Polo, the mighty Girlehkins and their army of gherkins.

Kougu tense as she hugged him, almost considering pushing her away... But at her words he relaxed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tight. "We don't choose our strength." He whispered into her ear, his voice shaking slightly from emotion, empathy stabbing into him like a billion daggers. "We just have to learn to deal with it... Improvise..." He trailed off, his grip slackening again. He took a deep breath and stepped back, pulling away rom the embrace. It was so ironic... She was upset because she wasn't strong enough... He ws nearing insanity because of his own strength... Because he had too much of it... Because that man had seen it even before he had himself... But he couldn't speak of it... Couldn't admit to everything. Kougu bit his lip, trying to distract himself. He let his thoughts wander along all their familiar tracks. "Your brother..." Kougu said suddenly, his voice back to its usual misty, toneless state. "He was looking for you."

Kougu broke into an easy run after her, his long legs taking effortless strides over the uneven ground. "But shouldn't you-" He began hesitantly, watchin her as he ran. "I mean, he was really worried about you." Kougu explained, watching her with a slight frown. Not looking where he was going, Kougu suddenly collided with a tall tree. Hard. He staggered backward, clutching his head as a lump began to form on his forehead. He paused a moment to shake his head, then lengthened his stride and took off after Failure, quickly catching up to her again with a step of shunpo. His head pounded and he felt slightly dizzy, but he found he didn't care much. He seldom cared.

Kougu chuckled feebly, before reaching out an arm to shove her playfully, only to stagger sideways himself. Apparently trying to shove somebody when you could barely balance didn't work... New discovery... "I'm fine." He replied quickly. "It was just a tree." He infromed her matter-of-factly. He had run into much worse things... and much faster. All the same, he did have a killer headache... Usually he'd have stopped to heal himself, but he just couldn't be bothered. "All the same," Be began, suddenly continuing on the tops he'd been speaking on before as if nothing had happened in between. "Shouldn't you at least let him know you're okay? I did promise I would let him know if I found you..." He drifted off into silence, staring thoughtfully ahead as he continued to run.

Kougu joined in with the laughter. "With you as a sister, who can blame him?" He teased, cuffing her playfully on the back of the head. He grinned at her for a moment, then suddenly stopped dead, glancing around. "This reiatsu..." He began. His eyes widened with fear and for a second he held the look of a deer caught in headlights. Suddenly, he grabbed his head and bent double as pain exploded through his skull, redoubling again and again as he tried to resist it. When he had it under control for one moment, he lunged at Failure. "Get away from me!" He yelled, shoving her roughly. "Now, go! Hurry!" He dropped to his knees, clutching his head and breathing heavily. His nails pressed in harder, then suddely relaxed completely. He climbed gracefully to his feet and dusted himself off, a slight smirk curving his lips. "I know you're there, Aizen!" He yelled, his voice deep and rough, a sense of cockiness showing in all his movements. "Why don't ya get your ass out here and face the music, huh?" He jeered. Suddenly, Kougu spun around, drawing the silver dagger with unbelievable speed at the same time to block the blade of a sword that came crashing down as the other Shinigami attacked. Massive black sword and tiny silver dagger were locked in a lethal embrace as the Shinigami replied, "Not Aizen - Kanda. He sent me. I'm here to kill you." The Shinigami slashed his sword free and pointed it at Kougu, then screamed the words to release it. Kougu swung his dagger, then let it drop to his side. His opponents attack melted into thin air an inch before hitting him, the wind of it ruffling his hair. Though it seemed he had not attacked at all, Kougu had already won. "You should have known better." Kougu informed the shingami with a shrug, stepping forward and walking onwards with a determination as though he was sure he could walk through his apparently uninjured opponent. But the mane was already dead on his feet. Suddenly, his body split in half. Blood gushed up to the sky, staining the moon in crimson before falling like a gentle mist. It stained Kougu's pale skin to a blood red as he walked between the two falling halves of his opponent, his feet vanishing in the thick pool of blood gurgling on the ground. "You're next." He said with a demonic grin, pointing the dagger threateningly at Failure, a sickening sense of jubilance on his face. He pulled back the dagger but, as he was about to swing it down, his one arm grabbed his other. His eyes slid out of focus for a moment and he pressed his own hand against his chest. He muttered a quick incantation, and the light vanished from his eyes completely. He crumbled to the ground, rigid and frozen, his dark eyes staring blankly at the sky above.

Kougu stayed stiff, unable to move. Suddenly, his hand twitched. His arm slowly moved upward, stiff and rigid, twitching every so often as he fought against his own kidou. Finally, his arm bent and his hand touched hers, still stiff and tense, yet as he felt her hand in his, his muscles instantly relaxed. His hand closed softly around hers and he finally blinked, his eyes coming back into focus as he turned his head to look at her. "Failure...?" He asked softly, squinting up at her. "Are you okay?" He asked softly. "I didn't-" He broke off with a gulp, suddenly seeming terrified. He propped himself up into a sitting position. "I didn't... Hurt you, did I?" He asked, his voice shaking. His hand trembled weakly as he reached it out toward her. It was ironic... He could be so powerful, yet at the same time so weak and feeble...

"Scared myself, too." He whispered softly, reaching over to stroke her hair gently. "I thought I'd-" He broke off, shuddering slightly. "We should get out of here." He said suddenly, his relaxed muscles tensed again and he removed his hand, drawing his dagger out of his pocket and clutching it comfortingly. He slowly propped himself up, then got to his feet and held out a hand to her. "They'll hear about this soon." He explained, glancing toward the bisected shinigami. He pulled his shoulders up to his ears, then dropped them down again to repress a shudder.

Kougu grabbed her shoulders to steady her, then quickly released her again. "I'm Kougu." He replied simply, his tone completely emotionless, his expression unreadable. He struggled to bite back the bitterness that leaped to his surface. It was a painful word to live in when one could barely bear to speak their own name. He looked down, kicking at the dirt and watching his own feet. His name could always bring up awkward questions... Questions he could answer. Didn't want to answer... No, it was more than that. He could not speak of it... Not ever. If he even thought about it too long he would lose his temper and if he lost his temper, he was likely to lose his mind.

Kougu glanced up in surprize, watching her with a faint sense of bewilderment. What was she doing...? He shook his head, glancing away as he dismissed the thought. It was an awkward moment, and he was in no hurry to let it drag out. Instead, he threw her an incredulous glance. "What's ba-" He broke off, shaking his head. "Like you don't know..." He muttered bitterly, his clenched fists shaking with supressed rage. He bowed his head, struggling desperately to keep his cool. It was so hard... He wasn't sure he could do it. He grabbed his lip in his teeth and bit down hard, not releasing it even after the drops of blood began to fall.

Kougu, waved his hand in front of his face, causing the blood to vanish. "You don't understand..." Kougu mumbled, gently taking one of her hands and pushing it away. "That's all I am. A tool. A weapon. The only reason I'm here is to be used by one person... To do his bidding." Kougu quickly began to shake with rage, barely able to contain himself. "I'm just his puppet!" Kougu yelled angrily, his temper suddenly flaring and shattering. He pushed Failure away and slammed his clench fist into a tree with all his might. It left a large dented imprint in the solid wood and when he pulled it back it was completely shattered, the bones likely as not reduced to a powder. He did not react, simply leaned his head against the tree, shaking violently.

Kougu tensed, shrugging off her hand. He banged his head against the tree, just sofly knocking it at first. The pain felt good... Kougu bashed his head harder against the tree again, then a third time. He stumbled backward, his head pounding, half the skin of his face ripped off. He clapped a hand to his face, blood streaming from between his fingers. Suddenly, he couldn't stop himself. He grabbed his dagger, brandishing it as he advanced toward her. He lunged for her, about to stab her through the heart, but at the last moment, he regained control, instantly twirling the dagger around. It stabbed deep into his heart as he stumbled forward the final stride toward her, wrapping his good arm around her neck. Blood poured from his chest, staining his clothes from the chest down, his face bleeding over his upper body. "Sorry." He forced the single word out, blood spilling from his mouth at the same moment he collapsed against her, his blood pouring down as the hole in his chest gradually widened, the flesh corroding away from the dagger. He was a tool... Meant to serve one person... Meant to self-distruct before putting that person's secrets at risk.

Kougu's head flopped limply back. The flesh corroding away from the stab wound had stretched further now, exposing his ribs. The dagger was vibrating now, a noise coming from it. A noise so high pitched that it could not he heard. The engravings on the blade began to glow brightly as the weapon continue to scream. Kougu's body began to glow, an eerie silver-blue light emanating from it. Gradually, his body began to dissolve into spirit particles, destroyed by his own weapon which still ate away at his flesh in the combined suicide. On the wielder's command, the weapon had destroyed itself and its wielder. Yes for Kougu, he was simply being tossed aside. A powerful weapon that went out of control and had to be destroyed before it became dangerous to its maker. Kougu's eyes stared unseeingly up at the sky. His heart visibly beating its final weak beats behind his exposed ribs. The bones themselves were beginning to corrode away now, turning into spirit particles as Kougu's dangerous existence neared its end.

Kougu took a gasp of air, grabbing her shoulder and weakly pushing her head away. "D-don't." He murmured weakly. "Please..." His face contorted in pain as he suddenly became aware of the fact that his innards were spilling out without flesh to hold them. He bit right through his lip, but the pain didn't subside. Struggling to hold back the scream of pain on his lips and cling to life at the same time, Kougu slowly raised his left hand and mumbled an incoherent incantation, barely able to force out the words. A large dome appereared over him, locking him away from Failure. Slowly, gradually, time within the dome began to reverse itself. A form of healing, in a way, but more powerful... More intense. The vampire blood left his veins in crimson ribbons which snaked their way back toward Failure as Kougu's own blood vanished from the ground, sinking back into him before his flesh returned. Finally whole once more, Kougu grabbed a handful of earth as though trying to hold himself down. "I used too much kidou..." He whispered softly, pressing his face into the dirt as though afraid to look at her. "I want you to run... I'll find you when it's safe." He spoke emotionlessly, but the single look he flashed her showed regret and apology before it descended into madness and he lunged toward her. Thankfully, that was when his kidou took effect. The most powerful way of binding he knew. Heavy iron pillars fell around him, encaging him and hiding him from view, though his maddened shouts could be heard echoing from within as he threw himself around like a caged beast.