I know, I know, it is the same as last chapter. I know but personally I beleived that last chapter absolutely sucked in all aspects, so I rewrote it. You can expect the true action next chapter though. Most of this is just the events we have already read in a different PoV, but there are a few things explained.
-Notice: I am reworked (or editing, I guess) a lot of this story. Mostly the earlier parts, but still. It is not anything major, I am just redoing what I do not like and changing everything into 3rd Person PoV. by the time you read this I will already have postedthe previous chapter and the prologue reworked versions, and while i encourage you to read them and give me your opinions it isn't necessary. Although, personally, I like the new prologue better.-
A young girl no more than sixteen lay prostrate on the ground, her muscles rigid, surrounded by debris. Blood leaked from a cut across her cheekbone, slowly making its way down the planes of her face to join the steadily widening pool at her side. There was a rush of wind and a blur of white whipped through the air just above her face; it skimmed her nose before it crashed into one of the few walls in the vicinity left standing. Rubble flew in all directions as the as the concrete bricks crumbled. The force of the blow propelled them in multiple directions; the shattered stone skipped over the ruined ground. The girl's body jerked as shards slammed into her side and knocked the wind from her lungs and her eyes fluttered.
Confused and disoriented Shizuka blinked away misty eyes. Her bewildered, owl-like gaze skimmed over the devastation around her with a sort of detachment as her senses slowly came back to her. Aqua orbs widened in horror as realization set in.
" Run Ongaku… there is no helping him in this state. Just run, run…" Jinta's word were soft and halting, his voice hoarse with pain and unconsciousness as he slipped into the realm of darkness. Shizuka looked on in fear as his eyes slipped closed, grey irises clouding over.
"Jinta-sama!" Slowly, painfully slowly Shizuka managed to drag herself over to the young man and slip her fingers onto his neck, directly over his jugular, and search for a pulse. She found to her immense relief the Jinta was alive, just knocked out by his collision and, most likely, the pain of his shattered collarbone.
She only had one question… who was the 'him' Jinta had spoken of? A sharp screeching sound ripped through the area, nearly bursting the girl's eardrums with its pitch. Shizuka's mouth gaped in a silent scream of agony and pushed off of Jinta's chest. The motion tossed her backwards and threw to the rough earth that she so recently deserted. The impact once again winded her, and Shizuka was left on the ground once again with her chest heaving for breath.
Shaking arms supported her weight as the young woman pushed herself to her feet, but she only managed to bring herself to her knees before her strength deserted her and she crash back down to the ground once more. Shizuka breathed a sigh of relief when the leverage that she had worked so hard for remained, tucked under her slumped body and supporting her as a pillar does a building. She stretched herself out in a plank position and sank to the ground, resting her head on the gritty rubble as she her wind slowly came back to her. The creature screamed once again and its reiatsu spiked; Shizuka let out a frustrated groan as the sudden surge of power crushed her lungs and made every breath a struggle.
"For Kami's sake, is the world conspiring against me today?" She grunted and lifted her head slightly, just enough so that she could observe the rampaging creature as it continued its destructive acts of violence. Another wave of fear washed over her, crashing into her chest with enough force to make her breath catch. She had seen Hollows before, the monsters, but none like this… none so, so human. This hollow, this monster, was human. It might as well have been human, at any rate; the only features telling otherwise were a pair of long, arched bull's horns and a snake-like tail. With the wicked points of its horns and the lashing tail protruding from its back, as well its admittedly well endowed and very refined body and musculature gave the creature the appearance of a demon, like some kind of horrible humanoid hybrid of the Minotaur and the Indian Naga.
"Just what is this thing?" Shizuka's eyes were drawn to the black, spiraling tattoos that decorated the pale skin of the creature's upper arms, beginning about four inches off of its wrist and ending around the same length away from its shoulder. Three more long spears of the color extended from the relatively small hollow hole in the center of its chest, giving it the appearance of fleeing shadow. Over the center of the gap one last prong extended, only this one was golden. It was so rich in color that it gleamed, as if was literally a vein of gold. Two shafts broke away from this one, each moving in a separate direction: one to the left, the other to the right. They faded from sight for a short time before they reappeared at the base of its shoulders, etching a complex pattern of symbols over the black markings and continuing down until they pooled into its palms.
A ragged black hakama fluttered in the wind behind it, showing off the torn and weary edges and the slightly dusted fabric. The cloth had torn along the side, revealing a large portion of pale, white skinned leg and muscle; the back of the garment was split through the center by the needle-like tip of its tail and danced in the midnight breeze. Tendrils of deep, bronzed red slinked along the appendage as it whipped through the air. Each made its way to the last foot of the restless length before converging in a complicated pattern of knots twined just so as to look celtic in origin.
The creature lashed out with its spiked tail and a sickening crunching filled the silence. The remains of what used to be a truck fell to the ground in pieces, crushed by the immense power that the hollow wielded in its tail alone. As Shizuka's eyes ran over her surroundings once more she couldn't help but shiver. If she didn't know anything else, she knew this: without help, she was as good as dead.
The creature howled, its chilling voice rising to the white moon in a song of malice and anger. Another noise called back, a deep hum, and the echoing boom of what sounded like the shutting of an enormous door. Immediately Shizuka's eyes were drawn to the sky, lured there by the knowledge of the sounds origins. Her suspicions were correct. A large burgundy and brown gate slammed shut with an ominous echo that resounded throughout the city, and from her vantage point Shizuka could just make out the speck of a person, a woman if the slight figure was anything to go by.
Another earth-shaking roar ripped through the clearing and Shizuka jolted, her head whipping back around to face the stalking menace in from of her. As she turned her head something caught her eye; a tattoo, the deep magenta ink so dark it was almost black. The color popped against the chalky white of the creatures skin, but even as she gazed at it the creature spun and it was gone from view.
With help and consequently hope on its way Shizuka began to make the first offensive move of the night and slowly inched her hand down through the grit towards her zanpakuto. Her fingers just brushed the hilt when sickeningly bright golden eyes locked on her figure with a malice filled glare. The gaze was so intense that Shizuka could feel it burning into her skin. So she froze; she froze, waited, and prayed.
The sharp sounds of clawed feet against stone broke through the suddenly silent night as the beast slowly stalked forwards towards its prey, intent on the hunt and obsessed with the thought of the kill. Shizuka shivered in fear and held still, praying to Kami for the shinigami to come quickly. The footsteps continued, they came so close to her that Shizuka found herself bracing for death as she resigned herself to her apparently unavoidable fate. That was when the cold came.
"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren." The whisper was soft enough to be mistaken as the murmuring of the wind, but the phrase told otherwise, and the sharp bite of snow that came with it banished all doubt from Shizuka's mind that this was no dream. She rolled to the side and leapt to her feet; her movements were slow and her limbs felt like lead as she moved, stumbling multiple times and even going so far as to fall once or twice as she adjusted to the new weight that came with movement. When she finally gained her bearings she looked on in awe at the seven foot wall of snow not three feet away from her that blocked the creature from view, and blocked it from her.
"Furizu." The snow scattered and reformed the once opaque white flakes into a clear, blue tinged wall of solid ice. It circled the pair, locked them inside an arena and kept all others out. Shizuka watched with baited breath as the shinigami woman extended her blade towards the beast and spoke to it.
"Calm down, Ichigo. Stop this." Her stark white blade glittered in the moonlight with its tip hovering only inches from the creature's chest; it made a startling contrast to her black robes and the short ebony locks swaying with the wind. A low snarl rumbled from its chest and it twitched slightly. Shizuka noticed the slight tense of its muscles and her very being hummed, adrenaline rushed through her body. Danger, tensing meant attacking, and attacks meant danger.
The shinigami caught this as well and Shizuka was surprised to find that she relaxed instead of tensing as well. When the hollow lashed out the lady leant backwards, dodging the attack with finesse that Shizuka was sure that she could never manage. There was the sound of ripping cloth and several strips of black and white kisode fluttered to the ground.
The woman straightened quickly and sank into a battle stance: legs spread apart with one foot before the other, her body leant forward ever so slightly, her back straight and her chin raised with her zanpakuto held out across her front in a diagonal guard. The creature made as to attack again before freezing in place, convulsing slightly. Its muscular body rippled as it writhed in the rubble. It groaned desperately, scrabbled at its face with claws like knives and let out a piercing scream of agony as little pieces of his skin began to slip away. Shizuka watched in horror as it disappeared piece by piece. The chips fell to the ground with the sound of ceramic on stone, shattered on impact and faded into the night.
The scream rose in pitch and through the cracking wall of ice Shizuka could just make out the rigid form of the shinigami stagger back, clutching at her ears. The hollow fell to its knees and convulsed again, but this one was different, stronger than all the previous combined. Small cracks spread across its frame and the creature fell forwards onto the ground. The cracks grew and grew, spreading across its skin like a spiders web until there was nothing left to crack. Every single inch of its skin was covered with the tiny fissures. There was a soft whisper-like sound, and then it exploded; what Shizuka had thought to be skin was blown off of the creature's body in a shower of white that blocked the thing from sight.
A sound broke the night; not the now familiar scream of the hollow-like creature that Shizuka had become used to, but a raw-throated yell of pain; a human yell of pain.
The silence that followed was unnerving. As curious as she was Shizuka was loathe to approach the crumbled barrier, she did not wish to know what lay within. What she had just seen defied all the laws that she had learned in school, everything that she was taught, it had all become moot now. She had long since identified the tattered hakama as that of a shinigami, but never had the though crossed her mind that this creature, this horrible monster, was actually a shinigami. She had always figured it to be stolen from one of its victims, but now...
The sound of movement startled her and Shizuka tensed and turned slowly around with a hand on her zanpakuto. She quickly and carefully scanned the area before her gaze fell upon the instigators of her alarm; two people were settled in the center of the ice-ring, the woman who had come to her rescue and a man about the same age as her. Shizuka slowly made her way closer to them, studying them as she did so; what she saw surprised her. The woman was no ordinary woman; her shinigami robes were a deep gray in color instead of black, and her undergarments were a lighter version of the same color, but it was none of this that caught her eye. No, what really drew her attention was the glinting metal band around her upper arm and the snowflake engraving it sported. Shizuka fell to her knees in surprise and her eyes widened considerably; here, standing in front of her was: "Kuchiki Rukia, fukutaichou of Squad Thirteen."
If Rukia heard Shizuka she gave no sign of it as she strode quickly over the man slumped on the rocky ground. She fell to her knees before the pale and broken body and reached out her hand to hover just above the man's head. She paused there and looked uncertainly at the man before her, as if unsure of what do to, before she carefully slid her fingers through his ginger locks. Then, Kuchiki Rukia, wielder of the most beautiful zanpakuto soul society had ever seen, the Ice Princess, gently pulled the man's head into her lap and stroked his hair.
Shizuka was dumbfounded to say the least, to be so familiar with a lieutenant of her caliber… Kuchiki Rukia was the Ice Princess for many reasons, and the most widely known was her self control. Not once in thirteen years had she shown such emotion. Her expression was always cold and blank, unreadable to most, if not to all. Shizuka had heard that this was not always so and that Rukia had once been quite the expressionist, but it was hard to believe if you looked at her, or even heard stories about her. There was once rumor in particular that came to Shizuka's mind right now, the one about Rukia and her relationship to Ichigo Kurosaki… according to a classmate Kuchiki-sama had never shown as much emotion as she had around him. According to him, who had apparently heard it from his uncle, who was a lieutenant at the time, you could never be around the two without being deafened or injured in some way.
A soft exclamation from Rukia drew Shizuka's attention back to the pair, where the man was sprawled out of the ground groaning softly. Rukia untangled her hand from his hair and grabbed a ginger lock and tugged slightly, making him groan again and smack half-heartedly at the disturbance. Rukia's lips twitched upwards into a smile. His eyes fluttered before opening completely and he sat up and stretched his arms out as he glanced cautiously around. After a moment he seemed to register the hand splayed across his back and he turned. A smile spread across his lips as his eyes met the magenta orbs of his assistant.
"Rukia, what are you doing here?" His voice was scratchy but strong, and gentle in a way that sent shudders down both women's spines. Rukia eyes sparkled and the smile on her lips grew. Then she frowned lightly.
" You baka, do you have any idea what you have done?" The said baka scuttled backwards in the debris, looking fearfully at the blazing eyes of his companion.
"Look, Rukes, I have no idea what I did to tick you off but I am-" Rukia raised a hand and cut him off, interjecting in a soft but stern voice.
"Didn't you make a deal with Tatakai, something about him not taking over anymore?" Ichigo furrowed his brows.
"Yeah, but why does that matter?"
"Look around you Ichigo." Rukia waved her free arm in a flourish. "This is why it matters. Just what happened?"
Ichigo's gaze followed her movements and is eyes widened in horror. He paled considerably and stilled before he squeezed his eyes shut. His breath evened as he zoned out. When he opened them again the perpetual flecks of gold in his eyes had brightened until they were an almost sickly shade, one that Shizuka had burned into her memory: the color of the hollow's eyes.
"Tatakai claims that he wasn't the one who took over, he said it was someone else. Zangetsu vouched for him, as well. According to them it was something that they had never seen before. Apparently it looked like a partially decayed skeleton, or something. it looked just like a normal human, but its spine was completely visible, like the flesh around it had been cut out and burned away. The weirdest thing is that, according to them, the skin had grown back in the area around and behind the spine, and it rejoined the body seamlessly at the base of its neck." Ichigo paused for a moment and cast his gaze to the ground, his eyes closed in a way that made it seem like he was in pain. "It was clothed, but not in a shihakusho, like Tatakai and Zangetsu. It was wearing… it was wearing golden armor, Rukia, golden armor all up its legs and across half of its chest. They remember seeing carved skulls before it disappeared. It didn't say anything other than what they take to be its name: Fukushu-"
"-Vengeance." Rukia turned wide eyes to Ichigo. "His name means vengeance. Ichigo, do you think…"
He hung his head. "Yes, Rukia, I do."
Rukia closed her eyes with a sigh. Shizuka stood silently to the side and listened carefully to their conversation, fascinated by the complexity. She knew that she shouldn't do this, but at the same time she couldn't help herself. Who were the people that they were talking about? If Rukia called the man Ichigo, then why did Ichigo talk of Kaien's zanpakuto, Zangetsu, with such familiarity? Shizuka froze and tilted her head. Where was Kaien? She hadn't seen him at all since she awoke and this man, he had the same color hair. If she remembered correctly Jinta-sama had also teased Kaien about Kuchiki-sama. Was it possible that Kaien was Ichigo? Enthralled by the very thought she took a step closer to the couple, treading carefully as to hide her presence from the two. Rukia had just opened her mouth to speak when Ichigo went rigid; his body tensed until every single muscle and vein popped out of his tanned skin. His jaw was clenched and his amber eyes flashed with such malice that Shizuka took a step backwards, terrified of both his expression and the reiatsu that was rolling off of him in waves. At his side Rukia spun abruptly to look in Shizuka's direction. Shizuka froze immediately in fear thinking that it was she who the two were upset over, but when Ichigo/Kaien suddenly leapt into the air and began speeding away into the night she knew that she wasn't the problem, so all that she could wonder was just what was?