Saito Furofushi

After battling for over an hour, they were both sprawled on the dirty ground beside each other, breathing heavily with their arms spread out.

They had dozens of cuts and bruises on their body, with blood scattered all over the ground.

Mikoto's once beautiful face, was now dirtied with grime and dried blood, as was the girl beside him.

"*Huff**Huff*That was fun!" She breathed out with a smile full of ecstasy.

"It was, wasn't it." Mikoto muttered with a slight smile as he calmed his breathing.

"Let's go again, I was about to win!" She declared with bloodthirsty eyes.

[Golden Osiris: Technically it's only one eye but in order to make it sound smoother, I will just use eyes.]

Mikoto's brow twitched as he calmly replied, "You were going to win?"

"Then prove me wrong!" She sneered as she shakily stood up.

"It would be my pleasure." Mikoto also shakily stood up as they both staggered to their feet.

When they were about to lung at each other once more, both of their bodies simultaneously started gushing out even more blood that would exit their open wounds, making the small pool of blood under them, even larger.

They both dropped to their knee as they breathed heavily, gasping for air.

"While I am inclined to agree, our injuries are fatal, for now let's focus on healing." He remarked as he slowly stood up, sheathing his katana.

"Haha, I suppose you aren't wrong." She chuckled as she also slowly stood up, blood seeping off her black outfit and dripping onto the ground.

"Mikoto Masashi." He suddenly mentioned.

She understood his intentions, as she also spoke, "Saito Furofushi."

Mikoto narrowed his eyes at the name, as he realized who she was.

Saito Furofushi was one of the Captains in the Original Gotei 13.

He now discerned that he was at least 1,000 years in the past, but judging by her situation, it seems she hasn't become a captain yet and is simply wandering around.

Mikoto then pointed toward a certain wooden shaq, "Saito, let's see if the people in that place have medical supplies."

Saito agreed as they both walked with a slight limp, small drips of blood would fall from their clothes, creating a trail behind them.

Once they arrived in front of the old wooden door, Mikoto simply pushed it open as it creaked loudly.

Stepping inside they could see a small group filled with 3 kids and 1 adult, all cowering in a corner with the adult male in front holding a katana.

"S-Stay back!" He frantically stated as he watched the two blood-drenched individuals enter his home.

"Do you have some sort of bandages or something similar?" Mikoto simply asked, ignoring his words.

The kids behind the man continued to shake as the man nervously nodded.

"Just give that to us and we'll be on our way." Mikoto explained with a kind smile.

The man didn't move as the sword in his hand continued to tremble.

"You have my word… If I really wanted to, I could kill all of you... so just get the bandages." Mikoto explained once again, his kind smile seemingly feeling creepy.

The man seemed petrified as he simply stood still there.

"Are you gonna give it to us or not?" Saito annoyingly questioned with crossed arms beside Mikoto.

The man hesitated before walking to a corner of the room as he frantically pulled off a wooden tile on the ground and under it were a few chests with spare katanas he probably stole.

He took out one of the chests and opened it, quickly taking out two large rolls of bandages.

Mikoto walked up and took it from his hand before turning around and walking to the exit where Saito was.

But Mikoto came to an abrupt stop as he glanced behind him, "Ah, do you know where the nearest body of water is? Preferably clean for washing." He asked.

The man was slightly startled but nonetheless replied, "T-There i-is a waterfall near the grasslands, but I'm not sure if it's clean, it's a few miles away toward the east."

"I see... I appreciate your assistance." Mikoto thanked him as he continued to walk toward the exit, with him and Saito leaving the house.

The man simply nodded as Mikoto's continuous kindness made the man feel unnerved as he made sure to stand in front of the 3 kids, watching as they exited his small house.

Saito and Mikoto ignored the villagers who were hiding in their houses as they simply walked down the dirt pathway leaving the village.

After a few dozen minutes of traversing simple grasslands, they arrived in front of a waterfall.

"How exquisite..." Mikoto commented as he gazed at the waterfall.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Saito absently replied as she continued to walk ahead with Mikoto behind him.

At the bottom of the waterfall was a stream of crystal-clear blue water.

They approached it and stopped at the edge as Mikoto crouched and put his hands in it.

"Seems fine." He remarked.

Saito nodded as she unexpectedly started undressing the upper half of her Shinigami black outfit.

"No shame huh?" He questioned as he also started undressing the upper half of his own black outfit.

She ignored him, as once she took off the upper half of her black outfit, bandages could be seen strapped around her breasts, completely covering them.

"I wear this to hold my breasts in during battle." She explained as she entered the water slowly and poured some water onto herself.

"What's there to hold?" Mikoto stifled a laugh as he condescendingly looked down on her from the edge of the water.

Bam!

Suddenly punching his leg, she shouted, "You got jokes huh!?"

Mikoto's brow twitched as smoke could be seen coming from his leg.

He had a close-eyed smile, as his fist suddenly crashed down onto the top of her head.

"You wanna fight me!?" Saito had a fierce grin as she glared at him.

"Do I even have to answer that question?" Mikoto had a chilling smile as he replied.

They both lunged at each other, both smiling viciously.

After a few minutes of fighting without their swords, they eventually calmed down as Mikoto and Saito could be seen inside the water, cleaning their wounds by pouring water on top of it.

Usually, this would be dangerous for normal humans but for powerful souls such as themselves, things such as bacteria in the water wouldn't affect them.

"So what were you doing with all those bodies?" Mikoto curiously questioned.

"They were Soul Reapers patrolling the area, they thought they could mess with me... and that was when they forfeit their life away... When did you arrive here?" She darkly chuckled as she asked her own question.

"I just got here, I'm simply trying to get stronger before I head to the Seireitei." He answered.

"Huh…You wanna become a soul reaper? Why would ye want that?" She raised her brow while pouring water over her shoulder wound.

He was silent for a few seconds before replying.

"I had a goal in my past life that kept me driven… but I achieved it before dying, so now I simply feel empty…" Mikoto's face was unreadable as he continued to speak.

"Now I'm wondering if maybe a job as a Soul Reaper will fulfill me once again…" Mikoto added with a light laugh.

"What a boring reason." Saito remarked aloofly.

"Boring indeed… but at least we get to find stronger opponents easier and have some fun on the way." Mikoto retorted with a slight grin.

While battling wasn't his favorite thing, he did enjoy it which is one of the reasons why he thought of joining the Gotei 13.

"Strong opponents huh?... Maybe you're on to something." She had a bloodcurdling smile on her face as she muttered.

After they were done washing, they wrapped each other's bandages for each other before putting on their clothes and continuing to walk.

"I've decided!" Saito suddenly shouted out as they were walking side by side.

"And what would that be?" Mikoto inquisitively looked at her from the corner of his eye while moving.

"I'll join the Soul Reapers with you, and see how it fares... for now our fight will be postponed." She proclaimed with her usual confident expression.

Mikoto simply nodded, "This should be fun, but before we do anything, getting stronger is a must." He stopped walking as he glanced toward Saito.

They were currently on a narrow dirt pathway with tall grass on each side surrounding them.

"How do you plan to increase that?" She asked.

"You know about Shikai and Bankai?" He replied with another question.

"Yeah, I interrogated some weak Soul Reapers... they were quite the disappointment." She nodded but her expression seemed dissatisfied.

"Then what happened to your eye?" Mikoto probed.

Saito put her hand onto her eye as her gaze intensified, "A Lieutenant got the better of me, but she promptly retreated once being injured... When I see her again, she won't escape my grasp so easily..."

'A Lieutenant?... Depending on how strong the person she fought was, I can guess I'm on Lieutenant level, but I'm not sure if I'd be on the lower end or higher end.' Mikoto pondered inwardly.

"I see... As for how I plan to get stronger, it's quite simple... Meditating!" He explained.

Mikoto saw Saito about to angrily retort but he raised his hand, as he continued to speak, "I say meditating because we need to connect with our Asuachi/Zanpakutos in order to unlock Shikai and Bankai. But of course, we all have our own methods of connecting with our Zanpakutos, it doesn't have to be explicitly meditating."

Saito cut him off as she finished his sentence, "Meaning that I can connect with my Zanpakuto with a method I believe is best for myself...Which is fighting."

Mikoto nodded in affirmation at her words.

"For now I'm going to meditate with my Asauchi." He promptly sat down in a meditating position with his Asuachi on his lap, closing his eyes.

Saito simply shrugged as she walked away, "I'll be back later."

Mikoto focused on his black inner conscience as he delved deep into it.

After an unknown time, Mikoto could feel his body but it seemed to be in another dimension.

Opening his eyes, everything around him was black.

"Hmm?" His eyes slowly traversed the black empty space.

Until suddenly...

"This is your inner world.." An apathetic voice stated from behind.

Slowly turning around with his hand on the hilt of his Asuachi, he saw two demonic eyes staring at him, black pupils with red irises.

It seemed as if they could unravel all the secrets in his heart, but he didn't flinch as he simply asked a question.

"Are you my Zanpakuto? How come I could contact you so fast?" Mikoto questioned with an odd tone.

"Your Zanpakuto?... I suppose so. As for your second question, it's quite simple...

You already know me."

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