AFF Fiction Portal

The Noble Sort

By: Melissarose8585
folder Bleach › Het - Male/Female
Rating: Adult +
Chapters: 43
Views: 4,594
Reviews: 8
Recommended: 0
Currently Reading: 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or make any money off of this story. All rights belong to Tite Kubo.
arrow_back Previous Next arrow_forward

Chapter 15

A/N: As usual, all the important information is lurking in the notes of the first two parts. There's a little bit of comic relief at the end, too, just to lighten things up.

And someone has already asked me—where's Ichigo?

Hueco Mundo. All of this takes place, so far, a little before and between Orihime's capture and the final battle. The first situation her uncle has to take care of—Orihime. The second—the rest going to Hueco Mundo.

So he's in Hueco Mundo, fighting Arrancar. This story doesn't really focus on him but the others; I feel that Kubo created these awesome characters and we see too little of them as everything focuses on Ichigo. He's not here. Leave him a message, though, and I'm sure he'll get back to you once Aizen's dead, ok? Or not, considering the massive curveballs we've been thrown in the manga…

And I'm going to make a nice little disclaimer here: I've finally finished reading the Masked Character Databook, which throws a wrench into my entire story. There are some interesting things said by Kubo that lead me to believe I've been right on quite a few things, but he has also stated that one of the two arcs left in the series will introduce the Royal Guard. I wasn't going to even say anything about my next arc until we got there, but in light of this let me say that the second arc of this story deals with Zero, or the Royal Guard. I have made up everything about it as Kubo hasn't given us any information yet. But at some point he's going to, apparently, and I've probably gotten everything completely different from what he will say.

So I'm not copying him, I swear, I just apparently decided to explore the one thing he hasn't and now he's going to fill in that blank for us.

Enjoy!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Noble Sort"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three Days Later

So much for that!

The area surrounding her was scorched and burning, and there was some sort of fake bush-looking thing Urahara had planted down here—it was nothing but a burnt skeleton now, crispy and black.

She had hoped this would go much more quickly, but things never worked out that way. Unfortunately, she also knew she was running out of time. For every day she spent down here, that much time was lost in preparation for the battle that they all knew was coming.

Word to move would come minutes before it was time to actually set the barrier up, so she had to be ready. Everything had to be in place.

This was getting ridiculous.

To her left Hidaruma was laid out on the sand, tongue lolling out. He was tired, she knew, but they had to get this right.

"Get up, shishi. C'mon."

He pushed up off of his paws and trotted over, shaking his head but soon taking his normal sword form.

She grabbed him up off of the ground, wiping off the dirt and sand that stuck to the metal.

"Do it."

Immediately he released, even without the normal phrase. They had done this too much to continually repeat the words right now. They were both way too tired.

If this one worked, though…

The sword grew in her hand, becoming almost a foot longer and at least five inches wider. There were six seals visible on the side of the blade, all dull—mostly resembling etching into the blade. Only the first three, though, seemed to have any depth to them. This was normal, par for the course.

"Dai-ichi Raimon: Kai!"

She swept her hand past the seal closest to the tip of the sword, and it lit up, the etching now surrounded in blue.

Lightning struck to her right; she wasn't concentrating too much on where it landed right now.

"Dai-ni Himon: Kai!"

She swept her hand past the second seal, and it glowed a bright orange, pulsing in tandem with the first seal.

Something in front of her burst into flame; yet again, she wasn't worried about where the seals were landing right now. She could worry about controlling their landing zones when she finally got all six open and staying open. Or once she got all six just freakin' open.

"Dai-san Tenkamon: Kai!"

She swept her hand past the third seal, and lightning struck to her left. A bush caught fire. The sigil on Hidaruma glowed a bright purple.

The third seal was in place.

"Sanmon no Akazora: Kai!"

A barrier immediately sprang up, connecting all three seals.

Hidaruma hovered in front of her as she let go of the sword with her right hand. Both hands moved gracefully, in tandem, flicking the seals around to form the shape she now knew they could take very easily. Soon, instead of the normal triangle that the first three seals formed naturally, she had a circle.

That was the easy part. The three seals, or gates, were essentially attacks. They were shikai formation attacks, nothing special in reality. Lightning, fire, tenka. Nothing unusual in the realm of elemental attacks, even when strengthened with the final shikai attack, Hibashira.

They were weak, mostly used to form a barrier. Kogasu was more deadly, in reality, and it was the first attack she had ever learned with Hidaruma. It was the norm.

But the other three…

Switching from three gates to six usually required bankai. The multi-dimensional barrier was her bankai; the fire attacks were just for protection. With such weak attacks, something was needed to control the movement of her target. Hidaruma was balanced, but unimportant as far as zapakutou went. They knew that decades before she left.

But the barrier…

The last three seals were special, on different axes. They had no release forms, no attacks. They were shadows of the first three, really.

But bringing them out without going into bankai was hard, and the barrier unstable.

Let's try this new idea out, shishi. Hope it works.

"Rokumon no Genshukusa," she said, and a wind grew around the barrier that she had already formed. She felt the release of her reiatsu as it tore into the ground near her but tried to ignore it.

She usually did not form the three-seal barrier before calling out the last three seals. It was ridiculous to do so, draining and time-consuming. But in opening the fourth and fifth seal, it had proved advantageous. The last seals were already looking to form a barrier, then, and she hadn't had a need for bankai. But the sixth…

"Dai-yon Raikagemon: Kai!"

She swept her hand past the fourth seal as it lit up, a deep blue mirroring the first seal. Above her, a seal formed. Her hand began to shake as she pulled it back into its original position.

"Dai-go Hokagemon: Kai!"

She swept her hand past the fifth seal as it lit up, a burning red mirroring the second seal. In the middle of the sky to the left, another seal formed, hanging in the air. It was half of the height of the one ominously formed above her head.

"Dai—Dai-roku—"

She felt her reiatsu fluctuate wildly as she tried to form the sixth seal. She could see its shadow on the ground to the right, but it wouldn't fully form.

Not this time.

She swept her hand across the seal, hoping that she could activate it manually, but the seal stayed dormant.

Hurry, Minako! Now!

"Dai-roku…Okagemon," she forced out, but she could already feel the sweat beginning to drip down her forehead, her arms and legs weakening.

"Kai!" she screamed, once again swiping her hand across the seal on the blade. The seal glowed an ominous black momentarily, and she felt all the gates finally connect. There were tremoring lines forming between the last three seals as they tried to find the first three, and then they snapped.

And she flew backward as the barrier blew up.

The six seals were looking for connection points that were not there, and she couldn't support it manually anymore. It was just too much of a strain.

The explosive force behind it was ten times what she had been dealt up until now, and she felt bones crack as the concussive force hit her full on. It felt like a video of an atomic bomb, a rush of air and heat and very fast wind blowing outward and decimating everything in its path.

One of the many cliffs broke her backwards tumble, and Hidaruma was soon back in doggie form, trotting over to her.

His fur looked like he had stuck a claw in an electrical outlet.

She resisted the urge to laugh, sure she had broken a few ribs. She got up, slowly, using the dirt wall behind her for balance, and she stared down at the dog now beside her. Both of them were panting harshly, and while she was the only one bleeding, he looked pretty bad as well. She heard the hatch about 500 feet to the left and who knew how far above them open with a clunk, and they both just turned their heads tiredly to glare at the intruder. A striped hat could be seen as Urahara lowered his head through the opening, glancing around. When he finally spotted them he gave an upside-down wave.

"Oi, Minako-san, what was that?" he yelled, his placid, humorous tone annoying both of them.

"That was me, moron," she yelled back halfheartedly.

She saw a hand drop down as he scratched his head through the hat he always wore.

"That was a little larger than normal, ne? We felt it shake the floor up here!"

"That was the sixth seal, Urahara no baka!"

She saw his head disappear for a moment before feet replaced it, and she immediately realized he was coming down the giant ladder.

Fuck.

She just collapsed against the dirt wall, and Hidaruma fell sideways onto the sand.

Great.

There were two men visible on the ladder now, and both of them were blond. That didn't bode well for the rest of her day.

She closed her eyes, using the minutes it would take for them to reach her to rest and try to recuperate somewhat from the large amount of reishi it felt like she had lost.

She had opened the gate, finally, but the seal wouldn't stay solid. And she would obviously have to position and form them as they came out, which would be hard. Moving them into position at the same time she was trying to call them out—it already took too much to attempt!

We've faced worse, my dear. Do you not remember bankai training?

Of course she did. Months and months of nothing but blowing herself up as she tried to get the other three seals to even materialize. She would never forget how it felt. At one point she had broken every bone in her left arm, including the small ones in her hand and wrist.

Then stop complaining. We didn't think we would get this far.

He was right, as usual. She hadn't thought they would even be able to get the seals out without bankai, and they had.

The problem was, when making this barrier, she wouldn't be able to stop and have a heart attack between the third and fourth seals. Bankai could be used to stabilize the barrier, but she had to get them all out first. Then she could writhe on the ground for a few minutes in pain so they could stabilize the stupid thing.

Then we are almost done. Get it stable, make it hold long enough for a transformation.

I know, shishi. I'm trying.


It was amazing, though. None of them had ever even thought to see how this new form would affect her barrier or its abilities. That had been very stupid of them, now that she thought about it. But hindsight was 20/20, wasn't that the old saying?

Someone kicked her foot, and she controlled the murderous urge that had risen in her. Everything hurt right now, even her toes.

"Ne, Minako-san?"

She cracked an eye open and glared at the idiot standing over her.

"Get up, dumbass. Let's see it."

Will. Not. Kill. Will. Not.

She slowly rose, and Hidaruma growled before getting up himself.

They slowly wandered back to the spot they had designated as their own, and she almost laughed at the look on Urahara's face when he realized she had been murdering his bushes.

There were another two smoldering now.

Ready, shishi?

Hell no.


She grinned.

Let's make it pretty for them so we can collapse after this.

"Ryouken Jigoku no Akazora: Kaze-ni!" she yelled, her voice hoarse from days of it.

He immediately released, and the sword-seal form was back.

"Dai-ichi Raimon: Kai!" she said, swiping her left hand across the first seal and delighting in the glow.

She heard the lightning strike to her right and, instead of letting the seal fall where it wanted, she maneuvered it so it would materialize in a bush. Urahara's little squeal made it worth it.

"Dai-ni Himon: Kai!"

Another swipe of her left hand, and the second seal glowed orange.

A small tree in front of her burst into flames, in the exact spot she had wanted the seal to fall, and she heard him squeal again, this time accompanied by Shinji's laughing.

"Dai-san Tenkamon: Kai!" she screamed, swiping her hand across the third seal and watching the purple flare into existence.

A small rock pinged into the sky as the seal materialized a little to her left.

She stepped backwards a few feet.

"Sanmon no Akazora: Kai!"

The barrier flashed into existence, uniting the three seals. Her hands flew again, tracing out a shape and dragging the lines into it, and the lines connecting the sigils bent into a circular shape in front of her.

She sighed, releasing a huge breath. The easy part was done.

Ready to try this again?

Not really, onna, but we don't have a choice, do we?

Let's see how far we can get. Perhaps dropping them down will give them the connection they're looking for.

It might work, but it will still be unstable. We don't have the power to channel into it outside of bankai.


She nodded grimly in her mind.

"Rokumon no Genshukusa," she said, and while there was no true reaction amongst the seals or the barrier, a wind flew around the three parties. She heard them take a few steps backward and grinned again. It would be worth the pain to have them get blown up with her.

"Dai-yon Raikagemon: Kai!"

She swiped her hand across the fourth seal and it glowed a deep blue. She could feel it begin to materialize somewhere above her but she brought her left hand up, literally dragging it downward. Soon it was drifting in front of her, fighting her all the way—however that was possible—and she saw the materialized seal land a few feet above the barrier already in place.

It was close enough right now.

"Dai-go Hokagemon: Kai!"

She swiped her hand across the fifth seal and watched it glow bright red, and she once again tried to drag the seal down to the others. This one, to her left, ended up about fifteen feet above the ground-level Sanmon barrier and a good seven feet above the fourth seal in front of her.

It was all she could manage. Her hand was shaking so heavily that any attempt at pulling it downward might mean it went higher if her hand shook too violently.

"Dai-roku—dai-roku—"

Once again her reiatsu was flaring wildly, and she could hear Hidaruma screaming at her in her mind to pull the seal down.

She could see it, a small shadow on the ground to her right, and she forced the words out.

"Dai-roku...Okagemon: Kai!"

She swiped her hand across the seal on the sword and it glowed black, and she felt the seal materialize on the ground, right on the Sanmon barrier line.

"T—ta—"

Her lips didn't even get to finish the first syllable of the six gate release word before it blew up, forcing all three of them backward.

Unfortunately, there was no cliff. She tumbled through the sand and came to a rough stop about a hundred feet back, and she watched as Hidaruma, once again, trotted up to her.

Not only was his fur still standing on end, it looked like he had a bald patch on his flank.

She snorted, then grimaced from the pain of her definitely broken ribs.

She couldn't see the assholes, but she didn't care. Practice was officially over for the day.

She let herself fall into the beauty that was unconsciousness.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was probably the craziest group ever assembled in Urahara's little rooms, and that was saying something for the Urahara Shōten.

Urahara was, as always, seated at the table, bandages clearly visible on his face. He had hit a rock when he flew backward and had a deep scratch across both cheeks. Shinji was sitting in the corner, hood up and face hidden from those who had just come in. Even the Visored was a little worse for wear, although his clothing made it impossible to see. Yoruichi and Tessai were seated by Urahara and flanked by Ururu and Jinta.

Two cats were prowling the room, one with some form of headgear and one with an unusual flashing beacon on its collar.

But what made it decidedly odd was the fact that shinigami—two taichou, no less—were seated in front of them, as was one fuku-taichou. In the same room as a Visored. Both knew the other was there, but they seemed to be very good at ignoring the small, obviously unmentionable fact.

But facts were stubborn things.

It had created an unbelievable tension, but there was no other choice. They had to know when, and it was important that the shinigami know their plan would work as well as was possible.

"Yoruichi-san, you said you had some information for us," Ukitake-taichou said, his tone pleasant as always.

"I do, Ukitake. But I thought you might like to give me a little promise first."

He looked at her, perplexed and wary. She had been quite the prankster once upon a time.

"Such as?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"You have to promise not to tell Yamamoto where she is. You can give him the information—as a matter of fact, you need to—but you can't tell him where to find her."

"So Soifon-san was right, then?" Kyouraku asked lazily, his sakkat hiding his eyes.

The former taichou just shrugged and smiled.

"Yare," Kyouraku breathed out, his lips stretching into a smile.

"Very well, Yoruichi-san," Ukitake-taichou finally said. "Now, what do you have to tell us?"

She looked at him, her eyes gleaming.

"She broke the sixth seal this morning."

Comprehension came quickly.

Still, Kyouraku was confused. She had already broken the sixth seal—it was her bankai. This wasn't vitally important.

"And?" he said, a different tone taking over his voice.

Yoruichi grinned evilly.

"Without bankai. And in a circle."

Both of their eyes widened comically.

They had both been informed—finally—of what Minako was supposed to do during the final battle. Kyouraku had originally considered it impossible, but apparently it wasn't. Perhaps Yama-jii knew his niece better than any of them thought.

"Where is she?" Nanao asked, worried about the fact that the woman was not in front of them.

"Resting," Yoruichi said, her right hand flicking through the air carelessly. "But she should be up soon, and then you can talk to her."

"How—is it even possible—" Ukitake-taichou asked, his words stuttered and choppy.

"Apparently," Shinji muttered darkly.

"It will probably take someone feeding her reishi to keep it stable, but it is possible. We'll have to figure that out," Yoruichi said, her delight in their disbelief obvious.

"But still, it's not—"

"Fucking shinigami, always thinkin' it ain't doable if they can't do it," he muttered, pulling his hood closer around his face.

Both Urahara and Yoruichi shot him a look, and, finally tired of the situation, he huffed and got up. Everyone watched as he retreated, his footsteps and the sound of the front door slamming incredibly loud in the sudden silence.

"Well," Urahara started, his voice pitched way too high, "I guess he won't be staying."

They all sweatdropped.

"Obviously," Yoruichi deadpanned.

"And the rest of you are ready for this?" Ukitake-taichou asked, his concern for everyone that would be involved in the final battle evident.

"As much as we can be, Ukitake-san," Urahara said, his eyes glittering in the shadow of his hat.

Jinta grabbed one of the passing cat's tails, and Tessai smacked him in the back of the head.

The shinigami stared at them.

Kyouraku turned to Ukitake. He wanted to stay, mainly so he could find out what exactly was going on, but someone needed to get the information back to Yama-jii as soon as possible. Ukitake, already knowing what he was going to ask, opened his mouth to volunteer but was cut off.

"I'm going to report this all back to Yama-jii. You'll stay and check on Minako-chan, eh, Ukitake?" he said lazily, but his eyes were visible and Ukitake got the silent message. They had been friends too long to not understand each other's nonverbal cues.

"Of course, Kyouraku, but if you want—"

"Yare, yare…" he said, rising slowly from the floor. Nanao was already up and moving, a hell butterfly floating around her.

"Just check on her for me, eh, Ukitake?"

He winked at his friend.

Ukitake-taichou nodded, his eyes wide. But evil thoughts were running through his head—he knew his friend too well, sometimes, and he could see the plot Shunsui was concocting.

They all watched as the two disappeared into a senkaimon, and then he turned back to the assembled group in front of him, suddenly nervous. He scratched the back of his head and gave a stilted laugh. A cat climbed into his lap and he looked down, surprised to see Kiri. She had some sort of hat on, with a conical necklace that obviously made it hard for her to get her head anywhere near her body.

What have they done to the poor thing? he thought.

He sweatdropped.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She woke up suddenly inside her tent, Hidaruma laying heavy as a house across her legs—stupid shishi—and hearing voices approaching.

One was obviously Yoruichi. The other—well, there was no freakin' way. No way in hell.

The male with her was exclaiming some disbelief over the scorch marks all over the terrain, and she had a brief moment of elation and giddy evilness at the thought of Urahara's destroyed foliage.

She got up slowly, pushing Hidaruma off of her while also realizing someone had changed her—please let it have been Yoruichi—and moved to the flap of the tent.

Hidaruma, who had followed her lead, head-butted her legs and she moved forward.

It was who she thought it was.

Fuck. Fuckity-fuck-fuck—

That's quite enough of that, onna.


Then, he realized why she was cursing.

Oh. He grinned mischievously in her mind. Oh. The pale one returns.

He sat down right outside the tent, his tail wagging like a chihuahua's.

Should I allow you two some…alone time?

He snickered in her mind, and she sighed.

This should be fun.

She scrubbed her face with her hand, dismayed at the fact that the clothes Yoruichi had put on her had no sleeves to hide beneath.

He follows you like a puppy dog, onna. How sweet.

Shut it, shishi.

You are the inu master. Lord of the dogs. Inu no Kami. Oh, the jokes could go on—

Shut. It.


They approached the small camp, Yoruichi smiling broadly at her.

"Please tell me you're the one who changed me," she said, her voice still rough from sleep.

"Of course. I wouldn't let either of those bozos do it."

Thank the Kami.

Indeed. I would have had to eat them. Something tells me blonde does not taste well.


She looked down at the dog, scowling.

"You have a visitor, Minako! You should be happy."

She shifted her scowl's focus to the woman standing in front of her.

"And if I didn't want visitors? Especially shinigami visitors?" she said gruffly. She made it sound as if shinigami was the worst epithet she could ever hurl at someone, and his resulting wince was somewhat satisfying. Although, part of her hated seeing it—she did have a tiny, tiny crush on the man, after all.

Tiny, onna?!

"Too bad," Yoruichi said, her impishness evident.

She crossed her arms and stared at the man in front of her. He stared back, looking a little uneasy with the situation. The nervousness they both felt was acute and easily felt in the air. She had the feeling they were reenacting a scene that played out daily in junior high schools all around the world.

Yoruichi, always the shrewd one—there were way too many of those around nowadays—bowed out quickly.

"Well, I've got things to do. We've got to finish that armor soon. You can show him out, right?"

She scowled, but nodded.

Yoruichi took off, tossing a "Bye" behind her to the pale taichou.

"Ukitake-taichou," she said flatly.

"Minako-san," he said nervously.

He wasn't pale anymore, she noticed. That was definitely a blush stretching across his cheeks and nose.

That was Yoruichi's fault, too. Stupid woman. Stupid clothes.

"Are you here to yell at me?" she finally asked as she subtly jerked at the bottom of the tank top she wore, her curiosity winning out over her embarrassment. The clothes were skimpy, but they weren't that bad. Especially by human standards. By Yoruichi's standards, the tank top and shorts were practically virginal sleepwear.

"No, but you shouldn't have done that. I put my trust in you, and you broke it."

She felt a brief moment of guilt but it passed soon enough; Hidaruma's morality argument was starting to win her over.

She gestured to the tent.

"There isn't much, but at least you'll have somewhere to sit. C'mon."

He followed her inside, but had to stoop down to get through the low door and avoid bumping his head on the pole. By the time they were both inside his face had a very obvious red tint, and she realized—

Moron.

Shishi, you should warn me about that kind of thing.


It really wasn't her fault the shorts were, well, short.

She cleared her throat, hoping to clear the air somewhat and get them on a topic of conversation that was safe and bland. She gestured around the tent randomly.

"Sorry. It was about all that was available. And I'm not leaving this stupid area until I can do this properly."

"I'm not sure you should stay here. He has done something strange to your pets, Minako-san. I would not usually interfere, but…" he trailed off, looking nervous at the tick that had developed underneath her right eye.

She was angry now.

There was an uncomfortable silence. A new topic was needed, fast.

"Yoruichi-san said you have made a great deal of progress," he said, his eyes gleaming. It was like he was happy—proud of her—and he had no reason to be, at least that she could think of.

"There's been some," she admitted, "more than I could have ever achieved there."

She gestured toward the small mat across the tent near her small tea table, and he sat down, pulling his knees up to his chest as she took up her normal position on her futon. Hidaruma, always possessive, flopped down next to her, his fur brushing over the skin on her leg.

"Are you—are you well?"

She looked at the bandages all over her limbs; she looked like she had come out of a war zone.

"I blew myself up a few—twenty—times or so," she muttered, unhappy about the idea of letting anyone know how hard it had been.

His eyes widened.

"Oh," he said breathlessly.

"Are you here to try to take me back?" she said grumpily, her arms once again folded across her chest.

"No, Minako-san. I believe Genryuusai-sensei has given up on that. We were here at Yoruichi-san's invitation, actually. She said she had information for us, and, well, after she swore us to secrecy, said she would allow us to check on you."

She nodded, her face still fixed in a scowl.

"You—Minako-san—you are not in a good mood, are you?" he said nervously.

"I blew myself up," she muttered darkly.

Yeah. He's a moron.

Shishi…

Well, he is
, he said petulantly.

You shouldn't say those things about him.

Why? Because you find him attractive?
He snorted. I told you, mate and get it over with.

You're hopeless, mutt.


"What is he saying?" he asked curiously.

She knew what he meant. He had obviously picked up on the fact that she was carrying on an alternate conversation with Hidaruma.

"You don't wanna know," she said, the scowl finally lifting a bit as she smirked.

"I don't?" he asked helplessly.

"Not really."

I'll show him, if he wants. You still haven't let me bite him.

Shishi, please.


The dog beside her snorted, loudly, and blew a large puff of air out of his snout.

Oh, very well. Infuriating onna.

She glanced back over at him, and he was watching them with unconcealed curiosity. She huffed and slumped her shoulders, finally giving in.

"He wants to bite you," she finally said, sure he would drop the subject now.

His eyes widened again, this time to massive proportions. Then he fixed his own scowl upon the dog.

"That's not very nice at all."

They both smirked mentally at his reprimanding tone.

"He's not really a nice dog, especially when it comes to men," she said, the smirk finally showing on her face.

"He sees me as a threat," he said, as if a light bulb had finally clicked on.

"Pretty much. Most men are a threat in his eyes."

"Because of—what happened?"

She shook her head, pieces of her hair flying about her face. She could feel that part of it was burnt and frizzy near the end of the fringe that usually stayed loose, and mentally made a note to cut it soon, even if she would have to do it herself.

"Because I'm a female."

He looked confused for a moment, then the blush was back in full force.

"Ah."

He looked at the woman, slumped on the messy bedding next to the very large dog that was her guardian. He must have been crazy. Shunsui was even crazier to think the two of them could ever be—together.

Little did he know, she was having the same thought.

Such a soft touch.

"Well, then, if you aren't here to yell at me, and you aren't here to arrest me…" she trailed off, obviously waiting for him to explain why he was sitting in her tent, looking uncomfortable.

"Checking up on you," he said, his cheerful attitude back in place. "At least, according to Kyouraku."

She nodded.

"I'm alive, obviously," she said dryly.

He sweatdropped.

Crazy. I'm crazy.

Yet again, she was having the same thought.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: The Japanese Lesson for this chapter:

Hidaruma: Mass of flames

Ryōken-Jigoku no Akazora: Kaze-ni! is Hellhound of the Red Sky, on the Wind! or something close. My Japanese is not perfect.

Hibashira: Pillar of Flames

Kogasu: Scorch

Sanmon no Akazora: 3 Gates of the Red Sky

Dai-ichi Raimon: First Gate, Lightning

Dai-ni Himon: Second Gate, Fire

Dai-san Tenkamon: Third Gate, Fire caused by Lightning

Rokumon no Genshukusa: 6 Gates of Awesome Dignity

Dai-yon Raikagemon: Fourth Gate Release, Lightning Shadow of the 1st Gate

Dai-go Hokagemon: Fifth Gate Release, Fire Shadow of the 2nd Gate

Dai-roku Okagemon: Sixth Gate Release, Great Shadow Gate

Taikasei: Fireproof

Kai: Release
arrow_back Previous Next arrow_forward