With a final swing from her Zanpakuto, the Hollow Rukia Kuchiki had been facing off against faded away. Sighing with relief, the black-haired young woman sheathed her blade.
"Why are so many Hollows appearing in this place...?" She mused silently. Then, she heard a noise. It sounded like a soft whimper... The soul reaper looked around, seeing no more Hollows in sight. Maybe it was the soul they were after...? She decided to take a look, and peeked over the fence of the house she had heard the whimper come from...
There was a small, living child working in the garden...and his left arm was bent at an odd angle. Rukia's eyes widened, and she let out a soft gasp. The child was too absorbed in his work and injury to hear her. Rukia stared down at him in shock for a few moments, then blinked.
"He's...adorable..." She mused under her breath. She wondered how he got so hurt...Maybe he fell down some stairs? Yes, that had to be it. With a small smile, the soul reaper turned and left.
Harry looked up from his weeding, still grimacing from the intense pain in his arm, then looked through the wide hole in the fence he was usually told to stay away from to avoid being seen... and he saw a black-haired woman in a long, black robe walking away from him. With a small gasp, he moved away from the hole. He prayed that she hadn't seen him...
Suddenly, the door was thrown open, and Harry's obese uncle stormed out.
"Boy...in here now." He gave Harry no time to react as he grabbed him and dragged him inside. Harry whimpered, and almost wished the woman had seen him. Vernon pulled him inside and slammed the door.
Rukia vaguely heard the sounds of yelling coming from the house...She had a bad feeling... Perhaps one of the children in that house had acted up one too many times? Not thinking too much of it, the woman stepped through the portal to the soul society, her mission complete.
The next day...
Rukia finished off her fifteenth hollow of the day, and wiped the sweat from her brow. So many hollows in this area... She heard the sound of movement coming from the same house she had inspected yesterday. Was the child there again? Curious, she peeked through the hole she noticed in the fence, and saw him with his back to her, pulling weeds.
His arm was bent even further, his tiny body was matted with cuts and bruises, and he was covered with dried blood.
Rukia's eyes widened, and she clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp. This was not the result of falling down a flight of stairs...Someone had intentionally harmed this poor child. Since he clearly hadn't had any medical attention, she had a strong feeling his parents or guardians were the ones responsible. She looked at the child sadly. He was a living being...There was nothing she could do for him... Wordlessly, she turned and left.
Harry looked up from his work to see the woman from the day prior leaving again. Silently, he reached out for her with one hand, desperately, but silently, begging for help. He quickly retracted his hand and shook his head. He couldn't ask for help...Uncle Vernon would...kill him...
With a small sniffle, he silently returned to his work.
The door opened. Harry braced himself for another beating...
The next day
Rukia rested her hands on her knees, panting heavily. Why was she the only one sent out to clear out this ridiculous amount of hollows?! Shaking her head, she decided to take a look through the hole in the fence once more. Sure enough, the child was there. His injuries from the day before had gotten even worse, and to make matters worse, his face was swollen. Rukia trembled and teared up slightly. "You poor little boy..." She whispered, before standing. She wanted to get out of here and forget about it...She opened the portal to the Soul Society, and moved to step inside...but not before taking one last look at the child in the garden.
...He was looking right back at her.
Rukia's eyes widened in shock, then she shook her head. It had to be a coincidence... Then, she saw his lips move. He was whispering something, but she could make out what he was saying by reading his lips.
"Please don't leave me..."
Rukia turned around...but the portal pulled her in. Before she knew it, she was at the gate in the soul society. She clenched her fists at her failure to help him, then remembered the look on his face.
"...He could see me..."
"Who could see you?" Rukia snapped her head in the direction of the voice.
"Captain Ukitake!" She exclaimed.
"Hello, Rukia. The mission went well, I hope."
"Yes sir..." Rukia replied listlessly.
"What's wrong, Rukia? Something's troubling you." Rukia looked at her captain.
"...There was a child...In the world of the living...He could see me..."
"Hmm...I see...And what did this child look like?"
"Well...It was hard to tell...He was always too injured to get a good look at what he looks like..."
"Hmm...He was near the area where the hollows appear?"
"Yes...I've noticed they only seem to appear when he's outside..." Ukitake adopted a worried facial expression.
"It's as we feared..." Rukia blinked.
"What? What do you mean?" Her captain gave her a serious look.
"...Please follow me." Rukia was concerned as she obeyed her captain's orders.
They had been walking for several minutes.
"...Captain, can I ask where we're going?"
"All in good time, Rukia..." She nodded and continued to follow. She was surprised when her captain led her to the first division quarters. Even more so when he led her to Yamamoto's office. Jushiro lightly knocked on the door.
"Enter." Ukiatake turned the doorknob, and he and Rukia entered the room. The head captain was sitting at his desk. "Hello, captain Ukitake. Rukia. Captain Ukitake, I trust you've come bearing more news on the matter?"
"Yes, sir."
"Um...Sirs? I...hate to speak out of line, but...can one of you please explain what's happening?"
"Of course, child." Yamamoto replied calmly. "...You see, we believe we've found the new master of death."
"...Master of death?" Rukia asked in confusion.
"The master of death is someone the original soul reaper himself bowed down to. Someone most soul reapers respect." Ukitake explained.
"But...can I ask why? What makes them more special than the other living people?"
"Well, child..." Yamamoto began. "Before he ascended to become the spirit king, the original soul reaper met three brothers who lived, even though they were supposed to die. These brothers had with them three very powerful artifacts... The Elder Wand, an immensely powerful magic wand that is considered undefeatable. The Resurrection Stone, a stone that can revive souls from the dead. And the Cloak of Invisibility, a cloak that renders the wearer completely invisible. These brothers all had extraordinarily high spirit energy. The original soul reaper had been struggling with his duties as a soul reaper for a very long time, as there were so many souls in the world, far too many for one reaper to take care of on his own. So, he enlisted the aid of these three brothers, who readily agreed, as they were a generous lot. These brothers were no ordinary living, you see...Hiding amongst the normal living is an entire community of magic users known as wizards. With their high spiritual pressure, and mastery of magic, they were invaluable assets to the original reaper. But that's not all the brothers did for the original reaper. The Resurrection Stone had a rather unique side effect...those that it brought back from the dead attained vast amounts of spiritual pressure comparable to that of the brothers themselves. The resurrected people were then trained by the original reaper so that they may have more assistance in carrying out the reaper's work. The original reaper was very grateful to the brothers for all they had done to help him, and vowed one day to repay their kind deeds. Eventually, nature took its course, and the brothers succumbed to old age, one after the other. As the youngest died, he made a request: keep his bloodline safe from harm, and ensure that the three items of death fall into the hands of a member of his bloodline so that they would not fall into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, the brothers had no truly close relatives to speak of. Many years went by, and no soul reaper was able to find anyone related to the brothers. All we had to go by was the youngest's last words: "When my bloodline has reached its breaking point, and no longer sees any purpose in life, the hollows are attracted..." ...So you see, Rukia...We believe that a child in the area you've been facing the hollows in is distantly related to the brothers. We must be sure, so we can ensure that he is well cared for. If the hollows are appearing as frequently as you report...I shudder to imagine what pains that poor child must be suffering."
Rukia clenched her fists. So the little boy...He had been physically tormented to the point of questioning why he was still living?
"...Let me save him..."
"Pardon me?" Yamamoto asked with a raised brow.
"I believe Rukia has seen the child, head captain." Ukitake threw his two cents in.
"Is that a fact?"
"It is." Rukia said. "I HAVE seen him...He's being abused, I just know it. He's been working in the yard every time I've seen him, and he's always badly injured...Either his guardians did it to him themselves, or he's getting bullied and attacked, and they just don't care and are ignoring him. I can't stand that this is happening to him. Please, sir...Let me save him..."
Yamamoto's gaze hardened. "The master of death...an abused child...Who would have ever imagined... Yes, Rukia...I will give you the mission of saving the poor boy...By any means necesarry."
"...Thank you, sir."
"Now, then...Here is the plan. First, you must prepare your gigai. As soon as you've rescued the child, contact me. I will send in Unohana's squad for medical purposes, at which point you will get into your gigai. After that is finished, you will send Unohana on her way, and we will send Captain Zaraki-"
"Um...Sir? Why Captain Zaraki for something this...delicate?" Rukia asked. Seriously, Kenpachi coming to help her deal with an abused child?
"Because of Yachiru." Ukitake explained. "He is a child, so we feel it would help his emotional recovery along if he had someone his own age to interact with." Rukia still didn't know how she felt about them saddling her with Kenpachi...
"Correct." Yamamoto nodded. "Then Kenpachi and Yachiru will lead you to a safe spot. A very recently abandoned home in the living world. We have decided that the best way to go about this is to have the child under the care of one of us...However, he cannot be raised in the Soul Society. If a living child stays in the Soul Society for too long, their soul will be slowly and painfully extracted from their body, and that will not benefit his mental state. Under those circumstances, we have come to the conclusion that someone will have to remain in the world of the living, to care for the child and ensure that he recovers. Since you volunteered to take the mission...that responsibility is yours."
"I understand, sir." Rukia replied. She really had no problem with it at all.
"However, Captain Zaraki and his lieutenant will have to stay with you, in case anything should go wrong."
"I...understand, sir..."
"Very good. Now you'd best be off. That child's future depends on you."
"I won't fail, sir!" And with those words, Rukia turned and ran from the office.
"...Head captain, let me assure you...There is no one better for this job than Rukia."
"I hope you're right, Ukitake...For the child's sake, I hope you're right..."
Rukia ran as fast as she could to get to the world of the living. And she wasn't going to stop running until she was back in that child's yard...
Yeah, it's probably full of plotholes, but...I tried my best.