Round 2 - A Startling Revelation

Kuro stepped through the senkaimon and immediately began to run all over Karakura Town looking for any trace of power that could belong to the mysterious shinigami, Takeru Seo. That man had done something to his body, and Kuro was determined to find him and make him undo it, even if he had to resort to force. He was careful about letting too much of his own power out, for fear of attracting a large group of hollows, but he let out a few bursts hoping that Takeru would recognize the feeling and show himself. For over an hour, he didn't receive any desirable results, but as he came to a stop in the park to rest, he felt the power he had encountered days earlier. A bolt of bright lightning hit the ground in front of him, kicking up a small cloud of dust and smoke. Kuro waited until the cloud had cleared, revealing Takeru smiling at him from a point ten feet away.

Kuro was angered by the very sight of Takeru. The ordeals he was facing both in his sleep and his waking hours were devastating. And to make matters worse, it had dragged Kuro's squad members into it too. He didn't want to be something that they had to worry about. Takeru seemed to understand what Kuro was thinking and chuckled at the sight of him. "My my, you sure did run a nice marathon there. If you wanted to see me so bad, you could have just come here from the start and called for me."

Kuro didn't take the bait. The tone of voice that Takeru was using was the same manipulative snake voice he'd used in their first encounter. He was a man who tried to get into his opponent's mind and tear them apart with the right combination of stabbing words. He was trying to make Kuro angrier by acting like this was all a game. Kuro breathed deeply and calmed himself down. "I'll try and talk with you, but I feel that it won't do me any good. Can you have the decency to tell me what you did to me?"

Takeru held up an index finger, waving it back and forth like he was scolding a young child. "Tsk tsk, you know that things don't come that easy my dear subject. If you want answers..." he drew his zanpakuto and released it into the shield he'd shone at their first meeting silently (an act of great skill), "...you'll have to take them by force." He leaped forward towards Kuro brandishing the shield with its blades pointing at Kuro's chest. Kuro took a stance and prepared to fight back.

Takeru's approach was quick, but Kuro was quicker. Kuro's blade was drawn in an instant and brought forward to hold back the stabbing shield blades. Kuro grunted with exertion as he pushed up on the shield and brought his foot up to kick Takeru in the stomach. The foe gasped as his breath knocked out of him from the blow and he was pushed back. Kuro followed his retreat and slashed with his zanpakuto with rapid successive strikes that aimed all over Takeru. The shield was brought up to block most of them, but a few of the strikes managed to leave wounds on his body and unshielded arm. Kuro finished up by drawing Takeru's attention to his blade and striking him in the face with his right fist when his guard was down. Takeru was sent flying back, though mostly of his own accord. He had noticed the shadow of Kuro's fist just in time and thrown himself back to reduce the damage. Kuro scowled at this discovery; his opponent had good reflexes, probably trained through the constant use of that shield. He spoke coldly to the fallen foe, annoyed by his constant jokes and jeers, "My name isn't subject. I am Kuro Akarui, the captain of Squad 2." Takeru picked himself off the ground and, to Kuro's surprise, began to laugh again.

"Very good...very good. You're progressing faster than even I had hoped. Let the power be released from inside you. Welcome and embrace it. Only then can you accomplish your wish of defeating me."

Kuro was confused by his words, and angered that he still wasn't taking him seriously. "Concentrate, Seishou-Seijin!" He transformed his zanpakuto into its ninja gauntlet shikai and shunpoed forward to strike Takeru with a powered up hammer fist strike from his gauntlet clad hand. "Sōkatsui!" Takeru dodged the attack by jumping back from Kuro and fired a hado down on him as he retreated. Kuro didn't flee from the attack, choosing instead to fire a concentrated blast of energy from his gauntlet palm directly at the kido. Kuro poured enough energy into the blast that the kido was easily overcome and dispersed, allowing his blast to continue on and advance on Takeru. The strange shinigami merely grinned again, showing no fear as he held up his shield to block the blast. Just as it had done in their previous fight, Takeru's shield completely absorbed Kuro's energy blast, leaving Takeru uninjured behind it. Kuro smirked as the blast was absorbed and shunpoed again, this time ending up at Takeru's right side. Even with his reflexes, by using his shield to block Kuro's blast (which Kuro had made sure to aim more towards his face) he had blocked his sight and allowed Kuro to gain a surprise attack. "W-what!?" he uttered in shock as Kuro seized his arm with his gauntlet and powerfully threw him into a tree nearby.

Takeru smashed violently into the tree, a look of pain spreading out across his face. Kuro didn't let up and shunpoed at him immediately, landing another gauntlet blow in his stomach before he had a chance to catch his breath. Takeru doubled over from the blow, but defied logic again by simply laughing like before. "That's right. Your rage is awakening you without you even noticing it. Your style is becoming much closer to your true self, just like the you I discovered all those years ago. The power is creeping into your very being and becoming one with you. That's why you sense nothing wrong with it in the heat of battle. Haven't you noticed that your fear is gone?"

Kuro was confused for a moment, but quickly realized that he was right. His mind clouded by anger and annoyance, he was attacking Takeru with a fury that was unlike himself. It was just like back in the sparring grounds with Mika earlier. Takeru glanced back up, smirking even wider now that his words had taken effect. By taking Kuro's mind off the battle, he'd cooled the fire in Kuro's heart and the clashing feelings of fear and aggression were messing Kuro's mind more than his taunts earlier. Further troubled by the mystery of what was happening to him, Kuro was being reduced to a panicked shiver as his worries blended with the adrenalin rush of the fight. Takeru stood back up and placed a hand on Kuro's shoulder, almost reassuringly. "Don't worry my poor subject. It's nothing to be scared of. You're just becoming one of us." Kuro slowly looked into Takeru's eyes, and watched in horror as a mask began to construct itself on his face. It was oddly shaped, only covering most of the left side of his face in addition to his eyes. It looked like a white "yang" symbol decorating his face with a skinnier black "yin" mark painted on its center surface. The eyes behind the mask burned with a fierce evil aura now, shining savage and yellow like a wild beast.

"Your a-..." Kuro was cut off as a mighty punch landed in his gut. He was sent soaring back, skidding along the park grass. Takeru followed up by releasing the stored energy absorbed from Kuro's in his shield and firing it in the form of three black energy blades. Kuro weaved through these, trying to get closer and counter attack, but the blades were followed immediately by a Haien kido spell. Kuro didn't have time to dodge and was forced to form a small disk of energy on his gauntlet to meet the blast directly. The resulting explosion pushed him back again. Trying again, he shunpoed to try and get the upper hand on Takeru through speed. As he exited his shunpo however, he was pierced by a well aimed bala that tore through his torso on the left side of his waist. He fell to his knees clutching at the wound while the meaning behind this failed attack dawned on him. Takeru was now able to fully match his speed. He watched as Takeru slowly walked over to him and stood over his defenseless figure.

"Oh well...I guess you could only go so far. That's too bad." He raised his shield above his head and prepared to bring it down in a finishing blow. Kuro could do nothing from his position and only watched while his foe readied his strike. As Takeru began to bring his weapon down, a lightning blast soared from somewhere to the side of both him and Kuro, grazing his arm and making him roar with fury. "Arrghhhhhh! Who dares to interfere with my experiment!?"

"Kuro-Taichou!" Kuro could scarcely believe his eyes as he turned his head towards the shout and saw Mika Nishino dashing towards both him and Takeru. Gritting his teeth from the pain of his wound, he extended a blade of energy from his gauntlet and swiped at Takeru who was still distracted by Mika's appearance. The slash caught Takeru in the front, cutting a shallow gash across his stomach, not deep enough to be fatal. Takeru ignored this attack, knowing that Kuro didn't have the strength currently to try that again and shunpoed at Mika with blurring speed that even Kuro had trouble keeping sight of. "Run Nishino-san!"

Kuro's warning was in vain. There was no way for Mika to evade an enemy of such speed at her current level. Takeru had her by her throat, squeezing tightly while his mouth twisted in an ugly grimace of fury. "You bitch! You messed up the scene of impending death I'd fixed for him! You've delayed my experiment's progress! What gives you the right to impede success!?"

Kuro's pain faded as he watched Mika's face turning blue from the lack of air. He could only see her tortured appearance as he knelt there unable to do anything. But his wound didn't do anything to stop his spirit power, which was starting to spike wildly. His gauntlet was trying to keep the power under control, but Kuro's fury pushed it beyond its normal limits, flooding the park with a heavy reiatsu filled with Kuro's distaste at the harsh treatment of his squad member. "TA-KE-RUUUUU!!!!!!!

Takeru eased his grip on Mika's neck as he felt Kuro's power. He turned back to the injured captain, a look of delight replacing the angry look from before. "Yes...yes!!! This is it! I don't understand why, but this girl is the key!" His eyes narrowed and shifted back and forth between Kuro and Mika, a plan working its way through his mind. When he was satisfied with his decision, he struck Mika roughly, knocking her out cold. He turned back to Kuro again, holding the unconscious girl in his arms. "You've made incredible progress Kuro, but I'm afraid we're out of time for today. But I'll be taking this girl along with me now. If you want to see her again...you'll have to come to my playground next time.

Takeru shifted Mika's weight to one arm and held up the other with his palm facing the thin air beside him. Slowly, a gargantua opened up in the middle of the park, through which Takeru stepped with Mika still held captive. He kept eye contact with Kuro, who was uselessly reaching out towards them, his wound losing him too much blood and his vision starting to blur. The gargantua finally closed, leaving Kuro alone in the park. He fell forward on the grass, unable to support himself any longer. His consciousness faded as he weakly called after his poor squad member. "Ni-shino...-san......"