A Song for the Reaper

~XxX~

Yuzu

The girl was scared. Holding on to her brother's clothes, and taking strength from him where she had none herself. She didn't know what happened, how they ended up here or who that white-clad man had been, and what that man wanted from her brother.

She knew that her brother was a fighter, a warrior, like the ones from the stories. Not a Samurai. She thought that her brother lacked the attitude to be one. He was never good with authority. She liked to think of Ichigo as one of the knights from the stories she remembered her mother telling them when they were little.

The landless and lordless ones, who roamed about the lands, beholden to none and helping all they met on their travels. Yes, that is the image she likened to her brother. Strong, brave, handsome and protective. The one who made her feel save whenever he was around.

She knew that he was fighting all the time. Whenever he was away from home, she knew that he was putting himself into danger to fight against the monsters that most human's couldn't see, let alone understand.

She had always known that they existed. Ghosts, spectres and spirits good and evil, even when she was not able to see them. Her sister could.

Then how come that she had never put much thought into it all? The worry was there, always, and it shamed her to admit, even to herself, that after some time, the gnawing fear inside got less and less. Not long after she had put it out of her mind entirely; placing her brothers nightly escapades along the lines of other boys with their mundane and ordinary hobbies.

Her brother wasn't out there at night, hunting monstrous beasts and horrors. No, to her mind he was out late with his friends, having fun and playing games. Because it became normal! She knew that her brother would hate himself if he knew that she was worried for his sake, that was how he was. He took all of their families problems and made them his own, as such she wanted to lighten his burden, and had promised to herself that she would never let him see her worry.

They had made that pact as sisters, Karin and her.

And now she had broken that promise as her brothers knightly and gallant image crumbled before her eyes.

He was a warrior. Had been one for years now. Out there every night, fighting and struggling and killing. Of course he did. Warriors fought to kill. That's the path they walked. How could she have been so dumb as to liken it all to play and games? How could she ever think that her brother was having fun with it?

She felt horrible for it. The realization hit her hard. How callous she had been. Her brother had been out there, fighting and killing to survive, and what had she done? She ignored it! Put it out of her mind and busied herself with menial tasks around the house, acting the part of the housewife even as Ichigo stained himself crimson with blood.

And the prove was right there. A few feet from them. A cooling corpse made so by the hands of the brother she loved.

Yuzu hadn't looked yet, she hadn't taken her head away from where it was buried, against Ichigo's warm and strong frame. And she doubted that she would. Didn't know if she had the stomach for it.

Yuzu had seen death before. She was the daughter of a Doctor, and she was her father's number one helper. She wasn't squeamish, never had the chance to be, and she came face to face with all manner of horrendous wounds and injuries. A boy, cycling down the street, crashed, and his tibia snapped, bone poking out through the skin. She had watched her father snap the bone back into place, and then was left to console the boy after. An old man, brought to their clinic after a stroke, and she watched how her father tried whatever he could; Cpr, defibrillator, an injection of heparin, then proclaimed dead soon after.

She had seen death before, more than most her age would have, yet this was different all the same. The dead she had seen before were made so because of accidents and tragedies, natural, and luckily she was never faced with the aftermath of a violent crime. Such things had been uncommon in Karakura despite the many bullies that roamed the streets.

This man there, he was dead because of her brother. Because Ichigo had killed him in cold blood. If she looked at the body, then she would have to face reality. She didn't want that.

From her spot, pushed against Ichigo's back, she could hear them talking. Ichigo and some girl, they were talking in English, she understood a bit of what was said. She took her face from her brother's shirt and looked over at Karin, who stood right next to her. Peeking around Ichigo's frame and looking avidly at the person their brother talked too.

Karin was better at English than her, so she supposed that her twin understood all that was said perfectly, whereas Yuzu herself could only follow some choice words. She really wished that they were alone, that they could talk about what happened, and that these filthy looking barbarous men sitting on horseback would just leave them be.

They frighted her, these men. Rough, dark skinned, dirty and taken straight from any girls worst nightmares. Heathen plunderers who no doubt would see Karin and her as nothing but sport for the taking.

They looked brutal to her eyes, savage in ways she wasn't used to seeing in any man. Hald naked, copper skinned, and many bearing markings upon their bodies; brandings and tattooes, bearing all colours of the rainbow. All of them had long hair, bound in braids, many with their braids spliced up with the hair of other beasts until they trailed upon the ground beneath. Some with finery woven into their braids, gleaming with oils scented, sticky with fat. Some with dyed beards in yellow, orange and blues. Some with bells and rings woven into the hair on their chins and their moustaches. And some whose beards were longer still than the braids on their scalps, reaching down to their navels and further still.

And their horses ears and tails worked with bits of brightly coloured cloth. And one whose horses whole head was painted crimson red. And all the horsemen's faces gaudy and grotesque with dabbing's of finger paint like a company of mounted clowns. All howling in a barbarous tongue, and looking down upon her as if she was naught but a toy for their taking. Their eyes beady and small and shining with malicious lust. Leeringly licking their lips, grinning from beneath their beards, revealing ugly mouths filled by crooked yellow teeth. Some fondling their genitals right there, while sat beside their comrades, ignorant or uncaring of their publicity.

Yuzu all but gagged.

Like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone lands of reckoning she had visited before. She could only stand to look at them for but a moment before she once more pushed her head into the safety of her brothers ripped and torn shirt, wishing for but a moment that she was more like Karin and him. Able to stand firm even if situations like these.

Then her brother turned around, forcing her to let go of the comfort his shirt provided.

"Are you alright?" He asked and Yuzu sniffled then smiled wetly. As always, he was not concerned with himself, or with what the girl he'd spoken too had revealed. She leaned into his hand when his fingers stroked her cheek, firmly yet softly all the same.

It was just like him to be able to take away her worries with a few words and a gentle touch.

"What's going on?" Her sister asked from her side, like Yuzu, Karin hadn't moved away from Ichigo, her hand too still holding onto the fabric of his clothes like her life depended on it.

"I don't know." Ichigo said, lightly shaking his head and then running a hand through his bright orange hair in visible frustration.

"The girl," Karin nudged her chin in the direction of said girl. "Said that you are some Khal now!"

"What is a Khal?" Yuzu blurted out suddenly, surprising even herself with the swiftness of her tongue. "I wasn't able to understand everything that she said."

"I think its something like a Khan, or a Seii Taishougun[1]." Karin muttered, "or that's what I took away from that explanation. Ichigo is the leader of these...men now."

"What!?" Yuzu looked at her brother with wide eyes, "but how? Why!?" She really didn't want to have anything to do with such a bunch of filthy men!

"That man I've killed," Yuzu's eyes fell from her brothers face and she stared, unseeing, at his feet, "he was their leader it seems. From what I've been told, he challenged me to some form of honourable combat. Their leaders, are decided by these duels, or so it would seem. I didn't know what I got myself into."

"Maybe you shouldn't have killed him then." Karin said, and Yuzu couldn't help but agree even if she wouldn't have taken such an accusing tone with it.

Yuzu looked up at her brother and saw the muscles in jaw jump briefly, "Maybe…" He breathed the word out grating.

"Just...just maybe?" Karin's voice sounded disturbed, "you've killed a man! How can you be so calm about that!?"

Yuzu suspected why already, and the thought alone was enough that moisture gathered along the lids of her eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry that you two had to see this."

"So you are not sorry about killing him then?" Karin's voice was lost and hollow, tears began to trickle down Yuzu's eyes.

Ichigo didn't answer.

There was silence for a while, and the air between them was tense. She knew that Karin was shaken by what their brother had done, and she wondered why she didn't feel that strongly about it as well. It was, perhaps, because she had always known of how far their brother was willing to go when situations called for it.

He did invade the afterlife for a friend. Purgatory for another. And Hell for her.

She didn't doubt it, that Ichigo was well willing to drown himself in blood for the sake of others. He was a hero, even if he himself would deny it with every breath.

She sniffled, wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and smiled before looking up at her brothers face. Meeting his eyes with her own while reaching out to grab Karin's hand and pulling her close against her side. She reached around her twins back and wrapped the dark haired girl up in a one armed hug, her hand resting against her sisters stomach and rubbing soothing circles there.

She felt Karin shudder against her side. It was all clearly too much for her twin, and she could relate, she truly could but she would be strong now. For both her siblings.

"What are we going to do now, Ichi-nii?" She asked, trying smile as sweetly as she could manage, and she could see her brother's face become soft and pleasant to look at, his scowl easing and his eyes growing gentle and warm.

"What do you want to do?" He asked in turn.

Yuzu felt Karin's face push against her neck, then heard a sob followed by a whine, "I want to go home!"

Her eyes were still locked onto her brothers coffee brown ones, and so she saw them widen, his face twisting into a snarl of unimaginable fury but Yuzu wasn't afraid. Not even when a subtle weight of something otherworldly pressed against her frame. To others the feeling may very well be frightening; it was after all the strength of a Death God made manifest in the mortal world. Something that every human could feel but not understand. Alien to their minds, and sure to evoke a feeling of existential horror as they realized that they were stood against something greater than them.

But not her. Not Yuzu, for to her the feeling and the pressure that came with it was like a blanket. Wrapping her up warmly to be save and secure in the knowledge that her-their-guardian angel was there to chase away the nightmares, and monsters of their world.

And then Ichigo was there, standing in front of her face, tall and steadfast, towering of the two girls before wrapping them up in his arms.

She melted into the embrace.

"I'm so sorry you two." He whispered and pressed them tightly against his chest. "I'm so sorry…"

His calloused hands stroked against the back of their heads, and his warm voice cooed at them. He held them within his strong arms for what felt like minutes, gently shushing Karin until her sobs turned whimpers, and then whimpers became gentle cries.

Yuzu had been crying as well until the shirt of her brother was sticking wetly against the skin of her face. And then she became drowsy, a sudden deep tiredness that overcame her entirely. Her legs grew weak and before she knew it herself, her entire body was leaning heavily against her brother.

She closed her eyes, and let the strong beat of Ichigo's heart lull her into darkness.

~XxX~

Ichigo

'Calmly Ichigo.' The old man soothed him from within. 'Just breath deeply and stay calm.'

The boy did as was told, taking a few deep breaths while continuing to run his fingers over his sisters heads. They'd fallen asleep, both of them. Their breathing even and relaxed, their bodies heavy yet weightless against his frame.

Good. That was good. Let them sleep and dream of better things.

In the meantime he could think about what hell he was going to do going forward.

He bent at the knees and wrapped his arms around the girls thighs and lifted them up, making sure that their faces found purchase in the crook of his neck.

Once he stood again, he began to pace back and forth, getting himself lost in thought and ignoring the riders thereabouts. Thinking about what he would do, what he could do, knowing that he needed to provide for the girls.

'What about these men?' Old man Zangetsu inquired, 'this is an army, now under your command. Why not use them to carve out a living for your sisters.'

He wanted to deny that offer as soon as his wisest spirit had spoken it, but he stopped himself.

'You know King, the old man isn't wrong." Shiro too seemed to be in agreement. The more he thought about it, the less bad the idea seemed.

Don't get him wrong. He didn't want too. And he'd rather have his sisters away from people like these than close to them, but he could deal with that. He had no plans of ever leaving his sisters out of his sight, not as long as they were still here and not back at home.

And it wasn't as if anything would hold him with these people. Unlike him it may be, but he could use these people to get an idea about their general situation, where they were, what year it was, what the lay of the land was like, and who governed it.

Once those questions were answered, he could still take Yuzu and Karin and fuck off to some-place nice. Build a home for them, where they could wait it out until Kisuke found a way to get them.

He stopped pacing and nodded his head before turning towards the girl, Sarea was it? To see that she stood there like a lost lamb. Her fingers dextrously wriggling about as she pushed her palms together, not knowing what to do with her hands, and head lowered to look at the ground beneath.

He walked up to her, coming to a stop only when he was about a foot away from her frame, and he couldn't help but frown when the girl seemed to become smaller and smaller the closer he came.

A terrible feeling was beginning to gnaw at him.

"You said that I am the leader of these men, now, a Khal, or some such, right?" His frown deepened further still when the girl jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Yes, Great Khal." She nodded meekly.

"How many are there?"

"Forty Thousand, Great Kahl."

Ichigo blinked, eyes flitting over to the men still encircling them on their mounts. Forty Thousand of these barbarians?

'Hahaha!' Shiro's laughter rang out through his inner world, loud and insane as always. 'It would seem you ARE a true King now, eh King?'

"Forty Thousand…" He said in wonder. An army at his command. And he had no experience how to lead. What was he going to do with such a large force? How was he supposed to support such a large force?

More than that still, he didn't know anything about these people! Nothing at all. How could he even hope to lead an army of people he knew nothing about? Why was he even thinking about leading them in the first place?

'Because it is not within you to use someone else for your own gain.' Old man Zangetsu said, sharing his wisdom once again, and Ichigo was sure to listen.

"Yes, Fourty Thousand Dothraki riders."

Ichigo exhaled a long breath, trying to wrap his head around everything. And it was hard. If he didn't know better then he would think that he was dreaming. But this was not the time to be indecisive.

"Where are we right now?" He needed to stay on track. He needed answers.

"...the Dothraki Sea?" The girl sounded uncertain as she answered.

"And the name of the land, the continent?"

"Essos."

Never heard of it, but that was to be expected even if it meant that their situation was shaping up to be as bad as he feared that it was. They did end up in a different world, didn't they?

And things were only going to become worse, as Ichigo and his sisters would soon enough find out.

"Thank you." He told the dark skinned girl. "Oh, and my name is Kurosaki Ichigo, by the way."

The girl looked surprised for a moment, and then nodded once he had given her his name. She turned around, raised her arm and proclaimed his name loudly to the men watching. There were many hushed whispers that spread through the men around, and none of them looked at all enthused, which he could understand he supposed.

He was the very definition of an outsider, of course these men would be unhappy that he killed their leader and usurped his position.

He wondered how that could even be possible. Was their culture truly so focused on strength and nothing else that they would allow an outsider to take over their position of leadership? Wasn't that counter productive to their culture and way of life?

He didn't understand it. Not at all.

But the weight of his sister in his arms reminded him of the fact that he just needed to keep going.

"Abandon your fear and move forward" He muttered under his breath as he looked out over all those riders that now were his.

It wouldn't be that easy. He could feel it in his bones. Nothing ever was, and it sure wouldn't be now. He could see it plain as day, in the eyes of every single rider visible.

Distrusts. Anger. Greed.

His strenght and his spirit have quelled them, but those men weren't broken.

They may have been silent, but they were not loyal, and the way some leered at his sisters made him hope that they never would be.

But for now, he would play along. Gather information, consolidate resources, and then move from there…

~XxX~

Unknown Place at an Unknown Time

A man shuffled across the deck, shoulders hunched and shivering. Pain, agony, and torment was all that he felt, all that he ever felt since...that day.

The day he was made mute.

The man whimpered and shook as lightning crashed overhead, illuminating the black sails, and deep red deck of the...ship...the hell the gods cursed him to endure. He shuddered again, knowing all too well that the monster enjoyed the storm.

Loved it.

And he knew that whatever poor wench that was in those dreaded chambers would wish that she was dead.

Lightning once more lit up the sky, and the tortured husk of a man looked up, gazing upon the black sails in dreaded silence...and as he did he saw something small, barely noticeable bounce off the fluttering fabric and come tumbling down onto the blood soaked deck.

He shuffled forward, curious, and bent low to pick up the strange trinket.

It was warm against his skin, and the moment he touched the thing, every ache in his body ceased to be. His mouth where his tongue had been ripped from, ceased to throb in agony, his crotch, where he had been made a eunuch, didn't hurt.

Unbidden his eyes watered, and salty tears dripped down...onto a small plaque of wood, bearing the likeness of a skull.

~XxX~

[1] Originally, the title of sei-i taishōgun ("Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians") was given to military commanders during the early Heian period for the duration of military campaigns against the Emishi, who resisted the governance of the Kyoto-based imperial court.

A/N: Well hello there...sorry for falling off the grid for so long.

I won't bore you with any reasons for that, instead let me just say that I won't abandon this story.

I hope you enjoyed this chaper, because I really don't know if I did a good job in characterising Yuzu and Karin in a way that's human and believable. I wasn't sure if it was the right call to make Yuzu seem to be stronger of the two girls in that moment of high strung emotions, but I honestly think that that's actually the way their dynamic works.

Karin is strong in a physical sense. Fit, athletic, spirited, a tomboy, which make situations where she loses control of things that much harder on her, because she is not used to it.

While Yuzu is strong in Spirit. Disciplined, hard working, caring.

I want to think that both girls have been faced with death due to Isshin being a work at home doctor, with his own clinic, but again, seeing someone die, and seeing someone get killed are two very different things.

Even more so if it's someone close to you that does the killing. What made it worse, in my opinion, was that there was tangible evidence of the deed right there.

A sister may accept that her brother is in the Marine Corp for instance. She may accept that the brother kills in the line of duty. That's reasonable and easy for the mind to rationalize. Yet if that same sister would have to see what that same Marine brother can do with a combat knife...that would be a very traumatic experience to say the least.

But forgoing all that. I just didn't want to write Karin as "just" a hard ass tomboy. And I didn't want to write Yuzu as "just" a sweet and gentle girl. I might have failed.

And finally, let me accept some criticism that some of you have given me for the last chapter. I see now that I could have written the confrontation between Ichigo and Drogo better. In retrospect, I see it. I admit that I got over eager and let my ideas carry me away instead of thinking rationally from Ichigo's perspective.

But I make mistakes, just like anyone else. All I want is to write an engaging story with a very strong-bordering OP-character and do the things so many fanfic writers don't have the courage to do. To move away from cannon, and to write a fanfiction that attempts to stay faithful, and respectful, to both universes that I take from.

I'm not an author. I don't have a degree in Creative Writing. I might fail, but I also might make something good out of it. I'll let you be the judge of that.

With that said. I hope the next chapter wont take me a year to get out. See you all later.