[Japan] Karakura Town

[Bloodedge]

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4103/35769297035_abf4bca2b4_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/WuNZPR)

Karakura Town (空座町, Karakurachō; lit. Empty Seat Town) is a settlement in the Human World, located in Western Tokyo.

[Apollymi]

A Senkaimon would open over the city-scape of Karakuracho and out of it would come a portly looking brown haired woman, accompanied by a class of 10 youngsters all dressed in matching uniforms with swords strapped to their person if everything went according to plan. "Gather around everyone the soul should be nearby." she mentioned as she pulled out a small device, which looked like a human world cell-phone. While she did this she checked the screen and heard a semi-constant beeping noise. Benihime would exit at her same middle point in the group looking down and scanning the entire area. Something about being here felt a bit too exposed for her general liking, but this world was interesting to look at. Soon enough the beeping would become constant as the woman lead the group over a couple of rooftops. She paused and looked down. "There do you see. This girl is the soul we are looking for, it's time for her to cross over." she said about the young girl of about six or seven who'd apparently died in this dark alley.

[Bloodedge]

Among the students stepping through the Shouji was Nomura Daiki, who began at the head of the crowd, but tapered off a bit after entering the human world. His slowed pace would soon leave the crimson-haired fifth selection of this year's applicants walking beside him. Upon noticing this, he chose to speak. "Do you also find it annoying that there's only one Jigokuchou?" he whispered, leaning in the young woman's direction. "They really don't want us wandering off, huh..."

[Apollymi]

Soon enough Benihime found herself approached by the boy at the top of their class. More directly he lagged behind to walk beside her and asked her a question which made the young woman cut her eyes in his direction. She did find it annoying that there was only one soul butterfly and it was linked directly to their portly teacher. "Unlike most instances I am used to, that direction doesn't seem to be a challenge, which I will admit is more than a bit annoying. I am not really into this large group dynamic," she said of this kind of grouping. "You weren't thinking about sneaking off, were you?" asked the redhead in a hushed voice with much curiosity. Though it was only about 11 people total, it was still more of a liability than she would like if something was to go wrong, as there were possibly only two people she could count on to take care of themselves. While these two whispered to each other the teacher demonstrated the use of Konso for everyone present. Her own Zanpakuto a wakizashi which she carried on her left side. "Look you can't linger here, it's dangerous..." said the teacher to the little girl's soul. While she looked back to the class she continued talking like a teacher which was a bit surprising. "I'm going to send you to the Soul Society it's where you belong now." the small girl before her looked a bit stunned but simply nodded. The portly woman pulled her zanpakuto from it's sheath and flipped it around so that the base of its hilt touched the souls forehead. It left a glowing blue kanji there before the small girl disappeared. "Sometimes you have to explain it to them, so they don't freak out, but tapping their foreheads with the base of your zanpakuto will send them to the Society where they will end up in the Rukongai, be given a ticket and sorted into one of the 320 districts. Though not all districts are super safe, but... it's better than them potentially being attacked by hollows and lost to the balance here." the woman said which eight of the people in the group seemed to be really into.

[Bloodedge]

"I was considering it," Daiki replied while looking through the corner of his eye and grinning at the redhead. Personally, he knew enough about Konsou from books and the like. As such, he did not need this lesson. Something also told him Benihime didn't quite need it either, but that was a thought for another time. For now, it seemed their brief conversation had taken place as the lesson was being wrapped up. It was a bit wasteful to have come all the way to the material world just to watch someone pass a soul to the next world. "Honestly, I think I'd rather be in a different class."

[Apollymi]

"Me too..." said Benihime of sneaking off. It wasn't like she enjoyed following directions in the first place, nor was this particularly fun for her aside from coming to this new place. The entire lesson was wrapped up while these two whispered and this let her know that the lesson was as straight forward as the previous explanations she'd received of it. It seemed this boy she was talking to, also already knew of this sort of thing so they weren't missing out on much. "I am only in this class, because my asshat of a lazy friend said he was aiming here. I wouldn't have bothered showing off at all if I'd known I'd end up with..." she paused. "Something doesn't feel right..." she said, immediately after stating this, the cellphone tucked into the waist of the portly woman began beeping an alert very different from the one before. She looked at the image and seemed to be disturbed. "Come on class it's time to go." she said ushering everyone along trying not to panic and putting herself at the end of this particular set of people. As she pushed them back towards where they'd come from.

"Get ready." these were Benihime's words as her hand hovered over the sword at the left side of her waist because behind the teacher as she turned around was a massive hollow with a white mask and frog like face. It's body was easily twice the size of this portly woman and its mouth was open and leaking steam. "Tasty Shinigami!~" the thing spoke but said speech was wild and beastly as it immediately aimed to capture the portly woman who dodged left surprisingly nimbly. "Stay back! I'll handle this." the woman said as she aimed to run up this things arm while turning her weapon around. Killing a hollow was a rather straight forward task, and to be expected during the gathering of so many with spiritual presence.

[Bloodedge]

"With...?" Daiki questioned, seeming to be listening intently until Benihime paused and mentioned something being amiss. Shifting his gaze about, Daiki kept his senses open for whatever this redhead was picking up on. "You're right," he said while unsheathing an Asauchi with a golden hilt and blade, and a guard which featured a scale design. The thing which initially troubled Benihime had revealed itself as a Hollow, and immediately assaulted the instructor of this group. "I'd like to say she can handle it, but... is she really fit to be fighting Hollows still?"

[Apollymi]

Daiki's question was lost to the girl as she prepared, with all the people backed in with them and their teacher claiming they should stand back she sighed though she hopped towards the outside of the group to stand with Daiki as she figured the pair of them would soon enough be responsible for the groups well-being. "I know a woman missing a leg who is more fit to fight Hollows," Benihime said a she watched this woman move up the Hollow she'd knew she'd be captured pretty soon. "There will be an opening in a moment. You should take it when it makes itself clear..." Benihime was obviously much more used to combat in this sort of dire situation than most would be. As such she was preparing something else entirely since the other boy had his sword out already.

Their teacher to her credit was doing pretty good getting up to the mask of this hollow but soon enough as she hopped back and forth she was snatched clear across and slammed into a building. The hollow capturing her around her body and snapping her arm so that she dropped her weapon. "Tasty, tasty..." it said as it moved to chomp down on the teacher much to the dismay of eighty percent of the class. 'And this is why I don't like groups,' the redhead thought. The remaining eight would soon find themselves surrounded by a clear dome barrier. "Oi, I know this is scary and all but you should be quiet and not draw attention to us. And maybe, most of you will live through this." she mentioned to the masses before she also disappeared. Having at his first meal the Hollow was completely open and distracted to the movements of the others nearby.

[Bloodedge]

Benihime's statement resulted in another glance toward her by Daiki. "So, that's where you developed those skills," he said as his attention returned to the Hollow. Benihime seemed to have the right idea for approaching this situation; one that he could quickly agree with. "Hai. Back me up," was his only request as he readied himself and began an incantation. It took only a few moments for the instructor to not only be overtaken, but also bitten by the frog-like Hollow. "Hadou no Juuichi..." Daiki began a spell while in the process of approaching this Hollow from behind. It was his aim to thrust the blade of his sword into the Hollow's back, at which point, he would immediately complete the spell. "Tsuzuri Raiden!" If his blade found itself within the Hollow's body, then the Hollow would soon find itself with an electrical current being sent through its body by Daiki's Zanpakutou.

[Apollymi]

It seemed Daiki was okay with following what Benihime had to say than she thought he would be. Most people didn't initially take her advice in situations like this, but she supposed she'd have time to question that more later. After setting up the barrier she watched for the proper opening as the Hollow tried to finish off the meal that was their teacher. "MMMmmm~ So good, I'll be strong too!~" he murmured while he ate, seeming to have lost sight of everything else. Such a thing would soon cause him many problems as Daiki aimed his Zanpakuto charged with an electrical kidou at the back of the frog Hollow. This would send a charge well up the back of the beast and cause it to let out a scream as its body tried to compensate. "No fair, when my brothers get here, they'll get you. You'll see!!" his screech carried over the distance quite a bit, but while he was paralyzed Benihime could been seen running up the side of the building drawing her own Zanpakuto as she reached the area over the beasts head and began a rapid spinning motion to add further destructive damage to her weapon. "Die." she said and there was much seriousness in that statement as she brought her weapon down upon the face of the hollow's mask slashing through it with added centrifugal force and a spray of blood as its body began to disappear. "NOOOO! NO FAIR... MY BROTHERS WILLL.... THEY WILL...." it screeched and then a few seconds thereafter its body disappeared completely and the young redhead twisted her blade to rid it of any blood before sheathing it and falling back to to the level of the others whom she planned to release from their barrier. Though something about what this hollow had said bothered her deeply. She'd been studying a lot long before she entered the academy and never before had she heard of Hollows gathering nor acknowledging familiar relationships. As she pondered this thought the confusion on her face would be rather obvious.

[Bloodedge]

'Brothers!?' Daiki thought. He, too, was disturbed by the concept of a Hollow acknowledging some form of relationship with another. As far as he knew, Hollows were all lone survivors who would turn on even each other for the sake of further empowering themselves in some cases. More to the point now, Daiki's Asauchi was jerked from the back of the Hollow as Benihime's weapon cleaved through its head. The frog-Hollow's disappearance resulted in him falling to ground-level shortly after the redhead. "Did he say... brothers?" he asked. As if on cue, the barrier between Hueco Mundo and the human world was then torn open by force, in a Hollow technique known as Kuumon. From this tear in space, a Hollow that stood about three stories tall emerged, with a bulky, more humanoid frog-Hollow on its shoulder. The giant Hollow was one Daiki recognized, but never expected to see outside of a textbook.

"That's... a Menos. Why is there a Menos?" he wondered aloud. "Ain't that a shame. Nii-san's gonna be mad when he finds out you killed one of us. Whatever. I didn't like him as much anyway. And hey... you guys can feed our new brother!" the smaller Hollow said, referencing the Gillian-class Menos Grande beneath him. Daiki was quite bothered by this entire ordeal, but most bothered by the fact that this "Menos" wore a mask that was different from what he saw in the books, but they were all said to be identical. "Heheheh! I'll let somebody else deal with this. Don't get eaten too fast! One of us will be riiight back to pick up this guy," the small Hollow said as he leaped back into the portal.

[Apollymi]

"Yeah, definitely what he said, brothers. Didn't know hollows had brothers, that wasn't in the textbooks." the redhead said, glad someone else had noticed the thing she'd found most disturbing, but before she had a chance to properly talk this over with what was apparently the only real intelligent life form besides herself in the First Class, there was something which demanded her attention and one of the most candid reactions. "Well shit. Why are my first days at stuff, never good days?" the girl questioned aloud to the universe. But this Menos was indeed very different from the standard ones shown in textbooks. And Benihime had the privilege of seeing both old and new textbooks and she knew for a fact the image was the same across the board. The smaller more humanoid hollow who spoke to them seemed to also proffer the idea that hollows were apparently into the ideals of interpersonal relationships. He did this before disappearing while leaving behind the giant entity he rode in on.

"I don't know if we can kill this thing..." she started sizing it up and feeling the energy. There was every possibility that they would not in fact be able to do anything sizable to the Menos now threatening their very lives. "But given the conversations with these hollows, whoever is writing the textbooks, should probably be fired." she said, lightening her own mood quite a bit. "Any bright ideas, 'cause I can't open a Senkaimon and unless you can... I don't really have an idea that won't kill one or both of us. Though I should add, we'd go down in a blaze of glory." she admitted. Since he was most likely to help her out she figured she may as well be honest.

[Bloodedge]

"Wonderful. Hollows have brothers, and we have big brother long-shroud to deal with," Daiki griped. In the face of such an incredible presence, he was frankly at a loss. There was no perceivable way for them to deal with this threat, especially considering their instructor's attacker had only been dealt with in a moment of tactical advantage and cooperative attacks. "You can't open the Senkaimon, I can't open the Senkaimon, and I'm pretty sure that Jigokuchou will only respond to the instructor. I don't have much hope for coming out of this alive, but it doesn't look like we've got much choice. If I'm going to go out in a blaze of glory, though, I'll take you at my side over anyone else I've met today," Daiki stated, readying himself for an all-out attack to do as much as physically possible to this Menos.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!" The incantation of a spell was suddenly spoken by the voice of a man who'd recently left this very group. Upon hearing this, Daiki traced this voice's sound to its owner, eventually spotting Kumori Raizen in the sky above the Menos. His right arm was outstretched - palm aimed down at the Hollow - with a sphere of golden electricity within it. "Hadou no Rokujuusan: RAIKOUHOU!" The concentrated sphere in Raizen's hand suddenly let loose a powerful wave of Reiryoku, resembling a lightning strike, upon the Menos. This Hollow seemed to somehow have enough intelligence to look up and behold the spell falling upon it, but still all too late, as it was quickly overtaken. It seemed to be resisting quite nicely, but Raizen continued to channel the spell. "Hrooooaaaaaagh!" More and more energy went into this blast, until Raizen saw it rip through the Hollow's body. Soon enough, the Menos began to fade away; the same being the case with Raizen's attack. Once it was all over, the newly-appointed Lieutenant lowered himself to ground level. "Huff... Hell of a first day," he said, looking to see who the Hollow had been targeting prior to his interjection. "Oh. You're that class. What are you guys doing here?"

[Apollymi]

It seemed that the other most qualified individual in this group also couldn't open a Senkaimon so this group of relatively defenseless souls was stuck out here. A sigh escaped the young woman but still she supposed she had to die one day, might as well be this one. The words of this young man reached her ears as she prepared for a fight she had no doubt they wouldn't be coming back from. "Yep, you're not half bad yourself. If we were gonna live longer, I'd ask your name. If we survive remind me to ask." Benihime said as she smiled cockily. It seemed this was going to be the worst of any first day she'd ever had, and also the last, until of course she heard a strangely familiar voice.

She also traced said voice back to its owner and was immediately relieved as he cast a spell which allowed him to completely destroy the hollow which had previously been thing she thought would cause her direct death. 'Ah, Kumori Raizen... I might actually like that guy,' she thought feeling immediately better about not being hollow bait. "Sugoi! That's so cool!~" she said, the last time she'd tried to use that particular spell she'd fallen unconscious due to reiatsu expenditure. After he defeated the Menos in question, it seemed that the Vice-Captain of the Tenth Division was content to ask about what the class of beginners were doing out in the material world. "We were almost dying, thanks for that by the way," she said thinking about it more. "And our teacher brought us out here to demonstrate a Konso. Then she was eaten by a frog hollow. We killed that... but then two more showed up... One left behind that Menos you just killed and then said he or someone else was coming back," she explained the situation as she sheathed her weapon once more. "Be a pal and open a Senkaimon so we can get ourselves and the other eight back to the Seireitei before we get ourselves killed, please."

[Bloodedge]

"Not very big on names, huh?" Daiki asked. He knew this redhead's name, simply from hearing it called during orientation. He supposed, though, that she was quite different in the end. Moments after this exchange, Raizen stood before the group and received the information - regarding their presence in this world - from Benihime. "Sou desu ka... And none of you thought it was strange that you were brought to this world on your first day of class? I thought something was odd about that instructor, but I still don't know what it was. My class was taught indirectly how to perform Konsou." As he spoke, Raizen unsheathed the strangely glowing katana that was his Zanpakutou. While holding it in front of him, he turned it like a key, opening the Senkaimon while sending his Jigokuchou with the others. "Go. I'll stay behind to deal with whatever Hollows come back." With that said by the Vice-Captain, Daiki nodded, shifting his gaze toward Benihime briefly before darting off. Assuming she remained at his side all the while, he offered his name before entering the Soul Society. "Nomura Daiki desu."

[Apollymi]

About a week after Benihime's last chat with Daiki, she'd pulled herself together enough to finish her research. In so doing, she put together enough of an argument to get her an extended stay in the World of the Living to study the influx of Hollow activity within a city called Karakura. She stood atop a light pole outside of a Gigai, her presence supressed by the bandages she wore strapped over her chest. Her hair pulled up in a wild ponytail with wide bangs and fringes which covered most of the left half of her face. She maintained an unreadable expression, as she watched the opening of a Garganta through which several powerful Hollows emerged. 'Ano, these have all been standard... maybe I miscalculated,' she thought as she continued to watch. Of the group which appeared, several spread out, but the girl still made no immediate moves, 'Come on... something...' she thought, but after a few moments there was nothing. Instead of harping on this, she moved to begin dispatching the Hollows, her left hand coming to rest at the blade on the small of her back.

Her movements were quick and well placed, each step she took closed the distance between herself and a Hollow. A singular slash all that was needed to dispatch of four of these. The humans they preyed upon, none the wiser about their close encounters with death. The only thing they might have felt that hinted at the presence of anything was a gentle breeze as the redhead crossed between them and their impending doom. The final Hollow she cornered slowing down to walking pace. It caught sight of her and immediately changed its mind about the prey it wanted. Leaving a small human child at a street corner it sauntered down a dark alleyway hidden in the shadows of a building. Its form that of a giant muscled bipedal toad with a mask with a wide grin so that all the teeth of it couldn't be seen looking at it straight on. "SHINIGAMI!~ HOLD STILL!~" a tongue emerged from its mouth aiming to extend and trap the girl in sticky wetness. This was avoided fully at the last possible second as she hopped up, her body parallel to a building as she aimed to stab her blade down into this tongue, leaving it impaled against the ground as the hollow screamed in agony. "BIIIIITH!" the lisp creating by the things un-moving tongue muscle seemed to amuse her a bit. "So, I've been watching a couple of days I am tired of waiting. Open a Garganta here." she said rather calmly.

[Bloodedge]

For the duration of Benihime's Hollow hunt in the human world, Kumori Raizen stood atop a tall building several blocks away. He had himself positioned in such a way that he could clearly see the redhead from afar. He'd even concocted a new spell: a barrier-type spell which functioned as a magnifying glass. This spell angled itself to continue keeping track of the woman while she dispatched a swarm of Hollows. Raizen wondered what sort of purpose she'd come here with, but soon enough, there was something else to behold. This spell also allowed him to hone in on sounds coming from what it viewed, so Raizen was able to hear the demand given to the final Hollow. This brought rise to his right brow. "What might she be looking for..."

[Apollymi]

The frog like hollow with its wide head seemed to recognize that it was being held hostage, and seemed afraid. But what the girl asked of it, it rather interestingly didn't want to do. "Nii-san, won't..." it started, which made Benihime look at it. "Yeah, yeah, Nii-san won't like it, still don't know who that is, nor do I care..." she said which only made this particular squirm. If it was trying to free itself though it would find that a bit unlikely as the girl hopped down on the hilt of her blade driving it in further. "Before you get any stupid ideas, I don't care if they are going to kill you. I'm going to kill you... it's simply your choice how fast that happens," seemingly to have no choice in the matter the Hollow acquiesced to the girl's wishes. A wicked grin coming over its face as the fabric of this dimension seemed to rip accordingly. Benihime's eyes widened as after a moment or two, she recognized the thing she was looking for. "Sugei! I was right..." she said aloud as she looked into this portal, but with this opening something much bigger than the one she was holding came through the portal closing it behind him.

"What? I thought there was food, opening a gate like this, just to leave..." said the hollow which took the appearance of a giant floating jellyfish. Whatever had opened this portal for him, no longer existed, the second it was obvious something else would come through, Benihime hopped off of her sword and pulled it from the ground in a spinning motion, doing so allowed her to instantly dispatch the Hollow she'd used as bait, so that she could focus on observing her actual target without the hostage Hollow giving away too much information. Such a thing was not really what Benihime expected and it didn't look too much like anything she'd seen before. What she was looking for in this moment though she found, a marking on its underside which rather perfectly resembled a spider. The feeling of it when it came through the gate from the other dimension as well was what she expected, leading her to believe that these smaller Hollow were somehow acting as scouts helping feed these larger ones and them out of harms way. "Well, that is confirmation of organization, or maybe just hierarchy. But what why do some of you have those spider marks and how do you get the other hollows into the Soul Society?" she questioned aloud, this was mostly her own thoughts being laid out before her and it made the jellyfish Hollow finally turn towards the girl. "Bakana... when did you..." Benihime grinned at the thing which didn't seem to understand when she'd gotten there.

"I am the one asking questions, which you should answer, we'll get to the dying part much faster that way," she said seemingly only interested in this beast as a scientific development in trying to figure out how these creatures had managed to appear within the Soul Society at least twice without knowing how they'd gotten there. The jelly for its part floated further up and out of the alleyway. It seemed it didn't like direct confrontation, it began to spin shooting off various seeds which knocked human souls out of their bodies allowing them to turn their attention to Benihime. They were all connected to the Hollow by invisible strings which was rather strange and admittedly new. "Alright, that's different... I like different." The young Shinigami followed her target seemingly bemused by the tactic. "What will you do Shinigami?! I outnumber you now, we'll take you, then I'll eat all these souls and yours to become even stronger! Nii-san will be so proud!~" it seemed this Hollow was a bit higher up on the intelligence scale. The redhead was surrounded in a circle of people but she didn't seem worried about it her sword still gripped in her left hand. "Stand still," another of these seeds flew directly towards the girl but she didn't move, and if one looked at her face, they'd see the smallest of smirks appear.

[Bloodedge]

Raizen was content to silently watch this interaction between Benihime and these Hollows, particularly when the one with a strong likeness to a jellyfish began to face the woman. This Hollow had some very peculiar abilities, from what Raizen could see, and he finally came to realize what Benihime had been checking for. This was also something incredibly intriguing; the simple fact that this lass had come to notice these previously incognito markings on Hollows put her a cut above most others in terms of attention to detail. Most Shinigami tended to dispose of a Hollow without bothering to note its lesser physical oddities. "Raizen, I thought we had an understanding; you know I'm opposed to you doing this," spoke the voice of a woman who was, in fact, the spirit of Raizen's Zanpakutou manifesting beside him. "You live inside me, Mugen. You should know better than anyone that I don't care if you're opposed to this. The simple fact that you are, is only more reason for me to seek my answers. If you're going to insist on being so over-protective of me for whatever reason, you have nothing to threaten me with if I go against your wishes. Now... let's take a trip." With that said, Raizen unsheathed his Zanpakutou and triggered its Shikai transformation to its khakkhara form, and the woman at his side disappeared. The eye at the head of his weapon opened, and in that moment, Raizen entered a Jinzen-like state. In doing so, however, he did not enter his own inner world; he instead used his Shikai's eye to view Benihime and enter her inner world. His physical appearance remained hidden in the strange forest he found there, but as a side-effect of this occurring, he appeared as a shrouded apparition while his own inner world leaked into this one, causing the blackening of the skies and the opening of many eyes in said sky, all of which possessed kanji with different numbers up to six, instead of irises. "Hmm. What a strange place this is..."

[Apollymi]

"Tenchikaimei," Benihime's shadow exploded outward of her person in this moment, stretching to look something like a multi-petaled flower as she released her Zanpakuto. "Yakouboku." The statement made the Zanpakuto change into a longer formed sword with a red hilt and sturdier guard. It also maintained a hollow blade which was swirling with energy, energy she'd poured into the blade herself while the seed flew towards her. At this very moment everything around her, every human soul and even the seed itself had stopped moving, because the girl had poured enough energy into the technique to control each and every shadow which had contact with her own. 'Sou ka, I can use it this way... what did you call it again?' she thought as she held her finger beneath the seed. 'Kuro Higanbana, and I know you know that silly girl. I didn't tell you it worked like that, you're giving me anxiety doing things like that...' said the voice of her Zanpakuto spirit in her head. This only made the young woman chuckle. 'Mouthful of a name, but I guess it's too late to shorten it. And please calm down, if you should know anything about me, it is that I don't like doing things exactly as written, live a little, Yakouboku~' she chimed in her mind. In the mean time, she caused a minute shadow to appear on her finger allowing her to take hold of the projectile to analyze it while the Hollow watched in horror. "It's not possible..." said the beast which only made Benihime cut her eyes in its direction. "You know, no matter how many times I hear that from something I'm about to kill, it never really gets old," she said. 'Nothing to say?' Benihime questioned of her Zanpakuto Spirit who seemed to have gotten unusually silent. Even so, she planted her sword in the ground holding the shadows and thus the souls of all the people in place, this Hollow now had nowhere to go, but it thought itself clever. "Oh but you can't move, I have you Shinigami!" it aimed to rush her quickly but again the small girl didn't move.

Meanwhile her Inner World was being, rather peacefully invaded. "Benihime, you're making yourself hard to look after... I swear you do this on purpose," she mentioned as the entirety of the forest seemed to shift and move. Red eyes were all over the grounds, peeking from the shadows created in the trees. These would only seem to get bigger as the sky of irises descended upon this creatures inner world. Yakouboku for all her knowledge seemed to think this shift strange as looked at the sky, and it made her wonder how such a change had come about. "Where..." she asked, and the vines and trees moved, the forest opened up as Yakouboku moved within, her light grey skin seemingly darkened one fang protruding from her tiny mouth her eyes appearing to be large glowing and red. As she shifted around looking for the source of the intrusion. His shrouded self would soon be found, mostly while Benhime was speaking so she ignored the girl, to instead defend what was theirs. "You weren't consumed by the darkness... why do you walk here, making our world darker than normal?" she asked seeming to find it strange that someone else could actually manage to get inside.

[Bloodedge]

Raizen wandered virtually aimlessly through the forest of thorny trees. During his travels, he spotted an approaching woman who, since she wasn't Benihime, certainly had to be her Zanpakutou spirit. She had a very strange appearance, but stranger yet was her mention that he'd not been swallowed by the darkness of this world. "Of course I haven't. I couldn't have possibly been dragged into something like this. I mean no offense, of course," he said while creating a window for the sake of viewing the outside world from Benihime's perspective. "I am here to observe. Besides... my presence alone is making you stronger, isn't it?"

[Apollymi]

Within the dark thorn filled forest, Yakouboku came across the source of this intrusion, an individual shrouded but not unfriendly. This man went on to say that he could not be swallowed by something like this world which made a smile break across this woman's face. He went on to say that he meant nothing offensive in such a statement and she simply shook her head. "No, we are sure of our limitations, and it is quite true... Still, most wouldn't venture into the dark," she said as the man created a viewing panel and went on to explain that he'd merely come to observe and he made an observation about the nature of their powers. She nodded, "The presence of light creates stronger bonds with the shadows. It makes the darkness more vivid and alive, I can admit that..." she said. As she knew this to be the truth, and to be fair, the girl's own mindset lately had drained a bit of the vitality from the darkness which was the life's blood of the creatures. A world which was supposed to be plunged in darkness created by a blackened sun positioned like a moon was obstructed, and glowed only dimly for weeks. But these moods in the girl, would pass eventually... not that anyone really needed to know that. "Oh look, she's figured it out already, clever girl..."

As sure as these words were spoken, Benihime, was outside with the jelly fish hollow flying towards her. Apparently under the impression that she couldn't defend herself or dodge because her sword was presently holding the shadows of everything else which threatened her. AS it flew towards her though, a spike of shadows emerged immediately in front of her person, impaling the Hollow and causing it to let out a screech as it was so shocked by this. "BAKANA!" the screech also carried with it another sound. "I am not so simple as that. And let's be honest, if I'd moved I wouldn't have gotten to figure out this cool thing. Also, never get tired of that..." she said as the darkness spiked through it branched several times emerging from several different places in its body, including one through the top of its mouth to keep it from being able to screech again. "Now... what's with the spider mark, why is it only some of you... what makes you special?" she questioned. The girl was well and truly curious of course, but this Hollow wouldn't be able to answer, it's body was being consumed by the darkness and soon its soul was cleansed added hundreds to the forest of thorns which was her inner world. Dark glowing red eyes appeared in various places as this influx occurred but with this taken care of the young woman sighed. "Yare yare, I'm going to have to do it again... Ugh, I only have a three day pass. I guess... I'll report back and get another one..."

[Bloodedge]

"I'm not like most. I'm not afraid of the darkness," Raizen replied to this spirit. When she spoke of light and darkness, he looked to the blackened sky, and its effect on the surrounding world. "Interesting choice of words. You can see the light, then? Here's a fun fact; this world has no light remaining in it right now. Everything is pitch black. For you to see the light in this world now, you've assimilated perfectly. You're about as free as her," he said, drawing a comparison between this Zanpakutou spirit and another. "Tell me... what has your Shinigami been required to do to gain your power?"

Meanwhile, the slaying of Benihime's most recent victim caused a stir among the "family" of Hollows. Another Garganta opened in the vicinity, providing a path for a stifling Reiatsu exceeding that of Captain tier. This Reiatsu belonged, of course, to the emerging Hollow, which boasted size and shape no different from that of a muscular adult human. Its mask was eccentric with violet lines surrounding an obvious spider-shaped marking on its forehead, and its entire body seemed armored by the same material its mask was made of. Each of its arms contained extensions in the form of long blades; its shins had them as well. "So many of my brothers... felled by the hands of a lowly Shinigami. I've had enough," was all this Hollow had to say when it stepped into the human world.

[Apollymi]

"Oh? That's different..." Yakouboku fully expected anyone who ended up in this place without originating here to have a problem with it. Or at least, be a tiny bit skeptical of its nature. "Oh? That's strange, sounds like something she'd say..." she said thinking of the inquisitive nature of her Shinigami and the girl's habit of testing things as she felt like it, only to explain afterwards. Of course, as this voice continued to speak it seemed that he was curious about the relationship between Yakouboku and Benihime. The woman had her large clawed left hand holding her chin as she spoke. "Required? No, it isn't like that. I only needed her to trust me so she could hear me properly. She can have any of my power she wishes, she needs only ask or be in obvious need of it," the woman said speaking of her relationship with the redhead fondly. Though initially their bond had needed trust, once it was established she'd not withheld anything, allowing the young woman to grow and diversify her own skills as she saw fit, with the only limitation truly being her own imagination.

While, Yakouboku and the dark apparation had a conversation in Benihime's inner world. The girl herself was rather suddenly accosted by the intense feeling of a high grade spiritual pressure. This quality of this Reiatsu could easily be likened to that of a Captain which made the redhead wary for the first time since she'd been in the human world. 'Ugh... that, isn't good.' she thought but instead of moving away or hiding she moved towards it, obviously she needed to see, and what she saw, both amazed and confused her to no end. 'Sugei, that's really different. I didn't know they came so small, nor so strong... it's like a Menos, but way better. I don't... understand this,' she thought, but she wasn't truly afraid. No she was excited this was something completely new and thus something worth looking into. "Oi! Are you better than average in intelligence or am I going to be talking to myself again?" she asked it rather directly as she spoke up from several meters away.

[Bloodedge]

"Does it? I'll bet," Raizen replied, seeming somewhat skeptical of this Zanpakutou. The research he'd done had led to much information, which had in-turn led to much speculation. He'd read ancient tomes of the Kumori family, and discovered the identity of one Rikuo, who'd lived during the time before surnames were necessity. By the time he married, his crimson-haired betrothed possessed the surname Kumori, which he took for lack of having his own. This couple went on to become the progenitors of the Kumori family, but the interesting information was what remained of the woman's former family, and how they'd come to strike a deal for power drawn from a Valley of Screams. "Yakouboku, how much do you know about yourself?" he asked, only to divert his attention to the outside world and the powerful Hollow Benihime now faced. "Sou ka. She's baited out one of them."

The Hollow looked toward Benihime with relative disinterest. There was no denying that she was solely responsible for the deaths of many other Hollows this one called brother/sister. Perhaps it was time someone far stronger intervened and dealt with her personally. "To ask such a question... you obviously must not be, for you know not the perilous situation you've walked into by picking apart the others. What did you hope to gain from this, Shinigami?"

[Apollymi]

The boy's skepticism made the Zanpakuto curious. Why had he come here if he didn't wish to speak with her directly about something. And why not simply ask the girl directly about her powers and abilities if he was truly only curious about that. Benihime was secretive by her nature, but she shared with some people, and anyone who understood her abilities to any real extent could be counted among those whom would be interesting enough to share with. But, soon enough the reasoning behind this line of questioning became clear in a shining moment as Raizen questioned what the Zanpakuto spirit knew about her own existence. "You are asking questions like you already know the answer..." a smirk came over this beings face as she recognized another likeness between this voice and the one which belonged to her Shinigami. Given this though, she knew it was likely for the best to sate all curiosities immediately and simply answer the questions presented to her, "I know enough to know what my purpose is, and enough to follow my creator's wishes and help her any way I can, until... I can't anymore..." this being found it strange. But before any more could be said there was the matter of the thing Benihime was dealing with which was something which Yakouboku had never properly seen before. "Ano, why do I get the feeling she's doing that thing again that makes it almost impossible to keep her safe?" she said aloud rubbing her clawed hand over her face.

Moving along, Benihime's new Hollow friend spoke in complete confidence and arrogance as he answered her allowing her to know several things about this being within a few seconds. "Oooh, arrogance and complete sentences, not simple rhetoric. You're a different class of being altogether, something that happens when you've had ages to get full and pick a dominate personality~" she seemed amused, this was beyond anything she could have expected. "To be fair, I am mostly just doing my job. Like noticing when Hollows are new and organized. Noticing when Garganta are opened up from within the Seireitei to let powerful Hollows in, and trying to figure out, exactly what is causing this diversity. Like what's so special about the ones of you with spider marks. And how come you get smaller as you get more powerful, are you like condensing in there?" she asked, seeming only curious. The girl's inquisitive nature was one thing, the fact that she'd also simply been hunting hollows as a way to grieve came in as a very far flung secondary reason for her present rampage. No, there was far too much information to be found in this moment for her to care about things already done.

[Bloodedge]

"Until you can't anymore, as in... until the contract is fulfilled. That's about what I expected," he said about the nature of this Zanpakutou. With this information, he had all he needed to complete his theory, and basically accept it as fact. Now, he could comfortably move on to the matter of current importance; that being the high-tier Hollow Benihime was faced with. From within this world, he could tell this was going to be quite the problem for the redhead, so he decided on something. "Impossibility is just a mark of necessary effort. If you care to double your efforts... you could always join the fight." With that said, Raizen looked toward the viewing window, which was now more of a portal into the material world for the Zanpakutou spirit to travel through.

"You've got some nerve, Shinigami," the Hollow spoke. He'd come all this way to kill this Shinigami, who'd gone to slay his brethren, and now she stood questioning him instead of fighting. This was a strange ordeal. Whatever the case, he'd not be standing for this individual's antics. When next he spoke, his left forefinger rose to point in Benihime's direction. "I'll not be answering your silly questions. You're going to die here, and that will be the end of the cycle that has been lessening our numbers." These words marked the charging of concentrated Reiryoku with a violent color at the tip of his finger. This was released as a blast with a wide arc, in the form of an ability called Cero; something only seen used by Menos-class Hollows. It carried the strength of a spell tiered in the 90s as it spread across the space separating the Hollow and his target, aiming to incinerate the woman where she stood.

[Apollymi]

"Yes..." she said, something about this hidden man having this sort of information and being inside of her inner world was a bit disturbing to the Zanpakuto spirit. But as no harm had been done here, she didn't well seem upset about it. And beyond this they were soon moving on to something entirely different which was the problem being faced by Benihime right just now. Though this would soon be something this cloaked figure offered an answer to as well. "I suppose, I could..." she said not bothering to question this any further. "Arigatou..." she said as she slipped through to what would have likely been a very disstressing scene to most.

Benihime was presently being told by this Hollow that she wouldn't be living past this moment today. Beyond this violet Reiryoku began forming at the tip. "So I've been told..." she said about being told she had nerve, in fact this sentiment was one shared between Hollows, Shinigami, and even her own Zanpakuto about the girl and her antics. Even so as this charged attack came towards her it seemed like there was nothing she could do, her body seemed to disappear into a blast of energy which was meant to incinerate her. But... if one paid close enough attention they would see her form appear to the left of the Hollow a second after the blast consumed her. After she left behind a tangible clone, to take the damage and give her some thinking time. 'Yare yare, that is some strong Cero, it's really not fair if they keep those kinds of abilities and gain intellect with their power... they are becoming a bit too much like Shinigami for my liking.' she thought of the hollow. From the girl's shadow a tall winged woman with white hair and grey skin emerged her large clawed hand coming over the girl's left shoulder as she visually inspected the Hollow and tried to prepare for her comeback. But instead she was pulled into the woman's very real body which was a rather stunning revelation to the young woman. "You know, when you do things like that you give me anxiety," said Yakouboku as she spoke in such a way that Benihime was utterly stunned. "Excuse me? I told you to live a little, not show up outta no fucking where after ignoring me," the girl said, before changing her mind. "You know what, one problem at a time, Hollow is Captain strong and stupid upset apparently about lost brothers, I thought about jabbing that point but it seems fruitless... So... if you've not told me anything else I could find useful in this moment, by all means," the girl said which only made Yakouboku smile. "Well, I mean... you have the necessary skills have you actually tried cutting him?" she asked which made Benihime scoff. "Note to self... useless for strategies. Why don't you cut him, I'll uh do something else." she said, which made her Zanpakuto spirit move forward materializing a secondary copy of the girl's blade within her clawed left hand. Yakouboku moved rapidly aiming to run this new Hollow through the center of its body with the black swirling energy of her sword. Whether this hit connected or not, the small redhead would use her own abilities to manipulate the darkness to appear in the shadow of her Zanpakuto following up the aimed stab with a spinning slash which would take her around the back of the Hollow as she tried to cut it horizontally while in motion without giving herself too many openings.

[Bloodedge]

The Hollow's blast moved unhindered through the intended space in which it was targetted, but this was not the end of his opponent. In a matter of moments, she was returning to attack him, with help from another individual, to boot. This new woman came toward him with intentions of stabbing him through the torso, which the Hollow strangely did not react to. The piercing that came as a result of this was quite shallow, as if it had been done with a small knife, due simply to the fact that this was all the Hollow allowed. The same could be said of the attempted stealth attack by Benihime herself; the Hollow's Reiatsu minimized damage to this level while not being exerted to full capacity. This was the Hollow's arrogance in the face of a Shinigami opponent. "Already, you enlist the help of another. The things you Shinigami do... I find laughable. I could kill the pair of you without moving an inch." At this point, the Hollow flexed its arms while raising them to either side. A pair of Cero blasts were charging along either blade attached to his forearms, and with their release, he created an outward-going horizontal ring of Cero energy to surround him 360 degrees and spread out.

[Apollymi]

"Enlist? She's part of me..." this was Benihime's only statement about her Zanpakuto. It seemed their attack didn't amount to much of anything, but to be honest, the redhead didn't expect it to, though he hadn't completely stopped the attacks from hurting him which was something immediately noticed by the redhead. "Enkosen," the use of this kidou spell along her blade, creating a large spinning disk of energy to block the coming Cero and gave her the ability to turn at an angle as this Hollow's Cero spread around it. Yakouboku appeared in the girl's shadow behind her reinforcing this barrier usage with the darkness created by the spinning energy on the girl's fore, so that the pair could continue on their little scrimmage against this Hollow which appeared to be something of a losing battle. "Not going to move huh? A handicap like that will get you killed too. What with ya' being a stationary target and all~" the girl said poking at the Hollow in a manner that would make most believe she was crazy or that she wished for her own death at the very least. "I thought cutting it was a bad idea, picking on it though... that's acceptable?" the Zanpakuto spirit said to the girl. "I mean... it's really easy to poke fun when nothing scary is happening." the girl said as she moved about a secondary time. "It's cool, obviously I'll be good without the help~" she said a devilish little smirk coming to her face as she moved again, this time she took the full frontal attack moving by use of Shunpo which would carry her from this creatures rear around to its left side where she'd immediately aim a concise slash there as well, in a downward motion. What couldn't have been figured out by others, was that these cuts as they were inflicted were placing the creatures of the darkness into them and giving them time to multiply.

[Bloodedge]

"Killed by handicap? How foolish," the Hollow went on to say. If this Shinigami thought herself somehow able to defeat him just by having him as a stationary target, she would die in humiliation. This Hollow now truly intended to remain still for the duration of this battle, and he knew there was little this redhead could do against him that would make any significant difference. "So be it. You will tire yourself out before you die by my hand," he said as another attack came his way. This slash was also permitted to strike him, though it became even more shallow than the other two strikes. He would continue to let this happen in whatever way Benihime intended, as it was his intention to have her exert all of her energy, before delivering the finishing blow himself.

[Apollymi]

This Hollow seemed to think the girl was foolish but she wasn't. If he was going to stand still and take attacks, she'd have time to figure out a bit more about him and those like him while she figured out a proper strategy. It seemed it was his plan to simply let the girl tire herself out before he aimed to take her life properly, which was about what she expected from a being so much stronger than her, but still not entirely frightening to the young woman. 'Hm, every cut gets shallower, logic says higher Reiatsu wins out, he's pushing against my cuts making it harder to cut him. If I keep cutting with exactly this much force, I'll eventually be taking recoil... Interesting.' she thought. Her Zanpakuto even chipped at its most recent cut, this made her brow rise as it was something she'd yet to experience with her sword in this form. "Ouch! At least take a bit more care when you're swinging me around like that..." mentioned the Zanpakuto Spirit giving Benihime pause to look over the woman and note that the chip had caused the openings of some of the stitches on the woman, particularly those around her knee. "You know that didn't actually hurt," the girl mentioned as she carried on another three slashes aiming to make contact with the Hollow's left arm, right leg and lower torso in that order, pouring more Reiatsu into it, so that she could see if it was possible to push further past the defenses of this particular Hollow. If these hits connected each of them would cause another crack in her sword and thus create more pulling stitches in the Zanpakuto Spirit. 'Clever girl, when did you figure that out?' she wondered as she nurtured the creatures in the shadows to life as they leaked out of the burst stitches.

[Bloodedge]

The Hollow somehow seemed bored of the goings-on while Benihime continued to attack it, and indeed, every slash became relatively less impactful. This was nothing more than a waiting game for the Hollow, but it was not simply the case for him. Raizen, who'd departed from the inner world of Benihime, was waiting at his original standing place atop a building at this point. He had returned to watching by the previous method, and now took special interest in the combat behavior of the red-haired 5th Seat. "Not bad. How far can you take it with this new ability, I wonder..."

[Apollymi]

It might appear to most like Benihime was tiring herself out, but she wasn't. In fact, she'd done exercises like this most of her life, and had no problem moving about with this kind of speed and accuracy for extended periods of time. Even so, each slash she made seemed to harm her weapon more and more, while injuring the Hollow less and less, until of course the final stroke which caused her hollow blade to shatter. The girl's eyes widened as this happened because she rather instantly felt a pulse akin to an increase in pressure from the sword alone, but also from the manifestation of the sword spirit. 'Sugei!~' she thought finding this new power to be more than anything the sword had ever given her before. But it wasn't just power, it was the creatures the tingling pulse of things she normally felt wandering the forest of her inner world. The lightly peeling rips blasted apart as there was an outpouring of power the entire area around the young woman and this Hollow seemed to darken instantly and a bit of a smirk spread across her face.

Since the Hollow still wasn't moving the small girl immediately took advantage. A burst of speed would take her to the creatures' fore where she aimed a downward slash upon it from left to right starting at its shoulder and going down to its hip as if she intended to cut it in half this way. Somehow this strike would seem to be extraordinarily powerful by comparison to any of the previous strikes, enough that it would be felt even by a Hollow of this massive strength and cause major damage if it connected, the creatures of the girl's Zanpakuto aiming to feast upon this still living subject from the old wounds and the shadow beneath his body, and even from the air around him, it was like the entire world had suddenly become hostile to his existence. 'Wow, that's... not at all the way I would have told you to use that...' she thought. "Hakyuukouka," mentioned the Zanpakuto spirit naming the effect which was taking place around the girl right at the moment, as she appeared at her back ready and waiting to help her fully utilize this new ability should it be necessary. "One of the better names you've given one of these things lately. Though I feel like I should question you a bit about why you require such punishment to fork it over..."

[Bloodedge]

Even though the Hollow remained still, he also remained alert to the happenings around him. This Shinigami's Zanpakutou eventually shattered against his armored form, but from this came more power than she previously possessed. This was a strange happening, but the Hollow still could not be called bothered by it. During Benihime's next approach, the Hollow began the charge of another Cero on its left arm-blade, then met Benihime's attack with the blade to parry it with an outpouring of Reiatsu in massive quantities. The Cero would be unleashed following this defensive maneuver, aiming once again to incinerate the redhead on the spot. "You overestimate yourself; a trait so many of you Shinigami have when facing us. Give up now, woman. Even if you could defeat me, there are so many more with greater power than myself." When the Hollow spoke these words, Raizen grinned from where he stood. "There's the answer. I think it may be time for you to help... Atsuko." At Raizen's command, the silver-haired spirit of his Zanpakutou materialized once more, taking on the appearance of a Shinigami in full Shihakusho. "Mendokusai. And here you are dragging me into this," she complained. A single Shunpo step carried her into the fray, where her drawn sword joined Benihime's in the clash against the Hollow's blade, aiding in a strong defensive effort against the Cero. "Konbanwa. Need a hand?" she asked from Benihime's side. She made this effort by channeling great quantities of her own Reiatsu through the blade she wielded, and wondered what Benihime's own contribution would be.

[Apollymi]

'Alright well there's the obvious difference, but... I could still try one of those, maybe not both though...' the girl thought. The outpouring of power was one thing, but, she couldn't really expect to overpower this creature. It seemed he also knew that and as he defended from her attack she was left to meet it with her own blade. "Yeah, yeah, I'm not overestimating, I know you're stronger than me. I knew that at the start, but running wouldn't have helped. Thanks though, I now know you aren't the worst thing to worry about," she said to the Hollow, having finally managed to get one of her original questions answered. Her Zanpakuto seemed to be upset and also aimed to hold off the blade, and the encroaching Cero with an influx of power released from its broken bindings. "Benihime, we're running a bit low on time..." she managed as she helped defend the small girl from the incoming blast. "Yeah yeah, I know... just..." she paused as another joined her and it wasn't anyone she'd ever had any proper contact with. 'Konbanwa?' it was the middle of the afternoon, but given the state of Benihime's inner world and the kind of encroaching darkness created by the influx of creatures from her Zanpakuto, she could hardly argue. Beyond this she knew this person on sight if not actually knowing her at all, so it wasn't something she could well say no to in present times. "I'm not dumb enough to turn down a bit of help, I've got time now, arigatou gozaimasu~" time for what, would be seen within a matter of seconds as it seemed this would be all the opening she needed to finish something she'd been working on in her head. "Kuyo Shibari," she said but this spell had another weaved in it was aimed to create several black hole like restraints on the Hollow in question aiming to push through and further disperse the original Cero in a manner similar to how she'd dealt with the attack from Raizen in their previous match up. And immediately after another kidou spell was named which would change the form of these little black holes. "Soren Sokatsui~" one of the many smaller skills the girl had picked up in the past week or two was the ability to weave this particular pair of spells together, if the black holes settled they'd then turn blue and immediately aim to engulf the Hollow pulling its body into the holes and incinerating him as he'd tried to do her, at least thrice this day. The power of these two spells mixed together was rather massive, but it also took its toll on the girl, and it was rather obvious why she'd not opened with this. "Note to self, prep spells, prep spells until it doesn't almost kill me to cast them..." she said blinking dizziness out of her vision. Only time would tell if she'd actually managed to accomplish anything, but, at this point she'd known she'd given it everything she had, and more since there were two helping her out.

[Bloodedge]

While "Atsuko" kept her sword pressing against the Cero, Benihime utilized a pair of spells to bind the Hollow, and fend off the Cero. The silver-haired woman watched the Hollow being affected by the gravity of the Bakudou with relative interest, particularly when the black holes became blue flame-like swirls of Reiryoku consuming the Hollow's form. She sheathed her sword then, knowing this battle would be coming to an end in a matter of moments... albeit not by this spell.

"Weaklings. All Shinigami... are nothing but weaklings!" As the Hollow spoke, he released Reiatsu powerful enough to make the ground tremble while dispersing the bulk of these spells. The blades on his arms then extended, as a massive sphere of a Cero began charging between the tips of the blades. At this point, Raizen ever so casually walked into the group of Shinigami and Zanpakutou spirits. "You look tired," he said to Benihime. "Gomen. I would have been here from the beginning, but I needed to know what sort of threat to expect from these Hollows, and to see your rate of development with that Zanpakutou of yours."

[Apollymi]

The combination of spells had done exactly as the girl intended, but the effect wouldn't last as long as she could have hoped. 'Really? Life loves fucking with me I swear!' she thought as her knees buckled under the spiritual pressure presented by this Hollow once more. "I don't now what you just thought, but given the look on your face, I have feeling you shouldn't think it," said the girl's Zanpakuto Spirit, who apparently couldn't hear her thoughts but could tell by the look on her face she was thinking something she shouldn't. Yakouboku was now holding her up as well. But before she could even begin to berate this Hollow it began charging a Cero with its blade arms. "One trick pony..." the girl said. If she was going to die she didn't want a death so very plain. But it seemed that wouldn't be happening today either. Instead, the approach of someone very familiar happened as the girl kept the force of will to stand she was addressed.

"I'm fucking exhausted..." she mentioned, which was rather true, given all she'd done in the last few minutes. Beyond this though, this man seemed to at least be perfectly capable of doing what ever he wanted himself. "Kumori-fu.... Kumori-taichou, admitting to spying on me. A bit strange but pretty far down on my list of concerns right now. Arigatou Gozaimasu~" the girl said but it was obvious the man hadn't done anything yet, or maybe she just had a feeling he would and thanked him in advance of his actions.

[Bloodedge]

"I have no shame. For what it's worth, the show you put on was entertaining. For your efforts, I'll see if I can match it with something of my own," Raizen said to the red-haired woman. "Maybe this one won't be about sending an unwilling participant in to help," Mugen/Atsuko interjected. Raizen paid no heed to these words, as his attention had been focused on the Hollow ahead. "Hollow. Your little group of brothers... Are they perhaps connected to the Hollow above the forest of Menos?" he asked. This brought no immediate response from the Hollow, but that was all Raizen needed to have his answer. He awaited the completion of this Cero "bomb" that had been prepared before his own Reiatsu began to flare. "You. You're another one of that group we've been hunting. Wonderful! I'll end most of you with this!" the Hollow claimed. With that, he was prepared to unleash his final attack to end the lives of these four combatants. "Kurohitsugi... Hadou no Kyuujuukyuu: Goryuutenmetsu!" With this combination of spells invoked, the ground itself ruptured to give way to energy which rose in the form of pillars. The addition of the spell Kurohitsugi to this caused this energy to be black at its emergence, while also adding a power of gravity great enough to affect time and space in the area. The pillars quickly took on the shape of five dragons, all of which converged on the Cero sphere this Hollow possessed. An interesting effect had been created by this specific combination; the spell's gravity allowed the dragons to literally absorb the Cero's energy into themselves, making them even more powerful as they continued toward decimating the Hollow with no issue whatsoever. "Ah, it worked. I do love the gravity spells; good choice with the Kuyo Shibari. That one may be my favorite Bakudou. As to not be a copycat, though, I figured I'd improvise by using a Hadou instead."

[Apollymi]

Raizen's first statement, drew a smirk from the young woman, but since he claimed he wanted to put on a show, she decided to watch. She took a seat surprisingly enough in the lap of her Zanpakuto so she could watch without being hindered. "Well, as long as someone was entertained, I can't really object to seeing something new..." the young woman said as she prepared for something she thought would likely be amazing given this young man's various skills. Atsuko seemed to be perturbed about having been sent out in the first place, and since she'd actually helped to save her, Benihime could at least understand a bit of her discomfort. "Sumimasen, I didn't mean to cause you any hardship. Want a chair?" she asked, without waiting for an answer she produced a capsule which would create something of a high backed throne lined with red velvet, she'd been using in her laboratory when she got tired of her spinning chair. Still there was something strange about this woman, and Benihime was vividly close to figuring it out, but she'd soon lose this thought as she moved on to something else.

She went on to watch as this Hollow in particular seemed to be quite cross and mentioned that Raizen was on the list of individuals being hunted by this group of Hollows. "Sou ka, I figured it wasn't just me. Still pretty stupid though..." she said seemingly amused. Things about these Hollows and watching Raizen work were now at the top of her list, she'd pushed to the back of her mind several other things. A few seconds thereafter, she got to see something she'd never properly witnessed. "Sugei!~" she said as a combination of spells she couldn't even imagine putting together happened before her eyes. "Ugh, I'm so jealous. That works out so well. Ano, I wonder if I should..." she began thinking of ways to combine other spells after praising Raizen and then by his statements something became obvious. "Oh? On the spot with that one too, huh? Sugoi, Kumori-taichou... really interesting to see. I'm really impressed. I think I like Kuyo Shibari, but I can't really choose a favorite among the kidou yet, I haven't seen them all... though it's pretty high in my current list..." she said of her own usage of Kidou happy to no longer have to deal with the problems before her she seemed to let her mind wander across several subjects there were lots of puzzle pieces on the board right now and they needed to be organized into their proper places. "Seriously, I can't hear your thoughts right now. But you look like you're up to something," said her Zanpakuto which seemed to be annoyed by the sudden radio silence caused by their present separation.

[Bloodedge]

"Keep it to yourself," the silver-haired woman replied. She seemed to have only been capable of truly tolerating this close proximity to Benihime for a matter of seconds, and now, she stood with her arms folded while awaiting Raizen's next move. To her dismay, said move would not be involving him leaving.

Raizen's eyes remained on their target until the Hollow was no more, but there was something more to be witnessed here. Even with the enemy's death, Raizen called forth the Reiraku for the area. He honed in on the one belonging to this Hollow, which should have faded as it died. The ribbon remained. "Hourin!" Reaching out to grab the ribbon, Raizen conjured his spell around it, shrouding it in an orange rope of energy which led to its source. He also forced the electrical spell, Tsuzuri Raiden, through the thread when it seemed to ensnare something nonexistent. This caused an invisible globule of what seemed like flesh to become visible. On this piece was the mark of the spider that had once been on the Hollow, and it was now writhing as if it felt pain in its capture. "Sou ka," he said before, surprisingly, letting it go back to its home in Hueco Mundo. "One more thing I wish I hadn't been right about." With that, Raizen turned toward the others, and stepped toward Benihime. "Spellweaving is not to be underestimated. There's a myriad of combinations that can have very interesting effects. If I'd been allowed to, I would have given that lesson at the academy as well. Now... onto more important matters," he said as his tone became of a more dire persuasion. "You may consider it a good idea to not rely on your Zanpakutou so much. One should not be developing so quickly."

[Apollymi]

"Sou ka, you too, alright then..." she said of the woman who seemed to have some problem with her she didn't know about. This was an oddly common thing for Benihime at this point, but something about this woman had initially made her think this wouldn't be the case. She felt familiar, outrageously so, and given her speech to the girl she'd been looking at her for a few seconds too long, and the feeling clicked in the girl's mind. Her eyes widened and she hopped out of her own Zanpakuto's lap and took the seat. She'd find herself leaning her chin against the palm of her hand, "I feel dense now, I didn't realize it before," the girl said, of the Zanpakuto specifically without realizing it.

But that wasn't all there was to be seen. Raizen soon captured something invisible which seemed to be the marking which had belonged on that Hollow before it'd been obliterated. A frown came to Benihime's face as she realized that this meant that all of the Hollows with this marking hadn't truly been slayed. "That is going to make me really upset and then really happy again later. Having to kill something more than once is a pain in the ass, but at least I'll get to do it again~" she said thinking about the fact that the first Hollow she'd properly killed with her Zanpakuto was likely going to resurface at some point, bringing with it all the unpleasant feelings associated with it. After Raizen spoke on the usefulness of spell weaving the young redhead could do nothing more than agree. "Hai hai, though to be fair, that isn't really a first day lesson for most." she said as she finally returned her attention to her Zanpakuto.

The speech of this hooded being was one which made the girl frown ever so slightly, but before she spoke on that, the tone of Raizen's voice shifted just a tad, warning her against the rapid development of her Zanpakuto. "Yes, I am fully aware that the speed at which my Zanpakuto has been developing is fairly extreme. Fun fact though, I've only properly used it thrice in the last 9 months, not counting our little match up in the tournament. I'm far from relying it on it for any reason, because I am innately suspicious of anything being so nice for no reason," the girl said."Not that I don't appreciate the advice but, technically speaking your Bankai developed in 2 years and your Zanpakuto Spirit walks around like she's normal people. Seated and everything... bit hypocritical~" the girl mentioned as if these developments amused her, only to have her eyes narrow when she looked to her own Zanpakuto. "Which brings me back to you, didn't ask at the time because I was far too busy, but how the hell are you just walking around?" she asked of the Zanpakuto who had gone from sitting with the girl in her lap. "Oh and obviously its possible, she's here but that isn't really something I expected of myself." she said her head ever so gently nodding in the direction of what had to be the Zanpakuto spirit that belonged to Raizen's Mugen. "The shrouded man let me out, you seemed like you could use a hand." said the Zanpakuto Spirit. "See... and this is exactly why one shouldn't trust a voice not their own in their head. Shrouded man lets you out of the dark forest and you just take a casual stroll," the redhead seemed annoyed but there was far too much going on in her day for her to stay angry for more than a second or two.

[Bloodedge]

"Three uses and that much development is exactly why I advise against continuing to use it," was Raizen's immediate reply. It was then that Benihime spoke of the hypocrisy found in his advice. Raizen's left hand rose to rub the bridge of his nose with its forefinger and thumb, and a sigh escaped him. "Yare yare. Gomen; I've gotten used to dealing with other types, who don't question things. Sadly, it doesn't seem like you've questioned enough. The deaths in your family... There's only one thing they could have had in common. You remain 5th Seat because your family is cursed with death at higher ranks, but that's not the curse at all."

When Benihime moved on to questioning her Zanpakutou spirit's ability to be manifested in such physical form, Mugen peered through the corner of her eye at the pair. Since it became apparent that this woman knew of her existence as a Zanpakutou spirit, she chose to speak on the matter. "That would be Raizen's, or more specifically, my doing. It should be pretty obvious now that you've put together the fact that I'm here."

[Apollymi]

Benihime found herself with the most bemused smirk her face could possibly manage. She sat cross legged in her throne as Raizen commented that the sort of developments she was experiencing were exactly why he didn't think it wise for her to continue using it. Still there was a matter of how much she seemed to question these moments and he went on to apologize for underestimating her ability to question things. But that soon moved on to a statement that she didn't question enough, because, soon after he went on to state that the connection between her family and their deaths had nothing to do with their seating. She looked at him and nodded. "Hai, their deaths came with the ability to use Bankai... more likely the maturation of their abilities," said the girl who'd been looking into this far longer than she'd let on. But then, she'd had much more free time than she let on. "Still haven't figured out why though, couldn't find any information on that, and I spent months combing through the information in the Daireishokairo," she said, knowing she'd been questioning this of all things much longer than she'd let on. Though it made her wonder why this man had bothered looking into something which didn't directly concern him. Such a thought made her look at the man quizzically, she still didn't know why he was bothering in such a way.

Moving on the Zanpakuto Spirit Mugen mentioned that the freedom of her Zanpakuto Spirit was something which she was solely responsible for. This made Benihime turn to the woman and nod. "Hai, I'm aware of that too. But I can't hear her thoughts and I wondered if she'd try lying to me, knowing that it was the case. So I asked..." the girl said. This made her Zanpakuto look at her as if confused. "I've never lied to you," it mentioned, which made Benihime frown. "Fair enough, but you also weren't exactly forthcoming with information while I looked into the deaths of my family... meaning you knew what I was looking for before I looked for it, but didn't just tell me when you obviously know. There is also the fact that you are exceedingly generous with power, and you're definitely trying to devour me, can't say I'm looking forward to it. Shit like this is why I have trust issues, Yakouboku." she mentioned having pieced together the rest of the information regarding her own Zanpakuto by making a few choice inferences with the information she already had and the pieces that Raizen confirmed by his warnings. Her Zanpakuto spirit managed to look more than a bit surprised by the girl's assertions while she wasn't in her head, she could do nothing but further confirm the girl was way too clever for her own good. Obviously the push of her own developments was something of an experiment to see how far it would allow her to go, as she tried to figure out her own way around it. The reason the girl was fine with maintaining her low seat, and the reason she was fine flying under the radar is because she was actually looking for a way to save herself.

[Bloodedge]

"Benitsubaki," Raizen spoke. This single name was the root of this family's curse, and was also the core reason Zanpakutou existed. "In ages past, a woman reached into a Kyougoku named Apocrypha to gain power from it. She gained that power. In exchange, this particular Kyougoku kept a link to its power, and took it back when the creatures the power made gained the memory of its ultimate form manifested through Benitsubaki. Kyougoku all function based on memories; this particular one consumes them. In gaining the power of 'darkness,' Benitsubaki doomed herself to be reduced to the weakest possible state soon after reaching the limits of the power she'd been offered. Benitsubaki was with child when the power was given. Kumori Rikuo, the creator of Zanpakutou, forged these weapons to channel a Shinigami's power into another source to try and take away the curse, but his own abilities were too great to truly limit a Zanpakutou's power. Eventually, Shinigami discovered Shinuchi, which we now know as Bankai. Bankai is nothing more than what used to be the full use of a Shinigami's power." As Raizen spoke, he drew closer to the throne Benihime sat upon. Eventually, he took a seat on the chair's arm, crossing his own arms as he rested. "It has never been the fault of the Zanpakutou, but instead the Zanpakutou's power. When Bankai is utilized and the Kyougoku is satisfied with the knowledge, the memories it can gain from that incarnation of its power, the Shinigami is stripped of that power. Imagine the fight where a Shinigami requires Bankai, and suddenly loses every ounce of their power."

[Apollymi]

Soon enough Benihime was having her question answered directly for once in her life. She was so stunned by the occurance she found herself quietly listening to the story of a distant ancestor who'd taken on a power from before Zanpakuto existed. And had this power reclaim memories at the time when the Shinigami reached its ultimate power. Doing so would leave the Shinigami without the ability to use its power right at the moment which they likely needed it most. Raizen was now sitting on the side of the girl's throne, "Sou ka, that's... the first time anyone's ever been able to answer a question I had. Arigatou Gozaimasu~" the girl said, but this obviously wasn't what she was actually thinking at all. What was actually in her head was a question as to why this man had this information to give it, and why he cared enough to look into when it didn't directly affect him in any way.

Given what was said here, it seemed that it made sense that no one had been able to properly find out anything about this problem in her family and why they'd just accepted it. No one could properly see the connection because no one lived after the point where their power abandoned them. She then got a less than pleasant mental thought about the death of her eldest brother, which made the girl's heart ache, as she realized he probably died alone and confused as to why he couldn't call upon the singular power he developed and trusted when he needed it most, while he was trying to do the right thing. With this information though she had a few more ideas, and it was probably for the best that her Zanpakuto wasn't in her mind right now because it was more than obvious that she wouldn't like what she had to say. "So, achieve Bankai, get to die without it after placing all of my trust in it. Paranoia saves lives, I won't be convinced otherwise. Anyways, sounds fun... I now have something else I need to know, maybe Tatsu-fuku can answer it..." she said thinking about it more, since her line of thought probably wasn't as obvious as most would like she explained. "What happens if I break it? The Bankai I mean..." her sentence ended causing a slight gasp from her Zanpakuto who seemed to as she thought not exactly be fine with the idea.

[Bloodedge]

"It's not the easiest question to have answered. I had to research my own lineage to find the answer. Of course, there's more to it... and I am well aware you're holding onto the curiosity," he said plainly. "Kumori Benitsubaki was among the first to receive a surname, I imagine, due to her abilities. The rest of her family likely went on to take the name you were born with, but she was eventually wed to Rikuo, who took her name. The part where this gets interesting is the part where the pair of them escape a threat by hiding away in the Dangai. Kumori Rikuo still lives, but I believe I may be somewhere down his reincarnation cycle... as you are to Benitsubaki." The longer Raizen spoke, the more comfortable he seemed to get in his seat of choice. He eventually crossed his right leg over his left, and lowered his head while his eyes closed. Benihime produced the theory of a broken Bankai being an answer, but Raizen had already drawn his own conclusions to this. "A broken Bankai may never return to its original self. I agree that limited power is better than losing a life unquestionably, but... if it is repaired in any form, there is still every chance that the curse remains. There is, however... one way I believe would work..."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Raizen understood that the crimson haired lass hadn't asked every question which had come to mind when he'd been explaining the story of this long past ancestor. Even so, she hadn't expected that he'd simply be able to produce an answer to such a question without her having to speak it. The assertion being rather simply that they were reincarnations of the original pair, and that his own other still lived, but the fact that Benihime presently existed most likely meant that her previous self didn't. "Hm, that's a bit much..." she said frowning deeply. "But that kinda explains why they don't really use the Dangai for anything. If there are basically two versions of the same person existing at once. Seems like one of the few valid reasons for law creation~" she said aloud. Though it was at least a valid explanation for why she couldn't manage to avoid seeing this man when she was trying to, and she'd been doing that for quite a while. Whatever the case the girl didn't have anything else to say about it, being reincarnations of people seemed like a really good reason to avoid each other.

Instead her Zanpakuto seemed to take issue with the fact that the small girl had so easily come to the conclusion that she should break her. "Benihime really? You'd just break me, that's your first answer?" she asked as if this was seriously a problem. "Yes, I would. I cut Saya's leg off to give it back to her, breaking things to fix them is always a valid option. And if you didn't assume I'd do the same to myself then you haven't been paying attention..." the girl said, but her Zanpakuto spirit wasn't really upset, after all, even if she couldn't go back to herself it would be a better option than ceasing to exist when the girl died. Beyond this though, Raizen seemed to mention another idea he had for fixing this potential problem. "I'm all ears, but I have a feeling given that pause... I'm not actually gonna like it."

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. Those two were also the reason for the Jigokuchou. Their hiding resulted in them appearing again at a very different time. Though, that all has nothing to do with the fact that... well, frankly, I've been trying to avoid you for quite some time now. Mugen here advised against interactions with you, and I found out why. Benitsubaki's death affected Rikuo in some unmentioned way; tomes say he was never the same. Since then, there have been reincarnations who've affected one another in the same way, so I imagine Mugen was only trying to prevent that," he said, which made the Zanpakutou spirit scoff and look away. "Confirmation. As for this idea... it could potentially end up worse than the natural fate. It could mean execution. Since I've already conducted studies on this, though, I'll continue seeking other means of dealing with this problem. There's no point in the return of my clan if we'll be forever plagued with this problem as well, and I'd like to not personally deal with whatever the problem is. What do you say? Shall we work together?"

[Apollymi]

Raizen went on to explain that the Jigokuchou had been created because those two individuals had popped up out of their own time. Such information was rather interesting and new to the girl and it was rather amazing to her. After all there wasn't much she didn't get to know, and the fact that there was still much to learn made her happy inside. When this topic switched slightly she was presented with the information that Raizen's first incarnation had been negatively affected by the death of his wife, in such a way that he was never the same again. That sounded rough and beyond that he'd been trying to avoid her on the advice of his Zanpakuto, because apparently they weren't the first pair to exist and have their fates repeated multiple times. "Sou ka, nice to know abject disdain for me is rarer than I thought~" she said seemingly amused.

"And to be honest, I've been trying and failing at avoiding you too. You seem to appear anywhere I am even when I don't have anywhere in mind when I go there... it's freaky," she said but again with general explanations on the table this was all a lot less unknown and thus less frightening than it had been before. But seeing how Zanpakuto functioned, Benihime didn't hold this against the woman, who even scoffed as Raizen produced what was obviously the reasoning behind this advice. It also seemed Raizen's immediate idea for fixing her problem was one which could get the girl executed, leaving her to believe it had something to do with the thing which had almost gotten him executed in the first place. But he went on to say that he'd rather not build up his own clan if this could potentially be a problem for him later. When asked if she wanted to work together to help fix this problem she allowed her eyes to flicker over to him. "I'll take us working together on it, but it seems like you get the broken end of that deal, no matter what way its cut. You still barely know me, do you really want to do that to yourself?"

[Bloodedge]

"That's about what I've been dealing with. Perhaps there's no point in avoiding it. It's been tedious, anyway," he claimed. With that said, he stood, knowing where he would be going next. It was his intention to invite Benihime along, but first, there was a question. She wondered if he truly wished to submit to this sort of fate, and frankly, he felt somewhat drawn to it. This wasn't something he necessarily felt like arguing with anymore, and Benihime would know this soon enough. "You're right; I don't know you at all... but I also know you better than anyone. I did say we were too alike. I'd rather delve into this now, than leave the chance of it occurring against my wishes later. I have more things to research at home; come with me, and we can save both of us from a bothersome future," he said with a hand offered to the redhead.

[Apollymi]

"Well, at least it isn't just me..." the girl said rolling her eyes. To be honest she'd started to think she'd been losing her mind for the amount of times she'd walked out intending to go somewhere he wouldn't be only to see and make eye contact with him while she was there. If it seemed like her fate was pushing her in this man's direction and he decided to go along with it, she hardly had any reason to argue the point. And his deal with it now rather than later attitude was quite refreshing. As such when he said he was going home to do more research and that she should come with him and offered her an extended hand she could do nothing but take it. "Hai, hai..." she said as she took his hand she allowed her other to press a button which would return the throne to a tiny capsule which she'd catch and put into her pocket.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course it isn't. Similarities," was the only other thing Raizen had to say, alluding to the common ground these two shared once more. When Benihime accepted his hand, he sealed his Zanpakutou and, in doing so, returned the pair of spirits to their homes. His sheathed Zanpakutou would then open a personal Senkaimon, which Raizen had located in the confines of the Kumori compound. With it open, he led the way through to the manor itself.

[Apollymi]

Benihime's Zanpakuto was already sheathed, but with the sealing of Raizen's her Zanpakuto Spirit disappeared from sight, and was soon enough back where she belonged in the forest which plagued Benihime's mind. It was like a bit of a relief for her to return there, both for Benihime's sake and her own, and Benihime didn't have to touch her blade to know it was still cracked all over and would likely take a few days to return to normal. Benihime then got to have the realization that she'd taken this man's hand without putting much extra thought into it, and it was likely one of the most comforting things she'd ever done. 'Similar huh? This is still weird...' she thought though she went against her original thought to pull her hand away. It appeared she was about to leave the human world again, which was fine and Raizen soon opened up a Senkaimon which she could only assume would lead to the Seireitei.