A New Family

On the North side of Kagamino City stood Garu Nariko. The white haired male stood there with his Zanpakuto resting on his right side. He wondered what more was there to do with his life. He had been in this city for the past few months, barely doing anything. He enjoyed the place simply because of the peace and quiet it gave him. The lack of hollows and enemies made this place his ideal location to live and retire too. Where he stood was a small hill that gave him a wondrous view of the sunset. The time was roughly eight, and the site of the sun going down was always something he enjoyed. He stood on the hill nearly every day to capture such a beautiful portrait. If he had artistic skills, he would surely be an artist. Looking off into the distance, he felt the warmth of the sun radiate on his skin.

However, over the last few months he felt like he was no longer happy with just sitting behind. All of his life he had been a fighter, even to the point of leading the stealth force of the soul society at one point. Now he felt like his life was a waste, and felt he needed more of a calling. This place was his ideal location to live, because it provided peace. However, Garu missed the feeling of the fast paced battle, the tough decisions, and most of friends who he would consider family. The responsibilities he had used to be a burden on him, but he missed those heavy burdens. The saying that you never really appreciated stuff until it was gone was true. Garu never really appreciated what he had. He was instead somewhat lazy and harsh, never really savoring every minute he had of his life in the soul society. The feeling Garu possessed was nostalgia. Inhaling he took a large sigh wondering what awaited him for the night. Maybe he would find some excitement. He simply continued to watch the sunset with that feeling that everyone experiences at least once in his or her life. Garu was indeed homesick.

A familiar voice approached Garu as he observed the sunset. His head quickly snapped as he watched as none other then Anthony came toward him. He observed as the former 6th division captain walked closer to him. Three years had passed that quickly and it did not seem like he changed at all. The same old white hair, and the extremely athletic body. Just seeing the man again made Garu's homesickness slightly going away. He barely displayed any excitement to see his old companion, but did manage to crack a smile. He was relieved that someone was still around to talk to, and it was always a nice feeling seeing a familiar face. This was definitely someone that Garu would never be able to remove from his head. Garu felt the man’s Reiatsu and noticed it was not the way it should be. It reassembled his shockingly. Garu assumed that this man was not an enemy, but if anything, someone Garu had respect for. He put both hands in his pocket smiling showing no hostility. He trusted that if the man was there to get Garu he would probably fight with honor rather then unleashing something like a Bankai upon greeting him. Garu finally responding to the words that Anthony said.

"Anthony.. Long time no see." He said showing that he remembered him by name. It seemed like Anthony did not slow down at all with his build still resembling that of a fighter. he still seemed to have those hand wrappings.  Garu laughed after he talked about the training they did before he went to the second division. "Yeah.. That was a good battle. Who ever won that?" Garu asked not remembering that far in detail. He was certain Anthony was older then him, which he thought gave Anthony an edge on him experience wise. Even though it had been only three years ago, so much had changed in Garu's life and he had to train so much more often. The amount of work he did to master his Vizard mask made memories like that extremely nebulous. Really what Garu wondered was why or what was he doing in Kagamino City. Was he on vacation or was he in hiding. The mysterious reiatsu also made Garu question his motives. Garu removed his interest from Anthony and returned his eyes toward the city. His eyes gazed in the distance as he spoke with his same calm, soothing, and plain voice."So what brings you to Kagamino?" Garu said. He added some comedy too it to make things flow smoothly. " This sight is beautiful ,but I don't think someone would leave the soul society all the way to see it?" Garu said laughing. Anthony wasn't wearing his uniform, had he quit or was he on some top secret Recon mission. It didn't matter because what Garu had said was sugar coating what he really meant to say without coming off as rude. What Garu just said translate to how did he end up here and most importantly, why.

Garu stood straight showing good posture as he crossed his arms and listened to the words of his comrade. He would take a tie any day, it did seem like that was exactly it. The memory was now vivid. He remembered the furious captain commander at the two males who had managed to barely escape. Leveling a training ground took skill, because a training ground was meant to endure damage. What they did to it left it in rumbles and ashes. The memory of the captain commander made Garu miss the days as a captain, once again bringing the homesick feeling to him.

He shook it off, now listening to Anthony speak.  He was no longer apart of the 6th division. Garu was a bit disappointed. He loved fighting with Anthony. The battle that they had completely obliterated a training ground inspired Garu to fight. It was definitely one of the highlights of his fighting career.  What caught his attention was the society wasn't really worried about them. Well Garu had just managed to lay low and fall off the grid which explained why they just shoved him aside. He would probably be a problem they would resolve sooner or later.  He listened to what Anthony ask him to turn around and go down to the street light. Now Anthony was on the move walking away from Garu, and Garu would slowly follow dragging his feet on the ground following. What he now noticed as a new tattoo. Garu smiled observing it. " I like it. Its simple. What inspired you to get it." Garu said.  Now Anthony didn't seem like he was showing any signs of hostility so Garu would tell him why he was here, even without being asked. He would not use his real name but use his nickname to show a change in tone.

"Brink, Have you ever heard of a thing called a Vizard?" Garu questioned.

Ryou found himself strolling through the dark night wondering how it had all come to this very moment. So many years trying to keep things under control and now he was just as lost as he had been from the very start. At least he now had one extra voice in his head to keep him company if anything else, but the lack of being there to protect everyone at his division bothered him more anything else. It was the only the way… keeping them safe… he had to stay away. Kurosawa could feel them up ahead before he could see them, but that didn’t stop him from walking forward until he noticed the two people under the street light, and so he simply hung back in the darkness. The man watched the pair and wondered if the two that he looked at were friend or foe… because there was no way to tell anymore just by the uniforms that they wore. Lack of one though, might give away a bit more than them actually having one. Ryou knew that there was no way he would find out without actually trying, and if he made a mistake, then escape would have to be the next step.

Watching for a bit though he found the slight ‘brazen’ nature in which these others hid in the light be to so amusing. It was enough that he had to laugh softly to himself as he decided to make his entrance, with a bit of his own usual flare. As he looked up in the direction of the light pole under which the two stood, it was simply one quick movement from where he stood to crouching on top of the metal fixture. Kurosawa decided that it was no longer necessary to hide his presence at least from these two, whom for all he knew were potential companions. It was to his surprise from his new vantage point that he could see one of them was wearing a mask similar to his own. The Cheshire like grin it put on his face plastered itself there, as he greeted the two, “Well well what do we have here now. Two dear lossst onesss it ssseems.” A slight ominous laugh filled the air as he leapt down to land next to them, “Just the two of you wondering around in a place like thisss, and it seems one of you has sssuch a pretty masssk on your face. You will have to let me know where you got it.” Ryou’s voice was a very monotone one, with a snake like lisp to his ‘s’.

Dressed in a red suit jacket under which was a frilled white shirt, that poked out his sleeves and the front of his suit. Along with that he wore black dress pants and shoes that had been shined to perfection. On his head was black top hat, from behind his back a constant metal clinking sound could be heard. He stood there looking at the two with both hands crossed behind his back, out from behind a curtain of black hair that covered his face. The only thing visible was one of his large black eyes that examined what Ryou assumed were his fellow Vizard, “Now then I am not going to lie and sssay that I didn’t exactly sssee that little magic trick you pulled sssilly boy…” His gaze directed itself towards Anthony with a quick snap, as the source of the clinking metal was revealed. Ryou pulled one of his hands out from behind his back and gently scratched his chin thoughtfully with his bladed fingers before he pulled his hair up out of the way of his face. In the way of palm followed a black energy that left a cat like behind on his face, “Now Massster sssays that you two can’t be trusssted? While Mother sssays you can… Ssso the question I mussst ask isss. Which isss it?” The almost purring tone of Ryou’s hollow voice had become something that had started to grow on the Vizard, who wondered if was standing in safe company. He was sure of at least one of the pair… it was the other that made him wonder…

Garu felt a bit embarrassed misunderstanding Brinks purpose of brining him out here. He didn't seem to care about Garu's opinion at all so Garu simply let it be. He liked the tattoo, but Garu was the type to never get a tattoo on himself. He didn't believe in marking his body. It seemed like Garu was going to show him something rather then answer his question. Garu wondered how Brink would show he has heard of a vizard. Would he pull out some insane battle scar from a battle with a vizard. Garu still felt no hostility from Brink so he simply stood there now watching as Brink put his hand toward his face in a similar manner that Garu always did. A black and green Aura engulfed his face and it was completely covered with a mask now.

It seemed he even had the voice of a hollow. It was obvious he would fought them, but Garu was going to use his question as a way to ease into telling Brink he was a vizard himself. Garu smiled and brought his hand toward his face. Garu now spoke, "Neat trick, but your not the only one who can do that trick. " He began to slowly move his hand down his face, but before aura engulfed he hear a voice. It was a voice. A man was now behind them descending into the light. Garu stopped and moved his hand down looking at the man. Garu seemed completely uninterested in the man. He put both hands in his pocket, seeing the man hadn't com out with an attack. For now he would talk, the fact that Brink had a mask on made him feel calm. The man had a red jacket and seemed to be all dressed up, even to the point of a dress hat.  The man talked about a silly little magic trick, and moved his hand toward his chin. Garu looked at him and observed.

What he did next was completely unexpected. He hollowfied himself and began to speak.  He asked if they could be trusted, and Garu wondered if now was the right time to show them his own trick. "Hmph.. It seems like its a masquerade." Garu moved his hand toward his face. "I'd hate to" Garu swiped his hand as he spoke. A black and white aura wrapped around his face as a masked appeared resembling the others. "Ruin the fun." Garu said with his voice now altered. His masked seemed plain but what was left on it was a skeleton's hand showing his eyes alone. "So it seems we all have something in common here." Garu said. He wanted to make friends, rather then enemies. He held out his right hand toward the man with what seemed to be a lisp. "The name is Garu, Garu Nariko." He said keeping his guard up yet holding his hand out for a hand shake. "And that is Brink." Garu said  gesturing to his companion who was also wearing a mask. All of them together, were of a rare breed. Garu had something in mind, he missed a family. Even though he would hate to lead one, he would want to assemble one with these two and this seemed like an opening to do just that.

Garu's mask: