Bleach fanfic
Chapter one
Completely out of breath, Abarai Renji stormed into the dogo of the 11th squad. "Ikkaku-san, the captain-commander requests your immediate presence in his office!"
Renji had ran the whole way through Seireitei to deliver this important message as fast as he could. Yamamoto-taicho had told him that it was quite urgent and so he had gone looking for 3rd seat Madarame with all haste.
"What?" asked Ikkaku. He had been enjoying his fight with his fellow-officer that much and so had not exactly heard what Renji had said.
"Captain-commander Yamamoto-sama, needs you to come to his office. Not now, but five minutes ago. It took me some time to find you."
Ikkaku sighed, "My,my, such things always happen when I'm having a good fight during training. I'm sorry, Aiko, seems that we need to continue this spar some other time."
With that, he sheathed his zanpakutou, greeted 4th seat Kikutake Aiko and left the dogo.
It was only then that Renji had a closer look at Ikkaku's opponent and paled.
"Goodmorning, Abarai-kun. You have some nerve to face me, I must admit. First, I didn't get word from you while you were in the real world, fighting, although I know you had enough spare time. Secondly, you got back to Seireitei and ignored me for almost two weeks straight. Thirdly, I arranged for us to meet last night and you didn't show up. And now you also robbed me of my opponent while I was having a pleasant fight with a real man, meaning one who notices me from time to time and could actually get some time off from his duties to have some quality-time with me."
Kikutake Aiko stood in her full length before Renji and although her nose only reached up till his shin, for him, it was still a terrifying sight to behold.
The lieutenant of the 6th squad was at a loss for words and stammered something of an apology while he was frantically thinking of a way to make up with the furious girl.
It was true that had not really been paying to much attention to her and now he was confronted with the facts, he felt extremely guilty. In the real world he had been too busy fighting Hollows and other creatures. And when he had not been fighting, he had still been busy at the Urahara shop for he hated to be called a freeloader.
Back in Seireitei, Captain Kuchiki had had him running all over the place for all kinds of appointments. And last night, well, he had been so tired so he had just went to his room and fallen asleep, completely forgetting his date with the 11th squad's officer.
"Maybe I can think of a way for you to do something about at least one thing." Aiko said and drew her own zanpakutou, pointing it at Renji.
"Since you robbed me of my opponent, the least you could do is replace him." Relieved Renji drew his blade. This would be fun! Both officers were equally matched because they had been training together from the very start. Their fights always had the passion of bloodlust, trading mark of the 11th squad and the ancient tension between a man and a woman who are both too stubborn to admit that they are helpless before one another, for if two people share the same heartbeat, none can be the victor.
"The loser treats the winner to dinner this evening." Aiko said and they both grinned. Soon they were entranced in their deadly dance.
That evening, two figures were sitting on a rooftop in Seireitei. After a satisfying meal (which the boy had paid, to his regret) they had gone to look lazily at the stars. The man was lying on his back with his head in the lap of the girl who was distractedly playing with his long, red hair.
"You must also have been quite busy here in Seireitei." He said after a lengthy silence.
"What makes you think that?"
"I heard you had not gotten any assignments because you were doing 'other things', though no-one elaborated. What have you been doing all these months?"
"'Other things'? Yes, you could call it like that…" she gazed at the stars and though back at what had happened some months ago.
(Flashback)
4th seat Kikutake of the 11th squad was bored, very bored. Ikkaku had gone training with most of their shinigami and had taken Yumichika with him, lieutenant Yachiru was off somewhere looking for candy and captain Zaraki was having a meeting with the other captains.
All in all there was little too no fun to be found in the headquarters of the 11th squad.
And for that particular reason Aiko decided to go and explore another part of Seireitei.
Her wandering feet brought her to some old training grounds which were not being used anymore. That is, they would normally not be used. One lone figure was standing in the middle of a field, zanpakutou raised.
Yuki had her eyes closed and concentrated. Breathing in, breathing out, in and out. Every muscle of her body was tense. Every piece of her concentrated, waiting.
"Yaah!" Out off nowhere, she plunged forward and slashed into thin air. Again and again, as if the atmosphere was her nemesis, she kept lunging with her blade. Fighting an invisible enemy. She startled when suddenly her zanpakutou clashed with another. Yuki Hoshino glanced up into the cold eyes of the shinigami who she recognized as a seated officer of the Gotei. For what seemed like an eternity they stood there gazing into the other's eyes. Then, the officer grinned and with a flick of her wrist, she had disarmed her opponent. She placed the tip of her katana at the girl's throat while she whispered something:
"Dead."
A single drop of blood had appeared on the pale throat and Yuki dared not move.
"Scars will remind you of your past mistakes and will help you remember to keep trying to get stronger." She pointed at the zanpakutou on the ground. "Pick it up!"
Too stunned and afraid to contradict her, Yuki picked up her blade and stood there looking at the woman who had only just threatened her with the point of a sword. The officer took a basic fighting stance and faced the poor girl that stood shaking on both legs.
"Stance, soldier!"
The commanding tone made Yuki jump and hastily she took position. The woman sighed, advanced at the girl while sheathing her own sword and took hold of Yuki's arm. Standing beside her, the officer began instructing Yuki how she could best hold her zanpakutou.
Having only two days before graduated from the academy, she still had much to learn.
(End flashback)
"So that's what you have been doing. Teaching some kid how to fight…"
"Yes." Replied Aiko, still gazing off at the stars. She had some good memories of those months.
"Yuki-chan was a great student. She could already apply kidou perfectly and was a fast learner. Although I doubt she would ever fit in the 11th squad. At the end of these months, she managed to use Senkai once. Since she has an ice-based zanpakutou, Yuki-chan was reassigned to the 10th squad, so captain Hitsugaya could continue to train her."
Renji and Aiko stayed on the rooftop until they heard the sound of little bells clinging.
