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Fashionably late as Shinji would say, Hiyori thinks with an inner scoff as she surveys the battlefield where the current Gotei losers are scattered in various degrees of near-defeat. And not a moment too late, what a bunch of pathetic useless wastes…
“Hold it right there. Long time no see, Aizen,” Shinji practically purrs from behind her, lightly tapping the sheath of his sword against his leg. The others are standing around them, striking intimidating poses that they have definitely not practiced many times over the last century.
…Okay they have. A lot. There’s a lot of free time when you’re in exile and what the fuck else are they supposed to do but plot out exactly how they want to confront their nemesis!? If you even think about making fun of them she’s going to kick your ass…!
She scoffs louder as the stupid losers mutter something amongst themselves, clearly stunned to see anyone else show up on this battlefield. As if they’re the only ones with a grudge against this megalomaniac asshole! What fuckin’ stupid baldies! Especially the old man, giving them that death stare! Yeah we showed up to kick ass, go fuck yourself!
She hears shuffling as the others look around the scene and she immediately snaps at Shinji for asking something stupid . As if any of them care to talk to these bastards! Who cares if it’s been a century? Who CARES if there’s mostly new faces? They’re still the Gotei and she still fucking loathes them! They aren’t here for these losers, they’re here for Aizen!
Lisa vanishes and she’s irritated because seriously? Ugh, of course… And then Shinji takes off as well! The stupidest baldy of them all! Who cares about the stupid old man! Let’s just get this fight on and over with!
He’s off jabbing with the old fuck for a stupidly long time and then that stupid baldly at the gate shows up. It’s his fault it took so long for them to get in here, if they want to bitch and moan about their people getting their asses beat they should blame this guy!
He finally, FINALLY, comes back and seems almost on the verge of saying something further when Love asks him if he’s done… but he seems to focus more on Aizen’s big fat monster lurking over there and FINALLY they can get into the actual fight! She’s been itching for this for a CENTURY! Maybe even longer!
And then the disgusting monster opens up and vomits gillians everywhere and it is ON, Shinji’s face taking on a serious cast. She pulls on her mask in an instant and takes off, all of them breaking off into their own battles.
She rips through a gillian like it’s nothing, because pff they’re going after Aizen as if a gillian has a chance against her! She ceroes the fuck out of it and then takes out several others while she’s at it because get the fuck off the field you pathetic pawns! The real rulers are here!
The gillians fall like dominos set up just to show how badass they are and oh yeah that feels fuckin’ great. Watch us, you wish you were us, see what power we have that you spat on and tried to destroy.
She’s lost track of where the others have gotten off to, out of the corner of a masked eye she sees Shinji approaching Aizen, and ha of course he immediately went for him. If anyone had the biggest grudge against Aizen it’s Shinji, the pathetic coward was his vice-captain after all. Could only go after them by backstabbing.
She and Lisa deflect the woman Espada’s attack against the tiny white-haired captain and she sneers as the stupid baldy dares to make a comment as if it matters whether they’re allies or not. Who here just saved his life, stupid, the big heroes are here and it’s time to stay back like the weaklings you are!
She hears Lisa start to respond before she cuts herself off as a tidal wave of power comes from the direction of Aizen, except it doesn’t feel like Aizen it feels like-
“Shin… ji?” Hiyori mutters, turning towards where she last saw him because no- that can’t be- why would he-
She has only a moment to feel stunned disbelief as under Shinji’s feet spreads golden metal that immediately starts twisting around him-
-pain lances through her and she looks down to see a sword pierced through her abdomen. Rage fills her because ex-fucking-cuse you!? Who the FUCK!?
She lunges forward off the sword, immediately calling her shikai’s release and whips around, barely fending off Lisa’s furious whirlwind against her. The pathetic captain tries to get a side attack on Lisa and Hiyori takes advantage of both their distraction to hack her cleaver into Lisa’s shoulder while one foot lands on the captain’s face and sends him flying backwards.
Lisa shouts in pain, her own shikai activating as she stabs it towards her and she has to back away. All around her she hears cries of zanpakuto being released, feels the very air shake and rattle from the spiritual pressure starting to become so violently thick that it almost makes it hard to breathe.
The world’s a flurry of rage, slashing, dodging, drawing blood and breaking bones, and for one blessed moment Aizen’s in front of her protecting her from the white-haired captain’s attack and trying to separate them while she’s getting a much-needed breather to recover from the ache in her left leg that’s been frozen so deep she thinks she’s gonna lose it…
Then there’s a searing blast of heat that burns across the sky and through her very bones and all she can think is pain pain pain hurts- fingers turning to dust- what is this- is this- death- no- we haven’t- we can’t- we wanted…
Gilded filigree metal slowly uncoils from around him as he lets his bankai fade away. The city, besides those four pillars, is ashes all the way to the protective barrier. The oppressive, thick, hateful spiritual pressure is gone and all is silent and desolate around him.
He surveys the landscape, head tilted as he tries to ascertain if anyone lives after the old man’s fiery attack. He’s only lucky Wonderweiss reacted as expected, unable to tell enemy from ally in the first place, and devoured the flames before they could even touch his metallic cocoon.
There’s a light brush of fingers against his right wrist, just barely above where he’s loosely gripping Sakanade, and he’s turning before they can fully wrap around his wrist.
“Sousuke…” Shinji murmurs, the corners of his mouth curling up in a lazy grin, eyes half-lidding, as the man gently raises his wrist, sword still loosely held, and kisses the back of his hand.
“A beautiful display,” Sousuke murmurs back, ghosting his lips across his hand, gently kissing each of his knuckles before he releases Shinji’s wrist. “My treasure, that was far more breathtaking than I ever imagined.”
Shinji lets him lay affection on him, immediately sheathing Sakanade when he’s released, and shifts his weight to lazily lean most of it on one leg as he slings the blade over his shoulder. “I’m sure it was quite the show. Ya okay with losin’ all yer subordinates though?”
Sousuke simply chuckles low, not even looking away from him as if nothing mattered besides the sight of him. There’s a dark promise in those eyes, far darker than when they’d first smirked at each other at the start of the battle just before Sousuke had tilted his head in the signal to unleash destruction.
“Subordinates come and go, they served their purpose and that is all that matters.”
“Oh yah?” Shinji tilts his head, pretending to consider the words before he lets his head fall back to stare up at the blue, blue, blue sky that has never once cared for those below it who may suffer or die. “That includin’ me?”
A hand grips his jaw tight, Sousuke suddenly so close they’re nearly pressed together, his eyes narrowed in sharp warning. “ Never ,” he growls low, other hand coming down to squeeze his hip achingly tight. Ah, there’s the bodies pressed together… Possessive bastard.
Shinji allows the manhandling, a light hum vibrating in his throat, and goes slack in Sousuke’s grasp. He keeps him upright, the hand on his hip loosening just slightly so it no longer feels like it’s going to break his hipbone.
“You are mine, from now until forever, and nothing will ever take you away from me,” the man whispers in dark promise, a feverish violence burning in his eyes. If anyone ever draws that violence out of Sousuke, Shinji would almost feel bad for them… almost . It’s far too exciting to imagine just what the resulting mess of blood and bone would look like once Sousuke was done rearranging them and presented them as his latest gift.
“Hafta say the same to ya,” he purrs back, tracing his free hand over the back of Sousuke’s neck. The shudder he gets, those dark eyes going darker until they’re so black he can’t tell where the iris and the pupil begin, curves his mouth into a deep smirk. “An’ if’n ya ever do get tired of me… I’ll hafta beat it into ya jus’ how much yer mine…”
That draws a full-body shudder through Sousuke and the man clears his throat, his hands quickly flipping Shinji around so he can wrap both his arms around him and pull him flush against his front. “I believe we still need to take out the pillars, my treasure, so that I may create the Ouken. Any play will have to wait until I’ve taken the throne.”
Shinji laughs breezily, mask slithering across his face and settling on him. “Then guess I’d better get rid of ‘em…”
Deep inside echoes the roar of triumph and delight, the hollow’s power coursing through him as he charges up a cero across the tips of the first two fingers of each hand. He spreads his arms, delighting in the sharp intake of breath from Sousuke behind him, as he aims at each of the pillars still standing around them.
Four blasts shoot out, gouging craters across the ground and leaving not even pieces of the pillars behind. The real Karakura starts to fade back into existence, Sousuke’s arms holding him in a crushing grip at the lazy display of sheer power, and Shinji grins wider under the mask even as it starts to slip back off his face.
He wonders if Sousuke will finish creating the Ouken before Ichigo shows up. Wonders if Ichigo will have to be a component in its creation. He hopes he gets to see the boy’s horrified face when he realizes what’s happened. Naive kid, far too trusting. Far too breakable.
He wonders if Kisuke got caught up in the old man’s fire or if he and his are still lurking around, waiting for the chance to attack. Wonders if Kisuke’s already come up with a plan for how to deal with Shinji’s sudden flip of sides. Wonders if it’s a knife in his chest to see Shinji working with Sousuke, wonders if he’s flitted through a million scenarios wondering when and why they’re working together.
How amusing. He hopes his old friend is around. He wants to see the look on his face when he tells him that Shinji’s always been on Sousuke’s side. So devoted to the man that he went through with the Hollowfication because whether or not he was saved didn’t matter, success or failure would still have given Sousuke valuable data.
Everyone focused on Sousuke simply because he was a monster who hid behind the veneer of a saint. They didn’t even look twice at the monster who openly wore what he was on his sleeve, as if somehow that meant he was tame or on their side. To be trusted.
What fools they all were. Sakanade was Sakanade, the obvious warning of the wolf amongst the sheep they shut their eyes to. Not even his friends had seen the obvious in front of their eyes for over a century and for that alone he pities them. Pities their foolishness for following him like lambs to the slaughter, unseeing the blades until they were skewered through and their blood ran across the floor.
He can’t wait until Sousuke’s ascended the throne and the worlds are thrown into blissful, sheer chaos before it’s rearranged into the perfect world Sousuke’s always dreamed of. …He just hopes Sousuke doesn’t think there’s room for chaos in his new world because it would be so so boring to have nothing to break or twist as he pleases.
He’d hate to have to remind Sousuke what happens when he’s bored…