A Redundant World
By: Ryu-Takehshi
The orange haired boy and his two younger sisters slumped down the stairs of the orphanage dragging their luggage behind them. They were finally leaving the place that the three of them loathed to the very core. They hated every shattered window, every creaking door, and every drop of murky tainted water…
Chapter 1: Memories
There were three very vivid memories that the boy thought were going to stay in his mind forever.
One was the first day he and his sisters arrived at the orphanage. What were a four-year old boy and his two 3-month old sisters to do when they are dropped off at a strange place in the middle of the night? The boy had almost no memory of his parents so on the second day at the orphanage, when he received a letter that was addressed to him, you can only imagine the joy that he had.
When he was alone in the solitude of his new room he carefully opened the letter. A small photo drifted out of the envelope and landed on the ground. The boy paid no attention to it as he laid it on his bed. The letter said:
To: Ichiru- pronounced I (as in it) chi (pronounced: she) Ru (as in Rukia)
I am truly sorry to have dropped you off there, but if you stayed here with us, your life and the twins' would be in danger (without the proper training of course.) You will have to be strong and take care of the twins. When they are old enough you may name them whatever you wish! Also when you are of the age of 16, your father and I grant you permission to move into your new home: the shop in the picture. Speaking of which, your birthday is August 31 and the twins' May 22. I'm afraid that is all I can speak of for now…
Always remember to be strong! Best of Luck! Cambateyo! (Good luck in Japanese)
Sincerely,
Your loving mother…
Ichiru treasured that letter for his entire life, but never spoke of it to his sisters. He only mentioned that when he turns sixteen they would be able to leave the orphanage, which was enough for them to know. He named the twins Sayuki and Sakura.
Yesterday marked Ichiru's sixteenth birthday and he was extremely excited to move into the shop, although, he would never show it.
The second thing he remembered happened to him just yesterday. Ichiru was walking back to the orphanage with some groceries. It was his sixteenth birthday and no one cared. His sisters' minds were more pre-occupied with leaving the orphanage to even think about their older brother's birthday.
"Like I care…" he thought to himself.
Suddenly he heard a crash, a loud explosion that came from right in front of him. A huge creature that looked like a giant shadow with a milk-white skull mask stood there facing him. Even though Ichiru had never heard of these words in his entire life he quietly whispered, "A hollow…A Menos Grande!"
He saw a figure of a person in the sky. It was hacking away at the monster's mask with a thin black sword.
The figure yelled, "Kuroshiite, Na Rag Ab Hoshii!" It was a girl…
She landed as the monster seemed to disintegrate, blowing away to nothingness like dust in the wind. She sheathed her sword as she said, "Thanks, Na Rag Ab Hoshii! Good Job!"
The girl looked to be the same age as Ichiru. She had shoulder-length black hair with a single red streak coming down the right side. She was wearing a black kimono that was tied at the waist by a thick white sash. She also wore a fingerless glove on her right hand, but Ichiru paid no attention to that. The mysterious girl turned around to look over at Ichiru, who got lost in her deep red eyes.
But, he managed to say, "W-who are you?"
The girl walked right up to Ichiru so that they were almost nose-to-nose. She stared directly into his bright violet eyes as Ichiru took a step back. He blushed, when suddenly the girl jabbed him in the gut.
"Ow! What the hell did you do that for?" Ichiru complained.
"Did you feel that?" the girl asked in all seriousness.
"No Duh!" he yelled, "can't you see I'm in pain here?"
The girl seemed like she wasn't listening as she asked, "And you can see me and the hollow?"
"Uhh… yeah!" Ichiru said to the girl who was asking the most idiotic questions in the entire world.
"Just who are you anyway!" She exclaimed.
"Didn't I ask you first?" Ichiru yelled back.
There's was a long silence…
"Ryumaru…" the girl said suddenly.
"What?"
"My name, it's Ryumaru. And you are?"
"I-Ichiru…"
The girl smiled. A smile Ichiru would never forget in his entire lifetime.
"Well, I'll see you around Ichiru!" she said happily.
Ryumaru jumped up into the sky and with that she was gone.
The third memory was the only one if his parents. A song called 'Be Strong' that his mother used to sing to him. He remembered the tune and every single word:
Nanika shirakoji tsukatewa
Yaan koto sakete kiteteta
Naiyou nante naiyone
Dono michi no tatsujiinmo
Ichi nichi jinarai tattenai
Sono risozou munenidaki
Muda guchi kikazu
Wakinemo hurazu
Demona kidoshisoude
Nagidashita kunatte
Yowa jiibun nimoke sonna raba
Sonna jiibun torikagoniire
Tanie tsukiatose
So shite kito dariori
Shinjite kureiteru
Yatsura no tame shiino uno tame
Tsuyokunareru
Tsurane kyaiisa
It was Ichiru's favourite song, because whenever he sang it to himself he always felt stronger. Like his parents were right there beside him telling him, 'keep going! On day you'll get there!' And Ichiru knew his parents would never lie to him.
Chapter 2: Funny Meeting You Here!
The three kids sat themselves down in the seat of the taxi. Ichiru made the two girls wait there until he and the taxi driver loaded everything. Ichiru was always protective of his sisters and after a while the girls just had to accept it.
Ichiru showed the driver the picture of the shop and with that they were off. Neither of them dared to look back at they orphanage they all dreaded so much and chose only to look forward.
After about an hour of driving, Sayuki called out, "There! There it is!"
The driver pulled over and helped Ichiru unload everything. The driver, then, took his leave as the kids stood in front of a beaten down shop. A man and woman awaited them at the door.
The man was wearing a green kimono top and green track pants. Over it was a long black jacket that had pictures of white diamonds in the bottom. He also had a mess of blonde hair tucked under a green and white vertically striped hat. He held a wooden cane that had a small slit near the curve of the handle and the word 'Behime' carved into it.
The woman, who was dark-skinned, had long black hair in a large ponytail. She wore an orange top and black Capri's
"Welcome!" she exclaimed. The couple led the kids into their home as a younger man and woman appeared. They looked to be about several years older than Ichiru. The boy had spiky red hair where as the girl had black hair in big pigtails on either side of her head.
"Jinta, Ururu, would you please show our new housemates their rooms?" the man asked as he gestured the kids to follow one or the other. Ichiru followed Jinta as the girls walked off in the opposite direction.
"Here's your room!" Jinta said as he pointed to Ichiru's quarters. Ichiru threw his bags in as Jinta added, "You're not a freeloader are you?"
"What?" Ichiru asked.
"Oh never mind!" Jinta replied, "C'mon we should probably star heading back now."
"Here are your rooms..."Ururu said quietly.
"Thank you!" Sayuki smiled.
"Yeah thanks!" Sakura added.
They gently placed their bags on the floor then turned to walk back to the dining room without saying a word.
They all met at the dining table so they could talk. The man had asked Jinta and Ururu to tend to the shop while he and the woman conversed with their new houseguests.
Ichiru was the first to speak the question that was also in his sisters' minds, "Are you our... parents?"
"No, No you've got it all wrong!" the man smiled, "We're just friends with them.
"Right!" the woman added, "I'm Yaruichi and this is Uruhara Kiskue!"
"O-okay..." Sayuki said to herself.
"Now," Yaruichi started, "I'm absolutely sure you all have questions, so just ask over the weeks you'll be living here and we'll see if we can answer them."
"Wait, weeks?" Ichiru exclaimed, "Aren't we staying here till we're old enough to move out?"
"Well, let me explain, "Uruhara started, "your parents asked me and Yaruichi to train you three along with our daughter so you'll be able to… visit them."
Ichiru heard the word 'train' and thought back to what the letter said.
Sakura gave Mr. Kiskue a quizzical look, "Why would we need training to visit them?" she asked.
The couple's faces became very serious.
"Have any of you ever heard of a hollow?" Yaruichi asked.
Ichiru looked shocked and everyone noticed.
Suddenly, there was a thump on the wall as if someone threw something at it.
A voice yelled, "DAD! I found Kon in my closet again!" It was a voice Ichiru knew too well.
The door slammed open as Ryumaru came into the room. She was holding a loin plushie and a tiny green ball. Her facial expression was like someone just sprayed her with a water gun and she was just about to destroy that person.
"Dad, I'm going to put Kon in the box with Ririn and Claude. Okay?" she asked.
"This is our-"Uruhara started.
"Ichiru!" Ryumaru exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"
"Ryumaru," Yaruichi asked her daughter, "How do you know Ichiru?"
"Oh yeah," Ryumaru smiled, "I forgot to tell you, we met the other day when I went to go fight the hollow…"
Uruhara sent Ichiru a sharp look, "So you have seen a hollow…" he turned to face his daughter, "And you just happen to forget to tell us!"
"He he, my bad?" Ryumaru smiled.
"Anyway," Yaruichi started, "It's time to start your training all of you!"
Ryumaru and Ichiru nodded silently.
Sayuki and Sakura gave a confused look at each other but nodded anyway.