Author's Note
Alright, idea three. I can't say I've seen many Bleach stories in this kind of setting, so it should feel somewhat original.
Among the Stars
"So, what can I do for you, Miss?" the man in a flamboyant pink overcoat and straw hat behind the desk asked. The desk was covered in paperwork and a bottle smelling of alcohol sat next to a name plaque that proclaimed it the desk of Chief Commander S. Kyoraku.
"I need a bodyguard for my niece." the busty strawberry blonde states from her seat across from him, crossing her legs, a serious look so different from her usual bubbly personality on her face.
"You don't say. Lucky you, Gotei's a bodyguard company." Kyoraku jokes. "But back to your request Miss…" "Rangiku Matsumoto." "Miss Matsumoto. I'd be happy to hire out a guard for you, but you do realize this is the rookie base. Most of the officers here have only seen one, maybe two, if any, field missions. So you'll have to excuse me if I question that request a little."
"I'm well aware that this place holds mostly untested people, but that's what I need. Someone who hasn't made a name for themselves yet, someone no one will give a second thought to." she decisively states. "My cousin runs a big, intergalactic company based on Earth in Japan and I'm sure you know the prejudice and history that muddles that kind of work. Recently, there's been a few incidents that have put my niece in danger, so I'm looking for a little extra assurance that I don't lose her."
"I see. So you're requirements for hire are: no-name status, capable, and can pass for human, correct?" Kyoraku inquires, folding his hands on his desk. If that's all she wants, he'd probably be a good fit.
"All of those and someone who is nice. My niece is a kind girl and I don't' want some rude, barbaric bastard hanging around her all day." Rangiku sniffs.
Kyoraku chuckles. "But of course, Ms. Matsumoto. I think I've got just the guy, Ichigo Kurosaki. He's a little rough around the edges, most bodyguards are, but he's a good kid. One of the best combatants we've had in quite a while. Knows Japanese too, so there's a little bonus for you there."
"How does he know Japanese? It's a language only spoken on world by original descendants. It's been kept secret for decades!" she asks, sounding a bit distressed.
"From what I've understood, Ichigo's mother was a Japanese woman and she taught him Japanese. Actually, because of his mother, he's got a technical residency on Earth, so he really is a good fit for your request."
Rangiku's eyes narrow, she's not sure if she should trust this kid he's recommending. "I want to see him in action, judge him for myself."
"Alright." Kyoraku taps at some buttons on the holo-panel behind his desk. "Hey, Romix. Do you have the video of the last time Ichigo squished your robots?" An alien with a mess of red hair on his head and cresting his neck, four eyes, and eight slender arms appears on the screen. His skin is a fleshy color and the face is rather reminiscent of an eel. He wears a grease covered gray shirt and goggles with several flip down lenses and is holding several different tools in his hands. There's a heap of metal and wires visible in the background.
"Ugh, of course I've still got'em, Chief." Romix replies in an exasperated tone. "Still need to figure out how to keep the carrot head from turning my babies into metal pancakes." He mumbles under his breath. "I suppose you want'em."
"If you don't mind sending them over, Romix." Kyoraku breezily replies, used to Romix's mood about his "babies" and their encounters with the "carrot head" as Romix so affectionately calls him.
A small camera shaped symbol pops up and Kyoraku taps on it. The panel splits into several screens showing different angles of a young man with spikey, bright orange hair wearing a black overcoat and pants with a white shirt underneath fighting six different robots with a pair of katanas. The boy dances through the rain of bullets the robots fire at him. Some of the bullets even seem to curve in their course towards him. He gets up next to a tall, bipedal robot and cuts its left leg out from under it, twirling around as it falls down and stabbing the core in the body, effectively turning it off.
"It's not so bad when he takes'em out like the other rookies. Replace the leg and core and she's good as new, ready for round two." Romix comments, voice cutting through the audio if the videos.
While Romix was adding his commentary, Ichigo moves back, dodging a spray of bullets. One of the robots fires a missile at him and he dodges to the side, placing his swords before and after the missile. He spins around and somehow the missile stays between the blades. When the missile is pointed back at the robot, the leading blade comes up and the missile continues forward, detonating against the robot and destroying its torso.
"Even that's not too bad. Practically expected when some of the rooks carry missile launchers of some sort." Romix once more commentates.
A low bent robot with blade arms advances amidst the bullets raining down on Ichigo, swinging for his waist. Ichigo jumps up and lands on the arm, bringing it crashing down to the ground, flattened and unusable.
"And that's where the problems start." Romix sighs. "He starts with one and then any that come after it get the pancake treatment."
Ichigo jabs his blade into the robot and, with the scream of tearing metal, it collapses in on itself, becoming more than a hunk of twisted metal. The last three chase him around for a little while, still never hitting him, until they catch him in a corner. Unexpectedly, Ichigo smirks at the robots. "You lose again, Romix." He jumps high into the air, above the tallest of the three remaining robot's head, spinning as he goes. As he reaches the peak of the jump, he seems to float for a second and the forming of a distortion can barely be seen on the screen in a ring around him. Then he comes down and the robots flatten in screaming metal as he descends. As his feet touch the ground, the sounds of rending metal stop and three pancakes of metal and circuitry are all that's left of the final three robots.
"I thought I had him once he was in the corner." Romix grumbles as the holo-panel switches back to a view of him and what can now be recognized as the remains of the final four robots. "That was five days ago and I've only just managed to pull one of them apart." His annoyance with the conditions of the defeated robots is clear. "So why'd you need to look at that anyway, Chief? You finally gonna get the carrot head outta here?" Romix asks in a hopeful tone.
Kyoraku laughs. Romix both hates and loves working with Ichigo. Hates it because Ichigo is the only rookie who can decimate his robots like that and loves it because of the challenge it presents to his mechanical expertise. "Maybe. I've got a client here looking to take one of our rookies out for work on Earth."
"I see." Romix nods. "Take the carrot head. The longest any of my babies have held out against him is four matches back around the time when he first showed up. Kid's a natural combatant and does great in the simulation runs. Bit short tempered with the snotty little pricks who believe in entitlement, bullies, and the like, but nice to the underdogs and super rookies." His voice is a bit strained as he finishes. "He's a good kid. Bust up any robots he comes against." Romix's eyes are watery and he sniffles a few times. "So take the carrot head, he's ready for field work if you ask me." He rubs under his eyes as he reaches forward, pressing a button causing the screen to go blank.
"Thanks for the voucher, Romix." Kyoraku mutters at the blank screen. He turns back to Rangiku. "So~ what'd ya think? Did he meet all of your requirements?" he inquires, a smile on his face.
Rangiku hums a bit, unsure of this Ichigo guy. He certainly looked capable with that psychic power or whatever of his, but that didn't really mean anything for his personality. I want someone I can trust to actually protect Orihime, not someone who's just in it for the money. The mechanic had given a brief personality description that seemed ideal for Orihime, but he was a grouchy old mechanic, not exactly the best for getting a personality read. "Can I talk to him? I'd like to ask him some questions and get a read for him myself."
"Sure. Nanao~" Kyoraku calls out for his secretary.
"What?" she asks in a sharp tone as she pokes her head into the office. Her black hair is in a low bun with the bangs tucked behind her right ear and she wears frameless glasses.
"Could you find Kurosaki for me, my sweet little Nanao?"
"I'm not your 'sweet little Nanao'." she blandly states. Rangiku giggles a bit at the blatant rejection. "Ichigo Kurosaki is in the open gym in the west building with most of the other rookies for the monthly hand-to-hand combat tournament." she reports, looking down at the book shaped tablet she carries.
"Thank you, Nanao. Now if you'll follow me, Ms. Matsumoto, we'll go catch Ichigo so you can ask him your questions." Kyoraku says as he gets out of his chair and heads for the door.
Rangiku follows him down the halls, noticing how most people they pass give a friendly greeting to their commander. They walk outside and across a common green to the building on the right. Kyoraku uses a security pass to open the door and leads here through more hallways. This place is a maze she can't help but think.
"Here we are!" Kyoraku jovially announces, pushing open the doors and revealing the gym. There are punching bags and weight machines, open floor space and a small obstacle course, and in the center of it all is a roped off ring, like what is used for boxing or wrestling on Earth.
All of the people in the room are gathered around the ring, cheering and jeering at the two inside the ring. A slender girl with purple skin, feline eyes, short cropped black hair, antennas, and a tail is taking on a brutish behemoth who is all muscle with mottled skin of varying shades of brown and a heavy jaw with a pair of large tusks sticking out from the lower jaw. Both are wearing tank tops and shorts.
"Good afternoon, Sir." comes a calm voice from Kyoraku and Rangiku's left. Rangiku whirls at the sound of the voice and lays eyes on what looks almost like the shadow of an elf lined with red wearing a black tank top and sweats that practically blend in with his body. His eyes shine with a bluish-gray light. "I wasn't expecting you to come watch today's tournament. To what do we owe the pleasure, sir?"
"Afternoon, Shuhei. I've got a client here looking to take one of our rookies and thought Kurosaki'd be a good match. The lady would like to talk with him before she makes her choice, so here we are."
As Kyoraku finishes speaking, a cheer goes up as a loud thud is heard. When Rangiku looks over to the ring, the girl is standing tall and proud while the behemoth is flat on his face, probably out cold if his lack of motion is anything to go by. Strong girl, maybe she'd…
Rangiku's train of thought is broken as a skinny fellow with blue skin that is highly reminiscent of a monkey with his fur and tail, though the four arms throws it off a bit, jumps on top of the ropes, shouting out, "All right, all right! Everyone settle down, settle down! For the final match of today's tournament we have a new challenger! You've just seen her take on our Trogamin muscle man, Kroax. It's NEMARI ENYA!" Monkey boy whips the small crowd up and the purple girl, Nemari, Rangiku guesses, waves her arms up, encouraging the cheers. "All right, settle down, settle down! But can she defeat our reigning champ? Can she triumph over the carrot head? Can she beat ICHIGO KUROSAKI?" More noise rises up from the spectators, many yes's and no's, boos and cheers.
"You'll probably have to wait for the match to finish as I doubt the rookies would be happy with being jipped out of a new final match up." Shuhei says, leaning back against the door frame.
"I suspect you're right, Shuhei. Shall we go get a closer seat, Ms. Matsumoto?" Kyoraku asks. Rangiku just nods and they move closer to the ring.
"So, are jou going to geet in ze ring or are jou juz going to ztand zere?" Nemari asks with an accent rather similar to French to a boy with a draconic head, burnt orange scales, and plenty of muscle.
"I dunno if Trooma is gonna come in the ring, but I thought you were fighting me."
Nemari whirls around to see what looks like a human boy in the ring, lazily leaning against the ropes with his arms folded across his chest. Rangiku recognizes him from the video. It's hard not to with that bright orange hair. The closer view and white tank top with grey sweats allows her take notice of his physique. He's lean with a respectable amount of muscle definition. His movements are smooth as he unfolds himself from the ropes and stalks to the middle of the ring.
"Jou? Theez muz be a jhoke. Are jou telling me zat a hooman boy has been beating jou all?" Nemari asks in disbelief.
"You gonna complian, or are you gonna find out why I'm the champ?" Ichigo provokes as he takes up a ready stance and Nemari does the same.
"You wanna call this one, Chief?" Monkey boy asks.
"Sure, why not?" Kyoraku lazily replies. "You kids know the rules. No use of any capabilities beyond hand-to-hand combat. The match isn't over until someone forfeits or is out cold. The match is confined to the ring." Kyoraku raises one hand. "Ready, set, GO!" He drops his hand and the match begins.
Nemari darts forward with a jab and Ichigo dodges to the side grabbing her wrist and twisting in to flip her over his back in a judo throw. Nemari jumps with the throw and bends so that her feet hit the ground. She then twists around and uses his strong grip to pull him in close and rabbit punch him in the nose. He lets go of her wrist and staggers back. Nemari moves for the opening, placing a side kick into his stomach. Ichigo grabs her ankle and grins while his bowed head allows his bangs to hide his eyes. He tugs her forward and sweeps her other leg out from under her, letting go of her captured leg as she hits the mat. He crouches down, placing his foot against her throat, grabbing both her wrists in one hand, and leaning his supporting knee into her stomach.
"Yield." he commands.
She tries to kick his head, but he simply leans out of the way. She whimpers as he tugs her hands towards her knees, increasing the pressure on her throat and hurting her shoulder joints.
"Yield." he commands once more.
"Never." she spits out. It's obvious that she is having trouble breathing. He leans in more, driving his knee further into her stomach.
"You either yield or pass out from lack of oxygen. Your choice." he says nonchalantly. Nemari squirms under him, but his positioning is solid and he doesn't budge.
"I… yield." she pants out.
Ichigo immediately rises to his feet as the rookies cheer. He offers a hand to Nemari to help her up as she pants on the mat. She slaps the proffered hand away and staggers to her feet, anger clear on her face. She stalks out of the ring past her peers who try to congratulate her for winning second place.
The crowd slowly dissipates, leaving Ichigo sitting on the ropes of the ring, drinking from a water bottle.
"That was a good match, Ichigo. Still keeping your title I see." Kyoraku comments as he walks forward.
"Commander Kyoraku!" he says in surprise. "I didn't know you were watching, sir." He gets a contemplative look as he turns away to look at the wall. "It wasn't that great a match. She underestimated me for looking human and didn't go at full strength with the rabbit punch to properly stun me. If she fought me like she did Kroax, she might've won. It at least would have been a longer match."
Rangiku was rather surprised by his comments. She had been expecting a cocky ass because of what he said in the ring, but it seemed that he was actually a rather humble guy. Or at least knew his limits and would admit to them.
"Good to know you're using your head. It's a real pain when we have to teach rookies to think too." Kyoraku replies, chuckling a bit and Ichigo joins in. "Alright, down to business. This here is Rangiku Matsumoto." He gestures to Rangiku and she gives Ichigo a flirtatious wink, leaning forward to better show off her cleavage. He seems startled by this and she notices him scoot away just a little. How cute! Mr. Big Bad Rookie is shy of women. she thinks, marking off chance of sexual harassment to her niece as incredibly low. "She's looking to hire one of our rookies and I suggested you. Ms. Matsumoto would like to talk with you a bit before she makes her decision."
"Um, sure. Ah, if you don't mind me asking, sir, why me? There's plenty of more senior rookies looking to get out of here and into the field. Not that I don't want to go out too, it's just, it doesn't seem fair to them."
Kyoraku smiles. It was no wonder Romix had been teary eyed as he tried to push Ichigo off, the kid was pretty considerate when he was off the battlefield and not dealing with jerks. "Yeah, but most folks don't like Earth too much, even less of them like Japan. You don't have problems with anything based on where it comes from and you speak Japanese, so you were the best fit."
Ichigo nods and looks to Rangiku. "[It's nice to meet you, Matsumoto-san.]" he says in slightly stilted Japanese, inclining his head a bit. "[I'm Kurosaki Ichigo.]"
Rangiku smiles. Knowing the local, "secret" language is certainly a big plus, he just needs to use it more to smooth it out. "No need to hold this interview in Japanese, though A for effort! The standard Gallixian Alliance language is fine." He nods his head in acceptance. "So how'd a rookie like you pick up Japanese?"
"My mom was Japanese and she taught me when I was little. I know bits and pieces of a lot of other languages too because my family travelled a lot for my mom's work."
"Oh? And what was her job?"
He lets out a little sigh, knowing he's just set himself up for explaining his life. "My mom was a researcher on local life forms. Looking at more resilient species and ones that lived in harsh environments to try and find cures and the like for diseases and problems faced by other species. My dad was her bodyguard, unofficially, I guess since he quit the company he was with to travel the stars with her. So me and my sisters grew up on the Kakaku, visiting all the different planets with my parents. When you've visited so many worlds, it's hard to discriminate based on species, which I keep getting told by the higher ranked officers is a plus and seems to get me in endless trouble with the other rookies." He gives a small chuckle.
"And what do you think of humans? You seem to get discriminated against for looking like one." Rangiku asks. This is an important question to her. After all, it wouldn't do to have a body guard for Orihime that wouldn't mind seeing her dead just because she's human.
"Sure, it's a pain to get picked on for looking human and the one time I actually admitted to being part human didn't really help, but I try to judge people for who they are, not what they are. Though the what does occasionally help with how to deal with some people." He absently tags on the end.
Rangiku smiles even wider. He's passed the all of her tests do far and she only had one more. "So why did you join Gotei?"
"I just wanted to live up to my name: Ichi for first place and Go for guardian. My dad always told me stories of the heroic rescues he pulled off, both for my mom and for the clients he used to have when he worked here at Gotei. When I turned fifteen, I decided I wanted to try my hand at it, so I convinced my parents to let me sign on and I've been in training here at base eight for the past year."
"Pack your bags, kid. You've just been hired."
So this is a space and aliens sci-fi themed story. I was inspired a bit for the view on Earth and Japan by the manga Gintama and the group in it that is about Japanese nationalism and hates having the aliens run them, not any of the weird yet somehow funny comedy that Gintama is famous for. The bodyguard thing was inspired some the reason by garden of magnolias. This of course wouldn't have anywhere as nearly a dark feel to it as that, but I liked the idea that Ichigo was Orihime's bodyguard. So SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!
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