Second Thoughts... (Solo)

For weeks straight, Kasumi had been using his mind nonstop, and at this point it felt as if it might rip itself from his skull, or seperate. As of late, he had the strange feeling he was being watched, but not by any noticeable means could he confirm this. It only added to the stress of his utterly taxed mind. He was beginning to see things, and noted that it wasn't things, but rather, the same thing, over and over. After much frustration during one of his classes at the mysterious thing that seemed to be forever in his peripheral, he stood up slinging his books across the table and flipping the desk as he screamed in frustration, before hurriedly exiting the classroom and then the school grounds. After he was well away from the building, he just kept running through Seireitei. Finally, he stopped, and found himself in the courtyard in which the Senkaimon Gates resided.

Half passed out, he pulled himself behind a pillar, his lengthy Zanpakutou clanking on the ground as he huddled into a ball, gasping shallowly.

"How pathetic..." uttered a quiet voice.

Kasumi immediately tried to sit up, but the left side of his body seemed uncooperative. It wouldn't budge at all, no matter how much he willed it. In a vain attmpt, he tried to stand using only one side of his body, finally managing to stand, using the pillar as support.

"Who's there?!" he called.

His only answer was an intense pain down the entire center of his body, starting with his head, as if he were being cut i half from the inside. As he thought the analogy, the voice spoke again.

"That's because, in the long and short of things, you are..."

Kasumi realized in utter terror that it was his lips that were moving as he was speaking, though the voice was unrecognizable as his own.


"I'd stop trying to struggle... You're only going to destroy our nervous system, and that would be upsetting... I haven't even gotten my chance to play with us yet..." Kasumi said unwillingly. He could feel his body trembling with effort to maintain its control, though he could also feel every part shutting down. Without warning, his legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground. Once on the cold surface of the ground, he was no longer willing to fight it and let it be.

"I knew you'd see things my way... See...? We're so smart, aren't we...?" Whispered the Non-Kasumi as slowly his consciousness faded. Just as a dramatic movie opens with a fade-in, Kasumi's vision came back. He made to sit up, but was halted.

"Nu-uh-uuuh~!" sang Kasumi's voice. With a stomach churning realization, Kasumi could tell he was no longer in control of his body... or his mond, for that matter.


"Who the fuck are you?!?!" Kasumi yelled in his mind, since he lacked proper control of his body to use his own lips.


"I am you, just uhhh... A different... manifestation, if you will... I, in short, am your instinct... Primal, human, cognitive... sexual... So on and so forth... You can refer to me as Sukkiri Hitotsu... Any more stupid questions?" replied the Non-Kasumi named Sukkiri. Without any consent from Kasumi's own will, Sukkiri stood. He turned towards the pillar and looked into the reflective marble. Kasumi was, slightly, ashamedly, in awe at what he saw. His ears now tapered to a bit of a point, his incisors were a bit elongated and sharp, and his skin was an ashen color, paler than normal, almost a grey. His eyes had changed from a seedy black shade to a piercing silver. All in all, he looked... animalistic, to say the least.

"My, my, my... I do like this look... Now, lets talk about setting... This place... Seireitei, is it...? No matter the name... It isn't for you... Us. You... We... have a higher path than this... There is more for us out there... In the Human World..."

Kasumi didn't like where this conversation was leading, or the fact that he was actually considering agreeing with this Body Snatcher. With all his will power, he began fighting back, trying to regain control of his body. He could feel it was working when Sekkiri's right hand started shaking, and then his right leg. Feeling began to return, and he could feel Sekkiri's surprise andd raw, seething anger at being forced aside. Mentally, he lashed out, and Kasumi felt the brunt force of it, but put up a mental wall, blocking the force from his consciousness, which only caused it to batter harder. Kasumi was using every bit of strength he could to regain this amount of control, and would go from there. As he felt feeling completely return to the right side of his body, he let out a deep breath, as if he had been trapped under water to the point he was just about to drown.

"Congratulations... You got half back..." growled Sekkiri. It felt odd, having the voice speak through him when he was present as well. He leaned his head down, and saw that half his body had returned to normal, the colors not matching. With a grin, he realized something.

"I can force you out, you thieving piece of shit... Can't I?" Kasumi breathed.

Sekkiri laughed as he replied, "More than you know, runt... So much more than you know..."

Kasumi puzzled over this as he stood. With the last surmountable amount of energy he had, he pushed the rest of his consciousness to take back his body, pushing Sekkiri into the void Kasumi had previously been in. He didn't want to try to enact what he knew Sekkiri meant, at least not here, or yet, but he'd definitely eperiment with it later... For now, he had a decision to make.

"Ah... So you do want to leave... I knew you would... You're unhappy here... You're too rebellious to be the kind to take orders very well... Go ahead..." whispered Sekkiri from the recesses of his mind. Kasumi shook his head, realizing the being was a permanent fixture within himself. In reply, he stood up straight, adjusting his blades.
Slowly, he walked to one of the Senkaimon Gates. It slid open with a quiet clack of wood.

"I leave of my own accord... Not your own, Sekkiri Hitotsu. A new chapter begins for us, I guess. Here goes..." he said, as he stepped into the light, into the unknown, and into his destiny.