LadyAnnaLee

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sara felt like she had trained and trained and trained and trained and trained. It had been a long day. Despite all the people she focused on the skills Hayasegawa was teaching her. She came away with improved focus and a slight increase to her Reiryoko. This allowed her to move just a touch faster. Hayasegawa also taught her a new Kido and Sara worked and worked until she could get Hado Sōkatsui to work 85 percent of the time. It was nice to have a spell that affected a wide range and wasn’t focused so much on aim. She didn’t want to become too limited.

After training Sara took the soul medicine. She also received a new soul pager, which was good since she had lost hers the night before. She wasn’t sure if the proper Shinigami were upset with her or not. Then she reclaimed her body and headed home. She waved off her stepmother, tried not to feel guilty about the pinched look of worry on the woman’s face, and headed up to her room. She wondered if she should use the soul pass or the mod soul and then decided that since she wasn’t planning to go anywhere yet and she could always change her mind later to use the soul pass. Exiting her body she sat cross legged on her bed with her bare Zanpakutō across her legs.

She lightly traced the metal with careful fingers. Sara didn’t want to start bleeding. Would spirit blood stain sheets. She didn’t want to use a medicine pill for something she stupidly caused. The spirit hadn’t spoken to her earlier. Could they not? Did they not want to? She wasn’t sure. The young woman didn’t want to force them if they didn’t want to. But she would like to hear the voice again. It had sounded like something out of a memory or a dream. Or maybe the memory of a dream. They had sounded like they were worried about her. Did that mean anything? But her most important question was would she hear them if it spoke again? Would she be paying attention? Her question about Zanpakutō spirits still hadn’t been answered.

She tried speaking again, “Hello. We might have to go out to fight again tonight. I’m not sure I’m ready, but I’m willing. Even if it doesn’t matter if I’m ready or not. Are you ready? You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. But I’ll try to listen if you do."

Then Sara waited. It didn’t seem like the spirit was going to say anything, but she couldn’t help but feel something from the blade. It felt like amusement and readiness and concern. It was an interesting set of emotions. She wanted to ask about it, but if the Zanpakutō spirit was only expressing emotions then any more feelings of emotions would just confuse her more. She didn’t do emotions well. The feeling of amusement increased. Wait, could the spirit feel, or hear, what she was thinking. She squeezed her eyes shut, wrinkling her nose, as she tried to project friendless. She was worried more anxiety got through than anything else, but Sara tried for friendless.

After an about an hour Sara realized that she wouldn’t be hearing anything from her Zanpakutō tonight. Maybe it could only speak to her in an emergency. Sara wasn’t sure. She looked at the mod soul looking over a book. She should get some rest, but it was early, well early-ish. With a farewell to the mod soul Sara headed out. She wasn’t sure why she was heading out. She didn’t want to be caught off guard by a Hollow, especially not the one from last night. But the room seemed too small and this way she could tell the actual Shinigami that she was doing something to do her part. She still kept her soul pager handy, just in case. Hopefully she wouldn’t lose this one.

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sara was glad that this new woman, Nina, was no longer just interacting with just her. Though the younger girl wasn’t sure what to make of the high energy woman with the harmonica. She couldn’t help but blush as the short uniform got even shorter. Sara barely resisted the urge to slap her hands over her eyes. It wasn’t hard for Sara to figure out the message the new, and apparently fun and sexy, woman was trying to send, but Sara wasn’t sure what to do with the message. Why were all of her fellow substitutes such high energy people? Was she supposed to be high energy? She wasn’t sure she could be high energy. Right now, all she wanted to do was to hide in a corner, but there weren’t any real corners to hide in. So, the young girl just settled, back in her body, at the back of the group, to enjoy another burrito.

She managed to actually enjoy this one, even though it had gone cold. While she ate the treat Sara thought. Hayasegawa had told her that her Zanpakutō was a person. She still had so many questions. She didn’t think it was a good time to ask them though. Still, when she was done was the burrito, she returned to her spirit form. Then she rested the sheathed blade on her knees. Then, after a thought, pulled the Zanpakutō out of the mish-mash colored sheath to rest the bare blade on back on her knees. The sheath was tucked behind her back. She lightly traced the steel with her fingertips. She wasn’t sure it looked different now that she knew it was a person, but it felt different. She didn’t even know its, no, their pronouns.

Sara didn’t feel entirely comfortable speaking to the, Hayasegawa had called them a spirit, spirit out loud, but she also felt uncomfortable knowing that they were a person and not knowing anything about them. How many fights had she gone into and just wielded it them without asking permission? How many times had she simply dropped them just to get use both hands for Kido? Just how rude had she been? If there was a person in the blade, and Hayasegawa had said there was a person, and she had no reason to lie about that, that meant the battles should have been a partnership, not whatever the hell Sara had been doing. At least the spirit hadn’t been so offended that they hadn’t saved her last night.

Finally, after several long minutes of just being bent over staring at her Zanpakutō with her fingers on the blade, Sara spoke softly, barely loud enough to be called speaking, “Hello. I’m Sara.” She chuckled nervously, “But I guess you knew that. Thank you for saving me last night. But maybe I should start by asking you your name. I probably should have done that a long time ago. Sorry that it took so long. So, do you have a name? Will you tell me? It’s okay if you don’t.”

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sara’s eyes went wide as she processed what Hayasegawa said. It had spoken! Zanpakutō did speak! Her eyes drifted to where her hand rested on the hilt of her blade. Hayasegawa had called it a Zanpakutō spirit. That made it a person! Was she supposed to be talking back? Did they eat? What about sleep, or water? She looked back up at Hayasegawa with a million questions on her mind and almost on her lips. There were almost too many to figure out where she should start. She was just about to ask about feeding her Zanpakutō when another person suddenly was just there.

Sara stumbled back as the older woman suddenly appeared and started to wave. She was dressed like a Shinigami, so Sara figured that she was another substitute, but she had never seen this woman. Her hair was bright, and her eyes were mismatched, and Sara knew, almost instinctively knew that the two of them had vastly different personalities. That wasn’t a bad thing, but Sara’s newfound determination to be a person with actual goals was just about tapped out. She desperately wanted to go back to just drifting to and from as the winds of life took her from one day to the next. There was too much that had already happened today.

She still forced a strained smile on her face and waved lightly, “Hi, I’m Sara. Nice to meet you.”

If they moved to Kido, would Sara have to socialize with people, or would she be able to just focus on training? She glanced over at the fight with Tatsuha, which was already over and Tatsuha was telling people that they passed or failed. Passed or failed what? Was Sara going to have to do a test too? Maybe avoiding the fight had been a bad idea, but she had needed to ask her question with an absolute desperate need. And now she had even more questions, but Sara wasn’t sure that now was a good time anymore. Maybe, she would try talking to her Zanpakutō later, when she was alone. If it was a person, she probably should at least try that.

Sara looked back to Hayasegawa “Are we still doing Kido still? I want to try playing to my skills.”

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Darius was Sara’s favorite, and it took all of her energy not to say that out loud and be creepy. But he came with breakfast tacos! Sara had spent most of life in the southwest part of the United States and breakfast tacos had been a staple. She hadn’t had decent ones in forever and now she had one! She had eaten breakfast, so she wasn’t really hungry, but she wasn’t missing this. She hummed in pleasure as she took the first bite. It was just missing a little bit of salsa, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and she was absolutely going to beg for another one. So, yeah, Darius was her current favorite, and she was not ashamed of that.

Of course, the plan to savor the treat was thrown out the metaphorically window as Komorisaka threw things at people, souls popped out of bodies, and Tatsuha ushered them all downstairs. She was forced to scarf down the taco as she headed down the ladder and took her new … tool. She wasn’t sure ‘Tap and Reap’ would stick. At least Sara hoped it didn’t, but she didn’t want Bakuto to think his idea was any better. He was brash and rash, and while Sara didn’t dislike him, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be friends with him. At least … not yet. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be friends with any of them … yet. She exited her body as she thought about that, and without thinking her hand grasped the hilt of her Zanpakutō. It was certainly easier that modsouls, but she had to wonder what the modsouls thought of being … unnecessary now.

When Tatsuha ordered them to attack him, Sara paused. The young woman realized that her hand hadn’t left the hilt of her weapon since leaving her body and she wasn’t sure what to make of that. She had been hoping to talk to Tatshua or Hayasegawa about the voice she had heard last night, before fighting again, even if it was just training. Bakuto, Darius, and Tony seemed to be eager to leap into battle, and Hayasegawa was standing a little back. She looked towards the fight as she bit her lip. Then, despite the worry that she would get in trouble, she headed over to talk to Hayasegawa?

Sara kept her voice quiet, “Ms. Hayasegawa? I was just wondering, if maybe, it was possible that Zanpakutō could talk?” Okay, that sounded stupid, even in her head, and to Sara’s ears it sounded even stupider when she said it out loud, “It’s just I thought I heard a voice that snapped me out of the daze that that Hollow had me in last night. I heard it a couple of times. I didn’t recognize it and I didn’t see anyone. And now I really don’t want to let go of my Zanpakutō, even though I’m not very good at sword work. And I don’t know why.”

@Sho Minazuki

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sara was in her actually physical body, but she still found herself reaching up past her shoulder for the hilt that wasn’t actually present. She had thought leaving the house after staying to eat breakfast was a good thing. Himari certainly seemed excited even if the woman had tried to appear nonchalant about Sara joining the family for breakfast before the young woman had headed out. But now Sara really wanted her Zanpakutō as people came flying out of buildings and angry Shinigami kept yelling about supplies. If it came to a fight it would go as well as last night, Sara thought, but she still wanted easy access to her Zanpakutō.

Sara looked at the woman as she invited them inside. She had heard of Komorisaka Emi, proprietor of the candy shop, but honestly Sara couldn’t remember most of it. She had been too busy fading into the background. Right now Sara was stuck between continuing with that plan, running the hell away, and saying hello. The woman seemed … energetic and while Sara had made pledge to do better, to be better, it was kind of overwhelming. She had already had breakfast with her family. That had to be enough self-improvement for one day, right? The one thing that made Sars trail in after the others and attempt to bow respectfully to the woman was the fact that if she ran away, she wouldn’t be able to ask anyone about the strange voice Also, she found herself unwilling to disappoint Hayasegawa.

Stepping inside Sara found herself a corner and managed to tuck herself behind a few shelves. Okay, she was hiding, reverting to attempting to fade into the background. But she had had breakfast with her family and hadn’t run away from the scary woman with a pipe. Sara had the insane thought that Komorisaka Emi could do a lot of damage with that pipe, and she didn’t want to put that theory to the test. Plus she was still exhausted from last night and she didn’t know the woman and she had never been her. And yeah okay, even in her own head it sounded like justifications and excuses. But she was present, willing, and could still hear what was going on. Two steps forward, one and a half steps back was still net progress.

Bleach - Resonant Souls

(The bold belongs to @Sho Minazuki Thank you so much for your help!)

Sara collapsed into Hayasegawa’s arms. It was too much. It was all just too much. She knew that she needed to get better, but she couldn’t even think of that. She cried until Hayasegawa’s words caused her to pause. No! No! Maybe. It wasn’t like she was useful. How much had she given to this fight and what had it accomplished? Absolutely nothing. A chip on a powerful Hollow’s mask and an exhausted soul. Maybe she should just give up. It might save everyone time. Hayasegawa and Tatsuha certainly wouldn’t have to waste time training her anymore. Was the training really helping anyways? She wasn’t as good as the boys, that was sure. She didn’t know and, frankly, she didn’t

“Sara.”

There it was again. That same voice from the start of the fight. The one that had snapped her out of whatever spell the Hollow had placed on her. Hayasegawa didn’t respond to it but Sara froze as she listened to it, trying to figure out where it had come from. It was incredibly faint, but it didn’t sound as desperate. Mostly sad and full of love, like it knew what she was thinking and couldn’t find fault with her for thinking it but still wishing she wouldn’t. Sara had no idea how she knew those things. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know those things, but the thought of disappointing the voice, whoever it was, felt like someone had grabbed her heart and twisted. And the twins. Who wouldn’t protect the twins if she gave up? She didn’t know how to be their sister properly, but she still had to protect them.

She pushed away from the Shinigami, suddenly angry, “No! No!” She stumbled to her feet and almost fell over again, “No! I have a job to do! I agreed to the job!” She sounded desperate and angry and her grip on her Zanpakutō was so tight her knuckles were turning around as she gestured broadly, “I just have to get better! Stronger! Faster! I need more Reiryoku! Yes it’s scary! I did everything I could and it wasn’t enough and I almost died! But that’s why I have to get better!” The anger had left her voice and she just sounded desperate, “Please! There has to be something I can do.”

Shouko looked at Sara in some surprise, it was a hard feeling to grasp, what she was feeling. She was not upset, nor was she disappointed, and she would not have been should Sara have chosen to put her sword down and not fight, she could not blame her. After all this was a requirement of the job of substitute Shinigami and she was fulfilling her own duties. Shouko had chosen to steel herself when she first threw herself into her duties and that is why she became who she was. But what would Sara do she wondered? She felt a sense of interest and duty to her too, what can she do she wondered?

"Very well... Tomorrow everyone will be meeting at the candy shop to discuss tonight... I'm sure Ouga has told everyone the same, so expect a message tomorrow", the candy shop was mentioned a few times, but now that she thought about it, none of the substitutes ever had a chance to visit it. "The intent of the meeting tomorrow would be to ascertain everyone's resolve... But you have already shown me yours. What can you do you have asked me, then the answer is simple, I will train you, and make you ready for the nights ahead. For now... It may be best to return home to sleep", she responded. At this moment the adrenaline would come crashing inside of Sara, and the tiredness would set in.

Sara nodded, suddenly tired, “Thank you Ms. Hayasegawa.” She bowed slightly, “I’ll be heading home now.”

How Sara got home she would never fully remember. She was in her spirit body so she had no qualms just climbing the stairs. She didn’t think she had the energy too climb up to the window. She paused outside of Shoto’s and Dai’s room. The door was closed but she could still imagine them, Shoto almost dead to the world, Dai hiding his late night phone scrolling beneath the blanket. She knew more about them than she thought. Dai played piano. Shoto had a crush on someone at school and she had the strongest suspicion about which older student it was. They both played some online video game and were surprisingly good but they always let her win a couple rounds when convinced her to play for a little bit. Dai liked art and music. Shoto preferred math and physics. Both liked sweet red bean paste mochi and tempura. They hated being confused for the other, but they were the best of friends. Sara’s face hardened. She wasn’t the best sister, but she was going to do everything in her power to keep them safe from the monsters they didn’t even realize existed. She surprised herself with that knowledge that she had been fighting for them tonight. Well until she could fight for herself, they would do.

She continued off to bed. The modsoul was asleep and she always felt rude waking it up, so she grabbed the blanket off the chair and spread out on the floor. She couldn’t sleep and stared up and the ceiling. What had that voice been? She turned to look at her Zanpakutō and hesitantly reached out to touch it with a finger. She didn’t know how to use it properly, and it was always the last tool she picked to use in an actual fight, preferring Hoho and Kido. But she hated being away from it. For some reason that she couldn’t explain she couldn’t help but connect the voice and her Zanpakutō, which was silly, wasn’t it? Swords didn’t speak. Then again, it wasn’t sword, was it? Just how important was that difference?

The next day she arrived at the candy shop that she had been told to go to by Hayasegawa. She had never been here before and she wondered if there was a reason they were meeting here rather than at the florist shop or the mechanic shop. She still wasn’t sure what had happened at the park, and she hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, so she still felt so drained. She had just about made up her mind to ask either Hayasegawa or Tatsuha about the actual difference between a sword and a Zanpakutō. She might even ask them about the voice, but she wasn’t sure she remembered it right and it didn’t sound kind of crazy. Hey last night I think I heard a voice, and I think it was my Zanpakutō They might just laugh in her face. But she still wanted to be sure.

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sara kept the Kido up until she literally couldn’t. She didn’t end it. The spell didn’t petter out with any grace. It simply ended and Sara had just a second to see that she had merely cracked the Hollow’s mask before she collapsed, her reserves exhausted, and her strength depleted. She had failed. In the end it didn’t manage if she tried her best or not. The Hollow was going to eat her and then proceed to the rest of the town. Sara’s grip on her Zanpakutō was loose and she tried desperately to press herself up. She didn’t want to die here, a passive pawn of fate. If she was going to die she sure as hell wanted to be an active participant.

She managed to get to one knee and hold her blade straight out as the Hollow advance. It took more than she had to give, and she couldn’t help the tears of pain that blurred her vision. It hurt. All of it hurt. Her skull, her legs, her eyes, her heart, all of her hurt. Most of all her grip on her Zanpakutō hurt. Sara knew she didn’t have a chance, but she still forced herself through the pain, though the shaking in her limbs, though it all. She was not a passive pawn. Not tonight. Her death belonged to her and her alone. The Hollow may take her life, but Sara refused to hand it over.

Then Hayasegawa’s voice filled the air. Sara forced herself to keep absolutely still as she was surrounded by black and red flames. Sara didn’t know this Kido and wasn’t inclined to touch it. Who knew what it would do? Hayasegawa chased the Hollow away and came to stand by the young human. Sara noted the change in the elegant woman’s parasol. Was that part of the Kido? Could Sara learn that one? How long would it take? How long until she was no longer completely useless? How long until she could actually kill Hollows instead of running and luring them into traps that wouldn’t work? How long …

Sara’s thoughts came to a screeching halt as Hayasegawa spoke, telling her that she had done well. Sara suddenly burst into tears. She reached up to press her hands to her eyes. She still hadn’t let go off her Zanpakutō, still unwilling to do so, so she wound up with one eye pressing into the ball of her hand and the other pressed into her fingers curled around the hilt. The blade stuck straight out, thankfully away from Sara. Sara couldn’t process that she was holding her blade in a way that could easily injure her. She had almost died. It had never been a game. Sara wasn’t stupid enough to think that fighting Hollows was a game, but it still hadn’t been … real, for a lack of better words. She had almost died. It was painfully real, and she had failed so spectacularly that she wasn’t sure she could ever get better. Sara cried and cried and cried. She shouldn’t have taken Hayasegawa’s offer all those weeks ago. What good would she be in a real fight? After all, her companions needed her help and all she could do was cry.

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sara was stunned for a moment and partially blinded by the cascade of electricity and sparks that came from the electrical wire and lamp post actually making contact. She hadn’t expected that it would actually work, but work it had. She didn’t even wanted to imagine what it looked like to people without any spiritual sense, and had a feeling she was going to get in trouble for it. Unfortunately, the actual goal of doing damage to the Hollow was unsuccessful. Sara watched as only the strange tendrils suffered and pulled back to the main body. It was a chance, she was running out of Reiryoku, so it was her last chance, but it was a chance.

With one hand on her Zanpakutō’s hilt, and the other extended like a child playing make-believe guns, she said with as much determination as possible, “Bakudo Hainawa!”

It would be easier to control and direct the course of spiritual energy if Sara used both hands, but for some reason she wanted contact with her Zanpakutō. She didn’t know why. Maybe, it was so she could draw it more quickly if the Hollow came rushing at her. Maybe it was the strange feeling that she could see more clearly despite the sparking electricity with the contact being made. Either way Sara aimed her extremely low-level spell right at the glowing third eye of the Hollow. Sara was going to keep this up until her Reiryoku completely ran out or the Hollow charged at her. Either way, Sara realized, she was out of time, out of options, and out of luck. She was dying here and now. At least she had tried, right? She had tried to do the right thing, to protect those that couldn’t protect themselves, to fight back against the inevitable. That may not count for much, but it had to have counted for something.

If, by some miracle, she survived this, Sara was going to find out if there was a way to increase Reiryoku and then she was going to increase hers. She wanted to last longer. She needed to last longer. If only she had lasted longer, she might have been able to do actually damage. Speaking of damage, if she survived this, she was going to figure out what actually hurt Hollows. Because clearly, she had no idea, and she needed to fix that fact and quickly. She was starting to realize that she had picked the wrong things to focus on. She couldn’t use a sword, but now she knew the basics. It was time to focus on what she did know and how she could use her own skills to fight this threat. If she survived this fight, which was extremely unlikely.

Bleach - Resonant Souls

As Sara ran, she came to some realizations. The first was that she was indeed going in circles. The second was that if the Hollow was somehow sending her into circles there was no way she was winning the fight. Sara didn’t know much about fighting or this strange world that she had only been a part of for about two months, but she did know that Reiryoku, or spiritual power, was what decided a lot of things. If this Hollow had enough Reiryoku to change the physical world Sara didn’t have enough to keep up. So, that led her to the third realization. If she couldn’t win and couldn’t call for help, she would have to do her best to take this creature with her. She wasn’t going down without a fight, but she wasn’t going to just let this Hollow run loose to prey on people who didn’t even know Hollows existed.

With that in mind Sara paused and cast Bakudo Hainawa twice, Casting one around a lamp post and another around a powerline. If she was lucky, if she was very lucky, she would catch the Hollow in the electricity that would come from the line and in contact with the metal of the lamp post when she yanked them both loose. That depended on a lot of factors. She needed to have the strength to pull the wire down. She needed to have grabbed a live wire, and she wasn’t sure how to tell if she had. She needed to aim properly. She needed to be fast enough to do it before the Hollow ran from the trap. Too many things left up to chance, but it was all Sara’s adrenaline-fueled brain could think of. It was the only chance she had and if it all went well Sara would be caught in the trap too. If it didn’t go well the Hollow would get her. At least she tried, right?

Sara froze when she sense something coming at her, but only for a moment. She didn’t lose track of what she was attempting to do and try to run away. Instead, after that one moment that seemed like it took forever Sara channeled all of her remaining Reiryoku into her Kido and pulled, bringing her arms from her outstretched pose and into her hands coming together with a desperate shout. She tried to focus on aiming the powerline towards the lamp post, but she wasn’t even sure she had the power to snap the line. Her heart was racing at a million miles forever, but she didn’t stop to worry about what she could and could not do. She had to try. She had to try! She might be dead after this, but hopefully, if she was very, very lucky she would take the Hollow with her. That meant her life would be worth something. Right? Right? Right? Please let this work! Please!

@Sho Minazuki

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sara paused when she realized she was going in circles. Her grip on her Zanpakutō tightened as her thumb almost but not quite hit the emergency call button. How was she going in circles? It didn’t make any sense. She wasn’t that new to Sagamiyama and she had been to Sakuhana Park a few times. She shouldn’t have gotten lost. Had she been so focused on not getting jumped that she had gotten lost? Except she didn’t even know where she was. She recognized the subtle signs she had been going in circles, but she didn’t know exactly where she was. Yes, she was going to be late, because she needed to find out how to get to the park. Just how mad would the Shinigami … actually … be?

Sara’s thoughts slowly trailed off as the familiar song started. She barely heard it, but its temptations were strangely alluring. Wasn’t she just thinking that she had only delayed her death, that this war would kill her? Wouldn’t it just be easy to give in to the sweetness of oblivion? No one would miss her. Slowly Sara walked towards the song and its promises. The Soul Pager slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground as she staggered forwards. Her grip on her Zanpakutō loosened as she gotten closer and closer. She was unaware of her heartbeat slowing and her breathing spacing out. The song was so beautiful, its words nothing but truth. Nothing else mattered.

“Sara! Sara! Sara move! Sara! Please!”

The second voice snapped Sara out of the hypnotic trance and thankfully her instincts were strong enough to send her into a series of backflips to get her further away from the trap. She used just a touch of Reiatsu to and smoothness and speed to her flips to get even further away. She returned to a standing position with her grip on her Zanpakutō’s hilt tightened enough to make her knuckles white, but she didn’t draw the blade just yet. She looked to see the threat and her already skyrocketing heartbeat got faster as she saw the Hollow standing in front of her. Suddenly she realized why the song had been familiar. It was the Hollow that Hayasegawa had saved her from the night she had died. Her memories of that night were fuzzy, but somehow Sara knew that this was the same creature come to finish the job.

Sara had no illusions. She had no idea where she was. She couldn’t see the person belonging to the voice that had saved her. It wasn’t Hayasegawa or Tatsuha. She didn’t recognize it … except that she had. She didn’t know how, because she was entirely convinced that she had never heard it before. No! That wasn’t important right now. Right now, she needed to figure out a way away from the Hollow. She wasn’t beating it. She didn’t think she was strong enough. And getting way wasn’t likely either. Sara was starting to think that the world was just a little bit … fuzzy. She couldn’t claim to know Sagamiyama that well, but she had done a lot of wandering. Given how long it had been she couldn’t be that far from the places she knew, and this looked nothing like them. Was the Hollow doing something? If that was the case, Sara could cross getting away off the list, because the Hollow would be able to just circle her back around. She glanced at the Soul Pager on the ground. Yeah no, she had already proven she couldn’t scoop things off the ground while running, so calling for help wasn’t an option. She had no options. Maybe the song was right maybe she should just …

“Sara!”

The same voice, but fainter, it still sounded desperate. Sara couldn’t give up. Not tonight at least. She was already late and didn’t need Hayasegawa and Tatsuha even angrier at her for giving Hollows more power. She needed a plan, and she needed a plan now. She did not have one. The best she thought she could do was distract the creature long enough to get away and hide. Maybe not distract. Maybe just blind. She had no way to blind. Wait! Hayasegawa could make Kido do some interesting things. Maybe she could try that. No guarantee that it would work, but it was a chance, and a chance was better than nothing.

Sara was surprised at how cold her voice sounded, “If you want me, you’ll have to come and get me.” She threw her hand out and called out, “Hado Shakkaho!”

Sara was hoping to create more of a bright light than a blast with any kind of power. She probably put more Reiatsu into the spell than she should have, but she did aim it at the Hollow. If she couldn’t create the blinding light and instead did a normal blast maybe it would do something. Sara didn’t stay to find out. She simply turned and used Graceful Slide to run off. She was definitely using too much Reiatsu, but she didn’t have any other plan. Maybe if she found a place to hide, she could lay a trap for the Hollow. The one thing she knew for sure was that she was alone with no way to call for help. She thought she was alone, there was still that strange voice she could barely hear and now could almost not remember. No! Investigation later. Hiding and trap now.

@Sho Minazuki