The opening eve of Christmas soon calls for an overnight shift at Kubo-sensei's house. I stretched my head high to the darkening sky, eyes narrowing at the sight of the glaring lights that adorned the beautiful lush tree. As I started picking up my feet walking to the direction of my workplace, I soon lamented at the tightening thought of having to spend Christmas Eve and birthday once again for the tenth consecutive year at Kubo-sensei's place.
Breathing out a thick air of white smoke, I watched as the vapor soon danced in its twisting shapes before it becomes invisible. "Kubo-sensei, you better make sure that Ichigo-chan wins his fights by the end of this week comes. I don't want to edit more panels of him throwing several more slashes and exchanging several more pangs from metals clashing altogether."
The rumble from nearby trucks throws a loud screech towards my ears, I winced at the noise rushing to cover my ears. Forcing myself to focus my attention at the incoming truck, my face paled as a force struck me near my guts. A scorching feeling of nausea raged inside me as my throat struggled to either swallow the sensation welling up my throat or spit it out.
A fleeting moment of intense pain soon gripped me by my head and a loud sound of crackle was heard. I thought for a moment to where the sound might have originated from. Then, I realized that possibly around five of my rib cage must have been shattered quite badly. My brows knotted before I quickly stabled my ground with my one still moving arm mildly injured from the crash.
From my blurring visibility, I was able to catch a few short figures passing through the truck. It may have been hard to see, but I was at most certain that the robes only Shinigami wears were right on their body billowing along the wind as sands of the wreckage flew by.
At that time, I didn't bother with the possible consequence of such matter. All I had in mind was the thought of missing out on my twenty-fifth birthday cake that Kubo-sensei's wife might have prepared for me secretly and how I would somehow...just somehow miss the feeling of coloring in and filling for the different shades to Ichigo's Bankai form.
In the end, I decided to swallow the blood that was urging to spit out simply because I thought the picture of my beautiful face painted in the splattering color of red wouldn't look so nice. Should the day Kubo-sensei decided to come and fetch my corpse, wouldn't he be in awe instead of griefing in intense sadness at the sight of my beautiful death? He did, after all, tell me that a hero might not be given a beautiful birth, but at least they must die an honorable beautiful death.
See, Kubo-sensei? I surely must not have disappointed you, right? It was then that I finally close my lids patiently waiting for my final breath to breathe its last.
But that moment never came.
Instead, the disconnection of my soul to my body was quite the odd sensation with a tingling touch to my senses. As I feel my feet gradually being lifted into the air, a rough voice suddenly commanded me in a soft lulling tone 'close your eyes,' which I did follow to do so.
One.
Two.
Three.
.
.
.
Minutes passed and eventually, I got tired of waiting. How long should I continue to close my eyes? Should I just fall asleep in this case? Is this possibly reincarnation? I didn't know. With so many questions and confusion flowing into my head, I slowly opened them again.
A gradual clear image of white entered my sight before I saw a male dressed in an odd style of clothing resembling that of kimono. The familiarity that the clothing has shown left a nostalgic feel to me but above all, the type of kimono worn couldn't escape my pair of eyes. It reminded me of the standard shinigami uniform designed by Kubo-sensei and me.
My pupils flashed to and fro around the room checking my surrounding status. Realizing that I was no longer in my previous location, I hurriedly checked own body for injuries. A brightly colored jinbei with a set of yasagao pattern immediately caught my focus and my initial plan was already thrown astray. My eyes hurriedly blinked, not once or twice but ten times.
"Do you have some incurable eye disease? Why do you keep on twitching your eyes like it's on a seizure?"
I swear that I could've felt my heart stopping its pump for a millisecond when I understood that I was in a place and in a body that I didn't belong to.
"Miyabi-san? Miyabi-san? Are you okay?"
The scene before me doesn't seem to be changing...am I hallucinating or possibly dreaming? Not bothering with the voice that was constantly calling out to me, I remained frozen on the spot.
"Miyabi-san! We must go back to the training grounds before master and mistress find out!"
Master? Mistress? The corner of my lips began twitching and soon inside my heart, a deep feeling of unrest was beginning to take place. I shot a glaring look at the male in front. "Hey, are you talking to me?"
"Yes!"
The male with a pair of pretty purple eyes was unfortunately matched with an almost half bald head. Yet, it was also the oddly positioned baldness that finally returned my attention to the present time and attracted my utmost focus. Perhaps he seemed to have noticed my attention being placed on him that from the corner of his eyes appeared two sparkling translucent dots.
"Then can you stop crying and tell me who you and I are?" I gave him a questioning gaze, one that took much effort to make. As a matter of fact, it seems like there is something wrong with my facial nerves since I couldn't move it in large motions.
A landing thud echoed within the room as the man landed on his fours. He knocked his head thrice by the wooden planks, each sound that ended up vibrating the chair which then was sent to me.
What does one typically find scary? Demons? Monsters? Ghosts? No, none of these. Any sane person seeing another human preforming illogical actions will honestly find it terrifying since they are unable to comprehend the meaning behind such illogicality. And I, above all humans can proudly declare myself as a sane and not an insane.
As such, when the male finally lifted his eyes to match with mine, I readied myself by gripping the bars to the back of my chair. A set of motions already laid out inside my mind waiting to be executed. Should the male in front of me dares to attack or do something disturbing, I wouldn't mind sending him straight to meet Kami-sama with the whack of the mighty chair!
The man pursed his lips hard, desperately trying to hold in his large droplets of tears. Yet, such emotions threw me off as my mind flipped through the many possible types of relationships that he and I could have had leading to such drama. And the only thought that threatened to remain was 'lovers.' I might not know how old I am nor how I currently look but I can guarantee that I might die of a heart attack should my guess come true.
"I know that you have forbidden me from calling your real name when we are outside, but Shurei-sama! How could you have forgotten about everything? Did those hooligans actually won the fight against you?!" He swiftly smacked his face two more times creating a red maple print right on the center of his cheeks before continuing on, "I am your most loyal servant, Ichinouji and you are my little mistress, Tennouji Shurei."
The tenseness of my body quickly dropped as soon as it arrived. So based on his words, I am from a noble family. Had I possibly accumulated rich karmas from several decades of my past life that I had lived two lives as a rich miss?
Ichinouji curled his brows with worry as he suddenly tackled my body with a hug. "Shurei-sama, have you perhaps lost your memories?!"
I gave a slight cough as I avoided his gaze. My heart beginning to accelerate in its speed as I fumbled through my mind to think of a possible excuse.
"I'm not sure but I think I have lost some of my memories." It's odd, why do I feel guilty when I am talking to him?
"Shurei-sama! You poor pitiful soul...it's all my fault! I shouldn't have allowed you to fight with the servants from the Kuchiki Clan. Even if you are one of the Tennoujis, fighting three against one is impossible for a ninety-nine years old child. They must have hit you hard on the head, right?"
While Ichinouji tearfully lamented, I nearly was shocked to death by the age I was. Ninety-two years old?! Isn't that qualified enough to be called a wise elder and not a child and most importantly, did he just mention Kuchiki? Oh kami-yo, where did you take my soul to?
Ichinouji's grip on me was tight so it took me a while to get him off. To quickly soothe his irrational emotions, I softly soothed him. "Ichinouji, how can I have lost my memories? I was merely testing your loyalty to me. You have passed my test. Well done! Even when I pretended to have lost my memories, you stayed true to me. You really are my lucky joy!"
Okay, I have exaggerated as much as I could. If this doesn't stop his irrationality, then I might as well bonk him in the head before threatening him to spill all the beans and leave.
"Really?! Shurei-sama, I'm so glad. I am really glad that you lied and that it wasn't real. Or else, how can I explain to master and mistress when we get back? Caring for you is my duty."
The constant sobbing and wailing along with the coming hiccups played a rather ear whacking melody. If he had gone on continuing to play his music, I couldn't promise that I would not have strangled him to death. "Hey, can you stop crying? I am tired of your wailing hiccups. If you are going to cry, cry properly. If you are having hiccups, have it properly. You are simply not talented enough to multitask on these things."
Perhaps my harsh words have stopped his weird cries but the next second, the immense joy eroding his face gave me a slight chill. "Miyabi-sama, I was actually still suspicious of you but hearing you say such words made me feel relieved. You are still as harsh as always."
To be honest, his response left me quite speechless. I have never in my entire twenty-four years of life heard of someone feeling happy for receiving harsh words unless they are a masochist. My mouth slowly started twitching. "How come you call me two different names before?"
As if my words have shocked him greatly, his mouth slightly gaped open. "I'm sorry, Miyabi-sama. I got too excited over your lie earlier that I forgot about the promise we made."
"Oh? Let me test you again, what and why was the promise made?" My inner senses were tingling as soon as he mentioned a prior promise that we made.
Ichinouji gave me a toothy grin before he proudly touted. "When we are home, you are Tennouji Shurei. When you are outside, you are Shurei Miyabi. And the reason is that you hated being confined to the responsibilities that Shurei-sama carries and wanted to be free like Miyabi-sama. That's why when you picked a fight with those mere servants, I didn't interfere. You once told me that a strong shinigami should be able to protect themselves no matter the age and circumstances they are in."
"Good. It seems like you still remember. Shall we head back now? I'm sure okaa-san and otou-san will be worried."
"Miyabi-sama, how come you are addressing master and mistress by a different title now."
I blinked twice, strained my face to force upon a smile as I jumped down from the chair and hurried to roped him away. He stood a few heads taller than me, and from this point, I was able to figure out that my physical appearance must've not correlated with my supposed age. My body didn't feel unnaturally stiff nor was my skin thin and filled with wrinkles. I stretched my palms out and found them with hints of several rough calluses as well as firm muscles attached to the arm in general. I wrinkled my eyebrows, the development of these hands can only happen if the user wields an object with much friction, the pressure causing the irritation to toughen the skin. I peeked back at Ichinouji, my gaze filling with caution. In fact, this whole situation seemed a bit bizarre.
Ichinouji tottered behind me, legs stumbling to stable on its grounds as my short legs sped its way up. We passed through the door that led to the entrance of the house we stayed in. Appearing from behind was an old lady with a considerable hunched back. She had a tight double bun atop of her head and when she spoke, it was raspy.
"Are the two of you leaving?"
Ichinouji bowed several times as a sign of apology. I followed him as I fixed my appearance, tidying it to present a better image.
"Obaa-san, thank you for allowing to stay for a short while."
The old lady gave a chuckle as she politely waved back. "This is what a civilian of Soul Society should do. You shinigami lots have risked life to protect us and this world from crumbling down into disorder. A small deed such as lending a room or a bed matters not for us."
It didn't come to my mind head first when the Kuchiki and the shihakushÅ were shown or mentioned but it all made sense if I put the pieces together. I had died and that was an unchangeable fact. The only reason why I could still be alive is if my soul is still unharmed and here. Then that could've only meant that I had taken over a body and the body existed in Bleach, Kubo Tite's creation.
I can slowly feel my face paling as I deduced further but why does my heart feel the adrenaline rushing through so fast? I pulled my hand to cover my hard kept smile. Believing that I had transmigrated into another's body is not as hard as believing that I went into a manga that I took part in creating. I wanted to laugh away this madness and perhaps after laughing, I would found out that I am pranked.
But that would never be necessarily the case.
I coldly gazed at Inchinouji as he conversed with the old lady, patiently waiting for him to finish. I had all the time needed, time was never a thing that can shackle me down. By the time he finished talking, I quickly grabbed him by the helm of his sleeves as we paced our way out. It was only after that we are out, I asked him in a serious voice.
"You mentioned something about the Kuchiki Clan earlier. Tell me more about it and how it came to this." I wasn't certain but the only Kuchiki that I will ever hear of in my life is the Kuchiki in Bleach. Namely five characters bearing this name surfaced forth: Kuchiki Byakuya, Rukia, Ginrei, Sojun, and Koga.
Ichinouji widened his eyes for a moment as he allowed for a bitter chuckle escape. He soon turned away from me, looking straight ahead. I didn't bother with his sudden change in expression. "So where should I start? I'll start from the beginning to how we ended up here. In the meantime, let's walk back to our family manor."
I nodded my head in agreement as he guided me into a certain direction where we soon mingled with the crowd.
"In about a few days is mistress' birthday. Miyabi-sama, you wanted to shop around for some nice gift to present to her. So this morning, you took me to Seireitei. After looking through the entire place, you were only able to find a bolt of fabric to be beautiful. However, we soon met an incident there where we found several servants from the Kuchiki house attempting to take the same bolt from us. Since we sneaked out of the Tennouji manor, we couldn't risk our identities. Which means that you and I were considered mere commoners to the eyes of the servants who were from one of the great noble clans. The only choice to get the bolt of fabric was by challenging them to a duel."
I nodded my head signaling for him to go on and while listening, I allowed my eyes to zoom around the surrounding setting. The familiar shapes of the buildings, the way it is colored, as well as the searing resemblance to the Edo era of Kyoto; there was just no way for me to deny their existence as well as their history.
"The duel obviously was won by Miyabi-sama but when you left, one of the servants sneaked an attack on you. I don't know what they did but you fell unconscious and so I had no choice but to bring you to rest in the nearest house I can find."
"I understand now. By the way, is this the Tennouji family manor?" I stood at a house, about the size of a normal two family house back in my world. Decent size and prettily decorated. I guess the Tennouji family manor is not bad.
Ichinouji looked at me for a while before sadly sighing. He shook his head and then pulled my arms along to the deeper side of the rectangular shaped gate. I stood erect, my head was held high and I followed the sight of the wide field that contained almost nothing but vegetables. When I stretched my head further, along the greenery was a wider encompass of the entire mansion. Compared to my current living lifestyle, my past life was nothing to this field of enormous property.
Hello and welcome to the first Bleach fanfiction of mine. It will be an OC x Byakuya ship and I can assure you that it will follow canon with the exception of some alterations. Enjoy and make sure to leave some love and reviews if you can!
P.S. No matter how light-hearted I start it as, all my fanfics will turn kinda dark...with angst. However, I hope everyone can still support it by continuing to read on as what will happen to Tennouji Shurei and what kind of role she will partake in for Soul Society.