Shadow Supremacy (Part 2)

It was early morning, the past few days had been troubled for Shikuro, trouble sleeping first off due to the return of his captain and the continuing lack of having spoken about it all, secondly his dreams had been terrorized with cries and yearning for something. Now e had tried to keep it down though he knew he would have to deal with one of the things at one point. But he believed his dreams where first, as he would need to be rested to face Kaiyo as it was. So this day, he had gotten up early, so early that most of the division was still asleep, even Kaiyo he packed up the necessary things and went to Kaiyo's office left a note stating that he would take a leave of absence, not mentioning and then left. Heading out to the outer rim of the Rukongai further than the streets, out to where it was no man’s land, he sought out a spot he had found way back in the past, back when he haven't even joined the academy. It was a big area; grassy yet filled with large rocks and hills, so at any time a day he could always find a shade to relax in. It made him feel at ease, he took a deep breath and found a nice spot put down his stuff and started to meditate.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and let the peace seep over him, and soon the reality of the world disappeared. Next he opened his eyes he was inside himself, so to speak and stood up again slowly taking a stroll having trouble seeing the fond owner of this home. “Hikage..?” He ventured up the large tall building as he had before to his comfort he found who he was looking for. “How come I never start here..?” Hikage was completely silent, not saying a word, which made Shikuro worry, uncertain if he had done something wrong by Hikage’s strict philosophy or something. Finally Hikage stood up turning towards Shikuro; he seemed menacing, more than he was usually for some reason. “So you finally answer my calling… I believe it’s time for me to visit your world as you have visited mine…” Shikuro’s eyes widened as he might not be the brightest but he knew what this meant, it was time to finally reach that next leap. Hikage continued with a short smile. “But first… what is a shadow?” Shikuro flinched not certain if he had heard this before, perhaps a distant dream or something, but as far as he recalls it didn’t end well last time. “A shadow is imitation of us… And it’s my potential” Hikage seemed pleased and then went over placing his hand on Shikuro’s chest, and with a burst of chest pressure he was forced out of this world waking up, to his realization that he haven’t gotten out here alone, he quickly got up on his feet.

Shikuro huffed feeling like some of his powers had been stripped off him, a thing he had predicted though the link between him and Hikage was still there, when he weren’t actually inside of him, the power he could draw would be a lot weaker. He got ready for what was to come, Hikage on the other hand was much more relaxed, as if he weren’t even planning on fighting. “So this is the place you feel safe… was expecting the barracks but this surprises me…” Shikuro flinched, raising an eyebrow. “Why..?” Hikage quickly returned with the answer. “Since you usually feel best when there… of course this place is the best place if you want to be in private I see… so you expected this to be the turn out I am impressed…” Shikuro had a sudden feeling of pride, though it was only short since if he really had suspected this he would have prepared for it. Hikage held out a hand, as soon Shikuro’s shadow left him and reformed where Hikage was holding his hand, into a replication of Shikuro. One he had faced before.

“I believe you have met before… you know what to do…” Hikage’s cold voice was certainly having the same evil Shikuro couldn’t bring himself to think about it for long, as the shadow of himself was charging at him sword drawn, he only barely managed to draw his own blocking the blow. He would need to start moving, this time he wasn’t going to end at the end of the tip; he was going to beat him this time, of course that would be difficult. He started to move, believing it was him taking the defensive that brought him to his knees, though he soon found out the shadow weren’t going rest his assaults using a very aggressive manner of simply striking back. He moved around him, their blades continuing to clash, sparks dancing around them both, like fireworks new year’s eve. A Magnificent sight to see, no one was going to see, as he was out here in this desolate place.

The sounds of sword clashing went through the place the next couple of days, as Shikuro kept fending off the shadow of himself barely, Hikage simply meditating while he did, luckily Shikuro had packed some food for the days, as he wouldn’t want to run empty on energy, eating was a big part of beating this silly challenge. Well as silly as he believed it be, it was still insanely hard for him, though his reaction time increased rapidly over the days, of course this training was all done while he was without power, his power had resides within that shadow that was fighting him, so he was to beat his very own shikai without having it himself. Not a feat easily achieved, as the possibility of actually making a hit was near zero, while the odds of him getting hit were close to 80%. Day one Shikuro had almost overcome the challenge having brought the shadow to submission, though the victory was short as the shadow then released the shikai, sustaining the fight for two days. Now Shikuro was dashing around him, letting his blade glide over the shadows, then blades in the end he had to think fast as the shadow grabbed hold of his blade with the claw. Shikuro quickly made a jump planting a kick on the shadows face, retrieving his blade again, making safe distance with a jump.

At the end of day three Shikuro was beat up, sitting down in the comfort of the shadow letting its power heal the minor scratches he had got, then a sudden curiosity swept over him, as he now had the person who could answer him. “Hikage… why do shadows heal me… empower me..?” Hikage opened his cold eyes and looked over to him. “They don’t… they want to help me… but they can only do that by helping you” Shikuro raised an eyebrow, and left the topic as it was. Not wanting to pry further into it, and then he went to sleep.

The next day began early, though Shikuro seemed to have figured out how the shadow worked he could see his own moves inside of it, as he could easily remember his past battles, at least those worth mentioning, those where he was pushed to the limits. And with that in the back of his head, he got ready dashing straight forward. Moving behind the shadow knowing that his tendrils would come for him, though before they could reach him, he’d be on the move again, this time from the front. First sending a blow down against the claw, smiting it away. The next blow was against the arm guard, rending the arm of the shadows sword useless as Shikuro locked the blade within blade, twisting the shadows arm. After that Shikuro pushed forward, letting the blade safely stab right into the chest of the replica.

The shadow dispersed, splitting into two, one part to Shikuro resuming its position as his shadow the other to Hikage. Who simply got up from his meditation, looking over upon Shikuro, seeming even more menacing than he had before this day. Shikuro on the other hand was out of breath, taking his time fully realizing that he had finally passed the trail. Though he feared it wasn’t over, as it would seem he was right, yet Hikage haven’t drawn his blade, and so he sheathed his own blade walking over to the man.

The silence was intense, as Hikage looked him over as if he was studying him. “We’re not going to fight are we..?” Hikage simply shakes his head, crossing his arms. “No my test lies in philosophy over might… you have passed what might I want of you” Shikuro wasn’t sure whether he should feel proud, or scared. He wasn’t that strong in his mind, as he was in body. Though in the end he would nod, and accept the last challenge sitting down. “Why do shadows imitate others?” The question spun around inside of him, and before long he was about to answer, though Hikage quickly cut him off. “This is not something we have discussed before… you need to find the answers within…” Shikuro quickly took back his want to answer, as the question twist and turned within him, thinking about every possible answer, in the end he found that only one could be the right one. “Cause they want to be the same os the colorful once” He shakes his head slightly, uncertain where he had gotten that from.

Hikage on the other hand nodded, following the next question “With that in mind, what are shadows then..?” Hikage kept a close watch of Shikuro, taking in every movement of his body. This question on the other hand, didn’t take nearly as long, because when he heard the question he actually made the realization himself. “They are living beings?!” He looked shocked as much as he looked like he was in shame.

Hikage rose up from his seat and walked a bit away back facing Shikuro. “Now who do you think I am..?” Shikuro slowly rose up from the ground, taking it in for a few moments. “Who were you, you mean..?” Hikage simply answered with a nod, while Shikuro took in all he had found out today, his eyes widening as he got to the only answer he could think of, the only thing that would make sense due to all what he had found out. “You’re some sort of protector… or leader… of shadows, were that is..?” Hikage took a deep breath as the answer was correct somewhat not and the same time it was the exact right one. Of course Shikuro couldn’t have figured out the exact answer, as he didn’t have the whole story, yet.

Hikage sighed deeply, as the sun moved over him in a comforting feeling, Shikuro not even noticing how the shadows started to gather around Hikage, creeping up to him. “So Shikuro will you take up my charge… become the protagonist of shadows..?” The words where roaming around, he sword he heard the said word protagonist several times like hundreds of whispers crept over it. He gulped down this wasn’t exactly a hard choice to make; it was just hard to actually answer it.

Finally Shikuro nodded “I…” He stuttered for a second nodding again to pull himself through the answer. “I will… it would be my honor” Hikage nodded again, finally feeling free to exposing his lie, the one thing he had kept back this whole time. “Then know my name…” He took a step to the side, turning to face Shikuro, who instantly got blinded by the sun, closing his eyes. He opened them again at the feeling of something soft brushing over his cheek, to his surprise it was a black feather. His eyes quickly returned to Hikage who now had long black wings, bashing once letting the wind sweep over Shikuro “Hikage Tenshi!” Shikuro could feel the power within the name, turning the name around in his mouth, taking a liking to it, though who would have believe Hikage to have been an angel?

Hikage took a deep breath, and held up his hand. “But if you’re going to take the role that body won’t do…” so Hikage molded his appearance removing him of his cursed scars, his hair was changed into the likes of Hikage’s past it turned black instead of the dark green. Mostly all of Shikuro changed except his eyes, those remained the same. “Much better…” Hikage sighed; the first thing Shikuro noticed was the scar. He let his hand trail over the place it used to be, unable to feel it made him feel at ease. Hikage then just smiled as slowly walked towards Shikuro, as if he was going to walk straight past him, though as they were just about to bump into each other Hikage was absorbed by Shikuro. With that done, Shikuro took a long awaited rest, before heading back home.