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This article, Back From the Dead: Kensei Muguruma!?, is a side-story entry in Bleach: The Coven War, set during the First Arc. The chapter follows on from the Captain's meeting shown in A New Chapter, and features Shūhei Hisagi and Rōjūrō "Rose" Ōtoribashi as main characters, with the revived Kensei Muguruma serving as the main antagonist.
Hisagi found himself rather irritable following the recent Captain's meeting. Seeing Captain Hein Ueda again had certainly contributed to the sourness of his current mood -- the fact he had managed to get a rise out of him, no matter how small irked him greatly -- but that was only a small contributing factor if he was being honest. The Gotei 13 had fought so hard against the Quincy and their reward had been a scant few years of peace. Where they doomed to live the rest of their lives waging one battle after another? To fight and kill, when their duty was the upholding of the Spirit Cycle of Souls?
Surely The Coven wanted the same thing as the Gotei 13? Hisagi didn't know anymore. "I thought we we're all Shinigami struggling for the same thing."
He heaved a sigh of relieve.
Hisagi hadn't volunteered for the task force because he and Captain Komamura had agreed that it was best to wait and monitor for now, rather than leaping without looking. It was the reason that Hisagi now found himself with a modicum of free time. It was also why he was walking towards the barracks of the 3rd Division rather than the barracks of the 9th Division with his guitar case slung over his right shoulder.
"What I wouldn't give for some relaxation."
He wasn't questioned by the Shinigami of the 3rd Division scattered around the barracks. Hisagi had been here enough times in the past for those patrolling to know that he had a love for music that their Captain, Rōjūrō "Rose" Ōtoribashi, shared. He spoke with a few who he was familiar with and soon learned that Captain Ōtoribashi had retired to his office following the meeting. With a quick thank you Hisagi found himself standing outside Rose's room in little time and he gently rapped it with his knuckles.
"Captain Ōtoribashi? It's Lieutenant Hisagi."
"Ah, Hisagi-kun, please come in."
With little else to do, the Captain had decided to deal with some paperwork. Seated behind his desk, he was skimming through a series of reports from members of his Division. Their patrols were mostly uneventful, thankfully. However, there was one that drew his attention. Two low-ranking Seated Officers who had been last seen in the Sabitsura District of the East Rukongai a few days prior were still missing. That was troubling. Was that the doing of the Coven? Perhaps. He should send someone to investigate. Probably his young and somewhat fervent Lieutenant, Teruo Akui.
Be that as it may, he had a guest. As such, he chose to take care of that matter at a slightly later time. He glanced at his Flying V, resting comfortably on its stand.
"I suppose that recent developments have filled you with emotions that just beg for an outlet, is that right?", he asked Hisagi with a friendly smile.
Hisagi returned the smile and entered the room where he unshouldered his guitar and took a seat.
"Something like that."
He strummed a brief melody and it was as sour as his current mood.
Hotaru Hiroshi, who was known to the Gotei 13 as Yoshiro Shiba and a loyal member of the 9th Division, stood in a darkened room in Northern Rukongai. His reiatsu signature was hidden and he had donned his Hollow mask to preserve his identity just on the offside that he had been followed. Van Satonaka had made it his mission to discover who in the 9th Division was working with The Coven.
"Captain Ōtoribashi and Lieutenant Hisagi will be strumming their instruments for some time, which they usually do on the understanding that they not be disturbed during this time."
Hotaru's face was still covered by his Hollow mask but if he where to remove it one would see that he was indeed smiling in a rather cruel fashion. The woman he spoke to was dark-haired and bespectacled with a dangerous glint in her eye. She was his handler and contact in The Coven. She got what he was driving at immediately.
Hotaru soon continued.
"As I already told you, everyone's attention is on the task force to the World of the Living. You won't have much time, but a quick attack by one of our assets and we might just remove Captain Ōtoribashi and Lieutenant Hisagi in one swoop."
"... I'll see what I can do."
For standing behind the woman was a silver-haired male, topless, with a 69 tattoo on his chest...
The moment he struck the first chord Hisagi found himself relaxing somewhat. It had long been an ambition of his to form a band of some kind, but in recent years he just did not have the free time on his hands to pursue the idea. At least with Rose he could spend time with someone who shared his passion. The sour notes where soon replaced by a pluckier rhythm.
In the meantime, Ōtoribashi had put back the papers, then stood up and walked around his desk to lean against it. When Shūhei's music changed, he nodded pensively.
"The best kind of music emerges from authentic emotion", he remarked in a quiet voice. "There's nothing to be ashamed of. Sensitive people will understand as the sounds you produce reverberate through their very souls."
With that said, he placed his chair in front of Hisagi. With his own guitar now in his hands he swiftly joined the Lieutenant. At first he played along, deftly supporting the latter. However, he soon began weaving in shrill, sinister chords. Seven years of peace following the Kidō Corps Revolt. Relative peace, undisturbed by large-scale conflict but with the constant awareness of a prominent threat lurking in the shadows, growing. And then, eventually and inevitably, the first signs of a coming storm. Rose brushed his fingers sharply against the chords of his guitar.
What else they had to deal with within such a short timespan?
The result of the pair's joint play was no doubt saddening to anyone who happened to pass by the door. But that was not the case, for the day's work was quickly beginning and the crowd who had been in the barracks when Hisagi had arrived had filtered out to be about their duties. A fair number remained for the more mundane day-to-day tasks but for the most part the Captain and Lieutenant where left to their own devices.
Which was not a bad thing.
The Coven stemmed from the old Kidō Corps and where thus intimately familiar with the myriad defences employed by the Gotei 13, for they had been integral in maintaining some in the years before the Revolt. As such it was quite easy for them to come and go or remain hidden when needed. A muscled man with silvery hair and wearing what strangely appeared to be a Captain's haori over the usual sleeveless kosode of the 9th Division looked down on the barracks of the 3rd Division, having stepped from a fold in the air. He knew where Rose's quarters where from memory and quickly identified the area.
"Your departure is already timed, Kensei. Do as much damage as possible." The bespectacled woman from earlier soon disappeared into the same fold.
"Do you really think I'm mature enough to hold back?"
Spiritual power surged along the short blade of the man's Shikai and when he thrust his arm forward he loosed an expansive wave of blue spiritual power that struck the building! Hisagi's senses kicked in out of instinct but what he sensed rooted him to the floor, and the hand he had used to pluck his guitar suddenly clenched, and one of the strings snapped.
"... That's...!" It was the only word he could utter before the room began to shake violently.
Rose froze for a short while, his purple eyes widened in shock. He turned his head in the approximate direction of the sudden explosion. Then, he stood up, still holding his guitar.
"That spiritual pressure...", he murmured. "Are you sensing the same thing, Hisagi-kun?"
That was more of a rhetorical question. Of course he had recognised that signature with little to no room for doubt. Even though it had been a few years, even though it was impossible, he sensed the spiritual pressure of none other but Kensei Muguruma. One of his longtime Visored friends, a fellow Captain, and supposedly, deceased. A hail of questions pelted his mind in confusion. However, he would not stand idly and deliberate when under attack. As such, he placed his guitar against his desk and reached for something else - his Zanpakutō, stored in its sheath.
"We must take a look at this, I believe", he said, sullen and quiet.
Ordinarily Hisagi would not have been able to draw his Zanpakutō in this situation. Thankfully he had been given permission to wear it in public in the event the investigative team deployed to the World of the Living ran into trouble and reinforcement was needed. As someone on-standby for that eventuality Hisagi had Kazeshini close-to-hand, and he was thankful for it. His usual visits to Rose usually involved solely his guitar.
"This can't be right!"
Hisagi's usual "take a step back" approach was thrown out the nearest window and he bolted out of the room and into the hallway, where he quickly saw the destruction caused by what could only have been Tachikaze. And sure enough when he looked up into the sky he saw the familiar outline of his former Captain: Kensei Muguruma. And he looked as pissed off as he usually did. His Captain's haori billowed in the wind and those brown eyes quickly found Hisagi.
Kensei's movement was as swift as Hisagi remembered.
As he closed the distance the heavy feeling of Hollowfied reiatsu swept through the space and Hisagi, who barely drew his Zanpakutō from his sheath to block, was sent flying through the barracks of the 3rd Division following an energised punch from Kensei! With that accomplished the impossibly alive Kensei turned his attention to Rose, removed his mask, and smiled.
Not a word was spoken, no explanation was given. Kensei was the enemy.
Rose glared at him with what one could interpret as dismay. Still, there was something eerily stern about his face expression. He had already drawn his Zanpakutō and faced the unwelcome guest directly.
"It's true that Kensei used to be a little rough around the edges", he remarked. "But he wasn't a mindless brute. Although, let us discuss the issue of your identity... outside."
All of a sudden, he swung his sword at the peculiar opponent.
"Play, Kinshara!"
Accompanied by the sound of light playing of piano keys, the blade of the katana extended into a golden, segmented whip with a flower-like tip. Twisting and coiling about Muguruma like a live snake, the Zanpakutō was manipulated by Captain Ōtoribashi to wrap around the target and, with a single forceful pull, throw him out of the office through the closest wall.
"Hyapporankan!"
Hisagi was wearing the brunt of Kensei's earlier attack already. He was scuffed from his collision with a wall, and blood trickled from an injury just above his left eye. Thankfully it did not hamper his aim for his attempt to bind Kensei succeeded. Having been thrown through a wall by Rose, Kensei now found himself forcibly bound to the floor of the 3rd Division barracks by Hisagi's Kidō. The sudden change in trajectory, coupled with the force of smacking the floor, elicited a groan of pain from Kensei that pulled at Hisagi's heart-strings.
He couldn't bring himself to release Kazeshini and attack his prone former Captain.
"This a trick, isn't it!?" Hisagi roared. "You're supposed to be dead!"
Kensei, however, retained his silence save for one word: "Bankai".
The forceful explosion of spiritual energy that accompanied the release of Tekken Tachikaze not only shattered Hisagi's Kidō but also loosened the whip of Kinshara from around his limbs. With that accomplished Kensei seized the whip in his left hand and pulled sharply! His hope was to pull Rose towards Hisagi whilst Kensei himself advanced to simultaneously punch the duo with his knuckled-blades.
Rōjūrō was perplexed as well. Nevertheless, that was not the first time he had to deal with a rather unusual situation, or confronted a feral Kensei, for that matter. Between an anomalously powerful egomaniac with the ability to twist perception according to his whim and a self-proclaimed superhero possessed of reality-warping powers and inhuman zeal, that was almost a piece of cake. Well, almost.
With little time to react, virtually by reflex, he summoned his distinct Hollow mask upon his face as he was being dragged by Kensei with considerable force.
"Yamabuki!", he exclaimed, then slid his fingers along the base of his whip.
Powerful vibrations propagated throughout the length of the weapon only to culminate at the part held by the alleged Muguruma. The ensuant impulse of sound should stun him briefly, if not deal some concussive damage. Anyway, more important was the fact it allowed Rose to wrest his Zanpakutō free. Still, that was all that he managed to do within such a short timespan and, unable to reduce his momentum in time, he merely altered his trajectory with a hasty Flash Step to bust through a wall rather than collide with Kensei's knuckle-clad fist.
"There's only one way to find out, Hisagi-kun!", he shouted when he emerged on the other side, covered in dust. "We have to capture him first and ask nicely later!"
Hisagi's own defence came as hastily as Rose's for he escaped Kensei's fist by erecting a swift Enkōsen, which shattered like glass when struck. The shock-wave of Kensei's fist colliding with the shield did exactly what Hisagi hoped however and ended up pushing him clear to slide along the ground, and he came to a halt not far from where Rose emerged from a wall. As Hisagi stood his Zanpakutō transitioned into its Shikai form without a word from the man, and in those grey eyes was reflected the same resolve as when he cut down Captain Tōsen all those years ago.
It was a look that Hisagi had lost in the intervening years. And when he gazed at the stunned form of his former Captain, whom he still respected greatly, Hisagi's blood boiled.
"Kensei won't come quietly." He didn't like hurting his former Captain but in this case he had little choice. "I'll make you an opening."
The wind began to pick up in intensity until Hisagi finally sped off towards Kensei! The aptly called "Black Tornado" was Kazeshini's seldom-seen special ability, and as a blackened tornado tore through the barracks towards Kensei, Hisagi was slashing with Kazeshini all-the-while. Shadowy blades of wind streaked from the tornado in numbers beyond counting to assault the still stunned Kensei, though the man was beginning to right himself. He did so just as Hisagi's tornado-clad form approached him.
"I should give you an earful for this! Too weak!!" Kensei bellowed.
Kensei brought his fist from the floor straight towards the tornado! The wind suddenly ceased as quickly as it had appeared, shards from one of Kazeshini's sickle-blades went flying, and a heavily bloodied Hisagi soon followed! But as he flew backwards he succeeded in his plan; the remaining blade of Kazeshini, complete with its chain, looped around Kensei's body to hold him fast.
What came next was a combination Kidō assault launched by Hisagi just before he collided heavily with a wall: Hyapporankan with a combination lightning and fire attack; the former Hadō launched along the chain of Kazeshini still held tightly in Hisagi's closed hand.
"So, you talk like the real Kensei", noticed Rose with a crooked, mirthless smile underneath his mask, his voice distorted with the signature reverb of Hollowfication. "Still, to impersonate a Captain is... hardly artistic."
Suspended in the air about a dozen metres above the unexpected aggressor, the Third Division Captain swung his Zanpakutō. The flower on its tip was directed at the fake Muguruma as the former grabbed the base of the whip and pressed his fingers against it.
"Kinshara Sonata Number One - Tsukimisō!", he exclaimed.
Defeaning roar not unlike the sound of a tuba swept across the area. What it preceded was a translucent sphere that crashed down upon the enemy's back to produce a ground-shaking explosion of sound in its wake. Hisagi was right: genuine or not, Kensei was not one to be brought down easily. They had to pacify him somewhat first. Seeing that Rose's attack coincided with the Lieutenant's, he followed up accordingly post-haste.
"Black sun, starless night, cold void. Drown the world in a deluge of darkness. Extinguish the last glimmer of hope. Bakudō #79, Kuyō Shibari!", he chanted whilst his free arm was bent in the elbow in the associated gesture.
It was like looking back in time: Kensei struggling against the trappings of a Kidō spell, whilst his close friends watched him.
"Give it up." Hisagi, who stood on shaky legs, managed to stagger closer to the scene. "I sense more than one Captain approaching. You have lost Captain Muguruma."
No wonder he was staggering. He looked an absolute mess! The blow he sustained had, after all, came from Kensei's unrestrained Bankai, with Hisagi attempting to defend himself with only his Shikai. Hisagi's left-hand side was an absolute wreck; Rose could see his exposed ribs, and from the look of it more than half of the ribs on that particular side where broken or cracked. The left-leg of his uniform was soaked with blood, and the tail ends of his white Commando haori was dyed a dark red.
It was a miracle he was standing at all nevermind moving around!
Kensei, however, remained silent even as he struggled to free himself. He would have to take the fact that Hisagi was effectively hobbled, and wouldn't be reinforcing anyone anytime soon with his injuries. Finally he looked at his former comrades. What was strange however was how calm Kensei was; given his usual attitude, calm was never a word one attributed to Kensei Muguruma. Angry? Sure. Confrontational? Definitely. Rarely calm.
"... You both are too soft." Kensei remarked before looking squarely at Rose. And those where not the eyes of a cornered man or defeated warrior. "You should have killed me."
In the meantime, the Captain of the Third Division had landed a fairly short distance from him. Not too short, though. With a wave of his hand he removed his Hollow mask. The whip of Kinshara was coiled in his hand, but he did not seal the Zanpakutō just yet. He glanced at Hisagi with a hint of concern, then glared back at the supposed Muguruma.
"I wish we were able to act properly from the start", he said in a dour mood. "But I'm afraid we haven't been given the chance to assess this situation. Care to explain why you have come to visit us from beyond the grave, Kensei?", there was a mixture of uncertainty and tranquil fury in his voice, a subtle indication of an inner conflict.
Following those words, he absent-mindedly ran his fingers through his tousled hair.
"What's with that dour look? Stupid." Kensei replied. "Think about it: it's psychological warfare."
And there was only one organisation with whom the Gotei 13 was currently at war with. It was following this statement that he looked like the real Kensei for the first time since his appearance; his forehead was furrowed into his formerly seen stern frown, and his fists where clenched tightly at his sides. His Bankai, which coiled around his shoulders in the form of purple segmented bands, vanished; in its place was Tachikaze's Shikai form, which Kensei held firmly in his right-hand.
"We returned from the dead once before, Rose." Kensei continued. "Only this time it was one of the Coven, Samuru Asai, who did the resurrecting. I never thought I'd miss Mayuri's poking and prodding."
Hisagi made a mental note of the name as he sagged against the nearest wall, drawing another concerned look from Rose.
Kensei, however, had divulged as much as he was willing -- or perhaps as much as he was able to -- and took advantage of Rose's attention shifting momentarily to Hisagi to strike. With his reconstituted Shikai he gathered spiritual energy directly into his palm and blasted it downwards into the floor! The impact, and subsequent blow-back, broke the bindings around Kensei's arm, and with that accomplished he slashed Tachikaze through the air as minute streams of wind-laced blades cut him free completely. Of course his escape had injured Kensei as well: his right-arm was bloodied quite extensively, but it did not stop him donning his Hollow mask and cupping his hands at his side. When he threw them forward he aimed the blast squarely at Rose!
Whilst his ability to maintain composure despite the circumstances was noticeably better than Hisagi's, Rōjūrō was bewildered as well. The revelation shook him visibly. That was true, they had died once, and the Twelfth Division Captain did help them recover fully. Since then Rose had lived normally, whereas Kensei suffered a supposedly final death. The Flying V remained sorrowful for a long time, yet things settled eventually. And suddenly, this... a moment's hesitation prevented him from reacting in a prompt manner to what followed. There was only a single thing he was able to do in time.
"Bakudō #39, Enkōsen!", he exclaimed, his eyes widened in shock.
The spinning disc of golden energy manifested right in front of him to intercept the incoming blast. It did, and then shattered into shards of solid energy, not quite sturdy enough to withstand the attack of a Hollowfied Shikai. Slightly diminished, the blast engulfed Rose. There was an explosion. The Third Division Captain emerged rapidly from the ensuant cloud of smoke, sent crashing into a nearby building. The force of impact was sufficient to demolish its façade.
"Rose!"
In his attempt to move towards Rose, Hisagi only succeeded in pushing his damaged body a bit beyond its limit, and he ended up kissing the floor. The pain in his side was unlike anything he had ever experienced; it was as if Kensei's fist was still pressed up against his skin, and Tekken Tachikaze was still assaulting him. But he gripped the haft of Kazeshini in a white-knuckled grip, struggled up onto his elbows, and looked up at his former Captain.
Kensei had turned around and was walking away.
No one in the world would have been able to describe why Hisagi did what he did next: he hurled the chain of Kazeshini and entangled Kensei's ankle, and subsequently pulled the chain taught with the remainder of his strength.
"Do you think you've won just because you beat us?"
The whole situation was eerily identical to when Hisagi had tried to stop Mask from fleeing in the Blood War. In that situation Kensei had saved Hisagi; now Hisagi found himself doing the same thing, only this time his target was none other than the man who had saved his life. And just like then Hisagi was about to be stomped into paste! Only this time was different. He channelled electricity through the chain and rolled clear of Kensei's descending foot, and very nearly passed out from pain for his trouble.
In the distance, one could hear a faint, muffled sound. As if someone lightly slid their fingers against the piano keys. Without a warning the debris Captain Ōtoribashi had been buried in erupted, scattered by Kinshara. The golden whip was substantially extended, perhaps over twenty metres long. Of course, it did not act of its own accord. When the dust cleared it unveiled the Captain himself. Panting and somewhat slanted, the front of his uniform torn to expose most of his singed torso. A single crimson line of blood ran down from his lips to his chin. However, he was still standing, and there was a weak smile on his face.
"You should know, Kensei", he said. "Even if he falters, a true artist performs to the end!"
As if in response, the Zanpakutō writhed fiercely and rose into the air.
"Bankai! Kinshara Butōdan!"
Squirming rapidly about its wielder, the whip began to form multiple slender figures from its detached sections. Extremely tall and featureless, each of them boasted a familiar flower upon its otherwise blank face. Shortly after two giant, disembodied hands that floated above the Captain. All that remained of the standard weapon form of the Zanpakutō was a conducting baton held in Rose's right hand. The man himself grinned in an eerie manner.
"Special performance for a special guest!", he exclaimed... and then summoned his Hollow mask.
The ground trembled slightly when his spiritual pressure intensified. One could hear a soft, vibrating sound, although it quickly faded away.
"The highlight of today's programme is... Ein Heldenleben!", announced Rose whilst both his and the giant hand above swung their conducting batons down simultaneously.
One of the entities moved directly into the centre of their formation with a fluid illusion turn. Then, it lifted one of its hands to cover its non-existent mouth whilst it waved the other one at Kensei, in a gesture reminiscent of someone dismissing another person with histrionic disgust. The effect was not histrionic, though, for the motion unleashed a powerful gust of air that swept across the area. As the fake Muguruma was its direct target, Rose hoped it would coincidentally remove Hisagi from his vicinity before the next step of the technique.
Of the seventeen total figures, a further fourteen were engaged in continuous pirouettes, the air swirling about them perceptibly. Suddenly, they all stopped and jutted out their arms toward Kensei. The result was fourteen roaring whirlwinds that twisted in his direction to engulf him in one veritable tempest. Wasting no time, the final two figures leapt at the enemy from opposite directions right afterward and swung their arms as they passed by him in a lighting-fast strike. Their fingers positioned to form knifehands, they drew thin glowing lines with air blades not unlike those of Muguruma's Shikai. The hero's death.
Kensei braced himself.
Hisagi, though, recalled enough about Rose's Bankai from the Blood War to know to get well out of its way and he was certainly aided in that task by the gust of air, even if he did have to release his hold on Kazeshini lest he be pulled along with Kensei into something he didn't particularly have the desire to experience firsthand. In this case he was happy being the audience. Still he redirected his course with an improvised Kidō net and subsequently fell into the waiting embrace of Tsuriboshi, which had miraculously found some purchase to tether itself to and stop his free-fall.
From there a content Hisagi settled in to watch the performance.
Kensei, meanwhile, had not enjoyed Rose's performance in the slightest. He bore the full brunt of the attack and fell heavily to the floor once it ran its full course, and he made no effort to get back to his feet or resume the battle. He wasn't dead; which in itself was beyond belief, but it was obvious that the threat he posed had been neutralised. His eyes where closed, his body was shredded, and the cratered ground in which he landed was beginning to soak up the former Captain's blood.
"Not the goal we sought, I admit, but I guess this will do."
The person who spoke these words was the very same dark-haired women who had deposited Kensei in the skies above the 3rd Division in the first place, and despite Kensei literally lying in a pool of his own blood she looked happy; the woman wore a big grin on her face and was bouncing with delight! Hisagi half feared she was another James and Kensei was about to rise stronger than ever.
Thankfully he didn't.
"This game has ran its course gentlemen." She almost sounded sad. "I promise I'll let you play with Kensei another time, but for now we must be away. Bye-bye!"
Kensei fell somewhat unceremoniously into a fold that opened directly beneath him, whilst the woman stepped into one that appeared when she casually flicked her left hand. Before the gateways could wink out of existence completely she gave Rose and Hisagi a playful little wave followed by another big smile, though the act revealed a dangerous glint in those crimson-coloured eyes. It was like a switch had been flicked and her entire demeanour had done a three-sixty.
"Don't you dare walk out on me!", Rose shouted at the two.
Unfortunately, caught off-guard once again, he did not manage to stop them. With a heavy sigh he removed his Hollow mask. Shortly afterward the Death Troupe as well as the floating hands vanished, whilst the conducting baton in his hand transformed back into its sealed katana form. The audience had left, so the performance was naturally over. The Captain wiped blood from his chin with the back of his hand. A messy affair, albeit better than letting it stay there. With the other hand he attempted to fix his hair and, with a shaky Flash Step, he approached the Ninth Division's Lieutenant.
"Are you okay, Hisagi-kun?", he asked, offering the man an outstretched hand.
"Captain, what the heck was that!?", they could hear the voice of a boy.
Accompanied by the quiet swish of Shunpo, the Third Seat Officer of Rose's Division, Yuji Akui, stopped right beside them. The boy was visibly shaken. His eyes wandered back-and-forth between Rose, Hisagi, and the destruction around them.
"Was that...?"
"We aren't sure either, Yuji", interrupted Ōtoribashi, although his tone was gentle. "Please, go and fetch someone from the Fourth Division, we could use some medical attention."
"Yessir!", the Third Seat replied and scurried away immediately.
"Well, that was certainly some unexpected turn of events, wasn't it?", Rose addressed Hisagi again with a crooked, weary smile.
Hisagi looked awful but he managed to look Rose in the eye and return him a smile of his own. "All I wanted from today was to play my guitar."
Yuji, however, was stopped from leaving the scene.
"The 4th Division are already on their way but I'll make do until they get here." The man who spoke these words was Kenji Hiroshi. He soon directed his attention to the young silver-haired woman at his flank. "Mikado, see to Captain Ōtoribashi! I'll see to Lieutenant Hisagi."
"Stand still, please."
Mikado asked of Captain Ōtoribashi shyly as the tell-tale signs of healing Kidō enveloped her slender hands. Her forehead was furrowed in concentration. She was standing on her tip-toes to reach some of the Captain's wounds -- which Kenji admitted was rather hilarious -- but she nevertheless did as she was asked.
"You'll do fine." Kenji assured her. He soon looked at Hisagi and immediately began work on his wounded side. "You need some serious attention though, sir. Thankfully I'm aware of what our former Captain was capable of, so rest easy."
Hisagi did not doubt that. But he saw and heard nothing more for darkness took him as he slipped into unconsciousness. And thus the battle between old friends drew to a close...
Although abrupt and brief, the skirmish had caused commotion. Alarmed, numerous Shinigami of the 3rd Division scurried around the area. To assess the damage, reinforce defences, search for possible enemy forces still lurking nearby. And amongst that tumult there was a solitary figure possessed of uncanny composure, standing on the path leading to 3rd Division Headquarters. Conspicuous, yet hardly acknowledged.
That one diminutive figure was clad in a regal onyx furisode, and wore a flowery ornament in their asymmetrically cut hair. Their cerise eyes, juxtaposed to the white, grey, and black of their garments, continuously scanned the surroundings, and the Shinigami who passed by them in a hurry. So different from them, so out of place, yet unassuming and clearly ignored. Gently waving their ornate gunsen in front of their beautiful face.
In fact, most of the Shinigami simply did not perceive them. Not any more than one would perceive a blade of grass, a fallen leaf, a small bird perched on a tree branch, all the while preoccupied with something important. Select few actually saw an unknown person among them, but what little attention they devoted to them was not enough to cause any reaction. A relative of one of the soldiers, a diplomat from one of the noble families, perhaps an actor hired to participate in one of the Captain's performances? No matter. They had been just attacked, and as such that calm, petite stranger was left completely undisturbed.
"Needless violence", spoke Muto in a quiet, mellifluous voice. "What purpose could that possible serve?"
Pensive, they took a slow step forward. Suddenly, someone appeared in front of them, accompanied by the barely audible swish of Shunpo.
"My apologies, but you should leave this area immediately", said a tall, dark-haired man with peculiar pale splodges of skin on his face and exposed left arm. "We've been attacked, it is dangerous in here. Please, seek shelter."
Only a brief squint of their eyes betrayed Muto's surprise. They quickly noticed the distinct badge of a Lieutenant strapped upon the Shinigami's right arm.
"Yes, of course. I will", replied Muto with a polite bow, then turned in the opposite direction.
Most intriguing. For someone to not only perceive their presence, but address them directly... They had to be more careful from now on. Despite their cautious attitude and, more importantly, their special ability, it was indeed possible for a high-level spiritual being to spot them. That was not much of a problem. Owing to the sudden, unpredicted development, Muto's mission in this place was over anyway. They had to report to the Archon at once. Perhaps he would be able to discern the goal of this unexplained assault. After all, whilst Muto was the one acting directly in the field, the Archon remained behind the scenes, always seeing the full picture.
But an event beyond their control filled Muto with unease. Appropriate measures would have to be taken to prevent further unforeseen developments, for sure.
Behind the scenes[]
- The Coven's impact on the story was changed when the FC was reshuffled to its current form. Whilst the interaction and subsequent battle between Rose, Hisagi and Kensei remains a part of the FC, any mention of The Coven now applies to Hotaru's Witches, rather than the larger Coven organisation.