Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach
Rating T (I guess, I'm never good at determining this stuff…
Summary: He was a runaway royal guard, and a badass from hell, but she found a way to touch his heart. She changed him. And now, just so that he could stay by her side, he will take on the world.
Pairings: Isshin/Masaki.
Mini author note:
"Hollow" – normal talking in the outside world (anywhere other than Isshin's inner world) and Isshin talking inside the his inner world
'Hollow' – Isshin thinking
'Hollow'– Zanpakutou talking to Isshin while Isshin is in the outside world. Zanpakutou thinking in the inner world.
"Hollow" –Zanpakutou talking.
(Hope this wasn't too confusing, roll for it!)
-Scathing Moon Rising-
Chapter one – Enter: Kurosaki Isshin!
It was another moonless October night. The heavy clouds covered the sity of Karakura, and lightnings tore across its sky.
High above ground, two figures fought.
"Ready to give up now, 'hero'?" A woman dressed in a black Shihakushō taunted, mockingly, as she disappeared from the man's sight, only to reappear behind him.
The black haired shinigami dodged to the right, as an oversized claymore swooshed pass his left shoulder, grazing the skin. The man lashed outward with his zanpakutou. She blocked with the broad side of her blade, then raised her left hand, with palm stretched out towards him.
The man instinctively jumped back.
"Gotcha there!" The red-haired woman laughed, as she pointed her palm at the ground. The man couldn't see her face, since a bone mask hid it, but he could tell that she was having the time of her life.
And that pissed him off greatly.
"Sure you wanna do that? Fire a Cero at the town, and there'll be no going back."
Her palm glowed red.
"CERO!"
A column of destruction exploded towards the unsuspecting people of the town below. Seconds later, in a blinding flash it detonated.
The woman scoffed, but her feeling of triumph didn't last long. Once the smoke cleared, she saw the young shinigami standing some twenty meters above the ground. His arms seemed burnt, and most of the top of his Shihakushō was now ash. Even though he coughed blood, he had a wicked grin on his face, like he was sure of the outcome.
"Some hero you are, getting your ass blown up like that!" She mocked. Her eyes went wide behind her mask, as his zanpakutou buried itself into her chest. "Fuck!" She screamed, coughing blood.
"There's a reason Vasto Lorde are to stay in Hueco Mundo, you know." He whispered in her ear.
"Fuck you!" She yelled out, at the same time trying to bite into his jugular. He moved his head a bit further away. She swung her claymore at him, but he caught her wrist with his hand. "Fuck you asshole! Vasto lorde are stronger than any shinginami!"
Their eyes meet.
In them, she saw an ocean of power, just boiling to get out, to wash over her like a tide, and erase her from existence. Suddenly, as realization struck her, she started to struggle – no longer bent on killing the man, but to get away, back to the Hueco Mundo. She knew he wouldn't pursue her if she were to get inside a garganta. She tried to punch him in the face, to break away, but he simply moved his head out of the way, then twisted his blade, which was still lodged in her chest.
The hollow let out a harrowing scream.
"That's for killing my partner and taking his Shihakushō." He said with a smile, then ripped the blade out, cutting through her side.
She plummeted to the ground.
"Eh? Done already?" The man asked. "Boring~!" He shunpoed down.
The Vasto Lorde was crawling on her arms and knees. As he walked closer, he could see that the left side of her mask had broke away, revealing her pale face, now smeared in blood.
He stepped in front of her, then kneeled.
"Who… Who the fuck are you?" The hollow asked.
"Isn't that obvious?" He asked, leaning forward. As he did so, she noticed a small silver pendant, suspended on a silver chain around his neck.
She saw the kanji that was engraved in it. Her eyes went wide with horror, as she read it.
"W-Who…?"
He pressed his finger on her lips.
"Kurosaki Isshin, Royal Guard…" He said cheerfully, as if he had just made a friend. The hollow stared at the silver pendant, like it was a marking of the messenger of hell. He then whispered a single word. "Byakurai…"
O-O-O
"Well, that's the end of that…" Isshin muttered silently, as he returned into his gigai. Picking up the umbrella he left lying beside the artificial body, he opened it, just as the first raindrops fell. With his other hand he took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket, then pulled one cigarette out of it with his teeth. Putting back the rest of them in his pocket, he got out a pack of matches.
Seconds later, a small cloud of smoke enveloped his face, as he sighed in relief. As he walked by a store, he saw his cleanly shaved face.
'Heh, I knew I looked better with a beard…' He let out another puff of smoke. He pulled up an exact copy of the pendant he wore when he moved like a shinigami, looking at it with a smile.
'Good thing I remembered to bring this thing with me…' He chuckled, knowing that he just managed to outsmart his trackers again.
Ever since Kurosaki Isshin deserted from the Royal Guard, his superiors, namely the Zero Division, had sent trackers to hunt him down and bring him back. At first, it was no biggie. Isshin could easily outrun and, whenever there was a fight, overpower them.
And for full three months, he was doing just fine. It was only now that his superiors smartened up, and showed up themselves.
Isshin still remembered when he first set his eyes on one of the thirteen elite guard a few days ago. She was the former taicho of the Twelfth division, Hikifune Kirio. Seeing her was enough for him to shit his pants.
He stopped at a street crossing, waiting to get a green light.
"It's one hell of a miracle I got to keep my head that day." He muttered. Kirio was one freakishly frightening woman.
After that incident, he decided to flash his pendulant in front of any hollow he was about to kill, and to make it as theatrical as possible, so that the memory of the image of the Zero Division's insignia would remain burnt into the mind of the hollow, should the Royal Guard ever decide to do an autopsy – and memory scanning was one of the many procedures they performed.
Also, keeping constantly on the move helped to keep him off the radar.
He chuckled as he let out another big whiff of smoke. Two young women that passed him, giggled. As they stepped inside of a bar, they gave him a small wave.
Isshin raised his eyebrow.
'Why not?'
O-O-O
As sunlight broke through the window blinds, Isshin groaned, closing his eyes as tight as he could, burying his face into the pillows.
"Ah… fuck… That's why not…" He opened his eyes, slowly, and looked around the room.
Hangover is a bitch.
'Ohhh, my head…' He sat up, shaking his head. As he looked down, he realized that he was stark naked.
"How much did I drink last night?" He tried to rub his forehead, but realized that his right arm was handcuffed to the bed. 'Do I even wanna know?' He saw a whip on the nightstand.
Next to him, both young ladies laid asleep, just as naked as he was.
"Ahhh… shit." He chuckled as he laid back down on the bed. With his hand cuffed, he wasn't going anywhere – why not enjoy it?
O-O-O
Miyamoto Musashi stood on the top of Tokyo Tower. With a perpetual frown, he observed the metropolis beneath him. He wore a standard shingami Shihakushō, and over it, he wore a white haori with the insignia of the Royal Guard -零. On his right shoulder, he had a steel shoulder-guard, which was engraved with the symbol Two that represented his position in the Guard.
"Awfully lonely up here, isn't it, Miyamoto?" Asked the young looking man that walked up behind him. Miyamoto looked over his shoulder. The younger man had long, curly blond hair, along with a pair of blue eyes. His face clearly indicated that he was not from Japan.
"Achilles." Miyamoto named the man.
Achilles chuckled. "You know, you're gonna have to get used to having foreigners in the Guard sooner or later." Miyamoto looked away. "I mean, It's not like I've been in the Guard longer than you…" Achilles grinned. "Actually, now that I think of it…"
"Shut up." Miyamoto said. He well knew that Achilles was the oldest member of the infamous Zero Squad, second to only the Captain-commander of the entire Guard, the only person to outrank Miyamoto. Along with the Captain-commander who held the first seat, he and Achilles who was fourth seat, there were ten more warriors, who together formed the Zero Squad. Those beneath were just Guardsmen.
"Do we know where that good-for-nothing fifteenth seat went to this time?" he asked.
"Who?" Achilles asked. "Oh, you mean Kurosaki?" He smiled. "Not that far from here, to say the truth. He's in Karakura."
"Excellent. Send twelfth and fourteenth to take him down."
Achilles turned to leave.
"Sure thing boss."
O-O-O
People gave Isshin strange looks, as he walked past them. He rubbed his sore cheek, painfully aware of the palm-shaped bruise on it. He laughed, then pulled out and light another cigarette. He was heading towards one place he knew he could get what he needed – Urahara's shop. That was the name the local shinigami gave him, when Isshin slapped him senseless. It was the unofficial place where the shinigami went to whenever they needed gear or supplies when they operated somewhere on the territory of Japan. Truth be said, there was another shop in Tokyo center, but since this Urahara guy was an underground character, his prices were cheaper – not to mention that, since the guy was on the run from Soul Society himself, he wouldn't report Isshin, should he go there.
He stated to whistle.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, he stood in front of a small wooden store, with large sign saying 'Urahara Shoten'.
Isshin walked up to the door, than knocked. He was very surprised when a short, black-haired kid opened the door.
"Are you Urahara?" Isshin asked.
The boy yawned, then turned around and walked back inside.
"Boss! You got a customer!"
A man with messy blond hair emerged from a small opening in the floor – probably a hatch that lead to the basement, Isshin thought. Amusingly, he had a striped bucket hat on that hid his gray eyes within a shadow, making him look mysterious, but comical at the same time.
"Mornin' shinigami~san~!"
When Urahara pulled out and opened a small green fan, Isshin jumped forward slamming his elbow into the man.
Urahara stumbled back then grabbed his cane with his right hand – with his left he grabbed his face.
"I can't believe I got an elbow in the face! And this early in the morning!" He muttered out through his hand, as his nose started to bleed. "What's your problem?"
Isshin grinned nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Sorry 'bout that… The last person to pull out a fan at me had poison darts hidden in it."
Urahara nodded with understanding.
"So… Omnitsukidō's after you, then? Didn't expect to see a fellow renegade this early in the morning… C'mon in."
As Isshin followed the geta-bōshi into the shop, he realized that there was a black cat giving him the suspicious look.
"What? Want milk?" He scoffed, then threw the cigarette butt at the animal. The cat simply moved its head out of the way – the rest of its body remained perfectly still.
'Okay… That… was creepy…' Isshin thought to himself.
He continued to walk after Urahara, but no matter what, he couldn't shake the feeling that the odd cat was still watching him.
O-O-O
A young man walked down busy street. His clothes were a mixture of white and blue, and his hair was dark brown, with a few gray strands here and there. On his face, he wore a pair of glasses. On his back, he carried a student's backpack. His name was Ishida Ryūken, and he was a student of medicine, spending his days in his studies, so that he could save lives one day.
But today was not one of those days.
Today, the one that swore to protect the sanctity of life was out hunting.
Hollows and shinigami – the dead made little difference to him. Hidden in the sleeve of his right hand, a small cross hung off of a silver chain bracelet. It was this tiny trinket that made the man such a force to be reckoned with. It was a cross of the Quincy, a powerful hollow-slaying artifact, of unsurpassed craftsmanship quality, the ways of its creation long lost to the winds of time.
Ryūken could feel the presence of over thirteen hollows, several blocks away in the Karakura city park. But there was no reason for him to hurry; the hollows were well occupied by the three shinigami that tried to stop them. Not that they were that successful at it, with one of the shinigami getting devoured that very moment, and the other two obviously exhausted and about to become meals themselves.
He knew that Soul Society would send reinforcements to relieve the small team – but they wouldn't get there before he does.
Quickening his pace ever so slightly, he continued in the direction of the battle.
O-O-O
"Dodge! Mitō-san!" One of the shinigami yelled out. The shinigami in question, Mitō did his best to comply, but screamed as the hollow's claw tore through his sword arm. He was quickly swarmed by five hollows and immediately torn to shreds.
"Mitō-san!" The petite girl screamed, seeing her friend's demise. She stretched out her hands, holding her zanpakutou in front of her, with its tip pointing at the ground.
"Hadō no go-jū hachi, Tenran!" As soon as she finished spell, a large whirlwind funnel shot from the sword to the cluster of hollows, who were still feeding off of her friend. The blast tore all five of them to shreds.
The girl sighed, but then screamed in pain, as her left hand was bitten off by a large crocodile-like hollow.
"Hadoō san-jū ichi, Shakkahō!" The hollow was instantly destroyed by the explosion.
The girl fell to her knees, gripping the bleeding stump of her arm, crying. Her partner, ran to her side, readying his zanpakutou.
The hollow's encircled them.
"Matsuri." He called out her name.
"Nii-san…" She answered back, watching at her brother's back through teary eyes.
"I have to release my zanpakutou…"
The girl waved her head. "But you've only learned its name a week ago, Fujimaru-nii-san!"
The teen chuckled darkly.
"Got a better idea?" He swallowed down hard, tightening his grip on the zanpakutou's hilt. He raised his zanpakutou in the air. "Hirameke…"
O-O-O
Isshin stood on top of a building overlooking the park, observing the young shinigami struggling to survive the onslaught of the overwhelming number of hollows. At one point, he felt like applauding to the short blond girl, when she managed to take out a number of hollows in a single strike, only to wince when he saw her loose her arm.
'Shit…' he thought to himself, 'Isshin… why'd ya have to be such a sucker when girls are concerned?' He unsheathed his zanpakutou. Despite its appearance, it was one of the few zanpakutou that were in full-time release, 24/7.
'Just one swing… Just one swing and I'm done.' He tried to reason with himself. 'I won't risk appearing on either the Soul Society's or Royal Guard's radar. So, just one swing…'
He raised his zanpakutou, Engetsu, high into the air, then visualized his target. The girl screamed and the boy raised his zanpakutou, as the hollows pounced at them.
Isshin slashed down seven times.
When he looked down at the park, he saw the two young shinigami franticly looking around themselves, as the entire park became covered in seven deep canyons.
Isshin bit his lip, shutting his eyes.
"Woops…"
O-O-O
Half an hour later, the park was swarming with shinigami of all ranks, as both the reinforcements and medical officers arrived to the field, accompanied by a substantial number of Omnitsukidō's operatives that were actively searching the surrounding city blocks in an attempt to locate the cause of the canyons. The leader of the reinforcements approached the two wounded shinigami. When the two medical officers of the Fourth Division stood up to live, he told them to stay. They immediately did so, and returned to their attempts to restore the girl's left arm. The boy that sat next to her also had several injuries on his body, but none were life-threatening, and were already taken care of.
The commanding officer kneeled in front of the blond boy. He was pale skinned, and he had spiky raven-back hair, and aqua-green eyes.
"How are you feeling, Kudō Fujimaru?" He asked with a small smile.
"I-I'm feeling… better." The boy bowed down, only to have the officer grab him by the hair and pull him back up out of the bow.
"What did I tell you 'bout doing that sorta thing, Fujimaru?"
"Sorry, Shiba-fukutaicho! It won't happen again!"
"You're doing it again, asshole!"
The boy winced.
"Sorry, Kaien-dono."
"Psh… ahhh, forget it." Kaien sat down on a small pillow one of the shinigami that were present handed to him. "So, Fujimaru… What can you tell me about your little case of 'divine intervention'?"
"It came out of nowhere, Kaien-dono." Matsuri said, diverting everyone's attention onto herself.
"Did you recognize the reiatsu?" Kaien asked.
"No, Kaien-dono… We did not."
Kaien rubbed his chin, than asked another question.
"I know your brother isn't very good at this but, if you ever encountered it again, could you recognize it?"
"I'm sorry, Kaien-dono." Fujimaru raised his eyebrow, giving her a surprised look, but said nothing. "I'm afraid that with my injury, I wasn't able to memorize the reiatsu since it lasted for only a few seconds."
Kaien gave them a disappointed look, but then smiled and ruffed their hair.
"Don't worry yourselves about it anymore. For your first mission in the living world, you two did great." He stopped, as if he was thinking.
"You know, I just realized that this town no longer has a shinigami stationed here anymore. I think I'll assign…" He looked down at them, noticing that they were giving him pleading looks. "I WASN'T GONNA SEPARATE YOU!" He quickly yelled, shaking his head. "Seriously, you kids these days…" lowering the tone of his voice back to normal, he continued, "What I was gonna say was that I'm going to assign the two of you to be its temporary shinigami – after you recover!" he quickly added.
Seeing the happy smiles on the twins faces, Kaien smiled at them, then turned around and left.
…
Once the twins were finally alone, Fujimaru turned towards his sister.
"Why'd you lie to him, Matsuri? There's no way a pro like you would fail to remember someone's reiatsu once you felt it!"
The girl looked at the ground at her feet, embarrassed that her brother had seen through her lie so quickly. That didn't stop the small blush form appearing, as she heard him praise her skills.
"Nii-san, you've seen the Omnitsukidō's operatives here, right? Why are they here?" She asked.
Fujimaru shrugged.
"That's my point! It's just a hunch, but I think that they are after whoever saved us… and I don't want to be the bitch that repays people like that…" She looked her brother in the eyes. "What are you going to do now, Fujimaru-nii-san?"
The boy held his head in his hands, groaning.
"Damn it! I hate lying to Kaien-dono!"
The girl nodded.
"I know." She said. "I hate it too…"
"But you're right this time, Matsuri. I don't want to be that type of trash either…"
She took her brother's hand.
"So, what will we do now?"
He smiled, like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"Easy! We'll just have to find the person who did it ourselves!"
O-O-O
All the time the shinigami occupied the park, Ishida Ryūken stood at its edge, keeping his reiatsu signature to its absolute minimum, while standing in a large crowd that was observing the geologists trying to piece things together, oblivious of the number of shinigami that were conducting their own investigation at the same time.
'Damn, this is going nowhere!' He listened to a reporter that stood close to him, as the man gave his report, blubbering on about everything from localized earthquakes to alien invasions.
"I thought I might find you here, Ryūken."
Ryūken turned to face the person.
"Sōken."
The older man chuckled.
"Why are you addressing your own father in such an unrespectful manner?" Seeing Ryūken frown, Sōken smiled. "Don't worry about it, I did the same to my father when I was your age," he said, "but make sure you remember this moment when your own son does the same to you."
Ryūken scoffed.
"Not like I'm getting married any time soon, old man. Are you getting senile in your old age?" His father continued to smile, as if he was unaffected by Ryūken's words.
"Perhaps you're not… but life is like a book. Once you turn the page, you never know that you'll find." He watched as his son turned to leave. "Where are you going, Ryūken?"
"Whoever saved those two shinigami was definitely not with the reinforcements of Soul Society. I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
Sōken sighed, giving up.
"Just try not to get to the bottom of the river, son."
O-O-O
(That evening…)
Isshin waltzed inside Urahara's shop, brushing off the red lipstick marks that he had on his cheek, as a group of his new found drinking friends dropped him off. Before he closed the door behind him, he gave them a wave goodbye and walked inside. He walked through the store, and went to the back of the shop, where Urahara lived.
"Oi! Geta-bōshi!" No one answered. "Where are ya, Bucket-hat?" The cat that he saw earlier that day was still there, lying under the window. Its yellow eyes followed Isshin whenever he would enter the room, creeping him out.
"What's matter, lost something, fourteenth-san?"
Isshin didn't waste time trying to find the source of the voice that spoke out of the dark, but immediately ejected himself out of his gigai and drew Engetsu. He recognized the voice.
"Fourteenth-san…" he replied. Out of the darkness he heard a chuckle. "Saeko-san? Why don't you step out into the light, so that we can have a toast? I know you've missed me…" Instantly, he felt a sharp pain below his right knee, and the warm, sticky liquid that began to soak his Shihakushō.
The woman laughed cheerfully.
"Sure, I'll step out… But we'll have to postpone the celebration until after my job is complete."
Isshin decided to play dumb.
"And what that might be, darling?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Isshin felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck, as he heard the sound of a zanpakutou being drawn. He gulped down.
'Her zanpakutou uses shadows… and she outranks me in the reiatsu department… Guess I'll have to play dirty for now…'
"Then why don't we at least loose this shadowy environment, so that I can at least see that pretty face of yours?"
Somehow, he was sure that she was getting ready to pounce.
Faster than the eye could follow, Isshin stabbed the wooden floor beneath his feet.
"GETSUGA TENSHOU!"
O-O-O
A/N: And it is complete! The very first chapter of my newest creation – "SCATHING MOON RISING"!
I guess that now I have a number of things to explain here.
Let's start with the title. "Scathing moon" is the translation of the name of Isshin's sword, Engetsu.
I actually debated with myself should I, or should I not do an 'Origin story' that I was planning for some time now, and ultimately decided to do it, since if I wait any longer, Kubo will beat me to it~! (As far as I managed to figure out, the new arc in manga will also reveal a portion of Isshin's past. If I waited for that to happen, my own story would become irrelevant and dwindle down to a what-if type of story – nowhere as nearly as interesting, once the subject is covered by the canon, don't you agree?)
My plans for this story are already mostly set in motion, and I plan to tie in this story to the canon – sort of like a prequel. Also, the things that happen in this story will be reflected upon my other Bleach story – Innocence is a virtue (and no, I have not forgot about it, the third chapter is almost done and will most likely be uploaded soon) as that story also ties into canon (at least it did, till chapter 423 came out…), so anyways, I thought to myself – why not?
Now, regarding Ryūken. I'm making him go through a rebellious stage, similar to the one his son has in canon. And no, I didn't mistake the color of his hair. In Uryū's flashback, when he was remembering his childhood (somewhere in the early episodes/chapters, I can't remember exactly which one), his hair was brown. No one knows why. BTW, he's 20 in this story. (Isshin appears physically to be of the same age)
The Royal Guard! Before I leave I think I should explain them as well. There are twenty six members of the Guard, of which only the top thirteen are members of the "Zero Squad". Those below are just guardsmen. The difference in the uniform is that the Zero Squad members wear proper haori and a right shoulder protector, with the Squad's insignia on their back, while the low ranking members (14-26) are dressed the same way as Isshin. They have the white haori-like cloth tied to their shoulder protector. On the Shoulder protector a number is engraved, indicating their rank. (In case you've missed it, Isshin is ranked fifteenth)
The silver pendant is something worn only by members of the Zero Squad (how Isshin acquired his will be shown in the next chapter).
And while we're still talking 'bout the lovable oaf, how did you like his pre-Masaki personality? I'd like to hear how you feel about that.
Wow that was one long note!
Till next time! Yours truly:
~KuroiTori-sama
PS: Reviews are nice. They don't take more than a minute or two to write, but have the power to brighten up the writer's day tenfold (even more in my case). So, please review.