Okay, summary suck's like hell, but I'm trying to keep someone as a bit of a mystery character Dx Either way, i hope if you give it the chance you will enjoy . . .
The First encounter
21:38
Two slim figures crouched silently on the roof of a nearby building. The cover of night shrouded them from only the most talented assassins view (not that they were assassins) one carried a pair of binoculars, and gazed intently through them.
"Target locked; Orange hair, around 5'9, 17, high school student. We've finally found him Yoruichi . . ."
The slim figure passed the binoculars to her fellow
"Aye Mon apprenti. That is indeed Kurosaki Ichigo" She lowered the binoculars from her eyes and smiled cattishly
"I'm not your apprentice anymore, Yoru-san" Yoruichi felt a glare from her side and laughed
"Figure of speech Ko, and you slipped up again" She grinned at the figure,
"People will think you are my apprentice if you call me Yoru-san" The girls beside her glared and whipped her head to the side
"Whatever. What are we gonna do about him?" She nudged her head towards the figure now walking into a house nearby. Yoruichi turned to watch him again, and seemed to mull things over before deciding, finally;
"Well, for now, we just need to observe him, we will find out soon enough if he is 'The one' but that's it for today, we need to head back to HQ" She proposed, standing up and stretching her stiff muscles
"Gawd, I hate doing this in winter, the cold always stiffens my muscles" The girl to the side also stood up
"Funny, never affects me" She flicked her eyes to the side, and grinned as her ex-teacher glared at her
"Perhaps you're just getting ol-" She received a kick on the side as she saw her teacher storm off in front growling about 'stupid children'. She quickly righted herself, laughing
"You need to give more than that if you really wanna take me down sensei!" She yelled, running straight past her
"Bet I can beat you in a race!" At this her elder's eyes glazed over, and she grinned again, quickly racing after her ex-student
"I doubt it!"
As the two disappeared from the view of the building they were stood on, a small spark in the air flickered, and then a man appeared beneath the building. He was dressed in a light pink hakama, and a straw hat, beneath which he was dressed in a black shuikaisho. He tipped his head towards the building
"Well well, Kurosaki, they found you two days after the mission was set . . . Very well done girls. Let's hope we don't need to use you both again, however, it's inevitable, be grateful Kurosaki, you have two of the finest agents watching you . . . not that you know it, or why" The man disappeared, leaving a similar spark flicker in his wake.
08:00 Next day
"GOOOD MORNING ICHI-PYAAHHHHHH!" Ichigo only yawned as he heard his father scrablle for the windowsill after his punch sent him flying.
"OIOIOIOI! You almost killed me, son!"
Ichigo scratched his head and stretched, stepping out of bed and pulling his T-shirt off.
"Whatever old man, just get outta my room while I change" His father quickly flipped back through the window
"AY Masaki! What spawn-of-the-devil is this! You could not have created such a mean boy!" He whimpered, skipping out of his sons' bedroom. Ichigo scowled and yelled after him
"If I am any sort of 'devil-child' it's YOU who is to blame!" He threw his now discarded pants through the door after him, earning a quick 'Yelp' and a tumbling-rock sort of sound afterwards. Ichigo grinned, as he walked to the bathroom, deciding on a quick shower before school.
09:00
Ichigo was sat at his desk, twiddling with a pencil before, finally his teacher stormed through the room, rendering the class to a dull chatter. Usually form was the lesson which most students treated as a quick catch-me-up time with their friends (as did the teachers) however, this one was a little different.
"Right pupils!" She slammed her stuff on the desk and stood before her class in somewhat exasperation
"We have some announcements today! As some of you may know, our current P.E. teacher has had to pull out of teaching this term due to family matters"
The class groaned, and for once, Ichigo was with them. (Or Ganju-sensei, as he made the students call him) was one of the more popular teachers in the school – he didn't take any crap from the 'little shits' (as he called them – to their face) that didn't pay attention in class, or tried to tease the teachers as much as they could without getting done (which was a lot, in these times) and taught mainly only martial-arts-based subjects in his classes, rendering Ichigo's classmates all relatively decent in fighting and defence. To his dismay, this meant Ichigo would most-likely no-longer have an after-school club which he benefitted from. Just great.
"Hey hey hey, simmer down. He has been replaced by a very capable substitute, and she insists she will try and stick to the standard Gan-I mean, set for you all." The whole class groaned audibly (Ichigo included) great. Just what he needed, a woman teaching P.E.
"You no doubt will meet her later today in your class. I'll hope you don't judge her until after that lesson." She cast a stern eye across the room. The students were always a little afraid of Occhi-Sensei.
"Now, as for the second announcement! I hope you will be a little more enthusiastic over this, as we have a new pupil joining us from today! Please enter!" Ichigo flashed his eyes up. Well, new student or not, it was something different than the usual boring from lesson. He watched as the door gently swung open, and a small girl almost tip-toed into the room, crashing into the desk as she did. Some of the students giggled, and Ichigo felt a little mad, that's not exactly fair, he thought. He waited patiently as the girl lifted up her head, eyes wide, and searching the classroom vividly, her eyes, for a split second seemed to lock on his, and he thought he saw recognition flash through them for a moment. He shuddered; those weren't scared eyes at all. As he watched her search the rest of the room, he put it out of his mind, there was no way that had happened. This girl, just looked . . . too timid. She seemed to move finally, and gently raised a hand, introducing herself quietly
"Good morning, My name is Yuki Amai, please be good to me" She bowed, and quickly righted herself again, blushing. Occhi-sensei smiled
"I'm sure they will, now would you please like to take the seat over behind Kurosaki-Kun over there?" She smiled. 'Yuki' Nodded meekely, and walked over to the chair behind Ichigo, casting quick glances around the room and once at him. 'No' he thought. I definitely imagined it. As she sat down, she stared for a moment at the boy in front of her.
'Perfect' she thought, 'now you shan't leave my sight'. She smiled, but then quickly scowled as she looked down towards the desk.
'Damn Yoruichi, making me act like this!'
'It's to keep your cover, remember that!' The thrilled voice of her sensei trilled through her head as she remembered the rest of the night before . . .
Flashback
At HQ.
Herself and Yoruichi ran to the Captain commanders headquarters. As they knelt in front of him they quickly reported their findings, and once finished, the commander nodded.
"Well done to the both of you. But as you must know this is not the end of your mission" they both nodded, knowing there would be months more surveillance and fighting ahead of them, they were prepared after all
"Indeed. You both shall take more intimate roles with the boy" At this sentence the two looked at each other slightly confused. They heard a small chuckle
"No doubt you are confused. It is only natural, but under the circumstances he's in, he requires more observation than we first anticipated. In short, you are both to take more active roles in his life" They both looked up at the commander
"Do not worry, you do not need to make any close ties with the boy, just be closer to him than you are now, at all times. This is going to drain the both of you, as you will have to carry out both your roles, day and night. You will lose sleep, and become wearisome, but do not let this hinder you. Yoruichi I understand you put this one under some harsh training at her time as your apprentice?"
Yoruichi nodded.
"The drain will most likely be similar" 'Yuki' almost groaned out loud, that training had her awake for 20 hours every day, and scrupulous physical and mental training at all times, leaving rest only for meals, for three months. No doubt it had made her undeniably strong, yet she wouldn't want to go through that hell again.
"The two of you will attend his school during the day, Yoruichi, you will replace Ganju-san as his P.E. teacher." Their eyes both widened at this, while Ganju wasn't of their calibre, the man was only five seats below them, and a master at that.
"And you shall take the role as a new classmate, child" He nodded towards her
"Do you both accept your roles?"
"Yes sir!"
"Very well, you are dismissed. No doubt the Kurosaki child should be well protected under the watch of you two captains. You start tomorrow." They both nodded, bowed, and quietly made their way out of their room. It was only half an hour later, after pouring a pot of tea in Yoruichi's office did they begin to discuss plans.
"Well, it looks like we're going to have to do an all-nighter to prepare, kiddo." Yoruichi groaned, sipping her tea
"Indeed. I'm guessing the first would be false identification? Ganju may get away with it, but I would imagine it's too risky, and will look far too suspicious if our own names are used." Yoruichi nodded
"Have you decided?"
"Yes. I'll be 'Yuki Amai'"
Yoruichi snorted
"'Yuki?!' You've been reading too much Vampire Knight girl." She laughed, 'Yuki' scowled
"Hey! I hate it! Besides she chooses kaname over Zero, what kind of moron does that?! No, i just like the snow"
"Indeed."
"Whatever. What's yours then?"
"Hmmm . . . I really wanna take the piss and be like 'steve' or something, but I guess that would be too conspicuous" 'Yuki' Sweatdropped
"I know. I'll be Ryu Kaji" She grinned
"Uncontrolled Dragon Fire?! Really?"
"Hey, I'm just being imaginative, you're just boring" She stuck her tongue out
"Whatever" She retorted.
"Hang-on, you're taking place of Ganju aren't you?"
"yes."
"Well wont it look a bit odd, if the two newbies, are both experts in all martial-arts, stealthy and all that crap?" Yoruichi smiled. Looking directly at 'Yuki'
"That, 'Yuki', is a very good point" The way Yoruichi smiled then scared 'Yuki', almost.
Back To Present Time
That was until when she entered the classroom. Now she was a mere, Royally-pissed-off.
'Stupid Woman, making me be the meak little pathetic girl who runs into everything and can't swat even a fly' she mentally uttered bitterly. Yoruichi's words rang through her head
"Hey, you're a captain now, you have to do whatever it takes to complete a mission, even if that means pretending to be your opposite!"
While the words were true, and 'Yuki' knew she must do this (Fancy getting such an important mission only two weeks after being named Captain of the 3rd Squad) she wasn't particularly happy about it, especially when it came to P.E.
13:00
The class filed into the gymnasium, and Ichigo searched the room to see their new teacher. As his classmates filed around, he noticed the new girl, 'Yuki' was it? Standing by herself looking slightly frightened. He decided to walk over to her. She was new after all, and nobody had tried to make any connections with her. He had to admit, he felt a little sorry for her. Finally he reached her, taking her appearance in full. She was relatively petite, although this could be due to the fact she was slightly hunched, and her arms were folded. She had short dark hair and upon closer scrutiny, oddly tanned skin – she should have been pale, in his opinion, but by the looks of it, she must spent an awful lot of time outside. How odd, he thought. She looked up, and for a moment it startled him, until she spoke, still timid.
"Hello?"
"Hi"
This pissed 'Yuki' off. He'd walked over to her, and then expected her to make conversation? Fat chance.
"I'm-" But whatever Kurosaki was, she was never going to find out, as at that point the doors slammed open, and finally 'Ryu' walked in.
"ALRIGHT PISS-HEADS! MY NAME IS RYU KAJI! REMEMBER IT! I AM YOUR NEW P.E. TEACHER, REMEMBER IT! AND OUR FIRST LESSON IS IN KARATE, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?!"
The whole class remained silent, stunned.
"WELL?!" She roared
"Ah, Remember it. REMEMBER IT!" They responded
"THAT'S BETTER! NOW TEAM UP IN PARTNERS, BOYS WITH GIRLS, AND VICE VERSA, THERE IS TO BE NO SEGREGATION OF GENDER IN MY CLASS!"
Ichigo was stunned. To say the least. While she wasn't what he imagined, he'd not expected this, and neither it seemed, had Yuki.
'WHAT THE DEVIL IS SHE WEARING THAT FOR?!' Indeed, 'Ryu' had decided to dress in a somewhat. . . revealing member of a low-V-necked, backless leotard, and legwarmers. That was it.
'IT'S FOR ELITE TRAINING ONLY! Yama-Jii is going to bloody murder her!' She stared incredulously, before she heard a small 'uhm' beside her, she snapped her head to face Ichigo, who had his hand behind his head, still watching 'Ryu' She quickly remembered her role, it seemed he hadn't noticed her momentary change in character, thank God.
"She's barking, but do you want to go with, um me, I promise I won't hurt you." He muttered.
'Yuki' almost glared for a moment, but remembered it wasn't his fault; he was just being nice because of her act. Poor boy is blessed for never having to seriously fight with the girl, no doubt she'd crush him in a minute. Plus, he'd called Yoruichi 'barking' which made her smile considering Yoruichi detested dogs.
"uhm, sure?" She smiled meekly
"Please be careful though, I bruise easily" She whimpered. 'there, the boy would never have a clue'
He smiled back for a moment, and then deadpanned. 'yuki' noticed
"What's wrong?"
"Unyeilding-bear-water, or whatever her name was is coming straight over here" Yuki almost laughed, almost. She turned to see Yoruichi, storming over to them
"Oh no Amai, You're training with me" She grabbed her arm and began to drag her away before they heard a
"I thought it was meant to be equality and all that?" The boy said, cockily leaning on one leg. Yoruichi smiled
"Oh yes Kurosaki, but this is a special requirement, you see, I have reports Amai bruises easily, so I'm going to help her train on her endurance" Ichigo scowled
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Yoruichi smiled again
"You'll see"
Yoruichi Dragged 'yuki' away, whispering so quietly into her ear no-one would notice.
"We have to observe him properly, that means we're going to have to bring out some of his personality, you're going to have to be bait" 'yuki' frowned but accepted, this was her mission after all.
"How hard are you going to hit?"
"haha! Nothing you have to worry about, only a 2, just make it look real" She smiled.
'Yuki' Smiled back
"I'm almost disappointed, I was hoping to enhance my real endurance but never mind"
"Ha! Stupid, we'd break the building down if it were any more than a 2 just by the force, it's the best I can give you unfortunately"
'yuki' Nodded. Right, let's do this.
The two stood facing each other about 2 metres apart. 'Yuki' looking scared and shaky, and 'Ryu' stern and crazy.
"Right class, if you all face towards me and Amai here, we're going to give you a demonstration on endurance, now Amai, ground yourself, like this" She instructed, moving her feet into the correct position, 'Yuki' copying
"Excellent. Now, I'm going to come at you, and what I need you to do is to try and endure my hit, in the real world, you won't always be able to defend the attacks, so you need to learn how to endure them, and build up an, if you can call it such, ressistance to the pain" 'Yuki' Acted well, and her eyes widened, and she began to shake. Ichigo was watching fervently, couldn't the teacher see how timid this girl was?!
"Ready Amai?!"
Ichigo heard a meek
"Hai"
And that's when he realised how stupid he was. He saw how 'Ryu-Sensei' clocked on to Yuki her eyes almost glazing over, he was too late before he even realised it. Like a bullet, Ryu-sensei shot from her position, and spun, leaving her leg straight out, before using the full force of the run and spin to propel her leg straight into Yuki. There was an audible 'THUD' And the class saw Yuki fly backwards, fully lifting off the floor, before slamming backwards into the wall and on to the floor. She whole class gasped before holding their breath, silently waiting for Yuki to move. A small 'cough' told them she was conscious, and suddenly Ichigo was filled with a blind rage. He ran straight towards the teacher and grabbed her by the throat, slamming her against the wall
"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!" However Ryu-sensei, for a moment, and he was positive of it, grinned, before masking it with a shocked, angry expression
"LET GO NOW NOW KUROSAKI! She yelled" Ichigo only glared further, his expression showing only pure rage
"You could see she was perfectly defenceless! What did you do-COUGH" Ichigo was completely winded, he didn't even see the punch that did it. He felt himself slide towards Yuki, and only coughed, as he realised she was already up, brushing her legs off. He also noticed, she didn't even seem perturbed, there was no bruising, he hadn't even heard a cough when she was hit, yet here he was, having received an obviously-lighter hit and he was spluttering into the ground. Something was beginning to feel very wrong about this. He heard Ryu-sensei move somewhere behind him
"Well done Amai. I believe it is time to begin the class, you may partner with Kurosaki over there once he's up. The rest of you, you may begin fighting with your partners"
This all felt awfully strange to Ichigo, that wasn't a demonstration, she just kicked Yuki, and it seemed to him, as though she had anticipated his reaction, she hadn't taught anything, just kicked the girl. He couldn't forget that smile either, as though she was saying 'I thought so' he was about to think more about it, before he felt a strong hand grab him from the collar and launch him to his feet. He turned around to face ryu-sensei with a calculating look.
"You. And Amai, come with me now"
'Yuki' was confused at this. They walked into Yoruichi's office.
"This isn't going to work Kiddo – he's sussing stuff out already. I didn't expect him to have a brain."
'Yuki' Was completely shocked
"What do you mean, he's not spent even five minutes with us"
Yoruichi looked at Ichigo again, who was staring back, confused at the situation
"No. But the first test was to see his personality and how dense he was. It looks like he has no idea over some things, but he noticed straight away you were okay
"What?!" 'Shit!' Ichigo closed his eyes
"I didn't think she was faking anything, just thought it was weird that she didn;t react to that kick at all.
"See, you should've been more believable"
"But that barely touched me! It took me concentrating on the timeing to fly back like that!"
Yoruichi smiled again
"yes. It seemed I had forgotten your endurance ability kid, even ordinary ones tend to feel something. I should've picked a better setting"
Ichigo was perplexed
"W-what the hell?! What do you mean that didn't hurt you, she went at you faster than any normal man could!" 'yuki' glared at him
"While I don't have to pretend to be this pathetic little meek girl, I'll let you know this. There is no way on this earth a kick like that could hurt me!"
Ichigo was shocked. Gone was the meek girl, completely, in a way for some reason it didn't even surprise him. What did surprise him though, was how flippin' frightening she looked, just glaring at him like that, 'if looks could kill'.
"'Yuki' We're going to have to explain some things to him already, if not he might suss it out and tell the wrong people"
She nodded.
"I see."
"What, explain what?! That you're freakishly bi-polar?! That you can take ridiculous attacks, and have to pretend to fall back from them? What's going on?! Is it something more?!"
"Now, Ichigo, we can't tell you all the answers yet. Let me just tell you this. We are on your side. No matter what. And No, we aren't them people you saw in the gym. Heck, I'll even tell you our real names. But don't ask for more, it's too dangerous at this moment."
"What, WHAT do you MEAN, WHY are you telling me this?! If I'm not meant to know anything, why tell me now?!"
It was 'Yuki' who answered this time
"That's simple, Ichigo, If we do not, you may start looking and fall into the wrong hands, we're better off blowing our cover to you than risking you. It's all part and parcel of life. But with this, you must realise, you must not go looking for anything about us. We will tell you, in time, but first, we need to go through a few steps."
"WhWhy-I'm so confused! Why can't I be risked?! What is this all about?!"
They both smiled
"That, you will come to know in time. You just have, and I know it seems impossible now, to trust that we are here for you"
Ichigo was searching frantically around with his eyes. This was all so sudden, only this morning he'd met these people, and now he was being protected by them?! What was going on?! Incredulously, he just settled for a strange, scared stare.
"I will not blow your cover. And I won't ask questions. But will you promise to tell me why, if anything strange happens? As I'm guessing it's going to, now"
"You're a smart boy Ichigo. But yes, we will heed to all of your questions, but it will just take time. You need to train first after all."
"Train?"
"Indeed"
"Why?"
"Haha, why do you think, Ichigo? Outside of school, you won't be protected by us" – While this was a lie, 'Yuki' understood why Yoruichi had said it. This way the boy would still feel somewhat in control and keep him from asking questions for the time being.
"So when do we begin training?" He breathed, exasperated with the day already.
"This afternoon, straight after school. It'll be called the Weak-wimpy-wondering-Ichigo training session" She stuck her tongue out. He just frowned at her, while 'Yuki' responded again
"Be prepared. You're in for a rough day"
And That's when Ichigo Kurosaki felt only cold hard fear, dripping down his spine, both women were staring at him, with an almost madness in their eyes. Oh these women must be strong . . . very strong . . .
"I see. May I ask one question, then – you said you'd tell me them before?"
Yoruichi smiled
"I have a clue as to what you're going to ask . . ."
"Your names, what are your real names?"
They both smiled
"Shihouin Yoruichi"
"Rukia. Kuchiki Rukia."
Surprised? No? No I didn't think so Dx Sorry if this seems a bit all over the place - my brain was fried by the end of it xD