Gah, writer's block. D: Anyway, the chapter's out now! The humor (or 'attempted humor') will return... Just not this moment...
This chapter sums up the current arc of Hirosaki's past called, "Darkened Memories."
Chapter Five: "Shadowed Past: Part II"
"Aneon."
Grim, corrupt, and bleak.
Within its so-called "city" walls, there, two orphans lived so detached from their environment, like flowers existing among weeds.
"Aniki!" Yuki laughed, calling out to him.
"Hi, Yuki. What's up?" He cheerfully greeted his younger sister.
"Look at this! It's the test you helped me study for!" she showed him a withered, graded paper with a large 100 scrawled at the top.
Hirosaki smiled. "That's great!"
"Yeah, it's all thanks to you," Yuki hugged him, "I'm going to go play at Lisa-chan's house for a while, OK? Wait for me at dinnertime!" she waved goodbye to her older brother and ran off to her best friend's house.
"Later, Yuki. Don't wander off!" He closed the battered door quietly and made his way to the makeshift kitchen.
8:15 PM
Tapping his fingers on the uneven kitchen table, Hirosaki glanced at the faded black clock hanging on the wall and sighed, "Yuki's a bit late for dinner… But it's only been two hours since she left for Lisa's house. Maybe I shouldn't worry so much..." It was freezing cold outside, so Hirosaki couldn't help but worry. He hoped she would come home soon.
There suddenly came a heavy knock on the door.
"Yuki?" he walked toward the front door. Hirosaki would later wish never to have opened it.
A tall stranger in a faded brown cloak greeted him. "Well, well, if it isn't Kazama."
Hirosaki froze. He had no idea how this stranger knew his last name and he wouldn't risk finding out. He attempted to close the door on him, but a foot stopped him from doing that.
"Where is your father, brat?" the greasy-haired stranger demanded.
"I don't have one- he's dead." Hirosaki stammered, unable to get the scary man out of his apartment.
"Kazama is dead!" he laughed a throaty, inhuman laugh. As young as Saki was, he still understood this man appeared to be evil.
"I-If your business is done here, please leave..." he tried saying.
"Leave?" the man cackled. "Not until I return a favor to your old man." He motioned his partner in the back to come forth.
"Is this his brat, aniki?" the second shorter man asked.
"You heard me correctly." He smirked.
The younger brother's fist abruptly connected with the boy's face. Hirosaki stumbled, his eyes blinking back droplets of tears from the sudden hit.
"Leave some for me, too. We're doing this outside," the taller stranger pulled out a gun and pointed it at the boy's head. "You resist, this goes bang." He grinned.
Hirosaki had nowhere to run with the cold weapon in front of him and the second man gripping him tightly from the back.
Struggling, he tried to fight him off to no avail as the first man bound his arms and legs. The second carried him after he was bound.
"Let me go!" he screamed. No one heard him, as he was soon muffled.
"The brat's squirming too much!" the stout, brown cloaked man groaned in disgust.
"Set him down." The elder brother commanded. The second man obeyed, lying him face down on the ground. The tall stranger crashed his foot down on Hirosaki's head and it made contact with the hard, gray cement. He soon quieted down in silent pain as his consciousness abandoned him.
Where am I…? His mind was in a daze. His vision became slightly better as he looked around him. Hirosaki was in a dark alleyway. He still felt the ropes cutting into his wrists and feet.
"About time you woke up, brat." The taller man bluntly jabbed his ribs with his foot. Or was it the shorter one? Hirosaki couldn't tell anymore. All he could feel were broken bones as the two men continued beating him, again and again.
Crying out, he slumped to the dirty ground of the alley, coughing up a torrent of blood.
No, I'm not going to cry here! He forced himself to stop, but even after doing so, that did not rid him of the burning feeling of knives stabbing his chest, rupturing lungs.
"You're gonna pay for what your father did to our brother!" the rough hands of the shorter attacker gripped Hirosaki's throat tightly.
Straining to breathe, his fuzzed mind thought, What my father... did? But he was...police chief... They know a man… he arrested…?
"Damn, the fun's over now since he's not even crying anymore. You don't have to strangle him anymore, Taro," the man gagging Hirosaki grunted dissatisfiedly and released his grip on his neck.
Saki gasped for breath despite the stabbing sensation that came with each intake and thought, Nakamura Taro! He recognized the name instantly and listened wide-eyed as his attacker continued, "We just have to make sure that bastard's son is dead…" the taller of the shadowed men slipped out the same, cold pistol from inside his dark cloak and Hirosaki cried; he knew what was coming next...
BANG. BANG.
"Well, it wasn't as entertaining as I'd thought it'd be, seeing Kazama's brat suffer. But our job is done." the man named Taro had a smug look, his bloodlust evidently not sated by one crimson killing.
Leaving Hirosaki to bleed to death in the alley, his father's enemies turned around the corner and out of sight, as if nothing had happened.
He lay in a deep pool of his own blood in the dingy alleyway as a single flake of snow fell on his face.
I've lost too much... he faintly eyed the haunting scarlet liquid slowly surrounding him, his vision slowly fading away. His once-labored breathing seemed easier to manage now.
Am I dying?
Foggily eyeing the soft, pure snow beginning to fall around him, he thought, It looks... beautiful…
Hirosaki smiled lightly and breathed in a shallow breath of frigid air.
Yuki rushed to the impoverish room on 8th Street she called 'home.'
I hope aniki isn't getting hungry waiting for me! she sighed, I'll have to take a shortcut…
Running through a couple of narrow, dim streets she knew quite well, she passed by two deserted alleys.
In a quick glimpse, she caught someone lying facedown in the second alley.
Was it just my imagination? Yuki thought as she doubled back to look, But someone could use my help… But what if I get kidnapped? She shuddered because of the thought rather than the cold, falling snow.
Yuki hated alleyways and other dark and scary places. Her brother had warned her to stay away from seemingly empty alleys, especially at night. It was 8:40 P.M. now, but winter in Aneon made it look like midnight.
"Hey, are you OK?" she called to the unmoving figure on the ground. As she crept closer, she realized that he was drenched in deep, red liquid that was none other than blood. At that sight she would have ran away, but then she recognized who it was.
"A-Ani…" she sank down to her knees, unable to finish.
No! she cried, Saki is in the kitchen, getting hungry because he's waiting for me to come home so we can eat dinner together! He shouldn't be the one… This can't be him… She slowly crawled to him, eyes wide in fear and shock…in combination with a blur of emotions she had never known.
"Yuki…" he breathed, barely audible.
"Shh, don't talk…" warm tears dripped onto his bloodstained clothing.
"It's really... white... light..." he continued delicately.
"Don't say those things as if you're gonna die..!" She sobbed, holding him tighter. I need to take him to a hospital! But how? She looked around frantically. Could she carry him miles away to the nearest hospital? She would just have to…
"I'm glad…you're okay…" he had a ghost of a smile on his face, "Yuki…"
His body sunk into her arms as he breathed his last.
"H-Hiros-saki…" she was shaking uncontrollably. "Why? Why you..?" Yuki's hands were stained with blood... Her beloved aniki's blood.
"He's gone." someone whispered mournfully behind her.
"Who are you?" refusing to let go of the empty body, she turned around to face a tall shinigami. Her face still streamed hot tears.
"Can you see me, child?" the female death god asked softly.
Nodding, she asked pleadingly, "Can't you help? Can't you do something?"
"I am a shinigami; I can't bring people back to life," she replied solemnly. "But what I can do, is help them pass on…" She turned her attention to Hirosaki's soul standing not too far behind his body.
"So I'm...dead?" Hirosaki's translucent blue soul breathed quietly.
"Aniki!" she cried in surprise.
"Are you ready to leave?" the shadowed figure asked him.
"I...-"
"No! You belong here in this world!" Yuki desperately tried to pull him back with words.
"…I'm sorry, Yuki," he sighed sadly. "But it's not my choice. I don't belong here now that I'm a soul," he looked at his translucent hands thoughtfully. "No… I don't belong in your world." He cringed at the harshness of his words. "Not anymore, Yuki. And if I stay here long enough, I could turn into a monster... I couldn't do that to you."
She had seen these monsters before... She could not imagine her brother turning into one of them.
"I don't want you to become a monster, but I don't want you to leave, either," Yuki closed her eyes and suddenly smiled in tears. "I'm selfish, aren't I?"
Hirosaki smiled faintly and took a step back from his body. "Goodbye, Yuki. I'm sorry I can't stay with you longer… But please... Don't die anytime soon...okay?"
The shinigami performed konsoh on him with the end of her zanpakuto and he sank into the glowing blue circle in the ground to rest in peace.
Wiping away her tears, she whispered, "Goodbye, Hirosaki..."
Yuki had dried her tears just moments before, but they kept pouring from her eyes. She did not know how long she stayed there sobbing. The shinigami merely stood in silence behind her, and it was enough for Yuki to know that she was there.
The death god had one recurring thought during this time, No one should die this young... It's just...not fair... She sighed, struggling with her sense of duty and her mentality. Then she hesitantly whispered to the girl, "Would you like to see him again?"
Yuki paused her mourning only for a second to register the death god's words. "What?"
"If you want to see him again, the only way is for you to die as well. However, there could possibly be another method, if you're willing to try it…"
Yuki widened her eyes. "...Tell me."
"You have to eat this Soul Society pill first. I have to warn you, this is a risky pill. In exchange for becoming a soul forcefully, the pill uses your life energy to create a partial soul-like body, allowing you to enter Soul Society. Upon consuming it, you have two months until the Soul Society pill eats you from inside out. All that will be left is a useless, corroding human body and half a soul, only a shadow of your existence. Following the two months comes twenty-four hours of excruciating pain beyond belief... You may wish for death, but the only way to overcome it is to fight it. Only after you survive that ordeal will you become something that resembles a full soul with human traces, but your soul can never be recycled back into the living world again," she paused, observing the expression on the girl's face. "This means... Whenever you die in Soul Society, you remain dead...permanently."
The young female shinigami removed a portion from the end of her zanpakuto, revealing a tiny, hidden crevice meant for storage.
She pulled out a small capsule emitting an ethereal blue aura. "Do you understand what will happen when you consume this?"
Yuki nodded slowly.
She eyed the girl carefully. "Then do you still wish to follow me?"
Without knowing what kind of place Soul Society was, nor caring about the torture she would have to endure, all she knew was that she had a chance to see her brother again. She knew she would have to cast everything else aside. Yuki stood, leaving the lifeless image of her brother behind, grabbed the pill, and swallowed it at once.
"Your fate was sealed as soon as you swallowed it," she smiled sadly, but admired the girl's courage. "I pray for your success."
She then motioned for Yuki to follow her around the city, until finally arriving at a tall, brick building on a deserted street.
"A Soul Society portal should be arriving soon for me. I have a Hell Butterfly with me, but you do not."
"What does that mean?" Yuki questioned.
"That means it'll be hard for you to go through the portal." she sighed, wondering if it was a bright idea for her to cross without a butterfly.
"I can do it." Yuki reasoned.
"If you say so…" the shinigami continued. "Once we are past the door of the Senkai Gate, we will have to run like our lives depended on it. They had the walls stabilized just a while ago, but I don't know if it will hold out until we reach the end. The Hell Butterfly ensures your safety when crossing between the living world and Soul Society, but you still must run fast. Just stay beside me as we go through."
"O-Okay…"
Seconds later, a large, glowing doorway formed in midair and slowly slid open for the female shinigami.
"Let's go!" she ran through the fateful portal followed by Yuki.
The shinigami and human emerged from the portal and in front of the great wall dividing Rukongai and Seireitei.
"It seems that we were dropped off outside Seireitei because you are not a shinigami… However, I'll make sure we get in."
Yuki did not know these names, but watched quietly as the shinigami walked up to the giant gatekeeper and whispered something to him.
Jidanbou shook his head. "But she's human!"
"Partially spirit as well as human."
"What? Even if that is true, she is neither a shinigami nor royalty."
"What if she were to go to the Shinigami Academy to become one and I was the one responsible for taking her there?"
"Is that your mission?"
"It is now." she stood her ground firmly.
He sighed and said, "These must be very odd circumstances if you brought her here... I will open the Gate, but you will take full responsibility for handling that ryoka girl- even if she's part spirit, Keiko-san."
"The situation was bleak, Jidanbou, but if you were in the same position, you'd probably do the same thing." the shinigami reasoned.
"Why are you even doing this?"
The raven-haired shinigami paused for a moment, "...That's because of...repayment. I'm returning an immeasurable favor to someone..."
"I doubt that's a good enough reason for the higher ups to allow a human into Soul Society..." Sighing, Jidanbou added, "Keiko-san... Don't do anything you'll later regret..."
"I know..."
Walking back to Yuki, she explained to her what was going on.
"Do you want to become a shinigami?"
"Shinigami?" Yuki wasn't quite sure what that term meant, either.
"The only way you can past this gate is to become a death god. You must commit yourself to the job as a shinigami and destroy Hollows."
"Hollows..." she repeated remembering what Hirosaki said to her about becoming a monster. Destroying those monsters?
"You have high spiritual power, correct? Then you must have seen them. They are huge monstrous spirits with a large hole in their chests."
Yuki nodded vigorously. "I was once attacked by one, but then a stranger in black kimono-like clothing saved me…"
"Do you want to be the one who saves other people from Hollows, just like that stranger shinigami saved you?"
Yuki hesitated. "Y-Yes…" She then continued confidently, "With my power as a shinigami, I will keep on searching for my brother. I'll help the souls in need of guidance... A-And I will rid the world of Hollows while I'm at it!"
"My, my, that's quite a goal." the dark-haired shinigami chuckled.
Turning over to the gatekeeper, she nodded. He reluctantly hoisted up the heavy gate as they began walking underneath it.
The death god named Keiko viewed the sprawling white structures that lay before her in the heart of Soul Society and announced, "Welcome to Seireitei, future shinigami."
TBC...