Title: Death Games
Chapter: 2? "Darkest Dreaming"
Pairing: None at the present.
Series: Hikaru no Go, Bleach
Rating: PG 13 (Just to be safe)
Disclaimer: The two series are the property of Twinsala...okay, no they're not. Hikaru no Go is the property of Shonen Jump, Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi. Bleach is owned by Shonen Jump and Kubo Taito.
Author's Note: Yasushi and Ishii are the shinigami from chapter 1. Poor Ishii died before we could tell you his name, but he did a lot for the story. Many thanks to Raye and Anna for the beta-read. Any remaining errors belong to TwinSala alone
Warnings: Infodump. Gratuitous fandom referencing. Some unimportant OCs.

Shindou stepped through the screen doors into darkness.

His body hung in the void between two worlds. The air felt so thick and electric it would crush his lungs to breathe it in. Attempting to walk was unthinkable; there was nothing beneath his feet besides black emptiness. From the outside the portal had seemed paperthin; in and through to the other side in one step. Once inside, Shindou discovered, it was a totally different reality. It reminded him of night and stumbling in the dark, of sinking deep in a pool and letting the water flow over your face. His heartbeat crashed loudly in his ears, the rest of his senses gone numb. The only spot of light came from another doorway leading to a night sky littered with stars a distance off.

The second it would normally take to get through stretched to infinity.

It had looked all so easy - why was he finding it so hard to step through? Shindou despaired while the butterfly flew on its course to the other side. He could still see it even when its wings were of the same inky blackness of the dark surrounding him. He didn't come here just to be stuck here and die in this void, Shindou thought, frustrated. If only he could reach the damned thing.

'I must follow it.'

Its black silhouette stood out against the deep azure of the other door's sky. It was getting away. The door's panels began to slide close, and the vision of freedom narrowed to a thin strip of light.

'I must follow it to find Touya.'

Shoulders heaving from the effort, he took a step forward.

He hit the doors with a thud, jarring them open for another second to let pass. Released from the dark, Shindou staggered out to a field smelling of wet earth. The screen doors closed behind him with a snap and vanished. He tottered and fell; the grass crushed beneath him soaked his hakama with dew. He was dimly aware he'd stumbled into a place totally unknown yet familiar, like a protected park or someone's private garden. Shindou passed a trembling hand over his face while his eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness.

He stood up, hands still shaking after that terrifying moment through the doors. He rested them on the nearby wall made of white stonework; he could feel every bump and indentation of the surface underneath his fingertips. Instead of reassuring him that all's well, ending here in this peaceful clearing made Shindou more suspicious. It was too quiet, too normal, with no signs of monsters or that black-robed shinigami in sight. Where was he? He recalled snatches of the odd conversations from those black-robed men. Was this the black robed men's soul society or the Hueco-something? If it's the latter then where would that monster live in this peaceful place?

Even as he wondered he saw people people gathering a distance away from him. They were all dressed like the shinigami he saw in Touya's hospital room. He took a step towards them before the action could register in his mind, then he stopped. He didn't know if they were allies or enemies of that injured man. He shouldn't go to them like this.

"All quiet," he heard the woman report to the two men.

"Hm, Yasushi must've been delirious. Let's go."

"Hey, look, there's someone there."

Dammit, now he was caught. Shindou quickly thought up a plan as the three walked to him. He'd already noticed he was also dressed like them in black hakama and kimono instead of his sweatsuit. He could use this fact to his advantage; it was the perfect chance to find that man. The so-called shinigami had opened the door to this world; he was seriously injured - he'd go somewhere safe where he can recover. Chances were high that they knew the man from Akira's hospital room. It was a gamble, yet he had no more choice; they were finally upon him.

"Who're you?" one of them asked, a thin thread of hostility evident in his tone.

They glowered at him. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. He was surrounded, and his room for escape too narrow. Tread lightly and fast, away from danger, Shindou thought, like it was just his go stones in danger and not his life. "Uh, hello guys! Did you see my partner come out?"

"Your partner?"

"Yeah. We just came from - " What did they call it again? " - a mission, and he got cut up pretty badly."

The tall, burly man must be their leader, Shindou guessed. The other two stood a few steps behind him, and he was the only one talking. "You're late. Mikio passed through minutes ago. Where have you been?"

"I told him to go ahead. Mikio-san was hurt, and I was about to follow him."

"There's two things troubling me about you. One, you're supposed to go with your partner when he's going to the Fourth division. Two - " And the leader's eyes bore straight through him, " - his name isn't Mikio."

Caught. But the leader had slipped up; whatever that injured man's name was, he was in the Fourth division. All he needed to do now was escape and find his way there. Shindou fell back as they closed in on him, a hand on his sword's hilt. He quickly drew his sword, swinging it in an arc that almost hit one of them on the stomach. He didn't know how to use it, but even swinging it wildly would keep them away. Courage to step forward, the memory of Sai's lessons were deeply ingrained in him. He had nothing to fear.

"Don't come near me. Take me to the Fourth division!"

"Boy, we're not letting you near Yasushi if you keep swinging your zanpakutou around. Let's talk it over." It was the woman, her voice a soft alto.

So the sword he's holding was called a zanpakutou, and the man was named Yasushi. He was finally getting somewhere, Shindou thought, elated. "Yasushi knew about the monster that took Touya! Let me see him!"

"Boy, put away that zanpakutou, or we'll make you!" Their leader exclaimed, his tone menacing.

"I'm not scared of you! I can slice you up in ribbons with this in an eyeblink."

"That's it! Bakudo Number One : Sai!"

Light flashed from the corner of his eye. A sudden unseen force pinned his arms down and sent him sprawling with a yelp of pain. His zanpakutou clattered to the ground.

"Idiot, he doesn't even know about protecting against kidou," the other man said, picking up Shindou's sword. He pulled its saya away from Shindou's belt and slid it over the naked blade before handing it to the woman. "Now we can talk sensibly without your blade threatening us. Let's find out who he is, Oota-san."

The leader tugged the front of his kimono free. Shindou attempted to jerk free from his grasp, failing miserably. "Stop that! Hey! That's harassment!"

"He's not from a division," he said, astounded. "Students aren't allowed here, boy, and you're making a fool of yourself playing at shinigami."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Shindou glared at them. "I followed this black butterfly and went through those doors that disappeared all of a sudden! Just let me go find my friend Touya! He was taken away by a monster, and then this man you call Yasushi ran through these freaky doors, and I ended up here. He could find that monster with his cellphone! He can tell me where it went." His last few words came out in gasps. Whatever was keeping him bound made even breathing painful. It just made him angrier.

"Did you say you followed a black butterfly here?" This was the the woman again.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Don't lie, boy. You can't follow a jigokuchou through the doors unless you're a shinigami."

"I just told you what I did, and I'm not lying."

They conferred with each other, but Shindou could hear them. He caught the words 'impossible' and 'lying' in their murmured conversation. They didn't believe him; they were wasting his time. Touya could be dead for all he knew. Shindou shuddered, shaking his head. No, Touya was still alive, he was certain. Touya would escape from that horrible monster,

and he'd need Shindou's help getting back home.

"Oota, what's this noise all about?" Another shinigami showed up, swaggering to their group. He wore his hair gelled up in three spikes above a twisted headband.

"We found an intruder, Kotsubaki!" The leader waved an arm to Shindou's direction. "He wanted to see Yasushi, claiming they were partners, and he even tried to attack us. How is the boy?"

"Kiyone's checking up on him," Kotsubaki told the others, but his gaze remained on Shindou's face. "Who'd try to sneak in here?" The question was directed to Shindou rather to the other three.

Oota shrugged. "He must be a student. What's the Academy going to these days, letting kids sneak out this late?"

"I'm not from the Academy, and I graduated from junior high this year!"

The man they called Kotsubaki peered into Shindou's face. He met the questioning gaze head on. Oota cleared his throat, and added, "Well, he claims he followed a jigokuchou here from the human world."

"Like that'll happen. If he was he'd be stuck in the dangai by the kouryuu running through it." But his voice held doubt, as if he'd seen proof of that outrageous claim while he looked into Shindou's eyes.

"Kotsubaki, what do we do with him?"

"I'll take him to the captain. He can't walk like this though," Another incantation, and the pressure shifted, narrowing down to pin his hands to his back. The two men from the patrol hauled Shindou up as Kotsubaki took Shindou's zanpakutou from the woman. "You can go back to your rounds, Oota. Now let's go hear what the captain will say about you, boy."

"Who are you? Bring me to that man who was fighting that monster with the horrible skull face!"

"Come on, let's get going." Kotsubaki prodded him forward with the hilt of his own sword. "First we have to go to Ubandou and see Captain Ukitake."

He was being directed to a lake. Shindou hadn't noticed it before, but as they drew closer he could see more white-walled buildings with black-tiled roofs, and a wooden bridge leading to a pavilion standing over the placid waters. "But this is important! He took my friend with him. I need to find Touya, there's no way I'm going to play in the Hokuto Cup without our first board!" he said, trying to reason with this shinigami.

"What are you babbling about? If you don't go with me quietly I'll be forced to - "

Before he could complete his threat someone hit Kotsubaki from behind with a sheaf of papers. It was a boyish young woman with pale hair. "Kotsubaki! Geez! Causing trouble for Captain Ukitake again."

"I'm not causing trouble, this boy is. I'm bringing this outsider to the captain."

She watched Shindou struggle with his bindings, a frown on her face. "Do you know him? I've never seen him before."

"Nope. The others checked for his badge; He doesn't have one. They also say he's looking for Yasushi. Is that his report, Kiyone?"

Shindou went still, his eyes drawn to the papers she was holding. "Yes. The paramedics refused to let him talk long, so it's still incomplete, but he told me their mission failed and the hollow took a soul it attacked earlier that day."

"Shouldn't have sent the green ones off for such a mission," he muttered, before Shindou broke into their conversation with, "So where did that monster take Touya? Tell me!"

The girl shuffled the papers, searching for something. She gave a soft exclamation when she found it. "Yasushi says here he thinks there was a boy who came after him."

"Yeah, Oota and company were patrolling 'cause he was certain the boy followed him. This one says he followed the jigokuchou to this place."

"Well, Captain Ukitake's the only one who can decide what'll happen to him, let's go." Kiyone led them to the bridge.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shindou protested.

But the two ignored him. "Where do you think I was taking him, ape girl!"

"You don't have enough brains to think of taking him there, ape boy!"

Shindou butted in before the two shinigami could get into a fight. "Dammit, listen to me! I have to find Touya. Korea and China are playing tomorrow and we can't miss their games, so let me go!"

"Calm down, we're going to get everything sorted out once we see the captain."

"I don't want to see your frigging captain unless he's the one I'm looking for!"

Kotsubaki huffed. "I can't stand it anymore, let's throw him in jail to shut him up. Or maybe I can knock him out, he deserves it."

"Kotsubaki, don't be violent, or I'll report you to Captain Ukitake," Kiyone warned, gloved hands to her hips. "You know if you get more disorderly complaints you might get demoted!"

"Stop hiding behind the captain, suck up! You always go running to Captain Ukitake about this and that, you sneaky - "

She stepped on his foot, hard. "We're here," Kiyone told Shindou, a gleeful smile on her lips as Kotsubaki swore and hopped on his uninjured foot. "Be polite, or I'll let this brute knock you out just like he says, and I wouldn't report him."

"The sooner the captain decides what to do with you, the sooner you can do whatever you want," Kotsubaki added as Shindou was about to open his mouth in protest. He shut up.

Kiyone knelt down and knocked on the wooden door panels. "Sorry to disturb you, captain. Are you awake? We have something to report."

Something rustled on the other side, and a man's voice, still laced with sleep and weariness, finally said, "Come in."

She slid the door panels open. The pavilion was one large room, and its lone occupant rose from the futon by the window. The man looked ill and about to die, Shindou thought, as Kiyone hurried to his side. One pale, calloused hand covered his mouth as he coughed, his tousled white hair falling over his face. Kiyone pressed a damp cloth to the man's sweating forehead, asking if he needed anything more, while Kotsubaki forced Shindou to sit on the floor by the bed.

"Thank you, Kiyone. My medicine?" She poured out some green liquid and pressed the cup into his hand as Kotsubaki lit the lamps. "Ah, I feel better. And who do we have here?"

"An outsider Oota's squad found wandering in the grounds. He wants to see Yasushi, who came back injured from his mission," Kotsubaki explained as Kiyone handed the sheaf of papers.

The man straightened at his words. "An outsider? You must mean a student from the Academy?"

"No, sir. It's not there, but the boy claims he followed a jigokuchou here from the human world."

A few minutes' silence ensued while the man read through the papers. Shindou decided this was as good a time as any to have his say. "Hey, what's going on here? I just wanted to talk to that weirdo who walked in through those crazy doors a second before I did! He had that funny little cellphone to track that skull-faced monster. I can use that to find my friend, mister."

"Address Captain Ukitake properly, rookie!" Kotsubaki roared.

"Captain Ukitake?" Shindou said, startled to silence by this information. This sickly man before him was the captain they wanted him to meet? They have a sick man looking like he was on the verge of death as their leader. What was it with these people? Whatever this was, nothing made sense.

"This must all be a dream," he muttered, closing his eyes. "Touya's sleeping in the hospital, and I didn't see the monster or these people. I didn't run through those horrible doors, and I'm not sitting here with my arms pinned behind my back." He denied the ache of his straining shoulders, and the pain of his legs going numb from sitting in seiza.

"He's not a rookie from the other divisions, is he?" The man, Ukitake, said, glancing from the report to Shindou.

"He's not from the Gotei 13, Captain Ukitake. He says he only wants to rescue his friend from a Hollow."

"What about the squads we dispatched?"

It was Kiyone's turn to reply. "They've cleared the scene and I told them to wait for your orders. They had to lift the stasis around the area so everything went to normal." She lowered her voice, but Shindou heard the next words. "The other one's report was negative."

Ukitake sighed, setting aside the papers. His face glistened with sweat even under the soft lamplight and he took a moment to wipe it clean. "Good work, Kiyone. Well, first thing's first. Release the kidou, Kotsubaki."

"But captain, he nearly attacked Oota's company with his zanpakutou!"

"I don't think he's dangerous. He has no training, and look at his sword." Ukitake held Shindou's sword up, examining it. "It's a mere asauchi. Release the bind, he must be uncomfortable sitting like that."

"Are you sure, Captain Ukitake?"

"If anything happens we will be here to protect you!" Kotsubaki stoutly declared after undoing his spell.

"Mean! I was about to say that." As his two subordinates bickered he focused his attention to the stranger in their midst. Shindou rubbed some life back into his numb arms, watching Ukitake through narrowed eyes.

"I am Ukitake Juushirou, captain of the thirteenth division. And your name is?" The warm smile and gentle tone was surely meant to placate him, and even when Shindou knew this he lowered his guard. There was nothing he could do if the man decided to use more of those incantations on him anyway.

"Shindou. Shindou Hikaru. I'm a go pro from Tokyo."

"Well, Shindou-kun, let's start all over again. Please tell us your side from the beginning, and then I'll tell you whatever I think you want to know. We don't have a lot of time."

Hikaru sized up the smiling man carefully as he'd done to many an opponent across the go board. Maybe if he tried to explain why he got here they'd finally let him search for Touya. This man said he'd tell everything he wanted to know, and there were so many unexplained puzzles about this world he stepped into. Thousands of questions crowded in his mind, but he had no time.

As he pondered how to start, Ukitake signaled to his subordinates. Shindou stiffened when he heard footsteps behind him fade to a distance. "I just sent them out for tea. You must be hungry, and this might take long. So, tell what happened tonight."

Shindou began with the accident and the events in the hospital. Throughout his story Ukitake's face showed concern, but no real surprise, nodding at spots when he mentioned the monster or the shinigami. As his story wound to a close Shindou realized he hadn't kept track of the time. How long had he been talking in this enforced captivity? "- and then they brought me here. That's it. That's all I know. Now let me go, I need to find Touya, I've wasted enough time."

"But I promised to answer your questions first." Kiyone had returned with refreshments during Hikaru's story, and Ukitake poured still steaming tea into earthenware cups. "What do you want to know? Aren't you curious about this place?"

"Ah." Shindou breathed out. "Where am I? And what was that thing that took Touya away?"

"Yes, let's start with where, then. This is Soul Society, the realm for the good spirits of the dead."

He rose from the mat, too shocked to realize he'd moved. "I'm dead?"

He heard rather than saw Kotsubaki and Kiyone move, but Ukitake waved them down. "No, no, you're still alive, though your body is back in the hospital. When you - hm, how do I explain this? - when you were stabbed through the heart by Ishii's sword, your inga no kusari wasn't destroyed - "

"What's the inga no kusari?"

"It is that chain connecting your soul to your body. When you were stabbed through the heart, part of Ishii's power flowed to you, turning you into a temporary shinigami."

So that's why the monster said he was a shinigami. "And the monster that took Touya, what is it?"

"That was a Hollow."

"A Ho-horrow?"

"Those are spirits who have done evil or had deep-seated regrets, and as a consequence of their actions they lose their hearts. These spirits go out to the world to devour souls and other spirits, to fill the pain and suffering of its lost heart."

He understood that better than the idea of the inga no kusari; it was similar to a concept in the game he was playing weeks earlier. "Ah, you mean they're like the Heartless?" he asked without thinking.

"Heartless? I've never heard anyone refer to the Hollows that way - "

Of course they wouldn't know about the game, he was just confusing them. "Ah, please go on."

Ukitake looked like he was about to inquire into his remark, but changed his mind. "From what you said, you saw a jigokuchou and followed it to your friend's room. You must be special - a spirit medium of some skill to notice them before that incident in Touya-kun's room. That's also probably why you're still living after Ishii struck his zanpakutou through you, and why you haven't returned to your normal self yet. Can you see ghosts? That's indisputable proof you're one."

This would be the part he should explain Sai and the haunted go board to them, Shindou thought, chagrined. "Well, I can't say I'm like that, but - "

"You can tell me some other time. The simplest truth about you now is you are a shinigami like us, albeit you're still alive. Almost all shinigami are souls who accepted the duties of maintaining the peace in this spirit realm, but there have been special cases. As a shinigami you can fight Hollows, and then maybe then you can help one or two ghosts transition to Soul Society."

"But I don't want to be a shinigami. I just want to get Touya back."

"Ah yes, Touya-kun." Ukitake stopped smiling, and Shindou flinched as a sad look that crossed his face. "Your friend is different. When you were attacked, his inga no kusari was already cut. There was nothing connecting his body to his soul, and that's how the Hollow took him away. We can't return him anymore."

"N-no way...I can go back and live, and Touya can't?"

"Yes."

"Do you mean Touya's dead!"

Their silence was answer enough. Kiyone laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, but Shindou jerked away like it burned. Dead and all because he was too late to help, he despaired. Ukitake avoided meeting his gaze."But Touya and I have to play thousands of games together! That's what we told each other. He's my rival and my friend, and I can't just leave him here without trying. I won't let him die in the hands of that monster!"

"There's really no choice in this, you have to accept it and - "

"I can't let Touya go. What about the Meijin - his father? What about the people waiting to see the perfect game to come from his hands? I won't let him die! I can't just sit here and do nothing! I won't let him leave me the way Sai did!"

"It's too late for your friend. You can't return his soul to his body. I sent others to find that Hollow, but it went hiding in the shadows. You can't just charge into Hueco Mundo without knowing what you're about to face. That's suicide. Touya-kun wouldn't appreciate that."

Hueco Mundo. He'd heard it before, from the lips of the injured shinigami. Shindou inwardly swore to look for that place, even if it meant going through that darkness again.

"If I can't bring him back, I want to kill the Hollow that took him from us."

"You're in enough trouble as it is to go traipsing around on a fool's errand," Kotsubaki spoke up.

Shindou spun around. "What did you say?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.

Ukitake sighed. "I was about to get to that, Kotsubaki. Shindou-kun, there's something I have to tell you. Your new existence as a shinigami is very complicated. You became one by taking the powers of a living shinigami, and that's a felony in this world. By the rules of Soul Society we should report you and confine you here until a suitable decision is made. If we do that, there's a great chance you will be sentenced to be a shinigami, in exchange for the life of the shinigami we lost."

"What! But I didn't kill that shinigami, the Hollow killed him."

Ukitake continued as if he hadn't heard Shindou's cry. "The power Ishii accidentally transferred to you shows no sign of disappearing. There are ways to cut the chain binding you to your body, so you cannot return to it. Maybe this will be for the best, seeing as you're already one of us."

"No! I need to get Touya, go back, play in the Hokuto cup and kick Ko YongHa's ass, and that's all I want to do! I don't want to be a shinigami!"

"Kiyone, please take Shindou-kun while I get ready to meet with Genryuusai-dono," Ukitake ordered.

He can't stay here, Shindou thought, dazed. Kiyone had her hands on his arm, but he shook her off. He wasn't going to be tried and punished for something he didn't do. "Ukitake-san! Please listen! I just came here to get Touya, so fine, you said I can't do anything about him, I'm going back home!" He knew deep inside he can still save Touya. All he needed to do was to escape from this place, find that Hollow and kill it before it devoured Touya's soul.

"Let's go, Shindou. There's nothing you can do."

"No! I'll fight you, Ukitake-san! If I win let me go back to the human world."

"Are you mad? Captain Ukitake would never lose to you and he'd never agree to assist you!"

"Captain Ukitake, if he's going to be like this give me permission to take him to a cell until he's calmed down!" Kotsubaki said.

"No, this must be done." Ukitake considered Shindou for a long time. "We can't fight with our zanpakutou, you'll be hopelessly outclassed so - ah. If you defeat me in a game of go, I will let you go back to your life. I will even assist you in looking for your friend. But if you lose - "

"I accept." No questions, no conditions.

Kotsubaki growled, "You don't even know what will happen if you fail, idiot!"

"I won't fail." Shindou's eyes blazed with his determination.

"Captain, why are you doing this? We can force him to return and forget about this - "

"No, Kiyone. If he wants to go back to the human world he has to prove his strength in the game he loves so much. Go will be your ticket back, Shindou, but if you lose - " It was Ukitake's turn to watch him carefully. "If you lose we will completely separate your soul from your body. You will enter the Shinigami Academy and train to become part of my division. And you may not attempt to search for your friend until you graduate. Those are my conditions. Do you still agree?"

"Yes. Now let's get this over with so I can go back."

Ukitake inclined his head, his gaze never leaving Shindou. "Please bring out the board and stones," he murmured.

"Captain Ukitake, is this all right? We'll get in big trouble if Center 46 finds out," Kiyone asked as she laid the board between them.

"Then we just have to make sure no one finds out, Kiyone."

Kotsubaki hit his palm with his fist. "I'll take care of Oota's guys for you, captain. They won't talk about this to anyone at all!"

"I trust you'll use a peaceful method to keep them quiet, Sentarou."

"As you wish, captain."

"Let's begin, Shindou-kun. And don't think I will be kind to you."

Shindou played black against Ukitake's white. Everything around him was forgotten, he concentrated on nothing else but their game. Their game was swift and fierce, Shindou launching an attack once they had marked out their territories. They attacked, retreated, captured each other's stones, duelling fiercely for contested territory. This wasn't the give-and-take of a beautiful, flawless game. This was violence personified, as he fought for his life and Ukitake fought for his death.

He's not that strong, but he's good, very good, Shindou thought, when Ukitake deftly set out to wrest control of the upper right from his hands. But Touya was much better than this, and the memory of his rival kept him fighting to keep his stones alive. If he lost he would never play go, and Touya would kill him if he stopped again. He didn't realize that Ukitake looked up now and then, watching his determined face as he concentrated on the board.

The board filled with their stones, slowly cutting down the various plays they can still make, and Shindou felt Ukitake begin to hesitate, his hands growing gentle against Shindou's fierce moves. They pounded harmlessly against his defense instead of drawing blood, and Ukitake knew the game was at its end.

"I resign."

Shindou breathed in deeply, slowly refocusing on the reality around him. "I can go back now, can't I?" he asked.

"Of course. Kiyone, fetch two jigokuchou. Please take Shindou to the hospital, and return his soul to his body. Now, Shindou-kun, in a few days you will see a jigokuchou. I'll send any news through the shinigami with it. Don't tell anyone about what happened today and we'll try to control the news about you from our side as well."

"Thanks, Ukitake-san." For the first time since he'd met these shinigami he felt grateful and at peace.

Ukitake shook his head slightly to someone behind him. Shindou spun around, but Kotsubaki merely lifted an eyebrow inquiringly, his hands empty. "I came back while you were playing. Amazing game, Shindou-kun."

"Here." Kiyone was back, gasping for breath as she held a cage with two black butterflies triumphantly aloft. Kotsubaki created the doors with his zanpakutou, and Kiyone held Shindou's arm while they stood before it.

"We're fortunate we still have a mission scheduled tonight. Kiyone, your report will say Kotsubaki went with you tonight so we can account for the extra jigokuchou. Now, Shindou-kun, you have to remember what I told you," Ukitake reminded for the last time. "I'm sorry you have to go back knowing what happened to Touya-kun."

Shindou grasped his hand, unwilling to leave without a verbal promise. "You'll tell me what happened to him, Ukitake-san."

"Yes, I swear, Shindou-kun. Now go."

---

Touya ran to the sharp pillars of grey rock, chased by more monsters with grinning skull faces. He could hear them, slithering, prowling and running, a horde of them, intent to kill their prey. He knew he must hide in the shadows, that was his only hope to survive. He dived behind the first pillar, and quickly scrabbled to the next one, slinking beneath its shade. The monsters stopped, as if sniffing the air for his scent, but he was already crawling away from them.

He took in deep, slow breaths, trying vainly to calm down. They were gone; they couldn't find him here, as long as he hid like this. The pillar he sat under was tall and broad, the shadow it cast deep. He could still hear them trashing about in a distance. Touya felt safe for now.

A whoosh of air warned him. He ducked, and the monster's blow missed his shoulder. It stood, half of its skeletal frame emerging from the darkest region of the rock's shadows. They can sneak up on me through the shadows, Touya thought, horrified. He realized, there was no place to escape for him now on this grey and barren place.

He closed his eyes, his mouth stretched open in a silent scream as the monsters swooped down for the kill. Unbearable pain as his flesh suffered the assault of numerous claws and fangs. He was dying, he knew he was, shuddering as he felt another monster sink its teeth into his arm.

Their shrieks and mad crackling laughter abruptly stopped, and an unnatural stillness reigned around him. Touya blinked hard, shocked by the sudden loss of pain. The frozen worm-like beast had its fangs sunk deep into his chest, but it remained hanging in the air, stunned by an unknown force.

The monsters and the grey lands around him rippled, blasted away by a flash of light.

When the light finally subsided Touya first saw a brilliant blue sky marbled with pale clouds at his feet. His feet, whole and bloodless, as was the rest of him. No marks of the teeth nibbling at his arm, of the claws shredding his skin to ribbons. He tried rubbing his eyes to clear the illusion, but it stubbornly remained. Maybe the monsters had killed him without him realizing it, and he was finally in heaven. Touya glanced up to where the sky should be. There was an endless stretch of calm sea meeting pale sand and he wondered, was heaven supposed to be like this, an empty sea with the sky at your feet?

There was a man standing on the sand. From this distance all he could make out was the color of his hair and clothes. His long hair was the color of the finest kaya mellowed with age, just like the goban in his father's study, while his clothes were blue like the sea before him.

"This isn't a dream, Touya Akira." The man's voice reached him despite the impossible distance. "I was almost too late."

"You aren't with them, are you?" But he knew the answer even before he asked the question. This man wasn't like those ravenous monsters wanting to eat him. He didn't know why, but he knew.

"Those?" He pointed one sharp fingernail down to the waters, and an image of the monsters rippled onto the surface. Touya flinched away before he could resist the impulse. "Those are Hollows. They live by preying on souls like yours. Right now they can't touch you, but our time is short. You must come to me and then you'll be safe." The man continued, "Do you have a family or special friends?"

"I do."

"If they devour you, you'll become one of those beasts outside. A new Hollow starts by eating the souls of those close to them, and when those are gone they look for others. You will seek those important people out, and eat them. But they will never fill you up, you'll just look for more and more souls to eat, until you completely forget you too were once human."

His father and mother. Shindou. After that there were his father's study group and the people from the go salon. Killing them all was unthinkable. "I won't fail. I will go with you."

"There are so many things I have to tell you about the life you will now have, but I can't tell you until you're here on the ground with me."

"How do I get there?"

"Only when you know what you must know will you find safety. You don't have much time left, you know."

He thought hard, trying to figure out what the man meant. What must he know to be safe by the man's side? Was this a puzzle with only one solution, or one with many answers, all of them right, or was it a trick to make him think he could still escape the Hollows? The stranger didn't help at all with his vague clue.

The stranger. But he wasn't a stranger, even if he'd never met the man before. This man standing on the sand above him was a friend whose name he'd forgotten. Touya closed his eyes. This sensation of familiarity was beautiful and calming, similar to how he felt every time he'd replay a game and knew it was almost flawless, and it was more, much more.

What's your name? he thought, and the answer was so simple.

A cold hand gripped his arm as his bare feet touched the sand. Touya's eyes snapped open, and up close he could finally see the man's expression. There was a radiant smile on that strong face, his pale eyelashes softly curving crescents above high cheekbones.

"I've waited for so long to find you. You know me now?"

"Yes," Touya gasped, the tingling spreading from his arm to the rest of his body. Around them the sea flowed up to the sky in streams of blue and green, leaving the white sand bare like bones picked clean of flesh.

"Tell me my name," the stranger went on, his voice relentless yet kind. And Touya opened his mouth to speak.

The brilliant world exploded into the grey barren land. He could hear the screams of monsters caught in the blast, and didn't care. He was safe and alive now, the force of his newfound power radiating around him. Touya landed softly onto the grey ground and knew no fear.

'Now we run,' a voice whispered in his mind, and Touya ran.

---

"Touya!"

Shindou woke up with a start. He blinked up at the ceiling several times, clearing his mind. The memories - a black butterfly, the difficult door to a different place and strange men in black, monsters leering at Touya caught in the darkness. He'd been having the same nightmare for the past few days. Days of waiting for the sight of a butterfly that has yet to come, and news he almost dreaded to hear.

He stretched, then reached upwards for his alarm clock and tried to make sense of the bleary numbers the hour and minute hands were pointing to. Five minutes to twelve? No, it was eleven. That meant he'd slept for twelve hours straight in this heat. The sheets stuck to his skin, he must've covered his head with it when the rays of sunlight slanted over his bed earlier.

Shindou reluctantly rose, showered and dressed, but he kept the pitch-black coat off for later. Shindou never imagined the second funeral he'd ever go to would be a boy close to his age. His grandmother was the first, but he had been too young to remember anything more than the smell of incense and the sorrowful faces above pale white flowers. He scowled, picking up his jacket and running down to the kitchen.

"Morning, mother," he greeted.

"You woke up late, Hikaru."

A newspaper lay folded on the tabletop. He could see some text, and the words 'Hokuto Cup Tragedy' with 'Funeral of promising go pro today' in smaller print. Shindou turned away from the table, slightly sick in the stomach. His clothes were enough of a reminder. "Hikaru? Aren't you hungry? Lunch is ready."

"Not really. I can eat on my way."

"Maybe I should go with you." They've talked about it before, but he'd gently overruled her suggestion.

"I'll meet Isumi and the rest there, I'll be fine, mother. There's a great ramen shop near the station, I can get lunch there before the service."

"Your tie's all crooked. Let me fix it."

"I'll be fine, mother, don't worry too much," he said as she retied the black necktie. He'd meant to sound more petulant, to pretend everything was back to normal. She hovered around him whenever he was home, looking into his room on one pretext or another. He understood her fears with the accident still vivid in her memory, but her worried face weighed heavily in his mind, and coupled with the recent tragedy his game was off.

"Here, you forgot this." His mother slipped a rosary of sandalwood beads into his pocket. "You should have it for the service. You know what to do, I told you already and you've memorized the sutra beautifully. Are you sure you don't want me to - "

"I'm fine, thanks. I'm going now."

"Come straight home after it, Hikaru." There it was again, that pensive anxiety.

"Yes, mother."

Shindou walked to the nearest train station, sweating under the sweltering sun. It shouldn't be so hot. It was spring, after all, not summer. It didn't seem right that Touya would be buried during a hot day, but then it didn't seem right to think of Touya as dead after all.

Had it just been a week since the accident? He couldn't believe that seven days before Touya was arguing with him over a goban in the hospital, and that the last thing they did together was fight. Then came that monster, and the shinigami and Ukitake's world. For ten minutes after waking that very next day Shindou had entertained the idea it had all been a dream, and the matches would go as Kurata-san said. He had even thought of going to the hotel so he could watch Ko YongHa's kind of go up close and discuss the kifu with Touya over dinner that night. That delusion had lasted until Yashiro had come in. He could remember his first words then were, "Yashiro, good morning. Up to a round of haya-go before breakfast?"

It had only been when he'd seen Yashiro working up the courage to tell him about Touya that he remembered Ukitake's last words.

And it had all come crashing down.

Forget it, Shindou thought, and kept an eye out for a jigokuchou. He almost missed getting down at his station, and barely ate the ramen he ordered for lunch. He felt hot and ill under his hastily donned coat as he walked up the granite steps of the temple, nodding at the go players he met along the way. The air felt blessedly cooler under the many trees lining the stairway.

Isumi and Waya were not there yet, but Yashiro stood beside one of the sacred trees with a young man who looked eerily like him. It was Yashiro, doubled in his vision, wearing identical dark suits. The only difference lay in their eyes - there was a hint of careless nonchalance in the way the double kept wary watch on his surroundings, a smirk flickering on the corners of his mouth. He headed to them, but before Yashiro could introduce him his companion said, "I'll leave ya to talk."

"I didn't see you yesterday," Shindou said after greetings tinged with muted sorrow. The wake had been a quiet affair, attended by the Meijin's students and other go players with free schedules. Shindou had been among the youngest in the crowd. He and the others had kept their distance from the former Meijin, sitting up front as the principal mourner, letting him grieve for his lost son in respectful silence.

"My parents wouldn't let me go. The didn't want me to go here alone, so that was my cousin Masaharu." His throat worked as he tried to get his next words out. "I'm sorry, Shindou. I wasn't really good enough - I failed."

Even with Ochi for a replacement third board their team had lost almost all their games. Yashiro couldn't focus on his strategy, Ochi was unprepared for the demands of the tournament, and even as Shindou won against the Chinese first board, he lost to Ko YongHa despite his brilliant game. Had Touya been there - but Touya had not been there, will never be there to sit before a go board ever again.

"I'm the one who should say sorry. I failed Touya." Yashiro wouldn't understand what he meant. He didn't know about the Hollow and the shinigami and Soul Society. He'd kept his side of the bargain, and hoped Ukitake was going to keep his end as well. It has been five days.

"No, we both did. If Touya had been there - "

If. If only Shindou knew how to turn into a shinigami he'd use his zanpakutou to open that terrible door and go to Ukitake, demanding what was taking them too long to find Touya. If only he didn't agree to peacefully leave

Soul Society - but he'd have been trapped there, if he hadn't left. If only he'd been a minute sooner going to Touya's room, everything could have been so different. No Hollow, no shinigami, and Touya would be alive, playing crappy games with Shindou in the Meijin's go salon right now, if only -

Shindou was starting to hate the word 'if' but his mind refused to stop second-guessing.

"Touya knew we did all we could." They fell silent, unable to talk further. Waya found them like that, and he laid a gentle hand on Shindou's shoulder.

"There you are, Shindou. Let's go, Isumi's already inside."

Ogata was there, sitting with the Meijin's other students on the row right behind the Meijin and his wife. They looked older, more sorrowful in their black clothes, though Touya's mother managed a tremulous smile when she saw Shindou with the younger go pros. Shindou sat down somewhere in the middle, with Yashirou to his left and Waya to his right. From his vantage point he could see the casket and the mortuary tablet, and his grip on his rosary tightened.

Touya's not gone, he thought fiercely. He knew Touya was still alive, and all he needed to do was bring him back.

The priest started to read the sutra, and the funeral began.

-end Chapter 2-

Definitions:

inga no kusari - chain of fate/destiny. What connects a soul to its body or an object in the human world.
bakudo number one : sai - a basic level kidou (demon arts) spell. Used for restraining uncooperative subjects. Rukia used this on Ichigo when they met.
asauchi - zanpakutou of students in the academy or low-level shinigami. An unnamed zanpakutou.
Hueco Mundo - Hollow world, the space between the human world and Soul Society where Hollows live
Dangai - the crack between the living world and soul society. Koryuu is a current that keeps souls from moving through it. (Practically took the definition verbatim from Uruhara's explanation. ;)