Bleach: The Hunter c2

The blonde girl scrambled to drink the water provided to her. She finished the whole jar in a single go.

“Oohh. That hit the spot!” The girl exclaimed as she lowered the water container.

She then looked at the man before her. He was dressed in full leather, with a sword on his hip.

“...Are you a soul reaper, mister?” She asked curiously.

“No. More importantly, what are you doing here in the middle of nowhere?” He asked her instead.

“...I was…trying to look for food. In my town, no one eats anything.” She said while looking down.

“...So, in other words, you have nowhere else to go.” He concluded. To his words, the girl slowly nodded.

This was where he sighed—pondering what to do.

“...Fine. You can go with me, but I do warn you, if you annoy me, I will leave you behind. My patience has limits.”

He offered her his hand, and the girl took it. He pulled her up. 

“...Where are we going?” She asked him.

“To my log house.” He motioned for her to follow him.

“...Oh…okay… by the way… my name is Rangiku. What is your name?” She curiously asked him.

“...”

“I don’t have a name,” the guy replied.

“How come? Everyone has a name.” She frowned while looking at him.

“When I died, I forgot my name. So when I awakened here, I had no name, never bothered with one.” He explained to her.

“Hmm… in that case… let’s go with Ray!”

“...Why, Ray?” He asked, a bit confused. 

“...Because that’s how I meet you. It was bright sunshine, and you were there to save me.”

He looked strange for a second as he fiddled with his zanpakuto.

She didn’t know it, but his sword’s name, in its literal translation, is ‘Night’s Shadow’ or ‘Shadow of the Night’...

And yet she wants to call him rays of sunlight.

“...what do you think?” Her eyes were sparkling while she looked at him.

“...Fine… It’s better than having no name.” In the end, he shrugged and accepted the name.

“Great!” 

The pair continued to walk back to his log house. It will take a considerable amount of time.

Midway, Rangiku began to complain, food…legs hurt and all that.

Ray sighed as he picked her up and gave more of his smoked venison.

‘Small kids…damn them all…’

He complained to himself as he continued to walk.

Eventually, a couple of days later, he was back in his log house.

The girl scrambled to see the house while Ray went to get more food. Turns out that the girl likes to eat.

~~~

It was a bit different with another mouth in his place. For one… he needs to talk more, as this girl likes to talk.

But Ray was not someone who allowed her to eat for free. He quickly enlisted her and began to teach her survival tricks and even how to harness her powers.

“...How does this work…” She was confused, as she was holding a small bone knife and was trying to cut a piece of wood.

“Channel your energy from your gut to your hand, and then release it through the knife.” 

He showed it to her. A simple tap from him, and the piece of wood was cut in half.

“...Oh…”

“Yes, use your imagination. Image water or wind flowing from here to here.” He tapped his gut and motioned with his hand.

“This will allow you to increase your control over your spirit energy.”

The girl frowned as she tried several times until by accident she blasted a piece of.

Ray’s eyebrow went up when he saw her do that.

‘She has a considerable amount of power.’ He used his senses on her and found that she had a large amount of untapped energy.

‘Is this what they call naturally talented ones?’

It took him months to do what this girl didn’t on the first day of training.

“Not bad, you did it by accident. Now do it with your intent.”

He brought another piece and motioned for her to try again.

Once more, she struggled, but eventually she did it a bit later.

“That’s it. You got it. Now, we will switch to your other hand.”

“...” Rangiku looked at him.

“...Can…we rest a bit?” She asked.

“...Sure. Though remember that your meal depends on your skill. After all, we will need to remove the leather from the deer. If you can’t do it, then it will take a while to prepare the meat.” 

At that moment, her eyes perked up as she immediately continued to train. 

Ray smirked as a meal is always a good drive.

As she was training, he went to find the said dear. He no longer needed bows or even stealth. He easily moved in before the deer could react, his Zanpakuto sliced the neck of the animal, killing it… instantly.

Once got the animal, he brought it back to the camp, where he began the process of removing the guts, the leather, and eventually the bones.

Soon enough, he began to prepare the meat. Some of it they will eat now, but there is a large chunk that will be smoked so that it won’t spoil.

“...You said that… that I will need to skin it!” The girl puffed when she saw that he had already done it!

“Not this one, clearly.” He joked.

“Or you really want to do it?” He showed her bloody hands, which he pulled back, grimacing.

“See. For now, enjoy your training because I will take you on my hunting trips.”

He smirked while saying that. Rangiku gulped nerviously.

~~~

As time went on, the blonde girl adjusted to life in the log house. Ray built an extension, a terrace, which had a table and chairs that he made.

By this point, Rangiku no longer complains, as he ‘broke’ that part. She already realised that complaining doesn’t help. Because he simply makes her realise that it won’t be a damn thing if she complains.

That is why her training is progressing at a rapid pace. He taught her how to sense energy and make the energy boost her physical capabilities. Eventually, he even showed her how to suppress and then unleash the energy.

With all of this training out of the way, he was ready to return to his Hollow hunting.

For the first time in a year or so.

After leaving enough food and water for the girl, Ray left to continue his training.

He once more travelled to the areas outside of Rukongai, arriving in what one can consider wasteland.

‘Not wasteland enough, as these things are a common sight here.’

Ray frowned as he saw basic hollows. He killed those swiftly and collected their energies in the form of berries.

Instead of consuming them outright…

“Hoh…”

“Let’s use this as bait.”

Sure enough, a couple of hours later, the concentration of spirit energy had attracted more hollows, which he swiftly slayed.

And collected their energy.

Now he used them as even bigger bait.

Rumbling

“Hmm…”

Ray looked around. Noticing that the earth is cracking, he swiftly jumped to the side, collected his energy berries and looked at the enemy.

It was… a tree… a monster with many heads for branches and the body that was like a mix of a tree and a lizard.

“...Now that’s a hollow.”

The beast roared and tried to attack him with many heads at once.

“Prowl… Yuro No Kage!” As the blade changed, Ray sliced several heads as he used his explosive technique.

However, the severed heads swiftly regrew.

‘...That could be tricky.’

He tried again, but the heads returned, so instead of targeting the heads, he went for the body.

The hunter noticed that their hole is a weakness for them.

So all he needs to do is cut that!

As he concentrated energy at the tip of the blade, he used the technique.

“...Prey upon them… Yuro No Kage!” Red energy surrounded the hollow as he stabbed the area around the hole and then began to cut it open.

The tracks immediately began to spread, and the body shattered into two pieces, exploding in black energy that left behind white energy.

“...This should be enough… for a new power… consume Yoru No Kage.” He mumbled to himself as the white energy rushed into the blade.

Merging with it.

He didn’t feel any difference, but that is given, since the energy needs to be digested by his sword.

With a casual sword swing, the Shikai got dismissed as he began to walk home.

The tree thing is enough. He acquired a new power; now he needs to understand how this works.

The next day, when he returned, he saw the girl lazing around.

“Ahem.”

A single word was enough for Rangiku to scramble as the girl swiftly got back to her training.

“You do know that you need to be strong first. Then you can do whatever you want. At the moment, you are quite weak.” He commented as he sat down on a log and pulled out his zanpakuto.

“...But training all day is boring!” She complained.

“Oh, is it?” He looked at her.

That gaze made her turn stiff as she swiftly shook her head.

“...N-No on second thought… Let me make some food for you!” The girl scrambled to make something for him.

Ray smiled at seeing her do that. At least she has a good head on her shoulders.

The girl prepared a soup for him from mushrooms and other stuff they could find in the forest; lastly, she put some venison cubes in the pot.

Before long, the soup was ready, and the pair began to eat.

After food, the hunter meditated with his sword on his lap.

Soon enough, he was transported to his inner world.

The world was strange. It was a forest in pitch darkness. The sky had a moon, but it was in total eclipse. There was not a single star in the sky.

Not that his eyes stayed on it for long, as he looked at the only source of the light.

After walking for a bit, he found his sword spirit in the middle of consuming a ball of light.

“...did that hollow have anything decent?” Ray asked with crossed arms.

[Gaining that regeneration is impossible. However, a much lesser version of rapid wound recovery is possible, though limbs are something you can’t recover.]

A black tiger with dark purple stripes said to the hunter. This was Yuro No Kage—his sword spirit. 

He can see why it was a tiger. In his previous life, he always saw the Siberian tiger as the apex predator, and now it manifested like that.

“So I need to kill several of these to gain better regeneration?” Ray reasoned as the Tiger jumped from a large boulder.

[Indeed. I can only acquire small parts of these powers. It’s up to you to develop them further or try to obtain them.]

The hunter slowly nodded as he looked at his hands. There was…something when the tiger finished consuming the energy orb.

His power obviously went up, but there was more.

“Well, I would need to test this out.”

[No need to rush. Only a patient hunter gets the prey.]

“...Indeed.”

With that said, he left the realm and spent the next several weeks doing basic training.

“When can I get one of those swords?” Rangiku asked him.

“...You want a Zanpakuto?” He asked back as he stopped mid-swing.

“...Yes? Don’t you want to be a soul reaper?” She asked him, confused.

Ray stopped for a second and pondered. Recalling the white towers, the pristine city.

He could become a Soul Reaper. Won’t that mean he would know where the best hollows are? Their abilities and all that stuff.

‘Best hunting grounds.’

[That is intriguing… by all means, you are already a soul reaper. You have me.]

The tiger in his head spoke to him.

“...Maybe… you are right. We could think of something.” A small smile began to creep on his lips. Now that he has his Shikai, he can see how good those Soul Reapers are.