The Darkness In Our Hearts (TDiOH Bk1)

Chapter 29: My Lesson Three with Mr Hat-n-Clogs

I woke to the morning sun beating on my face. Dew coated my body like a second skin and as I stood, it ran off my limbs. My eyes were puffing from crying and I pressed my palms to them, hoping they weren't too red.

Feeling deflated, I stumbled back to Urahara's shop in my dirt stained clothes. As soon as I arrived, my body seemed to go into autodrive and sent me straight to my room to fetch clothes. With a bundle of fresh smelling fabric, my feet took me the short distance to the shower where I scrubbed dirt, grass and dried flecks of blood from my body and hair.

Water dripped off the end of my hair as I leaned against the tiled wall, watching the last of the soapy water disappear down the drain with a sucking sound. The knobs of water squeaked as I twisted them and stepped out onto the fluffy mat. As I was towelling down, someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, dummy."

"Go away, Jinta. I'm not in the mood," I grumbled back, pulling on clothes.

"Kisuke wants ya' down underground. Now."

"Why do I have to go back down?" But my question fell on deaf ears because when I looked outside the door, Jinta had disappeared.

Sighing, I combed my fingers through my wet hair and tied it up as I walked towards the underground's entrance. Was Ichigo already finished his training? I couldn't hear anything from down below.

Fingers and toes curled around the ladder rungs, I descended quickly, first into darkness then into the artificial light of the room. Below me was Kisuke. How could I tell? The hat. It was always the hat.

As I got closer and was able to see Kisuke's face, I shouted, "Okay, so what exactly am I doing today?"

He waited to reply until my feet were planted on the ground. I dusted myself off as he spoke. "Well, we are going to see if we can get your zanpakuto back," he said, the tip of his finger pushing the brim of his hat up. It still had a large slice through it from Ichigo's attack. "But it's going to be hard."

"No way, you really discovered a way?" I asked, taken aback. Wasn't it only yesterday that he said I wasn't a soul reaper?

"Yes," he said slowly, "however, you might not fully agree to my techniques."

"I'm still here, aren't I, after all the shenanigans you've pulled these past few days," I scoffed as a reply, folding my arms over my chest. No matter my thoughts on his teaching methods, for some stupid reason they worked really well – even if we walked between life and death to learn the lesson.

His face broke into that typical smile as he brought his cane up to my forehead. "I hope you're prepared Kera."

"Please don't tell me this is another one of your 'this is the fight of your life' speeches or teachings," I sighed, my voice slightly distorted as my soul split from my gigai.

I grabbed the gigai around the torso as it slumped, lifeless. Me, I never felt more alive. It seemed that Kisuke's magic had worked; my powers were at full capacity. Well, ignoring the iron collar and the Hollow hole, I could almost imagine I was back to normal.

Then I felt her shift, just below the surface. The blue dragon. Goosebumps rose on my arms and I quelled the unease in me. No, not unease.

Fear.

I squashed it before she could take advantage of my weakness.

Don't think I didn't notice, she hissed angrily. I'll have my revenge for what you did to me yesterday, you understand? I will not let you get in my way.

Ignoring her, I dragged my gigai into the shade of a large rock. "So, how do I get my zanpakuto back?"

"I'll get straight to the point. Ichigo summoned his own zanpakuto by discovering his weapon's true name and finding it's spirit. In a way, the Hollow inside of you could work in the same manner."

"So you're saying she's my zanpakuto spirit?"

"No. She's a Hollow, through and through, a powerful one at that. But because she resides within you, you can use her powers to your advantage," Urahara explained. "She does carry a nice sword."

"But that's not a zanpakuto, Kisuke," I argued stubbornly. "How will I be able to enter the soul society again with a sword that's made of Hollow bone?"

"Kera, you have to understand," Kisuke said seriously, "that your life with the soul society is no more. You will never be a normal soul reaper again."

His words hit home, piercing me. I flinched away from him, looking at the ground so he couldn't see the tears forming.

God, you are pathetic. I should have just smothered your soul the first day I met you.

Angered, I glared at Kisuke. "How do I use her?"

What, you can't be serious? I'm a Hollow, little soul reaper. No one, especially someone like you, can control me!

"Just watch me," I snarled to her, realising afterwards that I had said it out loud.

"Well then," Kisuke smirked, pulling the brim of his hat down. Only then did I notice that he held a clenched fist to the sky. "Your first lesson is to control the Hollow within you. If you cannot do that, then you will die." I squared my shoulders. "Kera, take off the collar."

With shaking fingers, I unlocked the collar and it fell to the ground with a thump. Almost immediately, my spiritual pressure rose and the anger I felt towards the blue dragon swelled and pulsed into something new, something that was directed at nothing and everything all at the same time. A new sense of wrath.

My neck twitched and I clenched my jaw to keep my spiritual pressure in check, breathing deeply. She was just there, so close that if I closed my eyes, I just knew she'd assault me.

Would I be strong enough to control her?

"Okay, Tessai!" Kisuke suddenly shouted and I jumped. BANG! My eyes darted up to the ceiling, where the hatch had been closed. "Look at me, Kera."

I glanced back at him, just as he opened his fist. A coin fell from his hand.

But no, the coin had split into two halves. And it was then that it dawned on me just what Kisuke had planned for me.

I hadn't seen candy like that since my soul reaper academy days. The two halves made no sound as they hit the ground, but something did. Something that growled and howled as it split opened the sky above me, sliding a white clawed hand through to grasp the edge. I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. 

"Seriously, Kisuke? You're going to make me verse a Hollow to learn to control my own Hollow?" My gaze darted around. "Kisuke?" No sign of the man. "What, no pointers for this? I don't even know what I'm doing!" I shouted into thin air.

The Hollow roared again and flopped out of the crack in the sky, landing with an earth- shuddering thud. A wave of dust reached me and I covered my mouth, breathing through the sleeve of my soul reaper uniform. How the hell had Kisuke gotten out of here that fast? And of all the things to battle, he gave me a Hollow?!

A huff and the dust disappeared, the Hollow peering down at me. My eyes widened; how had it most so fast? It had to be at least five metres in height, hardly fast moving material. Then I saw it's four legs. Dog- like in shape, but the front legs were clawed and slightly shorter than the supportive back legs.

It reared up onto two legs and titled it's fat, bulbous head to the side. It's eyes took up most of the space on it's face, a thick purple tongue darted from between the thin lips of the mask. This one too had a snout, like the last Hollow I faced in the world of the Living, but luckily no giant tail or weird ears. A small part of me was very glad about that.

The other part of me, however, a larger portion of both my brain and my heart were very afraid. The last time I had fought a Hollow of this calibre was with Ikkaku by my side and a zanpakuto fully functional with Shikai and Bankai if the need arose.

Now I had nothing but my fists.