Welcome to the Jungle [JT/R/NDE]

[Okura Yoshitsune]

It all started as a simple training exercise, he'd arranged for a training expedition into the wilderness with a couple of buddies to get some experience fighting hollows, getting a feel for their swords. They were all fresh out of the academy, their whole lives ahead of them. The trip started like any other venture, everyone gathered at the barracks packed up some supplies for the trip, and got a move on, moving out to outer Rukongai to do a little bit of yard sweeping. After all, hollows ran rampant around the wilderness, making them dangerous. With this many people who graduated, it couldn't have been as much trouble as the exams were.

As it turned out, the final exam area, the path to the Spirit Forge, was kept relatively clean of hollows. Bumping into one was typically a fluke. Yoshitsune wasn't strong, he wasn't even the sort of weak they usually let into squads outside the Fourth. But he wanted to get stronger, that was the whole point of this trip. It wasn't his idea, the dudes offered to help him get used to hollow combat. For what it had been worth, things were going smoothly for a while there. But after so many hollows the guys were getting pretty tired of basically carrying the weakling shinigami.

By the time he'd get his sword out they would already have been most of the way done. It was a long blade, after all, he couldn't feasibly draw it as quickly as he wanted to yet, not with the sheer lack of practice he'd gotten. When the next hollow arrived, it was his turn to fight. Of course it was, in preparation, he'd already had his Asauchi in hand. "It's cool Yoshi, just relax, you've got this," they would tell him. And for just the shortest amount of time, he'd believed them.

As a hollow came from behind a tree, already on the offensive, it immediately ripped one of the other Shinigami in half. It had actually only taken off an arm and a shoulder, but it was a ridiculously fast kill. "It's already attacking? Shit!" the others would say, reaching for their blades. Another was killed in that instant, Yoshitsune missing his attack against it. How could he hit the thing? It was faster than he was, and with far more practice, he could imagine.

Yoshi would have to move after it, bringing his sword with a whirling swipe. It looked for an instant like it was going to connect, but he was suddenly batted aside, launched away from the hollow and smashing into a wall. "Run away, Senichi!" he would call out. The shinigami would make a break for it while Yoshitsune got the hollow's attention with an incantation: "Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into three!" While he was incanting, the hollow had turned to note that he was still alive instead of dead, and decided to finish the job, charging him like the feral beast of prey that it was. With a finger he would trace a triangle, "Bakudo #30: Shitotsu Sansen!" Suddenly, three break-like triangular pyramids would fires out into the hollows shoulder, opposite shoulder, and their gut. and pushed it down into the ground, pinning it there. It squirmed and struggled, its long, stringy tail whipping to and fro.

He would pant, casting that Bakudo took a lot out of him, and the adrenaline rush wasn't helping him either, everything was going a million miles a second. "Alright, now just to..." he would say, peeling himself off of the ground and gripping his sword and intending to slay the hollow while it was bound. However the monster's struggling was proving to be efficient, Yoshitsune was so weak that even his best spell, even fully incanted, was breaking before his eyes, the pins forming cracks along the surface. He froze up in fear. "Oh shit..."

[Angel]

After the Kuroi invasion, there had been known to have been an increase in Hollow activity nearly world wide. Many, many Shinigami died in his attack and many more injured. Soul Society was licking their wounds, but in this new generation, there was hope. Hope of greater power. HIkari Nisei...Angel...or least known as Hikari Kuchiki had been planning for some time. A junior member of Squad 7’s division, she had been sent to patrol the wilderness and deal with Hollows lately. She had also unlocked her Shikai. Although this was kept secret for her own personal reasons. However, screams rang through the forestry. Shinigami...and the Hollow she sensed. It was likely an Adjuchas.

After being trapped in Hueco Mundo for a day, she had studied Hollows and looked at them in a different light ever since. They were disgusting, but they were powerful and malicious. She knew a Hollow’s nature...and she trained hard in the goal of being an efficient exterminator. Using the Shunpo, she saw that there had been a few dead Shinigami already. Narrowing her eyes, she saw in the distance a Shinigami and the trapped Hollow. It was certainly powerful...and as it cracked the Shitotsu Sansen, the beast howled in anger. It was wild and animalistic. It was going to kill that poor fool ahead because he tried to be the hero.

With one last guttural growl, the Shitotsu Sansen began to break. One had cracked...and the Hollow grabbed the other two. Standing, it looked at Yoshitsune with a look of hunger and animosity. In that moment, the Hollow sprinted forward...until suddenly a spiritual power would wash over the area and the beast stopped. “I don’t think so.” Using the Shunpo a second time, Angel appeared directly above the Hollow before delivering a frontward kick straight for the mask to make it tumble back slightly. Springing off its head, the black haired girl flipped backwards before immediately rushing up to its stomach and touching it. “Sho.”

With a stronger push, the Hollow was sent skidding back several feet before crashing lightly into a tree. “Accursed tool and one forgotten through the ages. Pierce Daten-shi (Fallen Angel)” There was silence as the spiritual pressure grew larger for a moment...then stopped with Angel’s Katana drawn. The blade hadn’t changed...except for her handle. The blade’s handle was now a white and red pattern...however, it would suddenly gain a second layer of bandages. “Oi...newbie. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to fight.”

The Hollow opened its mouth and immediately the woman knew what was going on. Clasping her blade in both hands, the Hollow charged a giant red orb in its mouth as it compressed. It coated both Angel and Yoshitsune in an ambient red light for a moment. Slashing outward with her blade, the Cero launched. Suddenly, an almost grey and dull energy flew out and collided with the Cero...seemingly halted in its tracks. However, looking past the Cero, there would be the view of the Hollow being sliced straight from the head down to the chest. The Cero and ominous aura exploded together before the smoke would clear. “So many Hollows nowadays.”

Awkwardly, she sheathed her blade...very quickly...as if trying to hide something. Her blade was immediately normal shape. What was the small difference in her blade that allowed her to deal with that Hollow’s cero and it at the same time? She really needed to be killing more of these things. They were becoming a problem...especially now that they were getting closer and closer to Soul Society. Turning to the new face, she seemed rather neutral. Coal eyes staring into his. Man...this was awkward. What should she say?

[Okura Yoshitsune]

The hollow broke free, and Yoshitsune was completely frozen with fear. It faced him with a look in its eye that foresaw the end of his life. 'Well... It was fun while it lasted' he would think to himself, surrendering to his fate. The hollow took off towards him with predatory instinct, bloodlust in its gaze. Suddenly, a powerful spiritual energy washed over the area, momentarily distracting it into a halt, merely feet away from him, giving Yoshitsune the opportunity to get out of the way. He would take a large jump backwards to disengage, before a voice called out, 'I don't think so' prompting him to watch as a black-haired female shinigami appeared in a flicker, landing on the hollow's face and using it was a springboard for a stylish backflip.

That shinigami then dashed in used a recognizable hado to shove the hollow back and into a tree with a crash, though the damage didn't appear to be much to talk about. Suddenly, she started an incantation he couldn't recognize, and not because he wasn't well versed in what incantations sounded like, but because it wasn't at all for a kido of any sort. The shinigami's sword in hand transformed its hilt and that was basically it.

After that, Yoshi's savior told him to not be afraid to fight. He knew that he shouldn't be, and the display they'd put on was quite inspiring to say the least. He'd not expected a Hollow to be so scary when it was on the winning side, it must have been a powerful Gillian or an Adjuchas of some sort. His fear was only verified when the monster opened up its mouth and began charging a red ball of energy.

"Is that a... Oh shit!" he would suddenly register what it was. Yoshitsune had never seen one in person, only read about it in a book from the Academy library a few months ago. The hollow was charging a Cero, an explosion of concentrated reishi with no purpose other than to destroy. Immediately he froze up again, it was like his fear response wanted him to die or something. However as the Cero fired off, the other shinigami made her move, and swung her blade releasing a dull grey blade of energy. The one blade clashed with the Cero and seemed to hold the blast back for some anomaly of wave physics, which would do some good, in Yoshi's mind.

However, before he knew it a glance later and the blade had cleaved through the hollow's face and chest in a straight line, slaying it. The cero exploded violently and the hollow vaporized as its soul was purified. Suddenly the lady would sheath her blade so as to... conceal something? It wasn't any of his business. However, she turned to look at him, with those black eyes that seemed to pity him. He didn't want the pity, he wanted to be strong... But this was all he got. He lived while two perfectly innocent newbies, probably better off than he was being alive, two perfectly good soldiers who could have made something of themselves, died. He wondered how Senichi was going to cope, seeing as he escaped perfectly fine.

Yoshitsune would collapse to his knees, his blade falling to the ground at his side. He started to struggle, holding back tears, "You saved my life... I shouldn't have needed it. But I did... S-so... Th-thank you so much!" He would bow before her in a grateful mannerism, sniveling a bit as he tried rather poorly to refrain from crying. To some it'd be respectable, he'd just watched the deaths of his allies for the first time, and lived. To others, his tears would probably be a sign of weakness, disgusting weakness. He knew it was both, he was weak and couldn't protect anyone. He was scum if he still called himself a shinigami.

[Angel]

Angel was successful in saving a life. The Hollow was vanquished and her Shikai was hidden quickly. At the end of it all, the Shinigami that she saved fell onto his knees, about to bawl his eyes out from the visage of it. However, he immediately bowed and thanked her for saving his life. “Now is not the time to be crying. Get up. Unless you want to leave your dead comrades on the floor like that. Consider it fate that you were able to survive this day while they have died. Also keep this in mind. If you want to thank me, you will tell no one of what you saw me do.” Walking ahead, she would look to one of those deceased Shinigami.

She saw a lot of it. She saw many be killed and it disgusted her. She should have been here sooner. Angel was a fool. Slowly putting the bottom end of the Shinigami’s waist aligned with the center, Angel placed her fingertips on the line where he was torn apart. Her fingertips would glow blue as she would begin to cauterize and meld the flesh together. A proper military funeral would be needed for these two. She remained silent for the most part as she was...thinking of some way to converse with this Shinigami. There was no normal and casual way of doing so right now. “My name is Nisei Hikari...although everyone calls me Angel. Your name.”

As she turned the body around, she would continue the melding process. Once she was finished, she would slowly lift the body bridal style, showing she was at least somewhat physically capable. Her eyes were cold as steel...and yet had a neutrality to them. They had no expression as she looked at the Shinigami by her feet. He was scared...and Angel could say that she was not so long ago in a similar state of fear against the Hollows. They were efficient killers and Angel had been taken to Las Noches by one of their ilk. It was something she would certainly never forget. She walked to him before kneeling down. “You carry this one.”

Slowly, she would look to the second deceased before connecting the arm and shoulder back together in an awkward manner. If he were to notice, he would see that the skin was burnt...cauterized together. “We head back to Seireitei. I would like to know why you all came here. Regardless, I’ll be taking responsibility as it was my particular duty to exterminate Hollows from this section.” She frowned at that thought. She wanted to become more powerful, and yet she was bound by human limitation. Was she weak because of that? What was she to do in order to improve herself beyond that limitation? Kaen Youji the Fukutaicho of Squad 7 had been increasingly resilient in his training methods. Perhaps she should seek him out.

Walking towards the direction of the giant walls, only recently repaired, she wasn’t thinking about this sobbing reaper too much. That is...until she decided to speak up. “You’ve been through a bad experience...and I’m sure that you’ll never want to go through such a thing again. If that’s the case, I’d be willing to help you. Help you train so that something like that Hollow you saw. You will be able to defend those you find precious from them. To be able to do your duty as a Shinigami with greater efficiency.” Angel adjusted the male on her back before stopping for a moment and coughing in a small fit.

“We’ll be starting with Kido...and then physical training for the next part. I saw your Shitotsu Sansen, and as a result I would assume you to be a member of Squad 5. I am from Squad 7. I saw you weren’t moving too well. You lacked speed and power behind your sword strikes. Sorry for pointing out your flaws, but it will be important. You owe it to these dead men here...your nakama to get stronger seeing you survived and they died. Do you understand what I am saying?” Blood dripped lightly onto her uniform as she looked into the face of the corpse in her arms. Why...was the world so unfair?

[Okura Yoshitsune]

As he thanked her and almost started weeping openly, she instead rejected this form of thanks and told him to suck it up for the time being, as neither the time nor place was right for this reaction. He would sniffle and sit himself up, looking at her with a slight pout, trying to get his emotions under wraps. This shinigami couldn't have been much older than he was, the only difference between them seemed to be power and experience and nothing more. So why was it that she was able to remove that hollow with a flick of her blade while he couldn't so much as land a scratch on it in truth.

The shinigami before him proceeded some sort of delicate cauterizing process on the bisected corpse of on of his comrades. With just her fingertips she was recombining his top and bottom halves. It was grotesque, but he watched silently, unable to find the words needed to express how he felt. Perhaps feeling wasn't the right thing to do altogether. Even as she scooped the shinigami up, and brought him over, she seemed to keep a cool head. Was it because she didn't even know any of these lot?

"I'm Yoshitsune... Okura Yoshitsune. M-my friends call me Yoshi for short," he would finally answer just before she set the guy down in front of him. He looked down at the corpse, the look of fear still fresh on his face even though the embrace of death had taken him. Yoshi closed the man's eyes. As she said that he was carrying this one, he would look the guy over, wondering if he could lift his body weight. He was put in the scientific research and development squad for a reason after all, his physical traits were all sub-par for certain.

It took a little finagling but he eventually worked it out so that he could minimize the muscular requirements of the lift by pulling the body over his rather thin, feminine shoulder. As they would start marching towards Seireitei once more, he would brief her on the exact circumstances. "We were on an excursion into the wilderness to get some practice in, slaying hollows. We probably cleared about 10 or so before that one showed up. It was my turn to fight first at that point, but I was too slow, and the four of us were halved within 5 seconds. Senichi survived but ran off, probably back home. He's strong enough to fend for himself on that route, I'm pretty sure. He's in Squad 11 those guys are notoriously resilient. Unfortunately, that's not as much as I can say for the others. That one you're holding there is Tadayoshi Tamuro from my squad. He was always so energetic, and a great drinking buddy. The one I'm holding is Fukunaka Shuko, from Fourth Squad. It's gonna be hard to break the news to his kid, that some monster ripped him clean in half before he could... Nevermind..."

Once he was done explaining everything he would hear out her idea. He was really bummed out about this whole thing, even if he tried to keep his emotions in check and not break down crying like a little bitch, he was having trouble maintaining even a neutral state of mind. It was a bleak feeling to try and ignore the tears he felt, like he was killing a part of himself. Her idea was that she could help him train to get strong enough to fight hollows like that.

She started working out a regimen for him already, pointing out his flaws, which he nodded to. "I'm well aware of my deficiencies, and your guess was correct. My issue is currently my inability to progress no matter how hard I try and train. I've worked out until I vomit, I've run till my feet bled. It must be some kind of curse," he would explain. "That said, I'm particularly receptive to learning techniques, as I mastered Shitotsu Sansen far earlier than other tend to, though it's my only trick. Whatever the case, I'm more than willing to train with you, so long as you're aware of my particular deficits and are willing to bear with me in regards to them."