With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
"K-kuso!" Kaki cursed as she saw the blast of energy, barreling for her. Hell, she knew she wasn't much of a fighter, that was why she regretted never training in shunpo. Hell, it was why she regretted not sticking with the shinigami academy long enough to learn any higher level bakudo. Her first reaction, accordingly, was to jump. She didn't jump upwards though, she jumped to her left, closer to the human. Of course, being clumsy Kaki, she couldn't help but trip over her own feet, falling comically into the sand. "Ow..."
Akaharu stared, not sure whether she should be thanking or yelling at the strange girl. Or if she should be running for that matter. But then again, hell, she was far too stubborn to just run. She glared at the arrancar, and she folded her arms over her chest.
"Baka. There is no place system here. You can't just pull some number out of a hat and use that to judge how "superior" you are to me, or to her for that matter. And I'm not going to bow my head to some thing that happens to catch me in a bad mood," she said, inwardly thinking that she was probably going to piss him off more. Hopefully in a nonviolent way, she thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Kaki had straightened herself out and had gotten back to her feet. She held her sword, and she quickly scanned over the beach. Well, her sword had apparently bounced off of the man's head and away from the tide, wedged between a couple of rocks. Good. She could retreive it after this nonsense was over.
"I don't know what it is with you people and coming here and acting all high and mighty and expecting everyone to bow their heads, but I sure as hell am not about to." She rolled her eyes, AGAIN.
Stour grinned. "If you don't want to bow, maybe I'll just make you," His smile widened as his muscles relaxed, and he walked towards her, reiatsu surging into the air as he released reiryoku. He wondered how much she could take before she would bow her head. "It's so much easier to just cooperate."
He kept his eyes, however, on the other girl. She had dodged his blast, which meant she had at least some skill. But his sole intention in being here really wasn't to kill. Despite how fun that may be... And how delicious certain specimens were. "I'm going to make you do it, just because you seem so put off by it. You'll learn your place one day. Some people aren't as patient as me."
He snickered, he wasn't patient at all. But he was still right, he knew plenty of Arrancar who would just carve her out for standing so close. Especially some of the other Espada. Some of them were just.... Out of control.
He kept walking until he was rather close to the girl, he wanted her to feel the full weight of standing close to him, even if he wasn't releasing all of his energy, she'd learn why Arrancar were to be feared. "Once you start shaking, falling come soon after. And if you resist, I can always just kill you."
The light and almost pleasant and soothing tone with which these words were said made them all the more creepy. Stour took pleasure in his abundance of abnormalities. He was a bit... Unbalanced. He liked that. He'd always have a bit of Chaos left inside of him.
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
"Oh like hell," Akaharu spat defiantly, her hands shifting to her sides. Her eyes narrowed to slits, she glared at the man. Then she felt it. Reiatsu, engulfing the area. Well, she wanted to hurt someone now. She felt the anger bubble up inside of her, even as her breathing slowed, and that became her focus. Breathing calmly. She knew she couldn't last for very long, she knew if he kept this up she would inevitably fall. But, there were very different circumstances here.
The ground wasn't solid, and her feet couldn't be planted firmly. She knew the grains beneath her were beginning to slip, as were her feet, but she pulled them together, slowly, scraping up more sand in the process. She tried to think, she wanted to prove him wrong. She wanted to make him trip up before she did.
His laughter only made her angry. She clenched her fists at her sides. This was painful, but, she hadn't had to deal with an ongoing assault of this before. And she was stubborn. VERY stubborn.
She knew she was shaking, and the reminder from the arrancar only made her angrier. Even with the death threat, she only glared. She smiled, suddenly, though it was faint. Her eyes didn't change, just her smile. "Why? Because you're too stupid to... to use your empty head to come up with... with something? So you can't think... of anything. ANYthing else... That doesn't involve killing."
"Irony... I think I see... quite a bit here," Akaharu finished, refusing to budge, even though the pressure felt crushing at this point.
Kami, does she have a deathwish? Kaki thought to herself as she her eyes darted from her sheath to the girl. It was far easier for her to withstand the arrancar's pressure for a few reasons. One, well, she was stronger. Two, well, she was further away.
There's always me,chimed a rather decietful voice.
"You know, I have ways of making this more unbearable for you," Stour said, not increasing the pressure, but instead walking so close that she might feel his breath across the gap. "How easy are you to make uncomfortable?"
He grinned slightly, as he brought a hand out to her cheek, stroking it gently, before making a quick slash with his index finger, dragging his sharp nail down her cheek. "How silly, really. I can do quite a bit that isn't killing. In fact, I rarely kill. But, the rush of killing never fades if you do it sparingly. So I'd rather not spoil it on an insect."
His smile faded away as he took a few steps back, and raised his hand, so his palm was facing her. He looked towards the other girl. "Don't interfere, or I won't hold back. And trust me. I'll see you coming," He grinned at his slight humor. Of course, his eyes being honed on her made that somewhat obvious, but he took them off her again, to stare at Akaharu. "Perhaps I should introduce myself. To make you feel less like I'm an ignorant killing machine. I am Stour Kirinonai, and I did not kill for my position, which is in fact why I feel I don't deserve it. I am the Octava Espada. The Eigth strongest Arrancar in Hueco Mundo. Counting those who obey our leaders, that is..."
He seemed distracted, as if wondering just how many others were actually more powerful than him. He even wondered slightly how many of those above him would fall to him in battle. His pure power wasn't his game-winning point, after all. Trying to dodge attacks from several directions always proved difficult.
At that, a second cero began to charge on his palm. "All you have to do, is kneel," He said, his voice ever-light, but his eyebrows inclined, his head slightly back. He didn't want to kill her. Just to teach her. There was always someone stronger. Someone smarter. Someone faster. Someone better. He didn't add any pressure, but he knew she wouldn't give up on her own. The cero was meant as a slight... incentive. "If you kneel, it will fly right over you. But if you stand... I can't even imagine what will happen. But it will probably be messy."
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
NOW what? Akaharu thought as the arrancar stepped closer. She glared at him, her smile morphing into a frown once again. It certainly didn't help when his hand made contact with her cheek, but that was obviously the point. She was quite tempted to swat it away, though, she was fairly sure she'd lose balance if she did that. She was also tempted to bite it, but... Well, for one, that was a little lower than Akaharu cared to sink at this point.
When the nail scratched down her cheek, well, she winced in pain. Her teeth began to grind together as she felt the blood trickle down her cheek, her eyes looking up with an almost feral defiance. Being called an insect? That made her just plain irrational. Him telling her his rank? Well, it made her say this: "That doesn't make YOU seem... any less ignorant. Only... arrogant."
Kaki had taken a step forward, that pesky childish side of her taking over and causing her to remember--well, something she didn't want to remember. Even if it was such a blur, a blur through a mask, she didn't want to remember it. She stopped, not wanting to fight, trying to think of what to do.
Akaharu, on the other hand, glared at the man. Being told to do something, well, her infamy amongst the staff at Karakura High came from her deliberatly disobeying rules specific to her, and she kept that habit here too. Much to Kaki's dismay. "Welcome to the... world of hypocrisy. But last... I checked, if I'm dead... I'm still not bowing to you. So... two words: screw you."
Stour grinned as she threw insults at him. Such things didn't phase him. He only did this for fun, he didn't really care if she bowed or not. He just wanted her to suffer. It was childish, but most fun things are. "And if I am arrogant? Then what? You still will have to bow in the end," Stour said, his face blank, as he dispersed the cero, launching it behind him. "You're right, however. You being dead solves nothing. But a little bit of pain is never too much, right?"
As he reached the word pain, he dropped his stance back a bit, before rising back up quickly, as his reiatsu kicked down. He didn't want to put too much force behind the knee that had just launched at her gut. "Bow, because I can keep going all day. Bow, because you're inferior. Bow, because you can't seem to understand that there are things more valuable than pride," Stour said, his words ringing as he spoke, his tone perhaps even lighter than normal, even more soothing. "Perhaps that's a lesson you should learn. Shall I teach you by killing that bystander to your suicide? Maybe you don't care if you die... But what of others?"
At that, a popping static sound rang out as Stour appeared by Kaki, his hand a fist, aimed right at her chest. He'd teach the ignorant human a lesson, even if he had to start a fight he didn't want to begin with. He never had any intentions of this all happening, but games were fun. Especially games like this one.
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
I figured he was bluffing. Heh. Saito'd be pissed if he were here to see that. He'd probably yell at me for trying that, Akaharu thought to herself as the energy forming in Stour's hand flew away behind him. Her violet-eyed stare glare remained where it was, as it was, even as he began to speak. It was ludicrous. He was still keeping this up. She wasn't going to act afraid of him. What would that solve? Even when he brought up the "pain" statement, she still only glared.
It wasn't until the reiatsu faded and the knee slammed into her stomach that she stopped glaring. She coughed, but she quickly sprung back into her original stance, right before she stepped back, clutching her stomach. Each time he said to bow, and why, she met his words with a defiant "I won't."
Seeing him go after Kaki, she turned around, not sure whether to apologize or leave it to the eight-year old. On one hand, she didn't seem completely incapable. On the other hand, well, she looked like an eight-year old! But, instead, what Akaharu came up with was interupted, by none other than Kaki.
She had blocked the punch with the hilt of her sword, one hand pressed behind it and the other gripping it above where the punch had landed. Her feet had shifted back slightly, leaving a mark in the sand, but she was still very close. The crimson-eyed girl spun her sword, the blade aiming for the man's outstretched arm. As she launched her assault, she said, "Gomen, onee-san. I probably deserve this."
"M-matte!" Akaharu yelled at the two, confused by the little girl and angered by Stour.
"All you have to do is bow," Stour said to Akaharu, without looking away from Kaki, jumping back as the sword was swung, and tugging on the chain around his waist, pulling his twin-bladed chain free. "Or maybe we can just see how quick this one is, when she doesn't use her full strength."
Stour grinned, he could feel that difference in her, akin to his own. He'd never fought one like her. She'd make good practice. Swinging the chain in his right hand, holding the other end in his left, he began to slowly pace around the girl. "I'll carve you up," He grinned, releasing the chain with his right hand, sending it flying in a wide arc across the distance between them, its longest point being just close enough to graze her if it hit. He didn't want to kill her, just rough her up. His fight was one of the mind, and with the other girl. This was a test.
Stour began to charge a cero in his right hand. The test was to see how long the other girl could last. He had no qualms about destroying this one. Despite the fact he felt the slightest kinship with her. He justified the fight by wondering the number of hollows and arrancar he'd felled. There was more kinship there, wasn't there?
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
The crimson-eyed child narrowed her eyes. Well, it took no rocket science to figure out that she was a vizard, although he could easily have been referring to her shikai. Which Kaki didn't have. Of course, she wasn't violent. Anything but. And she probably should have bluffed if she had really wanted to prevent this from escalating anyways.
The blade launched at her hit, but she was surprised to see he wasn't aiming for a big hit. It just nicked her; blood now trickled down her left cheek. Her eyes darted to her sheath, still on the rocks. She almost didn't notice the cero he was trying to form. Barely audibly, she murmured, "Kuso."
It was a stupid idea, she'd give it that much, but... ok, it was a stupid idea. She jumped at the man, aiming to plant her foot on her face before continuing on after the sheath. Midway through the jump, she heard the faint sound of yelling.
Akaharu didn't say anything, but, she did know she had her cell phone. She always did. Convinced that she was being mostly ignored, she reached into her pocket and pulled it out. At a breakneck pace she dialed her uncle's number. Of course, when the phone was answered, Saito had answered the phone and yelled:
"Where the hell are you!? Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Oji-san, I sorta needed you to be quiet about me for once," Akaharu whispered into her phone. "Can you come by the beach? Near where the coffee shop is? And hurry, bye!" As she said the last few words, they were rushed and mashed together. Immediately after, she closed the phone.
Stour watched, as he so keenly trained himself to do, every move of the girl he was 'fighting'. He was fairly certain the other girl had done something, but he was focused, and she wasn't a threat at this point. Truly, neither one felt to be a threat... He could always just release. He grinned at the thought. A bit of bloodletting would be wonderful.
"Shit," he said, as she jumped, and he heard what he knew was Akaharu doing something, but he didn't care, he ignored it. He, instead, ducked down and rolled, a tucked somersault, under the girls jump, coming out of the roll with his palm aimed right towards her. "Bang."
He launched the cero, only a quarter charged, right at her. He didn't want to kill her, after all. He wanted to make a point. She was his pen, and the beach was his paper. And he was going to write a story. He came out of the roll facing away from her, but used a quick burst of sonido to reappear just in front of the sheath, right between Kaki and her goal. "Now, now. What is it that makes you want the sheath so badly? Do you not want to hurt me? Or is it just that you feel more secure with a weapon in each hand, I know how that can be. But, really. You're just an example," He said, as he drew up his left leg, using another quick sonido to appear behind her, aiming a kick for her lower back, one strong enough to at least send her sprawling. "I'm gonna carve you up, bit by bit," Stour said, licking his lips as he spoke.
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!