A/N: Should I really be posting another story?

Maa...

BUT I WANT TO!!! So here goes nothing...

This, dear reader, is a Bleach/InuYasha crossover, taking place in the Bleach universe. I have planned for this to be a Kagome/Byakuya pairing, and I can't see that changing. I am unsure of which characters are going to appear from "InuYasha", but I know for a fact that Sesshomaru will be making an appearance.

As for the rest, I'm completely winging this.

So I hope it turns out realitively well...

Hakumei Hollow

Chapter One: Hanshou

By ancient-relic

She sat by herself, swinging her feet over the edge of the magnificent scaffold. Anyone who might have looked would have seen her, a shadow darker than the sky, a flash of pink the only sign that there was anything more than darkness above the scaffold.

Yoruchi stared at the dark spot above the scaffold. However, she could do nothing more than look, when it moved and disappeared in the strange burst of pink light.

A wide grin stretched across her face, as if she had just remembered something that she had forgotten long, long ago. Turning away, she bounded off to find Urahara, in order to tell him the great news.

::-::-:: ::-::-:: ::-::-::

Kagome whistled to herself idly, as she walked forwards. There was nothing but darkness surrounding her- sand under her feet, and black rocks jutting out sporadically being the only two things that decorated the black landscape.

A dark figure moved from behind a large outcropping ahead of her, but Kagome didn't quell her pace. Instead, she moved towards it, and intended to go right past it, when a gravelly voice and an armored, clawed hand stopped her.

"What are you doing here, trespassing in this realm? Are you looking to be eaten?"

Kagome looked up to the great creature, eyeing the hole in the center of its chest, before taking in the grotesque insect-like mask that covered its face.

Or what had once been its face, she thought idly.

"Your soul smells delicious," The thing licked its lips with a serrated tongue.

"It is not my soul you smell," Kagome said firmly, looking up at the Hollow with a red gleam in her brown eyes. "It is my power."

Reaching behind her, she pulled out an oblong shaped thing, covered in bandages. It was at least her height, if not a little shorter, and it was twice as thick as her arm.

"Who are you?" the Hollow asked, hunger glittering in its eyes. "I would know the name of every delicious soul I eat."

"I am the one they call Hakumei," she said darkly, her eyes flashing red. "And contrary to any thought you may have of eating me, I assure you it will be the other way around."

With a deft twist of her right arm, Kagome unsheathed her blade, and the Hollow found himself staring at the end of a broadsword with a hooked point, and a ring through the other side.

Kagome watched as the Hollow looked fearfully at her, its eyes moving nervously from her face, to the tip of her blade, which was resting centimeters from it's mask.

There was a sudden darkness that obscured her vision, before it dispersed, and Kagome knew that her own jeweled hollow mask had formed on her face. She kept it atop her head, but when she drew her blade, it always coalesced on her face, as if in response to the wave of power her sword would emit.

"Do you know what I'm famous for?" Kagome asked, red eyes flashing from her mask.

The Hollow did not respond.

"Do you know what my blade is famous for?" she asked again, a grin spreading across her face. Combined with the jagged end of her mask that allowed her mouth to be visible, she knew that she had secured her kill with the fear that was rolling off the Hollow in waves.

Still, the Hollow said nothing.

Lazily moving the tip of her sword down to the hole in the Hollow's chest, she poked the blade through, enlarging the hole as she did so. The Hollow screamed in pain, but its body had long ago frozen, leaving Kagome to enjoy the ringing cries of pain her victim was making.

Finally, after her sword's slow descent through the Hollow, she stopped. The Hollow stopped screaming, but it was followed by a roar, as Kagome used the hook to embed her sword in the rest of the Hollow, via its hole. Then, with a smug grin, she yanked her sword upwards with a strength mismatched with her fragile stature, and the Hollow was ripped up the middle, his mask spitting, and falling to the ground, with his body.

"Suraisu, ken no za tenrai-tasogare."

Instead of the Hollow disappearing, a bluish-pink flame surrounded the body, and a wisp-like, silvery substance rose from the hole in the Hollow's chest. It was tainted black, but that didn't seem to deter Kagome. In fact, the sight seemed to make her happy, and the wisp floated for a moment in front of her, before it was sucked into a round pink orb that was embedded in her mask.

As she sheathed her blade and re-attached it onto her back, the pink flame disappeared, as did her mask, leaving deep brown eyes glittering, framed by black hair as dark as the night. With a swirl, her black robes danced in her wake, and left behind the charred mask and remains of the insect-like Hollow.

::-::-:: ::-::-:: ::-::-::

"Sir!!"

Byakuya looked up from where he was sitting, looking over some notices that had been created by the council. There was a mysterious creature that was out there, killing Hollows.

The strangest part about it was that there was no sign of any of the tarnished souls, and carcasses, which were almost impossible for Hollows to leave behind, were being found, charred and split in half right up from the hole to the mask, which was always halved.

Byakuya looked at the messenger with wary eyes. What was it now?

"There has been another Hollow found!!"

Byakuya's eyes widened involuntarily. Not another one? That was three in two weeks. Either the thing that was killing them was getting too active…

Byakuya rose, after he was sure he was prepared for a fight, if necessary. There was a comforting weight at his hip- but he didn't spare his zanpakuto a glance as he strode briskly out of the room.

… or, he mused to himself, his mind falling back to the letter on his desk, the Hollows were starting to search the strange creature out.

::-::-:: ::-::-:: ::-::-::

Yoruchi, tail twitching madly, looked up at Ichigo Kurosaki in frustration. Why was it taking so long?

The orange-headed boy was standing on the corner, discussing something very animatedly with two boys she assumed were from his class. Glaring up at the boy, she stalked over to him, and let out what she hoped was a pitiful sounding meow.

Ichigo immediately looked down, and his eyes widened. A shiver made it's way down his spine as Yoruchi glared up at him. "Mr. Yoruchi?"

A split second later, Ichigo had scooped up Yoruchi, and was off down the street, waving apologetically to his friends.

"Took you bloody long enough," Yoruchi grumbled. "And I will not put up with being carried for much longer, you know."

"Ah!" Ichigo promptly dropped her, as she extended her kitty-claws.

"This way, fool. I have some important news, which I must tell everyone. The rest are already gathered at Urahara's."

Ichigo looked down at her strangely, but said nothing, walking quickly, his long strides carrying him confidently down the street.

::-::-:: ::-::-:: ::-::-::

Yoruchi sat languidly, stretching her limbs with satisfying pops. She did enjoy the freedom of her cat form… but it was nice to have actual human arms and legs. And it was much easier to defend herself.

Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, Urahara, Rukia, and Ishida were sitting around her in a circle, and they all looked to her as she leaned against the wall behind her.

"Some of you may know," she started, looking pointedly at Rukia and Urahara, "Of the strange creature that had been sighted, who kills Hollows by cutting them in half, and burning them."

Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, and Ishida looked on with interest, while Urahara's eyes widened in anticipation. Rukia was deep in thought, and Yoruchi paused to let her talk.

"The one that the council have been researching?"

"Yes," Yoruchi replied. "The very same."

"What has changed?" Urahara questioned, and Yoruchi could see the wheels in his head already churning.

"I've seen her. If the brief time she was atop the scaffold, I scanned her aura."

"And?!" this time it was Ichigo who was looking at her with anticipation, and Yoruchi smiled coyly.

"She is not much different from the reapers who fill the very city she was watching. She has a human body, and soul reaper powers. She even has a zanpakuto, as a manifestation of her powers. It is not unlike yours, Ichigo- in a constant state of release."

"But?" Rukia asked, focusing on Yoruchi intently.

"She also has the powers of a Hollow. They tinge her aura, and her blade. It has an aura of it's own… I suspect she is collecting souls for herself."

"Hollow souls," Ruika said, not posed as a question, but a reflection.

"The purer souls, as well." Yoruchi said. "There is a balance between the two sides of her power. She needs to maintain the balance."

Ichigo was pale, and deep in thought. Yoruchi wondered idly where his mind was, before she continued.

"Because she takes souls, I must assume she stores them somewhere on herself- whether it be in her blade, or some other container. Nonetheless, by now, the power she has amassed is great. The council has just emitted a notice that they want her captured, dead or alive. They want her power."

Ichigo looked up, startled. "We have to get to her first!!"

Everyone was confused. Orihime spoke up for the first time, seemingly voicing the collective thoughts of the humans with high soul powers. "Why, Ichigo? Isn't this none of our business? Do we really want to walk into the Soul Society again, and put ourselves in danger?" her voice rose an octave as she finished.

Ichigo looked at her, and spoke sharply, startling the poor girl. "I've seen her, here, in the human relm. We don't need some good-for-nothing stealing her power. It's bad enough that the Soul Society knows about us… what if they use the power to come after us?"

Orihime's face was pale.

Chad looked at Ichigo, seemingly disgruntled. "I agree with Orihime," he said slowly. "We should not make this our problem."

Ichigo looked almost outraged. It was clear that there was something he was not saying, and whether or not Chad noticed, he made no comment on it.

"However," Chad continued, ignoring a fuming Ichigo, "Ichigo makes a valid point. If we do not gain this power for ourselves, we will be in more danger, no matter if we're in the human world or not."

This seemed to settle Ichigo, and he had the decency to look rather apologetically at Chad.

Yoruchi looked at Urahara.

His hat was covering his eyes, and for a moment, she was sure of what he would answer her. When he raised his head, and she knew she was right. He had a familiar glint in his eyes… one she hadn't seen for a long, long time.

"We will go back." He said astutely, and rose. Everyone followed him, but Yoruchi.

"The day after tomorrow. I want to study this power… it may be the answer to something that I have been in search of, for a long, long time."

"We are not doing this for your research!" Ichigo said angrily, turning on Urahara.

"And we will not do this for whatever reason you don't wish to disclose!" Urahara replied angrily, startling their audience. It wasn't often he raised his voice.

Yoruchi finally rose, sensing the tension in the room.

"We will go for our own purpose. However, do we all agree that we need to get there first?"

The people in the room nodded their heads in acquiescence, and Yoruchi grinned again, her white teeth standing out starkly against her skin.

"Then it's settled!! The day after tomorrow. Be here, ten in the morning, sharp."

To Be Continued…

A/N: Okay. I've had this in my head for a while, but I'm still not too sure about it. I wasn't too sure if I even wanted to post this, but I've decided, what the heck.

And now, there is this story.

The title of the story, Hakumei Hollow means twilight Hollow. The chapter title, Hanshou, means midnight. And Kagome's attack, roughly translated to japanese, ("Suraisu, ken no za tenrai-tasogare.") says, "Slice, blade of the heavenly twilight." You may notice that "twilight" repeats itself. Well, it becomes rather important. That's why it's so common.

That being said and done, I can't wait to find out how this story does!!

Please, tell me what you think, in a review!!

ancient-relic