Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach


Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language


Author's note: PLEASE READ THIS PART. Alrighty everyone. I must warn you before you start this. This is graphic. VERY graphic. I apologize, but if there are any of you out there who don't think you can handle it then I highly suggest you turn back now. It's rated M...but I thought I'd give you an extra warning. The world is an ugly place after all. More at the bottom, some explanations to questions.


Chapter 8: Recompense

The clinging damp hung in the air and wet the rocks throughout the caves. A light wind carried throughout the open space from the mouth, shuffling papers and signifying that there was indeed a way out of this large network of underground passages and naturally formed caves. Torches flickered lazily from their clamped positions on the walls, all spread out at intervals for the optimum amount of light in the rooms and tunnels, and they revealed the abundance of barrels and crates stacked high in numerous directions. Weapons were there too, all in scattered stacks or leaning against walls. Some even had blood on them already.

Men and women of every shape and size hurried back and forth throughout the passages. Some were shinigami, deserters who had abandoned their former divisions, some out of loyalty to their past friends, some for family, and some simply out of anger. Some were shinigami of the past, similar in nature to what Ichigo had lied about being. In the life of a shinigami within the Gotei 13 you either lived long enough to be a captain, or you died a gruesome death along the way. A very small percentage of them actually retired, and those few took the money they'd earned within the Gotei and started businesses and opened up shops within the districts. Now though, they too had had enough, and had willingly taken up their zanpakuto's again, eager to finally put an end to the oppression.

Others had come as well, men and women of ill repute. Once upon a time bandits, or even just wandering swordsmen from the outer wilds who had come to lend their aide. It wasn't just the near districts and the shinigami who were fed up with the nobles, but of course some of them probably only saw this as a chance to make a profit. Looters of the battlefields, or even potential sackers of noble houses. If they did succeed, then there would be grand riches to be pillaged from those estates.

Some were simple folk. Wives of the warriors, or people who weren't fit to fight but capable in other areas such as cooking or in the art of medicine. Everyone wanted to lend a hand. Few if any of them knew healing kido, they lacked the spiritual energy to use it, but they still practiced their own methods.

They all scurried back and forth through the tunnels, rushing this way and that with their own errands, but here in a side passage there was a woman. She leaned over a table with maps strewn across it, and on either side of her at least a dozen men and women stood. All of them were armed, and each kept a vigilant eye on the shadows around, and on the two entrances to the small area of the cave they were in. They all knew the Onmitsukido were looking for them, and they had to protect their leader at all costs.

"Where can I find Seishūin Kaname?" Ichigo asked in a quiet voice in the hushed cave.

Several of the armed guards started in surprise, and they all turned to face where the voice had come from. There, leaning against a wall, someone stood casually between two of the other guards shrouded entirely in black.

There was no entrance near him, and all around him guards were standing keeping watch.

The guards next to him jumped away with shouts of surprise, and everyone drew their weapons with hushed whispered questions to each other. 'What the hell?' 'How the hell did he get in here?' 'Who is that guy? An assassin?' They all slowly closed in to form a loose half-circle around him, angry yet wary.

One burly man stepped forward and hefted his sword to point at the stranger, "Who the hell are ya? How did ya get in here? Answer quickly!"

Ichigo didn't stir from his position as he answered, "Now that's not right. I asked my question first."

The burly man sneered, "Ya think I care? From how I sees it, you're surrounded, and if ya don't answer my questions ya aren't gonna make it out of this cave alive."

Ichigo sighed.

Really? Was that how they wanted it?

Ichigo pushed off the wall and stood up straight, and promptly disappeared. Suddenly, they all jumped when the two metal gates that connected this room to the two adjacent ones both slammed shut. The resounding sound of metal clicking into place was like a gunshot.

Ichigo materialized again unarmed, and then in the blink of an eye a katana rested in his hand. Several of the warriors jumped a bit, obviously spooked. None of the occupants of the cave had even seen him go for his sword.

"Well…from the way I see it. There are about 12 or 13 of you. I'm just one guy with a sword, but know this. I'm very good with my sword. Very good. If you do decide to attack me, which I wouldn't condone, just saying, someone's gonna die. I may die, but so will several of you. Maybe even half of you." Ichigo looked around the small cave, "We're in a cramped space, one of my sword swings would be very difficult to dodge in here. So how about this? We all just put down our weapons, and be friendly. No need to be antagonistic when I don't want to hurt anyone."

He knew he could kill all of them of course, but he felt that if he said that they'd think he was bluffing. No need for that nonsense. Best to just threaten them with a subtle hint at randomized death. They'd have to decide who died, by choosing who came at him first, and that was a hard decision to make.

The burly guy blinked, and for a moment looked unsure of himself, but it disappeared the next second as he growled out a challenge.

"If ya think for a minute that you're gonna scare me then ya have another thing coming, now answer my questions or else I'll gut ya here and now."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, but the others never saw it under his hood. Well, at least he'd tried to avoid it. He wouldn't kill them, but he needed to speak with the woman at the end of the room so he'd just…incapacitate them. Make them have a sit down and think about their life decisions.

When he didn't say anything in response the burly man growled again, hefted his sword over his head and lunged.

Ichigo took a second to look at him. An assessing look.

Amateurish. He had his arms high, sword up and behind his head moving to cleave Ichigo in half. He'd jumped, making it practically impossible to maneuver, although these tight quarters made that difficult as it was. His gut was wide open.

There.

The second ended. Ichigo kicked.

The larger man's eyes bulged, and his sword fell from his hands to clatter on the stone floor as he sailed away. He blasted back across the room in a straight trajectory heading for the far wall, and his men hastily dodged as he shot across the room. He slammed bodily into the rock, and he slid down to slump there in a sitting position on the floor. Dust broke loose from the roof, and flitted down after the heavy impact.

The fool was out cold.

Ichigo coughed quietly and continued, "Right. Now then. Any of you feel like taking another shot at it?"

They all backed up out of fear, and the uncertain expressions on most of their faces gave Ichigo hope that he wouldn't have to beat them all up. That hope shattered though when another piped up.

"C-come on everyone, it's just one guy! If we rush him all at once then there's no way he'll be able to get any of us."

Another spoke next, "Yeah! Everyone at once! We can't let him hurt our leader!"

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, "Oh? So that is Seishūin Kaname then eh? Thanks for the information."

The one who spoke's expression soured, but he kept talking, "That information won't help you in a jail cell, or if you're dead. Come on everyone let's get him!"

Ichigo sighed again. He kind of expected it to turn out like this, but part of him had hoped that it wouldn't be too much of a problem. It looked like it would be.

The group all raced forward.

Ichigo sprang into action. He flung his katana straight forward like a throwing knife, and it sailed end over end straight through the group. The group divided as they jumped to the side, all desperate to get out of the swords path, and they watched as it embedded itself halfway into the rock face across the room. Several of them starting laughing at seeing it there, thinking the foolish intruder had just disarmed himself in a failed attempt to kill one of them, but upon looking back they all started in surprise. The laughing stopped.

Ichigo was gone.

In the next second, one of them slumped to the floor unconscious. Then another. And another.

Now they were scared. They all started shouting and shoving to move away from the center of the room, and one of them even ran for one of the gates.

The shout from him of, "Damn it! It's locked!" shot ice through several of their hearts.

Ichigo dropped out of shunpo in the center of the room again, and he reached up to beckon them on.

"Come on now everyone, wasn't this what you wanted?"

He sprinted at them, and in the next second he was among them. They came swinging at him from several directions, but he dropped beneath them and lanced out with a low kick that floored a few. He popped back up and slammed an uppercut into the jaw of one on the way, and his victim flew back into another of his comrades. Ichigo dodged another swipe to the neck, and spun away into a jump kick that crashed into another's head. He vanished into shunpo disappearing and materializing behind one of the more distant ones. Three strikes, one to the kidney, one to the side, and a final one to the ear sent him careening away to slide sideways along the rock.

6 guards were left standing, several of whom had just righted themselves after he'd floored them, and before they had the chance to regroup Ichigo took off again. He blurred and lodged a foot into the stomach of one, and as he keeled over Ichigo bent his head a fraction to narrowly dodge another sword. Ichigo's hand shot out like a lance, and he grasped the attacker's shirt in his fist. A second later the guard was flung bodily into another guard who had charged to their aid, and both tumbled and fell in a heap on the floor.

Ichigo turned to the other three, and they were comically shoving each other to the front to try and create a barrier individually. Ichigo shook his head, what the hell were they doing?

All it served was further embarrassment.

Ichigo vanished again and appeared in front of two of them. He grabbed each by the ear and cracked their heads together, knocking them out, and a punch to the nose later send the third's head into the rock wall behind him. The bounce of skull on stone made an unsettling sound, and he too slumped to the floor.

He turned to the last two, an older woman and a man, both armed to the teeth. One came desperately running for him, and Ichigo dodged around the swing in a spin. He kept spinning and swung his leg around into the gut of the other, bending her over his leg with its force. He snatched the one that attacked him, lifted him bodily up and over himself, and threw him down in a slam into the still bent form of the other. They both collapsed, the one underneath out cold, and Ichigo stepped forward, knelt, and cold clocked the final one with a punch to the nose knocking him out.

Ichigo stood, dusted off his hands, and surveyed the carnage. 13 bodies lay strewn around the cave, all in various positions.

None of them were dead.

Ichigo nodded his head. Good. He was glad that had been taken care of. He turned to face the last occupant of the room, the woman at the table.

She still hadn't stopped surveying her maps, and hadn't looked up once during the whole ordeal.

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, and the corners of his mouth threatened to turn up. Shiro laughed away in his inner-world, "Haha, that's an interesting one there! Can we keep her?!"

Ichigo ignored the voice of his hollow, and stalked across the room to stand opposite the woman on his own side of the table.

"Seishūin Kaname."

The woman ignored him for a moment longer before she stood up straight, and removed her hood. She reached up and brushed aside a stray lock of midnight hair, and Ichigo was given a clear look at her face.

She was pretty he noted, beautiful even. Pitch black hair cascaded from the crown of her head, and left several stray locks to part on either side of her face, framing it. She was lightly tanned and taller than most, but not nearly as tall as him. It was difficult to reach his height for anyone. High cheek bones set in an aristocratic fashion rested beneath her eyes, and those themselves were a deep forest green. Supple lips completed the picture, and they parted as she spoke.

"I apologize," she said, and Ichigo noted that it was a strong voice, but also a tad sensual. She gestured with a hand at the slumped figure of the man that had started the fight, "For Godou there. He hasn't quite learned his manners yet."

"Then why didn't you stop him?" Ichigo enquired in an annoyed tone.

She flashed a sly grin, "Well…maybe I haven't learned mine either."

She scooped up the maps and walked away to return them to their cases, and Ichigo spied that she possessed a lithe and beautiful figure in addition to the beauty of her face. She continued speaking as she walked away.

"I wanted to see if you were worth my time."

"And if they had killed me?"

She glanced back with another sly look, "Then you obviously wouldn't have been worth my time," she started putting away the maps, "You are no basic recruit to our cause, or else you wouldn't have come to see me. I don't think you are an assassin…but I know you have been looking for me."

She stood and paused before turning back to him, arms crossed, "The Onmitsukido is searching for me, that much I can know for sure. It would be foolish for them not to be. However…I've been hearing from my informants out in the districts that another lone man was looking for me. A swordsman of unknown intent or origin. It was unknown if he was a shinigami or not, and he had been seen searching the districts, asking too many questions in bars, and mentioning my name. I know now that that man was you, you have found me and you are indeed a shinigami…now all that's left to know is…"

"What I want with you," Ichigo supplied.

She nodded, "Exactly, but a name would also be appreciated."

Ichigo shook his head, "Not yet, I don't know you."

"Oh? But you know my name," she chided, but she let it go, "Oh well, be that way then. What do you want?"

"I came to warn you. You already know that the Onmitsukido is after you, but that's not what I'm here for really," Ichigo took a step closer, and his voice was heavy laden with earnest sincerity, "You need to stop this Seishūin-san. What you are doing here needs to end. You are leading these people to their deaths."

Kaname laughed and turned away, "Was that all you came to tell me? I can't help but feel disappointed."

Ichigo grabbed her arm, and turned her back to face him. His stare bore holes in her.

"What is it you want? I don't want you to go through with this, so tell me. Why are you doing this to these people?"

Anger colored her features and she yanked her arm free.

"I am doing nothing to these people! They came to me! The ones you should be looking at are those horrible nobles. They are the ones doing anything to them. To us."

Ichigo quieted for a moment to watch her face before starting again, "Fine. That's not what I meant though. I want to know what your motive is. Everyone can see where this is going, and you are going to start a war. A war that you will surely lose. Why? Is it truly out of simple anger?"

Her pretty features dimmed into a scowl, "Our anger is not simple…and they crossed a line. A line that no one should ever cross."

She turned away again, and her voice lost some of its anger as she calmed down, "The Noble families…they are rich. They have great wealth, but that is not what I want. I wouldn't touch any of that money. It is tainted. That wealth is born from crimes and horrors, and I highly doubt that any of the families are wholly innocent. They extort, suppress, and steal from the districts as if they own us. I say, enough. No more. We will go to war if that is what it takes. In my mind and in the minds of my followers, it is far better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."

Ichigo shook his head, "No Seishūin-san, you are wrong. It is better to live on your feet, than to die on your knees. If you go to war you will die on your knees, and nothing will be able to save you or these people."

She looked back, "We have no choice."

Ichigo shook his head again, and his hood swayed, "There is always a choice."

She tisk'd and looked away. Ichigo took another step closer, "What did they do Seishūin-san? There is something you aren't telling me. What is it?"

Her shoulders ticked up an inch.

Ah. He'd hit a nerve.

He didn't like where this was going.

"You said before that they'd crossed a line. What was it?"

Another inch up. His suspicions were starting to look a lot more correct. He dreaded them being correct.

"Tell me."

She spun and lashed out with a strike to his throat.

He caught her open palm, but she yanked it free and launched into shunpo. Ichigo blinked in surprise. A shinigami then. She was moving fast, but not fast enough for his eyes to lose. She came in from behind him in a kick aiming for his head, and he duck under the leg only to snatch it out of the air. He swung her around and slammed her down into the table that had once held the maps, and it collapsed beneath her in a crash of wood and dust.

She slammed into the ground, and Ichigo planted his knee on her chest to pin her down. He saw her hand flash, and he caught the dagger she'd fished out that came sailing for his knee. He disarmed her and threw it away into the shadows.

She kept writhing, but nothing she could do would move him. Suddenly, her hand ignited with the forming of reiatsu, and he heard the quiet chanting of a kido spell. His hand lanced out and caught her throat, effectively cutting off her ability to speak and breaking the chant stopping the spell. The small amount of reiatsu she'd gathered dispersed in the ensuing quiet.

"If you do that I can promise you it won't kill me. It might kill you though, and a fair amount of the people in these caves if it were to start a cave in. So please. Don't do that."

The anger and subtle despair she was drowning in, (he idly wondered where the despair came from) abated after a few moments, and after she was calm gave him a nod.

He released her throat, but didn't remove his knee. In a quiet voice, trying to be gentle about it, he voice his question again.

"Please Seishūin-san. Tell me what happened."

Her eyes flashed in warning, and emotions swirled in her green orbs. Anger at being forced into the position she was in, and also so many other unexplained things. The despair from before was one of them…and fear.

She calmed herself, but her eyes still showed everything to him. She didn't move to speak.

"I can help you. Just tell me what's wrong."

She blinked up at him, and a new emotion joined the mess of others. Fragile hope maybe?

"Yo-you'll help me?"

Ichigo sighed. This wasn't looking good at all, and this was frankly bordering the point where he would have said fuck it and left…but those eyes kept him there. They spoke of loss. Loss he could identify with. It was a loss that only came from one particular place.

Ichigo shook his head, "I won't fight your war Seishūin-san, but I don't think that is what you really want help with anyway."

She closed her eyes and gulped down a breath of air to steady her nerves, "I didn't think you would, you don't seem like the type," she opened them again, "Fine. I'll tell you. Let me up."

Ichigo waited a moment longer, but under her expectant stare finally relented. He stood and she climbed to her feet, ignoring the hand he extended to help her.

She crossed her arms, and eyed him shrewdly for a moment longer before speaking, "They took someone, my sister. I'm going to get her back."

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, but inside his organs were turning to ice, "Took her?"

She nodded, "Yes…I was in the Onmitsukido. That's how they haven't been able to track me. I know how to avoid them. Anyway, I joined so I could earn a pay check. I needed it to support her and myself. We'd been starving, so it was the only alternative…but one day, when I went to visit her in the southern 57th she was gone. Along with several dozen other women."

The ice grew colder, "Go on."

The anger and despair was growing again, "I did some digging. Wasn't particularly hard for someone like me. I managed to figure out who led the men who took her, and from there I found out he was working for a minor noble family. The Oda family to be exact, led by Kirigaya Oda. I'm sure you can imagine why they took those women, along with several other groups of women in different districts. I'm sure you can imagine why they've been doing it for years. I'm sure you can imagine how they've crossed a line that should never be crossed."

She turned away, "It's like I said. I wouldn't want anything to do with their wealth. It is tainted. All I want are their heads…and my sister back. These wrongs need to be righted, and each and every one of my followers agrees with me. We've all got our own personal tragedies, but we won't keep letting it slide anymore."

Ichigo was silent as the grave. His hands were clenched in a white knuckle grip, and his jaw was so firmly clamped his teeth strained under his attempt to control himself.

She was right.

He wouldn't let it slide anymore either.

"I'll get your sister back…and I'll set those women free," She spun to face him, and her expression shattered, his own rage started flowing into his voice, "As for Kirigaya Oda. You won't be hearing his name for very much longer."

He turned away and walked across the room, she called out to him and he paused.

"Her name is Misuzu."

He didn't look back, and he didn't even nod. He kept walking after a moment, and reached up to wrench his blade out of the wall as he passed it. She watched as he walked clean into the opposite wall only to vanish before her eyes.

She blinked at the shadow on the wall in confusion.


Satoru sat at his desk, with his thoughts in turmoil. The evening sun shone in from the side, and it sank ever lower as sunset approached. His cup of tea had long since gone cold, and the paperwork in front of him lay untouched even though he'd been in his office for hours.

He'd lied in that captains meeting, and to the head captain. Seishūin Kaname wasn't just some random woman.

What was he going to do?

Nothing he could do would find Kaname. He'd done everything he knew to do, but no information would help locate her. She knew how to hide. He knew she did. He'd trained her of course, so it only stood to reason that she'd be able to outsmart any of his men while blindfolded. Not to mention the rukongai was far too vast, and the citizens of it were all apparently dead set on keeping her location a secret.

He should have listened to her, and now that he hadn't there was a war on their hands with her leading it.

It wasn't like there was much he could have done anyway. He had no evidence against the Oda, and therefore couldn't move to help her. He didn't blame her for going out on her own, leaving her resignation paperwork on his desk in the middle of the night, but part of him wished he could have stopped her. Reasoned with her.

Saved her.

There was nothing for it. Skirmishes were already popping up all over the place between the loyal shinigami, and the rebels who refused to submit to arrest. People were dying over this. Over greed. Over horrible crimes that had no purpose. Over a civil war that hadn't needed to happen.

Desertions were still happening too, sometimes right in the middle of those skirmishes, and the number was climbing. If this kept up, and a peaceful resolution wasn't reached, then thousands would die.

Because of another noble family.

He couldn't call them that. There was nothing noble about them. He hadn't known the scope of their depravity, but it made him question his competence as the head of the Onmitsukido. For him not to have known…it made him sick. It brought him shame to know that another house was doing these things.

It brought him shame that there wasn't anything he could do about it.

He couldn't conduct an investigation without approval from Central 46, and they'd never permit it. He'd be thrown out, laughed at, and the Shihouin clan would be made to look foolish. As the head of the Onmitsukido he had more reach than the entire Gotei 13 itself, and even he couldn't do anything.

Poor Kaname. His heart ached knowing what was going on. She was one of his own, and he wanted to help her. He really, honestly, truly didn't blame her for it…but he still wished things had been different.

He knew that if he was in her shoes, and if say…Tindra had been taken? There would be hell to pay.

So no. He didn't blame her.

He only hoped she got her sister back safe and sound, or else there would be no stopping her from burning the Oda clan to the ground.


Far into the plains and hill country of the eastern rukongai, a battle was being waged. Shinigami loyal to the Gotei 13 clashed with rebel shinigami soaking the grassy hills with blood. Several hundred were gathered, at least one hundred to each side, and the battle cries and their accompanying screams of terror carried on the heavy wind. Swords met over and over, desperate anger meeting cooled loyalty, and they fought on in support of their clashing differences. People were dying, and the smell of iron from the spilt blood, retching, and fecal matter permeated the air.

The heat rose, along with the heat of the battle, but slowly the loyalists gave ground.

On a nearby rocky crag facing the battlefield two figures stood unharmed and observing. One, Kuchiki Ginrei, stood clad in his taichou's haori along with his Kuchiki clan scarf. Beside him, the young Kuchiki Koga stood clad in his own deep red scarf and a kenseikan with a red feather-like protrusion.

Ginrei observed the battle closely, watching as the shinigami below clashed, and he could see clearly how the battle was progressing. It concerned him.

He withdrew the scarf from over his mouth so that he could speak to his 3rd seat, "We seem to be outnumbered. The rebel forces are growing daily. Have you thought of how we should proceed?"

Koga halted his own concerned observation, and his anticipation of his chance to join the battle rose with each passing second. He wanted to be down there. He desired battle, if for no other reason than to prove himself to his father-in-law next to him. This war was his big chance to shine, and to gain honor for the Kuchiki clan with his accomplishments.

He glanced over at Ginrei, "There's no time to come up with a plan. I'm going down there."

He made to lunge down to the hills below, but his father-in-law's words stopped him, "Don't be rash. This is war. It can't be waged by one person."

He paused to withdraw the scarf from his mouth, and he eyed the captain next to him with growing concern. Did his father-in-law not think he could handle the task before them? He'd made him his 3rd seat so why was he keeping him from moving in?

"That's true, but we both know that if I don't do something we're likely to lose the battle…Your reaction seems odd father."

Ginrei shot a look at the young shinigami next to him, and he reprimanded him sternly, "Koga, in battle you will address me appropriately."

Koga blinked in realization of his mistake and at the reprimand before bowing toward the captain, "My apologies Kuchiki-taichou. I'll be going then."

With that he jumped off the cliff and soared through the air toward the battle below. Behind him, Ginrei shook his head and sighed in exasperation at his son-in-law's reckless actions.

"Always willing to rush headlong into danger."

Ginrei sincerely hoped that that behavior wouldn't stay with the boy for long. He'd need to learn restraint if he were to become a proper Kuchiki, and that attitude would need to be curbed if he ever hoped to be able to take his place as the head of the clan. With Sojun becoming a less than viable option, it was starting to look like Koga would be his best choice.

Koga needed to learn proper control, or else Ginrei feared something drastic would come if he didn't.

Down below, Koga came crashing down into the thick of the battle, and a crater in the sloping hillside marked his arrival. Dust kicked up and blocked clear vision, and many of the surrounding shinigami wheezed and coughed in the thick screen of airborne dirt. Shouts started sounding, panicked questions, and blind screams filled the air, and slowly the dust cloud cleared away.

They laid eyes on him.

'Who is that?!' 'Is that a Kuchiki?' 'Look! He's wearing a kenseikan, he's a noble!' 'Kill him! He's the enemy!' 'Let's rush him everyone!'

Koga drew his sword and a blast of his purple reiatsu cleared the remaining dust. The reiatsu kept climbing and it started to intimidate the surrounding rebels. Several of them started to panic, but more rallied.

Koga spoke up and addressed the surrounding crowd, "You will curse your misfortune for having ever laid eyes on this sword."

'Don't be intimidated, he's just one man, that's all! Let's all rush him!'

The shinigami rallied again despite Koga's words, and they charged with a resounding battle cry.

Koga smiled slightly in anticipation. Good. Let them come. He'd prove his strength today, and none would leave here alive.

In a hushed tone he recited his shikai release, "Whisper, Muramasa."

Purple reiatsu exploded on the hillside, and a wave of purple energy poured out of him and shot out in a wide circle through the surrounding men. More screams of terror followed.

Kuchiki Koga said one final word.

"Die."

Blood ran red on the hillside, and the world bore witness once again to the horrors of war.


Ichigo dropped out of shunpo in a tree on the outskirts of the Oda compound, and the cover of night hid his presence from the guards patrolling the grounds below him. It had been a few days since his conversation with Kaname, and in that time he'd been searching for a way to get to the Oda. Annoyingly enough, it looked like his shadow manipulation wouldn't let him go through the walls surrounding the Seireitei. They were effective if nothing else. So he'd had to do it the old fashioned way, and wait it out. It had taken longer than normal since the Seireitei was basically on full alert, and the gates had only opened and closed when shinigami had to go through. No wagons or other such things were allowed in for the time being.

Ichigo tried to see through the darkness as best he could, but nothing came of it. It was far too dark out for him to see anything but the lit up mansion in the distance, so he closed his eyes.

Golden eyes flashed behind his closed eyelids, and seconds later a pulse shot out of Ichigo and spread out over the whole compound. His pesquisa resonated with several dozen signatures of varying strength, and it picked up even more souls than those in the yard. He could sense several hundred souls within the estate, but only those few dozen possessed large amounts of reiatsu. Those must be the guards then, and the rest were probably servants, family members, and…the women.

Ichigo's hands clenched in anger, and his eyes opened to show that the gold had once again replaced the brown.

This was monstrous.

They would pay.

His eyes remained hollowfied, night vision was always welcome, and he dropped down from the tree to land in a crouch in the yard. He'd kill all of them. Not the family itself maybe, but the guards. They'd all undoubtedly taken part, and he'd need to kill them if the women were to escape unharmed.

Kirigaya would die, painfully, that much was a given.

He vanished into shunpo, and the reaping began.


Ichigo walked up the steps to the front door with his katana and wakizashi in both of his hands, and he kicked the front door lightly as if knocking. Blood dripped down his arms and blades onto the paved steps, and that smoldering anger from before was back again in full strength.

Earlier, when he'd happened upon a couple of the guards along the fence line conversing, he'd listened in on them. It had only served to anger him further, and make their deaths more certain.

They'd been talking about it, joking about it, laughing about it. Claiming they'd had a 'good haul' and that they couldn't wait to 'get their hands on them.'

They'd died moments later, one headless, and the other with a blade through his chest cavity. They wouldn't be getting their hands on anyone.

Now for the man of the house.

A slat in the front door opened, and a man peered out into the dark at him.

"Do you have an invitation?"

It took the man a moment, but when his eyes adjusted to the dark and he got a clear view of Ichigo and his current appearance his eyes widened in panic, and the slat slammed shut. The sound of multiple locks clinking into place followed.

Ichigo huffed.

Like a door would stop him.

He planted his foot in the door with the force of a freight train, and it blasted off its hinges and down the hall behind it to slide to a stop before a grand staircase. Dust and debris was left in its wake, and the front of the house reverberated with the force of the kick. He paused for a moment before crossing the threshold, and a glance to his left spied the man who'd been behind the door. He was an older grey haired man dressed like a butler, a servant then, and the look on his face was…comical in a way. Although, anyone who'd just had a door blast off its hinges right in front of you, narrowly passing by you, and almost taking your life would have an expression like that.

Ichigo's hand shot out and he grabbed the butler by the throat, lifted him bodily from the ground, and slammed him into the wall behind him. The air left the butler's lungs, and his eyes shot wide as he struggled to breath. Ichigo placed his sword gingerly against the butler's neck in a subtle threat of deep laceration.

In the calmest voice he could manage, Ichigo asked, "Where is Oda Kirigaya?"

The butler blinked at him several times in panic, and Ichigo realized a moment later that the man couldn't talk with how hard he was choking him. He let up a bit, and the butler wheezed out, "He's on the top floor sir, I'll lead you to him."

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow at the man, why was he jumping at the chance to betray his master?

"Why so eager?"

The butler scowled and he struggled to speak again, "He doesn't pay me."

Ichigo dropped him, and the man fell to his knees to wheeze and cough for a moment before he struggled to climb to his feet.

"Then why do you work for him?"

The butler's eyes flashed as he rubbed his throat, just like Kaname's eyes had, and Ichigo's resolve hardened. So that's how it was eh?

"Ah, I see. Well then let's get a move on. No one's going to be saved just standing here. Lead the way."

The butler nodded and ran a few steps before faltering, he looked back and warily asked, "Uhh…what do you intend to do?"

"What do you think?"

The butler's eyes strayed down to the bloody blades in his hands, and trepidation surfaced on his face. However, in the next second it was gone, and the butler nodded again, "Good…do-…do you mind if I watch?"

Ichigo blinked at him, "You sure you want to?"

The butler nodded again, but the uncertainty was still there.

"Yes, I-I want that man to pay. He has my daughter, and I want to watch him suffer for holding her captive like this for so long."

Ichigo nodded his understanding, but kept questioning him, "He will suffer, I promise you, but are you sure you want to watch? What will happen is not something you can un-see."

The butler nodded again, this time puzzlingly more sure of himself.

Ichigo grabbed his shoulder, "Alright, you can watch. What's your name?"

The butler blinked at him, "Uh-…Hayato."

Ichigo nodded and then nudged him in the direction of the stairs, "Alright then Hayato, let's get a move on."

They took off then, Ichigo trailing behind the butler, and they disappeared into the halls of the mansion.


The butler came skidding to a halt at the end of a hallway on the third floor, and Ichigo stopped behind him. They both leaned forward to peer down the connecting hallway, and there standing before an open door stood two guards. Light streamed out of the open door, and they could both hear the sound of people conversing traveling down the hall.

It had been a series of events that brought them there. As soon as they'd taken off down the first hallway they'd been greeted by a slew of guards that had come running when they'd heard the door get blasted. They'd each died in short order, but they'd continued to run into smaller groups of guards on the way to the third floor. The servants were all either hiding, or asleep, and Ichigo had tried to keep the noise of the slaughtering to a minimum. It was a blessing that the chamber they had come to was on the opposite side of the huge mansion, or else the cacophony would have alerted the master of the house.

The butler looked at him and whispered, "That's Kirigaya's chamber. That's where he does business, and where he receives guests. I recognize one of the voices as his."

Ichigo nodded and replied, "Stay back alright, keep behind me, and if you see any of the girls in there keep them with you. Keep them safe, and I'll deal with whoever else is in there. Do you have any kind of a weapon on you?"

The butler nodded, "I grabbed a knife on our way up here just in case…but…don't expect me to kill anyone."

Ichigo nodded. Hayato didn't need to worry about that. He'd kill enough for the both of them.

The guards stirred, and both turned to look in the direction of the approaching footsteps. Their eyes widened when they witnessed Ichigo sprinting at them with a blade in each hand. The closest one back pedaled while shouting in alarm and he went for his katana, but he didn't quite make it. Ichigo sprinted past him, and he sank to the floor grasping his gaping throat, trying and failing to stop the blood that poured out like a water fall.

The other man managed to draw his katana, but it did little good. Ichigo launched into a kick and slammed his foot into the side of the guard's head. He tumbled sideways into the room he'd been guarding, and Ichigo gave chase. Ichigo shunpoed into the room, caught the guard, and rammed his blade straight into the gut of his victim. The poor bastard gaped and started choking on his own blood, and he slowly slumped over the blade in Ichigo's hand as he died.

Ichigo surveyed the room. It was spacious and tiled, with windows along one side, and curtains drawn over them. Two doors were at the back of the room divided by a massive portrait of a black haired man wearing rich robes. It was ugly he noted, with the man being somewhat over weight, and having a bulbous nose. A desk was positioned below the portrait facing towards the door, with a huge chair behind it. Several more chairs were in front of it for guests, and a few couches lined the other walls.

Two men stood next to each other in the center of the room, and both blinking owlishly over at him in horror and surprise. One of them was identical to the man in the portrait, so Ichigo automatically assumed him to be Kirigaya Oda. The other was tall and lean with another head of black hair. He held a bag of something, probably money, in his hand. Next to them, kneeling on the floor was a semi-clothed woman.

She had chains on her ankles.

Ichigo saw red.

He kicked the man off of his katana, and the dead body slid across the tiles toward the three other occupants. Like a brushstroke it painted the floor red in a long smear of gore and blood.

He took a step forward, but halted when Kirigaya shoved the other man away and grabbed the kneeling girl. He produced a knife from somewhere and place it right up against her neck, and the barest drop of blood slid down the blade from where he came too close.

"One more step and her death will be on your head. Now…drop your weapons, and tell me who the hell you are."

Ichigo paid him no mind and instead locked eyes with the girl. There she stood, nearly identical to her sister in every way save for the tan and her eye color. Her's were gold instead of green, and they were drowning in fear. His rage soared to new heights.

He raised his wakizashi wielding hand in a placating gesture, and called out to her, "Relax Misuzu. Don't panic. It'll be alright, I'm here to help you. Your sister sent me…I won't let him hurt you."

Anger painted Kirigaya's features and he yanked the girl's hair back violently to better reveal her neck. She cried out in pain, and Kirigaya shouted at him, "This girl is my property! I'll hurt her if I damn well want to! Now drop your weapons, or I'll take her life! It belongs to me anyway."

Ichigo's grip tightened.

Ichigo had heard enough.

He dropped his swords and blasted into his quickest shunpo, making it fast enough to leave an after image in his place. He caught Kirigaya's hand in his own, crushed the bones in it, snapped the wrist and squeezed hard.

The knife fell from his broken grasp, and he sank to his knees screaming in blinding pain. Ichigo grabbed the girl with his free hand, and tossed her bodily across the room to land on one of the couches. He kicked out Kirigaya's knee from under him making him collapse to the floor, and still holding onto the broken hand Ichigo placed his foot on the man's back and twisted.

The screaming became unholy as the arm snapped at the elbow, and the entire thing dislocated at the shoulder.

"No Kirigaya…You don't own her, or a single one of them…and you won't ever hurt any of them again."

Ichigo glanced over at the other individual, and he let Kirigaya's shattered limb drop. The other man was locked in place out of sheer horror, and Ichigo vanished over to his dropped blades to recover his wakizashi. He materialized in front of the unknown buyer scaring him out of his wits, kicked out his legs, and then brought his wakizashi plunging down to stab through the man's upper shoulder. The blade sheared through flesh and bone, and broke through the other side to keep sinking into the tiled floor. Ichigo kept pushing, and drove his shorter sword all the way down until the hilt rested against the man's shoulder. He'd missed all of the organs on purpose, and he stood up to glare down at the now screaming, crying buyer.

"Stay put. I'll deal with you next."

Ichigo looked back and saw Hayato over by Misuzu, and he called out to him, "Look after her Hayato. I'll be done in a bit…and…don't let her watch."

The butler nodded and covered her eyes, but his own kept right on watching in morbid fascination.

Ichigo turned back to Kirigaya, and the wretch was there kneeling and bent. He cradled his broken arm in the other, and he wailed in searing agony.

It wasn't enough though. Not yet. He needed more.

Ichigo lost himself to the blinding rage that coursed through his veins.

Ichigo blurred forward and slammed his foot into the jaw of the noble, shattering it, and blasting the sick runt across the tiles. He slid to a stop against one of the walls, and Ichigo materialized in front of him again.

"Stop making so much noise. It's pathetic."

The screaming kept up despite his words, but this time it was more muffled and gargled. A broken jaw does wonders. Blood dripped from the pig's mouth, and loose teeth dropped to bounce on the tile floor. Ichigo grabbed him by his collar, and hauled him up to look in his eyes.

They were red with tears.

He wanted them black.

He started punching.

A cheekbone shattered, along with a nose, and blood flowed down the broken face and onto Ichigo's raw knuckles.

It wasn't enough.

His aim grew wilder. Ribs started snapping, and internal bleeding cropped up.

It wasn't enough.

The legs came next, and the shouts of stop from Hayato fell on deaf ears.

It wasn't enough.

He threw the broken, unrecognizable clan head away from him, and the body crashed through the door and into one of the side rooms. Ichigo shunpoed after him…and stopped.

The smell hit him first, since the room was pitch black and he couldn't see.

Vomit, urine, blood, feces, the scent of iron and body odor. Each one invaded his nostrils and stung his eyes, and he blinked the tears away that flooded him because of the assaulting smells.

His eyes adjusted to the dark, and his bloodied hands fell to his sides. The rage dissipated for a moment, only to be replaced by complete, utter horror.

Oh no.

Ichigo fell to his knees, tears came un-beckoned for an entirely different reason than the smell. He tried his best to blink them away.

His fist clenched so tight his knuckles popped.

No.

Bile rose in his throat, and he vomited onto the cold, blood stained, stone floor. His stomach heaved, emptying its meager contents, and he was left gagging and dry heaving when there was nothing left.

He stared down the length of the room of horrors at the downed clan head, and came to a sudden realization.

It would never be enough.

Nothing he could do to that man, would ever amount to the pain he'd inflicted in this one room.

To all of the women in the cells that lined the room. To all of the victims packed tight in those little barred cells. There was at least one hundred of them.

All of them stared at him wide-eyed. They were all bruised…bloodied…naked.

Ichigo climbed back to his feet while wiping the vomit from his mouth. He spat to best rid his mouth of the taste, and ignored the barely conscious clan head for the time being. He had other things to do that took precedence.

He needed to find the keys.

He stumbled away, and out into the first room. The butler came running over.

"Sir, are you…all…right?"

The butler's question trailed off into silence when he took one look at Ichigo's expression, and his own drained of blood in worry and fright. Hayato looked over Ichigo's shoulder into the room. His expression shattered.

"Oh dear God."

Ichigo came over to the desk and started rifling through the drawers, flinging the searched ones away behind him to shatter against the wall. Within the center drawer he found a massive key ring, and took it. He rushed back into the room, pushing back the reflex to gag again, and fumbled with the keys trying to find a key that fit the door.

There were dozens of keys though, and he wanted those poor women free now.

He threw the keys to Hayato, shunpoed out of the room again to grab his katana, and went to work. He sheared his blade straight through the metal lock of the first gate, and then practically ripped it off its hinges.

The women inside were silent the whole time, and several of them shied away from him out of fear. Instinctive fear.

Like cowering animals.

Ichigo fought to blink back his tears.

He turned to the stretching room and spoke to the women, "I'm setting you all free."

Those words seemed to register with them, but none of them smiled. They just sort of became more energized. The ones that were sitting started to stand up, and others started pressing themselves against the bars of their cells. Docile in a horrific way, and yet eager to be free.

He picked up where he left off, and kept wrenching the cell doors open violently.

The cells that he opened gradually emptied themselves as the women started filling up the room, and they huddled together to watch him.

He finished.

He turned back to the still breathing clan head.

The rodent was a mess. His crumbled form lay there half leaning against the wall he'd slid into. His face was a disfigured image, bones misplaced, and he looked…broken. He was wheezing in a gargled sort of way. Struggling to breath with the blood no doubt clogging his throat. It had probably already starting emptying into his lungs, and he'd drown in his own blood soon.

But for the time being though…he was still alive.

Good.

Ichigo knelt next to him, and the now blackened and swollen eyes of the monster found him.

"A-agh…a-are…you…goinghh…t-to kill…me?" he struggled to say with his broken jaw, and blood slipped from the corners of his mouth as he mumbled.

Ichigo stared at him in growing disgust, and he reached forward to grip the pathetic creature's hair. He pulled him close, close enough so he could speak into his ear, and then he whispered his response.

"No, I won't kill you."

Ichigo let him drop, and the clan head's skull bounced against the wall again.

A glimmer of hope was in the wretches' eyes.

Ichigo turned and spied Hayato holding his daughter, she was the only clothed one out of all of the women, and she appeared relatively unharmed. She was lucky.

He addressed the crowd of women.

"He's all yours."

He strode across the room, grabbed Hayato and his daughter by their elbows, and steered them out of the room. The women all watched him go, and they kept watching right up until he left the room and vanished out of sight.

The women turned back to Kirigaya.


"Take care of them Hayato. Gather them up and find some clothes for them, there's bound to be plenty of spare clothing in this house…and feed them too. Get the rest of the servants in on it. If the family starts giving you problems then…you know what to do."

The butler nodded, but his attention kept being dragged back to the room they'd just vacated, and the sounds that were coming from in there.

Ichigo snapped his fingers in Hayato's face to get his attention.

"Oi, did you hear me?"

The butler blinked at him in a startled manner before answering, "Ye-yes I did. I don't think we'll need to worry about the family though. This is a minor noble house, and they don't have lots of branches. Very few of them actually live here, except for the wife and kids. The kids should be innocent, but I don't know about the wife."

Ichigo nodded, "It's only one woman then. Don't let her get in the way. Tie her up if you have to."

Ichigo's follow-up pesquisa had assured him that all the guards were indeed dead. The butler nodded, and then something caught the man's eye. He looked at Ichigo and then gestured to over behind him. Ichigo turned and looked for what the butler was pointing at, and his eyes fell on the pinned man who had been a potential buyer.

Oh yeah.

Ichigo had forgotten about him.

Ichigo glanced between the pinned, bleeding, quietly mumbling buyer and the butler for a second before he said to Hayato, "Don't worry. I'll take care of him…just do as I asked please."

The butler nodded, thanked him, and then rushed off to get to work. Ichigo stalked over to the man on the ground.

He looked down at him for a moment, and that disgust from before rose up again. He knelt for a second beside him, before he swung his leg over and sat on the guy's stomach making him cough. The buyer blinked up at him through the haze of pain.

Ichigo spoke to him in a quiet voice, subdued even, and yet carrying an undertone of barely contained wrath.

"What's your name?"

The buyer lay there for a minute before pained mumbling reached Ichigo's ears.

"P-please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Ple-"

Ichigo grimaced, how pathetic.

Ichigo planted a fist in his face, breaking his nose and making his skull bounce on the tile.

"I said, what's your name? I won't kill you if you cooperate."

The pathetic bastard's face scrunched up and he fought through the pain to talk, "You promise you won't kill me?"

Ichigo's patience was wearing thin.

Ichigo punched him again, "Your chances of making it out of this alive are dwindling by the second. Now start talking or you will die."

"F-fine, fine…my name is Erin Shiba."

Time stopped, along with Ichigo's heart.

What?

What?

Ichigo's fist came sailing down again, and this time he kept hitting.

"HOW DARE YOU!" he screamed, and he kept on pummeling the bastard's face.

After a few moments of pummeling Ichigo ripped the blade from the man's shoulder, ignoring the pained cry that accompanied it, and he hoisted him up and slammed him into the wall.

"HOW DARE YOU LIE TO MY FACE! DON'T YOU DARE TIE THAT NAME TO THIS!"

The guy was reeling, but he managed to stutter a response, "I-I-I'm not l-lying!"

Ichigo gripped the man's shirt tighter, and flung him across the room. He crashed into the desk, sending it careening into a wall. Ichigo was upon him in a second.

"Who else is involved?" he growled out, the guy stared at him with wild eyes, "I SAID WHO ELSE IS INVOLVED?!"

"N-no one! It's just me! I swear!"

Ichigo stared into his face, and his eyes bled into gold.

Terror danced in the man's eyes, and he gasped out in a panicked voice, "I swear that no one else in my family is involved! I promise! Really! They had nothing to do with it, and you don't need to hurt any of them! It was just me!"

After a few moments Ichigo's eyes went back to normal and his dark expression seemed to subside, but then in the next second it roared back to life again and he grabbed the man by his front. He lifted him up and slammed him down into the desk, sending the man to the ground and causing the desk to split in half. Cries of terror filled the room again.

"I-I thought you said you wouldn't kill me!"

Ichigo grabbed the man's head and wrenched it in a sharp twist. The sound of his neck breaking was sickening.

Ichigo stared down at the dead body.

"I lied."

The room was quiet again, and Ichigo eventually stood up and peered around the room until his eyes fell on Misuzu. She had been staring entranced throughout the whole event, and she started in fright when he laid his eyes upon her. He started to walk toward her, but stopped when she jumped up and made to run. He shunpoed to the door and closed it, and she fell back down onto the couch and scurried away from him, trying to put some distance between the two of them.

Ichigo put up his hands in a placating gesture, and then promptly hid them behind his back when he realized they were drenched in blood.

"I don't mean you any harm Misuzu. I promise. I'm here to come take you back to your sister."

That reminder, and the gentleness of his voice seemed to calm her down a bit, and she asked in a quaking tone, "Who are you?"

He fumbled for a second but answered, "I'm uhhh…a friend of Kaname's. She asked me to help find you," he glanced over at the dark chamber at the end of the room and his organs turned to ice again, he asked his next question tentatively, dreading the answer he might receive, "Did they hurt you Misuzu?"

It took a few moments but she eventually shook her head, "No…they didn't. That man you just killed had already laid claim to buying me, so they couldn't touch me. They hit me sometimes, but other than that no."

Relief pooled in his gut, and he extended a hand to her, "Good…come on. Let's leave this place. I'll take you to your sister."

She sat there wary for a few more seconds before she clambered to her feet, and grasped his hand in hers.

Ichigo pulled her into the shadows.


'Finishes zipping on flame retardant clothing' Right. Well then.

People have been asking questions about a very important person. Aizen. They say, "Why doesn't Ichigo just go kill him now?" Alright guys, well...that is a good question. I'm being serious, it really is. But let me ask you this.

How?

What would Ichigo do? There is nothing known of Aizen from before he joined the Gotei 13, and the first time we ever hear of him is when he's a lieutenant. His past is a mystery, to both us and Ichigo. For all Ichigo knows aizen might not even be in the afterlife yet, and if he is then he's somewhere out in the VAST rukongai. How would Ichigo find him? He's probably a child at this point or something, and if he isn't then he's probably suppressing his reiatsu. Aizen was VERY good at hiding his reiatsu as we all know. The only way Ichigo would find him would be if he just happened upon him randomly out in the districts. What are the odds of that?

The next option is to wait for Aizen to join the Gotei 13. So he does, and why doesn't Ichigo swoop in and slice his head off before he becomes known throughout the seireitei?

How will Ichigo learn of it in time? Is he gonna break into the seireitei everyday and search the 5th division everyday looking for him? He couldn't do that for obvious reasons. He'd get caught, and then the gotei 13 would be on red alert for him again. He can't get in there to kill him, because he won't know he's joined up, and by the time he does find out it will be too late.

Besides. What kind of a fic would that be? No big climactic battle scene? No drama? No action?

Lame.

The pairing is a canon woman by the way.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review if you feel up for it.