BLEACH: The Dusk In Red

Chapter 14: Iron Will



Tachibana was working at his desk while P5 watched him silently. Tachibana had managed to synthesize the enzyme, and was making some final adjustments until it could put inside the subjects.

"Mr. Tachibana? Those people from that school you sent me too are calling me weird things."

"Such as?"

"Sakugo."

"Do you like that name, P5?"

"Well...."

Tachibana lightly patted P5 on the head, comforting them greatly.

"Your name is something that's unique to you. It's something that is important and it should be cherished. P5 was a name I gave to you, because I had very little expectations of you in the beginning, but you have now far surpassed everything which I thought you were limited in. If you change your name, appearance or even hate me, I will always love and appreciate you."

Sakugo hugged Tachibana.

Fourth Division Barracks, Coordinated Relief Station

After a couple hours of resting, the light of the sun outside began to set. Kai feeling much better compared to his aching body in the morning decided to head to Shido's room and then find out what happened to Hikone.

Opting out of jumping out his window for fear of getting caught like last time he decided to try and sneak out of his room through the door.

Upon opening it he was met with a tall and muscular Soul Reaper with a wild and aggressive appearance. Their hair was stringy and long as they covered their right eye with an eye patch. Their left eye had a vertical scar going down his face, however it appeared as if he could see from it anyway. Unlike all the Soul Reapers which he had met up until now, this one wore a white Haori with torn sleeves.

 "Hey what the hell?", He groaned. "Your a total weakling."

Kai was understandably confused. 'What was this guys problem??', he thought. But he was too nervous to say anything due to his very intimidating appearance.

"I thought that Spiritual Pressure I sensed was yours... but now that I can see you in person they were nothing alike."

"Excuse me?"

"I came here expecting a good fight, but it seems as if I've wasted my time."

The Shinigami walked off in a rather foul mood.

After taking shelter in his room for a little while longer, Kai finally worked up the courage to leave. He quickly navigated the numerous corridors of the relief station and arrived at the front of Shido's door. Before entering he got the genius idea to pull a little prank.

Shido who was busy resting on his bed, heard a knock come from his door. 

"Who is it?", he shouted, yet no one responded. Thinking it was a knock knock and run idiot messing with him, he decided to roll over in his bed.

Another wave of knocks erupted from his door which prompted him to shout,

"Who is there!?", but still no response.

Thinking that the prankster had finally given up, he closed his eyes in an attempt to rest. But then the someone started to knock the door, even more loudly than the previous two times. Finally getting irritated, he jumped up from his bed and swung the door open, prepared to shout at whoever was messing with him.

Yet there was no one there.

Feeling the bitterness of defeat, he closed his door and turned around to go back to his bed, but once he did he saw someone's face pressed very hard against his bedroom window.

"LeEt mE iN..."

This made Shido scream in fear as he fell to the ground. The horrific face which was pressed against the window then softened, and began to resemble Kai who was laughing.

Shido who quickly regained his composure, walked over to the window and opened it, allowing Kai to climb in.

"Ha ha very funny." he said with a deep sense of sarcasm.

Once Kai entered Shido went back to sit on his bed.

"Are you okay? I don't remember much of what happened after the incident."

"I had a strange dream. Right before I got attacked I fell asleep all of a sudden. It felt as if my body was being ripped apart, and that I was losing myself. But then right after, I was pulled back together. When I woke up, Hikone was next me and Hisagi as well as other Shinigami had already arrived."

"What happened to Hikone?"

"They got sent to another place for treatment. I asked Hisagi about it, but he reassured and me and said they were fine."

Kai was a little bothered, but if it was Hisagi that said so himself, then he was sure that Hikone would be fine.

"What about the village people?", Kai asked.

Shido was a little hesitant to answer.

"73% of them died. Around 200 people. Right as we started to recover too..."

He smashed his fist against the wall as he shouted,

"DAMMIT. IF I WASN'T A WEAK LEADER THEN I COULD'VE SAVED THEM. IF I HAD TRAINED HARDER THAN I COULD'VE SAVED THEM! I WAS WEAK BACK THEN, AND I STILL AM NOW!"

"I was there too. If I didn't run away and instead fought by your side, then maybe we could've saved more."

"At least you saved Hikone. It was you that killed the Adjuchas right?"

This was a fact that Kai was unsure about, but he didn't give a response.

"Since we're in Seireitei, I don't plan on leaving. I'm going to become a Soul Reaper so that something like this won't happen again. What do you intend to do?"

This was something Kai had already made up his mind on. To find his father, and to get strong enough to stop others from experiencing what he did, he had steeled his resolve and declared,

"I died because of Hollow attack in the human world, and I almost died to them again all because I was too weak. My friend who was burdened with being a Soul Reaper suffered because of me, and so has my mother. Becoming a Soul Reaper is the only thing I can do to move forward and find my father."

Shido smiled.

"Even if I haven't known you for that long. I can say this without regret. You are my friend."

Kai fell onto the floor as he broke out laughing which caused Shido to blush a little.

"What kind of corny shit is that."

"Hey!? I thought we were having a serious moment here!"

Seireitei, First Division Barracks

Most of the captains of the Gotei thirteen stood on either side of the assembly hall waiting for the meeting to begin. Just before they could start, a rather mean looking captain, ended up joining later than everyone else.

A petite looking woman with one strand of hair longer than the other came forward and reprimanded him.

"What do you think your doing coming in late like this? Do you have no respect for Captain Commander Kyōraku?"

Kenpachi gruntled.

"I'm not in the mood for your tough talk as I've just been disappointed. But if you feel like having a round right now, then I wouldn't mind."

He slowly prepared to draw his blade, but then Shunsui Kyōraku started clapping his hands while laughing off the tension in the room.

"Why don't you all calm down? We have to get through this meeting at least? That is why I've called you down here."

Kenpachi lowered his weapon.

"So anyway. I called this meeting because of what happened in district 64. Everyone did feel that Spiritual Pressure right?"

Kenpachi gruntled even harder than before.

"Got anything to get off your chest?"

"I went to go see the brat who emitted it, but they were a complete waste. They had barely anymore Spiritual Pressure than those weaklings from squad 4."

Isane laughed awkwardly.

Kyōraku then asked, "What makes you think it was them?"

"A hunch."

"A hunch huh."

He scratched his thin facial hair just above his chin, while thinking of what to do next.

"Soi-Fon. Have someone from the stealth force Identify and keep an eye on him. Someone with Spiritual Pressure as large as that is easily captain class, and if not maybe even rivalling people like Kurosaki and Sosuke Aizen. It should be no coincidence that someone like that came from district 64. Especially if its where that person was living." 

A man with a very unique appearance came forward. his face was covered in a strange yet consistent assortment of white and black face paint.

"You don't mind if I look at him for a little bit? It's not that often that we get our hands on specimen like that."

"Mr. Kurotsuchi? It would be preferable if you kept your hands off the innocent folk. And it would be even better if you didn't make them part of your corpse unit." 

"BUT ITS FOR THE FUTRUE OF SOUL SOCIETY!"


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