Warehouse #17

[jetxtreme]

From the slums of Kyoto in the east, this is the first building one would encounter upon entering the Foundry district. The warehouse seem to be a storage of processed rice grains waiting to be sold. Walls are all concrete 18m thick. Both inside and  outside are painted white with the outside wall a bit off white. There is a 1m wide concrete strip running around outside of the warehouse. The roof is made of steel without internal pillars supporting it but rather directly supported by the walls supporting column. The warehouse is built in a square manner with a floor area of 360sqm and is standing 16m in height.

[jetxtreme]

(Alright here I am.) Shinku finally arrived in the foundry district from the slums where the senkaimon gate lead him to.

(He did say a district of warehouses and factories...well...this is the one that best suits his description. Well I think it's too early for me to find him since I just talked to him earlier this day and he's still expecting me to do those ceremonies of farewell and letter writing which I don't think is necessary for me to do. Now what should I do while waiting for him?)

No one seem to be around the vicinity except a sleeping guard sitting beside the only door of the warehouse. Of course it is already late at night and no transaction seem to be happening at the current time.

He jumped up the roof of the warehouse which he seem to do easily in the world of the living now as a soul. He put his sackbag down beside him, laid on the roof and took a shallow rest.

[Setoku]

"Quite the trail you made, uniform less Shinigami."

The voice came from above, and behind the boy who laid atop the roof. It was familiar, yet twisted. As if coming through a voice distorter. If the boy were to flip over and look. He'd see the familiar Haori wearing shiloute of the boy he met earlier. Yet instead of dull violet irises peircing the darkness around him, he would see amber. How long had the boy been here? The moon already rested in the sky.

"Let us begin, and awaken your sickness, Shinigami."

The boys hand dropped to the hilt of his sword, which protruded from the left of his back. Clearly, he wore his Zanpakutou behind him, in the assassin style. Yet he seem to hesitate.

"Well, I am assuming you did not leave Azulana-Taicho a note, but you did leave your uniform. Azula-chan is slow, she may not comprehend you left, and set forth on some sort of rescue mission."

The boy stepped forward, and a distinct white mask, bearing semblance to a bird, covered his face. Who was this being?! His reiatsu would feel of Shinigami tainted by hollow. Behind the mask, Kurome smiled at his comment. If Azulana was so foolish, then so be it. After a moment, the boy shot forward, his hand gripping around the hilt of his katana and slowly drawing it as he closed in.

"Defend yourself, Shinku-chan!!! Training begins now!"

[jetxtreme]

Shinku was awakened by the sound of a familiar yet a bit distorted voice. Indeed it was the voice of Kurome, the boy he met earlier in the Sokyoku hill.

"Let us begin, and awaken your sickness, Shinigami."

Shinku quickly stood as the voice although a bit different is familiar, yet the feeling of the boy's presence seem to differ from before. This is a presence he seem not to have felt before in his life. He held the handle of his sword in preparation to defend himself for whatever will happen.

"Well, I am assuming you did not leave Azulana-Taicho a note..."

(That's Kurome alright...hmmm...how did he know I did not fulfill the letter writing task? Is he pissed by that?)

He fixed his stare forward still in his defensive stance as he witnessed the boy moving toward him. (A white mask? He's also wearing a mask? What for? Well of course he's a criminal...he must have worn that to get past the guards in Seireitei.)

"Defend yourself, Shinku-chan!!! Training begins now!"

Startled, Shinku quickly drew his sword carefully watching the boy's movement as the boy quickly lounged forward to attack Shinku.

(Left or right? Where will he strike?)

Kurome is slowly drawing his sword but Shinku can't seem to trust that movement as he has witnessed the speed Kurome showed when they first met. (He must be trying to fool me with that movement. I must remain on guard) He remained on guard not staring forward but listening to the boy's movement and being aware of everything around him.

[Setoku]

"Your eyes will deceive you, never trust them."

A small bit of advice as Kurome drew closer. His hand releasing the blade, letting it slide back into the sheath. If Shinku had taken his advice, he'd recognize the sound of the sword sliding back in.

"Never trust what you see, as I said. Trust your other senses. But never sight."

Kurome would still be closing in. With no weapon. But something was off about this. Kurome moved extremely fast, as the boy clearly observed. So why wasn't he closing the distance with his flash step? A voice would come from behind him, as the Kurome ahead of him flew in closer .

"Shihouin step. An assassins greatest Allie. It creates a near perfect image. Feel, touch. Yet not smell... Use your senses, find me, boy."

He had two choices, the slower moving attacker, or the one behind him. Which would he choose?

[jetxtreme]

"Never trust what you see..."

(Of course what I see couldn't be real. He wouldn't sheathe his sword in this situation.) He closed his eyes and carefully listened to every sound that surround him as what he has trained himself while always playing his shamisen making him more sensitive to sound.

He gripped his sword tighter creating a quick 180 degrees clockwise motion to block  a sword strike from behind.

[Setoku]

The swords clanged loudly together, sparks erupting between them. The image that was heading toward Shinku suddenly faded, a Haori floating down.

"You understand sound, that's good."

The voice was still distorted, the mask proudly prominate. Where the Haori rested was a Lt badge. From second squad. Who was this man, truly?

"Now we will test your other senses. Feeling. A good swordsman can feel a blade closing in, and easily block it."

And with that, the hollow feeling Shinigami was gone. A sound of rustling clothes echoed behind Shinku, as Kurome appeared behind him, swinging his sword down for a horizontal slash.

[jetxtreme]

"You understand sound, that's good."

(I can hear him right...but his speed...it is not something i can easily rival...and his power from before...I was barely able to stand my ground clashing swords with him.)

"Now we will test your other senses..."

By Kurome's speed this time it would be to hard for Shinku to clash with the blade in time and with a downward motion, Kurome's force will surely crush him hence instead of clashing with the blade, he chose to evade to the left. He then stooped down and quickly pivoted in a 360 degrees counter clockwise motion aiming to slice Kurome from behind.

[Setoku]

The sword came down, and Kurome was pulled forward due to the slash style. The boy had wisely evaded the attack, and chose a spot to attack Kurome. Kurome himself quickly used the motion his miss got him into to tuck forward, turning the pull into a roll.

"I do not understand why you need training, you got the basics down, and you think for yourself in battle, but let's take it up..."

Kurome didn't give the boy much time to respond, as soon as he finished speaking he spun around one eighty degree's, and kicked himself forward, bringing his sword up diagonally in a defensive and crude attack motion. An easy counter, even for him.

"He almost had me.... That last attack made me lose my footing a brief instant, let's see, though, if it was merely a fluke"

The thought rushed through his head, and his eyes widened slightly as he quickly shot toward the boy. Fluke or not, Kurome would make this boy into the very thing he wanted.

[jetxtreme]

Shinku this time had no time to think so he let his reflexes lead his body to hold his sword horizontally with the blade facing forward and his left hand assisting behind the tip of his sword to defend against Kurome's slash as he was pushed a bit forward by the attack's force.

(As I've thought if he take this seriously I won't be able to match up his speed nor his power)

"More! I need to learn more!". Added with Kurome's force, Shinku decided to leap backward in a position as if punched so hard in his stomach giving him a fair distance away from Kurome.

(At this rate I'd run out of energy even when this battle is just starting. I have to do something against that power and speed. No, I will endure it as long as I don't waste my strength countering his force. I must find a way to use his force against him.)

"Only in fighting I can really learn, my ideas come up when I am actually in the situation!". Shinku stood still in a defensive stance with his sword still in an upward diagonal position waiting for Kurome's next attack.

[Setoku]

"Your desire to learn, to avenge... It will serve you well."

The voice came not from Kurome, but from next to the boy. He was quick on the uptake, but his reflexes relied to much on strength, and not finesse. Kurome would fix this.

"You are an avenger, and my weapon. If... You survive."

The clicking sound of a katana leaving a sheath was heard, as the image before the boy faded. An after image? If the boy would rely on his instincts, he would notice Kurome on his left, swinging his sword back-handed for the boys exposed back of the neck. Clearly, the training was really beginning.

[jetxtreme]

Shinku hearing the sound of a striking katana quickly turned back and with both his hands holding his sword, he blocked Kurome's blade and then again, with the added force of the sword pushing him, he sprinted away from Kurome.

(Whew that was quite a gamble, but at least I blocked his sword in time. But is this all that I can do, to always distance myself from him to prevent another quick attack?)

The force this time is almost double than Kurome's previous strike that made him thrown twice farther than before and he barely landed safely. Had he not chosen to strike his sword on the roof's surface, he would have been thrown back a bit farther.

(Though I don't think I would be able to really match his speed when it comes to swinging the sword. Darn! I wish I could use something else against him. Well at least this would do in the meantime. No matter how fast he is, if he has to travel some distance to strike it'll give me some time to react rather than facing him head on.)

There are now words this time, as Shinku is so focused on the training Kurome is giving him. Sprinting away was never his style but given the current situation, perhaps it's the only choice he has. He never had an enemy like this before, one that made him really think thoroughly in battle though as serious he is, he might really be enjoying this fight.

(I must not always defend, somehow i must attack. Well as of now that can wait. I must first stay alive.)

[Setoku]

"You used the force of my attack to retreat. A wise strategy, but flawed in a sense due to me not teaching you this first."

With that Kurome was gone, appearing first where the boy landed from the attack, and then at random intervals, as if chasing him down.

"Look at my feet as I close in, Avenger. Notice the build up of spirit particles around my feet and ankles, follow it, do it yourself.... Quickly."

Quickly...? Simple, Kurome was closing in faster. Obviously, he was teaching the boy a crude method to speed up. Perhaps not as quick as Kurome just yet, but quick no less.

"Focuse them tightly around your ankles, and less on your feet. You must move faster. Or I will catch you... And this time... My blade will not be backhand."

As he spoke, he flipped the sword in his hand around, emphasizeing his point.

[jetxtreme]

"You used the force of my attack to retreat. A wise strategy, but flawed in a sense due to me not teaching you this first."

Shinku flinched as he hear Kurome's footsteps in different directions at very little intervals.

(This is insane! Am I really hearing his footsteps right? This sort of movement is impossible! No wait, if I'm not mistaken, this can by achieved by training Hohō)

"Look at my feet...Notice the build up of spirit particles around my feet and ankles, follow it, do it yourself.... Quickly."

Shinku looked as he seem to feel the energy building up around Kurome's feet.

(Indeed I was so focused on the sound of his movements I didn't notice how he actually uses such energy to move fast.)

Shinku is familiar with how spirit particles are used to boost up strength and speed in battle even to conjure certain spells as he sometimes sneak up in the academy but never actually tried once as he is more interested in Zanjutsu.

(If my memory serves me right, I need to gather spiritual particles like this. Now to concentrate them on my feet...)

"Focuse them tightly around your ankles, and less on your feet. You must move faster. Or I will catch you... And this time... My blade will not be backhand."

Shinku however, lost a bit in focus when he noticed Kurome getting closer and closer and even alerted when he saw the boy flipping his sword.

(Darn! He's meant to cut me now! Wait...I just need to focus!)

[Setoku]

Kurome pulled back his sword, the blade gleaming, before swinging it downward. The sound of it seperating the air particles as it drew closer was enough to fill anyone's ears with a looming since of regret. But it never happened, the blade stopped mere centimeters from the boys head, perhaps doing nothing more than splitting a few stray hairs. What...?

"Focus..."

Was about all Kurome had muttered. He was training the boy in a high level technique, and surprisingly he was picking up on it very quickly. Instead of panicking he tried to focus, which was good, Kurome wasn't done after all. The sword pulled back again.

"This is your final chance to survive, I think. So focus."

Kurome brought both hands to the hilt of his sword, and held the blade high over his head. If the boy couldn't manage to move with what Kurome was teaching him... Would he kill him...? Perhaps.

"Quickly... Or my sword will cleave you in two... Seeing as I can't stop a two-handed downward slash as easily as I stopped this last attack."

[jetxtreme]

"Focus..."

Shinku flinched at the sight of Kurome's blade centimeters away from his head.

"This is your final chance to survive, I think. So focus."

He felt fear as Kurome raises his sword intending to cut him in half. Yet instead of fleeing, he stood still and closed his eyes.

(I am dead anyway. If it is the end then be it.)

"Quickly... Or my sword will cleave you in two... Seeing as I can't stop a two-handed downward slash as easily as I stopped this last attack."

Shinku kept on mustering the some spirit particles and focus them around his ankles as Kurome's blade come down in lightning speed. And then a splash of blood.

[Setoku]

Kurome felt his heart rush as the mere centimeters felt like miles. As if time slowed so much to the point that the attack was taking decades, as if a cruel poision was injected into his veins. (Epic foreshadowing if the Mayuri and Syzaeal fight happened again >.>) Kurome's eyes widened as he watched his Katana easily split a stray hair into two. A splash of blood flew across his face, and his blade stopped.

"Bitter crimson tears flow from the never ending sands..."

Kurome spoke, yet his eyes were not focused on the place the boy stood.

"Bestowing greater power to the Hollow God. Truer words have rarely been spoke... Isn't that correct..."

Was he talking to himself? A question many would ask, as time seem to freeze around Kurome. Everything was happening on a level no mere mortal, let alone normal Shinigami could follow with their eyes. Was Shinku dead? Impacted with such speed and force his body instantly faded to ash? Or...

"Shinku-chan? Surely you feel it. The sickness... That is."

Who the hell was he talking too?! Kurome wasn't even looking at the spot where the boy stood.

[jetxtreme]

A few seconds late and he would've been dead. Shinku pants as blood flows from his right arm. Two arm lengths on the left of Kurome, that's where he now stands...or barely standing with his left hand covering the wound on his right arm.

*pant pant* (I can't believe I was able to move just in time. A few seconds and I would've been cut in half. But what can I do now? I'm still a bit dizzy and he's just two arm lengths away. That's as far as where the spirit particles I mustered took me. Well at least I'm alive)

"Bitter crimson tears flow from the never ending sands...Bestowing greater power to the Hollow God. Truer words have rarely been spoke... Isn't that correct..."

(What is he saying?)

Puzzled as he doesn't seem to understand the mystery from Kurome's words. Perhaps it's the pain from his wounds or the dizziness he feels or the words are just too deep for Shinku to comprehend.

"Shinku-chan? Surely you feel it. The sickness... That is."

(Good thing he's not yet attacking...he might though in a bit. Hope he does that once I compose myself up.)

Slowly Shinku was able to fully stand. He now removed his left hand from his wounds instead used it to support his right hand with the sword. He's now ready for another attack...or is barely ready. His wound still bleed he seem to ignore the pain.

(To be strong...I need to be strong...no...stronger)

He gripped his sword even tighter causing the blood flow from his arm to be even worse. But he seem not too care, it's like the feeling he has numbed the pain or is there a greater pain he feel inside that he doesn't feel his wound?

[Setoku]

"You feel it, don't you?"

A sword seem to drop against the boys shoulder, and the voice came from where Kurome was just standing, yet he wasn't there. The sword - Was not swung down nor in a position to cut the boys arm off, it just rested there, as if....

"Your blood flow is slowing, your heart isn't racing as much - The pain... it is almost... non-existent, yes?"

Again, Kurome's voice came from where he had been. The speed at which he moved, and the carelessness left in his voice, if Shinku was thinking of striking, now may be the perfect time.

"You want to be stronger, to understand this sickness... You'll need to be. Now attack, boy."

The sword resting against his shoulder slowly pulled away, and the sound of rustling fabric would echo in Shinku's ears, clearly, Kurome was moving. Yet if the boy would turn to look, he would only see Kurome's left hand opening, palm facing the boy.

"My time is to valuable to waste, after all."

(Got a message from Jet a few months back... So figured I'd post, see if he's still around :D)

[jetxtreme]

The panting stopped, as Shinku's grip with his sword got firmer. The sword that wounded his arm started to be pulled back. This situation is indeed very tempting to start an attack. Kurome's voice suggest that he's getting lenient.

'Tis a perfect time to make his move but Shinku seem to be waiting for something.

"You want to be stronger..."

To get stronger...yes that's what he longed for from the start. The time he saw his mother died with his very eyes. Not too long, Kurome's hand seem to be moving.

Could it be one of those Kidou moves he has seen on the training grounds of Seireitei?

(Now it's time...)

Quickly, he mustered his spirit particles on his feet and used it to quickly move behind Kurome half an arm's length away and a bit off to his left.

Not wasting a second, he turned in a clockwise direction attacking with a slashing move at Kurome's hips.

OOC: Yeah bud still around and interested in RP'ing with you

[Setoku]

"Yes... Indeed, you pick up fast..."

Kurome's hand dropped, and he spun his body around, moving with the boy. It was true, the boy, Shinku, was quite fast - It almost exerted Kurome to keep up - But he did. His sword angled downward, as Kurome rolled the hilt in his hand, barely catching the sword against his own, and re-guiding it away from his hip.

"Your speed is increasing, as is your patience in attack, I am most impressed.... Now...."

The hand shot up again, fingers splayed open wide, palm toward Shinku. Was it a kido move?

"Sleep."

There was no flash, no fancy light show. Just a nagging sensation at the back of Shinku's mind, urging him to rest his eyes, to simply... Lay down for a moment. Suggestion, really. Would the boy fall for it? Kurome couldn't be sure, but if he could bring out this boy's sickness... he could become a rather..... Powerful assist.

"Let all your worries and troubles go for only a moment..."

(OOC: It's sort of like how Shinji got Ichigo and brought it out, so if ,you wanna go that route, go for it, if not... Then brush it aside and come at me bruh! Lol. And yay, you know I loves the rping :P)

[jetxtreme]

As expected, this Kurome guy doesn't fall to a simple trick as that. He struck as hard as he can but the sword was effortlessly brushed aside evading his target.

'Uhggg'

The pain seem to visit him again but he can't heed to it's call. Now's the time to focus. He quickly slide his sword downward to the left to free himself of the struggle from colliding with Kurome's sword and was about to swing it upward when his opponent's hand quickly showed in front of him.

An open palm just inches away from his face. What now? Will his sword reach in time to prevent the attack, but at his pace, it sure won't.

He wanted to strafe to the right but alas, his body won't move. All he saw was a quick flash of light that in less than a second broke into darkness.

"Sleep"

Is it the end? Is this darkness, a void that led Shinku to his doom?

(OOC: A that part! Well if it's that then I'd be more excited to advance quickly rather than struggle a bit more.)

[Setoku]

The boy was moving for an attack, and just as fluidly, his body suddenly... went limp. Kurome merely smiled, lowering his hand, and bringing it out to catch the boy as the Darkness over-took him. It was a funny thing, how this all came to be.

"Let us begin... Boy. Either you'll hate me, or thank me."

Kurome hung on to the boys Kimono, slowly moving down to the ground itself. He had no more than five minutes to prepare, if he got lucky. The visions in the boys Zanpakutou realm were no doubt already becoming muddled, the host sword becoming the beast within. As Kuromes feet lightly touched the ground, he dragged the boy into the warehouse, before dropping him on the concrete.

"I lack the shielding the old Vaizards had... But I alone should be more than enough."

Kurome slowly drew his blade, watching as a strange white liquid begun to dance around the boys arm, making it's way to the center of his chest. Soon, the beast would awaken, and not only Kurome would be the one facing a challenge. Kurome's eyes averted from the boy momentarily, as he gazed up at a faded 17 imprinted above the steel door. After a moment, he stepped toward the door, and the massive chunk of metal slid shut. Locking him, and this transforming boy, in the abandon warehouse.

[jetxtreme]

He regained his consciousness, or it has been as if he was transported to another place by some trick of sort. He found himself standing in what seems to be a wasteland in front of a lady levitated a few inches in the air. The lady is wearing a white kimono tied with a red obi. Her face was so shiny that Shinku could barely see her face.

"Finally, you came to listen..."

Shinku was puzzled as he has not met the lady before.

"Who are you?"

The lady smiled and spoke in a gentle feminine manner. "I've been telling you my name ever since you found me, but you weren't listening. You shall know anyway but as of now, someone else needs to talk with you."

"Wait!" The lady suddenly vanished revealing the sight of yet another stranger standing a few meters in front of him.

"Ah so here's the poor boy who lost his parents! Boohoohoo!" The brightness of the sun prevents Shinku from clearly identifying the figure. He speaks in a voice, almost similar to a youthful madman.

Shinku kept silent trying to figure out the situation he is in.

(OOC: Sorry got busy with some stuff. But here again, alive and kickin' :p)

[Setoku]

Shinku's body suddenly reared up, rising to his feet. The white liquid now splashing over his body, transforming him. Slowly, in a Hollow. A hole appeared in the boy, right below his neck, on his Solar Plex, and from it, more liquid contuined to pour out. As if it made up his insides. Kurome frowned, slowly drawing his blade. He flipped it over in his hands, grasping tightly. Shinku's head reared back, as the liquid begun to cover it, and a massive roar he let out caused many of the already cracked and aged windows to shatter.

"Greetings.... Hollow. I am Former Captain Kurome Izanagai Shinamori. And I will be your guide."

And with that Kurome shot forward, sword extended, into to stab the beast into something to hold him in place, and make this whole trip easier.

(OOC: Hey, it happens. Happens to me alot xD And Question.... You want me to RP as the Hollow in you so you can fight on two fronts? Or you got this?)

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