Opening his olive-green eyes slowly, the first thing Takeo noticed was a warm, gentle breeze. Sitting up, he noticed that he was in a large grass field, with nothing and no one as far as the eye could see. He also noticed a small hill to his right. Standing up, he ran to climb it, reaching the top in seconds and staring at what lay before him.
At the foot of the hill, he saw what seemed to be a rural village. The houses seemed old and dilapidated, and they had the Japanese style that wasn't seen in centuries. At this sight, only one thought passed through his mind. Rukongai. It had to be. If he was right about reiatsu, Shinigami, and hollows, then that would be the logical conclusion. But which district? Looking at the dirty roads and the sketchy-looking people, he concluded that he wasn't in the upper districts.
Walking down the hill, he cautiously approached the village, knowing that it may not be the safest. However, no one seemed to pay him any mind. Walking up to a sickly old man, sitting and leaning on an old destroyed house, he asked, "Excuse me, what district are we in?" The old man looked up at him, shooting him a strange look, before answering him. "South 80th, brat. This yer first day here?" Takeo simply nodded at that. The old man gave a short, raucous laugh, ending in a string of coughs. "Well ya better learn ta take care of yerself soon kiddo." He kept chuckling ominously as the teen backed away in worry. 80th. Isn't that like the worst place to live in?
A commotion to his left snapped him out of his thoughts. Seeing a bunch of thugs, wearing traditional but dirty Japanese clothes and wielding large swords, he ran behind the broken building, trying to steer clear of the dangerous looking men. Stopping at an old shop, the men slowly formed a half circle behind their leader as he spoke.
"Oi! Ya have anything good for us ya old fart?!" In answer, a heavy set old man came walking slowly out of the shop, his hands squeezing together in nervousness. In fact, the man's whole body was shaking, and Takeo could not fault him for his reaction.
"I-I-I'm so-sorry F-Fujio-san! I-I couldn't get anything to-today." Answered the poor old man, bowing heavily at the end of his sentence and not looking up.
"That's what ya told me yesterday and da day before that! I'm startin' ta think we're not allies anymore!" responded the man now identified as Fujio. The older man stayed still, either because he was frozen in fear or because he couldn't figure out what to say, Takeo wasn't sure. The dangerous man looked away and, for a second, the teen thought he would leave. How wrong he was.
Fujio used the old man's position to land a solid kick to his face, effectively throwing the man back a meter or two. Then, in front of everyone there, the rest of the thugs converged and started punching, kicking, and stomping on the poor old man. They kept punching and kicking until a puddle of viscous blood started pooling around his limp body. They didn't bother using their swords.
After a while, they stopped, seemingly bored with the activity. They then slowly started to walk away, laughing to one another and mocking the dead man. Takeo was frozen in place. He'd never seen such a horrendous sight. How could anyone be this cruel?
Finally moving, he slowly approached the cooling body and just stood there, seeming to wait for the man to move, make a sound, anything. "He's done for kid, just deal with it." Looking behind him, he sees the old sickly man he was talking to earlier look at him. "If ya want ta survive here, ya gotta mind yer own business, don't make any friends, you'll lose 'em, and most importantly, never trust anyone. Ya hear me boy?!" He uttered the last sentenced in ire and slight bitterness. Jason just closed his eyes tight, trying to hold back the tears, and simply nodded. The man seemed to settle at that. "Good. Now get outa here. I don't wanna see yer face here again ya hear me?"
At that, the teen slowly turned around, and walked deeper into the district. It was only a couple of minutes later that he noticed the tears that were going down his face. This is a terrible place! I want to leave! He thought. But of course, he knew that logically, leaving was not such a simple task. So he kept walking, not knowing where he was heading and at this point not really caring.
He walked for hours, the sights and smells around him turning the situation grimmer every moment. The sun had set by the time he stopped, noticing a tree in a relatively deserted part of the town. Walking up to it, he sat down under the tree, looking up at the stars. What am I going to do now? He felt his stomach grumble as hunger gnawed at him. If I'm hungry it means I do indeed have spiritual energy. But is that enough to get into the Academy? And if it's not, how long do I have to stay here and train until I get the required level? Without noticing, he slipped into a fitful sleep, worry permeating his dreams.
The next morning, he tried to concentrate on his reiatsu again, but was unable to. Each time he tried, his stomach would grumble and he would be reminded of how hungry he was. Finally giving up, he stood up and started walking again, in the hopes of finding some food.
After an hour however, he noticed that the only food available was in shops, and that cost money. Money he didn't have. The trees, if there were any, did not bear any fruit, so he could rule that out. Arriving at another deserted part of town, he noticed a small stream, and brightened immediately. Maybe. Running towards the stream, he was relieved to find that indeed, as he had predicted, there were fish swimming. "Yes! Food! Now, how do I catch them?" He tried catching one with his bare hands a couple of times, to no avail. Looking around, he noticed a couple of branches lying on the ground beside a tree. He picked one up, broke off the tip so it had a more rugged edge, and stepped into the stream again.
For another hour, he poked in the water, trying impale a fish, only succeeding three times. Stepping back, he grabbed his three fish and contemplated how to cook them. Fortunately, he had often gone camping with his father, and so was able to gather firewood quite rapidly. But, how do I light it? Looking around for some stones, he gathered a couple, hoping some would do the trick. Hitting them against each other, he tried to light a fire on the leaves and branches. Luckily, one of the pair of rocks seemed to do the trick and, minutes later, he had his three fish impaled on sticks and roasting by the fire.
Proud of himself, Jason sat down in front of the flames, waiting for his meal to cook, as he thought about his situation. The best course of action at this point in time would be to train here in the 80th district and then apply to the academy. It could be useful if I make contact with my zanpaktou, but at this point, I don't really think that's possible without some form of training. He tried wracking his brain, to remember if the bleach comic had mentioned anything about the requirements of acceptance into the academy, but he drew a blank.
Sighing, he thought of his family and friends, and how they would be missing him right now. He hated when people worried about him and always strived for independence, so the thought of his mourning family and friends left a bitter taste in his mouth. Closing his eyes, he again tried to fight tears. For the first time, he was truly alone, and that simple realization came crashing hard.
Shaking his head, he went back to planning his escape from the 80th, a much simpler subject to think about at this point. "Well, the best thing I can do at this point is train as hard as I can and hope for the best." He said aloud, hoping to motivate himself. Grabbing a fish, he bit hungrily into it, savoring the taste. It had no flavour to speak of, but it was food, and it would have to suffice for the mean time.
Finishing his food, he got up and concentrated on his reiatsu again. This time, the energy easily responded and rose to the surface. Concentrating on his legs, he tried shunpo again, and kept training to control it until the sun set, at which point he quite literally collapsed from exhaustion, only waking up the next morning, even hungrier than the day before.
Months passed in that manor, fishing, eating, training, sleeping, repeat. At first, he only focused on shunpo, trying to control his movements efficiently. Then, he tried to charge the rest of his limbs with energy, gathering enough energy to destroy large boulders and trees. As the days passed, he felt himself grow stronger and faster, his reiatsu easily in his grasp at any time.
Eventually, he got curious. Can I do kido? He paused at that. Could he? Most kido he only knew by name, not the incantation, and he now cursed himself for not being more of a geek and memorizing them for fun. Maybe if it's a low enough spell, I won't need the incantation. Slowly approaching one of the last remaining boulders in the clearing, he pointed his hand towards it, palm facing forward, and uttered, "Hado no yon, byakurai!" Suddenly, he felt a chunk of his reitsu coagulate in his right palm, almost burning it with the intensity, and then fire forward in the form of a burst of blue lightning, striking the boulder dead center and shattering it into several hundreds of pieces. Gobsmacked, he simply stared at his right hand in awe. "Oh my god! That was so fucking awesome!" He almost squealed. He felt like such a fangirl, but damn, he just shot lightning out of his palm! If that wasn't worth getting excited over, he didn't know what was.
He tried the same kido spell a couple more times, this time focusing on making it more compact and precise. He however did not dare do any of the higher number kido. If he got injured here, he was a goner.
That night, he lay again under the same large tree, closing his eyes and feeling proud of his progress. As he was slowly losing consciousness, he thought he heard someone utter his name.
He got up the next day in the same manner as always, walking up to the stream and fishing a couple of fish, now being much more proficient at it due to practice. With seven fish now roasting on the fire, he crossed his leg in front of the fire and 'looked inwards'. He wasn't sure if what he heard yesterday before falling asleep was real, but if it was, this would be his chance to find out.
After eating, he continued to try and meditate, until he was interrupted by an agglomeration of ominous and powerful reiatsu slamming into him. Jumping to his feet, he had no time to run away before he was surrounded by a large group of hollows. Shit! Here too?! I must have attracted them by the kido yesterday! He thought as he wracked his brain for a way out.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a large hand coming towards him and he shunpoed out of the way, glad that he worked on his control of the move. Another hollow tried to sneak behind him, and he ducked and flashed away again. For several minutes, that was all he did. Evade. I can't do this forever. At some point, he either had to outrun them or defeat them. Seeing as there was no escape, his only solution was to fight.
Steeling himself, he stopped for a split second, and redirected himself towards the nearest hollow. Shunpoing directly behind its head, he gathered energy in right fist, and struck as hard as he could. The result was the hollow's head quite literally exploding in his face, blood spraying him as he fell back to the ground.
Wiping the blood from his eyes, he looked around at the rest of the hollows. There were 5 left, each one shaped as a different type of insect. One a centipede, two seemed to be some different types of roaches. The other two he could not tell, but they were definitely ugly, he thought with a sardonic smile.
Gathering energy in both his fists this time, he shunpoed forward again, dodging a swipe at the last second before reappearing directly in front of mask and blowing it to pieces. He was however not paying attention, as a swipe from another hollow slammed into his right side, throwing him meters away.
Landing hardly on the grass, he gasped for breath, trying to get back up on his feet. I can't die now! Sure this place was awful so far, but he had so much to discover in the bleach universe, so much power to attain. With sheer force of will, he stood up, raising his right palm while holding his stomach with his left. I only have one shot and I'm almost out of power. Throwing caution to the wind, he decided on his course of action.
Waiting patiently until the hollows approached him, gathering together in front of him, probably thinking he was already dead. Charging as much reiatsu as he could muster, he uttered the hado. I hope this doesn't blow up in my face. "Hado no san-juu san, soukatsui!" A large, blue light emerged from his palm, as he felt what was left of his spiritual energy being sapped by the spell. The last thing he saw before dropping and passing out was an explosion engulfing the last three hollows.
In the darkness of his unconsciousness, he heard the voice again, this time much clearer and closer than before. Takeo, come find us. And unconsciously, he did. Through the silence of his mind, he 'moved' towards the undoubtedly male, powerful, and calming voice.