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There were just certain places kids didn't make it a point to be if they were of sound mind and body and had a say in the matter. The school library. The dentist's office. The last stall at the end of the boy's bathroom near the school entrance. And on a list of all these places kids of sound mind and body with a choice in the matter dare not thread, the creepy abandoned house sitting across from the cemetery near the edge of town would rank pretty darn high. With its shattered windows and overgrown foundation and with the cemetery across the street producing constant and mysterious groans and roars as a thick mist oozed over the headstones, this area was not a place any kid would ever choose to be, especially in the dead of night.
And yet, this was exactly where all five members of Sector V of the Kids Next Door stood tonight, their backs to the misty cemetery as they faced the decrepit house.
"N-Numbuh One!" Hoagie Gilligan, A.K.A Numbuh Two asked his leader in a trembling voice. "A-Are you sure this is the right place?"
"The reports say that Count Spankulot's been striking all over this portion of town," Nigel Uno, A.K.A, Numbuh One, answered with the professionalism befitting his position of leader. "And I can think of no better place for a spank-happy vampire to hide out during the day than the house by the cemetery, can you?"
"Right, so let's drag that undead freak out and see how he likes a good smack on the hiney!" Wallabee Beetles, A.K.A, Numbuh Four, growled, his S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R clutched tightly in his hands and rearing to go.
"Easy, Numbuh Four," Abigail Lincoln, A.K.A Numbuh Five, broke in cooly. She was armed with a B.A.J.O.O.K.A that had been modified by Numbuh Two to shoot out cartons of garlic-filled water instead of orange juice. He had yet to come up with a name for it. "Remember that it's the dead of night. Outnumbered or not, Count Spankulot's gonna have the advantage."
"Exactly," Nigel agreed. "That's why everyone needs to stay focused and keep their wits about them! So are we ready or are we ready!?"
"Ready!" Wally shouted.
"Ready!" Abagail declared.
"R-Ready!" Hoagie whimpered.
Nigel nodded, pleased to hear such quick responses from his team. And yet, there was still one more voice that had yet to declare itself mission ready. "And you Numbuh Three? Are you ready?"
Right on the edge of the sidewalk, Kuki Sanban, A.K.A, Numbuh Three, had her back to the team. Her shoulders were slightly hunched as if she were studying something close in her hand. Had any of the others been close enough at that moment, they might have even heard her mutter under her breath.
"Ah...Numbuh Three?" Abagail asked with more concern than annoyance.
Nigel, on the other hand, could not afford to grant such patience. "Earth to Numbuh Three!"
"Huh? What!?" The young Japanese girl whipped around at once, her arms shooting up over her head. Whatever she might have been holding would have slipped down into her oversized sleeves just out of the view of the others but as Kuki's hands were usually concealed within her baggy sweater anyway, no one gave it any thought. "A-Are we under attack!?" A quick glance at the spooky house behind her annoyed friends told Kuki that wasn't the case and with a slight blush, she smiled and chuckled sheepishly.
"Numbuh Three, just how many times am I going to have to call you out like this?" Nigel asked. "You know that as a Kids Next Door Operative, you need to stay focused when we're out on a mission!"
"I-I'm sorry Numbuh One!" Kuki apologized. "It's just...well...you see..."
"Let me guess," Nigel responded. "You have to take a pee break again?"
Another sheepish giggle which was somewhat cut off by the groans of her teams.
"Seriously, Numbuh Three! You really gotta take it easy on the soda before missions!" Wally shouted.
"I know, I'm sorry! So can I please go? Real quick! Please?"
Nigel groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine! Just make it quick and meet us in the house afterward. As for the rest of you, we got a vampire to garlicfy!"
Hoagie and Wally shouted in enthusiasm (Wally so much more than Hoagie) as they followed Nigel into the old house. Abagail took a few steps after them as well, waited until they were halfway to the house then turned back to Kuki. ""So...another pre-mission bathroom break?"
Kuki smiled awkwardly. "I know, I know! I should stop drinking so much soda!"
"Girl, do I look like I was born yesterday?" Abagail asked with a cocked eyebrow. "I haven't even seen a soda in your hand since the last cake mission. Something else is going on and I'm starting to get worried."
Kuki gulped. Even she knew Abagail was smarter than a lot of kids in the KND, when it came to missions and when it came to reading people. She supposed it was only a matter of time before her only other girl teammate confronted her about her flimsy excuse. and for one brief moment, she considered telling her everything that had been going on with her since they visited her Grandmother in Japan. It would be so much more bearable if even one person could be in the know, if one friend could shoulder the burden she now carried.
But of course, that simply wasn't an option. Not if she wanted to keep her friends safe.
"What's been eating ya, Kuki?"
"I...N-Nothing! I...I just..." Kuki trailed off, her mind desperately trying to piece together an excuse that didn't sound like something Numbuh Four would make up. She half expected Abagail to get fed up, pull her weapon on her and force her to spell the bitter, bitter jellybeans she kept with her. Instead, the cap-clad girl surprised her with four simple words.
"It's that bad huh?"
"N-No! It's not bad! Nothing's bad! It's just..." Kuki sighed. Maybe she couldn't tell Abagail the entire truth but she could at least be honest with her feelings. "It's really complicated. Like final exam from the Incredible Tutor complicated. And I wish I could tell you! I really do but I...I just...can't..." Kuki felt a single tear escape her eye and slide down her cheek. She couldn't help it. Just bringing up this much was putting Abagail at risk.
Softly, Abagail smiled and tapped Kuki's shoulder. "Hey, I get it. Sometimes you just gotta keep a secret, even from your friends. That's just how it is in this line of work! I don't blame you for that Kuki."
Kuki sniffled. "Y-You don't?"
"Nah-uh! You're more than my teammate! You're my friend and friends trust each other, even if they can't say everything." Abagail pulled Kuki into a tight hug, an action the Japanese girl reciprocated at once. Kuki couldn't help but utter a relieved "Aww!" as she returned the hug. "Just promise me one thing, Kuki."
"Anything, Abby," Kuki promised. Abagail broke the hug but kept her hands on Kuki's shoulders. Her face, while still kind, was a little more serious now.
"Whatever's going on, if you ever get into trouble, promise me you'll come running to us, okay?"
Kuki's smile weakened a little as she thought back to her situation. Strangely, she felt a pang of pity for poor sweet Abby, so well-meaning and usually wiser than Numbuh One himself. But even she could never hope to grasp the true gravity of Kuki's predicament. If such the time came that she failed to handle things herself, she wouldn't even be given the chance to turn to her friends. Nonetheless, she nodded with another sniffle. "O-Okay."
Abagail chuckled and playfully batted Kuki with her hat. "Now go on and take care of your business quickly, okay?"
Kuki giggled. "Oakey-Dokey!"
Abagail smiled at her friend for a few moments then rushed off to join the boys in the old house, leaving Kuki alone to look both ways and dart over the road toward the cemetery. There happened to be a creepy old tree jutting out of the sidewalk lining the cemetery and Kuki ducked behind it the second she was close enough to do so. She watched as Abagail and Nigel exchanged some inaudible words, most likely about her, and vanished into the house, the door slamming shut behind them.
Then and only then did Kuki allow the smile on her face to fall away as she pressed her back against the tree. "I'm so sorry, Abagail! I'm so sorry everyone! I really wish I could just tell you what's wrong but if I did..." Kuki shook her head, not even wanting to entertain the idea of what would become of her friends if they learned her secret. The KND was a strong organization dedicated to fighting adult tyranny, even conquering the likes of Father time and time again.
But these adults? The ones putting her in this painful situation? Even Father failed to hold a candle to them. No pun intended.
Kuki was suddenly conscious of that darn beeping again and groaned in annoyance as she flexed her sleeve, summoning the small device that had caused all this trouble to begin with. It had been going off since the moment they first arrived at the house and it had been driving her crazy all through the embarrassing conversation she had with her friends. She supposed she was glad that they couldn't hear or even seen the darn thing anyway but that was a small consultation given what the beeping entailed for her near future.
HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!
"Alright, alright already!" Kuki groaned as she fiddled with the device. "Just shut up and tell me where the stupid monster is already!"
The screen on the device changed into a map of the cemetery, a blinking light indicating where the monster was. To both Kuki's relief and dread, the monster appeared to be close by, within the bowels of the very cemetery she stood in front of in fact. As if wanting to confirm its presence, the monster's distant roar startled Kuki, a mournful yet enraged roar befitting such a spooky place.
"Oh! Come on! Not so close! What if my friends see something?" Kuki turned back to the old house across the street and sighed as she dug into her sweater. "Oh, I guess I better just get this done quickly then." She pulled out a small wooden badge with a stylized skull on it. She stared at it for a few moments, gulped, and slammed it into her chest. At once, Kuki was overcome with a sensation she could not put into words. The closest comparison she would be able to even think of, if she ever did give it enough thought, was like emerging from a dark, icy pool of water only to float up into the windy sky above. She lurched forward and instinctively placed her right foot out before herself. She landed with even more grace than she was capable of as a normal child, her left knee kissing the sidewalk gently behind her foot, making her appear as if she was bowing to some great master or deity. The cloth around her body suddenly felt lighter even as a familiar weight pressed against her left hip.
Kuki stood up before opening her eyes. As the wind blew through her, she turned back to the tree and found herself staring at...well, herself. Or to be more precise, her body, an empty vessel of flesh and bone leaning against the trunk with her head lolled. If anyone happened to pass by while Kuki was in this state, they would be forgiven for thinking she had somehow fallen asleep.
At least, until they realized her chest wasn't moving.
Just another reason for Kuki to act fast.
She turned back to the cemetery and leapt toward the gates with the effort it took to put a foot forward. She practically flew up to the top of the steel gates, the soles of her sandal-clad feet standing painlessly on the points. Kuki took a moment to overlook the cemetery in search of the monster. As she scanned the area, the wind blew through her black robes. Her sword swayed back and forth against her hip. She did not see the monster but she did hear its roar one more time.
Angry. Mournful. Hungry.
"There you are!" Kuki bucked herself off the top of the fence and sped toward the monster. She seemed to vanish between the gravestones, appearing on the slab one moment and seemingly vanishing, only to end up on a tree a whole yard away. If there was one perk Kuki enjoyed from this little hustle of hers, it was how light she felt when she flew through the air. The only reason she wasn't letting loose and crying out "Wheee!" with each leap was because she didn't want to alert the monster. The deeper she flew into the cemetery, the stronger the scent of the monster came to her sharp nose. It smelled like blood, like rot, like death. She didn't much care for that scent or how it somehow seemed to attach itself to her robes after every battle.
She really needed to ask Mr. Ukitake how she was supposed to clean her robes if she couldn't even put them in the laundry.
At last she found what she was looking for at the center of the cemetery. As with all the monsters, it bore a mask of bone and a giant hole in its chest. The mask's eye holes were lined with orange and aside from the two horn-like protrusions growing from the corners of it, it greatly resembled a human skull. Its body was lanky, its arms long enough to graze the top of its feet with its knuckles. It's skin was mostly ruddy with a few spots of green on it and seemed to have a sort of sheen, as if coated with some sort of gel. In the center of the monster's emaciated chest was a large hole. It wasn't a wound either but a perfect circle of space. Just the same as Kuki had been seeking this monster, it appeared to be seeking something as well, looking around as its arms swayed bonelessly around it. It uttered another earth-shaking roar and got on all fours, sniffing around the cemetery like a dog sniffing through trash. Amazingly, it didn't seem to notice Kuki's presence just yet and she hopped into the foliage of a nearby tree to ensure it stayed that way.
"Sheesh, I swear these Hollows keep getting uglier and uglier." She complained as she grabbed the hilt of her sword. "Would it kill them to look like a cute baby bunny or ducky or kitty or something like that for once!?" She sighed. "Oh well, guess that doesn't matter now. If I can get the jump on him, I can finish this in a jiffy and go back to help the others!"
Right as she was about to unsheathe her weapon, however, the Hollow perked up, as if it had finally caught wind of something. Kuki stiffened, assuming that it was her and braced herself for a battle. She could practically see the Hollow crank its neck toward her and blast white-hot energy or swipe at her with one of its freakishly long arms or even just roar at her with enough force to knock her out of the tree. But the Hollow never even looked in her direction. Instead, it did a backflip and, while performing what could only be described as a motionless crab walk, swiped a single gravestone away from the ground. Once the dust settled and the Hollow moved its hand, Kuki could make out the shaking visage of a little boy, at least three years younger than her.
He had a chain growing out of his chest.
The boy seemed to realize at once that his hiding space had been compromised and screamed as he accidently faced the Hollow. The monster unleashed a triumphant roar as the boy jumped up and ran away. Then it tilted itself back to its rightful posture and gave chase.
"Oh no! There's a soul too!" Kuki exclaimed. "Don't worry, little boy! I'll save you!" With this, Kuki leapt off the tree in hot pursuit of the boy and the monster.
The boy, despite being a spirit, zigzagged to avoid the various tombstones peppering the cemetery. In this constant, erratic motion, he soon lost his footing and fell on his face. As he picked his head back up, he felt the Hollow's shadow swallowing him and turned with chattering teeth toward the hungry beast. Its bony lower jaw was covered in a thick line of salvia. "No..." The boy cried as he scooted back toward a tombstone, body shaking and tears streaming from his beady black eyes. "Please don't!"
The Hollow lifted one of its giant hands and reached out for the boy who could only curl up in a small ball and hoped what happened next would be painless. Rather than the crushing force of a giant hand wrapping around him, however, he only felt a rush of cool air, followed by a feminine grunt of effort and the slice of a weapon into flesh. He looked back up and gasped upon beholding a young girl in a black robe standing between him and the Hollow's hand. She was armed with a sword whose blade had sliced into the monster's palm. It screamed in pain and pulled back its hand, ripping the flesh in the process. A lot of the blood fell upon the ground and the surrounding tombstones but some of it fell upon the girl, dripping onto her hair and robes. She gagged as this happened. "Ew! Why does this always happen!?" She whined as she shook herself like a dog to dislodge the blood. The boy shielded himself as she did this.
"You...You saved me..." He finally awed.
"I wouldn't say that just yet," Kuki responded as she stepped closer to the boy and faced the wailing Hollow. "Not until this mean old monster is gone! But don't worry. I'm going to take care of him quickly."
"W-Who are you?" The boy asked.
"I'm a Sub-I'm a member of the Kids Next Door!" Kuki corrected herself firmly, declaring out loud which world she had more loyalty toward. "And we protect kids like you from adults...and gross scary monsters." She added as she pointed her sword at the screeching Hollow. The monster had ceased its screeching by now and glared at Kuki with a low hiss.
"A-Are you sure you can handle him?" The boy asked fretfully. "He looks...kinda big!"
"Oh, it's alright!" Kuki chirped, temporarily forgetting that she was in the midst of battle. "I have a giant robotic bunny back home that's way bigger than Mister Bad Breath over there!"
The Hollow ceased its hissing at once, breathed onto its palm and took a whiff. He groaned sadly upon realizing the little girl was telling the truth then proceeded to roar and smack her with the back of his hand. Kuki shrieked as she was slammed into a large cross-shaped tombstone that fell and broke apart beneath her. Tiny winged Rainbow Monkeys flew around her head as she groaned in pain.
The boy screamed in panic and took off further among the headstones as the Hollow gave chase. The tremors caused by the its feet as they slammed down besides Kuki snapped her out of her funk. "Hey!" She jumped back to her feet and pointed a finger at the Hollow. She whispered an incantation to herself, one she still had trouble remembering every word of, especially with the sounds of the boy's screams and the Hollow's roar shaking her focus. As she finished the incantation, the tip of her index finger glowed. "H-Hado Numbuh 1: Sho!" The energy blasted from her finger and onto the Hollow's back, stopping it in its tracks. With a low growl, it turned its attention back to Kuki.
"That's right, Mr. Meanie Skull-Face!" Kuki shouted as she pointed her blade toward the Hollow. "I'm your opponent tonight! And I-EEEEK!" She cried as the Hollow launched one of its hands toward her. She jumped to get out of the way, leaping several feet in the air, watching as earth flew from where the Hollow smashed its fist in pieces. She didn't notice the other hand racing toward her until she was already within its tight grip. She screamed as she felt the air squeezed out of her lungs and her bones begin to fracture. "Let me go!" She cried as she tightened her grip on the sword and struggled. "I...said...let...me...go!" Through sheer willpower more than anything, Kuki forced her blade between the Hollow's fingers, drawing a line of blood that began to drip to the floor. It wasn't a great injury, especially given the monster's size, but it was enough to make it scream and let her go. Kuki grabbed onto the Hollow's pinkie, threw herself on top of his wrist and charged over his arm.
The Hollow noticed her at once and took a swipe at her. Kuki jumped to dodge this attack and found herself falling toward the Hollow's head. She pointed her sword downward and screeched a battle cry as the blade vanished within the Hollow's mask. It cried out as blood gushed out from the wound and washed over its mask in several rivets that came back together beneath the teeth. Small cracks formed in the mask where the strike had been made and increased when Kuki stomped both of her feet down onto the monster's face. "Alright, it's almost over!" She told herself as she struggled to pull the sword further down. "Now...if I can just...Whoa!"
The Hollow bobbed its head with a short but vicious motion. Kuki lost her balance and found herself hanging on only by her sword, dangling before the Hollow's face like the lure of an anglerfish. Upon realizing her sudden predicament, she could only giggle nervously as she watched the Hollow's eyes narrow. "Um...you have pretty eyes?"
The Hollow opened its mouth from the depths of which formed a red ball of energy. Kuki shrieked and struggled to dislodge the sword from the Hollow's mask before she got blasted. Unfortunately, it was too far embedded into the monster's face and Kuki was forced to endure the full brunt of his attack. Thankfully, as she was of a powerful spiritual lineage and the attack was a pale forerunner to what she would one day learn was called a Cero, the most Kuki suffered from the actual blast was a blackened body from which her eyes opened wide. She coughed a little.
Only then did the sword finally fall away from the wound and Kuki plummeted to the ground. Seizing his chance, the Hollow snatched Kuki from the air and swung his arm through the nearby headstones. They all broke apart at once upon the mighty swing, Kuki taking a good few of them to the face. Once the Hollow had destroyed an entire row of headstones, he swung his arm back and threw Kuki against the ground like a young child throwing a broken toy. Kuki bounced up once, landed on and broke one more headstone and laid in the rubble, bloody and groaning. "Ooohhh. My...everything."
From one of the surviving headstones, the boy watched as the monster loomed over his would-be savior. He let out a whimper, both for the girl and for himself for he knew once that strange girl vanished down the monster's gullet, so too would any of his hopes of surviving the night.
Kuki, through her glassy, blinkering gaze, noticed the Hollow approach her and forced herself to get back up. She drew her sword toward him and whined as it hurt her arm to do so. She spat out a little bit of blood and groaned as she realized how bad she was trembling. "No...come on...stop it! We gotta take this Hollow down...together..." She coughed up more blood and nearly lost her balance as the Hollow slammed its hand down on yet another hapless cross-shaped headstone. "I can't give up..."
Another stomp, this time crushing a small angel statue.
"I can't let my friends down...can't let them get involved...can't...can't..."
The Hollow took one final stomp toward Kuki, this time crushing a headstone belonging to a young girl. Kuki could tell as much because of all the Rainbow Monkeys etched into it, including two with angel wings and halo-shaped rainbows over their head on either side of her name. A name Kuki didn't quite get the chance to read before it was crushed mercilessly beneath the laughing Hollow's hand.
Kuki gasped. Her eyes widened with shock then shrank with fury. "I can't believe you would destroy a Rainbow Monkey-brand Rest-In-Peace Tombstone!" Fire burst from her eyes as her teeth sharpened and her ears pointed, her skin glowing as red as an oni.
"...Uh oh." The Hollow muttered, realizing it had just inadvertently sealed its fate with the careless destruction of the Rainbow Monkey Tombstone.
"That's it! You're going down!" Kuki launched herself toward the Hollow with a furious howl that put his own mournful cries to shame. Determined to fight, the Hollow reached out to her again with the intent of crushing her into a smear within his palm. As his fingers attempted to wrap around the girl, however, Kuki vanished within a ball of swipes and slashes. At once, the Hollow's fingers came apart in a spray of blood as Kuki sprinted along his arm. Both in pain and enraged, the Hollow made another grab for her with his good hand. Kuki jumped up right as he was to snatch her, ascending several feet in the air. She flipped and repositioned herself so that she began to fall on top of the Hollow. As she descended, she placed her palm along the side of her sword and whispered into the hilt. "Cleanse in flame, Amaterasu!"
At once, her sword glowed a brilliant and blinding red, emitting intense heat that caked Kuki with sweat in an instant. The Hollow was forced to shield its eyes from the light as it shimmered into yellow flames. Grunting from the pain, Kuki whipped her sword behind her, both to ready herself for the final attack and to cast the flames aside. The simple movement dispelled the flames at once, revealing the transformed Amaterasu. The Tsuba was rimmed with wavy golden strips of metal like the flares of the Sun. The menuki lining her sword handle resembled monkeys in play. Not Rainbow Monkeys. Real monkeys. The kashira at the end was sharpened on one end with a hole through it. Through this hole was a red string with a talisman on it. The sword handle was blood red while the guard, menuki and kashira were golden. The blade itself was bone white.
Without the flames, the Hollow was free to look up at Kuki once more and thus free to attack, opening its mouth and preparing another shot.
"Sorasurasshu!" Kuki screamed as she swung her sword downward. At once, the Ha-mon of the blade ignited with an orange glow. This glow traveled up to the hasaki as it darkened into red orange and finally turned fully red as it reached the end of the sword. Kuki screamed again as she unleashed the crimson flames from the tip of her sword in a forceful swing. The flames descended upon the Hollow in a great sheet. They consumed the Hollow's unleashed energy like an amoeba devouring a bacterium. Then they reached the Hollow, engulfing him in a blood-red inferno. The Hollow unleashed one final agonized roar as the flames burned through his skin and flesh like paper and charred the remaining skeleton until it resembled ignited charcoal. The skeleton remained on its feet for a few moments more, burning like a pagan effigy, then, with only the aid of a lone gust of wind, the flames perished and the skeleton crumbled, falling back to the earth as fine ashes.
The boy, who had witnessed the entire fight from behind his tombstone, stared in awe at the falling ashes. "Amazing...you cooked him like a piece of bacon." He heard a thud a few feet before him and turned to face his savoir. "But wait! If you could have done that the entire time, why didn't you-"
"Eeeek!" Kuki screamed as she rapidly patted the smaller flames eating away at her sleeves and hair. "Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!" She interspliced her words with frantic blowing toward the flames as well.
"Oh...I see..." The boy muttered.
"Oh, I still can't control this power really well," Kuki complained as she snuffed out the last of the flames. Her robes and hair were now smoking but she was otherwise unharmed. She turned to the boy at once. "Are you alright?"
"I'm...better now that the monster is gone..." He looked down at the ground and rubbed his arm. "T-Thank you."
"You're welcome!" Kuki beamed, falling into her usual cheery self. This change in demeanor lasted only for a moment before she frowned again. "Hey, listen, I'd hate to bring this up but...you...do know you're..."
"Dead?" The boy finished her sentence for her. "Yeah, I know. I've been dead for a few years, I think. I'm not really sure how long I've been here, searching for my parents."
"Your parents?" Kuki asked. "Listen, uh..."
"Ben."
"Ben, your parents aren't here anymore," Kuki explained. "They're in the Soul Society."
Ben gave her a confused look. "The Soup Society?"
Kuki giggled. "No, silly! The Soul Society! It's where people go when they pass on from this world. It's where your parents are and it's where you're supposed to be."
Ben sniffled. "B-But I don't know how to get there." His lips trembled as tears formed in his eyes. Just as he started to cry, however, Kuki gently grabbed his shoulder.
"Don't worry," She said. "I can send you there in a jiffy!"
Ben wiped the tears from his eyes. "Really?"
"Yep!" Kuki replied. "That's my job as a Sub-As a member of the Kids Next Door after all! To help any kid in need, living or dead." Kuki sheathed her sword and turned it around. "All I need to do is tap your forehead with the end of the sword and you'll be off to Soul Society!"
"R-Really?" Ben asked. "A-And my parents will be there?"
"Yep!" Kuki nodded.
"W-What's it like over there?" Ben asked, his emotions changing from grieving to excitement at once. "Are there water slides? What about nachos? Please oh please at least tell me there's no more homework!"
"Umm..." Kuki frowned, unsure of how to respond to Ben's inquiry. It wasn't that she was privy to the reality of Soul Society. In fact, all she had really seen of that realm was the room those adults had brought her too, where they forced her into this dangerous and somewhat thankless line of work. Even now, she could still remember the crushing sensation she felt within their shadows, as if their judgmental glares alone were placing the weight of an entire mountain on her back. In truth, Kuki didn't have the slightest idea what the Soul Society, what the afterlife as a whole was like. But if those mean ol adults were anything to go by, it probably wasn't much fun.
But Ben didn't have to know that just yet.
"It's...It's wonderful!" She beamed falsely. "There's no bedtimes, all the birthday cake you can eat and you'll never, ever have to grow up!"
"Wow! Really!" Ben jumped up and down. "Can you take me there now!?"
"Sure, just hold still." Kuki waited until the energetic little ghost boy came to a stop and pressed the butt of her sword into his forehead. At once, the ground beneath Ben glowed with the same soft blue sheen as the moon and with a peaceful smile, the boy's soul began to sink.
"I'm...gonna see them...I'm finally gonna see Mom and Dad again!" Ben opened his eyes. "Thank you..."
"Kuki," She responded. "And you're welcome, Ben! Rest well!" She kept her smile up for as long as it took for Ben to transform into a small butterfly, (her favorite part of freeing a soul if she had to pick one) and fly off toward the next world. Then she frowned, desperately wishing that at the very least, those mean ol adults would help Ben find his family when he got there. "Rest well."
Kuki took a moment to look up at the sky before departing the cemetery, the cool air stinging her wounds. She always felt the urge to do this every time she completed one of her secret missions for Soul Society and she still had no idea why. It was a strange feeling, one she couldn't quite put into words, like a specific sadness regarding the reality she now knew that so many people, including all the rest of the KND, did not. How would they even react to such existential knowledge? She knew one thing for sure, Numbah One wouldn't take it sitting down. He break down those giant doors, guns blazing, ready to to take on each and every single one of those so-called captains.
She wanted to convince herself he would win somehow but that was a pretty tall order when you were already convinced even one of those monstrous adults could take out the entire KND.
She felt a single tear leak from her right eye and wiped it away.
It wouldn't be this way forever. Someway, somehow, she would find a way out of this bind, this personal prison on the borders of two worlds never meant to touch. If anything, she needed to keep fighting as she did now so that she could find out more about this side of the world that now bound her like chains. So she could rise above the servitude of the so-called Gotei 13 and help the children on the other side the way they really, truly needed to be helped. For just the briefest of moments, Kuki entertained the idea of a KND sector for the Soul Society and the thought helped her to smile.
But for now, helping her friends out would have to suffice.
She wasted no time getting back to her own body and sinking in. It took a few moments for her to awaken and as she got up, her legs and stomach cried out in surging aches that threatened to knock her off her feet. She leaned against the tree, wincing in pain and considering perhaps just staying back until the mission was over.
A stray blast of hot sauce breaking out one of the windows of the old house, followed by the evil laughter of a spank-happy vampire and the battle cries of her friends convinced Kuki otherwise.
With a sigh and a smile, she crossed the street and darted into the old house, a girl with her soul chained to one world and her heart devoted to another.
She was Kuki Sanban, Numbah Three of the Kids Next Door and Substitute Shinigami.