Bleach Azul » Places

         

Ryuu

How did I now think of that? a bit bewildered that her thoughts had only been about the worst case scenario when all this time Shihiro could just be some place no one would think to find him. And like his friends knew the man was pretty hard to get rid of sometimes. Ryuu simply kept silent during this little exchange that brought to her attention of something she just now realized. Jin lay unconscious in a corner the corners of Ryuu’s lips twitched into an almost smile but never became the rarity.

The name of a fellow shinigami caught her attention Kasai Hayabusa, she didn’t quite like the man as he was always trying to flirt with her and the fact that he was from one of the four main noble houses made it worse. Ryuu didn’t bother thinking too much on the current subject of whether or not to go with Akira to see what information Kasai had. It’s not like she had anything better to do for that matter so why not make her night a little more exciting even if it was with someone she had very little interest in getting know better or understanding.

They walked around heading towards the Eighth Division Barracks in silence or at least Ryuu did she was lost in her thoughts in trying to figure out what her dream had meant if it had meaning at all. Looking ahead Ryuu noticed the way Akira was acting he seemed to be a bit nervous when he broke the silence.
"Guys... I'm-" Akira stopped midsentence; looking quickly to his right, the man quickly changed direction as they were moving. "Kasai is only a short way this way. I'd never mistake his reiatsu."

This concluded her previous thought and she could understand why he would be nervous if that was the correct word to describe her friend at the moment. Akira then stopped in his tracks; Ryuu being right behind him nearly crashed into him. Thankfully he was out of the way before they collided and the reason for him stopping irritated her to a degree that damn Kasai. Ryuu growled softly enough so only those who were right next to her would have heard it.

The man began speaking with excitement, at one point he even had suspicion in his voice when he first addressed Akira, the two continued chatting with one another, though in reality Kasai did most of the talking and her irritation rose in her chest but Ryuu did her best to hold her tongue. Akira then jumped down from the roof and turned to them with that carefree look of his and began to speak.

"Well, the Lieutenant will likely hear the news soon and they will probably have searched parties canvasing all of Fugai looking for Shihiro. So, the reasonable thing to do would be to return to our barracks and call it a night." Akira began to scratch the back of his head, and rolled his eyes at his own notion. "Which would be the reasonable thing... if I could actually get a wink of sleep knowing that Shihiro was lost out there. I mean, Shihiro's not an idiot, so why would he go there after what happened? We nearly died when there were six of us." Akira sighed and nodded at the group. "This is my fault guys... sorry. I know that's something weird to hear coming out of my mouth, but, sorry. I know it not the smart thing, but I;m going to go find Shihiro, or help if I can. I'm not asking you to help, but please? Please help me. If you don't, I'll haunt you after I die." Akira let out a small chuckle.

Ryuu simply stared at him in bewilderment did he really just apologize what an idiot! she managed to hold back her remark about him haunting them if they didn’t help. "The 13th Barracks aren't far from here. Let's stop by and grab Joel." This made the red head falter in her step hopefully no one noticed this. Like Kasai Ryuu disliked Joel even more so than the big flirt and she now regretted her choice in joining Akira on his rescue mission.

They were in and out of the 13th once Joel had joined them. After about half an hour of walking they reached the edge of the Fugai Forest which was covered in a dense fog. Just like the other night Ryuu could feel the reiryoku of the forest but not that of any living being whether it be that of Shinigami or a Hollow. Ryuu felt her chest tighten in a way she was not accustomed too, it was what most people called fear but this was different it was more primal than normal fear what awaits us within this white forest before us. She help her sword closer to her body her hand on the hilt ready for when metal sang and clashed against whatever had become its opponent.

"Anyone who wants to turn back, this is the last chance. I have a feeling it will be hard to find our way out once we enter, so we might be in there till sunrise. Thoughts?"

Ryuu had nothing to say and even if she did she wasn’t about to voice her unease. Joel and Kasai voiced their while Joels was rather poetic in contrast with Kasai’s who started off in a sudden burst of laughter and left it up to Akira to give them the go ahead. why do I get the feeling it won’t be as easy as just finding him. What have we gotten ourselves into?

         Kasai burst out in laughter trying to lighten the mood. “Will I’m sure not backing down…so if you don’t mind let’s go and find Shihiro.” He said in tone of respect. “If we hurry and find Shihiro we shouldn’t take long to get out. Reason being that Shihiro should know the way out since he was brought in. So as long as we find Shihiro we shouldn’t have any worries.” Akira it’s your call, Kasai explained.

         

Jin

As the group headed out of the more populated districts of the Rukongai and got deeper and deeper into the forest, the more Jin felt a little uneasy. They were heading closer to where he grew up, which made him uncomfortable. For all of the things his friends know about him, his past is not one. They had never realy asked and Jin had tried to make himself ambiguous enough for them to not really think about it. He tried to make himself seem sort of simple and just a nice guy. No one really pays much attention to the details of a nice guy. He didn't know how they would react if they out who he was.....what he did. He quickly pushed it to the back of his mind when Shihiro said something to him.

They went on for a couple more hours. Most of the group seemed tired and began to complain increasingly. "Oh come one guys. You can't be all psyched to go and then just give up a few hours in. Patience, guys, patience." Jin said as warmly as he could. Afterwards he made his way over to Akira and whispered to him. "We are getting closer, right?" He never got an answer as Akira started to act weird and try and blow off the fact that he had just wasted all of their time. That is, until he got hit by a large fist that sent him flying through several trees.

This caused Jin's eyes to grow wide as he looked at Akira. He then moved them over to where the fist came from. There stood seven Hollows, two, seemingly two halves of the same whole, seemed to be the leaders. They spoke about killing and eating them. All the while, Jin had a slight smile on his face, the one he always seemed ot have. He had a reputation of never getting upset, never losing his cool and never losing his smile......ever.

When the group began to split up to face each of their own individual Hollow, all of the Hollow seemed to immediately go after a certain target. Oddly enough, one Hollow seemed to wait for everyone else to choose theirs until only Jin remained. This Hollow was rather big, actually. Tall with long legs, broad body and llanky clawed arms. Unlike the others, it had a very long tail with waht looked like a endulu blade made out of the same material as it's mask. Speaking of it's mask, it was long and seemed to have a toothy smile with afin coming out of it's head. If it looked like anything, he would say it looked like a shark. Jin was ready to face the Hollow down, until he heard a small noise coming from where Akira flew too. He looked over to see Hoshiko dodging and trying to face off against another Hollow, this one smaller than the one he faced.

Jin quickly grew worried. Hoshiko was not a warrior. Incredibly talented in kido and exceedingly kind and intelligent, but not a warrior. He wasn't sure how she would fare against this Hollow. He started to lead his hollow over to her, looking at it's threshing tail with a plan.

When he was angled enough, he stopped, turned around and faced down his hollow. The beast howled and made a swipe with it's claws at Jin. The claw just phased right through him as Jin shunpoed away, then right back into the same position. The Hollow got confused and did this maybe three more times before it got frustrated. It then decided to to swing it's great threshing tail at him. As it came closer, Jin's grin grew wider. Jin raised his arm vertically, looking to block it and then spoke."Bakudo #8, Seki." A small blue orb manifested on the back of Jin's hand. The tail struck the ball, which caused to to rebound in the other direction, causing the ball to burst.

The tail swung around and managed to rake Hoshiko's hollow across it's back, causing it to howl in pain. Hopefully it would give her enough time to act and destroy it. He didn't want to hold Hoshiko's hand and come to her rescue, and he doubted she wanted that either. She was a tough girl, despite everything.

The Hollow was confused at what just happened, and just leaped at him in pure frustration, it's massive mouth with three rows of serrated teeth layed agape and hurtling to wards him. Time seemed to stand still. Then Jin disappeared and reappeared 10 feet in front of where he had just been, the hollow flying behind him. It skid across the ground until it hit a tree, stopping it. A neat whole was now in the center of it's mask. Jin's Zanpoktou was missing from it's sheath. If one looked, one could see it embedded up to it's hilt in a tree in the distance. Jin then disappeared again.

The young shinigami then reappeared next to his friend Akira and knelt down beside him. He couldn't tell if he was conscious or not. "Akira, you OK? Damn Hollow gave you one hell of cheap shot. One that you will have to pay him back dearly for." Jin told him, his small smile ever present.