Don't Speak Against the Sun

Adaequatio Intellectus Nostri Cum Re

Conformity of our Minds to the Fact

"You ready?"

"Yeah."

/

A low rumble began to fill the air, thrumming and pulsing in a steady beat, quiet at first but steadily rising in intensity. Wave upon wave of pressure making itself known, a white noise settling thickly apon their surroundings, swirling and whistling ominously. A white-clawed hand twitched at its position on the ground, scraping long gouges into the concrete as it curled into a sharp, bony fist. Slowly and frighteningly unsteady the figure the hand belonged to rose to its jointed, tri-clawed feet, pale, curved talons scraping heavily across rough cement as the creature steadied itself onto its feet.

The newly formed being stood at six feet in height, an added six and a half feet in thick, muscular tail whipped behind it, swirled in a deep red and studded with spines along its sinuous length. Simular markings adorned its body, extending from its chest out from an octagonal bronze plate in a rayed pattern. Muscular white arms, decorated with sharpened blade-like protutions at its elbows, along with bright red tufts of fur at the wrists and hands tipped with long white claws. A jagged mane of shockingly orange hair rippled to the creature's mid back from which long quill-like spines extended. And finally the simple skull-like mask, still unchanged from the last time it had been summoned, with its deep red streaks pouring from above the slitted eye sockets to below the lower jawbone, still grinning with a macabre smile.

A pair of mismatched eyes, two personas, stared out at the world, together for the first time. One eye, the left, a bright amber. The other eye, the right, a burning yellow framed by black scelera.

The figure wobbled, its tail swinging haphazardly for support as it swung its upperbody back and forth, head tilting from side to side in a critical fashion as it examined its body.

A few moments of silence. Then:

"A lizard?"

"Yeah. Wha' were ya expectn'?"

"Well, I don't know..."

"Then shut it."

An ear-splitting shriek cut the air as an enormous force smashed into them, claws raking into their side, causing them to give an animalistic shriek in turn as both felt the burning, tearing pain cut into their metaphysical body. Gritting itself against the pain the Hollow pressed its influence to the affected area stifling the pain and franticly knitting the flesh, skin, bone, muscle, and sinew and repairing the broken hierro exoskeleton seemlessly back together.

"How the hell are we supposed to fight like this? !"

"You do th' fightin', I'll take care of th' rest! That attack shoulda knocked some balance inna yeh!"

The offending hollow swung another scything paw at their face as Ichigo ducked underneath it, swinging his elbow underneath the beast's arm and across it's side drawing a sharp gash across it's grey hide. The hollow roared in turn, batting another heavy paw into Ichigo's stomach, throwing him several feet away, smashing head over heels down the road before he could catch himself, grinding to a halt on his hands and feet, claws tearing into to road underneath him. Uttering a quick snarl he pushed himself back to his feet, charging head on, fist pulled back, the connected part of his concious linking him to the hollow blazing with the borrowed power as it flared across their joined minds, the palm of his hand now glowing with a bloody red light.

"Bala, straigh' to th' chest."

"Got it."

He held the glowing energy in his fist as it pulsed violently, gaining energy with every second, snapping and crackling as its esscence reacted with the surrounding reishi around him.

"It's coming."

"Almost. Wait fer it."

"Hurry up! It's coming this way!"

"NOW!"

Ichigo thrusted his fist foward, feeling the blazing light scream past the side of his face leaving its heat in its wake like a miniature comet into the oncoming hollow's chest with a flash of white light and a roar of the impact.

"Wait. It prob'bly ain't done yet. Those spines. They got some kinda toxin in 'em. if it's still movin' get it with tha'"

"Right.."

A low wail echoed from the slowly fading flames revealing the heavily charred hollow, teeth bared in a defiant gesture, its tail snaking over its body, preping for its own attack.

"Ge' ready. I'm gonna give you a sonido."

Ichigo wordlessly nodded in return, preping himself into a slight crouch, eyes narrowed as the numbing feeling of reiatsu building under his heels in a familiar yet foreign sensation. Right when he tought he could not longer stand it the build up snapped like an elastic band, sending the world around him rushing in a multicolored blur then halting in the air above the enemy. Reacting on second's impulse Ichigo swung himself in a half-spin, sending his thick tail swinging in a wide arc, three quills hissing through the air and hitting their target.

The now invenomated hollow gave a sharp, keening wail before bonelessly crumpling onto the ground unable to make a move.

"Neurotoxin? I don't remember you having that ability..."

"Adap'ion. It's th' survival of the fittest, Aibou. It ain't th' firs' time I've evolv'd. We should get 'round ta killing this thing then."

"No."

"Wha'? Whaddya mean? The toxin ain't gonna last forev'r."

"We'll just leave it for Afro-san. He'd probably appreciate the sentimate."

"Fine." "We..?"

/

"Kurosaki..?"

No... He must be imagining things... there was no way. No way that Kurosaki would voluntarily coexist with his hollow. He wasn't even aware that the creature was sentient beyond being a force of killing nature. It was a hollow. Everything his grandfather had taught him on the nature of hollows was now being eradicated by the figure speaking with the convolted high-pitched voice and Kurosaki's own before his eyes.

Uryu's eyes narrowed and he unconciously gripped his right wrist in his left hand, the hand Kurosaki's hollow had mercilessly sliced off during his last rampage.

He'd get to the bottom of this even if it killed him.

/

"N-no way..." panting, Zennosuke ducked away, running haphazardly down an alleyway away from the horror he'd just caught glimpse of: an inhuman beast of a hollow, blasting away another lesser hollow with a monstrous blast of a bala. This... whatever it was, wasn't good, wasn't good at all.

"Gotta tell someone! Soul Society's gotta know about this!" he yelped skidding to a halt at a deadend, fumbling with his zanpakuto as he yanked it from his sheathe and jabbing it into the air calling a Senkaimon into being and rushing into the gateway before the doors were even halfway open. Now within Seritei boundaries he rushed from street to street, a few shunpo's thrown in, heading thoward the one place that was specificly designated for anything concerning unusual happenings in the World of the Living in the aftermath of the Winter War.

"Open up! I've got news!"

"State your business!" The voice on the other side of the gates barked.

"Unusual hollow activity in District 3600, Karakuracho! Adjuchas spotted with unusual reiatu levels! Open up!" rambled back, words almost humourously meshed together.

"Very well. Open the gates!" Said gates rumbled open, parting to reveal the on duty gatekeeper, a man of average height with somewhat greasey hair and an irritated expression. "Follow me, I'll take you to the Captain."

With a sharp bow, Zennosuke scrambled in as the gates boomed shut after him, following the other man's long strides.

"What exactly did you see?" The other man growled after a while as they strode past other shinigami in the division's hallways, all carrying documents of various sizes.

"A hollow, at least an adjuchas. I've never seen or felt anything like this one before. Crazy strong thing it was." Zennosuke gulped audibly as an unwanted thought came to him, "Maybe Aizen had something to do with it? Some kind of crazy scientific experiment that escaped from Hueco Mundo?"

The other man grunted at the idea. "Who knows. The hollows these days are getting stranger and stranger. Here we are. Present your buisness to the Captain and try not to irk him too much."

Nodding in sharp, birdlike jerks, Zennosuke knocked on the doors he'd been led to and waited, shivering with trepidation.

"Enter." an oily voice spoke from within, doors opening in a silky motion, as if greased.

Now shaking more than ever, Zennosuke scurried in the doors sliding shut behind him with a resounding boom, plunging the room into darkness.

"Who are you? Explain yourself."

"k-Kurumandani Zennosuke, assigned shimigami to World of the Living District 3600, Karakura town. Today at 9 A.M. I encountered an adjuchas of unnatural reiatsu levels."

Kurotsuchi Mayuri leaned foward in his seat, a malicious leer spread across his features. "Reeeally? Please. Go on. I'd love to learn more."