Foreword
Hello.
This will be my first story for bleach.
I have to say something before anyone starts reading this. I will be changing certain elements about the story in order to fit my story, so this will not be 100% true to the source material.
So if you want a story that stays completely true to the source material, please stop and do not read any further. Thank you. The story takes place after the Aizen arc and there are crucial differences between my story and the original anime/manga.
Also, if you don't like fanfiction with original characters included, please do not read any further.
If you still decide to read, then I hope that you will enjoy the story.
Once per season every year, the Shinigami Academy holds a training mission in the human world. During the said training, students will be fighting dummy hollows. They may be dummy, but for students, they can be really difficult to be dealt with. This training allows the students to gain experience in terms of fighting hostile enemies.
Many students were scurrying all over the place. Most of them were trying to find as many dummy hollows as they can, while some search for civilians and protect them. Several also were tending to the wounded. Since this is a training mission, it was no wonder there would be students who will get hurt.
A man with short blue spiky hair wearing a shinigami uniform standing on top of the highest tower in the area stated as he observed the situation.
"Seems like they're doing fine."
"Indeed, quite impressive."
A female shinigami with long brown hair replied in a cheerful tone.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself, despite the fact that we're just observing."
"Seeing them work so desperately to gain good grades and reputation reminds me of our time in this academy."
She grinned while reminiscing.
The man smiled as well.
"We were so childish back then. There were so many times where we argued over trivial things."
These two were from the same academy and graduated together. They still weren't recruited in a division, but considering their good grades and experience, it will not be long until they were to be recruited. They were currently tasked in helping the shinigami academy, obersving and guiding the training mission in the real world was one of them.
"Please help!"
All of a sudden a voice filled with terror erupted.
The both of them looked towards the direction in which the voice came from. They saw a female student running towards them in a panic while she carried a male student on her back. The male student was drenched in blood, leaving droplets of blood on the ground as he was carried by the female student.
This was very strange. The dummy hollows used in the training were quite strong, but they were program to hold back. They were allowed to harm the students to a certain degree, but not to the point where the students will have their lives in grave danger.
"What!?"
The shinigami with short spiky blue hair jumped down in a hurry and approached the pair of students.
"What happened!?"
"H-Hollows! R-Real O-Ones!"
Just as the female student explained, several more screams erupted and more students came running towards them from the same direction in which the first pair of students came from. Many of them were injured and covered in blood.
Another scream erupted, but this one was not from a student, it wasn't even from a human. It was from a hollow.
Right after the scream, a figure emerged from the darkness. It had a body similar to that of a hound, but terribly built with strong muscles, it had a white mask resembling that of a hound.
It came rushing towards them. The students seeing this, screamed in terror and tried to run much faster.
But the hollow was much faster than each of them. With its speed, it closed the distance between itself and the students in a matter of seconds.
Just as it was about to pounced on a student, the female shinigami with long brown hair intercepted it.
Its fangs met with her zanpaktou.
"W-What are you doing you jerk!? Help me!"
The male shinigami shook his head as if she was trying to wake himself up. He ordered the students to run towards the safe camp. He unsheathed his zanpaktou and charged towards the hollow. The female shinigami held the hollow still, while he leaped and slashed it down.
Drenched in sweat, the both of them breath out a sigh of relief as the hollow's body disintigrated and the only thing left of it was a puddle of blood. However, their moment of peace lasted for only a few seconds. As several more howls erupted from the shadows and more hollows emerged.
Each of them were quite similar from the first one, with only slight differences on the mask. But behind them were several were several being towering even the highest building in the area in terms of height. They looked like they were wearing robes of darkness and had white mask with long pointed nose.
"Menos Grande!"
The female shinigami uttered in terror.
The terror they felt was natural. These hollows were said to be powerful enough to challenge liutenant-ranked shinigamis.
One of the Menos then opened its mouth and a red orb suddenly started to emit inside.
"Run! It's using Cero!"
A red beam then blasted out of the mouth of the Menos. Both of the shinigami leaped aside and dodged it by a hair's breadth. After evading the attack, both of them ran away.
"Damn it all! Why is this happening!?"
Why is this happening!? This kind of situation happened once before. I heard several hollow managed to pass through the defense in the area and started to attack the students. They were saved by the would-be trator, Aizen Sousuke.
Because of that incident, the facility in which the training was held was closed temporarily. The defense was improved immensely and it worked out very successfully for a long while.
As they were running, they saw the entirety of the students running towards them.
They met up with one another. Each were drenched in sweat and was out of breath.
"Why are you all here!? I told you to head into the safe camp!"
"B-But.."
Even before the students could finish their sentence, the male shinigami realized the reason. Quite a distance away behind the students, were a group of Menos Grande. They were completely encircled by a horde of hollows.
"Raise your zanpaktou! Fight!"
The female shinigami shouted.
"Fight! Until the end, try to fight in order to survive!"
There were tears beginning to well up at the corner of her eyes. She was terrified, but she had to stand firm and at the very least show the students to fight for their life. The students knew this, with shaking hands, each of them unsheathed their zanpaktou. Every single one of them was shaking, but they had no way out of this. At the very least, they must fight until they fall.
Each of the Menos Grande opened their mouth and started to charge their Cero.
They felt that all hope was lost.
The female shinigami charged and tried to attack one of the hollows, but she almost immediately she was attacked by a hollow. She tried to slash it using her zanpaktou, but the hollow dodged it and bit her on her shoulder.
"AAAAHHH!"
Her friend rushed towards her, he used his zanpaktou and stabbed the hollow in its eyes. The hollow let go of her and cried out in pain. The female shinigami was pulled back by her friend.
Everyone looked around and closed their eyes in defeat.
The sound of the Cero erupting emerged and a huge explosion rung out.
However, they were still alive.
Breathing and unharmed.
They opened their eyes and noticed that they were covered by a film-like material that was yellow in color. Above the film was a shield floating.
"Looks like we made it, captain."
A voice then was heard. It had a casual and cheerful tone to it.
"It seems that way."
A reply then was heard. The tone was calm and cool.
Everyone looked towards the direction in which the voices were coming from and was surprised as they realized that the ones whom the voices belonged to was right in front of them.
Right in front of them, two figures stood firm. Both were female. One had long platinum-white hair and had purple eyes. She was wearing the standard shinigami uniform, but she had an insignia attached to one of her arms, the insignia read "Vice-Captain". The other had long straight black hair and had eyes the color of amber. She was wearing a captain's haori over her shinigami uniform. On her back reads "13th division." The both of them were very beautiful and eyecatching.
"Now then, what should we do, captain?"
The woman with the white hair cheerfully asked.
"For now, we should rid this area of the existence of these irritating beings."
The woman with black hair replied in a cold voice.
"That's quite harsh!"
"Is that so?"
Both of them mused.
The film covering them suddenly cracked and shattered like glass. The shield floating then flew straight towards the white haired woman. She catched it with her right hand. She grabbed something resembling a hilt of a sword on the shield and started to pull it out. A claymore then emerged from the shield. It was regal looking and very "Royalty-looking".
"Shall I start then, Captain Tsukihaji?"
"If you will, Aiko."
"To me, Hinansho!"
Aiko smirked. She bent down and started to get into a position. Her position seemed as if she was about to run in a marathon. She put her shield in front of her and in an instant, leaped towards the hollows. Her force was so strong that she left a crater on the ground she stood on before. She met the hollows with the front of her shield and each hollow got blown away. She then twirled and slashed using her claymore.
Everyone looked dumbfounded at the sight of the hollows getting obliterated with such brute force.
"Now then. Perhaps I should start as well."
Everyone was brought back from their thoughts by the voice of the woman with black hair, Captain Tsukihaji.
She unsheathed her zanpaktou and in an instant disappeared from the sights of everyone. Dumbfounded, everyone tried to looked at where she has gone to. But they were distracted by the howl of a Menos Grande. They looked at it and saw it was sliced in half and was screaming out in pain.
"Hmph. It seems that this will actually be a bore."
They looked in front and saw Captain Tsukihaji back to where she was standing before.
Then again, in an instant disappeared and several howls erupted. Everyone looked around and saw that each and everyone of the Menos were being sliced in half and were beginning to disintegrate. It was no mystery, it was the doing of Captain Tsukihaji.
In just a short amount of time, the horde of hollows which the everyone feared were erased, as if they never existed. The only proof that they were in the area, was the blood trails left on the ground.
The students fell to their knees and began to sob. Thankful that they were alive and didn't get killed.
The two shinigamis from before then approached the Captain and Vice-Captain.
"Thank you very much!"
Both of them thanked the pair sincerely.
"Eeh? This is kind of embarrassing! Hahaha!"
Aiko laughed cheerfully.
"Excuse me for the rudeness, but may I ask the names of our saviours?"
Captain Tsukihaji paid them no attention and instead continued to stare at the moon up in the night sky. It looks like she had no intention of replying. Aiko noticed this and scratched her head.
She smiled and introduced herself and the captain in a gleeful tone.
"I am the Vice-Captain of the 13th division, Asakura Aiko." She then gestured towards Captain Tsukkihaji "This is Captain Tsukihaji Jujou, Captain of the 13 division."
They were surprised at the introduction. Because they know that the seat for the captain and vice-captain of the 13th division were vacant. It was offered to Kuchiki Rukia, but she declined and instead decided to aid the newly reformed special division in the human world. A new division was formed, it was based in the human world. It was the "External division", it was led by Captain Kurosaki Ichigo formerly a substitute shinigami. Due to his effort and aid in the battle against Aizen Sousuke and the Espada, this was formed as some sort of reward for him.
There were talks about will be seated as the captain of the 13th division, but there were no concrete details. But, here right in front of them, were the two assisgned to lead the 13th division. They tried to remember if they have any memories of both Asakura Aiko and Tsukihaji Jujou, but to no avail. It was peculiar to have someone unheard of to suddenly lead a division.
"You might be thinking were mysterious and untrustworthy, aren't you?" Asakura aiko stated.
"N-No! It's just t-that-"
"Hahaha it's fine. No one will blame you. A pair of no-names suddenly emerged and announced that they were Captain and Vice-Captain of a division, it's no wonder why you're cautious. I could explain, but for now-" She looked at Captain Tsukihaji whom was now staring at a certain direction. Her eyes seemed as if they were glowing ever so faintly. "Did you find anything, Captain?"
Captain Tsukihaji nodded in reply.
"There's a certain figure hidden deep within the forest here. Hostile, A hollow... Vasto Lorde class."
"I see. Then we must take care of it, yes?"
"You stay here and protect the students. I'll deal with it myself."
Aiko smiled at Jujou.
"Alright. Be careful."
Without giving a reply, Jujou went on ahead.
"Is Captain Tsukihaji going to be okay!? I-I mean, she said that it was a vasto lorde class menos!"
The female student asked in a very worried tone. The male shinigami was also giving a worried expression.
Aiko noticed and giggled.
Both shinigamis were dumbfounded at the weird reply they got.
"Don't worry about it. She won't lose against a Vasto Lorde," Aiko looked upwards at the night sky and the moon. "-especially on a night like this." She stated out in a very confident tone.
Jujou rushed towards the forest. Without any pause, she continued towards the direction in which she saw the Vasto lorde.
In an open area, she stopped and saw a figure. The figure had a body resembling that of a regular human, but it was clear it was no human. It had the white mask that belonged only to hollows. It's mask had three horns, one on each opposite side of the head and one on the center of the forehead. It was definitely a Vasto Lorde Class Menos.
It glared at Jujou.
After a moment of silence, it charged at Jujou with terrifying speed. In an instant, Jujou unsheathed her zanpaktou and met with the claws of the Vasto Lorde. They traded blows with another. Several sounds that resembled to metals clashing with one another rung throughout the entire area. Both seemed to be on the same speed and strength and was at a standstill.
"Envelop, Yozora"
Tsukihaji Jujou whispered and immediately afterwards her zanpaktou began to glow in a purple color and seemed to sparkle in glitters like stars in the night sky. Her body started to faintly glow as well.
The Vasto Lorde saw this and leaped backwards. It charged a Cero and fired it almost instantly. It charged its cero much faster than the menos from earlier, but it was more outrageous in terms of power and speed. However, Jujou merely evaded it with such speed it seemed as if she was teleporting insantly. The vasto Lorde then fired more cero, but like the first one, Jujou evaded it rather easily. She then emerged behind the Vasto Lorde and in one swift action, slashed at the Vasto Lorde. She was aiming to behead it, but it managed to dodge and instead had one of its arms sliced off. It rolled on the ground, away from Jujou.
After gaining a decent distance away from Jujou, it stood up and growled. It then emitted a sound that resemble that of a chuckle. In the darkness, several red orbs of light appeared. The glow emitted by the orb lightened the darkness and revealed several more menos grande, Gillians.
Jujou's respond was to only look in a bored expression at the Vasto Lorde.
"None escapes my sight, under the pale moonlight."
After saying this, Jujou's body seemed to blur and in the following moment all of the Gillians were sliced apart.
The Vasto Lorde howled in anger and charged towards Jujou. She smiled at the sight.
They traded blows, but this time was different. Before they were evenly matched in terms of strength and speed, but right now, Jujou was completely overpowering the Vasto Lorde. Her attacks slips pass the attack of the Vasto Lorde consequently landing countless of hits at the Vasto Lorde. Before long, the Vasto Lorde was covered in wounds and was bleeding.
Perhaps sensing that it was in danger, it howled, raised its arm and pounded the ground in such strength that a cloud of sand and dust covered the area. Using the cloud as a smokescreen, it tried to escape. It ran a decent distance away and began to open a Garganta.
"The pale moonlight shines upon you. Even you shall not escape."
Before the Vasto Lorde could enter inside the Garganta, a wave of lunar energy emerged from the cloud of sand and dust, it traveled in a graceful arc resembling that of a crescent moon. It flew towards the Vasto Lorde in terrifying speed and sliced in half horizontally. Its lower body fell inwards the Garganta while its upper body fell to the ground outside the Garganta. Almost instantly after this, the Garganta closed shut.
"I had my expectations since you're a Vasto Lorde, but you turn to be such a disappointment." Jujou uttered in a slightly annoyed tone. "But, perhaps I should consider this a good exercise. I did use my Shikai after all. Feel honored to have me use my Shikai."
She looked up towards the night sky and smiled gently.
"It's such a beautiful night."
Jujou immediately head back towards the camp of the shinigami academy after confirming the death of the Vasto Lorde. She was greeted by her Vice-Captain, Asakura Aiko and the two young shinigami from before.
"See? I told you Captain would not be defeated." Aiko cheerfully stated as Jujou walked towards them.
"What's the situation, Aiko?"
"The entire student population here has now retreated back to soul society. But these two, they convinced me to let them stay. It seems they want to thank you."
Jujou looked at them and they took a step backwards. It was as if they were mice being cornered by a predator.
"There is no need for thanks. I've merely did what I wanted to do."
"B-But still!... Thank you very much!"
Both of them showed their gratitude and bowed towards Jujou.
"Now then, what do you have to say to defend yourselves."
Shunsui Kyoraku asked in a stern voice.
His questions was directed at the two figures standing at center of the hall, Tsukihaji Jujou and Asakura Aiko.
"We summoned you here to officially welcome you as the captain of the 13th division, but you didn't appear and instead went to the human world. Granted you saved the lives of the students there, but still it's rude to have the rest of us here wait in vain."
Jujou stared right into Kyoraku's eyes.
"Earlier, as I was heading towards this location, I noticed a guard running frantically. I caught him and asked for the reason. When I learned the reason why, I immediately went to the human world to aid the students. We saved them, is that not a good reason?"
Kyoraku stared at Jujou with serious eyes, but Jujou stared right back.
A long time of uncomfortable silenced ensued.
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
The one who broke the silence was Kyoraku.
"That is a good reason! And I'll allow you to get away with that."
"Captain-Commander!?"
Soi-fon yelled in bewilderment. She was standing at the side with her fellow captains. Kyoraku raised his hand gesturing her to stop.
"But still, an apology is warranted."
Kyoraku stated in a serious tone.
Tsukihaji Jujou bowed and Asakaura Aiko followed suit.
"I apologize for the lack of manners. I should have at least gave word that I was going somewhere else and would not arrive in time."
Kyoraku was satisfied with the apology and smiled.
"Alright. I know you're tired Tsukihaji Jujou. So I will let you leave in order to rest."
"Thank you very much, Captain-Commander."
After Jujou and Aiko left the room, most of the captains started to talk with each other. The loudest one was Soi-fon.
"How could you let her go just like that, Captian-Commander!? We should've atleast gave her some sort of punishment!"
"Hahahahaha as expected you're the one to complain, Soi-fon. It is fine. Even the old man would've given the same judgement as me."
As kyoraku brought up Shingekuni Yamamoto-Genryuusai, the atmosphere in the hall dulled a bit.
The late Genryuusai was the former Captian Commander of the Gotei 13. But he died after receiving a fatal wound in the battle against Aizen Sousuke. Many were severely hurt in the battle against Aizen and had to leave due to that.
"No. He would've lashed out at her."
"Hahahaha yes. He most certainly would've lashed out some scolding at her, but in the end he will let her go without punishment. Despite his stern exterior, he was a gentle old man."
The captains nodded at Kyoraku's words.
"Now then, do you find the apology given by Tsukuhaji Jujou acceptable? If not, then we can summon her here again."
Kyoraku asked.
"2nd Division Captain, Soi-fon?"
*Sigh* "It's acceptable, for now atleast."
"3rd Division Captain, Otoribashi Roujuuro?"
"It's okay."
"4th Division Captain, Unohana Retsu-san?"
"I find it acceptable."
"5th Division Captain, Hirako Shinji?"
"Eh? It's all okay to me."
"6th Division Captain, Kuchiki Byakuya?"
"It's fine."
"7th Division Captain, Iba Tetsuzaemon?"
"It's alright."
"8th Division Captain, Yadomaru Lisa-chan?"
"Stop adding "-Chan". In any case, her apology is alright to me."
"9th Division Captain, Muguruma Kensei?"
"It's okay with me."
"10th Division Captain, Histugaya Toushiro?"
"It's fine."
"11th Division Captain, Zaraki Kenpachi?"
"Ha? Sounds alright. Whatever."
"12th Division Captain, Kurotsuchi Mayuri?"
"She seems very interesting atleast. It's fine."
Kyoraku nodded satisfied at the response of everyone.
"Now then, we need to discuss the situation. By Captain Tsukihaji's report, we've learn that there was a Vasto Lorde who appeared in the human world. Even if it was weaker compared to other Vasto Lordes, it is very weird. Their numbers are very scarce, correct?"
"Indeed. And they mostly focus on preserving and gaining their strength back in Hueco Mundo. This is a very peculiar case."
The one who answered was Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the captain of the 12th division.
"Hmm... Considering that this involves the human world to an extent, we should contact the Captain of the External Division, Captain Kurosaki Ichigo-kun."
"That was kinda nerve-wrecking wasn't it, Jujou?"
Aiko blurted out in a lively tone.
"I told you to call me "Captain Tsukihaji"."
Aiko giggled and shook Jujou's shoulders as they walked.
"Relax. It's only us here."
They were headed to the 13th division headquarters.
"I already had our belongings arranged earlier, Jujou."
"Is that so? That was quick. Thank you."
"Hehe No thanks needed."
Before they could reach their intended destination, both of them stopped in their tracks. They saw two figures walking nervously back and forth at the front of the entrance of thr 13th division headquarters. They recognize the two figures, they were the two young shinigami from the training mission in the human world.
"Might I ask what's your goal in prancing back and forth at the entrance of the 13th division headquarters."
Jujou asked in a cold tone, making the two young shinigami stop.
They looked at Jujou and started to tremble slightly. They were intimidated by her. Both of them looked at Aiko, whom was easier to converse with, they hope she will help them in their situation.
Aiko realized this and laughed.
"Hey ya! What are you guys doing here? A little forbidden act of love?"
Both of the young shinigami's face fired up and hastily spoke out.
"N-No! Of course not!"
"Absolutely not!"
Truthfully, what they were saying was not a lie. They were close, but they held no romantic feeling towards each other. They were more like siblings than lovers.
"Ahaha I see, I see. Then, what are you two doing here?"
They looked at each other and after a brief moment of silence, took a deep breath.
"We want to ask if we could join the 13th division!"
"We want to ask if we could join the 13th division!"
Both stated out their purpose in a clear and serious tone.
"Hmm... I see. So you two aren't recruited in a division yet? Alright, I understand."
"Then you wi-"
"However, no matter how much I would like to accept you in our division, the decision is not mine to make."
Aiko glanced over to Jujou who was observing the situation at hand.
Truthfully, not many shinigami remained in the 13th division after its former captain, Ukitake Jushiro. The former captain recieved wounds in the battle against Aizen and his health got worse. He decided to retire fearing that his health would just get in the way of everybody. Many of his loyal subordinates left the division in order to help take care of him, despite his protests. They still help the Gotei 13 from time to time, but not regularly. Thus, the 13th division that would be led by Jujou and Aiko was severely undermanned.
"No. How could I?"
"...Oh.."
Just as their heart was about to sink, Jujou continued.
"You two. Perhaps you have forgotten the process of these kind of things, especially your introduction."
"..Introduction?"
"Your names. How could we accept you if we haven't a clue what your names are."
As they realized that Jujou was asking for their names, each of them let out a sigh of relief.
"I am Hasegawa Miaka."
The young female shinigami with long brown hair introduced herself.
"I'm Aihara Luka."
The young male shinigami with short spiky blue hair introduced himself.
They were waiting for a response from Jujou, but none was heard. Instead, Jujou merely nodded slightly and headed straight into the headquarters of the 13th division. Aiko casually followed her but stopped midway and turned around towards Luka and Miaka.
"The captain can be cold sometimes, but I assure you that she is really nice and sweet. She will open up to you once time passes. But for the mean time... Welcome to the 13th Division!"
To be Continued
Afterword
Greetings! Thank you for reading my story. I've been a fan of Bleach ever since my elementary school days. I've been planning on writing a story about Bleach for a long time now, and I'm happy that I finally managed to do it, despite my busy schedule.
I decided to change several things for my story and I'm sure that it will cause some confusion to readers, especially readers who had read bleach and know the source material really well. I apologize for that.
If you see any mistakes in grammar, spelling, continuity, please send me a private message and I will fix them as soon as I read the message, thanks!
Again thank you for reading, and I hope to see you in the next chapter.
See ya!