Chapter 4: Heat Waves
Youhna left the room in the civilian attire with the small apple in her hand. "Akira! Hey where are you?"
The girl stepped down the stairs, munching on the sweet fruit as she went. There was a sudden clang of metal and she accelerated her pace to the front door. Youhna stepped outside where she saw Akira blocking a trio of vicious claws with his small dagger. He was already pushed against the wall of the building so she knew that he couldn't block the hollow's claws for long.
Youhna grabbed a long pole from the side of the building and charged at the hollow. She dodged the hollow's claws and succeeded in leaving a long gash in the hollow's arm. The monster let out an earsplitting scream and disappeared into a dark portal.
"Good it's gone."
"No it's not…" Akira pulled himself off of the wall. "He's coming back."
The shriek came from behind as the two teenagers both turned to see the hollow lunging at them, large mouth agape. Akira pushed Youhna out of the way just in time to avoid being slammed into the ground.
"Akira!"
Youhna ran at the hollow again, this time focused on separating an arm from the body. The hollow used its other hand to slap the girl out of the air like a worthless fly. The girl hit the ground and tumbled into a nearby tree. She slowly picked herself off the ground and shakily stood up, her ebony bangs covering her eyes. Blood from her hip and shoulder splattered on the dry ground.
The hollow had already choked the boy until he lost consciousness. The air around him suddenly became hot and he could see heat waves all around him. Among them was Youhna who was slowly staggering towards the two.
"Let him go." She said in an all too deadly voice.
The hollow laughed. "What are you going to do little girl? Beg me to death?"
Youhna didn't reply, she simply raised a hand in the air and the unfortunate trees that were nearby were set ablaze.
The girl slowly raised her head to show her fiery ember colored eyes. Embers coming from the burning trees gathered into a mass and surrounded both Akira and the hollow.
"What is this?"
The embers closed in while other groups of them took to the skies. The sky turned scarlet as a circle of fire slowly formed around both Akira and Youhna. The hollow backed away from the girl's spiritual pressure as she came closer.
A giant fireball fell from the sky and created a crater in the Earth where the hollow used to be. The fire started to spread along the ground and started to slither towards the other buildings. The flames eventually died down before it did any real damage. Youhna sunk to the burning earth, panting on her hands and knees. Too weak to even move, she laid beside the still unconscious Akira as the sky returned to its mellow light blue color.
…
Lieutenant Omaeda ran into his Captain's office grasping a letter and panting.
"Tai…cho head Captain Yama…moto sent a report from the… 75th district! There was… a hollow attack and a fire!"
Soi fon looked up from her desk and stared at her out of shape lieutenant. "Well what are you waiting for? Bring it here." Omaeda did as he was told and placed the report in her hand.
The Captain glanced over the sheet of paper with interest. "Witnesses say that a thirty foot tall hollow attacked two teenagers and was killed by a young female with long black hair looped in two buns. Her skin was golden brown and there was another teenager. This one had shoulder-length red hair and he was found unconscious. The sky turned red and the scene of the attack was scorched." The Captain of the 2nd division stood up with her sword already strapped to her back.
"Let's go Omaeda."
The two shunpoed to the 75th district a moment later. As soon as they landed they could sense two reiatsus colliding with each other. The first one was hard to miss since it was in the air and on the ground, practically smothering the other.
"This way."
The two shinigamis flash-stepped to the other side of town where they spotted the burnt battlefield from above. "Taicho look the ground's still smoking!"
Soi fon placed her hand above the burnt soil. "This happened recently, so recently that we can follow the trail of reiatsu that the two left and they aren't far either." She said, turning to a nearby building.
…
There was a forceful knock on the front door and Youhna turned over. "Go away." After the attack the girl had to drag her friend inside with her scorched hands and treat her wounds. Running on low spiritual energy, it wasn't hard to fall asleep. The person had beaten on the door again. Youhna reluctantly hoisted herself out of her bed. "I'm coming…"
The girl opened the door to two people wearing black robes and carrying swords. "What do you want Shinigamis? It'd better be a good reason for practically beating down my door."
The woman outside of the door raised an eyebrow at her bluntness. "We're looking for two teenagers that were involved in a hollow attack that occurred earlier today." The woman glanced at the girl's shoulder, hip, and finally her badly burnt hands. "I assume that was you." She said, gesturing at her wounds.
The same reiatsu from earlier started to unsteadily skyrocket. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The woman shook her head. "Did you know that certain feelings such as anger, defensiveness, or denial can trigger a rapid increase in reiatsu?"
Youhna backed away from the two. "I was only defending myself and my friend, nothing more."
The woman smiled. "My name is Soi fon, Captain of the 2nd division."
"I didn't ask your name all I want is for you to be gone."
Soi fon put her foot through the door. "Let me put this in simpler terms… I was sent here by the Head Captain of the Thirdteen Gotei Squads to take care of the disturbance in this area, which would be you and your friend. If you two don't enroll into the shinigami academy then I'm going to have to place both of you under arrest and you'll have to await trial, which would certainly be death."
Youhna fell back. "Why would they kill us?"
The woman unsheathed out her zanpukto and pointed it at Youhna's neck.
"I will be back in approximately seven days to investigate your enrollment into the academy. If you're not students then I will take you both into custody." Both the Captain and her lieutenant shupoed away, leaving Youhna standing in the doorway.
Author's Note: Of course, writer's block reeled its ugly head once again and now I'm stuck. Hopefully I can finish this story like I had originally planned. While I'm thinking over the story, don't hesitate to leave any comments concerning this story. Thank you!
