Chapter 36: Dance of the Ice Queen

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach. They are the respective properties of Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo

[Southeast of the Valley of the End, Land of Fire, Shinobi World]

Recap:

"It seems like the time for talk had ended, Harribel. Time to see if you can fight, pup," Kisame said, his little joke clearly directed at Harribel.

The Arrancar merely rolled her eyes at this comment as she unsheathed her blade just as the dust cloud suddenly cleared, revealing the figure in the crater. It was none other Kamikaze who, having raced to the area the moment he picked up Kisame and Harribel's energy signatures, now broke the short but tense silence by speaking.

"I found you..." he said in a taunting, sing-song voice.

Current Time...

The Zanpakuto spirit brought his head up as he looked at his two new opponents, his eyes sizing them up.

"This person doesn't look like a Shinigami," Harribel thought to herself as she stared down the newcomer. "He must be one of those manifested Zanpakuto spirits that Aizen-sama warned us about."

Kamikaze then focused his gaze on the Tercera Espada. After a few moments of silence, Harribel decided to speak.

"Is there something you wish to say?"

"Well, well, if it isn't the shark queen herself. It's been awhile, Harribel," he said.

Harribel raised an eyebrow at this statement. She then noticed that blade that Kamikaze carried in his hands and, with that, she connected the dots.

"I see… so you're his zanpakuto. So how has he been?"

"He's fine, although he would probably want to know what you're doing fighting for someone like Aizen and so would I."

The Tres Espada gained a contemplative look in her eyes as she heard this. Before she could respond, another presence dropped down and joined Kamikaze.

The person who had landed was none other than Rukia. The Thirteenth Division Lieutenant was currently catching her breath, since she had to race to catch up to Kamikaze.

"You took way too long to get here, Rukia. I could fly faster than you in my sleep," Kamikaze chastised playfully. Rukia, despite being out of breath, still had enough energy to lash out. She jumped up to bop Kamikaze on the head, but the zanpakuto spirit jumped back and easily dodged it.

"So where are Hyorinmaru and Zabimaru?" Kamikaze asked, acting as if nothing happened. Rukia, having finally catched her breath, began to explain.

"They went back to their masters. Apparently Renji and Captain Hitsugaya are facing tougher resistance than expected."

Before Kamikaze could reply, Kisame's hands flew into seals for a jutsu.

"Suiton: Water Dragon Bullet!"

With that, Kisame exhaled a large amount of water from his mouth, which then took the form of a dragon and shot towards the Shinigami and the spirit. In response, Kamikaze simply raised his sword and swiped it. The jutsu suddenly redirected into a hard left and crashed into the ground.

Kisame blinked at what he just saw.

"He deflected my attack as if it were nothing. Looks like this won't be an easy fight," he thought to himself just as Kamikaze turned to attention to him.

"Be patient; you'll get your chance to die soon enough," Kamikaze joked to the swordsman before he turned his back attention to Harribel.

"So... you really intend to fight for a man like Aizen?" he asked.

After a brief moment of silence, Harribel have her answer.

"I do."

"Are you sure you want to do this? Aizen is not a man to be trusted and, if he gets his way, then it'll be the death of you, your comrades, and a whole lot of other people." Kamikaze said.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Harribel scoffed as she kept her blade at the ready.

Rukia, naturally, was confused by the flow of this conversation.

"Kamikaze, do you know this person?" Rukia asked as Kisame looked on in interest.

"I do. Harribel was the very same Vasto Lorde that Naruto fought back when he was a lieutenant. That was the very same fight where Naruto was forced to duel wield for the very first time. They encountered each other when Naruto and Soifon went on a mission to the Land of the Living together. However, Harribel wasn't an Arrancar at the time... she was a Vasto Lorde, apparently looking for a friend of hers who accidentally ended up in the area."

Finishing his explanation, Kamikaze turned his gaze to Harribel and assumed a fighting stance. He held out his sword in front of him. Rukia also took a pose, grasping her sword with both hands and holding it inches from her face. Kamikaze then addressed the Tres Espada once again.

"It's a real shame we had to meet like this. Naruto thought so much better of you."

Harribel didn't respond to the zanpakuto spirit. She simply drew her own blade for battle. Harribel's zanpakuto was a short and wide blade. However, the most interesting thing about it was that the middle of the blade was completely hollow. The sword consisted of nothing more than the edges.

The four combatants stared off at one another, no one moving a muscle. After a few minutes of this, However, both the Shinigami and the Zanpakuto spirit noticed Kisame making slight twitch. They both reacted immediately, with Rukia jumping backwards while Kamikaze held his blade in a defensive position. Kisame lurcherd forward and brought Samehada down in an overhead swing. Harribel, meanwhile, sonidoed after Rukia with her blade at the ready.

Rukia attempted to strike at the Tres Espada but Harribel parried it. She responded with a swift swipe of her own blade that Rukia dodged under. The lieutenant kicked back and aimed her palm at the Espada.

"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui (Blue Fire Crash Down)!"

A blast of blue white energy erupted from Rukia's hand. Harribel responded with her own attack, building up golden reiryoku into her blade before launching it forward.

"Ola Azul (Blue Wave Gun)!"

The built up energy shot out in the form of a blade projectile and collided with Rukia's Kidō spell. Both of the combatants then charged at each other as their attacks canceled out each other.

Kamikaze, meanwhile, was taken off guard by the fact that the Espada went after Rukia. The missing-nin used this to his advantage, putting more pressure on Kamikaze's sword with his own and pushing him back quite a distance away.

After a few minutes in deadlock, Kamikaze pushed Kisame away. A realization then hit him.

"This matchup was intentional. Now Rukia is facing Harribel; she'll only have one way to defeat her and if it fails..." Kamikaze thought to himself before cutting himself short, not wanting to think of the consequences.

Kisame noticed the change of expression on Kamikaze's face and gave off a smirk.

"You're very impressive for figuring out what's going on so quickly. Unfortunately it won't help out your little friend in the least."

Kamikaze grunted as he brushed off Kisame's comment.

"Both of you are fools if you thought that Rukia would fall for that so easily. She has quite a few surprised in store for the Shark Queen."

"…though I hope I can end this before she uses THAT until I get to her," Kamikaze thought to himself as he continued to address the swordsman.

"And, despite your little ploy, you've made a critical mistake: you're now facing me. And I promise you this: you'll be nothing but shark fin soup once I'm done with you."

With that, Kamikaze grasped both hands on his sword and held it out in front of him.

"We'll see about that," Kisame said as he grinned at the new challenge. Samehada then started to let out a noise as Kisame grasped the sword. This only caused the missing-nin's grin to grow; clearly both blade and wielder were looking forward to this.

Kisame let out a horizontal swing with Samehada, which Kamikaze jumped over. The zanpakuto spirit responded with a series of rapid, quick jabs. Kisame blocked this with the flat of his sword. Kamikaze stepped back and let out a burst of wind with his sword, knocking Kisame off of his feet, though only for a moment before he regained his footing in time to block a horizontal slash from the zanpakuto spirit.

Even as he fought the missing-nin from Kiri, Kamikaze's attention was mostly towards Rukia and her battle with Harribel. The situation as it was, however, Kamikaze could only hope that Rukia would be ok until he finished with his foe.

With Rukia...

Meanwhile, Rukia and Harribel continued to clash blades with each other. They quickly backed away from each other before using flashstep and sonido respectively to close in on each other, their blades locking once more. They soon went back at it again, though, when Rukia casted a Kidō spell.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa (Crawling Rope)!"

Rukia then casted out her hands and threw out a golden yellow reishi rope, which quickly wrapped around Harribel's midsection, binding her arms together. Rukia then followed up with another spell to supplement the other. She pointed her finger at the Tres Espada

"Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō (Six Rods Prison of Light)!"

A spark emerged from her finger, and six thin, wide beams of light slammed into Harribel's midsection, holding her in place. Rukia then placed her hands to her side, preparing to use a powerful Hadō spell. However, Harribel suddenly moved and stretched and then the spells holding her in place suddenly broke and shattered, freeing her from her bondage. Rukia gasped at this as Harribel stared at her before her blade filled up with reiryoku and she launched another Ola Azul at the 13th Squad Lieutenant. Rukia quickly flashstepped out of the way as the projectile hit a boulder which destroyed it into pieces. Rukia noticed the scattered pieces of boulder on the ground and suddenly an idea formed in her head.

Rukia flashstepped over to the boulder pieces and thrusted her arms forward.

"Hadō #57: Daichi Tenyō (Upturned Earth Dance)!"

The pieces of boulder on the ground suddenly levitated from the ground and were then launched forward at Harribel. The rocks hit the Tres Espada, but bounced off of her due to her hierro protecting her. Rukia grunted at this as she released her zanpakutō into its shikai state.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki (Sleeved White Snow)!" she shouted as she hold her sword out in front of her before turning it in a circle counter clockwise. She then stabbed the ground as Harribel sonidoed towards her target.

"Juhaku (White Tree)!"

A trail of ice then emerged from Sode no Shirayuki and went towards Harribel. The Tres Espada was suddenly stopped in her tracks as her legs began to be covered in ice. The ice slowly began to inch up her legs and to her lower abdomen. Rukia took this chance to use another attack against the Tres Espada while she was distracted. She punctured the ground once, which created a large ice circle in front of her. Rukia followed this up by puncturing the ground four times in a semi-circle. Particle began to float up from the semi-circle and into the air as Rukia took a battle stance and announced the name of her technique.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren (Next Dance, White Ripple)!"

The particle began to form at the tip of Sode no Shirayuki before it was released. A giant avalanche of freezing cold air was released from the tip and blasted forward, hitting Harribel. Flurries of snow obscured the scene before it was cleared. The Tres Espada was currently frozen in a huge chunk of ice, with the jagged ends pointing forward. Rukia let out a sigh at this as she lowered her zanpakuto to her side.

"Hopefully that will hold," she thought to herself as she looked at the frozen Espada. She then suddenly heard a rumbling sound. The sound then escalated before the ice surrounding Harribel shattered into millions of little pieces. The Espada turned and stared at Rukia, her face impassive. She then spoke to the 13th Squad Lieutenant.

"I believe it's time to show you my full power, and show you what you are really up against."

With that, Harribel held her zanpakuto out in front of her, with the blade down, before saying the release command.

"Destroy, Tiburón (Imperial Shark Empress)!"

Harribel was suddenly enveloped by a huge, heart shaped surge of water. It enclosed around her in the form of a cyclone. Rukia stared at this before a large white blade emerged from the cyclcone and cut it open, revealing Harrivel in her resurreción form.

Harribel's outfit was now completely revealing. The remnants of her mask had now become a collar with extensions that covered her nipples and part of her breasts. She now had a pair of spaulders on her shoulders, which looked like shark fins, as well as a pair of ribbon like protrusions on her back. A spine like structure formed on her stomach, going from the underside of her breasts to her waist. She now wore a miniskirt of bone with dark undergarments, along with white knee-length boots and elbow length gloves. Her weapon, which she held in her right hand, had now become a giant blade that resembled an elongated shark's tooth. The hilt of the blade covered her entire hand. The blade had gill markings on either side of it. Lastly, Harribel had lost her three braids, turning her hair messy, and gained two blue lightning bolt markings on either side of her face.

Harribel then launched forward with her blade at the ready. Rukia, on the other hand, kicked back and dodged as Harribel let out three strikes of her blade. Said strikes missed her but they hit the ground, kicking up dirt and bits of rock. The Tres Espada then suddenly stopped and held back her balde. It suddenly began to glow a golden color before Harribel brought the blade forward.

"Trident," she said as she brought her blade forward, firing out a high force slash from the sword. She followed it up with two more strikes. Rukia flasstepped to the right as she saw the slashes coming towards her. The slashes then went pass her and crashed into a lone tree, cutting it into pieces. Harribel then aimed her blade at the flashstepping shinigami as she let off another one of her attacks. Large amounts of water then condensed around her blade before she said the name of her attack.

"La Gota (War Drop)."

The water then shot out as a projectile in the shape of a shark's tooth. Rukia barely dodged the shot. Harribel then fired off two more shots of condensed water. Rukia then dodged the the other shots as they went pass her. All three of the water shots crashed into a boulder the size of a mall house. The shots collided and the boulder crumbled into a huge pile of rubble, sending flying into the air. Harribel once again sonidoed towards at Rukia and brought her blade down upon her. The 13th Squad lieutenant blocked it with her zanpakuto and parried her next blow. The two then exchanged a series of quick sword strikes, blades bouncing off of each other. Harribel then jumped into the air, holding her blade up. She then uttered the name of her next attack.

"Cascada (Cutting Waterfall)."

She let her blade down and then launched a huge surge of water at Rukia. The torrent of water hit her head on and then spread out among the battlefield. It finally finished flooding, and Harribel widened her eyes at what she saw.

Rukia was still there, looking completely unharmed by the attack. She still held her zanpakuto in her hands.

"What? She wasn't even scathed? How is this even possible?" Harribel thought to herself as she stared down at her opponent.

However, she looked closely and then suddenly noticed something. Rukia appeared to be transparent, with wisps of cold air appearing off her. The Tres Espada then put two and two together and figured it out.

"I understand now. She somehow manages to freeze her own body, causing anything that tries to hit her to not. This will prove a difficult challenge to overcome."

Rukia's ability then began to take effect, causing the water surrounding her to suddenly freeze into ice. Harribel then lowered herself onto the ground. Rukia then disaplayed another one of her shikai abilities. The ground then began to rumble and then suddenly broke apart. Jagged shards of the ground then shot up causing Harrible to slightly stumble. Rukia then brought her free hand up and aimed it at the Tres Espada.

"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui (Blue Fire Crash Down)!"

A blast of blue-white energy shot out from her hand and slammed into Harribel's midsection. The spell barely affected the Espdada, who responded with another volley of Trident. Rukia quickly dodged this with flashstep before appearing to the far right of where the attack was aimed at.

The 13th Squad Lieutenant panted to herself as fatigue began to settle into her body. She knew that she was out of her league against the Tres Espada. She had done her best against the Tres Edpada, using her almost everything in her arsenal against Harribel. However, all of that didn't seem to harm her in the slightest. However, Rukia had an ace up her sleeve.

"It looks like I'm going to have to use that technique in order to do any damage against her," she thought to herself. With that, she held her zanpakuto in front of her and uttered one word.

"Bankai!"

OST:

"Dance" (Naruto OST 3) (Link: www. youtube .com watch?v=X8U32FySELg)

(after the .com, add a slash symbol and don't forget to backspace the open spaces)

A bright light flashed around Rukia and then quickly disappeared, revealing her Bankai. She had now gained new attire. She wore a white, ankle length kimono with lined patterns. The kimono had an attached ornate collar, edges and a shoulder design with long white sleeves. Long flowing ribbons were tied to her back, which formed numerous long loops. An ice flower formation was on the center of her chest, and she had a half crown of ice that extended around the back of her head. Lastly, her hair had become white and the blade of her sword was now ice.

"Hakka no Togame (Censure of the White Haze)," she said as she turned her attention to Harribel. The Tres Espada simply aimed her blade at her and fired off another La Gota at her. However, as soon as the projectile got within her range, it suddenly froze into ice and shattered against Rukia.

Rukia then dashed forward with flashstep and came with contact to Harribel. Harribel's eyes widened as ice began to form on her body from just being near Rukia. She quickly sonidoed away but Rukia once again closed the distance, lashing out with several swift sword strikes. She moved with elegance and grace like a figure skater. She then backed up and slashed her sword as she announced her attack.

"Fuyu no Hikōki (Winter Flurry)," she said as several sharp icicles launched the blade and impacted Harribel, knocking her back. Rukia then circled around the Espada before launching her next attack.

"Totsuzen Samu-Su (Cold Snap)," she announced as a large flurry of snow and cold air launched from her body and hit Harribel, bits of ice and frost now covering her. Rukia then prepared her finishing move. She drew a circle in the middle of the air with her sword before thrusting it in the middle of it, announcing her technique.

"Yuki no Kaminoikari (Wrath of the Snow God)!"

An incredibly large blast of ice, snow, and cold air launched forth from the circle and covered Harribel, obscuring her from view.

OST End

Rukia let out a sigh of relief as she then deactivated her bankai. She then began to pant and placed her hands on her knees, the girl struggling to remain standing, as her bankai had took a lot out of her. Drops of sweat ran down her forehead and she took in big lungfuls of air.

"At least I've defeated her... that was not easy," Rukia said softly as the icy mist around her began to dissipate.

The 13th Squad Lieutenant then looked up and her eyes widened in disbelief.

Harribel was standing in front of her, but not undamaged. Several places on her outfit were covered in frost, and she had frostbite on parts of her skin. The Tres Espada raised her massive blade in front of the shinigami.

"I must admit that you are very skillful. I am sorry for what I am about to do, but I have a mission to accomplish."

Harribel then raised her blade for the killing blow, with Rukia calmly closing her eyes and waiting for the end. However, that never came as Harribel suddenly jumped back. A large Kidō attack impacted on the ground seconds later. Rukia then blinked in surprise before turning around, seeing an all too familiar face behind her.

"Nii-sama…"

Next Time - Reinforcements

A/N: I think I owe everybody an apology. I am so sorry for taking almost two years to update. I've distracted myself with working on other fics, as well as being occupied by college work, video games, and two different jobs.

I promise that the next update won't take so long. I'll start to work on it right away. And in between this update and the last, I've created three new fics: Fate/Zero Shinobi, White Wold & Red Hood, and Into the Great Wide Open. It would be awesome if you guys would check them out.

Anyway, I'll see you all next update (which will hopefully be soon).