Anyburst Tracker Round Two

Chapter I: The Start

Born to a farming family, the boy’s future seemed to be set, and potentially prosperous. While his parents were not wealthy by any extent, the fair amounts of rich soil they possessed allowed them to have enough income to lead what most would consider decent lives. Their home wasn’t too close to the Seireitei, and neither was it too far into the farthest rural Rukon districts. As such, they enjoyed the leisure of lesser Shinigami influence while being spared the evils of an unruly land where criminals and lawlessness abounded. Unfortunately for the family, luck would not befall their son. The boy whom they would come to call Kaname Tosen had been born without the ability to see. From the start, it seemed the disability would have been crippling beyond belief for the boy, specially due to the kind of life their family led. Tending to the fields and reaping their crops was their only way to make money, and their means of sustenance. To be devoid of the means to see and be able to do so would spell doom for his future endeavors to be financially sufficient. His family would simply not last forever, and Tosen seemed incapable of fending off for himself without sight in a world that assaulted and robbed the blind without caring and as easily as they would anyone else.

It became evident with time that the boy’s lack of a sense only helped enhanced his ability with others. As soon as he started being able to walk, his parents bore witness to his ease of walking about. While he didn’t quite see, he had as little issues stumbling into things as any other toddler would. While he still bumped into things and fell, the results seemed indicative of a rather rustic walking ability as expected of a child, rather than out of not being able to see what was in front of him. With time, the boy would simply expand on his abilities with the rest of his senses. While he was never able to truly see objects or people as his parents would have hoped him to, he could tell things through other means.

Chapter I Continued

Through touch, through hearing, and sometimes even through spiritual pressure, he was able to find himself put among a variety of items, and walk among them without fear of injury. While at an early age he was still not well versed enough in his abilities to be able to run and jump unopposed, the skills would develop with time and transition into it, just as a child crawled before he could walk, and walked before he could run. Even as a child, Tosen seemed destined to walk a dark road full of obstacles, most of which were dangerous and perhaps even deadly. It was up to him to find a way to see without eyes, and take the steps necessary to move forward, hoping not to step into an early demise at his next turn.

More mouths to feed also meant more food needed to be allocated for such. It was something to be expected, and his parents had planned as much. Unfortunately, there was something about the boy, beyond being born without sight that they had not foreseen. From an early age, he displayed an unnaturally high amount of spiritual pressure that was far beyond the combined effort of both of his parents. The high potential of spiritual energy he possessed made him be hungrier more often, and be hungrier for more as well. With the costs of food, the cost of living, and the amount of work needed to maintain the economy, his parents were soon with their hands full, and bound behind their back. And while Tosen was able to help with the family business, at his young age, the things he could do were rather limited. Instead, with time, his parents simply hired help at the cheapest cost they could while leaving to work as merchants farther into the districts away from Seireitei. The lack of influence and goods in those areas meant that business could boom, but it also presented quite a lot of chances for things to go wrong, and potentially deadly.

Chapter II: The Continuation

The money kept coming in for quite a number of years. The letters came in for a the first couple of years, and eventually, they stopped. At least that’s what the helpers around the farm informed him of. Whether his parents had truly stopped communicating or whether the attendants had chosen to disregards their attempts were beyond him. As a young boy however, he seemed to be more in control of his surroundings despite his disability. And though most made conscious and noticeable efforts to help him out of pity because of the nuisance of being blind, he was hardly one to complain or seek comfort because of it. He simply never saw it as a true disability or something he needed to feel bad about. In his mind, there were only two options available to him. Either he learned to live with or he died, and frankly, he wasn’t keen on dying just yet.

At the dawn of his teenage years, Tosen was as involved with the business his parents once led as they had. His blindness was barely an issue anymore. He was able to work the fields, direct the man, and control the finances and commerce with his product to secure payments and the stable and fair well being of the life he led. For a long time already, the communication as well as the monetary helped from his parents had stopped. Though deep down he wanted to believe they had simply stopped caring and continued their life elsewhere from a disabled son and a disabled future, the more likely occurrence was that they had been robbed and killed. After all, it was an unfortunate but common occurrence the farther one went into the Rukon. Shinigami were seen less and less towards the farthest districts, and there the criminals ran free and their acts were considered law.

Chapter II Continued

It was also around that time that he became acquainted with his dear friend, Kurisu. She was a young woman, roughly about his age or perhaps just a few years older than himself. While she led a normal enough life, she had received an injury due to an accident when she was much younger that burned a small area of the side of her face. Much like Tosen, she was able to continue to live despite having such a mark on her face as if it didn’t even exist. In fact, she was vital in the boy's own development and his efforts to see past his own disability to lead a more fruitful and enjoying life. When not at work, the two would usually have long and interesting conversations. Kurisu simply had a very strong vision of the future. She imagined a world where every Rukon citizen could be safe. She imagined a world where people would be able to follow their dreams without criminals besieging them. She imagined a world where justice ruled, and the innocent would remain innocent, and where the unruly would be no more. As far as Tosen went, he didn’t really disagreed with her views. At the time he didn’t feel quite as strongly as she did for her own endeavors, but as a good friend, he encouraged and supported her goal to effect change in the world around her. It was also through that friend that the boy was able to understand more of what surrounded him. Though he could make out where he was, and where he went, several things, like the tonality of the sky, the clouds, or the clothes they wore were details he enjoyed hearing from her.

With time, he had created a beautiful friendship with Kurisu. Her ideals inspired him, and her will to live and see things through to their end with the kind of world she envisioned, gave him hope. Eventually, she would let him know that she was getting married and joining the Shinigami Academy. Tosen had never met or heard of the man she was going to marry. The thought in it of itself was odd as the two shared pretty much almost everything, and there were hardly any secrets between them. The only possible explanation was that the feeling was in some ways difficult to express and she had rather kept it to herself. Regardless, he could understand why she wanted to join the Seireitei. Asides from her husband to be being part of it, it was the best and easiest possible way with which she could achieve her goals. To be a Shinigami indicated power and offered quite a bit of authority. Most certainly, she would have much better chances of making a change in the world at large the way she wanted by becoming one. After she bid her goodbye, Tosen believed she would come by occasionally to say hello. Little did he know that was the last time he would see her; alive anyways.

Chapter II Continued

During the first few years after her marriage there was no attempt at communication. In a way it reminded him of what had happened to his own parents. Deep down however he simply hoped the reasons for the lack of communication were different than what had possibly befallen his parents. He had reasons to believe she had her own motives to remain aloof however. She was married. If her husband was of the jealous kind, perhaps he would not have taken well to a married woman seeing and speaking with a single man quite so often. Beyond that, as a Shinigami in training, he had to assume the lifestyle didn’t really leave a lot of free time beyond their studying. Whatever time she had was likely devoted to her husband and her life as a wife. Those were the ideas he chose to go by, as thinking of different alternatives would simply have made him think far too much, and not in the best of ways.

It wasn’t until a couple years down the road that news would arrive about the death and soon to be buried body of his friend. As it turned out, her husband had killed a comrade over a petty argument. And, scolding him for doing so, his wife was beaten and killed by the men she thought she loved and loved her back. Distraught, Tosen immediately tried to receive audience with her husband but would not be seen. When that failed, he went up to other Shinigami, requesting an audience with Central 46 in hopes that the act and the criminal would be brought to justice, but once again, his plight would simply fall on deaf ears. He wasn’t given a reason why the Shinigami had been pardoned, or why they weren’t even going to attempt to prosecute him and avenge the unfair death of his friend. Instead, her death had seemingly been swept over and forgotten, having been awarded a simply funeral, and that was it.

He couldn’t stand it. The Shinigami embodied what Kurisu believed to be the pinnacle of justice. It was them whom she believed capable of creating the world she imagined. And it was through them that she wanted to be able to help mold the world she wished for. Instead, she was forced to meet an untimely death, unable to even try to bring about the positive change she yearned for. It didn’t make sense to him. Those who wished to live for good causes were doomed to unfair early deaths, and those who shalt not be allowed to live continued to do so by accruing injustice and criminal acts. Regardless of his thoughts, his angers, and his will to want to do something about it, he was powerless at the time. He didn’t have the power, the means, the authority or anything in his favor that would allow him to see his goals through. As such, he decided to join the Shinigami, faking to be in their own interest. Instead, he would use them to become stronger and one day avenge the death of his best friend, and ensure that she who could not fight to see her dreams realized could at least do so through the lifeless eyes of his. Bidding his last farewell to his beloved friend, Kaname would retrieve Kurisu’s Zanpakutō and use it for himself. Not only would he carry on her ideals, and allow her vision to empower him and see through him, but her sword would cull away the injustice just as she wished.

Chapter 3: The Teachings

During his time at the academy, Kaname would discover that he had quite a talent in a variety of fields. His skill with hakuda and kido were certainly up to par with some of the best of his peers in his class. His skill in zanjutsu however separated him into a class of his own; at least among the class he was part of that year. Tosen was usually selected as an example of dedication and hard work. For despite being blind and therefore placed at a disadvantage, he practiced and trained often to use his own methods as a way to circumvent his weaknesses. His abilities didn’t allow him to see in the same way that most people could. From sensing spiritual pressure, the sound of footsteps and heartbeats, and touch as well as the subtle changes in the wind and the air around him he was able to make out certain things. Still, most would have considered that seeing made it much easier to be not just capable but as adept as he was with the blade. While most students only needed to see and act, Tosen needed to think much more than them, and much faster about the actions he would performed. After all, making the wrong movement a second too early or a second too late would have spelt death for him in quite a lot of occasions. Regardless, Kaname was able to go up to and defeat every one of his peers in his class, and even serve as the best model sparring partner of the zanjutsu instructor of his advanced blade work course. In a way, the blind man had found the way to see through his struggle, to find the best possible solution.

It was also around that time that he met Komamura. The man seemed distant and aloof from everyone, almost as if he hid something. As it turned out, his appearance was supposedly something he was insecure about. The man supposedly always kept it hidden, and even when he was out and about he made conscious efforts to minimize the amount of spiritual energy he showed. It made it difficult to know what he looked like, but at the very least, his heart seemed pure. Among all the people Kaname met during the academy, he had seemed to strike a friendship with Komamura the most. There was hardly a mention to his blindness, and he could feel a calm and collected serenity in his heart that was unlike that of his peers. He simply felt like he could connect with him the most. In fact, Tosen even went as far as to confess the reason why he had joined the Shinigami Academy. Of course he would stop the details right at the death of Kurisu. The blind man simply had no intentions to explain the true root motive of his goals, as it could only work to endanger him and his own ends.

Chapter 4: Work in the Shadows

While in the 9th division, Kaname would rise up to become its 5th seated officer. Of course the position was well below his actual threshold of power. Easily able to match Lieutenants and Captain, he kept the majority of his energy and most of his skills in secrecy to avoid jeopardizing the plans Aizen had for them. It was also during that time that he seemed to strike more of a connection to the current Captain of the 9th, Kensei Muguruma or so it was believed. A third member had also joined the duo that was Aizen and Tosen. It was a young Shinigami under the name of Gin. The three would conduct several experiments to progress further into the concept of Hollowfication.

It was the idea that a medium could be created to bypass the boundaries between Hollow and Shinigami in order to create something far better, and stronger. Initially they harvested the souls of the soul reapers and tried applying difference spiritual essences to no avail. It wasn’t until the genius that was Sosuke was able to create an item called the Hogyoku. While not perfect in allowing Hollowfication, it made their tests much easier. From what Sosuke spoke however, the Hogyoku was incomplete. Despite its amazing power, when presented to most of the souls they had up for testing, the results had been less than perfect. It wasn’t up until much further research was done and the discovery of data belonging to Urahara that a plan could be set. By presenting Aizen’s Hogyoku to Urahara he hoped to create a perfect one. Of course, the troubling and difficulty embedded in doing so was still quite the daunting task.

Trying to do the best with what they had, the trio would undergo extensive research. In the secrecy of their acts, and aided by the wit and the stealth of Aizen, the group would test initially on Hollows. They tested the different ways that a Hollow could approach being more like a Shinigami. From giving them unique abilities, to even creating some that were capable of stealing or destroying a Shinigami’s Zanpakutō like the one that killed and ate so many in Soul Society including the former Liutenant Kaien Shiba.

Chapter I
The Breath New Life & To Bloom New Hope

In a forest, far from the view and the influence from beings not befitting of it something rather odd had come to pass. In a green world. In a world full of life and full of unexplored and seemingly misunderstood wonders, there was nothing but vegetation. Life abounded in the plants, in the trees, in the flowers, and in the fruit they all bore. Beyond the simplistic and the complicated structures of the plants however, there was no more. There was no animals to be seen. No mammals. Nothing. Nothing but a few insects all of which were of some benefit to the flora of the world, almost as if it was the excuse enabling them to continue to draw breath.

There were plenty more odd and interesting things about that world however. The sun bathed everything it touched in a warm and tantalizing manner that was inexplicably adequate. And while quite certainly other suns existed elsewhere in some other universe, and in some other world, it seemed as though this was particularly unique in the energy it provided, and in the way it administered its nutrients to the plant life at its mercy. Aloof from the knowledge of most remained the fact that the grassy world acted as a form of filter to everything away from it. It seemed to pull in and gather the remaining distant struggles of world’s apart. It seemed to pull in the unwanted excess energy in the form of life, or purposeful energy that continually helped to enhance the beauty, the color, and the dense lush look of the forest and the jungles that extended seemingly as far as the eyes could see. It did more than that however. It did much more.

Chapter I Continued

In the middle of the world, or at least in its most beautiful epicenter, a sanctuary of flowers and trees and plants seemed to adorn its surroundings to a level that exceeded what was already present elsewhere. From the life energy that continuously filtered its way into the fertile grounds of said world, new life was allowed to bloom. It reflected itself in the form of a rather peculiar flowe. It looked not unlike a rose but with qualities that made it uniquely different than them if one were to simply gaze upon them side by the side. The red petals were redder, to the point where blood, had it not been known for its notoriously pungent aroma and visage, could have likely been confused by it. The stem seemed greener, and retained water like fluids that were most likely a form of energy embedded around the vegetation, and which had transversed the cosmos and filtered its way across the myriad of dimensions to affect this world, be it in a positive or negative light, just like it would one day come to touch upon all.

The flower would start as a small bud. Unlike its brethren however, it would not grow nearly as fast as the others. While the flowers and the other plants, and even the trees all around it grew and withered and healed once more under the rejuvenating energy of its world, the peculiar flower seemed to barely grow. It took years, perhaps even decades before the little thing could truly be come to be compared to an adult flower. It seemed as though wherever the energy stemmed from was still quite unrefined, or perhaps just new enough in areas where other worlds where simply in their infancy. It stood to reason that, with the nature of plants, the fittingly designed world would have seen its start well before other verses saw their own greatness bloom, and even if their power and vast amount of life truly exceeded the plant world, the excess energy only helped to sustain and grow this one further. The plant would not stop once it reached a typical rose’s dimensions however. It would continue to grow. It grew and grew until it overshadowed other roses, and extended as high as the mightiest and tallest of trees. It seemed as though the unique organism was intent on reaching up way high and seeing everything in its vicinity and trying to understand the place in which it had been born. As fate would have it, the rose was simply a transport; a tool, even if a rather beautiful and unique one. It was the mother to a creature that had been born to this world from the energy that permeated it, and the one that exuded from the verses that filtered their excess life to breath more into this one.