Yay! Second chapter up! And it's on time! WOOT! Happy dance!
Ahem. No to more important things. So far no reviews :[ (sorry sis, yours don't count), but we do have a story alert! Thank you, Ayase Reincarnated! This one's for you! Enjoy! ^^
Disclaimer: Yeah...still own nothing...T.T
ONWARD!
"Wow! Look at how huge that gate is, Taka! It must be a google* times taller than you!" Aoi exclaimed looking up at the gate to the Eleventh Division, her hand shielding her eyes. She and Takashi wore their new shinigami uniforms, though Aoi's sleeves were longer then normal, coming down past her fingers. Their belongings, including their zanpakutō, had already been moved to their respective barracks.
"You're exaggerating." Takashi said, coming to stand beside his sister, arms crossed over his chest, his usual bored expression on his face.
"Am not! You're just jealous that the gate is taller than you." Aoi stated matter-of-factly.
Takashi closed his eyes and sighed. "If you say so." He said as he strolled through the gate, not bothering to cast Aoi a second glance.
"Hey, wait for me!" Aoi squealed as she dashed after her brother.
=^.^=
Akino groaned as she slammed her head down on her desk, causing her lieutenant to give her a concerned look.
"Um, Captian? Are you okay?" he asked.
"No, Shūhei, I am not." Akino replied, her voice slightly muffled by her desk. "Becoming a captain has not made me love paper work; in fact it's made me hate it even more!"
Shūhei chuckled at his captain. They were pretty familiar with each other, as they had been in the same class back in the Academy. Shūhei's presence was making Akino's transition to captain much easier for her and for the rest of the squad.
Akino sat up and rested her head on her hand, pouting at her friend and subordinate. "Your sympathy is touching." She deadpanned.
Shūhei smirked. "Yeah, well I've been doing this a lot longer than you have, Akino. So you're going to have to earn your sympathy."
"Lucky me." Akino said, rolling her eyes. "Hey do you know what time it is?"
"It's about noon. Why?" Shūhei asked.
"Aw, crap. I'm running late. They're probably there by now." Akino mumbled more to herself than to Shūhei.
"Who?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"My brother and sister. They both graduated yesterday." She answered.
"So what's the big deal?"
Akino sighed, rubbing her temples as she stood. "My brother got into the Eleventh Squad."
"And you want to go check on him." Shūhei said, crossing his arms over his chest. Akino shot him a puppy-dog look. He sighed. "Fine. You can go. I'll finish the rest of the paper work."
Akino glomped him. "Thank you, Shūhei! You're the best lieutenant I've ever had!"
"I'm the only lieutenant you've ever had." He deadpanned.
"True. But you're also the best friend I've ever had." She said.
"I guess I can live with that."
Akino punched him lightly in the arm before dashing out the door. "I'll be back soon!" she called.
Shūhei sighed, shaking his head as he sat down at his desk, frowning at the amount of paper work on it. Even if she was his best friend, he couldn't believe he agreed to this.
=^.^=
"This place is HUGE! There must be loads of people in this squad! I wonder if all the squad barracks are this big. What do you think, Taka?"
Takashi glanced at Aoi as they made their way to the center of the barracks. The squad eleven member that had agreed, reluctantly, to guide them kept shooting her strange looks. "Is she always like this?" he whispered to Takashi. He sighed. "Unfortunately."
"Hey! I heard that, Taka! That's not very nice!" Aoi whined, flailing her arms around like a child.
Takashi shrugged, putting his arms behind his head. "No one ever said I was." Aoi then proceeded to cry, tears, fake of course, streaming down her cheeks. "You're just a big bully! I'm telling Onee-chan!"
"Whatever."
"You're no fun!"
This continued until they reached a large building. The man guiding them left them at the entrance saying that most of the squad members spent their time here, sparring with each other and training, before walking off. The two siblings stood in front of the entrance, staring at it.
"Soooooo…." Aoi said.
"Hmm?" was Takashi's simple reply.
Aoi was about to say something but stopped when she heard a loud crash followed by maniacal laughter. "Ummm….okay…" she said, slightly confused. "We goin' in?" she asked.
"Yep."
"We gonna have to fight someone?"
"Probably."
"Pretty high chance one of us will end up at the Squad Four barracks?"
Takashi nodded. "Yep."
Aoi smiled her usual, bubbly smile. But this time there was something sinister about it. If Takashi actually cared, he would have been terrified. Aoi entered the building. "Perfect." She said as Takashi followed her.
"If I didn't know you, I would be extremely worried right now." Takashi said.
"Awww!" Aoi said as she latched onto her brother, "That's soooooo sweet! You care!"
Takashi remained silent as he walked down the hall. When they reached the room where all the noise was coming from, Aoi hopped off Takashi's back and pushed the door open, not bothering to be discreet in any way, shape, or form. Everyone in the room turned toward them. Now to anyone else, having the entire eleventh squad glare at you would be pretty intimidating. But Aoi and Takashi were…different.
"Wow, Taka! Look at all the people! I told you there would be a lot of people! But you didn't believe me! But I was right!" Aoi gasped dramatically, as if she just realized something important. She pointed at Takashi. "That means you were wrong, Taka! I was right and you were wrong! I was right and you were wrong! I was right and you were wrong!" Takashi sighed as Aoi continued to prance around him, chanting.
"Oi! Who the hell are you?"
Aoi stopped as both she and Takashi turned to the man that had addressed them. He was a tall man, dressed in the usual shinigami uniform. He was bald and had red markings next to his eyes. He had a wooden sword slung over his shoulder and looked pretty pissed.
Aoi stared blankly and pointed at him. "Look, Taka." A huge smile broke out on her face. "He's bald!"
The man, if possible, looked even more pissed. "WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' BALD!"
"I think you made him upset." Takashi said indifferently, his bored expression still in place.
Aoi put a finger to her lips and cocked her head to the side, her expression radiating pure innocence. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Now, now Ikkaku." Another man came up behind Ikkaku and placed a hand on his shoulder. He had black hair that came to his chin and feathers around his right eye. "Let's find out what they are here for before you beat them up."
"Yumichika." Ikkaku's shoulders slumped. "Fine."
The two men turned back to the siblings, only to find Aoi pointing at Yumichika. Takashi sighed. "What is it this time?"
Aoi smiled. "He's pretty!"
Yumichika squealed and glomped the girl. "What a beautiful thing to say! Such a cute, sweet girl you are!"
"Really?" Aoi asked, now excited. "You think I'm cute?"
Yumichika nodded. "Absolutely! Much, much cuter than all these disgusting men."
This time, Aoi glomped him. "That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me! Taka, I love your squad!"
Everyone in the room stared at her. Was she crazy? She loved the eleventh squad? The most brutal, scariest, toughest squad of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads? Something had to be wrong with her.
Ikkaku turned to Takashi. "So you're in our squad?"
Takashi looked at him, hands behind his head, his weight balanced on one leg. "Yep."
Several of the other squad members heard this. "No way! They put a kid in our squad? What the hell are they thinking?"
"HEY!"
Everyone turned to Aoi, surprised that such a yell could come out of her small body. "Taka is way stronger than all of you so don't pick on him! He may be short, but he could kick all your asses without breaking a sweat!"
There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed what she said.
Ikkaku crossed his arms over his chest. "What's your name, kid?"
Aoi went back to smiling. "My name's Aoi. And this is my brother, Takashi. But I call him Taka 'cause it sounds cuter."
"And you think he could beat everyone in this room?" Ikkaku asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yep!" Aoi exclaimed, a huge smile on her face. Yumichika immediately glomped her. "Aoi-chan is just too cute!"
Aoi giggled. "Well since Yumi is pretty, Aoi will be cute!"
Ikkaku and the rest of the squad just stared as Yumichika began to gush over the girl. Ikkaku shook his head and turned to Takashi. "So, kid. How 'bout a challenge?"
Takashi, who by now was lying on the floor trying to take a nap, lazily opened one eye. "What kinda challenge?"
"Well we need to see if what Aoi says is true. You can't just say that kinda thing here and not back it up."
Takashi closed his eye again. "You want me to fight everyone? Thanks, but no thanks. Would take to much effort."
Ikkaku frowned. "You sayin' it would be too hard?"
"Nope. I'm just saying that it would be too much effort."
Aoi giggled. "Sorry, Ku! Taka is pretty lazy! Guess I forgot to mention that."
Ikkaku glared at her. "Who the hell is Ku?"
Aoi pointed at him. "You, silly!"
Ikakku's eye twitched. "Now listen here you little-"
"Oh. Aoi likes to give a nickname to everyone she meets. And she'll call you it whether you like it or not. Now, what were you going to call my sister?" Takashi's crimson eyes bore into Ikkaku, who almost took a step back. Almost.
"I didn't call her anything." Ikkaku said.
"Good."
"You tryin' to pick a fight, kid?" Ikkaku growled.
Takashi shrugged. "Not really, seeing as you already challenged me to one."
"Are you gonna do it, Taka?" Aoi asked, kneeling next to her brother.
"I guess. Don't want them to think you're a liar, do you?" Takashi asked.
"I'm not a liar!" Aoi exclaimed, waving her arms up and down.
Takashi sighed and stood up, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Then I guess I have to fight everyone." He turned to Ikkaku. "Let's get this over with."
Takashi stood in the center of the room, a wooden sword in his hand, his other hand in his pocket, the other squad eleven members surrounding him. Aoi, Yumichika, and Ikkaku sat off to the side, out of the way.
Aoi turned to Ikkaku. "How come you're not fighting, Ku?"
Ikkaku grimaced at the nickname. "This kinda thing isn't my style. I prefer one-on-one fights." He turned back to the crowd of people. "Now, begin!"
The squad eleven members charged Takashi, who merely raised his sword to block all of their attacks. Aoi started cheering. "Yay, Taka! You can do it!"
Takashi glanced at her. "I was kinda hoping that they would be better than the guys at the Academy." He said, his expression one of complete and utter boredom.
"Maybe you'll find a better challenge as you move up in rank!" Aoi called back.
Takashi sighed. "That sounds like too much work." Aoi giggled.
Yumichika and Ikkaku stared at the scene before them. This kid was wiping the floor with everyone. And he wasn't even paying attention!
Yumichika turned to Aoi. "Well you certainly don't look surprised."
"Nope! I told you! Taka won't even break a sweat!" Aoi exclaimed, a grin on her face.
/5 minutes later/
Takashi stood in the center of the floor, the bruised and battered bodies of the eleventh squad members surrounding him. He hefted his wooden sword up so that it rested on his shoulder, his stance relaxed, his other hand still in his pocket.
"Well that was boring." He said.
"That kid…he didn't even move. He just used his arm and he took down everyone." Yumichika said.
Ikkaku frowned. "That's it! Everyone is tripling their training!"
Aoi smiled and stared clapping. "Yay, Taka! I knew you could do it! This squad is perfect for you! You can fight whenever you want! Hey that's right! You were ranked eleven in our class! Maybe that's why you got into the eleventh squad! What do you think, Taka?"
Ikkaku turned to Takashi. "You were ranked eleventh in you class?"
Takashi shrugged. "So?"
"Why didn't you mention it?" Ikkaku asked.
"You never asked." Was his reply.
At that moment the door slammed open. The man that stepped in was huge. He had spiky, brown hair with bells at the end. An eye patch covered his right eye, while a long scar traced down the left. He wore a white haori with the number eleven on the back and had a zanpakutō strapped to his waist. He did a quick survey of the room before turning his gaze to the only four conscious ones in it.
"What the hell happened in here?"
Dun dun dunnnnnnn...not really, but I can pretend it's dramatic! Betcha have no idea who just walked in do ya? You'll never guess! Not in a million years! (Note the sarcasm, people, note it!)
Almost forgot: * for those who don't know, a google is 10 to the 10th power or a 1 followed by 100 zeros.
So yeah. That's the next chapter. Still don't know what anyone thinks...all you have to do is push the button! Please? I'll give you a cookie!