The Door Opens

Act 1
"Family buisness, eh?" Auron said aloud in slight perplextion.

"Yes." Asumu replied with a now more stern glare. "It's something that is probably more important than this entire campaign, as the result of this assignment could drastically tip the balance of the war."

"Shit..."

"Oh wow..."

"Damn, sir. You sure going on your own is the best thing to do?" one of the troopers asked him honestly, after several others looked at each other and murmered curses and statements of slight awe.

"Positive." Asumu said to the man in response, smirking slightly afterwords. "It's a mission that needs to be taken with tact, subtlety, and no shortage of charm. Which is exactly why I can't risk bringing you brutes along."

In response to this, the troopers mostly chuckled or pretended to be offended.

"In any case, be prepared to receive orders from Haschwalt at any minute. Do as you've always done, and act as if i'm still here during off hours. In other words, no screwing around. Understood?" he said with his renewed firm and authoritive stance and voice.

"Yessir!" they all replied.

"Good. You are all dismissed." he said to them, of which they all began to leave and return to their regular duties. Only Isabella remained, since she wasn't a Soldat, but rather, Asumu's personal aid. The Stern Ritter glanced over to the young woman with a calm look. "Isabella. Ready yourself in whatever way you need to. I'll be outside the barracks in just a few minutes."

"Yes, Asumu-sama." the loyal Arrancar replied, bowing before using her Sonido to leave the barracks and await her master.

Asumu then used a Hirenkyaku to move from this public part of the barracks and into his private quarters. If he were going on on his own, he needed to make sure that he was ready and fully prepared.

His room was nothing special, even for a Stern Ritter. One might even go as far as to say it was no different than a standard trooper's room. But he was only doing a simple rundown of what all he had on him, and if he was ready.

Bankai device was in tow, as was his cross, his gun, Ginto tubes, all were ready to go. He wouldn't bother changing his attire, as there really wasn't any need to. However, as he was getting ready to leave, a thought occured to him.

''"Oh, dammit....I just now realized where i'm actually going..." ''he sighed and lightly facepalmed.

Home, the Godai estates, in particular. It was a place he hadn't seen in nearly 15 years, nor had any contact with. No calls, no letters, no occasional visits...It was as if he became so enthralled with his work in the Stern Ritter, he had forgotten about where he'd come from to begin with.

He rubbed his tendons; he knew this wasn't going to be a warm reception. He couldn't help but regret not seeing his family and other friends around the estates after so long. But, then again, he thought that maybe, just maybe they would all be more receptive to him than he'd think.

With that, he left his room and soon appeared outside of the building, with Isabella standing next to the door in wait for him. "Are you all set?" he asked her plainly.

"I am fully prepared, Asumu-sama." she replied readily.

"Very well then." he said in kind, pulling out a Ginto tube from his sleeve and popping it's cap open.

''"In Limbo I tread, over snow white fields of sand. Anchored as its king, forever am I its guide, within these hands I form a bridge, for it is the key, my dawn, my sight." ''he said lowly, reciting the incantation required for his spell. He tossed the tube into the air, and the liquid from within seemed to release and spasm out, stretching into a gate to the Dangai.

"Into the under dark, it feels..." he said quietly to himself, before entering the portal with his follower.

Act 2
Their location wasn't exactly what they had expected, the middle of a forest. From what Asumu could tell, they were several miles from the Godai estates, not a promising start to a journey.

"Isabella," Asumu began, scanning his surroundings. "Make your way towards the estates as quickly as possible. I feel a presence that you wouldn't be able to handle. Go and give them all a heads up of why we're here."

"Yes, m'lord." she replied readily, using Sonido to leave the area for her destination.

Asumu, on the other hand, remained behind, in the forest. There was something...odd, about the atmosphere around him. Almost electric, unsettling. Something was in the woods with him, that, or something very powerful was not far off...

There was a man here, actually. Not any ordinary man though. But it was apparent that he didn't act any different from an ordinary man. He yawned, quite loudly at that, making his presence known by others. "Eh? There's someone here? What a surprise!" He stated, as his instantaneous speed brought him behind the Quincy.

"Oooh. Look what we have here, a Quincy, right?" The man asked him, his eyebrow rose carefully. "Hmmm...you're strong for one of your kind. And from what I can tell, very old as well." He jumped down from the tree, and leaned back on it. "By the way, the name's Kishiro. What's yours?"

Asumu's reaction was almost instant.

He felt a presence before, but it wasn't close enough for him to tell exactly what it was. But now that Kishiro has managed to take him by surprise with just a simple movement, he knew that the risk he was in for now was high. Twirling around, and pulling out a long barreled, blue shaded pistol from his sheathe, he aimed the weapon directly at Kishiro's head, a cold and merciless half lidded gaze in his eyes as he spoke. "You should be worried about more than just my name, Shinigami." he spoke lowly.

"You know, people like you are really, really boring." Kishiro was actually rather casual when dealing with this Quincy. He knew he was strong, old, experienced, quite similar to a Shinigami, really. But, he didn't have too much on Kishiro. "Y'know, Quincy. I'd much rather you refer to me by name then simply by my race. There could be others here as well, for all you know."

Kishiro looked at Asumu right in the eye, and was actually smirking rather mischievously. "Your weapon right there. Oh what do they call it in the Human World again...a gun, right? How fast is it? Because I'm sure that I'll be hit...only if I was here in the first place."

Almost instantaneously, Kishiro's position became dispersed among a number of speed clones, yet they all felt so real that even the most seasoned of warriors would feel intimidated at the sheer numbers that Kishiro possesses. "So," The voices echoed in unison, "If you can find me, I'll gladly do whatever you want." And then the clones each began fading away slightly, "But if you don't...let's see what happens, shall we?"

And then Kishiro's clones began moving around haphazardly, each dancing an intricate routine of movement that only a real master of Hohō could fathom. "Dance my boy!"

Certainly, not a good way to introduce one's self to Asumu.

This wasn't a Shinigami he could respect at this point; it was one that he could loathe without remorse. Not something that was uncommon at this point in time of his age. Though, this "Kishiro's" speed was certainly impressive, enough for him to take caution....

Twirling to face the clone behind him, a single shot was discharged into it's head. No immediate effect was seen, so he'd try again. He began to fire at each clone, not stopping until he would either hit the real one, or the clones would dissipate. Either was acceptable to him.

"Underestimating me with foolishness is a mistake, Shinigami." he said plainly as his pistol projectiles found their way into each of the hallucinated clones heads. Such marksmanship was unheard of by mere human standards, as if the targets he aimed at were already marked for him.

Each clone was dissipating, one by one. And then with a flare of spiritual energy, Kishiro appeared to have entirely blocked the bullet that was aimed towards the real him, the one that was actually surprisingly on the tree right opposite Asumu's position.

"Duuude. Those bullets of yours are awesome! They're made from super-compressed reishi, right? God I love reishi actually." Kishiro commented, and began to babble slightly, "Reishi is just like gas, y'know. Well I think it is anyway. I mean, it takes any form as long as its contained. How cool!?" Kishiro, undoubtedly was annoying this man. For good reason of course, little did he know that with his frantic movements, Kishiro was preparing a number of binding spells, layered one upon the other.

"And I think I'm done?" Kishiro immediately sent out towards Asumu, sent towards both of his hands, as almost instantaneously, smoke appeared surrounding Asumu, clouding his vision and allowing Kishiro to instantaneously prepare his next attack.

"Knowing this guy, close combat is his weakness...well, he's weaker than he is at long-range for sure..." And so, Kishiro began to move to an advantageous position within the large forest, waiting for an opportune moment to strike.

A trick. Of course it was a trick. How foolish of him to think that it wasn't. This Shinigami's reckless nature had to be intentional, goading him like he was some sort of dog. He wouldn't get away with it, that much was certain.

The chains above him were of Kido origin? Simple, effective, but not the proper means to fight Asumu with. They were a binding spell, something to hold him in place so that he would be left open for another strike. This wouldn't bode well for him if he didn't act quickly, but thankfully, he had ways to protect against such trickery.

Thanks to the smoke, Kishiro wouldn't see what would happen next. Asumu raised his arm above him, and his eyes briefly flashed a light blue glow. Between the chains and his arm, the large, spectral hand of one of his most basic techniques appeared. Blocking the chains, the hand managed to keep Asumu from becoming binded, since the chains weren't moving at incredible speeds. With that out of the way, he could focus on Kishiro...

Smoke? How naive. A field of vision is almost pointless for a Quincy, when all he needed to do was feel for nearby signatures, and his target would be found. Once he detected where Kishiro was, all it took was a single movement. Asumu's gun was raised, and a more powerful Reishi bullet was discharged from it's form, aiming right square for Kishiro's chest.

"Tch." Kishiro grunted, as his spiritual energy flared slightly. Taking a number of steps in a single position, Kishiro simply rightwards of his original position, and disappeared into the large forest once again through his speed. As his reiatsu had been displaced into two positions, the reishi bullet followed the closest one, struck a clone which immediately exploded into lightning, causing the bullet and clone to dissipate.

"Having fun hitting bad targets I see?" Kishiro smirked as he appeared on another branch. "You do realize what you're dealing with here, right? I'm probably older than you, Quincy-boy. So how about not being so brash?" Kishiro looked at the Quincy intently, still wondering what exactly he was doing here.