I finished writing, all that is left is typing it down.
Beginning with this chapter will come a lot of arts as well.
So if you want to take a look at them go on my profile and klick on the link below:
Angeli Sanguis Series - Collection of arts

Countdown till final: 7

Shiro called Ulquiorra down, for investigation and to get the corpse moved to the autopsy.
As the silent one came to them without the female, Ichigo asked him of her whereabouts.
"After your call, she ran off ahead of me and took the elevator first. I thought she already was here."
The Vampire answered without changing his expression much, but the other two knew that the fact that she wasn't here worried him.
Ichigo and Shiro both frowned and the first ones alarm bells were running amok.

He paced around on the place, searching for Rukias presence, but it was like a black hole swallowed her entirely.
The orangette wouldn't give up so easily though.
When his normal senses wouldn't work, maybe if he tweaked his ability a bit he could find her.
He remembered the feel of her soul, from the time he had captured her and tried to weave his own into any tiny trail the woman's may have left behind.
Eventually he found it and the trail went to the same direction that suspicious man had gone to before.
Ichigo found an other trail close to Rukias that he couldn't associate with.

"She's been taken that way."
He spoke out after minutes of standing around completely silent.
"Taken?"
Shiro asked.
"What else do you think could have happened?"
Ichigo retorted, so that Shiro thought about it for some moments.
"Yeah, sure. Then go ahead. I'll be right behind you once this mess is cleaned up."
The younger Vampire nodded shortly and sprinted off.
He had to concentrate intensely, or he would lose that silken trail he found.
Lady Luck meant good to him though, since the trail became stronger after a few hundred meters and he managed to follow it to a park without problems.
There, in a clearing he found Rukia, kneeling on the ground, bound and choked with duct tape.

"Rukia! Are you alright?"
He called out to her, but only got muffled sounds for an answer.
"My, the bait worked better then anticipated. That wasn't even five minutes, I'm impressed."
A figure, wearing a dark cloak came out of the shadows, followed by another, taller one.

The first threw the hood of his cloak back, revealing his face and Ichigo at first thought the very man he killed a century ago stood before him, but on second glance there were some differences.
The man had light colored hair, wore a pair of glasses and looked a lot older that Aizen did back then.
"Who are you and why did you kidnap Rukia?"
Ichigo demanded to know, his hand already moving to his weapon holster, that wasn't there.
The man looked annoyed at him.
"Mph. I thought so, but still it ticks me off that you don't even know the relatives of your employees."
Ichigo frowned, as is dawned on him.
"You're Rukias uncle."
"My name is Kajoumaru Hidemoto. Satsuki Akira was my brother and it is true that this girl calls me her uncle."
"Why are you doing this?"
Hidemoto closed his eyes, shrugged casually, as if it didn't really matter.
"You'll see son enough, why ruin the surprise?"

Suddenly his eyes snapped wide open and he told with a crazed expression.
"I want to enjoy every moment when you meet your demise."
While he was getting high on his fantasies, the second kidnapper stepped forward and pulled him back to earth.
"Before that. I'd like to have a talk with my son."
Hidemoto snarled.
"Fine."
The taller person stepped in front of Hidemoto and Rukia, as Ichigo glared at him with an even deeper frown.
"Who are you calling your son? Last time I checked my old man had been buried in a wooden box for the past six decades."
"I am your father, though not directly."
"Stop spouting nonsense and let Rukia go!"

The tall man sighed under his hood.
"You won't listen to me, nor believe me, do you?"
"Who would believe the crap a bunch of fucked up kidnappers have to say?"
"Fine. Then die none the wiser."
The man suddenly attacked Ichigo, who barely dodged and tried to fight back with hand-to-hand combat.
His opponent had a knife and tried to stab him with it, but Ichigo expertly avoided the sharp weapon.
Instead, he managed to wring it out of the mans hands and got it into his own possession.
Before long the man stumbled on the uneven ground, leaving a small opening for Ichigo to attack.
The Vampire stabbed the knife directly into the mans heart and let go of the weapon once it stuck to the hilt in the body.
The man managed to pull it out, before he fell over and died.

Ichigos attention switched from the corpse to Rukia and her so called uncle.
He fixed the male with an ice cold glare and slowly walked toward them.
"Step away from her."
Hidemoto didn't budge, but on the contrary pulled a gun out from under his cloak.
"If I were you, I wouldn't come any closer."
He threatened and Ichigo stopped.
"So she's that precious, yes? I'll enjoy making you feel the same suffocating pain I felt when I lost the most important persons in my life."

Negotiating with and distracting his opponent was all Ichigo could do right now.
"You want to take revenge on me? What for?"
Hidemoto yelled back, the gun in his hand shaking dangerously.
"For my brother and his wife! They were everything I had and they died for a monster like you and left me this bastard! Doesn't she look so much like her mother? She's so close in looks to her, except for that hair! There isn't even a chance of a thousandth part for the two of them to have children with that kind of hair color."
He paused for a moment, a cruel and at the same time pained smile growing on his face.
"But that didn't even occur to you, right? I raised her just for this very moment. To take her away, the second you realize, just who this girl is. Finally after twenty years, my time has come!"

Ichigo felt hate rise from deep within himself.
He had noticed and he knew already, that's why he wouldn't let him do as he pleased and get away with it alive, all the more.
Ichigo looked at Rukia who had the barrel of the gun pressed to her temple, and eyes wide in terror.
"I know he raised you and all, but I see no other way. Will you hate me for what I'm about to do?"
The woman shook her head in deny, as tears began to roll over her cheeks.
Right now she just wanted to survive and be somewhere far from here.
Ichigo let out a small sigh of relief.
"I'm glad you won't."
As fast as he could he jumped at Hidemoto, who changed the aim of the gun toward the orangette and began to fire around wildly in fear.
He managed to graze Ichigos cheek with one shot, just before the Vampire had him by his throat.
"Being so cruel to someone you raised yourself, just for revenge is the worst I've ever seen."

The Vampires eyes turned to Rukia who stared wide eyed at them.
With a gentle expression he told her to avert and close her eyes, think of something else and humm a tune to mute any sound she might hear otherwise.
Turning his attention back to the vile man in his grasp he said.
"I haven't had a live-snack in a long time and now I'm presented with a poor one like you, but you deserve no better than this."
A short squelching sound and a suppressed cry sounded through the park and not too long after Ichigo let the lifeless body drop.
He cleaned the corners of his mouth on the arm of his jacket, then freed Rukia from the tape and asked her if she was alright.
"It was scary. What was he even talking all about? I just want to go home."
She was really confused, but Ichigo could use that to avoid answering her question and explaining the details.
"It's alright now. Let's get back to the office and ride home."
Rukia smiled thankfully, but then her eyes widened once more.

"Behind you!"
She jumped up and in front of him, trying to shield him.
Ichigo turned around, saw the danger just in time to push her aside.
"Idiot! Get away!"
He tried to dodge the incoming knife, but he was a second to late.
It cut deep into his left eye and he cried out in pain.
Covering the eye he tried to focus his healthy one on the man in front of him who should be dead, like Hidemoto.
"How?"

The man payed no attention to him, but looked at the corpse.
"Tch. Waking me and then turning out to be useless. Fool."
Ichigo yelled, ignoring the burning pain in the left side of his face.
"How the hell are you alive?"

"Nakhk'an indz voch'inch' steghtsvel e, bayts' haverzh baner yev haverzhakan yes mnum. *"
The man turned around, heading to leave.
"We will meet again."

Ichigo tried to go after him, but was stopped by Rukia.
"Your eye! We have to treat it."
"It's nothing, I'm fine."
Ichigo removed his bloodied hand, to reveal the cut already closing itself.
Rukia breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's get back."
The orangette said and she agreed.

Once they were back at the office, Ichigo told Shiro, who had been held up longer than he thought, to get another team to remove the corpse in the park.
The three of them went upstairs to Ichigos apartment, where they sat down to rest and the orangette cleaned his face, while reporting the happenings to his mate.
After he finished, Shiro demanded to take a look at the injury.
"It's no big deal. Really."
"Ichigo, there's a limit to how much our bodies can regenerate. Take the cloth away and let me see your eye."
The orangette had to give in.
He did as told and Shiro first found that the cut left a scar running over Ichigos eye, that wouldn't ever get any better than it was now.
Finally his mate opened the eye and Shiro couldn't help but gasp.
The chocolate brown of Ichigos eye was dulled as well as the pupil, that had taken on a greyish color.
"Ichigo..."
"I said it's no big deal. I still can see."

Rukia listened up at that and took the liberty of looking at the injury herself, coming from the left side of Ichigo.
"What happened?"
Ichigo flinched, even though he had felt her coming and spun his head around to her.
"Don't. Ever. Do that. Again."
Now she gasped as well as she realized.

"It's my fault. Because you protected me..."
She teared up,already about to cry her eyes out, when Ichigo gently embraced her.
"No need to cry. Calm down, ok?"
Once she regained her composure, he told her.
"I would shed my soul to protect you. Giving one eye to know that you remain at my side is a price I gratefully payed."
Rukia brushed away the last tears that still stood in her eyes.
"Why are you saying that? I'm just a human and I caused you nothing but problems."
Ichigo smiled and kissed the top of her head tenderly.
"Because I have only one of your kind."

Chapter 21
End

* Nakhk'an indz voch'inch' steghtsvel e, bayts' haverzh baner yev haverzhakan yes mnum. → Translated in a later chapter