With Recovery Comes Resolve -Self-

[Gouriki]

'I couldn't beat him... he was still alive when I lost conscious... I couldn't beat him, this is so... so... I couldn't...' Gasping his fists during his walk through this darkness, not a shred of light had been seen through this place, a place where everything seemed to be blurred and the only saving grace was silence, though silence had its limits, no one enjoyed eternal silence.His body was floating through this abysmal hole, the gaping darkness made nothing seem more apparent to him then his defeat at the hands of a creature who was far superior to him. His eyes closed, clenched fists had made a large gripping motion, as his head lowered with great depression, his eyes opening slowly. 'This feeling... something I've never felt before... something that has made me weak, something that can't be explained... what is it?'

He closed his eyes once more, beginning to blink, time had slowed drastically, beginning to walk down this path with little to no signs of Gouriki's bubbly and ready to strike anything nature, his always determined face turned into a purely dreaded hold of absence and underlining darkness, from his own self-doubt and lacking resolve. had he given up totally, where was he, in his own state of mind, dead, or was he within the in-between of this, he didn't care, all he knew was that he had lost an important battle, and now, he had probably cost people their lives, what hope was he for their futures, the "Great Gouriki", reduced to ashes of his former self.

'This feeling... i finally know what it is... a feeling of... a feeling of... despair...' He had whispered to himself, his eyes going forward, walking further and further forward, his fists gripping even tighter than before, blood dripping from the skin, from the strain of his muscles, as he dropped to his knees and looked up, his eyes closed. 'Why, why does this feeling come to me?! WHY?!' A large scream had echoed through the darkness, to its core, nothing could be found, nothing could be seen, and nothing could guide him to his finale, his eternal rest, to his fate... was he truly dead.

"YOU IDIOT!" A smashing slap came to his face, as he had opened his eyes fully, watching the side of the wall, of which had came into his vision, a screaming mother... his mother would begin to shake him repeatedly with her hands clenching his shirt, screaming at him with repeated words of anger. He was surprised, his body was bandaged pretty well, tied tightly and securely, thanks to numerous injuries and much bleeding from the three large scars made on his body.

He arose his eyes to his father, who stood with much disappointment to his eyes, his mother began to cry into his chest. He had only watched, having no words to say, how long had he been sleeping, it would seem he would get his answer a nurse coming in and beginning to speak to his parents and then to him.

"Hello, Gouriki, you finally woke up, huh? I'm surprised, that's some spirit you must have, normal people would of died from your injuries, exhaustion, and blood-loss, not to mention body starvation..." Gouriki, watched her with a stinging sensation coming from his body, one eye closing as the pain had come over him, his mother steal crying, as he watched her.

"M-mom, it's OK... I'm fine, see, I am alive." He started to talk, with a large smile on his face, his father would soon punch him very hard, although he was injured, the nurse held her arms towards her body tightly, in shock to this.

"You aren't OK, you fucking hear me, Gouriki?!" He said gripping his shirt as he punched him once more, and held him with one hand. "What the hell could of happened that you would have these injuries, huh? Answer me!" His father screamed in anger, pushing him back to the bed as soon as Gouriki turned his eyes, he looked back to him, and frowned. the nurse looked back, to see the doctor who had taken care of Gouriki during his sleep had come and smiled.

"Well, you did survive, hm? That's very good, you have quite the strong will young man." Gouriki only closed his eyes and took his time to speak once more. "How long, have I been sleeping?" The doctor gestured, his hands in his pockets as he looked out the window to his bedside, and sighed. "A day, twenty-four hours, whatever you name it, it's been that long."

Gouriki pestered a bit, and looked back to his parents, who were still angry, but not as much so, he said nothing to them, and a she looked back to the doctor, the nurse had left, and the doctor had sat at his bed side. "Gouriki... I want you to tell me, how did you get those injuries... those weren't normal injuries, hell we can't even see those scars healing well from the amount of punishment you took." He said watching Gouriki within his eyes to tell if he were saying the truth.

"Gouriki, tell the truth to the doctor, how did you get those scars?!" His father said bellowing, his mother only watching, with a depressed look, her eyes full of tear trails, however Gouriki would only lay back down, and not say a word, his father getting angry once more, before the doctor had stopped him. "Let the boy rest, maybe he will tell us later, however there is no point in hitting him anymore, plus as you can see he must be exhausted..."

His father only sighed, and then placed his fist down, after he had nodded. "OK..." The doctors eyes only closed and nodded, Gouriki had drifted into sleep after two hours, eating some liquid foods, and drinking water, he had decided to rest his body.

Within his "dreams" it was non-stop tormenting from the monster that he had fought, his eyes opening four times during his supposed sleep, not having any basic appreciation for this nightmarish tone. He only decided to stay awake, his eyes closed yet his body awoken, entering into a sort of trance, after the fifth time of trying to sleep, he had only stared to the ceiling.


PART ONE -END-

[Gouriki]

He had seen the flowers given to him after two days in the hospital, his friends had came to visit hi mas well as a few of the teachers, who knew of his "exploits". He had drifted from talking to just sitting and not saying a word, totally unlike the true Gouriki who was always one to talk and be happy. He had to rethink himself something less than he was, for this battle had messed with not only his psyche but his entire world as he knew it. Was boxing not the answer, was there something more, one thing was for sure, Gouriki didn't know what would happen down the road but it would seemingly be very, unhappy at his current state.

He was thinking, he couldn't stop fixating himself to the fact that he lost, not knowing the full reason why, though he could only see himself being weaker, and that was the true reason. The fact that he lost didn't affect him as much, but the fact he was "weak" still remained. All that training, all that preparation to fight, and he saw something... a shadow in his path, something covering him with pure, perfect darkness, an enemy that placed him within a perfect hypnosis of his own design.

After a while of looking out the window thinking to himself. He had seen something, his body had healed with his injuries seemingly dissipating, though the scars did not, they did close, he thought however that they would never become the same, and if this was the case, then Gouriki would keep it as a reminder that he would have to succeed himself and that a warriors curse is not that he had to become what he didn't wish to become, but how many scars would he be willing to have to know this.

the scars were on the middle of his nose (covering his first scar), on his chest and stomach and at his knees, all three of these scars would represent that creatures power. So he had decided to not get rid of them as a result. A day later, Gouriki felt fully healed and rested, the doctors astonished at his healing rate though wanted him to stay in the hospital, taking off his cast yet keeping him in bandages. However, Gouriki had his own plans.

Sneaking out of the window of the hospital, Gouriki had decided to move on his own, and try to figure out what he needed to accomplish. After hitting the ground, he felt his fists, and looked to the scars on his knuckles before talking to himself. "Maybe boxing isn't the only answer... a warrior should follow his own way, yet that doesn't mean he needs a path... maybe I need to open my mind to all roads?" He whispered, beginning to take off his bandages, throwing them in the nearby garbage, can, yet keeping the bandages on his nose and side of his cheek.

"Mom... dad, I'll come back to you later, but for right now, I need my own time to think, this battle has made me realize just how insignificant I am in this world..." He said to himself, beginning to run, his fists tightening as he scurried forward at incredible speed, running as fast as he could, beginning to move at such a speed, most people couldn't tell who he was to begin with.

Stopping on the border of Karakura Town, he sighed and looked down the rocky steep over the pat of trees, a river and such most likely connected to the river within the park. He sat and watched the rocks, for moments, sighing to himself as he chuckled. "Feels good to be out of that place..." He began to speak to himself, and after a while of looking began to practice his punches, left, and right over and over again, his eyes closed as his legs moved with the flow of motion with his fists and feet, over and over moving again, as he shadow boxed the air.

He began to think about the thrill of the old movies of martial arts he watched and had examined looked deep within himself for the answers he sought. "A warrior must cut their own path, never following the path of someone they know, because that path may not be the correct path..." He had hear, that one line from one of his favorite movies, "Fist of the Iron Dragon", a movie of which showed the effects of many different styles polished together from a string of martial arts, which the protagonist had perfected for his own line of skills, and then he thought about it.

"That is what I must do, Boxing is a style with set rules and regulations, I follow those regulations to the book, but why? Because, they are apart of my life, however, no more..." He grinned and then made a pose, doing a swift upward kick to the air, showing a dizzying sort of nimbleness, due to his enhanced skills and acrobatic sense. "No style is left behind, from this moment on, I shall create my own unique style!" His resolve had finally shown, his kick staying airborne, as he huffed and nodded.

"Time to study, some martial arts..." He said to himself, leaping down the waterfall, the water splashing as he hit the bottom of the river, and grinned. He had made his will, and now his advancing had been set from such a common style, to creating a mastering style of his own.

PART TWO -END-