Bleach: Cero Devastador

I leaned on a wall, staring at the skies in silence, waiting for this boy, Murasaki, to decide. He seemed lost after the incident even though he had been set free. Like everything in life, there were circumstances; it was no different in this place.

"Now I don't know what I'm going to do," he mumbled, holding his head and brushing his hair in despair. He almost looked like he was on the verge of crying. 

"Why?" I asked, trying to understand, "Do those people do anything for you?".

"Those people, they are a big group and Gakurou is just one of the leaders, there are many around many lower districts... there are also plenty of 'baits' like me. In exchange for bringing victims for him, I got a small share enough to buy food for my 'family' if you'd call it that. Now that you knocked one of them out what am I going to do to bring money to the table?".

"Don't be so downcast, there must be another way" I patted his shoulder. 

"You don't understand, there are people who depend on me and after tomorrow... we won't have anything to eat!"

Even then, I still patted his shoulder with a smile, "Calm down. If you are strong, there is always a way".

"But I'm not strong, I am weak as hell!"

"You are not strong, but I am... and I will help you".

"Why would you?"

"Because I need to know where I am, I need information... once I have what I need, I'll ditch you".

"..."

He gasped, almost as if he wasn't expecting me to be so blunt, "While you're useful, I'll protect you and your people. Deal?".

"Brutal honesty, huh?".

"Would you rather I lie to you and in the future once I inevitably go on my own, you end up disappointed?".

He gasped again, his countenance morphed between one of complexity, and disappointment but eventual acknowledgement. That's how things work in this world, in either world. 

"Deal".

...

Murasaki took me on a small trip around the place he called the '78th District, Inuzuri'.

We live in the Soul Society in which exist the 'Rokungai' and the 'Seireitei'. The Seireitei is the centre district where most shinigami live while the Rokungai are a group of gigantic regions that surround the Seireitei. That gangster from before hadn't been lying.

Rokungai was way bigger in size; it was divided into districts and the farther they were from the centre, the Seireitei, the more dangerous they were according to him as Shinigami who were supposed to be the police of this place, paid less attention to farther areas.

"So there is bureaucracy even here..." I mumbled.

"It is worse here," He said.

Murasaki took me to one stall where they served noodles and reluctantly paid for it even when I told him it wasn't necessary. It looked like this stall was a little expensive for his budget, he wanted to buy a plate for each of his family members, but he didn't have enough. 

He got one for me, but not for him. 

"We've only got enough for bread..."

I looked at his struggles while eating my noodles with a deep stare, they were delicious. 

"You saved my life, and you gave Gakurou a beating... I have to do at least this much" He mumbled and we walked to another stall where they were selling loaves of bread. 

"So what are these Shinigami that you keep mentioning?" I asked. 

"Death Gods, as it sounds... they're the ones in charge around here. They're the strongest too... when we died, a Shinigami harvested our souls and brought them here. As you know we are conscious we lived and died, but we can't remember our past life".

"..."

'I can remember though...' I thought, recalling the most important events of my life mostly, not every part of it. I decided to not reveal these details. 

"What is ahead of us here is an endless cycle of... the same" Murasaki sighed. 

"..."

"Let's go, it is getting dark, best you know I'm trusting you. I have no more money left!".

"Relax, one step at a time~".

...

I was expecting Murasaki to take us to some house of sorts. Nothing farther from the truth. We walked and walked until we arrived at what looked like a massive wooden bridge that crossed a big river.

I almost gasped at the amount of people living under this bridge in tents and lighting up bonfires to stay warm. The situation was not ideal. He led me across the tents of people eating soup and bread, barefoot and with dirty rags.

'Is this the state of souls who cross over the afterlife?'

"Can this be considered heaven?" I blurted out without noticing. 

"It is not a matter of whether you are good or bad, heaven or hell. But instead... a matter of whether your soul is strong or not. If you have a strong enough Reiatsu (soul force) you could enter the Shinigami Academy and bring honour to your family, even move them closer to the Seireitei. But if you're weak, this is what awaits you, an endless cycle of this".

It was such a miserable place, but even in this misery I still heard laughter and kids playing. It was like a reset, none of these people knew what they were like in their previous lives. Perhaps some of them were the most wicked beings one could ever meet, or perhaps they were saints. 

And they were all here now, locked up with me. 

We eventually reached a small tent where a middle-aged lady around her thirties was holding a baby that couldn't be more than a year old together with another pretty young lady in what I think is her fifteen and two younger boys not older than ten. 

"Murasaki!" The lady screamed in joy when he saw Murasaki but her countenance morphed into worry when she saw me. The two boys looked at me curiously while the young lady was understandably cautious. 

"I'm back... here, I brought our food" Murasaki put the loaves of bread on the table.

"Yay!" Those kids rejoiced when they saw bread. 

"We still have some leftover vegetables from yesterday, I could make a bit of soup... so, are you going to tell us who the guest is?" The young lady said, staring at me. 

"W-Who is this person?" The older one was even more blunt about her worries. 

I wanted to introduce myself but he put a hand in front of me, "About him... I brought good news and bad news".

Once they heard 'bad news', they went pale. 

"The good news is, this person gave Gakurou a beating. The bad news is... he gave Gakurou a beating" Murasaki scratched his head helplessly; I almost burst out laughing but in this situation, my laughter wouldn't be appreciated. 

"R-Really! Thank you so much!" The young lady jumped on me and tugged on my hakama with stars in her eyes, thrilled.

"Mikoto, t-that's not good!" The older one bounced around with a complex expression that mixed between relief and paleness, it was a huge contrast but I could sort of imagine the underlying scenery. 

Because I have already seen these happenings so many times when I was a gangster.

The young lady rejoiced, and the beautiful mother paled. It is the contrast of experience, age and sacrifice. 

After some introductions, I got to know who they were. 

The older prettier lady's name was Sakuya, and the younger lady's was Mikoto. The two younger boys were Ryosuke who was surprisingly twelve and Ryōta who was nine, coincidently.

The one she held in her arms was one they found not too long ago on a corner and decided to take him in. None of these people were blood-related, they were just people who had come together to survive and the same was the case for the majority of the people sitting around us. 

We all together sat as a 'family' in front of a bonfire, eating our bread and hearing the voices, conversations and even screams of the people nearby. 

Mikoto was all over me asking me details on how I beat up Gakurou, I only said I kicked the guy in the balls and she burst out in joy while Sakuya flinched. Every so often someone would come to greet us as it was obvious not to have acquaintances around here. 

"Come with me, Mikoto".

"Huh, where?".

"Calm down, we're just talking to a few people".

I took Mikoto with me to walk around, Sakuya was reluctant at first, but she was convinced by Murasaki that nothing was going to happen. 

As we walked around, she seemed nervous.

"Do you know a few people here?".

"I don't talk to many but... yes, I have some friends".

"Take me to them, I have some questions".