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The Perfect Date? Unwanted Reunion[]
The Morning Stroll, Strange Encounter[]
"Mmmmmmm," Hana Yūgure stretched out, her lithe and curvaceous body from her most recent workout with Braeburn. Despite the most recent endeavors that would've humiliated or belittled any other lesser man, Braeburn's spunk and determination has kept him going despite all the rigorous hand-to-hand sparring sessions as well as the swordsmanship she helps hone for both his and her own benefit. Now, however...she was feeling like doing something different.
"Hey, Braeburn," she said in a curious tone, her muscle t-shirt hugged her sweat-ridden body in a way that allowed her perfectly angled, curved, and luscious figure. She bent her body to the side, while swaying her hips, making them pop in a refreshing way for herself, "I was wondering...would you like to walk into the commons of the Rukonagi Districts, maybe go shopping for something or hang out in a tavern?"
"Hm?"
It was here that Braeburn allowed himself to raise his head up from the book that he was reading and look at his girlfriend.
By now, he was used to the way Hana showed herself off when she was around him. Whether it was with physical or verbal gestures, she always made it perfectly clear who exactly he was hooked up with. But unlike before, he could take them with a grain of salt. So the natural reaction was a small smile on his face, and he leaned back a little on the bleachers he was sitting in. "Well, c'mon..." He began, lifting a finger to scratch his nose. "You know that if you propose, there's no way I can possibly say "no". I mean, going on a little get-together with my girl? How could I ever refuse?" He allowed himself to chuckle a little. "I thought that would've been obvious by now."
"Well," Hana said with a smile as she twisted her torso around, her body finally working off the stress she made, allowing her to stride next to her boyfriend and lean over her respective boyfriend, winking at him while speaking honestly, "I like to hear your opinion sometimes, you know? If you have a specific idea, then hit me, you don't need to bow to my every whim as if I'm in charge of something...we are together after all."
"True, true...but, still." Braeburn allowed himself to straighten up a little when Hana leaned over him. "You're a lady, and I'm a gentleman. And to be honest, I'd find it a bit rude to turn down such a generous offer, don't you think?" For emphasis, he raised his head up and gave Hana a short but sweet kiss on the lips. The smell of sweat tickled his nose, but he could've cared less.
"Mmm," Hana kissed back, a little longer as she loved the feel and texture of his mouth against her own. Relieving his lips, she wiped away the sweat from her brow as she walked away nonchalantly, swaying her hips as she moved to the showers of the gymnasium they had acquired, "I'm going to go freshen up...see you in five...."
"Mhm..."
Braeburn watched her go for a moment, before turning his attention back to his book. With a flip and toss, he had the book back open to the respective page he had been on before he had closed it. He couldn't help but feel that after the Ahijados incident, things had been uneventful. He was surprised at how easily he had slid right back into things. No longer was he a criminal or fugitive on the run courtesy of the ones who despised him for his theology. Now, he was a legal resident, a freelancer. He had a love interest and his own clique of friends, no matter how much they annoyed him in some instances. Everything had taken a turn for the better.
But how long would it stay that way? He could only wonder.
"C'mon mister pensive expression," Hana spoke, as she walked back out, wearing a simple sleevless t-shirt with a black biker jacket over it, and a pair of faded jeans, topped off with tennis shoes. All in all, she made sure her attire stuck out as much as her looks would in the nearly permanently feudal-mindset of the Soul Society, "let's go for a stroll!"
"...I am not pensive."
Braeburn rolled his grey eyes, reaching to slip the book in his own current attire. Unlike Hana, it was more suited for the environment they were about to trek through, although it was still somewhat outlandish. He wore a blue, long-sleeved shirt of Chinese tradition and white pants. On his feet, he wore black, closed sandals. His hair, which had been done in a ponytail, was now undone and hung just past his neck in a loose yet well-done manner. He had a habit of "freshening up" long before Hana did, and this situation was no different.
He raised himself up from the bleachers, folding his arms across his chest and eyeing her choice of outfit. "I thought you said you'd be out in five..." He muttered, cocking a slight eyebrow. "And what's with the rather outlandish get-up?"
"Well, I tried to make it out in five seconds, but the water was a little slow," she said sheepishly, blushing slightly as she looked down at her attire, before looking up, "you don't like it? I'm trying to be a little more...moden, so to speak, and this was more casual than a kimono or a Reaper uniform..."
"Note to self: It is now possible for people to take showers that last in seconds."
After pushing that mental note to the back of her head, Braeburn addressed her question. "Well, I gotta admit, it... it's a bit out-of-place compared to what you usually wear... but still, it's pretty okay." He answered readily, raising his hands up in a shrugging gesture. "I think you look perfect!"
"Thanks," Hana smiled, before grabbing him by the arm and linking it with her own as she began walking out to the exit of the dimensional gymnasium, out into the hallway of the many interchanging hideouts D.C.O created. Much parallel similiar to the hideout in Yūrei, this one was also lined with bright metalic white plates in a semi circular pattern, without the mirrors. Small streams with fish in them were lining on each of their sides, before exiting out a special door, coming out into a street within Rukonagi, Northeast District.
"Hmmm," Hana hummed a little in thought, looking up at the old, rickety shack they used as cover for their HQ, "maybe we could stand giving it a paint job sometime...just for kicks, y'know?"
Braeburn couldn't help but snort a little. "Maybe for kicks. But I don't think that'd work out. Y'know... considering that the old and broken-down theme makes it more fitting to be called a disguise?"
"I suppose but still..." Hana donned a dreary cloud over her comically, having waterfall tears coming down her face, "it doesn't look at all like the inside! Its gloomy and looks haunted! I can't believe I have showers in that dreary place!"
"Well, think of it this way..." Braeburn's eyes shifted into drawn and horizontal straight lines, and he nonchalantly placed a hand on Hana's hair in a gentle pat. "The things that usually look very cool usually aren't and are very overrated. The real beauty is kept with all its awesomeness."
"Is that why you have a tacky set of clothes?" Hana asked blandly, squinting her eyes in narrow slits of suspicion, poking at him.
"Wha--?!"
That was enough to shatter Braeburn's cool. He stepped back, his mouth agape in shock. "N..no!" He protested, gawking at the response that she had given him. With his free hand, he pinched at his shirt to emphasize it. "These aren't tacky! Besides, even if I was, you aren't much better, Ms. I-Want-To-Stick-Out-Like-A-Sore-Thumb!"
"Okay, then how about I mug someone and take their clothes, hmm?!" Hana said indignantly, sticking out her tongue before walking back into the door they came out through. Within only a handful of minutes, she came back out in her standard D.C.O attire, with a black kosode cloak overtop of her bodysuit and a hakama skirt over her legs, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her feet annoyed, "this better for you, fancy pants?!"
"I--!" Braeburn could only look on with a helpless and open-mouthed smile as she returned, his arms drooping and his figure hunching a little. "I wasn't--!" However, due to his stupor, he couldn't actually get anything out of his mouth that could be classified as coherent. After several seconds of it, he finally gave up, hanging his head in a humorous expression of defeat. "Never mind..."
"I win again!" Hana pumped her fist into the air, comically ensuing trumpeting sounds from nowhere in particular, before she walked in dramatic strides with her hands behind her head with a cheeky smile across her face, "let's get this show on the road!"
"...yeah, now that you look like a boring nobody now..."
Folding across his chest and rolling his eyes, Braeburn trudged right after her. He had to squint his eyes a little in the face of the sun beaming overhead. Today was a day where the temperature was moderately warm and there was at least a few people wearing a little less clothing than usual. Despite the above-average temperature, there were still plenty of people walking down the same path that they were.
"So..." He drawled, turning his gaze back to Hana's back briefly before looking around. "You have any idea of exactly where we're going to be going? Or is this gonna be just a stroll down the lane?"
"Sure I do!" Hana said with a wide smile, looking over to Braeburn while maintaining her stride, "let's go to the first tavern we see and try to outdrink everyone there! That'll be exciting, wouldn't it?!"
"Yeah, because the first thing I want to do on a bright day like this is get piss-drunk." Was the rather sarcastic retort.
"Y'know, I haven't ever seen you drink anything since we started going out," Hana said with a curious tone as she looked over at his face, trying to read something on the surface that'd let her know something, "do you not like to drink or do you think you can't handle yourself when you're piss-drunk?"
The question made Braeburn's eyes widen slightly, and he almost stopped walking within his tracks.
He was somewhat wary of the analytical look Hana was giving him, giving off the impression that she was trying to seek out the truth from whatever lies he could've given. It made him furrow his eyebrows in a mixture of slight confusion and the mildest bit of irritation. Why was she doing that? Was she convinced he would immediately tell a lie right off the bat? The thought wasn't pleasing to him.
"I just... never allowed myself to pay attention to it much..." He said, giving a light shrug. "Why do you ask, Shiela?"
Hana disregarded the look before shrugging herself, walking backwards while putting her hands behind the small of her back, "I just...find you too tense sometimes. Like you're purposely trying to not have the most fun that you could possibly have, or something's holding you back. Or...you just don't like hangovers that everyone else gets from gettin' piss drunk, Aussie." She laughed, ending up with a smile with a twinkle in her eyes. Despite wanting to know what's bothering him, she truly just wanted Braeburn to be himself and have fun rather than cling to the past that's haunted and hurt him for so long.
"I..."
Once again, Braeburn couldn't help but freeze his words mid-sentence. But this time, it was a pause of hesitation and not of the comical nature. Was he really being too tense? Had his guarded nature really become a part of him after so long? He didn't like the thought of himself being closed to the likes of his girlfriend, the one he should be able to put his trust in. A slightly helpless expression came across his face as he looked at Hana for a moment.
"Well..." He began, raising one of his hands to scratch the back of his head. "I really try not to be. Maybe I'm afraid that if I get too loose, bad things'll start happening to me or the people around me. I'll get careless and reckless, slip-up and screw up. I don't like to be the one that's caught jerking around whenever a split-second decision has to be made or when the situation's mood switches from cool to gloom. I'm guess I'm just... a bit naturally isolated, that's all."
"Hmmm," Hana furrowed her brows into a frown, thinking as she turned herself around to walk beside him. With a thoughtful smile, she entwined one of her hands into his own, leaning her head against his shoulder as she whispered, "you don't need to be guarded all the time. If that happens, you miss out on the good stuff, and the joyous memories you will treasure forever. Life will always have pain...I've learned that the hard way," she muttered at the end in a foreboding, knowing tone, before humming, "so just learn to treasure the present, however you can..."
Just then, however, a loud racket was heard within the tavern just up ahead...
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can do this all day, mates! Keep 'em comin', you pansy jackasses!" Came the voice of a irregularly, if not boisterously familiar tone to the McTavish's ears.
"...Hana?" Braeburn's tone turned a bit too sweet. "...you...think we can take a detour? This way's making me hearing things... that I really shouldn't." Indeed, it was a clear sign that he was familiar with the voice... and not in a good way.
"Ohhh?" Hana smiled ear to ear while staring curiously at Braeburn, continuing to walk at the same pace towards the origin of the voice as well as the entrance of the tavern, "are you sure? It sounds like a lot of fun! I'll bet you'll enjoy yourself if we just stop for a few minutes..."
"DEAR GOD, WHY ARE YOU HEADING TOWARDS IT. WHY ARE YOU HEADING TOWARDS IT~!!!"
"No... no..." Braeburn's eye started to twitch, and suddenly he found Hana's grip to be much more entrapping. "Apparently, you don't understand! This is a bad idea, one of the worst ideas that have ever stumbled across your mind, and if we go through with it, bad things will happen. To me." The last two words were spoken as if they were the most important thing in the world.
"I can't believe how much of a baby you are! Getting buzzed is probably one of the greatest things a man can achieve in his life," Hana said, obviously oblivious to his twitching and alarmed speach, pulling him aside and into the tavern to find the source of the noise.
"AH!"
SLAM!
"And that makes twenty...errr....twenty...ummm...seven, mate!" Spoke a burly, flush-cheeked man with well endowed muscular phsyique, his large arms and somewhat exposed chest hair protruding out contrasting to the blue dyed mohawk with a braided ponytail running down his shoulders to the middle of his back. With a fur collar laced around near his neck with the same shin-fur laced boots below, the man spoke in a more exemplary accent yet had a strange, slight resemblence to Braeburn. Something Hana didn't expect...
"Dammit, Wallaby!" One of the nearby patrons smashed his beer on the counter, his own cheeks noticeably red but for other reasons as he reached into the folds of his kosode to dish out money to him, "I thought you were f'ing lying to me when you said you could down over twenty five mugs of these!"
"Well, that tid bit of parcley noggin' has escaped me joggin'," Jack emphasized by knocking on his head, laughing boisterously afterwards, briefly burping with fresh liquor in his system, "just don't make me drink anything too hard or I might give a ruffin' tumbly on this whole roundabout, eh!"
"You sure your partner won't mind that you stay for another few hours? I thought you were out on your job, and not off duty?" The tavern's barkeep asked, briefly looking to see the newcomers, raising a brow at the paled complexioned boy being dragged in by the beautiful yet dark clothed woman.
"Ah, that slugger can take a hike, I say! When I find me a good time, me will's make my own noggin' about what I should or should do!-" He said, briefly turning his drunken gaze over to the door, where he saw intuitively the barkeep looked at.
It took a few long seconds before a wide smile and a pair of wide eyes of joy rippled across the man's facial features, raising his arms out and standing up to his feet suddenly, "Banjo Burnside! I can't believe me own two saucers, its my god-honest nephew!"
"Annnnnnnnnnnnnd there goes my dignity. Nice work, Hana."
Braeburn had to wonder whether his deadpan poker face was actually working.
"...Shiela..." He brought himself to say slowly, breathing out a heavy sigh as he motioned his free hand towards the man that addressed them. "Do you know the uncle in the movies that behaves in a crazy, eccentric manner and has a habit of driving his family members up the walls. This is mine. So, do get acquainted while I prepare myself for potential mental breakdown."
"Oh," Hana's eyes blinked widely, in a comical realization of what she just done inadvertnently to her boyfriend. Slapping her palm against her face, she sighed aloud, "spirits, I'm sorry Braeburn! I didn't know-"
"Oi! Banjo!" Jack yelled out to Braeburn, picking his ear while pointing with his free hand at Hana, "who's the lovely shiela you got next to ya like a momma kanga?! She ya mate, mate?!"
"...I told you not to call me that..." Braeburn slapped a palm to his face, lowering his face down and shaking his head. "Besides, Wally, don't you think it'd be a bit nice if you introduced yourself instead of pointing fingers? Think I already messed up a good deal of this casual date just by coming here, so we might as well get prepared..." All if not most of this was delivered in a sarcastic drawl.
SLAP!
"Well call me a aussie ass! Forgive my rude behaviors, I'm a little tipsy in the noggin'," he said with a chuckle, before placing the tips of his right hand's fingers on his chest, saying aloud, "my name is Jack "Wallaby" McTavish, but all my friends call me Wallaby or Wally for short."
"Pleased to make your acquaintence," Hana said in the most neutral tone possible, meaning like Braeburn, she didn't find the man all too appealing either, "my name is Hana Yūgure. I'm Brae-san's girlfriend and partner in the field," she emphasized shamelessly by wrapping an arm around his waist, while smiling a little playfully at Braeburn, showing through her eyes that she was sorry and will make it up to him later.
"What exactly are you doing here?" Braeburn questioned, cocking a slight eyebrow as he regarded his uncle. "Personally, I find it a bit awfully too convenient for you to be here to run into..."
"Ohhhh, that's a bit wankin' unfair! Don't you believe I just wanted to drop a dung pile to see my woppin' nephew?!" Jack asked, having a hurt tone in his voice before smiling widely, spreading his arms while gazing at the two, moreover at Braeburn.
"I could only imagine the level of psychological damage repeated visits would cause on his brain, I dare say he'd be permanently comatose," Hana twitched, keeping her netural face as she could only imagine the more "intimate" gatherings Braeburn had with his uncle with the rest of his family.
Again, the younger Aussie's eye twitched.
"You couldn't possibly have known I was coming here!" He snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Jack. "I mean, it's been forever since we've got in touch. You usually tell me ahead of time if you're going to meet up with us somewhere or not. You can't possibly expect me to believe you were just waiting here for us."
Sighing in admittant defeat, Jack lowered his arms until they crossed over his burly chest and leaned against the bar counter, "Nothin' gets past you, mate, does it? Well, I will tell you what me mate bar tendie said...I'm on the prowl, on duty as it were, lookin' for a no-gooder tryin' to wrangle a few slobs in the Rukon District..."
"You mean...you're head hunting a dangerous psychopath or serial killer?" Hana tried deciphering with a gesture of her hands, her eyes raising and lowering her browline in an attempt to understand the man's exaggerated oral lingo.
"That I be doin', Shiela," he said somberly, lowering his head with a sigh, before saying aloud, "the bloak's last wrangle was a lil' lad of wee seven years. Shame...the boy was all ruffed and tumbled so wonkin', he looked like a rag doll with dingo meat on it..."
"Sounds delicious." Braeburn muttered in a sarcastic and sardonic tone, tilting his head to the side slightly. Taking in the situation at hand, it could've also been seen as a rather callous and uncaring action, as well. "And you think the murderer could be somewhere near here?"
"Actually there's been sightins of him all over the East and Northern Districts of a conspicuous individual matching this fella's poster," the bartender intervened, nodding as he was cleaning the mugs that Jack downed with ease, albeit was a little tipsy afterwards.
"I plum forgot that mugger shot," Jack said, facepalming his forehead and snapping his free forefingers. Reaching into his pocket was a surprisingly neat folded bounty poster, with a mug of a deranged looking man according to the sketch done of him, with loose fitted hair and red eyes, "they say this croc was part of the Punishment Force at one point, but was scheduled to be sent to the loony Maggot's Nest. He somehow got wind and bolted, not before whopping a few noggin's off the blokes who tried to stop him..."
"I knew this guy," Hana said, narrowing her eyes at the mugshot as she leaned towards it, "maybe I could look through D.C.O surveilance protocols and look up what I can from there. Maybe we can nab this guy before he goes batshit and butchers someone else-"
"That won't be happening," a smooth, grave tone uttered from a blonde haired man that just entered the tavern, decked in a loose fitted dark brown trench coat, with a strap around his shoulder with a batch of swords, at least fifty evenly divided in the bulkish carrying case. Chewing on a elongated toothpick, the man was also holding a single lone katana with a golden tsuba and black threaded hilt, tied to the belt on is waist. The man, unlike Jack, looked to be all buisness and smelt of death.
"A wild swordsman appears."
"Aaand here's the dramatic entrance of the day..." Braeburn muttered under his breath, slowly turning himself to face the man. He took to folding his arms across his chest, regarding him with a casual demeanor. "I'm going to take a guess from your appearance... and say that you're affiliated with my uncle here somewhat, right?"
"Babysitting is more like it," the man said with an annoyed tone, looking over at the vast array of alcoholic mugs still being cleaned by the bartender. Sighing, he leaned his neck around to speak disapprovingly to Jack, "what did I tell you about drinking on duty? I've been scouting out the landscape and asking around while you waste your time on cheap alcohol? My gods this is the pain I have to deal with..."
Then, as if registering what Braeburn had just spoken, his eyes opened a fraction wider as he took a step forward, looking directly in the australian descented man's eyes, asking aloud, "Am I to assume since you say you're McTavish's nephew, that your Braeburn McTavish? The man who's said to have been called the Tornado Swordsman?"
"...tornado...swordsman...?"
That name made Braeburn's eyes widen ever so slightly.
Such a name had never been mentioned or picked up by his ears. Surely, it was a name that had just been brewed up within the populace, because none of his D.C.O. operatives even so much as hinted the existence of the nickname. So who exactly was this man to know of it?
"Uh...yeah?" He said hesitantly, cocking a slight eyebrow.
"Hm, I see," The man said with a smile, before locking eyes with him...
Tk-SHINK!
...and unsheathed his wastline-sheathed sword in a flourishing, aggressive maneuver that aimed to vertically cut up Braeburn's chest, causing Hana to backpedal away in alarm and yet confusion.
And of course, Braeburn was not one to be outdone.
WOOSH!
It was his own "paranoid" nature that allowed him to anticipate the strike. With a simple back-step, he avoided the blade with natural ease. The tip of the weapon barely grazed his clothing, presenting no harm to their wearer. However, a scowl had crossed his face as he glared at the man who had dared to attack him. One of his hands gripped the hilt of his own sheathed sword in preparation for another attack.
"Really think it's smart to pull a weapon out in a public place?" He asked in a cool and controlled, yet tense tone as he regarded his assailant.
"Whoa! Whatcha doin', pally?! You trying to kill me nephew, mat-?!" Jack tried to object, clearly surprised himself about his friend's antics, as he usually had a lot more self-composure than others he knew, especially himself.
Hana swore aloud as she observed the conflict, not knowing how she got her poor boyfriend into this mess. She also believed that he also heard the Tornado Swordsman title used somewhere before...
WHIZ!
"If you want to leave this place..."
SLICE-SLICE!
"...then move," he spoke in a low, serious yet restrained tone, as he had moved in a crouched stance below Braeburn's waistline, before slashing below the belt and whirling back a step before slashing diagonally to Braeburn's right and Kogun's left.
"Not my poi--"
WOOSH!
"Ah, fuck it!!"
It was very apparent that Braeburn would not have an unhinged day today.
As he performed a leap in order to avoid the attack, he allowed himself to retreat back in order to unsheathe his sword. He flipped it around in his hand, switching it from backhand to standard grip in order to guard himself much better. "Look, mate..." He said in a tense, annoyed tone. "I'm really not in the mood to start pulling out my blade right now. I don't even know who the hell you are!"
"Kogun," the man answered, standing up straight in a passive aggressive stance as he eyed Braeburn seriously, "Kogun Ōkami...and I'm not going to stop until I'm satisfied that the stories of your swordsmanship prowess is true, Tornado Swordsman."
"Oh...my...gods," Hana whispered lowly, her eyes widening as she suddenly remembered the origin of the name and the physical match he protrayed, "you-you're...the Sword Saint?!"
"Sword-- who?" Now Braeburn found himself widening his eyes in surprise at the second alias mentioned. Inwardly, he was cursing himself for not knowing when his partner did. But then again, Hana was probably a long-running veteran in the D.C.O. compared to him, so it probably wasn't his fault...
"The Sword Saint...," Hana gulped down a swallow in her suddenly dry mouth, "is known to be one of the most revered, infamous swordsmen in the Soul Society and beyond that isn't a Soul Reaper. He's also part of the most notorious group of Bounty Hunters known as the Crimson Knights...."
"Its as the woman says," Kogun said raising his sword to point directly at Braeburn, narrowing his eyes as he twirled the toothpick in between his teeth, "and my purpose is to determine the strongest from the masses. If they're reputation is false, you either die a fake or live with the ability to get stronger. If you are what I've heard, then it will be refreshing to see another infamous swordsman in this world," he then spoke lowly in a threatening tone, "and this isn't a request, Braeburn McTavish."
"God damn it..." A hiss was Braeburn's response at the threat directed towards him. But he knew that there was no room for negotiation at this point. All he could do now and what he actually did was draw his sword out completely, holding the hilt in both of his hands. He lowered his sword tip to the ground in a downward slope, maintaining a defensive stance. "All right, fine. I guess humiliation in front of your opponent, a lady, and just about a crowd of people can suit well enough for me. C'mon then, Sword Saint!!"
T-Tap-WHOOSH!
With that said, Kogun moved within a blinding blur, bending over in his crouched position as he deftly began swinging his sword diagonal move up towards his diagonally left area from his torso to his shoulder. The move was fluid, concentrated, and completely confident...
SHFT-CLANG-CLANG!
...until Hana herself shifted with even a higher league of speed between Braeburn and Kogun, startling the latter as her Zanpakutō repelled his blade instinctively, creating a deft shower of sparks as well as a slight buffet of wind to rock the whole cantina.
"Whoa bugger-oof!" Jack felt himself fly off his unbalanced, tipsy feet head over heels until he landed onto his bum, causing him to hiccup and moan in pain, "that hurt me downunder, bugger!"
Her free hand held up a preemptive backhand, fused with her Spiritual Pressure enough to cause the sealed Zanpakutō to merely cause sparks to fly off her energy condensed skin.
"...where were you the first two times?" Braeburn joked.
Nevertheless, he could tell when a duel was stopped. Once Hana came in the ring, anyone who opposed her might as well have been asking to die. He allowed himself to relax, flipping his sword in a flamboyant, fluid manner before stopping and re-sheathing it. He returned to his former stance, folding his arms across his chest and slightly tilting his head to the side.
"I was watching his movements," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, pointedly answering both Braeburn's and Kogun's unsaid question at the same time, "I waited until the last moment when he deigned no one else around him a threat to engage you one on one, believing I'd simply stand by and watch. Otherwise, I'd might've ended up really wreaking the place or hurting someone," she finished with a shrug, but kept her unsheathed smaller sword out in case Kogun had anything else to say on the matter.
"I suspected you had potential," Kogun said, regarding Hana thoughtfully before lowering his sword, twirling it around deftly between his forefinger tips before sheathing it promptly, "I'd never have imagined to tangle with a prodigy, however. You have earned my respect, and I will withdraw from this duel," bowing his head, he then added with a narrow-eyed challenging stare at Braeburn, "for the moment..."
"Oh, joy." Braeburn was starting to see no other route to use other than sarcasm in the particular situation. "More times I'm gonna get jumped by some fan-boy I didn't even know I had. Considering you're armed and dangerous, I'm guessing you're with my uncle hunting this sicko down, right?"
Kogun nodded, immediately setting into a professional mood as he crossed his arms across his chest and began to speak, "If you don't have any intention of taking our prize, then I see no reason in telling you. An anonymous party of interest has been seeing these attacks possibly spinning out of control from "mere" serial killings into something that could incite unrest, inter-society incindents, or a possible purging of a sector of Rukon's citizens to keep violence from escalating. Hence why I am here while Wallaby over here," he nodded his head behind himself, "took the contract initially and I am to oversee his progress. Despite his status in the Guild for being marginally successful, his mannerisms could endanger this contract so I've taken the liberty of doing most of the legwork this time around..."
Although Braeburn had taken it all in, there was a word that had nearly stopped his heart cold.
Purging.
"Wait, wait, wait..." He began to say, his voice showing slight tension and gaining complete seriousness. "Are you telling me that because of this guy killing people could be the very same reason that the Gotei 13 may or may not be considering committing a mass genocide?" It wasn't a pleasant idea or one he obviously couldn't say he was comfortable with. It was a policy of the Gotei 13 to resort to drastic measures whenever worse came to worst, and "purging" was one of those very measures. But certainly, they wouldn't resort to such measures when dealing with someone such as a "serial killer"...
...right?
"Whoever our anonymous client is, he/she/it/them knows about the contingency plans being debated by Central 46 at this time. Currently, its a last resort and they'll insist that the Gotei 13 enable the Punishment Force to search house to house with whatever force is necessary. If the populace gets violent and starts to revolt...they'll possibly be put down," Kogun said with disgust, his teeth grinding with enough force to almost snap portion of his toothpick.
"Then this definitely becomes a priority for us as well, right?" Hana said in a alarmed, yet stable tone as she looked back to Braeburn in emphasis, hoping to get his support to hunt down this maniac before people in the higher ups get their proverbial hair triggers pulled too quickly.
"You're damn right it does!" The Aussie was quick to agree. "There's no way the populace are gonna become victims just because of one measly psycho. We've gotta silence this guy before he pulls those damn thought police into it!"
"That's the spirit, Burny!" Jack applauded as he stood back up with an approving grin, putting a thumb's up in Braeburn's direction, "let's give this clunker a whoppin' 'fore everyone goes downright batty!"
"I'll go survey the West and Southern Districts, just in case he has an unknown route access to the rest of the Soul Society, while you guys keep searching the places you've already looked over," Hana said, marching out while sheathing her Zanpakuto, her black kama skirt flourishing in sync with her bangs as she coolly moved past Jack to the exit of the bar, "hopefully we can find him before sunsets on this society..."
Quickly, Braeburn allowed himself to move and follow Hana out. "Hang on, I'll join you." He said swiftly, bumping into his uncle a little as he did so. He turned his eyes over his shoulder as he moved away from the two. "Hope you guys some luck on your ends if we don't..."
"Hey, nephew! If its a race that you want, I'll make sure to make you give it all you got!" Jack yelled out after them, even as the two of them disappeared from the tavern at their own respective paces.
Hana sighed sadly after a distance though, "I'm so sorry, Brae-kun," she looked at him apologetically in mid sprint and bound, "I guess I ruined our casual date and stroll through the park, huh?"
Braeburn gave a slight sigh of exasperation. "You just had to drag me there, didn't you?" He asked rhetorically. "Calling me a coward and an idiot for not deciding to rush a deity wasn't enough for you, was it? You just had to make sure my role as the straight man was completely ruined, didn't ya?"
"I know," Hana said somberly, lowering her head as she stopped altogether in mid leap, stopping on a building top just behind or alongside Braeburn, "and I shouldn't do that. Its...arrogant for me to believe I can talk like that to you and force you into situations you have no desire to be in. Sorry...I brought it up..."
"...damn it. Now I'm starting to sound like an asshole."
Any deadpan snarkish attitude Braeburn had at the moment was replaced by a surprised and empathetic one. His eyebrows furrowed and a frown formed over his face, presenting a worrying expression on his face. When he stopped behind Hana, he gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, now..." He said gently. "C'mon, you know I didn't mean it like that. I was just joking around with you, that's all. I'm not blaming you for anything..."
"I don't believe you are either...its just...," she let out a sigh, looking up into his eyes with a hidden, pained gaze before looking away, rubbing her face with exhaustion, "I guess I've just been trying to take some weight off my shoulders as much as I want to see you happy. I don't mean to make trouble for you, and yet I do it anyways. Sorry," she looked back with a half smile, a tinge of regret for dragging him outside in the first place crept into the back of her mind.
"Hey, really! It's cool..." The Aussie was quick to protest to the statement, a smile crossing his face as he squeezed the woman's shoulders slightly. "What you could accidentally do to cause me trouble is nothing compared to what I've done. Don't sweat over it, sweetheart..."
"Thanks," Hana smiled genuinely, glad that Braeburn didn't hold anything over him, she leaned up and gave him a quick kiss before winking at him, "now, let's go find that batty and kick his ass!"
"Right behind you on that one..."
"Leave this to me," Hana said as she palmed inside the folds of her kosode, before retrieving a pellet pouring some into the palm of her left hand before smoothing it over the tips of her fingers. Bending onto her hands and knees on the rooftop, she began explaining, "it might take too long to find this man by merely using senses and the process of elimination. I'll use Kidō to sift through the masses of an unusual, concealed Spiritual Energy and determine our point(s) of destination..."
Sft-Sft-Sft-Sft-Sft
While drawing diagrams in a pie-shaped manner with the black powder on her left hand's fingertips, she began uttering the incantation, "Heart of the south, eye of the north, finger of the west, foot of the east, arrive with the wind and depart with the rain..."
CLAMP!
"Kakushitsuijaku!"
BLP-BEEP-BLP-ZEEP-BLP-BEEP-BLP-MEEP-BLP...!
A series of numbers began to run rampant over a now glowing blue circle, giving Hana a specific readout of the target she was looking for. After getting four matching diagramed numerical figures, Hana smiled, saying aloud, "Gotcha!" She looked up to Braeburn from her kneeled position, as the readout gave the exact destination the man was currently at, "he's in the Rukonagi Outskirts Northeast of here. Its the location of where Captain Takuji had ambushed V-14, and was his priority to take out a group of religious radicals that were killed by subsequently by V-14. Its no wonder he'd pick that place..."
"Wouldn't that place be under containment or something by the Gotei 13?" Braeburn questioned, raising an eyebrow as he moved himself to stand beside her. "Considering that it was previously a nest for the cult, I can't see why he would dare to go if there's the possibility of it being under watch..." He paused for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows and looking away. "But then again... there's also the possibility of the enforcement finishing up their business there and leaving the place to rot. If that were true, it would be the ideal hiding place."
He tilted his head to the side, cocking a slight eyebrow at Hana. "So, what's the game plan?"
"If we're lucky, we can get there and detain the guy with little to no difficulty and hand him over to the bounty hunters to not get on your uncle's sword friend's bad side," Hana said smoothly, standing up and wiping her hands clean, as the glowing sphere below dissipated back into black markings, "and if we're not...then they might reach the place before us or the guy will get away and we'll have to search for him all over again..."
Braeburn shrugged. "I don't really consider this a race." He answered bluntly. "They can get the guy. I just want him captured and put away. I could give a care less about anything else..."
"Alright," Hana said with a nod, smiling as she leaped into the air and promptly used Flash Step to lead the way, "let's do this!"
The Prey and the Predator, Hope for Redemption?[]
Hana sped away towards the outlying ruins and wasteland what used to be the dump of a Rukon Outskirt neighbourhood. After being decimated by the combined efforts of the monstrously sized Kidō tornado that ripped nearly the entire neighbourhood, and most of the factory's surface to smithereens. Now all that's left was what used to be a outpost that surveyed the site in the event more opportunists and criminals tried to use the place as a hideout or a base of operations.
Landing amidst the still-smoldering ramshackle debris-ridden neighbourhood, Hana started a cautious walk along the place where she felt the unusually distorted, hidden spiritual presence the man they're after permeated.
"...the hell...?"
Braeburn kept his voice low as he followed her, creeping along the path Hana was talking in a slow, deliberate manner. He made sure to pace himself so that he could keep up easily. "A small band of people did this...?" He questioned softly, taking a look around the ruins. "You might as well have sent an army to pillage this place..."
"The firepower they used, its no wonder the 10th had issues dealing with them," Hana whispered, her feet lightly tapping the earthen wasteland as she kept her senses in check and her energy siphoning for a spot where their target was hidden, "I heard there was a good couple hundred radicals in the underground of the factory complex up ahead...from what the 10th observed, they slaughtered them all as if they were nothing but meat bags..."
"The Inner Circle must be trouble if they're able to deal with a small band of people that can kill an entire army by themselves and still live on to fight ..." Braeburn muttered, pursing his lips in slight disdain. "That almost makes me glad we've gotten on their good side now..."
"For the moment anyways. I can't believe Lieutenant Daisuke managed to talk them into it after he blew the gasket in the first place," Hana said incredulously, pouting her lips comically, "I go out of my way to protect his hide, but I swear his tender heart is going to have a real attack one of these days and I won't be able to shield him again!"
Braeburn gave a derisive snort. "He's an idiot. He walked right up to the V-14 boss and acted like she couldn't have had one of her minions land a headshot on him. What else can you do?"
"Let him keep doing the stupidly impossible," Hana smirked as she spoke aloud with a hint of admiration in her voice, "sometimes I envy that type of courage. To be the hopeless fool who fights for justice and peace, no matter how impossible it might seem. But, I'm too much of a cynic for that to be possible now..."
"You and me both, sweetheart..." Braeburn muttered in agreement. "You and me both." His eyes continued to look around, his senses on the alert. "But, whatever keeps our heads above ground, right?"
"I guess its something like-"
Tk-Tk-Tk!
"What the-?!" Hana suddenly uttered aloud as she halted her steps, then widened her eyes and paled, "pressure plates?! Here?!" She turned to see Braeburn walk over to where she was, raising a hand to stop she begged, "don't...move!"
Just like that, Braeburn stopped.
He froze like a deer in headlights, his eyes widened and his pupils dilating slightly at her urgent tone. His ears perked up when he heard her speak the dreaded words, and the realization of their situation was clear. Slowly, his heart rate began to pick up, his fingers twitching slightly with wary expectation. Inwardly, however, he was cursing up a storm, for he knew they had allowed themselves to walk straight into a trap.
It might as well have been the usual.
Bending down slowly to a crouching position without altering her weight on the plates hidden bare inches under the ground, she began sifting her energy analytically to gauge the severity of their death trap. After agonizing seconds that seemed to last forever, she gulped down and allowed a bead of sweat roll down the temple facing Braeburn, "This isn't good. Whoever this guy is, he must've stacked enough explosives along this street to turn it into glass for a good dozen meters. He must have been dealing with the black markets here to get this kind've tech..."
"Think we can bypass 'em and keep 'em from blowing up?" Braeburn questioned, cocking a slight eyebrow as he looked down towards the ground he was crouched down on. "Even if an explosion doesn't catch us, it'll attract unwanted attention. And considering the circumstances? It's the last thing we want to do..."
"I got it!" Hana said with a snap of her fingers, clasping her hands together with a concentrative look. Within a few moments, she created a simmering fluid barrier to hover just above both of their feet, stretching across the entire abandoned street before settling below the earth...and firmly onto the pressure plates.
"There," Hana said with a sigh, experimentally taking a step forward and noticed no change gave a thumbs up to Braeburn, "that barrier should stick for a good week if we wanted it to. I'll make sure to notify the D.C.O. to disarm it if we don't set it off looking for our friend, the whackjob."
"...judas priest..."
Braeburn exhaled a slight sigh of exasperation, shaking his head back and forth. "The way you were freaking out made me think that you were at a loss, Shiela. You could at least pretend to be aware of your abilities." For emphasis, he rolled his eyes.
"The fact it was so well hidden and that I didn't sense anything initially is what terrified me," Hana sheepishly admitted, as they both now strode across the dimly lit earthen road, "but when I realized it was a simple mechanism, it was a piece of cake real-"
WHIZ-WHIZ-WHIZ-WHIZ!
"-ly?!" Hana was in for another surprise as an array of shurikens and kunai knives were thrown from multiple directions towards herself, and Braeburn. Catching the first few projectiles that she encountered, she used them to parry off and throw them back at the offending weapons.
Braeburn, however, needed only his sword.
With a spin of his heel and a pull on the weapon from its scabbard, he performed a quick and precise counter-attack. He swung with incredible speed that outmatched the perception of the human eye. His steel clanged with the oncoming projectiles, parrying them and sending them away from his person. In a matter of seconds, he had flowed into a natural dance of defense to protect himself from the threat of being skewered.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" A manical, creepy laugh echoed over the dark, ramshackled ruins of the abandoned graveyard for a Rukon neighbourhood, "you two are good! First you bypass my mines and then you dodge those like it was a cakewalk! This will be fun...oh yeah...fun fun fun fun fun fuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!~"
"Okay...nutjob officially classified in the 7/10 ratio of craziness with a mix of 6/10 being incredibly dangerous," Hana quipped wryly as she moved her hand to her Zanpakuto, looking around for a decent glimpse of the origin of the surprisingly resourceful and skilled maniac ex-Stealth Force agent.
"...I hate opponents like these."
Braeburn put on a scowl as he lowered his sword, keeping his guard on the rise. He swept the area with his eyes and his sense, not allowing for the unseen enemy to see that he was guarded. Both hands were on the hilt, the tip of the blade lowered to the ground. "Just for once, I'd like a serial killer who's a bit sane in the head..."
An awkward silence fell upon the area, as well as an iconic echo of a bamboo stick striking a stone.
"I'll...pretend I didn't hear you say that," Hana had a deadpan, dry look of increduality on her features.
"Shut up, Hana."
WHIZ-WHIZ!
"Incoming-!"
CLANK-CLAK!
"-damn!" Hana swore aloud, as their enemy was not just a single opponent but one that could produce solid-bodied Flash Step Clones. The pair of look-alikes held a ninja-tos against their respective opponents' blades, clothed in ragtag black garments that covered the face and head, leaving only slits for where crazed eyes gazed out at them both.
It was here that Braeburn found himself looking into the eyes of the one he had, in a sense, read about.
"The Punisher looked upon the host of the motel with contempt." He muttered lowly, meeting those insane eyes with his own serene gaze. The words he spoke was a quote from the Red Sun Scrolls. "Hidden underneath the guise of a struggling and squirming woman, she looked into his eyes and saw nothing but what was lost - a mind."
CLANG!
With a swing of his sword, he parried the blade away and consequently shoved the clone that he was fighting back.
SCRAAPE-Whoosh!
"Get the fuck off!" Hana exerted her innate strength by scraping the blade up against her opponents, then pushing with her right single arm outwards, sending the offender backwards enough to stand evenly with its similar.
"What's that beautiful poetry you spouting off, handsome?! Something in the Red Sun scrolls about our higher-up Hankami neighbor deities?" Hana quipped nonchalantly, even as she went back to guard as the two mirror forms of the enemy they've been hunting walked around them like predatory cats, ready to pounce at any given moment.
"Didn't know you were bothering to listen..." Slowly, Braeburn moved back so that he was back-to-back with his partner, keeping his eye trained on their enemies. "To be honest, I was assuming I was speaking to myself. Happens when I find a situation being similar to what I read..."
"I think its quite apt for our current situation," Hana said with a smirk, tossing her blade around to hold it in a parallel inverted grip fashion, as she crouched down, "do you think it'd be fair if I maim him, or continue playing around with him and let you do the honors?"
Braeburn could've taken the route of fighting himself.
But of course, that ran the risk of the said "Sword Saint" happening to come by and see his abilities firsthand. He didn't want to give the man that particular satisfaction. So, he opted for the simple way out. After all, he was aiming to finish the fight quickly.
"You can maim him..." He said casually, looking over his shoulder at her. "But make sure to keep his head in one piece."
"Hey hey hey hey hey!" The madman in black yelled at them, as they suddenly made a dash for both of them again, "no plotting little plots while I'm here! Here to cut you into bloody-"
SHFT-SLICE!
"-pieces?!" As deranged as the man is, his eyes suddenly widened as he felt as if the woman he was charging at was no longer there, but behind himself...in the wake of a silver cutting arc that amputated his left arm that held his ninja-to Zanpakuto.
This also, subsequently caused the charging Clone moving towards Braeburn to dissipate entirely, leaving the madman to howl out in pain and misery as he felt the pain wringing throughout his body.
"AAAAAAAAH!" The man fell to the ground, clinging to his stump as a geyser of blood sprayed from his body as his erratically twitching arm flipped and spasmed on the ground next to him with the sword in hand before Hana kicked it away from him, "my arm! MY F'ING ARM! NYAAAAAAAAA-"
"You can take the pleasure of shutting him up," Hana said cooly, before winking at Braeburn as she flicked the few drops of blood on her own Zanpakuto, sheathing it back on her waist parallel aligned scabbard with a defined metalic click.
"Yeah..."
Flipping his sword around, Braeburn slowly approached the man while keeping his sword lowered in a threatening manner. His gait was slow and deliberate, and he never broke his gaze away. "As she watched him die, she spoke her creed with great anticipation. "Here lies another wretched soul that failed to see the light even in his afterlife. Let him not pass through to the Circle, but detour him to my welcoming abogue. Let him burn forever in my fires. Let him know pain, suffering, and purgatory eternal, for as long as I live, I will never allow him to find what he looks for."
Slowly, he lifted his sword up, the tip pointing towards the sky.
"Amen."
Then, he swung down.
The blade cut through the target's neck, providing a clean and swift decapitation. The dismembered part rolled away in a morbidly humorous manner, bouncing a few ways off before stopping. The sword that performed the act was swing one more time to rid the blade of blood before it was sheathed within its wielder's scabbard.
CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!
"Bravo, Braeburn!" Hana said with a smile, as she walked towards him casually, "that was both a good job well done aaaaand made it sound so beautifully poetic-"
FWHOOOSH-VRRRRM!
"...what the hell?!"
It was within the few moments that happened afterwards that a ominous whirlwind suddenly broke into the wasteland neighbourhood. A large hellish gate spontaneously erupted through flames and appeared before the recently slain entity. With slow, deliberate speed as a number of chains held it shut from being let completely loose or open a large tattooed arm stretched out with a pike, sending spirals of energies into the man's body causing it to regenerate painfully back together while binding him tightly.
"No! NO NO NO NO! LET ME DIE! LET ME-"
SHNK!
"GRK!" The madman struggled to the end, before the giant pike stabbed through his torso, erupting in a geyser of blood and chains, before pulling him back through the gate as he was dismembered and taken back into the fiery gates of when it erupted. Shortly after, the gates of Hell shut and dissipated in the middle of the air, leaving the Soul Society and without a trace of its existence.
When Braeburn said the line, he was simply expecting the feeling of baddassery.
So when the gate disappeared, he was left regarding the spot where the man had been with dilated eyes. In that moment, he had been rendered completely speechless, just as shocked as Hana had been. He lifted his sword up to eye level, blinking a few times as he looked at it. For several seconds, he just let himself stand there in a state of shell-shock.
Slowly, a grin crept across his face.
"I think I'm gonna start reading up on my theology a bit more."
"Hahahaha!" Hana couldn't help but laugh, as she saw that grin on her boyfriend's face as if he felt empowered and more awesome than he thought he was, "glad you enjoyed that bit of horrific morbidity that you inflicted on that bastard..."
"OH NO!"
Hana's eyes blinked as she whirled around to see a gob-strucked Jack and his partner with his chop stick nearly falling out of his mouth. From the complexion on both of their faces, even though Kogun's face was already pale it looked nearly chalk pastey now, they both were witnesses of the most recent event. Of course, Jack was the most vocal...
"OUR BOUNT-E! You frogging took the bloody bloak and our bount-e! Why?! Why...?!" Jack immediately began to cry, as a cloud of depression comically hovered over his head of the thought of them not getting the reward or bonus on their contract.
Braeburn gave a shrug. "Looks like you won't be getting paid today." He said simply, lowering his arms to his sides. "Sorry, but you two were just too slow..."
"Yeah, for the guys starting out in the first place you sure took your time finding us," Hana said with an amused raise of her brow, placing her arms over her chest and tapped her foot as she arched her hips to the side in a casual manner.
"We thought you would leave the body intact so we could collect at least part of our prize," Kogun said with a hitch in his throat, as his complexion came back and his brow snaked a drop of sweat down his face, "however, we didn't expect you to summon the Gate of Hell to take away both his corpreal and physical forms with it. You have many surprises in store for me, Braeburn McTavish," turning away from him while sideglancing, as a buffet of wind picked up and caused his long blonde locks to flourish in the wind, before he himself dissipated away, "I will look forward to the day we clash blades in the light of twilight..."
"O-O-Oi!" Jack blinked and began leaping away at a considerable height before shimmering away, only his comically frightened voice rang out, "don't leave me behind to get swallowed by Hell, brother!"
"...was kind of hoping that he would've changed his mind... oh, well."
As he watched them vanish, Braeburn let out a heavy sigh and hunched his shoulders. He was certain that any sane person would've been glad to turn away after seeing someone summon the very Gate of Hell in order to finish someone off. But upon hearing that Kogun would still be pursuing him, he knew that he had allowed himself to get his hopes up. He would just have to deal with the fact that there was someone who looked to duel him out of his newly acquired nickname.
He turned his gaze towards Hana. "Well... now that it's all over with, I guess we have the rest of the time to ourselves, don't we?"
"Oh handsome," Hana said with a devilish smile as she bent her knees and then pounced over to Braeburn, allowing her to pin him onto the ground, with her on top, "you can bet your aussie ass about that!"
What happened next was officially rated as AO and unsuited for kids, so it was not described within the next post. However, User:Achrones150 was kind enough to summarize it in four words.
"And then they fucked!"
The End