Bleach: Ketsurui: Tragedy of Dawn

My Target
Black.

That's how anyone would've described it at the moment. Complete and utter darkness. But that would not last for long, as the man opened his eyes. The light that came to it was not much better than with his eyes closed. He tried to move but found his arms were tied.

"Where am I?" His thoughts seemed to echo in the dark room. "How did I get here?" All he could remember was getting struck in the neck and falling unconscious. There was a creak, and the door opened. A young girl with wavy drown hair and soulless red eyes entered the room, accompanied by a much older woman.

"W-who are you??" The man asked, a slight panic in his voice. "Why did you bring me here?!?"

The young girl smiled, and despite her face, the smile was not kind. "Do not worry." She said, in a mock soothing voice as she drew her blade. "Your body will be used for something far greater than you can possibly imagine."

"Wha-? Wait!" Those were his last words as the girl swung the sword down on him, and his blood splattered over her face.

"Aku." The girl spoke sharply to the woman. "Take him to be converted."

Despite the violence that had just taken place, the woman known as Aku had a rather nonchalant smile on her face. Her hands, though clutched and lowered in front of her in what seemed like a lady-like fashion, held a sheathed sword, with a bit of blood dripping at the tip. "Thank you very much, Senmei-chan." She stated politely, walking over to stand behind the corpse. Lowering her sword for a moment, she worked at untying the ropes that had bound their victim. "You see, work like this tends to get rather messy, and I'd rather not dirty my hands."

The one called Senmei chuckled. "Of course." She nodded and started to walk towards the door. "That Shinigami is near." She said, frowning. "I do not wish to engage in battle with her at this moment, so fortifying the barrier around this building is our next task. Let's go."

"Right behind you!"

After untying the ropes, Aku maneuvered herself to the front of the man. Bending over, she lifted the man up over her shoulders and hurried up to catch up with her comrade.

Outside, a female Shinigami was standing atop a telephone pole. It night and the full moon loomed over head. It was Rukia Kuchiki, fifth seat of the 13th Division, and a member of the noble Kuchiki Clan.

"I can feel them. My targets are here." She thought. "But their spiritual pressure is..muddled. I can't get a clear read. It seems I'll have to search for them." She vanished with Shunpo.

A new enemy
It was morning, and Ahatake was sitting on the porch. He sighed. His ex-wife and her families last visit was thick in his mind. It was...the only way to describe it for lack of a better word was fiasco. He chuckled. At least they were finally gone.

"Ah... that was some visit, hm?"

His own wife's voice rang in his ears. Her petite figure stepped from behind him, lowering herself to both her knees in a sitting position. She reached up and wrapped her arms around Ahatake in a gentle embrace, hugging him from behind. "Though, I have to say it went better than I expected..." She said softly. "I thought that she wouldn't be so happy to see me as your wife."

Ahatake chuckled again. "Knowing her, it didn't faze her one bit." Ahatake replied, moving a ltitle and placing an arm around his wife. "I just wish they'd teach that little brat some manners, but considering it's Tereya's kid, not much can be expected in that department."

At this, Megami put on a rather poutish look, but adjusted herself in order to allow his embrace. "You know, you weren't much better either, wanting to kill her..." She chided.

"Forgive me for not being as emotionally forgiving as you." Ahatake replied, still chuckling. "In my opinion the brat would have desrved to at least have been strung from a flag pole and left to hang there for a few days. Soap in her mouth wouldn't have done a thing."

"Oh, don't say such things!" Megami scolded playfully, reaching a hand up in order to gently slap him. "But, aren't you happy they're gone now? We have each other to ourselves. Not a thing to disrupt us..." She reached over to lightly grip his cheek, slowly turning his head in order to face her. Then, she placed a passionate kiss to his lips in order to emphasize the effect of their new solitude.

Before Ahatake could make any response at all, Aoi and Kyuui burst open the door, and it collided with Ahatake, sending him flying from the porch straight into the wooden fence.

A gasp came from Megami as she saw the two burst in, and she blinked in surprise for a moment. Kyuui's smile showed her obliviousness at first as she stepped through the door with her sister. "Hey-- OH MY GOD!!!" However, upon seeing Ahatake's crumpled up form, she performed a Flash Step in order to reach him, hands cupped to her mouth in worry. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry Ojii-san, I didn't know you were there, are you ok, did I hurt anything--" The questions seemed neverending.

Ahatake rubbed his head. "Damn..." He groaned, while Aoi appeared next to him, chuckling only slightly.

"Sorry Ojii-chan." Aoi said, not frantic like Kyuui.

Ahatake got up, and placed his hand comfortingly on Kyuui's shoulder. "It's alright you two, don't worry about it. Trust me, I have been through worse than colliding with a door."

That immediately stopped Kyuui's babbling, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Megami allowed herself to sit up, walking over towards the group and looking over the two twins. "What're you doing out here all of a sudden?" She asked quietly, hoping to keep Kyuui herself calm.

"We were going to pay Injiki a visit." Aoi replied. "Since Kibō-kun isn't a baby, perhaps we can play with him now."

"Ah..." With a slight nod of acknowledgment, Megami turned her look towards her husband, wondering if it was best to let them go off on their own. "You can go alone?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine." Aoi said, her long gray hair fluttering in the breeze. "This place hasn't had any trouble in what, over a century?"

"I'm just being cautious..." Megami insisted gently, raising a hand to put her fingers on her bottom lip in a gesture of uncertainty and pondering. "Just because there hasn't been any problem's yet doesn't mean that there won't be again. So I hope you two can take care of yourselves."

Aoi stood up on her tip-toes to kiss her step-grandmother on the cheek. "We'll be fine, Megami baa-chan." She said, smiling.

"If you insist..." Megami relented, smiling at the gift of assurance that she had been given. With the convincing successful, Kyuui turned to her sister, eager for a chance to "speak" with the young boy. "C'mon. Can't wait to see what Kibou learned while we were away!" She egged, grasping her sister's hand.

Aoi pulled on her sister's hand. "Yeah!" She took off at a run, with Kyuui right beside her.

Megami watched them, until they finally ran out of sight. "Have they always been so hyperactive?" She asked, though it was meant to be in a humored manner. In fact, such youth made her slightly envious, and even feel older then what she was.

Ahatake chuckled. "Yes they have actually." He said, wrapping his arms around Megami. "But it's something you get used to." He pressed his lips to Megami's, continuing where they had left off before Aoi's interruption.

Aoi was pratically bounding down the street. "Do you think Injiki is still gonna have the "he's sleeping" excuse?"

Thankfully, Kyuui had a firm grip on her, Aoi's motions almost causing herself to fall on her back due to her hold. "Are you really sure you want to address Injiki-san so informally?" She asked, giving her sister a chiding look. "And I'm sure he's not that mean."

"Injiki hasn't earned any formality from me." Aoi replied, grinning. "Besides, if Ahatake ojii-chan doesn't feel the need to address him with an honorific, I don't see why I should! You'd do better to emulate him to ya know."

"Ojii's a friend..." Kyuui insisted quietly. "And he's older than us. At least be kind enough to give him some respect..."

"Never gonna happen Onee-chan." Aoi trilled. "Just like I'm never gonna like that little brat that came over."

"...."

"I don't get what you like about her, but I agree with Ahatake ojii-chan that she needs to be put down."

"Would you stop that!!" Kyuui snapped, frustrated with her words. Immediately, she stopped in her tracks, forcing Aoi to stop with her. "I can't believe you'd say that like she's some sort of animal. I know you don't like her, but "putting her down"? That's going too far!" She couldn't help the rather hostile tone that came within her voice. She valued life, and the belief that everything deserved such was getting to her as much as Aoi's cruel words were.

"I'm just agreeing with what Ojii-chan said to me." Aoi replied. "If you have a problem, take it up with him." She kept walking. It was quite obvious however, agreeing with Ahatake or not, Aoi did not care for Mitsune at all.

That rendered Kyuui silent, but she couldn't help but direct a frustrated glare into her sister's back. "At least watch how you say it around me..." She insisted, retaining a quiet but still slightly irritated composure. "I happen to like Mitsune-chan, so it'd be nice if you kept it to yourself for the time being...?" At the end of her sentences, her tone was slightly pleading.

Aoi groaned, slight disgust in her tone. "Alright, but only since you asked." She said, as the reached the Injiki house and knocked.

''Rap. Rap. Rap.''

The first to come towards the door was the blonde-haired wife, who only needed to look down on the two in order to confirm their reasons. "Oh, do come in!" She chirped, stepping aside and allowing the two younger girls to enter through.

"Ohayō!" Aoi greeted cheerfully.

Kyuui allowed herself to step through, eyes searching around for the child. She could easily retain herself in an adult's presence, though she was still inwardly excited to see the child. It would take her mind off of what Aoi had just said to her earlier. "Nice to see you again, Kyashi-san. Where's Kibou-chan, if I may ask?" She tried her best not to show impatience. This seemed to satisfy Kyashi herself, as the blonde lifted a finger to point upstairs.

"Possibly nowhere else you're going to find him. Ryuka's up there with him..."

"Thanks Kyashi-san." Aoi said."C'mon, we already know Auntie is up there too." Aoi tugged at her sister's arm.

Kyuui, however, didn't need for such a manner in order to get herself moving up the steps. She even released herself from Aoi's grip in order to do so, following each step carefully. As she did so, she could hear Ryuka's voice speaking in a rather educating way, followed by Kibou's occasional voice as well as Midoriko's. It was the sound of the father teaching the son education that seemed mostly from the Shinnou Academy, which was reasonable considering that he had gotten his own education there.

The moment Aoi and Kyuui opened the door and entered the room, Midoriko looked up. "Oh. Aoi, Kyuui, hi!"

"Hello, oba-san..." Kyuui greeted, looking over at the family's direction. There, she saw Ryuka sitting cross-legged, holding up what looked like certain pictures that were rather detailed compared to regular kiddie pictures. Kibou was guessing what they were, sitting across from him on his knees. It seemed that the boy was guessing right, as Ryuka gave most of his answer confirmations with slight nods.

Aoi ran over and hugged the child excitedly.

At first, Kibou was noticeably startled by the action, the arms wrapped around his neck not being expected. However, he immediately relaxed upon seeing that it was simply a familiar presence. He blushed slightly, averting his eyes away from the girl that was hugging him. "Please don't hug me so tightly..." He stated quietly. "It's kinda embarrassing..." This made Kyuui smile a little, and even chuckle at his choice of words. Ryuka lowered the pictures for a moment, just so that their moment wouldn't get ruined.

"Sorry Kibou-chan, but the last time I was here, your dad wouldn't let me anywhere near you." Aoi said huffily. "His lame excuse was "he's sleeping"."

Midoriko chuckled.

"Oh, don't complain..." Ryūka retorted, closing one eye and looking over at his friend's granddaughter as well as his son. "You should be glad enough that I'm being nice enough to let you see him at all today." Of course, as long as the child wasn't busy (in his own little way), Ryūka would've willingly let the two see his child regardless of his mood. Even if he tried to bar them, all he would get was a scolding from Kyashi on how not to be so selfish.

"Feh, I'd come in to see him anyway Injiki." Aoi replied, a mixture of rudeness and amusement in her voice. "'Sides, it's only fair if Aunti and see him and be around like 24-7."

Midoriko chuckled.

"Only because I can't get rid of her." Ryūka answered, unphased by the display of rudeness. He had to admit her bravery for speaking to him in such a manner - gutsy children were few and very far between. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Ahatake simply sent her over for us to look after." It was a lie, of course. He doubted Ahatake would just dismiss Midoriko like that. At least she wasn't the spoiled brat that she had been back then...

"You already know why I'm around." Midoriko groaned, which befitted her teenage appearance. "I'm waiting for my Kibou-kun to get older so I can marry him, assuming he likes me back. And why complain? I'm like an unpaid babysitter."

"Kyashi's not going to let you do that."

"Yes she will." Midoriko replied. "As long as Kibou-kun loves me in return. If not, then she won't, and I tortured multiple people to get this form for no reason."

"....what?"

That immediately wiped off the calm expression off of Ryūka's face, and the replacement was slightly shocked eyes gazing over at the eldest Kurosaki. Kyuui herself had abruptly turned her head towards Midoriko, disbelief etched on her own face. Tortured multiple people? They each were thinking about what she said, dumbfounded. Ryūka managed to gain his composure back, stating his thoughts in sound form. "...excuse me?" He repeated again.

"Hm?" Midoriko looked at them. "Did I say that? I meant, did favors for multiple people."

"That's what I thought you said." Ryūka commented, a rather warning tone in his features. If she was going to do such "favors" in the future, not only would Kyashi stand in her way, but Ryūka himself would gladly oust her from Kibou's life. He refused to have a killing influence on his own child's mind, as well as having him grow up around such a sadistic. Kyuui stared at Midoriko for a minute more before turning back to where they were.

Midoriko read Kyuui's face. "Don't worry Kyuui. No lasting harm was done to any one involved, I assure you."

Aoi frowned. "KyUui's too gentle." She frowned. "Not sure why she would care what you do to complete strangers. I sure don't."

"Everything deserves a good life..." Kyuui answered softly, allowing herself to sit down on the floor cross-legged. I find it selfish and wrong to just manipulate other people for your own good, even if it is for something such as love. I'm not like Aoi or Ojii-san, who'd gladly agree for someone they simply don't like to die."

Midoriko smiled. "And that's what makes you special Kyuui-chan. Perhaps you'll be the one to turn the family around. Who knows?"

That allowed Kyuui to smile gently at Midoriko, glad to hear such words. "Thanks, Oba-san." She replied politely.

"Oh, that reminds me, have you all heard of the man that went missing yesterday?" Midoriko asked, pulling a newspaper out of her pocket with the man's picture plastered over it.

That immediately took Kyuui to surprise once more, as well as Kibou (who happened to resume a bit of the picture education with Ryūka). The father himself, however, didn't seem too surprised as he watched both his son and the white-haired girl to look upon the paper with speculation. "No..." Kyuui stated hesitantly. "Well... I think I have, but I never paid much attention to it. Why's he missing?"

"No one knows." Midoriko replied. "He just vanished, without a trace."

"Couldn't it have just been a Hollow?" Aoi suggested.

"Possibly. But there would be blood somewhere from the attack I'm sure.."

"It was probably a Hollow..." Ryūka commented calmly. "Attacks like this happen quite often. It could've been possible that the guy was simply swallowed whole. There are creatures capable of doing that..." Though he could consider it only to be a guess, Hollows came in all shapes and sizes, more noticeably the Adjuchas.

"True. But wouldn't someone have felt that immense spiritual pressure?" Aoi asked.

"Not if there are other spiritual pressures around. Our whole families energy is vast and Hollow-like. If Ryūka is right, and it was a Hollow, it's very possible we missed it merely because of our own spiritual energies."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Ryūka added. "The Shinigami have been well-alerted if we have. They'll be out sending patrols to deal with it. Hollow like that are far weaker than the captain's level, so it'll be quickly disposed of."

"Alright." Midoriko replied, folding up the paper and throwing it into the the far-off trash-bin. Aoi pinched Kibou's cheek, smiling. "I hope Kyashi-san does let Kibou-chan marry Auntie. I'd love for him to be part of the family."

Although he winced at the contact, Kibou didn't mind the touch to his contact. "Yeah, me too..." He commented, smiling a little at Aoi.

Midoriko smiled, though she was not sure whether Kibou was agreeing to the former, latter or both. Aoi's stomach growled.

Unconsciously, this made Kyuui blush slightly, covering her mouth with both hands out of embarrassment for her sister. Ryūka himself looked over at the child. "I suppose you're going to stay over for dinner? If you are, then you're a bit too late... the family just ate." He said casually, setting aside the pictures for the moment to fold his arms within his sleeves.

"Thanks Injiki, but Kyuui and I can go out to eat." Aoi replied, setting Kibou in Midoriko's lap. "It'll be like a date."

"Yeah..." Kyuui decided to agree with her sister, allowing herself to stand on her own two feet once more. "It was nice meeting you again, Ryūka-san, Kibou-chan!" She added as a last afterthought towards the family.

Aoi kissed Kibou's forehead, and smiled. "My best hopes for you and Auntie." She said as she walked out, Kyuui following.

Old Friends
"I'm starting to think that there's more to this than just a Hollow attack."

That was the first thing Kyuui said when they entered the outside once more. Strangely, despite it being night-time, it was actually quite peaceful. The moon was full, its light making the city even more radiant than in the day. Sadly, there weren't many people that were out other than Aoi and Kyuui themselves.

"Me too..." Aoi replied. "Our similar energies or not, Ojii-san could have detected a Hollow in a matter of minutes. There's something more to that man's disappearance.."

"Disappearance?" Rukia Kuchiki was near, and had overheard the last part of the conversation. "It...it can't be..!"

"DO you have any theories, Onee-chan?" Aoi asked.

"From what Oba-san had said, people with immense spiritual energy would be capable of blocking out a weaker energy from sense." Kyuui said, looking thoughtful. "Either we couldn't sense it past our own energy... or there were other people with him when he went missing. Either he was kidnapped... or killed..." Upon the last word, she looked a little resentful upon saying it. She hoped that the man didn't get killed...

"Maybe." Aoi said, but before she could add anything else Rukia Kuchiki appeared in front of them, her face set.

One would think it would be Kyuui to act rationally. A simple startled expression, followed by a few words, nothing less. However, one would also have to understand that in the dead of night, there was the possibility of anything happening. Night time was when the danger prowled the most, where activity of the citizens was nullified. It was doubtful that even Aoi would assume that Kyuui would do what she did next. There was no pause, no warning, and no hesitation.

Without a hint, Kyuui attacked the Shinigami in front of her.

With a quick unsheathing of her reverse blade, she swung it diagonally at her believed assailant, the blow enough to damage the rib-cage if it connected.

Rukia halfway drew her blade, metal on metal clashing. "Sheathe your blade girl, I mean you no harm. I merely have a few questions I need to ask you."

Now it was a swordlock. Kyuui refused to allow herself to budge by any means. But the lock was tentative. She wasn't really aiming to put forth her full strength due to the Shinigami's words. However, she wasn't so easy to trust a stranger with an order like that. ""Gomen nasai...." She stated, looking without hostility into Rukia's eyes. "But you're going to have to answer mine first... for one, I won't trust a stranger so easily...." That was prompting the woman to give her name out.

"Or at least, a rude one..." Kyuui added as an afterthought, smiling a little.

Rukia frowned, and jumped back, sheathing her sword. "A stranger? Of course, I should have introduce myself. My name is Rukia Kuchiki, 5th seat of the 13th Division."

"5th Seat...?" Kyuui repeated the statement in a curious manner, even as she sheathed her own blade. "Ok... Rukia-san... but you must've hid your power if that's the case... forgive me if I'm wrong, but if your reiatsu is that of a 5th seat's, then I should be able to overpower you with my reiatsu alone. As it is, I'm assuming you're even with a Lieutenant's..." Taking her hand off of her hilt, she held it out in an explaining manner. "But, I'm taking this away from the point... you were looking around because of the missing person, right?"

At these words, a figure appeared above one of the houses, shrouded in the darkness and looming over their heads.

"Ukitake-taichō." Rukia thought, immediately recognizing the energy. "Yes." She replied to Kyuui. "I believe he may be tied to the very reason I am here. Can you tell me anything that you know about his disappearance?"

"I donno...." Kyuui said hesitantly, frowning a little in thought. "The only conclusion I could ever come to was that he would be either kidnapped or dead. Can't say who'd want to take a guy like that, or why they would do it. Though... I can also say that there's more than one person that did it, too. The rest you'd have to figure out yourself, Socho-san."

"You're right.." Rukia murmured. "From the reports we have on that man, he wasn't particularly threatening. He had little to no spiritual energy, and no enemies that we know of...why would someone kidnap him?" She sighed. "I can't make any sense of this..." She looked up at the building. "Ukitake-taichō, I have new information sir!"