The Redemption of a Samurai [Open Thread 4 Max]

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.