Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Heart Dawning ❯ Chapter Seventeen ( Chapter 17 )

 

Chapter Seventeen

 

Kisuke and Yoruichi sat quietly at the table in the back room of the shop, wordlessly watching Tessai and waiting for him to speak once more. He hadn't said anything since revealing his knowledge of the meaning of the symbol on Daria's necklace, but they knew he would tell them what it meant as soon as he got his thoughts into order.

 

“It's a kidou symbol,” he finally said, keeping his voice low.

 

“I've never seen that symbol in any of the books at the academy or in the library,” Kisuke replied, unable to recall having seen it in his years of study on the subject.

 

“That's because it's not in any of the books,” Tessai explained. “It is a high-level spell unknown to everyone but the captain of the Kidou Corps.”

 

“So it's another forbidden technique?” Yoruichi asked, recalling the ones he had used to help Kisuke attempt to fix the hollowfied captains and lieutenants - which ultimately led to his own arrest and conviction for crimes against the laws of Soul Society.

 

“Not exactly,” Tessai answered. “It's just one that serves a specific purpose, which makes it irrelevant for use within Soul Society.”

 

“And what is its purpose?” Kisuke wondered, pouring himself a cup of tea from the pot that was still sitting in the center of the table.

 

“First, I think it would be best if I explained something to you about the Kidou Corps,” Tessai stated. “Something that only the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, the members of Central 46, the Shinigami King, and the captains of the unit have any knowledge of.”

 

“Why am I not surprised to find out that there's some big secret surrounding the Kidou Corps?” Yoruichi remarked, smirking a bit. “And people say the Onmitsukido are a shady lot.”

 

“Do you know the origins of kidou?” Tessai asked them, not even reacting to her comment.

 

“I never really thought about it,” Kisuke replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully for a moment before taking a sip of his tea.

 

“There's a reason it's called 'demon magic,' you know,” Tessai stated meaningfully, causing the other man to blink in disbelief.

 

“Seriously?” he asked, immediately grasping what his friend was trying to say.

 

Tessai nodded.

 

“Wait a minute,” Yoruichi requested, holding up both her hands in front of her. “You mean to tell me that kidou, the magic used by shinigami, has links to demons?”

 

“It was devised by them,” Tessai responded. “We merely borrowed the techniques and adapted them for our own use. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that they were given to us by the King of the Underworld back when Soul Society was very young. In the beginning, you see, hollows were very simple creatures that could easily be taken out by brute force alone. But then they began to evolve, becoming smarter and faster and stronger and soon it wasn't enough to simply go after them with swords and fists. The delicate balance that the shinigami fought so hard to preserve was in danger of being destroyed. So the Shinigami King was approached by the King of the Underworld and given an offer of allowing his people to learn the ways of the black arts that demons had been using for centuries. The Shinigami King was wary, thinking there was a catch, but there was none. You see, the King of the Underworld had as much to lose as he did if the proper balance was not restored. For if the hollows managed to take over, it would be the end of everything. The world of the living, Soul Society, and the Underworld would all cease to exist.”

 

“So the King of the Underworld taught the Shinigami King how to use the magic of demons and thus we have kidou?” Kisuke asked.

 

“Not the King of the Underworld himself, but one of his representatives: The High Magus of the Black Arts - the one demon whose skill in black magic far surpasses that of any other. It is this same representative who travels to Soul Society whenever a new captain is selected for the Kidou Corps in order to properly train him in the more advanced techniques.”

 

“But how is any of that story possible?” Yoruichi asked, confused. “I thought that no one could get out of the Underworld once they were there.”

 

“Certain demons have the ability to travel across dimensional lines into different planes of existence,” Tessai informed her. “All demons do, really, but most of them require being summoned by someone through some sort of ritual. Being able to do it on their own, without any form of summoning involved, is quite rare. It's pretty much just the King of the Underworld and the High Magus who possess the ability to do so.”

 

“Then you're not saying that Daria is a demon,” Kisuke stated, his tone of voice making it sound a bit like a question. Tessai merely looked at him. “She wouldn't possess the ability to cross the barrier from the Underworld to here.”

 

“The place I saw that symbol before was around the neck of the man who trained me,” Tessai replied.

 

He had recognized it immediately, the moment he saw it etched into her necklace. He had spent three years training under the man, after all, and had seen that same symbol created from gold hanging around his neck every day.

 

“Just stop beating around the bush and tell us what the damn symbol means, Tessai,” Yoruichi demanded, growing impatient.

 

“It's a symbol for an extremely high-level binding spell,” Tessai informed them. “The High Magus wore it in order to suppress the full concentration of his reiatsu so that it wouldn't smother the shinigami he came into contact with while in Soul Society for the duration of my training to become captain of the Kidou Corps.”

 

“Reiatsu strong enough to smother shinigami,” Yoruichi repeated thoughtfully.

 

“Sound familiar?” Kisuke asked, recalling the description Renji had given of what he'd felt in the room with Daria when she was still unconscious, as well as in the presence of those dark creatures.

 

“I told you she was dangerous,” Yoruichi said again, causing Kisuke to sigh as he returned his attention to Tessai.

 

“Is she dangerous?” he asked, wanting his opinion. Of the three of them, Tessai was the only one who appeared to have the slightest idea as to what was going on.

 

“I cannot rightfully say,” Tessai answered, shaking his head slightly. “For one thing, I do not know for certain what it is that's being suppressed by the symbol on her necklace. Perhaps it is those latent shinigami powers that you were speaking of before. All I know is that something is being bound inside her and that it may be linked to the High Magus of the Underworld, as that is his symbol.”

 

“What else do you remember about him?” Kisuke asked, curious about a theory he had.

 

“He was a kind man, certainly nothing like what you might expect a demon to be,” Tessai stated. “He appeared entirely human, which I was told is another rarity. Most demons who try to take on a human form retain at least one of the physical traits of their demon forms. He was fair-skinned, average height, and he had black hair about shoulder-length which he kept pulled back into a shot ponytail-”

 

“And midnight blue eyes?” Kisuke asked, interrupting him.

 

“Yes,” Tessai replied, nodding. “Exactly. How did you know that?”

 

“I've seen his picture,” Kisuke said as his theory was confirmed, crossing his arms over his chest and bowing his head slightly.

 

“Where?” Yoruichi asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“In Daria's room,” he answered, looking at her from within the shadows of his hat. “There's a picture of two people who I assume are her parents. The man in it fits Tessai's description, exactly.”

 

Yoruichi opened her mouth to make a comment about Daria potentially being the daughter of some hot-shot demon from the Underworld when Renji came running into the room, eyes wide as he held his communicator out in front of him.

 

“Guys, I just received a call from Captain Ukitake,” he announced, holding the phone up toward them and turning the volume to its highest setting.

 

“Yoruichi, Tessai, Kisuke... Are you all there?” the captain's voice came over the line, echoing slightly.

 

“We're here,” Kisuke assured him. “What have you called to tell us?”

 

“I already informed Renji of the situation, but he requested I tell you our findings myself. Captain Kurotsuchi discovered that the encryptions on the document he was attempting to access were actually a form of code, themselves.”

 

“Clever,” Kisuke replied, chuckling a bit.

 

“Yes,” Ukitake continued. “And once he was able to crack the code, we were able to discover the contents of the document.”

 

“What did it say?” Yoruichi wondered expectantly.

 

“The only known entity to possess black spirit ribbons are demons.”

 

“I knew it!” Yoruichi exclaimed, jumping to her feet and pacing a bit.

 

“You had better not say, 'I told you she was dangerous' again,” Kisuke warned her, following her movements with his gaze.

 

“But they just confirmed it!” Yoruichi argued. “You heard Ukitake, Kisuke: Daria is a demon.”

 

“What?”

 

All four people in the room suddenly fell silent at the sound of the voice coming from the doorway, their eyes looking to find Daria standing just outside the room, her face contorted in a mixture of disbelief and anger.

 

“Daria,” Kisuke whispered, eyes wide. He didn't know how much she had overheard of the conversation, but she had heard enough.

 

“You people are crazy,” Daria spat before storming through the room.

 

“Daria, wait,” he tried to reason with her as she paused to slip on her shoes and grab her jacket.

 

“No, Kisuke. I'm done here,” she told him angrily. “The secrecy, the lies, the... whatever insanity you all are up to here. I'm done with it.”

 

None of them moved to stop her as she made her way out through the shop, leaving the door open behind her as she left. Yoruichi and Renji both looked a bit shocked, while Kisuke was more worried than surprised. Tessai turned his attention to his employer and the two of them had a silent exchange, then Kisuke stood from his seat with a sigh.

 

“Thank you for informing us of Captain Kurotsuchi's findings, Captain Ukitake,” he told the man on the other end of the communicator Renji was still holding up. “Tessai, you call Ichigo and the others and have them come over here so that I can fill them all in on what's going on.”

 

“Where are you going?” Yoruichi asked as he began making his way toward the front door of shop.

 

“I'm going after Daria,” he announced, putting on his sandals and grabbing his shikomizue which they all knew was the sealed form of Benihime.

 

“Why are you taking your zanpakutou?” Renji wondered.

 

“Because she's a demon and he needs to protect himself from whatever she's capable of,” Yoruichi replied.

 

“Because hollows are likely to attack her in her current state,” Kisuke corrected. “We still have no reason to believe she's dangerous, Yoruichi-san, demon or not.”

 

“Oh come on!” she argued, getting in his face as she began ticking off the list on her fingers. “The dark reiatsu, that binding symbol on her necklace, her relationship to the High Magus of the Underworld, the fact that we just confirmed she's a demon... and you're still willing to turn a blind eye and wanting to protect her? I say, let the hollows have her. That's one less thing we'll have to worry about.”

 

“I happen to agree with Urahara-dono,” Tessai stated, earning himself a glare from Yoruichi. “Daria has never given us reason to believe she's dangerous. Trust me, now that I know she's a demon I can say with certainty that if she wanted to hurt us, she easily could have.”

 

“But-”

 

“Go,” Tessai ordered Kisuke, silencing her with the gruffness of his voice. “Find Daria and bring her back here so we can clear things up. I will deal with Yoruichi-dono.”

 

Yoruichi swallowed a bit nervously at the look Tessai gave her. She may be the former head of the Onmitsukido, but he was quite frightening in his own right. She knew he could have her locked in a high-level binding spell in a manner of a split second, probably even before she could flash step out of there. Deciding not to tempt fate, she sighed and sat back down as she turned to Renji.

 

“Well, what are you waiting for?” she asked him, her tone harsh in her frustration. “Call Ichigo and the others and tell them to get over here right away.”

 

Kisuke smiled, forcing himself not to laugh at her, and immediately flash-stepped out of the shop to where Daria was walking on the next street over, appearing directly in front of her.

 

“What the hell?” she asked, blinking in disbelief. He hadn't been there a second ago, and now he was standing before her with a cane slung over his right shoulder and a lazy smile gracing his lips.

 

“I thought you might like some company,” he told her, ignoring her shock at his sudden appearance.

 

“Not from you,” she replied in a clipped tone, moving around him and continuing on her way toward the main part of town and the apartment she had left behind.

 

“Please don't be angry, Daria,” he requested, falling into step beside her.

 

“How can I not be?” she asked, glancing at him briefly before looking ahead once more. “You were all talking about me behind my back, Kisuke. Not only that, but you were saying some pretty nasty things about me.”

 

“I never said anything detrimental to your character,” he informed her. “As for Yoruichi-san, well... She's always been somewhat protective of those close to her, and I think she's been under more stress than usual, lately. You'll have to forgive her for that outburst.”

 

“She called me a demon,” Daria pointed out to him, “and I didn't hear you or Tessai or Renji jumping to my defense.”

 

“Maybe because you didn't give any of us a chance to,” he reminded her, causing her to stop in her tracks and look at him.

 

“What about what that man on the phone was saying?” she asked quietly. Kisuke sighed heavily. So she had heard more than just Yoruichi's outburst.

 

“Don't you worry about that,” he told her, stepping closer to her and reaching up with one had to brush some hair back from her face in a gesture meant to help calm her down. She flinched away from the touch, stepping back away from him.

 

“Just come back to the shop and we'll get all of this cleared up,” he requested.

 

“No,” Daria firmly replied, shaking her head. “I told you Kisuke: I'm done with that place and with you people. You're all a bunch of shady loons, spouting nonsense about dead people and monsters and demons.”

 

“But you've seen proof that hollows and spirits exist, Daria,” he said, searching her eyes for some reason why she was suddenly denying everything she had learned in the last few weeks. She simply shook her head again and kept walking.

 

“It's not true,” she told him. “It can't be true.”

 

Kisuke followed her, frowning. It was almost as if she was in denial, which made him wonder if everything he hypothesized about her while talking to Tessai was not only true, but if perhaps she had known about it all along - or at least had an inkling. He doubted she really knew what she was, though, even now. She had a look of genuine fear in her eyes... the same type of fear he'd seen in young shinigami in Rukongai who hadn't yet learned what the powers they possessed really were.

 

The two of them continued to walk silently, finally reaching one of the busier streets in Karakura Town. Kisuke didn't try to stop her, and Daria didn't tell him to quit following her, figuring she just needed some time to cool off a bit before she would finally agree to come back to the shop with him. They were about to cross at an intersection when she suddenly halted mid-stride and grabbed his arm. Kisuke looked at where she was holding onto him, alarmed by the strength of her grip, then looked at her face and found she had gone paler than usual, her entire face frozen in a mask of pure terror.

 

“Daria, what is it?” he asked, concerned. “What's wrong?”

 

“It's him,” she said quietly, her voice trembling slightly as she continued staring straight ahead of them. Kisuke turned his head and looked across the street, his eyes falling upon a man with red hair who was staring back in their direction as he casually leaned against a building.

 

“Are you sure?” he asked, remembering what she had said about her mother's killer being a man with red hair.

 

“Positive,” Daria replied, and he could tell by the way her voice broke that she was on the verge of tears.

 

“Listen to me,” he told her, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her toward him, forcing her to look at him. “Go back to the shop. You'll be safe there. I'll take care of this.”

 

“But I-”

 

“Go,” Kisuke repeated before she could argue with him. “I promise, no one's going to hurt you. I won't let them.”

 

Daria hesitated, shaking her head as she gripped his shoulders tightly. She believed him. He sounded sincere, and she could see it in his eyes that he meant every word he said. But that man had killed her mother and spent the last ten years tracking her and tormenting her. He seemed to be in control of those dark creatures that kept attacking her, and she knew from what happened with Renji before that he wasn't above using them to get rid of anyone who stood in his way. Kisuke had assured her that he was able to defend the shop if someone managed to breach the protective barriers around it, but she had yet to actually see him in action and therefore really didn't know if he actually stood a chance against them or not, and a part of her couldn't stand the idea of him going after than man and never coming back.

 

“Just go,” he told her in a calm voice, once more reaching up to brush her hair from her face. This time she didn't flinch or try to pull away, and he noticed that the small gesture caused a few of the tears she had been holding back to spill over and roll down her cheeks as she swallowed nervously.

 

“Be careful,” she whispered before turning and quickly making her way off in the direction they had come from. Kisuke watched her until she disappeared around the corner of a building, then turned back in the direction of the man who had been stalking her for the past decade, glaring coldly at him.

 

The man pushed off the wall of the building he had been leaning against, looking a bit frightened, and quickly ducked into a nearby alley. Kisuke took a few steps back into the alley he and Daria had just emerged from, making sure he was out of sight of the numerous pedestrians walking on the main street, then flash-stepped across the road and down the alley the other man had run down, appearing several feet ahead of him. The man stopped walking when he appeared before him, gasping in surprise and turning to run the other way, but Kisuke was quicker. He grabbed the red-haired man by the back of his collar and threw him up against the nearest wall, smiling cruelly when he let out a yelp of pain as his back came into contact with the hard stone. Kisuke discarded the sheath of his zanpakutou and pressed the blade firmly against his neck before he could regain his composure and try to take off again, wordlessly releasing Behinime into her shikai form.

 

“I will give you one chance to answer this question to my satisfaction,” he told the man, the tone of his voice quiet and deadly.

 

“Please, I can explain,” the man begged, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. Kisuke noticed that there were a series of cuts across his left palm, some old and scarred over while others were fairly recent and still a bit red and angry-looking.

 

“Why are you stalking Daria?” Kisuke asked him,choosing to ignore the cuts and instead pressing the blade a bit further against his throat to accentuate the fact that he was dead serious about killing him if he didn't give him a proper answer.

 

“I'm trying to protect her,” the man replied, swallowing as best he could around the edge of the sword that was threatening to cut into his neck.

 

“Bullshit,” Kisuke responded. “You killed her mother. And for the past ten years, you have been following her from place to place, sending those damn creatures after her.”

 

“No,” the man argued, shaking his head and wincing as the blade cut slightly into his skin. “You've got it all wrong, I swear. I was sent to protect them, but I was too late. Her mother was already dead, and she ran away before I could stop her and explain what had happened.”

 

“Unlikely story,” Kisuke countered. The man just shook his head again and began reaching for the collar of his shirt.

 

“I can prove it,” he insisted, moving his hand slowly so that his attacker wouldn't misread his movements as him reaching for some sort of weapon.

 

Kisuke watched him silently, eyes narrowed in concentration. If he made any sudden movements or drew any sort of weapon, he was fully prepared to slice his blade across his throat and leave him in that alleyway to die. He knew he should probably exert some control over his actions, though. After all, Daria deserved answers about why her mother had been murdered and she wouldn't be able to get any if he killed the man responsible for her death.

 

“Do you recognize this?” the man asked as he pulled back his shirt collar. Kisuke's eyes went wide when he saw the exact same symbol from Daria's necklace burned into his flesh just below his collar bone.

 

“Who the hell are you?” he asked, easing up slightly on his sword.

 

“My name is Mullin,” the man replied. “Apprentice of the High Magus of the Underworld, and the one tasked with ensuring the safety of his wife and daughter. Please... If you let me go, I will explain everything.”

 

Kisuke considered his words for a moment, then slowly lowered his sword to his side, keeping his eyes trained on his every move. He didn't think the man was lying about who he was, but one could never be too careful when meeting someone for the first time.

 

“Bakudou number four,” Kisuke recited, holding a hand up in front of him, “Hainawa.” Mullin gave him a small smile as he used the spell to bind him in a rope of spiritual energy.

 

“Don't even think about trying to break out of this,” Kisuke warned him, pointing his sword at his throat. “I'll kill you before you can finish removing it.”

 

“Not like I could break it, even if I wanted to,” Mullin informed him, sounding a bit depressed. “I currently have no powers.”

 

“Why is that?” Kisuke asked, curious.

 

“Take me to Daria,” Mullin requested. “Allow me to explain everything to you there so that I might clear up whatever misunderstanding she has about my motives.”

 

“Fine,” Kisuke agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly. He wasn't entirely sure of how trustworthy this other man was, and he was especially wary about letting him within his home, but he still believed Daria deserved answers and he appeared to be telling the truth no matter how far-fetched his story seemed.

 

Once again praying that he could trust his instincts in the given situation, he grabbed the other man's arm and flash-stepped back to the shop with the hope that maybe now they could all finally get some answers to their questions.