Rebirth of a Fox [Kousetsu/Kionchi]

It was cold. A sharp, bone-rattling cold. The kind of chill that left an empty pit in the core of your body, so devoid of warmth that your left unable to even conjure a comforting memory.

Do not resist me.

The voice rattled his body, the pressure alone leaving him struggling for air. His stomach growled, but he wasn’t sure why. He couldn’t remember the last meal he’d eaten, even though he was sure he didn’t go to bed hungry. Yet his body felt so weak he couldn’t even open his eyes. There was just the quiet groan of his dying body, and that familiar voice he’d never heard before beckoning him to give in and let the hunger take over his body.

There was a feeling of loneliness he couldn’t escape. This desire to be with someone, but he couldn’t tell who. He knew he had to protect her. He knew he had to stay close. He knew if they could be together, they’d weather this storm.

They’d keep one another safe.

Or at least, warm.

A soft whimper escaped his lips as he rolled in the thick, fluffy sheets of his worn out green futon. The small room off his office was as dark and barren as the rest, an alarm clock in the corner ticking away and a half-eaten bento lying by the head of his bed. It had to just be a dream. Perhaps a nightmare from eating too soon before going to sleep.

But that didn’t explain the thin layer of frost building on his forehead.

The cold seemed to come from his own body, numbing him to the rest of the world. He was no stranger to living in darkness. He was no stranger to living in his own world. He’d only opened up and let a few people in his prison. And each time they left twisted and shamed. He was always adamant about keeping the door shut. Keeping the rest of the world safe, and his world secure. And yet every now and again he was overcome by that overwhelming desire to let someone else in. His energy swirled around his body and reached out in every direction, desperate to feel the soul of the one responsible for reminding him of how lonely he really was.

The castle, the landscape, it all started to fade before her eyes. Was she waking up? That was hardly enough time to go through a full cycle of sleep. Of course, Kousetsu understood the technicalities of sleep and how dreams worked within it. However, this felt different. Considering the possibility of experiencing multiple dreams while in a deep slumber and only remembering the last one you woke up to, she still felt no longevity to the rest she had received. It was almost as if something was interfering with her mind while she was unconscious. Could it have something to do with the voice she had heard moments prior or was it something else? There was no way for her to tell, and she wasn’t about to attempt resisting it. After all, she was a curious kind of spirit.

The images before her slowly faded away, only leaving her in a pitch black space that made her feel nauseous. She wasn’t able to think much during this short period of time, her mind seemingly as blank as her current vision. This wasn’t normal, she was unconscious, yet conscious. Able to think, however, jumbled.

Peaceful, yet sad.

The light was blinding, she tried to close her eyes, but even as she felt her lids snap shut, it was as if the light peeked through them and shone brightly against her cornea in protest. It was obvious there was no escape. She opened her eyes and accepted the light shining fiercely around her. Everywhere she looked, something that might as well have been the sun followed her eyesight.

Suddenly, everything dimmed and she could slowly start to make out shapes and colors, but very few of each. Each second seemed like an eternity as she attempted to make out objects within the light.

After what was only a few seconds of pure torture, she could finally see where she was. A large opening within a forest. White, puffy and beautiful snow blanketed the field. Snowflakes fell quickly and continuously through the air, creating more layers on top of the already seemingly deeply packed snow.

Kousetsu took it all in. she could slightly feel that the temperature was definitely extremely low, but she wasn’t affected by it at all. In fact, it sort of calmed her. The immersion would have held up, though, if it wasn’t for a tiny distinct sound heard from within a howling gale.

She looked around, only spotting a giant tree that sat behind her in the middle of the open area. She blinked twice at the monstrous thing, being reminded briefly of something in her past.
The noise happened again, this time Kousetsu could tell that it was from behind this huge tree that it was hidden from her. She decided to take a look.

The closer she got, the more she could make out the sound in the storm. A ragged breath, desperately grasping for air in what could have been a very thin atmosphere. The sound was seemingly animalistic and it began to bear down on her.

She rounded the corner, preparing herself for what could have been a horrible sight. What had brought her here in the first place? Who was at fault.

The noise was as clear as day as she found her target.

There laid the dying form of Kousetsu’s human body, curled up on the ground, almost completely devoured by layers of snow. The frost had hardened and matted her hair against her cracked and frozen face. The girl had been out there for hours, that much was evident.

Next to the girl was an animal, a fox. In a slightly better condition, but obviously malnourished and not likely to make it through the storm. It’s fur had taken the same fate as the girl’s hair.

Kousetsu had to take only one small look at the scene before a race of images passed through her mind, temporarily leaving her paralyzed.

Once the images were gone and she witnessed it all over again, she screamed.

You were once weak. Now you are whole. Do not resist me.

---

WC: 684
TWC: 1395

I could feel my body getting heavier. Yet no matter how hard I pressed into hers, the warmth continued to fade. It was so cold it hurt to try to open my eyes, as though my tears had frozen them shut. I tried to move, even a little. Just wiggle enough to show her I was still there. I couldn’t even move enough to shake off the snow building up on our bodies.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this. It was supposed to be safe with her.

A warmth began to build up in the core of my body as I lost what little feeling I had left in my paws. It was a little scary at first, but it felt so good that I didn’t second guess it. I could feel my spirit melting away all that sharp pain in my body. There was no more feeling left. There was no need to feel anything anymore. And as one of my eyelids slowly opened, the crunch of ice the only sound left atop the woman who promised to be there with me forever, I looked out and saw another figure in the snow. And it was at that very moment I remembered who I was.

Kousetsu…

Kionchi’s eyes opened wide as he stood only a couple feet behind his loyal Arrancar. He could feel his hand shaking, his senses still fuzzy as he tried to focus his mind and comprehend what was happening. He couldn’t feel his own aura, that familiar chill wracking his sixth sense as he looked over her shoulder and watched the pair of bodies being slowly enveloped in a blanket of snow. They were so still, almost serene. A grisly way to die. And yet it left behind such a picturesque and perhaps perfect metaphor for the futility of struggling and fighting in a world seemingly made to swallow us up.

He had no idea who the victims were or their significance to Kousetsu. And yet there was a part of him that felt as familiar with the dying pair as he was with Arashi. He bit his own lip as he looked back toward Kousetsu, his body going still as he looked at her hands. She wasn’t shaking. She wasn’t mad. There was an eerie calm about her, as though she’d been exposed to the scene so many times before...or perhaps defiantly refusing to give into the illusion’s cruel torture. Either way, he found himself smiling, proud of her strength. It didn’t occur to him once that it could be her nature as an Arrancar shutting away her heart. He knew from personal experience that the Hollow race was not the kind to suppress their emotions.

His smile quickly vanished as his gaze drifted back to the tiny fox being covered in the snow, a single marigold eye staring into his, as though in its final moments it was listening in on what Fate had in store for the hopeless shinigami who shared his namesake.

Kousetsu stood, emotionless and still, her mind absent of all thought. She was taking in the scene before her with so much intensity that her immediate surroundings seemingly vanished. All that was left in her eyes were the fox and her previous self. At some point, she couldn’t even feel her present self in the scene, almost as if some god picked out all the unimportant pieces and left the significant ones.

One by one, single words rectified themselves in her mind, filing through until she found what she was looking for.

Despair. Dread. Hate. Vengeance. Regret.

Loneliness.

How could one word define her entire existence? People give whole speeches during funerals about the dead and how their life was meaningful. Kousetsu received none of that. For all she knew, her body decomposed along with the fox, a sad ending. This couldn’t have been what drove her, it was intangible.

She wasn’t even alone in the end, the fox had kept her company, that was enough, wasn’t it?

No. In fact, the piece she had been missing this whole time was a large one. Her whole prior life had been a cesspool of loneliness. From her parent's initial death to the constant migration through orphanages, to every rejected look she was given by every person she came into contact with. Her moment of death was tiny and insignificant next to the grand scheme of things, and she had been stuck on that small bit for this whole time. Six hundred years of wondering why she wasn’t worthy of anyone’s company, let alone their love and compassion. Only to be thrown sporadically into a world where she was gifted a friend, a companion. It was all impossible to her. Nothing ever happened like that. This wasn’t some fairy tale ending that left her happy. In fact, she was still in a pit of despair and had been even after taking the initiative to tear off her mask and end her hunger. What would it take for her to climb out of the endless hole that was dug for her to rot in?

Her vision flickered, the scene coming back to life for her once more. The snow fluttered down in front her face, bringing motion back into play. It fatigued her immediately, but her mind still raced forward in a flurry. She wanted so badly to get rid of her burdens right then and there, but it was too much for her to handle all at once. Still, she had to do something to repair this issue, even if it was only temporary.

She knelt moved forward closer to the bodies under the tree, kneeling down and placing her hand atop the snow that covered them. She closed her eyes as a tear fell delicately from her face, crystallizing almost immediately before hitting the ground. It truly was cold here.

She struggled to find the words she was looking for as her mouth attempted to open. A small choking noise escaped her as the start of a sentence slipped passed and disappeared. There was no need for long winded speeches - not now. Her goal right now was to make everything just a little better.

She closed her mouth again and swallowed a lump in her throat, only to open it back up and finally speak.

“It’s okay, Yuki. Your journey is just beginning”

It was simplistic, but it was enough to satisfy.

As the words left her mouth and her sentence finished, a rush of energy stabbed through her body. Her eyes wide, she coughed a few times, grasping for air. She grabbed her chest as it subsided and a wave of assurance washed over her body. She smiled weakly at the forms in the snow. It was enough.

Experiencing new feelings and emotions, she looked up at the tree. To her surprise, what she was looking at was different from before. Instead of the dead branches that were covered in snow, she saw a bloom of beautiful leaves and flowers sprouting from random areas within. It was still snowing rather harshly, but there seemed to be a barrier blocking the terrible weather from affecting the tree. It was beautiful. The contrast between the very much thriving tree against the gray sky and the dead forest surrounding left Kousetsu speechless. It was like a gorgeous painting that could have been hung in any of the world’s best museums.

She looked back down towards the bodies, they were still encased in snow, the base of the tree still very much open to the storm. Kousetsu took a deep breath, nodding silently.

There was still work to do.

Slowly as her mind and body settled, she felt a presence near her that was oddly familiar, she glanced around to see who was there. But as her eyes flickered across a form and before she could make out any features, everything went dark and silent.

---

WC: 821
TWC: 2216

The color had completely drained from his face, snow building on his sandals as he watched the scene unfold. His body felt frozen, but it wasn’t that he just couldn’t move. It was more that he had forgotten how to move. Or, more precisely, that he was so overwhelmed by the scene before him that his spirit refused him the liberty, perhaps afraid that he would be rejected by the world trapped in that perfect stillness.

”Yuki”

The name quickly shook him out of his reverie, his eyes blinking as he stared slack-jawed into the figure he’d been standing behind this whole time. The name was the final piece of puzzle, the gears in Kionchi’s head spinning to life as he finally figured out where he was. This was her dream. The Arrancar he’d brought back with him to Karakura. But how…

”Yuki.”

This time the words escaped his mouth, but in the same feminine voice as hers. He wasn’t even sure why he said it. He should have had full control over his Resonance by now. Those eyes Erasmus cursed him with should have been enough to keep his powers in check. Then why did his soul so easily conform to hers? What was it about this dream that made his spirit react the way it did? And why was he unable to look away from that scene. That tree. Those blossoms. That poor dying fox. That poor dying girl.

He raised his hand as he watched her turn around, irredeemably drawn to her beautiful blue eyes. But when he looked down at his own body, he just saw an extension of the same darkness creeping around the rest of her dream. The same kind of drowning black that always threatened to flood Kionchi’s inner world. That all-consuming void, washing over both body and tree, leaving only Kousetsu’s eyes in his sight as the rest of her vision faded to black.

His body made a timid whine as the last traces of her slipped away. His eyes opened wide, pupils dilating as the morning sun replaced the surreal dream with the ceiling of his shitty office. It took him a second to sit up out of bed, massaging his temples as he groaned at the thumping of his pulsing head. Everything seemed to take a backseat to the throbbing pain. He even resisted taking a leak as he stumbled half-conscious through his office toward the kitchen, desperate for an Alka-Seltzer.

Plop. Plop.

“They just don’t fizz like they used to…”

Drinking the glass of sparkling water, he leaned back on the kitchen counter and stared into the formal office. Kousetsu looked like she’d just passed out wherever she happened to be when the sandman made his rounds. He couldn’t help but smile at that side of her, that carefree attitude growing on him the longer they spent together.

I guess I should train her like I promised.

You really are an idiot, The sound of his inner hollow’s snide remarks reminded him of his full bladder, desperate for an excuse to distract himself. You know you can’t walk away from me, stupid fox.

It doesn’t mean I have to give you my full attention.

Par for the course. After all, you’ve been ignoring her since she moved in.

A few seconds later, he was brushing his teeth while he let last night’s beer pass through his body, his sixth sense on his coquette little vixen in the other room, hoping he can at least comb his hair before she was up and looking for something to do.

”Augh!” The heat surprised him as he gurgled the last of his toothpaste, the flushing toilet leaving him with the unexpected mouthful of hot water. He spat it out and wiped his mouth, looking at his disheveled short hair in the mirror and letting loose something of a sigh. What the hell was he doing all this for?

A minute later and his uniform was being tied tight, his eyes drawn to an empty wall, his finger tracing a black line across its surface as though he were a living brush. The line slowly grew, opening like a jagged maw exposing a picturesque scene of a quaint snow-covered forest. Kionchi took a few steps into the woods, pulling out several spheres Kousetsu had collected. With a single toss, he charged the spheres with his energy, watching them as they swept away into the deserted Siberian wilderness, scattering to the winds as he spun to look back into his office, the Garanta still open. A second later, the shinigami disappeared without a trace, fleeing for the safety of the woods as he kept his senses concentrated on his portal. Waiting for Kousetsu to wake up and find her way into the same snowy wilderness where they’d begin the next phase of her training.

Perhaps, had he been paying more attention, he’d have noticed both his own soul and the spheres had taken on the same qualities of the fox he’d met in her dreams. But by the time he’d completed his first flashstep, his body had become something else entirely, four paws crunching in the fresh powder as he stood paralyzed at the sudden revelation. He was that fox from her dream.

But why?

Kousetsu stirred from her slumber, sitting up slowly as she held her head. It felt like someone had smashed a rock over her head repeatedly until they thought she was dead. Her body shook sporadically for a moment as she attempted to hold herself up on one arm. She instead chose to lean her back against the bookshelf that she had fallen asleep by.

What was that dream?

It didn’t feel like any other dream she had been in and it honestly frightened her. The scene that was presented to her wasn’t new, as she’d seen it multiple times in the past, but she never had full control of her body in those previous dreams, nor was she able to feel and smell the things she had in that particular one.

She sat there for a few moments before glancing toward the window of Kionchi’s office. Apparently, she had slept through the whole night, which was odd. The morning sun peeked calmly through the window at her with a vibrant shade of orange. The light hit her face, warming her cheeks as she attempted to break the grogginess.

Her eyes drifted closed again as she took a deep breath, her head still pounding as if something were trying to escape her skull. She rubbed two fingers on her temples simultaneously, alleviating some of the pain she felt.

Kousetsu opened her eyes once more, glancing around the room to see if anything was out of place beside the books she had tossed around the night prior. Everything seemed normal except…

Damn it, Kionchi…

Kousetsu struggled to her feet as she sighed heavily in discontent. Across the room was a portal to god knows where. The only thing she was worried about was the snow falling into the room, soaking the carpet.

“Kionchi, next time you open a fucking portal, make sure you lay down some towels or something! Jeez!” She yelled through the portal. She had no clue if Kionchi was even there, but it didn’t matter, she was borderline livid. Kionchi had always preached to her about keeping a tidy living area. Now after seeing this, she just scoffed at his speeches. She glanced back at the books lying on the floor and shrugged her shoulder, walking through the portal and snatching her sword from the wall next to it on the way through.

She could tell the weather might have been cold, however, it didn’t phase her. Kousetsu expected nothing less, of course, it was just a little silly.

Kousetsu scanned her surroundings thoroughly, taking in everything. She guessed that this was Kionchi’s way of saying “We’re training today”, so it was most likely that he was out there somewhere. The trees were thick with pines, snow covering them completely. The storm around her raged on, and it reminded her faintly of the dream she had just had. Her expression softened, thinking about the events, but she quickly shook it away, she had training to do.

Kionchi’s reiatsu could not be sensed by Kousetsu, which was the first concerning part. In fact, there was no trace of it here in this area at all. She sniffed lightly at the air, making use of her keen sense of smell. Still, nothing, although, an animal had been through there recently.

“A fox, perhaps?” She whispered under her breath as she attempted to deduct the smell. Kousetsu pardoned it immediately, frustrated with herself for getting distracted so easily. She rubbed her head gently as remnants of her headache continued to show themselves.

Instead of standing there and looking stupid, she decided she would take a small walk around and see if she could find anything worth noting. She was supposed to be looking for Kionchi, so it couldn’t have been that hard unless he had hidden his reiatsu completely from her.

---

WC: 639
TWC: 2855

Enormous pines sped past him as the Fox zipped faster and faster through the woods. His paws seemed to spend more time in the air with each step, the shock of the cold on his otherwise warm body pushing him to jump further with each step. He could feel her behind him, the portal closing as he tried to ignore the rapid fire beating of his worked up little heart. He'd never been in this body before, but he had plenty of experience running from things. Especially in the cold.

Why is it always snow.

He knew Kousetsu would follow him. That confidence in her desire to grow seemed to encourage him to keep pushing forward. It somehow felt different then when he thought of his other students. Maybe he had just grown as a teacher since he conquered Amaterasu. That had to be it, right? Maybe. But it wasn't time to get lost thinking about that.

Stupid Fox.

The soft crunch of the snow beneath his paws eerily reminded him of that day before his incarceration twenty years ago. Their mother always called him a stupid fox, and Erasmus showed him their daughters carried on that legacy, even while he was rotting away in the Nest. It seemed like Fate had decided he couldn't escape his namesake. No matter how fast he ran.

”This should be far enough,” He stopped a good a half a mile from Kousetsu, his reiatsu suppressed as he took a mental note of the twenty-four spheres he'd hidden throughout the woods. Closing his eyes, he focused his power on his feet, just enough to melt the snow beneath him in the shape of a single Kanji. The build-up of energy only lasted only a second, the azure light quickly dispersing, running in rapid-fire lines in every direction only an inch under the surface. Each sped to their respective orbs, each orb becoming a shining beacon of Kionchi's signature. Or, at least, the signature he had in this oddly familiar identity.

Each sphere shimmered a little, a delicately inscribed bakudo causing the shape of a tiny white fox to grow around it, reishi particles using the snow to form the two dozen or so golems that would act as decoys for Kousetsu's keen senses. He wanted to see if she could find him among all the fakes. And for the most part, his pride in his Bakudo demanded that she be tricked at least once or twice. But there was still a small part of him that hoped she'd find him first.

Kousetsu's walk was rather unsuccessful, she had found absolutely nothing but some random pawprints that came to a dead end. It had been an hour by then and she would have been cold in the obviously frigid temperatures if she wasn't already used to it. She glanced around as she thought about Kionchi, hoping he had brought something heavy to wear in the harsh weather. The last thing she needed was to have Kionchi sick because of her. She knew it was his idea to train her, but he wouldn't have had the idea if she hadn't come along.

She rounded a tree, inspecting the dead bark closely, looking for any signs of Kionchi's presence. It was futile, though, why would he leave something as obvious as markings on bark for her? Kionchi had told her multiple times that she was very intuitive and smart. She doubted very much that he would be so rude as to leave something that brainless for her to find.

Sighing heavily, she sat down in the snow, the fluffy white powder coating her tail and making it glisten in the rising sunlight. She closed her eyes and focused on the area around her, trying to pick out any signs of reiatsu that wasn't like her own, and hopefully much like Kionchi's. She wasn't sure why she didn't attempt this in the first place, probably because she knew that Kionchi would attempt and hide from her, which was the whole point of this exercise in the first place.

At first, Kousetsu didn't notice anything, but that was mostly because she was focusing too hard on trying to find Kionchi instead of expanding her horizons and looking outside of her comfort zone. She reached out further, dropping her bias on Kionchi's reiatsu, and continued to search around. It didn't take long before she found a signature that was oddly familiar, and coincidentally similar to her own. There were multiple souls running around the area, easily two dozen or more. Kousetsu stood quickly and looked around frantically in hopes to catch one of the culprits in plain sight. Her hand gripped the handle of her rapier as she prepared herself to attack. She was fully aware that this could have been one of Kionchi's tricks, but she couldn't let her guard down knowing that it could also be enemies.

In the distance, she watched as a shadow flew past a tree line, from the readings she was receiving, she could tell that the particular soul was alone. Before she even had the time to make any conscious decision, she was already up on her feet and moving at top speed, dodging trees and shrubbery alike. By now her rapier was already drawn, the peeking sun shimmered off the tip of the blade, shining brightly at her side as she held it in a ready position, prepping herself to lunge at any target she deemed hostile.

Passing through the last break in the treeline, she entered a clearing and inspected its contents. Right away she noticed two animals interacting with each other, seemingly holding a conversation right in front of her eyes. This would have been normal to Kousetsu, except they were radiating reiatsu. On top of that, they were both foxes, exact copies of the fox she had died within her previous life.

Her heart stopped, it was no coincidence that these foxes were showing up where she would be training, and that all of the reiatsu signatures surrounding her were identical to one another - most likely in the same form.

It was you...

This had to be Kionchi's doing.

She faintly remembered seeing a figure before she woke from the dream she had. There was almost no doubting who it was. Kionchi had mentioned his resonating powers to her on multiple occasions and how it has odd effects towards different people. But why would he do this to her? A tear formed in her eye, rolling down her cheek and freezing before it hit the ground.

I knew he couldn't be trusted...

I got my hopes up for nothing...

Kousetsu drew her sword slowly, closing her eyes and sighing heavily. Her emotions were flooding her mind and nothing but rage started to build inside of her. Unbeknownst to her, thin patches of ice slowly began to form randomly around her body. Her rapier was forming an edge out of the cold substance, allowing for the ability to not only pierce targets but slash them as well. Kousetsu's aura weighed heavily on herself, she could feel her own spiritual pressure - however little - bearing down on her body and coaxing her to use its power for something greater than herself.

Drop the act, Kousetsu, you're not the pacifist you think you are.

The lithe girl took a step forward, weapon by her side. The voice inside of her head taunting her, almost feeling like it was physically pulling at her very soul. She knew the foxes weren't real, and that getting them out of her sight wouldn't be too much of a problem. The two forms glanced up at Kousetsu, their eyes almost goading her on to attack. It was that sort of smugness that tipped her off. She rushed forward, holding out her blade and preparing to strike.

The scene was over in almost an instant, as her blade cut through the first fox, the form dispersed in a brilliant explosion of tiny ice crystals. Kousetsu paid no attention to this, quickly downing the 
second mock soul. She seethed as bitter thoughts and feelings rolled through her head. The only person she thought she could trust had betrayed her.

"Kionchi! Stop hiding from me!" She yelled aloud through the dense forest.

The ice on her body continued to build up, covering more and more of her form as she grew angrier. Kousetsu's mind started to lose all focus from her original goal, all she could think about was hunting down Kionchi and making him pay for making her suffer once again.

---

WC: 1004
TWC: 3859