Okay…
I've decided! I'll come out with "Of Akuma and Hollows" first! It will not have a specific update time. It'll be pretty random, but at least once a week. Manga spoiler alert for Bleach.
Reviews are appreciated!
"Hollow/Zanpakuto"
"Foreign language"
"English"
Today was not his day.
He woke up and found that the AC was broken—thanks to a certain Squad Ten Lieutenant. When he tried to shower, he slipped on the floor—because someone had accidentally placed a bar of wet soap on the ground in front of the door—and he received a message that there was a Captain's Meeting in five minutes. Then he hastily headed out—at seven—and when he arrived, cursing the fact that he was late, found out that the Captain's Meeting had been cancelled. When he went back to the barracks, his Lieutenant didn't do her paperwork again. Of course, an hour later, he received a message that he had a new assignment to do with three others. On top of that, those three people were his Lieutenant, a person who was unable to call him by his proper title, and Rukia Kuchiki.
Yep. Definitely not his day.
"I'm glad you could all make it. I invited Kurosaki-kun mainly because he lives in the World of the Living," said Captain Kyoraku. "There has been a strange series of events in England—time seems to have been flowing at a different pace. For instance, we are in the twenty-first century, but England is currently in the nineteenth. I would like you four to investigate this place. I have already sent a message to Komui Lee of the Black Order, where you will be investigating."
Toshiro nodded. "Yes sir!" all of them said.
"Very well. The Senkaimon will be ready when you are."
(PAGE BREAK)
It was a typical day at the Black Order.
If you could call a day at the Black Order typical, that is.
Allen—holding a tray of coffee because Lenalee made him help again—walked around, passing coffee to the workers in the science division.
"This reminds me too much of the day when your brother made Komlin II," Allen muttered to Lenalee.
"Please don't jinx it," Lenalee sighed, handing a mug of coffee to Reever.
Suddenly, a huge circle-shaped door appeared and opened, dropping several people onto a table full of papers. Three people landed in awkward positions on the table, but a short boy with snowy white hair landed on the ground without any noise and on his feet.
The other three quickly got off the table, scattering paper everywhere. A black-haired girl, strawberry blonde woman, and orange-haired guy began to say something in a language Allen didn't understand. All of them had a strange black kimono and a sash, along with a sword. The snow-haired boy wore a white piece of clothing over it with a diamond and a cross in the middle of it.
"Gomenasai, gomenasai!"
"Urusai, Kuchiki, Kurosaki. Eigo o hanasu," said the white-haired one irritably.
"Hai—er, yes sir!" said the raven girl, making a seemingly conscious effort to speak English.
The strawberry blonde and orange-haired began picking up papers and passing them to the people who were sitting at the desk, apologizing profusely in English.
"How the hell did they get here?"
"Did you see that door?"
"MY PAPERWORK!"
"I swear Kurotsuchi landed us like that on purpose," the white-haired one muttered before smoothing out the black kimono he wore.
Allen could only stare, much like everyone else in the room, mouths hanging open. Luckily, he didn't drop the coffee tray.
Kanda walked into the room, irritated. "What the hell is going on in"—he began, but when he saw the four newcomers—three of said newcomers cleaning up—his jaw nearly dropped.
"Oi, moyashi!" Kanda called to Allen. "Quit gaping like a fish and explain what happened here!"
"IT'S ALLEN, JERKANDA!"
"Taichou! Watashitachiha kurin'apppu o shien!" called the strawberry blonde woman.
"Anata wa totemo jibun de sore o kirei ni konran shimashita," the boy responded, annoyed.
"Hey, Kanda, what did they say?" asked Lenalee. "That is Japanese they're speaking, right?"
Kanda shrugged. "Well, the lady said something along the lines of 'Captain, help us clean up' and the shorty replied, 'You made the mess. Clean it up yourself.'"
The white-haired boy's eyebrow twitched. "Call me that again and I will slice you to bits and feed you to a dragon."
Allen knew that the boy was being serious, and he could tell Kanda knew it too.
"Che," was all Kanda replied with. "Dragons don't exist." The boy glared at him.
"I wonder where Lavi is. Normally if something like this happened, he and the Bookman would be here by now," said Allen, looking around and placing the coffee tray on a nearby table.
"Isogu! Watashitachiha, komu-jo no koko ni iru."
"Er, you said you were on official business. Can you please elaborate?" Lenalee asked politely.
The white-haired boy made a short bow before replying. "My name is Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of the Tenth Squad. Pleased to meet you. I am here on official business with Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto, Lieutenant Rukia Kuchiki and Substitute Ichigo Kurosaki. We are searching for a supervisor known as Komui Lee."
"Aww, Captain! We can introduce ourselves, you know," said Rangiku.
That's when Lavi and Bookman arrived on the scene.
(PAGE BREAK)
Toshiro Hitsugaya did not feel like repeating his name and his companions', but considering that they had just arrived, they probably heard.
The silver-gray-haired boy with the scar sighed through his nose and just before the redhead who had just entered opened his mouth and said something, he slapped a hand over the taller one's mouth.
"Now that we've introduced ourselves, I'm quite sure it is fair for you to say your names," Toshiro said.
"My name is Allen Walker. Pleased to meet you," said the silvery gray haired boy. "This redhead is Lavi, or Bookman Junior."
Lavi managed to pull Allen's hand off of his mouth. "And this old panda is Bookman!"
Bookman smacked Lavi over the head. "Don't call me that!"
"Ow! That hurt, you old geezer!"
It repeated.
"Alright, I'm sorry!" Lavi shouted, gripping his head. "That seriously hurts!"
"Serves you right!"
Before it could go on any longer, the dark-haired girl with pigtails introduced herself. "My name is Lenalee Lee. My brother, Komui, is the one you're looking for. I'll go find him." She walked off, putting the coffee tray next to Allen's.
"That girly dude over there is Kanda Yu. Don't call him by his first name or else he'll slice you to pieces," said Allen.
"What was that, moyashi?"
"You heard me, unless you're deaf?"
"They're at it again," muttered Lavi, but Toshiro noticed he was sneaking glances at his Lieutenant.
"You'd better not encourage him," Toshiro muttered to Matsumoto. "You know how much older you are than him."
"I know!" Matsumoto hissed back. "Just don't call me old!"
Toshiro sighed at the racket in the room. "These people are strange."
Rukia nodded. "I've never seen such weird humans before."
Ichigo snorted. "Has it ever occurred to you that they may act strange compared to us because we're in different centuries?"
"Yes," the other three responded, deadpanning.
Suddenly, a man wearing white clothing and a hat walked into the room, followed by Lenalee. Toshiro assumed he was Komui Lee.
"Why hello there! May I ask what you are here for?"
"Head-Captain Shunsui Kyoraku should have sent you a Hell Butterfly message mentioning our arrival. If you did not receive it, we have another copy of the message right now to refresh your memory," Toshiro said curtly. He lifted his palm, and a black butterfly hovered over it.
For some reason, Allen whimpered and backed away at the sight of the butterfly. "Teez, teez, teez," he muttered.
Komui coughed. "Ah, yes." He went over to the coffee tray and picked up his cup. "Why don't we take this conference elsewhere, mister…?"
Toshiro nodded briefly. "It's Captain Hitsugaya. Walker, if you seriously think the Hell Butterfly is unnerving, say it out loud." The black butterfly disintegrated into dust. Allen's checks pinked slightly at Toshiro's blatant observation.
"Lavi, Bookman, come with us," said Komui. "Is it alright if your companions stay here?" Toshiro nodded.
Komui led them to the office while the others followed. Rangiku, Rukia, Ichigo, Allen, Kanda, and Lenalee watched them go, and soon after they left, the workers began to start working again.
"Come on, we'll give you a quick tour," said Lenalee to the newcomers. "And Kanda, Allen, you two have to come." Allen shrugged while Kanda groaned.
(PAGE BREAK)
Lavi and Bookman sat down, a little bit away from Komui and Toshiro.
"Please sit down. There is coffee if you'd like any," said Komui.
"I prefer not to sit down, thank you," Toshiro said coolly. "I do feel the need to protect myself. Tea is more preferred on my end. Also, there is a chance that you slipped something into my drink. I'll not take that risk."
Quite taken aback at the other's cold manner and maturity, Komui coughed and regained his composure rather quickly. He appeared to be a child…
As if reading his thoughts, Toshiro added, "I am no child, Lee. I am a Captain of the Gotei 13. Do not take me lightly. If need be, I will kill you without hesitation."
Komui laughed rather nervously. This kid was scarier than Yu Kanda, and that was saying a lot. "I understand."
"Down to business. Kyoraku sent me here to investigate the time difference here and where I live. You have less technology, it seems, than we do, and I will be sending reports. Additionally, you were fighting a war less than a year ago, which may or may not be the cause of the time problems we are facing. According to the reports that I read through earlier today, it mentioned something about one of your exorcists, Miranda Lotto, had her Innocence change time.
"On a completely different note, monsters known as Hollows are in England right now. Be careful."
With that, Toshiro turned around and walked out of the room briskly. "I bid you a good day." The door slammed shut after him.
For some reason, Komui Lee reminded Toshiro of Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi…and that wasn't a good thing. It was pretty dangerous…and scary.
"Stop following me, Junior," Toshiro snapped after sensing Lavi's reiatsu.
"How"—
"I can sense your presence." That wasn't the whole truth, but it was close enough.
Lavi coughed quietly. "So, Shiro"—
"Don't call me that," Toshiro growled, irritated. "It's Captain Hitsugaya."
"Come on! I can barely pronounce that!"
"I worked hard to get that title and I prefer you refer to me as such."
"So, in other words, where you come from, little kids like you are allowed to become Captains?"
Toshiro's eye twitched. "How old do you think I am?"
"You look ten, but appearances are rather deceiving."
"Exactly. So shut up."
"But it's almost impossible to look that young and be like twenty or something!"
"I'm older than twenty, baka usagi!" Toshiro's face pinked slightly with annoyance.
"Funny. Yu calls me that."
"Do you ever shut up? I think you're a perfect match for my Lieutenant, considering that you both love annoying the hell out of me!"
"You flatter me."
(PAGE BREAK)
"—considering that you both love annoying the hell out of me!"
"You flatter me."
Matsumoto laughed. "Wow, that Lavi must be really good at annoying people if he can get 'hell' out of Captain's mouth."
Kanda grimaced. "You don't know half of it."
"I don't think he's that bad," Allen said, shrugging. "Other than when I'm asleep, that is. He draws on my face. Or when he talks too much. Or when he steals my food." He frowned. "Never mind. He's annoying."
Just then, they met up with Toshiro and Lavi.
"If you do not shut up, I will make it so that you can't speak for a week!" Toshiro snapped.
Matsumoto stared. "How did you rile him up that much?"
"Also, if you're going to flirt with my Lieutenant, she's not interested."
"What, is she dating you or something?"
Toshiro looked downright murderous. In a flash, there was a sword pointed at Lavi, and frost began to form around Lavi's mouth.
"I warned you." He sheathed his sword and stormed off—quite literally.
"Did the thermostat break?" Lenalee asked tentatively.
Lavi tried to answer but the ice around his mouth prevented him from doing so.
"To answer your earlier question, I am not dating my Captain," said Matsumoto, watching the frost left from her Captain's temper melt slowly. "Also, by the time that ice melts, your mouth will be so numb you won't speak for another three or four days. It melts in about two or three days."
Ichigo answered Lenalee's question. "Whenever Toshiro feels an emotion strongly, it gets colder. It normally happens with anger or annoyance."
"THAT'S CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA TO YOU, KUROSAKI!"
"How did he hear me?"
(PAGE BREAK)
Later that day, they were given two rooms to sleep in. Toshiro headed in immediately, dragging his Lieutenant with him and kicking Ichigo out.
"Go kill some time. I need to make sure Matsumoto does her paperwork," Toshiro said before slamming the door shut in Ichigo's face.
"It'll be dinner soon," Matsumoto pointed out after a while of writing.
"Mmm," he responded absentmindedly.
"…What're you thinking about?"
She didn't receive an answer. Toshiro's mental walls reappeared.
Finally, Toshiro gave an answer. "The Quincy War."
Unconsciously, Rangiku touched the mark on her neck from where the Sternritter had cut.
"What about it?"
Toshiro made a noise of frustration. "I'm supposed to be dead, dammit! I'm not supposed to be here. You…you were unconscious most of the time so you don't know what happened. I don't even know, but according to Kurotsuchi's reports…" Without realizing it, he shivered.
That was true. They didn't tell her what had happened. Also, a lot of the Shinigami seemed to be avoiding her Captain, especially what remained of the Eleventh Division.
"The Sternritter called Giselle Gewelle turned me into…into one of her…pawns." He swallowed. "No, not a pawn. A mind-controlled zombie."
Toshiro yawned tiredly and rubbed his eyes. Rangiku stood up, privately wondering if he was crying. "Come on, Captain, let's go eat." He nodded and stood, stretching and adjusting Hyourinmaru.
Rangiku reached over and ruffled her Captain's hair, much to his chagrin.
"What the heck?" He slapped Rangiku's hand away, but that much was to be expected. Haughtily, he headed out. Rangiku followed.
Toshiro sat down next to Allen without ordering anything, as he wasn't hungry. His Lieutenant, Rukia, and Ichigo joined him. He stared as Allen ate the mountain of food put in front of him within ten minutes and rather neatly, wiping his mouth with a napkin after he finished. "Done."
"Where does all that food go?" Rukia asked, stabbing a strawberry with her fork and eating it.
"I have never met anyone who could eat that much in ten minutes," Ichigo added after tossing out the trash.
Lenalee and Lavi joined them while Kanda sat a little away from them.
"It's because he's a parasite type," said Lenalee, putting her food down and sitting next to Allen. "If he doesn't eat that much it'll start draining his life force."
Lavi sat next to Lenalee, looking dejected. Apparently, he couldn't eat because of the ice either. Toshiro waved a hand and the ice dissipated.
"You'd better appreciate that, rabbit," Toshiro snapped at Lavi. "Go get something to eat."
"Parasite type what?" Rangiku asked.
Lenalee opened her mouth to say something but Toshiro beat her to the punch.
"Parasite type Innocence. Seriously, Matsumoto, don't you ever read the files?" He tossed a file to her. "Read it after you finished your paperwork." Toshiro turned to Lenalee. "I realize that is top secret information. We will not share it."
Lenalee blinked. "Oh. Thank you very much. How did you get the file anyway?"
"…Ask Kurotsuchi," he and Rangiku said at once.
"To—sorry, Captain Hitsugaya—aren't you going to eat anything?" Allen asked, catching his mistake.
"I'm not hungry," Toshiro muttered as Rangiku stood to toss out her trash, followed by Rukia.
"Don't worry about it," said Rangiku, coming back and ruffling her Captain's hair (much to his annoyance). "He doesn't eat much. He's only, what, sixty something pounds."
"Hey, stop that!" Toshiro swatted Matsumoto's hand away. "Besides, it's none of their business." Ichigo snickered into his hand at Toshiro's predicament.
"Figures," said Lavi. "He is pretty short."
"Do you want me to freeze your mouth again?"
Lavi shut up and finished his meal.
(PAGE BREAK)
Ichigo woke up in the middle of the night to unbroken silence. The only sound he could hear was his own breathing and his blankets rustling. He couldn't hear Toshiro's breathing or blankets shifting.
"Hey, Toshiro?" he called softly. He didn't receive a response.
Panicking slightly, Ichigo went over to the bed and was about to shake Toshiro when the door to the bathroom opened and the very person he was looking for stood in the doorway, the light from the bathroom seeping into the dark room.
"Kurosaki, what are you doing looking into my bed?"
Ichigo turned to Toshiro. "You didn't respond when I called your name, so I got kind of worried," he said sheepishly.
"No need for that," Toshiro said. "I was merely using the restroom. Next time, try sensing my reiatsu before you panic needlessly." He walked softly to his bed and threw the covers over himself. Within moments, the captain was asleep.
Thinking back, Ichigo wondered if using the restroom was really what Toshiro was doing. When he came out, he could've sworn his eyes were slightly puffy and his throat a little hoarse, but that could've been from sleep. Also, he didn't hear any sounds coming from the bathroom either.
No use thinking about it. Ichigo sighed and went to sleep.
(PAGE BREAK)
As soon as he was sure Kurosaki was once again asleep, Toshiro opened his eyes and stared at the wall, going through the day's events.
He was sure he'd had better days.
Today was definitely not his day.
Yes, Toshiro actually did become a zombie, though it isn't sure whether he died or he was just being controlled, considering Giselle's abilities allow him to control Shinigami even if they're still alive and conscious. But the fact that Toshiro isn't resisting could possibly mean that he is dead or merely too weak to stay conscious, considering that he was stabbed through the chest and sliced by Sternritter H and then he had to fight Cang Du (I think that's his name).
I'm pretty happy with the results of this chapter. I may have some facts incorrect but considering that the manga is not complete, you can't blame me. I'm still not sure whether Giselle is male or female, thanks to Yumichika.
So, please enjoy. Do you have any ideas for what will happen in the later chapters? Feel free to review and give me your suggestions.