Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Heart Dawning ❯ Chapter Seven ( Chapter 7 )

Daria strode briskly down the street, swearing to herself in her native tongue, glad to finally be rid of that place and the people in it. Not that she thought badly of all of them – some of them she'd only just met, after all, while a few others she owed her life to. However, a certain purple-haired bad apple had spoiled the whole bunch for her.

A part of her regretted leaving, though. As uncomfortable as she felt being around so many new faces, Daria had also felt that she was safe within that house. The shopkeeper, even though he was a bit strange, had been nothing but nice to her. His partner, though large and imposing, had kind eyes, and Ururu had been such a sweet girl that it pained her to leave in such an abrupt and angry manner. But she had been scared, and so she fled.

That woman – Yoruichi – was certainly someone Daria did not want to mess with. There was something almost predatory in her eyes when she accused her of knowing what those things were, and Daria could only imagine how she would have reacted to finding out her boyfriend had been flirting with another woman. It made her glad she hadn't stuck around long enough to apologize for it on his behalf like she had originally intended.

Sighing heavily, she stopped for a moment and looked around, taking in her current surroundings and attempting to figure out where, exactly, she was. She didn't know which route she had been taken from where she lost consciousness, and the shop had been tucked away so well that it was a wonder anyone could ever find it. Of course, she assumed that was probably just the way the owner liked it. She decided to just keep walking, figuring she would eventually hit a part of town she recognized and could find her way home from there.

“Are you lost, little girl?”

Daria stopped at the sound of the voice, deep and raspy like an old man's, and turned toward the speaker to ask him what street she was on in the hopes that he could give her directions. Once she was facing the direction the question had come from, however, she froze. Standing before her was a tall, skinny creature with sickly green slimy skin and webbed hands and feet, wearing one of those skeletal-looking white masks. It looked entirely different from the one that had attacked her before, but she knew it had to be another of those hollow things Kisuke had told her about.

“Come now,” it said, taking a step toward her. “Why don't you let me help you find your way? Or you could just come home with me?”

“No, thank you,” she replied, taking a large step backward each time it advanced toward her, until she found herself backed up against the stone wall of a building.

“Oh well,” the hollow – which Daria thought looked sort of like a like a frog that could walk upright – sighed a bit melodramatically. “I guess we'll have to do this the hard way, then.”

The creature lunged toward her with an open mouth and Daria took off running down the alley, narrowly escaping being captured between its massive jaws. Laughing, the hollow immediately gave pursuit, calling after her as it skipped along behind her, easily keeping up with her pace.

“Don't be like that,” it called after her. “I just want to eat your soul. I promise it won't hurt... much.”

Daria just ran faster, wondering what on earth she had done to deserve these things wanting to kill her so badly. Spying a side street up ahead, she quickly changed direction at the last second and the hollow had to struggle to stop in time to make the turn, it's size making maneuvering at such speeds a bit cumbersome. For a moment, Daria felt like she might be able to outrun the creature as it had fallen behind a bit. However, a moment later she felt a sickening, wet sensation run up her right arm. Looking down, she found what appeared to be a long, thin tongue running along her skin and she chanced a glance back over her shoulder and discovered that the hollow was already starting to catch up to her once more.

“Didn't think you could lose me that easily, did you?” it asked tauntingly, flicking its tongue out to lick her arm again. “Mmm... Tasty.”

Tears stung her eyes as she continued running as fast as she could, her legs starting to ache and her chest beginning to burn from the exertion. She took another corner, but stopped short when she discovered she had been cornered into a dead end.

“Finally,” the hollow said, sounding a bit out of breath, as well. “There's no getting away now, girl.”

Daria pressed herself flat with her back against the wall, whimpering a bit and shutting her eyes tightly as she cursed herself for losing her temper and storming away from the Urahara Shop. She silently told her parents she'd be with them soon, waiting for the inevitable pain that would come when that horrid creature finally struck its fatal blow. She counted out the long seconds, cringing when she heard the high-pitched, inhuman screams of the hollow before it was about to attack, but the blow she had been expecting never came.

“What the?” the hollow yelled. “Get off me!”

Daria opened her eyes, hoping to find Ichigo or Rukia clinging to the hollow's back, and her blood ran cold. Sinking its sharp teeth into the creature's right shoulder was a black figure with glowing red eyes. Another, identical figure was perched on top of its head, attempting to gouge one of its eyes out with a shriveled hand. Daria was frozen on the spot as she watched in horror.

“No...” she whispered, shaking her head slowly as her eyes gradually got wider. “It can't be.”

She hadn't wanted to believe it, although she knew it had to be true. The description that Yoruichi had rattled off had been far too close to what she remembered for them not to be the same creatures. Scared motionless, she watched as the two dark figures continued their assault on the hollow, and didn't even notice the third one approaching her until it was a mere foot away, bent over in an almost unnatural position as it looked at her with its sinister eyes, making a low rumbling sound in its throat.

Her survival instincts suddenly kicked back in, and Daria screamed as she side-stepped around the dark creature and made a run for it, maneuvering around the hollow as it continued trying to shake off the other two creatures that were still attacking it. She ran back the way she had come as fast as she could, looking back over her shoulder to see if any of the monsters were pursuing her and finding that, to her immense relief, they weren't. Turning back ahead of her, she ran straight into another black figure and cried out as she felt herself being knocked backward off her feet.

“Woah,” Ichigo said, catching her quickly before she could crack her skull open on the ground. “It's okay, Daria. It's just us.”

Daria opened her eyes and found Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji all standing there, dressed in black and carrying swords. She guessed this was probably how they dressed when they did their duties as shinigami, since she highly doubted they would be carrying weapons in the open in broad daylight, otherwise.

“Is it a hollow?” Renji asked, looking off in the direction she had come from.

“Yes, and those... those things,” she told them, gasping a bit. “Three of them.”

“Leave them to us,” Ichigo said, helping her to stand back up. “Renji, come with me. Rukia, you stay here and guard Daria in case any of them gets away and tries to come after her.”

“Got it,” Rukia replied with a nod, pulling her zanpakutou from its sheath and taking a defensive stance in front of Daria as the other two ran off to do battle.

“Renji, you take the little guys and I'll grab the hollow,” Ichigo instructed as they followed the sounds of the hollow's infuriated yelling.

“Right,” Renji said, fully expecting to find their enemies in some sort of formation when they arrived. Both of them froze as they rounded the corner and found the hollow being viciously attacked by the three shadowy beings.

“What the hell?” Renji wondered.

“Don't worry about it, just kill them!” Ichigo yelled before rushing in, Zangetsu held high over his head. The three black creatures didn't even try to attack him. They simply kept up their assault on the hollow as Ichigo swung toward its head. The hollow held up one of its arms to block the blow, with one of the creatures attached to it, and the black creature fell to the ground, screaming in agony before dying.

“Thanks,” the hollow said to Ichigo. “That should make it easier for me to kill you two.”

“Think again,” Ichigo sneered at the hollow, readying his sword for another strike. Renji jumped up and slashed at the black creature on top of the hollow's head, nearly slicing through the hollow as he took it down. The hollow looked back at Renji and laughed.

“You missed,” it taunted him.

“Yeah,” Renji replied with a smirk, “but he won't.”

The hollow turned around just in time to see the sunlight reflecting off of Zangetsu's blade before it made contact with its head and sliced cleanly through his entire body. He let out an enraged howl as he disintegrated into the air and disappeared, and Ichigo landed on his feet with a triumphant grin on his face.

“Shit! Ichigo!” Renji swore angrily, pushing past the gloating teenager and taking off at a run back toward where they'd left Rukia and Daria.

“Hey!” Ichigo yelled indignantly, following him. “What the hell, Renji?”

A moment later he noticed the black figure a few meters ahead of them, running on all fours like some sort of wild animal. He'd entirely forgotten that Daria had said there were three of those things, unlike the last time he'd seen them, when there had only been two.

“Rukia!” Renji called ahead to the two women. “Look out! One's coming right for you.”

“Stand back,” Rukia ordered Daria as she held her sword high above her head in preparation for a strike. The creature bounded at her at full speed and she lunged toward it, intending to pierce through it with her blade, but it jumped at the last second and sailed right over her head – and straight for Daria.

“Roar, Zabimaru!” Renji yelled, whipping his zanpakutou out to its full length. The head of the blade punched right through the back of the creature and came out of its chest, and it screamed as it fell dead just shy of reaching Daria.

“Are you alright?” Rukia asked, turning around to check on the other woman. Daria was on her knees on the ground, her arms held over her head for protection, and even from several feet away Rukia could tell she was trembling.

“Hey,” she said, re-sheathing her sword and going over to her, kneeling down and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It's alright. You're safe, now. We got them.”

Daria let out a sob, and Rukia blinked, her eyes wide. She'd just told her that she was safe, and she was crying? Perhaps they were tears of joy, but if she was that happy then why was she trembling so much?

“You think we should tell Urahara about what we saw?” Renji asked Ichigo as they approached the others.

“He'll probably want to know, yeah,” Ichigo replied, sighing a bit as he flung his sword over his shoulder.

“What are you two talking about?” Rukia asked them, looking over her shoulder at them as she continued rubbing Daria's back in an attempt to comfort her.

“Nothing,” Ichigo dismissed her question. “You'll find out after we get back.”

Rukia narrowed her eyes a bit at him, but said nothing, instead returning her attention back to Daria, who was finally starting to calm down.

“Hey, are you alright to walk?” she asked. Daria looked up at her and nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the tips of her fingers. “If not, one of us can carry you.”

“It'll be faster to get back if we do that, anyway,” Renji stated, pushing past Ichigo and grabbing one of Daria's hands. He pulled the woman to her feet and picked her up, and Daria blinked in confusion as she wondered if this was the same man who had seemed so afraid of her before.

“Come on, let's get out of here before any more hollows show up,” he said to the others before flash stepping back to the Urahara Shop.

From within the shadows of a nearby alley, a figure watched as the other two shinigami followed their comrade. He was glad none of them had noticed him standing there, so close to their own position. He clenched his left hand tightly in a fist at his side, a trickle of blood seeping through his fingers, a bloody dagger held in his other hand as he made note of the direction the four of them had gone off in.

“Finally, Daria...” he whispered to himself, his voice weary. “I have found you.”