A/N: Ugh! UGH! Another rewrite for like the tenth freaking time! Anyway, as you may be wondering from reading the summary of the story you clicked, this will be a story taking place before Rukia comes in and turns Ichigo into a Substitute Shinigami. In fact, with my OC, this is practically a Canon Divergence but that won't get into detail until much of the story progresses. This story is going to most presumably going to be shorter than the next installation of this that delves into the Bleach storytelling (with, of course, some changes, butterfly effect anyone?).

This story, I have to warn you readers, will get pretty fucking dark as fuck. I'm trying for dark, mysterious, and pretty horrifying because I've never really done something like that before in any of my stories. I want to make this a little more human, or rather, show the dark side of humanity via supernatural that has not really anything to do with that Shinigami/Hollow debacle we usually see in the show and manga. I had a lot of inspirations, some from watching Youtube videos in horror survivor games, others in movies, and some that echo in poems and such. I hope I can accomplish that gripping and suspenseful feeling you readers will feed back to me with each post I give.

Remember to leave a review, tata~!

Disclaimer: The BLEACH universe and all it's contents and plots belong only to Tite-sensei! The Canon Divergence belongs to me!

Warning: There's language in here, but this warning means that shit's about to get dark in this rewritten version. Just be prepared for it since its content will be heavily graphic on death and other dark materials, so please be advised (and do yourself a favor in leaving this alone if it gets to close to becoming a TRIGGER for you).


Leaving one country behind to move into another had varying reactions.

I guess some people would excited, others afraid, or probably angry given to their attachments of their birthplace… but I didn't feel any of those three reasons whatsoever. If Shizune announced that we were moving back to her birthplace, which was in Japan, then the apartment would be spent swept up in boxes and delivered via plane to be dropped at the address of her father's house: grandpa Daichi.

Grandpa Daichi was an old man hell bent on making his visits noisy, embarrassing, and just colorful that most of the residents from our previous place were able to pick him out despite his visits being far and few between.

Now it was going to be a daily occurrence.

At least it got Shizune off my back when grandpa Daichi sent me off to do chores for him.

My eyes wandered back to the window, looking past the plane's wing to find the sky mostly clear of clouds, allowing me the view of the ocean below. Having left the airport back in California at the afternoon, it was like plane was chasing after the sun as the encroaching darkness from behind began to spread itself closer until it finally caught and consumed us.

It's been eight hours since we took off from the tarmac back in the US soil, my body tired and sluggish but my mind wide awake.

I wish I could sleep—

Mama! Mama, I don't wanna die!

Rahimullah! Inna lillaahi wa innaa ilyahi raaji'oon!

Oh, my GOD! Oh, please God—

Mayday! Mayday! Coast Guard! Vessel in distress!

But my mind wouldn't give me that simple reprieve. Hadn't given me any since I was very young. What was normal, anyway?

Was normal quiet? Did it not make you toss and turn in your bed? Did normal allow you the privilege to not be stared at like you were some sort of inhuman creature? Did it make you feel safe and not on the brink of a dangerous edge every waking moment?

Did normal make you feel like you weren't an outsider?

From how the doctors and psychiatrists described it, normalcy sounded like a luxury I would never be able to afford. Normalcy sounded like an experience that I was incapable of ever feeling, for my life was nothing but the noises and heavy blurs and the festering sickness that left me tired, dizzy, and bleeding.

Due to an error made on my part, my Haloperidol pills was tucked away in one of my many luggages that was in the plane's cargo hold. My medicine would be out of reach until we landed in

The rules and regulations of airplane safety, my Haloperidol pills were tucked away in my suitcase which was placed in the cargo hold. My medicine would be out of reach until we landed in Haneda Airport. With a heavy sigh, I tugged the sleeves of my sweater over my hands and braced myself for the rest of the flight.

So, I closed my eyes and heard the volume rise increasingly, six more hours to go.

I hoped the staff of flight attendants had strong nerves to deal with me should I start hurting myself again. Shizune would definetly blow a gasket that I forgot to put my pills in my backpack.

.

.

.

no sleeping

no thinking

silently screaming

quietly bleeding

.

.

.


"Wow! It's been so long!" Shizune cried as we strode out of the automatic doors to the entrance of the airport where a bunch of taxi drivers milled through the massive driveway. "It's good to be back here, isn't it?"

Her chipper behavior made me want to kick something because I had spent most of the entire flight being bombarded with noise that grated my ears so badly it was a miracle they didn't bleed, it left me with a massive headache, and my eyes were dark from having not slept a wink because of it. Though, to be fair, there was never such a thing as good sleep, not since I had to stop taking sleep medication when a doctor gave me the Haloperidol. I couldn't wait to reach for grandpa Daichi's house because despite the old coot's brazenness, his home felt more welcoming than the apartment Shizune and I previously lived in.

"Look, look!" the dark-haired woman excitedly waved towards one car that was pulling up near us on the curb. "There's your grandfather. Tou-chan! Tou-chan!"

A white sleek Honda Odyssey halts and on the opposite side of the usual driver seat I was used to seeing back in the States, an old dark-haired man with flecks of gray located near his temples stepped out to greet his overly cheerful daughter. A couple of people gave us looks, and I gave them bland ones in return which made them quickly mind their own fucking business before I got a small thump on the back of the head by grandpa Daichi's newspaper he was holding.

"You've only just landed for a few minutes and already you're being such a sour wolf." grandpa Daichi chastises me teasingly.

"Technically, we've been going through airport security for nearly an hour, so," I deadpanned to him.

"You little smartass." he nudged me before nodding towards the car. "Let's get your things in and get going. I don't want to wait for the next wave of people trying to get in, they cause traffic jams from their damn hastiness."

"C'mon, sweetie," Shizune beckoned me, and I follow after her while grabbing our stuff while grandpa Daichi opens the trunk.

I immediately scrambled backwards when a big black dog showed its ugly mug by snapping its teeth at me when I had tried to push our luggage in. The dog was silenced when grandpa Daichi shushed the canine with a short snap of his voice and a warning by bopping the creature's nose.

"Settle down, you goblin!"

"What the h-hell...?" I gestured to the dog.

"Do you like him?" grandpa Daichi throws a shit-eating grin over his shoulder. "I got you Hokatsu as a present for you!"

"Oh, tou-chan, that's so sweet." Shizune gushed as she didn't hesitate to bring her hand up and ruffle the dog that had moments ago tried to bite my face off. "He's beautiful! Is he a German Shepard?"

"Dunno, I didn't ask the shop owner." grandpa Daichi muttered as he squinted his eyes at the dog.

"I don't like dogs." I told them, but not surprisingly I was ignored by the two adults.

A honk from behind alerted us of the impatient driver wanting the three of us to get a move on, so we hauled our suitcases in the back and closed the trunk before moving to the passenger seats. Carefully, I opened the car door and watched warily as the black dog watched me in silence when I climbed aboard the Honda. Grandpa Daichi's snorted in good humor while giving the dog a ruffle on the head before setting the car to pull away from the curb and maneuvered through the highway of the airport and towards the town he took residence in.

Karakura Town

Like he had mentioned earlier, it took awhile for us to get out of the traffic and onto the main highway intersections that would lead us to Karakura. I watched through the window of the car, taking in the image of how the city lights glittered like diamond-shaped colorful paper lanterns grandpa Daichi once set up in front of his house when I had stayed with him a long time ago. I watched the fireworks from the window of the room I stayed in, the dark sky set afire like falling stars. Finally getting off the busy highways, the car started to traverse through the main roads of the town until it came in the neighborhood streets.

We pulled up in front of our new home.

It was a machiya house, an old-style home that had been renovated a couple of times over the years, and one of the few homes to remain despite the advancement of modern times. The machiya house was huge, two stories, but there was a section that was used as a store that grandpa Daichi owned. While he sold snacks, fruits, and beverages in the front of the small store, the back door led to his art room where there was intricate and beautiful pottery and paintings scattered around. He was an artist and pottery maker, sculpting dishes with his steady and experienced handcrafting skills, and his versatile painting was pretty commonly known that they were often taken at a art show gala to be bought by people willing to spend thousands on. The rest of the machiya house was all ours.

Parking the car neatly by the sidewalk, we got to work on pulling out the pile of luggage and settling in.

"I had the mover's set some of your personal things up in your own rooms." grandpa Daichi told us.

"Thanks tou-chan," Shizune said.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Thanks."

"Alright, get going. Your rooms haven't been changed, so go to sleep. We can start putting away our things tomorrow."

I started for my room but halted when I saw the dog clamber past me and towards the second floor. Hearing a muffled laugh, I didn't bother to acknowledge grandpa Daichi, too tired from the plane ride and keeping awake for nearly the whole day, and followed the dog to the corner of the large house. The room had only one large window and two doors that led to a closet or a bathroom. Ignoring the black dog that settled on small bed set up near the night stand that was next to my twin-sized bed, I opened the bathroom door and flicked the lights on.

The bathroom had an antique look, if you ignored the porcelain toilet (thank God, I don't squat), but the large tub and shower head were pretty typical. Made of wood, the tub was rectangular in shape with the inside made of plastic to keep it smooth. The wooden planks outside the tub had small slits to allow excess water go into a drain located beneath when I used the shower to wash myself before soaking in the warm bath water. A small wooden bucket there, an equally wooden sitting stool here, and homemade bath soaps right outside the tub, the whole thing looked appealing.

"Right." I muttered to myself, looking away from the tub and shower and focusing on the mirror in front of me.

Shaggy black hair, tired-looking teal green eyes with bruises underneath with a pale scar stretched on the underside of my left eye, I looked like some creep that you'd find selling drugs on a shady street corner.

I pulled open the mirror to find an empty cabinet and started to place my mouth wash, tooth paste, and my medication pills before closing the thing.

Feeling being watched, I looked over to the door to find the black dog Hokatsu standing at the doorway watching me with those bright blue eyes of his, his attention to me and my items felt a tad bit creepy but I had enough paranoia to deal with, so I brushed the feeling off.

"Let's go to bed."

Amazingly enough, the dog turned back for his bed as I made for my own. Pulling the light switch, the room was dark and quiet. After pulling off my jeans and socks, I went to the window and slid it open, the wooden bars of the window also sliding out of the way with only the net to keep insects out acting as a barrier. I was used to the urban noises of my home in the city, cars speeding by and distant music playing from restaurants to night clubs, so the sound of crickets and gentle swaying of the wind that came through he back alley was almost foreign to me.

I couldn't stand loud noises, the way it screeched like nails dragging along a chalkboard, but there was some that were tolerable than most.

Climbing under the comforts of my bed, I closed my eyes and listened carefully of the night's tune as it played softly against my sensitive ears. Slowly, as time passed, a sense of calm crept up as if someone was pulling the quilt over my shoulders and softly brushed fingers over the back of my scalp, leaving pleasant tingles that went down my shoulders to the tip of my toes.


"Hey, go to the back and bring me a box of Pocky, will you? A couple of girls are asking for some."

A week spent getting our clothes put away in closets and drawers, pulling up picture frames, rearranging rooms, finding a new routine, and trying to get used to talking in another language that's been rusty after many years, I spent most of my time hanging out in grandpa Daichi's front store shop. With the small section of the large machiya home offered to the public for high school students on the way from or to school, the store was open for them to enter and browse around for snacks (but school semester hadn't started, yet). There was only a handful of older people who came in either for a snack or to look at grandpa Daichi's work in the back store.

Hokatsu followed, always did I should mention, as I went to grab another box full of treats the customers were asking for. The dog was smart; smart enough to know when to back off, when to not get in the way, and when to tone down his snappy behavior. I still didn't think I needed a dog's companionship, but grandpa Daichi probably spent a fortune getting me this mutt, so I played nice with him (and that was only when he was on his best behavior).

With grandpa Daichi sitting behind a counter where the register was, I set myself to work on replacing the empty box with the new one where the Pocky packs were. Standing a little away from me were a three girls a few years younger than me. Probably in elementary school if I remembered correctly in the Japanese age criteria of school education. Instead of the usual four years spent in high school, it was three over here.

"Hayaku shite!" one girl grumbled, arms crossed as she threw me a scowl.

I returned it with a death glare that sent chills down the girl's spine. Watching all three girls yelp and tear out of the store in a hurry made me feel a small dark satisfaction, but with that came the guilt of losing customers. Had I worked at any other store, there was no doubt in my mind my ass would have been fired from working there because I upset the customers with my backlash at said customer's rudeness.

It earned me a stink eye from grandpa Daichi, he said nothing as I went ahead in placing the Pocky packs until it was full. From the corner of my eye, I could see the three girls peeking around the corner of the store's opening, watching me warily until I disappeared into the back store. After a few moments to see if I would come back out, I heard timid footsteps enter the store.

With nothing better to do, I sat down on the floor next the door. Listening to the young girls browse through the stalls of snacks, their voices reached my ears and I had no choice but to hear what words spouted out of their mouths. Or, what worse I could translate in my head.

"That guy was a jerk."

"You did tell him to hurry up..."

"Still! Bet he's some serial killer or something! With the scars on his face and neck, it wouldn't surprise me."

"Wouldn't be surprised, either. If you talked like that to me, I would have scared you off, too."

"Did the old man hire him for security or something?"

"Has anybody ever gotten away with stealing things from here?"

The rest of the chatter they were immersed in gradually changed from the "scary guy" topic to the "cute boys at school".

The rest of their conversation gradually lost interest to me as it later changed from the "scary guy" to the "cute boys at school" topic I've heard one too many times at my own school.

..

"They should have kept him locked up."

"Ugh, it's that psycho."

"Whoa. I guess prison does change a person."

"Hey, isn't he the guy—"

..

Conversations so typical, however, were far better than some particular ones I would rather avoid hearing in school hallways. I flinched at the feel of something wet brushing against my cheek, and I opened my eyes to glance at the source: Hokatsu. The black dog had quietly crept to my side and curiously nudged me, as if sensing the dark mood I was in, though he probably could sniff out the change of mood given that animals had a knack of sensing stuff like that.

I wondered sometimes if grandpa Daichi really got me a dog... or a service one.

"Kaine!"

Giving the dog a gentle ruffle against the side of his furry neck, I stood up and entered the front shop, ignoring the three girls that jerked at the sight of me.

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor and go to the local pharmaceutical to deliver some documents."

That's right, since I was now living in a new country, I won't be able to visit my usual doctors and psychologists. I was going to have to see new ones... which, to be honest, was pretty intimidating as we would be strangers. Sure, when I met my doctors, we were strangers, but they had been there for me since the beginning, so these people I would be dealing with were people picking up where my doctors had left off. And there was also the other issue...

"Sugoi," grandpa and I perked at the sound, the two of us look back to find the girls watching us with open curiosity. "Eigo wo jyouzu ni hanashimasune!"

They most likely never met someone who spoke English, marveling at how they were listening to foreign words they've probably heard glipses of from television news or radio stations. It was the kind of feeling some people felt when coming across someone with an Australian accent or happening upon someone who was speaking in Arab. I heard plenty of English, Japanese, and Spanish that I used to those, but sometimes when I met someone from another different country, it was kind of amazing in a small way.

"My grandson is from America." grandpa Daichi told the curious onlookers in Japanese, his hand clamping warmly on my shoulder. "He's Japanese isn't so great, but he's learning."

This caused the three girls to explode in excited chatter, their fear from earlier erased as they eagerly scampered up to us both and began shooting question after question. It was a little overwhelming, I wanted to step away from the small crowd but I was kind of left in a trapped state since I was between the girls and the desk. Grandpa Daichi's eyes were laughing at me as he answered each of them in a patient manner as any old man his age would do, I rolled my eyes and did my best to answer the girls when they wanted an answer from me, and I could tell from their crooked smiles that they were making fun of my awkward exchange.

But they were kind of enough to help me fix my vocabulary.

Getting shoo'ed out of the store, the three girls followed after me as they asked various sorts of questions. Most of what I caught were if I had met any famous people (no), had I ever been to New York (no), did our country invent the selfie culture that was booming (which I was not sure of, to be honest), and was America really great (which was a big no 'cause look who we have as President). I was not the most exciting person outside of my health issues, but still, the girls looked at me like I was the most interesting specimen they had ever come across.

Made me wish I had younger siblings. These girls were sweet despite their initial behavior from earlier.

But then again, I thought as I watched one of them try to pronounce Las Vegas without replacing the letter L with R and the V with B, my imaginary sibling would probably be pulled into so much grief. I used to be surrounded by a lot of people when I was younger, but when it happened, the world grew less until I was left alone. Even my own—

"Hey, here's the pharmacy, mister!"

Jeez, so caught up with my thoughts that I almost passed the place. The girls teased me for it, and I felt a small flush of embarrassment pass over before it quickly went as it came. Stepping inside, the place reminded me of a Walgreen store, but at one corner section of the building, there was an old man wearing a white coat that signified that he was pharmacist. The girls wandered over to the magazine section, allowing me some bit of privacy to pick up the medication with the old man behind the counter.

"You must be Sakumotsu's grandson, correct?" he asked after I handed him the papers of my prescriptions and info. "The artist?"

"Yes." I nodded.

Flipping the paper shut after reading it, he took the copy and filed it away in a cabinet where a bunch of personal info was found by whoever also came to the pharmacy. With the cabinet shut, he then pulled out a clipboard and handed it to me, but paused at the confusion written on my face.

"Oh," he chortled slightly. "Right, you're originally from America. Alright, I'll help you read through this."

"... Thanks." I muttered.

It took almost thirty minutes before the paper was complete and I was officially listed as a patron of the pharmacy. Shigure Inui ("Call me Inui-san.") was pretty helpful, probably because grandpa Daichi gave him a good price on some lovely-looking plates the pharmacist bought for his wife as an anniversary present that she absolutely loved. Inui disappeared in the back, searching for my medication, when I heard approaching footsteps and a jovial voice coming from behind me.

"Oi, Inui-kun! Got time to deal with little ol' me?" the voice boomed, startling me.

"There's nothing little about you, goat-chin." a dry voice followed, sounding around the age of those three girls that came with me.

An exaggerated sob. "Karin-chan! Don't be so mean to daddy~!"

'And I thought grandpa was weird.' I thought, drumming my fingers on the desk as I waited for Inui to return.

"Oh? Wow, you're pretty tall! You don't see a lot of tall guys around these parts!"

It took me a second to realize they were talking to me. A bit surprised I was called out so suddenly, and by some random stranger no less, I looked over my shoulder to see who was speaking—

The smell of gunpowder was strong. There was only but a small spark before it sizzled to life and then it exploded in a wondrous array of colors. Bright flashes of blues, reds, yellows, greens lit up the sky in such a spectacular view. The falling color glimmering out of existence before everyone's eyes, like little starts giving one last twinkle as they disappeared in the darkness.

Tables were lined up with hundreds of steaming dishes served by the many who cooked for the joyous occasion. Paper lanterns gave a soft and welcoming glow as many watched the spectacle with gleams that matched the bursting fire in the dark skies. There was never a dull moment, never a quiet affair, just the noise to show that they were living the moment to treasure so preciously.

People laughed, children played, and the sky was alive.

I blinked back from my stupor, catching the eyes of the older man dressed in a white dress shirt, dark blue necktie, black slacks and dress shoes with a dark brown bomber jacket standing in front of me. The man even looked... surprised?

"Whoa..." I looked down beside the man to find a small girl with short black hair staring at me in disbelief, dressed in a blue T-shirt and black shorts with white sneakers. "I-Ichi—?"

"Young man, your medicine." Inui's voice cuts in, interrupting us.

"Right." I said, breaking away from the two people in front of me and grabbing the paper bag my medicine was inside of. "Thank you, sir."

I pulled away from the desk, stepping around the duo and being careful not to catch their eyes again. I felt their gaze on my back, but I continued on like that awkward exchange between us didn't happen. The three girls from earlier spotted me and caught up to me just as I stepped out.

Strange, I thought as I walked back towards the machiya house, I felt as if I met that bearded man somewhere before.

... Ah, well.


"Who was that?"

Inui placed the box of medical supplies on top of the desk, looking through his glasses to find Kurosaki Isshin staring at the entrance of the store where the tall dark-haired teen had disappeared to with the small group of girls tagging along with him like a small pack of hyenas. Karin, usually cool-headed, looked like she had been slapped in the face by a really cold towel.

Though, now that he thought about it, when he looked at that boy's face long enough—that dark-haired boy sure looked like someone he had seen before.

"That's Sakumotsu Daichi's grandson. He was originally from America, but he and his mother moved into town just about a week ago." Inui informed them, checking the list that the doctor have him.

"Old man Sakumotsu's grandson?!" the girl exclaimed.

Surprisingly, Kurosaki was totally silent throughout the entire exchange, eyes still locked on the door where the boy had exited the building. Inui could only guess one thing that caught their attention so much: the pale scars on the boy's face, neck, and hands. Inui had read the kid's file, even checked the credentials to make doubly sure that he wasn't handing it over to some punk, but the signs were right in front of him.

"He looks like the trouble sort, doesn't he? Sakumotsu didn't tell me much, but he said he wanted his grandson to live as quietly and calmly as he could."

The pharmacist would say no more; patient confidentiality was something Inui took seriously, he had seen what flapping one's mouth could result in if certain subjects came to light revolving around a person. Keeping things quiet and calm was the only thing Sakumotsu Daichi could offer to his deeply troubled grandson, and Inui could only imagine what the poor kid had to deal with, so he was not going to add any more trouble with the boy by flapping his gums. In a nosy neighborhood like this, the news would spread like wildfire and by the end of the day, everyone would know.

Yet again, the doctor of the local clinic remained silent. Inui, despite his old age and practice, spotted the way the dark-haired man looked a few shades pale, his usually carefree nature disappearing the moment when he and the boy were looking at each other, and how tight with tension the man seemed.

If Inui didn't know any better, it was as if the doctor had seen this boy from somewhere, too. Or like he had seen a ghost.


Translations:

Hayaku shite - "Hurry up!"

Sugoi - "Amazing!", "Awesome!", "Great!"

Eigo wo jyouzu ni hanashimasune - "You speak English well."