Simple Desire: The Beginning (Hitsugaya Toushiro)
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by the genius, Tite Kubo. i only own Amane and my parts of the story and plot.
I came from the 80th district of West Rukongai. You may know it as the absolute worst district in all of Soul Society. In reality, well it was and is just that.
How my family had gotten there, was something that had greatly puzzled the authorities in Soul Society. My parents were good people. They believed in justice, happiness, and obedience to the rulers of Soul Society.
Even though the shinigami had messed up our placement in Soul Society, my parents never resented that shinigami or Soul Society. Naturally, since they believed that, they enforced it upon us as well. By us, I mean my aniki[1] and I. Unfortunately, not bearing a grudge against Soul Society did not improve our situation. In fact, not long after we had entered the soul world, they were murdered. The ruffians of the 80th district were too violent for my peace loving parents to handle.
Though most would usually gasp in shock, I can only look back and see that it wasn't such a big surprise. After all, we lived in the district inhabited almost entirely by villains and criminals. Homicides, suicides, and massacres were common occurrences in the place I called home in my early years. My parent's death occurred when I was about 3. I had died young. I was especially young by Soul Society's standards, considering how slowly souls age. With no guidance, my brother, Rinaiko Hindomo, raised me on his own even though he was only a mere 5 years older than me. He too was just a child, but he knew more about the world than I did and proclaimed it his duty to protect me from its cruelties as well.
I was definitely much better off than most of the other inhabitants of district 80. I had my aniki who loved and cared for me while they just seemed to wait for their death in the dark dense woods. My aniki was a light shinning brighter than the sun in my life. He was witty, cheerful, and carefree, but he was also protective and fierce when it came to defending our freedom and safety. He never backed down and was always so full of courage… in the heat of battle at least. He always joked around and did things to try and get me to smile when I felt down. The only complaint that he would openly voice about our district was that there was too much death and unhappiness floating around which led to my unhappiness, therefore he would always find a way to make me smiles and make me hit him for saying embarrassing and stupid stuff like, "your smile brightens my day". However, even though he was a doofus and would saying stupid things, I always ended up laughing and smiling for him because the smile that he never failed to return would always warm my heart and make me feel like the luckiest girl alive for having such a wonderful brother.
I loved my aniki so very much. He meant everything to me. He took care of me and protected me through the hardest of times. He could have easily abandoned me and gone to live a possibly prosperous life somewhere else as many older siblings had. But he didn't, he stayed with me through thick and thin. He was a hard worker with great dreams. He was honest like he said our parents were.
Luckily but slowly, through the many many years we spent in that district, we were able to obtain an education. Aniki wished he could have been a scholar when he was still amongst the living. Sadly, there are no scholars in Soul Society. In order to get me to study too, he would pull out granny phrases and say something along the lines of "when he was in the other world, he never liked studying and always brushed it off. However, he now regretted those decisions". And though he spoke in a ridiculous fashion, he was perfectly serious and therefore taught me to think everything through thoroughly and cherish everything I had.
And I did.
Though we owned virtually nothing, I had my aniki and I cherished him. He meant everything to me. We both worked hard in learning everything we could get thoroughly.
I began feeling strange pains in my gut around the time I began to resemble a 9 year old. I don't know how old I was exactly considering souls in Soul Society never usually keep track of their age.
"Are you okay?" Aniki would ask worriedly every time I cringed.
"It's okay, I just must have gotten more hurt than I thought when I fell," I would say.
One day about a month after the pain started, I began to feel increasingly dizzy as the pain ate away at me. Was I ill? I hadn't had a fever or thrown up. In fact, all I felt during the past month was that I had little to no energy and always felt pain. That day though, my power to control the pain broke and I fainted in the middle of our makeshift home.
When I woke up, I saw my aniki before me.
"Aniki?" I asked confused at why he had gotten home from work so soon.
"How are you feeling, Amane?" he asked.
I attempted to sit up on my bed of hay but failed and fell back down exhausted of energy. I couldn't speak. I rubbed my very chapped lips against each other, my voice failed. I only managed to shake my head.
"I see, you too, huh?" he said.
I cocked my head slightly in question.
"I'm sorry for not noticing it earlier," he said leaving my side to walk 8 steps to the stove and ladle soup into a bowl.
"Aniki," I said, finally finding the strength to speak. "What are you talking about? Stop talking in riddles, it's confusing me."
He held said nothing but held the soup before me, but I shook my head again. "Aniki, it hurts. I don't want to eat. I don't need to eat."
"Please listen to me, Amane, and drink the soup. I promise to answer all of your questions later," he said with a gentle smile.
I hesitated.
It was very hard to refuse my brother when he gave that pure and honest smile.
I was never a person for food, but on second thought. I stopped and breathed in gently through my nose. It did smell strangely enticing. I took a smile sip at first and couldn't hold myself back from taking more. "Since when did your cooking get to be this good?" I asked between gulps of soup. He laughed slightly then prepared and ate some himself.
After I was full, I fell back down on my bed. "How does your stomach feel now?" he asked. "Stomach?" I asked confused. It was just then that I noticed how my gut no longer ached.
"I feel great, like nothing's ever happened," I admitted.
"That's good, now you can ask your questions," he said. Immediately I began.
"Aniki, what's a stomach?" I asked.
"It's where food goes when you eat it," he said as he explained the whole digestive process to me.
"Aniki? What was the pain I felt?" I asked.
"I'm sure you've heard of it." He said ruffling my hair "It's called hunger,"
"Hunger? You meant that thing that happens to live humans? But that doesn't exist in Soul Society."
"You're correct Amane but that only applies to regular souls. If a soul, like yours, continuously uses up spirit energy, then they need to eat in order to maintain their strength," he said.
"Do you feel hungry too, aniki? Is that why you've been eating like a horse for a long time" I asked with 9 year old innocence.
"That's mean, Amane, comparing your, lovely aniki to a horse," he joked pulling at my cheek. I stuck my tongue out at him. When he finally let go of my cheek, he answered.
"Yes, mine start a few years ago and I was confused too, when it happened. There's nothing to worry about."
"So I was right, that is why you eat so much," I mumbled with a sweat drop. "Aniki don't souls who have special spirit energy become shinigamis?" I asked.
"Yep! I see you've been keeping up with your studies," he doted.
"Idiot, it's common knowledge," I said jabbing my finger at him.
"So, why haven't you applied to shinigami academy yet? It's probably your only way out of this place," I said waving my hand around the rundown shack before noticing what I said.
"I thought about that too, but then decided not to since I would be leaving you behind," he said seriously.
"You don't mean… you gave it up for me?" I asked.
"Yep, at least until your spirit energy started appearing. I was sure it would be there. I didn't expect it to be this soon though," he said.
"Idiot! What if it had never shown?! Would you have just stayed here all your life?!" I shouted.
"I had faith in you Amane. You're a very talented person. I don't think it's possible for you to not have it." He said.
I quieted down.
"Aniki, now that I have it. Can we leave this place? Let's apply for shinigami academy. It's the only way for either of us to get better," I said.
He nodded.
"You do understand the prejudices that we'll be faced with since we're coming from the 80th district right?" he asked.
I nodded. How could I not know?
"We'll have to deal with it. It's not like we're bad people. We're just going to have show them that we can be better than some snot nosed aristocrats," I said in all seriousness, even so my aniki burst out laughing.
I sighed.
"Aniki, sometimes you always seem to act more childishly than I do." I stated shaking my head but couldn't help but smile just a little.
"I can't believe they actually accepted us or at least me," I muttered to my aniki.
"Why not? As you said we are good people and at least I know you practiced a lot," aniki replied while we walked together to our classes. I had somehow managed to enter the academy although I was so young. "Oh, and by the way," he fidgeted.
"What?" I asked.
"Ah well, I'm in the class that's 2 levels above yours," he said with a lopsided grin. I stopped in my tracks, first to gaze at him in shock and then to glare at him hatefully.
"'Oh, and by the way'?" I mimicked in an evil tone. "You cheap idiot! You couldn't have told me earlier now could you?! How could you leave me alone!?" I demanded jumping on his back.
"Practice," he chocked out as I strangled him with all of my strength.
*GONG**GONG*
As the bell rang, I was forced to release him.
"Meany, I'll get you later," I mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.
"Later! Have a good day!" he said cheerily, as usual.
"Of course, he has no trouble making friends or learning things," I thought straightening my hair and walking into my classroom. I was slightly tired from staying up all night and studying. I didn't want to be seen as a complete rookie. So I had gone through 2 giant textbooks to memorize all of the kido(demonic magic) attacks there were. Then I had to go back and learn how to control my energy so that I could learn at least one. All the while my aniki was out greeting people dorm neighbors.
How's that for proving that I'm not completely inexperienced?
…
I think I may have over done it a little though.
'Yeah, just a bit,' I thought as I twisted my arm and pain shot through it. 'Stupid arm, that was only one night of work too,' I whined mentally as I sat down ready to start class at any point and time.
*-*-*-*-*-*
Translations
[1] Aniki: elder brother
I will almost always use aniki in place of big brother so learn what it means.
Finally! I have gotten around to reposting part of this. I'm also beta-ing it along the way so be aware of changes. Hopefully, it'll flow smoother now. I'm sorry!
-Aisumi
