Chapter 3: Hell's Trial

Darkness surrounded Hito. It was surrounding him so well it felt as though it were so deep a darkness it penetrated his very soul. 'Then again, if what those guys said is true, it might be penetrating my soul."' The red haired boy thought to himself. He figured he was falling as there wasn't anything beneath him to stand on, but maybe he was floating. Either way, he sighed and began to ponder what had happened to the chain previously attached to his chest.

It was a rather sudden thing; Hito's arrival, that is. He was pondering whether or not the hole in his chest would be able to bleed or not when he felt his feet hit the ground. The boy blinked and looked around. He'd landed in a large black room. No decorations or curtains were used and there wasn't a speck of light to be seen. Hito got the feeling he'd just stepped into a coffin.

"Another for the taking…." A raspy voice broke out. Hito looked around in question, unsure as to where the voice had come from.

'That voice…It sounded like it came from…"' the red haired boy thought, his eyes began to scan the area as, from behind him, a huge shadowy figure erupted from the earth. 'Underground!"' Hito finished his musings right as the shadow broke from the earth.

From what he could see, it was the same shape as a human, only it was magnified three times the size of any man Hito had ever seen. The large figure had a ragged black cloak which trailed out behind him, covering its true appearance. And, as though he needed to look more intimidating, the beast (for lack of a better word) held onto a scythe which was longer than a phone poll and had a blade larger than a car.

It took a while for Hito to register the full view of what he was seeing. Then it took him a while to realize he could see, then it took him still a moment longer to realize that large and powerful (well, scarier more so than powerful) looking cloaked thing was swinging down that large scythe, with a blade easily larger than his body, and aiming it straight at him…

Kazuya Jirai, the father of Hitonari Jirai, was more than capable of keeping up with things in his life. If he took on a new project at work, he would have whatever needed building (he worked in construction) built in less than the projected amount of time. If Kazuya so chose to arrange a dinner date with any number of friends, family members, or business clients he would have everything prepared and ready before they set the date. What he hadn't supremely mastered, was keeping up with his son's life.

Presently he paced worriedly around the kitchen, fresh from a date with a woman who, though he loved, he couldn't really remember well right now. All he could think about was Hito and his whereabouts. He'd already finished calling the school, which gave him nothing but slightly shorter fingernails due the fact that he'd bitten on them up until he received the 'Leave a message' message signaling no one stayed after school that late, not even very devoted teachers.

'Damn it Hito, where the hell are you?!"' Kazuya thought. He looked at his watch. 10:17. 'He'd have been here by now unless he missed the bus…twice!"' the blond man brushed his fingers through his hair and breathed a sigh of annoyance. 'You better not be dead kid, because when I find you I want to kill you myself!"' the blond man settled himself down at the kitchen table, and looked up at the door in vain after thinking these thoughts, not knowing exactly how wrong his hopes were.

The slash missed Hito by a hair. Not because the boy had purposefully dodged, but because he'd stepped back in shock as he saw the black and red scythe (the blade was black, the handle crimson red) coming towards him.

"WHOA! What the hell?!" Hito yelled to the creature. It seemed to glide more so than walk, and pulled from the ground its huge scythe after it stuck momentarily.

"Your soul will be much needed…" the creature glided back a bit, at the same time, Hito crawled back with his butt on the floor and his hands behind it so that he looked like he was impersonating a crab. "Please give it to me…" the beast's scraggly voice sprung out and it glided in again. Hito gulped and tried to guess which way it was going to swing.

'Damn it! Which side?"' the red haired boy looked at the scythe and the beast's feet, well, the hem of its robe as it glided towards him. 'Can't do anything but guess, damn, even when I had a martial arts instructor I wasn't good at fighting!"' Hito clenched his eyes shut, reopened them and rolled to the left as the scythe made a right side swing, allowing him a narrow margin at the beginning of the strike to dodge.

"Foolish boy! You cannot fight me if you don't even think of fighting me!" the beast yelled. Its cloaked form twirled around with incredible speed and Hito blinked in confusion. For whatever reason, he'd just realized he was supposed to be in a trial, which meant this beast played a part in his revival.

'Tsugemaru and Hattei were talking about Shiki and stuff, what exactly am I supposed to do to unlock it?!"' the green eyes of Hitonari Jirai were wide with wonder as he pondered this and rolled out of the way of another strike, though this one was to the left.

"If you have no will, then give me your soul!" The beast continued it's murmurings despite the fact that Hito didn't seem to respond. It glided very high up and seemed to swell with power, perhaps the power of darkness. Hito stopped pondering how to release his Shiki and looked at the beast as it began to circle around him in the air.

'What now?!"' The red haired boy backed away with a gulp. The beast's circling motion began to move faster and faster, then, as it circled him for the seventh time it rose the black and red scythe over its head and spun it around at the same time it was circling him.

"This…." The creature began to speak as Hito looked up at it unmoving. "is…" it's scythe seemed to emit a black glow, but Hito was unsure as to whether it was coming from the scythe in truth. "your…." Hito suddenly felt chilled to the bone as the beast addressed him. Then his body froze up as the beast's hand stopped spinning his scythe and it stopped its circular movement directly over Hito. It raised its scythe and the black glow became crimson red. "DOOM!" The yell was cold and powerful.

Hito continued to stare up at the creature, his eyes wide and mouth agape, but, for some reason, he was unable to move, even as the beast swung its scythe downward and the blade glowed with incredible energy before releasing a huge blast of red. 'HOLY CRAP!!!"' Hito watched as the blast rushed toward him. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he realized there was no possible way he could escape the blast, which was bigger than his house he suspected.

'Will to live…Shiki….Power….My Soul….All of it…gone?!"' these thoughts whizzed through Hito's mind. Then, the face of Kazuya Jirai. 'Dad…."' The blast of energy crashed into the ground…

Hattei frowned as he looked at the black pool of energy. 'This kid sure likes to take his time…and ours."' The blue haired boy glanced at his watch (an oddly ornate one that no human would be able to understand) for the umpteenth time and sighed. "Tsugemaru, why the hell don't you jus-" Hattei began, but he was cut off by Tsugemaru.

"Don't think I'm giving up on him. It's still far from time…." The blond man anxiously looked at his own watch (which was as odd as Hattei's). Hattei frowned.

"Is it really that you want him to prevail…Or did you just want to give him hope before he was destroyed?" Hattei questioned darkly. Tsugemaru looked away from his companion and sighed.

"Don't pretend like it isn't a possibility that he'd pass."

"Why not, it isn't?" Hattei questioned, looking at the pool again. Tsugemaru closed his eyes, and then re opened them and looked at the black pool himself.

"I believe he'll prevail." Tsugemaru stated. Hattei blinked. He looked as though he wanted to ask something else, but then shrugged and turned back to watch the very unamusing black pool.

"Well, I'll be damned! What is it that made you come here so soon?! Well, at all, for that matter?!" A British accent broke Hito's vision of his father. An oddly echoed British accent…That had a voice Hito had never heard before attached to it.

Hito sat bolt upright in surprise. He blinked as things came back into focus. 'Whoa, where….This place…Last I remember I was about to be smashed by a guy who dressed up as Death!"' Hito's green eyes swiveled in every direction.

He was so used to black rooms it was hard to adjust to seeing a red room. All red with the exception of an odd symbol painted onto the wall before him. It reminded Hito of an eye, as it was an oval shaped outline with a black slit mark in the center. Well, it looked like a cat's eye specifically.

"I suppose you're curious as to where you are?!" the voice spoke again. Hito stood up this time, just as fast as he'd previously sat up and gulped as he looked around. Nothing seemed weird in the room. Well, except for the fact that it was a horrible room. No furniture, posters, or equipment of any kind. It was a barren red walled room with red floors and a red roof. The only thing odd was that eye painted on the wall….

"Uh, yeah, kind of." Hito said, measuring the threat of talking to the voice as to not talking to it. He decided to talk as that way he (hopefully) wouldn't piss it off.

"It's really quite simple; you're in your soul. But of course you're disbelieving…" the voice spoke yet again. Hito blinked.

"My soul?! Isn't that a little cliché?" he smiled as he surveyed the room. "Anyway, even if I were in my soul, that doesn't explain why I have a hitchhiker….that won't show his face." Hito looked around the room again, as though hoping to see the stranger.

"Hitchhiker?! I AM part of your soul, thanks for giving me credit. And as there isn't a great deal of time we should cut straight to the chase." The voice seemed to ignore the fact that Hito wanted to see him.

Hito rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, what is 'the chase'?" he brushed a hand through his red hair and looked around the red room.

"Well well well, look who can be demanding when they want! Why aren't you so assertive when dealing with those jerks at school?" the voice questioned with a laugh behind it. Hito frowned. How did this guy know he got picked on? "Yes, I know you were bullied all through your life. I'm also quite aware that you wet the bed until you were 8, have to sit in the back seat of a car because of anxiety issues, and have horrible diarrhea after eating anything with the slightest hint of Peanut in it." The voice stated with a snicker after each confession. Hito face fell.

"The hell! How do you know so much about me?!" he stood up defiantly, albeit with reddened cheeks, and yelled around the room. The voice seemed to ponder for a moment; either that or it had just decided to laugh silently.

"I've already told you, I'm a part of your soul. The part of it you'll need if you want to pass this trial and defeat Yomi-" it began again, but Hito cut him off with another trademark question.

"Um, who's Yomi?" the boy asked with a slight sweat drop.

"Ah, that's the creature that's, at present, trying to kill you. He's the guardian of Hell, where your Soul would have gone were you to die." He stated simply. Hito's eyes widened.

"I WOULD have gone to Hell?!" he asked with shock. "What about now, am I turning my life around?!" Hito continued, his jaw dropped.

"Sorry, I should have said the Underworld, just trying to keep things short. Hell we're far from." The voice said slightly smug, as though having all this knowledge impressed Hito (who was blinking confused).

"Uh, how do you know more than me? If you're my soul and all…" Hito said. The voice sighed, and seemed about to explain when there was a large BOOM and the ground shook. Hito blinked in question, but didn't get to ask one. "Oh dear, well I guess this ends our time for today, that is, unless you think dying and knowing the answer to your question is better than not dying and not knowing the answer…" the voice said sarcastically. Hito pondered which option to take.

"I thin-" he was cut off by the voice, now sounding agitated.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, I can't let you die!" the voice yelled in exasperation. "Now then, I'm going to warn you about what will happen if this room shakes-" the room shook as though being signaled. "-again." The voice said. Hito gulped, not liking the urgency that pervaded the voice. "That is the pounding your Soul is taking-I'm taking from trying to keep that attack from pulverizing us, I may not sound stressed, but that's because I've not let it break through…However, the power of YOUR Shiki is the only thing that can truly cancel it out, and the only way for that to happen is for you to choose." The voice spoke extremely swift, but Hito was able to catch it all relatively easily.

"A choice?" he asked.

"Yes, a tough one-Ah, here it is now!" the voice declared cheerfully. Hito blinked and looked around at what 'it' was, but didn't see anything in any direction before he felt an incredible pain, and saw an incredible amount of blood which made his vision hazy. Then he realized that no one had blood here except for him. "I told you it would be tough." The voice stated. Hito looked down and saw a blade, he would have found it quite unique if it had been any other time, but now that it was stabbed halfway through him he couldn't even admire it's pure black color or elegant length, much less the interesting bulge in the center of the hilt which had the same markings as the wall in front of him, that is to say the markings that look like a cat's eye.

"I-ugh!" Hito collapsed, but instead of hitting the ground the sword seemed to float him up and turn him around, so he was facing the Eye which had somehow changed areas and was no the roof.

"Your choice, remove that sword-the limit on your power- or let your hand fall limp because of weakness, and die." The voice said, its accent was less now and Hito could hear the voice as though he himself was speaking. Hito looked up, blood spreading through his school clothing and soaking the blade before dripping off onto the floor. He tried to move his right hand to grasp it, but he felt that hand was going numb and knew it was a waste.

'I, can't just die, not when I've been given two freaking chances to live…Then again, this must be that 'Unlocking your Shiki' thing. I guess I can't…"' Hito began to think, his eyes almost closed, when he felt a sharp pain in his left arm, and felt the arm twitch. Then a shrill and yet eerily raspy voice split into his head.

"DO IT!" the voice finished his previous sentence. Hito's left arm, which was numb and useless before his right one had been, clenched its fist of its own will. Hito's eyes widened and he looked to see the Mark on it glowing a bright Crimson.

'Am I….Becoming one of those creatures?"' Hito continued looking at the arm as the mark seemed to widen and spread upward through his arm and then body. 'I'm…becoming that hideous thing, the thing Tsugemaru and Hattei said they hunted…I'm becoming what killed…ME?!"' Hito's thoughts were at first afraid, and then, like the last spark on a flame lighting ablaze the Mark exploded with pain, and his thoughts shifted to one thing: Survival. "NO!" Hito yelled, looking at his arm, which had become pale white, as though to replace the Mark of the Hollow.

"YES!" the voice in his head screamed. The eye on the roof 'closed' and there was only a thin line where it had once been, as though it couldn't watch. Hito's left arm rose, about to grasp the blade, Hito fought his own arm, trying to keep it from grasping, but he was quickly losing the battle, and with it his last strength.

'Damnit, think, I can't become that thing! I have to…for Dad…What can I do though, it's stronger than me…My other arm…" Hito's eyes went wide at the last thought. He had to use his right arm to grasp before the left, otherwise he was sure the Hollow would fully invade his Soul, and destroy him in the process. He could feel his right arm now, pooling together all his strength, he released his mental hold on the left arm, and his right arm snapped forward inhumanly fast to grasp the sword. Both hands collided at the hilt…

Hattei's eyes went wide. He sat up from the chair he'd taken sleeping position in. "Tsugemaru, was that thing just now..." the blue haired boy's voice trailed off into the distance as he watched pool. He looked at Tsugemaru, who had a small smile on his face. The pool began to bubble, then the bubble turned to a boil, and the boil to huge splashes of black liquid leaping up insanely fast out of the pool.

"Yes, it is. And it appears….He's even stronger than you were." Tsugemaru stated with a smirk. Hattei, though he felt the need to hit Tsugemaru for that comment, couldn't move from the incredible amount of Shiki the pool was now welling up with. Then, as sudden as it began, the pool stopped jerking, and the water lay flat. Both men had only about a minute to think, as the pool erupted again, only this time, making one huge rocket of pure energy cascade out and land on the other side, behind both of them.

A minute before the Black Water's Eruption

Yomi, the demonic scythe wielding guard to the Underworld, floated quite still, it's last attack having finished his latest opponent. "Too bad, they never do throw a strong one down." The raspy voice sighed. "I suppose I'll-" Energy erupted from the crater where the last attack had made its mark, and a bit of it sheathed off a square of Yomi's robe, causing him to stop.

"That…" The darkness had, for this moment, seemed to disperse as a figure in the crater, still smoking, spoke. "was" the owner of the voice talking seemed to have been kneeling or on all fours, as he was now rising to his feet, still smoking. "way" the smoke from the crater cleared, but the man was still a bit hazy. "too hard." Hitonari Jirai blinked as he looked around the area.

"Whoa, check out my new duds!" Hito said, after surveying the area he'd looked at himself. It was true, Hito now had a new attire. His school uniform was now a dark cloak which was only loose at the feet, which it still encompassed completely. The feet themselves were also protected by pure black shoes which weren't quite boots, but reached up a bit past the ankle. Around his neck was a Necklace which had the symbol for 'Judge' on it in Japanese. His left hand had a pure black glove on it, but it was fingerless and had a symbol fashioned in which said 'Release' in Japanese. On his back was sheathed the same blade that was previously through his gut, and now that Hito could see it clearly he realized it was sheathed the entire time, and now the eye on the hilt guard seemed to have closed. It reached about to Hito's knees, but that was with it lying diagonally against his back.

As Hito looked at the blade he realized it seemed to be a thinner version of a claymore, but just as long. It had a thick hilt, but not especially long one, and the hilt formed a simple square. The biggest change, however, came from his right arm. Where there was once an arm, there was now a white cylindrical object which went from under his wrist-low robes, to his right thigh near his knee. It came down to a point and seemed to be a blade on the side facing away from Hito. The red haired boy looked at what had replaced his arm and his sword.

"Nice, kind of weird though. And it doesn't fit my trend of all black now." Hito laughed a bit as he tested it by making slashes in the air. The beast in the air narrowed its eyes (which were illuminated by their yellow glow) and raised its scythe to charge Hito again. Hito blinked and looked at the creature which he had previously been scared to death of. Closing his eyes he realized he wasn't at all afraid, not even without his sight. A smile came to his lips.

"Hey, I don't know why, but I'm guessing that right now…I can probably hold my own." The red haired boy bent his knees as the creature continued to descend from its floating position rapidly. Continuing he placed his left hand on the sword arm and seemed to pet it, bending lower all the while and still not opening his eyes. "So…let's try, shall we?!" His eyes snapped open and glowed a fierce red before he released the tension in his legs, sprang straight up through the air, and slashed straight through Yomi's left arm.

"ARGH!" Yomi's eyes widened. 'This is more than I expected…given the fact that I'm limited… Oh well, I can still beat him with this I'm sure!"' Yomi thought, raising again into the air, despite the fact that Hito seemed to be able to deal with this advantage.

"You gonna run when I get stronger?!! Cause that's really not cool man!" Hito yelled into the air. Yomi ignored him and charged up his blade in the same fashion of spinning it around. Hito could see clearly now, even though it was pitch black and he also felt, as well as saw, the mass of energy welling up. He looked at his right arm. 'This is…the form of my Shiki...If it reflects me…"' Hito closed his eyes again, letting instinct grab him, even as his opponent swirled and charged up an attack.

"You're a fool! You should beat me while you have the chance!" laughter rang from the guardian as it finished it's seventh swirl, and flung the blade down like last time, releasing a torrent of red energy. Hito opened his eyes, and held out his right arm. The arm glowed, then, something amazing happened. It changed. It spread out and now Hito had his right arm back, only the arm was holding onto something that looked like an umbrella without a curve downward. It also had the Eye symbol on it. The blast collided with it, but didn't even scratch it to Yomi's surprise.

"No, I'm not a fool…I just know that Hitonari Jirai is a lot better at protecting, than hurting!" Hito yelled. 'Dad, this is for you!"' Hito thought, he opened his mouth, and cried: "IT'S OVER!" The blast finally dispersed, and Hito's umbrella like shield glowed and folded back onto his arm as a blade. Hito looked at his once more changed arm, then bent his knees, and leapt upwards. Yomi couldn't even react he was so shocked, before his body was sliced in two.

Present

The energy blast landed behind Tsugemaru and Hattei, who both turned to it. As the smoke cleared, a familiar red head boy was shown, unconscious, and with an attire that looked all too familiar to both men…

To Be Continued

Next time: "I SERIOUSLY don't know what's up with this Court of Eternity! Why in the world is Hattei meeting me at my freaking school?! Doesn't he have better things to do? Either way, I don't like the sound of having to join the Court and fight those dead spirit things all day, but then again I'm not really one for him tagging along to the Aquarium with us. Whatever the reason for it, I get the mission to take out the Hollow too, only I can't even remember how I beat Yomi! Next time on Bleach: Court of Eternity: The New Day Job! I hate part time jobs with no pay!"

A/N: Not much to say here... Thanks again to my gracious reviewer, and please do review again! That goes for others that haven't reviewed and told me how I'm doing, I know I'm not the best author so please tell me what I'm doing wrong to you.Well, see you guys!