Chapter 18. Darker presence

Somewhere at the Rukongai district...

A man, dressed in a modern suit, stood over a litter of tiny demons. All were grouped together, feasting on piles of freshly slained corpses inside the living room of an old house near the outskirts of the Rukon district near the soul society.

All furnitures were smashed into pieces, blood splattered everywhere from the floor and wall to the ceiling, windows and doors were shattered and covered, leaving them plenty of solitude they need to grow and mature.

With each bite they took, their muscles expanded into size and strength, and their monstrous facial characteristics became sharper and more distinguishable.

" That's right, my children. Feed now and grow stronger. I need you all as mightier as possible. By the end of the day, the spirit demon will act as the martyr and the god of death will soon rise." he said, fixing his glasses with a smirk on his face.

Then, he turned to face the beautiful nineteen year old girl with blonde hair. In the corner, sobbing in terror, she managed to break free from the torture from her home after witnessing eight beasts feeding without making themselves invisible. His terrifying smile appears on his face from darkness.

The little girl, desperately runs for her dearest life when one of the litters grabbed her ankle from the ground and tripped her, breaking her fragile face. She turned around and could see the man, not distant away from her home, walking towards her.

In panic, the girl struggled to wriggle herself free, but three of the other litters grabbed her arms and ankle. She tried to move her arms and legs, but they were too strong for her. Most civilians were shocked and frightened, thinking about the poor girl and wanted to help her, but they've realized they're no match for them.

"P...p...p... Please..... let go of me!", she sobbed and trembled as her tears feel uncontrollably from her cheeks. He chuckled and said:

"You won't get away from me, little girl. And now for My meal!! "

He grabbed her long hair and place it right in his chest near her, whilst the litters were setting her free to their `father`. She screams in pain as he grabbed her right towards him.

He simply ran through his fingers towards her neck until a certain amount of a beam like light stopped him at his tracks. He sensed that spirit energy as he turned around and saw Captain Unohana standing, a meter away from him and the girl, as if she's pointing finger at him. She then letting her finger down.

" Leve her alone and walk away like it never happened, Bezel. " she said, in an angry tone as she stepped closer. Bezel laughed and said:

" So, you expect me to leave my dinner for what? I don't beg for lazy-ass cunts, especially soul reapers like your kind, Retsu."

"Keep on insulting us, Bezel. Someday you won't be laughing at all when I'm done with you. "

" Very well, Retsu. If it's a death wish you want, then it's a death wish you'll get. My children, seize that bitch! Maybe she knows where she hid the boy."

Demons looked at her and charged at full force immediately, one by one. The first demon aimed for the head with his claws.

" Give us the boy, bitch! " they hissed in anger.

Without lifting her zanpakuto, she quickly tilted her upper body forward and punched the skull of one of the demon who tried to grab her face with its claw. Unohana saw another one carrying spiky chain with a lethal diminutive axe and aimed it on her. She was fast enough to dodge that attack. She, then `walked` over the chains and kicked the axe as it aimed its neck perfectly. She even kicked its head so hard, it flew through trees and rocks and landed somewhere.

DOOF!

" Oh Retsu, you've just wasted my meal. I should have eaten her the moment you interrupt_____. " he said without any reaction, but got distured.

" You talk too much. That's all you can do! ", She said as she chanted ;

{ BAKUDO 4 : HAINAWA }

A pale yellow energy rope appeared from the palm of her hand and entangled the little girl's arm. She would pull her towards her, away from Bezel's cruel grip.

Bezel was shocked to the core, but at the same time smirked at her. However, she didn't show any sign on bluffing at him.

{ BAKUDO 37 : TSURIBOSHI }

Unohana activated a sphere blue energy, in which transformed into a giant net, in which the girl landed safely, in which wiped the smirk on Bezel's face. In anger, two other demons went in to take the girl. Unohana took out her zanpakuto and, in superspeed towards the first demon and grabbed it by it's neck. She then pinned another demon to the wall of the other house as she dealt series of slashes on both of them, detached they're heads from their necks and dug each of their eyes like a skewer and threw them onto Bezel.

The little girl, slowly went to the ground and began to kicked one of the dead demons and spit on it, in which the energy rope disintegrated into nothingness. He clapped his hands, wiped one of the bloody eyes and said :

" Bravo, Retsu! Heck, you remind me of someone. He was as bloodlusted as you were."

" What's your problem, Bezel? Killing innocent lives won't bring him back."

" You still don't get it, do you? Yato will soon rise again. Once the spirit demon is sacrificed, the god of death himself will purify the entire realms without any single mistake. It also includes to annihilate the celestial dragons and the seven deities. By then, nothing can stop him. "

" You're as delusional as Kazumi."

" That's because you're too young to understand this, Retsu. How about I made you a deal. Either the easy way: You bring me the girl and walk away like it'll never happen."

" If I refuse?"

" Then, I'll let my children to deal with you. That's the hard way. Choose wisely, Retsu. What will it be? "

" Ma'am, please don't let them take me. I saw what he did. " the little girl said in her tiny voice after screaming and sobbing from the terror she witnessed.

Then, Unohana breathes a heavy sigh and looked at the little girl. She could see the terror in her eyes. Sympathetically, she turned to Bezel and said :

" My only vow is to protect the innocent souls and my job is to heal the wounded. Nobody chose me to be the captain. I did! Nobody chose me to be the soul reaper. I did! But to think about giving her to you, I'd rather kick your ass than using the innocent souls as lab rats for your children. Keep on dreaming if you even think I'll tell you where the spirit demon is and it's Captain Unohana to you."

Bezel remained silent after what Unohana had said to him. The little girl glanced at her in amazement, realising that she was, in fact, a soul reaper. He clicked his own tongue and shook his head.

" Oh my dearest Retsu. If you want to play the hard way, it's fine by me - the hard way it is."

He snapped his fingers and eight more demons appeared and were circling around, preventing her from escaping. The little girl went behind her as they have nowhere to go.

"Have a nice day, ladies. I'm out of appetite anyway. " he said as he disappeared from the blink of their eyes. Unohana looked around and said to herself :

' I guess I have to take care of these guys myself. '

As one demon went in full charge, Unohana swung her zanpakuto to its chest and began attacking another one. By then, a heavy collision occurred, despite Unohana being outnumbered by eight demons.

~~~~~~~

{ ICHITARO'S POV }

Miles further from the soul society.....

" It's 2pm already. We need to find shelter fast." said Yoshimura as she looked at her phone, showing the time :

«19/11/04»

« 2:01 pm »

" I hope so. We have to wait until Shikamaru is done healing Rukia. Then, we'll find an abandoned house near by. Besides, it's a little early and the sun hasn't set yet. I suggest we should wait for a little longer. Don't forget we'll be starving soon, if we can't find enough food. So , we'll gather enough food for today." Renji said.

He could see a pale green light flashing towards Rukia's stomach, revealing how hard Shikamaru had worked, using his cards to heal her wounds. Yoshimura sat next to Rangiku under the tree, whilst Ichitaro was distant away from them. He stared at his hand after what happened at the abandoned mine shaft. After Rukia's brutality, he couldn't remember. It's as if he's snapped and `nearly` killed Jupiter with his own bare hands. He sat on top of the rock and rubbed his head in shame.

He, then remembered something as he closed his eyes, as if his memories were playing him. From a devastating crash, to the sounds of a horrific screams of people inside there. He could even vision his mother's `near death experience`, same thing that happened to Rukia.

Shortly, he could feel her spirit energy regained its own control after his eyes were opened. Renji saw Rukia's eyes opened slowly. He became overjoyed and crawled to her. Ichitaro didn't bother looked at them because of the traumatic life he had.

" Guys, we'll be hitting the road at any time soon." said Shikamaru

" Oh good." Ichitaro said, before standing up and leaving.

" Ichitaro, where are you going?" Rangiku asked.

" Somewhere further away from here. These guys are after me and I don't know why. I don't want to hurt anyone else.... besides I..... Rukia almost died because of me."

" No, she was trying to protect you. I made a promise to her brother that I'll protect her. It's not your fault, so stop blaming yourself for this. ", Renji said. He turned to Shikamaru, " I can see she's getting healed."

" Look, lieutenant. Even though, I didn't studied medicine for this and I'm super sloppy about it, but she's responding very well. As soon as we find some medical things for her wound, we'll figure out how we'll send these kids home before old man Yamamoto does. " Shikamaru answered, flipping his pink-ish purple hair.

" That's great to hear that. "

Ichitaro went back to his siblings and decided to stand still as Shikamaru had finished his own job, until he could hear a screaming sound. Yoshimura and Rangiku noticed something odd. They too could hear the sounds of screaming and shouting, distant away from here.

" You hear that?" Ichitaro asked.

" Yeah. Let's go check it out " she answered.

" Are you sure, you two? What if it's another trap ?" said Rangiku.

" Look whatever it is that's out there screaming, we have to find out for ourselves." he stated.

As soon as the screaming sound grew closer towards them, it didn't take long for Renji to hear it as well.

" Shikamaru, take care of Rukia. Something's up." Renji said, getting up and heading straight to Ichitaro and his sisters.

Shikamaru turned towards Renji and asked:

" Wait, where are you going? "

" I'll be back, I promise." he answered.

The echoes of screams spun the entire forest of trees around, including birds scattered from each other, in which woke Rukia up. Shikamaru tried to hold her as she got up.

" What's going on, Shikamaru? Where's Byakuya and Captain Kurotsuchi? Where are we? " she asked, weakly.

" Rukia, calm down. I don't know where that screaming sound coming from, Captain Kurotsuchi and Captain Kuchiki are fighting Jupiter and Denki. Lastly, were in the middle of nowhere."

Renji leaned over between Ichitaro and Rangiku. Confusingly, the sound seems to have died down afterwards.

" Why does it seems so quiet? Is something really bad is going on?" Renji mumbled with questions.

" No. I have no idea what the fuck just happened." Ichitaro answered.

" Guys, wait. I feel something odd." said Rangiku

" Something's wrong?" Yoshimura asked, rubbing her back for comfort.

She nodded and said:

" It feels like a spirit energy coming... right towards us. "

Renji was shocked to the core as everyone could feel a spirit energy coming right towards them. He grabbed his zanpakuto and commanded :

" I'll take Rukia. We have to get back! Now! "

" No, wait. "

Silence had paraded them, leaving a wind blew towards the autumn trees and rustling a sound of bushes and dancing leaves. As Shikamaru helped Rukia up, everyone stood still until something came up. A golden furred weasel appeared beneath Ichitaro's feet and it covered its head. Shockingly Renji was about to strike first, but Rangiku easily grabbed his zanpakuto to stop him. She shook her head slowly as her hand began to bleed and Renji could see how terrified it was.

" Wait, that's a Kamaitachi. This is real bad, he'll attack us like it does to others." said Shikamaru.

" I know what it was. It looks so scared.", she leaned over it near Ichitaro and asked, " Say, what a little guy doing here alone?"

" These hunters..... they're after me. They've taken my man and now I don't know where to hide." it said.

" Okay, just show us where they are and we'll save them. Don't worry, we won't hurt you."

The weasel became scared at first until it began to agree. By then, it pointed out on the direction where it were before it's `men ` were captured.

~~~~~~~~

Three men were sitting around the fireplace, eating a large portions of meat and drinking sake. One of them, carried five weasels inside the cage. Renji, Ichitaro, Yoshimura and Rangiku peeped through the bushes and tall grass. Renji looked at how disgusted he was when he saw them.

" They couldn't even chew their food properly. Typical demons. " he scoffed.

" Hush. They'll hear us." said Rangiku.

" How are we going to stop them? " Yoshimura asked.

" Hold on a second. Koro told me that demons have the same feelings and actions as humans. If we could send them to sleep by wiping down their memories, we'll be able to save them." said Ichitaro.

" That's a great idea, genius. But how are we going to do that?" asked Shikamaru.

" With this....." he said as he kicked him towards the three men. They could see him landing to the cage and one of them asked :

" That's a soul reaper, is it ?"

" Yeah, Kinda." another one answered.

" Kinda?! Have you seen how he dressed? That looks like a soul reaper." the third one asked.

" Okay, how does soul reapers taste like?" the second one asked again.

As three of them squabbled in anger, Renji does find it awkward. However, Rukia remember the spray, so she gave it to Ichitaro.

" So , that's your plan to get him killed." he asked.

" Nope." he said. He simply ran towards the demons and spray towards them. It sprayed a pink mist towards them, causing them unconscious.

" Well that was easy." Yoshimura said in amazement.