Okay this s going to be a short (well short for me) chapter since I have no idea on how to fit this into what I originally had planned for chapter seven.
To let you know, it was March during Halibel's 'death'.
Welcome to the seventh chapter of An Angel's Love.
On with the show!
Talking- "Blah, blah"
Thinking/Emphasis- 'Blah, Blah'
Angry/Hollows/ attacks- "HEY!"
Translation- (___________)
Zanpakto Spirits- "Now, shout out my name!"
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any way, shape, or form. I do not own any brand-name merchandise nor do I own any companies or businesses that may or may not be mentioned in An Angel's Love. I do however own my OC, Masamune and all backstory, original powers, original zanpakto spirits, original hollows, unique locations and any original enemies that I may or may not introduce in the course of this story. I am making no money from this story.
Chapter 7: A New Sensei
"Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls! Welcome to the forty-seventh annual World Martial arts tournament!" The announcer roared into his microphone with great charisma. (Think the tournament announcer from Dragon Ball Z) "We have a line up of the best fighters from all corners of the globe here today, so lets welcome them out with our best applause!" As the crowd cheered in excitement, fifty people walked out from behind an ornate carving of a dragon's head and climbed the stairs into the stone ring. (The ring looks like the one from the World Martial arts tournament in DBZ) "Now, lets meet today's challengers! Starting from the left is Konjou Shura, age twenty-five. On his right is …" He introduced all the contestants in a similar fashion, with some of them striking poses for the crowd, until he reached the last of the fighters, "And last but defiantly not least, Okami Masamune, age…fourteen!?" The announcer was stunned. 'Why is this kid allowed to be here?' he pondered. While he was freaking out, the rest of the fighters and audience were sizing up Masamune.
He was stood at five feet eight inches from what they could tell. He had silver hair in a messy/spiky fashion. He was clothed in black baggy pants that were tucked into a pair of white socks and black kung fu shoes (what is their real name?). The pants were held up by a white cloth belt that had a cartoon-like skull buckle. He wore a white, skin-tight shirt with black tribal markings on the shoulders and the sides of his abdomen that showed of his toned upper body to the world. The shirt's sleeves disappeared into bandages that wear wrapped around his hands and half his forearms. Around his neck was a silver heart-shaped locket that had a design of crossed swords on the visible side, and on his right wrist was a bracelet made of what looked like steel cable inside a silver frame.
The weirdest, and most disheartening for those close enough to see, was his eyes. They were gold in color and showed no emotion at all. Twin golden abysses of absolutely nothing. Those close enough were wondering what could have caused such lack of feeling, but those who couldn't see it were thinking they would win easily.
They were wrong.
(I'm too lazy for all the fights so lets skip to the Finals)
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the finals of the forty-seventh World Martial Arts Tournament!" The spectators cheered in anticipation. "This match will be between the two contestants that fought their way to the top. Konjou Shura," The man stood at 6'2" ad short blond hair and brown eyes and was wearing a simple karate gi with no shoes and a black bandana around his forehead. He took a unique stance that had one leg bent under him and his other leg stretched out as far as possible in front while his hand were in a relaxed position with one arm above and behind his head and on in front and less bent. " and Okami Masamune!" No one in the crowd thought that this kid would come this far in the contest, much less as easy as he had. The first fight was more of a joke than anything. His opponent thought he was weak so he let Masamune have the first blow. Masamune landed one punch that sent his opponent out of the ring and halfway to the outer wall. The matches after that proved more of a challenge but not by much.
He took a stance similar to a boxer with both hand bent at elbow and in front of his face in half fists. His weight was constantly shifting form one foot to the other and his legs were bent slightly and about two-and-a-half feet apart.
The announcer decided enough suspense had been built. "Whoever wins this match will be given the title of Seken Saidai Musha (Worlds Greatest Warrior)! Are the fighters ready?" both nodded "Well then! Hajime (Begin)!"
The announcer quickly made his way out of the ring and into the area designated to the tournament staff. He went into a reserved box that was hidden behind a special pane of glass disguised to look like part of the outer wall of the ring. "So what do you think?" The announcer asked a cloaked figure standing near the glass. He was watching as Masamune and Shura were trading blows in the ring both fighting with ferocity of wild animals and the precision of a machine.
If he could have seen under the hood the announcer would have noticed the smirk that graced the features of the figures face. In a voice that told of the figures great power and experience, and more than a hint of amusement, he said, "I think I have finally found a student worthy of my teachings." Then he turned towards the match once more with hopes of a worthy student being the victor.
Masamune ducked under a kick aimed for his head and retaliated with a swift palm strike to the back of his opponent, Shura. His hand struck true as Shura was forced to tumble forward but recovered to his feet with a roll. "You're good gaki, but I won't let myself be beaten by a kid."
Masamune looked him in the eye "You have no say in the matter," His emotionless tone sending shivers up Shura's spine. Masamune then rushed forward, his body showing no signs of his next move. Shura prepared to defend from either side but made the grave error of leaving his face wide open. A mistake that Masamune took full advantage of when he flip-kicked him in the chin, sending him flying into the air, but he wasn't done yet. As soon as Shura landed, he saw Masamune leaping towards him with his fist cocked back and ready to cave his skull in. Shura swiftly rolled away just before Masamune landed, his punch causing small cracks in the stone tiles making up the ring. Shura then went on the offensive and rushed Masamune, grabbing his arm and tossing him in the air above him in one, fluid movement. Masamune's eyes widened 'Well, this is interesting.' He felt gravity's pull once more as he hurtled to the ground. On the ground, Shura had his hand poised to hit him in the back when he landed. Masamune saw this and shifted his weight at the last second so that he landed feet first on Shura's head and not on his hand. "That was quite a throw. I didn't think a normal person could toss someone that high," he said with some intrigue present in his voice. One of the few emotions he shows these days. He jumped off his head and landed a few feet from Shura.
Shura smirked, "I'm not exactly what you would call normal," he said with great arrogance. Masamune could also feel a small trickle of energy similar in nature to his own. His grin was wiped off his face and a twinge of fear made itself known in his mind. The cause was the sudden change in Masamune's eyes. What once were twin golden voids were now glowing silver orbs of cold rage. His own, invisible burst of energy didn't hurt either.
"Neither am I," he said. He moved so fast he was like a blur, truly living up to his title of the hayai-gin. He planted his fist deep within Shura's stomach, doubling him over in pain. He freed his fist from his opponent's gut and grabbed his arm in a vice grip. "Yield," he said.
Shura defiantly looked into his eyes, "or what?" Masamune answered him by twisting his arm, not enough to break it but enough to cause extreme pain.
"I said, yield," he repeated, raising his voice slightly.
Shura spit blood at his feet, "I said I wouldn't get beet by a gak…" he never finished his sentence as he was swept off his feet by Masamune as he let go of his arm, which was followed by a well place kick that both flipped Shura in midair onto his stomach and made him rise to chest height. With a mighty roar Masamune slammed both his hands into Shura's back in a devastating haymaker while discreetly sending two brief pulses of his energy into Shura to heal him and knock him unconscious.
Shura was out of it before he hit the ground.
The cloaked mans smirk went into a full out smile when he felt the energy coming off Masamune. 'At least I can skip that part of his training.' "Go and give him his victory, then bring him here," he ordered the announcer. He grinned and ran to the ring.
Before he even had time to cool down Masamune's hand was raised and the announcer was calling out, "And the winner and youngest Seken Saidai Musha in the tournament's history, Okami Masamune!" Masamune let a small grin grace his face and allowed some warmth back into his eyes, 'I'm one step closer to achieving my vow, Hali-koi. I've become the best martial artist in the world, or at least officially, but is that strength enough to fight those monsters?' Ever since Halibel died nearly three months ago, Masamune was more reserved and distant but was dead set on fulfilling the vow he made. He studied until he was at the top of the class and then he kept on studying. He trained harder and harder every day, pushing himself to his absolute limits until he had nothing left to give then surpassed his limits. He practiced his guitar and his singing until his fingers bled and his throat was raw and swollen. And thanks to his chi; as he had decided to call the silver energy that he could call on, he would be healed the next day if not within a few hours. Through this he became stronger, faster, and smarter than ever. He even tried to control the chi and manipulate it but he wasn't having much luck with it; just enough to heal wounds from training and practicing and magnifying the force of his blows. 'I still haven't been able to recreate that attack I used to kill that…monster,'
As the crowd was busy cheering for the person they thought wouldn't last the first round the announcer pulled a confused Masamune off to the side and into the box.
"Who are you and why am I here?" Masamune questioned the cloaked man.
"Ma, ma, (something like calm down) Masa-chan." The nickname caused Masamune to frown in annoyance, "You are here only to listen to a proposition of sorts. After all, it would be such a waste if you had all that energy and no training to use it properly."
"How do you know about that?" Masamune asked hastily. He was then buffeted by an immense pressure over every inch of his body. 'It's like gravity just went into overdrive,' he soon as the pressure came it stopped and Masamune took a fearful look at the stranger.
"I know more about reiryoku (Spiritual power) than you will ever forget in your lifetime." The previous cheer was gone from his voice and was replaced with no nonsense, straight up, truth. With some flair he threw off the cloak and revealed his true looks. His body perfectly chiseled as though a sculptor made each muscle one by one and pieced together only the finest of his works to make this man. His pants were black, loose, hakama robes but were tied up at the ends with tattered bandages that wrapped around his ankles and parts of his feet. He wore a white cloth belt tied with a knot at the front. Around his hands were similar bandages to his feet although in much better shape than the former. The sole upper body garment he wore was a large, white haori with a black diamond pattern at the slightly shredded bottom and was completely lacking sleeves. His hair was pitch black and in a round shape with bangs that reached his eyebrows. Beneath narrow eyelids were coal black eyes that seemed to know more than all who saw them would ever know. His narrow face was turned into a slight scowl. It was soon replaced with a smile and warmth in his eyes. "Now, as for who I am, my name is Bruce Lee."
Masamune's mouth hit the floor in a rare show of emotion. "I thought you died years ago!" he asked when he recovered.
"I did." Bruce said in a tone like someone was saying the sky was blue.
'Reboot…Reboot…impossible phenomenon encountered…system error…' Bruce laughed heartily at the confused look on Masamune's face.
"I did die, but I came back, sort of." Masamune's mind came back online when he heard came back. 'Does that mean…' He filled that thought away for later. "I was part of what is called the Gotei 13 in what the living would consider 'heaven'." Masamune was skeptical and it clearly showed on his face. Bruce sighed "Sit down gaki, It's a long story."
One long story later
"So let me get this straight. When people die, their souls remain on Earth while being invisible to normal humans. Once they die, shinigami (Death Gods) come from the spirit world to use konso (soul burial) on the souls, which sends them to either the spirit world or hell depending on the soul. Shinigami also are sent to this world to destroy hollows, which are souls who have stayed to long in this world and their chain of fate has completely corroded or have been turned into a hollow by being eaten by another hollow. 'Killing' a hollow normally requires destruction of their mask and in actuality is a more violent form of konso." He paused to take a break and see Bruce validate the information so far. "Once a soul enters the spirit world, the soul gains the benefits of slower aging and no hunger as long as the soul doesn't use its reitsu. The spirit world itself consists of three distinct parts. The Rukongai, the Seireitei, and the Arano. The Rukongai (Wandering soul city) is where most souls end up after konso. It is split into the four cardinal directions (North, South, West, East) and then is further split up into 80 districts each, with the first being the best and closest to the Seireitei (Court of pure souls) and the 80th being the worst and furthest away. The Seireitei is the home of all noble families and the shinigami headquarters." Another pause. "The shinigami are trained at the Shinoreijutsuin (Spiritual Arts Academy) and from there become part of the Gotei 13 (13 Court Guard Squads). The ichibanti (First Division) taicho (Captain) is the soutaicho (Head Captain) of the Gotei 13 and delivers the rulings of the Chuo Yonjuroku Shitsu (Central 46 Chambers). He has say in all military matters unless his orders directly conflict with or are denied by chuo yonjuroku shitsu. And last is the Arano (Wasteland). It looks like it sounds. A massive wasteland for as far as the eye can see. It expands outwards from the end of the 80th divissions of the Rukongai. There is no law there and no teams hve come back to report on what is in the deeper parts of the desert that spans the only visible portion from the 80th districts." Pause and confirmation from Bruce. "Shinigami have several powers but the most vital is the zanpakto (soul cutter). They are sentient swords that are part of the soul and are solid representaions of the souls reiryoku. They have three known states. The first is fuuinzama (sealed state). It is the form a zanpakto takes when the user does not know the name of the blade and has no innate abilities, but it can manifest in sword designs unique to the user. The second is shikai (initial release). This form gives the user access to some of the zanpakto spirits power using the blade as a medium. The form the zanpakto takes and the powers it grants is different for every user although similar powers may appear from time to time. The third and last is bankai (final release) it allows the user potential access to every ounce of the zanpakto's power using the blade as a medium once again, although this is not always the case. On occasion, a portion of the weilder's body or their entire body is used as a medium. Gaining the full power of a zanpakuto's bankai takes immense will power and dedication." Masamune took a deep breath, "So is that about it?"
Bruce grinned, "Hai, pretty much." 'Sorry Masa-chan, but there's some things you don't need to know.'
"And you want to train me?" Bruce nodded, "To use reiryoku," another nod, "like a shinigami," another nod. Masamune looked thoughtful for a moment. "…Doesn't that mean I need to die first?"
Bruce face-faulted and started coughing 'get's straigt to the point doesn't he,' he thought. "N..not exactly. That's one of the reasons I can't train you I the use of zanpakto," Masamune seemed a little put off by this, "the other is that if I did, the Gotei 13 would know about your powers nd be able to know your every movement, savvy?" Begrudgingly, Masamune agreed with his logic.
"So what are you going to teach me anyway?" he asked. "I mean, if you're going to teach me more about Jeet Kune Do (The way of the intercepting fist) than I doubt that that'll be enough against a hollow."
Bruce started laughing, a light chuckle at first and turned into a good natured roar of laughter. "Gaki, you don't know the first thing about the true nature of Jeet Kune Do do you?" Masamune gave him a confused look so he continued with a grin still on his face. "I created Jeet Kune Do while I was alive, that is true, but I also had discovered reiryoku during the creation process." Masamune was a little stunned at this revelation, "So I began experimenting with reiryoku and I eventualy learned to control it before my death and began infusing it with moves from Jeet Kune Do. The result was…explosive, to say the least." Masamune allowed some excitement to show on his face (which is still a lot) which got Bruce to elaborate a bit. "It caused my blows to hit stronger, I was faster, the reiryoku acted as a sheild around me, and after I died I developed a few mid to long range attacks." Masamune had stars in his norally cold eyes, 'This sounds to good to be true!'
"But," 'There had to be a but,' Masamune thought, "There are a few limiting factors to the style. The first is an inability to attack and defend at the same time; whle attacking, the reiryoku sheild won't work. Second, there is a possibility of dieing while using the style's enhanced speed. You can go faster than your body can handle and that can realy tear you up and in the worst case turn you into nothing more than a pile of skin and bones with your organs scattered all over the place." Masamune mentally cringed at the thought, "The third and final restriction is this, it can never be used against normal humans. Shiniami and hollows yes, but never on humans. The influx of reiryoku that is forced into their bodys could potentially destroy not only their body, but their soul as well," he finished seriously
Masamune bowed and solemnly said, "I promise that, should you teach me the true Jeet Kune Do, I will never use its true form against a normal human, even in he most dire of circumstances."
Bruce smiled and stood up. He put a hand on Masamune's shoulder and Masamune stood up as well, "Well, then let's get started, with your learning ability we should have the basics and some of the mid level techniques down in two months."
Masamune stared at him in shock, "Two months? For that? It took me eight months to get the basics mastered for the normal version. From what you said it'll take that long to get that and the mid level techniques." Masamune still couldn't believe it. 'Jeet Kune Do was difficult enough to master the first time around, this know stuff will probably be worse!'
Bruce tried calming him down, "Ma, ma, Masa-chan. Since you have the basics for the normal style down, we just need to tweak them a bit with reiryoku and since you can already access it, that takes out that much more time." Masamune calmed down a bit, "But your right, it will take onger than two months. That's why we'going to visit a friend of mine." Masamune didn't like the smirk on his new sensei's face one bit.
Chapter 7: A New Sensei – End
I write this chapter in the memory of Bruce Lee, the founder of Jeet Kune Do and star of multiple Kung Fu movies. And a role model like no other.
Who is Bruce's friend? I'm not telling.
Some people might find Masamune's attitude a bit off in this chapter. Well duh, his girlfriend died, idiots. He will be distant (not emo) next chapter as well and will slowly warm up as time goes on.
Next chapter he meets Ichigo and friends so goodbye Tanzaku town and hello Karakura!
If anyone wants me to use the English translation of any of the Japanese words tell me and I'll consider it.
Reviews are welcome, even ones that say I'm a horrible writer as long as they give good reason behind it. So, I guess I'm saying, constructive criticism is welcome and flames will be used to bake the DOOM MUFFIN! (Don't ask [unless you want DOOM!])
Adios me Amigos
