Chapter Five: Growing Up & A Soul Reaper

Takeshi awoke in the cave, after his slumber. It was the day after he and Mila both achieved their next stage of evolution. It was odd going to bed and waking up without Mila next to him. Granted he could look towards the entrance of the cave and see the feet of Mila's gillian form just outside of it. still he missed the feeling that came sleeping up against her lion like body. It brought a sense of comfort in such a dark and cold place like hueco mundo.

He stood and stretched out yawning while he did, ridding himself of his lingering sleepiness. He walked over to the back wall as he had grown accustom of doing and pulled the same moss off the wall and ate until he felt satisfied. It had become much easier to stomach the stuff, but it still tasted awful. Plus he was still prone to gagging a little on the stuff every so often.

Finally shaking off the last bit of drowsiness, he took off to the entrance of the cave. Walking out, he stopped right besides Mila's hulking form and looked up at her.

"Time to start today's hunting! You ready Mila!" he chirped out excitedly.

Mila merely turned her head to look down at the boy and opened her mouth.

"AHHH!" was all that came out in a high pitched tone.

"I'm just gonna assume that's a yes then." Takeshi replied before jumping up on the top of her head.

Takeshi thought to himself about how they were going to go about hunting. Sneaking around as they once did before was out of the question with Mila's new form. The fact was, with the new forms they both had respectively achieved. Hunting smaller base hollows simply wasn't going to cut it anymore. That meant only one thing, they had to hunt other gillian hollows to feed and grow.

Takeshi reached out with his energy to see if he could locate any gillian's. From what Mila had told him before during his first few weeks in the hollow realm. Gillian's had much higher energy signatures compared to base hollows and they tended to roam in packs. Knowing this, Takeshi aimed to locate high energy level's clustered together.

It took a few minutes but finally he found what he was looking for.

"I know where to go Mila, head off towards our northeast." He spoke.

Mila simply nodded and began walking or rather stomping more like it. off towards to where Takeshi directed. Takeshi kept his focus on the signatures as they traveled. Thankfully they seemed content to stay where they were at. It took about 20 minutes of travel but finally he could tell they were very close.

The out of the corner of his to eye to his right he saw them.

It was a group of six gillian's, they all had the same generic looking mask on their faces. Gillian's that were doomed to forever stay as they were. Mila having noticed them as well, turned and began making their way to them. Takeshi leaped from Mila's head onto a nearby stone tree, near the group of gillian's.

The plan was simple in all honesty. He knew that Mila needed the gillian's more than he did. He would let her feed on most of the group and help ensure to keep the others from running away as best as he could. When the group was down to only a pair, he would make his move to secure a gillian for himself.

With Reaver drawn and at the ready, he watched attentively as Mila approached one of the first of the gillian's. Mila simply opened her mouth and clamped her jaws down on the nearest gillian's head and ripped it right off in one swift motion. Before she proceeded to devour it and then the rest of the gillian.

The other remaining gillian immediately acted in fear of this. Making noises of discomfort and tried to disperse in an effort to try to make some kind of escape. So they would not fall prey to Mila's hunger. They wouldn't get far, however.

Using his bringer light, Takeshi shot at a gillian that was trying to make the first break away attempt from the group. Using his bringer light for another burst midair, he slashed Reaver across its belly. While the wound wasn't deep or severe, it still had its desired effect.

The hollow howled in pain as it stopped in its tracks and tried to take a step back. only to bump directly into Mila, who chomped its head clean off. Takeshi landed on the ground as Mila ate the rest of the hollow. He looked to the group and saw another try and escape. Activating his bringer light once more, he charged forward and made a jump at its legs.

He sunk Reaver into what he assumed to be the shin and twisted the blade before jumping off the leg at a downward angle. Dragging the blade across as much as possible, leaving a huge gash in the leg. The hollow yelled in pain and fell to a knee from the injury. Before it could do anything else, Mila approached and devoured it.

Takeshi looked to the remaining three gillian's and noticed they were still grouped together and were trying to move together for protection. Takeshi moved with his bringer light in attempt to repeat his earlier trick. One of the gillian's seemed wise to this attempt. As it began to charge a red orb around its mouth.

Takeshi recognize right away what it was, a cero. Mila had told them about the attack during their earlier time together, so he wasn't caught completely off guard by it. Takeshi used his bringer light to dive as far as he could to his left. As he did this the gillian let loose the cero blast.

It impacted the ground and exploded with great force. While Takeshi had avoided a direct shot form the attack. He was still caught in the shockwave of the blast and thrown against his will. He landed on the ground and rolled with little control until he slammed into a tree. He could practically feel some bones crack as a result.

"ok….that….that sucked." He choked out to himself on the ground the wind knocked out of him for the moment.

He didn't much time to think as the gillian that shot at him turned to him and began to approach. As it neared with its focus completely on Takeshi and began to charge another cero.

"oh fuck me!" he spat out. Mila's liberal usage of coarse language having rubbed off on him during their time together.

Thankfully the hollow's complete focus on Takeshi turned out to be its undoing. It never noticed Mila approaching from its side and got its head ripped cleanly off by the lioness gillian for such a mistake.

Takeshi quickly stood himself back up and looked at the final two gillian's, ignoring the pain is his chest as he did so. They had split off from each other now, one heading to the left and the other the right. Noticing Mila was going for the left one, he took off with bringer light towards the remaining one.

He quickly caught up with it and jumped with Reaver and slashed at its leg leaving a deep gash. It howled in pain but was to slow to react before Takeshi repeated the action on its other leg. This caused the hollow to freeze in place, knowing his enemy was underneath him. It brought a foot in an attempt to crush the human boy. However gillian's aren't known for their speed, this one being no different. As it pulled a foot up, Takeshi in that time appeared behind the other leg and stabbed the full length of Reaver into it. Giving the blade a twist he then ripped the blade clean out towards the side of the leg. The blades serrate edge ripping and cutting the leg to shreds.

The pain of the attack hitting the gillian in its only grounded foot, caused it to loose its balance. Takeshi quickly jumped back as the gillian fell over like a tree and fell to the ground on its side with an earth shaking crash.

As this was happening Takeshi had begun to feel an odd sensation of warmth tingle in his body. He didn't feel as tired and his injuries from earlier felt as though they were healing at a steady pace.

"what the hell is this feeling?" he muttered to himself.

"that's the draining ability at work war pup."Cut in his fullbring.

"I see, nice to actual see it in action finally. You weren't kidding about this ability. I can get behind this." He mentally retorted.

"I'd never lead you astray war pup. Now hurry and get your kill!" she spoke and followed up with a cackle of laughter.

No needing to be told twice, Takeshi quickly moved his way to the front of the downed hollow's head. He sunk his blade into the mask of the gillian and dragged it down all the way along the mask. The gillian opened its mouth as if to yell or attack, but nothing came out. It's body suddenly stiffened and then went limp, the gillian was dead and ready to be devoured.

Takeshi looked towards Mila and saw she had shot out her tongue like some kind spear and skewered the last gillian through the head. She then essentially reeled the gillian to her mouth and fed on it.

"well that's a tad disturbing I will admit." He mused to himself.

The dead gillian by Takeshi began to be engulfed by the silver aura of his weapon. Soon the gillian was being broken down and absorbed into Takeshi. The influx of power he received from the gillian was unlike anything he had felt before. It was almost suffocating from how much power he was suddenly bringing into himself at once. After about a minute or so, nothing remained of the gillian. Takeshi was catching his breath as the last of the silver glow faded from his body.

"that was intense, I've never felt so much power flow into me at one time before." He spoke out loud.

"a single gillian possess far more power than a hoard of basic hollows." Spoke Reaver. "it's was your first time absorbing something of such magnitude war pup. In time as you power continues to grow such a rush will fade away."

"that makes sense, I'll just have to get used to it." he replied.

Noticing out of the corner of his eye, that Mila had finished eating the final gillian. Takeshi calmly approached her.

"Hey Mila!" he called. She tilted her head in his direction to signify she was listening.

"since we had such a successful early hunt, I'd like to head back to the cave and train my new abilities some. You cool with that?" he questioned.

The lioness gillian simply nodded her head in response. With that set, he jumped on to her head and off they went back towards their cave.

After about thirty minutes of travel, they arrived back at their home.

"hey Mila, I going to head off to a clearing nearby to practice some of my new powers. you cool with keeping back here at the cave?" he asked.

A high pitched "AHHH!" was all he got in response.

"once more I'm just going to assume that's a yes." He replied as he jumped off of Mila and made his way to a nearby clearing for his training. Once he made it to the clearing in began to ponder what to start on.

"let's see, I have pretty good grasp in bringer light for the moment, though I should still put some kind of practice into it. however it's probably more prudent to work on developing energy projection attacks and defenses I now have access too."

"that would be the best course of action war pup." Spoke up Reaver.

"agreed. You said that my energy projections are limited only by my power reserves and my own imagination, correct?" he replied back mentally.

"you got it! though I will recommend that you create a single offense and defense move at a time and work on mastering them before going onto anything new."

"makes sense, no point in coming with a bunch of different techniques and only too half-ass them. So, I just need to use my imagination here?"

"correct, just visualize in your head what you want to do. focus your energy into your blade as you do so and then let it rip!"

"fair enough"

He thought to himself just what he wanted to do first. He chose a defense technique to develop first.

"let's see, making some kind of wall for myself would useful." He muttered to himself.

Takeshi began to visualize a wall of his energy that was about ten feet tall and eight feet wide, in square like shape. He started to channel his energy into his blade and kept visualizing what he wanted. When he felt enough energy was gathered, he quickly brought his up in front of horizontally and shot the energy out. The whole process only took about a few seconds. It resulted in a square shield like he wanted. Except it was only about three feet tall and two feet wide.

"huh, I thought for sure I had enough energy in it for it to be the size I desired." He spoke to himself.

"it's not a matter of your energy used war pup. Your energy level was fine for what you were trying to do. The issue is simply a matter of practice. You're a fast learner, the fact you pulled off what you did on your first try was impressive. Even if it was a bit small. You lost a lot of your energy you shot out when you tried creating it. all you need is more time to practice and refine and you'll get what you're looking for soon enough." explained Reaver.

"yeah, I get that. I suppose I shouldn't get so ahead of myself. it's a good start atleast. Now for an offense technique I think." He replied.

He began to wonder what he wanted out of an offensive move. He was just starting to use this ability of his fullbring, so he wanted to keep it simple. After a few minutes of contemplation he decided on a rather simple idea. He would simply focus and condense his energy into his blade and release it as he swung.

Taking a stance, he began to focus his energy in his blade. A silver glow of energy began to come from the blade and swirl around it. as if the light of the moon was being sucked in by blade to empower itself. He raised his blade up and swung it downward with all his force, releasing the bent up energy as he did so. The energy shot out like a vertical crescent blast carved and into the ground as it sped forward, before slamming into a stone tree and exploding. The whole left side of where the blast hit was gone and there was a deep gash carved into the ground from the blast's travel.

Takeshi was breathing rather hard from the technique's usage.

"I think I over did that a bit." He spoke to Reaver.

"yeah you did, you let out way more power then you should of. You only just started to use your power like this. Your body isn't accustomed to using it yet. You need to keep it rather small scale for now, until you have the power reserves and familiarity to use this stuff at that kind of level." She retorted.

"I get it. I just need to practice, practice and more practice. The control of my energy for bringer light is different from what is needed with the abilities I'm using directly with you."

"your understanding it now war pup. With that said, that attack was pretty badass. You need a name for it I think."

"I suppose so. Any thoughts on one by chance?"

"well it looked like an attack that could pierce its way through anything it hits. The silver glow it has gives the appearance that your harnessing the light of the moon itself. Like a bright silver fang to destroy your enemies."

"A moon fang to pierce any and all things before me, no matter what it is." Takeshi mused to himself and Reaver. He thought about what he could name such a technique with that sort of flare. He pondered that for a few minutes, then it suddenly hit him.

"I think I got it." he announced.

"well? What is it?" demanded his fullbring.

"Getsuga Tenshō" Takeshi spoke out loud. "that's what I'm going to call it."

"oh I like that a lot!" Exclaimed Reaver.

"thought you would, now it's time to get more practice in I think." He replied.

He spent a few mores practicing before he went to the cave, Mila still where she was when he left and went to bed for the day.

*Seven Months later*

"Getsuga Tenshō!" Takeshi roared as the silver crescent blast of energy hit a generic gillian in the head and causing to drop dead. Mila moved up and began feasting on the hollow. While Takeshi moved up and focused on the rest of the gillian pack. After a few more minutes the rest of pack had fallen and Takeshi went ahead and absorbed one for himself, leaving the rest for Mila.

After Takeshi finished absorbing the hollow, he took a moment to reflect on things as he liked to do from time to time. Things had progressed in the last seven months since the very first gillian hunt.

Takeshi was now 12 years old going on 13, with that came the thing that comes for everyone around that age. Namely puberty. His body had begun to grow more than ever, while he had not grown that much in height yet. He had still grown a fair amount, of inches none the less. He could feel his muscles start to become more defined and toned as they grew with him, from the training and fighting he does on the daily. His hair while still wild, had grown down to the top of his shoulders. His voice had started to loose its child like tone and began to slowly take on a slight deeper more mature sound.

His training and hunting had also paid off quite a lot in that time as well. He had mastered the use of both his Getsuga Tenshō and his shield. He could now use both techniques in quick precise motions, after months of constant day in and day out practice. He had also finally at last learned the full extent of his bringer light technique as well. Now he could speed across the ground and the air with little effort, not too mention he knew how to keep himself airborne constantly if he so chose too.

His power in this time of constant training and hunting had also grown considerably. Now he and Mila could hunt and cut through multiple packs of gillian's in a day, with little hassle.

Speaking of Mila, while she was still in her gillian state, Takeshi could tell with energy sensing that her own power had grown a lot as well and continued to grow with every hunt. It made him wonder just how much longer it would take for her to reach her next stage of evolution. While she had said it would take a few years, back when they had first met. Considering how fast both had been progressing in the last year, he wondered if they would manage to make it happen sooner. It would be a nice thing certainly. For that would mean he could then at last leave the forest with Mila to head out and start hunting down grand fisher at last.

Looking off in Mila's direction, he noticed she was out ahead taking the last gillian from the pack they were hunting. He began making his way towards her when he suddenly felt an odd presence. It wasn't hollow at all from what he could tell, so then what was it? could another person from his world be trapped here too? He decided to investigate this, he focused on the place the energy was coming from.

The source of it was coming somewhere near Mila, this immediately brought up red flags to him. He immediately took off with his bringer light off towards the source of the mysterious presence. As he neared, he slowed down to a slow pace, as to sneak up on the on the one stalking Mila. after a few moments, the one responsible came into his view as he approached from behind.

The person looked human, from the body shape. The outfit they wore was black with some whit underneath. They also had large piece of brown fur that was draped across there back. It was adorned with various hollow mask's and the person even wore a hollow mask. Then he noticed the person was carrying a sword that looked like a katana. The handle was green with a square guard that was broken off in one of the corners.

Takeshi watched this mysterious person to see what exactly what they were up to. The person was definitely watching Mila, but for what purpose? That was soon answered when the individual drew his blade and seemed to ready himself to sneak attack Mila. that was all the incentive Takeshi needed and he charged forward with Reaver ready to kill.

The mysterious individual picked up on him as he charged, he quickly turned around. Just in time to block Takeshi's blade with his own, both disengaged as they jumped back from each other.

"what the hell? You're just a kid, a human kid at that?" spoke the male voice coming from behind the mask, clearly surprised by what his attacker was. "what's a human kid doing in a hueco mundo?" he questioned.

"suffice to say I was brought here against my will by a hollow about a year ago and I've been surviving here ever since." Takeshi curtly replied, glaring daggers at Mila's would be attacker.

The strange man seemed to take a moment to better look at Takeshi before speaking. "what are you kid? You clearly have spiritual powers but you're not a quincy."

Takeshi tilted his head in confusion. "what the hell is a quincy?" he spoke in honest confusion.

"not important seeing how you don't know and aren't one yourself. just who and what are you?" the person questioned.

"Takeshi Kurosaki and I'm a fullbringer and you?" he replied.

"never heard of a fullbringer before, though to answer your other question." The person spoke as he removed the hollow mask on his face and discarded it.

"my name is Ashido Kanō and I'm a soul reaper." Ashido replied.

With his mask gone, Takeshi noticed his face was young looking, someone perhaps in their mid 20's. he had brown hair and dark eyes, along with a serious expression.

"what's a soul reaper?" Takeshi questioned. He had heard the term once before but had never had chance to exactly learn what a soul reaper was.

Ashido took a moment to ponder if he should answer the question. he decided to sate the child's curiosity.

"soul reapers are beings who are responsible for bringing the souls of the dead over to soul society or as you might call it, heaven. We do this with our swords we call zanpakutō. They're also used to purify the souls of hollows and send them to either soul society or hell, depending on their action in their human lives." Ashido finished.

"so you were going essentially kill Mila then?" Takeshi said accusingly.

Ashido was taken aback by the Takeshi's tone. "that's the name of the gillian over there I take it? why do you care so much for a hollow? They're just monsters that are only focused on eating the souls of others." Ashido retorted.

That last comment pissed Takeshi off a little. "I care about her because she's the only reason I didn't die the first day I arrived in this place. We've been watching each other's back since then helping each other grow. I'll admit most hollows are bastard's, but Mila is different from them." Takeshi replied.

"you've been assisting with the hollows growth!?" Ashido spoke with surprise. "Kid, I think your just being used by that hollow. Once it gets what it wants for you it will simply betray you. their kind have no honor or morals."

"maybe that's what you think but I know for a fact that Mila isn't like that. yes, she has her reason's for helping me but she's also sincere with what she doing to help me. Once she achieves her adjucah state, were leaving this forest to hunt down a hollow I have a score to settle with and then she'll use her garganta to send me home." Takeshi spoke back with force.

"do you have any idea just how powerful and adjucah is compared to a gillian. Even I can't fight an adjucah myself, I can easily kill gillian's but not adjucah. I can see the hollow has you pretty convinced that it's sincere with its actions to you. trust me though it's not, it will betray you eventually, I can find a way to get you home. The gillian is rather close to becoming an adjucah I can sense it, as a soul reaper I must slay it before it becomes that. now stand aside boy." Ashido said with authority and started to move.

He was quickly cut off by Takeshi moved to keep in the way of his path.

"if you intend to hurt her, your going to have go through me first soul reaper." Takeshi spoke with an edge.

"I don't want to hurt a kid but if you insist on getting in my way, I will. Now stand aside." Ashido retorted with a threatening tone.

"then I guess you're going to have to then, I have promise to keep to Mila and I keep my promises to my friends and keep them safe." Spat Takeshi as he readied himself with Reaver.

"have it your way kid." Spoke Ashido as he readied his own blade.

Both stared the other down for a moment waiting to make the first move. Takeshi decided to make the first move and shot out with bringer light as fast as he could. He appeared right beside Ashido who was caught off guard, not expecting a human child to have such speed and quickly dove away from Takeshi's swing. He managed to avoid most of it but still was clipped by it, in the left side of torso leaving a small gash in it. Takeshi smirked behind his mask, knowing he had his connection as he already started to feel the draining effect go to work on the soul reaper.

Ashido leapt back a bit and took a moment to think things through. This kid was clearly better than he initially thought he would be. 'I can't afford to hold back it seems.' He thought to himself and took off in shunpo.

He appeared behind Takeshi and made swing at the boy's neck. Takeshi quickly ducked to avoid the attack and spun around swinging Reaver in response. Ashido brought his blade around and blocked the attack. They locked blades and Ashido pushed Takeshi back and started pressing his attack.

'oh shit!' Takeshi thought to himself. He was forced on the defensive as he had to constantly step back as he was being pressed by the soul reaper's offensive. He was barely moving Reaver in time to block the strikes. Takeshi knew he was most likely going to be playing defense in the fight. While he had certainly grown a lot as a fighter in his time hueco mundo. He had only ever fought other hollows and trained by himself. He had no experience being in a real fight with a trained swordsman. Let alone that was clearly more experienced then him. He would just have to hold out long enough to allow the ebb and flow of the fight come around in his favor.

As he continued to be kept on the defensive, Ashido managed to get through and leave a good cut on bottom left side of Takeshi torso. "fuck!" he exclaimed in response. Ashido then quickly brought his sword and swung down towards the fullbring user. Takeshi quickly charged energy in his blade and brought out in front of him and created a small shield with it. Ashido's sword met the shield and was stopped dead in its tracks.

"what the hell!?" exclaimed the soul reaper caught by surprise by the sudden appearance of the shield. Seeing his opening Takeshi lunged forward and swung with Reaver. Ashido unable to bring his sword down to block, tried to jump back but still took a rather large gash across his chest for his trouble. Takeshi decided to keep pressing his attack, no longer feeling the pain in his side. The energy he'd been siphoning off of the soul reaper being used to heal his wound.

He swung, stabbed and slashed at the soul reaper. For Ashido's part he was able to dodge or block all the attacks the human boy threw at him. Using his superior arm reach to his advantage, when the boy stabbed at him and missed. Ashido grabbed him by his sword arm and forcefully pulled the boy to him. He swung his knee up as hard as he could right into Takeshi's gut. Letting go as he did, causing the boy to go flying back. Takeshi landed on the ground harshly with the air knocked out of him.

As he was on his back, Ashido appeared above and swung his blade down. Quickly bringing Reaver up and blocked the strike. Using all his strength, Takeshi forced the soul reaper's blade up and away. He quickly shot up from the ground and used bringer light to create some distance between them. Despite his draining working on the soul reaper, he was still feeling the strain of fighting such an opponent. Takeshi was glad he hadn't run into this guy sooner; he would probably already be defeated by now otherwise.

"your good kid, I have to give you credit. A shame you're not a soul reaper, you'd climb up the ranks quite fast." Spoke Ashido.

"thanks, but with that said. I'm perfectly fine with being a fullbringer." Retorted Takeshi and readied himself once more.

Without another word spoken, Ashido charged again at the human boy. Their blades clashed and created sparks. Once more Ashido had Takeshi on the defensive as he forced him back, but he suddenly felt odd. He started feel more tired than normal. While the fight had been going for a bit, he knew he shouldn't be as tired as he was. 'what the hell is going on with me?' he wondered to himself.

Takeshi smirked behind his mask as he started to notice the soul reapers movements had started to slow down some. He knew that he would be playing defense for the fight more or less. Though he knew he could most likely catch the soul reaper by surprise at the start like he did. Once he had created his connection it was just a matter of holding out long enough to allow his draining to work its magic.

Noticing the gradual slowing of his opponent's movements, he took advantage of this and dove forward quickly getting pass his defenses and spun around and slammed the bottom of Reaver's hilt into Ashido's chest with all the force he could muster. He could hear the breaking of a bone or two from the strike. Ashido quickly jumped back, gripping his chest due to the strike. He was breathing hard due the broken rib now in his chest. Not to mention he could still feel himself growing weaker.

'why am I getting beat by a human kid?' He thought to himself. 'This doesn't make any sense. It's like my energy is being drai-' then it suddenly hit him.

"that explains it." he spoke up.

"so you finally figured it out, did you?" asked Takeshi.

"you can drain your opponent's power once you cut them with your blade. You've been draining me since the start of the fight, when you landed that initial cut on me." Ashido questioned.

"your correct. I knew even if my raw power was close enough to yours, you would still have more experience and proper training over me. I figured if I could land a strike early enough on you and drag the fight out. It would ultimately swing in my favor." Takeshi explained.

Ashido chuckled a little. "you really are something else Takeshi Kurosaki. I can see why you've survived so long in this place despite being a kid still. Even without taking into account the help from your hollow friend."

"this fight is heavily in my favor now Ashido. I'll allow you the chance to leave without any further violence. As long as you promise to cease your hunting of Mila." Takeshi announced.

Ashido was quiet for a few moments before giving his answer. "an honorable offer young Takeshi. However I cannot accept it. as a member of the Gotei 13, I cannot allow a hollow so seemingly close to become a much greater threat to exist."

"so be it then." Takeshi replied coldly.

Takeshi brought Reaver up to his side and began charging his energy into the blade. Ashido readied himself in turn and then took off in a flash towards the fullbringer. He appeared in front of Takeshi and brought his blade down to slash the boy. Takeshi quickly jumped back and into the air away from the soul reaper. Bringing his blade up over his head as he did. He quickly swung his blade down with all the force he could muster.

"Getsuga Tenshō!" Roared Takeshi as swung the blade down.

A massive vertical crescent blast of silver energy left the blade and flew at high speeds towards the soul reaper. Not being able to dodge the attack, Ashido had no choice but try to block it with his blade. Bringing his blade up defensively quickly, the blast connected and immediately began pushing Ashido back against his will. He held with all the force he could muster and felt he was going to out last the impressive attack. Then his blade began to crack from the strain of the attack, then Ashido could only look in shock as his blade broke completely.

The getsuga tenshō collided into the soul reapers body and immediately Ashido felt horrible pain as the attack cut deeply into him. Then the attack exploded in a huge burst of silver energy throwing dust and debris everywhere at the blast point.

Takeshi kept himself hovering in the air as he watched carefully for any kind signs from the soul reaper. Once the dust settled, he finally had his answer. Ashido was sprawled out on the ground his whole chest having been opened up from the attack and even cut into his throat. Takeshi relaxed, knowing the battle was over.

he returned to the ground and walked over to the downed soul reaper. As soon as he was close enough, he saw that Ashido was already dead. Takeshi shook his head a bit in disappointment.

"should of took my offer you damn fool." he muttered.

Takeshi fell to a knee, the exhaustion of the fight catching up with him. Even with his drain working on the soul reaper. He still felt tired from how intense the fighting had been. He suddenly heard loud footsteps nearing his way. He looked and noticed Mila had come over, most likely having felt the huge release of energy from Takeshi.

She examined the scene and noticed the downed body by Takeshi. She leaned down and seemed to be examining Takeshi closely.

"don't worry Mila, I'm fine. Just very tired from the fight is all." He told the gillian lioness. She seemed to understand as she stood back up and simply watched him, in a seemingly protective manner.

Takeshi stood up and thought about what to do about the soul reaper body. One thing he noticed was that despite the battle most of the clothes had remained relatively intact. Especially the pants and the arm sleeves. Knowing that he was in puberty and it wouldn't be too long before outgrew the cloths he arrived in. he decided to scavenge the body for the clothes. Cut off the sleeves figuring he could make a makeshift scarf and foot wraps of sorts with them to wear. When he didn't have fullbring activated. The pants he knew were too large for him, but he'd grow into them in time he figured. Once he took all that it was deciding to do with the rest of the corpse.

He thought for moment and remembering the words Reaver had first told him about the nature of his powers. he thought about it for a few moments and hesitated a little, but eventually he knew what he needed to do.

He brought his blade up and stabbed it into the body. Soon the body was covered in the familiar silver glow and was steadily broken down and absorbed. The power rush he felt was completely different. While he would admit there was some satisfaction to be had from when absorbed hollows. Absorbing the soul reaper gave off a much more satisfying feeling, including a much greater power boost.

Once it was finished, Takeshi felt much more energized. Though he was somewhat off put by the sensation he felt when he absorbed the soul reaper. He quickly pushed these feelings and thoughts away, not wanting to dwell on them. After all such things were simply the way things operated in hueco mundo.

With that all done he took off with Mila towards home.