Story

Nothing but Darkness was present, as Takeshi cried alone not knowing what to do now that he was alone. Then from a far he heard a girl scream and so he stopped crying and got up and ran to where he heard the scream. When he got there he saw a hollow hunting this little girl that was just as old as him. He ran to her and told her to run and hide as he took care of it but it was to late the hollow that had been chasing her caught up and slashed Takeshi's back and he fell to his knees half alive and could only see blurs of the girl in front of him he thought that it was the end for him but he wasn't ready to give up and at his brink end he stood back up and caught the hollows claw as it tried to finish him off. Just then Takeshi's eyes glowed blue and he pulled the hollow's claw down into the ground so the mask was close enough to him to punch and as he hit the mask nothing happened for a few seconds but then a strong gust of wind followed the punch and shattered the hollows mask and sent a powerful attack into the air. As Takeshi finished it off he collapsed in front of the girl grabbing her hand and blacked out. He ended up in the soul society waking up to the girl he had just rescued and all he could do was smile for the next couple of days. He was so happy that he had saved her life and that was all the was important to him. To have purpose is something he was looking for and she needed someone to take care of her and so it allowed both of them to pass on to the Soul Society. Takeshi got up a couple days later and he saw the girl sitting outside of his barracks so he walked over and sat next to her and asked if she had a name and she said with a smile "Kasai Hono" he heard that name and it made him feel warm on the inside. He replied back to her "My name is Takeshi Toketsu pleasure to meet you miss Kasai" they spent the entire day and night sitting there asking questions and admiring their power and courage. Then as time went on they grew older and closer but one day Kasai lost herself and let her inner hollow take over her. Takeshi had seen it before his own eyes and as she was about to attack the thing she swore to protect he stepped in by stopping her attack and as he stopped it he told the little boy to run. “Kasai…this isn’t you…what happened to you…” he said as he increased his spiritual pressure and slashed down sending her flying back 40 ft in the air. She flew back at an incredible speed that he did not expect but with a quick shift of his sword he was able to block and counter her attack by slamming her into the ground causing a huge crater in the ground outside of the Soul Society. However as the smoke cleared Takeshi began to notice that Kasai’s spiritual pressure was being covered by another hollow like pressure. He had observed a situation like this before. Takeshi then released his shikai and attempted to bury Kasai in ice, but before he could call upon the power to do so Kasai had impaled Takeshi with her blade and in shock Takeshi froze in mid air as she repeatedly slashed and stabbed at him till he fell to the ground. Takeshi was in a critical condition and couldn’t move. Kasai walked over to him to finish him off, when she lifted her sword to kill Takeshi, He pushed himself up and crushed her mask but the sword Kasai had in her hand had gone through Takeshi’s heart and he nearly died the next couple of minutes but Squad 4 medics came just in time to heal both of them. It seemed like a repeat of their past happening all over again as he saw her sitting outside by herself again. She felt extremely bad but Takeshi just took it in and said “Now that you have taken my heart I will have to protect you at all costs because your heart is mine now…” he said with a smile. From that day forward Kasai and Takeshi never had a problem till now….

Takeshi felt cold and the ground on his back was nothing but shifting sands of Hueco Mundo, "So...that's how it is huh?" he said sighing as he sat up and grabbing his Zanpakuto and staring at it. "These memories haunt me even now Koori..." it has been a very long time since the worlds of the living, dead, and soul society have fallen into a complete and utter chaos as the balance between them has collapsed, you can only imagine the amount of death has befallen the living as even the strongest of the Soul Society couldn't stop the merging of worlds and the overwhelming number of hollows and Arrancar have run rampant amongst all plains of existence. The Quincy still hold a resistance to protect humans the best they can since the near extinction of all of the Shinigami in the academy, a few of the self proclaimed Captains still remain alive but the court guard squad is no more as they were the first to tackle our predicament as it arose but it wasn't enough. There was a massive unpredictable breach in the inner sanctum of the Soul Society. "I remember that incident as clear as day Koori and we need to find Kasai if she is still alive.." Takeshi stood upon the vast lands of Hueco Mundo "This land is as desolate as the first day Kasai and I had arrived here for a forward reconnaissance mission to keep the rapidly evolving hollow population in check...those who reside here are still as vile as ever yet we had underestimated the sheer number of lost souls and the ferocity they can conjure." he said reminiscing of the first conflict that took place during that mission. There was a squad of 10 including himself and Kasai, they were the only 2 Lieutenants given this task with the help of 5 hand selected comrades to support them in trying to find out how and why the hollows were gathering in vast numbers and causing such a rapid evolution in their ranks. Takeshi felt like the teams he and Kasai had put together could take care of any challenge that they would face during this mission, "There were 2 healing specialty Shinigami with them and the other 6 were all vetted to take on our ranks as Kasai and I were up for promotions to fill the loss of the 2 captain chairs in the guard while they also had taken up this mission." he continued to explain to his Zanpakuto as he knew she enjoyed just listening about past memories and all their hard encounters with one another. Takeshi continued to walk through Hueco Mundo in hopes to reach the destroyed remains of the Soul Society at the point of their temporal like collision and the breach that had caused all of this horrible nightmare to begin. "That mission wasn't going to be a walk in the park, Kasai and the other members knew this just as well as I did...if it took and killed 2 of the strongest renowned in the Soul Society those were some very deep shoes to fill but Kasai and I always had hoped to achieve becoming strong enough to reach these positions not only for our own reasons but also to know that we could help protect others when they were too weak or hurt to do so themselves." Takeshi had reached the entrance of the merging realities and stared into the abyss of the void he once called home. "The task given to us was surely a one way trip for many of us but I wasn't going to allow more deaths than necessary and was going to be sure to get the rest of the team out if anything I deemed too dangerous were to occur or so I thought." Takeshi said lamenting over what had taken place on that day. Takeshi and Kasai had decided to split the squad into fives to cover more ground, each leading their own squads . "Don't get yourselves killed this is a recon mission so if you encounter anything that you can't handle retreat immediately and regroup back at the our gate point." Takeshi yelled to Kasai as they departed " Likewise! Try to keep up Takeshi before I leave you calling me Captain at the end of this!" Kasai said with an energized and smug look on her face. "That girl I swear, she picks the worst times to issue challenges like that knowing how competitive I can be..." Takeshi said to himself as they approached an area of interest due to a large amount of spiritual pressure build up. At first Takeshi didn't see anything unusual or out of the ordinary just empty sand dunes, but after a few moments there was a pulse of heavy spiritual pressure that had him and his squad take a knee to the ground then once the energy dissipated out of no where he felt an overwhelming aura from behind him and as he turned around he saw a hollow the size of a Menos Grande but more animalistic looking, the beast had torn 3 members of his squad to shreds in a blink of an eye. "What the hell is that...its not like other hollows I've fought before, could this be an Arrancar or high ranked hollow!?!?" Takeshi said in shock as he then turned his attention to the medic of the squad collapsed on the ground in fear. "I didn't expect more Shinigami to become my meal for the day what a grand surprise, you will all add to my growing power as I, Zeteki Kizura will become the strongest Vasto Lorde in all of Hueco Mundo." he stated in a blood thirsty frenzy as he torn into the fallen Shinigami bodies spraying an oasis of blood onto the medic of the squad as she screamed in absolute horror. "Wait..it spoke? Vasto Lorde? No...this beast is the Monster that had slaughtered the Captains prior, not only that but its power grows from it's consumptions...this is bad I gotta get Asuka out of here before she gets hurt." Takeshi in a flash used his shunpo towards Asuka to grab her to take her back to the gate however mid way Zeteki intercepted him with a sonido which matched or even exceeded Takeshi's flash step and punched Takeshi into nearby pillars. "Damn he's fast!" Takeshi spouted out as he tried to stand back up coughing up blood. Takeshi looked up to Zeteki turning his attention to Asuka who was still on the ground collapsed from terror. "No...I will not allow you to take any more souls today Zeteki..." Takeshi unsheathed his Zanpakuto pointing it in the Vasto Lorde's direction "Koori time to get to work" Takeshi's blade began glowing into a blueish white aura and a huge energy spike launched itself from his blade intercepting Zeteki's clawed arm as he was going to tear Asuka to shreds. Without any hesitation Takeshi flash stepped into the now reeling Zeteki and swung his blade down onto him. "Puny Shinigami you think you stand a chance against me? You are foolish if you think you could ever scratch me..." just as Zeteki had said this Takeshi had released his Shikai changing his singular blade into twin blades that burst with an overwhelming icy aura. The blades cut clean through Zeteki's arms as he blocked the slash attack and stepped back holding the stump of an arm that had been frosted over. "What are you? you seem to be stronger than the other Shinigami this must mean you another delicious what they call Captain? You must be upset that I killed your fellow Shinigami friends, entertain me for awhile will you??" Zeteki said as he transformed his injured stump of an arm into a new arm with serrated blades with his instant regeneration and barreled forward at Takeshi nearly striking him with a vital blow. Takeshi had at the last second dodged the attack but not unscathed the blades on Zeteki's arm had cut his shoulder as he initiated his flash step. "Still faster than me even in this form...what the hell is going on with this guy, not only that he used instant regeneration on a wound that should've been nearly impossible to heal after receiving a icy cut from Koori. How am I gunna beat this thing..." Takeshi thought in his head as he clutched his shoulder and rubbed at the pain. "Very well, try this on for size...Hadou 73: Twin Lotus Blue Fire, Crash Down...Soren Sokatsui!" Takeshi chanted as he held his palms toward Zeteki, multiple blue flame like energy blast had shot from Takeshi's hands and enveloped Zeteki in a matter of seconds in blue hellfire. Zeteki took the blast head on without flinching and the blast had blown Asuka off her feet and into a nearby structure knocking her out. "Fool, you think such an attack could hurt me after seeing my instant regeneration?" Zeteki stomped slowly through the flames of the attack with not a scratch on him, however this time as he reappeared the Monster like Vasto Lorde had increased in size to stand as tall as a two story building and his body seemed to have been reinforced with a new plated armor. Zeteki laughed and pointed his bladed shoulders at Takeshi "Cero Oscuras..." he bellowed as 2 black charges of high intensity cero were shot at Takeshi. Takeshi tried to dodge the attack but he was still caught in the blast radius of the cero and was immediately thrown into near by buildings. Alive but barely able to get back to his feet Takeshi used both of his blades to aid him in standing by stabbing the ground. While heavily breathing he looked up at where Zeteki was formerly and saw that he had vanished and appeared behind him readying a final blow to the back. "I didn't want to use this but seems you leave me no choice..." Takeshi spat as he grabbed both of his blade and swung to counter Zeteki's strike. "BANKAI...Koori Tenshi!" he yelled on impact. The impact of the colliding attacks had created a massive shockwave that shook the very foundations of Hueco Mundo and in that flash of a moment Takeshi's outfit had changed to a pure white and his blades formed of sheer cold ice. Wings of ice had formed on his back and his arms were now covered in ice binding himself to his blades. Zeteki in the moment of impact lost both of his arms from the over head attack he had tried to perform to end Takeshi's life and this time he was not able to regenerate his arms due to the sheer cold blades touch of malice which prevented any healing effects to areas cut temporarily. "Burns doesn't it? Ice so cold that you can't instant regenerate anymore..." Takeshi stated looking down on Zeteki now floating in the sky over looking the new mangled and armless monster. "Interesting show me more!" Zeteki said menacingly as he opened his mouth and fired another Cero Oscuras at Takeshi. In that moment Takeshi pointed and rotated one of his blades at the attack and split the cero in half. "The same attacks won't work on me more than once you will have to try harder than that if you want to even think about walking away from this especially after taking the lives of some of the closest friend's I've had during my time as a Shinigami." As the smoke from the attack clears Zeteki is no where to be found, on instinct Takeshi turned to look behind him just to have his gaze met with bladed arms charging towards him too fast to block or dodge. Takeshi was bolted down to the ground in an instant. "Guess he can read minds now?" Takeshi spat as he recovered from the attack. "Quite cocky for someone who seems to be on the losing end of this encounter don't you think?" Zeteki sneered, looking down on Takeshi, now dawning a Wyvern like body with bladed wings of black hardened steel and scales on his body to match. "Yeah I get that a lot, I'm quite egotistical when I know I have an advantage...something I gotta work on" Takeshi responded as he cracked his neck and inhaled sharply. "I've got places to be so if you don't mind lets wrap this up now..." Takeshi body began glowing in a golden aura as orbs of light formed into spears along side him "Hadou 91 Senju Koten Taiho" on command 12 spears of light shot towards Zeteki at lightning speeds creating a massive explosion upon reaching their target. Zeteki roared in pain from the immense explosion of energy but quickly recovering and making a counter attack by swooping down towards Takeshi like a meteor with his wings outstretched fixed on cutting through his target. "What a pain..." Takeshi raised his blade and arm in front of his face summoning his hollowfication mask "This is the end of the line for you Zeteki..." Takeshi pooled energy into his bladed arms and jumped towards Zeteki to meet him mid-air, causing the ground beneath him to crack in a shockwave . The energy in his blades began to mix from a white to a grey aura as the two collided in a massive impact. Both fighters had landed on the opposite sides of their starting locations with Takeshi in the air and Zeteki on the ground. Takeshi proceeded to remove his mask. "What kind of monster are you? That mask...no Shinigami should have that kind of power..." Zeteki said as he collapsed to the ground missing majority of his body leaving nothing left of his right half. As Takeshi touched back down to the ground near Zeteki he released his Bankai and sheathed his Zanpaktou. "I admit any normal Shinigami would've surely died by your immense power, however I am not like the others and there are only two known Shinigami capable of this ability, at least to my knowledge even the soul society isn't aware of this because she and I keep it from them." Takeshi then walks towards the building which Asuka had been knocked into and carried her unconscious body back to the gate and laying her down on the ground, "Thank god you weren't awake to witness any of that fight Asuka otherwise things would've become quite complicated for me..." he said as he looked on as she rested. Takeshi then collapsed on to the ground and felt his vision blurring and consciousness fading as he had lost a lot of blood and didn't fully heal from his injuries during the fight. What felt like an endless amount of time later Kasai had regrouped back at the gate after sustaining losses to their own squad as well and was shocked to find Takeshi on the ground bleeding out next to an unconscious Asuka and immediately ordered her medical specialist to tend to his injuries as she tried to wake Asuka to find out what happened and where the rest of the squad is though she had a feeling that she already knew the answer seeing the shape Takeshi's body was in. "Asuka! wake up!" she said as she lighting shook her awake. "NOOOO! Stay away from me you monster!" Asuka was frantic and crazed as if she had just woken from a nightmare that she never thought was possible to escape from. "It's me Asuka, relax it's Lieutenant Kasai, I need you to tell me what's going on and where the rest of your squad members are as well as why Lieutenant Takeshi is wounded this bad." she said as she held down Asuka trying to stop her from hitting or attacking anyone around her. "There was a monster that attacked us...not a hollow, I've never seen anything like it before it moved way to fast and killed almost the entire squad in an instant then Lieutenant Takeshi tried to fight it and just swatted him away like he was a fly and the last thing I could remember is it speaking and stating that it's name was Zeteki Kizura and that it was the strongest Vasto Lorde in all of Hueco Mundo but nothing after that, I'm sorry...I let the squad down there wasn't anything I could do they were cleaved in half in a matter of seconds and I was too scared to move..." Asuka solemnly recalled and explained. Upon hearing the report Kasai look over her shoulder at Takeshi and immediately understood how Takeshi fought off and survived the onslaught of a Vasto Lorde class hollow. She has heard of Vasto Lorde in terminology but never encountered one before but knew that even a Captain would struggle against one or even lose to one. "That knucklehead just doesn't know when to quit!" Kasai said punching the ground she was sitting on with her head down. "Alright for now lets move everyone back into the Garganta and get everyone that left back home to the Seireitei!" Kasai commanded the remaining squad members for their retreat. Some days passed and the remaining 5 of the original 10 members of the recon squad had returned to the Seireitei and were now all with the 4th Division being healed and looked after. "Aww man how long was I out? How am I back at the Seireitei? Where is Asuka and Kasai's squad?" these were all questions Takeshi had asked himself after waking from a mini coma as he looked around rubbing his aching body and shoulders. He got dressed and walked out of the room trying to find answers to his questions and spotted Asuka outside the room sitting alone seemingly waiting for something. "Good morning Asuka you doing ok? Did you recover fine?" he said as he approached the lone figure. Asuka jumped being frightened by hearing his voice. "Lieutenant Takeshi! I'm so happy you woke up! I was worried we didn't get you to the 4th Division fast enough from our mission!" she said with a joyous cry and gave Takeshi a big hug. "Well of course I'm fin....uhh Asuka you okay?" he asked receiving her embrace. "I'm sorry I froze up when we were attacked and you got hurt trying to protect me..." she cried as she squeezed a bit tighter. "Hey now don't be too hard on yourself, I'm not gunna lie that thing took me off guard too so the lives lost are just as much my responsibility as it was yours, I understand you must feel guilt and frustration in your heart but we did what anyone would have in that situation, remember it was supposed to be a recon mission nothing more but it turns out that monster that intercepted us was the one that had killed the 2 Captains before us as well." Takeshi tried to comfort Asuka and her regret. "I know but I couldn't do anything I was too scared and at the end of it I had nothing to show for it only that I had what little information I could remember to give to Lieutenant Kasai when she woke me up at the gate point that in which I assume you carried me back to. But you had the courage to stand against such a monster to protect and keep me alive and weren't unscathed for doing so!" she cried out in self disappointment. Takeshi patted her head and understood what she was trying to get across. "Well thing is you did advise Kasai as to what had taken place otherwise she and her squad would've gone looking for the rest of our squad needlessly and suffered more casualties than we already did, so in my book you did well and what you could for the situation. It wasn't at all an easy fight but I couldn't lose anymore people that I called my friends so I did what I had too I'm just glad you made it back ok. Just don't be too hard on yourself ok? There wasn't much else you could've done at that moment and nothing we do now changes the fact of what happened but we can focus ourselves to become stronger so we can stand to protect others that can't protect themselves you know?" he again tried to comfort her and her regret and guilt. "I get that I do but it's hard to accept that we lost so many on a basic recon mission...Lieutenant Kasai lost 2 members as well from their squad in an encounter with a massive gathering of hollows and had to retreat to the gate point we set, the surviving squad members returned with injuries that didn't keep them out of commission for too long but the mental scars left from their fallen squad members was a big toll on them. Somehow you woke up after being in a coma for 5 days stable but in deep rest, Lieutenant Kasai and I had delivered a debrief for the higher up Captains as to what happened. Oh that reminds me what happened after I blacked out? Between you and the Vasto Lorde? Were you able to just get us away or did you somehow kill it?" she asked with curiosity written all over her face. Takeshi took a second to ponder on how to explain what happened during the time she was unconscious he needed to be careful to not expose the actual truth. "That Vasto Lorde was a tough customer no doubt about it but I did manage to kill him but not without my Bankai, was Kasai hurt at all?" he asked trying skew the answer with a question of his own. "No she didn't suffer any major injuries since they only committed to a fight when they needed too but even then she was upset that she lost a couple members of her squad, but hold on we aren't gunna just speed passed that like you didn't just say it, You already achieved Bankai?" she responded in awe. "Yeah not many people know that yet so keep it a secret for me for now at least til I become a Captain okay? I wanna keep it as my secret trump card for when I really need to use it. I'm also glad Kasai was able to manage without getting hurt badly I got a lot to learn from that woman I tell ya." he said with smile plastered on his face. "Oh I see alrighty, however since you are up now the higher ups need you to report in on the incident that took place as well as disclosing the whereabouts of said monster we encountered since you were the only one to fight it so I would hurry and go see them!" she said with urgency in her voice. "Thanks I'll get on that now then thanks for filling me in on what I needed to know since I've been out cold!" Takeshi started to walk towards the main tower but Asuka tugged on his sleeve. "Lieutenant...uhh... Thank you for saving my life back in Hueco Mundo I swear next time things will be different I'll get stronger just you wait!" she said with conviction. "Don't mention it! I'd do it all again if I had too and that's the spirit I believe in you Asuka!" Takeshi said as he waved good bye to Asuka and continued to go and give his report.