Hunting the hunter

The soul was close. The little freak had run away as soon as he shown his face and it was fast! He would catch that tasty morsel of a soul and its extremely tempting spiritual presence! He caught a glimpse of it in the distance, turning a corner into an alley-way! He was there seconds later and skidded to a halt, staring down an alley that seemed empty with a dead end. The wall was high, and he doubted that it would be easy enough to climb that the spirit would get over it that quickly. Even he would have to work at it, and he was very agile.

He began to step forward slowly, looking for any place it might hide. As he moved forward, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye! Under that box! Heh! This spirit hadn't tried very hard! He walked over to the box and reached with one hand to pick it up, while the other hand was ready to slash the spirit and put him down so that he'd be easier to devour.

No sooner did he grab the edge of the box then a blade sliced upwards, cutting it in two and almost catching him. Only the fact that he'd been prepared to slash the spirit as soon as he could see it allowed him to catch the blade with his claws. Even so, the power of the strike sent him crashing backwards and he had to scramble to gain his footing as he came face to face with an oddly clothed Shinigami.

Now he realized what was going on. He'd fallen for his own trick. That high spiritual presence was coming from a shinigami! He wondered just how strong this one was. "Well well," said the shinigami, smiling. "We've been tracking you for a while now, but the truth is we've had better things to do up until now and you're kind of hard to catch up with. When I was freed up, I knew I could catch you. Your days of devouring innocent spirits are over!"

If he could have, Katashi would have smiled. As it was he simply laughed. So they'd been watching him. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to test just how much power they deemed necessary to bring him in. He crouched down and spread his arms to his sides, claws flared out. He summoned darkness to them and whispered, "Bring it, Shinigami..."

The Shinigami didn't have to be told twice. He charged, his Zanpakuto held high. When he came within striking distance, he brought the blade down. It was met by both of Katashi's claws. Katashi Twisted the grip on the blades and then kicked back against the shinigami's chest, putting distance between them and scraping along the blades edge with his Shadow energy.

It would seem that they hadn't studied him closely enough, for the Shinigami raised his blade, even as the shadow energy pulsed deep inside it's steel. The Shinigami's jaw dropped as his blade fell to pieces where the claws had scratched it.

Katashi called the shadow to cover his claws once again and got ready for an attack, but the Shinigami's face grew grim and he whispered, "Break, Kujikutou" Energy flared around the Shinigami and his blade reformed and changed. The new blade was strange. It was hardly a sword at all. It was long and flat with a blade, but with several thick slots along the blade, big enough for a sword to go into. It was apparent that this was some sort of super sword breaker.

Once again, if Katashi could have smiled, he'd be grinning. The only thing he'd have to worry about was the shinigami's increased power from unleashing his Shikai. That he'd have to be careful of. The Shinigami charged and Katashi did the same. This time as his claws clashed with the blade, only the left hand clashed with it while the right hand slashed at the shinigami's face. He was to strong though, and batted away both claws with his blade, then kicked Katashi in the chest, sending him flying back! Katashi noticed that some shadow energy had reached the tip of the blade, though not enough to truly hurt as yet because the blade was far to thick.

He extended his claws and then looked down. The blade had managed to make a large gash in his left claws which had taken the hardest blow. So there was more to this blade then just breaking swords. It had the ability to damage an opponent's weapon. He spoke, "So, a weapon breaker. It would seem we're a good match."

The Shinigami spat. "This fight has only just begun. We're not a match. You're beneath me, hollow scum!" With that said, he charged! Katashi leaped to his right to get out of the way of the charge and then flew at his opponent from the side! The Shinigami vanished suddenly and he was behind him! Luckily for Katashi, he was much faster then most others and he twisted around and brought his claws up just in time to receive a crashing blow from the sword. This time, he made sure to scratch the blade deeply with shadow energy as he struggled to get away from it's cutting blade that was slowly sawing into his claws. After a few moments of struggle, he managed to push the blade away and then bat it away with his claws, this time scoring a nice line of scratches half way up the blade. He looked down at his claws as he leaped back though. While he'd managed to seriously set the blade up for damage, it had come at the cost of severe damage to his own claws. They wouldn't be able to handle another clash with that blade. He'd need to keep away while he figured out how to damage the blade worse.

The Shinigami looked down and scowled. The blade broke in half and he cursed. He looked over at Katashi and sneered. "You think it's as easy as that?" He said. He closed his eyes and Katashi felt his rietsu flare as he began to reform his blade. Katashi didn't give him the time. As soon as he closed his eyes, Katashi was charging forward at blinding speeds! Even as the blade finished it's reforming, Katashi slashed a Shadow Claw along the shinigami's right arm and charged past. The Shinigami screamed in pain as the shadow energy seeped into his fresh claw wounds causing them to fester and the skin and fabric around them to dissolve away. The Zanpakuto dropped and as the Shinigami bent to pick it up with his uninjured left hand Katashi charged again, this time clawing him across the back with the Shadow Claw!

The shinigami fell to the ground screaming at the pain! Katashi knew he couldn't let up or he would pick his blade up again, so he turned around and charged again. This time the Shinigami grabbed his blade and flash stepped away just in time! Katashi skidded to a halt and watched the man hold his blade with his shaking left hand as dark smoke rose from his right arm and his back.

He lifted the blade and prepared to fight. Katashi circled him warily. A shinigami of his rank could be tricky and deadly and he didn't want to take a chance on losing this prey. He charged and the Shinigami raised the blade defensively. Katashi stepped to the side at the last moment, and managed to do what he aimed to do. A glancing scratch on his hand was all it took. It was shallow, but the shadow energy made the pain powerful and deepened the wounds. The Shinigami gasped and dropped the sword instinctively and Katashi skidded to a halt, bringing his still unused left claw down along the Shinigami's shoulder and side! The scream as Katashi's claws scored a deep slash was loud and filled with anguish. Katashi loved it!

He stopped using the shadow claw move now and simply began to claw at the shinigami repeatedly, tearing into him and listening as his screams grew weaker. Of course, he was still breathing when Katashi began to devour him...