Disclaimer: Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, all characters that appear in the aforementioned series, and all techniques that appear in the aforementioned series are property of Masashi Kishimoto and any company, organization, or individual he has chosen to sell the rights to. I, MathewXoX, do not claim ownership of any of the aforementioned intellectual or commercial properties.
Disclaimer: Bleach, all characters that appear in the aforementioned series, and all techniques that appear in the aforementioned series are property of Tite Kubo and any company, organization, or individual he has chosen to sell the rights to. I, MathewXoX, do not claim ownership of any of the aforementioned intellectual or commercial properties.
Chapter 2
Rukia Kuchiki experienced many things in her "young" life, 150 years in the Soul Society being a mere drop in the sea of years compared to some of the older people.
Born into a lower class, the young child made friends with a small group of people lead by one Renji Abarai, her childhood friend.
Evidently, much to her brief memory, all of the group had past, an unknown factor had taken them away. And so, with hope and worry being her guide, the two remaining of the family enrolled into Shin'ō Academy to become Shinigami, so that they would never lose anyone close to them again.
At the start, she struggled to stand out, for clan heirs out-ranked and out-skilled them in all areas, her only stand-out skills being above-average skills in Kidō. This progress for several years of training until one fateful day, she meet a man named Byakuya, a man of nobility and high-standing, an heir to one of the Four Great Noble families of the Soul Society.
A day that she became a Kuchiki.
Time after that flew by, days turned into days, day into month, and months into decades. There was many years of training, both in the human world and the Soul Society, years that she still didn't make friends in, atleast as in, she wasn't exactly a social butterfly, that was until one event tore it's way into her life.
Kaien Shiba came steamrollering into her life, bringing an odd sense of freedom and joy, training her far beyond what she thought possible.
He even helped her unlock her Shikai.
But that joy, that freedom, was ripped from her in events she really didn't want to remember.
And since that day, she'd be in a numb sense of passiveness, she continued to train, to lock her emotions away, she even let her friendship between her and Renji become unattached. Even to this point, she felt an odd sense of emptiness... that was, until she meet these two strange humans.
Naruto and Ichigo...
Like polar opposite, Ichigo was more cold, emotionless, but from what she could tell from his first encounter with a hollow, harboured deep love for his family.
And Naruto... well Naruto reminded her so much of Kaien, boisterous, exuberant and unorthodox, yet wise, mature, and caring... and he cared for her, beyond what that of a stranger, he even came to check on her moments after meeting her.
He was kind to her, more kind than even her adopted family.
But that was neither here nor there.
Before the teen could think further on the blonde, light slowly began to fill her vision, pulling her from her sleep into the waking world.
"Ow.." Rubbing her forehead in a circular motion, Rukia nursed a massive headache that seemingly came out from nowhere.
"Kisuke said that you'd have a headache in the morning." Gasping, the still slightly dazed Shinigami came face to face with a smiling Naruto, his blue eyes watching over her in worry.
"N-Naruto-san?" A rasped breath escaped out of the dark haired shinigami throat, only for a glass to be there in a second. "Thank you," Gulping down the clear liquid quickly, the soreness of her throat ache disappeared like magic.
"No problem," Stretching out widely with his arms, a loud sigh left Naruto's mouth as a large pop came from his back. "Anyway, I'll let you get ready, Kisuke said that the gigai he gave me would be ready for you to use by the time you woke up." Turning to his left, the blonde smiled widely as he jabbed his finger towards his left, where a carbon copy of Rukia sat.
"Did Kisuke heal me?" Seeing the gigai was a relief to the shinigami, hopefully it would hide her away from hollows until she got her powers back.
"He sure did," the blonde reply, smiling towards the shinigami, continuing to click his shoulders and neck. "Didn't take him long, had to carry you back though, you're surprising light, so it wasn't to bad." Moving towards the door, the teen gave a wave. "Food will be ready soon, I'm just going to check the bacon." Opening the dark wooden door, Naruto almost made it out before suddenly stopping mid step. "Oh, before I forget, Kisuke managed to somehow enrol you in the same school as I, so you'll need to get ready, your uniform is in the draw to your left."
Without waiting for Rukia's reply, Naruto left, giving the room to her alone. "It's that time already?" Dragging her eyes from the clock and towards her gigai, a small frown on her face as her headache seemingly pulsed. "Urg, I need to get some medicine." Rubbing head in pain again, the shinigami stumbled gently towards the gigai leaning against the wall in the corner, seemingly sinking into the body. "Man I feel weak."
"Rukia, the bacon is done!"
Hearing the shout, Rukia smiled brightly, her stomach aching for the need for food. "Now where's those clothes?" Waking towards the closet, Rukia quickly located the clothes, including some average looking underwear. "These will have to do." Slipping out of her white robes that came with the gigai, she started to slip on her bra and began to put on her underwear, just as the door opened.
"Hey Rukia, I just remember that I had some aspirin in the cab-errr?!"
Naruto, whom opened the door with a packet in his hand, stopped dead in his tracks, a massive blush on his face. "I, er, you, hot..."
"G-get out!" In a flash of brown, a book that seemingly appeared out of nowhere smacked the intruding blonde in the face, hitting him dead on the nose and forcing him out the room, which was promptly slammed shut. "I-idiot!" Forcing her flushed face in her palms, Rukia couldn't help but groan in pain, the headache she had increased in pain, her shaky hand grasping the packet of aspirin and quickly taking out 2, shoving them in her mouth.
"Sorry," A soft whispered echoed through the door, seemingly soothing her headache. "Food is ready when you want to eat, I'm leaving for school in fifteen minuets." Footsteps echoed through-out hall as the blonde retreated, supposedly holding his nose in pain, leaving that dark haired female to herself.
Letting out a long sigh, she finally dragged herself to her feet, the headache that had been pulsing had calmed down greatly, so much so that it was all but a dull ache. "That medicine was amazing." Heading over to where the rest of her clothes was, Rukia got dressed quickly, her mind drifting as the smell of fresh cooked food drifted into the room.
A soft rumble came from the women's stomach, a deep blush appearing on her face from embarrassment.
In a quick set of footsteps, Rukia glided towards the amazing smells, her stomach leading her. "Hey..." Seated at the kitchen table with a piece of bacon dangling out from his lips, the blonde owner of the house quickly stuffed the rest of his sandwich down his mouth, damn near swallowing it whole. "Smells great." Seating himself down, food was quickly eaten, the full plate seemingly disappeared as the staved dark haired girl.
"Wow, I didn't think someone could eat as quick as I could." Naruto said with a chuckle, putting his dish into the sink, plucking up Rukia's empty one whilst she seemingly curled in on herself from embarrassment. "Damn, we better be going." Grabbing his coat from his door handle, the blonde clicked his finger in frustration.
"So this school," Rukia remarked as she followed after the blonde, wondering what they're first lesson will be. "Is it... large?" Finding nothing to say, the shinigami glanced towards the bag handed towards her, along side a pair of shoes which was her size.
"Sure, but not really, there's only around 5000 students or so." Grabbing his own bag, Naruto smirked as he walked away, a sharp intense look on his face. "But I wouldn't worry about most of them, most are spiritually aware, atleast that was Kisuke says."
"Oh, I see."
A silence filled the air as the two left, seemingly okay with each other not talking as they left for school.
A roar of one's engine, and in a matter of seconds, the two students left for school on the blonde's motobike, gliding through the rows of morning traffic without much of a stop, only breaking when they hit a red light.
"Annnnd, we're here."
Having pulled up to one of the few parking spots allocated to students, Naruto and Rukia travelled through the school, giving a quick over of the basic facilities and classrooms before finally reaching their final destination
Classroom 2-E
"Hoomroom starts in 13 minuets, so good luck." Opening the door and gently shoving the girl into the room, closing it before she could call him out for pushing her. "Heh, sucka, there's no way I'm going into that class."
"Oh, trying to get out of helping your kohai, Uzumaki-san?"
Spinning around, the blonde came to face to face with his favourite, yet most hated, teacher, a large smirk on her pale face.
"Morning, Ochi-sensei." Sagging his shoulders in defeat, the blonde reluctantly slid open the door, ignoring the massive grin on the teacher's face. "And no, I would never do such a thing to my Kohai." Allowing the women to go in first, before sliding it closed. "Damn it..." Adjusting his uniform, the blonde new his free-section was about to be taken up by 3 hours of English.
Why he learnt that cursed language when he came to this realm was beyond him.
"Hello class, first I'd like to start the day off by introducing you to a new addition to our classroom today." Misato Ochi remarked as she gestured from her seat towards the front of the tables. "Introduce yourself to your new class, Miss Kuchiki."
Twirling around in innocent fashion, the "teen" smiled gently as fluttered her eyelashes, giving off the impression that she was a shy person. "My name is Rukia Kuchiki, I am 16 and like dancing, please take care of me."
"Very nice, Kuchiki-san, please take a seat behind Ichigo." Pointing towards the orange haired teen, whom looked like he was having a server mental breakdown. "Adding to this, I'll be having one of your senpai come in today aswell to help co-help." Almost if her words was a calling, Naruto slid open the door and walked in, smiling brightly whilst waving.
"Yo, Class 2-E, my name is Naruto Uzuamki, I enjoy eating ramen, and the colour orange, call me Naruto-senpai." Giving the class a peace sign, the teen tried to ignore the gushing of some of the class... now he knew why Sasuke refused to talk to fangirls. "I swear, if I start saying hn Kurama, crush me."
"I wouldn't think twice." A low growl rattle the mind of the blonde, making him sweet drop and the bluntness of the fox.
"So class... how about we start with an early morning surprise quiz!" A collective groan of from all the students made Ochi smirk at the them, pulling out a stack of papers with delight.
Hours skimmed by as the class went on, subjects changed as Naruto and Ochi swap positioned every hour.
It wasn't until the 2 o'clock mark hit when anything interesting happened... spiritually interesting that is for Naruto.
"So class, who can tell me about plasma?" "Hey Kurama... do you feel that?"
Only 4 out of 27 students help up their hands as a low growl echoed through his head, a confirmation that the fox knew felt it. "It feels faint and weak, but it's defiantly feels like that hollow from yesterday."
"Yea... maybe we should deal with it?" Smiling brightly as if he hadn't been talking to something in his head, Naruto quickly pointed to Rukia, whom had shot her hand up when the odd feeling first came. "Yes Rukia, can you tell me the difference?"
"Ah, no, sorry sensei, I just wanted you to know that Ichigo doesn't feel to well." Glancing towards the orange teen, the blonde noted Ichigo had been holding his head in pain, from what he knew not.
"Okay, I'll give you a pass to go to the nurse's office." Nodding towards Ocha, whom quickly took over the classroom, Naruto sat at the desk and quickly began to write down a note, stopping half-way before finishing. "Actually, Ochi-sensei, I've some business to attend to anyway, I'll take the personally." Getting a nod as a reply, the blonde gestured towards the two teens, he led them out, his attentions to know what Rukia actually wanted.
Not even 30 steps outside classroom, the blonde stopped suddenly before turning towards the two, interest in his gaze. "So tell me, what's the real reason why you guys want out of class?" Seeing the look of surprise on both the teen's faces, Naruto couldn't help but snort in amusement. "Let me guess, something to do you giving Ichigo your powers?"
"H-how'd you know that?" Ichigo remarked with a low shout of shock, his eyes baring at the blonde. "Are you also a soul reaper?!"
"No Ichigo, he's not." Cutting those thought's short, Rukia gestured towards the stares leading onto the roof. "Come on, we should talk somewhere private."
Leading the way, the dark haired let her mind wonder, maybe she could get some help Naruto, Kisuke wouldn't of give her to him if he wasn't atleast powerful enough to defeat stray hollows picking up on her scent.
Once the blonde unlocked the door with master key, the trio made their way from the school view, Rukia shifted from her innocent act to a taunting one, facing the orange of the group and smirking.
"Alright you freaking little nutjob, what do you think you're doing?!" Ichigo, finally having enough of the teasing smirk, snapped out, glaring at the shorter teen with an annoyance gaze.
"Ohhh, how scary, you big brute." A sharp snort escaped Naruto as Rukia snapped back in a "innocent" tone, causing more frustration to channel through the already annoyed 'brute'.
"First of all, you can stop with that goody toe shoes act!" Snapping his finger in a point of intimidation, Ichigo shouted towards the petite reaper, his eyes narrow even more. "And second, what the heck do you think you're doing here, weren't you suppose to be heading back to your Soul Society?" Bringing his arm back, the teen cockily leaned away from the new student, sarcasm dripping from his lips.
"I can't, only Soul Reapers can return to the Soul Society, I haven't the power to return." Looking down in shame, the dark haired girl tried to not let her annoyance reach her throat.
"What, why?"
"I lost most of my power as a soul reaper, I'm afraid that most of them were absorbed into you, Ichigo." Glancing up, the recovering dark haired teen locked gaze with her substitute, hoping that her message had passed.
"Huh, I wouldn't know anything about that."
"He took more than you thought he could?" Naruto, who had hadn't decided to comment yet, turned towards the shinigami, a small smirk on his lips when Rukia blushed in embarrassment. "Right," Tapping Ichigo on the shoulder, the older student stared his kohai down, trying to get the situation across to the pale teen. "look Ichigo, you and I both know the dangers of a hollow, and if there is no shinigami to stop them, well..." Giving Ichigo time to let the idea settle, the blonde looked back towards Rukia, whom was slipping on some kind of glove.
"No, I don't care, it doesn't involve me."
Spinning around, the orange was unprepared for a glove covered hand to slam into his chin, sending his body to the floor... but also pushing something out of said body.
"AHHHHH!" Shouting in shock, a robe covered Ichigo, with a overly large sword on his back, flipped out as he looked down, his eyes large with shock. "M-my body!?"
"Follow me." Before the now bodiless teen had a chance to comprehend what had happen, Rukia started to walk away, Naruto oddly walking beside her with eyes locked with the clove covered hand.
...
"Hey Rukia..." The walk, which was fairly slightly; mostly Ichigo comlpaining about his currently predicament, was interrupted as Naruto finally let his mouth slip, he couldn't keep his intrigue to himself. "What was the glove you used on Ichigo?"
Rukia, who was looking down at an old looking flip-phone, glanced up towards the blonde before pull out said glove and handing it towards Naruto. "It's a Soul Grace Glove, it allows me to remove me a soul from body without the use of a Zanpakutō."
"Oh," Feeling around the glove, the blonde missed the fact that the 3 had stopped, instead delving into his mind and meeting with Kurama.
Two pairs of eyes locked onto each other, an idea being shared without words.
"So... what do you think about having my body for a while?"
"I'd have to adjust your body for the long term, but... if you want to go off and train, I'll have your body preprepared in 2 months." A sharp fang smirk lingered on the fox's face as he got the idea of go travelling around without being imprisoned for no reason... and it was really really appealing.
"Sounds good," He hadn't been able to properly train his powers even since he gave his chakra to Kurama, only being able to convert six of his Jutsu's to his use, one from all elements and the rasengan. "Maybe I can use some of these of hollow's as training dummies?"
"I'll be my own kind of Shinigami!" A faint shout snapped Naruto out his mindscape as Ichigo finished off what looked to be some kind of ritual, sending a small ghost seemingly into a void of bright blue, a black butterfly taking it's place.
Tsking in annoyance for missing the "fight", Naruto tore his gaze away from the fluttering butterfly, gazing at a shocked looking Rukia. "Hey," Nudging her gently, the blonde smiled gently as he handed back the glove. "Don't worry about him too much, he'll come around, I'm sure."
"Yea," Regaining her compositor, the light skinned soul reaper hid her shock under a lock of passivity, focusing more on the fact that on how she was going to get the new sub soul reaper to cooperate with her.
"Say Rukia, you're strong right." Seeing the confusion on her face made Naruto almost, almost, laugh out loud, but instead he held it as he pushed on with his question. "I mean, you're a soul reaper and all... so I was wonder, are you down for some training, it might help you gain back your powers."
Thinking deeply, Rukia decided that even if Naruto wasn't even strong a bit of training could be so bad.
"Sure, how bad could it be?"