The First Spiritual Meeting (Training/Closed/Jak & Hotaru)

[Jak Halcom]

They ran for a minute or two through the crowded sidewalk. Jak would just push through anyone that got in his way brushing past people rudely and ignoring anything that they tried to say to his back. Jak's attention was focused to what was in front of them. There were a lot of people running the opposite direction from a intersection in the middle of town. There was fear and panic on peoples faces as they had no idea what was going on. All they saw was spontaneous destruction and maybe a foot print of the hallow.  

Jak stopped hearing the howl of a second hallow. It sounded a lot like the first one, but it was defiantly different than the first one they heard. Jak and Hotaru ran around he corner to see two hallows searching the shops and buildings for any souls to devour. The few times that Jak fought hallows it was always just one. He never thought that hallows ever hunted in groups or packs, or whatever it was called. 

One hallow was a large spider shaped hallow with an abdomen the size of a two story house. Eight long legs ending in sharp points dug into any surface that the thing crawled across. The spider hallow's head was humanoid in shape covered by the typical hallow mask. This one seemed to fuse into its body protecting the neck with it's hard bone like armor. Two arms ending with scorpion like pincers smashed into building to grab humans and souls alike.

The other was much bigger. It was at least as tall as a small office building and ape like in shape. It's arms were as round as oak trees hundreds of years old. A mix of armor and fur covered the thing's body, and its' mask had two tusks coming out from the corners of its' mouth. It didn't take much time for Jak to figure out which one he wanted to fight. He turned to Hotaru and punched his right arm into his left palm.

"I will take on the giant spider, king kong over their is yours." Before she could say anything he was running straight at the spider hallow. Both of his fists were clenched, and the fires in his right arm seem to be ignited with battle. It seemed to glow brighter as he was rushing the beast. His footsteps must have caught its' attention for it pulled its' head out of the building and looked at him. It leaps off the building and charged him opening its' maw to let out a loud howl.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru followed him rather easily through the crowded street. Since most people couldn't see her, she was able to weave her way through the crowd rather easily. She continued to pay attention to the front, just in case the hollow decided to run this way rather quickly. She also kept her hand on her zanpaktou for the very same reason. Then, she saw all the people running away from where they were running to.

So, it seemed like the hollow was causing enough destruction to make the humans panic and run. This would definitely be an interesting fight with Jak with her. She figured that he would be able to hold his own, but she would definitely be able to tell when fighting with a hollow. She almost ran into Jak when he stopped. She heard it to. It seemed that there was more than one hollow now.

They ran around the corner and saw the two hollows. She glanced towards Jak and saw that he was a little surprised. It seemed to her that he was used to fighting one on one with hollows and never encountered groups of hollow before. But, thankfully, she has and it wasn't that weird for her to see them in groups. She then looked over both hollows, which were too busy looking for souls to see them.

One of them was a spider hollow and the other was a huge ape. Just from looking at the two hollows, she figured that he would more than likely go after the spider, since it was a bit more manageable than the enormous ape. After a few minutes, he turned around and her assumption was correct. He said that he would go after the spider while she would take what he called 'King Kong.' She would need to ask about that later.

She looked up at the ape and it was just growling and checking through buildings. But, when its friend, the spider, saw Jake coming towards it and started roaring, the ape looked towards the street. At first she thought that the ape was going to go help its buddy. Then, it saw her and started roaring. She unsheathed her zanpaktou and readied herself. When it started to come towards her, she ran at it, hoping this battle would go well.

[Jak Halcom]

Jak drew his right fist back and struck out at the hollow with as much force as he could. The hollow pulled its head back away from the strike, and its left front leg was brought up and brought down to cut its small opponent apart. Luckily Jak managed to pull his fist back and side step the limb. Jak then grabbed the leg before the hollow could pull it back. It lifted the leg up in the air bringing Jak along with it. Jak felt his feet leave the ground, so he tightened his grip. The hollow brought him up to its face where it howled loudly. Obviously it was trying to intimidate him.

Jak waited for the howl to end before yelling back at the hollow as he bought his left fist sailing to the middle of its face. It wasn't a particularly powerful punch, but he was still able to cause some damage to the hollow. Its head rolled with the punch as much as it could before a right round-house kick sent the head in the opposite direction. One of the scorpion pincers came up to snap him in two. Jak let go of the large leg. His leg grazed by the giant pincer. Warm blood poured down his pants soaking his jeans. He growled in pain as he hit the ground. 

Smelling the blood and sensing that its prey was weakened, the hollow became more aggressive. He lashed out with its right pincer then pushed its head forward to bite at Jak. Jak rolled out of the way of the pincer causing it to gouge out a chunk of the road. Jak rolled up to his feet ignoring the pain in his leg the best he could. As the head of the hollow came closer, Jak braced himself and grabbed the hollows two sets of teeth. He began to slide back as the hollow tried to push through the smaller being's strength, but Jak was not about to give.

With a sudden jerk, Jak slammed the side of the hallows face into the pavement smashing his fist into the hallows face again and again. The hollow howled in pain, and its body jerked violently with each strike. Jak's knuckles were getting bloody from beating on the hard mask, but he continued on until he punched through it. With one more hard upper-cut, Jak snapped the things neck letting the large arachnid fall to the ground on its side before disappearing. 

Jak fell to his butt patting heavily. It was no small feat for him to take on a hollow by himself. He was always exhausted afterward and was glad that this time the soul reaper was here to take on the other one. If she didn't show up, he would probably be getting eaten right about now. Jak wiped the sweat from his face with his left hand looking to the where he last saw the other hollow. He wondered if he should help the shinigami or not. He shrugged and decided that he should rest first. Fighting hollows was what she did after all.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru was running towards the ape hollow, all the while trying to keep an eye out on the human. But, what still bothered her was this other feeling she was getting from the boy. She figured that it had to do with his red right arm, but she had never seen anything like it before. It was definitely interesting for him to have, but she would need to ask around Soul Society about it, or try to research it in the libraries of the Kuchiki Manor.

She noticed that he was doing well dodging, which was good, but before she could see anymore, she pretty much ran into the ape hollow. She was quicker than him, since when she ran into him, he just finished his swing for the area she was at. She looked up and tried to figure out a way to get to his mask. She ran in farther than she would've liked, but she needed to make the best of it. So, she jumped up to the roof of the building next to the beast.

Once she got to the roof, she started to slice at the ape's arm, since it was right in front of her. After three slices, the ape looked over to her and roared in her face. She just stared the hollow down. She had definitely been through worse than this before. When he used his left arm to attack, she jumped back. Once the fist hit the roof she started to run up the ape's arm. He definitely didn't see that one coming.

He, of course, tried to bat her off, but she was barely able to avoid his hits. Once she got to his shoulder, through the use of air grounds, she was able to make her way to its head and mask. Then, all she had to do was jump up. On the way down, she had her sword out, blade down, so she could slice completely through the hollow's mask. She landed on the roof of the building the ape was on.

Once she landed, she watched the ape hollow disappear and turn into a hell butterfly that flew away to Soul Society. She said a little prayer for the poor spirit and then looked over to see how Jak was doing. She watched the end of his fight. He was definitely a brawler, smashing at the hollow's mask until he broke it and set the soul free. She jumped down and walked over to him. He looked tired and bloody, but at least he fought well. "Nice fighting, Jak. Are you okay?"

[Jak Halcom]

Jak watched her come over to him as he rested. Blood still flowed from his wounded leg and busted knuckles, but Jak ignored them. It was hard to say if he was trying to be a badass or just being stubborn about his injuries. When she asked him if he was ok, he only grunted with a slight nod. His shoulders still heaved from his hard breathing. Something like that would make anyone tired and want to stop for the day, but not Jak, he is willing to continue fighting and training.

"So how about that training session then?" He asked with a hint of a smile on his face. He got to his feet wobbling slightly, but he was able to keep his footing and stay upright. He put his arms up in a fighting position ready to fight already. The chain on his right arm was covered in blood and clanked eagerly with each movement. "I am ready when you are." His master had always told him that the only way to get stronger was to push past your limits and fight harder.

It was clear though that he was not in the best condition to continue training. He leaned from side to side on his feet. His hands would drop down below his shoulders before quickly popping back up into their original position. His foot work was sloppy. He made uneasy shuffling steps as he staggered around. His breathing was still heavy and he was drenched in sweat. His wounds still flowed openly threatening to cause him to fall unconscious.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru looked at the boy and saw that he was resting. But, he was injured, which worried her a little bit. His leg was bleeding freely and his knuckles were all busted up from dealing with the hollow. He was trying his best to ignore them, she did the same thing. But, these were fairly bad, at least the leg injury was. She knew that he probably needed to get those looked at, but he seemed the type to keep going. She liked that.

He asked her about the training session. He started to smile, but she knew he wasn't ready. When he got up, he was wobbling. Surprisingly, he was able to stay upright and put his arms up into a fighting position. She just stood there, assessing the damage done to him. The chain on his right arm was clanking, and it seemed to have a life of its own, ready to fight. He said he was ready.

Though, after he said it, she knew he couldn't really do any training right now. He was leaning, hands continued to drop from his stance, bad stance with his feet and was staggering around, heavy breathing, drenched in sweat and enough blood was flowing for him to pass out just from blood loss. "I appreciate your readiness for training, but honestly, you aren't really ready for a training. You're too hurt to fully complete a training. If you want, I can come back when you are ready. In the meantime, can I take you somewhere to get your wounds looked at?"

[Jak Halcom]

Jak would have argued with her that he was just fine, but when he tried to step forward his leg buckled under him. He put his right hand on the ground. He nodded in agreement forcing himself to stand back up. Pain was shooting through his leg whenever he put his weight on it. Even he knew that he was not in the condition to do anything else.

"Alight, we will put off training for the day. Meet me back here tomorrow and then we can start training." He turned and started limping back to his apartment. He got a lot of strange looks from the people he passed, but the glares he shot back made them quickly turn their heads away. He was not in the mood for anything from them today. He managed to get to his mother's flower shop and entered it slowly. He made his way to the second story of the building where he made his home.

He carefully removed his pants grunting in pain as the material rubbed against his wound. He cleaned the wound on his leg putting some peroxide on it making it foam and bubble. After cleaning it, he wrapped it with some bandages that he found laid on his bed. He laid perpendicular to the mattress arms spread out to each side and just stared up at the ceiling. He needed to rest so he could do his job later today. He closed his crimson eyes for a little nap.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru watched as the boy looked like he was going to argue with her that he didn't need the rest, but she saw his leg buckle and he agreed with her. She also wanted to look into the power of his right arm. She couldn't do that here, but she would look through the libraries of Soul Society after he would leave. She needed to find out what kind of power he actually had, because she was pretty sure that he didn't know the full extent of his powers either.

He nodded towards her, saying that training will be put off for today, but he wanted to meet back in this spot tomorrow for the training. She nodded towards him. "Alright, sounds good. I'll be back here around let's say noon. See you then!" She waved as he walked away. She could tell that he was in pain and she hoped that only one day was needed to help with his injuries. After he was a little ways away, she called up the spiritual gates and quickly walked through them.

Once she got back to Soul Society, she quickly went to the Kuchiki Manor. She knew that the library there was the most extensive in Soul Society, so she needed to find something about his powers. Once she got to the manor, she cleaned most of the dirt off the bottoms of her feet and put her socks back on. She pretty much ignored the servants. Most of them she figured thought she didn't belong because she was a little bit different from other Kuchikis that she's met. But, she didn't care about that.

She finally got to the library and walked in quickly. She honestly didn't have any idea where to start. She thought about how the arm looked, red with black chains around it. It reminded her of what her father described as demons from hell. She looked through the library and found a small section on the Hell Realm. She knew there was a Hell, but she didn't know anything about the inhabitants of that place.

She saw the names of the demons and she found one race that sounded very interesting. Akkis were demons, and are actually similar to Arrancar, except Akki are forged with hell powers. It was an interesting read, especially the part where these demons have chains that they use for combat. They have chains due to how they lived in Hell. It reminded her of how Jak's right arm had chains running around it. She continued reading and found another race called the Nakabakki.

It seemed that these were created from the joining of someone that was an Akki and another race. She knew from what Jak told her that his mother was a Mod Soul, like Kaze. She continued reading. For an Akki, someone with such great power, to just reject it like that was impressive. She wondered if the Akki cared for his mother. But, he never mentioned his father much, so he wasn't there for him. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but refrained from doing so.

It was obvious after her time in the Manor on what Jak actually was. She was sure that he didn't really know the true extent of his powers. She was curious if during the training, his powers would take shape. She would have to push hard but even then, she didn't know if the training would bring out his powers. She thought to herself oh well, at least she would try to make this kid stronger.

The next day, she woke up and did her regular routine. She made it to the site of their previous hollow encounter about an hour earlier than she had said so she would have some time to converse with Rivu~aiasan. She sat on the sidewalk, unsheathed her zanpaktou, closed her eyes and felt out her zanpaktou spirit. She felt him almost immediately. Well young one, how do you plan on doing this training? I have no idea, that's why I'm reaching out to you. Well, push him hard, to his limits. I think that would be the best way for him to get stronger. Good luck! Thank you my sage. I hope this all works out. She opened her eyes, sheathed her zanpaktou and waited for Jak to arrive.

[Jak Halcom]

Jak tossed and turned in his sleep. Nightmares have been plaguing his sleep for the past few weeks, and tonight was no different. He turned from one side to his back then to the other side muttering in his sleep. His body was beginning to be drenched in a cold sweat aggravating his leg wound and busted knuckles. His body jerked as if he was in the fight of his life. 

He was surrounded by shinigami. Each one had his or her sword drawn ready to attack him. He could feel the rain falling on his body as the first one attacked from the left with a downward slash. Jak brought his right arm up using the chain to block the shinigami's sword. Jak would then push it aside closing the distance between them. He could sense the others closing in on him. He kneed his current foe in the gut and pushed him into two others trying to stay out from between them.

The next two came at him at the same time. He ducked and dodged their sword attacks, and he countered with fast punches and hard kicks. He didn't know why he was being attacked. Was it because he was part mod soul? Did that shinigami he met before find out something about him? His mind stopped seeing her stand in the back of the group organizing the attack. He knew it. He knew that he couldn't trust a shinigami. Soon he was overwhelmed pinned to the ground. Hotaru stood over him a twisted smile on her face. She brought her sword up and then down on his neck.

Jak jolted up awake whipping the sweat from his face. He checked the time and quickly got ready. He fixed his hair and changed his clothes. He put on the apron as he got behind the counter of the flower shop. He still limped slightly, but he was still moving at a pretty good speed getting his business taken care of. The flower shop was the one place where he could find peace. Floral arrangement and growing flowers was one of his passions in life besides fighting.

After a rather light day of work, Jak returned upstairs to his apartment and sat in front of the tv. He needed to get his mind off the sinigami. He couldn't help thinking that maybe the dream was a sign. Maybe he should be more careful around her. He shook his head and sighed forcing himself to relax and not think about it. As the hours passed he soon fell asleep in front of the tv. This one was more peaceful than his nap.

Jak was roused from his slumber by the morning sun hitting his face. He stretched and yawned loudly popping his back. He had to stop falling asleep on the couch, the bed was much more comfortable. After stretching, and getting ready for the day, he ate a light breakfast before heading out to the area where they decided to meet up again. He walked through the crowded sidewalks filled with the lunch crowd looking at the damage from yesterdays attacks. It always seemed odd that he was able to see the hallows while most could not.

It didn't take long for him to see Hotaru and make his way to her. She had her sword out and seemed to be in deep concentration. He stopped before he got close to her tensed. It would seem like his dream was a sign. He balled his fist ready to charge her again, but then she opened her eyes and put her sword away. He was confused. Was she getting ready to ambush him or what? He decided he would take his chances. He walked closer his arms crossed across his chest. "So you ready this time?"

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru was leaning against the wall when Jak walked up to her. He seemed more wary than he was yesterday. But, honestly, she was a little more wary of him as well. She knew his true potential. He obviously hadn't come into his power yet, or else those hollows would've been easy pickings for him. To have two branches of power to call on...it's a lot of power for one person to have. She was just curious how he was going to act once he had the power.

He looked at her and said if she was ready this time. He had his hands across his chest and still had a bit of a limp. So, it would take more than a day for him to heal. It made a lot of sense. But, from what she could tell from him, he was on guard. He didn't seem this tense yesterday. But, she could be misreading him. She didn't know him that well after all. She pushed herself off of the wall and looked at him. "I think I have a good idea of what to do now.

I can't train you on hand to hand combat, since I really don't know any. But, the only thing I can think of to train you with is the ability to fight against someone with a sword. A lot of the other spiritual races have swords, such as Shinigami or Arrancar. Once you get the feel of how to fight against one weapon, I have no doubt that you would be able to modify it against other weapons."

She then unsheathed her zanpaktou. "Alright, so this is a Japanese Katana. The way a sword could get to you is through its length. For a katana, the length is always over 23 cm. So, what would be the best bet to do against someone with a sword, since your a hand-to-hand, is by bypassing the sword altogether and get in close to hit some body shots. The best way I can think of doing that is through a spar. I'll teach as we go to make it easier."

She stood in her ready position and took a deep breath. She knew that she needed to aim for non-fatal spots on his body. She tried to take her mind out of fighting to fatally injure. She would aim for wounds, but she hoped that he would be able to dodge her strikes. She then ran at him and went in for a strike. She aimed for his demon right arm. She wanted to see if the arm moved faster than the rest of his body or how it would just generally react to the attack.

[Jak Halcom]

Jak rolled his eyes during her description of their training and the specs of a katana. All this he was aware off already, though most of it he really could care less about. He decided to humor her since she was going out of her way to train with him. He listened to her itching for her to ready to fight him. When she finally got into a fighting stance he did the same. He was ready for anything that she would throw at him. He hoped she was no going to hold back too much, otherwise the training would not be that good.

He saw that she was aiming a slash at his right arm. He didn't know what she was up to, but he didn't kneed to know. He brought his arm up blocking the sword with the chain. He smiled as he pushed her sword back the way it came pushing it out wide, as he did that he fallowed up with a left hook aimed to her chin for a quick clean knock out. 

He knew that he would need to think of something to counter that sword of hers. That sword gave her an extra two meters over him at least. He would need to either find something to close the gap, or be able to fight her at the same distance. He thought about the chain on his arm. Maybe he could use that to his advantage. He decided to wait on that to make sure that he would need to take the chance of changing styles of fighting.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

While she talked, she saw Jak roll his eyes. He obviously thought that he knew everything there was to know about the blade and what not. It never hurts to go over the basics again. No matter, if he took this too lightly for long, she would pull out the big guns on him and make sure he would listen to her. Once she got in her stance, he did too, looking ready to fight. She narrowed her eyes before she attacked.

He brought up his right arm, blocking her sword with the chain that wrapped around his arm. A very good idea. She was still curious if he could use the chain on his arm as a weapon. Or, I guess she would say, if he would use it as a weapon. He then pushed the sword back towards her with a smile on his face and then aimed a left punch, which she thought was called a 'hook' towards her. She easily ducked down under the punch.

When she ducked down under the punch, she thrust up with her sword towards Jak's face. He left himself wide open from an attack from below. "You might think you know the basics of combat, but it's the basics that you should always review over and over again to build upon them to get better. One of the big basics is not to let you guard down. You obviously did that. Keep your guard up better next time."

[Jak Halcom]

Jak's eyes widened when he saw her duck under his hook and he recognized what she was about to do. As the blade came up, Jak leaned his head to the left letting the blade go past his head. The blade nicked his hair sending strands of his black hair flying away in the wind. Jak swatted the blade aside with his right hand and sent a side kick aimed at her chest. 

"Don't think that finding one opening means you can preach to me about keeping my guard up." He would try to get close to her throwing a quick jab with his left hand. He kept his right hand up ready to defend against the sword that would no doubt come back around some way.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru watched as his eyes widened when he realized that he left his guard open. She slowed down the speed of her sword so he wouldn't actually get skewered by her blade. He dodged by moving his head to the left, but the blade of her sword still nicked his hair and she watched strands of his hair fly off. She smiled to herself as he swatted the blade away with his right arm and then aimed a kick towards her chest. She backed out of his range and stood there for a moment, loosening herself up for the next strike.

He then said that don't think finding one opening means she can preach about keeping his guard up. He then tried to throw a quick jab with his left hand. What she did was pretty easy. All she did was move her zanpaktou in front of her right side, holding the sword with her wrist up towards the ceiling instead of her knuckles, so it was like an underhand hold. This way, when he came for the jab, he would wound himself and she could easily slice out at him if he got that close. "It is for that reason I should say something. Never put your guard down."

[Jak Halcom]

When she put the blade in the way, Jak tried to pull his hand back, but was cut by the sharp blade. Blood flowed from his wounded hand. It dripped to the ground turning the pavement an off red. If she was going to use a weapon so would he. He unwrapped the chain that wrapped around his arm. It hung about four feet from is hand. It clanked as it swung back and fourth. He made a few test swings to get the feel for the way it swings and the weight of it.

Jak looked at her and grabbed part of the chain with his other hand. He has a resilience to heat so the heat from the chain did not bother him. He brought his right arm up and let go of the chain with his left hand bring it down hard in a downward strike. If she dodged this one, he would let the chain swing back up and catch it in his left hand, if she blocked it, he would try to wrap the chain around he sword and pull it aside so he could fallow up with an under punch to the stomach with his left hand.