Truancy (Auryuu)

Leaning back in his chair Arawn rubbed his eyed and groaned. He was sitting in the main computer room of the 12th squad. Thankfully he was not alone or he would be released a string of curses instead. It would seem others weren't so reserved. He could hear several cuss words from the other side of his terminal. The system had crashed and now everyone was working hard to get it back up and running. The communications were congested due to this problem. They were well into their second hour or work. He glanced over at the book to his side. So far he'd barely scratched the surface of what needed to be done. Bryce sat beside him typing away with his two arms, while his tentacle flipped through the book to his side. The man was a computer genius, so of course he was in his element. The arms had nothing to do with it, he was just that good. The text flew across his screen as the man worked his magic. He was probably doing the work of five people alone. Still that wouldn't be enough to get things back on track. At their current rate; perhaps another three hours at best. Arawn groaned again and got back to typing. Thankfully he would get a break soon. That that thought alone wasn't enough to keep his energy from ebbing. Bryce's whistle of surprise and snickering roused him from the typing trance he had barely put himself into.
"Something wrong?" Arawn asked halfheartedly. Anything that amused Bryce was rarely something that many could relate to. Glacing at his screen he saw nothing, but text and strange characters. It was a jumbled mess. He turned back to his screen resuming his typing.
"I recovered some information." He smiled not taking his eyes off the screen. "It's a memo to the Onmitsukidō" Arawn's hands froze.
"THE Onmitsukidō?" he looked around to see if anyone had heard him, but everyone was busy with work. They were supposed to be a secret division in Soul Society, yet everyone knew of them. "What does it say?" He asked in a whisper. Arawn glanced at the screen again, but couldn't make heads or tales of the jumbled mess. The three armed hunchback sat in silence as he squinted at the characters. Arawn eyed the other man anxiously.

"Apparently a student in the academy is causing quite abit of trouble lately." he said at length. "Destruction in Ruknongai, fighting in public, unauthorized use of the gate. He's been busy." Arawn raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure he's just a student?" He was quite skeptical a student could cause that much trouble and not expect to suffer some consequences. It could be an academy dropout.
"He's never attended a single class." Arawn slapped his palm across his own face. Chances were that the young student would be severely punished at this rate. The chance of being shinigami lost before it ever began. There wasn't much to be done about it, someone had to set the student straight before things got worse.
"Have they started to track him yet?" Arawn asked quickly. It might be too late already. More silence as Bryce looked at his terminal.
"Nope, these are just preliminary reports. No judgement or ruling." That was good. So that meant the information was probably still in transit. With the system down it meant it had yet to be filed and processed. "There are some reports of his last locations. Once it goes through they'll be on him right away." Arawn leaned in close to the hunchback.
"I'm going to need those locations." Arawn said standing up,"And think you can hide that file for now?" Bryce's tentacle turned to a blank page and copied down information. Locations and description of the offender. He handed the paper over with a smile. "Thanks."

With the directions firmly in hand he moved through Rukongai. They had traced the young man's frequent haunts. He knew the man had to be in the area. But finding him amid the crowds would be tricky. Arawn sucked at sensing spiritual pressure. For that he had his phone. He pulled the small device from his shirt. The small screen filled with the signals of the many people, but Arawn would only pay attention to the more powerful ones. There were less than ten. He'd have to hunt them one by one.

Auryuu looked at the screen door of his shower, it was covered in fog, and the steam was still flooding throughout his bathroom causing a dense fog in the room, "Damn, it wasn't that hot, was it?", Auryuu spoke to himself facing a mirror by his medicine cabinet, which had tons of bottles of nyquil, and sleeping medicine. The door to his bathroom lay open letting out the steam, and dispersing it. Soon the room had become clear of the steam, leaving the bathroom looking how it usually did.

Auryuu put a towel on and walked into his nearby living room, which happened to have quite a big closet space. Auryuu put on his shinigami attire, and closed the door, he was going to venture another trip to the human world soon, he just didn't know when, and quite frankly, he was desperate to make it soon, soul society had been too dull for him, he liked the view and freeness of the human realm, when he ventured there he always wished he was still alive, but he wished she was still alive along with him, he had looked for her in soul society but had not found her, maybe she was in the human realm on missions, or maybe she was just a common soul society citizen, whatever the cause he wanted to find her.

Auryuu walked out the door exposing the early morning sun to his body, it was a hot one today, and the air was moist, the wind was heavy, not a bad condition. Auryuu picked up his skateboard that lay by his door along with his blade under it.

What a great day.

Another bust. That made five misses so far. One of the remaining signals on the phone had to be the one called Auryuu Spire. Arawn made sure to make sure to make a note of the high spiritual powered citizens he found. Chances were they might be potential students to the academy. It would be a chance for them to use their powers for a greater purpose. With that thought in mind, he thought again of the rampaging young man. Such a person was setting a bad example for shinigami. Arawn decided it would be best he take matters into his own hands. Otherwise the young man would find himself incarcerated in no time. Running along the rooftops he looked down at his watch. It had been only less than an hour. Plenty of time before the system was back up. If he failed to reform the young man by then, he'd tell Bryce to allow the complaint files to finish processing. As much as it was a waste, it was crazy to allow him to wander around free. While he was thinking he was already approaching the sixth signal on his radar. Arawn skidded to a stop atop the roof of a building overlooking the street. The buildings in Rukongai weren't too large. He wasn't hidden from view, but most people on the street ignored his presence. It wasn't odd to see shinigami in the area it seemed. A very tall man with black hair had just exited a building. Arawn quickly looked at the note Bryce had given him. It looks this might be the one. He jumped down from the building and landed right in the middle of the street.
"Greetings." he said as he quietly landed on the road. Several people stopped slightly startled. "Ayuryuu Spire I presume?" Arawn coughed on the cloud of dust that was kicked up, and quickly dusted himself off. "I'm here about you recent behavior. I think it best you restrict yourself to the Academy from now on. Your rampages are causing troubles for everyone."

Auryuu stared at the man, he wasn't too concerned about his recent actions, after all things he did in the human world were his business, and squad 11 always fought around soul society much more than Auryuu, and Auryuu fought for purpose to get strong and balance out the existence of the shinigami, the humans, and the hollows, But of course most shinigami didn't care for hollows and didn't see they had emotions too.

Auryuu looked at the man with heavy eyes and a troubled expression, "I'm doing something that you could never understand, I'm going to change this world for the better and make living conditions better, for that I need to get stronger that's what all the fights have been over, and one of your Rogues attacked me the other day with a hollow, why are you wasting time on me when you could be tracking them", Auryuu didn't care for the rogue shinigami, but he did for the hollow who had saved him, he had an obligation to her now whether he liked it or not.

"I guess it was inevitable", Auryuu slid the big double sided buster blade out of its sheeth, it slid with ease in his hands and he stabbed one side into the ground infront of him, Auryuu kicked his skateboard on top of the roof and faced the man, then he jumped directly on it facing the man still, as his blade weighed him down on his board.

Arawn held his hands innocently. Well things were off to a rocky start. He sighed, he should have expected as much from the subject of such complaints. Such arrogance. The type of mentallity that thought 'Might makes right' or 'The means justifies the end.' Not necessarily wrong, but not quite right either.
"I came here to talk." he quickly spoke. "Even if you claim to be doing things for the 'greater good' you taint you mission by the methods you use. Soon you'll be seen as the same type of evil you so viciously fight." Arawn shook his head and sighed. He drew his weapon and with a shunpo he appeared behind the larger man the flat of his blade resting on his neck. The next second he was back on the street below returning the zanpukto to it's sheath. "If I came to fight, you wouldn't standing right now." he flatly said. The people quickly moved away from the two, they new better than to get involved in the possible fight. Arawn didn't want things to escalate, but he had to show some power else the man wouldn't listen to him properly.

"You want to help people? Become a proper shinigami and do things the right way." There were mutter of agreement from the crowd around him. They heard his words and obviously had troubles with the tall man in the past. "You can fight evil and be shinigami at the same time. There's no need for this vulgar behavior."

"You guys restrict everything I do, I can't go through the gate freely, I can't miss a few classes, everything I do, is stopped by you people", Auryuu looked at the man as the sun hovered over the clouds.

"You guys say that your trying to make us more powerful but the improvement is miniscule, with this type of training I can become stronger that's what the real world makes you not this fake practice", Auryuu yelled at Arawn, with complete conviction.

Auryuu lifted his blade pointing it towards Arawn, "I never wanted to hurt anyone".

The man was trying to make a point, and yet it only sounded like the lamenting of child that wasn't allowed to stay out late. The man's shouting startled the crowd, they took another step back. As the much as the man wanted to show his self-righteousness he only frightened those around him. His convictions may be pure, but completely misguided and skewed by his thirst for power.
"You don't like rules? So it's okay to hurt others? Destroy anything you want and not be held accountable for it. It's fine to kill without reason, and take without restraint?" Arawn scoffed. "The rules give us the right to judge others. How can we expect to follow rules when we won't? We're meant to stand for something, so we have to be held to a certain code of honor and ethics. We have to accept the shackles and their burden put on us." There was no way to convince such a person with words alone, but he had to try.
"Yes the classes are long and boring, yes you're restricted to Seireitei and Rukongai, yes there are rules to follow, yes you only improvement is slow." he adjusted the weapon on his hip. "But someone once told me 'There are no shortcuts to greatness.' and I for one know that his words ring true." The time for words had ended. He pulled the his sheath from his belt and sat the end into the ground. "I offer you a challenge, a wager if you will. I am a product of these rules and regulations that you so despise, and yet I'm stronger than you are now. But someone like you won't understand that until you see it. I can fight you, but as you saw such a thing would end too quickly if I didn't hold back. So I offer you this; you will choose of 3 handicaps. No shunpo, no kido, or no zanpukto. Choose well; since I will choose a handicap for you from the remaining 2. You can refuse, but then I will not hold back at all and end things within no time."

"A handicap, are you kidding me, I could take you with my eyes closed", Auryuu's voice rang throughout the streets, he knew it sounded arrogant but he didn't care, "I never meant to hurt anything or anyone but the academy doesn't teach me the things I need to know, they also don't let you do real world missions, so how am I supposed to get stronger, yes I do understand the honor and the ethics but that isn't what make people stronger", Auryuu lifted the blade upwards and tossed it onto the ground by the man, purposely missing him, "I don't care about how fast you are, I can make myself faster, I'll find a way".

Auryuu ran across the rooftop that ran parallel to where the man stood on the ground, so that they would only be in distance by means of altitude.

"So does that mean you're rejecting my offer." Arawn said with raised eyebrow. "I don't mean it as an insult, but you really don't stand a chance without it. But that's the real point. If I can accept the handicap and keep to it, shows I can honor my word. Not only that it shows I know how to show restraint when it warrants." He raised his voice only slightly just enough to be heard by all those that gathered. "If you can't control yourself, and you don't have any honor, you're nothing but a thug. Telling people to do what you say and not what you do. Nothing more than a large bully." And bullies where short lived things. They only existed to terrorize the weak and that only lasted so long. Flaunting such shallow power only to fall to someone stronger. "A schoolyard bully, actually you're less than that. A street thug with nothing, but a puffed up ego." There were snickers from the wide ring of people. Arawn watched as Spire ran along the roof looking quite unimpressed. "I'll give you a final chance. Choose a handicap or lose outright. You're not some ape to be captured, I'm trying to treat you like a thinking human."

"The time for talk is over, it's time to show you these sacrifices, haven't been for nothing", Auryuu said as he sprinted across the rooftops, he ran ever faster and then came to a halt and jumped above the man, doing a kickflip in the air with his skateboard as he mounted it mid-air, Auryuu was now hovering over the shinigami's head as the air was pushed by his board.

"Better move", Auryuu said to the man as he got ever closer.

"Can't blame me for trying." he muttered as he tucked his weapon back onto his waist with his left hand. Glancing at the other man's oncoming attack he raised his right hand. "Silently sing the songs spun of memory, cast off realities thrown into the winds. Spinning together into the ephemeral night. Bakudo #39: Enkosen." A yellow light disc sprang into existence near his hand and quickly it began to spin. In less than a second the disc had grown in size. Spinning faster and faster the energy shield now hovered between him and the advancing opponent.

Auryuu spun towards the left dismounting his board, leaving his skateboard to be swatted of by the disk, the hollow masks that adorned it had been chipped before the discs, Auryuu caught the gutter of the roof with his right hand pulling himself upwards and continuing to be in motion, constantly moving his feet across the roof he kicked up a block of the roof and threw it at the shinigami like a shuriken, "kido, hmmph", Kido was Auryuu's least favorite thing in the whole world he had no talent for it, really, and couldn't stand seeing it.

OOC: Bakudo 39 is a just a spinning shield, not really offensive in any way.

The skateboard struck the yellow rotating shield and bounced to the ground. He observed Auryuu's new position and the thrown rock, he moved the shield and the rock hit off the shield as well. The next instant the shield vanished and Arawn looked down at the device and shrugged. He bent over and picked up the board and tossed it over to the man. The crowd gasped at his actions.
"You can keep the board." he spoke "I don't see why you would use such a thing." It wasn't arrogance on his part. It was just logic. Basic physics made the board more of a hindrance than an advantage for the bigger man. Still it seemed he used it in his battle techniques. The other man would only have regrets and lament the lack of the item if he would lose. Arawn could truly only beat the man when he was at his best. Anything else and the meaning would be lost on the dense fellow. He sighed. It was rather a bothersome job he'd gotten himself into. Still he was more than capable of doing it.

Auryuu picked up more of the stones as he caught the board flying at him, he threw two immediately at the man at high speeds then jumped above the man and threw the remaining 4 at the mans head under him speedily jumping over his head. "Dome shot, dude". The rocks flew and ripped through the air causing a whistling sound from two different places.

His reiatsu flared out as he focused his energies. Sa Shin Mu: Ju-Jak a red aura outlined the palms of his hands. He followed the rock's movement with his eyes. The first rocks came at him and he caught the tiny missiles with ease. The thin cushion of reiatsu protecting his hands. Arawn could only sigh as the man jumped. He stood there watching as the man tossed more rocks at him from above. The next barrage of rocks came at him. With confindence he snatched the first two before they could even come close to him and then used them to block the next ones that followed. Now he could toss the two rocks in his hands at the still airborne Auryuu. Hanging in the air like he was made in hard for him to dodge the attacks sent at different parts of his body. Watching the man's trajectory he waited for the last possible moment. Arawn tossed one rock at the man's head and the other at his legs before the man could land. With a superior speed the rocks flew at the opponent.

Auryuu quickly caught the stone speeding at his head, and jumped off the board, making the rocks spin under his feet, Auryuu then landed on another roof, the board slid over into the gutter by him, he picked it up scratching it against the gutter chipping the board leaving chips of hollow masks in the gutter, Auryuu held his blade up and threw it at the man, the blade went counter clock wise, and spun so fast it appeared as a shuriken.

Arawn did nothing as he watched the man recover. There were gasps from the crowd, and ever some yells urging him to "Get him.", but he ignored them. This wasn't just some brawl, he wasn't here to just beat the man into submission. He was here to crush an arrogant man's pride. Fighting with restraint was the only way. Overwhelming him with power alone, would only breed more disdain and anger. This was was easier and less painful for both parties. The red glow never left his hands as the man now threw his weapon directly at Arawn.
"What's with all the throwing?" he asked himself rhetorically. The answer being the man was afraid of him. He knew that he didn't stand a chance, but using such feeble long range attacks wasn't much better. He didn't bat and eye as the weapon turned end over end as it howled through the air. Holding his hands out in front of him evenly spaced apart and at a angle he met the attack head on. Even with the fast spinning weapon the shields on his palms held. The blade struck his palms and his arms buckled slightly. The weapon fell to the ground after bouncing off his hands. There was an audible "Oooooooooh" from the crowd and some even clapped. Arawn looked down at the weapon and shurgged as he looked up at Auryuu.
"Now what?" he asked "You've thrown your weapon away in that last attack. Are you going to throw rocks again?" The crowd laughed. It would seem the people were now enjoying the show.

Auryuu charged off the roof with his board on his feet soaring off the roof towards the arrogant man, Arawn had deflected his weapon before his eyes, Auryuu charged in a fury hurling multiple rocks that he had had left over in his hands from before at the man, while threatened to collide or hit him with his board.

He was right to say the least as the two rocks he had thrown at the man now came sailing back. Nothing but a weak prelude to the man's head on attack. Finally it seemed he was going to try to do things directly. Once again Arawn snatched the projectiles from the and once more he threw them back at target hanging in the air.
After tossing the earthy weapons Arawn deftly kicked up the man's fallen weapon. The weapon flipped in front of Arawn he caught it by the handle. The weapon was heavy. In the past he had used another person's zanpukto before. It wasn't impossible, it was just rarely done. In his hands it was just like any other weapon, the only difference was it felt wrong. It was like a dead body. It felt cold and clammy in his hand. A very uncomfortable feeling. He almost expected his hand rot and fall off, but that wasn't about to happen. He quickly shifted the blade to face it's master's foolish rush. With no way to dodge the man would impale himself on his own sword.

Auryuu saw the blade coming to impale his charge and quickly did a frontflip leaving his board grinding on the top of the sword avoiding it speedily. Auryuu landed behind Arawn wondering if the man had knew what just happen and then Auryuu aimed a kick to the back of the mans head, and aimed a punch at his spine.

"Still too slow." Arawn whispered as he spun around seeing the opponent's flip. The man's large foot grazed the back of his head as he performed a low spinning sweep. His own kick caught Auryuu behind his knee. The attack knocked the leg out from under him. With nothing to support his balance the big man fell to the ground on his back before he could punch. As Arawn rose he brought the man's weapon down inches in front of Auryuu's face. The weapon hovered over the opponent's throat.
"We can do this all day, but the out come will be the same." Arawn spoke evenly. "You're not as powerful as you think you are. My beating you is proof of that."

Auryuu did not like the insult and pushed the man away from him with his feet struggling to get up, Auryuu picked up himself he had pushed the man away and gave a deadly glare towards the mans direction, "You'll regret that", Auryuu ran towards the man full pace. He then caught up to where the man was a aimed a roundhouse kick to the mans stomach while thrusting his fist close to the mans shoulder, "Weak", he continued the thrust clenching his fist harder, it was still very hard for Auryuu to fight another soul reaper seriously, but after losing to that women he wanted to get stronger.

OOC: A free martial arts lesson: a roundhouse kick usually comes from sides in a sweeping motion. While it s possible to hit something in front of you. Landing such a kick in the middle of the target is awkward if not impossible. If you wish to hit something or someone in such a manner a side kick or front kick is a better choice.

It would seem there was still fight left in the man. Even as all his attacks were thwarted he still struggled forward. Normally one would call his actions brave or tenacious. But in this case it wasn't about winning at all cost. He wasn't doing it because he wanted to prove himself right, he just didn't like to lose. A simple and selfish answer. It was pride, not pride of his convictions. It was the pride of thinking he was stronger than everyone else, that he was special. Everyone is special, but there is always someone just as special or greater. Something he couldn't accept nor would he see without drastic measures. Arawn gave a sigh as the man began his charge.
"I'm guessing you didn't notice I've not moved from the spot from the beginning of this 'fight'." he glanced sideways at the crowd around them. A building sat in front and behind him, the people filled the streets on either side "If I move too much it would bring the people into the line of fire. My line of fire."

The man's kick came at him. And the crowd gasped as it struck only empty air. The man's weapon clattered to the ground. There was another collective gasp as they noticed the red haired shinigami now behind the man.
His uniform rippled as his reiatsu flooded outward a faint glow encasing his body. "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws." Gently he placed his hand against Auryuu's back. "Hado #33: Sōkatsui" The initial blast of blue energy exploded from his hand shooting the unfortunate man like a rocket into the building before him. The strength of the kido was enough to deeply embed Auryuu into the wall. But the attack wasn't wasn't over, the tidal wave power now struck him and the building. The energy hit it's target and kept going destroying all in it's path. And then in an instant the energy vanished. The building was a smoking husk of it's former being. Not only the building but half of the buildings next to it and three of the homes behind it. Arawn grimaced, perhaps he had put too much power into it. Thankfully everyone was outside watching the fight. There would be no casualties or injuries save for one. The crowd was awestruck, and then they came alive with a roar of excitement. Some started to clap. Ignoring the applause Arawn moved forward to examine the burnt rubble. Upon moving closer he could faintly feel the spiritual signal of the other man. He was in there somewhere buried. He eyed the mountain of rubble that sat before him. That attack of his would undoubtedly bring more shinigami, and they could help dig him out. Arawn really didn't feel like doing it. There was no doubt he was injured, but perhaps staying in there might give him some time to think. If anyone questioned why he was there and the townspeople would support his self-defense story. He had purposely let the man be the aggressor. A shinigami can't be seen starting fights. And with Auryuu's track record they'd hardly believe anything he told them. With those thoughts Arawn turned to the citizens.
"I'm sorry for that, I'll pay to have everything repaired." he said with a bow. Well there goes this month's pay. he said inwardly.

Auryuu reached his hand out of the rubble his body numb and his back bleeding from the pointblank blast of the mans kido, "Not yet...", Auryuu tried to get up but shook the rubble around him making it fall off his body, Auryuu couldn't move anymore, and was exhausted. Auryuu turned his head upside down to see the man, "I never wanted to hurt anyone!", he yelled at the man who had just shot him point blank into a sturdy building, his vison started to fade and then he fell unconcius.