The Return of an Outcast (Open)

The sand, white with a dull grey hue. Never ending as a vast expanse of desert. The sky, a dark grey of an almost black shade. The moon and clouds dreary and pathetic as the night rolled on. The trees, what little there were were barren of life and white like bone. The world around him was lackluster and somber in appearance. "Things are as they will be and shall forever remain how they were." Hageshii said to himself in his obscure voice. He looked toward the sky briefly. Knowing that he should always be aware of his every surrounding had made him extremely edgy over his extended stay in Hueco Mundo. He had forgotten how much time had elapsed since he had been abandoned.

He had spent all his time looking for a way back. Somewhere that was weak enough for his reiatsu to pierce the void and allow him safe passage back into Soul Society. Since he wasn't a hollow and didn't have any hollow abilities his only possible passage would have been following a hollow into the real world. That was beyond risky and would leave him stranded in the human world. At first that was what he wanted but he knew that without the proper teachers he'd learn nothing about Shikai and Bankai that he didn't already know, nor would he have adequate training facilities to increase power readily and not cause alert. Drawing unwanted attention to himself would be more than catastrophic in both that situation and his current predicament.

He had become, what some would call, wise during his undesirable vacation. Some would say he's lost what remained of his sanity. Without speaking aloud for so long his muscles forgot how to shape words properly. Though his speech was somewhat understandable it had taken on a dark overtone. Rugged hatred rapped in the soft velvet of loneliness. He had become a man of few words for survival mostly, but of course there was no one else to talk to that wasn't trying to kill him.

He began his search as soon as he had realized he was alone in the sand dunes of the boundless desert. He started with the most rudimentary forms of information gathering. Asking around. Hollows, though sparse were available. He did his best to avoid stronger hollows and was caught in more than a few close calls. He was finally able to traverse the areas beneath the sand after about six months or so. That was around the time he had stopped counting the days. By this time he was more than able to handle himself and was totally capable of erasing the entirety of his reiatsu. After some time as a ghost he realized that he should just keep his power equal to those around him.

After a short few months he was back topside in the endless sand with new information. He began looking for a weak point in the void. eventually he was able to return to the place he had come through. Everything had looked as it had when they first arrived. Not an ounce of blood. Not even so much as a single corpse. No trace of existence, whatsoever. As far as he could tell this was the weakest piece of the dimensional fabric. He tried once to pierce through without results. Even as weak as it was he was still far to weak to pierce it. He took shelter nearby for another eternity until an almost unlimited power ripped through the air. Everything within a good ten mile radius felt the surge as it emanated from the scar.

Hageshii knew now was his chance. If he didn’t hurry the whole place would become a hunting ground and his head would be the first thing lost even if he was ten times as careful as he had been during his sentence. He made haste the likes of which he never made before. "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Hado number four. White Lightning!" He shouted with all his might and focused as much of his reiatsu as possible into that one strike. It was enough to pierce but not rip a hole large enough for him to pass through. He cursed himself for not being able to do anything more. He erased his presence and buried himself in sand because he could feel the closing distance between himself and every other hollow interested in what the surge of power might have been.

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Soul society was peaceful, and quiet. People were strolling around as they usually did in Rukongai, and Auryuu was doing the same. It was nice to have time to himself. Yet he was so lonely by himself, still always fixated on her, he couldn't keep his mind off her and all of the things that made her unique in his eyes. Sulking wouldn't bring her to him though, that much he knew. She had been really busy lately so he could not blame her, for not being able to be together.

He wasn't sure where they stood, or where they would be. That fact haunted him as he walked further down the busy street. Auryuu gazed towards the clouds above him, they drifted sluggishly, and soon revealed a blistering sun, that radiated warmth and intense light. He didn't stare at the sun, but he could still see it in the corners of his eyes. Peace was momentary, War was forever, and was never forgotten. Peace was always forgotten, and never appreciated it. Peace was one of things Auryuu had come to cherish, even though he had not had much of it. Kaiyo was another, and that was also the same case for her. She could never know what he thought of her.

Auryuu paced slowly around the side of a torn up house, and started to head down the road. Suddenly a loud sound ripped above his viscinity. At a higher altitude a small mysterious gash in the sky opened up above, stunning Auryuu. White lightning of a significant length flowed out, racing out of it at a fast speed. He could sense the reiatsu overflowing from the energy, it was Hado #4. He had seen it many times, it being the more common of the destruction spells, that average shinigami knew.

The lightning eventually faded throughtout the seemingly unbothered sky. The hole still lay open in the sky. Almost asking someone to open it. It was like that one christmas present that you had to open early. Auryuu wanted to look inside it. He quickly climbed up the house next to him. Now standing on the roof gazing at the hole, he was now closer to his goal. Auryuu raised his hand quickly unleashing a fireball without a incantation. The sky opened further, cracking open the sky leaving fragments of the sky drifting and then fading away from sight. It would take a little more for it to allow human access.

Day and night blurred together, it seemed. Actually, day and night didn't exist, only some halfway point of dusk and total darkness that cast a pitiful light upon the endless landscape. Skeletal husks of what appeared to be trees dotted the landscape, each one several miles apart. The sand never grew hot, or cold. Occasionally, the bleached bones of a skeleton would be visible, half submerged in the endless sea of sand.

Kaoseu had lost track of time for how long he'd been there. He knew his internal clock worked properly still, and he'd slept whenever it had said to. If he went by that, he'd slept a total of thirty six times, meaning he'd been there over a month. He'd resorted to some hectic things to get to the surface, having appeared below when the Garganta had deposited him.

Arrancar here were viciously intelligent and strong. Hollows roamed in troves, ganging up on those of higher Reishi, and tearing them to pieces betwixt themselves. He didn't come upon any Espada, thanks to some unseen Lady of Luck watching him. After carving his way through the Menos Forest, he found a way topside, and emerged to this unending twilight, wandering aimlessly, but after a while, his gut kept tugging at him. He had been following that feeling for as long as he could remember from there now, and was on the verge of giving in, and just going back to the World of the Living when he felt it.

Just on the other side of a sand dune, he felt the unmistakeable charge of a Kidou. However, the signature couldn't have POSSIBLY been the Shinigami that he felt, one that he had befriended when he was in the Academy, thought dead during the situation in which they had to unblock the Senkaimon Gates from this side. Frantically, he Flash Stepped to the crest of the dune and looked down. There, lying at the bottom, in front of a small Garganta, obviously one that had been forced open, was his old friend, Hageshii.

Kaoseu then felt massive surges of Hollow presence all around, and then Kaoseu felt the foreign signature of Seireitei seeping through the Garganta. He cursed vividly, and Flash Stepped down the steep hill, and picked up the limp form of his lost friend. Silently, he widened the Garganta to a size big enough to fit both of them and hopped through, closing it simultaneously.

The landing would have been fine, having been in Rukongai, and on top of a building at that. Except they landed on someone. Hageshii rolled one direction, precariously close to the roof, Kaoseu tumbled into a smokestack, and the other figure either rolled out of the way, or was toppled to the middle.

"Sorry about that... Hageshii... You all right...?" Kaoseu called in a dry husk of a voice, standing slowly, rubbing at his head, the apology having been directed at the familiar looking stranger.

Hageshii began to suffocate on an increased claustrophobic feeling as hollows closed in around him. With each passing second one eternity ended and another began. Each far worse then its predecessor. He was only able to bare that eternity because he was somewhat occupied. Gently, he probed a wide vicinity attempting to learn specifics about what exactly was converging on his location. All the while his eyes never left the dimensional gap.

Suddenly the hole was blasted by something from the other side. A faint power signature rippled about twenty feet before dissipating. A fire ball? Hageshii questioned inwardly. Before he had much more time to think about it he felt something he shouldn't have. A shinigami.

In all his time in Hueco Mundo he had never come across this presence so it would have had to just recently shown up on the grid. It's power lever was insane and it was doing a rather poor job of hiding it. It was familiar somehow but something deep within Hageshii told him that it was no longer something he knew. It moved so fast it was almost untraceable, but every time it popped back up Hageshii was able to get a beat on it. It was covering massive amounts of space in overly short spans of time which could only mean that it was well versed in Shunpo.

Something kept nagging at Hageshii telling him how familiar this power was but something else told him that it was much darker than it should have been. If he was correct than one of two things would happen. That power was on it's way to help him or it was going to kill him the moment they crossed paths. The next thing he knew he was through the dimensional hole and tumbling down a roof in Rukongai.

He was able to backwards roll himself to his feet just before the edge of the roof. However, because of his momentum he fell back from the roof. Knowing this would happen he let himself fall and managed to backflip landing in a kneeling position. His right leg bent inward, underneath him, was supported by the toes of his right foot. His left foot was flat on the ground along with his right hand adding extra balance. His left hand was on his hilt the instant he landed ready to draw at a moments notice.

His purple hair, draped low over his face, covered his grim expression when he heard his old sparring partner's voice. He recalled having run into someone but paid it no mind. He was shocked by the immense growth of his old acquaintance and wondered how long he'd been gone. Then it hit him full force. The dark unfamiliar force he felt in Hueco Mundo.

He did nothing for a moment trying to get over most of his fear. He glanced up observantly and saw his savior in the smokestack and it made him relax though not enough to stand. "Yet again, Kaoseu, my technique is better than yours." The words were difficult to say but he managed them somehow. "Have you grown so arrogant as to simply flaunt such massive power? Is this what's become of captains since I've been gone?" He assumed Kaoseu was a captain simply by the massive amount of reiatsu he possessed.

He spoke his words like daggers of ice launching off his tongue to both test what had become of his friend and to mask his fear. Finally he stood. He did so slowly like a proud lion presenting his mane for all to gaze upon. His left hand never left the hilt of his blade and his eyes never moved from Kaoseu.

Auryuu jumped off the house's roof, landing gracefully to the road below where many people gathered around. He stared at the hole for a few seconds before another one of a different kid opened above him, darker and strange looking. Two strange falling objects dropped at a moderate speed soon after. The objects became too close before Auryuu could indentify, or much less react to the incoming human bombs. The first man hit Auryuu coming down, sending Auryuu to his back, flattened recklessly onto the ground, knocking the wind out of him temporarily.

Auryuu lay on the ground for a little while watching the cloudy afternoon sky. The sun had blinded him also, revealing sunlight from the partial cover of a large castle like cloud. Auryuu turned his head, and rubbing the back of his neck, as he began to get up from the warm, hard ground. He dusted his clothes off as he pushed off his knee to get into a standing position, still looking a little beaten up.

Looking at the men dumbfounded, and confused at how they had managed to get here and fall from the sky like that, Auryuu began to walk up to the two men closer. One of the men began to talk to the other, and Auryuu interupted, soonafter the mans last words had came out. "You couldn't have landed anywhere else?", he said as he let out a small smile, and dusted off his torso.

Kaoseu's grim smile faded immediately, as he realized he had no retainer on his power, as Hageshii had pointed out. He quickly silenced it, squashing it to the capacity of the two Shinigami around him, as they both seemed equal in power anyways. Hageshii had obviously grown, his words as frosty as ice, spoken with power and confidence, making him seem even more powerful, despite his feeble amount of Spiritual Pressure. Kaoseu thought on a response as he stood, dusting himself off.

He deliberated a moment more as he straightened up, a scowl on his face. He was vaguely aware of the other individual as they approached, though Kaoseu knew he'd have to leave again soon, but maybe a trip to the barracks was in order first. Snapping back to present, the Vizard grinned widely at Hageshii and replied, "Firstly, yer technique almost got yer ass handed to you by a buncha hungry Hollows. Secondly, no, not of Captains. I'm not stayin' her long." His words were carefully chosen, everything plain for Hageshii, to read through it all. He stuck to the slang that they used to use as students, Kaoseu, at least, as a sign that things were still old school, but his eyes and last words said much more.

Kaoseu was on the verge of saying more when an ever familiar voice, issued from the direction of the stranger behind him, now within proximity, rang out a question. Every fiber of Kaoseu's being screamed for him to run, to flee off on his errand, and be on his way, but his gut told him it was important for him to turn around. As he did, he felt something odd, like the deep resonating feeling he had felt a long while ago, when he had first met this strange Shinigami, Auryuu.

Kaoseu's words were like sweet music to Hageshii's ears, but the melody hit a sour note at his last sentence. Everything was fine and as it should have been in the Seireitei, but something drastic had happened to his friend. Hageshii was able to read it like an open book. His friend had become someone of great stature and had grown dramatically over the endless span of his solitary life. He was glad to hear it though saddened to understand that this was no longer the case.

His stance relaxed only slightly. His hand eased away from his blade during the moments of Kaoseu's speech. Suddenly, someone else spoke and interrupted their exchange. By Hageshii's guess it was the one they had run into on their way in. By his voice Hageshii could tell it was a male, and by his energy he was able to confirm that he could fight with him about evenly.

Hageshii instantly saw Kaoseu turn on a dime and face the voice. He knew it somehow, and it obviously wasn't someone he was friends with. Kaoseu tensed as if preparing to flee hastily. It wasn't instinctual fear, but more of a reactive fear. As if this person's being here held connection with why Kaoseu couldn't stay.

In one deft motion Hageshii stepped on a conveniently placed pile of rubble and leaped onto the roof's edge. Following with a single bound up the side of the roof he was quickly by Kaoseu's side. His sword hand gripped the hilt of his blade, which he had partially drawn. With his other hand he pointed his thumb over his shoulder. His voice was somewhat as it had been before his disappearance he said, "Then you best get to gettin' for the gettin' ain't so good."

His eyes never left the direction of the voice. A young man stood in it's place. He looked to be about seventeen when he died. Typical black hair. Odd muscular build for someone so unable to read a mood. Or maybe he was just trying to lighten it and was just as nervous to be around Kaoseu as Hageshii had been.

"We're sorry to have inconvenienced you, friend. We just weren't quite able to control the direction of our travel." Hageshii's voice was a sheathed blade waiting to be drawn. After speaking so little for so long Hageshii assumed it would have been far more difficult, but the more he spoke the surprisingly easier it got. Hageshii saw the sword and typical dress of a low ranking member of the Seireitei, although he wore one just like it, his was hardly recognizable being in the shape it was after immense amounts of time without proper care.

"What squad are you from, fellow shinigami?" Hageshii didn't give time for a response or any other action for that matter. He flared what remained of his reiatsu. It appeared as a desperate attempt to intimidate the fellow shinigami, but to Hageshii it was an invitation to try anything. It was to give the kid a sense of false bravado and allow Kaoseu time to take off. Hageshii had the height advantage of the roof top and he was already capable of fully drawing his sword faster than his opponent and could launch kiddo just by opening his palm. Hageshii didn't want to fight, but Kaoseu wasn't able to explain further with the kid in the area so the only other choice would be to reconvene elsewhere when they could speak without interruption.

The kid wouldn't kill a fellow shinigami in cold blood and the worst that could have happened was that Kaoseu had become a deadly fugitive. By association Hageshii would be sentenced to something far worse than death, but his best defense was his only one. He was defending an old friend from something he wasn't quite sure of and he had been trapped in Hueco Mundo for years. He charged in blindly without the facts to help a friend in need. Sure it wasn't the smartest defense but it was all he had and he knew that now he didn't have a choice. He cursed himself inwardly for his brash actions, but his gaze never left the kid. His stare, like a wild tiger fighting to the death, was one he had plenty of time to refine.

There he was. Kaoseu stood right in front of him, and some other stranger he had just met. No apology could make up for what Kaoseu did to Kaiyo. Regardless Kaiyo's care for the man made him important to him. Friends were precious to her, Auryuu knew this for a fact. The love she revealed for her squad members, for her friends, for strangers in general, might quite be unparalled by anyone in soul society. Auryuu had come to love her qualities. Love was so foreign to a man who had no value in anything, and then Kaiyo came out of nowhere and changed the way he thought drastically. She had saved him many times, not just physically with the hollow, or the hearing, but emotionally too. She was shelter, inspiration, and compassion.

Auryuu stared at the two men. He kept a firm glare on Kaoseu, observing, watching, judging, and deciding. He began to look at the other one now. His clothes resembled Auryuu's, but were much messier. He wanted to address him, but simply didn't feel comfortable, especially while Kaoseu was around for some strange reason. Auryuu talked in a hushed tone, as if suspicious of being heard by the people who had begun to gather around the building they stood. He could atleast be happy they weren't in the seireitei, but in the rukongai district, where shinigami didn't usually wander at this time of day.

Auryuu felt the flare of reiatsu, quickly flaunting his equally powerful reiatsu for a second also looking to intimidate the man. He stared at the man for a few seconds, after he had released his reiatsu. After he put his eyes back on Kaoseu, he concealed his reiatsu too, it suddenly became more and more invisible eventually turning to nothing.

Auryuu began to address Kaoseu, showing the men he wasn't particularly an enemy, "Kaoseu, are you kidding me?!", he said to him leaning closer to him. "They'll take you into custody unless you leave". Auryuu put his hand onto Kaoseu's shoulder as he began to lightly push onto it, telling Kaoseu, to get out of sight in a physical way.

Kaoseu was astonished at how two sided Hageshii had become. One moment, he was honey-coating his words to attest for their barrage, and the next, his posture shifted into an offensive, ready to barge into battle headlong. Even though he was one for a battle, Kaoseu couldn't let these two thick-headed Shinigami get him caught, even if he did have a connection to the both of them. He put a hand on Hageshii's shoulder, as a sign of staying him, and caught his eye, shaking his head. This was not the time, nor place.

Turning his gaze to Auryuu, Kaoseu inspected him more thoroughly, as Auryuu seemed to scrutinize him as well. Nothing had really changed about the individual, though he still seemed a bit wary of his presence. The Ex Captain listened intently as Auryuu spoke to him quickly, nudging him in the direction of the edge of the roof they were all on. Kaoseu shook his head and looked to the flawless white wall that was the outer gate of Seireitei.

"I don't have time to talk, or stay. I came to bring Hageshii back, and pick up a few things. I'll be gone after that. For the time being, Farewell." Without another word, Kaoseu took a light jog a few paces, and then Flash Stepped off, leaving the two on the roof to become acquainted.

Just before Hageshii could react to the other shinigami's acceptance of his original challenge Kaoseu stayed Hageshii and he got the message. Hageshii pushed his blade fully into its sheath and glared off into the distance. He saw a strange disappointment in Kaoseu's eyes. One he wasn't quite sure what to make of. After spending so much time in Hueco Mundo he realized he had become a somewhat different person, but he felt that Kaoseu's disappointment, if in him, was misplaced. He fought to survive. He had become accustomed to it. He knew now that a reluctance to fight was an eagerness to die. All he had done was bore his fangs in an attempt to bait this other shinigami into a stupid mistake, one that would allow Kaoseu time to escape.

He was more than willing to escape on his own, however. Just after Hageshii was able to complete his train of thought Kaoseu had used shunpo to disappear off towards seireitei. Hageshii berated himself inwardly at the notion that he had become so amazingly weak in comparison. He rubbed the thoughts out of his mind as he ran his fingers through his hair starting from his forehead and working his way back in one smooth motion.

He became more concerned with what had become of his friend. Why had he emanated such dark and aggressive power? Why had it felt similar to a Hollows power? Naturally Kaoseu was aggressive it was what had made him join the 11th division. This was nothing like that. It was an aggressive hunger for blood and destruction, not his typical aggressive hunger for the thrill of battle. Hageshii began to worry what could happen if someone of his capabilities lost control over something like that.

Just as the thoughts began to take a darker turn he remembered the other shinigami and glanced over toward him with a renewed animosity. This animosity could be taken note of in the arctic tone of his voice. "As you now know my name is Hageshii. As you can see I have returned from a place no one wants to spend any portion of their lives in." He paused so as to allow the shinigami time to understand he had just come from Hueco Mundo. "Walk with me, and introduce yourself." Hageshii demanded as he headed toward the edge of the roof. He stepped of and landed in a relaxed stance on the ground. The moment after he landed he began in a direct route toward Seireitei. His legs making long purposeful strides covering at least three and a half to four feet with each step

Auryuu watched Kaoseu as he walked away questioning him and his motives, in his mind. As Kaoseu vanished from his sight, he felt a strange tension, as Hageshii sat there almost quietly. It made Auryuu uncomfortable. Auryuu questioned the man he was now left with, he was curious of the man, having just come from Hueco Mundo.

Moments passed when the man finally talked to Auryuu. He introduced himself, Auryuu wasn't sure what to think as the man tried to play nice, but minutes before he had tried to intimidate Auryuu. He asked Auryuu to walk with him, Auryuu was careful, and felt skeptical about the whole idea, but decided to give the man a chance of redemption.

Falling from the sky, landing on Auryuu, intimidating him, and trying to start a fight was not the idea of a friend in his mind. He was pretty sure it wasn't in any one else who was sane either. Auryuu began to speak, but cleared his throat after. I hope you have something good to say..., he said holding a fierce glance at the man.

Hageshii felt the young mans stare and grew even more agitated. His words were of no help to his now souring mood, but he shrugged it off for fear of what would happen should he kill or attempt to kill this young man. "You noted Kaoseu with disbelief. What has become of him as of late? Why is it he emanates such a dark aura of power about him?" Hageshii got straight to the point since the young man wasn't going to introduce himself he took that as a sign that his name was irrelevant. So Hageshii filed the thought away as so and concluded he would call him other names until he gave his. "And leave no detail to my imagination." He said after a brief pause. Hageshii continued his walk ahead of the young man and did not weaken his stride.

"That man has become visored, he's dangerous, did you not know?", Auryuu said to the man looking at him with amazement. Auryuu had thought the man had known about Kaoseu's arrangement, if they were really such great friends. Auryuu streached his right hand out to the man, offering a handshake, abandoning his mood. He was probably just high strung because he had seen Kaoseu again, but he shouldn't take it out on Hageshii.

"The names Auryuu, yours?", he asked the rugged man.

Hageshii paused at the mention of visored. "So my assumptions were not incorrect. Hmmm, intriguing. I've been in Hueco Mundo for years, kid. I had some idea, but not actual proof. Though I highly doubt he's as dangerous as you claim. Though I would never want to cross swords with him. Did you know that he took on Captain of the eleventh division when he was only a rookie? He's got guts, that's for sure." Hageshii smiled as he reminisced about his time in Soul Society before he was left in Hueco Mundo. He frowned as he remembered how blunt Kaiyo had been with him during their very first exchange.

"That captain, though. What a piece o' work she is. Threatened to kill me first time we met. Can you believe that? She may be shorter than me, but I would never... you hear me? Never piss her off." Hageshii chuckled as Auryuu introduced himself. "As I've already said, my name is Hageshii. I apologize for my brash behavior. After spending so much time on the other side, everyone who's unfamiliar is tryin' to kill ya', and everyone who is familiar has already tried." Hageshii shook Auryuu's hand and began walking again toward Seireitei "So, Auryuu with which division do you serve?" Hageshii asked hoping to gain a little more background on this kid before making a full character assesment.

Auryuu had listened to Hageshii almost bragg about Kaoseu. He said he faced Kaiyo as a rookie, Auryuu had done the same, absorbing the shock of her lightning wall attack, even if it was not the dead center attack. The ignorance of Hageshii seemed highly existant with every word he spoke.

He didn't like him even mentioning Kaiyo, and soon turned his back, now facing the edge of the roof. I'll try to take your advice, whenver your around the 5th squad barracks, you can come visit me Hageshii, goodbye, he smiled as he turned his head around to face him. Auryuu shunpo'd off the building turning into a blur, as he disapeared into the the daytime.

He would probably go sleep, he was feeling really tired of late.

Hageshii continued toward Seireitei nodding as Auryuu spoke and then left. He arrived at the gates and requested they be open. "I am Hageshii Yasuragi. An unseated, undecided shinigami who was lost during the raid on Hueco Mundo some several years ago and probably assumed KIA. Please allow me access to Seireitei so that I may disprove my alleged death and regain my status as a shinigami." After a moments pause the south gate opened reluctantly and Hageshii walked into Seireitei. "Thank you." He said glancing back at the gate guards. He then continued his trek, but instead of a general location he headed directly for the second division barracks. He was on his way to find the fastest person in the Seireitei, Kuro Akarui.

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