BLEACH, Night of the full moon

Episode XVIII: Flames from the past

When the past comes to life, it's almost never good- Episode xviii, synopsis

Karin had come close to death countless times. Each time she had been saved by the timely help of Hanatoro who had patched her back together. She had been fighting the violent masked lady for over two days and losing terribly!

“She has gotten really tired,” Yoruichi noted. “This is getting too dangerous.”

“You’re right. At this rate she might actually die.” Urahara concurred. “But watch closely.”

Yoruichi complied and paid full attention to the exchange. Apart from a few close calls where Karin always survived by a whisker, she didn’t notice anything particularly special.

“I can’t see anything.” She finally confessed.

“Look at her feet.” Urahara said while pointing to the ground. It was unbelievable! Karin was moving her feet before the masked lady even attacked and yet she was managing to dodge the attacks every time! She was accurately predicting the attacks almost every time.

“The footwork is great for dodging attacks but I don’t see how it will help her to win.” Yoruichi noted.

“Look at the blade.” Urahara spoke. Yoruichi noticed that the blade which had been white was turning dark.

“It is not that Karin is unable to launch an attack of her own.” Urahara explained. “She just hasn’t realised that this fight only ends once she is ready to kill. Her blade is slowly turning to its true form-the bankai- and by the time it will have completed the transformation, she will have learned that every fight is about life and death. And then she will decide if she wants to kill or be killed.”

Yoruichi breathed a sigh of relief. There was no one that could comfort her like he could. And yet these were very troubling times.

“We may yet be saved from certain doom.” She remarked. “If she makes it in time.”

“I have no doubt that she will.” Urahara expressed his confidence. Night was approaching and very fast too and yet he held a hope that dusky as it might be, it would be a night of the full moon.

Back in the soul society, in a cave where five hooded figures had previously gathered, only two had returned and they were no longer concealed by any hoods. The elderly man grabbed the younger one by the throat and squeezed it until he could hardly breathe.

“Who told you to bring me back here?!” He asked him through his bitten teeth even though he was aware that if there was an answer to that question, he wouldn’t be able to give it. The young man held the elder’s hand and tried to pull it away from his throat but the hold was too strong. Wind began to blow through the cave and extinguished the flames. The younger man was torn from the elder’s grasp by the strong wind.

“The others are all dead!” the young man shouted after he had caught his breath. “We were all going to die!”

“No one was dead yet!!” the old man shouted back. “We were about to win and they would all have been saved! Now thanks to you, they are all going to die.”

“You said we would rescue big brother and then we would return, you promised!” the younger man shouted, almost crying.

“And that’s how it was going to be if you had obeyed.” The old man responded. “Your youth and foolishness, this is where it has led us. Lives may yet be lost because of your choice. You’ll have to live with that guilt. Or you can die, I don’t really care.”