Bleach Hereafter RPG

"Who is it?”

Asura didn't take his eyes off of the man below.

"No idea, but now I understand why they thought it was me doing all of this."

The man below had pink hair, a different shade to Asura's but close enough. He also had deep blue markings all over his body like tattoos. He wore a vest but had on baggy white pants. The hair, markings, and white clothing were enough to justify the mistaken identity.

Asura clenched his fists. He was understandably upset. This asshole, whoever they were, had caused others to come after him.

The man let go of the Quincy and turned to face Gaia and Asura. He was grinning, but had a feral look in his eye, as if he would strike at a moment's notice, provoked or not.

---

Seireitei - Underground labs under SRDI facility.

"RETREAT, DAMN YOU!"

A gloved hand slammed into the computer console, white cloak and shinigami robes fluttering outward. Daisho stared at the monitor through his mask, his teeth grinding together as a fuzzy picture of the scene appeared from a bird's eye view. Somehow the situation was being monitored remotely and transmitted back to Daisho at his lab.

The 12th Division Captain entered some commands into the terminal in front of him but nothing changed. He grunted in frustration and turned to Hibana, his Vice-Captain.

"What's the subject's status?!"

She calmly read off the details from the monitor in front of her despite Daisho's rising anger and frustration.

"Reiatsu levels still remain nullified. No change to Reishi particle density. Hollowfication rate has jumped to 91% and subject is refusing any remote commands. Subject stability is rapidly deteriorating."

Daisho looked over at the large red button on his console and narrowed his eyes. He could terminate it from here as long as the connection held. It was never supposed to get discovered. What happened to cause it to suddenly go fera-- Suddenly Daisho's eyes went wide. It was Asura. Of course. Proximity to the original must have activated the dormant Hollow-fied reishi particles and caused it to overtake the modified Shinigami host control body.

It was a practical example of nature overcoming technology.

Daisho let out a long, defeated sigh and finally regained his composure. He pressed the red button and started cataloging the details of the experiment so he could start preparing for the next iteration.

Behind them, on the far side of the lab were lines of tubes filled with a green fluid. Inside the tubes were bodies. They looked exactly like the subject currently in the World of the Living.

---

Back in the Material World...

The almost mirror image of Asura moved as if it were going to lunge at them but stopped suddenly.

"HHRRK!"

Its body contorted as if it were being twisted by some invisible force or shocked with electricity. Then it went limp and fell to the ground. The body started to dissolve into golden specks of spirit energy. Asura stared at the fading lights and then turned to Gaia with a shrug.

"Before you ask, I have no idea."

There was no other spiritual activity in the area. Not even Hollows.

"Though... this feels like Daisho through and through. Are you familiar with that man?"

Niji’s energy began to spill forth in a golden aura as the man seemed prepared to strike. Clearly he was dangerous, and it didn’t seem like he was particularly sane either. And then he just…stopped; falling to the ground dissolving into particles of spiritual energy.  It didn't look like a particularly gentle death, but she also didn't sense the source of whatever attack destroyed him.

Before the Fullbringer could even ask Asura what she was looking at, he denied any awareness. She shook her head at his question, she had read the name somewhere. Was it Rekka’s old Academy textbooks?  The books were roughly a century old, but she didn’t get the impression the names of powerful Shinigami changed all that much, ”He is one of the Shinigami captains, right?”

Quickly suppressing her reiatsu again, Niji looked down at the apparent Quincy lying in the crater, ”It might be safest for you to head back to Haven for now; we can talk about this there. I will try and fix up this Quincy, maybe I can figure out what they think is going on. I am not saying I will be able to clear your name, but maybe I can get some answers.”

Momoshiro

"...able to clear your name, but maybe I can get some answers.”

Asura was about to answer but he was cut off by a bright flash and a weird sound, like a camera shutter noise. Then another flash and sound, coming from behind them. He turned around and looked up. Sitting, quite casually, on the edge of a concrete border wall, was the former Shinigami Captain himself, Tendo.



"Yo."

The blonde man was resting his chin in his hand which also held a lit cigarette. In his other hand he held a soul phone and seemed to be snapping pictures on it. The flash went off again and caused Asura to squint at it. The Hollow growled at the newcomer. His nails started to extend. Asura was clearly not in the mood for any games.

"I mean you no harm, Asura. You either... Gaia. Nice to see you again by the way."

He gave Niji a knowing glance and then turned his attention back to the soul phone.

"I have something that might help with... well, let me show you."

In one fluid, practiced motion, Tendo moved his right hand away from his chin while also slipping the cigarette back into the corner of his mouth. He inhaled and the tip of the cigarette burned brightly for a second before dimming again. As he exhaled the smoke, his right hand moved to his pocket to pull out a small flashdrive looking device. He plugged it into the phone, pressed some buttons on the screen, and then detached it. All the while, he kept his eyes on the two of them just in case either got a bit... feisty.

He then hopped down from the concrete divider and strolled up to the two of them. His movements were slow and careful as to not agitate either of them. He held up the little flashdrive looking device and clicked a button on the side. A holographic video recording of the attack played back, clearing showing the actual perpetrator.

Tendo grinned and handed the device to Niji.

"You can stick that in that guy's pocket..."

He then pointed in the direction of where they had left the other Quincy.

".. or that one. Either should work fine."

With another knowing smile he turned to look Asura up and down.

"Wow... Daisho did a number on you didn't he?... and I can see he's still at it."

The man turned away from the two of them to start poking around the site. Asura gave Niji a "WTF?" look but didn't make any movements.

"I'll let the Gotei 13 know about this. I saved a copy to my phone."

Tendo walked back over to them.

"Name's Tendo, sorry. Should have started with that. I get distra--"

He looked at Niji's mask as if seeing it for the first time.

"Oh, you don't need that. I disabled all the cameras in the area and I've got a barrier up now to keep any eyes off of us."

Both parts were true, but what Tendo didn't tell them is that he waited until the creature had disposed of itself to put the barrier up. He didn't want Daisho to know he was involved and if he knew the man, the body probably had some sort of data-gathering bacteria. It was something he was tinkering with years ago and probably perfected by now.

Tendo paused and just looked at the two of them, waiting for their response.

Asura looked at Niji and then back to Tendo.

"Who the FUCK are you?! What is even going ON right now?"

Tendo gave Asura a disappointed look and then turned to Niji.

"A blunt instrument, this one eh? Do YOU have any pertinent questions?"

Niji knew what a camera flash looked like, and was glad she had decided to replace the mask almost immediately after taking it off. She didn’t take the device herself, but it floated out of the man’s hand and hovered a few feet away from her. As the man finished his speech and Asura reacted, followed by an insult from the man, Niji shook her head softly.

She moved to position herself between Asura and Tendo, her back to the hollow; her blue eyes hiding any emotion behind the mask. Her voice came out cold and controlled, addressing her companion despite her eyes never leaving the mad scientist, ”Asura, this is Sadaharu Tendo. One of the three most dangerous beings currently residing in the realm of the living. Tell him nothing.”

The woman didn’t raise her reiatsu, like her meeting with M, there would be little point in attempting to threaten this man. Apparently she was no longer flying under the radar, and major players in the spiritual world were no longer content to just let her be. She thought back to the hollow bait and her fight alongside Janus, and how there had been a barrier preventing the mortal world from seeing the show. This time, she was clearly addressing the shopkeeper with her question, ”Did you arrange this trial as well, Mister Tendo?”


Momoshiro

Between seemingly absent minded behavior and purposefully distracting conversation points, Sadaharu studied the two of them. Their mannerisms, posture, clothing, speech, spiritual aura... Anything really that they would share knowingly or otherwise. The Hollow was, of course, an open book. That one was too honest for his own good. Quite unlike most Hollows, especially given what Tendo already knew about the little worm. His intuition told him the Hollow would be easy to manipulate. He would need to make sure no one took advantage of the poor fool.

”Asura, this is Sadaharu Tendo. One of the three most dangerous beings currently residing in the realm of the living. Tell him nothing.”

The other one, the Fullbringer, was a bit more of a puzzle. He liked puzzles though.

The mask, he guessed, was improvisational and the manner of her attire led him to believe she had not intended to go out tonight but, instead, was pulled away from wherever she stayed. The mask, her compressed energy signature, and the guarded stance led him to believe she was hiding something... or someone. It was clear she didn't trust him, but he expected as much. Their previous encounters did not allow him time to build that bridge. It was, however, endearing how she instinctively moved between them to protect the witless Hollow. That one movement spoke volumes to her character. It gave Sadaharu hope that she could become a valuable ally.

In response to her charge, he chuckled somewhat dismissively.

"Only top three? I'm losing my touch then."

He grinned and blew out some smoke after taking a hit from his cigarette.

"I'm only dangerous to my enemies. Those that would do real, lasting harm to the material and spiritual worlds."

Sadaharu noticed the floating device that Niji refused to touch, and with a gesture, pulled it back to him somehow. He carefully maneuvered over to the incapacitated Quincy and tucked the drive safely into his palm. By the time he stepped out of the shallow crater, he caught her inquiry.

”Did you arrange this trial as well, Mister Tendo?”

Sadaharu looked around and then back to the two of them.

"Oh, this was no trial. At least not for any of us. This was a test run I'm assuming. Daisho has always been keen to outdo my work. It seems he is still attempting to perfectly merge Hollows and Shinigami."

The blonde haired man stared off into the distance for a moment, a troubled look on his face.

"First Virgil, now Daisho..."

For a moment it seemed like he was about to say something more serious but then his demeanor changed. He smiled and looked back over to the two of them. Asura stood, completely baffled, but still, waiting to see what Niji would do, no doubt.

"I wish we had more time, but their friends will be here soon and we certainly do not want to be. Agreed?"

The mad scientist was lucky that looks could not, in fact, kill. After the man made a joking little quip about being an enemy to those that would do lasting harm to the realms, the amount of vitriol in Niji’s eyes would have flayed him in an instant. Even with her face mostly hidden, she covered the expression quickly, and since her recent encounter with Miss Ishiwara, she had also been practicing covering her emotions in her aura. It wasn’t something she had mastered as much as the mortal means of expressing emotions, and it was possible that the scientist would have felt a fluctuation of restrained fury ripple through the woman’s suppressed energy, just for a second.

It was under control by the time he stepped out of the crater, after putting his little device on the Quincy himself. Despite the smoldering fury inside her, the fullbringer let no emotion touch her eyes as she took a flat tone with the alleged shopkeeper, ”I do not necessarily have an accurate list, Mister Tendo; I do not know precisely how you measure up. I will be sure to take your confidence into account.”

Beyond that, Niji quite literally bit her tongue; she wanted to shout at the man, to question him. The logical part of her brain reminded her of what she had learned from her cousin about Virgil betraying him, that he wasn’t entirely at fault. The rest of her still felt the fury, the sorrow, the trauma from the Battle of Broken Skies, and she had never met Virgil, never even seen him beyond a blurry cell phone picture. This man was the face that she associated with the pain of that day, and the rest of her still wanted to rip his throat out.

Thankfully, she had always been good at listening to the logical part. The woman still kept herself between Asura and Tendo, her eyes never leaving the man. Her voice was tightly controlled and calm despite the tempest inside of her, ”Yes, you are correct. I think Asura and I should be on our way.”

Momoshiro

”Yes, you are correct. I think Asura and I should be on our way.”

Tendo paused for a moment and stared at Gaia. He narrowed his eyes slightly. The woman was uniquely skilled at containing her emotions but the coldness and silence spoke more than talking ever could. He wondered if she realized just how much she gave away... or if she cared. There were a list of things he wanted to speak with her about, but unfortunately, now was not the time or the place. Far too dangerous to linger. He was just relieved she was being as amenable as she was considering their past interactions. He would have hated for this meeting to have gone down a darker road.

Suddenly the tense stare gave way to closed eyes and a bright smile, as if flipping a switch. To some, it might be unnerving how he moved between emotional displays at the drop of a hat, but when you've been acting for as long as he has, it becomes second nature. Almost subconscious.

"Good! Good! I will find you both later so we might have a more fruitful conversation..."

He let his words trail for a moment before he added to the previous statement.

"...because like it or not, you both are players in a larger game now. Be careful and watch out for each other."

Sadaharu looked up as the previously invisible barrier above them broke apart and dissipated into golden specks of spiritual energy. If either of the two were paying attention, the aura of the barrier would feel like a mix between all of the known races and their own specific energy signatures.

He then reached out in front of him and made a gesture as if plucking a string on a guitar or a harp. Suddenly the reverberation from the pluck revealed previously invisible red lines of wire-tight thread that had been erected between them, possibly before he revealed himself. The mesh of interwoven threads created a sort of dome around Tendo. Shortly after the reveal, the threads were all pulled back into the palm of his hand until they too had completely disappeared.

Tendo grinned and then pulled something from his robes, some kind of bangle. It looked like a modified Quincy cross.

"See you soon!"

Then a shadow silhouette appeared beside him. The darkness swallowed him up and then disappeared altogether, leaving no trace he was ever there.

Asura stared at the spot where Tendo had stood, blinked a few times and then looked over to Gaia.

"Um.. back to Haven?"