Disclaimer: - I don't own Bleach. Kibo Tite owns Bleach. But right now I do wish I own another bottle of Johnny Walker.
WARNING MASSIVE SPOILERS
Please Read And Review
Friends and Enemies
Madarame Ikkaku leaned against the door waiting impatiently scratching his bald head, his other arm folded against his muscular chest. His friend and fellow seated officer Ayesegawa Yumichika, leaned beside him, playing with his black hair and one long, curly eyebrow, pouting into the mirror in his hand. They had come to this door early hoping to catch a certain, orange haired Shinigami to invite him to some sparring practice, just for fun. Such was the mentality of those men and women in the 11th Division.
Ganjyu and Hyou turned the corner to their barrack and headed tiredly to the door of their room. They were surprised to find Ikkaku and Yumichiki leaning against the door, staring absentmindedly into the yard in front of them. As they approached, both of them turned over, recognizing Ganjyu Yumichika greeted them. "Well hello ugly and friend…"
"Well if it isn't baldy and his girlfriend…" Ganjyu drawled.
Ikkaku offended, went to draw his Zanpaktou. His hand only just touched his hilt when Ganjyu interrupted him. "If your looking for Ichigo he went that way." Pointing his thumb back over his shoulder. "Said he had to see Rukia"
Yumichiki smiled casually and stepped forward, "Come, Ikkaku, we really shouldn't waste time with such ugly creatures." Seeing the reaction on Ganjyu's face Ikkaku satisfied himself with a smile and walked off after Yumichiki.
"You got guts Ganjyu, come round to the 11th Division and we'll spar sometime! It'll be fun" Ikkaku laughed over his shoulder.
Ganjyu and Hyou watched as the two officers walked off, down the hall in the direction pointed. "Ichigo knows those two?" Hyou asked.
"They're friends of his. For some reason those two love the guy and buddy around with him heaps" Ganjyu nodded.
Hyou feeling more and more intrigued about his new roommate chanced a question, "Just how many people does Ichigo-san know and how? Who exactly is he?"
Ganjyu stifled a chuckle turned around and proceeded to open the door. "Just a friend, just a friend…"
Intending to walk to the 13th Division headquarters where Rukia was stationed, Yumichika and Ikkaku proceeded casually down the hall. "That bastard Ganjyu! He's got balls talking to me that way!" Ikkaku muttered darkly, then slowly a smirk creased his face, "but he might just become strong one day. It'll be fun if he joined the 11th Division. We could fight each other everyday!"
"It's a shame he so ugly though" Yumichiki made a face like he had just ate something horrible.
Shaking his head Ikkaku could only sigh, "Yumichika, how many times must I tell you it's better to be strong than good looking…"
Yumichika sighed wistfully. This was one point the two did not see eye to eye on. He slowly glanced around the yard as they walked and noticed a group of academy Shinigami's hurriedly rushing somewhere. Nudging Ikkaku, they smiled to each other. This was the academy and if it was like anything they remembered to be, something interesting was just about to happen. Utilizing the Shinigami technique for rapid, flash like movement, Shunpo, the pair raced across the yard till they came across a small patch of open grass. Ikkaku grinned, he liked the scene before him. Ichigo was holding an Asuachi pointing it menacingly at another man, who leered back at him with cold, dark eyes. "Is that a duel challenge then?" The man spoke.
"Your on!" Ikkaku heard Ichigo answer.
"Yo! Ichigo!" Ikkaku repressed the urge to laugh. "Fighting?"
Ichigo turned his head slightly, "Ikkaku! What?... I'm a bit busy right now, gimme a minute!"
"Hhnn" Kenjimaru exhaled, shaking his head, "Now what, seated officers going to protect you as well. Come to call off the duel have they?"
Kenjimaru was about to walk off when he heard loud laughter. It was Ikkaku. Even Yumichika seemed to be sniggering. "What are you crazy. This was just getting interesting" Ikkaku positively glowed. "I just wanted to place a bet before you guys start. C'mon now punks, I was in the academy too, I know someone here must be taking them…"
Looking around at the crowd one of the older freshman finally stepped forward and raised his hand smiling nervously. "What happens here…"
"…stays here. Yeah , yeah… I know, I know" Ikkaku and Yumichika walked casually over to the man.
Ichigo focused back on the task at hand. Kenjimaru drew his Zanpaktou and readied himself into a low fighting stance. "When I win Ichigo, I want you to withdraw from this academy."
"When you win… Shithead, you're so full of yourself!" Ichigo spat out. Then he grinned evilly at his opponent. "Fine… But when I win, Kenjimaru, you have to call me 'Kurosaki-sempai'"
Furious Kenjimaru lunged at Ichigo, in a low wide stance, swinging his Zanpaktou horizontally, parallel to the ground. Ichigo saw it coming and turned his sword point down and braced his arm against the back of his blade. Metal collided with metal and the jarring impact awakened Ichigo's fighting spirit. Forcing his sword above his head, Ichigo led Kenjimaru's blade arcing, by it's own momentum, over and safely away from his body.
Kenjimaru didn't know how he was struck, while his arms were raised as his Zanpaktou was being parried. A foot buried itself in his abdomen as Ichigo allowed his momentum to follow through his feet. His Karate training was big dividends. Seeing his opponent stumbling, Ichigo saw an opening he could follow through on. Stepping in with his right foot forward he aimed a straight thrust at the man's chest lowering his stance as he thrusted, to get better leverage. Just in time Kenjimaru leapt back to safety, sliding on the grass till his feet found grip again.
Ichigo realized doing this was harder than he originally thought. His body, once in motion, yearned for combat. His battle instincts, awakened by his fight for control over his hollow side, screamed at him to raise his reiatsu and finish off his opponent. He was fighting and also fighting himself to control his reiatsu. "Damn that Rukia!" He thought, "Even when she's not here I get into trouble because of her, and now I can't even fight properly because my damn promise to her."
Even as he thought that, he couldn't help but grin. Kenjimaru looked up at Ichigo's face. "I'm going to wipe that smug smile off your damned face!!" he screamed out.
Crouching into a low horse riding stance he raised his sword once more and leveled it aiming the point at Ichigo. With both his hands firmly gripping the hilt he slowly drew his blade back beside his face and screamed out "Hunt, Crimson Tiger!" (1)
Kenjimaru's blade grew in size and shape until it turned into a large red, double edged broad sword. The crowd gasped. It was rare that a first year academy student was able to unseal his Zanpaktou's. Ichigo felt the reiatsu rise around him, but it wasn't his. Leaping to one side, he looked back and saw a red, massive double edged blade, had sprung upwards from where he was once standing. Leaping backwards again and sliding slowly to a stop, he realized that everywhere he went, blades had emerged out of the ground.
The yard soon looked like a twisted, steel thorn bush as blades sprung up and disappeared after a little while. Ichigo, all the while running, looked over at his opponent and noticed his opponent smirking at him. He grimaced to himself, 'OK then just a little' he thought as he ran to a spot with no obstruction to his opponent. He smiled.
Kenjimaru saw Ichigo running around until he was directly in front of him about 30 yards away. He was wondering what the bastard in front of was smiling at, as he chose the next point for his blade to spring up from. Then surprised, he saw Ichigo throw his sword at him. He willed another blade into existence springing up directly in front of him, the broad face of the blade acting like a shield temporarily blocking his vision. He expected to hear the sound of steel on steel, instead, for a split second, he felt the roar of strong reiatsu. His world shattered as the blade in front of him shattered with it. A fist plunged through the metal like it was made of matchsticks and collided with his stomach, forcing gastric juices to travel the wrong way.
Ichigo saw the blade rise out of the ground, like a giant gothic shield and he thought his plan couldn't be more perfect. The reiatsu near him told him that another blade was coming from a foot in front of him so summoning up just enough of his own reiatsu he Shunpo'd his past allowing his momentum to carry himself and his fist through the shield blade. He was satisfied with the sound of exploding steel and the feel of fist on stomach. It all looked slow for him now as Kenjimaru's eye's went wide and his body keeled over. Deftly while lowering his reiatsu Ichigo planted an uppercut across the man's jaw, one that even Rukia would've been proud of. Catching his still airborne sword, time returned to normal pace and he looked down to make sure his opponent was out. He was. Cold.
Ikkaku laughed and collected his earnings from the poor freshman and then he walked over to pat Ichigo on the back. "So… still wanna come down with us to the 11th Division training hall to spar?"
Ichigo's answer to that was a simple glare. Yumichika laughed as he came closer. "Thanks Ichigo, want to go out for drinks? My treat." He shouted holding up his bag of winning. "I bet 6 to 1 that you'd take him out with your fists!"
Kuchiki Byakuya looked emotionless as he always did, his pristine white Kataginu (2) looked like he'd only donned it in the past 5 minutes, not all day. His hair tied back extravagantly, held in place by his Kenseiken, (3) in varying places. Beside him kneeling was his sister Rukia, who had been telling him about her day. It was not the kind of telling that you would imagine between siblings, but more of a reporting of occurrences within her day. It had become routine for the two.
Rukia stood up from her kneeling position beside her brother excusing herself to go back to her room. It had been a good hour that she had been there tonight reporting about her day to him and sipping green tea. She stepped outside into the night, stretched a little and lapped in the cold, fresh air. She was tired. Walking towards her from the other direction was a man, much taller than herself, with ash blonde hair and a slight build. Something about the man looked familiar to Rukia, as he got closer she definitely thought she'd seen him before. "Kuchiki-sama." he said bowing as they passed each other in the hall.
"Have I seen you somewhere?" Rukia asked as she winced at the him.
"We met in my room." Seeing the confused and almost insulted look on Rukia's face forming he quickly explained, "I am Kurosaki Ichigo-san's roommate, Fujiwara Saito."
"Why are you here?" she asked now more curious.
"I am reporting to Kuchiki Byakuya-sama." He replied. "I am in the service of your great house."
"Service? Are you a minor nobleman?"
"No, Kuchiki-sama."
"Then what service?" Her eyes turned cold when she made a connection. "Ichigo…"
"I am not at liberty to say" He replied, "Perhaps if you ask Kuchiki Byakuya-sama himself."
"I think I will" She replied coldly.
She cursed, angry at her brother and formed statements of outrage in her head that she fully intended to say. With that, they turned around and walked back to the room she had just left. When she entered, her anger disappeared when her eyes met her brother's. "Nii-sama" She stammered. She always became this way around him when the topic of conversation was Ichigo.
Byakuya nodded for the pair to enter and as Rukia took her former place kneeling beside her brother. "My lord, Kuchiki Byakuya-sama." Saito began, kneeling before them, placing his hands on the ground before him, fingers touching, he bowed, touching his head to his fingers. "I have come to report."
"Nii-sama why…" Byakuya raised a hand to silence her, nodding to Saito to begin.
"My lord, he has attended his first day and all went well." Saito reported. "However after lessons he was confronted by another academy student and challenged to a duel."
"You didn't stop it." Byakuya remark questioningly.
"No my lord, there were a lot of witnesses and given the opponents reiatsu I didn't think someone like that would be able to harm Kurosaki-san"
"Who was the other student?"
"Tsukimoto Kenjimaru."
Byakuya seemed to think this name over carefully. "And the result?" Byakuya asked Saito flatly.
"He was no match for Kurosaki-san. Very little reiatsu was used by him. The duel ended quickly and with no life lost."
"Was there any... significant witnesses there?"
"Only Madarame Ikkaku, 3rd seat of the 11th Division and Ayesegawa Yumichiki, 5th seat of the 11th Division, my lord."
Byakuya seemed to mull this over for a second before dismissing the young man and sipping some tea. "Nii-sama. Is he spying on Ichigo?" Rukia asked once Saito was a fair way away.
"Ichigo?..." Byakuya eyed her disapprovingly, sighing he answered her. "No, he is merely a bodyguard."
"Bodyguard?" Rukia was genuinely surprised. "How… how much does he know?"
"He knows Kurosaki is strong and extremely important to the clan. That is all." Pausing to sip his tea again he added as if reading Rukia's mind. "He does not know of his secrets…any of them."
Rukia looked relieved. "But why? Nii-sama."
At this question, Byakuya sighed and momentarily lost himself, thinking about the irony of the whole situation. He drained his cup and chose his words carefully. "Because, it is our duty. Our duty to Soul Society and our duty as a clan."
"But why wasn't informed?" she spluttered out quickly. Too late to retract her question she avoided her brothers gaze guilty. She knew she had been rude. She was usually very careful with her behavior around him but something about the situation irked her.
"I didn't think I was obligated to answer to you." Byakuya answer tasted of steel and just as cold. "I did not hide the fact. His name is on our employment records. You may see for yourself."
Rukia nodded her understanding to her brother, then excused herself for bed. She had a lot to ponder that night.
Ichigo wasn't much for alcohol, but he had been roped in by an overly excited Ikkaku and Yumichiki. They of course, were expounding on the glory of 11th Division and the glory of being part of it. They were of course hoping that Ichigo would choose to join the 11th Division when he graduated. "So, can you use Kidou yet Ichigo?" Ikkaku asked, already on his third bottle of sake.
"Man, it's only been one day gimme a break already." At this, they all laughed at Ichigo. Frowning he went to work on this third cup of sake.
"Renji should be back today from the real world. His mission was reported successful yesterday" said Yumichiki. "He should be here soon."
Abarai Renji was as tall as Ichigo, well built and had a shock of red, red hair which he constantly tied back in a rough pony tail. However his most noticeable feature was his tattoos that adorned his face, body and neck. Ichigo perked up when he heard Yumichika's statement. Coming back from the real world meant he would have news from his family and friends. After all Ichigo considered Renji as a friend, in a weird sort of way. Renji knew most of the people he wanted news from, so if he went to the real world then he definitely would have went to see them.
"Bastards late then." Ichigo said impatiently.
The other two just laughed at him, seeing his new found impatience affecting him. It was half an hour later that a tired looking Renji had walked in and plunked himself down cross legged at the low table. "Man I need some sake!" he huffed out. "I'm feeling good today so the drinks are on me."
"Renji, you're in a good mood… Then that means you got it? Right" Yumichiki asked.
Renji nodded and Ikkaku smiled. Yumichiki was the first to speak up. "Congratulations Renji."
"Got what?" Ichigo asked unsure of what was happening.
"I made Captain rank Ichigo. As of tomorrow you will call me Captain Abarai of the 5th Division."
They all congratulated Renji on his promotion as Renji ordered more sake for the table and some pickled side dishes. Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichiki started an idle conversation about the weather and other such important things. Ichigo became antsy, looking for every opportunity to steer the conversation towards the real world. Were they trying to intentionally annoy him with the small talk, he wondered. Finding a lull in the conversation, Ichigo asked as casually as he could, "How'd it go?"
"The mission? Great." Renji replied shrugging his shoulders.
"Meet up with anyone?" Ichigo's patience was already stretched thin from waiting.
"Maybe"
"Bastard! Don't make me knock it out of you!"
"Ha!" Renji returned fire, "As if you could!"
"Careful Renji, he just beat someone up today. In a duel!" Ikkaku added in jokingly.
"Fighting already Ichigo." Renji chuckled. Seeing Ichigo grimace he decided to be kind. "Yuzu and Karin are in their third year of high school. They're doing fine and studying hard so I didn't really get to see them. Your pops… well… your pops… what more can I say bout him!"
Renji handed over a small envelope to Ichigo, "It's from your sisters! You'll owe me for that"
"Fine.. Whatever" Ichigo eagerly snatched the letter from Renji and put it into his kimono. "What about the others!"
"They're fine! Ichigo!" Renji threw his head back downing the bottle of sake in one pull. "Quincy-boy's the Real World Rep now, that Asano's gone weird….. But damn that Arisawa chick! She's a real bitch! Every time we meet we always end up fighting."
"Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked.
"Yeah… ever since Inoue died, she got active in the war… Bitch has got a mouth on her…. If she wasn't a human, and girl at that I'd…"
"Renji!" Ichigo interrupted, "What about Chad?"
"He's… fine. Really… uh fine." Renji smirked.
Ichigo just didn't trust that look that on Renji face. The way he was avoiding Ichigo's eyes was too suspicious. "Renji… did something happen?"
"Really! He's fine!"
"Fine, whatever then."
Yumichika slightly drunk now chirped up happily, "Sooo, Renji… If your mission went well then they'll be here, right?"
"Yup! Five days from today."
"Who'll be here?" Ikkaku asked out of interest.
Renji watched Ichigo sipping his tea and said to all those at the table, "Representatives of the Real World."
Ichigo spray painted the table a nice color of pale green tea and mucus. Renji had been prepared and so had managed to avoid the sudden burst in time. They all laughed at Ichigo, holding their stomachs and slapping the table. Ichigo could only close his eyes and held his fist up at them menacingly.
Renji held up his hand, stopping Ichigo. "Maybe I should've waited till you finished your tea! Anyway, the people coming are Ishida, Arisawa, Asano and Yoruichi-san."
End Chapter 3
A/N: My first fight scene ever, I hope I did ok. Damn now the writing is starting to get messy! LOL!! Oh well I try. I need some help. What is the kneeling position called again can't remember and Googling kneel doesn't help! P One is Seiza I think, but I can't remember the other. Also what is that prostrating position called as well. And what currency do they use in Soul Society?
Please Read and Review.
Constructive criticism welcomed as I really need the help on 1) story construct, 2) dialogue construct and 3) paragraphing constructs.
(1) Kariniiku – Akatora (Actually closer meaning to 'lets go hunting – red tiger' I think, but my japs not very good and I had to fit something into this story. Kariniiku is a common Japanese expression to say lets go hunting but it's use is contextual, so no flaming me on that ok. If this is in any way wrong please pm me as I can always edit.)
(2) Kataginu – That white vest thing with the funky shoulders captains wear outside their kimono. The full Shinigami uniform is called a Shihakusho, but I'm fairly certain this is a proper noun specific to Bleach. The uniform is a Kamishimo consisting of the kimono (top), hakama (split pants) and Kataginu for captains. Hakama held by sash, beld, rubber band or superglue. (I dunno Kubo Tite keeps changing it for different people.)
(3) Kenseiken – That funky white head piece Byakuya wears. Denotes his rank in the family.
Draft 1- need to fix up the honorifics for Renji / Ikkaku /Yumichiki . Not much speech happens between him and students in so I have to estimate how he'd feel about most of them. If anyone can tell me I'd be grateful.
