If he wants a fight, well now he's got one

[joinmyreunion]

The Palace felt quiet. A number of the Arrancar were out on a mission with Aizen; only the weak, or the unpredictable, had been made to stay behind, but that number had not, apparently, included Grimmjow. Kadaj and Tayuya had been left to their own devices without him and Yylfordt around.

Three days ago, they'd had a quiet conversation. Kadaj hadn't done much talking, just nodded, and then later in the day had crept into the laboratories down the wing of the Palace that Orochimaru had made his own. Kadaj used to go down there a lot, three years ago. He'd stopped just after the Arrancar arrived. He'd fallen out with Orochimaru once and for all shortly after that.

He emerged from the labs a couple of hours later, showered, and then went into the underground training facility. He didn't come up again for a couple of days, although there weren't really people around to notice, except Tayuya, who went down to check on him a few times.

He'd slept when he came back up, and then went to look for Nnoitra, one of the Arrancar who had been judged too unpredictable to head off to a freshly made Necrohol. He found him in the kitchen.

Kadaj made his way over; an unusual intent certainty in his expression, and spoke quietly. "Want to let off some steam?" His manner was all wrong to be an invitation to spar, but that was what it sounded like, at first.

Comments

[prayingmantis]

Typical. The bastard would turn himself into a many-headed snake powered by pure nightmare fuel, wouldn't he? Nnoitra narrowed his eye and clenched his teeth as he ran at his multi-headed freak of an uncle, sweeping up his weapons as he made the dash. The severed hands relinquished their grip on the shafts as he swung at him. Them.

Nnoitra didn't need any encouragement when it came to hacking away at the heads. Call it revenge for that earlier slight. He made sure to keep two of his arms free just in case Orochimaru somehow managed to remove any of the ones he was wielding the weapons with.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj held Souba's grip in both hands, at arm's length, and exhaled slowly through his nose.

"Bankai!"

He'd been alone, a brief few weeks ago, when he'd attained it. A large part of him had wanted to run upstairs and tell everyone, and share his delight with Grimmjow, and Tayuya, and Yylfordt, and Gin....

And he hadn't, because if they knew then he'd lose this chance. He'd lose the advantage it gave him. So he'd sat on the information, and waited; if he was going to battle Orochimaru, it would be on his own terms, and he was going to keep his cards close to his chest to make sure it was on his own terms.

When the dust stirred up from the burst of chakra had settled, Kadaj was holding two swords; one in each hand. Souba bore two blades in shikai, but she was two whole swords in bankai.

She wasn't all that changed, either. Kadaj's clothing altered, giving him a long, black leather coat, and his hair was longer this way, too. That was something Kadaj considered one of the embarrassing side effects that he'd just have to get used to.

He shifted the left hand sword into a backwards grip, and then raced towards Orochimaru, to join Nnoitra in taking off Orochimaru's heads.

[shoottokill]

In the shadow of the doorway to the training facility, an observer lurked.

He surveyed the clash through narrowed eyes, a smile on his face even with nobody there to see it. He had been drawn to the scene by the reiatsu surging from the area. Three people, each of them powerful, were doing battle. Had he not been familiar with the individuals responsible for the spiritual energy he might not have roused himself to watch, but how was he to resist? Given the players, it was obviously about revenge. That was the only possible reason for these three people to fight.

For members of Khamja to war against each other wasn't unusual. Power attracted power and with power came egotism. Egotism begot arrogance and a surplus of arrogance often led to a need to prove that it wasn't just empty conceit. Conflict was usually the result.

This, though... this... wasn't simply overblown posturing. This fight had a purpose. It had been planned.

Kadaj, fighting alongside Nnoitra? Two volatile individuals united against a common enemy? That wasn't an accidental alliance.

Nnoitra hadn't masterminded it, either. While there was little doubt that he had it in him to seek help of his own volition should he consider it necessary to achieve an end, this couldn't be his work. His quarrel with Orochimaru was too personal, too old. It touched too many raw nerves. For him to seek help would mean exposing them. Admitting weakness. Accepting it.

No, this was Kadaj.

He'd obviously waited until the Palace was almost empty to mount his campaign. Bided his time until there were fewer potential observers before seeking the aid of somebody he wouldn't usually bother with. He and Nnoitra were not usually well disposed towards each other, but the enmity between them was mild. Situational. Even so, he'd approached him for this task knowing that they shared a desire to take out a common enemy. An enemy that Kadaj clearly couldn't eliminate alone. That he'd admitted that fact was unusual in and of itself. That he'd sought common ground with somebody he generally had no inclination to spend any time with was more so. It was not so much humility as ... maturation.

He was getting sly. More than that, he was finally putting his brain before his pride.

He had even, evidently, kept the fact that he had achieved bankai quiet. That showed dedication to his plan. He had deliberately withheld that information -- a feat of remarkable willpower in and of itself -- in order to give himself his best chance against Orochimaru. The less he knew, the fewer things he could plan ahead for. Clever, clever. He had obviously thought every aspect of this encounter through ahead of time in order to give himself the best chance up to and including his own power and the limits of it. Even approaching Nnoitra was a well thought out and integral part of his plan.

This wasn't a war, that much was clear. It was an assassination.

The unseen smile widened.

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra, like everybody else, had no idea that Kadaj had managed to achieve bankai. He paused for a moment as he heard the command and turned his head to look at him as soon as the flare of chakra and agitated sand had dissipated or dropped.

Huh. It changed him as well as his weapon. That was interesting, but not interesting enough to keep Nnoitra's attention off his opponent for more than the scant few seconds it took him to take in that fact.

Grinning, he returned to the task of hacking at Orochimaru's many serpentine necks, surprisingly coordinated considering the number of arms and weapons he had to keep track of. He had no doubt that they could win. Nothing that Orochimaru could pull had a chance at beating them now.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj leapt, using a little chakra concentration to boost himself higher and slicing viciously at the neck of one head. Orochimaru retaliated, coming in to bite Kadaj, who defended with his right hand sword, and struck again with his left.

It was clear he had a preferred hand, but practice would solve that particular problem. In the meantime, the considerable boost to his defensive and offensive capabilities was showing itself.

He succeeded in removing one of the heads, and took a brief moment to check how Nnoitra was faring before he set to work on the next. He had to make sure not to stay still, and keeping track of eight heads, and eight tails, was difficult. He couldn't afford to take a hit now.

[snakeface]

Orochimaru hissed and snapped. He tried to pluck Kadaj out of the air when he jumped with his fangs, but the little rodent was too quick, and too quick to defend.

He tried the same with Nnoitra, too, or coiled to crush him. The eight branches technique could level a city, he should not lose to two insignificant little brats.

[prayingmantis]

As soon as any part of Orochimaru's sinuous, mutated and many-headed body came at Nnoitra, he hacked at it with one of his scythes. He wouldn't allow himself to be crushed -- literally or figuratively -- by him. Never again. He was going down.

Today.

He adjusted his grip on all four of his weapons so that they could be wielded and used to slash at him from any angle. He no longer needed to turn for the hooked blades to bite into flesh. With a growl he swung one blade upwards as he brought another down. It kept Orochimaru busy if the attacks were consistent, vicious and constant.

That was an asset when, in his unarmed hands, he was focusing his Chakra for another Elemental attack.

[joinmyreunion]

Having a multi-armed opponent on your team had its benefits. A smirk crept across Kadaj's face as he worked. While he could tackle one head at a time, Nnoitra wasn't so limited. More of the heads were having to focus on his ally, which left Kadaj with less to deal with at any one time.

It helped. It really helped, and Kadaj took the opportunity to use sparkstrike with his offhand blade, and efficiently removed another head with it.

The really good thing about the current situation, Kadaj reflected, was that the better they did, the easier it got. Every subsequent strike was easier than the one before.

Kadaj couldn't quite hold in a laugh.

[prayingmantis]

Many allies would have been distressed or angry at more of the focus being on them than their partner, but Nnoitra liked it that way. This fight's purpose might not have been to prove his strength, but bettering a tough opponent felt good regardless of that fact. His desire to kill his uncle may have transcended his usual blood thirst, but a good fight was still something to be enjoyed, no matter the importance.

His Chakra focussed, he laughed as he discharged it as Thunder at Orochimaru, drowning out Kadaj's unsettling laughter in the process. Wasting no time, he took advantage of the pain coursing through Orochimaru and attacked him again, aiming for two heads at once as he thrashed.