"You… don't want to hire any more mercenaries?" Hammered asks Kingpin, as they are inside the Big Man's office in the middle of the night. Kingpin nods his head in confirmation. "But why? Surely you realize that this spider person is getting more involved in our operations, we're supposed to keep him distracted, ain't we?"
"That's precisely the problem," Kingpin answers, putting his elbows on the table, ''This vigilante has proven to be more formidable than I thought. The Kingpin does not tolerate failures. I have already sent 2 mercenaries to deal with him, and what did I get in return? Failure, and possibly an extraction of information. It doesn't help that that meddling Black Cat is with him as well, as she seems to have formed an alliance with him. And hiring any more becomes expensive as it is," He explains the problem of hiring any more mercenaries at the moment.
"So, then what?" Hammerhead asks, not understanding what their next move should be. ''We just sit back and do… nothing?"
"For the time being," Kingpin answers before he turns around to face the large window, seeing the town at night. It isn't as beautiful as New York, but it's not bad, "Hiring more of these mercenaries will prove to be troublesome, and our resources say there aren't nearly as many as there are in America. Of course, staying inactive for too long will prove to be most troubling. So as of now, we'll stay in the shadows, and when the time comes, we'll strike once more." He turns his head to look at his lieutenant. "Do you understand now, Hammerhead?"
For a moment, Hammerhead says nothing except making a sigh, "I guess so…" He says.
"Rest assured, we will capture this Spider…" Kingpin begins as he cracks his knuckles, making a humongous, powerful sound of his bones cracking. ''And his feline companion…" Already does The Kingpin begin to scheme.
"So… this is the guy I need to nail down?"
In the middle of the night, in a private building in Karakura Town, stand several women in the middle of an enormous hallway, with two women leaning on to their mistress. Though the strange thing about their appearance is despite the night, you can see their notable black sclera and ruby, red eyes. The only woman among them is standing in front, holding a picture of Ichigo in his costume, though not the greatest of quality, it was still sufficient to this deadly assassin.
"There is only one catch," The woman named Yulan says as she caresses one of her brides' hair with her fingers. "You must bring this man to me, no killing."
"That seems a bit redundant." She is a very beautiful, graceful, and fairly tall young woman standing 5'11 in height, with a slender, curvaceous frame. She has long, straight, black hair reaching her mid-back with short bangs framing her forehead and upturned red eyes. She wears a halter-style black dress that shows off her shoulders and chest, with a rose choker and red rose pattern on the inside of her skirt. The front of the skirt is mid-thigh length, while the back reaches below her knees. She wears black thigh-high boots with a rose symbol at the bottom of their sole and black fingerless gloves.
She wears a gold headband with a rose and two spikes on each side, and her weapons are made of the same color as well, ''After all, why hire an assassin when their main job is to kill?" Her name is Yor.
"I knew you'd say that… which is why I came with an offer," The other woman's name is Yulan. ''I can triple your usual pay, but I just want you to capture this man. Though the… costume he wears is a little different. That picture is a bit outdated, since now he wears red and blue, with a hoodie from what one of my sources have told me. And it's hard to find strong assassins like you in this country." She sighs.
"Triple my payment, eh?" Yor thinks about it. She doesn't like the idea of being hired only to be told not to kill. It's what she strives for. It's what assassins are hired for. To kill their target. But having an upgrade to her salary is something she does need, so she'll stick with it. "Well, I suppose I can let this slide. So, what are his habits?"
"He's young, from what I've been told he's usually free after high school, though he does tend to attack… monsters of sorts from time to time." Yulan informs the woman. "You're better off striking him later in the day, and make sure he's alone. You won't kill unless I give the orders."
"So, is that all?"
"I believe you can take care of him just fine…" Yulan looks lower at Yor's body, taking a bit of time to observe her beauty before looking into her eyes. "You can attack him however you want. Neutralize him, break his bones, beat him within an inch of his life, I don't care. Just don't kill him, and bring him to me."
"Alright, it should be simple then," Yor says. "Will that be all?"
"I believe it will be." Yulan replies.
"Fine by me." Yor then leaps away, using her acrobatics to disappear into the shadows.
The last class is now over in Karakura High, and the rest of the students put their books down in their school bag and get ready to leave. Ichigo is both glad and disappointed, feeling the need to take the time to relax, with his activities as a vigilante, and his training from the Vizards, and as a high school student, it becomes exhausting at some points. It's a miracle he's somewhat able to keep his grades up.
But he knows better. As nice as relaxing comes, training is important, especially when he's about to face off against the Arrancars in an upcoming war. Ichigo sets off to leave, but not before he's called, "Kurosaki… would you mind coming here for a moment?" The teacher in the class asks him.
'Oh great, now what?' Ichigo thinks, dejected. Nonetheless he complies as he comes over to his Japanese teacher. However, oddly enough he sees Mary Jane standing next to the teacher, with an amused grin on her face. "What is it?"
"I thought that one of our new students here," The teacher makes a gesture with his hand, pointing to Mary Jane. "Would like to have some help regarding our subjects at school. It seems that she has some difficulty understanding Japanese, both in its literature and grammar. I figured since you're one of the best when it comes to Japan in our class, you'd be more than qualified to help Ms. Watson here."
"Eh?" Ichigo blinks. He really doesn't have time for this. Of all the things, he needs to help a foreign girl get better at learning their language. And why is she smiling like that? "Look, usually I wouldn't mind helping, but I'm really busy with other stuff and—"
"I don't think I made myself clear, Ichigo…" The teacher says, ''It's just convenient I called you because you were one of the last students remaining, and being one of the best at Japanese. May I remind you that your grades are slipping as well? It won't kill you if you were to take a few days to spend with the young lady now, would it?"
Ichigo sighs on the inside, "Alright, fine…" he scratches his head, ''I guess I'll do it." He adds. 'You old faculty.'
"Glad to hear it." The teacher smiles in response, "Now, you two can leave."
And so they do, with Keigo and Mizuiro having waited for Ichigo to come out, "Ichigo!" Keigo hyper enthusiastically exclaims as he suddenly gets in front of the young man. "Come on! How about we go bowling together?!"
"Sorry, but can't. Kinda busy," Ichigo casually dismisses the brown haired man-child. "I gotta help this girl in our class with her Japanese." He says, pointing towards Mary Jane.
"Hiya!" Mary Jane enthusiastically exclaims, introducing herself.
"What?!" Keigo is in comical shock, as stars form in the background. "You're seriously ditching us just to help this girl?!"
"I'm standing right here, y'know…" Mary Jane grumbels as she folds her arms.
"No, Keigo, I'm clearly going out just to take a stroll around the town with her," Ichigo sarcastically replies, making Mary Jane giggle. "Yes, I gotta help Mary Jane here so she can get better at learning our language."
"Really now…" Keigo leans closer, "Is that really all? Or are you planning to have a date with her!? Right in front of us so you could brag about it!"
"In your dreams," Ichigo rolls his eyes, having enough of Keigo's nonsense as he sets out to leave. "Come on, let's go." He tells Mary Jane, who complies with him.
"Well, see ya guys!" Mary Jane waves her arm in a goodbye manner before she walks with Ichigo. "Man, that was something…"
"What was it?" Ichigo asks as they walk down the hallway.
"That tension between you and that teacher, and your friends… they're pretty funny." Mary Jane giggles.
"Huh? What tension?" Ichigo is confused about what she is talking about in the first part.
"I dunno if I can explain it well… but it really doesn't seem like you're in the mood to help me." Mary Jane says, putting her finger on her chin as she looks at the ceiling.
"Oh, sorry…" Ichigo scratches his hair, "It's just that I'm busy with a lot of stuff, so I'm not in the best mood to go around teaching…" The orange haired teen says. "Why the hell couldn't Uryu be here…"
"Uryu?" Mary Jane questions out of curiosity.
"He's like the top student of our class, good at everything, but lately he hasn't really shown up a lot…" Ichigo answers, "Blue hair, wears glasses, you can't miss him."
"So, why isn't he here?" Mary Jane asks.
"Hell if I know," Ichigo replies in annoyance, "That four eyed jackass hasn't shown himself, and even if he did, I would have forced him to answer." The Substitute makes a sigh. "But enough about that, let's focus on studying. When do you want me to come over?"
"Wow, easy there muchacho…" Ichigo is confused by the phrase. "You make it sound like you want to come over at my place." She says.
"Not like that…" A tick mark shows itself on Ichigo's head. "I did consider going to my place, but my family is… annoying, to put it simply."
"Oh man, talking about family? You probably shouldn't meet mine then. If that's what's causing you trouble, then mine would get under your nerves even more." Mary Jane says.
"Why? Are they hyper energetic or something?" Ichigo sarcastically asks.
"Oh, hey! We made it out! And there's Gwen!" Mary Jane exclaims as she runs towards the blonde girl. "Hey, tell you what, if things don't go well between us, I could study with her instead!" She says as she waves goodbye to Ichigo. "See ya!"
"What?!" Ichigo is flabbergasted. "But how are we supposed to—!"
"Just text me or something!" Mary Jane replies before she and Gwen start walking together.
"Oh, right…" Ichigo mutters under his breath before he realizes something. "Hey, wait! I don't have your phone number!"
She seems to ignore him as she walks away with Gwen. He could follow her right now, but something tells him she's not at all interested at the moment, "Why me…" Ichigo groans, putting his face on his head as he begins to take a different route to his home than he usually does. That's where he needs to have some activity as the masked vigilante.
Meanwhile the two girls continue to talk to one another as they walk away from school, "So, what was that all about back there?" Gwen asks her redheaded friend.
"Oh, I just need help from that guy to get better at Japanese, since it's a bit hard to adjust to from when we were in America." Mary Jane answers, as she puts her fingers together, putting them at the back of her head.
"But… shouldn't you do it, then?" Gwen is puzzled by this.
"Eh, I can do it tomorrow, or on the weekends," The redheaded teen shrugs. "That guy seems to be bothered anyhow."
"What do you mean?"
"And get this," Mary Jane seems to ignore the question. "He asked me if we should go to his place or mine."
"Isn't that how studying together works?" Gwen makes a sweatdrop at the back of her head.
"Yeah, besides if he did come to my place, I don't think I could handle that." Mary Jane lets go of her arms as she puts them to the side.
"Why not?" Gwen asks in curiosity.
"Well… he's kinda cute, when he gets all annoyed like that."
"... Really now?"
Ichigo yawns as he web swings in his costume, feeling a wave of tiredness washing over him from the day he's spent today with school, hunting Hollows, training with the Vizards and his friends, talking with Yuzu, and having to do some of the homework he's missed. He decides that his last attempt for working before heading home is to patrol as the vigilante, but oddly enough he hasn't really found anything even remotely suspicious.
Especially no gang members stirring trouble in his hometown. And most importantly, he still hasn't found the guy who shot Orihime. Even more importantly, who their boss is. Ichigo knows from his years of street fighting that once you take out the leader who commands a group of lackeys, the rest become unsure of themselves, witless and just run away. But that isn't always the solution, on some occasions they become enraged if you attack the leader first, especially if said lackeys are large in numbers, meaning that they attack out of vengeance.
Ichigo lands on a flagpole on a building as he lets go of his webbing, making a yawn, 'I wonder… just how long am I gonna keep this from the others?' He thinks as he leaps from the pole and starts running on the rooftops. He thinks of Chad, Uryu and the others he cares for, 'There's no way I'm telling this to my family. They wouldn't be able to understand what happened to me. Hell, I don't get what's happening to me either.' He fires one web after the other when leaping from the rooftop, performing acrobatics while hanging on to them.
He thinks back to when Karin discovered his Soul Reaper life, right before those Arrancars interrupted them and he had to fight. In a twisted way, he is glad they came by when they did. He couldn't imagine how it'd be like telling his sister that he goes out and fights monsters every day, risking his own life in the process. 'And what about Uryu? And Chad for that matter? I can't find where Uryu is, but Chad? I don't get why I'm keeping this secret from him. It wouldn't be bad to ask for his help, but that's just gonna make him get unnecessary attention. He can handle himself just fine, but the problem is his powers allow him to punch hard. I already learned just hitting isn't gonna be enough. I need information.'
Unbeknownst to the young man, Yor is hiding within shadows, eyeing the vigilante with her sharp eyes as she hides behind a water tower, and the teenager remains completely oblivious to her presence, 'So that's him…' Yor thinks to herself as she starts going after Ichigo on foot, seeing him starting to get away, 'No wonder she said he'd be easy to spot... I just didn't think it'd be this easy. What a ridiculous costume,' She smiles in amusement as she goes after him, performing incredible leaps and showcasing her mobile body, running at inhuman speeds. 'He should have at least made it black!'
Ichigo lands on another rooftop, tilting his head to see if there is any suspicion of a crime whatsoever while his mind is still running, 'Only Orihime knows about this stuff, and I guess Kisuke… and Yoruichi. Though when I have these powers,' The young Substitute looks at his hands, clenching them before letting go. 'I just think that these aren't enough. They're fine and all, but I wish I had more power than what I have right now. This isn't enough. Why did I even get these anyway?'
Suddenly, his built in warning system vibrates in his head like a sonar that is detecting danger, making Ichigo widen his eyes from behind his mask. He leaps out of the way when a dagger hurles itself at his back, breaking the sound barrier in doing so. "What the hell?!" Ichigo looks back on the rooftop to see Yor, 'Who is that?!' He thinks to himself as he lands on his feet.
"I'm impressed you were able to dodge that..." Yor grins as she holds her weapons. "I thought for sure I hid myself well. You're better than I thought if you were able to notice me."
'Yeah right.' Ichigo thinks as he scoffs, "Who are you?!" He demands to know.
"I'm afraid I can't tell my enemies my name…" Yor says as she dangles one of her weapons, "However, there is one thing you can know… and it's that today is your last day of living." Yor's face changes into that of death, giving a sharp gaze as she stares at Ichigo.
This makes the teenager flinch before composing himself, clenching his hands into fists before firing a pair of webs at the assassin. To the teenager's surprise, Yor moves like a blur, cutting his webs before they could touch her. Ichigo widens his eyes. Yor gets in front of him, lowering her body as she performs a spin kick, to which Ichigo bends his back backwards to avoid the blow, the small pressure she leaves creates a debris, making Ichigo instinctively put his arms forward to shield his eyes.
"Hugh!" Ichigo grunts in pain as he gets pushed back when he feels a kick hitting his stomach, which would have shattered any other person's bones and left them to a hospital. The young man fires a web at another building, hitting it dead on as he pushes himself, making a backflip before landing on another rooftop. The citizens below are watching, the noise grabbing their attention.
Ichigo grunts as he holds his stomach, 'What the hell!? She hits like a truck! There's no way she's human!' He thinks as he looks at his assailant. 'I went easy because I thought she'd be lightwork, so much for that.'
'He's tough. He might be stronger than I am. He may be young and reckless, but that doesn't mean I should underestimate him. He's not your everyday easy target…' Yor thinks to herself, analyzing her young opponent. Putting her leg muscles to work, the assassin leaps to where her target is, moving too fast to be seen, and Ichigo puts himself on the defensive when she strikes at him with a strong punch.
Ichigo moves backwards as Yor throws her jabs and hooks at the young man, blocking each and every one of them. "Where did you come from?!" Ichigo makes a backflip as he dodges Yor's spin kick that is aiming at his face.
"In Switzerland, came to kill you." Yor jokes as she throws more kicks at Ichigo's sides. The young man desperately blocks the blows, with one landing on his chest.
"Are you seriously joking about this?!" Ichigo goes on the offensive when he ducks his head from another blow that would have connected to his head.
"Maybe, why ask?" Yor twists her body as she spins herself behind Ichigo, landing right where she wants to be and starts attacking with her weapons, right before Ichigo launches a spin kick, to which Yor ducks and stabs Ichigo's foot with her spiky weapons, making his foot bleed, and Ichigo yelps in pain.
The black dressed assassin makes a sweep kick, knocking Ichigo to ground level. Now being defenseless, Yor lunges to stab Ichigo's side, though making sure to avoid vital points, to which she gets surprised when Ichigo makes a cry and twists his body to kick her to the side, knocking her around.
Ichigo hops on his one good foot and leaps towards the assassin woman. Yor twists her body, grabbing a smoke pipe, and putting her other hand on the ground and kicks Ichigo on his stomach. The teenager grunts, right before Yor kicks him at high speed, over and over again with her kicks before sending the teen flying. Ichigo roughly rolls over the ground, right before he forces himself to stop.
'I'm really gonna feel that one in the morning...' Ichigo complains in his head as he gets up. 'She's good. Really good. Better than me when it comes to fighting…' The inexperienced man gets into a defensive stance. 'The worst part is I'm not sure if I have a proper measure of controlling these powers. I get a tingle if I'm going too hard to the point I might snap their head off. But if I stay on the defensive, she might just kill me!'
Yor comes at him with her weapons high in the air, kicking their handle with uneery precision at Ichigo's shoulder, to which the orange haired Substitute moves out of the way, but not completely unharmed as the high, sharp pressure grazes the fabric of his costume, drawing some blood on him. Ichigo fires a web from his left hand to catch the assassin, only for Yor to cut the web with her other knife in hand.
'What kind of knives are those?!' Ichigo thinks in irritation, seeing that these are no normal weapons.
The assassin comes at him, her intention to kill is so sharp it can cut through the air itself with a serious look on her face. She swings her knife when she gets up close, only for Ichigo to duck his head. The boy wishes that he has a weapon of his own. Having expected this reaction, Yor lands from behind, putting her hand on the rooftop, spinning her body before kicking Ichigo from behind.
Yor runs at the young man, to which Ichigo responds by twisting his body to land safely. He goes on the offense by performing a sweep kick, to which Yor makes a flip to avoid the blow, and uses her left foot to kick Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo grunts from the powerful blow, but shrugs it off as he launches a fist at Yor's face. The female assassin twists her body, leaning while gripping on to Ichigo's shoulder. The young woman puts her hands on the roof as she grabs Ichigo's neck and flips him over. She performs a backflip as she grabs his throat and begins to choke him.
"Gagh...!" Ichigo begins to lose air as he puts his hands on the woman's arms, trying to get them off of him.
"It's no use. I can tell by the way you fight that you stand no chance of winning," Yor remarks as she calmly chokes the life out of him. "Your agility is impressive, and your instincts are even better than mine, but you lack experience. You haven't been fighting for very long now, have you?"
"Fuck… you…" The vigilante blurts out his words. 'Come on! Think of something here!' Ichigo tries to get her off of him, but she's much stronger than she appears to be. If he didn't know any better, 'She's stronger than the rest of those morons I fought!' Yor's grip tightens, and Ichigo swears he could feel bones popping in.
"But that alone isn't enough for a fight. But even so, I believe it's time to end this. Say goodbye, Ichigo." The mere mention of his name is enough to widen his eyes in utter shock, making him drop his guard, giving the assassin an opening as she quickly retracts her hand and aims at the pressure point in his neck.
The last thing Ichigo sees is darkness, as behind the mask, his eyes become lifeless as he ceases to struggle, his arms go numb. Yor sighs in relief as she lets go of her hands on his throat, hissing in pain as she feels her arms going sore, 'He's much stronger than I thought. I don't remember when anyone gave me such a hard time. Not since my rookie days as an assassin,' Yor thinks before she carries Ichigo over her shoulder, 'Huh, he's lighter than I thought he'd be.' She jumps over one rooftop after the other.
"Uuuugh…" Ichigo begins to open his brown eyes, feeling his life returning to him. He opens his eyes and closes them, trying to process information. "What the… what happened?"
"Welcome back, Ichigo Kurosaki…"
"Hunh…?" Ichigo doesn't understand who is speaking his name, but he tries to get up, and feels his throat is sore. He doesn't know, or rather, doesn't remember how or why.
As consciousness retains to the young man, he sees that he's still in his costume. Then the fact that she called his name makes the young man jump up in high alert. He frantically tilts his head to see who is calling him. Worse, with how he lied down, he realizes he doesn't have his mask on. "There's no need for you to be so anxious, Ichigo. I'm not here for a fight." The female voice says.
Ichigo makes a shallow breath as he stops fidgeting. He looks in front to see Yulan and her women hanging onto her, and to his shock he sees the same black dressed assassin standing next to her. He remembers now what happened to him. "YOU!" Ichigo leaps at her, his anger blinding him as he goes in to hit her with his fist. Yor prepares herself in a stance. As Ichigo gets close, he feels his movements coming to a halt when Yulan steps between them, with the white haired woman catching Ichigo's fist and catching Yor's knife with relative ease.
"Enough!" Yulan sternly exclaims as she looks back at Ichigo, "There won't be any fighting in here!" She begins to bend Ichigo's hand, making him grunt in pain. "Not until the boy here proves whether he's a threat or not." Yulan then pushes him back, overpowering his strength as Ichigo rolls backwards before he uses his adhesive powers to stop himself.
"Who or… what are you people?" Ichigo wants to know right away. It's bad enough for him that these people unmasked him, but he doesn't know where he is. A kidnap. He got kidnapped. How lovely. However, the women besides the assassin have black sclera and red eyes. He is no biologist, but even he knows this isn't normal. 'What are they?' Ichigo thinks to himself in confusion. 'Those eyes aren't normal… are they undergoing Hollowfication? Like what happened to me?' He thinks back to when he met his Inner Hollow. 'No. They don't have Masks on them. So what are they? And what's with this Spiritual Pressure?'
"I suggest you remain calm. You really don't want to have a battle here, actually I prefer not to have this happen here," Yulan says as she sits down, letting her women take a hold of her as they cuddle. "It would be a shame if it were destroyed."
"Look, lady…" Ichigo clenches his fist, "I don't care what happens to your place. All I wanna know is why the hell am I here. How do you know who I am? Who even are you?" He then points his finger at Yor. "And just who the hell is she? I thought she was trying to kill me?!"
Yulan makes a sigh. "Please be calm, this isn't as bad as you think—"
"Oh yeah, taking me against my will?" Ichigo scoffs. "Yeah, that's totally not labeled as kidnapping."
"You're not kidnapped, otherwise you'd be put down. And I'll be willing to let you go… depending on your answers." Yulan answers.
"That's totally not ominous," Ichigo crosses his arms. "Now what do you want? How did you know who I am?"
"So many questions…" Yulan sighs, taking a look as she strokes the woman's hair who is laying on her. "I'll answer them one at a time, if that's fine with you. Now, which do you wanna start with?"
"Where the hell am I?" Ichigo asks, making a hardened face as he poses for intimidation.
"I'm afraid I can't answer that one." Yulan shrugs her shoulders, making Ichigo more annoyed. "Though, even if I were to tell you, I'd just change my base of operations, and you wouldn't be able to find me, believe me."
"Well that's just great…" Ichigo grows a thick mark on his head. "Now who are you?"
"You're really serious on that one?" Yulan asks. "Come now, I'm sure you remember my kind of Spiritual Pressure. After all, you have already met some of my kind before," Ichigo raises his eyebrows, unsure as to what to say. "Do the words… Bounts come to your mind?"
Ichigo widens his eyes in shock, as all the memories from his battles with the Bounts recollect themselves. It's then that Kariya is the last one to pop into his mind. "How do you—"
"You could say I'm also a Bount… but that wouldn't exactly be completely accurate." Yulan says. "I'm what you humans would call… a vampire."
"A vampire…?" Ichigo's face becomes quizzical. "What, you guys drink blood or something?"
"We're sort of what vampires have been portrayed across the media, yes." Yulan bluntly tells him without skipping a beat. "Though our origins are… rather different, so to say."
"What, you need me to expose you to sunlight to kill you? Get a wooden stake?" Ichigo sarcastically replies.
"So there is some humor behind that stuck-up attitude of yours." Yulan wittingly comes back, her tone shifting to amusement.
"Bite me." Ichigo speaks in a sharp tone.
"Oh, lighten up, will ya?" Yulan rolls her eyes over the teenager's attitude.
"So you're a vampire… and you're somehow related to the Bounts, but you're somehow not a part of them?" Ichigo asks as he folds his arms. A part of him somehow doesn't really believe this whole thing. Actual, living vampires? Right here?
"I was never a part of their group, you could say we're like cousins in a way," Yulan says, "You see, for me and these lovely ladies here… we're a different story. My master, who seeked to achieve immortality many centuries ago, had successfully done so, by becoming a vampire to grant him immortality through performing dark, mystical magic. In which he sought conquest for power, he then created me to be his first of his army…" The woman looks up at the ceiling, pausing for a moment. "I still remember it, you know…"
"Remember what?" Ichigo asks.
"When I was still learning about humanity, back when I was still at my master's side. However, the centuries of living have finally taken their toll on his mind." Yulan adds, making Ichigo confused. "See, unlike the Soul Reapers, human minds are not designed to endure living for such a long time. At most they only have about a century, and that's if they're lucky, which even then, their brains rot from senility. But this was different. Seeing my master lose his sanity from living for so long… it really hurts. I was determined not to ever let the same thing happen to me…"
For a moment, Ichigo pauses, being unsure what to say as he processes the information of the woman's origins, "So that's how you came to be… but what about the rest here?" He looks over at the other women, whom he couldn't understand why they were cuddling with her. They haven't so much as spoken a word. "Did they become vampires like this as well?"
"No, I turned them like this." Yulan answers.
"Turn? What do you mean by that?" Ichigo is confused.
"How much more do you want me to spell it out for you?" Yulan is somewhat annoyed. "I find it hard to believe you were the one who took down Kariya, with how naive you are."
"Say what?!" Ichigo says.
"You're brash and immature, you lack self awareness of what you're saying, you're inexperienced and naive, which brings me to my other point…" Yulan puts her finger in front. "You're dangerous, Ichigo Kurosaki. You're young, too young to be doing any of this nonsense you're thrust through."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo clenches his fists harder, giving a sharp glare as he tries to keep his temper under control.
"The only good thing that you have is your so-called power." Yulan puts her hand on her tanned cheek. "You aren't some hardened veteran, you're just a hormonal, teenage boy who does nothing until the situation calls for it. Your little battle against the Soul Society, and then the Bounts. For you to have taken down Jin Kariya, you must be incredibly powerful… mixed in with your youth and your personality, that's where the problem lies."
"Are you saying… because I'm young, I'm dangerous?" Ichigo mutters in confusion.
"With that incredible power, yes." Yulan bluntly says without skipping a beat.
"That's bullshit!" Ichigo swings his arm to the side, "I've done nothing but protect people and save lives!" He points his finger at the woman. "And that's all I'm ever going to do! So to be frank with you, you can take whatever danger you have about me and stick it up your ass!"
"Well you're rude as well to women, that's another trait then…" Yulan isn't the least bit worried about the teenager's outburst. "And just when I was about to give a compliment too."
"Huh?" Ichigo's face becomes softer.
"I was going to say that because of your youth, you have optimism in you, which makes you trustworthy… at least for now." Yulan replies. Ichigo doesn't say anything, "I'm here to give you a warning… sure, you and your other spiritually aware friends are on the side of good, but can you really tell me you'll remain the same way until the day you die?" She asks him.
"What do you mean by that?" Ichigo asks.
"Let's just say… what if something were to happen to you, or to your friends for that matter?" Yulan begins. "What if you are to keep going through this stuff over and over again? You don't mean to tell me that you've gotten this far without any change in progress? Or some traumas for that matter? Since you fought Kariya, surely you know of his desire for power? Power can corrupt others, and absolute power can corrupt absolutely. Surely, with how powerful you are now, there haven't been times where a boy such as yourself was tempted by power?"
Ichigo doesn't say anything, as Yulan continues talking, "Or, say, if you become corrupted for a brief moment, or arrogant…" She says. "You're saying this hasn't happened to you at all?"
Ichigo stays silent, thinking back on the times he did indeed abuse his power for brief moments. His bloodlust to kill Renji in their first fight when he unlocked a major power boost, the same one he used to push back a Menos Grande, and his Inner Hollow calling out his arrogance for not even trying to bond with his Zanpakuto Spirit, being no better than Kenpachi when he acted he had the moral high ground. He abused his power in the Soul Society when he wasted his time to beat up Ganju instead of focusing on saving Rukia. And Kariya's view of power that, albeit he wouldn't admit, correlates with his own.
Yulan notices the frown on his face. "Judging by the look on your face, I'd say I was right…" She says.
"Yeah…" Ichigo somewhat slumps his shoulders. "You're right, there were times where I fucked up without bothering to think what I was doing, or I was too caught up in situations to think properly." He resolves himself as he looks into her eyes. "But that's something I already tackled. The only difference is I didn't think it could happen to me."
"Hm?" Yulan questions this. "What do you mean?"
"You don't really know Kariya all that well, do you?" Ichigo questions, to which the vampire woman gives a quizzical look.
"What are you talking about?" Yulan asks.
"Kariya was too hung up on the Bount's history. He couldn't stand to see things happening over and over again, his own people getting torn apart by war. I honestly think I get your situation, and I can't help but feel bad for you. Living forever isn't something that I want, nor should anybody go through that." Ichigo answers. "Despite the centuries that passed, Kariya found that the situation with the Bounts had remained stagnant. For him, history had always repeated itself. It was something that remained unchanged. He wanted to break that cycle… I'm sure you know about the history of the Bounts…"
Yulan looks down on the floor, with a small frown. "A lot…" She replies.
"I remember what a Soul Reaper Captain told me after I finished off Kariya… he told me that he wanted to shatter fate because he viewed history as a vicious cycle, so he wanted to use that power to cut that, just so things wouldn't end up repeating themselves." Ichigo tells her. "But in the end, even someone like Kariya got corrupted by power. Even I wondered if I'd get consumed by it…"
"Hmmm…" Yulan hums to herself, and the other women change their position. "You really put a lot of thought into this…"
"The one thing I always wanted is to protect others. That's never going to change. You can tell me all you want about how I might get corrupted by my own power, but I say that my desire will never change, it hasn't from what I went through, and it won't change now." Ichigo says, pointing his thumb at himself. "Now back to the question at hand, what happened to those women? And… why do they keep cuddling with you like that?"
"We do so because we love our mistress…" One of the vampiric women said as they caressed Yulan.
"What they mean to say," Yulan continues. "Is that these lovely girls here have traded their previous life in order to be with me…"
"Traded?" Ichigo asks in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"If you pay close attention to them, most of these girls aren't from current times, they're much older than that…" Yulan answers. One of the women gets up from her position and moves in closer to her mistress, to which Yulan grabs the young lass by her cheeks and moves closer, closing her eyes before she kisses the woman. "Mmmhm…" Their lips caress as they share their love. Ichigo widens his eyes upon seeing this, feeling his body shake up as his heart starts beating faster upon the sight.
"Wh… What the hell are you doing?" Ichigo mutters nervously as he tries to close his eyes, only to find himself unable to, being drawn to the sight.
Yulan pulls back and looks at the young man. "What? Surely you've heard of something like this…" She teases him.
"Don't make fun of this, it's weird…" Ichigo awkwardly says.
"They're my brides, what's wrong with that? Besides, I didn't see you look away, so clearly you liked what you were seeing," Yulan rolls her eyes. "But as I was saying, to make a long story short, these women here had nothing else left to lose when I stumbled upon them, so I gave them a new life, one in which they willingly gave themselves to me."
"Gave them…" Seeing the kiss, Ichigo finally realizes what these women were about. "Are they… your—"
"Yes, they're what you humans would call… my harem." Yulan says, wrapping her arms as long as she could around her women.
"What the hell…?" Ichigo stumbles, being left without many words to speak. "But… you're also a woman… how the hell does that work?" He then has many questions to ask. Having a harem of many girls is something that boys his age definitely want, especially the ones he knows, but a woman having this under her finger? Without anyone about it? No, scratch that. Nobody would even know who this woman is.
"Oh please, you have heard of what being attracted to the same gender is, haven't you? Or did they not teach you that at school, or through the Internet, or wherever you people get your information these days," Yulan dismisses Ichigo's reaction. "After all, if a man has a hard-on for wanting more than one woman, what says a woman attracted to the same gender can't?"
"Uh…" Ichigo isn't too sure what to say as he scratches the back of his head. "I guess you have point there," The teenager then looks at Yor, pointing his finger at her, who hasn't said a word the whole time, perhaps more so because she didn't understand the topic that is happening. "But what about her? She doesn't look like a vampire."
"That's because she isn't one. She's just an assassin." Yulan answers.
"An assassin…?" Ichigo is confused yet again, "Wait, but what's an assassin doing here? Why didn't she kill me when she had the chance?" He thinks back to when he fought the black haired woman, back to when she was choking the life out of him. "She even said she was going to kill me and everything."
Before Yulan can speak, Yor does so first, "Oh, that's because I wanted to get your attention." She says. "My client said that you wouldn't fight me seriously unless I threatened to kill you."
"But what for?" Ichigo doesn't understand this.
"To see if you were a threat to me or not," Ichigo looks at Yulan who speaks. "You see, I already knew about you, Ichigo Kurosaki. We already discussed that someone as young and powerful as you might end up turning on the wrong side and threaten my establishment. And to be perfectly blunt with you, I still think you can…" Ichigo gives a small glare out of defiance, though it isn't as hardened as before. "But right now I do believe you are good… and since you are, I believe that—"
"Hold on," Ichigo puts his arm in front to stop her for a moment. "Sorry to interrupt, but how exactly did you know I am? Did you just take my mask off and wanted to test me?"
"Not exactly… you have heard what Spiritual Pressure is, haven't you?" Yulan asks, to which Ichigo nods his head. "Do you have any idea how much of that energy you constantly release from your body? Between your Spiritual body and your Human form, there really isn't any difference besides one making a bigger leak. It's like you're asking for your silly identity to be revealed…" She eyes Ichigo up and down. "Why are you even wearing that to begin with? Doesn't seem to fit someone like you."
"It's a bit complicated, but I swore I wouldn't just let innocent people because I did nothing to stop it." Ichigo says.
"I see then… but as I was saying… I have some bit of information that might be of interest to you." Yulan says.
"What would that be?" The orange haired boy asks.
"Something related to the Kingpin of Crime…" Ichigo widens his eyes from Yulan's answer. "Ever heard of him?"
"Well, yeah…" Ichigo says, nodding his head. "Not much. I just know that bastard is responsible for my hometown going through shit at the moment."
"What if I were to say I could help you in taking him down?" Yulan crosses her legs as she gives the offer.
"You're saying you'll help me?" Ichigo crosses his arms.
"Something like that. I'm willing to give you information if it helps you take him down." Yulan says. "The only reason I'm helping is because the Kingpin is a threat to me as well, and I can't have that happen. For someone who's supposedly human, I have never seen anyone be so paranoid, or cautious for that matter."
"I'll take it," Ichigo quickly replies. "So what's the info?"
"Here…" Yulan pulls an envelope and throws it to Ichigo, who uses his speed to catch it, something that Yulan counted on.
Ichigo opens the envelope, and pulls out what seem to be pictures with papers lying still in the envelope. He makes a confused frown. "What's all this?" He asks the boss woman.
"Those are all the hideouts I found from Kingpin… at least so far," Yulan answers the boy. "Those are where his operations will begin very soon. If you take those out, it should corner him even more than you already have."
"Wow, I... I don't know what to say," Ichigo scuffles through these before he looks back at Yulan. "Thank you. Though, if it's not a problem, I can take this with me, right?"
"Well, duh, it's why I gave you this," Yulan rolls her eyes. She then straightens up. "However, I do believe you will need help. You're new at this so-called Superhero business, and I doubt you're allowed to use your Soul Reaper powers to get all of them on time. That's why you'll need help. You'll need a partner for this."
"Thanks for the offer, but I already have one that can help me on this." Ichigo replies.
"You two communicate where you are?" Yulan asks.
"Uh… not really…" Ichigo admits in embarrassment. "We just happen to pass by sometimes..."
Yulan gives a blunt look, staying silent for a moment before speaking, "And why did you think it was a good idea to do this?" She asks.
"I... I don't really know." Is an honest answer that the orange haired teen gives.
"Right…" Yulan makes a sigh. "In any case, you'll have Yor to help you with this."
"Eh?!" Both Ichigo and the mentioned assassin yelp, having not expected this.
"Wait, forgive me for interrupting, but why exactly would I help him?" Yor asks as she eyes her client. "I know you're paying me more times than what I'm usually used to, but I'm not a hero. I'm an assassin, that's not what we're assigned to do."
"I'm aware of that, Yor," Yulan says as she looks at the assassin, "You can still attack them mercilessly, but don't kill them. If you can somehow take out Kingpin, I'll pay you more than what I promised, and that can go to both of you." Ichigo makes a skeptical look. Yulan looks back at the young boy. "If you take out Kingpin, or at least back him into a corner, I'm willing to pay you as well."
"Yeah, not exactly interested in that. If I were to start accepting your money, then my family would just question where I even got that from, and I'm not in the mood to explain that all of a sudden." Ichigo says as he scratches his head.
"I suppose so, a bit of a shame, but I suggest you do reconsider," Yulan remarks before looking back at Yor. "But listen to me, Yor, unless you are busy with other agencies, this boy will need your help to track down those operations. If the Kingpin is to find out that if you were sent to track him, he would either turn you against us, or you'd get killed."
Yor thinks about it. As much as it goes against the code of assassins of killing people, having this much she is willing to get payed for, and considering it's been a while since the last time she got hired, she could use the money. "I suppose so…"
"Are you fine with this, Ichigo?" Yulan asks as she presses her fingers together.
"I get the feeling that even if I didn't want to, you'd still put me up with her anyways," Ichigo folds his arms as he gives a disgruntled look. "But I don't really know about working with someone who gets money from killing people…"
"I figured you'd say this, but did you not kill Jin Kariya? Unless he's still alive but weakened enough that he got sent to prison by the Soul Society?" Yulan says.
"It wasn't that simple…" Ichigo grunts, not exactly feeling comfortable talking about his kill towards Kariya, "The only reason I killed him in our last battle was because I didn't have a choice. If he detonated himself, it would have been the end of the world, which would have ended my friends. I didn't think, I just acted on instinct. It was do or die. If I let up, everyone would have died. I knew I had to do it," He clenches his hands on his forearms. "And after going through some problems, I'm determined to kill those who I have to, never because I want to."
"I see then…" Yulan figures, in her hardened mind, that this is a sign of naivety. Though frankly, she couldn't blame him all that much. After all, he is just a teenager. He's only begun to experience the world he's in. "How about this… I figured that killing Kingpin's men wouldn't do us much good. After all, we wouldn't want Yor here to be tracked down, especially not by the public."
Yor widens her eyes. She hasn't realized that part. When thinking like that, it does make sense, but inside it only makes her not want to do this even more. But the pay is good, so she isn't going to complain.
"Besides, you can't exactly expect to find this guy and arrest him by playing clean, are you?" The tanned woman asks. "Men like him constantly play dirty. If you're going to survive in this world, then tackling men like this… you sometimes have to play dirty as well, even if you don't like it."
For a minute, Ichigo doesn't say anything, thinking over what the vampire woman has been telling him. Frankly, he's still against the idea of doing this, but his instincts tell him that, at the end of the day, he doesn't have much of a choice. If he's to protect others, he has to play dirty. "Alright, fine…" Ichigo mutters. "You got a deal, lady. I'll play a little under your rules, if this doesn't kill people then I'm fine with that."
"Well, I suppose that's about it then." Yulan crosses her legs. "The exit is back there." She points as to where the exit is, to which Ichigo looks over. "You can either strike by tonight or tomorrow in the morning, that's when the operations start at that point in time."
"Got it then…" Yulan then throws Ichigo his mask, to which the boy catches it and puts it back on. He turns around to leave.
Norman looks intently at the glowing, green chemical substance that's being kept in a machine, and the scientists that are working in the middle of the laboratory that he previously showed Harry where he'd be working. They'd been at this for days now, and Norman has barely gotten a wink of sleep since then, focusing on nothing but the work.
He looks at the blueprints of what his idea was at the board meeting. The idea is to make a serum for himself like what was made for Captain America during the 1940's in World War II.
At first the original thought that came to his head was to make an Iron Man-like armor, and frankly it's still something he preferred, but unfortunately many military men tried to steal, or take, or copy the blueprints and the sophisticated technology that Tony Stark had made. As arrogant as the latter is viewed, it couldn't be denied that the man is a genius.
Which is why Norman brushed it off. It would take far too much time to build something as complex as that, much as the CEO of Oscorp Industries prefers it. After all, he is a lover of science and technology. That's precisely when the idea came to him. An icon for him in his childhood, though the original formula has been destroyed in the war, through the use of modern technology and more advanced scientists than at the time, it was more simple in a way.
'I truly wasn't expecting that this would happen…' Norman thinks as he walks around the room. 'Despite all the mishaps in New York with all those wannabe superheroes and supervillains, I never once expected that a kidnap would happen to me in Japan of all places. Mugging, I can at least understand, but a kidnap and murder attempt by Toomes? And that suit he wore…'
He frowns when he looks back at the suit Adrian Toomes wore. It's been bothering him ever since he was saved by the vigilante. How could Adrian have gotten such a suit when he had nothing to collect besides his personal stuff? Where could he have gotten it? The why is an obvious answer: Revenge. Simple as that.
It was hardly anything Japanese related, he looked into any companies that make something like this, but there hasn't been a hint of suspicion. It was completely American. There was only one place, only one person who had resources for such advanced engineering. And that is none other than Wilson Fisk, A.K.A, the Kingpin.
Or at least that's what he was rumored to be during that controversial mess in New York. But Norman knows better. You don't get in business like this without making shady deals along with obscure information.
In the past, he's worked with Fisk during some of their business deals in America, but that doesn't mean they weren't aware of each other's activities. Not once has Norman ever gotten on Kingpin's bad side, otherwise he would have been eliminated long ago. Clearly that's all changed now.
'Fisk… you think you could get away with this, don't you?' Norman narrows his eyes, giving an intense aura. 'Think you could get Toomes to work for you to kill me? If you had just stayed out of my way like a good, fat boy, I may have considered letting you live. But now you've gone too far. Hear me, Kingpin, wherever you are. Once this serum is complete, I will find you… and I will destroy you myself.'
Well managed to get the 13th chapter of this to be finished. So yeah, onto the drastic changes that were made. So for those who do know, the assassin Yor is a character that my Co-Author and I took and made some tweaks to make her fit in the narrative, she comes from Spy x Family, for those who don't know.
We couldn't really come up with any villains to take in this chapter since it's very limiting to take villains from Japan or that are at least close to there. So my Co-Author and I came up with the idea to give a more neutral gray area for Ichigo to come in contact with. Which is where Yulan comes in. For those who don't know, she comes from the Marvel Comics from the more modern Moon Knight Comics in either 2020 or 2022 run. This one is to give an idea that this story takes place after the Bount arc from the Bleach Anime, which, surprisingly, I really liked watching it… kind of.
Now for Yor, similar to Kingpin, she is an assassin that went above and beyond pushing her body to its utmost limits and broke through it, giving her strength and speed to superhuman degrees. Yulan, I won't reveal anything outside of what's already been said.
So yeah, we'll see each other next time.