~Shin No Airen~
Author's notes: Hey all, this is Acradius here with my first serious offering to fan fiction. Just going to go over some basics here and I'll leave you to reading. First and foremost, anything that was created by Kubo Tite, and/or appears as part of the Bleach video games, manga or anime series is copyright to the authors and publishing companies thereof. Likewise, anything created by Masashi Kishimoto, and/or appears as part of the Naruto video games, manga or anime series is copyright to the authors and publishing companies thereof. I do not claim any sort of ownership or rights to any of their products or intellectual property.
Now, onto more upbeat things. This is categorized as a Bleach/Naruto crossover, but I feel that it's beyond pigeonholing into that exact form. Here's a brief list of what you should and shouldn't expect in the chapters of Shin No Airen. If you want to be surprised, or just get bored with my ramblings just skip to the non-italicized text.
Expect: Lots of original characters. The story will revolve around them.
Expect: Mostly Bleach. As in 90% to 95%. This is a crossover, but it's really more "Bleach fic with a light dusting of Naruto."
Expect: Spoilers. If you haven't watched the Bleach anime or read the manga, dear god go do it now. Seriously. I'll wait. ... ... ... Ok, got it? Good.
Expect: Filler Arcs and Movies. A whole lot of people discredit the filler arcs of the anime and the movies as crud (not to mention the entire "Bleach ended after they rescued Rukia" movement). While I'll admit the fillers aren't as great as the main storyline, I enjoyed them and will be involving all of them as canon with the exception of the Zanpakuto Unknown Tales and Gotei 13 Invading Army arcs for plot purposes, and the Fade to Black movie because I haven't got around to watching it. The nice part about the fillers is that they can theoretically take place at any point in the main time line, so some things will happen in an order that makes way more sense than the anime does. This means no epic battle between Ichigo and Grimjow ending with "Stop! Filler time!"
Expect: Pairings. No, I'm not going to spoil them. All I'll say that some are far more obvious than others.
Expect: Japanese naming conventions. Family names will be presented before given names (Kurosaki Ichigo, not Ichigo Kurosaki). I'll do my absolute best remembering my -sans, -samas, -donos, -senseis, -taichous, and -fuku-taichous.
Expect: Violence. Bleach, as a manga and anime generally involves some very painful and bloody solutions to intra-character disputes. While it should be obvious that this isn't the proper method in real life or in all chapters, I really feel that you can't have Bleach without some epic fighting and possible dismemberment (note the M rating).
Expect: a story that runs parallel to the canon presentation. Yes, notable characters from the anime will show up, but they aren't the focal point of the fic.
Do not expect: Ichigo and Naruto to meet, team up, and be the most awesome Jump crossover ever (you can read that sentence with like seventeen exclamation points behind it if you like). It's just not what this is about.
Do not expect: Lemon. Or, for those of you not yet inducted into the Fan Fiction world, porn. I feel neither comfortable, nor qualified writing it.
Do not expect: Yaoi/Yuri. Just because I said some of the pairings aren't obvious doesn't mean that I'm going to 'ship' Ishida and Chad together (or Tatsuki and Orihime, no matter how bad I want to see it too). I don't even claim to know what makes hetero couples tick, so that territory is just a bit too uncharted for me.
Ok, that's officially enough of me rambling. I'll keep stuff short from now on if I can, and it will be mercifully hidden at the end of the chapters from now on. I sincerely hope you enjoy the ride reading this as much as I have writing it!
~Chapter 1~
It felt strange, seeing himself in the mirror like that. Almost like the person that was staring back at him wasn't quite the same guy that rolled out of his bed an hour ago. The uniform looked alright, but as usual his hair refused to cooperate. It was cut relatively short, with a part on the left. Everything to the left of the part was combed straight back, and everything to the right was put over. The result was a professional look that was just the slightest bit different than all the other professional looks out there. Enough of a change to get noticed, but nowhere near so radical as to get him in trouble with a teacher. At least, that was the desired effect. In reality, the hair was a bit unevenly cut, and didn't stay down very well on one side, giving him a semi-permanent cowlick. If he used hair gel, it would look like a helmet, and if he didn't, it would wind up curling back up in the front, giving him a style that was reminiscent of Superman.
Kasumi Taki sighed, rather annoyed. Oh well, it wasn't like his hair was going to matter too much. Besides, with as good as the dark blue blazer looked on him, along with the traditional black slacks, he would blend in pretty well with a bunch of first-year college students, regardless of how off his hair was. In High School, Taki wouldn't have bothered getting all spruced up. He would have thrown on his dress shirt, buttoned it up to the point where he wouldn't get yelled at, and called it good. Apparently, his super-casual style wasn't enough to keep colleges from looking at his grades though.
When you had no family to pester you, and no friends to distract you, it was pretty easy to excel at school, even on top of holding down a job as a courier. The pay was good, and he was in good enough shape to get all his work done early, so that he could go home and study. He was paid by the day, and not by the hour, which was lucky. Taki's boss was also a very understanding guy, so it wasn't too surprising that Mr. Kazuo would give him an easy work load so that he could get back to cracking on his homework.
He had the day off from work today though. Mr. Kazuo decided that it was important for Taki to make a good first impression on his classmates on his first day at Chikao University. Maybe it was, and maybe it wasn't. Taki's real concern was escaping there with a degree and being able to live in something more than a one-room apartment for the rest of his life. But, he supposed that it would also be rather nice to have someone to talk to, maybe even develop a romantic interest with. After all, college was where most people met their future spouses.
Girls were not something he had any sort of experience with. In fact, neither were friends, for that matter. Taki had spent the first fifteen years of his life living on a small farm up in Hokkaido. It was peaceful up there, and he would be lying if he said he didn't miss the relaxing bike rides between his home and school. As much as he enjoyed them though, they were also the primary source of solitude in his life. Nobody wants to hang out much with a guy that has two hours of pedaling between his house and anywhere else. Add in the fact that he was an only child, and you had a perfect argument for leading a very lonely young life. It wasn't all bad, of course. His parents loved him very much, and they did everything they could to try and foster all the good traits of a normal boy in him.
It must have worked, because even after their death, Taki could still consider himself a pretty decent person. Three years after the winter car accident, he had come to a sort of terms with the facts of the matter. It had taken him quite a bit of adjustment in the mean time, not only getting used to having nobody around, but also moving into the city of Karakura town, getting a job, and trying to cope with a brand new high school. That turned out to be quite the adventure. He still didn't have any good friends, mainly because as soon as school was out, it was off to running over all of creation, delivering all sorts of random packages.
In the midst of his spacing out, one of the alarms on his cell phone rang. If nothing else, living on his own had instilled a sense of organization in him. Another of his alarms had gone off an hour ago, telling him to get out of bed. The one that he was silencing right now was letting him know that he should really get going. There would be another one in fifteen minutes to remind him that if he didn't book it out the door right now he was going to be late.
He shook the sobering thoughts out of his head as he picked up his backpack. He about reached for his courier bag as well, until he remembered that Mr. Kazuo had given him the day off. He smiled a bit to himself as he thought of the reason his boss didn't want him working today. "Alright Mr. Kazuo, I'll give it my best shot."
The frantic hustle-and-bustle of a Karakura town train ride was a far cry from a peaceful, if exhausting bike ride through the steep hillsides. Yet the more things changed, the more they stayed the same. For every flower that he would have passed on the path, and wished he had the time to stop and smell, there was a pretty girl on the train or in the station that he wished he had time to stop and chat with. For every pot hole in the worn-out road, there was a grumpy businessman that he would have to dodge around in a similar manner. Twenty minutes of squeaking metal-on-metal and the smells of fresh coffee and newspapers (not to mention the occasional unsavory odor of the stations themselves), Taki found himself staring at the wrought-iron gates of Chikao University, which were flung wide, inviting new and returning students in.
His homeroom was in the newest building on the sprawling campus, named Sasuga Hall. It was a modern structure, sticking out like a sore thumb from the old, ivy-ridden brick buildings that Chikao University was famous for. This building was painted somewhere between cream and eggshell, and had large, glass windows on every floor. In other words, it was almost an exact duplicate of a Japanese public high school. Even the roof had a fence on top, indicating that students were allowed up there when the weather was nice.
Proceeding through the glass doors, Taki became a single, dark-blue and black drop in an ocean of students. Similar, homogenized, unified in the chaos that came with adapting to a new surrounding. Everyone was unique in their own ways, however. This girl had her obsidian hair in twin, curly pig-tails, that guy had a uniform that was obviously a size too small, this one was trying to be a rebel by not tucking his shirt in, and that one was peeking shyly around a corner at him. It was an interesting study of the college culture, all wrapped into a five-minute walk through the hallways and up the stairs.
Room 250: Taki's destination. With a deep, fortifying breath, he gallantly strode through the portal to his future. Everything in the standard-sized classroom emanated a sense of newness, the wood-tone desks, the teal chalkboard and the ivory chalk. If there was such a thing as 'new school smell', they could have canned it in this very place. Noting the fact that there were no assigned seats at the moment, Taki availed himself of a seat near the rear of the classroom, just next to the window. Sometimes it helped him concentrate when he could just glance to his left and see the weather. Sure, sometimes it was a distraction, but for the most part, it just seemed to calm him down just enough to get the perfect amount of focus.
Soon, the desks were filled with all manner of students, from studious types like himself, to people who obviously had their way paid by successful parents, to people who were here possibly by chance or good fortune, and trying as hard as they could not to mess it up. Some of the girls were quite cute, many of them quite shy. There were a trio of ganguro girls, with dark, tanned skin and dyed blond hair. Those who joined that particular culture were quite infamous for having poor grades, and being involved in all sorts of trouble. Whether it was true or not, Taki would just have to find out.
"Alright class, settle into a seat and let's get down to business." The source of the feminine voice came from the front of the room. Taki could have sworn that he didn't notice the door opening and closing, but perhaps there was simply that much background noise. His teacher was a few years older than he was, perhaps in her late twenties, thirty at the absolute maximum. She, unlike her students, didn't have to obey a dress code. Her outfit consisted of high heels, stockings, and a modest brown skirt that hung well past her knees. Above that, she had on a loose white blouse that was long-sleeved, despite how hot it could get these April days. Her deep brown eyes were hidden behind a pair of thin, rectangular glasses, and her similarly-colored hair was done up in a loose bun, with a few strands hanging down and framing her face. In short, she was the perfect dream of one of those guys that had fantasies about their teachers. One thing seemed out of place, however. In spite of her completely traditional dress, she sported a single earring on her right ear. It hung down about half an inch, and seemed to be made out of bright blue, black, and white plastic. It was obvious that there was a design on it, but from his vantage point near the back of the room, it was difficult for Taki to make out what it was.
After a few moments more of shifting and murmuring, everybody had a seat picked out. True to form, there wasn't a single seat left open. Typical efficiency. Looking over the classroom, the teacher smiled. Despite her young appearance, it seemed she had done this sort of thing before.
"Is everybody seated? Good. I'd like to take a role call first to make sure everyone is in the right room, and we'll go onto orientation from there." The list went smoothly, missing not a single person. Even the people in the room that didn't look like they were going to be here long were at least attentive. When Taki's name was called, he gave the same crisp answer as everyone else. "Ok, everyone's where they're supposed to be. A good start to the year, wouldn't you agree?" She smiled, even though she didn't get a response. Four years of high school had taught all the students to keep their heads down unless they were directly called upon. "My name is Hisano Tomoyo, and you can all just call me Hisano-sensei until we get to know each other better. I've been teaching college-level English for three years now, and this is my first semester here. So, on behalf of Chikao University, I'd like to welcome you all here. Everyone in this class is a first-year student with no college experience to speak of, so if you want to talk to people at about the same level as you, your Homeroom is a good place to start. Now, I should let you all know that Homeroom is not a class. You don't have to come here unless you want to. Some students find that it's a good place to meet people, however, and if you're a bit behind on your homework for the day, it's a little bit extra time to catch up on things."
That explained a few things Taki was wondering about. Most of the time, colleges didn't have a Homeroom. People were just expected to keep up on their own. It seemed that this one offered an optional one for students to attend if they needed to catch up. It also provided a little bit of camaraderie in a totally new environment. A lot of the faces in the desks were nervous ones. Many had friends stretching as far back as elementary school last year, and now they were back to square one when it came to meeting people.
"Now, in order to help you all meet some of your classmates and learn the campus grounds, the school has decided to plan out a little game." Bending down behind her desk, she produced one large box, followed by three smaller boxes. The large one was unopened cardboard, with a 'This Side Up' arrow pointed defiantly earthwards. The other three were shoe boxes with brightly colored wrapping paper decorating the sides. It seemed Hisano-sensei had a bit of an artistic streak. Either that or she originally wanted to be an elementary school teacher. "Ok, now I want you to all come up here. Take a Student Handbook out of this box here," she said while expertly sliding her fingernail under the larger box's tape, "and then choose either a schedule sheet, a box of markers, or a map of the campus from one of these boxes here."
The line moved slowly at first, but eventually everyone was out of their seats and grabbing the books and equipment. Being nearer the back of the room, the pickings were pretty slim by the time Taki reached the desk. He grabbed one of the few maps along with his handbook. While he was up nearer the teacher, he made it a point to get a closer look at her earring. Now that he could observe it better, it seemed even farther out of place for her almost 1930s schoolmarm ensemble. It was an elongated white skull with black and blue flames backgrounding it. On a younger girl dressed in a modern outfit, it might have been fashionable, but even to Taki's completely untrained eye, it was the very definition of clashing.
"Problems, Kasumi-san?" The teacher's voice snapped him out of his daze.
"Oh, um... no problems Hisano-sensei." He must have looked pathetic zoning out like that on the first day of class. "Just what I need: the reputation of being a total hair-brain." He shook his head and walked back to his seat, carefully glancing over the rest of the room. It seemed nobody noticed his faux pas. Either that or they forgave him because it was everyone's first day.
After Taki and the rest of the students were seated again, Hisano-sensei launched back into her speech about the game. "If you turn over whatever object you got, either the map, the markers, or the schedule, you'll see a number. That's the number of the group you're going to be in. Everyone is in groups of three, so you can get to know a few of your classmates." Turning the map over, there was a number '4' circled on the back of Taki's the traditional red ink of a teacher.
"So here are the rules: each schedule has enough for all of your classes on it, and one landmark of the college. Once you get into your groups, you need to fill out everyone's classrooms on the schedule. You'll also see there's a box next to each classroom. Today, every room on the campus will have something like this up here in the top right corner of the blackboard." Upon saying so, she produced a piece of red chalk and drew the letter 'L' near the top right corner. "This is a bit like a scavenger hunt. You need to go to all the classrooms in your group and use the markers to note down the right color and letter in all the rooms, plus go see the landmark. This way, you'll learn where your classes are before you have to get to them, and you'll get to know a little bit more about the college campus." She looked around the room. "Any questions? This isn't an assignment, but it will really help you out." A pause, nobody's hand shot up. "Alright, I hope to see you all around throughout the year! Go ahead and get into your groups!"
Hisano-sensei leaned against her desk and smiled as the students milled about the classroom. Taki slipped his handbook inside his heavy backpack and shouldered it. Looking around, it wasn't hard to spot where group four was meeting. There was a giant, rock-solid wall of 'dude' over there, with his arms out and one hand sticking up four fingers. He looked Japanese, just like everybody else, except for his sheer size and build. He could have given Americans a run for their money in just about every physical category. Wider than a linebacker, taller than a basket ball player, and more heavily muscled than a professional weightlifter. His dark brown eyes were stone cold. He would have looked like Atlas holding the world if it weren't for his hairstyle. Atop his slightly pointed features rested a black, gelled anachronism: a perfectly-crafted pompadour. Its fluffy mass spiraled straight off his forehead like a boom microphone, ending a full four inches from where it began. Taki had to force himself to stop from staring at the magnificent creation as he thought, "Did he actually do that for the first day of school? He's out of his mind! There's no way people will respect him with that thing, no matter how big he is!"
The giant spoke to him in a voice that made Mr. T sound like he hadn't hit puberty yet. "Yo. You in group four?"
Taki gulped and tried not to ask him 'who says 'yo' anymore?' "Uh yeah, that's me. Group four. Kasumi Taki, pleased to meet you." He extended his hand and immediately wished he didn't. The rock crusher attached to an industrial pile driver reached out and shook it. Even though Taki's hand didn't break, it probably wished it could have.
"Oda Daishiro. Got the markers right here."
"Markers?" There was something downright comical about an enormous compilation of muscle like that using the brightly colored sticks in the box. "Right, and I've got the map. So who's got the schedule?"
Wordlessly, Daishiro pointed a finger the width of a young sapling across the crowd of students. Taki didn't immediately see anybody, but then again, he was at quite a different vantage point. And that's when the third member of their group slid through a gap between two others.
If Daishiro was a weightlifter-football-basketball-tank, then she was the polar opposite. She was a full foot shorter than Taki, maybe even more. Slim and petite were the words describing her body style. Just barely on the healthy side of anorexia. She had a kind of deer-in-the-headlights look about her, almost like college was just one gigantic case of information overload. The way she was carrying the schedule, Taki could spot the circled '4' on the back of it. He waved to her. Once she caught on, she quickened her pace, her black skirt flowing behind in her wake. "Looks like this isn't such a bad group after all. She's pretty cute." Her raven black hair was done up in a couple of loose, loopy pigtail-like formations, with a few pearl-like pieces keeping them in check.
She came right up to the two of them and gave a polite bow, which Taki returned almost automatically. "Hello. I am Feng Xia. I am pleased to meet you." Her Japanese was a little fractured, and the accent was off.
Daishiro looked a little confused at first, but Taki picked up on it right away. "Feng Xia? That's a Chinese name, right?"
She nodded. "Yes. I am an exchange student from Heifei. I hope my Japanese does not get in the way."
Taki understood her just fine. He glanced up at Daishiro, who nodded. The big guy seemed a little redder than when they first met. It looked like Taki wasn't the only one who thought she was cute. Looking back at his tiny new comrade, Taki reassured her. "Don't worry. Your Japanese seems very good to me." She nodded, giving a slight smile.
"Ok then. I have the schedule, so what classes are you two taking?" Xia sat down at a nearby desk and broke out a pencil. Taki did the same with the map and a copy of his own schedule which he produced from his bookbag. Daishiro pulled out a folded-up version of the same from his pocket. It wasn't long at all before the places to go were decided. Using the map, Taki plotted out the way to loop around the campus so that they would do the least backtracking, and ending at the Daichi Building where their assigned landmark was.
"Green Q, got it." Daishiro squeaked the comparatively tiny marker down on the schedule. So far they had hit all of Xia's classes and half of Taki's. "Next is Toshi Hall, 121."
"That is your first class, right Daishiro-san?" Xia asked as she followed behind the mountain. His pompadour gave a single bob as he turned around and gave a silent nod. Most of their journey so far had been fairly silent, with only a few comments here and there from Xia and Taki. It seemed Daishiro was a very quiet man. They were exiting the new Sasuga Hall for the first time, and it was going to be a fairly long walk to the other side of the campus. Silence for that long would just be uncomfortable.
As the trio exited into the bright sunlight of the still-crisp April morning, Daishiro produced from his pocket a pair of dark sunglasses. Now the image of the 1980s-era rebel was nearly complete. All that was required was the leather jacket. Xia crossed her arms a bit tightly around her chest. Evidently it was a bit warmer in Heifei. Taki thought it would be a smart choice to learn a little bit more about these two. Since he knew both Daishiro and he were interested in Xia, he felt she should be the first one asked about her reasons for being here. "So, Xia-san, what are you majoring in here at Chikao U?"
She seemed to run the question through her mental translator before answering. "I have not decided on a major yet. I will not graduate from here though. When I go back to China, I will go back to the Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine."
That elicited a questioning look from Taki. "Traditional Chinese Medicine? That seems like an interesting college. Why did you pick that one?"
Xia gave a faint smile and looked down a little. "My mother works there as a professor in the Integration school. It is where people learn to use traditional methods combined with modern technology and western methods."
Daishiro smiled. Despite his enormous presence and his angular features, it was quite a bit warmer of a gesture than would be expected. He was still silent though.
They came to Toshi Hall, which was a slightly smaller building than many of the rest. Being made of brick like the vast majority of the campus, its one defining feature was that it had a bas-relief mural carved into the red stone itself. It depicted a blasted and barren wasteland with burnt trees and naked earth. Standing to the left was a man brandishing a paintbrush as though it were a weapon. Shooting out of the paintbrush was a cone of creation. Everything it touched sprang to beautiful life as the stars themselves looked on in wonder at the man's art. It must have been one of the landmarks on the scavenger hunt, as there were a couple groups gathered around it. Like a juggernaut storming the gates of a grand fortress, Daishiro spread the doors wide on his entry and took a deep breath. The faint aromas of fresh clay and musty old paper escaped from the building. Two of the big man's classes were in here, and within a few minutes, they had retrieved the twin treasures they were looking for: a yellow 'T' and a blue 'K'.
As they exited the building, Xia made the observation first. "Daishiro-san, are you an art major?" As she asked, her face lit up with an amused smile.
Turning a shade of red that must have made the bricks behind them jealous, the giant man nodded. With that sub-woofer voice, he made the quiet comment. "I'm lucky to be here really. Half of it is a football scholarship, and half of it is my dad's money."
As they all marched to Keitaro Hall, the light bulb clicked on in Taki's head. "Your dad's money? Wait, are you saying your father is Oda Yuuta?" That was a relatively remarkable claim. Oda Yuuta, owner of Oda Shipping Enterprises was the president of a business that could almost be called one of the almost-mythical mega-corporations.
With speed that seemed impossible for Daishiro's size, Taki found a giant paw over his mouth. The pompadour was now at eye level with his enormous teammate crouching down. Daishiro had a finger to his lips with his other hand, turning that brick red again. "Shhhhhhhh."
Startled by the sudden movement, Taki gave a muffled nod. Evidently, the big man had his reasons for not wanting his family history known.
They pillaged Keitaro Hall of its purple 'F', white 'R', and orange 'I'. At last, they were ready to head to the Daichi Building. They were nearly there when Daishiro stuck a meaty finger into Taki's shoulder. "Hey. Your turn."
He smiled shyly. Another of his weak points was talking about himself. "What can I say? I'm a business major from Hokkaido with a job as a delivery guy. I live in an apartment by myself, and I'm here on a couple scholarships."
Xia gave him a curious look. "Why do you live by yourself?"
Taki had quite a few reasons to regret his parents' deaths, but this was one of them. It was probably the end of their little friendship here, because as soon as people knew his orphan status, they seemed to grow just as distant as they were back in high school. Oh well. It was nice getting to know some people. He gave a sigh and a faint smile. "Well, the rest of my family is gone, sadly. Car accident up in the mountains."
There it was, that uncomfortable pause. Daishiro and Xia exchanged a glance, and with one other gesture, endeared the both of them to Taki forever. They shrugged. It blew his mind. Was the stigma of being an orphan actually dropped once you reach college level? Or did they not particularly care what his family status was? It could just be them being cold and insensitive, but something made Taki doubt that. There was no fake smile, no 'I'm sorry for your loss' speech. It just seemed to not matter all that much. He smirked all the way to the Daichi building. College was definitely looking up.
He opened the doors to the old brick building, the largest on campus. It rolled languages, history, and theater up all into one building. It was the stage itself that they were assigned to scope out. It was for good reason too. Apparently, it was an original structure here on campus, and was grandfathered into a lot of the new codes and regulations. The doors to the stage were arched, oak things, and it took Taki a heavy tug to pull open the portal to the room that would change him forever.