Switched

"Did you watch the new episode of Bleach last night?"

There it is again. That word. Bleach. Why half of the high school population likes to talk about a giant bottle of whitening liquid is completely beyond me. Bleach, Bleach, Bleach. It's everywhere. From the students, to the internet, to the point where even the teachers talk about it! Not to mention the occasional scrawl of 'IchiRuki' on the desks.

The school bell rang and immediately, everyone rose from their seats and noisily filed out of the room. Closing my textbook, I shoved it in my pack, next to the other hundreds of books in there. I got up and exited out the door. Finally, this day was over.

While walking down the stairs, I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder, followed by a heavy weight on my shoulders.

"Kira, get off me!" The weight disappeared and I turned around to greet my two close friends, Yumi and Akira. Interesting fact number one, they are both in love with Bleach, no surprise there. And so, the walk from the stairs to the doors were filled with conversations between the two of them about last night's episode and me quietly listening. Once we finally left the school grounds, we split and went our own ways. It's Spring, my favorite season. The cherry blossoms bloomed and the petals fell down like rain. In a happy mood, I swung my bag back and forth, hopping all the way home.

I entered my apartment and flopped down on the bed, turning on my laptop. I lived alone, just because I wanted to. Don't worry, I don't have a tragic past. Not even close. My parents are happily married and my brother and I were happily born and raised, end of story. They visit often, so I'm almost never lonely. Life is good.

The thing that first caught my attention when I opened my email was the amount of messages from my friends demanding that I watch Bleach. This was all part of a daily routine, I go home, open email, get spammed with five hundred messages telling me to watch Bleach. They believe that one day I will just give in. That will most likely happen, just not today. I admit, I have watched one or two episodes (More like twenty five...) but I'm just too busy. I heard my front door unlock.

"Kirina-chan!"

"Hey, Mom."

"Where are you?"

"In my room." I answered. I heard footsteps and my door flung open.

"Nee-chan!" My brother excitedly embraced me.

"Hi Arashi, how was your day?"

"It was great! Mom let me watch Bleach yesterday!" Even my own little brother was obsessed with this anime.

" Good for you." I simply answered. My mom went to the kitchen to prepare dinner while Arashi played with my pet dog, Hikari. I watched my mom cook in the living room. This was one of the things I would always do as a kid. Just sit there and watch. Her movements were swift and she moved in such a carefree and happy way, it was almost relaxing to watch. She always had her hair pulled up in a messy bun, all these years. Seeing it made me glad that I had inherited her light brown hair. Her eyes, I did not have. Instead, I shared my dad's eye color, purple. As for overall appearance, I'm not pretty. Just average. I have been packing on a few pounds though. Not enough to be considered fat, but still...blame the Pocky, not me!

Dinner was ready and served. Small talk was made, usually about school or what I'm doing for the weekends. My mother and brother left after we ate. I cleaned up the dishes, and did a bit of homework before drifting to sleep on my desk.

"Kirina-chan! Wakey-wakey!" I groaned as the sunlight poured through an open window.

"Mom?" I thought she left last night...

"Do I look like your mother to ya?" Why the hell does my mom sound like a freakin dude? Groggily, I cracked one eyelid open. I think I could've died at the scene before me. Standing right there, creepy smile, slit eyes and all, was Ichimaru Gin. The Ichimaru Gin from the anime Bleach.

"Oh my God! Pedophile! There's a pedophile in my room! Somebody call 9-1-1!" Then, I realized that I lived alone. "No! I'm doomed!" That's when I noticed that this wasn't even my room.

"What's wrong with ya today, Kirina-chan?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you! I don't even know you!" His face shown with confusion.

"Of course ya know me! I met ya since you were wee little!" Let me get this straight, here I am, in a Shinigami's room with the third squad captain in front of me. Right.

"Oh I know! You're just nervous 'bout today's fight aren'tcha?"

"Wh-what fight?"

"Against da 11th squad's third seat! Ya forgot already?"

"No, of course not!" I laughed uneasily. Best go with the act here...

"Good thing you're jus' using practice swords today." I breathed a sigh of relief. Let's just hope this all works out.

We walked to the squad's barracks while I studied my surroundings with a million thoughts in my mind. Is this all just a dream? Is it possible that another Kirina exists in an alternate universe? Is there even such thing as a Bleach universe? I went with the 'this is all a dream' theory. To test that out, I punched my face.

"OW!" This is not good. This is not a dream AND I think I broke my nose.

"Kirina-chan, why did ya punch yerself?"

"I, uh..."

"Ya must be real nervous." I nodded. Quickly, he led me back the other way toward's the fourth squad.

After my nose was fixed, I was immediately shunpo'ed to the 11th squad. Apparently, their captain isn't a very patient creature and neither is the third seat.

"Finally you're here, woman." I was greeted by a baldy with red markings at the corner of his eyes.

"Hi, Rin-Rin!" Next to him stood a short pink-haired girl.

"Third seat Mizuhana Kirina, please take a sword and get ready." I just learned something about this 'Shinigami' that I'm supposed to be. She's a third seat. That means she's pretty strong, right? As for me? I don't know anything regarding sword fights. Is it against the rules to blindly swing at you opponent? Chopping them into logs, sounds pretty effective to me.

"Good luck, Kirina-chan!" Gin waved and walked over to the sit with the dozens of spectators. I gulped and beads of sweat formed on my forehead. I stood across the bald man with the sword in front of 'referee' told us to start. The first thing my opponent did was charge straight at me with his sword in the air. I shut my eyes and held my sword in front to block his swing. It worked, but the force sent me back a few feet. This went on for awhile. I was on defense while he was offense.

"Dammit! This is no fun!" He mumbled a few more swear words before temporarily pausing the fight. He threw the sword down and picked up his zanpakuto.

"Let's fight for real now!" My heart pounded as I shakily crossed the room to retrieve my zanpakuto. For God's sake, I don't even know it's name!

The new round started with him once again charging at me. This time, I blocked. The colliding screech of metal hurt my ears. I didn't even have time to blink before Baldy attacked once more, this time aiming for my shoulder. The action was so sudden, I feared I won't have time to block! What should I do?

Move your sword! Now! Huh? What was that? My arm slumped as I was lost in thought. I swear I heard a voice in my head... The pain in my shoulder brought me back to reality. My left shoulder was injured. I stared at the injury.

What do you think you're doing? Attack!

There it was again. Much more clearly this time. I figured that I might as well listen to the voice, even if that doesn't sound like a very intelligent thing to do. I raised my sword high and prepared to strike. The blade was stopped halfway by his own.

Aim for his upper arm!

I did. He didn't let that move go pass either.

Quickly, other arm!

The move caught him off guard, finally I had dealt some damage. I followed this voices instructions throughout the spar.

Block!

Aim up!

Left arm!

Careful! Behind you!

After a bit, we were pretty much even.

"Time to get serious now!" He declared. "Grow, Houzukimaru!" His zanpakuto turned into a long spear. The voice swore a bit.

What are you doing? Release!

I don't know the zanpakuto's name!

Think! Come on! Think!

A name flashed in my mind.

"Drench, Aranami."

Hi! This is just a random idea that I had one day. I guess I kind of like it...not too sure yetXD More info on Kirina can be found in my profile. Review and tell me if you like this or if there's any mistakes in here! Thank you for reading and bye:D