Collision of Ideals

A blur shot over the rooftops of Rukongai, foot steps echoing loudly in the dark night. Yet, it wasn't alone in its venture. A second figure dashed after the escaping being, a flash of an unsheathing sword rattling the nerves of onlookers, blood quickly flowing down steel as the figure caught up to the retreating being in a shudder of Shunpo.

A massive shock wave of ice tore outwards as the attacker was suddenly blasted back from his target, smashing down into the earth below the rooftop battle zone. The figure still standing on the roof frowned down at his enemy, only to gaze wide-eyed as the redhead stood up unharmed and swiped out his palm

"What are you doing just watching!? Move! All Shinigami after him!" snapped Kenshin before he activated Shunpo once again. The retreating figure could only growl and shake his head as the onlooking Shinigami piled into trying to catch him. In a tear of speed the figure spun on his foot and began to dash away at surprising speed, his breath echoing loudly.

Yet, it was all for naught. A loud scream of power ripped through the air and collapsed into the abandoned building he was stood on, causing him to lose foot and vanish into a sea of blackness and pain. A certain Inuzuri phased before the destruction in a flash, holding up his now released sword before sealing it once, giving a nod to his fellow Shinigami to pick up the broken form of the criminal.

"....This is going to be a problem" uttered Kenshin under his breath as he stared at the broken figure and the stuff with him.

The next day there would be chaos within Seireitei.

Saikah paused, looking out her window. "...Odd...thought I heard something..." She muttered before going back to her paperwork. "Wonder if that runaway's been captured yet..."

"Inuzuri-taicho." Aura said, running up to him. "What just happened?"

"What just happened, you ask?" muttered Kenshin as he looked at Aura before shaking his head sadly before turning to the two Shinigami now carrying the unconscious criminal roughly, a gesture to show the face coming out. White hair and soft burnt face followed to reveal the criminal, Hitsugaya Toushirou in a ragged and scorched cloak.

"..Something that I cannot explain."

Aura glanced at the fallen captain, blinking emotionessly before turning back to Kenshin. "What are you going to do?"

Saikah glared at the clock on the wall, tapping her fingers as the seconds went by. "Thats it!" She shouted, hitting the desk and standing up.

"Something wrong?" Hisagi said, coming inside with another stac kof papers.

"I'm going to go out for a bit, you mind finishing the rest?" Saikah said, putting on her Captain's Haori and rushing out.

"Wait...what? Hey, tai-" Hisagi started, only to be replied with a slammed door in his face.

Saikah shunpoed towards Squad 10 Barracks. "Damn Midget, where areyou?"

Kenshin was about to answer her when a roar of power shook the land, a spark of ice flowing upwards over the sky. His eyes went wide as the Shinigami holding the white haired male screamed and flew back, a sword coming up in a flash. A tense silence fell over the air before a certain Hitsugaya shot upwards and pulled back his sword

"Bankai!"

Whipping torrents of ice span around the male in a flash, coming to form on the tip of his blade before expanding outwards. A howl was let loose upon the world as the air chilled instantly, two great wings ripping from a ice skin casing. Hitsugaya stood glaring at everyone in the vicinity, his sword coming to point at each and every once

Then, it happened

"Daiguren Hyourinmaru!"

Blood exploded violently as Hitsugaya shot forward, tearing into whatever stood in his way.

Aura's eyes widen a bit before she quickly shunpoed out of the way. However, she was not fast enough, holding onto her bloodied arm. "Taicho!" She said to Kenshin, looking at him.

Saikah froze and turend in the direction of Hitsugaya's spike of reiatsu. "The hell does he think he's doing?!" she shouted, quickly running over to htere.

"On it. Bankai."

Kenshin shot forward in a flash, his blue glowing sword coming up as his clothes changed. His blade smashed against the cold sword of the attacking Captain, quickly phasing out in a follow up reverse before slashing at his back. Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed as he frowned, letting off an explosion of ice to blow the strike away as he himself let shards sink into the skin of the red-head.

The red-head Captain could only grunt in pain before he phased out of view and appeared next to Aura, gazing at the still rather pissed off Hitsugaya. The white haired male turned slowly, glaring back with a cold stare as his voice echoed "I'll escape! You won't keep me here any longer you bastard, you hear me!? I WON'T LET YOU!"

The air suddenly began to get colder, the sky growing dark...

Suddenly, black chains shot out from the ground and attempted to coil around Hitsugaya.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Saikah shouted, glancing between the two Bankai released captains. "Someone mind explaining here?!@"

"Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" Hitsugaya's hands shot to his head, gripping it as his eyes snapped shut. He fell to his knees as he screamed, holding his head tightly, pain ripping through his form in shock waves. Tears leaked down the edges of his cheeks, freezing as he began to stand up, his sword slowly reforming in his hand

"I will escape this place, Aizen Sousuke." His voice was deadly cold, an alarming rate of ice erupting all around the vicinity passing seconds. If one would look closely they would see the inner depths of his eyes filled with a wild and glazed intent, cracked at the very edges of colour. Slowly he brought up Hyourinmaru, his wings spreading

"Die."

Snow flakes began to fall, sounds of blades being drawn instantly following.

"Eliminate him, now." ordered Kenshin as he brought up his sword, slowly building up a center of power at the tip of blade. His order shook through the area, Shinigami from the Kidou corps phasing next to their Commander and chanting quickly..

"Nani?!" Saikah said, her eyes widening. She glanced between the two captains, both ready to kill each other. Gripping her Zanpakuto, she shouted. "Kenshin, I understand what Hitsugaya is unforgivable, but right now he's confused! Not to mention we're in no state of losing one of our captains right now! wouldn't it be better to capture him and restraint him rather than kill him?!"

"We don't have time for that. Fire." snapped Kenshin. In response the six Shinigami around him threw out their hands, letting loose blasts of Kidou towards Hitsugaya as the red-head brought up his sword and let loose a massive wave of energy explode forth from his Zanpakuto and cave down upon him in a sea of blue.

"Tch! Bankai!" Saikah cried as she was engulfed in a black sphere. the girl shot out of the sphere, her captains haori black and her shinigami robes white with huge slits wher ehr shoulders were. More chains shout out of the shadows, wrapping around Hitsugaya to prevent him from using his zanpakuto. AT the same time, Saikah deflected the kidou off aim with her swords and tried to block Kenshin's attack. It pushed her back, even injuring her greatly, before she manaed to drive it barely past Hitsugaya.

"God damn it, Kenshin, Listen for once!" she shouted, glaring at him. "There's something wrong with HItsugaya right now! We need to fix this...and we won't do it by killing him, do you hear me?!"She took a steop forward and attempted to raise her sword to point at him, only to wince as a sharp pain went through her right arm. "Would you really kill a captain who could be under some kind of spell? are you really that cold hearted?!"

"You don't understand!"

A breath followed.

"Ara, we're too late!" cursed Kenshin as his eyes went wide. He tried, he had tried to stop it. The snow flakes began to increase amount, falling over the area before screams echoed, blasts of ice spikes ripping to from the snow, freezing whoever was touched by them. The Inuzuri didn't even mutter another word as he exploded backwards, spinning on his foot and blasting into the air.

"Move now, you stupid girl!"

The area turned to chaos in a single instant. People, buildings, whatever was touched by the snow flakes was frozen in a sea of death. Even though Hitsugaya and his blade was being held, his powers were still going wild, uncaring of who died and lived. Insanity span through the earth, blood leaking to the stone. Even the Kidou members froze instantly, their eyes cracked with unshed tears, pain echoing in the very depths.

Then it was over, with only silence remaining. Hitsugaya stood panting, eyes wild as he took in the destruction, a almost mad grin twitching at the edge of his lips..

Saikah's eyes widen, shocked at the aftermath of Hitsugaya's unstable powers. "No..." she muttered, her arms going limp. Her eyes widened even more at Hitsugaya's sick grin. She shook her head, backing away. "No...not again...I...I didn't..." She held her head and screamed, not bearing to see the sight that she caused.

The chains shook, threatening to break at any time. At the same time, Hitsugaya's shadow appeared before him and swung his sword down, attempting to freeze him with a similar attack to his zanpakuto.

"Enough."

As the fake sword hit Hitsugaya, a roar of red light slammed into his back, his eyes growing glazed in an instant as he dropped to the ground, losing his Bankai in a flash. A figure stood over him, his red eyes narrowed in annoyance. Silently the figure shook his head at Saikah and turned away, vanishing just as a blue-eyed Captain returned with a shudder of Advanced Shunpo

"Miss Saikah! Is he..?"

No, Hitsugaya didn't look dead, but he looked close. The back of his cloak was destroyed, burn marks on his back. Yet, Kenshin could only stare at the destruction caused and sigh, knowing he had tried to stop this from happening. Either way, what was done was done, it couldn't change now. Still, he had a job to do, as a Shinigami, and Captain of the Gotei 13.

"Arrest him" toned Kenshin as he pointed at the white haired male.

"Yes, sir!"

Saikah ignored what was happening around her as she sank to her knees, her hand over her eye.

"K-Kenshin...I...."

She couldn't speak any more, already on the verge of tears, not bearing to look at the Captain.

"Miss Saikah..."

The blue-eyed Captain sighed and took a step forward, bending down as he brought his arms around the crying girl. He knew she was only protecting a friend, doing what she thought was right. He couldn't blame her for that. Silently he closed his eyes in thought, running over what had just happened with the white haired Captain.

He knew the rest of the Gotei 13 would be up in arms trying to solve why the Captain had gone berserk, but he had a feeling that a certain traitor had something to do with it. Hopefully some of the more wise of the Gotei 13 had an idea on how to help Hitsugaya, if he could be helped at all. The only thing he could do till then was wrap up this destruction.

That, and comfort a friend.

Saikah froze as Kenshin's arms were wrapped around her. Soon, she couldn't help but cry out loud, clutching onto him. She was so confused, she felt like everything she did would only cause more chaos. She felt like she was all alone, nothing but a burden to everyone.

The red-head Captain bowed his head at that and placed a small yet gentle kiss on her head as he simply held her, just letting her cry out her feelings without a sound. He spied the form of Hitsugaya been dragged away towards the direction of Squad 4, sounds of footsteps heading towards the two silently crouching admist the destruction, wrapped in a embrace of tears and pity.

"Are you okay, Miss Saikah?" Kenshin asked softly as he held her.

She tried to control her tears, hicupping every now and then. After managing to stop crying, she got up.

"....I...I just want to be alone, Kenshin..." she muttered, walking aay from the red haired captain.

Time Skip

"What is the situation?" asked Kuchiki Byakuya as he stared at his fellow Captain, one who he rather disliked. Mayuri simply arched his head, seemingly grinning as he brought up his finger to point at the body on a nearby bed, wires hooked up to the form. The white haired Captain looked a mess, yet he didn't look dead, the heart monitor pointing this out swiftly with following beeps.

Mayuri coughed and grinned widely as his eyes flashed "Ah, there was something oddly wrong with the brat, something very wrong indeed." His hand slowly came up, holding a small vial filled with tainted crimson liquid, blood. Tainted was the correct word here, a rather dark grin licking the cracked lips of the Captain as he turned

"This is a sample of his blood. Infected blood."

"Infected? There is something within it?" asked Byakuya with a frown.

"Indeed there is. Poison, drugs, or simply a virus. Call it what you wish, but someone has been placing something deadly in the body of Hitsugaya." replied Mayuri as he held up the vial of blood within his hand "Whatever it is, caused what you witnessed today. Madness. That is what best describes it. A drug of pure madness."

Byakuya could only narrow his eyes at that. Madness? He had never heard of such a drug! The Kuchiki took a step forward and brought up his chin, speaking deeply as he stared at the body of Toushirou “Have you found out what, or who caused this madness? It must of come from somewhere, correct?”

A chuckle echoed

“My, my, you're not as stupid as I first thought. While we do not know how this batch of drug got within Hitsugaya, we do know where and who developed something much like it...”

“Who?”

Mayuri could only smirk

“Why, young Takayanagi of course.”

"If that's true, then why did Takayanagi-san make such a horrendous ddrug in the first place?" Unohana said, walking up next to Byakuya. "And for that matter...why was it used? was it just to stir chaos in the Seireitei?"

Saikah stared outisde through her window, a bottle of sake left untouch in front of her.

"Taicho, are you all right?" Hisagi said, coming inside with a stack of paperwork.

"....It's nothing..." she mumbled. "Any news of Hitsugaya?" He shook his head, causing her to sigh. "This whole thing is starting to get really troublesome...I wonder what's wrong with him..."

"Sadly, I do not know how he made such a thunderous creation. At first I thought it was for battle, a last resort...but..." toned Mayuri as he stared at the vial with interest and narrowed eyes "...I have found something rather interesting. This drug wasn't designed to cause this madness, no, it was instead designed to help something."

Byakuya blinked. Help? A drug that caused a virus unlike any other, yet it was designed to help something or someone? That didn't add up. Mayuri seemed chilled about something, looking at the blood within the tube as he continued "I believe something went wrong in its creation. Instead of enhancing something, it would instead cause a curse of the brain. I did a preliminary experiment with a few lab rats I keep in reserve..."

"What was the result?"

Mayuri stopped a second at that question and then spoke, his voice as cold as ice

"Within ten minutes, the rat had become mad, deadly insane. It became less of a rat, and more of a monster. Before I finally decided to take break, it had run the bolts on its testing wheel and tore the thing clean off the cage edges.." He paused and chuckled as he finished with his eyes stared straight at the Kuchiki and female Captain

"Sometime later the rat had ripped apart its cage with a strange edge of strength and then forced its way into the other rats' cages. I did a few short tests before I got here, and every other rat had been killed... and partially eaten.."

Kuchiki could only stare.

Sadly, Mayuri wasn't done

"The rat died seconds after this, suffering from this virus itself. It killed its host, putting it through torment unlike any other. While slower in Humans, I believe it acts much the same as it did on the rat..."

"What..!?" broke Byakuya as he shook his head, taking a step backwards.

Silence followed.

"Oh my, how horrible!" Unohana said, a hand over her mouth. "Isn't there a way we can cure Hitsugaya-taicho??"

"Won't your best bet is to ask the creator himself?" Someone said from behind them as Saikah walked up. "He would know a way to get rid of this....seeing as how Mayuri doesn't seem the least bit intersted in curing him.

"Then, what are we waiting for?" toned Byakuya as he turned, holding out his hand for the sample of blood and virus. Mayuri could only roll his eyes as he handed it over, silently shooing them out as he turned away to focus on more tests. The Kuchiki clan head gave brief nod before he span on his foot, gesturing for Unohana and Saikah to follow him...

The home of Takayanagi Masataka was there destination.