Before Awakening

This article, , is the third chapter of the Blank Period, and the direct sequel to Revisiting the Past which is part of Part III. It is the first of the Blank Period chapters that does not begin in Part IV, thus it does not play-out as a flashback segment. Garrett Sheppard is the POV character whilst Anko Amatsuki and Marisa serve as main support.

Garrett fought his way to his feet, refusing a steadying hand from Anko, and took a fortifying swig from his water bottle. He hoped it would help sort his racing thoughts but all it did was remind him how thirsty he was. And hungry! His stomach betrayed him.

"... Did you skip supper again?" Anko asked, looking smug.

Bitch. How dare she look so happy?

"Yes, ma'am." He answered with as sour an expression as he could muster.

His stomach once more betrayed him and, before he could stop himself, he cursed aloud. For that he received a clip 'round the ear. Anko put up with a lot, she maintained, but bad language was not one of them. Even though she cursed like a sailor herself he noted. He got another clip for mentioning that tit-bit.

"I've got some leftover chicken casserole in the fridge. Do your parents know where you are?"

"My mother's dead and I'd be shocked if my old man cared where I was."

He regretted his remark immediately and fled up the stairs to escape Anko's darting look because he wasn't ready to explain. Not yet. He felt her eyes on him the entire time and could swear she was still watching as he left her apartment and escaped into the cold of night. Three weeks now he had been attending Anko's so-called "extracurricular lesson" and for the first time in that time he broke his promise regarding his up-to-then usual Hollow hunting activities. Hollow weren't hard to find in Grat and he needed something to vent his frustrations on.

"Why do mere thoughts of my old man get me angry?"

In quick order he found a centipede-like Hollow scurrying through some back-alleys. It wasn't large by any stretch nor was it particularly powerful or intelligent. It was just what he needed, he thought, so he took to pounding it into the floor until his knuckles where bloody and his breathing was laboured, all-the-while imagining it to be his father.

"Why won't you die!?"

He didn't even acknowledge its many legs whipping across his shoulder blades, back, face. Something inside stirred, primal, and completely unknown. To finish the Hollow off he smashed its mask open with the heel of his right foot and felt a surge of elation. "'Bout damn time." He spat.

It was only then that Garrett noticed the blood-lust in the air and realisation set in. He felt like he'd been kicked in the balls. "What I killed was a lure...!" He twisted around, too slowly, and fell.

When he came to he was laid out on Anko's sofa. He could hear two female voices -- one belonging to Anko -- speaking. They both quietened when he stirred.

"The hell happened? I should be dead."

"Yes, you should. You can thank me anytime, you know."

The woman who spoke was roughly the same height as Anko. She sported long light-blonde coloured hair tied up in a single ponytail, regarded him with sapphire eyes, and wore a long rain coat. Wait, it had been raining? Damn. He really did lose his sense when he thought about his long absent old man.

"Thanks?"

"Ungrateful git!"

It was Anko who intervened when the other woman raised her hand to strike him.

"I think he's had enough of a beating for one day, don't you, Risa?"

"... No, he hasn't. Only a fool would fight Hollow in his state."

"My state? There isn't a damn thing wrong with me!"

"Oh?" Risa remarked. "Then why was your reiatsu fluctuating so wildly that you couldn't land a descent strike? Or where your hands bloody when I saved you from something else?"

That he couldn't discount.

"My sister told you not to fight Hollow because your Fullbring's going to awaken soon. You fool! Now we've got no choice."

"Wait, what?"

"Your powers are on the cusp of awakening." Anko divulged. She'd taken a seat behind her sister. "The room where I've been training you is a specially made chamber designed to mimic the atmosphere of . All that was missing where actual Hollows. But tonight... you just had to pick a fight."

"Be thankful my sister called me. I happened to be in the neighbourhood."

He had to ask: "What happens next?"

It was Anko who answered. "We mitigate the damage to your body as much as possible."

''End.