Author's Note: This is my very first fanfiction published on so I apologize in advance for any unsatisfactory writing.
It should be obvious, but I do not own Bleach.
Chapter 1
"Good morning, Hii-chan," sang an all-too-familiar voice.
Good mornings usually begin when you are gently stirred from a restful slumber by the warm, golden midmorning sunlight streaming through a window, accompanied by the musical chirping of birds.
Not when you're forced awake by your spoiled princess of an older sister. And especially if she's calling you "Hii-chan".
I grudgingly pulled the blanket off of my head and glared, albeit groggily, at her.
"What do you want, Kumiko?" I croaked, doing my best to seem menacing. "And don't call me Hii-chan!" I hissed.
"But I just wanted to make Hitomi-chan breakfast," she pouted and held out a steaming bowl of what was I guessed was supposed to be miso soup. At this, I snapped awake and bolted out of my moth-eaten futon. Holding my hands up defensively, I backed a couple of feet away from my sister.
"Why do you have to react like that when your onee-chan was thoughtful and kind enough to help her younger sister?"
My sister placed the bowl on the nearby table, which creaked alarmingly, with a hurt expression that would make most people apologize and coo over her. But I was her sister and saw through the act. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes in suspicion.
"Suuuuure. Whenever you decide to 'make breakfast', you want me to do something that usually ends up to be painful, embarrassing, or both."
"I do not!" she snapped, suddenly breaking out of her façade of angelic sweetness. "I mean," she smiled and regained her composure, "Why don't you eat this while it's still warm?" She gave another radiant smile, but shoved the bowl of hot soup into my hands.
My stomach rumbled loudly, so I hesitantly sipped the miso soup. And promptly spat it out.
"Jeez! What the heck did you put in this? I thought it was supposed to be miso soup! Seriously!"
Kumiko, instead of getting angry, stared down at her bare feet and the peeling tatami mats.
"Wait…did you make that 'soup' out of our emergency reserves?" I asked, a sinking feeling coming over me. When Kumiko gave another ladylike smile, I groaned and did a facepalm. "Do you know how much I had to work at the store to buy those? No, wait—don't answer that. You never work! You can't even comprehend the concept of 'work'."
Completely discarding her sweet sister act, she snarled, "Shut up!" Now her true personality was surfacing. "I don't work because I actually have a life. And why would I get all sweaty and nasty by working? I have a reputation as the Beauty of Rukongai to uphold."
Unfortunately, this was true. Kumiko was famous throughout Rukongai for her good looks. She had a delicate, heart-shaped face and an enchanting smile. With flowing, glossy chocolate-brown hair and impossibly blue eyes, she was an incredible rarity to the hard streets of Rukongai. And she was the complete opposite of me. I was plain and unspectacular. I had untidy black hair that refused to stay up in my customary ponytail, so loose strands constantly tickled the sides of my face. Whereas Kumiko had soft blue eyes the color of the ebbing tide, I had unsettling green eyes that made most people uneasy, including my parents. They constantly chided me for glaring at people, saying my eyes looked "too old for my age". Whatever that was supposed to mean. I was nearly a head taller than my older sister, who was of average height, which made me uncomfortably tall. Kumiko had a curvaceous figure that attracted much male gaze. I, on the other hand, had about as many curves as a toothpick. I still wonder how we're related.
"Yeah, so your younger sister has to break her back doing manual labor just so we can afford to rent this broken-down place, and that's not even mentioning all the crazy part-time jobs!"
I didn't have any social skills or charm (at all), unlike Kumiko, but I was always abnormally strong, able to hold my own against men that nearly doubled me in size. That was the main reason why I was a prized employee of the Sakamoto Odd Jobs of Inuzuri, the 78th district of Rukongai. While Inuzuri wasn't necessarily a "child-friendly" environment—in fact it was an "unlucky" place for anyone without a weapon—it still didn't compare to the 80th district. By working for room and board, I was able to rent out the dilapidated loft above the store. But for money to buy food, I had to do part-time jobs, so it was normal for me to be working from dawn until dusk every day. And even then, we still went to bed hungry a majority of the time.
"Well we wouldn't even be in this mess if it weren't for you!" Kumiko shouted triumphantly. Whenever she used this card, I couldn't help but cave. After all, it was my fault we were in Soul Society because…it was my fault that we died.
Well, that was a short first chapter. I'd like to know what you think about it.
-CodenameOokami
