Lost and Found (Vikaz)

Wind whirled the loose, rust-red dirt into a small tornado as it pushed it's way through the trees. The gentle caress made Kuu shiver as it grabbed at the hem of his uniform. A simple game in the World of the Living- Hide and Seek- with a twist; You weren't tagged unless the other person beat you in combat, and everyone was "It". The last person standing would be the winner, and pass the lesson with a perfect score, and then the score would be declared lower for each person next closest to the victor. Sadly, Kuu wasn't very good at hiding, and was slightly afraid of seeing how well he fared against the other students, who'd been in class for several months, whilst he was fresh- He'd been there less than a week.

A huff, laden with stress and excitement, which formed into a potent sigh, escaped from his lungs. It was getting darker, which would make it harder to find and fight other students, but they'd been told the game would last until only one remained, which meant through the night, if it took so long. Luckily, a nice, full, moon was hefting itself higher into the sky. Unluckily, Kuu had ended up in a thicker part of the forest than most, and the slivers of light that penetrated the dense dark were akin to trying to shine a light through thin-slatted blinds. However, Kuu wasn't one to give up easily, and pressed on through the thick summer heat, and the thicker forestry.

Off in the distance, he heard a loud snap, and instinctively whirled around. Nothing was there, at least that he could tell, through the inky blackness, but now he remained alert. He could feel something nagging at him, his gut tugging. One to usually listen to his gut, he took care to keep a good grasp on one of his katana, which he lifted slightly from it's sheath with his right thumb, in case he needed a quick draw. Every breath came slow and almost silent now, as he began to walk forward, eyes open wide to take in as much light as possible. Another snap, followed by a rustle stopped him cold as he looked around.

"Hello?" he half-hissed, hoping nothing would answer him in return.

Vikaz had been a little worried at first when all these shinigami had come through one of their gates and had lowered his reiatsu as much as possible. He had watched from a long distance off as some shinigami scoured the area for hollow then posted a thin perimeter around about 10 miles, he narrily avoided their sweep managing to hide in a log as they did their visual sweep, keeping his reiatsu down the whole time.

After that one of the stronger shinigami was wandering around and looking for hollow or so he thought. The weaker ones were running around randomly fighting each other when they encountered each other, then the winning one kept going, he wasnt exactly sure what was going on except the weaker ones were running around fighting each other then leaving them wounded behind then the stronger one that was wondering would find a wounded one and carry them off. It seemed to Vikaz that if he was careful he might be able to get a free meal if he was careful.

So, he bided his time wandering around in the forest near some of the students and waited until they engaged each other in combat, they were obviously amateurs with their combat techniques, but luckily they beat each other so hard they both ended up on the ground badly wounded. Vikaz had grown some spikes and shot them into the throats of the shinigami as he leapt into where they had fought, then quickly finished them both off and had eaten them. Then later he had tracked down another wounded one and had leapt on him ripping his throat out as well, but as he was eating him he felt another one approaching closer and closer. Vikaz picked up the pace on the one he was eating, it was faster but made the area around him a lot bloodier along with spilling some blood on himself as well.

Right as he finished eating him he heard the nearby one say, "Hello." Vikaz quickly and quietly shuffled up a nearby tree while keeping his spirit power down. He looked around quickly isolating the shinigami based on where his power is and just hung motionless in the tree watching and waiting in the dense forest.

Kuu shivered. There was something seriously off-putting about the lack of an answer, and the sudden silence. He kept his pace forward, slowly, carefully, attempting to be silent, but he felt that whatever or whoever it was could hear his heart hammering away in his chest, and his breathing that seemed to be like a chainsaw in the still night. He emerged into a clearing, and let out a small sigh, the trees less dense here, allowing clearly visible lighting.

Slowly, he let himself sink to the ground below a tree, and drew a deep breath, calming his fried nerves. What he needed right now was a plan. He opened, his eyes, and scanned the treeline. The best place to find people would be from above, as the instructor was doing to remove the wounded. So climbing a tree would be the best plan of action. With this tactic in mind, Kuusho sighed heavily, and heaved himself up. A gleam not far off reflected the light, for the fraction of a second as he stood. Piquing his interest, he went forward to investigate. His now calmed heart began to race again, and he fully unsheathed his right-hand sword, wielding the hand-and-a-half grip in both fists, now aware of the eerie feeling of being watched.

"Hello?" he called again. "I know you're there, let's just do this." he called, far more confident than his fear should have let him be. He turned in a circle, slowly, preparing for an attack from any direction, and was shocked by the sheer amount of blood in the area. Whoever had beaten the student here was well-versed in their swordplay, but something kept gnawing at Kuu that seemed... off. There was a LOT of blood.

Vikaz knew when he was being challenged, he slowly grew some bone spikes on his tail while suppressing his reiatsu, he intended to not hide his riatsu for this battle. He felt out where the stronger ones were, they were near the middle of the circle and the wandering one was on one of the edges, it would be some time before one of them could make it over.

Vikaz waited until the target's back faced him then leapt as fast as he could straight at the target, aiming to bite the area between the shoulder and the neck, and attempting to curl his now spiked tail around one of the target's legs making it so it cannot escape. If the target somehow managed to dodge he intended to spew spikes all over the are where he had dodged to. His goal was to be in and out as fast as possible before the rest of the shinigami got here and tried to kill him.

As Kuusho turned, the sudden whoosh should have alerted him to danger, but his mind didn't process it fast enough to act. The pain shot through his left rib first, as claws dug in, and then his wordless bellow followed as a long, spiked tail dug into his calf. He had turned just enough to avoid the worst of injury, the bite aimed at his previously exposed neck, though the tail in his leg was going to be tough. Gritting through the pain, he sliced downward with his katana at such an angle that the beast, which he could now identify as a Hollow, was either going to take a severe body shot, or lose a good chunk of tail, since the face was well tucked in.

Kuu's next move was already in action as his first one played out. He was shifting his weight forward, intending to roll onto the dog-sized Hollow, keeping his head tucked down to minimize the area of neck visible, or at least dislodge the thing with a forceful roll. At the rate he was currently going, however, he was afraid he may not make it. Every breath pained him- he'd probably earned a cracked rib- and every twitch of his left calf sent a spasm back down in return.

Vikaz felt his teeth snap together, unfortunately not around his prey. Although one of his claws had dug into his enemies' side and he had been successful in attaching his tail to his target's leg. Effectively wrapping his tail around the target. The shinigami responded by swinging down at him from above.

Vikaz gripped tighter with his tail, growing more and more spikes so it is harder to dislodge and creating a protective bone barrier around his tail, started to drain energy out of his opponent, and yanked hard with his tail, pulling the shinigami off balance. The shinigami slipped and fell onto the ground, the remaining force of his strike creating a thin slice across Vikaz's back back.

The shinigami now on the ground, Vikaz lengthened the bones in his tail and leapt up into the air latching onto a tree and retracted his tail, while growing more protection around his Tail to protect it against the attacks that he thought was going to hit it, while attempting to hang the shinigami by his leg while he drained him of energy.

Somehow, Kuu had ended up on the ground. it took him a moment to register that he was still in excruciating pain. The wordless bellow that had begun when the spiked tail dug into his leg began to ebb as he regained his mental faculties. Slowly he tried to sit, but was yanked forwards as the Hollow increased the number of spikes in his leg. Kuusho's previous blows to it's tail had glanced off, so it was obviously armored somehow. At this point, he could feel his energy draining. He needed to get that tail out of him. The only way he knew how would pain him greatly, and could end up disastrous, but he'd definitely die if he didn't try.

With a mighty yell, Kuusho simultaneously yanked his leg with as much force as possible towards his body and out. He could hear and feel the sinew, muscle, and skin tearing as the spikes in the tail tore out. At the same time, he was aiming a single finger as discreetly and evenly as possible towards the face and body region of the Hollow, and the battlecry of no meaning became audible words as he felt the Reiatsu flow to his finger.

"Hado 4, WHITE LIGHTNING!"

Vikaz paused in his movement as he looked back as he felt his tail shredding through the shinigami's flesh as the shinigami ripped his leg free, blood spraying the area. Vikaz smirked as he heard the shinigami yell in pain taking great enjoyment in the agony of his foe. Vikaz heard the shinigami say something and there was a white flash and pain shot through Vikaz's shoulder, making that limb lose grip on the tree he was hanging from, he quickly regained his grip as some more pain shot through his shoulder, it wasn't an injury that was going to cripple his movements that much. Vikaz decided to cripple his opponent til it had no more fight in it. Vikaz flicked his tail around spraying the whole area with bone spikes of all sizes as he freed his tail from the excess bone armor he had built up on it then leapt back into the forest. He started to run around the clearing in the forest, volleying bone spikes towards his crippled enemy on the ground as he circled, waiting for the right chance to strike and finish him.

Little was left to do. Kuusho knew he wouldn't make it out of this predicament if he didn't get up. Blood poured from the open wounds and pooled on the dry earth, making the rust-colored dirt even darker. He made to sit up, and grunted in pain, partly because of the wound he'd just received, and partly due to the spikes that shot from the tree the Hollow had just resided in, one of them having embedded itself in his injured leg. Blood littered the ground around the tree, so he knew he'd made some kind of hit on the creature, so he rushed to stand, only to have to duck quickly as volleys of spikes shot at him intermittently in a circle around the clearing.

Cursing under his breath, and sweating profusely, he took a moment to gauge the situation. Keeping out of reach of the volleys was difficult, and he developed numerous scrapes, so he had to resort to a different tactic, and drew his other blade, and with as much speed as possible began a whirlwind of silver around himself, knocking any of the bony projectiles away. Now he had a plan, given time to think and quietly began to chant, turning with the projectiles to keep them in sight,

"Engulfed by the need of want to come forward... Hado 2, Reel!" he called, aiming his hands at the location of the Hollow just as he finished. The Hollow was small enough for the Hado to send it flying at him, so Kuusho took a readied stance and was already aiming to strike downward with the katana in his left hand, and a upward sweep with his right, both angled slightly towards the middle in front of him, as if he were going to cross his body, to allow for any change in distance left or right to be accommodated for.

Vikaz looked over at the shinigami and saw that the shinigami was now spinning his blades around him, managing to deflect almost all of his spikes, the remaining few missing. Vikaz grit his teeth in frustration, and then the shinigami said something and suddenly Vikaz was jerked towards the wounded man.

Reflex kicked in and he quickly wrapped his tail around a tree, halting the yank and throwing himself back into the forest quickly supressing his reiatsu to the best of his abilities. He surveyed the area, his spikes even though they had been deflected had covered their little battlefield, and the shinigami was badly wounded. He Felt around and noticed that for some reason the other shinigami had not noticed him yet for some reason. He decided the best coarse of action was to wait until the man started to bleed out and got weaker. He hid nearby and felt around for the reiatsu signatures waiting for the one nearby to get weaker.

The crunch of tree bark was much more sickening to Kuu's ears than it would have been to anyone else. It meant that his plan was going to fall through, and quite possible meant his death. All around him, the forest was silent. No birds sang, no squirrels chattered, and no bugs called, all having been scared off by the Reiatsu of the Hollow. The silence was deafening. Deafening, but refreshing. It helped to clear Kuu's mind- that, and the trickle of blood he felt down his leg. Taking advantage of the obvious stakeout, Kuusho continued his steady surveillance, leaning on his right blade with his wrist, to relieve some pressure from the wound, and muttered,

"Blade of Flames..." There was no incantation, none was needed for this purpose. Gritting his teeth, he whipped the flaming mass down, the flat of the blade pressing against the wound. He repeated the process once more, cauterizing the worst of the damage. Knowing he was on the fringes of the course posed another problem- It would take at least thirty minutes to try and run to the center holding area, for him, about fifty. There was no way he'd make it. His only option was to try and get an instructor to come to him, their Shunpo making the otherwise lengthy trip into a five minute one. He only had one shot to try.

Knowing his opponent was still somewhere close by, Kuusho began to shuffle around a bit, making his outward persona one of paranoia. Despite the outwards look, he remained calm, awaiting anything, something to give him an edge. The Reiatsu from the beast had all but disappeared, and hopefully he'd get careless, and snap a twig, or- Crack. The sound of the pine cone falling was enough, a gunshot in the virtual silence. Kuu knew it couldn't have been the Hollow, with how small it was, it was more than likely weaving through the grass among the trees. Despite this, he whirled around, pointing a finger, and shouted,

"White Lightning!"

The bolt flashed, straight up into the sky. The coordination required for the maneuver was tough, trying not to pool the technique through his outstretched hand, but rather through the upraised blade in his left hand had almost resulted in a faulty Kidou, which would have sealed his fate with the Hollow. However, it did leave him with very little reserve, a maximum of two Kidou left.

"No matter..." he thought, "I still have my blades..."

"I hope you saw that!" he taunted, standing up now, favoring his right leg as he removed the blade tip from the dirt. "That right there means you've got about five minutes to either take me out, or get the Hell outta dodge. What's it gonna be?" While speaking, he was once again on the defensive, awaiting any form of rush, or the whistle of spikes flying through the air. He'd yet to remove the ones in him, but for some reason, they felt less painful than they had when he'd been struck. Even from this distance, he felt the residual Reiatsu of an instructor as they took not of the blast, which meant they'd be there soon. Paying no mind to this hope, he let himself focus on the task at hand; Survival.

Vikaz saw a bolt of energy fly high into the air and one of the stronger powers had started moving towards his prey, it would take him a while to arrive though. His Prey confirmed what he already knew by taunting him. Vikaz decided to implement one of his ambush traps, he almost never used this one but was highly effective when used, however it used up quite a lot of his energy.

He went back to near where his prey was, he could barely see his target but that was all he needed, keeping his reitasu low he stabbed his tail into the ground and started to grow spikes underground towards the little clearing, slowly growing spikes all under his feet out of sight. While he was doing this he also branched out with the spikes on his body, encircling the clearing with a line of bone spikes and he started randomly firing some spikes at his target to keep him distracted, also using the fired bone spikes to control his prey's movement to keep him in the clearing.

When he was ready he burst hundreds of spikes from the ground and rapidly grew as many spikes on each as he possibly could, it now looked like the ground was covered in flowers, with spikes instead of petals then he fired them all, spraying the entire area with a sea of small spikes. Each of the spikes was about 2 inches long and about a quarter of an inch thick at their thickest point. He Felt around for the stronger power and noticed it was far closer than he thought it would be, he didn't have much time left if he intended to escape.

All was quiet until the incessant SCHICK! of needle-sharp spikes of bone began flying through the air. This time, however, they seemed to be coming from everywhere, and randomly, like there was no rhyme or reason, or as if...

"Shit..." Kuusho thought to himself as realization set in.

This Hollow's bone-growing ability far exceeded what he had assumed, and he realized that was his mistake; to assume anything. Dodging the spikes kept him busy, but between movements, his brain worked in overtime, trying to figure a way out of all this mess without dying. The only solution was higher ground, if he was to make it, so he began the necessary preparations.

“Palace of the dead sleeping within the wombs of the earth, tower above the wicked, pass your silent judgment. Hado 9, Pillar of Hades!” Out of the ground sprouted the ebony point of an obelisk, dead center in the midst of a field of ivory flower-like structures. Kuusho moved in slow motion as his knees bent and then snapped back up, coiled muscles springing him towards the obelisk.

However, his timing was just a few moments too late. The ivory meadow of lethal flowers exploded into full bloom, hundreds, if not thousands of spikes soaring through the air like angry bees, their stinging touch making Kuu scream out in sheer agony as they bit at his flesh, tearing through his clothing and skin like wet cardboard. He crashed onto the dark spire, and lay there, tears and blood mixing on his face. His left arm was useless, one of the bone spike being lodged just underneath his shoulder blade, most likely having severed a tendon. The cauterized wound on his leg had cracked open again, and blood was seeping down his body.

He gulped in air, praying for safety, or death, whichever came more swiftly. The outskirts of his vision began to go black, and he knew if he lost consciousness, his Kidou would disappear, and he'd fall to his demise in the field of death below, and be at the mercy of the hungering Hollow. He took in a deep breath as his vision steadily began to recede even more. He thought he saw a flash of white, a dull thud and a cloud of dust rising into the air, but of this, he couldn't be sure. Silently, he let his eyes close, and surrendered himself to the darkness.

Vikaz felt around the area for the location of the other shinigami that was headed his way, it was still a little ways off, enough time for him to spring his trap and feast. He looked at the shinigami in the center of his trap, it looked like he was trying to do something, that could not be allowed.

Vikaz released the trap he had set up, just as a tower sprouted out of the ground and the shinigami leapt towards it, luckily it was too late, he got hit all over by the shards and landed in a bloody heap in top of the tower. Vikaz broke his connection to his trap setup and ran over to take the body before the other shinigami arrived. However as he approached he felt a sudden surge of power over where the shiniami lay, and for some reason there was someone standing over him staring at him. Vikaz was confused, he should have had enough time to get the body before the other shinigami arrived. Then he realized his error, his trap which he had set-up to be a finishing blow also sent a mass of shards high into the air, alerting the other shinigami to the peril of his companion. Vikaz grit his teeth in frustration, there was nothing he could do now, this shinigami was far more powerful than the one he had defeated.

Vikaz wrenched his eyes away from the spectacle and silently dashed back into the forest and into his hiding spot, he knew there was a high chance that they would try to find and kill him, his best option was to lay low and suppress his power and wait til they all went away. His tail flicked back and forth as he reviewed his errors.

When Kuu awoke, his immediate reaction was simple; He screamed. His body, in shock from his ordeal, thrashed about on the blood-soaked ground, his eyes sightless to the world at large. He felt several wounds split open and fresh blood seep into his bandages. It took several of the Squad 4 individuals to calm him down and redress his wounds, only after they were wrapping the last of them did the young Shinigami's mental faculties return. He had been in a fight with a Hollow. Well, not much of a fight, on his end. He had taken a beating.

He remembered vague details, and only after seeing the needle-sharp bones did those horrid memories resurface. His ruined leg, his hopeless battle, those evil eyes. And then the flowers, in their ivory beauty, that had come up from underneath him, almost ripping him to pieces. He couldn't help the tears that fell from his eyes as he lay there, helpless, and at the mercy of the medics. His arms didn't even have the strength to wipe them away.

"I'm weak..." he breathed to himself, barely audible to even his own ears.

"Beg yer pardon...?" asked the 4th Squad girl attending to the wounds on his chest, a sweet country twang punctuating her words with a calming feeling. She noticed his eyes, and silently wiped away his tears, her face passive. Kuusho's eyes hardened and locked on her smokey grey irises and held their gaze. She stopped what she was doing, his sudden intensity startling. For a moment, his heartbeat intensified. Once it settled, he spoke again, this time with a combination of anguish and anger thickening his voice.

"I'm too weak."

The other Shinigami attending him gave a dismissive nod, and a brief word of something about rest and blood loss, but the raven haired girl whose gaze he held seemed to understand what he meant on a deeper level. Blushing, she finally managed to break his gaze, and tended the rest of his wounds in a hurry before rushing away. Kuu watched her leave, then turned his gaze skyward as they picked up and slid a litter under him. When he was properly positioned, they picked up the litter and carried him back to the central encampment. Along the way, Kuusho began to drift in and out of sleep, and at one point, his grogginess playing tricks on him, he cold swear he saw the plate-tailed form of the Hollow slinking through the forest. He shook the thought, his mind rejecting the idea, and drifted back to sleep.

When he next awoke, he was back in Seireitei. The 4th Squad treatment rooms sterile sights and smells soon filled his senses as he came to. He could hear a familiar, accented voice in the distance, and the steady drone of quiet conversation. He lay in his bed, unmoving, unlike his mind which was whirring like a computer on the fritz. He was weak. Too weak. He couldn't even defeat a lowly Hollow, so how was he supposed to grow in rank? The only solution was the obvious one; He had to become stronger... Strong enough to kill the old Kuusho. This was his own ultimatum. He decided he had died fighting that Hollow, that his old self had been lost, and a new one was to be found.