Rukia Kuchiki's eyes narrowed, very much like her elder brother's, as she rounded another corner of Rukongai's streets. Twilight was upon them, darkening the groping shadows. She clutched her zanpakuto tighter with one hand, holding a ball of Kido light higher with her other. Where the hell did that damn thing go?
A moment later, she whirled around to her right, a child's wailing echoing from that twist of the alleyways.
"That way?" She smiled, grimly. "Hang on, kid. I'm coming." She started running again.
Even if this hollow had a few new tricks up its sleeve, like splitting apart when she fired the Hado blast, Shakkaho, she wasn't going to let it get away with making a child cry in front of her. No one got away with that now that she was a shinigami.
Rukia halted again as soon as she stopped hearing the child again.
The shadows trembled around her in the breeze of the trees and creaking of the wood buildings.
She barely lurched to the side in time as a long arm shot out from the darkness, then gasped as another tentacle from another side wrapped around her ankle, yanking hard.
She flew, falling into some debris.
"Damn it," she stumbled to her feet again.
"Had enough yet, shinigami?" a nasal voice called out from all around her. "Or should I start breaking your bones?"
Spotting the whimpering child being held in shadows high against the roof, she glared "You can do what you want with me," Rukia hollered," after you let him go."
The hollow cackled. "Now why would I do that? As long as I have him, you can't use your full power, not unless you want to harm him."
"Coward."
The eerie laughter echoed around her. "Come on, dance around in the shadows trying to get the shadow." It sniggered as if at his own joke.
Rukia hissed under her breath.
"If you don't," the voice slithered around her, "maybe I'll ... Woops!"
Rukia gasped as the child fell a few feet before stopping.
"-Lose my grip and let him die that way," the voice finished.
"Bastard," Rukia drew her blade.
The hollow's shrill laughter pitched higher. "Yes, cut, cut, cut. Fail, fail, fail. That's the what I want."
Why is it more set on getting me angry with his victim? Just like before in the market, it could have finished...
Shaking her head, Rukia charged forward once more. It didn't matter if she did as it demanded. There was no other way to find its weakness. If only she could manage to get the kid free, she could use her true zanpakuto's power, shadow or not. However, the kid kept falling back inside the hollow each time she managed to sever... She cut the right tentacle -
The kid's whimpers died down as his body was once more wrapped in the coils of the darkness.
"You'll have to be quicker than that~ " the hollow screeched. Rukia threw herself to the side, rolling in the debris as the shadows erupted towards her before disappearing again.
She grit her teeth, standing up once more. She wouldn't let it kill that child.
Continued in: Coming soon
