Disclaimer: I wish I owned Bleach, too bad I don't. The owner is Tite Kubo.
A potent concentration of copper was the first thing that every single militia member whiffed as they came face to face with a fiery scene of death and destruction. It was utter chaos as the squad carefully entered the dying village of Aizen. As the squad cautiously passed through the village, the militia members came upon dozens and dozens of lifeless faces frozen in terror, and did their best not to disturb the bodies. Strangely, it was readily apparent that they had perished without any visible injuries, passing on from what was most likely fright driven death and probably reiatsu based.
Common sense held that within the fields of the Rukongai outskirts, the peoples of the scattered and isolated villages relied being more reiryoku sensitive than most in order to survive so long outside of the districts, but it seemed this ability eventually back fired on many of them in the end. For any competent militia member would have noticed that upon closer inspection, aside from the untouched deceased, the hollows, which were the only other beings visible before entering the village, were nowhere to be found after the militia entered. The thought silently spread alongside the increasing tension of the squad as the shinigami officer lead the militia deeper inside to investigate.
Proceeding deeper into the village brought the militia before fewer bodies and less destruction; contrary to what squad would have thought would have increased the further they ventured in. Even the houses that were untouched by the flames were completely intact, except for some of the doors, which were all opened or broken down. It was unsettling for the center of the village to not be as disturbed as the entrance, a thought your comrades voiced in their increasingly agitated footsteps. What made things worse was the fact that the flames that had been seen raging from a distance before entering were steadily being snuffed out as the volume of smoke in the air gradually lessened. Something here wasn't rig –
DING-DING!
'Tutorial Mission Start'
Quickly peering around as paranoia and confusion gripped his mind, a young, brown haired member of the southern militia looked on as floating words appeared in front of his eyes out of no where, and to make matters even stranger, they were accompanied by a short jingle. Amazingly holding his composure so as not to alert the others unnecessarily, he quietly pondered just what mission the words spoke of even as his eyes frantically scanned for any signs of a hollow's presence or influence being the cause. Checking for any signs of wariness or confusion from the others, he quietly concluded that none of his peers had noticed any signs of danger or been afflicted with his momentary bout with his apparently self-induced insanity either.
"Halt!" said the shinigami officer, as she held out her free hand to signal an immediate stop. She slowly turned towards the militia members with eyes that slowly narrowed. Her sword was now pointed towards the sky, grasped in two hands as her stance screamed that battle would come very soon. A short yet unintelligible chant came forth from her lips as her sword slowly came down. Looking towards the militia members, a small smile formed on the corners of her mouth before she proceeded.
"I believe the hollows have gone deeper into the village. I can't sense any in the immediate area. Before we go any deeper into the village, I think now would be a good time to check on your shields. Form up in rows of four,"She barked out as she peered over the militia members with a mischievous smirk as they coalesced into formation.
"I want you all on the right to take your shields and hold them up straight; I need to check them properly."She said as she slowly prodded, tapped and gave a once over to each of the shields, whispering a short response for each person before stopping before you; the last member on the right side. After coming to the most troubled member of the squad, the officer performed the usual check on his shield, but not before whispering a message into his ear, "Use the shields on the right to hide yourself and follow me up front. When I shout "now" stab your spear forward."Her smirk became somewhat deeper as she returned to the front.
The brown haired youngster blinked at the rushed information he'd been tasked with before quickly steeling himself for the task at hand.
After crouching forward using his comrades' shields as a four foot tall wall on his right, the youngster followed after the shinigami, proceeding under cover until he stopped to the left of the first militia member in the right corner. He patiently waited for the officer to give the signal right away, wondering to himself if there was a hollow she'd noticed that was lurking nearby. A sense of vindication struck him as he'd notice the air around the shinigami thickened by the second and his breath became heavier and more laborious. She was about to make her move, whatever it was and he'd congratulated himself on not starting a panic with his ridiculous hallucinations or speculations of illusion inducing hollows .
With an exaggerated stretch, the shinigami officer bended backwards with her eyes shut to the world. Her arms stood outstretched to the sky, while her sword was sheathed after giving her message to you. She then bended forward, holding the position for an almost inappropriate length of time, offering herself up in a very vulnerable position to any would be attacker. The presence lurking in the area must have heartily agreed as well if the large form that quickly pounced upon the shinigami was anything to go by.
BAM!
Quickly shifting herself up, the officer stepped into a backwards dodge-blurred movement to the average eye- and shifted out of the way of the crushing blow with ease. Before the hollow could recover from the over-committed attack, the shinigami caught the youngster's eyes and growled out the one word you'd waited for, "Now!". Stepping back to into a more defensive stance, the shinigami drew her blade once again, reiatsu spiking up with a mildly malicious flare.
Thrusting his spear forward, the youngster aimed for the muscular neck of the beast, hoping to at least leave more than a scratch. And his hope was answered. His self doubt quickly crumbled as his spear not only pierced the beast's neck, but stabbed much deeper than one would have thoughta militia squad member was capable of delivering.
It still wasn't enough though.
Attention forcibly torn away from the delicious snack before its eyes, the hollow glanced sideways at the food that dared to prick at it from behind. Annoyed at the distraction, the hollow swiftly ripped the spear out and the boy holding it with ridiculous ease, preparing to use the boy as projectile on the shinigami.
It never got the chance.
With a hand covered in blue reiatsu, the officer shot her palm forward into the sternum of the hollow as the youngster desperately clung to his weapon. The creature jolted from the sudden blow before falling forward onto its knees with little more than a wet gurgle. Its weakened grip allowed the boy to quickly yank his spear back and dart back away from the beast as it fell forward, its face buried into the dirt village road.
Looking back at his commanding officer with nothing but the utmost gratitude, the youngster simply dismissed that she had the same devious smirk she had from earlier, as if drawing the hollow out by using you as bait was a small thing. She saved his life in the end. And as frightened as he was, the word brilliant was the only way to describe her deception. The boy really couldn't help the rising excitement he felt at what else she could have up her sleeves. His panic almost completely disappeared as the now weakened creature, which had nearly killed him, was inspected by the shinigami.
She quickly gave the boy a nod of the head in approval before squatting down to meet the eyes of the hollow. She placed both of her hands on the hollows mask before lifting its' head slightly up, gently saying, "Are you ready to talk yet?" A low growl rung out in contempt as the shinigami lifted the beast higher. In response, she gave out a light chuckle-slightly disturbing, but hopefully just as off-putting for the hollow. She then lowered her head further with a simple remark, "Good."
Looking on in fascination, the young street urchin had the feeling that whatever watched over souls besides shinigami, this hollow needed to curry a speck of that divine favor very soon. And who would want it any other way? After all a tortured hollow was just as good as a purified one.
