Hibiki Jishin :: Shinigami

Bronzed skin, stretched taught over a wiry, muscular frame, make up the base of Hibiki. He has a thick mane of shaggy, ice-white hair that falls backwards in a chaotic mess, just past his shoulders. With eyes like a brewing storm, steely and grey (normal pupils for Hibiki, slits for Akki), an impish face, and a grin that could send grown women into a frenzy, this age-confused misfit completes his aura of mysterious cheekiness with a body lithe and lean, like a cheetah. His legs are well toned, mid-sized muscles good for endurance and sprinting. His broad shouldered stature enlarges his chest and elongates his honed core, and his arms, rippling under the skin with sinew and well-trained muscle. When Hibiki, his eyes appear normal. When Akki, they are slit pupils. When both, the left pupil is slit, and the right pupil is normal.

Hibiki is but one aspect of a dual mind. Though his is dominant, another personality resides within him. Hibiki is the calm, gentle aspect, that stands more for what’s right. The other half, Akki, is a blood-lusting, battle-borne fighter, pure instinct to the very core. This occurrence is due to a phenomenon in which, upon insemination, the egg that was Hibiki split into two separate beings, twins, and, later on, was absorbed once more by Hibiki, causing both twins to be in one body, a singular person, but two conscious. Both boys, now Shinigami, instead of Superhuman, sort of retain some of their previoud abilities, in a way. Noth are extremely good at getting a feel for a person, and knowing that influence, as well as intrinsically knowing that person.

Impish
Hibiki is impish by nature. He loves playing tricks, and causing mischief. He has a sort of bad-boy allure to him, but in a more cute kind of way. He is a pro when it comes to being a nuisance, as well as picking his battles wisely. He tends to have an aura about him that lightens the mood, making it easy for him to blend in or diffuse a situation.

Pride of a Wolf
Hibiki has all the temperaments of an alpha male. He knows how to lead, has a fierce devotion to his friends, and only lets those into his pack that he knows he can trust, and rely on, that will help one and other out. He cares for all of the people he holds dear, acting almost as a father figure to his band of misfits, before he separated from them. He holds a lone-wolf status now, drifting to and from wherever he pleases, making friends, and enemies along the way, since he tends to rush into things.

Maturity
Hibiki’s appearance is very off-putting. He is technically 96 years old, but has a physicality of a 16 year old. This is due to the difference in the passage of time from Hueco Mundo to the World of the Living, a topic later explained through his history. He knows how to have fun, and appear his age, but he knows when and how to be serious as well. Although he can act rashly, he tries to keep a level head.

Hubris
Pride is an important thing to Hibiki, though occasionally, it can go a little overboard, developing into a case of hubris. Generally, he is very honor-bound, past the point of chivalry. He will go out of his way to help someone in need of it, no matter the cost. Although he values teamwork, if he intrinsically knows he can accomplish something himself, he will refuse any and all assistance, and can lash out if an individual persists. His biggest pet peeve is being belittled, and other than that, has no other annoyances.

Animalistic
Akki is a rather instinctual individual. He can process thought like no other, and never acts, simply, reacts. He is purely adrenaline fed, and can seem much like a Berserker of a fighter. Despite his relatively small frame, he is like any animal, and capable of both extreme aggression and defensiveness.

The Flirt

The aspect that is Akki lacks a moral filter, and has twice as much as the bad boy allure that Hibiki does. A lopsided grin and a silk tongue complete the feature of the avid flirt. He enjoys getting any girl to brush, though often goes for women way out of his league, with the mindset that if he’s shut down, it’s okay, she’s out of his league, but if he’s accepted, then he has that much more of an allure to everyone else.


Rash
Rashness is Akki’s forte. He will act on impulse, in virtually every situation, quite often getting himself in trouble. He will lash out when he feels threatened, and flare up as a defense mechanism. He often draws potential threats away by his gaze, a slit-pupiled stare that says, “No matter how bad you think are, I’m worse.”

Streetwise
Akki is the more streetwise of the two personalities. He has a subtle stealth about him, like a graceful jungle cat. He can pickpocket someone without them knowing he’s even there. He’s quite the expert at making food seem to disappear from vending carts. He is fluent in slang, and extremely adaptable to his environment.

Birth to Toddler Years
A father with a shrouded past, and a countenance unbeknownst. A mother on the verge of death, raising a child of two minds, two different aspects of the same person. This is the life of a child as of yet unborn. Already he has experienced much he cannot, and will not ever understand. His true troubles began when he was but a fetus, and the Hollows began attacking his mother. His father, still there at the time, had taken his mother to a place no normal human ever went, a place of eternal dusk and endless sands. Here, the man left, after he was sure they would be safe, and the unborn child’s mother forced his word that he would not come back, that their child would grow up free of the world he belonged to, only knowing this barren wasteland.

After a painful, unmedicated birth, a beautiful baby boy was born. His mother named him Hibiki, as his voice echoed off the walls of their hidden cavern. She raised him as any mother in the wild would, feeding him with her own milk, and eating on her own to maintain enough healthiness for her child. When the baby had been weaned, she started teaching him, from the age of one, about how to survive, how to speak, to write, all the necessities he’d need to live, as she grew frailer and frailer.

When he was two, he could speak well enough to articulate complex sentences, and was intelligent enough to know what was food, and what wasn’t. He was also intelligent enough to know his mother was dying. By the time he was three, he was on his own, his mother passed away silently in the night of his third birthday. Hibiki, alone, and virtually incapable of defense, began to learn to use his own strengths to survive.

Childhood
Running. Fighting. Surviving. These were the three things Hibiki preached to himself, daily. There were times when he travelled and blacked out for days, only to wake up someplace else, covered in Hollow blood again. These times, he had no clue what he’d done, but he knew it was keeping him alive. For years, all he did was drift. He encountered many Hollows, never any people. He knew he was different than the beasts around him that always wore masks. He had made the mistake at one point of breaking one open, only to discover the face of a person beneath. Sickened, he turned and ran, only coming back at a later point, when he was calmed enough to view it.

Over the years, his blackouts began to occur more and more often. There were times when he blacked out in the middle of walking, only to come back to in virtually the same place. When he was six, he began to notice things about himself, how his body often tingled when a Hollow was nearby, most often familiar ones. There were times when everything around him was quiet when it shouldn’t have been. There was an occasion when he was warming his hands by the fire, and clapped them together, to regain some feeling, and what seemed like a stray wind scattered all the ashes and small twigs he had gathered, carving a ditch in the sand simultaneously. Even stranger was the feeling of being watched, and the fleeting shadow he always saw, that single figure out of the corner of his eye. With time, he came to discover his talents better, growing used to them over the years. He discovered that he had a knack for anything that set off a vibration, or anything that retained it, basically, everything. One evening, shortly after his tenth birthday, during a practice session, he glimpsed the figure that had been following him the past four years, but continued on. It ventured a little bit closer, and Hibiki seized his opportunity, and charged towards it.

The Hollow, built like an equestrian with six legs, panicked and fled, Hibiki hot on it’s trail. As it crested a sand dune, Hibiki felt his mind slipping. However, this time, he fought it. He needed all his focus for this. His mind fought back, and Hibiki felt something forcing its way to the surface. His vision blurred for a moment as he kept running after the horse Hollow. Then, without warning, it felt for a moment as if his entire being snapped into two. He saw everything, but with two separate eyes. He felt everything, but with two different sides. His thoughts divided into two separate wholes, and simultaneously, thought and spoke, “Who the Hell are you?!”

The bi-vocal voice stopped Hibiki and the Hollow dead in their tracks, the both of them. The Hollow skidded to a halt in the sand and turned it’s large, masked skull in Hibiki’s direction. Hibiki looked down at his hands, utterly confused. without a beat, at the same moment, he lifted his right hand, but his left hand lifted as well. Hibiki forced his control into his left hand as well, forcing it back down.

“What the Hell are you doing to my body?!” A singular voice growled, a different pitch than his own. Hibiki jumped, realizing the voice had come from his own lips. The Hollow began moving towards him. Hibiki stammered, at a loss of what to say. A feeling of realization that wasn’t his own ran through him. “You’re... we’re in the same body... aren’t we...?” Hibiki nodded, his mouth incapable of sound.

”That explains the blackouts... He thought to himself. His head nodded of his own accord, from the other being within his body. ”So... what’s your name...?” Hibiki asked, tentatively.

”His name is Akki.” Hibiki and the one named Akki within him both reacted simultaneously, jumping backwards in tandem, landing back in the center of the top of the dune. The horse Hollow was but a few feet away from them, and they were both battle ready, crouched low, eyes unmoving from the threat.

”I will not hurt you. It saddens me that you do not see my face... I am called Kaika Shi... I’m your mother.”

Hibiki and Akki reeled in sync, the world spinning, and their recent rations of Hollow coming back up. There was no way this Hollow could be called Kaika Shi... The two of them looked mentally to each other, and approached the Hollow. Balling their hands into fists, they did a double-fisted pound onto the mask, shattering it. As it broke away, they would have retched again, save there was nothing left. Beneath the mask was a beautiful, dark haired woman, with stormy grey eyes, a woman they both recognized. Kaika Shi... Their mother.

Several hours later, the three were camped around a small fire, as Kaika began to explain everything to the two boys. The world they lived in. Their father being a Shinigami with an illness that made him like a Hollow, the differences and jobs of the two. She explained that their father was like a chaotic angel, graceful and erratic. She supplied that initially, she was to be pregnant with twins, only, in the early stages, one egg had absorbed the other. When they were born, it wasn’t at first obvious, but there were two very different aspects to her single baby. More often when the baby was quiet, or learning or doing something, he had a temperament different of the crying or thought-provoking aspect of himself, as if two different people were doing something.

Upon a more thorough exploration, she provided, she discovered a difference in her son’s eyes when he had different moods. When he was in his more active, aggressive aspect, his grey eyes were slit pupils. When he was quiet, reserved, or in his crying aspect, his pupils retained normality. Her twins still remained, just in one single form. She nurtured each aspect, naming the active one Akki, for his strong presence and inability to see any warning before he was the one in control. The mild-mannered son was named Hibiki, for the way his words, though few at that age, were always memorable, and seemed to echo within her mind.

After several hours of their childhood stories, Hibiki and his brother, Akki, both understood. They weren’t entirely human, but weren’t Shinigami or Hollow either, rather, a true mixed breed of all three. Their abilities were still in early stages, and yet, so capable, and even more was possible. It bewildered the boys that for the entire ten years of their lives, it had taken this long to become aware of one and other’s existence. Their mother opened her mouth to speak once more, but as she did, a horrible, deep, peal split the air, and the sand around them rumbled. From the depths came a giant figure, easily several hundred feet high.

Hibiki and Akki jumped back, ready to fight, but their mother wailed, and snatched them up, galloping full force in the opposite direction. They felt her tense and then shudder, and 50 feet in front of them, the gaping maw of some rift in the air opened up. With a deft flick of her head, she flung the boy’s body  30 feet, and they tumbled in the sand. Together they stood, dusting themselves off. The giant Hollow, armless and in-ornate save for its mask, was closing rapidly. The boys looked t their mother, and she met their eye. An understanding passed between all of them as she turned around and reared up, charging the giant beast. Hibiki and akki watched for only a moment before turning and fleeing into the dark abyss, swallowed whole. Darkness enveloped their singular form, and then light blasted into their eyes, and they were falling.


Age 10 to present
Akki and Hibiki fell right into the middle of a different era. They had been raised on old fashioned beliefs, with honor, honesty, and character as core traits. However, since time flowed differently in Hueco Mundo, the two had missed almost a centuries worth of culture change. After transposing the years, the two discovered they were exactly 90 years old, by translation, though 16 by modern standards. However, they did not let this bother them. Hibiki and Akki learned to switch back and forth at will, as well as communicate with one and other. Akki, for the first three years, was the dominant aspect betwixt the two.

He discovered they were in a place called Karakura Town. It was a quaint town, not too large, but not small either. There were the bad districts, and the upscales, and the neutral zones. Akki began in the neutral zone, establishing a threshold in an abandoned building. From there, he began tactically making small hits on various places, taking various food items, furniture, clothing, all the sorts of things he could use to both make a name and draw attention. His plan worked, after three weeks. The first boy found him.

He too was a homeless, nameless face on the streets, but they shared a common goal; survive. Akki valued someone he could relate with, and more likely than not, the boy, whom the came to call Ryuji, could show him some of his own tricks. So began the beginning of a family. Over the next years, The family swelled from two (three, depending on perspective), to well over fifty kids. They had made a name for themselves in Karakura Town, not as bad children, but as  talented, caring, carefree family. They had their own system, and even the violent gangs in the area left them be. Akki and Hibiki flourished in their environment, having fully assimilated by the time they were 13. AT this point, it was time to part ways with their family, having done and learned all they could. Leaving Ryuji in charge, the two navigated off into Karakura, in search of their own destiny.

Hibiki once more became the dominant aspect as they began learning, spending hours at the library daily, pilfering books every so often. They caught up on history, taught themselves math, how to write the complicated characters, instead of just reading them. They learned as many languages as they could; Japanese, American English, Spanish, Swahili, and even Ancient Latin and Greek. They also further trained and enhanced their abilities, able to now identify objects and people with their eyes closed, just by feeling the vibrations they gave off. They could control their ability to manipulate said vibrations, and even make themselves and a small area around them silent. In those three years, Hibiki and Akki developed a closer bond than anyone could wish for. At 16, the boys enrolled in Karakura High School, on pure merit alone. So here begins the tale of brothers, of two individuals entrapped in a single form. This is the next beginning of their story- let it echo through the years.

The soft gusts of wind, gently kissing at the cheeks with the sea spray that rose up from the lulling sound of waves, was a peaceful moment, permeated by the screams of pain and the thuds of limbs and bodies falling on the blood-soaked sand. In the midst of it all, a shock of white hair could be seen in a blur. For the fraction of a second, a face came into focus, the face of a demon.

Hibiki's silver eyes glowed eerily in the flames cast from the building set ablaze. His face was contorted into a sharp-toothed grin, sprays of blood covering his light complexion, matting his hair. Behind those silver eyes, unseeing anything before him, there was an animal fury, primal and hungry, devouring everything with his blades.

Hibiki turned, pivoting on one foot as a bit of sand pelted his leg from an incoming attacker. Without a word, he slashed up with the blade in his right hand while slashing left with the other, making the two meet and driving it deep into the individual. Hibiki's mask had fallen upon the ground, by this point, so every one of the individuals here had to die, having seen his face. It was his status as ANBU on the line. He was virtually silent, the only noise being made by the wounded, who would be quiet soon.

A heavy step was heard in the sand behind him, and the white haired Shinobi turned, offering up a quick parry as a heavy, blunt object struck his own. Judging by the amount of surface area and the shade he felt over him, he guessed it was a huge hammer, hefted by a man of equal caliber. He was right in his assumption as it was lifted, and then swung again, this time sideways, causing him to slide through the sand as he parried once more. It was rather difficult to try and distinguish between the sound of the wind and the sound of the hammer swinging, and Hibiki was once again correct in the assumption that there was something throwing him off.

"Hehehe... for a blind ANBU... you can fight pretty well." Said a deep, bass of a voice.

Hibiki's eyes narrowed, zeroing in on the voice's location, a little ways above him. So he located the head, and then the rest of the body was evident. Judging by the voice and the height, he determined the man was massive. Now, all that was left was the trick he was using, whatever it was, to confuse his hearing.


"I've been after you for a long time, getting to know how you fight. It wasn't until now I realized you were truly blind, but having seen those eyes... There's no way you can see what I'm doing right now."

Hibiki jumped as the hammer came for another sweep, but had little time to react to the fireball jutsu that was launched, as he heard the crackling of the flames. He tucked backwards, dropping his blade in his right hand and as he came back through the tuck, after rolling under the searing heat, he used as much force as he could muster to kick the hilt of the blade, sending it whirring through the air. The satisfying "Thunk" of the blade lodging itself in flesh, ever so familiar to Hibiki's ears, like the sweet tune of music, told him it was over as he heard the hammer follow, crashing into the sand with a wet squelch, a good sign of a lot of blood.

Hibiki landed back on all fours for a moment, then stood upright, walking towards the familiar hum of his blade. He kicked a massive lump of hard flesh, well muscled and huge. Silently, he approached the blade, and crouched down next to it, where the head of the man was at. He grabbed the hilt tightly and leaned close, whispering into the dead man's ear.

"I may not be able to see you... But I can hear everything you do..." With little effort, and even less grace, he yanked the hooked blade out of the man's face, scattering more blood and a brain matter over the sands. He made quick work of tossing each of the bodies into the flames, letting them feed on his work. At last, he got a close examination of the hammer, realizing it had several holes drilled through it, so that it made little sound, save for the rushing of air, to mimic wind. He chuckled, and donned his cloak, de-summoning Kihou and Hikui. He picked up his mask, fitting it back onto his unwashed, blood-soaked face, and set out, not a single glance back, not a bit of remorse felt as he walked away, trampling the upturned middle finger of the hammer wielder. He had other work to do.