bankzu
Member
Fight Alone
Word count: 1,609
Eiji
Kyoujin
Kyoujin’s world was not really a place for children, or anyone scared of the dark. The spirit was located in a cave, deep inside of a dark, damp forest. The trees were sitting together tightly, almost merging with each other. A thick mist lay over the ground, not allowing a single footstep inside to be seen. The crowns of the trees were tall, much taller than the reaper could see. No sunlight passed the cloud of leaves that seemed to reach the heavens.
Eiji walked slowly, taking it easy with each step he took. His inability to see anything in front of him made it difficult to move any faster. A single misstep could easily stop him in tracks, keeping him from reaching his destination.
He had been here only once before, when the spirit had called him. He could remember it clearly, the way he was summoned, how Kyoujin had greeted him on his arrival. That time, the reaper had wanted to call him to his side, to summon him to his own world. But he knew that there was no chance of that happening.
Tales had been told for generations about the different forms a shinigami could wield his zanpaktutou in. Eiji had managed to awaken his spirit and take part of his power, learning the initial release and thus gaining its powers. He had even been told about the next form a shinigami could wield, about the final release of his soul cutter. These were tales that every single shinigami learned while in the academy but only a handful could dream of.
And he did. He had dreamt about his zanpakutou spirit, about its powers and about its ability to fight. Only, those dreams had not been about him. They were only about the spirit itself, seen from his perspective, seen from his eyes. Eiji did not exercise the power that was shown to him. He was unsure if the spirit actually knew about them, if they had some meaning or if they were just dreams.
He kept getting closer and closer. He could feel it all the way into his bones. Even though he couldn’t feel any spiritual power coming from the spirit, he could feel his presence. It was almost as if it was a part of him that was missing.
The scarred reaper looked towards his left hip as he had the cave within sight. The sword was still there, even if it was unnecessary for him. He did not know how to strike well enough with a sword to harm someone, much less kill. It was only there as a percussion, a friend by his side.
“Get out here!” he called, waiting for his zanpakutou to reply. A few seconds passed and there was still no word. The scarred assassin was starting to get irritated.
What the hell is he doing in there, he thought to himself, as he felt the presence from earlier emerging behind him. It took him but a second to realize what had been used against him and he reacted accordingly. The boy leapt forward, making some distance between him and the spirit.
“You’re quick,” the spirit replied to Eiji’s evasive maneuver.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, cocky as he was. He was aware of all the aspects of Kagesochi but he had never fought it before. “It’s not like I’d let someone like you catch me.”
Eiji did not know the extent of his soul cutters power but there was still no fear shown in his eyes. He had fought hard battles before, against many opponents. He tried to recall every person he had fought and quite a few of them came to mind.
Yuurei, Anya, Shizuka, Mitsuhito, Rei, Theo. Al those were tough battles, lost and won, he thought.
But you did not fight alone, the spirit replied.
A bit shocked that Kyoujin heard him, the reaper remembered that they shared this world together. Nothing he did or though could get past his zanpakutou.
I’ve had you by my side for every battle I can remember. Why would you bring that up now?
Why wouldn’t I?
The spirit asked as it started walking towards the reaper.
Do you honestly think you would be able to fight a single person without me? Do you think that you would have survived without me?
I would.
The talking was over, Eiji knew as much when he saw the spirit come sprinting towards him. The first strike came from the left; a leg swiping towards the scarred reaper. He jumped back, making some distance between himself and his attacker but he did not stop. Another barrage of punches came towards Eiji as he tried to take a breather. He swayed, moving left to right, up and down, blocking and parrying strikes with his fists. A last open palm came striking towards his chest and the reaper was pushed back a few feet.
The strike made him lose his breath for a second but to his surprise; the boy had still managed to stay on his feet.
Is that all you got, he asked, trying to taunt the spirit. Eiji was a little shocked by how good his zanpakutou was, until he realized that they both had the same fighting style. The spirit had no sword, not knives, nothing. They both fought solely using their hand-to-hand combat, utilizing their bodies as weapons.
Do you really want to find out?
Come!
Kyoujin flew at him again. Eiji could easily see him but he was unsure if he would be able to match his speed. I’ll need to be careful here, he thought to himself as the spirit landed just in front of him.
I can hear you boy.
The spirit started swinging his fists, and instead of trying to evade getting struck, Eiji took the first hit. Another one came and hit and Eiji punched back again. After a few seconds the fighting turned into hat seemed to be a slugfest – they stood in place, both of them, delivering punch after punch.
Eiji was the first to fall. A well-aimed punch to his chin knocked the boy unconscious for a second as he fell to the ground.
Just before the scarred reaper hit the ground, he woke up and by some miracle, managed to spin around and land on his hands instead of his head. He saw the old man coming towards him as he looked between his legs, and instinctively kicked his foot back when the man was in range.
Kyoujin never saw it coming and the blow made it to his gut. He staggered back for a few steps until he regained his balance. The reaper had managed to twist around and was once again back on his feet.
Good. I hoped you wouldn’t fall that easily.
A combo of flash steps moved him next to the spirit before it could react. His last step landed him on his right foot, holding him up on his toes. He used it as a pivot as he spun into a round kick towards the soul cutters head. It was a clean hit. The reaper never gave him a chance to react and he had finally managed to drop him to the ground.
That’s more like it.
Eiji moved once again at full speed. As he reached his foe, he jumped up slightly, aiming his elbow towards Kyoujin head as gravity dragged him down. The spirit rolled to his right, moving out of the way at the last second. The reaper hit the ground hard, leaving a small hole in the earth after his elbow.
The both rose at the same time, giving each other no space to breathe. In less than a second, they were at it again. Eiji was still on the attack but that was not necessarily an advantage. One single misstep, a single moment of hesitation, and it would change again.
The punches flew all over the place. The scarred assassin made no attempt to aim his hits but made sure that they were packed with power instead. The soul cutter managed to avoid every single one of them with a combination of movement, parries and blocks. Despite the edge that Eiji thought he had gotten, he was still not fast enough. A straight punch came aimed at Kyoujin but the split second it took him to aim the punch instead of fighting with instinct created a gap between the attacks.
Kyoujin took the chance and dropped into his own shadow and appeared behind the reaper almost immediately.
Kagesochi! I should have expected this!
This time, the fight seemed over. As he rose from the ground, the zanpakutou did the smart thing and pulled his arms towards Eiji’s torso and backwards, tying his hands together behind the reapers head and holding him down.
“It’s over,” the soul cutter spoke out loud. “It’s your loss.”
Eiji tried twisting and turning out of the hold but had no chance to even budge his captor’s hands. It was indeed over, he had to admit. Calming down and loosening his body, Eiji signed that he gave up, admitting his loss.
“Don’t feel bad about it. You’re plenty strong. What you lack in strategy, you greatly excel in your ability to fight. Come back and rain with me again, and I can guarantee that you will fight better the next time.”
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