Karakura Exorcists (Crappy title, I know; but what else am I supposed to call it?!)
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Summary: About one hundred and fifty years after the death of the Earl, Karakura Town finds a strange set of visitors. D. Gray-man/Bleach xover; IchixRuki and eventual Yullen.
Well. I don't own D. Gray-man, or Bleach. Don't rub it in. _ But I DO own… this piece of LAND! -pulls out mound of dirt- Someday, I hope to build on it! xD Jaykay. (I forgot what that was from… o_O Someone help me, please?)
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Chapter Seven
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Excerpt from a religious text; The History of the Dark Religious Organization, written by Komui Lee, age 54, in the mid-1900's:
Urahara-san has also informed me that Kanda's Innocence isn't completely Innocence—it's the core of a zanpakuto, of a shinigami's sword bonded with Innocence. It is an amazing phenomenon; he told me so after studying Mugen after I repaired it shortly after a mission Kanda came back from.
Following these theories, Urahara-san believes it possible for Kanda to attain a shinigami captain's power…
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"So, Yoruichi," Urahara drawled lazily as the cat ran ahead of Kanda to rejoin those still at the dinner table. "Has Kanda found himself a bankai teacher?"
Yoruichi nodded lazily, jumping onto the table to paw a half-eaten fish. The cat turned it over and nibbled on a piece. Wiping its mouth with a black paw, Yoruichi said, "I'll need to borrow your underground training suite, Urahara."
"Ahh, but of course, Yoruichi. When will you train him?"
"For the next three days, if he doesn't mind missing school," the cat replied easily, leaning down to eat more fish.
Komui shrugged. "I don't personally mind, either, so Kanda, if you want to go train with Yoruichi-san, that's quite alright."
"Aww, but Komui," Lavi crowed as he reproached the table, "why don't we get to train with Yoruichi-san?"
Lenalee gave Lavi a sheepish grin. "Lavi, it's quite hard for people who don't have zanpakuto to reach a bankai level. I think we're better off getting rid of nearby Hollows than coming to practice with Kanda and Yoruichi-san."
Nodding, Yoruichi added, "I think I can find something for you two as well, though it might have to wait until later. The gate's under construction, so Urahara might have you run errands for him instead."
The two glanced at the shopkeeper, who laughed heartily as he fanned himself.
"At any rate, Kanda," Yoruichi continued, "I'll come for you in the morning. We're going to go get Ichigo, too."
"Eh? Why me?" Ichigo intervened.
The cat grinned. "We might need some heavy lifting done around the shop while Kanda's out working."
"I thought that was what we were for!" Lavi cried. Kanda sighed wearily, rubbing his temples in aggravation.
"No, Lavi, you and Lenalee are running errands. We're going to have Ichigo here do all the lifting. Right, Ichigo?"
Ichigo only raised an eyebrow, hesitant to respond. He knew from experience what "heavy lifting" might include.
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Kanda shut the door behind him and sighed, leaning against the wooden frame. He felt so helpless.
Allen was gone—kidnapped before his eyes. And there was nothing he could do about it but wait—wait until he was stronger.
A knock resounded against the door. Kanda turned around and all but wrenched the door off of its hinges, ready to snap at the person responsible for interrupting his thoughts until he saw that it was Ichigo.
Sniffing in disdain, the Exorcist muttered, "What do you want?"
Ichigo gazed at Kanda for a while before walking in, unasked and unwelcome. "Nothin'; I just want to talk."
The Exorcist stood, watching the shinigami carefully before sitting down. "… There's nothing to talk about."
Ichigo snorted. "What do you mean, 'nothing'? I've seen your prissy attitude while Allen was here, and now it's completely reversed.
"If you're upset about having Allen taken from you, keep in mind that it could have been worse," he murmured. "At least you were strong; at least you could have taken on Mikk if he hadn't been so cowardly. At least your life wasn't spared because the objective was caught. At least you weren't lying, nearly dead on the floor. Amber eyes gazed up at Kanda, hardened with his own past experiences returning to haunt the shinigami. "You didn't have to live through that."
"… Che. And you did?" Kanda asked warily.
The orangehead glanced away and nodded. "… Yeah. It was back last year, not too long after I'd gotten my shinigami powers. Rukia was wanted because she had illegally given her powers to me so I could save my family… Her brother could have killed me that night, but I was spared." He slammed his fist on the table, startling the Exorcist with the sudden clanging of the hourglass.
"I could have been killed, right there, if Rukia hadn't stopped him. I was a sitting duck, waiting to be butchered, barbecued, and eaten by her brother. Humiliated, because my powers were not strong enough. I hated the feeling of being so weak, so helpless. It was as if everything I had been working towards had suddenly crumbled apart, and my world, my powers were fraying apart at the seams." A mix of hate and spite was in the glare that Ichigo gave Kanda.
"At least you didn't have to live through that, Kanda."
The Exorcist looked away. As much as he hated to say it, Ichigo was right. Kanda hadn't been left in a pitiful, broken state; nor was his life spared because of the bean sprout, though it may appear that way.
After all, Kanda had been the one to defeat Tyki during the war. Kanda was confident in his powers. He could tell that Tyki hadn't become any stronger than he was as a Noah, and he knew for a fact that his sync-rate with Mugen was much higher than it was in his past life. He was definitely stronger.
Maybe that shinigami wasn't so bad.
"So what're your love issues?" Ichigo's voice asked lightly, a contrast from the heavy mood set by it earlier. "Are you, like, gay for Allen or something?"
Kanda shot the shinigami a glare. Or maybe he was wrong—the shinigami was as bad as the stupid rabbit.
A wide, mocking grin spread across the orangehead's face. "Oh… I see. So you're in love with a general. Is that why you want to save him so much?"
"… Shut up, asshole," Kanda snarled, whipping out Mugen.
"Relax, relax!" Ichigo waved his open hands in front of him, attempting to calm the enraged Exorcist. "Sorry; I couldn't resist."
Kanda took a seat next to Ichigo on the bed. "Just don't bring it up again," he grumbled softly.
He was still angry at him—at the bean sprout—for not remembering that day. After all, Kanda could still imagine everything so clearly; see everything so clearly. The light blush dusting Allen's cheeks as he asked to stay the night; the distinctive, decadent scent that was the moyashi in his arms; the way they had spent the night…
Disrupting long, ebony waves of hair, Kanda shook his head abruptly, attempting to replace it with different thoughts. Remembering Yoruichi's comment from earlier that day, he wondered just how strong Ichigo was. Standing up, Kanda grabbed Mugen and opened the door, glaring back at the shinigami.
"Let's go spar," he said to the orangehead's confused look. "I want to see how strong you really are."
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The next morning found both Ichigo and Kanda sprawled in a heavy sleep across the couches of the living room of the latter's apartment. The couch that Kanda laid on toppled hastily over due to a powerful kick.
"Wake up, Kanda. You, too, Ichigo."
Though he was groggy from the lack of sleep, Kanda was certain he'd never heard that voice before. Blinking away the sleep, he saw a woman's silhouette, with an orange jacket-type top and black leggings adorning thin, muscular legs. Dark purple hair was tucked into a long ponytail, and embraced tan skin.
"Get up, you two, or else you're getting it."
Kanda saw through hazy vision that Ichigo was getting up.
"Sorry, Yoruichi-san," Ichigo apologized, standing up and dusting himself off.
… Yoruichi-san? That cat?
Kanda blinked several times in an attempt to wake up. When his vision cleared, though, a pretty, feminine face was inches from his own. Startled, he backed up as quickly as he could, only to run into the edge of the coffee table, effectively hitting his head. He cursed loudly as the girl laughed.
"You deserved that, Kanda," she chuckled. "Anyway, let's hurry. We don't want to be late on our first day of training, do we?"
Rubbing his it gently, Kanda shook his head. Hastily, he got up and followed the girl and Ichigo out the door.
"You must be surprised," Ichigo grinned back at the Exorcist. "Yoruichi-san's actually a girl, but she transforms into a cat with one heck of a manly voice. Don't ask me how she does it," he added. "I don't know, either."
The cat-girl scoffed. "And your dim brains wouldn't understand it if I told you, either," she chuckled.
Kanda stared pensively at Yoruichi. He was quiet for a moment, before finally saying, "Where are we going?"
"Urahara's training ground," she replied, returning her gaze before her and continuing to walk forward. Kanda noticed that she took powerful strides, and was a trained warrior. He'd like to see her in battle, he thought with an approving nod.
When they reached Urahara Shoten, the cat-girl burst through the doors as if it were her birthright and stormed past the table where Urahara was alone, eating his breakfast.
"We're going to go train," she announced as the group trotted past the lone store manager, not even slowing for a reply.
As Kanda walked past Urahara, the man grabbed his hand and grinned up at the Exorcist.
"I found this," he whispered, setting a book in Kanda's hands, "in the Pope's archives. It should be of great interest to you, I would think."
Kanda nodded weakly before opening the book's hard cover. The pages were old, and let off a horrid stench when the Exorcist turned them. Cobalt-blue eyes widened slightly at the recognized scrawl on the paper. On the first page, in somewhat messy handwriting, were the words "Don't stop walking. Keep moving forward."
A feeling of dread arose in Kanda's stomach. He knew the saying, but he couldn't be sure it was actually… Taking another sigh and letting the thought trail off, he turned a few more pages and began reading.
I've finally reached the Dark Order, Mana, and things are more different than I could have imagined. I was thought to be an Akuma because of the curse you gave me. I'm not saying that I hate it, of course; but it's just a bit shocking to be attacked by someone that one would consider a comrade. The one who attacked me was a handsome man (and I'm not lying or becoming homosexual—he's a beautiful being) named Kanda.
The Exorcist took a shaky breath before closing the cover. It was Allen's diary. He gave a weak chuckle. Only Allen would do such a girly thing…
Urahara coughed, startling Kanda back to awareness. "You'd better hurry, Kanda-kun," he chuckled lightly, "or else Yoruichi will kill you before you even begin training. I wouldn't put it past her."
"… Thank you," Kanda murmured cautiously, keeping the shop manager in sight for as long as possible before the Exorcist disappeared into the training room.
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UGH. Totally sorry about the hiatus, guys. EXCUSE ALERT! AVOID NOW! Well, see, I just went to a week-long camp (It was international, and I caught an Aussie accent... except now, it's like, warped, so it doesn't sound like anything... according to my sister, that is), and before that... well... I have summer tennis every day from 10 to 1, but my sister and I take the bus there. We have to wake up at 7 to get on the bus at 8:15, and get to tennis at 9:30. We stay until 3 because we have to wait for my parents to come home and pick us up on the way. And as another side excuse, my mom stole my monitor for work. Very depressing, really. For her work, she has three monitors running at the same time, and she got tired of just using one at home (she works home some days), so she took the monitor in my room-- the one without internet. She figured, if it doesn't have internet, I must not use it much. Now, I can't write very often 'cause the computer with internet is always monopolized by my siblings. Sorry. Really. I am REALLY SORRY. EXCUSE OVER. CONTINUE READING.
At any rate, it was really nice to open up my e-mail account and see reviews like "This is so good! Keep writing!" after my mom stole my monitor. It was also a bit guilt-instirring. After all... I can't write if my family keeps hogging the computer... and taking my monitor... (Sorry, still a bit bitter about that)
On the other hand, I'll try to keep writing as often as I can for you guys :D Since it's summer, I think I can get away with all-nighters on weekends (not weekdays; I have tennis). Hope to update again soon!
Sora Pwns x3
