CHAPTER TWO — Sayonara, Hollow
The Soul Reaper was perfectly balanced on the top of the telephone pole. He knew it was coming. He knew he had to fight. He knew there was always a possibility that he could lose, that he could die tonight. His heart thumped painfully in his chest and his respiration increased. How annoying. One would think that after all these years I would stop having these damn panic attacks before battle!
Closing his eyes and letting his chin fall to his chest, the man cleared his mind and began his deep breathing exercises. The little finger on his left hand began to play with the thin braid of blond hair which was delicately tied around Riku's guard. His breathing and heartbeat slowly returned to normal. But the force pressing in the back of his mind was still there, no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. Based on its Spirit Pressure, it seems to be just an average Hollow. He opened his eyes. Here it comes.
A block down the street, a spirit stumbled around a corner. In his panicked hurry, he tripped over his own feet. He looked backwards and, on his hands and knees, scampered into the road. Although oblivious to the Soul Reaper's presence, the spirit began to run towards the man on the telephone pole. After the spirit crawled about thirty yards, the Hollow appeared from around the corner, walking almost leisurely towards its meal.
The Soul Reaper observed it as it began to close the gap on the spirit. It reminded him of giant cockroach, half as long as a bus but just as wide. It had a swollen bulge for a head, with countless, short needles covering the back of the lumpy skull, making it appear to have hair. Its white mask had large, square eye sockets and no nose; the mouth was made up of four rows of pointed teeth. Enormous mandibles grew out of the side of the head and snapped threateningly together in front of the mouth.
The sprit, still on the ground, glanced over his shoulder at the monster that was pursuing him. Because he was still trying to crawl away while he was twisting around to look, the terrified spirit fell right on his face. He did not continue to flee. With a look of absolute horror, he simply turned around to face the creature. Sensing that the chase was over, the Hollow roared. It opened its mandibles open as wide as possible and closed in on its prey, teeth gnashing.
In an instant, the Soul Reaper flash-stepped in front of the charging Hollow, his outstretched hand a mere foot from its mask. Unable to react in time, the Hollow collided violently with the man's right palm. The man slid backwards a few inches, causing small dust clouds and making bits of loose cement to shoot up. A small blast of air pushed the Soul Reaper's long black hair into his eyes. Using his left hand, he moved a strand of hair aside.
The Hollow was seemingly stunned, with several of its insect-like legs still in mid-stride. The man's mouth twitched upward slightly. Probably trying to process what just happened. Hollows are so damn slow. He focused his attention on his right arm, glancing first at the tan bangle on his wrist, then at the hand pressed against the Hollow's nose-less face. The mask was smooth and cool to the touch. If he focused hard enough, the man could feel the creature's Spirit Energy pulsating beneath the mask. It was an unnatural sensation. He shivered slightly. Suddenly, the teeth-gnashing resumed. Fortunately, the Soul Reaper was holding the Hollow back at arm's length, so its efforts were futile.
"So, you're awake then? I've seen my share of Hollows in my life, but you certainly are unique-looking," he taunted, chuckling lightly. "I'll bet you didn't know that I really—"
The beast's mandibles twitched and the Soul Reaper flash-stepped backwards, landing next to the overwhelmed spirit, narrowly avoiding being cleaved in two by the razor-sharp appendages.
"—hate—"
The Hollow slowly opened its mandibles, apparently confused as to where its second meal had gone. As soon as the gap was wide enough for him to fit through, the Soul Reaper launched himself past the opening mandibles, straight towards the creature's mask. With his left hand, he made a fist and poised himself to strike.
"—bugs!"
His fist collided with the nose-less mask, sending the Hollow reeling backwards down the street. The man shook out his hand, trying to dispel the painful throbbing in his knuckles. "I think they all need to be squashed."
"What are y-you?" a frightened voice whispered.
The man turned to look back at the spirit. "I'm a Soul Reaper. I suppose you could also call me," he shrugged. "An exterminator."
"What's a so—AHH!" The spirit threw his arms up in a defensive pose. The Soul Reaper spun around to face the enemy. The Hollow was gnashing its teeth as it quickly covered the distance between them. A large crack ran from the center of the mask up to the left eye socket. It roared angrily. The man placed his left hand on Riku's hilt.
"What are you so upset about? You finally have a nose. You should be thanking me." With a grin on his face, he raised his hand. He aimed his pointer finger at the charging creature.
"Byakurai."
A warm, tingling sensation briefly welled at the tip, before a bolt of blue energy erupted from the Soul Reaper's finger. Hot wind due to the intensity of the Kido spell caused his hair to be wildly tossed about as the white-blue light made the shadows dance crazily. The attack struck the Hollow square in the mask—shattering it—and continuing out the back of its head. When the spell ended, the Hollow collapsed, dead; already its form was disintegrating into countless spirit particles. Seconds later, it was gone completely.
"Goodbye…"
The Soul Reaper lowered his arm and slowly turned to face the spirit, who was paralyzed with fear and awe. The man strode over to spirit, who immediately unfroze and began begging for his life. "Please don't kill me! I'm not a monster like that thing! Please just leave me alone!"
The Soul Reaper knelt on the hard cement next to the spirit. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you pass on."
The spirit sniffed and looked up at the man's comforting expression. "Really? How?" He warily eyed the Soul Reaper's finger. "I don't want to be shot full of magic lightning!"
"No, no. Nothing like that. I'm going to perform a Konso. What happens is that I'm going to take my Zanpakuto and place the end of the hilt on your forehead. When I do that, you will be taken to a place called the Soul Society."
"What's a…zanpatuko?"
The Soul Reaper reached up near his left breast and grasped the four-inch hilt of a tanto-style dagger. Sliding it out of the chest sheath, he laid the seven-inch-long blade across his left palm. "This is my Zanpakuto, Kasumiaka. And this—"
He placed his left hand on Riku.
"—is Riku. I will use Kasumiaka for the Konso. Are you ready?"
After a brief pause to allow everything he just heard to sink in, the spirit nodded.
"Good. Here we go." He gently placed the end of Kasumiaka's hilt against the spirit, leaving a glowing symbol on his forehead. The spirit sighed and, in a flash, was gone. The Soul Reaper groaned as he got to his feet. He looked skyward as he sheathed Kasumiaka. Damn it, it's late! So much for that bath…the river is too cold anyway. He sighed and turned to leave.
"Without even using a Zanpakuto…"
The Soul Reaper reacted instinctively in an instant, drawing Kasumiaka and bending his knees as he got into a standard defensive-fighting position while spinning around to face a small side street from where the foreign voice still continued to echo in the gloom. Footsteps—as if walking heel-toe, heel-toe—began to slowly clack towards him.
"…have you always been this strong?"
A figure appeared from the shadows and the Soul Reaper relaxed slightly out of astonishment. A human? Despite walking with a cane, the stranger strolled forward with ease before stopping just before passing underneath the beam of light from a glowing streetlamp. Although a hat covered his eyes and most of his nose in shadows, the Soul Reaper could clearly see the small smile across the man's face. With a quiet chuckle, the man said, "It seems that I have succeeded where the Soul Society failed…" He lifted his arm and pointed the cane at the Soul Reaper.
"…I found you."