Post by Rei Takagi on Sept 1, 2023 13:38:06 GMT -5
Late evening.
There were a number of things you should never perform late at night. Deep thought, a drinking binge, a drinking game...The list went on, and on, and numbered without end. For a particular Shinigami, however, he was going to find one more thing to add to that ever growing list, and it was not going to be pleasant. Though, he did not know that. After all, who would know a trap when it was sprung?
Such was what something thought, as Takagi Rei sat down upon a mat within his room, dimly lit, and set his Zanpakuto upon his lap. The spirit, Dokuseshi, as he knew them, was eerily quiet over the last few weeks, which…Mmm. His was a special case, as much as he hated to admit it. One born from a matter of life and death, in the midst of the invasion from Hell. For them to suddenly shut up after a while of being awake and speaking to him was most likely not out of the ordinary, yet…
Rei knew that his case was egregious in that he had never once spoke to them prior. Much less seen his Inner World or his Zanpakuto face to face. While nobody had made note of that yet, the realization did kind of hit him whilst he was performing his duties for the 3rd. It wasn’t enough of a hit to make others worried about him–Heavens forbid he accidentally make Miyu or Tala worry for nothing…But.
The gap in knowledge between himself and other Shinigami was there. The onus was ultimately upon him and himself to clear this up. How else would I become a lieutenant, huh? Or anything else the Gotei would wish of me? He thought. Actually, he…never really thought of where he wanted his ‘end’ goal to be. Did he see himself as someone able to make like Captain Minamoto? Tezuka?
At present?
No. No, you would definitely not be able to perform like they would. Not exactly, but not right now either. Each Shinigami had a journey to embark upon. Each Shinigami had their own trials to face in life and death alike. His were different from theirs, and it was vastly unfair to compare himself there…
…
Fucking…Now he was sidetracking himself. He recalled what he was taught at the Academy for his final days after the Invasion. The Jinzen ritual. Sword Meditation. To simply know the name of your weapon was not enough. Never enough. A bond had to be established, and this ritual was the only way how.
You lay your sword across your lap after you assume a meditative stance. You bind your spiritual pressure to it, via linking your mind with that of your Zanpakuto. Through this, you take a view of the inside...
Rei closed his eyes, and focused upon the dormant Dokusesshi. His senses went numb, and cold…And he soon felt an odd sensation in the form of fog. Humid, damp…He opened his eyes to find that his surroundings were not that of his room anymore. No, they were something that was far more different than he thought.
“This feels like home...” Not entirely correct, truth be told. It was far more accurate to say, what was home once. The town he grew up in likely didn’t exist anymore, knowing how much time had passed between his death and now...Yet a foggy forest in the dead of night was not really what he was expecting. Nor was the feeling of being watched.
It was an alien feeling, like something savoring it’s next meal, or the anomalous presence viewing a threat to be excised. The eerie feeling of it was enough to make Rei instinctively place his hand on his Zanpakuto, yet...
Immediately, he was set upon. A towering black…creature that vaguely resembled a hollow with the white upon it’s visage seemed to leap at him, attempting to slam into him. It got just what it wished for, as Rei was sent tumbling back towards a tree. The sheer…shock of it all left him dazed for but a few moments as the shape sauntered towards him, reaching down and slipping a clawed hand around his neck.
He was pulled upwards, and as his vision began to focus once more, he could see a…skull? Black sclera, purple eye, gold eye...Was this Dokusesshi? “...Seeing you in person, Doku, you’re…way more hosti-” Rei never got to finish that sentence. The beast squeezed at Rei’s throat, eliciting a gag from the Reaper. “Bold of you to assume the first thing you witness here is your...gnat of a spirit, mongrel.”
With that, the beast hurled Rei to the side, leaving the Shinigami rolling before he made to stand up, blade drawn. “Ah, there’s the blade. What, are you going to poison me? Try it–You won’t-”
The Shinigami vanished in a blur. Flash Step. Strike for an unarmored part of this bone-clad beast- The thought did not finish. As if it ever could. A blade had come to block Rei’s own. “Predictable. I know how precisely how this will go.”
“Yeah?”
What followed was two flashes–Rei attempting to utilize Shunpo at the same time as the beast. The beast was...marginally faster. What followed was a repeated series of clashes between blades, and claws. The beast only had one retort, seething with no shortage of disdain for Takagi Rei specifically.
“Poorly. You cannot prevent me seizing what is mine.”
It was at that moment that a bloodcurdling yell pierced the veil of the forest. “And what’s that, you uniformed shitstain?!” They cried, as a youth with equivalent amounts of azure on their person as there was blood leapt from the brush, swinging a blade that looked identical to Rei’s own when released to every detail as a ‘liquid’ form of spiritual pressure was shot forth in a crescent.
The beast did not seem to have a counter at the ready for this, and found itself being forced back with a gouge in it’s hide. “A delay.” It noted, cryptically. “Never a victory.”
“Erode.” Mist enveloped Rei as he got to his feet, and promptly swung the released Dokusesshi in the same manner as the azure-clad individual. This one, though, the beast was prepared for, as it leapt back and into the trees. “Uncouth. I will flay your loved ones for that.”
Such was not a threat, but a promise. In it's own nature, something to incite rage in the Shinigami. “Go ahead and try, you shitbag of a Zanpakuto!” Rei yelled, his voice carrying for far longer than it should have here. “I’ll be waiting!” The blue-clad person looked as if they were about to lunge at Rei and deck them, but promptly stumbled over.
Shit. He made to support them in standing, only to receive a bonk to the head for his troubles. “You. MORON. That’s NOT the person you’re looking for, that’s not even a person! You’re looking for ME! NOT HIM! I don’t even know him and you even decided to just CALL that ratty piece of shit by my name? How DARE you, I ought to snuff you with a damn pillow! Find someone BETTER than you, you worthless-”
“HEY. I’m just as confused, you know!” “Yeah, and I’m CERTAINLY not as stupid-”
To put this as bluntly as can be put, this sort of bickering went on for a good few minutes. The youth was Rei’s ACTUAL Zanpakuto, versus whomever the black beast was, and they were actually very incensed at the innocent mistake earlier, however obvious as though that already was. In that duration, the sun seemed to slowly rise and hang in the distance, leaving this forest in an odd standstill of twilight and sunrise alike.
Eventually, however, the bickering managed to calm. Through calm, dialogue was at least had, and the reaper and the spirit, the true spirit, managed to at least introduce themselves. Talk a little bit. Small things.
“So, what, you come here and almost get killed because you wanted to actually talk to me? Could’ve…done that at any point, you know.” Dokusesshi noted, having squatted upon a log compared to Rei just. Sitting himself opposite it. “Yes, I am aware. A lot of things have been...hectic since you first spoke to me, to put it as lightly as I can.”
“Yep. Hell coming knocking, right? That guy you called me against…Kinda reminded me of you in a few ways. Right down to being an-” “Next you’ll say idiot.” “Fuck off, Bakagi.”
That one actually got a sputter from Rei. “Bakagi? Really? That’s…” Kind of trite, was his thought. “Perfect for you, moron. Accept it!” Rei shook his head to the demand. “Nope.” He spoke, plainly. “Not in a million years, Doku.” Simple as, really, or so he thought. The sword spirit blew a raspberry. “Alright, we’ll see what happens when that guy comes back. He was cleaning the damn house with you, imagine how you’ll fare all alone!”
“...I’ve been meaning to ask, has…he always been here? Or…?” He trailed off. Silence was the only thing to follow, as the spirit pondered. “Mmm. It’s…Actually tough for me to say.” They admitted, quietly. In a way almost like how Rei spoke, usually! “Given how you woke me during the invasion, stuff has been…jumbled for me, perception wise. Outside of you, and the stuff around you. I can’t really tell how long that’s been here, or why. For a long while, I thought it was just me, and…that thing just crept from the underbrush, said hello and socked me in the gut. It's been here ever since. More or less playing the crappiest game of cat and mouse.”
“Eesh.”
“Same as you. Anyways, he…seems to be gone. Go. You’ll probably have that lady telling you to get some rest soon. If you ever come back here, I’m usually at the lake. Just a few minutes of walking past this spot. Just…be careful. I know that’s never been in your vocabulary, but you’ve already gotten yourself hurt for nothing…”
“Guess I should…” Rei murmured as he got to his feet–everything…was starting to ache. Worse by the second. “I’ll try not to mistake any monsters for you. Promise.” He told the spirit, before he set away…
And shut his eyes once more.
What he awoke to was a -lot- of pain, and enough bruises to make one think he got in a street fight.
There were a number of things you should never perform late at night. Deep thought, a drinking binge, a drinking game...The list went on, and on, and numbered without end. For a particular Shinigami, however, he was going to find one more thing to add to that ever growing list, and it was not going to be pleasant. Though, he did not know that. After all, who would know a trap when it was sprung?
Such was what something thought, as Takagi Rei sat down upon a mat within his room, dimly lit, and set his Zanpakuto upon his lap. The spirit, Dokuseshi, as he knew them, was eerily quiet over the last few weeks, which…Mmm. His was a special case, as much as he hated to admit it. One born from a matter of life and death, in the midst of the invasion from Hell. For them to suddenly shut up after a while of being awake and speaking to him was most likely not out of the ordinary, yet…
Rei knew that his case was egregious in that he had never once spoke to them prior. Much less seen his Inner World or his Zanpakuto face to face. While nobody had made note of that yet, the realization did kind of hit him whilst he was performing his duties for the 3rd. It wasn’t enough of a hit to make others worried about him–Heavens forbid he accidentally make Miyu or Tala worry for nothing…But.
The gap in knowledge between himself and other Shinigami was there. The onus was ultimately upon him and himself to clear this up. How else would I become a lieutenant, huh? Or anything else the Gotei would wish of me? He thought. Actually, he…never really thought of where he wanted his ‘end’ goal to be. Did he see himself as someone able to make like Captain Minamoto? Tezuka?
At present?
No. No, you would definitely not be able to perform like they would. Not exactly, but not right now either. Each Shinigami had a journey to embark upon. Each Shinigami had their own trials to face in life and death alike. His were different from theirs, and it was vastly unfair to compare himself there…
…
Fucking…Now he was sidetracking himself. He recalled what he was taught at the Academy for his final days after the Invasion. The Jinzen ritual. Sword Meditation. To simply know the name of your weapon was not enough. Never enough. A bond had to be established, and this ritual was the only way how.
You lay your sword across your lap after you assume a meditative stance. You bind your spiritual pressure to it, via linking your mind with that of your Zanpakuto. Through this, you take a view of the inside...
Rei closed his eyes, and focused upon the dormant Dokusesshi. His senses went numb, and cold…And he soon felt an odd sensation in the form of fog. Humid, damp…He opened his eyes to find that his surroundings were not that of his room anymore. No, they were something that was far more different than he thought.
“This feels like home...” Not entirely correct, truth be told. It was far more accurate to say, what was home once. The town he grew up in likely didn’t exist anymore, knowing how much time had passed between his death and now...Yet a foggy forest in the dead of night was not really what he was expecting. Nor was the feeling of being watched.
It was an alien feeling, like something savoring it’s next meal, or the anomalous presence viewing a threat to be excised. The eerie feeling of it was enough to make Rei instinctively place his hand on his Zanpakuto, yet...
Immediately, he was set upon. A towering black…creature that vaguely resembled a hollow with the white upon it’s visage seemed to leap at him, attempting to slam into him. It got just what it wished for, as Rei was sent tumbling back towards a tree. The sheer…shock of it all left him dazed for but a few moments as the shape sauntered towards him, reaching down and slipping a clawed hand around his neck.
He was pulled upwards, and as his vision began to focus once more, he could see a…skull? Black sclera, purple eye, gold eye...Was this Dokusesshi? “...Seeing you in person, Doku, you’re…way more hosti-” Rei never got to finish that sentence. The beast squeezed at Rei’s throat, eliciting a gag from the Reaper. “Bold of you to assume the first thing you witness here is your...gnat of a spirit, mongrel.”
With that, the beast hurled Rei to the side, leaving the Shinigami rolling before he made to stand up, blade drawn. “Ah, there’s the blade. What, are you going to poison me? Try it–You won’t-”
The Shinigami vanished in a blur. Flash Step. Strike for an unarmored part of this bone-clad beast- The thought did not finish. As if it ever could. A blade had come to block Rei’s own. “Predictable. I know how precisely how this will go.”
“Yeah?”
What followed was two flashes–Rei attempting to utilize Shunpo at the same time as the beast. The beast was...marginally faster. What followed was a repeated series of clashes between blades, and claws. The beast only had one retort, seething with no shortage of disdain for Takagi Rei specifically.
“Poorly. You cannot prevent me seizing what is mine.”
It was at that moment that a bloodcurdling yell pierced the veil of the forest. “And what’s that, you uniformed shitstain?!” They cried, as a youth with equivalent amounts of azure on their person as there was blood leapt from the brush, swinging a blade that looked identical to Rei’s own when released to every detail as a ‘liquid’ form of spiritual pressure was shot forth in a crescent.
The beast did not seem to have a counter at the ready for this, and found itself being forced back with a gouge in it’s hide. “A delay.” It noted, cryptically. “Never a victory.”
“Erode.” Mist enveloped Rei as he got to his feet, and promptly swung the released Dokusesshi in the same manner as the azure-clad individual. This one, though, the beast was prepared for, as it leapt back and into the trees. “Uncouth. I will flay your loved ones for that.”
Such was not a threat, but a promise. In it's own nature, something to incite rage in the Shinigami. “Go ahead and try, you shitbag of a Zanpakuto!” Rei yelled, his voice carrying for far longer than it should have here. “I’ll be waiting!” The blue-clad person looked as if they were about to lunge at Rei and deck them, but promptly stumbled over.
Shit. He made to support them in standing, only to receive a bonk to the head for his troubles. “You. MORON. That’s NOT the person you’re looking for, that’s not even a person! You’re looking for ME! NOT HIM! I don’t even know him and you even decided to just CALL that ratty piece of shit by my name? How DARE you, I ought to snuff you with a damn pillow! Find someone BETTER than you, you worthless-”
“HEY. I’m just as confused, you know!” “Yeah, and I’m CERTAINLY not as stupid-”
To put this as bluntly as can be put, this sort of bickering went on for a good few minutes. The youth was Rei’s ACTUAL Zanpakuto, versus whomever the black beast was, and they were actually very incensed at the innocent mistake earlier, however obvious as though that already was. In that duration, the sun seemed to slowly rise and hang in the distance, leaving this forest in an odd standstill of twilight and sunrise alike.
Eventually, however, the bickering managed to calm. Through calm, dialogue was at least had, and the reaper and the spirit, the true spirit, managed to at least introduce themselves. Talk a little bit. Small things.
“So, what, you come here and almost get killed because you wanted to actually talk to me? Could’ve…done that at any point, you know.” Dokusesshi noted, having squatted upon a log compared to Rei just. Sitting himself opposite it. “Yes, I am aware. A lot of things have been...hectic since you first spoke to me, to put it as lightly as I can.”
“Yep. Hell coming knocking, right? That guy you called me against…Kinda reminded me of you in a few ways. Right down to being an-” “Next you’ll say idiot.” “Fuck off, Bakagi.”
That one actually got a sputter from Rei. “Bakagi? Really? That’s…” Kind of trite, was his thought. “Perfect for you, moron. Accept it!” Rei shook his head to the demand. “Nope.” He spoke, plainly. “Not in a million years, Doku.” Simple as, really, or so he thought. The sword spirit blew a raspberry. “Alright, we’ll see what happens when that guy comes back. He was cleaning the damn house with you, imagine how you’ll fare all alone!”
“...I’ve been meaning to ask, has…he always been here? Or…?” He trailed off. Silence was the only thing to follow, as the spirit pondered. “Mmm. It’s…Actually tough for me to say.” They admitted, quietly. In a way almost like how Rei spoke, usually! “Given how you woke me during the invasion, stuff has been…jumbled for me, perception wise. Outside of you, and the stuff around you. I can’t really tell how long that’s been here, or why. For a long while, I thought it was just me, and…that thing just crept from the underbrush, said hello and socked me in the gut. It's been here ever since. More or less playing the crappiest game of cat and mouse.”
“Eesh.”
“Same as you. Anyways, he…seems to be gone. Go. You’ll probably have that lady telling you to get some rest soon. If you ever come back here, I’m usually at the lake. Just a few minutes of walking past this spot. Just…be careful. I know that’s never been in your vocabulary, but you’ve already gotten yourself hurt for nothing…”
“Guess I should…” Rei murmured as he got to his feet–everything…was starting to ache. Worse by the second. “I’ll try not to mistake any monsters for you. Promise.” He told the spirit, before he set away…
And shut his eyes once more.
What he awoke to was a -lot- of pain, and enough bruises to make one think he got in a street fight.
