Plot intertwined
An horse at full speed. Its hooves deadly and quick. A man covered in blood. Manto Baniesu, age 36, was dead. But he wanted to read that book… only to discover that the man who drove the horse had taken the book. Rage, Wrath, Ire, Fury… These feelings grew and turned a poor soul killed by an unfair joke of destiny into a monster. The Librarian, the horse, the horse rider… everybody were swallowed by his wrath… but he just wanted… to read a book.
The bat-like hollow known as Bookworm snapped out of that vision. Why the life of that man was constantly flashing before his eyes? He could not answer, but shrugged it and resumed talking to the other hollow, the mouse-like Trapster.
"So, you see! Hollowity is a great thing. We all will stand in Heaven, because we are the dominant race. We struggle to evolve and the ones who succeed became more powerful. We are so powerful that not even death can destroy our soul and we are the ones able to see hell… if we were to unite, all the other dimensions would crumble. Not even the dimension where the shinigami reside would withstand our sheer number!", he continued.
Trapster looked at him disgusted and replied: "YOU ARE BATSHIT INSANE!"
So, Bookworm, as the civil hollow he was, reacted the proper way: in a fit of rage, he ripped in half the mouse and devoured him. Trapster had not been the first nor would be the last. After one hundred of hollow, he grew to towering heights and was enveloped by dark robes, but his hunger did not decrease. Other hollows fell for his causes: the one who were against him would have brought the Hollow race to ruin, the mindless ones were useless. So he evolved again. Human-sized, enchased in white plates which resembled armor, long wings which covered him like a cloack, large arms, a set of fangs, clawed feet. He was an Adjuchas… Maybe, with more power, hollowity would have finally taken over Hueco Mundo. But raw strength was not enough! He needed knowledge: he needed… BOOKS!
Nekoru's house was very small. A single room where there was a bed, a table which he used either to have lunch or do his job, and a pair of closets where he held, respectively, food and drawing. Hung up on the walls, there were lots of paintings of varying quality.
He looked at his deck, sitting beside it: there was a request of the Captain of the 2nd division of the Gotei 13, Soi Fong. He could not refuse, partially because she was a superior, secondly because he owned a lot to the second division. Last, but not least, Soi Fon had a terrifying shikai, able to kill a single being.
Nekoru took the paintbrush he had put on his hear and started finishing the painting, refining the lines and the shading. With a satisfied sigh put a note at the end: Turn around and only an afterimage remains withal.
The boy cracked a smile: he had just done a great part of the work his two jobs requited: he had finished drawing a commision from one of the Captains, and had finally finished the paper work the Shinigami Accademy had assigned him to do. The last moves of paintbrush... and now the painting had ended. He made his signature, a flower. After all, Mei, his own surname, meant flower... a bit embarassing, considering that he used to be picked on bullies on the academy... but his skill in swordmanship and Haruda had shut them up very good.
They have serious problem, if they are asking me to fill so many parts of the report, the young Shinigami mused. He tidied up the paperwork, scrolled up the painting, which had finally dried up, and stood up, keeping the flow of his consciousness occupy most of his cerebral activities. His brain was pulsing as it had started touching delicate nerves... for some reason; he had been stuck by a pessimistic thought.
"I hope she likes it!", he said alout not without an hint of nervous sweating and a deep breath.
He stood up and got out his home. Outside there was the famous insignia 'NEKORU MEI: PAINTER' with a list of prices for drawings, with next a sign which reads 'SPECIAL DISCOUNTS FOR THE MEMBER OF THE GOTEI 13'. For example, a captain could have a drawing for free, with the exception he had to sign a paper where he/she certified the fact that he/she had given a commission to Nekoru and liked it.
Well, Soul Society is not passing through its Golden Age: the hollows had been turning much more aggressive and their invasion of the human world much more frequent, he thought, instinctively looked at his zanpakuto, carried over his sash. His stomach started twisting, causing a great deal of pain to Nekoru.
Because of this, he had always been stuck there in Soul Society. He would have been only an hinderance. A shinigami fighting with no shikai... was just hollow food! Nekoru shrugged off his frustration, cracked a smile and switched topic.
It seems like it's going to be another sunny day... at least I might have a relaxed walk, he thought as he finally reached the headquarters, where he met the lieutenant of the 2nd division, Marechiyo Omaeda. Nekoru sighed.
Why did have to meet such an arrogant man?, he thought. But, as Omaeda was the one to commission the painting in the first place, he could not show such disdain, cracked a smile and bowed his head.
"Lieutenant Marechiyo Omaeda-sama, greetings!", he said, to which the large man turned.
"Oh, Mei-san! How are going the commissions?", he asked Nekoru.
The boy promptly replied by showing a scroll and saying: "It's for her!"
Omaeda had never held Nekoru in high regard, due to his unseated position as a Shinigami, but still he was a decently skilled (and cheap) painter, since he saw his skills when Nekoru made a commission for Omaeda himself.
The lieutenant nodded satisfied as he looked at the scroll mused: "I did not think you would have started with her!".
Nekoru nodded, acknowledging the statement.
"I will bring you to her immediately!", Omaeda continued, causing Nekoru's eyes to widen slightly: he did not like to stay near a captain, but he could not object, so he followed the large man without speaking.
Soifon was meditating as her lieutenant called her. With a single leap, she reached them.
"Captain – Omaeda said – here is the painter Nekoru Mei! He has just made the painting commissioned to her!"
Soifon turned. She easily recognized Nekoru: in fact, she was the one to bring him to the Sereitei, after all. The same, Nekoru could recognize her deadly cold stare everywhere, and shallowed a bit of his saliva.
He bowed down as he said: "C-c-captain Soifon-sama?"
"What is it Mei?" She asked in a voice that asserted superiority.
"I am sorry for the delay, but I finally finished the painting!", the boy scrolled down the painting and showed it to her. The painting was abstract art at its finest, a psychedelic drawing with a tree and several black cats and bees.
"I saw you like black cat, so I drew a pair of them... Hope it meets your standard!", he said.
And that you won't use your two-hit killing shikai on me, he thought as Soifon stood silent looking at it, her expression impossible to read.
She then looked at Nekoru and finally expressed her opinion.
"Not that bad of a painting, Mei. I might hang it up!", she said. Despite her cold tone, Nekoru easily recognized her statement to be a compliment.
"I'm please you like it, Captain Soifon-sama! As usual, if you wish me to do another painting, I'm at your disposal", he said, still keeping his head down.
"No, Mei. That is it for now: you are dismissed." Soifon said turning at him and waving him away.
Nekoru vanished as soon as Soifon dismissed him, so quickly that even Omaeda barely noticeding him moving away. The painter would have liked to take a peek at her true reaction, but the lack of a lawyer, a witness or at least a shield made him decide otherwise.
He took a list of the commission and crossed Soifon's name out. He looked at it: with the new commission, 5 captains out of current 13 had asked him a painting (namely Soifon, Ichimaru Gin, Sosuke Aizen, Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Jushiro Ukitake)
"What do we have here?", a young-sounding voice said looking at Nekoru's odd glee confusinglyl. The painter shinigami turned, easily recognizing the voice: captain of the 10th division, Toshiro Hitsugaya, followed by his lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto, easily recognized as one of the most beautiful (and bustiest) Shinigami in Soul Society. And to think that her captain was only a small kid…
Nekoru easily responded with the truth.
"This is a list of the commision of panting I have been commised to do for any of the member of the Gotei 13, Captain Hitsugaya-sama. I finally finished Captain Soifon-sama's request... – he stated, then decided to exploit an opportunity - if you wish, I could make a painting even for you and/or your lieutenant, Captain Hitsugaya-sama!", he told him (bowing his head down, of course).
Hitsugaya let out an upset sigh at the painter's request.
Opportunist, he thought, while Matsumoto was pondering the question.
"No, no need for it – the short boy replied- maybe Matsumoto…"
Before he could continue, Matsumoto popped out of the conversation (with an boing-like sound, to boot) and enthusiastically cut in:" "I would love a painting of me, I always thought I needed to have a painting of myself."
Nekoru let out a smirk at this.
"I apologize, captain Hitsugaya-sama. And I would be pleased to take a portraint of you, Lieutenant Matsumoto-sama!"; he said
Wait, has it come out right?, Nekoru wondered in his head.
"Well, maybe another time: me and Matsumoto have important buisiness to take care of." Toshiro said walking away from Nekoru.
"Goodbye, Captain Hitsugaya-sama! Bye, Lieutenant Matsumoto-sama!", he said. Captains… lieutenants… the pride of Soul Sociey…
And me? - He thought -What about me? What could I do to help my superior? Nothing. I could not even achieve Shikai for some odd reason.
I just do not understand... sure, shikai is supposed to be difficult, but most instructors admit there is an anomaly in my personal case. Nobody knows what to do to help me to unlock my power... it's been over 20 years since the first time I tried to achive shikai..., he kept thinking. Stomping the groung with an hint of violence. He checked his soul phone: he had to return to his second work, assistant to the academy. He always thought they hired him out of pity, as he had failed unexpectedly the last exam. He checked what he had to do: another inspection at the district 3600, Karakura town, a small city in Western Tokyo with an average population, situated on the current jūreichi - the point in the Human World that possesses the greatest concentration of spiritual beings.
Better than nothing, he thought as he took the necessary equipment to go to the human world. He let out a bitter smile: despite he had been in the human world around a dozen of times, but he never got to visit his hometown of his previous life: he had always wished to know whatever happened to the Kanagori family in the latest two century… and neither this time could he have discovered anything.
As he went through the Sekaimon, he was glad to see that even in the human world it was a beautiful day. The sky was clean and people were cheerfully walking along the streets. Most of them would not be able to see Nekoru, others would notice but dismiss him. After all, who would believe to a samurai-like person walking around with a true sword?
Maybe some geek obsessed with anime and cosplay, he thought chuckling. After 2 hollows and 5 pluses purified, he felt something. It was no hollow, no: it was a…
Shinigami? - He wondered –There shouldn't be any other shinigami now…
Taken by curiosity, he followed the small trace of reiatsu. As he reached it, he couldn't help but notice it was much higher than he expected, even superior than his own. When he finally reached it, he found… nothing.
Not a single soul, he thought, not noticing the accidental pun. With a sigh he looked around and yawned.
"I might have gotten it wrong!", he said and then spotted something: a black spot above a tree. He promptly recognized what it was: a black cat. He then remembered something.
A reiatsu high… A black cat… holy ... he thought as he reached for the soul phone. The black cat, seeing this, widened its eyes and ran at full speed. No, it did at fuller speed, as it surpassed any cat on the whole planet. Witha single leap, the cat took the soul phone in its mouth, surprising Nekoru in the process.
"Got Ya!", Nekoru muttered going at full shunpo against the feline which, surprisingly, used shunpo as well. At first, the shinigami was able to catch up to the cat, but eventually he was not able to find him.
I understand. High reaitsu,a black cat, the theft of my soul phone: the cat must be Yoruichi! I don't know any fugitive shinigami with this power!, he thought, but his flow of consciousness was interrupted by a voice.
"Are you looking for me, little one?" Yoruichi said in her human form standing on top of a tree. And then, in an irrational series of events, he unexplicably changed his expresson on the face from determination to fear. Even his zanpakuto started trembling.
He chuckled nervously, and started talking: "Captain Yoruichi-sama... long time we don't see each other... you have not even retired the painting from my shop! Is this a new haircut?"
Yoruichi, who had indeed changed her hairstyle into a long ponytail, nodded; though she wondered what the shinigami could mean with her last statement. Nekoru, attempting to gain some composure told her: "Alright, Captain Yoruichi-sama! I'm taking you in: there is a huge bounty on you and justice must prevail"
"Sorry, but I don't feel like going back to the Soul Society just to get killed." Yoruichi said with a jump, landing near him.
Resuming trembling, Nekoru looked at her and branded his zanpakuto. Yoruichi immediately noticed something odd: Nekoru was not as powerful as her, yet he had not released. She would have thought he was arrogant, had he not recurred to diplomacy at first. She realized.
"Doesn't he even have his shikai yet? What a shame!" Yoruichi said kicking Nekoru in the face.
Heck, I did even manage to see her coming!, Nekoru thought as he got hit by the kick (badly!) but managed to catch her leg. Then Yoruichi shunpo-ed.
Senka: a special Shunpo technique where one moves to their opponents back. Directly attacking and sealing one's "Saketsu" and "Hakusui" in one strike. The movement is so fast that an opponent may not be able to tell whether he was attacked from the front or the back and even an outside observer may find it impossible to tell what the movements are., Nekoru thought, remembering word after word the definition of the moves Yoruichi had just pulled onto him, and was knocked out on the spot. Yoruichi then picked him back and placed him in the position she had seen him the first time.
Several minutes later, Nekoru woke up. He noticed that he was mostly fine and he had the soul phone. Noticing it was in the same position he thought: I must have dreamt of meeting Captain Yoruichi-sama…
After a sigh, he said: "I'm such a loser!"
"Oh, buddy, cheer up!", another figure, hidden behind a large newspaper, told him.
"Well, you must be right!", Nekoru said shaking his head.
"Of course I am! What happened of so bad to make you feel that down?", the figure asked.
"Oh… nothing! Well, okay, something happened! I think to have dreamt of chasing a girl, but I failed!", Nekoru said… only to be slapped by the figure
"Pervert!", he said.
"I deserved it!", Nekoru stated rubbing his face. He then noticed that his interlocutor was a bit upset as well.
"What's the matter, sir?", Nekoru politely asked.
"Well, nothing big. I don't want to bother you with my problems…. If they can ever be called problems, that's it!", the reader said.
Nekoru, spotting a pile of books next to his interlocutor, asked him: "It's about… philosophy?"
"Pretty much – he replied – I am trying to make a new one!"
"Hm… - Nekoru said pondering carefully- look, I know I am no big help, but first I would try to settle these three ideals: good, beauty, truth. Then you need to find people who are willing to share these ideals and one who will follow them, so even if you die, your philosophy will be immortal!"
Nekoru could not clearly see what the interlocutor was doing, but he thought he was nodding.
"Do you think that the survival of the species can be one of the main value?", he asked.
Before Nekoru could reply, his Soul Phone beeped.
"Well, sure, why not… Sorry, I have to go! See ya… Will be there next Thursday between 5pm-9pm? I think I might be here, bye!", Nekoru said in a rush shunpoing away. It wasn't a bad day, after all: Soifon had accepted with relative gladness the painting; he was soon going to take a painting at Matsumoto; he had made a new friend and the inspection had gone smooth. Now, if it wasn't for the pain he had on his chest, everything would have been great. Still, the pain was still there.
I should go to the 4th division for a check!, he thought returning to Soul Society.
Bookworm raised his head from the newspaper and looked at the direction Nekoru had gone. None of them had recognized the other's true nature, being too absorbed by their own businesses.
"What a nice guy!", he said as he opened a Garganta and entered inside Hueco Mundo.
The landscape of Hueco Mundo is a seemingly never-ending white desert, with dunes like those of the Sahara and no body of water. The desert is littered with what appear to be boulders and shrivelled trees, The atmosphere was filled with Reiryoku in the form of Reishi, but it is more concentrated, thus allowing smaller Hollows to gain nourishment despite the lack of Human souls.
Like that in real world deserts, active life in Hueco Mundo appears to be few and far between. Hollows generally seem to dwell below the surface or in other areas until something provokes them to leave their shelter, like the intrusion of a foreign entity. According to the Shinigami, all Hollows dwell in Hueco Mundo regardless of their shape, size, or power. But their information were incomplete: Bookworm had seen several hollows who preferred exploring the surrounding area or just relaxing, and he was one of them… unless somebody dared touch his books, of course!
But now he needed Hueco Mundo to travel into a specific area. He reached one of the most relatively kind hollows who was there. His name was the rather mocking 'Guts', due to his tendency to house things and smaller hollows. Bookworm asked her for information to find a site in the human world where there had been most recently a war, reasoning that there could be a large number of hollows willing to follow him.
As Guts provided him the information, Bookworm ran to the place and found a wasteland in a state no better than Hueco Mundo itself.
And they call 'us' monsters, he thought as he inspected the area from above. He then heard an odd crying… it seemed to come from a little girl. Taken by curiosity, he landed near the place the sound seemed to be coming from: a large, half-destroyed shed.
"Mommy…", the voice cried. It then stopped as she felt Bookworm's presence.
"Mommy?", she repeated as she reached the place where the hollow was. Bookworm a little surprised as he saw that the little girl was actually a not-so-little hollow: she was a large black lizard-like beast with eight legs. Her face had an elaborate mask with ten parallel horns and sharp teeth, which showed only her purple eyes. On her chest there was her large hollow hole. Bookworm out of instinct looked at his own hole: it was separated in two halves, one for each end.
Quite fitting an hole to represent something called 'hollow', the Adjuchas mused to himself
"You are not moomy!", the hollow said looking at Bookworm.
Bookworm nodded and promptly replied: "Indeed, I am your new daddy!"
The lizard looked at him for several seconds before finally showing a child-like joy by clapping and letting out a childish: "YAYYYYYYYYYYY! Daddy! What is your name, daddy?"
"Well, people call me Bookworm – the bat like Adjuchas said – but my true name is Mendocera Estebanez!"
"YAYYYYYY, Meido-chan! – the other hollow said mispronouncing the name – my name is Marina Juanitas!"
"Beautiful name, Marina!", Mendocera said kindly, not minding the mispronounce: he was trying to get her on his side, after all.
"Can we go to mum? She looks like an hourglass!", she asked still with her childish voice. Bookworm jumped onto her and started using her like a steed.
A child can be quite useful! Her mind is malleable enough to turn her into my perfect successor!, Mendocera thought as he opened the Garganta.
"Can we find other food later, Meido-chan? There were yummy things I found here!", she asked.
"Don't worry Marina… You'll be able to eat a lot alongside me!", Bookworm replied.
"YYAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!", Marina repeated again entering inside Hueco Mundo
Now, Nekoru thought that his pain in the chest/back would have taken a rather brief medical visit, but, as he presented himself to Hanataro, the 7th seat had looked progressively more worried, to the point that at first he called the lieutenant of the fourth division, a tall, young looking woman and has short silver hair, Isane Kotetsu, and immediately after both of them called the captain herself, a very youthful woman with blue eyes and black hair, Retsu Unohana.
A bit upset, as the check up had been lasting an hour, Nekoru asked: "Is it gonna take long?"
Retsu Unohana, despite keeping her gentle composure, looked and him, saying: "It does not matter how much it takes, Mei-san. Your health is top priority right now"
Somehow, the gentle look turned into a second into a death glare which pierced Nekoru's stare, which sent him through a state of innate fear which completely paralyzed him, allowing the captain to fully check him up. She then raised a serious brow as she saw the wound in question.
"What have you done today?", she asked worryingly.
Understanding the question, Nekoru replied: "Well, I fought a pair of hollows, but I purified them quite easily!"
"Well, they nearly got their lucky shot on you. Your "Saketsu " and "Hakusui" have almost been sealed!", Unohana said.
Worried, Nekoru asked: "Well, and how much serious is the situation?"
Unohana replied: "In a Shinigami, the Saketsu acts as a boost to spiritual power, in conjunction with the Hakusui , the source of spiritual power. These two points are commonly considered pressure points. If they are pierced, they seal up this spiritual power, and the Shinigami will lose all their power. The Shingami who experiences this… will never be a Shinigami again!"
TO BE CONTINUED…