Ichigo completes his wide stroke, blood spilling off the edge of Zangetsu. His eyes are clear and sharp as he thinks, I can cut him… I can cut him...! I can fight him like this... Like this, I can win!!

Zaraki looks down at his bleeding chest wound. His mouth moves...

Zaraki smiles* from ear to ear, “See. You can do it if you try.”

Ichigo’s eyes go wide, watching cautiously as Zaraki keeps talking, “...Don’t relax yet. Keep your senses sharpened like that. The fun starts now, Kurosaki Ichigo!”

Watching from her rooftop perch, Yachiru giggles, “...Ken-chan looks so happy...”

Zaraki is ecstatic as he dives in to attack. Ichigo manages to block, but the energy that Zaraki releases curls around the impact of their blades.

(The same page is interrupted by the chapter title – so no intro pic this time. *pout*)

Elsewhere, in the room where Aizen's body rests, 3 Captains are deep in discussion.

The 4th captain kneels by Aizen’s body while the captains for the 9th and the 7th stand behind her. The 4th team vice-captain is also present, standing off to the side, but his face is blocked out by a speech bubble (dang it!).

“...I see,” says 9th Captain Tousen Kaname. He is a dark-skinned man wearing a white scarf twisted around his neck.** He has heavy, clear glasses and his eyes are white – no pupils. Kaname continues to speak, “So then, Captain Aizen really has...”

“...Yes,” 4th Captain Unohana Retsu lays her hand on Aizen's corpse. “When he was taken down from the sacred wall, he had already stopped breathing... We investigated, taking into account every possibility that a Gigai was used to deceive the eyes of people, but... Conclusively, it only resulted in confirming the fact of his death...” she says sadly. “...Aizen Sousuke, Captain of the 5th, has passed away.”

“After an end to our current troubles,” Captain Unohana says to the other two. “We Captains shall gather in Central Room 416*** on another day and decide upon the 5th team captain.”

She stands, taking up her Zanpaku sword which appears a little too curved for a normal katana, “...Would the both of you please return to the command of your teams? In a moment, I will also join the battlefront.”

The 7th and 9th captains walk out of the Team 4 building together. Their respective vice-captains appear, kneeling before them.

The Vice-captain of the 9th, Hisagi Shuuhei, is the previously unnamed spiky-haired man who has a vertical black line across his face, two thin lines that go down vertically over his right eye, and the number 69 tattoo’ed on his left cheek.**** Hisagi stands and steps forward to speak. “Greetings, Captain Tousen, Captain Komamura... How did it go?”

Hisagi’s captain, Tousen Kaname, shakes his head.

“I see...” Hisagi says, disturbed by the news.

“Aizen-dono has died,” Kaname says to him, adding vaguely, “Investigating the case seems to be the best shortcut to getting this war to end.”

Hisagi responds, “So then as expected...”

“Yes,” Kaname says, “I, too, will go. I have never tried too hard to avoid battles, but..." he seems reluctant. “It looks like this is not going to turn out smoothly.”

Hisagi doesn’t look particularly excited about the prospect either.

The 7th Captain, Komamura, is a large man with a strange basket-like thing covering his head and face. He's said nothing during this whole event, but he's turned his head towards Kaname to hear him speak.

“A war, huh,” Kaname says, “If such things did not exist, people wouldn't let ugly emotions make them lose their way, nor would hideous tragedies occur... I hate war.”

Speaking of war, two Zanpaku blades clash as Zaraki and Ichigo continue to face off. Although Ichigo strikes with all his strength, grasping the hilt with both hands, Zaraki blocks him with only one hand on the hilt.

Zaraki has a grin plastered on his face as he reaches out with his free hand to grab the middle of Ichigo’s sword. He twists the blade around bare-handedly and pulls it towards him to knock the boy off his feet. Zaraki thrusts his sword straight at his chest, but Ichigo lets one hand go of his sword so he can move out of the way.

Ichigo dodges – mere inches away from getting skewered – and twists around to plant his foot against the hand that Zaraki is using to hold Ichigo’s blade. He kicks off the hand, managing to free his sword and leap back to create some distance between him and the 11th captain.

Suddenly, Zaraki disappears. Ichigo hears a faint ringing sound behind him, giving him a few precious moments of warning to block Zaraki’s next attack.

“That’s good!” Zaraki yells, “That’s a good response!!”

Ichigo breaks contact and jumps back again, gasping for air.

“You’re concentration is increasing!” Zaraki notes, “Unlike earlier, you can listen to the sound of the bells properly!!”

Taking advantage of the pause in battle, Zaraki adds mockingly, “The bells and the eyepatch are used for the sake of enjoying fights. If I don’t use them effectively this way, then there would be no reason to wear them.”

“Shit... you’re underestimating me...” Ichigo breathes hard. “So that’s also the reason why you haven’t freed your Zanpaku sword, huh...”

Zaraki pauses, unsmiling.

“...Don’t you know? My blade can already cut you,” Ichigo reminds him, “If you don’t take me seriously...”

“...My Zanpaku sword doesn’t have a name,” Zaraki interrupts.

“...eh...?”

“My sword is laid bare,” he explains, “It’s not in a sealed state by nature. This is the true form of my Zanpaku blade.”

Ichigo is surprised by the news, but tries to brush it off, “...I see. Hearing that makes me feel a little relieved. It means your blade won’t get any stronger than that. If that’s so, then...”

A flash of movement. Ichigo suddenly blocks the tip of Zaraki’s blade with the flat of his own sword before it nearly pierces his chest.

“If that’s so... then what?” Zaraki asks, keeping his sword tip pointed at Ichigo’s chest. “Are you thinking that if that’s so, then it’ll take just a little more to win? You’re the one who is doing the underestimating. The reason why my Zanpaku sword isn’t sealed is because my spiritual pressure is so huge that, even if I suppress it with all my strength, I can’t seal it.”

“So when fighting normally,” Zaraki says, the sound of his bells echo around him, “I’ve gotten into the habit of always holding back my attacks. You get it? If I didn’t do that, my enemies are so fragile that I wouldn’t have time to enjoy the fight.”

Like a hot knife through butter, Zaraki’s sword sinks through Zangetsu and pierces Ichigo’s chest. His eyes widen in shock.

“...That’s why I told you not to relax your spiritual pressure,” Zaraki tells him, though Ichigo seems to be in too much shock and pain to listen. “You fucking relaxed by seeing one or two chances at victory...”

Zaraki pulls the sword tip out, watching Ichigo collapse to his knees, “What a boring way to draw the curtain.”

*AAAHH!!! SCARY!!! o_0 …sorry, couldn’t help it. I hope Zaraki never smiles again – that’s gotta be his deadliest weapon. >_<
**It was said that Kuchiki Byakuya’s white scarf has been worn for generations by the head of the family. Is it possible that Kaname wears a similar scarf signaling that he’s the head of his family? I wonder if he’s part of the aristocracy too.
***Central Room 416 seems to be a main command center of some sort. It's first mentioned in vol.6, when information of Rukia's location is reported to Soul Society.
****He’s commonly referred to as the ‘scar-faced guy’ in Japanese fansites and is occasionally paired with Renji in fanart. Nothing else is known about him. I wonder why he’s got 69 tattoo’ed to his cheek... then again, I might not want to know. ^_^;

Notes:
-This week’s title is one of those rare ones that aren’t written in English. These always seem to be pretty poetic. I think this one refers to 9th Captain Tousen Kaname and his distaste for fighting.
-Heh, this is Kaname’s and Hisagi’s first real introductions and I like them already!! XD (actually, I just really like their chara designs so far. ^_^;)
- I never thought Kaname would be a pacifist Shinigami. If I thought anybody was a pacifist, it would be Captain Unohana – but she seems quite ready to fight.
-I’m plan to go back to the previous 13 Captains post to add info about Kaname, Hisagi, and Komamura.
-Oh, and sorry this summary was kinda late. ^_^;;

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