A/N: Special thanks to : kuchikirukia07, kyurikochan, khauul33, TheAnnoyingOne97, Mageida, for favoriting the story and adding to alert!
And EXTRA LOVE: for my only reviewer ( ) rukialover1994 , AND FOR Zero103exe FOR ADDING TO FAVORITE AUTHOR! Woooooo! Love you!*cries a little*
Alerts and favorites make my heart sing but a review makes all the difference! Please review it's all for the children…
I apologize in advance for any errors and OOCness!
WARNINGS: IF YOU DIDN'T GET IT THE FIRST TIME THERE IS LANGUAGE, VOILENCE, AND OTHER STUFF! Also there are a lot of flashbacks, because it's important to my story.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but my overly active imagination, and my laptop that always freezes.
Those Who Search For Light
Light, I have been told that it is
Life
Light, I have been told that it is
Hope
Light, I have been told that it is
Love
If all this is true, and I cannot find the light
Then do I survive
Do I have hope
Do I have love
Light,
I miss you
December 5, 1889
11:55 p.m.
The night is dark, and cold. The street lamps light up the cobbled pathways. The main street of the city, Sakura, which is usually teeming with people during the day, is abandoned at night. The sakura trees that blossom in spring and bring life to the city are left without flowers, and their branches almost seem to reach out and take hold of you. Icicles drip off of roofs, and trees. There is snow covering nearly every inch of the city.
Even at a time when winter takes hold of Sakura the site still takes your breath away. At this time of night no one is out, except for a young woman. She is strikingly beautiful. She is tall, with long red hair, and bright green eyes. There is no doubt that the woman is from the tenth kingdom, also called "the land of winter."
Her breathing is labored; her breath comes out in small puffs. Her eyes are hollow and search wildly. One would think her insane. She looks about and the shadows seem to grow larger. Her heart beats faster. Her paranoia only grows greater. Her eyes become wider as she hears the sound of a shoe slam onto the cobbled path. She looks here and there, she is unable to determine from where the sound came…No the sound is coming from everywhere.
She takes hold of her over coat with her right hand and tightens her grip on a small parchment in her left hand. All she can do is run. Run, run and keep running.
It doesn't help at all. Her attempts were futile from the beginning. The sound just keeps getting louder. She has never been so frightened in her life. She knows it will come to an end soon. But still she has to make it there. If, she can just see him one last time then that's all that matters. If, she can get the message to him…then everything can be fixed she won't have any regrets.
She runs expertly through the pathways. She takes a turn to her left and runs faster she can see the light coming from a small light placed in front of his shop. She smiles widely. She made it!
Running head first she suddenly hits something. She lands on the groung with a loud "Umph…" She looks up and her smile fades, her eyes meet a dark hooded figure. "No… I swear I don't know anything!" she begs her eyes wide open. Her fears openly displayed to the figure. She hears a slight laugh. "Well, then tell me why are you out here all alone at night, or you could tell me why you are rushing so much just to meet your little old boyfriend he isn't even awake yet." He pauses for a second laughing slightly. He knows he has won. She flinches and stutters looking for an answer but cannot find one. He smiles widely underneath his hood and says slowly while coming closer to whisper in her ear "Or you could tell me what's that in your hand?"
Her heart nearly stops. All she sees is something glittering from underneath his covered, and out reached arm. "!"
Her body falls to the ground. She is huffing loudly. Her last breaths leaving her heaving body. He always did love to see the last moments of life a person had. It always revealed so much. The last thing she saw was that little light in front of the shop, where he was.
Crossing through the Charmed Forest
Ichigo's Perspective
December 6, 1889
Noon
"…and then we got to meet the BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS! Ahhhhh, it was sooooo sweet of her to have saved us!" "Really Dad, were you really saved by the Princess? Why, didn't you tell us before?" Yuzu has been questioning my father for the last hour. Her eyes shine with awe, and innocence. "Don't believe a word out of this idiot's mouth, Yuzu. It's just his perverse mind talking for him," Karin states with a roll of her eyes. Karin has always been very skeptical, especially when it comes to dad.
"But I'm not imagining anything perverted! It's true you can even ask Ichigo!" my idiot dad exclaims proudly from his seat in the carriage. "Eh," I yell out as I see Yuzu turn to me with wide, expectant eyes. "Well, Ichi is it true?" Yuzu asks. "Well…" I say feeling nervous. Out of the corner of my eyes I see Karin secretly watching us. I can see the interest in her eyes.
I sigh; I can't really go up against my sisters. They can always get the truth out of me. "Yeah….it's true." "SEE, Daddy doesn't lie!" His cries of innocence go unnoticed by my sisters as they just about jump me. I feel even more uncomfortable now. The tinny space of the carriage and the suffocating closeness of my sisters is making me claustrophobic. I am suddenly bombarded with questions, even from Karin. Questions' ranging from "was she really pretty? I heard she was," and "The tutor told us that the nobels, and royals are supposed to be immortal. It isn't real, right? That is completely impossible. Right?"
"Daddy already told you, all of that, the only thing that I haven't told you is why we are moving back to the city," my father yells. I sigh relieved; at least that has driven their attention away from me. They both shake their heads confused. "Idiot, you haven't told them yet? Why haven't you told them anything!" I scream at him. "Hmmmm…I guess you are right," my idiot father sighs, and nods. Accepting defeat he looks up and rubs his chin with his hand. "Hmmm, I guess I may as well tell you." Karin and Yuzu look perplexed at our idiot father. "Neither of you know why we are moving back here again do you?" he says looking and sounding serious. They both nod. It's always strange for all of us when he gets his serious face on.
"Well, lately there has been a lot of 'serious incidents' occurring in the capital city, Sakura. You two know that Senbonzakura Kageyoshi is the most peaceful land in the thirteen divisions, and also the most prosperous. Lately, things have really gotten dangerous here, and the city is low on medical help. If a witness is found a live the chances of that witness staying alive aren't very high. That's why we are here." "It would make more sense to move away from the danger," Karin mumbles, while huffing and crossing her arms. My idiot father's face falls. He cries out, "I can't believe that my stupid children won't help the King, or those poor helpless people! And here I thought that Ichigo would be ecstatic to see the Princess again!" I can feel the blood rush to my face. Before I can tell the dumbass to fuck off, he takes something out from his coat pocket. "Look at how he used to cling to her! He used to say she was an angel! She was all he ever talked about!" he says taking out a small photograph.
My face pales. I try to reach the humiliating thing before my dad can do anything with it. But to my horror my sisters reach it before me. "Awwwww! It's soo cute!" Yuzu yells out. While, Karin turn to look at me with a smug look on her face. "Awwww, your soooo cute!" she says mockingly. My temper flares. "You really had a thing for the Princess didn't you I-chi-go!" she says arrogantly. They both turn towards me with the photo in their hands.
I hate looking at it. In the photo is a four year old me. I am smiling smugly in the photo and have my arms wrapped around her legs rather possessively. I am covered in bandages in the photo. I look at her in the photo. Black hair, held up in an elegant chignon, with a few stray strands cradling her face. She stands poised and elegantly. Her white gown reaches past her ankles. Her lips are curved up in a sweet smile. And her violet eyes twinkle mischievously.
I feel my heart skip a few beats, my palms are sweaty (despite the freezing cold), and I feel warm inside, all this amounts with the emotions that have been building up in the past fourteen years. It's hard to keep myself under control. I try to ignore the memories building up in my mind.
"If we were so happy here before why did we leave?" Yuzu asks while still staring at another picture of me, my mother, the twins at about two months, and my father. In the old picture we are standing in front of the city gates. Karin sighs and shakes her head at Yuzu. "Shhh… you know why we don't talk about that," but I don't hear her. I can still remember. They have no memories of it because they were only a few months old. The way she died wasn't fair, not to me, not to my sisters, and not to my father.
I messed up….
The Kuchiki Castle in Sakura City
Rukia's Perspective
December 6, 1889
8:00 a.m.
"Street Bakery Registration number 5987. Address 8723 Meiyo Street, Sakura City, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi. Case number 1,563. The corpse was found shred to pieces this morning at sunrise, there were parts sticking to walls of the shops and homes, most of what was found of the organs were consumed by the stomach acid. Most of the bones were crushed and the experts are having a hard time telling what is what. The cleanup crew reported that 'they believe it to be the most violent of all of the attacks.' There was no particular scent, piece of cloth, or DNA samples found at the scene of the crime. The crew also reported that 'the victim in question almost seems to have spontaneously exploded.' Also of the organs that were discovered (at least the parts of them that were discovered) the heart is the only one missing. This is the fifth case of its type to be reported in the last three months, the suspect for all the similar, and previous cases is also suspected to be at fault for all other similar cases in the twelve other countries. Abarai Renji, chief of police and the head of the ongoing investigation, believes that there is only one murderer. That is all for the report that I have compiled."
The stout man bows and heads out of the grand foyer. I turn towards the window. Byukuya will be upset if this continues. Since, he is out for the time being…I could get into this investigation myself it's the best that I can do. I will assign myself to this investigation and take charge of it. If I can get this done with, before my father returns it might be enough to calm him if only for a bit. I stare out the window in the grand foyer. The very thought, that there is someone out there that would do those things to an innocent human being, astonishes me to no end. What's worse is that he said there wasn't even a scent of another being having ever been around the victim.
I sigh and look down at me feet. "It must have been either a fallen one or a werewolf, nothing else could be so violent… But, neither a vampire nor a werewolf could have left the area without a trace. And even for us it would be impossible to travel such great distances in such a short amount of time….if I remember the last attack was a week ago in the Land of Winter, that's a whole ocean away." I sigh once more, the morning has just begun and I already have too many things to worry about. Sitting here, alone by the window, talking to myself won't do me any good. I will have someone search for Renji. My stomach growls impatiently.
"Ughh… I really hope no one was around to hear that…" Since my father hasn't been around for a few days I haven't really had anything to eat, at all. I just can't bring myself to feed off of someone's neck. But dear god am I starving! I hear slight footsteps coming from the hallway and taking the turn to head down the stairs towards me. I try to straighten myself up, and at least appear as regal as I am supposed to.
As the steps come closer I relax, as the scent overtakes my senses it is just Michiru, one of the maids, and a good friend. Her sweet deposition makes it easy to get along with her, but she is secretly a huge pervert. I smell something else…Ryo…no it's more concentrated….more metallic….it's her blood? My heartbeats just a bit faster, my stomach makes another desperate sound. Michiru opens the ornate doors and waltzes right in with a large smile.
She wears the standard pink maids' uniform with the royal seal on her chest. In her hand she carries a tray. The tray to my delight and horror has a wine glass filled with Ryo's blood. The scent of hot iron, and sweet grapes fills my nose. I can hardly maintain the sane, stoic look on my face. It takes me away to look at the envelope placed alongside the glass. I look up at her with a questioning look on my face. I see her large brown eyes look worried, and nervous. Her simple brown and usually straight hair looks a little out of order. I can hear her heart pounding in my ears; I can see the small beads of sweat forming on her forehead and upper lip, but most of all I can smell the very familiar scent of a certain male. My lips curve up into a smile.
Maybe it's just because of all the bad news I've had since this morning or maybe I just can't give up this chance to tease her. I stand up and saunter my way to her. She stands straighter, and I can see the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. I grab the glass from the tray. My eyes never leaving hers, as the glass is inches away from my lips. I take a whiff of the wine that is about to fill me with life once more. I look at her and smile. "…Just, what is the matter with you? My good, friend you look flushed. Is there something I should know about? I could swear that you have a very familiar scent about you, could it be that you are hiding something from me?" I say making sure to sound extra sweet.
"N-N-N-N-OOOO! N-N-othing at a-a-al-ll!" she is shacking and stuttering. "Hmmm… well that's strange I could have sworn that I smelled the city's strongman's scent on you. What was his name?" I say circling her. I tap my finger on my chin, pretending to think. " He is the black smith, and he lives right across the street from here. Cha- no Sado Yastora, I think." She blushes crimson red and yelps, "No please don't tell anyone Princess! Please!"
I back off immediately feeling slightly hurt 'so she went back to a formal addressing.' "Look I really wasn't going to tell anyone but you sure as hell haven't told me anything about it," I say crossing my arms and looking taken aback. She fidgets for a second and suddenly looks as if she has just remembered something. I can finally take a drink. At least I can take my time while she goes on to talk about how incredible he is. I am about to put the sweet liquor of life to my lips when I hear "NO! Wait!"
I almost drop my breakfast at the shrill sound. "Michiru, don't do that when I'm eating!" I snap at her I haven't been properly eating and I'm beginning to think that it is making me a bit cranky. "But, Rukia King Kuchiki asked me to send you a message and this," she holds up the letter with an angry expression "this is a message directly from him. He said that you are not to read this until Chief Abarai arrives. I have already sent for him he should be arriving shortly. Also King Kuchiki has already sent for a new doctor. You remember that the city's doctor had a rather unfortunate accident in his laboratory, and then you asked the King to bring a new doctor in? Well he has sent for one…"
Why is she beating around the bush? I don't think that any more bad news could upset me more than I already am. I place the glass to my lips, already savoring the taste. "Well who is it and when is he arriving?" I ask taking a gulp of the drink. "It's….Dr. Kurosaki, Isshin." WHAT? My eyes widen in surprise, and my mouth opens and I spit out almost all of the drink. "And they are arriving here today in the afternoon."
A/N: I am not so sure about this one myself…Well least hope you will have something to say! I wanted to get a few things established before starting the story. If you are confused about anything ask and I will answer.
I was going to get this done faster, but I had stuff to do. Actually I am supposed o be studying right now! But my math is so awful, and I don't even know what I'm supposed to be studying!
Review! Please!