Oh, but for the taste of a Shinigami's blood

Sekkou exited the garganta eagerly but cautiously. His nighttime excursions were always eagerly looked forward to- after all, there were so many Pluses about that every night was a feast. He sniffed the air for the scent of a Plus. To his surprise, there was not one near…but there was something else. Something he could sense above him. Sekkou looked up. There was a woman in a black kimono standing on a building above him. She wore a katana. Shinigami.

Sekkou chuckled to himself. She looked young. She looked inexperienced. Perfect. He moved into the shadow the building cast and began scaling the building. Upon reaching the top, Sekkou jumped and landed softly about seven meters behind her. He crept up behind her without a sound- then he ducked down low and grabbed her katana’s hilt and yanked, sending it flying through the air. She screamed. It was…delicious. The feel of the warm flesh of her neck between his jaws, the crackle of bone…the oh so sweet taste of her blood and soul. He gorged himself on her. And then he heard a male’s shout.

“Hey, Hanako, was that you?” The voice drew closer. Sekkou growled a little involuntarily, and then slipped over the edge of the building to hang there in wait. He eagerly wanted the taste of more Shinigami. A male Shinigami appeared on the roof; he looked somewhat winded. “Hanako?” he looked around…and saw the blood and gore. “Hanako!” He ran to the pool of blood. “Hanako!”

Stupid Shinigami…thought Sekkou as he heaved himself up and leaped at his next victim. Perhaps he had made a noise, or perhaps the man had some sort of prickling feeling down his neck; regardless, he turned just in time to draw his katana and block Sekkou’s preliminary strike with his sword. Sekkou hissed in frustration, and then tried to knock the man’s legs out from under him with a sweep of his tail. The Shinigami jumped and aimed a vertical slash at Sekkou’s right arm. Sekkou dodged to his left and aimed a swipe at the man’s right side.

His dagger-like claws ripped through the man’s robes and cut five deep gashes in his side. The man cried in pain but remained conscious. He charged at Sekkou again, this time aiming a horizontal slash at Sekkou’s left leg. Sekkou mimicked the Shinigami’s previous move and jumped, and then brought his tail down hard upon the man’s head. Stunned, the man moved dazedly back. That mistake was fatal.

Sekkou wrapped his tail around the man’s neck and began to choke him, lifting him up into the air as he did so. The man instinctively tried to grab at his neck- failing to do so, he tried to chop at Sekkou’s tail. Too late. Sekkou grabbed his sword arm and twisted- the man dropped his katana. Sekkou brought the man close to his face. He breathed into the man’s face- strangely, though it was not cold, Sekkou’s breath looked a little like cigarette smoke. “Time to die…” He lifted the man a little higher so his chest was level with Sekkou’s face. Then Sekkou lunged forward and tore the man’s ribcage off. The Shinigami’s scream would have given a child nightmares for years. Sekkou feasted on the man’s organs while he lived, while his blood still ran hot through his veins. As he finished “absorbing” the soul, Sekkou let the remaining blood drip from his jaws and puddle at his feet. Tonight had been fruitful. Tomorrow…would be more so. He grabbed the Shinigami robes from the pools of blood and took them with him. They might prove useful later.

ooc: i can see why xav likes being a hollow. being gruesome is fun i'm just getting started hehehe

+1.5 fighting skill and a little disturbing

As the Garganta slammed shut behind him, Sekkou faced his newfound…friends. Sogekihei, Sukauto, Kougakusha, and Bakuhatsu. They were so far only slightly above average in power compared to the average Hollow- but they all possessed something that made them far more dangerous than the average Hollow. They possessed intelligence. And tonight…hunger. “All right- we all know we need to devour souls to get stronger! We will separate tonight and feast. Go.”

Without waiting for a response, Sekkou leaped away. His sharp hearing caught the sound of his allies moving away in different directions- likely to avoid any argument as to who would eat what soul, and so on and so forth. Sekkou felt around for the presence of a Plus, or better yet, a patrolling Shinigami. A small blip appeared on his metaphorical radar. He hurried off in that direction, keeping to the shadows so he would not waste his camouflage abilities. As he rounded the corner, he spotted his prey. A female Shinigami with dark hair and her Zanpakuto held out at the ready, and very tensely as well. She was…inexperienced. Sekkou chuckled, and then strafed left so he could sneak up behind her.

As he neared her, he raised a single clawed hand to kill her with. And unluckily for him, she turned as he was about to stab down on her back. Instead, his clawed hand only cut deeply into her right shoulder. She yelled in pain, but somehow managed to use her right hand and bring her katana up so it cut a slim gash up Sekkou’s side. He hissed at her and jumped back, eyeing her warily. She gave a battle cry and then leaped at him, swinging her katana down at his left shoulder. Sekkou sidestepped and aimed a blow at her back as she went by, sending her tumbling to the ground.

“If that is all they teach Shinigami so they may enter the Real World, then Soul Society is comprised of idiots!” Sekkou said as he attacked her, this time sending a Bala directly at her. She met it with the point of her katana- after the smoke cleared it looked like she had blocked it, though it had pushed her back several feet.

“That’s…a really weak Bala,” she said. “You’re not very strong, are you? That’s why you tried to sneak up on me?”

Sekkou growled. She would pay dearly for that comment. “Decide if I’m strong or not…when I devour your still beating heart!” He lunged at her and feinted with his right hand. Her sword came up to block- and met air. Instead, he had pulled back and lashed out with his left, catching her a significant blow to the stomach. She fell back, winded, but rallied and charged at him. Sekkou blew a cloud of smoke at her from his mouth. She coughed and stumbled, and then made the fatal error of flailing her arms (and sword) to get the smoke away from her.

Sekkou grabbed her from behind, putting her in a full Nelson. He broke her right arm by flexing his own against hers- at the awkward angle, it snapped easily under his strength and she dropped her sword. “Not strong? You’re dead!” His hand grasped her chest and pulled, ripping off flesh and some bone to reveal her beating heart. She screamed. Sekkou turned her around and then placed his mask against the free flowing wound, his mouth encircling the heart. “Die…” His jaws closed and consumed the heart. The taste of her blood and heart inflamed his senses- he seemed to go insane and began chewing, ripping, tearing at her body until he was covered in gore. He felt new strength fill his limbs. Hopefully, his allies were doing just as well.

+2 fighting skill

Sekkou stepped out of the Garganta, alone this time. He fell down and landed relatively softly on the roof of a tall skyscraper. Sekkou reached out and began probing to see if there were any significant reiatsus nearby. So far he sensed nothing but average Pluses, so he shrugged his shoulders and got to work. An hour later, he had consumed at least ten average Pluses. He felt good about this particular night’s catch, but of course, his insatiable hunger drove him to try for more.

Sekkou was about to run towards the next Plus presence he felt when he felt the reiatsu of something far more interesting- a Shinigami. Sekkou immediately reversed direction and headed for this presence. After climbing up a skyscraper and jumping between the roofs of several others, he saw his target. A man that stood about 6’3” and had his Zanpakuto out and at the ready. Sekkou leaped and brought one of his deadly claws down to slice the man into shreds.

Surprisingly, the man was able to bring his sword up and swat Sekkou’s claw away. “Only a coward attacks with an ambush!” he declared sanctimoniously. “A Hollow wouldn’t understand, but I, as a member of 11th Squad, will attempt to show you anyway!” He rushed at Sekkou and slashed at him with a vertical swing. Sekkou danced back and retaliated with a quick swipe from his left claw. The Shinigami took the hit (which resulted in five long cuts down his shoulder), but used the closeness to slash at Sekkou again, this time succeeding and cutting a slim line down Sekkou’s right side.

Sekkou growled and lashed out with his right claw; the Shinigami blocked it deftly and attacked himself. Sekkou feinted at the Shinigami with his left claw, swiped with his right, and then ducked and swung his tail around to try to trip the Shinigami up. As the Shinigami jumped to dodge the swinging tail, Sekkou drove his head into the man’s gut, sending him flying back.

Sekkou followed up with a quick Bala, and then ran in for a flanking maneuver, using the resulting smoke from the Bala to cover his movement. As soon as he saw the smoke disturbed as if by a moving solid object, he jumped at it and essentially rugby tackled the Shinigami, who was too bewildered to react. The pair of them rolled until Sekkou came out on top; he used each of his four limbs to pin down the Shinigami’s limbs. Then Sekkou brought his tail over the Shinigami’s chest to rest it on his face.

“You’re going to die…” Sekkou shoved his tail down the Shinigami’s mouth and literally ripped out his windpipe. “Drown in your own blood…” Sekkou said cruelly. Then he grasped the man and held him up over his mouth. He laughed as he bit him in half at the waist and devoured each leg. The Shinigami could only make gurgling noises as he screamed inwardly. Sekkou ended the pathetic noise by shoving the rest of the Shinigami into his mouth and joining that Shinigami’s reiatsu with his own.

+1.5 to fighting skill