Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Rosario+Vampire
Author's Notes: Well. Here's another late chapter. I apologize for its lateness. My grandfather had passed away and it was very difficult time for me to pull through. But, I am over it now, so no worries. The chapters will continue. Reviews are appreciated. And, as always, please, enjoy.
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Tae woke up in a white room. Checking by his surroundings, he found himself in a hospital room, lying in a clean, soft bed. In that instant, he forgot how he got there in the first place. Then, he felt an aching pain in his chest. He looked at the source of all the pain and saw that it was covered up in bandages. He laid back down onto his pillow and tried to recall what had happened. He couldn't.
Soon, a young nurse came in and checked up on Tae. Although he was severely injured from an injury he doesn't recall, he was making a steady recovery from it. Tae asked the nurse how he ended up in the hospital in the first place.
"A young boy brought you in. He had a peculiar appearance." The nurse replied, setting Tae's medications by the night table.
Tae though for a moment. Young boy… Peculiar appearance… Doesn't ring a bell…
"The boy had long silver hair and rather strange eyes…" The nurse continued.
Silver hair…? Strange eyes? "Can you elaborate please?" Tae asked.
The nurse looked at Tae, eyebrow raised. "His eyes were silver-ish blue. From first glance, they looked as if they didn't have any pupils. He wore simple clothing and had a very melancholy voice. I assumed you knew this boy. Do you?"
DAISUKE. Impossible. Admin Jean said that Daisuke was not permitted outside… I don't understand… "Yes I do know that boy. Did he say anything?" Tae said as he reached for his medicine.
Picking up her tray, the nurse said, "He wasn't much of a talker. But he did say…"
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Many hours earlier…
Daisuke leapt across the city with Tae on his back. He was unconscious but still alive. At least for the moment. Tae had begun coughing up blood mid-jump and Daisuke was alarmed by the forming of sudden events.
Tae was attacked by Sang-Hyun… No… it can't be… Can it?... He received punishing wounds from… Anyway, his condition is getting worse… Is there a nearby first-aid kit box?... Regardless, I wouldn't know how to use one… Tae had begun coagulating even more blood. Damn. This isn't good… What the hell do I do?
Daisuke landed on the ground. He set Tae against the wall of a building. Tae's breathing was becoming severely labored. Daisuke didn't know what to do. Tae was dying and he didn't know where to take him. As he brought his hands to his face, it had begun to rain…
Rain… Oh the reminiscence… Oh the irony…
"Hey idiot." A voice came out of nowhere. Daisuke, startled by the broken silence, swerved to the direction of the voice.
It was Shin.
Shin was holding several things. He had Daisuke's soul-less shell of a body and his Substitute Soul Reaper Pass.
"Oh Shin! I'm so glad to se-" Daisuke was cut off as he got punched in the face. Hard.
"You idiot! You know how much I was worried?! I told you keep in the certain distance so that I could keep watch! But did you listen? Nooo! You went off to explore the city for your own personal reasons! Why do you think we Shingamis exist? To tour the cities? I shit you not! We are here in this world to protect humans from hollows!" Shin exclaimed.
"I was in fact doing my job." Daisuke snapped, pointing at Tae and rubbing his face, That is going to leave a bruise… "Isn't that why you brought my things?"
"NO… and yes…" Shin stammered, cursing himself silently. He set Daisuke's possessions next to Tae.
Shin was silent for a several minutes, panning his eyes from Daisuke's equipment to Tae, then to Daisuke. "What the hell happened?" Shin finally asked, face no longer showing anger but genuine concern.
"Long story…" Daisuke said as he began to tell Shin all of the things that occurred in the past couple hours.
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Daisuke entered his physical body as Shin handed him his Substitute Badge. They both looked at Tae who was definitely not going to survive without medical attention.
"What should I do?" Daisuke asked, voice slightly faltering.
Shin looked around their surroundings. "Well, hell, we aren't going to get help around here…"
"Oh c'mon Shin. Don't be such a smartass. Just think." Daisuke said, voice pitch raising higher with each word.
Shin was quiet and had his eyes closed as he was thinking. Where do humans take their sick and wounded… A medical bay? No… Humans don't possess such things… Wait! Humans actually do have such a thing! A… hospit…a hospital was it? I think so.
"Daisuke," Shin said, setting his hand on his shoulder. Daisuke looked up, eyes wide. "Don't you humans have something called a hospital?"
Daisuke recalled hearing the word before, but that was nearly ten years ago. He tried to remember what the word was. He couldn't.
"Sorry Shin. I'm still new to the world outside. I don't know."
Shin paced steadily back and forth in the alleyway, arms behind his back, staring hard at the ground. Then, he leapt up onto a nearby building roof, out of Daisuke's line of sight. Daisuke waited silently, checking up on Tae. He stopped coughing… His shirt is bloody… What the hell…
The Shinigami landed abruptly on the ground in front of Daisuke, almost startling him.
"There is hospital nearby our area that is not too far. We can make it." Shin said, eagerness in his voice.
"Alright, let's go." Daisuke said, heaving Tae over his shoulders as he got up.
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The two approached the hospital. Shin wasn't visible to passerby-ers but Daisuke sure as hell was. A strange looking boy with a heavily bleeding man on his back is sure to attract nearly unwanted attention, even late at night.
Daisuke made it into the white building. It was quite an astounding sight as well as an establishment. Seoul University Hospital, huh? All too new… Inside, Daisuke was approached by a herd of doctors and nurses who literally tore Tae off his back and onto a medical bed as they rushed him into the emergency room. Only a young nurse remained in the receptionist area with Daisuke. She had light brown hair and soft brown eyes. From first glance, she was quite pretty.
"Wha-what happened?" the nurse asked, almost at a loss of words due to being taken aback by the turn of events. It was her second night on the job.
Daisuke was silent. He stared blankly in the direction where Tae was taken, at a loss of words.
The nurse observed Daisuke. What a strange boy… Silver hair, pale skin… those eyes… He's actually… somewhat handsome… She slowly approached Daisuke and spoke to him softly, "What happened?"
Turning away from the corridor, Daisuke looked at her, straight in the eyes. He then spoke, voice full of concern, "Please. Take care of this man." With that, he left as he came. In complete silence.
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Present Time…
The nurse had just left the room as Tae took his medicine. He then settled back down onto his pillow. He closed his eyes. He wanted to know what happened many hours ago. He thought hard, ever so thinking desperately. Still, he couldn't. Slowly, he drifted to sleep.
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Tae was frozen in fear as the beast approached him. One step at a time.
Soon, Tae found enough strength to turn and run for his life. He ran as hard as he could to flee from this monstrosity. He looked back to see where the beast had gone but it wasn't there. It was airborne. Soon enough, it leapt onto Tae. Tae came crashing towards the ground, the beast on top of him. He felt excruciating pain from his chest. He began to lose sight as the beast's jaws moved toward his head. He closed his eyes as he thought that he was going to die that instant.
However, the killing blow never came.
Tae opened his eyes slowly to briefly see a young man with long, silver hair in a white kimono-like robe standing in front of him. The man had a strange sword in his hands as he blocked the teeth from sinking into Tae's neck. Instead, the boy had been bitten on the arm, and was bleeding. He turned around; Tae saw that the boy had silver-blue eyes.
"D-Daisuke?..." he whispered before he passed out.
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Tae awoke abruptly from the dream. Was it a dream? Or was it a memory? I don't get it…
It was apparently nighttime and the room was dark. The nurse must have turned off the lights as I went to sleep… Huh, nice of her…
Tae prepared to close his eyes and go back to sleep until something caught his eye.
There was someone else in the room with him.
Tae looked at the lone figure in white. Then he noticed another that wore black and had blended into the darkness.
"Wha-what do you want from me?" Tae asked, voice shaking. Tae clenched his fists underneath the covers of the bed.
The person in white stepped forward. Light from outside the window revealed only partial details of his face, but partial was enough.
Long, silver hair… pale skin… Blue eyes…? Daisuke?
"I see you are awake Tae. That's good to see. Are you feeling any better?" Daisuke asked.
Tae was silent. He didn't understand what was going on. Daisuke roaming around outside? Since when? "I'm feeling fine…"
"Oh? So you can see me?" Daisuke asked, walking towards the window.
"What do you mean?" Tae asked, eyebrow raised.
"I'll tell you later." Daisuke replied, much to Tae's disappointment.
Then, Tae finally found the question he wanted the answer to so earnestly.
"Daisuke?"
"Hmm?" He replied, slowly looking out the window to city world beyond.
"How did I get here?" Tae asked, eager for an answer.
Daisuke looked away from the window and slowly retreated into the shadows of the room and sat down.
"Where to start…"
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"So you are telling me that you are Shinigami? A death god?" Where did I see this word before?
"Quite precisely. Thanks to my friend right here, Shin, without my consent." Daisuke said, elbowing Shin in the ribs. Shin let out a slight grunt, surprised by the sudden elbow.
"So… earlier you asked if I could see you… what did you mean by that?" Tae asked, curiously.
Daisuke nudged Shin. Shin cleared his throat and said, "What he meant by that is that we, as Shinigami, aren't visible to just ordinary people. Only a select few that have enough Spirit Energy can see us."
"Spirit energy?" Tae asked.
This conversation seems REALLY familiar… "Alright, let me explain…"
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Several blocks away from the hospital room, a black uniformed man stood perched onto a power line pole, earpiece equipped.
"Do you see him?" A voice from the piece asked.
"Yes sir. Positive visual on target."
"Good. Be prepared to deliver the package once the others leave. Understand?"
"Yes sir. Understood."
"Also…"
"What is it, sir?"
"Don't kill Tae. That would be unnecessary."
"Copy."
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"That hollow came and attacked you. It must've tried to devour you because of your Spirit Energy."
Tae thought for a moment, "Seems legitimate enough."
Daisuke was silent as he reminisced about the hollow…. Sang Hyun…
"We'll stay posted outside of the hospital in our spirit forms and fend off the other hollows that may come this way. So rest easy."
"Thank you, that would be appreciated… But, Daisuke? What about Admin Jean? Does he know…?"
Daisuke quickly looked at Tae. "Don't worry. I've got it under control."
"Alright then…"
"We'll be outside" Shin said, making his way out of the window.
Daisuke, too, climbed out the window after giving a curt good-bye to Tae.
Tae laid back down onto his bed, sighing. In the end, Daisuke isn't insane after all… I'm such an idiot… With that, he, once again, fell asleep, this time dreamlessly.
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The two Soul Reapers sat suspended in midair. They sat in silence, on lookout for stray hollows that may come their way to harm either them or Tae. Shin put his hand on his Zanpaku-to and looked at Daisuke.
"Daisuke?"
"What?"
Shin brushed and combed back his long black hair with his hand. "When you were mentioning the hollow that attacked Tae to me earlier, something about it made you hesitant. Is something wrong?"
Daisuke, looking up to dark night sky, sighing, said, "I didn't try sublimating the correct way like you told me to."
Raising an eyebrow, Shin asked, "What do you mean?"
Daisuke stared off into the distance, thinking about the hollow. "I broke a portion of his mask off."
Shin, eyes wide, said, "Him? What are you talking about?"
Daisuke looked at Shin straight in the eye, it slightly unnerved him. With a deep breath, Daisuke said "I knew who the hollow was… It was a friend of mine."
Shin just stared blankly at Daisuke, not saying a word.
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While the two were conversing, they were too busy to notice a black clad figure rushing towards Tae's room. Shin though, thought he felt a disturbance in the spiritual atmosphere. He looked briefly at Tae's room. He saw nothing. So, in the end, he brushed the event off as if it was nothing.
The figure made it into Tae's room without a sound. The man was holding a parcel. He quickly put the parcel on the night table by Tae as quiet as he could.
Tae, oblivious of what was going on, woke up.
The black-suited man quickly covered Tae's mouth before he could make a sound. He also held a strange blade in front of Tae's throat.
"You scream, I will kill you. You make a sound, I will kill you."
Tae had no choice but to oblige.
The man said, "Our leader told me to drop off this package for you. Your hands only. He said… that it was his gift to you and it had served him well in time's need." With that, the man was gone in a matter of seconds.
Tae looked at the box. He reached for it. Setting it on his lap, he opened. What the contents were more or less shocked him.
It was a silver wristwatch.
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The hollow that fled into the gray portal whimpered as its mask regenerated. It was not that it felt pain; it felt great sadness for a strange reason. It slowly regained bits and pieces memory of whom it was, before reanimation as a hollow.
But bits and pieces aren't enough.
Not enough to regain its humanity.
With a terrifying roar, the mask had fully regenerated and it was up to full strength. He had begun to lose some of its recently acquired memories as it was consumed with a inapprehensible feeling. It felt something. Something that belonged to him was somewhere. Somewhere out there.
What was it… It was silver… metal… small…
The hollow then remembered its name and its stolen possession.
Opening the portal, it made it back into the world of the living. Breathing slowly, it uncurled its long white fingers, revealing sharp talon-like claws.
Someone stole his wristwatch. Someone killed him. He was back to repay a visit to whoever had it.
My name is Sang Hyun. And I want my wristwatch back…
Revealing it teeth, and turning it into a wicked smile, he had begun his spree.
He will get back his watch.
And kill everyone in his way.
No matter what it takes.
(A/N): I'm done. Sorry for this chapter. I'm suffering a bit from depression as before but I have this story laid out and I know where to take it. Thank you for reading. Reviews are appreciated.
Until next time,
~SAYONARA~