Lancing Pains [Pri/Die]

Gage was spent, his body aching all over, his back bruised and cut from the impact with a wall. He felt as if he had been hit by a train and lobbed into the air where a second train then struck him again. His day was not supposed to be like this, the appointment that he had set up with his dentist for that afternoon being a non option. There were a thousand other ways that this day should and could have gone but here he was, hole in his belly and blood soaking into his blue jeans and white button up shirt. Behind him a long spattering trail of blood marks his path, leaving him with what might as well be a neon sign to hollows that he is ripe for the picking.

His vision swims, his fatigue fading into darkness as he falls forward, one hand sliding down the wall beside him leaving a streak of blood in the shape of a hand. Hitting the ground with his knees he turns his head sideways, the temple of his skull bouncing off a curb and instantly knocking the lights out of his vision. He was done, the blood loss leaving him too weak to keep walking and the lack of energy making him too tired now to even call for help.

"Mm, a Soul reaper blindly healing a Human. Touching...and you know what Rhyme's with touching Satoshi? Disgusting."

Satoshi had seen many accounts of Soul reapers attending to practically every Human's desires. Protecting them selflessly, helping them without a whim, but now he had gotten a first-hand look at something he couldn't quite grasp. His lungs fulled up with a slow nose inhalation, allowing his nostrils to be filled with the smell of iron and blood. He enjoyed every single drop of it being spilled on the battlefield, as it was the color of paint for the truly marvelous individuals. It signalled strength, that someone, somewhere, had created a beautiful story for someone to write. However, this was not a story worth telling. Perhaps the prologue to it, but the moment at which he had seen blood was not worthy of memory.


He was also quite confused as to why a Shinigami was going to help a random human, not knowing if he himself was the attacker of a hostile situation, and he could have lost the confrontation. From his crouched position atop his temporary eagles nest on the Hospital, he had shifted his weight from bent legs, to one foot and leg touching the slope of the angle where the top and the side met. He had moved his hands that were previously sitting on his knees to between them. He hadn't gotten a close enough view of this situation, however, he hardly wanted to be spotted. With that thought in mind, The Shinigami had seen his desire clearly, and decided to form them into action. He prepared his voice with the slightest intake of air.

"Bakudo number 26....Kyokko"

Without hesitation, his right arm raised, his fingers spread out in what would represent a claw, and he swiped downward infront of him. Five lines of bent light trailed behind his fingers for only the briefest of instants, and by the time his hand reached the bottom of his torso, The Shinigami, and all of the items he had on him, vanished from sight. Contrary to one's belief, he had not actually disappeared. He had simply used his Reiatsu, combined with the focused use of a Bakudo, to quite literally curve the very fabric of light around him in a manor that would allow him to become unavailable to sight, and unseen even by most Reiatsu sensing capabilities.


There was a drawback, however. He could not perform any other technique or combat move without his focus breaking, and the bakudo unleashing. With this in mind, the foot that Satoshi had previously planted on the edge was now being used as his preverbial launch-pad. With a clench of his calf, and the cocking of his entire body, he stepped off the building while simultaneously pushing with his left foot. This movement allowed him to dash forward in a downward angle no less then 20 feet away from the two individuals. As he began quickly soaring toward the concrete of the human world, he allowed both of his arms to trail behind him, with his fingers outspread attempting to grasp the air particles to slow his descent, to his success.


Fifty, fourty, thirty, twenty, ten, landed. Satoshi got closer and closer, yet dove slower and slower, until he turned it into a roll in mid-air, as to allow his feet to hit the ground as softly as possible. Satoshi curved his body to the left to allow the momentum to work against his body, so he could stop as quickly as possible. With his goal now completed, he was about 14 feet away from the two individuals. The only thing that could indicate his presence is extreme sensory capabilities, or the noticing of his landing sound. The former is unlikely, and the latter would probably be dismissed. Out of sight, out of mind as they say.

Curious, he thought. The white haired man's yellow eyed sight shifted to the scene in front of him, seeing the fatally wounded body, and the worried Shinigami standing above it doing her best to heal it. He tried his best to hold in a laugh.

One can only appreciate the state the human was in up close. There is a growing pool of blood on the pavement inching slowly towards staining Katsumi's sandals. To say his wound is severe would be an understatement. All she can see is a very clear and gruesome exit wound on his lower torso. It is surprising to Kat that any human even made it this long. There is something undoubtedly odd about this human. He had spiritual powers for one thing. His energies were massive. Even in his near death state, Katsumi can detect power very far beyond her own. Perhaps, she thought, his spiritual power is the answer. It may be the only thing still keeping him gripping to life. Kat did not think much of his chances had she not come along. Only a spiritual healer can save him now. What a happy coincidence.

"Take it easy. Do not strain yourself. Your Reiryoku is about the only thing keeping you conscious right now. I don't know what happened to you but you're safe now. Do not be afraid, tomorrow this will all be like a bad dream." She again tried to comfort him, perhaps try and bait a response to keep him awake.

The wound began slowly closing, as Kat forces more energy into her healing abilities. Kat had found throughout the years that healing individuals with high Reiatsu was somehow more difficult. Like their own raw strength resisted her own even though her influence was harmless, or even helpful. She has the same feeling here. Katsumi has healed Captains and Lieutenants before. The resistance coming from his human was a strength like theirs. A human? Could he really be that powerful? Kat was even more curious now. There are many tales about cats and curiosity.

The voice above him is soft, warming and welcoming to the ear but at the same time it put Gage on edge. He could not place who it was that was talking, caught halfway between consciousness and the blinding oblivion that is death. It was a woman, the voice young but at the same time there was a prickling sensation in the air, one of the sweet washing Reiatsu that normally radiated from a shinigami but that made no sense, why would a Human doctor be a shinigami? The black fuzz of blood loss fades along with its oh so sweet numbness, leaving Gage in a maelstrom of pain. His abdomen felt, quite appropriately, like it exploded. The pain on his muscle wall was similar to having someone reach in and rip it open with their bare hands but on the plus side though he was getting clearer in his head.

Looking up above him he finds her, a younger shinigami looming over him with her hands outstretched as she uses one of their many spells to heal him, the spreading energy slowly stitching him together as he lays in a pool of his own blood. The warmth of his own fluids quickly fades as the icy chill of the street catches up. Nearby another Shinigami stands, hovering in silence above them only to throw in some chide remarks about how if he were to wake up he could very well kill them both.

“Well as reasonable as it sounds to start a man war with a supernatural army of magic sword wielding soldier I tend to lean farther towards getting some food and talking out my opinions,” Pulling himself as best that he could to lean against a wall Gage props himself up and looks at the two of them, the old designs on the uniforms being less than modern. “So tell me. When is the Gotie going to get new uniforms? I get the whole tradition thing but you don’t think that those are a bit out of date?” Gage sucks some air in between his teeth as the use of his stomach for speech is more painful than he expected. Shaking his hand he tries to fling of some clinging blood as the cold weather is starting to make it frost to his skin.

Hm? Satoshi looked at the clothes he was wearing with his arms crossed, and sort of eyeballed from his feet to his chest. He was wearing a trench-coat sort of apparel that he hadn't seen any other Shinigami wearing, and even his uniform as a Shinigami was a bit unorthodox, as his sleeves were cut off and his chest was a bit more bared a typical Kimono style Soul reaper outfit. He smirked and chuckled a bit at the comment. The Shinigami healing the above-average human seemed a tad bit oblivious to the entire ordeal about the underlying powers that individuals such as bounts and Fullbringers had. It made him think that anything outside the Soul society would most likely be news to her, which indicated a more work related status of life. She was the kind of type that genuinely liked to help the world through the Soul Society as a means. He had no room to judge, since this was a good morality to have about the different worlds. However, he did dislike certain peopel oblivious to the real dangers in the world because of this, unaware that a lot more things then just Hollow's can kill you a lot faster then them as well.

"Heh, well I can't say I have much of a taste for human apparel, but what I can say is that I look damn good with this trench-coat. Comes with a certain flourish" Satoshi's face indicated he seemed to enjoy replying to the humorous comment.

"Anywho, Fullbringers are a very interesting class of Human's that have distinct powers that tend to lean toward more of the Hollow side of things. I myself have not done much research on them, but I'm sure he himself would be more obliged to share with you the particulars once you've healed the man that could kill us both instantly. But besides that, you should be a lot more concerned with what had the actual power to be able to hurt him to such a degree. Though I wouldn't be surprised if something basic in the human world could do this to you, as you do seem to have...fragile bodies."

His face tilted toward the alley he dragged himself down to see if he could see anything lurking in the shadows, but much to his unsurprise, he couldn't see anything or sense anything with a particularly big power-source besides the other Shinigami and Hollow's the lurked around the city. Satoshi knelt down and simultaneously pushed his cloak upward into the air out of his way of crouching with a dramatic flail, and rested his arms on knees. As he was now on eye level with both the girl and the Human, he looked at both of them back and forth twice, and then kept his eyes on the Human.

"Satoshi Yamada, Soul Reaper. May I have the honor of knowing such an extreme Human?"

Katsumi can not help but smirk silently as the Human took a minor shot at the other shinigami’s coat. The big gown of a thing looks almost like something out of her own time. It made little sense for a shinigami to wear such a coat, long and flapping cloaks and coats only get in the way in a fight or serve as leverage. Of course Katsumi knows little about fighting, so who is she to judge any? Not at all, it seemed, when they mentioned the hollow Katsumi felt just a tad concerned. The possibility of the hollow attacking had not occurred to her. But if it was dead or close to it, as the human said, then she found it highly unlikely it would try two Soul Reapers on for size.

Katsumi had finished healing him, for the most part, when Gage stood up. She was somewhat surprised to see him standing and using his Reiryoku so quickly. Though she had patched up his wound which left a sizeable scar, she had not progressed yet to the restoring of Reiryoku or other steps like replenishing blood levels. Another testament to this Human’s absurd strength, Kat thought. He looked a little pale still, perhaps a bit shaky, but he was another success story for Kat. One of many.

Kat stood with him to ensure he didn't fall over or something. It is unlikely he is all there. Kat did not finish healing him fully. And perhaps she is right, for his next statement confused the young doctor greatly.

“Excuse me, what exactly do you have of ours?” Asked Kat with her confusion present in her tone. She found this very odd. Kat was not about to follow a captain-class human home sight unseen. However, she could not deny Her curiosity. “Can't just follow you into your den. Far too many unknowns. Forgive my caution, but that's a whole level of risk above simply healing you.” She hoped not to cause offense, but she felt Karakura was dangerous enough without putting herself at such a disadvantage.

Gage could not help but notice the small jab at the males outfit made the young female smile ever so slightly. “Your right, it isn’t safe. But what I have you really can’t be turning down. As for getting you there unharmed. I make you no promises. We are going to my house, not den, and I am in no shape for any kind of fighting. I doubt that I could ‘step’ there if I wanted to, way to dizzy to do anything so exhausting. In reality you are probably going to be acting as my escorts, with the way I am feeling.” Gage lived alone, his ‘den’ the product of a single man’s life spent far too focused on the task at hand.

“Please, If you will follow me I will tell you more on the way,” Gage would answer any questions helpfully as he can to get the mood from defensive and aggressive to a more, ‘this is who I am, please calm down’ setting. However he still does not specifically mention what it is that he has to pass off. He worried that if he told them what it was now then there was a chance that they would just bolt and come back with a small army. “As for why I haven’t given them back? Well, you’re not the only one that wants to make sure he is safe before they makes any rash decisions.”

The walk back to his house is only fifteen minutes by foot even if it would have only been a moment’s time if they were able to flash step. Assuming that they follow him he chats happily and nonchalantly about everything that has been going on in the area. Telling of the higher Hollow activity and now they now for the most part steer away from his house. Probably hollow rumors going around that anyone that strays into his streets don’t make it too far. He also speaks a little about some material gather he performed in the Soul Societies outer districts where he found the most amazing ruby, albeit extremely deep underground via Soul Communication. On the side as they walk Gage keeps one hand on his stomach with a yellow glow slightly pulsing with Reiatsu. He was healing himself ever so slowly but with fifteen minutes he should be at least able to get his blood levels back to where his fingers and toes are no longer tingly, his head still slightly woozy.

The only thing that came out of his mouth was a rather maniacal laugh at the comment the other Shinigami made, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets as she made it. She contradicted her words and switched them up in order to deaden the blatant grey area that she stepped into when saying she didn't want to follow him home, but was ironically well established on doing so as soon as Satoshi made his comment. As much as she seemed like she was trying to ignore him, his words clearly had an impact on her decision making. Which he found a big witty and humorous.

"Yes yes, of course. What do I know, eh? Not like you said you couldn't follow him, and then switched up your wording to say it's necessary as a medic. I must be hearing things" He said, and tapped his ear drums with his knuckles after pulling his hand out of his pocket to do so. He slipped it back in. Rather straightforward indeed, after making list of three other priorities. What did confuse him is why she would ask if he had anything else to criticize, especially since he didn't actually mention anything that he had no idea about. But that was neither here nor there.

"I was speaking completely in-line, miss. I just have a pet-peeve for people who like to change their entire perspective of things because of my own criticism. Such as you changing your mind from a dangerous follow adventure to a necessary attachment due to medical purposes, just makes it seem a bit..you know..off" He nodded his head in agreement with his words after she spoke.

While she had every right to be annoyed, she was clearly in the wrong in terms of her wording, and he had nothing to worry about as far as that went. He shook his head when they began to walk off. As of that point, if she was attacked, her potential of mortality was slightly higher with the Fullbringer. As much as he had commented about her little switch-a-roo personality, he didn't directly want her to die. She could be potentially useful in the future.

He began trailing behind them about 10 meters, watching his and their backs. But not necessarily for their sakes...