THUMP
A man hits the ground with a grievous wound across his chest, he bears the symbol of the Shiba clan. As the full scene comes into view there seems to be countless bodies scattered across the Shiba courtyard, with zero discrimination for who they may be. Young and old, men, women and children, all lying dead within the Shiba compound. It is eerily dark, almost as if the sun is being slightly eclipsed by something. The dying Shiba with the wound across his chest stares up to the sky and glimpses an ominous dark tinted dome that is engulfing his entire clan’s home. His vision fades into darkness as he hears more screams echoing from inside the Manor of his clan…
The Arrival of Evil
A woman and child fall to the ground, dead, a warrior clad in black sheaths his blade and turns to look around the room. Other men, dressed the same as him, also sheath their blades as their unholy work is completed. Their attention then affixes itself to a singular man donning the Haori of a Captain, standing before the kneeling Chōko, tears streaming down her face and her hands gripped so tightly into fists that they begin to bleed. A large majority of her Clan had been decimated during the Civil War but there were still survivors, those who lived out in the Rukongai and scattered throughout the Seireitei as Shinigami. They had all been called back home, every last one of them by Chōko herself, or at least someone who forged a letter pretending to be her. On this day her entire Clan was finally put to rest by another Clan whose existence exists in the shadow of the Great Noble Clans, the Date.
The man who orchestrated this is the newly appointed Captain of Eleventh Division,Taro Date. To be exact it was Central Forty Six who told him to ensure another “Shiba Incident” never happens again. Not even they had any idea how he would go about enacting this order, then again, no one knows much about the Date in general, always living in darkness, always welcoming it. This evil man now stands before Chōko with an ever present smile on his face, his eyes closed to slits. She slowly reaches for her Zanpakuto, ready to avenge her clan only to be distracted by Taro suddenly bursting out into laughter.
”HAHAHAHA!! Oh, don’t mind me, please pick up that Zanpakuto you Shiba dog. You better hope your draw or release phrase is fast enough because if not I’ll kill you where you kneel.”
A twinge of fear starts in the hand closest to her Zanpakuto and runs up the length of her arm until reaching her heart, from there it spreads throughout her entire body. Her body knows better than her that this man is not bluffing or making threats, that he has no qualms about killing her and moving on with his day. She continues looking towards the ground, not saying a word for a few moments. Taro, on the other hand, seems to be basking in her fear and despair. The longer he stands before her doing nothing the more her mind runs with the possibilities of what he will do or say, with Densagi locked away she has no one to come to her rescue, not that it would matter Taro would have constructed a plan to deal with him if he were in the equation. He had done so with the Shiba who were a part of the Gotei Thirteen. Those who may prove troublesome were poisoned to death, sent out to the Rukongai on a “mission” only to encounter either himself or another Date who cut them down without a second thought.
”W-why are you doing this, has my clan not suffered enough?
”No.”
Pitiless
Taro responds immediately with a bit of cheer in his voice.
”Your first sin started centuries ago when you went against the other houses when they decided to divide the Soul King. Your second sin was being so easily manipulated and used for all those years leading up to the Civil War. If the Old Cog were still around I’d thank him for making your culling that much easier. Your final sin was doing nothing as your scum brother ran rampant, killing multiple Shinigami along with a very useful Cog in our organization. Now the bastard sits in Muken, thinking his vengeance sated. Always dig two graves when seeking it they say, heh, should have just dug one mass grave to be honest.”
”When he hears about what you’ve done he’ll-”
”Die, simple as that. From data collected during the Unhallowed Wars along with more recent data collected during his fight with the Old Cog we have more than enough information on how to kill him before he even gets started and if he does get started we still have means to stop him.”
”Heh, you keep saying we, who is this we you’re talking about? Central Forty Six? What's the matter, can’t face Densagi in one-on-one combat?”
She looks up with a cheeky grin only for it to be wiped away instantly as she notices Taro is unphased by her taunt.
”Not Central Forty Six, we, The Date, will purge him. Petty notions of honorable battle are beneath us, we do what must be done to maintain order and the status quo. These one-on-one battles, you speak of, are for lesser vagrants, it is why so many of them die in vain fighting useless battles.”
”Is that right? Then why-”
”Ugh, enough. This back and forth with such a base creature is exhausting and time wasting. If it keeps up I’ll end up slitting your throat by accident from annoyance alone.”
Taro Date’s Insanity
He turns his back to her and takes some steps away from her, stepping on the bodies and heads of her relatives in the process. He applies more weight than usual to his steps in order to crack and crunch bones beneath his steps.
”As of today you will be granted the title of The Last Shiba. Your clan lineage ends with you. No matter how secretive you think you are, we will always be watching you. This means you are also forbidden from having children. The moment you try, your life and the childs will be forfeit, no exception.”
Chōko’s world crumbles and she stands up in defiance only to instantly feel Taro’s killing intent, the illusion or hallucination of a massive grim reaper looming over her is seen, its jagged scythe looming close to her neck. To think the mere act of standing up almost cost her, her life snatched away the words she was about to speak. Fear locks her into place as she is unable to even fall back to her knees, she actively breathes through her mouth out of fear that she may not do it on her own. If her heart beat wasn’t such a far removed involuntary action she would probably die.
”This is the punishment you must suffer for the sins of your clan. We will tolerate infighting no longer. There is no reason for why the Gotei Thirteen is this weak and depleted of its forces, all by its own hand! Consider us a blessing, a blessing that keeps the Zero Division from coming down and establishing martial law on us all. The Date would thrive in that environment, however, many others would be culled in such a take over. We will stagnate the bleeding of the Seireitei and ensure our enemies cannot capitalize on our weakened state. Let’s go, ensure these dead bodies are in fact dead and leave them for the wench to bury or burn or rot, it doesn’t matter.”
The Date
His final sentence was to his personal soldiers he brought with him to carry out this heinous act of violence. These men clad in black armor with hidden faces are vassals of the Date, they act as enforcers, soldiers and executioners under the Date’s direct command and control. Be it out of loyalty or fear they serve with lethal diligence, following every order down to the most minute of punctuation. They understand if they are sent on a mission it is something they can absolutely handle without need of back up and if they can’t then be it their enemy or their Date Lords they will meet death.
Taro makes his way outside of the manor, repeating his order for the men outside as well. It didn’t need to be said that when they were done they were to return back to the Date Compound. The tinted dome that encompasses the Shiba property is in fact a Date Barrier Kido, it is pitch black on the outside to obscure the view of onlookers and conceals all Reiatsu within so no one would be able to notice the mass deaths happening within. Taro exits this dome only to be greeted by a young Shinigami in his early twenties. He stops and looks at him, noticing a piece of paper clutched in his palm. The barrier is designed to keep things out, not in and so this young man was unable to enter at all.
”Hmm, Eikō Shiba, always late to everything he does.”
”S-sorry sir I-”
Before he could finish speaking his throat is gripped by Taro’s hand before having it torn out by that same hand. Eikō falls to the ground, gasping for air that will never meet his lungs. Taro watches the young man die before using Hado #4. Byakurai to send a charged beam of Spiritual Energy through his head to ensure his death.
”Have pride that I remembered your name, I do not do that often. However, your name was only remembered because your inability to be punctual could have caused an inconvenience in all of this. Vassal’s, once the others exit the barrier you may release said barrier. Now to report back to Central Forty Six, that petty Captain’s meeting should be done by now.”
Taro draws his Zanpakuto ever so slightly, enough for black ink to flow from it and form a large ink fish. He hops on its back and lays back to relax as it ascends to the sky and begins making its way to the Central Seireitei so he can report his work to Central Forty Six.
To Central Seireitei
