In The Rough [Kionchi/Kousetsu]

What happened?...

The air was chilling, yet oddly comfortable.

My mask…

She slowly lifted a hand to her neck, grabbing gently at the porcelain-like substance wrapped around it.

What have I done?...

She extended an arm, flexing it lightly. The girl didn’t feel weak; in fact she felt rather strong, as if she had gained power. She liked it.

I broke it…

Looking around, she realized she was trailing icy steps behind her form. Her fox-like ears twitched, confused by the spectacle. Before bending down to touch the cold patches of land, she also noticed a long and slender blade next to her, she didn’t give it two looks before kicking it away, ignoring the thin cut she received on her bare foot.

The ice feels real, that must mean that it is real, right?

She growled ferally under her breath, frustrated with herself. Looking to her side she noticed her tail had also remained through her transformation. She touched the fur on it and her naked body tingled softly. Her skin was soft and supple, she traced the outside of her legs slowly as she inspected the rest of herself, she was fascinated.

What am I?...

After being relatively stationary for a while, the ground around her - aside from the already iced over footprints - very gradually formed a layer of frost over itself. She watched it curiously, her ears falling flat on her head as she lost herself in the new surface of the ground. A broken reflection of herself appeared before her as the ice became whole. Her face, a true identity. She pulled at her collar a little more forcefully, gritting her teeth and growling once more. “Come...off!” She snarled, continuing to yank and pull at the fragment, only to give up quickly. She rose to her feet, looking at the ground behind her as she took a few steps. The ice continued to form under her as she walked. Her ears perked again as she moved away from the circle of ice she produced, only to stand still for a period of time before creating another circle.

Whatever I am, I must have power, right? This wouldn’t be possible otherwise…

She pondered a moment, flicking her tail in the air wistfully.

Yes! That has be it!

She continued to dance around the field of destruction and fallen debris clumsily as she attempted to get used to her body and examined herself thoroughly. She didn’t even bother to check her surroundings to see if she were being watched.

---

WC: 422

His limbs froze in place, his heart dropping into his stomach as he stood, paralyzed on the other side of that invisible veil. This unexplainable wall between them, a wintry aura that caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. He couldn’t look away, but he couldn’t take another step in either direction. Even as a glittering silver sheen inched closer and closer, the hoarfrost creeping under his hand, his body didn’t flinch, afraid that any sudden movement might scare the timid creature he’d found dancing among the now frozen ruins. Her movements were clumsy, her power lacking any semblance of control. And yet when she turned at just the right angle, when he caught a glimpse of those clear, azure eyes, he felt this sort of enchanting optimism drawing the shinigami toward her. And yet, he could feel this tinge of bone-chilling melancholy peeking just beneath the surface, a seductive depth that left him wanting to know more about this capricious spirit.

“Well, well, well…” He took two steps forward, hand slipping off his katana as his lips curled into a playful smile. There was an unearthly power to her lithe frame beyond mere aesthetic beauty. And yet, the fact he was so callously making himself known while she danced in the nude left both of his inner spirits groaning at the otherwise oblivious shinigami. The absurdity of the entire scene had given him free reign to leave the details of the meeting unprocessed, his body moving as his mind was left to merely appreciate the charm and whimsy of the moment.

The sudden clang of metal and his heart leapt back into his chest. His toe throbbed as he looked down and saw the rapier, half buried in the ice. He could tell almost at once it was a zanpakuto, his hand reaching down to lift the blade as though it were his own. The sword was colder than the ice around it, the subtle flow of his own chilling aura just managing to protect his hand as he pulled it free from the ever encroaching rime.

Looking back at its owner, he let the reality of his position creep back into focus. No matter how you looked at it, he was clearly the one at fault.

Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time.

WC: 392 TWC: 845

Stopping abruptly, she almost fell face-first to the ground below. Her footing was still clumsy, but she was becoming more coordinated by the minute. Her ears twitched as the voice of a male echoed around her, breaking the cold night air that enveloped her senses. Her lip curled up in a growl, slowly turning to face her intruder. She was completely unaware of the fact that she was nude due to the longevity of time in between the eras where “nude” was even basic vocabulary. Back when she was a human. It had been so long.

She now faced the man who easily stood taller than her own self. Long, slick, black hair fell from a slender and well formed face. The way he dressed made it seem as if he were someone of importance, though she had no inkling as to who the man was, or what he was for that matter.

She didn’t entertain the man by speaking to him, she continued to growl in a feral manner. It was an instinct, she wanted to protect herself. She hadn’t been sure of how powerful her new form was, let alone whether or not it could even fight to begin with. She took a step back, the ground under herself frosting over almost immediately. It was almost as if the ice acquired a more firm and potent form as her protective instincts took over. Even though she wasn’t affected herself, she could feel the air around her grow more thin and frigid.

When she spoke for the first time in this form, she expected broken language, as she had not spoken in centuries; she had no reason to. Instead, she spoke fluently and confidently. “Who are you?” She asked, her growl resonating even through the words she spoke. “What do you want?” These weren’t questions she really cared to have answered for her, she was more interested in leaving as swiftly as possible. However, with all of the fallen debris around her, the gigantic pieces of structure towering her, she had nowhere to go except for the path she came from.

Her tail swayed delicately behind her, she was gauging her situation to the best of her ability, but it seemed the only way she could go was through the man. She had to fight. Somehow.

Her eyes trailed to the sword in the man’s hands, the same blade she had kicked carelessly earlier. It meant nothing to her, and yet it seemed so familiar, as if it were part of her. Her ears perked curiously at the item, before she shook her head, looking back up at the man and growling once more. Her feral urges were making her mood sporadic, she didn’t know what she wanted.

The ground was cold and moist on her knees as she fell to them. Helpless, lonely, confused, scared. These were all of the emotions that ran through her mind among many others, she had no clue of her existence beyond what she knew before. She was not hungry, she did not crave the souls of hollows as gravely as she had before her change. It was too much for her, all she wanted to do was cry.

Crying?

Her hand found the hollow hole above her left breast, she traced it lightly with two fingers before the same hand fell back to her side.

Letting her guard down completely, she wept.

---

WC: 570
TWC: 992

The longer he stood watching her, the longer the subtle details he'd overlooked came into focus. He'd noticed the tail during her dance, but now that she'd stopped long enough to him to notice the ears it all came together in a way that reaffirmed his inherited belief in his Fate. After all, he'd encountered not one but two cat-shaped hollows while trying to overcome his mother's challenge. And now that he'd confronted his demon with his own two eyes, the idea he'd find her, like this, was so much of a coincidence to be anything less than kismet.

“Can you even spe-” He took half a step forward before his body froze in place. Between the growing and the ever deepening ice, he realized all at once that approaching her so suddenly was just going to start a fight. It was an entertaining thought for a moment, provoking her ire to see what she’d do. But the more he thought about his behavior the last year, the more he felt a cringe-inducing pain in his stomach. He had more to live for than pushing strangers to the brink.

He looked over her body, watching her tail sway in the chill air as she kept her distance from him. His eyes kept going back and forth between her ears and her tail, the silver color of her hair a brilliant compliment to those light blue eyes. The fragment of her mask had already told him she was an Arrancar, but it wasn’t until she stepped back one more time that he noticed the shards of porcelain at her feet, covered in a thick layer of ice but with a shape coated in an aura that was unmistakably hers. Had she just freed herself from her mindless hunger? It might explain why she was so quick to toss away her zanpakuto.

“Who am I?” He repeated her words as he blinked twice, expecting more, but not able to explain why. He wasn’t about to lie to her, but at the same time he had a cultural aversion to giving his name so freely. “I’m a shinigami. People call me the fox.”

He let another second pass as he watched her looking him over. Question after question ran through his mind. Far more questions than answers. Even after what he did to Tokiyo, Kionchi couldn’t shake some of the habits he’d been taught as the Raven’s subordinate. What was a newborn Arrancar capable of? What was she like before she broke her mask? What aspect of death drove her to become a hollow in the first place? And what could cause her to…

His heart sunk into his stomach as she dejectedly traced the hole around her heart. He could feel his entire body go numb as he watched the tears form around her eyes. Had this been some sort of trick to make him drop his guard, he’d fallen for it completely.

Don’t let your guard down.

Don’t trust a word she says.

They are still monsters.

They will always hurt us.

“Shut up.” Kionchi whispered to himself as he slid the icy rapier into his belt. He could still feel the spirits’ trepidation, but he’d ceased their nagging for now. He slowly approached her, methodically taking each step so carefully that he kept ice from cracking even once. After only a few steps his body shivered, the goose pimples on his arms a clear sign of the noticeable drop in temperature. And yet he continued to take off the kosode of his shihakusho. Holding out the garment, he turned his head slightly, keeping track of her only in the corner of his eyes.

...Are you an idiot?

He remembered what Xiaobei was like when she first approached Tsukuyomi, and he understood why the zanpakuto would poke fun at him for presuming the fox in front of him would be any different. But to him it didn’t matter if she possessed a sense of shame or not. The fact he was clothed while she stood naked meant the pair weren’t going to be able to talk on the same level. And if he had to disrobe to make her comfortable, to make her stop crying, he had nothing to lose. He wasn't about to lose this opportunity to see a newborn Arrancar with his own eyes.

Besides, the red across his cheeks was just from the cold. Right?

WC: 756 TWC: 1601

Her quiet whines turned to sniffles as she noticed the man’s gesture. Though this didn’t take away from her suspicions of him at all, she couldn’t exactly stop herself from feeling thankful.

Feelings…

Thankful?...

She watched the Shinigami closely as a hand unconsciously moved from her side and reached for the robe hanging in front of her. The hesitation in the movement frustrated her. She very much wanted to trust in someone for once, but she didn’t know how to. She didn’t know where to start. How could she trust someone she didn’t even know. Sure the man sort of introduced himself - even through her slight aggression - but he didn’t even bother to present his name to her. How does one react to that?

Her hand found the cloth after a moment of thought. The reason why the man wasn’t looking at her was because she was indecent, that took her a little longer to figure out than she would have liked, but after centuries of living the life she had, there was no need for clothing, it was unnecessary.

Still, she took the robe from the man despite all distrust and meticulously draped it over her body, pulling the front of the garb closed to cover her breasts. Holding the front together with one hand, she took the other and lightly wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks. She kept her eyes to the ground, feeling ashamed of showing so much weakness to anyone, she had to be strong in this place or she would be devoured. That was her existence, and there would never be anything else, she thought.

Her mind raced as she attempted to search for the words she was grasping for, something to show her gratitude for the simple gesture.

Thank you…

Those were the words. Right there for her to take and present to the man, but she couldn’t. A knot formed in her throat and she quickly shied away from it. This wasn’t like her race, this wasn’t how she was supposed to act. This man was her enemy for all she knew. She never cared much for politics, and never really listened to anything that went on in Hueco Mundo, but she knew an enemy when she saw one.

So what was it that was holding her back from just outright attacking them?

Did she really long for companionship that much?

Longing...

I am alone here…

---

WC: 404
TWC: 1396

He watched her get dressed in the corner of his eye, his blush receding as he looked into her eyes. It didn’t take Obsession’s Sight to read her like a book. She was uneasy. Confused. Maybe even a little scared. What hollow wouldn’t be within the reach of his katana? But there was more to her than that, and the idea of uncovering the source of those tears soaking into her new coat using Erasmus’ technique left a knot in his stomach. He wanted to see for himself what stopped her tears from freezing.

“My name is Kionchi,” He blurted the words so quickly it surprised even him. “I’m here because I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

It sounded melodramatic, but that didn't mean it was an exaggeration. Erasmus had just blasted away whatever semblance of order there was to Las Noches. Back in Seireitei, he had been labelled an S-Class criminal, one loose-end away from losing his head. And he wasn’t about to risk Mirabelle or Hanabi by associating with them any further. The only lead he had was a feeling that Evelynn had somehow survived the execution and hid among the ruins of Las Noches, but even then, he had no evidence to support that she had anything more than a stern word in store for the likes of him. These ruins were the only place left for him to look for a new beginning, the legacy of its former ruler having been so unceremoniously passed on to him before he left to settle things in Soul Society. What a sick joke.

“What’s your name?” He took a step back and tried to lean against what appeared to be the bottom half of a wall, slipping once on its icy surface before he was able to get an adequate hold.

Smooth.

WC: 306 TWC: 1907

Kionchi…

She watched the male clumsily prop himself against a large piece of debris. It was rather amusing. The slight hiccup in the man’s otherwise serious nature had made the situation a lot less tense. She found herself relaxing a little, sniffling one more time before shaking her head in response to his original question.

She didn’t have to say anything, she didn’t want to. There was no name for her to recite, she had no identity. Living her life as a Hollow had no meaning to her, and giving herself a name seemed pathetic. She had no time for such trivial things when she was constantly fighting for dominance in the terrible world she resided in. Even then, who would she share her name with? No one here was willing to relate with one another, it was just another sad war in which she so reluctantly participated in. Only to barely survive until the next day repeated its course. It was pointless to have a name.

She looked up at the male and searched his eyes for some semblance of understanding. She was tired of living life alone and scared all the time. Even though she had to assert her dominance over other hollows to “live” - Whatever that word meant.

The robe she donned began to slowly crystallize as she sat there stagnant. She had no idea how to control whatever power she had, it was becoming more and more apparent to her that there was even more for her to learn than what she previously knew in her last form. This was all too much for her to handle. She was almost on the verge of crying again.

---

WC: 280
TWC: 1676

He let loose a mild frown as she shook her head. His initial reaction was that she too afraid to give him her name, but he knew almost immediately that wasn’t quite right. He knew Xiaobei was given her name by Erasmus when she became a hollow, but the idea that someone could go as long as it would take to become an Arrancar without having a name. As he watched the frost building up on his jacket, he felt the waves of her energy wash over him one after another.

What if she had no name because she’d never needed one? Her power and continence made it clear she wasn’t the kind of merciless hollow content to voraciously hunt down anyone who might get too close - not that he was about to entirely drop his guard. But could it be, perhaps, that he’d found a hollow that had never had substantive contact with another soul? She had to have eaten her fair share to survive, sure. But Kionchi had been in Hueco Mundo long enough to know there are souls so pathetic that they hardly qualified as proper company. And now he watched in bewilderment and pity as the poor fox’s soul struggled to contain its own power, the ice building around them on every surface.

"Steady your breath,” He belted the command, as though it were completely natural for him to do so. Pulling himself off the wall, he took a step toward her and kneeled down to look at her on her level. He forced a faint smile, ready to repeat himself when the next thing he saw took his breath away.

At first there was just one. Then two. Then all at once, countless tiny white puffs of snow slowly fell between them. Above the pair, a precarious outcropping of debris had built up frost after being hit for so long by the waves of her energy. And now, Kionchi’s reishi swirling around hers had resonated with the icy residue, causing it to powder. Yet the Fox never knew, his attention focused entirely on her eyes. The snowfall had softened her features, the fluff disappearing as it fell past her face. It only lasted for a second or two, the fluctuating waves of her energy quickly icing the outcropping above them. But he wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass itself by.

“And tell me what you want, Kousetsu.”

WC: 403 TWC: 2310

Her body went rigid the moment Kionchi had gotten close to her, she didn’t trust this kind of closeness and wasn’t about to be pulled into it any further. Kionchi’s smile seemed innocent enough, but she knew that people were so well versed in deception that she couldn’t trust even a simple facial expression.

However, when the snow started to fall around them, her eyes widened intensely as she watched.

The precipitation was very slowly bringing up memories from her death long ago. It was very faint, but the feelings were there all the same. The snow was just too beautiful though, she found her eyes darting back and forth between individual flakes, visualizing every one separately in her mind. A smile of her own started to creep on her face as well. She raised a hand, about to catch a delicate snowflake from the air, before stopping abruptly shaking her head and clearing her mind to stare directly back at Kionchi with a sneer.

The male had called her something, but that slipped passed her mind almost immediately. She swiftly rose to her feet, clumsily turning around and storming off in a random direction. She didn’t care where she was headed, she just didn’t want to be anywhere near the Shinigami. It was obvious to her that the ice beneath her feet was almost completely solid now and greater in size as she stomped away into the night.

She couldn’t trust him, everything he was doing was just a ploy to get her to drop her defenses. He just wanted to kill her, that’s all. Why would anyone want anything else with her? There was no point.

I’ll always be alone.

She turned a corner sharply, gritting her teeth as she stopped abruptly. She turned to a toppled pillar, raising a fist and punching it full force without so much of a flinch as her flesh made contact with the hard rock structure. Ice sprayed sporadically from the point of collision on the pillar, splintering itself in an almost menacing way. She stared curiously at this for a moment before rushing off in the same general direction again, trying to cover as much ground as possible.

Don’t follow me…

Please…

---

WC: 371
TWC: 2047

He could feel her aura settle as she stared into the snow. And like that, he was caught by the whimsy of her subtle smile, the curl of her lips cementing his hope that there was more to her than just the fearful instincts of a cornered beast. His pulse quickened as she raised her hand, tempting him to reach out and see for himself that she was even real. Swallowing away the lump in his throat, he slowly raised his hand, closing his eyes just for a moment as he allowed his spirit to reach out and feel the timid soul who’d so thoroughly captured his muse.

And like that she was gone, as though she never was.

There a moment of hesitation, his mind too relaxed to panic. For an instant he thought maybe he’d just initiated a resonance. Perhaps their auras were so similar that he couldn’t distinguish between his and hers. But his reverie was thoroughly smashed by the distant sound of shattering ice, his eyes opening wide to find Kousetsu, and her smile, gone.

There was some part of him that wanted to drop the whole thing then and there. Perhaps he was just too receptive to Amaterasu’s spiteful cheering. Or perhaps he was too afraid of opening himself up so soon after losing so much. He wasn’t sure what drove his body to move, a small circle of ice beneath his feet and hands almost instantly converting to steam as he launched his soul forward on the swift rings of his reishi. The swifter of the two foxes was able to catch up in a single step, but he was impressed with her distance given how she was clearly still adapting her new form.

“It means Snowfall,” Kionchi beamed another smile, the rush of adrenaline getting to him. Fortunate for him, speed was his forte. And while he still wasn’t sure what compelled him to move in the first place, he knew he wanted to find out.

WC: 335 TWC: 2645

She stared terrified into Kionchi’s eyes as he miraculously appeared in front of her form. What kind of power would have allowed him to achieve such a thing. It was ludicrous. Yet, she still wanted to get away from him. The only problem being that there seemed to be no way to escape, he was too quick. He didn’t even seem to be tired from that quick action.

Leave me alone!

Her eyes flickered swiftly to the blade Kionchi had holstered to his side earlier. Unconsciously her right hand launched out at the handle of the sword, gripping it tightly as she yanked it out, preforming a small backwards leap to create distance between the two. She was quickly becoming more coordinated and nimble. Her movements decisive and taught. She held out the blade in front of her, the tip of it aiming for Kionchi’s neck some few feet away.

The sword wasn’t traditional in the slightest. In fact, it might have seemed impractical at first. However, the technique seemed to somewhat click with her almost immediately. The blade itself was three foot long at best, and had an incredibly thin width, coming to a fine point at the end of the blade that looked to be made for piercing.The hilt and guard was even more odd, an intricate woven design of metal fluidly wrapped its way around the outside of the handle, as if the user’s hand were in a basket while wielding the weapon. It shouldn’t work, she thought, but it felt comfortable in her grasp. It wasn’t just the snugness of the weapon that made it perfect, but it was the chilling sensation that coursed through her hand from the handle that made her feel somewhat safe with the item.

“Stay away!” She growled through her teeth loudly. The vibration resonating throughout her body. She shifted her weight onto her back foot, pushing forward and lunging at Kionchi aggressively, one arm resting slightly behind her back as she extended her reach.

If he wouldn’t leave, she’d make him.

---

WC: 342
TWC: 2389

His eyes opened wide as she reached for her sword. His warrior’s intuition told him him to keep it from her at all costs, but it was a voice easily silenced by his overwhelming desire to learn. Pride. Anger. Lust. Envy. Sloth. Gluttony. Greed. He could already rule out the Sins that drove most hollow. Just the fact she’d run away and leave her sword behind told him that much. But he was also intimately aware that not all Aspects of Death were so neatly tied to a Sin.

His smile widened as she took the pose of an experienced swordsman. It was like watching a newborn cub pounce on another in its litter, woefully unaware of its own potential power. She was a natural, far better than any untrained combatant he’d seen wield a weapon. And yet, as he sidestepped the attack, his mind focused on intentionally keeping his katana sheathed, he couldn’t help but compare her stance.

“Come now, I just wanted to talk.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie, but it wasn’t entirely the truth. Even now his brain was madly cycling through his own boring lectures, dredging up everything from textbook examples to outdated field reports trying desperately to pinpoint just what it was that drove the wild vixen to push him away…

Loneliness

He disappeared without a flourish, flickering back into existence a good hundred meters away. There was no longer a smile on his face, but rather a look of shock and dismay. How could he have missed something so obvious? How did he miss an answer he’d just found himself after so many months? She was alone. Being a hollow who’d rather dance than hunt or fight, he wasn’t surprised. The fact she’d survived this long was a testament not only to her power, but to her will.

“If you really want me to leave, I’ll walk away and you’ll never see me again. I’ll leave you to face this world alone. But if you want me to believe that’s what you really want, you’re going to have to tell me without tears rolling down your cheeks. I've walked down that road, and no matter what direction you take, you’ll always find yourself trapped by a winter storm.”

WC: 378 TWC: 3023

When Kionchi disappeared from her sight, she slashed her sword in the air with a flick of her wrist and rest the blade on the back of her hand as she searched for the male.

He’s toying with me…

A deep rumble found its way into the back of her throat again, she gritted her teeth, staring dead ahead, spotting Kionchi meters away. It was obvious to her that he didn’t want to fight, and that attempting to fight him was useless. Running away from him was also futile it seemed, Kionchi was oddly hell bent on “speaking” to her.

It was when Kionchi spoke his last words that it hit her. A sizeable amount of dread washed over her as memories flooded her mind. It was the first time in centuries that she had had any recollection of these past events.

The storm.

The everlasting cold of the night.

The whining fox as it took it’s last breaths next to her own dying form.

They died together, but she was alone in the end.

That’s how it always was.

The sound of metal filled the night as her blade dropped from her hand. The tip of the blade piercing the ground, sending splintered ice fragments jutting out from its epicenter. A broad range around her began to immediately freeze over, more intensely than the last few. She stood there traumatized as that fateful night came back to haunt her.

It took all of her might to speak, let alone yell as she did at the Shinigami.

“What do you know about being trapped?!”

The ice around her began to crack and pop as it lost its substance, its stability.

“You will never understand what it’s like to be alone for centuries upon centuries!”

The ground, as ice had formed between cracks, shattered under her, leaving a field of frozen sand scattered around her.

A tear dropped from her cheek as she lost control. She no longer wanted to fight, she just wanted to be left alone.

Stop crying…

---

WC: 339
TWC: 2728

His eyes grew sullen as she screamed, confirming his suspicions as to what drove the pitiable spirit. A pyrrhic victory, if there ever was one. He knew firsthand the pain of being alone. Of being imprisoned in a dying body. Being locked away for decades, a portion of his own soul sealed and taken away. He knew the pain of waking up to an empty bed, the pain of knowing what was lost, and the hollow ache of knowing you’ll never find anyone who can fill that void.

But most of all, he knew the last thing she needed was to hear his whining.

“You don’t think I can feel that emptiness inside of you?” Kionchi continued to step out over the ice, the frost just barely cracking under his sandal. “You’ve let it consume you so thoroughly that it’s become your only friend. Your only ally. And I understand why you are so afraid of losing even that.”
He lived for his family, and they abandoned him. He lived for his wife, and she left to take her stand. He lived for Seireitei, only to be betrayed. And now even Las Noches lie broken, its residents scattered to the four winds. Every place he thought he could safely lay his head had failed to live up to the expectation that there’d be a place for him there the next morning. Every time he raised his sword for someone else, thinking maybe they’d let him in, he eventually find himself without them, alone. He was tired of relying on others to make a home. He was tired of expecting someone else to provide.

“If you looked like you had any other place to go, I wouldn’t have given you a second thought. I’m not looking to hurt or trap anyone. I’m just a lost soul looking for a home.” He took another firm step forward, extending an empty hand toward her. “Looking for someone to help me build one. To share one. And to help make sure I’m not building my own prison.”

WC: 343 TWC: 3366

She had never been so tempted before. Safety? Security? A home? There was no way that one man - let alone a man who had no clue who she was - could possibly offer her all of that. She had even drawn a sword on him, and there Kionchi was, putting trust into her as if they had known each other all their life.

The soft weeping continued as she thought more. However, this time they were tears that expressed another feeling that she hadn’t ever experienced before. Hope. Such a fickle term, yet it was as real as it could get in this situation.

She slowly reached out as she once had when she went to grab the robe, the same robe that was frozen on her and cracking as she moved. She took Kionchi’s hand and looked into his eyes. He had been correct, the only thing she knew was her loneliness, the only thing that she held close to her, the only real feeling she knew. Somewhere she had to make a change, take a chance. There was no one in Hueco Mundo that would ever think to offer this sort of opportunity, they were all too selfish and driven by their own greed and evil. So why not take that chance with someone who who didn’t seem like the others. The worst that could happen is that she’s backstabbed and finally meets her end.

Using Kionchi for support, she propped herself up from the ground, retrieving the blade she had taken from him on the way up and holding it out horizontally for the Shinigami to take. She could feel herself begin to calm, the need to fight dwindling.

She sniffled a little, slightly looking away, embarrassed for acting the way she was. “I believe this is yours...” she said shamefully, what she did was impolite, even if she was just protecting herself. She should have at least given Kionchi a chance before attacking him in blind rage. Even then, the weapon seemed to surge in her hand as she offered it to him.

“I apologize for my actions…” She returned her eyes to Kionchi and gave him a solemn smile, a tear still lingering on her cheek.

Of course, she wasn’t sure a simple sorry made up for swinging a sword wildly at someone.

---

WC: 387
TWC: 3115

His shoulders relaxed as he felt her hand on his. It was warmer than he’d have guessed, but the gesture would have touched him all the same. He hadn’t noticed before how strikingly similiar her eyes were to Arashi. The same color he’d seen in Seiryu’s eyes, but with a gentle timidness that just barely hid this wild ferocity that made his heart quicken in nostalgia. His mind wandered just for a second, wondering if the wild fox could feel his pulse. Would it really be so bad if she could?

His eyes opened wide at her next gesture, blinking three or four times in rapid succession, he found himself at a loss for words. He already had substantial evidence to support his theory that she was recently evolved, but could she really not hear her own zanpakuto? Then again, he was never clear on whether or not Arrancar could speak to their swords in the first place. Of course it even took most shinigami years before they could commune, but he’d always assumed the hollow were far more intuitive and quick to develop.

“Is it?” Kionchi raised his eyebrow and reached his hand to her cheek, flashing just enough of his own reishi that she’d be able to distinguish between them. “Close your eyes. Feel the sword with more than your hands, and tell me why you think you were able to use it like that.”

WC: 239 TWC: 3605

She didn’t have to do as instructed to pick up Kionchi’s implications. The sword was hers. It made more sense to her as she thought back. The feeling she got when she yanked it from Kionchi’s belt, when she thrusted it through the air. Even more importantly the waves of subtle energy the weapon was sending her as she held it out to Kionchi.

This is mine?

She didn’t just think it, she said it allowed, now looking back up at Kionchi. “Where did it come from? Why does it feel this way?” She had a million questions, and it seemed like they could all be answered by the Shinigami, but she knew better than to be annoying.

Her hand pulled the blade back to her side, holding it firmly as if she were trying to protect it. Or was the weapon protecting her?

This was all so new to her, she was barely on the cusp of breaking down at every moment. Her emotions were firing off in different ways so sporadically that it was driving her nuts. She tried to contain herself, but she knew she was visibly shaking, hell, she could feel herself shaking.

She really hoped that Kionchi could help her find out what she was and how to control the power she so obviously had. She hoped that Kionchi wouldn’t backstab her and leave her in the cold. She hoped that he would be her friend.

A friend.

---

WC: 243
TWC: 3358

His heart lightened as he watched her expression do the same. There was a confidence in her eyes, not to mention a simple kind of honesty that he always found so refreshing in hollow-kind. There were a few like Amaterasu, scheming and manipulative sociopaths looking to use everyone around them. And even more primitive hollow unable or unwilling to think of anything but bloodshed, products of a cruel world wherein the only law was survival of the fittest. But Kousetsu was different than most, a rare breed that Kionchi knew had the most potential. And it was the idea of fostering the potential of that spirit he’d found in the ruins of Las Noches that made her such a diamond in the rough.

“Kousetsu,” Kionchi whispered, lowering his hand from her cheek and giving her a warm. “That’s your zanpakuto. A physical manifestation of your former self, ready to be used at a moment’s notice. A fragment of your soul, just like mine.” He gestured toward the katana on his hip. “I would love to see what you’re fully capable of, if you’ll let me teach you.”

WC: 189 TWC: 3794