Chapter Two – Loyalty, Duty and Rage

She was never a hero. Rescuing souls and protecting the innocent from the ravages of the Hollows were never her thing.

She was just a warrior. A fighter. Ever since a Menos stepped on her village- stepped on it like it was nothing but a particularly large bug- her only reason for existence was to kill Hollows. Kill as many of them as she could before she died. And when she discovered that her sword- a gift from her grandfather, the village leader, and some say, the village's protector spirit made flesh- had a Name and a Face, she vowed to cleanse the land of them. And when the same Menos that crushed her family threatened to engulf and consume her, making her but another Hollow- another infinitesimally small part of that enormous black shadow- when she discovered that the Name and Face could be made a part of her, when she reached her Bankai, she vowed to eradicate all Hollows forever.

It didn't matter that she was alone- that she had gone half-mad in despair and at the impossibility of her task. It was all she had left- the only drive that kept her immortal body moving. The society of similar-thinking souls that she had run across- they no longer needed a mother figure. They had flourished, established a Heaven of a sort. She left it early on- left it to kill Hollows.

Nothing else mattered.

Her sword agreed.

-----

Oddly enough, Gao didn't scream. Oddly enough, his first instinct was not to run away- not to flee the unholy terror unraveling itself before his eyes.

His first instinct, to the great honor of his ancestral spirits, a thousand generations of samurai and warriors, was to grab his shinai and stab the beast in the eye.

Unsurprisingly, the shinai burst into flames at the touch of the Hollow's searing body. But it worked. Before he was forced to drop it, it had gone through, spraying hot, ethereal blood everywhere, coating the twin brothers in it.

And because of whatever metaphysical law stated that one cannot be readily affected by one's own powers, the blood protected them when the Hollow, surprised and in pain, erupted in a hail of fire.

"RUN!" screamed Gao as he tried to push Reiji aside, not even stopping to note that his hands were passing straight through his brother. "Run! It'll recover!"

"I… I can't." whispered Reiji. "My body, it's still-"

Gao lifted Reiji's prone body onto his shoulders, wincing as his bruised body protested loudly, and ran- or tried.

A sharp, talon-ended tentacle pierced his side.

"…damn."

-----

In time, she became as great a threat to Soul Society as the Hollows were. Her rampages and her constant use of her Bankai did more than slay Hollows- it shook the spiritual balance of the universe at its very core.

So they took her sword away. And used it as their executioner's tool.

Then she got another sword. And they took that one too- destroyed it, reducing it to their individual spiritrons.

Then she disappeared for a dozen millennia, and even the oldest of the spirits eventually forgot about her. Her name disappeared, the scrolls documenting her forgotten.

She forgot too- her name, that is. By that time, she had gone from half-mad to completely mad. An immortal, half-spirit barbarian knowing nothing but bloodthirst, frightening to the point that even Kenpachi looks utterly sane in comparison- after all, who doesn't like a little competition?

But to eat the very things she kills?

She's still worshipped in some circles. Kali is not an unknown name on her birth country- the Goddess of Death, they call her.

She hunts tonight.

-----

Fresh souls are a delicacy. Killing them heightens their fear as they transcend their mortal bodies, sweetens their flavor. And a Hollow is all about what it eats.

Boiling hot saliva poured out of its mouth, as wide as a Volkswagen Beetle, as it leered down upon its frightened, freshly slain prey. The child's psyche was broken, his brother's as well. Their pleas for mercy sweeter than bells.

He leapt.

He was shorn in half.

"My, my. A regenerator? How troublesome."

His two halves, both of them barely able to rear its head, were struck down again, reduced to quivering metaflesh.

The rest followed suit- or ran. Hollows don't stick around when Kali is in town. No morsel in the world is worth the taste of her fanged blades- no hunger so urgent as to risk being consumed by her sword.

Less than an hour later, she returned to the location of the first Hollow she killed, long dissipated.

"So, boys. You can come out."

They did, their chains clinking as they came out of their hiding place.

"You know," she said in amusement. "Hiding in the closet and under the bed only works if you don't have chains advertising your presence."

"W-we tried to pull them off, but it hurt and the chains were too thick…" mumbled Gao.

"Good thing, too. You would've turned into one of those monsters if you did," said Kali with a hungry look. "And I would've had to kill you."

"Those monsters were people?"

"No!" she snarled. "Never people. Not until they've been killed- again. They're monsters- mindless masses of hunger and rage. Nothing else."

She angrily turned around, ready to leave-

"Wait."

"What is it," she growled.

"Teach us," said Reiji.

She glanced back.

"Teach us. Teach us to kill them. W-we can't go home like this- we already tried calling for help, and nobody outside could see us. Only a cat- and what use is a cat?"

"Cats are dreadfully useful things, kid."

"So teach us. If we're already dead, then what do we have left?"

She turned to walk away again. "There'll be others- like me, but kinder. They'll bring out away. Hopefully before you turn into a Hollow."

"Wait, what!" yelled Gao as he jumped to his feet.

"You heard me. Souls that linger too long here turn into Hollows. Unless they're rescued by a Shinigami, but that sometimes takes years- if ever."

"Goddammit, what about you! Aren't you a 'death god?' You at least had the chance to save us, why didn't-"

"Hollows are more challenging to kill when they're in a blood frenzy," she said chillingly. "More fun that way."

"M-more fun- YOU BITCH!"

A stinging slap across Gao's cheek, and he fell back onto the floor.

"Excuse my brother," said Reiji softly. "But he is right. You have an obligation to aid us- you refused to help us while we were living, so you have to help us while we're dead. We don't want to be Hollows."

"Pfft. Obligations? I have no obligations- and refuse to accept any."

A hard glint came over Reiji's eyes. "Then I'll have to fight you. If you won't help us, you're here to harm us- even more than the Hollows did." He stood up, straight of back despite the heavy chain on his chest.

"Back away, boy," Kali said softly. "You'll get hurt."

"I'm dead. What's pain to a dead man?" He moved- and Gao attacked.

-----

A black eye, two chipped teeth, and a bruised ego.

Kali still doesn't know why she held back- why, after millennia of nothing but anger, she took pity on these two particular boys. They weren't the first to have stood up to her, and it only means more trouble. More complexities.

Maybe because she was not unlike them, so long ago the numbers were meaningless. Maybe because after millennia of killing, she's starting to feel time creeping up. Immortality was a sham- she merely takes longer to die than most. And the scars were starting to hurt with the coming of the Japanese winter.

But a black eye, two chipped teeth and a bruised ego from each of the twins were not what she would call payment for lessons in the art of Hollow-hunting…

Chapter Three – Mastery and Vengeance

Fifteen years is a short time in soul society. Fifteen years is barely the time it takes for an unusually bright soul to graduate from the shinigami academy- and in a career that could last millennia, that's almost no time at all.

It's a long time in the real world. Fifteen years changes a lot of things. People grow up. People grow old. Friends are lost, made, and lost again.

People fall in love. People marry. People have children.

When you're a shinigami on permanent duty Earthside, it's a bit depressing to realize that such a life's not for you.

"Uncle Ichi! Uncle Ichi! Pick me up!" yelled a mob of toddlers as they tugged on Ichigo's jeans, laughing and screaming in delight as he swooped down and lifted all five of them up in an enormous embrace.

Then again, playing with your friends' children does well to cheer one up.

"Ichigo," yelled Chad, somehow making even his yelling sound stoic and matter-of-fact. "The barbeque's ready."

"Oi, save me a burger!" yelled Ichigo as he stumbled towards the park's benches. "Ishida, Orihime! Mind helping me? Your kids get heavier every year!"

The eternally bubbly- and bosomed- mother figure of their little group laughed as she chased down her youngest- a speed demon on all fours, despite her mere year of age. "Be right with you! Ishi-kun, mind helping Ichigo?"

Ishida didn't even look up from his newspaper as he flipped two kids onto his shoulders and walked off.

"Hey, you showoff!" as Ichigo ran to catch up. "They're your kids!"

"And you're their godfather. Get used to it."

"Gah, you ba-"

"Language. The kids."

"ARGH."

It was going to be a fun day.

-----

Fifteen years of training around the world is not the worst way one can spend one's time, though Reiji to himself as he diced a snakelike Hollow into bits before leaping back and planting a foot through another's eye before finishing it off. The jungles of the Amazon might not have a strong human presence, but the few Hollows that appear here make for a good challenge.

From the looks of his mentor and brother, each in a state of blood-driven rapture, they would agree.

"That's the last of 'em," said Gao with a tight grin as he flicked his dagger clean of blood. "At least for the next five years anyhow. Kali-sama, you sense any?"

"If you don't, then neither do I," said Kali with a singsong voice. "I heard there's going to be a Hollow raid back in Japan. What do you boys think?"

Reiji grinned. They were going home.

-----

"Oi! Kisuke-san!" yelled a tall, unshaven giant as he banged on the shop's door. "Oi!"

"Man, Kurosaki, you really need to wake up later," grumbled Uruhara as he slid his shop's door open. "What is it this time?"

"We're out of bandaids. Sado-kun got run over by a car again."

"Again? Sheesh. Well, come on in. I'll see if we have any left."

"Heh, thanks."

Fifteen minutes into rummaging through the many, badly-labeled boxes, and Uruhara'd dug out a fresh batch of bandaids. "So… why're you really here? I know that Sado's already home- he came by later to say hi."

Isshin shrugged. "The kid's accident-prone. He's going to need those bandaids again when the wounds open."

"…oh, is it today?"

Isshin looked at the calendar mounted on the wall, and looked away.

"You still miss her, don't you?" said Uruhara quietly. "Mm. Alright. Give your son my regards- and Rukia's letter."

Isshin nodded. "He's been worried about her. Mind telling her to visit some time? The boy's getting moody."

"Eh, sure thing."

Isshin walked out.

"By the way, Aizen's been sighted again," said Uruhara as he grabbed his hat and broom, getting ready to clean the shop up.

Isshing kept on walking.

"I know."

-----

The days are for fun, laughter and mischief.

The nights are of adrenaline-pumping, exhilaratingly delirious fits of terror.

Hollow attacks were easily increasing- to the point that Soul Society had deigned it fit to establish a fourteenth squadron of shinigami, under Ichigo's command. They were mostly misfits and outcasts… but they did their job.

And they were dying off. One by one. Temporary, yes- death on Earth means a return to Soul Society in one form or another, but it was crippling, and it was demoralizing.

Something was in the air. Fear. And all that entails.

"Oi! Third chair!" yelled Ichigo as Zangetsu plowed through the thick neck of a Hollow. "Watch your back- there's a Shadow-based one somewhere here!"

"Got it, Captain!" yelled what appeared to be a giant afro affixed on a dwarf just before he released his shikai, and melded into the shadows himself.

"Ishida," said Ichigo as he tapped his headset- a gift to the squadron from Kisuke Uruhara. "We're gonna need air support- two flyers headed southward."

"No they're not."

Two streaks of light.

"Great, thanks. Tell Orihime that we've got two injured on Saffron Avenue- Dad! What're you doing here?"

Isshin Kurosaki waved from atop a roof.

"Ichigo, over there!"

The moon gleamed, warped, and tore. Menos Grande loomed as a thousand Hollows descended upon the shinigami, talons, teeth and tentacles reaching out.

"BAN-"

"BANKAI!"

"K- what?"

A great, midnight blue phoenix rose up from the treelines, and struck the Menos straight in the mask, pushing it back dozens of meters before it stopped and howled. All Hollows in its path- a good two-thirds of it- were incinerated in the process.

A blizzard of ashes blew into Ichigo's face as he rushed to the phoenix's originating path, ducking out of the way as columns of fire poured down from the great firebird's clash with the towering monstrosity.

"Ishida!" he cried out. "What happened! Who was that!"

"Not one of ours!" answered the Quincy tersely. "It originated from Ryoko's block!"

"Ryoko!"

Static.

"Ryoko, dammit!"

"If she isn't dead, she's unconscious from the blast," said Isshin as he caught up to his son. "You finish off the Menos and whatever's left of the Hollows. I'll go scout ahead."

"You're gonna be alright?" asked Ichigo as he drew his sword.

"As alright as I'll ever be. Rukia sent a letter, by the way. Try to stay alive."

"Heh. Will do."

-----

"Kali-sama! Everything alright?" asked Gao as he slashed apart a large, shapeless Hollow, twin katars flickering in the steely moonlight. He glanced back and grimaced- his mentor's Bankai required intense concentration to control- the very nature of a firebird is chaotic, and though its final stage- that of a suicidal explosion- was a potent attack, it's also one that leaves the user most vulnerable. Even more so than focusing all of one's mental energy to harness the bloody bird.

"Just keep the damned Hollows off my back," said Kali through clenched teeth as the Menos slashed at the phoenix's wings. "I'll be done in a second."

"Gao, keep your eye on your enemy. You're just distracting her," said Reiji coolly as he kicked a dead Hollow off his more traditional katana. "Also, they're getting too numerous. Time for shikai?"

"Bah. What a waste on these punks."

"Those punks're about fifteen minutes from overwhelming us."

"Fine, fine. Shikai it is. Howl, Snow Fox!"

"Roar, Winter's Moon!"

Time slowed. Light twisted. And in the space of ten seconds, there was a good fifteen meters of bloodstained space around Kali; nothing but quivering bits of Hollow flesh to keep her company in her struggle.

Then again, the struggle was minor. With a great cry, the phoenix tore through, shattered the Menos's mask in half and engulfed its head in searing flames. When it disappeared itself, there was naught but a bloody stump of ashes.

Ichigo was almost disappointed. This was the second time in less than thirty minutes his own Bankai was preempted.

"Oi! Shinigami, eight o'clock!" yelled Gao as his katars flickered back to normal. "Reiji, Kali, let's get going!"

"Mm, I don't think so," said a voice behind Gao, a viselike hand seizing his shirt upwards.

"…ack."

"But I do," said Reiji as he also appeared behind them- a katana at Isshin's neck. "Let go of my brother."

"Oh, brothers. We've heard of you- unauthorized Hollow hunting. Quite a few civilian- and shinigami- casualties along the way. The Council appointed two teams to hunt you guys down, and both died along the way."

"So you know we won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way."

"Hey, boys, hurry up and take care of the old man already," said Kali as she stepped into view, breathing slightly heavily. "We're lingering too long."

"Yo, Mom. You alright?" said Gao, waving cheerily despite being effectively held hostage.

"Good enough. Hurry up- I need a bath."

"Gotcha. Hey, Mr. Shinigami? We'll be nice and let you live today- ta-ta!"

An intense flare of spiritual pressure distracted Isshin long enough for Gao to flick his katars across the elder man's forearms.

Invisible ice crept over the elder shinigami, locking his joints and muscles as he looked helplessly as the three ran away.

-----

"Jeez, Dad, you gotta be more careful!" snapped Ichigo as poured warm water into the bucket the elder Kurosaki was warming his feet in. "Kon, get another blanket! Man, what'd he hit you with, a blizzard?"

"W-worse," said Isshin. "N-not just the cold. Time."

"Huh?"

"I-t's more than ice. H-he got faster as I got s-slower."

"Who were they, anyhow?" asked Ishida as he came out of the kitchen with a pot of fish and miso soup. "They had shinigami abilities, but didn't look the part."

"Ah, thank you," said Isshin, taking a long gulp. "They're renegades- nobody knows where they got their abilities, not even Uruhara-san. Or why they have them. The First Captain said that he recognized the woman, the one they called 'Mom,' and has been digging through the old archives for months now. There've been rumors, but…"

"Rumors're better than nothing."

"Hm. Well, the first can be dismissed. Ichigo should've probably expected it- some think they're renegade Vizards, though the group denies any involvement with their actions. Then there're the faction that believe that Aizen's back to his old tricks again. Their attack patterns would suggest otherwise- they're more liable to attack Hollows than shinigami, and only now have they been spotted in Japan. They didn't even stop to talk to Ichigo, so we can dismiss that almost immediately."

"Maybe somebody else's trying to copy Aizen's work for himself. Power lust amongst shinigami isn't that uncommon."

Ichigo glared at his third seat. "Maybe, but Uruhara made only one of those devices."

"You didn't need it to get your powers back, did you?"

"…good point."

"Tsk," said Isshin. "This's all speculation anyhow. We'll just have to apprehend them and have one of the medicals drug them up for more information."

"Yo, Dad," said Ichigo curiously.

"Hrm?"

"You alright? You've been serious for the last two hours or so."

Silence.

"…y-you do care! Oh, my SON!"

"ARGH!"

"…I'll just leave you two alone then," said Ishida, getting out of the way of the hugfest.