The Prince Who Wields Death's Blade

Kirito Kazuhiko, Adept Practitioner of Hado within the Kido Corps. Bleach OC

[screamshiranui-archive-blog]

"Well when you put it like that…" She wouldn’t have been surprised if the 12th Division was successful in dominating the entire world. They certainly had the technology to do so. Hopefully no one would point that out to them. She hadn’t even known that one of their members was artificially created! Rumors had been thrown around, yeah, but she never thought it was true…

Asking around would be rude though. So she figured she would find it out on her own one day. Possibly.

She had to give a small laugh at that, because it was the truth. Any trip to the world of the living that required a gigai really could be considered a break from work. Because gigai’s allowed them to really interact with the world around them, and she knew better then most just how distracting the Living World could be. It was a well earned break though. “Well~ I could always take another break from work~”

As long as she didn’t take too many, there wouldn’t be a problem.

"Might be…" She mumbled, brow furrowing as she thought back. “Its really hard to remember when I might have come this way. My family lives on the other side of town so…”

[slay-shinoha]

"Ah, I kinda made 'em look bad, didn't I? They do good work, which I'm sure all of us are thankful for, even if we don't voice it. Past that, 's not like the Head-Captain is going to let them just run willy-nilly around and do whatever they want." He'd imagine that would leave many the odd creation hanging around in peculiar places.

Perhaps for the better that he'd stumbled upon the topic that she knew nothing over, as some people that she could ask about it were rather sour over the fact that a man-made creation still counted as a shinigami.

Not him though, he saw her as just another person, if not with the odd quirk or two.

Mostly, in his eyes, all excursions were nothing more than elongated breaks from the reality of war, of pain. Helpful, but all that was genuinely needed could be found within the borders of the Seireitei. Certain things were easier to come by here, he knew, but that didn't make it as if they were still nonexistent within the Soul Society. "Don't take too many, though~ Your Captain might not be too happy with so many breaks."

Hell, he probably wouldn't even appreciate one break.

"Could you have taken a walk through the city with your family one day? Just going around and enjoying nice weather?"

[screamshiranui-archive-blog]

"I dunno, might depend on what they would classify as normal and different. Though if you really think about it, I think the only thing that makes ‘em not suspicious is how willing a person is to experimentation. On themselves and other people." Reminded her about some creepy thing she had read about how murderers and serial killers behaved. And knowing what was rumored to go on in Twelve, well, she wasn’t surprised in the slightest. “Probably, but that’s not the type of thing they could easily get away with. A ranked officer would be reported as missing pretty quick.”

At least that was the hope. If she ever went missing, someone would come looking for her, wouldn’t they?

"I won’t~ The only thing I’ll strain myself over is work. And I do that a lot already." His concern was very sweet though, which made her more determined to make him a very nice bracelet. If she knew anything about charm making, she’d make it a charm bracelet. But that would likely be way too girly for him.

"This street seems really familiar…" She mumbled, peering around again. It was a nagging feeling, one she couldn’t quite place. “Can’t think why though…”

[slay-shinoha]

"...I think it's an unspoken rule that if you're in that Division, you have to have a burning desire to experiment on others or yourself. 'sides, there's only one person in that whole Division that I'd call normal in terms of wishing to experiment, and yet she was made, not born." Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, one of the more restrained members of all the Twelfth, had allowed herself the title of coming off as the most normal, especially to those that didn't know where she came from.

Not that he found it imperative in judgement of any kind, but simply knowing she was created skewed the lens he used to look at her.

"I was going to say that you should try and take a break from work, but than I realized that we're doing that right now." Running errands too, but that wasn't the express purpose of their trip. It was a breather, a chance to relax.

Taking a needed right to cross over into the horizontal stretch that would lead them to their destination, a hum of surprise loosed itself from his lips at her words. "Maybe you came here as a kid, once?"

[adamaspulveris-blog]

He gave a shrug at the thanks. “I never intended to harm you. It was just instinct.” And instinct to survive. All he wanted right now was to live another day. If he could do that, then maybe he could figure out the rest. Just one step at a time.

"There could be, but I imagine it would all be top secret information. They were very adamant about making sure only one spirit of Hyourinmaru existed. The events that befell me and Hitsugaya likely happened to any others who ended up with twin swords…" The idea of other children dueling to the death to claim the right to continue as a shinigami made his stomach turn. How could he have been so ready to lay down his life for them?

Still, it was a little comforting to actually explain his situation in detail. Maybe now he would understand why he was lurking out here in the middle of the woods.

"Its more I don’t know what my next step is. I’m supposed to be dead. I can’t just waltz back into the Seireitei…not without facing a lot of people who would be upset with me."

It was a delicate topic now, the discussion of things he had done in the past. It wouldn’t go over well if he admitted he had stolen a royal artifact and tried to destroy the whole Seireitei. Losing the ground he had just gained seemed idiotic, but how much longer could he avoid talking about it?

[slay-shinoha]

Was it believable, how the other chose to dictated his actions as simple instinct, one where he hadn't actually considered the course of harming his aggressor to escape?

Beneath it all, he felt that there was that small chance the other'd have let icy extensions harm him, if nothing more than to incapacitate him on the spot.

"Yeah...probably all been thrown away somewhere that the light of day can't reach it, with only Captains able to look at it all, or something like that." There was no need to push himself to try and imagine that as singular fact, earlier comments upon the harshness of punishment and doctrine making it rather feasible to just accept the idea.

As words betrayed intention, of which was meant for it, there was the lightest beginnings of unease, unhappiness; Stemmed from previous insults and ignorance that led him to denounce his actions as simply running away.

But it was so much more than that, he knew that now.

"Would anyone, after they've died?

You could try getting a message across to someone you believe wouldn't totally blow up at you."

[screamshiranui-archive-blog]

"You know, I doubt everyone there is like that. There are probably a few of ‘em in there that are perfectly nice and sane." She, so far, hadn’t had much trouble with that division. It was 11th that she worried about. And really, as terrifying and freaky as the place could be, they really owed a lot to 12th, so they at least had to respect that much. “Not saying you shouldn’t be careful in going in there, but still. I don’t think they’ll kidnap high ranking officers for experiments.”

That was her hope at least. She didn’t like needles all that much.

Her ability to make the bracelets was something she was proud of. She valued it as one of the only skills she had, and had certainly spent a lot of time perfecting it. Hours she should have used for studying or sleeping was spent instead on learning to weave the different colored threads together. 

And she liked how happy people got when she gave them a bracelet. She liked seeing their faces light up and she liked seeing people wear them. “I won’t, I won’t. I’ll make sure its the best quality it can be.”

Wouldn’t change the fact that she sometimes stayed up into the obnoxious early hours of the morning though.

Her gaze wandered to take in their surroundings, getting a vague sense of familiarity. It was nowhere near where she once lived, but she had the sense she had traveled down this street before. At least once or twice.

[slay-shinoha]

"You sure? It's nice to think that there are some outliers in the upper parts of that Division, but wouldn't we kind of already know about them if they were? I mean, someone that's that different from the rest of their Division would be pretty known, right?" Odd to think that it would be their normalcy that would have differentiated a singular officer from the rest, but with how different the Twelfth was to begin with, exceptions to the regular ways had to be made. "They would if they could, probably."

And that mentality that was housed within tilted minds and increasingly deranged psyches was enough to make space a desired buffer between the two parties.

Even if her ability was along the more mundane tract of things one could learn to do, it wasn't right to mark it as detrimental or boring.She took great pride in being able to make gifts for her friends, her fellow officers, and he'd never demean her because of it.

"If that's what you want to measure it up to, than fine. Just don't strain yourself, okay?" Not that it'd be likely that she actually put herself under sufficient strain whereas it would quantify as something others would call discomforting, but there were plenty of ways for her to push herself to work on it past what he believed she should do.

[screamshiranui-archive-blog]

"I guess that’s a good point." After a few pairs, it probably was the better decision to be careful with them, instead of continuing to screw up and ruin the current pair. Still, there had to be something out there that would help extend the life of a pair of gloves, or any piece of clothing that had the misfortune of getting stained.

"I don’t blame you. The solution they have might also eat through your flesh and bones! Like a horror movie…" She shuddered at the thought, because it really was an unpleasant one.

"Purple and black…yeah! Those’ll look good!" She already had a pattern in mind for it too, though when they got to the book store, she would see if she could pick up a book of new patterns. Always smart to mix things up a bit and try new things. She grinned as she nodded to him, cementing the idea in her mind of what his bracelet would be. “Alright! Provided I don’t have to go on any missions anytime soon, I can have it to you sometime next week!”

[slay-shinoha]

It's not like anyone with a desire to not waste money on something as trivial as replacements would allow themselves the foolishness of often mistakes and problems that resulted in such a need, instead focusing some time, in his case a few days, to increasing his awareness of his actions while still keeping track of everything else.

"Exactly why I've never gone there unless I've needed to. They're always looking for someone to test their crazy inventions, whether the person they chose actually wants to help."

Her quick decision, as he saw it, of a definite pattern amused him to some end; The quickened ability to cycle through a multitude of patterns bearing the testament of how skilled she was in the art. "Don't rush yourself on making it, though. I won't be going anywhere." Eyes traveled forward to see where they were in comparison to the bookstore, gauging a few more blocks before they would turn onto the street it was housed along.

[adamaspulveris-blog]

Apparently, all it took to be taken seriously was to show off Hyourinmaru. Huh, wish he had known that earlier, it would have made the previous conversation so much easier.

Though, now he was left with the burden of answering questions, questions that even he didn’t have the answer too. Not that he hadn’t tried to find out, he spent the better part of a life time trying to figure out just why things had happened in the way they had. All he really had to go by are theories.

The point of the blade poked the ice that it had created on the ground before him, and the ice broke away, fading into glittering dust. Now that it appeared they weren’t going to battle, there was no need to leave the hostel ice in his wake. And the less evidence there was of his presence, the better.

"I wouldn’t know. Central 46 made it sound like such a thing was possible, but exceedingly rare, and in their eyes, completely taboo and unacceptable…" Which he still found to be completely ridiculous and unfair, but that was a different story.

"Even I don’t quite understand how a zanpakuto is able to twin itself between two users, though I have my guesses. All I know is that it happened. Two Hyourinmaru exist, one belonging to me, and the other belonging to Hitsugaya. But, most only know about one…since the other is supposed to be dead…"

[slay-shinoha]

There was no real reason to be surprised that suddenly bearing a blade of such renown would make almost all sane individuals back down from their previous affronts of aggression, at least on instinct.

Why cross with a weapon that one paralleled to great power, might?

That was a suicidal impulse, if one continued to aggrieve another when their powers were already known and accepted as better then your own.

One he didn't indulge on a simple whim.

"Thanks for that." He rather liked not having solidified points pointing nearest to his being, a constant reminder of the threat now understood in terms of magnitude. 

"But if they knew it was possible, though rare, wouldn't there be other recorded events of it coming to pass? Hundreds, no, thousands of shinigami have come and gone while knowing their zanpakuto's name, what resided wtihin it.

Wouldn't that lead to many more copies of spirits?"

Or was his such a special case that it only came about in singular events?

"...That's why you're out here, than? Trying to continue playing the part of the dead, the forgotten?"

[screamshiranui-archive-blog]

"Well that’s no good!" Yeah, she probably wouldn’t be the best person to own gloves like that. Not when there was a lot of candy surrounding her desk. “You’d think there would be a way to get rid of those stains by now. They come up with all sorts of stuff here in the living world to make cleaning easier. Its pretty amazing actually.”

Even though the ads tended to be pretty annoying most of the time. And some of the products themselves were just plain strange. She sometimes wanted to bring them back just to see the looks on everyone’s face.

"If your sure…" She still maintained that purple was one of the prettiest colors, but she was terribly biased in that, since it was her favorite. “Do you want any sort of pattern, or just keep it solid?” She could do a few patterns, but not many. Plus, the more complex the pattern, the longer it took to make, and she wasn’t sure how quickly he wanted the bracelet to be finished.

[slay-shinoha]

"Eh, it's a good excuse to become more aware of your surroundings and your actions." If you didn't, well, that was on you to continue supplying yourself more and more pairs of gloves to replace old ones that could easily still be in use, if not for a failing chance to remedy a course of action that ultimately led to infuriatingly tragic demises of white cloth. "I'm sure the Twelfth has some way to get rid of stains, but I'd rather not go to them for help."

Who could blame him, the whole Division was filled with nut-jobs and crazy people, led by the most, arguably, unhinged Captain in all the Seireitei.

Muted movements of his neck brought him to stare in thoughtful silence towards the sky, envisioning himself both with a patterned bracelet, and then a solid one, neither being deemed better over the other in the quickened thought. "Maybe a purple-black patterned one? I can see myself liking that over most other variations."

[ritoruuingu]

"I never said I wasn’t happy, Kirito. I was just thinking that what I said was the right thing to do."

[slay-shinoha]

"And I'm not trying to say that your thoughts on the matter aren't important...

I don't know, I just feel bad for making you accept what I wanted over your wants."

[ritoruuingu]

"You obviously don’t want to agree with what I had to say and there isn’t much else I can do about it."

[slay-shinoha]

"I just..." Truthfully, he felt awful for imposing his own wants over hers.

But wasn't that acceptable when all he wanted was her happiness?

"I want you to be happy."

[adamaspulveris-blog]

It reminded him far too much of a Hollows cero, and he had reacted on that instinct. And now, he was in an even worse situation. Revealing his power, a power he shared with only one other soul. 

The sword was lowered completely, since it appeared his attacker was far to surprised to even do anything. A hand reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, frustration very obvious. All he could do was tell the truth, but this damn kid had issues when it came to actually believing him, and he could do little to actually prove his words true. At least in a way that didn’t involve a trip to Hitsugaya.

"I didn’t steal it if that’s what you’re thinking." He said, his gaze moving to the blade he cherished above all else. It was his curse and his blessing, and he would sooner die then give it up.

"You know that is not how a zanpakuto works. They only answer to their owners…which leaves only one explanation, that this blade is mine." He now looked towards Kirito, eyebrow raised as if daring him to challenge that logic. “I got it many years ago, when I was a student training to become a shinigami. It is not a replica, nor did I use any alternative way to gain it. Its as real as the one Hitsugaya wields.”

[slay-shinoha]

With the other's weapon now revealed, almost all desires to fight him, to make him see that he wasn't just an idiotic officer with an inflated sense of power, had deflated and disappeared.

Who wouldn't when seeing a blade that was known to belong to one of the most capable warriors in the Gotei 13?

Some regret, even if it was fleeting, flew over his features at the other's true act of genuine unhappiness, before being forcefully denied a lasting hold simply out of ideas that he must have done something despicable to have attained the blade in the first place.

Yet, even with that thought, he knew it was nothing of the sort.

Zanpakuto didn't remain in the hands of those that didn't deserve them, always returning to their master as soon as they were needed.

So why was Hyourinmaru right before him?

"I kinda put that together." The edge to his voice could be accepted, he believed, mind too far forward in confusion and uncertainty to even begin to hold a level tone.

Unspoken dares to obvious logic were left unanswered, unfounded, form slowly reclining back to more lax proportions, losing the edge recovered from the threat of ice intruding upon his space. "But isn't that impossible? There has never been two zanpakuto of the same spirit, right?"

[salaamati-archived-deactivated2]

The petite girl walked towards the two Senkaimon practitioners, completely over-passing the other who was speaking to them. It didn’t seem like his business was all too important, plus, whatever it was, her was urgent.

Yes she glanced at him once, but after that second died she returned to her task, uninterested by the ‘guest’.

The tattoo’d hand raised and tapped one of the men on the shoulder, green eyes straight and focused onto them, never wavering once. It could be said that with her most serious expression one wouldn’t take her lightly, however, Salam practiced to use soft and kind expressions. She had no reason to scare anyone away, and one of the practitioners who turned to her was welcomed by a feathered expression.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I have an urgent assignment, could you please open a Senkaimon to the human world?”

[slay-shinoha]

Effectively ignoring her presence, at least from the position of the true outsider within the original group of three, little could be passed over to her but a diminished stare thrown carelessly over her shoulder. Did she seem deserving enough of higher forms of recognition, respect?

To him, the answer was a blatant no.

She was no captain, no officer he knew, and his previous standing meant he knew all other officers that warranted at least passing recognition.

So really, she was a nobody.

But even nobodies required attention, especially when the word urgent popped into regular conversation.

Indulging once more into the curiosity of looking at her, he almost laughed at how ignored she was from masked features displayed by the one she’d tried to talk to. Nodding once to his own conversation partner, who barely gave away a sign in return that all was ended, he turned fully towards her, cutting short the one-sided exchange between the statuesque man and herself.

"Urgent, you say? There weren’t to be any planned openings of the Senkaimon today, what is so urgent that a sudden change in the planning was needed without the knowledge of these two?"

Feeling almost like a translator, he’d stepped to speak for his partners, even if his own place of rest was far from that of Senkaimon duty.

Really, he just didn’t want to have them go against the rules of speaking blatantly to another outside of other Corps members.

Secrecy and all that.

[adamaspulveris-blog]

The continued insults were ignored as he continued to walk away from the shinigami. He was tired of trying to explain it to him in a way that wouldn’t reveal too much. Maybe it would have been better if he had told the whole story from the get go, but that would have also led to his arrest, if the Seireitei was still pissed off about what he had done in the past.

And knowing them, they would be. They knew how to hold a grudge.

Instead, he shifted his focus to things more important to his survival, like figuring out the quickest path away from here and to a more secluded place. The plan to hide within the living world was still a viable one, and it was something he was really starting to consider—

The blast resonated far too close for comfort, and he acted on years of instinct. He didn’t even pause to think about the consequences, he just moved, desperate to avoid another blast. Years of living in Hueco Mundo had done that to him. If he didn’t act, he would surely die.

His hand flew to Hyourinmaru’s hilt, and he had the blade out within a moments notice, quickly turning and swinging the blade behind him. Ice sprang forth from the blade, creeping along the ground towards his attacker, stopping just short of him. It was more of a warning shot then anything else.

"…Damn it." He cursed, sword still pointed towards Kirito, though he lowered it slightly. His sudden movement had finally revealed what was hidden underneath that cloak. A shinigami’s uniform, and a blade that was so recognizable, it was odd to see it in the hands of another. “I was hoping to avoid having you see this…”

[slay-shinoha]

Some idiotic sense of amusement drew itself into being when the other was so quick to react to the blast of kido, thoroughly enjoying the fact that he seemed to jump out of the singular fact that he was scared. All that talk of being high and mighty, or at least, condescending of the other, only to be ushered into fear by a rather eased matter of action.

It felt rather nice, actually.

Having expected the other to run at his feigned attack, body having turned itself somewhat to his right at the idea of returning to his barracks quickly and asking his Captain about the man, only to be stopped short of even going ninety degrees by a sudden blast of cool air, and intrusions of ice nearest his feet.

What the hell?

That zanpakuto....that belonged to Hitsugaya-taicho, didn't it?

"Your blade...Where the hell did you get that?" Such a question, usually requiring force behind it to try and declare himself needing of the answer, was hushed and withdrawn, sapphire hues wide and confused at such contradicting information.

[screamshiranui-archive-blog]

"Really? Washing them doesn’t fix it?" If that were true, then she was utterly doomed. Sugary foods were basically her only diet, her only way to really get through a day of boring papers. If she had to chose between that and prevention of paper cuts…well, she would honestly take the paper cuts. Though sugar didn’t exactly help with those either.

Well, it was like he said, everyone decorated with what they felt suited them. She was a fan of bright colors that stuck out, believing that mixing it up. That obviously wasn’t his style, and she didn’t judge him for it.

Though her face brightened up when he accepted her offer. She loved making things for people. “Sure! And might I say that your color choice is excellent~”

Purple was a color she happened to have an abundance of in her stock of threads. That and a particular shade of green she had grown to love in the recent months.

[slay-shinoha]

"Not unless you get them to a washer really, really fast. Otherwise the sugar kinda just ingrains itself into the fiber and never lets go." And if it was colored candy, well, you'd have a sugary blotch of color that wouldn't come out no matter what you did. Unless you dunked it in something that would probably dissolve the material of the glove along with the sugar, but that didn't help anybody.

Easily put, he just wasn't a great practitioner of putting himself out there, taking a liking to just being one of the many in the background in terms of style.

Anything else, be it ranking or something similar, demanded his attention choice to appear in control.

Laughing softly as a compliment over his choice of color was given, he shook his head once, then twice. "Nah~ I just gravitate towards colors I'm familiar with."

[ritoruuingu]

"What is there to postpone exactly? The idea was settled in our last talk about it—you are not going to agree to what I believe is best and that was the end of it."

[slay-shinoha]

"But that's the problem...I want to listen to what you have to say, to find something I can agree with.

If we're just arguing at all fronts, how're we going to stay together through all of this?"

[ritoruuingu]

"What’s there to be upset about? We solved the whole ordeal, didn’t we?"

[slay-shinoha]

"We postponed it, Amaya. We didn't solve it."

[ritoruuingu]

"What’s wrong?"

[slay-shinoha]

"...Do you really need to ask?"

[ritoruuingu]

Huffs out a sigh and kicks some of the debri around, before stopping and glancing over at him.

[slay-shinoha]

Eyes held contact only for a second, falling away to stare at the ground in self-proposed unworthiness.