A/N: I know I said I would be updating weekly... So you can blame/praise SomebodyLost for asking several questions and giving several ideas to me that just wouldn't leave me alone long enough for a week to pass. Keep that in mind – questions that actually make me think are likely to force me to update faster when I find an answer to them.

Disclaimer: Neither Bleach nor Darker than Black belong to me; this story does not produce any form of money or profit for me.

CHAPTER 3

…...

"...Isn't that right, Hei?"

Oh, shit.

…...

Up until that moment, the only people in the room who took Contractors seriously enough to truly believe they existed were the newly-revealed Black Reaper and Kisuke Urahara. Seeing the sudden void of emotion in Hei's face and stature proved to all those present that people incapable of emotional or irrational thought could actually exist, as both human and spirit.

"So, you figured it out. I must say that I hadn't quite expected anybody to piece it together quite that quickly, if at all. Now I ask of you, what will your elected course of action be? Were you Contractors, rationality would dictate you not reveal that information or at the very least to have incapacitated me first." All traces of any tone or inflection to his words had vanished from Hei's voice, and his reiatsu simply felt calm and quiet; for all intents and purposes, he seemed to be discussing the weather. His dark blue eyes were deadened, and beneath his gaze the group felt as if killing all of them would not be unlike stepping upon an insect, let alone possibly be a challenge or risk. This was when they decided he had earned his name, that here before them stood a true Reaper, despite the status of three members of the group as Shinigami.

"You seem to forget, Reaper, that there are quite a few more of us than you and each of us has our own array of abilities. Not the best circumstances for you, are they?" Don't make threats you cannot back up.

"I have no rational reason to lie, so the truth of the matter is that I have faced worse circumstances before and survived. Your abilities are not entirely unknown to me either – however, these are close quarters so the archer is quite limited in effectiveness, and all the others require several seconds of preparation to use their abilities effectively. In my experience, the best way to deal with unknown abilities is to kill the target before they get a chance to use them. Knowing my ability is manipulation of electricity, and the fact that I have been a lone assassin with a higher Contractor body count than any others, it should not be difficult for you to figure out that several seconds could easily be several too many."

As he spoke, some of the others grew tense and prepared to fight. Kisuke could see the slight shift in stance from the Reaper as Ichigo and Uryu moved from their places behind him into a flanking position. If this situation wasn't defused soon, they would certainly defeat the Contractor, but he would rather not see how many would fall first.

"Now now, Hei, I don't think this is necessary. I was simply asking you if I was correct in my assumptions, then following it up with a hypothetical response to what you were implying. If we all just settle down I'm sure we can find a peaceful solution; wouldn't that be the rational choice instead of a fight you may or may not win?"

"Urahara, you can't possibly be suggesting we allow this murderer to go free!"

"That is exactly what I am suggesting, Kurosaki. Unless you would prefer yourself or one of your friends being killed before we could stop him?"

"...Fine, we won't fight him right now. No promises if we see him attacking somebody else though."

"Much as I would like to point out the discrepancy in threatening attacking an assassin if you see them attack somebody, it would be for the best if we returned to the topic of discu-nrgh-" Hei's Chain of Fate had begun the corrosion process, with the third link from the bottom devouring the two below it. How interesting, normally the corrosion process would both have not started the first link by now but it only generally removes one link at a time. Could this be related to the mysterious fact that Soul Society has no record of Contractors or any talk of Contractors who had been found and sent either to Soul Society or Hell?

"...Urahara I remember the pain that process involves when it was removing a single link. How is he still standing with two links being removed at once, particularly since he was never warned about it, and why is it starting so early?"

"I assume he has a much higher pain tolerance than usual, most likely a remnant of some of his fights with other Contractors. As to the reasons why the corrosion has started early or is progressing with two links instead of one? I have no clue. The Shattered Shaft test sped up the process so it would take course over three days in your case due to the length your Chain was cut at; according to the time since his death and the original length of the Chain, I would estimate he has roughly 50 hours after death, or just under two days remaining until he would naturally Hollowfy."

"...What exactly was that, and what are you talking about? Corrosion, a shattered shaft, hollowfy? How exactly would those terms apply to whatever just happened?"

"You see, Hei, the 'monster' that killed you was a Hollow, or a 'bad' spirit. They are what people turn into if a Shinigami does not reach them and they do not pass on in time after their death. That chain on your chest, the Chain of Fate, represents the length of time remaining until you Hollowfy, or become a hollow. The process by which links on the Chain are removed is called corrosion, and that is what just happened to you. The Shattered Shaft is of no import to you as it was simply one of my experiments. Now, I have a question for you – do Contractors, despite their general lack of emotion, still have regrets?"

"That depends on the Contractor as much as it would between any other people. We still remember our lives before becoming Contractors, and we are still capable of feeling emotion, we are just incapable of acting on it if it goes against our own self interests or logic."

"Perhaps I should be more clear. Do you personally have any regrets right now about your life?"

"...No." Odd – he almost seemed to hesitate for a split second there...

"If that's true, the potential implications could be quite dire. Instead of sending you on immediately, I believe you should remain here for a short time so I could obtain some samples – mostly small scrapings of the metal from your chain's bottom three links, along with a reiryoku (or Spiritual Energy) sample – to study while they go through the corrosion process again and see if I can figure out why yours seems to be accelerated so much."

It was quite the shock to everybody to see Hei didn't really even seem bothered by the fact that he would have to go through that process again at least one more time before being allowed to be sent on. I used to think Ichigo was a monster due to his spiritual pressure being so high, since a spiritual being's life force is directly represented by their reiatsu, but this guy's something else, Ishida quietly reflected to himself. Maybe reiatsu isn't quite as important as sheer discipline...