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I actually drew something when my brain wouldn't shut off and go the hell to sleep earlier. Then I did and slept til 6pm.

Akina with Nobu!

@thatonerper

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It’s odd how little pain there was at first. The point where the damage was done simply felt burning hot for a while and the sound of bones giving way was so out of place and weird that it didn’t really register. Then the cold started to creep in from his limbs as the blood was flowing out instead of to the extremities of the body. It wasn���t until the moment the monster released him suddenly that the hurting started. Even sliding from the cold stone surface and falling to the ground from the slight height didn’t feel too bad compared to the pulsating pain that was intensifying with every heartbeat. Speaking of heartbeat, the heart going crazy within that messed up rib cage somehow seemed to have been spared from the assault, unlike the right lung that almost felt like it was missing completely since it held no air at all, a bunch of lower ribs and most likely the spine wasn’t holding out too greatly either since everything below the middle back was missing a connection. At least there was still movement in the nimble fingers, which was a plus.

After all, that’s what was needed to strum the strings of his old friend, his baby, his acoustic guitar.

Not really quite sure when they had closed in the first place, Noburu willed his eyes to open. Everything was spinning and nothing was really focusing properly, not to mention the blood that was flowing from the forehead straight into the left eye, making it even harder to make out any shapes. Guess he hit his head pretty hard when being bashed to the wall chest first, which would definitely explain the spinning of the world around him as well. Before anything else could happen, the blond realized that he couldn’t hear the boy’s sobbing nor the monster anywhere and it got him worried. Was that kid okay? Did the creature get him? With such worries in mind, words were attempted to be released, resulting in weak coughing fit instead, the warm spatters of blood spilling everywhere. Dang, guess that one lung of his was really busted.

Then there was a familiar sound. Someone was calling out his name.

Confused, the blond tried his best to focus on the voice, soon linking just who it belonged to. How embarrassing was it to be seen like this by a friend who he had grown so close to lately. He had even beaten her in Tekken so many times and now he was literally spitting blood at her feet. That was somehow really ironic to him and the man couldn’t help but smile weakly at that thought. There wouldn’t be any more late night gaming sessions from now on, now would there?

”Aki-chan”, the barely audible nickname sounded out as Noburu spoke through the taste of flooding blood. There was so many things he wanted to talk about right then and there; latest game releases, the newest tune he had come up with in the park, the sweet old lady upstairs from his apartment who had brought him cookies the other day, his friend’s band’s new single… So so many things, yet there was just enough strength left within his dying body to stay conscious and somewhat present. There was no way in hell they would be having any trivial discussions at this point. He had to preserve any energy still residing within to stay here, to not let the pain overwhelm his senses and take him to the afterlife. He couldn’t do that before he knew the fate of the one he tried to save, at least.

”The boy… he okay? And guitar…”

The instrument in question was an afterthought there, the injured man’s brain not really comprehending that he most likely had some pieces of the broken wood lodged within that gaping hole on his middle and the rest were laying all around the place. That thing was his precious, his lifeline during the darkest of hours when he cried out any and all the feelings trying to pull him down. Hell, if he could, he’d happily play out some tunes to dull the pain right now. Could be a banger of a song for sure.

”I saved… Heroic and shit”, was the overly simplified answer eventually given to Akina’s question, followed by yet another cough of blood and a weak smirk, the attempt of looking cool and collected in his final moments showing through. Final moments. This was really it then, was it? The sadness that took over just then was pretty overwhelming, knowledge of losing one’s life at the tender age of 20 being a bit too much to handle. There was so much left undone, so many words unsaid, so many opportunities that would never come to fruition. He’d never see his awesome boss again, even when there was a shift waiting for him tomorrow evening. That woman let him play songs at the bar every Wednesday too so who or what would take up that slot? Would they have no live music on those days at all and just mourn his passing? What a depressing thought that was. Then of course there were his parents. They had finally started to come around to the idea of their son living off of music and art, which took them a long time to wrap their heads around on. A wealthy man like his stepdad wanted more out of his adopted son, but never outwardly expressed it. That said son wanted nothing more than to prove his artistic skill to that man so that both of his parents would show him true acceptance and pride. It really was such a juvenile dream, was it not?

Drip.

First there was a single tear. Then followed another. Both rolling from the corner of the hazel eyes down on the unusually pale cheeks and down onto the bloodied rubble. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t fair at all. Face scrunching up as he held down the emotion and bitter tears now free falling, the blond realized something very very important just then.

”Aki... I don’t… wanna die--”

It took her FOREVER to get her fans out of the way, there was something serious going on a ways away, and it sure felt like a damn hollow. "Ah, great. Why over there, guy, couldn't you come any closer?" She was annoyed at the distance, but that's nothing Gikon on this gigai couldn't handle.

Taking a bite of the candy, her soul split from that Gigai. She was free and the substitute was taking care of the autographs now. Definitely a 'not her problem' anymore.

She would get up to one of the rooftops and shunpo the entire way over to where she felt the spiritual pressure. It was a Hollow, as she suspected, another spiritual pressure that was fading… and a smaller one? Looking around, she would find a kid standing there, staring at a wall. Oh…

O H S H I T.

A feeling of dread washed over her. No no no NOPE. That was NOT who she thought that was, it C O U L D NOT be. So this Hollow definitely had to go before she could take care of Nobu. "Hang in there, give me a minute, alright?" Speaking as if he were right there in front of her, and she wasn't on a dang rooftop instead.

She pulled her sword from the sheath and immediately went right to her shikai, saying, "Let's Dance, GARUDA!" Her sword formed a loop, that split into two throwable rings, chakram. Tossable and could manipulate the wind into screeching and howling. With the two in her hands, she tossed them immediately at the Hollow's mask, both of them colliding and splitting it in half. The wind screamed along with it, sounding as angry as she was about what just happened here. Ah, did it hurt. Her heart… that thing, it hurt.

Now she was getting mad at herself, she should have been here sooner if it weren't for that damn gig of hers. This hollow would have been dispatched before he could have run into it… Hindsight. Usually, she left her gigai behind as SOON as she felt a Hollow, and it'd continue on just fine without her.

The hollow formed back into another plus that she needed to Konso. Never mad at the pluses for being the problem. Nah, they were troubled… or someone just took too long, their chain corroded, there were many reasons for hollowification. She would head on down to deliver that plus to the Soul Society.

After that, she needed… to potentially deal with another one. A chill went down her spine as she gulped before walking over to the collapsed concrete where Nobu had fallen. Her eyes were wide, and her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach, no way will this stand.

"Nobu…" Akina knelt down next to him and frowned. What was she going to do? Just… watch him die here and then perform a Konso? She was mentally beating herself up over this. Could have been here earlier, no, SHOULD HAVE. "What happened?" Speaking as if there was a moment to even spare in this situation.

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Noburu right now.

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The death of an artist || @apocalypta-secundus

The sun was slowly setting, painting the sky with vibrant colors of red, gold and various shades of purple. A slightly chilly breeze was telling everyone just how close they were to the seasons changing, yet the last rays of the sunny day were still warm enough to allow people to walk around in light clothing and no jackets. Amongst those people was a blond guy zipping up a guitar shaped gigbag that he would soon fling over his shoulder and start wondering back towards the familiar apartment building. What had first started as a casual walk to the park, quickly escalated into long hours of playing music and socializing for Noburu, which definitely wasn’t unusual in any way. Taking the old acoustic instrument out for a stroll in public places was one of the best ways to spend free time if you asked him; sometimes it even resulted in good tips that could later be spent on pizza and beer; now that he finally was able to buy his own. Not that long time ago the guy had turned 20, which obviously meant he was finally of age to drink legally... even though it was pretty clear that set age limitation hadn’t stopped him from experimenting before – he did have some odd shifts as a bartender under his belt from earlier years, after all. Thinking about it made the guy smile to himself in amusement. Laws were weird.

After counting the coins that had been tipped to him while he had been playing, Noburu stuffed them back into his jeans’ pocket and looked up. Judging from the amount of fading light, it was really getting quite late already, wasn’t it? Maybe if he took a shortcut down the alleys between buildings, he could manage to order food from the restaurant a few blocks from his apartment before the place closed. With that thought in mind, a new direction was picked, hazel eyes scanning a road before quickened steps were taken, guiding the body towards an alleyway that was familiar enough to be skipped through even with the deepening shadows creeping up it. Not many people were around by this point, but there was an opening after the alley with a small playground placed on it and a young boy could be spotted carelessly swinging in the swing set. That kid’s home was most likely in one of the surrounding buildings which were known to house many families in them so it wasn’t that much of an oddity to see him there, enjoying the last few moments of outside playtime of the day. With a content smile on his lips, the young man with his guitar on his shoulder exited the alley and was in the process of getting around the section of the playground surrounded by hedges when something suddenly felt wrong. There was this odd sensation crawling up on his arms and legs, leaving all of the fine body hair standing in it’s wake.

”What the…” was all that was muttered out before the squeaking of the swing set came to an obviously sudden halt. Instinctively, a worried gaze turned to face the situation at the playground and was met with a sight of the child frozen, legs pushed against the ground yet his hands gripping tightly at the chain of the swing he was still sitting on and that whole tiny body of his seemingly shaking. What had gotten such a reaction out of the small dude was this massive, towering creature appearing from behind one of the nearby shops and locking his wide, yellow eyes with his. It had some sort of bone mask covering it’s whole face with unusually big human-like teeth and a weird hole right in the middle of it’s muscular chest. Nothing about this creature appeared natural to a human, not even it’s screech it let out just before starting it’s approach towards the play area. It wasn’t a beast of any known kind nor was it a ghostly apparition the part-time bartender saw wandering about every now and then – no, this seemed like something terribly dangerous and seriously lethal. And it was headed straight towards the kid. Shit.

Without putting too much thought to it, the blond spurred into action, making a straight line towards the obvious target of the monster, jumping over a small fence and a wooden seesaw while at it. If nothing else, those few parkour lessons he took as a teen sure paid off in this very situation as he managed to outrun the creature to the kid still frozen in place, wide-eyed and shaking like a leaf.

”Dude! Snap out of it, we gotta run!” were the panicked words sounding out as the youngster’s shoulders were grabbed and shaken to really drive in the message and hopefully break the obvious fear response happening. As soon as the grip of the kid let loose of the chain and the crying started, he got picked up by the older male who was fearing his heart would give out any minute now, seeing as it had started racing faster than ever before, pumping adrenaline like crazy. That said adrenaline was the driving force behind the sneaker-glad feet as they took off in a sprint towards the nearest alleyway that would take them out of the open and in the relative safety of a closed space smaller than what the creature could fit in. The hope was that whatever this thing was would simply give up when it realized following them was impossible and go find something else to prey upon. Not that there was any knowledge here about if they would be able to get away by simply hiding away like that, but it was their best bet for now. The kid crying wasn’t helping on nerves nor was his weight awkwardly resting against that very slim, average height body doing any favors for the maximum speed that could be reached. Still, by some miracle that same style fence from before was jumped and successfully gotten past. One step closer to safety. Hopefully.

Meanwhile the hollow had spotted it’s prey suddenly sprinting, instantly waking up the predatory instincts residing within and causing the oversized body to shift into hunting mode. Getting down to all fours, it picked up speed, going from a casual walk into a jog and finally into the full-on running speed. For what it understood, chasing a meal was something thrilling, much more so than just devouring a still victim and definitely it’s favored way of enjoying food. All that was left of the residing soul’s humanity had disappeared by now, alongside that chain that got ripped out and caused that hole to appear in the first place. Everything left was this endless hunger and a need for fulfillment, which it registered as a need to devour any and all delicious soul energies it could find. That small human in the swings had been it’s original target of the day, but now that another second was taken to appraise, a second big set of energy was now attached itself to the first one. That itself was enough to put the monstrous being into a frenzy, the exited screech emanating from it’s throat bouncing off the nearby buildings while it continued the chase, closing in more and more with every big leap it took.

Chills of fear were quick to make their way through Noburu’s body, his breath already uneven from running and now hitching just for a moment when that terrifying sound reached his eardrums. The thumps of monstrous feet running and closing in were enough to make his blood run cold, but stopping and chilling out really wasn’t an option right now. Not when the child relied on him. Not when stopping would most likely result in both of their deaths. Yeah, there was no other option than keeping up the pace, even when lungs started burning and cold sweat was running down into the neckline of an old band t-shirt. The worrying thing was the legs of the creature being so blatantly stronger and longer than his, resulting in speeds that no human would be able to physically reach. Not even if they actually ran professionally, unlike this freelance musician here did. Willing oneself to not look behind was one of the hardest things right then and there, as it was against human nature to not peek at the sound that was so clearly heading towards your way, yet somehow the gaze of those brown eyes managed to stay focused on the entrance of the alley they were approaching. There was no certainty if there was enough time for them to reach it before either one would get seriously hurt and that was the scariest thought ever. Just what would happen if safety wasn’t an option?

No, wait.

It wasn’t a case of if, but when.

The footsteps were way too fast.

Suddenly feeling tension in his shoulders when the realization hit, the young man knew there was only two ways this situation could go from now on. He wasn’t stupid by all means. There was no future where both of them would get out of this safely and simply continue on with their lives as if nothing had happened at all. A quick look towards the snotty brat still crying and clinging to the worn down fabric of the band shirt suddenly made it pretty clear how this all would end up. Kindhearted, cool heroes weren’t the ones to throw a weak crybaby to the wolves just to save their own ass, right? That shit was for villains to do and Noburu wasn’t ready to make himself out to be the bad guy of the story just yet. Not that he would really have much chance to do so later on though, if things were going to go as badly as they seemed to be going right about now. What a truly bittersweet thought it was.

”I’m gonna toss you! Run and hide!”

There was just enough time for the kid to register those words being shouted out loudly, the kind stranger grabbing him by the armpits, tearing off the small hands from the shirt in the process and sending the small human flying towards the shadows. What registered next was the scene of the huge creature reaching the backside of this unknown man, who didn’t have any time to react before a long, sharp claw pierced through the unsuspecting instrument in the gigbag with a very audible crunch, continuing all the way into the flesh and through bones. It didn’t stop before the tip of that claw exited from the blond guy’s chest, ruining the band logo that the small human had been crying against just seconds ago. The strength and speed of the attack didn’t tone down much from the resistance of such a fragile thing as a human body so the claw only picked up the mess it had made along the way and continued on, eventually making contact with the side of a building, creating a large hole at the concrete and collapsing parts of it to the ground. With wide eyes, the child stared at the spot where a friendly face had been just before the moment of the attack. What the kid would never forget from this day on was the last facial expression of that guy.

He was smiling just now, wasn’t he?

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"Dude, now you're talking my language!" he exclaims, already thinking through all the games he had waiting at home. What kind of titles would she like and be good at? Would she beat him at Tekken or not? And which games had a co-op mode again? They'd definitely have to go through them all! "I have so many consoles back at home. Oh and my PC setup is pretty good as well! So you better get ready to have your butt handed to you by a gaming pro, Aki-chan!"

Sure was! Amongst… other things. Man, the 80s were wild and Akina only got to see the rock 'n' roll part of it, thankfully. Had 0 time to be doing anything else, taking care of Konsos and work in the Seireitei. Other than that, it was one of her favorite decades. "Sounds like a wild party we're gonna have. Eat, drink, up all night, figuring out dances, do you wanna add video games to that too?" Not like she's played before.

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"Yeah! And we could have takeout and some drinks as well!" now it's sounding more like he's planning on a party weekend instead of actual bootcamp with intense practice. But hey, isn't fast food and drinking part of a rockstar's lifestyle?

That'd have to be a night she didn't have anything to do. Here's hoping one of those days were coming up soon. "There won't be any sleeping at night when we're rocking and dancing it away!"

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"I'll give it my all!" the young man exclaims enthusiastically. He doesn't mention his bad habit of sleeping in, daydreaming and losing motivation. But she seemed like a really fun person to train with so hopefully this time would be a bit different. "We could even have a bootcamp of sorts! Like an over the weekend dance sleepover!"

"So the goal is by the time the first gig happens, you'll at least know how to do one by yourself and by the last one we can do a few of them together." There was a grin on her face, "think you can do that? It'd be a daily practice kind of thing."

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"Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun! How long do you think it'll take to learn some basic stuff? There are some good gigs coming up a few weeks from now--" he starts, seemingly getting more excited by the minute. Now he would only have to commit to it long enough to get a hang of it, at least. "Should we aim for us to be able to dance together at those?"

"Well, yeah, I think you could! All it takes is practice!" She was able to teach Yachiru, so why not him? It wasn't going to be that hard. "I'll have you dancing like a pro in no time! Then we can head to a concert and both dance!"

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"Ah, me? I... I don't know. Never tried dancing properly myself", the blond answers with a clearly insecure tone. The closest he had ever gotten to actually moving his body in a controlled way had been when he tried out parkour as a teen. And during concerts with those crowd dances, of course. "...You think I could?"

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"You ever wanna try any of those out yourself? I'm pretty good at teaching them to others. I've been to a few concerts, I like punk, but the idol scene is kind of growing on me."

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"Well I do more of the watching than actual dancing, if I'm being brutally honest. But I've been to gigs with the coordinated glowstick dances for the crowd and still remember some of those!"

"Ah, Akina-san! It seems like we have a lot in common!" (@smilingslacker)

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"Oh hey! That's three bingos! We sure do! Which glowstick dances do you know?"

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"Man... I'd rather ugly cry in front of an audience than spend my whole life having to battle the darkness all by myself. What's so wrong with that?"

About || Rules || Ask || Home

Current main verse takes place in the Bleach universe!

A quick summary about Nobu under read more for mobile users

Name: Noburu Koizumi (everyone calls him Nobu) Race: Human Sex: Male Height: 177cm (5’ 9½”) Weight: Unknown(he’s too lazy to check) Age: 19 even if looks younger Birthday: 7th of July Sexuality: Bi-sexual Occupation: Student and part-time bartender Family: Father(deceased), mother, step-father and a little sister Hobbies: Playing guitar in the park, photography

Can see spiritual beings.

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“Oh, a new face?”