Jigoku no Monko

Chapter 9
King Enma


Taka was the first to respond to Szayel warnings that one of the alarms had been tripped just outside of Las Tardes. With all the events that had been going on most of the people were still here and had yet to return to their own palaces.

As such Nnoitra and Zan were also quick to respond to the alarm, no doubt hoping for some sort of invasion that they could bloody their blades upon. Everyone who responded held their blades ready as they stared up at the very large gate that was opening before them.

It appeared exactly like Jigoku no Monko, but considerably larger and far more decorated with inlays of red gold and obsidian. The gates slowly creaked open, however instead of a swirling vortex appearing, the clear picture of what appeared to be a large palace filled up the screen.

Several akuoni stepped through, weapons sheathed as they marched in a line and stepped to the side, going down to one knee. Next through came a chariot pulled by three oxen.
Much like the Hiuma their feet were wreathed in flames and every snort fired out more fire. They were harnessed in black leather inlaid with more red gold. The man ridding the chariot was massive and clearly not an oni like the others.

A few more akuoni came through and the gate closed shortly after. As the highest ranking representative of Las Tardes, Taka took a step forward and distantly wondered where in the seven hell Ulquiorra or Hurón were. They were far better at dealing with what was quickly looking to be a diplomatic event and not a ‘lets kill everything in sight’ event.

“Greeting.” Taka declared, drawing the attention to her. “What is you purpose here to Las Tardes?”

One of the akuoni whispered something to the being in the chariot. The man nodded and the akuoni bowed and approached them. The man was exuding so much power that it was tickling almost painfully against everyone present, and that took a lot of work.

The akuoni stopped in front of Zan and bowed.

“Enma-sama wishes to express his gratitude to the ones responsible for dispelling the illusion we have been kept under for some time now.”

Zan chuckled and offered a grin.

“Thanks, but the one who took down Kyouka Suigetsu was Taka-chan.” Zan pointed over to her. “She isn’t in her battle mode so don’t be too alarmed you didn’t recognize her.” Zan added when he saw the mortification on the oni’s face that it had ignored the one they had meant to truly thank.

The oni bowed to Zan again before approaching her and bowing far more deeply, once again expressing the gratitude for her assistance.

“Enma-sama wishes to speak to, and properly thank, the one who ordered such an undertaking and to officially apologise to the ones hurt by Kyouka Suigetsu treachery.

“It would be an honour to admit Enma-sama to Las Tardes to speak with our Queen.” Hurón spoke up as he appeared, much to Taka’s relief.

Now that the identity of the man in the chariot had been made clear, she was stunned she hadn’t guessed sooner.

“If you would be so kind to accompany me, I will let our Queen know you have arrived and contrive to get an audience with haste.”

Enma nodded and his oni stood, taking up their places around him as they followed Hurón through the gates of Las Tardes.

Taka almost jumped in surprise when Rata appeared on her shoulder, gaining everyone’s attention.

“We need to find Kinomi. I can’t sense her reiatsu.” Rata hissed.

Taka frowned and concentrated, then spared a look with Zan, the far more reliable sensor, to see him shake his head as well. He couldn’t find her either. The group shared a look of surprise before breaking apart to start searching the fortress for Kinomi.

The search was not turning up so well and Taka started to curse violently in her head. Was Kinomi not even here? Because it sure as hell felt like it. She stormed down yet another hallway, bumping into Zan who was walking determinedly somewhere.

“Find her?” Taka asked hopefully.

“No, but I thought of a way to at least find where she was last.” Zan explained.

“How?” Taka fell into step beside him.

“The camera’s. I am going to ask Szayel to go through the record to see where she was last. If she did leave the palace at least we will know what directions she went.” Zan explained.

Taka smiled. That was one hell of a good idea. The didn’t find Szayel in his lab, surprisingly. Instead he seemed to be in his quarters with a locked door and when no one answered after the first knock Zan and Taka sighed.

Either he was asleep, when he actually went to sleep he slept like the….er…. dead, he wasn’t there, or they really didn’t want to know what he was doing.

“Taka-san, Zan-sama, what brings you here?” A young male voice said from behind them.

Both turned to see Dion standing there, a bouquet of some sort of exotic flowers, no doubt ones he grew himself, in his hands.

“Dion-kun, do you know where Pantera-chan is?” Taka asked.

“No.” Dion frowned.

“You wouldn’t happen to know how to use the camera system would you?” Zan asked.

“Oh, that I can do.” Dion smiled. “Otousan showed me that system ages ago so I could watch my plants grow in quick time and see watch the carnivorous ones in slow motion.”

“We need to find Kinomi, and quickly.” Taka explained.

“No problem. Follow me.”

The two adults followed the young boy to one of the terminals. He handed Taka the flowers to hold while his fingers flew quickly over the keyboard. Finally they caught sight of Kinomi in the corridors and the room she had disappeared into.

Thanking the pink haired boy they both quickly dashed to retrieve Kinomi. Taka slammed the door open and made it about three steps into the room before her vision met with her brain waves and she came to a dead halt as she realized just what she had interrupted.

“Well that explained why she was hiding her reiatsu.” Taka thought in amusement.

“Oh god.” Zan was quick to slap a hand over his face before quickly exiting

“Not they way I would want to find my sister, or brother.” Taka tried to hold back the laugher that wanted to erupt at the situation. “And god I almost wished I had a camera. That expression of shock on their faces in far too amusing right now. And look, it seems Pantera-chan lived up to her name. His back is totally shredded.”

“I am sorry Pantera-chan, but you are needed immediately.” She tried to sound professional and apologetic, but she was sure she failed miserably.

“And what, pray tell, is so god damn important you had to come barging in on me?” Kinomi snapped in rage

“Enma-sama is here and request an immediate audience. I am sorry for bursting in on what looks like you were having one hell of a good time,” Taka winked pleased when a blush lit both faces, “but I figured something like this warranted it.”

Kinomi groaned and buried her head into Hisagi’s neck. God Taka wished she had a camera. It was so clear what Kinomi had been up to that she wasn’t sure anyone could fix her up in time, especially with those marks on her neck.

“I’ll have Reina-chan meet you in your room, because boy are you going to need her help to make you look presentable.” Taka laughed as she turned about to leave. “Oh,” she paused at the door, “it’s about bloody time, by the way.” She grinned as she ducked out of the room before Kinomi could thing of a retort.

“Way past time.” She added to herself as the mental image of the two of them strung together returned to her head.

She didn’t need to hunt Reina down, she knew the woman would be in the main chamber where Enma-sama was most likely being entertained. Sure enough the woman was there and in a quick whisper Reina apologised to their guest and excused herself, at least Taka thought that was what she did. She never did understand half of what Reina said.


Reina was indeed a miracle worker. Most of the marks on her neck were hidden by her uniform and the rest hidden artfully with her hair. It was damn hard to walk straight as that was one part of her body she was most definitely not use to being sore.

She listened with half an ear as Reina explained the real situation to her, being kind enough to use medium words instead of big words. The gist seemed to be that Enma-sama was here to thank them for breaking himself and his men free from the illusions cast by Kyouka Suigetsu

Finally presentable she found herself once more wearing the ear piece so she could listen to Reina’s advice on what to say, although there would be no need for word games here like their had been with the politician from Central 46. It was more of a precaution.

Szayel and Hurón were waiting for her in her anti-chamber and with a nod to Rata the rat like Adjucas jumped off of Hurón’s shoulder to let Ulquiorra know they were ready.

She entered as his voice announced her, flanked by the other two. She did not sit down in her throne however, instead she walked down the steps to offer the king of Jigoku a small bow, which he returned.

“So you are the fabled Kinomi-sama I have heard about.” Enma nodded to himself, clearly appraising her with his eyes.

“I don’t know what you have heard, Enma-sama, so I am afraid I cant confirm or deny your statement.” She offered him a small smile.

He laughed, the sound deep and echoing about the room. With just that laugh all the tension seemed to have seeped away and before long she found herself having a pleasant conversation with the King of Jigoku.


He heard the door click as Kinomi raced out the get ready for yet another important meeting. In the bathroom Hisagi looked over his shoulder to the mirror and winced when he saw just how shredded his back really was and how deep the bite marks on his neck were.

“Yes, Pantera is truly a fitting name.” He noted wirily.

He had several partners over the years and the only one who had even come close to shredding him this bad was Rangiku shortly after the betrayal when they were both in so much pain and shock, and not to mention beyond smashed, that wild sex was the only thing they felt could help alleviate the pain.

Afterwards they had both agreed it had been a bad idea and never spoke about it again for it only served to remind them both how alone and, in Matsumoto’s case particularly worse for unlike him she shared a long, close relationship with Gin, abandoned they both felt.

He pulled himself into the shower, ignoring the thin stream of red as he cleaned himself up, wondering how in the seven hells he was going to hide the very deep bite mark on his neck.

It was already starting to bruise and his entire body was starting to feel very sore as the last of the sexual endorphins ran out of his system. He hadn’t lied to her about the claw marks either, for some reason he rather enjoyed the pain and before he could stop the thought he wondered if she wouldn’t be into a few of the other kinky things he enjoyed.

“I could get Kyattsuai to ask.” Kazeshini offered in a rather smug voice.

“Please don’t.” He found himself begging the gryphon.

“Maybe pull out the straps. I know how much you love those, hence the choker and arm bands.” Kazeshini continued to taunt.

Hisagi growled and Kazeshini just laughed in his mind.

“Oh, before I go, I feel I should probably inform you that I have already informed Ruri'iro Kujaku that you will be a little late getting home and why. Oh and Haineko and Katen Kyokotsu.” Kazeshini informed him before promptly disappearing from his mind.

Hisagi cursed, praying that Kazeshini was joking. If those Zanpakuto were anything like their masters than all of Hueco Mundo and Soul Society, and probably the living world for good measure, would know what happened before he could even get out of the shower.

He found his forehead hitting the wall and gave out a loud groan. Kazeshini popped back just long enough to say “Pantera and chains” before popping out again before Hisagi could form a retort.

Of course his Zanpkauto was successful on his plan anyhow and the image of Kinomi dressed in tight, white leather with a tail and cat ears towering over him tied up in black leather and chains popped into his mind before he could stop it.

Groaning yet again he starred down at his arousal as if staring at himself could return the blood to the right brain, which of course failed miserably.

“Bloody bird.” He growled, reaching a hand down to deal with the problem. “Going to hand him over to Pantera and let her deposit him down a well just like she offered."

He sighed as relief overcame him and he finished cleaning himself off before getting out of the shower. All the shower really did was wet his hair and wash the blood off. He still looked ravaged.

The door banged open and he cursed as he stormed out of the bathroom to give whoever was dumb enough to disturb him the tongue lashing of the century. His triad died before it even got to his lips and his eyes widened in horror at the being that stood there.

“Well I’ll be, the rumours are true.” Matsumoto smirked at him. “Turn around, let me see.” She ordered as she marched up to him, completely at ease with the fact the only thing he was wearing was a towel around his waist, she had seen him in less after all.

She reached him and turned him about, hands on his shoulders to hold him still while she gazed at his back.

“I see that little panther has sharp claws.” She chuckled, running a finger down one of the deeper gashes. “These deeper ones are probably going to scar for a few dozen years.” She noted.

“When did you get here?” He demanded, trying to steer the conversation away from his sex life.

“Just now. Haineko has been all but panting with the gossip just as we came through the gates. Since Kinomi-chan was busy in some meeting I decided to come see what all the fuss was about.” She explained offhanded as she forced him to sit on a stool and retreated to the bathroom, returning shortly with some gauze and a bottle of alcohol.

“I don’t think that’s is necessary.” He tried to protest, standing up.

Her hand fell on his shoulder and forced him back down.

“I think it is. The one set here is rather deep and do you know what kind of germs can be under fingernails?” She asked. “Amuse me and let me sterilize the deep set, and while I am at it you can tell me all about it.”

He consented to her first demand, but remained stubbornly silent on the second, other than the odd hiss as the alcohol touched the gashes in his back.

“These look deeper than the ones I gave you.” She commented.

“Yeah.” He agreed.

She tilted his head to the side and tisked at the deep bite marks, swabbing over them as well, earning another pained hiss.

“You are not going to be able to hide these ones. And this one is going to be around for quite a while.” She commented, tapping the lone one on the left.

“Yeah.” He agreed. “Where is your husband?” He asked, once again trying to change the subject.

“Ggio is at the main chamber listening in on whatever is going on there and waiting to give our report to Kinomi-chan.”

“Enma-sama is here.” Hisagi explained.

Matsumoto paused and blinked in shock, shortly before tossing him his clothes and telling him to hurry up and get dressed.

Sighing he caught his uniform as she tossed it to him and pulled it on. She did stop him from leaving right away though and pulled out her makeup bag to liberally pour some skin tone over his rather noticeable bite marks. It didn’t completely hide them, but it did tone them down a bit so they were not so glaringly obvious.

“If only your hair was longer.” She muttered before dragging him out of the room.

They made it to the main chamber where the meeting appeared to still be going on, although judging by the conversation it was about ready to wrap up. Matsumoto led him up one of the balconies where Taka offered him a wide grin and Ggio turned from the proceedings to give his wife a rather deep kiss backed by light purring.

“I owe you a great debt of gratitude and as such find I must repay it. If there is anything the warriors who helped shatter the illusion would desire that is in my power to give, let them speak now.” Enma was saying.

“Your offer is gracious.” Kinomi bowed.

She looked completely normal and he gave full kudos to Reina for making her presentable in such a short amount of time.

“If possible, Enma-sama, I would greatly love to keep the Hiuma that bore me into battle.” Zan called down from his balcony.

Enma looked up at Zan and nodded.

“For what you have done for me I would be honoured to present you a full herd of my best Hiuma and Hioushi.”

“The Hioushi, are they as intelligent as the Hiuma, or more like normal cattle, and what do they require to survive?” Kinomi asked intrigued.

“They are much like normal Oushi and require only spiritual energy to survive, just like the Hiuma.”

Kinomi clearly seemed to be thinking about something.

“Gelded or un-gelded?” She suddenly asked.

“For you, I would proudly present you with un-gelded, and a dozen mares and cows per a stallion and bull.”

“This is surprisingly generous.” Reina spoke up.

“To the saviour of a realm and the balance of the world, it seems far too small.” Enma answered. “There are four cities here, are there not?” Enma asked.

“Yes. Las Noches, Las Tardes, Los Vida and Los Dias.” Kinomi answered. “The only city not represented at the moment is Las Noches.”

“I would be pleased to present two herds of Hiuma to each city consisting of a prized stallion and 12 of the finest mares, as well as one of my top trained men to assist you own with the rearing and care for the animals. In addition I will grant each city a herd of Hioushi consisting of 100 individuals, 5 bulls to 95 cows, as well as a well trained herder to assist you in settling them and teaching their care.” Enma offered.

“I would be pleased to accept such a gift.” Kinomi bowed once again.

“Sounds good to me.” Taka called down from beside them.

“Same here.” Zan agreed.

It took Hisagi a moment to realize they were looking at him an another moment to realize why.

“Some ones blood still ain’t flowing to the right brain.” Kazeshini snickered in his mind.

“The offer seems generous.” He spoke up hesitantly.

The offer was very generous, but it wouldn’t effect him much. He could tell the hollows present seemed thrilled at the idea though and it took another moment to work his still sex tired mind to figure out why.

“Eating vegetables all the time must be getting very tiresome for a race use to eating meat. Any meat they brought in was always imported from the living world and it wasn’t an easy task. With herds of Hioushi they would have a steady meat source.” He realized. “And if the Hioushi have even half the spiritual signature of the Hiuma than they would definitely be a fitting meal.”
“There is more to it than that.” Kazeshini piped up. “Think about how much easier and faster they could plough fields for the crops now. Pantera-chan isn’t thinking about herself, she is thinking about her flock and how the addition of these animals will make life easier for them. A worthy mate.” Hisagi could almost see Kazeshini puffed up in pride and for once just let the gryphon ride in the back of his mind to see out of his own eyes.

The conversation pretty much came to an end after that and Enma expressed his gratitude once more before his entourage left. There was the excited buzz of conversation once the officials left the room.

“Well, guess we are all going to be building giant padlocks for the next month or so.” Taka chuckled. “I can’t wait until Pantera-chan has to tell Grimm-sensei they are getting live stock to add to their departments.”

“You all know we will be the ones to have to tell him.” Matsumoto groaned.

“And probably have to herd them there to.” Ggio scowled at the though of herding, which was a dogs job, not a cats.

Matsumoto dragged Ggio into a big hug and cooed. Hisagi shook his head and wandered off, giving points to Ggio for being able to be hugged like that without losing his composure, even after being married to the woman for so long.

With nothing to do now he wandered the halls a bit, finding his way down to Hinamori’s garden. Hinamori was just arriving herself and spared him a smile and a hug before frowning as she noticed the very obvious bit marks.

“Nothing to worry about.” He assured her.

“They look pretty deep.” She frowned.

“Matsumoto already looked at them. How have you been doing?” He asked.

It was like setting off a horse race. Hinamori started talking immediately about everything from her family to her plants. This bubbly girl was a far cry from the depressed spirit she had been when Aizen betrayed them.

He still wasn’t sure how she ended up with Szayel of all people, but somehow she seemed to have caught the former espada’s eye and judging by the bulge in her stomach she would be due in a few months to give birth to their second child.

“And Dion-kun is just amazing. He is so smart, just like his Otousan. You should see the plants he has already bred. Szayel is so proud of him, you can tell by the way he gets that little glint in his eyes, although he likes to deny it.” Hinamori continued to chat on.

“Are you boring our guest to tears Koi.” Szayel’s voice broke into the conversation.

It was still strange as all hell to see such an effeminate man with bright pink hair of all things and NOT think he was gay. Hisagi didn’t know much about Szayel other than the horror stories Renji had told him about the man, but the being before him definitely did not fit the description of the one Renji knew.

“He had a very long time to think about things.” Kazeshini declared.

“?” He sent.

Kazeshini remained quiet, clearly not going to elaborate on that statement.

“Not at all dear. I take it Enma-sama is on his way back home now?” Hinamori asked, a warm smile on her face as she set a cup of tea for her husband.

“Yes. Kinomi said she was retiring to her chambers and the next person to interrupt her was going to be flayed alive by Kyattsuai, sent to me for experimentation for a month, and then fed to Rata.”

Hinamori chuckled, as did Kazeshini, who was quick to send him a mental image of her in that cat suite with him all tied up while she shredded his body with her claws. He sent a mental smack to the gryphon, who squawked in surprise and pulled out of his mind.

“Bloody bird.” He growled.

He was so busy trying to clear his head of the image Kazeshini had sent him that he missed why was being said, only realizing they had been addressing him when they were both looking at him expectantly.

“Sorry, I missed that.” He said in slight embarrassment.

“Kazeshini again?” Hinamori asked with a smile.

“You have no idea.” He sighed.

“Tobiume mentioned something about Haineko and several of the others going off about something Kazeshini had told them.” Hinamori looked at him expectantly.

“Zanpakuto can community with each other?” Szayel asked in sudden interest.

“You have no idea.” Hisagi sighed again.

“Is something wrong?” Hinamori asked concerned.

“No. I had probably better get back to Soul Society so I can report on Enma-sama’s visit.” He excused himself.

“Tell Kira-kun I say hi.” Hinamori stood up to escort him to the door.

“I will.” He offered a smile to her as he left.

He was most of the way to the portal when he was stopped by Taka.

“And where do you think you are going?” She challenged.

“Back to Soul Society. I should report Enma-sama’s visit.” He answered.

“Over your dead body, and trust me it will be dead.”

He stopped and looked at her.

“And if she doesn’t kill you first, I will.” Matsumoto added, coming up from the other side so he was pinned between the two women.

He looked at them both in confusion. It had been a very long day and that was including still recovering from a coma. He was no doubt overly late in reporting back. He had been here almost a month.

“Oh dear lord, men.” Taka sighed, shaking her head.

“If you leave now with out at least saying good by or telling her where you are going, Kinomi-chan is going to think she did something wrong and you are running from her. Shesh.” Matsumoto explained.

“Thus you are going to turn about and march right on over to her room if you know what is good for you.” Taka grinned at him.

“I do believe she threatened bodily harm on anyone daring to disturb her.” He pointed out.

“For every rule there is an exception.” Matsumoto pointed out. “You can either go on your own or we can drag you. Your choice.”

With a deep sigh he turned about and was escorted to her room. All three of them paused and with a deep breath, and a final look about for an escape that wasn’t there, he knocked.

Stay Tuned for chapter 10: That which has yet to be named.

I should probably name it huh? Anyway, let's see, more Smex, and Hisagi makes it back to Soul Society where there is more fun poking.

Sob, the story is almost over, just two more chapters.

As usual /love my reviewers and thank you for pointing out mistakes. I fixed them. No doubt more will be found though. I swear the English language hates me.