My Life Ruined // Life of a Stranger (Takatsumaru)

Nira wasn't sure of what was going on. First of all was where she was. Last she had remembered, she was in a forest being chased by a demon. It had subdued her and tried to kill her. Now she was...here. Lying in a strange bed without her clothes. There was a window beside her, and in several other places of the mostly empty shack. There wasn't much for what she could see, a simple wood stove, and a flat bed of straw near a door that likely led outside. Beside her bed was a table, and on it were her weapons. Her Dha and her Kris. She quickly pulled the covers around herself and looked around, not noticing anyone else, but hearing shuffling from another part of the shack. She looked under her covers and noted that her wounds were gone and her body washed. If not for being naked, she would have bolted for the door.

Suddenly, she felt the pressure of someone else, from the same area as the shuffling.

"Who's there?" She called meekly, her one hand holding the blankets close to herself and the other grabbing for her Kris.

"Where am I? What happened to the demon?"


Back at headquarters, Biggs and Wedge were explaining their failure to their ranking superior.

"I'm sorry sir," he said to the superior, "But after the Hollow attacked the jeep, we were intercepted and saved by a Shinigami. I don't know why, but both the Hollow and the Shinigami were after the girl. When the hollow was dead, he took the girl with him."

The superior, a tall thin woman who fiddled a pen between her fingers, listened intently.

"And tell me about the girl. You said she was already realized?"

"Yes sir," Biggs continued, "The girl's powers had already awakened. I believe there was nothing we could do about it."

"A pity." The woman paused. "I heard she was a blade user. Could have been useful."

"With the proper training, she would have made an excellent operative for the company sir."

The woman paused and pointed her pen towards the two of them, then flicked it in a way of dismissal, letting them leave the room.


All across Sanagu and Karakura, wanted posters of the mysterious girl had been posted by local authorities for the purposes of gathering information about the mass murder debacle that had occurred in Sengoku Forest and park. In fact, the posters had spread to many other parts of the nearby area as well, leaving the unnamed mystery girl to become a familiar face to anyone and everyone. But no one, save a few souls in Sanagu, knew who she was. And those few were shocked by the news when they heard of it. Especially her only remaining family, who didn't know what to do.

Tatsu had taken care of the girl for about two days, she had been more injured in the car accident than he actually thought, lucky her he held his shikai for most of that period. After she was healed he undressed and covered her with his red haori which was made from a material made to endure huge spiritual pressure. He proceeded to wash her clothes even though they were ruined, he thought she might want to keep them in the long run, so they were on another table at the bottom of the makeshift bed she was using.

In the room where the girl was, a katana could be seen in the entrance of the shack. It was easily noted that the shack was abandoned for a long while, grass had almost made its way through the floor cracks and the glaring sun could be seen through the roof, the wood stove was cracking and a bowl of water was steaming, with something cooking inside it.

Water could be heard from the room where he was when he heard her voice, meaning that somewhere, there was water. Footsteps could be heard towards the door to where he was untill he showed himself. Wearing a kimono with holes in the shoulder part, his kimono itself was clean as if he had washed it. ''I don't mean you any harm, in fact quite the opposite, I brought you new clothes, but if you wish your old clothes, they are right there'' He pointed at her feet and near the wall. ''I prepared some food, you should dress up with these'' At this point he threw her some clothes which included a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. They were both too large for her, so he brought a belt for good measures. ''I didn't take your size..'' He mostly said that to make sure she knew he didn't creep on her while she was sleeping.

He moved on back to his roof to make sure he would hold her back from changing.
''The demons as you call them, are dead, and you friends are safe..I saved them and you'' He said from the other roof a little bit louder to make sure she could hear him,

''They also ask me to keep care of you, I don't know how you feel about that, but seeing at how hollows desire you so badly I'd feel better if you stayed atleast for dinner.'' Something in Tatsu's voice sounded like he really wanted to get to know the girl, as if some unknown pain was given to him just from being alone.

''As for where you are, I brought you to my house, its in the middle of nowhere, and I've taken good care intp making sure nobody and nothing followed me here, so your safe, you can breathe'' Tatsu seemed protective, but of course that was his nature he couldn't fight it, it was just like him to help people in such danger.


''I won't lie to you, you are most likely in danger, and I've been asked by the people who were with you, to protect you and make sure you are able to defend yourself from ..demons when they come, I am strong but I might not be able to repel an attack that was launched against you on my own.''

A good five minutes had passed since the conversation had started and Tatsu headed towards the main room but before entering, he asked. ''Are you decent?''

It was a bit confusing to gather all at first. But when the information sunk in, she had some time to process while dressing. The clothes were a little big, but if given a trip out back home, or to any town, she could get ones that fit better. She looked at the sad state of her old clothes.

"Wish I had a bra." She muttered. "And some panties....and clothes that actually fit."

She remained there naked, now having laid out her options before her, and having also realized that the blanket was a coat as well. Most of the clothes were too big, but there were also a few odd things that weren't. She made her choices, chosing the small black leggings and the belt with the sandals. The leggings rode a little too close for comfort, but they would do at the moment, she slipped a large sock, too big for her own foot, into the leggings, reducing the uncomfortable fit to something a little less friction-filled. For a top, she grabbed the red coat and wore it wrapped tightly around herself. It was too big for her, and when wrapped, looked more like she was wearing a sleeveless kimono for herself than anything else much. She put the belt on the outside and tucked her weapons into it.

"Okay, decent." she called over to him. "Now, I have to say some things myself that I think need to be cleared up. The first is, thank you for looking after me. I have no idea what would have happened if you hadn't saved me from the demon. Second, I wasn't travelling with friends, so I'm not sure what you mean about that. Third, I hope you made a lot of food, I'm kind of starved."

She looked around again, a little more in depth of her surroundings and noted how the man was dressed and acted.

"You're one of those people who fights demons too then." she finally spoke up again after some small time of silence. "Could you....could you maybe teach me to become better?"

Tatsu chuckled at her responce about the clothing and merely told her. ''I was told that only the woman wearing them could buy them, so I decided to pass..'' Tatsu just knew that from experience and he didn't actually bother to keep the conversation heading that way, he was sure the lady had better things to do.

The red coat was old and worn, some holds here and there, but it was hiding what it had to hide. When Tatsu heard her reply about being decent he walked to the oven with haste, as if something was due ready a minute ago, and he removed the cauldron filled with water and mysterious substance from the oven and put it on the table making sure it was covered so she wouldn't know, it was his way of teasing people without them even knowing it. He moved back to the kitchen still listening to her, he knew she'd be hungry so he put the priorities in the right places.

A nice smile on his face, a sight to behold for alot of people, not many had actually seen a full fledge smile from Tatsu, he answered to her questions in order. ''Firstly, No problem its an honor to have you in my abode. Second: People were with you, but they tried to get you back to a company, they seemed to be on your side, but said it would give you a better fate if you followed me instead of them, and that the company would use you. And lastly, I hoped you were hungry, cause I made triple portions for you''

Tatsu put some bowls on the table that he had fetched from the kitchen and opened the cauldron that he had cooked rice enough for five people in it. The rice itself had cooked in a soup that had meatballs in it, all in all Tatsu was a great cook, he actually loved to cook. He gave her a triple serving and gave himself a normal serving, leaving some if she was still hungry. This was one of Tatsu's favorite meals and he hoped she would them. ''There's still some if you are still hungry afterwards.''

While he was serving their meal Tatsu was wondering if it would be a good idea to talk about her tattoo's and he decided why not. ''I couldn't help but notice the tattoo's you have, they're pretty, do they mean anything? Just curious, and as for helping you train, that was in my plans, but I have to make sure you are health'' Healed or not, a body can suffer stress and if agitated wounds he hadn't seen might re'open. ''And I'd have to know how you fight, I'm a swordsman.'' Its at that time that Tatsu actually looked at her in the eyes and notice she was wearing his coat, he hid his reaction but it was obvious something had struck him when he looked at her.

"Mmm..." Nira groaned lightly with a mouthful of food. "This is nice. It's so different from what I normally have, and yet the same. It's always curry at home."

She chuckled to herself. "I'm Indian, if you haven't figured from my skin. My father moved with my uncle and brother when my mother died. We've lived mostly in Sanagu, but I've seen some other parts of Japan too. My father tells me that all good Indian cuisine involves rice. He says that about Japanese Cuisine too."

"So..." She began quietly. But before she could bring her thoughts to the surface, he asked about her tattoos.

"They're nice, aren't they?" she agreed. "I got them when I was young. I was a real fan of Square Enix's works, so the nine on my back are from their most popular series, Final Fantasy. The symbol below that, which takes up most of the space of my back, is the chinese symbol of balance, the Yin-Yang. The one on my abdomen is the symbol born by my father, uncle, brother, grandfather, and many others going back through my family line. I'm not sure what it means exactly, but I wear it with pride. I was going to have some other tattoos, but never really got around to them."

She had some more of the food he had made her. and she wondered about how to answer. She could tell him that her skills were mostly in martial combat, that she was a thief, and that she had little to no actual real fighting skills. The fact that she carried her Kris and Dha, that didn't really mean she fought with a blade. It was more that she....she wasn't really sure how she fought. If she had to label herself, it was a martial fighter.

"I'm....I fight with my fists. But. I'm also gifted. I don't know how to explain it, but...I have powers like you, only I also don't." She paused and looked deeply into her bowl of food.

How would she explain it? She could transform her two swords into weapons that attached to her arms. From there, she could manipulate them at will to either sheath themselves or remain extended, if she touched them together, she could blow up stuff and create explosions. She had also once, but only once, unleashed a blast of air from her mouth that had surprised her and her brother. She hadn't even been using her powers at the time. It had sort of just happened.

Tatsu smiled as he saw she enjoyed the food and tilted his head when he heard the word curry, he never even heard that. He was a rice fanatic too. The samurai shrugged at the girl she asked him if he had noticed she was indian, in fact he hadn't even put a thought about why her skin was different.


She began talking about her Tattoo's and Tatsu smiled she seemed to admire them, the way she was describing them defined what kind of passionate person she was. He liked her character, it might even pull him out of his usual gloomy mood.

Tatsu kept on listening to what she had to say, then she talked about powers, maybe she could show him some of the abilities his new enemies had in store for him. ''When your up and in shape, you should show me you can do, and I'll see if I can make you better, I doubt you can kill demons with your bare hands though, you probably will need some kind of weapon to keep yourself alive, block energy attacks and such.

Tatsu couldn't really guess how to train her, he had to know how she fought, if she used different abilities than his, there were chances he couldn't even help her, but one thing was for sure, he had the ability to defend her and he would do so. The outcast started eating himself at a steady pace, he was quite hungry himself, considering he used his energy non stop for two days straight. ''So...I'm Tatsu Chirako, Might be a good idea to actually introduce ourselves right? I'll talk a tad about myself, and you should do the same, considering we will be living together it seems. I'm a shinigami, that's what we call, but I'm also an renegade, I decided to quit following a corrupted system. I failed something I swore my honor upon and I'm trying to regain it. Other than that I weild the sword as I weild life, you can count on me to never let you down.''

Tatsu said those words with an iron determination, it even seemed like he could put his life on the line without much second thought. Which he most likely would.

Though she didn't point it out to him, he seemed to be a bit...off about her wearing something, more likely his coat or perhaps that she reminded him of someone else. She listened to him while she ate some more, and when her bowl was empty, she pushed it away from herself and thanked him profusely.

"What's a Shinigami?" She asked. "I mean, I know it translates as a god of death, but is that really what you are? And why?"

The question was part of her confusion. She was so new to this whole world of stuff. Her lack of skills and knowledge made her sad. It also made her sad, when he said she would be living with him for a while. She wondered if she could go back and visit her family. But the thought was pushed out of her mind when she remembered she needed to train. When he had finished eating, she thanked him and asked him to join her outside.

"I'm going to reveal my powers to you now. I'm not exactly sure how you will take it. But if you have to know, this is it."

She drew her two weapons, her kris drawn in her right, and her dha drawn in her left. then she activated her Fullbring wordlessly. Sometimes, before activation, she would swear oaths, but not every occassion needed her to do so. bracers made of reishi formed over her arms and hands, a mixture of black and white, her blades transformed too, turning into Indian Katar-like devices attached to her wrists. A headband even formed over her forehead, also made of black and white reishi, though it had arms that curled back along and behind her ears where small horns poked out.

Transformation completed, she spun towards a tree and swung a blade into it, slicing clean through the bark and wood. She danced quickly around the tree and towards another one, taking a slice out of it, and the next one, and the one after that. Her movements were fast, sharp, and accurate. She made a double slash at one tree, cutting it once, then once again and jumping away to another small sapling. She crossed her blades together at the sapling and held them briefly before releasing, sending a wave of heat and light and energy from her blades towards the tree, eradicating it from existence and leaving a smoldering stump.

She pranced her way back to the Shinigami and paused, then sheathed her weapons inside of her bracers.

"It's not much, and with that last attack, I can pretty much blow stuff up, but it doesn't seem to be that effective against demons. I've never drawn my power out for anything more than my leisure skills and to fight demons."

Tatsu tried to act naturally, but that coat meant alot to him, so he decided to trust her with it...for now. ''Uhh, I'd have to say...we're swordsman who obey a Soul Society and hunt down demons, who we call hollows.'' Tatsu decided it was time to devote himself to this cause, he'd answer her any questions she needed to improve and defend herself for when he's not around. She already talked about releasing her powers, he had said multiple time's that he wanted her to wait to be in shape but woman did what they wanted to most of the time so he couldn't blame her for being like the others.

Tatsu looked at the demonstration of her weapons, it impressed him how a human could have powers, he of course didn't know how she could unlock them, but he could sure show her how to be a better swordsman..or swordswoman. The color of her blades impressed him they were admirable, a human weapon to fight hollows, impresseing. And in general she looked impressive, bandana, blades and all that Tatsu drew a small corner smile while looking at her swing her blades left and right at the tree's.

She was good, but those were not moving targets, thing's that couldn't defend themselves. That blast of heat was impressive, just by looking Tatsu understood that when the contact of both blades happen, energy began to build up within the weapons and she threw it in the direction of the enemy, a very useful energy projection ability that she might have to master completly before using to its full potential.

''It's more than most human's I'd have to say'' He said with a smile '' I think I'll be able to show you a few tricks and thing's to fight better'' Tatsu moved forward drawing out his zanpakuto and stood in front of her. ''Attack me with all you've got.'' The shinigami's glance was of stone and he seemed really onto the fact that he was asking her to actually attack him. The samurai hadn't shown her his skills with the blade but in this fight he would fight purely in defence, making sure not to harm the girl was the main idea in this.

"Why are the demons called Hollows?" Nira asked. She was confused. "What's a Soul Society? I'm....I'm not sure of what to make of it all. Perhaps. Perhaps you could tell me, while we, um, spar?"

She deactivated her Fullbring, and held her weapons in her hands before her. If she was going to fight, she planned on fighting him on equal terms. Her blades could cut through his sword with ease, most likely, and she didn't want to disarm him. She approached him casually, her guard down and her weapons turned backwards in her hands. When she was only a couple of feet from him, she brought herself into an offensive stance and pulled a left jab with her dha, but the attack was a feint for her quick thrust to his gut with the pommel of her kris, and a sharp right knee aimed for the same point as well. If that failed, she could always headbutt him right afterwards and follow up with an uppercut with the pommel of her dha to his chin.

Tatsu took attention to her question, and the answers seemed deep in his mind, he didn't quite know the exact answer a shinigami was suposed to give to a human that firstly was able to see them, and secondly was able to fight hollows, so he decided to go with the flow, one was never too sure.

''They're hollows mostly because they were human souls I guess, human souls who turned back in their life or people who didn't get saved by shinigami's on time. As for soul society, it's where...other shinigami's live its where the souls go when we give them the soul burial.

Tatsu was way experienced he had seen fights little people would even imagine, even considering fights against other shinigami's as experience. He looked at the girl approach him casual, he knew the sparr was on, he had to notice every moment she would do, making sure to help her improve. Taking his position of attack, 1 hand on his zanpakuto the other hand to his side, he took on position where his right side was in front and his left was behind. Tatsu evaded while using her as a central point moving to her left and deftly blocking the second blow with his spare hand, while attempting to catch her wrist. He expected her to continue her combo, he wanted her to and she did.

The knee blow launched successfully but the shinigami moved to the side once again redirecting the blow trying to out balance her into falling down, with this he wanted to make a point, wether it worked or not, he'd see in a minute. The headbutt took him by surprise, he'd never expect someone to use their brains in that way in a fight, and it connected, but quickly taking his senses back, he grabbed the pummel of the dha with his hand stopping his attack.

''You attack recklessly, although it did connect, I could've made a sandwich with all the pieces I would made out of you if this was a real fight, you need to focus more on defence, you actually need alot more skills coming in with defence than charging on with offence.''

With this the shinigami attacked, not too fast making sure she'd see the strike, he was aiming at her left shoulder. He expected her to block but with this he wanted to make a point, when the strike was finished, he half stepped out of the counter attack zone, and stepped back in with another attack, aimed to hit at her lower torso, of course if contact would be made, he wouldn't put any force behind his strikes, making sure not to harm the girl.

"Well, when fighting an opponent, I've been more interested in ending the fight quickly." she responded.

She dropped her shoulder to avoid the blow and sidestepped beside him, and made to punch with the pommel of her kris, but he had moved too, and her blow missed. He stepped in, aiming for a slap at her gut with the flat of his sword. She bent back and dropped her knees, landing on the soft ground in a kneeling position with her chest and head horizontal. Her left hand and the dha pushed on the ground to keep her steady, and her right hand and her kris came up for a blow behind the knees. She spoke again as she pushed off with her right hand, aiming to headbutt him in the crotch if he wasn't already down by her attack to his knees. If successful, she would trip him into the ground. Then she could crawl ontop of him and press the pommels of her weapons to his throat, signifying her idea of a check. If he tried to move, she'd reangle her kris to his gut, to signify checkmate.

"For what I do for a living, and don't look down on me for it, disabling the enemy before they know what's going on is the best. Of course, it's better to avoid the fight when possible."

She felt like explaining certain circumstances to him, so he could be aware of the liability she could pose, and to better teach him her skillsets.

Tatsu listened to her words carefully as she dodged the blow, but had already seen this counter attack and had dodged it, he was a skilled swordsman and he had his fair share of experience. He knew how to handle most opponents and even bladed ones were his specialty. He aimed his blow towards her chest as she awkwardly dodged and evaded his blow, this was new to him, he never expected someone to dodge in that manner. He quickly shunpo'd out of the way making sure that none of the follow up would catch him offguard with him leaving his guard open after seeing such a weird display.

The samurai listened to her new words listening as how she perfected the art of disabling the enemy before the fight started and he chuckled to himself. ''Some fight's aren't meant to start at all.'' The samurai moved in making sure she would hit him this time, he planned on taking her full strike to end this fight, he compressed his whole reitsu doing doing, making sure she wouldn't harm him too much. ''The first step to learn in a fight, is wether you can win without killing yourself'' He offered a smile and took a step back, hopefully still alive. 'Let's end it at that, I need a much needed rest, I've been up for a few days now.''




[OOC: You can finish the thread]