DISCLAIMER: BLEACH ISN'T MINE, THOUGH I WISH IT WAS. BUT TWIN SEASONS CERTAINLY IS!XD
WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT. PARENTS ARE ADVISED TO WATCH THEIR CHILDREN CAREFULLY AFTER THEY'VE READ THIS CHAPTER. XD
Chapter 4: Ice, spice and everything nice
"Hey Kazeaki, you wanted to go wash up right? The bathroom's right over there.. you do know how to use a bathroom, right?" Orihime stated.
"Right."
"Right then, we'll have lunch right after your bath then!" Orihime chirped. She handed Kazeaki a stack of fresh clothes and a towel. Kazeaki headed to the bathroom. A few seconds after she entered, Orihime suddenly slapped her forehead and exclaimed.
"Oh no, I forgot to tell her that the taps' labels were.."
"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Everyone in the room, except Orihime, froze.
"Golly, she changes out of her clothes really fast." Orihime wondered, her mind blissfully oblivious to the fact that Kazeaki was screaming.
Hitsugaya, who was seated nearest to the bathroom, quick as lightning darted into the bathroom to see what the hell was wrong.
Was it a hollow? Menos Grande? Oror
But what he saw wasn't a menos. It wasn't even a hollow. It was a naked Kazeaki standing in the bathtub of an ice cave.
Kazeaki stopped screaming, took one look at Hitsugaya standing there and started screaming even louder. The icicles in the bathroom grew bigger and the atmosphere became definitely colder.
"You PERV!!! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!!" Kazeaki screeched, grabbing a towel to cover herself. "AND SHUT YOUR EYES!"
Hitsugaya shut them. "Sorry." He muttered.
"What am I to do now? You just chased away my chasity, pervert!"
"I didn't mean to! Really!" Hitsugaya replied embarrassedly, opening his eyes in his haste to answer.
"SHUT YOUR EYES!"
Hitsugaya hurriedly shut them as Matsumoto came bouncing in.
"Orihime forgot to tell you, Kazeaki, that when her bathroom had been built, the labels on the taps were placed wrongly. She hasn't been bothered to change them back, so the cold tap reads "hot" now and the hot tap reads.." Matsumoto stopped, looking at a furiously-embarrased Kazeaki and a just-plain-embarrassed Hitsugaya.
"Wow," Matsumoto said gleefully. "Taichou caught Kazeaki in the nude!"
So much for women taking women's sides.
Kazeaki could deal with Matsumoto looking surprised, angry on her behalf, or even shocked. But gleeful she could not handle. Seeing Matsumoto looking so gleeful made her wonder if she was right in the head. Seeing Matsumoto looking so gleeful made her want to kill both Hitusgaya and Matsumoto.
"When I turned on the cold tap, bloody hot water came gushing out. BLOODY, HELLISH, SCALDING, SCORCHING HOT WATER!!!!!! And then Hitsugaya had to come in and see.. and see.." Kazeaki screamed. "I WANT YOU DEAD!!"
"Now, now, calm down there, Kazeaki. You can't kill Taichou, he's too important." Matsumoto soothed. Hitsugaya, who was previously wearing a truly terrified look on his face, looked at her in relief.
"..Yep, He's too important 'cos he's a Taichou. You can't kill a taichou, you'd get hacked!" Matsumoto said knowledgably.
Hitsugaya nodded earnestly.
"..And besides, what d'you want to kill him for? He's so handsome, so clever.." Matsumoto said. Hitsugaya started feeling a little pissed.
"..And he's so short!" Matsumoto said. What d'you want to kill a short captain for?" she finished.
"Matsumoto.." Hitsugaya growled.
Kazeaki thought for a moment. "Well, if I can't kill him, there must be some way I can punish him."
"You could gouge his eyes out." Matsumoto offered.
"HEY. I'm here listening and everything, you know." Hitsugaya replied, pissed off.
"URGH. Just.. Just get the hell out of the bathroom."
Hitsugaya was already back in the living room when Kazeaki had said "out", his face red as a tomato. Matsumoto, however, stayed back.
"Oh, but.." she said in earnest.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUT!!"
Kenta was back in his living quarters at the 1st division barracks. He had already been appointed the vice-captain, and was on his way to the Tower of Petinance, zanpukto in hand.
Slaying the two guards mercilessly at the entrance, Kenta went inside. Slaying the two shinigamis had been easy, but now, he was still having doubts about his plan to gain more power. His conscience was starting to nag at him, however much he tried to ignore it. He had already killed two people, and two more awaited that fate.
Kazeaki, should I do it? I don't think you would have wanted me to, butbut power is just.. so tempting. So temptingthat plot of Aizen's has taught me so much. So much. And I'm sure you would appreciate me even more when I gain more power. I'm doing this for you, Aki-chan. Only for you
And so, with that thought, Kenta slipped into the prison which held Aizen, Tousen and Gin.
Kazeaki was eating her "lunch" with the rest of the people at Orihime's house. And judging by Matsumoto's and Orihime's happy faces, it wasn't a good lunch at all.
"Is it good?" Orihime asked happily.
Are you out to torture me? Kazeaki muttered to herself. But out loud she said, "Yeah, Orihime. Thanks for letting me stay here, by the way."
Well, at least the last part was true.
"Oh, no problem! I have tons of space here!" Orihime answered, emphasizing the point by sweeping her hand across the tiny room packed with shinigamis and humans.
"..See? Tons of space!"
".. O YA! Dang I forgot something!! Abarai-fukutaichou, I.." Kazeaki said.
"Renji."
"Okay then, Renji. But I wanted to tell you, Kuchiki taichou wants you to go back to Soul Society."
Renji groaned. "What the hell for?"
"Well, you were supposed to be there when the new recruits, including me, arrived. Taichou got really pissed off that you weren't there. So he um.. he.." Kazeaki trailed off.
"He..?"
"Paperwork awaits."
".. Damnit."
"Aww come on, it can't be that bad. It's only paperwork."
"Only paperwork? ONLY PAPERWORK? WHAT D'YOU MEAN, ONLY PAPERWORK?? YOU DO IT THEN!!"
"You're the fukutaichou," Kazeaki reminded him quietly, a grin on his face.
"Pft. I guess. By the way, how come you're third seat? You don't look so strong to me."
"Well, ya. But don't judge a book by its cover."
"I never read books anyway. Why would I judge it?"
"…"
"But you're right. I don't even have shikai yet, I only got in because of my native ice skills."
Everyone in the room gasped with surprise.
"N-not even shikai?" Rukia asked curiously.
"Nope."
"What do you mean, native ice skills?" Hitsugaya asked curiously.
"Um, native ice skills lor. What else could I mean? I was born with it."
"I see.." Hitsugaya replied.
It was night. Hitsugaya was sitting on the rooftop, just like every single night he had stayed in Orihime's house. Thinking about today. Missing Hinamori, curious about Kazeaki..
"BOO!" Kazeaki said, sitting down beside him. "A penny for your thoughts, Hitsugaya-Taichou."
"No more Shiro-chan? Good."
"You know, I still haven't decided how to kill you yet."
".. I-I said I was sorry already."
"Sorry solves nothing."
"B-but.. I'm a taichou. You can't kill me!"
"Want to bet on it?" Kazeaki said, mock-glaring Hitsugaya with her fists raised. Then her eyes met Hitsugaya's. Emerald and emerald.
A flicker of recognition crossed both their faces.
"Aren't you going to kill me?" Hitsugaya said, breaking the silence.
"..No. . you know, you seem terribly.."
"Familiar." They both said at the same time.
And most amazingly, both laughed. They laughed. (The author faints due to the simple fact that Hitsugaya, for the first time in his life, was laughing. And Kazeaki too, even though she wasn't as serious as Hitsugaya.)
"Wow," Kazeaki said. "You're laughing."
"Anything wrong?"
"W-well, no! it's just that you don't seem like a very laughy person."
"It was my first time."
"..Oh, I see." She replied, then said cheerfully. "I started laughing a little about 3 years ago."
"Oh. We're very alike in some ways, aren't we?" Hitsugaya pondered.
"..We just met today, you know."
".. I guess."
They were both talking in cut sentences and it was pissing Kazeaki off. "So anyway, what are you doing here? Talking to the moon?"
"Of course not. Don't be stupid."
"What's wrong with talking to the moon and stars? I do that all the time." Kazeaki said, then stopped herself. Why am I soso happy and open to everyone today? Where did my shyness and coldness go to?
Hitsugaya snapped out of his coldness as well and asked, "Talk about what?"
There was a silence before Kazeaki answered quietly. ".. About who I am."
"You don't know who you are?"
"If I did, would I be asking the moon and stars?"
There was a silence as Hitsugaya struggled to find something to say.
"B-but then, you'd be even worse than an orphan."
"You aren't making me feel any better, you know."
"..Sorry."
"I can't remember anything about my childhood, except that I lived in one of the darkest streets of Rukongai before joining the academy. The people there said I had an exceptional power which I need to learn to control. I was alone.." Kazeaki trailed off. "Gosh, why am I even telling you this? I never even told Kenta before."
"Kenta?"
"My friend. Best and only one until I met you guys."
".. Somehow, I feel that I can trust all of you." Kazeaki said aloud. "And mind you, I don't trust people easily."
Hitsugaya broke another record by smiling.
"Aren't you sleepy or something? You got a fright this morning when you came, you know.." he said, turning to Kazeaki.
She was lying on her side, fast asleep.
"Guess you were sleepy after all." Hitsugaya smiled. Then a thought occurred to him. "Damn, I can't let you sleep here in the cold. How am I supposed to get you back to your room?" he sighed.
Kazeaki happily slept away.
Sighing, Hitsugaya lifted Kazeaki in his arms and carried her back inside.
Kenta went into the prison. There, Aizen and the rest were being imprisoned with special chains and locks that kept them from using their shinigami powers. Kenta stepped in and without wasting a moment, went up to Aizen and gathered his spiritual powers to absorb his vital spark.
"Who are you, shinigami?" Aizen whispered, his strength to a minimum due to the chains. Tousen and Gin looked up.
"Just like you said. A shinigami."
"Well, whatever 'brought a shinigami like you 'ere?" Gin said sneakily.
Tousen didn't say anything.
Kenta ignored them and concentrated on his task, sinking his hand into the depths of Aizen's soul.
Aizen's eyes widened with shock and unbelievable pain. His mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out.
Gin's little eyes opened, just a little.
Kenta extracted a shimmering red light from Aizen. As he grinned and placed it upon himself, Aizen's eyes closed in tiredness. Tousen and Gin both stiffened.
"Justice, shinigami. Where is your sense of justice?" Tousen muttered darkly.
"I threw it away." Kenta whispered into his ear, before sinking his hand again, into Tousen's soul.
Gin shuddered, knowing that he would well be next.
This is supposed to be where things start to get exciting. But sadly, I dun think anyone's reading my story anymore 'cos it was so boring. If people were reading, they would give remarks, wouldn't they? in that case, I'll just type out my stories for my own sake, only to satisfy myself then.. lol..