Unraveling the past (Kaiyo please)

Apollo was quickly making his way through the Seireitei towards the barracks and office of the squad 11 captain. Nervous as he was that he would be in serious trouble if he a student was caught sneaking around were the elite shinigami housed. Stick to the shadows Apollo, they are your home when on the move; the less people know of you the better. All we are is dust and shadows, and one day we shall return to the dust.

Deciding to heed the advice someone had given him long ago, Apollo darted from one corner to the next trying at all costs to make as little noise as possible. Finally making it to the 11th squad complex Apollo made a direct route for the captain’s office, finding the door open he walked in, actually surprised to see the captain behind her desk reading over some paperwork.

It had been two weeks since their little encounter and the sight of her still made him cringe, Apollo feared this captain more than any of his teachers at the academy. “Excuse me Captain Saiyouko, I didn’t mean to interrupt your working, but I was wondering if you had a few moments for a couple of questions?”

Kaiyo's mind was cluttered with thought, she'd asked weeks ago to be sent over Apollo's paperwork, and she'd been fairly surprised when it had been sent over earlier that day. The extensive information gathered by Soul Society on human's and their...Types, well it had made for a lot of reading. So focused on her work, the Captain only noticed Apollo's reiatsu when he was inside her barracks. The majority of her squad were all out on training exercises for the day, but still, not being caught by anyone was quite an impressive feat.

Kaiyo flinched slightly as she looked up, her hands instinctively moving to cover up his file. Chances were he didn't know she had it. The girl smiled politely as she did so though, a fair chance at a cover-up she hoped. Kaiyo rose form her chair out of manners, gesturing towards the sofa'sin her office. The various weapons hanging around the room, matched with the candy and bright colours; it was an odd match. Yet that's what it did quite well: match.

'Hey, you okay?' she puzzled lightly, moving around her desk as her eyes fluttered up and down Apollo. His whole demeanour had changed since their last visit, that or she'd just beaten him up enough to be so overly polite. Kaiyo smiled, hopping over the back of one of the sofa's as she replied. 'I have many moments and questions sound like fun' she mused. Her general attire was less formal than their last meeting. Her haori was slung over the back of her chair, bracelets tracing along her arms and her uniform top was open, revealing a white tank top that clung tightly to her figure.

The captain flinched? I was sure she would have felt my presence before I stepped into her office. Apollo smirked at the thought, then sitting down on one of the couches he glanced at the bowl of candy placed on the table between the couches. Instantly Apollo had hundreds of jokes, but he forced them back with the memory of the beating this captain had given him.

“I wanted to ask you about memories, lost memories, to be more precise. Before you tell me that I should see the 4th squad, or possibly the very strange 12th squad; these memories only seem to surface when I am fighting. These memories show a man attacking a child with a variety of weapons, although sometimes the same child is getting advice from the man.”

Apollo’s face went grim, as he continued “I came to the conclusion that the child was me, but what kind of childhood is that? To be attacked, once I remembered nearly losing an arm and all that old man did was tell me ‘You must not feel the pain when faced with it in battle’ then he left the room.” Looking at the captain Apollo felt like a fool coming to her for help with this problem.

“What was I Captain? Why would my parents want me to be raised like that?” His hands were shaking as Apollo clenched his fists in anger. The knuckles were white and the pain from his nails digging into his palm was the only keeping him from shouting. I will find the answers I seek, even if I have to resort to the freaks in squad 12.

Kaiyo's smile dropped, her cheerful expression waning with each word that dropped from Apollo's mouth. Of course it made sense! It made a lot more sense if you had read his file. 'They didn't tell him' her brain slowly ticked over as the pages that lay open on her desk drifted into her minds eye. All the information gathered prior to his death had been unique because of what he was, what he had been trained to be, ad what he'd 'forgotten'.

Kaiyo lowered her head, rubbing her hand heavily against her face for a second as she took a deep breath. Uncertain what kind of thing might happen if she were just to hand over his file. Shuffling forwards the girl picked out a chocolate candy and threw it up into her mouth, grinning happily as she chewed. 'It makes sense to me...If it's like you described and you were brought up in a constant combat situation, being put in that same situation might bring back those memories..' Kaiyo's thoughts trailed off a moment longer. Leaning forwards the Captain spoke with the utmost seriousness, 'So, what usually happens when you have these flashbacks?...Oh and 4th squad heal and 12th squad will just cut you open' the last two comments were basically how Kaiyo and the majority of the Gotei 13 viewed the 2 squads. Though more likely than anything Ryouta would just blab about Apollo's past.

“Usually the man is just attacking me, though the weapons he uses are always different and other times he is giving me advice. Like on the way over here, when I was being careful not to be seen I remember him telling me that we were nothing more than dust and shadows.” Apollo’s eyes went dark, as he considered his own words, “I hope that I wasn’t a murder…” he whispered.
He looked up at the captain who was smiling as she chewed on the chocolates happily, she knows something, but how do I know that? Apollo’s eyes flashed as another memory surfaced from the depths of his mind.

The older man was sitting behind a desk reading a book idly as a 14 year old Apollo sat sharpening a small knife, though the blade would be sharp one second it would dull the next instant. “If you don’t know how to take care of your weapons, you might as well go unarmed.”

“I could get this done a lot faster if you would tell me how to keep this knife sharp.” The young Apollo yelled frustrated over his seemingly impossible task.

“What makes you think I know?” The man smiled his lips twitching at the side of his mouth.

“Because you know everything!”

“How do you know that I know?”

“Because your lips twitched, you always do that when you aren’t telling me something>”

“Exactly! That is called a tell, everyone has them. Although some can hide it better than others…”

Apollo shook his head as the memory played out in his mind, “A tell…” Apollo realized that the captain had to have a tell of some sort, it was just a matter of what. I will just have to watch more closely, I saw it when I wasn’t looking for it maybe I can see it again now that I am looking for it.

“So you’ve seen this before have you, a shinigami with partial amnesia? Tell me captain is there a support group I can join?” Apollo added with a bit of sarcasm.

Kaiyo cursed her own movements, of course she'd had enough training herself to hide her emotions, but not she was so relaxed. Interrogation's she could deal with, it was casual talking that gave her away and any sudden change in her actions would just make Apollo suspect her further. Still, ignorance was bliss. As such, the Captain offered no change in her expression, pretending she hadn't heard him.

She brought her feet up onto the sofa, crossing her legs as she leant forwards. The sarcasm wasn't exactly needed. 'Most normal Soul's don't remember anything of their life, most shinigami only remember maybe a bit of their deaths....Even fewer ever remember their lives' Kaiyo paused, trying to keep her mind on track as she spoke in a tone that matched the serious air in the room. 'What happens when you have these...Flashbacks I guess we'll call them?' That was still the vital question, if Kaiyo was going to tell this guy about his past, she needed to make sure he wouldn't be risking his or the health of anyone else.

“Well nothing I guess, I just freeze…like when we had our little bout, I just stand there.” Apollo stared at the captain as she lounged lazily on her couch his eyes were serious, but he couldn’t help smirking. “It’s not that serious in a sparring match against friends, but it could be a very serious problem if I were in a match to the death.”

“I know it’s not normal for a shinigami to suffer from memory loss, but I don’t want to end up putting a comrade in danger. If I freeze up on a mission it could cost someone else their life, I could not live with that. Please, is there anything you can do to help me with this problem Captain?” Apollo’s voice was almost a whisper as he finished…he hated feeling helpless, almost as much as he hated asking for help.

Tugging at her heart strings was a low blow, and yet it worked all too well. Sympathy was one thing, but Kaiyo's levels of empathy had also hindered the clarity to her thoughts and decisions. Though what use is a brain without a heart? Kaiyo shrugged off such irrelevant whimsical's.

Her hair bobbed lightly as she nodded. 'Well it's a good reason to want to know...' Kaiyo glanced downwards. A sudden interest in her feet was quite apparent. The decision was on her shoulders; seeing as Soul Society clearly had no interest in telling the man of his past. Whether or not his reason was true, or just a masked curiosity, it was his life to know about. Kaiyo slowly dropped her head into a nod. 'Yeah i can help actually.' she spoke clearly. Rising from her seat as she strolled back around to her desk, speaking as she moved. 'Usually academy students have files that have teachers comments and their grades and stuff, but for people who had a human life interesting to Soul Society, well their lives are also stamped out...'

Kaiyo peered down at the folder on her desk, bundling the loose sheets of paper back into it as she closed it shut. Holding it tightly in hands as she made her way back to the sofa. Keeping a hold of the shut folder, Kaiyo sat down at the edge of her seat. Making direct contact with Apollo as she spoke, 'You might have a few questions...And more likely it will just bring back you're memories, but from what you've said it could be pretty traumatic for you to re-live...Are you sure you want to know?' with that, Kaiyo held out the file for Apollo. Leaving him the choice was risky, and if he did take it. Well he'd be safer here.

Here it was the apple of knowledge that had stayed gradually out of reach, “This is really it then, huh? That folder tells the entire tale of my life, or at least answers the questions I have?” Apollo’s hand wavered over the top of the folder for an instant, though to him it felt like an eternity.

With a flip of his wrist the file was opened as he read over it, the memories came flooding back to him in a cascade of images. “I am Apollo Darknight, I was a shadowhunter…I was the best…I was taken out by a group of greedy humans.” Apollo’s eyes went from page to page as he flew through the folder.

Suddenly he stopped, “What do you know about these people called shadowhunters? All it says here is they slay hollows, thinking them demon and on one occasion they went after a troop of shinigami.” Apollo’s mouth gaped open as he read the last shuffled paper, “That explains the shape of my sword, apparently I favored the khopesh, it’s why I am placed in fourth year combat classes.”

'All the information Soul Society has on outside groups will be in one of two places. The Academy Library, or the Archives' Kaiyo rubbed the back of her neck slightly. Her shoulders tight and tense as she thought for a moment. The Academy library itself had the most used and available knowledge, most of the squads used it as well. As for the Archives, the central 46 had tiers of available knowledge, usually they weren't so easy to access. Though if Apollo's past was mentioned so openly in his file, chances are the academy would shed some more light on it.

As it was, Kaiyo had only heard of Shadowhunters vaguely and briefly beforehand, and in all honesty knew nothing about them. From her point of view, they just sounded like superhumans. Kaiyo slowly moved her arm back by her side as she nodded. 'Khopesh is a pretty nice blade' she mused, uncertain of what else to say, she resorted back to an irrelevant comment.

“You really think that the academy would have the information that I seek? Of course, that would mean being seen in the library.” Apollo’s face went sour as he continued to scan over the files, his thoughts racing as read over some of the things. “This isn’t right captain, the files says the ‘shadowhunters were a cult of superhumans that exterminated hollows as part of a religious cycle’ but that is wrong captain. I remember those things we fought, they weren’t hollows.”

He looked up with genuine look of concern, “What did I kill? Were they innocents, am I a murder? Captain if I was a murder in life, why is it that I am not in hell?” Apollo stood the files still in his hands as he started pacing. “No, I was not a murder…I was a…Shadowhunter…Now I carry another title now I am a shinigami.”

With a flash of light, Apollo witnessed what he could only describe as a divine mystery; the part of his robe covering his heart was burned away as a black mark was scorched into his skin. “Death is but, the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end. It looks like even in death I can’t escape this cult.”

Apollo’s new tattoo:

Spoiler:

Kaiyo nodded slowly, although she personally had never spent too long in the library, she knew it had a vast amount of information in it. Her interest was however grabbed by Apollo's statement. 'Are you sure? Humans usually don't know what hollows are?' she puzzled sceptically. Of course there was another option, but the chances of their 'clan' as Apollo had so emotively referred to them as, fighting demons from hell was very unlikely. Kaiyo ruffled the back of her hair gently, keeping such whims to herself as she shrugged, 'If it's anything other than hollows, and you're sure it is, you'd need the central 46 archives to find out why your report would say anything else, but it's not likely'.

Kaiyo was started to feel a little flustered now. Who knew requesting one little file would cause her so much hassle. A gentle sigh swept out her mouth as she shuffled to get comfortable again. Kaiyo's own shimmering blue eyes accidentally made direct contact with Apollo's, her own lackadaisical expression stunted by his concern. Her expression softened as she leant forwards over the table and hugged the worried guy. 'You ended up here, you're a good person, and the fact that you worry about that kind of thing proves it.'

The captain let go and took a short step back as she watched in utter bemusement as the flash of light burnt symbols onto Apollo's chest. Her mouth dropped a-jar as her head tipped to one side. 'Well that's new' she added, uncertain of what else she could say about that. Some kind of magic, but if it happened after death, on a soul...Well Kaiyo could only think of one person who could even consider answering that knd of question.

Apollo just stood there for a second as his mind registered what had just happened, “What the hell was that?” His clothes had been burned as a mark seared itself into his chest. Taking a closer look recognition dawned on him, “I know this mark, every full shadowhunter, those who lived past 21 were given this mark to remind them that they lived between life and death, that is why one is placed on either side of our heart.”

Apollo looked towards the captain for an answer, “Has that ever happened to anyone that you know of? Being marked of their profession even in death, I thought for sure that I would have earned a vacation in death.” Feeling the marks he frowned, they were latterly seared into his skin like a brand, “Why have I been marked and by who?”

Realizing that he had drifted farther from his main point he gestured to the file, “I know for a fact most of what we killed were not hollows, I know from my experience here what a hollow looks like. These had no hole where their heart should be, though some did wear masks. Some of them even chose to work with the living, though there always was a price. They were just like the demons from the bible, what else could they be if not demons?”

“Captain, do you know anything on these other creatures? What of the Central 46 Archives don’t you have to be a captain to get—“ Apollo stopped mid sentence as an idea dawned on him, “Let’s say for hypothetical reason’s I wanted to get into the Central 46 Archives without anyone knowing what would be the best way of doing so?” For some reason Apollo felt that he could trust the captain who had on their first encounter put him in the infirmary.

Unable to help herself, the inquisative girl ebbed forwards, her eyes fixated on the burnt markings on Apollo. Her hand moved forwards slowly as she quickly prodded it. Her confused expression only seemed to double after such an action. 'I don't know of anything like that...At all'. It was almost exciting. Though the question was raised that if membership extended past death, could Apollo really even be a Soul Reaper.

Kaiyo rubbed the back of her neck in thought, 'Well i'm gunna go ahead and guess it was your shadowhunters that gave you that...Maybe they wanted to remind you who are you, as in, not a shinigami?' It was a hard thing to guess, and definitely something that wasn't normal.

Her eyes dilated with a mild worry as Apollo began to describe the monsters he had killed. Superhumans fighting demons was not so normal, in fact anyone fighting demons was wrong. It would at least explain the secrecy behind the file's information. Demons were meant to be safely guarded in hell. More un-nerving maybe was that this soul could remember it all so vividly. Still, Kaiyo chose to ignore that question. Pressing further instead on the central 46 archives.

Breaking into the central 46 archives, it was probably not the best idea for anyone. Let alone an Academy student. The girl rolled her eyes as she sighed heavily. Guessing by the look on his face, just dropping this idea wouldn't exactly work. Kaiyo gestured for Apollo to take his seat again, flash stepping across to a large filing cabinet across the room as she appeared back in her seat in a matter of seconds. Kaiyo nudged the bowl of sweets to one side as she unravelled the map. 'Look, the central 46 chamber is mostly underground, nevermind the fact that it's really heavily guarded, the only single way in is across this bridge.' Kaiyo's hand traced along the bridge to the water surrounding it. Any other maps of the inside were never made. Kaiyo was simply fortunate that she was one of the more senior Captains; as such, she had been trusted with a bit more knowledge of the central 46.

'Go down a few levels and you'll get to the Daireishokairō, once there you'll need to find what you want quickly...' Kaiyo's vie trailed off. Hoping the information she had shared would be enough to deter the soul from trying it all together. A seeming act of treason that anyone party to, especially the Captain who told him about it, might get into a hell of a lot of trouble.