Captain Shunsui Kyōraku

Ara, ara...what an...eventful couple of days! And Shunsui had never been a fan of eventful or complicated, and this whole mess was turning out to be a substantial amount of both. To think, he and Jūshirō would actually be one of the last people to see Orihime-chan before her abduction, the Arrancar slipping in to steal her away while they were distracted by the Espada in Karakura Town. Shunsui knew there had to be something, he knew something wasn't right with the situation.

If only Shunsui could have fully appreciated the simplicity of a classic distraction before it all went sharply the other way.

Because Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto was no slouch, and he knew his captains, even the traitors like Sōsuke Aizen. Any twist and turn or surprise that Aizen made, the old man had just as many lined up. It would almost be impressive if it didn't involve so much work, but Shunsui supposed, since the fate of the entire Soul Society was sort of hanging in the balance, a little work wouldn't kill him.

The Espada might...but the work wouldn't.

( The Story Thus Far... )

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And that lead them to this very moment, as the remaining forces of the Gotei 13 gathered in the false Karakura Townnjust in time to meet Aizen and his forces emerging into the human world from Hueco Mundo.

( Two Armies Gather, on a Battleground in the Sky. Because Anime. )

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What exactly drew each pair of Shinigami to the foes they would face was a mystery. Was it chance? Was it fate? Whatever it was, Shunsui and Jūshirō found themselves confronting the pair of Arrancar to Aizen's right. Shunsui would be loathed to take on the quartet of women that Hitsugaya and Rangiku gravitated toward, anyway, and there was just...something about this Espada that caught Shunsui's attention. Maybe it was just his reiatsu, maybe it was something more, but, whatever it was, maybe they'd soon fight out.

There was just...one problem.

( Pain is so unpleasant, and who ever really wants to fight, anyway? )

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And it went on for a while, as these things usually did, especially so when neither of the men fighting really cared to be doing so. This Espada was good, though, Shunsui had to give him that, as he managed to dodge or deflect most of his attacks. But he knew this Espada could be better if he'd actually tried.

Then again, Shunsui knew he wasn't exactly trying right now, either. And he sort of enjoyed that, barely breaking a sweat, no troublesome pain or effort, just dawdling and killing time in the hopes that it would all work itself out eventually. But he knew it wasn't really that simple...that it couldn't be that simple, and that it was only a matter of time before Yamamoto's flame wall was broken, and it would be best if the Espada were cleared away before having to handle Aizen.

So it was, unfortunately, time to do something, and that something started with Shunsui pausing for a moment, turning away from his enemy toward where Rangiku and Histugaya, Suì-Fēng-chan and Marechiyo were heavily involved in their chashes with their own Espada and their cohort, lifting his hat for a better look.

( Isn't it about time we got busy? )

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And even despite Shunsui's new determination, despite both his swords being drawn and pressing their advantage with the Espada, there was a laziness to their fight, a disenchantment, none of them...not Shunsui, not the Espada, not Katen Kyōkotsu really feeling it.

( Until, of course.... )

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Eventually, though, it seemed that the Espada's patience might finally be running a little thin. "Quit scampering around so flamboyantly, Captain-san," he complained, though there wasn't much emphasis there as the two pushed back for some distance from each other again. "It's disgraceful."

( Jūshirō, hold my haori! Shit's about to get turnt UP. )

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Who knows how long they could have gone on like that, the three of them...four, really, if one counted Lilynette...dancing in the sky to avoid swords and ceros, if it weren't for a loud, dull rumbling commotion far off in the distance, the fabric of space creating a tear in the sky that nearly cut across half of it.

"A Garganta?" Jūshirō gaped. "Fresh troops?"

( This one gets a grisly violence content warning, yo. )

Coyote Starrk was not playing around anymore, either.

"Sorry," he said, though the Shinigami was long gone by then, plummeting like dead weight toward the earth. "The fact that he's here means that Aizen-sama can't wait any longer."

And the tiny boy Wonderweiss let out a soft, long breath before tilting his head back and releasing a cry to break the entire world.


[[ CONFESSION TIME! This whole stupid arc is the whole reason I finally dropped Bleach and Shunsui like a hot potato mess nearly a decade ago! Luckily for you guys, I cleared away all the crap and just stuck to the good parts, i.e. the parts with Shunsui. Seriously, they made even my boy Chad getting a dope ass new arm boring and stupid as hell, but I do really enjoy these end battles with Starrk and Shunsui. And, after reading through more than 200 chapters of this dumb arc, I have to say, what I appreciate most about it is the fact that Shunsui and Starrk never introduce themselves to each other. After five million battles of people declaring who they are dramatically "so that you'll know the name of the one who has KILLED YOU!!!!!1!!!1!", it's crazy refreshing ]]

[[ ANYWAY, TBC, NFI, NFB, OOC welcome, while I take a breather before spamming you all with the rest. This is the bigg'un, though, cribbed and brushed up from about a million chapters of Tite Kubo's Bleach, beause, good lord, some of the writing/translation is...not good. not good at alllll, you guys ]]

[[I am still sad that, narratively, I had to cut the part where Lilynette rants about Shunsui being an old man who's about to die, though ]]