putting them all in. It understood the consequences of defeat. It was fully aware of the fact that an army of Shinigami was walking straight towards it. Yet, it did not move from its sitting position, not showing any indication that it was in danger.

Fear was useless, and so were other emotions.

All that the Monitor could do was prepare itself for what was to come.

It would destroy the Shinigami and finish the final movement of the world's reconstruction.

"But chaos...is so much better when there's less order in it, don't you agree?" Almost voicing its thoughts, something rippled out of the Monitor's shadows, liquifying and taking shape, solidifying into a essence that was widely known and feared throughout the Hankami civil war. The Reaper.

Holding nothing in his hands currently, the Hankami smiled ruefully as he crossed his arms, "It must annoy you that your own kin decided to place this little game onto your being. Of course, that annoying protection your mother gave you is now useless, making this my most grandest opportunity," he then smiled the most malicious, evil visage any being alive would see, his eyes narrowed to that of a hawk's, predatorially looking him over, "in killing you, Monitor!"

There was no response. The Monitor continued to sit there silently, almost as if it didn't acknowledge the new arrival at all. If it showed any emotion at all towards him, it could not be seen.

The Reaper chuckled, as a vibrant crimson and black smoke emanated from the Hankami's left hand as he spoke, "I should've known not to get my hopes up in getting a response from you. Always the silent treatment, no matter the individual. I have yet to ask the Slayer how he's able to talk to you without any words coming from your lips," as the smoke took solid form, a very long, elegantly crafted katana appeared in his left hand.

"Now, let's get a reaction from,"

SWING, CRRRRRACKBOOOOOOM!

"THIS!"

As the Reaper swung upwards in a vertical fashion towards the Monitor, a huge nigh invisible force of cutting power tore apart the air and superstructure itself, leaving a heated trail as if a guided laser cut through the buildings behind the Monitor itself. The act was upon instinct, a natural move for the Reaper and one of his more basic techniques, showing battle prowess only comparable to the Monitor and Slayer itself. A thin, fanged smile was shown as a brief crimson glint was shown from the eyes of the Reaper upon the attack as he showed demonic hunger for his Hankami sibbling's death.

It didn't take much physical movement.

But it did require spiritual movement.

Although it was invisible, a sphere of the Monitor's spiritual pressure formed around it and blocked off the attack from hitting it before dissipating. Slowly, it rose to its feet and stood tall, its cloak billowing in the after-winds. Its arms were at its sides, and it once again resumed its deathly still stature.

"That's it, Apachii," Reaper said with a enticed tone, walking slowly towards the Hankami kin with anticipation and excitement, holding his large sword at his side as he graced himself closer to striking range, "standing up is a good step. Now all you have to do," he spoke lightly before within a instant he was behind him, as a near-invisible movement allowed him to get up close, "is turn around!"

SWING-FOOOOSH!

With a blinding swing, the Reaper's slash moved to cut his Hankami bretheren in half while sending a pressurized shockwave that tore through the infrastructures of the buildings in front of the two of them. This began causing the already unstable apocalyptic landscape to start falling apart within the single sword stroke of his attack that had followed up with his last one.

The Monitor's movements could only be described as mechanical.

Without turning to look, it reached out, its palm locking around its enemy's wrist before it could slice him in two. The shockwave, while capable of annihilating the foundation of the environment around them, only billowed the Monitor's clothing. Without hesitation, it tossed the Reaper's wrist away while spinning around, two swords created from its very Shinsei energy spawning in each hand. This move alone caused another building to disintegrate into nothing.

It was only made worse when the Monitor made its attack.

It spun around, its blades striking at the Reaper in a tornado-like attack. Its cloak billowed violently, and its movements were nothing short of swift and fluid. However, unlike its siblings, it possessed no feeling or emotion within its attacks. Every move made was automatic, as if a robot was fighting instead of a living entity. With each and every swing, the remnants of the buildings around them were blown away due to the fierce winds created in the battle.

The Reaper's eyes narrowed as his sibbling caught his wrist. Very few entities existed where they could openly touch the Reaper's person and actually live to tell about it. The Monitor, was always one of the few exceptions. But as the Monitor created its weapons from its sheer Shinei energy, the intensity was enough to destroy a building nearby, caused the Reaper to smile in a anticipating predatorial smile.

When the Monitor attacked, the Reaper read its robotic movements and countered each of them with fluid, effortless grace with his own fluid swordplay. Their clashing energies, their empathic auras brushing against each other, and their sheer strength flowing across each of their weapons caused untold havoc to the apocalyptic-turned city, causing the Reaper to get more and more excited as the battle progressed.

"Yes! That's it, Apashii! Kill me! Strike me down and claim what is yours!" He taunted openly, as he used only one hand to keep up with the incredibly high speed of the Monitor's robotically redundant and vicious attacks. However, when he locked his long blade against the Monitor's dual blades with one hand, he immediately outstretched a free hand towards the Monitor...

BOOOOOOM!

A large narrow, condensed pillar of crimson Shinsei energy burst forth from his palm, intending on hurtling his kin across the city, while detonating many of the unstable structures along with its streets in a wave of fire.

If it had been anyone else, they would've been immediately blown back out of surprise by the sudden change of tactics issued by the Reaper.

But for the Monitor, such a thing didn't register to it.

In the sword lock, it simply pressed itself and boosted upwards in a front-flip over the Reaper's head. The energy nearly missed it, but it paid no heed to how barely it had avoided danger. As it flipped over the Reaper's head, its blades spun in a vicious tornado-like fashion as it landed in an attempt of decapitation.. or at least mutilation of the top of his head.

CRRRRRACKBOOM!

As the Monitor used the blade of the Reaper's to propel itself upwards to front flip up and then use its tornado-like ability, the Reaper simply let his sword stay above him...and then slash it upwards in a violent fissure arc that ripped some of the ruined landscape up with it while setting everything else on fire from the sheer force he exuded into it.

"That would work on anyone else, Monitor," the Reaper smiled with thin lips, his eyes narrowing dangerously, "its taken me centuries, but I've finally analyzed your behavior perfectly behind your so-called "emotionless" facade. Your movements, your surface-feelings...are all open to me to see!"

Because the Monitor was in the air, there was no avoiding it.

And for one of the first few times, it seemed like it had been hit.

When the blade connected, it was blown back into the air and away from the Reaper. It managed to balance itself, flipping in the air to land expertly on its feet. However, there was a clear gash on the torso of its robe, signaling that it had been cut open. However, whether or not damage had been actually done had yet to be decieved. From the way the Monitor stood, it was hard to tell whether if it was truly unharmed or simply shrugging it off.

The next move would not add to that.

The Monitor simply tilted back...

CRACK!

The audible sound of a spine being snapped in two could be heard when the Monitor bent its body back to what looked like an extremely painful position, and then--

VOOOOM!

From the wound on its chest, dozens of arms, made entirely of its Shinsei energy, shot out. All of their hands were several times larger than the human body, and all of them were extending from the crippled carcass of the Monitor to crush the Reaper.

Normally, any other entity, Hankami or no, would be disgusted or taken pause by the morbid and decrepit nature of the incoming attack. However...the Reaper was no ordinary being.

With a wide-eyed smile, the Reaper laughed aloud swinging his sword left and right as he readied himself as all the hands began rushing towards him, "Glorious! Such a wonderous, disgusting way to take form to attack me! But..."

As the Shinsei "arms" came racing at a alarming rate, a layer of black smoke crawled across his blade, crackling with Shinsei energy as it cracklead the air around him, "I've created far worse horrors than that child tactic, Monitor," he stuck out his blade with a thrust towards the many arms, as his blade suddenly manifisted many muscle-woven, throat stretched maws from a bright gale of crimson energy, as they equally numbered the number of Shinsei "limbs" with Shinsei "maws".

Within a few seconds, a gruesome display of gore and rippling power exploding within the air, causing the Reaper to cackle with excitement as the two attacks cancelled each other out. The wave of gore however, detonated with volatile affects around the air, sounding of thundercracks within its wake, "I love this! A truly horrifying and terrific battle between two monsters of legend!"

With a sneer, the Reaper then leaped up, soaring through the air towards the "crippled" form of the Monitor, appearing right over it, saying, "Have another taste!"

CRRRRACKBOOOM!

Another fissure of enormous proportions lit up the red-black sky of the apocalyptic-turned cityscape, rippling air pressure and fire onto the city below from the incredible power poured into injuring his Hankami bretheren again.

Once again, the Monitor's "arms" came into play, ripping out of its chest in order to match the blast directed towards it. The two attacks collided, and the result was a brilliant light show as well as a brutal display of power between the two deities. If the Shinigami had been there, it would've certainly been a chilling sight to see as well as feel, due to the potency of their energy.

CRACK!

Abruptly, the Monitor snapped its spine back into place, it swung its blade and fired off a wide, crescent-shaped blast of its own in order to add fuel to its own fire and take its opponent off-guard.

"RRRRAAAAAAAH!"

The Reaper cried out as he swung his blade towards the fissure...and with a deafening scream, an invisible cutting force split the fissure in two, allowing the two halves to past by him harmlessly before exploding brightly, casting a eery shadow upon the sword wielding Reaper. His eyes glowed with menace and his smile spoke of sheer wanton for murder.

Barreling down with tremendous force, the Reaper swung his blade with a number of tantamount powered strikes, each casting winds that caressed and blew away all around above the city, giving the impression of a crimson and blue lightning storm high above any viewers.

Within another passing swing of the Reaper's blade with the Monitor's, he slashed out his hand in a swinging motion, causing a number of tendrils to project from his free right hand, aiming to cut him up from multiple directions while keeping his sword hands busy.

It was here that the Monitor began spinning around again in the tornado-like fashion it had done before. But this time...

VOOM!

A burst of Shinsei energy was exerted from its body, the winds blowing harmlessly through the Reaper's body. However, this trait soon became non-existent the winds began to pick up around them. Within a matter of seconds, the hooded creature had summoned a tornado around them that stretched to the very sky. The buildings within the area were ripped from the ground and whirled around. The Monitor stayed in place, spinning viciously and not stopping for an instant. But his opponent was in danger of becoming swept up and crushed by the force of nature that had been summoned.

Reaper sneered as he felt the torrential force created by the release of Shinsei energy as the Monitor's form spun at a alarming rate, so much so that it was creating a vicious whirlwind began to overtake the pinnacle of the city. The Reaper has had his share of battling strange forces created by Hankami and other entities alike, all of which have demonstrated affinity or preference to certain elemental attacks. Like the Punisher was attuned to the fires of Hell and the Slayer was physically built like a mountain, the Monitor seemed to be a monstrocity that spawns horror and terrifying forces, much like the twister he has summoned now.

The Reaper...is a force of death and darkness.

With a smile as he felt the vortex of winds tugging at his body, he let himself go as he raised his sword vertically, condensing a slight amount of Shinsei energy while grasping the sword for the first time...with two hands.

"God...Slicer!"

With a defined slash of his sword within the vortex of winds that was destroying and pulling at the center of the city, a loud hum and whien echoed through the air. Within the next second, a loud screeching sound with a blinding vertical light, the cut so powerful, it dissipated the tornado entirely while cutting a deep trench within the city below and split a large gap of clouds within the skies, the sound of a thunderclap could vaguely be heard. The mid point of the swing, was the Monitor's body.

"You should've honed your swordsmanship better, Monitor," he said aloud with a fanged smile and a sadist lit expression, "otherwise you might've been able to stop that last attack."

It was an attack that only the Reaper could've thwarted.

The blade was enough to cut through not only the winds that the Monitor generated, but the Monitor itself.

With one stroke of the blade, a deep gash had been made once again on the Monitor's chest. Crimson liquid spilled from the wound and onto the ground. Both of its hands relaxed, the Shinsei blades dissipating from existence. The hood and cloak that had encompassed its body fell down to the ground, exposing the true creature hidden behind the mask.

It was a young man.

There was no creature, but only a black-haired human-like being with short black hair and onyx eyes. He wore a white sash over what seemed to be a uniquely designed Shinigami uniform. His eyes stared at the Monitor with what seemed like only calm surprise, despite the deep gash that had been delivered to him. He held no hatred, no fury, not even despair. In that moment, he kept that blank expression of surprise, almost as if it never occured to him that he would be defeated.

Then, his eyes slowly closed, and he fell backwards, colliding into the ground.

The Monitor had fallen.

The Reaper's eyes glimmered with slight interest and a arched brow as he saw the Monitor's true face. Incredibly, he knew no man or woman who ever saw the true face of the Monitor and if the entity was even a man or woman itself. Now, he knew only that the silent, tactful and dreadful force that was the Monitor could only be a man.

As he watched the body fall towards the ground, hearing a slight crack and rumble from his body hitting the ground forcefully, the Reaper took time to look down solemnly at his longtime foe and rival from as far as the beginning of their creation and the Hankami Civil War. He had finally, fallen to his blade.

As his lips curled back, he began to laugh aloud a insanely joyfoul laugh that rang out throughout the torn, battle-scarred cityscape, one that could be heard by all, even further past to the Hankami brothers.

Raising his sword into the air, he shouted out victoriously, "You've had your chance...mother, to rid the world of chaos and evil to make your so-called Utopia! Now its my turn! And I'll make this world, all those past it, burn within fire and boil in blood! You'll see! I will claim my throne upon a continent of ashes, a throne of bones, and a fortress of corpses drained of their essence! My world of chaos...will be so beautifully disgusting!"

And with a slash into the dark shadows...his form warped out of view, and his presence vanished. The Reaper was gone...for now.

Meanwhile...the Soul Reapers were surprised to say the least, to find that their supposed target was in a terrifically terrifying battle with another Hankami they never expected to be present. The battle that took part was so incredible, most of them believed any of them caught up in the conflict would not survive or simply make things...too complicated. As the last series of attacks were sending most of the city into near oblivion, as the God Slicer ripped through the tornado and into the earth and sky, the clashing auras seemed to dampen and the fight wane to nothing.

As a few minutes passed from the Hankami's departure, the Soul Reapers gathered to convene and await the Melody's promised reversal of the Eruption while conversing about the surprisingly powerful and promising meance to the Soul Society that defeated the Monitor. Only one person left the group to seek out the fallen Monitor, the only one who cared about the fate of the Hankami.

"Yo," Daisuke said, standing overtop the fallen body of the Monitor, now seeing his face and appearance for what he was, but his lingering aura remained so he could tell whom he was speaking to, "I have some questions to ask, if you're not dead yet...and if you actually can talk."

It was surprising.

Out of the entire group, this lone boy had come to speak to him so calmly, and so conversationally. He would have figured that he would have least been the tiniest bit scared of his presence. Yet, as his onyx eyes stared into Daisuke's own, he could see or sense no such thing. Was it the fact that his visage was that of a human being's?

Either way, it did not matter.

Slowly, he lifted up one of his hands and motioned for Daisuke to come closer, his blank expression not changing.

Daisuke blinked for a few moments before kneeling down to the Monitor. To say he was without fear of this being was not too far from the truth. After confronting Sakura, and after his brief yet breathtaking encounter with the Monitor, he realized he could've been killed so many times, yet he chose to challenge him and watch him. Now, he wanted to know why a being like the Monitor gave a care to someone as ordinary in his own mind as himself.

Slowly, the Monitor reached out to grasp Daisuke's face...

...and instantly, Daisuke found his mind within the grasp of the deity once again. His body lost all control and feeling, acting on its own accord. It was as if he was only watching a movie.

In the apparent vision, he was walking down what seemed like an endless hallway of darkness. As he walked, he could hear his own voice speaking to him.

"Mortals were never meant to ascend to the god status. Even the most powerful of warriors are unable to cross that boundary between human and deity. Because of that, most humans and gods tend to stray away from it and become unwilling to even touch the line of that boundary. They cluster among themselves, hiding forever in their own darkness."

At the end of the hallway, it split into a massive and empty room. In the center of the void sat what looked like a child version of the Punisher, sitting on her knees and continuously sobbing. Daisuke continued to walk towards her, and she instinctively raised her head in shock and surprise. She sprang to her feet, slowly backing away and even trying to run away from his approaching figure.

"She was always close to that line, always teetering on the edge. We warned her it would become her undoing, but she refused to listen to any of us. For centuries, no one dared to get close to that boundary or her. But we were still worried for her safety. But then..."

She ended up backing herself right into a corner, sinking to the ground and into a fetal position as Daisuke continued to approach her.

"You came. You showed the potential to break her from the cage she had placed herself in, and I wished to test how far you would go for your objective. You are one out of the few who were willing who saw both the monster she was and the broken woman she was hiding inside. You did not cross the boundary... but, in your own little way, you managed to break it... even if it was for a short while."

When he finally stood in front of her, he lowered himself to a kneeling position in front of her and extended his hand. She raised her frightened little head up, looking at it with teary uncertainty before looking back at him.

"You managed to reach out to her - something which we thought had been only limited to the ones born alongside her. You have done your part... now it is up to her to return your feelings for her."

Finally, after what would seem like an eternity, she allowed herself to reach out to take his hand.

FLASH!

That was when the vision ended.

"..NUAAAAgh!" Daisuked heaved out, panting and blinked rapidly before grasping his own face, as his eyes slowly realigned and didn't see light or blurs anymore. What he just experienced...was so incredible he had no idea the Monitor actually spoke to him in his own mind. He knew it must've not been easy to share such a trusting act to him as well as his truest intentions.

"I...I thank you, Sakura's brother, for giving me this chance...and trusting me," he bowed his head low, his palms touching the ashen, broken earth as he showed a sign of both reverence and respect to him, "I promise you this. No matter what happens, I will always think of you who helped me reach this point. Thank you."

The Monitor did not respond to that. Instead, he slowly rose up from his position. The wounds on his chest had already begun to heal itself - a sign of the Melody's doing. In acknowledgement to the young man's gesture of respect, he gave his own bow of the head. Then, he turned around and walked off, disappearing from sight shortly after.

But within their midst and hidden from detection was another shadow.

He stood, hiding behind the remnants of a building which had miraculously managed to keep half of its original foundation. He leaned against it, the back resting against the brick material casually. His arms were folded across his chest, and his visible eye was closed. Using his spiritual senses, he had been able to view the fight from beginning to finish, as well as the aftermath. The results were disappointing, but satisfactory to him. But as far as he was concerned, it was just a matter of "hopes going one way, planning going the other". He would just have to make due.

For now, he had business to attend to.

"Off to finish this little crap-sack world of post-heaven, I suppose..." He muttered, pushing himself off of the building and walking off. He himself would see to the link itself before he left for the other area. He didn't want to keep his game participants waiting too long, after all.

As strong as the weakest "Link", Conclusions and Beginnings

It took a few minutes for the collective of the Soul Reapers to return after the conclusion of the two Hankami's battle came to a close. From a distance, Yoki herself could see much of them didn't have much wear and tear as she expected, thinking that with all of the untold destruction the Hankami were throwing around, they'd get caught up in it unintentionally.

Yoki poked Braeburn's head, as her back was to his as they were sitting on the ashen, rubble piled earth, to get his attention, "Yo party pooper, they're back!"

"Took em long enough," Takashi gruffed out, as he took his grass hat off his face and stood up, dusting off any debris or dust that was resting on his worn and torn uniform-armor.

"No, sleep more," Rokotsu moaned, as she tossed her head acrosss Braeburn's feet, having used them as makeshift cushions while they waited. Surprisingly, she fell asleep and kept that way during the entire apocalyptic scaled battle.

"Hm?"

Braeburn opened one eye in slight surprise, as he too had fallen asleep for the time being. However, unlike Rokotsu, he was more willing to wake back up in immediately in response to Yōki. Prior to that, he had sensed "They must be a bit disappointed, coming all that way only to find someone else got to their target first..." Considering where he lay, however, he didn't feel to keen on getting up just right then...

On the Hankami's side, the Slayer was sitting on his knees beside the Punisher's lifeless form, his own head perking up to see the group come back. However, he remained silent, looking back down at his sister after a short moment. With a comical deadpan look on his face, he grasped her hand within his, lifted it up, wrapped his other hand around her wrist...

SNAP!

...and promptly broke it, getting the appropriate reaction.

"NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH~!!!!!!"

The Punisher let out an agonized scream, her eyes turning white and anime-tears streaming down her face. She jerked her wrist, hissing in annoyance at the unwelcome pain. She jerked her glare towards the Slayer, who still had the comically casual expression on his face. "Ah. Glad you're still not dead..." He commented.

"You woke me up by breaking my damn wrist?! What in the Hell is wrong with you?!"

"Disappointed, possibly," Kaien interceded with a upraised finger and a nervous smile on his face, "glad to have not been in the battle....oh yesssss!"

Ryouken smirked, turning to Kukkyona as he asked, "So, Kukkyona-san. How high was their power levels-?"

"Don't start that again!" Senshi and Kukkyona said at once with comically deadpan expressions.

Captain Ikidori smiled gratefully at Captain Hando, who walked silently and ominously behind them, "I'd thank you for pulling our butts out of the fire, but I'd assume any of us would've done the same in your position."

"Please, Captain Ikidori. Hiding our presences totally while throwing up a few barriers to protect us from the elemental shrapnel and debris is nothing to thank for. Besides, we were out by the permiter of the battlefield. Had we been within the eye of the storm, so to speak, we would not have avoided any damag like we have."

Daisuke remained uncommonly quiet. After witnessing the terrific battle and then his confrontation with the Monitor, in the flesh no less, he had been in deep thought ever seince in his trot on the way back. After a few barrages of questions by his superiors and collegues about where he went off to, they respected his privacy and had left him to his thoughts on the journey back.

After the array of chatters between the Soul Reapers were had, however, a familiar yet unwelcome scream comically caused all of their stares to lock onto the Punisher and the Slayer. Daisuke in particular gulped down his excitement and surprise to see her already back onto her feet, silently displeased her brother treated her in such a insesnsitive manner.

Daisuke then took off to Sakura's direction, walking as casually as he could without it seeming desperate or worried. As his blood-covered, debris-ridden cloaked form reached Sakura and the Slayer, he felt his throat become dry and his eyes water slightly. He then cleared his throat and said in a raspy tone with a slop-sided grin, "Hi...glad you're awake, Sakura-chan."

That immediately diverted both of their attention towards him - and the memory hit the Punisher like a freight train.

In her rage, she had allowed herself to get struck down and ultimately lose. She had inadvertently in her frustration had opened herself out even more to him than she would've liked. She knew that there was no use trying to act tough and cold-hearted, shrugging off his attempts to get close to her. She had to face him head-on this time, or else she could never let go of her fear. She had to see it through.

The Slayer understood immediately.

With a curt nod, he allowed himself to rise to his feet and walk away from them to give them their space. Although she silently acknowledged the movement, she kept her gaze towards Daisuke. It was very close to a thousand-yard stare; her eyes had lost their light once again, and weariness could be seen on her face. She remained silent to his statement, waiting for him to sit down with her on the ground.

Daisuke gulped slightly before nodding to the Slayer, reverting his gaze back with Sakura's. He realized as their gazes locked she remembered everything that transpired. He could still feel the uneasiness and tense contraction within her being of seeing him face-to-face again. With a long-breathed sigh, Daisuke slowly dropped to the ground and sat across from her. With only a meter between them, Daisuke himself could only think what would happen now.

"....you're very cruel, you know that?"

The Punisher's voice was bitter as she spoke, her hair hanging over her eyes. "You took everything I knew, and you smashed it into a thousand pieces. All that I grew up to know, how I lived up until now... you took all of it and threw it in my face. You've successfully destroyed the world that took me centuries to build within a matter of weeks."

Slowly, she raised her hands up and clapped in a slow, mocking manner.

"Congratulations, you son of a bitch. Now tell me why you did it. Tell me why you would go to such lengths for a woman who's used and abused her body to no end, for this broken-down sadomasochistic whore."

"Funny," Daisuke smirked uneasily, trying to avoid her gaze now ashe spoke lowly, "I thought you would know, when I ...poured my emotions and a little bit of my soul into my Zanpakuto when it...pierced you. My love for you...is why I did what I've done for you. I'd hope you'd understand," Daisuke rose his gaze back into her eyes so his could meet hers, "I love you, Sakura Hojima, maiden of the Hankami and Mistress of Hell."

He said it.

He acknowledged that she was broken-down, used. He acknowledged that she was a monster. Yet he still had the courage to say that he loved her. It made her lower her head even more, her mouth quivering ever so slightly. It was the final knife to her heart, and she found herself once again shedding tears. However, this time, the motion wasn't out of frustration or anger. It was a release of the feelings she had towards him out of her system - the fear, the anger... all of it seemed just so useless now.

She lifted her head up, a small smile crossing her face. It was weak at best... but it was all that she needed to show her resolution. "You really sure a passionate noble like you could get used to having an anarchist bitch like me for a girlfriend?" She asked dryly, her voice slightly hoarse.

Daisuke couldn't have felt better. At her comment, he couldn't help but laugh while crying, hearing her crack a joke while be utterly sincere with him. As he wiped his eyes he said back to her back in a lopsided smile,"Naw, Sakura-chan, that's one of your best qualities. It evens me out and keeps me honest, cause I might be a little too idealistic sometimes....maybe," during this he managed to scoot closer to Sakura, his legs lightly brushing against hers and his face only a foot closer, his smile remained while his eyes were only slightly watery from his tears, "but Iike you how you are anyways."

"Oh, stop with your mini-speeches and kiss me."

Slowly, the Punisher reached out to caress the young man's face, still keeping the weak smile on her face. She closed her tear-stained eyes and leaned in, not allowing him to get another word in for the time being. Her lips pressed against his in a gentle, yet passionate kiss. It was times like this where she actually did feel like she was being too tomboyish. But she didn't care. It was simply the way she was.

Daisuke's eyes immediately closed upon the feel of her lips melding with his own. He returned the passion with equal vigor, reaching up with his own hand to cup her cheek while wrapping another in her hair, twining it within his fingers within the red-orange locks. Never had he felt so happy and alive then in that moment, he shared his first kiss with the most unlikely woman.

Meanwhile, nearby onlookers shared their expressions and reactions to this new develoment with a variety of emotions.

The Elder Hayate could only smile, musing inwardly about how much catching up he'll have to do with Avaron once this crisis was completely over. Crossing his arms over his tattered uniform, he looked over at Ryouken, sweatdropping as he saw the other Captain grinning in a unbecoming fashion.

"Look at that, Daisuke! Getting it on with a Hankami of Hell! I wonder if he's into succubi fetish-"

"Knock it off, Ryouken!" Taiyo appeared out of nowhere, slamming his face into her knee, causing him to cry out in surprise, and Senshi to smile contentedly as his Captain was being taught a lesson.

Kaien himself scratched the back of his head, averting his gaze as he sighed, "Look at the guy. I guess it pays to be the good guys in the end...well, to some people."

By the D.C.O. group, however, which happened to be nearby where the Slayer trotted over, they shared their own mixed reactions. Takashi simply huffed, rolling his eyes at the make-out session Daisuke and Sakura were having, quickly assuming his former sleeping position with his metalic grass hat shading over his face. Rokotsu giggled michieviously as she tried to take a few pictures with her ocluar lense camera, only to have Yoki slap the back of her head, reprimanding her for behaving that way.

Hana meanwhile...was standing with her arms crossed nearby Braeburn, as a awkward silence ensued at seeing the blossoming love between the surprise couple. Her own thoughts and feeligns knocked down any retort she would've thrown as she sideglanced him, with a clearing of her throat, "So...Daisuke and Sakura. Who knew?"

What she ended up looking at... was none other than a fuming Braeburn.

There were several comical veins on his cheeks, his teeth were gritted, and one of his eyes were twitching in an shocked, angry manner. He had his arms folded across his chest in a tense manner. One could practically see steam coming out of his ears. Obviously, it wasn't out of jealousy. It was out of the fact that Daisuke was the one who could say the worst of all lines and get away with it now if he wanted.

"I got the goddess of Hell as my girlfriend. Problem?"

"All he had to do was be a passionate idiot about it and he gets the goddess of Hell for a girlfriend." He grumbled. "If he gets the idea of bragging about it, I'm going to cut out his tongue!!!" A murderous aura was now surrounding him, and his eyes were taking on a bright red color...

Sakura had her own reaction to the reactions. Opening one eye towards the gossiping Captains, she raised one of her hands up and promptly stuck up her middle finger, one corner of her mouth slightly curling upwards in a smirk that conveyed slight arrogance.

"So? If Daisuke wants to be an idiot, that's his buisness," Hana said nonchalantly, in a almost understanding tone but she shifted gears completely as she turned her gaze back at Braeburn, "what do you think? About a relationship I mean...between us?"

Kukkyōna bristled slightly at seeing Sakura's vulgur reaction, but didn't show it visibly. Inwardly, he believed Daisuke was just starting his battles, having such...infamous woman as a romantic partner. With a sigh, Kukkyōna walked to the Slayer, intending to at least see if he knew where this "Link" was so he could get this calamity over with.

The murderous aura from Braeburn immediately faded among the question that Hana gave him. He lowered his hands back to his sides, looking over at the woman that spoke to him with an innocent curiosity. "Well, I don't know..." He admitted, lightly shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe if we made within better settings... you know, like a date--"

However, he was abruptly cut off by a ringing in the sky. His eyes widened to see the formation of the clouds shift into rings that continuously expanded outward throughout the sky. The sky itself was glowing blue, and a light was moving through it in a manner similar to ripples in a pond. In this, he could feel the deathly aura around all of them slowly fading away.

A wide smile crossed his face.

"...within something that's not a post-apocalyptic environment..." He continued, directing his attention nonchalantly back to Hana.

This made both the Slayer and the Punisher direct their attention towards the sky as well, with the Punisher having to break off from Daisuke in order to do so. However, she still kept herself as close to him as possible as she watched.

"So this is it..." The Slayer whispered, closing his eyes and sighing while folding his arms across his chest. "Looks like someone managed to kill the link already..."

At hearing the Slayer's words, the two other Captains looked to the Slayer with perplexion, unaware anyone was left standing to do this ahead of them.

"She must've been looking for him this whole time...while we were battling the Hankami," Kukkyōna said knowingly in a ominous tone.

Daisuke looked up at the sky in wonderment, smiling brightly as he held Sakura close to himself. He couldn't have asked for a better way to end this nightmare and start a new dream for him to protect. For both of them to protect.

Hana shrugged, barely paying any heed to all of the surroundings around them as she wanted to stay on topic, "How about a week from today? 5'o'clock in the afternoon, at the cafe near the Market District?"

With a snap of his fingers, Braeburn had a finger pointed in her direction with a smile, one of his eyes closed. "All I can tell you, Shiela..." He said with a light-hearted tone, one that seemed fitting to the changing environment. "...is that I hope you'll dress good. I know I will."

"All of you..."

The Melody's voice once again spoke over them. "I truly apologize for what's happened to existence today..." He spoke solemnly, a saddened and solemn tone within his words. "To tell the truth... this wasn't the only way in order to achieve Paradise. It was one of two methods, with this one being the most destructive. It was one of your kind that had summoned us to begin it. But the other method would be to allow life to exist, until it eventually forms itself into nirvana. Now that the choice has been made to reverse, this destructive method will not be accessible to anyone else. Life will return to before the first signs ever started appearing."

"Back to where it all began..." The Punisher - no, Sakura - whispered as she continued to gaze at the sky.

"Oi, Sis!"

Her head turned itself to see the Slayer leaning on his sword, a casual expression on his face. With his unoccupied hand, he gave a slight wave. "Now that the job's done, you know where to find the rest of us. Hope you don't get distracted by your new boyfriend to come visit!" He grinned cheekily when she shot him an annoyed glare, but said nothing further than that.

Hana curled her lips and gave a myseterious, alluring twinkle in her eyes as she swayed her hips and brushed past the aussie's form, barely making contact with his side with her own,"I wear nothing but the best."

Daisuke chuckled, waving over to the Slayer, saying, "Don't be a stranger, Slayer! You're enthusiastic attitude and charming personality will always be missed!" He finished with a snarky, yet good natured sarcastic tongue, while he held Sakura close to himself, resting his cheek against hers.

Kukkyōna bowed his head to the Melody, which was synchronized with the other Captains, "We also owe you a great debt of gratitude. Had we not seen the light from one of our own, we would not have seen our own evil and darkness that dwels within the very life we swore to protect. I, Kukkyōna Hayate, on behalf of the Noble Hayate Family, will do all I can to make the Soul Society a place worth protecting. This I promise."

Ryouken huffed, after rising from his honorary bow, he crossed his arms as he said, "I guess you and your son have long heart-felt speeches in common...didn't realize the obnoxious passion was actually passed by blood as well."

"Don't kill the mood, Captain," Senshi sighed while sweatdropping at his Captain's bluntness.

"Mm.." The Slayer himself gave a curt wave towards the response gave him, the cheeky grin fading away. He returned his gaze up to the sky, closing his eyes as the winds began to pick up around them.

"Thank you..."

After the Melody said that, there was an instant flash, and an aura of energy once again washed over them. However, this time it felt like any negative emotion being emitted from their being was erased momentarily. The buildings and other structures would be restored to their former glory, and the people would wake up where they had been standing prior to their "assimilation". They would be aware of everything that happened to them, and anything that happened afterwards would be up to them. The burden of choice would rest on their shoulders.

Everything would return to the way it was...

...at least, to an extent.

Children of Izanami: Climax, Act III

A New Transition, Blossoming Sakuras and Burning Hearts!

Kukkyōna sighed, relaxing as he heard the melodious beat of the familiar sound of a bamboo pipe clanking as it continuously flowed with water through the medieval tranquil pool of a feudal garden. However, it was merely a graphical representation he purchased, and currently playing on the TV within the apartment Avaron aloud him to stay...which also happened to be hers.

The Elder Hayate found it relaxing the reside within the living room, which was sparsely the only thing close to his familiar japanese culture back in the Soul Society's Hayate Estate. The rest of Avaron Setsuko's apartment was spartan compared to others, but had a few luxuries. A comfy couch with a medium sized Tv resided over a colorful rug, with venoleum tiles surrounding the majority of the flooring.

Currently, he sat indian style on the rug where a dark brown rug laid underneath the table that ran up to knee height at best. He sat calmly with a stoic, unreadable expression crossing his features as his scarlet hair laid over his scarf and dark red kimono, a black sash tied around his waist as well as a black kosode within the kimono. It was the only things he wore for his "courting" that he began to do officially with the Captain for the past few weeks of...rehabilitation for the city's populace as well as the additional security granted to the society by the Gotei 13 itself, to ensure that Ahijados sleeper agents never again enter the city to spread its poison in its populace or attack at will.

With a graceful, near-silent whiff with his nostrils, he detected the pleasant scent and familiar flavor of the tea Avaron was fixing. "You sure like to make a point of taking your time fixing the tea, Avaron-chan," Kukkyōna said in a lighthearted tone, a small warm smile gracing his fair features as he looked over smoothly to catch sight of her form.

"Oh, shut up..." Her chiding yet laid-back voice answered as she entered the room he was in with a slightly lop-sided smile. "Don't start complaining about how I do things in my own living space." In contrast to what Kukkyōna was wearing, Avaron's attire was very casual. She wore a white tank top with blue jean shorts, and the length reached to half-thigh, making for a modest piece of attire, yet one which would still show off her feminine form. Her bare feet treaded the ground as she walked, and her gait was normal and steady. In her hands were two mugs of green tea, both of them being held by the side ring.

She moved to sit down in front of him in the same Indian style position that he was in, setting his cup down in front of him. "Careful... the tea's hot." She warned him, having one hand on the bottom of her own cup while the other was on the side. Despite her warning, she seemed perfectly fine with holding the heated mug with no harm done to her hands.

"Being accustomed to the strict teacher of fire, I've built up more tolerance to heat than others would," Kukkyōna reassured her as he took the tea cup in a honorary, graceful manner while he brought it up to his lips. Blowing on it once, twice, and at last a third time, Kukkyōna took a audible sip of the tea, closing his eyes in silent enjoyment of the remedy she concocted.

"Delicious as always," he said with a warm smile before holding it a few inches above the saucer, while admiring her beauty, though his eyes were more transfixed with her face and eyes than anything else, "only rivaled by the refreshing company I take from you, Avaron-chan."

The orange-haired woman put on a playful smirk, even as she managed to take a sip out of her own mug. "Don't start trying to go all Cassenova on me." She teased. "I know I'm good-looking, but you don't have to stress that out." She set her mug down on the floor in front of her, careful not to idiotically knock it over. After all, she was in the presence of a noble. "How's the stay here been for you so far?"

Kukkyōna looked towards the window view of the apartment, faintly hearing above the audible background he put on the TV of the city below. The familiar rumbling of passing vehicles, the laughter and chatter of people crossing the sidewalks and cobblestone roads. The occasional cawing and outcries of the Overwatch aerial troops making rounds above the city on their magnificent birds.

"To describe it in one word would do it injustice. But frankly, it has been...enlightening to see the changes within Yūrei Okōku, as far as I've seen the Capital city. The people have become noticeably more humble and honest. Crime rates have plummeted, and people are looking to each other as well as newcomers alike with more enlightened and joyful spirit," Kukkyōna explained within a soft cool voice, before looking back at Avaron while continuing his monologue, "at first I thought there would be protests of having a detachment force made up of our Soul Reapers within the city to keep additional peace and cooperation within Yūrei's potential border conflicts and possible reemergence of the Ahijados, but I've found the people have welcomed their support. It also reinforced any potential security from what happened with Sector 3 Overwatch to ever happen again."

"...yeah..."

The mention of Sector 3 Overwatch caused Avaron's face to sink from mirthful to slightly sullen, her shoulders drooping a little. However, she kept a calm and composed tone as she spoke. "Guess Soul Society's starting to get a bit more integrated with us, huh?"

"Kaien Shiba is in charge of the Sword Squad that is majorly handling security, not our official Military from the Gotei 13," Kukkyōna continued, at first not taking notice of her downtrodden mood, "because of the nature of the D.C.O., they're more prone to be Free Agents that move upon behalf of the Head Captain's personal orders than individual command structures that fall into place by the Central 46 Courts-" Kukkyōna's eyes then caught sight of her sullen appearance and slight inclination of being depressed.

Kukkyōna bowed his head apologetically, "I'm sorry...I didn't want to bring that up. Its only been a few weeks since...well, the war's end. It must have been difficult for you, to do what you have done."

"And yet it still doesn't feel right..."

Avaron took in a deep breath and exhaled, figuring it would be best to talk to him about it rather than keeping it bottled up inside. "Before Taka and I were sent to capture him, I was certain that I could get through to him in the hopes that I could save him from himself. At the same time, Taka wanted nothing more than to kill him because of atrocity of his actions. At first, I was sure that my reason was out of the fact that we're not gods and don't have the right to take another's life like that..."

Her bangs overshadowed her eyes as she continued speaking.

"But in the end, I realized that it was nothing more than two selfish desires colliding against each other... and I could only choose one or the other at that point. I know I'm the Captain... but damn it..." Her voice broke a little as she spoke. "I don't know what I'll do if I ever have to decide between two comrades like that ever again..."

Kukkyōna inhaled deeply, before exhaling slowly, studying Avaron for a mere minute before he grasped his tea cup again. Before he lifted it up audibly from its saucer, he asked, "Tell me...what's your perspective of how the spiritual world should work? Or at least, how do you think Yūrei Okōku should work? Because you and the two Commanders you speak of all lived in the same society yet all three of you had different points of view on how it should work. I'm curious," He whispered, sipping on his tea again as his eyes locked onto hers, "what your view on how this society should work...and I don't mean what you tell your men or the other Commanders because its "right" or what's "wrong". I want to know what you feel, Avaron-chan."

"How this society should work..."

Avaron's eyebrows furrowed slightly at the question. "Well, to tell the truth, I never really thought about it..." She admitted softly, trying to find the right words to say to him. "But if I really had to explain, then I would say this. Everyone within the spiritual world has died and gone to their respective places. They are all within the same situation, born into this world without a clue on where to start their new lives. Rather than waste their time quarreling in the darkness, we should strive to work together as a whole and find a way out of it. Everyone is redeemable, and none of us have to right to kill our own kind just because they disagree with something they do."

"Then your answer, was the only good answer of the three perspectives," Kukkyōna said with a cool, calculative expression, taking another sip of tea before explaining, "to put it into terms of what you've explained, Commander Sonoda was the one born into the darkness and stayed within it. By seeing the darkness around the world because he was submerged in it, he could see no redeeming light. So, he decided to wrench all of those in the world which he assumed were completely dark and then forcefully turn it upon their heads, creating a Utopia without a clear, enlightened view like he should have. There was no righteous redeemable value within his actions, even if they were justified or were intended for good.

Now as for Commander Nakanome, he desired a nigh unreachable set of standards, even without his knowing of it. He wanted everyone to work together, to be honest, and to work hard. However, if he saw a lack of light within people, he would forcefully try to purge it or completely distrust it. In hindsight, the Commander was right for distrusting Commander Sonoda, but his intentions would've led him to do terrible things in the name of "justice" or "honesty" as I'm sure you're aware of. Forcing the light upon darkness, will just spread more shadows to other reaches and it will be a uphill battle to win a single foothold within the hearts clouded by darkness."

Kukkyōna set down his tea cup before resting his palms on his lap, saying cooly and confidently, "So you, Captain Setsuko, their superior and peer, is the only one with the true perspective that is entitled to worth applying to this society and the next. Do you have any intentions on implementing this ideal to others, or make it a personal goal to obtain on your personal level?"

Avaron closed her eyes, her sullen mood lifting itself up a little at his words. "Change isn't something you can just force onto a society without consequence. The tempo has to be just right. In time, I'll come around to showing the concept to the men and women under my command... maybe even to the public itself if I'm lucky enough."

"Better," Kukkyōna said with a soft, amused smile as he cocked a brow up and crossed his arms within his large open spaced sleeves, "considering politics, Avaron-chan? I've heard rumors that your current ruler would rather do a much less demanding career, though that's all I've heard..."

In turn, this caused the police woman herself to cock a slightly skeptical eyebrow as she once again lifted the mug to her lips. "And just what exactly would you be suggesting?" She asked. "Politics are just too demanding for the likes of me. I'm better off sticking to this particular job. Besides... the King may not act like it, but he has a strong devotion to this city and would keep himself where he's at, unless he found himself a good enough successor when he gets in his golden ages..."

"I was thinking more along the lines of....your job plus access to the King's table. Your input and perspective could be key in keeping this city not only safe, but honest. Parliment might pay more attention to what your needs and ideas are if you have another seat up, regardless of what you're doing for a living," Kukkyōna said thoughtfully, smiling softly as he laid down his tea cup with finality, "its just an idea, so you don't need to take it seriously. Yet."

"Yet." Avaron agreed, tilting her head back and downing half of the mug's contents in one sitting before setting it back down on the floor. She exhaled the breath she had to hold while doing so, looking into Kukkyōna's eyes at the end. "In either case, I'm going to have to settle out the whole thing before I even think of doing that. People capable of filling in Kenta's position are hard to find, considering how they're run."

"Yes, well," Kukkyōna looked at Avaron thoughtfully, before asking, "do you think its a good idea to have such a Overwatch run like that? Its perfect prey for conspirators like Kenta, considering how none of us were one to question their methods nor their loyalty. They themselves, as to you and Commander Nakanome's testimonies showed that not one officer would know what one other officer is doing. Of course, I may be wrong, and Sector 3 Overwatch's methods is a necessary evil."

"That's why I want to approach the situation as best as I can." Avaron responded, furrowing her eyebrows once more. "I don't want any more of this happening any time soon..."

Kukkyōna nodded, then began standing up, walking around to offer a hand to help her up, "Then perhaps you need a second opinion. Would you like it if I or someone else helped handpick your Commander substitute?"

A smile worked its way on Avaron's face, her expression immediately lightening up. She reached out to grab her mug by the handle with one hand, using the other one to accept the help given to her. She grunted as she was pulled up, tilting her head back and downing the rest of the contents before allowing herself to speak again. "That... would be appreciated." She said in acceptance. "And considering it's... well, you... I'd prefer it if you would be the one to help me."

Kukkyōna smiled, and leaned down to capture her lips in a passionate kiss. He wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her gently close to himself while entwining his right hand with hers, feeling her feminine build against his soft clothed, yet muscularature defined body. After beginning to share his love and passion with Avaron, Kukkyōna began nostalgically remembering it was those moments of quiet and peace they had right before they set off to Hell and came back to the War. So much has happened in such a short period of time. If anything was worth fighting for, in his own mind, it was for moments like these.

"Mmm~!"

The sudden move made by the noble had surprised Avaron completely, and she almost dropped the mug she was holding onto. However, the surprise was quick to wear off, and she was quick to toss the cup away. The resulting was an audible bump, but not enough to distract Kukkyōna. She rested within his embrace, closing her eyes and kissing him back with just as much passion. Her free arm wrapped itself around his neck, and one of her legs lifted up instinctively. She had to admit, it felt really good being pressed up against him in such a manner, especially considering the muscular build that she could feel. She couldn't help but wonder how he felt pressed against her, and even--

"Good god, Avaron, stop getting ideas!!" She scolded herself, a slight blush forming on her cheeks even as she kissed him.

When Kukkyōna finally released Avaron for a breath of air after a good five minutes of passion, Kukkyōna's eyes twinkled mischieviously as if he read her mind, "We can take this...to a more private enviroment after we take care of buisness...," he slid his arm up and down the small of her back and rubbed his fingers around her own.

"Yeah... after we take care of business." Avaron agreed, cocking an eyebrow and smirking as she readily pried herself away from his embrace. "So don't start getting my hopes up now, got it?" While her voice was slightly stern, it was also mirthful. She quickly walked off to another room. "Just let me put on my shoes and we can get going, kay, sweetie?" The last word was obviously a teasing one.

Kukkyōna chuckled, as he watched her shawsay her hips and tease him. With a wink back, he began rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "I am known for my patience far better than you are, lovely."

Elsewhere....

CLINGRIIIIIING!

The clash of metal filled the air, with a large vibration emanating the soundwaves upon a wave of flames flowing throughout the charred scenery. Daisuke's form was currently enshrouded with his Bankai's fiery cloak, holding a red flaming katana in both hands as he skidded backwards, a heaving yet smiling face of Daisuke's slightly blackened face from the intense bursts of fire and heat from around them. He hasn't been burned once, but the excess of flames charred the atmosphere and landscape to land soot onto his body and clothing.

The area they were sparring was far off onto the plains they were before, but next to a few valleys and mountains of sorts. Just between the clefts of the mountains was a large body of water, glistening in the distance and horizon. It represented the borders and end of Yuurei Okouku. This is why Daisuke decided to take his "date" with Sakura here. It was the perfect place...for him to perfect his Bankai while spending some peace and quiet with his new girlfriend.

"Man," he uttered with a eager grin that mimicked his Zanpakuto spirit's, "this is really getting me fired up, Sakura-chan!"

"If you're trying to be funny..." Sakura deadpanned, twisting her blade around with one hand and holding one hand on her hip. "...or make me confuse the context of that statement... then stop right now."

In the Punisher's case, everything had basically reverted back to normal. Her second-in-command had been appointed the substitute watcher of Hell while she was away with Daisuke. Her siblings had returned to their own plain, not needing to interact with the earthen world as much now that the Plinian Eruption was over and done with. She was basically on her own once again, giving herself as well as this new life a chance. The concept of relying on pain and agony as fuel had been destroyed by the man that she was now focusing on as her love.

Now, she was changing her ways. Despite the fear that she had of it, she was finding that living comfortably... wasn't so bad. The very fact that she had focused on Hell and only Hell had blinded her judgement of souls and humanity for far too long. A judge was supposed to understand both sides of the coin and not see everything in black and white. It would be difficult to step down such a path, considering her millennium-long clinging to her original theory. But it was something she would have to take, if she wanted to prove herself.

She would not soil the family name anymore.

"Yeah...bad joke, I know," Daisuke bowed his head in a brief bout of comical depression.

Then within a instant, his form shimmered within the wake of his Flash Step. Appearing above, he thrusted a number of times towards Sakura's form with his Zanpakuto, the heat excesses created a number of pyro-blades, replicating and increasing the effectiveness of his attacks by three fold. The whole time, his face was locked with a eager, yet enthusiastic face as he fought to best his lover and girlfriend.

She could silently thank her year-long experience for her defense.

She allowed herself to walk backwards, moving her sword in order to block and parry his strikes. She kept her free hand on her hip and a natural gait to her walk. She didn't press an offensive against him much. After all, it was a simple spar, so there was no point in trying to push forth an attack as far as she was concerned. She had a neutral, concentrated look on her face. But it was clear that she didn't really have to focus much as he attacked her.

He had the moves, the motivation, and the courage.

But his emotions just drove her off when it came to fighting him. Whereas she was more interested in bathing in her opponent's blood, he seemed to get excited just simply by clashing blades with his opponent's. There was nothing but determination and heroic resolve in contrast to her bloodthirsty and psychopathic attitude towards combat. That was something she would probably never get used to.

Daisuke shifted from the front, while twisting his Zanpakuto to a reverse held grip while a tangent of flames were summoned to his left hand. His eyes twinkled, his teeth bared playfully yet excitedly, as a duplicate of his Zanpakuto formed into his left hand. While he clashed with her sword with his right handed blade, he swung himself around in a arc while gathering flames, flames he knew would not harm her due to her origins, before slashing out towards her side. The affect was a violent geyser of flames that combusted and burst forth dramatically outwards from the point it had taken, into the sky while billowing the fields in a wave of heat as well as his own Bankai's cloak.

Sakura wasn't one to be outdone.

She allowed herself to twist around just before the flames could hit her, whirling away from the blade and allowing herself to twirl until she had her distance from him once again. As she twirled her sword around again, she shut her eyes and let out a light yawn before tilting her head from side to side. This was where she could curse her fighting experience. It just made everything, particularly sparring, all the more boring. If they were fighting all-out with the intent to kill each other, maybe that would change. However, it was just a sparring match... and a date, nonetheless.

Could she really call it a date?

At this rate, she could safely say Daisuke sucked at showing a woman like her a good time. Nobles were always so socially awkward...

"Damn," Daisuke swore aloud lowly, but had a cheerful expression on his face nonetheless as his body settled into a more relaxed posture, the flames burned idly off his body as he held both of his swords, "I was hoping to show off my work on Nenshō Burēzu Bijutsu that my father has been teaching me lately. I guess I have yet to perfect the form."

With a sigh, Daisuke looked to Sakura and called out to her, "Hey Sakura-chan! Do you want to call it a day and get on with the picnic? I believe the perfect spot is still available for us!"

Correction.

He sucked at showing women like her a good time.

She sheathed her blade and walked towards him. "What do you mean "still available"?" She asked, cocking a slight eyebrow. She was hoping that he wasn't implying that there was actually more people around near the spot they would choose.

After a brief flash of crimson light, Daisuke's Zanpakuto became sealed from its Bankai state into the normal oval guard, double edged Katana, allowing him to sheathe his sword promptly onto his back sheathe. WIth a wink of his eye, he rushed up to her and without warning picked her up into a bridal style.

"Trust me, Sakura-chan," he said softly, with love in his eyes before he took off from the ground with a propeling of air pressure as he moved towards one of the far mountains that overlooked the oceans, "you're going to like the view."

As he flew towards the mountain, his overcoat and hair flourished around his body, a bright gleaming smile on his face showed his excitement of the place he found for their outing. While originally Daisuke wanted to take her straight to the spot, but the sun had not risen yet. Now, with the sun's orange haze on the verge of changing into yellow, he found that the place was now in perfect condition. He distracted her with a duel to buy time, waiting for the moment it would be arisen.

Daisuke hummed a tune unrecognizeable by Sakura as he flew towards a cleft within the mountain he flew towards. A wide patch of grass with wildflowers covered the area, bordering its area was a number of rock crevices cracked out and made into makeshift nests for the large natural birds of this land. With a sigh of relief, Daisuke landed down gently on the patch of grass, setting Sakura down gracefully before he burrowed into a small cave within the cleft. Within only a minute, he returned with a picnic basket he set up before asking her out to the place, still fresh of the food he fixed up for the two of them.

"Ahhhhhh," Daisuke sat down abruptly while reclining slightly, patting a spot beside him for Sakura to sit down by, "I was worried the birds would take this spot or harass us for our food, but I guess they left earlier due to the...unusual racket we were causing in the distance, hehe."

"You are so by-the-book when it comes to shit like this, you know that?"

Recovering from the sudden move he had pulled on her, Sakura walked towards him with her hands on her hips and promptly sat down beside Daisuke, stretching her legs out and shifting one over the other. While keeping one of her hands placed behind her, she used the other to idly inspect her fingernails as she continued to speak. "A happy environment, the typical picnic where the grass is green in every direction."

She immediately jerked her head to the side, and then to the other just to see if it was.

Just on the edges of the grass lied hints of brown and tarnish. If one could feel spiritual energy, there was a mediocre amount running through the soil along with the flora that planted itself. Daisuke had secretly gotten aide to give this perfect viewing spot a little life and greenery, so it could look special for his date. A little Kido and herbal remedies went a long way in his mind...

"Well, I thought to make this day special," he then placed a hand on hers, just as the sun began to change colors, reflecting off the oceans to create a glittering series of fantastic colors, shining over the mountain and carrying that color off to the horizon, "for us, Sakura-chan."

"And he's even got the cliche lines..."

By this time, Sakura could probably guess that he knew that she was somewhat annoyed with her surroundings. Being used to the darker, grittier side of life, such a setting proved to be rather uncomfortable for her. She naturally responded to his movement by intertwining her fingers with his to complete the lock. With her other hand, she reached into her pocket and fished out a slender cigarette.

"You are just the innocent little thing, aren't you?" She asked dryly, sliding the end of the cigarette with a swiping motion across the ground before placing the unlit end in her mouth. She wasn't speaking out of hostility, but rather as a genuine question.

"Would you rather I wasn't?" Daisuke arched a brow out of curiosity, gently squeezing her hand back as he noticed her taking the initiative to take a cig into her mouth, faintly smelling the scent of its not too pleasant smell. Due to his affinity with fire, one would think he wouldn't mind smoke, but there was a certain....toxicity that came from cigarettes. Regardless, Daisuke never showed his disliking to smoking, so he wasn't about to scold his girlfriend now.

"I lived on negativity and cynicism for over a millenium." Sakura kept the cigarette between her two fingers as she spoke. "It won't kill me if you lessened your sweetness a little."

"Maybe," Daisuke looked out over the horizon, keeping a neutral look as he spoke, "but maybe it wouldn't hurt for you not to be so down all the time about everything good and beautiful. I mean...wasn't that the whole point why you never saw any good within the world, both here and beyond?"

This caused Sakura to take the cigarette from her mouth, blew out smoke, and turned her head to look over towards him with a quirked eyebrow. "You may think that this environment, as sweet and positive as it is, is beautiful. But to me, it's just a sugarcoating for the darker and edgier aspects. It makes me uncomfortable to sit in something that just serves as a covering for something else. It's just a means of trying to forget the sins of existence."

Daisuke inhaled deeply before exhaling. This wasn't the first time they had a conversation like this since they began their relationship. Though they never had began discussing one over a date, as usually on a unsaid agreement they would keep their own opinions to themselves when they're enjoying each other's company. However...there have been those occasions, just like today, that would be exceptional.

"I try to acknowledge and accept that the darkness, is a part of this world and beyond. Despite that, I strive to also treasure these moments of beauty, showing that the world isn't entirely evil or bad. The good in others, makes me enjoy the beauty and love I have rather than despair that there's darkness lurking underneath. Besides," he turned to smile at Sakura again, leaning his forehead against hers, "I've seen the good in you, even though you never saw it yourself. I love you, even though you act like a sadistic bitch sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Sakura mocked, a small smirk crossing her face.

"Okay okay," he leaned down and kissed her gently, breaking off for a moment as he said, "you ARE a sadistic bitch. But you're not a bad sadistic bitch, kay?" He then leaned back in and kissed her, passionately and lovingly as he squeezed her hand and snaked his arm around her waist. Within his fits of passion he managed to lean over her and embraced her, getting lost in the motions.

Daisuke took what he said back. It was these moments he was really fighting for...

His advances were responded to with accepting, but not so gentle force.

A chill ran down her spine as she was kissed, and she shivered under the passion. Her eyes shut, and her hands found their onto his chest. She grasped the front of his shirt, pushing herself into him. With her rough movements, she ended up shoving him onto his back and pinning him. She straddled his hips, and her hands were placed beside both sides of his head. She leaned in, her crimson eyes narrowed and her smirk had become much more dangerous.

"Before all of this is over and done with..." She whispered. "...you're going to know what it feels like to be dirty like me..."

Any potential response he would've had was cut off by her lips once again pressing into his own. As far as she was concerned, the date itself had been pointless. They already knew each other by now, and nothing more was left to do.

IN any case...they weren't the only couple to be getting it on...

DIIIIING!

"Come at me, Braeburn!" Hana said in a taunting manner as she held herself in a martial artistic form. Currently she wore a tank top and gym shorts, showed off her defined musculature yet beautifully feminine body to her recent romantic acquisition, Braeburn. After the cataclysmic ending, Hana did ineed begin dating Braeburn and things began to go off without a hitch. With this being said, Braeburn came by the D.C.O. headquarters more often and began to integrate with the cell rather well.

Currently, Hana was building up Braeburn's physical aptitude, by going through bouts of intensive training that usually ended up her beating him to the point of no mercy. That same look of a manic, merciless mentor flashed across her eyes as a dark aura of enjoyment graced the atmosphere that not even Spiritual Pressure could create. All in all, she was a scary teacher....

But it wasn't as if Braeburn couldn't handle it.

In his own shirtless form, he threw himself at her, his arms raised and thrown in a set of coordinated punches and swings. The narrowed eyes and the smile that graced his face showed that he didn't mind his circumstances. As a matter of fact, he could easily recognize the joy he got when faced with a challenging situation such as this one. He always managed to put up a fight against Hana, but always ended up being the one defeated. With each and every end, however, he could feel that he was becoming more and more adapted with the conditions she put him through.

He couldn't remember when it began.

But he sure wasn't interested in stopping.

Hana had to admire his physical attributes. Despite how easy it was for her to beat him within the beginning, he had natural stamina that had let him keep up with her instinctive maneuvers and strikes, making it a little more challenging to best him and to teach him things he already didn't know himself. His body certainly was ripped, despite his youthful visage, he presented a fine show of real muscular build-up, something Hana inwardly enjoyed seeing.

As his swings and punches came to her, she switched her mindset to that of sparring, spinning in and around his strikes while throwing her forearms and wrists in the path of his strikes. While they physically didn't harm her, she could feel the reverberations of his strikes through her nerves, allowing her to notice that he was not holding back.

As he swung one last time, she took the opportunity to knock it out of the way with her left forearm. While in mid flight of blocking, she grabbed his arm and used it as leverage as she ducked and spun around his outstretched right side. Using a precise calculative move, she struck out her elbow to his side, making sure not to hit anything valuable or anything that would break, presenting enough power to send him staggering away.

"Don't repeat your tactics, Brae-san!" She scolded, scowling slightly while she settled back into a fighting stance, "being unorthodox, keep me on my toes. The more moves and stances you switch and create, the less advantage I have over you! Get up, again!"

"OOF!"

Braeburn let out a grunt as her elbow forced him to stagger back, bend his knees and keeping himself in a fighting stance. "First you call me Braeburn, now you're referring to me with the suffix attached..." He muttered dryly, his smile fading into a slight frown. "Make up your mind, Shiela!"

Once again, he lunged forward into attack.

But this time, he moved with a bit more animation, bringing his elbows and legs into the mix. His attacks switched, just as Hana had directed him to do so. It was easy for him due to having learned from his sister. But he knew that mimicry alone would do no good here. Although it was a spar, he still considered it serious to some extent. One moment, he was using kicks to knock aside her arms and leave her open. Another moment, he was using his elbow to deliver direct blows if she got too close to him. The next moment, he was attacking with swift but ferocious punches. All this time, he maintained a steady and aggressive assault, determined to keep her on the defensive as long as possible.

Hana had to admire his ability to adapt. His form became fluid and vigorous, using any form of attack he had in his arsenal of physical strikes. She felt her arms knocked to the side as he threw a few high-powered, energized kicks, forcing herself to backpedal across the padded floor. He didn't let up, even as she returned back to palmheel or punch at him, he used his elbow as a close-proximity weapon to keep all close quarters attacks at bay. Even as she began to whirl around him, he threw a barrage of intense, high-sped punches, forcing her head to move side-to-side in a elegant show of instinctive muscle training and martial art prodigious form.

She barely glimpsed at the clock within her retina, the ocluar lense she had installed told her it had been a good two hours that they've been at it, and he still had this much fight left in him. But she knew they should take a break, otherwise she'd run him ragged and they wouldn't have anytime to improve form instead of mindless repetitive fights.

As he threw one more intense punch she backpedaled far enough it would miss her body, but not enough so her hand could grasp his fist. With a loud slapping sound, her palm caught his fist forcefully, allowing her to pull him in the direction of his punch before slamming her palm towards solarplex. Despite the fact it was only a mere touch connection, she had enough force used within her punch to create a disturbance within the air pressure before it collapsed and collided explosively against Braeburn's gut. The affect would have been similar to a cannon ball striking his midriff.

At that particular moment, Braeburn could've sworn he had been knocked unconscious for a split-second. His pupils shrank, and the wind was knocked from his lungs as the fist collided with his stomach. The next movement he made he could've sworn to be out of instinct and reflex rather than actual intelligence.

But he made it.

Before he could fly away, one of his hands reached out to grasp Hana's wrist. The force not only caused him to fly backwards, but also caused her to be taken with him. Forcing himself to move, he brought both of his legs up mid-flight, his feet connecting with her stomach with as much force as he could without his breath. In turn, she was sent upwards to the ceiling, while he performed an ungraceful backroll onto his stomach, greedily sucking in a breath as he forced himself onto his hands and knees.

"Guh-?!" Was all Hana could utter as she felt her body propelled up into the air by a double forced kick, using her own momentum against her. She felt the force causing her body to fly upwards into the ceiling, causing her to wince as she narrowly had enough time to evade total disgraced impact.

WHAM!

Using the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet in sync, she managed to absorb the impact that the kick sent her way. She created a large indentation and crack because of it, showing just how much she would've been feeling that hadn't she reacted in time.

With a twitch, she managed to smirk in pride that he managed to come so far. Just by instinct he managed to realign his position and land a counterattack when her guard was down.

"Not bad, Braeburn!" Hana shouted out from the ceiling, letting her body fall to the ground in a graceful forward flip and deft landing. She propped her body back up with her hands on her slender hips, and a weathered smile from the spar they endured. "Your rate of growth within adapting to martial combat is....staggering nonetheless. You got a ways to go, but you're starting to bear fruit of your labor."

"Was it really necessary...." Braeburn breathed, slowly bringing himself to stand on his two feet, albeit with difficulty. "To make my liver, kidney, and stomach switch places...?" They hadn't, of course. But it felt like they had! The woman carried monstrous strength, it wasn't even funny!

"Totally," Hana smirked as she crossed her arms, walking slowly towards him confidently, "we've been at this for over two hours, and believe me, that punch would've hurt a lot more if you had continued this another hour! Plus, I lost track cause how much fun it was to tangle with you on the floor. Much better than your dancing I might add," she chuckled in a semi-serious way, and a teasing way.

"Uh-huh..." Braeburn grumbled, working his fingers through his hair in an attempt to undo tangles that had formed during the scuffle. "Glad to see you've managed to get over your touch-o-phobia..." The last sentence, although presented in a gruff tone, was obviously teasing as well.

Hana's smile briefly disappeared at the mentioning of the "touch-o-phobia". Her bangs covered her face, hiding her expression for a brief few seconds. "Yeah," she resumed a disarming smile at him, snaking a hand up his chest, feeling it through the very little garments blocking his sweating, "it wouldn't be fair if I was the only one to touch you and you couldn't do anything back, now would it, Braeburn?"

This didn't go unnoticed by Braeburn, even as his hand roamed his bare chest. He frowned a little, his eyebrows furrowing in the slightest manner. "No..." He started, leaning his head forward so that it was touching hers. "No, it definitely would not." At this, a slight smirk crawled onto his face, and one of his hands reached out to wrap itself around her wrist. If there was anything wrong, he wanted to find out - even if it took unorthodox methods in order to do so.

Hana stiffened slightly at his hand wrapping around her wrist, but then recoiled as she felt his breath roll over her face, mingling hers and the faint touching of his forehead against her own, making her smile, "Mmm, want to grab something to drink? I think we can talk better after we've...refreshed ourselves."

Braeburn shrugged lightly. "Of course. Though..." He released his grip on her wrist, backing away a few steps to motion to himself. "I could probably use more than a drink, obviously." His bare chest was showing beads of sweat, and he was certain that he stunk. At the very least, he needed a shower!

Hana chuckled, looking down at her own body there were no signs of exhaustion or her own body stinking of sweat. Still...the prospect of joining Braeburn in a shower-

NO! Hana slapped herself mentally, chiding herself at such thoughts, reel yourself in Hana-baka...we're still trying to adapt to handling the prospect of holding hands and cuddling...let's not put ourselves into a corner, shall we?

She turned around and began faintly tapping her feet across the padded floor towards the small compact L shaped kitchen near the training room they were using, "You take care of that then! I'll fix us some nice cold refreshments. Anything you want in particular?"

"Water would be preferable, though I wouldn't mind if you thought otherwise..." Braeburn said lightly, reaching over to grasp his old shirt as well as the backpack holding his new clothes. Slinging the strap over his shoulder, he turned on his heel and walked away towards the men's shower room. "That, and I hope you don't miss me too much while I'm gone."

"Please! We've been only going out for what? Two weeks? It will take a lot more time for me to miss you when you're only going to be gone for ten minutes," Hana joked, having reached the kitchen, she shuffled her feet across the now tiled flooring. She maneuvered gracefully over to the fridge, lowering her front forward while tilting her lower end up. It was unfortunate no one saw her like this, for they would get special eye candy during this moment...something she always teased Braeburn with, despite her inner disregards of intimate contact.

After grasping a water bottle and a bottle with bubbling red liquid, she closed the fridge door with her bare foot then piroetting around in a perfect circle before setting them on the digital countertop island. After setting the bottles respectively apart, it rippled upon the cool contact, causing the plain beige color to take a dark blue ocean affect, showing digitally near-real representations of a prehistoric view of fauna of the ocean deep. Hana distracted herself by watching the unnecessary, yet enticing view, leaning on her elbows that made "ripples" on the countertop while propping her jaw on her open palms, her digits tapping restlessly along her cheekbones as her violet eyes twinkled with the lights on the countertop.

"Can you feel this?"

Hana's eyes suddenly widened, hearing a foreboding, monotoned voice whisper in her head, and the digital frame in front of her changed. It became a obsidian, pulsating view, something she hadn't expected, despite the empath-temperature sensitive display views that would play in front of her.

"I know this hurts you....why not give in?"

Her heart began to beat, and her hands began reaching up to her ears, closing her eyes calculatively, and she began to count to twenty, repeatedly saying, "Get out of my head...get out of my head...get out of my head..."

"The scars are temporary...you will not even remember their purpose. The only purpose you will have now, is the one we give you, from now on..."

"Stop it...go away!" Hana began raising her voice, the obsidian display now pulsated blue, with a dark void swirling maelstrom. A hand...a cruel cold hand began reaching out of the display towards her.

"You fear what you cannot understand. Let me in...Ha-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UUUUUP!!!!" Hana's voice rippled the air almost as viciously as her punch had pressurized and crackled the air just minutes ago. Her eyes were wide open with rage and primal fear, and her hands were rearing to strike at the table, while tears threatened to come out her pupils. But she suddenly stopped herself. She saw the aquarian display was still moving tranquilly below her body and the bottles that rested atop it. She breathed shakily for a few, long moments before hugging her chest and sliding down the fridge against her back, curling up into a fetal position.

"Its all in your head...its all in your head," Hana began to verbally reassure herself, inwardly praying that Braeburn hadn't seen nor heard her outburst. She knew, past the scared, near traumatized temporary surface that she was reemerging into that state again. She would need to talk to some people, to help submerge it again. She couldn't let her life crash around, not when she was starting to feel alive again...

It was too bad that fate had decided to go against her in that moment.

"....Hana?"

Braeburn's hesitant voice came to her ears as he entered the kitchen. He was dressed in a blue-themed attire, with a dark blue haori and a lighter-blue yukata underneath. His sheathed Zanpakutō was placed on his waist. He slowly approached, hearing the scream and seeing her crumpled form. It occurred to him that she might not be in the best state of mind right now, and the fact that he was seeing her like this made it worse. But it was too late; the shell had cracked, revealing the vulnerable side of her exposed to his very eyes and soul.

All he could do now was attempt to re-assure her.

Slowly, he approached her, but careful to go slow as to not alarm her too much. The shock was suppressed, and a cautious yet calm expression was on his face.

Hana gasped, realizing the sound of his voice, the tone and uncertainty that came with it...he came in to hear the worst part of it. Gulping audibly she raised her head up, trying to put on a brave face as she said, "H-Hello there, Braeburn! There's no need to get dressed so much! You're going to make me feel so drab...," she chuckled unevenly as she stood back up to her feet, and walked over to the countertop, grasping the red liquid bottle before unscrewing it promptly. Closing her eyes, she began to take large swallows, forcing her emotions in check to keep herself from reeling back into a unstable state. Despite what Braeburn has seen, she was in no state to speak of what happened.

An unstable bomb was not the type to attempt to defuse.

Braeburn took in a slow breath before audibly exhaling, a grim satisfaction being taken in the fact that he could mentally prepare himself now. He remained silent to her joke, walking over to take the seat beside her and grasp his own drink. Unscrewing the cap, he tilted his head back and downed the contents, the cold liquid acting like an ice-pack to his burning innards. Once again, his approach would be risky, but it would be better than trying to face the problem immediately.

He was going to wait it out. In her state, she would have to break and tell him what had happened. Hopefully, anyway...

She thought long and hard as she took her mouth off the now half empty bottle of crimson liquid contents. She was attracted to Braeburn more than she was to any other man she met, and she found his surprisingly acute intellect and skill breathtaking. Within half a century, he could become one of the most powerful Soul Reapers known in the Soul Society. However...what she's experiencing and what she would reveal, would be one of the most sensitive and personal parts of her life to date. So...taking a leap of faith that he would understand, that anyone past a doctor's labcoat would truly understand, she decided to speak.

"The whispers are happening again," Hana spoke vaguely, as she looked into the swirling liquid that gave her surprising rejuvenation as well as a special remedy of herbs and spirit energy that kept her body in prime condition, "whatever you just heard...is a byproduct of becoming what I am today. I have no memory of my past or childhood. The only memories I have, is violent...cold...and terrifyingly dark voices," she looked up with a serious, dark gaze, "I don't know if its as simple as physical trauma or some secret that was blocked out, all I know is that even Captain Sasayaki refuses to probe within the recesses of my mind, for fear of damaging me psychologically. You could say this is a severe case of amnesia mixed in with nightmares."

She bowed her head, hoping he would understand if she didn't want to press the topic further or say anymore. Telling him this is borderlining on breaking the trust she had in the D.C.O. and its administrator, in keeping her instability a secret.

Silence.

Then, Braeburn turned his head towards her, his gaze leveled onto her even as she bowed her head away from him. "I may not be able to reach into your head and pluck out the nightmares that you have..." He began with a serene tone. "I may not be able to make you remember your childhood. But..." He shifted his body to turn towards her, folding his hands in his lap. "Understand that you can trust me. We're all used to the rough-and-tough woman on the outside. You don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to. But if you need an outlet... someone to vent on or even a shoulder to cry into... then I'll be there."

A weak smile crossed his face, and serenity could be written in his eyes.

Hana's eyes widened again, but this time, it was out of pure relief and happiness. Tears welled at the corners of her eyes as she smiled widely, sniffling weakly as she reached out and hugged him, burying her face into his collar...unintentionally squeezing him too tightly, "Thank you, Braeburn! Thank you!"

"GACK--!!!"

Had Braeburn not been hugged with such force, he would've gladly returned the hug.

His eyes turned white, and his face flushed a dark purple as he felt the air being squeezed from his lungs. "Too tight...!!!" He wheezed, squirming within her hold in a desperate attempt to prevent her from suffocating him. "You're killin' me, Shiela...!!!"

"Oh," Hana said with a big 'o' with her mouth, naively releasing her strength around him, and held him aloft as if he was a plank or something that she broke, "did I brake you...Braeburn?"

"...thankfully not..." Braeburn managed to state weakly, the purple flush still on his face even when she let go. He blinked a few times, shaking his head a little in order to rid himself of the stars that he was seeing. Thankfully, it only took several seconds, and when he finally got himself together...

"...you always seem to like keeping me from talking back to you in any way, don't you?"

Following this rhetorical question, he wrapped her arms around her and pulled her back into his own hug. The smile, though still weary, had a bit of positivity in it. He never liked having to be the therapist, no matter how good the reward was. But if it helped Hana at least a little... then he wouldn't mind.

"Now you're getting it!" Hana joked with a smile, patting him gently before being brought back into a hug. She closed her eyes and nuzzled into his neck, enjoying the reassurance and comfort of someone close to her. Despite her constant chidings from her teachers, she always tried to latch onto relationships in any form she could. Only one mentor told her the importance of bonds, and how indestructable they were, even in the fiery blaze of battle.

She could get used to being more intimate. One baby step at a time if needed be...this feeling...was worth it.

Reunions, Preperations and Plots Rising!

Senna skipped down the hallway to check on their patient. Although Senna would be seeing her for the first time, it was due to the emergency procedures and potential reemergence of certain Ahijados infiltrators. She had been bedridden for the first few days, but had insisted on getting back on her feet asap, despite the protests of the D.C.O. medics and nurses. But now, she was nearly back to full strength, and Senna wanted to see her after it had been clear the Ahijados threat has been deterred from the city and the new HQ for the Sword Squad.

When Senna stopped in front of Rukia Kuchiki's door, Senna knocked on it rythmitically having a composed face after ditching her excited smile, announcing herself, "Rukia Kuchiki! A moment of your time, if you will?"

There was a moment of silence. The sound of footsteps started out faint, but generally increased in volume as their owner came closer to the other side of the door. There was a twist of the knob, the pulling of the door from Senna, and the reveal of the short and petite Soul Reaper with a slightly tired look on her face.

"Yes, what is it--"

However, Rukia abruptly stopped herself upon seeing the girl that she had personally see dissipate into nothingness long before. Her eyes widened and dilated, her form frozen in place. Any more words had been caught in her throat, unable to come out. All she could do was stare in disbelief and surprise for a moment.

Unlike the encounter with Kaien, however, she couldn't even bring herself to respond at all.

Senna's eyes almost seemed to widen in sync with Rukia's. The way they looked at her, with sudden surprised recognition, despite having herself never met her in person, made her suddenly shocked. Or...had she...?

"M-Miss Kuchiki?" Senna tried to remain formal, despite the obvious surprise in her speech, she tried to stay in character as the Deputy Captain of the Sword Squad. After all, her hakama and coat spoke for itself among her comrades of her status and earned strength. But here...she doubted herself, right in front of a logged and documented woman of fine stature within her Noble House and many almost unbelievable adventures. Why does she seem to know her?

"Does she even recognize me...?"

For that brief moment, Rukia's mind kicked into gear. This was definitely the same woman she had interacted with in the Blank incident. However, based from her reactions, she didn't seem to remember her apart from the name. Her eyes narrowed slightly, a small frown crossing over her face. She could only wonder what was keeping her from openly recognizing Rukia, accidental or otherwise...

For now, she had to play it safe and slow.

She folded her arms across her chest, keeping a serene gaze locked into Senna's. "Senna, right?" She said immediately - a subtle hint that let the other woman know that she was recognized as someone from her past.

"Oh," Senna felt like facepalming herself now. Rukia was said to be a woman to be a little more informal than formal than the rest of her Family. She smiled brightly back, reaching out a hand to shake Rukia's, saying to her, "yes, that's me! I guess you don't mind if I call you Rukia then? Captain Kaien usually refers me by name too, which is probably how you heard of me, right?"

At that moment, Rukia was almost tempted to chuckle. However, she did allow herself to smile a little. She unfolded her arms, reaching out and grasping the other woman's hand for the shake. "Well, if you really want to call me Rukia, I wouldn't mind, as long as you're comfortable. But I didn't hear about you from Kaien-dono. Tell me, do you happen to know of the Blank incident that happened sometime back?"

"The Blank what?" Senna cocked her head to the side, keeping her smile to a quizzical extent and shook her hand back, "can you be more specific? There's been a lot of incidents that I've researched through both my House's archives and that was readily available to me in the D.C.O. research library...but that incident has never been brought up?"

Her mouth was then brought with a comical 'o' as she retracted her hands back to the sides of her face, saying, "Are you saying this was a secret mission you went on, that was accidentally never recorded?"

"She...she doesn't remember at all!!"

If she was playing innocent... then she was doing a perfectly good job of it.

Rukia was seriously considering that Senna virtually had no memory of what happened, emphasizing with a comical sweatdrop. She still was the somewhat ditzy and optimistic girl that she had seen. Could it have been an effect of being composed of nothing more than memories and fading away just as that? It was something that hurt her head thinking about it. After all, it had been a long time since then, and her memory of the incident was rusty at best. She would have to find out more later.

But for now, she wouldn't stress herself.

"...you could say that..." She muttered, her head briefly hanging in comical dejection before raising back up again, her face resuming its serene and cool look. "What do you need of me?"

"Oh, duh, right!" Senna then sincerely facepalmed her face before dragging it off with a excited expression, as she grabbed her wrist, beginning to urge her to follow, "Kaien wants to speak to you once I spoke with you and found that you're in good health. C'mon, no slow pokes aloud!"

"H-hey, careful!" Rukia chided, startled but only able to follow along as Senna pulled her along by the wrist. Noble or not, she always felt helpless when at the mercy of such an energetic and hyperactive person. She winced a little, feeling a slight ache in her gut when she moved. It was annoying, but it was certainly nothing to worry about as far as she was concerned. Such things were never important during times of duty.

It could be noted that during her stay in the hospital, she had gotten a change in attire. She wore a green, sleeved shirt with a light brown vest overcoating it, as well as striped purple pants and tennishoes. She also had miscellaneously tied her hair in a ponytail - something which she had found a wonder due to the cut. The result made her look a bit boyish, much to her chagrin. But it was the only thing that Chidori had sent her.

"Also, I think what Chidori-sama got you looks really fetching on you," Senna said with a cheeky smile, teasing her as she waved back at her as she led her through the brightly lit, square alabaster tile corridors. It had the appearance of that an interior like a sci-fic novel space station, with various doors with no handles yet had autmatic readers to let you in when needed.

Walking past them were a number of hakama, shoulder pauldron uniformed men walking past them, all of wich bore the sash with a crossed swords on it, indicating their status as Sword Squad officers. They all briefly saluted Senna before walking onwards, which Senna returned dutifully the salute and kept on walking through the expansive corridors.

"Don't start talking like her..." Rukia grumbled, not bothering to pull her hand from Senna's grip. She looked around, taking a look at the uniforms of the men around her and eyeing the sashes in particular. She frowned at the fact that she had casual clothing on in the midst of all the uniforms. It made her feel so unprofessional!

Senna looked around to see if there were anymore officers around. After confirming no one was around, she beamed happily and began skipping with Rukia, unintentionally dragging her in sync with her skipping.

"Oh yes! It feels great to act casual sometimes, I swear!" Senna beamed, as she approached a large door that ended in the corridor, its height was nearly two stories tall, with each door at least ten feet wide each, the only one that appeared to be feudal in both design and purpose. A large pair of banners with crossed swords on them indicated it was the Sword Captain's office, "Kaien works some of us to death, I swear, even though he's so lazy!" Senna grouched as they approached the office.

"This woman's going to shake me apart before we even get to the destination..!!" Rukia thought, sweatdropping even more as the energetic woman skipped the rest of the way to the office. At this rate, she was starting to wonder if it should be a miracle her arm didn't fall off. She breathed out a light sigh of relief when they finally stopped at the door, bailing her hand out of Senna's grasp before it could fall under the danger of being plucked off.

"Obviously, his method of working you to death isn't enough if you have so much energy..." She muttered under her breath... or at least tried to, as she was unaware of the fact that Senna could hear her.

"Shush!" Senna said in a comical, twitching manner, "you know NOTHING!!!"

Before that, she turned to the door, knocking her classical rythmitical tone against the massive doors. After no response for a few long seconds a sweatdrop nervously worked its way down her scalp. She knocked again. Still no response. She sighed, turning to Rukia, "Stand back please."

After waiting for Rukia to back up, she lifted up a feminine leg, and with a mighty kick...

CRACK, SMASH!

...her foot kicked open the giant doors wide open and slammed into the opposing walls respectively, creating a loud reverberation along the large office.

"Wake up, CAPTAIN!" Senna snarled out, as she stomped her way in, right across the hallway of the dark, obsidian colored office that made everything dim and foreboding, was none other than Kaien Shiba! Taking a nap...across his desk...with paperwork wrapped customly across his body like a blanket, with a book laying over his head. He continued to snore on, however, completely ignoring her demands.

There was no words to express the embarrassment that Rukia was feeling right now.

It was bad enough that Senna had to kick in the doors to Kaien's office, disregarding the fact that he was her Captain. But it was simply made worse when she saw her former superior sleeping at his workdesk. It was like she had been brought to another Jūshin! Was every leader of importance so carefree when out of serious situations?

"Before you attempt to wake him up further..."

After this statement, she used a Flash Step to vanish and re-appear right beside Kaien with a washable marker in hand. She leaned forward to temporarily lift the book off of his face, drawing a curly French moustache as well as a beard before placing the book back.

"There. Do what you want." She said, her eyes closed in a mixture of seriousness and smugness as she continuously tossed the marker in one hand. It was immature of her, as well, she had to admit it. But some form of punishment was needed for sleeping on the job!

"Serves him right, hehe," Senna couldn't help but find it hilarious that even after all this time, Rukia could still just play a prank on her former superior. She giggled with laughter that eventually woke her superior.

"S-Senna?" Kaien began waking up, rubbing his eyes as his paperclipped "blanket" fell off his body, "why did you wake me up?"

SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP!!!

"Idiot!" Senna yelled out, slapping Kaien silly and out of his current lathargic state, "you told me, "Go get Rukia Kuchiki when you confirm she's in proper health." Well it pretty much looks like she's healthy, KAIEN-BAKA!"

"OI! I'm you superior officer!" Kaien shouted back childishly, his face welted with a number of slap marks including his french mustache, "you have to respect me, even if I'm being a bad example!"

"Do you mean by your actions, or by your looks?" Senna said coyly as she crossed her arms and winked at him.

"Huh?" Kaien suddenly looked quizzically. He quickly drew his Zanpakuto and looked in the reflection at his face. His eyes adjusted to the irregular mirror, but his eyes suddenly widened and his jaw dropped. "WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!"

Rukia smirked, stopping the toss of her marker. "It's actually been a while since I could do that. Thank you for being a good guinea pig, Kaien-dono." She said lightly, folding her arms across her chest.

Kaien glared daggers, his head grew comically large with his eyes blinded by fury, with lightning bolts crashing in the background, "Rukia! You-You-You dare?!?!?!?! I went to all that trouble and this is how you repay me?! How could you?!-"

"Cause you were slacking off, dumbass," Senna said blankly, cracking the comically terrifying visage as if it was glass, "slacking off in front of Nobility is a big no-no, didn't you once tell me, Captain?"

At this moment, Rukia wondered if it was wrong to actually have fun tormenting her former superior like she and Senna were doing.

She walked up to Kaien slowly, the smirk fading into her serene yet serious self. "At any rate, I do thank you as well as the D.C.O. for heeding my injuries." She said, closing her eyes and giving a respectable bow. After raising herself up, she stuck her hand in her pocket and fished out a conveniently placed napkin for him to use in order to wipe off the markings on his face.... well... aside from the slap marks, of course.

"Uh...you're welcome, Rukia," Kaien said after realizing he wasn't going to be brutalized or teased anymore, smiling back before began to wince at the slap marks, a vein protruded from his forehead in irritation at her face, "at least SOME people provide comfort after beating them down!"

"I'm your Deputy Captain, not your sister, Kaien," Senna said stuck-up, sticking out her tongue childishly before crossing her arms and raising her head out of indignation.

"You could certainly pass for his sister..." Rukia said in a deadpan snarkish manner. "I never would've guessed."

After Kaien chuckled nervously, he cleared his throat, now looking at Rukia seriously, "Rukia. There is something I need to speak to you about. Its regarding your power and the Espada Afilado Noveno, Lobo De Norte."

It was the first thing she had expected him to talk to her about.

Her eyes widened, her irises flickering for a brief moment when she turned to look at him. However, the moment was brief. She kept her stare even with him, folding her hands behind her back and lowering her head forward a little. In truth, she was nervous, knowing the possibility for being scolded because she held herself back. However, she remained silent in order to let him finish what he was saying.

"I, as your renewed mentor, will take full responsibility in training you from here forth," Kaien said evenly, his eyes had a serious gait to them as he spoke, "and together...we will achieve your Bankai's truest potential!"

"J-Just a minute, Kaien!" Senna looked at her with wide eyes, walking up to him with scared yet even stare as she waved her arms lowly in exasperation, "even though our technology has exceeded that of what it was the past three hundred years, there's no garuntee it will be less lethal than when it was last used!"

"We don't have an option, idiot!" Kaien yelled at her with a vein protruding from his head, "of all of the Espada Afilado, Lobo De Norte is the most relentless enemy anyone should face. He may not have the raw Spiritual Power like most of the upper ranked do, but his skills in all forms combat exceed that of any Lieutenant! Should he return to fight Rukia as she is," he returned his eyes back to Rukia, without holding back, he yelled out, "will surely die!"

It was the words that chilled Rukia's soul the most.

She truthfully had dismissed Lobo's desire of returning to her and continuing the fight as nothing more than an empty threat. But if Kaien was being serious about it, then it was obvious that wasn't the case. Her eyebrows slowly narrowed themselves, and she closed her eyes for a moment. Death did not phase her. But being beaten like she had was simply a fate worse than death - especially in the eyes of her former mentor. If she had to go back and fight like that again... it would be a fate worse than death.

She couldn't have that.

"....I understand...."

She took in a deep breath, slowly bring herself to a kneeling position. Her head was lowered even further as she spoke lowly, her tone resolved. "If that's what it takes, then I'll put myself in your hands without pause."

"Good!" Kaien said, with a sudden cheer within the stern tone he had, as he crossed his arms and looked momentarily at a resigned Senna before looking at her, "hence forth, I will build up your current abilities to be up to snuff to practice your Bankai's achievement...in two weeks!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Senna said lowly with a sweatdrop crossing her scalp, as she genuinely feared for Rukia's safety, "just what kind of crazy training reigiment is he going to put her through? He's too crazy for his own good when it comes to training!"

Rukia, however, seemed to be less phased.

In fact, she didn't seem to be phased at all!

She allowed herself to stand to her feet, her eyes once again directing themselves to Kaien's. "When will we start?" She questioned, folding her hands behind her back once again. She was almost at full-strength, but that was the key word. She could guess that he would take that into consideration, as well. So she couldn't say it was a stupid question that had an obvious answer.

Of course, this was Kaien...

"Tomorrow," Kaien said smoothly, not even pulling any jokes or teasing as his eyes locked with hers, "at dawn. You might want to eat something before going to bed...try eating anything in the morning, and I'll guaruntee you'll be puking it."

"She's so cool!" Senna's eyes bulged out comically as she looked at Rukia with a whole new light. Seeing her take her former mentor and Senna's current superior so nonchalantly made the young looking Soul Reaper admire her all the more. At that moment, she suddenly felt a tingle in the back of her mind...like a spark lit in her brain and she suddenly felt...nostalgic. Deja vu, if anything. Had she...met this woman before? She briefly contracted her eyes and reached up to her head, her forearm sleeves wrinkled upon contact with her head as she looked away from the two of them.

"I understand..."

Rukia gave another brief bow to Kaien, before glancing over Senna when she looked away from the two of them. This made her remember the interaction they had earlier. When she turned back towards her former mentor, she didn't hesitate on switching her mind to that particular topic. "In the meantime... could I talk to you privately for a moment, if I can?" She asked.

Senna opened her eyes a little wider, looking confused at what topic she wanted to discuss with her not present.

Kaien arched his brow, studying her briefly for a long while as his eyes locked onto hers. With a sigh, he closed his eyes as he scratched his scalp, saying to Senna, "Senna, would you mind if you retired from your duties for now? Rukia and I...need to do some catching up, if you don't mind."

"Oh!" Senna suddenly looked comical as she looked like she had an epiphany, "so you too need to relight the candles of comradery between each other! I see...," with a quick series of polite, if not eccentric bows, Senna skipped out of the room, humming happily. She stopped at each of the large doors, scuffing her feet across as she grabbed one end and then the other, before turning around, and saying with a wide smile, "you two take care! Captain Kaien! Rukia-chan!"

BOOOM!

And then there was silence, as the two oversized doors closed and reverberated thunderous noise within the room. It created a unintentional, ominous feeling as Kaien looked at Rukia, slowly sighing as he took his seat.

"Now," Kaien looked at her expectantly, tapping the desk while resting his palm on the desk itself, standing straight in his chair, "what is it you have questions about, Rukia?"

"It's about Senna." Rukia explained, getting straight to the point. She looked over in the direction of where the bubbly female had left. "I met her before prior to Soul Society being threatened by the clan of exile Shinigami known as the Dark Ones. She was the Memory Rosary, meant to be used as the instrumental tool by them in order to destroy both the Soul Society and the Human World. She was supposed to have died sacrificing herself to push the two worlds back apart, and I had personally sensed her when she had dissolved from existence."

She turned her eyes back to Kaien. "It's not the fact that she's alive and well that surprises me the most. She doesn't seem to remember anything about the incident... or anything about me, for that matter."

"That topic...is both a complicated and classified one," Kaien said with a heavy sigh, leaning forward onto a bridge made by intertwined fingers with his hands with his chin, his elbows propping them up as he further explained, "Senna Kasumiōji, while she bears the same resemblence of the Memory Rosary you knew her as, does not bear her precise memories. As you understand, the Senna you knew, while was a individual and being, she was also host to thousands of fragmented memories of many souls that had become Blanks. We have some theories as to how she lost those memories.

"One, she has rejoined in the cycle of death and rebirth to an extent that any ordinary soul would go through in death, and has lost the memories of her prior self somewhere along the line. Its quite possible she became a human before reentering the Soul Society and becoming a member of a Great Noble House as well as a Soul Reaper, thus her memories would nearly cease to be. But we don't know for certain, and I've made it my priority to monitor her mental health as well as her emotional disposition. She was, after all, a Soul Reaper when she was a Memory Rosary and yet she had been able to remember the fragmented memories of the Blanks. Its quite possible she is the only Soul Reaper in existance that can remember her past as a human or any number of lives.

Though," Kaien leaned back up shrugging as he scratched his scalp again, "that's just a theory the D.C.O. and the 12th Division concluded, not mine. Is there, a particular reason why you want her to remember you? I'm surprised that you remember her, as that everyone involved was supposed to forget her as her essence and everything she interacted with dissolved as well."

A small grin came across Rukia's face. "Really?" She asked cryptically, her tone similar to that of Meikurai's. "Well, everyone was also supposed to believe that you had been killed, and yet here you are..."

"Oi! There's no need to be creepy!" Kaien said comically, as sweatdropped nervously in front of her. But as soon as he said it, he cleared his throat and looked cautiously at her, "that...is a deeply personal matter. I'll tell you about it sometime. Regarding Senna, I never interacted her until her recent reincarnation....or rebirth, since we still don't know her true nature as a soul that is."

"Of course." The grin faded away from Rukia's face as soon as he became serious. "As far as she and I are concerned, this conversation never happened."

"Are you sure...you're not trying to remember Kurosaki through making her remember, Rukia?" Kaien asked quizzidly, pressing towards her on the matter, "are you sure...you haven't let you go of your past completely?"

This caused her to widen her eyes in surprise at the sudden mention of her old friend Ichigo.

Her memory of him was still fresh in her mind, coming back and surfacing at the simple mention of his name. Of course she hadn't forgotten him, for it was simply too short a time for her to do so. However, it wasn't as if she missed him terribly. She had parted ways with him, and they had went their own separate ways, naturally as the wind flowed. It wasn't as if she depended on him for anything now.

So she responded honestly.

"It's not that... Ichigo and I have parted ways. There wouldn't be any point in trying to remember him through another person. But..." She paused for the right words to say, using her hands for emphasizing gestures. "...it feels somewhat... off, having to treat each other as if we just met for the first time when we didn't. Please don't misjudge, I can get accustomed to it, but..." She trailed off, lowering her hands to her sides again. Her face conveyed slight nervousness, as if what she had said simply couldn't explain enough.

"Don't worry about it, Rukia," Kaien said with a kinder smile, standing up and walking around his desk to his former, now reformed student and subordinate, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder as he said, "I understand it might make you uneasy to be around Senna due to your past with her. But you had barely known her for some time if I recall. Maybe...just maybe...she might remember you too, and whatever friendship you two flourish will be strengthened for the better. But I suggest you comfort her when she regains those memories," he looked sadly to her as he removed his hand from her petite shoulder, "for her feelings for Kurosaki were clear. It won't be...a easy transition to accept the fact he's gone."

"She had feelings for him?"

Although her eyes widened in surprise, Rukia did not openly question about it. Instead, she gave a respecting nod. "Of course..." She answered softly. "It may be hard to pull her through if that's the case. But I still consider her to be a friend, if only in the mildest of terms. I'll do what I can."

"I know you can do it," Kaien said softly, before raising his hand to ruffle her hair, just like how he use to when he was still a Lieutenant, before he said, "now go get some rest, Rukia. You're gonna need every ounce of strength if you're going to push past your limits and attain the power you need to survive."

It felt just like old times.

"Thank you, sir..."

With another nod, Rukia allowed herself to turn away from Kaien and walk off, her hands in her pockets. When she approached the door, she pushed it open and stepped through before shutting it behind her. She would have a lot on her plate, aside from the traditionally nasty hospital food that they served. It wasn't something that she could pay extreme concern to, but it was also something that she couldn't easily ignore. She would have to prepare herself for what was ahead.

Elswhere, less happy and moral meetings are taking place. A secret meeting within darkness and shadows...

Meikurai Shiomaneki had been observing most of the past events within the safety of his laboratory. Even during the Hankami's attempted Eruption, he was safe within the monitoring room of his makeshift laboratory, taking tabs and recording everything within disturbingly high level of detail. Even as he did this he waited and waited for the perfect time to report this intel. Though, it wouldn't be the type of meeting any of his comrades would expect, nor even his superiors.

It has been nearly three weeks since the events of the Hankami's Eruption and the Ahijados-Yūrei War, and Meikurai had been keeping up appearances like he was supposed to, making sure he made everyone reassured with his presence, even though Lieutenant Senshi scowled at him and Captain Kaze barely gave him his two cents to him. Still...he made sure to drop off flowers in Rukia's room every week with a "get well soon" card. He hoped the dashing and charismatic noble Soul Reaper would pull through. The wound she sustained, while was treated correctly, was that of a Espada Afilado. He made sure to keep extra watch for the Espada Noveno's movements in the future, if nothing else but to keep Rukia safe in his own way.

"Computer," Meikurai spoke, standing up as the whole room began to go dark as the appropiate measures have been taken and the circular three foot by three foot holo pad was ready for use, "begin blackout sequence for the next 15 minutes. Lockdown all outgoing and ingoing feeds from blackboxes within Yūrei. Initiate feed to the Circle now."

As the whole room blacked out, only the faint blue hemispheres within the metalic touch sensitive pad. Within instants, his body was processed, analyzed, and confirmed, and his form transmitted a avatar of himself within a large magnanomious room, filled with four eqally sized thrones, all of which were seated a distance from each other. Their forms and faces were dimly lit, but recognizeable to the attuned Lieutenant.

"Lady and Gentlemen," Meikurai quipped aloud, as his form bowed halfway in a mock attempt to respect them.

"Meikurai-san. So glad to see you still well..."

The voice of a young man spoke out first. He had one leg shifted over the other, a fist propping up his cheek and the connecting arm resting on the arm of his throne. His voice was calm, serene, and pleasant. "I hope I am able to say the same for your objectives in Yūrei, however..."

"Indeed," the voice of a equally youthful man, dressed in nothing more than what could be seen as a academic military dress suit, his legs crossed over in the opposite direction as he sat in the perpindicular pose to Tsukishima's left, "it would be such a headache that you took the time to have a vacation while playing hero in Yūrei's little war."

"I have not been idle, if that is what you two are implying," Meikurai raised a palm sized oval device, clicking the center before it lit up, and cast a number of holographic screens with images of numbers, places, and events, "I have gathered much data about the intended objective, Horsemen. With Sword Squad of the Deep Cover Operations firmly implanted as extra "good will" security, I will have unlimited access to any number of classified intelligence and dossiers, as well as schedules for the entire Parliment and King's court. I've also gathered much personnel data about the Hankami themselves, finding very interesting facts while they were busy quarreling and creating havoc in their playground of Hell.

All in all," Meikurai gave a lighthearted shrug with a cryptic knowing smile, "I've done what I came to do. The rest, is not really the concern of the Circle."

"That's a little presumptious, don't you think?" Kyōaku asked, retaining a polite smile with a arch of his boyish featured brows, only earning a wider smile from Meikurai.

"The Hankami, as of now, are of no concern to us." A female voice spoke up from one of the thrones. "Despite relations, they do not possess the interest to act, even if Yūrei is attacked. It's their duty not to get involved in the affairs of Shinigami or humans directly, with the exception of the recent Plinian Eruption. Even so, the Punisher in particular has a habit of socializing with the lesser beings, so she could disrupt her own policy at any time."

"All in all, good work, Meikurai-san!" Another male voice spoke up with a slightly cheery tone. "We trusted you with this difficult task, and you did not disappoint our expectations."

"Thank you, my Lord," Meikurai addressed Suna with a polite sincere bow, before raising back up, crossing his arms as he spoke aloud, "if its all the same to you, its been sometime since I've been updated on the status of the other Circle's occupations. Do you know, Lord Tsukishima, what is of my counterpart up to?"

"He had been sent to the V-14 in order to get them to get rid of a nuisance that's been harassing our soldiers as well as multiple HQ stationed within Soul Society. However, it seemed that under circumstances, they cut his contract and left the target alive." Tsukishima, as he was called, tilted his head to the side as he spoke the words. "Something like this... an undermining of our power... simply cannot go unchecked."

Kyōaku looked to Shūkurō, waving a hand in emphasis with a enlightened smile, "Should we get rid of V-14? If they're not going to be any use to us, we should remove all obstacles that might hinder us in the future. After all, there is no progression, unless all handicaps are wiped out."

Meikurai crossed his arms and waited patiently, his face drawn into a unreadable, neutral expression as he closed his eyes and began to think. Him and Yashin had always been at each other's throats, even if it was only through mere presence rather than actual hostile contact. They were perfect candidates to be Shūkurō Tsukishima's Dragons for this very reason. Both were illusionists of sorts, both liked to play in the shadows and manipulate others. One made a pretense and play at being good, while the other made no such pretense. They, of all the Dragons within the Inner Circle, were true rivals.

"There is no other way to deal with pests other than to eliminate them, as far as we stand." Tsukishima said simply. "It was a pity, too... I was looking forward to work with them, but they've made their choice."

"Cruel and heartless, Tsukishima..." Suna commented, though still keeping a casual tone. "Just what I expected from the First Horseman, as well as my pupil."

"I find it rather enlightening that we can have such a competant and cool companion," Kyōaku said with a polite, upbeat tone, "to be able to execute people and dispose of allies so callously, is precisely the kind of person we need if we are not to be held back by pathetic fools. V-14 has had its moment of infamy. Now...they will be merely stepping stones on the path the Horsemen will trod, and the Inner Circle's dominance. Exciting, yes?"

"Quite," Meikurai said blandly, opening his eyes again, looking to the Horsemen, "I can arrange for several resources of ours to activate and dispose of both the V-14 predicament and that renegade that's determined to undermine our organization. Just say the word, and I'll make it happen."

"You've done well to make it this far, Meikurai." The woman stated, folding her hands in her lap as she gazed at him. "So we trust that you'll take it upon yourself to eliminate those ragtag mercenaries with no problems. As for us, we shall settle our sights onto the two superpowers known as Yūrei and the Soul Society of Japan."

"Very well," Meikurai's avatar bowed, before he raised his head back, "I will keep you posted now that this farce of a war is over. Terminating connection now."

With a loud whine the avatar disappeared, and the pad set before them suddenly disappeared, leaving a empty, inactive foot console humming faintly before the four thrones of the Horsemen.

After awhile, one of them stirred with excitement...

"Ho?" Kyōaku asked in a delighted feigned surprise, "we're going to take on the allied Societies? The Gotei 13 isn't like it was in the old days...that young Captain-Commander is no push-over! This will be interesting to see how things will go down...for both Yūrei and the Seireitei!"

"It won't be an easy task..." Tsukishima said, keeping the smile on his face as he explained. "But that is why we've worked so hard in order to prepare for this. Up to this point in time, both targets experienced nothing but guerilla warfare and gang mechanics. But now, what will they do when they suddenly see a force ready for all-out war? They may try to prepare... they may try to struggle... but in the end, there is no escape from their demise. It will be the end of them and the beginning of us."

"Agreed." The two other Horsemen said in unison.