EDIT: As I was going back and replacing my randomly-disappearing pagebreaks, I somehow ended up replacing this chapter with chapter one. Thank God I had this saved. And thank you Nexina for pointing that out to me!
Embee: Stupid FF not letting me type the whole chapter title. -starts swearing most creatively- ...anyway...I forgot to do this in the first chapter, so I'll just do it right here ('cause I'm too lazy to post it in the first chapter).
Thoughts
"Dialogue"
Zanpakutou
Legolas: ...is it even possible to talk in parentheses?
Embee: (HECK YEAH.)
Legolas: ...can you please get rid of the dye in my clothes and hair now?
Embee: Nope~
Legolas: -sigh-
Chapter Four: Gotei 13 Taicho: Another Way of Saying "13 Most Insane"
While Sirius was meeting his new roommate, the ten remaining taicho and the three fukutaicho, who were standing in for their defected taicho, of the Gotei 13 were having a meeting of their own in the First Division's barracks.
"Unohana-taicho, tell us what you discovered about the soul Black Sirius," Yamamoto said, opening one red eye to look at the long-haired taicho.
Unohana nodded and spoke, "According to our tests, Black Sirius-san is a normal soul. However, he does appear to have a strange reiatsu about him, neither shinigami nor Hollow. He was not lying when he told us his story."
"Tests? You should have come and gotten me for tests," Kurotsuchi Mayuri complained. "I would have done a better job than the amateurs at the Fourth Division, and I would have found out more information."
The long-haired taicho simply turned and smiled at Kurotsuchi, "Are you insulting my Division, Kurotsuchi-san?"
Although he would never admit it, Unohana terrified the equally scary-looking Twelfth Division taicho. But at least Kurotsuchi had the excuse of being an insane scientist who had no qualms about tearing people apart to study them. Unohana was just plain…nightmarish.
"Tch, I was only saying that I have more equipment available," Kurotsuchi replied in a bored tone.
"But I believe Yamamoto-soutaicho wanted to have Black returned in one piece," Hitsugaya Toushiro scoffed, a little irritated that he had been recalled from his mission in the World of the Living for the second time that day. All the taicho were well-aware of the Twelfth Division taicho's nasty habit of experimentation.
Before the argument could continue, Yamamoto banged his staff on the ground for silence.
"Kurotsuchi-taicho, describe the readings you received when Black appeared," he demanded.
"Fine," Kurotsuchi sniffed and launched into an explanation of his findings. "About an hour before Black appeared, we received strange readings on our monitors of the Precipice World. Power was fluctuating widely, from as low as an average soul in Rukongai to twice as high as…Kurosaki's…level. Then suddenly all power disappeared from the Precipice World, and communication with the World of the Living failed. We could not open any senkaimon in either the World of the Living or here. About ten minutes before we found Black, power fluctuated in the Precipice World again and a crack appeared. We got readings of the reiatsu of a soul and a Hollow through the crack. After forcing the Precipice World open, I sent my fukutaicho through the crack, whereupon she destroyed the Hollow and returned with Black. Then before I could perform any tests, the Fourth Division took him away." Kurotsuchi added this last bit with a venomous glare at Unohana, which she returned with a bone-chilling smile.
"Unfortunately, the crack soon closed, and I have been unable to get back into the plain where Black was found," Kurotsuchi continued, his lip curling in disgust. "As such, I do not know how the plain appeared, or what it is. It is my guess that it is a separate layer of the Precipice World, and that when Black died his soul was somehow transported to that layer through the 'Veil' he spoke about." Here Kurotsuchi got a feral gleam to his eye. "If I could find this 'Veil', I could perform an investigation and find out more."
"What is the status of Black now?" Soi Fong asked. "Why is he not under guard?"
"Black-san has been sent to the Shinigami Academy after expressing a wish to become a Shinigami," Unohana answered.
Soi Fong scoffed, still not happy with the decision. "We don't know exactly what he is, and we're letting him run free?"
"Soi Fong-taicho, we can keep a closer eye on Black Sirius if he is in the Shinigami Academy than if he were in the Rukongai," Yamamoto cut in. "We will be monitoring him for now, to see if he develops any unusual abilities."
"He said that he was a wizard when he was alive, correct?" Hitsugaya said, his face creased with thought. Kira and Hisagi both looked confused when Hitsugaya mentioned wizards, but Hinamori's facial expression didn't change. "Don't wizards usually lose their memories of their life upon arrival?"
Yamamoto nodded, "Yes, which is partially why we are monitoring Black. We do not know why he retained his memories, but I suspect it may have something to do with the unusual circumstances of his death. When we are more certain about Black's abilities, we will have him lead us to this 'Veil' so we may perform a proper inspection."
"How do we know that Black is not from Aizen?"
Everyone in the room turned to Hinamori Momo, who had spoken. Her eyes looked haunted at the mention of his name. They were silent for a minute, thinking about the possibility.
"Kurotsuchi-taicho, what is the possibility of this?" Yamamoto asked.
The eccentric taicho thought about it for a moment before answering. "I do not think he was sent by Aizen. Even Aizen does not have the ability to manipulate the Precipice World."
"Something like this is not Aizen's style," Komamura put in. "If he were to plant a spy, it would have been more subtle."
Yamamoto nodded. "Kira-fukutaicho, to ensure the impossibility of this, lead a team of shinigami into the World of the Living and investigate the events of Black's death. See if his story is true."
The blond Shinigami nodded, and then asked tentatively, "Yamamoto-taicho, wouldn't Sasakibe-fukutaicho be a better choice for this mission? He knows more about this 'England' where Black came from better."
The old Shinigami chuckled a bit, "If I were to send Sasakibe to England, he may never return."
Several of the other taicho chuckled at this, mostly Ukitake and Kyouraku. Zaraki simply looked bored, and was wondering if Ichigo would appear anytime soon and fight him.
"Your team will leave tomorrow morning, Kira-fukutaicho," Yamamoto continued. "Do you have any questions about this assignment?"
Kira thought for a moment, and then hesitated before asking, "Yamamoto-soutaicho…how is Black-san a wizard? I thought they were…figments of human legends?"
"They form a secret sect within human society," Ukitake answered, looking to Yamamoto to continue. At a nod from his superior, Ukitake elaborated. "Wizards have been around for centuries, but during the late seventeenth century they went into hiding due to persecution. Since then they have fallen into myth and legend, but are still very populous. When a witch or wizard dies, they are given a choice. Due to their unusual reiatsu, which is believed to come from their magical cores, they can chose to either remain behind as a ghost or continue to the Soul Society. The price for this choice is to be stripped of all reiatsu and wiped of all memory. If they stay behind in the World of the Living, they still lose their reiatsu, to avoid attracting Hollows or degenerating into one themselves, but they maintain their memories. However, such a choice is permanent."
"Yare, yare, that's quite a bit of information you're giving them, Juushiro," Kyoraku stated, smiling a little at the overwhelmed expression on Hisagi's face. Kira seemed to be digesting the information without a problem. It was hard to tell if Hinamori was even paying attention.
"The fact that Black kept his memories, and his reiatsu is troubling," Hitsugaya said thoughtfully, his brow furrowed. "We have not had this happen before, and we don't know what will come of it."
Soi Fong snorted. "And that's why we should lock him up, or even kill him before he becomes a problem."
Despite their best efforts, several shinigami in the room winced a little. Soi Fong had the tendency of being very blood-thirsty.
"Soi Fong-taicho, it is my decision to observe Black while he is free to develop his abilities," Yamamoto said warningly. "Are you saying my decision is wrong?"
Hearing the veiled threat, Soi Fong said nothing. The soutaicho allowed silence to reign for a few moments before speaking.
"Now, on to the next order of business…Zaraki-taicho, I will not ask again. If you feel the need to have a Division-wide brawl, take it outside Seireitei! Buildings cost money to build!"
Zaraki simply scoffed and rolled his eyes.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Waking up after a very strange dream about blood-thirsty hippos turning into his mother who screeched stuff about blood traitors and cauldron cakes made Sirius feel a bit disoriented. He stared up at a blank ceiling, not the Muggle girl/Gryffindor/Muggle motorbike poster-plastered ceiling like he was expecting. Sirius immediately scolded himself for expecting that.
You're dead now, and training to become a shinigami, he thought.…but I bet I could get a hold of some posters like I used to have…and still make my parents roll in their graves.
Suddenly another thought hit Sirius. Here in the Soul Society, wizards didn't exist. That meant wizarding families didn't exist. That meant Black didn't exist. (unless, of course, his mother started a whole new family here in the afterlife…which wouldn't have surprised Sirius)
'Black' was just another name.
A grin grew across Sirius's face as he realized some more wonderful things.
There was no Azkaban. Sirius wasn't a murderer.
He was a free man.
Sirius couldn't help himself. He started to laugh.
"Would you kindly shut up?" came an irritated voice from the other side of the room. "Some people are trying to sleep."
Sirius ignored Oszlár's grumbling. He was too happy to get deflated.
…until Oszlár looked at the clock, and gave Sirius some new, very creative, swears.
"Shit, it's six forty-eight! Breakfast ends in twelve minutes! Why didn't the damn alarm go off?"
As Sirius had eaten nothing since lunch yesterday, and even that had been just a few crackers before his interrogation, he had no intention of missing breakfast. Quickly the two first-year students scrambled to get their uniforms on. It took Sirius a while to figure out the strange robes, and he nearly forgot his katana, but finally he was able to go racing out of the room with Oszlár.
They screeched into the mess hall just before they stopped serving the food. Sirius and Oszlár snagged a bowl of rice each, and quickly raced off to their first class. Sirius was glad he was able to follow Oszlár, or he would have been horribly lost. Once again Sirius wished for the Marauders' Map, as useless as it would be outside of Hogwarts.
Unfortunately, Oszlár had Advanced Hollow Studies, while Sirius had Hollow Basics, so Sirius was on his own once they reached the main school building.
"Just keep running that way, and take the second left!" Oszlár called over his shoulder as he ran to his own classroom. "It'll be the fourth door on the right!"
Sirius waved his thanks and hurried off to his classroom. Briefly he wondered what the classes would be like.
I'd give anything to have Prongs and Moony here, but have all of us alive, Sirius thought to himself as he slid open the door to the classroom.
On the plus side, he arrived just before the class started.
On the minus side, Sirius just late enough to have all the students already in their seats and staring at the stranger who had barged in.
The teacher, a thin woman with a pointed face and an austere look to her, turned and fixed Sirius with a hard stare. Sirius was uncomfortably reminded of McGonagall.
"Yes, well, what do you want?" she asked in a no-nonsense sort of tone.
Quickly Sirius flashed her a smile and handed her his note, which he had miraculously remembered, "I'm Black Sirius. I—"
The teacher cut Sirius off and handed him back his note. "Yes, I was told you were coming. Not a very good impression, showing up late like this, young man. Make sure you are not late again. Now go sit down in an empty seat."
Oh yes, she's definitely like McGonagall, Sirius thought as he made his way over to an empty seat. Several people watched him, and whispered quietly to each other as he passed. Sirius ignored them all. A few stares and whispers didn't bother him.
"Pay attention!" the teacher said and rapped her desk, causing many students to jump. "Now, to continue the lesson from last time…"
"Hey, Black," a girl who was sitting in the seat next to Sirius whispered. Sirius thought she looked about twelve, but one could never tell with souls. "Where'd you come from? How'd you join in the middle of the year? We never have people joining in the middle of the year."
"Um…I come from England," Sirius replied, not certain if she was talking about where he had come from when he was alive, or where he had come from after coming to Soul Society.
"England? Is that a District?"
Sirius vaguely remembered something about Rukongai being divided into 'districts'. He decided that it would be simpler to pretend he was from Rukongai rather than explain the whole story again.
"Yeah, an outer district. Not many people live there."
The girl looked thoughtful at that. "Oh. So how'd you manage to get in?"
"I don't really know. I didn't know that there was a specific time you had to take the entrance exam," Sirius said with a shrug.
"You must have made a good impression on the examiners, if they took you in the middle of the year."
Sirius was quite sure he hadn't made a good impression on his examiners. Disturbing them in the middle of their lunch to make them give him his test didn't seem like a way to make a good impression. He figured it had something to do with his coming directly from the taichos.
"Black-san! I am aware that this is your first day, and some of this may not make sense, but pay attention!"
Several in the class snickered, but Sirius simply smiled and turned to the front.
"Sorry, sensei!"
o0o0o0o0o0o0o
The wizard whistled to himself as he hurried down the halls of the Department of Mysteries, trying to squash the fear that was rising up in him. Ever since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his Death Eaters had invaded the Ministry, only to be fought off by the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry had stepped up security. Especially in the Department of Mysteries, where the battle had taken place.
The wizard paused as he passed through a large, circular room. In the centre of the room was a tall archway. The wizard shivered a little when he hurried by it. He had been down in this room hundreds of times, and it had always been spooky. He had heard rumors that people who had seen Death could hear whispers coming from the archway, but the wizard himself had never heard anything. Even still, he could feel a strange…aura, almost, coming from the Veil. And sometimes, if he was really quiet, he could just barely hear soft murmurs on the edges of his hearing, and even see vague shapes out of the corner of his eye.
Now, however, there was nothing. No strange aura, no whispers, no figures. Nothing. It was like something was broken.
And that scared the wizard more than the whispers.
Legolas: Let us know if any of this does not make sense, and we will try to clear up the misunderstanding. Why am I the one telling you this? -looks over at Embee-
Embee: -is incoherent-
Legolas: Because she is currently fangirling over the latest Bleach chapter. To avoid spoilers, I will not say exactly why she is fangirling...but I will say watching her is very creepy.
Embee: ASDFJKLO1UNAGH834789OMG!$^NHOAS
Legolas: 0.o I...I didn't know one could speak so fast...or foam at the mouth that much...
Embee: PLEASE REVIEW PLEASE REVIEW PLEASE TURKEY REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW
Legolas: -meep!-
