Phoenix

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Kouta was performing a few basic exercises when the family left to attend their ceremonies and funerals. He felt no responsibility for their deaths, but he couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. He wished to attend the funerals as well but knew not the ask as they were family-oriented events and that he would not be invited to join them. When he heard the knock on the door, he suspected the events to be over and wondered who might have come to visit him. He suspected Yue but expected the worst, Isao.

He rose to his knees and remained bowed for whomever might enter through the door.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Kouta blacked out soon after Yue began to heal him. The pain he felt wasn't nearly as strong as the fatigue, but rest was mandatory regardless. There were a few times he heard voices of those around him, though he could never fully discern to whom they might belong. He had to assume he was safe considering the fact he hadn't died yet. Rest was the only thing he could focus on now.

Akimoto, however, had lost his most trusted shihan for his Dojo. Of course there were numerous others who ran it during his son's absence, but he was concerned it wasn't going as he knew it should. There were some things his trust would not extend toward.

Yuzuki had taken the roles of Captain for an extended period of time. This was not unusual, but Akimoto's conscience made him regret befalling all the responsibilities he was responsible for upon her. He didn't doubt her abilities, but it was a different reason as to why Kouta's absence affected Akimoto's work.

The Captain only continued to work as he needed. His time spent in the Dojo increased while his work in the Academy remained the same. His Division was the one who missed his presence the most. It took a few weeks for messages from the Captain-Commander and Yuzuki to reach him. Yuzuki only needed permission to execute whatever plans and procedures which required to be performed. The Captain-Commander, however, was looking for more personal favors of which he could not fulfill.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

He saw a bright light and registered what Yue had suggested. He slid around Hayate's body after smashing it into one direction and utilizing that time to position himself toward the tendrils. Kouta's shoto slashed through the tendrils, breaking the control the Hollow had over Hayate's body which fell lifelessly to the ground. The man had to be dead considering the physical condition he now lay in.

Kouta leapt toward the retreating tendrils and slashed at the Hollow. Unfortunately, the blade phased right through it. The blunt ends of the tentrils he had cut smashed into his abdomen and flung him back a considerable distance. "Damn it," he groaned in pain. "Yue, get out of here!" he roared, knowing his Bankai was unstable and could very well overpower the girl. "Tsuki no Ōkami, Unari!"

Yue couldn't see Kouta but she heard everything; the urgency in his voice scared her enough to listen to him and try backing off. She knew how powerful Bankai was; she'd seen her father release it once and frankly, she didn't want to see it ever again. However, despite her best attempts to get away, the Hollow could still sense her reiatsu through the mist. Had she been able to suppress it, it would've been much easier to make herself invisible but that was one lesson they still hadn't taught at the Academy. Her spiritual pressure acted like a beacon, allowing the Hollow's tendrils to pursue her relentlessly.

As a tendril snapped and curled toward her, the temperature dropped considerably more. She would have shivered if she wasn't running. But strangely enough, snow began to fall around her. The snow behaved normally except when it fell on the attacking tendril. The blackness was encased with a heavy ice that weighed it down. Kouta was there soon after and shattered the black tentacles and the Hollow shrieked once more.

Having seen what the deceitful snow could do, Yue tried to avoid it as much as possible while making her way out of the mist, tripping over bodies and fending off a random tendril or two. However, it wasn't exactly easy to avoid snow and she continuously shook it out of her hair and off her body, just incase it decided to expand into ice. She had no clue how much control Kouta had over his Bankai but she wasn't going to take any chances and instead obeyed, finally emerging into an area slightly less foggy.

Snow continued to fall around the Hollow and explode into reiatsu-infused ice that refused to break, shatter, or melt. Kouta bashed the Hollow, fracturing it into hundreds of pieces. This time there was only silence and he re-sealed his Zanpakuto, having used up the remainder of his free reiryoku in the short time the Bankai was active.

When the mist cleared, they could see the bodies around them lying lifeless on the forest floor. Hayate still looked like a spirit or a demon with his discoloration and the Yukihiro clanmen were dismembered and beaten to death, all by Kouta himself. He knelt to the ground, both out of respect for the fallen men and fatigue. He looked behind him, hoping to see Yue approaching the generally safe area.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Several more tendrils made their way into the beaten Hayate and he swiftly rose and began to strike at Kouta once again. Hayate was much more nimble and swift but Kouta managet to use all of his limbs in order to defend against the puppet. Kouta was amazed at the level of control the creature had over Hayate's body but realized the tendrils entered his body from the bount on his back. His kosoda had been torn off and Kouta could see the blackened veins through Hayate's parchment-white skin. It was frightening and concerning to see but Kouta's attention had to be on defense. He didn't want to kill Hayate, but at this rate, it might have been the only way.

For a moment, Yue wrestled with the thing but it was far too strong to dislodge from its position around her legs. Drawing her Zanpakuto, she fumbled with it for a second before driving the tip into the Hollow's tendril repeatedly, maiming it amidst a horrifying shriek from the Hollow. It loosened momentarily, allowing Yue to wiggle free and dash off into the mist, several tendrils matching her speed as they pursued her. She had no idea what was happening with Kouta or Hayate; Kouta's silhouette melted into the fog allowing her no information on his whereabouts.

When Kouta heard the shriek, he immediately feared that Yue had been injured or even killed. His lack of comprehending the sound accurately allowed Hayate to drive his katana into Kouta's shoulder to which he grunted and grit his teeth in immense pain. It wasn't anything he hadn't experienced before, but pain was pain. He was just more mentally equipped to deal with it. Unfortunately, the puppetted Hayate was pulled back and the large wound in Kouta was left open and bleeding profusely. He held the wound with his left arm for a bit before tearing off his own kosoda and wrapping it tightly around the wound to slow the bleeding.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Kouta's shoto blade continued to scratch against Hayate's katana. Had they been crafted out of normal metal, Hayate's would have shattered and splintered. But the man's reiatsu proved dense and resilient enough to endure Kouta's deceptively offensive defense.

Kouta could soon make out a lump on Hayate's back and also noted the surrounding reiatsu to completely fade. Even he couldn't feel any other reiatsu than the three of them. This was disarming as he knew this hollow wouldn't back away from Kouta's seemingly endless levels of reiryoku. "Get out of here, Yue," he shouted toward the Academy student, his former pupil. He was endlessly thankful for her skill in Kido, but her life was still in danger and he was still responsible for her well-being. The reason she even returned was beyond him, but his attention was upon Hayate first and foremost.

Yue didn't answer. While she did feel the urge to escape and make it back safely, she knew she couldn't - the guilt would be as much likely to kill her on the inside as the Hollow could on the outside. Hayate was another issue. He was relatively young but undoubtedly skilled, one of their best fighters at that age. Even then, he was born into the main house; after Yue, he was next in line to assume control over the Yukihiro noble house and considering the fact that Yue herself probably wouldn't be eligible due to marriage, Hayate was most likely their next Head. And Yue knew Isao would be pretty angry at the loss of Hayate.

Hayate's blade still made its way expertly around Kouta, but Kouta's reaction and utter discipline in both Zanjutsu and Hakuda more than made up for his lack of speed and knowledge of the sword itself. Kouta's off hand worked at Hayate's body until it turned bruised and limp. He would not kill the man, if that's what he could still be called. "What are you doing? What's happened?" he asked Hayate when he lay on the ground almost lifeless.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Kouta never rushed to meet the Yukihiro clan, not at first anyway. Their presence was initially impressive and he found little reason to aid them. Instead, he walked in the direction of the town in which the boy claimed to have lived, hoping to meet up with Hayate. He too this time to recuperate and regain much of his exhausted reiryoku levels.

With the early noon sun shining through the leave and creating a warming glow, Kouta felt a sense of comfort he'd yet to feel since stepping foot into the World of the Living. It'd been such a long time since the last time he'd been requested to travel to this foreign place, and he had little care to be there even now. He was missing out on training in his father's Dojo.

What tugged at his mind was how quickly the Yukihiro clan arrived to the World of the Living in order to collect Yue. This was strange because the Houses usually acted independently of the Gotei, which meant the Gotei had yet to send in a rescue team for something that was, inherently, their responsibility. Perhaps Isao-sama had requested to take on the mission himself. Regardless, either scenario was unusual considering the relations between the House and the Gotei.

The tall grass itched at his skin and through the thick cloth of his shihakusho. He had the discipline not to scratch and, rather, endured the slight irritation. It wasn't unlike him to endure aggravation for the sake of endurance itself. It was all in the mind, and most knew his power over his own mind. Of course, this could be a fault just as much as an asset.

Hours passed before he reached the town. The humans couldn't see him, but he quickly felt uneasy. He couldn't feel Hayate's reiatsu. The man had a notable release of spiritual energy and Kouta grew wary and suspicious. There weren't many people in the town and none had any recognizable levels of reiatsu, which even the boy had, he knew. Neither were here. Hayate not having rescued the boy by this point was deeply concerning.

Newly revitalized, he sped back toward the forest, noting the mass of Yukihiro clanmen and noted its decrease in potency. Something wasn't right. No, this wasn't right at all. His complete lack of Shunpo prevented him from reaching the decreasing presence of the Yukihiro clan.

A piercing pain went through his abdomen. When he stopped to examine the wound, there was nothing there. He looked around quickly, eyeing the tall grass all around him. It only swayed gently in the autumn breeze. He rushed off again, not having felt the pain until reaching the entrance of the forest.

The collective presence continued to decrease and he eventually had to depend of his sense of direction of the last modicum of reiatsu he sensed. "Tsuki no Sutōkā Ōkami, Unari," he said and the air around him dropped in temperature significantly. He immediately noted three foreign reiatsu signatures, and ones that were familiar to him. How had they hid from him until now? Why had they hid from him?

One shot toward his direction and the blade of his shoto deflected the Katana of the large man who seemed to want him dead. He disappeared into the mist before Kouta could get a good look at him. "Shit," he said under his breath. They knew his abilities and its drawbacks. Regardless, it felt like Hayate, but why would he attack an ally?

A different target shot towards him and, again, Kouta deflected a lethal strike against him. This figure was significantly smaller but wielded a strength greater than the first. And a blade had not been used. What was going on?

The third entity raced toward him in a similar manner as the previous two, and again was deflected. But this deflection had consequences. A wail was heard throughout the mist and Kouta recognized this as the boy's screeching. What was going on? He ran toward the sound of the crying to see the boy, Seamus, kneeling on the ground without a right arm. He held the stump, but Kouta noticed something strange. The blood seemed unusually black.

"Seamus," he said cautiously, believing this to be some kind of trap, possibly an illusion. The boy only continued to sob and the other entities had vanished. Kouta looked around before nearing the boy, hoping to figure out what he was doing here. "Didn't Hayate rescue you?"

"No!" The boy whined through tears. It sounded as if he would say more, but no words left his mouth. "What are you doing here?"

The boy settled into a whimpering gasping state. "To feed," he said.

"What?"

The boy leapt toward Kouta, his face distorted and disfigured. Or was it the true from of the monster that he was. Kouta slashed the creature in two, missing what could have been its mask, and the Hollow fell to the ground. The two sections of the body leaked fluids, black and shiny. They poured out unnaturally from the body, as if it was made of his substance. It began to move on its own. It became tendrils and lashed at Kouta. He leapt back to sense hundreds of entities in his fog.

"Shit," he said again.

Slashing at the tendrils did nothing, as he suspected. That was the least of his worries when the hordes of seemingly possessed Yukihiro clanmen quickly surrounded him, easily testing Kouta's self-defense skills. His body and his blade worked together to smash the bones and cut the tendons of the men so they would fall either paralyzed by pain or by death. He also noted that their collective reiatsu levels were severely diminished but the sense of the boy's, no, the Hollow's reiatsu seemed to be embedded in them, almost being a part of them.

The Hollow was parasitic. Perhaps this was how all those Hollow managed to attack the Academy students and take out the Yukihiro clanmen. Luckily, when they fell, it seemed the grip the Hollow had on them dissipated and they cried in agony or continued to gargle on their own blood.

Hayate was also an unfortunate victim. With the clanmen being utterly defeated by a singular Kouta, Hayate now stood in the way between himself and the Hollow which seemed to be the perpetrator of all the events which had occurred recently. "Snap out of it, Hayate!" he shouted, hoping speaking to him would turn him away from his apparently brain-washed state. "What happened to you?" he asked himself when Hayate responded with a lunge.

His katana moved swiftly and deftly toward Kouta. Anyone less capable than the Captain's son would have a difficult time staying alive. It was clear that even with being brainwashed, his skills were the same. The man's reflexes and maneuvers were brilliant and Kouta found himself on the defense, ironically a place he didn't much care to be. Their blades slammed against each other. If they weren't Zanpakuto, they would have dulled and even break by this point.

The Hollow was still no where to be sensed. He wanted to try and snap Hayate out of his hypnosis, or whatever it was, first.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

"When did you arrive, Isao-sama? I never sensed your Reiryoku until now," he said, creating a burst of spiritual pressure to shed off the gigai which, until now, had caused him to be powered-down for the sake of seeming "alive."

Isao shifted Yue to rest on one arm, sliding the wakizashi back in its sheath. "How many times have I told you not to drop your Zanpakuto, Yue? Hakuda isn't everything. Don't anger it more than necessary." It made little sense to Yue, who simple nodded absently, her eyes on the blue sky peeking out from the dense foliage. They started swirling together, making her head swim so she dropped her eyes, resting her head on Isao's arm. Isao merely shifted her again, sliding his free arm underneath her back for support. "I arrived a few moments before the boy was taken. It was quite a hard task finding you two, might I add. Were you two in gigai the whole time?"

"After the initial attack, yes. We didn't know how long until a rescue team would come so we prepared to live with the humans for a time. I'm relieved that we didn't have to," he confessed. "Did they discover the cause of this Hollow infestation? Why are there so many?" he continued.

"Come." He motioned for Kouta to follow him as he made his way out of the forest. A series of shadows passed over their heads, blocking out the light and temporarily dimming the area. "This isn't common knowledge, Akimoto-san, so I trust you'll keep this to yourself. These Hollows are much more organized than your average Hollows and those we've observed in the past. Something isn't right with these Hollows. My men are heading towards where the nest might be."

Kouta didn't pretend to know a lot about Hollows. He hardly knew much of anything about the Seireitei and the Gotei, regardless of his father's position. "Are they possibly the same organism? Could this Hollow be able to multiply?" But he knew what Hollows were capable of. "The Twelfth is currently looking into it but it is entirely possible. There could be an organism complex enough to clone itself." Isao replied.

They walked back out into the clearing and continued on past the barn, taking a turn that led him into another clearing. Isao stopped on the way to pick up Yue's second wakizashi. He slid it back into the second sheath, the disturbance doing nothing to wake Yue's passed-out form.

A Senkaimon lay open just ahead, waiting for Isao to pass through with Yue. Just before he stepped though, he turned to Kouta. "Thank you for staying with her and taking care of her." He motioned to Yue's asleep figure nestled securely in his arms.

"It was my duty, Isao-sama." He said bowing. "The two students who we managed to keep intact are in a barn in that direction." His voice didn't seem concerned or held remorse for the fallen Shinigami. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism.

"I'll meet you back in the Seireitei," he said, placing a hand on Yue's arm as if that was going to comfort her. He then quickly turned and headed in the opposite direction. Now spiritually aware of the Yukihiro House, he followed where it was strongest.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

His eyes darted around even faster, trying to focus on any movements around them. All he could see were the leaves and branches swaying in the breeze. "Damn it," he said under his breath, and then Yue darted away. He glanced over and noticed she had dropped her Zanpakuto while they focused so much on their surroundings. Her Zanpakuto wouldn't be happy with her.

A Hollow leapt at Kouta's face and he knocked it away with his left hand before slipping his own Zanpakuto out of its sheath to slash at another's mask. These ones weren't particularly strong, but the swarm-like behavior of them made him understand why the instructors had been killed.

It was clear that Seion no Arashi was quite upset with her indeed. Tearing herself out of her gigai provided to her a sense of power and ability and she successfully summoned her Shikai, but it wasn't working properly. Kouta wouldn't be able to know, not right away. Its charges weren't strong enough and they even energized some of the Hollows rather than paralysing or numbing them.

It began to spark even without her command and threatened to zap her. Kouta was too busy fighting back the Hollows without ripping off his gigai. He wanted to keep a corporeal form for the boy so they could successfully find his father. He needed to keep his Reiryoku steady and resist releasing any Reiatsu. His arms and legs swung around. Being so large had its advantages and he took out a few with every swing, but the horde didn't seem to dwindle noticeably.

Kouta saw a large spark emit from Yue's Zanpakuto and he pulled Seamus away from her in response. He glared at her and her Zanpakuto, inwardly hating himself for failing to notice this inevitability. Of course her Zanpakuto would throw a hissy fit for being dropped. It was still so young and Yue's experience with it so limited. Kouta couldn't worry about the girl and considered her death a likely possibility and continued fighting. He circled quickly around the small boy in order to protect him.

His arms and legs moved around the small child until he realized the boy was no longer there. Screeching like the Hollows around them, the boy flailed in the arms of a hollow. "Shit," he whispered through a grunting shout. Kouta slashed through several Hollows at once and leapt into the trees where the nimble creature escaped with the kidnapped child. "Seamus!" he screamed from his chest, pushing through the air forcefully. The boy only continued to shout and flail in the white arms which wrapped around him tightly. It was a trap, and one that Kouta willingly fell into.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Dissatisfied with the manner in which Yue was dealing with the situation, Kouta took a direct route with answering the boy.

"We stole them from the village where you came from. We don't belong here." He never glanced at Yue. Who would believe a single boy with information Kouta was about to tell him? "We're spirits who took human form and required clothing. We were sent here to save you and protect them until they are to be buried and angles come to take us back," he pointed to the two Shinigami lying in the corner of the barn while lying more convincingly than Yue. It was more convincing due to his cold tone. Seamus only gawked at the man, glancing at the lady a few times as well to just more fully absorb this amazing information. "We require food and shelter as we take human form," hinting at the fact that they needed both in order to survive.

"Now that we've fed and comforted you, it's time you go back home. We'll watch over you on your way back."

At this, Kouta looked over to Yue with a cold and hard stare, willing her to accept their "cover" being blown. He'd already eaten the food Yue had gathered for them, leaving the two of them hungry and without energy. Because of Yue, they had to go longer without food as they waited for a rescue squad to show up.

Yue's smile didn't falter, only perhaps morphing into a more amused smile as Kouta told the child everything. She highly doubted the child would actually believe him, as she felt Seamus had more intelligence than that. Kouta's stare didn't outwardly faze her.

Kouta's icy demeanour was nothing new to her, having already been exposed to it for several years. Even then, it baffled her and left her feeling a bit sad, but Yue didn't know how to deal with it. She did honestly think of him as sort of a brother but It was in her nature to forego the thought of herself and put others forward; maybe this time she should've thought of Kouta instead of the boy. But she couldn't leave him out there, all by himself. Yue returned Kouta's stare with a blank look, the smile barely there.

He motion for the boy to rise and exit the barn while he stood close behind. Seamus looked up at the large man who only looked firmly forward, scanning the immediate area around them. "What's your name?" he asked again.

"Aodh," he lied. How he came up with the name was unknown, perhaps he absorbed the land's knowledge.

"Really? Seems ironic to me," Seamus mused, knowing the name meant "fire" and picking up on his unusually cold demeanor.

Again, he sensed nothing around them. This struck him as strange for a single Hollow attacked a small boy rather than two significant sources of Reiatsu. "Do you sense anything, Hannah?" he asked without hesitating upon her new name.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

"Yue, stop!" Kouta shouted from behind. It was clear she was focusing on saving the child rather than herself. She'd be cut down in the gigai and even he didn't know how that mechanically worked.

He leapt over the both of them, minding the flow of his Reiryoku and that it wouldn't expel from his body. That Reiryoku channelled into his legs and then moved to his right arm which crashed into the creature's head, shattering the mask and deforming the face. The beast fell to the ground, twitching. It was a low-level Hollow, only recently growing larger. Its defensive and offensive capabilities didn't stretch much further than swinging its arms wildly.

The Hollow disintigrated shortly after and Kouta turned to make sure both Yue and the child were unharmed. "You could see that creature, boy?" he asked in his cold yet robust tone.

The boy was crying, holding on to the back of Yue's dress even after the Hollow was destroyed. "Yes," He replied, his voice weak and shaky. "It's a monster," However, he would not elaborate any more.