I know a lot of people have done Bleach Hunger Games fan fictions before, but I've never found one where they've used Hollow Ichigo and Dark Rukia as the main characters, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I haven't given them proper names, so in this they're just called Hollow and Dark.

In this, Soul Reapers protect the living only.

Enjoy~

One

Her eyes flutter open in an instant, her breath coming out in a gasp of realisation. Beside her, her twin sister continues to sleep, unaware of what waking up will possibly bring them. The sun isn't up yet, and so it is still dark outside. Perfect. Still time to get things done before the reaping this afternoon. Even now, though, they'll probably be officials from the Sereitei, here to keep the peace in case a riot breaks out, as if that would ever happen.

Dark sighs, not wanting to disturb Rukia from the nice dream she might be happening. It's kind of hard to contemplate the possibility of anyone having nice dreams on the night before the Reaping, but as Rukia's life is not in any danger, she should not need to worry about herself.

It is Dark that both of them need to worry about.

'Rukia. Rukia, you need to wake up.'

'Hm? Why are you... oh...' Realisation hits Rukia and after a few moments of silence she offers a weary smile. 'Well, what are we waiting for? C'mon, before the officials start showing up.'

'They've been here for the past few days, setting things up, remember?' Dark says, sounding slightly exasperated

'I know, but maybe they're still in bed. Fingers crossed.'

The two girls get dressed in silence. Rukia decides to get dressed into her shihakushô, the one she and all the other Soul Reapers wear. When Dark raises her eyebrows, Rukia looks back defiantly and states that the chances are she won't be spotted like this.

Dark herself gets dressed into a tattered white kimono of hers that is extremely precious to her because it belonged to their older sister, Hisana. The cloth around her waist is yellow, not white, and travelling up from the front to behind her head is a red piece of cloth which forms a long-collared cape behind her lilac hair.

'You ready?' Rukia asks, watching her with concern.

'Yeah. I'm fine.'

'What is going on?' comes a man's voice from outside their bedroom door. Both girls flinch and then Rukia replies,'We're just going out for some hunting, brother. Dark hasn't had a soul in a couple of days.'

'Yeah, and I'm really starting to get hungry,' Dark adds under her breath.

'Very well,' Byakuya's voice says. 'Make sure no one sees you.'

'Yes, brother,' the two girls reply.

It's not hard to find a soul.

The fact is that only those with spirit energy can see the dead as spirits, so as Rukia is a Soul Reaper and Dark is a Hollow neither of them have any trouble finding one. This particular spirit is a young man. The two girls know the type: angry, arrogant, probably one of the rich snooty ones living in one of the wealthier parts of District Twelve, looking down on everyone else, ignorant or uncaring of all the poverty. He's the sort of spirit who won't accept his premature death, and so is therefore screaming abuse at anybody who can actually hear him.

There's no need to feel remorse for disposing him, as far as Dark is concerned.

'A Soul Reaper?' the young man says, gazing at Rukia for a second before spitting out, 'Well, you're too late! I'm already dead, aren't I? You failed at your stupid job!'

'Our job is to protect humans from being devoured by Hollows,' Rukia says coldly. 'I don't need to worry about spirits of the dead.'

'So just 'cause a Hollow didn't get me, I'm irrelevant?! Is that right?!' the man screams. 'It's my wife who killed me!'

'I'm not surprised,' Dark mutters, and her twin nudges her.

'H-hang on... that one there is a Hollow!' the man cries out, pointing dramatically at Dark. 'You- you're gonna eat my soul, aren't you?!'

'Yes, and I'm certainly going to have no regrets,' Dark says in a bored voice.

The man shrieks and tries to run away but Dark, being an expert at this, easily uses sonido to appear in front of him. She pulls her large dark red, double-edged scythe from behind her back and a matter of a few seconds later, the man falls to the ground, and Dark bends down to finish her meal. During this, Rukia has been watching around to make sure that nobody has seen this happen, because everyone knows that Hollows aren't generally welcome in some parts. The discrimination is logical in the eyes of most; after all, Hollows devour souls of the living and the dead. It is a Soul Reaper's job to stop Hollows from killing humans, but if a Hollow decides to go after a dead soul, then there is no reason for them to be stopped. As Dark, a Hollow, is Rukia's sister, and Rukia is a Soul Reaper, it's simple enough for them if Dark only devours the souls of the dead and she leaves the living alone.

Rukia and Dark are quite unique- there are hardly any other families that have a Soul Reaper and a Hollow for siblings. What's more, Rukia and Dark are twins. They're not completely alone, however; Rukia has a friend who she met in the woods called Ichigo Kurosaki, and she is aware that he also has a twin who's a Hollow, although she has never met him.

XxXxX

The dying screams of the human slowly fade away after a while, and Hollow allows himself to feel elation. He was so damn hungry this morning and Ichigo was doing bugger all about it so he thought it would probably be best if he went on a hunt without supervision.

He's extremely glad he did now.

This particular victim tried to put up a fight, and Hollow likes that. He particularly enjoys it when they scream for help, and if help actually comes, he just disposes of them as well. Unless they're Soul Reapers.

When they're Soul Reapers, he has to run.

But luckily, his meal has been uninterrupted so far, and he has almost finished, and he is loving it. Or something like that. Not quite love, 'cause Hollows can't feel love as they have no hearts.

'Hollow!' comes a strangled cry from behind him. He turns to see a Soul Reaper standing there, which isn't good. His limbs act instinctively before his brain does, and so the next thing he knows, he is using sonido to get off that small street where he attacked his victim and is escaping as fast as he damn well can.

At one point, he lands on a roof top and then decides that he can probably kill this Soul Reaper. The ones that usually chase him are weak, and they never last. He turns around and pulls his large sword from behind his back to face...

Ichigo.

Oh.

Perhaps, when he panicked, he didn't quite recognise the spiritual pressure of the one chasing him.

Or the vibrant orange hair.

Oh well.

'What the hell do you think you've done?!' Ichigo yells at him. 'I told you, you have to only take dead souls! That poor guy was still alive!'

'Ah, but you're not gonna do anything about it, are you?' Hollow replies silkily.

'I'm a Soul Reaper. I should do something about it,' Ichigo growls.

Hollow grins. 'But I'm your brother! You won't turn me in or kill me, will you?'

'Dammit... don't you dare do it again.'

'Completely understood.'

The twins leap of the roof top and onto the street below, making their way back home slowly. The sun is still not up and even when it will appear, they know it's not going to be a particularly bright day; there is a thick mist, adding to the general gloom that today would usually bring.

'Why did you do it?' Ichigo asks after a long silence.

Hollow sighs. 'I don't know. When I get really hungry... I lose control. I'm like a damn vampire or something.'

'Except you don't go for the blood, you take the soul.'

'Yeah. That being the only difference.'

'I... I'm kind of scared when you get like that,' Ichigo admits after a pause. 'You grow all sadistic and... you laugh sometimes.'

'Evil enough laughter for you?'

'Definitely. It creeps me out. Sometimes I think you're gonna turn on our family or something.'

'Hehe...'

'What's so funny?' Ichigo asks irritably.

'You, scared of me? Even little Yuzu doesn't fear me, and Karin would never let something like that scare her. Why would I turn on my own family, Ichigo?'

Ichigo says nothing.

'So, on a much darker note, how d'you think I'm gonna fare in the Reaping today?' Hollow says, trying to sound cheerful which seems kind of ridiculous considering the topic.

'Depends,' Ichigo answers. 'How many times did you put your name in?'

'Uh... well, if you can actually call 'Hollow' a name... about twenty-seven times, give or take.'

Ichigo winces. 'That's not good.'

'It's no problem; I know a kid, a couple of years older than us, who's put his name in about forty-eight times.'

'Holy crap. He's gonna get picked.'

'Yeah, probably. But he's got a human family with something like twelve mouths to feed.'

Ichigo swallows. 'Look... I know I say this every year, but-'

''Please, if you get picked, try to win. For Dad and Karin and Yuzu. For me. You're strong. You can do this. You can get out of there alive',' Hollow says, doing a very good imitation of his brother. Ichigo stares at him, so he continues, 'Yeah. I know it off by heart know. Or off by where my heart should be.'

Ichigo smiles sadly. It's amazing how many 'heart' jokes his twin can crack.

''Welcome, everyone, to the Seventy-Fourth Annual Hollow games',' Hollow says, doing a very good impression of their host.

''And may the odds be ever in your favour',' Ichigo finishes, smiling.

The two boys arrive back home. If you can call their shack a home. Only three rooms in total, one as a bedroom for the first set of twins, one for the second set of twins, and one serving as a lounge, kitchen and their father Isshin's room. Oh, a a small room (really more of a cupboard) as the toilet. Isshin, Karin and Yuzu are awake by now, and they all look up warily when the two boys enter, just in case their visitors are Peacekeepers. After all, it wouldn't be the first time Peacekeepers stormed in. Also wouldn't be the first time Peacekeepers came in on the day of the Reaping.

Hollow gets into trouble quite a lot.

Yuzu has been crying, because her eyes are red and shining. Karin has a frown on her face, which isn't completely abnormal, but there is a deep worry in her eyes. Even Isshin, who is usually so hyperactive, remains silent and doesn't leap up enthusiastically to greet his sons.

'Did you find a soul?' Karin asks her brothers.

'Yeah,' Hollow mutters, not bothering to mention that this one wasn't even dead yet.

'Now, sit down, boys,' Isshin says, patting the large empty space on the sofa beside him. The twins oblige, waiting for the lecture they know they're going to receive.

'I know that last time you both got a little carried away,' Isshin says slowly and Hollow bows his head, remembering how a friend of theirs was picked last year. He and Ichigo made quite a scene, him from the pen he was kept in and Ichigo from the audience. Ever since then, the Sereitei officials have kept a close eye on the twins, especially when that particular friend was killed on the third day of the Games.

'We'll behave unless we have reason not to,' Ichigo gives as an answer to Isshin's 'please don't cause any trouble' plea.

At that moment, they all hear it: the roar of a Hollow, or at least, the unintelligent cry of an animal-like Hollow that you can sometimes find in the woods or occasionally in the streets feeding on some unfortunate soul. It is a recording, the same one they use every year, as a siren saying that everyone must make their way to the square for the Reaping.

Just like last year, and the seventy-two years before that, too.

It's never going to change, not while the Sereitei is in charge.