Hi, sorry for the prolonged lack of updates. My sister got introduced to fanfiction and now she hogs the computer. Then there are my second language classes that took up all my time. I have one more semester and then I'm done and I planed lots of seminars this semester. Bottom line, I was busy and I'm going to try to make more time to post updates.
XxXxX
I felt a vein throb in my forehead as I starred at Shiro. He had been laughing ever since I faded out of consciousness and ended up in my inner world.
"For the eight time, me flying out of a window is not the funniest thing in the world!" I snapped. Shiro just laughed even harder, grabbing his sides as he fell over and rolled onto his back.
I wasn't sure how long I had been out and it disturbed me. I had no way to tell who had invaded my village, burned down my town. I wasn't even sure if Orihime and Yuzu were ok.
"Shiro, is there any way to tell where my body is?" I asked, my irritation growing as he just continued to cackle on his back.
"Insinju." I muttered, smirking slightly when the fire ball landed next to Shiro's head. I couldn't injure him here, this was our mental connection; however, I could scare him enough to pause for a minute.
Shiro starred at me for a couple seconds before his wings extended out behind his back and his fangs appeared in his mouth.
"I'd like an apology," he growled, slowly bring his body up into a crouching position.
"I didn't hit you did I?" I asked, feinting innocents and concern. It worked.
"No, but I don't enjoy fire next to my face!" Shiro snapped, his wings and fangs dispersing with a light black mist.
"Do you know where my body is?" I asked, changing the subject as quickly as I could. Shiro wasn't able to harm me, but he could mentally bother me for hours on end later.
"Nah, but you're almost awake. You'll be sure to tell me all about it right?" Shiro answered, a cold smirk lighting up his previously enraged face.
"I feel like you're implying something." I muttered, giving Shiro a look of distrust. I didn't like it when he was thinking on a different level than me; it caused our powers to become dysfunctional.
"Wakey wakey Ichi," Shiro sung lightly, slowly crawling towards me while I glared at him.
"What are you..."
"£€¥!"
XxXxX
I jerked up, smacking my head against Orihime's hand as I went. I was in a crowded cage with others from my town.
"Ichigo!" Orihime whispered, calling my attention to my longtime friend. She looked terrible. Her hair was matted, her eyes were swollen, as if she had been crying, and her hands were peeling slightly from the heat she had endured to save other villagers.
"Where are we?" I whispered back, throwing caution to the wind and not speaking a normal volume.
"I'm not sure; we aren't in a cage with the elders, only people around our age. I already asked and no one here knows who took us or where we're going," she whispered, her hands wringing the fabric of her dress between her hands.
I looked around again, an off-putting feeling bubbling in my stomach.
"Where is Yuzu?" I whispered, my dread soaking into my words.
"She's fine, we got separated when I came back for you," Orihime replied, her hands coming up to rest on mine.
"Ichigo, I had another vision."
"What was it about," we were whispering before, but compared to the volume we were speaking at now, we may as well have been shouting.
"This one isn't images, just feelings. I feel so much despair, pain, panic, anger, fear. Ichigo, I don't like this feeling and it gets worse the closer we get to wherever we're going."
I sighed lightly. There wasn't anything I could do.
'Shiro?' I asked through our link.
'Yes?' he responded, a smirk evident in his voice.
'Did you get all that?'
'Yes.'
'Is there anything we could do?'
'No, I sense lots of dragons and tamers around you. They're not as powerful as you are because their link is forced between them, but we can't take on all of them at once and not get some villagers harmed in the process. Then again, we could always just screw the safety of the other people and save ourselves…'
"LOOK AHEAD MAGGOTS!" a burly guy at the front of the pack shouted, effectively cutting Shiro's world out of my head. "THAT'S LORD AIZEN'S CASTLE!"
I glanced up and found my eyesight line blocked by the bodies of my fellow villagers.
"Xend," I whispered, focusing on a small light speck that passed between their bodies. Shiro's advanced eyesight allowed me to focus on the little spot and look out as if I didn't even have a cage in front of my sight line.
There in the distance stood an imposing castle of black marble. There were no trees surrounding it for miles, probably moved to give more room to the town that was being built in a circle around the castle. There were hundreds of workers with chains around their legs passing stone from person to another in an endless line to add to what appeared to be a wall.
"Ichigo?" Orihime whispered.
"I don't like the look of this," I whispered back, my eyes never leaving the imposing castle.
"We'll be fine," she whispered back.
Neither of us believed it.
XxXxX
We were taken around to the back of the castle and all herded out of the cages into a dirt field. I was unnerved by how silent everyone was. I was used to girls quietly whispering with one another and older men shouting in outrage as they lost to each other in cards as younger children shouting as their dogs followed loudly at their heels. Now you could hear only the slightly labored breathing of the older men in front of us as we stood herded together on the soft grainy dust.
Three of our fellow villagers, all men in their early thirties, were roughly tugged out of the line and dragged out to the center of the field. A few women cried out behind them, their families probably, but were silenced when a low growl sounded from the outer edge of the field.
I felt my blood run cold as Shiro tugged his powers further into my body to keep them from being detected. Orihime grabbed my arm in a death grip, I could feel her body trembling in fear.
'Shiro?' I asked, perturbed by the lack of presence he was giving off.
'Ichigo, find Yuzu and cover her eyes. This won't be pretty.' Shiro hissed. I felt our mental link snap closed, cutting me off from asking any more questions.
I scanned the crowd quickly, without Shiro's powers, it was harder to find my sister than I was used to. In the end, she found me, she quickly pushed her way through the people who were standing in front us Orihime and I, throwing herself at my legs when she was free.
"Yuzu," I whispered, crouching down so we were eyelevel, making Orihime follow to keep her hand firmly around my arm.
"Yes?" she responded, looking me in the eye.
"Close your eyes and cover your ears." I responded, never breaking eye contact.
Yuzu complied, squeezing her eyes shut and clamping her hands over her ears. After making sure she wouldn't peek or run off, Orihime pulled me to my feet.
I turned my eyes back to the center of the field and felt my breath catch in my throat. There, slowly circling the men were four young black dragons. Suddenly, two slowly shifted their weight to their back legs and leapt. I tugged Orihime into my chest to cover her eyes and slammed my hands over her ears. The shudder that wracked her body as the men screamed told me that I had not succeeded in blocking the image from her head.
Everyone stood there, motionless for a few more minutes, hardly daring to breathe.
"Welcome," a baritone voice called from a few meters to my left.
Everyone else snapped their heads around to look as I crouched down and lightly grabbed my sister's forearm. Yuzu's eyes snapped opened and she took her hands off her ears, smiling up at me.
"I am Aizen, I am the one who had your town attacked and I own this palace. Should there be any interruptions or objections then you may take them to the younglings over there," the man continued. Despite the fact that I couldn't see him, I knew he was referring to the dragons.
"I am building an empire here along with my trusted Senators and Warriors; they are the ones who escorted you here. Citizenship is offered to all, prisoners after five years of service. Should you choose to refuse you choose continued servitude until death or immediate death if you are no longer a useful citizen. My Warriors will now escort you all down to the servant's courters. I hope you enjoy."
"ALRIGHT, FOLLOW US OR FACE YOUR DEMISE!" a burly man called. I allowed my eyes to scan the people next to him, all carrying swords. Suddenly, I made contact with bright blue cyan eyes.
Neither of us blinked for what felt like ages and at the same time seconds. He had nice eyes.
'Hey, hey king. DRAGON TAMER! That guy, right there, you know, the one you're making silent conversation with…he's a dragon tamer. A threat. He can pose a slight threat to us…are you hearing me?'
Orihime pulled on my arm and I turned my head to watch were I was walking.
It's not like I would ever see him again.
'DON'T FUCKING IGNORE ME!'
XxXxX
So our romantic interest begins. Drop a review please, lets me feel important. In the next paragraph I'm going to rant about all the things that annoy me when reading stories on fanfiction. Skip if you have no interest.
My main issue is with tense changes. I don't understand how you can go from, 'he leaned down and loosened my tie', to 'he licks his lips.' Seriously guys, it interrupts my thought process because I automatically have to go back and double check if I was reading it right the entire time. Plus, there is almost no chance that you read through your story before posting it if you had that kind of error.
I also have an issue with present tense stories. As a human, over ninety percent of my conversations are story telling in past tense or listening to a past tense story. My brain is used to speaking and hearing past tense things, so when I go and read a story, its difficult to read a things in present tense.
I also don't like yaoi stories where people teleport. If you pin someone to a wall and then magically end up on the bed, at least mention that you weren't paying attention to the process by which you got there because I am almost positive that if your bed partner was an incubus that plot twist would have been mentioned. Please don't teleport, it screws with my imagination because I have to stop reading for a moment and think.
I'm sure there are other things that bug me that I don't pay as much attention to, if there is something that bugs me as well tell me about it. I have time.
