Outcast
A Bleach fanfiction
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or anything besides my laptop.
Hamano Takumi was never the most popular kid, nor was he the most wealthy. In fact, you might say he's the opposite of both of those.
Growing up in the 76th District of Rukongai was hard. Not as hard, perhaps, as growing up in one of the dirtier districts. But the 76th was full of murderers, thieves, and old men who would rather stuff their faces and watch a child die than share a few fruits.
There were very few nobles there, and the few that were there did not share their wealth in the least. Leaving the 'commoners' to die on the grimey streets. Nonetheless, Hamano continued fighting to live until he was 18 years old. Or around that age, anyway.
Hamano had been born in Soul Society, in the 78th District, before being informally adopted by a small family and brought to the 76th. Unfortunately, his foster parents and his siblings were killed when he was still very young. He couldn't remember much of them. Wide smiles and lots of laughter prevailed whenever he thought of them.
A tragedy if there ever was one. A child of about 4 years old surviving on his own. The friendly couple that gave him food and water whenever they could remembered him as a boy.
'He was a small boy, always rather short for his age. His midnight black hair always hung loose around his face. He was never well-trimmed, so his hair was always growing out. His eyes were a surprising shade of violet, more perfect than ink. But the thing that stood out, despite being an orphan on the streets, he always had the biggest smile on his face.'
Said small boy was now a startling 5'5", still incredibly short. He didn't mind it though, it gave him an advantage in moving through the crowds. Continuing with his story; when he turned 18, he was approached by several drunk Shinigami soldiers. Probably unseated as they all carried nameless zanpakuto. They pushed Hamano into a corner, urging for a confrontation. Before they realized what happened, they were all unconscious on the floor. Hamano wasn't sure, to this day, how it happened, but he took down several Shinigami without breaking a sweat.
Three days later, a representative for the Shinigami Academy approached him, handing him a small letter of acceptance. He was accepted into the Academy two days later without ever having applied. The School had found out about his encounter with the drunkards, and realized quickly that he had been unconsciously pumping reiatsu into all of his punches and even his movements.
They tracked him down via his strong reiatsu and soon enough he was taking up residence in the school's nearest dorms. He was to have two roommates, equally strong as him and who were to be in the same level First Year classes as he.
That level, specifically, was level two classes. Not quite level one, but level two students were always competing with level one to prove they were just as good. Often times a level two student who tried so hard to prove he was better was shunted up to level one because he became better.
Competition begets success.
Or so the Academy officials believed.
Hamano Takumi and his roomates, Yamada Urayuri who comes from a low level noble servant family, and Ryujin Kuchiki who was a high level noble from the Kuchiki clan. Ryujin insisted on going to a normal dorm instead of the manor house that was prepared for him for his school years. He was thrilled to live without having hundreds of servants annoying him at all hours of the day.
The three boys were given several sets of clothes including three Academy outfits to cycle for cleaning, on the first day of the school year. They introduced themselves(Yamada gasped when he found out Ryujin was a Kuchiki), and soon were heading to the orientation class for all first years.
In short, it was a series of long boring speeches stating school rules and what they were aiming to accomplish. General safety regulations were also laid of there, none of which Yamada or Hamano listened to, as they were busy chatting about zanpakuto and kidou classes.
The first class the trio headed off to was History class, where they learned key events and discoveries, as well as important leaders and decisions. The first thing the professor asked once his large class had settled in the theater-like room was this.
"Who in this class knows what happened in the Arrancar war?"
A few hands were raised, including Ryujin's, who was 'lucky' enough to be called. He spoke fluidly and quickly, clearly versed with the knowledge of the war.
"Twenty three years ago, Vice Captain Kurosaki, then a low seated officer in Division 13, was to be executed by the Soukyoku on fake orders from the Traitor Aizen Sousuke. Captain Ichigo Kurosaki, then only a ryoka, and a human, saved her from the execution at the last minute. Aizen's plan to get the Hougyoku from her soul was foiled, so he had to reveal himself as the orchestrator of the plot. He killed Central 46, and made up the decisions that were sent to the Squads. He escaped to Hueco Mundo after removing the Hougyoku from Vice Captain Kurosaki's soul manually. Soon after, the 13 Squads planned an incursion, and Captain Kurosaki, in the process of saving his friend, killed Aizen Sousuke and his followers, and destroyed the Hougyoku."
After the long winded speech, the professor smiled at him. "Very well spoken...Kuchiki. Ah, that explains your knowledge. Captain Kurosaki fought with your relative, Byakuya Kuchiki, and defeated him on the Soukyoku hill."
The remainder of the class was increasingly boring as they discussed the founding of the Academy, or rather, the professor droned on about it.
They were soon let out and the three went to their next class; Zanjutsu.
"Finally something practical." Hamano sighed as they sat on the perfect green grass on the outside training area.
"You do need to learn about the past to avoid making the same mistakes." Ryujin stated.
"So you say, Ryu. But I'm getting along fine without it." Hamano quipped.
"I think Hamano's right. We should be learning to fight." Yamada added.
"Being in the 13 squads is not all fighting." The Kuchiki stated before going quiet.
Their rather large and imposing instructor had begun to speak. He was talking about how knowing Zanjutsu will make or break you as a shinigami. He had two Asauchi(nameless zanpakuto) in his hand, but he had a zanpakuto at his belt, apparently his real one.
Finally he broke from his rant and spoke up. "Anyone with decent skill care to spar with me to show the class?"
Nobody moved.
"Fine, then I'll pick someone...you there, purple-eyes." he said, pointing at Hamano.
"Go, Hamano!" Yamada pushed him up, clearly relieved it wasn't him.
The Kuchiki kept his cool.
"What's your name?" the instructor asked as Hamano moved to the circular sparring area.
"Hamano Takumi, sir." Hamano said sheepishly.
"Hamano, eh? What a girly name." He boomed, his deep voice filling the hall. Several students laughed. The burly man tossed one of the asauchi to Hamano and drew the other. He was instructing Hamano on the correct posture before they started, and they both stood in the customary positions.
"Start when ready," the instructor said calmly, his sword pointing toward the smaller first year. Hamano moved forward, striking toward the instructor's exposed thigh. The blade was parried by the man, pushing it back out and slashing up towards Hamano's shoulder. The blades were dulled, so they would only bruise, but Hamano hadn't realized that yet.
He pulled the blade down, blocking the strike with the side of the hand guard. He used his newfound leverage to push the instructor's blade up, he brought the end of the hilt and used it to slam into the larger man's chest. He stumbled backwards under the blow, much to the amazement of the students. Hamano had unconsciously applied reiatsu to the blow. He quickly jumped on his chance and brought the sharp of the blade to the instructor's neck, marvelling at his luck.
"Humph. Well done, for a first year. I may have to try next time." He added with a smirk while resting his hand on his Zanpakuto. Hamano quickly sat down as the instructor began talking about the names of zanpakuto and what they meant.
"That was amazing, Hamano!"
"You managed to beat an instructor on the first day. Well done." Somehow the Kuchiki was still eerily calm, especially in comparison with Yamada. The rest of the class raced by, they were all paying close attention, most of the class was very interested in Zanjutsu, moreso than History.
The next period was a break with lunch, which they chose to eat outside in the courtyard. Several groups of girls walked by, chatting and pointing at the three boys. ("They're probably talking about you beating the instructor!" a smirking Yamada said)
The class after lunch was Kidou, which ended up being all theory and no practice. They all took notes under the shade of a large tree about what the different spells were and some of the incantations. The day was flying by, and soon they were at the last class of the day, which was a combination of Hakudo and Hohou. They spent the rest of the day practicing throwing each other over the shoulder, while the other attempted to recover in mid air.
Hamano and Ryujin were doing fairly well paired up, and were both successful in recovering in mid air and landing on their feet. They both progressed to the next move in the textbooks they had been given, which was countering after recovering. Ryujin ended up tossing Hamano a good few yards away, winding him. Ryujin may have been a noble, but he was by far a weakling. He was well toned and fairly muscular.
Yamada was able to recover in midair after a few tries with his partner(a rather curvy girl with long black hair and deep brown eyes), but he was having trouble flipping her correctly, as he was lacking in the physical strength department. It was either that or that he was unwilling to toss the petite girl.
The class was over soon thereafter, and the girl had joined the trio. "Hello, I'm Thea Rakina." she said with a polite bow.(Pronounced 'Tae-yah Rahkeynuh') They soon found out that she was very new to Soul Society, having died only two months ago, but her reiatsu was so strong she was enrolled early. The girl had only been 17 for a day before she was murdered by a serial killer, quite traumatizing, they assumed. But she didn't seem very traumatized, instead, she was all smiles.
They went to dinner together, eating at the large dining hall, discussing their first day. They soon found that Thea was in all their classes except for History, she was in a lower level class due to her being new to Soul Society.
An older student soon walked up to the group, flanked by a few smaller kids, it made him seem bigger than he was. "Hey Thea, why're you hanging out with a bunch of nerdy first years? You can come hang with us."
Thea gave him the most disdainful look Hamano had ever seen. "I'm a first year as well, Beo."
"Yeah, but you've got permission to hang with us third years. Maybe I'll even teach you to listen to your zanpakuto." he said smirking.
"No thanks, Beo." she said, frowning annd turning back to said first year nerds. Beo's hand shot out and grabbed her shoulder, jerking her towards him to look at him.
"I'm givin' you the chance to come hang out with the real Shinigami, instead of these idiots." By his tone, it was obvious Beo was not used to losing.
"I believe she said no, and you should respect that." Ryujin's calm voice broke the silence.
"Back off, idiot." Hamano's normally cool violet eyes were shining angrily. Something about grabbing a woman seemed to anger him.
Beo's hand didn't move from her shoulder. "Or what, Outcast? Gonna attack me?" his free hand moved to the hilt of his zanpakuto and grasped it firmly, smirking.
Evidently this threat went unnoticed, Hamano moved quickly, one hand pushing end of the hilt and keeping it sheathed, his other came swinging up and slammed into Beo's elbow. Yelling his surprise, he jerked back, releasing Thea as his arm went upwards.
Hamano's elbow soon met with Beo's chest in a reiatsu filled blow that sent the older boy flying backwards into his cronies. Hamano's reiatsu kept raising due to his anger, emotion controlled much of reiatsu's power. He stood straight as the cronies backed up, grasping their zanpakuto. The room was hushed aside from the teachers now trying to get to them before anything could happen.
But before Hamano could lunge, he was being held back. Ryujin Kuchiki was holding his arms in place and Yamada was pushing him backwards, away from the other third years. Soon enough, the professors were asking him about the incident, insisting that it was not his fault and sending Beo to the infirmary.
"He's a bad kid. Always causing trouble, only the 11th division is even looking at him." One teacher stated before allowing Hamano to sit back down with his friends.
"Thanks, Takumi." Thea said quietly, rubbing her shoulder.
"Yeah...I hate it when guys try to force a girl to do anything. It pisses me off." His eyes were back to their normal calm violet, shrugging, he went back to eating.
They parted with Thea on the walk to the dorms, she heading over to the first year girls dorm, the trio heading to the boys dorms. Before long they were beginning the homework assigned.
"First day of the Academy and we're already doing homework." Yamada sighed, memorizing Kidou incantations while Ryujin and Hamano practiced the throwing and recovering on a cleared area in the main living room. Yamada was slightly jealous, watching them toss each other around in a coordinated way.
Ryujin spiced things up halfway through by turning around midair, hooking his leg under Hamano's throwing arm, and spinning his body downward to drive Hamano into the floor and land on his feet, grinning. "Hakudo is definately going to be my specialty."
"Yeah, well find me a bokken, jerk." Hamano said, grinning casually as he stood. Yamada sighed again
"The beginning of a wonderful rivalry."
Yamada, at least, saw that they would be fighting to see who's better and to improve for the rest of their days here at the academy.
Working on two fanfics at once. I couldn't help it, this idea just sprang to mind and had to be done. Review!
Blarggy