Disclaimer: You know the difference between a pile of dead bodies and Bleach?
Simple. I don't own Bleach.
Anyway, creepy jokes aside, enjoy.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Before we get into the details of Kaien's situation right now, let's establish one thing: Ichigo trusted him. They had trained and fought together for thirty years. They had indeed gone out when Hollows appeared in the outer districts, and Kaien already knew about the sub-class of Hollows called Menos and of the existence of Arrancar (no, these were not in the same conversation). In fact, he had met an Arrancar already (technically four, but I'm about to show you why I say 'one'). During their thirty-year training, Kaien had asked about that "cool technique" he saw as a 100-year-old brat when those insanely strong Hollows appeared in front of his house, and Ichigo had explained that his "unique" Zanpakutō spirit pulled the Hollows inside his inner world. Kaien could still remember that five minutes or so word for word.
Flashback
They were currently sitting in the main room after eating their meal, alone. Kaien was sitting across from Ichigo (he was sitting on the table). Kūkaku was practicing making fireworks in her room ("I wanna know how to make fireworks too!") and Ganju was simply watching, not wanting to invoke his sister's beatdowns (she had a pretty mean right hook). The retainers were supervising (or, as they stated it, "making sure the house doesn't burn down").
"Hey, Ichigo, do you remember the day you met me?" Kaien had asked.
"Huh? Yeah, sure I do. Why?" Ichigo answered, looking at Kaien to try to figure out what he wanted.
"Do you remember how you took care of those really strong Hollows that showed up?" Kaien asked after that.
Ichigo blanched a little. "Oh. You wanna know what I did, huh? Well, I'll tell you when you are older," he diverted the subject.
"Aw, why can't I know now?" Kaien whined.
"When you grow up a little more, I can tell you. But, for now, just be a kid." Kaien looked visibly discouraged at this, slouching and shutting his eyes. Ichigo put a hand on Kaien's shoulder, making him focus his gaze back on Ichigo.
"Hey, tell you what, Kaien," Ichigo said, "I'll tell you when you get to go to the Soul Reaper Academy. Deal?"
Kaien instantly brightened up at that, his expression becoming punctuated with a smile and a grateful gaze.
"Deal!" he said excitedly.
Back to the present...
And so, after Isshin, Senjumaru, and Ichibē left for the Seireitei (Isshin was still mostly bewildered that his nephew achieved Shikai the first time he held his Asauchi, which had to be a new record), Ichigo had pulled Kaien over for a private chat at their training area. Kaien had remembered Ichigo's promise and accepted Ichigo's condition: don't overreact.
Another flashback
"Okay, Kaien. Here goes: I rescued the Hollows by dragging them into my inner world. There, I calmed them down and made sure they didn't attack anyone. They are in my inner world right now," Ichigo explained.
Kaien didn't react for a minute, not even with speech. The clearing was silent save for the rustle of the leaves overhead and the wind blowing waves in the grass.
Finally, Kaien broke that silence. "Why?" Kaien finally asked, expressionless but turmoil expressed in his eyes.
Ichigo rubbed the back of his head for a second. "Well, the way I see it, it doesn't matter if someone's a Hollow or a Soul Reaper or a Plus; everyone deserves a chance. I gave that Hollow the chance to demonstrate what she would do if her fellow Hollows were put in a sticky situation, and she tried to save them by cutting my arm off," he explained.
"And what if she had succeeded?" Kaien asked.
"Then I would've saved her anyway; the Soul Reapers were coming regardless, and she clearly had more of a brain than a regular Hollow; she had used her friends' names. After all, she and her friends are Menos, and Menos are closer to Pluses than any ordinary Hollow and a whole lot stronger than those regular Hollows; they have the ability to use logic. They would have attracted more attention the longer they were out there," Ichigo answered.
"I see," Kaien answered.
...
...
...
There was that silence again...
Suddenly, Kaien pulled out his sword and swung. Had Ichigo's Zangetsu not been there to block Kaien's newly-christened Nejibana, Ichigo would have been... well, hit by a sword. Zangetsu's Hierro and his subconscious Blut Vene would have done a pretty good job of stopping the sword from doing any damage.
"Wha-? Kaien? What are you doing?" Ichigo simply remained silent as he continued his barrage of sword swings. Ichigo blocked each one, but he was backing up with each blocked hit from the force of the blows. "Are you angry, Kaien?" Ichigo asked, still backing up. Kaien still didn't reply. For a few minutes they proceeded like this. Ichigo could tell whether Kaien was trying to kill him; it would make sense if he was, and yet it would be nice if he wasn't. He wasn't aiming for the head or neck; just the arms, legs, torso, varying his barrage with Reiatsu punches and even a Flash Step or two; he even tried using a few Kidō spells. Eventually, Ichigo tripped. Sounds pathetic, but he really didn't notice the tree root behind him with Kaien overwhelming him like that. He landed on his back, a sword aimed at his neck. He looked up, and Kaien was...
He was smiling. "You done?"
Ichigo finally realized what had been going on. Kaien was a lot like him; just much kinder. He wouldn't kill or even injure someone for their past deeds. In other words, Kaien was messing with him to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, let's cut it out for now," Ichigo agreed. Kaien pulled his sword away and sheathed it, helping Ichigo up. Once Ichigo was standing, Kaien asked this:
"So, when can I meet these 'smart Hollows'?"
"I'll manifest them right now," Ichigo answered, putting his hands to the ground. Blue Reishi particles gathered gradually into the form of four humanoid Souls (it sounds so sci-fi when I say that...). After a minute, these four were fully formed. Harribel had a questioning look on her face, Apache seemed grouchy, Mila Rose was about to slap Apache, and Sun-Sun was watching on with amused purple eyes. As soon as they were manifested, they animated. Apache and Mila Rose were having a shouting match with each other and a one-sided shouting match with Sun-Sun. Harribel, however, looked around at Ichigo. The old Harribel would've glared icily at Ichigo right now. Instead, she simply seemed to wonder why she was in Soul Society again.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, why have you manifested us?" she asked immediately while the others were "debating".
"Ah, Kaien wanted to meet you all," Ichigo answered, gesturing to the black-haired boy.
"Yo! Shiba Kaien!" he greeted.
"Tier Harribel. And the three of them are Apache, Sun-Sun, and Mila Rose," she said, pointing to the corresponding Arrancar.
"Wow. You four look... nothing like the traditional Hollows," Kaien commented. "Really, the only part of you that looks like a Hollow is that hole in your gut. And where did you get those clothes? They're so... risqué."
"I do not know who is to blame for the 'risqué' choice of clothing," she stated, giving Ichigo an accusing look, "but all four of us have fragments of our masks on our faces as well."
"Hey, it's all that came to me. That was what I first saw you wearing," Ichigo argued.
"Yeah. I get that," Harribel deadpanned.
"Oh yeah, I almost didn't notice the mask fragments on their faces. What about yours?" Kaien asked.
"Mine are under this collar," Harribel answered, unzipping her top down to her neck, revealing her piscine mask fragments.
"Wow. Those look... really cool!" Kaien smiled.
"Thank you for the compliment," Harribel said stoically, zipping her collar back up.
"So, you're not going to attack anyone?" Kaien asked.
"No. I have no reason to. Besides, I have decided to help Kurosaki Ichigo after he transformed us into complete Arrancars," Harribel answered.
"'Arrancar'? What's that?" Kaien asked blankly.
"We are Hollows who have ripped off our masks. Usually, a Hollow cannot rip off their mask so easily, so the natural Arrancar are incomplete. Ichigo has helped us through the process so that we are not incomplete. In a way, we are more like Soul Reapers than ordinary Hollows or Menos," Harribel explained.
"Ah. Well, either way, as long as he's not planning anything dangerous, I won't say a word," Kaien smiled.
"Appreciated," Harribel commented, she and the others de-manifesting, the Reishi particles that made them up dispersing.
Back to the present yet again...
"There's the new Shiba!"
"Ooh! He looks so... rough-and-tumble!"
"Wow! He looks like a younger version of that bodyguard guy!"
"Hey, I heard he already had Shikai when he got here!"
"Are you serious? We haven't even had these for a week and he's already ahead of us?!"
"I wonder who the sexy blonde lady is."
"I think she's the other bodyguard."
These were the whispered comments of the upperclassmen that Kaien heard as he walked through a hallway at the Soul Reaper Academy with his two "bodyguards" behind him (it's not that they couldn't be his bodyguards, it's that they weren't his bodyguards; Kaien was getting annoyed that everybody just assumed that, even if it was natural). His 130th birthday (he just said one day that June 2 would be his birthday) was last week, and it was the second day of school, and he was still hearing those whisperings in the otherwise-quiet hallways.
Kaien definitely looked older than thirty years ago; he was already only an inch shorter than Ichigo whereas he was a whole couple feet shorter before Ichigo, and he appeared, to a Living-World Resident, to be a 17 year old; he was currently donned in the blue Academy uniform: blue hakama and a white coat with blue stripes on the sleeves and a blue undercoat. His Zanpakutō was not at his waist like it usually should; he had decided with the administration that he would hide his Zanpakutō in his sleeve so as not to "show off like the son of a rich bitch," as the Headmaster put it. As such, nobody could really know where he got a Zanpakutō; after all, some people found a Zanpakutō out in the Rukongai and used it as their own until it eventually became their Zanpakutō. Nobody needed to know where he got such a valuable weapon (except the administration; Kaien told them the story).
Ichigo was on his left, wearing the standard Academy uniform with the symbol over each of the pecs and the blue pants, standard except for his black-and-white choker and his two sealed Zanpakutō blades peeking out from his sleeves, something many people also noted; he was wearing his sleeveless Shihakushō underneath, which peeked out from the blue undercoat that was the Academy regulation. His hair reached down to his neck at the back of his head and was unusually long (but not too long) on the rest of his head. His eye patch was a circle connected to the choker by cloth. He bore a tattoo of a Substitute Soul Reaper badge on his hand (nobody recognized it; Ichigo explained that it was a seal).
The third person was, believe it or not, Tier Harribel. Quickly, I will explain how in the flying forks she managed to just walk into the Academy, much less the Seireitei. She wasn't able to seal her Reiatsu away completely on her own yet, so she had Ichigo place one of his seals on her. This was the same kind as the one sealing away Ichigo's own power, just less modified: less components means less pressure on the wearer; and less pressure means not being so tense that it hurts. That way, Harribel wouldn't feel as if she was being crushed by the constriction of the seal and yet still benefit from her power being sealed away (mostly; it would be unusual to be emitting absolutely nothing, right?). It would also be odd of her to be wearing something that exposes a lot of leg and midriff when the teachers and students around her were wearing garments that covered those areas pretty much completely. So, over the white half-clothing, she wore a basic Academy Shihakushō that, together, still covered her jaw with the air filters still on the collar. Her wide-berthed sword was on her back, slightly obscured by her long messy hair (there were no braids in her hair like Ichigo could remember her having) and there was a new sword at her waist.
Of course, all three of them ignored the stares and continued on to their destination: the Headmaster's office.
They finally came up to a door everyone recognized as that of the Headmaster himself. It's not that everybody visited him on a daily basis-
"HAHAHA! Oh man, Kotetsu-chan! You did not!"
...Rather, it's the only door where you could hear that.
More specifically, it was the only door where you could hear someone being referred to as 'Kotetsu-chan'. Everyone spread rumors about their supposed "relationship," but those people always went silent whenever she wasn't inside the office, behind a closed door.
Ichigo mentally raised an eyebrow. '"Kotetsu-chan"? Wasn't that...'
Kaien didn't appear fazed as he calmly slid open the door, drawing the attention of the two people in there, who were sitting at a round table with six chairs. Everyone in the hallway stopped talking in favor of not "loitering like a bunch of brainless chimpanzees," according to the Headmaster.
The Headmaster turned his head to see who had opened the door, a scowl automatically painting his face (because it was not uncommon to get a disciplinary visit to the Headmaster's office if you were a rowdy Soul, regardless of origin). That scowl disappeared fairly soon, however, when he saw his newest first-year students.
"Ah, Shiba-san, Ichigo-san, Harribel-san, welcome! Kotetsu-chan, have you met Shiba-san and his two body- I mean, friends?" the man greeted. He was a big man, I kid you not. He was tall and had a bushy beard and eyebrows, and he made himself seen just by sitting in his seat. It's not that he was extremely obese or overly muscular, overly cheerful or not cheerful enough. The quirk with him was more like this: if he laughed, he looked like a fat, wizened old man who spent his life in bleak boredom and wanted to hear a good joke, then got what he wished for, but if he was mad, he looked like he had been training to lift a mountain for a hundred years straight, then found out that you blew up all the mountains one could possibly lift because you wanted to swat a fly (in other words, for no sensible or helpful reason). And he was the type to switch from jovial to bored like no other, and without warning. Kaien had found that out the hard way during their first conversation, which was yesterday.
Meanwhile, Ichigo could recognize the lady sitting across from the Headmaster. She was a small woman (at least compared to the big Headmaster), though petite might be a better word for it. She had short brown hair, which was all Kaien and co. could see until she turned her head and showed them her purple eyes. She was wearing a standard Shihakusho, so she couldn't have been a student, and a white shirt underneath her Shihakusho (a little bit of which was peeking out from her lapels... there's no X-ray vision here...). She was staring at them.
"Hmm, not yet. But now's a good time to introduce myself, I guess! I'm Kotetsu Kiyone. I just graduated and now I'm part of Squad 13!" the petite lady introduced herself, smiling pleasantly.
Kaien merely smiled back. "Shiba Kaien. But, please, don't address me with any special honorifics; I'm a student now," he greeted, smiling politely. Then he stepped back so he was behind his two friends. "And these two are my friends," he added.
Taking the cue, Ichigo started with his name. "Shiba Ichigo. Nice to meet you. But please just call me Ichigo. I'd rather keep the whole 'Shiba' thing under wraps," he introduced.
This apparently piqued not only Kiyone's interest, but also Harribel's, Kaien's, and the Headmaster's. They all stared at him with varying degrees of confusion and bewilderment.
"Uh... I don't mean to pry, but I'm just curious... why?" Kiyone asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Well..." Ichigo started.
"Aw, Ichigo! Didn't I tell you there's nothing embarrassing about being adopted?" Kaien interrupted him.
"Huh?" the Headmaster asked. (P.S. He will remain 'the Headmaster')
"Yeah. After training Kaien for a while, he decided he wanted to adopt me into the family," he explained, then looking down in what seemed like shame (but, in truth, it really wasn't), "Don't ask. I just have a thing with adoptions."
"'A thing', huh? Well, okay. If it hurts you that much, then I won't pry," Kiyone answered back, smiling perkily. Then she turned to Kaien. "And what about you? How's school going for you on the... what was it, the second day?" she asked, looking to the Headmaster for confirmation, which he provided with a grunt.
"Well, I actually came to talk about that with the Headmaster. Now, Headmaster, you said to come to you if any of us students already knew the material during the entrance speech, right? Well, I know I'm in the advanced class, but I still think I already know the stuff they're teaching. What do I do to get taught something new?" Kaien explained.
The Headmaster laughed, a deep, sincere laugh. "I like your cheek, kid! But, all jokes aside," he started, suddenly turning serious, "a student can test for their right to promote early. You'd move up to the next year. That's the most we can do for such students who wish to graduate early. If you choose, you can take the test as many times as you want; however, you must take the test at the testing periods each month."
Kiyone stared wide-eyed at him. "That's a thing? There've been people who would need to take such a test?" she asked, bewildered once again.
"Yes," the Headmaster affirmed, turning back to Kaien, "but it is very hard indeed. To take such a test, you would need to take an entrance examination first-"
"Wait, you have an entrance test for an early promotion? That seems kind of counter-intuitive," Ichigo commented.
"Yeah, well, if we didn't do that, there'd be many lining up, thinking they can do it, only to fail and have serious things happen to them. We've had people who could no longer become Soul Reapers because their Soul Sleep was destroyed, or they die because they get careless. We've had to send all of the ones who survived home because they could no longer manipulate Reiryoku and Reiatsu. Are you following me?" he explained. Kaien nodded to his question, as well as Ichigo.
"Well, I'm not really learning anything new to me. I'm sure I already know Hakuda well enough to defeat a sixth-year student, I can definitely outmaneuver my classmates in the Hoho no Taiikuken (Agility Gym), and I know Zanjutsu well enough to put up a good fight. So, again, what do I need to do to get taught something?" Kaien explained.
"I see. So you already know enough to go up a grade level, do you? Well, then, I'll sign you up for the test. The entrance examination is a written test. You'll answer some questions, then, if you pass, you move on to the actual early promotion test," the Headmaster explained.
"Ah. I see," Kaien affirmed, nodding.
"You still feeling up to it after hearing that?" the Headmaster cajoled him.
"You bet," Kaien answered, smiling confidently.
"Good. That's the kind of spirit that a Soul Reaper would really need," the Headmaster stated sagely.
"So, Ichigo-san, what about you? Did you go to the Academy?" Kiyone asked.
"No."
"Oh. So, you taught him and yet you didn't go to the Academy?" Kiyone asked skeptically.
"I was a... special case," Ichigo answered vaguely, not moving at all.
"How so?"
His eye closed and he sighed briefly. "I don't want to talk about it," Ichigo answered.
Kiyone stared at him. She was looking into his one visible eye, probably trying to see if she could glean any more questions or information from his gaze, or even uncover a possible lie. She could've stopped staring, but something just made her keep looking at him, even after she had forgotten what that was. Eventually (after a minute, actually), she caught herself staring and looked away, blushing lightly with embarrassment. "I'm sorry," she muttered.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Ichigo responded offhandedly.
"What about you, Harribel-san?" she asked.
"I was also trained by Kurosaki," she answered.
"Oh," Kiyone said, not quite sure what to say. They stayed in silence that was slowly becoming awkward.
Clearing his throat, the Headmaster changed the subject. "Well, uh, anyway, if that's all, you may leave. Don't forget your classes, Ichigo, Kaien, Harribel," he commanded.
"Huh? We have classes? Why?" Harribel asked.
"Call it a 'long-term examination'. We're simply going to see how well you three do in the classes and how well Kaien does in his advancement test to see if you actually count as a good teacher... especially since you look like you're only 170 and combined with the fact that we have never heard of you," the Headmaster explained.
"Oh, I'm flattered that you think I'm 170," Ichigo smiled. Clearly, his plan worked; the old headmaster laughed and most of those present smiled.
"I can vouch for his ability to teach," Kaien stated.
"True, you could, but how would we know that what he taught you was any good without seeing for ourselves?" the Headmaster argued.
Kaien scowled alongside Ichigo for a minute, before they shrugged and sighed in unison before glaring at each other for a second. Kiyone started laughing at this, getting everyone's attention.
"What's so funny?" Ichigo asked.
Kiyone didn't stop laughing to answer for a second, then she said in between pants, "Oh... nothing much... you two just look... and act... so alike..."
"*sigh*... Yeah, okay," he said flippantly.
"... And this is your dorm, Shiba-san. Your roommate is... Shiba Ichigo. Do you know him?"
"Yeah, I do. He's my friend and honorary brother. But that seems a little too planned out... And would you please just refer to me as Kaien? I'm a student, not a stuck-up noble. Don't forget that I used to live in the Rukongai," Kaien answered.
"Sorry, Kaien-san," said the girl that was his guide. She appeared to be a sixth-year student from the six stripes on her sleeves. She had long silvery hair, bright blue eyes, and a pink sash running over her shoulders, as well as a chain that hooked right above her ample chest. She seemed to wear a smiling expression the whole time; Kaien couldn't place whether it was mischievous or sincerely happy, but it did seem to change depending on the situation, so at least she wasn't trying to keep up some front around him... that was good. Her apparently-normal flirty tone of voice didn't stay that way when she was supposed to be serious; rather, it was more of a calm and impartial voice, the mark of a truly mature person. Of course, she seemed like a real party girl, so her being mature was a rather... odd idea to entertain.
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it," Kaien shrugged. Changing the subject, his face changed from a scowl to a look of curiosity. "Hey, what's your name? Maybe we have some classes together...?" he asked offhandedly.
"My my. Work fast, do we?" she teased, smiling. "But I see no reason not to tell you my name. I'm Shinohara Mira. And I looked at your schedule. Somehow, we have every class together; our schedules are identical twins," she answered.
"Huh? More planned-out things? Geez, what the heck?" he asked incredulously and rhetorically.
The girl mock-pouted. "But I was just kidding! Sixth-years and first-years don't have the same classes, silly boy! Am I really that bad?" she asked with fake offense.
Kaien simply shook his head. "No, but I think it's a little strange that any two people could have matching schedules purely on coincidence or that my teacher is also my roommate," he answered.
"'Teacher'? That's interesting. So, do you already know a little bit of what they're teaching us here?" Rangiku asked.
"Oh, something like that," Kaien stated, alluding to that fact; with his noncommittal tone being a form of sarcasm.
"Tough guy, huh? Well, maybe I'll see how you do in classes this week. After all, you say you were taking the advancement test at the end of the month," she promised.
"Actually, just the entrance test into the advancement test," Kaien corrected her.
"I know. That's what I meant. I've taken the test five times before already; I know how it works," she stated.
"Oh? So, do you have any advice or words of encouragement or are you just going to let me go in blind?" Kaien asked teasingly.
To Kaien's mild surprise, she actually thought about it before saying, "Well, fine then. Your advice is this: don't die," she stated.
Kaien's mind resonated with the familiar words he remembered so well. A smile broke out on his face, which seemed to confuse her. "What's so funny?" she asked.
Kaien shook his head. "No, it's nothing. It's just that, if that's all you have for me, then I think I'll do just fine," he smiled proudly.
Shinohara just looked on confusedly, this being the first time she's really been confused in a while. I mean, sure, some people zoned out in classes and got confused when they didn't pay any attention or not enough attention to answer the question, and, yeah, she knew she zoned out sometimes in Kidō Practical and consequently hit someone else with the particular spell they were practicing (she had been lucky yesterday during the show-me-all-the-spells-you-know day; she was only practicing Hadō 1: Shō, which is naturally the least destructive of every spell period, she knew; that student merely tripped and set fire to the teacher's hair with Shakkahō, who then set fire to the field when she fell down...), but those were not the same as this confusion; this particular occasion was riddled with curiosity while that first occasion was more of a bored accident. She felt like, every day, when she had seen someone she did not know (or maybe some she did), she was never looking at someone with much depth; it always felt like the people were either too new to possibly have depth or too shallow for her liking. This tall, 130-year old boy, however, seemed to not be too new to... well, any of this; he didn't seem to be nervous about moving into a dormitory (when one was nervous about this, she found, the person would hesitate to walk in, maybe fidget around a little, maybe look her way a couple times like they were newborns; he did none of those things), he seemed to be rather confident about taking classes at the Academy, he wasn't staring at her body enough to warrant being called "staring" (which, she did admit, she did giggle at whenever she caught someone), and... he seemed like he already knew what he wanted to live for. She could tell by his eyes (cheesy, I know); he wasn't narrowing his eyes slightly with paranoia, yet he wasn't so loose that he completely stopped paying attention to the person he was talking to; he wasn't nervous about being around a stranger who was also an upperclassman, yet he wasn't so bold as to make himself a dead man walking with some stupid comment; he wasn't some smart-aleck or smart-ass asshole, but also he wasn't so hardheaded and stupid to come off as an idiot.
Much more than she thought could be said about her, at least...
"Hey, I just remembered, aren't there separate areas for male and female dorms?" Kaien asked shyly.
Snapped out of her sad musings, she giggled. "Yep, but we student guides have these passes that let us go... everywhere, really. Well, except for the staff-only areas, but having a pass is proof that you're trustworthy enough to not do anything that would warrant expulsion or arrest when you have that kind of freedom," she explained, smiling and holding up a pass. It was a finely crafted little card of wood, with a gold bevel frame and her name impressed into it.
Kaien smiled back. "Oh. Good, then," he commented.
Suddenly-
"GAAAAAAAAH!"
-they heard-
*THUD* "OW! Shisu-chan, that hurt! Watch where you're going!"
-I said, they heard... oh, never mind! You might be able to guess what happened, but I'll tell you anyway because you may guess wrong: they had heard the scream and both their heads quickly jerked down to the end of the hallway, which led out into a courtyard. They saw a fourth-year student nearly as big as the hallway they were in go flying from one side to the other. They heard a thud and went to investigate. Turns out, a first-year girl was standing there, shaking her wrist out while her hand was loose so it could be shaken out, her "opponent" lying on the floor in front of her, buried slightly in the wood. Then they looked the other way and noticed a single person walking calmly down the hallway behind a group of littler underclassmen of various years who were running in a panic and two other first-year ladies who simply stood next to the first-year that hit him. Those people crowded around the fallen big guy while the man still calmly walked onward.
"Ichigo-?" Kaien asked.
"GEEZ!" Ichigo interrupted, "I'm not even in high school anymore and they're still targeting me for my hair!"
Mira turned to Kaien, bright blue eyes fully open; and her face looked more surprised than serious or worried. "Is that guy Shiba Ichigo?" she asked.
"Yep, that's him!" Kaien affirmed cheerfully.
"He just hit my boyfriend!" she yelled at him.
"Oh, well, sorry. But I know Ichigo well. He's not the type of guy to start this type of thing with anyone. And my family is nuts, yet he's been living with us for thirty years," Kaien smiled, this time in apology. "Why don't we just watch and see if we can guess what happened?" he suggested. She only huffed and turned away in response, choosing to look at the guy who was getting up over the guy who just tried to calm her down.
Anyway, so the guy is up now. He looks like he's going to rip somebody to shreds with his bare hands. He was shoving the girl who had just stopped him from flying into the wall using her fist.
"Hey, you! Why did you hit me?" he asked threateningly; the black-haired girl did not appear intimidated.
"Oh, so you would rather have gone flying into the wall, huh? Well, I won't stop you," she said teasingly. Then, she added, "And I've been hanging around you for a couple years, yet you still don't know that my name's Giselle. How stupid."
"Shut your mouth, bitch!" he shouted, commanding her, raising a fist.
"Leave her alone, Sushi," Ichigo commanded calmly.
"My name is Shisu! And you got in my way, yet you're going to keep ordering me around like you know more than me? Ridiculous! Get out of my way and stay out of my business, bastard!" he yelled, face now red with anger.
"My name is not 'bastard.' It's Ichigo. And, for the record, I'm a first-year student, not a beginner; you, on the other hand, are a fourth-year, not an expert. Don't think I can't take you down," Ichigo replied calmly back.
Shisu was so red, people could swear there was steam coming from his ears (metaphorically; there was no steam actually there).
"Why you..." he growled. He was releasing his Reiatsu, which was not at an unmanageable level for Kaien and Mira, but it was for his posse, apparently; they were all doubled over and grunting in an effort to raise their head. Meanwhile, Ichigo's demeanor hadn't changed; he was still calmly walking down the hallway, acting like he was watching a movie and was one of those guys that could totally see the ending coming from a mile away. "...You bastard! Get out of my way! I need to mow that punk down!" Shisu finished.
"Not happening," Ichigo said firmly.
"Why not, huh? What happened between us is none of your business!" the big dude said.
"I made it my business. I don't care what it was that may have upset you, but you're letting your emotions say what you're gonna do. Do what you wish, but I will not just stand by and watch someone who wasn't doing anything wrong be hurt by someone with poor judgement," Ichigo countered.
"Shut your trap and learn your place, student bodyguard! I'm a fourth-year! You better not be disrespecting your superiors! Plus, it's just one of you versus a whole bunch of us!" the bully threatened, moving across the courtyard as spectators gathered (because, yes, they're in an open-air courtyard).
Ichigo just stood there, pointing at them and moving his finger around; it was apparent to most that he was counting.
"What are you doing, idiot?" asked one of the many students in the group (it must not have been apparent enough for him...).
Ichigo simply said nothing as he gently closed and opened a fist, releasing a butterfly - a Hell Butterfly, to be accurate - in a trail of white energy.
A third goon; one of the only three ladies, blond and tall with a wild hairstyle ("wild" meaning curly but long), but vicious in appearance, smirked. "Calling for help, are you?" she sneered.
Ichigo turned to them. "Nope. I was counting how many stretchers I would need to ask Captain Unohana for; if you insist on fighting me, you're gonna need her squad's help if you want to stay alive afterwards," he stated teasingly, smiling a little.
The entire courtyard remained almost silent. One could hear giggling and chuckling all around the thirty-some-versus-one. The big guy he originally sent flying, along with the rest of the group, turned red with anger, embarrassment, and indignation (none of which were founded). Looking around nearly shut them up, then he turned back to the man in front of him and screeched.
"YOU'RE DEAD!"
At once, all of them ran to tangle with Ichigo. He merely put two fingers together.
"Hainawa."
It was all over so fast; the erratically-bending light flowed from his fingertips and did something that everyone was surprised to see, including the teacher once he regained his bearings after appearing with Shunpo...
It split. As in, split into multiple bolts of light.
Anyway, it coiled up each person, from their legs to their hips and up over their shoulders to their arms. Even before it coiled around them, they were falling over and struggling to get up, grunting and struggling (although one guy was a perv who happened to land right behind the blond girl as she was trying to get up and didn't move after that), but it was all in vain. Ichigo simply turned to look at Kaien and Mira and walked towards them, heedless of everyone's amazed stares or the attackers' verbal cajoling. When he arrived at their position at the entrance to the hallway, he smirked (which kinda widened when Kaien asked the girl, "That jerk is your boyfriend?).
"Hey, Kaien. Who's this?" he asked.
"Uh... this is Shinohara Mira, a sixth-year student guide. And you just tied up her boyfriend, so be careful what you say," he introduced warily.
"Oh... well, I'm sorry I had to tie up your boyfriend, but I didn't want to fight him," Ichigo said, looking her direction and appearing only slightly bewildered. Extending a hand, he did nothing more except say, "I'm Shiba Ichigo. Nice to meet you."
Mira, meanwhile, looked between this man, who was able to tie up thirty or so upperclassmen with a single Hainawa without chant, and her boyfriend and his gang, who were all being restrained by masked Soul Reapers wearing black haori and dragged out of the courtyard through an aisle the students formed; and her appearance was one of first extreme bewilderment, then the shock set in, then disbelief times two (one at the power this orange-haired man in front of her showed and the other at the fact that her boyfriend was being dragged off by the school guards), then she got her bearings. She distractedly shook his hand, then let her hand drop to her side.
"Are you the one who sent him flying just before that weird Hainawa?" she asked, apparently still not all together.
"Well, yes and no. Yes, it happened because of me, no, I didn't send him flying; I was using my Reiatsu as a barrier when he came up to me looking like he was mad at me, and he hit me, but he went flying. I guess my Reiatsu is stronger," Ichigo explained. Then, he closed his eye and went on with, "And that was just an ordinary Hainawa. I just added more Reiatsu to make it split so each binding had the same strength as the original."
Not hearing a reply, he opened his eye and looked to see why she wasn't responding, only for her to respond with this: "Oh, is that all? Well, then, let's just start over; I don't think either of us want to meet awkwardly. Hey. I'm Shinohara Mira."
Playing along, Ichigo greeted with, "Shiba Ichigo. Nice to meet you... uh, again," he said, only he was distracted now.
"Huh? What's wrong, Shiba-kun? You're staring..." she asked.
Ichigo jerked his head slightly. "Nah, I'm okay. Sorry about that. You just look like a close friend of mine..." he apologized.
"Oh, really? Is she a fun person everyday like me?" she asked cutely (meaning, in this case, that she smiled as if she were being insincere).
Ichigo tensed, something that took the smile off her face, and sighed, something that caused her to tilt her head in confusion.
"She's... not alive," Ichigo said blankly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Mira apologized, hugging him and pressing his head into her breasts, looking down at him.
"Mira-san, what are you doing?!" Kaien asked incredulously.
Turning her head to face him, her hands still on the back and top of Ichigo's head, she asked, "What? I'm just letting him be a guy for a little bit as an apology. What's wrong with that?"
"I think he's suffocating..." Kaien deadpanned.
"Hmm?" she grunted; she quickly looked down and removed one hand, the one holding his head down from above. Indeed, Ichigo wasn't moving... breathing, but not moving.
Kaien sighed. "It's fine. You said he was my roommate, right? Well, we're already at his and my room; let's just lie him down in there on the bed or something," he suggested.
"Sounds good," she agreed, dragging him into the room with Kaien closing the door behind them.
Harribel was pretty bored.
Right now, she was lying down in her new room. She really had nothing to put away or anything, so she was fine there. She was actually given an Asauchi despite her saying to the people who examined her that she already had a Zanpakutō. It had annoyed her at first, but then they decided to let her demonstrate if whether she already had a Zanpakutō spirit. The rules were simple and could not have been rigged (she had gone over that possibility a couple of times) but she still didn't pass the test. All she had to do was unsheathe the blade and see if it transformed when she called out its name.
It didn't. So, she was to take the blade and keep it with her as if it were a newborn baby.
Hmph... as if she knew how to treat a newborn baby!
She knew this, yet she also knew that there was no way to go about solving the problem without blowing her cover, and nobody needed to know that she was actually not supposed to have been able to get inside the Shakonmaku or the Seireitei at all. So, here she was, stuck with a blade which did not respond to the name Tiburón. She sighed in frustration. 'Great...' she thought sarcastically.
Suddenly, she heard noise outside. She listened, and she heard... the shouts of a crowd gathering. Her first reaction was to be worried about why; so, with a grunt, she rolled off the bed and landed on her feet. She then walked slowly over to the balcony, Asauchi in hand.
She now stood on the balcony and looked down to notice that all the commotion was stemming from Ichigo and some group of people that looked strong. Then again, the strongest people she's ever noticed were Kaien, Ichigo, and her three Arrancar friends, and even then she knew she hadn't seen what they were truly capable of. She could have paid attention to what they were saying, but she was busy debating in her head what she should do from this point since this was entirely new to her. She had familiarized herself with the sealed Hollow powers of her original Zanpakutō (which was still in her possession, just separate) and with how to use her regular Hollow powers (such as Cero and Bala), but she had yet to understand just what this "Asauchi" in her hand really was.
"Hainawa."
Hearing this, she looked down to notice that little ropes of light had coiled around the entirety of the large group that was threatening Ichigo earlier. She could tell, judging by their struggling, that these were keeping these people in place, binding them. Seeing such a display caused her to look around for its source. She spotted Ichigo walking away from the scene towards Kaien and another student. This gave her an idea.
'Hmm...' she thought, 'perhaps Ichigo can help me. It seemed to work when Kaien went to him...'
"Um... hi there."
A sudden voice behind her caused Harribel to look behind her to see who spoke. What she saw was a pink-haired woman, appearing to be about her own age, with green eyes and a one-striped Academy uniform; a first-year student, it would appear. She seemed to be a quiet person, at least.
"Who are you?" Harribel asked cautiously.
"Oh, I'm your roommate. My name's Meninas. And you are...?"
"Tier Harribel," Harribel introduced.
The girl smiled. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Harribel noted.
And they stayed silent for a while. Frankly, it would be more accurate to say that neither of them had anything they really wanted to say.
Either way, Harribel eventually settled back onto her own bed once the sky was dark, holding her Asauchi, while Meninas silently did the same.
They were lying there for a couple hours when Harribel turned in her bed and noticed that her new roommate was lying on her side, eyes wide open and staring at Harribel.
Harribel stared back for a while. The room was dark now, but the full moon's light was enough to show Harribel what she needed to know; her roommate was not asleep... or was somehow able to sleep with her eyes open like that, which would be kinda creepy.
"...You can't sleep, can you?" Harribel asked.
"Sorry. I just... I miss my home. My... sisters were always so crazy, but they were at least a diversion. Without them, this is kind of quiet. I just need to get used to it, that's all," she confessed.
Something about these words made Harribel think. 'Sisters, huh?' She could practically see her "sisters": Apache, Sun-Sun, and Mila Rose. They were the closest to family she had ever had.
Before, of course, he completely broke her normal pattern from what it was in Hueco Mundo.
But that's besides the point.
"What about you, Harribel? Do you have anyone to look forward to meeting again after the Academy?" Meninas asked.
Harribel turned to lie on her back. She took a deep breath.
"Yeah. My friends from the neighborhood where we grew up," she answered.
Meninas smiled.
"That's good," she replied. Seeing that Harribel had closed her eyes, Meninas turned to lie on her back and did the same, wishing Harribel good night.
Ichigo, meanwhile, was already asleep, yet something was off to the external observer. It would appear that he was having a sort of bad dream from the scowl on his face, yet he seemed so unmoving you would think he was just a body that couldn't move on its own. You would think he was dead, yet he was clearly breathing.
Internally, however, he was kind of confused about what was happening. On one hand, he could tell he was seeing what he was seeing while he was asleep; yet this very fact told him that it couldn't have been an ordinary dream (after all, have you ever been aware of what you were dreaming about in the moment you were dreaming while asleep?) After realizing he was "dreaming" (for lack of a more fitting term), he realized that he could do more than just see. He could feel the objects around him, hear the voices of those around him, smell the aromas surrounding him; yet, it didn't seem to go both ways, and everything he could and did interact with showed no signs of having interacted with him. It was a weird feeling, he decided, to be able to know that you are pushing on something and yet sense no movement; not in the same manner as trying to push on a wall, but it seemed more like he wasn't even pushing at all, even though he could feel his own muscles exerting effort. When he wondered if this was a lucid dream (which caused him to inadvertently realize he was capable of conscious thought), he could not control what was happening, only witness it. And that was another thing: he was not seeing one scene where something was playing out; rather, he was seeing what appeared to be "flashes" of scenes, or perhaps longer, where there was a single thing that was easier to focus on than the surroundings, and everything was frozen to be exactly one picture.
First, he was in a forest, apparently standing behind a tree and staring around it, spying on two figures talking on a picnic blanket. One of them he could recognize as Kaien, both by seeing his familiar face and by his sunny, cheerful voice. The black-haired woman next to him, however, was someone he didn't know. They were both laughing happily, cheerfully; it seemed that their faces were frozen in their laughing faces, yet he could still hear them laughing. The woman appeared to be a little older than Kaien; her hair was short and black and she had a petite form. She was sitting on the blanket with her knees up to her chest, garbed in red Academy uniform pants and a white Academy uniform top that had three stripes running down the arms. Her face, frozen with amusement, appeared to be one of amused yet held-back laughter. Kaien, on the other hand, was sitting cross-legged, wearing a three-striped Academy uniform top and blue Academy uniform pants to match the blue stripes of his top. He appeared to be laughing almost like a little kid, not in the least holding any form of movement back. The scene suddenly changed in a white flash, showing the two of them no longer laughing, their food forgotten.
They were kissing.
And he could hear a solitary sentence that echoed throughout his range of hearing: "I love you, Kaien."
After hearing that he blinked. 'Did I hear that right?' he wondered. But before he had time to wonder whether that girl was the wife of Kaien's that Rukia had spoken so highly of, he spotted a new figure standing behind them in his field of vision. It appeared human, yet he had a visible white mask over his face in the shape of the head of a hammerhead shark. He could sense that he felt dread and concern, though the reason of why was admittedly unknown; Kaien should have been able to kill that Hollow... no, wait... that Arrancar.
Then, abruptly (for him, at least; he was still stunned to see someone he knew kissing someone in this situation), he saw a flash of a different scenario that he could still recall very easily: he was standing in what appeared to be a dead end in the Seireitei (he had seen plenty of those the first time he was here), surrounded by four familiar faces and one unfamiliar one. He felt... cornered, for some reason; yet, he could not pick up on what it could have possibly been that he felt cornered about. In fact, he had no idea why he was out in the Seireitei when all five of the girls in front of him and he himself were clearly still wearing Academy uniforms. The only clear thing about this flash of a "dream" was that he could recognize the four familiar faces from before the Century War: Meninas McAllon, Liltotto Lamperd, Candice Catnipp, and Giselle Gewelle. At the very least, he had first seen the four of them when he came down from the Soul King Palace the first time. Plus, he knew Liltotto and Giselle a little more, considering they and Bazz-B had decided to help them in the Thousand-Year Blood War. He could see that he was literally standing in the corner of the dead end while Meninas, Liltotto, Candice, and the one he didn't know were standing around him (Giselle was looking over the shoulder of the stranger). Liltotto appeared curious, as she was staring at him with no real emotion other than the look of someone trying to puzzle through something or the look of one who is staring and waiting for something new to show itself. Meninas was similarly staring at him; however, her face took on more of a threatening glare and a hint of the face a sentry watch makes while he is staring down someone stupid enough to try to get past him while going through his line of sight. Candice was not simply staring at him; she was glaring at him, almost like he had offended her with a truth she was too afraid to admit, which, if that was the case with this situation, would explain the slight hurt that shown through her eyes. Giselle was staring over the stranger's shoulder, not showing any form of perkiness like Ichigo could remember; rather, she was showing a naïvely curious face, like that of a child looking around the man in front of her to see what she has never seen before. And the black-haired stranger appeared to be the one talking to him of the five of them; she remained stoic in face but commanding in voice and she was the only one with her mouth open at all.
She asked, "Who are you really, Shiba Ichigo?"
Before he could answer, the scene shifted again in a flash. Now, he was standing over a familiar fourth-year who was lying on the ground (was his name "Sushi"? Ichigo couldn't remember). He appeared to be very beaten up; there were bruises on his arm about the size of his fist. He seemed to be the very same guy he had just tied up; he had the same black hair, the same large build, the same perpetual scowl...
In this scene, Ichigo was apparently helping him up, which Ichigo could see from looking down and seeing his own hand reaching down to... well, help the guy up. "*grunt* Ah, thanks, Shiba-gaki. But why did you help me up?" he was saying. That girl he just met was there too... Mira was her name, Ichigo remembered. She was looking down at Sushi, apparently concerned.
It rather pained him to see her face again at the Academy of all places...
'Matsumoto...'
That was the last coherent thought he had before the scene flashed once more; this time, he was apparently looking upwards to the sky. It was night, and there were so few stars and clouds in the sky.
'Wait... are those... Hollows? No, wait... they're too powerful to be simple Hollows!' he thought.
Indeed, they were Menos-class Hollows. Just so it's clear, those "stars" were actually gaps between the Hollows, where daylight shone through. To clarify the scene in general, what he was looking at was just plain terrifying.
The day sky was almost completely blocked out by Gillians and Adjuchas Hollows such that it appeared to be nighttime.
He brought his gaze down to look at his surroundings. He recognized the front of the Academy building, so he discerned that he was standing in front of the school (yeah, no crap, Sherlock). Looking around, he noticed familiar faces all around: Kaien and that girl he saw with him earlier, the five girls that had cornered him, Harribel and her Fracciónes, Mira and Sushi (he was almost positive that was his name), the Headmaster and Kiyone, as well as Sentarō and Ukitake.
And, following all their gazes (for they were all looking to the same place), he saw Yoruichi's face on a younger, less developed body, and she was not in a good situation.
Well, "not good" being true unless you like being held hostage upside-down, bound, and gagged by an incomplete, hammer-headed Arrancar.
And, yes, he knew what an incomplete Arrancar looked like, and this was one such Hollow.
The last thing he noticed before the scene flickered on him again was his wardrobe changing as he heard his own voice calling out one word: "Ban...kai..." which echoed as the scene left his eyes, replaced only with a Garganta-like darkness.
Ichigo... wake up...
His eyes widened. That voice... it was not one he consciously recognized, but... he felt as if he knew who it was.
'Soul King...?'
Suddenly, his eyes opened to a familiar sky; in his field of view, clouds were moving horizontally and the buildings in his vision did not align with how gravity normally is.
"My inner world, huh? So, what did you want to talk to me about, Old Man Zangetsu?"
He hadn't even had to turn his head to know that the imposing old man was standing about five meters away, nor did the old man hesitate in replying.
"I will speak from the point: you are not the only Quincy within the Soul Reaper Academy," he stated candidly.
"Huh?" Ichigo grunted in confusion. Then he breathed in realization, "Oh yeah. Now that you mention it, I did sense something like that today from a few students."
"That was yesterday, Ichigo," the old man pointed out.
"Oh. Does that mean I actually fell asleep from the point Mira suffocated me like that?" he asked.
"Yes," the old man answered.
"And I think that dream had something to do with me staying asleep; being knocked out wouldn't ordinarily keep one asleep like that, and it was a very odd dream... What do you think, Old Man?" Ichigo asked.
No response.
Here, he turned his gaze to the old man, who was clearly worried. Of course, he seemed passive, usually portraying no emotion, but he was actually slouching slightly, and Ichigo could sense through Old Man Zangetsu's Reiatsu that he was worried.
"Old Man?" Ichigo asked.
"Ichigo, that was not simply a dream."
"Huh? What do you mean? And how can you tell?" Ichigo asked.
The old man closed his eyes. "Indeed. I only have a feeling, deep within, telling me that it is no ordinary dream, but I do not know what it could truly be if not a dream. I will have to look into it more. In the meantime, wake up," he explained.
"Huh? But that's such a small explanation!" Ichigo protested.
"I do not have a proper explanation. I am not sure of what this incident was myself. However, I cannot keep you here; you must wake up... wake up... wake up..." his voice echoed; the world dissolved into black.
Then he could hear shouting above him.
"Ichigo! Wake up!"
'...Kaien?'
Suddenly, his eyes opened wide when he felt a hand slam into his cheek at the palm, making him roll out of the bed and onto the hardwood floor face-first.
It took him a minute to realize he was on the floor, and when he did, he practically leaped off the ground and leveled a comical glare at Kaien.
"What was that for?" he shouted.
Kaien merely huffed and crossed his arms. "You wouldn't get up. I had to try something," he explained.
"I was awake when you yelled in my ear," Ichigo argued.
"They why didn't you get up?" Kaien shot back.
"Why did you slap me to get me to get up?" Ichigo asked, changing the subject.
"Well-Hey! Don't go changing the subject!" Kaien shouted.
"Fine, fine. I was groggy. Now why did you slap me?" Ichigo answered.
"*sigh* Because it's morning and you wouldn't get up," he answered.
Now Ichigo sighed in annoyance, pinching the bridge of his nose. "So, we're back to this, huh?" he asked.
"What? You heard the Headmaster yesterday; we have classes," Kaien told him.
"Right, right," Ichigo grunted, calming down.
And, with that, he got his Zanpakutō and stuck it on his back diagonally, freshened up (hey, Souls can still have hygiene problems; just ask Kenpachi's doctor...), and walked out the door right after Kaien, straight into the courtyard, where they found Harribel waiting next to one of the trees.
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Whew! Glad I decided to split what I had originally planned to make this chapter into 2 chapters! Next one is coming up! Cheers (that also means "Bye!").
