Blood Stains a Red Moon

By: Chris Harrington

Chapter One: Into The Night

I am not a human nor am I a soul reaper or a hollow, I don't know what I am, all I know is that those who spill the blood of the innocent will have one last sight, the opening of the gates of hell and I will see them through to ensure the pain they caused is repaid in their blood and their suffering. Death comes so easily to those who have longer lives to live, but punishment hasn't been delivered properly so by the blood of the moon I will arise once more and the streets will run red with the blood of the wicked. This isn't by any means chivalry or bravery, this is my job so die quick hollows or face me as your executioner.

In the middle of the night Ichigo and Rukia got the call that hollows had appeared in their little town many would die if they wouldn't kill the hollows so they shed their mortal bodies and went to the area that the hollows swarmed. The first thing they noticed was the beauty and terror that came with the moon that night, for it wasn't a moon with its ordinary gray texture but a blood red with the blackened clouds rolling around it.

"How beautiful." Said Rukia as she ran with Ichigo along the wires of a nearby electric pole.

"Yah it is." Ichigo replied and at that moment for Ichigo and Rukia time stood still and happiness was felt.

When they arrived at the place where hollows were gathering they noticed that there were hundreds swirling around a point in the middle of the street. At the center of this was a black blob of flames and in a matter of seconds the black flames died down and ash filled the area where it stood, the hollows were still ignoring Ichigo and Rukia not even glancing in their path when all of a sudden the ash began to glow a crimson color and the gates of Hell arose from the death of flames. This time the gates weren't opening like they had before, no, the gates were being forced open from the inside the chains wouldn't hold forever and in no time the gates were forced open and a being shrouded in black flames stood on the other side, it stepped out of the gates to eternal damnation and once the toe of this creature touched the ground it fell into the ground and disappeared and the gates shattered into many pieces.

"What the hell was that!?" Ichigo asked as he looked around and noticed that the hollows had new prey, the soul reapers that came to fight them.

"I don't know I've never seen the gates of hell letting anything out." They began to slice hollows that seemed to be at no end.

"Why are there so many hollows?" yelled Ichigo

"How should I know?" Rukia yelled back as she noticed a hollow charging from behind her, she couldn't move fast enough to counter and it was closing in, Ichigo yelled her name but the hollow was only centimeters from sinking its skull teeth into her pale skin as she closed her eyes in fear, but no pain came from any bite, and when Rukia opened her eyes and there was no hollow there. The hollows remaining froze in mid air at the death of their comrade.

"What happened?" Rukia asked in a slightly scared tone.

"I don't know," Ichigo said as he waved a hand in front of a nearby hollows face, he noticed the sweat dripping down its face, "they don't even see us anymore?" Ichigo questioned.

In a matter of seconds the hollow Ichigo taunted disappeared as a red beam of light hit the hollows skull right between its stagnant eyes and it disappeared in a scream that made the blood in Ichigo's body run cold and in his ears echoed the faint sound of a gunshot.

In the direction of the sound the ground had a line of missing side walk and road and at the end of the line there stood a man shrouded in black flames and shadow, holding out his arm with the smoking barrel of a gun shrouded in a similar fashion.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked while he saw another hollow disappear in the red flames of another bullet from a different gun, fired from this things left hand.

"Don't get in my way!" it yelled at Ichigo as he moved from shadow to shadow to destroy the useless existence that is the hollows.

In a matter of minutes all of the hollows except for one met their demise and this hollow just stood there in fear as the echoes of their screams filled the night's air. The hollow then moved closer to a building and tried to us Garganta to escape but as it opened flames closed it, and it began to panic.

"That won't work." Came a whisper from the shadows as the hollow moved back in the middle of street.

"Who the hell are you? Are you a soul reaper?!" it yelled in fear, this hollow was a snake type with its two shivering arms to prove that it wasn't a snake at all.

"No, I'm not a soul reaper at all, I'm not even a human," the being said but each thing he said seemed to come from a different shadow or alley, "I am going to claim you for your sins hollow, and no soul reaper, hollow, or god will save you." This time the voice came from right behind the hollow as he turned to face his worst fear.

The fear was a man with a hooded cloak on to were you could barely see his face, only his black and red eyes that cut right through the hollow and made it fall to the ground as it struggled to get back up with its right arm. This being took a staff from his back and in one clean sweep sliced the arm off of this hollow, and placed the staff on his shoulders.

The moon whose rays now illuminated the night's sky into a red shade was all that could be used to see what happened to the hollow. The man took his hands and ripped off the mask of this hollow and took his staff out again to place it on the ground in front of the hollows face and then he quickly lifted it. Behind the hollow came the gates of hell, the unmasked hollow then used its tail to get up but as the gates opened to receive this sinner the man kicked him into the open gates of suffering and a sword held by a large blue hand stabbed this hollow in the stomach and pulled it into the fiery depths for all eternity, while the gates closed a chill could be felt as this man sunk into the ground leaving no trace of his existence.

Ichigo and Rukia could do nothing but stand there in confusion at the spectacle that occurred right under their very noses, they then looked at the moon and it no longer had the beautiful shade of crimson, but went back to its gray emptiness that it was meant to be.

They went back home and as they lay in bed a million thoughts entered their minds like bees entering a hive after harvest and they could not explain who or what they just saw and at the same time they were fairly sure that they didn't want to know.

End of into the night.