With this chapter, some new arts for this FF will be available on my devianart.
Just go here:

yueshirosaki

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Shiro fixed Rukia with a stern look.
"I am not blind. And Ichigo is not crazy."
"Then what do you call that?"
"He hasn't lived long enough to shoulder the empire he build, completely on his own, but he still tries and sometimes he trips."
Rukia caught herself slowly, while she listened to the Vampire.
"What is V.A.S.T. anyway, how much control does that organization really have on the world?"
Shiro leaned back in his seat, his gaze wandering up to the ceiling.
"I think it's time to tell you after all. But first you have to tell me something."
The female raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
"That would be?"

Leaning forward, supporting his upper body with his left underarm on the table, Shiro asked.
"What do you know of the Shichi Shikei?"
Rukia was surprised that the pale man even asked her something he had to know himself, but it might have it's reasons.
"Not much actually. In my researches on V.A.S.T. I eventually came across that name. Apparently it's been given to a number of mass murderers, who appeared around the same time as V.A.S.T. was established. Because of that it seemed to have some starting problems. I read old headlines of newspapers like, 'New global Security Police unable to protect people against murderers.'"
She made a pause and took a deep breath.
"So well, I guess the orange head didn't like that very much. Until today it's not clear whether they ever got caught though. They never left any traces and there were just few witnesses, who actually were able to talk about it."
Another pause followed, in which she closed her eyes and lowered her head.
"I found an old blog of a reporter who researched them. He was the one who established the name Shichi Shikei. I remember the blogs URL, so if there happens to be a PC in here I can show you."

Shiro nodded and left the conference room for some time, when he came back he had a notebook with him.
Rukia started the browser and typed in the blogs URL and clicked through the links until she reached a page with Video diaries.
"Look at these."
She loaded the first one and a middle aged man appeared on the screen.

"Hello my dear followers. Today I'll finally go on my journey to hunt down the ones responsible for the current mass murders around the world. I have found a witness in the States so that'll be my first stop. Well, then my flight goes in a few hours. I have to go."
The man waved and the video went black.

Rukia loaded the next one, without saying a word.
The date of the posting showed that a few month had gone by since the last one.
Again the man appeared, but he looked unwell, like he had a lack of sleep mixed with experiencing something horrifying.

"I'm sorry for not posting sooner."
The man looked around himself, as if he felt watched.
"But after the interview I headed on to South America, then Europe where I am now. The person I interviewed told me some horrible things. Today I think I saw something similar with my very own eyes. It was unbelievable and terrifying."
The man clenched his eyes, as if he tried to shut them from the images that played in his head.
"I will continue the journey and I pray to the gods that I get back home alive."
The video stopped and the woman loaded the next.

It had been posted a year later then the one before.
This time however, not the man appeared but a woman.

"Hello, dear followers of this blog. I'm Kira-sans wife and I have to deliver you the sad message that this video will be the last one ever posted here. My husband came back half a year ago. He behaved a bit strange, but that sometimes happened when he was was really into a story. Unfortunately his state didn't get better, but on the contrary worse and in the past month it has been almost unbearable. He'll be brought into a mental clinic, where I hope he'll get well again. For your understanding I'll show him to you now."
The camera moved, until the man came in sight.
He wore clothes that hung loosely on his body, his hair was a mess and his eyes jumped around, as if trying to see every spot around him at the same time.
He sat crouched on an armchair he had been placed in and rocked back and forth.
You could hear him mumble something until he clearly spoke out.
"When all you see is red, the seventh death took you life - The red Thunder. A friendly smile will be the last thing you see, when the sixth death crossed your path - The Gentle Reaper. An angelic creature that she is, the fifth death that reaped your life - The Lethal Angel. You won't notice it, when the fourth death came for you - The Silent Executioner. A blue light will blind you, and the third death already took you - The Blue Flash. The woman bathed in blood, is the second death that awaits you - The Bloody Priestess. Cruel and black as the night he comes for you, it's the first death - The Black Killer. Seven deaths will come for you. There's no route to escape and no time left for prayers."
The man directly stared into the camera, then began to shriek and the video ended abruptly.

Shiro stared at the screen,left without words to describe the seen things.
Finally he said something though.
"That's really kinda scary."
He cleared his throat and gathered himself.
"Ok, so first, the Shichi Shikei aren't any murderers and V.A.S.T. never failed to catch them."
The unimpressed look on Rukias face spoke for itself.
"From what I've heard from that old man Sasakibe, I guessed as much."
Shiro rolled his eyes.
The youth today, always a step ahead, or not.
"Anyway. They are a group formed of the leaders of every V.A.S.T. branch, and Ichigo is the top notch of all that."
"Tell me something I haven't concluded myself already."
The pale Vampire let out a frustrated sigh.
"Ok. How about this. In order to keep nosy people like you out, the governments around the world are bribed by Ichigo and he makes sure that the money doesn't completely wander into the politicians own pockets."
"How does he do this?"
"A certain part of V.A.S.T. always has an eye on them, so Ichigo always has useful information to press them with."
"Blackmailing. How clever."
"Rukia spoke sarcastically.
"Sure. But it has something good. The governments try to do as few things that might turn out bad for them as possible."
"Basically said, he has every governmental institution, ergo every country, state and republic by their balls, additionally he leads an institution that controls every Vampires movement and even could erase their only form of regime, the councils with one snap of his fingers."
The petite female concluded.

"Basically spoken."
Shiro agreed.
"That's total world domination."
"So to speak."
Rukia looked at Shiro and he returned her gaze.
"You're in it as well, aren't you? If shit hit the fan, Ichigo only would spare your council and you'd get control of the worlds Vampires."
The Vampire grinned.
"You're good at imagining things like that, but we aren't as bad as this."
"Right, Pinky and the Brain were more creative with their plans for that either."
Broad laughter emitted from Shiro and soon Rukia joined in.
The idea of Shiro and Ichigo reigning over the world as the blood sucking dictators was just too absurd.
Both of them didn't seem to be the type for it, despite Ichigos former words.

Speaking of the orangette, he just entered the conference room, while the two people had their fit of laughter.
"You sure have your fun at my expenses."
Ichigo commented as he caught pieces of his mates thoughts.
"Aw, Ichi, don't be like that. You have to admit it's just too funny."
The orangette then smiled lightly as well.
"Yeah, you're right."
After they caught themselves again, Ichigo threw a stack of papers he had brought with him on the table.
"The first reports just came in and they show a pattern."

Chapter 11
End