Bleach: The Court of Eternity

by Nanashi The Silver Fox

Shinigami and Hollows aren't the only creatures that exist after death! Enter the world of the Judges of Eternity, and the boy who became one under unfortunate circumstances, Hitonari Jirai!

6. Embracing Your Fear

Chapter 6: Embracing Your Fear

The Kanazawa Aquarium was home to quite a few interesting types of fish and sea creatures. Sharks, squids, eels, octopuses, sea cucumbers, sponges, and Hollows. Well, Hollow. Only a single Hollow currently took up residence at the Aquarium, and, if two young Judges of Eternity had their way, it wouldn't stay there for long. The two judges in question, however, were finding out exactly how hard it was to get their way.

"HERE IT COMES!" Hattei, a blue haired judge of the Court of Eternity, yelled to his partner in dispatching the Hollow, Hitonari Jirai. Both boys were doing their best to locate the Hollow from dry land, despite the fact that the Hollow had disappeared beneath the surface of the Kanazawa Aquarium's rather large outdoor Pool. Hattei's shout from the left side of the pool alerted Hito, who was running along the right side of the pool, that the Hollow had leapt from the water and charged at Hito.

"AH!" Hito's voice was heard screaming before a loud crunch was reverberating through the air from the Hollow's teeth colliding with each other- its mouth had narrowly missed Hito, who rolled out of the way upon hearing Hattei's warning. Hattei spun his chain and dagger around and tossed it at the creature from his side of the pool. The Hollow saw the chain coming, however, and leapt over it and back into the pool before Hattei could maneuver it to get a second shot.

"Damn!" Hattei exclaimed. Hito rose to his feet shakily- due to his having a sword arm instead of his normal right arm, it was a bit harder for him to maneuver in simple ways. Hattei looked down at the water again, but his eyes couldn't pick up any trace of the Hollow. "Those gills will mean it can breathe underwater- and it's probably a fast swimmer too, so be careful," Hattei yelled over to Hito. Hito nodded shakily.

'I still can't believe this- How in the heck am I supposed to fight something like that?"' Hito pondered, running around on his side of the pool with his sword arm held towards the water, just in case the Hollow leapt out at any time.

It just so happened that "at any time" was very soon- before Hito had gone 10 steps, the Hollow erupted from the pool, splashing water everywhere, and charged, this time at Hattei. Hattei leapt backwards and avoided the bite, but the Hollow seemed to expect this, as it swept it's hand into the blue haired boy while he was still in midair. "HATTEI!" Hito exclaimed. Then, without even thinking, Hito did something he wouldn't be able to think as possible- he leapt across the pool. A 20 mt. radius was cleared without Hito even realizing it until he landed on the other side.

'W-whoa! I just leapt across that huge po-"' Hito's thoughts were interrupted by a blinding pain. In his shock, the boy forgot to keep aware of his surroundings and had received a heavy blow from the Hollow as a result. He went barreling into Hattei, who had just begun to recover himself, and was knocked down again.

"Ugh! Idiot, get off!" Hattei shoved Hito away from himself and then got up with his weapon ready only to see the Hollow's legs disappear beneath the water again. Hito groaned and pulled himself up from the ground as well.

"Ow- What the heck?! Is that thing on steroids… Better question, am I?!" Hito asked. Hattei wiped his brow and looked over at Hito.

"What are you asking?"

"How come that thing's so powerful… And since when could I suddenly jump like a Shonen action hero?" Hito asked.

Hattei sighed and shook his head in disbelief. "You're kidding right? You should realize how much stronger Hollows are than normal humans from the whole incident inside the Aquarium- you really think Judges of Eternity would be unable to control their Shiki enough to match them?!"

"Hey, don't make fun of me! I'm still not even sure what Shiki is supposed to be, much less how to control it!" Hito proclaimed angrily. Hattei shrugged and holstered the dagger part of his chain (he had a sheath on his waist for the 1 ½ ft. dagger).

"Doesn't matter," he said, "that Hollow isn't coming up, it looks like. Judging by the way it was batting us around, it's probably waiting for us to go after it underwater- in its turf." Hattei deduced. Hito shook his head, mouthing wordlessly.

"Y-y-you've got to be kidding me! How in the world are we supposed to fight that thing underwater?! We can barely keep up with it up here!"

"Well, we really don't have a choice…. Hm, it's been about an hour since we got to the Aquarium, and the Hollow was at about 60 Black Soul, so that means…. Hm, I'll be it's probably in the mid 90s with the black soul now… Damn, we won't make it otherwise…" Hattei muttered mysteriously. Hito's eye twitched in annoyance as Hattei paced back and forth while muttering these seemingly random thoughts.

"Oi! Keep me informed, will you?!" Hito yelled, grabbing Hattei's shoulder and turning him around. Hattei frowned.

"We don't have a lot of time before that Hollow Progresses," at Hito's blank look, Hattei added- "It'll become a force of nature when that happens."

"Oh…" Hito said, looking back towards the pool. 'That thing… Will get stronger?! Darn it, there's no way we can fight it underwater now, but if we wait, it'll come up stronger than now…"'

"Ah, but Hito," Hattei started. Hito turned to Hattei, his musings paused by the boy's interjection. "I think I may have a plan to get it out of the water- but we don't have a lot of time," Hattei voiced.

"Okay, hit me with it!" Hito said, sounding braver than he felt.

Hattei looked at the water, then at Hito and began to explain…

'I….I can feel pain… I can feel the pain everywhere…. But why is it… Wet?! ARGH! I HATE THE WATER!!"' Black veins writhed through the body of the pale Hollow, making it, in turn, writhe in pain. The beast was still underwater, and it felt as though its very soul was being eaten away like it had eaten away so many others. The pain it felt was that of a being that didn't want to exist anymore, but had no choice. As though deemed by the Gods unfit for death. A being that was ready to give in, that had lost everything, but could not gain death's sweet embrace. Not that it hadn't tried to die.

Indeed, the Hollow's very soul screamed whenever it was close to death- not in pain, or in sadness, but in joy. Its body had slowly been plagued by the mysterious energy from deep within its soul. A deathly energy that it knew it couldn't handle. An energy from the depths of darkness. The dark energy, though, wouldn't kill it. It would, instead, give the Hollow an increase in strength, but for the steep price of slowly tearing down its very being, bringing it incredible pain no matter how many souls it consumed. The dark energy made it too strong to be dispatched. Even know, the foolish beings trying to defeat it would be destroyed, and he'd consume their souls. But it would be neither soothing nor filling. The pain would continue, until it completely broke it down. The Hollow knew that, when the dark energy became too much for its body, its own soul would no longer be capable of being saved.

'I'll… I'll kill them! I'll kill them both! Then, the pain will die, I know it will!"' the Hollow's unbroken thoughts were now as deeply black as the energy that was painfully tearing it apart. It was close to the darkness, and the darkness was telling it what to do. It would listen, and do as the darkness commanded.

Hito gulped and readied his sword arm. 'I can't believe I'm doing this!"' the red head thought. "Oh well, I guess if I die, at least I went out like a hero," Hito said aloud. He looked over the edge of the pool, wondering where the Hollow was now. Hattei said that it was stationary, which meant that the pain of Shiki overtaking its soul was too much for it to move before it "Progressed" and became stronger by 'learning' to manipulate Shiki as opposed to Reiki. Or something like that. 'Although that guy's steered me wrong before… I wonder if he'd actually let me die?!"' Hito gulped, then looked up at the sky. He took in the beauty of it- thinking it would be his last chance- and then turned back to the pool.

"Hito, I'm in position!" Hattei yelled from a bush. Hito sweat dropped.

'He's really getting into it, to hide behind a bush!"' Hito thought. Aloud, he said: "Alright, I guess I'm going in, then!" Hito said.

Their plan was simple, and, (hopefully) effective. Hito would dive into the water and make himself an obvious target. The Hollow, progressed or not, should smell Hito's soul a lot better when they were both in the same area, and go after him. Then it was a simple matter of getting out of the water fast enough to avoid being eaten and make sure the Hollow came out with him so he could get a face full of Hattei's sword. Hito steeled himself, and then took what could be considered a leap of faith, into the depths of the dark water.

The first thing Hito noticed was how much darker the water seemed from beneath its surface. On the surface he figured it was kind of dark, if he couldn't see the Hollow, but when he actually looked around, he realized it was more like a pure black than the dark blue he'd thought it was. As he pedaled his feet to keep himself from sinking too far, he looked around for signs of the Hollow. He got them only a second later.

"RRRRRRRR!" Hito's heart skipped a beat, as he heard the dark growl. He swiveled around immediately- hoping against hope it was something, anything other than the Hollow. No such luck. The Hollow was swimming towards him, and, where before it was ugly, now it was just plain hideous. Its entire body was bleeding the black ooze that looked like blood (the same that was covering its gills earlier) and its fins were becoming ragged. This didn't do anything to help Hito's courage. Despite himself, his steeled resolve, and his newfound courage… Hito found himself frozen in terror again. The Hollow's charge wasn't slowed. It came directly up to Hito, opened its mouth, and began to close its jaws around the terrified high school Judge of Eternity…

Hattei blinked. He'd been waiting behind an unsuspecting bush for about 20 seconds when he felt it. The stirring of a great Shiki about to be released. 'No way! The Hollow must have progressed already!... But… Why is it so…Calm… Like realization?!"' Hattei wasn't sure if he wanted to find out the answer, but he knew that he had to. The likeliest case was that Hito was dead or near dead, and the Hollow's progression gave it a new sense of itself. In truth, the blue haired boy had only ever actually fought a single fully progressed Hollow, but he figured it was possible that a Hollow became more than just a lumbering beast when it progressed. As he rushed towards the pool, however, there was a huge splash of water, and the Hollow flew from the water and landed several feet away from him. Hattei slid to a stop, and turned around to see Hitonari Jirai grasping the edge of the pool and pulling himself out slowly with labored breathing.

Approximately 10 seconds ago

'I've really done it this time, I've really managed to die!"' Hito was so close. So close to his death as the beast's mouth opened before him. His entire life flashed before his eyes. And that's when his arm changed. Almost instinctively, he felt the sword wrapped around his right arm tear itself apart and seem to flip up and out into the umbrella-esque shield he'd used only a night before. 'DAD!"' Hito's mind was yelling as the teeth of the Hollow collided with his shield. He could feel it now. His Shiki. He didn't know how he knew that's what it was, but he did know that's what it was, and it was perfectly malleable. Well, not perfectly, but he got the feeling that he could, if he wanted, turn his arm back into a blade…

'I can't die… Not yet… Dad'll be toast without me! He'll burn down the house!... But, more importantly… I wonder about this thing that's supposed to be the form of my Shiki…"' Hito's thoughts turned to mischief as his umbrella-shield folded back onto his arm. The Hollow was still shaking itself from the impact of hitting the shield, and didn't make too much movement away from Hito as Hito smirked and drew back his right arm across the left side of his body, then swung with all the force he could muster. 'Hattei will be really surprised!"'

"How did you do that?!" Hattei asked in shock as Hito slowed his breathing and shook himself dry.

"It's a secret!" Hito teased. Hattei slammed an elbow into Hito's gut, and Hito was soon rolling around in pain. "Hey! Don't be jealous!" Hito said after recovering.

"LIKE I'D BE JEALOUS OF YOU!" Hattei exclaimed. Hito sniggered. "And just why are you laughing?!"

"Cause it's obvious you're majorly jealous!" Hito retorted confidently petting his sword arm. "I know my sword's way cooler looking than your…Whatever that is," Hito motioned to Hattei's chain dagger, "but you've just got to learn to accept that, Hattei!" Hito laughed after his boast, and Hattei grumbled darkly.

A roar snapped them back to reality. Hito turned around and saw the beast looming darkly over them. VERY darkly over them. The Hollows entire skin was now a dark black, it's mask was the only white part on it, and even that was tainted with black ooze. It's muscles bulged and its veins were visible through every limb.

"Dang, while we were talking, it Progressed!" Hattei gulped. Hito looked at the Hollow, then at his sword arm and back at Hattei.

"Hey… That thing's a dead person's soul, right?" He asked suddenly.

"Yeah… Why?"

"We… Can't save it like we saved me, can we?"

"No… The Progressed Hollows lack a large part of their souls- Shiki is slowly eating away at the soul even now. But… If we can destroy the shell quickly enough and perform a "Judgement" on its soul… Well, it might be able to avoid Hell." Hattei explained, then, he added "and this time I mean the Hell that's really bad, like with the Devil and stuff" as though remembering Hito wouldn't know.

"Ah, I see. So a Hollow that progresses is on the pathway to Hell. Unless you can get it soon after the Progression. Hm, nice to know." Hito said solemnly. He was now petting his sword arm and looking steely at the Hollow, which returned its glance with a manic glint in its black eyes.

"Why are you asking such weird questions suddenly anyway?" Hattei queried.

"I realized down there," Hito began, pointing to the water with his left hand, "that I couldn't die because my Dad is still around, and I couldn't just give up on life. But, that Hollow probably never got the same chance as me… It probably ended up becoming such a dark creature because of it… It never got to see its family and friends anymore, and was alone. Alone and sad, and afraid. That fear is… The thing that feeds its darkness." Hito stated. The Hollow growled lowly as Hito spoke, walking slowly towards its prey. Hattei looked at Hito with wide eyes.

'This guy… Having so much emotion suddenly… It's like he can understand the Hollow… I-I never even thought about feeling for the Hollow, it was just always my job to destroy them."' Hattei thought in awe of Hito.

"That fear," Hito continued. "Is the same as my fear… If I had become a Hollow, I would be in the same position. So… I'm going to destroy that Hollow's shell, and show it not to be afraid… Then I won't have to be afraid either- even if I die while doing this crazy job." Hito finished. He then looked at Hattei and blinked- in the blink of those eyes his previously cold and focused eyes changed to a more normal view.

"Heh! Sorry for getting all deep there! But I think you get my point! Let's finish this!" Hito declared, putting his right arm in front of him like holding a normal blade. Hattei blinked, then smiled warmly in return.

"You're… A really big idiot," Hattei stated simply. Hito sweatdropped. The Hollow, as though taking the cue of the change in atmosphere, charged at the two.

Hito and Hattei, like they had always worked together, engaged in perfect unison. The Hollow swung its right fist at Hito, who blocked with his sword arm, and then ran along the side of the Hollow's right arm, cutting it up with his blade arm. Black blood spilled form the wound as Hattei spun his chain around and sent it to wrap around the Hollow's left arm. The Hollow didn't seem to feel the pain of either Hito's slash, or Hattei's ensnaring of his arm, and instead only kicked Hito away with his right foot. Hito flew backwards, but managed to slide to a stop with minimal damage.

"I'm… Sorry but it'll be over soon!" Hito exclaimed, jumping up and pulling his right arm back. The Hollow roared and tried to bring its left arm up as Hito charged towards its mask, but Hattei held strong and kept the arm from moving. There was a sickening crunch, and spatter of blood as Hito stabbed cleanly into the head of the beast. This caused the beast real pain, and threw up its left arm, despite Hattei's enormous effort to keep it locked down, and slapped Hito away. Both boys again sprawled into each other, but this time, they both returned to their feet moments later, and watched as the Hollow writhed in pain, its mask bleeding black blood.

"ARGH!! WHY?! WHY DID YOU LEAVE!!" Hito and Hattei both watched as the beast murdered in a split voice- half of it sounded like the deep grumblings of a Hollow, while the other half was the voice of a child- probably a boy of about four. "I…I couldn't swim! Why dad?!" at the word dad, Hito bit his lip. The Hollow fell to its knees.

"It's… A kid!" Hattei declared.

"Yeah… His dad must have been unable to save him when he was drowning…" Hito said, though he knew that was probably not it. From the sound of things, his father completely left him to drown.

"Yeah…Maybe". Hattei added halfheartedly.

"I…I want to go HOME!!" The Hollow roared- half of its mask fell off when it shrieked the last word, and its voice returned to the fully gravelly voice of a Hollow. The face of a young boy was visible for a moment after half the mask was ripped off, but only for a moment as soon an inky black liquid spilled over and covered it. Hito growled, and then charged in at the same time that the Hollow charged at Hattei and him.

"I won't let it happen anymore," Hito yelled as he charged. He leapt into the air as the Hollow punched at him. The arm it punched with, however, was soon sliced off, as Hattei's dagger chain hit it. This deterred it only for a moment as it dodged Hito's first strike- a helmbreaker from his sword arm- and punched at him with its other arm. Hito brought up his sword arm and it changed with a swift glow into the shield form. The punch did little to the shield, and Hattei had retrieved his chain, and know wrapped it around the beast's left arm.

"You deserved to be saved, kid," Hattei uttered, bringing his chain back with incredible force and breaking the Hollow's left arm. Hito's arm folded back onto him as a sword arm, and he bent his knees, even as the Hollow opened its mouth and lunged at him like a shark, he leapt straight towards it.

"I won't let you feel this fear again!!" Hito exclaimed. He brought his right arm back as he was in the air directly before the Hollow, then jabbed it forward, and straight through the beast's skull. The beast's charge stopped immediately, and it seemed to dissolve as Hito dropped from the air. White light broke out over the area for an instant, and then Hito was standing over the body of a young boy- wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and half of his young face was covered with black ooze for a moment, but soon the ooze dispersed. Hito breathed heavily as he landed and then looked at the boy.

"W-what's going on?!" The child asked in fear. "Wh-what happened to mommy and daddy?!" he asked.

"Hey, buddy!" Hito greeted upon landed. The child looked fearfully at him for a moment, but then eased as Hito smiled brightly at him.

"A-are you a robot?!" the child inquired as it looked at Hito's sword arm. Hito looked at it, and then shook his head. "O-oh. Do you know where my daddy is… He was right…" the child looked around, and then seemed to realize something. "Oh… My daddy didn't come… did he?"

"No, kid. Sorry," Hattei interjected. Hito turned to him with a look that said "be gentle", but Hattei only walked up and pulled out a gavel from his robes.

"Hey, Hattei, what are you going to do?!"

"What does it look like? I'm going to pass Judgment-"

"Not yet! We have to at least explain what's going on!" Hito exclaimed. Hattei shook his head. The child backed up a little bit, but Hattei walked forward without missing a beat. Just as he was about to smash the gavel into the boy's head, Hito stepped in front of him. Hattei blinked, but Hito turned to talk to the boy again. He put his left hand on the child's shoulder and smiled soothingly again.

"Hey… You're going to go somewhere that everyone goes to soon enough, okay?" Hito asked. The boy blinked in confusion. Hattei looked up at the sky and bit his lip nervously.

"Hito, the demonic forces in hell are probably going to notice all the darker Shiki around here- they'll overlook us, but the kid will become theirs. We have to pass Judgment quickly."

Hito looked at Hattei, then at the sky. A dark circle was slowly forming and swirling over them. Hito gulped as well, then turned to the child again. "Look, I know you don't know me, but I just want you to know that… Your dad…" Hito hesitated. He wanted to leave the child one good memory either way it went, but was lying okay? He shook it off, and then returned to smiling. "I bet he really misses you," the child smiled, but before he could say anything, Hattei rushed over and lightly tapped his head with the gavel. The boy then blinked in confusion as his spiritual body was yanked from the world of the living.

"Wha- Oh, thanks, pretty lady, tell my dad I miss him too!!" were the boy's parting words. He disappeared in a flash of light, and along with him, the black circle that threatened overhead.

Hito and Hattei just stood there for a moment. The entire ordeal over, they were quite ready to return to the bus and get out of the museum. But before they moved, Hattei turned to Hito with raised eyebrows and said one word.

"Lady?"

Hito hit the bed hard. Tiredness was all that mattered right now. It didn't matter that he was called a woman not two hours ago, or that he had nearly been killed 6 times in 24 hours, it didn't matter that he and Hattei were harshly shouted at for making the bus late to leave. All that mattered was sleep. Now he just wanted to lay down on one of the beds in his room, and take a nice, long… The red haired boy sat bolt upright, and turned to the blue and black bed across from the one he was currently laying on.

"DAD!" he yelled. Two beds in one room wasn't a problem, but why would his father give him a second bed when his current one was just fine? A few seconds later he heard footsteps on the stairs, and then, the door opened and Hitonari Jirai was met with seeing his father. Hito's father had a tray of fried rice and a juice box, which he sat down on Hito's nightstand.

"Yo, what's up kiddo?"

"Yay! Food!" Hito exclaimed with zeal, then he regained composure and added, "Uh-um, I mean: How come I have two beds?!" Kazuya Jirai blinked, then turned to look at the black and blue sheeted bed. He then slapped his hand against his forehead and laughed loudly.

"Oh, sorry kiddo! I completely forgot, but I got a call earlier- from some foreign guy that said you'd signed up for some "Foreign Exchange" program or something. Seems there's a kid that'll be staying here for a while, so I got him a bed!" The older Jirai man said. Hito blinked, not remembering any such thing. As if on cue, Mr. Jirai added: "and next time, could you remind me about this kind of thing. Foreign exchange kids are normally a pain, so I'd be against it, but I guess you picked a pretty good candidate- he doesn't even sound foreign, as a matter of fact!" Kazuya said. Hito blinked in confusion, still not recalling anything….

Footsteps were heard again. Hito looked up at the doorway, waiting for whoever it was that could be coming through to show up. 'Meh, they probably won't be that bad, after spending the day with Hattei, I just wish I remembered who they were…" Hito's thoughts trailed off and then the first part of his thought sunk in 'After Hattei…'

"Hey, Hitonari-san!" Hattei, back in school clothes and with a wide smile Hito knew was fake, entered the room. "Looks like we'll be staying with each other for a while!" Hattei exclaimed with nauseating cheeriness.

'…Lady Luck, you've never been so cruel!"'

Next time: "I hate you Hattei! Well, I guess I don't hate you, but I would like it less you weren't every single place I was! Well, now that Hattei's going to be staying with me, things are getting really crazy! Hollows, Hollows, everywhere, and a cute girl too! Wait-WHAT?! She's a Shinigami?! And she's dangerous at that?! You've got to be kidding me! Such a cute girl is part of an Afterlife crime syndicate?! And now we have to capture her! Life is getting way too crazy for me! Next time on Bleach: The Court of Eternity: So THAT'S a Shinigami! –For a dead girl, she's got really nice hair!"

AN: Whew, well, I cranked out three chapters to make up for being gone for so long. I know it's pretty annoying to find a story you like and then the author won't update for forever, so here's my gift to you guys that are reading and enjoying! I'll try and not make chapter 7 last half a year... But no promises. As always, review!