I Am War[Koga, Sensoya][Mura]

"...War."

At the moment he believed his life was flashing before his eyes, his body cut through by Sensouya's strike, myriad visions assaulted his mind like an unending tornado, relentless as it was unmerciful. Ah, how much of a fool had he fucking been? Like, actually. Was he retarded? What had eluded him all this time was always one step behind the curtain. Each image of war revealed a different conflict, a different means of eliminating the enemy.

Some were graceful. Some were efficient. Others were brutal and bloody. In a word, it was a horrific art form painted across the ages - what lied beneath that playful surface, reserved only for the most hardened spirit. What he accomplished before was nothing close to this. As his spirit told him, war wasn't something you approached with a toy. It was all the horror and bloodshed that stuck with you in the aftermath, from the screams to the frustration and desperation of fighting against defeat. It wasn't something you won in some unrealistically glorious fashion. Nothing close. It was something you survived. It was no game. Sensouya was... War. And if he was a reflection of Koga, the natural conclusion of it all was...

"I am War."

At the end of those images, he found himself pulled from his meditation in a cold sweat. What a terrifying revelation. Holy shit. He felt his heart beating frantically in his chest. Almost as if he were having a panic attack... he needed time to reflect. But he'd be back soon enough.

Apologies were in order, after all. He was not familiar with his zanpakuto spirit's game.

Two days total would pass, and Koga would return to the same position he occupied before. Inhale. Exhale. Jinzen. After being unceremoniously tossed out of his inner world, he returned - a man humbled by revelation.

There are sides to war. The physical aspect; weaponry, flesh on the floor, ash and gas in the air. Then there was the other side… and that’ll be saved for later. Just a bit of extra, for when Koga’s psyche would be ready to withstand what a man left behind. Footprints of war. Tracks of war, and the grey, veiny road it paved ahead.

“It wasn’t exactly rocket science… heh, now that’s a terrific weapon,” Sensouya scoffed from within his crumbling Inner World, watching the walls collapse one by one. The land changed, no longer a preserved slum where the puss of mankind gather to lick their wounds – nay, it looked like an active warzone now. Sensouya didn’t move away from his floor – this was his world, and he was accustomed to its spontaneous changes.

It would… definitely surprise Koga as well. Understanding was the first step towards changing yourself – to understand what needed change to begin with. Sensouya walked out of his room, leapt down to the street, and barely gave Koga a moment to wait. His Sealed Zanpakutō… Koga had seen it change its shape, turning into metal blocks of copper and steel grinding and clanging against each other, just as it did now.

“I am War. You’re just a soldier,” he cackled, walking up to Koga with what looked like… a long, steampunk-like rifle. A sniper rifle of some sorts. A completely different weapon from before. “You wanna become War? Then master every aspect of it… even if your soul turns black as tar.” A new thing just occurred – Sensouya dropped the sniper rifle down, right in front of Koga, prompting him to take it. The rifle was perfectly balanced as Sensouya walked back, making distance before summoning a rifle of his own, speaking:

“Shoot me, boy. Take aim and eliminate me.”

Yeah, Sensouya wouldn’t make it so easy. Should Koga pull the trigger, Sensouya would use Shunpo, flash-stepping into the ruined houses and give Koga a run for his money. This was no game – if Koga hesitated, Sensouya would blow his brain straight back to the real world.

"Hahahaha... is that so? Sounds like a challenge to me, asshole. I'll conquer you and master every aspect of War there is, and then you'll have no fuckin' choice but to call me, War, ya hear?"

Koga didn't even question him this time. There was no denial. No attempt to bark back at him with a rebuttal. He was acknowledging what he was beyond the surface. He was beginning to learn. War was no game. It wasn't child's play.

The current state of his inner world was proof of that. Was it jarring? Absolutely. Even now, as he stepped through this war-torn world that was once a peaceful slum filled with familiar houses, he was still coming to terms with the implications of what he represented, but he accepted it.

A soul of lesser mettle might've found such a sight disheartening, but Koga wasn't here to lose a second time. He was here to learn the tools of the trade. He was here to learn what war was all about. When Sensouya tossed the rifle down, Koga appraised the intricate weapon before picking it up. It took him a minute to get accustomed to wielding a rifle, but once he got past that, he turned his gaze back to Sensouya, equipped with a rifle of his own.



"Alright, let's fuckin' go. Don't go cryin' when I end up fillin' ya with lead, Sensouya."

With those parting words, Koga inhaled as he collected reiryoku, channeling his spirit power through his gun. In the next instant, he employed shunpo himself, dashing between the doors and windows of each house to track Sensouya as he began to aim, firing a bullet toward him. Given his inexperience, it wasn't the prettiest shot, but fuck it. He was learning.

"Silly words. Start by standing your ground!"

Koga… had an affinity. Sensouya hadn’t even told him how that sniper rifle worked, and yet the lad picked up a weapon and knew how to use it. The moment he touched the sniper rifle, he’d know exactly what it was, and what it was for. It was for shooting heads off, to shatter skulls from a distance…

But its full potential lied in a skill that Koga of all people might’ve abandoned for a long time – stealth. Once he shot against Sensouya’s current location, the Spirit merely flash-stepped out of sight. He couldn’t use the sniper rifle so carelessly! Every weapon, in the heavens and on earth, had a specific purpose and a specific role to play…

Koga would be met with an empty wasteland, the crumbling buildings in his eyes being all that stood. Air flowing by would be the only sound… not even a whisper more.

…

Sensouya could be accused of cheating, shooting him both from a range as far as that – him lying in hiding almost a mile away – but it was yet another lesson to teach the lad. The bullet of Reishi made its way, cracking through the air itself, aiming to drill through Koga’s skull and send him riiiiiiiiiiiiight back to the outer world once more.

Sensouya never told him that this process would be easy. It’d be taxing, testing his patience, testing his focus, testing his mental mind as much as it’d test his muscles.

"Tch!"

He dodged. Of course, he'd dodge. He didn't exactly expect the bastard to remain stationary, nor did he expect the landscape to shift at the drop of a hat. Or rather, he didn't expect all the buildings to crumble entirely, with only an empty wasteland to greet him. There was only the sound of wind blowing. His eyes darted around, his body shifted as he positioned the rifle to look for his target. There wasn't anyone nearby, but he could still sense Sensouya somewhere in here. If he could pinpoint him, he might land a good shot. But the next thing that greeted him as he turned his head was a return to the outside world. A single bullet hit him square in the head, he was back here again.

"Motherfucker!"

A quick outburst of anger and a punch to the ground would reinforce that he was in the Soul Society again. He took a moment to gather himself. Exhaling softly, he'd think about how he lost and what led him there. And then, once again, he'd assume his Jinzen stance. Inhale. Exhale. Deep breath. Composed mind...

He'd bring his zanpakuto to heel and learn the tools of the trade. He had to do. There was no other option left.

Sensouya impatiently awaited his return from within the Inner World, leaning on his sniper rifle with the body language of a busy office worker waiting for his ride to come. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do – Koga, too, had impatient impulses at times that even Sensouya couldn’t ignore.

But the field had changed again… now, you could count the number of buildings in the wide area on one hand. A few bricked stations here and there, stranded in a rocky desert biome. Boulders here and there, dry land, and almost no signs of life… but sharp eyes could spot the faint presence of what looked like cacti. Even in fields reeking of death to this choking extent, life had a way of poking its silly head out.

… Oh, there he was. “Round 2, Koga… and actually try this time,” Sensouya clarified before flashing away. With less obstacles around, it’d be easier to spot one’s hiding spots, but this would count for both parties – who would capitalize on this boon first? Whoever was quick enough to exploit their cards first would win this one-hit-win-all mirror of warfare.

"I get it, I get it. I won't let you get another sneak shot in on me this time."

After all, he learned his lesson the hard way moments before he was cast out of his Inner World again. Having entered his realm again, he materialized the rifle that now felt familiar in his grip, but he didn't start leveling it on anything yet. No, he needed to be smarter this time. Sensouya was able to land a shot by utilizing the element of surprise. If he was going to learn how to utilize this weapon properly, he needed to do the same. Fight fire with fire. And so, he utilized shunpo to dart between boulders and anything that tempted Sensouya to give chase instead. He was going to play his cards with diligence this time. And strike when the best opportunity presented itself.

Damn that guy, running around like that. That was one of the cons of this weapon – it heavily relied on having the element of surprise, since it’d be multitudes more difficult to use it in open combat. So when Koga began flashing around, Sensouya was forced to respond just the same.

These two had equal speeds, but nobody was surprised. It was a tough bout between a Shinigami and his Zanpakutō, after all – they were bound to share some similarities.

After a couple missed shots, Sensouya’s patience began to wear thin. Kicking up a load of dirt and dust from the ground, he’d attempt to veil his next Shunpo and its direction with a dust cloud. After flashing away under the guise of debris, Sensouya would be the first to level his sniper down and take aim…

He committed a mistake. He didn't take Koga's instincts into account here, partly 'cuz he of all people knew how unreliable pure instincts were. Yet, in many instances, gut feelings and split-second decisions had been game changers throughout history. He should've been ready for everything, even something as outlandish as chance.

"Hehehehe!"

Koga relished in this game of cat and mouse. Unfamiliar as it was, he found himself adapting to the way he ought to approach this. Hide and seek. Find the right moment for a retaliatory shot. Maybe that was some of his experience from hiding amongst buildings during his time as a Stray Dog, where he had to rob and attack to get by and earn his next meal. That's right.

He was capable of intelligence in battle. He was capable of being crafty. All he needed to do was lock in and focus for once, impatience be damned. There, he saw Sensouya leveling his gun to aim, the first to make their move in this firearm dance. In that upturned debris, Koga shifted his body forward, maximizing his shunpo capacity to reappear behind Sensouya and aim the rifle at his head, firing off a cathartic round of lead toward his skull.

"Eat Lead, Asshole."

Koga got him. Sensouya, after all these rounds, made one, fatal mistake – and bloody hell, it cost him the battle. Was this a deathmatch, he would’ve lost his precious life due to one mistake. Life was cruel like that… unforgiving. If you waged war, you damn well make sure you remember that unfairness went to both sides.

People loved to write and boast about victory, especially people who weren’t there.

Sensouya lied in the dust, a hole through his skull as- obviously, he wouldn’t die. It wasn’t like Koga had accidently broken his own Zanpakutō – imagine if he had? Still, Koga had seen a little deeper into Sensouya now… it was rapid, chaotic, and unpredictable, but a good lesson was passed along.

“Don’t… think about victory… don’t think about defeat,” Sensouya began to talk from the ground, his skull unchanging from its injured form, “Victory is always exaggerated later… focus on the moment. When your barrel’s touching your enemy’s forehead. When your knife’s digging into their flesh, taking away what they hold dearest. Don’t lose that edge. That… unnatural edge is the source of my strength…”

Koga would have to approach combat, conflict, and battles to the death in a new light. If he could cut it down to just him, his target, and the stench of rust and blood between them… then that was all he ever needed to draw out Sensouya’s full power. The path was laid out to him – all he needed to do now was to walk.

“Find more weapons… no war has ever been fought without a weapon. Kill, seize, and conquer… until death one day can have you as well…”