Bleached Vampire

Chapter 29: Trouble in the Dark

-Las Noches Throne Room-

Demonio was not pleased by the events told to him by the two Arrancar before him. Both Septima and Demitri were both on one knee and bowing as they told their report on their failure. Yes they had destroyed members of this little renegade group that refused to submit to his rule. They also were forced back here without the heads of the leaders of that group.

His ringers tapped the arm of his throne as he thought about this new twist to things. Who knew that there were actually surviving Arrancar that were out there, he had only thought them lesser hollows, and no one could have seen that two Espada were leading them. He thought they had all been killed with Aizen's fall. He could not allow this to continue, he was the new ruler of this realm and there would be no threats to his power.

Now he had to deal with them as well as try and gain some yokai, he needed that energy it was the only thing that could stop the ever present hunger he felt. Hollows couldn't fill it or human souls for long, but yokai energy that he knew would fill in the missing part of himself. He was thinking it was time to go himself but the presence of shinigami there was worrying. He had no idea how strong they were but so far every group that had gone there was killed nearly entirely.

He was already feeling weakened from not eating, he was pushing himself to try and go as long before the hunger got too unbearable because of the long sleep afterwards. Plus he felt that he was sleeping longer and it took more for him to eat to sate the hunger. If things kept going this way soon he would keep on eating without stopping or he would devolve back into a mindless hollow. He would not allow that to happen, he kept his mind ever since his death, his will was too strong to be lost in the sea of minds that made up a Gillian, he forced his way to what he was now and he would not lose everything.

If he was going to go to this yokai rich area, he would do it at full power and with someone to call upon to help him deal with the shinigami, and then he could gorge himself and finally rid himself of this cursed hunger.

Looking down at the two lieutenants he wanted to punish them for their failure but they had their uses still.

"I want you two to create a force to hunt down these renegades. I want them totally destroyed, I will not have any threat to my rule. I also want someone sent to the yokai area, someone that can sneak in and steal some yokai given that a frontal assault is not working. I want an Arrancar level hollow to be sent in there and their job is only to capture and return. Make sure that they understand that." He stressed that final part.

"Yes my lord, I think I know the perfect one for the job." Septima said to him.

"See that you pick wisely, you're earlier failure is already over your head. If you fail me anymore then perhaps I shall use you to feed my hunger." Demonio looked angrily at her. She flinched and looked away unable to look at his eyes as she shivered in fear. "Now be gone!"

The two quickly vanished as they went to their own assignments leaving their ruler alone with his own dark thoughts. He would look in and see how Demetrio was doing with his project, then he was going to have to gather more hollows, at this rate he might need to feed again. If so, he would lead his forces himself after that next feeding.

He would have to call on Adalberto to gather some more lesser hollows to eat and after that, have Demetrio report on the progress on his special project and also to see if he could make an opening closer to where the yokai lived. So far they could only open portals for a short time on the outskirts. If he could open a portal right on top of them, then maybe he himself would just walk in and take what he needed himself.

-Training Room-

The two groups were once again training, Urahara was experimenting with Tsukune's abilities, seeing how to draw out and control his powers, of course it was in Urahara's unique way of doing things of course. Such as at the moment, Tsukune was wearing the 'special' head gear and gloves while Urahara chased him down with his sword trying to get the boy to learn how to bring out his powers in a fight.

"So we really have to do it this way!" Tsukune yelled at he dodged a swipe of the sword.

"I never heard Kurosaki complain," Urahara said smiling.

'Why do I get the feeling he never had the chance to?' Tsukune thought.

Ichigo was busy with Renji, the two were sparring again if only because of their friendly rivalry. That and Ichigo felt that Renji was the only person that could help push him to a higher level of fighting. They were currently as far away as they could be from the others, their powers being thrown all over the place made it dangerous for anyone that wasn't use to their spirit pressure. The sight of Renji's bankai was also the reason, but at least he wasn't using its main attack in such a confined space.

Orihime was training with Rukia, the girls hadn't really trained together since before Orihime had been forced to go because of Aizen. Both girls found it very nostalgic as they sparred with each other, only this time Orihime felt she was on better footing. With her new golden wings she could take to the air and move more quickly. She could bring up shields and attacks at will, although she was still learning the limits of her powers, but Rukia was giving her pointers.

"Inoue, try to form more than one attack," Rukia was currently using her spirit powers to make a 'solid ground' under her feet as she looked at Orihime across from her as the other girl was floating in the air.

"I'll try Kuchiki-san," Orihime nodded that she was ready as Rukia came at her with her sword. Orihime raise a hand as a shield came out of nowhere in front of her, she raised her other hand and her attack came at Rukia from the shorter girl's side. After Rukia's sword struck the shield she turned to block the attack, she felt the blow through her sword. The force behind it was enough to send her back a little but she knew that Orihime was still pulling back too much. The girl was too kind hearted at times and was too afraid to hurt her friends by going too serious.

Rukia sent a blast of ice towards her friend as Orihime preformed aerial acrobatics to dodge it.

"She's getting good with the flying," Rukia said to herself impressed with the show. Soon the shinigami flash stepped towards the taller girl.

The yokai girls were training with Yoruichi, well Inner Moka was, the others were already tired but the vampire was still going. Moka was covered in sweat as the fought against Yoruichi, her pride as a vampire wouldn't let her quit until she either won or couldn't move anymore. Yoruichi was having fun, the white haired Moka was turning out to be a very good student. Plus those kicks were very strong and had only seemed to be getting stronger.

'This girl has never had to cut loose before, never had someone to rival her power but now she's finally pushing herself,' Yoruichi thought as she dodged a punch, countered with a kick which was blocked only to have a kick returned. The Flash Goddess in a burst of speed got behind her opponent. Only to be surprised when Moka had turned with the kick and Yoruichi had to pull her head back or else the foot would have slammed into the side of her face.

'Ohhh, she's getting better all the time,' she grinned. "That's it, refine your energy use little Moka, let it course through your body but don't waste it. Use every single part of it to the fullest, feel the flow of your energy in your body, let it flow naturally and freely."

Moka glared at the other woman but she took a calming breath as she tried to focus on her yokai energy. She never had to actually have to refine her control. She usually just overpowered her opponents. The vampire felt the dark energy flowing faster now through her body, she felt the energy become more potent as she focused. With a hard kick off with one of her feet, causing some of the ground to break under the strength, she launched a fist at the dark skinned woman.

Yoruichi was surprised by the sudden increase in speed, she was actually having to make an effort to dodge the vampires strikes now. 'Finally, she's really learning to harness and refine her power.'

"Wow, Onee-sama is doing great," Kokoa said in admiration. "Go Onee-sama, kick her butt!"

"I can't believe that I'm agreeing with her," Kurumu sighed as she rubbed a bruise on her arm. Yoruichi really didn't pull anything back in their training. She looked over to see Uryu sparing with Chad, he was as always, moving with precision and grace. She sighed as she watched him fight, calculating every movement to its maximum potential.

"He'll lose," Mizore stated suddenly.

"What do you mean by that?" Kurumu angrily said in his defence.

"He doesn't want to hurt his friends so he pulls back, plus he hasn't totally been the same since that day we attacked the Student Police." The snow woman said simply as she watched the sparring. Chad was like a mountain totally unmoving unless he wanted to move that is. Plus he was very quick for his size, he was nearly keeping up with Uryu.

Kurumu huffed, not wanting to say that Uryu would lose to her, besides she didn't think he would lose at least not in a real fight.

"Oi, fangirls!" Yoruichi's voice called out making the two girls jump. "If you got time to ogle the boys then you should train some more to catch up to their level now that you've had a rest."

Yoruichi and Moka were taking a breather, well more for the vampire that is, as Yoruichi felt the other girls had taken enough time to rest. "Little vampire and witch, I want you two to spar against each other, ice-girl and the love sick one can spar against each other as well."

Kurumu blushed hoping that Uryu hadn't heard any of that.

-Female Dorms-

It had been a long day for all of them, it was late in the evening, school was out for the day, the students were all either studying or hanging out before the last few hours and the curfew for students to be back in the dorms ran out. Rukia was currently in her room, she had taken the time to decorate it over the past couple of months. Chappy dolls were now scene, as well we articles she wrote for the paper. She was actually kind of proud of it and started collecting them.

A part of her had gotten a taste for news, interviewing people, getting stories it was fun. Maybe when she got back to Soul Society she could ask Lieutenant Shuhei Hisagi of the ninth division if she could get a side job with the Seireitei news magazine, she was going to use her article collection as a portfolio. At the moment she had just placed her phone in the charger, it was getting low and the last thing she needed was for it to run out on her. The devices had been very helpful with his assignment; she heard that the new models were already being put into use to those going to the real world.

Maybe she could make a yokai themed column? They were rare in the real world and in Soul Society so there wasn't much information about them to the rest of the shinigami. She brightened at that thought. She quickly grabbed her personal note book as she started to make notes. She had only just started when the lights suddenly died on her.

"What the...oh come on!" Rukia huffed as she guessed she would have to find what was wrong. She wished she knew more about modern technology, sure she could now use things like cell phones and other items but even in Soul Society things like electricity was regulated by the Twelfth Division, when you had a problem like this, you'd call them.

She tried the light on her desk and then the room light but nothing happened. Grumbling she dug through her stuff until she found her Chappy flash light. Already she could hear other girls in the building starting to ask what was going on, so it wasn't just her room. Rukia opened her door as the hallways started to get darker with the fading light. Looking around she only saw confusion around her, so she thought to try and find either what the problem was or someone who seemed to know what was going on.

She managed to find her way to one of the rooms used for recreation for the girls on this floor, it was just a large room with chairs and couches, mainly it was used for group study sessions, home work with groups or just friends hanging out. There were two on each side of the every floor and she could see a few familiar faces already there.

"What is this?" Kurumu complained loudly, "I was really enjoying something on my TV when all the power cut off."

"Yeah I was trying to practice my cooking for class later this week," Yukari sighed she had been very close to getting the recipe just perfectly.

"I wonder what's going on." Orihime asked her friends. "Could the power be out? Where does the power for the school come from anyway? I never saw any power plants or anything nearby."

Mizore and Moka were looking out the window in the room.

"I think power is still on elsewhere," Moka stated to everyone. "I can see lights still on at the school and in the boy's dorm. The problem must only be with us."

"Lucky them," Kokoa muttered in her seat. "It's going to get dark soon and I don't want to stumble around in the dark."

"Maybe we should sleep over there with them," Kurumu smirked as she already was making plans on whose room to share with while over there.

"Kurumu-chan!" Moka said aghast although there was some part of her that wouldn't mind sharing Tsukune's room with him.

"So this is where everyone is," Rukia decided to step into the conversation and make herself known. After all she thought it was a good point to interrupt this conversation before it got a little too far.

"Ah, Kuchiki-san," Orihime was glad to see her friend. "Do you know what's going on?"

"No idea," Rukia sighed. "I was going to look around and try to find someone in authority, doesn't the dorms have someone looking after them?"

"There should be someone on duty," Moka supplied her own thoughts. "Maybe we should look for them or see why we lost power."

"Well I have a flashlight for when it gets dark," Rukia proudly held up her item. "It's going to get dark soon so we should decide on what to do now, I don't want us to split up in the dark."

"I think a few of us should stay behind and try to calm the other girls down," Moka said hearing the increase in panic among the female students. Some of them might panic and do something that could only make things worse. When you lived with a group or people with a variety of powers and abilities anything could happen. It was soon agreed who would go with who, Moka, Kokoa and Orihime would stay behind and try to keep everyone calm.

So the others went to the stairs to get to the first floor, since there was an office there for official use. They knocked but no one answered when they walked in, it was empty. It was dark inside so Rukia turned on her flash light to take a look around. It was a simple office, a single chair, filing cabinet and some office supplies. They had no idea who used it but it was kept in good order.

"Who does look after the dorms?" Rukia asked not having remembered seeing anyone.

"I'm not sure," Yukari said thinking about it. "We usually get our room assignments and keys at the main office. If there is anything broken we just leave fill out those forms there on the desk outside and then place them in the mail box. It's usually taken care of when we're all in classes."

"Yeah rumour is that it's a phantom that takes care of the school," Kurumu said grinning as she pulled Rukia's light under her face, trying to scare Yukari. "I heard it's the spirit that is bound to this building, a bad student that took their own life and now must make up for their life serving the school."

"T-that's not true, right Rukia-san?" Yukari said looking a little scared.

Rukia pulled her light back annoyed. "Of course not, if there was any kind of spirit in this building I would have sensed it. So there are no spirits in this building, whoever does it is very much alive."

"Still it is kind of odd we've never seen whoever helps clean this place," Mizore stated looking around. She noticed a door in the back marked as a maintenance door. She pointed this out to the others.

"Should we try it?"

"Are we allowed to do that?" Yukari asked the snow girl. She didn't like normally breaking the rules.

"We might not have a choice," Mizore stated as she tried the door. It opened easily enough, it hadn't even been locked. "See we can go right in, and if there is a problem then it should be through here."

"It's either this or spend the entire night in the dark," Kurumu sighed, she really wasn't looking forward to that.

So the girls decided to at least try and see if they could find the power problem. Rukia was in the lead with the flashlight as they went down a set of stairs. The walls seemed pretty claustrophobic in the dark as they slowly descended. Every sound seemed to be echoing off the walls, small sounds like their own breathing seemed to be louder. It was certainly creepy for the girls as it seemed to take forever to get to the ground floor.

Rukia felt Yukari holding on to her green school uniform jacket she let the young girl. Finally they managed to get to the basement level as they opened a door. They found themselves in a dark utility room, various equipment for power, water and heating the building were all over the place. Unlike the rest of the dorm, this was dark, dirty and dusty. The place looked almost like an old boiler room, given that the school had been built decades ago this part of the school hardly was kept up to date as long as it worked well enough.

"This place looks kind of scary," Yukari said with wide eyes.

"I wonder if there is something that lives down here," Kurumu said smirking as she walked up silently behind the young witch. "Maybe the stories of something horrible being down here are true, all those weird noises you hear in the dark come from the pipes down here after all."

Rukia glared at the blue haired girl and turned to light on her blinding the succubus, "Enough of that, there is nothing down here."

"Hey I'm just having fun," Kurumu said placing a hand over her eyes. "Come on we need to find the fuse box or something don't we? Isn't that usually what happens when the power goes out?"

"Oh right...the fuse box," Rukia said looking around not even sure what a fuse was let alone what a fuse box was. She sweated nervously trying to figure out what it might be, she was hoping that they would point it out once they saw it. There was just so much she didn't know about the living world sometimes.

Then they heard a sound somewhere in the dark from behind them.

"What's that sound?" Kurumu asked looking around. "It's coming from the stairs."

"Is someone coming down to check as well?" Mizore asked.

Suddenly an eerie green light came from the stairs as a clattering sound was heard with a thumbing noise with it. The girls weren't sure what it was but they were getting ready for anything.

"What is it?" Yukari whispered readying her wand. "That's not from any flashlight."

"Maybe it's something that's caused the power to go out?" Kurumu asked.

"If it is we better get ready then," Rukia wasn't sure what it was but she didn't like the sound of it. Suddenly a figure came into view, glowing in the green light the shadowy figure cast a strange shadow and looked to have tentacles coming out of its head and was carrying some kind of large weapon.

"Get it!" Kurumu shouted as the girls rushed.

"Kyaaaaa!" A high pitched scream was heard as the girls basically dog piled on top of the figure.

"Ow, did someone just bite me!"

"Someone get your foot out of my face!"

"Hey! Who grabbed my ass?"

"Yukari move your wand it's jabbing me in my arm!"

"Wait everyone!" Rukia shouted as she untangled herself and placed her flashlight on the group. There was Kurumu, Yukari and Mizore all mixed up and in the bottom was none other than Ruby.

"Ruby-san!" Rukia shouted as the other girls looked down in surprise at the nearly knocked out witch.

"Oops," Mizore stated it was the only thing she could think to say for the situation.

-Girl's Dorm, 3rd Floor-

So far Moka, Orihime and Kokoa were trying to keep things calm, while Moka and Orihime tried to use reason and calming tones, Kokoa was there to threaten any girl that was causing trouble or getting too worked up. Mainly the girls were just wanting to see someone in authority so anyone that seemed to be in charge they were mostly willing to listen if only for something to calm their nerves.

By now the halls were getting very dark as the light faded from the sun.

"I want everyone to gather up any flashlights or anything that can be used for light while the power is out." Moka said to every girl. They had already gone through the first two floors and this was their last stop. "Everyone if there isn't enough please share with the others and stay in groups until the power has returned."

"Why should we listen to you?" A random student asked.

"Yeah, where are the teachers or shouldn't have someone in authority showed up?" Someone else said.

"Listen up!" Kokoa yelled out as every girl turned to face the young vampire. She had figured this out on the last floor so she had been waiting for someone to start voicing doubts. Now Kokoa was standing proud with her bat in the form of a large spiked club resting on her shoulder, holding it easily with her vampire strength.

"In case you forgot we're part of the group that defeated the Student Police, you heard the rumours like everyone else in this school. We took on the role of the protectors of this school and that includes now. If you think you're strong enough to take that title from us then please," She grinned at them all almost looking eager for a fight. "Step right up and our authority."

None of the girls could say anything against that.

Ever since the defeat of the Student Police the Newspaper club had come out as the protectors of the school, no one really wanted to get on their bad side, not with powerhouses that had taken down so many bad yokai and also powerful members of the Student Police. So when Kokoa said that, none of the girls really wanted to try their luck.

"Kokoa-chan do you have to be so rough with them," Orihime said softly so no one else would hear as all the other dorm girls broke up into groups as some said they had something for light, either some kind of battery device like flashlights or had an ability to generate their own light.

"You just too soft sometimes," Kokoa told the older girl. "You have to take a stand or people will just walk all over you if you're nothing but nice all the time."

Orihime knew that at times she might be too nice but she couldn't help it, that was just who she was. She was about to make a comment on that when a few screams were heard. Immediately the three of them rushed to where the scream was heard. They saw one of the door room doors open and rushed in, the only thing they saw was the room with a flashlight still on sitting on the floor.

The light cast dark shadows all over the area but there was no sign of the occupants.

"Did it come from here?" Moka asked looking around.

"I think I saw a group of girls heading inside of here." Kokoa said picking up the flashlight and looking around.

Orihime stood in the center of the room as she looked around, and then just then for a split second she thought she saw a shadow that wasn't supposed to be there. A shadow that wasn't being cast by anything and yet it was there when Kokoa flashed the light its way. It had been in the corner of her eye for just a brief moment and she had only a glimpse of it before the light changed to another direction. For a moment she wasn't sure if she had seen it correctly but something was telling her she had seen something.

"Kokoa-chan, point the light that way again," Orihime asked her and the young vampire did. Only the shadow she thought she had seen wasn't there anymore. Had it been a trick of the light or her own imagination? She knew her own imagination did run away at times but she had been so sure.

Then she felt it, reiastu and not the kind you got from shinigami, spirits or her friends. This had been a cold and empty feeling. She had never told anyone but being in Hueco Mundo for so long and being surrounded by hollows and Arrancar she had plenty of practice being able to feel their spiritual presence. Her eyes widened as the hairs on the back of her neck rose slightly as she felt that cold feeling enter her being.

Then suddenly it was gone again.

"Hey are you okay?" Kokoa asked seeing the look on Orihime's face.

The girl was about to answer when her cell phone went off, this wasn't the normal ringtone though. The high pitched voice that called out 'hollow, hollow!' was heard, in fact it was the same sound that Ichigo's combat badge made when a hollow was nearby.

Orihime quickly took it out of her jacket pocket and opened it up, the screen turned into a scanner but there was only a blip for a brief second before it vanished.

"What is it?" Moka asked her seeing the worried look on Orihime's face.

"I think we have a problem," Orihime said as she looked around in the growing darkness. If there was a hollow on the loose why couldn't she feel its presence. She had felt it and the hollow tracking technology had it for a brief moment as well. Could the hollow hide somehow? She needed to find Rukia and the others and warn them. They weren't alone in the building and the missing girls was another worry. The hollows had been after yokai and if the hollow had them, she didn't like where that line of thinking was going.

"Come on, we need to find Kuchiki-san and the others," Orihime said as she rushed out the door.

"Wait, what's going on?" Moka asked as she and Kokoa ran after her. Then she heard another scream in the dark as the girls turned quickly around to look in the dark hall. Kokoa turned the flashlight down it and there was a dark figure down the hallway, they couldn't make out its shape. The form just seemed to be made out of darkness and as soon as the light hit it, it seemed to run into the wall itself, almost as if it was going into the darkness to hide from the light.

Orihime's phone went off again for a brief moment but it shut the alarm off again.

"What the hell was that?" Kokoa asked not liking the look of the thing.

"I think...it's a hollow," Orihime knew that hollows could have any kind of power but the figure had a human like form that meant a powerful one at that. By now students were all coming out of the rooms wondering what all the screaming going on. Things suddenly got very confusing at that point as many girls were running lights all over the place.

The hall was filled with lights, shadows and noise, a perfect chance for the hollow to move unnoticed. But now they had another problem, dealing with the commotion before the panicked girls all started running off and become the perfect prey for this hollow. It was going to be a very long night for all of them as they tried to get some sense of control of the situation.

Next up Chapter 30: Monster in the Dark