Jigoku no Monko

Chapter 3
Capture


There was no way to tell time here, but eventually the two prisoners managed to drift to sleep on the uncomfortable ground. They woke up when the bars grated, a clear indication of being opened. Rina reported it was a Midorioni delivering something to eat.

She helped him shuffle over to the wall and lean uncomfortably against it. There was no choice but to let her feed him the rice and water that had been provided. As embarrassing as that was it was nothing compared to when the need to go to the bathroom became too strong to ignore.

That was a rather embarrassing moment for them both. He rolled over to the hole in the floor and she had to help get his Hakama down to his knees. With the binding wrapped around his ankles going to his knees it made it very difficult to get comfortable.

A small bowl of water was left at all times and replaced several times, as well as the cloth Rina was using to help him breath through to keep some semblance of moisture in his lunges, but even then he was assaulted by many coughing fits as the hot, dry air assaulted his abused lungs.

It was seven meals later when the sound of multiple feet approaching them caused his back to stiffen in alarm. He felt Rina also stiffen beside him. The grating of the gate opening rang like a death kneel and he prayed the time had not come already.

He heard Rina cry out and he called to her shortly before rough hands grabbed him and hauled him to his feet. He could hear the sound of chains clanking and to his surprised the ties around his wrist and arms were loosened.

The pressure off of his chest was a great relief, but it was short lived when whoever was handling him started to remove the top of his uniform, but left his hakama undisturbed. He did not like where this was going, less so when he was pressed against the bars and his wrist were chained above his head. The strip of fabric around his neck was once more placed in his mouth.

“What are you doing? We didn’t do anything? Why are you doing this?” Rina demanded.

“Ah, all is ready. Very good.” That was soft voice.

“Why are you doing this? We never touched each others restraints, just like we promised.”

“I agree. It is time, however for you to begin assisting me. I would like you to begin charging these with your powers.”

Because of the blind fold he could not see the large crystal ball-like object Soft Voice had handed Rina.

“What? I don’t even know where to begin.” She protested.

“I trust you will figure it out quickly enough my dear.”

There was silence for a moment.

“I will try.” She promised. “But it may take me a while to figure it out.”

“Ah yes. That is where our good friend, Ukitake-taichou comes into play.”

He felt his body go ridged.

“What do you mean?” Rina asked, fear and hesitation in her voice.

“I will give you two hours to do as I request. Every ten minutes it takes you one strip will be added to his back. Tomorrow it will be two stripes every ten minutes. I trust you see the pattern and I need not explain it further?”

His prediction was right. This was not going to be pleasant and he felt his hands clench in anticipation of the pain that he knew was going to be coming.

“But that’s not fair.” Rina cried. “I don’t have a clue how to do this. He shouldn’t be punished because of it.” She sobbed.

He could feel her powers fluctuate and knew she was going to be having another attack soon. It always happened when she got emotional and lost control over her tightly restrained powers.

He wanted to comfort her. To tell her just to do her best and not worry about him, but the cloth in his mouth prevented him from saying anything that would be even remarkably coherent.

“Time is wasting my dear. The clock starts now.”

The sound of feet marching away and the grating of the door reached his ears, as did the tremors through the bars he was tied against when the gate was opened and closed. Then there was silence other than the sound of Rina’s soft crying.

It remained that way for a while and he could almost picture her puzzling over whatever task Soft Voice had giving her. The first sting took him completely by surprised and he yelped in shock at the sharp pain that lashed against his back, bringing tears to his eyes.

It felt like the whip hadn’t sliced his skin so much as it had latched onto his back and then tore a strip off of him. The pain was far grater then what he had been anticipating and he could feel the stream of blood that began to run down his back from the slash.

Five strokes later he could hear Rina crying in anguish and had no doubt she was suffering from her powers reacting to each other and was in the middle of one of her tremors.

He wanted to call out to her, to comfort her in what ever way he could, but he had a feeling trying to talk would make the situation worse. As it was it felt like a river of blood was running down his back from the five slashes and he determined that the whip like object was indeed tearing the flesh from his back as opposed to slicing it.

How the hell did Soft Voice think that this was going to help her think and do what he wanted her to do? She was so wrapped up in grief right now he doubted she could even begin to think straight.

By the eighth lash he couldn’t even support his own weight anymore. It felt like all the skin on his back had been ripped off and he swore several strips of skin were just hanging on.

What was worse was the air had dried out his lungs and he couldn’t stop the coughs that started to burn his throat. By the time the twelfth slash ripped into his back he was half unconscious and no longer even coherent.

He was only dimly aware of being unchained from the bars and collapsing to the floor in a bloody heap. He could hear Rina calling his name somewhere in the distance. Heard Soft Voice reminded her tomorrow it would be two strips every ten minutes.

Ruff hands tied his wrist painfully together, this time in the front. Bars opened and closed, feet tromped, and then soft, shaking hands were on his shoulders, a heaving, sobbing body clutching his.

He felt his world fade out. How long he was unconscious for he wasn’t sure. When he came to he was on his stomach, the strip of cloth that had been in his mouth was once again loose around his neck. Something wet and warm was dabbing his back and he could hear soft sobs coming from beside him.

“Rina-chan.” He croaked, his throat completely dry.

“Shh, don’t try to talk, ‘taki-ji.” Her voice was hoarse, no doubt from crying.

He felt her support his head and then a cup of warm water was at his lips. It helped only slightly to ease the pain in his throat, but it was better then nothing and he gulped the whole cup down quickly.

He realized he seemed to be laying on something that was not the floor, even though he could feel the rock easily underneath it. He guess correctly it had to be the top of his uniform he was laying on.

“I am so sorry.” She sobbed. “I tried to do what he wanted, but I didn’t know how.”

He could feel the cloth on his back trembling, followed by the splashing of tears, the salt stinging his wounds and he hissed in pain.

“Rina-chan.” He called softly, or more accurately croaked. “Rina-chan.” He called again when he got no response.

He needed to calm her down. He could feel her powers conflicting again, and his worse fear came true as he could feel her body convulse as she suffered a major attack. He struggled to sit up, crying out in pain as the muscles in his back were forced to move.

He brought his bound hands over her head and held her to him the best he could, teeth clenched in his own pain and he could feel the blood rolling down his back. He felt his chest tighten and he had a moment to curse his fragile body before he started to cough up blood, which did nothing to help alleviate Rina’s own torment.

It was a circle of misery, both trying to comfort the other and suffering from their own pain, brought about because of the misery of the other. Neither one even registered the door being opened, only that they were suddenly ripped apart.

Rina was screaming his name and he was just trying to get air into his abused lungs to breath. He could feel his world start to darken as he struggled for air, coughing and choking on his own blood.

He was dimly aware of being handled and the fact that Rina’s voice was growing more distant. He felt like he was drowning and could feel the blood trickling down the side of his mouth. Then there was darkness.

This time when he came to he was laying on something soft and he could hear a soft sniffling. His legs were no longer trussed up to the knee and he realized his hands were to either side of his body even though he could still feel mettle against his skin. He was still blindfolded as well.

“Rina-chan.” He called softly, aware that his throat and lungs were no longer in pain, although his back was still in a large amount of pain and he shifted to his side to alleviate it.

“ ‘taki-ji.” He heard her call and then she was hugging him, mindful of the strips of skin missing from his back.

It was then he realized the wounds had been bound, bandaging wrapping around his torso from his waist to his upper chest.

“What happened?” He asked softly.

“They took you away for a while and did something to my reiatsu. It hurt a lot but it stopped the convulsions.” She answered. “When they brought you back your wounds had been treated and you were unconscious.”

He nodded in understanding. So they had treated his condition after all, which implied they knew about it. He analyzed the voice again, and again he drew a blank. He could not put a face to the voice of their captor.

There were few people he could think of who would know him to this extent and had a grudge against him. On that list was Aizen, Gin and Tosen. He would have recognized their voices and other then Gin the other two were firmly dead. No one he could think of matched the voice of their captor.

Rina helped him sit up and handed him a bowl of rice. It was strange eating blind, but he didn’t dare remove the blindfold. Their captor had already shown his aptitude at cruelty and he was not going to cause problems over such a small thing as his sight.

Eventually Rina drifted off to sleep, he could hear her even breathing from beside him. He found slumber hard to come by. No matter what way he laid his back ached painfully and more was threatened to come if Rina didn’t find a way to do what their captor wanted her to.

Ukitake was not one to vow vengeance on anyone, Aizen had been the first. This was another time he would be willing to make an exception. Not for the torture that had been done to him, but for the torture that was being done to Rina.



It took three days of walking before they found the town, or what passed for one. The denizens of Jigoku covered what looked more like a giant prison facility then a town. There was a small well where the damned souls of Jigoku had to haul up a bucket of water full of holes and walk off into the fields of rice to care for their small square.

Over and over it went and Kinomi might have felt sorry for what appeared to be human slaves had she not known that these men and women were sentenced to this hell because of the sins they had committed in life.

No doubt any person they would wish to free would immediately jab their own swords through their backs and try to take off with their belongings. Kinomi felt no more pity for these fools then she did when she cleansed a hollow, even if she did call several of that particular race friend.

These souls were in much better shape than the ones back at Jigoku no Monko. After a quick debate Zan disappeared to do some reconnaissance while they hung tight. Yachiru had suggested they just go ask a guard for directions, but the last thing Kinomi wanted was to either be mistaken for an evil soul who had managed to slip past their keepers or to alert whoever had taken Rina they were here.

Several swarms of Jaki flew by over head while they waited for Zan to return. The creatures would descend into the rice fields and either attack the prisoners, eating them alive, or destroy the hard worked on crops.

The Oni guards would lumber over and chase them away with a few bats of their clubs, but there was no rushing to aid the defenceless victims. All this was just part of their penance and Kinomi wondered how many people would have a change of heart if they knew that this was the fate that awaited those who did evil.

Zan returned just as Kinomi was starting to get worried something had happened to him. There was very little conversation other then to remind the condemned what they were suppose to be doing. He had learned nothing about where Enma’s palace might be, what the device was being built for, or anything about a prisoner being taking from the outside.

With no other recourse they diverted around the town and continued to follow the road to what was hopefully the right way to Enma’s palace. They came across many of the prisons as they traveled. He red rock slowly turned into more lush land and the sun didn’t seem so hot here.

The condemned looked less haggard and the work got easier for them as they traveled. With the land getting more flat it was becoming much harder to hide and twice they had to fight off swarms of Jaki.

Zan continued to try and glean some information, but after the tenth village they came to a single conclusion. They had to ask someone.

“So, do we just go up to one of the guards, say hi, introduce ourselves, and ask?” Taka asked as they sat in a circle under some rather prickly bushes to hide their presence.

“We could beat one of them up and make them tell us.” Yachiru suggested with a large grin.

“We could just ask one of the condemned. Somehow I doubt they would tell one of the guards some strangers were asking directions.” Zan suggested.

“The condemned might not know the way.” Kinomi pointed out. “And these are the souls of evil. They would probably rat us out just for the hope of shortening their sentence or some other selfish gains.”

“There has still been nothing on the radar, huh?” Taka sighed.

“Not a…”

Blip.

Silence.

Blip.

Kinomi pulled the radar out quickly. Flashing ever so innocently on the screen was an arrow pointing to the east. The arrow was fine. The smiling images of Kisuke waving little flags they all could have done without.

They all shared a glance, then took off full speed following the arrow. They passed a swarm of Jaki, who screeched at them and tried to follow, but their little wings could not keep up with the speed of Sonido or Shunpo.

Despite how hard they raced no dot appeared on the screen and the arrow suddenly disappeared, causing the little dancing heads to sob and pout before fading off the screen. They slowed their mad dash and found shelter while they caught their breaths.

“Well, at least we got a direction now, right?” Taka was the first to speak.

“Yes. But how far away do you think they might be?” Zan asked.

“Regardless, we now have a heading and proof that Ukitake-taichou is alive.” Kinomi declared.

She didn’t say ‘was alive’ even though the ending of the blip might have meant he had been killed, but she doubted it. The far more likely scenario was he had been removed from whatever place had been hiding his reiatsu and returned.

Once they were fully rested they headed out again, this time taking the time to stop and comb through every ‘town’ they came across for a hint of Ukitake or Rina. This was where having Rata around would have been nice. The rat like hollow could have snuck in and out of places they could only dream of without anyone noticing. Hence the reason he was the head of intelligence.


Kinomi was trying to sleep, or at least get as much rest as one could in this bloody place where the sun never set and the rocks were pointy no matter what way she lay. Sleeping mattresses were not exactly on the important things to pack list.

She might have been able to get past all that, but the exceptionally loud purring of Kyattsuai in her mind was something that was not so easy to ignore or shift into a more comfortable position from. And what the hell about this situation was there to be so happy about?

Sighing in extreme irritation Kinomi sat up and settled into a sitting position before forcing herself into a deep trance and opening her eyes to see her inner world. As usual the bright crescent moon shun in a black, starless sky and the soft white sand shifted beneath her feet.

The jungle was quiet around her other then the loud, reverberating sound of Kyattsuai’s purring.

“Kyattsuai?” Kinomi called out, a hint of irritation in her voice.

There was no answer just as their hadn’t been for the last ten minutes. Trying to put a clamp down on her pent up emotions she summoned Kyattsuai to her.

The white panther appeared before her in a rather strange position, belly on the ground with her tail and rear up in the air. A look of astonishment was on the Zanpakuto’s spirits face that was quickly reflected on Kinomi’s.

“Kyattsuai?” A definite male voice shouted in pure panic, causing Kinomi to snap her eyes up to stare at the intruder to her inner world in disbelief followed quickly by alarm and awe at the magnificent creature before her.

Golden eyes stared back down at her in shock before quickly landing and apologising a mile a minute for daring to intrude.

“I am so sorry, Please forgive me. When Kyattsuai sudden disappeared I feared the worse. I am so sorry for intruding. I didn‘t realize following her would lead me to your sanctuary. Please Forgive me.”

“Kazeshini?” Kinomi question in dazed shock at the beautiful beast before her, for she could not think who else it could possibly be.

He was indeed beautiful. A large black and silver gryphon with such intense golden eyes that Kinomi could have stared at them forever if it wasn’t for his feathers. Feathers that reminded her of Kazeshini’s shikai blades, half silver/half black and somehow appearing bladed, every last one of them.

The silver parts reflected the moonlight of her inner world causing Kazeshini to practically glow with a deadly beauty that made Kinomi want to worship the creature before her. She wondered how Hisagi could possibly mistreat something so amazing while realizing that the lesser willed would no doubt fear such an astonishing creature. A more or less normal child meeting this deadly hunter would indeed be terrified.

She understood now why Kazeshini seemed so bloodthirsty. He was a hunter. He lived for the kill like any good predator. That moment of pure thrill as he dived from the sky to land upon his unsuspecting prey. The thrill of a successful hunt coming to its conclusion.

Right now that creature of pure death and beauty was bowing before in a submissive position and begging her forgiveness for his extremely rude intrusion into her inner world.

Kinomi finally regained her wits and help up a hand, stopping the flow of words coming from the Zanpakuto.

“How is this possible?” She asked, looking between the mortified Kazeshini and the amused Kyattsuai.

“Kyoumei.” Kyattsuai answered. “You opened your heart and mind to Kazeshini. While normally this would not permit such a thing you have left the door open for so many years now that the normal barriers are gone.”

“So, can any Zanpakuto speak to another or enter another’s world?” She asked curiously.

Kazeshini dropped his submissive pose and laid down next to Kyattsuai, feathers flared out in an obvious attempt at making an impressive, and rather sexy, display. Kinomi held back the laugh that wanted to erupt at the sight and quickly concluded that like all raptor’s he was rather vain.

“Distance does make a difference.” Kyattsuai answered, turning her gaze from Kinomi just long enough to give the black feathered menace beside her a nuzzle to the neck that had him closing his eyes in pleasure. “And I guess any spirit could enter another’s inner world if they were invited, range would matter again of course.”

“You are not displeased by my intrusion?” Kazeshini asked, trying to look tuff but Kinomi could tell he was feeling very embarrassed by his rude intrusion into her inner world.

“No.” Kinomi assured him with a smile. “Who would be unhappy receiving a creature of such beauty and death such as yourself?”

He positively preened under her praise and every last feather fluffed out to their fullest extent in pleasure at the compliment. Dear lord if a single, simple compliment from her garnered such a reaction did Hisagi ever compliment his zanpakuto?

“Could Kyattsuai enter Hisagi’s inner world?” She asked curiously.

“I do not think so. Unlike you his mind is not open to me.” Kyattsuai answered. “It is only recently he has been affected by Kyoumei.”

“He is not so trusting of his own soul, let alone another. There is an ancient hurt piled on top of other inner turmoil’s.” Kazeshini answered, and Kinomi could tell that despite his gruff exterior there was real worry there.

“Well, you are welcomed here anytime Kazeshini. But please, try and keep your ‘engagements’ a little more quiet.”

Both spirits nodded their heads and looked somewhat abashed. The conversation over Kyattsuai was quick to nuzzle Kazeshini’s neck again and he was just as quick to return the affection. Kinomi made a hasty retreat out of her inner world before it could go any further.

As she did so only one thought crossed her mind.

“Can Zanpakuto have children and if so will I one day expect my inner world to be the home for a litter of kitten hybrids?”

A mental image of what the hybrids could look like sent a warm and fuzzy feeling to flood her body and the idea didn’t seem so bad all of a sudden. She made a mental note to ask either her mother if Zangetsu and Sode no Shirayuki shared a relationship, or Ukitake-taichou if he had ever heard anything about it when they find him.



The radar never went off again and Kinomi prayed it was not because the target was now dead. She wasn’t sure what she would do if she found out one of her instructors was dead..... no longer among the living..... returned to the circle of life. The last one made the best sense.

The further they traveled in this direction the more the fertile land turned back to the red rock and the few rivers of water they had started to see were quickly replaced by rivers of molten rock.

In fact the whole region was starting to get rather volcanic and Kinomi was just about ready to turn them around and recheck the villages they passed in case they missed something. The terrain was starting to become so ruff they hadn’t even seen a swarm of jaki in a while.

Of course there was the chance the creatures had learned to fear them, but she doubted the swarms met over tea to ask how their days went so the first option seemed the most likely.

Thus when the sky went black and the largest swarm they had seen to date descended upon them just as she was about to turn the group around it came as a bit of shock. What was a bigger shock was the chariots of flame pulled by teams of four Hiuma bearing akaoni that followed the swarms. On the ground at least two patrols of midorioni were marching towards them, clubs in hand.

“Shit.” Taka cursed as she flapped her wings, sending darts in the shape of feathers from her wings into the swarm of jaki.

They cut through the swarm and for almost every dart a jaki fell. It didn’t even scratch the swarm that came at them.

“Kare, Kazeshini.” Came Hisagi’s voice from near by.

Kazeshini went streaking by, cutting two large swaths through the swarm before retuning to his masters expert hands. As usual Kinomi couldn’t help but to admire the deadly beauty that was Kazeshini and the skill it took to wield such a deadly weapon.

Shaking her head Zan and Kinomi let lose with their own ranged attacks, Zan launching multiple kidou spells while she jumped into her Shikai and starting tossing toranekosuto’s in every direction.

It was like cutting through water. A path was made but was quickly filled as the water came rushing back in, or in this case evil creatures in a black mass. There was just too many to fight off and Kinomi cursed as their wicked pikes left red marks across her body.

She heard Zan call out his ressurection and his own red slashes of energy joined hers while his skin hardened to the point the Jaki could no longer scratch him, although his clothing was not similarly spared.

She heard Yachiru cursing, the pink haired woman the only one not able to use energy attacks of any sort. Like all members of the 11th her Zanpakuto was combat based and hearing her call out the release command brought a smile to Kinomi’s lips that her childhood friend was fast on her way in surpassing her adopted father.

“Kizamu, Iriomote.”

Kinomi caught the transformation out of the corner of her eye as Yachiru’s Zanpakuto changed from her katana to what appeared to be a pair of cat paw shaped gloves armed with wicked looking claws that could not be retracted before Yachiru burst into motion and the winged annoyances fell from the sky in pieces as she slashed them down.

It was rather amusing to know Yachiru had achieved Shikai long before her adopted father. Well to be fair Kenpachi was STILL clueless to his Zanpakuto’s name but that didn’t make him any less deadly, it just meant he had that much more pride in his daughter for surpassing him.

There was a sudden break in the swarm just in time to dodge to the side as balls of fire were hurled down upon them from the chariots in the sky. Hours of playing tag as children and running from Kenpachi had honed her skills in the art of dodging and her body responded to the threat faster then her brain could register to balls of fire.

With a jump and a roll she landed behind Hisagi, who’s quick actions had erected a kidou barrier to absorb the blast and give them a second to breath and asses the situation. Zan was completely ignoring the fire balls as they meant nothing against his Hierro.

“I would say this is the welcoming committee.” Yachiru chirped in pleasure, pausing to lick blood off of her claws.

“How much you want to bet one of these bastards know where they are holding Rina-chan?” Taka growled.

“I would say it’s a good bet.” Zan agreed.

“Those Akuoni got us pinned down pretty good. The Midorioni will be here soon and you can bet those Jaki will return.” Hisagi pointed out.

“I hate to say it, but this is going to get ugly.” Kinomi sighed as she she held Kyattsuai in both hands, putting away her sheath. “This seems like a waste against such weak opponents but their numbers definitely do not leave much to be desired.” She grunted. “Bankai, Shirohyou Kyattsuai.”

She darted out form behind the shield the moment she had completed the transformation, Zan right in front of her blocking the attacks with his own body. Taka launched out from behind the shield as well, Yachiru holding onto her back as she could not use Hoho.

Hisagi dropped the shield and parried the last few incoming fireballs by swinging one of his blades before him like a fan, deflecting the fire bolts. Kinomi broke off from Zan as they approached the four chariots, taking the one to their left while taka took off towards the one to the left. Yachiru launched herself off of Taka’s back towards the last one.

Zan’s target exploded in splinters as he hit, sending the two Akuoni to the ground as their ride was destroyed, the four Hiuma kicked and screamed as they took off, now free from their harnesses.

Kinomi brought Kyattsuai down for a strike on the driver of her target while parrying the swing from the passenger with her sheath. The driver parried with his club. Kinomi lashed out with one foot, catching him in the face.

With a howl the driver swung at her again, as did the passenger. She dropped down into the chariot and parried both clubs with her own weapons. The sky blackened again as the Jaki moved back in now that the fire balls had ceased.

It was becoming difficult to fight in the small space with the Jaki taking pot shots at her as she dueled the two Akuoni. Kicking off from the chariot she launched herself into the air. Her opponents jeered at her, thinking she was running. The looks of horror on their faces was well worth it as her Toranekosuto cleaved the chariot in half, sending the occupants to the ground and the four Hiuma bucking, screaming and scattering.

Free of the carriage the Jaki wasted no time swarming after her now that she was vulnerable in the air. Twin whirlwinds of death flew past her followed quickly by several bolts of lightning, courtesy of Hisagi who was still on the ground, opening up the swarm enough for her to see the danger he was in as the Midorioni closed in upon him.

Zan was still in the air, throwing bala’s and cero’s all over the place, slicing through the never ending storm of Jaki. Taka was just dismantling the third chariot, the two passengers dead but the Jaki giving her some problems. She could not spot Yachiru or her chariot through the ever growing swarm of the blasted creatures.

Kinomi rushed back to Hisagi’s side as he was forced to turn his attention from the Jaki to the Midorioni foot troops that had finally caught up to them. Unlike the Akuoni these ones were taller and far more bulky.

She rushed to his side and quickly covered his back as the patrols moved in on them. She discovered quickly that these Oni were considerably stronger then their red cousins and the first block left her arm feeling numb and her fingers tingling. They had to be as physically strong as Kenpachi!

She lost sight of the others, her world narrowing down to her and the opponents before her while still including the movements of the man at her back. She parried clubs that left her arms numb and bated aside those wicked spears of the Jaki.

She felt her partner stumble shortly before something landed heavily on the back of her head, causing her to see stars and stumble forward. It was followed quickly by another sharp pain to the back of her head. She didn’t recall hitting the ground.


Stay Tuned for chapter 4: Prisoners

Thinking up a physical form for Kazeshini was extremely easy. It popped right into my head and I am so tempted to get a commission done of him. It would also make sense as to why Hisagi would fear him a bit (especially if he first met Kazeshini as a child right after nearly being eaten by a hollow). A gryphon is a very large, deadly creature that enjoy the hunt and kill of their prey. It's in their nature. (I am well aware of the anime version however those are more or less just human adaptations, as seen with Zabimaru and Hyorinmaru. CORRECTION; apparently Tite Kubo did help make them. I will say the animators did an excellent job and I was able to name most of them before they were even named.)

What took a while was figuring out what to give Yachiru for her shikai. I know it had to be cat based so I started looking up exotic cats when my Boyfriend piped up Iriomote. I was all, huh??? He showed me a picture and told me that they are wild cats that live only on one island in Japan and are highly endangered. They also can't sheath their claws, which I found rather intriguing. He knew about them from an anime he had watched where some school kids went to the island and one followed them back. Can't recall what it was called though.

Kizamu: to mince, to carve, to engrave, to cut fine. A fitting command don't ya think?

Fore more information on the Iriomote, try this page (remove the space between . org): en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Iriomote_Cat

As usual /love my faithful reviewers. The 'reward fic' is coming along slowly, just at the end of 38 pages so far, starting on the 39th. Mushy isn't my strong suit and having a bit of a conversation snag with Renji and Yachiru, but she is dressed, oh god I wish I could draw /sob.

Also Kazes and I did another challenge fict. Zanpakuto arc: Kazeshini/Kira. Somewhat disturbing, that version of Kazeshini is insane, but it was an interesting challenge. I think our next challenge is going to be Het though and take a break from the Yaio. It's called Gleeful Vengance and it's under Kazes name. Kazes wrote the first story, I wrote the second.

See you all in the next chapter and remember, you don;t need to be loged in or have an account to review and I adore constructive criticism :)