Belonging

Ch.65 The Truth You Didn't Know

Nagi was able to push Aizen back a bit, putting distance between him and us.

"Sup, Emi! Sorry I'm late!" she smiles at me.

"You're okay..."

"Of course! I had Shunsui and Jushiro on my side, after all."

"I'm glad you're safe." I weakly smile.

"Me too. Did you know my old grandfather is jacked?!"

I blink a few times.

"Um...that's not exactly...the word I would describe a man like him but...okay?" 

"I know, it's crazy! Whoa! Little Byakuya, you good?!"

Nagi notices Byakuya's injures and Rukia's expression.

"You're scared..."

"..."

Rukia was still holding onto her brother, shaking in fear. Looking around, Nagi notices the others pinned down and that both Ichigo and Renji were badly injured. Nagi's goofy persona drops as she stops her gaze at Aizen.

"You hurt Byakuya. You made Rukia feel a kind a fear no one should experience. Renji and Ichigo are severely wounded. Everyone else can barely stand. And you dare raise your blade to Emiko..."

Grinning like a mad woman, she lock eyes with Aizen.

"I'm going to kill you. I'll burn your soul right out of this very existence."

Aizen's smile returns.

"You think you can take me?"

"Oh, I know I can. After all, who was the one who always kicked your ass during training?"

"You've been gone many years, Nagi. Things have changed since then."

"I know... I've changed too, Aizen. Just you watch, little boy."

Gin and Tosen get ready to defend Aizen, however, he sends them a glance.

"No need to worry. A soul reaper who can't even control her own zanpakuto is nothing to me."

"That's what you think."

"That's what I know. Besides, if you release your Shikai are you confident enough that it won't kill those behind you?"

Nagi narrows her eyes.

"I won't need it against you."

"I see..."

A evil grin forms on his face. He was planning something.

"You didn't need it to fight those Hollows all those years ago, and yet...you still used it."

Nagi grits her teeth.

"And killed your fellow squad mates...and your-"

Aizen quickly holds up his blade to block Nagi's. Her eyes were filled with anger.

"Don't you dare say it!"

"..."

With their blades locked, they begin to battle. They were moving so fast, I couldn't keep up. But from what I could tell, they were evenly matched.

Finally appearing before me, Nagi stands tall...as well as Aizen. Besides a few cuts, he was basically unharmed. Same goes of Nagi as well.

Wiping the blood off her cheek, Nagi smirks at Aizen.

"You've grown. You used to never be able to handle my attacks."

"Don't make me repeat myself, Nagi."

"I know, I know. Times have changed, whatever."

"...Indeed, you have no hope of defeating me without your Shikai."

He's lying, but Nagi can see it.

"Nice try, but I'm not going to use it."

"...Nagi, would you like to know what really happened to your father all those nights ago?"

"...What are you talking about, loser?"

"I'm saying...you didn't kill your father."

Nagi's eyes widen as she's taken off guard. Seeing his opening, Aizen appears before her and thrusts his blade right through her stomach. She stood there, stunned.

"C-Cheap...trick..."

"No, you're just unbelievably weak. Truth be told, I wasn't even using 4% of my power against you just now."

Pulling his zanpakuto out, he slashes her across the chest, injuring her further. Nagi falls to one knee as she continued to lose large amounts of blood.

"Nagi!"

"Stay back, Emiko!" she orders.

Aizen places the tip of his blade to her throat.

"Wait! Don't-"

"Emiko!"

"..."

Nagi...please stay alive.

"You know, Nagi, the night you went to go kill those Hollows, I was there as well."

"Wha... No you weren't..."

"I was. I was watching how the Hollows I created performed against soul reapers at the time."

"You...what...?"

"I didn't expect you to wipe them all out with your Shikai. I guess you can say, I was a bit unhappy with you. So I used my zanpakuto to trick yours."

"..."

Nagi's eyes were real wide as realization hits her.

"That means..."

"That's correct. You didn't lose control over your zanpakuto. I simply made your zanpakuto believe your group were the Hollows it was fighting against. In other words..."

He leans down and gets in her face, grinning.

"I killed your father."

"...You...You..."

"Think of it as payback for breaking my experiments."

"...Payback...?"

Nagi...

"...I... "

Tears fall from her eyes as she swings her zanpakuto. Aiden simply flash stepped away. He appears a few feet away from her.

"You... My grandfather hates me... My little brother despises me... Even I hated myself for so long... But...it was you... All you..."

Aiden grins as Nagi loses it.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Standing, she charges after him.

"Nagi!"

"IGINITE, MOERU FENIKKUSU!"

Flames erupted from her zanpakuto and shot up towards the sky, forming a spinning ball of fire. A second later, the large burning phoenix from before manifests from it. It let's out a high pitch call as it shown brilliantly in the sky.

That's Nagi's Shikai? She's going to use that?

Proving me wrong, she didn't stop there.

"BANKAI!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Moeru Fenikkusu = Burning Phoenix)