Light in the Darkness

This article, , is a one-shot featuring Kenji Hiroshi and Anika Shihōin. It follows on from Darkest Pursuits and Darkest Worlds and details Kenji's training to rescue his friends from the Illusive Man.

Running off to Anīka hadn’t been one of his best moments. She was his Godmother after all and she’d only use this as clarification of all she had said bo him before he left the Soul Society to travel the Human World. That day she declared an exile needed to be strong and resourceful to give the Soul Society the slip and failing that they needed allies. Kenji had the latter but his strength and resourcefulness still lagged behind some of the Captains. If the Soul Society where serious in recapturing him to stand before the Central 46 for his crimes then there was little he could before them.

“Okay!” Kenji exclaimed at last.

He threw his arms up into the air and then collapsed into the nearest chair with as much grace as a drunken thug.

“You’re right. Again! You want me to say it; to break me down!? Fine, let’s do that! I wasn’t strong enough to protect the people I care about. There, are you happy now!?

For a moment Anīka, blue eyes measuring, merely stood and watched. Kenji wasn’t a man right now; it was all too clear that the abduction of his dearest friends had shaken his resolve to the core. He was acting like a child… and Anīka knew how to deal with children. Kenji’s eyes bulged! Anīka hauled her Godson to his feet and punched him square in the jaw! He fell to the floor in a heap and rebounded quickly, but Anīka was quicker. She socked him again but this time sank her knee into his stomach as well. Kenji buckled and slowly dropped.

“Do you think I enjoy this?” Anīka asked. “I take no pleasure in this but I made a promise to your mother that I’d look after you! You’ve made that difficult at times but in the end everything always came good. This will too. But not if you sit here wallowing in your own self-loathing.”

She turned her back on him.

“When you’re finished crying you’ll know where to find me, but if you do come… leave your doubt at the door. Because if you don’t and try to save them as you are now I’ll save the Illusive Man the trouble and kill you myself.”

Kenji’s sadness turned to rage! He clenched his fists and punched the floor even as spiritual power whipped through Anīka’s home. He lifted his head to see her departing frame and all he saw was red. Anger was fuel and right now it was fuelling one thing Kenji didn’t need. He tried his best to fight off the hold but try as he might he was slipping. He only succeeded when Anīka, acting with the speed of a large cat, struck him in the head.

“That’s better.” She said. “Now... are you ready for what comes after?”

After shaking the specks from his sight and controlling his raging emotions, Kenji nodded as he drew his Zanpakutō.

“Put that away.” Anīka snapped. “Where you are going your Zanpakutō is nothing more than a blunt stick. I’m going to teach you how to use your body as a weapon.”

And so it began. Kenji thought that Maki’s training was brutal, that Kyoaku’s drills where arduous. Boy how wrong he’d been! Anīka was the hardest taskmaster he’d ever seen. The slightest mistake was met with a harsh reprimand or physical pain, though even that was a method of training in and of itself. How better to condition one not to muck something up? If they make a mistake slap them round the head until they stop. Anīka was old school through and through and even though the practice had been going on no more than two days Kenji was already adapting.

After a thorough training session that left Kenji breathless Anīka spoke.

“Now we begin the real training.” She whispered. “From this point on you’ll have five days. If you don’t master what I’m about to show you in that time then you can forget about rescuing your friends.”

Anīka discarded her white jacket and inhaled sharply. What Kenji could only describe as pressurized Kidō surged along Anīka’s shoulders and back and that aura tore up the ground and struck the younger man speechless! Anīka’s power was impressive normally. Now it was incredible. Kenji had never seen anything like it!

“What the hell did you do!?”

“This, Kenji, is called Shunkō.”

End.

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