Adult-FanFiction.org : Bleach

Tag	By : LilMonk Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 11403 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Disclaimers: Bleach is the
sole property of Kubo Tite. I only own this fanfic.

A/N:Words in Italics denotes personal
thoughts (hence scenes of the past are in this font, as they are being
remembered).

When I use the word �man�, I�m using it in the context of gender and
not (im) mortality.

At last, the present is fully mine to play with.

To make the scenes clearer:

*******

Followed by words in this font = Past

*******

*******

Followed by words mainly in this
font = Present.

*******

Previously:

She rejoiced at the knowledge, even as sorrow threatened to splinter
her heart into infinite pieces. Her own reaction terrified her. Shihouin
Yoruichi was afraid of something she couldn't fight and didn't know how to
handle, so she maximised procrastination... until Fate made the choice for her.

0o--------------------------o0

The choice
of fate

That treacherous
Aizen had escaped again. Truly despicable, such as trying to kill his own vice-captain,
wounding so many honourable comrades just for the sake of selfish ambition...
looking at the aftermath of devious deception was depressing.

Ichigo was being
attended to by Orihime-chan, which meant he'd be fine. The medics tending to Abarai
Renji were already on the way to their headquarters. Their captain was
personally aiding the last victim, with Rukia by his side. There was nothing
left for her to do, but-

"Hey, Gorgeous,
where do you think you�re going?"

Despite being
relatively basted and bruised after fighting his commanding officer, a somewhat
battered Syunsui was blocking her way. His light-hearted tone was in glaring
contrast to his detaining stance. There was no hostility, but his friendliness
could not be trusted. She could sense Soi Fong not too far behind her. This
felt too much like Shogi.

"Yoruichi, your
extra knowledge and input will be invaluable. Besides... we have so
much to catch up on."

Check. That was
typical of Ukitake Juushiro, able to eloquently sum up the situation while
pacifying opposing sides. Looking away from him to the only open avenue, she
found herself face-to-face with-

"Yama-ji..."

Checkmate. A benevolent visage was lined with wisdom, sorrow and paternal understanding. She'd probably disappointed and
angered him with her departure, and now he could exact justice. His wrath was
not to be taken lightly, as the captains of the eighth and thirteenth divisions
knew. Waiting with baited breath for his judgement...

"Twenty years ago,
on his sickbed, your grandfather desperately wanted to see his favourite
grandchild one last time."

Arm extended, one
finger pointed past her, in the direction of� An overpowering need to go where
she had not been in ages. Whirling about, she dashed past Juushiro before remembering
to employ shyunpo. Everything became an insignificant blur. It'd take less than
two hundred shyunpa to get there. Not that the object of her affections was
going anywhere...

Finally finding
and landing in front of a sleek monument of stone, Yoruichi studied the bold
black lettering inscribed on the unblemished surface. Housed within a hexagonal
dome of marble, frosted glass dividing the polished panes resembling
hard-packed snow... it looked so cold and lonely. Nothing like the warmth of his
belly-rumbling laugh, or the snappish flare of his bad temper. Only the unique
shape of this architecture showcased his quirky individuality.

"I've returned. I...
couldn't... should have... I..."

The three captains
were concealing their presence, but she could feel them just beyond the
perimeter of the Shihouin ancestral graveyard. At least they couldn't see into
this partially protected privacy.

Head bowed, she
was sinking to her knees onto the cool surface. What did one say to this? It
was so difficult.

"I didn't bring o-kayu or your favourite flowers. The human world is full of surprises.
If you saw me now, you'd be scolding me to eat more since I'm always too thin for you.
Kisuke still cringes whenever I lose my temper, in case I beat him up again.
I-I..."

Hands dangling
loosely by the sides, hot tears silently slipped down her cheeks as she closed
her eyes. Willing her uncooperative body not to shake with the effort of truly
expressing her grief, she shed the mask of pretense, which was the detached fa�ade that
was her shield. She never knew if he'd understood her motives, and now
explanation was futile.

Ji, I'm sorry.
All this power, and it can't bring happiness even to the ones I love. Why
couldn't I have been there for you, just like I was for less important
rashness? But after that, another needed me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...

*******

Summer had just ended, and the
cooler autumnal weather was greatly appreciated.

Weathered stone made up steep
sides of the rust-red canyon in the outermost southern wilderness of Rukongai,
jagged rocks being worn away and reshaped by relentless sea-green ferocity
making its unceasing pilgrimage towards wide-open arms of the sea. The fierce
roar resulting from their brutal onslaught for freedom literally drowned out
everything else, except on certain occasions.

While launching multiple
paralysis bolts at the other figure, she was soaring backwards through the air.
Yellow energy exploded on fast-flowing water, the swiftly moving figure deftly
avoiding them while running on top of strong currents as easily as if it were
solid ground. Zipping from one side to the other in a deliberately haphazard
manner, the uninjured target was finally within attacking range of his
opponent. Catapulting off a wide boulder and shattering it to bits from such forcefulness, one hand drew out his weapon, before he swung it forward ferociously with both hands.

Even as his lean fingers closed around the stout piece of wood, she dropped a pebble. It fell undisturbed, until an earth-white
slipper pushed against it. Somersaulting off the bit of granite, Yoruichi
easily escaped over the taller figure who should someday mature into a wonderful man and husband for another (albeit a bit hot-headed). Twisting into a headlong
spin on the downward arc, she landed on a misshapen boulder.

"Not bad, for somebody who's not even preparing for entrance into the higher ranks. You haven't made up your mind about whether to become at least a fifth-seated officer?"

That earned her a wolfish grin from a descending opponent, along with another stabbing motion of the quarterstaff.

"I'll take at least a decade to decide, if I don't get distracted for another decade. Didn't my sis or Kisuke tell you that?"

Manoeuvring sideways around that blow, she appeared behind him, ruffled his hair with one hand and chuckled at the bristling youth.

"Kaien, I
don't need him to point out something so obvious."

Before he could reply, they both sensed the change in spiritual pressure that was as subtle as blowing up a house.

"That mixture of energies! Kisuke-sama and others-"

Shiba Kaien was cut off with a stinging
pain to the back of his neck. Unsteady knees began to buckle.

"Yo-Yorui... why..."

Bearing the limp body to the
wide safety of dusty rock, she laid him down gently, as his eyelids began to
flutter shut. The drug would keep him unconscious for approximately half an
hour.

Looking in the direction of
tremendous conflict, which wasn�t that far from here... It had finally happened.
Luckily all preparations had been completed, just in case.

"It's too dangerous for you.
Goodbye, Kaien-kun."

*******

The distinct
crunch of a cracking tile alerted her to another person. Reining in the effect
of too many nonsensical memories, she took a deep breath and looked to the
left. The sight of a certain youth with dyed hair, stepping as if he were an
unbalanced crab tottering across a mat of hot stones and eggshells was highly
amusing. No one would guess that this youthful stripling might possibly be the
most amazing shinigami in history.

"How are your wounds?

"Yoruichi-san? Uh,
I'm good. Another day and I'll be ready to kick that spectacled moron's butt
all over Soul Society!"

Resisting the urge
to guffaw at his enthusiasm, she sat down on the rooftop. He joined her,
zanpaku-tou by his side. It was a full moon tonight. Was it the same where
people watched gimmicky exorcism shows, or was there even a sliver of beauty
where the three renegades had fled?

"Yoruichi-san,
thank you for helping me to acquire bankai. If it weren't for you, my quest to
save Rukia would have failed right in front of her jail. That reminds me,
should I be thanking Urahara-san, or beating the crap out of him when we meet
again?"

Kaien-kun... if only you hadn't... I miss you. And what I couldn't save- Help you with, I shall give to this boy...

Affectionately
patting Ichigo on the head and smirking at his irritation, she decided to ask
how the fight with his 'arch-nemesis' had gone. Pumping his fist victoriously
in the air, the energetic teenager was more than happy to spill the beans,
until...

"On the verge of
absolute defeat, I lost control and... a freak took over. I nearly killed someone
who didn�t deserve such an atrocious assault, even if he is a jackass for
wanting to execute his own sister. I wanted to win so badly, I..."

The memory of that
duel had scarred him. She didn't want to see such innocent strength in torment.
Brown eyes were downcast, and a frowning visage was fraught with doubtful fear.
It's time to tell him. You and I don't want the same thing to happen.

"Wanting to win
isn't a crime here. Who doesn�t want to live? You're just like Kisuke, with an
extremely strong will to survive. You�re lucky By- your opponent was powerful
enough to survive ferocious hostility, until you regained control. Next time,
you might not be so lucky, and it could be your friends who perish when they
try to stop your other half."

"What's happening
to me? Yoruichi-san, you know, don't you?"

She had a lot of
explaining to do. For the next five minutes, he was absolutely quiet. Ichigo
was petrified, as it started becoming clear to him. The real challenge had begun: the
quest for dominance over his soul. Knowing that Kisuke and Yoruichi would aid
him allayed some of the terror; that he was forever a fusion with what he
fought. That was why his mask kept adding stripes to the blankness... there was
only so far his luck would prevail. Yet she seemed so sad, it made him wonder
what had happened back then. The gravity of his case was imprinted forever
after the next five minutes.

"It is a war you
cannot afford to lose. Just like you, our silly Urahara-san temporarily lost
a battle when his friends were around, and then I had to stop him, when he would do anything to win."

It was an event
both parties always wanted to forget. He had been unable to prevent it; she had
been forced to do the one thing that had hurt beyond belief for both of them.

"I'll tell you what happened when
Kisuke wasn't quite himself, or more like too much of himself(1)..."

o0-----------------------------0o

(1)---- In ep. 19, Kisuke's eyes are grey (in the close-up where he was eating an apple), and I was trying to figure out the reason why there would be a focus on his eye for such prolonged seconds. The only times that Ichigo�s eyes were grey/silver, were when he first became a Death god/ Hollow hybrid, and when he fought Renji and upped his power by using a source not yet known to him. This helped me deduce that Kisuke, who helped Ichigo achieve this breakthrough, probably tried the same method on himself (Aizen did mention he succeeded in such an experiment, and seeing that Kisuke was willing to figure out and know about dangerous methods, like unorthodox attainment of bankai...). IMHO, the only difference in the current SS arc is that unlike Ichigo, Kisuke has won the fight for personality dominance, probably become truly fused with his Hollow-half and is able to fully utilise his power without worrying about losing control. Long before he met Ichigo however, it was probably another story. And seeing how easily he handles an Espada like Yammy... That's my theory. I'll have to look at his sword again, though. And can I ramble or what? XD

List of Definitions

Ji: Affectionate, intimate
way of addressing her grandfather. 'Ji-ji' might have sounded too funny and
ruined the mood, even though I would have preferred that.

Shikai: The first stage that
a shinigami achieves on being able to release his Soul Slayer, after leaving
the academy.

Shogi: Japanese chess on a 9
x 9 board, with 20 pieces per side. Objective: To capture the opponent�s King.

Shyunpa:
The singular form. �Shyunpo� is the plural term in this case.
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