Two Hearts, Part One (Solo)

Shioshi panted as he tried to keep moving, tried to keep his Zanpakutou slicing. The Hollow was too powerful for him, too strong for him to defeat. His first assignment in almost a year, and he was most likely about to die. Already. He cursed his foul luck as he once more leapt out of the way of an attack, narrowly avoiding a strike that would likely have crushed most of his ribs. He continued his forced retreat, trying not to take his eyes off of the Hollow as he did so. He couldn't afford to make a mistake, not even one, or his life would be over. Although at the rate things were going, he'd be dead soon anyways.

Spouting a stream of curses, he rolled behind cover, thinking quickly as he tried to decide what might buy him just a little bit of time. His panicking mind managed to come up with something just in the nick of time. As the Hollow prepared to crush Shioshi beneath its huge fist, he began to chant. "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo Nine, Geki!" Immediately, a massive beam of red light engulfed the Hollow. Because of its size, Shioshi had been forced to put more Reiatsu into the technique than was normal, draining him of quite a bit of energy. But for now, he was just going to run. Still breathing heavily, he turned and bolted, attempting to put as much distance between himself and his foe as possible.

That's when the second Hollow appeared.

It burst from an alley, smaller than the first but also much faster. It looked quite a bit like a wolf as he bounded towards Shioshi. Hissing in anger, Shioshi skidded to a stop and glanced back. The first Hollow had broken free and was close on his tail, roaring its frustration at having been delayed by the Bakudo. There was no way out now. Shioshi held his Zanpakutou at the ready. If he was going to go down, he'd do it fighting. "Come on, then! Let's see which one of the two of you will get in the first hit!" he snarled. He readied himself for combat. Then he heard someone's voice.

"Screech, Kurou no Aruji!" the voice cried. A moment later, after there was a release of Reiatsu from behind him, Shioshi recognized the words as a Shikai's call out phrase. Another Shinigami, stronger than himself, was here. A moment later, a rather large, muscularly built Shinigami stepped up next to Shioshi, holding a large, darkly-colored scythe. He nodded once to Shioshi before moving to engage the larger Hollow. Another Shinigami, this one a girl who appeared to be maybe sixteen or seventeen, although somewhat short, came up on the other side of Shioshi, gripping her Zanpakutou with a somewhat shaky grip. He noticed the Division Symbol on her uniform.

"5th Division, eh? Thanks for the help," rasped Shioshi, before stepping up next to the girl. She gave him a quick, tense nod, before moving to engage the smaller of the two Hollow. Shioshi moved to join her, then ended up taking the lead. He came forward, bringing his Zanpakutou around in a slash aimed for one of the wolf-like Hollow's legs. It snarled and struck out, forcing Shioshi to abort his attack and duck. The girl came forward then, stabbing the Hollow in its flank while it was distracted by Shioshi. The Hollow snarled, whirling around and bringing one of its paws slamming into the girl. She flew through the air, crashing into the side of a building. Eyes narrowing, Shioshi struck again, kicking off of the Zanpakutou still stuck in the side of the Hollow and then landing on its back.

"Why don't you try this, mutt?" snarled Shioshi, before embedding his Zanpakutou to the hilt in the Hollow's head. The wolf-like Hollow let out a single, drawn out howl of pain and threw off Shioshi, before it disintegrated. Shioshi lay, panting, on the ground, trying to catch his breath. He managed to look up twice, the first time to make sure the girl was alright, which she was, relatively, and the second time to see how the muscled-Shinigami was doing against the more powerful Hollow. He'd already defeated it, and actually was on his way over to his friend, and then no doubt over to Shioshi, to see if he was alright.

Secure for the moment, he allowed himself to rest, although he was sort of on the concrete. Then when the large Shinigami reached him, he accepted a hand up and took a moment to dust himself off before retrieving and sheathing his Zanpakutou.

"I am 5th Seat of the 5th Division, Sukeno Tennu. My friend's name is Mia Jenno, also of the 5th Division," said the large man, after Shioshi had sheathed his weapon. Shioshi bowed to the higher-ranked Shinigami, then turned to face the girl.

"Thank you for your help," he said to her, giving her a smile of gratitute. He then addressed them both. "I am Shioshi Reinuu, of the 7th Division. Pleased to meet you both," he said. Sukeno gave him a slight not, and Mia blushed somewhat. Then, clenching his teeth a bit, Shioshi checked over his wounds, wincing after he checked one particular spot, where the large Hollow had struck him when Shioshi had first been ambushed. It felt like he may have cracked a few ribs.

"Do... do you need some help?" asked Mia, apparently concerced after seeing Shioshi wince. Shioshi gave her a wry smile befor nodding.

"Then come back with us. We have a spot near here where you can take it easy for a bit," said Sukeno. Shioshi nodded his thanks, although he refused to accept any help with walking.

Sukeno led the way, with Mia standing near Shioshi. She didn't really seem like the fighting type... which made her aid in combat before that much more serious. He decided he'd come up with a better way to thank the girl before he, or Sukeno and Mia, returned to Soul Society.

It wasn't too long before the three Shinigami reached a secluded warehouse on the edge of Karakura Town. Shioshi's eyes fell upon an old couch off to the side and immediately limped towards it, trying to ignore the pain from his damaged ribs. He collapsed with a pained sigh on the worn cushions, glad to get off his feet so he could better examine his wounds. Gritting his teeth once more, he began to look himself over more thoroughly than he had before. As he had thought, his ribs had taken the worst of it, although he had some minor scrapes and bruises all over the rest of his body.

He'd have to pay the 4th Division a visit once he returned to the Soul Society, and since technically his mission was over with, he really had no need to stay any longer. But... these two Shinigami intrigued him for some reason.

"Um... here's an ice pack... though I don't know how much help it'll be..." Shioshi snapped out of his reverie as someone spoke, turning to see who'd approached him. It was the girl, Mia. Smiling, he accepted to ice pack and placed it gingerly on his ribs, feeling some relief, however minor, in the act of doing so. Then he turned his attention to Mia, who grimaced upon seeing the huge bruise that had already appeared on his abdomen.

"I take it you aren't big on looking at wounds," chuckled Shioshi, not even bothering to make it a question. It was obvious from the way the girl had acted earlier in the fight, as well as her reaction to the cracked ribs, that she had a weak stomach. He couldn't help the smile on his face. That was definitely a good trait to have as a Shinigami, but since she was obviously friends with the large Shinigami, Sukeno, her squad's 5th Seat, she would be safe. Plus, it was kind of... attractive, on her. As soon as he thought that, his cheeks flamed red and he quickly looked away from Mia, searching for something else to turn his attention to.

Mia blushed as well, turning cherry red, obviously quite nervous for some reason. Possibly for the same reason Shioshi had suddenly flushed red? "I... I've never done so well around blood or broken bones... I don't really know why. I just... don't like it when people get hurt. It terrifies me..." she replied. Shioshi looked back to her, for some reason her gentleness utterly captivating.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Mia. You care for others more so than the norm, and that is a good thing. Don't ever let anyone tell you different," Shioshi said, smiling slightly. For the first time, Mia looked Shioshi right in the face, right in the eyes. For a moment, they held eachother's gazes, until they were both blushing to the point where Shioshi was sure his head might burst.

Luckily, Sukeno chose that moment to enter the convers- er, awkward exchanged sentences.

"That was pretty crazy out there. What happened?" asked the ranked officer, taking a seat on the other end of the couch so that Shioshi could stay extended across it to keep the weight off his ribs. Shioshi gave a relieved sigh as he turned his mind towards recollecting the mission details. He had been supposed to deal with a small Hollow problem in Karakura.

But, the thing is, it turned out to be a much bigger problem than he'd imagined; a band of Hollows had been working together to lure Shinigami in a slow trickle to their doom. He'd arrived thinking he'd have to deal with a single, weak Hollow, and instead found himself ambushed by four of'em. He had managed to defeat the two weakest ones, both clearly recently reborn.

However, the other two, the giant one and the wolf-like one from the fight just a few minutes before, had been too much. He'd had no choice but to retreat, with the hope that he would be able to outrun them. That was not to be, of course, as the wolf Hollow had easily outpaced him the entire time, apparently, cutting him off and forcing him to make a stand. He was just thankful these 5th Division Shinigami had arrived when they had... otherwise he'd most likely be dead and gone by now. Suppressing a shudder at that thought, he collected his thoughts to reply.

"Basically, I was sent on a Hollow elimination mission by the Seireitei, and it turned out to be much worse than I'd thought. Hollows were luring Shinigami into the real world by making it seem like a single Hollow was devouring human souls, and then working together to defeat any Shinigami that arrived to remedy the situation. I discovered this myself when they came out of no where... originally, there were four of them. I managed to defeat two of them on my own, although they were clearly Hollows only just birthed," explained the 7th Division Shinigami, pausing to catch his breath and also to grimace as one of his cracked ribs rubbed against another while he adjusted on the couch.

"Getting right to the point, you guys just saved my life, and I am very grateful," Shioshi finished, grinning at the end of the sentence. And, indeed, he truly was grateful to be alive. He wasn't ready to die just yet, although he was sure not many people were. Sukeno smiled and nodded, before standing again, while Mia blushed and looked down at the ground.

"Well, I can genuinely say I'm glad I was able to help, Shioshi Reinuu, of the 7th Division!" the big man laughed, his voice almost booming. No doubt he would have gone on if the building hadn't suddenly shook beneath the force of an explosion. Sukeno and Mia were knocked off their feet, and the couch, with Shioshi on it, was actually blown back some as well. Letting out a string of expletives, Shioshi brought his zanpakutou forth in a quick flourish, coming unsteadily to his feet and fighting past the pain from his ribs. Sukeno was already back on his feet as well, and his zanpakutou was similarly drawn. Mia was just now struggling to her knees, dazed and attempting to shake off the shock of the sudden attack.

"I think you may have missed another Hollow, my friend," Sukeno cried over the sound of a Hollow's roar. That's when they felt the thing's reiatsu; while not quite at Menos Grande levels, the thing was extremely powerful. It came charging through the smoke and flames, fire literally erupting from its nostrils. It looked almost exactly like a dragon, except for the white mask encasing its elongated head. Snarling, the thing flew through the air on leathery wings, coming straight for the three Shinigami, Mia finally managing to recover and get into something resembling a fighting stance.

Shioshi nodded towards Sukeno, who nodded back, and began to spin his zanpakutou. His reiatsu began to flare, and Shioshi immediately realized what he was doing.

"Screech, Kurou no Aruji!" he roared, and then there was a flare of reiatsu and his zanpakutou had turned into a large scythe. Skipping backwards a few steps, Sukeno brought the scythe back and then slashed forward through the air, letting loose another shout. "Bachi!" he cried, and as he did so, what appeared to be almost invisible reiatsu arced through the air towards the Hollow. The attack struck the beast in the face, immediately making its effects known as the dragon-like Hollow halted in midair and clutched at its head with its clawed hands. Shioshi came forward then, zanpakutou a blur as he made countless slashes and gashes along the Hollow's right flank.

Then, the Hollow recovered, and, rage building, it lashed out with its spiked tail, gashing Shioshi across his stomach and immediately sending him to the ground, overwhelmed by the sudden pain. He couldn't breathe, only able to emit a small gasp of shock. Sukeno, seeing that his new friend was in trouble, rushed forward, sending wave after wave of brown reiatsu from his zanpakutou at the Hollow. It continued to be pushed back, taking wound after wound, until finally, realizing it couldn't win in a full on frontal assault against the Shikai-wielding Shinigami, the Hollow let out a single, high-pitched, pained roar and fell back, leaving through the hole in the wall it had created when it arrived. Shioshi, however, couldn't see this.

His entire body was on fire. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt, a pain he'd never thought possible. The dragon-Hollow's tail had been poisoned.

He was consumed by pain, blood pooling beneath him from the gash, while the poison was spread quickly throughout his body by his rapidly beating heart, still fueled greatly by adrenaline. He could feel nothing, hear nothing, taste nothing, smell nothing, and see nothing... and then, all was darkness, and he knew bliss.

At least, for a moment...