A/N: Bleach Fanfic. There a few modifications in this story. (1) 4th Division's Captain Unohana did not die while fighting Kenpachi, but was severely injured. (2) 3rd Division's Lieutenant Kira did not die from his wounds. (3) There are a few created characters for the purpose of this fiction. That's about that. (Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, but almighty Tite Kubo does.)
[Warning: Language, Violence, Character Death, Romance]


Pilot Chapter
Teki (敵)

The Seireitei was slowly recovering from the last war. The Quincy had ravaged Soul Society, which left deep scars both physically and psychologically. Now was the time of reconstruction. There was much to do. Even the Human World and Hueco Mundo were recovering. Slowly, Gotei 13 became fully functional.

As for Ichigo and his friends, although they looked fine, they were a bit of an emotional wreck. During the war, Ichigo had to fight Uryu, a former comrade, since they were in different sides. Their friendship was no longer the same.

At last, Ichigo was home. He did not come alone. Rukia, Renji, Mudarame, Ayasegawa, Matsumoto and Hitsugaya came along. Ichigo's classmates also came. Yuzu was so happy to see them, it had been a while since Ichigo brought friends home, and she welcomed them with a feast. Strangely, Urahara and company appeared.

Ichigo was happy to be home, though he did not show it much. He was glad that at least nothing changed home.

It was about night time now. The Shinigamis and Ichigo were in the usual room, Ichigo's bedroom. Ichigo's human friends left, because of various reasons like school or work. Urahara left with Isshin to discuss about some important matters. Yuzu was cleaning up, and Karin was keeping her company, since she was not really good in housework.

"Isn't it great," Yuzu said while washing the dishes. "Everyone was smiling."
"Right," Karin simply replied, focused on her DS.
"I wish everyday was like this," Yuzu continued.
"Yeah, sure," her twin replied.

Yuzu knew that Karin was not really listening, but she did not care much. It was mostly like this.

Ichigo's room
"Vacation~" Matsumoto beamed. "I wish everyday was like this."

Hitsugaya eyed his lieutenant, but did not comment. She was 99.9% of the time on vacation since she was never doing work in the office.

"Yuzu excelled herself today," Rukia said. Everyone agreed.
"Do you guys really have to stay in my room?" Ichigo stared at the crowd. It was not that he did not like to spend time with them, but he felt sleepy. He was ignored by the Shinigamis, who were in a deep conversation.
All of a sudden, they felt an abnormal reiatsu. It was overwhelming. Then, they heard a scream coming from downstairs.

"Yuzu, Karin," Ichigo yelled, running like a madman.

Everyone arrived downstairs, and fel on a traumatized Yuzu, who could do nothing but pointing in front of her. They turned their head to the pointed direction, and saw a huge hole in the wall.

"…Karin…" Yuzu managed to say in a whisper.

Ichigo impulsively ran in that direction in Shinigami form. The others followed leaving their gigai behind. What on earth was going on?

"This is no ordinary reiatsu. It's not even a hollow," Toshiro warned. "Watch out."
"Yes, Hitsugaya-taicho," the Shinigamis said, before heading in various direction.

Ichigo could not think straight. He was yelling Karin's name and searching vehemently. At some point, he picked up a thin trail. He could feel her reiatsu. It was weaker than usual. Ichigo was praying that she was not hurt. He would have not be able to forgive himself, if one of his sisters would be hurt. As he was shuppoing nearer and nearer, he was thinking of his little sister. She had their father's features. The hair, the eyes...She had become strong, so strong that it took a lot to make her cry. She would risk her life for others too. His little sister ressembled him.

All of sudden, he saw a group. One of the members of the group was holding carelessly Karin with one arm. Ichigo noticed that the group was about to open the Seikaimon. There was no way he was going to let them leave with his sister. So, Ichigo went in offensive mode. "Getsuga Tensho" he yelled, before blowing away a few of them with the tremendous force of his attack. Of course, he was careful. He did not want to hurt his little sister in the process.

The group was caught by surprised by the Substitute Shinigami. Only one fell however. A few were injured from the attack. The one holding Karin was barely grazed.

"Well, well, well." He chuckled. "Don't cha want your lil'sis in one piece, little man?"

Ichigo kept himself collected. He had too.

"Who are you? Give me back, Karin," He ordered, menacingly.

Another fellow laughed. "Oh. Is he trying to act tough?"

The group laughed.

"This son of a bitch killed Mochi," another one said, while examining his fallen comrade.

"He won't be the only one, if you don't hand over my sister." Ichigo was serious.

The group stared at him. Some did not take him so seriously.

"He doesn't know who we are," one said behind Ichigo, who turned himself. "To answer your question. We call ourselves "Jukyokage", we are the ones dwelling in the dark."

"Jukyokage?" Ichigo repeated. "Never heard of you guys, but one thing is for sure, you are going to give me back my sister."

Ichigo eyed the group. They all had masks on their plain white full masks on their faces. Ichigo could differenciate them. They were far from being humans, but also far from being hollows or arrancars, which meant that they were souls.

"Sorry, we were ordered to bring back two humans, important to our cause," one replied, possibly the sae.

"Cause?" Ichigo said. "I don't give a damn."

When Ichigo was about to fight them, they were joined by other comrades, and they also had the second human.

"Shinigamis were on us, and they're comin', boss, we got to move," someone said.

"Sorry, we cannot afford to fight the famous Substitute Shinigami and his friends," another voice said.

Ichigo did not have time to retort. All he remembered was being hit, before falling unconscious.


*teki: japanese for "enemy"