AUTHOR'S NOTE: I tried to make up for the long wait by moving a tad forward with the plot and get some action in. I hope you enjoy it.
DISCLAIMER: Nope, not mine.
"Well, screw this," she said as she got up, pulling Kizuken Kūseido with her, "There's no way I'm going to be a goody-two-shoes Shinigami, assumed zanpakutō voices in my head or not."
Shinji snickered, then turned his head and looked at the landscape in front of him again, "Sit down."
"No thanks. Later, Shinji," the redhead said as she prepared to dash off. She only made it two steps, when she stopped up, narrowly avoiding colliding with the blond Shinigami.
"Now what?" Rin asked, giving him a tired glare.
"I wasn't done talkin', ya know," Shinji answered "If ya don't learn to control yer powers, yer gonna be hurtin' the people around ya."
Rin gave him an odd look, "If you're trying to get me to become a Shinigami, you chose a pretty lame argument. I don't particularly care."
"Rin, I mean it," the blond said, glaring slightly "Yer gonna be like a magnet for Hollows if ya can't control it."
"Hollows are fightable, right?" she asked, seemingly not bothered the least.
"Yes. But not if ya-"
"Then I don't see the problem," Rin finished, cutting Shinji off "I could use them as warm-up."
"Have ya ever seen a Hollow?" he threw back and made a small 'tch' sound as the red head glared at him.
"No…"
"Then yer can't do anythin' against them. Ya need a zanpakutō to purify the Hollows."
"Okay, I can't kill them I get it," she said lazily, waving her bandaged hand dismissively.
Shinji sighed but said nothing further as the odd pair lapsed into silence again. It stayed that way until he decided to ask something that had been bothering him since he saw her.
"Rin…"
"Now what?" she said in a tired voice, lifting a red eyebrow at the blond beside her.
"Whataya doin' in the 1st district?"
'Shit…' "… What are you doing in the 1st district?"
Shinji gave a toothy grin, "I asked first."
"I asked most recently," Rin retorted back in a matter-of-fact tone, leaning back on her elbows.
"I'm the Taichō," the blond said, using the authority card to win the childish argument neither of them really was aware they had started.
"Well, my last formal rank was Shushō, so that's a dumb point to make," she sent back.
"…"
"…?"
"…"
"Shinji…"
"…"
"Shinji."
"…"
"Shinji."
"Eh?"
"Stop staring."
"…"
"Shinji…!"
"Whadaya mean Shushō?"
'Fuck…'
"I still don't get how ya can remember yer life in the world of the livin'," the blond said when the red head had finished her (very dodgy and shallow) explanation "I ain't never met anyone who could remember. Maybe yer just really attached to yer old life."
Rin chuckled a little and glanced at Shinji "Different is good."
He made his Cheshire grin at her, white teeth shining "Whatever rocks yer boat."
"Can it, Goldilocks," she half-sighed and lazily smacked his arms "I'm too tired to listen to you."
"And why's that? All I ever see ya do's talkin' and dozin' off."
A sand colored glare was sent Shinji's way. Rin had been up three days in a row, sleeping approximately four hours in total, to prepare for the Yamamura assassination and the lazy blond had the guts to tell her she was doing nothing? Sure, you could repeatedly stab the redhead with a fire poker and she would grin, ask you to do it again and say 'pain is weakness leaving the body' or something similar, but she did not take insults very well, good-natured ones or not. Her pride would not allow her to do so.
The glare intensified, eyes burning into the Shinigami.
"You're the Taichō. Aren't you supposed to be doing your job?" she said, giving away her discontent with his comment by having a minor icy tone in her voice. Shinji, however, either did not hear or simply chose to ignore it.
"I am," was the reply from the man next to her, as he lifted an arm to shield his eyes from the increasingly bright sun. Rin snorted in disagreement.
"Right now," Shinji removed his arm to give her a toothy grin "I'm gatherin' promisin'recruits."
"Like that's going to help you saving the sinking vessel called Gotei 13."
"Nah, that ain't very nice, Rin," Shinji lazily scolded before doing his Cheshire smile again "But I'm sure that vessel'd stop sinkin' if yer would just go to the Academy and then join my squad, eh?"
"Just shut up," Rin sighed "I'm not the type to be a Shinigami."
"Nah, that ain't true."
"Oh, so you just know me better than I now myself now, eh? Sure…"
The two bickered half-heartedly back and forth for a little while, neither of them particularly engaged in the argument. Rin glanced at the long haired male Shinigami next to her and gave an eye-crinkling smile when Shinji caught her looking at him. Thankfully, they had passed the flirting phase. If there was something she had learned about the lazy blond, it was that he always used flirtation as a way of 'breaking the ice'. He didn't really mean much by it; it was just the way he was.
"You never answered my question," said Rin as she rested her head in her hand, sand colored orbs locking with grayish brown.
"Ya didn't answer mine either."
She raised a dark red eyebrow in a questioning manner "Which one?"
"All of 'em," the answer was followed by a toothy grin so large it looked like it was about to fall of the blond's face. Shinji's expression then turned into a rare serious look and he tilted his head to look searchingly at his companion's "Ya know, yer've never answered a single question fully."
The visible part of Rin's face turned blank "Maybe you didn't listen well enough?"
"There ya go again; answerin' a question with a question. That isn't gonna get us anywhere."
"Because stating the obvious is going to get us so much further," Rin rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her every word.
"How am I supposed to know anythin' 'bout ya, if ya aren't goin' to answer?" Shinji half sighed, half exclaimed. This earned him an odd look from the shinobi.
"Maybe I don't want you to know anything about me; did that ever occur to you? Or maybe your bangs aren't only clouding your vision, but your perception as well."
Shinji glared at her with narrowed eyes and Rin looked defiantly back without wavering. That was a low blow and they both knew it, "I didn't take ya for the kind of person to go for personal attacks."
"And I didn't take you for the kind of person that's suicidal. Apparently I was wrong."
"Dammit, Rin, why're ya so scared to tell me anythin'?" Shinji raised his voice a little bit, which meant that he was running on the last fraction of his patience.
"Why does it matter? Don't you have anything better to do than questioning me?" she sneered, her voice rising to match his. He was walking on thin ice and if he continued to walk, he was certainly going to break it. Or rather, Rin was going to break it for him, most likely breaking certain limbs of his in the process as well.
"Why won't ya answer a damn thing? What the hell are ya tryin' to hide?"
She calmed herself with a deep breath before answering him in a tired voice, "My reasons are my own. Why are you being so persistent?"
"Just answer the damn question, would ya? I'm tryin' to help ya, jeez."
Rin stopped moving; her eyes narrowing into a deadly glare.
"Me? Needing your help? You shouldn't think so lowly of me," she said with bitterness seeping into her tone as she continued, her eyes boring into his "I've done things that even the most heartless would find questionable. I don't need your help."
Then she raised her hands, did a single hand sign, and disappeared with a puff of smoke, leaving the blond gaping at the spot she had just occupied.
Shinji stared around him, turning his head in every possible direction she could have left only to stare back at the spot next to him again. Everything was gone. Sword, presence, scent, and most importantly, the fiery red-head herself. He tried to search for her reiatsu, but he could not find even the smallest trace. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, before shaking his head in confusion. What the hell did she mean by that?
When Rin reappeared in between the trees of the forest a long distance away from the borders of the 80th, she let Shinja sneak out from his place around her neck and crawl away before she swung her sword diagonally in front of her with enough force for the triple blade to cut through the wood of the nearest foliage like a hot knife through butter. She was definitely annoyed with the girly-man; how rudely persistent could one dead Shinigami possibly be? Obviously he had missed the increasingly less subtle hints about her wanting her privacy; either that or he chose to ignore them. She deduced the latter was the most likely, Shinji being the confident, arrogant, prideful prick that he was. He was too damn perceptive and observant to have missed anything. Pissed beyond words, the red-head decided to retreat back to Takagun for some well earned rest.
She was dozing off in the couch in the current Takagun base in the 76th district, absentmindedly letting her fingers trail over Shinja's cool, firm body as the snake was sleeping on her stomach. This was one of the few times she was actually able to have some peace and quiet around her without being disturbed by some low members or that hot-headed pest Suiken. She closed her eyes and turned her head a bit and was on the verge of falling into a much needed sleep when she heard the loud stomping of someone making their way through the halls. Shinji hissed sharply as he woke from the noise, the reptile and its master looking equally dangerous because of the disturbance of their rest.
"What the hell is it now?" she said exasperated as the large form of the third-in-command slammed her door open and walked in without any sort of respect for his superior.
"The Boss needs ya," he said in his common half-shout half-normal speaking voice. Rin made a small sound in the back of her throat at his choice of wording; the man should know to choose his words carefully by now.
"That's obvious, Tadashi-baka. I'm the second-in-command after all."
"Now isn't the time for yer god damn antics, woman!" he yelled, his voice rising to bellowing volumes. Shinja showed his fangs with a high hiss at the loud noise, curling his body back around Rin's neck "Get to the Boss' office now!"
The now very pissed off red-head glared dangerously at Tadashi and was contemplating whether or not to electrocute him to a barbeque steak. Deciding against it, she pulled Kizuken Kūseido onto her back and then walked off with the lightness in her step that only a shinobi could posses.
Rin walked through a few halls and a couple of door while in her mind going through various ways of tormenting the third-in-command without permanently damaging him and didn't stop her contemplations when she raised her foot and kicked open the door that was in front of her, revealing the leader of Takagun. Jūzei gave the swordswoman a look somewhat similar to one a parent would give a child, whom was throwing a tantrum and had no idea what to do with it.
"I want the reason why I was disturbed by the loudest idiot in Rukongai and I want it now," she stated, her bandaged hand gripping the leather-bound hilt of her sword a little tighter. Jūzei gave her a sharp look that had no effect what so ever as her glare did not falter the least, sand colored eyes still burning holes in him with their intense color.
"Do you remember the group we sent out a couple of days ago to check on our stash in the forest?"
"Yes," Rin answered, not really seeing how this was related to the disturbance of her nap.
"They're dead."
"And you want me to investigate," she concluded without missing a beat.
"Yes."
"I suppose I should leave immediately?"
Jūzei nodded gravely with hard eyes. Rin understood why; she had lost many subordinates herself and when it was caused by foul play, which it obviously was in this case, she could be hell bent on revenge. Without any more conversation between the highest two in the Takagun hierocracy, Rin made a hand sign and disappeared.
It had started out simple enough: several patches of bloodied grass, remains of clothes, weapons and body parts and an odd energy around the scene. But the problem was the energy trace vanished. Neither she nor Shinja could find the smallest hint to where it went or what it even was. But one thing was certain – whoever or whatever did massacre the Takagun members was good at covering their trails. There was no clue whatsoever.
Reaching this conclusion only fueled her pent up irritations and she channeled chakra into one of the outer blades and let her frustrations out by impaling a bird against the trunk of a tree, the winged creature screeching in pain before going still as well as quiet. She retracted the blade and swung it harshly in a random direction while releasing the majority of her angry energy.
Looking back, that probably wasn't the best idea.
She heard an earsplitting, animalistic roar, and Shinja hissing from somewhere in the foliage. Rin turned around just in see a black, clawed equipped blur race towards her.
It was at times like this she really appreciated the training that Zabuza consistently had put her through since the first time they had met. She willed her senses to sharpen, focusing chakra into her eyes and ears and made everything look like they slowed down. She could catch every detail – the dark blue and green shades of the unidentified creature, the small smudges of blood and dirt that covered little patches of its bone white mask, the glinting of purple liquid – most likely a type of poison – that covered its tail and stretching claws. She Body Flickered to its right side and impaled it with Kizuken Kūseido in a backwards stab where the heart was commonly located in animals.
She pulled the triple blade out in a fast motion, blood dripping from both the edges of her weapon as well as from the fatal wound, tainting the forest floor with more patches of crimson. Shinja then jumped from his hiding place between the strands of grass and latched himself onto the throat of the creature, but the snake was hit by a waving claw.
Jumping up on a branch, she stared intently at the thing that had just killed her only link to her former world in fury. She determined it to be one of those Hollows Shinji had mentioned.
Her eyes narrowed as the wound started to heal. Regeneration? Even if it could regenerate, her hit with the force and angle used would have killed anything instantly. Was it possible that this was the reason the blond had told her to stay away from Hollows? What was it he said… something about… zanpakutō?
Her thought process was efficiently stopped as she jumped out from the tree on pure instinct when she heard the drastic change in the air and the sound of the Hollow close up on her with projectile speed. She thought she felt a familiar presence close by, but could not finish her thought.
'Aim for the mask!'
Rin flinched it shock of hearing the voice ring out in her mind and landed on the inside of her ankle. With a sickening crack as all of her bodyweight was transferred to the misplaced foot, she literally felt the bone snap in two.
'The mask!' the voice echoed in her mind. Rin swung her sword around with a sharp exhale of breath, slicing the lower right half of the mask off, which she then realized was made of bone. She jumped up on a nearby branch before launching herself forward with high speed, the two outer blades of her sword already extending forwards.
Looking back again, that probably was the worst idea. While she was mid-air the Hollow swirled around and swiped both of its claws as well as its tail against her from different sides. She dodged the tail with the difficulty that comes when having to move while jumping and also had to move Kizuken Kūseido to stop the claws from shredding her to ribbons.
She did not see the drops of poison on the Hollows tail that flew through the air before it was too late. She heard the voice ring clearly in her mind as she fell to the ground.
"Kura… ima… ru…"
Then there was nothing but blackness and pain.
The first thought that registered through Rin's head was the lack of the familiar weight of her sword. Secondly, she felt she was somehow restrained on her arms, wrists, torso, legs and feet – basically her whole body had been tied to whatever she was lying on. Then it was the smell of medicine, alcohol and something sterile – an infirmary.
'… I hate infirmaries.'
She strained her senses and determined herself to be the only one in the room she occupied. Thankfully. She never handled weeping, whining people very well. Opening her eyes, she scanned the room and exhaled sharply in discontent at all the white, then stiffened as she realized something. The air was coming out way to easily. With nothing stopping it.
Almost like the universe was proving how much it hated her, she sensed a person approaching and sure enough, seconds later the handle was lowered and door opened to reveal a blond man with a sharp, angular face and swept back hair. For reasons Rin could not phantom, he was wearing some sort of dark-colored glasses. The man, clothed in loose black clothes, walked over to her bedside, gave a polite bow.
"Iemura Yasochika, 4th division 3rd seat," he introduced himself before opening a clipboard and began looking through the papers inside "You are in the 4th Squads healing barracks. How are you feeling?"
"Adequately fine," she replied, glaring with mistrusting at the man. Not that anyone could blame her really; she had just woken up god knows where with nothing but very fuzzy memories of why she was there in the first place and then a blond with sunglasses began asking her questions. And of course, her mistrusting nature and past experiences did not make it a whole lot easier to talk to strangers.
"Why am I tied up?" she asked, turning her face to hide it in the pillow. She couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious about her face, stupid as it may be.
"You managed to inflict some serious damage on our healers. You were unconscious at that time, so we had to restrain due to the uncertainty of what your behavior would be when you woke up."
So she went ninja when she was knocked out. Sweet.
"You were brought in with a few fractures, multiple cuts and bruises and several burns made by the acidic venom from what we assumed to be a Hollow," Iemura continued, occasionally stopping to check a few things on his clipboard "Everything has been healed although the scarring from the venom might not fade completely over time."
"Sure," she said in a dismissive tone, not particularly caring about scarring; a few more or less did not really make much of a difference anymore "Are you going to untie me?"
Iemura gave her a thoughtful look, but agreed and removed the straps after having asked a few more questions.
Rin sat up and moved her limbs around a bit, trying to get the stiffness that had entered her joint lessened. She then asked him to bring her some bandages, which he did albeit with a little hesitance, and then proceeded to re-wrap the lower half of her face. She turned and looked around the room but after scanning it thoroughly but not finding what she was looking for, she turned to the healer.
"Where is my sword?" she asked and Iemura pointed to the table next to her, where a wakizashi was placed atop. Rin narrowed her eyes; that sword was not Kizuken Kūseido.
"That's not my…"
"Actually, that pretty little thing is yer sword, Strawberry," came a lazy, matter-of-fact voice from the door.
"Hirako-taichō!" Iemura exclaimed and then stood to attention, saluting the superior that had just entered the room.
"Why is he here?" the now untied red-head asked the blond healer with some exasperation seeping through her voice. She was quite obviously not pleased to see the Taichō of 5th being there.
"You ought to speak with resp…"
"I go outta my way to saver ya and yer ain't even happy to see me? So cruel," Shinji interrupted the healer and then waved his hand dismissively at the other blond "Leave us, Iemura-san."
"Hai, Hirako-taichō."
After the 3rd seat had saluted and left, Shinji strolled over next to the red-head's bed side and waited. And waited. And waited some more.
"What? The Hollow messed up yer vocal chords too?" he said teasingly and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Go away, Shinji, I have enough trouble breathing without your ego using up the airspace," she said with some annoyance, not even bothering to turn around to look at him.
"That's so hurtful," Shinji drawled with sarcasm laced in his words. When he did not get a reaction from the female, he casually raised his hand and flicked her over the nose. Or at least that had been his plan
"The hell, you blond numbskull?" Rin growled irritably, squeezing his finger with a little more pressure than necessary. After a few seconds of carefully applied pressure, Shinji made an odd, hurt sound and snatched his finger back, glaring slightly at the one he had now mentally decided to call 'the she-devil'. The look in her eyes matched the description pretty well to.
"Why did you save me?" she asked, surprising him slightly with her blunt words. He ought to be used to that by now.
"A momentary lapse in judgment," was the smart reply, followed by a Cheshire grin. Rin was not amused.
"Why did you save me?"
"Temporary insanity."
Rin huffed and glared at the blond who was grinning innocently back at her. She exhaled through her nose and after that a small series of chuckles followed; the blond could be impossible at times "Yeah, I figured it was something like that," she replied, tilting her head at him.
A small silence followed, but it was comfortable for both of the two as the both stared at nothing in particular.
"Can you get me out of here?" she then asked him with a barely noticeable amount of urgency in her muffled, hoarse voice. Shinji eyed her somewhat curiously, a small frown visible between his eyebrows as he looked at her hard gaze that was focused anywhere but where he was.
"Ya hate hospitals," he said. It was a statement; not a question. Rin's expression did not change but after a few moments of stillness she sighed and swung her feet over the side of the bed and turned her back to the blond.
"Can you or can you not? It's a simple question; even a blond should be able to answer that."
"Why do you hate hospitals so much?" he asked back, his voice turning a bit harder because of her constant avoidance of direct answers. How could she expect to get any sort of help if she gave no other reason than 'just because'.
It was a moment before Rin answered. She turned her head and looked at him over her shoulder with calculating eyes, as if she was debating whether or not she could trust him. Which she probably was doing. Her sand colored orbs turned distant and she turned away from him again.
Shinji was convinced she was ignoring him on purpose and shifted his weight, about to get up and leave the room, when her voice broke through the silence.
"I've seen too many be carried in and never come out," she said in a blank voice, unwavering and void of emotion. Her voice turned a little softer "Too many times I've almost not come out."
Shinji said nothing and the red head did not speak again either. He walked up to the other side of the bed and stopped in front of her, trying to catch her gaze, but her eyes were focused on the ground. He gave a small sigh and sat down on the bed next to her.
Nothing was said. It was just two people taking in the calmness of the other.
Rin made a questioning sound when Shinji placed the wakizashi in her hands. She stared at the blade in her lap for a few seconds and then wrapped her hand around the hilt. An odd, yet familiar feeling and sense of warmth spread through her as she held her zanpakutō in her hand for the first time, all thoughts of Kizuken Kūseido disappearing as she felt like two halves of her had suddenly been reunited after a long time apart.
'Kuraimaru,' she thought, the name feeling so right.
'The one and only. You finally learned my name, Master,' the voice she had heard on occasions before sung through her mind, but for once it was not unappreciated.
The serene look in the woman's eyes told Shinji everything he needed to know; it did not matter if he could see all of her face or not.
Getting up, he gave her a pad on the shoulder and then began to walk out. Rin turned to look at his retreating form and raised an eyebrow when he stopped hesitantly before the door. Shinji turned to give her a toothy grin, "I'll be seeing ya," he said before walking out.
"Yeah," Rin said quietly, stroking the blade that was a part of her soul. Her eyes lit up with determination as she got to her legs and dashed over to the window and opened it. She turned to look at the spot where the blond had just left, a small smirk growing underneath her bandages "Yeah, you will."
I think this turned out pretty well. I hope you think so too (:
Alright, so same questions as last chapter:
1) Should Rin be exiled with the rest of the guys? Should she be a Visored?
2) I'm still unsure about where to place Rin. I'm personally thinking she would fit best in the Onmitsukidō (The Stealth Force - not in the any of the Squads of Gotei 13), but what are your thoughts?
- C