The young soul reaper dashed through the forest in haste: blade stained with blood, student uniform torn at the sleeves, face wet with sweat, long messy brown hair. He ran passed the many trees of the wood until he came across an abandoned shrine. Though in obvious disrepair, he quickly went in and hid behind the still standing columns. He sat there waiting, barely breathing, unmoving, clutching his blade tightly. Soon a group of soul reapers dashed passed the shrine, all yelling in their mad pursuit of him.
Once the yelling died down, the soul reaper sighed and relaxed his body. He took several breaths to calm himself as he finally escaped his pursuers. The young man suddenly felt a chilling aura within the shrine, he turned to look and saw a young woman standing in the doorway. Her body was standing in the sunlight but he could see that she was wearing the school uniform, her ash blonde hair tied in a bun. He ducked back into his cover and started getting nervous again.
"Tatsumi" The way she said his name sent chills down his spine, the words echoed across the shrine. "I know you are in here, I can sense your fear."
Tatsumi swallowed. "Leave me alone Sora! I want nothing to do with you!"
"Why did you kill him?" She asked with no emotion in her voice "Why did you betray us?"
Tatsumi thought hard about his answer, his blade shaking in his hands as he held it in his two hands without realizing that he was breathing loudly. "You saw those things! There ain't no way I'm becoming dinner to those freaks!"
"It is our job to defeat Hollows, this mission was supposed to test the skills we gained in school against an actual threat." Sora let the words stay in the stagnant air before continuing. "We were supposed to work as a team but instead you ran and when our leader confronted you about it, you killed him."
Tatsumi shook his head angrily, Sora's words piercing his heart like knives. He heard her sigh as she continued speaking.
"Our leader should not have dropped his guard around you after you showed your true nature. A shame that he died to a coward then fall in battle. I've seen too many lives taken by knife to the back" Tatsumi was surprised by how calm Sora was about her comrade's murder.
'However…" Sora began to say as she unsheathed her blade. "….you killed a comrade and what's to stop you from killing again?"
He felt a perilous need to start running, He could almost sense a murderous intent behind her words.
"You think you can kill me?!" He yelled out nervously "YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE, SO WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN KILL ME?!"
"Because I'm not the one who is fearing for his life right now"
Tatsumi's eyes widened as her voice sounded perilously close. He quickly turned to see Sora standing right next to him, bandaged eyes staring down at him. He yelped as he quickly moved away from the blind girl.
"H-h-how did you know where I was?" Tatsumi almost choked on the words, his sword rattling faster and faster as the tension between them grew.
"You made an awful lot of sounds, how could I not hear you?" Sora sounded almost surprised that he would even ask the question. She began to move towards him, methodically and silently like a ghost. Tatsumi scrambled to his feet and charged towards her with sword in hand, Sora was swift and brought her's up to block the attack causing the shrine to echo with the sound of metal clashing.
The two soul reapers in training stood face to face, swords crossed in battle. Tatsumi pushed Sora away and started swinging his blade wildly out of desperation; Sora however remained calm, effortlessly deflecting each attack with grace. She did notice herself being pushed back from the betrayer's relentless offensive and delivered a swift kick to the stomach that halted his attack. Tatsumi coughed from the momentary loss of air as he stepped backwards.
"Is this the best you could muster? Pathetic!" Sora sighed in annoyance. "The Seireitei will do well without your weakness!"
Tatsumi felt his fear turn into rage and once again charged blindly at her again.
"YOU BIIIIIIITCCCHHHHHH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, blade raised high for an attack and then suddenly he stopped. He gasped for air as the sword dropped from his hands, falling to the old floor with a clang. Shaky hands reached towards the blade that ran through his chest and pierced his heart, Sora frowned as she pulled the blade out and stood as Tatsumi crumbled to the floor. The blood flowed from his lifeless body and pooled around Sora's bare feet.
"So you killed him" A voice spoke from within Sora "A pity that a young light was snuffed out before it could shine brightly."
"His heart admitted defeat" Sora responded out loud as she wiped the blood off her blade with a flick of the wrist and sheathed it. "He let his fear over take him."
"A soul like his would have been detrimental to the Seireitei, you've done your group justice." The voice said in approval. "Come, we should return to the others and tell them what happened."
Sora nodded and walked away from the corpse, leaving only bloody footprints behind.