Contains language

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Shuuichi suddenly stopped reading, lowering his book slightly. He brushed the long brown hair out of his eyes to stare out the window next to him. Across the living room, his girlfriend Kue noticed his behavior.

"What is it? Is it that feeling again?"

"Yeah," said Shuuichi, standing up from the couch. "I think I'm going to go check it out."

He stood up and walked out of the living room, and outside onto the front porch. Night had fallen, and he could hear the cicadas chirping outside on the three large trees in front of his house.

He had been feeling something peculiar for the last three days when night had fallen. A dark presence that seemed to float around the house. Though Kue couldn't feel such things, feelings like this were common for Shuuichi.

Last year, a friend of his from town, a young man named Ishida in Karakura told him about something called spirit energy. It was something only a few individuals were capable of feeling, but if you were able to, you could sense the energy being put out by individuals. Apparently, Shuuichi had a high amount of spiritual energy, and was able to learn to feel energy around him. Ishida taught him how.

But ever since then, he occasionally felt dark presences looming around him and Kue. He couldn't be sure what it was.

As he stood out on the porch, he suddenly felt as if something jumped past him, for a gust of wind blew in front of him. He looked around for a moment, confused, then turned to go back inside.

As he turned around, he heard a loud crack, and spun on the spot. He still could see nothing, but as he stared, the dark presence around him suddenly vanished. The middle tree in the front yard had a large gouge in it. It seemed like the mark of a large blade.

The next day, Shuuichi was on his way home from work once again, driving home from Karakura out into the country. It was the end of the day, another boring day. Of course, he was looking forward to spending another night with Kue, but otherwise, it seemed like his life was very boring.

If it weren't for Kue, his life would have seemed pretty much worthless.

There had to be more to life than this. Maybe he should learn more about that spirit power thing that Ishida had taught him…

As he drove on, Shuuichi reached over and picked up the letter he had gotten from his father that morning. His father. He really didn't want to talk to him; he didn't have a good relationship with his father. He never wanted to talk to that b--

Shuuichi slowly opened his eyes, groaning. What the hell just happened? He found himself facedown in gravel, and he thought he heard a hissing sound. He rose himself to his hands and knees and looked up. He was on the road... That was odd. Wasn't he just driving home a second ago?

He turned toward the hissing sound behind him and nearly fainted in shock. There was his car, right behind him. And a tree sitting on top of it. The windshield had exploded outward from the impact, and the roof was crushed down under the weight of the tree. Smoke was hissing out from under the hood.

What the hell just happened?, he thought again. He rose to his feet, though his legs were trembling, and approached the car, circling it. He reached out a hand toward the tree trunk and gingerly touched it. As he did so, he was astounded to see that his arm didn't even have any cuts. Indeed, he didn't appear to have any injuries at all!

It was a miracle that he even survived, let alone sustained no injuries. The strangest thing was, of course, the tree sitting on top of the car. He noted the tree trunk off to the side of the road, but it was impossible for the tree to have fallen all the way out to the middle of the road. It was as if something had torn the tree right off and slammed it down on his car as it passed by.

Regardless, there was no chance of him getting to his cell phone inside the car. He had to walk the rest of the way.

For the next hour, he trudged on down the road, his legs still shaking in shock. No cars passed by for him to flag down, which was extremely fortunate. And he was far enough out in the country that there were no houses nearby except his own, which was still a couple miles away. By the time he actually got to his house, he was in a rotten mood.

"I always thought it would be nice to live out away from everybody because it would be nice and quiet," he mumbled as he walked up the sidewalk from his driveway to the door.

The door in front of him opened, and Kue came striding out briskly.

"Sorry I'm late honey, I'm…"

Shuuichi trailed off as Kue just brushed right past him, and got in her car and drove off. He was left standing on the sidewalk, his mouth hanging open.

"Cold…" he growled.

When he walked through the front door, he immediately spotted a note on the dining table addressed to him. He sat down and read it, and thereafter hunched over, even more in a rotten mood.

Shuuichi,
Where the HELL are you? I've been waiting here for you to get home, and you're not answering your phone! Anyway, if you ever decide to come home, I'm off to the grocery store to pick up some food. Occupy yourself until I get home to yell at you.
Love, Kue

Shuuichi felt as if an icy dagger had been driven through his heart. He sighed and shuffled into the living room, sinking down into his favorite chair and into a depression.

Wrecked car, pissed off girlfriend. Two more things to make his life suck...

He heard the door open, and he braced himself. It looked like Kue had changed her mind, and decided to yell at him now and go shopping later. He hunched over in his chair, a dark cloud hanging over him. As the figure stepped into the living room, he looked up to try to explain the situation.

"Honey, I—"

He stopped in mid-sentence to see that the figure in the room--rather than his girlfriend--was a tall black-haired man in a robe, holding a rather deadly-looking katana.

"Honey?" he said, looking bewildered.

"AAAH!" screamed Shuuichi leaping out of his chair. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU? Don't kill me! I didn't do anything wrong!"

The man in the robe continued to watch in amusement as Shuuichi continued to scream, saying things about having an even worse day than he was having before, and trying to bargain for his life.

"Calm down, Shuuichi," said the man, patting his hand in the air and sheathing his sword. "I'm not here to kill you."

"H-h-how do you know my name?" demanded Shuuichi, his eyes searching for the nearest blunt object. "And what are you doing in my house?"

"It's called a Soul Burial," droned the man, sitting down on the couch. "If you want to pass on, it's got to be done."

"Pass on?" said Shuuichi, raising an eyebrow. "The hell are you talking about? Pass on what?"

"Passing on. Crossing over. Going into the light. Going to heaven. Whatever you wanna call it."

"So you ARE here to kill me! Get away from me!"

"Fool, I can't kill someone who's already dead."

Shuuichi felt as if someone hit him in the head with a brick. "Dead? The hell? I'm not dead."

It was the other man's turn to raise an eyebrow. "You seriously haven't noticed? Look at your chest."

Shuuichi looked down and saw a metal plate on his chest. Sprouting from the plate was a short, broken chain. At first, he didn't know what to think. Was that always there? He gently tugged on the short chain, but the plate stuck fast.

"Since the accident was so violent, your chain of fate was broken in the same instant you died. You can't return to a body that had its major organs torn apart. And since the chain was broken so close to your body, erosion will be quicker. I should perform the Soul Burial before you turn into a Hollow."

Shuuichi felt like he was trying to understand a foreign language.

"Come again?"

The man laughed. "Alright. Listen. Quite simply, when that tree fell on your car, you died."

Shuuichi felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He didn't want to believe it, but when he thought about his complete lack of injury, and how the entire inside of the car had been caved in… how could he have survived?

"I'm a Death God. A Shinigami, if you will. It's my job to lead earthbound spirits on to the other side, through a Soul Burial."

"Wait, wait, wait. There's no way I can believe you. How can I really be dead? I don't feel dead."

The Shinigami sighed. "This is always the hard part. Listen, when you're dead, the only people who can see you, are those with extraordinarily high spirit power."

"Kue saw me."

"No, she didn't. You just thought she was mad at you. She didn't even see you at all. And of course, you haven't been able to see me until right now."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"LISTEN, you idiot!" shouted the Shinigami impatiently. "I ain't got all day! Just let me do the Burial already and get it over with! I can't have you turnin' into a Hollow before you go to Soul Society!"

"Could you just speak English?"

After several minutes of shouting, Shuuichi heard the door open, and the sound of a rustling bag.

"Ha! See, Kue's home. She'll be able to see me."

As he stood up, Kue strode into the room, and Shuuichi approached her with his arms wide, ready to hug her.

"Honey, I'm sorry I late! I had an accident on the way…"

Kue walked right through him.

"…home."

"Told you so."

Shuuichi felt his legs shaking, and without warning, he collapsed on the floor crying.

"Hey!" said the Shinigami, taken aback. "What're you doing that for?"

So it was true! Was he really dead? Kue had passed right through his body. He couldn't believe it. The accident had... killed him. But...

"Stop yer whining!" said the Shinigami, as Kue sat on the couch, oblivious to the encounter in the middle of the room. "I deal with enough of that every day. You'll be happy in Soul Society."

"I don't want to go to 'Soul Society,'" cried Shuuichi. "I wanna be with Kue."

The Shinigami sighed and drew his katana. "Alright listen. Just stay still and be quiet, and everything will be alright."

Shuuichi didn't move, he just knelt on the ground shaking. The Death God just sighed and raised his katana, ready to get it over with.

And the wall exploded.

Kue screamed and dove behind the couch, and both of the spirits also leapt away. They heard a deafening roar from outside of the house through the broken wall.

"What the shit?" screamed Shuuichi, crouching behind the couch as well.

"The Hollow!" shouted the Death God, brandishing his katana as the dust cleared. "This thing has been after you for days. He's the one that smashed your car. Get out of here before it gets to you!"

Shuuichi gasped as the figure beyond the broken wall came into view. The thing was massive, and had a black, muscled body. It also had a bone-white mask, through which shone yellow glowing eyes. And it most certainly wasn't human.

"A Hollow?" breathed Shuuichi, but before he could say anything else, the Hollow made a lunge for the Death God, who jumped out of the way. The fist instead smashed through the adjacent wall, knocking it down completely. Kue shrieked again.

"Get OUT OF HERE!"

Shuuichi finally rose to his feet and made a dash for the newly-broken wall, but as he jumped through it, he heard Kue's whimpering and stopped dead. Kue was still behind the couch, not daring to go near the broken walls—which to her seemed to collapse completely on their own.

"Kue," said Shuuichi, starting back inside, but the Shinigami screamed at him again to stay out. The fight had gone to just outside the first broken wall, where the Shinigami tried desperately to at least slice of a limb of the Hollow. But the beast was amazingly strong, and the match was even.

For a long moment, Shuuichi simply stood there, not sure what to do. Run away from the Hollow, or protect Kue? If he ran away, he'd be safe, but Kue would certainly die. If he protected Kue, they would most likely both die.

To him, it was simple.

He took a step toward Kue. "Kue..." But he stopped again. He had suddenly felt a tingling sensation around his chest, where the chain was attached. He looked down at the short chain, and in that instant, his body was consumed by excruciating pain.

All along the links of the chain, tiny mouths opened up and began chewing on the other links, gnawing them off one by one. The pain that wracked Shuuichi's body was the worst pain he had ever felt, beyond anything he could have ever imagined.

"No!" said the Shinigami, looking over at him. "Already, he's--"

A large black spike sprouted from the Death God's chest, and blood poured from the fatal wound.

"You dropped your guard," said the Hollow, extracting the spike from the Shinigami and changing it back into a normal hand. As the Shinigami began to fall, the Hollow suddenly leaped upon him, his mouth open wide.

Through the blinding pain, Shuuichi watched in horror as the Death God was consumed. He bent over and retched on the floor, from the pain and the horrifying scene. More and more links fell on the floor from his chain.

The Hollow sighed in contentment and looked over at Shuuichi, having finished his meal. "Delectable," he said in a deep voice. "And now that you are becoming one of us, how about joining me for another feast?"

Shuuichi knew he was talking about Kue. As he looked over at her, he also knew she didn't even know what was happening. She was completely defenseless.

Only two links remained on his chain.

This can't happen!, thought Shuuichi. He died, and now Kue was going to be eaten alive.

One more link remained.

He couldn't let it happen. He absolutely refused to become a Hollow! He would not eat Kue, and he wouldn't let anyone else… He loved her too much.

The last link of the chain fell from his chest, and it was followed by the metal plate, which rang through the room as it hit the wood floor.

What the hell?, was Shuuichi's first thought. The room had disappeared, and things had suddenly become serene. He was standing on top of a mountain, it seemed. The slopes of the mountain reached far, far down below and met water. The mountain was surrounded by a sea, in which other mountain islands reached up nearby. But this sea was yellow, like the sky it reflected.

"I didn't expect you to come," said a voice behind him. He turned abruptly to see a figure odder than the Shinigami. A tall man with stark white hair and baggy white clothes was perched on a rock, and his shoulders were wreathed in a blue mantle. Behind him, a sheer cliff dropped off into the sea.

"Who are you?" demanded Shuuichi. "And once again, what the hell is going on here?"

"It is all happening too fast for you, I understand," said the figure. "As for who I am, my name is… No, not yet. You will learn it in time."

"nd where am I?"

"This is the essence of your soul. When visualized, this is what the inside of your very soul looks like. Since your soul is about to be terminated, you came here as a last attempt to save yourself."

"I did? I don't understand."

"You are about to become a Hollow. If you do not wish to become a Hollow, you must listen to what I say. Every soul has a power within them that resists the power of a Hollow. Those who find that power can stop the process. Few manage it, though."

He held up a plain, white box.

"This is that power. All you need to know is, if you can obtain this power, you will not become a Hollow. Do you have the determination to survive?"

"Of course I do," said Shuuichi, holding out his hands for the box.

"Do you have the determination to save Kue?"

Shuuichi stopped at the mention of his love. And this man's expression... it was almost sad. Like he felt inside at the mention of Kue coming to harm.

"Then catch."

The man tossed the white box over his shoulder, and it plummeted down the cliff face. Shuuichi gasped, but did not move. How could he get it now?

"What are you waiting for? If you wish to save Kue, get the box before it touches the sea. Or else, this world will crumble, and your heart will perish. Kue will die."

Shuuichi sucked in his breath and ran past the man in white, leaping over the cliff. For a long moment, the air just seemed to suspend him. He looked down what seemed to be a mile to the sea below. The box was already far below him. And he knew there was no going back.

He began to plummet, and he tumbled over in the air, screaming. The world was turning over and over around him and the wind was whistling in his ears as he fell. He was going to die!

What was he thinking? Kue was about to die at the hands of a Hollow beast, and he was being a coward. The box was his salvation. More importantly, it was Kue's salvation. If he could catch the box, Kue would live. Whoever that man was, he was right. If he really wanted to save her, he needed to be determined.

Shuuichi held out his arms, trying to stop from tumbling over in the air, and when he stopped spinning, he looked down to see that he was already halfway down the cliff. The white box was below him, spinning in the air. He angled his body downward and straightened out as much as he could, lowering air resistance.

As he shot downward like a javelin, he cast off all fear of hitting the water below. He focused entirely on the white box, and it seemed to float slowly toward him. The water was drawing nearer, but he held his legs and arms in tight, shooting straight toward the box.

At last he reached out his arms and grasped the white box, grinning in joy. As he squeezed it, the lid flopped open, and he set his eyes upon the hilt of a sword. The rest of the katana was hidden in the darkness of the box, as if it opened on a hidden—and much larger—dimension. A 40-inch long sword appeared to be resting comfortably in a 12-inch wide box.

"Hurry!" came the voice of the man, resonating from inside the box. Shuuichi nodded and grasped the hilt of the katana, pulling as hard as he could. As the blade slid free of the box, the yellow sea rose up quickly to meet him.

Shuuichi grasped his sword tightly and leaped forward. The Hollow, which had started forward, hesitated for a moment at Shuuichi's sudden transformation. That was the end of him.

As the Hollow froze, Shuuichi brought his katana forward and drove it as deep as possible into the Hollow's forehead. It roared and thrashed about, and the startled ghost hung on tightly to the hilt of his sword as he was thrown around. At last, the katana slid free of the bone mask and Shuuichi hit the wall hard.

It hardly seemed to faze him though, and he scrambled quickly to his feet and leapt back at the Hollow. It looked up in surprise just a moment before the top half of its head was sliced clean off. It started to fall backward, but halfway to the ground, its image shook, and it faded away.

Shuuichi stood for a long moment, panting, and he looked down at his sword. He had wielded it with more skill than he thought he possessed. And he also noticed that his clothes had changed. He was wearing heavy black robes, the same as the Death God that had been there before. It could only mean one thing.

Shuuichi had become a Shinigami.