Lost and alone

~Seven Years ago~

Kenshi walked slowly through the streets of Cairo, his clothes were tattered rags and the only item he had on him was a wind-scorned guitar that was missing two strings. His unwashed hair lay matted on his head its purple color hidden beneath a layer of dust and grime. His eyes wavered as he stumbled forward fighting to keep clarity, how long had it been. He couldn’t remember, he was a spirit a vague shadow of the shinigami he once was. Two years had past since his arrival on earth, they had been tough his only friend and mentor had died, shortly after telling him he now had a hollow within him and soul society, the only home he had ever known, would hunt him for the rest of his life. Another staggered step, still he had survived even made a friend… Rathe had killed him. Every night, every day Rathe was there watching waiting, wishing to end it all. So he had begun to wander in the vast empty dessert Rathe would come destroy some sand dunes and then return control to Kenshi. Still every time it happened he awoke more fatigued, now hunger and dehydration had set in.

The lights of Cairo had become like a beacon to him, yet now he was here and still as lost as ever. Something stirred within him, an empty feeling devoid of happiness or hope, Rathe was awake, still the hollow within did not take over; between the two of them there wasn’t enough energy to sustain his mask. A darkness blurred along the edges of his vision as he managed another step, invisible to most humans he had no gigai. A thought ran through his head, ‘who was he again?’ The name Kenshi floated through his mind but that was someone else, Kenshi had been strong; he was weak. Kenshi had been good; he was a monster. The darkness appeared again this time claiming all but the slightest of lights from his eyes, it would seem hunger, heat, and exhaustion had finally won. On the outskirts of Cairo he tumbled, falling to the ground as the darkness embraced him.

((OOC: lol remember, its a whole lot easier for humans to see spiritual beings xD))

A young man was venturing the streets of Cairo. His white skin and blonde hair seemed to stick him out, his face more youthful then it will be in the following years. He wore a tank top and baggy low shorts, eyes deep blue as if the sea was held in his sight. He had a small sling over his shoulder. It was his second day with no water and going on number five with little food. But he still stood strong against the desert like winds. This sure was a rough journey here. His face was basked in sweat and dust.

As he walked down, he almost skipped the view of a man close to the same age as himself, only since many other people seemed to walk by as if he were invisible. The young gentleman rushed to the man's side and looked over him. He was no doctor, but this man looked like he had a case of malnutrition.

The blond male quickly rushed to get a heft supply of water, luckily he was beyond that of a humans speed, disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye. He himself drank a small amount to keep him hydrate as he dumped some of the water on the male, hoping he would swallow some, again this man was no doctor.

“Oi Wake up kid” he urged as he took a small amount of food from his sling to force down the unconscious man.

Kenshi opened his eyes looking up at some strange man holding him, where was he? How had he gotten here, it all seemed so strange. The man said something but he could not hear, but he could smell it… food the smell was intoxicating his hands burst out from his side grabbing the small helping as he attempted to roll from the strangers grasp and shove the life giving substance into his mouth. Starving he dropped all decorum and edict barely pausing to chew as he slammed the food down his gullet momentarily choking as he swallowed it down and spun towards his savior. Within he could feel Rathe’s anger, his malice towards the stranger who had taken away the death of his capture. Kenshi looked into the kind eyes of his savior and opened his mouth to speak; yet no words came out as suddenly a white mask began to crawl across his face.

Reaching up he grasped the corners of the quickly forming visage ripping it from his face he curled over in pain from the experience. Desperate to not hurt anyone else he hopped to his feet, his fear overriding fatigue and hunger he attempted to drive past the man running back towards the dessert as he stumbled back and forth. His legs fought to carry him as he fell into the sand and rose again, Rathe was coming… coming to take control and he couldn’t let anyone be near. He had defeated the beast once, long ago… but now he was tired, travel weary and starving… deep within he wondered if this would be the time he so dreaded, the time when Rathe won and he disappeared forever.

"Shit" The man muttered as soon as the mask began to form, the man could tell what was going on. It has happened to him before, for they both are vizards. Instantly the hollowfieing man tried to grasp away only to be taken by the blonde haired arms and shunpou'ing away in safety, they were in a barren desert now, the man knew not to take such a battle lightly as he clasped his hands together in a prayer form. “Lykos, apodosi na choma” he then pulled his hands away as a light of energy engulfed both arms, creating snow white chain mail, and two pitch black gauntlets. He punched his fists together and he moved to a strange stance he has adopted to summon his mask quickly if needed. He had one palm held out to his waist and clawed up and the other one open palmed at the man ready to make a piercing fist due to the spikes on the knuckles. He has fought hollowfied people before, and has been one himself, he knew he had to handle this. The sand slowly quaked around them, he would not kill, he would bind if needed.

Kenshi felt himself move but he couldn’t tell to wear all that mattered was to stop Rathe from taking over, for two years he had fought the monster yet if he let his guard down it came back. Finally he ripped his mask off spattering blood against the hot sand as he fought for air. Looking up at the man who had saved him he wanted to say thank you, he wanted to say run. Instead he threw up a thick white hollow material that wrapped around his head and ran down his spine. Then all he knew was darkness, a thick pitch black that showed nothing, the endless void.

Rathe raised from the ground his hollow lungs filling with air, as once more he was free from his captivity, and he hated being free. He hated being captive; he hated being in the first place. Turning towards the creature responsible for keeping him in the mortal coil he tilted his head, his face had no mouth just a blank white slate with eyes. Yet his hate was empathic everywhere for miles they could feel it, feel his burning rage and hate. The world was hate and hate needed to be destroyed. He moved, his body blurring somewhere between sonido and shunpo as he appeared behind the man who he hated. His finger pointed forward and a jet black cero surrounded with an orange glow tore through the air, unlike the shingami who he hated Rathe could not use those strange spells that he hated, but he could use all the energy attacks to kill everything he hated and his mastery of energy was unbelievable allowing him to quickly gather energy for such attacks, he hated that.

Within the darkness Kenshi laid… his body hurt, where was he? Who was he? He had been here before. Had he? So many thoughts so much darkness, how many times did he have to fight this beast, this congregation of hollow energy which he hated. It was all Master Toshi’s fault; he hated Master Toshi. The thought seemed strange how could he hate Master Toshi. But if he didn’t hate Master Toshi, who did?

(OoC: Since Kenshi’s a kido expert who fights almost wholly with kido imma just say Rathe is a cero/ balla expert for the purpose of this thread. Both are very fast.)

The man smirked as the hollow formed and shot out the cero darker than the nights sky. He easily sensed him behind and twisted around getting closer, closer than the finger that shot the cero. He pulled back his Spiked fist and released a might jab to the chest of the hollowfied vizard. He had experience fighting these creatures before. They were powerful, but Kano was more skilled. He could feel the hate and knew that would be advantageous. The sand beneath them quaked more as what seemed like an explosion of the sand risen up everywhere and hung in the air. Everything in the area could be sensed by feel for the gentleman, there was not a place this vizard could hide. The sand began to thicken around the hollow, it would make it seem like he was fighting in a thick kind of water. The man raised his hand over his face as a mask began to form at his finger tips. He ripped downward bring his mask to the world, the knight like white mask shown in the sunny sky and instead of shinigami energy being felt, his hollow energy would become much more prominent.

Rathe felt Kano move his hate seethed as the man dodged his cero, his spiked fist slamming into the hollow creature and sand swirled through the air in a maelstrom of blinding particles. Suddenly a new presence was felt a dark hollow like energy which coated the air in a thick residue even as the sand made his movements sluggish. Opening his mouth the creature released an ear shattering roar as yet another cero flew form its mouth and energy swirled around it tearing through the sand as he spun his open maw, the dark energy liquefied the sand into a tunnel of falling glass shards which he tore through the sound of sonido echoing through the air as he appeared outside the maelstrom.

Within Kenshi moved back and forth rolling as he fell through an endless void and landed on something hard. Still he could not see, the darkness was everywhere yet as he felt the ground a strange feeling surged through him. It was familiar and warm a bind unbreakable; that between shinigami and zanpakuto. Clarity came to his eyes which widened with horror, the inner world that was once a pristine crystal palace laid in shambles the turrets heaps of shattered stone. From within explosions could be heard with each rumble of crumbling walls. Suddenly it washed over him like a tidal wave a burning rage like nothing he could comprehend and once more he fell to the ground the darkness swirling into his sight.

Rathe screamed the white hollow substance now reaching from his spine like a series of ribcages across the chest as Kenshi fell further away from his shinigami self. Reckless hate replaced all thought and caution as he charged forth energy swirling around him as he slammed his curled fists in a mindless torrent of attacks at the masked Vizard. He wanted to kill it, he hated it, hated the thing that like him was one and two, hated the world for being, and hated, hate because he could.

The gentleman whistled mockingly as the cero of energy and glass blasted towards him. He pushed his foot to the side, the sand could have taken accuracy out of the blow, and either that or the man was as good at dodging as he thought. He then pushed of the sand and shunpoued milliseconds after the beast sonido’ed out of the sand. Little did the beast know that as the gentleman closed in the sand followed? As soon as the beast reappeared the man was right in front of him; however a fist bashed against his face. Other attacks came with it but the man used the blow from the fist strike to push himself back dodging the rest. That blow caused a bit more harm than he expected. He shook it off and jumped back in the wave of strikes at him, lifting his arms up, he swayed side to side such as a boxer dodging the strikes back and forth before swinging on fist at the side of the monster’s face.

After that he began to fire more strikes at the gut of this hollowfied vizard. He swung fast to compensate for his physical strength. Then he jumped back and energy glew within his hands. “Phlόga mpάla” he muttered and slammed his fists together as the hollow energy busted and glew in his fists. He dashed in once more and struck his fist straight out to the chest. He would continue this strike even if the hollow attacked him first, disregarding the damage to land this fist blow. If hit the fist would blast out energy as strong as cero in a close range hit, it not the gentleman would rethink the battle and come back swinging both fists. Each fist would feel like the power of a bala close range.

Rathe cared nothing for defense as Kano slammed his fists into him he simply drove forward. Through his hatred he felt no pain, no fatigue, only hate and rage. The first blow struck across his jaw, barely registering in the creatures mind as it continued its’ assault. Fist slammed into his gut but it did little to deter his anger or hurt his hierro hard body, then his foe backed up trying to escape it would seemed to the vicious creature. Indecipherable words came from the vizards lips, yet even if they had been English they would have washed across deaf ears. As his foe turned charging towards him, Rathe curled his fist and charged bringing a swipe towards Kano’s jaw which would hit as Kano’s fist hit him, however this time the hit sent a burst of energy into the creatures stomach sending it hurtling head over heels backwards through the air landing several meters away, it stood even as white foam emerged from its’ wounds resealing and further spreading the bone white covering kenshi’s body.

Within Kenshi once more regained consciousness, slowly rising to his feet he felt sick and weary. Stumbling forward more dead than alive he made his way forward towards the gates to Raishuu’s inner sanctum, the crystal palace. Touching the handles the doors crumbled to the ground, in the center Raishuu and a strange masked man fought. Yet as Kenshi approached Rathe drove his fist into Raishuu’s gut dropping the bipedal living soul to the ground, and pulling from his body a glowing purple orb. Kenshi recognized it well as pure unbound kido the purest form of his shikai. Dark blue-black energy merged with the bright purple twisting and corrupting the orb into a sickly pulsating mass which reformed into a scimitar. Filled with hate and rage Kenshi pulled his zanpakuto, today he finished Rathe once and for all.

Outside of his mind a blood curdling scream echoed through the air even as the white hollow material ran down the creatures once human arms distorting them into long spindly versions of their previous form which ended in large white claws. The hollowfied former shinigami turned its’ bone white visage slowly as a sickly dark purple color glowed on its’ hand a whip growing from the energy. Cracking it once in the air he then lashed it several times at Kano each hit bursting out a cero.

(OoC: Using Kenshi’s shikai but it causes cero instead of kido, figured it wasn’t too much of a stretch.)

Luckily this man was not the slow type. One fist still glew the red energy as he dashed and flowed around the slashing ceros that crackled through the air. And got within 5 feet and tripped down. The tripped looked as natural as he could make it, however last second, his nose only inches from the ground he pulled up, aerodynamics and close center of gravity he moved at a pace that was extremely high pushing off the ground that low. He punched and twisted his fist at the same time while rising with the extreme speed the drills spirals as his fist trusted out and he punched deep in trying to get the claws even an inch deep in the hollow's flesh. If that happened the cero would shoot out of the fist at full close range power. The gentleman was attempting to incapacitate the enraged hollow by getting rid of the stamina. He was hoping not to have to reach bankai, but if necessary he would. At the same time as the punch, the sand would rise and harden up 3 inches behind the demon's heels making it so even force of momentum to escape would be hard to accomplish. However the force of the cero would push the man backwards. The sand around still hardened in some areas creating riffling balls. They were empowered with spiritual energy.

The gentleman spun around and snapped his fingers, at that time the small spheres shot fast straight in a spin towards the hollow, about 5 at once the size of a marble.

Dodging was not Rathe’s style no he simply charged forward receiving the blow to the stomach and hurtling backwards through the air. The anger and hate of the creature was palpable in the air and the dark purple whip lashed biting through the air at the incoming attacks each hit sending a blast of energy forward at Kano equivalent in strength to a cero. The creatures voice ripped through the air with anger and hatred yet another roar as the whip in its hand congealed into a blade a second forming in its opposite hand, now armed with dual scimitars the creature charged forward slashing mercilessly at it’s prey. It felt no pain, no fatigue, no it would fight until this body gave out his anger, his rage, his hate, these were the things that mattered.

Kenshi knew better than anyone the dangers of using energy attacks within the crystal Palace however Rathe had no such knowledge. Pointing his white hand forward he fired out a cero which Kenshi dived out of the way only to have it hit the wall and reflect around the inner crystal spraying the whole room with energy which knocked both opponents to the floor. Jumping to his feet he shunpoed next to Rathe slamming his blade down at the inner hollow, satisfied as it bit across flesh, yet he didn’t expect the back swing from the hollow the dark purple blade searing up his flesh in white hot pain and throwing him back against the wall.

Outside the half formed monster suddenly howled in pain as the white foam retracted up the arm. Doubled over in pain the creature screamed as once more it took the offensive slamming it’s blades over and over again in dizzying display of swordsman ship. At the same time the creatures white substance grew over Kenshi’s body as his reiatsu crossed the threshold of more hollow than shinigami.

With the oncoming cero, instead of dodging, the gentleman raised his hand and blasted an overcharged cero right back. It caused a great explosion so when the hollow came, he didn’t exactly notice it at first. However to blades rushed out. He crossed his arms in instant and blocked the front of the attack; however with the demon’s new formed blades, the man was pushed back and eventually cut across the chest. It wasn’t as shallow as he hoped, but not lethal. His chest felt warm with the blood as he heard the curling scream of the hollowfied child. Energy became much more hollowfied then shinigami, a feeling the man himself gave as soon as his masked was dawned.

The man saw the demon coming at him and moved fluidly into a spot dead center of the demon and kicked his leg out hard at the chest before the arms of the hollow could reach him. Just then a large pillar would form and shoot up fast from under the creature’s feet. If dodged, metallic chains would shoot out and stab at the hollow along with trying to grasp it. The man was done playing, he needed to get this hollow contained while the young man inside could free himself.

The man muttered out a single word. “Ban…kai” his spiritual pressure exploded as his body began to take a younger approach, looking more 16 then anything. His spiritual pressure was tremendous and stronger than his hollow masks’ energy. Sand began to swirl around his body not enough to obstruct his view. Along with that, three stones circled above his head. “Not sure if you happen to know this Hollow, but I’m Kano Kressent, Shaker of all destinies, now you shall tremble before me” as he said that, the earth would shake hard as he dashed forward with extreme speed. It was as fast as shunpou, however no energy from a shunpou was felt. He appeared before the hollow and would grasp at the head and attempt to slam it into the ground, along with the three rocks following behind striking the beast, their hardness as thick as zan steel.

Rathe howled as Kano suddenly took the offensive, the kick landed solidly sending him carrening backwards only to get slammed by the rising jut of a pillar. Flying through the air he landed several feet backwards with an earth shattering thud. Filled with blinding rage the creature stood once moor un-phased by the damage to its’ body. Suddenly Kano’s energy multiplied many fold as he released his bankai charging forward and grasping Rathes head slamming him to the ground even as three stones slammed into him leaving the creature blinded by the impact of the sand in it’s eyes. Howling in pain and desperate to kill Rathe gave up any sense of strategy simply opening his mouth and extending his hands out. Screaming three cero’s fired simultaneously one from each palm and one from his mouth spinning Rathe fired cero after cero, bala after bala. He was gunna destroy everything and everyone including himself, for perhaps the first time ever Rathe felt a small hint of pleasure.

Within the crystal palace Kenshi and Rathe fought back and forth their blades clanged echoing across the hall. Neither could gain ground every time one struck the other countered. Rathe switched to a whip and Kenshi changed to Guan dao catching the incoming slash and shifting his weapon as well into a curved Chinese hook sword which he used to leverage and slam his foe against the crystalline wall. Bits of his inner world crumbled down and Rathe disappeared with the crack of a sonido appearing behind Kenshi slamming a baseball bat into his head to send him flying towards the floor.

Popping up to his feet Kenshi charged his blade becoming a scimitar as it collided with Rathe’s bat sending both weapons careening through the air and landing on the floor. Quickly the combatants switched to fists entirely ignoring defense they slammed into each other like drunken brawlers, fists pounded into flesh both combatants guided only by rage. Warm blood splattered across Kenshi’s fist even as he felt a blow jam into his stomach. Blood and sweat littered the ground as Rathe tackled Kenshi and they rolled in their own fluids biting tearing and slamming into one another.

It could’ve been minutes it could’ve been hours Kenshi couldn’t tell, they slammed and bit and scraped and attacked one another until neither could stand. Blood pooled from a hundred cuts and scrapes and wounds. Every inch of Kenshi hurt when suddenly he felt it Rathes hands closing around his neck from behind. He could feel the breath being squeezed from his lungs. Reaching out with his hands clawed at Rathes’ face his thumbs driving into the hollows eyes as warm blood drooled down his forearm yet to no avail. Darkness covered the corners of his vision and it seemed the end was near. Closing his fingers into a point he pressed into his own shoulder angling up towards Rathes chest. “Hado four Byakurai!”. The blast tore through his shoulder and he howled in pain yet not quite as loud as his foe as it tore through his chest sending him hurtling through the air against the wall where the blast rebounded within the crystal firing back out directly into the hollows spine dropping him defeated to the ground.

Kenshi stood slowly blood dripped from all over his body and his arm hung uselessly at his side. Limping towards Rathe he spat on the creature as it turned towards him unable to stand. “This body… this life… it’s mine you hear… seems im stuck with ya so sit back shut up and never ever try a stunt like this again or ill rip your friggen limbs off.”

In the outside world Kenshi stood slowly everything hurt, as his hollow white exterior cracked crumbled away. “Eat shit asshole” The words came from Kenshi’s mouth even as he collapsed to the ground several bones broken and his body ravaged on the inside and out.

(we can end it here or you can take it to Kano waking him up a few days later in a bed or something... your choice.)

Kano saw how strategy was thrown out. Around them earth gathered quickly in a small orb, however large enough to fit them, Kano let one cero hit him, it wasn't so powerful since it was only half hollow shikai, it left a ting but he used it to through himself out of the orb as it close up, steel and earth hardened to Zankpaktou strength as he held the orb, and slowly felt it all end, he had the top softer so the cero upward blasted out instead of destroying the orb. As the blasts slowed he released from bankai back to normal and the orb crumbled to reveal the man inside. The last words made him laugh a bit as he lifted him upon his shoulders and dashed to a nice place.

(probably continue, I mean they haven't introduced themselves yet xD no insentive for him to chose Kano to be under in the Kishimasuki.)

Kenshi slowly opened his eyes his head seared with pain and the bright midday light streaming through the window of the small room he was in felt like it was roasting his eyes. The pillow beneath his head smelled a bit musky but not bad overall it was some decent accommodations nothing to fancy but not bad either. Wait what… He blinked a few times… how the heck he had gotten here… Thinking back all he could remember was walking towards town. Sitting up he looked around a small wooden chair and table one window and a closed door. Sliding up he got to his feet with a strained expression and slid open the window. It wasn’t that he was ungrateful to whoever it was that had saved him but he had no money to pay anyone back and he definitely wasn’t gunna share the messed up story of how he winded up in that god forsaken dessert, people normally didn’t like stories that started with I accidentally destroyed a town.

Raising one leg painfully to step out the window onto the roof he fell to the ground with a loud thud. As his leg gave way to his weight and a flaring pain ran up his body and into his head. Shaking his head he slowly stood again and leaned against the window sill beginning to attempt a second attempt at esacape before anyone came to investigate the noise.

Kano sat on the roof as he watched the man attempt to leave. “Oi, you ain’t goin anywhere with your injuries” He shunpou stepped right next to the man. He scanned up, and down. Legs were might be more damaged from the fall. “You need your rest if your gonna make the journey” he smiled and lifted the man’s arm over his head. Kano pretty much manhandled him back into the small motel complex to his room, the man would probably not have the strength to fight back, Kano wasn’t sure, escape would be easy if the man chose so, and however he would not get so far.

Kano intended on bringing him to the kishimasuki.

Kenshi let Kano lower him to the bed knowing that he wouldn’t escape a fellow shunpo user in his current condition and even worse terrified of the consequences of what that knowledge represented. Had the gotei 13 finally caught up with him was he about to pay for his actions as Toshi had. As he lay in the bed he thought quietly of his sister, would she fight the execution… attempt to free him before his sentencing. It seemed like something she would do, he couldn’t let it happen he wouldn’t let it happen she had worked too hard and the gotei meant too much to her for him to let her throw it all away because he was stupid. Turning towards the other man Kenshi slid up in the bed grunting painfully but refusing to just lie down like some helpless dog.

“Well I suppose it’s pointless but I’m Kenshi Mu-a, I guess you’re the one that they sent to drag me back. I mean don’t get me wrong I get it but it seems like a whole lotta hassle for trial when the verdict is pretty clear… I mean shit I’m guilty as sin… but how bout we make it interesting gimme an hour… two tops to heal up and we’ll fight this one out rather than letting me rot in cell for a crime we didn’t even realize we were committing?”

As Kenshi sat he glared at Kano his eyes never breaking away in his mind he mulled over what to do, he was an expert at reading reiatsu and perhaps one of the best kido users ever trained by the academy there simply had to be a way out of this. Worst comes to worst he’d die before making his sister watch him fall.

Oh god what was this guy saying, Kano was holding back his laugh. “why wait two hours” he lifted his hand up as if to strike and hit down collapsing over Kenshi in the process in a back flip over him landing on the other side of the bed. “BWAHAHAHAH, dude who do you think I am?” Kano shook his head. “ I wasn't on any order to do anything, I'm gonna just bring you to the Kishimasuki, and Org for vizards, which you are.” Kano finished his laughing and took a drink of water. “They won't kill ya over there, you don't gotta worry, well except for Kaze, but he is....special” Kano chuckled to himself and handed Kenshi a glass of water. “drink up, we got an adventure back home” he let a genuine smile cross his face.

Kenshi ready a spell as Kano moved ready to fire all he had in the strongest Hado he could manage without an incantation shinten raiho seemed the best idea, a point blank cannon of righteous thunder dragon damage to help him out of a sticky situation yet instead the man did some goofy backflip and burst out laughing. Not quite sure how to react Kenshi sorta just sat there mouth open staring at Kano, while he spoke. Finally after a long pause he was about to politefully explain how the man could castrate himself with a wooden spoon if he thought he would betray the gotei 13 and join some crazy ass vizard cult but instead another set of words came out of his mouth ones that made a whole lotta sense even though for the life of him he didn’t know where they came from.

“Well shit it’s not like I got alotta other choices… but don’t think for a minute this means im definitely joining and I’m sure as hell not calling you senpai or some shit like that!”

Drinking the glass of water in a single gulp his chest stung and his body ached from the effort but on the outside he kept it cool afterall this could still be a bad decision... but hell no one did bad decisions like he did.

-End of thread-