Kenji's Awakening: The Brutal Battle for Control!

Kenji's Awakening: The Brutal Battle for Control! is the term used to denote the battle Kenji has with his Inner Hollow fater leaving Soul Society. His life since has been filled with the adventures he and his friends, Kusaka Kori and Kazuma Nishiki have endured since. But now, Kenji's greatest challenge since his showdown with the ex-Royal Guardsmen, Dastan, looms on the horizon. The battle to decide the fate of his very soul is baout to begin...

Characters
Kenji Hiroshi

Kusaka Kori

Kazuma Nishiki

Kenji's Awakening:
"I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so destructive and bloodthirsty, that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole mind, and the very essence of my soul and cause untold destruction."

- Kenji describing his Inner Hollow.

Introduction:
The full moon's brilliance dominated the black sky, stars twinkeled like diamonds floating on the top of an ocean and the wind blew pleasently over the cliff Kenji, Kusaka and Kazuma were perched on. The city they overlooked was large and its lights winked out of existance slowly as weariness after a long day lulled the owners off to sleep.

Leaning back to stare at the starry sky, Kenji closed his eyes and welcomed the wind that blew pleasently over his face as it headed westward. He loved the wind. It was free to blow in whatever direction it pleased, while he, was shackeled to the same spot by fear and regret. A bandaged Kazuma stared across the skyline with all the intensity of a youngster craving adventure, seeking some far off goal. Unbeknowst to both Kusaka and Kazuma, Kenji knew how he'd recieved those wounds. Kenji himself, the very person who'd promised to protect the yougster and show him the world, had almost killed him because he couldn't keep control.

But it wasn't Kyo, the other being who called Kenji's mind his residence. But the other spirit; the Inner Hollow that spawned mysteriously after he left the Soul Society who'd taken control and brought nothing but destruction and chaos in his wake that had done the deed. The helplessness, the anger and the guilt of not being able to help was eating away at him, consuming his every waking thought. But the worst part was that he'd hurt his friends, nay, that he'd hurt Kazuma. Everytime he looked at the youngster, he felt a stab of gut wrenching guilt, pain and sadness that was completely unrivalled by anything he felt previously. And he'd be drinking deeply of that cup of regret for as long as he'd draw breathe. Everytime he closed his eyes, he could see his hollowfied form brining down Aoi Inazuma's blade for the fatal strike...!

The day he'd lost control, the day he'd almost ceast to exist, was even more grueling than the battle he endured with Dastan, or the rigors he went through in the Dangai to master his Shikai. The problem was, he didn't know what to do. Even now, with the sea of stars spread out before, the twinkling lights of the city below and the peace he felt coursing his veins; he could feel him, his Inner Hollow attempting to wrestle control, to rage again. And the thought scared him like no other.

"Kenji?" Kusaka's strong hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality. "Are you okay, man? You look a little dazed. Maybe you should rest, eh?" He knew, for without Kusaka, Kenji wouldn't be here today. Wouldn't be enjoying the view of that skyline and the city below, but destroying everything and anything that came across his path while everything that made Kenji unique, would be torn asunder and forgotten about. Kusaka was the one who'd placed his future, his body and his very existance on the line when the hollow had taken over. He stood and fought, when others would have surely fleed.

The image was as clear in his mind still, as though he were staring directly at the light of a thousand stars. Kusaka, the man Kenji was honoured to call his friend, had brought him back from the brink of darkness and allowed him to regain control...


 * Flashback...

Kenji was vaguely aware of the things around him. The roaring of the wind hitting his body...the sound of steel striking steel...and the sound of pained cries filling eardrums that felt alien to him. "Murmurs...voices..." It was all on the edge of his hearing. His Inner Hollow, a force he'd never known existed had wresteled control from him and was now rampaging. He felt like an outsider looking in...his own vision catching every detail of the hollows battle with Kusaka and Kazuma, only it wasn't his own eyes he was looking through, but that of his hollow. Kazuma, the braze youngster who could've run, was bloodied from head-to-toe, Kusaka frantically shielding him as best he could.

But then...nothing. It was as though a dark cowl had been draped over his face and all the light that filled the world was drenched in a darkness so deep, you felt you'd never see the light again. The entire space that held all that Kenji was, was thrown into complete and utter blackness so thick and encompassing, that he couldn't have found a way out even if there had been a light to guide him. Brief echoes reached his ears, "...Kenji...save you..." Those echoes, like tiny water droplets falling down the drain was all he could feel...all he knew. The last remnants of his existance. So he clutched onto them as tightly as he could, like a drowning man clutched to drift wood in a vein attempt to save himself.

Images flashed...at first hazy...but then, more detailed. A face? Yes. or maybe not. "Kenji...? Is that me...is that my name? Kusaka...yes...Kusaka's my friend...so's Kazuma." The right arm that had been as numb and lifeless as stone to him seconds before pumped with renewed life. His net of awareness, although limited, broadened. A man with black hair fought on desperatly, pushing aside a much younger fighter as he swung a scythe around in his hand. "I'll bring...back." He roared in defience.

"Where am I...? Am I alive...?" Thoughts came slowly under the cowl of blackness in which he was lost, swimming against as unknown, unseen force that sapped his very life's energy and removed his very resolve. "Kenji!!" The words exploded like a multitude of sparks in the darkness that blinded his eyes and left small specks dancing in his vision...but he was aware. Muscle movements he though long dead, grew warm...his hand, tightening into a fist, coursed with strength anew.

And his vision once lost by a cowl of blackness he never wanted to experience again...returned. Kazuma, a blade tearing through his side, fell and Kusaka pushing the hollow back, took the Cero in the back, his Moon Shield barely holding up under the strain. Kazuma was down, bleeding heavily with a multitude of wounds all across his body. Kusaka, face as blank and expressionless as carved stone, suddenly raised his head, pitch black energy with a purple hue seeped from his body. "Kenji...! WAKE UP!!" He roared, rushing forward with all the force of a mighty tsunami crashing against the shore.

"Move...Why am I here? I'm stronger than this...Stronger...Move...I said MOVE!!!" The hollows right hand moved in a flash, grasping the half-formed hollow mask covering his face. "No! You idiot...! I'll be free of you...! I won't let yo-" Kusaka moved in an instant, hand grasping the hollows mask! With all his might, he tore the mask off and dropped it to the groumd. Blackened spiritual energy clung to the inside of the mask and blood trickeled down Kenji's face as Kusaka stopped him from falling.

The mask that spawned so suddenly, disappeared back into nothingness...back into the corner of Kenji's mind that was now clad in a cowl so black, Kenji felt sorry for him. But he was back, staring up at Kusaka with weary, heavy ledden eyes. "Kusaka...? Where...?"

"Be quiet and get some rest. We were attacked by hollow and in the rush, you were knocked unconscious and Kazuma was injured. I fought 'em off, so rest." Weariness closed his eyes and darkness returned. But this darkness, although similar to the imprisoning blackness of the cowl, was peaceful...


 * Flashback ended...

Kenji was thankful of the lie at the time, but his own guilt wouldn't allow him to forget. The dreams - no, nightmares - woke him up everytime and left him trembling from fear alone. He could barely concentrate anymore. Training was over before it started, travelling was cut short because he couldn't keep up and fear goverenerd his every move. But he put on a brave face and looked Kusaka dead in the eye. With a trembling voice and eyes close to tears, Kenji spoke. "Kusaka...I can feel him grasping like a man hanging from a cliff looking for a handhold. And he's winning...I can't keep this up."

With quick, fluid movements, Kusaka struck him square between the eyes! His expression was set in stone, his posture threatening. But his eyes held such sympathy and understanding, that Kenji felt the tears roll down his cheeks. Kazuma was up, unsure of what had happened. He made a step towards Kenji, but Kusaka flashed between them and shook his head. Turning, he regarded his friend coolly. "Listen to me and listen good. If that hollows got you so scared, then there's only one thing you can do to, isn't there? You're gonna initiate Jinzen, face that bastard, and kick his ass! Pound him into submission and let him know that you're the one in control, that you aren't afraid and that you won't take his shit anymore!"

Rising on shaking legs, Kenji looked Kusaka up and down before dropping into a meditive pose. "...What about my body? He'll take control..." Kusaka caught him by the throat and lifted him into the air. "I'll deal with that. You just focus on defeatin' him. Got it?" He dropped Kenji, who fell into the meditative pose again. When Kenji next opened his eyes, he was standing in his inner World...