looks are deceiving (Junko, N.I.U.S. , and open)

:: Downtown Karakura Town. 2:28 A.M. ::

It was what most people called 'the Witching hour', the time of the night were only the monsters of our nightmares roamed the streets. But only a few of the living knew how much truth there was in that statement. This was even true in downtown Karakura Town. All the buildings were dark, their workforce at home sleeping. The normally crowded streets were empty as well. Save for one person. The boy wore a dark blue hoodie, and black loose fitting pants. The boy's walked with his head down, and the hood to his hoodie up over his head. He walked slowly, and for a brief second after each step he took a faint blue glow could be seen by those 'gifted' enough.

Suddenly a roar teared through the silent night air, but only he could hear it. It was the distinct precursor of a hollow. Only this time it was four of them. They came out the the shadowy alleyways and from the roof of the buildings from where they had been hiding, and surrounded the boy quickly. All for of them had a mostly humanoid appearance, a tail here, elongated arms there. But their presence didn't seem to phase the boy, who stood still now, with his hands in his pockets.

"About time..." Kazuhiko said, pulling his hand out of his pockets and holding them slightly above his head. He looked up at the hollow before him, his eyes menacing dark blue glow emanating from them. "Shall we get started?" He didn't bother waiting for a reply, and in a deep bright flash of blue light a dark blue, semi-transparent armor appeared on his arms (from the elbows down) and legs (from just above the knee down). The flash of light stunned the hollows, just long enough for him to act. In a series of four punches and kicks the hollows fell to to the ground, each of the masks shattered, and their bodies dissolving into nothingness. He relaxed the tension in his body and let out a long sigh, the armor fading from his body. He looked up towards the sky, his eyes still glowing a menacingly. He could sense others in the area. Who or what they were, he didn't know, but he knew they were there.

Junko stopped running, 4 of the hollow's presenses, had vanished... She was tracking the metalic one that had evaded her before... but something that was powerful enough to take down 4 hollows simultainously had to be investigated...

Junko was in her Gigai and was jumping over rooftops, moving to the site, she had gotten the gigai at the local shop, and it's clothing were tight fitting and in her opinion too revealing, and it had no shoes which she found strange...

But junko perservered... running on roof tops, and when she started to close, she decended a fire escape to go to ground level, when she was jumped... 2 men jumped out from behind a dumpster and were probably going to say something along the lines of "Hey baby", but were interuptted by a fist to the face... Junko turned the corner out of the alley and sprinted to see a teenager with a blue glow's armour disappear...

She just stood for a moment, observing him, she was in plainview and her spiritual pressure was supressed in the gigai...

His glowing eyes stared blankly into into the sky, his mind reaching out, trying to sense the other hollows in the area. It was then he noticed the woman standing just outside of the alleyway to his left. He didn't see her at first, and could barely sense any spiritual energy on her. What drew his attention to her, what the strange interference he got off of her. It almost reminded him of when he first met Kaiyo. He turned his head to look at her, analyze her. She was older than he was, same height, and gave off just enough spiritual energy through the interference to make him curious, and the look of puzzlement on her face intrigued him even more. She was dressed rather oddly though, and her skin tight clothing made her stand out even more. But more than anything, she was american, or a brit, he couldn't tell.

The glow faded from his pale azure eyes as he observed her, and cleared his throat. "What is a tourist doing running around half-naked and barefoot, through downtown no less, here?" He said in perfect english, with only the slightest hint of an accent. "Better question, why are you staring at me like I just fell from the sky?" He asked, his eyes flashing back to there glowing blue for a split second. He made his eyes glow on purpose, he wanted to know if she could see his energy clearly.

Junko replied to the teenager... folding her arms and relaxing...

"I can take care of myself if that is what you are worried about, you can ask the two guys in an alley that have decided to take a nap on the ground...

But you knew that already didn't you...

I am not staring, i am trying to figure out how you, a human teenager took down four hollows simultaniously..."

Junko dropped her arms to her sides as she flashed his eyes and walked forward, lazily she reached behind her head to push some hair behind her ear, and to grab the soul pill that resided behind her ear, wedged there as she had no pockets in her current attire, she held it in her left hand and left her left hand clenched...

"You will tell me, wont you?" She inquired this as she got about 3 feet away from him and stopped leaving her body relaxed...

N.I.U.S had remained unaware of it being followed, as the gigai would have hid the presence of the one chasing him, however he suddenly felt the death of four of the similar platforms, a curious case. The serpent moved swiftly through the city, keeping its reiatsu silent as it moved into a position with an easy overlook of the position of their deaths. The red optical receptors giving a subtle glow in the darkness, looking at the two organics talking.

From its observations, N.I.U.S realized that it was a cool atmosphere to the discussion between the two. Their was no friendly nature in their talks nor did it have hostile tendencies, from this it assumed it was their first meeting. It decided that for the moment observation was the best approach, as hostilities now would simply end with them most likely both attacking him.

((srry for the delay, my internet has been screwy for the last few days -_- ))

He glanced over her shoulder, and saw a foot of one of the two men she had 'taken care of.' "So maybe you can handle yourself." he said with a slight smile on his face. Kazu smiled at her. "So you know what a hollow is, interesting." He glanced around at the dust that remained of the four hollows. Then, looked back up at her with a mocking smile. " 'I can take care of Myself. ' " he said imitating her.

He took a step towards her, his eyes glowing again as he looked over her once again. To his eyes, she was a normal human, with no spiritual energy, and he couldn't sense anything other than the interference. He found this strange considering she seemed to know what hollows were. "Its strange," he said, "You seem to know what hollows are, but to me your nothing more that a normal human." As he spoke he began to walk a circle around her, not closing the distance between them, but still analyzing her with is glowing eyes. "But the oddest thing about you..." He said after he completed the circle, stopping infront of her. "...Is the fact that I only sense something hiding your energy. So that being said I don't know whether to consider you a friend or a foe. I hope, for your sake, its not the latter. So why don't you quit hiding and reveal what you are. Unless your afraid..." He said with a mischievous grin on his face.

N.I.U.S kept an interested look over the situation in front of him, his optical receptors finding the perfect settings along with fine tuning his audio to just the right frequency. The discussion seemed to revolve around the spiritual nature of the two, of their awareness of this new realm. And then came something unexpected, as he felt energy surging forth from the woman, his core processor stirring into action. 'Energy signature recognized. Filtering through memory banks.'

N.I.U.S' memory banks went through a lightning quick search, filtering through everything until he found what he was searching for. 'Targeted imprint detected. Hostile actions taken in past. Peaceful action determined improbable.' As he finished filtering through, he moved to a closer position, still keeping his eyes on them as he constantly went through everything said, he was preparing for action.

Kazu shivered alittle when she 'stepped' out of her body. He found the sight of it unnerving. "Shinigami...hmmm....Not as strong as the ones i have previously encountered. Thank god. They were such a pain to be around..." he said out-loud, although he only intended for it to be in his head. Realizing he voiced his thoughts out loud he turned away from her, before his face turned alittle red. He looked over his shoulder when she asked what he was. What an odd thing to ask someone....and she doesn't even know who i am... he thought and a small smile crept along his face. Turning and giving a slight, almost apologetic, bow he gave his reply: "I'm just a human, Ma'am."

Internally he force his energy absorption down the the bare minimum. On the very edge of his senses he could sense something else there, but when he tried to focus on that energy he couldn't sense it. Something else was out there, and it was watching them. So he forced his powers down to barely human levels of spiritual energy. He need to kept his powers hidden should what ever it was decided to attack. "My name is Kazuhiko Tatsuma, and who are you miss shinigami?" he said smiling alittle.

Junko grinned abit at his first comment... and her grin turned to a furrowed brow of concern about him being a human. A human with spiritual pressure were prefered by hollows for munching, and apparently this kid had evolved to be abit more than a tasty morsel...

She replied as he asked in a casual tone, not showing any of her concern. About Kazuhiko seeming distracted, and about his powers... "Junko Tenshi"

The serpent would creep ever closer, hiding in the shadows of the night around them. A plan formed in the processing chambers of the robotic hollow, to see if they were possibly aware of his presence. N.I.U.S opened his jaws and shut them, making a loud metallic noise as he quickly crept down from the rooftops and into the alleys below. He would then sweep around in the darkness, going from alley to alley, making different noises each time, the voice modulator inside him capable of making replications of other beings, to make it sound as if many surrounded them.

As he finished this long sweep, N.I.U.S left the shadows of the alleyways, standing up as well as a snake can stand before beginning to speak. "I am Nebulous Interactive Universal Systems. Identify before you are consumed and assimilated." The serpent would then narrow and tilt the digital optical receptors that were his eyes, giving a very sinister appearance in the darkness that were still all around them.

"Its a pleasure to meet you ma'am.." He said, still in english, after hearing her name. "And no need to worry ma'am, I can handle myself." He continued, noting the look on her face. "Now to answer your question from before. Those were just mere whelps for hollows. More than likely just became them a few-" He was interrupted by a loud metallic noise behind him. A look of annoyance was on his face, as he glanced over his shoulder at the noise. The series of noises that followed did little to him. Turning back toward her, a playful smile was on his face. "this should be good..." he said barely above a whisper.

His sense picked up on the hollow's energy when it it first made a sound, and tracked its location. Un-phased by the noises that had been occuring around them, he knew there was only one hollow. Instead his eyes were darting around, analyzing the surrounding area, and assessing the situation. He had to be careful here, downtown was not the place to be reckless, he knew he had to fight smart here. His eyes stopped for a moment on her neck, and his nose recognized the smell in the air: bunt flesh. He knew that smell all to well, the cost of going all out with his powers. The scar on his eye stung him alittle as he remembered what happened last time he got reckless with his powers. Turning his face towards Junko's, his smile faded. "So are we allies, for now at least?" he asked her in a whisper. His expression was serious, but a small hint of concern was in his eyes. He could tell she was hurt, he just didn't know how bad.

Satoshi had been prowling around this town for quite some time, finding it an excellent source of both souls and Hollows to consume. Tonight he was going about his customary patrol of the town, when he sensed two familiar reiatsus- one was a Shinigami's. The other was a Hollow's. Satoshi's mouth opened, and an angry hiss escaped his jaws.

He quickly made his way toward the source of the reiatsus, but halted as he neared. He could sense a third, unfamiliar reiatsu that was neither Hollow nor Shinigami. Human, perhaps? One of those Quincy that he had run into, maybe? Satoshi peered over the edge of the building he was crouched down on to observe the scene below- the human didn't look like a Quincy. He decided he would wait before making a move; but not too long. He owed that Shinigami a beating.

Junko spun around, as quickly as she could, she heard hollows all around, but belived none of it, as she felt nothing, but she second guessed herself, "He snuck up on us without me noticing, why can't other hollows."

Junko reacted while spinning to her left, drawing her sword in her right hand, slower than she would have liked, and pulling her shoulder blades backward caused her face to grimace in pain, the burns paining her, and saying as the tip of her sword cleared the scabbard, "Bakuto 8 Seki", In her left hand a blue ball formed, one that had been tried and tested against this Mecha-type hollow, and would serve to reflect whatever attack it served to use...

Turned, she let her senses expand, and left them that way, serving to detect any reading of reiatsu. She said to Kazuhiko, not averting her eyes from the hollow, "Allies, yes, what range do you fight, I can adapt, I am less certain about you and your powers",'Whatever they may be' she continued in her head, but she decided that he would explain, or not...

She said to the hollow, "Junko Tenshi, Shinigami of the 11th Squad" She assumed a fighting stance, her kido in her left hand and foot forward, her leg drawn back far, and her shoulders arranged in such a way that they drew her body at an angle, to present a smaller target, but able to stand tall, and her sword parallel with her left arm, but lower, and further back, allowing for a stab if a charge were to occur.

N.I.U.S observed the humans behaviour, unresponsive to his feignt and drew the conclusion that he either was unaware of even the sounds, or already had seen through his plan. 'Worrying to underestimate enemy sensors so severely.' Re-focusing his eyes to the shinigami, taking note of every word spoken and reacting quickly to what she had said she belonged to. 'Eleventh squad? Shinigami show signs of large organization of military design. Demands further investigation.'

The metal snake straightened, a position unfit for any hostile movement and made it clear that this was the case. "Squad eleven of how many? How are squads organized; weakest to strongest, individual specialization? Squad hold military origin as hinted by the term, or similar to organic private organizations?" All the questions came out very unnatural both from the voice that said it and when considering the current situation, however N.I.U.S stood unmoving to show the true curiousity ultimately fueling the questions.

Satoshi continued to watch the events unfolding below him. He had not known that the Shinigami were that organized. He decided he would continue and watch until he learned more- after all, knowledge was power, or something like that. Still, he was itching to get into the fight, eager to pay that Shinigami back for the cut she'd given him in their previous bout.

Plus...he'd gained new power since their previous encounter. He'd show her that messing with him was foolish beyond belief.

He watched as Junko bravely stepped around him, despite her pain. He turned and stood behind and to the right of her, his eyes noting the several burns on her body, and the slight limp when she walked. Concern was on his face, but it faded into a friendly smile. He reached up and touched her shoulder, "Why do all you shinigami think that all humans need to be defended? Or better yet, why do you eleventh squad fools needlessly throw yourselves at the enemy?" he said, more like a statement then a question. "Look I have a hard time describing my powers, so how about I just show you." He said taking another step forward, as dark blue energy began to swirl around his hand and feet. As he continued forward the energy formed into a semi-transparent blue armor around his forearms, hands, legs, and feet. His eyes began to give off a light blue, mist-like, glow. He continued forward, running his now armored finger down her blade, sending a few sparks falling away to the ground. He looked over his shoulder at her, the friendly smile still there as he spoke. "Besides your injured woman. And if Kaiyo knew I was here and let you get yourself killed, she's kill me a hundred times over...or worse.." He said, obvious by his tone he hadn't heard from Kaiyo since his last encounter with her. "But lets worry about that after I take care of this hollow..."

His eyes snapped quickly to the hollow before them, the smile replaced by and icy cold glare. It wasn't the glare that was startling, it was the glow in his eyes. It had gone from a gentle glow to a fierce burning glow. He shifted his stance into a loose fighting stance, his arms just above chest level, his feet in a loose kickboxer's stnace. "Now as for you..." He said, a sickening smile crept onto his face as he continued. "Lets dance...worm" He said, in his mind the hollow looked more like a worm than a snake.

Junko never took her eyes off the hollow, mechanical or not it was a hollow, and it straigtened, and a snake or worm cannot move forward that way...

The hand on her shoulder presented herself back to reality, as daze had taken her, as she had taken to fetching the information, and it forced her back to reialty with pain, as he touched the burns on her shoulder she flinched, the same kind that you do when you touch a recently scraped knee, with teh exception that it hurt several times more than that...

Junko listened to his dialoge, the mention of captain kaiyo opening another wound, a girl that she looked up to in the academy, one that was the detirmination for joining 11th squad... it shocked her, and she lowered her guard...

Junko was about to spill the beans, about kaiyo's death, and about the sereitei, all in one emotional flurry, but her soldier side kicked in, the one that let her survive through the crusades, for the most part... "toughen up Junko, you made it this far, there is a time and a place for everything, this aint the place for this, survive, and then you can have that conversation".

Junko had broken down, her guard dropped, but now it rose, and was back in place, Junko said, "Let the Sereitei, what its called, it has swallow's chirps, and at its finest, it would wipe you all out, and emit its power across the land." Junko pointed her zanpaktou at the mechanical hollow, the blue Seki still in her left hand, and stated matter of factly, "Hado 3 Crimson Strike" and fired the incantation laden spell at the hollow, having recited the incanation in the gibberish sentance that only contained 1 piece of information...

Since the blast had an incantation, Junko had put alot of force into the blast, it could possibly be the most powerful one she had ever fired... And it channeled throug hthe sword, and had a terrible recoil, shooting her backwards into a dumpster... her back started bleeding from the impact, it was lacerated by a jagged edge on the dumpster, it was nothing but flesh wound, but it ripped the back of her robes mostly open as she had fallen away from it, revealing the true extent of her burns, and she rolled onto her stomache, rising to her hands and knee's, her zanpaktou some 10 feet away behind the dumpster, but her kidou still maintained, although it was weaker because of the lack of focus...

Satoshi could not resist waiting any longer. This seemed the perfect opportunity for him to enter the battle. He leaped nimbly from his perch high above to land with a crash on the lid of the dumpster the Shinigami woman had just hit. "Well hello there," he said with a hint of sadistic glee. "We meet again." He jumped from the dumpster down, past the others to land beside the metallic Hollow.

"Since you're already injured, I'll give you the sporting chance of me not killing you on sight- which, I'd like to point out, I could have done at any time," Satoshi drawled in a playful tone of voice. At the metallic Hollow, he said, "I'm sorry we haven't been properly introduced; but it's...nice to see you again too, I suppose." That Hollow gave him the creeps. It wasn't natural- Satoshi had never seen anything like it before, nothing that was truly similar in all his supernatural life.

It had overestimated the decent nature of both human and shinigami, as they attacked despite its 'peaceful intentions'. Quickly jerking to the side at the approaching attack, N.I.U.S almost got away but the blast hit it in the side, smashing him away, although not as far as the woman would have due to it being considerably heavier. It rose again, shaking its head and observing the damage sustained, a section of the armour plating had buckled in, revealing parts of its insides and allowing the buzzing and grinding of the machinery inside to be heard. He turned to look at the familiar feline hollow that landed next to him.

"Surprising. Calculated it improbable to see you again so soon. 'Gladdening'." The synthetic voice sounded different now, darker and with slightly more static. It positioned itself now in a far more suitable position for attacking, coiled up and ready to strike as many snakes can as he awaited the next move. Although he also decided to take the time to correct the misinformed human. "Incorrect. Worm lacking spine, my entire body is a metal spine with tail and head. Snake is the correct term." It had quickly come to the realization that the term worm was used as an insult, and it had developed enough sense of pride to despise that.