Skyline [R, DE]

"Raikoho!" The Vice-Captain called out, left hand clenched white around his extended right arm. There was a flash, then a loud CRACK, as a huge mass of thunder shot out from his palm. Like a plow, it carved a jagged trail up against the jagged outcropped rocks of the hill, before colliding with the descending boulders near the middle. Both thunder and rock ground against each other, for a mere second, before an explosion soon enveloped both sides. The Vice-Captain, drenched in sweat and cuts, waited anxiously, heart racing, for any indication of any boulders left over from the blast. Through the clearing, gray-black smoke, pebbles escaped through – but no boulders. The boy, with an audible sigh of relief, fell forward onto a knee and let his exhaustion pour out. His body ached, due to both the exertion of his still developing muscles and the sheer volume of reiatsu he had been expending for seven hours straight; the chains that bound his hands and feet only added to the discomfort.


Like a prisoner of war, Kazuko had chained himself to a small grassy knoll at the base of a hill near the Shiba Manor. The hill itself was dressed with jagged, razor like rocks that protruded several meters at points from the hill itself; like a cloak of thorns. Originally, about five years prior, when Kazuko had barely entered the academy and bargained with his zanpakuto to give him Shikai, he had used this area near his household to train his powers. The hill, up to that point, had been relatively smooth and full of wild grass, but now, the beautiful it once held had been ground away until it was just an ugly, battle-scarred husk of its former self. The Vice-Captain, through every heavy breath, could only sympathize and relate to this piece of earth. Likewise, the Vandenreich had left him scarred, both in body and in mind, and every moment not spent managing the recruitment, training, and business of the Squad, was spent in training, like this, in preparation with his next encounter with these foes.


“You’re going to kill yourself doing all this shit, you know that,” a rough, but shrill voice said from behind the boy? Kazuko, taking caution not to move his body too quickly, turned slowly, to meet the familiar voice, the chains on his wrists and feet tightening as he did so. Hunched over on a crane, a skeleton of an old man – a dried up husk in Kazuko’s opinion – stood there, watching him with beady little eyes, as if every moment looking at the boy made him hate him that much more. Kazuko, however, kept his expression flat through the cake of dirt and grime around his skin, almost emotionless, save for the clear marks of exhaustion. “Its not your problem, Gagoiru. Leave me alone.” The old man, clearly displaced with the boy, snapped back, spittle spraying from his mouth, sprinkling the boy somewhat, “It is, you ungrateful little shit, when you keep me released for so damn long! How the hell am I supposed to get any rest when you keep throwing boulders at yourself with my powers!”


Again, the boy stayed there, quiet and unflinching, as his zanpakuto spirit berated him again for using his powers. The Vice-Captain was used to it already, after four or five years of continuous verbal and physical abuse, he could deal with the all too familiar outbursts of his zanpakuto. Quite frankly, the relationship between both wielder and sword was a strange one. While most Shinigami and their zanpakuto spirits cooperated with each, bolstering one another’s moral and power, Kazuko and Gagoiru were quite the opposite. Both despised each other, each wishing the demise of the other, or so Kazuko thought, and they typically kept to their own worlds most of the time. However, this time, that was not the case, as his zanpakuto spirit now felt it urgent to criticize the boy even when he was training. The Vice-Captain could only look forward to the day when he could kill his zanpakuto and take his powers as more spittle rained down from through the yellow and cracked teeth of the old man as he continued to insult him over every little thing.


“If you’re here just to complain about keeping you out for so long, then go away. My training today is just about finished anyway, so there is no need for you to – ” A sharp, pain popped against his left cheek, knocking him backward, and causing the chains on Kazuko’s limbs to grow taut, painfully. Rubbing his cheek slowly as he picked himself off the ground, the boy glanced to see Gagoiru staring at him, venomously. “What have I told you about talking to me like that, runt? Don’t hold your vendetta against those Quincies like a badge of honor against me, got that? I don’t care how much you think you hate them, just remember, you’re nothing without my power, so keep that in mind when you keep me up like this. Kazuko glared at the old husk, making sure to keep his distance, wary of another swing from his cane. “Leave! If I die doing this, why should you care anyway!? This is my fight, and you’re just along for the ride until I find a way to get rid of you! So LEAVE ME ALONE!” There was a silence as the boy waited for another lashing from the cane of the old man, but none came. Instead, his zanpakuto merely gave a gruff, and vanished in the next instant.


When he left, Kazuko felt his cheeks moist again, not with sweat, but with tears. He was upset; furious and spiteful at both his zanpakuto and the Vandenreich. Both had made him suffer; both had caused him so much pain and grief. His heart ached with spite for their crimes against him. Even in the solitude of his own land, Kazuko stopped his crying after a minute or so. Crying would do him nothing. It could not stop Baal or the Quincies, and it would surely not solve any of his problems now. No, the only way he could do that was by training and pushing his body past its breaking point. Even if his muscles tore themselves loose and his soul splintered, he needed to keep going. That was the only way he could kill those of the Vandenreich and his zanpakuto. If he were not strong both mentally and physically, there would be no chance of any of his grief and anger diminishing. That was what drove the boy; a cold hate hidden behind an even colder disposition. He was spiteful. But it was not his fault for this, it were those who had caused him so much pain.


With a heart full of rage, Kazuko reached down and picked up a metal chain near his feet. Unlike the earthen chains that bound his hands and feet, this chain was connected to his zanpakuto which was sticking out from the ground a few feet away, already released. With the chain in hand, he focused his attention back toward the top of the hill; in response, an outcrop of rocks began forming; one by one, they stacked on top of each other, like clay over clay, until a massive cluster of boulders were formed. They were twice as massive as the ones Kazuko had been forming in the prior hours of his training, largely because the boy had channeled a great part of his reiatsu and because his emotions were causing him to go overboard on the dimensions. Too late to stop, the Vice-Captain released the cluster of boulders from their nest on top of the hill, and let gravity do its part in bringing them down toward his location. He tossed the metal chain of his zanpakuto to the side, and readied his stance. The earthen chains on his hands and feet prevented him from moving little more than a few feet from his position, which meant it was either do or die.


As the boulders tumbled downward, smashing against each other as they did so, the Vice-Captain focused his reiatsu into his palm, like before, and steadied his aim. He could only afford to spend a few seconds gauging the distance before the blast radius of the spell enveloped Kazuko as well. Wasting no more time than he had to, the Vice-Captain fired another Raikoho, this time, mentally. The boy had trained himself to great lengths in order to match the strength of his mental incantations with his verbal ones. Like before, a giant mass of thunder exploded out of his palm, before carving another trench toward the incoming boulders. When both sides opposing sides collided, another mass of fire, smoke, and rock shot out in every direction. However, unlike before, the rocks that broke through the smoke were not pebbles, but the size of small houses. The Raikoho had destroyed much of the rocks, granted, but Kazuko had poured far too much reiatsu into those rocks beforehand, which made them that much more resilient. There were only a handful of boulders that kept coming, but any one of those would be enough to flatten the boy if he did not stop them.


With only a few seconds to spare before doom came over him, the boy brought both his hands together, index fingers pointed outward. He needed to stop them now. Without a moment of hesitation, he mentally discharged Soren Sokatsui, and discharged two massive streaks of blue fire. Both blasts of superheated flame and reiatsu struck the face of the boulders a few meters from his location, and exploded outward into a tower of flame and earth. The shockwave of heat and debris that resulted knocked Kazuko off his feet, but the chains held him back from flying too far. The sudden whiplash coupled with the massive strain to both his body and reiatsu supply earlier knocked the boy unconscious. His body was crumpled over in a heap on the ground, even as the chains around him were taut and firm. Luckily, the Soren Sokatsui had demolished the remaining boulders, even if the resulting explosive shockwave had enveloped Kazuko as well. The boy had pushed himself far that day, but at great risk to both his life and health.


“…Foolish boy,” a familiar voice whispered over him, none of the malice or annoyance from before present. “If only you realized what you’re doing to yourself; this hate is tearing your soul apart, its eating you alive. Eventually, even I won’t be enough to contain all this spite if you keep going down this path.” Gagoiru’s expression softened a few degrees, as he saw just how peaceful Kazuko looked without any of any the anger, grief, or memories clouding his expression. It was at times like these, where Gagoiru wished that Kazuko was no longer a Shinigami and could enjoy the childhood he should have had. The old man snapped his fingers, and the chains that bound Kazuko broke into pieces. After a few more moments, his hunched up figure began to fade away as the zanpakuto he was housed in reverted back into its Sealed Form. “Grow up fast, my Master. I cannot fight all your battles for you; it is you who shall inherent the reliance and strength of the very earth you command. I am only here to guide you along after all.”


–One Week Later –


A Senkaimon opened high above street level, amidst the tall buildings and skyscrapers of New York; a twin set of wooden, paper-screened doors slowly parted, revealing a bright radiance from within. Five figures stood at the entrance of the portal and stepped out of the light, the doors closing behind them as they did so. Without the light shrouding them, they were left in the shadow of the night, but not quite so. New York, even at so late a time, was filled with every kind of light and color imaginable. It would make tracking down the Quincy in the area that much easier. Central had commissioned the deployment of a squad to the Land of the Living under suspicion that one, or a group, of Quincies was destroying Hollows in the area. With both the spiritual balance and recent invasion in mind, the upper echelons had thought it justified in hunting these threats down. When the orders fell on the shoulders of Kazuko Shiba, there was no hesitation on his part in proceeding with the mission. Quincy were, after all, nothing more than a plague on all worlds that needed to be dealt with.


The shortest of the group, standing at 4’ 7”, and appearing 14 in terms of age, it was quite shocking by anyone unfamiliar with the boy to find that he was the highest-ranking officer in the group. However, with such a powerful spiritual presence, he had to come into the Land of the Living with a Limiter placed on his soul; so he was only operating at a fraction of his full strength. Nonetheless, the boy felt confident in his abilities; he had undergone weeks of grueling training and mastered techniques to put an end to any Quincy he encountered. He was not the same boy during the invasion that lost to the hands of a General. After the portal closed, the Vice-Captain was quick to issue orders. “All of you have been briefed on this mission beforehand but I’ll repeat the perimeters of the assignment; search out, and destroy any Quincy you encounter in a five mile radius from this location. If any of you engage in combat, raise your spiritual pressure, and the rest of us will join up. You are not to engage any Quincy above the rank of Lieutenant without me there; none of you have to die needlessly tonight. Understood?” All four men answered the boy with a crisp, “Yes, Sir.” After a moment, the Vice-Captain dismissed them, “Move out!” At that, the four of them disappeared with Shunpo.


With the orders given, Kazuko himself, using Air-Ground, rose a few stories higher in the air, to get a better layout of the city. He actively scanned with both his eyes and his Energy Sensory for any signs of Quincy activity. Likewise, he kept track of the spiritual pressures of his squad members; he needed to make sure they stayed safe on this mission. He did not want to lose anymore of his men, not since the invasion took so many already. He stayed there floating, scanning the area, until he finally caught a glimpse of something unusual; there was a flash of red, from one of the nearby rooftops, and the Vice-Captain could make out the spiritual pressure of a Hollow. Considering the flash of red as a Quincy arrow, the Vice-Captain flew across the sky toward that location. His heart was pumping with adrenaline at the prospect of slaying another Quincy. By the time he made it the scene of the battle, a man wearing what appeared to be combat gear and equipment had just dispatched the Hollow. Notably, he did not sport the typical white colors that the Vandenreich, and Quincy in general, tended to wear. Something was off here. He could not sense the other man’s spiritual pressure, but then again, he could be suppressing it.


Therefore, with all this in mind, the Vice-Captain decided to see how things would play through with the man first before engaging him in combat. He slowly proceeded downward and landed on the rooftop, about fifteen or so meters away from the other man. As he landed, the boy unsheathed his zanpakuto from his back, and held it lightly to his side. From his position, Kazuko called out, “Stranger, identify yourself now, or I will be forced to consider you an enemy!” From his location, the man would be able to see how young and small Kazuko in fact was; he was nothing more than a little kid! The only thing that set him apart from other Shinigami, other than his apparent age, was the fact that his reiatsu, even capped at its current level, was clearly leagues above anyone else he had encountered, and he wore a wooden badge tied to his left shoulder. Moreover, the expression of the child showed that he was in no mood to play games at the moment. Any time he wasted here could put his men in jeopardy elsewhere if they encountered any trouble without him there to help them. The man would have to play it smart in the way he answered the Vice-Captain.

The man was right to assume that Kazuko was beginning to feel a bit flustered with his snide comments. The immature temper that he usually kept under wraps began to surface as his face turned a slight shade of pink. Kid! Kazuko was a Shinigami; he had seen things that adults would tremble and cry from. He was more than a kid; he was a Vice-Captain! Some stranger had no right putting a label on someone they had just met… even if he was a kid. However, that immature rise in temper was short lived the moment the man readied, leveled, and fired his bow. In that moment, Kazuko’s entire demeanor changed. Whether his opponent knew it or not, that action had sealed his fate; he had just confirmed himself as a Quincy... to Kazuko. The scarlet arrow streaked across the concrete of the roof, casting an ominous red glow, but the boy stayed still, almost as if he were lost in thought. When the arrow approached him, his blade shot out in an arc and cut into the red shaft of the bolt. The arrow was thus knocked off to the side, like if it was nothing more than a nuisance.


In that moment, a gray outline of reiatsu manifested itself around the small body of the Vice-Captain. His body, somewhat relaxed before, was tense, almost as if he were trying to restrain himself. “Quincy… you dare speak of ‘invasion’ when your kind have done no better?” His voice, although usually spotted with the occasional crack of adolescence, was flat now; an eerie dull tone when he said those words. His eyes were fieice; no, they were merely windows into the seething hatred Kazuko felt inside. A moment passed in silence, before he continued, “I’ll take my time then.” After saying that, the boy disappeared, faster than the eye could follow. There would be a brush of wind next to the man, and a tap on his arm as it passed, which would be hard to perceive given the armor he wore. Immediately after, the man would find both his arms jerk violently backward, by some unseen force, before locking in place behind his back. There would be much discomfort and pain as the armor that protected him, plates of metal and all, was literally stretching and pinching to accommodate the tight movement of his body, no matter how flexible it was.


The Vice-Captain had taken a step with Shunpo, and thus moved at a Stat Speed of 2400; in that movement, he had passed by the side of his enemy, giving his arm a tap with an extended finger; using his skill in mental incantation, he had invoked Bakudo #1: Sai as he brushed past him. The sudden jerking movement the arms caused as they came backward and locked on his back would then throw the man off balance. Without stopping, the Vice-Captain swung around, palm out toward the torso section of his opponent. The difference of speed between them, unexpectedness of the attack, and the fact that the man was already thrown off balance, would make Kazuko’s next move near impossible to dodge unscathed. Instead of a blade cutting into his back, the Vice-Captain discharged another spell, mentally; Hado #1: Sho. Thus, after the arms of the man locked at his back, he would be propelled violently forward. He would be blown harshly against the concrete at a great speed; even with his armor, he would be hitting hard stone with the power of a 480 Reiatsu Strength Sho, which would undoubtedly shake and bruise his body at least.


With the man more than likely on the floor, Kazuko would bark, his voice harsh and unforgiving, “Get up!”;his attitude showed that he had no patience whatsoever with his opponent. “You have no right to stay on the ground while my comrades that your kind murdered are still in it! Now fight before I send you back to your God!”


Remaining Reiatsu: 2300/2400 (-50 for 1x Shunpo, -25 for Sai, -25 for Sho)

Combat Posts: 1/8

The Vice-Captain kept his expression stoic, unemotional, as the man finished with his monologue about spiritual races; even when he asked him to test out the bow and confirm everything for himself; Kazuko did not comply as he would hope. Instead, the boy walked over to where the bow had been strewn, and gave the devise a swift cut with his blade. Severed through the middle, the machine gave off a small puff of smoke and sparks, before having its circuitry shut down. The Vice-Captain had his answer. Now that he had an opportunity to settle his emotions, somewhat, he finally gave the situation a brief inspection. The man before him had no noticeable spiritual presence whatsoever; even when he killed the Hollow and fired his arrow, there was no spike in spiritual power. Hell, the boy could not even sense what race he belonged to with his Energy Sensory, which meant that he had to be a human. Destroying the bow had proven to him that the weapon was not spiritual based at all. It was a mere machine.


However, even with this revelation, the Vice-Captain did not change his tact. He merely planted his sword into the concrete of the rooftop and took a seat on the floor, legs crossed. This had become interesting. “You might not be a Quincy, but you have done no better than one… human. Judging by your equipment and outfit, I can only assume you were not strolling through town having fun when this Hollow showed up… you tracked and hunted it down. If you know how to kill one, effectively, like you have demonstrated, then you must have killed others before as well. And given your understanding of the spiritual world, this is not the first time you have encountered my kind as well. Am I correct in my line of thought?” The man could obviously lie to him, but the Vice-Captain was a part of Squad Nine; a squad that specialized in decrypting information and piecing things together when there was almost nothing to work with at times.


Whatever the man said, the boy continued, “The reason you are no better than a Quincy, human, is because you have dealt with these Hollows, and others before it, by destroying them. Utterly. When you kill a Hollow without cleansing its soul, like through the use of a zanpakuto,” he gestured to his sword, “you disturb the balance of all worlds. This balance, if not maintained by Shinigami, would cause all of creation to fall into catastrophe and certain demise. For every evil soul you have killed in this way, Shinigami have had to rectify them by either putting more souls in the cycle… or taking them out of it.” Through the course of this, the Vice-Captain did not waver his attention from the man at all. He was suspicious of him, and kept his attention locked on him the whole time. Undoubtedly, the man would try to escape somehow, whether by running away breaking his bonds, so the boy was just waiting for when he made his move.


A black and glowing butterfly slipped out from his sleeve and gently flew to his shoulder; the Vice-Captain whispered into it, undecipherable from where the man was. After a moment, a message was relayed back to him. The boy looked displeased – not as much as before, but still. “Now explain to me why I should let you go, Kazura, when the Gotei has had to intervene twice already with you?” Somehow, the Vice-Captain had gotten a hold of the name of Kazura. This might or might not come as a surprise to the man. As Vice-Captain of an information squad, Kazuko had access to information most others did not. Though not as much was available to him like with his Captain, calling up information on a human vigilante causing trouble for the Gotei was a simple matter. What other human in the Land of the Living fit the description of Kazura as well as this man before the boy; bosterious, cocky, sees spirits, gadgets, and the list went on. What else did Kazuko know about him? More importantly, how would the human react?


Remaining Reiatsu: 2300/2400

Combat Posts: 1/8

Resting Posts: 1/2

Kazuko could almost scoff at the man for trying to give him advice on how to take care of his own zanpakuto. Something like a spiritual weapon did not need the constant maintenance and diligence that human counterparts required; they were constantly replenished and renewed by the souls of their wielders, which meant that act of sharpening or honing edges was wasted. The strength of ones’ reiatsu determined the quality and condition of the blade instead. Though, whatever condescension the boy felt for the man disappeared after a concussive force resounded behind the back of the human. A few moments afterward, the arms of the human fell forward, drooping; they were broken, it would seem. This, by itself, made quite the surprise to Kazuko. Why? A mere human had just broken a Bakudo, even if it was only level one. Quite frankly, it was impossible by all standards, but the man had done it nonetheless, which was what caused the boy to feel a bit unsettled.


The Vice-Captain could only speculate that Kazura had used some piece of machinery or device at his arms to free them. No regular human posed the strength needed to break that spell otherwise. And despite his bravado, the boy could tell that man was going through quite a lot of pain. The moment he had committed to freeing himself, his face and body tensed up and gave away more than he would ever care to admit. It did not seem like he could move his arms that much now that they were in their current state also. Though, for his part, the Vice-Captain was still impressed by the sheer audacity and impulsiveness of the human; it was not every day that people hurt themselves purposefully in order to show a display of masculinity or to simply prove a point. Though, Kazuko made sure to keep these emotions bottled up like all the others he felt. No sense giving the human a “pat on the back” so to say, for all the trouble he was causing the Shinigami. Instead, the boy kept his face locked, stone-still, almost as if he saw the whole thing as nothing unusual and simply boring.


However, the display of the man was soon overshadowed by the offer he offered the boy next. Kazura wanted the boy to relinquish his blade so that the man could attempt to forge a copy of it. Was he serious? Maybe he understood less about the spiritual world than Kazuko had first pegged him to. Kazura would not need to wait for an answer from the Shinigami. No, there was no hesitation whatsoever. Something as simple as forging a zanpakuto outside of the jurisdiction of the Gotei had dire consequences. If it was as simple of investing monumental amounts of money and resources on the project, then Rogue – and vile – Shinigami would not need to use things such as Bakkoto and illegal arms to serve as weapons once their zanpakutos self destructed. For good reason, the power to forge souls into weapons was what made Shinigami different from all other races. They had a connection with their weapons, and by extension, powers, unlike anything or anyone else.


“No,” Kazuko said flat and simple. “To even attempt to forge a zanpakuto without authorization would result in the deployment of a hunter-tracker team; people who do not share the same qualms of killing anyone, even the innocent, like I do. Do you know what the punishment is for a Shinigami giving a human access to that level of power? Death; for both of them.” Kazuko took a deep breath, and exhaled. He was spending a too much time there; his men needed him out in the field with them. They were all strong on their own, which was why Kazuko had assembled them into a team in the first place, but still. If anything happened to them, the guilt and pressure would rest solely on his shoulders. Even though he could keep track of them with his Energy Sensory, in the heat of combat, lives were lost as soon as an enemy was detected. For that reason, the boy continued, “If you have a better reason why I should let you go, it would be best if you said it now.


Remaining Reiatsu: 2300/2400

Combat Posts: 1/8

Resting Posts: 2/2

Cables shot out from Kazura’s belt toward another building after he made his final remarks to the boy. It seemed that he would try to make his escape after all. The Vice-Captain stood up from his sitting position, pulling his zanpakuto from the concrete as he did so. However, as he moved forward to intercept him in his escape, the boy hesitated. There was no need to hunt the man down right now; not when his men needed him to stay vigilant and on-task with the mission. Besides, the crimes Kazura committed were a nuisance at best. It was nothing to hound him over and take him into custody. At times, the Gotei made exceptions to beings that killed Hollows for the sake of self-preservation and to protect loved ones. And although Kazura did not seem like the type of person to kill Hollows for sake of others, he nonetheless did not warrant capture at the moment.


Though, the boy still found the words of the human to be somewhat unsettling. He commented on the manner in which he treated his own zanpakuto. Garbage, he recalled the man saying about the way he treated it. Kazura was right on that front at least. The Vice-Captain had very little respect for his own weapon, despite the fact that it was a fragment of his own soul and the true core of his power as a Shinigami. However, the boy found less and less reason every day to give his sword any love or room to grow on him. Gagoiru was not a zanpakuto that he could share an actual relationship of camaraderie with; not without getting a few licks from his cane in the attempt that is. So, there was little hope of any of this actually happening though. Both Kazuko and his zanpakuto were far too stubborn for any of that.


With all this in mind, the Vice-Captain sighed accepting that he would have to let the human go. His crimes did not warrant capture at the moment, not when other matters weighed in the balance, like the life of his men and the sake of the mission they were on. If anything else, the boy could always assign a detail of scouts to watch Kazura from afar and make sure he kept his word about slaying Hollows. That, or he could ask Squad Twelve to keep watch over him for a probationary period. Kazuko, thus, sheathed his zanpakuto back in the scabbard tied to his back, and watched as the human made his escape and out of site. “Very well,” Kazuko murmured, “lets see if you keep your word after all, until we meet again.”Afterward, he turned around, getting a fix on his squad members before disappearing with Shunpo.


(OOC: As agreed upon in chat, this thread will have a time skip and we will continue things from there.)