The Darkness in the Storm
He was going to die in this place, of that much he was sure. He didn't care. He was strangely at peace, actually. The only worry he had on his mind was what they would tell his family, if they were going to be told anything instead of just being left in the dark.
His family. He hadn't seen them in a while. It had been three years since his commander had snatched him up, put a gun in his hand, and made him fight in the Small Boy unit. His sister's, Karin and Yuzu, had had three birthdays without him. He wondered how they were holding up. The loss of their mother had nearly destroyed the entire family. What had happened after their big brother had gone missing? What had happened to his father after his eldest child had vanished, seemingly from the face of the earth?
These were good thoughts, he mused. Nice, normal ponderings to have while one was bleeding out on a battle field with a blade in his chest. Much better than the thoughts that would normally be racing around in the head of a kid who's mind had been warped by the cruel realities of war.
They'd killed people, the entire Small Boy unit. They'd killed countless enemies, each of the unit having at least five fatalities to their name. In that scenario, they'd all been faced with a choice: find a way to cope or eat their own guns. Some had taken the latter option, but most had taken the former.
Most of the Small Boys that had picked life over suicide had picked up some sort of bad habit. A good portion had taken to drinking right after a mission, letting the intoxication wash away memories of spilled blood. The only exceptions to that were the two who'd adopted completely opposing solutions, and yet still got along better than anyone else in the unit.
The first exception was Yasutora Sado, whom everyone had taken to simply calling 'The Tiger.' He kept himself from going crazy by rationalizing that by doing what he was doing, he was keeping a promise to his grandfather, a promise he'd made to use his strength-which wasn't anything to sneeze at-to protect. In his mind, by fighting these battles and killing these men, he was protecting his homeland, and by extension anyone who lived in it.
He himself, the young man who was mostly called a demon by his enemies, but whose dog tags bore the name 'Ichigo Kurosaki' stamped into them, had taken a…shall we say, less healthy course. He didn't know why, be it due to some flaw in his brain chemistry, or just because he was a sick little bastard, but he loved all the killing. He relished all the bloodshed, and he got a massive hard on when he was in the midst of battle and just hacking his enemies to bits with his machete without a care in the world. He knew that there was something wrong with that, that if he were to go up to any shrink and say that he enjoyed killing people, they'd throw him in the nut house without a second thought, but he didn't care. In his current environment, he had plenty of opportunities to slate his odd blood lust, so he could give a flying fuck if it didn't quite qualify as what most people would call 'normal.'
Well, he used to have plenty of opportunities. He was dying now, and it was kind of hard to kill, well, anything when you were in the midst of joining the ranks of the deceased yourself. Idly, he wondered if Yasutora, who Ichigo called Chad, because 'The Tiger' sounded corny, was okay. The entire unit had been caught in the ambush that had led to his current predicament, and he'd only really put odds on him and Chad surviving. Fuck all the rest of the guys, they were all either dead, or pussy ass enough to actually turn traitor. That was fine, if that was the case, that just meant he'd get to kill them later, if he managed to live through all this. Despite the whole dying thing, a grin found its way across Ichigo's features at the prospect of more death by his hand.
"For fuck's sakes! Would you hurry up and die already?!" A voice that the homicidal boy wasn't familiar with called from his right. He turned his head and could do nothing but let his eyes widen at the sight that greeted him.
The man was massive, at least from where Ichigo was standing, laying, whatever. He wore a black kimono with a tattered, sleeveless, white haori over it. His hair was done in backward pointing spikes with bells at the tips, and he wore an eye-patch. At his hip, there was a sword wrapped in bandages.
In short, he looked like the last mother fucker that Ichigo needed to be dealing with at the moment.
"Could you say that again?" the boy asked sarcastically. "I couldn't hear you over the sound of me bleeding like a stuck pig." He snarked. It unnerved even the young sociopath when the man let out a grin that wouldn't look out of place on a shark.
"About to bite it big and you can still crack wise. I like that. But like I said earlier, hurry up and die already. I don't wanna have to wait any longer than I have to in order to fight you." The giant commanded impatiently.
"That's right! Kenny's been bored lately Soldier Berry and he needs someone fun to play with or he'll get really cranky!" A child's voice said from behind the behemoth of a man. A little head of short pink hair then popped up on the other side of the giant's shoulder, the face a little girl being framed by it. "So come on! Hurry up and die!"
"I'm so sorry that the machete jutting from sternum isn't doing me in fast enough for you." Ichigo ground out. He'd made the mistake of shifting his position while he was talking, causing his entire abdominal area to explode with pain. Needless to say, it was hard to snark when he was in agony.
"As you should be, Soldier Berry! Don't you know it's rude to keep people waiting?" The little girl asked, completely missing the venom in the boy's tone.
"Look, if you both want me dead so much, why don't you just kill me yourself? Not like it would take much." Ichigo pointed out.
"Oh, don't tempt me kid. It's against the rules to kill a human that hasn't attacked us first. I may want to fight you really badly, but I don't need the old fart on my ass for not following regulations." Said the giant. Ichigo gave him a flat look, then slowly wrapped his fingers around the hand of the machete at his side. He lifted it with one hand and swung it feebly at the giant, the blow connecting with the lightest of taps.
"There, I attacked you. Now get it over with." Ichigo commanded.
"Works for me!" The giant roared, pulling his sword from its sheath and hefting it high with another sharky grin on his face. The grin then faded as the gargantuan man craned his head to the side. After a moment, the man frowned sheathed his sword with a disappointed sigh.
"Fuck. Well, kid, it looks like our fight's gonna have to wait a while after all." He said, sounding for all the world like a little boy who'd just been told that he couldn't go to the park. "So, anyway, I gotta go, but I think I'll take a little something to remember you by." The giant said before putting his hand around the dog tags around Ichigo's neck and yanking them free. "And you take this," he began, removing the bell from the middle spike of his hair and slipping it into Ichigo's free hand. "and remember the name: Kenpachi Zaraki!" The man exclaimed before turning to walk away.
"And Yachiru Kusajishi, too!" The little girl called from the giant, Kenpachi's, shoulder.
"I…will?" the boy said, not really knowing what else to say. What do you say when a guy takes your tags, gives you a bell in return, and tells you to remember his name? He blinked, both Kenpachi and Yachiru had vanished completely.
With the gargantuan guy no longer obstructing his line of sight, Ichigo could see a few figures in the distance that were steadily making their way to his position. Even better, they were wearing the Small Boy colors. Even better, though he wasn't one hundred percent positive due to the fact that his vision was now beginning to blur from blood loss, but he was pretty sure that the dark skinned guy leading them all was Chad. Good. Chad had survived. That meant that…he could…just drift…off…to…
Before the teen slipped completely into unconsciousness, one final though resounded through his mind. "and you remember the name: Kenpachi Zaraki!
A/N: So, how was it? Did you enjoy being tantalized? I hope so.
Now, before I retreat back into my secret cave of secret secrets, there're a few more things that I need to address.
These little blurbs of stories are kind of like teasers for movies, so some of these scenes may not actually make into the story they teased in their entirety. There may be elements of the teaser scenes, there may be the scenes themselves, I don't kknow, it all depends on what I feel like doing.
This chapter's teaser may not reveal what the story is actually about, but it was the only hint I could give you that wouldn't be glaringly obvious.
Updates will be slow coming. Like I said, hand writing, then typing, and add on beta-reading if I can find a good beta. Volunteers or recommendations on that front would be appreciated.
Just like last time, the continuation or death of a story depends on my readers.
Stories will be posted in pairs. What I mean is that I will post two first chapters of stories, then update them alternately. So, first chapter, first chapter, second chapter of first posted story, etc.
Finally, at the time of publishing, Darkness in the Storm has been written and is waiting for typing, and Weeping Devil is being written.
As always, thank you for reading, and review me with your thoughts, ideas, concerns or constructive criticisms. No flames though. Fire bad.