Skipping homework. . . skipping homework. . .
Anyway, three day weekend! Yeah!
Thus! Two chapters. . . . aren't you lucky?
For any wondering, it's because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Anyway, please enjoy!
Disclaimer: If I owned bleach, I'd be super rich and wouldn't have to do a stupid bored game project at the school for 'Intellectuals'. In other words, school for retards who THINK we're smart.
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"Kana!"
The voice sounded far off and distant. Frantic. A voice all too familiar.
"Please, let me through!"
"We can't! She's still being treated!"
"Quiet! I need to concentrate!"
It grew quiet, but not for long.
"Kana!"
He had gripped my hand. Or was it someone else's? I couldn't tell.
I didn't want to wake. Still in the partial darkness, I preferred the calmness to the frantic outside.
"Kana! Wake up! Don't die!"
Die? What was he talking about? I'm just a little sleepy.
"Please sir, calm yourself!"
I had enough. Bad enough the people were disturbing my sleep, but their damn voices and frantic movements hurt.
I sat up.
"Oh my! She's awake!"
"Quick! Get the captains!"
"Kana!"
"Please lay down miss! You were badly wounded!"
I looked pointedly in the direction of the speaker.
"Am I in any danger of dying?"
"Well no but-"
I had enough. I was already pissed off they woke me up in this manner, but for no reason. . .
I growled. Even in my weakened state, I knew the room was heating up. I wasn't even trying for control. I swear the man would get burned. His own fault.
"Then get off and shut the hell up. You're annoying." My voice was dangerous, full of power.
"Kana!"
Ryuusuke.
"I'm fine, Asshole. Shut up. I'm fricken tired, and you bloody hell woke me up. Now out."
He shut up, but didn't move. Courageous, but stupid.
"Ryuusuke. . ." One word had a hundred different threats in it.
He still didn't move. He had his head bowed, trying to hid his face.
"I thought you were dead, Kana."
My heart almost stopped, and my anger calmed. His body had started to shake, and his voice was cracking. He was crying.
"When Haruhi came back with Riku and without you I-"
"Ryuusuke."
He looked up.
I gave a small smile. "Shut up. You're annoying."
He wiped his tears. "Yeah, I guess I am." His voice was still cracking, but now had some humor back in it. "Sleep."
I nodded, all too ready to comply. Leaning back, I laid back into my pillows to the awaiting darkness.
---------------
"Quite the funny one, ne, Juu-chan?"
"Shunsui. . ."
The voices were quiet, gentle, aware of the charge sleeping in front of them.
Or at least, I was.
"She's just lucky I was the first to the scene, otherwise she'd be a 10th year right now."
I stiffened. I knew that voice. Concentrating on their reiatsu, I almost smiled. It was that Captain who visited the infirmary. I forget his name though.
I sat up, not so annoyed this time. This time, they didn't wake me up.
"Ah, good morning, Kana-chan."
"What are you doing here?"
"We came to the call for aid about 4 Huge Hollows. Why?"
"Huge Hollows. . ." Then it hit me. I smiled wryly. "Guess I didn't die. It wasn't a dream." I groaned. "And I was so ready to believe it too. . ."
Through their reiatsu, I could see their movements in a clear outline. Turning to the other one, I started to question him.
"Judging by your reiatsu level, either you're a Captain or a Vice-Captain."
"You are correct. I'm a Captain. I'm surprised you could figure it out though. Usually I'm pretty good at hiding my reiatsu."
I snorted. "Then either everyone else is dumb or I'm just hyper sensitive. Is anyone else here?"
"No, but why would we be dumb?"
I raised an eyebrow. "With overflowing reiatsu like yours, I can tell you captains are hanging around the moment you walk on the school grounds."
He looked surprised at that, moving backwards. Riku would have told me if they were frowning or not.
Riku.
My eyes widened, and I cursed myself for not noticing. I started to get frantic, checking in my bed and calling her name in my mind.
'Riku! RIKU!'
'I'm here, pup. The shy one is taking care of me.'
I relaxed, closing my eyes and drinking in calmness. 'I'm sorry, Riku.'
'Don't worry about me. Your friends almost had a coronary though. Should I tell them you're alright?
I sighed. 'No. I'll ask someone else to.'
"Now that you've obviously found what you've been looking for, can we get back to the present?"
I could swear I just jumped 3 feet into the air. Slowly, I nodded.
The captain reached into his shirt, drawing out twin swords in sheaths. My heart ached. I couldn't even tell what color they were.
"I found these in your hands when I found you. We are the only three who know about them. Now tell us: what are they and where did they come from?"
I looked at him, before looking away. The other one sighed.
"Kimura-san-"
"Kana." I corrected him automatically.
"Kana-san. We promise, no, swear not to say anything you don't wish us to. Kyouraku-Taichou told me that he doesn't believe you want to graduate early. Is that true?"
"Yes."
He sighed. "We cannot stop it if the decision is made. However, we will keep this information secret if you so wish. Will you tell us what happened?"
In my mind, I studied the man next to me. Long hair, large, and most definitely warm. I felt I could tell him anything and he wouldn't tell a soul.
The other one had a calm demeanor on him as well. Loud, maybe, but calming.
I sighed quietly. "I. . . I had to protect her."
They didn't say anything, only nodded, encouraging me to continue.
"Haruhi. . . I've only ever let a few people into my heart. Of those, only two whom I deeply trust above all else with anything. Haruhi is one."
"Sometime during the exercise, she had gotten hurt, and was limping. When we found the Hollows, everyone else had left. One of those things spotted us, and I am too small to carry her, so I told her to get out, but not without taking her sword in the process. I knew she was sufficient in Kidou, so I didn't worry. All I thought about was the need to protect her."
I paused.
"I attacked the Hollow, sparing as much time for her as I could. I don't remember how many times it smacked me away, 3 or 4 maybe. But sometime during the battle, I heard a voice in my head, pleading me to call upon it. Them."
"Them?"
"There were two. On the last attack from the Hollow, he knocked me off the cliff. I don't really remember this part, it happened so fast. All I remembered was desperately trying to not fall, to go back and attack the Hollow again, to defend my friend."
"Where'd you go?"
I didn't speak. I started to almost go into a numb state. Not really thinking. Not really feeling. Lost in the memories. I barely noticed that I replied.
"To a forest, trees burnt to ash, touching the sky as it was held up by a thing mountain, with vast desert unspeakable miles below." I frowned. "But something was wrong. It was different than my dreams. It was crumbling. The forest was burning out of control. I saw two foxes, one made of fire, the other white with pure white fur, standing on nothing but air. The told me to call them, or die. I fell, the ground beneath me falling away. I fell, before calling out their names. I remembered them. And I came back, standing on the edge of the cliff."
I paused, unsure.
"What happened then?"
I frowned. "I. . . think I killed it. I felt it was someone else, not me who did it. I felt separate, a different being. My blade, my right one, I raised it to his mask as I stood on pure air in front of him. And he burnt away."
Silence. Then the other two looked at each other, probably conveying some secret message. I waited.
"You mentioned you've been to that world before. When did you first go?"
I frowned in concentration. When did I start?
"I'm not sure. I just started to have dreams. Flashes, at first, nothing much. Then they started growing larger. My brother had just entered the academy, and he taught me exercises to control it. He didn't want me to become a Shinigami, so he taught me to control my reiatsu instead."
Kyouraku-Taichou started to chuckle. "I guess you didn't follow his wishes."
In a daze or not, I could still retort. "Least I don't leak my reiatsu everywhere."
The man gave a hearty laugh. "We found that out when you first woke up. You burnt the entire bed, not to mention some of the 4th division officers."
I scoffed. "Damn idiots. I hate mornings enough, but being in pain and waking up to extreme chaos is not my thing."
"One thing is for sure," started the other. "You most certainly are a second prodigy."
I stiffened, hating that word. Prodigy my ass.
"Sure, sure. Prodigy. Exactly like that stick-in-the-ass Kyouraku told me about before. A fifth seat or something."
"Actually, 4th seat now."
"Oh, excuse me. Fourth seat stick-in-the-ass Kyouraku told me about."
The man gave another hearty laugh.
"Anyway," said the soft one, "we need to figure out what's going to happen now."
"Yes, she's going to need training to learn to control her Zanpakuto now."
'Tell them not to worry.'
I had jumped, and the Captains immediately asked me if I was okay. Replying I was fine, I concentrated once again on the voice in my head.
'Yougan no Saisei?'
'Why must we be given such long names? Just call him Saisei and me Arashi. Got it?'
I almost nodded. 'Yes.'
'We will train you,' came the masculine voice. Saisei. 'You have all the knowledge you need. You don't require anyone to train you.'
I relayed the message to the two captains. Kyouraku just laughed.
"We are going to have to keep tabs on you though. Nothing major, just a check up every now and again. You won't even notice we're doing it."
I rolled my eyes. "Great. I have stalkers."
Kyouraku doubled over in laughter.
"If-if only Hitsugaya-kun had your personality. . ."
I scoffed. "I'd be left dull and boring, just like him. Who wants that?"
Kyouraku seemed to be having trouble breathing. Poor man.
The other just sighed, before turning back to me.
"We never properly introduced ourselves, did we?"
"Nope."
"Forgive us. I am Ukitake Juushiro, Captain of squad 13. He is Kyouraku Shunsui, Captain of Squad 8."
"Okay, Ukitake. Need anything else?"
He didn't speak for a moment.
"If it isn't too personal, why don't you want to skip years? You've gone through all of these elaborate measures to make sure you won't. Why the trouble?"
I hesitated. Should I tell him? We're basically complete strangers. Why should I trust him?
"I'm sor-"
"For the first part of my life, I lived in the 80th district."
I cursed myself, unseeing of their reactions. No matter how strong their reiatsu is, I can't tell the details of their faces.
"For the second part, I lived in the first. Just me, Obaa-chan and my brother. My brother was over-protective, not allowing me outside, and Obaa-chan was often busy. I was alone. Then I came here. For the first time in my life, I have real friends. For the first time in my life, I am truly happy. And I don't want anyone to take that away."
For a while, no one moved. Not even myself. Then Ukitake came over to me, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"We'll just have to try and make sure it stays that way, won't we?"
The other one put a hand on my other shoulder. "I agree."
I smiled serenely. "Thank you."
"We'll take our leave now, Kana-chan."
Almost immediately after they left, exhaustion began to kick in again. I didn't even remember my head hitting the pillow.
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There was something warm and heavy on my chest.
Someone was speaking to me. In an annoyingly high pitched male voice.
"Ah! Ka-chan's waking-"
Broken body or not, I could and would still send him flying.
"Ryuusuke. . . what did I say about calling me that?"
"Pretty. . . birdies. . . flying. . . 'round the chimney. . ."
I gave up.
"S-s-sorry, Kana-chan, I-I-I t-t-tried to stop h-h-him b-b-but. . ."
I sighed. "Ignore him, Haruhi. Another's actions are never your fault."
"Y-yeah. . ."
"So how long have I been out, Keiichi?"
"About a week."
"Where's Riku?"
'In your lap.'
"In your lap," replied Keiichi.
Suddenly a scent attacked my nose. My mouth watered.
"Kana-chan always likes strawberries!"
"Aiko, what do you have?"
"Strawberries, picked fresh in Rukongai!"
Concentrating, I found their location.
"..."
"..."
"Can I have some?"
She giggled like a maniac. "Duh! It's the whole reason Ryuusuke bought them!"
I blinked. "Ryuusuke?" Turning to his former position, I saw him sitting up and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"Yep! I told him you always seem to smell of strawberries, and if you get a midnight snack, it's always strawberries and if you pick fruit out of a bowl it's always strawberries."
"..."
"Wow Aiko, I didn't know I was a research subject for your pleasure."
"Nope! Just noticed it is all!"
I sighed. Why are the annoying ones always immune to my sarcastic ways?
"I-I-I n-noticed i-it t-t-too, Kana-chan. . ."
My eyes widened. ". . . Was it that obvious?"
"Y-yeah. . ."
"Ka-chan's just that cute!"
"GOD DAMN IT RYUUSUKE! DON'T GLOMP ME!!!! IT HURTS, BAKA!!!!"
Aiko, Haruhi and Keiichi just laughed at our interaction.
"But Ka-chan looks so cute. . . I know! You're injured, so I'll feed you!"
I made the mistake of opening my mouth to yell at him, and he plopped in a strawberry. Swallowing, I opened my mouth again. He stuck another one in. As much as I hate to waste food, this was annoying. I spat it back out at the full grown man sitting on the bed and pinning my good arm down.
"Ryuusuke. . ." I said dangerously. Apparently, he couldn't take a hint.
"Ah, Kana-chan, I'm sorry! Did that one taste sour?"
Damn him for sitting on my good arm and legs. Damn that Hollow for breaking my other one.
"I'm not a frickin' child, Ryuusuke! Stop treating me like one!"
Sadly, even Riku was laughing at us now.
"But how old are you then?"
My face started to heat up, and I look away, muttering curses.
"How old are you?"
"120," I said in as quiet a voice as possible.
"See? Not even 150 yet. Just a poor, little baby."
The brat basically just told me I'm weak. Bastard.
"I am NOT a BABY!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"ENOUGH!" I was breathing really hard at this point. Bastard.
"FIRST you glomp me when I'm in obvious pain, then you sit on me while trying to feed me, then you call me weak! I'll kill you, make my words, I'll-"
I was cut off. He didn't put a strawberry in my mouth. He put a bottle of strawberry milk in.
To shocked to do anything, I immediately locked on. Before I started to glare.
But that milk was good. How in Sereitei did he make it?
I continued to glare. And drink.
Yum.
Wait.
Not yum.
Bastard.
Yum.
DAMN HIM!
I had finally wrenched my hand free and punched him off of me.
"Bastard." However, I did keep the milk. Laying back on my head board in an upright position, I brought my knees up, crossed one on top of the other, and started to suck.
Aiko giggled. A vein throbbed.
Haruhi giggled. I calmed down.
Keiichi smothered laughter. I got a mix. He was laughing, but trying not to.
Ryuusuke let out one chuckle-
"RYUUSUKE!! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY!!"
He shut up.
And thus my life continued.
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Okay, so the chapter is a little bit short, but I kinda ran out of ideas for today. Finals are this week, so wish me luck!
lol, I'm gonna fail. . .
Hitsugaya: Lazy ass, you just don't want to study.
Kana: Correct!
Hitsugaya: Weirdo. . .
Anyway, see ya all soon!
(PS: Please review. I like reviews. Even if you are lazy, just leave a review with "Good Job". Even that sparks my imagination, pathetic as it is.)
