A/N: All right, so this time I have decided to place two unlikely characters into a pair wit a little bit of a humourous twist to it with a character trope discussion. I am also trying out a new style of writing in this one, so I apologise in advance for any awkward expressions.
Disclaimer: Bleach rightfully belongs to Kubo Tite. All works presented here are purely fan-made and are not related to the original work.
A/N (2): Normal texts are descriptions and actual actions while Italics are thoughts of characters. Bolded texts are telepathy or written messages.
Spoilers: There are spoilers up until chapter 226.
A/N (3): At the end of this section, I have included a glossary that outlines some important terms used in this piece in case if anybody is unfamiliar. Recommended reading the glossary first for those that are not particularly otaku-savvy, since it is important to the understanding of this one-shot.
Tug out the Deredere
It was just a normal day in the Vaizard hideout. As preparation for the upcoming Winter War, the Vaizard constantly trained in order to prepare for battle. Ichigo Kurosaki, the newest addition to the Vaizards was struggling with his training however. Even though Ichigo has an enormous amount of potential and power, he could only tap into a small fraction of that power.
For instance, the first time Ichigo donned his mask, his limit was four seconds. Compared to Mashiro, who held her mask for fifteen hours straight without tiring out, Ichigo looked pathetic. However, throughout the months of training Ichigo has managed to improve his time limit on his mask. Though by a very small margin. From four seconds to eleven seconds was all Ichigo can hold his mask before breaking. Such is the case occurring right now, as his mask shatters again.
The environment was the same old design. A rocky piece of land with a few raised boulders and an artificial sky. Nothing seems to be distinguished except the stairway leading to the upperfloor of the Vaizard hideout. In a way, the training spot is just like a replica of Urahara and Yoruichi's underground training spot.
"Arrgah!" Ichigo yelled out as his mask broke again, which greatly disappointed Hiyori, who is training him.
"Idiot, you're never going to get better that way if ya don't concentrate!" Hiyori yelled, and proceeded to slice Ichigo apart with her sword.
"Shut up! I told you that it would be dangerous!"
"Quit yer whining!" Hiyori finished as she kicked off one of her sandal at Ichigo's face.
Following the sandal slap to the face, Hiyori quickly appeared next to Ichigo and kicked his head, and sent Ichigo flying into a large rock of the secret underground training place. Before Hiyori could further proceed to murder Ichigo, Kensei rang the bell for lunch, which gave Ichigo a lucky break from being completely mutilated by Hiyori. Before the break was over, Rose and Love called Ichigo over for their own reasons.
"Hey, Ichigo, can we talk a little?" Rose said, as Ichigo moved to the spot that Rose and Love always sat.
"What is it?" Ichigo asked, not knowing what these two Vaizards want from him.
"Say, Ichigo. You read stuff like this as well, right?" Love asked, pointing to the Shounen Jump manga he is holding.
"Huh? Yeah I do, didn't know you guys were interested as well..."
"Well, we've been around long enough to enjoy them since they were first released, but since you're also a fan, I have to ask: Do you know what a Tsundere (1) is?" Rose asked calmly.
"Tsundere? Well duh! Who doesn't, so what about it?"
"Then you should have noticed the moment you entered this place... that we have a Tsundere," Love offered, hinting at somebody in their group.
"Huh... oh! You mean Hiyori?"
"Yeah, that's what I am getting at, and look, she has the looks as well: Tsurime (2) eyes and twin pigtails, for sure she's a Tsundere."
"I agree with that, but what's this got to do with anything?" Ichigo asked, not getting the point of this conversation.
"Well you see, the rest of us have never seen her deredere side since we became Vaizards, except maybe Shinji, but even then, it is only for a short time. We were wondering if you could bring out her deredere side," Rose explained, revealing the true objective of the conversation.
"H-huh!? You want me to do such a thing? Why can't you do it yourself?"
"You see, we've been with her for too long, so she won't open up to us. However, since you're new, she seems to have taken a slight interest in you, so we were wondering that perhaps you can draw out the deredere side while you still can."
"Gee, that's kinda hard isn't it..." Ichigo trailed off, as he recalled that he is barely even managing to live around Hiyori, let alone getting her to open up.
"You guys sure you want to attempt something like that?" A new voice from behind said.
The three turned around and saw Shinji, who apparently heard bits of the conversation. "I tell ya, even for Ichigo it's that's suicide... getting Hiyori to open up? Gee, we could all be killed if not careful..."
"I guess that's true... but..." Love trailed off as he thought about what other possibilities there were.
"But the one who actually opens up a Tsundere may claim a great reward; Tsunderes tend to be really tender and soft in bed you know..." Added another familiar voice nearby.
Immediately looking around the area, the group can see that Lisa had been eavesdropping on their conversation the whole time. "Still, if Hiyori has an interest in you, then you should go for it, you won't regret it..." Lisa concluded to Ichigo, which made the boy explode.
"Hey you! Stop it with those perverted thoughts! I'm only fifteen you idiot!" Ichigo yelled at Lisa, who seemed indifferent to what Ichigo has to say.
"Fifteen huh... that's a good time to start thinking about it, and I can teach you a few tricks if you want..." Lisa said, seemingly moving closer to Ichigo.
Ironically, Hiyori saves Ichigo from the situation this time. Slamming her feet into the ground from far away to get Ichigo's attention, Ichigo quickly escapes from Lisa and back into training.
"Hmm, you think we are demanding too much from Ichigo?" Love asked to the rest of the group left behind.
"Who knows, perhaps we are, but only time will tell..." Rose replied as Ichigo got back into battle with Hiyori again.
"Damn it, Hiyori, I almost had him..." Lisa said as she almost trapped Ichigo within her grasp.
"Hey! Since when did you take interest in somebody younger?" Shinji asked, almost disgusted that Lisa would try something like that with Ichigo.
"You don't know it, it's just easier when they are innocent and oblivious..." Lisa mused was she returned to her restricted manga.
"Seriously... I don't even want to know why you're even thinking those kinds of things..." Shinji finished as he left the scene.
The training with Ichigo and Hiyori continued while little words were exchanged, and nothing beyond a couple of insults from Hiyori. Constantly, Ichigo stayed on alert as to avoid being killed by Hiyori's aggressive fighting style.
"Geez, at this rate you'll never improve your reactions, shithead!" Hiyori taunted as Ichigo only grunted.
"Shut up, how am I supposed to improve over your yelling!" Ichigo eventually said, forming his mask and clashing with Hiyori once more.
Of course, being inexperienced at fighting with his new powers, Ichigo is easily defeated by Hiyori again. No matter what Ichigo does, he knew that it would be pointless to fight this one, yet he still engaged in the training for the sake of it. Just how long can I hold out? Ichigo wondered as he is knocked back again by Hiyori.
"Hey, you're really gonna die soon, you sure you want to continue?" Hiyori teased, seemingly offering a resting time, even though she does not intend to stop anytime soon.
"Huh, what's wrong with you? You sound like as if you do care..." Ichigo countered Hiyori as he got up with a smile on his face despite the pain.
Hiyori did not take Ichigo's statement kindly, as she went into frenzy by putting on her mask and glows a threatening aura of death.
"Maybe you guys shouldn't have asked him such a request, looks like he's about to get the shit beaten out of him," Kensei said as he looked to how Hiyori is angry with Ichigo.
"Who knows, he has not improved the time he can hold his mask, so maybe by putting him in a little danger would help... Besides, we have Hachi to fix up Ichigo if needed, right?" Shinji replied as he looked back to Hachi, who is unsure of the 'Tsundere' talk along with Mashiro.
"Hey Hachin, what are they trying to get Berry-tan to do? They know Hiyori is not going to open up, so what makes them think Berry-tan will be able to?" Mashiro questioned.
"I don't know, it appears to be something about that I have no idea about," Hachi admitted.
Meanwhile, Ichigo's back smashed into a few more boulders of rock, clearly outmatched by Hiyori's aggressive power. While Ichigo was just getting up in his half-bloody body, Hiyori calmly removes part of her mask before speaking again.
"Hey, I'll tell you something cool, apologise for that remark earlier and I'll let you go easier..." Hiyori trailed off, emphasising the 'ier' part.
However, Ichigo was not about to give up, even if this is just training. Ugh, they're right, she is just your typical Tsundere... And wow, that really hurt... but... I can see it, those Tsurime eyes... they certainly seem to be filled with loneliness... Ichigo observed while getting up in his stance again and gave off his trademark grin again.
"No way, I know it, you're just afraid to show that you care, so you're violent all the time aren't you? Well, you can stop now, I see right through you..."
Right as Ichigo finished his statement, a flash of red appeared on Hiyori's face, but soon she put on her mask again, and her aura of purple death rose to an even higher level.
"That's it, I'm going to make sure you don't speak a word of this again, shitface!" Hiyori yelled through her mask.
"What? You're the noisy one, shut up!" Ichigo said in response.
"Make me!"
Here it comes, her deredere side is starting to show, maybe I can just chip off her mask, then-- Ichigo thought as Hiyori was already beside him swinging her sword at him. In defence, Ichigo raised Zangetsu and blocked off the attack, but he himself flew a distance. Ichigo continued to roll on the rocky floor, part of his Shinigami robe has been torn off, but nothing was going to stop his determination.
"Was it just me, or did Ichigo actually make progress back there? Did you see Hiyori's expression?" Rose asked, as he noticed that Hiyori is mainly hiding her face with the mask.
"It would appear that way, but... now the main question is, will Ichigo survive long enough to fully tug out the deredere now that he's got Hiyori serious and on the offensive," Love replied, seeing that its a 'make-or-break' situation now.
As Ichigo got up, he formed his mask while using Zangetsu to block Hiyori from stabbing him through. The block was still insufficient to block off Hiyori's power completely though, even during the eleven seconds that Ichigo had his mask. As soon as the eleven seconds was up, Ichigo flies through the air again. Only this time, Hiyori appeared above him and is already swinging her sword down at him with full force.
Why? Why!? This shitface's got a lot of nerve talking about me like that... It's not like he knows about me or anything, but why does he know...? There's no way, I'll bet Shinji, Kensei or some other shitface told him about it during the break... Hiyori thought as swung her sword down with her anger.
"Hey, Emergency!" Shinji said to Hachi as he saw the gravity of the situation.
By the time Hachi noticed, it was already too late to do anything, as Hiyori was already swinging downwards with full strength. To everyone's surprise, as Ichigo raised his sword to block Hiyori's attack, his mask has already reformed.
What? Hiyori thought, surprised at the sudden improvement.
Ichigo noticed the slight weakened force of Hiyori, and quickly acted before his mask broke again. "Getsuga Tenshou!" He yelled, creating a big blast of energy between himself and Hiyori. The blast happens to shatter both the masks of Hiyori and Ichigo. The event seemed to be more surprising for the former and as she flew back on the rocky ground, she breathed out while scanning the area for the latter.
Now's my chance! Ichigo decided, knowing that he would regret this decision but still goes through with it knowing that it would probably finish off what he started earlier. Before Hiyori noticed anything else along with the rest of the Vaizards, Ichigo had already flash stepped behind her and reached a hand to grab the front of her shift.
Shit! Hiyori thought, as she did not know what Ichigo would do next. Only that it came as a surprise to her as she felt her lips connect with another unknown source. Namely Ichigo's lips. This action caused the rest of the Vaizard's eyes to widen, seeing Ichigo brave enough to do something like that.
"He... he actually has the guts to do that!?" Kensei said, in disbelief.
After a few more seconds of silence, Hiyori managed to kick Ichigo away as she gasped for breathe. Now Hiyori's face of redness was obvious to everybody, confirming her present deredere side, even though she would say so otherwise.
"Ichigo... I'm... going to fucking kill you!!" Hiyori yelled aloud. Nobody had dared to do such a thing to her, even though she would not admit that the few seconds of solitude was heavenly.
At once, Hiyori reformed her mask, much to Ichigo's surprise and disappointment. Shit, what do I do now? I've got nothing to defend my self wi-- Ichigo thought as Hiyori already rushed at him.
"We need to save Berry-tan!" Mashiro said, as all the other Vaizards were ready to act, only they stopped as Shinji has gestured them to stop.
"Yo, Shinji, he's really going to die this time!" Kensei protested. Even though he never viewed Ichigo as someone particularly special, even he would not leave Ichigo to die.
"Don't worry, Ichigo's fine..." Shinji assured, as the other Vaizards are left in confusion.
As Hiyori rushed at Ichigo, he stands in his position while Hiyori forced him back onto a rock, where all movement stopped. This time, Hiyori grabbed the front of Ichigo's Shinigami robe, while her mask is now gone along with her aura of death.
"You... How did you... and why... in front of everyone too!" Hiyori said, as she is unable to contain her deredere side with a few tears slipping out.
"It was the only way to make you shut up. Besides, I knew that you cared..." Ichigo replied, hoping that Hiyori would not continue to kill him.
"Fucker..." Hiyori muttered before her head fell down onto Ichigo and eventually the rock behind him broke, where the two of them fell on the ground unconscious.
The training for that day was over, as Hiyori stayed on Ichigo and hiding the emotions from her face while Ichigo lost his consciousness due to exhaustion.
"You're really something else, Ichigo... You've really surprised us all today..." Shinji said over Ichigo and Hiyori's motionless bodies, as he grinned. Certainly, in all of his life, Shinji had never seen anybody been able to get Hiyori to open and live to tell about it. Until today.
Glossary:
(1) Tsundere – Japanese term that generally describes a character who has an outward personality that is cold and seemingly unfriendly. However, the inside personality may be emotional and serious in certain situations. It is formed by combing tow separate words, tsuntsun (The seemingly hostile side and unfriendly side), and deredere (The love struck or emotion side). Another feature that a Tsundere may have is a pair of pigtails, which Hiyori does have. It should be noted that for Hiyori specifically, her deredere side is unknown to be either in a romantic way or just plain lonely.
However, Hiyori's status as a Tsundere is still unclear in Bleach right now, but this is a fanfic with the possibility of idea, so that's how it is in the story. For more solid examples of Tsunderes in other anime/manga series, look at Kyou from Clannad, Kagami from Lucky Star, or even Rukia.
(2) Tsurime - A type of eye-design for anime/manga characters where the corners of the eyes are pointing up. Hiyori has eyes just like that, yet another common characteristic of Tsunderes.