BLEACH: The Dusk In Red

In a dark yet luminescent room, was the still working Dr. Tachibana who stood before 3 tubes each coloured, red, blue and black each containing the silhouette of a person. Behind of all of them, was a tube in equal width and height which was coloured green. This one was empty.

While Tachibana worked away, P5 approached him while rubbing tears out of their eyes.

"Mr. Tachibana? Are you going to replace me? Is it because I failed last time?? I swear I won't lose ever again!"

"Whatever makes you think I would do that?"

P5 pointed at the three tubes each.

"You've already started on making stronger soldiers haven't you? I won't fail again so please don't throw me away!"

Tachibana laughed at her, as a single lose tear fell from his left eye. He quickly wiped it away as he patted its head.

"You are my greatest work, and it shall remain that way even until after my death. I could never and I will never replace you."

"Then who are they?"

"They are you. Or I guess the you's which I had to cut away? By doing this you will be able to maintain your current form by yourself without the need of that mans Reiatsu."

P5 stretched its fingers and even released a little bit of their spiritual pressure. But to them nothing had changed.

"I don't feel any different?"

"You won't notice it now, but once I release these guys, you will gain a face and form much like them. These guys were getting in the way of your other powers so by removing them, I was able to lessen the burden on your body."

"But--??"

He started to aggressively pat their head, which made them squeal a little.

"Your destined to be the King who will rule over all. Once I figure out a way in which I can keep you together P5, you will defiantly be my greatest success. And that is when I will know that I would have surpassed them all." 

Soul Society, Rukongai District 64

Kai and the village elder sat across each other in a small hut. They sat on tatami mats with a plate full of rice balls in front of them. They both took one each and started to consume them quickly.

"Sorry we don't have anything else here. This district is quite small, so we don't have much food.", The village elder told him, but Kai ate happily.

"Thank you for this! I thought I was going to starve here. The next time I see Yukiko I'm going to chew her out for misinformation."

"Yukiko?"

"She is the Soul Reaper who sent me here."

The Village Elder looked at Kai with concern, to his knowledge he was aware of the fundamentals which this world functioned and saw that none of these applied to him in the current moment. But after gathering his thoughts he came to a conclusion.

"She wasn't lying. Well in Ordinary circumstances anyway."

"Ordinary?"

"When a plus dies and gets sent to soul society, they will no longer need food to sustain themselves because they don't require as much energy compared to when they were human. But for whatever reason there are a few number of souls in soul society that are much stronger than others, and as a result their bodies function as if they were still living."

He the extended out his left hand, and then emitted a bright blue ball of energy the size of an average football. Kai's eyes widened.

"There is a Soul Reaper who comes up here every now and then. He teaches me some things. This power is called Reiatsu I think? It's the external manifestation of our Reiryoku. Since we both need to eat, it means that we have strong enough Reiryoku to become soul reapers."

"Can I not? I need to find my father, so joining an organization like that would make it difficult."

"You don't have to join but finding him would be extremely difficult. Assuming that he lives in the Rukongai, there are 319 other districts that he could be in. As you are now, your immortal so the only issue other than time would be money. How would you afford food to eat? Afford to travel? If we become Soul Reapers then we won't have to worry about these things."

"We?"

"I have a goal that can only be achieved if I become a Soul Reaper. I've been honing my skills quietly these past couple years and with the help of that guy, I'm sure to become a Soul Reaper."

"Couple years?? Those people in the village kept calling you elder as well, how old are you really?"

The village elder smirked as he took a second rice ball to eat.

"A newbie like you is nothing compared to me. Despite my appearance I've been here for around 60 years?"

"4x Older than me???"

The village elder got a good laugh out of Kai's reaction.

"Oh! I haven't told you my real name have I? It's Shido Tatsuya."

Shido got up from the Tatami mat before sliding the doors open, preparing to head outside

"I need to go sort something out at the top of the mountain so I won't be back for a while. The Soul Reaper who I was talking about the other day will arrive tomorrow, so hopefully he'll teach you somethings then."

Kai smiled at him as he finished the last rice ball. The door slid closed while Shido walked off into the darkness. Now finally alone in the house, Kai looked up at the ceiling.

"319 other districts??? How the hell am I going to find him?"

The red butterfly which had been resting on his shoulder started to begin flying in circles around his head. Kai tried to shack it off, yet it never stopped.

"And you've been following me since I got here? What do you even want?"

Still unable to give a reply, it continued to shake its wings.

"Do I stink or something?"

Kai rolled up his sleeves and sniffed just below his armpits. It wasn't a bad smell but it wasn't ideal. He quickly forgot about his desire to shower once he recalled a particular detail.

"I forgot to ask Tatsuya what happened to this village before. Guess I'll just ask him tomorrow."

The butterfly then landed on his nose, making Kai sneeze.

"What are you getting worked up for?? I should probably give you a name if that's what you want?"

Kai thought about it long and hard while scratching his chin. He looked deeply at the butterfly while taking in its red colour.

"I'll name you... how about I just give you my last name? Kureno! Actually Kurenai fits better?"

The butterfly fluttered in approval.