BLEACH: The Dusk In Red

Mikoto sat as he had for the last month and a half. Against his bedroom door, waiting for death to inevitably take him. By this point all the senses that he could still retain had diluted, and the only thing he could do was listen to the wails of his mother, as well as his starving hunger. His soul chain had deteriorated abnormally quickly in the last week, and now only a single link of his chain of fate was left.

Surprising him, his window slid open despite no one actually touching it, and from it a familiar black cat jumped onto his bed. It purred while licking its right hand.

Kai looked at it in confusion but then it said,

"God you're pathetic."

"So it's you from the store... What even are you anyway."

"Just someone looking for something entertaining. Stay in one place for too long, and even those may get boring. Although I don't think I will be leaving the human world for at least another 500 years."

"What are you? An old hag?"

Yoruichi shouted, "I'll show you!"

A cloud of smoke then appeared from the cat, blinding Kai's already deteriorating vision. As it cleared, a slender yet well endowed naked woman sat in the spot where the cat once was. She had very noticeable purple hair, gold irises and dark toned skin.

"Be amazed by my true appearance!"

Kai did not care.

Yoruichi groaned at his nonchalant attitude, but then she noticed the miniscule remains of his chain of fate.

"Only one link left?? You realise that you could turn into a hollow any moment now?"

"I couldn't care less. Me being here right now, is more important than the after life."

Yoruichi then asked, "So would you then say that you value your mothers life over your friends?"

"What do you mean by that?"

She sighed heavily, as if she was mocking the boys cluelessness.

"When your chain of fate breaks, your current form will be annihilated into fragments before reforming into the image of a hollow. When that happens, your heart will fall out of your chest, and become a mask."

"So what? Another soul reaper would have come to kill me by then wouldn't they?"

"The problem lies in who you'll hurt in that time. The hole in a hollows chest is their emptiness. As long as that emptiness remains, they will feel eternal hunger. The only way they can satiate that hunger, is by devouring human souls. The stronger the Reiryoku of a soul, the more you would be tempted to eat them."

Kai stood as he expressed deep emotions of distress and anger. 

"It doesn't end there either. You will even target the people who are close to you. This includes people like Yukiko, who used to possess the powers of a Soul Reaper, and your mother who you loved so dearly."

"So you're saying that I could end up killing them?"

"Your selfishness is endangering their lives."

Then suddenly Yoruichi reverted back to her form as a cat, and quickly escaped the room, leaving Kai behind to shout at her for more answers. As he did, his mother entered the room, still unaware of his sons presence. She quietly sat down on the bed, while holding a family picture of her, his father, as well as Kai when they were all still together.

Her eyes were very baggy from all the crying she had gone through, yet she still had the will to look at that photo. She stroked it quietly as Kai just watched. He tried to reach out to try touch her, but there was nothing.

"When I first met your father I wasn't interested in him at all. He was very dull, and he lacked any kind of charisma. Yet somehow I fell in love with him anyway. We both met here in Karakura town, apparently he was a foreigner and that he had moved here from England, but his Japanese was very good so I guess you could say that was one of his more redeeming traits. I still didn't really care all that much for him, up until he disappeared all of a sudden. I had gone months without speaking to him, yet I wanted to see him again anyway. It was only when he vanished, that I realised that I loved him. Once he did return he immediately asked me out, and I said yes. Some years passed by and we got married and I had you."

Kai started shaking as he tried to put his hands around his mother, hugging her lightly.

"When he died, I could get through it because I had you. But now both of you have left me in this world, all alone."

The last link on his soul chain began to crack, threating to fall off and turn him into a hollow.

"And yet... I feel unusually happy. It's almost as if your right in this room with me. Which is why, I can say this because I think you can hear me. Don't worry about me anymore. You shouldn't feel obligated to hold yourself back for others, and instead try to keep moving forward."

Kai stood up, as he wiped the last tears off his face. The cracks which formed on his chain began to seal up and repair, as he apologised to his mother one last time.

"I'm sorry mom. I've stayed here for too long. I promise you, I'll find dad and then we will both wait for you in the after life."

He exited his house, looking back on the countless memories which he had shared with his mother, and then finally shut them out. In front of him stood Yukiko who already had her blade unsheathed. Prepared to force the Konso ritual on him, but now it was unnecessary.

The two looked at each other for second, before looking away in embarrassment. Kai gripped onto his left arm before muttering under his breath,

"I'm sorry."

 Yukiko ran up, causing Kai to flinch and raise his arms expecting to get hit. But instead he was met with a warm hug. 

"I said all those horrible things to you, because I was blinded by my own bitterness, but now I'm finally ready to move on."

"I still think you're a total dumbass."

Kai giggled lightly.

Yukiko finally let go, letting Kai get on his knees. She placed the bottom of her Zanpaktou on his forehead, while Kai closed his eyes, waiting to be set free.

"I guess I will see you guys later?"

A flash of blue light, emerged from Yukiko's Zanpaktou as it then wrapped around Kai. It engulfed him before breaking him down, piece by piece until all that was left was a red butterfly in his place. It flew off into the sunlight carrying him away into an uncertain future.

A good distance away, on a random building somewhere sat Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi who was still in their cat from and rather weak looking Soul Reaper.

"So I guess I win?" Urahara said with a grin, as he flapped his fan in front of his face.

Yoruichi quickly silenced him, "Shut up."

The bet was that Urahara who thought that Yukiko would resume being a Soul Reaper, would be the one to send Kai to soul society, and Yoruichi who bet that Yukiko wouldn't return, and instead Kai would be freed by Ryūnosuke.

"So can I finally leave now??" Ryūnosuke asked.

Urahara smiled at him, so Ryūnosuke politely left.

Yoruichi then spoke, "So anyway, do we have any info on that hooded student?"

Kisuke scratched his stubble, "Jinta told me that they could use telekinesis to move objects, and that they used a green light to move around. I've already concluded that these are the abilities of a Fullbringer."

"So is it one of the Fullbringers Ichigo fought way back? Or is it a new one?"

"They posses the abilities of a Fullbringer, but their Spiritual pressure wasn't that of a Fullbringer. Neither was it that of a Soul Reapers, Quincy or even a Hollow. Even more confusingly, it wasn't even a mixture of any of the four. Maybe if I saw them in person then I could figure it out, but for now we will just have to wait and see."