Cold blooded (Rayoku)

St Moritz, Switzerland

Spoiler:

Exiting the gate this breath became instantly visible. The warmth he had felt from the other side of the portal vanished just as quickly. Snow was already landing gently on his face when the chill bit at his hands and face. He wished he had worn gloves, but there was barely enough time to put on thermal clothing beneath his robes. Initially Arawn had thought that being a spirit meant not being affected by the elements, but wasn't so. Even though he was no longer human he could get hot, cold, sick, bleed, and even felt hungry. It was like he never died. Death, something that made him feel more cold than the storm as it washed over him. The life before Soul Society seemed so far away. Putting those thoughts aside he started to move towards the snow covered town. Not too many hours ago there had been a signal of strange activity in the area. Arawn had quickly recalled his attempt to track down the former 10th captain. With help from Bryce he had gotten himself assigned the task of checking the area out. He told no one about his suspicion that the rogue might be there. Now as he stood almost knee high in snow wondering why the captain might pick such a place to hide. Keep moving he quickly told himself At least it will keep me warm He leaped freeing himself of the snow and landed upon icy roof. As soon as his feet touched the slick surface he knew it was a horrible idea for him to jump there. The wind was much more fierce so high up. Coupled with the slippery ice it was a disaster waiting to happen. It was one that didn't wait long as Arawn quickly lost his footing and slid off the roof and fell back first into the snow. The warmth the shinigami now felt was that of embarrassment. Thankfully no one was there to see the blunder. He lay there for several moments watching the snow fall downwards. Slowly he got up, his back hurt, but there wasn't any serious injury. Groaning he opted to walk on the air rather than risk another fall from the roof. He cursed himself again for the lack of gloves and also the lack of a scarf. Still he moved swiftly across the dark sky.

As Hyouketsu moved through the small hole he made to get to the human world, he did this because he tired of hollow blood and longed for the taste of human. He was disappointed by the fact that as he came out he saw not a living soul in this pathetic town. The surrounding was to his advantage, a blizzard and a few feet of snow. Hyouketsu was astonished, he felt the presence of a high ranking shinigami. How is it that every where I go, there is always one of those stupid "death gods around he thought to himself. To his left Hyouketsu heard an adult male struggling to get to his house. They make this to easy. He charged the human killing him swiftly, then devouring the soul quickly. His hopes were high, the thought of the high ranking shinigami discovering him, would mean certain death.

The wind whipping at his ears was loud enough to drown out the chirp of his phone. Still there was not way he would miss the vibrations it gave off inside his inner pocket. Skidding to a halt above a rooftop he dug into shirt for the device. It was a blessing the goggles prevented the snow from blinding him completely, but he still had to bring the phone close to read the screen. There was some activity not to far. It was hard to get a reading with the snowstorm going, but there had been a temporary flare up. The phone had a decent range, but lacked the pinpoint accuracy. If it was the captain Arawn would have to approach things slowly. Chances were he would recognize him from their previous meeting and think he was going to attack. A normal and understandable reaction. Hopefully if the noticed Arawn alone he might just be willing to talk things out. There were questions he had; things that needed to be cleared up. Putting the phone away Arawn changed directions and headed towards the signal's location. The excitement was enough for him to forget about cold wind and his numb fingers. With his hands so cold drawn his weapon was the last thing he wanted. 3 blocks later he came into view of the last location. Reaching into his shirt he gazed at the phone again.
"This is it." he said, the wind taking his words so that they traveled no further than a couple of feet. Where is he? It was hard to see more than a couple of feet in front of himself. From high up he could barely make out the street below. Perhaps he should drop down, if he stayed above the roofs he might miss who he was looking for. There were few people on the street, he could barely detect spiritual pressure being so far away wasn't helpful in the slightest. Grunting he dropped down to the snow covered street. Thankfully some of the harsh wind was blocked off by the buildings making him feel slightly warmer. Arawn started down the street stretching his spiritual sense as far as possible.

The strong shinigami's spiritual pressure had gotten stronger and stronger. Hyouketsu inferred that the flare of power he gave off attacking the human was sensed by the shinigami. I have to get out of here my last encounter with a shinigami did not go so well. A memory flashed into his mind of his fight against Auryuu Spire. NO, no running this time. I dont care how strong this shinigami is, im not fleeing this fight. Hyouketsu turns to see a man looking in his direction. The man looked confused, as if expecting a different person to be standing there. Hyouketsu concentrated on his move "blade condensation", he knew that this flare of his spirit would tell the shinigami that he is not that man he is looking for. The blade slowly formed, he made it do this so the shinigami would not notice the growing blade as much. Hyouketsu studied the man, the man seamed smart, some of Hyouketsu's old tactics would not work on this man. Hyouketsu started to turn and walk away, he hoped this would work, he hoped the man would start to run after him at that point Hyouketsu would deliver a fatal blow. In his mind Hyouketsu thought this plan through many times, it seamed to work just fine, so he continued with it.

The wind had decreased now that he was on the ground, but the snow still tried to cloud his vision. As Arawn walked he noted the figure in the distance and his hand went to his sword. Even after all this time Arawn's ability to sense spiritual power was limited to only a few feet at best. But with the person walking away from him he felt some relief. If it truly was the former captain he would think it would attack him out right or run away. Why would it walk? The sigh of relief was short as Arawn spotted the bloody mess of the recently human only feet from where he'd just seen the retreating 'person'. The pure white snow was stained deep red. There was barely any trace of flesh left for him to truly tell if the one killed was human. The hand on his zanpukto tightened as Arawn strained his eyes to pierce through the white fluttering curtain. It was difficult, but the figure did look human, and yet there was something odd about the shape. From this distance it seemed fine, but he could make out strange protrusions at certain parts of the others form.. The fact the person was over 7ft was quite odd. Such tall people were a rarity, it was most suspicious. The most damning thing was some droplets for blood following the path the figure had just gone. If that person was human they would definitely have seen the blood and panicked. It would seem that this person had not even raised any alarm before walking away. There was no way that the person leaving was a captain let alone another human. It had to be a hollow.

Arawn knew he had to act fast. If he moved quickly he could catch the beast before it attacked another defenseless person. And so he moved, his sword pulled free of his sheath. As he asked himself why it wasn't running, he could only think that the hollow had yet to see him. The weather was effecting his visibility, why not the monster's as well? Arawn advanced slowly on top of the snow to avoid making any noise. With all the wind it probably would have been hard anyone to hear anything. The distance between them shortened, within 17ft Arawn could finally feel the spiritual presence of the hollow. With a jump he closed the final part of the gap that separated them. As he came down through the air he brought his zanpukto down at the creature's head to end it's horrible existence in a single stroke if possible.

Hyouketsu thought the man stupid, for he had fallen right into his trap. The ability to sense spiritual pressure told him that the shinigami was jumping for his head. Hyouketsu acted quickly, rolling forward and spinning around. As he spun he scraped the ground with the tip of the blade, freezing a perfect circle around Hyouketsu. He still spun as he stood up. This movement gave him the power to cut through his opponent, if he missed and grazed him, the blade would freeze the cut on the enemy. If all failed he would use the circle around him as a trap. he would lure his foe into the circle and use frozen tower. Trapping his enemy inside would allow Hyouketsu to finish the job easily. If every thing failed, he considered himself dead on the spot.

OOC: You didn't mention left or right hand so I guessed right hand.

As he drew closer the form became easier to see. There was no doubt it was indeed a hollow. Or at least WAS as a hollow Arawn thought as he brought his blade down to chop at the beast. Imagine his surprise as the hollow moved right as his weapon should have connected. A part of him disappointed things weren't going to end easily. That thought would have to wait as the creature began it's counterattack. He had just finished his downward swing which gave him little time to form a proper defense of the incoming blade. He barely had time to twist his wrist bringing his zanpukto up to intercept the oncoming weapon. Rather than digging into his tender flesh the hollow's weapon met cold steel. The snow and ice made for poor footing for Arawn's feeble stance. It took only a little push to send the shinigami falling backwards. He only lay on his back for a moment and popped himself back to his feet. It wasn't wise to be staying still for long. Thanks to his spill there was a small gap between himself and the hollow. He took this chance to study his opponent he got a clear view of the weapon that had almost bisected his body. The hollow was more ugly from the front than the back. That wasn't saying much as most hollows were hideous. Arawn thought to release a kido spell and blast the creature away, but should he miss he might hit the buildings around him. Pulling the sheath from his hip he tucked against his left arm. He had to end this quickly before more people arrived on the street. He shunpo'd forward appearing right next to the creature's sword arm. His left arm maneuvered the metal sheath in front of the ice blade while he swung his zanpukto at the monster's back. If it wanted to use it sword it would find the sheath blocking it's path. Arawn figured just getting behind the hollow wouldn't be enough by standing next to the weapon side he made a counterattack increasingly awkward for the monster.