A/N: You can consider this chapter the reason this fic exists. You see, occasionally, I make PVs. You know, you see them on youtube a lot alongside the AMVs. Like a lot of those amazing videos that are almost always from niconicodouga, I hand draw every single image. The song used as the quote here is Izanami's theme song. Oh yes. Definitely. It was an amazing PV, but I cannot upload it due to third party content. Le sigh. And guess what? This is chapter four! CHAPTER OF DEATH!

Also, these are the Three Imperial Regalia of Japan: sword Kusanagi, the mirror Yata no Kagami, and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama.

One last thing. The Arrancar call Kazuhiro "Bocchan," which means "young master." I chose to use this honorific because Kuroshitsuji. :3

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Creatures of Myth: Sunlit Summons

Chapter Four: Delusion

. . . .

"Every word you're saying is a lie

Run away my dear, for every sign will say your heart is dead

Bury all the memories, cover them with dirt

Where's the life we once had? Our destiny's unsure.

.

Closer to insanity, buries me alive

Where's the live we once had, it cannot be denied

Why can't you see what we had, let the fire burn the ice!

Where's the love we had, is it all a lie?"

"Fire and Ice" By Within Temptation

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.

The dark was a wonderful place to hide, yet, as she looked down at her pale, rotting skin, she couldn't help but feel a creeping disgust.

Rogue flickers of firelight brought the small cavern some modicum of illumination, reflecting off the shards of broken glass that littered the floor. She stepped forward, a large piece of mirror becoming embedded in her cold, dead foot. The woman didn't seem to notice, and if she did, she didn't care.

The fallen goddess stood before a stone pedestal, upon it a nice sized glass basin of clear water. She scowled, the dried half of her face protesting to the strain. What atrocious acts of adultery was her husband up to today, she wondered with such sarcasm that it oozed from her. Hands on either side of the basin, she called up a location she had watched somewhat often: her old bedroom, the room that had belonged to her and Izanagi centuries ago. The water mirror did not deliver sound, but over the millennia, she had taught herself to lip read. Even she could admit that she wasn't particularly good at it, but she managed. Before her was a scene she had seen many times, oh so many times. The lovely couple lay in bed, the woman wrapped fresh bandages around the wound that Izanami's Shikome had inflicted on her.

Izanami watched the scene play out before, her eyes narrowing and finally, as Yua delivered her message, Izanami's face twisted in rage. With a vicious roar, she struck the basin, water spilling out over the uneven stone floor as more shattered glass scattered across the ground. That horrid woman had taken her place. That damned Tennin! How dare she? How… dare she! The goddess gasped for breath, the pounding in her chest too powerful as she dropped to her knees. Small shards of glass cut into her hands, but not a single drop of blood leaked from her skin. She pulled her kimono aside, partially baring her chest. Her heart was barely visible through the pasty, porous remains of flesh. It thumped pitifully as she attempted to calm her breaths.

She brought a hand to her head, the side that had yet to rot away, and ran a hand through the glossy strands of dark hair. To her utter astonishment, she felt her hair give beneath her fingers as dead locks fell to the floor. At first, she could feel the remains of rage bubble up in her chest, but it withered into sorrow. Her hair – at least, on the right side of her head – had been one of the only features she retained of her living self, and now she was losing it, too. Her lips spread in frustrated scowl as tears fell from her only eye. These, the last features that could show Izanagi that she was still the same woman who lov-

No.

With a scoff, she stood, wiping away the offending droplets of water. She straightened her kimono and proceeded into a considerably smaller antechamber that held a single object within a niche on the wall. Daintily, she lifted the headpiece up to the dim candlelight, the eerie shadows flickering as precious stones of opal and obsidian glimmered against the platinum crown. Izanami-no-Mikoto grinned and set the sign of her sovereignty gently on her head. Standing still for a moment, she admired the weight of it. When she had first donned the tiara, it had been a heavy burden, causing her head to bow beneath its heftiness. However, as the centuries passed and the great responsibility became something she did for fun and her morality shrunk, it became as light as Tengu's feather.

There was a greater source of light beyond the antechamber. She continued towards the threshold, her head held high as she passed through into the seemingly endless cavern, with a ceiling a mile high. She stood high atop the huge trenches of fire, safe on the surrounding ledge. The sweet sound of thousands of treacherous souls screaming reached her ears, and she gazed amusedly down into the fires of Jigoku, the blazing flames of Hell. A smug smile reached her face as she angled her head upward, looking down upon her kingdom. Jigoku was hers, but the level above belonged to Susanoo, the dark blackness of Yomi was not foreign to her. In fact, the fool had asked her to watch over his kingdom while he vacationed in Takamagahara. If she were any less prideful, she would've let Yomi go to wastes, but instead, she had secured the realm in the same pristine, orderly condition as she did Jigoku. Despite her vast efforts to keep his domain in top efficiency, she had yet to see but a single favor in return. Perhaps a little payback was in order.

The goddess scowled and turned from the fiery pits, stalking off in the direction of the passage upwards. Shadows gathered around her, condensing and solidifying into eight pitch-black forms. "What do you wish of us, Master?" came a feminine voice.

Izanami narrowed her eye. "Susanoo has yet to return the grand favor of tending to his realm. We should give him a reminder worthy of the fiends of Jigoku."

A different shadow giggled, a terrifying sound. "Any ideas, Master?"

She thought on that for a moment before her eye widened in excitement. "Steal one of the Three Regalia and hide it in Karakura town. The ambient spiritual pressures of the area would keep it from being detected unless someone was within reach of it. The sword would be preferable, as it used to belong to Susanoo before it was presented to Amaterasu, he would be blamed for it." She could see the sun goddess's enraged face now. Tsukuyomi as well, as all evidence would point towards Susanoo. She grinned and shooed her minions, "Go, go!" she commanded as they hissed and melded back into the shadows.

Her plan would not fail. No. It really wouldn't. Her plans never failed.

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Las Noches was always too white, so by taking from Aizen's somewhat vast stash of money (it was probably mainly for tea, fabrics, and food), the Kurosaki family had placed a gargantuan order in with Urahara Shoten for carpeting, paint, wallpaper, and some hardwood flooring, as well as a huge order for more colorful furniture. Of course, Soul Society still owed Ichigo more money than they'd ever care to admit, but he was just a little reluctant to tap into that. He may as well exhaust the previous owner's funds before using up his own.

"Ichigo-sama, wanna help me with this?" Nelliel asked, her back was to him as she held the ties of the denim apron.

"Yeah, sure," he stood from pouring paint and tied the apron in a firm bow. "There."

She turned and smiled. "Thank you." She had her long aqua hair tied back in a ponytail, but she was also wearing a plain white headband that tied in the back and covered part of her forehead. Nelliel reached into the tool-belt at her hips and handed him a strip of white fabric.

Ichigo looked at it dumbly. "Um…"

Nel had already run off, giving everyone the same band of cloth. "Hachimaki for everyone!" she exclaimed, "They'll get you pumped up!"

The Vizored grinned and tied his headband similar to Nel. They already had every single television in the citadel showing the Home and Garden Channel, which, appropriately enough, was currently running a marathon of Color Splash, and Grimmjow had his music CD collection playing over the intercom system, but apparently, someone had snuck in and replaced one of the Metallica albums with a Kesha CD they'd swiped from Szayel. Ichigo could safely assume that none of the Arrancar really understood what being said, and he was glad, because he did. Did Americans listen to such… vulgar music? It's only redeeming quality was that it was catchy as a disease.

They had agreed that personal quarters were up to the occupants whether they wanted paint or wallpaper, but they were color-coding the hallways and that was final. In addition, they were placing nice, friendly maps at every major intersection as well as signs pointing to important rooms. They were knocking out a few walls to reduce the number of unoccupied rooms as well as make the mess hall bigger. The section of the citadel that had been decimated by Yammy was being cleared out and ignored. Really, he'd only knocked out a small portion of the place. Las Noches was a large, sprawling mess. They certainly didn't need this much building.

"Yo, Ichigo!"

He turned once more to see Tatsuki, still in her pure white nightgown and cradling their son in her arms. Normally, this would be a very picturesque, happy sight for him to see, and it would be if not for the look of pure irritation on his wife's face. "Suki, what's wrong?" he asked, a little hesitant.

"What the hell is this garbage blaring over the sound system?" she asked.

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't know, yet another tone deaf American woman?" He paused, "It is kinda… catchy, though."

"Like a disease," Ulquiorra said, not looking away from the wall he was painting a nice light jade color. He was dutifully wearing his Hachimaki, unexpectedly. It was a bit of an amusing sight.

"That's what I thought," Ichigo agreed.

Halibel – also wearing a headband - walked up to Tatsuki and gently covered the sleeping Kazuhiro's ears. "Bocchan should not be exposed to such disgusting music."

Ulquiorra nodded. "I agree completely." He looked around the meeting room, "Vega!" he sort of yelled.

The fraccion looked up from polishing the table. "Yeah, Ulquiorra-sama?"

"Go to my room and retrieve one of my music CDs-"

"No," Halibel cut him off, possibly fearful of what kind of music Ulquiorra was into, "Go to my quarters and get one of my-"

Nel jumped, "Wait! I've got some CDs, too! Mostly K-pop-"

"Shut up," Tatsuki said firmly and everyone complied, "Look, I haven't gotten a good night's sleep for a week," she turned to Ggio, "Go to Ichigo's and my quarters, take the CD out of the stereo in there, go to the main security room and take all of Grimmjow's CDs out and put in that one on repeat all. Got it?"

Ggio nodded and rushed off.

After a few moments, Nel asked, "What kind of CD is yours?"

Tatsuki sighed. "It's just a mix of all the songs that played at the wedding."

"Which wedding?" Nel asked.

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow at her. "Which one do you think?"

Suddenly, Kesha's electronic voice was cut off, and after a brief pause, the opening piano of Regina Spektor's "Us" played over the sound system. Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow at the lyrics, but Nel was soon full of pep and swaying to the beat, brandishing her paint roller with skill.

The Queen of Hueco Mundo smiled contentedly. "There. That's much better," she said before turning to return to her quarters.

Before she could leave, Ichigo caught her by the waist and pulled her towards him. Her face said she was not amused. "What?"

Ichigo grinned. "Oh, nothing," he planted a kiss on her forehead. "Have a nice nap," he said, releasing her.

She made a snort-like sound. "Ha. You bet I will."

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A/N: Ah, had to force myself to sit down and write this. Although, it was kinda fun. My Beyond Birthday Shimeji was being a troll, though. He kept stopping right over the sentence I was typing. Ah, Shimejis. One time, I left on a Szayel and my BB Shimeji on my comp overnight. When I checked it in the morning I had an army so large that I could not see around the edge of my screen. They reproduce asexually by multiplying. It's freaky sometimes.

I hope you enjoyed! I would prefer some feedback if it isn't too much of an inconvenience. I understand that sometimes people just don't know what to say. Just call me out on my crap and OOCness, or say you love it. Both are adequate and much accepted reviews.