Hiya!

I know I've been updating irregularly...I'm blaming laziness and pms! hehe!

But never fear cause I know there are a lot of you reading...lurking round the corners and I'm thankful you guys have been sticking with the story. :) But you have to be thankful for the loyal reviewers who give me inspiration to keep writing even through my bout of laziness! *cackles*

And so...thank you once again for supporting this story in your own way. For the faves and the alerts. *grins*

More jap. words yayy!:

kanzashi- hair ornaments

wagasa- traditional paper umbrella

shamisen- 4 stringed guitar-like instrument

wakizashi- a short sword usually worn by samurai w/ a katana...together they're called daisho.

Eleven: Blue Moon

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"Listen up Rukia…look at how these geisha dress. Aren't they different from us? Look at that…their obi is tied more commonly, the kimono they wear are much simpler, only a single layer. And they only put a few kanzashi on their hair." Her nee-san was speaking and she was listening very attentively as she watched the women playing the shamisen for the patrons gathered at the common room.

"Rukia…" she turned her head abruptly, ripping her focused gaze from the group of women to face her nee-san and found that they were now standing by the door of a tea house. Her nee-san was holding a folded lacquered wagasa and she had both her hands over its handle before her.

It was raining steadily and the sky was overcast and opaque, the thin white light streaming through the gray clouds made one's eyes hurt if you looked up directly. Rukia frowned in sudden confusion as she observed her surroundings. She could've sworn they were in the Okiya just now, entertaining guests.

"Follow me, Rukia…" her nee-san had opened her wagasa and was holding out a hand for her to take. Tentatively and with shaking fingers she placed her hand over hers and stepped closer. The moment she did, everything around her started to change. The houses were crumbling, decaying. The sakura trees, newly planted for the coming hanami were drying up, the barks cracking and breaking. The leaves were turning black as they fell from the stems as if mocking the rain that was falling just a little while ago.

The entire street was shadowed, Rukia's grip on her nee-san's hand tightened as she looked around. They kept walking hand in hand with their footsteps echoing in the silence. There were no other people there and the shadows were stirring. They were coming nearer. Rukia gasped as she saw tendrils of black smoke curling upwards, slipping from the depths of the darkness and inching closer to them.

"Rukia…" the cooing voice of her nee-san made her look at the woman in surprise but what she saw made her entire body shake with fear so great her eyes had started to water as she laid eyes on the grotesquely charred figure before her gracefully twirling her ruined wagasa. The elegant layers of her kimono were half burnt, dried blood and bits of skin clung to it. Her lovely face was half burnt; a single hazel eye was staring at her mournfully. The hand she was gripping was a blackened skeleton.

"Oh, Rukia…" the familiar voice muttered soothingly as she let her skeletal hand fall to her side. She took a step back, the moving shadows right behind her, forming an almost solid wall of swirling darkness.

"They're calling for you…can't you hear them?" the woman cupped a burnt hand to her ear as she leaned closer to the shadows. Rukia could only watch in mounting terror as red slits of eyes started to appear amidst the blackness.

"They want you to remember who you are. They want you to remember what you are!" the woman raised her voice slightly as she spoke making Rukia jump.

"Do you not know what you are dear Rukia?" Oiran's voice had suddenly gone very quiet as she closed her one good eye.

"I…" Rukia's voice was barely a whisper as she struggled to answer. Her eyebrows were trembling, deeply knitted together as she fought to control her overwhelming fear.

"You…" Oiran's voice had gone silent too as she spoke. Then her eye flew open and her voice became a roar of fury. "You little she-demon! You killed me! You led me to my death! Murderer! Eater of flesh and soul! You killed me! You killed me! You evil little thing! Dressing up in the skin of an innocent little girl…but you do not fool me! You are a killer! Accursed thing! You have killed me!" as she shrieked, the shadows had started to wrap around her body, the red eyes emitting hissing and snarling sounds.

Rukia looked on as if in a daze. The woman she had come to love so dearly was now an animated corpse raging before her insisting that she had been the one to cause her death.

"You are a harbinger of death! Anywhere you go death will surely follow! You are cursed to roam this earth forever! Alone! With no one to comfort you! You will always be alone!" blood and spittle was spewing from the woman's mouth, trickling down to her chin. Even her eyes and nose was starting to bleed. The shadows were inching closer like snakes coiling tighter and tighter around her body. They were licking her blood, slurping it down. Rukia could feel their euphoria but it was not really for the blood. It was for the certainty of the kill.

Rukia could hear Oiran choking pathetically as the shadows gripped her body tighter. What little life had been given to her was now slowly being consumed by the dozens of red eyes. The incessant whispering growing louder and louder but all she could catch were a few words.

Searching…he…the clan…she…gone missing…must find…the other clans...wants…must find…her.

Oiran was laughing within the swirling darkness and the sound sent chills down Rukia's spine. Her laughter was otherworldly; it was filled with hatred and then agony as it turned into a blood curdling scream and then there was silence again.

She watched now as the shadows retreated back into the darkness, seeping into the cracks on the tree trunks, the breaks in the ground and the desolate buildings all charred black and into nothingness.

Someone had gripped her shoulder and was shaking her roughly. She had opened her mouth about to scream when her eyes landed on the worried face of Okami-san looking down at her. It was she that had shaken her awake. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision of the dream.

She was in her room in the Okiya and it had only been a nightmare.

"Another one?..." Okami-san had moved towards the window and started to slide them open one by one, letting the warm sunlight filter into the room.

"Yes…" Rukia croaked as she slowly sat up on the futon, letting the covers fall on her lap. "Did I scream?..." she was looking at the tatami as she asked and she only heard Okami-san heave a deep sigh but she did not see the narrowing of her sharp eyes nor the thinning of her mouth as she pursed her lips.

"No. You were not screaming this time child…now hurry up and go downstairs. Breakfast is starting…and it is not good to keep the food waiting on the table." Okami-san swept out of the room, leaving behind a trail of smoke.

Rukia glanced at her vanity and sighed. Today was the day and she could not decide whether the dream was indeed an unfavourable omen for her or was it not in her favor to have chosen this day of all days. But she had wanted to pay her respects and she wanted it to be this day, the very day that her nee-san had been abruptly taken from her three years ago.

Was her nee-san displeased that she had picked this very day to become a fully initiated Oiran that time? The dream was unsettling and Rukia still found focusing on her surroundings a bit difficult as though she were half in the waking world and half in the world of the dead.

Her gaze wandered to the miniature portrait encased in a lacquered frame. It had been done by one of Oiran's patrons, the young man everyone had always thought to have been her lover. But truthfully he was not. The Oiran had never taken a lover, she had never fallen in love and she had gained much for her choice.

But now it was Rukia's turn. She was the only eligible candidate for the position ever since she had been chosen by Oiran. And there had never been any doubt about her future place in the Okiya. Now all she had to do was continue to fulfill it as the Okiya's new Oiran.

She had dressed elaborately, putting on as many layers as she could manage while travelling a fair distance. Her make-up done expertly by her own hand and her hair she had to get done by the hair dresser after breakfast due Okami-san's scrupulous insistence. Other than that she had done everything herself as her nee-san had taught her. And as her nee-san before her she had not taken a Kamuro yet to help her.

Dusk was already hovering over the horizon when she finally stepped out of her room and made her way down the stairs and out to the front of the Okiya where everyone was waiting for her so they could begin the Dochu.

This was her very first engagement outside as the newest Oiran in Yoshiwara. A slip of paper was peeking at her collar as she took her place beside the manservant standing rigidly with a piece of cloth on his shoulder where she would be putting her hand to steady herself as she walked just as she had been practicing since she was still a Kamuro. As the Oiran had patiently taught her, over and over until she finally managed to walk the proper way wearing the koma-geta without stumbling even once. Her back straight, her chin high and her feet curving in graceful figure eights as she took one measured step after another.

If she stumbled even slightly, people would laugh at her. They would think her absolutely unfit to take the place of the greatest Oiran in Yoshiwara. She would be ridiculed and shamed and that thinking had been stamped into her mind. She had made a pledge to uphold her nee-san's reputation and she will make true of that promise. She would rather take her own life than to sullen the late Oiran's name.

She had been chosen and whatever the reason had been behind it, whatever intent Oiran had in mind when she had picked out the grain of rice sticking to her cheek that day and declared her as her very own Kamuro she would not think anything of it. Starting today she would not dwell on her anymore. She would follow whatever fate has in store for her from now on. And most importantly she will make a name for herself, greater than her nee-san.

Her face had taken on a stubborn expression as she stepped outside the Okiya before softening into a lovely smile as she gently placed a dainty hand on the cloth on the shoulder of the man servant. The bells jangled as the Dochu finally began.

Stars had begun twinkling overhead and the velvety night sky now shadowed everything in darkness. And still they walked, the servants carrying lanterns in one hand and their sword handles on the other. The road outside of Yoshiwara had never been safe and there were a mere handful of tea houses scattered here and there on the road to offer shelter and aid.

Rukia had been summoned by the Daimyo residing a little out of ways in the outskirts of the town. He had even sent an extremely expensive obi for her to wear for their first meeting and Rukia had recoiled in shock when she held it in her hand for inspection late this afternoon. A coiled snake embroidered with black and silver thread was snarling at her with its jaws opened wide as if about to devour her, its forked tongue curling out. She could almost hear it hissing and she could almost imagine the venom trickling out of its bared fangs as she beheld its red eyes. But it was strikingly beautiful even if it was garishly macabre. And it was the first gift she had received from her first high ranking customer.

It was nearly dinner time when they had finally arrived before the manor and Rukia's feet were numb with fatigue for carrying the weight of the koma-geta and for walking with it without faltering. Perspiration covered every inch of her body; she could feel it sliding down her back, her temples and her neck. The Kamuro who accompanied her immediately started fussing over her. Patting gently at the sweat on her face and her neck, checking her hair for any strays that had managed to come out of their bindings and checking her clothes for anything at all that is amiss. They wiped her hands and bare feet of dust and dirt that had somehow managed to climb all the way up. But they could not soothe the aching in her body, especially her now leaden feet. She could hardly force herself to walk without gripping the manservant's shoulder tightly as she gritted her teeth and put one foot forward followed by the other.

Their retinue was ushered into the entrance hall by a servant that met them outside. But Rukia alone was led into a spacious room and was asked to take a seat as they served her tea and little colorful rice cakes before bowing out again.

Rukia looked around as she waited for the tea to cool, her hands on her lap and only moving her neck slightly to inspect the trinkets decorating the room she was in. This was her first time outside of Yoshiwara and to be inside a Daimyo's manor. As she expected every bit of extravagance was present. The rich had always been blatant in their position and the status they had to uphold and their vanity of their wealth was to be displayed. But not so much as vulgarly proclaiming it in acquiring every little thing of value and of fame.

This room though was an example of pride and a little of arrogance. The four walls were practically covered with scrolls, paintings and poems all drawn and written masterfully. She would have liked to be able to study them more closely but she dared not move from her place. She contented herself at the moment at just observing them from her vantage point.

A couple of sword stands were placed on top of polished maple tables. A pair of katana and wakizashi with exquisite hilts both of its saya lacquered black with metallic engravings embossed more for decoration than anything, from one end to the other. The markings immediately caught her attention from what little she could see of their intricate detail. An uneasy feeling was forming in her gut and she almost felt nausea slithering up her throat. She would have blamed it on nerves but she knew that this was a feeling of dread bubbling up inside her. A light sheen of perspiration was forming on her forehead; her hands were clammy and quickly turning cold.

She knew those swords. She had seen its sharp blade, felt it against her very skin. Those swords have torn her to pieces.

Her hand flew to her neck, wrapping her slim fingers around it as if to assure her that it was still attached to her body. She swallowed thickly, her gaze transfixed just as the door slid open and a man stepped in.

Rukia felt as though the very air was knocked out of her lungs as she laid eyes on the man who gave her a small bow of greeting. He was thin and pale, his squinting eyes were fixed on her and a wide eerie smile was plastered on his lips. His silvery hair was a mass of unruly spikes framing an angular yet slim face. He wore a dark blue crepe kimono and black hakama which the Emperor Ieyasu highly favoured thus compelling all his noble men to wear them instead of the more expensive silk.

The padded sound of his footsteps was the only sound in the room as he came towards her. The smile never left his face even as he sat to the empty cushion on the other side of the table to her right. She faced the other direction and so did he but his body was turned towards her while she only kept her gaze forward.

"And so what they have been sayin' is really true…you are lovely." His voice was lightly tinged with a strange accent she couldn't place.

He noticed she had not touched the plate of sweets or the tea and frowned making Rukia swallow as he saw the abrupt change of his expression.

"Are ya not hungry? I thought ya might be after walking all the way here and all…" his tone was light and his expression had become pleasant again. Rukia released the breath she was holding and managed a small smile.

"I was just waiting for the tea to cool…I prefer to drink first before eating sweets. I apologize if I have offended Danna-sama…" she bowed slightly, still not daring to look at the man straight in the face.

"That so?...well if ya don't like sweets then what shall I have the maids bring ya?..." his voice had taken on a teasing tone as he leaned in closer to her, resting his cheek on his fist as he peered at her.

"This is fine for me…I thank Danna-sama for caring for my comfort." She kept her gaze down as she spoke.

"Well then…will ya play something for me on the shamisen? I also hear tell that you are a splendid musician…" he reclined to the back of the folding chair and gestured for one of the maids to bring the instrument forth. The girl placed it in Rukia's hand with a deep bow and retreated back to her post without a word.

"Do ya know of any tragic pieces?..."

Rukia paused in tuning the instrument to look up in surprise at the squinting Danna grinning at her.

"I have learned many of passion and love…but I have also studied distraught and unhappiness. If it is all the same I shall play it for you…" Rukia lowered her lashes midway, "the tragedy of love lost and eternity…I believe you might have a taste for that…Ichimaru Gin."

The twang of the shamisen prevented the man before her to respond as she began playing. He had opened his eyes slightly to better see the young woman before him. The dull glint in his crimson eyes was shadowed by his lids as his mouth went slack. His eyebrows knitted together as he observed the corner of her red lips curve upwards in a smirk, her red eyes fixed on him as she calmly went on playing.

He blinked and the eyes now staring at him were violet, her pink lips quirked in a half smile as she strummed.

"And so they are one…" he muttered under his breath, placing his fore finger and thumb over his chin as he closed his eyes once more.

.Let us bring back the darkness and let their pretense be known as to why they gather in shadows alone.

A/N2: First i gotta clarify that i've been mostly using japanese demon lore though vaguely cause they're butt ugly creatures and nasty critters. It's more like a mix of western belief though if you've noticed...Also I was intrigued by their ancient belief that spirits/deities have in fact 2 souls, one is good and one is bad. Either can be dominant whatever the spirit's mood is at the moment. I was kind of playing with it here and I always wondered about Ichigo...anyways! Ichigo-sama will be making his come-back in the next chap so prepare yourselves! *cackles madly* And more of these demons will be revealed and about their...ah, nature. :X

A/N3: Straying off the topic of the story here...*squeals* Ep. 342 was soooo~ cute! too many IchiRuki moments! Gaaaahhhh~! I might have woken a few neighbors with my squealing at 6 a.m. hehe! Rukia was all touchy feely with Ichigo and she was sooo beautiful! O.O while Ichigo was being usual self...smiling to hide his emotions. Bah! But the holding hands! The holding hands! *squeals again* haha! I've never seen Rukia drawn so beautifully as in this episode I hardly noticed what a pretty boy Ichigo is now. *sniggers* I can't wait for the ep where Rukia returns with her new hairstyle! Kyaaa~~! :3

Thanks for reading...haha. :)

If ya want to review go ahead and do so...suggestions, comments, violent reactions...etcetera. :D

-kimchi-

See ya all soon!