Oblivion

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Fox of Spades said Oh, before I forget, let's use Pach's banners when we post (^w^)/!

I knew I forgot something, though it did happen to be 3 am. Will go edit when I get home~

And oh my gosh he got the crown <3 xD

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Upon arriving at their destination, Leon scanned the room carefully, noting the new arrivals. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked over to the table laden with sweets, pastries and candies. His mouth was watering by the time he sat down and he reached for a pretty lilac pastry shaped like a cinnamon bun. There was a very light dusting of green sprinkles atop the white frosting and Leon didn’t even think twice before taking a big bite out of the delicacy. It was just as good as the best cinnamon buns on earth, and the rest of strange lilac bun disappeared in exactly four seconds. Surprisingly, he found himself reaching for another one, despite the fact that he had never really had a particular liking for any flavor, be it sweet, sour or spicy. Though he had eaten half a giant cotton candy stick, the pastries just kept on going in.

By the time Leon had stuffed himself with around a dozen or so pastries – and he had branched out just for research purposes, trying out a coiled noodle-like thing and two slices of glowing rainbow cake – quite some time had elapsed and as he looked up, mouth full of mini crown-shaped biscuits, his eyes landed on the Queen of Delirium herself despite his intentions on checking out the new arrivals.

’Funny how I think of them like a new line of clothes,’ The thought crossed his mind for a split second before his eyes took in the crown on the Queen’s head. It was gorgeous. Elegant, regal, fabulous and above all, shiny. The crown-shaped biscuits he’d just swallowed didn’t even hold a candle to the beauty that was on the Queen’s head. “Shiny!” He exclaimed. “Damn, the Queen’s got style. It’s fabulous.” What he was even talking about would be an enigma to the others but he didn’t bother explaining himself as he scrutinized the crown further, as much as he could from such a distance. It was something he could definitely see himself wearing and the temptation to ask the Queen if he could try it on was alarmingly strong. But no, that wasn’t right. Could you ask a Queen if you could try on her crown? Even if he could, he put it off for later, as she seemed busy with a messenger bearing a scroll.

The ruckus from the rest of the humans made him turn towards them and after a moment of contemplation, he resigned himself to socializing once again. It hadn’t struck him earlier how strange he looked, like a hermit hogging everything in sight – which, unfortunately, he was. Leon stood up, despite his regret of leaving the majority of the delicacies behind, and scooped up a handful of the crown-shaped biscuits before making his way towards the newcomers. He stood on one side for a while, munching on a biscuit as he looked the newcomers over.

The very first person he noted was… strange to say the least. Hair so bright and pink it nearly reached out to strangle his eyeballs. Upon closer inspection, Leon could make out the person’s abnormally tall stature, a good 5 inches or so taller than him. And that wasn’t even the beginning. A disproportionate body structure, with legs so long they practically went on for miles. Leon had never once in his life seen a woman so darn tall and unusual. But who was he to judge? He was the one with feathers dangling from his earlobes.

The second one was rather hard to ignore, creating a commotion so noticeable that Leon’s attention immediately shifted towards the shorter, blond male before he was even done observing the pink-haired lady’s mannerisms. The blond man’s aggressive personality was the first thing that stood out and despite his height, Leon had to admit that he was fairly intimidating. ’Maybe I’ll avoid this dude for the time being…’

With great difficulty, Leon tore his eyes away from the male blond and turned towards another guy, this time a dark-haired one that was quiet and seemed studious. Leon knew not to judge by looks but it seemed this guy was dead serious and not much of a joker. It somewhat added balance to their already mismatched group, people he couldn’t even describe accurately.

The last newcomer was a somewhat red-haired girl. Leon couldn’t exactly place the color and as a result spent the majority of his observation time trying to place the shade of her hair. In the end, it amounted down to strawberry blonde. A few brief seconds of looking her over didn’t give him much information about her personality and Leon still stood there, somewhat to the side, a tad frustrated at the fact that he hadn’t even gotten their names matched to their faces.

Once again, the name-to-face game started. Lesley, Riley, Vincent and Inadi. That’s what he had heard, albeit somewhat absentmindedly, while he had been stuffing his face with cake. Lesley was a girl’s name, or at least the version used to spell girls’ names, and it seemed a better fit than Riley. The pink-haired lady seemed more like a Riley and so the blonde girl was probably Lesley. Leon’s eyes glanced at the two males, wondering who was who. In the end, he decided to leave his options open but referred to the dark-haired one as Vincent and the blond one as Inadi for the time being.

And, it was about time he’d introduced himself. No doubt someone would find it creepy, him standing there for several long minutes without saying or doing anything. A practiced smile came upon his face and he bowed a little, saying, “Hello, my name is Leon Elliott, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can get know each other well!” The words came out automatically as he had, after all, said them around a thousand times or so.

He hadn’t been able to catch the Queen’s announcement about whatever they were supposed to be doing or their next mission, but he did notice the pretty amulets. But by that time, several of the others had already gone up and picked theirs, leaving a smaller amount left to be chosen. Leon hurried up to the box after Leila, swallowing the last bits of the crown biscuits.

Leon immediately knew he would have no problem carrying the amulet around, even around his neck for the whole world to see, because they were all gorgeous. One particular amulet caught his eye more than the others and it seemed to be calling him, making him gravitate towards it particularly strongly. It was of the same shape and size as everyone else’s, but the interior was filled with… something. It wasn’t quite a liquid, yet it wasn’t a gas, but a beautiful, shimmery silvery-blue substance that slowly fluctuated inside its glass prison. It had an airy quality to it, yet it shimmered and glowed. The top and bottom were encased in bright silver accents that swirled elegantly, much like gusts of air. And even inside the gem itself, if one observed very carefully, it seemed like gusts of wind were forming a storm of some kind.

“…I want this.” He reached out and grabbed the pretty trinket and held it up to the light, fascinated, not noticing the rather strange feeling spreading through his hand and down his arm. Only when it seemed a light breeze was ruffling his clothes did he notice, and that’s when the air suddenly increased in speed and pressure and it rapidly surrounded him, swirling around him like a mini-hurricane before exploding outwards. It didn’t seem to be the limit of this ‘power’ of his, as the amulet’s substance had only drained a little bit and the Queen’s crown was simply a little bit askew on her head.

Suddenly, he felt the overwhelming urge to do something irrationally stupid, yet he wanted it so, so bad. He looked around for a second, looking anywhere and everywhere but the Queen before the words simply spilled out of his mouth and he blurted, “…Can I try your crown on? It’s fabulous.”

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

I vote aye for Pach & Phone's statements. Post will be up tonight, or tomorrow morning, not sure.

Also, Lesley is just <3. So much love for him, he's hilarious.

Bleach, the Hollowing Continued

Deep in the night even Osamu found sleep overtaking him. He loathed the necessity of sleep, like death, it put even great men on their backs. It was a waste of time, time he could better spend achieving something. But the calm before sleep brought his mind to a fervour. When he was busy it could be distracted, put to the task at hand. Inactivity was what let it run rampant and there was no inactivity greater than trying to sleep. It was here that he saw enemies come at him from every shadow, that he delved into the imagined minds of nobles and saw only murder and malice in their them. It was here that he heard dreaded voices from the past and feared voices from the future. Here his mind’s eye played out every nightmarish scenario. Unwilling to let Yuzuki gain any hint of his spinning mind he ensured he had his back turned to her as he tried to sleep, hiding his face and darting eyes. Part of him wanted to look upon her as they both tried to rest, to ensure her wellbeing but he could not let her know the state of his mind.

Unfortunately, he was to have little say in the matter. Exhausted from battle, drained by medical treatment and fatigued from his daily life Osamu fell prey to unconsciousness. There, whilst his mind lay truly open, he was vulnerable. What was about to occur did not always happen, but the threat was always there. If Yuzuki was conscious come the time she would see Osamu move uneasily in his bed, as time passed the movements would get frantic and desperate yet contained, as if fighting against imaginary constraints. He would make strange sounds, desperate and loud moans like a man trying to scream with his lips glued shut.

Eventually the effort would break him from his slumber and Osamu would awake, suddenly and with a quiet noise of horror and fear. Looking about him Osamu instinctively began reassuring himself that he was now in the real world. The unfamiliar surroundings made this a slower process than usual but he reached the conclusion eventually. The man was as white as a sheet, wide eyed and in a cold sweat, for a moment he was even shaking but he got control of himself eventually. Slowly, ever so slowly, as if trying to be as quiet as a mouse, Osamu turned. He aimed to see if Yuzuki was awake. If not he would remain quiet and hope the incident went unmentioned. If she was awake then he had better brace himself for questioning.

It had been a stressful day. Having ran here and there after every single patient, dealing with emergency situations and stabilizing critical conditions, Yue felt drained as she sat down on a chair outside the recuperating ward. She could feel the exhaustion settling heavily onto her body yet she still had work to do. She’d graciously accepted the fifteen minute break as soon as she made sure that every patient in her section wasn’t in dire need of healing and had settled down in the corner of the nursing station at the end of the ward’s hallway. For today she wasn’t directing assassinations or running reconnaissance missions – today, she had taken on the role of a healer. As the Fourth was quite short on healers with the influx of patients from the previous day’s battle, Yue had volunteered to help on her day off. Though she usually spent those days in her Division attending to matters, they could run smoothly for a day or two without her.

All too soon, her fifteen minutes were up. There would be no more interruptions in her shift for the night as she’d just come back from her house in the Yukihiro compound in-between shifts and there were no more nurses stationed on her section. Yue glanced at the list of patients in the register, inwardly sighing at the amount of patients she’d gotten. However, two names caught her eye. The first one stood out like a beacon yet it hardly surprised Yue. Ueshima Yuzuki, hardly an uncommon name in the register for the past few centuries, always in and out of the hospital, most often to apologize to the Shinigami she’d sent to the ICU. It was usually the other way round, though – it was the aforementioned Shinigami that spent their days recuperating, not Yuzuki herself. Nevertheless, Yue could easily find a reason – she’d picked a fight with one of the high-ranking Shinigami, possibly a Captain. She sighed to herself and smiled – the woman always did scare her quite a bit.

But the other name was quite surprising. How had Osamu managed to land himself in the hospital? In the same room as Yuzuki, no less. Yue felt a little bit of worry go through her – had he finally pissed off the wrong people and ended up in the hospital for good? She was brought out of her thoughts by a tap on her shoulder. Turning, she was greeted by the male nurse that had taken her shift while she had been on break.

“I’m leaving now, alright? Have a nice night.” The man said and waved before walking out the door, leaving Yue alone to watch the patients for the night. Half an hour in, Yue started doing her rounds, checking up on every patient’s room and monitoring their vitals, administering medicine and applying Kaido where necessary. Thankfully, most were fully healed by now and were just sent in to allow their bodies to get used to their new condition. By the time she reached the room at the end of the ward, Yue was in autopilot mode and entered the room, her eyes automatically flying to the heart monitor of one of the patients. It was steady, a good sign. After reading through the file left on the counter, Yue quietly rummaged through one of the drawers and pulled out two syringes with strong anesthesia. Just as she was administering both of them to Yuzuki’s legs, Yue heard a sound that sounded suspiciously like a muffled scream.

She stood rooted to the spot, watching the other patient in the bed next to Yuzuki, faintly recognizing some of the features. It was hard at first due to the hospital gown he wore. Though she could recognize Yuzuki anywhere, Osamu was a bit harder to make out beneath the faint shadows and the ghastly hospital gown but nevertheless, it was him. She watched him struggle for a while, feeling the urge to simply wrap her arms around him and end his misery. Yet, she didn’t – the fact that it was Osamu made her stand next to Yuzuki and avoid coming closer, trying to diffuse her internal battle between her personality and her logic. Absentmindedly, she wondered whether Yuzuki would wake up but the woman slept on peacefully, obviously tired from her physical exertion and intense treatment. The drugs she was on also kept her groggy most of the time, the IV dripping fluid that kept her knocked out for hours.

Eventually, however, it was too much to bear. Though his discomfort and writhing stopped, Yue found herself walking closer to him and she knew that her personality had won out. Careful not to startle him, she gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Normally, she wouldn’t have dared initiate physical contact like that but this was different – she had to be there for him and give him a little bit of comfort to calm him down, to show him that he was alright. Nevertheless, she didn’t move any further. He would come to her if he needed to, he just needed to know she was there. “Are you alright?” Yue asked in a soothing voice, her eyes softening. It wasn’t often that Osamu was so visibly shaken up, he always seemed strong and alert. But now, it was different.

When Yue placed her soothing hand on Osamu’s shoulder he tensed up and froze. Someone had seen him! Someone was here! Combine this with his half-awake state and his utter fear and he may as well have felt someone put a blade to his neck, the effect would have been the same. But that changed when he heard the voice behind the hand.

It was Yue, thank whatever providence there may be it was Yue! True he would have preferred if no one was there at all but since that was not the case this was the best possible outcome. He immediately felt safer and calmer, there was no threat here now. Just someone he emotionally trusted. But seeing her face, her soft eyes and concerned expression relieved his heart in a different way. The reason why would not be immediately clear to Yue, to know the answer to that she would have had to see his dream. But seeing her here was a huge and welcome relief. He was still shaken, he was still pale and cold but things were better now.

He managed to surprise even himself with what he did next though. Mustering what strength he could and ignoring the pain in his chest Osamu rose up and embraced Yue. Perhaps it was because his nightmare had forced him into a state of emotional extremes, perhaps it was because his mind was not yet fully awake, perhaps because he felt that vulnerable and could trust Yue that much, perhaps because he genuinely wanted to or perhaps because of all of these things, he put his arms around her.

It was not timid or cautious, there was no careful calculation going on in his mind about the likely impact, about whether it was wise or appropriate. This was instinctive, heartfelt and full. He embraced her and he did so hard. It was almost as if he was hugging her to make sure she was real and to make sure she was safe, it felt as protective as it was seeking help. Her question also provoked an odd response. With his mouth by her ear he whispered.
“No. I will be though, I will be.” He was still shaking, something had clearly rattled him very, very deeply. It was what he said next though that was truly strange. “But you are all right and that’s what matters. You’re going to stay all right!” He said that last sentence almost defiantly, as if daring the world to stand against him in this regard. He would keep on embracing her so long as she did not resist. “Thank goodness it was you.” He whispered again as he held her.

Yue’s concern grew at the feel of Osamu flinching away at her touch. What had happened that had rendered him so frightened? She truly couldn’t comprehend the reason for his fear; her calculating, sharp gaze had melted away into one of warmth. His cold and pale state worried her much more than it normally would’ve and she moved closer to him, intent on making sure he felt alright. So when he pulled her into a sudden embrace, Yue didn’t flinch away, nor did she show any sign of repulsion, because she didn’t feel any. Even if it had been a situation with weapons present, Yue wouldn’t have pulled away; she knew that Osamu felt shaken up and was in need of somebody there. The contact was slightly awkward and very unfamiliar to her but she eventually eased into it.

On instinct, Yue wrapped her arms around him in response, gently stroking his back to subtly tell him she was there. It brought out a rather unfamiliar side of her, even softer than what she usually portrayed but Yue couldn’t help it. She returned his embrace with warmth and comfort, glad to see that he was more awake now. She leaned down slightly, pushing him down ever so gently so that he didn’t hurt his healing breastbone or any of his internal organs, at the cost of additional strain on her back. But it was worth it. "You're alright now, you're safe and have nothing to worry about." Yue softly whispered to him.

At his words, Yue felt a little bit lost. She pulled away slightly, her blue-green eyes giving him a mildly questioning look. “What do you mean? Do you want to talk about it?” She was by no means forcing him to tell her yet she felt the tug of curiosity. It didn’t manage to outweigh her concern; no, not by far. She moved closer again, wrapping him in a soothing, comforting embrace that would hopefully do him some good, her hand gently stroking his back in an attempt to calm him down and warm him up from his cold temperature. “I’m here for you.” Yue said quietly, voice laden with conviction. There wasn’t anybody in Soul Society that didn’t deserve to at least be heard out; yet Osamu deserved so much more, something Yue was already leaning toward giving to him. He certainly did need it right now.

Yue did the best thing she could have possibly done in reaction to Osamu’s sudden and unexpected embrace. By returning it she garnered so much favour in his eyes that it was almost dangerous. He felt safer, he felt warmer, he felt validated, he felt that in some way he was cared for. Yue might one day live to regret showing such kindness but it would not be today. Her hand rubbing his back gently was so appreciated he couldn’t even try to describe it in words. Her gentle words of reassurance, though slightly misguided, were similarly valued for their intent. She was wide of the mark but she was trying and she cared and that meant everything. Her words “I’m here for you.” Would play in his head time and time again for a very long while. Their impact remained to be seen, both good and bad could come from them. But they were lodged in his head now. The significance of what Yue had done over the past few seconds would be hard to overstate.

After a few more moments of silent embrace Osamu backed away ever so slightly, hands now on the backs of her shoulders rather than locked in a full embrace. This also allowed him to settle into a less stressful position and would grant her the same luxury. He still wanted her close, he valued it hugely and he still wanted the reassuring contact. But by backing away slightly he was signalling that he was a little better now. Casting a brief glance at Yuzuki he asked quietly.
“Are we sure she is unconscious? She will stay that way?” Osamu had swiftly come to hold Yuzuki in high regard but this was not a conversation for her ears, not yet. This was only for Yue.

As soon as Osamu let go of her and laid down, Yue felt relief for both of them as the ache in her back slowly dulled. It eased the physical strain of the embrace and though his hands were still on her shoulders, Yue didn’t mind. It was comforting knowing that he was in a much better state, though Yue quickly called that into question in the following moments. He seemed tense and unsure, and Yue quickly resumed her gentle stroking on his shoulder this time. She followed his glance towards the sleeping woman and once again wondered what had caused Yuzuki so much damage. He had nothing to worry about, however. “The lower half of her body is under regional anesthesia and she’s on sleeping medication and other drugs that induce unconsciousness, including a muscle relaxant to get her to relax for tomorrow. I just administered them according to the Head Healers’ orders so she won’t be awake anytime soon.” True to her word, the said muscle relaxant was slowly seeping into Yuzuki’s system via the IV drip along with the sleeping medication Yue had administered through the syringe. Yuzuki was scheduled for a full-body check-up and last-minute work on her legs, which would require minor surgery so relaxation was a must. Any additional strain could’ve caused complications for the Healers that would’ve kept Yuzuki in here even longer. But she didn’t want to bore Osamu with the medical details so she kept it at that.

But it did make her concern and curiosity grow. What did Osamu have to say that he couldn’t in front of Yuzuki? Yue knew the woman was callous and at times unrefined but she tended to be understanding. Not as much as Yue but it was there, much to Yue’s initial surprise. Nevertheless, she stood by him, patiently waiting for him to continue.

Sighing Osamu looked down for a moment, deeply uncomfortable with things. He hoped Yue did not take offence at this, had it been anyone else other than her he would have been in an utter frenzied panic by this point. She really was the best possible thing that could have happened. But he could not tear his gaze away from her comforting, warm eyes for long. Those hues could be as sharp and deadly as knives. He had seen it first hand, their was a savage and keen mind back there but now there was such warmth and tenderness that he found himself soothed, enraptured and tormented at the same time. He wanted to talk about what had been bothering him but he was not sure how, nor was he sure she truly wanted to hear when she found out what it was.
“It’s not me that I was afraid for, well it was and it was her and the crushing crushing…..” He was getting mixed up, starting the next sentence before the first one had finished. His brain was skipping from idea to idea so fast that his lips couldn’t keep up. His breathing began to get out of control and he had to wrestle himself into line. It took him a few moments and he drifted close to Yue as he did so but eventually, he got himself in line.

He looked up at her. His mind was prone to exaggeration and extremes even at the most relaxed of times. When it committed to an idea, a thought or an emotion it committed fully and hard. Perhaps that explained the strength of his feeling. But she was so beautiful, when he thought that he didn’t think of her body or her mind, he thought of her soul, her nature. Perhaps he wasn’t thinking straight and he almost vocalised that thought. His lips began to move to say it and with only a little, even unintentional, emotional prodding he probably would. But instead he finished his previous sentence. He sounded vulnerable and afraid but so genuine and concerned at the same time.
“It’s you. I couldn’t stop it.”

As confused as Yue felt at his words, she sat down on the side of his bed, taking as little space as possible as she continued to run her hand over his shoulder comfortingly, encouraging him to relax. She leaned towards him slightly, worried at the mixture of words that seemed to flow from him but not making any sense. Stopping her movements, she placed both hands lightly on his shoulders with as much care as she could, as if comforting a frightened child. But he wasn’t like a child, he was so much more and Yue was slightly baffled as to how to properly calm him down so she did what came instinctively.

“Shh, it’s okay. We’re safe and alright, see?” She touched the side of his face lightly as if reaffirming their existence before returning her hands to his shoulder. Yue didn’t even have to put in any effort anymore, her comforting reaction came naturally. It hurt her slightly to see Osamu so shaken up over Yue herself, making her wonder exactly what he’d seen yet she did feel a twinge of affection. She was surprised at herself for feeling all these foreign and unexpected things – why did it matter whether he was in shock or not? Even now, her logic was screaming at her to abandon him and let him go through the spell himself yet there she remained, stubbornly ignoring it in favor of seeing him alright again. Granted, he did tend to irritate her a bit more than she’d have liked but that was just the political side of him. She’d been immensely fortunate to witness the personal side of him and Yue was glad to know he was a genuinely caring human being. Perhaps that was why she remained, why she felt the immense urge to help him out.

Yet his words had thrown her for a loop. Why had he clutched at her like that in the beginning as if she had been dead and come back to life? By all means, it was strange, and even his last words made her heart hurt, genuinely confused as to why she herself had caused him to become frightened and jittery. It made no sense; shouldn’t he have pushed her away if that was the case? But it only brought her relief to see that he had reacted positively, more than positively even. “What did you see? Why was I getting crushed?” She gently inquired.

“No you aren’t..” He began in an effort to explain what was going on in his mind but the chain of thought broke for a moment. Her tender attitude, her hands so recently on his face, the mere fact she was here. A moment of chilling calm came over him for a moment as he looked up into her eyes before saying gently, quietly and sadly. “You sweet, gentle, beautiful creature.” He sounded almost pained and sorrowful when he said that. But it was genuine, you could tell he meant every word of it and you could hear the affection in his voice, but something about how beautiful she was made him sad and slightly afraid. He wanted to just take her up in his arms and carry her away from the world right now but he knew he couldn’t. There was no running away from the world.

Straightening himself up in his bed he gently placed one of his own hands on her cheek and held it there tenderly for a few moments. “You are too good for this. I won’t let it happen.” He said quietly before repeating in a slightly more aggressive and defiant tone. “I won’t let it happen!” But he realised how crazy this must all seem to her. Gently taking his hand away from her face, though clearly regretting the necessity, he looked down for another brief moment and sighed.

His sadness seemed to have a mirroring effect on Yue and she surveyed him with a bit of sorrow, though her cheeks did color a little bit following his words. It was fairly unnoticeable in the dimness, though, so she’d gotten away unscathed. However, it did instill and even deeper sense of worry in her that was made apparent in her expression. Not even his own hand on her face made her worry die down, and though the contact did slightly startle her she only sent him a reassuring smile. “Let what happen? Tell me so that I can help you, please. I really want to help you; I don’t like seeing you like this…” Yue’s voice was tinged with a bit of sadness, yet she couldn’t keep her concern out of her voice.

After a while he resumed speaking, still looking down. His tone was shaken and weak once more, it was as if he was forcing himself to say every word, struggling against some great emotional weight that tried to force his words back down his throat. Even his reason was telling him to be quiet, that telling her anything was a bad plan, that even setting aside the fact she may one day use it against him it could force her away emotionally to, that if Osamu wanted her to keep caring she must never know. But there was another, greater need somewhere deep, deep down. Fuelled by a bizarre, incomprehensible and downright dangerous mix of emotions a great hand had emerged from his soul and it was desperately seeking something, something to grab onto and hold with a deep conviction. That something was Yue.
“You weren’t getting crushed… what’s crushing is the guilt. The crushing, crushing guilt and fear and pain and sorrow and rage. I would not describe in vivid detail what I saw.” At this point he looked up at her, he was on the brink of tears and his eyes spoke of such concern and affection it took even him a little by surprise. The great burning furnace that rumbled away behind his eyes seemed to have been replaced by a warm, nurturing hearth fire, eager to aid and comfort. “You are so pure I fear it would taint you, hurt you. I cannot allow that. I must preserve and protect you.”

Looking away again, as if in shame, he shook his head. He felt cold and alone once more and very suddenly, even with Yue here. Her warm embrace, gentle tone and soulful eyes rang hollow and mocking. He wanted them, needed them so desperately it hurt and it hurt all the more right now because a voice in his head told him they were just about to abandon him and walk away, to give him a taste of what could be and then leave, rendering him even worse than before. But whilst Osamu did not overcome his shame he did start to overcome his fear.
“You don’t know my family.” He said with a little shiver. “You don’t know the why… the why of me. To tell you all would be too long, too arduous for us both this night. Fitful nights such as this are more common than I would like, not all are the same but they are all on a theme. With layers of meaning, symbology and terrible knowledge…” His voice began to trail off again and he swallowed hard, steeling himself for the moment. He still feared she would leave but if that was the case he needed to look upon her and her tender, mild warmth whilst he still could.

Looking up at her he forced himself to put a brave face on things, and empty, sad smile appeared on his face but there was some joy in simply her. “What I saw was a variation on the very beginning. A glance into my past and your future. When you know the beginning you may begin to understand much about me. With that knowledge will come something dark and twisted. I fear you will leave, and I will not see this.” He gestured to her and he lingered on her kindly face. “Anymore. Nor will you wish to look upon me.”

When he started speaking, Yue tried her hardest to calm him down, gently running her hand over his shoulders. She already felt a bit of affection for him but the contact didn’t really seem as out-of-place as it probably was. True, it really wasn’t her place. Yue found herself thinking back to how inappropriate this was – she, an engaged woman comforting another man in the middle of the night, a man who’d gone against her only a week or so prior. But that didn’t even matter to her, not even a little bit much to her surprise as she gave Osamu a reassuring smile.

“Listen to me,” She spoke, placing a hand on the side of Osamu’s face. “I’m not going to leave no matter what it is, I promise you that.” The conviction was evident in her voice even as she looked on, her eyes softening once more. Osamu didn’t deserve it, not any of this. A twinge of guilt went through her at the thought of causing him his discomfort. That guilt drove her to sadden a little bit more, though she tried to smile and once again said, “I promise.” There wasn’t really anything that could drive her away at this point, unless he admitted that he’d somehow killed her entire family. And even then, she’d once forgiven a certain man for massacring over twenty Yukihiro in her presence. It was all about the intention, and Osamu’s at this point were all good and honorable, as was evident by his will to protect her from something she didn’t even know. It made her smile through her dejection, her respect for Osamu already growing. She didn’t blame people for thinking he was too ambitious and such, but it was their loss for not knowing what lay inside. And Yue liked it a lot, making her smile serenely once more. She leaned in slightly and locked eyes with him, hand still on his face. “We’ll see a lot of each other in the future, you’ll see. Don’t worry about it. Remember what I told you during our meeting? You can come to me if you want to talk about something and promised that I wouldn’t judge, nor will I judge now. Just let it out.” Her words were followed by a smile, a smile that promised everything she’d said. It did make her heart hurt even more and she inwardly berated herself for being too soft yet… it wasn’t going anywhere. As long as Osamu was still plagued by whatever he was suffering from, Yue would be there to help him out, just like he’d tried to lend a hand with her marriage issues. As much as his political side was despised, Yue would’ve bet quite a lot on the fact that if people witnessed his personal side, they’d change their minds just like how she’d changed hers that night.

In the short term Yue’s words of comfort and reassurance were the best possible thing she could have done. Osamu felt less afraid, though no less ashamed. Her voice, her tender voice carried through to him more than any other element of her gentle being. He latched onto it, that voice would be replayed in his head time and time again. In the long term Yue would likely regret her kindness though, or so Osamu thought. But that would be addressed latter. Her eyes locked on his gave him such comfort and he would not forget it. This was all a favour he was determined to return. He was not as good as her, he was irrevocably tainted or so he thought. But he would try to be as good and kind to her as he possibly could, in his own way. That could prove to be a blessing or a curse.

When he spoke it seemed he had wondered radically off point. He knew what he was about to say would sound crzy even before he said it. As such he gave an empty little chuckle and looked away before locking on to her eyes once more and staring, deep, deep into them. He seemed to be searching for something when he said quietly.
“You remind me of something I never knew.” He chuckled again slightly, aware of how that sounded but then he kept on speaking softly but slightly detached, as if his mind had partly divorced itself from proceedings as a way of protecting itself. “She was like you once, apparently. Warmth, tenderness and a near all-consuming kindness. Such a beautiful and wondrous soul. Before him. Before me.”

He rose up slightly, coming closer to her, their foreheads almost touching, his voice a near silent whisper but earnest and full of conviction. “You will not become like her, you shall not feel what she feels. You will not undergo what we did. You will not need to suffer one such as me.” But again, he was aware of how mad this sounded, it seemed unsettling even to him and he knew what he was referring to. Steeling himself for the inevitable he tried to make himself continue. The moment had arrived. He had wished it had never come, or at least not come so quickly. But from the moment she saw his tormented slumber it was inevitable. Her kindly nature meant she could not walk away and his gratitude and sympathy meant he could not spurn her kindness nor deny her curiosity.

His eyes grew slightly colder but also grew wider, as if he was staring through her and into some ghostly visage behind her eyes.
“It is more than just your nature that reminds me of what she was. Your situations are, hauntingly similar. She was to be sold as you are.” His state did not lend itself to him putting a diplomatic spin on words, he was saying what he thought, Yue’s arranged marriage was akin to slavery. Her parents were selling a human being to be used. “She was sold, to him. But she loved another.” He chuckled again slightly, but it was menacing now, dark and slightly evil as well as slightly broken with the mental strain. Whatever was going in his head was not making the right emotional connections but his brain had been so twisted over this that it was no surprise. But he was also chuckling at the cruel fates that had put Yue into much the same position as this mysterious woman.

While at first the pieces were scattered and made little to no sense, it suddenly became at least a little bit clearer. Yue could already guess why he’d seen her in the dream and while initially she couldn’t tell who the mystery woman was, her mind slowly connected the dots, slowly and sluggishly as if slowed down by something foreign to her. A woman who had been happy before Osamu, Osamu not wanting her to be cursed with someone like him… it was his mother, or another close relation. It made sense, though it didn’t bring any reassurance to Yue as it slowly became clearer and clearer. Her eyes stung a bit and Yue could suddenly see a way out – Osamu. But he cared so much, much more than Yue herself did as she’d given up hope a very long time ago. Seeing someone else willing to help hit something in her that made something in her chest twist and cause her as much elation as sadness.

But he continued his story, still staring through her eyes at something behind.
“She denied him. She did her duty by her family and married but she denied him the purpose of such a union. This angered him…. You do not anger him. For he will extract what he wants and he will charge you a high price for your resistance.” There was another pause as his skin grew colder, the images from his fevered dream were flashing across his eyes again now. Yue would likely detect a mixture of such negative emotions as it was a wonder he didn’t crumble then and there. “The woman respected the boundary of the hollow marriage. But her former love was still punished. He still died and he did not die well. But that was merely the interest on the payment, the capital sum still had to be paid. She was…” Osamu stopped the words jammed in his throat, he almost choked on them. He didn’t want to say them but he had to, he owed it to her and he had to say it to someone, someone. Who better than her? Who worse than her if this went wrong?

“Raped… again, and again, and again. The first time the head of her lover was mounted in front of her face. They say that if it happens in the confines of marriage it’s legal. Maybe. It’s still evil. It broke her soul, such a beautiful thing it was once. The wound could never heal, it was kept ripped open by the cruellest thing that could have been done to her. Crueller than anything that had yet happened. She was given an eternal reminder of the event in the place of the thing she should love most in this world and that should bring her the most joy.” He then became colder than ever, his skin was like death and eyes stared into an eternal abyss. “Nine months later the final mockery was delivered unto her. A creature made from such wickedness could never be good and pure and loved. Its skin was pale, like the dead flesh of that head in front of her eyes. It’s hair as black as the heart that had made it. Its eyes burning like hell and its nose twisted to hint at the warped nature of its creation and its soul. A trial it can never overcome. Every time she looked at it she saw that night and she saw evil no matter how hard she tried to do anything else.” Had Osamu been fully in the moment he would have been paying careful attention to Yue’s reactions as it became clear the spawn of which he spoke was none other than himself. But he was so drawn away he was barely even aware of the rest of the world. Just the cold and her eyes.

“The night of the creatures conception was what I saw, constructed from accounts and the knowledge of men’s souls, the knowledge of my soul. But it was not that woman who suffered, though the full strength of emotion associated with her was felt perhaps two fold. It was you who suffered. It was you and I couldn’t stop it.” His expression changed slightly and he looked at her with tenderness and sorrow. His mind was now half gone into the images again, unsure of what was quite real and what was imagined. “I’m sorry.” He whispered ever, ever so quietly.

By now, the stinging in her eyes had grown to such an extent that she’d had to squeeze her eyes shut, forcing the tears back. Yet, she didn’t grieve only for herself – for Osamu as well. She could very well tell it must’ve been absolutely horrendous living such a life and his unusual state of mind made more sense. Nevertheless, it only saddened her knowing he’d had to go through something like that. Of course people had their hardships but it didn’t matter, pain was pain. Inwardly, she chanted ‘Stop,’ several times, but it wasn’t because of Osamu’s words – no, it was the tears that were about to break through. It brought her back to the night it had been revealed to her but now was decidedly worse, with a double assault on her fragile emotions.

At the mention of rape, however, her throat felt constricted. Yue had been denying it for the longest time but she wasn’t stupid. It was obvious; if she didn’t consent, he could force her. It was legal by all means. And knowing he had seen her in the woman’s place made it ten times worse. Yue bit back a sob, feeling the emotional strain overtake her, being infinitely more than she could handle. It was horrific and now it was playing out in her head, over and over. Just as the first tear escaped, she said, “I’ll live.”

His look of tenderness made another tear follow but it only made her resume gently stroking his shoulder, trying to calm him down. “It’s alright, you have nothing to worry about.” It only amplified her sorrow yet through the entire haze of sadness and hopelessness she’d been feeling, a miniscule, tiny ray of hope emerged. He cared. Osamu cared, even when he didn’t have to. It didn’t directly concern him, but Yue would be damned if she ever let him down. Wrapping her arms around him, she pulled him into a tender embrace, mostly to mask her shaking voice as she said, “Don’t ever call yourself a creature again, u-understand? You’re not a creature, you don’t even deserve to be thought of as one. Promise me you won’t say that again. You’re not.” She repeated, though by now the third tear had fallen. She tried to regulate her shaky breaking and wiped her face with her yukata’s sleeve, not intent on Osamu seeing her cry. Yue had to be strong for him, she had to – he was the one suffering. But Yue couldn’t help it. He’d hit something most other’s didn’t even think was there, yet the mere fact that he did had made his go even higher in her eyes.

Though he was wrapped in her own emotions her sadness was not lost on him. It was so acute, even though she tried to mask it would be apparent to anyone but it was especially apparent to him. He cared about her. At first her sadness was dull and muted to him as his mind slipped away back into its dark visions. But it was so sharp and so acute to him specifically, that he could not help but feel it. Still, his reaction was delayed his mind was a jumbled mess and it would take some time for all the pieces to fall together. When she wrapped his arms around him though he instinctively reacted, rising up slightly he locked his arms around her as well and held her tight and held her close. Her comforting presence, her reassuring arms and her wavering voice that even now tried to sooth him were all welcome, appreciated and needed. At first he did not respond to her questions, he just held her close and seemed as if he would never let go.

Soon though her words began to filter through. Never call yourself a creature. The man had spent his whole life trying to be more than the circumstances of his birth had dictated. There were other elements at play there as well but now was not the time for that discussion. But he could never shake off the notion that there was something off about him on the inside, a thought that had been both intentionally and unintentionally reinforced by those around him. Centuries of programming were difficult to shake off, he even found it liberating in an odd kind of a way. Of course he shouldn’t have but his psyche had resorted to desperate means to preserve some kind of functioning consciousness. But here was a woman in his arms, embracing him and tearfully both begging and demanding that he no longer think of himself in such a way. He was not sure he could and this was the first time he could recall that this conception had been directly challenged. He could not just say okay and walk out of the door a new man. But equally he could not disappoint the beautiful woman before him who actually cared and deeply so. Holding her slightly closer to him he seemed to warm gently and he gently whispered.
“I can try.” He meant that when he said that, he would try, for her. But he was a man used to fighting the rest of the world, not himself. This would be a different kind of fight but he had Yue now for that, he had Yue and he would not let that go.

It pained him to see her this upset, though it was slightly gratifying and reassuring at the same time, to know someone cared enough to cry. Perhaps that was a selfish thought, a cruel one as well perhaps. But he could not help but think it. Still, he would rather see her happy and fulfilled than like this. It was at this point he had a delayed reaction to her earlier statement, something that had sailed past him at the time. The idea that she would live, that she would live through her marriage and the inevitable horror behind. This was unacceptable to Osamu. He sympathised with all women in her position, even more so since she was a figure worthy of respect and good treatment. But now, now that she had stood here and taken him into her arms despite his sinful creation, now that she had laid open her tender soul, now he would not abandon her to this fate.

Rising up so he was kneeling on the bed he held her closer still to him, any pain or discomfort inherent in the action was clean forgotten, it would have been as nothing to allowing her to continue to cry. Yue had done something very dangerous today. She had gotten Osamu to care about her, deeply. This could be a magnificent reward or a terrible curse, but it wouldn’t be mild. The fire in him began to stoke and rumble once more, the great pistons of his mind slowly began to scream and wail back into life. The machine was waking! He held now again as protective and comforting of her as she was of him. He held her so close it would have been impossible to cradle her more tightly to him without causing harm. But his comfort came less from emotional consoling, though that would always be on offer, but more through assurances of hard action. Placing one hand on the back of her head he rested his forehead on hers and titled her face up slightly whispering hardly.
“Look at me.” It was more of an order than a request. He would stay like this until she opened her eyes and he could stare into the wonder below, his own roaring eyes lending weight and conviction to what he said next.
“You are too good, beautiful and pure to just live. You are a great and noble woman and you are far too kind and warm to be abandoned to such a fate. I will not let a soul as wondrous as yours be cast aside. I will not permit it. You do not deserve to merely live, you deserve to thrive! To find happiness and joy as yet unimagined. You deserve a husband of your choosing, when you chose. You deserve to love your children like a mother should, to bring them joy and take such joy from them as can barely be described. I will not let this world or anyone in it take that away from you. I will deliver it into your hands. There is nothing that will stop me.” When he spoke he spoke with a fire in his words, it was almost as though he was trying to intimidate her into happiness, burning away the fear and worry inside of her through his conviction and intensity, perhaps even daring the rest of the world to stop him. But his words were kind as well, if they were a fire it was a fire that would warm and nurture her but burn away anything that tried to harm her. One thing was for sure, she had been too good to him for him not to return the favour in the only way he knew.

Osamu’s answer of “I’ll try” wasn’t entirely satisfying for Yue but she couldn’t have expected him to do a one-eighty in one night. It did somehow signify deeper psychological issue but in her current mental state Yue didn’t have neither the capacity nor willpower to deconstruct this particular issue. On top of that, it wasn’t even her business, though it did sadden her immensely that Osamu suffered like that. It struck something deep within her that inclined her to help however she could, though she didn’t believe she had the ability to do it. Nevertheless, there was always hope. And the eradication of that particular belief Osamu had of himself as a ‘creature’ would be a thing Yue would steadfastly hope for.

His embrace, however, was far different from what she’d have assumed it to be. Outwardly, Osamu didn’t seem as the type that appreciated or initiated physical contact yet here she was, proven wrong not once but twice. It was comforting, just like hers had been, making her relax a fair bit. Suddenly she wasn’t the one in control, the stronger one who’d extended a hand for Osamu to hold on to – now, it was somewhat reversed. Though Yue could tell she was still able to provide comfort, he did so too, much to her surprise. She sighed a bit, unhappy about the fact that she’d soaked a bit of his nightgown in tears. Hardly proper conduct as his nurse, yet she didn’t entirely care at that moment. The fact that the flow of tears was being stemmed by a single hug was what she focused on. His embrace somewhat reminded her of Kouta’s and the situation was eerily similar – both times she’d first had such contact, she’d been in tears. Yet, Osamu was different. Way more unfamiliar but it provided warmth and comfort, even a little hope but Yue couldn’t be sure it wasn’t all in her head. Nevertheless, Osamu had somehow stopped her from going into a full mental breakdown, which probably would’ve emerged later that night when she was alone.

Even at the additional contact which was far closer than she’d normally have liked, Yue didn’t find it entirely unsettling. She could feel the proximity even with her eyes closed yet she didn’t open them for several long moments despite his request. After pushing back more tears, Yue finally heeded his request and looked up at him, praying that she wouldn’t tear up again. But at his words, she did. It surprised her for it really shouldn’t have elicited such emotion but it did and Yue simply wrapped her arms around him again, speechless.

Eventually, she found her voice again and spoke, her voice quiet and somewhat shaking. “You have no idea how much this means to me. I…” She didn’t entirely understand the severity of her actions and how inappropriate they were but it had all flown out of her mind the moment all this started. Nor did she want to think about it just yet; she could deal with the consequences when they came. The words got stuck in her throat and refused to come out, making her contribution insignificant but her actions spoke better than words ever could’ve. There, perched on the side of his bed and embracing the one man she knew would do whatever he could, Yue made the promise to herself to break him out of that psychological issue. He wasn’t a creature and would never be. “I… You – thank you. If there’s anything… come to me.” It was almost too hard to formulate proper words but she managed it, somehow, while pushing him down gently onto the bed in order to lessen the strain on his body. This did put her in an uncomfortable not to mention inappropriate position so with a little bit of reluctance, Yue let go.

Her words, her actions, her intent. They had meant everything this night. Osamu would not leave this room a changed man, that could not happen so quickly, but the process of change had begun. But Osamu had another purpose now, not his greatest one, but one he felt with a keen and almost painful intensity. He must protect her, he must deliver her the opportunity for happiness. There was no foe too mighty, no methodology forbidden, every means could be used. But Osamu would not allow himself to fail in this mission. He was a man used to working on the macro scale, he had contented himself with working for the good of thousands, millions even. He had never committed so hard to anything quite so small, so singular. Even now he found the notion strange, but extremely compelling.

Osamu would rather this moment did not reach its inevitable conclusion. He wanted to remain here, like this, with Yue, for far longer. But time waited for no man and Yue may be missed elsewhere, indeed the risk of being discovered only increased as time went by. So, he reluctantly accepted the unavoidable end to all this as he was laid down gently and her warm, tender embrace slowly came to an end. He was tempted to resist, to gently hold her there, inappropriate or not he wanted to keep her close, but no. All things must end. Instead, as she pulled away he reached up and gently grabbed her hand before she could fully escape. He held it softly for a final, lingering moment, gently stroking the backs of her fingers with his thumb before finally letting go and settling back down into his bed for good. He was smiling tenderly at her, his eyes surprisingly soft. He did not speak, there was no further need for words right now. He would let her go silently.

Today had been a good day after all. When Yuzuki had presented herself it seemed everything would be ruined. But instead today had turned a tremendous profit. Yue had relieved his soul as he would relieve hers. She may even prove a closer ally on the grand stage. Similarly, Yuzuki’s appreciation and gratitude had been secured and who knows, perhaps she too may soon be as close to Osamu emotionally as the graceful Yue. At the cost of a few broken bones, slightly damaged organs and one bad dream he had come away with two women he would value highly. Osamu would look at Yue for so long as she remained, committing every split second to memory. If she departed he would roll onto his side and look with concern and contentment on Yuzuki. He would stay like this until eventually sleep overtook him once more. This time, he slept silently.

Yue couldn’t even identify the emotions running through her right at that moment, though she did try to rein them in. What had happened tonight was beyond any of her immediate comprehension yet she knew she had done the right thing by far. Though some of the details had been unsettling and worrisome, Yue didn’t care anymore. Osamu was alright, she had succeeded in her aim of calming him down. Yet it didn’t stop there. While at their initial meeting she’d sworn to keep a distance between them and had just barely considered him a ‘friend’, tonight had made a monumental difference. She’d instinctively allowed herself to be drawn closer and she’d allowed it yet now, as she stood over him with her hand in his, Yue didn’t regret it like she thought she would. The contact brought a soft, affectionate smile to her face and she wiped her tears away with the sleeve of her other hand, returning his smile. How she wished he was always like this.

However, duty called. It was nearly time for her hourly rounds and Yue had spent majority of the time she’d have spent behind the nursing station in here with Osamu. Yet there were other patients to attend to and Yue knew that so she made her way to the drawers at the end of the room, pulling open the one labeled ‘Bed #24’. Inside was all of the medication prescribed to Osamu, the ones used prior and for the future. After careful inspection of his file, Yue pulled out a small bottle of muscle-relaxant and an empty syringe, a syringe of local anesthesia, a bottle of airway-clearing fluid and another syringe of sleeping agents. She was mildly surprised at the damage he’d sustained and the amount of medication he had, it was almost as much as Yuzuki’s. Most other patients simply had a shot of anesthesia or sleeping pills and nothing else.

But there was more work to be done so Yue tried to get it done as quickly as possible in order to start her next rounds. She extracted the right dose out of the small bottle of muscle-relaxant and held up the bottle so that Osamu could see it, knowing how paranoid tended to be at times. “This is something that’s going to help you relax so that you can heal better, alright?” He was already sleepy so she injected him with the three syringes in the appropriate places and propped up his head a little bit so that he could drink the syrup. After she was done, Yue discarded the used equipment and turned for a final glance. A soft smile was sent his way and she left, back to inspecting the rest of the patients. Yue’s mind was everywhere all at once and unidentifiable emotions were running through her at an alarming pace, yet she knew she would rest easy tonight despite her heavy heart. What she’d witnessed tonight had been something that had brought Yue much closer to Osamu, yet she couldn’t deny the massive impact Osamu had had on her. Yet, it would be for the best, or so Yue hoped.

Bleach, the Hollowing Continued

Bringing both legs up in a sudden movement that took most of her current energy, she kicked both feet out and straight towards Osamu’s chest. This would be immensely effective because even if he decided to get out of the way, it would involve letting go of her throat and letting her roam free. If he didn’t move his chest would be very well sore for the next few weeks, his breastbone could possibly shatter along with it. Through all that, though, Yuzuki enjoyed it. Fighting was a way she often released much of her frustration and now that she had a competent opponent, Yuzuki was well inclined to simply fight till they both passed out. Even the sharp spike of pain that went up her leg as she moved was worth it; she never knew pain was so satisfying. All thoughts of strategy, tactics and playing it smart left her mind as she was determined to brutalize the man in front of her, even if it involved the most unlikely means she’d used. There was no time for planning anything out, there was no fun in that. It was the sound of bones breaking and skin tearing that was the best of it all.

Her efforts to prise free his hand only tightened his grip, like a man biting down in pain his grip only got harder the more it hurt. He could smell his blood seeping out just as he smelt the blood running down her leg from an earlier blow. The sharp pain of her nails going deep and the crush of her hand bruising his bone, but the grip just got tighter and tighter. Even when she ran her talon like grip down his arm he just kept squeezing, his own nails sinking in now, drawing blood but not penetrating so deep as to tear into her wind pipe. Yet.

The feel of his blow to her kidney landing home was also satisfying, she had burst something deep inside of him, now he was going to extract a similar price from her. He raised his sword arm again to bear down on her once more when she made her move, kicking against him almost like he had kicked against her. He was expecting this imitation but he knew her legs were more powerful that his. There were great industrial pistons, honed to near perfection and with a force to rend walls asunder. The potential damage to his lungs and heart was immense, if his breast bone shattered and cartwheeled into his organs that would be an end to it. But he didn’t want to let go, he wanted to throttle her, to choke her until the world went black and cold. Only then would he relent, at the brink of death. But his own survival reflexes were too strong. He relaxed his grip at the last possible moment and began to shunpo back.

Her kick still landed, hard. The low, loud and mistuned clang of armour could be heard as her feet made contact. The shock would soak through his bone and crack breast bone, but not outright shatter it. His organs cried out in pain and he flew back, swept away by the momentum of it all. He didn’t stop when he hit a nearby wall, nor did he stop when he hit the second. Only the third halted his flight. But when he walked out of the dust his body did not shake. Though his arm was torn and the blood gushed fourth he did not quiver. Though his breastbone threatened to collapse at any moment he did not fear. Instead he only laughed and smiled. It was the laugh of a man driven wild by the pain, the release of dealing it out and the beautiful agony of soaking it up. His arm and torso were screaming at him but it was the best he had felt in well over a century. This, this moment, might have been one of the most intense, base and guttural pleasures he had indulged in. His many achievements of the mind, his army, his career all were great pleasures in their own right. But this was different, this was primal and he wanted more. He was going to get it.

His legs were still in perfect working order, shunpo would serve him well. He was tempted to resort to kido but that would be deeply unsatisfying. Only the purity of physical combat, of aching muscle and wailing bone, would do now. He paused for a few seconds to look at her, hungrily, his breathing was raspy and almost inhuman and his eyes were mad! For a single, drawn out moment he licked his lips, and then charged!

He was moving forward at full tilt, raw physical power and shunpo at his back. He wagered he could out pace and out turn her now but he wanted to be sure. As such he fainted right at the last moment before hurtling left, coming at her from her right hand side. He didn’t need to get behind her now, he didn’t want to. His blade was held low, close to the floor, ready to sweep up in a vicious arc and smash her in the jaw with a force that could shatter bone. But, at the very last possible moment he ducked down low with his blade swiping horizontally. If he connected he would hit her shin in an effort to break her good leg. If he missed, he still had plenty of options.

Yuzuki felt all the air leave her airway for the last time and she gasped in pain, unable to get him to let go until her legs collided with his chest. Unfortunately he’d tried to Shunpo away – he hadn’t entirely gotten out of her trajectory and had therefore been hit in the chest, propelling him through two walls and cracking the third. However, Yuzuki didn’t have the time to savor her satisfaction at the damage she’d caused as she immediately collapsed, clutching at her throat and taking in deep breaths of air. It hurt to breathe at first, her airway burning in the attempt to suck in more oxygen but eventually it got used to it and the only source of pain was from the various scratches he’d left on her neck. As painful as they were, they were nothing compared to the near-crippling pain that ravaged her lower back.

She’d just stood up, slightly dizzy when his weapon once again collided with her leg, this time the good one. Yuzuki let out a scream of pain, louder than she’d had in the past hour. She cursed, feeling the bone crack and then completely shatter underneath her weight. “Fuck you,” She chanted again and again, unable to remain standing any longer. Under the pretense of collapsing from the pain and her broken legs, Yuzuki aimed a last punch towards his abdomen. The pain was excruciating, reverberating up her legs and all the way up her head, in tandem with the pulsing at her temple. Her breathing was uneven and blood was smeared across the ground, mostly from her legs, which were torn up pretty badly. One glance at them told her that her left was cut up so bad that there was a bit of bone protruding. Her right had the large scratch leading up to her upper thigh as well as several other long, deep cuts that continuously bled. It was bent at an awkward angle, tripling the pain when she attempted to move. Her world swam in front of her eyes, coming into focus then blurring away.

Osamu was quite literally nuts; that was what the fight had shown her. He wasn’t entirely okay but that was alright, so was she. Hearing him groan in pain was better than hearing him talk. She almost felt sorry she couldn’t extract more but she knew he was just as damaged as she was. In between uneven breaths, she uttered the one word she never thought she would say, especially to someone like him and in the aftermath of an intense fight. “Thanks.” She whispered, her voice unable to go any higher due to the damage her throat and voicebox had sustained. There wasn’t a part of her that didn’t ache, except for her arms, but her fists sure did hurt like she’d stuck them into the middle of a fire. But it was rejuvenating and liberating, a feeling she hadn’t felt for the past 100 years and she was thankful for it. Osamu instantly went higher up the worthwhile ladder in her eyes; he was a force to be reckoned with, someone Yuzuki could potentially get along with. But it always did depend on her temperament. Now, she only hoped she wouldn’t be berated too harshly for her misconduct.

Osamu looked at her as she fell, almost in slow motion. Her bruised and bloodied form still elegant and majestic as it fell. Her defiant, desperate cursing did not grate his ears. It was like watching a swan even now. Even in this desperate moment, as the world faded away for her she was still fighting and that please Osamu mightily. Here was a woman who would not go quietly into the night, just like him, and whilst they battled different enemies he could not only feel but understand that commonality. Perhaps it was because he was so busy thinking about that, perhaps it was because he was feeling charitable, perhaps it was because his own eyes strained and his bloody seemed sluggish. The world would never know, but for whatever reason he didn’t even move as her last great blow sailed towards his stomach.

Even now the armour barely even mattered, the tremendous force hammered into his abdomen one last time. The shock spread through his system, tearing wider the already open internal damage. The pain was already colossal but her blow was not finished yet. If it ended there he could have stood up, slowly and painfully but he could have stood. Victory would have been his. But the shock was just enough to shake free part of his shattered breast bone, sending it tumbling into one of his lungs. The collective result of all this was for Osamu to bellow out to the sky, inhuman, like the last great dying dinosaur crying for his race. He sank to his knees and as they hit the floor he was jolted into a huge, heavy, hacking cough. He spat forth some of his own blood, a dire sign of his dire situation. It hit the ground with a wet slap, some even landed on Yuzuki.

But that was as nothing compared to what would now land on her. Worn, battered and bloody, with the fight over, Osamu’s torso just gave up. He keeled forward heavily, like a tumbling tree and landed with a great thunk, atop Yuzuki. He lay across her at a right angle, his stomach atop hers, his face in the dirt. There was a heavy silence, their blood gently mixing, their bodies struggling to survive, the warped and faded world, a dull ringing in his ears. But through it all came that crystal clear word. “Thanks.” There was only one thing to say to that.
“Thank you to.” His voice was as weak and broken as her, struggling to overcome the blood in his throat. But despite the vast pain there was an odd comfort in him now, a satisfaction. He had always wanted to hold Yuzuki in high regard, now he had a reason. True she might be a problem again in the future but that didn’t matter to him now. For now there was just this pure, unadulterated moment. It was good, so good. He could have stayed like this for a very long time were it not for the knowledge that if he did he would die, and so would she. The damage to her legs had cut a major artery, she would bleed to death at this rate and he would drown in his own blood.

Somewhere at the back of her mind, Yuzuki could hear Osamu’s bellow of pain. The foreign blood now splattered across her skin wasn’t noticed, it was nothing compared to the weight of Osamu’s body on her stomach. As soon as he landed on top of her, all the air she’d managed to suck in left her body and she once again struggled to breathe. Weakly, she attempted to push him off but she didn’t have the strength anymore, her hand falling midway to Osamu’s side. Just then, he got up, somewhat lessening her burden but it didn’t change the fact that she had difficulty breathing. Her eyes wouldn’t focus – Osamu leaning down over her was a blur, a blur she struggled to make out even as she was tossed across his shoulder. The world was swimming, moving along in its own current and failing to take Yuzuki with it, leaving her behind.

It took her nearly half a minute to properly process his words and at first, she didn’t answer. What could she say? ‘You’re bleeding to death, let me walk by myself’? Yuzuki felt like her lower body was on fire, so excruciatingly painful that she couldn’t utter a word, nor could she move. “You… bleeding…don’t die,” She managed to finally say, almost to herself. The last thing she wanted was to drag the man to the brink of death along with her; while she’d enjoyed handing his ass back to him (and nearly getting killed in the process), Yuzuki didn’t see any upsides to Osamu potentially dying. He was someone that genuinely seemed to care, even intentionally provoking her into a fight just so she could let out some steam. Rarely had anyone ever done that for her, not even Akimoto.

He could not allow this to happen, the world needed him to live and he needed her to live. Thankfully his sword arm and legs were still in fine condition. Even now he gripped his trusty weapon like a vice. Twisting his hand slightly he used it as a stick to drag himself up and on to his feet. He almost fell over at once. But he just, just managed to stay upright. Pausing for a moment to cough very, very heavily, blood running from the corner of his mouth, he then turned to Yuzuki. Putting his sword away at his side once more he bent down with a hiss of pain, grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her up. He didn’t let her put any more weight on her legs, that could have been fatal, instead he almost threw her up onto his shoulder and held her there. Whilst he did this he explained.
“You can’t walk. I’m not letting you die. This is the fastest way to the hospital.” It was said as matter of fact statements, not an argument. She could have punched him away if she wanted but she wasn’t getting to the hospital any other way. As she landed on him he let out another desperate grunt of pain, but she was in place now and he could begin to move.

His shunpo was slightly sloppy, unfocused and desperate. Every now and again he was forced to come out of the technique, staggering from side to side and coughing violently. He was almost vomiting blood now instead of simply hacking it up. The man had minutes left, max. But her blood loss put her in the same position. During one particularly bad bout his guards closed in and tried to prize Yuzuki away but his reaction was surprising. With strength and vitriol he barked out.
“No! You aren’t part of this!” Before fading away and gently muttering. “It’s just us, it’s just us.” Like a mad man in the cold trying to stay warm with fevered imagination.

But eventually the duo arrived at the 4th division, whereupon worried, even panicked shinigami started seeing to them, putting them both up on beds and tending to their wounds with restorative spells, meanwhile higher seats were called in to render assistance. Doctor patient confidentiality meant they should tell no one but Osamu couldn’t be sure of that. However, he had more important things to worry about. There was a small piece of outstanding business that needed taking care of. He almost hated to bring it up but it needed to be said. He needed it settled now.

He knew Yuzuki was close, he didn’t quite have the strength to turn his head but he knew she was there, he could hear her breathing, feel her battered yet tremendous power. Reaching out with one hand he pawed at the air, looking for something to latch onto. A hand, a shoulder, an elbow, anything. It didn’t matter so long as it was her. Eventually he would latch onto something. When he did he would say.
“You can have your division.” There was a few moments of easy silence as he let it sink in, he was smiling. He couldn’t see her but he hoped she was as well. “You can have your division.” He said again, though there were of course caveats. “Image of control must be maintained. 10th division stamps and seals. Tell no one. Multi divisional projects, mine.” He was speaking in broken, bare bones sentences. It was all he could muster. Soon the 4th would work their magic and he would have some strength back but for now he was still weak, the blood not yet purged from his lungs. Short on breath, desperate for air he chose to repeat the most important words he could think of. “You can have your division…. Thank you.”

Upon arrival at the hospital, Yuzuki was disoriented by the bright lights and the multitude of voices spiraling around her, muddling her already slowing brain. She could see nothing, only the faintest of colors and nothing else. She vaguely felt herself being placed on a bed and the next time she managed to open her eyes, an ominously slow beeping of a heart monitor registered. It took her a while to figure out that it was hers, and that she was slowly dying. But what surprised her was that she had tried to look over to the neighbouring bed, looking for Osamu. The Healers reassured her that he was alright, before leaving Yuzuki to her thoughts again as her legs were attended to.

As if out of a haze, his words made their way across to Yuzuki and into her brain, where she lay for a while trying to make sense of it all. Eventually, she smiled. “You… thank you. Appreciated…” It did seem ironic that they’d had to resort to violence to sort this entire mess out, but it had been so worth it. The smile remained on her face, feeling his hand grip her upper arm, showing her that there was some kind of reality behind the mist that was her mind. The beeping next to her slowed even further, bringing in a dozen Healers who crowded round her and attempted to stabilize her. Nearby, Yuzuki had no doubt the same was going on with Osamu.

Four hours of tedious, non-stop work and Yuzuki was sufficiently healed to manage one night on her own. As night approached, a curtain was hastily erected between the two beds, allowing the nurses to strip Yuzuki of her bloodied uniform and take her to get cleaned up, before dressing her in a clean, loose hospital nightgown. She was more coherent by then and gave the nightgown a rather displeased look, disliking the millions of purple dots scattered across the white material. Honestly, it was ugly, even to Yuzuki who didn’t really have a taste for good colors anyway. Nevertheless, she knew she wasn’t getting out of that one as the curtain was pulled away. Turning her head with a bit of effort, Yuzuki glanced at Osamu’s bed, wondering if he was awake. “Hey. You up?” She spoke quietly, not keen on being heard by the nurses. She wondered whether the Captain had made it out alright, seeing as he’d carried her the entire way there, thereby risking his own life. That thought was enough to quieten Yuzuki a little; whether out of respect or not wanting to disturb him, she didn’t know.

Osamu underwent similar treatment to his new friend though he had to suffer the indignity of having various tubes inserted down his windpipe and throat to suck out the blood, bile and detritus that was a result of the internal damage Yuzuki had so ferociously dealt. Thankfully she was either unconscious or away undergoing her own treatment when he was in this particularly compromising condition. But, just as she was concerned with his wellbeing despite the dire situation, so to was he concerned for hers. For a few horrible moments, whilst they were apart, he thought he might have gone too far and finished her off. The mere idea sent him into a frenzied panic that, due to his weakened state, was thankfully pathetic. He was too beaten and damaged to express much verbally by that stage, just grunts, groans and gritted teeth. But his apprehension was obvious. He was too weak to be safely sedated and so he had to be restrained, tied down to his bed to stop him hurting himself or others in an effort to find Yuzuki and just see her heart monitor pulse.

Some time later, after his own intensive treatment, he was judged to be in a condition similar to Yuzuki. Not fit enough to leave but strong enough to spend a night with little to no supervision. His clothes were as torn, tattered and bloodied as hers and just like her he had to be stripped bear, cleaned and dressed in a gaudy hospital gown. Black, white, brown and red tended to be the colour of his wardrobe, hardly a man known for keeping up with trends and fashions. But he did always look smart. Unconventional yes, but smart with perfectly pressed clothes, boots shone to perfection and not a speck of dirt in sight. These spotty rags were an embarrassment to him, but he accepted their necessity and just kept quiet, occasionally grumbling to himself about it.

By the time the curtain was pulled back he was lying in bed, propped up against the head rest slightly, eyes closed and arms folded lazily across his stomach. When she spoke he was so happy and relieved. She was alive! But at first he didn't let it show, he just opened up the one eye closest to her and said in quiet, but matter of fact tones.
“I’m always up.” He was only speaking quietly because she was speaking quietly, instinctively imitating her even though it was obvious that she was awake and there was no one else in the room to bother. His face was level and humourless but only for a moment before he cracked a broad smile at her and the one eye she could see just lit up. His gladness and relief showing through.

With a grunt of effort, and an “oof” of mild pain when he finished, Osamu forced himself onto his side so he was facing Yuzuki. The man was grinning like a naughty school boy, he seemed genuinely happy. His trade mark sense of humour had survived the encounter unscathed but it seemed a tad brighter now.
“You will be pleased to learn a mere 65% of my body wants to die. The remaining 35% wants to sit in a corner and cry.” He chuckled slightly at the thought, laughing hurt but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. But after a moment humour was replaced by genuine concern.
“How about you, how are your legs?” Truth be told he was scared about those, his previous effort at humour had been an attempt to reassure Yuzuki and disguise his gnawing fear that he had done something permanent. If he had he would be unable to forgive himself, he couldn’t have broken something like her could he? Not something as robust and hardy as her?

Yuzuki regarded him with a tired look, much too exhausted to sit up. Instead, she lay on her bed in the exact same position she was already in and turned her head further towards him, trying to sort out the faint blurriness that remained. Eventually she made out Osamu’s form, dressed in a similarly hideous nightgown in the bed next to hers. She stifled a snort at the sight and smiled instead, feeling relieved at the fact that he was alright. The nurses hadn’t lied, he was very much alive and kicking next to her. Hearing his response, she exhaled a bit harder in way of laughter; she’d been forbidden from laughing and doing anything to strain her throat and breathing, if the breathing tube across her face was of any indication. She still had trouble breathing but in her personal opinion she’d rather have sounded like a dying whale than wear the tube.

Nevertheless, she smiled and spoke, “Sounds like you need a couple of painkillers.” She said, inwardly laughing to herself. Somehow, painkillers hadn’t been provided despite the both of them having been in immense pain when they’d arrived. Or perhaps Yuzuki had just been too faint to notice anything. She did hope Osamu wasn’t in as much pain as she was, because even someone with her high level of pain tolerance was nearly crippled. It was rare of her to feel concern for someone but the simple fact that Osamu had risked his life for her made her a bit more worried.

Osamu chuckled slightly at the mention of painkillers. Perhaps it might have been a good idea but he wouldn’t stand for it. So long as it wasn’t necessary to save his life the man rejected such things. Stomaching pain when it wasn’t necessary made you better prepared to deal with it when it was. Besides, pain built character, or so he told himself. As such, Osamu shook his head and said smiling. “No, let me feel it. It improves me.” He gave another, semi amused snort but the convulsive effort forced his chest into momentary spasm, causing him to cough and splutter desperately. It took a minute or two for him to gain control of his lungs again but, once he had mastery over his own organs once more, he just smiled at her.

When he asked about her legs, she glanced at them almost as if she didn’t entirely know herself. “They’re numb, I can’t feel anything.” One of the reasons she hadn’t moved was because she simply couldn’t; she was rooted to the spot in a rare show of vulnerability. If one of the nurses decided to kill her, that was it. If Osamu pushed her off the bed, she’d be unable to get up. It was frustrating, being in such a helpless state and it showed on her face as the look of concentration on her face increased, Yuzuki trying her hardest to get her legs to move, all to no avail.

Her confession that she could not feel her own legs however, panicked him. If he was still plugged into a heart monitor she would have seen it spike massively. Had he done something permanent? He hoped not but he couldn’t be sure. He suddenly felt cold and the room felt that much smaller. Surely he couldn’t have… could he? But he kept this bottled up, refusing to show the fear on his face. A good leader maintains a certain image for his men and he was putting this mask on now. Instead he just waved a dismissive hand and said.
“You will be fine. These chaps know what they are doing. You’ll be doing the can can in no time.” The adding in a slightly quieter mumble but intentional loud and clear enough for Yuzuki to hear. “Or kicking me in the jaw.” He cast a wry, lopsided smile at her, a little glint in one of his eyes.

Sighing, she turned back towards Osamu. “How long do we have to stay here for? I don’t like this room.” She was antsy and itching to get out of bed and back to her Division. If her assumptions were correct, Osamu would probably be too. She had studied his file and the man himself for a while, and had come to the conclusion that while their fighting styles were vastly different, their personalities were near identical, minus the poor temper Yuzuki had. So it wasn’t difficult to predict Osamu’s possible thoughts, yet she felt like talking to him rather than facing the long night ahead of them.

“How long are we going to be here?” He repeated with a shrug that made him wince slightly. “No idea. Certainly at least one day. Maybe two. Perhaps more. But as soon as I can leave without risk of permanent damage to myself I’m out of here. Doesn’t do for a Captain to be laid up that long, and I have work to do. Can’t do it all from a hospital bed.” The man gave a slight sigh and looked up towards the ceiling wistfully. “Thankfully I have built a machine that can cope without me. Run along efficiently. But when I am at the helm I can make her dance. Still, my attention is required on urgent matters elsewhere and I need to be there. It’s the sort of thing that requires a personal presence.” He didn’t make it overtly obvious but he was referring to his need to carefully manage the NDV at this important transitionary stage. “Doubtless you want to be out of here almost as much as me.” He smiled at her and sighed. “Do you have any more heads to crack open now you're back? Or was I the sum total of your list?”

Yuzuki gave him a blank look and said, "You're only at the beginning of a very, very long list. I don't remember my Division being so incompetent last time I was here but here they are, slacking off like the lazy bastards that they are. I can only hope I can beat it out of them." Their conversation continued in that vein before a nurse came in and adjusted Yuzuki's IV bag, adding in a new fluid that after a few minutes, sent Yuzuki straight to sleep.

Bleach, the Hollowing Continued

The doors of the Fifth’s main barracks exploded outwards with all the force of a mighty hurricane assaulting the building. Shinigami in the immediate vicinity cowered, most of them unused to the temperamental storm that had now come back. When the dust finally settled, the doors were barely hanging on their hinges and the space within was devoid of any life. It was, however, a complete mess, as if the aforementioned hurricane had rampaged within before disappearing within sight. Papers were strewn on the floor, stacks of paperwork and filing cabinet had collapsed and spilled their contents onto the wooden planks. The desk was overturned and askew in a corner and the door hung only on a single hinge.

As the Fifth scrambled to get their bearings and piece the strange situation together, the sound of a crash behind the barracks was heard. A few Shinigami rushed towards the back, ready to diffuse any situation that got out of hand. They were met with the sight of the Sixth Seat on his back and the Fourth Seat standing over him, pissed and panicking.

“Why the hell did you do that?! I told you countless times before she arrived that we need to break it to her gently! You should’ve listened to me, I know what she’s like!” The Fourth Seat bellowed, his panic spurring him on. “She’s going to kill someone! Literally!” He knew the Sixth had underestimated Yuzuki’s legendary temper and had assumed all those rumors to be exaggerated. Well, the office’s state of complete disarray proved everything he’d doubted. “You’re cleaning up the office and fixing the goddamn doors now! Go!” He glared and the Sixth scrambled up, making his way towards the mangled office but not before shooting a glare towards the Fourth Seat.

The Fourth Seat didn’t even acknowledge the Sixth’s dirty looks. He was rubbing his temples in frustration, pacing around the open courtyard directly behind the main barracks, a look of immense worry on his face. There would be no stopping Yuzuki today, not at all. Something would be broken, something would die today.

---

Yuzuki had stormed out of the Fifth after a thorough look through stacks upon stacks of documents, some pulled out from the archives just for her. There was literally no way to explain her anger and its burning glare was focused on one thing and one person only. Iwakura Osamu. Yuzuki didn’t personally know the man, nor had she ever seen him but after looking through the documents, she certainly knew quite a bit about him. And that was exactly where Yuzuki’s rampage would be directed at: the 10th Division.

Arriving at the doors, the Shinigami standing guard could definitely tell something was up with Yuzuki. With her seething expression that was dripping with hate and anger, the Shinigami started sweating nervously, though it could also be attributed to her crushing reiatsu. It had been let out to its full potential as any control Yuzuki had had broken the moment she stormed through those doors.

“Where is your Captain?” She hissed.

“He is at the factories, Lieutenant.” The men said, after taking a look at the Lieutenant badge strapped to the sash around her waist. “What business do you have with him? We can leave him a message –“

Yuzuki abruptly cut him off. “My business with him concerns his face and my fist.” She could vaguely hear the Shinigami calling out after her as she whirled around and Flash Stepped towards the factories, going at unfathomable and unmatchable speeds that brought her in front of the factories in a matter of minutes. However, she was only met with a near-deserted battlefield with dead piled high along with several soldiers lingering, probably guarding the bodies. She barely batted an eye at the piles and turned to the nearest soldier. She had seen no man with a white coat and assumed the Captain was not here. “You! Where is your Captain?” The man flinched back, the fear growing in his eyes at the sight of the woman. He shakily pointed back towards Seireitei, indicating that Osamu had departed back towards his Division. Huffing in irritation, Yuzuki made a mental note to send a token of appreciation to those two Shinigami that had guided her in the wrong direction, to the factories for nothing. She swiftly Flash Stepped back towards the 10th, now angrier than ever, her haori-like coat flapping behind her.

She was just a hundred meters or so from the entrance to the 10th when she spotted a man with a white haori. She doubled her speed, approaching the form at a breakneck speed. She made out the number 10 on the back of his coat and she glared, almost willing a hole to burn through his head. She stopped right behind him and for a moment, she stopped, chest heaving, searching for the appropriate words to spew towards the man. What came next was typical Yuzuki-speech. “You stuck-up piece of shit. Who do you think you are?” Her words came out slightly quieter than she intended to but that only to serve to amplify the anger that laid underneath the words.

It was a busy but pleasant day for Osamu, he was still on his post battle high and NDV recruitment lines were so long even he was surprised. He was in the process of returning from an unscheduled trip to the factory, where he had checked that it would be able to cope with increased industrial demands. He had also annexed some near by residential areas in the recently reclaimed Western 22nd to be converted into workshops to deal with prestigious amount of material being generated by the hulking mass that was general known only as, the factory.

He was in the process of returning from this trip to his office in order to do some preparatory work for an upcoming conference when he felt the presence of something akin to a typhoon hurtling up behind him. He was not alone, he was never alone nower days, he was surrounded by his guard of eight loyal men that accompanied him not only into battle but any time he left the security of his division HQ. Something moving that fast that was this unexpected caused everyone to spin around and start to draw their swords. Things could have gotten exceptionally nasty exceptionally quickly had Osamu not recognised the face heading towards him. He had never seen it before in the flesh but he had seen the personnel file. He had heard Yuzuki was back in town so he had made it his business to do some research. Of course he only had paper records to go on but it had informed him that she was capable and fierce as well as giving him an ID photograph.

Before she had even finished moving up to him he had waved his guards down, instructing them to relax. He had opened his mouth to say hello when she cut him off and immediately launched into rude berating. But Osamu being who he was, was in no way phased by the display. He had his buttons and believe me you could push them, but just being rude to him wasn’t enough. If anything he found it a refreshing change from the smiles and kind words which masked sharp daggers that he usually had to work with.

Smiling, he just let her finish before saying.
“I think I am captain of the 10th division.” He said with a slightly amused air. “In fact no, I am quite sure of that one.” It was interesting he didn’t use his name quite yet. He wasn’t at the stage he could ask her to call him by his first name and he loathed being referred to by his family name. So for the moment, simply referring to him by rank would do. He continued to defuse the volatile situation in his own little way by continuing and saying. “As for the stuck up piece of shit, well I’ve been called worse. I suppose I have to work on my people skills really. Clearly I am very bad at impression management.” The man was still smiling, it was almost as if he enjoyed it. Certainly it did not bother him.

Yuzuki only barely managed to resist the urge to facepalm so hard she was sure she’d have broken her face. She gave Osamu a look – a rather strange combination of irritation and incredulity that surprisingly worked pretty well. “I know who you are, smartass. You apparently can’t comprehend a simple question, can you?” Her tone was cutting and mocking, letting him on to the fact that she was genuinely irritated by his response and was now convinced he was dumber than a door.

“No I can.” Was Osamu’s response to her accusation that he could not answer a simple question. “I just decided to toy with you a little bit as you decided to ask a stupid one. As for the smartarse thanks, normally people just call me an arse. Smartarse is an improvement.” He was enjoying all of this, it felt fresh. But it was becoming increasingly apparent Yuzuki did not feel the same way. She couldn’t step back and see the game of it all. Perhaps it was a bit too soon to expect that.

Putting both hands behind his back he took a few steps forward towards Yuzuki, calm, relaxed, contended, saying in pleasant tones.
“No need to introduce yourself by the way, I know you by reputation. Your personnel file makes for interesting reading. It’s good to have you back up here Lieutenant. I look forward to seeing you in action and the impact you have on this little theater of the war. But you aren’t here to exchange pleasantries, I have been told you almost never do that. So, how can I help you?” He appeared genuinely pleased to see her and certainly he wasn’t vexed by her. If she continued to verbally abuse him he might join in but it wouldn’t be in anger, more in a sense of play. Still, he was interested to see what she came out with next.

She levelled a scarily intense glare at his face, inwardly amused at her mental tirade as she mentally deconstructed Osamu’s appearance. He looked as if he’d never slept a day in his life, reminding Yuzuki of one of the human world’s creations, zombies. It was a very faint resemblance but Yuzuki still felt slightly alarmed at how much she left the human world impact her. However, no matter where she looked, her eyes were drawn back to his nose. No doubt he’d been the butt of one too many jokes and cruel taunts. That didn’t even make her feel bad as she only glared harder, almost tempted to lash out and simply break the thing. His uniform was also completely different, giving Yuzuki one or two things to think on; appearance and uniform always gave her the information necessary to deduct several traits of a person’s personality.

“Yeah, no shit, I don’t waste time on insects like you. And I reckon that you very well know what I want.” Her voice was raising now, her control slipping away little by little the more Osamu played dumb. She stepped closer to him, close enough that he could probably see the fire raging in her eyes. “Give me my job back. What the fuck am I supposed to do now that you’re playing overlord?” She spat, her words dripping in venom. Gods, she hated the man already. The fact that he was just standing there and smiling pissed her off more than anything. He was foolish.

Osamu kept on smiling as she continued to get wound up and seemingly ever more frustrated. Her accusation that he was an insect not worthy of her time struck him closer to home than he would have liked, but she would have to work that particular trigger a tad harder to get a real rise out of him. But he did loath people thinking of him like that and his reaction tended either to be to try and prove them wrong or obliterate them. But he already didn’t want to obliterate her. Her record on paper was too impressive. He wanted people of this skill running around, helping the war effort, the cause and him. Such a shame that she didn’t want to seem to play along.

His smile and slightly cheeky air dropped instantly, not as though he were upset but more like he was just taking off a mask. Instead a level and slightly worn expression emerged. There was a few seconds of silence before he waved away his escort.
“Wide perimeter boys. She isn’t going kill to me. Break my jaw perhaps, that’s about it.” He sounded almost disinterested, like this was some sort of casual affair. When his guards had retreated some distance Osamu smiled again, but it wasn’t a happy, cheeky mocking smile, not mocking her anyway. If anything you could tell he was mocking himself and the twists of providence that had brought them to this place. “Not one to play the game are you? A shame.” It wasn’t said as a put down, more a sad observation. “It usually ends up disarming most people. But you aren’t most people.” He gave an odd sad little sigh. He had hoped this would turn out better. He wanted her on his side. He wasn't phased by her rude words in themselves, rather by the fact that he could see himself loosing any chance of creating the right impression on this woman. He attempted to salvage the situation by changing tack radically.

“Maybe I’m not giving you enough credit. Your record didn’t list you as actively insane. If your this angry then you this angry for a reason. And yes, I do know why you are here. I just hoped I was wrong. It would have made things a lot easier.” He gave another little sigh before a slightly amused look found its way back on his face and he chuckled again ever so slightly. “You aren’t going to like hearing this. But you remind me of me.” He gave another tiny little chuckle before adding. “Or at least what I think most of the time but I learnt the value of holding my tongue long ago.”

Pausing for a few moments to gather himself he declared. “Okay, I’m going to be plain with you. I don’t like being jerked around when the stakes are high. I’ll extend you the same courtesy. Shortly after you left, this place fell into a state of total logistical and resource crisis. That would have happened whether you were here or not. The 5th however, was hit particularly badly. They had lost their crutch. But I cannot overstate the disaster that awaited the entire soul society.” His tone then perked up a tad as he engaged in a brief moment of high spirited flare to try and add some light to the gloomy conversation. “Into the breach stepped a young, fresh faced captain, yours truly. Ready to save civilization.” His tone was more mocking himself than anyone or anything else, he even indulged in a semi amused snort at his own expense before dropping to his previous tone and continuing. “In all seriousness though I am one of the biggest reasons there is still a soul society for you to come back to. This includes your division and indeed in your absence your division plummeted into disarray very quickly, a disarray I pulled it out from. A thank you would be nice.” That last sentence was said with just a tiny hint of venom to it, truth be told Osamu was tired of doing a stand up job but being treated like the whipping boy. Some gratitude would be welcome for a change.

But he didn’t let it bother him and he kept on going in matter of fact tone.
“The resource crisis has not lessened. Centralisation was, and continues to be, a vital part of saving us all. Having you do that job was inefficient at the best of times, no matter how skilful you may have been. But then we could afford it. It’s dangerous now. Why should I put others in jeopardy for you?” Osamu hoped that Yuzuki would at least consider the welfare of divisions other than her own. He wonder though if she would agree with his analysis or respect his rank, experience and obvious extraordinary efforts enough to take him on faith.

Yuzuki’s eyebrows automatically shot up at his statement, nearly disappearing into his hairline. Based on his previous claims, he regarded himself as the savior of Seireitei. If Yuzuki had been there when he’d emerged as a dictator, he wouldn’t have been standing right in front of her, and instead would’ve been lying under the ground in many tiny pieces. She smiled lightly at the thought of simply killing him and getting rid of his self-important presence via a particularly bloody method. Alas, that was illegal. Yuzuki didn’t doubt, however, that she’d have to fight for her place to be first in line. “Is that why the Fifth was declared the best Division around seven hundred years in a row? Is that why it was the most impeccable and organized Division around? Because I did a half-assed job? I know you might not want to admit it but I’ll lay out the facts for you. You’re scared. You don’t want another one of you around here, do you? After all, you said it yourself. We’re alike. I can beat your ass any day, not just combat-wise but I’d wager organization-wise. You’re just scared that someone as good as you and possibly better than you is back, aren’t you?” Her tone was perhaps the most cutting and humiliating part. Confident, cutting and mocking. She was inwardly making fun of him and it was apparent even to the smallest of children.

“Trust me when I say no-one would be in jeopardy because of me. You’ll probably have a hard believing it with your superiority complex and all, but Shinigami and even Captains came to me. You think that’s insufficient?” She shot back, eyes narrowing in distaste.

Yuzuki’s protest caused Osamu to laugh slightly, he was laughing at the situation but also at her. He stopped himself after a few moments though, he hated being laughed at when he wasn’t in on the joke and he suspected Yuzuki may feel the same way. Her fundamental misunderstanding of his words was amusing to Osamu but he did not want her more upset than she already was so he brought it under control.

“No I think you’re good, I think you are very, very good. The records certainly suggest as much. You ran the fifth fantastically. The accolades were well deserved. I would have loved to have you in my team. But you could have run it even better if you doing the same thing for all divisions simultaneously. The broader base of knowledge and information and the efficiencies of scale would have served you well. That’s what I have and what will be lost if the 5th goes independent. You should be justly proud of your achievements but they were made during a period of excess. A period long since passed. As for not wanting more of me around believe me there is nothing further from the truth. I want many more people like me around, like you. That’s one of the reasons I was so happy to learn of your return. There is real opportunity here but I need you to work with me, with us all. As for you thinking that you might actually be better at this than me? Some Captains may have come to you once but now they all come to me. I would gladly set up some sort challenge were it not for the fact that it would be a wasteful and frivolous use of time and resources during these tight times. But never think that I believe you are incompetent, things could just be better than they used to be.” Osamu’s last point was particularly heart felt, as he had said, she reminded him of himself and he hated people thinking he was in some way lesser, or unsuited to his task. He chose to exhibit a kindness to her by making it very clear he didn’t think poorly of her.

However, he wasn’t quite done with his key arguments. He could have elaborated the one already established but he didn’t feel the need to insult Yuzuki’s intelligence by drawing her attention to the details at this stage, though she seemed happy to insult his. Instead he would bring her attention to an altogether separate point. “By reducing your administrative burden, and I would point out reducing not entirely eliminating, I also allow you more time to do the things only people like you can do. Train you men, lead men and kill powerful foes. Every minute you spent filling in paper work was time you could have spent doing one of those three. During this time of civilization ending crisis we all need every person who is best suited to combat duties, performing those combat duties. A civilian who could not harm a hollow could do your paper work, but the reverse is not true. I have made the machine more efficient at a time when it desperately needed it. I can’t just throw that away! Please consider the bigger picture.”

“Fuck your bigger picture! I refuse to consider it if you're the central figure that takes up 95% of it! What do you think I’ve been doing all this time? There must be someone who manages the Division from the Division itself, someone who actually knows how the Division functions. If you want to run the Division into the ground, be my guest. But then you answer to the Captain-Commander and the Central 46.” It was fairly obvious how dissatisfied Yuzuki was, not only with Osamu’s ‘expertise’ but his attitude as well. He wouldn’t budge an inch, using half-thought out reasons to justify himself. She was close to simply face-palming and then in turn breaking his face and for a moment, her fist clenched in an attempt to stop herself.

Osamu didn’t rise to the claim that he took up 95% of the bigger picture. He wished it were that way but truth be told he was at a best a slightly larger than normal cog in a gigantic machine. He didn’t feel like he possessed any real significance or weight. He was just an unimportant part of a monolithic whole and all he could do was make it run a little smoother, he didn’t control the direction of the machine or what it produced. Perhaps that would come in time. Her decision to fuck the bigger picture though did prompt a response.
“None of us can say fuck the bigger picture now. Not now, we can’t run our own little fiefdoms anymore, we can’t be isolated. No one can be allowed to think small, everyone has to work for the bigger picture now. It’s the only way we will survive this.”

Her demand that someone from the division, who knew what the division needed should be involved in the process was far from foolish and it was a concern that Osamu was alive to. He had set up a system where the division told him what they needed, beyond what was covered in the standard needs assessment, he just made everything else happen. He had teams of men dedicated to each division and over the past 100 years they had grown to know each division quite well. It was a well-run system with plenty of receiver feedback. Osamu was going to explain this to her, even show her how it was done but in her current temper he doubted she would be amenable to either idea. Instead he cut to the point.
“Believe me those concerns are addressed. As for me running the division into the ground? When you left and the hollows came it started running itself into the ground all by itself. I picked it up, I rescued it, and I brought it back from the brink of oblivion. Not your own staff, not even your Captain. Me.”

He noticed her fist clench in rage, she seemed almost as angry as he had been when he was accused of treason, almost. Surely it couldn’t hurt her that much could it? He made a little mental note of this and it would factor into what he did next. Maybe this woman of steel was easier to hurt than he had realised.

Eventually, however, her hand shot out and she grasped at his scarf, drawing him closer and giving him a livid look. This was one of the many instances where her surprisingly monumental amount of physical strength came into play. He wouldn’t be able to break free simply by struggling or pulling, no matter how hard he tried. As he was taller than her, however, she dragged him lower to the point where she feared his posture would slip and he’d bend like a noodle. That was the least of her concerns, however. “Listen here and listen well. I’m not going to ask you again. Give me my job back or I swear to Kami himself you will not be able to walk upright for the next decade.” She hissed, eyes flaring so intensely she was sure he could see it.

Osamu was not as trapped by being grabbed by the scarf as some might think, a little tug or twist and the knot would come free and he could sail away harmlessly. Osamu was unsurprised when he was grabbed by the scarf and pulled down, his face showed it. He could see how angry she was, he knew how that felt. He felt that angry allot, almost all the time. He knew how it ate at you, particularly when you kept it bottled up and he knew she had less control than he did. Her outbursts had proved as much. But Osamu could be kind, very kind. Her clenched fist, her hot words. This violent outburst. It all made him feel a bit more charitable. So he was going to give her a gift.
“Oh I know this.” He said with a slightly sinister air. “I know this and so much more.” He added, sounding almost hungry now as well. “You need something else… Here is a gift for you.” Silently he raised his left hand up very gently and slowly bringing it up in front of her face. Then, after a tense pause he flicked her in between the eyes. “There you go.” He said with a smile. “Now you have self-defence.”

Perhaps Yuzuki could’ve been forgiven for the way she reacted. That one, single flick raised her anger to monumental levels reaching for the heaven before it simply… disappeared. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, Yuzuki had deflated, her eyes no longer reflecting the anger that she felt. She almost relaxed, and a light easy smile played on her lips. Until, of course, one realized rather too late that her wrath hadn’t been diffused. No, not at all. It had rather been concentrated into her palm, the said hand coming up and slapping Osamu squarely on the cheek, the smack resonating in the open area. As she drew her hand away, Yuzuki’s smile dropped and she realized that she wouldn’t really be surprised if she had broken something. Her hand certainly stung more than usual. In comparison, smashing an Adjuchas’ face in two with a single punch had hurt just slightly less than he hand did now. So there was no telling what damage she’d done but she sure as hell liked it.

"Touch me again and I'll break your face for real." Her words were ominously quiet, perhaps slightly more effective than simply screaming.

Osamu wasn’t fooled by her sudden expression of calm. He knew himself to well for that one and he believed her to be more like him than she would have liked. He knew she would only be angrier in the short term, that was his design. He wanted her to hit him. Furthermore, fake expressions to mislead an opponent? Please he used that trick as well. Furthermore, she was fast but so was he. He saw it coming. But despite all this he didn’t move. He sat there and he took it. He wanted to take it. It hurt but he wanted it to hurt. The sting of her palm on his face, the ringing sound, the heat of her anger in her skin. He felt like he had been hit with a concrete block and that was exactly what he was expecting. He was surprised blood didn’t seep from his mouth and there was certainly a raw red hand print on his face. Looking her in the eye he was silent as she warned him about touching her again. He tilted his head to the side ever so slightly as his eyes continued to burrow into her soul. Just a little bit more of a prod and she wouldn’t be able to stop herself. She would be forced to let it out, or so Osamu thought and that was what he wanted. He wanted to give her release. The running of the division hardly matters any more, and to just give her what she wanted after a solitary slap would make him seem week and pathetic. But there was something more important at play, the fire in a soul. He wanted to see it burn free, if only for a while. Let those frustrations in her out. After 100 years in the living world he wanted her to bear it down on him.

So. After a brief silence he leant forward and put his forehead on hers.
“Do it.” He said quietly, almost whispering into her ear. Before suddenly he was gone. She was left holding a scarf in her hands whilst Osamu stood some way down the street. At first it looked like he had his sword in his hand but this was not quite true. He was indeed holding his sword but the scabbard was still on, fixed there by a small clip he had sealed as he flew back. This way he could hit her and it would hurt but it wouldn’t take off any limbs.

“You can do better than that!” He called out across the distance between them. “You want to fight, fight! You’re angry at more than me but I am all that’s here! Go on then! Hurt me!” He was volunteering to be her punching bag, though a punching bag that fought back, to make it worth it, to really allow frustrations to be worked out. He could have done with a few of those, but it was too late for him on that front now, or so he thought. But he could provide that service to her. Taking it for her, that was his gift for the moment.

Yuzuki felt an immense surge of satisfaction run through her at the bright-red handprint that was slowly emerging on his face, a souvenir of their little ‘discussion’. She stared back at his defiantly, not fazed by his calculating eyes in the least. She could practically see the gears turning behind them, always formulating a plan. She was slightly curious – he wasn’t retaliating. What was he thinking? The silence stretched between them, tense and far from comfortable.

While her display of violence had calmed her some, by a tiny margin that could barely be counted as significant, Yuzuki’s anger immediately skyrocketed the moment his forehead made contact with hers. He was goading her, tempting her to do something she knew carried consequences. He was way too light-hearted about everything – there was surely something going on, some plan of sorts formulating in his head. However, those two words simply set off the explosion. Blood was pounding in her ears, urging her to follow after the man. She could clearly see his movements as she speculated she was on the same level of Shunpo as he; she followed after a moment’s notice.

She barely batted an eye at his drawn sword; her hands clenched themselves into fists instinctively as she quite literally materialized in front of him, lunging for him, one arm extended. The other was drawn behind her, out of his sight, clenched in a tight fist. She didn’t even need to pump reiatsu into her limbs, as that was only required for high-level Hollows with equally high levels of Hierro. She was certain she could literally break his face with a single punch. She felt the same surge of satisfaction go through her as she glimpsed the red mark on his face that stood out like a beacon, almost as red as the scarf she had tugged on.

“You’re doing something you’re going to regret but don’t blame me – you offered!” Yuzuki punctuated every word deliberately before disappearing and reappearing again, this time within striking range, her outstretched hand reaching out for his face.

Yes! Yes! Screamed a part of his brain as she came for him. Let it out! Hurt me! But he wouldn’t make it easy for her, that wouldn’t make it fun for her nor would it pleasant for him. If there was no challenge in it there was no point for either of them. He noted her speed with a pleasant satisfaction. Speed was the key to almost everything in the world of combat and he was happy that she had not only realised this but that here was someone he couldn’t lazily swat away or casually avoid. This was going to take effort. He liked effort and he guessed she did as well

As far as the fight was concerned it wasn’t the hand he could see that he was worried about, it was the hand behind her. Her left hand was outstretched to grab him, smash him in the face perhaps? That wasn’t important. He knew she was smart and he knew that she wouldn’t underestimate him that much. He believed she was operating on the assumption her left hand would fail, so he acted appropriately. With his sword raised he waited until the hand got just past the point of his guard before he brought his sword across to hit the outside of her left for arm in an effort to deflect it across her own body. This would mean that she would at best shoulder charge him but more importantly her concealed right hand would, hopefully, be brought of play. It wouldn’t be able to reach him by going round her back and if she were to swing it around in front of her it would have a very long way to go and come at an awkward angle.

But words were part of the pleasure of all of this as well. Whilst defending himself he called out to her.
“Regret it? You could break almost every bone in my body and I wouldn’t regret it. No one has managed to hurt me in a long time. I could do with a pulping.” He laughed slightly at that, smiling genuinely but also slightly manically. He was happy but it was a slightly scary kind of happy. Or at least it was for most. He wagered Yuzuki was not so easily unnerved.

But Osamu was not content just to defend. He knew the fun was in making her work for it, there would be even be fun for her if she was hurt a little bit, if she had to struggle. So he went on the offensive. He went to move past her on her left hand side, that arm having been deflected. Bending low slightly he span about as he went past her in an effort to slash her across the lower back. Of course with his scabbard on it was quite safe but it would be a fair old whack.

She knew that beating Osamu up would be hard, and she could admit it. Beating on a Captain was infinitely harder than reducing a 15th Seat to a broken mess. Nevertheless, that only set her blood pumping harder and she smirked to herself. He’d reacted just as she’d wanted him to, deflecting her left arm with the katana still sheathed in its scabbard. A laugh, somewhat condescending, rang across the street and she followed his movements closely as she spoke.

“You definitely have a few screws loose, man! Also, bad move.” Yuzuki whispered the last three words, the amusement in them clear as she allowed him to whack her lower back. Simultaneously, with her lips pulled in a rather menacing smirk, Yuzuki crashed her right elbow right behind her, right into Osamu’s face which was at most a dozen inches away from her. He’d lowered himself slightly, allowing her to reach him by angling her elbow slightly upwards, as if he hadn’t it would’ve been impossible. As she couldn’t accurately judge the distance behind her, she decided to go the safe route and swung her right side backward slightly, bringing her elbow back father with more force. Osamu’s hit had winded her slightly, yes, but it was far from fatal and she’d probably compensated his move equally well. Nevertheless, the challenge was welcome.

She whirled around right after that to face Osamu and her knee came flying up, right towards his chin. If she was lucky, she’d have the immense honor of dislocating his neck. The adrenaline was pumping in her veins, fueling her movements and increasing the force behind every hit, making her feel more alive than she'd ever had in the past 100 years.

This was why you get behind people. Because they can’t see what they are doing. They fight on guess work and drill. He was expecting a kick or for her left arm to come spinning around along with the rest of her body. A blind fire elbow to the face was unexpected but only because it struck him as a bad idea. He saw the arm go up ready to deliver the blow and he saw it start to come down. He was surprised at just how on target it was considering Yuzuki couldn’t actually see his face. But that just meant she wouldn’t be able to adjust her aim as he leant his head to the left without having to move the rest of his body. Her elbow only just missed him it came so fast, less than 5 centimetres off. But to people like Osamu and Yuzuki a centimetre may as well have been a mile such was their respective degrees of control and finesse.

His sword smacking into the small of her back forced him to smile slightly. If his blade had been properly drawn that would have killed her and boy was he going to rub that in her face. But before he had the opportunity to do so she seemed determined to plant her knee in his. He wouldn’t have time to get out of the way of this one, but thankfully his sword was in such a position as would aid him immensely. Simply by pulling the sword slightly closer towards him, but keeping it stretched out horizontally, right to left, her knee would connect with what would be the flat of his blade rather than him. He just jumped up about a centimeter off of the floor at the moment of impact but this meant there was almost no friction holding him in place and her blow was following through with his own momentum. He was sent hurtling back and his wrists and shoulders momentarily ached by absorbing what shock from the blow still went through. With most people he wouldn’t have felt that ache, none of the force would have gone through. But he felt it from her. He was not really hurt. His careful timing had meant she had merely pushed him a safe distance away. But part of him wanted to take that blow full on and not even try and stop it. He wanted to know what it felt like to be hit that hard by this woman. But he was determined to play with her a little longer.

He landed with cat like grace and instantly leapt back a single bound, just in case she was coming at him even as his body sailed away. When he believed he was safe he stood up tall and declared.
“And you lose!” They were words custom built to anger her but he said it with a slightly friendly tone, suggesting that it wasn’t really said out of hatred. “If I had my scabbard off your spine would currently be laid open and you would be a twitching mess on the floor. Point to me I’d say!” He smiled at her with a face that intentionally just said hit me! Osamu was keen on the counter attack, letting his foe commit to an offensive and then exploiting the gap. As such, he just stood there, guard raised and eyes sharp, waiting for her, goading her, to come at him again.

His words to Yuzuki were what gasoline was to fire. She flared up, her eyes burning and for a moment, she crouched there, the anger running through her veins. That foolish man, didn’t he realize that she had let him do it? She very well knew that it was a play-match of sorts, and had therefore decided to lay along with him. In reality, it’d have been different. Yet this man continued to be an insufferable ass. For a split second, she sat there, seething, a glare directed towards Osamu. And then, she simply disappeared. Nor did she reappear for a very long time and, as the seconds ticked away and melted into a minute, Yuzuki knew Osamu was probably feeling unnerved.

All of a sudden, she leapt out at him, aiming a kick right from above. She’d been perched on a nearby building nearly thirty meters away and a powerful leap had aided her aerial attack. Her leg came crashing down onto him, striking something that she wasn’t sure of. Was it metal or bone? Nevertheless, as she descended to his waist-level, she abruptly turned and, still airborne, aimed a powerful back-kick towards his ribs. All of this happened in a split second at blinding speed. She wanted to hit him, she wanted to draw blood, she wanted to feel bone breaking beneath her touch. Her previous hit, while successful, wasn’t satisfying. It wasn’t Osamu’s Zanpakuto that she wanted to break. It was him.

"I let you hit me, you ass." She retorted quietly, close enough to him that he'd be able to hear her whisper. "If you hadn't deflected with your sword, your head would've been rolling several meters away. And now, I'm going to fucking kill you."

When she vanished he immediately began expecting an attack from an unusual angle. Which one he couldn’t be sure but he was damn sure it wasn’t coming from the front. After a few moments he began turning around erratically on the spot, presenting no pattern to exploit. He occasionally checked the air above him and scanned the roofline, he even paid attention to any rumbles in the ground in case she was burrowing up from below, hollows had tired that one on him before. He was sure of one thing though, she had not gone off in a hissy fit. She was too determined and too strong for that. He could have run, he could be back in the safety of his division in a heartbeat but he didn’t want to be safe. He wanted this one to go, almost, all the way.

When the attack came he was not caught entirely unawares, though it was something of a surprise. Just as before he wanted to work on allowing your foe to commit and exploiting a gap. He was tempted to get out of the way of the first blow but she would be expecting that, plus he might not have enough time. Raising his zanpakuto up slightly above his head he used both hands to support it as he leg came down and hit it hard. So hard he was forced down on to one knee and bent almost double. So hard he gave out a little growl of pain as the shock went down through his arms, down his spine, legs and into the earth. But the growl flowed into an odd little chuckle. The blow hit so hard the scabbard cracked. It didn’t break but a very definite fault had split open. This was dangerous for Yuzuki. If she kept on hitting it that hard the scabbard would fall apart and she would be facing his real zanpakuto.

Thankfully for Osamu he was forced down so hard that the blow aimed for his ribs would sail harmlessly overhead. With a roar of effort he surged up, running his blade along the inside of the leg he had blocked and if Yuzuki did not do something to prevent it the blade would hit her hard right in between the legs. Not as bad for her as if it were a man but it would again be a solid blow if it connected. The effort was also aimed at throwing Yuzuki off balance and may send her cartwheeling onto her back. As he rose he declared.

“But I did deflect it and I did hit you! That’s what matters my dear! Your record tells me you are brilliant. Be brilliant!”

While she quickly figured out that her first kick had connected with Osamu, Yuzuki’s second kick obviously hadn’t struck anything and sadly, he was just as fast as her. His roar of effort should’ve alerted her and to an extent, it did. It was just entirely unexpected. She registered the feel of the scabbard running up her leg and the jagged edge where she’d cracked it left a myriad of rather painful scratches. However, the stinging sensation that was left behind was nothing compared to the following hit. Yuzuki was anything but a man and the pain wasn’t comparable to a man’s but boy did it hurt much more than she’d initially thought. The pain spread like wildfire in her general pelvic area and she let out a pained cry. Her foot landed lightly onto the ground and on instinct, she leapt up in a roundhouse kick before leaping away. The pain wasn’t debilitating but it made her double up slightly and cross her legs. She was used to pain, getting cut, hit, sliced, smacked, you name it, on her limbs and torso. But never had she been hit like that.

A moment’s worth of silence stretched out between them and she eventually looked up, her eyes burning and her face scarlet with embarrassment. “You’re sick! What the fuck is wrong with you?! Do you regularly hit women in such places?!” Her voice was beyond pissed, yet the embarrassment was detectable as she stumbled slightly over her words. She hated him. It would be one thing if it was just them – fine, she probably wouldn’t be able to look Osamu in the eye for the next decade. But with his guards standing around? The worst that could happen was rapidly becoming more and more likely.

“I sure as hell hope that hit broke your head! There’s brilliant for you, you creep!” She called back, still pissed and angry beyond belief.

Her roundhouse kick was something that he couldn’t really avoid. He was so close to her body and she moved so fast he was just going to have to take it. But again he could block it and soak up the majority of the damage with his zanpakuto. All it would take would be turning his weapon through 90 degrees after he landed his blow into her pelvis. So he did just that and again leapt up into the air ever so slightly, he even began to shunpo away as the blow landed so the momentum of the hit would be lessened. His scabbard cracked just a tiny bit more as he was blown to the side by the force of the impact. But streets were far narrower than they were long and even the reduced force of the blow sent him hurtling into the wall of a nearby building. The degree to which he had lessened the impact was demonstrated by the fact the wall merely cracked rather than out right shattered as he hit it.

A pained and slightly winded murmur of “Bloody hell.” Could be heard as Osamu swiftly righted himself. But he saw his opponent wounded, confused, uncomfortable and awkward. Again this was an opportunity and now he would attack. As he righted himself before the offensive he declared.

“I am sorry and no, I don’t usually hit people there. But you’re too good, and I respect you too much, to cut you slack. I’m going to strike you in the same places I would if I was trying to kill you and take advantage of the same opportunities. You are too good at this for me to go easy on you.” Thankfully the guards were sufficiently removed to effectively protect Yuzuki’s dignity and in Osamu’s mind Yuzuki had all the more dignity because he had been forced to hit her there. Now he came at her, declaring. “Now hit me hard! You want to now do it!”

His offensive seemed plain and simple, he charged straight at her, face locked in savage effort. He was holding his weapon with both hands in one of the stranger looking zanpakuto offensive stances. His hands were close to the left hand side of his head with the blade pointing straight forward at Yuzuki’s face. It looked like an awkward posture but to anyone who knew sword techniques they knew the thrust to the face was not what you had to be concerned about. This was one of the most adaptive charging postures possible. It could snap into thrusts, overhead blows, side swipes, leg sweeps and a similar array of blocks at a moment’s notice. Again this was feeding into Osamu’s general emerging tactic. Let your opponent commit themselves then move around them as appropriate.

The moment he started charging, Yuzuki felt her adrenaline surge higher than it’d previously been. The weapon in his hands was held strangely but Yuzuki had learned over the years not to underestimate unfamiliar positions – heck, it applied to Hakuda as well. The stranger stances were often deceptively powerful and were aimed to kill. Yuzuki simply stood there, legs still crossed and her posture slightly hunched. The pain had faded a bit but he didn’t know that as she continued to pretend she was still in a great amount of pain.

Just at the last moment, when she was sure the blade was about to go through her face and into her brain, Yuzuki ducked, half-crouching down on one leg with the other extended and her body aligned to the right. Her elbow immediately lashed out towards Osamu’s abdomen in an arc, a hit that usually delivered internal bleeding and was pretty powerful all on its own without the need for reiryoku. Wary of the blade still above her, Yuzuki immediately moved away a fraction of a second after her attempt on hitting him, shifting her weight onto her outstretched leg and quickly moving away from him. This time, positioned somewhere behind him, Yuzuki fully crouched down and swiftly swept her leg across the ground in an attempt to bring Osamu’s form down as her leg collided with his ankle.

“Apology not accepted. Do try to keep your Zanpakuto away. But you are faster than they give you credit for.” It was obvious as to who Yuzuki was referring to; ‘they’ being the Shinigami. Most she worked with on a daily basis and knew everything worth knowing in Seireitei and after a minute or so of colorful threats on Yuzuki’s part, they’d told her everything she’d needed to know. She’d have to correct some of their information, though – Osamu was just as fast as she was.

Osamu hoped she was in as much pain as she appeared to be, but he knew he couldn’t rely on it. It was an opportunity he had to exploit but he must not allow himself to be careless, she had faked a sensation once before today and she could do it again. He hoped she was enjoying the pain though, it added to the satisfaction of the fray. Perhaps that was just in his own mind and he was projecting too much of it on to her but he didn’t think so.

He knew she would do something as he came towards her, she certainly would not just stand there and take it, not after the blow he had so recently delivered. When she went down and began to deliver her savage blow to his gut he had two choices. Evade, or attack. Evasion would likely have allowed him to escape the blow unharmed but he would also forego any realistic chance of hitting her. Today was not about victory or skill. Today was about effort and pain as well as the pleasure that came with it. The release that came from unleashing anger and frustration on something that could make you work for it and the rising spirits and zeal that came from taking a good few blows yourself. More importantly, this was about her, not him. So he opted to take the hit, only minimising its impact a little, whilst also delivering her a solid blow of his own.

He did this by a deft flick of the wrist and a hard sweep down to his left, the point of his scabbard almost scraping the ground, to aid this he stepped hard to the right and put the weight of his whole body into it. As a result, so long as Yuzuki stood her ground and was determined to hit Osamu in the abdomen she would have to take a blow like a golf swing to her entire right hand side. Still, since his weapon was sheathed it would merely be a hard blunt force blow. And when it came to hard blunt force it seemed Yuzuki had the edge. By driving her elbow hard into his abdomen she hit his armour, made of the new spiritually resistant metal. But as tough as it was it was nothing compared to her. She hit him so hard the armoured plate buckled and he felt the concussive force rippled into his body. It hurt, it hurt a lot. It hurt like nothing had hurt him for over a century and he relished it. Still, it was a colossal pain that felt like someone had detonated a small explosive charge somewhere in his digestive system. The man gave a low but very definite.
“Arghh!” in pain but he didn’t let it stop him. As bad as it was, and as delicate as his digestive system may be for the next few days, he was not bleeding internally. He was a captain, he didn’t go down quite that easily. Though he had hit her with his own attack, just as she had landed a fine blow on him, she did not seem to be slowed overmuch by the effort and rapidly appeared behind him for a second attack. This one however, would not be so successful. Continuing the motion form his hard blow down Osamu span around on the spot, weapon still almost against the ground and connecting hard with Yuzuki’s ankle, knocking it aside before it could reach him.

Meanwhile the guttural noise of pain from her colossal blow had metamorphosed into an “ahh” of worrying satisfaction before he eventually dramatically and loudly declared.
“Yes!” He really dragged out the beginning of the word and he sounded far too happy about it. Especially since the aching after shock of the pain was still thumping throughout his lower torso. “That’s better! Again! More!” When he said the word more he almost bellowed it out at her, half cry of defiance, half order. "You know you want to." Osamu really was enjoying this a tad too much but truth be told he needed the pain. For him, even taking it was an odd relief in a manner that might have been of concern to Yuzuki. But he needed all the release he could get. Then again she was probably more concerned with smashing his mad eyed face in than worrying about his mental condition.

Osamu’s own counter offensive was just a tad tricky this time around. Moving his blade a centimetre or two down as he spoke, so it touched the ground, he then flicked his sheathed weapon up in a way that scattered dust and grit into Yuzuki’s face. She would have seen his weapon sailing in close behind but it was a faint, the moment he believed her vision would have been impaired he twisted his wrists to the right and arced the blade across in a way that would have connected with her waist from the left hand side if she did not somehow block or evade the blow. The stakes were getting higher now, we was moving faster, and more importantly, harder. But so was she. That was how it was meant to be and he would have it no other way.

Yuzuki smirked at his faint sound of pain, only to give one of her own when he clubbed her with his sheathed Zanpakuto, the katana colliding with part of her right side. It knocked the air out of her lungs and winded her pretty badly – at this point, she was sure her entire right side would be covered in bruises. Fortunately, she’d detected his movements about a fraction of a second prior to the hit and had arched her back slightly, putting a bit of her body out of reach of his Zanpakuto. As it was straight, it couldn’t effectively hit the entire right side of her body but it did hurt – it felt like he’d smashed into her with a hundred-kilogram pole. Winded, Yuzuki still crouched behind Osamu as he blocked her foot and aimed his Zanpakuto.

With a groan of effort, Yuzuki spun back up and barreled into him from behind, elbow pointed towards the exact center of her back. The minor movement of Osamu’s Zanpakuto had made her anticipate a potential attack and she instead decided to get out of its trajectory but not before her face was sprayed with a bit of dust. As she stood, however, she did manage to avoid the full brunt of the blow on her waist. Unfortunately, it had redirected the hit towards her thigh, the hard hit leaving a bright red mark that was probably not going to fade anytime soon. It soon started burning and she hissed in pain slightly, shifting her leg behind her a bit. Her eyes stung from the dust and she glared at his back, before that glare melted away into a smirk.

The pain had given her new life, all the more incentive to hit him and hit him hard. This was nothing like beating on a minor Hollow. This was different, something more rejuvenating and while it was considerably more dangerous, it felt better. They’d already dealt each other serious injuries but they were far from stopping. No, Yuzuki wouldn’t stop until he couldn’t move. Nor did she think he’d stop either – Osamu was a Captain, he could certainly stand his ground much longer than the other Lieutenants she’d bullied and provoked into a fight. This was much better, and it showed on her face as the bloodthirsty excitement took over.

Osamu was glad to feel the satisfying thunk of his blow landing home not one, but twice. He had not been counting on that kind of good fortune. He knew it hurt her, just like she hurt him. He could almost see the bruises in his mind’s eye and he could feel the ones on his own body. Though truth be told, the first one, that red raw slap across his face, was still his favourite. But every blow given and received was a little moment of twisted, guttural pleasure. But as tempting as it would have been for him to just sit there and continue to soak it up he had to make her work for it just that little bit more.

He had been expecting her to come at him, full force from the front, up through the dust and to bear down on him like a tiger. The tiger bit may have been accurate but she wasn’t coming hell for leather from the front. She simply wasn’t there. She had already come at him from above today and so that left the rear. Of course, above or behind, he would get out of it the same way. He wasn’t waiting to find out what was behind him, nor was he going to try and block it. Instead he ran forward as fast as he could, running away from her blow as it came at him, buying him a few precious moments. After he had travelled about three paces forward he rammed his sword into the ground and cartwheeled over it, pirouetting as he did so. His white captain’s robe fluttered hauntingly in the air and even an uneducated observer would have to admit he was, for a moment, a model of grace and poise.

In the moment he could see the face of Yuzuki coming at him, true he was upside down but he could still read her expression. Blood thirsty excitement. That was what he wanted to see. His own eyes were wild and hungry but for a moment there was a warm smile on his face. It juxtaposed strangely with his almost carnivorous eyes but it was there none the less. By the time he hit the ground though it had turned into a vicious smirk. Now the two were face to face and unless Yuzuki changed course she would be coming straight at him, full force. Osamu didn’t have a moment to loose, no sooner had his feet touched the ground than he leapt up like a coiled spring and pirouetted through 360 degrees in the air, his blade was outstretched and it was bearing down with almost all the force he could muster. He was spinning like a hurricane and gravity was on his side, it was a lot of force. If Yuzuki did nothing this blow would hit her diagonally hard from the left, impacting her shoulder. If she did get out of the way though she would be able to see, rather than feel, how hard Osamu was gunning for her. This blow was hard enough to crack the ground beneath them and whilst shinigami of their levels were tougher than the ground this was still a blow to be reckoned with.

But the mere fact he made an attack of this nature showed he was getting almost as swept up in things as she was. In true battle Osamu was careful, restrained and patient. But this was play time and he played rough! It was a big, bold and savage, he wouldn’t be able to pull out of it. All of this was showing on his face as well. The pleasure of his smile of a few moments ago was genuine but now he was grinning like a demon, mouth open and hungry, teeth bared in menacing joy and anticipation. He looked as though he were about to cast aside his sword and just start eating her and, truth be told, he was closer to that than she might have realised.

Watching him fly and pirouette over his Zanpakuto, Yuzuki was almost tempted to Shunpo over and kick the katana away from underneath him. It would certainly be easy enough – he was so busy showing off his agility that it would be child’s play to simply Shunpo over and deliver a well-placed kick. But she couldn’t deny the grace that Osamu possessed. At that moment, it occurred to Yuzuki that they were somewhat fundamentally different – while he relied on weaknesses and gaps that the opponent inevitably presented, Yuzuki simply used brute strength to annihilate whoever was in her way. And truthfully, after centuries of displaying her near-insurmountable amount of strength, not many dared to stand in her path anymore. That was mainly the reason she was often allowed to do whatever she wanted. It wasn’t something she entirely bothered with, however, so she didn’t meddle much and instead managed her Division in the absence of her Captain. But she knew Akimoto would never have allowed her to brawl like this with anyone. Luckily he wasn’t here to chastise her for her animalistic behavior but Yuzuki would bet her Zanpakuto on the fact that this fight would get out and spread among the Shinigami.

However, that wasn’t something she’d dwell on now – she could worry about the consequences later, now she had an attack to avoid. Her eyes surveyed Osamu’s form leaping towards her and she grinned to herself. Too simple. She could simply block the attack with reiryoku to minimize damage on her skin but where was the fun in that? Yuzuki twisted away at the last moment, once again getting hit on her leg, this time on her calf. She could nearly feel her bone shatter underneath the force but after the hiss of pain, she laughed. Perhaps this was why she was considered a demon.

But it was time to return the favor. Almost immediately after her struck her calf, she reappeared right in front of Osamu again and grabbed at his sheathed Zanpakuto with her left hand, holding it away from her with brute strength. She offered him a smile, a smile that was just as vicious as his. Her other hand Yuzuki placed on his shoulder to keep him in place just for a split second while her right knee came up and attempted to smash into his abdomen again.

Osamu was surprised when his blow landed home, even he could hear her bone crack under the sound of his own scabbard shattering just that little bit more from the force of the blow. A few more of those and she would be dealing with naked metal. It was too easy. But as surprised as he was he was also happy. That hiss of pain from her lips was wonderful but not as wonderful as the laugh afterwards. That was terrifyingly beautiful. He wanted to hear that one again and again. That laugh may fuel some nightmares but it made him happy in a way that would take him some time to explain to her but he hoped that she already instinctively understood.

When she grabbed his sheathed sword he knew she was cheating, pretending that thing wasn’t sharp was hardly playing along but he didn’t care. It was a different game now and he wanted to see how she was going to play it. He began to reposition, expecting to be set up for a savage attack but his own, furious offensive, had over committed him. He was unable to get away before her second hand seized his shoulder. Perhaps there was something he could have done at this stage to lessen, or avoid the blow but his brain didn’t even bother think of it. He saw it coming and he just looked Yuzuki in the eyes, staring deep, deep into those violet orbs that seem to burn like hell fire. He was, not at peace, but he was in the middle of a deeply satisfying burn when the blow hit. Again it struck his armour, but it was weakened from the previous attack and that area of his body was raw and sensitive.

For a moment it felt like a bear was in the pit of his stomach, roaring and slashing. There was a tremendous pressure followed by a very painful release. Something had ruptured, big or small Osamu couldn’t tell but something had spilled open inside him and was even now seeping vile and perhaps vital liquids into the gaps around his organs. But he didn’t care, he was burst inside, she was broken and it was good. He wasn’t scared of the demon, for now at least he liked the demon, he was almost feeding off of it! His smile grew larger as he felt the pain spread and radiate through his body, he didn’t even scream. He just let out a quiet little chuckle and enjoyed the moment. He almost didn’t want to move as they both just hung there for a few scant fractions of a second that seemed to last an eternity. But that wouldn’t be fun for her and it wouldn’t be fair to himself. Using the fact she had two, firm, points of contact on him he brought both his knees up to his chest before kicking out as hard as a horse, one foot to her face, the other to the wrist holding the sword whilst his sword arm sharply twisted in an effort to aid it’s escape. He used his free hand to stabilise himself whilst he did this but rather than grasp her shoulder like she did to him, he grasped her neck and squeezed hard.

If his effort was successful he would end the move with his left hand around her neck, both feet on the ground and his sword arm free to act. His vice like grip was not as firm as her would have been had she done the same but it was hard none the less, choking her, threatening to collapse the walls of the wind pipe, denying oxygen to the lungs and the brain as he squeezed and smiled. His sword arm came back for a huge blow. This wasn’t quick or subtle, like he would have been if he was using a point. A knick of a centimetre could kill a man but these were blunt blows and he needed big swings. The sword came down aiming to pummel her hard in her left kidney. He could have gone for the head but he didn’t dare hit it. It may have caused a concussion or other damage, combined with his chocking it may have even knocked her out and then the fight would have been over all too quickly. Hitting her in the kidney would hurt but she would still be awake, able to act and fight back. He wanted her to fight back. He couldn’t have it end now! Not now when it was so good! It had to go on!

Osamu’s sudden resistance to her grip on him wasn’t entirely surprising and she angled her head away at the last moment so that his boot only grazed her jaw. Nevertheless, it hurt and she glared, even as she failed to pry his hands away from her. Feeling Osamu’s hands close around her throat, Yuzuki’s grip on his sword arm momentarily loosened. Combined with the kick, she lost her grip on his hand and instead clawed at the hand around her throat, sinking her nails into his skin. She could almost feel his skin come away under her nails along with something wet running down his hand. She’d drawn blood, nearly mangling his hand in the process. Once she had dug her nails in enough, she dragged her hand down his hand, wrist and arm with ferocity, all the while sucking in what little air she could. Her suffocating state forced her to dig both hands into the hand holding her hostage and she momentarily stopped breathing for a couple of seconds as his Zanpakuto collided with her side and back. She struggled to breathe but it only fueled her anger.

Bleach, the Hollowing Continued

Yukihiro Yue

Theme Song: Lindsey Stirling // Song of the Caged Bird


Yue wears the standard Onmitsukidō Commander uniform – the upper part of the Shikahusho is sleeveless and completely backless, preventing the uniform from being torn into bits while using Shunko. The lower part of the uniform is also different, the pants being tighter and dark material is wrapped below the knee till her ankle, preventing mishaps with clothes and allowing a greater range of movement. The entire uniform is held together by a blue and white obi that starts 2-3 inches below her chest and ends at the very top of her hips. All this is always covered by her haori, reaching a little bit above her ankles and reddish-purple on the underside. Her haori sleeves are overly-long, extending a few centimeters from her fingertips which hide heavy weights and instead of waraji, she wears black flats with ordinary white socks.

Yue has a generally short and very slender build and while she has prominent feminine curves, they’re always hidden underneath her clothing, which outside of duty is traditional as per the Yukihiro’s expectations. Unlike the Yukihiro’s usual grey or light blue eyes, Yue’s eyes are a light yet bright blue-green which could accurately be described as mint, outlined by a darker ring on the outside.

---

【Full Name】
Sakurai, Miyuki
【Alias】
Yukihiro, Yue
(pronounced Yuu-eh)
【Gender】
Female
【Age Appearance】
17 -- Actual age: 227
【Sexuality】
Heterosexual
【Division】
Second
【Rank】
Captain
Onmitsukidō Captain-Commander

---

【Personality】
Most people would describe Yue as calm, gentle and tranquil. She almost never loses her temper, and it is equally hard to anger her, Yue being something like the calm before the storm that never comes, always gentle and always graceful. She tends to go with the flow, appearing laid-back and relaxed to most. To people she knows well, she's sweet and submissive, the type that'll grudgingly do what you ask. Constantly cheery and smiling, she becomes more open and playful, to a certain extent, solely depending on the person. In spite of her gentle nature, she's a strict follower of rules and will kill in cold blood if required, although she would much rather sit on the sidelines and observe her opponents in battle.

While she hates liars and can spot them a mile away, Yue happens to be the best liar, something she detests about herself. She avoids sharing anything personal about herself; whenever the conversation takes an uncomfortable turn for her, Yue can smoothly lie her entire way through it, consistent with all her previous lies making it nearly impossible to catch her in the act. That's one of her strange quirks that she keeps hidden at all costs: she's a pathological liar, easily being able to make believable (and sometimes far-fetched) lies under pressure, on the spot without batting an eye.

Unfortunately, Yue gets stressed easily and she tries to counter this with more training, despite the obvious fact that it only makes it worse. Of course, she hides it well but as it only adds to the stress, it accumulates to the point where she nearly has a mental breakdown. Apart from this stress, she has an iron will and will continue on with determination to the best of her abilities.

In battle, she's completely different. Yue doesn't exactly lose her cool as she's still as tranquil as ever but, underneath the gentle gaze, she focuses extraordinarily hard onto her opponent, almost instantly pin-pointing their weakness and possible openings, working her way around it and never losing focus. She's known for her strong, energetic fighting spirit despite her general dislike for battle.

---

【History】

Like most other souls, Yue doesn't remember much of her previous life in the Human World. When she concentrates and enters a meditative state, she can make out vague and blurry images that seem to be in chronological order but have large gaps between them. The one image that dominates is one of shabby beds, peeling paint and a floor covered by cracked tiles.

Yue 'woke up' as a nameless soul in Rukongai's 74th East District, which was overridden with crime. She remembers next to nothing for the first ~100 years of her life except that for a while, she struggled to survive by herself, resorting to theft. But that wasn't enough, for she was always hungry, unlike other souls. A year later at the height of one of the coldest Rukongai winters, barely any warm clothes, Yue was on the brink of death when a kind woman in her mid-thirties took her in. She lived in the 67th North District and was a herbalist who was passing through Yue's district to get to one of her patients. She nursed Yue back to health and took her in.

This is the point where Yue's memories start to fade, most of the details blurring into each other. Several decades are a complete blank, as she cannot sort through the assorted memories and only a few, key moments of her life remain in chronological order.

Hayano, Yue and the other four kids that Hayano had taken in lived happily for a while, but after a while things started to fall apart. Yue dutifully ignored it, instead trying to keep up the illusion of a perfect home but one day, when Hayano came back home with beer bottle and missing most of her clothes, things really started to go wrong. One night, Hayano came home with a large man following her, who proceeded to beat her to death along with the other three kids. The fourth one was dragged away and never came back and Yue, overlooked for a mere second, escaped.

The man that had taken one of the children came back for her and told her he'd take her to a nicer place. Yue believed and though she can't remember all that much, she has never, ever spoken of it again. She escaped within an inch of her life and took to the streets, refusing to trust blindly again.

She ran and ran, for days, barely stopping for a rest. She reached the 76th North District and settled in one of the friendlier slums. Over time, she self-taught herself the art of Hakuda to a small extent by watching the Shinigami who were supposed to be patrolling the area.

Yue lived like that for a while, stealing and occasionally killing. At one point, she dared to venture back to Rukongai's 1st District and as she walked through the marketplace in a delicate silken kimono that was slightly too big for her, she ran into a rather large procession that she'd never seen before. Before she could skitter away, one of the men at the side of the procession grabbed Yue by the collar of her kimono and forced her to bow down in apology to the family of nobles that were in the center but another stronger hand pulled her up. Yue came face-to-face with the assistant of the head of the Yukihiro family.

The Yukihiro family was extremely well-known for producing some of the best fighters in the Gotei 13 and was one of the four noble families, the smallest yet dealing with Soul Society's militaristic tactics. That's why it came off as a shock to the rest of the noble families and even to the residents of Rukongai when they decided to adopt the young girl that they had apparently simply stumbled upon. However, their intentions were made perfectly clear as the girl emerged as a good Hakuda fighter that had the potential to become a legend. Having only been taken in at the age of 185, Yue finally gained a bit of self-confidence, not only for her intelligence and natural talent for Hakuda but also for being such a quick learner, having achieved the rank of Captain in the shortest span of time later on.

Yue herself doesn't remember much of her past life prior to training intensely in the Yukihiro house's dojo. The family head, Yukihiro Isao, gave her a new name in symbolism of her leaving behind her past and becoming something greater, something with a purpose. Isao gave her the name 'Yue', which was Chinese for 'moon' but Yue quickly caught the underlying meaning, 'tragic accident'. However, she did not protest, accepting her new identity and conforming her ways to fit the life of a noble. Sakurai Miyuki was gone, replaced by Yukihiro Yue.

Against both the head's wishes, she joined the Academy and graduated a year ahead of her class, having the highest score in her year and the best at Hakuda. During those years, she had no problems with Kido or Hoho but Zanjutsu was a whole other story. She was forced to drop Hoho training as she was already acceptable at it and take up Zanjutsu to make up for her obvious lack of skill. When the time came to take her Zanjutsu exam, Yue barely scraped by. Soon after, she dropped it completely seeing as she had little to no skill for Zanjutsu.

Much to her family's disappointment, when she was first placed in the Fourth Division and although she quickly picked up Healing Kido with little to no problems, she was forced to transfer to the Second Division where she steadily moved up in rank. Unlike the Fourth where she was estranged and felt exceedingly lonely, the Second had accepted her as one of their own soon after she joined and proved herself to be one of the best assassins due to her small stature and silent movements.

Amidst the endless turmoil in her life, Yue continued on with training and pushing herself to train on borderline torturous levels. She improved dramatically and even managed to master her Shikai, despite her not getting along with her Zanpakuto spirit. She quickly went from a 12th seat to Lieutenant and remained as one for several decades, working closely with her Captain in harmony.

Her first breakdown came in the form of a marriage proposal from the son of another noble house. Yue immediately refused, seeing as how she was so focused on her work in the Gotei 13 and would barely have time to be a wife to someone she didn't even know. Isao came up with a quick solution: leave her position and stay at home, full time and raise a family with the Ichigawa family's youngest son, Ryuusei. Yue politely declined, but needless to say, Isao and his wife were absolutely furious with Yue's decision (not that she had one in the first place). After years of fighting, arguing and negotiation, just as Yue was promoted she agreed to get engaged to Ryuusei under the condition that they wait at least 200 years before getting married. Isao agreed and promptly conducted the ceremony, formally engaging Ryuusei and Yue.

Apart from that 'minor setback', as Yue dubs it, she was finally promoted to Captain after unlocking her Bankai and headed the Second Division that was merged with the Onmitsukido, after defeating the aging Captain. Yue quickly took charge of her Division, frightening most of them with the promise of the same harsh punishments under her soft smile. Since she herself could never bring herself to inflict anything of that sort to anybody working under her, Yue had to resort a misleading bi-polar persona to get her Division in line, to a certain extent. As of recent times, Yue has become stricter and is less forgiving towards her Division; while she doesn't rule with an iron fist, she isn't as lenient as she appears to be.

---

【Equipment】
Heavy weights around her wrists and ankles, covered by overlong sleeves and bandages on her legs that serve to help her speed up her movements in Hakuda when off. Underneath her deceptive gloves hides thin, hard padding that goes up the length of her arms and legs to minimize damage from deflecting bladed weapons. There’s really no knowing what she hides underneath her sleeves and the rest of her uniform as she has been witnessed to pull out deadly weapons and other objects in a fraction of a second from seemingly nowhere. Yue also carries around a notebook and a pen, just in case.

---

【Zankensoki, Reiatsu and other Talents】

Vast Reiryoku: Yue's Reiryoku is appropriately large enough for her position and she can go on for hours without seeming to tire. She uses this to her advantage, to terrify her opponent, weakening their will and confidence. Surprisingly, her Reiryoku's temperature is extremely cold, on par with an Ice-based Zanpakuto and lowers the temperature of her surroundings if exposed for extended periods of time. While having a soothing effect most of the time, it does emit random sparks and charges from time to time.

Impressive Reiatsu: Yue's Reiatsu is stifling enough for it to be impossible for her Division members to be around her for more than a few minutes, instead getting overwhelmed by the crushing force. In turn, Yue has learned to suppress it and usually keeps it at an almost-bearable level. She's capable of suppressing it to nothing for extended periods of time, rendering her completely undetectable. Just like her Reiryoku, it is extremely cold and most of the time well below freezing point. It has a very dense appearance but fluctuates most of the time. It is colored a soft lavender-blue.
Incredible Kido Power: Yue's spells almost never fail thanks to her high Kido power, increasing her control over the spells' power to a point where she can fire quick barrages of Hado at every nearly every angle without an incantation. She can also combine two or three spells together and fire them back-to-back, confusing her opponent and increasing their overall efficiency.

Yet to Learn Zanjutsu: There is a reason why Yue's released Zanpakuto isn't a sword of any kind: she completely and utterly fails at it to a point where she refuses to even take out her katana(s) to fight. During her time in the Academy, she managed to grasp the very basics of Zanjutsu although even an unseated officer could take her down in a matter of seconds.

Poor Offense: No skill there, she doesn't even know how to hold a katana properly.
Poor Defense: Absolutely abysmal.
Poor Physical Strength: 'Poor' is an overestimation.

Hakuda Legend: Yue has trained extensively and tirelessly in Hakuda, almost devoting her entire existence as a Shinigami to this skill. While her strength isn't the greatest, she strikes with such precision, force and speed that almost no one in Seireitei can match, even being able to go on for hours with different tactics without tiring. She doesn't hesitate to use questionable methods to down her opponents and most of her moves are so unexpected that they can catch even the most observant person off guard. This is the first thing that Yue uses in combat, preferring Hakuda over anything else.

Legendary Offense: Yue is perhaps best known for her ferocious attacks; the sheer power behind every attack she makes is astounding and even with minimal physical force, she can simply use momentum and her opponent's weight against them, landing devastating attacks that are known to kill or cause heavy internal and external bleeding in the least.
Impressive Defense: While she is a master at offense, defense isn't her forte, despite being well-versed in it. She’d have completely disregarded it if she hadn’t been taught by one of the best, making her appreciate its usefulness in combat. There are various techniques she uses to deflect and defend herself but that’s usually to give herself an opening to attack.
Average Physical Strength: While significantly stronger than your usual soul, Yue’s focus isn’t on strength but momentum and weaknesses.

Kido Master: Along with her Incredible Kido power, Yue is a proficient Kido user, even being able to use it alongside Hakuda. Since it is something she did not abandon after graduating from the Academy, she has a large amount of knowledge in the different spells, although her personal preference is Bakudo which, to her, are far easier to execute. She can use most spells without incantation but higher-level spells require her to use the incantation and can easily use them in mid-battle with devastating effects, apart from when using a spell above her ~#80 Hado limit and it blows right back in her face.

Unremarkable Knowledge: Having been born in Rukongai's slums and living there most of her life, she hasn't had the opportunity to learn much, even after being adopted into the Yukihiro family. After graduating, most of her time has been spent training and she doesn't have the time to access any other information apart from figuring it out on her own through observation.
Legendary Intelligence: Even though she might not know as much as the other Captains and Lieutenants, Yue has shown the ability to absorb information and store it away; being a naturally observant person, not a single detail gets by her and she uses every bit of this to her advantage, even in combat as she deducts and breaks down every mover her opponent makes in a matter of seconds while still not losing focus. One of her strengths is her ability to use her mind and her sharp memory for anything and she enjoys it immensely; being a strategist and a tactician is what she's comfortable with doing, analyzing and breaking down every component of her problem.

Hoho Grandmaster: While she’s one of the best at Hoho from a century of hard work, training and perseverance, Yue doesn’t utilize it much outside battle. In battle, however, Yue is deadly fast and strikes when and where you would least expect it. She’s extremely elusive and uses it to her full advantage, utilizing advanced and complex techniques, ones she’s mostly created herself or heavily modified. She’s currently in the early stages of developing another Hoho technique, the hardest she’s ever done, using afterimages.

Legendary Mobility: Yue is one of the most extremely flexible and agile Shinigami, from more than a hundred years of Hakuda training and possesses some of the swiftest reflexes. Being so elusive, she is a pain to catch and hit. She often contorts her body in strange ways during combat, landing surprise attacks onto her opponents and dodges most attacks, from Kido to Zanjutsu by simply using her natural agility and out-maneuvering even the most complicated of attacks. To make up for her lack of skill in Shunpo, her natural speed is very fast (think Kenpachi's running), along with her reflexes.

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【Techniques】

Shunkō:
A unique technique that Yue created herself, combining both Kido and Hakuda by channeling high-level Kido throughout her body. Shunkō is a very advanced technique, which is why Yue cannot hold it steady for long; she's still working out the kinks as it tends to powerfully explode outwards dealing severe damage to her surroundings. Though controlling it is still an issue she faces, it is still quite effective in battle. Yue is still constantly training in it and working to improve the overall technique.

Mirrored Mirage:
A technique Yue is in the middle of creating, one that allows the use of ‘afterimages’ created by using high speed and taking other factors into consideration, creating several of mirror images placed at certain spots, confusing the target. Currently, the images are at around 15% opacity, a percentage Yue doesn’t like and is trying to heighten and when more than 5 after images are created, they fade 2-3 seconds later.

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【Zanpakutō】
Zanpakutō Name: Seion no Arashi (Storm of Serenity ° 静穏の嵐)

Zanpakuto Type: Elemental - Storm/Lightning

Sealed Zanpakutō Appearance: While Seion no Arashi technically takes takes the form of two identical wakizashi's, their hilts resemble that of a katana. She doesn't keep them in a particular place - sometimes in her obi at her right hand side, or on her back held with a thin black sash. The guards are shaped as a six-petaled lotus and the hilts are a mint color. Just like their human counterparts, they can merge together at will though it rarely happens.

Inner World: Yue's inner world is always bathed in a silvery glow that seems to come from within the walls and ground itself. The castle that stands upon the steep hill overlooking a void is completely made of dark, almost opaque glass. The top of this glass castle is enveloped by what seems to be a developing maelstrom whose size seems to depend. But the most remarkable thing about it is that it is always upside down (or at a steep tilt angle) although Yue and Seion no Arashi have no problems navigating as gravity doesn't seem to hold any significance in here.

Zanpakuto Spirit: Seion no Arashi can split into two beings and merge at will. Both of them haven't shown her their true appearance, instead choosing to appear as two completely normal humans dressed in finely made, dark robes. When they merge together and show their true form, Seion no Arashi appears as a shadowy man that Yue hasn't seen the full form and his features, only his upper body with vague facial features. He is completely cloaked in heavy, dark robes that have a shadowy quality to them.

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Shikai:
When Yue draws them out and speaks the command, crosses the swords backwards and slides them off each other, Seion no Arashi releases itself, in a blinding flash of light, into two vicious claws that are permanently attached to her hands and arms until Yue seals them again, coupled with a heavy but brief surge of her reiatsu. When it strikes a target, it automatically releases a charge and although Yue can regulate this to an extent, it tends to be tiring.

Seion no Arashi takes on the basic form of this, with the sides of this overlapping the sides. It conforms well around her hands and is colored pitch black, apart from the thin, light blue veins of electricity.

Release Command:[i] Ten O Tsunzaku (Split the Heavens, Seion no Arashi! ° 天 を分割し 静穏の嵐!)

Shikai Abilities:

[i]Deaden Nerves (Shinkei O Shimetsu Sa Seru 。神経を死滅させる): Releases a charge that, upon contact, delivers a current that temporarily kills off the target's nerves, numbing them to a degree where they can't tell where their limbs are. The amount of time an opponent is affected by the numbness depends, ranging from about a minute to 10-20 seconds. This charge can also be pumped out in massive amounts to create a numbing wall.

Evocation (Shōkon 。招魂): Calls down a massive sweep of lightning in a sort of small-scale storm confined to a certain area. This can be focused towards the foe or directed towards the surroundings. Since it is essentially conjured lightning, it is very fast and extremely hot but just slightly below natural lightning. Yue can conduct it down her own body, dramatically increasing her speed for 10-15 seconds. During this, her mobility and Kido power decreases. Self-conduction cannot be used more than once per 30 seconds.

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Bankai

Bankai Name: Tsuiraku Ōarashi no Senmō (Falling Tempest of Delirium ° 墜落 大嵐 の 譫妄)

Bankai Appearance: As Yue calls out its name and it starts releasing itself into its Bankai form, Yue's reiatsu surges heavily, fluctuating and becoming even more stifling. Tsuiraku Ōarashi no Senmō takes a different form, absorbing the Shikai form and compressing it into the gauntlets that appear and conform around her arms, constantly emitting a visible and powerful electric current surrounding her, similar in appearance to Flash Cry. These hard, dark gauntlets cover her arms to minimize damage from her Bankai and outside sources. These gauntlets also allow the charging aspect of her Bankai; they amplify the power in exchange for Yue infusing her Reiryoku into the gauntlets and they release the moment Yue stops charging. Upon releasing her Bankai, it seems to have influence over the weather, clouding up and darkening the skies along with a significant temperature drop.

Bankai Abilities:

Trance of the Delirious (Senmō No Kōkotsu Jōtai 。せん妄の恍惚状態): Upon contact, Tsuiraku Ōarashi no Senmō releases a special charge that over the course of around 2-3 minutes, numbs the brain into a blissful trance, rendering the opponent unwilling to fight. This is because during that trance, the target believes that everything is so right and perfect that there is no reason to fight, followed by slight confusion. Apart from necessary contact and the fact that it takes a bit of time, there is another drawback: it has a mirroring effect on Yue, albeit weaker - at best, she'll get briefly confused and lose focus.

Dance of the Afflicted Tempest (Hisai Ōarashi No Mai 。被災大嵐の舞): Basically a very powered-up version of Evocation. Splits the sky apart and summons an actual, powerful thunderstorm (supercell), affecting the entire general area and wreaking havoc. Indoors, it is obviously less effective, but still only slightly as the clouds and sky don't seem necessary - only a thin cloud cover is summoned. Gale-like winds pick up, along with heavy pelting rain that lowers visibility by a significant amount. All this essentially hinders Yue's opponent(s) and allies (even herself to an extent).

Yue can call down massive bolts of lightning powerful to vaporize matter and can, again, either focus them all down into a specific spot or fire them down in her surroundings, a bit like rain, or manipulate the lingering bolts into various powerful attacks. After the initial cost of Reiryoku in summoning the storm, it rages on until she dismisses it but it slowly drains her Reiryoku. There are three specific techniques:

Shockwave (Shōgekiha 。衝撃波): This ability can be charged or not - it can also use the pre-existing lightning or generate its own current. When Yue charges Tsuiraku Ōarashi no Senmō for up to 20 seconds, it releases a built-up wave of electricity that heavily damages anything in its path in a 240-degree arced wave. The power of the wave varies. If she charges for 15 seconds, it would have devastating effects but if for 8, moderate damage. If she charges for 3-5 seconds, it will have a simple knock-back effect.

Deaden Nerves: Chaotic Surge (Shinkei O Shimetsu Sa Seru: Kaosu-teki Kyūzō 。神経を死滅させる: カオス的急増): Like Dance of the Afflicted Tempest, Chaotic Surge is essentially a very powered-up version of Deaden Nerves where instead of just numbing, it completely paralyses the opponent upon contact with the current released; anyone below Yue's power level remain paralyzed for 1-2 minutes. For those higher, it paralyzes for around 20-30 seconds, depending entirely on her opponent. It also takes a few seconds to build up the charge.

Holy Path (Seinaru Pasu 。聖なるパス): Yue can conduct one of these bolts down herself, increasing her speed (not Shunpo - natural speed) up to par with the speed of lightning itself. This is so extremely painful that it can quite possibly torture Yue into a state of shock but the real problem is the damage it causes her body the longer she uses it.

Ueshima Yuzuki

Character Theme - Heart of Courage

---

She wears exactly what’s shown above, though the entire uniform is black and the sash is white. The coat is missing sometimes, though it adheres to the color scheme and is colored black with white detailing. To prevent clothing mishaps, Yuzuki wears tight-fitting shorts underneath her skirt so that she doesn’t have to watch herself when pulverizing someone. Admittedly, the ‘uniform’ is pretty indecent but since Yuzuki herself is indecent, it doesn’t bother her as much as it does others. She wears ordinary white socks and waraji.

---

【Full Name】
Ueshima, Yuzuki
【Gender】
Female
【Age Appearance】
Late 20's to early thirties
【Sexuality】
Bisexual
【Division】
Fifth
【Rank】
Lieutenant

---

【Personality】
Yuzuki is a rather interesting individual, to say the least. She's the very definition of a strong, independent woman, with a fiery temper she's often quick to lose. While she respects authority, some more than others, she's often harsh and unforgiving to those beneath her, though not without a good reason. You'd think that behind her feisty nature she'd have a soft, sensitive side... not really. Yuzuki is as tough inside as she is on the outside, capable of going through the most intense of emotions without batting an eye.

Yuzuki is well-known for her meticulous organization and love for order. She's rather irritable and harebrained in the face of disarray and often unleashes her wrath on anyone who dares even touch her 'perfect' system. Even then, Yuzuki sometimes, though rarely, will have her own lazy moments.

Respect is something earned, and not freely given with Yuzuki, and that applies to her superiors as well. While she might not let in on some of her rather... colorful opinions on some of the Gotei, she maintains a seemingly permanent calm and respectful demeanor, until she loses her temper for some reason or the other. Yuzuki is a truly fearsome woman when angry, prompting some to flee the scene when she's liable to explode. And, through all that, you'd be surprised to know that Yuzuki is pretty friendly. Once one gets past her tempestuous nature, they can find a pretty good friend in her - her loyalty and diligence is practically uncontested.

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【History】
If asked about her past, all Yuzuki would do is shrug. While she's lived for quite a long time, somewhere around a thousand or so years, she remembers nearly everything with startling clarity. Every moment, every emotion, every sense that dominated. Yet, she chooses not to reveal any of it, like it never happened. There are no witnesses left who could tell the entirety of Yuzuki's long life, for most are now gone.

On a hot, sunny summer day in Rukongai, Yuzuki was born to a well-off family stationed within the 14th South Rukongai district, an area pretty well off compared to the lower districts. It was here that Yuzuki grew up amongst her seventeen brothers and sisters, all of whom later mysteriously vanished. This particular family was not of importance, but they were quite well-known, as every descendant since the beginning of Soul Society has been a servant, maid or someone of that social standing. They served the four Noble Houses, sending away their kids upon hitting the age of 200 to go and serve their new masters. Up until quite recently, it was something akin to slavery, something Yuzuki deeply detested.

Upon birth, Yuzuki was sentenced to the life of a miserable servant and as she grew up, her life was slow, boring and worst of all, bleak. People came and went every single day, barely sparing the young Yuzuki a glance. Her brothers and sisters disappeared, one by one, until Yuzuki herself was the last one left, motherless and about to be shipped off to the Usagi house. As a young child, she never questioned where her brothers and sisters disappeared exactly, until she saw her remaining sister being smuggled off in the middle of the night. Later, she would learn that all her siblings were in various parts of Rukongai, sold as servants and maids to various families. Yuzuki's fate as the Usagi house's servant seemed tame compared to the rest.

And that was exactly what happened. At the age of 200, Yuzuki was sent to the heads of the Usagi family and was assigned their oldest son. She worked there for several decades, getting accused of adultery somewhere along the line. Naturally, this wasn't true, as Yuzuki had nothing to do with the man except wait on him hand and foot. Her life was pretty bleak, colorless, devoid of anything but serving the proud nobles.

Somewhere around a thousand years ago, Yuzuki couldn't bear it anymore and requested to be let go. She was refused, unless she could get someone else in her place. Yuzuki didn't think twice before venturing out into one of the higher districts and convincing her sister to take leave of the family that owned her. They wouldn't let their property go and in a fit of rage, Yuzuki murdered them. She felt no remorse, dragging her sister after her back to the Usagi house. The switch was accepted, and Yuzuki was finally free.

That set her thinking; if she could quietly murder a family and get away with it, couldn't she become something other than a servant? She entered the Academy on account of her strong reiatsu, something that had been noticed in the Usagi household as well. After passing the entrance exam, Yuzuki bade her time in the Academy well, until she finally graduated with flying colors in everything except Kido. Unlike other Shinigami, Yuzuki's talents were noticed almost immediately and she was placed in the Fifth Division. She ascended up the ranks at a steady pace, until she finally gained the seat of Lieutenant.

The Fifth Division being the only Division she's ever been in, Yuzuki loves her position and Division, having been its Lieutenant for quite a few centuries, close to a thousand years. It is her pride and joy, and something she meticulously maintains to a fault. She's known for keeping her subordinates on a tight leash, and is quite often the highest figure of authority in Captain Akimoto's absence. Surprisingly, Yuzuki is a pretty good team player and a good leader, something she prides herself upon.

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【Zankensoki, Reiatsu and other Talents】
Legendary Reiryoku: Yuzuki’s Reiryoku supply is, in short, massive. Having built it up over the course of a thousand years, Yuzuki’s Reiryoku doesn’t have a particular feel to it but it’ll certainly instill fear into her opponents once she uses it shatter bones into dust.
Legendary Reiatsu: It’s the same case for her Reiatsu; it’s so potent and forceful that it’s enough to reduce seated officers to their knees. Like her Reiryoku, it doesn’t have any feel to it yet it simply exerts powerful pressure that’s unrivalled.
Poor Kido Power

Yet to Learn Zanjutsu
Average Offense
Poor Defense
Poor Physical Strength

Hakuda Legend
Impressive Offense
Incredible Defense Having impeccable defense, Yuzuki is well-versed in Hakuda defense and when Shunpo isn’t an option, she can simply withstand blows with surprising resilience and deflect.
Legendary Physical Strength Long story short, if she gets her hands on you, you’re screwed. She’s capable of breaking bones without the use of Reiryoku and can simply punch a Menos Grande in two. While her kicks are powerful, her arms are immeasurable strong and can reduce things to dust.

Yet to Learn Kido
Impressive Knowledge
Impressive Intelligence

Hoho Grandmaster
Legendary Mobility

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【Zanpakutō】
Zanpakutō Name: Senmei Yoake 。鮮明夜明け

Sealed Zanpakutō Appearance: An ordinary katana with a heavily decorated white hilt and two overlaying rectangular guards. The sheath is black.

Type/Element: Kido.

[hider=Zanpakuto Spirit]Zanpakuto Spirit: Senmei Yoake takes the appearance of a woman around Yuzuki's age, dressed in a large, decorative kimono. She resides within a world of perpetual sunrise, often followed by long lapses of darkness. A large new moon hovers right above her, giving no light. The only light source comes from when the sun rises, and the sea is constantly feisty with raging waves that rarely, if ever, calm.

Personality: Carefree, joyous, laid-back and free-spirited.

---

Shikai:

Release Command: Lead Astray (Azamuki Madowasu。欺き惑わす)

Shikai Appearance: The katana shrinks down to the size of an easily concealable dagger, allowing Yuzuki free use of her hands until she gets within range. When first released and in Yuzuki's hand, it emits a blinding glow.

Shikai Abilities:

Senmei Yoake no Hikari's abilities revolve around inhibiting an opponent to a stage where they have no perception of where they're actually going. This is purely physical, as it only alters the body's senses, but Senmei Yoake no Hikari's real ability lies within sensory deprivation.

Upon contact with Yuzuki's dagger, the senses of hearing, feel or sight are completely cut off for a certain duration of time. The extent to which they’re inhibited depends largely on Yuzuki's emotions, as the more unstable she is, the stronger the power behind the inhibitions, extending the duration. This sensory deprivation constantly drains Yuzuki's Reiryoku and the more she uses it, the more likely it is to completely drain her and revert Senmei Yoake back to its sealed state.

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Bankai

???

Bankai Name: ???

Bankai Appearance: ???

Bankai Abilities: ???

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The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Collab between Headphones & Oblivion

---

Tick-tock. The needle is going tick-tock.
It's making my already impatient heart hurry.
Tick-tock. The needle is going tick-tock.
Moving ahead, the sense of stopping is blurry.

Yet again, he was standing there.
A lone existence within the dark room.
Blind and deaf, he could only stare.
In that space, only darkness could bloom.

Hakuren understood this was his own mind, a closed space only he could enter. Whether it was his unconsciousness, consciousness, subconsciousness or whatever you wish to call it, it did not truly matter. Not at all. It was the same as time. How long had they been in Nowhere? How long had he been in this state of mind? How long had he existed in this current form? It was information of not the slightest necessity, thus completely irrelevant. So long as he remained in that bewildering world, the passage of time could not be measured properly and, even if it was, it would not offer anything. It was simply a term, which could not find a proper purpose, not in that twisted candy dimension at least. Where square roots had a thing for the fancy, rabbits had social problems and computers probably ate websites for breakfast, this country was one full of wonders. If ever a contest were to be held, it would certainly defeat The Country of Hearts from "Alice in Wonderland". Nowhere was a peculiar place indeed.

What was waltzing through the young man's mind, however, was nothing along the lines of marveling over the exquisiteness of his whereabouts, neither bodily, nor mentally. Rather, he was attempting to assemble all the facts and piece them together, in order to form what could be classified as "a recap". It was a slight hassle, for he discovered that several names of former companions, which he had encountered in the lobby at the train station, escaped his memory. Despite feeling a bit of distaste in his mouth for not being able to create the full reconstruction of their journey, it equally did not bother him. Those people were already part of another world, which he did not intend to enter in the near future. This being said, they were no longer of any importance. What was worth the worry was that he had forgotten so quickly. The gap between the batch's arrival and the end of their second mission was vague. It was nearly impossible to precisely determine the distance between the two events. Yet, as mentioned beforehand, time did not exist or was at least irrelevant in Nowhere in the norms familiar to human beings, thus it was ridiculous to even think of the time spent from one occurrence to the other. Albeit this illogically logical Nowhereian statement had been confirmed on numerous occasions, the youngster could tell that it had not been very long ago. He relied solely on his intuition, on his inner senses, which told him that certain requirements had not been met. If time were not to be taken into consideration, he could easily replace it with brain storage. A certain amount of space had to be taken in his mind by information before trivial, yet maked as potentially important, pieces of information could be erased. In his current condition, the lad was aware that such was not the case and he had definitely not acquired enough for there to be a need to delete. The more he tried to remember, the more irritable it became.

Coming into terms with not knowing something that should have been known was a rather tricky task for him to accomplish. A test, so to speak. And yet this bothersome feeling soon came to pass. Or had it taken him long? It certainly had not felt as the latter, which meant it should have been the first. It was only logical, yet ofttimes the known senseless slander was a profound thesis. A certainty became absurd. Such were the rules of this country. If this were to be taken as a constant, then anything, anything at all, was possible. The possibility of endless possibilities was an abyss many on Earth had either dared not enter or had jumped right into. In both cases, the individual often lost something. One - his chance of greatness, the second - his sanity. With Nowhere being this kind of bottomless pit, if not walked through with caution, insanity was sure to catch on quickly.

Understanding that it was impossible to remember that, which had presumably not happened long ago, Hakuren assumed that an outside force was the likely cause of this incoherence. It could have been due to the blows to his head. They had been quite injurious. He had not woken up for awhile, after all, and could not force himself to awaken. Wounds were the most plausible explanation. And yet he count recall that one statement he believed he heard some time ago. Perhaps it had been at the station or at the lobby. It was from a memory very early on, before he had met Dissonance and Serenade, before the Shakespearean and the Siren. What were the exact words? "The more you stay, the more you forget."? If we were to take it as granted, it would be more or less a contradiction. "The more you stay" implies that we are speaking of a certain period of time. With it being irrelevant, how could one know when boundaries were crossed and "the more" piled up? It would explain his lack in memory, however, this was an idea he decided to put off. No further evidence pointed that everyone was affected in a similar matter, none that he knew of at least. It would have been due to the hits to the head, which was far better answer than someone taking away his memories or them simply fading away. Yet that theory did tie nicely with his concept of the Queen and Train. Nevertheless, the youngster knew he needed more facts, more experience on the field, before coming up with a proper thesis on the matter. Making a note to himself to write at least half of his current findings in his notebook, the boy felt, you could say, at ease. With the past cleared up and left behind him, he was ready to walk towards the future. Right after he lazed about in bed, of course.

As Leon lay in bed somewhere in the massive castle, hands on his stomach and legs crossed in a relaxed position, he grew all the more confused. Nowhere was strange, he would give it that. The room he was resting in was fairly normal, from the unusually high ceiling inlaid with golden, sparkling stars down to the soft king-sized bed. Here, surrounded by around a dozen exceedingly fluffy pillows, Leon had sank into a hole of fluff and feathers. There was nothing spectacular or unique going on in his mind, nothing he felt apart from the usual emptiness. He really did consider himself a waste of oxygen, simply a living and breathing vessel capable of molding itself to fit its surroundings. He'd long ago decided to get a chameleon to talk to and had one back in his residence in Tokyo, a chameleon he'd so smartly named Leon 2.0. While he did feel the urge to go back to Tokyo and see whether Leon 2.0 had survived Leon's latest existential crisis - admittedly one he'd never come back from, lying in a fluffy sinkhole in another world, literally - Leon didn't really feel much for the poor reptile. Absentmindedly, he started wondering whether to arrange Leon 2.0 an elaborate funeral or chuck it out of the window. Yet he found himself unable to remember the layout of his home, or what car he drove. What had that girl said? "The more you stay, the more you forget?" It was strange and mildly unnerving but nothing of immediate concern to the boy.

Eventually, his scattered thoughts faded away and despite his desire to simply lay down and go back to sleep, Leon knew it was already far past daybreak and he needed to get up and do something productive. Not that he normally did, unless consuming oxygen counted as productive, but he figured the Queen wouldn't be too happy with his pointless existence. He managed to crawl out of his fortress after a bit of struggling and rose to his knees in the middle of the bed, stretching his arms upwards towards the ceiling, the action following with several cracks and pops. By the time he had washed and dressed, a good long hour had passed. Still situated in front of the body-length mirror, Leon fished his earrings from his jacket pocket (the jacket had been unceremoniously snatched away from Mado the moment they'd gotten back) and put them back in, admiring the way the light glinted off of the inlaid gold flakes. They really were one of a kind and he couldn't even remotely begin to imagine losing them. He remained in front of the mirror for the next half hour, hands on his hips and inspecting himself from every angle. Luckily, he hadn't deteriorated much during their travels.

By the time it was late morning, staring at himself in the mirror had become pretty boring so, flinging his jacket over his shoulder, Leon left the room. The door's loud bang behind him didn't register as he found himself standing in a very long hallway that only seemed to have his room. Shrugging, he set off at a leisurely pace down one side of the hallway, as if taking a stroll in a garden, looking for something even he didn't know. Eventually, however, he did come upon a garden after several long and tiresome minutes of walking down the carpeted hallway. An ornately-decorated arch opened up into a vast garden beyond, a garden that could qualify as a child's dream of Candyland.

He spent several minutes marveling at the garden, circling the trees - a bit like a predator - and inspecting the cotton-candy bushes. There never really was anything normal in this place, was there?

In a room without anyone's warmth,
I'm stretching out my frozen hand.
A place completely blocked for my hearth.
Faceless, they walk, an ignorant band.

Yawning like a cat under the warm sunny rays in a midsummer day, Hakuren stretched his arms upwards above him. The rest he had had, long or short, had certainly been enough to please his bodily needs. The soft covers and pillows of his lovely double bed provided such warmth and comfort, that he did not wish to move a muscle. To simply curl up like a good pet and sleep the day away. It was tempting, yet would not fit in with the rest of the young man's plans. Frankly speaking, it would be the cheerful trumpet of the minor. A cold shower during winter. A celery ordering a salad, even.
Once his eyes escaped the haze of slumber, the youngster examined his surroundings and easily reached the conclusion that he had been brought back to the palace of the Queen.
To the right of the bed from his point of view were the tall windows, the glass spotless from top to bottom, through which light bent and broke into the confines of the chamber. Above each was a shorter halfmoon of stained glass, a lovely piece of decoration that enhanced the merry atmosphere. Curtains gently floated from the top, their colour being a shade of light sky blue, with white star symbols here and there, just the same as the ones coming down from the canopy of the bed.
To the left was the door and a set of drawers, as well as a nightstand nearby. All the furniture was wooden and white, with carvings of different kinds. Some bore abstract curves and swirls. Others had deer and trees embedded into them. Of course, it would not have been Nowhere if not for the occasional cupcake or ice-cream character drawn randomly in places. The walls did not stoop lower, for they were also white with plenty of decor.
The overall design of the room would remind one of the Rococo period in the human world. Fancy. Fantastic. Romantic. It was the epitome of frivolousness. A moment in history where all was as if let lose and indulged in the beauty of forms and colours. A marvelous jovial time for artists. Yet it was not to last, a childish dream, just like this room.
Pushing himself upwards to a sitting position, the young man ran his fingers gently through his black-blue hair and a slight sting quickly followed. Apparently whoever had taken care of him during his coma-like state had done a good job in healing him, but the pain had not finished packing its bags just yet and the wound remained, closed but still there. In spite of this, the lad still smiled. After yawning once more, his smile became even bigger as he got himself out of bed.

Barefoot he walked on the marble floor, which was an art piece itself. A portrait of the sky it was; with stars, flying whales, turtles in celestial currents and all kinds of wondrous beings playing in what seemed to be a beautiful corner of deep space. Upon reaching the other side of the room, he stood in front of a full-sized mirror, only to discover he wore nothing more than a long white shirt that almost reached his knees and his underwear. Moreover, it looked as though he had had a bath, for his hair was clean and his skin felt a bit softer.
"Missed my chance again, didn't I?" he sighed, fists pressed on each side of his waist.
It was a disappointment indeed. He would have liked nothing more than being in the bath with a bunny girl or one of those cat ladies. Then again, sleeping through the process could have been a blessing, if the one who had taken the liberty of washing him had been some fatso or brainless muscle-maniac.

Dismissing this already past event, Hakuren made his way to another door, which lead to a small personal bathroom, where he washed and freshened up. After performing the most basic hygiene rituals, the youngster changed into his usual attire, consisting of a blue shirt, midnight green coat, dark blue jeans and brown boots. The woolen sweater and the scarf, which had been worn during his arrival in Nowhere, he intended to leave behind, just as he had done before leaving for the first mission. Wherever he went, it had been warm enough to not place layers over layers of clothing on oneself. From what he recalled, they were meant to face dragons in the journey to come. Albeit he did not wish to imagine what Nowhere's dragons breathed, the simple assumption that they were reptilians mean that they preferred warmer climates. This being said, he did not see the need to dress warmly or at least not now, for they were in the castle, where the temperature was pleasantly cool.

Having completed these two tasks, the boy proceeded with taking out his black notebook from the inside pocket of his coat and writing down the thoughts and reflections he had had during sleep. Fortunately, the item had remained intact and had apparently not been touched by anyone. The bookmark seemed happy to reunite with its master, for parts of its shadowy structure curled and twirled between his fingers. Making it take the form of a pen, he quickly jotted down the words, yet with precision, not missing any details. Even if something or someone was rubbing away their memories, as an artist would with the lines of a sketch, something so recent could not be forgotten that easily. After filling in three pages and half, he put a fin and closed the book, placing it back where it belonged.

Before exiting his quarters, the human opened one of the doors of a wardrobe near his bed and took out two items. A black tie and a hat. The first he tied losely around his collar, in order to give off that semiformal, almost casual, impression. Standing in front of the mirror, he placed the black fedora atop his head and turned it about several times. It was a nifty little accessory, the first present he had received in Nowhere, one given to him by the notorious mermaid Martini. The human adored it quite, just as he fancied the suit he had been given by the same fishy designer, yet refrained from dressing up so formally. In his opinion, he had gotten well acquainted with the Queen, enough to drop the serious act.
Just he finished adjusting the hat, the youngster spotted in the mirror the reflection of a pair of shoes neatly placed next to his bed. There had been no other person next to him when he awakened and there was a small ribbon and a card attached to the pair, thus it was obviously a gift. They were a pair of black brogues shoes, with details so fine they could be called an artwork. Elegant in a gentleman sense, he did not hesitate to try them on. Being just the right size and feeling quite comfortable, the lad decided to leave them on for his meeting with the Queen and the rest of his companions. Maintaining an image was one thing, appreciating a gift was another. The boots would have to await his return, for they would be needed in the upcoming adventure. A challenge involving dragons meant a terrain, on which one had to be stable, not fancy.
With this final preparation completed, the young man took his leave from his bedroom.

Tap, tap, tap. Footsteps resounded in the halls. Brogues certainly made you stand out when all else was quiet. The corridors had not a soul in sight, apart from the occasional rabbit guard, who passed by, but the critters' feet were so soft and light that they did not make a single sound as they marched forward. In contrast, Hakuren's gait, albeit not too proud, announced his presence from far away.
Flags of all kind littered the walls, with paintings often hanging between them. A long carpet ran down the hall, it's colours and patterns changing slowly, yet surely. The walls stood tall and graceful, towering above the passer by. Fortunately for him, there were signs and maps in specific locations, pointing out directions and whereabouts. Rather than take a direct route to the appointed meeting place, which he discovered written on the card in his new footwear, the boy chose to take a slight detour. It was a spectacular building, after all. A jewel of architecture.

Tick-tock. The needle is going tick-tock.
The boundary between the end and the start.
Tick-tock. The needle is going tick-tock.
All has become a piece of abstract art.

As he strode through this peculiar maze, Hakuren came upon an indoor garden, a little paradise of purple cat bell flowers, yellow tart bushes and many more colourful plants. There were even two lollipop trees. What intrigued the young man, as he passed by the marble columns, which were on the right side of the corridor, between which was space, through which one could enter the garden, was that Leon was standing there. Walking about rather absentmindedly, one of the greenest members of their little group seemed to be wondering how to kill some of his boredom. This made a quiet "heh" sound escape the mouth of the one in the midnight green coat. Not losing his newest target once, a playful flame danced in those strange green-blue eyes. Perhaps it would be amusing to toy around with this newbie.

"Hello, Leon." Hakuren greeted his comrade with a friendly smile, as he walked towards him. "Anything stirring in that coop of yours?"

Speak of the devil, it was Hakuren. Leon fully believed, at that moment, that Hakuren had strategically been placed on Earth to simply irritate the living hell out of him. Turning his head a bit towards said menace, Leon schooled his empty expression into one of surprise. "Hakuren. What a pleasant surprise." His voice remained monotone, a sharp contrast against the expression Leon had named 'pleasantly surprised'. Of course, Hakuren was anything but pleasant. A small smile appeared on his face for a split second before he started speaking again. "Seems like that girl and her pipe dealt some lasting damage. Are you sure you have enough brain cells left to function?"

"Certainly." was the other's response, his friendly appearance not once wavering. "It's a pleasure to hear you worried about me. Don't fret, I have enough to make more sense than that 'light as a feather' mind of yours."

Leon smiled back and clasped his hands together behind his back, starting to walk around the tree he had been standing under, giving a very casual appearance to the onlooker. "My, my, someone's quite arrogant I see. I must say, that girl did a fine job of smashing your skull in, I need to send her flowers and a thank-you note. Know her address?"

"Quite the coincidence. It appears I do~" he even beamed. "Your father's place. I do believe she has taken a firm residence there."

"Oh, so she isn't in your room!" Leon exclaimed with a playful smile. "But then again, who would willingly spend time with a human missing the majority of his brain cells?"

"Funny, the same question occurred to me recently. Mind if you tell me from your personal experience, since you did have some of yours pecked away."

"Not as much as poor Hakuren, though." Leon mock pouted before smiling again. "The poor baby is practically incapable of acting like a civilized human being anymore!"

Hakuren could only smirk at that statement, perhaps it was even close to a laugh. Truly, Leon was a greenhorn in this business. Making such accusations could potentially lead him in a deadly situation, not to mention that the ludicracy of his words created the image of a fool, desperately struggling to attack the one in front of him.

"As I recall, dear wingless bird, in our battle with those ruffians, you were the pathetic weakling of the day." he told him, not the slightest bit grazed by his oponent's speech. "While I was busy partaking in the fight, you were in such a daze that you could not lift a rock and throw it right. What does that speak of you, it is not far from even the oaf's mind. "The poor baby" was of greater help than you, the crippled avian." and then his expression became more cheerful and he added in a more casual manner. "Don't worry, Leon. Even the scantiest of broilers end up in the pot."

There was little that hit Leon personally and this wasn't one of those things. So he simply smiled and held back a laugh. "And you think prancing around and displaying your ballet skills was any better? Or was having Leila chucked at you better? It was a fight, dear Hakuren-san, not the Nutcracker."

'Repeating words. He's no longer truly stable. How sweet. Nothing out of the ordinary.' he thought and kept his happy demeanor going.
"Be cock-a-hoop and lighten up, Leo-kun. Just because I was proficient in this one skill doesn't mean you don't have something. You know what they say. "The superior man seeks in himself, whilst the small man - in others. There must be a part of you, which is worth praising, unless, of course, you are simply a blank mask." During the very last sentence, the young man's expression could be compared to that of the tricky fox from folk tales. A hidden mockery, combined with ingenuity and daringness.

There was nothing unpredictable, nothing ingenious anymore, simply a loop of words Leon could almost foresee coming out of Hakuren's mouth. His comment about his blank mask, however, made his smile grow wider. "There is much you don't know about me and unlike you, Mr. Smarticles, I like keeping it private. Now, while I could decide to become a ballerina in the middle of a fight, I didn't get smashed in the head."

"I can't disagree with your first statement." the young man in the midnight green coat said, with his right hand pressed to his chin, as if he were a detective, voicing out his theory regarding the latest murder. However, rather than staying in that position, he swayed the mentioned upper limb to the side, holding it in midair, and allowed his palm to face upwards. "Indeed, there is so much in the depths of what we humans call "empty space" simply awaiting to be discovered." he continued, smiling evermore "A bottomless pit of dark matter. Full and void all the same. A pointless mystery, yet a mystery in fact. It is what keeps many bright minds awake." With a short sigh, the youngster retracted his arm and placed his hand in the pocket of his coat. "However, yours is not the kind of abyss that is to my taste. Shallow. Walled. You are the kind of book that is only interesting when thrown into the fire. Perhaps, even the kaonashi Mado speaks of is deeper than your existence."

Leon remained silent for several moments, taking in the boy in front of him, his golden eyes sharp and piercing. After several long moments, he spoke, "But Hakuren-san, you're forgetting one very important thing. So important that in fact, it renders your entire argument null and void. The constant factor here is that," He paused for a few seconds, a small smile emerging. "You don't know me, at least not well enough. You can't judge what you don't know. Therefore --" At that moment, a sharp spike of pain made him cut himself off and yelp in pain. Something with teeth, very sharp teeth had attached itself to his upper leg and though Leon would never admit it, it had attached itself to the side of his butt.

As exciting as the battle of the two wordsmiths was, a group of certain individuals had not taken a liking to this sudden disturbance in their sweet little garden paradice. Creatures the size of a medium sized poodle had come to check what all the ruckus was about and, seeing as they were not given the least amount of attention from their guests, two of the locals promptly bit the lads on their bottoms, one for each human.
The sensation of feeling the sharp teeth of a being, the other parts of which were made of cotton candy, was a unique experience. In that moment, Hakuren honestly felt like a mailman on his very first day at work. Despite the obvious pain running through his body, he did not let out a sound. Either those pipes had truly dulled out his sense of pain or feeling something tighten around that area was nothing new to him. Perhaps it was a bit of both, with the latter being in greater quantity.
"Oi!!! Yous listen to us when we're talkin!" a cotton candy bush, that now stood between them, spoke. It was nothing more than a pile of colour with eyes. The mouth was completely invisible, the only exception being when they bit someone. "Now shush and eat us!" it insisted.
It took the two humans a few moments to completely comprehend the situation they were in. Staring at the castle dwellers speechlessly, it was as if someone had pressed the mute button. The silence which engulfed the atmosphere was almost unnerving, considering how many words had been poured our prior to this event. The cotton candy bushes actually murmured between themselves, wondering if they were asking too much of their guests, but were soon to be placed in an even more awkward position.
The two boys suddenly broke out in a hysterical laughter, one so hard and loud that their eyes teared up a bit. Their stomachs hurt and their feet began to slightly tremble. To this the sweets could only stare wide-eyed and confused, for they could not comprehend why the two-leggeds were laughing.

"Haaa." Hakuren let out the last of his uncontrolled joviality with a sigh-like finish. Brushing away the few tears in his eyes with his hand, he smiled politely at their hosts. "Excuse us for our sudden arrival and peak of emotion. With your permission, I would like to taste you." How innocent that line sounded.

"Good. Good!" the cotton candy bushes nodded. "Which flavor? Which flavor?"

"Hmm, I think a mix of everything would be delightful. What do you say, Leo-kun?" the green-blue-eyed youngster replied.

There was nothing more Leon would've liked to eat at that moment than the cotton-candy bushes. Whether it was of an underlying need for vengeance (honestly, those rascals weren't amateurs when it came to biting) or his sudden love for sugary snacks, Leon nodded with a wide smile, his golden eyes sparkling in mirth. "A little bit of everyone would be a treat, especially the pink one, you look so yummy!"

If the pink cotton candy bush were a human, it would be blushing right about now. Hastily it jumped forward and provided a long stick from its pocket, which was apparently invisible. All the creatures came closer and cotton threads steadily slid like snakes out of them and gathered around the top of the stick. Within moments, a giant swirl of colour was formed, one which smelled sweeter than ambrosia.

"What a colourful palette." Hakuren remarked.
The bushes were shining with joy and pride. Their newest creation was a success and pleased their guests.
There was, however, one little problem. There was only one stick.
"Don't cause any more commotion now! We like you, cuz you're humans, so take this little present as a token of our hospitality." one of the bushes told the lads, whilst the rest of its hind headed in different directions, away from them.
'And take a hike.' the psychologist finished the sentence in his mind.
"Thank you very much." he thanked the bush, taking the stick of gigantic cotton candy in one hand.

Leon didn't even bother trying to argue with the bushes and ask them for a second stick. Why, ruining their masterpiece was the farthest thing from his mind. It was beautiful and ethereal, glowing in a beautiful array of colors. And it was simply beckoning him to take a bite. And so he did, forgetting to warn Hakuren in case he was one of those people who detested contact, and simply took a direct bite out of the huge mound of cotton candy. It dissolved on his tongue as soon as he put it in his mouth, making his face light up in delight. "I'd live here forever just to be able to eat this regularly," He said before taking another bite. The sweetness of the cotton candy threw everything out of his mind, even the fact that him sharing a cotton-candy stick with the very same guy that he had been arguing with a few minutes ago. He was absentmindedly thanking his lucky stars there was no one around to witness this, except for the bushes, who could subsequently end up ratting them out. But Leon didn't care, instead devoting all of his attention to the delicacy that was the cotton candy.

Hakuren could only chuckle at the younger boy's actions. Leon was like a little child at the carnival, excited to get his hands on the sweet delight that was their present. It did not bother him that this greensprout was freely eating away the cotton candy directly with his mouth, so long as it did not meet with his own. He himself had no intention of using his hands, since he didn't want them to become sticky.
"Careful what you wish for." he told Leon before taking a bite from his side "This really is fantastic!" After two or three more delicious chuncks were down his throat, he added "We should head for the teaparty. The Queen is expecting us, after all."

"Hmm... sure," Leon mumbled through a mouthful of cotton-candy. A tea party sounded absolutely amazing and if the cotton-candy in the garden was this good, Leon couldn't imagine how good the treats at the tea-party would be. He hoped the Queen herself would be there; her crown was fabulous and he wouldn't mind stealing another glance.

After a long walk down the confusing maze that were the castle corridors, with all those turns, twisted signs and doors, the duo finally made it to what was supposedly a door to the Queen's dining hall. By then, the cotton candy had already been consumed and only the stick remained, held by Hakuren, who would sometimes use it to poke Leon as a joke, whilst they strolled down the halls of this magical manor.
Upon pushing the double doors forwards, they found themselves at the right place. Indeed, this was the appointed gathering location, which was a relief, for getting lost in the castle could mean a day or two of isolation. With their mouths clean from their little feast, having stopped at a little drinking fountain beforehand, they were proper and presentable gentlemen. However, all the gazes were directed not at the two, who had just arived, but elsewhere, towards faces fresh and unknown.
Newly arrived humans. Albeit they were a rather odd bunch of people, who was to say their seniors weren't? A total of four individuals, just as colourful as the dessert that had been eaten. One of pink hair. One of ginger. One of blond. And one of green. What a bizarre combination. Only three colours away from a full rainbow set.
Hakuren's gaze instantly landed on the third mentioned. He was man of strenght, with a heavy build and a wild look, the perfect example of a gang boss picked straight from the lawless street. There was actually a chill that tickled the black-blue-haired youngster's spine, yet it was not of fear, nor of horor.
'With that style and overall appearance, he certainly seems like one of those people...Aksel, you bastard. Came to haunt me, didn't you?' he thought.
Despite that pinch of unease, which lasted for simply a heartbeat, there was a smile on Hakuren's face. A small light one, which could easily turn into a grin at any moment. And it did, once his sight came upon the pink-haired newbie.
It looked as though the Pink Panther had drunk a magical potion and was turned into a giraffe. The individiual, whose colouration was most astounding, was rather tall in height, literally towering over every other human in the room. Like a white sheep amidst a black flock, they created an excellent contrast with the rest of the group. Long curly pink hair, gangling legs and splendid attire, this was a person of grace and beauty.
As lovely as this Eiffel tower was, there was something that simply did not click, so to speak, with Hakuren. This particular newcomer was an eye-candy, no doubt, however, something was amiss. At first, he could not tell what exactly it was. Every inch was lovely in its own way, but first impressions ofttimes lied. Thus he continued scanning, whilst Ash and co. introduced themselves. After a thorought observation, the youngster finally understood what had pestered him about his subject's physique. Over the course of existing in his original realm, there had been many women, which he had seen and been with. In addition, his lists on MAL were quite long. These two types of experiences taught him many things, one of which was the finesse of female proportions. No matter how much you changed your angle, not even the skinniest of girls had such a body build, nor was their gait of a similar type. The closer he looked, the more he came to realize the solid fact. Lesley, as he would introduce himself afterwords, was a trap.
Next in line was the only true girl in the new batch. One of ginger hair and straight posture, there was nothing to complain about regarding her appearance. Her chest size was not as big as Ace's and not as small as Jasper's, thus placing her in an acceptable category. When it came to her outfit, she apparently prefered the business outfit, yet it suited her well. Just in case, Hakuren ran some measurements in his head, which confirmed her to be female, at least by proportion standards.
Interestingly enough, there was another person next to the green-haired boy. A young man with brown hair and glasses, hunched a bit forward, wearing casual everyday clothes. Out of all of them, he fell into the same category as Harper. Completely normal, appearance-wise at least. Having nothing outstanding on the outside meant that only the inside would speak of his identity, which made it all that funner. At least one of them would place a challenge to decipher.
As for the green-haired lad, if there was a pink one, why couldn't there be a green one? A candy cane gentleman and Songbird were with them, which mean the latter had been their guide, seeing as the walking stick had been seen working at the castle. Their identities would be revealed in all due time, yet rather than heading directly to the introduction cluster, Hakuren rested his back against the door, which was now closed shut behind him, and watched as the chatter went on, his smile not once taking its leave.

Twisted Redux

I'm still here (actually, I'm always here), I was a bit busy the last week. Otherwise I'm just waiting for vampiric and/or Syblyx to post though no rush, I can wait c:

@CJayxo: Anya would definitely notice and with her rather small attention span, she'd probably abandon the conversation at hand and go talk to Nell until something else captures her attention. You got her color scheme a bit off though; her hair is more blue-black and her eyes are gray.

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

So I'll try my hardest to get a post up today but I probably won't be able to because I have a ton of research on various topics to do. Tomorrow I won't have internet because my house is being painted (and they decided to tell me NOW -_-) and on 4th and 5th I won't be here because I have a debate thing that'll last till 9pm or something. I'll be gone on 6th-8th because I have to go renew my passport and it'll likely take all day. So I'm really sorry, this week is killing me ;_; But I'll try, I promise.