Alright, sorry about taking so long guys. I meant to have this finished a lot earlier, but college is taking up nearly all of my time. Had assignments to do, and midterms to study for.
But I did it, here's the first chapter. Thanks for all the support! It means a lot. I think it'll be pretty obvious where I'm taking this story after reading this chapter. I'm doing all five lifetimes with a certain theme to each of them. Something to note before you start reading, is that this chapter is set in Edo Japan, so I decided to try and write it with that in mind. So I'll be using the honorifics and everything that wouldn't have applied to the english dub.
"Normal" = Talking
"Italics" = Thinking
"Bold" = Emphasis on word
*Action* = Action made during dialogue
Disclaimer: See prologue
Edo Period Japan - A household in the Yamanote area
Inoue Orihime was having trouble sleeping. She had just recently been assigned a post at the newly established Shin'ō Academy. It was an academy that taught Samurai, both those who are born into a samurai family, and those who had the talent to become one, teaching them all the things needed for being both an aristocrat and a warrior. She had taken up the position as one of the teachers there, having the job of teaching the students how to read and write.
Having been born to a samurai family, Orihime could be considered a noblewoman, and was taught to read and write. Always having been a compassionate person, Orihime hated the way that the lower class people never got the opportunity to learn, so she had always wanted to become a teacher. And now that dream was finally coming true. For every bit of excitement she had for her dream coming true, there was an equal level of nervousness. Not helping with that nervousness was the fact that she was a woman. In the era of the Tokugawa Shogunate, woman weren't nearly as respected as the men were. In fact, it was a miracle that she was even taught to read and write, with the low percentage of woman that are actually taught to.
But Orihime wouldn't lose hope. Working with the famous Unohana-san gave took away a lot of the fear she had had. Unohana Retsu was famous for many things. She was one of the very few woman in Edo Japan that was respected, and respected she was. All of the men respected her for her medical abilities, being one of the best doctors in the country, and they feared her due to the rumors surrounding her about how she used to be a murderous ronin that wandered the land looking for someone that could best her in combat. Adding credibility to those rumors was the fact that she was one of the very few people that was even respected by the greatly feared Zaraki-san. She was also respected by the female populace, who were in awe of her beauty and grace, and the respect she garnered from the men had made her an icon to women all across the country, Orihime being one of them.
"I really hope that I'll be able to get along with all the students. What if they don't like me? What if they're disgusted by me? What if they start throwing things at me? Oh, but if they started throwing rice balls at me I guess that wouldn't be too bad. But rice balls don't seem like something you would throw, maybe udon then. Oh, that gives me an idea! I should try making rice balls using udon. I could call them udon balls. Maybe I'll try bringing some for the students, and then they might like me..."
And with this thought, Orihime drifted off deep into sleep.
A day later...
"...ri...ma!"
Orihime groaned.
"Ori...sa..."
She just wanted to get a bit more sleep. Was that too much to ask?
"You're going to be late, Orihime-Sama!"
That got Orihime up. Looking around, she saw her personal handmaiden, Arisawa Tatsuki.
"Tatsuki, I've already told you so many times now to drop the honorifics. You're my best friend."
"Yes, but if I did, I'd get yelled at by Sora-Sama, or by your parents. But that's off topic, you're going to be late."
Orihime blinked. Then she blinked again. And then she shot straight up.
"Oh no, Tatsuki, you have to help me get ready!" Tatsuki sighed.
"Well, that is what I'm here for."
Shin'ō Academy - Class #1
Kurosaki Ichigo sat in one of the back seats in the classroom, beside his friend, Abarai Renji. His other friend, Rukia, did not manage to make it into the advanced class with him and Renji. As for his best friend, Yasutora Sado, or as Ichigo liked to call him, Chad, had regretfully decided not to become a samurai. The four of them had grown up together, in one of the Shitamachi areas of Edo, known by the locals as Inuzuri. It was completely lawless there. The four of them, along with some others, were forced to fight for survival every single day. No one was willing to help a few abandoned kids when they had to take care of themselves. They all hated it there, along with everyone that lived there. He was glad to be able to take this chance and become a samurai. Once he became one, he would protect everyone, that's what he swore to himself when he lost all the others.
He was broken out of his thoughts by a loud noise. He turned towards the door to see the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long beautiful orange hair, with a pretty round face, and he blushed when he saw her body. She definitely had...curves, in all the right places.
" I don't think I've ever met anyone else who has orange hair. It's definitely not a normal hair colour to have. Even in the Inuzuri district, I was picked on even more than the others for it. They picked on Chad just as much too though, I guess they thought they might feel tough if they could pick on someone as big as Chad, the cowards. I wish Chad was here, but he said he didn't want to become a samurai. Something about how if he became one, he would have to start throwing his punches for other people that aren't me." And once again, Ichigo was broken out of his thoughts, this time, by Renji.
"Wow, she's a real babe isn't she Ichigo?"
Turning back to look at the woman, Ichigo couldn't help but agree. Looking closer, he saw a bruise on her forehead. Did she make that loud noise, running into the door? He wondered what she was doing here.
Walking up to the front of the class, Orihime gave out a nervous laugh.
"Hello everyone. My name is Inoue Orihime. You can call me Inoue-Sensei. I'm here to teach you all how to read and write."
Whispers broke out around the classroom, with everyone murmuring about how they had a female teacher. Not letting this phase her, she continued.
"Alright everyone, first, let's take attendance."
Ichigo wasn't paying attention as the teacher called attendance. He couldn't take his eyes off of this woman. She was like no one he had ever seen before. She was much more beautiful, and she gave off such a pleasant aura. At least in his experience, no one else seemed so..kind.
"Kurosaki-san?"
Hearing his name broke Ichigo out of his trance.
"Is there a Kurosaki-san in the room?"
"I'm here."
Turning to face Ichigo, Orihime was shocked at how handsome he was.
"Oh! I shouldn't be thinking about one of my students like that. Shame on me."
Orihime slapped her cheeks, causing all the students to give her a strange look.
"Well, that's good then. Wouldn't do to skip on your first day huh? Hahaha." Seeing the looks, which had just grown in intensity, Orihime decided it was a good time to start the lesson. "Okay everyone, open your books to the first page."
As the lesson progressed, Orihime taught the students some of the basics of writing in kanji. She then instructed the students to try practicing the stroke order, just as she had demonstrated.
Looking around, she saw many of the students having no trouble. It was obvious to her that some of them had already been taught, probably having been born into noble households. Others, she saw, had had trouble initially, but adapted easily. Some, however, were clearly having trouble with it. She noticed the handsome young man she saw earlier being one of them.
"He has such a scary scowl on his face. I wonder if it's always like that. But there's just something about him. I wonder what he looks like when he smiles. Oh, I should probably go help him out. I am his teacher after all."
Nodding to herself, and then realizing how strange it must have looked, Orihime looked around to see if anyone was staring at her again. Only seeing a few indignant stares from who she had earlier perceived as nobles, she ignored them and walked up to the orange haired man.
"Hello! You're Kurosaki-san correct?"
Ichigo looked up from his work, which he was most certainly not struggling with mind you, and saw his teacher.
"Um...yeah, that's me. What is it Sensei?"
"Well I just noticed that you seemed to be struggling. Would you like any help?"
He could hear Renji snickering beside him, but he ignored it. He couldn't help but want to get to know this woman.
"Um...yeah, I don't really get any of this. I mean, you said that the word for 'family' is supposed to be a pig inside a house? I'm sorry, but what the hell does that even mean?"
Noticing the shocked look on his teacher's face, Ichigo was afraid he had offended her. But then she let out a giggle. At first, he just noticed how beautiful it sounded, but then he realized she was laughing at him.
"Hey, what's so funny?"
"I'm sorry, but it's just that it's not often I see someone be so crass. It's always so stuffy wherever I go. In fact the only one that I've ever heard talk like that is my handmaiden, Tatsuki. Well, I say handmaiden, but she's really more my best friend than anything else. I actually think it's a really refreshing change of pace."
Ichigo heard the name, but he wasn't sure he heard correctly.
"Wait...crass...Tatsuki? Did you say Tatsuki? Would you be talking about Arisawa by any chance?"
"*blink blink* Yes I am. Do you know her?"
"Do I? It's been a long time, but yeah, she's one of my oldest friends. We were both orphans, living on the streets. She was just about the toughest person I've ever met, never let being a woman stop her. If anyone talked back to her, she'd just beat the crap out of them. I still remember what that felt like too. One day, she just up and told us she was going to do something with her life, saying she wanted to be much more than a street rat. Never saw her since."
"Oh, so you grew up with Tatsuki then? You do kind of have the same air about you. You both look like the type that belong in the Bakuto or something, but I can tell you're both really kind. To be honest, this is the first time I've ever heard anything about her past. Me and my brother just found her one day, looking for a job. I liked the way I felt about her and decided to hire her. She's been my best friend ever since."
"Haha, well who would have ever thought that the same Tatsuki would ever become something as dainty as a handmaiden. You know, I always thought that nobles were all just a bunch of stuck up snobs. But if you could gain the trust of Tatsuki of all people, then I know you must be a pretty amazing person Sensei."
"Aw, you're making me blush. Oh, we should probably get back to the lesson. Now you were asking about the character for 'family' right?"
Ichigo quickly discovered that Inoue-Sensei was an excellent teacher. He was often admonished for his impatience, and as such, he could never learn well through words. He was always the type that learned better through action. But when Inoue-Sensei explained things, it was so easy to be drawn in, and it was easy to understand what she was saying. Looking over at Renji, Ichigo knew that he was thinking the same thing.
"Alright class, that's all for today's lesson. You should probably all head on over to your next class now. I'll see you all back here tomorrow, have a nice day!"
But listening to the conversations around him, Ichigo knew that the rest of these sexist bastards weren't even trying to learn anything from her, and it was seriously starting to piss him off.
"Don't mind them. The bigoted types are too stubborn to change their views at all. It would be better to just ignore them. Look, Inoue-Sensei is."
Ichigo turned to the direction that the voice came from, but he didn't see anyone. Was it just his imagination.
"I'm down here."
Looking down, Ichigo saw a white haired kid with turqoise eyes. He had an indifferent look on his face.
"Hey kid, are you lost? You shouldn't be here."
The vein on the kid's head throbbed.
"I'm not a kid. I was accepted into the academy for my ability, and you would do well to remember that."
"So they accept children now? And what is up with your hair. It's an even weirder colour than mine, and don't even get me started on your eyes."
"I already told you I am not a child. And who are you to talk about strange hair colours. Yours makes you look like an orange."
"You're pretty rude for a kid you know that?"
"*sigh* I've had enough of this. It's like talking to a wall."
The white haired kid got up and left, leaving Ichigo alone with Renji.
"Wow, losing an argument to a kid. That's pretty bad even for you."
"Shut it Renji. You probably would have done even worse."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on, we have to go to our next class. I think it's a taijutsu class."
And with that, Ichigo and Renji headed off to their next class. That left Orihime as the only one left in the classroom.
Orihime sat back and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well that went well I suppose." Thinking back on how the class went, Orihime decided she liked being a teacher. Some of the students weren't happy with her of course, but while that hurt her, there were a lot more open minded students than she had thought she would have, and that made her happy. One student in particular stood out to her.
"Kurosaki-san huh? What an interesting person. I hope I get the chance to get to know him better."
Word count: 2395
So there it is. In case you hadn't figured it out yet, what I was going for was a Soul Society arc feel to it. I plan on basing each chapter off of a major arc in Bleach, and basing it off the different languages and cultures that are present in them. And as for how the FLOL speech fits in, I decided to use her line with what she wanted to do with those lives as prompts. I plan on fitting in every single thing she said in that speech. That is after all, what this story is about.
To be honest, I actually had a lot more planned out for this chapter. Ichigo was going to get his ass kicked by Yoruichi, and Byakuya too. I was gonna have a mini arc thing with Byakuya discovering Rukia, and I was even planning on having something with Ichigo meeting Isshin and finding out he was his father that had abandoned him. I was even planning on fitting in every soul reaper character possible. Hell, I had already written a scene with Yoruichi. But then I realized that all of that was filler, and didn't really fit in this story. I might do all of that as it's own story though, because I really like the idea of it.
Thank you for taking the time to click on, and read through my story. Please leave a review, it's always nice to see people appreciating my stories, and if you didn't, then criticism is always welcome as long as it's constructive.
