I Know Your Name [Closed, Reika]

Reika struck true and hard, the strike channeled up her arms, causing her left shoulder to throb harder in pain. It was clear though, that feeling from the hit, it wasn't soft and sinewy from a hit to flesh - she had struck steel. He had managed to block her hit! That bastard had managed to block the strike of a released shikai with his sealed zanpakuto as if it were nothing at all. Was he a bloody captain?

The consolation was the blood trickling down Bill’s arm. This power, this spirit had lent her the power of the winds and it ripped at his flesh with her strike. Even with his mocking and quickly moving away with shunpo, she readied herself for the next onslaught.

I’ve got an idea.

Tell me.

Images of what to do flashed before Reika’s mind. It was wild. It was stupid. It was perfect. Emotions ran wild in the young shinigami. This was going to be it. This had to be her trump card in this bout of life and death. As Reika roared out in anger, her blade was surrounded in a visible torrent of wind, sending the surrounding trees in a blusterous frenzy as she called her spiritual energy to Boreas. She swiped the blade, releasing a slew of spiritual energy at Bill, rending the ground, casting dirt and rock into the wind as it surged to the despicable man.

Reika put what she had left in her to her feet, using shunpo to quickly move behind as he chanted his incantation. She raised her sword and tried to strike true down his back. “And you’re full of shit!”

Wow, this girl didn’t give up, she was like a squirrel on way too much coffee. A really angry squirrel who had in fact injected coffee into it’s veins through some botched operation to make a really speedy squirrel. A really speedy squirrel which dyes it’s hair red and then swung a sword around like it could kill anything it came across. Which really seemed to be working out for Reika who just kept coming. Soul King’s Left Toe, they really did give these Shinigami some powerful coffee.

Another slash of air and then a flash step - she was copying his techniques, the little squirrel, she was actually learning what to fight with as she fought. He read her presence coming from behind and slammed his palm downward towards the ground as he finished his incantation.

“Leaf to Tree. Tree to Leaf. Give my life to the land beneath my feet!” the ground crackled and rumbled as the bough of a tree burst from the ground carrying Bill upwards as the strikes from Reika met bark and wood and yet still the Sakura Tree grew from the ground towering upwards, within a few seconds a fully grown Sakura Tree had occupied the space where Bill had just been, it’s wounds from Reika’s attacks sealing and healing as it rapidly age.

“Demon Art - March of the Timeworn Trees” Bill called down as he finished the incantation within the branches of the tree he watched Reika, he wondered, was she going to give up yet? This was really getting boring and Bill wasn’t all that interested in fighting - he was trying to be better - to make Yuki proud and killing a Shinigami - even wounding a Shinigami didn’t really sit well with him at all.

“I guess I made like a leaf and tree’d” Bill called down to Reika. Damn, maybe he was wrong about Reika that really was a good pun. He got it now, the leaf tree’d because the leaf rhymed with leave therefore the leaf was treeing like it was being freed. She was pretty sharp after all!

There was no time to react as Reika slashed with all her might. In a flash, Bill was gone before her eyes and the double attack slammed into the trunk of a tree that was brought to life by the kido the man. Reika cursed as the energy slammed through her body, causing that familiar ache she felt prior to striking the man’s blade. She looked up in awe as the sakura tree bloomed before her.

She had put all her anger into the attack. All the rage and frustration that had been building within her the past couple of days had been released in that final blow. It had all meant nothing. All for not. Reika stood there breathing heavily as her body shook in pain and exhilaration from the right. The adrenaline that built had slowly dissipated as she heaved, out of breath for her first real fight against an opponent.

This was nothing like what she had faced in the Academy. The fight was real, chilling. Bill had been toying with her rage this entire time and it took this long to really realize it. Reika looked up at Bill in the newly planted sakura tree as he said his little quip and actually cracked a smile.

It was horrible. Truly it was horrible. He couldn’t say a pun if his life depended on it. Yet, it was more than enough for her to smile. The rage within her slowly disappeared as Reika began to laugh. The pain and frustration left her as she fell to her bottom and let loose a ruckus and roar of laughter. Even the voice of Boreas had faded as she crossed her arms, trying to hold herself to stop the rancor within.

It was stupid, all of it really was. This man had managed to push her over the end, all the rage that had built within and released it all within a few short minutes of the fight. The anger was gone and replaced by relief as she wiped the tears of joy from her eyes. “You did. You did the impossible, Connie. That leaf certainly did tree.”

She said as she felt her body relax, falling to the ground, laying on her back. This was a stupid beautiful moment. It was all over, the fight. There was no more will to fight. Just the utter sense of relaxation as she looked up at the blooming blossoms of the sakura tree. “Thank you.” She muttered as a haze of sleepiness began to fall over her relaxed body. “I’m sorry.” Her eyes began to close slowly as she nodded off to sleep. The battle had taken its toll on her. Never before had she exerted herself to such a degree. Even fighting in the academy or their first excursion to Earth, nothing was as energy-consuming as this. There was no way to fight it. Reika’s body needed rest. Even as she tried, her eyes fluttered heavily before drifting off to sleep.

She was laughing? Was it over? Had Bill actually defeated her without having to actually hurt her? Oh happy day! She really was finished! Maybe it was possible to defeat people without having to kill them, maybe it was actually possible to defeat people without having to mortally wound them. Maybe Watari had it all wrong, this being better thing was totally possible he didn’t need to try, he just had to avoid hurting anyone.

Bill would lie down on the branch and stretch his legs out resting them against the bough of the tree and look down at the girl, he didn’t really understand what she mean by connie and he certainly didn’t understand what leafing a tree was about, though it was clearly a reference to the before mentioned pun but he couldn’t make sense of it. He’d let her have her moment, she was done and spent and now he could see she was starting to fall asleep as her spiritual pressure began to rapidly dim and her Zanpakuto began to warp back into it’s sealed shape.

Bill really liked Reika, she was fiery and she was passionate - she was good people, it really would be a shame if Watari made her another piece of the puzzle, another cog in the engine. Bill couldn’t have that but he also probably wouldn’t be around for much longer, this whole being better thing was tough work and he wasn’t sure he could maintain it.

“Hey Squirrel, if you ever meet a man called Watari, you should run - he’ll kill you”

Whether she heard the words or not didn’t matter to Bill, he already was drifting away on the bough of the tree, the world of dreams was beginning to call to him as a door somewhere in his mindseye slowly opened.

“Hey Bezaliel, do you think we can be better?”

“It’s all up to you Watari, whether you want to be better or you want to give it all away”

“I’m not sure, Yuki seems to think we can be”

“I think we can be too”

//THREAD END