Umm...woo-hoo? My first chapter's up. ...Hoo-rah? *Cough* Well, I feel Bleach deserves my own miscellaneous made-up character. Soo...ta-dah? Anyway.
"Maketakunai shi, nakitakunai shi, waratte-tai kara, movin' movin', itsumo douri utata negorori, manga bakari parapara mekuri, zayuu no mei funny and easy, kiraku ni ikitai…"
"Cut that out, will ya?"
"Masa." Reed grinned. He and Masato had been together since they arrived in the West Rukongai district. It'd been seven years so far, and Masato was still the same clumsy little kid. "I swear," Reed laughed, "you haven't grown an inch in all these years."
Masato pouted. "I have…about this much." He held his fingers about a centimeter apart.
Locking his arm around his neck, Reed pulled them both over into a pit of mud. "Oh gross!" Masato exclaimed, knocking Reed back off his feet. "Seriously why do you like that song so much?" he asked, pinning Reed down.
"Hey, you know the lyrics:" Reed shoved Masato back. "Don't wanna lose, don't wanna cry, 'cause I wanna keep laughing," he paused to regain his footing. "movin' movin', sleeping spread out as always, more and more, just reading manga, flippin' pages, the inscription by my side; funny and easy," and as Masato shoved him over again, "wanna live life easy!"
"Oh come on!" Masato whined. "What the hell's that supposed to mean anyway?!"
Reed shrugged. "Dunno, but I think somehow it applies to me. Y'know," he grabbed Masato's ear and yanked it. "like some sort of destiny thing."
"Ow!" Masato shrieked. "Really, Riido…destiny? Who believes in that crap?"
"Apparently," Reed stood and helped his friend up. "I do."
"Apparently…"
HITOTSU : TEMAENOHOU*
"He's an exceptional character."
"And his friend, Vado Masato?"
"Vado is currently in the west rukongai district, along with Hasami-san. I wouldn't bother with him, though; he's useless to us."
"So then, Hasami-san* it is? Please allow me two days to bring him back safely."
"Good."
"It's like this," Masato made a sphere with his hands. "and it shoots you out of a huge cannon! And then BAM you're in!"
"Seriously?!" Reed nearly jumped out of his seat. "Man! Imagine how cool it would be to be in the Seireitei! And it'd be even cooler to be a soul reaper!" Reed's astonishment was interrupted, however, with a smack across the face from his older brother, Aojiroi.
"Absolutely not! The Seireitei is full of those damned things. They've hardly done anything at all for our benefit."
"When will you stop hating them because you couldn't be one of them?" Reed said nonchalantly, getting a snort and another smack across the face from Aojiroi.
"Guy needs a chill pill." Masato yawned. "Still, they'd probably arrest us for trespassing. Remember? You gotta be with a soul reaper to get in there to even become a soul reaper."
"So? I'll fight my way through until I beat every one of 'em. And then I won't have to take a test or anything."
"Wouldn't that be risky though? We'd probably die before we could even take two steps in there."
Reed rolled his eyes. "Weren't you the one who suggested we go in there in the first place?"
"I was just explaining it!" Masato defended. "I know this Ganju guy, see, and his sister is the one who runs the thing."
"Hmm…they the Shiba guys?" Reed scratched the back of his ear. He met Ganju once last year, when Masato took him to see the cannon. They hadn't been so caught up in getting inside the seiretei as they had been with how big it was. "Man that was one huge cannon…" Reed thought aloud. "And that girl, Kukaku I think…her boobs were twice as big!"
"Hey, she's mine!" Masato teased. He pounced Reed, throwing him on the ground. They wrestled around on the floor until Aojiroi scolded them and told them to go outside. They brought their lunch outside and ate at the lakefront.
"You think maybe Ao will respect me more if I become a soul reaper and get him in too?"
"Dunno man." Masato stared at the green water. "Anything's possible I guess, but your brother's pretty uptight about things. I'd say you have about a 2% chance of becoming a soul reaper just by sneaking in and killing everyone, and your chances are even lower of getting your brother in as well."
"Pff. Thanks. That made me feel great." Reed grumbled. He set his rice bowl down and fell back in the grass. "Masa?"
"Hm?" he mumbled.
"I wanna fight. I wanna be a soul reaper, and I'll be the strongest one of 'em all. I know I'll have to train a lot, and it'll be years before I'm even in the seiretei, but I wanna do it." He turned his head toward his friend. "You can come with. We'll be unstoppable."
"Seriously?" Masato's eyes brightened a bit. "You'd let me come?"
Reed nodded, and watched Masato jump in the air and let out a whoop before sitting down again and grinning to himself. "Then I guess I'll have to be pretty strong too huh?"
"Hell yeah!" Reed cheered.
"We can train together too. Maybe I'll even beat you one day!"
"Ha-ha! You can hope!" Reed tackled him into the water.
Masato chuckled, and then paused. "Hey Reed? I got this funny feeling."
"You gotta pee." Reed replied nonchalantly. "The lake's all yours, buddy" he said, getting out.
"No, no…" Masato shook his head. "I mean like…like I sense there's something coming. Y'know, like when you know your birthday's in a few days, only this is a…a weird kind of version of that."
"That would be my spiritual pressure."
"M-Masa…" Reed stuttered, staring at the figure looming over the two. She was petite, yet she seemed six feet tall. Her hair was sleek and black, and she had a piercing look in her eyes. "Who are you..?"
"My name is Soi Fon. I am captain of the second division, and commander of the Onmitsukidō, and ninth head of the Fon family. I have been sent to retrieve a Reed Scissormouth."
"Riido…" Masato trembled. "This girl's a soul reaper!"
"I know…" Reed said lowly. "Why do you need to 'retrieve' me?"
"I should not need to explain my reasons," she looked down her nose at him. "but if you must know, it has been a request from Yamamoto; captain of the first division and general of the gotei 13."*
"Why'd he want anything to do with me?" He asked, though he didn't know anything about a Yamamoto person.
Soi Fon sneered. "You ask too many questions! You must come with me now; I've been allowed a limited amount of time to bring you to the seiretei safely."
"…What about Masato? I won't go if he doesn't come." Reed said defiantly, much to Soi Fon's annoyance.
"Riido, it's okay." Masato urged. "You and I were just talking about how much we wanted to go to the Seireitei. This is your chance! Whoever this Yamamoto guy is, he must be pretty high up in the rankings, and if he's requesting you then that means you can become a soul reaper! And then when you're captain, you can come and get me, and we'll fight each other." Masato's eyes were shining. "Okay?"
"You sure..?" Reed asked reluctantly.
Soi Fon urged, "There isn't much time!"
Nodding, Masato grinned. "C'mon man, it'll be so cool. Go for it!"
"Okay…" he sighed. "But!" he said before Soi Fon could take him away. "You train hard while I'm gone. I don't wanna have to kick your butt too hard when I'm a captain. And, uhh…what was it…Lady Fon?"
"What is it?" she sounded ready to take his head off.
"Can I go to the Seireitei by myself? There's this thing I've been dying to try…"
Looking down upon the Soul Society, Reed laughed. the sheild-like orb he was in prevented him from getting injured, as he approached quickly, and landed hard, much to the displeasure of miscellaneous soul reapers in the area. "Soi Fon!" he shouted. "I'm heeeere!"
"Which is exactly why I was wondering whether I should kill you on the spot or handle you humainly…"
"Soi…Hey, I didn't know you could turn into a guy." Reed said stupidly, looking over his shoulder at the much taller soul reaper behind him.
"I'm not Soi Fon." He said calmly. "My name is Shūhei Hisagi, lieutenant of the ninth division. What's a ryoka* like you doing here?"
"Huh? I've got special permission to be here." Reed replied, turning around to face him. "Some Yamamoto guy sent Soi Fon here to "retrieve" me."
"Y-Yamamoto?" His composure shook. "What would he want with a kid like you?"
Reed shrugged. "Dunno. Ask him. Anyway, I think I oughtta be on my way now." He stepped forward a few steps, and was stopped by Shūhei.
"If you're telling the truth, then how come you didn't come with Soi Fon as your escort?" he asked, thinking 'What a stupid idea…'
"Dude!" Reed pulled him down to his level. "You haven't lived until you've come here by means of…" 'Cue corny background music' Reed thought. "the Shiba family cannon, run yearly by Kūkaku Shiba herself!"
"You're a weird little kid, you know that?"
"I get it from my brother." Reed replied. He weaseled away from Shūhei and sprinted towards the meeting point.
"You!" Soi Fon picked him out from far away. "You've wasted too much time; Yamamoto will not be pleased if we make him wait any longer. This way." She directed him sternly through the seireitei to the Central 46.*
"So…is this Yamamoto guy kind of like the head of everything? Of all the captains and divisions, and he oversees everything?"
"He is the general of the Gotei 13. The thirteen court guard companies."
"And what about Onmitsukidō? What's that?"
Soi Fon looked down at him. "Onmitsukidō; Special Forces, Covert Ops. It is a separate branch of the Soul Society's army, tied to the Shihōin family." She looked like she wanted to stop talking, but because Reed looked like he was going to ask again, she added, "I am head of the Punishment Force as well. It is my job to oversee that any punishment that is needed is dealt, whether it be to ex-comrades or serving as scouts in battles against hollows."
"Oh…boy do I know hollows…" Reed mumbled. "My family was killed by a hollow; Grand Fisher. Sometimes I think it was my fault. Except I was the only one who got away…I don't think Grand Fisher was even aiming for my parents."
Soi Fon didn't know where this sudden amount of words was coming from. A hollow wasn't usually something of interest to her, but to a human it could be devastating. She asked, "How did you end up in the Rukongai, then?"
"That…that I still don't know. It was like I just woke up one day here. I met Masa that day, too." Reed smiled at the thought of him and his friend finally being able to fight as soul reapers. "So I guess it's not all bad, though I'd still like to know what happened."
"That seems like an interesting story…but we should probably save that for another occasion."
"Captain Ukitake." Soi Fon greeted him. "I did not know you would be greeting us here."
"Specific orders from Yamamoto." He replied, smiling at both her and Reed. "You must be Hasami-san. It's nice to meet you."
"Um, nice to meet you too." Reed studied him; pale skin, white long hair and a friendly aura about him. Yup. This would be Reed's new friend when he became a soul reaper.
Ukitake took him from there inside. "I am Jūshirō Ukitake, captain of the thirteenth division. You may call me Ukitake, Hasami-san."
"Sure." They walked in silence for a bit. "Hey, Ukitake?"
He answered with a cheery "Hm?", a cough, and a "Pardon me."
"Why are you calling me that? Hasami-san?"
"It's your last name; Scissormouth. It is a very unique name, being that it is not Japanese. The first part, scissor, can be translated into Japanese as 'hasami'."
"Really?" Struck by this news, Reed stopped to contemplate his name. "I hadn't known my name wasn't Japanese…okay then, why the 'san'? I'm not really that important…am I?"
Smiling, Ukitake answered, "That is because you are indeed important, Hasami-san. Not only that, but I believe even you, though lower in status than me, should be treated with respect."
"Oh…thanks, I guess…"
"You're quite welcome." Ukitake answered cheerily, and then coughed rapidly. "You'll have to excuse me." He said before disappearing down another hallway. "Keep walking forward until you reach a pair of large double doors!" his coughs echoed.
"Forward…forward…double doors…double doors…" When Reed reached what seemed like a pair of hundred-foot-tall doors, he was surprised when they opened for him, revealing an estimated fifty men sitting adjacent to each other, all looking his way. At the other end of the large white room, a very old man sat, his beard and eyebrows drooping.
"Hasami-san." The old man stood up. "We've been expecting you." And at the notice of the absence of his escort, he chuckled. "Couldn't handle walking down a hallway, eh, Jūshirō? Come, Hasami. There is much to discuss."
"Uh, can we do that quickly? See, my friend Masa kind of snuck in with me and he's probably being attacked by a bunch of soul reapers right about now so if we could make this quick that would be real great."
Silence. No one spoke, until the old man stood up once more and said, "It seems like we have a restless one here. Well then, we'll get started shall we?" he sat down again, and looked Reed up and down. "You, Reed Scissormouth…are an exceptional boy." Reed was shocked by this, but didn't say anything and listened more intently. "We've heard comments from Ikkanzaka Jidanbō of your life in the sixteenth district in West Rukongai. It seems you've spent only a short amount of time thinking of becoming a soul reaper."
'This is it..!' Reed thought, waiting anxiously for the old man to announce his acceptance into the thirteen court guard companies.
"But before we get to the point, I must give you this bit of information…"
"What is it…?" Reed asked, nearly dying of anticipation.
The old man nodded to himself. "Though we do not know how exactly you ended up in the Rukongai, or anything of you past- as with most souls in the same area as you- we do know that your brother, Aojiroi Scissormouth had taken a test not too long ago to become a soul reaper. As I'm sure you know, that didn't go too well, but for good reason." The air around the room seemed to darken and thicken. "Aojiroi has been accused of murder a staggering 27 times. He was banished to the 80th division in West Rukongai, but has been working his way back up.
"So, what does my brother killing people have to do with me being here?" Reed asked, unaware of his brother's crimes.
"That is where I am going. Aojiroi's test scores were magnificent; he ranked number one of any other soul reapers-in-training that year. But because of his crimes, he could not join the thirteen court guard companies. Now, assuming he is your brother, you should have the same ability as him, and maybe even more. You would be an advantage to the Seireitei. Frankly speaking, we need you, Reed Scissormouth. And I, Shigekuni Genryūsai Yamamoto, am asking you to join the first court guard company, regardless of the test or not. Training will be a requirement. You have 72 hours to come to me with your final decision."
"Y-yeah…" Reed stammered, not believing his luck. He exited and found a captain similar to Ukitake, but with shorter hair.
"Ah, Hasami-san. It's nice to finally meet the child prodigy everyone'd been talking about."
"Yeah I get that a bit…" Reed blushed.
The man never wiped the mocking smile off his face. "I am captain of the third division, Ichimaru Gin. Because of this rare occasion, I suppose you may call me Gin."
"Sure." Reed would have said he had shifty eyes, had they not been narrowed to slits. He followed Gin to his room, where he'd stay until he decided to become a soul reaper. Reed flopped down on his bed and exhaled. He'd have to fetch Masato soon, else lose his best friend to a soul reaper.
"If you need anything, find me." Gin said before closing the door, and- if even possible- smiled even more as his good-bye. And as Gin's footsteps echoed quietly, he thought to himself. 'Aizen will surely be interested in this boy…'
Hitotsu : Temaenohou- One : This Side (title)
Hasami-san- 'hasami' means 'scissors' in Japanese, while 'san' is a formal suffix
Ryoka- an intruding soul in the Seireitei; one who entered illegally without assistance of a soul reaper
Central 46- made up of 40 wise men and 6 judges chosen from the Soul Society; it is like a form of government
I feel a need to put in the definitions of certain words. Even though most Bleach fans already know what they are, it kind of helps me keep track of what I'm writing. Okay so that was chapter one...not all that exciting, but it sets up a base for future chapters. Hope that wasn't too yawn-inducing...
