Bleach: Reflections on a Clear Night
Prologue: Futatsu Midori Namida
Outside, a few petals drifted lazily on the slight breeze to the ground covered in thick, lush grass. Here and there a bird chittered in flight, silhouetted against a slowly darkening sky.
The small house was fairly quiet inside as well. A rusty katana hung beneath some sort of crest.
A few small dishes were being washed by a pretty young woman, her long raven-black hair tied back out of her face with a small, blue clip.
A door creaked a bit as it was slid open.
"You all right, Chihiro?" inquired the man who opened the door.
The woman laughed. "Yes, Torigan," she replied, emerald green eyes twinkling. "Just because I'm going to have a baby doesn't mean I need constant assistance."
Torigan smiled and nodded. "But in turn that doesn't mean I can't ask if I can help you."
Chihiro shook her head. "Aren't you tired from working in the fields?"
"No," Torigan said, grinning, "I can't get tired; otherwise I'd be in trouble!"
Unseen and unheard by them both, a little boy looking to be about five or six years old with shaggy, unkempt black hair laughed with them.
Mother and Father look happy. he thought, smiling. He wondered whether the baby Chihiro was expecting would be a boy or a girl. A sister or brother? It was so exciting for him to think about. After all, after he himself had passed away, his family had been grieving for a long time. It was good to see his parents happy again.
"Have you thought of any names?" asked Torigan.
"I don't know. Actually I hope it's a girl," said Chihiro. "Then I can name her Sakura."
"Sakura?" Torigan repeated. "That's a bit of a common name."
"I know," replied Chihiro, "But it's very pretty."
"Sakura..." murmured the little boy. "A little sister named Sakura..." He put his hand over his chest, where a small hole sported a short chain. "I wish I could talk to her."
"Well that's very simple," a female voice echoed back to him.
The boy jumped. "Who's there?"
"Who knows?" said the voice coolly, "Maybe it's someone who can help you."
"Help me? Help me do what?" asked the boy.
"Help you come back to life."
"How can you do that?"
"Oh, I have my ways." hissed the voice. "Tell you what- if you come outside, I'll show you how."
"But it's impossible to do that!" the boy protested.
"Do you want to be with your parents again or not? I just want to help you," the voice said.
The boy nodded and slipped past his parents through the slightly parted door. However, he saw no one outside.
"Hello? I'm outside!"
There was no reply. Confused, the boy took a few steps farther from the house.
"Hello? Where are you?"
He froze in his tracks as the voice laughed darkly behind him. "Children will believe the stupidest things!"
The boy turned around.
Standing between him and the house was a massive, dragonlike creature with broad, powerful looking wings. Amber eyes glinted behind an ivory, horned mask, and in the center of its chest gaped a large hole that the boy could see right through.
"And you smell so tasty too!" it cackled.
"M-MONSTER!" screamed the boy.
The creature's tongue flicked over its lips. "Go on then! If I'm a monster, aren't you gonna run away?"
Without hesitating, the boy turned and bolted as fast as he could, the chain in his chest clinking.
"Yes, run away, child!" snickered the creature, launching itself into the sky to hover over the boy. "Is that all you've got, boy? You're gonna have to run faster if you don't want me to eat you!"
"NO! NO DON'T EAT M- AUGH!"
The boy's foot snagged a rock and he fell, sliding to a stop right in front of the monster's claws.
"I think that's enough play," it hissed. Pinning the child to the ground, it plunged its muzzle forward.
"N-NO!" the child shrieked. A single tear leaked out of each of his bright green eyes as everything blacked out, the Reiatsu burning it into two faded streaks...