The Redemption of a Samurai [Open Thread 4 Max]

The day was sunny and the wind was gone, the heat was oppressing and many people were thinking the same thing by now. Damn this heat they thought. The sky was getting orange as the day was fleeting away, rumors had been going on that some shinigami's had been into vicious battles with hollows in the surrounding and that a rogue had saved them. Of course Tatsu hadn't done most of the work, but the effect of coming in from nowhere always give's them the idea they are saved.


The shinigami had been hanging around Karakura, attempting to get in touch with shinigami's but they always left so fast after the battles knowing he was a rogue, and a very powerful one at that. And so he had been doing this for a month or two, attempting to get the good favors of the soul society and rejoin his division, Tatsu had been very loyal from the start and he didn't fear the fact that he could be caught and executed if he didn't play his cards right.

Far from there, a small band of hollow's were making their way onto the town, of course many spiritual pressure's were present in the town but the tastiest one was standing on a roof in the middle of the city, a shinigami soul. Somewhere at about this time, in the soul society some shinigami were being sent out to attack the hollow presence within the city, and with this a meeting between monster, shinigami and rogue had been set up.

It was the air that hit her first, a vague familiarity that flickered its way through her lungs. Earth seemed like such a distant memory now, a frosted glass reflection; an estranged relative. The young academy student had surely only been sent for a clerical error. Not that Kaiyo knew that.

The hollow spike had been a low rated problem, so the program set-up called together the standard grouping on the list. A few experienced low ranking shinigami, and an eager academy student. It was all part of the progressive learning to help those poor students get a bit more in-field experience without actually putting them in harms way. In fact had the gatekeeper been paying attention, Kaiyo probably wouldn't have ended up in such a situation at all. As it turned put, the plucky blue haired girl had been on a blue milk run; fetching and returning files, when she'd wandered back the wrong way. The correct academy student was likely already running as fast as they could when Kaiyo passed a group at the gate. Her uniform paired with a quick to act team had her through the gate with them before she could even explain. It was probably too late to do that now...

Orange hazes scarfed the red sky and the splendid mass of fluffy clouds that were heaping together just above the towering buildings like a great white mountain, was far away in a delicious world. The admittance was made though, this was no longer her home, it was just somewhere she stayed before finding a place to rest her head. Far away thoughts snapped back to her tethered reality. 'Take this, just in case. We'll handle it, all you have to do is stay behind our perimeter and watch'. Something of her team leaders voice lent itself to arrogance and a shard of his tone stuck in the back of her throat, hauling up a worried feeling in her stomach. He didn't seem to care much for Kaiyo, but she had no problem with just watching; she wasn't even meant to be here afterall.

The blue haired girl was silent for a moment. She stood out so much from these men, their large frames towering over her like cold steel frames. The breeze had teased loose her tussled blue hair, it suited her best that way though. The dark glares that met her blank expression were not exactly those of teamwork; these men expected nothing from the useless girl, and more than likely that's exactly what they'd get. Finally catching the hint, she faltered into a polite nod, fumbling around with the ear-piece that had been tossed to her hands. It was only in that silence that the gravity of this task hit her; the rumbling reiatsu of hollows and foes crept up the back of her spine. A slight tremble hit her hands as she struggled to put in her ear-piece, tugging at strands of her hair as she finally looked back up. Now she really was alone.

'Okay girlie, you wait there whilst the men sort this out, anything happens you run and hide...' A sort of chuckle followed that lovely briefing. Kaiyo sighed defeatedly, edging forwards as she wrestled against her bodies panicked response. The four men -5th squad- had panned out, gating in the crop of hollows like sheep; they raced towards the epicentre of bait. No smarter than the impure souls themselves, these men were ready for a kill; be it rogue or hollow alike.

Tatsu had noticed already the spiritual pressence of the shinigami that had appeared in the vicinity, weirdly enough it seemed like their spiritual power wasn't on par with the one of the hollow's, Tatsu wasn't sure of what to do, there would be battle, no matter what, but this wouldn't be a fight, it would be a slaughter. His mass of hair floating into the wind blue ribbon flapping gently in front of his face, it remembered him that woman, she would most likely have him help these shinigami, they didn't seem much different from the big guys in the 11th division.

The shinigami's didn't seem to notice the four flying hollows, they seemed to believe that all the spiritual pressure was coming from the half dozen smaller ones on the ground, they were charging in right into disaster.

Tatsu's spiritual energy flared up around him, a familiar deep blue glow, most shinigami's could probably feel it a mile around him, that's when he decided to charge forward, not saying a word of his hostility or helping hand, he wasn't hiding himself jumping from roof to roof a steel glaze upon his eyes. A hundred behind the squad of shinigami Tatsu appeared in a flash step, as always his blinding speed was matched by little people, he stared forward as the gargoyle like hollow swooped down on the unprepared shinigami.

Tatsu stared as one of the shinigami barely escaped death, they didn't seem to notice him but he was getting ready to charge at the hollow and he had already prepared a getaway if they decided to focus him instead.

Dark shadows chased up the buildings; the dark had always brought a settling un-easiness to the girl. Paradoxically distilling the world with a silence so much deeper than any sound. She would have to wait for such fortune though. Settling into her uselessness, the girl dropped onto the ledge of the building and dangled her feet to the ground below. Perhaps in another life it might have seemed risky to hang so casually above the earth, in another life...That was a thought too regular with the girl. She sighed, tilting her head back as another breeze swashed her robes against her cool skin, it knocked and tilted through the air, sliding against her neck like a thin blade. A jolt of energy knocked aside the air, thick and deeper than that of any of her companions. Kaiyo choked forwards, caught so off guard by the surge that her hands had to jar against the cold brick to prevent her from falling to the ground.

'What the-' Her own creeping whisper was cut off as her ear-piece clicked in on the battle going on across the other side of the city...

Two of the men had landed on the back of a hollow, taking their sweet time to relish the monsters cries. Their hubris attack would shortly be the downfall of their team-mates. The rogue shinigami had saved the first man's life long enough only for him to charge into the face of another white mask. A cero shot along his arm from behind and he dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground, writhing in pain and cursing into his headset. The second fool had at least taken the hollow from the other side, jutting his blade between the eyes of the beast as his focus reached Tatsu. 'Who the fuck are yo-' An arial shot left only charred earth. These men were not elite, but they thought they were. Two down, and the team leader and his mate finally caught up. They were at least still in the game...

It was all a little fuzzy, but it was enough to invoke movement from the girl. She stuttered forwards and backwards a few paces, her expression paralysed with shock and panic as she growled slightly. She wasn't exactly great back-up, but even she couldn't just stand on the sidelines. Kaiyo leapt forwards, already feeling that familiar rattling against her ribcage. There was another shinigami, more hollows and one man dead already. Unable to shunpo, she could only run as fast as she could, all the while listening with bated breath to the battle and chaos starting to unfurl.

Kuroi's vision was blurred, he was asleep next to the Senkai gate. Not strictly next to, but really more above, he was napping in the tree above the gate. Dozing in and out of conciousness, he noticed the relaxed atmosphere of the guards turn into anticipation. "Huh they must be going to Karakura".

Kuroi wasn't sure he cared... They didn't seem like dolts, although they were overconfident for being fairly weak. He closed his eyes again, he was slowly waking up, but not slow enough it seems, as he opened his eyes in time to see them shove a student from the academy through the Senkai gate... Wait...

Academy Student? Why? Was there a field trip scheduled? How long had he been asleep, was he late for work? Crap crap crap crap crap, Kuroi hasitly got up, only forget that he was indeed, in a tree. He fell, a very cat-like yowl trailing him, however, as cats do, he landed on his feet. He reseated the Zanpaktou on his back, and Charged through the gate, gods he hoped he wasn't late for this field trip.

--

Through the Senkai gate, and he was already certain he didn't miss a field trip, all hell had broken loose in this town. "Uhh..." Kuroi was stunned. There were mabye half a dozen hollows, an enforcer, some shinigami, and the student left, Kuroi could have sworn that no enforcers entered the gate either. He would have been abit more concerned about being locked up if he had seen one.

The team had already taken casualties, Kuroi felt an urge to go try and heal them, but he knew by their mangled form that they were dead. His job now was to prevent casualties. That was always his job. How the hell was he supposed to do that?

The student darted out of her cover and charged, her zanpakto waving. "Oh no!" Kuroi thought, before he dropped to all fours, shunpo'ing twice once to pull along side her, and the other to go well ahead of her. he was at the edge of the kill zone now... He looked at the hollows, and a cold chill went down his spine. Fear. He felt his stomache sink, he wanted to run, but he couldn't, he had to do his job. Prevent casualties... The only way to do that was to fight.

"Hakai Shiniasai, Mudashu!" Kuroi said, his small voice trembling, and his Zanpaktou transformed into the staff while it was still in the scabbard. His right paw caught it as it fell to the ground, and he instantly spun it around his wrist, emptying one of the tubes of sand. He then slashed his sand at the nearest hollow, not expecting it to actual hurt it from this range, but stretching the sand in a line to the hollow. Then planting his staff in the line, he turned the sand to crystal, which lightly covered the hollow. He let the staff go, and it stood, being encased in the crystal, to cast, "Hado 30 Midori Hi Jikkou!" at the hollow, and a green small ball, the size of his head, fired at the immoblized hollows head.

All of this in the span of 5 seconds that he had activated shikai. Hopefully the kido would kill it, if not, Kuroi's zanpaktou would need almost 5 seconds to suck the crystal back into the cylinder that it came from, returning it to sand. That 5 seconds of him being immoblized... Gods let that hollow die.

Tatsuya honestly thought his trip to Karakura Town would be pleasantly uneventful this time. He figured all the other times he had been there and getting into trouble would lead to at least one peaceful trip. Boy was he wrong. He had felt the reiatsu of several hollow and a few shinigami in the area a few blocks east of where he was. One shinigami really stuck out by letting their reiatsu flare, but even then, they were outnumbered. Tatsuya flash stepped above the rooftops, moving quickly to the battle. It wasn't a good thing he was heading over there. There was always the chance he would be arrested or killed after everything was finished, but he couldn't deny his loyalty to Soul Society. He had asked Sumiko to stay behind. He didn't want to risk her being seen with him. She understood his concern, but was still apprehensive about letting him go alone. He assured her he would be alright. It was almost always sure that hollows came before fugitives.

When Tatsuya finally arrived, he stopped on the nearest rooftop and observed the seen. Two dead, three still fighting, and an academy student. "What the hell are they thinking sending an academy student into this!" He thought as he watched a pint size cat in a shihakusho attack a hollow charging for the student. "That's new." He thought as the feline shinigami held its own. Tatsuya leaned over the edge of the building for a second more before deciding he had seen enough. He casually took a step into the air and walked away from the building. He let his reiatsu poor out of him to attract everyone's attention. Flames kissed the air around him as he floated above the others and drew his zanpakuto. The airborne hollows took that as a form of invitation. One flew at him with amazing speed, it's claws aimed straight at him. Just as it got into attacking range, Tatsuya made one quick vertical slice, bisecting the hollow into two equal pieces. The hollow quickly dissipated into the air and as the other airborne hollows closed in, Tatsuya flash stepped over to one of the plainly dressed shinigami. "Hope you don't make me do all the work." He stated with a smug look.

2 of the airborn hollows quickly moved away from Tatsu and the other shinigami's to charge the now airborn shinigami. They panned around, there were only 3 left and they spread around him at his twelve three and six o'clock making sure he couldn't cover them all, two of them charged Cero's in his general direction, if it would miss him, it would most likely hit the people on the ground. The third one actually just charged and prepared to fire at the people on the ground.

Tatsu wore a red Haori over his shoulders, it was torn by experience and so was the kimono underneath, the long hair tied with the blue ribbon and his tall body only matched one description, this was Tatsu Chirako, renegade Enforcer leader. Tatsu noticed that the group leader was shaking, he had no clue what to do, the newly arrived shinigami quickly took care of one of the hollows but there was so much more.

On the ground the situation looked much more dire, there were about 11 more hollows closing in from all directions, the battlefield was in a small park between streets, it was desert of all human lives and if thing's kept going as it were, it would most likely that the only thing's left standing would be hollows, so Tatsu decided to step it up a bit.

''Awaken Mizu Megami Reiki Naoru

Spoiler:

By then, Tatsu's spiritual energy flared up, it was obvious he tried to attract the attention of the hollows with his overwhelming spiritual energy he spoke a few words to the shinigami's making sure he tried to protect them, he didn't know if he would, because they were shinigami's and he was a renegade. ''Cover my flanks and when you see an opening, run for it'' Tatsu was slammed down by own of the ape like hollows, they all mostly looked the same, but these type of hollows seemed stronger, the monster's hand slammed down on the shinigami and Tatsu proceeded to block with his overwhelming battle knowledge. Mean while the other earth bound hollows were assaulting the Tatsu from every direction and the other shinigami's were attempting to stay alive around him.

Meanwhile in the air the battle was fierce, sand shooting from the nearby rooftops immobilizing one of the hollows that were planning on shooting down the air born shinigami, soon after a greenball, slammed down on the foe, which made them notice he was there, the hollow wasn't dead but it was dazed and not moving, the hollow came back to himself and charged at the catlike creature, while the other two remained to prevent the shinigami to help in any way.


Tatsu quickly noticed the flying shinigami he glanced fell upon him as he dispatched the hollow in a single hit, he seemed like a good one to protect, Tatsu could kill these hollow but it would take a while, he doesn't exel at dealing damage, while on the other hand this other shinigami could deal the damage he couldn't. ''Hey! You in the air!'' Tatsu attempted to catch the man's attention. The samurai at this point looked menacing, he never quite dodged an attack, he blocked them or them em head on, making sure the other shinigami's would stay alive for as long as possible, the red coat followed his fluid movements, his zanpakuto was pretty long and straight at this point, surrounded by a coating of water that followed the blade's edge. ''Stay near so we can cooperate'' Of course Tatsu's goal was to protect most of everyone around here.

Summing it all, Tatsu used his shikai, took countless hits and ordered people around, one could say he was a born leader!

Breath...Just breath.

Kaiyo was sure that if she could have taken a few paces back, she would have been able to retionalise. As it stood, things had gone very quickly from bad to worse and she was definitely the worst. The robed cat had appeared out of nowhere, and the girl had only the time to curse her peripheral vision before he had shot ahead of her, and her face had collided with a wall. Just a street away from the rest of the fight, Kaiyo didn't exactly seem to be missed. At such a point where she could truly prove herself, she gets all shaken up by a flying cat and runs into a wall. Just her luck.

The blue haired bandit peeled herself off the building, shaking her head to push her vision back to singular as she stumbled around to pick up her Zanpakuto. The dazed girl dropped from her wilting posture to scoop her blade from the ground. A large chunk of building spat off the wall as the ground shook slightly. Confused, Kaiyo rose, the tip of her blade still dragging along the pavement as her glazed eyes stared blankly at the burnt hole in the building. Sure she'd hit it hard, but it hadn't been that hard...And she hadn't been on fire. Sometimes Kaiyo wasn't the sharpest button in the box. The sound of that enormous penny dropping was masked by a roaring hollow; loud enough to make the girl flail her arms and scream in its face kind of loud.

The girl dived away from the dumb beast as it charged into the wall, she was at least faster than it. Ignorant of the large gathering going on behind her, the girl was spurred on by what she had just counted as a victory. Grasping her blade Zanpakuto with her sweaty grip and white knuckling the hilt with the anxiety of a Learner driver, she charged forwards. The hollows backhand swiped her into another wall, the shuddering pain bolted through her body as she leapt out of the way of another cero. 'Oh! Definitely not!' she yelled at the thing, tucking her tail between her legs as she decided on a tactical retreat.

Her muscles contracted as she sprinted towards the park, ducking and diving out the way of various other people and fights as she yelled at the top of her lungs. 'Save me! Save me! Someone please save me!' Her shrill tone gave a slightly comical tone to her panic as she leapt over a bench in park and ducked down behind it.

Breath...Just breath.

Well, things were going well so far...

Kuroi watched as the hollow turned to face him... boy that thing was PISSED. Kuroi abandoned his zanpaktou, the sand was retreating into it's cylinder automatically. The hollow before him almost make him embarrass himself in fear... He knew he could fight when their backs were turned, but no, not head on... those hollows would enjoy eating this kitty for breakfast... Kuroi was about to run... and then he heard, "Save me! Save me! Someone please save me!", and his standing orders echoed in his mind... "The job of the 4th squad when faced with a combat situation is to prevent causualties. That could mean anything from blocking a cero, to a simple healing. You must keep people alive." He would be a coward... But this big, bull of a hollow as charging toward him... and there were more... he couldn't kill them all... he couldn't even kill this one!

'No!' Kuroi shouted, his small voice carrying over the battle, 'Bakuto 23 Tetsuori!' He called, and an iron bar appeared in his hand. He dropped it in the ground, and the cage appeared around the hollow, stopping its charge dead on. Now for the hollow trying to kill the student.

Kuroi shunpo'ed into the air, his Zanpaktou still recovering sand, "Bakuto 30 Shitotsu Sansen" He fired the triangle at the hollow chasing the girl, pinning it the ground, just before the park bench.

Mudashu still hadn't retracted all of the sand, so he had to finish his hollow with Kido as well, he started the incantation, rushing the mantra, “May the arrows of my soul, be guided by my will, to reach their true destination. Hado 20 Arashi-Tomoshibi!" Ten spheres exploded on the hollow in the cage, turning the cage and the hollow to dust.

Kuroi knew he only had a few moments left before his other hollow entrapped by his kido escaped, so he picked up his Zanpaktou, just as it had turned the last of the crystal to sand, and Shunpo'ed atop its face, the massive beast almost blew him off by breathing. Kuroi ensured it stopped breathing, splitting its face with a crystaline blade from his Zanpaktou. By now he was panting, but he said to the girl, "Unless you are injured, you need to go back to the Senkai gate, and report to Sereitei what is happening here, They will send adequate reinforcements, tell them that Adjuchas are swarming."

Kuroi felt more hollows coming, and ones from the park were already closing. He spun his zanpaktou, creating a flying circle of sand, levitating on near the ground around him.

He was ready for the hollows that approached him...

Tatsuya had heard the man shouting at him to stay near, but chose to ignore him. After all, what else was he doing if not cooperating in this mess. "Tatsuya Okibi. The man who murdered the grand elder of the Shihoin Family." The man he had stated in mild surprise before attacking him with a swing of his sword. Tatsuya side stepped the attack and punched the man in the face, sending him to the ground. "Hmm, not even happy for the help I provide." He looked over the man as he laid on the ground. "Hollows first. Then. If your still alive, you can try and take me in." He said before turning his back to him just as an ape-like hollow came leaping towards him. Tatsuya raised his sword to block the the claw heading for him. He was pushed a couple of feet back when the hollow connected with his blade and grabbed hold. "Is that wise?" Tatsuya asked before applying his own force to the blade and slicing the hollow's hand off. The hollow howled and staggered back in pain at the loss of its hand. Tatsuya jumped forwards and sliced at it's head, making a clean cut through.

"Rise from the ashes, Suzaku." Tatsuya released his shikai as he landed on the ground. His hands and forearms were quickly covered in bladed, flaming metal gauntlets. Not to far from him, he heard the academy student scream for help. Before he good make his way to her, two of the flying hollow came charged at him. Tatsuya jumped into the air where the third hollow was waiting with a fully charged cero. "Shit!" He shouted just before the hollow let it loose at him. Tatsuya crossed his arms in front of him just before the cero hit him with full force. There was no way Tatsuya could dodge or deflect the cero. When the cero finally dissipated, Tatsuya was still standing, scuffed up a whole lot and his shihakusho tattered and torn, but otherwise alright. His breathing was heavy as he looked back at the hollow less then amused. Tatsuya cocked both his arms back by his hips as his reiatsu soared. "HINOTE SOUJUU!!" Tatsuya yelled as he threw his arms forward and sending a large torrent of fire at the hollow that had attacked him.

The hollow didn't stand a chance surviving that attack, and when the fire disappeared, the hollow was charred to a crisp. One of flying hollow came at him from behind in an effort to catch him off guard. Tatsuya jump and twisted in the air and kicked at its neck. He felt and and heard the loud crack as its neck broke. The hollow was sent crashing to the ground. The impact with the ground was equally as painful if the hollow was even still alive. It impacted with incredible force, creating a large crater in the ground. The shinigami he'd had contact with earlier was near the impact zone and was sent flying back from the shockwave. "HEY..." He yelled at Tatsuya but was cut short. A large reiatsu could be felt approaching, but it was definitely more then one. Even the hollow took time to notice the approach. "Damn it. Things just got worse." Tatsuya thought when he felt the approaching reiatsu. He figured there was no more time to waste. The remaining hollow, tho significantly weaker then the ones approaching would end up causing more trouble if they were still around when the others finally showed up. He quickly looked around trying to find the the last flying hollow. The new reiatsu was hindering his sensing abilities and not allowing him to lock on to it. When he looked all around, there was only one place left. Tatsuya looked up in the sky and finally spotted it. The hollow was high up in the air heading straight toward Tatsuya in a dead vertical drop. Once Tatsuya felt that the hollow was close enough, he flash stepped up and met it with a punch to its face. There was an large shockwave from the impact sending Tatsuya back down crashing to the ground. He crashed about twenty feet from where the shinigami who was ordering others around was. It took him a minute to get back up from the ground but that was more then what the hollow could do. "Anyone get the number of that freight truck?" He groaned as he tried to get his bearings.

The samurai had heard the shinigami talk the man of the renegade, even he had heard of it, he was still the leader of the enforcer when that happened, although he was helping and that wasn't his problem, for now he decided that this fight was the mostly important part of the moment. Tatsu laughed a bit. ''Ah! Funny how renegades are the one's saving you shinigami!'' he would say after blocking the killing blow a hollow wanted to land on a lesser shinigami, Tatsu's shoulder cracked from the sheer strength and weight of the creature. The arm fell limp and Tatsu shunpo'd over the creature, holding his sword sword downwards and crashing his sword in the monsters head, which ended up being fatal. Projecting himself at another with his blinding speed the other hollow shared the same fate, except that this one received it head on.

Jumping back to help the brawl between shinigami and hollow Tatsu quickly replaced his shoulder and his eyes darted towards the girl in danger, her spiritual pressure was one of a student, just what was she doing there, soon after someone helped her with very effective kido and bakudo, she Tatsu assumed she was fine, and that kido user too.

His eyes glanced at that one moment where the other rogue shinigami was submerged by the red shot of energy usually called a Cero, it quickly ended. It was obvious that guy was pissed and it seemed his shikai was also released because there was no other explanation to the fact that a wave of fire turned a healthy hollow into a crisp that was falling down near. Tatsu really put some trust into that man's ability, because he switched his ability to regenerate spiritual energy, he wanted to make sure nobody lacked spiritual pressure.

Meanwhile on his side of battle, the samurai kept on focusing on making these recruits actually see the end of this battle, the more they were the stronger his shikai was, so one by one he shunpo'd and blocked, or countered for them tapping their side with the non cutting edge of his sword, granting them spiritual energy back. The total energy in the air was beyond anything Tatsu had ever felt and his renegeration was blinding. By then Tatsu felt the huge wave of crushing spiritual energy crashed into the samurai, without even knowing it, the man glowed in blue as if he was permanently charging spiritual energy, Tatsu was caught off guard by one of the last remaining hollow with a hit of a hand that was just about the size of his body, sending him flying right beside the other rogue shinigami. Standing back up he looked at the man beside him and said. ''Hope your ready for one hell of a fight'' Saying that Tatsu rose his sword in between them where Tatsuya could grab it. ''Touch it, it'll help you out''

If the man would touch it, he would feel energy being spread through him like renewed vigor and with all the spiritual energy in the air given off by the newly arrived opponents, it wouldn't be long before his spiritual energy be fully restored.
A few seconds after Tatsu shunpo'd right beside the cat like creature and he unsheathed the hidden dagger and gave it to him. ''Hold it, and keep it you'll see its effects fast enough'' Tatsu felt proud to be so useful in such a dangerous fight, he'd probably make a good member of the 4th squad if he was able to rejoin Soul Society one day, he'd try.

Kaiyo dragged her sweaty palm down from her eyes, grimacing in anticipation of the pain that never came. She hastened a glance through a splintered slat of wood in the bench, looking just in time to watch the aforementioned cat blast a triangle thing at the hollow. She couldn't help but let out a small gasp of admiration. Rising slowly, encapsulated by the power that one so small could hold, the girl couldn't help herself for staring as the hollow seemed to just disintegrate to dust. Another shockwave of energy rippled through the air, clinging like heat to make it heavier. Kaiyo could feel beads of sweat starting to form. Usually she could walk around fine, but with all the kidou and shikai floating around, she was really starting to struggle.

At the academy, they'd mentioned that battlefields were hectic but this seemed different all together. There was a cat saving her life, other shinigami who'd just appeared from nowhere and a strange looking guy with a red haori. He in particular held a familiarity that Kaiyo couldn't seem to place. She shrugged it off; with so many thoughts ricocheting around her mind she didn't need to waste her brain power any more. She'd had trouble holding focus, with so much going on and so much out of her league it was difficult. She nodded slowly back at the cat-saviour though. Back to Soul Society, she could surely manage that...

Using her one advantage- her speed, she bounded over the bench. Charging forwards with all the taught muscle might that an adrenaline fuelled student could muster; especially when they were really starting to have issues breathing. Unfortunately for the blue haired girl, she hadn't quite realised that the brute strength of the spiritual energy could be concentrated at the epicentre of the battle. The Adjuchas were coming, and Kaiyo really needed to get out of there. It was probably half way up in the air when it hit her, the senseless cloud of energy that had formed overhead like a toxin drowned her within seconds. Having already slipped past a few lesser hollows, her fall was a little less graceful than she would have liked. Though after her entrance, the graceful ship had long since sailed. Regardless, she blacked out; smacking hard onto the back of a hollow as her blade sliced its back with her fall. As if bouncing from the beasts back, her fragile little body then had the misfortune of landing on one of the Shinigami; just as he was getting back up from shockwaved sucker-punch. It was at this point that Kaiyo decided to consider a new profession.

Kuroi finished off the hollow he had trapped, and perhaps he felt relief, I mean DAMN! He just killed some high level hollows, That'd show those fucking 11th squaders, who were probably scratching their bums trying to catch someone out of their post. Like they knew which post was whose. Bastards...

Kuroi was getting abit caught up with himself, there were still hollows around, but he felt confident that between that random lieutenant, and the Enforcer dude who was here, they could take them down... Oh god...

Kuroi felt the adjuchas, and he spun, dissolving the blade back into his cylinder. He was overcome, the reiatsu was massive, his small frame was overpowered by the reiatsu, he felt like his very life essense was being crushed by the enormity of these hollows before him...

Kuroi was afraid, he broadcast it through his own reiatsu, the sand dropped from its hovering position, he stepped back, only a few steps, to the edge of his sand right. A "normal" hollow was nearly atop him now, its claws decending on Kuroi's position, Kuroi twirled his staff, the sand on the ground forming a shield, which was promptly smashed through by the claws, a red aura surrounding them. Kuroi fell back, away from the claws, but as they hit the ground at his feet, they exploded, blasting Kuroi almost 50 yards, his light frame hurled through the air on a low and fast arc... Straight toward an adjuchas. Kuroi was battered now, the concrete that he had landed on had shreded his robes, his eye was closed, and his ear had a tear, he looked like an animal kicked one to many times. The one time was enough...

"YOU WEAK FOOL, YOU HOLD THE POWER TO KILL ALL OF THESE HOLLOWS, STOP WHIMPERING IN FEAR, FUCKING KILL SOMETHING!!!" Mudashu, the old man he was, his voice hoarse in Kuroi's ears.

The adjuchas before Kuroi was charging a cero, it was a large, canine hollow, as big as a double decker bus at the very least. Its cero was a unique hint of grey. It was almost silver, its white light an ironic reminder of the destruction of ceros...

Kuroi's ear twitched... twitched, and he flicked his wrist, spinning his staff, sending a torrent of sand at the hollow, more specifically, the mouth, where the sand crystalized, piercing a hole through the hollows head, shattering its mask and more imporantly, its life force.

"Stay down you bitch", and Kuroi's reiatsu ignited, a tan aura surrounded him, he broke off the end of the staff from the crystal, and started spinning it around his head, the remaining sand in the cylinder and on the ground formed a sandstorm around himself, it was abit thing to normal standards, but the sheer velocity of sand would easily cut through skin.

Kuroi sent the whole sandstorm, at a flying hollow that was passing over him, another adjuchas that was closing. Kuroi tried to bring it down, but the adjuchas dodged, diving toward him in a squalking dive of doom. Kuroi didn't want to say he expected it, but he really did, and he he pulled the sand back down, just enough getting into the cylinder, before a large beak crashed over Kuroi, the crane looking hollow swallowing Kuroi whole. The hollow, got back to its feet, and began to fly off, but Kuroi wasn't dead yet, his staff was wedged sideways into the hollow's throat, he was essentially stuck, but the hollow was dissolving his spiritual presence. Kuroi used whatever sand was in his cylinder to create a blade, and he cut the throat, doing a full circle, and another, and another, and it wasn't long before he had decapitated the hollow... But the hollow had already taken flight, toward the man with fire gauntlets.

The hollow dissolved, purified by Mudashu, but Kuroi made the 50 foot fall to the ground, suriving, simply on the fact of being a soul reaper, and that his claws dug into the air, slowing his decent considerably, he hit the ground stumbling, he was heavily drained from shikai and the hollow's stomache... His last concious words were, "Waiter, check please!" Before passing out at the fire gauntlet man's crater.

Tatsuya was rubbing his head when the other shinigami landed by him. "Heh. Ready?! We've been doing all the work." He replied after hearing the man. When the man raised his sword at him, Tatsuya was a bit confused. When the man had asked him to grab the blade, he was confused even more and just as hesitant. When his flaming hand finally touched the blade he immediately began to feel more energized. He basked in the feeling. His breathing became relaxed and soft as if he just started the battle. Before he could ask the man about it, he had taken off to the aid of the small feline shinigami. A second later Tatsuya heard two large crashes behind him. When he turned to look, there was a large stinger heading straight towards him. Tatsuya jumped out of the way and into the air avoiding the surprise attack. Tatsuya followed the stinger all the way back to the owner; a large twenty foot tall scorpion type hollow. As Tatsuya glided back from his evasion, he heard a booming static sound to his right side.

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"We have a spry one here, Selk." The hollow bellowed when he instantly appeared next to Tatsuya. Only Tatsuya's eyes betrayed his stone hard face with shock when he saw the hollow right next to him. The fifteen foot grey and blue furred werewolf hollow quickly clawed at Tatsuya. Tatsuya raised his arm and blocked the attack with a pillar of fire as big as the hollow's claw. He was sent back in the direction he had tried to escape from. Tatsuya skidded along the ground in front of the werewolf's partner. The scorpion hollow slammed its claw down right as Tatsuya passed in front of it. Tatsuya jumped back into the scorpion's other claw and jumped into the air before he passed underneath the attack. Tatsuya cocked his right arm back as he reached the hollow's head with his jump. "I don't think so." It said before tilting its head to the side, making way for its large stinger to pass by. Tatsuya didn't get fazed by the hollow's move. He punched at the incoming stinger letting loose a wave of fire that collided with it slowing its movement to a halt. The overflowing flames that had stopped the stinger had kissed the hollow's face. "Hot hot hot." The hollow shouted as the flames touched his skin before its claw swatted Tatsuya to the ground off to the side. Tatsuya rolled on the ground as he hit it, pushing off and flipping to his feet. Tatsuya heard that same booming static sound right behind him and quickly flash stepped as the werewolf hollow clawed at his back. "Great! Why'd I have to get the tag team?" Tatsuya thought out loud after getting out from between them.

Spoiler:

Tatsu's spiritual energy was just kicking and he wasn't really wounded, but what met his eyes were two towering hollows of which he had never seen, but he needed a solution out of this battle, this 4th squadder had taken care of a hollow with a mere action. If only he had done that the whole time. He thought to himself. Taking a glance around the battlefield, Tatsu noticed two things, the blue haired girl falling down with another dead hollow - the last one not counting the adjuchas - and she seemed out cold, of course considering that the spiritual energy around the battling ones almost pushed the samurai to his knee's. And the second thing was that the dagger was still on the ground left unused.

Adding up one and one, Tatsu shunpo'd using all his speed, picking up the girl and the dagger in two swift actions. Shortly after the third shunpo, the girl who was most likely still unconscious was about a hundred meters away from the fight, where the spiritual energy wasn't so heavy. He openned her hand and slipped the dagger in it, its handle held the usual blue ribbon that usually is around his swords.

''Reiki Naoru'' The samurai spoke his words quickly making sure he could make it back to the fight. The dagger would help the girl regenerate if she was actually wounded. Turning around to head around the fight and Tatsu was faced with the terrible reality that one adjuchas decided to pick off the stragglers. Which ended up being them. ''Oh boy'' the renegade said to himself as the large menos granded faced them...except that its mask had multiple openings as if it was between the vasto lorde state and the normal menos grande state...which in either case was coming to try and crush Tatsu and the girl right beneath its feet.

Tatsu picked up the girl and shunpo'd away again, even further from the fight. This was definetly not going well for the samurai, he just didn't think he had any way to slay such a creature in the first place.

There is a state right between the conscious and unconscious which offers glimmers of reality through dreams. Kaiyo was aware that somebody had picked her up. Only vaguely did she try to struggle, her inability to speak, let alone move offered no actual reaction though. She felt comforted though, safe even. The warbled yells echoed through her mind, as light blurred back into her eyes. Her hand moved; not of her own volition, but it was the same comforting body that guided her to safety. Her head flopped to one side where she lay. Her heart still beating faster to catch her breath as her thumb stroked up and down the blue ribbon on the man's dagger. Her glazed eyes stared blankly at her own hand, slowly widening as more energy surged around her body. Kaiyo inhaled slowly, taking a more controlled grip on the blade as her body twitched back to life.

Slowly but surely, she sat back up. Her face burning bright with the general embarrassment of her actions thus far. She could reminisce later though. She too watched in disbelief as the large hollow ahead of them began what appeared to be a form of metamorphosis. Kaiyo was still new to all the knowledge on hollows; but she figured it wasn't a good thing. Just as she motioned to stand, she was swept from her feet once more. Her stomach churned as the red coated man flash stepped away with her. 'Woa- whats going on?' she pleaded, her state of confusion still faltering any real thoughts from occurring. Of course she should have been asking the rebel why he was saving her, but that might only have been important if she'd felt uneasy around the stranger. As it was, Kaiyo just seemed to trust the man.

'What's your name?' she managed to mutter through bated breath; but the pressure on her body was becoming weaker the further they moved away. Surely he'd just drop her and rush back to fight; he might even kill her first. For now though she could only watch, her large blue eyes helplessly staring up at him.

Kuroi was dreaming, a nice vacation on the beach, unlimited milk, the sand felt so good on his back... Paradise, bar the water of course.

Paradise tends to get broken up when you get stepped on by a hollow. A feline hollow, seamingly crossbreed with a human to get a werecat appearance, But this thing was big, several times Kuroi's size, Kuroi and the hollow shared facial features, but that was it... The hollow was a mass of muscles that human bodybuilders dreamed of. The paw that was standing on him, was crushing Kuroi, the claws sheathed.

"Hello little pussycat, your nap is over." The hollow lifted its foot, planting it next to Kuroi, following it up with a swift kick, sending Kuroi out of the park. Kuroi impacted against the a 3rd story window, his meager weight wasn't enough to shatter it, the glass was broken, but stayed intact, a ripple of cracks was sent out from the impact point of Kuroi.

Kuroi was disarmed, and damn tired, he simply fell the 3 stories to the ground, landing solely on his hind legs. His groggy mind looked around seeing a white blur heading for him. He said, the Kido casting nearly before he finished the chant, "Hado 3 Crimson Strike!" The hollow came into focus, and he jumped, on all fours, soaring well above the kido, and right next to Kuroi's position, and used his momentum to punch Kuroi's small body through the building.

Kuroi was ejected on the other side of the block, a small hole, trailing him, as well as a plethora of dust. Kuroi was seperated from the ground, and he was being toyed with. How very feline.

He had reshi left, but not much, the hollow's stomach was designed to disintegrate reshi for the hollow's use, and it was damned effecient at it. Kuroi felt himself far more drained than he had been in even the most difficult of healings, and those knocked him out for days. He had mabye, 2 High level spells? If he was lucky, he could still flash step after that... Kuroi would just have to hope this worked...

He started quickly, chanting the incantation, under his breath, a shadow passed over him, preparing to pounce. Kuroi used the minimal amount of energy to flash step, avoiding the Werecat's pounce, Kuroi finished the incantation and finisehd with "Bakuto 30 Shitotsu Sansen". Kuroi's hastily drawn triangle did the job, pinning the hollow to the building behind him.

"Ha! You think this will, ugh..." The hollow said, only realizing that he was indeed, stuck. His response, charge a cero in his hand, facing the building... Hollows think alike it seems...

Kuroi quickly incanted, for he needed to hit this perfectly before the Cero went off.

"Water, what gives life to those who I seek to end, Lightning, what Creates the fire in my hand, Combine, and deliver your judgment upon this soul. Hado 30 Midori Hi Jikkou." A large green ball formed in Kuroi's hand, and it fired, straight for the hollow's head, right as a red blast destroyed the building, and the block, and the next 4 blocks... But the Kidou did what it was designed to do... Execute... Although every execution fails...

This hollow was hurt though, its mask was heavily cracked, but it wasn't dead, which meant Kuroi was. The hollow stumbled over to Kuroi, his paw grabbing Kuroi, who could hardly resist. the hollow jumped up, ontop of the building Kuroi had been thrown through, Kuroi's last sight would be the park, which was mostly destroyed at this point... and the concrete street which he was sure to die too... The hollow wound up his throwing arm, and threw Kuroi, as hard as a werecat can throw, straight down, Kuroi had the first fall that he didn't land on his feet, the Street rippled, cracked, and cratered, several feet deep, the water pipes underneath breaking, covering Kuroi in the dreaded water.

Kuroi's entire body was just a rag doll now... He wasn't concious, his head was bleeding into the small pond that he had created, and he just floated on the top of the newly formed pond...

Tatsuya's head quickly turned when he saw a cero being fired through the corner of his eye. "Concentrate on your own problem, Shinigami!" The werewolf hollow shouted as he took advantage of the distraction, jumping at Tatsuya. "Hinote Soujuu." Tatsuya said as he opened his right hand towards the leaping hollow, without turning his head. "WHAT?!" The werewolf hollow yelled before being engulfed in flames. The flames quickly died down and the hollow emerged scorched, but alive. "Lets get one thing straight, Hollow. I always concentrate on my fights." Tatsuya said before turning his head back to the charred hollow. The hollow roared in rage as he blindly charged at Tatsuya. The hollow stopped and guarded its face when Tatsuya's flame covered gauntlets shot out more fire. The fire stopped a few feet from hitting the hollow, catching it off guard and lowering its arms. One second the hollow was staring into the fire and then the next he had Tatsuya's right fist planted in its face. "Kaen Kyuutou." Tatsuya called out the name of the technique he just used, letting him jump through the flames. "Wha..." The hollow's eyes rolled to the back of its head before Tatsuya punched him with his other hand and pushed out fire through the other side of the hollows head. Everything happened in a matter of seconds. Tatsuya knew fighting the two head on would only result in him losing and possibly dying. He made the hollow think that he had lost focus in the fight only so that he could catch it off guard.

"Kitsune! Damn you Shinigami!" The other hollow shouted as he watched his partner die at the hands of the shinigami. "Don't worry. You'll follow soon." Tatsuya turned to the scorpion hollow as he spoke. The hollow launched its stinger at Tatsuya, reaching far beyond what Tatsuya had originally thought possible. Tatsuya jumped to the side to avoid the attack, but the stinger quickly swung after Tatsuya. Tatsuya flash stepped on to the hollow's tail and rang towards the hollow. The hollow swung its tail to side, forcing Tatsuya to jump off into the air, but not before he got close enough to the hollow. "Hinote Soujuu." Tatsuya called out surrounding him in a wave of fire. "What the hell?" The hollow said when he saw Tatsuya covered in flame. Tatsuya quickly dove at the hollow and pierced through its abdomen and to the ground before the fire surrounding him disappeared. The hollow dropped to the ground as it dissipated into thin air.

Tatsuya was breathing hard after his last technique. It was the first time he had used it in that fashion. Had he thought he could have had the same results without it, he would have done so. But he figured the hollow would have thicker armor then the other, so he needed the extra boost of power. He turned to the others and quickly saw the feline shinigami unconscious in a pool of blood and water, with a hollow quickly approaching. Tatsuya wasn't sure he would be able to get to the shinigami in time, but hurried anyway. Sure enough the hollow made it to the feline far before Tatsuya even got close. "Shit." He thought as he tried to move faster. "Bakudo number 42 - Constrictor's Fury." A familiar female voice was heard from a distance before several snakes of energy began constricting the hollow. Sumiko quickly appeared between the hollow and the comatose feline with shunpo. "Hado number 51 - Gaki Rekkō." She shouted creating green circle of energy before it blasted several green beams at the hollow, finishing it off where the feline had started. "Sumiko." Tatsuya called out as he finally got close. "I could of sworn I said to stay behind." Tatsuya sarcastically said with grin. "You did, but I figured with all the strong reiatsu around, you could use the assitance." Sumiko replied with her own smile. "Well, you were right." He said as he reached into the bloody water where the feline shinigami was floating in, and plucked him out by his scruff and dropping him on the ground.

Tatsu looked down at the woman he had taken care of, she had come back to herself and didn't seem to notice in what kind of trouble she was in, she was in the utmost danger. Finishing his flash step his coat fell to the ground as he let the girl gently on the ground. ''Its Shunpo..'' He offered a kind reassuring smile to the girl as he shot a glance behind his shoulder to notice the gillian charge up a Cero right in his direction. The man turned towards the girl, the air around them turned red as the energy charged and the samurai didn't know what to do. ''If you must know, I'm Tatsu Chirako, Ex-Shinigami of the 11th division, Enforcer Leader'' He turned around and took a step back making sure the space between him and the girl was minimal. ''And before you ask, I have no clue what I'm doing'' He faced the huge hollow as it fire the beat of energy, bringing his zanpakuto right in front of him, Tatsu mustered every ounce of courage within him and shouted. ''Bakudo No.39: Enkosen!!''

The beam seemed never ending and the arc shield didn't last as long as the cero launched at him, yet the damage was only dealt to the samurai, who was now on a single knee. fuming with remnants of the cero, his shikai and his ability had saved him most of the damage dealt by the cero. ''See....that worked well..'' Tatsu dashed forward, charred haori on his shoulders. The hollow had started charging another cero but Tatsu had found a solution. Using a quick shunpo he jumped in the middle of monsters mouth to disrupt the cero, which proceeded to explode the monster's mask and Tatsu with it, who fell hard to the ground.

The samurai didn't move...much and the hollow faded back to black leaving the show of the other much more impressing fights in the background, he hoped for them to make it without his help. He also hoped the student would be fine. It was his utmost priority that this student be alive after this fight, already his shikai healing him at an impressive rate, he held his sword firmly in hand making sure it would keep healing him.

Kaiyo tried blinking away the dream; the buzzing red hue that tainted the vision of her saviour. If anything, it just made him stand out more. She kept that thought to herself though. Her mouth tipped open as he spoke. Tatsu...Ex-11th squad. The flash-words imprinted their words on her brain. There was an undeniable familiarity to the man that she couldn't quite justify. Perhaps it was simply her gratitude towards the stranger that made his presence so comforting.

It was't as if she'd missed the cero charging, or the distant beats of battle, but the noise had all since blurred to her. White noise drowned by the man's words, the thick spiritual energy that had encircled Kaiyo was having more lasting drowsy effects. Her small frame jolted when Tatsu's shield exploded against the cero. Standing, curled behind Tatsu's back, the student shut her eyes with all her might. Wishing away the pain and panic. As she opened her eyes, the charred image of the man began to heal itself, the rush of energy swarming closer to her. Her curled spine collapsed under the pressure once more and the girl was out cold. The last gulping sillhoutte of Tatsu stuck so avidly in her mind, as the rest of the darkness seeped in.

Kuroi felt a hard shock, his head hitting the ground with a comical thud. He tried to stand on all fours, but immediately lifted his left forepaw, it was broken, and he realized her really couldn't FEEL anything. "Shit". Kuroi stood on his hind legs, and feeling slowly returned to his body, his left paw was most certainly, broken, and he could feel an unerring soreness all over his body, like he had been hit by a truck.

In reality it was him hitting the earth, but he didn't really remember that much. He looked around, seeing Sumiko-san, and some... 11th squader? 13th Squad? He didn't know. He REALLY wanted to take a nap... WAIT. "Sumiko-san? I thought you were a rogue... Wait... you are a rogue, that means he is a rogue too... And him? and the shinigami? And Sereitei......" Kuroi paused

"Err... Thank you?" He said, he felt abit better now, the massive pain from his paw only came if he moved it, he still felt like a truck had run him over, but he felt otherwise ok.

"You should go help him" Kuroi said, pointing to the man who just took a cero to the face. Afterward, Kuroi sort of half strolled, half stumbled to get his sword, which lay mabye 10 feet away from his crater. He would need it if he wanted to fight anything bigger than an ant...

"See, this is why I wanted you to stay behind." Tatsuya kindly pointed out when the feline called Sumiko a rogue. "Yeah, I know. But I couldn't let him get hurt." Sumiko replied with an apologetic tone. "Too late now." Tatsuya said and knelt down to move closer to the feline's level. "I think we can over look this situation, seeing as we saved you." Tatsuya stated kindly at the feline with a hint of threat. When the feline advised them to help Tatsu, Tatsuya stood up. "Well I guess it can't be helped. Looks like reinforcements are here anyways. Better get out of here." He said as he looked into the sky where a Senkaimon started to appear. "You go ahead and take off, I'll meet you back at the hotel once I take care of the other one." Tatsuya said as he put a hand on Sumiko's shoulder. "Sure thing." Sumiko answered and quickly disappeared with shunpo. Tatsuya did the same, but quickly appeared next to the semi conscious rogue. "Time to go, buddy." He picked him up and quickly disappeared with shunpo. He went on for a good distance making sure the reinforcements wouldn't notice or follow them. Once he felt he was far enough away he put the rogue down. "Tell you what. If you are ever in New York, look me up. I think I'd be able to help you out more. If not, don't worry about it." He stated and left with shunpo before the rogue could answer.