The Silent Hunt (solo)

It was once said that “you can take the cat out of the jungle, but you can’t take the jungle out of the cat.” Satoshi Ishikawa embodied this statement to its fullest. He had been stalking this particular city for nights; for some reason the number of other souls here was extremely high – perhaps the crime rate here was high, and that was the reason – of course, Satoshi did not give one iota of thought to the matter. He didn’t care; as long as he had sustenance, there was little else of importance, really.

At the moment, Satoshi was stalking across the rooftops of some of the smaller buildings, keeping a weather eye out for any potential meal. His muscles were supple but strong, fluid but like steel as they contracted and expanded beneath his skin, rippling the surface in an almost sensual manner. Satoshi moved without a sound, even across the gravelly surface of the rooftops – he was able to do so because of the pads on his feet, which muffled his steps.

All of a sudden, Satoshi sensed it – a Shinigami, and not only that a Hollow. He froze in place, his dark fur camouflaging him against the night air. Yes…and the two were fighting, based on their fluctuating reiatsu signatures. Perhaps there was something to be gained from this. Satoshi began moving out in the direction of the reiatsus, and quickly came upon a Shinigami who was doing battle with a Hollow of much greater size than Satoshi. Satoshi decided he would settle down and watch, though of course, he was rooting for the Shinigami. This could be a lucky night.

The fight seemed largely over, the Shinigami appeared to not be injured at all, while the large Hollow was sporting several bleeding wounds, no doubt inflicted by the Shinigami’s dripping sword. With a roar, the Hollow charged the Shinigami mindlessly; almost contemptuously, the Shinigami’s blade came up and ripped the unfortunate Hollow’s face in half. The Shinigami watched as the Hollow disintegrated and sheathed his sword, with a congratulatory grin on his face.

Satoshi decided he would exploit this moment of self-congratulation, and leaped down from the roof. The Shinigami whirled, his hand flying to the hilt of his katana, but too late – Satoshi hit his chest like a load of bricks, sending the Shinigami to the ground while Satoshi pinned his arms and sat on his stomach. “I don’t like looking at the faces of my victims,” he informed the squirming Shinigami. “They make too much noise, and it ruins my digestion.” Satoshi grinned toothily as his tail came up over his head. “Hiendan.” A blast of fire shot from the tip of his tail, completely obliterating the face of the Shinigami, and causing the entire body to go limp.

Then Satoshi began to gorge himself on the Shinigami’s soul-infused flesh. It felt so good to have still hot chunks of flesh sliding down his gullet again, especially a Shinigami’s. He had only twice in all of his hundreds of years tasted Shinigami flesh, and those past two times had been largely circumstantial. Now, he had done so with his own power, his own cunning. Satoshi made short work of the body, easily polishing it off with his ravenous appetite. Satisfied, Satoshi got off the gutted corpse and wrapped his tail around himself in self-congratulation.

And that was when he was bowled over by a flying ball of scales apparently; and Satoshi found himself on his back with what appeared to be a scaly monkey holding him down. Actually, it resembled a kappa more than anything, though Satoshi of course did not have time to ponder this. Stupid! If he had been intelligent enough to wait for the fight to conclude to take his chance, than surely there were others as intelligent.

“I thought cats were supposed to land on their feet all the time,” the kappa Hollow mocked him. Satoshi growled deep within the back of his throat as he fought to get free. Try as he might, Satoshi found himself unable to force the Hollow off him; his muscles just weren’t meant to bend that way. “Looks like I’m going to have cat for dinner tonight.” The kappa Hollow raised a sharp claw…

“Hiendan!” This time, the blast of fire came from Satoshi’s mouth, and literally tore off the claw, leaving a charred stump in its place. With a fearsome yowl, Satoshi forced his aggressor off him and swiped out with an angry claw of his own, catching the kappa Hollow across the chest and raking thin lines of blood across it. He then whipped his tail around and sent a second blast of fire directly into the kappa Hollow’s chest, sending him tumbling, charred and trembling to the ground, whereupon Satoshi leaped onto his supine form.

“Hahahaha, looks like the monkey’s going to have eat his words…and be eaten!” Satoshi’s fangs flashed down once, and now it was Hollow flesh sliding down his throat. If I keep spoiling myself like this, I’ll get fat, Satoshi thought to himself with bemusement as he tore away another bit of flesh.

There’s something about the relationship between thepredator and the prey that some find beautiful. Hollows aren’t exactly expectedto wax philosophical about such things, but deep within his grotesque, macabresoul, Satoshi Ishikawa could say with certainty that hunting, the thrill of thehunt; that they granted him genuine, unadulterated pleasure. It was likegetting paid to do something you love, only much more so.

Satoshi loved the feel of the ground beneath his feet ashe stepped quietly across the pavement. He loved the sense of accomplishment,the sense of satisfaction he got when he skillfully navigated the shadows,using his dark fur to keep himself hidden from both prying eyes and prey. Butbest of all, Satoshi loved the moment just before the strike – that onebeautiful moment when you know without doubt that your next moment will be yourclaws sinking into soft flesh, and your fangs ripping out the offending throat.

Satoshi’s eyes were the eyes of a killer, no doubt. Butthey were also the eyes of an artist – someone who saw beyond the blood, sawthe unsullied, radiant beauty of the kill. Oh how deliciously orgasmic violencewas – especially when it went exactly as planned. This night, Satoshi wastrailing a particularly succulent morsel; it was a Hollow he had been trackingfor days, feeding off of the corpses it left in its wake.

Why did Satoshi bother? Well, this Hollow, although beingmuch larger than Satoshi, was quite fat, in fact, morbidly obese. It resembledan enormous walrus, and somehow it managed to move its ponderous bulk from mealto meal. Satoshi rarely got to taste of good fat, mostly because nearly allsuccessful Hollows and Shinigami are in good shape, therefore, no fat. Somehowthis one had slipped through the cracks. Satoshi had seen it in action.Oftentimes it would simply crush a target beneath its leathery tough bulk. Satoshihad seen Shinigami’s swords hit the Hollow’s flesh only to bounce off andvibrate uncontrollably in the soon-to-be dead Shinigami’s hands.

Fortunately, the Hollow did have a weak point – itsunderbelly was soft and vulnerable. Unfortunately, it almost never exposed it,save for when it reared up to fall on top of some hapless individual. That, andits eyes, obviously. Tonight was the night Satoshi planned to strike. He hadobserved the Hollow for many nights now, and was confident that his plan wouldwork.

He just needed to wait for the right opportunity. It camein the form of an unfortunate Plus who wandered too close to the walrus Hollow,which subsequently chased the Plus down. The Plus screamed, frozen in terror asthe walrus Hollow reared up. Satoshi sprinted across the building he had beenwatching from and leaped, twisting in midair as he did so, like most felines doin order to be able to land on their feet. However, Satoshi stopped the twistmidway – why? So that the razor-sharp spines along his back would be the partof him ripping through the walrus Hollow’s stomach.

It worked; Satoshi had leaped with sufficient speed tocarry himself all the way across the divide, landing bloodied but triumphant onthe other side. With a scream of pain, the walrus Hollow nevertheless collapsedonto the Plus, again hiding its weak point. Now Satoshi would have to preventit from consuming the Plus in order to heal its wounds. His tail flicked twice,sending out two balls of fire precisely aimed so as to hit the Hollow directlyin its eyes.

The Hollow reared up again in agony, its flippersreaching up to try to slap away the flames, but to no avail. Satoshi’s firecould only be put out by reiatsu infused water, air, or earth, and so theslapping was completely ineffectual. At this point, Satoshi made another runacross, slicing another ragged cut across the beast’s belly, from which it wasnow bleeding profusely. Just as he hit the opposite roof, Satoshi whirled andleaped again. This time, he landed directly on the walrus Hollow’s mask, andproceeded to spit out another fireball directly at its forehead. This incombination with his leap proved sufficient to tip over his prey, exposing itsunderbelly in its entirety.

And now, the long awaited feast. Satoshi leaped onto thebelly and began ripping and tearing with all four claws, and even his tail. Fatand blood flew everywhere as Satoshi’s jaws worked furiously to consume thesheer amount of flesh. Hot, sweet blood flowed into his jaws in anuncontrollable torrent as Satoshi severed veins and arteries as he burroweddeeper. Every bite he took stole strength from the walrus Hollow, until soon itwas only feebly stirring, and then, not moving at all.

It took Satoshi the rest of the night to completelyconsume the corpse…but oh how worth it that was.

City hunting is different than hunting in the deserts of Hueco Mundo, or hunting in the Menos forest (in all his years, Satoshi had only been to either place once; those times had been among the worst in his life, as he had been rather weak, and still was, in comparison to most of the other Hollows there). City hunting involved the guile and vigilance essential to surviving in the forest, but also the patience necessary in desert hunting.

Satoshi was currently in the act of tracking a certain other Hollow. This Hollow, unlike the other Hollows Satoshi occasionally met, appeared intelligent, capable of being more than a nuisance. The city Satoshi used as his hunting grounds was abundant in available meals - however, with the addition of this new Hollow, Satoshi was finding that more time was passing on average between kills. Obviously it was because of competition from this Hollow.

Satoshi had yet to actually see this Hollow; he had only ever felt its reiatsu, and seen the remains of its meals. But he was close to it, he could feel it. The reiatsu was becoming more defined, more clear cut, and Satoshi tasted confrontation. He peered over the edge of the building to see...the Hollow was large, ape-like, with a brutish mask. That explained the bludgeoning wounds, the caved-in skulls and ribcages that Satoshi had found on various corpses he had stumbled upon.

Currently, its back was turned as it munched on its meal, completely oblivious to its peril. Satoshi leaped and landed with perfect precision upon the beast's back, his four back claws digging into the muscled flesh as his other two claws began raking at the Hollow's back, and his fangs flashed down to bite and tear at the neck and shoulder. This lasted for only a second, however, as the ape reached around, picked up Satoshi by the scruff of his neck and threw him off.

Satoshi landed gracefully on all sixes, growling at the Hollow through his bloodstained maw. With a challenging roar, the ape raised its palms and slammed them into the ground, sending a shockwave out toward Satoshi, splintering the earth up with its enormous strength. Satoshi jumped onto a nearby dumpster, which was launched up into the air with the earth. From there, he leaped over the ape's head, lashing out with his tentacles as he did so. The spines at the ends severed the ape's achilles tendons perfectly, sending it crashing to the ground.

Instantly, Satoshi was on its back again, ripping and tearing as the beast's struggles grew weaker and weaker. What a success. Truly, Satoshi could feel his power growing. He hadn't even had to use Hiendan to win this fight.