Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Zanpaku-to? ❯ Complete Collection ( Chapter 49 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Tite Kubo owns Bleach.  I just borrowed the characters.  I do own Atonomatsuri (the bird) and Piecrust (the jerk).
Kurotsuchi looked at the assembled throng and a weak smile stretched his mouth.  "Now you will witness my superiority and adaptability."

Stifling a groan at the man's comments, Zaraki crossed his arms.  There was a faint possibility he might make a speech which would not be received well,  given the current mood of the crowd.  If he did decide to make a speech, he wondered if how much trouble he would be in if he tried to shut him up.  Instead of offering the violence he felt well up in him, he said, "Can we get this done?  You already made Ise annoyed and she won't announce the results of the last competition."

The look of intense vitriol he received from the 12th Captain made him smile.  Looks couldn't kill and the man's hands seemed to quiver as they held the bow.  "Keep your mouth shut, Zaraki.  Observe and be amazed."

"Amused, more likely," Atonomatsuri quipped.  

It was slightly funny, but he suppressed any reply or indication that he'd heard her.   Instead of continuing or demanding a reply as expected, she went quiet.  Maybe, if it was possible, she had realised that he might hold some resentment against her for her earlier argument regarding the allocation of the items in the challenge.  The passing of time convinced him he had not won that particular challenge.  Once this stupid archery thing was over, Ise might be persuaded to let everyone know.  As it currently stood, it was a constant irritation and he constantly had to harness his anger so it didn't affect him.  To aim the stupid bits of wood at the target he would need to remain calm and focused.  

Kurotsuchi took a deep breath and exhaled.  He did it again.  Then he wiped first one hand and then the other of a piece of cloth he pulled from his sleeve while he leant the bow against his leg.  The glimmer of perspiration on his forehead indicated why he was wiping his hands and he swiftly and surreptitiously scrubbed at his face while he bent over to pick up the bow once more.

"Here is your arrow, Captain," Ise said handing the 12th Division Captain one arrow.

"I want to choose my own arrows," he said loudly.

"The rules of the competition are clear," Retsu said levelly as she looked up from the papers she was consulting.  "The arrow is selected for the competitors so that no additions may be made to them or alterations.  You are not suggesting that assistant captain Ise is not capable of choosing an arrow, are you Captain?"  The sweet smile she bestowed on the man held a very faint threat behind the gentle humour.

Zaraki was pleased to see the man gulp slightly and stutter a reply, "N....Not at all," and he accepted the arrow reluctantly.  Examining it carefully his face a mask of anger and frustration, finally he nodded.  

"I want perfect silence," the man announced.  "I will now score my first bulls eye."

"Bull," Atonomatsuri commented quietly.

Standing straight, Kurotsuchi nocked the arrow to the strong and pulled back steadily, sighting along the arrow.  The audience seemed to hold its breath and then the arrow was released.  It flew straight in the air, curving after it reached the zenith of height, descending rapidly until it landed, in the seats behind the target.  Striking the wood, it stuck there, quivering from the force of impact.

The burst of laughter from the audience was quickly stifled as the man stood, disbelievingly staring at the arrow.  

"He missed!" Atonomatsuri crowed.  "You will too Kenny."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," he replied tightly.  

Ise spoke quietly to Kurotsuchi who seemed mesmerised by where his arrow had ended up.  He ignored her.  She touched his shoulder and the contact made him pull away swiftly as his arm reached up to either push her away or cause her some damage.  Before any contact could be made, Captain Kyoraku was in the way.  "You don't want to do that, Mayuri.  I warned you once before about insulting the women of the Seireitei. You hurt my Nanao and I won't make any secret about the consequences."

At first it seemed that there would be the normal angry and egotistical response, but the 12th Division Captain blinked and then looked at where the arrow had landed.  "I was shocked.  I wouldn't have hurt her."  The voice, while seeming conciliatory was not very convincing.  

"Captain, I can take care of myself," Ise said stiffly.  "Please return to the designated area."

"As you ask so sweetly, Nanao, I will."  Before he left, Kyoraku made one more comment to Kurotsuchi.  "You're already unpopular.  Don't make it easy for everyone to hate you."

Zaraki almost chuckled at the comment.  The warning should have been given to the man years earlier.  It was typical the Kyoraku believed that the man wasn't universally hated as he tried to be moderate in most things, except his consumption of sake and pursuit of women.

Having recovered her aplomb, Ise motioned to Zaraki.  "Your turn, Captain."

"You know the bow is too short for you.  You should have a longer bow Kenny boy, given your size," Atonomatsuri said.

"Yeah.  I can imagine what would happen if I asked for another bow.  Kurotsuchi would throw a fit and I don't want to hear Ise quote the rules at me as to why it won't happen.  I'll make do."  He'd wondered why the bow felt small in his hands, and in the past lesson with Yachiru he remembered the bow had been larger.  

Selecting a new bow he accepted the arrow provided by Ise and stood where Kurotsuchi had taken position.  Before he aimed he tried to work out the direction of the breeze as he might need to compensate for any strong air current.  He shut his eyes and noticed that the air was relatively still.  Opening his eyes he focused on the target and in one swift motion positioned the bow, pulled slowly back as he sighted along the arrow.  All the time he kept in mind that the bow would break easily if he applied too much strength.  The bow creaked ominously as he released the arrow.

Time slowed as the arrow flew toward the target.  For a moment it seemed he too had missed it completely, but it hit the target, at the very edge.  Not quite a score, but not a complete loss either.

Noise attracted his attention and he turned to see some of the audience applauding his effort.  Yachiru was jumping up and down and waving her arms excitedly at his effort and he smiled at her.  She always took such delight in his achievements.  

Ise raised her hand and the noise abated.  "Please keep your applause until the end.  We wish to finish this quickly," she said.

"It was a fluke." The grumble from Kurotsuchi was only to be expected.  Although Zaraki had not managed to gain any points from his first shot, it indicated that he might have more chance at winning this challenge.

"Don't count your chickens, Kenny," Atonomatsuri warned.

"Or my vultures," he responded.  "I've already got too many."

"Humph.  I'm trying to warn you against misplaced pride.  If you don't keep trying hard, you might become complacent."

"Not with you around, I won't."  Having the bird constantly reminding him of faults, either imagined or real, he had little chance of thinking he could do anything he hadn't tried before.

Kurotsuchi was taking his next shot.  Watching closely, Zaraki noticed the quiver in his hands.  The man was nervous.  Was it because he was worried about shooting an arrow, or failing to hit the target again?  The silence indicated everyone was watching intently.

The thrum of the released string, the whistle as the arrow sped through the air and the muffled thud as it landed square in the centre of the bullseye were quiet compared to the yell of triumph that reverberated through the grounds when Kurotsuchi celebrated his achievement.  The noise stopped abruptly as the man became aware how the yell might contradict his earlier attempt at being confident and blasé.

"That is how it is done," he simply said loudly, not addressing anyone in particular.  "Observe and learn."

Without waiting for any more commentary, Zaraki selected another bow.  The one he had used previously might not be able to withstand another attempt and losing one chance in three was not something he would accept.

As he stood, waiting for Ise to hand him the arrow, he waited for the arrow to be removed from the bullseye.  The Shinigami then attempted to remove the arrow that he had lodged in the side of the target.  As his hand rested on the shaft, he pulled back sharply, but the arrow did not move.  He tried again with the same result.  The next time, he squared his shoulders, pumped his arms a few times and using both hands tried to pull the arrow out.  The result was exactly the same as the previous two times, nothing.  In an attempt to save face, he walked over to where Kurotsuchi's first arrow was sticking out of the seat and removed it with ease.

Concealing the grin that threatened to take over his face, Zaraki replaced the bow and walked toward the target.  Grasping the arrow, he pulled it from its wedged position with ease and walked back, retrieving his bow.  "I'll use the same arrow," he told Ise, "if it's not against the rules."

Her mouth twitched at the sides, but she simply said, "It is your decision as it does not contravene the rules."

This time he made sure that his weight was appropriately shared between his feet as he slowly pulled the string back, feeling the bow bend in his hands.  Once more he had to fight the desire to act swiftly as his additional strength seemed to surge the longer the eye patch was removed.  Once he was assured his aim was correct and the trajectory might work, he released the arrow.

Again he witnessed the arrow flying in what seemed a very slow speed, gradually approaching the target, not faltering, but as it hit, he noticed it had not reached the bulls eye, but the concentric ring next to it.

Trying to keep his face impassive, he replaced the bow and folded his arms as he waited for some smart comment from either the bird or the clown.  They both spoke together.

"Hard luck, Zaraki," Kurotsuchi said with a malicious smile on his face.  "Not everything can be fixed with brute strength."

"You failed?  You missed the bulls eye?  What were you doing?  Aim and shoot straight," was Atonomatsuri's contribution.  "You're making me look bad."

"Is that possible?" was his instant reply.  She was a decomposing Egyptian vulture. The bald head, the straggly feathers the bitter expression, how could she look worse than she already did?  Maybe if all her feathers fell out and she was completely pink, instead of predominately black with touches of pink and she phased into the decomposing side permanently she would look worse.  His musing was interrupted by Ise commanding Kurotsuchi to prepare for his next shot.  

"Why hasn't the arrow been removed?" the man complained.  "It will distract me and make it hard for me to focus on hitting the bullseye once more."

Retsu stood and smiled sweetly at the 12th Division Captain.  "It is at our discretion that the arrows are removed, Captain.  As there only remains one further shot and each of you have gained some confidence, we are permitting the arrows to remain, as is normal in such competitions."

The man subsided, but even the paint on his face could not cover his discomposure of displeasure at being once more thwarted.  

"The man needs the experience," Zaraki thought.  "He gets his way too often and doesn't know how to accept another person's opinion."

With bad grace the man picked up a bow, not noticing that it was the one Zaraki had discarded previously.  For one nanosecond Zaraki thought of telling him, but decided against it.  He'd complained about so much and had tried to make it impossible for the competition to be fair.  Let him experience what he wished on others.

"The mills of God grind incredibly slow but incredibly small," Atonomatsuri murmured gently in his mind, apparently noticing the lapse in judgement.

Zaraki thought about it.  He didn't know if God had mills.  What would he grind in them?  The bird was clacking her beak together again.  It was possible she thought if she spouted enough words he might forget that she'd made him agree with her and thus destroyed his chances in the previous competition.

As he observed the 12th Division Captain stand in the correct place and Ise hand him the arrow, he saw that the woman had noticed the mistake.  Her lips had thinned and he was amazed to see a sparkle of amusement in her eyes.   Possibly she might tell him, but if she was going to do that, the words would have been spoken by now.  

He didn't want to win this by default.  The win had to be clearly his.  Clearing his throat he said, "Kurotsuchi, you might..."

"Shut up, Zaraki.  I don't want any advice or help from you," the man cut in.  "I know you're trying to distract me."

"That bow...," Zaraki tried again.

"I'm using it and I don't need your permission.  If you say one more word before I take my final shot it will be evident to everyone here that you're attempting to sabotage me," was the heated interjection.

Zaraki shrugged.  If the man wasn't prepared to listen, then he wouldn't try to help.

It  was amusing the watch the man puff himself up as he stood as tall as he could, which was considerably shorter than Zaraki and then he squared his shoulders and struck an obvious pose as the bow was aimed and the string pulled.

To increase the tension, or make his moment last longer, he took some time to set up the shot.  Watching sharply, it was obvious to Zaraki when the bow began to suffer.  Kurotsuchi wasn't watching, his eyes set on the target.

"How come he doesn't notice?" he asked himself.  "He must feel that it will break."

The second before the 12th Division Captain let the arrow loose, the bow sagged, not breaking, but losing its cohesion.  The arrow  had a little of the impetus from the bow and flew briefly through the air to land a long distance from the target.

The crowd went silent, waiting for a reaction.  Kurotsuchi stared at the bow and then looked at Zaraki.  Dropping the bow, he turned to Ise and asked, "That will count?"

A stir went through the people watching.  Obviously there had been an expectation that the man would complain or create yet another scene, but his shoulders were now slumped.  No one could possibly ignore the words of warning that had tried to be conveyed to him, which he had ignored.  There was no person to whom he could allocate blame without appearing a bigger fool than he already seemed.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but the arrow was released.  You had your three shots as required within the rules," her reply was not as harsh as expected.

He simply nodded.

"Say something, Zaraki.  Now's your chance to say something crushing.  Strike while the iron is hot," Atonomatsuri urged.

Not wishing to reply Zaraki simply went and selected his bow.  What could he say that would humiliate the man even further?  He'd made claims in front of a large audience of subordinates and then failed spectacularly.  It was too easy to say cruel words to a person who was already cursing their folly.  He preferred a fair fight when he would win through his own effort, not take advantage of an easy win.

Knowing which bows he had already used meant he could avoid them.  The one he selected looked very much like the others and hefting it, he accepted the arrow provided by Ise and stood in place.  He knew he could win this.  Kurotsuchi might have hit the bulls eye, but it was the only score he'd received.  If he could line up the shot to match his previous one he would get a score that would beat the Science Nazi.  To do that would be a better revenge than flinging some puerile words around.

He looked along the arrow and the tilted the bow up slightly and pulled back on the string.  Force was necessary so that it would reach, but it was still a delicate adjustment to make certain that the bow remained intact until the arrow was in flight.  After that he didn't care if the thing burst into flames or turned into toothpicks.  He would be done with archery.

Judging his moment he angled the bow once more, trying to guess how the arrow would fly through the air.  As the string reverberated from the arrow's release, he watched the piece of wood fly through the air.  It seemed to waver, which could only be an optical illusion, but then it finally hit the target, in the middle of the bullseye before the target went flying into the seats behind it propelled from the force of the shot.

Cheers erupted from the onlookers immediately, with a few unintelligible comments being called out.  Zaraki relaxed his shoulders and looked at the target.  Maybe archery wasn't a complete waste of time, but it would never replace the feel of the shock racing from blade to hand to arm to shoulder as it connected with the flesh and bone of an opponent.  Still, this didn't convince him that the Quincy kid was an opponent to be considered.   Perhaps it explained how the kid had defeated Kurotsuchi, but it wasn't important.  

He turned and looked at the judges who were conferring.  They beckoned Ise over and spoke to her briefly and she nodded in reply.

As she returned to the centre of the area, the crow quietened.  "It will be no surprise to you that Captain Kenpachi Zaraki has won this challenge."

There were one or two unhappy faces he could notice, but the majority of the audience seemed pleased with the outcome.  

"The judges have requested that I release the rest of the results for the previous competition before we move onto the next event.  I have agreed as long as there are no further interruptions," Ise continued.

Silence quickly fell on the crowd and Zaraki squared his shoulders.  He was damned sure that due to the bird's intervention he'd got a few more of those wrong, but he'd prefer to know now rather than be forced to think about it.

A small smile on her face, Ise commenced revealing the next Captain's ownership.  "The scroll, which displays the prized calligraphy of a great master belongs to Captain Komamura from Seventh Division.  One thing that is very unique about this scroll is it is double sided.  On the side which is visible is the saying:  “Who offends writes on sand; who is offended, on marble." The other side has, in smaller but no less beautiful writing,  is an observation: "Wisdom is more important than knowledge."  This has been cleverly hidden by being written on the back of the larger characters. "

"What's the difference," Zaraki thought.  "Wisdom, knowledge.  They're the same thing."

"No they're not Kenny.  Lots of people know things, but don't know what to do with that information."

Atonomatsuri seemed very keen to point this out to him.  It was probably because she thought he had knowledge but wasn't wise whereas she was certain she possessed both.

"So?

"A wise person can deduce things from information and draw conclusions."   The bird sounded very sure of herself and once more appeared to be boasting.

"Or make bigger mistakes," he muttered under his breath.  

The absence of reply satisfied him that the bird had taken notice of his implied reprimand.  

Kurotsuchi was now standing beside Zaraki and hissed through his teeth at the explanation.  Did that mean he knew about this and was bored with the explanation, or he wanted Ise to hurry?

As she was naming the owners by their Divisions he knew that Kyoraku was next.  Did he own the cushion?  

She glanced at the list she was holding and an expression of combined amusement and shame crossed her face.  "The, um, red cushion," she began.

Zaraki smiled.  He couldn't help it.  The cushion was in the shape of lips and the woman didn't want to mention it.  It was possible that her sensibilities marked it as improper also, or she had given it to the Captain as a strange mark of esteem.  Not knowing the truth didn't matter.

"Belongs to Captain Kyoraku," she said hastily.

The crowd murmured quietly in the background and he heard some stifled laughter.  It was possible the man had deliberately chosen to embarrass his second in command with his choice, but it was extremely unlikely, given the way he had requested Zaraki to stop swearing and his defence of her against Kurotsuchi.  Or he was teasing her gently.

Then he realised he'd guessed the last two owners correctly .  That meant he had six out of eight which wasn't bad, but it could have been better.  There were only three left and he was pretty certain that after following Atonomatsuri's suggestion, he'd made some wrong decisions.  No point in worrying about it.  If he didn't win this one, he'd make damned certain that nothing would prevent him from winning most of the others.  

Ise waited for the crowd to settle, which it quickly did.  "The coin belongs to assistant Captain Hisagi."

Another one to add to the list.  Briefly he wondered where he'd obtained the coin, and why, but it wasn't important.  

"I told you to look closely.  You only got that right because of me."  The confidence the bird tried to convey was not very strong and it was clear she was trying to remind of her assistance rather than her errors.

Looking around the spectators he noticed some were smiling while others looked doleful.  Trying to guess the owners of objects had been hard when close up, but trying to do it from a distance, even if you had a picture of the object would be harder.  Some of the answers had made him more curious about the people with whom he served on the Gotei 13, but not much.  

"Those people who had sharp eyes would notice that there was some very small writing on the fan which was a very clear hint as to who owned the fan.  It was decided that at least one of the contributions should be easy to guess and Captain Hitsugaya kindly submitted the fan."

Many of the people in the audience smiled happily.  It had been very easy and Zaraki had wondered about it at the time.  

Only one left and he knew for certain he was wrong.  Ukitake owned the swords.  The matched pair of swords displayed with such pride belonged to him, and not Fon as Atonomatsuri had assured him.

Ise was finishing up now.  "This, of course means that Captain Ukitake owns the splendidly preserved and displayed samurai swords.  I would like to thank the Captains and Assistant Captains for assisting us by providing carefully chosen objects."  She bowed towards the Captains and their subordinates.

"Eight out of eleven," Zaraki thought and then a new recognition came to him.  Without knowing why, he'd chosen each owner correctly.  If he had made the bird stop poking in her beak the chances of him winning now would be so much greater, but as it was it seemed unlikely that Kurotsuchi would have made as many mistakes.  If he'd had the vulture for a spirit he'd have ignored every word she spoke.  Maybe that was a valuable lesson Zaraki could learn.

The Old Man was now standing beside Ise.  Silence fell immediately and he quirked a brow.  "The winner of the competition," he began and Zaraki almost held his breath, "with an outstanding score of nine out of eleven."

"Better score than me," Zaraki cursed inwardly and pointedly.  "Blast it.  Kurotsuchi won!"

"Is from Fourth Division."

Zaraki heard that and stopped swearing at Atonomatsuri.  "Fourth Division?   What's the Old Man talking about?  It has to be Eleventh or Twelfth Division.  We're the only people unfortunate or dumb enough to get involved in this joke."

"Yasochika Iemura has won the grand prize of a complete collection of the Shinigami Dolls that were illegally on sale," Captain Yamamoto finished.

Iemura immediately stood and looking very pleased went to collect his prize.

"That was the prize?  Dolls?  Why were dolls the prize?  Where did the Old Man get a complete set of them and why was anyone interested in getting  them?  Has everyone become infected with Atonomatsuri's decaying brain so they can't think straight?  Dolls!" Astonishment was not the only emotion that swept through Zaraki at this announcement.

"As they are a valuable collector's item, they will increase in value over time." Yamamoto continued.

"Yeah, sure.  And my vulture will turn into a canary who can sing and won't speak in adages," were the bitter thoughts that greeted the explanation.

"Captain Fon will announce the results of the main event now," Yamamoto said.

Despite her height, the Captain strode impressively into the middle of the arena, standing next to Ise who was considerably taller.  In spite of this, her strong personality made every eye rest on her as she took the paper Ise held out to her.  She glanced at it briefly, nodded and then said, "It's not as close as I expected.  Captain Zaraki won this challenge by three points."

The crowd roared "Zaraki! Zaraki! Zaraki" and it was only that which convinced the Captain that he had not misheard.  Three points difference?  That meant that Kurotsuchi had only chosen five correctly.  It was normal to wonder which ones he had guessed, but not important.

"As these events took less time than anticipated, we will move onto the next challenge after a short break," Ise announced.  "Please return to your seats within 20 minutes.

Did that mean they'd have a break too?  He wouldn't mind some water to quench the thirst that had commenced during the archery competition.  And a break from the sun would be good.  Maybe he'd ask Ibe the name of the place that sold sunglasses.  Then he decided there'd be little point as he wore the eye patch most of the time.

"Come with me, please," a small lisping voice requested.  "It is my honour to serve you some Afternoon Tea," Hanataro bowed politely.

Another challenge.  While mildly piqued, Zaraki found he was also pleased.  The more of these that could be completed in one day, the sooner everything could return to some form of normality.

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Author's Note:
The bows used in the archery competition are the Gohonhigo (Higoyumi) developed during the 16th century.  While it is clear that there should have been different bow lengths for Zaraki and Kurotsuchi, it was more fun to make them use the same length of a Yosun-nobi which would be too small for Zaraki and which explains why he destroyed them so quickly.  
My knowledge or archery is small and was stretched considerably to write this chapter, so any mistakes or inconsistencies I will blame on Atonomatsuri.  
Thanks to all the people who reviewed the last chapter.  
Please review.  
MS