Disclaimer: I own nothing of Bleach or Inuyasha.
Chapter One
The air was cold, a soft breeze ripped through the atmosphere as it brushed along the tree leaves that it passed. It was a silent night, the moon hoisted into the starry sky as its gentle blueish-silver caressed the town below. The moon fought among many clouds in the sky that tried to block its radiant silver shine. The winds died down and the only sounds that broke the silence were the chirping of the many insects hidden among the tiny blades of grass.
The continuous chirping echoed into the darkness. The tune was horrific and yet sorrowful as each insect played its song in a different pitch. These insects were most likely higurashi, a cicada known to Japan's geographical little island region.
The higurashi have transparent, tender wings and their chirp utters more of a mournful cry. Their cry continued to echo across town as lights went off in the homes of some of the residents. People were retiring to bed as the night held its fight for the sky.
All of a sudden, there was a light splashing sound that ripped through the chilling silence. A puddle in the dirt rippled along from the force that broke the gentle sway of the water. Followed by the splash was the sound of feet scraping against the dirt in a quick and swift motion. From the direction of the rushing footsteps, and in the darkness that battled against the light of the gentle full moon, was a silhouette that blended in completely with its surroundings, except for one noticeable fact, its bushy, orange hair.
Following behind the figure, there was another. This figure, unlike its partner, was shorter and thinner. The shine of its black hair distinctively gave away its position in the darkness. It was trying as hard as it could, only to keep up with its partner.
"Ichigo! Wait for me!" Yelled the shorter partner that was lagging behind the figure with orange hair. "You're not even giving me a chance to catch up!" The partner, who apparently was a female from the pitch of her voice, tripped herself up over her own feet as she ran. She was already almost out of breath from trying to stretch her stamina enough to meet the speed of the strawberry head. "You're not even listening to me, are you?"
"They refuse to give me a damn break around here, don't they?" The strawberry headed kid thinks in his head as he continues to run. Keeping himself in concentrated thought with a scowl on his face, it was hard to tell whether he was pondering something, or just plain pissed off. "Along with that - now Rukia's jumping on my ass about something! I just can't win can I?" He seemed to be really agitated, along with that, it didn't seem like he was letting the situation go. "I mean is it really too much to ask to have a normal life for a day? I just want a day where I can sit around, and eat my toast. Is that too much too ask?"
Ichigo stopped in his own tracks and glanced around. "Where is it..?" He asked with no patience.
"Let me check.." Rukia replied. She pulled out her tracking device, looking for the coordinates of the location of their target. "It headed off towards the southwest.. that way!" She said, point in the direction as the two of them headed in that direction.
Not far from their location, a scream rang out in the darkness as a teenage girl was running through the darkness. She shouldn't see, but she didn't care about where she was going, as long as she could get away from what was chasing her. The strange thing about this girl though, was that she had a broken chain attached to her chest, it clanked every now and then when it beat against her chest as she ran. What she was running from, what a large monstrous creature with a mask on its face, the beast's mouth was opened wide as it lunged forward and attempted to grasp her with its teeth.
Ichigo appeared in front of the girl, scaring her a bit. He reached behind himself and pulled out a large cleaver like sword as he gripped it with one hand and held it out toward the monster. "..Now I've got you!"
The girl ran out to the side as Rukia grabbed her and held her from running off. The girl stood there and shook a bit, sobbing from fear of the beast.
"It's alright.." Rukia said to reassure her. "Just leave everything to us."
The monster swung its massive arm at Ichigo, its aim was to knock him back and attack him at all costs. Although, that strategy failed, allowing Ichigo to jump above it and swing downward, slicing the beast's arm off. The monster roared and staggered back a few times as it turned back to Ichigo and attempted to grab him. Ichigo jumped into the air and sprung off its arm, thrusting the point of his large Zanpaku-tô into the beast's forehead.
The mask on the creature's face shattered to the ground as the beast itself vanished and was swallowed up into the sky.
"..That'll teach that hollow.." Ichigo said as he swung his Zanpaku-tô onto his shoulder and rested it there. He turned to the girl who was still with Rukia. "Hey, are you alright? It didn't hurt you or anything did it?"
The girl shook her head and wiped a few of the tears from her face.
"..Alright, its time for you to pass on. Don't worry though, you'll go to a place that's much safer." Rukia said as she unsheathed her Zanpaku-tô. The hilt of the blade began to glow as she began to preform the konsô ritual.
Moments later, across the view of the silvery moon, a black swallowtail butterfly fluttered its way across the sky and into the heavens. Until morning, the night had become peaceful once again.
Yuzu's voice rang out and echoed across the strawberry headed kid's room. "Good morning, Ichigo!" She shouted, standing in the doorway to his room.
"Ahh!" Ichigo shouted as he jumped out of his bed and landed on the floor with the back of his head facing the ceiling. "Are you crazy? Don't shout at me while I'm sleeping!"
"..Oh, sorry.. I just wanted to let you know that breakfast is ready for you before you head off to school!"
"..Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.." Ichigo replied as he stood up and walked over to shut his door and get ready for the day ahead.
Moments after he'd gotten ready and eaten his breakfast, Ichigo left his house with his bag strapped on his shoulder, and headed off to school.
"..My, my.. You're up early.." Rukia said as she turned to him from the side of the front door and smirked towards him.
"I'm not usually awake this early.. Let's just get going.."
The both of them headed off towards the school located in Karakura town, although, on their way, they'd ran into Mizuro and Keigo. The only two out of them that made conversation, were Mizuro and Keigo.
Not much later did they arrive in the classroom, only to hear Orihime calling from the other side of the classroom.
"Hey, Ichigo! Rukia! Over here you guys!" She called to them as she waved her arm into the air.
"..It took you long enough, slowpoke!" Tatsuki remarked as Ichigo took his seat nearby.
"..Shut up, I'm not in the mood for this crap.." Ichigo snapped. He turned to the others, "Hey Mizuro.. What are we doing today?"
Mizuro looked up with a puzzled look on his face. "Huh? Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that.."
"..Well gee, that helped a lot.." Ichigo scoffed as he turned back.
Rukia tapped Ichigo's shoulder and gave him a bit of a stern face. She'd been quiet ever since she entered the classroom, so that wasn't much of a good sign at all. She had some kind of feeling that today would be bad.
"Yeah, what is it?" Ichigo said as he turned to her.
"..Its a bit urgent, we'll need to step out in the hallway.." She then without another word, stood up and walked out of the classroom.
"..Uhh, alright.." Ichigo replied as he tried to follow behind her. "I wonder what's her problem.. Guess I'll ask when I'm out there.." He stepped out of the class along with her and saw that she was checking a message on her messaging device.
On the phone was an urgent code for them to meet with some Intel at the Karakura town children park. There hadn't been much going on lately, but to get a message like that, must mean there could be trouble.
"Hey, what's going on? What does Soul Society want now?" Ichigo asked as he walked up behind Rukia.
Rukia was silent for a moment before she ever responded. "..I'm not sure, but we need to head to the park immediately."
"All right.." Ichigo nodded in response as he agreed.
The two of them bolted down the hallway without grabbing their things and dashed towards the park. Once they arrived, they spotted two familiar figures, and they immediately ran in that direction. The two figures themselves, looked towards Ichigo and Rukia. These figures, were none other than Toshiro Hitsugaya, and Rangiku Matsumoto.
"Well hey there you two!" Rangiku grinned a bit with a smile in Ichigo and Rukia's direction. "Long time no see, huh?"
Toshiro scoffed a bit and crossed his arms. "This is no time to be fooling around, we're on serious business.."
"Oh come on Captain, I was just having a little fun is all!"
"There's no time for your games Matsumoto, we have bigger problems."
The air became silent and a breeze picked up as it scattered the leaves that had fallen on the ground. Many of the tress nearby began to brush one another and make a haunting whistling sound in the air.
"..Yeah, and I think I'd like to know what they are.." Ichigo demanded after a few moments. He glared in the direction of Toshiro and Rangiku, waiting for an answer.
"Mind your manners Ichigo!" Rukia shouted as she hit him upside the head. "My apologies Captain Hitsugaya, please proceed.." She said as she turned to him and bowed a bit with a slightly nervous look on her face.
"What are you talking about manners?" Ichigo screamed back at her. "They're the ones making us wait here while we need to know what's up! I don't have time for this!"
"..As I was saying.." Toshiro interrupted before any further arguments took place. "Soul Society has issued an urgent order.. We are on high alert priority for this assignment.."
"Yeah, I pretty much figured that much out myself.." Ichigo snapped and rolled his eyes a bit, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Captain, maybe we should tell them that we're accompanying them on this one. After all, you are going nowhere with this." Rangiku chimed in with her input.
Toshiro's eye twitched a bit as he took a bit of a deep breath. "..I was just getting to that Matsumoto, now let me handle it.." Toshiro faced Ichigo and Rukia once again. "Soul Society has requested that Matsumoto and myself aid you in this assignment. We have to travel to a city in Japan somewhere not far from Karakura town. This city is what you in the world of the living would know as, Tokyo.. So it'd be best if you prepared your things soon."
"Wait a minute here.." Ichigo said in his own defense. "Why do we have to go to Tokyo anyway? There's got to be a good reason for something this important.."
"That reason being.." Toshiro started as he gave a serious look in their direction. "Is that we have detected a large amount of spiritual pressure coming from that area. We believe that Tokyo could be the target of a large scale hollow attack. We also believe that this spiritual pressure belongs to an Arrancar.."