BLEACH: The Crimson Sin (PG-15)

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The repeated use of the nicknames 'Hollow-chan' was like a large brick to the head for Akarui every time Sendo spoke it. He was already one of the men who 'violated' her during testing, and now he couldn't even let that offensive nickname go. This was a strange group of shinigami, and Matsumoto aside, she was the only girl. For the most part, the group looked at her with cautious eyes, as if they questioned her intentions, her personality. It made her very uncomfortable. Out of all of these people, the ones named Saru and Hiso made her the most uncomfortable. There was just something about them that suggested they thought of her as almost an enemy. Akarui snapped out of her little train of thought when Airan grabbed her hand, which made the hollow girl's face turn slightly red for a short moment before it faded. What he said was true, but she couldn't bring herself to acknowledge it through words. Truth be told, she wasn't sure of anything anymore. As some of the shinigami pointed out, there was the possibility that she would mutate further, and she decided to speak up. "If that happens... I've told Hitsu-kun he can kill me... But I want to go, even with that risk. My brother is missing, after all." Most of her words came out in a large, sorrowful sigh as she walked to the side of her captain, placing her white hands at her sides.

"That's IF it comes to it." Captain Hitsugaya added as he approached the Senkaimon, the gates opening the accommodate the travels of the missionary group. "Anyways, upon exiting the Senkaimon, we will find ourselves outside the Urahara shop in Karakura Town. From there, we will waste no time. Using Hollow bait, we'll draw as many as possible to our location and fight until one triggers the gate. Our goal for now is nothing more than to examine any oddities, if any, with the gate. Our next move will depend on what we find." With nothing more to say, he stepped through the Senkaimon, Matsumoto and Akarui following suite. When the appeared once more, they were before the doors of the Urahara shop, and Hitsugaya wasted no town breaking the hollow bait, various hollow screams echoing through the air as the three drew their zanpakutou, although Akarui struggled for a moment as her charred zanpakutou seemed stuck, but she eventually got it free.
 
"So she has placed the responsibility upon Captain Hitsugaya to end her life if things get out of hand... Thats a relief, I don't know if i could actually handle killing another Shinigami like that... even if she is from a different squad. But will the captain really have what it takes to finish her if the time comes..."Saru stared into no where thinking seriously to himself. His morals and mission priorities were clashing inside his head fighting for superiority. "Just do the mission Saru...Just do the mission, figure out what we need to, and you wont even need to do the unthinkable to the girl...ya..." He thought to himself with his face showing an obviously distraught expression.

He finally brought his attention back to the present situation. He looked up to see Captain Hitsugaya walk through the Senkaimon with Matsumoto and Akarui. Saru immediately jumped up excitedly and walked towards the Senkaimon. He looked back to the other Shinigami as if trying to see and make sure they're coming. He turned back and stepped through. Upon exiting the other end, he was welcomed by a mass of hollows, Captain Hitsugaya had clearly already broken the bait. The hollows were great in number but all seemed to be relatively weak.

"Sorry Seishuku Kaze, no need to release you quite yet...you would just make fun of me for needing you against weaklings" He said aloud while chuckling softly to his zanpaktou. Finishing his sentence, he drew his zanpaktou halfway before vanishing into the air and beginning combat.
 
Hiso's face paled slightly, though this was masked by the dark color of his skin. The hollows here reminded him so much of the swarm he had encountered on the eve of Bell's death. Gripping Characal's hilt tightly, he lowered the point to face a charging hollow. "Die, vermin," he muttered before passing the pointed tip effortlessly through the creature's mask. The monster screamed and died as Hiso leapt into the air, searching for another hollow. "Captain! Move everyone to a safer distance! I'm going to see if I can't clear our path using Desert Tomb!" he called over the seething hollows as he made his preparations. The swarm of hollows was massive, he knew, but numbers didn't matter provided that he could draw a complete circle. Focusing with his blade again, he shouted the release command: "Cut away, Characal!"

Characal appeared, smirking at her wielder. You have no objection to using Shikai, I notice. This group would be fun to play with in bankai, she mewed.

Hiso shook his head as the blade of his zanpakutou shrank to the size of a medical scalpel and became encased in a purple glow. Slowly, the shinigami began to fade from sight as he lifted his hands in response to a group of charging hollows. "The south gate is broken. The north gate scatters unleashing my potential. Ablaze is my soul, impossible to touch. Hadou #15, Defusion!" he cried. The moment his voice died away, about four of the hollows reeled back as blades of purple energy sliced their bodies, decaptitating at least one and amputating limbs from the others. Not wasting his time, Hiso quickly dispatched two hollows with a quick slash to the neck, followed by a quick shunpo which placed him alongside Akarui, who had hefted a charred zanpakutou. "Tell the others to move back once they see stone pillars falling," he muttered, "Once my invisibility is complete I'm going to see if I can't take care of a few of these guys." His mission accomplished, Hiso plunged back into combat with his scalpel held high, dispensing defusion attacks as needed to keep hollows from his back. It would take another few minutes to vanish, he knew. Once he did, however, it was only a matter of drawing the circle without being noticed.
 
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Stepping out of the Senkaimon, Sendo brushed off his hakama and stared expressionless at the swarm of hollows attracted by the bait. He was just in time to hear the sixth division shinigami announce to move everyone back. Sendo personally thought this was somewhat arrogant, but said nothing in protest, nor did he move back. All he did was step aside, out of anyone else's way, and unsheathe Gaikotsu in silence. Grasping the femur bone handle with both hands, he let the sword spin around his right hand in a circle.

"Moushide Oujou, Gaikotsu." Sendo's voice came as his left hand caught the sword so it was pointing upright again. The sword was unchanged, even though the order to release had already been given. Sendo loosened his grip and let the blade fall away from him, grasping it again when it was parallel to the ground, and with his right hand, pulled the handle toward him, while placing the left hand on top of the small square tipped blade and letting it slide across the smooth cold surface away from himself. With the second movement, the blade grew to it's claymore size, and two extra femur bones grew out from the sides of the first, perpendicular to the ground, a circular fanged mouth set in the dead center of the cross created by the new bones, handle, and blade. Gaikotsu finally released, Sendo let the square tip fall heavily into the ground, and left it jutting from the ground as he let one hand rest on the end of the handle. He was only observing the battle, it seemed, but the mouth on the blade was quite active, sucking in the thick Hollow reiatsu at a painfully slow, but constant rate.

Sendo kept a keen eye out for anything that looked like the Gates of Hell. The gigantic skeletons that were constantly welded into the doors were like a treat to Sendo, just to see those great masses of bones. But now he would have three things to savor when the Gates appeared; The first, watching a hollow suffer a very brutal and gory entry to Hell, the second, the skeletons themselves, and the fresh new reason, the chance to study exactly what phenomenon had caused Akarui to mutate like she had.

He prepared himself to make a very clear description, so as not to disappoint Captain Mayuri.
 
"Gotcha' Taicho!" Responding to the instructions Captain Hitsguaya has just given them, Airan watched as all the Shinigami's made there way through the portal and eventually onto the other side, being the last one before the gate Airan paused for a moment to reflect. This was it. He quietly thought to himself, he was struggling just a tad within himself about 3rd Divisions situation. They can do it, no doubt. Otherwise they wouldn't be in HIS squad.. Turning towards the Senkaimon, a desicion was made, it was time to help a crisis at hand rather then look after a bunch of other Shinigami's. Glancing back towards the rather large squad 3 building as it loomed over others, Airan knew it was time to depart. Hastly making his way to the Senkaimon, he took one look back and then turned around towards the Senkaimon. Taking just a few steps forward, he stumbled into it!

"Ouch!.." Landing flat on his back on the recieiving end of the gateway, Airan rose and brushed himself off. Taking note of the scene he realized that today there was going to be quite a number of enjoyable battles. Looking around he noticed all the shinigami in action, also Akarui struggling with her Zanpakutou. "SO SLOPPY! Ha." Airan was laughing to himself at the sight, but soon turned away to look at the others in action. A shinigami from earlier was getting pretty serious and confident in his abilities, it was confidence to the point of him instructing the rest of us to fall back while he took care of them. Airan shouted in response in a playful tone "Hey BUDDY! Yeah..lets not and say we did." Smiling, Airan was now placing his hands onto his hilt "Ready little sis- whoa" A massive hollow launched himself at Airan without hesitation, this however, did not trouble him. With a sudden side step and a crushing hit to the Hollow's mask, it collapsed. "Geez! No manners or morales, wouldn't even let me finish talking or unsheath, thats what you get!" Sticking his tounge out at the Hollow that was now disinegrating, Airan resumed his pose.

"Lets try this again shall we!?" Grinning, he unsheathed the Zanpakutou without a moment's waste. Looking over at the creepy looking shinigami and his Zanpakutou, it was time for Airan to release as well. "Well since EVERYONE is doing it, why not??" Grinning again, Airan pointed to the sky and shouted "Supin Supin, Suchiru!" With the words spoken, the Zanpakutou started to take its shape. Shoving the sheath into the ground, Airan took a few steps away from it "Oi! Suchiru, you go ahead and hurry up with your changing okay?!" Airan adjusted himself, taking a pose which meant he was casting a Kidou. "Nimble sprite, jackrabbit's spirit. Strength my legs and help me reach the sky. Bougyoudo #25, Haneru!" With the glow that surrounded his legs, Airan was now ready for some serious combat. "Suchiru! Lets go!" Blinking would have missed the phenomenon that just took place. In a instant
Airan was at his current location, and next right beside Suchiru, which by the way was now released in its Shikai state. Yanking it out of the ground, the heavy spiked sphere at the end clanged against the ground.

What happened next could not be more described then a circus act. Equipped with the speed and jumping abilities the Kidou granted him, along with his own speed and jumping made Airan fight at a remarkable pace. Flipping from his current spot high into the air, he came down hard on a Hollow's mask, crushing its face into itself. Leaping from the Hollow, that was obviously crushed, Airan swung the Zanpakutou into the side of a nearby Hollow's arm, shattering the bones within it. As the hollow screeched in pain, Airan quickly made due with it by swinging the sphere once again, but this time threw it's stomach. Quickly moving, Airan took a jump into the sky too have a view of the current situation. "..Wow, there are quite a few Hollow's that are beginning to surround us! This makes it much more fun, hehe" Returning to the ground, Airan prepared himself for more combat.
 
By this time, Hiso's invisibility was almost complete. Only a dim outline of his features as well as the purple glow of his blade marked his position. Grimly he turned and faced an oncoming hollow and muttered "Raise thy Crest!" as he swung his tiny sword at it. As he did so, the purple blade elongated itself to its former status effectively cleaving the unfortunate creature's mask in two. Without pausing, Hiso returned his zanpakutou to its shortened state and raced past another group, this one leering. The hollow bait was becoming a bit too effective for Hiso's taste. If another group of the demonic creatures came, the inhabitants of Karakura town would be in trouble with the stragglers. As this thought occured to the shinigami his body immediately vanished from the vision of any hollows, as well as any trace of spiritual pressure. Except for the two-inch blade of his knife, he was effectively unseeable. Satisfied that the operation could now be completed, Hiso proceeded to return to the side of Akarui, only to see the other shinigami, the one he had warned about getting too excited. Hiso could see he was becoming a bit overconfident, though he had to admit that the unusual zanpakutou was efficiently disposing of any hollows within his path. Drawing up alongside his ally, Hiso whispered the details of his plan. "Don't bother looking for me, I'm cloaked right now. I'm going to perform a kidou that'll turn the area into quicksand. I advise you to warn the others to move back three meters and keep the hollows at that line so that I can draw the circle more efficiently. If you plan on remaining here while I cast it, be my guest."

His piece thus finished, Hiso lifted his finger. With a thundering voice, he chanted another incantation. "Poseidon, almighty over Earth. Land to sea, shockwaves, immense destruction. To the ends of the land, to the grounds of the Seven Seas! Rise and affront to one's toll! Hadou #19, Cosmos Summit!" As his voice died away, a group of carved stone pedestals covered with ornate designs of fierce-looking deities appeared in the sky, each falling and crushing the life out of a hapless creature of one sort or another. Hiso smiled slightly. This kidou was one of his particular favorites, though a bit overly showy for one whose entire method of fighting relied on invisibility and attacking without detection. Moving quickly, Hiso stepped to the position which he had indicated as the beggining of his line of the circle. Placing his blade on the ground, he began to run in a large, arcing line that encircled as many hollows as he felt he could safely encompass. As he did so, he reflected on the details of Desert Tomb's proper use. In order for a perfect casting of the kidou to be successful, the caster had to complete his circle at the exact point where he had begun drawing it. The target had to remain inside the circle. And finally, the shinigami had to cast the kidou the moment the circle was completed. If he did not, the attack would fail. Knowing that such a large group of hollows would be trouble even for experienced shinigami if he could not reduce their mass, Hiso continued his task.

Bankai! Just use bankai! Five minutes is all it will take, then they'll all be dead! Characal insisted.

"As will my team members. Don't be absurd!" Hiso countered.

A group of hollows turned, recognizing the sound of Hiso's voice.

Cursing his zanpakutou, Hiso pointed a finger. "Bakudou #26, Atlas!"

The hollows staggered momentarily as invisible weights fell from the air, effectively trapping the creatures.
 
Hitsugaya sighed. This group was getting way too worked up over nothing. These weren't even menos class hollows, just your run of the mill, everyday, weak little hollows. While they were numerous, that didn't change the fact that they should have been dealt with without utilizing too much energy. If something out of the ordinary were to appear, and any of these shinigami had tired themselves out on the small fry, they'd be severely disadvantaged. There was one in particular, Hiso, that concerned the captain. The way he was overdoing it, it almost seemed like he held a personal grudge against the unguided souls. Akarui, however, was proving to be a problem for completely different reasons. She was firing off one shot of Beniikazuchi after another, but most of the time her aim was off. She was hesitating. It could have been for a number of reasons as well, considering the trauma she had undergone recently. For one, she could just be distracted due to the trauma, though on the other hand she could be afraid of the truth, of what happened to her brother. There was also the more disturbing possibility that she just didn't want to hurt the hollows. The extent to which she had been changed had never been confirmed, and there was the chance that she had also undergone some mental changes as well. Common sense would suggest removing her from the battle, but Hitsugaya knew her condition was one that needed to be observed and understood, in case it was ever to occur again.

BOOM.

The loud bang was followed by a disturbing roar not unlike that of a hollow, but it was someone different, twisted as if there were nails against a chalkboard scraping in it's vocal cords. In turn, this caused the remaining hollows to flee. The captain spun around just to see the gates of hell erupt a few blocks away into it's apartment like proportions, dying the evening sky a crimson red similar in colour to the hollow-girl's hair and eyes, which was not a usual characteristic of the gate. "Taichou!" Matsumoto shouted to Hitsugaya, obvious panic in her voice. "Aka-hime's eyes glazed over and then she ran off towards the gate!"

"...Dammit!" Hitsugaya shouted as he turned to the rest of the group. He had only taken his eyes off of her for a second! "We're pursuing her, head towards the gate!" Upon arriving at the gate, the captain found himself lost for words. The gate was wide open, revealing the flaming pits of hell. However, it was what stood before the gate that was the most disturbing. Hollows, hundreds of them, their masks died crimson and their bodies twisted to forms similar to demented arrancar. The made no further movements, however, and just eyed the shinigami carefully from a distance as they arrived. On the ground before them, Akarui had collapsed into a semi conscious state, her body apparently ripped up by a blade as some sort. Matsumoto ran over to pick her up, and the girl murmured a quiet apology before passing out. With that said and done, the gate slammed itself shut and sunk into the ground below, leaving the strange hollows to disappear into the world.

Hitsugaya made no attempt to follow the fleeing spirits. What good would it do? There were just to many. He just watched the spot in which the gate had just stood moments before, as if he was expecting it to rise again. "Dammit, just what the hell were those? How did they get here?"

"I think Aka-hime might be responsible..." Matsumoto sighed as she glanced at the unconscious girl in her hands.
 
Saru battled swiftly and quietly as he fought through the mass of hollows drifting in and out of plain sight launching quick lethal blows then vanishing into the air again. He watched the other Shinigami battle with disgust and noticed Captain Hitsugaya's obviously mutual feeling of their fighting styles.

"Releasing their zanpaktou for such a minor situation... what the hell do they think they're doing... are they really that weak or just playing. There are obvious flaws in this team that I need to sidestep in order to accomplish this mission acceptably ---" Saru thought to himself while zipping in and out of battle. His thoughts were suddenly cut short by an ear splitting scream.

Saru immediately turned to Captain Hitsugaya who was yelling for the other Shinigami to follow the hollow girl into the gate. Without hesitation, Saru spun his zanpaktou and sheathed it quickly, and began to head towards the massive gates that were rising ahead of them. Saru's eyes narrowed as his full sprint slowed to a stop beside the captain. Saru stared intensely at the gate, the malicious looking hollows gave no sound... no motion. The hollow girl laying on the ground before them with Lieutenant Matsumoto tending to her. The gate suddenly retreated back underground.

Saru stared blankly into the area where the gates had been. In his years of fighting hollows he had never seen that form of hollow before... and the masks, it was all just unreal. The surrounding area gave way to an eerie silence. A breeze blew softly around the shinigami as Saru's eyes finally shifted to the hollow girl on the ground. She was badly injured.

Saru quickly leaped beside her and Matsumoto and kneeled low, looking at the hollow girl closely for the first time. Despite the hollow appearance, she had a gentle face, not the face of a threat. He reached his hand into the inside of his robe and fished out a small sack and handed it to Matsumoto.

"Here...for her wounds, you'll need to administer the care though, i'm sure she doesn't want some strange boy seeing her like this." Saru said calmly. He stood up and turned around to face Hitsugaya. "What do we do now, Captain Hitsugaya? We may want a stricter plan after seeing what happens when we just unleash chaos in order to open the gate." He said with a serious expression while looking towards the other Shinigami almost accusingly.
 
Sendo was strangely one of the first to arrive at the gate after being ordered to pursue the dearest Hollow-chan. No, not for her sake. As the minute he got there, he thought to leap right into the gate and wrench one of those fascinating hollows out, to catch it for Captain Mayuri. But his gaze shot to Akarui, who was badly beaten on the ground, and he thought better of it.

He stared silently at the Hollows, who stared back, in equal silence. The masks intrigued Sendo the most, and he scanned them intently, catching himself a glimpse of what was behind them, though to him he saw only a swirling mass of black darkness. He didn't even notice the gate had shut itself as he lost himself in calculating thoughts, about what exactly those obviously derranged hollows could be the product of. Sendo dearly wanted to try and create one from a regular hollow. But it would be, as the comittee would surely say, 'inhumane'. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Captain Hitsugaya's question, and he paid close attention to the conversation from there on out, as odd as it was for someone like him.

Sendo flared at Saru's words, his accusing gaze, and almost reached out for the other shinigami's collar. He knew that everyone thought that releasing his zanpakuto had been a stupid, energy wasting thing. But it wasn't, and Sendo knew that well enough. And so tightening his grip on the handle of his zanpakuto, which was still sucking kidou from the air, he let a dark and annoyed expression cross his normally indifferent face. Who did those shinigami think they were? Compared to Sendo, who was actually the only useful one here, the only one who could actually study the effects and produce useful results, who were they to criticize him? Of course, he couldn't be sure of this, and so to avoid any unesseccary conflicts, merely swung his claymore to the side, and it returned to it's sealed state, sheathing the sword before he began to speak.

"Regardless of the chaos, I don't think even the most moronic shinigami would assume that the hollows would line-up one after the other so we could kill them in an orderly way, so unless you've suddenly invented a way to keep Hollows from swarming after setting out hollow bait, I suggest you keep you unwanted opinions to yourself. If we had the time to find a way to open the gate, then I would already be working on it." Sendo said coldly, laying a cold and unimpressed eye on Saru before turning to look at Captain Hitsugaya, "It's early, and the mission has only just begun, but I think it'd be for the best if we returned to Soul Society for a short amount of time. Enough for Akarui to heal in 4th Division, and enough for me to extract the kidou that Gaikotsu consumed so that 12th Division can study it. I think it would be in our best interest to give 12th Division more time to gather data, so we know what to expect the next time, and also to avoid anything like what happened to Akarui happening again."

Sendo folded his arms, glancing at the place where the Gates of Hell had once been, before it had disappeared. He wanted one of those masks to add to his collection. Were those masks really crimson? Or were they simply covered in blood? What strange hollows. He'd never truly thought about it. What happened to hollows after they were condemned to hell. Was that what happened to hollows? Those strange twisted beings? Sendo turned his flat eyes to look at Akarui again, having only pronounced her proper name because she was unconcious.

And was Akarui what happened to shinigami who found themselves past the gates to the other side?
 
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