Disclaimer-I don't own Bleach

~A/N~ This is a rewrite of 'The Night Beauty' with an alternate ending. Much of the content is essentially the same, just rearranged and revamped. While I used the original story, I have changed quite a bit. Hopefully, this new and altered version won't disappoint. Enjoy.

Prologue

A Promise in the Dark

People are cruel. There isn't a single person who can claim that this is a lie, even those who have experienced nothing but kindness. There are some who would say that the two emotions; cruelty and kindness, are the same, those are the ones who have black hearts that are sheathed in ice. The ones who justify their cruel actions by saying they were only trying to be kind and do the right thing. The fact that they are doing the right thing for only themselves by selfishly making others pay for their sins, doesn't bother them. In this corner of the world, you either kill or be killed and that's really all there is to it.

Anyone who witnessed the thin young woman with the short, dirt caked light blond hair and bloodshot blue eyes tugging a silver haired boy forcefully by the elbow and practically dragging a tiny white haired girl by her little dirt covered hand as she sobbed and struggled fruitlessly to break free of the painful grasp on her hand, would say that the woman was doing the right thing. That is to say anyone in the decaying town they were in would have thought so. Anyone who still had any fraction of a heart left in their bodies wouldn't have agreed.

The young boy, no more than ten years old, was struggling fiercely against the woman's grasp, his squinted eyes on the sobbing little girl as she was jostled carelessly, her tiny feet barely able to keep up with the pace that she was being dragged along at. She looked to be about four years old, she was small for her age and much too skinny in her ragged, overly large yukata. Her sobs echoed through the dark streets and the alleys that were the hiding place of all of the town's scum.

"Lemme go," the young boy demanded, attempting to pull his thin arm from the woman's hold and go to the sobbing girl, his baby sister.

"Shut up," the woman snapped frantically, her eyes shifting from side to side, searching the deep shadows that covered the disease ridden streets for any sign of life. She knew that it was useless, the people here had long since learned to make the shadows of night their friends, they wouldn't be seen unless they wanted to be seen. Her dirt covered nails dug into the boy's arm making him wince, but not give up his struggles.

It was late, the only light was the light given off by the sliver of the perfect white moon that hung suspended in the black night sky. A reminder to those in this dilapidated and rotting village that they could only gaze upon the surface of perfection, but they would never attain it. Perfection didn't exist in this far away and forgotten corner of the world, the only thing that existed here was the need to survive another day by any means possible. Any means possible, even the unthinkable was acceptable here.

They had been walking through the dust covered town and its many winding streets for what felt hours. The little girl's feet were cut and bruised from the many times she had stumbled as she was pulled like a lifeless doll through the night. The boy wasn't faring much better, his feet were covered in dirt and cuts, but he was still able to walk and keep up with the woman who kept looking around her in paranoia. He may not have been the smartest person around, but he knew that her paranoia was a sign of her guilt over what she was doing.

Several yards ahead of them the darkness grew from a narrow street opening to a large black hole that didn't seem to ever end as it stretched into nothingness. The closer they got to the edge of the town where the buildings stopped, the larger the blackness before them grew, until it all but devoured them.

The two children were hauled into the darkness, their bare feet no longer on the over used and flat earth that made up the streets of the town, but instead sinking into the soft, mushy dirt that led into the forest that flanked the south side of it. It was the forest that haunted the dreams of the children who lived here. It was rumored that all that entered that forest never came back and that on some nights, if you listened hard, you could hear the howling of the hungry Hollows, soul eating monsters, that took refuge in the dense tree infested woodland.

By now, the little girl was struggling to stay on her feet, her sobs had quieted, but only because she was trying so hard to not trip and fall over the roots and vines that littered the ground as they entered the forest's boundaries. The little light given off by the moon wasn't enough to light their way, it couldn't penetrate the thick canopy of untamed leaves and branches that towered above them. It was utterly silent in the forest, as if the leaves and vines were smothering all sounds, even the sounds of their feet as they stepped on dead leaves and twigs.

There was a sharp scream that penetrated the quiet as the white haired toddler was pulled savagely forward and thrown to the ground harshly, her rag of a yukata tearing when her fragile body rolled over the ground and collided with the dead stump of a tree.

"Sayomi!" The little boy shouted, the lilt of an accent barely noticeable as he tried to break free of the grasp that held him firm. "Lemme go! Sayomi!" He shouted, he wasn't getting any response and he couldn't see the girl in the dark.

"You freaks aren't welcome," the woman hissed, roughly pulling the boy up to face her. "Don't ever come back here," she yelled before pushing the boy into the dirt and turning to run back in the direction she had come.

"B-brother?" A small voice called quietly, shaking with fear and most likely the hunger that made them outcasts and freaks.

"Where are ya, Sayomi?" the boy called into the darkness. He pushed himself off the ground, looking around with a frown as he tried to pinpoint where the hushed sobs of his little sister were coming from.

He made his way towards the sounds of her sobs and sniffles, occasionally he could hear her mumble his name between her sobs. The ground here was uneven, pitted and strewn with tree branches, and other obstacles that young boy didn't want to think too hard about. When he finally found the little girl huddled against a tree, crying into her knees, he sat beside her and hugged her, petting her matted white hair soothingly and shushing her softly.

"I'll protect you, no one will hurt you again. I promise."

After about ten minutes the little girl drifted off to sleep, curled up against her big brother who stayed awake, listening to the forest come back to life. The boy scooted closer to his small, shivering sister, protectively wrapping his arms around her as the sounds of animals scurrying around the forest floor filled his ears, there was the occasional growl and glint of red eyes, but the animals seemed to be more curious than anything to his relief.

~A/N~

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