Adult-FanFiction.org : Bleach

Prize of Victory 2
By : NovaAlexandria
Category: Bleach > General
Views: 56251 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor make a profit from this story
Chapter List
- 98
- 99
- 100
Giants

The air gusts and reiatsu surges generated by the nearby battle were almost enough to blow Rangiku off of her feet. Given her very pregnant state, that was saying something. It was bad enough that she was far heavier than she�d ever been before, but the nausea that plagued her all morning had gone to war with her hunger.

�Why can�t life be simple for a change?� she asked the universe mournfully, lamenting her fate now perhaps more than she had during her first month of captivity under Nnoitra.

Rangiku sorely missed the old days of drinking and sleeping away her sorrows in Toshiro�s office. The comfortable couch there had been particularly nice. Isshin-Taichou had picked it out and installed it in his office to put guests at ease. Things had been so much simpler and peaceful in those days. Toshiro had done a masterful job with the paperwork and aside from the times she�d had to track him down and chide him for slacking, Isshin had been a decent Taichou. She�d had plenty of time to enjoy life�s pleasures. After what she and Gin had endured in the Rukongai, after all their respective hard work, she�d felt she deserved a few well-earned pairs of heels from the Living World, or a new bottle of perfume, or just some deserved �me� time.

Best of all, she hadn�t been simultaneously pregnant, tired, nauseous and ravenous, all while subject to an Arrancar�s bad moods and misogynistic actions.

�I wonder if Toshiro kept the couch, or if it�s still collecting dust in the old 10th Division barracks,� she couldn�t help but wonder aloud. Beside her, Tatsuki kept one eye on the brutes� savage fight while trying to calm the baby. The chaos around then had distressed Avispona and Rangiku didn�t blame the little girl for crying. She and Tatsuki had toyed briefly with the idea of continuing towards the safety of the 4th Division, but there were too many Locusts and acid-spewing Beetles to try to avoid. Tesra was having a difficult time as it was keeping the Swarm away from his mate, Rangiku and the baby. It didn�t help that the bugs kept making a go at him.

Yachiru continued to sit on the edge of the roof, dangling her small feet and cheering for her Taichou. She didn�t seem bothered by the raw, angry energy Nnoitra and Kenpachi exuded while they duelled. If this was her reaction to such combat, Rangiku privately thought the pink-haired girl would be absolutely terrifying when she chose to grow up.

�Che, yer slower than I remember! Ya gone soft, livin� in th� First District?�

Kenpachi brought his Zanpakuto and the insult down on his enemy at the same time.

�Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you!� Nnoitra shot back, sneering while he blocked the blow. �You�ve probably been sitting on your ass in your hidey-hole with no one to fuck or fuck up! Am I right?�

�Fucking ain�t the same as fighting,� Kenpachi snorted derisively, �and the only bitch that might have been worth it wasn�t interested.�

Nnoitra wasted no time in mocking his opponent�s luck with women.

�Who gives a fuck if they are interested? Just so long as they can give you what you want, nothing else matters!�

Rangiku flinched when she heard that, but it was consistent with how he�d treated her over the years. The pleasure he�d given her when he�d forced her into his bed hadn�t really been for her benefit and hadn�t been much of a motivation when he�d used that tongue of his on her. Instead, her moans had served to feed his extravagant ego. He didn�t love her, didn�t call her his �mate� and kept her chained like a prized dog. Even as he bragged about knocking up his pet, he showed no real outward interest in his children.

�Spoken like someone who can�t find anyone willing t�shag him without usin� tricks. Th� real problem is that once ya fuck �em, ya can�t seem to get rid of �em. They seem to think you owe them something afterwards!�

Kenpachi spat his opinion and a gob of saliva and blood the side. Rangiku found both equally repugnant.

�Not an issue,� Nnoitra scoffed. �Ran knows her job is to keep me happy!�

She heard an exaggerated gagging sound nearby and turned to see Tatsuki looking with equal disgust at both combatants.

�Chauvinistic pigs! Seriously both of them can go die in a ditch,� Tatsuki grumbled. �Maybe we�ll get lucky and they�ll kill one another!�

This time Tesra made a pained face, for he idolized his Espada, something Rangiku considered his greatest flaw. Still, she couldn�t fault Tatsuki for thinking such bloodthirsty thoughts. Outside of the former 11th Division, Zaraki Kenpachi had inspired more fear than adulation in the members of other units. The constant challenges to anyone willing, or nuts enough, to cross blades with him made people rightfully wary of both him and his �strength is all that matters� outlook. What would he think of his lone surviving subordinate, Yumichika, if he knew the man was little more than the Second Espada�s plaything?

�Probably not much,� Rangiku concluded. There wasn�t a lot that the former 5th Seat, like the rest of the captives, could do about his situation, other than maybe try to take his own life to put an end to such misery. Rangiku had never become quite that desperate herself, but she had considered it, especially in the beginning, when Nnoitra had used his fists and his dick instead of the Claim to teach her who was boss.

�Madarame Ikakku was the one who worshiped the ground Kenpachi walked upon, not Yumichika. He always struck me as being along for the ride where Ikakku was concerned. Perhaps he won�t care what Kenpachi thinks at this point, either about his Zanpakuto or about what the Second forced upon him. It isn�t as if he had a choice.�

The two men went at it again, having finished tossing insults back and forth and soon both sported deep red gashes that bled profusely. Rangiku swore that they were deliberately taking hits to prove their �manliness.� Their clothing didn�t last long under the barrage of sword and scythe strikes. It wasn�t long before they were down to nothing more than what amounted to tattered shorts, and in Kenpachi�s case, showing off their impressively muscled torsos.

�All right� at least the view isn�t too bad,� Tatsuki grudgingly admitted.

Tesra threw another hurt look at his mate and she sighed and rolled her eyes at him.

�I said it isn�t bad, love, not that I thought it was the best thing I have ever seen.�

Her clarification seemed to mollify him, before another set of Locusts zeroed in and he had to give what was in front of him his full attention.

Nnoitra and Kenpachi had finally dispensed with their pissing contest when it came to their wounds, and their fight had taken a turn for the serious. Their weapons clashed more frequently and they landed far fewer hits on one another. Rangiku blinked and shook her head as the combat paused once more, this time because Kenpachi�s notched blade became tangled with Nnoitra�s scythes. They�d moved too quickly for her eyes to follow and she�d missed the point where their blades had locked together. Unfortunately, shaking her head had a few stomach-related side effects and she had to cover her mouth before she succumbed to a round of dry heaves.

�I gotta step this up! You�re still only using one hand,� Nnoitra scoffed, as the two men remained locked together. He was using all six of his blades to hold back Kenpachi�s Zanpakuto. The top two in the pile appeared ready to shatter under the downward pressure.

�Do it, ya lazy bastard! I am about to fall asleep on my feet here out of boredom!�

Nnoitra gave his blades a strong push, finally breaking the stalemate. That forced Kenpachi to disengage and leap back to keep the Fifth from cutting his legs out from underneath him.

�Come on Ken-chan,� Yachiru shouted, then turned to regard Tesra curiously. �Hey, Cho-chan, how come you�re not cheering?�

�Nnoitra-sama does not require, nor desire, any motivation from me,� the fraccion answered as he sent a Locust spinning away with half its head and one wing missing. Then he paused and frowned, before looking at Yachiru once more. �Perhaps the real problem is that Nnoitra-sama and your Taichou cannot unleash their full potential while we are so near, especially with Avispona-chan. They are prideful men, and neither will admit to holding back out of concern for the wellbeing of two pregnant women and a defenceless child. We need to leave if you want them to go all out. You said the Swarm was here as your allies. Could you get them to let us through to the 4th Division?�

Yachiru giggled at them, as if she thought the question was incredibly silly.

�I don�t know. Why don�t you ask them yourself?�

Rangiku wasn�t certain she�d heard Yachiru correctly. It almost sounded as if she�d told them to talk to the Swarm. Tatsuki echoed her thoughts, using stronger language.

�What the hell are you talking about?�

�Just what I said! They can do their �mind tricky thingy,� and if you ask them nicely, the person-bug might tell them to leave you alone!�

�That might actually work,� Rangiku heard Tatsuki say thoughtfully.

Since the human woman had helped Karin and Szayel with their research on Mushi, she knew about the Swarm�s telepathic capabilities, and Mushi was obviously intelligent, or so the Scarab had led them to believe. However, none of them had considered getting close enough to the insects to try such a thing in the first place� until now. Rangiku put up both of her hands and waved them, trying to dissuade her friend.

�You can�t be serious��

�I can do it,� Tatsuki volunteered and regarded her mate. �Tesra, fall back, take Avispona and I�ll try to talk to them!�

�No!� her mate protested. Tatsuki ignored him, drew him away from his defensive position with a hand on his shoulder and plopped Avispona in his sword-free arm before he could say anything more.

�I am the best choice! Mushi seemed to like me, and we all know what the Swarm thinks of Hollows. Besides, Rangiku can�t waddle that far.�

�Okay, THAT was uncalled for��

Rangiku responded by sticking her tongue out at Tatsuki. What she�d said, unfortunately, was also true. The short twenty feet between their hiding place and the point where the Swarm hovered, waiting for something, might as well have been twenty miles for her. She�d likely get four feet before her stomach got the better of her. Her relatively vulnerable position and the drama around them had distracted her from her queasiness, but now that Tatsuki had brought it up, she began to feel ill again.

�Absolutely not! You can�t move that fast either and I won�t risk you or our unborn child, in the hopes that a drone will pause long enough to listen!� Still holding their adoptive daughter, he moved to put himself between his mate and the Swarm, before she could do anything rash.

�Well this was new,� Rangiku thought. Tesra had always been a rather submissive person, and Tatsuki could usually bring him around to her way of thinking with little effort. To see him stand his ground for once was a surprise. Evidently, her housemate expected this, because she placed both hands on Tesra�s forearm and stared up at him earnestly.

�I understand your concern, but Avispona can�t take much more of this crushing force, even with you shielding us. Neither can I, and it can�t be good for the children we�re carrying,� she pointed out softly. �If Yachiru is right��

The arm cradling Avispona tightened briefly and Tesra glanced over his shoulder at his Espada�s battle. Nnoitra appeared to be more than pissed about something because he�d lost his grin.

�I know,� he sighed.

It wasn�t just the Locusts; there were plenty of Shinigami and Numeros, assigned to protect the city, throwing their reiatsu around in the form of released Shikai or Ceros and Balas. The air was thick with it as the two sides tried to overcome one another. By all rights, he should be helping too, but protecting his charges was more important. Moreover, no one trusted the Swarm to leave their little group alone, or trusted the absent-minded Yachiru to defend them.

A loud explosion behind them made them turn back to the cock-measuring contest. While they�d been busy debating the merits of approaching the Swarm, Nnoitra and Kenpachi had drifted farther away, still blasting one another into any solid surface they could find and levelling anything in their way. Yachiru left her rooftop, bounding after them with undisguised glee. It didn�t surprise Rangiku, though Tatsuki looked as if she wanted to call the child back. Her abandonment of them had some unintended consequences, mainly, that Tatsuki no longer had to go to the Swarm. Without Yachiru as a dicey backup to Tesra�s sword, the Locusts had decided to press in on them, attracted by the shifting of battle lines as well as two powerful Hollows.

Tesra let out a curse as he raised his Zanpakuto. To Rangiku�s horror, the insects went after him with a fervour that bordered on obsession. Avispona wailed as Tesra�s one-handed blocking whipped her around. The pregnant Shinigami doubted the Swarm would pause long enough to listen to a plea from him to stop, let alone a request for leniency. The also showed no qualms about attacking an infant, since they didn�t seem to care that he had a baby with him. The last helped Rangiku make up her mind. With only Tesra�s blade to help them, she�d have to fall back on her remaining weapon. The rushed chant fell from her lips, despite her exhaustion and nausea.

Red fire erupted from her hands. It lacked its usual strength but the fireball was still enough to fry some of the approaching bugs. Oddly enough, the smell of roasted Locusts reminded her of baked chicken. Her upset stomach did an about-face and promptly growled, which only served to irritate her further. Rangiku would have given anything to have Haineko. Her Zanpakuto was a far more efficient weapon and took less energy to wield than Kido.

Tatsuki had found a long piece of wood and used it as best she could against the flying pests, aiming at weak spots like joints and eyes. Her motions were slower than normal, but she still managed to land a few good shots, reminding them that she wasn�t easy prey.

A golden Cero streaked over their heads and a second later, burnt Locust pieces and green goo began to rain down on them, along with a mass shriek of agony and more smoke than her Kido spell could have generated. Rangiku cursed and covered her head, trying her best to dodge the burning remains. In her haste, she was unable to adjust her center of gravity quickly enough in her attempt to keep a crisped insect leg from falling on her.

The result was not pleasant. The majority of her body went left, while everything below her knees when to the right. An unseen pool of Swarm ichor only made matters worse and she lost her balance when she slipped in it. Arms flailing in a vain attempt to stay standing, Rangiku hit the ground, with her ankle twisting at an unnatural angle. Excruciating pain raced up her leg, straight to her spine and emerged from her mouth in an involuntary cry. A dull throbbing in her thigh and elbow followed, which had taken the brunt of her weight.

�Rangiku!�

She heard Tatsuki frantically call to her while she tried to shield herself from the falling gore. Wielding his weapon with one hand, Tesra did his best to take care of the larger bug chunks heading their way, changing their trajectories. Those landed with sickening squelches amid the wreckage. As bad as this was, the Cero had bought them some time. Blinking through tears, Rangiku saw Tesra sheath his blade and shift Avispona to his sword arm. Four well-placed Balas from his off-hand finished the job that the Cero started. The Swarm temporarily retreated, allowing Rangiku a few precious moments to take stock.

�Fucking hell!� she swore as she tried to inspect the damage to her ankle. Her pregnant belly made it hard to see her lower left side, let alone curl enough to get her hand to her ankle. She would have asked Tatsuki to help her, but a baby suddenly occupied the human woman�s hands as Tesra handed Avispona to her during the brief lull

�Get under cover!�

He indicated three nearby buildings that might afford them some shelter. The closest had a hole in the wall where its door had once been, but it was mostly still intact. Tatsuki nestled the little hybrid girl against her chest while quickly making her way towards Rangiku�s position. Avispona�s wails resumed at the Swarm�s renewed attack.

�I understand kiddo� I feel the same way,� the injured Shinigami thought, biting her lower lip and attempting to get to her knees.

�Can you stand?� Tatsuki demanded, crouching down beside her. She�d left the diaper bag somewhere and it was just as well.

�I don�t think so.�

Her foot, ankle and calf hurt badly and from the amount of pain, she suspected she�d incurred a sprain. She might have even broken it. Regardless, she wouldn�t be sprinting anywhere anytime soon, so she readily sat back against the closest semi-vertical surface and took the baby while Tatsuki inspected her leg. The woman excelled at assessing sports-related injuries, and this was as close to such a wound as one could get. When the brunette cursed, Rangiku knew it was worse than what she initially thought.

�Kami, what else could possibly go wrong today?�

�Wonderful� as if your ankles weren�t already swollen like balloons.�

Tatsuki gingerly turned the ankle over and the pained hiss Rangiku made as the human woman touched her sandal ties made her drop her hands. �Without taking off your sandal and tabi, I can�t tell if it�s broken or just sprained, and we don�t have time to sit here. I�ll bind it once we find a better place to hide.�

She roughly hauled the blond, baby and all, to her feet. Once more, Avispona changed hands and Tatsuki ducked under Rangiku�s arm, sliding her other arm around what was left of the Shinigami�s waist.

�Is everything else okay?� Tatsuki asked looked pointedly at Rangiku�s midsection. �Are you bleeding anywhere?�

�No, I caught myself before that happened. I guess I should be grateful I didn�t break my wrist too,� the blond groused and did her best to hang on to the baby as they limped towards the buildings. �My thigh�s going to be black and blue though and I�m not sure about my hip. Both of them hurt.�

�I�ll bet. I�m just glad you didn�t land on your stomach. If it makes you feel any better, you have cocoons surrounding the babies and a uterus and amniotic fluid cushioning them. You�re probably in worse shape than they are.�

Tatsuki said this matter-of-factly and gave her friend a wan smile, as if she was trying to convince Rangiku that everything would be okay.

�I SAID TO GET UNDER COVER!� Tesra roared somewhere behind them, taking them both by surprise. Rangiku had never heard the normally calm Arrancar use that panicked, frightened tone of voice before. From her stunned expression, neither had Tatsuki. Despite the warning, they turned around to see exactly what had scared him so badly.

The reason for his fear showed up not two seconds later. Rangiku saw a massive, armoured Beetle shambling towards the ruckus Nnoitra and Kenpachi had created, crawling over a demolished rooftop and into what was left of the square.

Another yellow Cero passed over their heads, through the insects above them and Tatsuki pulled Rangiku and Avispona down, throwing herself over the two in an attempt to protect them. The Beetle stumbled and paused as the ball of destructive energy hit it directly in the thorax.

�Nnoitra threw that!� Rangiku exclaimed, stunned that the Espada would bother breaking off fighting with Kenpachi to try to defend the three of them.

�Oh, Kami,� Tatsuki breathed as she got to her feet, eyes wide. The Beetle shifted its body into an all too familiar stance and her friend immediately wrapped a hand around Rangiku�s bicep. Her vision blurred as more pain lanced up her leg, but she regained her footing!�

�Come on! Hurry!�

It reared back and Rangiku grabbed the shoulder seam of Tatsuki�s yukata with white knuckles. It was no use� there was no way they�d be able to get there in time, even if she dared to use Shunpo with her one good foot.

�Uchifusero Verruga!�

The earth beneath their feet rumbled and Rangiku staggered, yelping as the shaking forced her to put weight on her ankle and lean heavily on her companion. Meanwhile, Tatsuki�s mouth had made a surprised �O� at the sight of her mate�s impressive Resurrección. Before the Beetle could spray anyone, the great boar grappled with it. It wrapped its huge fingers around the insect�s head and thorax and wrenched both away from their position. The tactic neatly redirected the spray towards a grouping of hovering Locusts and the friendly fire handily took out several of the buzzing menaces.

Tatsuki gaped over her shoulder for a second longer before she turned away. Rangiku heard her mutter �now I get it� as she helped the blond hobble through the hole into the semi-darkness of the building. Based on the brooms, mops, buckets and the small sink she saw mounted on the back wall, Rangiku guessed it had been part of a series of storehouses or supply sheds. Either way, it was better than being out there, where they were the equivalent of sitting ducks.

Outside, Tesra continued to grapple with the Beetle while the Locusts circled him. That did nothing more than annoy the giant man-boar, as their mandibles were far too small to make it through his thick hide, let alone his Hierro. A swipe of his lower tusks served to remind them he could hurt them.

Tatsuki eased her down onto an overturned wooden tub, getting her to sit still long enough for her to take a better look at her ankle. She left Avispona in Rangiku�s arms. Holding the child wasn�t a problem; she�d have to learn how to do this eventually. It also gave her something to focus on other than the sharp pain in her foot and her ankle.

�Well, at least it isn�t broken,� the human determined after some prompting that brought tears to Rangiku�s eyes. �However, we definitely need to keep you off of it until one of Unohana�s people can see to it. You might have torn a ligament. For now though, I am going to wrap it in cold compresses. That should help to bring the swelling down a little.�

�What do you think of Tesra-kun?� Rangiku asked, indicating the giant, two-legged warthog chimera busy wrestling the Beetle and trying to stay on its hooves. She also desperately wanted to change the subject and take her mind off of her buggered ankle.

�Not exactly what I expected.�

Tatsuki eyed her mate through the hole in the wall while wringing the excess water from a handful of clean rags she�d found in a drawer. To Rangiku, the look the brunette gave Tesra seemed surprisingly analytical, as if she were judging his released state using an as-of-yet unknown yardstick. Thankfully, she immediately provided an explanation. �I see why he got nervous when I brought up the idea of mating while he was in his Resurrección.�

�Where in the world did you get that idea?�

�The last time we all got together� I think Karin�s leg was still healing� I overheard her and Orihime talking about Grimmjow and Ulquiorra�s Resurreccións and how much fun they were. I guess they were comparing notes and it got me curious about Tesra.�

Then Tatsuki turned off the water and walked back to Rangiku, who had clumsily taken off her left sandal and tabi with one hand.

�What about you? Have you seen Nnoitra�s release before?� she asked. The blond stared woefully at her puffy, pained appendage and gritted her teeth.

�A few times,� Rangiku confessed, wincing and shivering as Tatsuki placed the wad of cold wet cloth on her bare skin, �and before you ask, yes, he is rather devilish when he has six hands.� She flushed at the memory of how quickly six arms could divest her of her shihakusho. �Honestly, he only did it once after a long battle. His horns get in the way too much for him to really play the way he wants.�

She looked at what was going on outside, eager to get away from the topic. Tesra finally had a good grip on the Beetle�s head, and with a viscous twist, the Arrancar snapped it off. Dropping it to the ground, he crushed it under his immense hoof. The rest of the body fell on its side, legs still twitching but otherwise dead. A cloud of dust rose up around it and it obscured the shaggy gray hair on the boar�s lower half for a moment.

�What do you think is going on? Why would the Swarm and the Escapees invade together? How is that even possible? What the hell is Ichigo thinking, doing something like this?�

Tatsuki�s solemn questions hung there unanswered and Rangiku had no immediate answer. Her brain was still working on Kenpachi and Yachiru�s sudden appearance. The two acted as if they�d shown up to pick a fight with Nnoitra specifically and nothing more. The human woman made a good point though. Why would they partner with something as destructive as the Swarm and cause this kind of mayhem in the Seireitei? If there had been any plans to rescue any of the captive Taichou or Fukutaichou like last time, the former leader of the 11th Division had obviously abandoned them in favour of fighting. Maybe it was the pain in her leg and the disquiet in her stomach, but Rangiku found herself getting angrier the more she thought about it. She bounced Avispona in her arms a few times, until the fussing little girl made a burbling sound.

�I don�t know, but when I find out, they�re going to get a piece of my mind! I�m going to shove it up their ass and I�ll use Haineko to do it!�

�I�ll be right behind you� but there has to be more to it than just tearing the place up. Rangiku, can you tell what�s going on at the Palace? What�s happening there? Do you think that he�s trying to get to Karin?�

�Maybe� or maybe you were right in that Aizen�s using her as bait and they finally took it. All I know is that we�re stuck here, I�m hurt and we need to figure out how we�re going to get to the 4th Division with only three working ankles between us.�

�That�s weird� it looks as if the bugs are retreating!�

�What?�

Rangiku squinted and peered out of the hole in the wall. Sure enough, the flying pests that had been harrying Tesra had withdrawn again. They left an uneasy calm in their wake, broken only by the sounds of Kenpachi and Nnoitra swearing at one another at the top of their lungs, as well as the sound of metal on metal. Now that the two giants had finished fighting, the trembling underfoot subsided and Tatsuki used the time to tear several strips of cotton from the hem of her kimono, intending to bind up Rangiku�s ankle as best she could.

Then the ground truly began to shake and it didn�t stop. Worse, the seismic rumbling began to cause trails of dust to trickle down from the ceiling. Rangiku bit her lip and turned her eyes upwards, trying to see if the rafters above them were still sound. It would be a terrible irony if they sought shelter here, only to find it was a death-trap waiting to happen.

�Tatsuki, I think we should�� she started to say, when the floor truly started swaying. Cleaning implements fell from their hooks, pails tipped over and boxes noisily dropped from the wooden shelves along one wall. The plumbing attached to the sink groaned as metal strained under some unseen force. Hurriedly, she checked outside one more time, but all she could see was Tesra, his great bristled head swivelling this way and that to try to find the source of these new tremors.

Tatsuki, less than two feet away and sitting back on her heels, tossed aside Rangiku�s sandal, opened her mouth and reached for Avispona.

Whatever she was going to say was lost as an ear-splitting �CRACK� sounded beneath the boards. The wood buckled once, then twice and Rangiku�s screech of alarm turned into all-out screaming as the flooring gave way under them. She felt the bucket, her body and everything else around her start to slide downwards into the huge crater that had opened up beneath the building.

She and Avispona were falling and she only just had time to meet Tatsuki�s eyes as her friend realized the same thing and tried to grab on to anything that would stop her descent into the hole.

Then, in a second, everything abruptly reversed. Instead of going down, Rangiku felt herself swiftly propelled upwards by the movement of something monstrous as it burst forth from the Seireitei�s underbelly. It carried with it the fumes of the sewers and an acidic tang that stung her nostrils. Earth, stone, mops, buckets and the rest of the disintegrating shed joined her in the air. The dirt in her eyes kept her from seeing anything more than shadows and as she went end over end, she lost her grip on Avispona.

Suddenly her arms were empty and she was screaming for another reason. Dazed, she tried to locate the baby but there was too much debris in the air. A few horrible seconds later, her momentum slowed. Then gravity took hold of her and she had no choice but to use Shunpo to try to keep from falling to her death.

She was only partially successful. While she managed to land on her one good foot, it wasn�t a particularly stable touchdown and without thinking, she used her injured foot take some of her weight and regain her balance. The agony that mistake caused made her flounder and fall, sliding on her backside until she came to a stop.

Unfortunately, everything else that had gone up with her followed her to the ground. Rangiku did her best to cover her head and her midsection as sections of floor, parts of the shelves and pieces of the shed roof came down around her with a deafening clatter and clouds of thick dust. The noise drowned out her squawk as she failed to tuck her legs beneath her. Two of the heavy ceiling timbers and a section of wall landed on them, pinning her. Blinding pain and robbed her of her voice, preventing her from calling for help. She had no idea if Tatsuki or Avispona were all right or not.

Then a shadow fell across her body and she looked up with watering eyes.

Rangiku went still at the sight of another Beetle as it finished hauling its body out of the ground where the storage building used to be, and redoubled her efforts to try to push the thick wooden lengths off of her lower body. She couldn�t risk using Kido, not at point-blank range and not this close to her belly, but when her bulk made budging the beams difficult, she felt real hysteria take hold.

Where was Tesra? Why wasn�t he stopping it, she wondered. The tank-like insect shook itself and took the same stance as the one that Tesra had killed. Rangiku knew it was aiming for either Nnoitra or his fraccion, but she lay trapped in the middle and there was absolutely nothing she or Tatsuki could do about it. The behemoth�s head arched and acid spewed from between its mandibles in a wide arc that would leave little of the area unaffected.

Helpless, Rangiku threw her arms over her head in a futile gesture, trying to protect herself from the coming liquid death�

�There was a time when we ceased to be human and became beasts��

That was where that annoying she-antelope had it all wrong, Nnoitra Gilga seethed. He�d always been a beast. All of her fancy talk about reason and justification was just a way of sugar-coating the truth. There was nothing wrong with being a beast, as long as one was the strongest beast out there.

�Che, you�re getting sidetracked,� Kenpachi grunted as the one-eyed turd nearly nicked him on the chin. Nnoitra glowered at him and bared his teeth.

�Mind your own fucking business!� he snarled. Nevertheless, his opponent was right. He was letting things get to him. Chief among those things was that the Swarm had crept up on Tesra and the girls and had taken them by surprise. His fraccion was trying to fend off the Swarm. That left Rangiku relatively unprotected. When this was over, he was going to thrash the piglet within an inch of his life for allowing the Swarm to separate him from his charge, even if the distance was minimal. The bugs didn�t appear interested in the girls, though they seemed determined to bring Tesra down.

The other distraction came courtesy of the brat with the pink hair and he was tempted to fire a Cero at the little shit.

Nel was alive, whole again and pregnant. Fuck� that was the last thing he needed or wanted on his mind. He found the idea that someone had crawled between that uptight, condescending know-it-all�s thighs and knocked her up both infuriating and bewildering.

How, he wondered angrily, had they managed it? The haughty bitch had never deigned to give any of the Arrancar males the time of day in that regard. She was too busy looking down that prissy nose of hers at anyone who she deemed lacked her precious �reason.�

Nnoitra curled his lip in disgust at the memory.

�I cannot accept you as a warrior. I have no desire to be burdened with the life of one who is no warrior.�

So much for �reason� if she was willing to toss it aside in favour of eagerly spreading her legs and whelping a brat for someone. She�d sure as hell be �burdened� then. Nnoitra would bet all of the credit Aizen had given him that it was that orange-haired kid, Kurosaki, that she�d been fawning over in Hueco Mundo, the one Grimmjow had repeatedly failed to kill. He really ought to have gutted the Substitute Shinigami when he had the chance.

Well, she wasn�t the only one who had cubs on the way, Nnoitra told himself and that served to clear his head enough for him to block another sword strike. Which reminded him� he�d grown used to having Rangiku as his woman and he�d be pissed if he lost such a prize. He�d put too many years into training her and he would never hear the end of it if he ended up being the only Espada that couldn�t protect his young. Grudgingly, he added Avispona to that list, since Tesra had adopted the runt and made her part of the pack.

Speaking of the baby�the brat was crying, the sound floating to him from wherever the girls had hunkered down. As long as the Swarm ignored both women, he had no reason to pay any attention to them. Tesra could handle the Locusts just fine, and if he couldn�t, then he deserved to die. The red balls of flame that Ran tossed at them told him that she wasn�t going to let the Swarm roll over her either. Nnoitra was actually glad to see her display some spark, after puking all morning and making him share her morning sickness via the Claim. Besides, Kenpachi�s little sidekick had mentioned that the Swarm was on �their� side, whatever the hell that meant. If they were, then any damage the bugs did was the Escapees� fault, not his.

He forced a smirk back onto his face and used four of his scythes to try to remove all of Kenpachi�s limbs at the same time. It had been over a decade since he�d been able to fight like this, and he wasn�t going to let either stray thoughts about Nel or about the more vulnerable members of his pack, ruin it. There was no guarantee that he would be able to find a challenger like this again. In fact, he doubted there was another person in existence that could excite and inspire this kind of bloodlust in him. He extended his tongue and fired an impressive Cero, one Kenpachi batted to the side with the flat of his Zanpakuto. It careened off in Tesra�s direction and tore through one of the Swarm�s flanks, frying multiple Locusts. Nnoitra wasn�t happy that it hadn�t hit its intended mark, but this wasn�t bad either. He was about to try it again when he heard a woman scream. A jolt of terror lashed into him. In that instant, he knew something had happened to Ran.

His woman had been hurt.

He was going to kill Tesra.

That served to siphon Nnoitra�s concentration away from the fight, with nearly disastrous results. He barely brought his scythes up to ward off Kenpachi�s blade. His knees also buckled under the extra pressure on the Zanpakuto�s downswing, since he hadn�t had a chance to prepare for it.

�You have gotten soft,� Kenpachi huffed. There was acute disappointment in that one, crazy eye of his. Nnoitra wanted to spit in it, at the implication of weakness.

�I want this to last! Once I kill you, no one will be left who can challenge me!�

The two circled one another like starved dogs, and Nnoitra used two of his scythes to shove Kenpachi back several paces. Seeing an opening, he charged and fired another Cero, this time at point blank range. Kenpachi grimaced as the blast burned the right side of his face. More importantly, it smashed into the Beetle lumbering towards the rest of his pack.

Tesra, finally pulling his head out of his ass, entered his oversized Resurrección and seized the damn thing before it and its acid became a real problem.

�Maybe I won�t turn him into a slab of bacon when this is over� if he doesn�t fuck up again!�

�Are ya done with the bugs?� Kenpachi asked irritably. The Shinigami pressed his hand against the side of his scorched neck and then looked at it. Blood coated his palm, complements of that last Cero. Nnoitra sneered at him, pleased to see the damage and gestured with a scythe.

�Don�t hold back on my account.�

He turned his focus back to enjoying his battle. Kenpachi swung down at him with a two handed, overhead chop. He knew better than to try and block the attack. The last time he�d been stupid enough to try something like that his foe had cleaved him nearly in half, scythes and all. He stepped to the side instead and countered by bringing four of his moon-shaped weapons around. Two went through Kenpachi�s defences and sliced into flesh, adding more bleeding cuts on his opponent. Sadly, the wounds were shallow, but they would still slow the Shinigami.

He leaped back as Kenpachi brought his blade up, but the tip caught one of his arms at the elbow, slicing away his forearm, hand and that limb�s scythe. Annoyed and in pain, he forced his reiatsu into the joint, quickly growing it back.

�Now this is more like it,� Kenpachi spat approvingly, seemingly as happy about that aspect of his Resurrección as Nnoitra was. The Espada bared all of his teeth at the former Taichou.

�Almost a pity you ain�t a woman. I don�t fuck men, and keeping you around to fight at leisure would be entertaining,� Nnoitra laughed. Kenpachi�s expression changed. The madman curled his lip distastefully at what his foe implied.

�If anyone�s gonna end up fucked around here, it would be you� since ya aren�t capable of takin� down anyone on yer own!�

Any enjoyment Nnoitra might have derived from the fight abruptly vanished.

He�d won that damned fight. He�d been clever to enlist the pink prick�s help. Szayel Apporo Grantz had been a means to an end, another weapon to use against a persistently irritating thorn in his side. One employed a weapon in any way one wished to achieve victory and Aizen hadn�t said anything about it or the resulting vacancy in the Espada�s ranks. It was as good as an endorsement of his methods.

Why then, he wondered, did his blood heat to a rolling boil when Kenpachi brought up the former Third? If she�d been stronger, more worthy, she�d have seen him coming for her, Szayel or no Szayel.

�Shut the hell up!�

Before he could make a better comeback, the pile of debris on which he stood shook itself apart. Thrown off-balance, he had to use a scythe to steady his body as the ground trembled under his boots. Kenpachi had a similar problem staying upright and those damned bells he wore jingled incessantly as the earth pitched. The Fifth tried to determine its source, since Tesra wasn�t moving and the Beetle he�d killed lay dead.

There was nothing above them and nothing in any direction, save for the Locusts drawing back and regrouping for another try at either Tesra or himself.

Which left just one possibility.

Nnoitra looked down and opened his mouth, to call out to his clueless fraccion as paving stones began to buckle and crack�

The creature digging its way out of the sewers and the explosion it created sent waves of broken concrete, dirt, building detritus and splintered wood towards the heavens. A second Beetle scrabbled out of the Seireitei�s bowels, using its front legs to haul its heavy body into the daylight. Nnoitra�s scythes diced what had once been a section of roof and part of a wall as it came barrelling towards him. A few feet away, Kenpachi pivoted at the waist and used his sword to cut through a boulder that threatened to crush both he and his snot-nosed pink cheerleader

�God damn it! Get fucking lost and leave me alone to deal with him!� the one-eyed Shinigami roared, slicing through several Locusts as they came within range. The insects had decided to use the lull in their fight to dive bomb them. �Told ya this was my fight!�

There were others swiftly approaching from the east, Arrancar and Shinigami, but Nnoitra barely registered any of it as pain and blind panic gripped him. The Beetle�s entrance had destroyed the girls� hiding place and the only one he could pinpoint in the wreckage was Rangiku. Tesra was attempting to reach something, but it wasn�t the Beetle, since he was moving in the wrong direction, arms outstretched.

Unbidden, another bit of garbage his former nemesis had spouted at him at one point crawled into his brain as he saw his property, his woman, lying on the ground. She was trying, without success, to squirm out from underneath a load of thick wooden beams, which had landed on her legs. She wasn�t strong enough to move them on her own and the additional pain he detected let him know that even if she could free herself, she wouldn�t be able to do much more than crawl.

�One who possesses reason should require a reason to fight.�

He could stay and finish off Kenpachi while he was busy fending off Locusts.

He could try to lop the Beetle�s head off after it finished with its acid spray, an attack that would leave its neck joint exposed on the underside�

�or he could make a third choice, which really wasn�t a choice at all when one took into account the savage, bestial instincts Nel had openly derided.

Nnoitra put all of his effort into his Sonido as the Beetle reared back. The Cero left his mouth just as the burning liquid left the bug, striking the beast�s underbelly. The burst of destructive energy was sufficient to push the insect back and disrupt the spray, but it wasn�t enough to stop all of the acid as it churned towards the trapped woman and his unborn offspring.

�Tell me� this bloodlust of yours� what drives it?� she�d once asked of him.

He�d laughed scornfully at his long-haired stalker and handed Nelliel Tu his snide, if truthful, answer.

�Gasping my final breath in the heat of battle! Gurgling on my own blood� only then will I truly be alive! No other stimulus, no amount of alcohol, could ever satisfy that void,� he�d told her.

Nnoitra threw his tall, six-armed frame in front of Ran and covered her body with his own, a second before the acid covered his back.

It immediately began to eat away at him, dissolving any flesh it touched as well as corroding the bricks and the wood that confined her legs. Rangiku stared up at him, her eyes wide as muscle and bone began to hiss, bubble and then melt away.

He�d never felt this kind of excruciating pain before.

It was almost exhilarating.

�Nnoitra-sama!� he heard her gasp against his chest and her shock at his actions mixed with agony as every nerve, from the nape of his neck to his tailbone screamed at him. Somewhere overhead he heard shouting, but when his ribs started to give way, he ceased to care.

�Che�stupid woman� getting in the way� of my battle,� he complained, the words falling clumsily off his tongue.

A torrent of water doused the field, but it was too late. The wounds he�d taken from his duel with Kenpachi compounded the damage done to his body by the acid. It was simply too much for him to maintain his existence. The collection of souls within him, each and every one a trophy of a win over a lesser being, surged in anticipation of their freedom.

�They had better be� strong sons,� he rasped out, before collapsing face first onto Ran�s sodden bosom. Nnoitra thought he could hear her crying and a pair of hands, water dripping from them, trying to grab hold of him. His ability to sense her emotions faded, another sign he would soon cease to be.

�Funny,� he thought as the darkness took him, �for a last memory, this ain�t half bad. Always knew ya were a good woman.�

Eyes closing and lungs emptying, he imagined the strands of hair against his cheek were a particularly infernal shade of turquoise, instead of water-darkened copper. His fingers brushed the underside of a generous breast before he lost all feeling in them and a second after that, the ability to move at all.

�Can�t think of a better way to leave this Kami-forsaken world.�

The Fifth Espada and his old Taichou weren�t hard to track. All Yumichika had to do was locate the largest area of destruction; nine times out of ten, Zaraki Kenpachi would be at the center of it. He wasn�t disappointed in that regard but when he saw what was happening, he wished that they could have arrived sooner. Harribel and Toshiro were supposedly right behind them, but Ggio traveled as if he had every demon in Buddhist mythology biting at his tail and Yumichika was hard-pressed to keep up with him as the other sought his child.

They came upon the scene at the plaza just as a Beetle erupted from the sewers, one of the invasion�s stragglers. Tesra, in his Resurrección, dove through the air at two barely discernable specs that flew upwards along with several tons of displaced earth and construction remnants. He appeared heedless of the danger, intent on catching them. When Yumichika realized what Tesra was trying to do, he paled and sped up. Despite Tesra�s size, there was simply no way the massive Arrancar would be able to rescue the human woman or the child falling from the sky before the Beetle loosed its most lethal attack. He simply wasn�t fast enough and the two targets were too far apart.

�Get the woman! You�re closer!� Yumichika quickly shouted to a stricken-looking Ggio. For his part, he used his Shunpo, catching the squalling baby and her trailing blanket. The half-naked Shinigami felt the heat of a Cero going off below him and tightened his arms around Avispona. He went straight up, to keep from being roasted. The explosion tossed him to the side and he did his best to dodge and weave through the worst of what the Beetle had thrown into the sky.

The first thing he was going to do when all of this was over, he seethed, would be to chop off his ridiculously long hair. It had come loose from its bindings and without something to keep it back while he fought, it was difficult to see anything. He barely missed being brained when a utility sink, ripped free of its plumbing and trailing a copper pipe, whizzed by him on its way back to earth.

Thankfully, Ggio handily snatched Tatsuki in mid-fall and immediately slung her over his hip. Yumichika heard her yelp in alarm as the Arrancar used Sonido to buzz them both out of range of the acid, which went every which way. Through a curtain of black, he saw Tesra stumble in mid-stride, ducking just in time to avoid a bath in the last of what the Beetle discharged.

A falling roof tile of red clay hit Yumichika on the left shoulder and bounced away, shattering on the wreckage below them. One of its sharp edges left a bloody mark across his collarbone. Without thinking, Yumichika Shunpo�ed to the right to prevent Avispona getting hurt. The move also, unfortunately, whipped his hair across his face. Thus, he failed to notice a stray splatter of acid, until it was too late to evade it.

�Don�t worry, I gotch-AHHH!�

A blob of it splashed the left side of his face, his long hair and a few dribbles landed on his neck and shoulders. Yumichika howled as the stuff began to eat away at his skin, but he didn�t let go of the girl. Moments later, he crashed spectacularly, skidding to a stop. The acid seeped under his left eyelid and he screamed as it attacked the eye itself.

�CASCADA!� someone yelled above him, and a torrent of breathtakingly cold water doused the entire plaza and everyone in it. It served to dilute the acid attacking his skin and flushed it away, but the toxic stuff had done its work. The brain-rattling impact with the ground didn�t help matters and Yumichika was dimly aware of blood seeping from more than a few deep cuts and abrasions to his back and scalp.

�Won�t let anything happen to you, little princess. Made a promise to your mother��

All he really cared about was that none of it had touched the squirming, fussing bundle in his arms and that she hadn�t breathed in any of the water. His body had served to cushion their landing and his trembling fingers told him that the blanket had shielded little Avispona from the corrosive droplets. There were people shouting around him and the sound of water rushing away from him, probably draining into the crater. Someone called out his name in a dreadful voice, and then everything went mercifully, blissfully dark.

Well, that should be the last major battle. Now we head into the aftermath. Not sure how many chapters are left since I don�t have them numbered, but we are definitely going down the backside of the curve now.

Next Chapter: more of the aftermath.
- 98
- 99
- 100
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Prize of Victory 2	By : NovaAlexandria Category: Bleach > General Views: 56251 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor make a profit from this story

Prize of Victory 2