I was reading the reviews for my old Inuyasha and Witch Hunter Robin fanfics earlier and realized I didn't have a single flame. Unfortuantely for me, those had the best reviews (Ex: This is so awesome! Please update soon!) but I stopped them all in the middle of their freaking plots because I was veeeeery lazy and wouldn't write because I was worried that the chapters wouldn't reach the expectations of the readers. So...after I read every review, I beat myself in the head a couple of times, kicked some stuff (My poor toes ;.;) and decided I'm not gonna be a lazy ass about this fic. If you like it, I'm glad and hope you enjoy every chapter, if you don't well...you make me sad. But, alas, what I'm trying to say is basically "I'm sorry for the late update, I'm stupid, lazy, and a bit crazy, but I won't quit this fanfic. Even if I lose all inspiriation for it, I'll write something completely random as an ending just to end it (Though I'd rather finish it as planned...;). Anyway, enough with my speech, I hope you enjoy this chapter! - HisagixKira
P.S. Yes, I DID change my name, but I hope this doesn't confuse the hell out some people...;
(Note: My friend asked me earlier if this was a KiraxRukia fic. No, it's not. And Jadeb, thanks for the advice, I'll try and work on that.)
Disclaimer - I don't own Bleach or any of it's characters.
The Killer
Chapter 2
Smoke made the air hazy, causing the cramped club feel even more suffocating than it already was. 'The Killer' was the hottest night club in Tokyo, known for it's loud music, bright lights, great drinks, and beautiful guests. If you didn't dress right, you wouldn't get in, if you didn't act right, you didn't get in. All in all, you had to be perfect, a great actor, or both
Right then however, Kira was seriously regretting he had gone that night at all. He just wanted to live a quite life without conflict, but he figured he had pretty much blown that dream already, so he would simply have to settle for getting himself home alive. Well, himself and Kimi at least, though he figured she could keep herself alive pretty well on her own. She was almost scary actually, with the fierceness in her eyes burning a hole right through him.
She made her way through the crowd with ease, instructing Kira to stay low and move quickly. He followed and did as he was told, carefully scanning the area for any sign of the men. Kimi opened the front door, looked around, then nodded and ran out. He was right behind her as she ran to his car. When they were only a few feet away Kira was suddenly blasted from behind and sent flying into the passenger side door, head smacking it roughly. He heard Kimi shout and forced himself to stand despite the dizzyness that swept over him. He could barely make out Kimi kicking one guy, and then opening the bottle she held and throwing it on the other.
While they were stunned she shoved Kira into the car, jumped in beside him and peeled out of the parking lot, hands gripping the wheel so tightly her knuckles went white.
"Are you ok?" She asked, sounding mad.
Kira nodded and rubbed his forehead, trying to stop the pounding, but to no avail. "It just stunned me a little bit, but I'm fine. But are you ok, Kimi?"
She glanced over at him then turned her eyes back to the road and dropped her speed to within the limit.
"My name's not Kimi, it's Rukia. And yes, I'm fine."
So she had been lying. He sighed and put his seatbelt on, feeling somewhat less terrified than he had been earlier.
After a few minutes, Kira broke the silence. "Where are we going?" Rukia slowed the car to a stop at a red light.
"Somewhere safe."
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Rukia stepped into the bright office and nodded to the man that sat behind the massive mahogany desk. Kira followed reluctantly and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Rukia got the other one. The man grinned at Kira before extending a hand and shaking the one Kira raised in return.
"Nice to meet you!" He said enthusiastically."If you don't already know, my name is Urahara Kisuke, but please just call me Urahara. And you are..." He flipped through a few pieces of paper. "Kira Izuru, age 17, currently a high school student on summer vacation. You have no job, no family, and no pets. Your hobbies include reading, writing and watching TV. Your school is a public high school and you're about to go into 12th grade. Anything I missed?" Kira's eyes widened and the man just continued to grin. Wondering how I know all that? Well, too bad. It's for me to know and you to find out."
Rukia coughed pointedly and Urahara looked at her for a second before speaking again. "Ah, yes! The reason you're here, now that I can tell you! Well, to an extent at least." He pondered for a second then looked at Kira and his face grew serious. "Do you know who those men were or what they were doing?" He asked.
"W-well...they killed that woman right? And a few others too?" Kisuke nodded and placed his elbows on the table, leaning forward. "Do you know how they killed them?" Kira shook his head. "Well, since I don't fancy long explanations I'll get straight to the point. They sucked every lost ounce of blood from their bodies, which killed them."
Kira's jaw dropped and Rukia made a startled noise. "Urahara!" She shouted. "What? I'm just telling him the truth. Geez, uptight..."
A cold chill crept up Kira's spine, making him shiver. "Sucked their blood? L-Like a vampire or something?"Urahara stopped for a second then his face lit up again. "Bingo! That's exactly right!"
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"Have you found him yet?"
"No, he and some woman somehow got away from Ikkaku and Iba." Hisagi growled and took a long drag of his cigarette. "Who was the woman?" He asked."I'm not sure. She had black hair that fell a little past her shoulders and she was wearing a red dress."
"Ok, Yumichika. Do me a favor and find out everything you can about this woman." Yumichika nodded and was about to walk out when Hisagi spoke again. "And don't tell Aizen about this yet, first we need to find out who they are." Yumichika nodded again and walked out, closing the door of the VIP room behind him. Hisagi turned to Ichigo and Renji and his eyes narrowed when they refused to look at him.
"You guys know something, don't you?"
Renji looked up for a second then immediately turned his eyes to the ground again. "Well," He began. "Maybe, maybe not. The woman...she sounds like the woman we were talking to earlier." Ichigo nodded in agreement. Hisagi cursed under his breath. "So she's with Urahara's group..."
Renji and Ichigo looked down at the ground, feeling ashamed of themselves for their error. Hisagi stood, dropped his cigarette to the ground and rubbed it out with the bottom of his shoe.
"Don't worry about it guys, we'll catch her, no, them. We'll catch them." Hisagi left the room and closed the door with a resounding slam.
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Rukia glanced over at Kira who was seated beside her in his Altima.He was quiet, but she figured anybody would be shocked into silence after learning what he had.Kisuke had told him all he knew of vampires, some of the things he had said she hadn't even known about, some of them very horrifying details about what happened when they had a specific target, or others about how the people died and how much pain they were in when they did. She clutched the steering wheel tightly with both hands. Learning those details only fueled her hate for them.
She was sure they had learned who she was by now, especially after fatally injuring Iba and breaking Ikkaku's nose. That also meant that Renji and Ichigo also knew, so her mission with them was inevitably over. Now she had to protect Kira from them. She didn't like the idea of using him as bait but she had no choice. They would surely come after him, maybe even that night, but whenever they did she would be ready for them.
She jumped when a ringing noise suddenly startled her from her thoughts. She looked over at Kira questioningly.He mumbled an apology, pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Kira!" Hinamori shouted from the other end. "Where are you!"
Kira groaned. "Hinamori...I'm sorry I completely forgot that I had taken you."
"What!" She asked incredulously. "Forgot! How am I going to get home!"
"Ummmm..." Kira looked over at Rukia who shook her head. He sighed before speaking again. "Hinamori, I'm sorry but, something really urgent came up. Can Toushirou give you a ride?"
"I...hang on." The earpiece went silent for a second then Hinamori started speaking again. "He said it's fine, but are you ok? Do you need help or anything? I could come over..."
"No!" He shouted, then he quickly dropped his voice to a calmer level. "I mean, it's ok. I don't need any help or anything, so just stay at home, ok?" She paused for a second. "Kira? What happened? I know something's wrong, what is it?"
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Hinamori, please, don't call me or come to my house for a little while, ok?"
"Wh-What! Kira! What's going on-" He pressed the end button then shut off the phone.
Rukia looked over at him. "My friend, Hinamori...she's at the club..." Rukia's indifferent expression turned to alarm. "Did they see her with you! They'll kill her too!" Kira shook his head.
"They didn't see her with me, I was only with her for a minute, and I didn't overhear them until later." Rukia let out an exhasperated sigh. "Just be more careful, ok? I don't want anybody else getting involved in this." Kira nodded then turned in his seat and stared out the window for the rest of the ride.
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Ichigo glanced at Renji as they walked out the doors of the killer, then turned his eyes to the ground."Renji...she looked exactly like her." Renji sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"I know that, Ichigo."
"You think she's related or...?"
"She's definitely related," Renji bit out before sliding into the driver's seat of his blood red corvette. "There's no way it was a coincidence, especially considering the fact that she's targeting Aizen."
Ichigo sighed and plowed a hand through his spiky orange hair. "So...it's true then. You think it's revenge?"
"I don't know. Probably. I don't see any other reason why she would be with Urahara. Unless hunter blood runs in the family."
"So," Ichigo straightened up then turned to face Renji. "What are we going to do about it?"
"I don't know , but I can tell you that it's going to be one hell of a ride from here on out."
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"We're here." Rukia stated when she finally pulled the car to a stop. Kira looked at the apartment building then at Rukia. "Where are we?"
"At my apartment" She replied as she stepped out of the car. "You'll be staying here a while. If you need anything, you'll have to buy it. It's too risky to go back to your house or school, or anywhere you usually go. They know who you are by now." Kira shuddered at the thought. He had always missed his family, had blamed himself for their death, but he was glad they weren't around at the moment. He didn't want anyone he loved getting involved in such a mess.
He stepped out of the car and glanced around the dark, empty parking lot, a sense of dread washing over him. "Are you sure they won't find us here?" Rukia headed towards the rusted metal stairs that led up the other apartments, walking briskly. "No," She said as she walked up the rickety steps. "But if any of them come here, I'll be able to handle them better than if we were at your house." She turned into a hallway then stopped in front of the first door on the right. She pulled keys from somewhere in her dress then unlocked and opened the door.
Kira walked in and blanched at what he saw. Pink bunnies dominated the space in the form of pillows, draped, printed wallpaper, untensils, even the phone was the shape of a pink bunny. Was this really Rukia's apartment? It looked more suited to a three year old. "U-um, Rukia, is this...I mean, do you really live here?" Rukia turned around around and looked at him with a curious expression. "Of course," She said. "Why wouldn't I?"
Kira stood there speechless as she kicked her shoes off and went through a door that was across the room. He looked around a bit more and discovered the she also had a ceiling fan, a rug, a footstool and a picture that all continued the pink bunny theme. 'This definitely isn't what I expected.' He thought as he kicked his shoes off then placed them on the rug in front of the door. He sat down on the couch and waited for Rukia to come back out. He sighed and scratched his head nervously.
He didn't know what he was going to do. Rukia had said the vampires already knew he was, and before that Urahara had told him the details of how vampires would stalk their prey, then capture it, then suck it dry before they finally dropped the bodies somewhere where they wouldn't be seen. He winced at the thought.
His ideal death had always been falling asleep and never waking up, no pain, no complications, yet he was probably going to wind up in a dumpster or under a bridge after suffering, and torture and goodness only knew what else. How had he messed his life up so badly? Was it simply because he went to some stupid club his friend had been wanting to go to forever? When his Mom was still alive, she had always told him that everything happened for a reason. Was that what it was? Something similar to fate or destiny? Could he even do anything at this point, or was he destined to live in fear until they finally found him and killed him? If they did find him, would they kill Rukia as well? He groaned and dropped his head into his hands. Why did he always seem to cause trouble for the people around him?
"Hey, you ok?" Rukia's voice shook him from his thoughts. He looked up to find her looking at him worriedly. Instead of the dress she had been wearing, she now had on black shorts and...a white t-shirt with a pink bunny on it. "Y-yeah.." He managed to get out. He was about to ask about her obsession with pink rabbits but she started speaking before he could. "Do you know how to fire a gun?" She asked.
"No, I don't like guns, or any weapons for that matter so I try to avoid them. Why? Do you think I'll need to use one?" Rukia shook her head and plopped into a chair across from him. "If you don't know how that's fine, but it would be better protection if you could. Anyway, I think they'll definitely try to find you- No, us, as soon as possible, so we need to figure out what we're going to do when they find us." Kira shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know how long it will be until they figure out where I live but..." She sighed. "They definitely will. I wish I could prevent it, since I like it here and didn't really want to move but...anyway, back to the point. Do you know how to fight at all?"
"No," Kira stated. "I've never been in any fights, I mean I know how to punch and maybe kick but it's not like I know martial arts or anything like that. Though, now I wish I did..." "Well, there's no time to learn now, so I just hope if you fall into a situation where you need to escape you can use your reflexes to get out of it." Kira's eyebrows shot up at that. "You mean, you think they might be here as soon as tonight?" Rukia shrugged, and something about the calm gesture made Kira's stomach drop. He was right, they could get there that soon. Hell, they might have already been outside the apartment, listening to them discussing the situation. The realization caused panic to overwhelm him.
His head began to throb from all of the pressure. "Calm down," Rukia said, seemingly reading his mind. "There's nothing you can do now, except hide and let me take care of them when they show up. You don't need to freak out right now, so get it together, ok?" Kira hesitated then took a deep breath and nodded.
He had to stay calm. He couldn't let the stress get to him. He took another deep breath then released it slowly. "Rukia, tell me the truth. Do you-" He paused then looked at her."Do you think that they'll be here tonight?"
She looked at him for a second then averted her eyes. "Yeah," She said, her voice sounding slightly hesitant. "Yeah, I do think they'll be here tonight." She hesitated again, then turned and looked him in the eye. "Actually...I know they'll be here tonight." Kira nodded.
He knew they would be too.