Wow, second chapter already. I don't know how fast updates are going to be for this, but I think I want to at least try and get a few chapters out fairly quickly. No promises though. This chapter's a little shorter than the last one, but I'm already writing the third, and it looks like it's going to be ridiculously long. I don't know the exact numbers yet, but it's already 9 pages on Open Office, and it's not even done. This chapter's 6 pages, by the way. I've tried to break the other one up, but just can't.

A big thank you to those of you who reviewed, favorited, or added this story to your alert list. You make me very happy! Alerts and favorites are great and all, but what I really love is reviews. Those make my day, so if you could just take a minute at the end to tell me what you think, I would be very happy. ^^

Not Normal

Chapter 2

Ichigo

"Ichigo Kurosaki," I replied.

I don't really know why I told the boy my name. Call it a whim. In all actuality, he wasn't even supposed to know I existed, much less my name. Nobody was. I'd been sent to capture a few rogue werewolves and ghosts. Seemed simple enough. But it was my first week on the job, and I'd already almost killed an innocent civilian, dragged said civilian across half the city, and broken the number one rule of my line of work, "Never let humans see what's on the 'other side'." Well. Guess I screwed that up pretty badly. And the worst part was that I hadn't even realized I'd grabbed him! I know how stupid that sounds, but I'm so used to protecting people that I just kind of instinctively grabbed the kid. Ukitake was going to kill me.

I disentangled his hand from my jacket. He seemed satisfied with my answer, as he withdrew the appendage back into the barrier. I then turned to glare at the cause of the current situation: Di Roy and his followers. The vampire was one of the rogue vampires I'd been assigned to kill, and had spotted me tracking him and his group because of some carelessness on my part. They'd had been chasing me for the past few days. He was more of an annoyance than an actual threat, but he was an annoyance I was quickly growing tired of. So today I planned to get rid of him. Permanently.

"Impressive light show," Di Roy commented mockingly.

"Glad you think so," I smiled back at him.

We stared at each other for a minute or so before I broke the awkward silence.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you gonna attack me?"

"Impatient?"

"My time here's limited. I, unlike some other people," I stared pointedly at him, "Have more important things to do than have a staring contest that we both know I'd win anyway."

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

'This is fun,' I decided mentally. Out loud, I only asked innocently, "Waiting for someone?"

"Who would I be waiting for?" he growled out.

"Someone who might actually stand a chance against me?" I suggested. "Or someone for you to hide behind? Either or."

Let me get something out of the way quickly: I don't like starting fights. I like to see the other person's first move, and then devise a plan from there. So I antagonize someone else to start the fight for me. And Di Roy was falling for it, hook, line, and…! A knife whizzed by my head, just missing me, and embedded itself in the wall behind me, breaking my train of thought.

'Sinker,' I finished, congratulating myself. Di Roy held another knife ready, arm poised to throw, face twisted into a snarl.

"You seem a little cranky today," I couldn't resist one last jibe. "Low blood sugar?"

That got him.

He swore at me colorfully, then roared, "ATTACK!!"

The werewolves came at me first, baring their fangs and claws. They could run faster than any ordinary human. Good thing I wasn't ordinary.

I dodged under the first one's claws and landed a quick punch to the ribs. He doubled over in pain, and using his head as a springboard, I jumped, firing two shots in rapid succession as I did. The first hit one of the beasts in between the eyes, and the second lodged itself in another's neck. They didn't bleed. They didn't have time. I'd given them both fatal wounds, so instead of bleeding like they would have had I hit them anywhere less deadly, they disintegrated into black dust, which was then blown away by a vagrant gust of wind. I then fired down, killing my "springboard." He didn't bleed either. I rarely miss.

I landed gracefully on my feet, eying the remaining two werewolves. They circled me warily, and I patiently waited for them to make a move. I didn't have to wait long, as patience isn't one of their greatest assets.

In an obviously well thought out, creative move (sarcasm), they charged at me simultaneously. I stayed where I was, then stepped back at the last second, letting them plow into each other headfirst. I swear I heard a hollow sound when their heads collided.

I raised my guns to fire at the two dazed creatures, but stopped when I heard the whistling sound of something slicing through the air, a barely perceptible sign of attack that I'd grown to recognize from training with my guns for so long. I dropped to the ground and rolled behind one of the wolves just in time, for even as I moved, icy shards as sharp as knives pierced through the space I'd just been standing in. The onslaught continued, moving to follow me. I crouched behind the lycanthrope, and I heard two loud yelps of pain as the shards reached the werewolves.

Warm liquid hit my cheek, and I looked up. The attack hadn't stopped, as I'd thought it would, but had instead hit the two wolves full force. I moved to touch the liquid that flecked my cheek with a finger. When I removed it, the finger was covered in red. I stared at the wolf men in front of me in shock as they slowly disintegrated into dust.

The ice had stopped, so I stood. I'd forgotten how these creatures lived. "Show no mercy," was like a motto for them. When something wore out its use or got in the way, they got rid of it. It's not so different from what I did, but I chose to ignore that at the moment.

I looked at the witch who had cast the ice spell in cold fury. She smiled at me, a grotesque expression on a witch, acting as if she hadn't just killed, no, murdered her two comrades in cold blood. Her red hair whipped around her face as she began to cast a second spell, another ice one by the look of it. I fired once, killing the offending woman. Betrayal doesn't sit well with me. I don't care where or how I see it, whenever I do, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't know why, it just does.

Unfortunately, because of my little act of justice (?), I didn't see the other two witches casting an electricity spell until it almost hit me in the back. I dodged just in time, and the ball of crackling yellow energy landed harmlessly on the ground, but I couldn't quite avoid the rain of bullets from the vampire girl's machine gun that followed immediately after. A few of the deadly projectiles grazed me in the leg. I winced in pain. Running would be more difficult now, and if I didn't stop the blood welling from the wounds soon, I'd be in trouble. Wonderful.

Using a last burst of speed, I moved in front of the vampire, then dropped into a crouch and swung one of my legs around, sweeping her feet out from under her. As she fell, her gun left her grip and landed on one of her legs. She let out a screech of pain, but it didn't last long, as I hit her over the head with the barrel of one of my guns, knocking her out. I wasn't in much of a fighting mood anymore. I just wanted this to be over.

I heard another ball of energy being thrown at me, and turned.

'Enough of this,' I thought wearily.

I raised my guns and shot into the energy. The ball stopped for a second, and then began to spin. Faster and faster it spun, until it was just a blur of yellow light. I ducked and covered my ears, already knowing the outcome. The witches, on the other hand, just stared at it in fascination. So they were completely unprepared when the blur exploded with a tremendous BOOM! The women were blown back, screaming shrilly, until their bodies collided with the alley walls. They went silent. I didn't know if they were dead or unconscious, but either way, it didn't really matter to me. They were out of the fight, and that's what was important.

All that was left was Di Roy. I unfolded myself from the crouch, then looked to check on the white haired boy I'd almost forgotten about. He had been blown back into one of the barrier walls by the blast, and was rubbing his ears, which were most likely ringing. Other than that though, he seemed fine, so I turned back to the vampire.

"And then there was one," I muttered just loud enough for him to hear, placing one of my guns in it's holster. I'd only need one for this.

He was scared, of that I was sure. I slowly limped to where he stood. He raised his knife protectively, but I shot it out of his hand. Di Roy turned to run, but by then I'd already reached him. I grabbed him by the back of his jacket, turned him to face me, then fisted my free hand in his shirt, lifting him slightly off the ground.

"Who sent you here?" I asked in a low, no-nonsense voice.

"I-I don't know what you mean," he stammered slightly. Sweat beaded his forehead. Apparently, he was now scared and nervous.

I shot down, narrowly missing his foot.

"I'm not in the mood to play games, Di Roy," I growled out. "You have five seconds to answer me. One."

"You're not seriously going to kill me if I don't answer you, are you?" he asked.

"Two,"

"C-c'mon, let's be reasonable,"

"Three,"

"You don't understand, I can't-"

"Four," I said, aiming my gun at his head.

"Alright!" he cried. "I'll tell you."

I stopped counting, but didn't move my gun.

The vampire took a deep breath. "W-well, I work for a guy, sure, b-but he didn't send me here. He d-didn't even know I was following you. I've never even personally m-met him," he babbled nervously. My eyes narrowed. He saw it, and stopped with a gulp.

"Now, please. My patience is wearing thin."

He opened his mouth again. "I work for-"

Before he could continue, the vampire started choking. He let out a strangled scream, eyes bugging out of his head in fear. Around his neck, a circle had formed. It was red, and stood out against the man's pale skin. Written into it were strange characters that I faintly recognized as a silencing charm, one that took away the victim's air, and more importantly for a vampire, who doesn't need to breathe, drained their blood.

I dropped him quickly, then knelt by the dying vampire's side.

"Who did this?" I cried, praying he could still hear me. "Answer me!"

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer to him.

"S-Sexta," he gasped out, so quiet that I could barely hear him. But I did hear him, and I almost wish I hadn't.

"You're kidding right?" I asked, letting the question hang in the air. I didn't get an answer. And I never would.

****

Later that day, unbeknownst to me, a teenager was walking through the busy streets of the same city. Their cell phone rang. They reached for the device, and flipped it open.

"Yeah?" the boy asked.

"Di Roy was killed by the sealing charm ten minutes ago," a monotone voice answered from the other side of the phone.

"Di Roy?" he repeated, then sighed dramatically. "I'm so goddamn tired of small fries thinking they can do anything. They're weak, and they should just accept it. Every time one of them dies, I have to replace them, and it's getting to be a pain in the ass."

"I can imagine," the voice sounded amused.

"So who was he fighting?" he asked casually, apparently done with his complaining, as he walked into one of the city's many parks.

"A boy working for the shadow police, I believe,"

"A cop, huh?" he mused quietly, more to himself than the person on the other end of the line. "Alright, thanks for letting me know."

"Always a pleasure," the voice answered with a hint of sarcasm that wasn't lost on the teen.

"Was that sarcasm just now?" he asked, but was met with silence. He sighed again, then dialed in another number and brought it back to his ear.

"Hello?" The person on the other end answered cheerfully.

"Why the hell are you answering?" the young man asked, annoyed. "Where's the boss?"

"Out," was the unhelpful response. "Is this who I think it is?"

"Who do you think it is?"

"I knew it! How come ya never call? I've missed talking to ya ever since you moved to Japan." They paused for breath, then continued. "Unfortunately, knowing you, I doubt this is just a social call. What do ya want?"

"Nothing, really," he stopped walking and sat down on one of the many benches dotting the park. The sun was still high in the sky, and it was shining brilliantly. Birds soared up above, free and oblivious to the people below. Bees and other insects buzzed lazily through the air, occasionally landing on the bright flowers throughout the park, and children were playing kickball on the grass surrounding a nearby fountain. The bench the young man was sitting on was partially shaded by a tall oak tree, providing a welcome escape from the day's heat.

"Uh-huh," the voice wasn't convinced.

"I just wanted to ask about the shadow police. I keep losing men to them, and it's getting annoying."

"Then maybe ya should take better care of your men," the voice teased.

"I'm a genius, not a god," the youth responded flatly. "Please don't ask for the impossible."

The voice laughed. "Leave the police alone for now."

"Why?"

"Because," the voice adopted a tone one might use on a small child. "A game isn't any fun without opponents."

"I don't understand you at all," the boy grumbled.

"And that's how it should be, Sexta," the voice said with deadly seriousness that hadn't been there before. The call ended.

Chills ran up the boy's spine at those last words. Suddenly, the day didn't seem quite so warm. He glanced up towards the heavens, as if they held all the answers. Bright blue eyes caught the light as they searched the seemingly infinite blue sky, making them shine even brighter. Sexta sat where he was for hours, waiting until the sun began to dip below the horizon. As the last rays of light left the sky, he stood wearily, and began the long walk home.

"I don't think I ever want to understand you either," he muttered under his breath.