FORGIVE ME
1- An Unseen Enemy
"Did you hear? Ukitake's finally got a vice-captain!"
"Yeah, Takashi something…"
"I hear she's a cute one too!"
"Is she strong? Or is she just there to replace Kiyone-san?"
"Nobody knows…But I don't think we should have to take orders from anyone but Captain! We've done fine without a lieutenant until now!"
Everyone in the thirteenth division was whispering among themselves, mostly of the supposed promotion of an unknown shinigami to Lieutenant. Suddenly the door to the common room burst open and everybody looked up. There stood Captain Ukitake with a huge smile on his face. Next to the captain was a girl with her midnight coloured hair in two pig tails, and her bangs almost covering her eyes with black sunglasses on. She was quite small, and had a sword tied to her back with a dark purple sash. Her hands hung loosely at her sides and her face showed no emotion.
Behind them was a very angry Sentaro. After Kiyone's death he had expected to become second seat. 'But no…This complete STRANGER had to take my place!' He thought bitterly. Now don't be fooled, he missed Kiyone a lot! She was the only one he could argue with and still be almost a best friend.
"Hello everyone!" Ukitake greeted. All he got was blank stares. The girl was quiet the whole time.
"Ah, yes. Everyone, meet the Thirteenth Division's new vice-captain-"
"We don't need one!" Ukitake frowned at the man's comment. The girl was still quiet, not even acknowledging that she heard anything.
"Ahem. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, this is your new VC!" He gently pushed her in front of him.
"My name is Takashi Kokoro. Uh, I was transferred from squad two…my job was to weed out the little traitors from among us. See, we now do this quite openly after the whole 'Aizen's betrayal'." She said in a lower tone than they expected. After all, who wouldn't expect a little girl's high pitched voice coming out of a little girl?
"And if you're wondering, I'm around the same age as …Kuchiki Taichou. Maybe a little younger."
A few gasps came from the shinigami. She was at least a full foot and a half shorter than him. But then again, Byakuya wasn't that small.
She sighed. "Yes, I'm short…and if anyone" She was cut off by the sound of by laughter.
"Bahahah! You're so short!" One idiot said. Kokoro's face grew angry, and she placed her hand on the handle of her sword. Ukitake quickly placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Relax. I don't want you destroying the room." He said loud enough for that idiot to hear. "And no matter what, don't kill the division members unless it's important. Sure, you can beat 'em around a bit, but just don't kill them." He smiled and turned around.
Just before heading out the door, he looked over his shoulder.
"You can give them a demonstration if you like." With that, the captain left the division head-quarters.
"Alright, who doubts me?" Kokoro asked. All of the shinigami raised their hands.
"Scratch that. Who wants to fight me and find out if I'm worthy of being a vice-captain?" Only a few raised their hands. She was about to pick somebody when a hell butterfly cam in and flew to her.
"Captains and vice captains of squads 6 and 13…please report to the human world for a special training exercise."
'Wait a minute…why would we need training in the human world…? Something's off."
"Well, it looks like you'll have to wait. I have to go." With that, she tipped her sunglasses and smiled, leaving a surprised Sentaro, and the rest of the squad in the building.
'Those grey, almost colourless eyes…She's blind!'
In the Human world-
As requested, Kuchiki Byakuya, Abarai Renji, and her own captain Ukitake Joushiro were waiting in the human world when Kokoro arrived.
"Eh? Who's that?" She looked (turned her head) toward the voice. His riatsu was lower than Kuchiki's, and Ukitake's, who's she knew quite well. That meant there was only one person left.
"You…must be Abarai-san. My name is Takashi Kokoro." She tipped her glasses and smiled.
"Oh! You're blind! So that's what Kuchiki-taichou meant when he said unique." He said.
"Byakuyaaa." She hissed. Renji sweatdropped. She then turned to where she sensed Byakuya's riatsu. "Unique?" He just shrugged.
Ukitake patted Renji's back and whispered to him. "It'd be best to stay off that subject."
"Right." There was an awkward silence.
"Anyways." Byakuya sighed. "What are we doing here?"
"Oh! Right. As some of you might have noticed-"Ukitake began. "We don't train in the human world with just the captains and vice-captains. We usually take some of the squad members." Kokoro cut in.
"Right! We really have a meeting with Urahara-san. Let's go." The captain finished. He shunpoed away.
"Sweet! Free food!" Renji smirked and ran/flew as quick as he could.
"Uh, I think they forgot." Kokoro frowned, turning to where she thought Byakuya was. It was kind of hard to go to a place she had never been to before without crashing into something because of her seeing problem.
"Don't worry about it. Just hold on to me." She sensed Byakuya walk closer to her and she grabbed his sleeve.
"Don't let go." With that, he flashed stepped to Urahara's shop with Kokoro barely hanging on.
Urahara's
Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Uryu, Sado, and Urahara were sitting at the round table in Urahara's shop with the shinigami. They had been waiting for the two last members when they finally felt their riatsu outside. The two shinigami made their way to the others.
"It's about time they got here, damn!"
Kokoro jumped in surprise. So much riatsu coming from what had to be a human! It could only be one person.
"Kurosaki Ichigo. I am honoured." Kokoro bowed slightly. The rest of the shinigami raised their eyebrows.
"I have heard of what you have done to save the Soul Society from making grave mistakes. Thank you."
"Err…you're welcome? But, who are you?" Kokoro sighed having to once again introduce herself to new people.
In 5 minutes, she was on first-name basis with all of the people in the room.
"Now, down to business." Urahara eyed the captains wearily. "There have been strange occurrences lately. For one, Hollows have disappeared."
"Isn't that good?" Renji asked.
"Of course not, you idiot. We wouldn't be called here if it was good. Something- or someone must be stopping them from entering the town." Kokoro glared at him.
"Precisely, and you guys are here to help us find out." Urahara snapped his fan open.
"But...there's a set-back." He scanned his mini audience for reactions. All he got were confused and expecting faces.
"Well, are you going to tell us or not?" Uryu mumbled.
"A week ago, I was met with unfamiliar riatsu, but when I moved to the spot where I had found it, there was nothing there." He paused dramatically. "I have reason to believe they're invisible."
At once the shinigami started arguing. "What? Now how are we supposed to fight them?" "We can't fight what we can't see." "We have to find a way!"
Then they started arguing over how to catch the enemy. Urahara was starting to regret calling a meeting when a voice rang out.
"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP!?" Everyone jumped and whipped around to see a perfectly pissed off looking Kokoro.
"Jeeze, we don't even know if it's a person or not, and yet you're arguing about how to catch him?! And besides, if they're invisible, just send me out. It's a perfect job for me. Seeing as how I don't need my sight to fight."
All was quiet in the shop as the others were processing this information.
"…And I would have said exactly that if they weren't so damn loud…" Byakuya mumbled to himself.
"Wait, what exactly do you do, Koko-chan?" Orihime asked.
'Finally' Kokoro smiled and followed them into the underground training area below Urahara's shop.
"Well? Let's see what you can do." Ichigo patted Kokoro on the back.
"Fine by me. You might want to cover your eyes though…" She said, placing her hand on the hilt of her normal looking sword. With one sweeping motion, she unsheathed it and whispered just loud enough for them to hear.
"Shine, Touzoku Hikari."
Everyone had to cover their eyes, for the brightness coming from her figure could have blinded them. When the light subsided, they all came to get a closer look at her sword. It was shaped similar to Ichigo's bankai but it was shorter. It had a gold hilt with a ribbon attached to the white handle. At the end of the ribbon hung a purple bell. The blade was white with gold markings at the tip which were shaped like flames.
"Kireiii…" (pretty) Orihime and Rukia whispered.
"I see why it's called 'Light', but why thief?" Uryu asked, rolling his eyes at the women.
"May I show you?" She asked politely, stepping in front of him. When he nodded, she positioned the blade so it was pointed at his face.
"Don't move." He barely had time to process the command before a white light erupted in front of him. Then, all he saw was black.
"What… (gulp)…did you do?" Renji asked peering over Uryu's shoulder.
"I stole his sight." She grinned and pushed her shades up so they were resting on top of her head, pushed her bangs back. Her grin grew as she SAW the shocked expressions.
Her eyes had gone from colourless to the same dark shade as Uryu's. Well, Byakuya and Ukitake weren't shocked in the least. They had seen it before.
"So THAT'S what you guys look like." She smiled. "Wow…I envisioned Renji to be a bit better looking but oh well!" She smiled when he pouted a-bit.
"I am now the proud owner of Uryu-san's eyes. What shall I go see first?" She tiled her head to the side and watched him fidget uncomfortably. "I'm joking. It's tough, isn't it?" She sighed.
"Yeah. Can I have my eyes back please?" He growled.
"Yeah, yeah, don't have a cow." She lifted her blade and took one more look around before switching eyes again. When they were done, she pulled her shades back down.
"Excuse me, Kokoro-chan, but how exactly do you…uh; Do you rely on your hearing or something else?"
Kokoro looked up to the bubbling mass that was Orihime, and smirked.
"No. Not my hearing. My eyes are…unique. I'm not blind…I can only see heat signatures and feel the riatsu; That's how I know where and who to hit. It's actually quite amusing, because you can almost tell what a person is feeling by the amount of heat given off. "
"Sugoi!" Orihime smiled.
They all went back up to the shop and sat around the table again.
"Yeah, so…about those hollow-blockers…" She asked turning to Urahara. "Where"
Suddenly a voice interrupted her.
"I never thought I'd see the day." A small figure slinked into the room. They all waited for more words, but were surprised to hear it from Kokoro.
"And I never thought I'd see…ever. But things change don't they Yoruichi? And by the way…a cat? Very original." Byakuya glanced at Kokoro's face briefly. She looked as calm as he always did but he knew there was something wrong. How did she know Shihoin Yoruichi?
"Attitude much?"
"If you knew me even a little bit, you'd know it's normal. Some sister YOU are!" She snapped. A loud "THUMP" was heard from everyone except Byakuya's jaw hitting the table.
The two glared at each other, until the cat huffed and jumped onto the table, sitting in front of Urahara, flicking her tail in dismissal. Kokoro almost growled and clenched her fist, mumbling to herself.
Byakuya, who was sitting next to her, swore he had heard something along the lines of..."I'll cut her tail off and strangle her with it." And "I'll shove her paws down her throat." He paused to mentally take a note. Never anger Kokoro.
"Y-you guys are sisters?" Urahara's eyes whipped back and forwards between the two. They both looked up and at the same time said,
"What, you thought we were brothers?" They looked at each other and growled.
"I'M the sarcastic one. YOU stick to being the evil cat-thing." Kokoro grinned.
"Bah. You couldn't pull it off if you tried!" Yoruichi grinned back. Kokoro's grew wider.
"Oh, really? Is that a challenge?" She stood up. Her sister followed suit. "Hell yes."
They stared each other down for a minute before the younger of the two smiled a wicked smile that reminded the shinigami watching the show of Ichimaru's fox like smile.
"Don't blink." She whispered, and before anyone could even process what she had said, she was gone. Suddenly Ichigo felt a slight weight on his shoulder. He looked and jumped slightly. His mouth hung open, as well as everyone else when they decided to look there. Of course, Bya-chan and Yoruichi weren't that open about their shock. There, sitting on the broad shoulder of Ichigo's, was a little black cat with white ears and paws.
"Meeooow, bitches." The little cat smirked evilly. Ichigo and Renji couldn't help but bust out laughing.
------------okaaaaaay, we're going WAY off topic, here.--------------------------
ANYWAYS. After they settled down, the gang went into action. Urahara, Ukitake, Yoruichi, and Byakuya worked on a battle plan, while Ichigo and Renji, Rukia and Orihime, and Uryu and Kokoro trained in the underground.
"So, the next time we encounter this foul riatsu, we shall deploy into teams. Any idea who should go with who?" Urahara enquired.
"Hmm, well I say Rukia with Ichigo because he won't let her out of his sight." Yoruichi said, greatly amused by the glare Byakuya was giving the wall. It was intense enough to burn a whole right through it!
"And Shihoin-san with you. No one else can put up with her as well as you do." Byakuya mentioned to Urahara. Said man laughed at his companion's peeved face and smiled.
"I guess so. Hmmm how about Orihime-chan with Uryu-kun? His weapon is two handed so he'll be a little tied up if anything tries to get close range, and that's where Orihime-chan can help him. After that, Abarai-san and Sado-kun can be partners as well." Urahara grinned under his fan.
"Yes. And that leaves…us three. Kokoro-chan, you, and me." Ukitake frowned at Byakuya.
"Actually, Ukitake-san, Maybe you should accompany Ishida and Inoue. They might need extra help. Kokoro won't be happy with us two doing everything." Byakuya stated monotonously. Ukitake chuckled and nodded, agreeing with the 6th division taichou.
"Very true." The three men…and a cat walked away from the table and decided to go see how well the training was going. When they got there, they didn't expect to see such a show. It turned out that Kokoro had turned back into her human form and taken away Renji, Rukia, and Ichigo's sight and they were trying to face each other blindly with kendo sticks. It was safe to say Kokoro was kicking ass.
Ichigo was covered in bruises, Renji had even more, but Rukia seemed to be holding her own, while she beat the crap out of them. Renji swung at her energetically, for he loved the challenge. But just because he was enjoying himself, doesn't mean that he was good at it. Kokoro sidestepped him at the precise moment that Ichigo swung at her from behind. They both ended up smacking each other in the head.
"OW!" They both cried out. She felt the air at her legs move, and jumped, avoiding Rukia's silent attack. It ended up hitting the two boys and both of them were sent crashing to the floor, bringing the unsuspecting Rukia with them. They landed in a pile of tangled limbs beside the midnight-haired shinigami, who snickered at them.
"Nice…" Urahara clapped. She looked up and smirked. They had to remind themselves of what she could do, because right then she was "wearing" Ichigo's eyes which stood out like his hair would.
"Alright, down to business kids." Ukitake clapped his hands together. "When the "Hollow snatchers" –as we have so kindly named them- reappear, we shall split into teams." Byakuya cut in. "Rukia and Ichigo, Abarai-fukutaichou and Sado, Inoue Ishida and Ukitake-taichou, Shihoin and Urahara, and Kokoro-fukutaichou and myself. Questions?" Byakuya looked around and saw that everyone was content.
"All right. We'll move out when we get the signal."
"Right!" they chorused.
Well, that's the first chapter…
Tell me if I should continue!!! a.k.a. REVIEWWWW!!!
Ja ne,
mandaa
