K U R A Y A M I ©

(Darkness)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I arm wrestled Tite Kubo for it… but lost… badly.

AN: Hiya! This is my very first fanfic, so please be nice. I've had this idea kicking around for a while and I finally got the courage to try it out, so please let me know what you guys think. Enjoy!

Chapter One – Rude Awakenings

Hitsugaya squinted his eyes at the darkness stretched out before him. He could vaguely make out the shapes of trees, so he figured he must be in a forest of some sort. 'Where am I?' He thought to himself. A sharp crack made Hitsugaya turn swiftly to his right, reaching instinctively for his zanpakutou. His hand grasped air - Hyourinmaru had vanished. "What the hell is going on here?" he yelled in frustration, but an eerie silence was his only reply. Looking around again he noticed a dim light gently glowing in the distance and shunpoed towards it. After colliding with his second tree in a row, Hitsugaya wisely decided that perhaps it was not wise to shunpo through a dark forest full of large, unforgiving trees. Rubbing his forehead he looked back up, then stopped dead in his tracks. Before him stood a girl, surrounded in a pulsing light, almost like a dancing fire. She was standing on the edge of a cliff, gazing down, her blond hair flowing freely in the restless wind that had begun to pick up. "Excuse me… umm, miss?" Hitsugaya said calmly, but he could not ignore the strange feeling growing in his stomach, which was anything but calm. For some reason, Hitsugaya felt connected to her somehow, he felt protective. His thoughts were interrupted when the reiatsu surrounding the girl suddenly flared and the wind became fierce, forcing him to his knees. He looked from the girl, who appeared to be crying, to the cliff's edge, and instantly knew what would happen next. "Wait!" He yelled desperately. "I can help you!" The girl turned her head towards him, tears flowing freely, and a slightly confused look crossed her features. Hitsugaya's stomach dropped. He couldn't see her clearly, but this feeling was so strong that it hurt. He lowered his voice, "Please. Let me help you." The girl's eyes widened in surprise and disbelief before the burning reiatsu consumed her and she disappeared …

"No… wait…"

"Taichou… ano, Taichou? … TAICHOU!"

Hitsugaya woke with a start and fell onto the floor of his office in tenth division. He looked up to see who had yelled and his eyes met his fukutaichou's… erm, assets.

"Geez, Taichou. This is the third time you've fallen asleep at your desk this week. And you say that I'M lazy? Pfft."

"Matsumoto…" growled Hitsugaya in warning.

"Relax, Taichou. I don't mind. Although you've started to make these weird whiney noises and you talk in your sleep… well more like mumble. Oooh! Were you having a nightmare? Aww, Kawaii! Taichou had a nightm— "

"Urusai Matsumoto!" exploded Hitsugaya, and the temperature in the room dropped below freezing. Nightmare. He supposed that's what it was. He had been having the same kind of dreams for months now, but within the past week, the feelings that accompanied them had gotten significantly stronger. Lately, it had felt like his heart was being ripped from his chest. At this point, Hitsugaya had no idea what to make of them. All he could be certain of was that these were no ordinary dreams…

A knock at the door brought Hitsugaya out of his thoughts, and silenced Matsumoto, who had been babbling on about something to do with dream interpretations and wetting the bed. Hitsugaya rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me. I am 8th seat of the Tenth division, Kyuko Tobashi, here with an urgent message from Yamamoto-Soutaichou. Are Hitsugaya-Taichou and Matsumoto-Fukutaichou present?" The voice said through the door.

"Hai," Hitsugaya replied. "Open the door."

"Yamamoto-Soutaichou has called an emergency meeting, all Taichous and their Fukutaichous are required to attend," Tabashi relayed.

"When is the meeting?"

"Immediately, Taichou."

"Arigato, you are dismissed."

"Hai!" Tobashi said with a low bow and exited the office.

Hitsugaya turned to Matsumoto. She had a thoughtful look on her face. "Ne Taichou, this sounds pretty serious… What do you think the big emergency is?" She asked.

'An emergency… out of nowhere. How strange.' He thought to himself. 'I don't sense any abnormal reiatsu…' "No idea, Matsumoto," He shook his head. "Let's go."

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto were among the last to arrive at First Division. All of the other Captains and their Vice Captains were taking their places, with Yamamoto standing at the front. As they took their spots, the Soutaichou opened his eyes a crack and called the meeting to order with three booming thumps from his staff.

"As I am sure you are all aware of, we have an emergency situation at hand," Yamamoto began gruffly. "There have been bursts of unidentified reiatsu coming from Karakura town. The reiatsu is startlingly strong and as of yet we have no idea as to what might be causing it."

"Have we ruled out the possibility of a strong hollow or arrancar?" Questioned Unohana.

"Yes, and the Research and Development Bureau has been working hard to study it, although that task has been quite difficult due to the fact that the reiatsu fluctuates unpredictably. Kurotsuki-Taichou, care to fill us in?"

Kurotsuki stepped forward, his eyes growing wide. "Of course. The Technological Research Bureau has detected extremely large levels of reiatsu, originating from various areas of Karakura town. The reiatsu appears in what seems to be random spurts and in areas with no particular significance. When I tried to trace it, it would vanish as if it never existed at all."

"Hmm," the Soutaicho interjected. "Ukitake-Taichou, you sent a team out to Karakura Town some time ago. Have they found anything?"

At this point, all eyes were on Ukitake. Most of the other captains were unaware that a team had already been sent out, since they themselves were not informed of the situation. Ukitake cleared his throat. "When we were contacted by Urahara Kisuke on behalf of those present in the Living World, we sent Kuchiki Rukia and Abarai Renji there to investigate. They have been there, working with the substitute shinigami, and as of yet are unable to locate the source of the wild reiatsu."

"Have we ruled out the possibility of a hollow or arrancar?" Questioned Unohana.

"Yes, through detailed tests and analyses we have determined that the source is neither of those. Rather, it is something with the capacity to become much stronger than both. We cannot tell exactly what it is, but like I said before, we do know it is originating from Karakura Town, at varying times, and at seemingly insignificant areas. I have suggested that we send a team to investigate, retrieve the object, and bring it back to be studied – "

Everyone in the room groaned out loud. "Of course you'd love to pick it apart and study it you sick little bastard," grumbled Kenpachi, while Yachiru now chanted "Bastard-Chan! Bastard-Chan – "

"SILENCE!" Boomed Yamamoto. Immediately everyone's attention snapped back to him. "Ukitake, is there anything else that was reported?"

"Hai. Rukia and the substitute shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, have felt the reiatsu and have attempted to locate the source. Each time, they would arrive on the scene and the reiatsu would have vanished. They noted that the reiatsu was indeed very strong, perhaps rivalling that of a Captain's at times, and has a somewhat dark heat to it. Also, it is worth mentioning that since the appearance of this reiatsu, more hollow and arrancar have been showing up as well." Ukitake stated.

Hitsugaya's jaw nearly hit the floor. 'Dark heat?' That was one way to describe these recent dreams. 'I wonder if they're connected somehow.'

"Yama-Jii," drawled Kyouraku. "Is it possible that Aizen is aware of this thing's presence, and has perhaps sent those hollow and arrancar to retrieve it?"

"Ahh, very possible indeed," Yamamoto agreed. "This is why I have decided to send two teams to Karakura Town to further investigate the situation, find the source, and bring it back to Soul Society, by force if deemed necessary. Ukitake-Taichou and Kyouraku-Taichou are heading this mission. One team will be to help Kurosaki and Kuchiki with the recent increase in hollow and arrancar. The other team will have the sole purpose of retrieving the source of the abnormal reiatsu. Ukitake-Taichou and Kyouraku-Taichou, make the teams, they will leave tomorrow morning. Other than that, you are dismissed."

"Hai." Everyone replied and began to file out.

That evening, Hitsugaya sat at his desk working away at the large amount of paperwork he had to get done. But for some reason his mind wandered. In fact, he was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed when Matsumoto snuck out of the office to go drinking with Kira and Hisagi. His mind kept replaying what was said in the meeting, as well as what he saw in his dreams. He knew it was unlikely they were related, hell that idea was just insane, but he could not help feeling like the dreams meant something to the current situation. 'Dark heat…' The words he could not forget… Suddenly, a hell butterfly came in through the window, pulling Hitsugaya out of his thoughts. Subconsciously he held out a finger to receive the message:

The teams for tomorrow's mission are as follows. Kira Izuru and Hisagi Shuhei

will assist with the increase in hollow and arrancar appearances. Matsumoto

Rangiku and Abarai Renji will search for the source of the reiatsu, led by

Hitsugaya-Taichou. Ukitake-Taichou and Kotetsu Isane will accompany for

support services, and Kyouraku-Taichou will lead the investigation of the source

from the Soul Society end. All those going to the Real World will leave at 0500

tomorrow, be prepared.

"Well Matsumoto… Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya looked around the office only to find his Fukutaichou gone. "How did I get stuck with such a lazy vice captain?" He asked aloud to himself. Hitsugaya glanced at the clock, it was 11pm, and sighed. Just then, the office doors burst open and in came Matsumoto being carried by Hisagi and Kira. 'Perfect timing,' he thought to himself as he internally rolled his eyes.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou – "

"I don't want to hear it. Just take her to her room, we have a mission tomorrow in case you've forgotten. I don't care how bad your hangovers are, be ready and do your damn job." Hitsugaya spat. He was angry. Not only was he under a lot of stress himself, but now Matsumoto and some others were drunk when they were to be dispatched to the Living World in about six hours. Fantastic. Hitsugaya walked to his room and laid on the bed, debating whether or not he even wanted to sleep, wanted to witness those dreams again. Tossing and turning for hours, Hitsugaya finally drifted off at around 3am.

Hitsugaya had been expecting the same dreams as always. But tonight, tonight was different. There was no girl, no cliff, and no forest. No 'dark heat' and no vision at all. Everything was pitch black, worse than the forest, and deadly silent. A tiny sound was heard, and it got louder as time passed. Hitsugaya recognized it as crying, but could still not see a thing. 'Hello?' He shouted into the darkness. Then, as if he had pushed a magic button, the emotion came, stronger than ever. Hitsugaya fell to his knees as the misery and torment hit him full force. The agony alone was enough to push him to the edge of sanity. The crying continued, soon followed by a tortured yell from Hitsugaya as the ground seemed to disappear and he fell into the burning abyss…

"AHHH!" Hitsugaya continued to scream as he abruptly awoke from the dream. He sat up quickly but soon felt two hands holding onto his shoulders. Confused, he looked up into the face of a worried-looking Ukitake. "Ukitake-san… what's going on?"

Ukitake seemed as though he was searching for the right words. "Shiro-chan, I decided to swing by to make sure everyone was ready, but I heard… I heard you screaming and… well, did you have a nightmare?" He asked coyly.

Hitsugaya gripped his blankets as he recalled the nightmare that just took place. "No. It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"Shiro-chan, are you sure? We could talk about it – "

"No, there's nothing to talk about."

"But surely – "

"We're going to be late."

At that, Ukitake straightened and glanced at the clock. He sighed, "I suppose you're right. But where is Matsumoto-san?"

It was now Hitsugaya's turn to let out a sigh, as he stumbled out of bed, threw on his captain's haori, and walked briskly to the tenth division office. He flung the doors open and was greeted by very obnoxious snoring coming from the couch. Ukitake stood in shock as Hitsugaya casually walked over to the couch and smacked his Fukutaichou hard in the back of the head. "Baka! Get up, we're leaving!"

"Ahh! Taichou, you meanie." Yawned Matsumoto. She looked up and noticed her captain and Ukitake standing over her. "Oh, Ukitake-Taichou, 'morning. Would either of you mind grabbing me some tea? I take one cream and four sug – "

"Matsumoto! Just get up, we leave in ten minutes." Hitsugaya said impatiently, as he stormed out of the office.

"A little irritable today, ne?" Joked Ukitake.

Matsumoto got up and started towards her room, "Nah, it's just the nightmares. Little Taichou has been so stressed lately because of them."

'Hmm,' Ukitake thought as he watched Matsumoto leave. 'Maybe I'll have to look into that too then.'

Ten Minutes Later…

Everyone assigned to the mission was gathered at the Senkei Gate. Naturally, instead of joining everyone else, Hitsugaya was sitting on a tree branch, lost in thought. 'I wonder if this mission will take long. I know this is a serious situation, but on top of the nightmares I just can't handle all of this stuff as well I did before they started. Plus, as crazy as this sounds, I still have to figure out what those nightmares mean.' Hitsugaya let out a long sigh as he rested his head against the tree, this was going to be a particularly long day and he knew it.

Before long, the Senkei gate was open and the group journeyed through to the Living world. As Hitsugaya stepped out of the gate and into the fading sunlight, he noticed that Kurosaki and his crew were waiting for them.

"Oi, we're meeting at the Urahara Store first. After that we will sort out living arrangements and a plan I guess," Kurosaki stated, scratching his head uncomfortably. All of the shinigami nodded and flashstepped towards the store. Matsumoto hung back, wondering if anyone would notice if she happened to stop by a few stores on the way…

"Ahh, quite a big group today I see!" Beamed Urahara. Everyone was either seated or standing, waiting almost impatiently in the cramped room. "Okay, first, I have prepared gigai for all of you… though it's a shame Komamura-Taichou isn't here… I made a very special gigai just for him." Hitsugaya looked up to see Urahara holding a gigai in the form of a giant golden retriever and smirked.

Hitsugaya leaned his head against the wall and sighed impatiently, slowly drifting out of the conversation. This is going to be interesting, working with a bunch of incompetent morons. He let his gaze slide along those in the room. Matsumoto adjusting her.. girls, while Kurosaki and Abarai watched from behind cracked fingers. Kira and Hisagi were having an arm wrestling match, and Ukitake was evidently trying to charm Isane. Yep, morons. Suddenly Hitsugaya sat straight up, a tingling feeling throughout his body. Your spidey senses, Master? Joked Hyourinmaru.

He looked around quickly. That reiatsu, it's so… familiar. Hitsugaya glared at the others. Sure the reiatsu was subtle, but were they really that stupid? "Oi!" He yelled to get their attention. Everyone stopped and looked at him curiously before noticing the reiatsu that seemed to be slowly seeping into the room. "Let's go!" Hitsugaya yelled before using Shunpo towards the source of the reiatsu.

The second Hitsugaya stepped outside, he was blown away by the sheer force of the reiatsu. Determined, he found the direction it was coming from and quickly led the way, the others trailing behind. The reiatsu led them to one of Karakura Town's large parks, not a safe place to linger on dark nights such as this. Squinting, Hitsugaya surveyed the park quickly and noticed large shadows on the opposite end. 'Hollow,' he thought, wondering at how simple hollow could have such strong reiatsu. Hollow indeed, it seemed like they were everywhere, appearing out of the shadows and moving towards more populated areas.

"We have to take down all the hollows!" Yelled Ichigo, "They're heading towards downtown." The rest of the group simply nodded, unsheathed their zanpakutou, and jumped into action. Hitsugaya, however, decided to head to the far side of the park where he had seen the first of the hollow appear. He found it strange that ordinary hollow were appearing out of no where. 'Maybe it's not their reiatsu, maybe it's something else and they are just drawn to it's power'. That had to be it, he decided.

The sound of battle rang through the park, closely followed by a shrill scream that lit up the night. Hitsugaya's breath caught in his throat. There was a girl out here, and from the sounds of it she could see the hollow. Hitsugaya quickened his pace, as he drew closer he could make out the shape of a girl kneeling on the ground, probably injured, and three giant hollow moving in fast. He held Hyorinmaru out in front of him, but as he started to call on his sword, a violent heat exploded. He was thrown back a few feet, unsure of what just happened. Smoke covered the entire area and from where he was he couldn't make out any hollow. He could hear the others yelling for him, but didn't answer. 'The girl!' His mind screamed at him. 'Find the girl!'

He staggered towards where the explosion happened. Something felt familiar, but he shook it off. The smoke was slowly clearing now, and he could make out the girl, still on the ground looking as confused as he was. He stepped forward, hoping she was okay, but when she saw him her confusion turned back to terror as she lept off the ground and stumbled backwards. Hitsugaya couldn't see her face properly, but yet her presence held him there, still as rock. He heard the others shunpoeing up behind him and turned around. The girl took that opportunity to make a run for it, and Hitsugaya had to force himself not to follow her. He didn't want to tell the others what he had seen, they would think he was crazy, he himself already thought he was losing his mind. The explosion had to have been a hollow, for it didn't make sense that the girl, who seemed to have normal reiatsu for a human, could created such destruction. He shook his head, those damn nightmares were making him loopy.

"Hitsugaya Taichou! What was that explosion? Are you alright?" Yelled Matsumoto, frantic that her captain might have gotten hurt.

"I'm fine, Matsumoto." He mumbled, slightly embarrassed. At that, he turned around and started heading back to Urahara Store, leaving a confused group to follow behind him.

AN: So I'll end it here for now. The next chapter will pick up pretty much where this one stops. What do you guys think so far? Am I too obvious? ;) We shall see. Twists, turns, and awkward moments ahead!