Shadows and Shikai [Henrex]

The wind that had been blowing all throughout the day had finally come to a halt. It was odd… the chirping of birds, the rustling of leaves… all of it mysteriously came to a halt. In its place, there was merely a deafening silence.

In the middle of the training field for the Covert Ops, two figures stood. One of them wore a Captain's Haori, draped over his form like a weight, pulling him down from every side. It looked a bit comical on his small shoulders… but one look at his face would erase all doubt about where that robe belonged.

Standing behind him was a man whose entire body was covered, looking out of place in the sunlight. The amount of fear that was coming out of his body was palpable. The sun's rays struck both of them, creating the shadows behind them that laid along the sand of the ground.

"… My Shikai…" The Captain slowly whispered, his right hand gripping onto the Haori. Turning around, the hand tugged, causing for the entire garment to leave his body. "I got it… over the grave of my Captain, Jenna…" His mouth spoke as he turned to face Henrex, his hands moving down as they gripped the Tantos on either side of his body.

"From cutting… myself… that sorrow…" Gently, Kuro's eyes closed. He gained dominion over every part of his body, from his breathing, to his heart rate, to the stillness of his own thoughts. "That… emotion…! That is… Shikai…! Kuro… no Inu.."

Kuro pulled on the dual swords, his dual Zanpakutō releasing from their prisons. They had already transformed with his intonation: Black ebony daggers appeared in each of his hands, the stealth uniform that he wore almost shining in the noonday sun. Perhaps it was not the correct time for this kind of trial. Perhaps it was because this was the time at which Kuro himself was the weakest. But even so…

"I'm going to graze every one of your vitals… and if I touch your heart… I'll paralyze you from the neck down."

Kuro's eyes gently glint, before his body vanished. His shadow, however… remained on the ground. Kuro himself appeared before Henrex, one dagger coming in from the front, aimed at the male's eyes, and the other coming in from the side, aiming for his kidneys. If the top dagger was successful, Kuro would graze the side of his face, creating a long line that would drip blood. If the lower dagger connected, he would slide the blade it along the kidney, just barely missing it but still causing a good bit of blood to spurt from the wound.

Kuro's body then hopped back, his eyes narrowing as his left dagger leapt over to his right hand, holding both of them by their hilts. His left arm, in the meantime, transformed completely, the digits elongating to several feet long, the arm seeming to lose its natural shape as it stretched and dug into the ground. The arm then grabbed harder, before pulling upwards as a cloud of dust was released into the air. Kuro's shadow, meanwhile… seemed to have disappeared…

Kuro's deadly dance began, and it seemed that already blood had been drawn. As the blood dripped onto the ground, if Henrex could possibly be so astute, he would see the Shadows from beneath the crimson vitae fleeing, turning into a single line that slid along Kuro's blade and into his body. Man… this really… isn't enough… The Captain coldly meditated, though his eyes did catch the male's skin.

"...Really?" Kuro asked, his left hand slowly turning around as the palm opened, every digit rising into every direction. "...My opinion… doesn't matter. No one's does. No one… but yours." Kuro told him, his gaze intense. Kuro's left arm gently lowered back to his side, his eyes closing as he gently breathed in and out, shallowly. "...All hiding yourself away does… is prove that you're ashamed… nobody… absolutely nobody…!"

Kuro's tone shifted, leaving behind his void-like tone as some genuine emotion spilled into it. "Nobody but you can understand your pain!" With that declaration, Kuro's body launched forwards once again, kicks up of sand smashing into the air on either side of him, gouges appearing in the ground as it splashed all over Henrex's wound and eyes.

"Everything…" That word passed in front of Henrex's body as Kuro reappeared on his right side, his left hand thrusting forwards as he clenched the entirety of it around the male's right arm, trying to pin it to his body. "Everything… is in your head…" With those words, Kuro's right hand flashed, one dagger now held between his fingers as he slipped it forwards, attempting to stab into the male's ribcage, now aiming for his lungs.

Kuro's left arm then let go, his head turning around as he spun. His face could now be seen, with the other dagger in his teeth. This was, of course, for the counter attack. Kuro's teeth bit in tight, a black substance trailing from his mouth as a line of shadow appeared along the edge of his blade, capturing some of the blow…

But going a step farther as it erupted. Kuro's head was snapped back by the explosion, his left foot catching the ground as he vanished into another Hoho. Perhaps the male could tell, and perhaps not. Kuro was not using Shunpo, the art by which one could attack while using Flash Step. He was only transporting himself, before making his individual blows.

Finally, Kuro appeared directly in front of the male, his left arm shooting into the air as Kuro moved his entire form to the side. The claws came down painfully, strange ripples of force emanating from them in a way that would make standing up straight much more difficult for Henrex while he was blocking this attack, if he chose to block it. Meanwhile, the attack itself would likely tear into the skin, but not very deeply. More to set Henrex off balance than anything else.

However, should he be knocked off balance…

Out of the ground behind him, a series of spikes emerged from the ground, roughly two feet in length, enough to catch his entire body if he fell into them.

More likely than not, Kuro would only catch the male's legs. However, even that would be enough to make movement more difficult. If his entire body fell into them, his back would be badly ripped, but they would not be very sturdy, and break just after piercing the skin.

Kuro, meanwhile, continued to step forwards, his eyes remaining on the male before him. "I doubt you'll ever have your Shikai with your body covered like that." The statement was fingers, concise, to the point. Kuro's left hand slowly opened and closed its fingers, as if in reflection of the inner workings of his mind. "...Dust in your eyes… restraining your body… Shocking you into falling into a trap… going for your eyes while also going for your vitals… This… is what it means to be a member of the Stealth Corps. We are the darkness… that allows for the light to exist. We are the bearers of the cross… the cross of dishonor. To accept ourselves… to accept what we do… is the only way for your comrades to ever trust you…" Kuro told the man before him, his voice soft but clear. It still cracked in awkward places, as if it were not often used… especially this much… but it was very determined.

”Is it…?” Kuro asked in reply when Henrex declared it pathetic. Kuro felt the jangling and halting force of the back of the male’s Zanpakutō, or what it appeared to be. Kuro then moved his body as he had planned, attacking with the tool in his mouth. As he attacked with his arm, the male’s sword came crashing down, smashing onto Kuro’s arm as a large noise was released.

Then, the male released the wings on his back. …What..? Kuro wondered to himself, a flash of confusion gracing his expression before dispersing, looking up at the male who had entered the air. Henrex’s eyes when he came back, however, appeared to hold emotions that were what Kuro had been searching to get out of the male.
”…But how many, Henrex…? How many times could… I have killed you… with any one of those tactics…?” Kuro asked him, gently turning one of the daggers in his right hand around. ”Not everything dies that fast… And not everything will die in one hit, either… just like this arm of mine.” Kuro said that vacant expression on his face as he showed Henrex the arm that had gotten slashed.

The blade had been unable to cut very deeply, leaving the flesh seared. The large arm had a wide gash in it, but it did not seem very deep. Furthermore… it seemed almost as if it were reforming gradually. New blood had already ceased its flow from the wound. ”…I’ve hunted… I’ve hunted…” Kuro’s voice seemed to waver, becoming very difficult to hear. ”As your prey grows stronger… You can’t kill in a single blow… You depend on crippling, on reducing, on being impossible to hit… That ideal… it’s not ‘playing around’… It’s ‘increasing odds’…” Kuro explained, the arm falling to his side as Kuro gently turned his head to the side, his left hand’s fingers slowly retreating back to their normal length.

The Shadow Captain’s left hand took one of the dagger’s back, before Kuro’s breathing stopped completely. He spoke once again, and this time his voice returned, but it was not… the same. ”…Wrong…? I’ve always been wrong… I guess…” Kuro’s hands gripped slightly tighter around the daggers, before… his left iris began to shine. A white ring appeared in its center, Kuro’s body turning slowly to the side. ”…Then… no words.. no more… just as I promised…”

Kuro’s eyes continued to close, as around his body… a peculiar white mantle formed. Out of his left arm, the white substance formed around him. It gently changed into a cloak, and around Kuro’s face a silver mask appeared. It was a mask of the Masquerade, and it covered the top of Kuro’s face, leaving only his hollow Iris showing out of it. Meanwhile, the dagger in his left hand had slowly changed… before it became a gun. ”…”

Kuro’s body then vanished. And when he reappeared, he was behind Henrex’s body. While he had been gone, however, he had slid past the man, performing an attack in his Hoho. A Shunpo completed. Likely, there would now be another cut on the man’s body, just above his right elbow. Meanwhile, Kuro’s body that had appeared behind him emotionlessly lifted up the weapon in his right hand, pointing it behind him.

Meanwhile, the dagger in his hand grew exponentially, turning into a Katana. Kuro fired the weapon behind him, creating a peculiar wave of energy that blasted him forwards. Kuro brought the weapon forwards and downwards, attempting to smash it into the male’s body like a meteor. Kuro’s body was slanted towards the man, his gun spinning around in his hand as Shadows surged inside of it. Gripping it with his pinky, Kuro pulled the trigger, sending a large Spike made out of shadow at the male’s waist.

Kuro’s body would then vanish once again, the white cloak he wore separating from him. It still held the gun, pointed at Henrex, slowly moving away from him. Three more spikes of shadow rocketed from the chamber, Kuro’s body reappearing in front of the man. The Shinigami’s left arm rocketed forwards, possessed with a peculiar speed. That speed was granted by the Disturbed Energies that permeated Kuro’s body, thanks to his Ziamichi. That same Ziamichi was currently residing in the cloak, laughing to itself as the spikes flew at their target. Kuro had appeared in front of him when Henrex tried to dodge, and that left hook went straight upwards, Kuro’s right arm also coming in from the side.

The long and short of it was that Kuro was trying to knock the male’s arms into the air. The blade in his other hand had returned to being a ‘simple’ dagger. A ‘simple’ dagger that was ‘simply’ moving towards the man’s ‘simple’ organs. This time, however, the target was the man’s stomach, and unlike the previous times, this blow was designed to actually go about an inch into the flesh. This would be the most painful attack Kuro had executed yet, and if the shadow spikes hit the man, they would make it even more difficult to focus on the Captain.
For his part, Kuro stared at the man behind his mask, and if uninterrupted he would heft up that left arm, before bringing it crashing down on Henrex’s body. ”Run… Keep running… Or else you’ll die, tiny raven…” Kuro told him as his body nimbly left off of a plate of Reiatsu, using his center of gravity to flip over to where the cloak was. The cloak automatically reattached itself to its host, draping over his entire body as Kuro stood there, looking at the man from above.

”Come on… you can fly away, far away… And if you don’t… I’ll kill you where you stand... Don’t you get that… yet…? I’m not your Captain, or anything, now… Right now… I’m the most threatening thing to you continuing to draw breath through your lungs..!” Kuro informed the man, though all the emotion had gone completely out of his voice. Similarly, that deafening Killing Intent had returned… if Henrex did not know better, he might have thought that the being looking down on him was a hungry demon, not a Captain of the Gotei...

Perhaps he should have inquired about the cloak which Kuro donned. After all, it was in no way the tool of a Shinigami. It was not even constructed with Reiatsu. It was constructed with something more… sinister. Something which would make the young male feel uncomfortable to simply gaze upon it. Kuro followed his movements, watching the Shinigami move fluidly away from his attack. Not bad, but…

Silently, Kuro's body shifted. Through his back the blade cut, slicing through the fabric directly where Kuro's ribs should be. However, out of the corner of his eye, Henrex would likely see… the edge of Kuro's torso. The cloak itself had shifted, changing locations along as Henrex's gaze had, making it seem as if Kuro had been swiveling to the side… but only his cloak had. Kuro himself had not moved...and while the sword cut along his side, creating a gash, it failed to cut very deep.

The punch that went for Kuro's face was met with the Captain's mask, the fist and Kuro's skull colliding in a way that would send shocking vibrations all over Henrex's body. Kuro watched the man descend, and the cloak he wore began to slowly spread outwards. This created a large shadow over where Henerx had fallen…

Kuro was silent at the man's words, his body standing in the air still. Kuro had completely control over his body and mind at this point… and that control was equivalent to silence. Right now, he made no noise, he moved not an inch. He was still as the grave.

It would seem he accomplished it… Kuro thought to himself, before wrapping the white cloak back around himself. Like that, it began to rapidly spin around his body, before he straightened out his back. At this motion, the cloak finally retreated, flowing back into Kuro's mask. At last, his right hand reached up, the gloves he had donned being absorbed as well before he removed it from his face. Behind that silver coating, his eyes could be seen once again, the scar above his left eye glowing fiercely against the shadows of his face.

"If that's how you want it…" Kuro stated, the mask itself cracking before turning into dust, the gun in his right hand changing back into a sword. "Then it's time to show…"

Kuro's body vanished, before reappearing on the ground in front of Henrex. A simple Hoho, performed sublimely. From there, Kuro's body vanished again, spinning around in a circle as both blades came at Henrex's front. The double slash would likely push the male back even if he blocked it. If he did not, he would find two lovely gashes on his body. One would be across his torso, and the other on his stomach. The one on his stomach, however, would be much more painful than that on his chest. Kuro's left arm, now a solid hand though black in color, twirled its blade around, Kuro's right foot reaching back as he looked Henrex square in the eyes.

"Kuro no Inu Style: Jaws of Shadow." With that subtle declaration, both blades slashed outwards, creating two more attacks against Henrex's chest. No longer was Kuro using shadow power or any other manner of attacks. "From monster, to man...A man… What is a man, to you…?" Kuro asked, his foot stepping back as he looked vacantly at Henrex. He was now fighting the male without any kind of gimmick, as a Shinigami. He would fight him with the skills that he had gained, without associating the extraordinary powers which accompanied them.

Now… Kuro would show him why he had the mantle of Captain.

A wall of shadow… so he uses… darkness… The Captain thought to himself, his next two slashes reaching their target as vertical slashes appeared in the man's cloak. "...A goal…?" Kuro asked, as his weapon fell to his side. His attacking posture had released, and his guard was dropped…

It appeared as if he had been stunned by Henrex's words. It was fairly interesting to think that so soon after having unlocked his Shikai, that the young man could use any kind of abilities like he was now. Kuro, for his part, still was not yet moving. To him, it felt as if his mind was not able to properly… align thoughts.

YOU IDIOT!

Kuro's left arm suddenly whipped around, uppercutting Kuro's own chin as his head was knocked back, the fist still connecting as he was thrown straight upwards into the air, lifted off the ground. Blood spurt from his mouth; Kuro had bit into his tongue, as well as part of his lips. That stinging pain finally knocked the Captain out of his stupor, and his attention was diverted back to the matter at hand.

Finally, Kuro's composure had returned, and as the second stream of spikes approached him, both of his swords came together, the pain in his lips reminding him of the damage he had taken as the ferocity of the attack met his X shaped guard. "Now I ask you…"

Kuro said, the shadows that Henrex had created losing their form, the shadows of his spikes that had lain upon the ground shifting over to Kuro's body as his own spiritual energy gathered within his hands, gripping both of the swords as he looked directly at the male. "What good would killing him do?"

Kuro asked, before vanishing. His Shunpo resulted in his body appearing in front of Henrex once again, though both of his blades were in their sheathes. "There's much more you can do to a man than kill him." Kuro said, his right hand coming back as he tugged on the blade in its sheathe, causing it to whip out as he grabbed it with his other hand. He was spinning around now, making it difficult for Henrex to see where he was coming from as the blade appeared at last, the shadows having spun around its length as it created a scythe. Even if Henrex deployed that barrier again, this scythe would come at him from the side, attempting to dig into his shoulder.

"Much worse you can do…" Those words contained the slightest hint of pain behind them, and if Henrex was able to notice… the smallest tear had begun to fall down the side of Kuro's face. "Taking that which he loves… Taking away those things which give his existence meaning…" Kuro's left hand pulled on the other blade now, both swords moving in unison as one as a horizontal slash went for Henrex's chest from Kuro's right hand, the left coming in for a thrust at Henrex's foot, attempting to pin him to the spot.

"Kill him…? Henrex… do you want vengeance… or Justice…?" Kuro asked, before turning his blade's around. A single line of shadow slid past his eye, creating a black mark on his face… and then a Shunpo was executed, twelve strikes with the back of his swords smashing into Henrex's body from every side. Two at his shoulders, one at his stomach, three at his legs, one at his face, and the last five as attacks on alternating sides of his torso. Kuro's arms did not move in wide swinging arcs; massive pressure was placed on his wrists and elbows as he forced his momentum to stop after each blow, attempting to leave Henrex's body with bruises and make it more difficult to move.

At last, the Captain took a step back, both of his blades moving in circles as he looked Henrex in the eye. "Because if it is vengeance… Then stop. There.. Are things… which you cannot take vengeance upon…" Kuro said very softly, the muscles in his arms relaxing again. "Listen."

Kuro's tone had finally changed, though the words seemed to strain him, his eyes darting about. "I can… train you… But… I'm not a man. Not by your standards… I have nowhere to go. The darkness… I fell into it… I… know that… looking at you now… No. Don't go down that path...seek justice. Seek an actual honor for everything you lost. Because… you're lucky enough to know your enemy. You're lucky…" Kuro slowly turned his head towards the sky, and as he did so, another tear slid down his cheek. He was still able to breathe and speak normally… and did not even seem to see them himself.

"You are a man. You have the freedom of a man. So you can choose that… You are able to… have that power…" At last, Kuro's gaze moved back to the male, and the grips on his hilts slowly moved to the side. Kuro did not know what else to say. For some reason, that had felt… right. Internally, it felt like something had snapped within the male. A storm was going around inside of his head… and it was possible that the small rivulets that had escaped his eyes would become a river...