The Silent Protector
Chapter 1
-500 YEARS BEFORE ICHIGO GAINS SOUL REAPER POWERS-
Buried deep within the Kuchiki clan's record books lies a clan name that has been long forgotten. A clan that had the duty of protecting the leaders of Hueco Mundo and the innocents of the Spiritually Enriched Zones in the world of the living. A clan that was banished to the sands of Hueco Mundo after being experimented on by a member of the Royal Guard. A clan that will soon reemerge and reclaim the positions they once held. That clan would be the Mamoru's; one of the four great noble clans, headed by one of the most skilled and powerful soul reapers to ever exist. He was the first soul reaper to gain his powers while still alive. That man is Kioshi Mamoru, the former captain of squad 14. This is his story.
It was an unusually dark and chilly night. Kioshi was just a lieutenant of squad 12 back then. His captain had to go to some fancy dinner party so he was stuck with more than his fair share of the paperwork. It was just after ten o'clock at night when he had finished and was finally ready to leave.
Once Kioshi had stepped out into the cold night air, he sensed something not unusual but frightening nonetheless. The captain of the 11th division, the 7th Kenpachi Futsunushi Inuzuri, was running through the Seireitei most likely chasing after one of his subordinates demanding a spar. That wasn't the frightening part though. The unnerving thing was that the Kenpachi was heading straight for the lieutenant's home where Kioshi's wife and child lived.
It wasn't uncommon for himself and the captain of the 11th division to spar every once in a while. It wasn't even uncommon for Kenpachi to come by his home every now and then. The only clue he had that something was wrong was that Futsunushi's spirit energy was pouring out at rates that would normally be found on a battlefield. With how strong it was, it would kill his son unless another strong spiritual pressure was there to shield him from Futsunushi. As soon as Kioshi realized this, he took off using his fastest shunpo, heading directly towards his home but knowing he wouldn't make it there in time to protect his family.
After a minute or so, Kioshi had made it a quarter of the way there. Then he felt another captain class spiritual pressure wash over him. This one was definitely that of a hollow and if Kioshi was a betting man, he would have bet his life that it was a Vasto Lorde. That's when he realized why Kenpachi was near his home. The Vasto Lorde was heading straight there and the captain was in pursuit.
Kioshi needed to do something fast if he wanted to get there in time to protect his loved ones. So he decided to use his hollow powers in the hope of increasing his speed. He took a deep breath and called out to the portion of the hollow's soul he had absorbed. Said portion of said soul had become a being of power inside his inner world and turned into an inverse copy of himself. He named this new spiritual being an "inner hollow."
"Hollow. Hollow, are you there?" Kioshi mentally called in a slightly-panicked tone.
Trying to soothe his host, the inner hollow responded, "I'm here, partner, just relax. What has you so worked up anyways?"
"Shizu and Jakunen are in serious trouble. I need more speed in order to protect them," said Kioshi in an even more panicked tone.
The hollow replied in an offended and angry voice, "And just why should I help you? Hmm… You have never done anything for me. Every time you contact me it's give me this, help me with this, or teach me how to do this."
"Please I will do anything. I can't lose them!" Kioshi mentally screamed, completely letting his panic take over.
After thinking for a second, his inner hollow responded in a calm voice. "Alright, I'll make you a deal, partner. If you give me control of your body for a few days every month, I will lend you the entirety of my powers."
"Fine. Whatever. Just a few conditions though." Kioshi quickly responded, relief washing over him.
"I figured as much. What are they?" replied the hollow, slightly disgruntled that his wants were going to be limited.
"First and foremost, I will only give you control while in Hueco Mundo. Second, you are only allowed to harm other hollows. No humans and no soul reapers. Lastly, I will need to retain the ability to regain control if something happens or if I deem that you have gone too far in your 'fun'. Do you understand and accept?" said Kioshi in a commanding voice.
Stunned, the hollow replies in a slightly unsure voice, "Yeah, I understand and accept your terms. I can't even believe you are allowing this to happen."
"Me neither, me neither." said Kioshi, also sounding uncertain.
While he was talking to his inner hollow, his body was slowly undergoing Hollowfication. While Kioshi didn't know this at the time, he has since learned that his hollow form is rather simplistic in nature. His entire body became covered in a thick white substance that resembled bone. His entire head was covered in the same substance. It created a mask that completely covered his head. It appeared to be a normal human skull except for the teeth. Its incisors were elongated, sharp, and curved, resembling a pair of snake fangs. Every once in a while, a long purple forked tongue would flick out of its mouth, further reinforcing the snake-like appearance. Its nails were long and sharp, resembling claws. In the center of its chest was a large hollow hole. There were neon green tribal markings with a black outline all over its body, originating from the hollow hole. It also had a long sharp pointed tail that it had wrapped around its waist.
When Kioshi and his inner hollow had come to an agreement, the white 'outer shell' crumpled away. His speed nearly doubled in that moment. Kioshi was already one of the fastest soul reapers in existence, but after he made the agreement with his hollow, he was able to create a new high speed movement technique by combining elements of shunpo and sonído. With this new technique, Kioshi was easily the fastest in existence.
If someone had tried to sense Kioshi's spiritual pressure at that time, they would have noticed not just soul reaper and slight traces of hollow reiatsu like they normally would, but a perfect melding of hollow and soul reaper spirit energy.
Then all of a sudden, the lieutenant sensed his wife's spiritual pressure shoot up and fluctuate, which could only mean a few things. She could be in combat, she could be in an extremely stressing situation, or she could be horribly ill. It was easy to discount the first and third options leaving only the second option: extreme stress.
Without warning, both Kenpachi's and the vasto lorde's spiritual pressures stopped clashing. This was highly concerning since they had arrived at Kioshi's home and he had just felt his wife's spiritual pressure fluctuate.
-SCENE CHANGE-
Kioshi's wife rushed out of their house screaming at the hollow and Futsunushi to leave immediately and that they were endangering her son. The hollow was surprisingly the voice that spoke up first.
Recognizing the spirit energy lingering around the house, the Vasto Lorde turned his head to Kioshi's wife and asked her, "What are yours and that child's names, woman?"
"Why would you care?" asked Kioshi's wife, sounding surprised.
Annoyed, the hollow demanded, "Just tell me your names, woman."
Knowing the name Mamoru was just as feared as Yamamoto, she decided to answer, "His name is Jakunen. Jakunen Mamoru and I am Shizu. Shizu Mamoru."
Hoping he was wrong, the Vasto Lorde asked, "Is he any relation to Kioshi?"
"How do you know my husband's name?" demanded Shizu, feigning ignorance.
"Every Vasto Lorde and many Adjuchas know your husband's name. Your husband is the only true hybrid of our two great species in existence. Not to mention I have battled your husband, and it is not an experience I care to repeat." The hollow now turned back to Futsunushi and said, "Kenpachi, would you agree to fight at a different location? You may be willing to incur Kioshi's wrath by injuring either his son or wife, but I am not."
The captain of squad 11 got a furious look in his eyes and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I refuse to take orders from a mere hollow! We will settle this now, and if some silly little girl or her child gets in my way, I will just cut them down like I will do with you."
Then Shizu moved between Captain Inuzuri and her home where her son was hidden in an extremely powerful barrier and drew her Zanpakutō from its sheath. "I will not allow you to harm my child." Then she pointed her Zanpakutō towards the ground and said, "Bankai: Hebinoō ni Yotte Okura Reta Asashin." Her blade then disintegrated and reformed as seven bright-green ten-foot-long pit vipers and one massive, armored Burmese python that were coiled around her body.
Futsunushi Inuzuri was not a stupid man. Even an immature Bankai like this woman's would cause him problems. So he did the only thing his adrenaline-filled mind could think of. He shunpoed behind Kioshi's wife and stabbed her through her heart. While the blade was sticking out of her chest, he leaned in to whisper something in her ear. "A woman should never draw her blade against a man, because the woman will always lose." As he finished, he pulled out his blade from Shizu's chest. The sword dripped with the blood from the most important person in Kioshi's life.
"You are a fool, Futsunushi Inuzuri. You have just killed Kioshi's wife. Do you have any idea what kind of pain you have brought down upon yourself? I have felt that man's fury after I devoured a friend of his. Trust me when I say it's not an experience I wish to repeat." As the Vasto Lorde finished talking, a garganta opened up and the tell-tale orange light of a negación enveloped him.
"Tch. Good riddance. If you are weak enough to fear a lieutenant you aren't worth my time anyways." replied the captain before disappearing in a burst of shunpo.
-SCENE CHANGE-
That's when Kioshi felt his wife's spiritual pressure flicker before completely going out never to be felt again. Something inside him snapped, and his spiritual pressure rose to heights others had only felt from the head captain. Kioshi yelled his wife's name in anguish. "Shizu!" He somehow managed to break the sound barrier, creating a massive sonic boom, and arrived to find her dead with a stab wound from a sword. Kioshi looked to the sky and saw a garganta closing up with what appeared to be the light from a negación. Seeing as he couldn't follow the hollow, the lieutenant and now widower decided to check his wife's wounds. He was looking to see if there was any lingering spiritual energy inside them so he could determine her killer. Kioshi discovered the spiritual energy of the Squad 11 Captain, the 7th Kenpachi Futsunushi Inuzuri, inside her wounds, which could only mean he had killed Kioshi's wife.
As soon as he discovered who had killed his wife, Kioshi shunpoed from his home in one of the outer districts of the Seireitei to the 1st division barracks in the center of the Seireitei.
When he arrived, he was led inside by a stressed lieutenant Saskibe. When they got to the door of the head captain's office, Kioshi was told to wait outside. Sasakibe entered the office and closed the door after himself. While the door was thick, it wasn't soundproof. Kioshi could tell Sasakibe and Yamamoto were having a hushed discussion. Eventually, Saskibe emerged from the office to inform Kioshi that his brother was too busy to see him.
Not willing to put up with such bullshit, Kioshi raised his hand to the door and called out, "Hado number one: Sho." The amount of spirit energy he poured into the kido caused the door to blast off its hinges and land inside the doorway.
Sarcastically, Kioshi said, "Brother, I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Letting out an irritated sigh, Yamamoto responded, "You're going to pay for that, and yes, as a matter of fact you are. In case you didn't notice, we had a Vasto Lorde incursion today."
"I'm well aware. That's actually part of the reason I needed to speak with you."