Ok, for those of you just turning to this story, this is the first chapter of this story! For those of you already followed to this, this is the revised version of this chapter. The chapters will be a bit shorter then they were before, but this is becuase I want to leave more open for future chapters. I hope this won't make to many people angry. There is still a lot that I want to put in, so that is part of the reason. Deadly animals are cute, and your sisters as well, I hope your reading this chapter instead of number three! This is becuase there is somthing in chapter three I want to surprise you by, and it will be ruined if you read that first.
Moving on, I hope this chapter is good, as it does get a bit dark in this. I'm using real historical facts from the sengoku era of the samurai periods in Japan. That is a big part of what there is going to be a lot of darkness in this chapter. I don't have anything else to say, so I hope this time I won't have to revise the chapters once again.
I do not own bleach or any of its characters. All, but a few, OC's are completely mine and I give all rights to the owners of all characters.
Death was an interesting concept. What happened after you died? Did you go on to Sonora of purgatory where you would life forever in a dull environment? Did you go to a hellish and fiery wasteland like the word of preachers stated if you were bad, and paradise-like place if you were good? Or was the next step in life life once again? It was something that always fascinated Nikkou. Unfortunately, in life, she was far to shy to do anything about it exploration wise. Being a young girl, and not to mention short compared to everyone around her at little more then 3'3 for being close to seven years old, the girl did what she could as to not upset those around her.
She had been a sickly child, and considering the times, it was impudent that she learn how to bow respectfully. The way she was forced to sit when someone came to the house furthered this. Straight back, and completely still. One wrong movement during the practice, and Nikkou would be on the floor in pain, being forced to sit back up and continue to sit straight until she got it, or she passed out.
Unfortunately it was the latter more often then the former.
The biggest fear for the small girl were the Samurai. They watched everyone and everything like a hawk when they passed by. Her mother, on more then one occasion, had forced her into a bow when they passed, though she did it on her own at times as well. She had been told what they would do to her, a child even, if she didn't bow. The girl was smart for her age, considering she read a lot trying to find answers for herself and all. The samurai would most surly kill her if she made a wrong move.
As such, Nikkou lived a full life with what stipulations she had upon her. The local library, if you could call it that, was her place of residence most of the time when she was not at home, though the girl had heard something involving an 'Arranged marriage'. It wasn't uncommon, but the fact of the matter was that her family, while their last name was of importance, were in the bottom end of whatever hierarchy the country had.
The Nakatomi family was all but gone, that much had been told to her, and at was why they were so low on the food chain, so to speak. With their power all but destroyed, the remaining members of the family were forced to do things they didn't really like, but learned to live with. Some of Nikkou's cousins became 'Working girls' and that was far as she would go with that. The men of the family became farmers, though there weren't that many who did. The rest went into the army for the emperor. They country hadn't been at war for a long time, but even still, that was where they went.
Nikkou's own mother was a Gesha, and she was forced to stay in the back of the house most of the time when she was there as to make sure that she didn't get in the way. Even still, the girl did what she was asked, and in return she could go to the library whenever she wanted to read. It was a simple trade, but even then, it wasn't always the best thing that could have been done.
Walking outside of her home, Nikkou breathed in the fresh air with a small smile. The small girl, while only seven at most age wise, had black hair that reached her waist in length, with innocent green eyes that seemed to glow against the black tresses. Her face was slightly rounded, mostly attributed to the baby fat she still had, but there were obvious signs of a more angular chin forming as well. Her skin was pale, but not unhealthy pale. It seemed her skin favored the moon more then the sun with the tone and how fair it was, something she gained from her mother.
The black hair that framed the girls face, covered a majority of it, but it showed her face just as well. To add to the lack of attention the girl normal caused, however, was the dirty brown kimono she was wearing. It wasn't anywhere near fancy like one would expect of noble descent, and it suited Nikkou just fine. She didn't like the looks of those stiff and restricting kimono noble's wore all the time anyway.
There was also the fact that a noblewoman tried to kick her down the last time she passed by one of them of course. She really didn't like older people. She was a child, and she could be childish if she wanted to. The customs of a peasant suited her more then the expectations of a noble her mother tried to force.
Getting rid of those thoughts for now, the small girl padded her way up the street heading for the library once again. There was just so many scrolls she wished to didn't understand a lot of the concepts that were made in them, but the pictures they painted in her mind when she did understand the text was enough for her. A lot of the things in there were of historical text, but there were a few stories in there as well, though those were few and between.
The girl let out a small 'Oof' when she felt herself run into something. Her head hurt as well, but she took enough time to look up and seeing a glaring man, before she found herself backing up in fear. Unfortunately for her, the man in front of her was a samurai. The fact of the matter though, was that this particular one was the 'Swing first' type, so it didn't take long for a flash of silver to be seen in the corner of her eye, before black took of her vision.
For a second she just floated there, not feeling or seeing anything, until she blinked a few times and saw that she was inside of the library. Frowning in confusion, Nikkou looked around where she was a bit more, before she walked further into the store as to try and find something to read, the whole she didn't notice the chain that was coming from her chest.
The library was empty save for a few people, but it didn't really matter in this case. The silence was normal, but the lack of people was actually comforting. Bring in crowds never helped, and considering the fact that she had thought she died? Being around people definitely wasn't at the forefront of her mind.
The first scroll she ended up grabbing was one that she had wanted to read today. It was a book full of philosophies, and ideas. A lot of them were of ideas of peace and tranquility that, if she was honest, interested her more then anything. She knew she would end up having to fight someone eventually over one thing or another, but in general, she didn't want to harm anyone unless absolutely necessary.
A sigh escaped the girl as she closed the scroll a bit later. There really wasn't much else she had wanted to do today except for reading, but now that she had finished reading what she wanted, the feeling of tiredness was what she first realized. The lack of hunger though, was a different matter.
She had stayed in the library for what had to have been hours, but she wasn't hungry. She was tired, but not hungry. If she were to give a description to how she felt, she felt like she could curl up on the floor and just close her eyes. It wasn't strong enough to force her into doing it, but it was enough to make her eyes droop a little as she walked around the library trying to find the place where the scroll she took was. Shaking her head slightly to keep herself awake, she continued farther into the library, until she found what she was looking for. A small smile went on her face as the scroll settled into where it needed to be, but she needed to leave, so she couldn't really look for any other scroll at the moment. It wasn't what she wanted to do, but it needed to happen. The library was almost like a second home to her after all.
Giving a small sigh, the small girl walked towards the exit of the library, but before she could even take a step outside, she ran face first into some kind of barrier. Scrunching her eyes and holding her nose, Nikkou backed up a bit as started to reach h hand up to the entrance. Sure enough, the hand she held up ran into the something in the doorway. Her eyes ended up widening before she precedent her hand a bit harder, but stopped when nothing happened.
Giving a frown towards predicament she was in, Nikkou tapped on the invisible barrier, which caused a hollow sound to echo around her. Giving a small sigh, seeing that she couldn't get out that, she backed up a bit more, before stopping when she heard the sound of a metal of some kind chinking on her chest.
Looking towards the source, Nikkou frozen when she saw a a chain of some sort coming from her chest. She didn't know what it was, but the fact of the matter was, the chain wasn't harming her. It wasn't even doing anything besides hanging from her chest a hand in curiosity, the small child touched the chain, but did nothing else. When her fingers connected with the chain, a jolt ran through her body, causing her eyes to widen at the almost, dark, feeling it gave her.
Shivering and taking her hand away from it, she knew right there from intuition that the chain should never be allowed to fall of. She didn't know hardly anything when it came to the chain, but she just got a terrible feeling from it. She didn't even know if she was alive or dead, but considering she remembered a flash of silver, it was probably the samurai's sword. Either way, there was a lot that made sense to her if she was dead, barriers included.
She remembered hearing about a family me,bet saying that ghosts are attested to spiritually high places, or a place of importance. If she was dead, then the library was definitely important to her. The fact she was still around, that meant she hadn't let go of something, and that confused her. She didn't have any friends, and her family was indifferent towards her. What could be holding her back?
Sure she loved the stories, and other things that were in the library, but she wasn't attached to the building to the point she would stay. In fact, she didn't think to much of things she read except for the fact that she thought the idea of a fairy tail to be nice, been if the harsh reality of the world was different.
Giving a sigh, the girl decided to walk into the building further, before settling in the back quickly closing her eyes as to try and get some sleep.
A week later, Nikkou was getting bored. She had read everything in the library already, including some about the human body. She actually learned a lot from those scrolls. While she didn't know a lot about the human body, she learned enough that she could also say she wanted to try and help people wherever she went after she died.
A loud scream, which was followed by a thud was heard near her, as she set another thing she was reading, third time for this one, and looked to see a small guy with a black uniform of some sort. If she were to be serious, the guy in front of her looked like he was a ronin of some kind, not to mention that he had a katana on his hip.
"Ooohhh~... TaichÅ will be mad if I mess up again! I need to find a plus before they turn!" The boy-like figure stated with a groan "Now if I could only figure out where I was..."
Nikkou tilted her head at the boy, before she softly said "You're in southern Karakura. Specifically the library."
"Ah, thank you chibi-chan." The boy said while looking at her, before turning away for a second, before freezing and turning back towards Nikkou in a whirl "You're a plus!"
Nikkou froze as well, taking a step back as the figure pulled his sword out of its sheath. In an instant Nikkou was a more feet away, and a chair was sent sailing at the boy. Said boy yelled, as he dodged the flying object, before he said "Wait! Please don't run! I'm not going to hurt you! I'm a Shinigami, I'm supposed to help you pass on!"
"...with a sword?" The girl bluntly asked while warily looking at the blade with apprehension.
The so called Shinigami laughed a bit in nervousness as he said "I wasn't the one who decided to use our Zanpakuto as a Konso. I'm serious though I just need to press my hilt to your head, and everything she should be fine."
Not being trusting by nature, the girl didn't move even after that explination, which caused the black wearing boy to sigh deeply. Walking towards the girl, he yelped as yet another chair was sent flying at him, to which he dodged once again. The piece of wood char shed into the wall behind the Shinigami, which caused one of the legs to bounce off and hit the guy in the back of the head. Surprisingly enough, that caused him to fall head first into the floor, effectively knocking him out.
Silence reigned for a few seconds, before Nikkou started to walk towards the guy. That was an incredibly lucky throw on her part. While a ghost it seemed things were lighter to her then normal, which made picking up a wood chair easy. She wouldn't have been able to do that while alive, but it was still effective. It knocked this 'Shinigami' out after all.
After staring at the prone form of the Shinigami for a few minutes, Nikkou walked up to him, and began to poke him in the head. The first poke didn't get a response, so she tried again. She continued this for a good half a minute, before loosing interesting and looking at the sword he had with him. Picking the sword, he called it a Zanpakuto, Nikkou started to turn it until the hilt was pointed towards her. She couldn't see anything on the flat surface, but that didn't really mean anything.
Maoving away from the Shinigami boy, the black haired girl continued to shift the sword in her grip as she stared at its rather bland design. The thing was a simple Tachi style blade, roughly the same size as a regular katana, if the scrolls around the library on them were right. It was badly shorter then she was, which made it a bit unwieldy, but not to much.
The small girl, held the blade for another second, before she lifted it with one hand, a completely serious look on her face. Her left hand clenched into a fist, as she placed it on her hip, and she held the sword straight up as if she had just pulled it from a stone. In all, she felt weird doing that, but it caused a small giggle to escape. She made to lower the blade, but it slipped out of her hands, and caused the but end of the hilt to connect with her head.
Nikkou's eyes suddenly went blank as her arms dropped to the side, and a mark appeared on her forehead, glowing. The girl curled up into a ball, as her body started to glow as well. If anyone where to have watched it, they would have seen the girl disappear in an instead, leaving behind a simple black butterfly, which flew up into the sky, disappearing.
Bum bum bum!
Well, not really, but still. I don't have any questions for ya, so just let me know what you though of is chapter!