Bleach (c) Tite Kubo

Once More To See You Again

Baptism

"Kaien!"

Kaien skids to a halt on the overpass when he hears his name called. He whips around to pinpoint the source, first the overpass itself then leaning over the railing to spot Ichigo - no, Kon sprinting through the pedestrian crossing on the street below then performing the monstrous feat of strength of leaping up several dozen feet, vaulting over the overpass railing to come face-to-face with the younger Kurosaki brother.

"Kon, what the hell's going on here?" Kaien presses immediately, "Where's Ichigo and Rukia? Have they got eyes on this? I've been seeing Hollows popping up left and right, and all the stray souls are cowering in fear away from their usual haunts. Do you have any idea what's causing this?"

Kon shakes his head and seems exactly as lost as Kaien, "Slow down a minute. One question at a time! First off, there's no point asking me because I don't know. I've been looking for Rukia for ages too but I haven't got the faintest clue where she is right now. And this whole mess? All I know is Ichigo was tailing a glasses-wearing nerd from your class, and-"

"A classmate? Who?" Kaien demands.

Kon shakes his head, "I dunno. He's got dark hair and glasses and a silver cross chain bracelet. But the next thing I know that spindly nerd's snapping a magic silver coin to pieces and daring Ichigo into a Hollow hunt because of a Shinigami hate-boner or whatever. Ichigo ran off with a fire lit under his ass and-"

"Hold up, hold up. Wait a damn minute." Kaien raises a hand to stop the Mod Soul in his tracks, "You're telling me these Hollows are emerging - no, were baited here because one of our classmates decided to challenge Ichigo to a supernatural pissing contest? Are you freaking kidding me?! Which harebrained idiot thought that was a good idea?! Does that self-righteous asshole have any idea how many lives has he put in jeopardy to satiate his own ego?"

"Man, I don't know what to tell you." Kon shrugs helplessly, more expressive of his confusion than Ichigo would ever be. "The nerd - uh, I think Ichigo called him Ishida? - said something about Quincy pride or whatever. Claimed that Shinigami were unnecessary to protecting humans and kept going on about more nonsense like that."

"Wait. Ishida? As in Uryuu Ishida, the top student in our class? And while we're on the subject, what in the world is a Quincy?"

"I don't know, but he conjured a bow out of reishi, eh spirit energy, and he's been snipin' Hollows left right and center since Ichigo told me to go find your sisters and old man."

Kaien scrubs an exasperated hand through his hair, gritting his teeth while pacing back and forth between the guard rails. "Great. First it was spell-casting ghost samurai and heartless masked monsters, then artificial souls on steroids, now magic archers. And in the sky, there's a gigantic tear in the fabric of reality that might as well be a harbinger of the apocalypse. This spiritual world BS is becoming more ridiculous by the day...! No offense." He tacks on the last part as a hasty apology.

"Hey, none taken. I'm completely in the same boat and I'm part of that spirit world nonsense." Kon answers in shockingly enthusiastic agreement.

Kaien closes his eyes and shakes his head, going off his mental check list, "Alright, there's nothing we can do for it now. But at least Dad and Yuzu were home when I left, so just leaves-"

"No, they aren't." Kon interrupts and Kaien spins.

"What? You're kidding! I told Yuzu not to leave the house. Where did she and the old man go?" Kaien interrogates him in a sudden panic, then immediately regrets letting his temper get the better of him.

There's monsters on the loose and it doesn't do anyone favours to antagonize one of the few people who had the ability to do anything about it.

"Don't ask me where she's going. But wherever it is she left with your dad in a heck of a hurry. Karin came sprinting back claiming some old guy got injured in a local park where she was playing soccer and they all rushed off to provide first aid," Kon informs him, then crosses his arms with a grumpy pout, "No need to bite my head off either, thanks. Only person who ain't safe at home is you. What the heck are you doing out here anyway?"

Kaien doesn't respond, his brows are knitted together in a frown and he chews his lip while he thinks.

Its far from ideal, but at least Yuzu and Karin are with Dad. With him there, Kaien couldn't even bring himself to be worried if some garden variety Hollow shows up. Pretty much all Dad has to do is sneeze and the hollows would burn to cinders on the spot. Piece of cake.

...

Where on earth did that come from?

Kaien blinks, recoiling as if struck (to Kon's eternal confusion) and momentarily taken aback by the thought. He's staggered both by its randomness and the absolutely baseless conviction behind it.

Isshin Kurosaki has no spiritual powers of any kind. That's an immutable fact. He indulges his children's whimsical tales about ghosts haunting their clinic and adjacent house or seeing them about the streets. He's lenient to their wild fantasies and hyperactive imaginations as he calls them, but that doesn't mean he won't dismiss them at best, or take their kids to a mental hospital at worst, if they ever tried to explain any of the spiritual mumbo-jumbo in detail.

The thing that troubles Kaien the most is... between what he knows is reality and the flight of fancy, he's having a far harder time believing the former over the latter.

Frowning deeper, Kaien concentrates, searching his memories. Now that he thinks of it, he's never actually tried to sense anything from their father, nor was he compelled too. He simply took the man at face value, but there's a growing inkling at the edge of his consciousness. Like a stubborn weed. He has to wonder, is it possible there's more to his father than Kaien realizes?

He shakes his head. No. No its fleeting childish nonsense, that's all. All children hold that conviction that their parents are invincible guardians as they're growing up, protecting them from the perils outside their front door. Although some are misfortunate to have that illusion shatter well before others. For their family especially, that illusion's been shattered for years now.

That ridiculous naivety wasn't his style and Kaien wonders what's gotten into his head today. He's finding his concentration split more than usual and attributes it to the black streak of death in the afternoon sky. He's stressed and his brain's looking for ways to cope, that's all that's going on.

"Oi, are you listening to me or what? I'm not speaking to the air here." Kon yanks him out of that mental rabbit hole.

Kaien shakes his head and focuses on the here and now, "Right. Sorry I was... a million miles away for a second there. Kon, could I ask you to look after the family until this whole mess is sorted? There's somewhere I need to go."

"What, hey - are you kidding me?" Kon protests incredulously, "I came looking for you cause Yuzu told me you rushed off in a mad panic. You should know better than anyone how dangerous it is out here. Hollows hunt down people with high spirit energy, and without powers to defend yourself you're basically a walking appetizer. Where do you possibly need to go while that madness is going on, huh?"

Kaien answers honestly. "I'm gonna find that Shopkeeper, Kisuke Urahara."

Kon balks, staring at him as if he's grown a second head. "Why in the world would you want to go speak to that stingy old man? What, you're looking to buy crappy candy in the middle of a town-wide Hollow hunt?"

Kaien glances away. "I have a feeling that he knows exactly what's going on here and about that crack in the sky. And something tells me he'll also know precisely how to fix it."

When Kaien tries to walk away, Kon snatches his shoulder and pulls him back. "Listen to me, Kaien. That creepy shopkeeper is bad business, and who knows what kind of things he'll say or do. Even if he can fix this stuff he'll make you jump through hoops first. He's that kind of guy. Why would ya want to deal with him, even if we didn't have all this crap going on?"

"I don't know. Call it a hunch. He's Rukia's supplier for all things Shinigami and Hollow, right? If he knows how to fix it then it's worth a shot, regardless of whatever he wants in exchange. Especially considering we've got Hollows crawling out of the wood works." Kaien glances up at the black crack in the sky, swallowing down the fearful lump in his throat. "Maybe its just me, but I've got a feeling something far worse is going on behind that veil. But for the time being, take care of my old man and my sisters, will you?"

Kaien takes off at a sprint, ignoring Kon's cries of protest.

A dead sprint for ten minutes isn't as easy as it sounds, but Kaien pushes himself. He's pretty damn fit but he's human and his stamina has limits.

Kisuke Urahara's shop is only a couple more blocks away and by miraculous chance he's managed to avoid praying Hollows.

Mostly.

A Hollow did spot him, a disgusting mix between a flying snail and pillbug, but three bright blue arrows killed it before it could do much more than that. The first two pierce its carapace-like cowl, exposing its knife-like Hollow mask and the third blew its head to smithereens.

That obviously wasn't Ichigo's sword or Rukia's magic, considering they're both god-only-knows-where, and given those glowing objects were very distinctly arrow-shaped, Kaien wagers that's Ishida's spirit bow in action.

Seriously, what is up with their school? What's with this town? Does Karakura have a monopoly on supernaturally talented kids or what? There's the Kurosaki twins who've been able to see ghosts as long as they can remember, then Rukia as their town's appointed Shinigami guardian (does she really count since she's not from this world?) and now apparently Uryuu Ishida? What's going to crop up next; soul-drinking vampires and werewolves? Humans who can spontaneous manifest armour and pixie dust?

Kaien puts those questions aside. They're only the latest in a laundry list he wants to ask that mad hatter shopkeeper, but all thoughts cease as a prickle at his sixth sense sends his hackles up. He skids to a halt, chest heaving from exertion when he hears a man's cry of alarm. Its coming from the street above, a local swimming pool according to the sign.

Kaien instantly changes course, swerving around the corner and climbing up the flight of stairs two at a time to find a way inside. Through the high wire fences, he can see two pools. One smaller and edged by warning signs about the shallowness (obviously the kid's pool) and a larger swim lane pool for racing. That one has a body floating face down in side.

Kaien throws caution to the wind, backing up and running full speed at the fence to climb it driven by the need to save the man's life.

Adrenaline and mad desperation has him scale the three meter high barrier in record time before vaulting over the top and landing, tucking and rolling like they taught in PE to prevent the impact from hurting more than it has to. There's no hesitation when Kaien dashes and dives head first into the larger pool, securing the poor bastard and dragging him towards the pool ladder foot by laborious foot. His limbs burn from his efforts, but Kaien pushes himself.

Only when they're back on dry land and a safe distance away from the pool ledge does Kaien actually bother to look at the person he'd just fished out of the drink. (He's not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot.)

"Mr Shirogane?!"

Kaien balks and his mind races.

Why? How?

He shakes his head and takes a deep breath to calm himself. First and foremost priority is to make sure his teacher survives the next few minutes. He's unconscious so Kaien puts him on his side in the recovery position like he's been taught. His next course of action would've been to check for breathing but the man suddenly surges to life, the Coach's his entire frame is wracked by frantic coughing, sputtering out mouthfuls of pool water. Kaien remains squatting at his side, offering platitudes and reassurances.

"I'm right here. You're gonna be okay, Coach. Just get it all out. I'll find you some towels to keep you warm and call for an ambulance. Just stay with me, alright?" Kaien conveys his words with a cool and collected tone despite the hectic situation and his own exhaustion. Growing up in an emergency clinic and sometimes functioning as an Doctor's assistant does wonders teaching one how to stay level-headed in these emergencies (having a short-fused twin definitely helps too).

Shirogane doesn't acknowledge him, slipping back into unconsciousness by the time he's done.

Kaien curses. Coach is breathing but if he wants to stay that way, Kaien has to act fast. There has to be a phone or some sort of emergency services on site somewhere in the admission buildings.

Come to think of it, where are the staff? Where are the on-duty lifeguards?

Kaien's analytical mind runs through the situation while he scans his surroundings and finds himself curiously alone in a public swimming pool at this time of afternoon. Coach Shirogane usually travels between pools and assists in tutoring programs afterschool with students of all ages, but there's no sign of any of them either. No indication of why the Coach was here. Even if it were only private lessons, there should be at least a few few people here.

Sure, there's the apocalyptical sky rift that's making anyone with an ounce of spiritual energy fret, but that's still a pretty damn exclusive crowd, so its not like they evacuated because of it.

More than that, Mr Shirogane was former Olympic bronze medalist back in his prime, representing Japan on the international stage. There's no scenario Kaien can imagine where he'd realistically allow himself to end up like this. Not unless someone or something attacked him and threw him into the pool to drown.

Which could mean there's more than just supernatural threats trying to take advantage of the situation. That foreboding thought served as prelude to the next disaster.

"You saved him..." Kaien's head jerks up and he sees another familiar voice accost him with a curiously dull tone.

Its Aoi Saito, a fellow student of Karakura High School and one of the other members of the school's swim team.

He's a slim teenager Kaien's age with light brown hair cropped short with a typically tanned complexion, but his skin is washed out with an unhealthy pallor, as though he'd deteriorated for weeks battling an aliment. A bizarre state of affairs since Kaien saw him this morning as his perfectly healthy obstinate self.

"Saito? The hell are -" Kaien swallows down his feelings of uneasiness and the usual bickering he'd happily engage in, now wasn't the time. "Never mind. Look. Do you have a phone? We need to call an ambulance. Coach is still alive but he's unconscious. We have to get him to a hospital and make sure they monitor him for secondary drowning. Plus, it looks like he's taken a pretty hard whack to the head. Something pretty blunt if I had to guess."

Kaien stupidly left his mobile back home, but he doubted it'd survive being waterlogged. He flinches when he sees a handheld fire extinguisher clatter and scrap across the ground towards him, a sizeable dent in the bottom rim and matching the wound on the poor teacher's head. Evidently it was used as a blunt mallet.

"Something like that, do you think?"

Shocked eyes switch from the object to the menacing Saito, who looks thoroughly too pleased with himself for Kaien's liking.

That source of uneasiness reveals itself. Quite literally.

Kaien can see it. Actually see it.

A white thread - no, more a ribbon trails after Saito. Around it - encroaching upon it - is a black ribbon that's incrementally infecting the white like a cancer. That blackness smells and tastes like a familiar skin-crawling dread.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Kaien mutters to himself in sheer disbelief, slowly climbs to his feet and backing away from the unconscious adult while he weights his options.

"I offered to pay him, you know." Saito shakes his head at their teacher disparagingly, "I offered to pay him ungodly amounts of money to train me personally. To help me achieve what I wanted, but he always said no. Kept saying no like the damn stubborn old bastard he is. Said I didn't have the talent or the dedication. I had no drive. I'm a hundred, no, a thousand times better than he'd ever give me credit for! Even better than you, his pet project."

Dark eyes fix on Kaien in a murderous glare. "The 'vaunted prodigy' Kurosaki. The so-called 'genius' Kurosaki. I know what you really are, you reprehensible little wank stain. You're a jumped up son of a dead whore who flaunts being the teacher's pet. Then you went and stole my place in the championships, only to purposefully fuck it up. All to rub it in my face, isn't that right?"

If this were any other situation, Kaien would've thrown out barbed challenges in return. Or skipped words entirely and knock out a tooth or dozen, then promptly folded him in half like a toothpick for that insult about his mother, but he doesn't. He bites back the reflective anger and keeps himself steady.

As much as being a colossal asshole is the sum Saito's character, he'd never do anything like this. He's a dick, not a murder-prone sociopath.

"Saito, you're not well." Kaien tells him gravely, both hands raised and open in a placating manner. "Look. There's a lot going on right now and I don't have time to explain it. I'm not gonna hurt you but you've gotta come with me, alright? Something's not right with you. You're, uh... infected by something. A disease. And I know someone who can help but you have to trust me. But before that, the first thing you've got to do is take a deep breath. Calm down and take a step back. Think about what you're doing. Don't do anything you're about to regret."

"You for real?" Saito mocks, lips pulling back to reveal a row of inhumanly jagged teeth bared in a grin, black ichor gathers at the corners of his eyes and starts trickling down his face like tears, he doesn't notice it in the slightest. "I'm in the best shape I've ever been my entire life."

Faster than Kaien can see and definitely faster than humanly possible, Saito dashes towards Kaien and a knee lands in his solar plexus, bouncing him off the fence. Kaien gasps in pain, his entire system thrown into shock and air knocked out of his lungs. He's struggling to breath before Saito snatches him by the shirt and throws him over the head into the meter deep kid's pool.

Kaien's head cracks against the ledge, sending him into a daze.

There's blood. Quite a lot of blood. He watches it swirl to the surface through the blurry chlorinated water. Survival instinct sluggishly kicks in and he tries to breach the surface for air only for a pair of hands to push him back down. One pressed clutching his throat and the other on his head.

Precious oxygen escapes his burning lungs, but he finds no purchase in his struggle. He's running out of air and he's going to drown.

He's going to die here.

Oh god, he's going to die here!

That horrible reality instantly cuts through his addling daze and Kaien tries to fight back with renewed ferocity and fresh wellspring of adrenaline; to claw at his captor and rival's hands, arms, face. He knows he's drawn blood in kind, can feel it under his nails, but the effort does nothing. Monstrous strength keeps him pinned to the bottom of the pool.

There's a moment where Kaien thinks he might've gained ground, but that turns out to be a cruel vain hope.

Saito brings Kaien up half a meter before slamming him bodily back down, hard enough to crack the pool floor beneath them. It knocks what little air's left out of him. The chlorine burns his eyes and he feels his strength, and consciousness, slipping away.

Saito's twisted grinning face is the last thing Kaien sees before his world fades to black.

When the sky rift cracked open, the Hollow known as Marionette hitched a ride on the back of another Hollow then separating itself after the traverse. It's no fun employing it's methods on other Hollows. They are too limited by their range emotion and often function on survival or whim. Humans on the other hand make a much better fare.

The Hollow is designated Marionette for the way it attaches itself to the souls of hapless humans and corrupts them by praying upon their baser urges.

It's a subtler way than those employed by the rest of it's kin, requiring patience and care in equal measure, but its pleasure is not in the kill. Not primarily.

It is the corruption.

To indulge in the whirlwind of emotions that comes at that final moment where the human host's last bond is irrefutably destroyed by their own hands. In those last minutes, the Hollow withdraws its influence to allow its prey to return to their senses, to take in the complete magnitude of the horrors they'd committed and sink into the depths of despair.

Marionette drinks in their suffering then devours them. Tormented souls do have the sweetest aftertaste.

It's a methodical process. Requiring patience, commitment and is endlessly rewarding. Though there are precious few souls that could support the leech of Marionette's existence to keep the game going longer than a few days.

The human shell it attached itself too is named Aoi Saito, a human teenager with barely a spark of spirit energy. He couldn't not sense, hear, touch or see Hollows, but that's not why Marionette has ensnared him in its web.

Its the blackness in his heart that caught Marionette's attention. The bitterness and resentment that would undoubtedly summon forth a banquet of suffering. For others and for itself.

Which is why what this Saito human just did was such a shame.

The dark-haired boy, Saito identified him as Kurosaki, is (or perhaps Marionette should muse 'was') different.

He had insight, far greater than any other of its past hapless pawns.

Trapping the whelp was so easy it was ridiculous.

As a rule, humans truly are pathetic creatures ruled by trifling empathy. They long to rush to save those they think are imperiled. And this one was about to fall into her trap as easily as the others, but before Marionette to take advantage of the opportunity and leap hosts, it seemed like he'd somehow sensed the Hollow's presence within its human disguise. A suspicion all but confirmed a few seconds later by his attempts at placation.

All Marionette had to do to send Saito into a frenzy was poke at the bitter envy he had towards this Kurosaki boy. To whisper in his ear reminding him how frustrating it was to be beaten over and over again by this carefree clown.

Its so blissfully easy to inflame the hatred and malice already boiling away in his heart, buried under a haughty mask of smug superiority, but the Hollow laments it pushed its weakened host's preexisting resentment too far. Kurosaki is dead, drowned after Saito had kept his head under for minutes too long. Even now his body remains under the water with faint trails of red rising up from his head injury and limbs swaying with the subtle currents.

Marionette will devour Saito slowly, methodically, for that failure.

Kurosaki's body positively teemed with more spirit energy than any Marionette had ever seen in its entire lifetime as a Hollow. As though the boy were a walking talking font of untapped spiritual energy. With that power under its command, the Hollow could've painted a bloody swathe from the far corners of Hueco Mundo to the halls of Las Noches, perhaps even conquering the likes of the Espada!

But such was not meant to be.

"I did it." The human host whispers hoarsely, victoriously to himself with a grin crawling across his face. "I beat him. I beat Kaien Kurosaki! I beat him! I did it!"

He threw his arms into the air, celebrating the victory, before glaring down at the drowned body, "I beat you, you cocky son of a bitch, do you hear me?! I beat you! How does it feel?! Not so smug now, are we!"

He's panting, in his mind its from the exhilaration and euphoria of defeating his rival once and for all, in reality its Marionette slurping away at his essence. It won't be long now.

Marionette wanted to take her time devouring this child's soul, but he's so embarrassingly weak that its practically impossible. At this rate, he wouldn't last more than twenty-five minutes.

The human turns, still wearing that drunken grin and wading lethargically towards the stairs ascending out of the swimming pool.

"I won." The human breaths euphorically, "I... won."

The Hollow would've scoffed if it could in this state, mentally rolling its eyes at the pronouncement, but its part of the game.

What the Hollow (nor the human) did not expect was the massive surge of water behind them a minute later, the strong hand gripping the back of Saito's head and ramming it into the metal guard railing, knocking the human out cold.

Kaien comes to, and his first thought is... he really should be dead.

Like, super duper dead.

He's not. And while that thoroughly baffles him, he's not complaining!

As an addition to the whole 'why am I not dead' question, he has to question the absurdity of the situation. As a general scientific rule, Humans are categorized as mammals. Mammals don't breath water. They literally lack the organs to breath water.

Yet somehow, Kaien is breathing water.

Tastes like battery acid but he'll live with it, especially since it means he's very much not dying. He feels like he should be panicking more about this unexpected turn of events, but he's not, oddly enough. That's probably a bad sign given the knock he took to his head.

Dismiss it as the concussion talking but a crazy thought is to check if he'd spontaneously grown a set of gills. Good grief, he can already imagine the myriad of moronic fish jokes and puns at his expense becoming a million times worse. It's stupidly unrealistic but he checks anyway. His fingers brush the sides of his throat and comfortably confirm - Nope. No gills.

Tender and certainly bruised to hell and back, but no gills.

Well, he can question it later when he's not a meter under water with a murder-happy psycho in the pool with him.

Saito's back is turned, so he clearly thinks he's succeeded in killing Kaien, and that's when he hatches a pretty reckless plan.

Kaien takes great efforts to not disturb the water as much as possible, rolling over and crawling across the pool floor. Thankfully the cracks give him ample finger holds to propel him forward (his back is less thankful for the damage) before he leaps into action. Fast as a coiled serpent, he strikes, snatching the back of Saito's head and ramming his face into the hand railing.

Hard.

It dents from the impact and Saito slumps, toppling like a house of cards and slump on the steps. Kaien makes sure he's on his back and his head is safely out of water before hunching over the pool's ledge himself, hacking out all the liquid trapped in his chest. About a minute of that, he's panting, chest heaving as he gulps down precious air.

His head hurts.

Kaien reaches back, tentatively touching the back of his skull. He's expecting a pretty nasty wound, maybe requiring some stitches, but when he pulls his hand back there's nowhere near as much blood as he thought there'd be. Maybe being waterlogged made him misjudge the injury? He should get it checked out anyway beacuse it was enough to knock him out cold for a hot minute, long enough for Saito to think he'd succeeded in killing him... or maybe shock's made him think otherwise?

Either way, he nurses his head and winces at the headache.

He has to get home... home or a clinic or a hospital, but first, he needs to call an ambulance for Mr Shirogane. And... Saito. He - the both of them, might've escaped drowning completely (some bloody how!) but secondary drowning's no joke. Once he deals with that unconscious jerk Saito, he'll have to make his business with Kisuke Urahara brief.

After that, he'll make sure Mr Shirogane arrived safely at a hospital then head home himself and cook up some explanation.

His Dad'll believe it, or might simply give him the benefit of the doubt, and keep eyes on Kaien for any warning signs the next few days. If it turns bad, Kaien might have to spend a few days at the clinic as a patient instead of a resident. It'll be a pain, but Kurosaki clinic has the resources to handle it. He'll be okay... presuming the hollows pouring out of that sky rift don't devour them all.

Confident he's not about to keel over from exhaustion, a concussion or any combination of the two, Kaien hoists himself out of the water, but when he's about to turn around and fish Saito out -

A long black barbed tendril pierces through his right shoulder, launching him into the fence.

Kaien yelps, more from shock than pain. But the pain comes a fraction of a second after. Blood trickles down his bicep and stains his waterlogged shirt. He tries to pull the barb out with his left hand. Its pointless but he's nothing if not stubborn.

"Well well, now. Aren't you full of surprises." A twisted voice coils in the air and Kaien watches, horrified, as black misty muck extracts itself from Saito's body, consolidating into a solid mass of black and white.

Its a Hollow. Obviously.

Its mask resemblances an arachnid's with eight eye sockets and pincher-like lower mandibles. Its body is segmented like a spider's with an abdomen and thorax, but in place of eight spindly legs, it has rippling appendages that resemble fluttering banners. Save for the two that coiled together to spear through Kaien's shoulder.

"I thought that worthless whelp had killed you for certain. You must tell me your secret." The Hollow coos, its eight eyes narrowing with mild intrigue. "Regardless, perhaps you should've stayed dead. It would've spared you a great deal of suffering."

"And why would a monster like you care about suffering?" Kaien spits back defiantly, feebly attempting to pry the black appendage from his shoulder, fueled by anger and desperate impulse. "Far as I know, you bastards get off on it - Ugh!"

The spear twists and Kaien twists with it, unleashing a fresh wave of agony. The barbs feel like they're spreading. "Now now. Mind your manners. There's no need to be rude, I am a guest in your home after all. And we are going to become very intimately acquainted with one another very shortly. It would be so much easier for you if we got along, wouldn't you agree? We could be such very good friends if only you'd let me."

What a revolting thought. Kaien spits at the thing, glaring pure venom, his gaze flickers to Saito, unconscious but the paleness and corruption on his flesh is gone.

"Oh, he's not dead if that's what you're concerned about. But don't fret. I understand. There will be plenty of opportunity for you to take your revenge. Wouldn't that be absolutely delightful, my dear?" The endearing tone makes Kaien want to vomit.

"Get fu- AH!"

The barbs in his shoulder spread out further. Faster. Burrowing into his chest, down his arm, crawling up his neck like roots, as the Hollow invades his body, intending to use him as its latest puppet, like it did with Saito. "Now if you'd be so kind, I would very much enjoy the opportunity to explore my new home."

Kaien screams, writhing in agony, struggling to fight. He has to fight. Has to resist! Has to do something - anything - to stop this! Has to get away. Get away.

Get away!

And then -

MINE.

Swift as a lightening strike and twice as wild as the most ferocious typhoon, a single word reverberates throughout Kaien's being with such unyielding power it makes his head spin.

The Hollow thing recoils in horror, screeches a banshee's wail that makes Kaien's ears bleed. The burrowing roots rip out of Kaien's flesh, tearing his shirt to shreds and leaving both his chest and arm badly wounded. Fresh agony rips through him but the power behind that single word scrapes it all away.

Kaien has no idea what's happening and functions on pure instinct, thrusting his left hand out towards the hollow.

The water in both pools surge to life, directed by the command towards the Hollow creature.

"W-What is this?"

It doesn't have a chance to ask much more than that before its encompassed by a sphere of liquid. Its banner limbs sharpen into blades that hack and slash away at its impromptu prison but every score it makes is immediately swept away in the current. Kaien's fingers snap closed in a fist so tight it trembles. The water prison collapses in on itself, the pressure crushing the hollow within to the size of a marble.

The black ribbon, the one that had encroached upon Saito's white ribbon, frays then disintegrates completely.

Kaien pants, letting his hand flop lifelessly to his lap. With control relinquished, the marble of water denotes in a tidal wave that crashes over him, Saito and Shirogane. Some water catches in the pools but the majority overflows to the surrounding streets. He blinks sluggishly, glancing towards his classmate and teacher, then the bleeding wound on his chest and shoulder. He's got to get them help, but he has to find something to bind his shoulder first...

He has to do something. Anything...

Despite his valiant efforts of will, Kaien's limbs are unresponsive. He has to get moving, damn it. But will alone is not enough and its not long before he losses consciousness for a second time.

Author's note:

Nejibana somewhere in the past/future: I am the greatest Water type Zanpakutou in history. You really think I'd let my master die to something as stupid as drowning? How utterly undignified. I'd never hear the end of it.

Regards,

Aurora313