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.
Saito glared, knowing his attack had missed. The man's speech, it was so strange, but it wasn't good. Standing where he was, his eyes locked on this foe. He wouldn't let him out of his sight. He'd seen the little girl, the scratch on Akaharu's cheek. The thing was, with hollows, violence never seemed to stop at just a scratch. And, he wasn't going to lose the only remaining familiy he had left. Not a chance in hell. Even if she drove him completely insane, even if she was like her brother in the form of a teenager, he'd protect her. At least, he'd try. "Stop screwing around, temae."
The blade coming in to attack him? Not a surprise. Well, this time he didn't dodge, he was too busy being a stubborn old man. It cut into his arm before he reached up to grab the chain so he could pull it towards him in an attempt to throw the arrancar off balance, or even disarm him. That cero, however, caused his eyes to widen. He aimed it at them...
On the other side of things, a very frantic Kaki had just done what she had vowed not to do in this fight: she placed a hand over her face, and let the mask appear. "Bakudo number eight, seki."
Akaharu watched as that mask, that seven-pointed, completely white skeletal mask formed over the little girl's face. As that sheild just stopped the blast of energy from crushing the two.
And as Kaki took the offensive. She extended a hand, two fingers pointing, and shot a beam of concentrated lightning. "Hado number four, byakurai."
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
"Tch," Stour said, the timing could not have been any more inconvenient for her to decide she didn't want to be toyed with anymore. Luckily, it didn't matter if the old man was holding the chain or not, it'd be gone. "Wanna play the transforming game? Fine."
Stour pulled on his chain, hopefully yanking it away from the old man, but brought his open left hand into position, opening the black vortex in front of his hollow hole, causing the Hado spell to flash through it, reappearing and continuing its path behind him. "Tsk tsk tsk, girly," Stour said, "You know what I can do. I can smell it on you."
"Fade into reality," Stour said, grinning again. "Chaos." His new body, riddled with pulsating scars, and metallic chunks. The mask with a face straight from a horror film, and his new voice. It all completed a rather terrifying form. Then, add to that the extra set of arms, and the cord-like wings... Well, Stour knew that this was unfair. But he couldn't judge that girls hollow. He knew it spiked high, but didn't know how well she could handle it. And if it took over, that would require this state anyways.
Flexing his fingers, extending and contracting the new blades that extended from them, he looked at the three of them. "I find myself enjoying this more and more by the second," his new voice spoke, its effect no longer pleasant, but chilling. It rang out like nails on sandpaper, scratchy and dry. "Let's play some more, shall we?"
Stour began to slowly walk towards the little masked girl. How long could she hold her state. His reiatsu was peaking by the second, but he was trying to bring it down. He still didn't want to kill them, but he also didn't want to die. Three on one, despite power gaps on the lower end of the three side, starts to get a bit unfair. He figured he'd even the odds. two pairs of arms and a pair of wings, to three pairs of arms. He could manage.
He brought his wings high above his head, so they arced backwards, coming to a point, in an almost scorpion-like fashion. He could strike out with them at any moment. He wanted that to be clear to everyone. The blades on his hands began to shrink away, appearing to slide into his very flesh, leaving his hands almost bare, with only the smallest edge of the blades still appearing. He didn't want to rend flesh with them, just be able to block and stop attacks. His curiosity was winning out here. A family of powered humans, and a little masked girl. This could be interesting.
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
Saito had practically dropped the chain, anger fueling his actions. Only then did he hear the girl's voice, and only then did he realize that Akaharu had been safe, at least, for now.
Before the arrancar's ressurrecion had completely taken form, Kaki began to speak.
"Onee-san," Kaki began in a nervous and scratchy voice, doubled over by her mask. Her eyes had turned completely black, so no emotion showed behind them. "Please run."
"No," Akaharu answered flatly.
"Holy fucking shit!" Kaki yelled, arms in the air above her head. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"You're the one with that mask over your head and two voices," Akaharu retorted. "You tell me."
"BAKA!" Kaki turned around, and she really wanted to hurt this girl now. But she wouldn't, because that would make her other actions useless.
What the hell am I looking at? Saito thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He should have used his powers, but he didn't. Reckless. Just like Akaharu.
Of course, Kaki felt that moment of having nothing left to lose, and she spoke again, cutting off any protests Akaharu or Saito may have tried to make. "Coward."
Scarecly leaving room for a response, Kaki continued, "Or are you really so insecure that you have to push people who're smaller than you around? The instant someone your own size shows up, you go back to picking on little girls. Are you afraid a human could beat you if you stayed unreleased, Onii-chan?"
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
Stour laughed, his voice cracking. "I'm not gonna go ahead and find out if he could beat me. Let's look at it this way, in my sealed state, I'm pathetic and feeble compared to this state. And besides, I have no intentions of killing them. I want you to break. I want to see how long you can fight like that. Because I can go on forever like this," Stour said, walking closer to Kaki. "It's like saying I'm a coward for taking off my mask, rather than keeping it on."
He continued walking towards her, his body relaxed, his eyes tense, darting around. He was taking everything in. He wasn't going to try to defeat any of these people. He wanted to know if when she exhausted her abilities, if she would collapse, be tired, or be more like him. He grinned at the thought of it, invisible to their eyes from behind his bloodied mask.
"And anyways, that silly human? He's not quite as capable as you think. He knows what could have happened. His hands can bludgeon. Mine can carve. It's an advantage. It's hard to bludgeon your way through hierro, after all," Stour said, still walking towards Kaki. "Now, how quick are you?"
A boom erupted as Stour jumped through a Sonido, appearing just in front of Kaki, aiming a backhanded punch towards her upper abdomen. He was aiming to damage, not to maim. It was a difficult way to fight. He was slower as a result of it, and he wasn't using his full potential to begin with. His reiryoku was being held in. He was holding back. And holding back plenty.
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
Saito stared, unable to tell if he was becoming so enraged that he wanted to strike at the man with all he had, or if he was so surprised that the little girl was...
What was she doing anyways?
She was trying to draw him away. She didn't want to see another person die. Or get hurt. If it was her, well, she'd take that stupid hollow down with her. The one in her mind. That hand struck her right near where her diaphragm was. Her eyes widened behind her mask and she let out a coughing sound, which was actually her losing all of her breath.
But she hadn't slid back, because she had grabbed the wrist of the arrancar. Petty, she knew. But at this range, she was hoping a cero wouldn't be a waste of energy. "Gomen, Onii-chan."
Springing up towards the arrancar's head, her own palm reached for it, glowing red with the energy of a cero. She was ready to blast it too. Not that she expected it to do anything.
Akaharu remained speechless, merely blinking. "Matte..."
Stour chuckled as she grabbed his wrist. Only five limbs left operational. He might be worried if he were a fool. The wings plunged between the two as her cero charged, and with full force flung upwards, as if a catapult were attempted to launch her away from him. He figured at the least, it would move her hand or disrupt her cero's aim. That was bound to be a painful experience at point blank. Besides, he had plenty of tricks of his sleeve. None of them that he wanted to use. His curiosity was almost fully ebbed at this point. Those masks were akin to a next step in power. Stour was more curious than ever, now. He wondered if he had a next step in power as well, and doubted it. What would it be from, anyways? He chuckled again, probably seeming insane.
"You're all so serious, it's difficult to have fun around you," Stour said, as reiatsu burst forth, an attempt to create distance between himself and all of them. Especially distance between them all. If they were separated they were less likely to rally and attack at once. "Somebody still hasn't bowed."
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
Despair flooded Kaki. She couldn't get a hit this way. The wings threw her to the ground, the reiatsu dispersing from her hand. Funny. That strange, faded vision she saw through the shadows of her mask was gone on the left side. A crack had formed, peices were falling off, her crimson eyes in plain sight again. And the extra reiatsu was the limit. Finally, that mask broke off. The girl's face became visible again. She didn't even try to hide her expression, her shame. She'd failed.
She never did much of anything on her own, did she? Her head pressed into the sand; a combination of too tired, too down, and too pressed against the ground by his reiatsu. Alone, those wouldn't have been as big of a problem. Now, combined, apathy consumed her. Why should she care about what happened to those others? That man hadn't lifted a finger to help her. Neither had that nameless man within her, that tall, jade creature.
Akaharu wasn't doing much better. She wasn't sure. Was she mad at him for hurting that girl, since she'd protected her? Or did she still hate the girl? No, it couldn't be that. She was pissed. Pissed enough to put her entire focus into remaining standing, just out of spite. Her violet eyes were so narrowed that if they narrowed any further her eyes would close. "And somebody... isn't going to."
"What are you talking about?" Saito, able to stand through this reiatsu, stared. At Akaharu, and at Stour, his eyes shifting between the two.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
A flash of reiatsu, and a burst of sound, and Stour stood in front of Akaharu, his state resealed. "I'm no cheat, but I figured you may as well know, that even we who are considered the highest ranking arrancar don't do such things all the time. Kill randomly? Little girl, this is my first trip to earth in ages. I spend my time in solitude, laughing to myself about how pathetic and miserable most arrancar's existences are. Try to be less ignorant, perhaps. And one day, someone less carefree may show their face to you."
Stour looked at Akaharu hardly, and pointed a finger at her, right where he had cut her cheek. "Remember that the only damage dealt that will remain on the person in this little melee, was done to you. Remember that you put their lives needlessly at risk. Always remember that they could have died. Easily. Quickly. Painfully. Died," Stour said, his peaceful voice returned now, making the words ring again, as he stared at her for a few moments before turning to Saito. "You may want to teach her some respect, before she gets you all killed. Might not be a bad idea to do it through violence. Perhaps it's the only way to get through to her."
Stour turned on his heel at that point, not too interested in their responses, and walked a ways up the beach. He wasn't sure about the girls, but the man may actually be able to form a path in the garganta. He didn't want that man wandering in the desert. He wanted him here, on Earth. Getting stronger. Stour had a taste, and the man was skilled. Stour always prided himself on his hands being so useful. It was a similar situation with that man. Could prove entertaining. Unfortunately, Stour'd probably not return to Earth for another long while.
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
Irony. That word came to mind. Cruel irony. That one similarity, seeking solitude, looking down on others (though in different ways), Akaharu's resentment was fueled by this. Her violet eyes narrowed to slits. That resentment was only fueled by his words. They could have died, that was true. But they didn't. She knew it was gambling. But this guy probably knew it just as much as Akaharu: if she was dead, or if she had nothing left to lose, there was no incentive. If her uncle was killed? If that strange girl was killed? "But they didn't; you didn't. And I didn't think you would."
His words fueled her resentment, that look of ever-growing rage behind her violet eyes. Enraged that she was so useless. So powerless, so dependent on others. This was why she liked solitude. Why she would lose herself in her computer, her work. Speaking of respect? Akaharu? Hell no. The two didn't mix.
"I'd rather remain on decent moral grounds than sink to the level of a hollow," Saito commented, stepping towards the arrancar and to Akaharu. "And she isn't my child to begin with."
The man seemed to ignore Saito as he left, but Saito had other things to worry about. Like the little girl on the--but, she was gone too. A small trail of footprints left behind in the drenched sand.
"Saito, just drop it."
There really was nothing else to do. All the two could do was walk away.
{End thread}
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.