Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its Characters in any shape or form. I merely own Maya.
This is my first fanfiction published, so please go easy on me. Thank you.
She remembered the first time she saw the orange haired kid, Ichigo Kurosaki dressed in a standard black shihakushō with a big sword strapped on his back and since that close encounter, she couldn't keep her eyes of him but not to the point where she would be stalking him 24/7 and scribbling his name all over her notebook.
She kept her distance where he was involved and simply observed him. It was the same with the raven haired girl, Rukia Kuchiki who was the one who had given Ichigo Kurosaki her powers to save his family from the Hollow attack. The same girl who was now missing from the face of the earth and nobody questioned her absence.
Yes, she knew of the true demise that waited the girl once she was sent back to the Soul Society but it was rather saddening to know that nobody would never remember or miss her.
No.
She didn't know the girl, but it was troublesome to see the girl's fake but yet smiling face every morning she entered the premises.
She remembered seeing the bloodied and battered Ichigo Kurosaki laying in his own pool of blood as he called for Rukia.
She couldn't describe the pang of sadness that rushed threw her body when she saw his expression. She remembered crouching beside his body, holding his head in her lap.
The poor boy had so many troubles on his shoulders and he didn't even know it.
A small yawn escaped her lips as she found herself entering the room where she had left a patched up Ichigo. "Don't blame me when you get punched in the face when he wakes up to the sight of you untop of him." She merely admitted as she strolled into the room.
"I think I can handle it", Tessai replied making the girl scoff in return as she leaned against the wall. Her head hanging low, she sighed simply.
God this boy was a magnet for all danger. How he survived through all this amazed her.
"Shouldn't you be at school." Tessai commented as he craned his head towards her. She simply shrugged her shoulders and sighed.
"Yoruichi said I can go later." She was already dressed in her school uniform so she didn't need to get ready when she had to go. Tessai nodded his head as he continued to "warm" up Ichigo's body. She briefly wondered what Ichigo's reaction would be.
And it was like someone answered her thoughts as Ichigo shifted slightly, his eyes slowly opening. He made an audible sound of confusement before his eyes widened when he found himself staring at Tessai's face.
And as proclaimed, Ichigo Kurosaki screamed in alert as Tessai leaned down further. "Oh, what a good reaction. Quite excellent," Tessai observed as Ichigo shoved his hands in Tessai's face, trying to push him away.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ichigo demanded as Tessai craned his head towards the door.
"Boss, you wanted to know the moment Ichigo woke up? Well, he's awake!" Ichigo's eyes narrowed at this.
"Wait a minute. You work for Mr. Hat and Clogs, don't you? Why are you under the covers with me? Get off!" A small sigh escaped her lips as she watched Ichigo shove Tessai off with his feet and hands. The sheets flew off him during the action. Ichigo shot a glare at the worker before feeling a shot off pain in one of his shoulders.
He gasped as he clutched his shoulder, 'Hey. I'm not dead. Why not?' His eyes went up confusedly as they scanned the area he occupied. 'What's more, this isn't my house. Where am I?'
"You shouldn't move around so much," she stated as she pushed herself off the wall, watching with concern as Ichigo's head snapped towards her, his eyes filling with confusement as he saw her dressed in a school uniform.
"Who are you?" He questioned as he found himself staring at the auburn haired girl, his eyes slightly filled with confusement. She raised a eyebrow.
"Well they certainly weren't lying when they said you could never place a name with a face? I'm in your class," he flushed with embaressment and rubbed the back of his head. "Maya Shihōin?"
He shook his head. "Nope. Sorry, doesn't ring any bells." He admitted as she crouched beside him.
"Thought so. Well like I said", she started. "You shouldn't move around so much, I could barely patch you up last night, and with you moving around, it'll reopen the wounds."
Two doors slid apart and Maya glanced up seeing Kisuke. "She's right. You need to relax. We were barely able to patch you up." From seeing his boss enter the room, Tessai hurriedly straightened himself up and sat with both legs underneath him. "If you move around too much, you'll die." He held his traditional, white fan in one hand and his can in the other.
"Is that right?" Ichigo asked as Kisuke approached him.
"So, Mr. Hat and Clogs, I take it this is your house?"
"Uh-huh!" He snapped his fan closed.
Ichigo took hold of the same shoulder once more. "So, are you the one who saved me, huh?"
Kisuke slightly bent forward. "Huh. It seems by the underlining tone of your voice, maybe you didn't want me to rescue you."
By the sudden silence, Maya was certain that Ichigo was having a flashback. "Wait? So what happened to. Uryū. I remember that he was there with me, helping me out. So is he alive?"
Kisuke sighed. "Maya treated Uryū at the sight. But then he went home. He actually did loose a considerable amount of blood but his wounds weren't as serious as yours. Even if he had just laid there for a couple of days, I don't think he would have died." Kisuke confessed as Ichigo sent a knowing glance towards Maya. "So after Maya cleaned the rest of his wounds, he went home."
Maya took her chance and stepped forward. "But just so you know, Ichigo, when Uryū left. He was worried about you."
Ichigo craned his head towards her. "Uryū was worried? No way." He murmured in disbelief.
Maya simply shrugged as she placed her hands behind her back. "I did ask him to consider to rest here for a while so that he can regain is strength but he refused."
Maya suddenly had a flashback as she remembered standing aside as Kisuke knelt down towards a bruised and battered Ichigo, Uryū's back turned towards them. "Thanks. I appreciate the offer but really, I'm fine. Please just take care of Ichigo. Because its pretty aparent that if there's anyone who could defeat those guys, it certainly is not me." Uryū had confessed as he clutched his hands tightly beside him. "The only one who can save Rukia is you. That's what he said."
Ichigo's eyebrows pushed together. "Only me?" He suddenly scoffed. "What the hell can I do?" A moment passed and he suddenly snapped. "Don't you understand?! Rukia's gone back to the Soul Society. Just how am I suppose to go after her? How am I suppose to save her?"
Maya simply stared at him and sighed softly. "It can't be done. I can't do it." Shaking her head, Maya sighed.
"Ichigo, do you really believe that?" He glanced up at her as her eyes shifted towards Kisuke knowingly. "There is a way into the Soul Society." Ichigo's eyes widened at this.
"There's a way?" Kisuke merely nodded and in an instant the orange haired boy was on his feet. "How? Tell me how do I get there."
"Of course I'll tell you." Kisuke started as he held up on finger. "But on one condition." Ichigo's eyebrows pushed together.
"What's that?"
Maya sighed knowing what was the outcome. "For the next ten days you will study with me and let me teach you how to fight properly." Ichigo scoffed as he took a step towards Kisuke, his fists clenching.
"Study? You want me to waste time training with you? I don't have that kind of time, okay! Rukia is gone and she could be executed at any second." He pointed arm out, his eyes narrowed. "We have to get to the Soul Society as soon as we can."
"What don't you understand?" Kisuke demanded as he pushed the tip of his crane against Ichigo's head, sending the boy hurdling towards the ground before crouching over him, his cane mere inches from Ichigo's face. "Don't act so dumb. If you try to go there now, you'll die." Orange energy seemed to surround the cane in the form of a sword. The tip of the blade pointed itself near Ichigo's nose. His brown eyes stared at it in fright. A nervous yet quiet gulp went down his throat as the orange blade disappeared.
"You think you can beat them. You honestly believe that you're ready to fight them? I went ahead and let you try fighting them in order to prove a point. I figured you would have understood results better than words. My hope was that you would learn your lesson. With the amount of strength you have now, you won't be able to do much once you get into the Soul Society." As he spoke, Ichigo continued to stare at him with scared eyes while Maya leaned against the wall. "Right now, you are weak. And anytime a weak person attempts to enter the enemy's den, it's basically suicide."
Glancing towards the doorway, Maya watched a familiar black feline appear before sitting down quietly at the girl's feet. "So you wanna save Rukia? Don't make me laugh. If you get yourself killed, there'll be no one to blame." Once seeing Ichigo's reaction, he stood up with a tired grunt and walked towards the left side before he started to pace. "The Soul Society usually has a one month waiting period before an execution. Usually, they respect their own rules." He stopped near Ichigo, his cane propped on his shoulder. "Let's hope that's the case with Rukia's execution."
Ichigo immediately sat up. "Let's hope so?"
"It's all the way different from the way humans execute someone. So that gives me about ten days to torture you." Ichigo's teeth clenched. "Then seven days to open the gate to the Soul Society, and then we'll have thirteen days to get there and get the job done. So we've got lots of time."
Glancing down at the feline at her feet, it wasn't a surprise to see two deep golden orbs staring back at her. "Will I become strong enough…in ten days?"
Taking this as her cue to leave, Maya simply turned around and without a word left the room. Walking threw the shop, lost in her own thoughts.
Normal or not.
Her life would never be the same.
"Alright students, I have one more assignment for you: everyone, try to get yourselves back here in one piece in September. Class dismissed; have fun!" Misato Ochi announced as Maya simply found herself staring out the classroom window.
Everyone in the room began shuffling out of their seats to either talk to one another or head on out and only then did Maya notice that Ichigo stayed seated with a glum look on his face.
She sighed under her breath knowing that everything that happened so far was bothering him but she decided against the fact to stand up and actually strike a conversation with him.
Her eyes swept over the classroom, noting that a certain Quincy wasn't present and sighed. Somehow she wished she could bunk the last day of school and just relax.
"Ichigo~!" A cheerful toned voice brought the orange haired boy out of his thoughts as a blindfold went over Ichigo's eyes. Leave it Keigo Asano to lift the mood as he lifted Ichigo up from his chair before spinning him.
After spinning him a few times in a circle, Keigo stopped Ichigo. "Now, see if you can hit the watermelon!" A hard smack on the head from the wooden stick Ichigo used to hit Keigo was all it took to cause a fountain of blood to spurt out of his head. Being the whiner he is, Keigo cried comical tears while holding his head. "Nice try, but that was my melon! It's okay though, because I don't need a melon to think about anything anymore!" Maya rolled her eyes as she leaned against her palm.
"School's out for summer, and summer means the sea, and the sea is where we're all going, because I, Keigo Asano, have planned a trip for us to the beach!" He now wore this ridiculous vacation outfit, a beach float on his shoulder, and a red banner across his body. "Ten, fun-filled days of sunbathing, swimming, fireworks, food, and lots of unsupervised and unquestionable activities, right?"
And just like that, excuses started to appear. "Sorry, but I'm afraid I've made other plans." Ichigo interrupted.
"I'm not too keen on the ocean either, Keigo." Orihime said. Tatsuki followed. "I've got the national's tournament to go to."
Michiru opted out as well. "Well, if Orihime and Tatsuki aren't going…then neither am I." Maya scoffed under her breath.
"Sorry, but I have some things that I have to take care of." Chad monotonously replied and Maya raised a eyebrow.
Seeing the sad expression falling upon Keigo, he turned towards his friend. No one had time to join him. To make it worse, Mizuiro put on a scuba diver mask while telling him his plans. "And I am flying to Hawaii tomorrow."
Keigo grabbed Mizuiro by the collar and shook him angrily. "What could possibly be more important than going on vacation with me, you jackass?"
"I'm going on this great trip to Hawaii with my girlfriend and nine of her friends. So that's like eleven of us!" ... "Hawaii? Just you and ten other girls?" Keigo asked in an angered and comical tone. "So how'd you forget to invite me!?" He started to chase around the frightened Mizuiro as the others watched and didn't help.
She couldn't explain this feeling that shot through her heart, but somehow Maya had wished for nothing but a normal life with a normal family, normal friends with nothing to worry about.
But not eveything could go the way you wished.
Gathering her things, Maya simply sighed under her breath as she slid out her desk. Glancing towards the group of friends, she silently slipped out the class, oblivious the fact that somehow someone finally noticed her.
"Maya", the stern voice of Yoruichi brought her from her thoughts as the girl turned towards the owner. "You do understand the risk that you will be going threw." The girl simply nodded as she returned to staring at the ceiling of her room.
"Yes, I'm aware." She stretched out her arm, examining the unique bracelet around her wrist, flexing her fingers once in a while. "I haven't slipped up in a long time. And I'd like to help save Rukia." She informed as she sat up, her hair for once, hanging loose formed bangs around her face.
"I hope you know what your getting into." It wasn't like Yoruichi to sugar coat things when she all but knew this situation was anything but sweet.
"Hmm." The door slid open and she craned her head to see Tessai standing in the doorway. "Ichigo should be arriving soon, Boss wants you down there to help him train."
The girl nodded and turned towards Yoruichi. "To answer your question, I honestly have no idea." With that the girl walked out the room, closing it behind her.
Not knowing what was to be expected from her.
Renji Abarai strolled down one of the halls inside of his barracks in a pink and white floral robe with a black obi sash. A white headband occupied his forehead now that his expensive glasses were broken. On his way to his destination, two female Soul Reapers bowed in respect. "Good morning, Lieutenant Abarai, sir." They said in unison.
"At ease." Renji replied. A short while later he stopped in front of an entrance. It had the number six written in Japanese inside of a diamond shaped symbol. He twirled something that was attached to a piece of metal before inserting it into a thin slit in the wall.
The metal key glowed, granting him accses to what laid beyond. "Wait, wait! Come back here!" A young male Soul Reaper with short black hair, three strands of it in beads, said. There was a tattoo above his left eye, showing that he admired his lieutenant. "I'm gonna get in so much trouble if they found out I let you get away!" He groaned in frustration as he failed to catch the Hell Butterfly. "I'll have to lure it back!" He left and quickly returned with a fake, yellow and pink butterfly on a bendy antenna. "Hey there, big butterfly; come here and check out these antennas! I'm a Pisces with double D buttercups and-."
Renji's foot planted itself on his subordinates face. It forced him to fall back on the hardwood floors. "You still can't handle Hell Butterflies?"
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know you were coming in today." The Soul Reaper apologized.
"I had to come in and check on the prisoner. Is she still insubordinate and difficult?"
"I'm not insubordinate." Came the voice of Rukia Kuchiki as she sat, her back faced away from him.
"If you're not insubordinate, then why do you refuse to eat?"
"Maybe I'm not that hungry. Does that bother you, Mr. Lieutenant?" Rukia asked with a playful smirk.
"Oh, so you resent that I'm the lieutenant now, is that it? I can hear it in the tone of your voice!" Renji retorted.
Rukia continued to tick him off. "Hit a nerve I see. Well don't worry, Mr. Officer. Now you have the rank and the pompous attitude and the weird eyebrows to go with it!"
He growled deeply before grabbing the metal bars of Rukia's cell, a vein popping out of his forehead. "How dare you mock me! I could kill you for an insult like that!"
She merely sighed. "Tell me something… Am I really going to die, Renji?" Her voice became soft and saddened.
"Oh, absolutely! For what you did, I expect you'll be executed immediately!" Renji crossed his arms over his chest while looking down at his childhood friend.
Her head hung low, "Very well… I understand."
Renji stared at her, his eyes a little wide. "What do you mean you understand? I was just kidding, Rukia! It was only a joke."
"So, which one is it, you idiot?"
"An idiot, huh? If I'm the idiot, then how come you're the one in the cell? You're pretty lucky Captain Kuchiki is probably pleading for clemency for you even as we speak."
Rukia kept quiet for a second, turning her head back around as her eyes met with the ground beneath her. "Well, I doubt that."
"How can you say such a thing? A man like Kuchiki would never stand by and do nothing while his own sister faces a death sentence!" Renji defended for his captain.
"You're quite correct about that. He'd rather kill me himself." Rukia said. "I know for certain, because I know full well the kind of man he is. Fourty years have passed since I was taken in by the Kuchiki family. And in all those years, he has never once looked at me."
A/N: Phew! -wipes away sweat- that was a long first chapter. I hope you all enjoyed.
MayaTheSoulReaper