"Everyone saw the decisions I made, but no one saw the choices I had." — Itachi Uchiha.
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"What the hell is happening this time around?" someone shouted at the top of their lungs, echoing Tōshirō's silent sentiments as well as the others, as they dispersed in groups towards their dispatch.
Tōshirō followed behind Rangiku as their squad was one of the first to respond the moment a strange call sounded out. From what Tōshirō could see as they moved, it wasn't anything serious. Just some people causing trouble, a few dozen at most. It was also why their Captain hadn't seemed worried when he sent them out.
"It's just those pricks being dicks." Was what their Captains had said before he waved them off.
Tōshirō remained outwardly calm and focused but there was a visible tension to his frame that wasn't on the older Shinigami. Compared to Tōshirō, they didn't just look calm—they were calm.
"What now, Vice?" Shuguki, the Fourth Seat, asked Rangiku. "Isn't it too early for dozens of Zanpakutō to be going out of control?"
"Why are you asking me?" She snapped, mildly irritated, earning a few snickers from the others.
The cases of the out of control Shinigami, while worrying to hear about, was already being taken care of by the Shinigami near them which was why all of them looked calm. The fact that none of the Captains made an effort to move out assured them even further that everything was under control.
"Okay that's serious." One of them said as they all looked at the small ball of fire slowly falling down in the distance. The blazing Reiatsu they could feel from it was quite intense so with an order from Rangiku, they made a slight detour and hurried towards it.
"Looks like they are alone—" Rangiku's words were cut short the moment a Kidō barrier appeared in the path of what was now a not so little ball of fire. Rangiku and a few others knew exactly what level of Kidō it was but they all shared a brief confused look because, like Rangiku had said, they had not sensed anyone else – apart from the owner of the blazing Reiatsu – in the vicinity.
This was the Seireitei so they just shrugged it off and hurried towards the place that was now being sectioned off by a ring of dark green flames.
"This looks a bit dangerous." Tōshirō remarked to which Rangiku scoffed.
"To who? Us or whoever they are trapped in there with?" she retorted sarcastically. It was only when they got closer that Tōshirō could barely start sensing the other presence in the ring of fire.
That wasn't the only thing he was sensing however. It was only after coming this close that he could finally start sensing a familiarity in the out of control Reiatsu.
He was still trying to figure out why the Reiatsu felt familiar when they arrived at the edge of the ring and realized just how insanely hot it felt. They were forced to put a conscious effort into protecting themselves just by standing at the edge of it. If it was this hot outside of it, Tōshirō could only wonder how hotter it was inside it. The haze and the blistering ground gave him a rough estimate.
"Tōshirō, can you handle the heat?" Rangiku turned to him with a serious look on her face.
He grabbed the hilt of his Zanpakutō and replied with a confident nod. His Shikai was strong enough to offset however hot the inner ring was. The only thing he wasn't certain of was if he could spread the cold to the others while trying to fight off the massive Reiatsu that was hanging off the heat. The only thing he was certain of was his own protection and this new reminder of his weakness made a pained look wash over his face.
"We're going in, right?" Shuguki asked, looking at Rangiku who drew out her Zanpakutō, and took that as his reply.
Tōshirō's eyes widened the moment they took a step towards the ring. "Stop!"
"What is—" the others halted their advance immediately and held their blades in a battle-ready stance while their eyes scanned their surroundings. They saw nothing but still remained at alert while Rangiku glanced at Tōshirō with questioning eyes but the question was immediately smothered as a mountain of pressure fell on them and instantly locked down their shoulders and feet.
The glowing intensity of the ring of fire dimmed considerably as the world around them grew a bit grey.
"Fuck. It's him." Shuguki cursed through his teeth as the veins on his head throbbed painfully. "Don't make any sudden movements."
Tōshirō's knees felt weak, all their knees did, but they all braced through the pressure, some having it a bit easier than others.
"We're retreating." Rangiku ordered with the most serious look Tōshirō had ever seen on her face. All hints of the regular teasing Rangiku was gone and the only thing that remained was the Shinigami Lieutenant Matsumoto.
The moment Rangiku said that, all their shoulders stiffened again as they felt the unmistakable feeling of someone's eyes watching them intensely.
Their shoulders relaxed fractionally as the feeling disappeared, barely lasting a second, but Tōshirō saw no looks of relief on their faces.
Without another word being said, they all retreated from the area and it was only after they did that they had the luxury of focusing on something else, and that something else was the sky above the Seireitei.
The sun was still up but there was a grey taint in the light it shone that bereft the world of its usual vibrancy. Apart from the sun, there was also the murder of crows that were flying around in the sky, all eerily silent.
"Well shit," Someone said as they took a second take in the eerie air currently bathing the Seireitei.
"Who pissed him off?" Another asked grimly, sharing the sentiment with shaking heads and clicking lips.
Tōshirō listened distractedly as the familiarity of that Reiatsu kept tugging at his mind. He knew who that person was.
"Is it that bad?" someone asked, only to earn different levels of dry looks. She shrunk into herself, suddenly very conscious, but Shuguki quickly explained it in a simple way.
"It's like seeing Captain Zaraki in one of your Academy missions." It was either that he was bored and decided to toy with the kids or it was something much worse — there was no in-between. Her face made an 'oh' at the analogy before settling into a difficult expression.
"What next, Vice?" Shuguki asked morosely. The presence of the Captain had put a damper in their minds.
As much as he thought about it, he couldn't ever remember meeting someone with a Zanpakutō that controlled green flames. Elemental-type Zanpakutō were rare so it was easy to know anyone who had one, like his Captain and the Head Captain. Captain Uchiha was the only one whose flames were black, so anyone with green flames should've been obvious.
Who else did he know that had fire type Zanpakutō in the first place?
"We get ready for escalation." She said.
"Fuck." Someone cursed.
They said nothing else and moved accordingly and as they did, Tōshirō's mind went through the short list of everybody he knew with a Fire type Zanpakutō. He stumbled for a moment as they traveled, but other than that nothing changed in his expression.
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… ...…
[POV: With Itachi]
He kept his eyes on the dying husk of his former student as he intended not to miss even a second of his last moments. It was not much but it was the only thing he could do for him at this point.
He felt mocked as he walked towards Amagai with his blade in hand. Even if it was to spare Amagai the torture of dying slowly as his soul shatters to his rampaging Reiatsu, it did not change the fact that he was about to kill his own student—one that was put in this position because of the lies of Shinigami.
Others wouldn't care about the distinction and would only see it as him performing his duty, even titling it as another one of his impeccable service.
Itachi felt mocked.
Still his eyes remained on Amagai.
"I hope you find peace in passing. I pray your next life favors you."
The growth of the Bakkoto was no longer uniform as it sprouted from different parts of the body. The flames had consumed other parts of the body that the Bakkoto hadn't and now they were fighting to consume the carcass.
Itachi's teeth ground hard. At this rate there wouldn't even be a body. Even in death the lies of the Shinigami consumed him.
The mockery touched the barest part of his soul.
"I am sorry." Itachi said as he extended his blade. The corpse ran at him with such intense heat that turned everything around them to slag. "I have failed you."
As the corpse approached him, the ring of flames started shrinking, building even more heat with every inch it shrunk. Itachi saw it all, as well as what would happen should the shrinking ring touch the corpse.
Nuclear.
Everything will be gone, vaporized, until only fire remains.
Itachi's skin burnt away as the corpse arrived in front of him with the ring surrounding them, carrying with them a heat that ate away at everything. No exception.
"Forgive me." The skin on half of his face was gone as well as the entire arm holding his sword. Still his eyes never left Amagai.
The blade came, slow and fast at the same time, from the front and behind. It gleamed brightly and banished with a dark light.
Honshin, the Truth-seeker, cleaved.
"Blackout. Mirror Flow."
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