"That's why… I set out to make everyone know the same pain as me. But why do I have to be sent to Hell for that?" — Kokutō.
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[World of the Living]
The situation was a tense one in the human world and the suffocating presence of Yamamoto did little to alleviate it, instead it amplified the already existing tension to a whole new degree.
The Shinigami who arrived from the Kidō Corps, following their Vice, Hachigen, to ensure that there was new spillage from Hell into the human world looked as if they were walking on eggshells but they carried themselves well despite it with the pride and discipline that came with being part of the Kidō Corps.
They were probably the second most disciplined arm of the Gotei after the 2nd Division, so despite the Head Captain's intimidating silent displeasure, they went about with their work with expected professionalism.
In one of the tents in the warded off area, Momo sat perplexed after listening to the abridged version of what had happened and despite the assurances of the presence of the Captains and the undergoing mission to rescue Tōshirō, she couldn't help but worry immensely. It felt as if she was just moments away from hearing another bad news.
She couldn't risk losing another person close to her this fast. He who lives by the sword dies by it, it was a quote she took deep to heart and one she'd surprisingly made peace with, but she never expected to brush against it this close, this quick.
Kusaka's death was still a harsh wound on her mind. The disbelief that someone much stronger than her died so fast, a very close friend at that, was a sobering pain, and now hearing that Tōshirō could possibly be dead… she wasn't sure she was ready to hear such a thing, feel such a thing.
Tōshirō had barely begun to come out of his shell after Kusaka's death, and now her mind couldn't help but picture vivid images of her going through the same thing.
"You alright there, kiddo?" The Captain's voice snapped her out of her darkening thoughts, to her silent thanks.
"I… I… Tōshirō is…" her words failed her as her mind was still in a jumbled mess. "… Is he really going to be okay, Captain Shiba?"
The gruff man sighed. It didn't sound good in Momo's ears.
"We won't know until either Captain Uchiha or Captain Kuchiki returns. Until then there is no certainty on Tōshirō's status." There were no inflections in his words, nor did his expression soften. He said it to her as it was.
She made a conscious effort to stifle any hint of a tear forming. She couldn't ridicule herself further when a Captain was going out of his way to assure her, somewhat.
She knew she didn't have a strong enough mentality to make it far as a Shinigami, something she'd been told by two Captains and repeated by a few instructors at the Academy, but Momo couldn't find it in herself to not worry constantly.
"You're thinking too much," he pointed out. He must have seen something on her face since he let out another sigh, one that felt slightly fed up and lazy. "Don't mope in here. Go outside and make yourself busy with something. You're good at Kidō, right, so go help them with the barrier or something."
He left after saying his piece. Her body still felt like sand was flowing in her veins but she pulled herself off the ground and took a step outside, not wanting to disobey a Captain under any reason.
She easily found someone to stand in for, with a quite easy task on reinforcing a small part of the barrier by just pumping her Reiatsu into it. It did a partial effort in trying to take her mind off things.
"Huh–"
A flash of blinding light instantly drew her attention along with that of others around her but before anyone could sound an alarm, she found herself employing a very shabby Shunpo as soon as her senses registered the dim Reiatsu under the light.
"Tōshirō!" She was just a few centimeters away from his prone form when she suddenly lost sight of him, only seeing the billowing coats of the two Captains crouched before Tōshirō.
"Kisuke–"
"Calm it, Isshin." Kisuke cut him off sharply, his face serious as his hands poked at different points in Tōshirō's body. "He's alive. Barely. He was lucky they got to him when they did, talk about perfect timing. His Reiatsu is barely there but he's fine, drained but fine. At least from this we can tell that they're doing something down there."
Momo slid into the spot that Kisuke stood up from, cradling Tōshirō's unconscious body tightly.
"Take him to the tent and have some people keep an eye on him for any improvements." Isshin said as he followed Kisuke towards Yamamoto.
"You stupid idiot…"
....
[Hell]
Those chains.
Murakumo wasn't as resistant to his illusions as Kokutō was, so he likened it to the sheer difference of the amount of chains that bound them.
With little credence to his hypothesis of Kokutō being from a deeper layer of Hell, he surmised that the deeper one descended into Hell, the less freedom and inverse suffering they were subjected to.
And if that was true, how come Kokutō was able to break free and roam the upper layers of Hell without drawing the Kushanāda's ire? Not to mention that someone probably traveled down there to recruit him to probe him.
Tricky. The situation, not Kokutō.
He spied where Byakuya was fighting off a group of four Kushanāda, a fruitless endeavor but that was the whole reason. The Kushanāda were creatures of fairly great strength, shrugging off most Kidō attacks – or being highly resistant to them – and outright ignoring most conventional attacks. Hence, Byakuya and his Senbonzakura were a perfect tool to keep them at bay while he found a way around Kokutō's (un)natural defence.
Another thing, highly speculative but with enough potential to be right, was that the act of breaking Kokutō's chains would draw a greater horde of Kushanāda to them. Entities like these, their nature being symbolic wardens, would react harshly if their rules were broken so blatantly.
A smart workaround might not draw their attention as long as it was within the rules of their domain, like how the Togabito escaped successfully to earth but couldn't show any hint of their skin in fear of facing swift judgement, but a blatant rebellion like breaking off those chains would no doubt provoke the Warden's ire in great capacity. Itachi knew better than to earn the animosity of a living entity like Hell, at least more than he already had.
Except the annoyingly tricky part was that he would need Amaterasu to touch Kokutō. With how those chains were wrapped tightly around the man, providing him with an almost impregnable defense, he would have to create a small crack in it before he could properly influence Kokutō.
The wildly cackling man was never the problem. Itachi was only hesitant because of how Hell and the Kushanāda had so far reacted to Amaterasu's flames, and he was in no way looking forward to how they would react if Amaterasu ate away at the chains which were in every way a literal part of Hell.
He has been a soul for a long enough time to know that spiritual beings were very particular about jurisdiction and border laws.
Byakuya slid towards him in retreat from the violent curtain the Kushanāda were hanging up around him.
"How long?" he asked calmly, Senbonzakura's knife-petals floating around him in a protective haze.
"A few minutes." Itachi replied easily, both of them moving out of the way of the wild swing of Kokutō's chains.
"Better," was said with an approving nod, or the nearest thing to it. "I would rather not use my Bankai here if I can help it."
"For reasons or personal opinion?" Itachi asked casually but Byakuya didn't wait around to give an answer as he pressed the Kushanāda to halt their advance towards Kokutō and Itachi.
"Caution is approved when facing an unknown. Too much of it in the face of danger is inaction." His monologue was cut short as the silver blade of Tsukuyomi dissolved from his hands and the ebony blade of Amaterasu darkened even further.
"That's it! Come and cut me up!" Kokutō shouted excitedly with both hands raised in cheer.
"Good."
All he needed to do was make a break at a single point. That was easy enough. He could already feel the slight tremble of the ground beneath his feet in reaction to the moment his blade burned.
Despite the happy cheer, he could clearly see the caution behind Kokutō's eyes.
The eyes, they were the most honest part of the body. They were innocent in purpose and naïve in intent… and Itachi was such a good liar with how effortless he could draw the truth from them. That was why Kokutō never deceived him with his act. His eyes started narrating the truth from the moment Itachi looked at it.
"Blackout. Mirror flow."
The flames writhed angrily but were forcefully compressed to coat the lines edge of Itachi's Zanpakutō.
A great burst of Amaterasu's angry flames focused on only the tip of his blade, to be released with upending force at a single point on contact with its target.
"What are y—"
Itachi moved.
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