Dead Man Down (Open)

Hyoumaru stood in the centre of the room, chains of sekiseki bound his limbs to the four corners of the room. The man’s head rolled back on his shoulders and saliva dripped from his mouth. His lips were cracked and his pupils were dilated. He wore a white uniform as they had stripped him of his Shinigami robes. He was a monster and he had been stripped of everything.

His cell was made of stone with tracings of sekiseki, really a precautionary measure to curtail even the location of Hyoumaru if anybody wanted to find him. At one end of the room he hung, at the other was a stone door fit perfectly to the frame of the cell. No thoughts made their way through his brain, no words uttered from his mouth, he just towered there suspended in silence.

A sound cut through the silence. Two thick wet smacks on the ground outside.

His eyes swivelled in their sockets, pupils focussing on the doorway, had they come? His saviors would arrive and then he’d get revenge, he’d kill that silver haired woman, he’d tear off the little girl's legs as she crawled towards her guide and then he’d mutilate the man.

“Emon” the words hissed from bloodied lips.

“My Zanpakuto” the bastard had taken it.

Then with a thump the door popped out of it’s frame and slid to the side revealing a woman with purple hair tied back in a bob.

“You” spittle and blood flecked onto the floor as Hyoumaru rasped.

The woman whom held an eight-pronged zanpakuto in her hand gestured with it's coiling blades that twisted into a black orbital guard with a single blazing purple eye. Behind the woman two members of the third squad lay bloodied and her grip seemed to loosen on the eight tendrils that wrapped around her hand forming the zanpakuto' hilt.

“Hyoumaru,”  she said softly, the eight prongs of her zanpakuto moving independently like fingers. She walked into the middle of the room and looked over her shoulder to assess her handiwork.

“You’ve broken the contract, you’ve been caught” she said with a small frown as she looked at her blood stained fingers and let a fist full of hair tumble to the floor. Hyoumaru went to speak but the woman held up her hand and his words caught in his now heavy tongue.

“The family doesn’t allow for mistakes Hyoumaru - tell me where is your gift?” one of the tendrils reached across the room and sliced down the length of his robe revealing a glowing inky serpent eating it's own tail, tattooed into his flesh.

She tutted.

“They know now Hyoumaru. You realise that? I’ve read the dossier, if you had died in the fire - ah too late now - either way father has requested I take back what is his”

The prisoner's eyes widened and he shook in the shackles.

“Let me out! Emon has my zanpakuto, if you free me I’ll kill him and the others, I’ll kill them all”

The woman once more tutted “You don’t get it. You lose. But thank you, that’s all I needed to know” the tendril plunged itself into the middle of the ouroboros and Hyoumaru screamed as it tore into his flesh ripping and tearing it pulled out what seemed to be a small leech that the woman analyzed for a moment and then snapped - it’s spiritual energy fading away. With the leech gone the tattoo began to fade.

Hyoumaru felt his strength ebbing, he felt the world become narrower and most of all he felt his mind closing off. That bastard. That fool. That idiot. What had he done? What had they done?! The woman with the bow, the girl with the blade and the man who proclaimed ‘justice’. They’d set in motion events which they could never have possibly imagined. He needed to collect his thoughts, what could he do? Leave a message? That’d be a great idea but he was forgetting how characters worked - how letters formed . . . how words were spelt . . . . who was he? Hyoumaru . . . that’s an H . .  . Y . . . . . o . . . . . ..  . .. u . . . . . . … .

“Arigato gozaimasu Hyoumaru-san” she said bowing and left the room.

He hung there.

“w. . . a . . .i.  . . .t”

His thoughts were so slow now.

“w. . . a . . . .i . . . t”

It was the last thing he wished. The only thing he knew.

“w . . . a . . . i . . . t” he rasped.

And his heart stopped.

And he died.

----

Hours would pass and the crime would be discovered. Word of mouth would travel quickly about the events but for all intents and purposes the second squad would not let anybody onto the scene. It would just so happen that on this day in particular, two certain individuals would meet in the Academy Mess Hall by chance and so by chance the wheels of fate would begin to spin.

Yasu lent against the doorway, impatiently tracing her thumb around the hilt of her sword. She still thought it was amazing, that it had changed right before her eyes. Right when she needed it to. The lightning exploded in her memory, as the outline of Himori stood above her. That fight had been intense... Lately, it felt like Yasu had been thrown into a lot of life or death situations; she wasn't a fan. Today's adventures would no doubt be the same pace she was trying to become accustomed to. That is if her instructor actually let her inside his office. It was a bit annoying (to say the least) that he'd called her urgently to meet, only to leave her waiting outside his door for twenty minutes. Especially since she was hungry. In fact, as time passed, Yasu began to think of it as entirely inhumane. She waited though because curiosity may have killed the cat but at least it didn't die in ignorance. The new weight of her zanpakuto felt perfect and she was starting to get used to the weight at her hip, the way it jostled against her side as she moved. It was a comfort.

The door slid open as the woman stood up properly. 'It's improper to slouch, Tanaka' the man scolded, stepping aside for her to enter the room. Yasu bit her tongue. The academy had it's redeeming qualities but it still felt oppressive in many regards. Picking her battles was a lifelong lesson of Yasu's, so she slipped into the office and took a seat in silence. He collapsed back into his chair as if his terrible news were such a heavy burden. It put Yasu on edge a bit to see the man so off-kilt.

'You remember the man you apprehended in Rukongai? The shinigami?' Yasu's eyes narrowed, her head lifted as she felt her chest tighten. The man was a monster and the mysteries around their last words still pestered her at night. 'Hyoumaru'. His name was not one she'd forget; they had unfinished business. The man ahead of her nodded, his brow furrowed as he rested on his desk and exhaled heavily. Yasu's mind began to jump, her heart-beat pulsed through her body as she waited.

'He's dead'.

It didn't make sense. He was arrested, sure but last she'd heard he was still waiting to stand trial. The man was a beast but a beast that she'd hoped to meet again. She had questions that only he could answer. She was at the Shino academy because of him. He was, in truth, supposed to die at her hand. 'How?' her voice was measured and calm but her face betrayed the wild panic that had sparked through her body. Her pupils expanded as thoughts flooded through her mind. What could she do now? How was she supposed to find answers? To protect the people of Rukongai: her people. The man dragged his hand across the side of his face, shrugging slightly before he spoke. 'We don't know yet. He was killed whilst awaiting trial.'

'By who?' The anger was clear in her voice now. It was proof that there was a large plot in play. People hated shinigami and it wouldn't have been because of one man. He'd said others would replace him. There were others. Probably they were the ones who killed him but how did they manage to kill a shinigami without being found out. The Gotei 13 touted itself as an organization of impenetrable honor. The man rose to his feet, sympathy dripped from his frame. 'I'm sorry Tanaka. I wanted to be the first to tell you before you heard the rumors. As soon as there's more information, I'll tell you'. His arm extended towards the door.

That was it? That was all the information they had. One shocking revelation and thank you for your time. The rage inside her body was overflowing. He'd tried to kill her, he'd damn nearly succeeded too. Yasu shoved her chair back as she stormed out of the room. She needed to get some fresh air, maybe a drink of water. The woman was practically running as she headed towards the nearest exit.

Yasu exhaled purposefully. Actively trying to calm herself as she closed her eyes, feeling the still air around her. Slowly, she opened her silver gaze and headed back towards the mess hall. She was useless when she was this hungry anyway. Yasu's head was down, lost in her own thoughts as she tried to let her mind take a step away from her feelings. The calm brought perspective. Thoughts ticked over her consciousness as she piled food onto her tray and sat down at the nearest empty table.

Emon Suzumei sat at a mess hall table in the middle of the room, he had just finished reporting to his superior officers on the assassination attempt on his life and he was informed that higher security measures would be put in place around the academy. A small pleasure, that would have been great if it wasn’t for the fact that his room had been ransacked and Hyoumaru’s Zanpakuto had been stolen from it.

He munched on a slice of buttered bread and stared absentmindedly out at the training yard in the distance, only an hour ago had he been in combat with Kana Rasui and boy did his side still hurt from the blade wound he had sustained fighting alongside her. A Hornet had landed on the jar of jam near his arm and he flicked it with his fingers. Damn Hornets, attracted to his scent or something.

Chew. Chew. Swallow. Emon had been told that paying attention to your actions put you in some sort of meditative stance after strenuous combat. Itch the bandage at your side. Inhale. Exhale. Ignore the craving for a cigarette. Ignore the craving for a cigarette. Soul King’s bane ignore the craving for a cigarette!

Moments later he’d pushed away his plate and his toast and was smoking a cigarette while staring once more across the dining room at the door outside.

“Did ya hear?”

“What?”

“That bully Hyoumaru got what for!”

“Wh-what happened?”

“They say he got murdered but the lieutenants are keeping it super hush hush”

Emon’s left eye twitched and the corners of his mouth drooped. Coincidence and him were not favorable bedfellows but this? This all seemed too closely interrelated. People trying to kill him, Hyoumaru’s zanpakuto going missing . . . the man himself ending up dead. Something smelt . . a smelly smell . . . a smelly smell . . . that smelt. . . .

“Smelly” he whispered the word and there in the light of day walking through the door was none other than Yasu Tanaka, another person related to that unfortunate monster.

“Hey Tanaka-san” he called with a wave, he gestured to a selection of breads and spreads he’d managed to smooth talk out of the cook that was always sweet on him - well sweet was a choice word, really he knew ways to get brands of cigarettes and alcohol that weren’t widely available to residents of the soul society.

“Funny way of running into you, don’t suppose you heard what the rumor mill’s been spittin’ ” with that last word he winced, his bandaged side was stinging and speaking of stinging that hornet had gone where? Stupid insects. Speaking of, was it him or did Yasu look frazzled? As if something was deeply bothering her, or maybe that was just the look she always had when she was hungry.