The Forthcoming Storm (solo)

Sweat dripped down off Kuro's face as he trained out in the wasteland of the Rukongai for yet another day of self training. Hit by one of his drives to improve his strength, he'd come out away from the Seireitei on this nice and shady day with the sky full of cloud cover to help keep him cool while he worked his body. He'd started with over an hour of running and moved on to shadow fighting. After a quick break, training had resumed with zanpakuto practice. The dry floor of the land was shattered to pieces as Kuro's power was used on it repeatedly. Kuro sat down to catch his breath and laid down on his back, staring up at the sky. Things were starting to return to normal. Work was coming under control and there hadn't been much trouble brought to his attention back at the Seireitei. It was nice, but at the same time it brought an annoying nagging feeling to Kuro's mind. Times of peace were good. But they were annoying. Nothing to do everyday but paperwork and training. He knew he shouldn't feel like this, but Kuro found himself wishing that something more exciting would happen. Nevertheless, regardless of those feelings, he was mostly content with the way things were at the moment. Plenty of time to spend with those who were important to him. May as well enjoy it while he could.

Kuro heaved himself off the ground, jumped back to his feet and prepared to return. He reacted as he sensed a spike of reiatsu nearby. He leaped to the side as an arcing blast of lightning impacted the ground where he'd stood just moments ago. Landing with his fists at the ready, Kuro stared across the space in the direction the hado had come from. As the dust from the missed spell began to clear, he saw a man coming his way. A man with dark green eyes and long hair that was colored in a silvery blonde and tied in a pony tail in the back. But he was definitely a shinigami, complete with a shihakusho. Kuro noticed that he had no division insignia on his person. He spoke in an authoritative tone to take charge. "It's a crime to attack a captain of the Gotei without prior warning. What division are you with and what is your seat?" The man stopped his advance to stand about twenty feet from Kuro. His gaze was intense, but he still pulled off a carefree smirk that showed his lack of concern for Kuro's claim of the laws.

"A captain eh?" He spoke with a voice of confidence and carelessness. "Such rules don't mean anything to me or my companions. I was actually disappointed being the one to carry out this assignment. But with a captain as the opponent, I might be able to have some fun."

"What are you talking about?" Kuro asked in sincere confusion, lost to the current situation. Nothing this man was saying made sense for a shinigami to say. He was answered with a light chuckle.

"No need to worry about that captain. It's likely you'll be dead after we're done."

The mysterious man let loose his reiatsu to blanket the surrounding area in a crushing blanket of force. Kuro was surprised by the level of strength he felt in the pressure. It was easily of the level of a Gotei captain. But it wasn't quite as strong as his own. Not intimidated by this stranger, Kuro released his own power. The two reiatsus clashed and added to the rumbling of the ground, sounding a roar over the wasteland like a thunderclap. The man's hand drew close to his sheathed zanpakuto on his waist while Kuro's inched into his robes to clutch his own. The moment seemed to stretch on for several minutes as they both stared each other down. Neither one wanted to make the first move while being unaware of the other's skill level. Emboldened by the man's lower power level, Kuro was the one to break the face-off and dart in over the distance separating them. His opponent seemed surprised by his raw speed, reacting only just fast enough to block Kuro's strike as he slashed horizontally at his mid level. The following thrust from Kuro's right palm was both unexpected and unavoidable at the speed it struck. Kuro's enemy took the blow to the face and was blown back from where he stood. Kuro stood where he'd made contact and waited for him to get back up off the ground. "I'm the captain of the Gotei 13's second division, specialized in close combat. Don't take us lightly, or you'll be in for a world of pain."

The battle had only just begun, but Kuro had already scored a very good hit. The surprise was obvious on the other man's face. But he showed amazing self control as he got back up and dusted himself off. His face returned to the carefree and enjoyable appearance he'd displayed before they started. Kuro had to admit that the laid back air of confidence this man maintained was a bit unnerving. But he still had the advantage of strength. He'd just have to take things slow and try to not fall into any traps. His chain of thought was interrupted by the other's voice.

"Close combat specialist huh? Guess I'll have to keep my distance."

"Don't say it like it's so easy." Kuro replied. "I'm sure we both know that I'm faster than you."

"Maybe so. But speed alone doesn't determine who's actually faster Captain."

Kuro ended the discussion by charging in again, leading with the same attack as before to see how his foe would react this time. As expected, he leaped back with shunpo to keep distance as Kuro advanced. But the speed of his shunpo was pathetic compared to Kuro's speed. Kuro easily began to catch up and was ready to strike again. But as he came in range, the enemy raised his hand opposite of his sword arm and waved with a sharp, zigzagging motion in the air. The path of his motion left a slight trail of glowing energy in its wake as he spoke with a sharp tone, almost like an order. "Ten no Yari!" Kuro was forced to dive low to the ground as a large bolt of lightning shot out of the man's hand at his chest. With his reaction, Kuro managed to avoid a fatal blow, but the blast had severely burned his left shoulder. Even only being grazed by the attack had produced such a result. Kuro's troubles didn't stop there. With his lure and counter having worked, the enemy had halted his retreat and was now swinging his blade at Kuro's neck. Kuro quickly rolled away from the swing and lashed out with his feet to sweep the man's legs out from under him. While he was down from the attack, Kuro regained his footing and took his distance. Whatever that attack was, it was no kido. Kuro had never run into a shinigami using such tactics before. He tried to think of what to do next as his opponent leered across the space as if daring him to dart in like he had before.

The pause was more than slightly unsettling. Both combatants refused to take their eyes off of each other because they knew that one relaxed moment could mean their end. The already cloudy sky slowly grew even darker as the light breeze began to kick up and sweep across the Rukongai with an increasing gust of of wind. A quiet boom suddenly sounded from the distance, signaling the approach of a storm. As the first cool, wet drops of rain began to fall down in a random peppering pattern on the dry dusty ground, Kuro and the enemy both simultaneously ended their standoff and charged each other again.

Kuro was more cautious this time, not ready to put himself too close to the enemy and fall prey to that lightning spell again. Watching his enemy's hand closely, he charged in as he swung his blade, clashing with the foe's blade. The two of them stood squared off in the center of their space repeatedly striking at each other while the weather around them grew more and more fierce. Neither one could gain the upper hand now, both of them held back by their gained knowledge of the other's talents. As Kuro swung a low rising cut to the man's side, he was parried and forced to shift to the side as the same spell from before thundered at him from close range. He still had no idea what the thing was, but it seemed much more powerful than a simple byakurai kido. But from his new position, Kuro found the opportunity to strike. Scooting back with his sword arm raised and swinging, Kuro watched as the enemy brought up his blade to block him. Just before their weapons met, Kuro silently released his zanpakuto into its shikai. His blade was gone and allowed his fist to bypass the enemy's outstretched hand and land a large hit on his face. Kuro had no time to charge up power in his gauntlet, but his own strength was enough to send his foe flying to the ground as the strike connected.

Any trace of joy was gone from the enemy's face as he picked himself back up. Quickly slashing in Kuro's direction to hold him back as he moved in to follow up on his hit, he stopped the fight once more before holding up his own zanpakuto. There was no doubt that the light of battle was all that was shining in his eyes now as he focused his power, glowing with a pale yellow light. "Roar from the heavens, Rakuraibō!" The curved japanese blade shifted it's appearance as though it was made of liquid metal. In an instant, the blade was replaced by what looked like a fencing foil. But the cylindrical "blade" of the sword was much thicker than a normal foil. Past the half sphere shaped guard, the weapon looked like a thick metal rod. The transformation done, the enemy resumed his stance and the standoff from before began once more as they prepared to fight again.

Kuro was the one who broke the pause, rushing in with his arm poised to attack. He ducked as the opponent's thick rod zanpakuto was swung at him and swept underneath to take out his legs. Kuro didn't stop in his assault afterwards. Finally drawn into the battle, he was letting himself relax more and not worrying so much about his opponent's well being like he normally did in a fight. He was fighting with real intent to injure and kill now. Having been tripped by Kuro's sweep, his opponent could do nothing fast enough to match the furious flurry of blows that Kuro rained down on his fallen body. Every blow hurt, but the ones from Kuro's zanpakuto clad left hand hurt much worse as he was sending a constant flow of spirit power into his hand and releasing it through his gauntlet, increasing his physical strength. Kuro jumped up and dodged a last ditch effort by the man to swing his weapon at Kuro's leg and bring an end to the punishment. His failure only resulted in more pain as Kuro came back down with a massive blow with his left palm that slammed the man into the ground with his monstrous strength, causing a crater to form beneath them. Kuro stood up and took a step back to watch his foe while he caught his breath.

No movement was seen from the man on the ground. Kuro was sure that he'd been knocked out by the shock brought on by his last blow's pain. He wasn't sure what to do with him now. The best answer he could think of would be to restrain him and take him back to the squad grounds for questioning. But that would make for some explaining when he got back. Plus there was the thing about getting back. An unknown shinigami with strength close to that of a captain. That was going to be scrutinized for sure by those in the Seireitei. Kuro was just lucky that he didn't have to report the man using bankai or anything like that. He'd be sure to be disbelieved if he made that claim in his report. As these thoughts went through his head, a large ball of fire caught his attention heading right at him. He jumped out of the way, landing a fair distance from his fallen enemy. Looking back to make sure the man hadn't been caught in the blast by the fire, he scowled in disbelief. Right where he'd been standing before were three new souls. They also wore shihakusho, indicating that they were likely shinigami. But in addition to those, they also wore hoods to hide their features. One was looking at Kuro to monitor his movement while the other two were crouching down to help the defeated man to his feet. A groan from him alerted Kuro that he was conscious now. Wearily looking up from between the other two, he managed a cocky smile in Kuro's direction.

"Though you're not dead as I'd expected captain, today was more that enough of an introduction. We'll be seeing more of you soon enough."

Kuro started forward to prevent them from taking the man away, but was suddenly blinded by a brilliant flash of light that shone from the man's hand which he'd raised while talking. When the light had faded, the four of them were gone. Kuro cursed aloud, furious that he'd let them escape. It seemed that soul society might have a new enemy in its midst.