Late Night(Tetsu)

Currently, the girl known as Ria Bartin was rather annoyed, and something out of the ordinary had occurred; her clothes were rather muddy too. Add that to the fact that it was pretty late at night and you had an odd combination. I am going to make those idiots at the school pay...they thought it was funny to tell me this was a shortcut to my house... Ria was thinking to herself; were anyone to look at her, they would be able to see she was rather miserable. I'm starting to regret deciding going to public school...the kids played cruel pranks on me just because I'm just plain better than them. Stupid low lives she was thinking to herself; she wondered how she was going to explain this to her parents. Hopefully, by the time she got back home, they would have fallen asleep; explaining why she was out so late would have be easier than explaining why her clothes were completely muddy.

She didn't want her parents to know about it mostly because they would go to the extreme, which meant suing the boys that had caused this, then they would pull her out of public school. Despite its flaws, she wanted to stay in the public school, if only to serve the boys better revenge than suing them. Trouble is, I would have to come up with some kind of creative way to get revenge on them she thought to herself, a sigh escaping her lips as she looked up; she noticed she was now in a park. Deciding that sitting in the park and contemplating things might waste enough time for her parents to be asleep by the time she got back, she sat down on a swing set; she wasn't all that surprised it didn't snap under her weight, since she didn't weigh a lot. "While I'm here...I might as well work out the details of my revenge." she muttered to herself.

"Hello," said Tetsu as he suddenly hung down, his face facing hers. He had been sitting on the top of the swingset, watching the stars. The girl had been too deep in thought to notice his presence. He looked down at her clothes were concern and pulled himself up before hopping down. Tetsu landed easily and turned to the smaller girl. "Are you okay?" he asked her as he looked at her clothes and got in the swing beside her. Seeing a girl covered in mud out this late at night was stranger to him than the monsters he had been seeing lately.

He was wearing his normal clothes, but also had on a black and red jacket with cotten outside and silk on the inside. It was cheap, but it was his favorite jacket. He also wore his black jeans and his goggles were hanging down around his neck like a necklace. He did seem a little odd, and being night time while also having been on the top of the swing set would be even odder. Though, he looked perfectly fine, except for his eyes which held concern for the girls current state of being.

Ria was, to say the least, surprised when a face suddenly popped up in front of her; she was almost surprised enough to fall backwards out of the seat, but she managed to stop herself from doing that, thankfully. I'm already embarrassed enough looking like this in front of someone Ria thought to herself as the strange boy asked if she was okay; she, of course, was not okay in the slightest. This boy seems kind of strange...what was he doing sitting on the top of a swing set at night? Ria questioned to herself, shaking her head soon after the boy asked if she was okay.

"No...no I'm not okay in the slightest. some ingrates at the school thought it would be funny to have the rich girl get lost AND get her clothes completely muddy," Ria replied; she was wearing what she usually wore, a purple dress and the shoes to go with it, slip-on shoes, along with a ring on either finger. "If I may ask, who are you? I can't say that it's desirable to be talking to someone that was sitting on the top of a swing set." Ria decided to speak up a second time, this time asking a question of the boy.

Tetsu laughed and then leaned back and looked up at the stars, using his legs to swing him slightly. "It's polite to give your name first before asking for someone's own name. But I understand I guess. After all, you do seem to be a bit young. I am Tetsu. Tetsu Kurogane," he said as he looked down at her and smiled.

"And as for those kids. Don't worry about them. They may be harmful, but I'm sure they are just... sad. If your ritch, I'm guessing them kids think you get everything you want. That your life is perfect. While theirs is not. Theirs is full of poverty and other such things. Causing their lives to be miserable. So they take out their frustration on little miss perfect. It's not right, I know, but sometimes, you just need to reach out and talk. I'm not really sure. I've been homeschooled all my life. But I'm sure you can create peace with them," said Tetsu as he watched her. "But on behalf of the kids and anyone else that has done any harm to you, I apologize. You shouldn't let what they do to you get to you. Else they win. You need to show them that you don't care. They will get bored and in turn leave you alone."

"True enough...my name is Ria Bartin; I wish we could have met under better circumstances," Ria replied; meeting someone while you were wearing your usual outfit that was muddy was not the best way to meet someone. It was about that time that she noticed he looked a bit older than her, around the seventeen mark, which to her was all the stranger since he was sitting on top of the swing set. How didn't I notice a seventeen year old on top of the swing set? she asked herself, wondering if she was going partially blind. "Hm...what you're saying makes sense; My life is pretty perfect, safe for all the hollows attracted to me, so they must be jealous of my life," Ria was glad to hear that he was homeschooled as well; it meant that the two of them would be able to better talk to each other. The fact that he was homeschooled also suggested he was different from the other humans, since she hadn't met a ton that were homeschooled. "I think I'm going to be taking your advice; I don't think people who would do something like this to me deserve my attention anyway." Ria wondered if Tetsu was poor; the homeschooling thing suggested not, but she knew some poor families did it, for whatever reason.

"Hollows? You mean those monster's with those holes in their chests? I've seen them before. But they seem to stay away from me. I guess cause my Aura is like theirs. I see your aura looks like a few people's I've seen. Everyone really seems to have a very low amount of aura. But I do occassionally see people with quite a bit more aura than others. Though those people in their black robes carrying those swords. Their aura's are different from ours and each is a bit unique in its own ways. I don't know who they are. But noone seems to notice them. Honestly, I thought I was going crazy. It's good to know I'm not the only one seeing those monsters," said Tetsu as he laughed afterwards. He grabbed ahold of the plastic around the metal links of the swing and leaned back, looking up at the stars. "It's a beautiful night. I'm glad those monsters.. urr... Hollows, aren't around."

Tetsu looked back at her and smiled again. It was hard to disrupt his good mood. "Isn't that mud making you cold?" he asked as he sat back up. Tetsu pulled off his jacket and handed it to her. "Here, this should keep you warm," said Tetsu. He then reached up, grabbing the bar above him and pulled himself up then upside down, his legs straight. He was hanging to the bars with his hands while upside down. As this put some strain on his body, his shirt fell, revealing that he was actually quite muscular despite his skinny appearance. "I forgot to train today. I'll just have to make it up with double the training tomorrow. I just wish I had enough money to take the advanced classes at the dojo. I teach the little kids there if you want to learn how to defend yourself. I have to help pay the bills for my grandmother. We are barely getting by since she can't work. So everything I make its spent on what we need. I just hope its enough. If prices start to inflate, I will probably have to get a second job," said Tetsu. He sometimes started rambling on without noticing it.

"Yes, those creatures with the holes in their chests. Oh, and it isn't called Aura; it's something called reiatsu, how much spiritual energy you have," Ria corrected him; she only knew this because the note describing the jewels had mentioned it. "You know, I think I'm kind of a unique case. I'm swamped in reiatsu, but really, it's kind of low. The thing causing the huge reiatsu are these jewels in my hair here," Ria pointed them out, noticing they hadn't gotten muddy as well; that was good. She liked how they looked in her hair and, if they hadn't gotten muddy, there was a good chance that most of her hair wasn't muddy either. "I don't think I've ever seen a person in black robes, but...aren't swords a tad outdated?" she questioned; of course, this was coming from the girl who had a special ability based on jewels that practically were surrounded by unique reiatsu. It is a beautiful night she silently agreed with him, casting some of her attention to the sky, like he was.

"Well, now that you mention it, it is making me kinda cold..." soon after she stated that, Tetsu gave her his jacket; she offered him a nervous smile. No one had been this friendly towards her before, after all, and as such, she was just a tad embarrassed as she took the coat. "Thank you," she said simply; had Tetsu observed her during the day, he would easily be able to tell that this wasn't her usual personality. She pulled the jacket over herself, putting it on over her dress, and then listened as he began to speak again; the fact that he had a job instantly caused her to think that he was poor. Strange though...even though he's poor, I still kinda like him Ria thought to herself, confused by this; she decided it had to be because she sensed some reiatsu coming off of him. Yes...that has to be it; he's a special human and therefore, his status as one counters his poorness she thought to herself. "You teach the little kids there? If you do, why are you offering to train me? I'm not a little girl," Ria was joking, however, and she hoped he would see that. "Anyway...um, if you need money, I'd be willing to help you." quite an offer coming from her, considering she usually didn't hand out money willy nilly.

"Well. One, to me you are little. And two, you seem like you may need a bit of training. Just come by the Dojo sometime between four and six. That's when I'm there. I'll pull some strings so you can get in. And if you want, when your there I can give you my address and you can come and see me at my house. I can teach you some training against weapons. In case you run into thugs. You never know what might happen out here," said Tetsu. He stopped up off the swing set and kicked his leg straight up into the air, his foot stopping where a man's head would be. He then turned the foot he was standing on and pulled his leg back some doing a foot outward and side to side kicks. He then hopped back and landed on both feet. "I can teach you all kinds of things. My dad used to teach me till he.. died..."

"Well I...um, I suppose that's true," Ria replied, embarrassed a little that he had managed to outsmart her a little by pointing that out. Now that she thought about it, Tetsu did seem to be about seventeen, so she probably did seem a little young to him. "You know, you just met me, and already you're welcoming me to your house," Ria was again making a joke, she didn't think he had anything on his mind other than making friends with her which, despite his poor status, was a major possibility. "But...I think I will take you up on your offer; you'll have to tell me where this dojo is, since I'm not familiar with it," Ria told him; she had no reason to be familiar with the dojo, considering the fact that she had never gone to it or heard of it. "How did your dad die?" Ria asked, after letting silence grow between the two after he had spoken about his dad dying.

"I... I don't know... I just came home from my grandmother's one day and... the house was destroyed and my parent's body parts littered the ground... I was a little young. Younger than you are now. I've been living with my grandma ever since..." said Tetsu. He then began looking for a change of subject. "The Dojo is north of the nnorth bridge on this side of the Karakura River. You can't miss it."

Truly a morbid subject, which was probably why she didn't inquire about it again. As he relayed the directions to her, she sneezed a little bit; even with the jacket, the mud still seemed to be affecting her. "Sounds good...I'll be sure to remember the directions Tetsu," Ria said to him, offering a small smile. "Like I said...if you need help or anything, I'd be perfectly willing to help you with any financial problems." she said to him, having noticed he didn't comment on it earlier.

"Well. I won't take charity. I don't like taking money for free. I'd rather earn it," said Tetsu, sitting beside her once again. "An-" Tetsu was caught off as a scream pierced the night and the ground began to shake. Tetsu looked behind them and say a girl with a chain on her chest running out of the trees. A few seconds after her a hollow the size of a tank bursted through. It seemed like a bulldog, yet its legs were protected by scales like a dragon. It had large horns that moved down its entire body in rows of two. "Kuso," cursed Tetsu as he spat on the ground.

"Well, I'm definitely not going to let my..." Ria paused here, biting her lip before she continued. "I'm not going to let my friend get kicked off the streets; if that's about to happen to you, I don't care how much you won't take charity," Ria said to him, and soon after that, he was about to speak, but was interrupted by a scream. Her attention went to the direction the scream had came from, and she spotted a hollow chasing after a girl with a chain in her chest. "Tetsu...don't you suppose we should, I dunno, deal with the hollow?" Ria asked of Tetsu, prepared to do so if he replied positively to that.

Tetsu gripped his hand into a fist and without even saying anything to her he held out his hand, palm up. A violet orb the size of a golf ball formed, floating above his hand. Dark energy then gathered around it and formed a sphere of black with a violet, glowing center. The black sphere was the size of a baseball. Tetsu got on the other side of the swing and then yelled, "HEY! UGLY! YOU MUST BE A FUCKING COWARD FOR CHASING AFTER SOME GIRL!"

Tetsu must have seemed brave, like an idiot, or just plain crazy. He was able to catch the Hollow's attention, but it stopped and looked at him curiously. "What are you boy? Your no hollow. But your reiatsu seems like one.... I wonder how you and that girl will taste. Your spirits seem to be stronger than that puny spirit I was chasing," said the deep, raspy voiced hollow as it turned to face them completely.

Well then, isn't that blunt... Ria thought to herself as she watched Tetsu assault the hollow with a sphere of...well, black was the only word for it. "You honestly think you'll be able to take the two of us on by yourself? Pfft, please; you hollows always think you're superior," Ria commented, while at the same time two jewels appeared far up above the three beings, copies of the ones in her hair. "Since you seem so sure of yourself, I'll be sure to put you to the test," Ria said to the hollow, her tone suggesting she was talking down to him. "Jewel Javelin!" again, copies of her jewels appeared, but this time, they quickly formed into the shape of javelins, and soon thereafter, they launched themselves at the hollow, reinforced by the reiatsu of the jewels Ria wore in her hair. For the sake of making this exciting, I hope he's smart enough to dodge that attack Ria thought to herself as she watched it go towards the hollow.

Instead of dodging, the hollow took in a deep breath and then it seemed like he was trying to blow out with his mouth closed. The spikes on his back shot out, attached to some kind of cord. Eight of the spikes made contact with the javelins while the other four shot out toward Tetsu.

Tetsu disappeared, using Basuto, and reappeared in front of the Hollow's face. "Gotta be faster than that," said Tetsu as he held the spirit bomb in front of its face before using Basuto once more to reappear beside Ria. "Nice attack," he commented as he smiled down at her. "Care to see mine?"

((Whoops...sorry for not replying Tetsu! ><))

Ria was just a tad bit surprised to see the hollow easily able to overpower her attack. After all, the reiatsu the jewels had about them was nothing to sneeze at. Still, this hollow had managed to defend against them, and just as she was about to throw a more fearsome attack its way, Tetsu was spurred into action. She watched as he easily evaded the spikes that were sent at him, and a second later, he sent some sort of attack towards the hollow's face. "Ouch...that has to hurt," Ria muttered, looking towards Tetsu soon afterward. "You know, maybe you should make sure the enemy is dead before you waste time talking." she suggested to him in a fake, polite voice. Soon after she spoke, javelins again formed, this time above the hollow. A second later, they sped to where it was at, in an attempt to finish it off.