BREATH OF LIFE

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or Tokyo Ghoul or the characters involved herein - they belong to their respective owners.

Summary: It took only one tiny moment to re-shuffle the already dealt cards into the hands of players again, not that they knew of it. But with this single action, the rules of the game have changed. The only thing left was to find out who will rise... and who will fall.

Shout Out: Another one of my pet projects gnawing at my brain late in the night. I know, I should be writing for all other ones, but this stubbornly wiggled in-between. I don't know why am I even trying to stave them off at this point. I watched Tokyo Ghoul and this happened.

Warnings: AU-verse, SLASH, ghouls around and Seireitei being shaken off their throne as top dogs sometime in the future. Not beta-ed. Won't be chronologically correct

Intro

Karin had been taken. The hat-wearing blonde man grimaced.

This was not good.

He had thought that Kurosaki-chan, as he called the ornery black-haired substitute reaper would be exempt from the harsh laws of Seireitei, but it seemed that Byakuya-chan had become quite a cold-hearted individual, what with him hitting her into unconsciousness and then taking her to where he came from, along with Rukia-chan.

Rukia-chan was an expected casualty. He knew just what kind of crime the petite violet-eyed girl was committing when she parted with her powers in order to give Kurosaki-chan a chance to defend her little family.

But Karin - Karin was an unwanted and unnecessary casualty, just because of her involvement that strange night.

And now, he would have to tell Isshin. Pale grey eyes darted to the phone in the corner of the room, it's antiquated, black presence looming ever threateningly in the shadowed corner, voicelessly mocking and taunting his hesitation.

He would have to tell Isshin and worse... he would have to tell Yuzu.

It was bad enough that the tiny family had suffered the loss of their mother, and then in the same evening, their little family had shrunk for one more member.

Urahara couldn't help but wince at the thought. While Isshin was a certified goof, he did love his family fiercely. But all of his love didn't stop the schism that grew between him and his eldest, finally coming to a head when the boy decided to go to school in Tokyo instead of Karakura. There had been an enormous row over the decision, with Isshin trying to convince his son to stay home, but in the end, he had to let him go, even as young as he had been at the time.

He swallowed. He didn't know much about this eldest, aside his name, and that he resided in Tokyo.

If not Isshin, then him. Hesitating only for a moment, he then reached for the earphone and began to dial the never-used (until now) phone number he had scavenged off Karin's phone.

God help him... because there was no fury like concerned elder brother of one Kurosaki Karin.

After what seemed to be a small eternity, but were in reality only five to ten minutes, the call went through.

"Yes?" A brisk male voice came through the receiver, causing Urahara to blink and straighten his posture.

"Ah… am I speaking to one Kurosaki Ichigo?" His voice was unusually tentative, and Urahara cursed himself for sounding so timid, like a boy with his first crush.

"On the phone. Who are you and what do you want in the middle of the fucking night?" The person on the other side of the phone sounded increasingly cranky, and Urahara winced. The fellow didn't seem to be one to joke around with, and his usually pleasant tenor was slightly croaky, as if he was just woken up from his sleep.

"It's Karin." He managed to speak out. "She was kidnapped."

"What did you say?" The voice that came over the receiver was cold enough to freeze the sun with how glacial it was. Urahara gulped. His fingers clenched around the receiver reflexively. He already regretted making a call, however urgent it may have been.

Maybe he should have called Isshin first…

His throat bobbled as he swallowed and exhaled suddenly too thin air out of his lungs before he inhaled, preparing himself .

"She is in a grave danger. I can't say anything more, but I need you to come to Karakura, as soon as possible." His voice was thankfully brisk and to the point.

"Does Goat-face know?" The cold tenor on the other side didn't waver. Unwillingly, Urahara had to admire the man's composure. Not many people would react this calm when they were literally hauled up in the middle of the night and told that their younger sibling was kidnapped and facing certain death.

"No. Neither does Yuzu… for the time being. I didn't want to bother them. " The words tasted like ashes on his tongue, the taste of failure he was all too familiar with. "I will have someone on the train station to wait on you."

"Understood."

With that, the connection was cut, leaving Urahara with only the mournful beeping of the machine in his ear, strangely similar to the death toll.

For the first time in a long while, Urahara prayed that he didn't make a mistake when he called Karin's enigmatic big brother to the girl's rescue.

"Where are you going?" A muffled question came from the door, it's owner slightly groggy still as he had been woken some moments before.

He paused in the frantic packing of the objects in his trusty duffle bag.

"Home. Karin was kidnapped."

Now wide awake, platinum colored eyes looked at the red-clad back of the packing male.

"I am coming with you." The soft voice stopped the frantically packing young man cold. Whiskey brown eyes looked back at the person leaning against the door frame. "You don't have to. It will be dangerous and it doesn't – "

"Maybe I am not involved but I want to help." The soft voice interrupted him as its owner moved forward, placing a deceptively slender hand on the red-clad shoulder.

Orange eyebrows furrowed with discontent. "You shouldn't – "He tried to protest, but a glare from those uniquely colored eyes snapped his mouth shut.

"I am your friend. If I want to help you, I will. "

The glaring contest between the two of them lasted for a tense moment, before the red-clad male's shoulders relaxed infinitesimally and he offered his companion a tiny smile.

"In that case… Thank you."

Usually cool platinum eyes warmed a fraction, and after briefly squeezing the shoulder his hand was clutching to, he moved on to start his own packing.

Time was of an essence, after all.

To Be Continued