Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, not me! :)
Story Setting: After the Soul Society saga
Story Genre: Humour/Dark
Pairings will be revealed as the story develops!
Get Out Of My Head!
:: Prologue - The Lost Soul ::
...
Where am I...?
Lost between this familiar yet unfamiliar world
a wandering soul
I reach out
and grasp whispers of myself
yet none of this belongs to me.
Not even the darkness
...
Byakuya woke up with a start.
His mind was clouded and he could not quite recall what had happened before he had passed out. All that surfaced in his memories was the vague impression of an impact. He had been preparing for a shunpo… and then... what?
Byakuya strained to remember. He had been panicking then… because… because…
Then it struck him.
Rukia! Rukia had been…
The captain tried to open his eyes but found himself unable to do so. His limbs were all torpid and unresponsive. This alarmed him.
Was he paralysed?
Outrageous!
He had to save Rukia!
He soon found out that with a more concentrated focus and a stronger will, he could force his eyes open. The sight of a plain ceiling with a circular lamp planted in its centre greeted his regained vision. Concentrating hard once again, he managed to force his body into a sitting position.
Strange, how his body felt so foreign to him. He was pretty sure that he was not in a gigai. Yet there seemed to be some repulsing force, pushing him away from the control of his body, making it difficult to coordinate his actions smoothly.
Now that he was in an upright position, he briefly scanned the room's spiritual composition and immediately learned of two important information.
Firstly, he was in the human world. The medium in which the building consisted of was not of spirit particles but human materials.
Secondly, there was another presence in the room, and it wielded an unfamiliar reiatsu of formidable strength.
Maintaining his mask of indifference, Byakuya composed himself and spoke, "Who is there?"
The captain almost raised his hands to shield his mouth when he heard the words that he had spoken. His voice had become so rough and uncultured! What a disgrace!
The figure across the room seemed to be in the middle of a doze before Byakuya spoke. It straightened its back with a start while remaining in its kneeling position. Byakuya could have sworn he saw an ominous reflection of light in the glasses the figure was wearing.
"Abarai-dono! Looks like you have awaken!" The figure stood up and walked out into the light. He was a huge, built man with cornrow hair and had a pair of rectangular glasses perched upon his nose, below which lay a moustache that had a slight curve upwards. Byakuya recognised the man as a former captain of the Gotei 13 that had been banished from Soul Society, Tessai Tsukabishi. He also noted the outlandish blue apron the giant man donned.
"Urahara-dono! Abarai-dono is awake!" The man hollered as he slid open the fusuma.
Urahara? Kisuke Urahara? Just what in the world was going on? But that was not important… there were more vital matters to attend to first…
Byakuya quickly stood up with much effort. But before he could do anything else, the room was flooded with new visitors.
"Abarai-kun! You're well I see! You got us all worried about you!" A man wearing a rakish striped hat with antediluvian wooden clogs shook out his paper fan and started to fan himself while laughing flippantly. Following behind him was the more serious group consisting of Kurosaki Ichigo, the Quincy Archer, the inhumanely strong human, and that orange-haired girl with strange healing powers.
"Yo, Renji… I'm… Well I'm sorry…" The Kurosaki brat started contritely, voice swimming with regret and shame. Byakuya realised with a jolt that Ichigo had just addressed him with his red-headed lieutenant's name. As if the calling of his name without the expected honorific was not enough! How audacious!
"Kurosaki Ichigo…" Byakuya growled dangerously, temporary forgetting about his awkward voice.
Ichigo seemed oblivious to his warning though, and continued, "I… couldn't save Rukia. I'm sorry."
Rukia!
"What have you done to her, Kurosaki Ichigo!?" Byakuya demanded, voice simmering with the rage of a devastated brother. His face felt heated with anger and he could not help but glare at the orange-headed boy before him.
Ichigo shot him an indignant look. "Stop glaring at me as if it was my entire fault! I tried, okay? If you want to get all angry over me then let me ask you, where were you when Rukia needed help? So shut up already and I'll go save her before your paranoid captain wakes up and find his sister missing!"
"Why you…!"
Then a voice cut through the argument as a new presence entered the room.
"Hey you two, cut it out already! We have more important matters to discuss rather than yapping about who's right or wrong!"
Byakuya felt annoyance twitch within him as he immediately recognised the voice.
"It's you…" He stared coldly at the brunet woman before him with distaste. Former captain of the Second Division, Yoruichi Shihouin. His childhood nightmare.
Yoruichi stared at him with a raised brow. "For a minute there I though you were Byakuya-bo," she laughed and dropped to the ground with her legs crossed.
Byakuya felt his temper flaring once more, but he struggled to maintain it. "Enough with such foolishness. We have more serious matters to attend to."
Apparently, everyone else in the room did not seem to agree with him.
"Hey Renji, are you alright?" Ichigo blinked and asked him with a worried expression.
"I agree with Ichigo. You're not acting like yourself today, Abarai-san," the Quincy archer nodded and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
Byakuya was on the verge of snapping. "Please cease such senseless name-calling. I will take my leave now."
The annoyed captain was about to make a move when Yoruichi stopped him.
"You're definitely Byakuya-bo," she stated and placed a hand firmly on his shoulder.
Byakuya gritted his teeth. "Step aside, Shihouin Yoruichi. Or you shall feel my blade to your throat."
Yoruichi grinned. "What blade?"
Byakuya let his hand slide to his side as he reached for his Zanpakutou. But as he gripped the handle of the sword, he realised with a growing horror that it was not Senbonzakura.
"Do you understand now, Byakuya-bo?" Yoruichi shoved a mirror to his face as he lifted his head up.
Byakuya's world shattered then.
A/N:
Is anyone confused? Don't worry, the story gets rolling with the first chapter! This is only the prologue :)
Sorry if my English isn't descriptive enough, I'm working on that!
Though this is only a crappy prologue, hope you've enjoyed it!
Thanks for reading!
R&R! Critism welcomed.