“Broken Innocence” Chapter 9

Naoko and Tamura waited for Ichigo to appear at the location that Rukia had asked Urahara to send him. Ichigo, obviously not fully recovered, approached them nonetheless. The two Soul Reapers could tell by the way he walked that he was not ready yet.

"Hee hee, you're nowhere near the point where you're ready for us, Ichigo," said Naoko playfully.

"Shut up!" yelled Ichigo. "We don't have time to wait! Just take me as I am now and let's get this over with!"

Tamura responded. "Patience is a virtue, one that you do not possess. Your body would probably fall apart if you decided to train as you are now."

"That'd be a funny sight to see, but then Rukia would get mad," laughed Naoko. "Why do I get the feeling that you two are toying with me?" Ichigo asked with his eyebrow raised in annoyance.

The games, however, were over once they felt a strong concentrated force of spiritual pressure racing across the town.

"IT'S HIM!" shouted Ichigo as he ran towards it.

"Look at him... he's like a kid chasing after an ice cream truck," joked Tamura. Tamura jumped up and slammed Ichigo to the ground. "We promised Rukia that we'd train you. She knew the dangers of what could happen if you were left here with us, so she obviously has something prepared for a moment like this."

"Yeah, relax.” Naoko agreed.

Ichigo tightened his fist and sighed in defeat. “Okay, let’s just get this over with. Who knows what could be happening out there and I want to be ready for anything they try to throw at me.”

Across town, an underground smuggling and gambling ring, run by the newest branch of the yakuza, to open in Karakura Town was prospering. Nobuo Amano, the head of the operation was seated at the end of a long table in a meeting with some other crime lords from across the Asian continent. “Revenue is up, expenses are down, and business is good all over,” said Amano.

Amano was happy to report this to his associates. After all, news like this would almost guarantee partnerships with them all. His personal hit man, Daisuke Koroshiya, stood behind him. Koroshiya, the man who killed Hideo's parents in cold blood, smirked as the meeting went on. As long as business was good, it meant that he was getting paid, paid to KILL! Collecting money and killing... the only two things that he ever really cared for.

"Gentlemen," boomed the overweight and stout Amano from his seat. "As you can see from the chart on the right side of the room, opening up in this previously-virgin territory proved to be most profitable."

"I don't know, Amano," stated another one of the crime bosses. "I've heard rumors about this town being haunted by ghosts and stuff like that."

"You believe that nonsense?" asked Koroshiya.

"Know your place, boy. You're not sitting down, which means you are not one of the participants in this discussion." An angered mob boss replied.

Amano did not say anything. Koroshiya slowly walked over to the man with his hands tightly locked behind his back.

"You're a superstitious man," said Koroshiya, grinning so that his viper-like teeth were exposed. "You believe in witchcraft and all that crap. What we in Amano's organization believe in..."

THUD!

A swift head-butt to the forehead was all it took for Koroshiya to finish the man off; all of the other crime bosses grew uneasy in their leather-padded seats.

"...is power." continued Koroshiya. "Please go on, Amano-san."

Amano smiled and went on with what he was saying. "Now then, you are all aware of the fact that I am head of the most dominant yakuza branch in Japan. Even so, I would still like to have some help, if you will, and also share the wealth. What I'm proposing is that we combine our resources and create a new breed of illegal arms and drug trafficking that will--"

The lights in the room flickered. All of the men looked up to the ceiling and around the room; Amano shrugged it off and kept going.

"As I was saying, we can form an alliance that--"

Once again, the lights flickered. Koroshiya placed his right hand on his gun. Amano waved his hand, signaling for him to take it easy. The men all became increasingly nervous and rightfully so, for at that moment, the lights went off completely. Only for a few moments was the room filled with darkness.

When the lights came back on, a new kind of darkness was before all of the men: Hideo was standing on the table. His face was as hard, as cold as a slab of granite. He stared directly at Amano, a frosty stare filled with hatred and contempt for what he had done to his parents, especially his mother.

"Amano-san, I presume?" asked Hideo.

"Who are you, boy?" asked Amano. "Wait... you're... Nakamura's boy, aren't you? I remember you from the photos he had--"

"Who cares who he is?" Koroshiya interjected. "The little snot is toast. I don't know how he got in here, but he's not leaving alive."

Hideo raised up his left hand. From each finger, a needle-thin, glowing stream of red energy no longer than six inches extended forth. He stared at his hand while Koroshiya waited for the order from Amano to kill him. Hideo moved his hand quickly to the far left. The thin streams then expanded and stretched to a massive size until they became one large beam of devastating power. The entire left side of the room had been destroyed and all the men seated there along with it. Amano, Koroshiya, and the other survivors backed away in horror.

"SHOOT HIM!" screamed Amano. "SHOOT THAT LITTLE BASTARD!!”

Koroshiya and several others fired their pistols at Hideo. Their bullets dissolved in mid-air before they could even touch him. Hideo gave a slight smile to indicate his pleasure in their decision, not that there was not enough of a reason to continue with his rampage. Using the streams from his left hand again, he blasted everyone into oblivion... except for two: Amano and Koroshiya. He was careful not to kill them. Hideo dropped down from the table and advanced toward the frightened pair.

"Don't kill me...! I'll give you anything you want!" begged Amano.

"It is amusing how those who have no mercy are often the ones who ask for it." Hideo said in a condescending manner.



Broken Innocence Chapter 10