Part I: Memories of a Promise
Sakura stared silently at the brother and sister, who were currently contemplating on how to handle the situation.
"I say we go to Karakura Slayer HQ. Mitsuki-san is there; she'll get the other's to help." Karin suggested. Ichigo nodded. "Maybe. And maybe Rukia will put in a good word for us." The orange haired vampire turned to Sakura. "Saku, are you coming?"
"Huh?" She snapped out of her daze. "Um... no, I don't think so. Go one without me." She looked at them with sad eyes. The twenty-year old looking demon sighed when they left. Someone was coming. She could feel it. This would be her last day.
"Life is so difficult sometimes, yet there are some who still press on. One of those people, answer this question..." She paused, watching as the front door was banged on, high-pitched, demonic shouts coming from the outside.
"Where do you go, when you're gone?"
"So this ain't some false alarm, right? She's seriously going into labor?" Mitsuki looked at Unohana seriously. The doctor nodded. "She is. She's about three weeks premature, but the child seems healthy enough."
Mitsuki nodded, the ghost of a relieved smile tugging forcefully at her lips. "That's good." Suddenly, a flash of light shone from behind her eyes, blocking her vision momentarily. A vision.
A powerful one.
Byakuya stood, no less than three feet away. This couldn't possibly be the future, nor was it the past.
"Bya-kun?" Even after twenty-three years, she could remember him perfectly. His midnight hair. Those cold, yet still loving gray-blue eyes, that perma-frown that never seemed to leave his face, and his icy demeanor.
He nodded his face passive. "You are being called, sister. By the Council of Elders."
Mitsuki blinked twice. "Council of Elders? What's... hey?" Suddenly, the world around her, the pure, boring, white world she and Byakuya were once in, changing into something that looked strangely like... a courtroom.
In front of her were five beings, a Demon, Scourge, and a Hunter, two other humans (she could smell their blood), and one vampire. She almost immediately recognized the vampire. It wasn't Rukia, but someone who looked so much like her. Mitsuki recognized her from the wedding picture in Rukia's room.
"H-Hisana?" Mitsuki stuttered. The woman regarded Mitsuki warmly. "Good evening, nee-san."
Suddenly, the Scourge woman scowled and began talking. "Hisana-san, please, stop it! The last thing this... half-breed needs is coddling."
The Hunter, a male, spoke up next. "Sage, please, I highly doubt calling this beautiful young Vampire," He smiled at Mitsuki, "'Nee-san' is considered 'coddling'." He chuckled. Mitsuki was twitching. Why the hell did he look so...
Familiar?
One of the humans, a woman who looked no older than thirty, nodded her head.
"So true. Sage, please refrain from..."
"I don't have to refrain from anything, you bitch! You wretched humans are almost as bad as the half-breeds." She scoffed, and glared at the hybrid in front of her. "You better hope you're powerful, Kuchiki."
"W-why am I here?" Said 'hybrid' managed to stutter.
The second human, an old aged man with a long white beard and many wrinkles, remained stone-faced. Mitsuki recognized him as head of the Slayer Council, Head Captain Yamamoto. "You'll see."
"What? What will I see, exactly? This is just so..." Mitsuki was frustrated, and she was shouting.
The Scourge, Sage, spoke up once more. "Don't you dare oppose us! You wretched little half-breed, just because your father and your brother was a damned human,"
"Hey!" Mitsuki snapped, glaring at the woman. Now, the entire room was in an uproar.
Yamamoto slammed his hand against the large desk. "ENOUGH!" Everyone automatically shut up.
And something, in Mitsuki's gut, told her the next few days would not be pretty.
With Hitsugaya...
"Momo, stop this, I don't want to hurt you."
But she seemed to want to hurt him.
Badly.
She lunged forward again, and he dodged, Hinamori's blade, Tobiume, slicing his cheek. Hitsugaya skid to a halt, raising Hyourinmaru above his head. A cloud of mist radiated from the silver blade, covering the entirety of the street.
Momo looked around frantically, looking for her opponent. "Damn..."
"This is gonna take a while."
Ichigo's Place...
Karin sunk slowly to her knees. She had come back to her brother's home because she had left her key there.
She wished she hadn't.
"Saku..." Her breath caught in her throat, and she covered her mouth and her nose with her hands, trying desperately to block out the foul stench of blood. It was the first time since she became immortal that Karin was ever truly revolted by the sight of the scarlet-colored substance.
There, lying in a pool of dark red (almost black) Brachen blood was Sakura. Her eyes were blank, unseeing, and hazy. Her mouth was open, almost as if she was screaming. She had one large 'wound', two, deep bite marks on the side of her neck, which still had the demon's mythical blood pouring out.
Karin noticed, almost immediately, that there was not as much blood as there should have been. Most of it was pooled around her head and neck, but below that was nearly spotless, aside from the remnants of what looked like wiped-up blood.
Kurosaki Karin knew, from experience, that Brachen blood was highly valued in the dark market, for its 'healing properties'.
Healing properties her ass. The more sadistic vampires just loved the taste of it.
Her fists clenched. It was like Yuzu's death all over again.
Oh, yes. There would be hell to pay.
With Ichigo...
"I'm sorry, Kurosaki-san. We cannot allow you to see Rukia-san at the moment." Unohana spoke sternly, looking at the vampire with somewhat motherly eyes, although finality was hidden behind them.
Ichigo huffed through grit teeth. "Mitsuki, then?"
"I don't see why not..." Unohana looked off to the side, and into the room where she had left the former Slayer. "Mitsuki-chan?" She nudged the girl's shoulder, causing her to slump forward, her body limp.
"She's sleeping?" Ichigo questioned.
Unohana shook her head, taking the hybrid's chin in her hand and lifting her head up to meet her gaze. Mitsuki's dark gray orbs had turned languid, dark, and hazy. They were barely open, and she was mumbling softly. "She seems to have gone into a trance."
Suddenly, the Kuchiki blinked rapidly, her breathing quickening. She sucked in a ragged breath, her head snapping up.
"Where's Rukia?"
Unohana blinked. "Excuse me?"
Back With Hitsugaya...
"Hah!" Hinamori cried, effectively slicing one of Hitsugaya's sleeves off, and hacking thoroughly into his arm.
"Damn..." Toshirou cursed, clutching Hyourinmaru tighter. He couldn't keep dodging her attacks forever. So, deciding to do the alternative, he sighed. "I honestly didn't want to have to do this." He whispered, pointing his blade at Hinamori's heart.
"Daiguren, Hyourinmaru!"
All Momo could see after he shouted that, was white. A pure, white world.
It was snowing.
"To... Shirou?" He was holding her, tightly.
"I loved you. Goodbye..."
He bit back a dry sob as she faded into nothingness, as all dying vampires do.
"Toshirou!" Karin cried as Hitsugaya slumped in front of what was left of Hinamori's crumpled, bloodied form. She caught him just before his knees hit the ground.
"Are you okay?" She looked at him with fearful eyes, hugging him tightly.
He nodded numbly, Daiguren really drained his strength.
"Yeah," he peered over at Momo's lifeless form. "Just peachy."
"We have to get her out of here, Unohana-san! Please, if we don't, they'll get her, I'm positive!" Mitsuki clutched the doctor's white lab coat tightly, almost in tears. "I'm begging, please... please..." Ichigo was long gone; having left to try to find Aizen.
Unohana sighed heavily. "She's in labor... it will be difficult, moving her in this state..." She looked at her subordinate's tear-filled eyes. "But, if it's for the safety of the world."
"Thank you," Mitsuki grinned, albeit sadly. "Where is Kurosaki-kun?"
"Ichigo-san? I think he left a while ago, something about killing Aizen."
Aizen Sosuke is long dead. Dianne's voice echoed. He died the moment Rukia Kuchiki went into labor. You see, this is what he was trying to avoid. The birth of Rika Kurosaki. She is the light in his world of darkness, and he wanted to stop her, for, if she grew up, she would, undoubtedly, be stronger than Aizen himself.
'What?' Mitsuki thought incredulously.
Yes. And I can already feel it... even though he is dead, even though his minions, Ichimaru, Hinamori, even Grimmjow are reduced to ash, Rika is fading. Her existence is waning. And her mother, Rukia Kuchiki, will, undoubtedly, die.
She had to concentrate, but Mitsuki could feel it, too. The raw power that was once radiating from Rukia's room, straight across the hall, was barely flickering.
The fire was dying out.
With Ichigo...
Aizen is dead.
"Dad?" Ichigo called out, wondering if he was hallucinating. It hadn't been the first time. "Dad!" He called out once more, just to be sure. That voice sounded so much like him.
Senna is dead.
Ichigo knew he wasn't hearing things. It was, without a doubt, Isshin Kurosaki's voice.
You're daughter and Rukia are about to die.
Ichigo froze. Daughter? He didn't have a daughter... and Rukia? Where was she?
Ichigo didn't know what was going on. He just knew he had to get to her.
And fast.
Part II: Hush Little Baby, Don't Say a Word
Unknown POV
2009
I love you.
That's what I think. Every night before bed, I whisper that. I can just imagine his face, shocked, yet euphorically happy. It was such a heart warming feeling, having him wrap his strong arms around my waist, holding me close.
I loved every second of it.
"I have to go. I can't stay... here, anymore. I no longer belong here. Just... be happy." I sighed, and pressed a chaste kiss to his luscious lips. He was dazed, and his eyes were wide. I made for the door, but he caught my wrist.
"Get over here, damn it," He growled, pulling me into his embrace. My breath caught in my throat. His mouth found mine, and we kissed sweetly. My eyelids fluttered closed, and my heart beat sped up. "I love you," I murmured when we parted, only to kiss again. Only, after I said that, he was more desperate, needier.
Like he would die without me.
"I'm sorry," I choked out when we parted for the second time. "Don't be," He whispered back, and once again, kissed me. 'I am so sorry,' I thought, the arms around his neck tightening. "I'll forgive you. I'll always forgive you." He smirked, embracing me tighter.
It was like that dream I had. The difference?
I wasn't dying.
I was leaving.
End POV
December 19, 1944
1:39 AM
"Hair... black. Eyes... amber. Name...?" Isane, the nurse, looked expectantly at Rukia.
The new mother cleared her throat. "Rika... Rika Kuchiki." She looked at the sleeping baby girl in the crib next to her. Isane quickly scribbled down the name, a sweet smile on her face.
"Thank you," she grinned, walking out.
"Grew up in a small town, and when the rain would fall down, I'd just stare out my window... Dreaming of a 'could-be' and if I'd end up happy, I would pray... I would pray..."
Still humming, Rukia stood, and quickly picked up the baby girl. She needed to get out of there... fast.
"I'm sorry..." She whispered, thinking of all the people she was leaving behind.
Inoue.
Mikoto.
Yoruichi.
Urahara.
...Ichigo.
"Forgive me."
She panted heavily as the buxom strawberry blond dropped to the ground, dead. Her life was a small price to pay for the safety of the future.
Gin would have tracked her down by blood, and then Rika would have been killed. Gin hadn't been killed, like Dianne said. He was still out there, wounded, but powerful. The killer dropped to her knees and began to cry, although she made no sound.
"Is this truly what the world has come to...?"
"Rukia."
The ebony-haired woman turned slowly, and her breath caught in her throat.
"Orihime, listen, I just... huh?" The ebony-haired Slayer was in shock as her auburn haired best friend hugged her tightly, carefully avoiding crushing the sleeping Rika. "Inoue?"
As she pulled back, Inoue smiled. "I didn't understand at first. Why you were acting so odd... why it seemed like you were pushing away help. Even Mikoto's been depressed. And... We'll both be unhappy once you're gone. But we'll pull through, so go for it!" She grinned, albeit sadly, and grasped her best friend's shoulder.
Rukia, blinking back tears, nodded vigorously. "Right! Thanks... Orihime."
"Don't mention it!"
Rukia honestly didn't know how it happened. One moment, she was running as fast as she could to Karakura's train station, and now here she was, on the ground, gasping and bleeding.
The baby was safe, still sleeping.
"Rukia!" She faintly heard a worried voice.
Your dreams are coming true, Mitsuki thought to herself. Your world is ending.
Indefinitely.
"Oh, my God..." The hybrid gasped, looking at the bloodied form of her sister-in-law. So she was the unknown woman from her vision, so many months ago.
"Come on, Rukia! You're a fighter, a survivor, how can you do this! Don't go... think about Ichigo, more importantly, think of your daughter, how am I going to explain to her that her mother's never coming back when I tuck her in at night, and she says, 'Why is mom gone?'" Mitsuki was desperate.
Rukia, panting, brought the child, Mitsuki's niece, Rika, into view. "J-just take the child and run." Rika was placed in Mitsuki's hands, the child giggling softly.
"So she's..."
Ichigo's child.
"Yes. Please, don't do anything to him... he's clueless." She chuckled darkly, shaking her head. Suddenly, Mitsuki gasped, and grabbed Rukia's arm. "Get up, we have to go, come on, please..."
"Leave me be..." She whispered, choking lightly on her words.
Mitsuki's head shot up. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'll die, no matter what. Just leave here, knowing that my only regret is..."
"Having my daughter grow up without her mother." Mitsuki finished for her, and nodded. "I understand." She started running, and Rukia felt the evil presence behind her.
Mitsuki ran as fast as she could, not once looking back. "Hitsugaya!" She yelped when she ran into him. She was too focused on saving Rukia and the baby. "Take her. Stay here." Was all she instructed the white haired man, and then she ran back.
Hitsugaya smiled.
She had managed, yet again, to alter destiny.
Later on...
"Hisana... she's alive?" Rukia stared in shock at Mitsuki.
The hybrid laughed sheepishly. "More or less. She's a Vampire." They were in Kyoto, at Hitsugaya's second estate. Mitsuki was rocking Rika back and forth, gently lulling the baby into sleep. Hitsugaya was asleep on the couch, Karin's head on his chest. Rukia was resting on a rocking chair, sipping tea.
"Byakuya... I'm not so sure about him. Hisana said he was a ghost, traveling between the worlds." She shrugged.
Something seemed to dawn on Rukia. "Wait... what about Mikoto? What about Inoue, Yoruichi, and Urahara? Kiyone and Sentaro? Ukitake-sensei..." She stopped as she saw Mitsuki's head drop, tears dripping down.
"They're dead... I think. I know for a fact Yoruichi, Kisuke, Jyuushiro, Kiyone, and those guys are gone... but, maybe, just maybe, Miki..." She paused. "It's unlikely, but I think Mikoto survived," She tried to smile reassuringly at Rukia, and failed miserably.
Rukia had a part-way shocked, part-way depressed, and part-way worried look on her face. "We'll look for her tomorrow." Karin suggested from her position on the couch. Hitsugaya was also awake. Mitsuki and Rukia looked up at the black-haired vampire. "The Turok-Han are long dead. Ichi-Nii took care of 'em." She smirked. "It's gonna be years before they're re-awakened. They'll be dead until another Aizen shows up."
They were silent after that. Mitsuki felt a sudden heat in her heart, crawling up her throat. "Oh, no..." Hitsugaya looked at her worriedly.
"What's the matter?"
She gulped. "Take the baby." She said, quickly handing the vampire the child. Rukia raised a brow. "Mi, what's wrong?"
The hybrid was silent. Then...
"Mitsuki!"
All was black.
Mitsuki looked up slowly, at the angered faces of the Council.
"Um... hello, your greatnesses..." Her worried gray eyes drifted from one Elder to another, finally stopping on Hisana, looking at her with a pleading face. The Vampire elder just shook her head, giving her a look that just said, "I'm sorry".
"Uh... would now be a good time to start begging for mercy?"
The Hunter from earlier, smiled condescendingly at her. "Now, Mitsuki..."
"No," Sage spoke up in her shrill, evil voice. "Begging for mercy is exactly what she should be doing." She looked at the hybrid with malice-filled eyes. "We gave you those visions for a reason. We wanted you to help us make the future a better place. A place with no more war, and no more beings like Sosuke Aizen."
Mitsuki scoffed. "Well, excuse me, if I wanted to save the people I love..."
"And you did such a good job with that!" Sage growled. "Everyone is dead. You are such an imbecile! You traded the lives of a town full of people, in exchange for a baby who probably won't make it to adulthood! You are such a..."
"Sage, enough." Hisana spoke calmly, her face passive. "Mitsuki truly didn't know what she was thinking. She thought, because she knew these things, she could save her friends and family. She was just..." She hesitated. "Wrong."
"I'll make a proposal." The Hunter, whose name is revealed as Hisagi (Mitsuki finally remembered him from the train station), spoke. "I am stepping down from the council later this month, and I have no children." He smiled at Mitsuki, his handsome features more profound. "My family is all dead, with the exception of my brother, Hidan. I shudder to think about what would happen if he was given such power. How about Mi take the role of second seat?"
Yamamoto and the other human, whose name was Piper, nodded in agreement.
Hisana smiled warmly at her in law, a gesture that spoke volumes of her current emotion. She was happy. For Hisana, although she hid it well, was worried. With the council, you either lived or you didn't.
Sage sputtered. "E-excuse me? Hisagi, it's already bad enough humans are on this council, now you want a half-breed brat?" She really had tolerated Hisagi's mortality for one reason and one reason only.
He was hot.
She looked at Hisagi like he had grown two heads.
The Hunter shrugged. "No one else seems to have a problem with it. And personally, I think she's very... unique." He smiled at Mitsuki, who grinned, blushing.
"Fine," Sage glared at the hybrid. "But she does know the qualifications you have to have to be a member of the council, right?"
Mitsuki was lost. "Qualifications?"
Sage grinned evilly. This would be so much fun.
"Mitsuki," Hisana sighed, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering rapidly. "If you are not fully human, you have to..."
Outside...
Hitsugaya's head shot up. No... No, this couldn't be happening! It just couldn't!
Mitsuki's life force had just faded.
She wasn't breathing.
He could no longer smell fresh blood being formulated inside her.
She was...
"Dead." Rukia breathed. Rika had begun crying the second her mother uttered that word.
'Dead'.
"She has joined the Council." Karin sighed nonchalantly. "She will no longer be with us physically, but I'm sure she'll be watching us from the Elder's quarters." Suddenly, her ears perked up. She sighed, and looked at Rukia with a somewhat bored expression. You could tell she was sleepy.
"My brother's here."
Senna growled lowly. She was almost dead.
"GIN!" She screeched with a crazed look in her eyes. "Ichimaru, you bastard! You promised." The silver-haired snake man shrugged.
"I promised nothing." He grinned maliciously, and stepped on Senna's back. "All I said was I'd try." And then, he revealed a gun he had stolen from Karakura HQ.
"GIN!" Senna gasped.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Rukia's POV
Ichigo. Is. Coming.
Here?
"Oh, my God. Hitsugaya, here, take Rika, and hide her. Ichigo can't see her!" Reiko's words rang in my head over and over.
"This baby... this beautiful baby girl... will become strong... and she will live, if, and only if," She paused, "you don't tell Ichigo."
"Get her away from here!" Karin stood in shock as I continued my rant. "Rukia, you really don't think Ichigo would... you know, kill Rika, do you? I mean, of course he's murdered, but he would never, in a million years harm a child. Especially his own!"
I know he wouldn't. But Reiko was serious when she told me about that. I wouldn't take any chances.
Rukia. Reiko's voice was calling me.
Rukia. You'll leave soon.
I didn't know what she meant. But at the moment, I seriously didn't care. All I cared about was getting Rika out of there. Hitsugaya was soon running back, and he panted, saying, "Rika's in the crib set up in the attic. No one would go up there."
"What is going on?" Karin cried, frustrated. I looked at her, pacing frantically. "I'll tell you later."
The door opened, and I smiled, albeit sadly.
"Hey, Ichigo."
A/N: Next Chapter: No Regrets
I am SO evil... *Insert evil laughter*
...Sorry 'bout that. Okay, so yeah. There's gonna be a little time skip, about... six months into the future because seriously, if I continue it from here, the next chapter will be VERY short and VERY awkward. Also, I'm sorry for the late update. Writer's Block is very unpleasant, as I'm sure most of you know.
-TMU
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