It's been a while readers, I know, but I have more here for you.

The games are only just beginning.

Chapter. 9: Call of Souls

Isshin helped Chiori to her room and put her to bed, watching as she curled into her blankets with nary a sound. "Everyone will be home soon," he said gently, sighing as he settled at the edge of her bed, watching the unresponsive lump of blankets.

He wasn't sure what to do if worse came to worst and, god forbid, Inori didn't make it. If that happened, there was no telling how his daughter might respond to it, and that frightened him to his very core. Tentatively, Isshin placed his hand atop Chiori's head, barely peeking out from underneath her comforter. She didn't stir. "It's going to be okay," he said and continued to watch silently over his daughter as she slept on.

Not matter what came to pass, he'd do his best to make it okay again, no matter what. As if suddenly feeling all of his years at once, Isshin left his eldest daughter's bedroom and made his way back downstairs. He went into the clinic, intent on finding something to busy himself with until the rest of his children came home or someone needed him for something. He stayed there, organizing, checking over his inventory, anything to help assuage the feeling of growing unease churning in his belly.

Time passed and thankfully by then Karin and Yuzu were already home and in their room, worried for their sister, but instructed to let her rest for a while before coming to check in on her. Something caught Isshin's attention out of the corner of his eye and drew him over to the window, his brow furrowing as he pushed the curtain aside.

There was something off, but he couldn't tell exactly what was wrong. The streetlights flickered, dimming dangerously before brightening again, the dim of evening encroaching much more quickly than usual and a mist curling around the buildings like a smog.

It looked like it might start to rain again. A chill worked its way up his spine. Isshin returned to the main part of the house and ascended the stairs, intent on checking on Chiori one last time. He knocked, but received no answer and took it as a sign that she was still fast asleep.

Tentatively, he made his way up the short flight of steps and peered into the low light, his breath catching when he finally laid eyes on the bed.

The bed was empty, sheets tossed aside haphazardly and Chiori nowhere in sight.

Unbeknownst to the rest of their family and friends, Ichigo and Rukia were experiencing strange phenomena all their own. Out on the streets, a heaviness settled in the air and Ichigo nearly lurched where he stood. He went rigid as it began to drizzle, clenching his teeth as the soul-badge emitted a familiar keening whine that still managed to make both him and Rukia startle.

They looked to the badge and then to one another with identical expressions of confusion and dread. Was it a hollow? Most likely, but with the odd feeling in the air, they couldn't be sure.

For some reason the noise coming from the badge sounded sharper, a more urgent, insistent cry that set both their teeth on edge until finally Ichigo went to snatch the thing up, glaring down at the ugly skull design in irritation. It was like the damn thing was wailing.

"Ichigo," Rukia said, sweat beading on her brow. "I have a bad feeling..." Ichigo looked to her in trepidation, his scowl more pronounced than usual. His phone began to ring, piercing the tense silence, and Ichigo shared another tense look with Rukia before he pulled the device from his pocket.

"It's my dad," he said, voice gruff as he glanced at the ID. He flipped the phone open and held it to his ear. "Dad, what-...?" Rukia watched Ichigo's eyes widen and his back straighten in alarm, "What do you mean missing?" He said the question into the receiver, but looked directly at Rukia, his scowl deepening and morphing into an expression suffused with worry.

The darkness around them seemed to lengthen and thicken and a low roar started up in the distance. "Yeah….Yeah, dad, I'll be on the lookout...Yeah. Bye, Dad." He hung up and turned fully to Rukia, his expression grave as the rain picked up around them. "Chiori's gone missing," he said, voice almost inaudible through the rain.

"I heard," Rukia replied.

The roar deepened and Rukia watched Ichigo utilize the soul badge to separate his soul from his body. The now empty shell crumpled lifelessly before Ichigo caught it. Supporting what was essentially his own corpse about the waist, Ichigo dug around in the pocket of his body's uniform pants and pulled out Kon's little green pill.

Grimacing, he pushed the pill into his body's mouth and watched as the life came back to it in seconds. It was always extremely disconcerting to watch a mirror image of himself move about, but he was slowly getting used to it, merely counting it as another weird fact of his already very weird life.

"Ugh, finally!" Kon whined, rolling his head about his shoulders. "Took you long enough, you jerk!" Ichigo grit his teeth and reached out to snatch Kon about the collar.

"Shut up," he hissed. Perhaps it was the look in his eyes, but Kon did so with less fuss than usual. "My sister is missing, do you understand?"

Kon hesitated for only a moment before nodding, sensing the heaviness in the air himself.

"My dad's already alerted the authorities, but there are hollows out tonight, a lot of them, and I need you to be on the lookout for her, you got me? If you find her, take her home."

Kon had only known Ichigo for a short time, but in this moment he just couldn't bring himself to snark. Instead he nodded sharply and took off in the opposite direction when Ichigo released him. Both Rukia and Ichigo silently watched him go before taking off themselves as a tall, dark form rose from somewhere in the town, howling into the night.

Keiji was just about to take a bite of the curry his mom had left for him when a knock thundered against his door. He flinched violently and nearly knocked the container off the table before straightening up and pushing away from the table. Considering the dreary state of the outside world, he wondered who could possibly be banging on his door at such a time.

"Who is it?" he said, feeling slightly uneasy. There was a pause and then another deliberate series of knocks letting him know exactly who it was. Scrambling, Keiji quickly unlocked the door and was immediately accosted by a crying, soaking wet Chiori. "Holy shit, Chiori, wha-" The girl shook her head, sending droplets of rain scattering about them, not that Keiji cared. His arms were full of hysterical best friend and he was kind of at a loss.

Chiori seemed to be trying to sign, but her hands wouldn't stop shaking and she was too frantic for him to make it out properly. "Chiori, w-wait a minute, wait, I can't understand." Chiori shook her head again and then pulled away, tugging at his arm, trying to drag him out into the rain with her.

She was practically sobbing, but Keiji dug his heels in at the door. "Chiori!" Gods, he was glad his parents weren't home. Finally, she seemed to actually focus on him, her eyes glassy and wild. She stared at him for a few seconds before her expression seemed to crumple again and she let go, turning to flee into the rain.

"Chiori, wait!" Keiji took only a moment to grab his keys and snatch his jacket from the hook before shoving his feet into his shoes and taking off after her, his door slamming closed firmly behind him as he went. Thankfully, she didn't get far before he managed to catch up with her, reaching out to pull her to a stop. Chiori flailed and stumbled, trying to pull away from him, but Keiji held fast.

"Dammit, would you stop for a minute and tell me what's going on?!" They struggled before Chiori managed to pull away, but thankfully she didn't run. The panicked girl stilled, hugging herself as she watched him. 'Please help me,' she signed with shaking fingers. Something like dread twisted in Keiji's gut.

"Help you? What's wrong?" he inquired. Terrifying possibilities already raced through his mind. Chiori reached out and took his hand and though he still had questions, he let her tug him along.

He knew what direction they were going: the train station. The feeling of unease intensified, but Keiji couldn't bring himself to stop them again. The streets were achingly devoid of life even though the station should still be bustling with people that time of the day. "What the hell is going on?" Keiji wondered aloud, unconsciously trying to draw Chiori closer to his side.

Silently, Chiori pulled him through the station and directly into the open doors of a train car. Keiji couldn't be sure, but he thought that perhaps the colors were a bit duller than usual. The automated voice advised passengers that they would be departing and both Chiori and Keiji stood dripping-wet in the aisles as the train began to rock and move.

Chiori didn't sit down and neither did Keiji, feeling somehow that he just shouldn't. It was unnerving and he turned to look at Chiori, watching as she reached into the pocket of her jeans to pull free a wet, folded page of paper. The quivering girl unfolded it with shaking, bloodless fingers and held it up for him to see.

The graphite was a bit smudged from the rain, but Keiji could still make it out. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. A figure stood obscured by a tree, reaching around to claw at the bark. The veins stood out, black against the pale skin of its arm, and the fingernails were coming loose from the beds where they'd been dug into the bark.

Sap — at least, he hoped it was sap — bled from the bark like blood and Keiji had to will himself to swallow in an effort to soothe his suddenly parched throat. "Chiori," he asked, "what the hell is that?" Chiori hung her head, bangs obscuring her vision as she slowly tightened her hold on the drawing, warping it. The damp paper fluttered to the ground and Keiji rushed forward, wrapping her up in a hug.

He tucked her head beneath his chin as she began to sob again, heedless of the water soaking into her clothes and hair. He wasn't sure what was going on on what was wrong with Chiori, but he'd knew he'd do just about anything to make it better. Unfortunately, to do that, he needed to somehow convince her to let him take her home. Wordlessly, he reached out to steady himself with one of the poles standing along the aisle as the car rocked.

He thought about trying to convince her to get off with him at one of the next few stops, but for some reason couldn't bring himself to voice his suggestion. Conflicted, Keiji stood silently until Chiori composed herself and pulled away. She grabbed his hand and moved to lead him off the train. As Keiji looked around the station where they'd arrived, he suddenly realized where they were heading.

"Chiori, are we going to Yuzuhara Temple?" He worded his question as tentatively as possible, but Chiori still went rigid. She didn't answer him for a few moments, but eventually nodded her head, dark, curling bangs falling over her eyes. "Chiori, I'm sure her grandma has already been told what happened. You don't need to go and tell her yourself, you need to rest." He could see her lips purse, her expression morphing into something stubborn and wholly reminiscent of her older brother.

Frowning, Keiji pulled his cellphone from his pocket and began typing out a text to her brother letting him know where they were in as few words as possible. He was sure they probably had no idea where Chiori had run off to and were probably worried sick.

"Chiori?" he prodded, but she merely sped up, pulling him along through the streets and taking turns she'd grown familiar with until the entrance to the temple grounds lay just ahead of them. It was in that moment that Keiji noticed something else peculiar. The low drone that had been ever present around them since he'd caught up with Chiori was now gone.

Instead a deathly silence descended around them, so jarring Keiji nearly stumbled. "What the hell?" Keiji rubbed harshly at his ear with his free hand in an attempt to rid himself of the high-pitched ringing that suddenly assailed him, and why the hell were all the colors so washed out?

He couldn't understand it. The streets trembled minutely beneath their feet, but Chiori seemed to pay it no mind, walking ahead of him, too soaked to the bone to give a damn anymore.

She paused before the gates, staring up at the red torii framing the entrance. Keiji couldn't quite see all of her face, but he could see her lips quiver before she seemed to steel herself and step through. Something like static rolled over them and Keiji shivered before allowing her to pull him in.

The feeling dissipated and suddenly the low light cast from streetlights and small buildings abruptly vanished.

Both Chiori and Keiji froze where they stood, slowly turning to wonder at the sudden complete absence of light. However, the sight that greeted them only served to confuse them even more. The town once at their backs that was full of colorful signs, advertisements, and clear shop windows had been replaced by a shell of its former self, the paint dull and gray, the windows dim and empty, the lights extinguished.

"Chiori…?" Keiji paled, turning to Chiori to see if she was seeing what he was seeing. However, he stopped short at the sight of her, face bloodless and eyes wide in terror.

With a ragged breath, she turned away and began to pull him up the extensive flight of stone steps that lead to the Yuzuhara Temple grounds, her hand vice-like around his own. He couldn't even bring himself to complain about the pain as he fought to makes sense of the deafening silence.

A ways away, Ichigo fought savagely, while Rukia looked on, a pensive expression set upon her deceptively delicate features. The creature fell sending blood sailing through the air as it's body began to slowly disintegrate. The blood would eventually follow, but for now the streets were a deep, dark, red.

"You've noticed it, too, haven't you?"

Ichigo straightened from where he'd landed heavily beside Rukia after beheading what had to be his fifth hollow in the past thirty minutes. They just kept coming, but now that he looked they weren't actively attacking him or anyone else unless they happened to confront them first or just ended up in their path unexpectedly.

It was weird, to say the least. Scowling, Ichigo slashed his sword in a downward arch to rid the blade of any lingering blood, grimacing as it splattered wetly against the pavement. Rukia stood to his right, biting her thumbnail in thought. "This isn't normal," she muttered. Ichigo scoffed, but well, she would know.

"They're following something." Ichigo could only agree, watching the looming shapes lope through the town, howling their eerie cries as they went. Some of them picked off souls and other smaller stragglers, but even he had to admit that he couldn't handle them all at once. He was just one person.

He tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade, teeth gritted in preparation for another battle, more as an act of defiance against his sudden darkening thoughts than anything else when a shout went up from behind them through the downpour.

"Kon?" Ichigo stared in confusion before his expression shifted in a mixture of irritation and alarm. What the hell was Kon doing here? "What's happened?" he questioned, turning to give his double his full attention. "Did you find Chiori?" Kon came to a stop before them, hurriedly pulling Ichigo's phone free of his pocket and holding it up so that both Ichigo and Rukia could see the glowing display.

'Yuzuhara Temple,' it read.

Ichigo and Rukia looked to one another with similar feelings of dread. The temple was in the direction where all the hollows were heading. A wavering howl went up into the air and they all turned as one to watch the hollows send up answering, painful cries.

Reaching the top of the stairs should have brought with it a sense of relief, but Keiji could only feel an all-encompassing sense of unease. Chiori never let go of his hand even as they both bent to try and regain their breath, Chiori practically dry-heaving next to him.

He lifted his head to get a look at the buildings set up around the grounds and shuddered at the feeling of cold slithering up his spine. Nothing was outwardly wrong with anything, but still, everything felt dead somehow. Chiori tugged his hand and he looked first to her and then towards the direction in which she stared unblinking.

An open door gaped like a mouth on one of the buildings further to the left, probably leading right into one of the large halls of the complex. It was impossible to see inside from where they stood, but Chiori tugged him along, her steps wavering as they approached, but lengthening as she picked up her pace.

"Chiori, what-" She shushed him, pausing as they neared the door and peeking inside. He could feel her shaking as she gripped the outer edge with her free hand before stepping through with him in tow. The inside was dark and the bit of light from moonlight outside did very little to aid them.

At the end of the hallway stretching out before them was the dim light of a lantern and, lying stretched out next to it, what appeared to be a crumpled figure. Keiji heard Chiori's breath hitch before she was dashing ahead of him, abruptly dropping his hand in the process.

He scrambled to follow after her, watching as she slid to her knees upon reaching the figure, turning them over so that they lay on their back. It was an old woman, no doubt Inori's grandmother. Her long silver hair had come loose from its loose braid and tie, spilling around her like a halo and obscuring some of her face. Immediately they noticed the blood soaking into her hair and robes.

Clutched in her hands were all manner of talismans and paper charms. It was lucky the lantern she'd been carrying hadn't caught fire to anything. Chiori swept back the woman's hair from her face with quivering hands as Keiji reached out to press his fingers to her pulse, sighing in relief when he found one.

"She's alive," he said shakily. "She might have just hurt herself when she fell." Chiori looked to him with worry and something else he couldn't quite read. A chilly breeze swept through the halls and made the light of the lantern flicker dangerously. Keiji and Chiori flinched as the shoji shuddered around them with its passing.

"Maybe just the wind?" Keiji offered, muttering what sounded like a plea under his breath. It felt as if the breath had been knocked from them and Keiji took a deep, calming breath before refocusing on the woman lying before him and cataloging her injuries. They would need to call an ambulance.

Swallowing audibly, Keiji removed his jacket, turned it inside-out, rolled it up and gently placed it under the old woman's head. It might have been a tiny bit damp, but it was better than nothing. There was a sound like someone beating against a loud drum, just once, but enough to make them jump, and then laughter.

It sounded like a child.

The hairs on the back of Keiji's neck stood on end as the pattering of footsteps assailed their ears from his left, but unbeknownst to him a figure in the darkness stepped from the shadows. Chiori noticed almost immediately, stiffening as the figure held up one pale arm and curled its finger in a come-hither motion.

To her eyes, it looked to be a young boy in hakama and kosode, similar to the ones Inori and her grandmother tended to wear when they were conducting their duties. However, instead of the bright red of the priestess, his were white from head to toe. He smiled, and despite her unease Chiori did not feel the same malevolence from him that she'd felt since setting foot on the grounds.

Keiji almost didn't notice Chiori get up and start to pad away from him, too hyper-vigilant of what felt like eyes on them from other directions. He felt the chill of her absence and turned just in time to see her headed far down the hall to their right, disappearing into the gloom. He called out to her, intent on chasing hr down until the old woman cried out and shifted at his feet.

He swore viciously, kneeling next to her and checking her over as best he could. He pulled out his phone with hopes of getting an ambulance up there, but there was no signaling. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He gripped the phone and pressed his forehead to the case, resisting the urge to chuck the damned thing in his irritation.

He needed to go look for Chiori and bring her back. They needed to stick together, but he couldn't just leave Inori's grandmother lying on the floor completely unattended. There wasn't really much he could do, he realized, but still. Swearing again, Keiji stood and whipped around at the feeling of another presence in the room.

He glanced about the hall with narrowed eyes, not registering the pale hand curling out of the darkness and reaching for the back of his neck. Shivering, he pulled away from it before whatever it was could touch him, bending down to grab one of the talismans that Old Lady Yuzuhara had dropped previously in her tumble.

He wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he was ninety percent sure he might have a couple ways of dealing with it. "Well, isn't this just my lucky day."

It probably wasn't the best idea, but Chiori couldn't stop herself from following the young boy further and further down the hall. Keiji would be left alone with Grandma Mei, but somehow she knew that this was important. There was a feeling, an ache in her chest that told her so.

She stopped just feet away from the boy, not quite within arms' reach as he tilted his dark head, his eerie yet playful smile still in place and bits of choppy bangs slightly obscuring green eyes. "Don't worry," he said suddenly, "you can speak in your head; I can hear you just fine."

It startled her that his voice was so clear, and his smile widened as if he knew. Are you dead? she asked.

The boy laughed. "Now, that's a pretty dumb question, what do you think?" He started to pace slowly on silent bare feet, obviously scrutinizing her from head to toe. She tried to keep him in her sights as he went round, turning with him, the hall just wide enough to keep their distance from one another.

Who are you?

He frowned and shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he replied. "I'm here to help, but we don't have a lot of time." His expression turned grave. "You don't want to know what she'll do to me when she finds out what I'm doing, let alone what she plans to do to you and your friends."

The feelings of horror returned tenfold, settling over her like a blanket and suffocating her. "We need to hurry," He continued, ignoring the amount of color draining rapidly from her face. " Come with me." The boy turned his back and set a quick pace that she scrambled to follow, leading her deeper and deeper into the darkness of the temple.

Ichigo and Ruki were lost.

They'd heeded the sparse text from Keiji and headed off in the direction of Yuzuhara temple. Kon had tried to follow them at first, but they'd sent him back to guard the rest of Ichigo's family. Besides, they weren't sure what they'd find once they got where they were headed, especially with all of the spirits behaving so oddly.

Now, they were just lost. They'd made it to the next town over, Rukia riding on Ichigo's back, and found the place seemingly devoid of life. This could have been attributed to the rain and the slow descent of night, but the ebbing flicker of the streetlights and the heightening sense of unease said otherwise.

It was like they'd entered another world that only seemed to deepen the closer they went to the grounds. Ichigo and Rukia looked to one another one final time before stepping through the torii gates, and then their perception tilted. Vertigo slammed into them and both he and Rukia went stumbling, Ichigo emptying his stomach into a set of nearby shrubbery seconds after hitting his knees.

The nausea and confusion settled and then they both righted themselves, casting their eyes about in confusion. "Where the hell?" Around them was a dense collection of forest spreading out in every direction. The red torii they'd stepped through was nowhere in sight.

"That was definitely not supposed to happen." The trees opened up above them to a silvery, bloated moon that might have been beautiful if not for the stillness of everything around them.

Rukia drew a hissing breath in between her teeth and look to Ichigo with panic in her eyes. "No," she drawled, "you think?"

Ichigo chuckled, offering her a wry curl of his lip before levering himself to his feet and offering her a hand up. She pouted at him, but took the offered hand, pulling herself to her feet and casting her gaze about the woods. "I think we're still on the grounds," she said, crossing her arms.

"What makes you so sure?" Ichigo inquired.

Rukia shrugged and looked up at the bloated moon. "Just a feeling." Silence stretched between them and Ichigo sighed, scratched at the back of his head. A bush rustled near them and the duo tensed, Ichigo moving his hand to grip the hilt of his blade. They waited for a moment and when nothing happened they both straightened a bit.

"I think we better get moving." Ichigo suggested. Rukia moved closer to his side, eyes still trained on the woods.

"Moving where?" she asked. They weren't even sure where they were anymore.

"Somewhere, anywhere," Ichigo insisted, looking about them. "Uphill, probably." They were right at the foot of an incline.

Rukia turned to inspect the change in angle when a figure came racing out of the bushes at her from the corner of her eyes. The sudden disturbance set her heart thumping in her chest, and she was glad that her reflexes apparently weren't as dull as she'd initially believed as a hand swiped at her face. It looked like a person, whatever it was.

It stood on two legs like a person, at least, but its posture was all wrong. She could see evidence of what looked like human skin, but much of it was swallowed up by an inky darkness she had trouble putting to words. It cried out as if in pain and lunged at her, its mouth falling open in an unnatural manner.

Distantly she realized that it was probably going to go for her throat when Ichigo's blade came into the equation. The cleaver speared the creature through the throat and the noise it made would likely haunt their dreams for the next month. Black blood oozed from the wound as it squirmed, trying to get to them, but Ichigo forced it back, pushing the blade farther into its throat and chest cavity.

The thing finally seemed to die on the end of his blade and Ichigo flung it, grimacing at the disgustingly wet splattering noises it made as it hit the dirt. Suddenly other cries went up in the woods around them and Ichigo reached for her wrist. "We need to go." he urged, eyes shifting about the forest as if he thought another of those things might come charging out at them any second. It was funny that a boy who battled monsters that towered over him like trees should be so off-put now, but she honestly couldn't blame him.

The creature, monster, whatever it was, had been wearing clothes like a person, but they'd looked washed out and devoid of color. The cries were getting closer, but Rukia stood frozen. "Alright, we need to get going right now." Ichigo murmured darkly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along up the incline, both of them hoping that they would find what they were looking for at the top.

R&R