Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. It belongs to Tite Kubo.
A/N: ah, I am back, finally! I so missed fanfiction :3 so I had this idea brewing in my head for over a month but I was suffering an intense writer's block and the ever-present laziness. But anyway, before, I think too much and end up wanting to redo everything over again, I present the first chapter of my new fic.
Honestly, though I don't know how I got so much into writing OCs, 'cause, well, this fic is majorly OC-centered. And it's gonna be looooong!
Anyway, read on…
Meet the next generation
Tick. Tick. Tick… scratch, scratch
The classroom was filled with hushed whispers and sounds of hurried scribbling and scratching. The raven-haired girl slowly filled up her sheet in her elegant handwriting, without pausing to think.
Tick. Tick. Scribble, scribble… Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick
She put down the brush and studied the finished sheet intently, knowing there was going to be no mistake. It was supposed to be precise.
Tick. Tick. Scratch, scratch, scratch… scribble
She glared hard at the sheet and put it down, holding back a sigh. She was irked, nonetheless, it was not like her to be showing her irritation.
Tick. Tick—
"Haru, stop tapping on the table," she turned her cold grey eyes on the boy seated next to her. "It's inconvenient."
"Eh?" the guy furrowed his tattooed eyebrows as he glanced at her sheet. "What? Mei, you are done already?"
"Yes," she turned to her sheet again. "I am trying to look it up one last time, so I'd rather you please let me concentrate."
"Huh, it's not that big a deal," he grumbled, turning back to his own sheet. "Fuck, what the hell am I supposed to write here? This is so… ugh. Let me see what you wrote."
"This is quite an important task, Haru. And you have to think for yourself. No two entries can be the same," she slapped away his hand. "Also, if you could abstain from using such words—"
"Hai, hai, can't you stop being so stingy for once, Mei," he scratched the back of his head, glaring at the sheet. "Why do we have to fill this obnoxious bit of—"
"It's called a preference sheet, Haru," she said impassively, still reading her sheet. "And for the fifteenth time, this is important. You don't get recruited unless you furnish all the required information."
"Alright, fine, fine," he said, more to himself. "Now, what squad I'd prefer to be recruited to… umm… yeah that's easy,"
Scribble, scribble
"Not that it's any of my business, but," she squinted at his untidy sheet. "Haru… you want to join the eleventh squad?"
"Yeah," he blinked at her. "It's gonna be fun! Plus no paperwork!"
"I shouldn't be surprised," she said impassively as she got up and gathered her stuff.
"Okay, I'm done," he grinned sheepishly as he got up and they made their way to the shinigami collecting all the sheets.
"So you are going for the sixth division, after all?" he said, walking out with her.
"Yes," she replied.
"I shouldn't be surprised," he repeated her words.
They bumped into a tall raven-haired guy as they were making their way through the crowded corridor of the academy. The lieutenant's badge with a camellia insignia on his right arm caught their eyes and they looked up.
"Ah, Mei, Haru," he smiled at them.
"Hello, Kaien," the girl nodded.
"Yo," Haru grinned at him. "What're you doing here?"
"Just a small errand," he said, waving his hand in dismissal. "So you guys are finally graduating, huh?"
"Yeah," Haru rolled his eyes. "Just finished with the preference sheets."
"That's good," he said. "Let me guess, Haru, eleventh?"
"You bet," he grinned.
"And Mei?" the tall guy looked down at the girl walking silently beside him.
"Sixth, of course, Kaien," she said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, should've known," he grinned. "I'm looking forward to seeing you there."
"I should hope so," she said.
"And you know, you should come home sometime," he added. "It's been quite a while—whoa, I-I'm sorry," he stumbled as he bumped into a girl and sent all her papers flying in all directions.
"Ah, no, I'm sorry, Kurosaki-fukutaichou," the girl smiled as he bent down to help her gather the papers.
She had smooth back hair pulled back in a pony and wore a sleeveless shihakusho. There were armbands on her upper arms and a '69' tattooed just above one on the right arm. There was a lieutenant insignia tied on the other arm. As her sage eyes met his purple eyes, there was evidently a lot of blushing and they looked away instantly.
"Heh, that's quite the red shade on his face," Haru said with a smirk, not bothering to keep his voice low and earned a glare from the raven-haired guy while Mei stared at him impassively.
"I'm sorry, Sayuri," he stood up and handed her all the papers.
"He's not even trying to hide it," an orange-haired girl chimed in from behind, smirking at the tall lieutenant.
"Urusei na, Masaki—eh, since when have you been standing there?" he blinked at her in surprise.
"Since when you bumped into Sayuri-senpai," she grinned. "No fair, Kaien-nii, how did you not notice me!"
"I am sorry that you are so short, Masaki," he shook his head.
"Urusai," Masaki scowled and looked away.
"Anyway, why're you here, Sayuri?" Kaien asked.
"Uh, well," she looked at Masaki then back at him with a worried expression. "An errand."
"The visored army?" Kaien suddenly had a very serious look on his face. Sayuri nodded as Masaki continued to frown.
The shinigami off-springs inherited most traits from their parents, which meant fusion abilities and higher levels of reiatsu. Following which, the dormant hollow parts in them hadn't been that easy to suppress and Soul Society had soon realized the Gotei 13 couldn't handle all of it, seeing as they already had enough on their plates. Consequently, after much consideration and debating, the Central 46 issued the establishment of another organization: the Visored Army, which worked independently of the Gotei 13 and scouted the troubled lot with much efficiency in complete secrecy. Headed by Hirako Shinji, the army had been working diligently and had soon gained a reputation, surprisingly for the Seireitei, the discovery of more visoreds than they had ever considered might have existed were soon part of the organization.
"Troubled much?" Kaien asked, a dark expression on his face as he stared at Masaki.
"Nothing we can't handle," Sayuri reassured with a genuine smile.
Masaki nodded at him with a serious expression. And he knew, for now, things were still in control.
"Ah, Mei-chan, Haru-kun," a girl came bouncing through the corridor, nodding and waving at almost everyone she passed. Dark blue hair with streaks of black and deep purple and contrasting midnight blue eyes, Sakurada Aika was what they called 'overly' sociable. She smiled her broad smile as she reached them.
"Yay, we are graduating—ah, konnichiwa, Kurosaki-fukutaichou, Hisagi-fukutaichou… oh, Masaki-chan's here too," she smiled at them all. "So I was thinking… we should go have our own little graduation celebration, Haru-kun, Mei-chan, nah? Kagawa-san is gonna be there too. And Aihara-san, and Mikami-chan… let me see who else I invited…"
"Practically the whole academy, I presume," Mei said in a flat tone.
"Rukongai 67, 8 to… whenever you want. You'll know where to go," Aika continued cheerfully. "Oh, and Kurosaki-san, Hisagi-senpai, you should come too. And of course Masaki-chan. Alright, Haru-kun, Mei-chan?"
"Yeah, I-I'll be there, Aika," Haru stuttered.
"I shall pass," Mei said. "For one, Rukongai is a dingy, rotten and pathetic place."
"Don't be a party-pooper, Kuchiki, it's not that bad. I've practically lived in Rukon all my life," Aika pouted. It was too common a thing for them to take any offenses on what she said. They got used to hearing her flat, outright insults.
"And for another, I have a tea ceremony to attend this evening," she finished, pretending to have not heard what the dark-haired girl said.
"Seriously, Mei?" Haru said, exasperated. "That is your reason? A tea ceremony in the evening? What are they gonna serve those seaweed-ambassador cookies you love so much?"
"Or maybe the chappy ones," Masaki chimed in, sticking out her tongue.
"Hey—" Kaien said, acting offended.
"Yes, how did I forget to mention that?" Haru grinned.
"It's an art, Haru," Mei said as impassive as ever. "I'm sure you can't understand it, much less appreciate it."
"Exactly," Kaien smirked.
"Ehe, come on now, Mei-chan, Haru-kun," Aika interrupted. "You'll come, Mei-chan. And guys," she smiled again. "I'm hoping to see you all there. Well then. Later. Souma-san, Negishi-chan…" she ran away in the direction of another group.
"Anyway, I should be heading back now. See you later, Kaien, Sayuri,"
"Yeah, sure," Kaien turned to Sayuri. "So anyway I'm going to the HQ I'll help you carry these papers, Sayuri."
"It's alright, Kurosaki-fukutaichou," she replied.
"Come, I have nothing to carry so please,"
"Ehe," Haru couldn't help but grin as they started walking ahead. "They sure have something on."
"It is supposed to be a personal matter, Haru," Mei shot him a cold glance. "Nothing you should bother yourself with."
"Eh? Come on, Mei. Couldn't you stop being the ice-queen for once," Haru frowned. "Aren't you ever curious?"
"Curiosity," Mei repeated. "If noticing what shade of red your face turns to when you are around Sakurada is called curiosity… then I do not have any, Haru."
Masaki barely stifled a laugh as Haru blushed again.
"Sh-shut up, Mei," he muttered. "It's not-nothing like that."
"Yes, I should hope so," she said, keeping sarcasm off her voice.
"Teme," he retorted. "Then, I guess, Mei-chan, it's also curiosity how your face turns a dark shade of red when you see… Taeru."
"Seriously, Haru," Mei turned to him with the most expressionless face ever. "If you must try, why not look for something better. Hitsugaya-fukutaichou is a full three inches shorter than me."
"Urusei," he grumbled, tucking his arms behind his head. "He was the first name I could think of. Right there," he pointed at a short boy a few paces in front of them, his turquoise eyes murderously glaring at them.
"Who are you calling short, Kuchiki," he said, visibly annoyed.
"I am sorry, Hitsugaya-fukutaichou," Mei nodded at him. "I did not realize your presence here. As such, I did not mean to disregard you. I was just explaining Haru that height is not something that makes much of a difference."
If her tone were devoid of sarcasm, being her characteristic self, the words were pretty enough to earn them another death glare.
"Teme—"
"Yo, Taeru," Masaki interrupted, grinning as she ran up to him and tried to ruffle his hair as he expertly dodged.
"Taeru janai," he glared at her. "Hitsugaya-fukutaichou da."
Masaki just grinned and tried new techniques to pester the little guy.
"Chibi-chaaaaan," a blur of pink whizzed past them and landed right in front of the already annoyed lieutenant.
"Kusajishi," he yelled. "You're one to call me chibi, you midget!"
"So anyway, Haru, I shall leave now," Mei turned to walk away, ignoring the little chaos in the corridor.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then," Haru said.
"Yes," Mei looked past him and a ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "… or maybe sooner."
And with an inconspicuous wink, she was gone. He only blinked as his eyes followed the direction of her gaze. And there, the pink-haired devil stood grinning notoriously. Kusajishi Yachiru was in no sense grown-up if they ignored her physical looks.
A/N: so "yo, Toushirou," "Toushirou janai, Hitsugaya-taichou da" was always a Hitsugaya-Ichigo thing so I though why not xD
Okay, so just a little something: Sayuri is Hisagi Shuuhei and Reina's (OC) daughter from the fic "Amaranthine" by AutumnEvening008. I don't own it. I'm not going to make any major references, so no issues if you don't know it.
Another thing: there are still some more OCs to come and the getting-familiar-with-them thing is going to go all the way through the fic but in case any of the readers would want, I could make a whole other chapter for the character profiles and Zanpakutos and abilities and stuff.
So I'll try to update soon. The next chapter or two might be random about everyday life after which I'm gonna plunge into the darker side (yes, don't worry I have this whole mega plot and everything's pretty planned out!) But it's up to the reviews to keep me motivated *winks*
So thank you for reading.
Please leave a review!