Incessant noise and the clamor of thousands of non-human creatures fill the entirety of the Hueco Mundo. Annoying and unsleeping and lifeless despite so many beings walking and living and conducting all types of business here.
It's a complete wonder how no one above can hear anything. It's a complete wonder that Central 46 is still completely oblivious to the fact that the main hub for vampiric society is built beneath the very city they cage themselves in, Seireitei. Every vampire has a foothold in Hueco Mundo and every dhampir lives in Hueco Mundo at some point. It is the shadow city completely vulnerable for discovery, yet hidden because of humanity's blind ignorance and instinct to avoid the dark.
Disgusting. It makes Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez want to cackle as he kills those pesky living meat slabs. Well, cackle more than usual when he kills them. Humans are so fun to play with before he feasts on them.
"Grimmjow!" The bubbly shout makes Grimmjow balk. He doesn't move from the railing he leans against as he watches the filthy and packed street below. He growls when arms wrap around his neck and someone jumps onto his back.
"Grimmjow~! I was calling you!"Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, the source of Grimmjow's current misfortune and ire, whines directly into his ear. Grimmjow growls again and slams his elbow back to try and hit Nelliel in the face; she easily dodges like she always does, jumping off of Grimmjow's back as if she had never latched on.
"I heard you, damn witch!" Grimmjow snarls with a heated glare over his shoulder. Nelliel pouts, her big brown eyes growing watery. The blue haired man rolls his eyes at the woman's dramatics and goes back to watching the street.
It was a dinner party tonight, and a special one too. Grimmjow heard that the hosts delivered teenage humans with O-Negative. Mostly untainted by modern diets and a delectable blood type. Not even the street had been stained with blood, leaving only the uneatable parts of the humans behind.
"Where's Aizen-sama?" Grimmjow asks as Nelliel leans against the railing next to him.
"Dunno. He's been gone since dawn," Nelliel answers with a slight shrug. The wind, forever humid and damp from the cramped living space of the underground city, blows through her green hair. The scar that ran down the middle of her forehead and the space between her eyebrows is momentarily revealed to the world before her bangs fall back into place to hide it from view.
Grimmjow continues to stare where the scar hides from view through the corner of his eyes. "Why are you here?"
"Why are you brooding?" Nelliel counters without a glance towards her partner for the night. Grimmjow scowls and chuffs, glaring down at the party still in full swing despite the food having been devoured hours earlier.
"I don't brood, damn witch!"
Neither speak, allowing the constantly incessant noise of Hueco Mundo fill the air between them. They ignore the shouts and the moans and the screams from below even as they both watch the party that their master had planned and is meant to be hosting.
"Luppi Antenor is dead," Nelliel sighs out as she rests her chin on her crossed arms. "Do you think Aizen-sama will ever tire of his games with Urahara Kisuke?"
Grimmjow snorts derisively at the thought and tilts his head towards Nelliel. Nelliel glares at him with a pout before rolling her eyes.
"It's not that stupid of a question," She mumbles petulantly, making Grimmjow snicker.
"It really is that stupid," Grimmjow mocks with a sneer before he rests his cheek on his knuckles. He hums quietly, tapping his nail against the railing.
"It's Luppi's own fault. I warned him not to pursue that damned bitch. The fucking brat wouldn't listen." Grimmjow spits over the railing in intentional disrespect towards the dhampir that tried to usurp his position as the Sexta Espada.
Nelliel suddenly straightens up her posture, making Grimmjow snap his eyes towards her. Veins grow out from underneath her eyes as her sclera turns crimson.
"Hunter!" She hisses quietly, pointing her chin towards the packed party. Grimmjow's fangs start to protrude out of his mouth at the name and he glances down back at the party. How did a vampire hunter find Hueco Mundo? How did a vampire hunter enter Hueco Mundo without alerting any of the security measures?
It barely takes him a second to spot the damned hunter. Orange hair and all black clothing. Fucking idiot.
"Grimmjow," Nelliel speaks as she jumps onto the railing. Grimmjow growls in response as his nails elongate.
A beat passes before they jump over the railing and fall into the mass chaos of the dinner party. Grimmjow grabs the railing below and uses it to push himself to the left, falling parallel to the brick wall before landing in a crouch.
The vampires and dhampirs crowding the wall barely pass him a glance. The jawbone tattoo stretched across the left side of Grimmjow's jaw is notorious and they know not to impede his work. Grimmjow prowls through the packed street, glowing blue eyes completely focused on the vampire hunter trespassing Aizen's territory.
She was tall, extremely so, towering over everyone crowding the street. Her sunset orange hair was in messy waves, almost completely falling out of the bun it seems to have originally been in, clumped together and frizzy from the constant humidity of Hueco Mundo. A black trench-coat is draped over a black turtleneck and black slacks and a gleam of pure silver surrounded her neck and wrists.
The damn hunter stuck out like a sore thumb, and yet the guests don't pay her any kind of attention. They don't even notice her or her heavy scent of human and life.
Grimmjow walks in a large arch, letting Nelliel get closer to the hunter. Nelliel walks in front of the human, smiling and conversing with some of the guests. Grimmjow watches as the hunter glances at Nelliel before immediately turning her head to stare at him.
How the hell did some hunter immediately spot him and Nelliel when the hunters aren't even skilled enough to spot the newly turned?
"Damn hunter." Grimmjow curls his lips up into a snarl, glaring at the hunter. She smirks as her head tilts towards Grimmjow in a greeting before she spins on her heel and walks straight down the street.
Grimmjow glances over at Nelliel and catches cold brown eyes already staring at him. They nod at each other before following the hunter. Nothing living leaves Hueco Mundo unless it's turned or it's dead.
"I have been told that vampires have gone... missing. Ichigo, if this isn't hunters or vampires, then it's something that should still be dead."
Ichigo easily slips in with the overcrowded flow of this year's dinner party of Hueco Mundo. She keeps her ears attuned to the two sets of footsteps stalking after her as she walks straight ahead. If two of the mysterious and unknown King of Hueco Mundo's personal guard don't know about the missing vampires... then all hell will break loose for everyone.
Most humans don't believe in the supernatural that had once flowed through the world like the humans had done themselves. Ichigo knows the supernatural had existed at some point. The Kurosaki had been created for the sole reason to be equal to vampires... because the Kurosaki had been created to protect both humans and vampires from the rest of the supernatural; specifically the witches.
There were stories, dozens and maybe even hundreds of them, that Masaki had told her daughters. Stories of old enemies of both humans and vampires; allies, friends, acquaintances, predecessors, and descendants; the Fae, witches, werewolves, shifters,Yōkai, devils, demons, spirits, ghouls, Gods.
Over time, the majority of the supernatural had bred with humans and vampires and mixed genes, slowly dissolving into the two races. Only one race of the supernatural had been killed into extinction and two had been banished.
Out of every story, vampires had two consistent enemies. Werewolves and gods. Humans, consistently, only had three. Devils, vampires, and demons. But. Out of every story that has ever been told or recorded, Ichigo knows of only one race who had been the instigator and the puppet master in every war, battle, skirmish, and massacre between all of the beings. One of the three strongest races of all planes of Earth and the only race that had been killed into extinction. Witches.
Witches were not enemies of either the humans or the vampires... but they had caused every war and every battle between the two and with the other races. Witches were powerful and feared by every race, including their own.
The devils were banished by the witches and can only be summoned with a sigil from a witch's blood covenant. The gods were banished to the heavens and can only watch the universe they created, never able to interfere again unless the witches dissolve the banishment.
The Fae, at least the ones who managed to flee back to Faerie in time, can never return the Earth for the path that connected the two realms had been severed by a witch's sacrifice. Werewolves and shifters intermingled with humans and vampires in a desperate gamble and eventually became only legends and myths. Spirits, ghouls, and demons were cursed to never be seen unless the magic is at its lowest at the Witching Hour. The Yōkai hid amidst nature and the humans, eventually becoming phantoms of what they had once been.
Witches had the souls and stubbornness of humans, and the ambition and disposition of devils. A formidable and dangerous combination for the witches who helped their kind and others for a price... and downright terrifying for the witches who only wished to curse and wreak havoc on a world that damned and tortured them and their blood. It had been the only recorded moment in time where vampires and humans put aside their polar differences completely to defeat and kill a common enemy.
Some historians of the Kurosaki had believed it was this moment that had damned the world and the remaining beings who lived on it. Ichigo believes what her mother had wholeheartedly believed when she had been alive.
If one of the three strongest races of Earth did not die as payment for the creation of the Kurosaki, the world would. The Kurosaki had been created through a means that made gods wish to die and devils pray for repentance‒if the riddles and poems and theatrical stories are to be believed. And maybe, there is some truth to it. It had been a Kurosaki who killed the witches. A Kurosaki may look and act like a human... but what lies in their blood and in their soul is what makes them the monstrosity of the universe.
Ichigo slips out of the overcrowded street and into a thin and dank alleyway. She keeps her hands stuffed into her pockets as she flexibly maneuvers her way through the barely too small space.
The hunters are not the ones who are causing this sudden disappearance of vampires. While the Hunter's Association despises and wishes her dead, the Central 46 cannot lose such an integral part of human society and, quite literally, the only thing has kept humans alive since the creation of vampires. They keep her in the loop of everything the Hunter's Association does, even if it's belated.
There could be vampires, or dhampirs, that are kidnapping or killing vampires. It has happened many, many times in history, and the Thistle is the most recent culprit in the past five years. And Ichigo made sure that the damn clown understands completely that his experiments are only allowed by willing participants. Vampires kidnapping their own has to be the only other choice... because the last option is that a witch still lives‒
"‒or the witches were never fully killed off in the first place." Ichigo scowls and takes out a cigarette from her pocket. She practically shoves it into her mouth as she stops in the middle of the pitch-black alleyway to light it. A puff of smoke escapes her mouth before Ichigo grins.
"Took ya long enough," Ichigo says, turning around to face the way she walked from. Two of the Espada stood in front of her with glowing eyes and protruding fangs.
"Are we gonna fight or can I state my intentions first?" Ichigo continues without delay.
The Espada with electric blue hair and glowing blue eyes is in front of her in barely a blink. Ichigo unsheathes one of her silver daggers and blocks the cat-like claws that almost rip off her head from her neck. She barely slides back an inch as she tilts her head, gold eyes almost seemingly glowing in the dark like candlelight.
"Looks like we're fighting..." Ichigo grins, revealing her unnervingly sharp teeth. "We're gonna get along great!"
"You will die here, hunter!" The man hisses before Ichigo unsheathes her other dagger to block a kick to her head. She looks over at the woman who suddenly approached from her side before she glances up at where the woman's skin sizzles and burns from the vervain coating the silver dagger.
She can't tell if either are vampire or dhampir... just like that man... an ability to obscure? Or an experiment?
"I am here on the behalf of the Camellia," Ichigo states truthfully before she suddenly flicks her left hand up, landing the tiniest cut on the man's face as he leans back.
Ichigo uses the space to spin on her heel while falling to the ground, kicking out her other leg to sweep the woman's legs out from under her. The woman jumps back in a back handspring, planting her feet against the wall before pouncing forward.
Ichigo spins and rises on her hands before suddenly bringing her foot down. The woman's brown eyes widen before she slides against the ground.
CRACK!
The cobblestone ground cracks under the force of Ichigo's hit. Ichigo narrows her eyes before flipping backwards, cat-like claws slashing through one of her calves. She barely winces as she throws her dagger towards the man and flips her other one so that the blade faces her arm.
"Damn bitch!" The man sneers, easily ripping the dagger out from his sizzling wound in his shoulder and throwing it away.
Ichigo breathes out smoke and gives him a slight glare. "If you lose my dagger, you're paying for a new one, asshole. Now, can we talk? Or are ya just gonna try and kill me?"
"Hunters don't talk," The woman glares at Ichigo in dark disbelief, "let alone trespass on Aizen-sama's territory with no back-up. How did you find Hueco Mundo?"
"There's an undocumented entrance built directly into my house. Been there for centuries," Ichigo answers with a shrug.
It was the Kurosaki who had helped build and hide Hueco Mundo in the first place as a sanctuary for vampires, and later dhampirs. They had even owned the land where the building that the Central 46 resides in is built on, once upon a time. Both the Central 46 Court and Hueco Mundo have a few entrances and secrets that only the Kurosaki know about.
Both... beings pause for a moment at the answer. Ichigo narrows her eyes before jumping back from the woman's surprise attack.
"Lies!" The woman hisses she kicks out her leg and slams it against Ichigo's chest, slamming her back against the wall. Ichigo grunts at the force and the pain before leaping forward while twisting her body to stab her dagger into the woman's leg.
"Whatever, I'm not here to cause any havoc or some shit like that for you. I just need an answer to a question and I'll be on my way."
Ichigo jumps up to avoid claws aiming for her legs and kicks them out, throwing the man back before her weight forcefully takes the woman to the ground with her. Ichigo twists her body and presses her foot against the woman's shoulder and bends forward, ripping her dagger out of the leg it had been stabbed into. The woman's eyes widen as the dagger's blade is pressed against her jugular.
Everything stalls into a moment of calm. Ichigo glares into shocked brown eyes before glancing over at the blue haired man. Both are completely still.
"Answer my question and I won't kill you," Ichigo threatens, casually blowing smoke in the woman's face. The woman sneers before a large cloud of smoke surrounds her, and Ichigo.
"Smoke?! This is‒" Ichigo flips back and holds out her dagger as the smoke clears. She blinks once as a small child appears where the woman had been restrained. Holy shit.
To think such an ability‒is she‒she must be from...
"A shifter..." Ichigo breathes out before she startles when the child-sized woman wails loudly. Ichigo takes a step forward, her heart lurching into her throat. She barely notices the blue haired man suddenly appearing in front of the shifted woman with a protective hiss.
Instead of green, the woman had light blonde hair, where the reddish tint had been seen more clearly years ago, and warm copper eyes unable to comprehend what had happened. It flickers to charcoal black hair, shining darker than blood-red in direct sunlight, and obsidian eyes confused and grief-stricken. Ichigo sighs shakily and clenches her eyes shut to get rid of the memories.
"Grimm! Grimm, I'm scared! The hunter wants ta kill me!" The child-sized woman sobs out while grabbing the back of the man's shirt. Ichigo flinches back like she's been hit.
"Mama‒Mama can't die! Mama...Nēsan, where's Mama?!"
"Karin... Mama isn't coming‒she's not coming back."
Ichigo lowers her dagger, almost dropping it from how limply she held it. She bites the inside of her cheek until it starts to bleed and steps back, sheathing the blade. She pretends her hands aren't shaking so badly as they are.
"Vampires have‒" Ichigo clears her throat and hides the raw emotions it had been filled with "‒vampires have been going missing and it isn't the hunters. Do whatever the hell you want with that information."
Ichigo drops her cigarette with a guarded sneer and stalks away. She'll get another dagger. Fuck this.
"Mama? Where's Mama? Nēsan?"
"Mama!"
Nails pierce through Ichigo's palms as she stalks further into the alleyway, making her way onto a new, less packed, street. The memories spiral faster, incapable of being blocked.
A foreign tongue. Encroaching shadows. Blood soaking pale hands. A scream. Blood blinding her eyes.Death‒
Fuck this shit. She doesn't need this right now.
"‒only is she human, but she is a hunter!"
"We cannot have her here! What if this‒this hunter plans a raid?!"
"The Kuchiki Family must be desperate! This is a human hunter! Do you not realize the ramifications this will cause?!"
Kuchiki Byakuya stays silent as the noble heads and leaders of the Gotei 13 squabble and rant about his suggestion. His kuro-montsuki is pristine and styled impeccably and his white scarf is loosely wrapped around his neck. The kenseikan in his long black hair gleamed underneath the hundreds of candles that illuminated the Kuchiki Manor's council chamber.
Since August, vampires have been going missing. Not gone off-the-grid, or disappeared. Vampires have been going missing. 27 have gone missing since the beginning of October alone. With one of the vampires being a member of one of the lesser noble clans, Byakuya had been given permission to tell his "source" in the Hunter's Association. He has now suggested having her meet with all of the leaders and the other vampires involved in this.
He expected the immediate denials and the abhorrent exclamations, but expecting it still doesn't protect him from a migraine he is currently having. Byakuya glances at his highly amused sister sitting on his right, everything carefully hidden behind her ice-cold mask. He stops himself from sighing. It is unbecoming of him to showcase his suffering so easily.
"To even suggest this is preposterous! Have you gone mad?!" An elder of Byakuya's own family shouts in her shocked displeasure.
Byakuya stares coldly at the elder vampire, a tense atmosphere bringing the entire chamber to silence. He glances over at the leader of the entire Gotei 13 and one of the last vampires to have been turned by the Progenitor himself before he slept; Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryūsai.
"My source..." Byakuya pauses and contemplates what he is about to say one more time. He refuses to betray Ichigo's trust by revealing her somewhat secret of her lineage... but he has yet to discuss with her what he can say. She will need to be a part of this if either side can solve this.
Byakuya clenches his hands hidden inside of his haori. "My source is allied with the Kurosaki."
She will understand and go with the half-truth. He will make sure he discusses it with her when they meet.
"K-Kurosaki?!"
"They're still alive?"
"I thought‒with that woman's death..."
"Impossible!"
"Kuchiki Byakuya..." Lord Genryūsai's gravelly voice completely cuts off and silences all whispers. "The Kurosaki was killed off almost nine years ago. Where is your evidence of this source of yours being the Kurosaki's ally?"
Byakuya takes a deep breath and inclines his head towards Rukia. "Go and get the sigil, Imōto-sama."
"Yes, Nīsama." Rukia flickers out of sight for a few moments before returning with a paper.
Whispers fill the chamber as the young vampire stands directly next to Byakuya. She turns around to face the rest of those in the meeting with cold eyes and an even colder mask.
"14 years ago, the Kuchiki Family allied themselves with the Kurosaki," Rukia declares loudly and concisely. "In the case of her and her spouse's deaths, Kurosaki-ojōsama will be named the head of the Kurosaki. Until Kurosaki-ojōsama allows it or she reaches the age of 18, her identity will be kept a secret between the remaining members of the Kurosaki and the Kurosaki's allies. The Kurosaki's allies that can be public knowledge are: the Ishida Clan, the Kuchiki Family, the Camellia... and the vampire hunter known as Ichigo. With a sound mind and a sound soul, Masaki-san, the late Head of the Kurosaki had signed the contract with the Kuchiki and the Camellia."
The whispers become uproarious shouts and exclamations as Rukia reveals the sigil that only Kurosaki can create and use to the rest of the chamber. The sigil gifted to the Kurosaki by the Progenitor's own creator, and the only one capable of overpowering a witch's sigil and the very sigil that killed the witches all those millennia ago.
Hey! Hope you all like the new chapter! Finally getting some worldbuilding in. Woo! And poor Ichigo is still so traumatized by the incident that caused her mother's death. I wonder what happened? Hehe.
Anyways, I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! Bye.
WhovianWhoudini
