A/N: Yo, well for all of you that were reading this story previously, you'll notice some parts missing. I decided to scrap the original project of the being a Bleach/ Yu Yu Hakusho/ Shaman King fiction, though elements will be used from the three shows as well as some guest appearances, and decided after much deliberation to make it a straight Bleach fic. I just hope I do it okay. I'm not used to writing for the anime section and am too bored working on my W.i.t.c.h. fics to actually get work done on those. Anyway I'm rambling now so please enjoy the restart of Spirit of the Shinigami.
Chapter One- Through the Night
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What is called the spirit of the void is where there is nothing. It is not included in man's knowledge. Of course the void is nothingness. By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist. That is the void.
Miyamoto Musashi; The Book of the Void
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The rain began to fall and wash the blood stained sidewalk clean. Though the gentle trickle could not remove what the blood came from. A group of Shinigami Academy students lay slaughtered upon the strewn surface. Today wasn't supposed to be like this for the group of young shinigami. The day was supposed to be just a practice mission against low level hollows in a controlled environment.
The low level hollows never showed. Instead they got her. She stood amongst the corpses and let the gentle rain soak her dark brown hair. A cruel smirk was splayed across her face. She butchered the group of fledgling death gods. She would have to leave her carnage soon. No doubt the group had been gone from Soul Society for too long and they were sending them support. She sighed as she grabbed hold of a large black form and flew into the sky.
Within minutes she saw them appear. Two shinigami, one a captain with long black hair and the other must have been his lieutenant who had red hair tied into a ponytail. She grinned knowing that the two couldn't see her. She was manipulating her spiritual energy so subtly that she was virtually invisible. She saw the captain motion with his arm before the two both vanish. They most likely went to get reinforcements and a team of investigators.
A hollow vanished from the large field as the orange haired shinigami placed his cleaver like zanpakutÅ onto his shoulder. The sun shimmered brightly above him and reflected in the puddles of last night's rainstorm. That was probably the fifth hollow today for Kurosaki Ichigo. The boy knew about the exorcise last night. That's why he and the rest of his friends took the night off, but to have so many hollow survive it. Something had to have gone wrong, but first he had to make sure that the hollow were eliminated.
He turned and began running toward the sound of another hollow only to see a short man in a long trench coat in front of him. Ichigo paid no mind to the man as he knew normal humans couldn't see him, but as he passed the man.
"Are you Kurosaki Ichigo?" The man asked as his eyes followed the soul reaper. His long black coat kept his body hidden while a high collar only allowed the shinigami to see sunglass covered eyes.
"I am." Ichigo said. The man felt strange. It was an energy that he had never felt before. "And you are?"
"The man who's going to kill you." The man said as he pulled his hands from his pockets to reveal large talons. He rushed Ichigo full force only for his clawed hands to be blocked by Ichigo's blade. The young shinigami was pushed back but managed to stay standing. The strange energy continued to pour from the man as Ichigo forced him to the side.
"And why is it that you are trying to kill me." Ichigo asked as he readied Zangetsu. Whoever this guy was. He definitely meant business.
"So I may join her." The man said his voice becoming more like a growl as horns erupted from his head. His body grew to a more muscular and monstrous size. His footsteps cracked the ground as he turned to glare at Ichigo.
"Join who?" Ichigo asked, but was not answered. The monster crushed a large fist into the ground where the shinigami once stood. Its speed was incredible, but a shinigami's flash step was much faster.
Dodging another powerful fist, Ichigo appeared behind the creature, and in one fluid motion side slashed through the beast's torso. The creature fell quickly in half before falling to the ground, and vanishing.
Ichigo questioned what the thing was. Could it have been a new type of hollow or an arrancar still loyal to Aizen after two years? But that didn't explain the strange energy that came off of the monster. Ichigo had fought countless hollow and Arrancar, but none of them felt like that. It definitely was interesting, and who was this person it mentioned. It was something about joining her? Ichigo was now definitely intent on finding out what was going on in the peaceful city of Karakura.
Hitsugaya Toshiro strode upon the crime scene looking for anything odd or out of the ordinary, yet so far all he discovered was the thing that he expected. A group of Academy students that took on something that was over their heads, though he did feel something strange about the reminiscent Hollow's spiritual energy. It seemed controlled, contorted as to not be known, yet it was still there.
"No ordinary Hollow did this." Hitsugaya said as he noticed the remnants of spiritual energy. It almost seemed human, but how could a normal human do this. No a human couldn't have done this.
"Captain Hitsugaya." A subordinate screamed frantically as he ran up to the young white haired captain.
"What is it?" Hitsugaya asked quickly before his subordinate lured him to a wall that was stained in blood, though moments before it was just normal blood spatter. Now the blood formed words.
'TO ALL SHINIGAMI, THIS IS JUST A TASTE OF WHAT IS TO BEFALL YOUR KIND. I WILL HUNT EVERY ONE OF YOU DOWN AND SLAUGHTER YOU JUST AS YOU DID TO MY CLAN.'
"We need to inform Seireitei about this immediately." Hitsugaya said quickly before he and the other shinigami vanish from the scene.
She just grinned as she watched the Shinigami, the gods of death themselves, run in fear of her bold statement. No doubt though they would be sending word to Kurosaki Ichigo and the rest of the group stationed in Karakura about the message, and having a being that could use bankai on her back would be problematic. Maybe she should dispose of the problem. She clutched a black orb with glowing red eyes in the palm of her hand. After all, Shinigami knew to respect her kind, but she digressed in her thoughts. Now was not the time to be so open. She would have to strike from the shadows. At least until her team was ready.
Who was that guy? The questioned rolled through the orange haired shinigami's head as he walked down the sidewalk in his body. He definitely had a strange energy about him. It just wasn't like anything Ichigo had experienced, except for when he saw the gates of hell, but no one was supposed to be able to leave those gates so easily.
"Are you Kurosaki Ichigo?" A new voice asked him from behind. He turned to see a man with short brown hair wearing a red sleeveless shirt and a pair of blue jeans, but his golden eyes were his intimidating quality.
"So what if I am." Ichigo responded. This would be the second time that a person with strange spiritual energy asked him such a question.
"Then I shall make this quick." The man said as he raised his hand and pointed his ring and middle fingers at Ichigo. A small red orb then fired at the orange haired youth but the attack missed as Ichigo returned to his Shinigami form and tossed his body safely to the side.
"So you know my name." Ichigo responded calmly holding Zangetsu tightly as he landed. "But I don't know yours?"
"Shita." The man said as he fired another small red orb at Ichigo only for it to be batted away by Ichigo's blade. Seconds later Ichigo appeared behind the man who vanished as he fell.
"Ichigo." The shinigami heard a familiar voice from behind him. He turned and smiled slightly as the young black haired girl ran fervently toward him.
"Is something wrong Rukia?" Ichigo questioned as the small girl stopped next to him. His eyes widened as she filled him in on the slaughter of Academy Students and of the message written in blood, and before long he was back inside his body with the two heading toward his house to come up with some sort of answer, and maybe here from Soul Society.
The two though didn't notice the cold purple eyes watching them from a nearby tree as they left. The figure grinned before vanishing from the tree branch in a flash of leaves.
