Scene: Offices of the 9th division, captain's quarters
"Taichou, thank you for speaking with me today."
"God damnit, Shuuhei, I told you to call me Kensei. You're my lieutenant."
"Yes, Taichou."
The man sighed. "Come on, let's get on with it."
"To put it simply, this is something of a documentary piece - the like of the Visored, or the Espada, for that matter, has never been seen by most Shinigami, certainly not in living memory. I wanted to film a few interviews to clear up any misconceptions." Hisagi hesitated for a moment before forging on. "I wanted to ask you about Hollowfication and the powers of the Visored. Most of us don't really know much about it, and I hope you'll forgive us for not being real comfortable with it."
Kensei frowned. "Yeah, I get it. It's… well, it's not as bad as it sounds. What Aizen made us? Yeah, that's something to be freaked out about, cause we had no control. I don't remember much, but apparently we'd try to kill anything that moved. But Urahara fixed us. With the goddamn Hogyoku, I should add - I'm pretty sure he only ever finished it to save us. Bit ironic, I think.
"So, it's… it's not like we're gonna rampage around like monsters now just cause we got a Hollow side. There's a reason we call ourselves the Visored, it's cause that's how we, y'know, manifest the Hollow power. When we need the boost, we draw on it and we manifest a Hollow mask. You're filming this, right? Lemme just show you quick. Brace yourself."
Hisagi watched a little warily as his captain drew a hand across his face, materializing the bone mask. And then he had to focus on breathing as the reiatsu hit him.
"See? That's all it is." Kensei's voice was layered heavily with a rasping, doubled tone. "Oh come on, Shuuhei, breathe, you're stronger than this. There ya go. So yeah, it feels a little freaky, right?" He waited for his interviewer to nod. "Right. But I'm sure as hell not gonna kill you or anything right here. Can't keep this thing on forever though, and it only lasts a couple minutes in a fight."
He waved his hand over his face again, dissipating the mask, and the pressure on Hisagi eased instantly. "No problem," Kensei said, voice back to normal. "I mean, I might be a little more irritable with it on, but otherwise I'm the same as ever. Nothing to worry about."
"That's… definitely good to know, Taichou. Thanks for sharing that much."
There was something of a silence. "So, uh... what's with the tattoo, anyway? I don't think I've asked."
Hisagi looked away, scratching at his forehead. "Well, it was… kind of in your memory, Taichou. We thought you were dead, or gone for good at the least. That's the story I got when I asked in the academy, don't think I ever got a straight answer out of anyone."
"Oh." Another pause, neither looking at the other. Kensei rubbed at the side of his nose. "Thanks, I guess."
"Ah. So, uh, you mentioned it gives you a power boost, the mask, and I could certainly feel it. Is that all it does, is just enhances what you already have?"
"Mostly. It really does change the nature of your reiatsu, too, actually, and that has a fair few effects. We can actually do full-blown Ceros with the mask on. And, well, y'know I kinda play things by ear most of the time. I'm not much of a kido guy, is what I'm trying to say, haven't really bothered with the fine control you need for the really useful stuff. That's not to say I can't do it, they didn't give me this haori for nothing. But with the mask, I can't hardly even do the basics without the full incantation; the hollow aspect kinda twists things and it just doesn't form right. I think that's the case for most of us. Hachi, on the other hand, is an absolute monstrosity with Kido with his mask on."
"That'd be Ushoda Hachigen, former vice-captain of the Kido Corps?" Hisagi interrupted.
"Yeah, that's right, sorry. He's definitely got the fine reiatsu control for Kido, and he makes it work. And I'm not just talking the numbered spells, though I've seen him throw out 90s without incantations no problem; his specialty is barriers, and he'll just make stuff up on the spot. But, uh, Rose is another one good with Kido, though usually he sticks with his Zanpakuto in that regard."
Hisagi took a moment to finish writing something down. "That's extremely helpful, thank you. So what does it feel like to draw on this, if I may ask?"
Kensei rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What it feels like? It feels… wrong, sorta. It's like… it's like you're doing something forbidden, which I guess it sort of is. Part of it's that it feels good, sort of a guilty pleasure to have that surge of extra power, indulging like that. But at the same time, it's very easy to go to a dark place.
"The Hollow side… it's kind of become a part of us, like part of a Zanpakuto. Except instead of reflecting your whole soul, they just reflect the darkest parts, the stuff you really don't like to think about being a part of you. That was probably the hardest part of bringing it under control in the first place, was learning to face that and accept it. Putting on the mask means you have to really accept that part of you and put it to use - the aggression, the thrill of the fight, of dominating your opponent. Everybody's got a little bit of… bloodlust inside them. Most of us aren't real proud of it."
Hisagi nodded pensively. "I think I know what you mean. Some of it. But, ah, you mentioned bringing it under control - can you tell us a little more about that, your initial training? So to speak?"
"Hm. Yeah. It really… it fucked with our Zanpakuto for a long time. Some more so than others. Years if not decades for most of us, though Mashiro got off pretty easy. I think Hiyori had it worst, but I still sometimes have trouble connecting with Tachikaze." He tapped the sword at his belt, scowling. "Almost as much as getting us banished, I really fucking hate Aizen for that, for cutting us off from our Zanpakuto.
"But training, yeah. For a long time, no one wanted to touch the subject. We couldn't really feel our swords at all - even trying to connect, trying to use Jinzen, hurt like hell. So mostly we just kinda didn't do anything. Tried to get by, didn't think about it best we could.
"Mashiro was the one who changed things, really. It was… mm, about three years after we got out, she finally heard something. She'd been the only one trying to communicate anymore, we'd all kinda given up hope. But she made it through. And then fucking hell broke loose, cause once you break through, once you make contact like that, it's go time. The Hollow's the first thing you get to see, and you gotta beat it down. In your, your inner world. It does whatever the hell it wants with your body in the meantime.
"I tell you what," he said, voice dropping, "Hollowed out Mashiro is about the scariest thing I've ever seen. Love was the closest one when she went berserk, and she damn near killed him before we got there. Took her about twenty minutes to work it out inside her head, and we almost had to kill her to keep ourselves alive. But after that? She had it completely under control. Could keep her mask on however long she wanted. Took most of us ages to reconnect and at least an hour to hash it out, and we can only hold our masks for something like three minutes. I don't know how the hell she does it. One time, she-"
"YOOO, KENSEI, WHATCHA DOIN?" An explosion of green hair and white jumpsuit burst into the room. "Ah, and the vice too! Hey, were you guys talking about me?"
"It was just, uh… y'know, Mashiro, can you come back lat-" Hisagi started.
"AHH! NO TALKING BACK TO YOUR SUPER VICE CAPTAIN! MASHIROOOOOOO KICK!"
Static.
End tape.