Bleach | The Hungering, the Thirst [HIATUS]

1 | Whoms't Arrives on Scorching Winds

[Rewrite: 11/30/20] Above is a drawing of my original character concept (it is not a final design but it's pretty close). Just a head's up that the drawing is my own so please do not steal it. Thank you!

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A lone figure rode atop a lumbering bull, pushing through the morose slums of the Rukon District beneath the dry lick of an unforgiving sun that had followed them far from the east across endless desert and harsh mountainous terrain.

Wooden shack gave way to more permanent residence the closer they came to the center of the large settlement of souls. The Seireitei loomed like a great white beast up ahead. At the Shōryūmon entrance, a disagreeable giant waited, wiry black hair caught like a tattered flag in the dry winds. He was without a haori to keep the heat off his broad back but like a dutiful dog he did not sway from his watch when the stranger approached.

"Who dares go there? You will not get past me," rumbled the Gate Keeper, teeth bared in warning and a burly hand at the ready around the handle of a Zanpakutō.

The bull's hooves scuffed at the barren dirt when it's rider pulled at the reigns. Their face was concealed under a dust-clad scarf but from it two fiery opal eyes gleamed. "Relax, I'm expected, Kaiwan, keeper of the Blue River Gate. Perhaps I am familiar to you," and as they spoke they removed the concealing garment to reveal a woman with a tanned, weatherbeaten complexion dappled with a constellation of freckles that traipsed down beneath well worn traveller's robes. Dark locks of tousled, haphazard hair tore free from the scarf to frame a strong face where an old distinctive scar cut down vertically across the right of her forehead and up from the left of her hardened jaw.

No recognition crossed Kaiwan's mind, eliciting a weary a sigh from the woman's lips. 'This oaf has the memory of a goldfish.' She dug through her robes for something which she pulled out and chucked towards him. The Gate Keeper snatched it from the dehydrated air, already aware that the item was a wooden pass from the feel of it digging into his large palm.

"Never mind," she said, bitter. "Just open the gate."

With an approving grunt, Kaiwan did as asked without further question, satisfied enough with the legitimate token. In one go, the giant forced open the two monumental doors into the Seireitei, pushing against the weight of the humongous slabs of stone with enough force to make his veins burst. Slowly, they parted. On the other side it seemed that a small procession had gathered.

"About time, I thought you were supposed to be here three days ago, kid," greeted a stubbled man donning a straw kasa that kept the sun from his rugged visage. A bright pink kimono robe was layered over his white captains haori despite the unbearable climate.

Hesitating for a moment, the woman unmounted and guided the beast of burden behind her past the entrance which promptly shut once she was clear of it's shadow. She did not expect anyone to be waiting for her here, let alone in these merciless midday temperatures of summer.