Darkness becomes Dawn (DarkMaster)

Ren could sense a powerful Aura in the distance but could not determain what or who it belonged to. She was still a young hollow but she was growing more powerful every day. She ignored the powerful Aura and focusedon her prey in front of her. It was a Dimi-hollow and it was on the verge of become a hollow as well. There was no sense in letting it suffer the painit would bare in the future. Looking at it the hole in its chest was almost fully developed. Ren jumped down from the building infront of the Dimi-hollow.

The dimi-hollow stoped in his tracks when he saw the Cheetah-like hollow. He started to run in the other direction. With a sigh Ren chased after him,Why must they make it so difficult? she thought in saddness. Catching up to the Dimi-hollow Ren felt the Aura from before but it was closer now. Better hurry and wrap this up., with that she dissapered for a moment the man looked behind him to not see her there; with a sigh of relife he turned to walk but saw Ren infront of him. "Forgive me, I myself do not wish to do this." she said opening her jaws wide she devored the Dimi-hollow.

Now the Aura was right behind her, who ever it was they had the smell of a Shinigami and they saw what she did. "What do you want with me, Shinigami?" she asked not looking back.

Tatsuya walked through the streets of the small town when he felt the nearby presence of a hollow. Tatsuya sighed in disappointment, he wanted to resume his duties as a shinigami, but knew that time had passed for the moment. Until he was welcomed back into the Gotei 13 he would leave the dispatching of hollow to the town's representative. Maintaining a steady pace Tatsuya continued in the direction of his previous heading. Wondering around towns and cities as an outcast was not the life he would choose freely, but circumstances dictated his current situation. He could feel the hollow getting closer, it was chasing something, and that something was leading it towards his direction. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he kept his reiatsu suppressed and kept walking. Rounding a corner Tatsuya saw what he had been trying to avoid. What surprised him was that the hollow in front of him was devouring another hollow. His eyes narrowed on the devouring hollow as it finished it's meal and spoke to him without turning around. "I have no business with you, Hollow."Tatsuya quickly began to evaluate his surroundings. There were more people in the immediate area then he would have like there to be for a battle, but he unhinged his zanpakuto with his left hand, just in case. "If you do not hurt any of the innocent souls here, you are free to leave. But don't mistake my generosity for weakness." Tatsuya gave the hollow a choice against his own principles. He hated himself for what he was doing, but he would hate himself more if Soul Society found out where he was.

Ren turned her head a little bit just enough to see what she was dealing with. "I have no intrest in innocent souls. They are too weak and I will not harm them. Why do you not attack me, Shinigami? Is it not your sworn duty to destroy hollows, and protect the innocent souls?" she asked with catuion this Shinigami had a strong Aura and a high SP. Her yellow-blue eyes shined in the moonlight almost glowing with an unseen power.

Ren turned to face the Shinigami, and sensed nothing but lonelyness. "Whay are you even here on your own? Don't you normaly travel in groups?" She wanted to know why the Shinigami was on his own; she continued to stare at him not wanting to leave till she knew that she would be safe from the Shinigami.

"A hollow that won't harm innocents?!" Tatsuya kept a watchful gaze on the hollow as it turned its head. "I have my reasons for not striking you down, Hollow. My duty is what I choose to make it." Tatsuya's own yellow eyes looked into the eyes of the hollow. He could sense he was stronger than it, but knew better than to underestimate them. As the hollow turned to face him, his right hand slowly went for the hilt of his zanpakuto. He was still unsure of it's intentions. Was it serious when it said it wouldn't harm the innocents, or was that just to get him to let his guard down? "You have me mistaken for the run-of-the-mill shinigami you see in groups. They don't compare to someone like me." He answered indirectly with a firm face, he didn't want the hollow to know he was running from Soul Society. "And what of you, Hollow? A hollow that doesn't attack innocent souls to devour is as rare as they come." The Hollow had actually peaked his interest, for now. He would "deal" with it, if it left him no other choice.

"I have my reasons for not attacking innocent souls. They do not concern you, Shinigami." Ren was staying cauious she could not afford to let her gaurd down. She backed up a bit to keep the distance between them. This Shinigami's Aura is incredible he must be a Capitain or a lutenit. she thought. "Why are you here?"

Ooc: I appoligize for it being short.

"Very well, Hollow." It had given him the same type of indirect answer he had given, no surprise to him. After all, a hollow of her type was probably just as rare or even more so than a rogue shinigami. Probably the later. Tatsuya's eyes focus on the backing hollow. It was just as cautious as he was. "I'm just out for a stroll." His gripped loosened around his zanpakuto, but he didn't completely let it go. "What about you Hollow, out for a snack?" He thought back to its earlier meal just a few moments ago. "You'd better watch what you eat. My forgiveness is not easy to come by when you devour the wrong thing." He was about ready to revert back to his former duties, but checked his emotions before they could take over. He released his zanpakuto and dropped his right hand before he could make any rash decisions. Not like he needed it if the time came.

Ren looked at the Shinigami with a cold look. "Why is it that almost every time I see one of you Shinigami you do not try to kill me? Like I said befor innocent souls do not interest me." she stated. She sensed a hollow close by but chose to ignore it for the time being. She had to know more about this Shinigami to brack the tension between them Ren decided to introduce herself. "My name is Ren, May I ask you your name?" She waited for the Shinigami to reply.

"You answered your own question Hollow. I only help the weak and innocent. If you don't hurt them, I won't hurt you. But I can only answer on my own behalf. What the others do is known of my concern." He returned the hollow's cold look with his own piercing gaze. Tatsuya felt the presence of another nearby hollow, but would avoid it just as he had tried to avoid this one. "Your the first hollow to give me their name freely, Ren." One could cut the tension with a knife in this atmosphere as there was a great bit of silence between words. "Tatsuya Okibi..." His sentence was cut short when the hollow he sensed from before was in his view behind the hollow closing in fast.

Ren sensed the hollow behind her and created ten Aura Shards surounding her body. It looked like she had spike on her, she released one of the shards at the hollow and got it in the shoulder. The hollow took the hit and it pulled out the shard and started to swing it around. Aw great. I just gave it a weapon. she tought with an unamused as she stood there as the hollow was hitting her Aura-like spikes. Witha sigh she created smaller aura shards and fired them at the hollow. The hollow braced itself as the attack came but the Aura shard had little effect. Ren glanced at Tatsuya, "I hate to bother you but can you give me a hand, please? I can't beat it on my own." she asked.

Tatsuya crossed his arms as the two hollows began fighting. He observed Ren create the spikes on her body and launch one at the hollow with little effect. The new hollow began pounding on Ren. "It's durable." He noted as Ren created more spikes while being attacked with little effort. Ren's attack was the same as the first one as it had practically no effect. "Thick skin?" It was going to take something with more force to cause any serious damage to the hollow. Tatsuya began to walk away from the battle, he wasn't about to let anyone discover him because of a couple of hollow. He stopped dead in his tracks as Ren made that absurd request. He quickly turned to face the fighting hollows with a mixed look of anger and surprise over such a request. "How dare tha... that thing ask for my help." He furiously thought. Tatsuya was now fighting his own sense of duties. Does he help the hollow, that animal, or does he let nature take its course. He thought back to what it had said before about not hurting innocent beings. He was sure all hollows were the same, bloodthirsty animals that lived only on instinct. Tatsuya was torn between what he thought he should do and what he had been trained to do. But not just that, the risk of getting tracked by Soul Society was also something that made him apprehensive towards helping that beast. His head turned down to the ground as he contemplated, his eyes darting back and forth from the fighting hollows to the ground.

Ren growled in frustration, "Don't you get it Shinigami?! I'm too weak to fight this hollow on my own!" She felt something stab her in the back Ren looked back and saw her own Aura shard covered in her blood. Eyes wide with shock her knees began to buckle panting she released the Aura spikes at the hollow. It did some damage this time but it would not slow it down that much. One could see it in Ren's eyes that she was scared but she didn't want the Shinigami to know it.

Tatsuya stared angrily at Ren as he fought to make a decision. "Too weak..." Those words echoed in his mind as he watched the blood run down Ren's back from the new wound. The attacking hollow took a small step back from Ren's attack, but quickly recovered. He watched as the angry hollow lifted its arm back for retaliation. As its arm dropped to attack Ren, Tatsuya finally made a decision. Tatsuya watched the hollow's severed arm fell to the ground as he stood between it and Ren. His zanpakuto had blood dripping from it's blade as the hollow screamed out in pain. He wasn't sure if Ren could follow what had just happened. From where Tatsuya had previously stood, he had unsheathed his zanpaukto and flash stepped between them to cut off the attacking hollow's arm. "I can't just watch the weak being taken advantage of in front of me, Ren." He stated while facing the one armed hollow.

Ren looked up as the hollow rised its arm then the arm was cut off compleatly. She could not understand what just happened then she saw the Shinigami. "I can't just watch the weak being taken advantage of in front of me, Ren." he told her. Smirking Ren went to attack mode, "I will not let you down Tatsuya. I will give it my all to help you to defeat this hollow!" Ren lunged at the hollow biteing its only arm with as much force as possible.

The hollow roared in pain and tried to get Ren off of its arm with its mouth. The hollow had little succece.

Tatsuya didn't have to wait long before Ren attacked the one arm hollow. Taking advantage of the occupied hollow, Tatsuya acted fast. As Ren kept hold of the hollow's arm with her teeth, He gripped his zanpakuto tighter in his right hand and dashed forward. He effortlessly sliced through the hollow's neck as he quickly passed it. He did not even turn to watch the hollow disappear as they usually do. Instead he swung his zanpakuto hard towards the ground to throw off the blood from his blade, and then returned it to it's scabbard. "I'm sure there are other shinigami headed this way. You'd best be off, since they don't have the same regard for hollows as I do." Tatsuya turned only his head and looked from the corner of his eye at Ren. He still wasn't sure he could trust the hollow, but it wasn't everyday that one would ask for help from a shinigami.

Ren felt more relaxed she knew now that she could trust this Shinigami. "It was nice to meet you and I thank you for your help. I hope in the future when I become stronger that we meet again." she told her new friend. Turning the other direction she left to find a new place to stay for the night.

The sun was now rising in the sky casting a small light in the darkness. To Ren it seemed that the darkness was beoming something more, it was now Dawn.

He didn't answer her right away, in fact he didn't say anything until after she began to leave, and only in a low voice. "Maybe we will meet again...hopefully not under the wrong circumstances either." He watched the hollow run off. Tatsuya was right, soon after Ren began to leave, he could feel a group of shinigami headed in his direction. He sighed in disappointment, "I hope to be able to fight along side you once again my friends. Until then, be well." Tatsuya flash stepped away from the scene and used Bakudo #19 to conceal himself as he began to walk off in the opposite direction, away from the shinigami. Even with the sun rising in the distance, he only felt darkness in his near future.