Black-and-Red Conflict

again, thank you so much for your comments... *sigh* thanks so much... they made me sooo happy ^^
i have to specially address noony now.... wow, i was soooo honored you reviewed even though you say you hate doing that. 40 minutes? ... you get lots of love for that XD i couldn't stop grinning... i don't think you're weird, don't worry ^^ oh, and please don't hurt yourself... hitting walls and all, it would be kinda my fault *bandages your hand* °-°
about urahara... nah, i'm not hundred percent sure yet, how i'll go about that thing, but generally i try to stay as true as possible to the story in the manga, though i guess there are probably more than one point that differ already... i like to evoke the appearance though, as if this could actually really have happened, kubo tite just didn't tell us about it ;) i know i know, it will never work that way, but it's worth a try... i'm a bit of a perfectionist
okok, i stop already... here you go,

~~~Nineteen~~~
Bankai

The myriads of cherry blossoms Senbonzakura Kageyoshi's thousand swords had transformed into, danced, swirled and drifted around the great snake that wound through them in mind-blowing speed. The heavy segments, hard and practically unbreakable, sliced through the air as if they were mere leaves in the wind. They shot back and forth, clattering as they curled and bent, all smooth motion, speaking of strength and skill. Senbonzakura was like water around them, parting before the fangs of the snake just to appear behind it seconds later, rushing against the bony spine like breakers on a cliff, its blades so sharp they seemed to slice the very air, leaving the two men beneath them in breathless concentration.

Here, far from Seireitei, nothing hindered them, nothing held them back, nothing was in their way. They were somewhere in the most deserted areas of Rukongai, which had long since been taken over by forest again. Of course they could have used the underground court of Seireitei for their training, a vast, empty extent that reached so far in either direction that no Shinigami was quite sure how big it really was. It was the usual place for Shinigami to call forth their Bankai, but Byakuya had not considered using it for this training with Renji for longer than a moment. It was a much too barren and unobstructed area down there. There were no trees, no underbrush, no water or other landmarks that would make a fight more realistic.

When did you, after all, have the situation of fighting all opponents on an only slightly rocky plain, which you could just wreak havoc on however much you wanted? Having to look out for cover and clearance though, being careful of where to step, where to stand, considering every part of one's environment and not just blowing it away, allowed for a much more efficient way of really learning to handle the vast amount of energy which is involved in every Bankai release. Byakuya's choice, or so he told himself, had surely nothing to do with the touch shared with his lieutenant just a few hours before. But as much as he tried to deny it, it had been a weighing point in his decision to seek seclusion as well. Thus he had led both of them here.

Renji had been slightly confused at first, for he was used to be in the underground court, but under no circumstances would he have objected. He would be able to train with Kuchiki-Taichou again, he could even use Bankai, and they would be alone. How could he let this chance pass him by? In fact, he had ardently persisted on it.

It had not been Byakuya's plan to actually carry this out on the very same day. After all, they had to analyze the outcome of the meeting and prepare the appropriate announcements for their squad, plus the daily organizational affairs they always had to attend to. The training had been meant for one of the following days, not the same. But Renji had locked his jaws around the subject and hadn’t let it go until his captain had eventually agreed to hold it this very evening. He hadn't been able to resist having his lieutenant so happy and excited with that child-like enthusiasm, and even though he chided himself several times while they had flash stepped to this destination, for giving into Renji's pleas, he could not help some of the redhead's excitement rubbing off on him. Now that they were fighting, he had to admit it was brilliant.

Renji was brilliant. He had grown so much in so little time. He stood amidst his monstrous snake of bone and spirit energy, his eyes alight with fervor, his posture slightly crouched in a fighting stance, his muscles flexing as he sent Zabimaru out again and again, his body an entity of flowing motion and taut power under the control of a fiery will.

And Senbonzakura too, was one with her wielder again. She sung in Byakuya's mind as she flowed like water and wind, she was connected with him and made him feel the air around herself, made him even perceive, low and distant like a far-off thunderclap, the Reiatsu of his opponent, whenever another attack sent her close to the bone-snake.

Correspondingly, Renji could not remember when he had last felt this exhilarated while fighting. It was breathtaking.

This power, this pure and raw rush of adrenaline, the almost painful flow of Reiatsu that had taken hold over his body, the feeling that his very core was the white-hot glowing center of the world itself, it was unbelievable. The first time he had fought Byakuya like this he had been full of doubt, full of disappointment, full of anger. He had been so focused on simply standing up to his captain that he hadn’t really been able to feel how much of a difference this truly made from all the other ways of fighting. He had used Bankai again several times after the whole incident with Rukia, training with different people, but had never had the possibility to let go like this. With everybody else there always was a small but definite limit. Of course, when fighting with another lieutenant, or with somebody like Ikkaku, there was no reason to hold back, but subconsciously one did so anyway. Sure, they had beaten each other up countless times, but they had always been aware of the fact that, after all, their opponent was a comrade, a friend, whom you might hurt while in training, but never with the danger of killing them.

With Byakuya the situation was different. Of course Renji would never want to kill his captain, especially not after all that was going on between them now, but he knew of his Taichou’s power. He had felt how much higher in level this man was compared to most other people the redhead had fought. This, and the experience of decades, almost centuries, the captain of the 6th had, turned him into someone Renji knew he could attack with full strength. Kuchiki-Taichou defended nearly flawlessly and if he didn't, he would be able to react in a way that would lessen the damage to a minimum.

But in reverse the situation was also true. Even though there remained a great difference in their levels, Renji had by now turned into an opponent Byakuya could take on seriously and somehow, this felt strangely fun. He had never been one especially fond of or averse to training. It had mostly been a necessity to attend to, like almost everything else in his life. It had never occurred to him it might actually be this enjoyable. Even after fighting for almost an hour with this unbelievable amount of energy, neither felt like ending it. They stood in the dusk of the ending day, a deeply satisfying exhaustion taking hold of their bodies, growing stronger with every minute. Still neither of them wanted to stop.

It all had started as a customary, usual training fight with both of them trying to find an opening in the other's defense, to land a hit, to attack at the weakest point. Byakuya had soon started to work on a more precise control over each of the thousand of blades, even motioning with his hands to guide small clusters of blades into different positions at the same time, striking through the smallest openings, which proved a high challenge for his lieutenant to counter. The captain would attack with small forces, but from many sides at the same time, marveling at how fast the redhead had learned to react with this heavy colossus of a Bankai he had to control. How he swirled Zabimaru to block most of the attacks, how he pulled together the segments of the snake whenever their spiritual connection had been severed by the blossom blades, how he had become so strong and so beautiful in that strength.

After some time, though, the basic exchange of attacks had developed to something on an entirely different level. It was not just a simple fight anymore, it had turned into something almost like a dance. A meeting and parting in the air and on the ground that was much more subtle than the direct attacks from before, but then much harder to execute. Now even single blades of soft pink wound through the wall of bone to attack Renji directly with shallow cuts, while he managed to make Zabimaru crawl up from behind on the noble numerous times, which Byakuya was only able to evade in the last second by flash stepping away. But exhaustion weighted heavily on their limbs by now, and their movements became slower and more thoughtful with each additional minute passing. Still neither of them would have admitted to be tired and they continued on as the shadows grew in length and depth, until they’d turned to night and only the white light of a full moon shone onto the small clearing the two had maneuvered themselves onto.

Then finally they halted, thirty meters apart. Renji stood surrounded by the giant snake that curled slowly in lazy circles around him, Byakuya in a cloud of blades that floated to the ground around him, only rustling now and then as if stirred by the wind. They waited.

The noble knew his lieutenant could not match him in patience though, and decided to challenge him one last time to an action that would clarify how much the redhead had really progressed. Renji finally grew impatient and suddenly stroke out with the snake's head one more time. It was like a deadly bullet, shooting forth with impossible speed and a power that could destroy entire buildings, but Byakuya remained motionless. Senbonzakura hummed, tingled, trickled around him, desperate to rise, to build a shield for her master, to launch a counter-attack, but he kept her down with his iron control, and awaited his opponent's reaction.

In the moment before the attack would hit, Renji realized with dread that this time, there was no defense, no wall of blades that he could have let his Bankai crash into with undiminished force. Nor were there any signs of his captain launching another flash step. Time froze as Renji realized that Byakuya didn’t mean to evade this attack.

With the last ounce of strength he had left, Renji tried to give another spin to the it, to make it miss, if only by mere centimeters, but it was too late for this to succeed. Only one other possibility was left. As if ripping himself open, he suddenly released the hold on his Reiatsu completely, making Zabimaru's form disintegrate forcefully into nothing but crackling, angry energy. The baboon king roared as he was pulled apart and then back towards his master violently. He coiled and bucked and for a moment Renji thought he would never be able to reign all this energy in again. It would flow out of him, all of it, and he himself would disintegrate in this very moment, ceasing to exist. But then he gained back the control and slowly, painfully, pulled the fire into himself, carefully holding it in place in his own body, as well as binding it back into the basic form of his sword, which he cradled in his lap like a hurt animal as he sank to his knees.

He was shaking violently, with exhaustion and anger and shock, as he finally lifted his head to look up. He needed a few seconds before he focused and realized that Byakuya was just getting to his feet again, a few meters from the place where he had stood before motionlessly. The vast amount of energy that had been released in a fraction of a second, had first completely engulfed him, searing through his nervous system, before the explosive force had thrown him off his feet. He seemed a bit ruffled, but otherwise unharmed. And even though the anger burned hotly inside Renji, there was relief as well, for he had succeeded in averting the attack.

“What the fuck did ya do that for?” Renji growled as he pushed himself up, holding Zabimaru fast against his chest with both hands, trying to soothe the furious baboon, whose rage he could feel in the harsh tingle of the hot metal even through his restrained form. “Could'a killed ya!”

Byakuya stood straight again, watching his lieutenant approach. “No,” he said.

“Wha..? NO?!”

“No, even if it had hit me, it wouldn’t have killed me. I was aware, however, that you would not let it hit.”

At first Renji could only stare, but after a few second he found his voice again.

“Are you freakin' crazy? How could ya know, ya givin' me the absolute defense shit all the time an' then just stand there like ya friggin' turned ta stone and tell me you knew I would'na let it hit ya? What the hell's wrong with you! DAMN IT!”

He stood directly before his captain now, poised as if ready to attack once more, this time with his fists. His eyes were ablaze and his voice was throaty. He stopped his raging and glared at the slender hand Byakuya had lifted to abate him. It shivered slightly and showed how the captain was overall a bit shaken, as if that whole incident had not left him all that untouched as he tried to pretend.

He spoke calmly and quietly though, “Renji.” When he was sure the other would not interrupt him, he continued, “You’ve showed great skill, today.” Far greater than the captain would have expected, in fact, but he decided not to overdo the praise right now. “I knew you would be able to do what you did.” Then the slender hand sunk down to the captain's side again.

Renji could not stop glaring. He still held his sword cradled, feeling something like pain from it, and disappointment of having been refused that one hit. But the redhead spoke somewhat calmer now.

“It wasn't fair,” he said. “Do ya think that was fun? Man, that was... fuck! This is crazy. And waddaya think it will take ta get'im under proper control again, now?”

He was upset, yes, but slowly the meaning of all this got through to him. Byakuya had trained with him here, he had allowed him to use Bankai, he had fought strong and had, without even saying one word, taught Renji more about using his Zanpakutou, than the redhead had learned in any other training before. And Kuchiki-Taichou had exposed himself knowingly to a direct attack, trusting Renji's skill to avert it in the very last moment. The redhead still stared, but now the astonishment widened his eyes so suddenly and strongly, that it gave him an expression comical enough to elicit the tiniest of smiles from the noble.

Byakuya turned around before it would become all too visible on his face though, then walked a few steps, while pulling back the energy from his Bankai until Senbonzakura was back at her Shikai. Inwardly though, he was hardly as cool and composed as he forced himself to look outwardly. In retrospection, this had indeed been a quite insane thing to do, but it had been crowned with success. He had estimated Renji well enough and had been proven right. But he would be lying to himself, had he said that only his own success in the matter made him feel like he did right now. It was happiness, satisfaction, excitement, pride. And something else he had not felt this clearly and strongly since that night, was slowly starting to wriggle to the foreground now. It ran in shivers over his skin and filled his guts with warmth, making it hard to keep his hands still. The way that Renji's energy had been all around and through him hardly minutes ago had made it clear again how much he desired the redhead. He knew he didn't really have much time left in which he would be able to keep his face. Hesitantly he turned back towards his lieutenant, Senbonzakura stirring around him more and more with his growing agitation.

“I don't think you will have problems with your Zanpakutou any time after this, Renji.”

Byakuya could have started to explain how Renji had shown an amount of control over his sword that would not be diminished any time soon, that Zabimaru would honor the skill of his wielder before long, but the way the redhead stood before him now made it hard enough to look calm, not to mention keeping his voice that way.

Renji looked a bit confused, his sword now lowered to his side, his brows furrowed. His hair was messy and almost loose, his clothes disheveled enough to show part of the tattoo on his chest. He looked at the ground at his own feet now, as if he was trying hard to figure something out, trying to grasp something he just could not wrap his mind around. Only about a minute after Byakuya had spoken did he lift his gaze again, with a still slightly skeptic, but after all rather interested expression. He stepped forward and his posture straightened.

“Lemme get this right,” he said, as he rested one hand on his hip while the other held onto his sword. Then he grinned and Byakuya's eyes widened slightly as his heart sped up.
“Ya just...”
He actually interrupted himself with a short laugh. “You trust me... this much. I mean, ya told me that... I would never reach ya. And something about... monkeys and the moon and... now you trust me this much?”
Byakuya swallowed, trying to ease the lump in his throat. What should he do? It was so hard, so hard to hold himself back now. The noble was burning up inside and he knew it must have started to show. The old fear was there, too. The fear of emotions so strong, he did not know how to deal with them, how to keep the control he so desperately craved.

He could leave now, or never again.

“Yes.” Byakuya finally said, his voice trembling, only so slightly. Yes, he said to himself, and stepped forward.


~~~