Reaper Abroad: The Forest of Menos

This article, , is a side-story entry set during Renascence Beginning and serves as the immediate sequel to Morning Prince Exiled. Akira Hiroshi and Ashido Kanō serve as the main characters.

Unlike with, whom Ashido had to admit had been a welcome change of pace after centuries alone in the Forest, Ashido did not really know what to make of the boy sleeping on a raised portion of stone in his hideout. Akira Hiroshi was his name and he was young, wiry, looked like he'd just been through the wringer, and seemed to follow after Ashido like a puppy might its owner. Rukia was no slouch -- she had held her own far better than Ashido had suspected she would.

He did not expect the same from Akira.

As the boy slept and recuperated under a sheet of lightning Kidō wholly unknown to Ashido, he saw to the meagre lights illuminating his hideout. They where a rather simple trick of Kidō that provided enough light for him to see by but not enough to attract unwanted attention, and there was no smoke fumes to worry about either. Once created they lasted several days and they required virtually no reiryoku to maintain.

Their upkeep usually served as a distraction of sorts but he couldn't get his meeting with young Akira out of his mind.

"He definitely recognised me."

But how could that be though? Ashido had been a resident of the Forest of Menos for nearly three-hundred years! This boy wasn't old enough by half to have remembered Ashido from the days before. Unless Rukia had managed to rescue her friend and return to the Soul Society? She would certainly have mentioned him to someone in authority. It wasn't as if there where any other Shinigami residing in the Forest, so that was one way this Akira could have known him.

Before he could muse on it further he sensed Hollow nearby. Too close to leave alone.

He grabbed his Zanpakutō, the corner chipped in a long-forgotten battle, from where it sat propped against the wall and ducked out the cave entrance.

When Akira woke he was alone. His sleep, coupled with Nigendō #7, had healed the worst of his injuries and restored his reiryoku. His body still felt stiff though, and he half suspected it to be from sleeping on cold stone, but he was confident that a little exercise would solve his problem in short order.

He grabbed his Zanpakutō and practised some two-handed swings. His left shoulder creaked uncomfortably at the swift movements.

"I'll need to spend some extra time on that." He resolved. He finally took a cursory glance around his surroundings. "Where's Ashido?" He thought. The Kidō lamps had been tended to recently so he couldn't have been gone long. "I hope he'll help me."

He had to remind himself that this wasn't the same Ashido who had trained him in his own world. Similar certainly but still different all the same. Enough so that he should be careful with how much he revealed to him. He couldn't exactly blurt out that he was from another world and trained under a different Ashido. The whole thing sounded absolutely bat-shit crazy!

Or maybe it was best to be upfront? Even if he sounded crazy at least he could claim to have been truthful.

He had a lot to ponder. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing Ashido had stepped out for a bit? He seated himself back on the cold stone, the green light of healing Kidō shining on his right palm, and began to massage his left shoulder.

The Hollow in question had simply been passing through on its way elsewhere and Ashido saw little need to risk drawing attention to himself this close to his own hideout by dispatching it. He kept to the shadows, his hand on the green hilt of his Zanpakutō, and watched quietly for a time. Only when he was content he hadn't been discovered did he return the way he had come.

He re-entered his cave dwelling to discover young Akira kneading healing Kidō into his left shoulder joint. The nasty stomach wound that had initially worried Ashido had closed over, leaving behind a simple white scar. Young though he was this boy seemed to be quite knowledgeable of Kidō. But then again Ashido himself had been gone from the Soul Society for quite some time. Maybe this type of technique and level of skill was common there now? Rukia had certainly been skilled in the art he recalled.

"You are awake. Good."

Ashido propped his Zanpakutō against the wall close to the entrance and shed his mask-adorned fur cloak. The garment was heavy even without the Hollow masks and he instantly felt lighter.

"How are your wounds?"

The boy looked up and grinned slightly.

"Improved. Its just a stiff shoulder I'm treating now."

There was a silence that stretched between the two that was beginning to become awkward. Truthfully Ashido didn't know what to think of Akira even after some time to think on the situation. In the end he decided to ask him straight-out.

"You appeared suddenly and you knew my name." He wasn't angry or annoyed -- Ashido's face was expressionless, his voice even. "From what little you told me after I brought you here you are aware of my past. Are you a friend of Rukia Kuchiki? ?"

"... No, I'm afraid not. It's a long story and some of it will sound strange to you -- even crazy! -- but I ask you to let me tell it all. Agreed?"

Ashido nodded.

The story was certainly questionable to say the least. Young Akira apparently hailed from a different world entirely! An event known as "The Collapse" coupled with the actions of his Kidō-blessed uncle served as the catalyst behind the boy's travel. If that weren't suspicious enough the boy claimed to have been trained by his world's Ashido; a version, it seemed, who had left the Forest behind to fight an ancient alongside Akira's father. There was more however: he had not come to this world alone. Akira had a twin -- Hotaru Hiroshi. The pair disagreed on whether or not they should stay in this new world or attempt to return to their own at any cost, and during a heated exchange Hotaru lashed out at his brother, who marginally escaped. Akira claimed it was Hotaru who had inflicted the wounds Ashido saw when he came to his rescue in the Forest. When Ashido interjected to question how he escaped and came to the Forest in so short a time the boy revealed another startling point: he claimed to have Hollow powers! He was a Visored: a Shinigami who had acquired the powers of Hollows and one of the powers afforded him by this taboo acquisition was a variation of.

The latter point, however, Ashido could concede -- he had sensed the dual-aspect of the boy's reiatsu. It was what initially drew Ashido's attention. And he trusted his sense. It had rarely steered him wrong during his centuries in the Forest. He didn't like it. He spent his time killing Hollow on a daily basis after all. How long before he was putting the boy to the sword?

"Quite the story."

"I told you it sounded crazy." Akira admitted.

"... Let's assume I believe you." Ashido supplied. In truth he didn't know what to believe. All he did know for sure was that this boy knew him and possessed some form of Hollow power. "What is it you want from me? You obviously came her with a plan."

The boy looked around. He closed his eyes and inhaled long through his nose.

"I need toughening up. This place worked for you."

"This is not a playground. The strong thrive here... and the weak die."

He supposed only time would tell which Akira would become.

"Get some rest." Ashido suggested. "We'll begin tomorrow."

Why the boy's eyes lit up brightly Ashido had no clue. In that gaze though he saw plenty of childlike innocence and naivety -- traits that quickly got one killed in a forest as fierce as this one. How long would that look survive here?

End.