Chương 4: Chapter 4: Zaraki District

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'Thoughts'

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A/N: Slight alterations made to my writing style, comment on whether you like it or not.

Chapter 4: Zaraki District

Itoh's "comrades" had all wisely chosen to retreat with their tails between their legs, even they had the sense to realize that they simply weren't a match for someone that could take down Ouchi so effortlessly.

"I asked you a question" Koda continued to inch closer to Itoh, his gaze sending a cold sweat through Itoh's body. Each step he took was more nerve-wracking than the last, the animosity his aura radiated made it difficult for Itoh to get the words out of his throat.

"Well?" He stood right in front of Itoh, looking him dead in the eyes.

"We…" Itoh couldn't figure out a good response, on the one hand telling the truth would most likely get him killed, but the same could be said for refusing to answer or lying if he dared push his luck.

Koda sighed in disappointment, he was already well aware of what had transpired, and truth be told he didn't care much for justice, to do so would be hypocritical in the first place considering the fresh corpses he had in his closet.

"I didn't expect yo-" As he was about to attempt to get some information out of the man, his gaze tightened the instant he got a look over Itoh's shoulder, glaring straight at the gruesome sight present in the hut. "Hey…" His voice gradually grew more chilling, anger dwelled within him regardless of whether it made him a hypocrite or not.

The lone bandit began hyperventilating, he knew exactly what Koda was looking at. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck! I followed such a heinous order for nothing!' He noticed Koda's right hand that was clenching his sword begin to tighten, almost as if it was trying to suffocate the blade.

'Calm down, calm down, question him first, execute later…' Koda forced himself to momentarily swallow his anger, he first needed to determine whether the bandit had any valuable information on him. "Do you know how to exit the 80th District?" If Itoh didn't have a satisfactory response, that would be it.

"Ah…you-you'd have to go through Zaraki District" Itoh could do nothing but pray that his knowledge would let him live on, though the intent that was oozing out of Koda seemed to say otherwise.

"Is that so?" Koda narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out whether the bandit was just lying to prolong his life or not. "In that case…" He glued his eyes to each and every one of Itoh's movements, looking for any dead giveaways he could spot.

"How about you guide me there?" If Itoh had in fact lied, it would be easier to determine if he was being monitored on the way there, rather than just taking his word for it and heading off. "Unless you would like to join those two over there?" Though Itoh was certainly fear-ridden, he was beyond grateful that he now had a chance.

Or so he thought. "Y-yes! Of course!" He exclaimed eagerly, to which Koda faked a smile in response, lulling him into a false sense of security.

"Wonderful, I'll let you lead the way then" Koda gestured for him to start moving, as they moved Koda started wolfing down the food the bandits had oh-so conveniently pooled in the middle of the settlement.

Itoh desperately wanted to ask for a bite, but his gut instinct told him that he had already used up all of his blessings, so he chose to abstain in fear of provoking anything out of Koda. "Just so you know, if anything…out of the ordinary occurs on the way there, I'm not going to be taking any chances" Itoh could only nod meekly in response, praying that he would make it out of this alive.

As time passed the two eventually found themselves at the threshold of a rather desolate area, just looking at the landscape made Koda feel uneasy, as if some ominous force was looming over the area.

"We're here…" Only one thing remained on Itoh's mind, would Koda let him live? Or would he strike him down this instant now that he had outlived his usefulness?

"Isn't this supposed to be a district? I see nothing but dying wilderness…" Koda was justifiably skeptical about whether this was truly the place Itoh had told him about, there was nothing but sparse vegetation, withered trees, and drought in his field of view. Not to mention, the smell of blood reeked from where he stood, a major red flag.

"These are just the outskirts, you'll have to go much further in if you want to reach the central area" Itoh silently crossed his fingers, begging that Koda wouldn't ask him to step foot in that hellhole.

"You seem tense…is there something you're not telling me?" Koda inched closer towards Itoh, causing beads of sweat to drip down the forehead of the latter.

"Well…there is one thing" Itoh forced down a lump of saliva, turning around to face Koda to which he merely rose an eyebrow in response.

"Even within the 80th District, this area, in particular, has been deemed the most vile, this place has the highest population of criminals out of any other region" Itoh assumed that his willingness to provide intel wouldn't go underappreciated, but instead he couldn't help but shudder at the change of Koda's facial expression.

Disgust, pure and utter disgust.

'Rotten? Criminals? And to think I was worried about being a hypocrite…' He couldn't help but let out an eerie chuckle as he took a few more steps toward Itoh.

"I see, thanks for the information" In one swift motion, Koda grabbed the hilt of his blade and swung cleanly, decapitating Itoh in an almost art-like manner, not even giving him the chance to plead let alone beg.

'I definitely won't be losing any sleep over him…now then' Koda furrowed his brow, debating whether it was a good idea to proceed or not. 'This definitely sounds like a place that Yachiru person would dwell in…and if what I was told about her body count was correct…I'll definitely be killed, no doubt about it' He anxiously started pacing back and forth, struggling to convince himself it was worth venturing into the supposed hellhole.

'There may be another way to get out of here, but how on earth would I get my hands on such information? And how long would that take?' Koda's internal dilemma continued for roughly a minute until his partner decided it had something to say.

As per usual, it started to tremble, managing to communicate its intent without any vocabulary once again.

Koda smiled wryly, shaking his head helplessly as a result of his Asauchi's brashness. 'Stop being a bitch and just do it, huh?' He playfully smacked his sword but was thankful for his "comforting words" nonetheless, truth be told it was rather soothing having someone to help him make decisions — it helped ease the sensation of loneliness.

—

Two weeks later.

To Koda's surprise, his venture to the central area had gone by rather swimmingly, he had taken short naps along the way fully expecting some sort of ambush to appear at a moments notice, but apparently there was no need — which normally would make one sigh in relief.

Yet in spite of this, Koda's stomach churned as each day went by without any sign of an attack.

This was because the lack of hostility didn't seem to be a result of no-one being interested, but rather because there was no-one to be interested in the first place. It was pure radio silence throughout the whole journey.

Each time he sat down to munch away at the rations he had collected, he constantly surveyed the area, waiting for yet another bandit to strike at him, but he was met with nothing, he had not encountered even a speck of life for fourteen days.

Had it not been for his Asauchi keeping him company, he would have already gone half-insane by now, humans were social animals by nature — the sensation of being alone would eat away at one's psyche.

As he cut through the foliage to approach the moldering "town" if you could even call it that, his nostrils were assaulted by a foul odor that made it impossible for even him to hold back his urge to vomit.

The smell of rot was immense, so much so to the point where it felt like he was being deprived of all of other senses, he knelt on the dirt coughing erratically — desperately trying to regain his sense of his composure.

As he turned to the left he was greeted with a sight that instilled the single most intense sensation of dread into his very soul.

There was a mountain, a rotting mountain.

But it was not composed of dirt, soil nor rock, as a matter of fact its structure was far more organic than that.

There were corpses, corpses that must have been at least a month old just left there as if they had never been alive in the first place, piled on top of each other like mere objects.

As Koda's brain wrestled helplessly tried to perceive what it was witnessing, only one word came to mind, no matter what train of thought he attempted to cling onto his mind persistently repeated one word over and over.

Or more accurately, one name.

'Yachiru…'