A little piece of Heaven

by mlickko

The first time Ichigo met a Shinigami, he died. Quickly realizing that Soul Society is no heaven, he aims to make it into one. However, turning a dream into reality is a long and difficult journey, especially if you are Kurosaki Ichigo and you stand in the center of everything. A long story of adventure, drama, conspiracies but also action.(Pairings not a main focus)

3. Chapter 2: Burn it down

For those who read this story : Yes, this fic will be darker than my previous ones.

As always, thank you for the reviews.

.

Chapter 2 : Burn it down (The Catalyst in your head)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'Inner speech/thoughts'

'Inner hollow/Zanpaktou speech'

xxx

Kneeling deeply, his head almost touching the ground, Ichigo tried to take a deep breath. His face was covered in a cold sweat that was dripping down on his hands he was using as a support. Next to him lied a small pile of vomit poisoning the air with its acidic odor, making it hard to breathe freely.

When another urge to vomit threatened to overcome him, he punched the ground, using the pain to dull the feeling if not suppress it completely. The pain in his fist quickly disappeared but fortunately, so did his urge to vomit.

Not fully convinced that it was truly behind him, Ichigo remained in the same position for a few more minutes before reaching behind him and grabbing the sword he managed to usurp from the shinigami he killed few days ago.

'...the shinigami I killed...' The picture of him almost slicing his opponent in two, along with the image of his fist slamming the woman that raped him and the guard that mocked him, entered his mind.

Three people.

Using his own hands, he already killed three people since he passed to the Afterlife.

Suppressing another urge to puke with a deep breath and banishing the memories filled with the blood, he slowly got up and glanced at the sword that was the source of the pile of the vomit next to him.

It has been three days since he burned down the cursed brothel where he has been imprisoned for a while.

Three days since he traveled alone, thinking about his future with his thoughts always inevitably returning to his killings.

Ichigo was not a stupid person and so he quickly realized that if he was to come across another shinigami in his quest of destroying those disgusting brothels, he would need to learn how to wield the sword he stole.

However, it wasn't that easy. Every time he wanted to grab the sword, he froze and couldn't do it.

He finally managed to do it this day but the images assaulted his mind almost instantly and so he ended up puking his guts out.

Using the sleeve of his shirt, he wiped the corners of his mouth clean and looked at the vomit with a bit of a disappointment.

'Ahh... and there went that little food I managed to find.'

Strangely, after he was forced to empty his stomach, he was not feeling as bad as he thought he would.

Actually, he was feeling better.

'Maybe I puked my guilt...' He didn't crack a smile.

Now that he could look at it without feeling the urge to throw up, he inspected the sword with carefull eyes and he noticed a strange thing.

The sword that was in his hands was not the same one he took from the shinigami three days ago. The blade was no longer curved, instead it was completely straight and the hilt was a bit larger.

'But that's impossible.' Ichigo dismissed the notion rather quickly and decided that he must have not seen the sword properly the first time.

I mean, who ever heard about a sword that could change, shape it's own appearance?

Ichigo certainly didn't and so he settled for the first most rational explanation he could come up with.

Testing the weapon's balance, he tried to replay some of his memories in his mind. He was fairly certain that he could hazily recall a memory of him attending some sort of dojo whilst still alive.

With a deep frown on his face, he closed his eyes and let his memories roam.

'...dojo, dojo... it was a... karate dojo, I see.' Slightly disappointed when he realized that what he used to attend was only a karate dojo, he stared at the sword.

'What now... hmm.' A new memory entered his mind. A memory, in which he was again in the dojo, but he was listening to a person explaining basics of sword handling.

He concentrated on the memory and after few more minutes, Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose.

His memory didn't show him much but what it showed were some basics katas and stances. It was still something useful and without further ado, he got into the first basic posture and started to swing his sword.

A few hours later, he finally lowered his hands and leaned on the nearby tree, feeling a bit spent. Hearing a loud growl escaping his stomach, his brow wrinkled and formed another frown. It came to him as a no surprise. He has been excercising on an empty stomach after all.

With a click of his tongue, he focused his eyes over the horizon, to gaze beyond the forest that currently surrounded him. During those three days he has been traveling, he never met a single living person and it unnerved the teen.

The food was not an easy commodity to find in the vast planes of the Soul Society. The trees that grew in this area were not the kind that could provide any fruit nor he never came across any kind of vegetables. It made him wonder just how did the animals he sometimes spotted survived on their own.

It was only thanks to those occasional animals that Ichigo hasn't starved to death yet. Furrowing his brow, he scanned the area, using every one of his five senses to find any animal he could catch and eat.

With a grim expression, he tucked the sword inside the sheath and ignored another growl of his stomach.

'Seems like dinner will have to wait for a while.' He thought and using the little knowledge he had about orientation, he began to walk in his chosen direction, hoping to come across anything with the edible potential.

...

From the tree branches, Yoruichi watched Rukia asking questions about any kind of information on the person they have been looking for, so far in vain.

Both them realized that even if they saw something, people living in this part of the Rukongai would most likely never tell them anything, unless bribed with something. Moreover, since Rukia was a shinigami, pedestrians and onlookers actively avoided the raven-haired woman and she didn't blame them. She remembered what it was like living in the Rukongai herself, when she was just a kid. She too, would not probably open a conversation with a shinigami that suddenly showed up on her doorstep or that just called out to her.

Yoruichi never lived in these kind of conditions herself, but one long look told her everything she needed to know. If they wanted any answers, they would have to move to the lower districts of the Rukongai, where people were more talkative.

She waited a bit more before she saw Rukia glance up at her and shaking her head negatively.

"I see. So the 70th District is not enough. We may as well go to the 64th. They have at least few bars where one could gather some intel instead of just randomly stopping people, asking them questions." Narrowing her eyes, Yoruichi turned her head around to stare in the directions the two of them came from.

"Even then... I had hoped that we could at least find out about that mansion that has been burned down. It's unusual to see a building of that proportions in such place. Why was it there? For what purpose?"

She hopped down from the tree and slowly approached Rukia.

"And more importantly, why does it look like the kid was the one who burned it down?"

...

"I may as well take a dip in the water. I'm beginning to stink." Ichigo said to himself while finishing the last portions of his dinner.

After walking for an hour, luckily for him he came across a small lake that housed quite the number of fishes he managed to catch after an another hour of failed attempts. As he was still surrounded by trees, there was no problem with finding the wood for a fire.

It took him another half an hour to actually light it up but he didn't complain. It was better than starving for a day.

Swallowing the last bite, he took his clothes off and rinsed them a little in the mildly cold water. They were too, dirty and sweat and wearing them was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

He spread them on a large rock near the fire, so that it could dry up and after throwing some more pieces of wood into the the fire, so that it wouldn't die, he slowly walked into the lake, enjoying the cold sensation of the water on his bare skin.

It was difficult to tell what season it was in the Soul Society, but Ichigo didn't care. All he needed to know was that the temperature of the air and the water was bearable.

It was the first time since he passed onto the afterlife that Ichigo had a little piece of peace so he let the water support him while he just floated like a leaf, forgetting about everything that happened until this moment.

With his body like a cross, he took a deep breath and just enjoyed the silence enveloping him. The calming effect of the water soothed his body and his soul and Ichigo almost fell asleep.

He gazed upon the sky and the clouds that passed through it.

'I envy you, clouds. The only thing you have to do is to float in the sky without any responsibilities and baggage that could weigh you down.' He thought about the memories that he saw just before he snapped in the House of the Pleasure.

It was a memory of two girly faces smiling at him from afar.

His sisters.

'I hope that wherever you are, you are safe.' Ichigo thought with a hint of sadness on his face. He remembered what happened to them but he couldn't help to think that the fact that they couldn't pass onto the afterlife with him was a blessing on its own accord.

He didn't know what would he do if his sisters came with him and were also kidnapped and forced to...

Immersing his head into the water fully, he shook off those rather disturbing thoughts and focused on the breeze that passed his wet face, refreshing him greatly.

He still couldn't remember much of his past life but he was starting to think that it may be for the best. This way, there was nothing more that could weigh him down.

From what he knew, he was sure that in his past life he had some friends. Faces covered with shadows, faces without names, but faces that his mind sometimes replayed for him.

Were they sad that he was gone?

He didn't want to think about that. What about the rest of his family? He could only recall his sisters and that memory alone was heavy enough.

Hearing a branch snapping, he stiffened and plunged into the water. He swam under the water surface and let his head resurface only when his feet could touch the bottom.

"Who's there?" He asked sternly.

"It's me, Ichigo. It's Kazumi. I've been looking for you." He heard a familiar voice coming from behind a large boulder.

"Kazumi?" Widening his eyes a little, he slowly emerged from the water and neared the fire to dry himself.

"What are you waiting for? An invitation?" Ichigo called out to him.

"No, I just... don't like fire. Could you put your clothes on?"

Frowning a little at the tone of Kazumi's voice, Ichigo quickly dressed and approached the boulder.

"Come on, why are you still hiding?"

"Stop!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the distressed voice coming from behind the rock.

"Just... promise you won't freak out."

"Uhmm, okay? I promise?"

After a moment, Ichigo saw a person emerging from behind the boulder and he opened his mouth to fire a few questions but he stopped midway. His expression went from surprise to shock.

"What... what the hell happened to you?"

Ichigo was staring at the person in front of him, the one he knew under the name of Kazumi. It was hard not to stare as that person's face was the reason for his shock.

It was not the fact that Kazumi was not a man but a woman that shocked him. After all, Kazumi was a name that could be used for a male just like it could be used for a female.

It was the fact that almost half of Kazumi's face was horribly disfigured by what appeared to be a burn marks, her short hair barely covering them.

"Don't tell me... I did it when I burned down that brothel?" Ichigo felt his throat dry up.

Kazumi quickly shook her head.

"No! No... this happened to me a long time ago."

Ichigo released the breath he didn't know he was holding in."

"A-aren't you disgusted by me?" Kazumi asked in a quiet voice.

The teen glanced at her with a frown.

"Why would I be? I mean, I'm a bit surprised but that's all."

Kazumi offered him a quick small smile. Ichigo thought about what she said and glanced behind him.

"That's why you said you didn't like the fire."

She nodded.

"Yeah."

Since he didn't need it anymore, Ichigo walked to the fire and smothered it with a dirt. Motioning Kazumi to sit down, he sat down himself.

"So what happened to you? I couldn't find you anywhere inside so I figured you must have escaped while I was with that bitch." His mouth twitched a little when the image of a woman sitting on top of him flashed through his mind.

When Kazumi gave him an apologetic look, he raised his hand.

"It's fine. We don't know each other properly. Escaping was a good option."

Kazumi glanced at the sword lying next to Ichigo before opening her mouth.

"When the guards came for you, I hid in the shadows of the cell and waited after they took you away. I noticed that since you made a ruckus they actually forgot to lock the cell, allowing me to leave it. By the time I found an exit the building was on fire . I barely made it out before I blacked out from the amount of fire I saw. When I woke up, the only thing that remained from the building were the ashes and I didn't know what to do." She said and looked at Ichigo, who stared back at her.

"I see. "

She shifted a little and continued to talk.

"However, I heard something about others brothels like that and I had that crazy thought that you may want to destroy them so I decided to travel to the one in the Northern District and that's how I found you." She finished and poked the ground with a stick.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes and stared at her for a while.

Something about her story was giving him bad vibes. He couldn't quite put his hands on it but he was sure she didn't tell him everything.

"And now what?" He asked.

Kazumi shrugged.

"I don't know. Just like you, I'm alone so I thought we could travel together."

For a minute, Ichigo was silent and just studied Kazumi with careful eyes.

"What's in it for me? I mean, I'm grateful to you for taking care of me when I was dumped in that cell but it would be a stretch saying that we're now friends." He finally stated with suspicious eyes.

Kazumi stopped poking the ground and pointed the stick at the sword next to him.

"I noticed that you found a sword. I could help you train with it. I was quite proficient with swords in my past life." That sparked a little interest in Ichigo but he remained sceptical.

"How do you know I need to train?"

"You don't?"

Scowling at Kazumi, Ichigo clicked his tongue.

"No, you're right. I have an idea on how to use the sword but it's nothing concrete. A tutor would be helpful."

"Well, there you go. In exchange for you letting me travel with you, I'll teach you everything I know about the swordsmanship." She offered him a hand at wich Ichigo stared for a moment.

'My gut tells me not to trust her but... if i want to survive, I guess I have no other choice.'

He reluctantly took the hand and shook it.

"Deal."

...

"Get back here you fucking thieves!"

Ichigo ran after Kazumi, a deep frown visible on his face. They were trying to escape from a pissed off vendor they have stolen some food from. It was Kazumi's idea and Ichigo glared at her back.

When she suggested it, Ichigo almost immediately shot her down. He was quite satisfied with the food he could acquire on his own and had no inclining on stealing from others. After they finally found a small village, it took less then a few seconds for Ichigo to realize that people here had to live in scarily poor conditions.

He considered stealing from this kind of people a great sin. Everywhere he looked, the citizens had weary and tired expressions and it was very rare to find a shop in which you could find any kind of meal since normal souls without spiritual power didn't need to eat.

It was only out of pure desperation that they were forced to steal the little food they found in those shops.

Since Kazumi began travelling with him, Ichigo haven't spotted a single animal or anything else that could be edible.

Coupled with the fact that under Kazumi's guidance, he has been rigorously training with the sword, unconsciously depleting his reiryoku reserves, after almost a week without any food he was ready to eat even the grass under his feet.

So he stole.

He paid no care to what he was hastily tucking into his pockets, anything was good for him.

Hearing no more footsteps behind him, he glanced back and then called out to Kazumi.

"Oi, we're clear."

Kazumi slowed down and turned her head to nod to him.

They wandered around and finding a nice spot, they sat down, to see what treasures they managed to take.

"Just so you know, I'm still not okay with stealing." Ichigo stated and repeatedly reached into his pockets to remove everything he had in them.

Taking out the last item, he scanned the small pile in front of him.

He managed to steal a slice of bread, potatoes, tomatoes and few slices of meat. Kazumi on the other hand only had a bread and two bottles of water.

Ichigo carefully assessed the amount and rubbed his chin.

"Considering that I'm the only one who has to eat, I think that this much is enough for a week or even more."

"I'd say five days tops."

Ichigo turned to Kazumi with a raised eyebrow.

"You were thinking of eating just enough to keep you from starving but if your plan really is to burn down the other brothels, then you can't afford to lose your strength just because you were too noble to steal from others again." She stated thoughtfully.

Ichigo sighed and shook his head, taking the bread into his hand and hungrily biting it. Kazumi kept the promise and the day after they started to travel together, she has been teaching him the ways of the sword. She made him do many kinds of stances, correcting him all the way until she deemed it satisfactory. While Ichigo was busy swinging down his sword at his imaginary foes, she always opened a short conversation with him.

During those talks, Ichigo revealed to her that burning down the other brothels was indeed his plan. She seemed oddly pleased with it and started to train him even more intensely than before.

Ichigo didn't complain. He actually enjoyed the training. The constant strain on his muscles was calming him down, making him forget about the past happenings. It didn't take long before he couldn't even think of being separated from his sword. It honestly baffled him.

The sword was originally a possession of a twisted shinigami but the longer Ichigo spent time training with it, the more he found it as his own possession, something he wouldn't want to be separated from.

When he wasn't training with his sword, he sparred with Kazumi using hand to hand combat. He discovered that Kazumi was really good at it and as long as Ichigo didn't start to use his spiritual energy, she could quite hold her own against him.

That was another thing. Soon after he escaped from the brothel, Ichigo realized that one of the reasons he could achieve that was thanks to his spiritual energy. So he started to try and use it consciously in his attacks. It was a slow process, but he was definitely doing a progress.

He asked Kazumi why she didn't try to steal any weapon seeing that she really knew how to handle a sword.

The answer to his question was an image of her scarred hands, unable to hold any kind of weapon for more than mere seconds. She told him that it was from the same incident that burned her face and he didn't ask more.

"There is something I need to tell you." Kazumi cut off his thoughts and forced him to look at her.

"Hm? Sure, go ahead."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes when Kazumi's expression grew serious.

"I heard it while we were locating a good shop to steal from. It seems that we have arrived to the 80th Northern District and the brothel should be around three days away from here."

...

Crouching behind a large bush, Ichigo slowly moved towards Kazumi, who was approaching from the side. The pensive look on her face unnerved him.

"What did you find out?"

"You first."

With a click of his tongue, Ichigo glanced beyond the bush to see if anybody spotted them yet.

They have finally discovered the brothel in the 80th Northern District and were currently trying to come up with some sort of plan to destroy it, while saving the enslaved.

"Fine. I tried to snoop around and I have found out two important things. Today it's not open so there aren't any visitors. Which is bad and good at the same time but that also means there is a lower probability of us running into a shinigami. The second thing is, the owner of this place is supposedly inside." Ichigo reported and glanced above the bush one more time.

He was getting nervous. Forcing his eyes on Kazumi, he concentrated on her own report.

"I only managed to determine one thing. We are a day too late to save anybody. They disposed of all the prisoners yesterday evening." Kazumi stated and gulped a little when a dark look crossed Ichigo's face.

"What do you mean, disposed of?"

She bit her lip nervously and hesitated a little, before continuing.

"From the talk I hear between the two guards, they used a shinigami to kill all of them. Apparently, they were too 'broken' to use anymore." Kazumi couldn't help but to grimace distatefully at the actions of the enslavers.

However, that was nothing in comparison with Ichigo's reaction. With his expression hard as a stone both of his clenched fists shook from anger and he was starting to increase his reiatsu output.

"I know what you're thinking, believe me Ichigo but you have to calm down a little. We don't want to alert them, right? Think about the plan."

Ichigo pulled out the sword from the sheath and glared at the direction of the brothel.

"Screw the plan, I'm going to murder all of them."

As the reiatsu around Ichigo was still rising, along with his murderous glare, Kazumi considered stopping him only for a second before getting out of his way. She wasn't there when Ichigo decimated the guards in the first brothel, therefore she never saw him really angry.

Seeing that now, she realized that whatever reason he had for doing this, she wouldn't be able to stop him. But she also knew that in anger, one can forget his surroundings, so she carefully followed him, in case he would need a support.

Since they were no longer hidinig behind the bushes, Kazumi was sure that the guards must have noticed them by now and in her mind, she was preparing her muscles to do some beating.

However, she forgot that from the guards point of view, they looked like potential customers. Ichigo has been keeping his sword hidden from the open view so when they came closer to the guards, they suspected nothing.

"Halt." The first guard stopped them and closely scrutinized them.

"What is you-gleh..." The second guard was cut down even before he could finish his sentence, leaving the first one just staring at the scene in front of him in shock.

He managed to recover but his scream never left his lungs as Ichigo quickly snatched him by the neck and with all of his strength, threw him against a tree. One breaking sound later and the guard fell on the ground.

Ichigo didn't even spare them one glance before walking to the entrance.

"Let's go, Kazumi."

...

In the 64th Western District, Yoruichi was sneakily jumping from the roof to roof, trying to avoid being seen by any bystanders, while Rukia was nearing a small pub, covered in layers of clothes to hide the fact that she was a shinigami.

Watching her go inside, Yorucihi landed on the pub's roof and curled up behind a chimney, hoping to listen at least to some of the conversations.

Inside of the pub, Rukia came to the counter and quickly scanned the room. It was dimly lit and looked quite poor.

'As expected from the higher district.' She murmured under the large scarf wrapped around her neck.

Ordering a light beer from the bartender she leaned above the counter and shoving a good amount of coins to the bartender's hand, she forced him to look at her.

"I'm looking for a bit of information, danger-free." She whispered in low voice.

The bartender stared at her suspiciously, but the weight in his hand was too tempting.

"Ask."

Under her clothes, Rukia grinned slightly. It was always good to carry some redundant money in cases like this.

"I've been looking for a... friend. He has orange hair so he should be noticable."

The bartender roughly snorted and put the beer in front of Rukia.

"Never heard of your friend. I've seen some weirdos in this area but not one of them had orange hair."

Rukia frowned. She didn't expect that.

'So he didn't come through here... damn. Landing in the 72th District I was sure he would try to get to the better areas.' With a thoughtful look, she tried to catch the bartender's attention again.

"One more question. I heard about a huge mansion in the 72th District. That's quite unusual don't you think?"

The bartender stiffened.

'Bingo.'

He slowly turned around and asked in a low voice.

"If you have more of those shiny coins, I may know something about it." Taking a few of them from her pocket, Rukia gave them to the bartender without any further thinking. He nodded to her and motioned her to lean closer.

"I don't know what is your business with that place and frankly, I don't care. I've seen bigger bastards asking about it. That place is called House of Pleasure, a brothel of some sort but it's a bit different from the usual ones. They have children in there, that's why it's kept in the 72th District where almost no patrol ever goes to."

Rukia's hand in which she held the beer shook and she had to put it back on the counter or else she would spill it. With wide eyes, she managed to recover from the nausea that washed over her.

"But I heard that the owner is quite the bitch. She uses her own slaves for her own pleasure and breaks them too often so nobody lasts. If you want fresh ones, you should visit the other three."

Breathing heavily, Rukia pulled her hands from the counter and kept them there, so that she wouldn't break something.

"You mean there are three more places like that?" She fought hard so that her voice wouldn't waver.

"Yeah. There is one for each 80th District so there is one in the Northern, one in the Eastern and one in the Southern District. The on in 72th Western is closer only because the owner had enough money to bribe any patrol."

Hearing that, Rukia quickly thanked him and left the pub without her mouth ever touching the beer.

Yoruichi found her few minutes later hunched over a tree, trying not to vomit.

"Did you found anything?"

Rukia turned to her and weakly nodded.

"Yeah, but you're not going to like it."

...

"What are you doin-gaaah..."

Ichigo wiped his bloody sword against the body of the guard that fell in front of him. Taking a look around, he supressed the horrible feeling inside his chest and tried to analyze the situation.

It seemed like he managed to take care of the every guard that was present, along with the owner of the place. This time it was a man. What angered Ichigo more was the fact that he would never suspected somebody like this from doing such despicable acts if he met him on the street.

The owner was a middle-aged man with short hair, fatherly looking face and an athletic body. The only thing that gave him away was the psychotic grin when he admitted to enjoy raping his prisoners.

After that he went on to describe the techniques he often used on his victims before Ichigo angrily plunged his sword into his jaw, effectively shutting him up.

It was now that he could calmly look at the scene, the urge to vomit once again awoke within him. He killed all of them easily.

Too easily.

Ichigo tried to be strong and during a fight he never wavered but once the adrenaline stopped, the truth of him being just a fifteen years old boy hit him. He had to fight the panic from the sight of all the bloody corpses around him that he killed.

Kazumi was nowhere to see and Ichigo forced his eyes to move from the body lying in front of him.

"Oi, oi, oi what have you idiot done to my favourite place?" Ichigo quickly spun around and grimaced.

'Just like the last time, a shinigami. Why I keep finding shinigami in such places like this. I don't understand.'

He immediately voiced his opinion aloud.

"Why is a shinigami in a place like this? Shouldn't you be trying to make the afterlife a better place?"

The man in front of him stared at him for a minute before exploding in a full-blown laughter.

"Bahaha, what is with you kid? Did you hit your head or something?" Hearing him laugh, Ichigo couldn't control himself and launched himself at the shinigami.

He hit nothing but the air.

'Huh?'

"That's rude, kid. You shouldn't attack somebody during a conversation." The man's voice came from behind Ichigo who hastily turned around.

'How did he do it? I didn't even see him move!'

"Oh yes, you wanted to know what I'm doing here, right? I suppose I could tell you as you'll be dead in a few moments."

Ichigo ignored the threat and watched the man carefully.

'There is no was he could just disappear. Think! How did he do it?'

He knew he needed a time to figure it out, so he took the bait.

"Sure, do tell me."

The man grinned and sighed with a far-away look on his face.

"I don't know who you are, but I think it's clear that you're no shinigami so you probably don't know shit about the Captain of the 2nd Division, hmm? My Captain I mean."

'So he's from the 2nd Division. Great, the first one was from the 8th. What the hell is wrong with them? No, focus. How could he have just vanish?'

"Captain Sui-Feng." The man said jovially and then scowled.

"That bitch. She's a slave-driver you know? When we're slacking in our training, she take out a whip to punish us... a fucking whip! What am I? A fucking circus animal?" He snarled and Ichigo for the first time felt the man's reiatsu.

It was comparable to the on he fought in the first brothel but it also seemed that it was not everything the man had in his possession.

A small breeze caught Ichigo's attention.

'Wind... when I launched at him, i felt a light breeze just when he disappeared... maybe...'

"If I ever had the chance, I'd show her that a bitch like her should lick a man's feet... but as it stands, it's impossible. What do you think are the chances that you'd find somebody's look-a-like? As it turned out, they are quite fucking huge and I found a girl that looked just like her in here. So what if she was just a kid? As long as she could scream it's okay. And boy could that kid scream." The man's face twisted into a cruel smile and he rubbed his hands.

Ichigo gulped and his hands shook, but he tried to ignore the rising anger inside of him.

'...if...if I'm right, it means that he was just using so quickly that all I felt was a breeze from his movements... but how?'

"Oh yes, she screamed so nicely when rammed it into her. Hey kid, ever did a double penetration using your zanpaktou?" The man laughed deviously and ignored Ichigo's deadly stare.

'Shinigami possesses spiritual energy so it stands to reason that they can use it for multiple purposes. So if I'm right, it means he used his spiritual energy to move faster than a normal human can... but how? Is it just by pouring the energy into your legs or how?'

The shinigami finally noticed that Ichigo was quiet and just glaring at him. He responded with a grin.

"What? Trying to figure out how to kill me? Don't bother kid, my friend is in Onmitsukido and taught me several things. So just because I'm an unseated officer don't go thinking you can kill me just like that." As if trying to prove his point, he suddenly flickered from Ichigo's view and reappeared behind him.

Ichigo was already turning around and a little blood spurted from a cut on his shoulder. He grimaced but the pain was easily bearable.

'I almost saw something blurry... so I'm right. He's not just appearing randomly, he's just moving that fast... maybe I could try it too..'

Looking disappointed that Ichigo didn't cried out from the pain, the shinigami licked his bloody sword.

"Good, don't go and die easi- woah!" He suddenly exclaimed and blocked a strike from Ichigo who flashed in his face with a satisfied grin.

'I did it! Though It feels like I almost broke my ankle... but I think I understand some of the mechanics behind it...' He thought and using the knowledge he got from Kazumi, he pulled away only to strike at the shinigami while doing that, cutting the man on the wrist.

The man frowned and spinning around aimed a kick at Ichigo's chest. The teen barely managed to raise his hands to block it and was pushed several feet away.

"You will regret that..." The shinigami stated in low voice and flickered from the existence again.

When Ichigo received the kick he unconsciously raised his reiatsu and now he found himself seeing a blurred image of the shinigami trying to pass around him and slashing him across the chest.

He quickly parried the attack and when the shinigami landed he immediately jumped at him and wounded the man on the leg.

The shinigami growled and tried to flash around Ichigo once again, pumping even more spiritual energy. In a split second he found himself blocked, Ichigo's face pressed against his blade.

"I can see your movements." Ichigo whispered and raising his reiatsu he pushed the man from him and followed with a quick jabs, forcing him on the defensive.

With each strike the shinigami's face twisted more and more and when he felt his back against the wall he snarled and let his sword fall down.

This action caught Ichigo by surprise and he let himself get punched into the jaw, making him spin around and plunging into the table.

He quickly stood up, trying to shake off the throbbing pain in his cheek.

"We, members of the 2nd Division are trained assassins. Don't think that you've won, fucking brat." The shinigami jumped and landed next to Ichigo, aiming an uppercut.

Ichigo cursed and hastily side-stepped it and attempted to retaliate with a quick slash. The man ducked under his sword and leaning backwards kicked it from Ichigo's hands. He followed with a spinning kick to the stomach, but Ichigo with his fighting reflexes honed from all the fights he has been through during his life, put up a guard and caught the leg.

Gripping it tightly he turned around and threw the man into the wall.

Looking at his left, he flashed to his sword and hastily tried to pick it up but it was kicked away from him before his very eyes. Without having a chance to block, he was kicked himself.

He landed on the remaining table in the room, crashing it painfully.

'Ow, damn... he's fast, I give that to the bastard but I'm getting used to this quick movement myself.' Ichigo thought and with wide eyes rolled to the side to avoid getting his chest crushed by a drop kick.

"Stay still and let me hear your screams!"

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that you tortured some girl, right?" The anger Ichigo felt at the beginning of his attack on the brothel returned in full force and he raised his reiatsu again, earning a grimace from the shinigami.

"I see, you're no ordinary soul huh? Too bad, kid." He showed him the sword that was once again in his hands, surprising Ichigo.

'When did he..?' The teen cursed under his breath and desperately looked around.

Meanwhile the shinigami smirked and enjoyed the expression on Ichigo's face. Widening his eyes, he started to laugh maniacally and flashed to Ichigo who from the corner of his eyes found his own sword lying under his own feet and as fast as he could, he crouched down and raised it to try and block any strike.

He only managed to raise it in front of him before the shinigami appeared before him with a grin, that started to slowly fade when a small stream of blood gushed from his mouth. Glancing down, he noticed a sword piercing him through the stomach.

In a crouching position, Ichigo stared at him with a blood splashed across his face. Remembering the purpose of all of this fighting, he angrily pushed his sword to completely pierce the shinigami forcing the man to choke on his own blood.

With a quick motion Ichigo yanked the sword from him and frowned when the shinigami didn't immediately fall down.

His breathing was haggard and he was using one of his hands to press on the wound but the shinigami stubbornly remained standing.

"Don't underestimate a shinigami, you fucking brat..." He grunted and spit some blood on the floor.

Clenching the hilt of his sword, with a final push, Ichigo forced his reiatsu to the maximum and whispered with murderous glare.

"You're the one who's underestimating me."

...

Outside of the brothel, covered with blood, Ichigo met Kazumi, who was covered in little blood herself. He slowly put his sword back into the sheath and stared at her with a hint of suspicion.

"Where were you Kazumi?"

She was breathing heavily and nodding to him, she sat on the grass.

"I... I was in the dungeons, trying to find any survivors and came across few guards." She said tiredly.

Ichigo wiped the sweat from his brow and acknowledged her words with a grunt. He looked around and seeing what he needed he walked to a short distance, returning with a pile of wood.

"Time to burn this down."

An hour later the two of them watched the fire from afar, enjoying the warmth on their skin, tired but satisfied. Rather than watching the actual fire, Kazumi watched Ichigo's face and gripped his shoulder when she felt it was a right moment.

Without turning his head, Ichigo spoke to her.

"You know Kazumi, I've been thinking. Why are things like this? Why are there shinigami so rotten that they would go to these kind of brothels? Why are these brothels even here? Why do people have to live in such conditions? This is the afterlife, many dying people are looking forward to their heaven and in turn, they get this. Why?"

Having no answer to that, Kazumi remained silent.

"It is not my duty, obligation to correct all of this. I'm not some hero that would just suddenly try to save every soul in the world. I never considered myself a bad person. I mean, when something bad was happening I tried to help. But only if that happened in front of my eyes. I was being naive and ignorant. No more. I have no memories of my remaining family or my friends but I'm sure as hell I had some. Eventually, they'll die too and then they'll come here and I refuse to let them suffer. I'll make this place a better place. No matter how long that'll take." He trailed off, his eyes watching the flames.

"I'm not striving to create a perfect heaven, I'm not that stupid and I know that it's most likely impossible to do so. However, I'll do everything in my power to come as close to that as I can. That's a promise. Not to you, not to anyone but myself. I will erase as much evil as I can, that I swear on my soul." He turned away from the fire and looked at Kazumi.

"Let's go. It's going to be a long walk to the next target."

...

"Looks like we are a few days late." Yoruichi commented while looking at the pile of ashes the size of a mansion.

Rukia carefully walked through the destroyed remnants of a building, trying to look for something, for some clue.

"At least we now have it confirmed. The kid's next destination is another brothel and since it would take too long to go to the Southern first, he must be headed towards the Eastern one." Yoruichi stated.

Since Rukia didn't react, she continued to talk.

"However, I find myself quite curious. Kisuke said that we should have been able to feel his reiatsu clearly but we can barely sense it and Kisuke rarely is wrong. Something unexpected must be happening."

Hearing a shocked gasp, Yoruichi glanced up at stiffly crouching Rukia.

"What is it? Did you find anything?" After a series of short, quick jumps, Yoruichi landed next to Rukia and looked down at the thing Rukia has been staring for a moment.

"Is that..."

Rukia grabbed the thing and raised it to inspect it closer.

"Yes, it's a zanpaktou."

Yoruichi grimaced in repulsion.

"So the rumors have been true, the shinigami really do visit these brothels. Gotei 13 really have fallen."

"That's not all, Yoruichi-san. Look at this." Rukia put the burnt sword lower so that the black cat could see it better. Yoruichi's pupils widened at the sight.

"This is a sign of a 2nd Division..." She cursed and swung her tail angrily.

'What happened to my division, my little bee?'

...

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

Ichigo wiped his mouth and allowed Kazumi to guide him to their belongings. She sat him down and pulled a bottle of water from her bag. Handing it to him, she watched him slowly take a few gulps.

"Thanks." He muttered and wanted to return the bottle but realized that it would be better to keep it. Only a few people would want to drink from the bottle he drank from after vomiting half of his lunch. So he decided to keep it and took another gulp.

"There is still some bread left. You should eat it or you won't be able to train fully." Kazumi said and pointed to the piece of bread lying next to him.

Ichigo glanced at it and after hesitating a little, he grabbed it and put it in his mouth.

"It's not that surprising, you know?" Ichigo turned to her with raised eyebrow.

Kazumi just shrugged and motioned him to continue eating.

"I mean that your body is reacting like this. No matter how hard you try, you're still just a kid. You just have to give it a time. It's not easy to get used to killing others."

Fortunately, Ichigo had his mouth full as he wanted to snap at her, which she noticed and weakly smiled at him.

"You're not the only one who had to kill, remember? On the other hand, I have killed before. Mostly in self-defense, but that doesn't make it any less wrong or painful. The guilt will be there no matter what circumstances."

Taking another sip of water, Ichigo finally swallowed the piece of bread and put down the bottle.

"It's not like it's the guilt that I'm feeling. I mean, every person I have killed so far have been bastards, perverts and those kind of sons of bitches that shouldn't even be allowed to breathe. It's more like... I'm disgusted by myself." He said in low voice and glanced at Kazumi.

She continued to weakly smile at him, there was no loathing in her eyes.

"You feel like you've fallen on their level?"

Ichigo shrugged.

"Maybe, I don't know. I just feel so dirty."

"Well, we could always take a dip in the water."

Ichigo chuckled and shook his head.

"It's so easy during the battle. When I'm fighting I'm not thinking about this kind of useless stuff. My mind is firmly set on the task, I concentrate on fighting. I think about my strikes, when to attack, when to pull away and just defend. It's after the fight that it starts." He said and stared at the ground below him.

Kazumi grabbed his arm and squeezed it lightly.

"That's good. It means you can keep your cool which is a great predisposition for somebody who will encounter more fights in the future. However you can do nothing for the rest I'm afraid. You just have to endure it and it will get easier."

Ichigo stiffened and tried to pry his hand from the grip but Kazumi squeezed his hand firmer.

"I don't want to get the killing to get easier! It's already too easy!" He raised his voice a little and a deep scowl settled on his face.

"Ichigo. Hey, Ichigo. Look at me."

Kazumi waited until Ichigo begrudgingly glanced at her. With a yelp he massaged his head after receiving a whack on it.

"Idiot, you misunderstood. I'm not saying that the killing will get easier. It never does. It's just that dealing with it becomes easier as the time passes. Those feeling of disgust, of self loathing and the guilt get more dull until it's relatively easy to ignore them. Killing others should never be easy. That it bothers you is the sign that you are indeed, a good person. " She explained with a firm stare.

Returning it with shaky gaze, Ichigo nodded after a while.

"Thanks." He muttered and grabbing the bottle, he took another gulp.

Kazumi stood up and dusted herself.

"Now, enough talking, it's time to train. There are still some things I can teach you. For example when you're left open, don't try to force yourself and just go with the flow and..." She started to explain more of her instructions and Ichigo slowly got up himself, thanking her in his mind.

...

"It's them." Ichigo whispered and his hand almost immediately went for his sword.

Kazumi stopped him and stared him in the eyes.

"Tell me, why are we doing this? Is it for revenge?"

Ichigo shook his head and glanced back at the clearing, where a band of thugs was having some sort of party. It was evident from the amount of empty bottles of alcohol splattered all around them. They were the same group of thugs that kidnapped Ichigo the day he awoke in the Soul Society for the first time.

He quickly shook his head.

"No. Well, it would be a lie to deny that there isn't a speck of revenge on my mind. After all, thanks to them I was sent to that bitch who..." He trailed off and Kazumi noticed that his hands shook.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later. The thing is, I'm angry at them but this is not just about some petty revenge. These scumbags are the ones who abduct children and dump them to those brothels. They can't be forgiven and with them out of the picture, there is a lower possibility of recreating the brothels." Ichigo knew that it wouldn't completely stop the human trafficking, far from it. However, it was a start.

He glanced at Kazumi. She raised her eyebrow.

"You know I'm not going to stop you. I'm not going to defend them. I just want you to remember the reason for doing this so that you won't lose your way. Aside from that, you have my support."

Giving her a short smile, Ichigo slowly pulled out his sword and prepared to jump into the clearing. Before he did it, Kazumi told him one more thing.

"Remember, do not use flashy moves. I know that since you found out about that high speed movement you're dying to use it in a battle again but you still haven't perfected it yet. Just stick to the basics." A nod later, using a bit of his spiritual energy, Ichigo jumped high and landed in the middle of the clearing, amidst the thugs who looked at him in surprise.

One of them drunkenly called to the man behind him.

"Oi Tetsu! Some birdy landed heeeere." At the mentioning of that name, Ichigo gripped the hilt of his sword, gaining attention of the others who finally noticed the weapon in his hands.

"What?" Tetsu staggered to the scene with a bottle in his hand and squinted at Ichigo. After a minute of nobody moving, he raised and pointed his finger at the teen.

"I remember you, brat. You're that... huh?... what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting fucked in the ass or something?" The clearing erupted in laughter and in a small distance Kazumi cringed.

Despite Ichigo'd back being in her point of view, she knew what kind of expression was now on his face. Her intuition proved to be right when a heavy reiatsu filled the clearing and a moment later, the cries of pain echoed through the air.

Carefully, she neared the clearing, to watch the scene unfold and to provide a support for Ichigo, if needed.

That proved to be unnecessary, as when she got closer, it was already half-way over.

Few minutes later, an angry Ichigo was standing in the middle of the bloodbath, his sword imbedded in the ground and his breathing heavy. She quickly walked to him and it was the right thing to do as he leaned forward and was forced to empty his stomach.

She rubbed his back to soothe him and took a peek at their surroundings. It wasn't a nice sight but one could see that it wasn't done by somebody who enjoyed killing.

If that was the case, the bodies would have been more crippled, more mutilated possibly dismembered. The corpses around her bore only two kinds of injuries.

A precise strike through the heart or a cut deep enough to sever the arteries, both of them causing quick death.

When she felt that Ichigo was done, she helped him get up and offered him the bottle of water.

"What do you want to do with them?" She asked quietly.

Ichigo took a deep breath and gazed at the bodies in front of him.

"I have something in mind."

Two hours later, the duo left the clearing, heading towards their next target, the brothel in the 80th Eastern District, leaving a pyramid-shaped monument made from a stacked pile of stones that hid the dead bodies of the thugs.

On the very top of it was a small wooden plate with a few words written on it.

"Here lies the remnants of the group of the human traffickers. The rest of you, beware. I'm coming for you all."

...

Kazumi listened to him with wide eyes that were full of pity. It has been a week after they encountered the group of thugs and left a warning to the rest of their kind and Ichigo was now currently telling her what happened to him after he was taken from the cell to the Boss of the brothel they stayed in.

Truthfully, she didn't know how to react to all of that. She had the fortune, if you could call it that, that since she was scarred, nobody wanted her body and therefore, she wasn't exposed to any kind of rape.

She wanted to squeeze his shoulder but stopped herself in the middle of the movement. What amazed her was the fact that even after being raped by a woman, Ichigo spent now more than two weeks travelling alone with her and never once he glared at her or made an effort to avoid her touch. And she had to touch him during their training when she corrected his stances are when they sparred.

Just for that, the respect she held for him grew even more, creating a painful sensation in her heart knowing what would eventually had to happen to the two of them.

She shook her head. They still had some time together.

"... and then she took some random girl and tried... she tried to force her, force us to... " Ichigo trailed off and clenched his jaw but Kazumi realized what he wanted to say and she felt her own anger bubble under her skin.

"In that moment I kind of remembered something from my past life and I just... snapped."

She bit her lip and anxiously asked.

"What did you remember?"

He slowly turned to her and offered a small sad smile to her.

"My two little sisters."

The tone with which he said it told her more than he realized. It was clear to Kazumi that whoever Ichigo's sisters were, they no longer belonged to the living. With a resolute sigh, she stood up and glanced at him from above.

"You know Ichigo, you maybe don't realize it, but you are amazing."

Ichigo scowled at her with a snort.

"Yeah, right."

"I mean it. Even after everything that happened to you, you still feel remorse when killing those who caused you pain and moreover, even after what that Boss did to you, you're still here with me, talking to me like it was nothing." Kazumi firmly stated but Ichigo just waved his hand.

"It's not like you are the Boss."

He raised an eyebrow when Kazumi laughed.

"Sorry, but I had to laugh. Do you even realize how admirable your attitude is? Most of the guys in your age would rather have their fingers cut off than get close to or even touch a woman again. Incidents like this causes major traumas that are often really hard to overcome. That you can talk and travel with me so easily just shows how strong your will is. That is in my opinion amazing."

'But now that I think about it, maybe this is the true reason for his vomiting. Mabye after killing somebody he remembers what happened to him. You could say that his ability to endulge in violence with full concentration is too, a result of him getting raped. It wouldn't be that surprising. Actually, it fits quite nicely.' She thought after replying to him.

Ichigo didn't say anything to that and just took a gulp of water before standing up.

"Well, i think it's time for more training. We should be getting close to the next target so we have no time to waste."

...

"Bad news, Ichigo. It looks like they heard about what happened to the first brothel and they have a seated officer stationed as a guard." Kazumi reported after crouching behind a low wall together with Ichigo who came from the other side.

She was met with a small smile that confused her.

"I can deal with him. What's more important is that this brothel still has their prisoners and from I heard they are new and still nothing happened to them. It means we can actually save somebody this time." Ichigo said in a low but excited tone.

Kazumi eye-smiled at him but tried to calm him down.

"Okay, that is good, but remember to take care. A seated officer is a lot stronger than the ones you fought before so be careful."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

She frowned when he left their hiding place and looked at his slowly retreating back.

'He's getting too cocky.' She thought warily and aimed her steps towards the entrance to the dungeons of the brothel.

...

"Not bad, brat. Still, this is the end for you." The shinigami grinned maliciously and wiped the blood from the cut on his forehead. He slowly walked towards Ichigo, who found himself bound with a yellow rope made from an energy.

He tried to struggle, but the wound on his stomach was making it very painful to move. Desperately trying to free himself, he scanned the room for anything useful.

The room itself was once again, as it was with other brothels, filled with bodies of dead guards, leaving Ichigo and his opponent the only ones still breathing.

The fight between the two of them started a couple of minutes ago and from the beginning it looked like Ichigo would easily prevail. He was faster, his attacks were heavier, his kicks and punches were stronger and his swordsmanship was comparable to the shinigami in front of him.

The shinigami, despite presumably being a 19th seat from the 6th Division was having great problems with Ichigo and his swordsmanship and his ability to think while on foot. Twice in their fight, Ichigo managed to surprise him with a startling movement which combined martial arts and his sword handling, hence the cut on the shinigami's forehead and on his chest.

However, everything changed once the shinigami uttered some incantation that Ichigo never heard before and his sword changed before the teen's very eyes. Since that moment, the shinigami was the one on the offensive, pressing Ichigo with his new speed and the strength behind his attack. His reiatsu too, grew exponentially but that was the only thing that didn't bother Ichigo as his own reserves were already a lot higher.

'Why did his sword change? I've never seen anything like this... shit.' The shinigami was already in front of him with his sword raised high.

"It's over." He swung his blade down but Ichigo kept his eyes open as a seemingly random memory appeared in his mind.

It was a scene where he found himself bound by some sort of spell that a raven haired shinigami uttered. Next he saw himself getting out of it and he immediately understood what he had to do.

Barely in time, Ichigo flexed his reiatsu and broke free from the binding. Hastily he rolled to the side and avoided the danger by mere inches. Quickly getting up on his feet he kicked the surprised shinigami in the gut and jumped back to create a distance between the two of them.

'Concentrate, it doesn't matter what shape his sword is. I just need to be able to react to his attacks.' Ichigo thought to himself and carefully watched the shinigami to get up.

The man wasn't grinning anymore. Instead he was glaring daggers at Ichigo who almost wanted to snort. It was always the same. Every shinigami he had fought so far taunted and mocked him at first but when they received a hit or felt that Ichigo had managed to do something he shouldn't have been able to, they started to glare, to stare, to curse at him. By the time he had arrived to this brothel, Ichigo had learned to ignore this.

"Unforgivable." The shinigami growled and flashed to Ichigo with his sword pointed directly to Ichigo's chest. The teen blocked the jab and retaliated with a slash that was too parried.

"Tell me one thing, shinigami." Ichigo almost spit the last word before continuing, "what is your reason for being here, in this brothel? Before I destroyed the last two, I was always forced to listen to reasons others had for it. You on the other hand haven't tried to tell me that so far."

The shinigami widened his eyes before pushing the teen off him.

"It was you who did that?" He exclaimed angrily but then his mouth twisted into an evil smirk.

"No reason... I just like to hear them scream. Occupational hazard, you know? Try being a shinigami for a few decades and then you'll understand."

Ichigo stared at him in disbelief.

"Fuck."

'How can people like that serve as a shinigami? Don't they use any psychological tests before admitting them in their ranks?' Ichigo growled and his reiatsu grew explosively, becoming almost visible.

The shinigami unconsciously backed away.

"You... who are you, brat?" He asked surprisingly calm.

Ichigo readied his sword and sent a heated glare at the direction of the man.

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo, the one who will clean the Soul Society from the trash like you."

...

Kazumi wiped the blood from her fists and hurried to the last cell, opening it with a key.

She turned to the group behind her that consisted from few scared children and two adults, a man and a woman.

"When my partner finishes his business on the upper floor, you will have two options in front of you. Either you will escape and try to live a new life, or you can stay here and use this mansion as your new home." Kazumi stated and watched the man glance at the woman.

"You're asking too much, stranger. We don't know each other. We have only met yesterday when we got dumped here by the one who called himself the owner of this place." The man replied and glanced at the stairs fearfully.

"You don't have to worry about the owner. This isn't the first time me and my partner are doing this. We have already destroyed two similar brothels. However, this is the first time we found any prisoners ... " Kazumi wanted to add "alive", but seeing the scared looks in the children's eyes, she rather trailed off and hoped that the two adults would understand what she meant.

They did and with wide eyes they glanced at each other, at the children and then hesitantly nodded.

"Good, now we..." Kazumi widened her own eyes when she felt a heavy reiatsu pressing on her. She gazed at the group behind her who was forced to bend a little.

"Wait here, I'll take a look." She said and hurried up the stairs worried about Ichigo a little.

A moment later she opened the doors to see Ichigo and the shinigami coming at each other with their sword raised and prepared to strike each other. From the corner of her eyes she noticed a small projectile flying at Ichigo in high speeds from behind and seeing that he was not aware of it, she screamed at him as loud as she could.

"Behind you!"

His eyes darting to her, Ichigo understood and glanced behind him to finally notice the projectile. With a clenched jaw, he turned back to the shinigami and they stuck at each other, locking their swords.

"Shit." Kazumi cursed and moved to try and stop the projectile from hitting Ichigo when a he stopped her by flaring his reiatsu a little.

She anxiously glanced at him and almost tripped in surprise when she saw him grinning.

At that moment, Ichigo stopped pressing against the shinigami's sword and let himself get pushed backwards. Falling down, on his back, the projectile grazed him on the shoulder and embedded itself in the middle of the shinigami's chest, piercing his heart and killing him instantly.

"Idiot! Do you want to get yourself killed?" Kazumi yelled and ran towards Ichigo who landed on his back.

Ichigo chuckled and tiredly waved at her.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you're fine too, Kazumi."

She ignored him and whacked him on the head.

"Get up, we have survivors downstairs."

With a wide smile, Ichigo let her help him get up and grimaced when she did it not so kindly.

"Oww." She raised an eyebrow at that and took a closer look at him. Ichigo never "owwed" before.

Seeing the blood trickling from his stomach she cursed and quickly sat him on the nearby chair.

"See? This is what you get when you're too cocky." She berated him and snatched a single bandage from her bag. Ichigo just shrugged and received another whacked on the head.

"Oi, is that how you treat wounded?"

"Shut up or you'll have to bandage yourself."

Clicking his tongue, Ichigo snorted and let her put a plaster around his waist. While she was doing that, he leaned over and took out a bottle of water.

"How are you feeling?" Kazumi asked more calmly.

"I can manage. It's just a cut and the pain is bearable."

"Not that, you haven't vomited yet, have you?"

Ichigo stiffened and peeked at her with wide eyes.

"Now that you mention it... my stomach is quite calm."

She gave him a short thumbs up and finished the bandaging allowing him to slowly stand up.

"So, where are the survivors?"

...

It was a day later that Ichigo and Kazumi were leaving the mansion and this time, they left the building intact instead of burning it down. Standing in front of it, the duo waited until the children went inside before engaging in conversation with the two adults.

"Are you sure you want to stay here? I don't think it's good for the kids to live in such a place..." Ichigo muttered with a grim expression.

"Well, it's a nice building that has more than enough rooms so for now I think we should stay here. All of us came here only yesterday so the kids don't even know what this place used to be. Moreover, I don't think anyone would want to come close to this place and if they did, that monument will scare them away." The man glanced at the monument in front of them.

It was a similar one that Ichigo and Kazumi made for the group of thugs . They hoped that it would be enough to secure the building from other human traffickers. In any case, they promised to return to the place in the future to see if everything is okay.

"Well, okay then. I guess this is goodbye." Kazumi said and glanced at Ichigo who suddenly shook his head. Ignoring him, she shook hands with both the man and the woman and waited for Ichigo to do the same.

The woman thanked them one more time for saving them and after that, the two of them left. They had one more target left.

...

"So he was the one who created the monument?" Rukia asked the man, standing in front of the doors to the mansion.

Yoruichi was listening to the conversation from Rukia's shoulder, her mind deep in thoughts.

It seemed that they have missed Ichigo only by a day, which meant that they were closing on them. They have discovered that he was not travelling alone, which was in their opinion good. He needed a company.

What bothered Yoruichi was that it seemed that ichigo was the one doing most of the killings and she was worried that it may affect him in the wrong way. She hoped for his sanity to be still intact. He was in her opinion still just a child that was now killing people like flies.

Rukia thanked the pair for the information and left the place. However, she stopped just before she could lose the mansion from her sight.

"What is it?" Yoruichi asked.

Rukia raised her hands.

"I'm sending a hell butterfly to my Captain. He needs to know what is going on here and I also want him to set a patrol so that these people could get some peace."

"You think it will be met with success?"

Rukia smiled a little at the cat.

"Captain Ukitake isn't the kind of a person that would ignore something like this. I believe in him." She sent the black butterfly and grabbed the her bag.

'Finally, we're gaining on you, Kurosaki Ichigo. I promise that this time, I will save you.'

...

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kazumi snapped after Ichigo shook his head for the twentieth time.

He shook his head one more time and glanced at her with nervous eyes.

"I... I think I'm going crazy, Kazumi."

"What?"

When she kept staring at him for a full minute, Ichigo gulped.

"I can hear an insane laughter in my mind."

End of chapter 2.

Thanks for the reading. Don't forget to leave a review on your way out ;)

P.S: At the beginning of the chapter, Ichigo reminds himself that he killed three people. You must think : "What about the guards that were left to burn in the fire?". Well, they weren't killed by Ichigo, but the fire. He just didn't save them. It's not different for us but for Ichigo, it was.