tampered | Log: Complete

Log: Complete

When; Evening, August 25th
Rating; R for violence
Characters; Aizen and Rangiku for now, other shinigami later on
Summary; Rangiku's temper gets the better of her.
Log;

It didn’t take long for Rangiku to drop from the snowy sky, landing lightly off to the side of the fountain. The snow flew away from where her feet hit the ground, but it was a distraction she ignored. She knew he was around, but he wasn’t in sight. It didn’t matter, though. His tricks were known now, and she knew he could be hiding himself with his zanpakutou’s power. Slowly, her head turned as she kept watch for the former Fifth Division Captain.

“Aizen! I know you’re around here.”

Long fingers gripped Haineko’s hilt, prepared to pull it as soon as he showed himself.

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"Hello, Ran-chan. May I have this dance?"

He merely bowed to her, not gripping his sword.

Blue eyes narrowed at the familiarity he saw fit to use. "Gin doesn't even have the right to call me that anymore." Haineko was free of its saya, aimed straight at Aizen as she moved to face him.

"I'm not like Momo. I won't listen to your lies and I won't hesitate."

The sword plunged through the illusion, piercing only open air.

"Now, now, Ran-chan. That's not very lady-like," whispered a voice right behind her left ear.

"Whatever would Gin think of that?"

Her face lined in a scowl, she spun away, bringing Haineko down in a wide arc from over her shoulder.

"I've never been lady-like and I don't care what he thinks."

In all honesty, she didn't think she'd be able to get him with such basic moves, but she was moving on instinct now.

He caught the blade with little effort, then shoved forward with his other hand, trying to shove her into the fountain.

"You know, he actually talks about you sometimes. It's rather annoying."

Off balance, she slid back, but caught herself just before she went into the water. A quick shunpyo step allowed her to clear the obstacle before she faced him again, blade held steady.

"You're a lying bastard. Unare, Haineko."

The zanpakutou dissolved into ash, its mistress directing the cloud to her opponent.

A blur appears as Momo comes down between them, ready to attack Aizen, and right in the path of Rangiku's attack.

"Aizen...you monster!"

Aizen watched the cloud with amusement, "Better move, Momo."

The cloud shears through her body on its way to Aizen.

((ooc: illusion))

"Shit!"

Rangiku called the ashes back, ignoring the reforming blade as she moved to check on Momo, making sure she left plenty of space between her and Aizen.

On one knee, she reached out to carefully touch the crumpled shape of her friend, still eyeing Aizen with vicious hatred.

The dead Momi's face slowly contorted into a rotting visage of horror, her arms clawing at her and a horrible hissing gurgle coming from her throat. A mask slowly started to form over her face.

"My, my Ran-chan. What is this? How very bad of you."

Just as soon as she appeared, Momo disappeared again.

"Was it an illusion, though? Or the promise of things to come?"

He took a half-hearted swing at her head.

The sight of her friend shifted before her eyes and she knew she'd been had. She glanced up at Aizen just in time to see him motion, rolling away with a mutter as Haineko chided her silently.

Back on her feet, she leveled her blade at him, a grim smile on her face. "I said don't call me that. You won't fool me again."

"Why would I need to? I don't even need an illusion to kill you."

He began to go through a series of movements, the held an arm to her.

"Shakkaho..."

A massive ball of flame moved outwards to her position.

"You remember the Demon Arts, do you not?"

She was worried, that much was obvious. Once again her mind was a mess of thoughts, a confused jumble as she raced to the battle. But this time Hinamori was sure she knew who to point her zanpakuto at. She was fed up of everyone talking about her behind her back, fed up of the sideways glances.

Thinking about it, she should have known it would happen this way, even as she urged herself to go faster, to go further with her shunpo. Should have known everyone would be right.

There was still one way to redeem herself though, and she drew Tobiume, hurtling downwards towards the two already locked in fight near that dreaded fountain. Kira, Rangiku, even Abarai could say what they wanted. The dark-haired shinigami had decided already and was determined to see it through to the end.

She braced, landing with zanpakuto held to block the ball of flame as it headed towards Rangiku. She glanced up slightly, gaze locking on Aizen.

He disappated the blast the moment it got within her range.

"So, you finally show up. My, my, are you disobeying your superior officer? I do believe that's worthy of a court martial, young lady."

Rangiku had just called the 33rd Art to her hands when a blur of dark material moved between them. For a moment, she wondered if it was another illusion, but it didn't matter. She loosed the blue ball over the shoulder of the younger woman in front of her with a humorless smile.

"Another illusion, traitor?"

Hinamori stopped the blast without diverting her gaze. She had only two words for the man in front of her.

"Hajike, Tobiume." It was said it so quietly it was almost a whisper, but the sword in her hand responded. Red lighting flashed with the familiar sight of plum blossoms floating across her vision as her zanpakuto assumed its seikai form. A burst of energy channeled itself down the length of the blade, hitting and kicking up the snow in front of Aizen as she used her shunpo to get above and behind him, Tobiume aimed in a downwards strike.

Aizen chuckled to himself as he reached up and blocked the attack with his sword, not even looking up at her.

"Very brave, dear. Very brave. Useless, but brave."

He parried the attack to the side and threw a backhand behind himself and up at her, trying to grab her by the neck.

She kicked off his arm, skidding to a stop in the snow a few feet away. She was breathing heavily already, the weight of Tobiume pulling her down from the long time she'd spent in the hospital. The last fight she'd truly been in had been against Hitsugaya, and her hands instantly tightened thier grip around Tobiume's hilt at the memory.

"Say whatever you want." Hinamori glanced at Rangiku. Her main objective was to get the other vice captain away from here, as unharmed as possible. Other than that... She had no plan. Killing Aizen, if even possible, would be pointless. There were very few options to go on, and less that Hinamori would have liked to take.

Rangiku took advantage of Aizen's movement, Haineko poised to run the man through. She shunpyo'd closer, the smile on her face turning grim.

"Gotcha..."

"Do you now?" said an Aizen behind her, "Then let's see you block THIS!"

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Raikoho!"

Hinamori snarled and rushed forward, knocking Rangiku out of the way with a less-than-gentle shove, Tobiume whirling around in her hand to absorb the attack the smaller shinigami knew would hit.

She smiled slightly, a small, weary, defeated smile, her dark eyes darker with the determination to keep Rangiku out of the fight.

She wasn't used to being pushed aorund in a fight, but she allowed it, using it to slip behind Aizen (and away from Momo). Even if one of them didn't have a chance against him, maybe both of them did.

The fake Aizen disappeared in a flourish of blossoms, the whole attack a ruse.

"Sorry, Ran-chan, you really were facing me the first time. The one behind you was a fake. Pity."

He pulled a smaller knife out of his coat and hurled it at her sword-arm.

She snapped forward, shunpyo kicking in as she placed herself between the two again, blocking the knife. Before it landed she had kicked off, doing her best to keep Aizen busy and focused on her.

"Why won't you fight me?" she shouted questioningly, unleashing a series of attacks for him to parry.

She was growing tired of being interrupted. That was hte reason she'd left to go after the traitor, so someone could finally take him down. Now, everytime she made a move, Momo was there to block her. If she'd only work with her, they could finish the fight quickly.

"Get out of the way," she growled at the other woman as she slid her hand down the blade of her zanpakutou. With a soft word, the blade faded away, like normal, only to reform in the secondary shikai release.

Haineko stood next to Rangiku, teeth bared in a vicious hiss at the smaller woman.

"No." She didn't want to have to fight both of them at once. So far every move had been mostly carefully calculated to minimize the damage the older shinigami recieved, with no care as to what happened to herself.

It was already taking its toll on her body. Hinamori had been further weakened by her bankai attempt, having never fully recovered from her stint in the hospital in the first place.

She kept herself between the two, ready to block an attack from either. "It's pointless, Rangiku. You know, even if you do succeed, he'll just come back. This isn't your fight anyway. It's mine. It always has been." She glanced over, eyes cold, grip tightening once more. No matter what the two she stood between decided, she couldn't take much more and Hinamori was counting the moves she had left.

"Correction, this fight is MINE. It was from the very beginning. You just refuse to accept it."

He moved in the space of a moment, appearing above them and swinging his blade in a downward arc.

"Disappear from my sight."

She knew Momo was tiring quickly, and she knew that she still hadn't fully recovered from her previous injures given by the man they were facing. Without thought, she grabbed a thin arm and forced her out of the way of the oncoming strike, willing Haineko back as she braced herself to do what she could to block him.

She wouldn't let Momo be hurt again.

She fell, hitting the ground hard and Tobiume flying from her hands, skidding across the snow. Stupid, stupid, she should have known. Her hands reached desperately for the zanpakuto, willing it home, back to her.

Hinamori's eyes widened in shock as she watched, her sword responding to her wishes. The small figure she'd come to adore stood between the two, grasping the blade that was aiming for Rangiku. The plum blossom-haired Tobiume smiled cheerfully as she hovered in midair, sword biting into her hands as she halted it's progress, murmuring soft words to her wielder.

Aizen had soon broken the dead-lock, and jumped back a good distance from them.

"I've had enough of this. I will however, leave you a little gift. A vision of the future. Good day."

"Kyoka Suigetsu, Kudakero!"

[ooc: He's cast a vision of absolute horror at the two of them. If caught in it, they'll see visions of themselves and everyone they know, captured in the hollow world, being tortured, killed, and revived again, endlessly over and over.]

Sensing the intent behind the spell, Hinamori stumbled to her feet she reached out a hand, Tobiume taking it with another cheerful smile before reforming into the familiar katana shape. It was hard to even think about moving, her reiatsu at its limit, but Hinamori grabbed Rangiku by the arm, using shunpyo to get far enough backwards before the spell hit.

A glance back was all Hinamori needed before she faltered, shunpyo failing her. She dropped to the ground, grip so tight on Tobiume she was drawing blood. "Are you alright?" she managed breathlessly, concern in her eyes as she watched the older shinigami, free hand instinctively clutching her stomach.

For a brief instant, she'd seen Gin in front of her, his Shinsou cold against her throat, but the vision was wrenched away as quickly as it had appeared.

Somehow, she'd ended up flat on her back next to Momo, barely hearing her question as she stared up at the gray sky.

A silent once over told her she had some minor nicks and scratches, plus the promise of bruises to come. She was worn out, which was her own fault for being so reckless.

As she lay there in the snow, all she could do was laugh softly as she turned her head to look over at her comrade.

"You did it, Momo."

She smiled that weary smile, shaking her head and avoiding Rangiku's gaze as she responded with "I did nothing. I... have to go." The smile faded as she hoped she'd been able to shield her now failing reiatsu long enough from Hitsugaya, knowing he'd already question what had taken her so long to find him.

She'd stepped between the two, one of her best friends and the man she thought she'd loved, and managed to remain mostly unscathed, the bitterest pain resonating from the old wound. She continued to clutch her stomach as she stood, sheathing the blade. Hinamori murmured a quiet "don't make me do this again," before turning, walking slowly through the snow. He hadn't attacked her. Not once, not directly. She'd owed Rangiku her life once, and this was her way of returning the favor. But the fight replayed itself over and over again, his sword never raised at her direction.

Hinamori Momo had been thrown away. With that in mind she glanced back, sadly, making sure Rangiku was alright as she continued to walk away. She was in no position to stay by the older woman. She'd have to get someone to take her home.

Rangiku watched Momo walk off, concern obvious on her face. There wasn't mich she could do to help her at the moment, so she allowed her to leave. She knew she'd have a chance to talk to her later, and she would.

Carefully hauling herself to her feet, she took one more look up at the sky before she started back to her apartment, Haineko a silent ghost at her side.

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Log: Complete

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