Witch Hunters

A sound soul…resides within a sound mind, and a sound body.


Strained, dull light came off the grinning moon this night, casting long menacing shadows across the ground. It just past the stroke of midnight, and nearly everyone had been locked away in their homes for hours. No one dared to walk the streets with a killer on the loose, but some still dared to play with fate. Singing a sweet hum, a young woman walked down the road alone. Her light blue dress swayed with each step, and her cute blue hat kept her from seeing behind her. A low chuckle sounded behind her, causing the young woman to turn around to see what was making the noise. When she found nothing behind her, she began looking about frantically. After a minute of searching, and nothing found, she let a small sigh of relief, and turned back to her path.

“Going somewhere?” a deep, growly voice called out.

She whirled around to face what called out to her. Standing behind her was an overly tall man with claw like hands and red glowing eyes. Any person would have screamed, or run in fear of the creature before them, but she didn’t. In fact, a small smirk appeared on her face, and a mischievous gleam shined in her violet eyes.

As a new set of footsteps sounded, a voice called out, “I wouldn’t threaten my partner if I were you.”

Before the creature even had a chance to look at the new comer, it had a scythe blade resting against its throat. With one swift pull, the blade cut the kishin’s head off. It then evaporated down to a simple kishin egg, which was happily picked up by its defeater.

“How many does that make now Ichigo?” the woman asked as she tossed her hat off.

Returning to his human form, Ichigo glanced back at his partner, and replied, “Ninety nine, Rukia.”

He then opened his mouth, and swallowed the soul whole. With the victory of their ninety ninth soul claimed the duo had but one task at hand; claim the soul of a witch. Hand in hand, the two began heading back to their home, which wasn’t too far off. Along their journey back, they hit one bump in the road. Another kishin soul was wondering about, hunting for souls to devour. They both let out a small huff of annoyance, seeing how this was now unneeded. They had their ninety nine souls! They didn’t need a hundredth! But, they both knew that if they left the thing to roam about that nothing good would come of it. Flicking her short, black hair out of her face, Rukia held her hand out to her partner. A bit of excitement gleamed in Ichigo’s warm brown eyes, as they always did before a fight. He took her hand, and in what felt like a mere second, turned into a magnificent pure black scythe with a small sun etched into the blade. Rukia gripped the lovely scythe, and twirled it above her head for a second. Before the kishin even had a chance to turn and face her, she had swung the scythe and sliced it perfectly in half. Like the previous, it evaporated into a kishin egg, which floated for a second in the air. Rukia leaned her scythe partner against the nearest wall, and pulled a jar out of her bag. Now back in his human form, Ichigo swiped up the kishin egg, and placed it in the jar.

“What do we do with it?” he asked as he eyed it.

“Sell it, gift it, donate it to science?” she suggested. She stared at the red orb for a moment, and then stuck her tongue out. “How do you people eat these things?”

“’You people’?! We weapons are a proud folk! Do not speak to us as if we are beneath you mere humans!” Ichigo snapped as he crossed his arms. If someone had been outside to see him, they would have probably claimed him to be having a fit.

Rukia glared up at her orange haired companion, and simply said, “Turn into a scythe and tell me how productive you are without me.”

He opened his mouth to respond to her, and then realized his defeat. By the time he had realized it, however, he noticed that he was now standing alone in the middle of the road. Ichigo yelled out his partner’s name, and then chased after the petite woman. The idea of being utterly useless without a meister was always a large bother to weapons, but it was never a bother to Ichigo. To most weapons, they always held the worry that one day they might not have their partner there to fight with, but never once did such a worry occur to him. As far as he was concerned, he and Rukia would never be apart. In the eight years they knew each other, they had only spent one day apart. Returning back to their home, the duo had a bit of shock hit them. Standing outside their door was two old friends, who both appeared annoyed tired, and most of all, hungry. One, a tall red haired man, Renji, was a friend of Rukia’s when she was young. The other, an auburn haired woman, Orihime, was a friend of Ichigo’s family, who somehow just followed him along of the years. The duo had forgotten that they had invited their friends over, and now felt horrible.

Thinking quick, Rukia handed Renji the jar and fibbed, “We went out to get you a gift!”

“A... kishin egg...” he mumbled as he took the jar from her. “This your idea of an appetizer?”

Like Ichigo, Renji is a weapon. When the two were kids, he and Rukia always thought that they would make a perfect meister and weapon pair, until they actually tried to work together. Renji’s weapon form is a gun, which Rukia never managed to use well.

“I brought some snacks to go with the food... but I ate it all on the way here,” Orihime sheepishly admitted.  

Like Rukia, Orihime is a normal human. In every meet the two women have had, she always says how she’d love to be a meister like Rukia, but has never put any effort toward it. The one thing that was always noted was that her comment about hoping to be a meister only came up if Ichigo was in ear shot. With a pathetic excuse given, the duo apologized to their friends, and let them into their home. Rukia quickly made a batch of curry, which somehow made the hungry guests lose their appetite. She never could understand why it was that they rejected her cooking so much. Ichigo loved it more than life itself! What was there problem? It wasn’t as if she made it odd or put in weird items; it was made like any other curry, but just with ten habanero chilies added. After twenty minutes or so of playing hosts, the duo waved good bye to their tired, and still hungry, friends. They knew that the visit wouldn’t take long, since they only invited them over to prove they actually had a home. Over the years, Ichigo and Rukia found themselves living in either run down apartments, or cheap motel rooms. They worked as bounty hunters, and never allowed themselves to spend every penny in one spot, especially since they never stayed in one spot. With their last job paying them more than expected, they finally decided to stay put. Their work would soon be completed, and their jobs as kishin bounty hunters would be over.

Laying out an over sized map, Rukia sat across from her partner, and pulled out her pen. “According to my last findings, we’re close to her new home,” she said as she used her pen to point at their current location.

“Why do you always resort to maps and weird crap?” Ichigo spat as he shoved the map off his soda.

“Because my method works if you haven’t noticed. I’ve managed to track her across six different countries and am finding a pattern in her-” “Yeah yeah the pattern. What is it? She moves every six months or something stupid like that?” he said, cutting off her explanation.

Rukia’s eye began to twitch at that last comment. Leaning across the table, she asked, “Oh? So do you have some type of secret ability to just locate a witch? Or something else that works better than this?”

With a smirk, he proudly replied, “I’ve got a friend in Shibusen that can give me all the info I want!”

“Shibusen? Who?” she asked, the annoyance in her eyes changing into curiosity.      

Ichigo pulled his phone from his pocket, and merely said, “You’ll see.” He dialed a number, and then waited for the person on the other line to pick up. When he finally heard them answer, he said, “Hey, Hanataro, do you think I could bother you for a favor?”

“Kurosaki? I haven’t heard from you in a while! Sure, what can I do for you?” Hanataro asked.

“Does Shibusen have any information on Riruka the witch?” he asked.

A long pause sat in the air for a moment, followed by Hanataro’s reply of, “I’m sorry, but if we did know, I don’t think I’d be allowed to know. Sorry Kurosaki!”

Ichigo’s face fell at the response. He thanked his friend, and then somberly hung up the phone. Rukia snickered at his defeat, and then tapped her pen on her map. “Now, what was this about my method being stupid?”

The only reply she received was a long, depressed sigh. Without wasting any more time bickering, the two began their work. With their ninety ninth soul claimed, the only logical thing to do now was claim a witch’s soul, but that was always easier said than done. Many weapons and meisters lost their lives attempting to claim a witch’s soul. For the ones that actually did it, they were forever remembered for it. Anyone who managed to claim ninety nine regular kishin souls and one witch soul were granted amazing powers, and given the title “Death Scythe”. It’s that fact that drives many of the pairs to try for that goal, but for this weapon and meister, they were driven by something different.  For them, they didn’t care one bit about the power or being famous for it. What they wanted was to take the life of the witch that destroyed their lives. The wicked witch Riruka took the life of Ichigo’s mother, and Rukia’s elder sister. It’s that fact that has bound the two together for so many years, and is what has made them work so hard to obtain their many kishin souls. After three hours and many coffee cups later, the two managed to get a rough idea of where to find their witch. Their new home wasn’t far from one of the many homes the witch had, and going off the pattern Rukia had seen, she should be in the nearby home. It wasn’t an exact address, but it was enough to satisfy them.

Giving a yawn, Rukia slumped over on her table, and mumbled, “I’m going to sleep here.”

“You can’t sleep on the table,” Ichigo replied as he set down his empty cup. That one made the fourth cup of coffee that night.

When he heard no reply from the tired girl, he let out a sigh, and picked her up. Instead of fighting him like she typically did, she curled up in his arms and began to fall asleep. He carried her into their bedroom, set her on the soft bed. Rukia snuggled against one of the pillows for a minute, until her human body pillow lay down beside her. Though their relationship started as a simple partnership in achieving the same goal, it grew quickly into something more as they grew older. A romantic relationship between a meister and weapon pair wasn’t uncommon since it took them already needing to have a connection to be partners. The stronger the connection a pair had, the better they worked together, and the higher chance they had of having this type of outcome. Ichigo and Rukia had been together as a couple for over three years, and had their four year anniversary coming up in the next couple of months.

Holding his meister close, he gave her forehead a light kiss, and quietly whispered, “If we can defeat her, I’ll give you the best gift you can imagine.”


Fire blazed on the roof top, smoldering down through to the walls and sending small sparks off the electrical wires. Smoke filled the rooms and clouded her vision. Despite not being able to see, she fought to find the door to escape the burning house. She stumbled and tripped countless times, but never once stopped fighting. With each step she took, she cried out for her sibling, hoping to hear a response. Finally she broke free from the smoke, and collapsed out onto the road.

“Oopsie, did I miss one?” a woman’s voice called out, a humorous tone to it.

Looking around frantically, she spotted the owner of the voice. She froze in place, unable to move or even blink as the cruel witch began to approach her. The witch reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small plush toy. Tossing it into the air, she called out a simple chant, and then sent the little toy flying toward the girl. She watched as the toy sailed through the air, and then covered her face. When she felt nothing hit her, she moved her hands and looked to see where the plush item had gone.

With the toy in her hands, she calmly said, “I’m not going to let that witch hurt you sister.”

“No! Hisana!” Rukia cried.

Sitting up, Rukia panted for a minute, and looked around the room. Four, solid walls stood all around, none of them charred or smoke stained. Furniture and clothing in boxes sat on the floor, none of them flaming or covered in ash. Turning to look behind her, she saw the usual sight of Ichigo sleep on their bed. Rukia fell back on her pillow, and felt a wave of relief wash over her. It was just another dream. For years these nightmares plagued her, growing worse with each passing month. She tried once not to sleep, hoping that it would cure the problem, but when she did finally sleep after forty plus hours, the dreams were only more vivid and terrifying. The only hope she had to rid herself of them was taking down Riruka. If the person who created those memories was gone, then hopefully the dreams would go with her. As night turned to morning, and morning turned to afternoon, the two finally awakened. Both still appeared tired, and did their best to go about the day.

Ichigo sat back on their couch, and let out a hiss as his shoulder began to ache. “You’re really damn strong,” he grumbled.

“Me?” Rukia called out, looking up from the fridge drawer.

“Anyone else punch me in the middle of the night?” he asked as he stuck his tongue out.

With a look of annoyance in her violet eyes, she argued, “I did not punch you! You probably hit yourself while having some creepy dream.”

“Hey! My dreams about being a wizard are not creepy!” he snapped. Ichigo then pulled his white shirt off, and turned his back to her. “And how the hell would I manage to hit the back of my shoulder?!”

A large red mark was printed on his shoulder. Setting down her cup of soybean milk, Rukia walked up to her whining scythe, and looked at the mark on his shoulder. She made a fist, and hovered it right over the mark, and then stuck her tongue out. Her fist was the exact size of his bruise, but rather than admit to injuring the weapon, she decided to go another route.

With a light shrug, Rukia simply said, “You must have fallen out the bed.” She then returned back to her cup. While sipping it, she noticed the glare he was sending her. “Hey, remember, I’m the one who has to swing your heavy self around. As long as you’re not broken in half, you’ll work perfectly fine!”

When their day had finally ended, and the slumbering sun was soon to set, the two stood, side by side, ready. They stared at the path way that would lead them to Riruka, and then began down it. Neither was quite sure if they would survive the night, or if tonight would be the greatest memory of their life, but no matter what happened, they were at least together in it. Now looking up at the doll house, Ichigo and Rukia felt their old memories come flooding back to them. The destruction, the pain, the death; every bit of it came forward to reply itself in their minds, including the ones they had blocked out.

Extending his hand to his partner, Ichigo asked, “Ready?”


“Oh good you finally showed up!” they called out as the tired, and frazzled, Death Scythe appeared.

“Where is she?! Where is my poor Mak- wait... that was just a ploy to get be here quickly, wasn’t it?!” Spirit yelled out. While he knew better than to snap at Lord Death, when his little daughter got involved in matters, there was no restraining him.

“Yes it was! But, I do have some business that involves Maka and Soul,” Lord Death replied.

Spirit narrowed his light eyes at the cloaked person, and said, “Typically you just send out whose needed... this is serious isn’t it?”

“This mission is a bit more dangerous than the kind they’re use to, so I just wanted to inform you of the possible outcomes,” he explained.

Why not send your own son then?! While Death the Kid and the Thompson sisters were more skilled and stronger than most of the students at Shibusen, somehow it seemed as though Soul and Maka were used for a large number of missions. The two were quite a strong team, which made sense as to why they were always being sent out, but what got Spirit was that if the mission was so dangerous, why not send a teacher to deal with it? Why his daughter and her weapon? Though he gave an ok to it, something about it still got to him, even after hearing that the duo was already leaving for their destination.

With it now bothering him too much, Spirit asked, “What exactly is this mission they’re going on?”

“Ah, I had a feeling you would ask that,” Lord Death replied. He moved aside, and let the death scythe get a full few at the mirror in the room. Reflected in the oval was a young female meister wielding a rather large black scythe. The dark haired woman fought brilliantly with her partner, and deflected every attack the witch threw at them. “That weapon and meister pair used to be students here. They were only twelve and ten when they first got here, and only stayed for two years.”

“What’s so special about them?” he asked, a bit confused. “We’ve had plenty of drop outs!”

“You don’t remember them, and I didn’t expect you to. Maka was still little then, so you weren’t here when those two were. Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo Kurosaki are their names, and out of every student that’s come to Shibusen, they were the best. No weapon and meister were closer than them, or could fight as good. For being so small, Rukia was able to wield Ichigo with no problem at all; she never even stumbled. I believe that if they had remained here that Ichigo would have become the most powerful Death Scythe,” Lord Death explained to him.

Spirit looked toward the cloaked person, and then looked back at the battling woman. He watched her sharp movements and quick reflexes, but was still shocked at the idea of her and her partner being the very best. The meister that always received so much praise was his ex wife; he had always known her to be the best meister of Shibusen. Is he wanting to use Soul and Maka to bring those two back here?


“Doll, doll house pop!” Riruka cheerfully chanted as she threw another attack at the pair.

Using Ichigo like a bat, Rukia knocked the flying plush toy away from herself. As the toy flew through the air, it exploded, sending fluff showering down onto them. She flicked the materials away, and charged toward the witch. Rukia flipped her scythe upside down, and pushed the top of the blade into the ground. Using it like a pole vault, she tossed herself up into the air above Riruka. She took the heavy scythe skyward, and swung it at the witch. A devilish smirk appeared on Riruka’s face in the moment. She bent backward, and let the scythe fly right about her face. She then snapped her fingers, and let out a laugh as two of the large statues on her walk way became animated. They lost their rock like form, and took the appearance of stuffed animals. Landing on her feet, Rukia let out a hiss at the sight of the creatures. When one began to move toward her, she turned her back to it and ran at full speed toward a nearby tree. As if her feet had adhesive on the bottoms, she ran up the side of the tree, and then pushed off it at full force. Now eye level with the monster stuffed panda, Rukia swung Ichigo at it and sliced its head clean off. Unlike the last time, she landed with a hard thud.

“You’re much stronger than the first time we all met, but it’s still not enough!” Riruka laughed as raised her hand into the air. “Doll, doll, doll house boom!”

“We’re lost,” Soul hissed as he glanced around at the area. “There’s nothing but stupid trees!”

“We’re not lost! The witch keeps her house far away from crowded areas... but I do think we should have seen a walk way by now,” Maka replied, now second guessing her sense of direction.

As her weapon partner opened his mouth to make a comment, a large explosion nearby startled them. They both turned toward the direction of the sound, and watched as many of the trees caught fire and smoke billowed up into the night sky. Without another word, the two ran toward the burning area. Now just a few feet away from the roaring flames, the duo saw what caused the large explosion. With her body bent forward, and the back of her blue dress tattered and torn, Rukia gripped her scythe. Her violet eyes burned with old rage and strong desire to destroy the witch. She slowly stood straight again, but only thanks to her partner who she used to hold herself up. A few bits of the material from her dress flew away in the breeze, revealing a small white moon tattooed onto her shoulder.

“Ichigo?” she called out.

“Yeah?” he responded.

“Let’s kill this damned witch,” Rukia said.

At that, she swung her scythe partner above her head and began to twirl him around.  Until the scythe almost appeared like a propeller, the two called out in unison, “Soul resonance!”

A thick gust of wind swirled around the two, and once it had passed it revealed Ichigo’s second scythe form. A second blade formed on the opposite side of the other, though unlike the original, it was snow white and pointed upward. In the middle of the white blade was a crescent moon etched in. While most scythes appeared a bit blurred and transparent in this form, Ichigo still appeared solid. Taking a stance, Rukia held her scythe tightly and proudly.

Swinging it downward, she called out, “Witch hunter!”

A sharp, straight line of pure energy shot from the dual blades, its form similar to the shape of scythe blades. Riruka quickly jumped out of the line of fire, but her effort was in vain. The attack slammed into the front of her house, and in an instant, caught fire. The fire spread around her, encircling and trapping her. Before Riruka even had time to react, the fiery flames turned to sharp jagged ice that clung to her body. It held her in place, not even letting her twitch her fingers. She tried to struggle and squirm in the ice, but quickly realized that every effort was pointless. Finally accepting that mere movement would not free her, she turned her eyes back to her opponents, and a smirk returned to her wicked face. With her scythe returned to its original form, Rukia staggered lightly forward. Her wounds from earlier had gotten worse, and she was now faint from the amount of blood lost. Unable to stand any longer, she began to fall forward, but was quickly caught by her partner. Ichigo held his meister tight in his arms, and quietly tried to get her to regain consciousness. He gently shook her, and called her name many times.

“Come on Rukia, she’s almost done for. Wake up,” Ichigo called to her as he continued to rub her arm.

Riruka’s cackle pulled his attention away from Rukia. “Oh, and just when I thought you two might have gained some strength since our last meeting! Too bad she passed out, but what can you do about it?”

“Dammit Rukia wake up!” he yelled as he stared down at his meister. Not even so much as a whimper came from her.

“This game is getting boring, so I’ll finish it up! Doll, doll, doll house bo-” The sound of metal clashing against ice cut off her chant.

Looking up from his unconscious partner, Ichigo let out a hiss of anger. Another meister and weapon pair had come and slain the witch. The meister turned back to face him, her young appearance making it obvious that she belonged to Shibusen. A purple kishin soul floated lightly above the crushed ice, and though it wasn’t, it felt as though the soul was taunting Ichigo for not claiming it. The meister’s scythe partner turned to his human form, and scooped up the soul. He stared for a moment at the soul, and then licked his lips.

“Hey! Get your own witch soul!” Ichigo snapped at the two.

The pair turned to face him, and then headed toward him. To his great surprise, the weapon handed the soul to him without any issue. “It’s not cool to take someone else’s prize,” he said with his hand extended to him.

“To be honest, we only have managed to take forty kishin souls, so we don’t need the witch’s soul just yet!” the meister replied with a small smile on her face.

Ichigo took the soul from the weapon, and let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, both of you.” He got to his feet, his meister still wrapped tightly in his arms. As Ichigo began to leave, he turned back toward the duo and asked, “Who are you two anyways?”

“Just Shibusen students!” the meister replied. “Our names are Maka Albarn and Soul Evans.”

He smiled lightly, and said, “I’m Ichigo Kurosaki, and she’s Rukia.”

“No last name on her?” Soul asked with a tad bit of confusion.

A smirk appeared on Ichigo’s face at that comment. “That’s for her to decide when she comes to.”


Bright, warm sun light poured into the small hospital room. Squinting her eyes tightly, she turned away from the light, only to feel a sharp pain in her side. Slowly prying her tired eyes open, Rukia glanced around at her surroundings, and felt a wave of panic wash over her. It wasn’t until she remembered the battle with Riruka that the panic died away, and pain in her side returned. Rukia glanced down at the bandages, and stuck her tongue out.

“About time you woke up!” Ichigo called out as he entered the room, his hands full with bags of donuts.

“How long was I out for?” she asked with a small yawn.

He set down the bags of donuts, and fell back in the chair beside her. “Hmm, it’s been about two days.”

She huffed at the sound of that. Asleep for two days! How was that even possible? Her mind then reminded her of the large explosion that gave her those wounds, and also reminded her that she didn’t ever see Riruka go down. Quickly she turned to her partner and asked, “Who won the battle? Where’s Riruka?”

“Riruka is gone,” Ichigo said simply. He picked up one of the glazed donuts, and took a large bite out of it. “Gone right to my stomach.”

Rukia couldn’t help but smile at that comment. They won, after all these years of pain and struggle, they defeated her! And with this win, her partner was now a Death Scythe. While in truth they weren’t the ones who defeated Riruka, Ichigo thought it was better to not tell her. Maka and Soul merely finished what they had worked on for many years. As she reached out to grab one of the donuts, a sparkly gleam caught Rukia’s eye. Holding her left hand up in the light, she gazed curiously at the diamond ring on her finger.

“I... Ichigo?” Rukia stammered as her eyes turned toward him.

“We finished the chapter of witch hunting, so why not start a new chapter of our lives?” Ichigo asked.

She took another look at the shimmering ring, and then smiled lightly. “That sounds good to me, Mr. Death Scythe.”