Chapter 3

Captain!

Stay back!

I need you to observe the enemy as we fight. Try and suss out the nature of his attack.

If that's the plan, then let me fight and you observe!

Since my Senbonzakura has been stolen, we can't afford to have you lose your Bankai as well, Renji.

But Captain...

I'm going to draw out his abilities. Just stay there and keep your eyes open.

(Why is it that my limbs feel as if they were freezing up...?)

(Could it be that those thorns of light are coated in some kind of poison?)

You feel it, don't you?

And you're wondering if it's poison.

It isn't. What you're feeling is something that you lost so long ago, you can't even remember. Retrace your memories.

You became a captain and you grew strong, strong enough to overcome all your enemies. No, you haven't felt this sensation in a long time.

And yet it's so essential to survival. Do I need to remind you what it is?

"Fear."

The Captain afraid...? No way...

Those who are struck by my arrows are beset by fear and doubt.

"What will happen if I reach for my sword, if I draw it from its sheath? Should I swing it up, or swing it down?"

"What if I move my fingers, or shift my gaze? Do I dare breathe in? Do I dare breathe out? Any choice I make could prove fatal."

When every option seems equally suspect, it can drive one mad with indecision, can't it?

Thus far, you've been able to keep yourself from succumbing to it by sheer force of will. Very impressive. You truly are a threat.

But only a threat. Hardly enough to inspire "fear." You, on the other hand...

Your soul is consumed by your fear of me.

(Ridiculous... No battle is ever fought without fear.)

(But I accepted that and overcame my fear of battle. I gained the strength to keep moving forward. And now I have nothing to fear.)

Urg...

"Fear can be conquered with experience." It's the strongest and most experienced who fall the hardest for that illusion.

*Cough* *Cough*

The fear you mean, rational fear, is easily dealt with. If you can identify the cause and remove it, you remove the fear.

But true fear has no cause. Because it's not an emotion, it's an instinct.

And like an army of insects, it crawls over your body, paralyzing you.

For no matter how hard we try, we cannot escape our instincts.

Nng... Hnnnaaaaaah!

My brother...?

.........

There is nothing you can do. We both know you can't defeat your own Bankai using just your Shikai.

You thieving little rat! You're not worthy of the captain's Bankai!

Zabimaru!

Nngh...

...

...

Stop that...

Stop it or die! Ban, !

Gah!

You fool. You could have stolen his Bankai. Didn't you see he was just about to use it on me?

He was?! But I thought it was only Soul Reaper captains that had Bankai!

You wouldn't have thought that if you had bothered to read His Majesty's daten.

Renji...

Rukia...

Forgive me.