Chapter III
A flurry of arrow fire immediately put Chimon on the defensive. Luckily, each spirit was using their respective energy only, which gave Chimon the advantage. Unluckily, there wasn't just one opponent. Letal pushed his way through the crossfire, drawing the attention of Chimon's sword. That was her opening. In a burst of shunpo, Kanashimi was slicing at Chimon's unguarded back. He grunted as he was so easily beaten.
"Again." Leiden commanded.
The four reset positions; Chimon sheathed his sword, and allowed his bow do dissipate. They stood for a moment, before Letal began the attack. Preparing for his strike, Chimon kicked him away, and drew his Zanpakuto. Leiden took his chance; speeding away, he drew his bow, and shot off arrows like a machine gun. Chimon retaliated with his own volley, before turning, and blocking a slash aimed at his neck. Pushing her away, he sped towards the distant quincy; upon arrival, he gathered energy into his bow, firing a shot that tore the ground apart as it passed, and made contact, effectively knocking Leiden out of the battle.
Letting his bow dissipate once more, he gripped his sword, ready for more attacks. He was gifted a slash at his shoulder, and a kick to his back. The serrated edge of the Zanpakuto cutting deeper than he cared for, despite the level of blut vene he was using. It was now clear that they were in for the kill. He shot is own sword up and into the other's path, catching one of the teeth, and deflecting it from his shoulder. He then pressed forward, loosing energy from his weapon and pushing the spirit away. He quickly turned on the hollow, smacking him with the flat of his blade.
Letal was sent in the opposite direction; giving him an opening to attack the blade spirit, which he took full advantage of. Kicking off, he burst through the smoke, landing another strike on the spirit. He pushed her into the ground, not letting a moment go to waste. He followed by pushing her back towards where they came from. He immediately knocked her sword away, and slashed at her neck; stopping her from continuing the battle. He still had an elusive hollow to deal with, and for his victory, was awarded a kick to his stomach.
Letal wasn't letting up, unlike the last two spirits, he didn't need to charge or rest between attacks, making him far more dangerous, if he could get close enough. Jumping back, Chimon utilized the advantage of his longer reach, batting away the hollow once more. He sheathed his blade, pulling out his bow so he never had to get close, and using both arms to put more energy into the attacks. Using Hirenkyaku, he never once let up his barrage of arrows from all directions, pinning the hollow to the spot he was in. Eventually, more and more arrows made it through his defenses, Letal's Hierro giving out. He too, was now defeated.
Chimon collapsed from exhaustion. Letting his bow fade one final time. His adrenaline no longer coursing like a river, he slowly felt his wounds, and muscles screaming at him for the thrashing he took. Waiting for his muscles to stop aching, he sat, waiting for the spirits to return. Once his muscles recovered, he set his mind to mending his wounds. Once he was finished with that too, he sat and waited longer.
"And so, the student becomes the master." Kanashimi noted, approaching him.
"Though I can safely say you need to train more, you have done far better than we expected." Leiden added.
"Hey, you beat us pretty soundly, I'm content with your progress."
"Well, thank you for the lesson, I really needed it."
"Now, when are you going to tie up those 'loose ends' of yours?"
Chimon looked away, not daring to look Kanashimi in the eyes. He knew he needed to, but he didn't know if he could bear it, let alone them.
"You should do so relatively soon, I'm not sure it'll be this quiet for us for very long."
"Alright, I'll do it when I get the chance." He said, turning back to face them.
"For now, you should wake."
"Alright, thanks again." He said, waking in the apartment he'd be calling home for the foreseeable future. Getting up, he noted the slightly lower reiryoku Ichigo's soul was giving off. "Must've missed a harsh battle." He muttered to himself. He took one look at the clock and knew he was late.
Chimon arrived just in time to hear Ichigo agree to be a substitute. He waited until they finished their conversation to say anything. "I trust he did well." He said, before stopping in front of them.
"Very well." Answered Rukia.
"Good, good." He responded, hesitating for a second.
"Are you feeling ok?" Rukia asked.
"Yeah, just… I'll need a weekend off in the near future. I… have personal matters to tend to."
She sighed before answering. "I'll have a talk with Kisuke, I'll let you know when we can let you go."
"Thank you."
Ichigo looked between the two for a moment. "What kind of 'personal matters'?"
Chimon shot him a glare, before taking a deep breath, and responding. "It's my life- was my life, please, don't get involved." Those were his only words as he walked away.
"What's his problem?" He asked.
"Unlike you, some people didn't choose how they got their powers." Rukia replied. "From what I could get out of Kisuke, he had it worse than either of us."
"I'm surprised the burn healed so quickly." Ichigo commented.
"Don't be, I got the best kido grades in my class." Rukia stated, half bragging.
"So, there's a school for soul reapers?" Ichigo asked.
"Makes sense to me." Chimon said.
"You could call it that." She replied.
"So, you're together again." Mizuiro commented. "You three seem pretty chummy."
"Honestly, I feel like a third wheel." Chimon replied.
"Shut up you two." Chided Ichigo.
"Well, if nothing else, you do appear to be pretty close." Mizuiro clarified. "And since people talk, they might start thinking you're an item."
"The day I think of either of those two as something more than a relative and her friend, is the day I die." Chimon chuckled.
"If I really cared about what people think, my hair wouldn't be orange." Ichigo responded.
"True enough." Mizuiro finished. "Why, hello there."
"Hello, umm… Mizuiro, right?" Rukia responded.
"That's me. I'm sorry we haven't been properly introduced, I'm Mizuiro Kojima. I really like-"
"Pickin' up chicks." Ichigo interrupted, shocking Mizuiro, and making Chimon start chuckling.
"That's not cool, you could damage my reputation; and I like older women anyway." His clarification only made Chimon laugh harder.
"Like I said, keep an eye on him." Rukia didn't even pay attention to him, instead focusing on trying to poke a hole in her juice box. Chimon got her attention and showed her how to do it so she didn't look like an idiot.
"Rukia's here with you guys?" Keigo shouted from the exit onto the roof. "How'd that happen?"
"Ichigo brought her here." Mizuiro answered, making Chimon laugh again.
"Ichigo did?! What a guy!" Keigo again, shouted, giving him a thumb's up. "Hello, I'm Keigo Asano, and welcome lovely lady, to this garden of manliness." Chimon just laughed even harder as Keigo continued to make himself a bigger and bigger fool.
"Uh, hello." Rukia responded.
"Yeah! Lunch party! Right here! Right now! If you need anything, let me know." That was when the group noticed Sato standing there, and a few moments later, Chimon finally calmed down.
"Hey, chad." Ichigo greeted, looking him over for a moment. "So, what's with the bandages."
"Yeah, what happened to you?"
"I had a mishap, a steel beam fell on my head." Chad responded, like he stubbed a toe.
"Team, we hath found our tank." Chimon commented, getting socked in the arm by Rukia. "Ok, I'm sorry."
"And my hand got ran over by a motorcycle, the rider that hit me got banged up pretty bad."
"I hope he's okay." Chimon said, getting a nod from Sato, and another punch from Rukia.
"The only thing I want to know, is what exactly your body's made of." Ichigo noted.
"So, where'd you get the bird?" Keigo asked.
"My name's Yuichi Shibata, it's nice to meet you." The bird Spoke. Chimon was immediately on guard, and Ichigo seemed shocked. "What's your name?" Rukia looked to them both, and Chimon nodded.
"Look at how well this bird can talk." Keigo commented.
"So, Chad, where did you get this bird?" Ichigo asked.
"Someone… Gave him to me." Sato responded. Keigo was aggravated by his lack of detail, but it didn't seem to bother anyone else.
"It's not evil." Chimon simply stated. Getting turned heads from everyone but Rukia and Ichigo.
"You need to know," Ichigo said, once the others left to pay more attention to the bird. "Back in eighth grade was when I first met chad. My hair got me into a lot of fights, but one day, his timing couldn't've been better. I was in the middle of this little scrape; those guys meant business. Their leader tried to throw a cinder block at me, but chad took it and knocked him away, then the guy tried to kill him, but he just stood there, and took it; unfazed. He never fights back, no matter how much people egg him on."
"He's an odd one." Rukia said, getting a nod from Chimon.
The next morning, Chimon woke to the feeling of Rukia's reiryoku fluctuating. He immediately jumped out of bed, threw on his clothes, and rushed over to where he felt her.
"You're through now, hollow, another Shinigami's on his way here to finish you off for good." The hollow chuckled at that. "What's so funny?"
"Stupid, lazy soul reapers. It's no wonder you keep getting beaten every time you face us." A group of tiny frog-like hollows jumped onto them, and kept them pinned to the ground. "Looks like the shoe's on the other foot, now."
"Or the laces came untied." Chimon corrected.
"And who the hell are you?"
"Chimon Fumihiro, at your service." He responded, mockingly giving a bow.
"Cocky little sucker aint ya?" The hollow taunted.
Chimon frowned, and pointed at him. "Hado number one: sho." A blue ball of light shot from his finger, and hit the hollow, who was smirking. That didn't last as the ball hit him, and blasted him away. He sighed, and waited for the dust to clear. All that was left of the hollow was the top half of his mask. Suddenly, a giant gate rose from the ground, and the hollow repaired itself. Then the gate opened, and sucked the hollow in, only for it to be stabbed, and pulled in. The tiny creatures then dissolved into the air, leaving nothing behind.
Rukia sat there in shock, petrified by the sheer power his sho produced, then it clicked. "THAT WAS RESTRICTED?!" She yelled, catching the attention of an equally shocked Ichigo.
"What do you mean, restricted? And by how much?" Ichigo asked. Sato just sat in the background, listening to their conversation.
"Kisuke said his gigai only allows a thousandth of a percent of his reishi to be channeled through it." Rukia clarified.
"And that's how much power I put into it." Chimon retorted.
Rukia was shocked again. "That's now how the restriction works, it just means you only used one billionth of your power to totally annihilate that hollow." She almost whispered that, but everyone heard it. There was a moment of silence, as everyone looked at Chimon, eyes wide.
"Well, I don't want to be a pest, so I'll take off. Oh, and, good luck Yuichi." He said, walking away. From that point on, for everyone else, it was like a god was in their presence.
End Chapter III
Author's notes
Welp, that was fun. If you couldn't tell, I changed my mind about the whole power use thing; from now on, I'll just implement him using whatever powers fit the scene, and this time, that was him using sho to obliterate bomb-face (I'm too lazy to look up his name). and no cliffhanger this time. I hope you're happy. (seriously, no one tells me anything)