"Nii-san... that spirit attached to the parakeet... that child..." Karin Kurosaki jolted awake and grabbed Ichigo Kurosaki's clothes tightly. "That child watched... watched his mom being killed..." Tears spilled from her eyes uncontrollably. "Please... Nii-san... you... you have to save him... please..."
Ichigo Kurosaki looked down at his sister as she slipped back into unconsciousness in his arms.
How many years had it been since he last saw Karin cry like this...
Before their mother passed away, Karin had been just like Yuzu, always quick to cry.
But after their mother died, gentle yet strong Yuzu naturally stepped into that role, taking on all the household responsibilities.
And to keep the family from worrying, Karin became brave too... she stopped crying altogether.
In first grade, she fought a sixth grader.
In second grade, she threw a ball into the principal's office and got scolded for ages.
In third grade, she broke her leg during a field trip.
...Not once did she cry.
Until today, when she saw the memories of a child who had lost his mother, just like her.
Ichigo Kurosaki carefully laid Karin down on the bed.
That child... he had to help that child.
"Nii-san!" Ichigo Kurosaki had just stepped out of Karin's room when he heard Yuzu's voice. "The injured big brother is gone!"
"What?" Ichigo Kurosaki rushed into the ward, only to find the bed empty. "Yuzu, stay with Karin. I'll go find him!"
Ichigo Kurosaki jumped straight out of the open window, still on the call with Muten Natsu. "I'm going to find Chad. I'll call you once I do!"
After hanging up, Ichigo Kurosaki immediately tried calling Yasutora Sado.
Pick up... pick up...
Inside an abandoned factory, Yasutora Sado reached into his pocket and realized his phone was gone.
Carefully scanning his surroundings, he sat down to catch his breath. "Finally... shook it off... right?"
"Uncle..." the parakeet said in a clear voice. "It's okay now."
"I'm only fifteen..." Yasutora Sado corrected gently, then reassured it. "I'm fine... really. My strong point is that my body's tough... so..."
Boom!
A thunderous explosion erupted, smoke and dust surging outward.
Yasutora Sado grabbed the birdcage and avoided the shockwave.
"I've been found..." He scanned the area warily.
The parakeet drooped. "Uncle..."
"Don't worry... it'll be fine..." Yasutora Sado ran out of the abandoned factory. "Your mother... I will... save her..."
He sprinted down the road, and as he rounded a corner, he heard a familiar shout.
"Ah!" Ichigo Kurosaki yelled. "Chad!"
The call hadn't gone through, so Ichigo had resorted to the dumbest method possible.
Asking people.
After all, Yasutora Sado's height and skin tone made him easy to recognize.
A bespectacled boy about his age pointed him in a direction.
Ichigo Kurosaki followed it and spotted Yasutora Sado.
When Yasutora Sado saw him, he clearly froze for a moment, then turned and ran even faster.
"Damn it! Why are you running?!" Ichigo Kurosaki chased after him while pulling out his phone to call Muten Natsu. "Natsu—"
Boom!
A deafening blast went off right beside him. Ichigo Kurosaki was thrown by the shockwave and slammed into a roadside wall.
The phone in his hand shattered into pieces.
"What the hell..." Ichigo Kurosaki pushed himself upright, completely unable to understand what had just happened.
"Smells pretty good."
A voice whispered right behind him.
Ichigo Kurosaki spun around, his pupils shrinking sharply.
A blue-gray monster had appeared behind him without a sound. Its face was covered by a ghastly white bone mask. Brown fur covered its shoulders and ribs, long, unnatural limbs extended from its forearms, and a hollow, translucent hole pierced straight through its chest.
A Hollow.
"The scent you give off is amazing... such a high spiritual concentration..." the Hollow chuckled lowly. "My name is Shrieker. You'd better remember it. The name of the one who eats you... will be my name."
Ichigo Kurosaki had barely thrown a punch when Shrieker slapped him away with a single blow.
"Heh... so you really can see me." Shrieker watched as Ichigo Kurosaki struggled to stand. "Didn't die? Not bad. Then how about this!"
Shrieker swung his massive fist straight at him.
…
"Can't get through. Looks like they've already run into trouble over there." Muten Natsu put his phone away. "Rukia."
"Hm?" Rukia Kuchiki was trying hard to sense Reiatsu, but her strength hadn't fully returned yet. She found nothing.
"Close your eyes."
"Why?" Rukia Kuchiki stared straight at Muten Natsu, with no intention of doing as he said.
Muten Natsu slipped his hand back into his sleeve, then reached out through his collar and stripped off the upper half of his Shihakushō.
"Y-you… what are you doing?!" Rukia Kuchiki's eyes widened even more.
"Looking for someone." Muten Natsu tied the sleeves of the Shihakushō around his waist. "My sensory abilities aren't great, and I can't use Kidō right now. That only leaves one option."
The grotesque opening of exposed flesh in his chest trembled, slowly spreading wider.
His beating heart was clearly visible, the pitiful traces of crimson almost completely swallowed by pitch-black darkness.
"Wait!" Rukia Kuchiki grabbed Muten Natsu's arm. "You can't…"
"It's fine." Twisted black veins spread from his chest to his collarbone, crawling up his bloodstained neck, creeping over his cheek, and inching toward his forehead. "I'll just use it a little."
"Let's think of another way!"
"There's no time." Muten Natsu's expression visibly warped. The wound on his chest continued to widen, and the black veins made his face look terrifyingly distorted. "We can't afford to delay."
"You stopped being a Shinigami a long time ago!" Rukia Kuchiki couldn't bear to look at him in pain. "Why… why are you still doing this…"
"Shinigami is just a title." Muten Natsu slowly closed his eyes. As the twisted black veins reached his forehead, a thin horizontal crack appeared. "Whether I am one or not, I'll do what I want to do."
Within the opened fissure, a bizarre eyeball with pitch-black sclera rolled erratically before locking onto a single direction.
Scenes flickered across the crimson pupil, finally freezing on the hideous silhouette of a Hollow.
Muten Natsu curled his lips into a grin, his teeth stark white.
"Found you."
...
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