Chapter 4: Blood

Ichigo had kept to his word about tutoring Kasai. She had a biology project due, and she was never any good at Biology, so asked Ichigo for some help – which he said yes to. Kasai kept looking over her shoulder as she walked to the Kurosaki clinic; it was as if someone, no, something was watching her. She picked up the pace, almost running when she saw the clinic in the distance. As she ran, the shadows pulsated; ready to attack if she got too close, but Shuuhei was prepared for such an outcome, with his zanpakuto drawn. He only relaxed when she went inside the Kurosaki Clinic.

"KASAI-CHAN! IT'S BEEN SO LONG! I'VE MISSED YOU!" Isshin Kurosaki yelled, crushing the redhead in a bear hug.

"Is…sh…in…" she choked out.

"Dad! She's turning purple!" Yuzu gasped.

"Yeah, I'm sure Kasai enjoys oxygen. Leave off her, dad." Karin face-palmed.

Isshin (reluctantly) released Kasai, who let out a huge sigh of relief. "Hello Mr Kurosaki." She finally grinned.

"I told yu before, you can call me Isshin! How've you been anyway?" Isshin grinned back at her.

"I've been good, what about you?"

"Fantastic!"

"Dad, just please with the dorkishness." Ichigo sighed, coming from upstairs. His face was covered in bruises and stitches from the bird-attack yesterday.

"Ichigo! What in the fu- I mean, what in the hell happened to your face?!" Kasai gaped at him.

"He was attacked by a raven, it was really scary!" Yuzu told her.

"A raven…?" Kasai frowned. She didn't like the sound of this, first her and the Urahara Shoten, now Ichigo – and he was attacked, pretty badly.

"Anyway, it's no big deal so let's just get on with your project." Ichigo beckoned her to go upstairs.

"Catch you later, Isshin, Yuzu and Karin! Was nice seein' you all again." Kasai waved as she followed Ichigo to his room.

She laughed, plonking herself onto Ichigo's bed; not a single thing had changed since the last time she'd been in it.

"What're you laughing about?" Ichigo chuckled, sitting on the chair at his desk.

Kasai's smile quickly faded when she saw Ichigo's face. "It looks real sore, Ichi."

"Huh? Oh right…yeah, it is pretty sore. Are you ok by the way; I heard it went after you too."

"Yeah…I'm fine though. It's so weird how it's showin' up all over Karakura…"

"And Soul Society."

"It was in Soul Society too?"

"Yeah, the squad one barracks."

"Fuck, man…I reckon something bad is going to happen soon…" Kasai bit her lip nervously.

"I wouldn't dwell on it too much, what'll happen will happen. More importantly, why do you dress so weirdly?" Ichigo frowned, pointing at her red checkered skirt, with black leggings that were artfully ripped, studded belt and black tank top. She also wore her usual studs in her ear, and her hair was in a messy, over-the-shoulder plait.

"Why not?" She winked at him.

Ichigo sighed and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Biology…"

They spent the next two hours doing Biology work, until they eventually got bored enough to decide to take a break from it.

"So, how many detentions you had this week?" Ichigo teased her.

"Er…like three."

"Not bad, usually you got like nine."

"Yeah…my behaviour has improved, I must say." Kasai grinned.

"Oh, by the way, I saw the Red Dragon the other day." Ichigo told her; ok, so it wasn't strictly true – he just saw her zoom down his road at like 1 that morning, but whatever.

Kasai raised an eyebrow. "I'm assuming you didn't find any new clues to her identity."

"No…"

"Ha."

"Whatever. I know you know something, Kasai." He eyed her suspiciously.

She narrowed her eyes in response.

"C'mon!" he groaned.

"Ichigo, no, she's dangerous. I think this break has gone on long enough…"

"Don't change the subject! C'mon, tell me!"

"I…er…" she sighed deeply, "She…tried to kill me once. Her power…it was nothing I'd ever felt before. She completely paralysed me, and I was powerless to stop her and she left me for dead. I was in the Hospital for eight weeks after that. Please, don't pursue her identity anymore."

Ichigo blinked in surprise. He had no idea that the Red Dragon tried to kill Kasai! Was she the person the Dragon hospitalised? Either way, Ichigo felt awful for pressing that kind of information on her.

"I'm sorry, Kasai. I won't press it any further." He apologised.

She smiled at him. "It's alright, you didn't know."

"Hug?"

"Fuck off."

"…"

On her way home that night, Kasai felt strangely happy. She was worried for a number of reasons, of course, but her evening with the Kurosakis had been the most fun she'd had in a long time; living on her own and being a year behind everyone else left Kasai feeling very isolated from other people, especially seeing as she was no longer in a part of a gang.

But she still couldn't shake off the feeling she was being watched, and it scared her.

She could feel the hint of a malicious presence, but couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. She did know that it wasn't Hollow, however. She picked up the pace a bit; she was just about to go through that awful tunnel underneath the train station that was dark, creepy and no-one could see you inside it unless they were there too, which most likely meant you were going to get mugged.

"Oh, how I love downtown Karakura." Kasai grumbled to herself as she entered the creepy tunnel.

She walked quickly; but at least she couldn't feel those damned eyes on her anymore. She sighed with relief, feeling as if a large weight had been lifted her shoulders. She stopped for a second, breathing in the cool night air – sort of – and closed her eyes.

They snapped open when she heard the sound of a chainsaw.

She looked up to the floor of the tunnel and saw a freaking chainsaw sticking through it. She sprinted for the entrance to the tunnel, but wasn't fast enough.

"Target spotted." A robotic voice said behind her.

Kasai froze on the spot. She was numb; paralysed with fear. I'm going to die…

"Kasai Ryunosuke, aged 17." The voice said, it was fucking analysing her.

She turned around slowly, to get a good look at her murderer. It was a large robot, with the shape of a large dog or a wolf. It's tail was a chainsaw and its body was covered in blades.

"My name is 5-I-R-1-U-S, codenamed Sirius." It said in its synthetic voice.

Kasai just stared; was it trying to be polite? She shook her head, she couldn't let it end here. She turned around again, and started sprinting.

"Target it attempting to run. Commencing termination."

The word rang in her ears as she sprinted for the mouth of the tunnel, she made it – only to find herself faced with a dozen other robots taking the forms of other animals.

"Kasai Ryunosuke; there is no escape. Either myself or my comrades will terminate your existence, for that is our mission tonight. Failure will result in our own termination." Sirius said.

"Heh…then I guess I'll give you a message to your owner, dog – FUCK YOU!" She yelled hysterically, flipping the dog off.

"Commencing target termination."

The ringing of the chainsaw and a shrill scream was the last thing Kasai heard, blinding pain in her stomach was the last thing she felt, the metallic tang of blood was the last thing she smelt and tasted as her world turned to black.

Shuuhei had been waiting for Kasai to exit the tunnel for some time now, but no such luck yet. He was beginning to get worried; it wasn't that long of a tunnel.

And then he heard it. A scream of pure terror and pain, and then silence.

"Fuck!" He swore, shunpoing to the ground and sprinting through the tunnel. About halfway down the tunnel, there was a hole in the ground. Shuuhei, panicking, shunpoed to the end of the tunnel, and his heart stopped for a moment when he saw her.

She was lying on her back on the ground that was red with her blood. Her skin was deathly pale, her stomach a red, gruesome mess. Blood leaked from her lips.

But she was still breathing.

"Shit!" Shuuhei swore again, picking her up carefully; luckily the wound didn't go all the way through her. He shunpoed again to Urahara's shop.

"Hisagi-san! What in the-?! Quick, come in!" Urahara yelled in panic, stepping aside for him.

"Tessai-san! I need you, help us stop the bleeding! Yuroichi, get Orihime now." Urahara ordered as the two of them brought Kasai's dying body through the shop, dripping scarlet blood. Both immediately jumping into action; Yuroichi shunpoing from the shop, and Tessai grabbing a bunch of towels and preparing some kido.

"Hisagi-san, there isn't much you can do here, so please go to Soul Society and report that Kasai-san has been attacked. Return with Renji and Rukia, please. Oh, and that thing." Urahara ordered.

Shuuhei nodded, and opened the Senkaimon to take him back to the Soul Society. Throughout his entire journey he could do nothing but swear at himself for failing; he allowed Kasai to be attacked, and she could die…and he didn't even see who had done it.

"Ichigo…" His dad entered the room from taking a phone call in the other room.

Ichigo, who was watching tv with his sisters, turned around to face him. Isshin Kurosaki was uncharacteristically pale, and he had a serious face on.

"It's Kasai-chan. She's…been involved in accident. It's serious." Isshin placed a hand on his shoulder.

Ichigo stared at him. "…What kind of accident?"

"She was attacked. It's very serious, you need to get down there – Kisuke and Tessai are with her, and Orihime too."

"I see. I'll go now." Ichigo threw on his coat and shoes and sprinted out the door, heading straight for the Urahara Shoten. He swore at himself; he should've walked her home!

Ichigo growled and picked up his pace, his foot splashing water all over his shin. At the time, he thought she'd be fine; she's tough and she goes through downtown Karakura everyday…but given the current situation – with all the raven business – he should have walked her home to be on the safe side.

Ichigo burst into the shop to see Yuroichi, Rukia, Renji and a blood-soaked Shuuhei Hisagi sitting around a table.

"You're very…wet, Ichigo." Yuroichi broke the silence first.

"Is Kasai ok?" He glared at the group.

"We don't know; Orihime and Tessai are doing what they can." Yuroichi said.

"Until then, you may as well take a seat." Rukia motioned for him to sit down, which he did – despite wanting to see Kasai.

"So what happened? Why are you all covered in blood, Hisagi?" Ichigo asked.

The soul reaper in question blinked and looked up at him; it seemed he had been in deep thought. Just then, Ichigo noticed the grey katana in his lap.

"I…I found her." Hisagi told Ichigo.

"I'm glad that you did…but why were you in the World of the Living?"

"I was assigned to watch over her after this whole raven business started."

"You obviously didn't do a very good job." Ichigo glared.

Shuuhei looked away, but didn't reply.

"Ichigo, there's no need to blame Lieutenant Hisagi – he can't watch her every second of the day." Rukia scolded him.

"Don't take your anger out on him." Renji backed Rukia up.

"Why are you two here anyway?" Ichigo changed the subject.

"Kisuke summoned us."

Ichigo nodded. Just then, Urahara entered the room carrying blood-soaked towels.

Ichigo jumped up. "How is she?"

"Calm down, Ichigo. Kasai-san is very injured, Orihime and Tessai have managed to seal the wound, but she'll still need plenty of time to recover; she lost a lot of blood and could have died tonight. They're just finishing cleaning her up, then you can see her. But first, we should talk about what happened." Urahara placed the bloody towels in the corner of the room and joined the group at the table.

"Shuuhei, your account of what happened please." He said.

"I was watching her walk home, and she had to go through a long, underground tunnel. She was taking her time, so I started to get worried. Then I heard the scream, and that's when I found her. I didn't see her attackers, unfortunately. I carried her straight here." Shuuhei explained.

"That's too bad…did you see anything unusual?" Urahara asked.

"…There was a hole in the ground of the tunnel."

"So the enemy came from underground." Yuroichi cloncluded.

"This just keeps on getting weirder…" Renji sighed.

Just then, Orihime and Tessai entered the room.

"She's going to be fine, Ichigo." Orihime smiled, trying to reassure her. Ichigo gave a half-hearted smile.

"I'm going to sit in with her." He said, standing up.

"I'll sit with you." Rukia offered.

"It's alright."

Ichigo entered the dark side room and saw Kasai sleeping in a futon. Her bloody clothes sat in a pile next to her. He plonked unceremoniously on the floor next to her. She was really pale.

"Kasai-san…I'm sorry I didn't protect you. I'm sorry I dragged you into my world. I'll protect you better from now, so don't worry. Oh, and I'll find whoever did this to you and I'll kill 'em…unless you wanted to first." He spoke to her, gently picking up her hand.

Her hand was freezing cold, and slightly bloody. Ichigo sighed deeply; the one friend who he thought was separate from his world of blood and fighting was now lying unconscious; she was almost killed simply for being affiliated with him. He hated himself.

"I'm sorry, Kasai…"

TO BE CONTINUED