Author's note: This was by far the longest chapter I've written and I have decided to go for the longer, less frequent chapters. So If I don't post for a week or two its not because I quit, its just a pain in the ass to write so much.
Naruto: Blades of Fate
Chapter 8: GUARDIAN
It has been three days since the Summit of the Five Kages. The injuries sustained by Kiyoji and his group have been healed but there’s more than the physical trauma. Urahara has since looked into Sephiroth’s background…
Earlier…
“I did the same thing to her as I did to you. It will be interesting to see what happens from here.” Sephiroth’s words rung in Kiyoji’s head. “What did he do to me?”Kiyoji thought to himself as he stood outside the Hokage’s tent, leaning up against one the posts. He seemed to be aloof but there was more to it. He looked back on the previous battle but was haunted with images of Rukia being impaled on Masamune, dark reiatsu being channeled into her. His left arm tensed at the thought. Moments later, Shizune peered out of the tent to motion him in, to which he quickly complied. Inside the tent sat Tsunade at a small table with Shizune standing at her side. Team Kakashi stood beside the table.
“So, care to explain what happened at the Summit, besides the fact you were not ordered to be there to begin with.” Tsunade asked.
“Does the name Sephiroth mean anything to you?” Kiyoji replied despondently. Both Tsunade and Kakashi were taken aback by the mention of his name but everyone else was clueless.
“Who?” Naruto asked, breaking the silence. Kakashi looked at him with utter ambivalence and began to explain.
“Sephiroth was a member of GUARDIAN, a multinational peacekeeping force.” Kakashi began to explain.
“My brother was the last member of it; after he had disappeared the program was shut down.” Kiyoji explained, “Sephiroth and Koji were both 1st class members.”
“What made them so special?” Sakura asked.
“Well, the 2nd and 3rd class members were usually your run-of-the-mill ninja but the 1st class members were proficient swordsmen.” Kiyoji began saying, “Come to think of it, seeing as both my brother and Sephiroth were both Soul Reapers, I wouldn’t be surprised if the other 1st’s were too.” Moments later, Urahara entered the tent and he seemed thrown aback.
“Urahara, if you’re here I’m guessing your research came up with something.” Kiyoji stated.
“It’s a bit more troubling than I originally anticipated.” Kisuke responded, “I decided that it was more important to figure out what he could have done to Rukia. After healing Renji and the others, the medics noticed a black residue in their wounds. Upon further analyzing the residue, I found that it didn’t match any form of toxin, man-made or otherwise. The individual samples seemed harmless but when in close proximity with each other, they violently react. Furthermore, these cells don’t affect humans, only Soul Reapers.” He looked over to Kiyoji, motioning him to lift his left sleeve. He reluctantly complied and began to slowly lift up his sleeve. To everyone’s horror, a large black scar was covering the length of his upper arm.
“When you first fought Sephiroth back in Karakura, the wound he inflicted wasn’t that big. Your proximity to Sephiroth is was what caused your hallucinations and the crippling pain. I can only imagine what could be happening to Rukia.” After Kisuke finished his drawn out explanation, Kiyoji walked towards the exit.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Tsunade demanded. He ignored her and continued to the exit before stopping abruptly.
“I need some answers and I have a pretty good idea of where to start.” He replied before leaving the tent. Outside, Saeko waited silently for him to leave. They both proceeded to western edge of the refugee camp.
“So, where are we going?” Saeko asked as they ran.
“GUARDIAN headquarters in the Land of Sound.”
The Present…
As Kiyoji and Saeko stumbled through the ruins, they couldn’t help but be awestruck. The complex was gigantic, with pillars strewn along the outer ring of the structure. The complex itself was a large circular wall tightly surrounding a series of cylindrical buildings with a large tower in the center.
“So why are we here?” Saeko asked plainly. Kiyoji had a blank look on his face; rather confused himself.
“I’m not exactly sure,” he replied, “I had a feeling something important was here. There has to be some information on Sephiroth somewhere around here.” They approached the GUARDIAN archives, which was a large library holding various texts that pertained to the organization. They both skimmed through several texts until Saeko stumbled upon some important information.
“It says here that Sephiroth was the very first GUARDIAN. Apparently he appeared on the international scene during the Third Ninja War as a swordsman fighting for Konoha. What’s peculiar was that he wasn’t born in the Leaf. It wasn’t until the Kyubi incident 16 years ago that GUARDIAN was formed in order to prevent further instability from occurring.” Saeko read aloud.
“Does it say anything else? Any weaknesses or how he obtained a zanpakto?” Kiyoji asked apprehensively.
“No….it says that amongst the first members were mostly your average shinobi who were recruited from all of the 5 Great Shinobi Villages. The number of 1st class members within the organization was fairly small, at the organization’s height there were less than ten 1st’s at a time.” She replied as she turned a few pages. She stumbled upon something interesting.
“Here, you’re gonna want to take a look at this” Saeko said as she passed the file over to him. In it was a picture that depicted a trio of men who had their swords in hand. Amongst them was Sephiroth, Koji and an unidentified man. The man had short brown hair and wore similar clothes to that of Sephiroth’s except that this man’s trench coat was red with black leather pauldrons. He wielded what appeared to be a red rapier but instead of a small blade it sported a long blade.
“It says here that the three most prominent members of GUARDIAN were Sephiroth, Koji Tiruko and Genesis Rhapsodos.” Saeko continued, “I’m guessing this Genesis is the other man in the picture with your brother and Sephiroth.” Kiyoji began conjuring old memories within his head. His left arm began tense up with pain at the recollection.
“I remember meeting Sephiroth when I was very young. He had come to brief my brother on an important mission. He didn’t seem to be a cold-hearted monster back then….”Kiyoji began to recollect before he fell to his knees, his arm racking with immense pain. His vision was clouded and he began to hear voices. Before him appeared two figures; Koji stood before him with Requiem drawn. Sephiroth stood opposite of him, his back turned to him.
“Sephiroth…..I trusted you!” Koji stated angrily, “Why did you kill the villagers? Answer me, Sephiroth!” Sephiroth stood there; blankly staring at something in front of him though Kiyoji couldn’t ascertain what exactly.
“No, you’re not the Sephiroth I once knew!” Koji yelled as he charged Sephiroth. The vision ended abruptly and he looked up to a very concerned Saeko.
“Are you alright?”She asked as she helped him up, “what happened?” Surprisingly, instead of a look of loss or pain, Kiyoji had a look of satisfaction about him.
“I saw a vision from the past, probably because of the cells Urahara was talking about.” He said with a grin, “This means we’re getting somewhere.” After grabbing a few of files of interest they preceded deeper into the complex, now passing into the central structures. As they were about to enter the inner sanctum, there was an eerie silence. Saeko stopped Kiyoji from walking any further.
“What’s wrong?” Kiyoji asked vehemently.
“Don’t you think this is too easy? You would think that the facility would have some security measures still operational.” Kiyoji largely ignored her, thinking that she was being paranoid.
“I don’t see the problem here. The complex has been abandoned for……” That was all he could reply before stepping onto a tile. They quickly jumped back fearing that the trap triggered a bomb. Seconds later a large pattern of runes appeared on the floor and it began to glow bright red. “A summoning jutsu?” Kiyoji thought to himself. Suddenly the pattern erupted into a plume of smoke. Within seconds, the smoke dissipated and in its place stood over a dozen monstrous humanoid figures.
“I don’t know, their spiritual pressure feels like a hollow’s but they aren’t hollows.” He replied as he drew Tsurugi, “but I know one way to found out.” He lunged forward, b-lining straight for the mob. Spotting their prey, they too lunged at him with wild abandon. In a single swing he cut all of them down. Believing that the threat was gone, he lowered his guard but he had only won a momentary respite. For only moments after dispatching the group of creatures that several summoning runes appeared all over the large room, each with dozens of creatures of the same type as before. Before he could raise his sword to defend himself the teeming horde lunged at him with a thirst for blood. Saeko came to his aid by cutting down a few of them but to no avail. Just as the horde immediately surrounding Kiyoji were about to hit their mark, they were obliterated by an onslaught of bullets. Landing besides Kiyoji, stood a previously hidden figure. The man had jet-black hair with a single bang that was bleach white. He wore a pair of black sunglasses and a red hooded jacket and wielded two revolvers, each with a foot-long blade attached to the bottom of the 6 inch long barrels. The teeming horde was startled by the man’s appearance but they quickly reorganized themselves.
“So, you decided to show your face, eh Nero?” Kiyoji said as he stood back to back with him, “you were always one for flashy entrances.” Nero simply smirked as they both charged headlong into their would-be killers. Within minutes the teeming hordes of creatures was completely wiped out.
Wiping the blood off of his sword, Kiyoji asked “How did you manage to track us down exactly? Am I really that easy to track?”
You personally don’t leave any tracks but your spiritual pressure…is a whole different story.” He replied, removing his sun-glasses.” Saeko waded through the carnage and finally caught up to the two.
“Ugh…right, Nero this is Saeko and…uh…Saeko this is Nero, he’s a friend of mine from Karakura.” One of the creatures tried getting up but was responded with a bullet to the head from Nero.
“Nero happens to be a demon-hunter.” Nero walked up to Saeko and reached out his hand but she wasn’t really in the mood to be friendly.
“Sorry about that, she gets a bit tense when I nearly get myself killed.” Kiyoji said sighing that uncovering the mystery behind GUARDIAN was now the least of his problems. Nero walked over to the creature he had just killed.
“These things….aren’t hollows, not entirely anyway.” He said whilst turning the corpse with his foot, revealing its eerily human-like appearance. “These things used to be human.” This rang heavily in Kiyoji’s mind. “These couldn’t be His experiments, could it?” he thought to himself. He couldn’t shake the feeling that these monstrosities were the failed results of that man’s experiments.
“I have a hunch, but I need to know for sure.” Kiyoji said as he treaded onward.
“Where are you going?” Saeko asked vehemently.
“To the labs in the sub-level, I have a feeling that it will explain a few things.” He said as he continued onward. Surprisingly, the path down to the labs was completely void of traps. The ones that were sprung were probably just left over from the upheaval that destroyed the base. The labs themselves were quite the sight. They were completely unscathed, contrast to what happened above. Along the walls were small tanks. They teemed with energy but upon closer inspection, they held a shocking secret.
“Those are hybrids in the tanks. What the hell is going on?” Nero stated. Kiyoji approached one of the tanks and peered inside. Suddenly his arm began to writhe with pain and his vision went dark again. He heard voices, one belonging to Sephiroth and the other belonging to Koji.
“You average GUARDIAN members are reiatsu-infused humans, you’re enhanced but you’re still human.” Sephiroth stated stoically.
“If we’re average members, than what about you?” Koji replied. The voices disappeared but in their stead a single phrase rang in this head. “JENOVA?” Kiyoji thought to himself.
“So you’ve finally returned.” A voice suddenly proclaimed. At first Kiyoji thought it was another hallucination but Nero and Saeko heard it as well, drawing their weapons in response. He turned around saw that a man was standing in the middle of the room. He looked eerily familiar.
“At first I thought you were Sephiroth, judging from your spiritual pressure. But you’re not entirely like him.” The man said with a smirk. Kiyoji stepped to the forefront of his comrades with Tsurugi drawn.
“That look of determination…you couldn’t possibly be his brother could you?” the man asked, but interjected before Kiyoji could respond, “You must be, you’re his spitting image.” Kiyoji was surprised at first but came to a startling conclusion.
“If you know Koji than you couldn’t possibly be…Genesis?” he replied half-heartedly. Before the man could respond, Saeko quickly interjected.
“That’s impossible, the case report stated that Genesis was killed 8 years ago after your brother apprehended him.” The man smirked at the thought.
“As they say, the news of my death was greatly exaggerated.” He said as he approached the trio, “but Koji falsified the report. He knew something was going on within GUARDIAN and figured he would need my help in the future. Unfortunately the organization got to him before I could.” The trio stepped forward to surround him, not knowing if he had peaceful intentions.
“Relax” Genesis calmly stated, “I have no intention of fighting you. I do have
a promise to keep after all. But he on the other hand does not hold any obligation over me.” He pointed towards the stair, where a cloak-figure stood. As it walked closer to them, hissing noises became more apparent. The figure emerged from the shadows and from what could be seen from his face he seemed to have scale-like white skin and yellow eyes.
“Kabuto…” Kiyoji said as he immediately moved to intercept him, “You’ve saved me the trouble of tracking you down.”
“Unfortunately, I didn’t come here to play.” He said nonchalantly. Kiyoji immediately flashed-stepped in front of him and effortlessly cut him in half. Kabuto immediately dissipated into a swarm of snakes. “Snake clone, huh.” Kiyoji thought to himself.
“It’s good to see you still have that enthusiasm.” Kabuto calmly stated, “But I came here to have a chat with Genesis.” Genesis seemed largely uninterested by Kabuto’s request.
“Oh well, it seems you’ve given me no other choice.” Kabuto said as he made a series of hand signs “Summoning: Impure World Resurrection!” Two coffins rose from the ground. From the two coffins emerged former captains Gin Ichimaru and Koname Tosen.
“It was certainly annoying acquiring Sosuke Aizen’s former lieutenants, but was well worth it.” Kabuto said with grim satisfaction.
“Just how the hell do you know Aizen?” Kiyoji asked exasperatedly.
“Why don’t you ask your new friend the same question?” Kabuto asked just as a third coffin rose in the middle of the other two, “You’re going to especially “enjoy” this one.” Out of the third coffin emerged a man who was at the time of his death in his early twenties. He wore an amalgamation of the Arrancar and GUARDIAN uniforms. He had spiky-black hair, much spikier than Kiyoji’s but instead had a single large bang run the length of his right eye. He wielded a somewhat thinner version of Requiem. While Saeko and Nero stood defiantly in the face of their new opponents, Kiyoji was rendered dumbstruck by the newest arrival.
“I have to say, I do enjoy these family reunions.” Kabuto quipped.
“What are you saying? Family reunion?” Saeko asked. She examined the third summon, taking a few seconds before realizing Kabuto’s intention.
“How could you…”was all Kiyoji could mutter he could hardly believe what he was seeing, “How could you, YOU BASTARD!” Kabuto placed tags into each of the summons’ head allowing them some control over themselves.
“It’s certainly been a while, little brother.” Koji said nonchalantly as he lunged at Kiyoji. He stood there in disbelief and couldn’t muster the strength to challenge his own brother. Seconds before Koji hit his mark, Genesis narrowly block him with his zanpakto.
“The same could be said of you, old friend” Genesis quipped as forced him back, “Snap out of it, kid. Otherwise you’re not going last very long.” Koji dashed forward once again with Genesis moving to meet him. Their glancing blows created shockwaves and all the while Kiyoji just stood there with a blank stare on his face. Koji’s old maxim rang through his head; “If you want to be a hero, you need to embrace your dreams and protect your honor.” “Honor? Dreams? What the hell am I supposed to do?” he thought to himself. Meanwhile, Koji broke through Genesis’s guard and knocked him out of the way. He charged straight towards a completely dumbstruck Kiyoji. Saeko jumped to his aid but was about to get struck down herself. As he was lunging his sword aiming at Saeko’s chest, Kiyoji effortlessly blocked the blade and repulsed his older brother.
“Please, leave this to me” Kiyoji stalwartly stated, “He is my responsibility.” He flashed-stepped to Koji, pressing the advantage. He swung at him with great speed with Koji meeting every one of his strikes with his blade.
“Good, it seems that you’ve greatly improved since our last battle.” Koji said as he sent him through the lab’s ceiling and into the outer structures. Kiyoji quickly rebounded and repulsed the counter-attack. They both landed on adjacent towers staring each other down.
“You’ve even become a Soul Reaper too.” Koji said with a smirk, “But at your level you have no hope of beating me let alone Sephiroth.” Suddenly, Kiyoji flash stepped above him, thrusting downwards. Koji merely sidestepped and caught him by the throat. He threw him into the ground and dug his foot into his chest. Just as Koji was driving his blade into his throat, an ominous voice echoed in his head. “You are truly pathetic you know that right? I can’t have you dying on me now can’t I?” With unforeseen strength, Kiyoji grabbed the blade and easily flung him into an adjacent tower. Koji staggered to his feet and looked on in horror as he realized where that strength had come from. Covering the left side of Kiyoji’s face was a mal-formed hollow mask. The mask itself resembled a human skull except from the eye socket a slit ran vertically down the length of the mask. With every second that passes, the mask becomes larger piece by piece. Kiyoji leaped at him with an inhuman howl and critically slashed him across the chest. Koji slid back a few feet from the force of the blow but seemed unfazed by the attack, his body slowly regenerating.
“What? Did you already forget how the technique works?” Koji said as he crossed blades with him, “While being summoned by Impure World Resurrection I cannot be killed through conventional means.”
“I’m sorry; you must have me confused for someone who gives a shit.” Kiyoji said while repelling him. He quickly lunged forward, his blade immersed in dark reiatsu. He easily caught Koji off balance, he swung his blade downward with such force that he lodged Koji into the tower they were standing on.
“It’s over!” Kiyoji shouted as he plunged Tsurugi through Koji’s throat. Strangely, Koji had a smirk on his face, a fact that enraged Kiyoji even more. As his sword was about to make contact, he was stabbed through the ribs by an extremely long sword and was thrust into the wall of a nearby tower.
“Not quite.” Ichimaru stated stoically as he retracted the sword. Tosen quickly joined to fray, hovering directly above Kiyoji.
“Suzumushi Nishiki: Benihikō.” He said as he motioned his sword in a circle. As the blade moved through the air in its trail another blade was left behind until Tosen was completely surrounded by swords. The blades simultaneously shot forth, all of them hitting their targets. As the dust settled, Kiyoji staggered to his feet. He was impaled by several blades and was bleeding profusely. The blades began to disappear and soon after his body rapidly regenerated; courtesy of his hollow mask. The mask now completely encompassed the left side of his face and was encroaching upon the right side.
“Please, did you honestly think that would be enough to kill m….” he began to shout when his hollow mask completely crumbled.
“You’re not even a half-decent Visored.” Ichimaru cheerfully stated as he stood poised to attack, “Shoot to kill, Shi…” Before he could finish his release, he was kicked in face and sent flying into an adjacent tower. In his place stood Nero, who was spinning his revolvers on his trigger fingers.
“You have a jacked-up notion of fair play, pal.” He said while readying himself, “and it’s starting to piss me off.”
“Lightning Style: Electric Needle Spark!” Saeko shouted as bolts of lightning streamed towards Tosen. He easily dodged the attack and landed near Ichimaru and Koji. Genesis appeared mid-air before Koji with a Cero charging in hand.
“The score is even now, remember play fairly.” Genesis quipped. The beleaguered trio prepared to attack when Kabuto appeared in their midst.
“What’s wrong?” Koji asked while Kabuto made a series of hand signs. Seconds later, coffins appeared behind the trio and were forced back into them.
“Change of plans. I’ll be sure to tell Sephiroth that he should come your way.” He began to be engulfed in flames until he was completely burnt away.
“Good, I’ll be waiting.”
END CHAPTER
Naruto: Blades of Fate
Chapter 8: GUARDIAN
It has been three days since the Summit of the Five Kages. The injuries sustained by Kiyoji and his group have been healed but there’s more than the physical trauma. Urahara has since looked into Sephiroth’s background…
Earlier…
“I did the same thing to her as I did to you. It will be interesting to see what happens from here.” Sephiroth’s words rung in Kiyoji’s head. “What did he do to me?”Kiyoji thought to himself as he stood outside the Hokage’s tent, leaning up against one the posts. He seemed to be aloof but there was more to it. He looked back on the previous battle but was haunted with images of Rukia being impaled on Masamune, dark reiatsu being channeled into her. His left arm tensed at the thought. Moments later, Shizune peered out of the tent to motion him in, to which he quickly complied. Inside the tent sat Tsunade at a small table with Shizune standing at her side. Team Kakashi stood beside the table.
“So, care to explain what happened at the Summit, besides the fact you were not ordered to be there to begin with.” Tsunade asked.
“Does the name Sephiroth mean anything to you?” Kiyoji replied despondently. Both Tsunade and Kakashi were taken aback by the mention of his name but everyone else was clueless.
“Who?” Naruto asked, breaking the silence. Kakashi looked at him with utter ambivalence and began to explain.
“Sephiroth was a member of GUARDIAN, a multinational peacekeeping force.” Kakashi began to explain.
“My brother was the last member of it; after he had disappeared the program was shut down.” Kiyoji explained, “Sephiroth and Koji were both 1st class members.”
“What made them so special?” Sakura asked.
“Well, the 2nd and 3rd class members were usually your run-of-the-mill ninja but the 1st class members were proficient swordsmen.” Kiyoji began saying, “Come to think of it, seeing as both my brother and Sephiroth were both Soul Reapers, I wouldn’t be surprised if the other 1st’s were too.” Moments later, Urahara entered the tent and he seemed thrown aback.
“Urahara, if you’re here I’m guessing your research came up with something.” Kiyoji stated.
“It’s a bit more troubling than I originally anticipated.” Kisuke responded, “I decided that it was more important to figure out what he could have done to Rukia. After healing Renji and the others, the medics noticed a black residue in their wounds. Upon further analyzing the residue, I found that it didn’t match any form of toxin, man-made or otherwise. The individual samples seemed harmless but when in close proximity with each other, they violently react. Furthermore, these cells don’t affect humans, only Soul Reapers.” He looked over to Kiyoji, motioning him to lift his left sleeve. He reluctantly complied and began to slowly lift up his sleeve. To everyone’s horror, a large black scar was covering the length of his upper arm.
“When you first fought Sephiroth back in Karakura, the wound he inflicted wasn’t that big. Your proximity to Sephiroth is was what caused your hallucinations and the crippling pain. I can only imagine what could be happening to Rukia.” After Kisuke finished his drawn out explanation, Kiyoji walked towards the exit.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Tsunade demanded. He ignored her and continued to the exit before stopping abruptly.
“I need some answers and I have a pretty good idea of where to start.” He replied before leaving the tent. Outside, Saeko waited silently for him to leave. They both proceeded to western edge of the refugee camp.
“So, where are we going?” Saeko asked as they ran.
“GUARDIAN headquarters in the Land of Sound.”
The Present…
As Kiyoji and Saeko stumbled through the ruins, they couldn’t help but be awestruck. The complex was gigantic, with pillars strewn along the outer ring of the structure. The complex itself was a large circular wall tightly surrounding a series of cylindrical buildings with a large tower in the center.
“So why are we here?” Saeko asked plainly. Kiyoji had a blank look on his face; rather confused himself.
“I’m not exactly sure,” he replied, “I had a feeling something important was here. There has to be some information on Sephiroth somewhere around here.” They approached the GUARDIAN archives, which was a large library holding various texts that pertained to the organization. They both skimmed through several texts until Saeko stumbled upon some important information.
“It says here that Sephiroth was the very first GUARDIAN. Apparently he appeared on the international scene during the Third Ninja War as a swordsman fighting for Konoha. What’s peculiar was that he wasn’t born in the Leaf. It wasn’t until the Kyubi incident 16 years ago that GUARDIAN was formed in order to prevent further instability from occurring.” Saeko read aloud.
“Does it say anything else? Any weaknesses or how he obtained a zanpakto?” Kiyoji asked apprehensively.
“No….it says that amongst the first members were mostly your average shinobi who were recruited from all of the 5 Great Shinobi Villages. The number of 1st class members within the organization was fairly small, at the organization’s height there were less than ten 1st’s at a time.” She replied as she turned a few pages. She stumbled upon something interesting.
“Here, you’re gonna want to take a look at this” Saeko said as she passed the file over to him. In it was a picture that depicted a trio of men who had their swords in hand. Amongst them was Sephiroth, Koji and an unidentified man. The man had short brown hair and wore similar clothes to that of Sephiroth’s except that this man’s trench coat was red with black leather pauldrons. He wielded what appeared to be a red rapier but instead of a small blade it sported a long blade.
“It says here that the three most prominent members of GUARDIAN were Sephiroth, Koji Tiruko and Genesis Rhapsodos.” Saeko continued, “I’m guessing this Genesis is the other man in the picture with your brother and Sephiroth.” Kiyoji began conjuring old memories within his head. His left arm began tense up with pain at the recollection.
“I remember meeting Sephiroth when I was very young. He had come to brief my brother on an important mission. He didn’t seem to be a cold-hearted monster back then….”Kiyoji began to recollect before he fell to his knees, his arm racking with immense pain. His vision was clouded and he began to hear voices. Before him appeared two figures; Koji stood before him with Requiem drawn. Sephiroth stood opposite of him, his back turned to him.
“Sephiroth…..I trusted you!” Koji stated angrily, “Why did you kill the villagers? Answer me, Sephiroth!” Sephiroth stood there; blankly staring at something in front of him though Kiyoji couldn’t ascertain what exactly.
“No, you’re not the Sephiroth I once knew!” Koji yelled as he charged Sephiroth. The vision ended abruptly and he looked up to a very concerned Saeko.
“Are you alright?”She asked as she helped him up, “what happened?” Surprisingly, instead of a look of loss or pain, Kiyoji had a look of satisfaction about him.
“I saw a vision from the past, probably because of the cells Urahara was talking about.” He said with a grin, “This means we’re getting somewhere.” After grabbing a few of files of interest they preceded deeper into the complex, now passing into the central structures. As they were about to enter the inner sanctum, there was an eerie silence. Saeko stopped Kiyoji from walking any further.
“What’s wrong?” Kiyoji asked vehemently.
“Don’t you think this is too easy? You would think that the facility would have some security measures still operational.” Kiyoji largely ignored her, thinking that she was being paranoid.
“I don’t see the problem here. The complex has been abandoned for……” That was all he could reply before stepping onto a tile. They quickly jumped back fearing that the trap triggered a bomb. Seconds later a large pattern of runes appeared on the floor and it began to glow bright red. “A summoning jutsu?” Kiyoji thought to himself. Suddenly the pattern erupted into a plume of smoke. Within seconds, the smoke dissipated and in its place stood over a dozen monstrous humanoid figures.
“I don’t know, their spiritual pressure feels like a hollow’s but they aren’t hollows.” He replied as he drew Tsurugi, “but I know one way to found out.” He lunged forward, b-lining straight for the mob. Spotting their prey, they too lunged at him with wild abandon. In a single swing he cut all of them down. Believing that the threat was gone, he lowered his guard but he had only won a momentary respite. For only moments after dispatching the group of creatures that several summoning runes appeared all over the large room, each with dozens of creatures of the same type as before. Before he could raise his sword to defend himself the teeming horde lunged at him with a thirst for blood. Saeko came to his aid by cutting down a few of them but to no avail. Just as the horde immediately surrounding Kiyoji were about to hit their mark, they were obliterated by an onslaught of bullets. Landing besides Kiyoji, stood a previously hidden figure. The man had jet-black hair with a single bang that was bleach white. He wore a pair of black sunglasses and a red hooded jacket and wielded two revolvers, each with a foot-long blade attached to the bottom of the 6 inch long barrels. The teeming horde was startled by the man’s appearance but they quickly reorganized themselves.
“So, you decided to show your face, eh Nero?” Kiyoji said as he stood back to back with him, “you were always one for flashy entrances.” Nero simply smirked as they both charged headlong into their would-be killers. Within minutes the teeming hordes of creatures was completely wiped out.
Wiping the blood off of his sword, Kiyoji asked “How did you manage to track us down exactly? Am I really that easy to track?”
You personally don’t leave any tracks but your spiritual pressure…is a whole different story.” He replied, removing his sun-glasses.” Saeko waded through the carnage and finally caught up to the two.
“Ugh…right, Nero this is Saeko and…uh…Saeko this is Nero, he’s a friend of mine from Karakura.” One of the creatures tried getting up but was responded with a bullet to the head from Nero.
“Nero happens to be a demon-hunter.” Nero walked up to Saeko and reached out his hand but she wasn’t really in the mood to be friendly.
“Sorry about that, she gets a bit tense when I nearly get myself killed.” Kiyoji said sighing that uncovering the mystery behind GUARDIAN was now the least of his problems. Nero walked over to the creature he had just killed.
“These things….aren’t hollows, not entirely anyway.” He said whilst turning the corpse with his foot, revealing its eerily human-like appearance. “These things used to be human.” This rang heavily in Kiyoji’s mind. “These couldn’t be His experiments, could it?” he thought to himself. He couldn’t shake the feeling that these monstrosities were the failed results of that man’s experiments.
“I have a hunch, but I need to know for sure.” Kiyoji said as he treaded onward.
“Where are you going?” Saeko asked vehemently.
“To the labs in the sub-level, I have a feeling that it will explain a few things.” He said as he continued onward. Surprisingly, the path down to the labs was completely void of traps. The ones that were sprung were probably just left over from the upheaval that destroyed the base. The labs themselves were quite the sight. They were completely unscathed, contrast to what happened above. Along the walls were small tanks. They teemed with energy but upon closer inspection, they held a shocking secret.
“Those are hybrids in the tanks. What the hell is going on?” Nero stated. Kiyoji approached one of the tanks and peered inside. Suddenly his arm began to writhe with pain and his vision went dark again. He heard voices, one belonging to Sephiroth and the other belonging to Koji.
“You average GUARDIAN members are reiatsu-infused humans, you’re enhanced but you’re still human.” Sephiroth stated stoically.
“If we’re average members, than what about you?” Koji replied. The voices disappeared but in their stead a single phrase rang in this head. “JENOVA?” Kiyoji thought to himself.
“So you’ve finally returned.” A voice suddenly proclaimed. At first Kiyoji thought it was another hallucination but Nero and Saeko heard it as well, drawing their weapons in response. He turned around saw that a man was standing in the middle of the room. He looked eerily familiar.
“At first I thought you were Sephiroth, judging from your spiritual pressure. But you’re not entirely like him.” The man said with a smirk. Kiyoji stepped to the forefront of his comrades with Tsurugi drawn.
“That look of determination…you couldn’t possibly be his brother could you?” the man asked, but interjected before Kiyoji could respond, “You must be, you’re his spitting image.” Kiyoji was surprised at first but came to a startling conclusion.
“If you know Koji than you couldn’t possibly be…Genesis?” he replied half-heartedly. Before the man could respond, Saeko quickly interjected.
“That’s impossible, the case report stated that Genesis was killed 8 years ago after your brother apprehended him.” The man smirked at the thought.
“As they say, the news of my death was greatly exaggerated.” He said as he approached the trio, “but Koji falsified the report. He knew something was going on within GUARDIAN and figured he would need my help in the future. Unfortunately the organization got to him before I could.” The trio stepped forward to surround him, not knowing if he had peaceful intentions.
“Relax” Genesis calmly stated, “I have no intention of fighting you. I do have
a promise to keep after all. But he on the other hand does not hold any obligation over me.” He pointed towards the stair, where a cloak-figure stood. As it walked closer to them, hissing noises became more apparent. The figure emerged from the shadows and from what could be seen from his face he seemed to have scale-like white skin and yellow eyes.
“Kabuto…” Kiyoji said as he immediately moved to intercept him, “You’ve saved me the trouble of tracking you down.”
“Unfortunately, I didn’t come here to play.” He said nonchalantly. Kiyoji immediately flashed-stepped in front of him and effortlessly cut him in half. Kabuto immediately dissipated into a swarm of snakes. “Snake clone, huh.” Kiyoji thought to himself.
“It’s good to see you still have that enthusiasm.” Kabuto calmly stated, “But I came here to have a chat with Genesis.” Genesis seemed largely uninterested by Kabuto’s request.
“Oh well, it seems you’ve given me no other choice.” Kabuto said as he made a series of hand signs “Summoning: Impure World Resurrection!” Two coffins rose from the ground. From the two coffins emerged former captains Gin Ichimaru and Koname Tosen.
“It was certainly annoying acquiring Sosuke Aizen’s former lieutenants, but was well worth it.” Kabuto said with grim satisfaction.
“Just how the hell do you know Aizen?” Kiyoji asked exasperatedly.
“Why don’t you ask your new friend the same question?” Kabuto asked just as a third coffin rose in the middle of the other two, “You’re going to especially “enjoy” this one.” Out of the third coffin emerged a man who was at the time of his death in his early twenties. He wore an amalgamation of the Arrancar and GUARDIAN uniforms. He had spiky-black hair, much spikier than Kiyoji’s but instead had a single large bang run the length of his right eye. He wielded a somewhat thinner version of Requiem. While Saeko and Nero stood defiantly in the face of their new opponents, Kiyoji was rendered dumbstruck by the newest arrival.
“I have to say, I do enjoy these family reunions.” Kabuto quipped.
“What are you saying? Family reunion?” Saeko asked. She examined the third summon, taking a few seconds before realizing Kabuto’s intention.
“How could you…”was all Kiyoji could mutter he could hardly believe what he was seeing, “How could you, YOU BASTARD!” Kabuto placed tags into each of the summons’ head allowing them some control over themselves.
“It’s certainly been a while, little brother.” Koji said nonchalantly as he lunged at Kiyoji. He stood there in disbelief and couldn’t muster the strength to challenge his own brother. Seconds before Koji hit his mark, Genesis narrowly block him with his zanpakto.
“The same could be said of you, old friend” Genesis quipped as forced him back, “Snap out of it, kid. Otherwise you’re not going last very long.” Koji dashed forward once again with Genesis moving to meet him. Their glancing blows created shockwaves and all the while Kiyoji just stood there with a blank stare on his face. Koji’s old maxim rang through his head; “If you want to be a hero, you need to embrace your dreams and protect your honor.” “Honor? Dreams? What the hell am I supposed to do?” he thought to himself. Meanwhile, Koji broke through Genesis’s guard and knocked him out of the way. He charged straight towards a completely dumbstruck Kiyoji. Saeko jumped to his aid but was about to get struck down herself. As he was lunging his sword aiming at Saeko’s chest, Kiyoji effortlessly blocked the blade and repulsed his older brother.
“Please, leave this to me” Kiyoji stalwartly stated, “He is my responsibility.” He flashed-stepped to Koji, pressing the advantage. He swung at him with great speed with Koji meeting every one of his strikes with his blade.
“Good, it seems that you’ve greatly improved since our last battle.” Koji said as he sent him through the lab’s ceiling and into the outer structures. Kiyoji quickly rebounded and repulsed the counter-attack. They both landed on adjacent towers staring each other down.
“You’ve even become a Soul Reaper too.” Koji said with a smirk, “But at your level you have no hope of beating me let alone Sephiroth.” Suddenly, Kiyoji flash stepped above him, thrusting downwards. Koji merely sidestepped and caught him by the throat. He threw him into the ground and dug his foot into his chest. Just as Koji was driving his blade into his throat, an ominous voice echoed in his head. “You are truly pathetic you know that right? I can’t have you dying on me now can’t I?” With unforeseen strength, Kiyoji grabbed the blade and easily flung him into an adjacent tower. Koji staggered to his feet and looked on in horror as he realized where that strength had come from. Covering the left side of Kiyoji’s face was a mal-formed hollow mask. The mask itself resembled a human skull except from the eye socket a slit ran vertically down the length of the mask. With every second that passes, the mask becomes larger piece by piece. Kiyoji leaped at him with an inhuman howl and critically slashed him across the chest. Koji slid back a few feet from the force of the blow but seemed unfazed by the attack, his body slowly regenerating.
“What? Did you already forget how the technique works?” Koji said as he crossed blades with him, “While being summoned by Impure World Resurrection I cannot be killed through conventional means.”
“I’m sorry; you must have me confused for someone who gives a shit.” Kiyoji said while repelling him. He quickly lunged forward, his blade immersed in dark reiatsu. He easily caught Koji off balance, he swung his blade downward with such force that he lodged Koji into the tower they were standing on.
“It’s over!” Kiyoji shouted as he plunged Tsurugi through Koji’s throat. Strangely, Koji had a smirk on his face, a fact that enraged Kiyoji even more. As his sword was about to make contact, he was stabbed through the ribs by an extremely long sword and was thrust into the wall of a nearby tower.
“Not quite.” Ichimaru stated stoically as he retracted the sword. Tosen quickly joined to fray, hovering directly above Kiyoji.
“Suzumushi Nishiki: Benihikō.” He said as he motioned his sword in a circle. As the blade moved through the air in its trail another blade was left behind until Tosen was completely surrounded by swords. The blades simultaneously shot forth, all of them hitting their targets. As the dust settled, Kiyoji staggered to his feet. He was impaled by several blades and was bleeding profusely. The blades began to disappear and soon after his body rapidly regenerated; courtesy of his hollow mask. The mask now completely encompassed the left side of his face and was encroaching upon the right side.
“Please, did you honestly think that would be enough to kill m….” he began to shout when his hollow mask completely crumbled.
“You’re not even a half-decent Visored.” Ichimaru cheerfully stated as he stood poised to attack, “Shoot to kill, Shi…” Before he could finish his release, he was kicked in face and sent flying into an adjacent tower. In his place stood Nero, who was spinning his revolvers on his trigger fingers.
“You have a jacked-up notion of fair play, pal.” He said while readying himself, “and it’s starting to piss me off.”
“Lightning Style: Electric Needle Spark!” Saeko shouted as bolts of lightning streamed towards Tosen. He easily dodged the attack and landed near Ichimaru and Koji. Genesis appeared mid-air before Koji with a Cero charging in hand.
“The score is even now, remember play fairly.” Genesis quipped. The beleaguered trio prepared to attack when Kabuto appeared in their midst.
“What’s wrong?” Koji asked while Kabuto made a series of hand signs. Seconds later, coffins appeared behind the trio and were forced back into them.
“Change of plans. I’ll be sure to tell Sephiroth that he should come your way.” He began to be engulfed in flames until he was completely burnt away.
“Good, I’ll be waiting.”
END CHAPTER