Search for Kyūi Arc: The Hunt Begins

Their footsteps could be hearing echoing throughout the deserted hall as they walked. Anton, along with Achilina, had apparently arrived at their destination, and were navigating through a hall that twisted and turned, and when they approached a fork in the road, took the left route.

"When did he have the time to construct this?" The girl said irritably. "I hate all this walking. He could have just installed a lift that moved from place to place and required a password or DNA sampling. It would have been so much easier!" She whined.

Anton placed a hand on his forehead, frowning. "He's never been known for taking the simple way out of anything. Besides, the exercise can't hurt you." As they approached a titanium door, Anton placed his hand to it.

"Recognized. Anton Jaeger, you are permitted to enter." A cool, female voice sounded throughout the hallway. Anton and Achilina simply stepped through the door as if it didn't exist and continued walking into a brightly lit room. On first sight, it looked comfortable. A few armchairs, several bookshelves, it looked more like a scholar's study than a hideout.

"Is he here?" Achilina asked, a note of impatience in her voice.

"Of course I'm here. Why wouldn't I be?"

From one of the bookshelves, a man stepped out from one of the bookshelf alleys, an open book currently held by the spine in his hand. His eyes jerked up from it, half-lidding. His eyebrows raised, and he gave a smile with his teeth showing. "Hiya, fellas...." He greeted, a smooth tone filling every word. "I take it the big brawl's over and done with?"

Achilina and Anton turned their attention to where he was, Achilina still looked irritated. "Yes." Anton said sourly. "I owe you cash by the way. Your kid sister was the one who finished him off."

"I told you before, Anton...." The man answered, readily holding out one of his hands for his winnings. The other one was still holding his book. "Betting anything against me is just going to be your economic suicide."

Anton took out a bag that was jingling with coins and threw it at Taiki, still with a sour look on his face. "On a different note, I expect you'll be having some company soon Taiki."

"Hm?" As Taiki caught the back, his ears perked up at the words. "Who?"

"Your daughter, Aoi I believe her name was? Your step-mother, and, apparently your wife." Anton counted them off on his fingers. "Your father was surprisingly adamant about not associating with you at all, and mentioned someone called Tereya, whoever that may be."

"I figured...." With that, Taiki closed the book and let out a small sigh. "Though, I can't say I'm surprised to see only a few of the family willing to come after me. But I guess they've finally accepted the fact that I just don't want to be associated with them anymore. The ones who are still trying to find me as well as her are just wasting their precious time."

Achilina chuckled. "At least things should get fun from here on out. It's been boring cooped up and doing nothing." With her excitement, Anton and Taiki could both feel her spiritual pressure beginning to rise.

"Don't get too excited, Achilina." Anton said cooly. "They'll be hard pressed to find this place, weil, it's kept under concealment even I have to admit would be difficult for myself to break. A few children and a Hollow won't be breaking in anytime soon."

That news immediately shot down the young girls good mood.

"I wouldn't get too relaxed...." Taiki commented, walking over towards the nearest bookshelf. He slid the book within its boundaries, apparently having had his fill of literature for the time being. "My family has an awfully annoying way of breaking boundaries and beating the odds when the time comes for it. One moment, the enemy thinks they're too relaxed, and the next moment, they're right on top of you! It kinda drives me mad just thinking about it...."

"Have you inherited any of that?" Achilina asked, her tone rather rude.

"'Course...." The man answered. "How else do you think I got so far? For people like that, some things just fall right into place like a automatic puzzle. I'm just one of the few who's willing to take advantage."

"So," Anton began, before Achilina could say anything else. "Their objective is the girl. What do you intend to do? Move her?"

"It all intends on how they get her." Taiki responded, folding his arms across his chest. "If anything, I could just have her stay and give them a big surprise. They've probably thought that I've corrupted her against her will, forced her to stay by my side."

Achilina chuckled darkly but said nothing more. Anton was smiling, but it was unknown if the smile reached the eyes hidden behind the shades.

Equipment
Aoi slid out of bed. It was well into the morning, though the sun was not yet shining over the Yūrei Ōkoku. Clouds were covering the area however, and the sky was suiting Aoi's mood. She walked into the bathroom, and began to brush her teeth. She poured water into her cup, gargled, and spat it out. She sighed and turned on the hot water in the shower. Might as well take one before setting out. She walked out of the bathroom, stripping out of her outfit and putting on a robe. Grabbing a rag, she stepped into the shower, closing the curtain. After a moment, she began singing, the song too fast to actually hear the lyrics, but it's tone was mournful, and it carried downstairs where Miharu, Megami, and Adela were sitting. The men of the house were apparently still asleep.

Megami was lying on the couch, hands folded across her stomach. Her ears were the first to pick up the song, eyes closing as she listened for a moment. Then, unconsciously, she began to hum to it, knowing the song from heart due to having heard it before.

Miharu's attention turned to the upstairs shower. "She's singing?" She asked, not paying attention to the obvious. "Who sings in the shower?"

"Don't be rude, Mi-chan...." Megami scolded gently, eyes still closed.

"I know, I know." Miharu said, sighing. "But, what is she going to do if she doesn't find Kyuui? What will she do if she finds Kyuui and Kyuui wants to stay with Taiki?"

"Miharu....Taiki stabbed Kyuui through the back in front of us. There's no reason she would possibly stay with him." Megami answered, her voice a bit incredulous at Miharu's words.

"I'm just saying it's a possibility." Miharu said, shrugging. "Maybe she will. Through mind control or of her own free will, it's a possibility. I hope Aoi doesn't react the wrong way if that happens..."

"...."

Noticing her mother's icy silence, Miharu ceased conversation with her, turning her attention to her sister-in-law. "Adela, what do you think about what I was saying?"

Adela took a sip of what seemed to be water, but it was glowing slightly. She frowned. "Aoi..." She took another sip, apparently choosing her words with care. "Doesn't deal with rejection well. Or when things do not go her way. She grew up rather spoiled, Taiki, Ahatake, Tereya, and myself generally giving the children anything they needed, training them to make sure they became strong. The last time Kyuui rejected Aoi, she just stopped."

"Stopped?" Miharu asked curiously.

"She became similar to a doll." Adela explained. "She just sat there, barely moving. We had to move her from room to room, put her in bed and things like that."

Immediately, this caused Megami's head to snap towards Adela, an expression of alarm. "You.... can't be serious....!" She protested. "That's just not.... normal! I mean, sure, depression does mean isolation from others, but you can't seriously be saying she willingly turned herself into a vegetable?!"

"I know it's not normal, but she did do it." Adela replied sadly. "Completely shut herself down of her own will. It was disturbing to see actually."

Immediately, Megami buried her face into the arm of the couch, forearms resting in front of her. "Just....great...." She muttered, clearly frustrated. "Two of our own family are potentially traitors and one of them could be possibly planning on committing suicide if things don't happen the way they want it to. Is there any way that we could be able to talk her out of it?"

"Not to my knowledge." Adela replied. "She's bent on getting Kyūi back. She's in love with her, and people do strange things when they're in love..." She trailed off.

Miharu frowned. "I have a real bad feeling about this..."

"I have a worse feeling...." Megami added regretfully.

Due to their discussion, they hadn't noticed the singing and the running water had stopped. Aoi must be out of the shower.

"Is it wise, now, to let her go on this search to find Kyūi?" Miharu asked, sounding worried.

"I doubt there's much we can do to stop her." Adela replied. "I'm going along, since I've been searching for Taiki for awhile. Unfortunately, he has a 'kill on sight' policy with me during times like this. He never has listened to me."

"Why not? You're his wife, aren't you...?"

"Yes, but I'm also an Arrancar." She said, laughing a mirthless laugh. "Taiki is the 'black sheep' of the family, the only one have an extreme dislike of Hollows. Due to Ahatake's influence, most of the family either deals with Hollows, has Hollow powers, or both. Taiki despises Hollows and seems to have a distaste of Hollow abilities as well." She flashed back to the time where he had pierced her in the stomach on a date, centuries ago, and told this to Megami.

"My God....!" Megami had to hold her mouth with both hands, shocked at the information. "W...why did you stay with someone like that?! You could've gotten yourself killed!!"

Adela let out a chuckle, as mirthless as her laugh. "I know, but I can't help it. I do love Taiki. But that's just another thing he hates. My unwavering attachment to him." She sighed. "I do wonder where Tereya and Ahatake went wrong with that boy."

"Did they have anything to do with your relationship with Taiki?"

"Well, Ahatake has only encouraged it." Adela said, smiling. "Though, that may be another reason for Taiki's dislike of me. When Ahatake found out I liked Taiki, he rather forced him to keep me. I'm grateful to him for that, but Taiki is just the opposite..."

So, it had been a bit of their fault as well.

But Megami wasn't one to point fingers. It was rude, pointless, and got no one no where. She continued with the questions, now curious to learn more about the relationship hers stepson had with the family. "I suppose that's a reason as to why he hates his father...." She concluded softly, eyes drifting down at the ground. "Guess it was the fault of both sides...."

"Taiki has more of a reason to hate Ahatake than Ahatake does to hate him." Adela went on. "Ahatake's never accepted Taiki's dislike of Hollows, forced him into marrying me, and, if I am right, favors Midoriko over Taiki."

It was a string of cruel facts about Ahatake Megami never knew. It was a really terrible feeling crawling across Megami's skin, eyes downcast in what seemed like clear sadness and disappointment. "Did you.... ever talk to him about it?" She asked, glancing over to Adela for a moment.

"Talk to whom?" She asked. "Ahatake? Or Taiki?"

"Well, I was talking about Taiki, but.... both can do, too...."

"Well, Ahatake was only supportive of my relationship, so he was already working in my favor." She said, swallowing the rest of the strange liquid in the cup. "However, after Kyūi and Aoi were born, Taiki became much more... I guess mellow is the word. He became more like a husband to me, and definitely like a father to them. Talking to him about past problems seemed pointless then."

"How did he act like he was towards you now? You seemed so.... perfect for each other, didn't you?"

"Ahatake obviously thought so." Adela replied, chucking the glass into the rubbish bin, where the tinkling of breaking china was heard. "I think so as well. I thought Taiki thought so after the kids were born, but, I'm beginning to think he loathes my very existence."

"What happened to make you break up?" Megami was now gazing at her with full attention, alerted by this new news.

"We haven't broken up. Taiki just enjoys pursuing items on his own agenda." Adela said simply. "This has got to be the second time he's done this, though last time he didn't kidnap one of the children. I'm not sure what he was planning on then, and I don't know what he's planning on now."

At this, Megami re-directed her eyes to the floor in a downcast manner once more. "Do you think he might be planning some sort of revenge?" She questioned. "I'd figure that would be one of the main reasons why he did it.... though, I don't have any idea why he would drag his own daughter into it, though...."

"You may be right, but I doubt it's as simple as revenge." Adela shook her head. "If he wanted to do that, he could have achieved that here. He's inherited Ahatake's power and Tereya's attitude, which, in my opinion, is a deadly combination." She frowned. "Though if that is what he's planning, we've got problems. Now that Ahatake is a mere soul, though a powerful one nonetheless, now is the time to strike..."

"We've got to go as soon as possible...."

They heard movement coming from the stairs, and they saw Aoi reach the bottom. She was wearing a fur hat, a pure white buttoned coat, as well as knee-high white boots. She looked up at them. "It's time..."

"Here we go...."

Taking a deep breath, Megami lifted herself off of the couch and looked over at Aoi. "We're all ready." She said calmly, arm resting on the arm of the couch as she sat on it. It would be a search for their dismantled family.... there would be the possibility that she would have to confront her stepson. But she had her own relatives with her. They were good to rely on, and that thought strengthened her resolve even more. They would succeed at their mission, no matter what the cost was.

Miharu looked up. "Would you guys mind if I tagged along? I could provide transportation and things like that. Who knows how long you'll be out there, and how far you'll have to go."

The mother nodded in affirmation. "Absolutely. I was just about to ask, anyway...."

Miharu smiled. "C'mon Aoi. We'll find Ōni-san together, and get your Kyūi back." Aoi smiled back at her. Miharu grabbed what appeared to be a piece of parchment, scribbled something down, and left it on the table. "Alright, let's roll!" She had a reason herself for wanting to find Kyūi. She had been kidnapped while Miharu was fighting Taiki. She was kind of obligated now.

"Aoi?"

Megami turned once more to look at the girl. She motioned for her to take the lead. "This was your wish. So, I think it'd be appropriate for you to lead the way." She said, giving an encouraging smile.

Aoi nodded. As they exited the building, she shot like a bullet down the street, the sun still not shining. Everyone else followed suit. The city was beginning to stir, possibly everyone else could feel the mass of spiritual pressure running through the realm. Due to their speed they reached the beach in no time, and kept running, right over the water.

"You don't think he's in the Yūrei Ōkoku?" Miharu asked Aoi. The white-headed girl shook her head. "No. I highly doubt he'd stay around here."

"Agreed...." Megami added in. As she ran, the slapping of her feet caused the water to splash against her legs. But she could've cared less at the moment. "He'd be a big dot on our sensing radars. There'd be no reason for him to stay within the city."

"That leaves so many places to search." Miharu said worriedly. "I guess we can cross out the Seireitei. There was too much destruction there, so, even if he had been there, he's probably gone now." Aoi nodded silently. "Knowing Tō-san, he'll choose a place where it would be difficult to find him. For all he know, he could be under this ocean. With our luck though, we'll find him."

"With luck...."

"This could very well end in failure." Aoi said sadly. "But I'm risking it."

Adela chuckled. "I know who she takes after."

"So, Kā-chan, what places have you check so far that we can rule out?" Aoi asked, not turning around.

"In all honesty, I haven't gotten far. I've check every inch of Yūrei for good measure, I've checked the Seireitei before the incident, I've even checked the World of the Living."

Aoi sighed. "So, what are the knowns places we can check?"

Adela started thinking. "Well, there are various Soul Societies for the various countries in the World of the Living. The Yūrei is merely a "Seireitei Expansion". The ones I know of are Aether, Britannia, Hemel, Yāolù, and I believe ShinKi as well."

"And he could be in any one of them...." Megami muttered grimly. "Where do we start?"

"There's also Hell..." Aoi murmured before anyone answered Megami's question. "The one place I doubt we can get into, since none of us is a Togabito...."

Miharu took it upon herself to answer her mother's question. "I guess it all depends on which Soul Society is closest to where we are now." She looked around for help. "So...which is?"

"Aether!"

Megami immediately answered it, remembering something. "Your friend Ezra had came from Aether to Yūrei, didn't he?" She asked rhetorically. "Well, he certainly couldn't have been willing enough to travel from the farthest Soul Society to the one we're in, so it has to be nearby!"

"Yes!" Miharu grinned, and she drew her Zapakutō. "Let's try and get there as fast as possible. Improvise, Kyūmu!" As she spoke these words, her blade vanished, and became a cloud large enough to seat more than the four of them. Despite having grown, she apparently still enjoyed childish modes of transportation. Miharu jumped on, and, to the surprised of Aoi, she did not fall through.

"C'mon, this'll get us there faster than walking!" Aoi followed suit, and jumped onto the cloud, turning her blank face to her mother and step-grandmother.

Immediately, Megami hopped on and sat herself onto the cloud, sitting on the lower part of her legs. "Good thinking, Mi-chan!" She complimented.

Adela hopped on last, eying the cloud suspiciously. "This thing will actually work?" She asked.

"Of course." Miharu said, grinning. "My Zanpakutō controls it. Now, I must ask you all to hang on, and not to scream." She positioned herself in an upright seating position on the cloud, gripping onto it, actions that were mimicked by the others. "Now, Kyūmu... to Aether!!"

The cloud, hearing orders from Miharu, immediately shot off faster than any of them could run, tearing across the water like a bullet, the force of the wind almost blowing them all off.

"So, what do we do when we reach Aether?" Miharu asked the group at large. "Anyone know what it's like?"

"I can only speak for myself!!" Megami explained, keeping her voice to a loud volume as to overpower the roaring of the winds and rushing of the water. "I haven't seen anything of Aether. But I have heard that it refuges souls that are of the North American nationality back in the World of the Living! It's just like the original Soul Society, with its population consists mostly of Japanese who have died in their country. I'm not sure about the other places, though...."

"Ah... North America." Miharu frowned for a moment. "Anyone know any English?"

"Before I answer...." Megami looked to her other companions, asking a quizzical eyebrow. "How about it? Anyone besides me know how to speak American?"

They all shook their heads. "I don't, but my Zanpakutō could probably let me understand them and speak their language if I need to." Miharu said, smiling. She loved her Zanpakutō since it was so useful.

Megami nodded her approval. "Good, good!" She exclaimed. "So we'll be doing the talking in the case that we need to!"

"Doesn't Tō-san speak different languages as well?" Miharu asked curiously. She had once heard her father rambling on about something in what he told her was German.

"Mhm! He knows German, and I think he also knows a bit of French. Though, I don't remember how he learned it...."

"Wow." Miharu said, her voice slightly full of awe. She noticed her cloud began to slow, and looked down. They were currently hovering over what seemed to be a ring of islands. "I think we're here."

"Let's head down and check it out...." Megami suggested. "Though, I don't know what's exactly down there. Neither again.... I doubt any of us do."

"Kyūmu, descend!" Miharu ordered and the cloud rapidly flew down towards what (from a bird's-eye view) appeared as the largest island. It pulled out of the dive neatly, and they all jumped off the cloud, which sealed itself back intoa blade for Miharu. They looked around the island, which was indeed large, and seemed fairly deserted. "So, where do we start?"

"I'm honestly not sure." Aoi replied quietly, looking around as well. "While we were in the sky, I counted about nineteen, maybe twenty islands in this region. We have a long search ahead of us, though it could be made easier by simply asking for directions."

Megami sighed heavily. "All right, then...." She looked around for a moment. "I'm sure there has to be some civilization around. We've got to find some sort of neighborhood first before we do anything. Not to mention, we don't want to act too out of place, here...."

"This island seems largely uninhabited." Aoi was speaking almost like a robot now. "I can't detect anyone within about 10 miles of us, though there are souls living on the farther side of the island. I suggest we head there."

The rather eerie tone caught Megami's attention. She looked over her shoulder, a concerned look coming over her. "Aoi..." She muttered, placing a hand onto the girl's shoulder. "Listen.... I know we're not close. But you've got to have some hope! We're going to find Kyūi and Taiki, rest assured! Even if we have to travel the ends of the world, she'll turn up."