Hey guys! *dodges bullets* I am so sorry this took me five months. It shouldn't have, but with final exams, Christmas, New Year's and everything else I was busy. Busy and unmotivated. Not a good combination. I will talk more at the end of the chapter. Enjoy your reading!

I fingered my father's matted and dirty red hair. I was numb, frozen, except for the monotonous strokes of my fingertips through my father's hair. I couldn't understand anything. I was like a sponge that had absorbed too much water; I just sat, lethargic and uncomprehending.

After a few minutes or perhaps it was seconds, or even hours, I began to register things again. I realized why their voices sounded so familiar. I had heard them before, long ago. I never would have guessed that the reason was because they were my parents. A horrifying realization hit me; if this was my father, then it must mean that Satsujin must be...

My mother.

And I would have to kill her, as I killed my father...I killed my father.

For another long while, I couldn't tell you how long, I fell prey to the swirling abyss that my mind turned into. It regurgitated thoughts at random, and insisted upon replaying the moment when I plunged my blade into my father's neck. I also felt bits and pieces of memories hit me. Words, shouts, laughs, cries, warmth, solitude. Nothing stayed for long.

Eventually I managed to get a grip on reality again. I needed to figure out what to do. I had to do something, otherwise I would lose my sanity. I carefully laid my father's head on the grass. I turned to my right and started clawing at the earth. I wasn't crazy or anything, I was just digging.

I dug, slowly but surely. I started out making it the right size, then deepened it. I didn't know how deep to make it, but my arms were trembling fiercely when it was close to three feet so I stopped.

I put my father's body into the hole carefully. I folded his arms over his chest at straightened him up as best I could.

I looked around. A few feet to my left there was a small red flower. I plucked it gently and made it so that my father's hand was holding it loosely. I knew I should say something, he deserved that much, but try as I might I couldn't think of what to say. I barely knew him, but I still loved him.

In the end, the only thing I could say was, "I'm so sorry Dad...so sorry..."

I pushed the dirt back over him. I packed everything down firmly, then wrote in the dirt with my finger, 'Here lies Hiroyuki Yoru.'

I sat for a moment, shaking. I didn't dare linger; if I did I would never leave. I managed to stand. The scene had changed now. The sky was no longer stormy but simply black. No stars, no clouds, just black. The grass looked bleached; the green was gone and it looked sickly white. There was one other major change, and that was in the distance there was a blurry shape. I couldn't tell what it was, but I felt an impulse to find out. Besides, what else could I do?

I started off towards the blur at a slow pace. My legs were shaking which made it difficult to walk but I managed. They grass made soft swishing noises as I stumbled along.

Despite how insane this might seem, I felt better. Not better as in healed and 100% fine, but better as in improved. I deduced that what I experienced before was a compact form of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or something very close. It would explain why I was re-experiencing the event, and would coincide with my inability to cope with...what happened. It was a surprisingly brief event however and I didn't think that was normal. Then again, what about this situation could be considered normal?

I was also aware that there was no more wind. In fact, there was no wind or anything else that could make any sort of noises save my footsteps. I decided to concentrate on the only sound there was, the sound of my feet moving through the grass. Swish-swish, swish-swish, swish-swish...

WHAM.

That was the sound of me tripping on something and slamming into the ground.

I groaned and slowly pushed myself up. My arms shook and I hissed as hot pain burned my muscles.

As I kept walking I discovered I was weaker and more tired than before. My feet were starting to drag and my pace slowed considerably. I hadn't been going fast before and now I moved at little more than a snail's pace.

And yet somehow, the blur was closer than before. Very close in fact. Close enough for me to discern what this blur was. Close enough to be standing in front of it. The blur was a black tower.

The tower was so tall I couldn't see the top. Black birds circled the tower. Yet despite their numbers (there must have been twenty of them in total) they made no sound. I couldn't tell if the walls of the tower were brick, stone or some other substance, but whatever it was it was black as night. Directly in front of me was a large, gaping hole that was around fifteen feet tall.

I suppose that would be the way in. Not ominous in the slightest.

I walked wearily through the hole. Weary. That would be the best word I could think of to describe me right now. Weary in body and mind.

I was so weary in fact that the entire mood set on by the blood covered bricks, the enormous winding stairs that lined the walls and the garden of dead plants completely went over my head, leaving me unfazed. I began climbing the staircase one step at a time, staring at my burnt and bloodstained socks, having lost my sandals sometime back. I don't recall exactly when.

I didn't know how long I took to reach the top of the staircase. Frankly, I didn't care. But eventually I did make it. I came to a large door three times my height. It was made of black metal and had designs and symbols carved into it. Next to the door was another starcase leading still farther upward.

I reached up to turn the crystal door knob when a voice in my head said, "You should knock."

I paused. "Why?" I asked the voice aloud.

"It's rude not to. You don't see people just walking in to other people's homes do you?"

"I suppose that's true."

"It is. Now knock."

I decided it best not to anger the voice further, whatever it was. Was I going insane again? Maybe.

I knocked on the door three times and waited. I heard a click and what sounded like gears turning as the door slowly opened. It revealed a large room with a low table and hundreds of candles lining the walls. It struck a chord of familiarity within me.

I advanced into the room slowly, unsure what I'd find. Suddenly I noticed a hooded figure sitting at the table. It beckoned me to sit down. I eased myself down on my knees and laid my hands on the table. They were shockingly quite grey and spattered with black and red liquid.

As I picked at the dry spots on my hands the person sitting across from me removed their hood.

My eyes widened in surprise, "Rairakku-sensei?"

She nodded, "Hello my little fox." She sounded tired and her face showed worry.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

She shook her head, "No I'm afraid to say it's not. I hoped not to have to resort to this but circumstances have changed."

"Circumstances? What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid things have taken a turn for the worst. You cannot possibly imagine what is going to happen."

I rubbed my temples and sighed, "Would you mind enlightening me?"

"Not at all. In fact, that is the reason I am here."

"Oh yes, that reminds me. How are you here right now?"

She took a sip from her china tea cup, "In the truest sense of the word I am not here right now. This is a projection of my soul that is within this room. It is for that reason that this room is named 'The Projection Room'. I am actually in the Urabana Manor, in the room your met me in on your first trip there."

I looked around, "So, how is this room here? Did you put it here?"

She chuckled, but it was a dry and humourless sound, "No. It would be impossible to build such a room here as it is very nearly impossible to get here in the first place. What you see now is a projection of the room in the Manor. What the room actually looks like is entirely different."

I nodded slowly, "I see, I think. But how is it nearly impossible to be here? I'm here aren't I?"

"You are indeed," she affirmed, "and it is so difficult to enter here because this is an alternate dimension."

I frowned, "But shinigami go to the World of the Living all the time from the Soul Society."

"That is because there are defined paths from those two worlds. The world you are in right now is incredibly isolated. It has one small, shaky link between it and the World of the Living. Beyond that I don't know if it has anymore links. There is also another factor that makes this world unique."

"And that would be?" I interjected.

She gestured around her, "That this world is not only an alternate dimension, but it is also a dimension of time."

"What is the difference?" I asked, confused.

"There is a distinct difference." She said coolly. Had we been in a lesson I think she would have berated me for asking the question in such a way.

"The difference," she continued, "is that a dimension of time has no fixed location in the space time continuum. It can open doors to the past, present, and future. They are incredibly dangerous and unpredictable. I've seen a few destroyed in my years solely because they are too delicate; if one were to open the wrong door it could set off a chain reaction that could destroy entire centuries, perhaps even millennia. Not to mention the series of events it could trigger if one were to muck about in time zones with no regard for the consequences. Or perhaps even more frightening, the consequences of people changing events who know exactly what they're doing."

Here she fell silent. I had a feeling this is not the first time she has dealt with a matter of this calibre and origin.

I felt it best not to let her dwell on whatever it was she was dwelling on, so I brought up something that had been bothering me, "You've told me how you're here but you haven't told me why you're here."

She blinked twice rapid fire then nodded curtly, "You are quite right. I am here to warn you."

"Warn me of what?"

"There is a disturbance in the fabric of time. Something is happening, or to be more precise something already happened and its repercussions are slowly making their way across the years. I've managed to link it back to you."

"Me? What have I done?" I asked incredulous.

"It isn't what you've have done so much as it is something you're going to do. Somehow you got into the time stream and changed an event, though whether it was for better or for worse I couldn't tell you."

"I don't understand, you still haven't told me everything," I was shocked to discover my voice had gone down an octave.

My grandmother noticed it too, "Are you alright Kitsune?"

"I think so." My voice deepened another octave.

I squeaked, and with my deep voice you'd be surprised how bizarre it sounded.

My hands started to shake. They became bonier and my nails grew, sharpened to claws and turned black.

"What's happening!" I cried. My voice no longer sounded even remotely like my own.

"It seems I have run out of time," Rairakku-sensei replied gravely, "whatever happens be careful. I love you my little fox."

"What? No! Rairakku-sensei, wait!" I shouted and reached for her. My transformed hand grasped empty air. She was gone. The room was suddenly out of focus and was fading fast. In a matter of seconds it was gone.

The room in its place was in a state of disrepair. The table I was sitting at now was burnt and a large chunk of it had been broken off. There was only one window and it had half of a faded red, dirty, moth eaten curtain hanging above it while the other half was in a heap below it. Most of the roof was destroyed and bones littered the floor.

Suddenly white hot pain tore across my body. I fell backwards and hit the stone floor. I screamed and thrashed as fire burned its way through my veins. My eyes felt like they were dissolving. My teeth felt like they were being pulled out again and again. I felt like my body was being raked with glass and covered in salt. My jaw unhinged itself from my head and hit the floor, my tongue falling beside with a wet smacking sound. My hand flew up to feel where my jaw was supposed to be, touching the roof of my mouth instead. I let out weird, garbled sounds, as I could no longer scream properly, out of sheer horror.

I flailed about on the floor for a moment longer before a final burst of pain wracked by body, then ceased completely. I felt a tingling sensation everywhere, as if my entire body has fallen asleep. I held my hand up in front of my face. It was black now, as dark as the starless sky outside. My nails were now ivory claws that were razor sharp.

I also noticed that a black sleeve had replaced the teal sleeve of the kimono I woke up in. I lifted my head and saw that my entire outfit had changed. I now wore black boots and a long black robe that went to my ankles. Red fabric circled the holes in my sleeves where my hands came out as well as around my neck.

I slowly sat up. The room was the same as it was; not a thing was different. I stood up completely and dusted myself off.

I felt...odd. Like I'd just seen something terrible and was waiting for the shock and horror to set it. I also felt refreshed inside, like you do after crying a lot.

I looked at my hands again. I doubt they were the only thing that changed. But was I brave enough to look at my face? I noticed that there was a broken mirror lying on the ground on the other side of the room. I walked towards it slowly, my footsteps echoing off the walls. I kneeled down and picked up a large fragment of the mirror. I held it up to my face.

I gasped. The mirror fell from my grasp and shattered on the floor. I picked up another large piece with shaking fingers. I slowly held it up in front of my face, needing to make sure what I saw was true.

Reflected in the mirror was an enormous skull. Its eyeless sockets looked back at me, emotionless. There was no jaw. There were several teeth in the skull, deadly sharp. The hair was silver, but it was dull as if it had tarnished. It was also thick and wild.

I gingerly patted the skull that was now my head. I was surprised to find that it was warm to the touch, but very solid and very there. I scratched the skull experimentally. I hissed in pain as grey blood oozed from the cut. But a second later the cut healed itself, leaving no evidence of it having been there.

I might have spent longer examining myself if I didn't hear a distant roaring. It was coming from outside. I rushed to the window and looked down. Satsujin sat at the base of the tower, snarling. In a flash she was climbing the side of the tower in leaps and bounds.

I was panicking inside. I would have to face my mother. Kill her. I didn't know if my heart and mind could handle killing a parent a second time. Why was this happening?

Satsujin was almost at the window. I took several steps back and drew my blade slowly. Its new shape caught my eye. It was curved, like Nekoakuma, but instead of silver it was black. The hilt was made of bones, both big and small, fitting together like the pieces of a puzzle. There was a red jewel in the base of the hilt, just like in Nekoakuma. This was a Zanpaku-to, there could be no doubt.

The lion creature burst through the window, jaws snapping. With speed I didn't think I possessed, I blocked, jabbed, then leapt to the other side of the room in a blur of movement. My blade nicked Satsujin's side leaving a shallow but long cut.

She hissed and stumbled, baring her teeth at me. Our battle continued thusly: she attacked and I parried her blows. My reaction time was superb, my reflexes three times what they were before. It was as if I could almost see what was going to happen before it did.

"It WoULd SeEm YoU HaVe GaInEd StReNgTh ChILd," snarled Satsujin, "BuT It WoN'T SaVe YoU!"

"We don't need to do this...Mother." My voice was still two octaves deeper. I could have been anyone.

Satsujin let out a harsh bark of laughter, "I Am No-OnE's MoThEr!"

"Then how did you know who my Father was?" I countered.

"YoU BeAr MaNy Of HiS QuALItiES."

"And how would you know, you've never seen him before!" I snapped.

"WrOnG! FoUGh We DiD! StRoNg Of WiLL WaS He bUt ZaNsAtSu GoT HiM In ThE EnD!"Here the creature showed her teeth in a feral grin.

I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly, "Mother...please. Just go."

"I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER!", screamed Satsujin before charging straight at me.

The attack was so rage induced that it was an easy task of side steping her attack. She ploughed through the wall behind me completely, not that the decrepit thing stood much of a chance.

I walked over to the edge, expecting to see her plummeting to the ground.

I was wrong.

Her long claws were extended, reaching towards me. I lifted my head back just in time to avoid getting decapitated. Her long body flew up. It was hurtling up the tower to the roof.

I wasted no time in using shunpo up the black walls of the tower, only a few seconds behind her.

As I ran behind her I was reacquainted with the fact that this tower was extremely high. It took us a full minute to reach the top, me neither gaining distance nor losing any. The tower surpassed the clouds by a good twenty meters. The top of the tower was flat with a circular hole in the middle, probably where the staircase came to the top. The only other thing on the roof was an amaranthine stone sitting atop a marble pedestal on the opposite side of the roof. There was a moon floating high in the sky now, shinning with a pale silver sheen. The sky was still absent of stars.

Satsujin's growl echoed around our new battlefield. I took my stance and waited for her to attack. I didn't wait long.

Her claws were unsheathed and were slashing at me with renewed force. Our match continued. She spat balls of fire at me. They buried hotly and flew at me with incredible speed. I dodged two and sliced the third in half. The flames didn't even burn a single hair on my head.

She tried launching ice spikes. With a sweep of my blade I shattered five of them. The sixth flew by my right arm and buried itself in the ground.

She tried launching acid. Not a single speck landed on me.

She tried launching bolts of blue lightning. The ground was scared with burn marks. I was spotless.

Time and time again whatever she attacked me with was destroyed before it could get to me. After a while I lost the initial surprise at my boost in skill. Now I was more preoccupied as to how her skill seemed to have diminished.

After cutting through another spear of ice, I called out, "Is this the best you can do? Did you lose some talent on the way up the tower?"

"SiLeNcE!" she snarled. But underneath I could see she was flustered and irritated.

"You seem to have lost your killer instinct, or perhaps your aim." I was goading her into revealing why the tables had turned so suddenly.

"ThE OnLy ThInG I HaVe LoSt Is ZaNsAtSu! He WaS HaLf Of My PoWeR!"

Bingo. Half her power? I see. Then this would be easier than before. And yet, at the same time it was harder, knowing her true identity.

I couldn't think for very long as more projectiles of every sort came at me.

I slashed them and moved forward. I kept talking, "Half of your power? So you're helpless now?"

"No!" she barked, "I Am FaR FrOm It!"

I leapt forward, cutting her right paw deeply before retreating to a safe distance, "You could have fooled me."

She screeched and lunged for me. I dodged and jabbed my blade into her shoulder. She roared and attacked me again.

I dodged again before putting space between us. I asked her, "So you and Zansatsu are connected then?"

She was panting. Blood oozed from her wounds and stained the ground, "A PiTiFuL LiTtLe GiRL CoULD NEvEr UnDeRsTaNd."

"Try me." I answered.

She snorted. I thought she wouldn't bother saying anything on the subject but she surprised me, "VeRy WeLL. ZaNsAtSu AnD I ArE TwO HaLvEs Of ThE SaMe SoUL. We BeCamE a HoLLoW AfTeR OuR DeATh. BuT A PaiR of SoUL ReApErS FoUnD Us OnE DaY, FeAsTiNg On ThE SoULs Of ThE DePaRTEd. ThEY AtTaCKeD Us AnD DeFeAtEd Us. BuT, OuR SoUL DiD NoT Go To ThE SoUL SoCiETy. InStEaD It WaS SpLiT In TwO AnD AbSoRbED HaTrED, RaGe, AnD PoWeR FrOm ThE HeArTS Of ThE PaThETiC HuMaNs ThAt SuRrOuNdEd WhErE We WeRe KiLLeD. We BeCamE FaSTEr AnD StRoNgEr ThAN BeFoRe. IN ThE BeGiNniNg We WeRe SaTiSFieD WiTh SLaUgHtEriNg WHaTeVeR We FoUnD, BuT SoOn We GrEw BoReD Of ThAt. We WaNTED ReVeNgE On ThE SoUL ReApErS WhO KiLLeD Us. ThOSe SoUL ReApERs WeRe YoUr PaReNtS. AnD So We HuNTeD ThEm DoWN..."

She smiled a horrifying, feral grin, "AnD We DeVoUReD ThEm, BoDy AnD SoUL."

I rushed at her, smashing the hilt of my blade on her forehead with incredible force. She stumbled back, grey blood leaking from the crack I had made in her mask.

"I see. Then you are no longer my mother, and I won't treat you as such!" I slashed and stabbed her multiple times, fuelled by my anger.

I ducked, dodged, and weaved around her attacks, taking time to launch a few devastating ones of my own.

After a few minutes of this I finally released the finishing blow. Or at least, that's what I had intended it to be.

At the last possible moment she ducked down, my blade narrowly missing her head. Instead it plunged into the red stone that was sitting atop the pedestal. It shattered and melted into ash.

For a moment I thought nothing happened. Then I felt the ground start to shake, and a fierce wind began to blow. The sky turned an angry red, pulsing with dark clouds. The winds sped up, becoming something akin to a tornado.

I felt my feet lose contact with the roof. I kicked wildly, trying to regain my balance. Satsujin was lifted off the roof as well. She was snarling and snapping at the wind, as if through sheer strength and force of will she could fight it off. I sheathed my blade, not wanting to chance losing it.

The winds tore me right and left, backwards and forwards. I lost all sense of direction. I was vaguely aware of the sensation that I was rising, but I couldn't be sure. I could just hear Satsujin screeching over the roar of the wind. Suddenly, I felt like I'd gone through a wall of glass. There was a deafening crash and I felt pain all over my body.

Then I was falling. I was falling so fast. The world was a blur. My body refused to cooperate, remaining immobile despite my best efforts. I finally hit the ground. But it wasn't the ground, it was water.

My body now stung from the hitting the water so fast and without being in any sort of diving position. I slowly began the sink. I was panicking. I couldn't move, and now I couldn't breathe. The edges of my vision began to darken. I still couldn't move.

The last thing I thought before I fell prey to the darkness was, "Am I going to die?"

Ta-dah! That's the end of this story. Or is it? No, no it isn't. I've ended up not cutting it off here. I thought about it and ending it here isn't necessairy, in fact it turns out it would be to my benefit and yours if I didn't. I apologize for this. I intend to write a sequel so keep that in mind. I will also put a link to a picture I drew of Kitsune after her transformation. To answer the question you didn't ask no, she isn't a Hollow. Well, not completely. It will be explained later on. Sorry to end on a cliff hanger, that's just how I roll ^_^

Kitsune Picture (remove the spaces): www. deviant art. com/ ?qh =& section =&q = kitsune + hollow #/d 38lg 8n