New chappie guys! I apologize if I'm taking too long to update, but school has been pretty crazy lately, and I barely have time to write.
This story will be based on both, the anime and manga, but for the time being I'm following the manga's storyline (well, slightly.) meaning this story ignores the Bounto arch of the anime. Now please go ahead and read, and don't forget to leave your thoughts on the way out.
Reviews:
Minikitteno5: I'm glad you are wasting some of your time to read this story. Anyways, here's the next chapter, please do enjoy.
InEspertaNinja: You certainly asked many questions, but don't worry, you'll fiund the answers to all those sooner or later. Besides, I like questions.
NotSupposedToBeHere: I updated! Now you can find out what happens next!
Yukiko Tsukishirou: PLEASE DON'T KILL YOURSELF! That's be one less review for me! (kiddn' ya!) Glad you like my story, and here is the first chapter, so don't suffer any more ne?
Wini Belle: Here's an update, now come read, you know you want tooo!
Ritsikas: Here's another chapter, read and enjoy! I'll try to have the next one soon.
Glossary
Ryoka- Human/mortal (Or something like that...)
Shinigami- Death God
Yoroshiku- Pleasure to meet you.
Kaze chikara o kaeshite, kusari to nare- Wind, lend me your power and become a chain.
(Please forgive any spelling mistakes.)
The sudden turn in life had started three and several months ago, almost four.
With Aizen's whereabouts unknown, despair and worry had settled over Soul Society like a black winged bird; a bad omen that at the moment couldn't be eliminated.
Aizen was just that, and as long as no one knew where he was, they were vulnerable to any surprise attack. For this very reason, Yamamoto-Genryusai had decided to send a small group of high level shinigami to the living world; which was believed to be Aizen's primary target.
Matsumoto Rangiku, Abarai Renji and Kuchiki Rukia had agreed to go almost enthusiastically, Yumichika had always been one curious creature, Ikkaku and Hitsugaya had agreed, however reluctantly.
But appearances led to false assumptions, and soon the shinigami squads, in Soul Society and in the living world, found out they had thought the wrong thing.
The Ou Ken, which Aizen was planning on using for possibly over throwing the king of Soul Society, had two different forms of release:
The first and the "common" one was to gather a thousand souls, to do this, it was believed that he planned to use the whole population of Karakura Town.
The second one, discovered by Kurotsuchi after much research, was to find the thirteen fragments of the Ou Ken's power, which were guarded by a sage; a human with the ability to turn their reiatsu into purifying waves. The Ou Ken's release could be achieved by only gaining seven of the thirteen fragments.
This new discovery led to a race against time. Soul Society was able to gather six sages, while Aizen got six of the remaining seven.
The last sage, according to Kurotsuchi's report, had been found lifeless in the temple grounds after the battle against a hollow that ended in the death of both.
With the sage dead, and the presence of the fragment unable to be felt, its location was lost to Soul Society.
Given the importance of this last fragment, Yamamoto-Genryusai sent a small team of captains in search of it. Hitsugaya was between the ones sent.
For his searching grounds the state of Chiba was chosen.
That is how they met…
-..Chapter I: The Place of our Meeting..-
-...-
Ano chiisana machi de... Bokutachi ga deatta
-...-
Onjuku was a relatively small place. A peaceful fishing village, the townsfolk were kind and polite, with greeting smiles and active movements.
The city streets were full of people of all ages; kids that rushed to primary school from home, mothers doing some shopping, fathers walking from or to the train station, high school students walking or riding bicycles heading to their respective schools.
She was one of those students, currently passing through her second year of high school. By looks and academic efforts she was considered as ordinary as they came.
But she was the current fuku-buchou of the female division archery club. She was skilled, and her aim was pretty good, but still her captain bested her in everything.
Her captain was a third year student. Tall, with beautiful raven black hair and sharp silver eyes; a straight "A" student in all subjects, polite, well mannered, of a good family and a very skilled archer.
And yet, even though she was as perfect as any girl could become, she was one of the loneliest people she had ever met.
Her own family was not rich, but she had something her captain didn't; a united and affectionate family. It was her mother who greeted her when she came back to school, who cooked all the food and kissed her goodnight before she went to bed each night.
Her father was busy with work during the day, but almost never missed dinner. He helped her whenever he could with any homework she was struggling with, and sometimes took her out to buy things she needed in the weekends.
Her older brother was in his last year of High School, and would be leaving the following year to study college in Europe. Her older sister was about to finish her career in Tokyo, and would be getting married the following autumn.
Her captain's parents were too busy to even eat dinner with her, and she didn't have any siblings, older or younger. Because of that, she sometimes found herself pitying the older girl.
She stepped inside the train that would take her to the heart of Chiba. The ride was quiet and lonesome, she had no one to pass it with, and it was mostly empty; after all, not a lot of people got on that train at that hour.
She sighed and sat down, her violet gaze getting lost in the emerald green blur of rice plantings on the sides of the rail road, with the mountains stretching in the background. She was used to the silence of those lonesome trips.
A loud bang jerked her violently from her musings. A scream got caught in her throat as she was thrown rather brutally on the floor as the train jerked and rolled as it fell from the road into the tall plants. She groaned, trying to slide back desperately into focus, she stood up, her arms and legs shaky and full of scratches from the crystal shards that she had rolled over on the floor.
She cursed, rather loudly and un-lady like. She looked up, and through the window, all blood drained from her face, her eyes widened and her pupils contracted in fear. It was a reaction she could no longer hold back, after many years of fearing creatures no one around her could see. "Hollow." The whisper left her lips before she could make a conscious reaction of stopping it.
Her senses tingled with the knowledge, her body tensed as her power breathed to life once more in her blood. She stood up from the floor, the pain when the scratches in her legs and arms stretched was lost in her blurred mind. She could no longer think clearly, and she was moving out of instinct more than anything else. And the desire to survive.
A small, black and white robbed figure jumped out of nowhere, wielding sword in hand, and towards the hollow. She thought she heard the sword howl as its owner swung it in a wide horizontal arch.
The hollow raised its hard limbs, protecting its more delicate chest from the attack, then in a sharp movement, it hit the black and white robbed figure with brutal strength.
She saw the blood even from where she was, her sight was much better than the average human, and even though she didn't know the reason why it was so, she had learned to make the most of it. The figure fell into the grass, and when whoever it was didn't stand up again, the hollow approached with a menacing look in its empty eyes.
She closed her eyes, willing her power to come alive in her right hand as she stood with her legs slightly apart and her body facing the hollow. She raised her right hand, palm facing the hollow and whispered under her breath. "Kaze, chikara o kaeshite." Small rings of wind formed around her wrist, spinning madly as the wind around her gathered, blowing her clothes gently. "Kusari to nare!"
She shouted the last part, her command, and the wind gathered around the hollow, trapping its limbs in a grip so strong it was unable to break. The figure, which was standing up slowly, whipped its head towards her in shock. A gaze of cold aquamarine met her own violet one, and she was finally able to see the figure clearly.
It was a young man apparently, spiked silvery white hair, serious eyes of green and blue. He was dressed in a black hakama and kosode, the haori over them was long and pristine white. There was a bleeding gash in his chest, and a dark purple handled katana gripped firmly in his right hand.
He turned away from her, intent of slaying the creature in front of him as it struggled to get rid from the wind's hold.
One more jump and a quick slice, both done with a grace she thought impossible in any human, ended the hollow's existence.
He landed between the tall grasses, body half hidden from her view, and turned once more towards her. Their gazes met across the green plains they stood in, his eyes were unreadable, but she held them for a moment before they closed, and the man fell unconscious.
She blinked in shock, before breaking into a run to where the young man was. "Oi!! Don't you dare fall unconscious!!" She shouted as she reached him. Alas it was too late, for the person laid in a heap on the wet floor. And to her surprise it was not a young man but a kid. She kneeled down next to him eyeing the wound with a critical eye. It was not that deep, but it was not the only on his body either; who knows for how long he had been fighting the hollow. Then it dawned on her that the kid in front of her was a shinigami.
Weighting her options, she decided that waiting for the police and ambulances was a bad idea, she had just been scratched slightly, and in the other hand it would be plain weird to move around normal people with an injured and unconscious shinigami.
With a long tired sight, she sheathed his sword and managed to get him on her back. Thankfully he was shorter and light, so the trip back home was not that difficult.
It seemed that she was not going to school.
By mid-day she had treated the boy's wounds, and had him nestled comfortably in her bed, a bowl of rice and miso soup were ready to be re-heated once he woke up. Again she thanked whoever god was listening that all her family was out for the following two days; otherwise they would have thought she had gone crazy.
She had just finished washing some dishes when she heard the stumbling steps on the stairs of her house. She rushed towards the sound to find her host trying to get down on shaky legs.
"You finally woke up." She stated, walking slowly towards him. He jerked his head up, surprise in his eyes before it turned into cool consideration as he stared her down.
"Who are you?" He asked in the same tone that his eyes mirrored.
"Tsukiiro Kaiya, sixteen years old, high school student," She started with hands on her hips. "Yoroshiku."
He remained quiet, looking down at her critically. "You are the ryoka that was there during my fight with the hollow."
"Indeed."
His eyes narrowed. She was, indeed, only a ryoka, but he knew better than look down on a ryoka, the image of an orange haired youth flashed in his mind. "Where am I?"
"My house," Kaiya responded almost instantly. "You were unconscious and hurt, so I brought you here. Need help?" She asked, her eyes never leaving his own.
"No." He replied curtly, and continued to struggle down the stairs. Once he stood in front of her, glaring daggers, his stomach growled loudly. Kaiya snorted in laughter.
"Come." She motioned with a hand. "I'll get you something to eat."
The boy followed, albeit unwillingly, but he was quite hungry.
He sat on the table, and Kaiya placed the recently heated rice and miso in front of him, "Here." He stared at her for a moment, still glaring, as she sat down in front of him, then he grabbed the chopsticks and started eating.
"What's your name?" Kaiya asked, but the boy glared. "I can't go around calling you boy or kid, now can I?" He plainly ignored her. "Nor can I call you shinigami-san," She added with a lopsided grin, and the boy chocked on his food.
He stared at her, suspicion evident in his eyes. "How?"
"Hollows and shinigami are not a new addition in my life, I've seen both since I was very young," Kaiya said, head resting on a hand.
The boy stared a bit more, then continued eating. "Hitsugaya Toshirou," He said in between bites.
"Well, Hitsugaya-san, yoroshiku." Kaiya repeated with a smile. Histugaya stared at her some more, face expressionless, then he nodded his head.
"Yoroshiku."
