Chapter 4

Names

"Ryosuke, squad 8 reporting in."

Outside I could hear them speaking. This wasn't the first time they'd found me. Silently, I summoned my black flame and cut the soul I had caught that day into pieces. It was the soul of an old man. Something about eating the elderly made it easier. Still listening to the shuffling footsteps of the shinigami outside, I began to eat the soul segments, filling my stomach and replenishing my energy. It tasted exquisite. The old man must have died very recently. Unfortunately, no matter how filled I felt now, the hunger would return in due time. It always did.

That was the life of a hollow after all; a constant race around the track, chasing down souls to eat and being chased by shinigami who want to kill me. It was a never ending cycle. In fact, no matter how many shinigami I killed, their numbers and strength would only increase the next time they caught up with me.

I swallowed the last bit of the soul I had caught. It tasted wonderful. There was a high that went along with eating the souls of the dead. Sometimes it was so intense I was swept up by it. My blood would pump and I'd crave more. Even if I wasn't hungry, I'd still want more, just to taste them.

No. Those times were dangerous. Fighting that gluttony was something I had to deal with at every meal. When I gave in, I began to forget her. That was something I could never do. The moment I forgot her would be the moment it would cease to be worth continuing on.

"We have the target surrounded. Yes. We've confirmed it. It's the Crying Heart."

The Crying Heart. That was their name for me. All the dangerous hollows had names like that; things that highlighted their distinguishing characteristics. Grand Fisher was another one they talked about a lot.

"Yes, we'll use the utmost caution."

They didn't know I could hear them. They hadn't pieced that together yet, exceptional hearing. All they knew about was my black fire. That's what mattered to them. With good reason as well. That's what was dangerous. I had figured out about a month ago that it was different than simply cutting something. My ability had nothing to do with any sort of abnormal sharpness.

It was the ability to separate things.

The fire wasn't sharp, nor did it burn, but whatever it touched became separated. That was my ability. In the end, it wasn't so different than cutting something with a sharp sword, but it was something I knew, and they didn't. It seemed like an advantage, that knowledge.

"We'll keep our distance. We know about the fire."

I wondered how many there would be this time. Last time it had been five. I had killed three before escaping. In the dim light of the warehouse, I let out a sigh. It was just as the first shinigami had said.

"You're a hollow now. I don't know who you were when you were alive, but you're a hollow now. And that means that you'll be hunted down by us. The shinigami." Kenji paused for a moment. "We're wounded, and Mai needs treatment. You might think you're lucky that I'm letting you off today," he said quietly. "But you're not. Spend the rest of your days in fear, hollow. We'll find you one day, and eradicate you."

He had left after that, picking up his partner and disappearing into the darkness. It was several more minutes before the rods of light began to fade and several more after that until I could move again. By then I was so hungry it was driving me insane. Looking back on it, I realized that the hunger was well timed. If that basic necessity hadn't controlled me like that on that terrible night, I might have lost my mind for a different reason.

I looked down at my hands, large and strong. Long white fingers stretched out. My nails were a dark blue. Five fingers, two hands…and yet they weren't human anymore.

"You're a hollow now."

Those words echoed through my skull. Why was I trying so hard to continue this terrible life? Running every day from shinigami, eating the souls of the deceased, what was the point? Sometimes it was nothing more than to keep the hunger at bay. That terrible hunger that made me forget who I was, and everything that had happened before that night.

On the far side of the room, there was a crackling noise. I perked up. It didn't sound the same as a shinigami. It was different somehow. The air on the other side of the room began to bend. The boxes began to twist and warp and all of a sudden there was a crash.

A clawed arm burst through what appeared to just be air, and a large figure stepped out into the musky warehouse. One glance was enough to tell me that it was a hollow like myself. The white, skeleton mask glowed in the dim light. The body was angular and sharp. It looked vicious.

Silently, it looked around and spotted me.

"Shit, I think I smell spiritual power, and it's just another hollow like me, eh?" his words sounded drawn out and menacing, like a snake.

"Did you hear that?" the voices from outside began to whisper.

"So what's the deal here? Are there good eats or what?"

"It sounds like…wait a minute…I'm getting another hollow signature!"

I sighed. "Shinigami," I whispered. I had stopped picking fights with other hollows a long time ago. It wasn't worth the trouble and they weren't at all filling.

The other hollow paused and then smiled. "Oh?" It reared back and laughed. "So what're you so scared of?"

Outside the voices continued to whisper frantically. "It sounds like they know we're here. Should we retreat?"

"Why not just eat those bastards? They taste good, ya know?"

"No, we can't retreat; it's probably just a small fry. Let's go."

"They're coming." I said with a frown. In spite of myself, I could feel my blood boiling. This new hollow was right. Shinigami did taste good. The only problem was that they tended to send me into a frenzy. I'd come closer to losing myself then ever before the last time I ate a shinigami.

"Shakkahō!"

Six voices cried out in unison as the walls of the warehouse were blown to bits. I looked around and through the smoke, could make out five of the figures before I looked up. The roof was going to collapse on top of us.

"Clever rats, huh?" I heard the other hollow laugh as the ceiling began to crash down from above. Without paying him any attention, I summoned my black flame and jumped upwards. The falling debris parted as I rose and they fell. I reached the peak of my jump as the last of the rubble smashed to the ground below. I floated for a moment, suspended in the air, looking down. There were seven shinigami that I could see. Below me, the warehouse was a cloud of grey smoke. Grey except for one small area which looked almost orange in the night.

Shaking my head, I returned my attention to the shinigami below. My blood was pumping now, insisting that I give in to the beating tempo, demanding that I go wild, let the beast out, and eat all of them. I swallowed the urge as best I could, but I could feel my fingers shaking with excitement.

"Hadou no. 33! Pale fire crash, sōkatsui!"

Blue light exploded from below me, piercing the smoke and racing toward me. This wasn't good. The shinigami's magic was the one thing my black fire couldn't seem to separate. Bracing myself, I felt the energy crash into me. It burned my skin, but it wasn't fatal, or even particularly damaging. As I fell, I could hear more shouts.

Through the clearing smoke, more shots of energy surged up at me, exploding as they hit. My arms felt raw from the heat and electricity. It had never gone this way before. The shinigami were getting smarter, keeping me at a distance like this. When my body felt as though it could take no more, I landed heavily on top of the rubble. In front of me, the seven shinigami stood, arms raised, pointing at me.

I had to move, had to close the distance. They would keep shooting me with their magic spells until I was dead if I didn't. I could feel my mind clouding over with anger. It would be easiest to let the rage control me now. To charge them and devour them all. The urge to give in, to forget who I was and become the beast entirely was overwhelming.

The shinigami were chanting in unison now. I could see the energy pooling in their fingers, growing. This would kill me, I realized. All around them, some sort of orange aura was beginning to form. It surrounded them entirely and began to thicken.

"What the…"

One of the shinigami stopped suddenly. He looked around frantically. Beside him, the other shinigami all began to act similarly. The orange cloud began to grow even thicker. It wasn't their aura at all…it was some sort of gas.

"How do you like that, shinigami bastards?"

They all began to scream, clutching their skin and eyes, shouting.

"It's a cloud of acid; I like my souls to cook a little." I looked up to see the other hollow standing not too far away. He breathed out loudly and a small orange cloud swirled out of his mask. "But your screams sound so…perfect!" The hollow darted forward, his sharp, angular body coming to a quick stop at the edge of cloud. "Scream just once more!"

In a swift motion, he lifted his arms up into the air and brought them down again, scraping against one another. It sounded like metal being dragged against metal. Sparks flew out from the two rubbing limbs and they flew into the orange cloud. After a second, the cloud burst into flame and disappeared. Seven screams echoed through the night air and fell silent.

"Yes! Beautiful!" The hollow leapt forward and grabbed the nearest dying shinigami. His masked face opened wide and bit down hard, tearing the shinigami to pieces and sending blood flying everywhere.

It was a magnificent sight. I wanted nothing more than to participate. I could almost feel it, the soul of a shinigami sliding down my throat, the blood dripping from my teeth. The flavor…oh god the flavor was magnificent. And what lay before me was a feast. I had eaten not long ago but…the burnt flesh of the shinigami smelled so good in the night air.

With a howl, I dove forward, grabbing a hold of one of the corpses and sinking my teeth into it. It was everything I could have hoped for. The flavor and the texture of the soul was far beyond that of any ghost. Why had I been denying myself this pleasure all this time? I grabbed another, then another, stuffing myself until there were none left. Unable to accept this, I whirled around, looking for more.

Another hollow was sitting, not far away, taking bites out of another shinigami. With a scream, I dove forward. I wanted to eat it! It was mine! My meal! I wasn't going to let him take it from me. I crashed into him, his sharp body piercing poking holes in my skin. He shrieked and struck out at me. We wrestled on the ground, and I could feel myself bleeding where he had cut me with his sharp joints. In a haze of rage, I reached forward and grabbed his mask, pulling with all my might, trying to tear it off, to kill him!

"Now now, this won't do."

A strong hand grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me off of the other hollow. I swiped at it but when I struck the hand holding me, it didn't flinch. When I looked up, snarling, there was a human staring back at me. The hunger still overwhelming me, I leaned forward and bit down hard on the man's arm.

"You think I'm human?"

The man threw me to the ground. The breath was driven from my lungs.

"No…I'm just like you, a hollow."

I struggled to regain my footing and shook myself.

"See?" the man reached up and unzipped his shirt, pulling it down to reveal a hole like mine in the center of his chest. After a moment, he zipped his shirt back up.

I could feel myself snarling, still overcome with hunger. Drool dripped from the side of my mouth. He looked human…but he was right, he smelled like a hollow. He could not be eaten.

"Greetings, children," the hollow said with a smile. I could see his face, I realized. There were fragments of what appeared to be his mask strewn about his face. The remnants of a more monstrous jaw line extended below his neck and his eyes were framed with white, making his dark red eyes appear almost black.

"My name is Faust. What are your names?"

Beyond him, I saw the other hollow stand up. He wiped the drool from his mouth and looked suspiciously at Faust.

"I'm Cloudbomber S…"

"That's what the shinigami call you, is it?"

"Yeah…"

I didn't detect any motion at all. One moment, Faust was standing between us, smiling, the next he was behind Cloudbomber, his arm shoved through his chest up to the elbow.

"That isn't what I asked you," Faust whispered. Before Cloudbomber could even scream, Faust ripped him in half and threw him to the ground. He hit with a wet thump. I watched dispassionately. That hollow had been my enemy moments ago. I felt no sorrow at his murder. He had been in the way of my meal, now he wasn't.

"And what of you?" Faust turned to me. "What's your name, little one?"