A sound soul resides within a sound body and a sound mind.
From the moment I laid eyes on that monster, I felt something very wrong. My soul wavelength grew unsound as I tried to see its inner workings. Instead of the burning, scarlet egg of a Kishin, there was nothing. Trying to see the behemoth's soul was like venturing into a dark cave; my mind was lost in the darkness of its heart. It took everything I had to pull myself from the shadows.
My technician and I both noticed the giant hole, as if its heart had been carved out of its chest. Intuition told me that we should not be fighting that creature, but Nathan would not listen. He insisted that as his weapon, my job was to follow orders. Because I did not want to upset him, I followed him into that battle. Danger was written on every inch of the battlefield, but I do not regret it. The fight that ensued changed my life, and Nathan's, forever.
I squeezed my eyes shut as Nathan twirled me in the air. Was every battle like a sideshow to him? Half of it was spent showing off his fancy moves and footwork; I still think he looked like a complete idiot. The monstrosity gave a throaty chuckle as it crouched to the ground, watching our little act. It saw an opening and pounced, roaring as the attack began. Without thinking I transformed back into a human, pushing Nathan out of the way. An angry glare was shot my way, but I knew he was secretly thankful. If I had not acted quickly, we both might have been dead.
It was a mistake to revert to human form. Whenever I did that, my soul wavelength increased. This drew the attention of the heartless beast. "What a lovely amount of spiritual power…" The hoarse voice sounded like sharp fingernails on a chalkboard.
"You stay away from my meister." I frowned, ready to unleash an attack. Normally I would not fight on my own, but if my technician was in danger, I would risk my very life. Nathan had always been there, even when my family abandoned me. Though he loved Shibusen, he came with me when I left the school.
"No, my little snack, you are my target." I heard an evil whisper on the wind. "But, I cannot feast on you here, in this world…my power is limited here," it hissed.
"What in the world does that mean, Nathan?" My gaze turned toward my technician.
"How should I know? Stop babbling, you stupid girl, and follow my orders." Nathan frowned, putting a firm grip on my shoulder. It was his signal for me to transform back into an axe. However, I never got the chance to do so.
The monster let out an earth-shaking roar as it stomped on the ground. A circle with intricate designs appeared beneath us and the beast. I turned to Nathan, but I could only see his shadow in the distance. Dark soul wavelengths multiplied as the world began to glow. Soon it was nothing but me and the hollow-hearted creature, surrounded by a bright light.
"What did you do to my technician?" I tried to shout, but was interrupted by a quiet scream inside my mind. Nathan, though far away, was trying to find me.
"He's fine," the monster croaked. "That must have been your name he shouted, little morsel. What a beautiful, bloodstained name. Yes, I read his telepathic message." It opened its mouth to say more, but an icy light hit its skeleton-like mask.
"Die, hollow scum!" an unfamiliar voice yelled. I did not turn to see who the attacker was; my deep red eyes were locked on the evil entity. The creature shook from head to toe before disappearing. Only after it vanished did I bother to look around. How could I have failed to notice what had happened? During that short amount of time, it seemed that I had been transported to a peculiar place.
"Who are you?" I jumped as someone pointed his sword at me. Slowly I looked up into an icy gaze.
A white-haired person frowned at me as I brought myself to my feet. It felt nice to be able to meet someone eye-to-eye for once, enemy or not. Back home, I had to tilt my head back just to make eye contact with my friends.
"What were you doing with that hollow?"
I gazed at him curiously, shrugging my shoulders. "Hollow? Oh, so that's what that was."
"And that means, exactly?" His sword inched toward my throat.
"What do you think? I had no idea what the hell that thing was. One minute I'm protecting my technician, the next I'm here." I paused for a minute, staring down at my feet. "Nathan…I wonder if he's alright."
"You are making absolutely no sense. If I didn't know any better, you could be a partner of that hollow. They normally don't appear here, so-"
I put one hand up, shaking my head. "No way. That thing was a creepster that took me away from my technician; why would I side with it? Like I said, I have no idea why I was transported here. It was just like that." My fingers snapped to add emphasis.
He seemed to wonder about my explanation. Does he really not know about technicians and weapons? "I doubt it. You will come with me. The other captains will want to know about this intrusion."
"Sounds good to me. I'm stuck in a strange world, so it'd be better to be in a crowd than wandering around alone. Speaking of which, where is here, and who are you?" I followed the retreating stranger willingly.
He did not turn to look at me. "Who I am is none of your concern. As for where we are…you are now in the Soul Society."
"Must be miles away from Death City…" I stopped walking for a moment as pangs of homesickness hit.
"You, get moving!"
I nearly leaped out of my skin. Though he seemed to be an enemy, I felt comfortable with him. His icy disposition reminded me of Nathan. "Alright, I'm going! By the way, my name is not you. If you're going to boss me around, at least address me by my name."
His expression was hidden, but his voice was thick with annoyance. "And what might that be?"
"Chimamire." I smiled as I noticed a town-like area. This seemed to be where we were heading. At the time, I was totally oblivious to the fact that there were dangerous beings behind the stone walls; if they believed I was evil, I would surely be done for. A gut feeling told me that Nathan, my technician, was there in that guarded town. Also, my heart was simply filled with excitement at the prospect of a new adventure.