Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Tite Kubo does.
I finally moved… somewhat.
--
"Um… I know I've ignored you in the past, and I-" Raven began. Finally, after all the action was over and done with, Liam woke up and rubbed his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that the room looked like a tornado had hit it. Then he saw the large hole where a door used to stand. His eyes drifted over to where Raven was apparently talking to a hilt.
"What exactly are you doing, and what happened to the room?" Liam asked, fearing for his friend's sanity. It was like he didn't even notice the destruction around him.
"I'm talking to my zanpakuto. I've been ignoring it for quite some time," Raven answered, then sighed as he was mentally rebuked for using the word it again, "As for the room, Ichimaru-taicho happened." Liam nodded in understanding as he attempted to wrap his brain around what had probably happened. Deciding that Raven would be best off talking with his zanpakuto alone, he got up and left to have a chat with some people over in the 6th. As Raven watched Liam leave, he was thrust into his inner world. At first glance he saw no one. As he observed his surroundings, he took note that everything was shattered or broken. A large mansion loomed in front of him. He walked up the stone steps and lightly pushed on the door. It opened with a loud creak.
"Eh? Anyone here?" Raven asked. Just where was his zanpakuto anyway? Getting the feeling that he was being watched, he whirled around. There was nothing. Being paranoid in his own mind was definitely not a good thing. He felt something brush by him, then a lot of extra weight pressing down on him. Losing his balance, he crashed to the floor.
"Get off me!" Raven yelled as his face was pushed further into the tile floor. Flipping over, he pinned the unwanted passenger on the ground and grinded his knee into her chest. Looking closer, he saw Karin. He rubbed his eyes. Still there, just what she'd probably look like in a few human years. Hurriedly, he got up and dusted himself off.
"What was that for, and what're you doing in my head?!" he yelled.
"That was for ignoring me for over a century, and I live here," the answer came back. Just great. If anyone in the Seireitei found out about this, he'd never hear the end of it.
"Can I at least get a name?" Raven asked. He really just wanted to get his shikai, take a nap, then go back to quality time with his zanpakuto. Maybe he'd go visit the 13th and do some of that zen stuff to calm his nerves while he was at it. At this rate, he'd probably need it.
"I'm Karin," his zanpakuto replied. Raven wanted to curl up and die then and there. He was doomed to eternal embarrassment. Why couldn't his zanpakuto have a cool name like Ichimaru-taicho's Yamamoto-soutaicho's? Color drained from his face and a dark gloom creeped across the room.
"Hey, don't go infect the space I live in with your gloomy thoughts! I was just kidding. My name is Shoukyaku," the zanpakuto spirit said in an attempt to drive away the shadows that crept along the floor. Raven breathed a sigh of relief and the shadows receded.
"Okay. Thanks. Bye," Raven said as he inched away in search of an exit. He was yanked back, and his head collided with the tile again. Quality time was even more of a headache than he'd first imagined.
"Hey! You just got here! You can't go yet!" Shoukyaku whined, grabbing onto his cloak.
"Watch me," Raven shot back angrily.
"Then I'll just chain you down here for a century and see how you feel!" Shoukyaku shrieked back at him. A long chain materialized in her hand. Mentally snapping, Raven slapped her hard and faded back to reality.
"I'm gonna kill her one of these days…" Raven muttered under his breath as he headed off to the 13th, hands thrust angrily in his pockets. Everyone made way, carefully avoiding him. Walking through Ukitake-taicho's Japanese gardens was a soothing activity that might help him calm down. He was still muttering insults when he plopped himself in front of the pond. Even the coy instantly swam to the other side. He would have been less angry if he'd noticed that Ukitake had just tossed some fish food out on the other side.
"Looks like someone's in a grouchy mood," came a calm voice from behind. Raven turned and spotted Shiba Kaien, Ukitake's fukutaicho. Not in the mood to listen, Raven turned his gaze back to the pond.
"Talk to me. When you're upset, you come to these gardens and scare everything away. Usually, either Ukitake or I have to come and put a stop to your moping," Kaien said, and Raven grudgingly had to admit that every word of it was true. He explained everything in detail, omitting how Ichimaru-taicho had started it all.
"Eh? You slapped your zanpakuto? Slapped, not hit?" Kaien asked, raising an eyebrow. That was new. He may have been from the 12th, but who would have thought the kid was so…
"What's that supposed to-?!" Raven began to rage as he tried to get to his feet. In the process, he tripped on his hakama and fell back into the pond with a splash. That attracted the attention of Ukitake who had been enjoying himself on the opposite bank.
"He's back again?" Ukitake called out in a tired voice. Kaien gave him a tired nod, and he slowly made his way over. So much for quiet relaxation… He'd been listening somewhat earlier, but this was proving to be worse than usual. Kaien sighed and helped the kid out of the pond.
"You're clumsier than usual. You might want to be more careful in the future, Ukitake commented. Raven grumbled a word of thanks.
"In any case, you should try to patch things up with your zanpakuto no matter how disagreeable they might be," Kaien advised.
"She wants to chain me down for a century in my own mind!" Raven exclaimed.
"What you do to come to terms with your zanpakuto isn't something we can really tell you how to do, but come to us directly next time instead of scaring the coy. I noticed that they came to lunch more quickly than usual," Ukitake said. As he hoped, Raven got up and ambled off, hopefully to do something about his situation and not to go mope somewhere else.
Raven made his way back to the destroyed barracks and picked up his zanpakuto once more, entering his inner world. Shoukyaku was sitting in the same place as before, arms crossed, her back to him.
"So, you're back," Shoukyaku muttered. Raven took a deep breath to make sure he'd cooled off a bit and sat down.
"I-I wanted to apologize for slapping you," Raven stammered. He really was sorry. He'd just snapped from the compounding stress, mostly due to Ichimaru-taicho's antics. In fact, he still had those files to go over too, and tight schedules didn't like interruptions.
"I don't care," Shoukyaku responded indignantly as she crossed her arms and turned away from him. Why did she have to so difficult?
"You're going to have to apologize every time you release me. This way, I can be sure that you won't just forget," Shoukyaku said with an evil smile. Yes, she was being really difficult. Time to put on the cheesy smile.
"Sure," Raven replied. That would be the best way to fix things, right?
"Oh yes I can make you- Wait, did you just agree?" Shoukyaku asked, half stunned, half angry that she couldn't chew him out for refusing.
"Yeah, I did."
Shoukyaku loosened up a bit, and they exchanged information about each other for a while. Every once in a while, she'd zone out or an odd look would come across her face.
"Shoukyaku, are you okay? What's wrong?" Raven asked as she zoned for the 4th time. He wasn't really worried. After all, a zanpakuto couldn't die without its owner closely following, and he felt fine. He just really hated being out of the loop.
"I'm fine," she replied, shaking her head as though trying to push a thought away. There was a slight gust, and it began to snow. Her brow furrowed, and she stood up.
"Is it normal for it to snow without warning in my head?" Raven asked. He was for the most part ignored as his zanpakuto concentrated on something else. Then without warning, she shoved him out of his inner world.
"That was rather odd," Raven muttered to himself. He opened his eyes and saw white. Wait, didn't he burn the ceiling with kido earlier? He was sure he did-
"You're finally up."
Raven picked his head up and noticed that he was in the 4th… again. Liam was sitting next to him just like last time. Kratos stood at the foot of the bed he was laying on.
"Who knew that talking to your zanpakuto could land you in coma?" Kratos noted in an almost amused voice, "I was just discussing your… plans with Liam here. It's interesting to say the least."
"Will you help us?" Raven asked hopefully.
"I'll consider it, but don't worry. At worst, I'll leave you both to your business," Kratos replied. He shunpoed from the room as several dozen women scrambled towards him.
"Hey Liam, what just happened?" Raven asked. He might have been cooped up in a lab for the past century, but he'd like to think that he'd have noticed when someone had fans following him around everywhere. These things didn't just happen overnight.
"I'm not sure either. It started yesterday, and now he's right behind Kuchiki-taicho in terms of fans," Liam replied. There was of course still a sizable gap, but that gap was shrinking by the minute.
Outside, Kratos had managed to get to the relative safety of the 6th division office, slowing down just before he got to the door so as not to look panicked when he walked in. Kuchiki-taicho hated it when people rushed in, saying that it was unrefined or uncivilized. At the same time, he had good reason to rush. It wasn't his fault half of the Shinigami Women's Association was on his tail on a quest for photo shoots, interviews, and every other fangirl related activity.
-- mini flashback to yesterday morning –
Kratos was taking his usual stroll trough the gardens that Byakuya had had imported near the 6th division compound. He heard a few steps behind him and turned to see who it was. It was Ise Nanao, the relatively new fukutaicho of the 8th division.
"Ise-fukutaicho, what brings you here? I assure you that Kyoraku-taicho isn't hiding here. He's out drinking with Matsumoto-fukutaicho and the 11th," Kratos said. Nanao shook her head.
"I already dragged him back to the office. I've been trying my best to get the idea across that I'm not interested in him, but he doesn't get the message," Nanao explained. Kratos raised an eyebrow. Just what was he supposed to do about it?
"I know you'd rather that it not exist, but… I figured that if I joined the growing Kratos Aurion fan club, he might get the idea and back off." Nanao reasoned. In Kratos' opinion, this was a bad idea in general, doomed to fail miserably just like every other plan to get Kyoraku-taicho to stop flirting with someone. A blank, stoic look would get the message across.
"I don't think Kyoraku-taicho will ever stop flirting with you. He'll take it as competition and fight to win you back," Kratos tried to reason to no avail. He received a pleading look and caved in with a sigh, wondering why he wasn't coldly shooting this ridiculous idea down.
"Do as you will, but I doubt it will work. In fact, it might even get worse."
"The reason I wanted to ask you beforehand-" Nanao started. She was quickly cut off.
"Go on before I change my mind," Kratos advised. That was the nice thing to do, right?
Nanao quickly thanked him and ran off. Kratos then got the sinking feeling that this wouldn't end well for either of them. At this point, only a jerk would rescind permission, but Kyoraku-taicho would be far too unpredictable in his reaction.
-- back to present –
Okay, maybe it was partially his fault for caving in and deciding to let her go on with it. Now the SWA was bent of figuring out how he had gotten Nanao of all people as the president of his fan club. It had swelled in size immediately.
"This is the difference between a noble and a commoner no matter how refined he might be," Byakuya stated, "A noble is detached from emotions and would not have gotten so involved." Kratos could only nod. He knew that Byakuya would have ignored it all, somehow still avoid the photo shoots and dispel the rumors with a mere glance. Sadly, he was not Byakuya.
"Don't be too disappointed. You understand the ways of the nobles and follow them as best you can. At the same time, you'll never be a noble, and you've accepted that. That is the best a commoner can be."
Taking Byakuya's version of praise with a nod, Kratos sat down and got to work. Perhaps this would all pass in time. Then peace would return, and he could go about his business. Mentally, he kicked himself for even thinking that. Now was probably normal compared to what was inevitably coming with the quincy war. By tomorrow, the order would go out for interdivision training in preparation for the war.
"However, helping those in need is not dishonorable. Sometimes the work is too much for the subordinate and the noble must come personally," Byakuya added. Kratos sighed. There was no one who he could pass the job off to. The odds of that pair succeeding were already next to nothing, and none he knew that could give the kind of help they needed would. Life was going to be even busier and more interesting than before.
Meanwhile, Raven was released from the 4th as he was in perfect condition. Immediately, he headed back to his office to finish reading the files. He'd have to hurry if he wanted to finish by the end of the week. Hopefully, the Gotei 13 would take ages to mobilize their forces as usual.
--
So ends chapter 2. Review if you feel like it. Feedback is good.