Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to the one and only Tite Kubo.
Just one week into her Vice-Captain duties, Hikari found herself fighting against a hollow in the outskirts of the fourteenth district of South Rukongai. She had dispatched two teams from her squad into the town. One of the teams will lure the hollow out to where she and the rest of the squad members were waiting- an empty field save for a strange looking house a few miles away containing a long chimney that reaches to the sky. The other team was to stay in the town to treat any casualties caused by the hollow.
She heard the hollow's roar in the distance. It was a spine-chilling roar, consisting of many unearthly screams fused into one. She signaled to her members, and braced herself for the hollow headed her way.
The hollow was huge, much larger than Hikari had ever anticipated. She had only ever killed hollows in the human world, and killing hollows in soul society was new to her. The hollow stood at 15 metres tall, and the ground shook with every step it took. Its mask resembled the shape of a snake even though it had a humanoid body. Its reiatsu, or spirit power, was enormous, indicating this hollow was no weakling. As soon as it was close enough to her, Hikari shouted out: "A-team!"
The shinigamis behind her drew their swords and started slashing out at the hollow. This was meant to distract the hollow long enough for Hikari to find an opening and make one clean hit on the mask, eliminating the hollow.
Hikari noticed an opening from the Hollow's back. She waited for an opportune moment before flash-stepping a short distance behind the hollow, and using the ground to launch herself, aimed for the head from its back.
The wind rushed past her as she flew towards the back of the oversized head, and she lifted her sword, ready to swing it into the head, thus breaking the mask. At the last moment right before the strike, a serpentine tail swung towards her, smacking her to the ground. Hikari only managed to graze the back of the hollow's head before landing face-down on the ground with a loud "thud". She blacked out for a moment.
"Vice-captain!". Hikari awoke to the screams of her squad members, some of whom had abandoned their posts and were running towards her. Her head was throbbing and her breathing constricted. She tried to sit up, but the best she could manage was to hoist her upper body up a little with the remaining strength she had. She chided herself for not noticing the tail in the first place. Blood was oozing from her forehead, causing her to feel dizzy and her vision to blur.
No, not now! I'm still in the battlefield! She pleaded to no one in particular, but it was too late. Her consciousness was already beginning to seep away.
The hollow was headed towards her now. It flicked away her squadmates who were still fighting it like rag dolls. She realized that these soul reapers do not have the capabilities to defeat this hollow either. Around her, many of her squadmates lie injured.
She hadn't wanted this to happen. It was all her fault. Hot tears were running down her cheeks now, and her head started throbbing. The realization hit her like a bucket of cold water. The mission to which she promised her captain would be a success just hours ago, her first mission, was a failure.
All of a sudden, she caught a swift movement out of the corner of her eye. The next moment, the hollow was pushed a few feet backwards by a seemingly invisible force. This kicked up a layer of dust that clouded the hollow and its attacker.
When the dust had settled, Hikari noticed a small figure standing between her and the hollow. It was a female shinigami. Her short hair was as black as the shikasho she was wearing, and her zanpakutou gleamed against the afternoon sun. Hikari noticed a squad's vice-captain badge tied onto her left shoulder.
She took a step towards the hollow, before disappearing and reappearing just in time to cleanly slash the hollow into two.
The hollow let out a pained scream before disappearing into a cloud of sparkling dust, and Hikari found her vision blurring again before her world turned black.
Hikari opened her eyes to the concerned face of her captain, who was sitting by her bedside. As soon as he saw that she was awake, his expression changed into one of relief. She noticed that on her captain's chin was a slight bruise, as though someone had punched him from below, but chose not to enquire about it.
She sat up, and pain seared through her chest. Her head was still throbbing, indicating that what had happened before wasn't a dream. She looked around and realized that she was back in her room in the squad 3 barracks. Her bed was the shinigami standard issue traditional Japanese bed consisting of a thin mattress, pillow and blanket. Beside it was a cushion which her Captain had been sitting on, but he had stood up after she awoke to pour a cup of tea for her on the other side of the room. The evening sun was streaming in through the windows, and birds were chirping happily outside the room. It was a peaceful day.
"You have been out for a day." The captain handed her a cup of tea and sat back beside her. She took a sip from the cup and felt a pleasant warmth spread through her body.
"Thank you, Kurosaki-taichou…" her voice trailed off. She remembered how careless, how weak and how useless she had been during her mission. The more she thought about it, the more self-doubting she became, and in the end she decided she wasn't good enough for the position of vice-captain. She had completely lost all confidence she had in herself.
"I'm sorry." The Captain began. Hikari looked up and saw guilt reflected in his eyes. "I didn't know that you have never experienced fighting a hollow in soul society before, and sent you on such a dangerous mission."
Why must the Captain apologise? It was her fault! Hers!
Unable to contain the guilt inside of her, in a swift motion, Hikari put down her cup of tea, threw her blanket aside and knelt down in front of the captain, ignoring the pain searing through the many parts of her body as she did so.
"Forgive me, it was I who messed up in my mission. I am too weak and inadequate, I was unable to lead a successful mission due to my incompetency. I would like to request a demotion from my position as a Vice-Captain of the squad." She cried, looking down at the floor below her. She was too ashamed to look her Captain in the eyes any further.
There was a pause, before a fist connected to the top of her head. Hikari winced. The fist stayed there as its owner softly said: "Someone once told me…" he paused, but from the tone of his voice, Hikari guessed that her Captain was trying to hold back his emotions.
"If you are afraid of losing, just get stronger. If you are afraid of not being able to protect your friends, swear to get stronger until you can protect them. If you are afraid of the uncertainties inside of you, resolve to get stronger so you can crush it!" The captain's voice grew louder at every sentence.
The fist then left her head and Hikari was finally able to look up at her Captain's face. The guilt from his face before was replaced with a fierce look of determination and his amber eyes bore into hers.
"So!" He concluded loudly, stabbing his index finger towards her, "If you want to kneel down in front of me, beg for nothing else but my discipleship!"
Those words resounded through Hikari's ears and her eyes widened in surprise. Why wasn't the Captain angry at her for failing the mission? But the question was pushed aside for the time being as she realized how foolish she was for giving up so easily on herself.
Hope bubbled through her and she understood her Captain's intentions immediately. She will not give up the chance. Knowing her Captain, he will not allow her to either. A little confidence had returned to her now, as well as her pride of being the second-in-command of the 3rd division.
"Please… accept me as your disciple, Kurosaki-taichou." She said, surprised at how emotional her voice sounded. She looked determinedly at her Captain. However, her hands at her sides were shaking from the myriad of emotions that overwhelmed her at once. Pride. Joy. Enlightenment. Expectation.
"I want to get stronger. Much stronger." Her voice shook. "This is so that I will not compromise the safety of any of my squad members below me, so that I will complete my missions successfully, and so that… I will make my captain proud." Upon saying that, she realized that she could not contain herself any longer and broke into tears of joy.
The Captain's eyes softened and he gave Hikari a small, reassuring smile. Her heart skipped a beat at the endearing expression he gave her.
"That's the spirit."