Bleach Hereafter RPG

Niji was staying at a hotel in Tokyo today after a busy day working with various partners in the region; Kibō no Hikari had found a remarkable degree of success in finding interested parties in both grantees and donations. Spiritually, life had been relatively calm again; she was making inroads with Ikazuya, and it seemed like the work with the charity was doing wonders for his…well, his will to live. She had not yet made him aware of her full nature yet, but Niji had dropped enough hints that the fifth Zodiac was aware she may have some nascent fullbring. And, as expected, given his loathing of Virgil’s actions, he had not tried to recruit her into the organization.

But, silence of the spiritual made for a buildup of her energy, and she it bubbling up, she would have to go to Haven soon and release more of it. This was the point where hollows might seek her out as a source of reiatsu, but she had a meeting in just a few hours; she needed to get some rest while she could. So as she left the hotel room shower and changed into her pajamas, she called forth a group of spiritual wolves. They were large enough that she didn’t even have to kneel to scratch the leader behind the ears, and she fed them spiritual energy as she spoke, ”Go out and hunt tonight, alert me if anything dangerous shows up.”

The fullbringer flopped onto the bed, and the wolves bounded through the wall of the building into the night.

Asura would he’d come upon an unusual sight when he finally made it to the hollow. A wolf the size of a horse darted in from a side street, tearing at the hollow's flank; as the creature turned to swipe at it, the wolf hopped back through the wall of a building, and another wolf jumped through a different building and struck at turned back. The wolves felt faintly of a familiar reiatsu, and as the hollow let out another cry of pain and frustration, it was clear the masked creature would not last much longer against the tactics of the spiritual pack.

Momoshiro

Asura landed on a nearby rooftop, rolled, and then launched himself back into the night air. It whistled past him as he soared over the rooftops in a long arc, eventually planting himself onto the air itself. Down below was something he didn't anticipate on seeing. A lone hollow, the one he had heard previously, was battling with a pack of... wolves? Maybe? They were larger than what he knew them to look like from Takano's books (and his own experience with the creatures.) Without much to do down in that lab, Asura read the various books the Shinigami scientist had accumulated. "Read" might be a strong word. He skimmed them but focused on interesting parts like how wolves tend to hunt in a pack to take down larger prey.

The pink haired Hollow narrowed his red eyes. Thinking back on Haven, there was something eerily familiar about the spirit wolves. They shared a similar spiritual aura as what he felt down there in that lab and the surrounding area. Asura wasn't sure what that meant but it made him hesitate to engage even though he wanted the meal for himself. He remembered something Yoshinori Okamoto had told him once about how observation and patience were key tools when confronting obstacles or foes. It wasn't really his strong suit but if he were to grow as a person, he needed to expand his mindset.

Before he could do anything though, a blur of pink and white shot past him. His eyes went wide. He couldn't even follow their movement.

"Wha--"

Then all he heard below was the sound of flesh tearing and animal whines until there was no sound at all. In the second or two since the blur, the area below had changed drastically. The Hollow was gone and the spirit wolves were... for lack of a better phrase... "all over the place." It was unclear if any of them survived the onslaught.

Asura stood in shock. He didn't really understand what just happened.

---

At the same time, in a secret underground lab far below the Seireitei...

12th Division Captain Daisho sat at a computer terminal, illuminated in the blue light of the monitors in front of him. On his screen was a map of Tokyo and a few dots in red that suddenly vanished. On another monitor was a read out of data that was coming in from somewhere.

He leaned back in his chair and smirked behind his mask.

"Very interesting..."

Despite being severed and several feet away from the rest of its body, the heads of one of the wolves let out a loud, baying howl. Then it, as well as the rest of the destroyed creatures, dissolved into golden motes of reiatsu that faded into the night.

---

Niji had just gotten to sleep when she heard the dying cry of one of her wolves. She herself let out a growl worthy of any canine, and reached out with her spiritual senses. Nothing of note. Whatever had dispersed her spirits was hiding its presence; it was either a protector that had slewn the wolves out of excess caution, or some bloodthirsty creature that had attacked them just for existing. If it was a Shinigami, it could easily be both.

She called forth another wolf spirit, and gave it instructions to return to where its fellows had been dispersed. The woman, still in pajamas, muted her own signature as she slipped out onto the balcony of her hotel room. The city was never truly quiet, but this late at night it couldn’t truly be called busy compared to the workday. Odds of her being noticed were minimal, but she would take precautions nonetheless. The oversized hoodie she used as her pajama top covered much of her figure and features, including the obvious red hair. A thin mask of stone covered her face as she called the kazekami to aid her. Immediately, she began jumping silently from rooftop to rooftop, watching the wolf from high above. She fully expected this spirit to also be defeated, and then the threat could be assessed properly.

Momoshiro

Suddenly there was a faint howl and Asura snapped his head in that direction. One of the wolves' detached heads had uttered one final cry before disappearing into specks of golden light that rose up from the bodies and faded away into the night air. It seemed similar to the way pluses fade away after a soul burial by a Shinigami. Asura had witnessed enough of those in his time. Though, as far as he could tell, those things weren't human spirits. The pink haired Hollow had never seen their like before, yet the energy resonating from them felt like that lab.

Asura stroked his tattooed chin as he lowered down to inspect the area. His robes flapped around him as he dropped and fell once more once he landed and stood to his full height again. He walked over to where the Hollow had been. What traces of the fight that remained where already fading away. Any blood spilled or torn flesh was disappearing into spirit particles. There were chunks taken out of the far concrete wall. Looks like the Hollow had hurled one of the wolves into it or punched it trying to hit one. He couldn't tell for sure.

Then he moved over to where some of the wolves had fallen and crouched down to look at the pavement. Nothing of note to see but he could sense the familiar residual reishi particles. He wondered if this was one of Takano's experiments or a test of some kind. It wasn't really his style to keep his subjects in the dark. That was certainly more of a Daisho move, but Asura couldn't rule anything out just yet.

Just then he heard the patter of paws bounding toward him and as he rose to stand again, he was face to face with a new spirit wolf. He raised a brow but instinctively lifted both of his hands as if to say he wasn't a threat. He let one foot slide backwards.

"I'm not sure what you are or if you can even understand me... but I mean you no harm. I don't know what happened here."

But then, he felt something shift next to him. A slight deviation in the air. Then the wolf collapsed into two separated halves. Clearly cut right down the middle somehow.

Asura's red eyes went wide.

"What the fu--"

The wolf looked at Asura curiously, no particular aggression or fear in its expression. It didn’t even have a chance to react before it fell into two halves, almost immediately dispersing into golden reishi.

---

Niji looked on from the rooftop, disapproving.  The being that had been next to his wolf looked humanoid, but was clearly suppressing their reiatsu. Short hair, looking almost red in the streetlights, but other than that, she couldn’t make much out. From this far away Niji couldn’t even get a good bead on its reaitsu in the middle of the crowded city; frankly, the only thing she could be sure of was that it wasn’t a hollow. That only left pretty much every other dangerous being in the spiritual realms. Great.

That being said, the thing’s body language made it clear they were surprised at her spirit’s violent end. They probably weren’t responsible. Which meant something else was hunting this night. Not just hollows, not just her spirits, and not this stranger.

But why would whoever was out tonight slay her wolves? They would have been hunting hollows, not shinigami or fullbringers. Perhaps they got the scent of an Arrancar and couldn’t tell the difference? Maybe some shinigami thought they were hollows and slew them. But even then, she should have sensed something nearby; there’d be no reason to suppress if the goal was hollow-slaying; they came towards reiatsu like a beacon.

No, for the moment, she’d watch the stranger on the street. Something was up, and she wasn’t about to rush in blindly.

Momoshiro

The small lab was currently only lit by the blue light of several computer monitors which were spread out across the wall. Some screen displayed data streams and others showed a map of Tokyo and certain points of interest. There were multiple dots on the map display. Some moved around, others remained stationary. Two dots were right next to each other. A third dot was nearby but moving away.

Daisho seemed to be focused on the area with the two dots. His eyes moved from the two grouped dots and then to the other moving away. He grinned behind his mask and then finally spoke up.

"Hibana, subject status?"

The small girl, about half his height, was staring at another screen displaying all sorts of statistical data.

"Reiatsu levels remain nullified and Reishi particle density is holding at 98%. Hollowfication rate is at 60% but Subject appears stable."

The masked Captain chewed on the data she had given him for a moment before replying.

"Good. Keep an eye on the Hollowfication and Reishi levels."

---

Back on the ground in Tokyo...

The wolf, like the ones before, faded into little specks of gold light which floated up until they too disappeared entirely. The dimly lit street was quiet once more. Asura took a step back. He had felt something pass him right before the wolf was cut in two. He didn't see anything, but something came from behind him right before the attack. If he didn't know any better, he'd say he was being toyed with.

His red eyes narrowed and he glanced around. Were they still there? Whoever attacked the wolves and the Hollow? He reached out with his senses, but couldn't get a read on anything in the area. He didn't sense anything before either. Were they hiding their Reiatsu? He didn't like this.

Maybe he should leave? Best to retreat to the safety of the lab or even Hueco Mundo. He lifted his hand to draw forth the Garganta but stopped suddenly and looked back over his shoulder. No, that wouldn't do. He was curious now and wanted to know who or what was behind this. The mystery of it convinced him to stay.

With a sigh he lifted up into the sky, still making no note of the Fullbringer nearby who had no doubt concealed her own Reiatsu signature. If this thing was hunting Hollows like him, he might find it if he did the same thing.

Asura was about to head off on his search when a bolt of blue energy pierced his shoulder. His eyes followed the direction it came from to see a man dressed in white.

He was holding a bow made of blue spirit energy. A Quincy.

Asura looked down as his shoulder stitched itself back together. He then glared at the newcomer. The man offered him nothing but an emotionless stare and a few words of warning.

"That was to get your attention. The next one will kill you."

The pink haired Hollow looked on in disbelief and was about to retort when he was cut off by the man.

"-Your reign of terror here is at an end. I don't know what manner of tainted creature you are, but you match the description of the monster responsible for killing my companions and so I, Quillion Von Rihgmark shall destroy yo--"

With a snap of his fingers, suddenly the Quincy's arm was detached, blood shooting out from the wound at the shoulder. The spirit bow dissipated as the arm fell back to the ground far below. The Quincy's eyes widened.

"You talk too much."

Asura appeared behind the man and hit him across the head with the edge of his hand, knocking him out. He then used the man's cape to wrap the wound and left him on the roof of a nearby building below where they had been standing in the air previously.

He looked down at the Quincy, limp against the concrete, and growled under his breath.

"I made a promise to my friend, Takano. I don't kill people anymore, not unless I have to defend myself or my friends."

Asura knew the man couldn't hear him, but he still spoke the words anyway. Maybe it was more for him to hear than anyone else. He honored his word, but this man thought he was responsible for some kind of massacre. He would need to get to the bottom of this and quickly before more Quincy showed up.

Niji watched the short conflict between the two humanoids. It was over fast, and the Quincy clearly got the worst of it. The brief surge of energy from the pink haired man didn’t answer any of her questions about his nature. It felt like a Shinigami, but wrong.

She silently leapt over to the rooftop the two had ended up on, just in time to hear the off-Shinigami speak to the unconscious man. Well, that answered one question at least; Takano took excellent notes and was eager to share his results with her when she returned to Haven. The pink hair, tattoos, and not-quite Shinigami feel allowed her to identify the man. She allowed her own energy to leak out, just a bit; enough that the focus of Takano’s research would likely make the connection and not immediately attack her.   The Fullbringer looked at the injured Quincy; the injury might be lethal, even with the makeshift bandage over the severed stump.  She'd probably have to heal him; though she didn't think she had much of a chance of a peaceful resolution between a Quincy the strange hollow-possessing-a-Shinigami.

”Mister Hirai has mentioned you, Asura, was it not?  I am Gaia; and while under other circumstances I might have said it is my pleasure to finally meet you, it seems this is a poor time, and would much prefer you explain what is happening.”

Momoshiro

Being on "high alert" as it were, when the new spiritual signature popped up, he spun around in the direction it was emanating from and readied for attack, but almost immediately the visage of the woman and the familiar aura caused him to soften up slightly.

"Mister Hirai has mentioned you, Asura, was it not? I am Gaia; and while under other circumstances I might have said it is my pleasure to finally meet you, it seems this is a poor time, and would much prefer you explain what is happening."

When she spoke, her words were calm and polite but Asura felt there was an underlying... something there. He didn't really have anything substantial to base the feeling on other than how it reminded him of the Japanese people and how they wore masks of pleasant courtesy, but yet there was a concealed emotional truth that they held back. Whatever it was, it didn't feel malicious and so he wasn't going to dwell on it. Reading people wasn't really his strong suit anyway.

He did, however, keep his guard up somewhat considering the strange coincidence of meeting this woman on the very night all of this was happening. Asura made the connection that the wolves must have been hers, but their purpose was still a mystery to him. He assumed she was one of those humans with spiritual powers, but didn't know the specifics of hers.

"Nice to finally meet you, Gaia. Takano speaks very highly of you."

He noticed her looking at the Quincy and so he too glanced back over to him. A deep red stain was growing around the bandaged stump. Asura ran a hand through his pink hair and sighed.

"I'd love to be able to explain, but I have no idea what is going on."

It did somewhat irk him that she felt entitled to an explanation in the first place but as she was being polite with him, he would do the same.

"I came out to hunt Hollows and feed. I saw your wolves attacking the one I was going to eat but something got to it and the wolves before I could even do anything. Then this guy comes out of nowhere, attacks me, then claims I'm responsible for some kind of massacre yet I've been in that damn lab for weeks and just now got out."

He looked at her and shrugged.

"That's all I've got."

Asura looked back down at the man. The blood stain had grown considerably and he was starting to pale.

He gave an awkward chuckle and looked off into the distance. If something was out there hunting Hollows, it would only be a matter of time before it struck again.

Niji inclined her head in a brief nod, and knelt down next to the Quincy; there was a brief golden glow from under the impromptu bandage as the wound reknit. The arm wouldn’t magically grow back, but he could deal with that problem when he got back to his base of operations. There was enough variety of powers in the spiritual world that she’d be more surprised if someone in the Quincy hierarchy couldn’t regenerate his arm.

The fullbringer frowned slightly as the healing completed, not that it was clearly visible behind the literal stone mask and under the hooded face, but her voice was calm, ”Also, what do you mean by 'just got out?'  Mister Hirai assured me that you were assisting him willingly.” Niji stood and turned back to Asura, assessing the man; she had read the notes Takano had given her on the man. That this apparent Shinigami was basically a body that the parasitic hollow had infested a long time ago; which explained the not-quite Shinigami aura he had. Her eyes locked onto the blood-stained cloth around Asura’s shoulder, not clearly seeing the injury that caused it, ”Would you like me to take care of that as well?”


Momoshiro

”Would you like me to take care of that as well?”

Asura looked at her confused for a moment and then glanced down to the bloodied hole in his white robe.

"Oh, right. Nope, all good. See?"

He pulled at the collar of the robe to reveal his shoulder was completely intact, just some blood left over to indicate that there was even a wound. After which, he pulled the robe closed once more. Then he realized he didn't answer her about the lab and waved his hand back and forth as a gesture of miscommunication.

"My bad, just a turn of phrase kind of thing. Takano has been very good to me. It's just that place is dreadfully boring and I cherish these night I get to roam. The crisp night air alone is wonderful."

Asura took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh to illustrate his fondness for it.

He stopped though, suddenly, and looked the woman up and down. He ran a hand through his pink hair and let out one of those "might as well do it" sighs.

"Gaia... I hope you forgive the ask here, but with everything going on.. it would really make me feel more comfortable if I could see who I'm talking to."

He then held his hands up and moved them about while talking, gesturing here and there.

"N-Not that I don't trust you or anything! It's just with this and then that thing earlier over there, then you showing up, and then who knows what else is coming... just..."

Then he remembered something Yoshi told him.

".. Trust starts with a solid foundation. Yeah."

Niji listened intently, the blue eyes staring from outside of the stone mask revealing very little. She was relieved at his assurance that Takano had been treating him well, she would have hated to discover the Shinigami was lying to her about something. If anything, it just increased her confidence in the man, the Hollow actually seemed to respect what would normally be his ancient adversary.

She shook her head, ”I apologize for the discomfort, but I will not remove the mask. Next time I come by his lab and you are there, I will be happy to speak to you face to face.”

The fullbringer gave a helpless shrug and gestured towards a small box on one corner of the roof. Whether or not Asura would recognize it as a security camera was another question. ”The footage is already going to be strange enough for anyone that checks the video, if I do not take precautionary steps to conceal my identity, I am likely to be identified. I do not have the benefit of being invisible to mortal authorities.”

The woman watched to the edge of the roof and reached out with her senses, other than her, the Quincy, and Asura, the night seemed quiet. Asura seemed to think something else was coming, so there seemed no reason to let down her guard. ”We can always go back and we can figure out ways to make it less boring; I had never really intended it as a long term residence, so I will admit it is fairly bare-bones.”

Momoshiro

Asura raised a brow. He didn't really understand the point she was trying to make. It wasn't like he was asking her to keep the mask off, just let him see her face and then put it right back on. No harm in that, he thought, but if the camera was a problem...

He gestured towards it, as if waving it away, and then the camera was cleaved in half. Bits of circuit board, wires, plastic, and glass fell to the concrete floor below it. He knew about cameras from his time in Daisho's labs. He kept them on for all his subjects. That, and he had seen them in the material world as well.

Her reasoning for hiding behind the mask was understandable, but he didn't like masks. He didn't trust those that would wear them. An image of Daisho's golden mask appeared in his mind's eye but he shook it off.

Asura crossed his arms and planted his feet.

"The camera is gone. No one else is up here. I would really appreciate seeing your face before we continue this conversation. Just a glimpse is all I ask."

He gestured around, not even any windows from other buildings faced them. The rooftop was entirely secluded.



Asura stared at her, waiting to see if she'd oblige his insistence or not.

Niji did her best to not flinch as the camera exploded. Unlike others she had seen, there was no projectile, no blast of energy launching from the man’s outstretched hand. Just a fluctuation of energy at his hand, then one at the camera. How could one even defend against that type of attack? She glanced over at the camera, the mask covering a small smirk, ”Well, I suppose that is a temporary solution.”

When the woman turned back to Asura, her hair was still mostly covered by the large hoodie, but the stone mask was no longer concealing her face. Save for the particularly piercing blue eyes and a few stray strands of bright red hair falling over it, nothing about the woman’s face was particularly notable. ”Very well then, I wear a mask for the living world, not the spiritual one.”

There was, of course, a degree of irony in the statement that would be lost on Asura. The whole identity of Gaia was a mask for the spiritual world, one she found herself putting on with ease. Despite any notability she may have in the business world of mortals, it meant nothing to Shinigami, Hollows, or most Quincy.

Her voice was unchanged, still calm and confident without the stone covering her face, ”So, what reason do you have for thinking others might be coming for you?”


Momoshiro