I blame this thing on the impending release of Akito the Exiled 5, which has pulled me back into the Code Geass Fandom. I apologize for the insanity, as well as a certain very tragic backstory (I'm not sure where it came from and hopefully I'm dealling with this correctly.) Also, let's just pretend that certain names mentioned here are Britannian and not Japanese.
Warning: Implied sexual assault.
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass or Bleach. If I owned Code Geass, all the the knightmare names would have double meanings aluding to the role their pilots play in the story. If I owned Bleach, it would all be about Karin and Toshiro.
Toshiro Hitsugaya, arguably the most skilled knightmare pilot in area 11's regular army, really needed a nap. Between his military duties and schoolwork, he was constantly going without adequate sleep and working at all hours of the day. His work kept him away from class for days at a time while he tried to root out terrorists like the Black Knights. Whenever he finally got time off, he would have use it to makeup all the work he'd missed for class.
"Rangiku!" Toshiro called out to his closest subordinate. He was sitting at his work desk, a rare occasion, but one that he felt inspired productivity on his part.
A red-haired woman poked he head around the door to his office. "Yes, Captain?"
"Have you finished your paperwork yet?" Toshiro asked. His squad had participated in a short skirmish with the Black Knights the evening before, and although nobody was badly hurt, they were required to submit reports on the incident.
Reports that Rangiku always avoided doing.
"Uh, what paperwork, Captain?" Rangiku asked innocently.
Toshiro shot her a death glare.
Rangiku didn't even flinch. She may respect her captain more than the majority of the other officers, she still used every method possible to avoid paperwork. "Come on captain, it isn't due until 2100 hours. It's only 8:30 in the morning."
Toshiro's eyes widened at the mention of the time. A quick glance at his watch confirmed her statement. Damn. I'm officially late. If I hurry, I might make it in time for the 2nd class. I should have set an alarm when I decided to get that report out of the way when I woke up early this morning.
"I need to get to school. I'll be back by 1700 hours, I expect that report to be on my desk ready for me to sign, or I'll personally sit down and make you write the stupid thing." Toshiro threatened his subordinate while he gathered his schoolbag and ran out of the military base.
"Have fun at school, Captain!" Rangiku waved.
Toshiro ran to the train station, hoping that the timing was right for him to get the next one to Ashford Academy. It was highly unusual for someone to become a captain in the Britanian military without finishing high school, but then again, Toshiro was a very unusual soldier period.
In addition to being the youngest captain on the force and a prodigy at knightmare combat, Toshiro was an Honorary Britannian. That's right, Toshiro's family were originally Japanese and not Britannian citizens. His mother and father had died in the chaos of the invasion, so Toshiro and his sister Momo were taken in by their grandmother. The elderly woman had been all that they had at the time, but in truth, she wasn't able to financially support two growing children. It was a result of this that Momo had decided to take a job as a maid at some noble's palace.
There hadn't been anything majorly wrong with that. I had make sense at the time; although most of the other Japanese considered going to work in the settlement demeaning, when it came down to that or starving to death it was an easy choice. Toshiro's main issue with it at the time had been the fact that his sister was leaving him behind. As time went on and she started going on and on about how amazing the noble was, Toshiro grew to resent the man who had all of his sister's attention instead of him.
That all changed three years ago.
Toshiro will never forget that night. It was raining, but instead of taking the train like she normally did Momo had apparently been required to walk home. She'd showed up at their front door soaking wet and wearing nothing but a bedsheet that clearly belonged in a Britanian household. She had been in too much shock to say anything coherent for a while, but Toshiro was eventually able to make out the phrase "I thought he loved me."
It didn't take much for Toshiro to connect the dots.
Back then, Toshiro ran with a rather… uncivilized crowd. Several of them had connections to terrorists, and one of them was able to get him an outdated, heavily damaged knigtmare someone had scavenged. Toshiro took it to the center of the settlement and started causing havoc looking for the Britannian who'd done that to his beloved sister.
The military stopped him in about 5 minutes. It probably would have only been 1 minute it the person in charge wasn't determined to take him in alive.
That was the first time him met His Highness Prince Isshin shi Britannia. Inside a falling apart knightmare, acting like a raving lunatic. To this day, Toshiro didn't know what the Prince hadn't decided to shoot him on sight, as was Britannia's policy towards terrorist.
Instead, Prince Isshin took Toshiro into custody, sat him down in a conference room, and asked him what was going on. At first Toshiro refused to answer (why would the Emperor's younger brother want to know about him anyway?) but after a series of horrible guesses on the Prince's part Toshiro caved. He told the prince everything about Momo and the nobleman and the other listened. When he was done, the prince said something that has stuck with Toshiro to this day.
"I'm so sorry that you and your sister have had to go through that. That nobleman took advantage of her, but he was only able to do that because of the system Britannia currently operates under. I'm not sure how long it takes, but I promise you I'll find that nobleman and give your sister justice, once I succeed at changing the system. You shouldn't have take on that burden for yourself, your sister wouldn't want you to get in trouble for her sake."
After that, he let Toshiro go under the agreement that he wouldn't engage in any my terrorist activities and that he left the knightmare in military custody. A week later, Toshiro was back, but this time to apply for the Honorary Britannian system. Toshiro told everybody that he had to be the breadwinner of the family since Momo was practically catatonic, but the truth was that he wanted to stay by Prince Isshin's side.
After the mandatory basic training, Toshiro was delighted to find out that not only did the prince remember him, but he'd asked for Toshiro to be transferred to his anti-terrorism task force. From that point on, the prince became Toshiro's primary guiding figure. He personally trained Toshiro, arranged for the old scrap-pile Toshiro had been in when they first met be rebuilt as a proper knightmare, and put his trust in the boy. He didn't get angry at most of the stupid stuff Toshiro did. Even when the other squads' racial slurs got to be too much and Toshiro made the executive decision to bleach his hair so he wouldn't be so obviously Japanese, Prince Isshin just told him he shouldn't be ashamed of his hair. It was Prince Isshin who arranged for Toshiro to start going to high school after finally figuring out just how old the boy actually was. That was also when the prince told Toshiro that he had three kids, including twin girls around his age, probably the only piece of personal information the prince ever openly shared with anyone in his squad.
Those were probably some of Toshiro's fondest memories and he'd treasure them for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, it couldn't last forever. Prince Isshin was assassinated in his home a year ago by what was assumed to be terrorists.
The prince had left explicit instructions about who he trusted to take over his squad in the event of his death, and that was how Toshiro found himself in the position he was today, as the highest ranked Honorary Britannian in Area 11.
Toshiro was really lucky today and caught the train that got him to the academy at 8:45. He may have missed his first class, but at least he had time to get in touch with the teacher and find out what he'd missed. He reached the classroom door at 8:50, just as the teacher was leaving.
"Sir!" Toshiro got the teacher's attention. "I'm so sorry for missing class. I was held up with my military duties."
The teacher nodded; this wasn't the first time Toshiro had to explain his absence in such a way. "I understand. Karin Kurosaki offered to take your homework for you, so you should go talk to her."
"I will, sir." Toshiro breathed a sigh of relief. For reasons she never revealed, Karin had approached Toshiro the day he started school and offered to be his friend. He's a lot closer to her than to anyone else at school, but she'd started becoming distant since he'd become a Captain. He still couldn't figure out why.
Toshiro quickly slipped into the room and took his seat next to Karin. Although he was sure that she'd been awake for the earlier class, Karin now had her head on her desk in an attempt to catch a nap between subjects.
Toshiro saw a stack of papers labled "For Toshiro" on her desk. Carefully, in order to not bother her, he slipped the papers out from under her arm. Just when he thought he had it all the way out, Karin jerked and raised her eyelids.
"Oh, I see you found your notes and homework." She noted.
"Good morning to you too, sleepyhead." Toshiro greeted her.
Karin snorted. "You're one to talk. I saw you nod off during History yesterday, and from the news I know you didn't get to bed until very late last night."
"True, but that's my job so I have an excuse. I still don't know what you do at night that makes you at least as tired as I am." Toshiro countered.
Karin cast him a playful glance. "Wouldn't you like to know? That reminds me, would you mind covering for me during Math today? I have some personal business to take care of."
Toshiro considered arguing with her about the importance of coming to class, but thought better of it. "Alright, I guess I do owe you one."
Toshiro would help out his friend because it was the right thing to do. He'd put down the terrorists and stabilize this area because that's the task Prince Isshin had left him with, and he'd continue to change the system of Britannia from the inside like the prince had planned on doing. Only then would he be able to find the man who hurt his sister.
Karin Kurosaki, also known as Karin shi Britannia, a member of the Black Knights, really needed a break. Since her father's death a year ago she and her siblings had been running themselves ragged trying to get justice. After they had been effectively stripped of their titles and claims to the throne it became obvious that whoever was responsible for their father's death was highly connected in the Britannian hierarchy. It was this development that had led to Karin taking up her place as a Back Knight in the hope of destroying Britannia.
Not that anyone at school knew about this. She and her twin Yuzu had enrolled under their mother's maiden name, and Karin worked hard to keep her double life with the Black Knights a secret from even her family. At first she had been worried that Dad might have said too much to his subordinate, but after getting to know Toshrio she'd determined that Dad must have really avoided talking about his kids at work.
She hadn't anticipated befriending him, though. She could understand why her Dad like Toshiro so much, and had to admit that even now she felt a little torn up about having to fight him in her knightmare.
When Math class finally rolled around at the end of the day, Karin discreetly snuck out of the back of the classroom, sparing only a moment to share a glace with Toshiro confirming that he'd take notes for her. Dad would be pissed if she didn't finish school.
After her daring escape, Karin snuck down to the basement of the school. Not many people knew this, but the school had been built on top of one of the old subway lines. It didn't serve much purpose nowadays, but it certainly was useful for a terrorist trying get to her team's hideout without being spotted. Once Karin got to where a strategically placed decorations crate was placed, she was home free.
When Karin dropped down to the dark subway tunnel, she realized just how dark her escape route was again. Praying that nobody was around to see her, she held up her right hand and activated the power centered in her left eye.
A ball of fire appeared just above her right hand.
"Come on Karin, I know you can make a better fireball than that." A mysterious voice announce from behand Karin, startling her.
"Rukia. Did Zero send you to pick me up?" Karin asked.
The owner of the voice stepped forward into Karin's line of sight. "He worries about you, but I'd be lying if I said I did worry as well. After all, we are accomplices, aren't we?"
Karin sighed. "Whatever. I want to do this quickly. If we time this right, Toshiro will still be in Math and Britannia's response will be crippled. I don't want to fight him more than I have to."
FYI, I originally wasn't going to include that many bleach characters in this and would supplement them with Code Geass characters, but then I started really thinking about this AU and writing it down and everything sorta fell into place. BTW, Ichigo is in this, he's Karin's older brother, another one of Rukia's contractors, and also Zero. Not that Karin is aware of those last two things. Don't bother asking what his Geass is, I haven't gotten that far yet.