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Tadashi was still a bit out of it as things continued around him. He had already told his mind to tune it all out, as he could do nothing about it and he was surrounded by people who could. After all, he was leaning on Suzume for support and forgetting to feel ashamed - that was a clear sign he was useless at the moment. Not that Suzume was weak or anything, but he was both taller and a stranger to this kind of contact with someone else, especially a woman.

However, Tadashi did notice Kyo's absence and then his rather crude landing. He was unsure what to make of it at the moment until Elisia hurriedly rushed by his side, meaning he was in deep trouble. Soon after that, he felt an enormous weight lifted off of him. He looked to see his flesh had gone back to normal. He smiled a bit, and then resisted the urge to go to sleep. At the very least, he could stay awake until he got back to his division if he couldn't be of use in battle, he decided. With some hesitation, he spoke to Suzume.

"I think I can support myself now...thanks for the help," he added, making sure he didn't come off as rude this time.

xxxxxxxxthe Sun locks the Heavens
xxxxxxxxthe Moon eclipses the Night



Tsukiko held out her own hand and waved it demurely, upset that the only answer she had for Elisia would not even be a viable one. "Anti-gravity, but I can't do it..." She mumbled in a depressed tone, turning her head to press her face into Elisia's shoulder after she was kissed on the head. For the next few minutes, Tsukiko said nothing and did nothing, preferring to remain still and quiet and nestled up against Elisia where she felt the most at ease. Quite frankly, Tsukiko was just drained, she had no Reiryoku to speak of, and she was running on spare reserves of power since the jump start didn't add much to her battery, so she didn't really want to move or anything of the sort. She was only made aware of things when she suddenly felt that Elisia's shoulder was no longer supporting her face, causing her to dip down suddenly before she looked up lazily as Elisia walked away.

Situating herself in a loose Indian-style arrangement, Tsukiko dropped her hands into her lap and stared vacantly at the ground as people bustled around her. A rapid beeping from her internal systems told her that several objects were approaching the group of Shinigami she was with. Suddenly coming to life, Tsukiko vanished from her spot, only to put herself between Elisia and the spears, blindly catching the closest one to her like it was nothing. As for the other ten or so that came close enough to hit Elisia, she struck them out of the air with a few well placed open-palmed strikes and kicks.

Her gaze fell on Zenos as he fell apart onto the ground beneath his sand column, only to silently swear when he materialized the pillars to protect himself. No one conjured pillars on their deathbed. As she feared, the pillars turned to dust to reveal the Arrancar alive and not-so-well. At first she was just plain stunned; it just wasn't possible for someone to get their brain chopped in half and come back from that. He looked towards them, and suddenly moved, causing her to active speed sight to track him as he moved. She watched him "walk" towards them, and by calculating his trajectory, she realized that he was going after Kyo. Tsukiko didn't know the boy, but that didn't stop her from thrusting her hand towards his arm in order to subject him to the death trap that was her grip strength. However, the prior movements to protect Elisia had cost her a fair amount of the stored energy Hei had given her and as a result, she stalled for a second. That second was all it took for Zenos to steal Kyo away, take him into a Garganta, drain his blood, bring him back, thrown him to the ground, fix the Hill, then leave.

Peering over Elisia's shoulder and eying the bite marks, Tsukiko distinctly muttered 'vampire' before blinking and looking at Lee as he answered Tetsunosuke. Not feeling up to the task of correcting Lee and dropping a load of scientific mumbo jumbo on him, she rambled to her self, allowing parts of her conversation to be heard to anyone who was actually listening hard enough. "Not weak and defenseless... irrationally hungry... common for vampires... feeding frenzy... He's been blooded... I assume..." All the while she muttered this to herself, she rubbed her chin with her finger, then stole the bag of syringes from Elisia. Quietly she eyed the syringe which still had blood on it. Her eyes magnified the image to the cellular level and she watched as a foreign cell she had never before observed attacked and mutated Kyo's blood cells. Refocusing her vision, she glanced down at the bite marks which were still not disappearing despite Elisia's healing. "I'll take this." She said quietly before running her fingers along Elisia's neck, and then vanishing from sight.

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[Unless I missed something, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one to take note of the 200 half-spears flying in every direction. ><]

xxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx【 SUZUME CHIYOKO 】



xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLoneliness hit me suddenly,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxbut it’s only t h e n that I realized,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxafter all that I have ever DREAMED of,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxI really don’t like F I G H T I N G

✿✿✿

Suzume had stayed quiet while the others talked, only reacting really when the spears and bala started heading towards them. Since her sister had taken care of the bala, there wasn’t really much to do. Holding out her hand in front of herself and Tadashi, she mumbled, “Bakudō #73: Tozanshō,” as she used the same Kido as her sister to protect them. However, since she was supporting Tadashi and his weight at the moment, she unfortunately was unable to move fast enough to stop Zenos from getting to Kyo. To tell the truth, she thought that one of the Captains would have done it, but then again, they all seemed pretty drained from their previous battle. As the formerly-weakened Arrancar reappeared before forming the hill back to normal, she shuddered slightly. That was one formidable foe, to be able to go against their Captain Commander and emerge relatively unscathed with enough power to do something like that. There was really not much point in attempting to stop him, since most of their Captains were weak and the Lieutenant/Third Seats had been absolutely impended by the Arrancar before.

The weight she had been supporting, suddenly lessened and she blinked slightly in shock before turning to look at Tadashi. Hmm? Oh, his arm had turned back to normal. Well, at least, that was good. As he somewhat hesitantly thanked her, she answered as politely as she could, “Oh, that’s alright. No problem.” Letting go of him carefully, she stood on edge for a bit, watching to see whether he could support himself now. While it had been pretty awkward helping him like that, it was one of the little things she could do at the moment, so she was determined to do the best she could. Her mind drifted to Nanashi as she wondered where he had gone. Strange. Maybe he had left because Elisia had seen his scars? After all, he had been pretty worried about them, but who wouldn’t? Groaning slightly, she merely stood there silently, waiting for something to happen. Hopefully they’d do something soon, since she still had to properly introduce herself to her Captain.

✿✿✿

xxxxxxxxClimb the mountains and get their good tidings.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxNature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.





Raising her arm defensively to counter Zenos' cero, she fell for his trap and missed the window in which she had to stop Zenos from taking Kyo, despite her speed. Through the volley of Bala and their respective explosions, she remained temporarily distracted enough to miss where he was going. Normally this wouldn't have been enough to distract Yuki, but she was already furious at herself for not finishing the job when she saw Zenos fall. This made it clear to her that she still had to work on her discipline, and she silently chided herself as she scanned the skies for Zenos' supposed return. Watching him come out of the garganta and return Kyo, albeit roughly, she tightened her grip on hist nodachi's faux saya and prepared to move, but stopped when she caught note of the irregularities in Kyo's body. Remaining steadfast and silent as Zenos clearly demonstrated that he was not as powerless as she originally though, Yuki gritted her teeth as she stared up at him. Seconds passed and he made a tactical retreat into a Garganta that opened behind him, an event that did not relax Yuki in the slightest.

Moments of dead silence around her passed as her thoughts raced throughout her head. A younger Zenos, his canines were longer, his pulse had been erratic, and he had abducted one of her subordinates only to return him in a state that was even worse than before. She had known he was a vampire, but she was careless enough to think that once he had shed that side of him, that it would never return. It was her carelessness that had just drastically changed Kyo's life from this moment forward. She had seen it before; the process through which one slowly became a blood-sucking denizen of the night. The nightmares, the chills, and the irrational thirst for blood that was so strong that you would sooner attack your best friend than ignore it. Then there was the pain of your cells being altered; it simply wreaked havoc on the body and there was nothing she had ever been able to do about it now. Feeling helpless and awashed with negative emotions that she really did not need at the present moment, Yuki began to blame herself, entering a state of self-destruction that would end shortly as it normally did.

With each passing moment, Yuki's face became angrier and angrier. First it was narrowed eyes, then it was a furrowed brow, and as three minutes came by she looked absolutely furious. For a brief second, the crimson-colored Reiryoku that danced across her body suddenly shifted to black, bearing an ominous weight that was similar to Hei's very presence, yet different enough that the two could be distinguished. Yuki seemed to sway as lightning struck the ground all around her, tearing up the ground as it struck multiple times in response to her anger and causing the hair on the back of her neck to rise. Strike after strike occurred until finally, having torn up most of the meadow in her silent rage, Yuki cancelled her Bankai, gripped her katana tightly, and whirled around to present her back to those that sat dozens of feet away. "You're all dismissed..." She said in an irritated voice, letting her Reiryoku and Reiatsu shift back to normal. Then she was simply gone; vanished without a trace. One second she had been standing there, and a quarter of a second later she was not. She did not fade out, but instead solidly disappeared, making her way back to her bedroom which should have been completed by this point.

|Exit|

ɪςϦɪЪɑȵȶɑɪ ϨɑȵʂϵӃɪ

βʆɑʗӃ☆Ϩȶɑɽ

『 Black Star stood off to the sidelines as Lee replied to Tetsunosuke, who seemed to be Kyoshiro's Captain. Lee seemed like the uptight captain, at first; he was glad he wasn't a good Kido practitioner and didn't have Lee for a captain, but then he remember who his captain was; Yuki, the Captain Commander. He simply ignored the thought for now. He looked toward Tsukiko as she started rambling it seemed like. He was curious as to what exactly she was talking about, since Black Star knew very little or made very little sense of what she was actually saying. A dumb look had came over him before he knew it, he quickly wiped the look away from his face by picking his nose. Before he knew it, Tsukiko had vanished. Kyo had finally awoke and was trying to move. What came next was him vomiting, which made Black Star's stomach turn a bit.

He had turned to see his captain. She was mad, he could tell, since lightning was striking all around her. Of course, the pressure that came from her was unmatched. He sighed as she canceled her Bankai and informed them of their dismissal. Black Star felt a little weird when his captain just left without saying a word to him. He stood around for a few moment before yawning and then moved to rubbing his eyes. He looked over to Kyo, satisfied that he wasn't dead because of his own actions, he looked forward and shunpo'ed away from them all, of course, it wasn't a Flash Step to be talked about. After several steps, he was away from the hill.

』

Lee turned to look at Tsukiko as he was corrected raising an eyebrow at her broken words catching the word vampire. A vampire? So that is what Zenos was? Well that certainly cleared matters up nicely and brought on an understanding at exactly what Kyo was going through. At least a level of understanding though Lee didn't know a ton concerning vampires and therefore could only make assumptions. Watching as Kyo woke up and crawled puking up so bile mixed in with blood. Closing his eyes Lee placed his left hand on his zanpakuto tapping it lightly with one finger. 'What do you want? I need my rest after what happened as well. Otherwise I won't be in a good enough condition next time you call on me.' Removing his hand Lee opened his eyes lazily for a moment before looking towards the newly rebuilt hill. 'Nothing of importance I suppose. It can wait till later. Rest well.' Yuki's presence was marked with a show of power and anger. Staring on in slight shock and awe Lee simply could not find the words to describe what his thoughts were.

The only thing Lee knew was that quite frankly known of them standing there right now would have ever had a chance against an angry Yuki. Well probably not even a calm Yuki considering how much power she wielded. Watching as the Commander dismissed them then left Lee turned to Elisia staring at her for a moment before speaking up to say something. "You should probably go get some rest as well Elisia-taicho. I am sure the healing you did made you tired. Nice job today." Lee would have said more to everyone else present but it was at that time Eriko spoke up. Hearing Eriko's words as she addressed everyone Lee was preparing to leave himself when she appeared beside him. The whisper stopped him as he stared out of his peripheral vision at her giving a slight nod as she left. Turning to look at Suzume with a blink of the eye he was suddenly in front of her. "Follow me to my office. It is time we talked properly Chiyoko-fukutaicho." With that Lee turned around and vanished from the hill in one step heading for his office.

|Exits|

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Kyo's vision was still blurry but he didn't need his eyes to know that it was the captain of the Yonbantai who was speaking to him. After all, who else could have healed him so completely so fast? He had spent a little time the night before trying to remember the names of all the captains after getting assigned to the Rokubantai, though he didn't know any of their faces, save Harasawa-taicho. His nausea was gone now. After she'd advised him not to move anymore he finally opened his mouth and spoke. "Aye, Riyu-taicho. Thank you for saving my life. I apologize for troubling you." Kyo was outwardly stoic but internally he felt a mixture of shame, anger, and sadness that he had been such a liability. Never again... he thought with solid determination as he looked at the ground in front of him as the Captain-Commander let her rage rain down from the heavens. Her spiritual pressure was stifling, but he fought through it. He had heard the dismissal order as well, but as Elisa had instructed him to do, he did not move. His pride wanted to force him to his feet. His body was not having it. He was still far to light-headed and disoriented.

After a few more moments he heard someone offer to help move him. He didn't recognize the voice obviously, but as his vision was cleared he could see it was his captain. "Aye, Harasawa-taicho," Kyo replied to Tetsunosuke's question almost immediately . He didn't look up to meet Tetsunosuke's gaze when he spoke. He didn't want to see his captain's face for fear of seeing a look of disappointment upon it. As Tetsunosuke and Elisa had their whispered exchange Kyo ran is finger across the scar from the wound that had nearly been the end of him. It was almost ten inches long. He was a lucky man indeed. Had it not been for Elisa, they would surely be having a second funeral today. What was that about twice though? Did something else happen while I was unconscious? He moved his fingers up to his neck. If anything, the minor pain there would be an indicator of what she had said. Indeed, there was a wound there. It was a strange one: two small holes right next to each other. Some kind of poison needle attack maybe?

He turned suddenly as he was yanked from his musing by Elisa speaking to him once again. "Okay, I understand, Riyu-taicho." He finally swallowed his pride and looked up at Tetsunosuke. If there was disappointment looking back at him, then he would just have to take that blow and strive to not have it upon him again. However, as fate would have it or perhaps it was just dumb luck, Tetsunosuke was silhouetted against the sun, so Kyo couldn't even make out his face. "Harasawa-taicho. I know this is a little rash of me, but can I ask you one favor? Could you please bring the shuriken that almost cost me my life back to the Rokubantai Headquarters? I want...I want to keep it as a physical reminder of my weakness and mortality so that I never lose the drive to become stronger." Kyo's eyes showed his resolve as he presented his request to Tetsunosuke. Even if his captain didn't, Kyo would come back on his own to retrieve it if he could. He felt it was something necessary for him to be able to move on from this incident positively.

Kyo then suddenly felt himself being lifted of the ground. "W-w-wait, Riyu-taicho! Y-you don't have to carry me! I can stand on my own!" He said in protest as the embarrassment of being carried off set in. His grandfather's stern gravely voice played out in his head. Kyoshiro! What did I tell you?! Either you die on the battlefield or you leave it under your own power, even if you have to crawl with your teeth to do so! Where is your pride as a warrior?! He closed his eyes and dropped his head as his request fell on deaf ears when Elisa shunpo'd away with him in her arms. My pride as a warrior....




|Exit|