Find Your Confidence

[Ryouji Onigata]

It had been sometime since Shiori was taken. Ryouji at this point had lost all confidence in himself. To let his little girl be taken was devastating to him and even more so when she revealed herself to be fully grown and attacked him. There wasn't any possible scenarios for him to come up with, there was nothing tactical that he could do. He felt so lost and there was nothing he could do to over it to go and rescue her. He had this feeling that if he went in, he wouldn't come out nearly the same or at all. He barely survived Jin when they fought in the Dangai all those years ago and now he would have to not only face his brother, but his own daughter. He placed his hand over his face and sighed as he tried to come up with another plan.

He felt terrible at least for the moment that was until he felt a huge surge of spiritual pressure heading in his direction. He glanced around for a moment and slowly tilted his head back and looked up and saw Ayame hurling down at him. Rolling out out of the way, Ayame rammed her fist into the ground causing Dust to fly up and everywhere. Ryouji skidded back and performed a flash step to give himself more distance. As he appeared, Gasped as Ayame was already waiting on him and planted her shin into his stomach forcing him to skid back further. Once he came to a stop he glanced up again and she was in front of him once again.

"No more games Ryouji, no more sulking around. Shiori was taken from you and you sit here feeling sorry for yourself. I didn't train you to feel sorry, I trained you to protect what you love and to defend those you care about!"

As Ryouji went to unsheathe his Zanpakutou, Shizune and Ami appeared beside him and grabbed his arms. to keep him from doing so, leaving him wide open. Ayame was surrounded by a violent spiritual aura as she approached where her nieces were holding their father. She very slowly balled her hand into a fist and rammed it directly into his stomach.

He leaned over but there was no emotion. She looked at him and it was as if he shut himself completely off in a sense. Growing frustrated with his stupidity she kicked him in the stomach once again, sending him flying back. Azumi appeared over him as he was flying and performed a quick set of hand seals. With a quick thrust of her hands, several spirit chains appeared from the ground and entangled Ryouji and held him down on the ground and kept him pinned there. Shukumei appeared near him with her palm and fingers bent slightly. A black spark appeared at the tip of her fingers.

"Hado number ninety: Kurohitsugi"

A giant black box appeared around Ryouji with spikes protruding through them. Once the box faded, Shizune, Ami, Future Shizune, Azumi and Ayame joined Shukumei as she waited for some sort of reaction, but there was nothing. No blood, no grunts, no yells of pain...then it hit Shukumei. That was never Ryouji to begin with, the switch had to have happened after Ayame hit him. it was a damned clone this entire time, but not like his previous clones. It was fully functional and it didn't pop when it was hit. It was like he effectively cloned himself and let it take all the damage.

"Damn it...I've seen him do this a hundred times and I can still never properly predict when he makes the switch. I have to learn how the hell he does that. We should have had Emi out here, she could have told us it was a damned clone from the get go!"

Shukumei turned around and saw Ryouji standing there with his Zanpakutou in hand and he wasn't happy. He was angry. His eyes spoke as to how angry he was.



"Oh shi..."

Before she could properly finish what it was she was going to say, Ryouji raised his Zanpakutou above his head and swung it in a diagonal fashion, and released a giant black colored wave as a result and sent each and everyone of them flying back and crashing into the ground. An enormous spiritual aura appeared around Ryouji as he glanced down toward the ground.

"Get on your feet, all of you! I have to make you understand how much I hate that damned Kido Spell Shukumei used. When I'm done, you can tell Shiva to stop hiding out and waiting around for me, I'm going into Hell and I'm going to bring back my daughter"

[Megumi Nakayama]

While she kept to herself and stayed in the background, Megumi knew what was going on. How could she not when everyone was struggling to cope with what happened? AS she was walking through the house, she could sense several strong reiatsu on the outside. When her curiosity got the best of her, she stepped outside to investigate. It was then she witnessed Shukumei and Ayame fighting Ryouji. She couldn't understand why. It was a given that Ryouji has taken the defection of Shiori harder than everyone else. Was it an attempt to regain is confidence?

While she admired their attempt, it just seemed like it was being approached the wrong way. He didn't need the truth literally beaten into him. Maybe, like her, he needed to hear words he didn't want to hear or acknowledge.

"Maybe.. We can talk first before things get carried too far?"

She could tell that she startled them. After all, she did more or less come out of nowhere. She could see the anger Ryouji had at the moment. She couldn't tell if it was them attack him, all that had happened, or a combination of the two.

"Mister Ryouji.. No.. Ryouji.. Remember that conversation we had some time ago? You told me that fear can be dangerous.. It can make you run away from things you know you should be doing.. Others can't see it, but I can. You fear that you can't get Shiori back. That's what bothers you the most. You told me I shouldn't run away anymore or be scared.. I should fight head on.. You're not really alone in all this.."

She wasn't sure how he would take all that she said. Was it only going to make him become angrier since he has to face a fear that he may or may not be able to get over? Even if he did, it would only serve that she had hit a nerve and knows she would be right.

"Everyone has been trying hard. They've devoted themselves to getting stronger to follow you into the depths of Hell. Shiori isn't just your daughter, Ryouji.. she's our family too. To quote a very wise man.. It's time to stop running and start fighting with everything you got."