The End of the Line (Takatsumaru)

A senkai gate opened up on the side of a mountain. It stood like a shining square with no activity for several moments before a double line of black clad shinigami marched out, forming a straight line standing at attention while a final lone figure strode out the gate and let it close behind him. The onmitsukido members who had accompanied Kuro on this mission were barely noticeable in the dim lighting of the early night. Visual conditions were worsened further by the heavy cloud cover which blocked off any light from the moon or stars while pelting the mountain with a heavy blanket of rain. Violent streaks of lightning danced across the sky accompanied by loud roars of thunder. In addition, a heavy gale joined in the chaos, bringing the last ingredient of a violent thunder storm. Kuro glanced up at the lightning filled clouds and silently thought to himself that the night was a perfect reflection of what they were here to do: capture a fugitive.

The Gotei's forces had poured a large amount of effort into locating this individual. He had evaded their forces and humiliated their attempts to bring him in too many times. This was a case for the Gotei's pride now. Kuro had been selected as the man to bring the fugitive in as he had reported meeting with him before and having a slight knowledge of the abilities of his zanpakuto. He wasn't thrilled; he knew the rogue in question to be a good person. But there wasn't much he could do about it this time. Under the watching eyes of his onmitsukido, he couldn't spare leniency.

As the wind whipped the long grass of the mountaintop's plain, Kuro and the onmitsukido made their way carefully toward the lone shack claiming the peak as its home. Kuro sighed with disappointment at what they had to do, the quiet sound disguised by the downpour of the rain. He silently drew his zanpakuto and gave a hand signal to the men on his right. Without a word, the first wave of ninja clad figures dashed at the shack. Kuro watched as they slowed down upon reaching it and moved around its exterior until they found the best way to gain entry without alerting the resident. Not starting to fight yet, they kept to the shadows where they selected the driest locations they could find and quickly lit patches of brush and tinder. Kuro waited outside, wondering if this first move would bear results.

"The first move in this battle is to remove the enemy from his comfort zone. Let's see how he responds."

Tatsu had been waiting out the rain for a while now, he had to fetch dinner but had been trapped in his shack for most of the day. When he gathered the courage to actually go outside to gathered some food he saw a freakishly frightful image, a senkai gate closing, as fast as he moved out he pulled himself back in, his heart pounding in terror, what was he going to do. The thunder roared and the outcasts heart pounded heavier and heavier, he looked around the house, but he couldn't see the threats, the weather was even on this side, why didn't he leave earlier. Tatsu began to panic, forgetting the resolve he had already put in himself for when this situation would arise again.

Tatsu had ran away from these threats so many times that he thought he could've made them angry. Tatsu had gotten away from these kind of situation many time's before, he rushed to his bed and looked around, put some logs underneath the blanket, which actually ended up being his enforcer coat, quickly he made it look like it was a human being and ran through the window making practicly no sound in these situation, the rogue shinigami was already running like the wind and seemed to be sleeping when the masked shinigami's made their way near the shack.

The mountain top about 250 meters of diameters before falling into a mountain side of about 60 degree's, and Tatsu litterally jamp down hoping to flee from the threats before they noticed he was gone. Tree branches wipping in his face, he'd shunpo forward instead of actually moving aside the tree's. He didn't know who was leading the assault but on the other hand he really didn't feel like knowing it either. Tatsu had always been supressing his spiritual energy so it was no use thinking he hadn't.

Inside the shack, everything was calm, it seemed as if he had put logs in the oven to keep warm during the night, and it even seemed like he was sleeping, a window, an escape route was right beside him, and his zanpakuto was no where to be seen, the shinigami was seemingly sleeping within his enforcer coat on a straw bed.

On his end Tatsu was about three hundred meters down the mountain and still running he knew he'd be lucky if he could run away and that the only thing preventing them from hearing him was the loud downpour all around him, but it was also the only thing preventing him to see and helping him not being seen. His heart was pounding and the blood in his head made it feel like even his head was pounding.

Kuro's gaze was fixed on the shack, watching for any movement that he might be able to spy through the sheets of rain. Suddenly, one of the onmitsukido on watch outside the shack raised the alarm. "Fugitive has exited through the rear window and is fleeing down the slope!"

"Everyone pursue!" Kuro shouted out over the rain to issue orders. "Two will follow and approach the target directly while the rest fan out and cut him off!" Kuro finished his orders and joined in the chase. As they moved in pursuit of Tatsu, a brilliant orange glow lit up at their backs. Kuro glanced over his shoulder and saw that the men who had infiltrated the shack had accomplished their mission and the lone building was now lighting up the dark stormy scene with a brilliant blaze that defied the torrent of water on its exterior. It was a low move, but it was a good one to force Tatsu to go on the move. The pressure he was likely feeling right now from being chased by such a group must be tremendous. Kuro would use that stress and keep him on the defensive as they slowly boxed him in and brought an end to his flight.

The downward slope was steep, and slick from the rain. Kuro nearly lost his footing as he ran separately from his group, leaving them to follow his orders and letting him approach from a different angle. The two who had been selected as the direct pursuers dashed quickly and, with the bright flash of another streak of lightning, they finally found their prey. Drawing their blades, they called out to Tatsu to get his attention. Anything to keep his mind on them and not their accomplices. The first approached with a swift burst of speed and sliced cleanly in a horizontal slash at Tatsu's side as he caught up. The second one shunpoed to move in front and chopped down at his chest front. Neither one was putting a lot of strength into these attacks. Kuro had made it clear to everyone present for this mission before leaving the Seireitei that their first efforts would be to catch the rogue shinigami alive. They didn't like having to hold back, but just like Kuro having to do his best with them present, they couldn't afford to disobey his orders with him watching.

Tatsu was running down at blazing speed, yet it wasn't fast enough, it seemed like they caught him quite fast this time, these were better than the last one's he had to get rid of. These were technique's he was familiar with, he was being chased by a low number of enemies, but he could feel their reiatsu all over the place they shouted at him trying to get his attention, but they would most likely get more than that. He'd take his breath and focus his reiatsu pin pointing him on everyone's map. He shunpo'd on a tree trunk and jumped in the opposite direction using the momentum to try and attempt grabbing the charging omnitsukido agent and slaming him to the ground.

If everything worked out Tatsu was using a series of shunpo to try and escape their fan right back to the top of the mountain, only to notice his house was ablaze, so he stood there facing his house on fire, that was the moment where he decided to turn around and accept his fate, there was no running away, and he would most likely not get this many agents down. He looked down at his sword and wondered if he would need to unsheath it, what was their plan, what would they do, would they kill him? would they apprehend him? He didn't know, so he brandished his sheathed sword in front of him and concentrated while turning around, trying to count how many enemies there were. Sure Tatsu was caught, but he wouldn't apprehended yet, he'd give atleast as much of a fight he can dish out.

The scene was quite dramatic, the samurai standing in front of his blazing house, using it for cover, no sane shinigami would jump through a house on fire to attack a foe from behind, so he thought he had that angle covered. Reaching for the back of his head and he untied the blue ribbon only to bring before him and quench his fist holding it. ''I'm sorry Kaiyo..I failed you and your ambitions.''

This took a moment to make sure it looked dramatic in front of all the foes that dared come out of forest or for the others that looked from the edge of the forest.
Tatsu glared at the foes that were coming at him but he didn't move, he waited for most of them to be in his range and he spoke the words that would be his downfall, the words the meant he would fight back. ''Awaken Mizu Megami'' His sword became covered with blue energy as all the active energy in the surrounding came and pumped Tatsu up, with his free hand he kept holding the blue ribbon in his hand as if it really meant something to him. ''Come on, I'll show you the true might of the 11th division, the division you destroyed following orders! I Tatsu Chirako, 3rd Seat of the 11th Division, Leader of the Enforcer squad will show you the teachings of Kaiyo''

At that point Tatsu dashed forward towards whoever was there.

Kuro was now close enough to just make out the struggles between the two pursuers and Tatsu. He didn't do anything to intervene at this time, instead only watching as the rogue skillfully doubled back and broke away from the two. Tatsu was now heading back up the mountain towards his home. Kuro felt a pang of guilt at what Tatsu would feel when he saw his shack, but pressed on regardless. Behind him, the rest of his men had completed their encirclement and were now advancing up the slope.

Unseen by Tatsu, the three who had started the blaze to his home were positioned on the opposite side of the building, completing the formation to cut off his escape routes. They made no move to apprehend him as he accepted his fate and waited for his foes in front of the blaze. They would only act if he tried to flee around the shack and away from the captain.

The rest of the forces appeared swiftly, but cautiously. They were spread out in an impressive pincer movement that had Tatsu surrounded on all sides. The rain and clouds made their movements look ghostly as they moved menacingly through the waving grass in their full body black attires. Then suddenly, they halted. The circle only stood there as Tatsu declared his defiance of his capture and began to dash forward. Even still, they didn't move as a black and white shape jumped quickly over their heads and stopped Tatsu's advance with a drawn blade. Kuro was now standing before Tatsu with his zanpakuto pressed against his. The lightning dramatically flashed over them, its light playing creepily with the shifting light from the burning shack. Kuro's eyes were those of a man set on completing his mission. As he stood eye to eye with Tatsu with their blades crossed he spoke officially, "Tatsu Chirako, your evasion from the forces of the Gotei 13 ends tonight. We of the second division and the onmitsukido special forces will be bringing you back to the Soul Society."

Tatsu looked on as the squad moved in on around him, the panic in his heart had finally stopped wavering, the courage in him was blazing, but he couldn't expect that one man who he deeply respected would be the one to be apprehending him, that's what he gets for trusting people, he thought he would be safe from having a freaking captain in his face. But up to now Tatsu had used one precise thing, each and every single time to get away, there was no way he could stand a chance against the omnitsukido...but there was a way to get away from them when they were in their limiter, but the samurai didn't want to run away...not anymore.

Tatsu was impressed by the pincer like formation, it was as if he was an actual bad guy this time. Tatsu didn't know what to expect when he charged, anything but everybody not moving, then a flash happen at there was something he'd rather not see right in front of him. Tatsu's glare vanished as he glanced in Kuro's eyes, the samurai's eyes could only see one thing, the same eyes he had when he wanted to complete his own missions, by then he knew he wouldn't get out. This was mainly the reason he didn't get away..there was a captain with them.

The rogue knew this wasn't his own choice, or atleast he wanted to believe it wasn't his choice. Guilt flashed through the samurai's eyes. ''I'm sorry'' The samurai knew he wouldn't go down without a fight, it was his pride.
Breaking away from the lock of blades, Tatsu spun upon himself and launched an attack at Kuro's legs, if he could hinder those, he had a chance to get away not that he wanted. Shunpo'ing away from the captain he threw the dagger part of Mizu Megami at him, Tatsu's sword expertise was impressive as always.

Kuro heard Tatsu's words, and understood them. Before their clash was broken, Kuro spoke in a lowered volume that wouldn't be overheard by the others. "I wouldn't have it any other way..." Tatsu broke away, and their fight was on.

Kuro knew about Tatsu a little bit, and he also knew that Tatsu knew about him. If I were in his position fighting me, I'd first target...the legs! Kuro brought his blade down to block the sweep aimed at his most valuable asset. If his speed was reduced while he was under his limit, Tatsu might have a good chance of escaping. At the very least, it would force Kuro to play the bad guy and order the rest of his men to attack him. And settling this in any other way than a one on one duel didn't feel right to Kuro. He followed Tatsu's movement as he shunpoed away, following with his own shunpo. His blade flew up with almost an uncanny reaction to the dagger throw as he pursued. He flipped his blade into a reverse grip and struck forward with a punching slash at Tatsu's shoulder.

"Your swordsmanship is as impressive as I remember, but I haven't forgotten about your zanpakuto's smaller blade as I have held it once myself." Kuro followed up his attack by leaping back again and chanting with his right hand held out towards Tatsu, "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado #31: Shakkahō!" A ball of fiery red spirit energy formed in front of Kuro's outstretched hand and fired at his opponent. Kuro landed and did not wait for the attack to land before beginning a new forward charge to close the distance between them again.

Tatsu had his eyes locked on his enemy, it seemed as if he trusted the captain not to assault him from a distance because he wanted to get a better feel for the captains battle style he wanted to make sure that he was able to fight back. As expected the dagger was deflected with ease, and Tatsu was lucky enough, the captain didn't think about picking it up and keeping it, he hadn't thought of that fact before after the attack was launched, no matter. The fight was blindingly fast for Tatsu, rare were those to be that much faster than him even when his shikai active.

''Sadly we held the same objectives back then.'' Tatsu rose his zanpakuto in front of him and shouted '' Bakudo 39:Enkosen!!'' effectively blocking the shot of red fire tossed in his direction. But Tatsu didn't stay in place to watch how well the kido was blocked, he had to guess where the captain would attack from in this cloud of spiritual energy. Guessing the man would assault from the front Tatsu kneeled down, using the zero visibility to his advantage, and he trusted forward aiming at a mid torso attack with a single thrust.

That's when he noticed it, the wound he had at the shoulder level, he hadn't felt it because of the high regeneration rate he was under but when he was attacking like this while it wasn't completely healed he really felt it. ''Shit'' He hadn't noticed the blood because of the red coat he wore in pride of the 11th division, but this wouldn't be enough to stop Tatsu, he was one to endure, he was one to go through.

''What I love won't be taken away again, I can't change myself, my loyalty pushed me to do this'' Tatsu used the rain and their battle to cover his words, making sure only the captain could hear. Then he'd attempt at making a distance between them, and he uttered some words while standing still and not dodging. ''I think my story's reached an end, I'm scared and I don't want to run away anymore''

Kuro was taken by slight surprise as his kido was blocked then answered with a thrust through the resulting smoke. He had to thank the poor visual conditions of the dark and the smoke that he wasn't impaled by the attack. As he approached, Tatsu's blade seemed to materialize out of nowhere and managed to gash him alongside the right side of his rib cage. Kuro gritted his teeth and pushed forward, swinging his blade in a chopping motion that was dodged as Tatsu distanced himself and spoke his words that only Kuro could hear.

"I don't know all the details of your case." Kuro answered with sincerity and concern for Tatsu, whom he considered a trusted comrade. "But I do recognize loyalty when I see it. It is obvious by looking at that ribbon you keep with you. If I didn't recognize it, I couldn't call myself her friend. But neither your story nor your loyalty have to end here. Persevere and make it back into the ranks of the Gotei and continue your service to her by living by her ways in her name. I believe that would truly make Kaiyo-san happy." Kuro shunpoed forward again, not using any forms of deception, and swung openly and obvious at Tatsu's front so he would have time to process what Kuro had said rather than focus on fighting for his life.

Tatsu had stopped moving, he was glad the captain allowed him words, they actually helped him process everything he had been thinking about, that was the last step of the journey he had been looking for...approbation someone to tell him he was able to, before that had been Kaiyo, but now she was gone. He had to live by her ideas. Tatsu was surprised he actually touched the captain too, that took longer to process in his mind, he never thought he could actually hit the captain and it seemed like his guess was right, the captain would endure and keep his attack going, a samurai technique that focused on dealing more damage than he could receive.

Tatsu was gone though and he processed the words in his head, if a captain thought he could make it back. A new kind of courage filled him, this time it wasn't a courage driven by fear, but the courage to surrender and accept his fate. Tatsu took his zanpakuto and threw it about 10 meters to the side where he was sure nobody was there to be harmed, he dropped to his knee's and waited his fate. ''I yield'' He said loud enough for all to hear, specially the captain who was currently swinging at him.

Kuro had talked him into going back to Seireitei and rejoining the Gotei 13, and if he was lucky he wouldn't do jail time. Tatsu was given a new kind of hope, the hope to be given trust. He had also been given knowledge with this conversation. ''Did you know...you never stop loving someone...you just learn to live without them?'' Tatsu spoke those words and fell to silence waiting for the scentence to fall.

Kuro halted his assault as Tatsu loudly announced his surrender. The captain smiled and sheathed his blade, placing a friendly hand on Tatsu's shoulder. Tatsu's words made his smile weaken for a second, but he answered with a voice of understanding. "I indeed know that. I too have lost a woman I love, and the one I love now is currently missing. So don't feel alone in that regard. There's always hope for the future." Members of the onmitsukido moved in to tightly box in Tatsu on all sides while two of them sought out and recovered both parts of his zanpakuto. Kuro reopened the Senkaimon and allowed the men to move Tatsu through the opening.

As Tatsu didn't have his hell butterfly with him, the group was forced to traverse through the dangai between the living world and the Soul Society. Kuro had the men walk in a thinner formation to avoid anyone becoming caught in the flowing time currents along its walls. He took the job of walking alongside Tatsu himself. With no other way to pass the time, he struck up a conversation in hopes of obtaining information he could use to help out later. "Like I said before, I don't know the details of your charges. I could possibly help out during your judging if you don't mind explaining things to me."

Tatsu offered no resistance to the group who restrained him, he even somewhat helped them, unless they tried to take away the ribbon in his hand. He felt better knowing that the captain shared something with him, at this point he knew there was no more hiding, no more running, the time to atone for the sins of the past had come and he would welcome that time with open hands.

The samurai followed through group through the time tunnel walking at the pace of the group making sure he would poke, he was rather silent until Kuro addressed him, Tatsu was remarkably calm and answered with the usual politness he usually give's to others.

''Remember the time where Kaiyo suposedly blew herself up, a day that, I took an oath to kaiyo that I would follow her. There was no way Kaiyo had the power to destroy herself with a mere kido, even if she wasn't good at them. And on the fake corpse left on the group..., there were no bandana, which was a flaw because at that point she had the original ribbon that came with Mizu Megami, and I have her sisters bandana right here. By then with the comments she gave me before, I knew she had been forced and I left knowing we were bound by honor in a system that was corrupted to the core. I became rogue, vowed to follow Soul Society's will as truly as possible. Ever since I've been hunted and been hunting hollow's using my spiritual pressure as bait, to lead them away from human societies, I've saved members from your division, by then I was fine. Until I made that mistake after I met you for the first time, where we fought together against the same enemy. A squad of omnitsukido had been sent to catch me because I had been getting away from you too many times. I couldn't get away, they had released their limiters and I ..I-I got scared, unleashed shikai, most of them made it out uninjured, except the leader of the squad, I cut an artery in his leg and he bled out even though I tried to heal him. Ever since then squads and squads of people have been sent through the senkai gate on pretex to hunt hollows, but it was only to locate my pressence. They located me in a fight with another rogue, Tatsuya I attempted hidding in the mountain, I've been there for month's training this Bakudo to prevent Cero's. And that's when you come in. I swear on whats left of my honor, that this is the truth.''

Tatsu took a deep breath, as if this seemed like the history of his life and then chuckled. 'I guess I'll lose this coat now, too bad I took a liking to it.''' The samurai had been stripped of his sword, he had relinquished his honor to follow an oath, but in the end it was the ninja that brought him on the right track. ''Whatever happens Kuro, Thank you I'd die fighting for you''

Kuro listened quietly without making any interruptions. He did remember the day of Kaiyo's deception. He'd pieced together that day that it was false, but had never uncovered any more information as to why it had been done. Tatsu was just another poor shinigami who'd been wrapped up in the twistedness of Soul Society's politics. And considering the nature of his offenses, Kuro felt certain that with his vouching for him, Tatsu could hope for an adequate outcome.

"Your story isn't that surprising to me. It sounds a lot like Tatsuya's plight. Though in his case, he's on the run due to being framed for a crime he didn't commit. I still can't do anything to prove it yet though. I can only hope that he stays safe until new evidence is found."

Kuro said nothing further while they finished their walk through the dangai. He felt fortunate that this wasn't a day that the Kōtotsu was wandering the paths. He didn't feel like running for his life right now. The procession exited into the streets of the Seireitei, where Kuro immediately took charge to ensure Tatsu's well being. "Take him to the holding cell in our squad's grounds for now. Under no circumstance is he to be placed in the maggot's nest or the Senzaikyū." As the men moved to follow his orders, Kuro muttered so that only Tatsu could hear him, "You gave me your honor, and never once forgot your duty to protect others while on the run, so I shall do all in my power to help you."

The samurai spoke his words in a gentle manner, making sure every last bit of it would be heard as clearly as he spoke them. He wanted to make sure the captain knew what he did, wether it was wrong or right. Tatsu seemed like believed himself to be a scum that had no come back into a normal society. But when he saw that the captain believed in him, it made him feel a whole lot different, just as if he could believe into someone else, once again.

Tatsu listened to the ninja man talk, he talked about a man he had met before, and he learned a little more about the other rogue. The samurai felt an urge to help him, as if he wanted to help him as much as he could, he maded a point to himself to try and help him if he could.

Tatsu's eye'd closed when the light at the end of the tunel, Soul Society was right in front of him. The familiar walls appeared in front of him and a wave of nostalgia filled him. He heard what would become of him, and he felt lucky to have made such an ally, he wouldn't have to spend a day in the nest, which actually meant he had a chance at redemption. He heard the man talk again hearing his low words and the reply Tatsu would offer was. ''I give you my trust, you should hold onto my blade, I haven't released yet'' In fact, Tatsu never actually released, Mizu megami was a sword that almost could self sustain on the active energy around it, and being in the tunnel they were currently with this many shinigami so close, it was in fact still very active. Tatsu smiled before he was flash stepped away.

The doors of the second division were one's he hadn't seen before, he was carefully walked through the hallways, they hadn't given him the time to remove his shoes but it didn't seem to bother. They dragged him to the back of the barrack and left him in a closed cell, leaving the samurai with himself and his thoughts. Minutes passed at first.