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Kazuo Mizushima - Inner World |
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Exposition
What alerted Kazuo of the shift in space and time was the eerie silence that had settled around him. Another heartbeat and the cold finally seeped through his shihakusho although by now, he had grown accustomed to it already and the subzero temperature did little more then send a shiver down his spine when he cracked open an azure eye. The usual flurry had lifted leaving the perverse replication of his hometown, the first district West Rukongai, in a coma-like stillness as though time itself had stopped in this little corner of the world.
With a sigh, Kazuo heaved himself unto his feet from his meditating position and dusted off the snow that was clinging to his hakama with the intention of tracking down his cumbersome other. One would think that spotting the looming shadow of the seven feet tall horned canine was an easy task, but the jet black creature was a predator that knew the terrain too well. However, one thing for sure, if it took Kazuo too long to find it, Kitakumo will be the one to find Kazuo although that would also be inaccurate. Kitakumo did not need to find him. It always knew where he was. Always. And that was usually demonstrated by the manner in which Kazuo’s zanpakuto usually jumped him. He had best move on and find the wretched beast if he didn’t want to get flattened by the beast. The thought of him made Kazuo shudder. He still had trouble getting over his fear of dogs, the result of a traumatic event in his childhood. Note to self, never prank anyone who owned a 4 foot tall dog as pet. Why the heck did his zanpakuto spirit have to look like one of those wretched creatures from hell?
Oddly enough, Kitakumo had not bothered to conceal itself at all tonight. It was simply lying with its head held high on the thick layer of snow in the middle of the district’s main street, waiting, judging. Cold cyan eyes alit in an almost malignant way stared straight at the young whelp of the fourth division as though the damaged housings between them were nothing more than a transparent piece of glass. His zanpakuto spirit’s unusual behaviour should have been enough to set off alarm bells in Kazuo’s head, but he had never really been the quick witted one wherever he went so he approached the large beast whose lush fur seem to reflect the moon above them with an almost relieved bounce to his steps. Did Kitakumo finally decide to stop being so difficult?
He walked closer until he was only a few meters away while his zanpakuto blinked once in disbelief at its master’s brashness or trust, whichever was governing his actions. It had been optimism of course, an optimistic trust that led him to believe that the usually spiteful creature wouldn’t attempt to maul him. It had not bothered for a surprise attack this time around so why would it now? “What’s up, ‘Kumo? Are you up for some training tonight?” As the shinigamis spoke, he began to bounce lightly on his feet to warm up for what was to come. For a second, Kazuo was under the impression that Kitakumo was rolling its eyes, but it was quite hard to tell since the creature had no pupils.
As for the tall wolf like entity, starting the training session had suddenly become quite appealing. The sooner they began, the sooner it could knock some sense into that empty head of his. It let out a menacing huff full of irritation that went unnoticed to Kazuo and rose to its feet ever so elegantly, movements smooth and fluid. “Yes, do try not to disappoint me,” it let out in a guttural growl, eyes following the young shinigami that was still bouncing up and down. Kazuo flinched at the low rumble, but at least had the decency of bringing his arms up in a defensive boxing guard, but his manner of hopping clearly clashed with his upper body. Boxing involved a mobile shuffling footwork that could propel its user forward and backward at the blink of an eye while the time needed to land back after a hop took away from Kazuo's reaction time and he was oblivious to it as though his partner's words had no other effects. The insult had entered through one ear and exited through the other as by then, he had grown used to his zanpakuto’s personality, but out of habit, maintained a distance of around 3 meters as Kitakumo lowered its head into a crouch and Kazuo knew what was coming.
In a swift yet silent motion, the giant canine was onto him with a leap betraying power and control leaving behind a trail of black spikes made of ice as tall as himself. Kazuo side-stepped to his right to avoid the crushing jaws that snapped shut where he had once stood and closed his eyes ever so briefly to summon his zanpakuto’s shikai form. A black coat of armour was covering his arms and legs when he reopened his eyes, barbs shimmering under the moon. Had this scenario played out a few years earlier, he would have been dog chow by now, but he was not the same clumsy fighter as a few years back and his zanpakuto was fully aware of that and so, it pressed on. With a twirl of its head, fangs were onto Kazuo, but he had had the time to recover and brought his right fist down onto Kitakumo’s neck, pushing himself into the creature’s body to avoid the bite and the jet of black ice that shot out between open jaws. The body he had his back against was moving once more, strong muscle flexing under rough fur, a sign that troubles were to come. It was time to move again. As fast as he could before his opponent had the time to turn around, Kazuo slid his foot towards his zanpakuto spirit’s front paws, freezing them to the ground in a block of transparent ice.
He crouched down so that he could heave the creature’s body unto his left shoulder and pushed up, flipping it onto its back. Kitakumo’s mass was centered on its chest and head so flipping the creature up took much less effort and strength. Both fighters fought at close range the best and where Kazuo was at a disadvantage in terms of size and weight, he made up for it with agility. A short scuffle ensued with snow flying off in all directions and before long the deserted district that consisted of Kazuo’s inner world was filled with ice both transparent and black.
"43 minutes and 57 seconds," Kitakumo finally said in a flat almost bored tone.
"That's at least four more minutes than last time!" came the muffled voice beneath its giant paw.
Reluctantly, the inky canine lifted its paw and Kazuo quickly rolled out of the way to lay flat on his back, panting at the low supply of oxygen he had just been released from. "Alright, so what did I do wrong this time?"
It had become a routine for the two. They would spar, Kazuo will get his butt handed to him on a silver platter and Kitakumo will start listing all the wrongs of his techniques and tactics alphabetically or chronologically depending on its mood then rinse and repeat. However, the sparring time has been growing steadily over the past few months and the list of faults have been decreasing. The amount of training sessions had increased drastically as well, an important factor to the brat's improvement, but Kitakumo knew better than anyone that psychological elements were also involved. All things considered, it was time to pick up the pace while the momentum was still present.
The zanpakuto spirit stared down at the prone figure, eyes glassy and calculating before finally speaking up. "You have not taken our body's different morphology into consideration. Staying low against a bigger opponent may have worked had it been a biped, but for a quadruped, countering disruption in footwork is far too easy." As if to demonstrate its point, Kitakumo bent its leg and crouched down so that his muzzle was inches away from the shinigami's forehead.
"Trying to trip me was foolish. I have four legs in case you were blind although flipping me over had been something new. If it was your intention to remain close to me, at least do so where I won't be able to sink my claws into you." Snow crunched under slender paws as soon as the cold breath left Kazuo's forehead, but it wasn't long before he felt a nudge somewhere down there...in the general direction of that numbing feeling. "And that is why you will be limping for the next few days."
The beast gave a not so light tap against the solid block of onyx ice covering Kazuo's right thigh. It cracked slightly judging by the sound, but it wasn't as though the boy could feel anything. A loud sigh slipped out and he tried to intervene before his grumpy zanpakuto spirit continued knowing that the enumeration was far from over. "Alright, alright. Can you unfreeze me though? This strange ice isn't really melting." Straining and ignoring his aching muscles, he heaved himself up into a sitting position, but his movements was impeded by what he had always assumed as a chunk of solid water.
Peeling it off was out of the question just as putting his fingers anywhere near it. They were already patched with white and red, signaling the presence of frost nips and it was only a matter of time before they reached the second stage of frostbites. He already had a hard time explaining all his frequent need for a patch up since he had kept his training a secret to most and he doubted that he will find a way to explain frostbites in the middle of bloody hot summer.
Seeing that Kitakumo had not budged, Kazuo clasped his hands together and let out a long and drawn out "Please!" That seem to shake the spirit out of its odd trance and it moved one of its sharp claws closer. A wave of reiatsu washed over Kazuo as an orb of energy started building at the end of it. "Oh wow, wait! I said "unfreeze" and not "blow my leg off!"" The blond tried to scramble backwards, but couldn't do more than scoot a few inches back with the state he was in. Panic had started to take over and he was in the process of cursing himself for ever trusting a creature that looked almost identical to those damn dogs when he realized that he was starting to feel his leg again. In fact, the block of ice had melted away into a black puddle under him that was quickly solidifying.
The young medic rolled away so that he won't be trapped into the re-solidifying ice and looked up at the towering beast, incredulous. "Okay, thanks?" he finally said, but the creature merely looked down at him, impassive and quiet. He was starting to grow worried about his zanpakuto spirit's odder-than-usual behavior. Was that the beginning of round 2? Did he pissed it off again? No way, he was sure that he had discovered all the wrong buttons to push 2 months ago and he had been careful not to push said buttons in the past few weeks.
Finally, Kitakumo turned around to trudge away at a brisk pace, mumbling under its breath. Gingerly, Kazuo trotted after it in an attempt to catch up with the creature's long strides. He caught a few words, but nothing really made sense. "My fault...Properly explain...Properties...Ice..." The latter was spoken with a grain of indignation and a scoff.
"What's up? 'Kumo?" Kazuo had been tempted to attempt a shunpo forward to intercept the beast's path, but it didn't look as though it would stop to avoid trampling over him and he was dead tired to begin with. Fortunately enough, his voice seem to remind it of his presence and it craned its neck back in an almost a hundred eighty degree turn to look at him.
"Take a week off from your Gotei duties and make sure you are in top shape. The next session will take place when you find an empty field away from civilization." The voice was stern, without room for negotiation, but Kazuo wasn't about to walk away without trying so he opened his mouth to protest. Kitakumo had sensed it coming so instead, it opened its jaws and picked him up by the back of his shihakusho's collar as though the young shinigami weighted nothing much to his surprise. "Training is over. Until then..." With a swing of its massive neck Kazuo's zanpakuto's spirit sent him flying into the dark winter sky just as the world around him surrendered to darkness.
Feiyimei · Sat Jan 07, 2012 @ 08:58pm · 0 Comments |
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