Haruto and Naruko were walking in a moderately dense forest area towards the mansion where Yoshino had said the Bounts were holding a meeting. He had taken Yoshino to his mansion and as promised had given her anything she had desired. She had related her entire story of how she had been alone for most of her life, shunned because of her special abilities and named as a witch.
Haruto and Naruko could certainly sympathize with her regarding loneliness and being ostracized, since they had endured the same for most of their life.
Haruto hadn't told her anything of his past life since he had no time to relate his long tale. Yoruichi was still giving him looks of adoration, amazement and disbelief, no doubt the result of being told of his and Naruko's past.
"Well, this certainly is a large place," Haruto commented lightly, his Shakujo jingling with every single step as they walked towards the front door of the mansion.
"Perfect for their burials." Naruko agreed nonchalantly.
"I don't get to see that sadistic side of you much these days." Haruto teased while Naruko grinned in response. "Anyway, should we do this the normal way or my way?"
"I think your way would be much more amusing than the normal." she replied with a mischievous grin.
"Agreed!"
Haruto raised his index finger, a dark red ball of condensed energy appeared at the tip and launched at the door, reducing it and the front wall of the mansion to nothing but dust and rubble.
The door to the living room inside the mansion opened and walked in two males garbed in different clothes. The first one was a silver haired man dressed in brown pants, red and brown shirt with a yellow tie. His most striking feature was his red eyes and pointed eyebrows. The second man was garbed in the Shinigami uniform, Shihakusho with a sword strapped to his hip.
The other occupants of the room looked up as soon as the first man entered. Sitting near the fireplace was a redhead and bulky man dressed in a green shirt and black pants, his name was Koga Go. A man of high moral and conduct despite his loyalty to his boss.
A blond haired man with his feet on the table and a slightly insane look on his face was dressed in white sleeveless shirt and black shorts, his name, Mabashi. A man loyal to his tribe and its tradition.
A woman wearing a purple traditional Manchurian style qipao with beige pants was standing or rather leaning on the sofa Mabashi was sitting on, a bloodthirsty look on her face. Her name was Yoshi. A woman thriving in the midst of battle and conflict.
A nerdy looking man wearing a white shirt and black pants with large circular glasses was sitting on the sofa opposite to Mabashi. His name was Ugaki. A man of science and research, or simply a scientist at heart.
An elderly man wearing a three piece suit with a cane was sitting near Ugaki with his eyes closed. His name was Sawatari. A power hungry fool far too arrogant for his own sake
"It seems everyone is here beside Utagawa, Ichinose." the red eyed man commented lightly and walked forward to sit in a large chair while the black haired Shinigami stood next to his side.
"Yes sir, his Spiritual Pressure vanished a few minutes after his departure to retrieve Yoshino. The only conclusion we came upon is that he has been killed." Maki replied submissively.
"I see… it doesn't matter," he said matter of factly, not the least bit saddened or grieved by the loss of his comrade. "it's been a long time; a nearly unimaginable time has passed since the Bounts have been removed from the pages of history and forgotten. But now, we're once again free to operate without the fear of being judged or persecuted by the Shinigamis."
The others nodded in agreement.
Koga stood up from his place and walked forward. "Alright Master Kariya, we're all wondering why you have called us here?"
"I called you here to inform you that our primary objective has been completed." he replied with a smirk
Mabashi stood with a grin. "So a Quincy has been found?"
Kariya returned the grin and nodded. Just as he was about to open his mouth to explain the full depth of his plan, an unexpected explosion rocked the whole mansion to its very core. The gathered Bounts held the chairs and sofas tightly to maintain their position lest they fall on their butts.
"What the hell was that?!" Yoshi exclaimed in shock, trying to stand up since she was the only one who fell down due to her leaning posture.
"Ichinose, go and check it out at once!" Kariya ordered, wondering what or who had caused the explosion. If it was a person, then he or she would pay for this insolence!
A few moments later, Ichinose walked in and gestured for two sheepish looking blonds, one man and one woman, to enter the room. Kariya eyed the strangely garbed man and woman with curiosity. If he were to judge the blond man by his appearance alone, he would say he was a mindless brute.
The woman on the hand was silent and emotionless, bored even.
"Master Kariya, these two were near the vicinity of the blast, so it's safe to assume that they were responsible."
"Hey hey, wait a minute guys! We were walking on our way when suddenly I had this brilliant idea to invade your mansion, you know, to see if I would get caught. But then this guy appeared and blasted the front door for us, so that we would get caught." Haruto explained "honestly", mentally giving himself a manly pat on the back for coming up with such a brilliant excuse, not even seeing the massive sweatdrops on the back of the Bounts' heads.
"Master Kariya, I don't think I need to clarify myself since that lame excuse was pretty self-explanatory," he deadpanned while Kariya nodded. "What should I do with them?"
"Kill them." he replied coldly, causing Haruto to wave his hands around frantically.
"H-hey now, let's not get violent. I was only trying to rob a few jewels and stones, nothing serious." Haruto explained, frantically moving his hands from side to side.
Ichinose Flash stepped towards the blond man with his Zanpakuto drawn, intent on making his death as painless as possible. Imagine his surprise when the blond dodged his perfectly precise sword attack in a comical way!
"Phew, that was a close one! If I didn't know any better I would say you were trying to kill." Haruto grinned when a tic mark appeared on the former Shinigami's forehead.
"I AM TRYING TO KILL YOU, YOU MORON." he shouted in anger, surprising the other Bounts by his sudden change in behavior. He was a pretty much cool and calm guy, but this guy was just rubbing him the wrong way.
"What did I ever do to you, you big meany!" Haruto said with anime tears streaming down his face followed by a few sobs to solidify his mask.
The tic mark on Maki's forehead was joined by another pulsing one.
"THAT'S IT, YOU'RE DEAD!" the former Shinigami shouted and attacked the blond once more, causing Haruto to widened his eyes in mock surprise and ran across the room with Ichinose hot on his tail ."GET BACK HERE!"
"AND GET KILLED BY THAT LONG ASS SWORD? NO THANKS!" Haruto shouted back and ran across the room like a lunatic, with Maki screaming curses and profanities at him.
Naruko was standing to the side, watching the whole scene with her emotionless mask all the while trying to keep herself from laughing out loud. She was glad they had chosen this course of action instead of the more violent one. These Bounts were as good as dead as soon as they were written on Haruto's shit list, but who said they couldn't have some fun along the way?
The gathered Bounts were trying hard to pick up their dropped jaws from the ground, watching the unbelievable scene of the blond evading all the precise sword strikes from the former Shinigami with his usual comical way. What was even more mind-boggling was the fact that even when Maki would use Flash Step, the blond would somehow evade the strikes and let out a high pitch scream.
Now Kariya was a very cold, calculative and self-controlled Bount, able to analyze and manipulate an individual without the person even realizing it. A man, who had seen much, endured much, suffered much and lost much throughout his long, long life.
These two didn't look the least bit similar to thieves or robbers. Okay, the blond looked like a thug but the woman looked like a queen, if the elegance and grace with which she carried herself was any indication. Still nothing had ever infuriated him more than this man who was somehow dodging the Shinigami strikes.
His eyebrow twitched when the noise increased in volume, giving him a nasty headache. "ENOUGH!"
Haruto and Maki suddenly came to a screeching halt, Haruto in the middle of a jump and Maki with his sword raised for a strike when the loud scream of anger was heard.
Haruto took that moment to give the former Shinigami a triumphant look and flipped him the bird, causing the black haired man to growl in anger. "Yeah you heard the man, enough! Get ready cause you're about to get your ass kicked by your boss!"
"Ichinose, I have never been more disappointed in you than right now. You can't even kill a single human with no abilities or training while you're a former Shinigami!" Kariya declared with a scowl, ignoring the insult the blond threw at his subordinate.
"My apologies Master Kariya! I'll deal with him right now." Maki bowed in haste, not wanting to anger his Master any more than he already was. He turned towards a freaked out Haruto with a dark glint in his eyes, causing the blond to back up from him with a nervous chuckle.
"Hey there pal, you wouldn't want to hurt me, right Maki buddy old pal." he said nervously, scratching the back of his head and sweating bullets.
"SORRY BUT THE CHASE IS OVER, YOUR ASS IS MINE!" he roared and attempted to slice the freaked out blond in half only to blink in shock when he dodged yet again, however this time the blond somehow used his own momentum against him causing him to fall on his hands and knees.
His eyes widened in shock and anger—a little bit of humiliation as well—when a particularly hard kick connected with his backside and sent him flying face first to a wall.
"Hahaha, take that! A kick from Haruto-sama, the Ass-Kicker! Who is the man? Say it! I am!" Haruto shouted and gave a little victory dance, causing the other Bounts except Kariya to burst out laughing at the blond's antics. Even though they had been pretty frustrated over the fact that they were summoned here away from their busy lives to a boring meeting, but now with the help of this guy, everything had turned out to be as funny as hell.
Ichinose struggled to get up from the sheer force of that kick, wondering how the hell did a robber get past his defense and kick him in the ass no less. His rational mind was shadowed by his bruised ego, cursing and promising to send the blond to the deepest pits of hell.
He got up with a pained grunt and raised his sword, inwardly wincing when his backside let out a nasty snap as he watched his opponent still dancing around the room with his hands raised as if he was basking in the cheers of his invisible audience.
Damn that blond hit hard!
"I see you are back for more ass-kicking huh? Don't worry cause Haruto-sama is feeling pretty generous today, I'll kick your ass so hard, even your grandchildren will feel the pain." Haruto commented sagely, as if he was talking about the weather.
He suddenly screamed and dodged a rather ferocious strike from the angered and humiliated Maki and ran again across the room. Maki Ichinose was ready to tear out his hair in frustration, frantically and desperately striking the running blond to at least regain a little bit of his lost dignity.
Kariya palmed his face in frustration and anger; why the hell did this blond robber choose today of all days to rob them? Why couldn't he just deliver his centuries old written and memorized speech of passion in peace without a blond interfering in the middle?
He was supposed to deliver his speech dramatically while the others listened, not standing to the side while his subordinate was humiliated and his comrades laughed at his humiliation. Well as they say, if you want a job done right, do it yourself!
He walked forward towards the running duo, causing them to stop their chase and watch the man walk up to them with an expression of anger and vile intentions. Ichinose dropped to his knees at once and bowed his head, knowing he was going to get punished for failing to get rid of a single human.
Haruto on the other hand was grinning from ear to ear, obviously enjoying the turmoil and humiliation he had caused.
Naruko was having a very hard time keeping herself from bursting out laughing when Haruto kicked the former Shinigami in the ass and sent him flying to a wall. It seems her fun was about to come to an end if the slight change in Haruto's eyes and body language was any indication.
"You've caused enough humiliation and disturbance for a lifetime human, time to die!" Kariya said coldly, forming his hand into a wind spear and piercing the now calm Haruto. His eyes widened in shock when the wind spear didn't even pierce his black coat let alone his skin.
He raised his eyes to look at the blond's face, only to back away in alarm when his normally cheerful visage was replaced by a cold and dark look, his wide and cheerful red eyes full of mischief replaced by a gleaming demonic red. The other Bounts suddenly leaped from their seats and surrounded the blond man with their Crests at the ready.
Naruko walked nonchalantly to her blond companion between the Bounts, not bothering to give them a single glance and stood beside her husband with a bored look on her face.
"I assure you killing me will prove extremely difficult." The Bounts slowly backed away from the sheer deepness of his demonic voice.
What the hell is this? He was barely dodging Ichinose's strikes and now he suddenly becomes untouchable. Kariya thought in shock, not quite believing the fact that someone who couldn't even dodge a few strikes of sword was now capable of standing up to his Wind Spear without any wound or scratch.
"I'll take care of the green haired woman." Naruko announced with a smirk and raised a delicate hand towards the green haired woman, blasting her away through the front door and out to the open yard of the house before flying out after her.
"Who are you?" Kariya asked in anger, cursing the blond for playing them as fools. He should've known something was wrong when the two appeared as soon as the blast took place and said they were robbers. You don't just blast a building's door and then get yourself captured without any resistance.
"I'm Uzumaki Haruto, but for now, I'm your executioner." The blond said calmly, causing the Bounts to scowl and glare at him. "All of you, come at me at once."
"We shall see about that!" Kariya glared at the bold blond and turned towards Mabashi. "Take care of him!"
"Sir! Please let me finish him off." Maki started but was silenced when Kariya gave him a cold glare
"Finally! Some action. Get ready Blondie cause you're about to die!" Mabashi grinned and took out a small seed from his jacket. "Zeige Dich! Ritz!"
The seed in his hand let out a white hue for a few seconds, bathing the room with a soft glow. The glow slowly subsided and revealed a grinning Mabashi with a unique flower creature. The creature had the head of a small fox with red high collar petals with its lower body comprised of a wide flower.
Haruto may have been tempted to call the creature cute, but its high pitch giggle was getting on his nerves. If he knew Naruko well, then she would be finished with her battle in a few moments since she had the habit of being straight forward and aggressive in a fight. Not aggressively reckless but aggressively effective.
Not that holding back was any of her traits since her strength had been enhanced further by eating the Chakra Fruit he had produced for her. His manner of fighting was to at least reason with the enemy first before any violence, such as the comical behavior he had displayed a few minutes ago.
"It seems you misunderstood my words. I told you to come at me together not because I'm overconfident but to give you an advantage." Haruto explained calmly, slowly dispersing the Chakra that made up his black coat and shirt to reveal his imposingly muscular body underneath. "Do not take my words as a sign of arrogance but merely a warning."
Kariya was slowly getting angrier with this human's—or whatever he was—behavior. As soon as he blocked his attack, the blond changed. His aura, his eyes, his body language, everything changed! So confident and arrogant that he would suggest fighting all of them together! He would show him what happens to fools who get over-confident!
"Mabashi! Kill him without any mercy!" he shouted, causing Mabashi to let out a cold and maniacal chuckle followed by the Doll's high pitched giggles.
"Alright Blondie. Time to die!" He grinned and leaped forward, intent on fighting him hand to hand. Imagine his surprise when the blond blocked all his punches and kicks with one finger, his other hand behind back as if he was playing with a child, all the while giving him that calm and calculative look.
He roared and retracted his hand for a Spiritual Energy enhanced punch and sent it forward, only for the blond to block it with index finger as if it was a mere fly.
The other Bounts looked on with shock and amazement, watching the hypnotic evasion of the blond from Mabashi's strikes as well as the blocking with one finger.
While they were no hand to hand combat experts, relying mostly on their Dolls in combat, they were still stronger than normal humans and Mabashi was stronger than all of them. In fact a single fully powered punch from them would kill a normal human, yet this man was blocking them with ease.
"Stay still dammit!" Mabashi scowled when the blond ducked under a punch intended for his head.
"It appears you are under the false impression of ordering your opponent during a battle and expecting them to comply," Haruto said calmly, dodging and waving around the frantic attacks like water.
Mabashi realized that simply attacking him physically would do no good, what with him dodging and blocking them like it was nothing. He called for his Doll as it came and rested on the palm of his hand.
"Ritz has the unique ability of controlling her opponent the moment she touches him or her, so be warned before she catches you!" He let out a maniacal chuckle, prompting the blond to raise an eye brow at him.
"Wouldn't it have been beneficial to simply catch me off guard first rather than clarify the nature of your abilities and give me time to counter it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Seriously, what was with people and their desires to explain their abilities to their enemies before attacking? Was it to impress?
Or simply overconfidence? Judging from the wide grin on the man's face, he would have to say, overconfidence.
"Huh! There you go, talking all high and mighty! It doesn't matter if I explain her abilities to you or you have time to counter it, it will still be useless in the end." he retorted arrogantly, feeling oddly insulted that a mere human would question his battle tactics. He was giving him info because it would make his victory all the more satisfying and sweeter in the end "Get him Ritz!"
"Of course! Hehehe." the Doll giggled and flew towards the closed eyed Haruto.
Mabashi and the others looked on with shock and horror when the Doll disintegrated into dust as soon as it reached a few inches of the blond's body. Mabashi specifically couldn't believe it, because if his Doll died, he would die!
"Ritz! Ritz! Come on, talk to me!" he shouted, desperately trying to at least hear a whisper of the Doll he had for so many years. His body slowly lost its color and strength, enveloping in a green glow as he dropped to his knees in front of the cold blond.
Feeling a shadow over his body, he looked up with weakened eyes and saw the wide palm of a clawed hand, no doubt belonging to his blond opponent.
"It seems you're about to die. Allow me to put you out of misery!" Haruto said coldly and produced a dark crimson ball of condensed energy right in front his face, prompting Mabashi to widen his eyes in fright. Even though he knew he was about to die regardless of the blond's interference, but still he didn't want to die by that menacingly powerful ball of death!
His thoughts and life ended as soon as the ball was released, enveloping the whole room in brilliant red light and blasting away debris and dust. The others ran outside as soon as the ball of energy was released, not in the mood to die in the cross fire.
After a few minutes, the smoke cleared to reveal a scorched crater where Mabashi and the Living room once stood. The whole room had been blasted to pieces, the mansion now nothing but ruins.