Just a warning, this O.C. has a lot of trust issues. Oh, and Toshiro goes and mistakes her gender right off the bat.
Akari's P.O.V.
I hate soul reapers.
I hate them almost as much as I hate hollows.
If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be alone.
And despite the necessity, I hate being alone.
I hate a lot of things...
If it weren't for both soul reapers and hollows, my big brother would still be alive. Those so-called death gods, guides for the dead, soul reapers, are completely useless at their job, no matter what people decide to call them. I can barely accept even a handful of them as being competent exorcists. They are often conveniently absent when their presence is required.
The last twenty years, I've been doing their job for them, extinguishing the evil of hollows, and collecting the souls of the dead, both pure human, and those of the corrupted hollows. It's been the main focus of over a quarter of my life.
Well, except for the part where I'm also running for my life. But that part is just annoying and depressing.
See, hollows love the way I smell. To them, I smell like a buffet in a five-star hotel, the food freshly cooked and steaming. I don't entirely understand why, but if I had to guess, I'd say that it has something to do with the fact that I have a powerful, pure, immortal soul. And sometimes, I really wish I didn't. And by sometimes, I mean all of the time.
I draw hollows to me in hordes of at least fifty at a time. That prompts me to stay constantly on the move, both for my safety, as well as for the safety of the humans. Because of my constant fleeing, I've been to every continent in this dimension, as well as all across the many dimensional rifts. The only two dimensions that I stubbornly avoid are Hueco Mundo, the home of the hollows, and the Soul Society. And those two should be fairly self-explanatory.
But it wasn't always like this. There was a time when I wasn't alone, and wasn't constantly running for my life. But that was a long time ago, when my brother, Hayate, was still alive. He protected me, taught me everything I know. He is the reason that I've survived for as long as I have.
But he's gone, and the fault lies solely with the soul reapers. If they had been doing their jobs properly, then we wouldn't have been caught in a battle with six hundred hollows. If they had shown up when they were supposed to, we wouldn't have been so outnumbered.
If they had only done their job, my brother wouldn't have died protecting me. And now, because of them, I'm stuck protecting the humans.
I hate protecting humans. They are an ungrateful and violent lot who have no idea how to stop hating each other long enough to realize that they are causing so much of the evil in the world. But despite all of their failings, I end up protecting them anyway, since the things that threaten them tend to come chasing after me like flies to honey.
With one more jump, I land in a region that I'm distinctly familiar with. Normally, I wouldn't jump this far, but with all of the hollows chasing me across the North American continent, I had to get some distance from them. And I'm pretty sure that they're not so desperate to get a taste of me that they would try to cross an entire ocean.
That brings me here, all the way across the Pacific, to some place in rural Japan. I haven't been here long, an hour at most. In fact, it was in this same country that my brother died twenty years ago. So, I've made sure to avoid it like the plague. The Black Death, specifically.
Back here…huh? I take a look around. And thankfully, I've managed to land in a forest this time. I hoped that I would never have to see this place again…
My resentment bubbles around me as I sit down to rest for a moment. I never stay in one place for very long when resting, and I rarely fall deeply asleep. I can't afford to, when a single moment of weakness could propel me into a battle that I'm woefully unprepared for. So I have no choice but to always be prepared, for anything and everything.
But right now, I'm tired and worn down. I can't remember the last time I actually got some sleep. And the days blend together like paint of a canvas. Weeks blur together, turning into months, and years. Despite feeling like I'm stuck in time, I can still retain some sense of its passage. That's how I know that it's been twenty years since my brother died, twenty years since I was left to fend for myself. Barely more than a child, and left to survive alone.
So I climb up a tree and settle myself in the little nook between two of the branches. Maybe…just a little nap… Desperate for a little sleep, I start dozing off under the sky that twinkles with stars.
Stars…just like my name…
Then, an unpleasant feeling builds behind my eyes, waking me from a very light slumber. They're coming already…? Usually, I have a little more time than this before I get swarmed by hollows, especially when I'm low on energy, and not putting out as strong a scent.
So I stretch out my limbs and drop from the tree, landing as lightly as a dancer. I hadn't been expecting to sleep for very long, but I was hoping to get more sleep than that. I'm probably several thousand hours behind on sleep. Any human would have dropped dead by now. But unluckily for me, I can't die from exhaustion, dehydration, or starvation. And it definitely doesn't help that I haven't aged in the last twenty years. I still look like a twelve year old. But in reality, I am so much older.
And then sometimes, the universe really likes to kick me when I'm down. Because hollows aren't the only things I can sense. And one signature in particular is one that I know very well.
Soul reapers…
Judging by the amount of power that each of them are putting off, I'd say that they're all captain level soul reapers. And that means that they're likely not here to destroy the hollows. They could just send some group of lower ranked soul reapers to do that job.
No, if there are this many captains in this dimension, let alone in a single area, then it means that they're on an important mission. I sigh irritably, then smile wryly. Well…I wonder what it is that they want…
Of course, I'm not planning on sticking around long enough to find out. So I take off across the grass, my body more than recovered enough to flash through the forest and keep well ahead of them. However, a few minutes in, it's becoming clear that they're not changing their direction, and they're certainly not stopping either.
So…I suppose that this means that I'm the one they're after. If that's so, then they should have just picked me up twenty years ago when they had the chance. Because if they think that I'm just going to lie down and let them catch me, they've got another thing coming.
I have a contact among them, and in fact, he happens to be one of the soul reapers on my tail. Thanks to him, I've gotten a fairly good understanding of their rules, as well as how they operate. And if I'm really their target, then there's only a couple of viable explanations.
The first is that they somehow found out top-secret information from my contact, and are chasing me down in order to force me to use that power for their benefit. And I've got a lot of my own rules about using my foresight, so if that's their game, then they might be sorely disappointed.
The second explanation is that they want to kill me. With all of the power I emanate, it would only make sense that their organization of control freaks would see me as a dangerous threat. If there is a power in the world that can threaten them, they would prefer to either control of eliminate it, rather than let it run wild. I doubt that they even know what I am. If they did, they wouldn't be so foolish as to let their captains pursue me. It's not like I've ever planned to attack them. I just don't like them.
But running wild is something that I've done for most of my life. Only, I used to have an expert fighter and absolutely trustworthy companion to watch my back. That was a very long time ago. When I had a gale under my wings.
If their pursuit wasn't bad enough, I've still got those hollows closing in on me. And there's a whole lot of them. I roll my eyes. Leave it to me to attract all of the trouble in the country right to a single spot…
I hate having people interfere in my fights, since their interference could get me seriously hurt. And I don't like spending extra energy healing myself after fights. If these soul reapers continue their pursuit and interfere with me, that's exactly what is going to end up happening.
So I run, hoping that maybe the soul reapers and the hollows will meet up and fight each other so I can escape scot-free. But I suppose that that's a naïve wish, because with their approach trajectories, they're going to end up catching me right between them. So, I have to pick which one I want to deal with first. I pick the idiotic reapers.
I run off to the east, away from the edge of the nearby city. I at least need to keep this insanity away from the humans. As soon as they get caught up in this, the casualty count is going to skyrocket. I've seen more than enough death and destruction in my travels. So I would rather not be the cause of any more right now.
As expected, both the soul reapers and hollows alter their trajectories, chasing me towards the point of intersection. Why me...?
Toshiro's P.O.V.
When we got here, I'd thought that we might actually need the tracker. But within a minute of arriving, I realized that it wasn't necessary. Whatever it is that we're chasing, it's giving off so much power that it feels like I'm standing right next to it.
That said, as soon as we pick up the chase, whatever it is that we're trying to apprehend bolts. Its speed is like nothing I've ever seen before. It's easily equal to our own flash step.
Are they sure that we're not chasing a soul reaper? Or maybe an arrancar using a sonido? I've never actually seen an arrancar, only studied them in books. And even then, we've got so little information on them that they might as well not exist at all.
But this chase isn't our only problem. Captain Kuchiki of Squad Six eyes our surroundings as we flash through the trees. "There are a great many hollows here…it is unnatural."
"Does it control the hollows?" It's a scary thought, but one that I have to consider under these circumstances.
Kyoraku, the captain of Squad Eight, smiles faintly. "Control hollows? Doubtful. This energy is way to bright to be controlling hollows."
"Bright?" Reaching out my senses, I can definitely feel something…bright. It almost resembles the sun in the way that it shines.
And then, of course, there's the route it's taking. It almost seems like whatever is putting off this bright energy is fleeing the hollows. And us as well. And if that's the case, then could the disturbances around the world be this thing trying to outrun and fight the hollows?
And if that's the case, then this mission might turn out to be a lot more difficult than we first thought. Judging by what I'm sensing, there must be at least a hundred hollows converging on this entity's location. If this is a normal occurrence for whatever, or whoever we're chasing, then I want to know exactly how it's managed to survive this long.
Kyoraku glances at me with a smile. "Relax, Toshiro. I'm sure that nothing bad is going to happen."
I frown at him. "And your basis for that is…?"
But he just keeps smiling, not answering the question. He knows something, I'm sure enough of that. I just hope that it's not going to get all of us killed. This is supposed to be a mission to capture the target, and kill it if we aren't able to perform a successful capture. And if he's withholding information that could prove crucial to our success, I'll have to do what I can to weasel it out of him before we engage the target.
Finally, after nearly half an hour of chasing this entity, it stops out in a large open area. As it turns around, I get my first look at its form. From what I can see, this entity is small, tiny even. Is this really our target?
Using a Hell Butterfly, Head-Captain Yamamoto now gives out the orders. "Captains Kuchiki, Hitsugaya and Zaraki, take a frontal approach to this entity and be cautious as you engage it. Try to avoid killing it, unless you deem it to be hostile and dangerous. The other captains will surround it and cut off all its escape routes. Remember to be cautious, this entity is powerful and dangerous. Now, move to your positions."
Powerful and dangerous…? Somehow, I'm a little skeptical. But, it's best in a situation with an unknown opponent, to always assume that the enemy is stronger than you. That way, you're always prepared to fight hard, and it works to prevent complacency.
As ordered, I approach the target, along with Kuchiki and Zaraki, emerging from the trees and into a wide open area. As we approach, the image of this entity, this person, becomes clearer.
This kid, a boy with short, choppy red hair, is even shorter than I am. Probably barely over four feet tall. He's wearing a tattered outfit of a hooded yellow vest, a long-sleeved green shirt, ripped jeans, and mud-spattered sneakers. Instead of looking like a dangerous opponent, this looks more like a kid who ran away from home.
That is…until we get closer. Twenty meters, fifteen meters, ten meters. We stop at about twenty five feet, and now, I can see the kid very clearly. His hair isn't just red, it's scarlet, the color of blood and fire. And his eyes are bright gold, like nothing I've ever seen.
And it's not just his appearance that puts me off, he feels inhuman as well, since his spiritual pressure is just leaking out wildly. This spiritual power must be what's drawing the hollows. Hollows love to eat souls. And from the feeling I get from this kid, this boy has a powerful one. They want to eat him.
But there's something wrong with this kid, something obvious in his face. His eyes, despite being bright gold, are hard and cold. And the way that he holds himself is like an old warrior, always on alert, just waiting for the next attack. But there's also a slump to his shoulders, evidence of mental and physical exhaustion. But that isn't stopping him from staring at me with a calculating gaze, evaluating the three of us.
Then, his eyes flick momentarily into the trees, right in the direction of every single one of the captains present. He…knows? Did he really just pick out every single captain? That should be impossible…
This is going to be a very difficult opponent to apprehend. But if we can pull it off, we're probably going to get a lot of interesting information during the interrogations.
Akari's P.O.V.
Three of the soul reapers approach me, well armed by the looks of it. The tallest of them has black hair spiked up almost like the spokes of a wheel, as well as an eyepatch over his right eye. The one of a more average size has long flowing black hair, held back by white ornaments. The shortest of the three has startling white hair, bright turquoise eyes, and is the only one of the three to wear his sword on his back. He must be an inch taller than me at most, not that it means anything. Danger cam come in a very small package.
As for the others, there are nine other soul reapers of their caliber, scattered throughout the trees. I was right in assuming that they're captains, they've got the white jackets to prove it.
I've been surrounded by twelve of the thirteen captain of the Soul Society's Thirteen Court Guard Squads. The Gotei Thirteen.
