"Four against one... you say?" Captain Komamura asks as they leap off the wall and land in front of Zaraki. "You mean the four of us... will go against you alone...? I am aware of your skill. However, you are a bit too overconfident... Zaraki Kenpachi."

"Shut the hell up... Hurry up and come at me!" Zaraki draws his blade. "If you can, all four at once is best. If you surround me from all four directions, one of you might be able to cut me."

"...Ah... Um... Captain Zaraki..." Maki-maki walks up behind his captain nervously. "What should we do..."

"You're bothering me. Get lost," Zaraki snaps.

Maki-maki is crushed, "He didn't have to say it so harshly..."

"It's no use, Higechoro," Yachiru tells him.(1)

Higechoro... he thinks, the nickname changed...

"Ken-chan looks like he's having so much fun that you shouldn't bother him," she calls over to Zaraki cheerfully, "Ken-cha~n!! We're going on ahead to keep looking for Icchi~! Catch up with us soon, oka~y!!"

"Yeah, I'll be there soon," he reassures her.

"Alright, let's go!" Yachiru beckons the Ichigo Rescue Team by strange nicknames as she skips back toward the exit, "Pururun! Moririn! Gorilla! Pencil! Higechoro!" (2)

"Eh..." Orihime hesitates, "b... but..."

"Pencil"... Ishida wonders, does she mean me?

"It's okay, so hurry up!" Yachiru grabs a chunk of Orihime's hair to convince them to move.

"Ow... that hurts, Yachiru-chan!!" Orihime shouts, "You're yanking it out!!"

"W... wait up!" Maki-maki (a.k.a. Higechoro) runs after them, "Please take me with you!!"

As soon as they're gone, Captain Tousen steps forward, "...You will 'be there soon'... huh. Are you trying to provoke us? Or do you really mean what you say? Either way, it seems you've not only lost your sense of honor... you've lost your sanity as well... Zaraki."

"Heh, 'sanity,' huh?" Zaraki smirks dangerously, "Sorry, but I don't remember having something so useless to begin with."

(Intro Page - Tousen Kaname's time to shine. For some odd reason, he's my favorite captain... I'm not sure why... :S)

"Yachiru-chan!" Orihime (and the crew) run to keep up with the speedy Vice-Captain.

"Wait up, Yachiru-chan!! Ah... are you sure that was the right thing to do?" Orihime asks in concern, "Leaving Zaraki-san back there on his own like that..."

"Of course it is!" Yachiru answers brightly. "Ken-chan won't lose to anybody, no matter who his opponent is!!"(3)

Orihime isn't wholly convinced, "Yachiru-chan..."

That girl... since earlier she's been able to call the Vice-Captain "Yachiru-chan, Yachiru-chan" like it's not a big deal... Maki-maki thinks as he follows after them, She's got no sense of fear...

He turns to address Ikkaku, "Hey, what do you think of all this, Medarame..." His words drift off and his eyes widen, " WHAT THE!?"

Back at the open lot, Vice-Captain Iba and Vice-Captain Hisagi step forward.

"...Captain, if we may..." Iba starts.

"Please allow us to go first," Hisagi finishes.

"Idiots... I told you four to take me on together..." Zaraki says irritably.

A new voice interrupts, "...So it's come to this. Just as I thought... How dare they underestimate us."

The 3rd (Ikkaku) & 4th (Yumichika) strongest of the 11th Division step out from behind Zaraki.

Yumichika smiles, "If this is the case, then we shall also..."

Ikkaku swaggers forward and jerks a thumb at his chest, "We've got no choice but to go, Captain!"

"...Hold up. Why didn't you guys leave with the others?" Zaraki asks, dumbfounded.

Ikkaku ignores the question as he stabs a finger in the direction of the Vice-Captains, "Whhooiii!! Listen up! Don't think the likes of you damn Vice-Captains can take on our Captain!! If you bastards need a fight, then we can handle you guys!"

He gives Zaraki a wink and a thumbs-up, "Right, Captain?"

"...Shit. You guys want to fight too, then," Zaraki sighs irritably. "Hell, why not? I'll let you have them, but fight elsewhere. If you get in my way, I'll kill you too."

"Roger that!!"

"...Oh, well..." Iba strides forward with his arm resting in the fold of his shirt. "Handed over or not, opponent or not, you've grown to be rather arrogant since the last time I saw you, Ikkaku."

Ikakku taunts back, "I shouldn't have to hear that from a coward who took up an invite from another division just because he couldn't become Vice-Captain in our unit, Iba-san."

If looks could kill, then Ikkaku is very lucky that Iba wears dark shades, "...Ikkaku..."

"At any rate, we'll save this for later," Ikkaku interrupts, "I'm changing location. I don't want to be killed by my Captain."

"I agree," Yumichika keeps his gaze on Hisagi Shuuhei, "I'm also going elsewhere, so would you mind?"

"...Whatever," Hisagi replies, "It's the same no matter where we go."

And with that, the two groups vanish in different directions.

"Ah, well..." Zaraki's smile returns, "It's finally settled down enough to fight... You're numbers have been halved, though.. .A captain like me can do nothing more than put up with the requests of my dear subordenates... Well, even so, I guess I can get a decent morning exercise from this."

"...There you go again. Haven't I told you..." Captain Komamura draws his sword, causing the ground to crumble, "you're too arrogant, Zaraki!!!!"

"...Hoh, you can split the ground just from the pressure of your blade," Zaraki says as if he's commenting on the weather, "Ain't that nice."

Komamura commands, "...Go forth!" A gigantic hand with an equally huge blade crash down on Zaraki and a good portion of the open rooftop area collapses, causing a cloud of dust to obscure everything.

Before the cloud abates, Tousen is already twisting in mid-air, "Take two steps back please, Komamura. He may still attack us. I shall crush his limbs." He swings out his blade in a wide arc, forming hundreds of long throwing blades, "Bell-ringing Cricket, 2nd Style, 'Crimson Flying Grasshoppers'"(4)

Komamura watches as the blades completely devastate the place where Zaraki stood, "...It's over. With this, there shall not be even a lingering shadow of Zaraki Kenpachi..."

The dust cloud clears and Zaraki stands there the same as he had before, despite the fact that Tousen's spear-blades are sticking out of his arms and shoulders. His smile never leaves his face, "...What. Is it over?"

It can't be... Komamura thinks, he took the brunt of my "Tenken" and Tousen's "Benihikou" (5) but he still stands there impassively...!

"...Man, oh man..." Zaraki tugs the blades out of his shoulders without any difficulty, "I take back what I said earlier... At this rate, I won't be able to work out of my drowsiness. I'm going to just cut you both now and end this quickly."

~*~*~

Renji is on the streets of Seireitei, sprinting toward the White Tower.

...Wait for me, Rukia... he thinks, ...I'm coming... to save you...!

He doesn't notice the man on the roof of the building he runs by.

Byakuya stands there, watching him.


1) "Higechoro" means "Mini-Moustache"
2) I was only able to figure out "Gorii" (Gorilla?) and "Enpitsu" (Pencil). "Pururun" may be a trick on the word "Purin" - as in jelly-pudding. The origins of Moririn is a mystery to me and I might be better off not knowing. :P
3) Yachiru conveniently forgets the Icchii battle, eh? She probably still thinks it was an unfair fight.
4) Ten bucks says Tousen's Bankai is a giant bug of some sort.
5) Technique names: "Tenken" -> "Heavenly Punishment" and "Benihikou" -> "Crimson Flying Grasshoppers"

Note:
-There's just something that bothers me about this... Renji trains in the cave which is (I assume) beneath the Dual Terminus. He leaves to go rescue Rukia, so he's heading for the White Tower. Okay... so why does that final scene show him half a mile away from both the Dual Terminus and the White Tower? Did he take an incredibly long detour? Is he looking for Byakuya instead? There's a rope bridge between cliff of the Dual Terminus and the White Tower, so why didn't he just take that? I'm so confused... :S

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