Hehehe! I'm BAACCKK! Didja miss me? -crickets- You guys are so mean! T-T Sorry it took so long to update! I lost inspiration for this for a few days, but after pulling up a blank document and writing the first few words, everything totally clicked for me :D YAY!
So theres a bit of a time skip-aka AFTER grad. I'm gonna say about a month. Ish.
Review Replies:
Sasuke Uzamaki9999: Haha of course you are XD Even though this has no pairings, except a little IchiTatsu at the beginning. If you can be patient for a few more days, I MIGHT be posting a little bit of a lime in one of my new stories...Tch. I might add smut to Taming the Demon if you review how you like the lime in that story-you'll know when it gets published. Alright...you hate her...I got it...don't worry, theres no IchiRuki in this. I dont like that pairing anyway -.-
Animelover1993: I'm glad its incurable XD I openly embrace my laziness, and you should too! Hah! I'm glad you liked that part! I love Taiyo too :) I'll probably be bringing the 2 Zanpakutous into this story a lot more, and even though I'm not the best at writing humor, I'll do my best ^_^ No bankai yet. Not next chapter either. I dunno when...
Pants burst from his mouth as he raced down the hall, glancing down doors as he went. 'Which one, which one which on- Aha!'
He skittered to a halt and stood for a moment to catch his breath before knocking gently on the door and announcing who it was. A voice similar to his own answered, except the pitch was a bit higher. The newly ranked soul reaper opened the sliding door, and was immediately tackled.
"Dammit Shiro! What the hell was that for?" demanded Ichigo as he glared at his friend, who was also a Shinigami like himself.
Said friend, Shiro, pouted. "Awww, are you unhappy to see me? No, that wouldn't make sense, would it? You're the one who came to visit me! What's gotcha upset, Ichi?"
"Maybe the fact that you totally just tackled me." Ichigo replied stiffly, squirming to try and get up, but Shiro was too heavy to move by himself.
"That wasn't a tackle as much as a glomp," muttered the albino, standing from his position that had kept Ichigo pinned to the ground, and brushed himself off.
Ichigo's eyebrow quirked. "A glomp? What the hell is that?"
Shiro chuckled. "Apparently it's a really popular human thing. Abarai Taichou taught it to me. I'm surprised he likes me so much. Maybe I'll get transferred to his squad," he explained excitedly.
"Get me transferred too. I like Captain Hitsugaya's squad and all but it's just...boring. And Lieutenant Matsumoto scares the hell out of me. She keeps trying to flash me. When she's not doing that, she's giving me hugs that I nearly suffocate from. I swear, she's so skinny 'cause all the food she eats goes to her breasts. I'm trying to keep what innocence I have left, ya know? Captain Abarai's squad is probably a lot more fun. And he still doesn't have a lieutenant since they made Ex Lieutenant Hinamori 'retire'. I bet they sent her to the loony bin," Ichigo said, scowling.
"Ukitake Taichou's squad is nuts. Kuchiki Fukutaichou keeps staring at me like I'm a disappointment or that she's expecting something completely else out of me, the 2 third seats are nuts, and Captain Ukitake is in the 4th squad barracks more often than not. Don't get me wrong; it's awesome being a fourth seat in the 13th squad, but damn! How's it in the 10th squad?"
"Boring. As. Shit," Ichigo retorted, merely repeating what he said earlier, in shorter form.
"Well I don't think Toshiro would really appreciate that response, Ichigo," a rough new voice joined the conversation.
"C-captain Abarai!" Both boys exclaimed, quickly bowing, before Renji scoffed and waved at them to stand back up.
"No need to be formal, guys. Relax."
"T-Thanks Captain," stuttered Shiro.
Renji merely rolled his eyes before beckoning to the two boys.
"C'mon, I got permission from both your captains to work on training with you guys. You have potential. I may have to see if I can get you transferred over to Squad 5."
The 2 look-a-likes exchanged grins, before following the captain out of the squad 13 barracks towards the squad 5 training grounds.
Clang!
Sparks scattered as the 2 shikais clashed, their wielders glaring at the other, daring the other to try and beat him. Sweat dripped onto a temple from the cover of orange hair, while sweat rolled down a nose from its shelter in white hair.
They pushed each other back, managing to get 10 feet between them, before darting forward again to try and get the upper hand. Pale hands brought the black clothed cleaver down in a hacking motion, and a battle cry bubbled to his lips.
Tanned hands twisted to bring a larger cleaver to meet the other. The sparring sped up, until shunpo was used to the point where they couldn't be seen by anyone below 5th seat level.
"That's right guys, keep going, you're doing great! Ichigo, that doesn't mean you can slow down! Stop hesitating Shiro! Are you guys Soul Reapers or amateurs? You're pathetic!" Renji taunted the 2, knowing Ichigo would react by fighting more fiercely towards Shiro, but he wasn't quite sure about Shiro, since he hadn't seen him before he died.
But they were twins. So, they probably would have similar reactions.
Naturally, that was wrong.
They instantly stopped fighting, to Renji's surprise, and Shiro dropped down from his position in the air to stand level with the captain and frown at him. "Sorry Captain, I didn't quite catch that?"
Renji smirked, covering his earlier surprise. These two were so easy. "You. Are. Pathetic. Excuses. For. Soul. Reapers."
Shiro's grip tightened around his Zanpakutou. "Care to test that judgement, Taichou?" Shiro retorted, venom lacing his words.
Renji was surprised at the subtle threat, but merely pushed away his shock to sneer at the albino. "Like you could beat me! I'm a captain with a bankai and nearly 70 (1) years of experience. You are soul reapers just out of the academy with only shikais, and 3 years of experience, if you can call it that. You don't stand a chance!" 'Anymore,' he added in his head. Ichigo could've easily kicked his ass before he died.
"So you think you can beat us just because you have a bankai? That's utter bullshit. Stay in your shikai, and I'll stay in mine, and let's go. Whoever wins gets to go against Ichi over there," Shiro challenged excitedly, a shit eating grin adorning his face.
"Hey! Why do you get to go first?" demanded Ichigo stubbornly, scowling deeper than normal.
Shiro flipped his head backwards and upside down to look at Ichigo. "Cause, partner, I thought of it first. You'll get your chance. You can go first next time, how 'bout that?"
Ichigo snorted, but relented, leaping back onto the edge of the little canyon that was the training guards, and taking a seat.
Renji and Shiro faced each other, spiky hairdos blowing in the wind as Shiro waited for Renji to activate his shikai, while Renji was waiting for Shiro to explode from impatience and tell him to start already. It didn't take long.
"Hurry the hell up! I want to start this fight!" Shiro shouted with his eyes narrowed angrily.
Renji shrugged. "That's not how you speak to a Captain, Haku. And I'll start whenever the hell I want!"
Shiro growled at the use of his real name, but said nothing, glaring daggers at the red-haired soul reaper.
Renji chuckled, pulling Zabimaru from the sheath on his waist. "Roar, Zabimaru!" he shouted, rubbing his hand across the dull side of the katana, changing it into a long, spiked sword, that he knew was connected with stretchy wires. (2)
Shiro tossed up Taiyo no Ryu, grabbing the black cloth halfway down and swinging it above his head, smirking at the Captain's surprised look at the strange technique.
"What, never seen this before? Probably not. I taught it to myself. I figured it out just the other day. You and Ichigo are the first ones to see it," he boasted, jerking his head towards the strawberry when mentioning him.
Aforementioned strawberry was grabbing his head in pain as images flashed behind his closed eyelids, biting back cries of pain as his brain went into information overload.
The images flew by, but suddenly, they slowed, and turned into a video. It was fuzzy, and dark, and hard to concentrate on, as if what was happening had been seen through thick sunglasses. Concentrating too hard made his head ache.
He picked Shiro out of the 'video'. He was wearing an inverted shihakusho, oddly enough, and was standing on a...blue sideways building...
'What...the hell...'s this about?' Ichigo questioned himself weakly, watching what was happening. Or what happened rather. It felt more like a memory than anything.
He 'watched' Shiro toss up a- 'A white Zangetsu? There's no such thing...And why's he using Zangetsu...he has Taiyo...'
Then the 'memory' Shiro began to spin the inverted Zangetsu in circles, sneering and taunting him. Then the image changed, but he saw Shiro again. This time, he had on a different shihakusho, still white, mind you, but this time holding a white long-sword with a chain hanging off the end. The hilt was white with red diamonds weaved in the cloth.
Then Ichigo noticed the 'memory' Shiro's eyes. 'Gold and black...hollow eyes!' He realized choking quietly. 'But Shiro's not a hollow! He's a Soul Reaper! W-What's going on? I don't understand! What Zanpakutou is he holding? Is this a figment of my imagination? This has never happened while we've been in Soul Society!'
'Ichigo, stop. Do not burden yourself with these thoughts right now. You will understand in time, I promise.' The voice of Zangetsu floated to Ichigo's consciousness, bringing his mind off of the images he had seen, and back to the fight in front of him.
'Al-Alright Zangetsu. I trust you. But I will find out what that meant eventually.' Ichigo assured his Zanpakutou.
'Yes, you will, Ichigo,'murmured Zangetsu ominously before disappearing back into the depths of his soul.
Ichigo took a staggering breath, before turning his eyes back to Shiro and the Captain's fight. They were both doing well; Renji was facing him, unlike Shiro, who was, once again, spinning Taiyo no Ryu around. Ichigo's mind automatically thought back to what he just 'saw' but he pushed it away.
They were both toying with each other; Renji was swinging Zabimaru in Shiro's direction; Shiro simply jumped out of the way. Ichigo growled impatiently. He still wanted to fight too.
"Hurry up, or else I won't have a chance to fight either." He shouted commandingly.
"Ease up, Ichi, we'll go serious now, so don't get your panties in a wad," Shiro teased him, telling Renji to hold off for a moment while he turned to look at Ichigo, gold and white eyes glinting amusedly. Ichigo couldn't help but let the memory version of Shiro flash in front of his eyes. Instead of his best friend in front of him, he saw the sneering, mocking face of the hollow from that scene. Contempt glittered in those gold black eyes, but also another emotion, one that Ichigo couldn't quite figure out...
Ichigo blinked, realizing the Captain Abarai and Shiro were fighting again. Shiro rose up Taiyo, and swung it down in an arc. "Akuma no Doku!" He shouted, and condensed reiatsu flew from the tip of Taiyo no Ryu, hitting Renji square in the chest.
Renji stood, shaking it off. He'd been hit by Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshou all the time. This 'Akuma no Doku' was exactly the same. That was his assessment...
At least until his skin started to sizzle slightly, and pain laced up his chest. He rubbed the heel of his hand against his chest in a fruitless attempt to soothe the acid-like pain. He cried out when it didn't work, lifting his head to send the albino soul reaper a panicky glare.
"What the hell is this, Tsukino?" He demanded, his ignorance only fuelling his fear.
Shiro spun Taiyo lazily. "That would be what my Akuma no Doku does. Devil's venom? Yup. It's just like its name, though the effects of the pain normally wear off around 20-30 seconds after the attack. But that's all I really need to end a fight, ya know?"
"What the hell does it do, anyway?" Renji asked, calmer now that he knew what was going on, and by now, the pain was definitely fading.
"Well, it's like Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshou, except that it has an extra little bite. The yellow on the reiatsu actually is like an acid; once it hits your skin, it burns you, until the little time limit kicks in. Simple as that," explained Shiro lazily.
Now that the pain of the 'venom' was gone, Renji could only feel the pain of the actual injury; it felt exactly like how the Getsuga was. Renji cocked his head to the side, amused by all the similarities by these two twins; how they didn't realize they weren't twins was probably because of their stupidity-mostly Ichigo's, though.
"Hey, Captain, if ya just stand there, I'll kill ya," teased Shiro, who was already stepping back into his stance, watching Renji expectantly. Renji shifted the same way, and the fight started up again.
"I told you guys to hurry up and finish your fight so I could go before it got dark but what happened? It got dark! And guess who didn't get to fight! Ichigo Kurosaki!" Ichigo ranted as he walked alongside Shiro and Renji as they made their way towards the Squad 5 cafeteria/eating area.
Shiro groaned. "Thank you, Ichigo Kurosaki, for clarifying this for the 3rd time. We get it. Ichigo wanted to fight. Ichigo didn't get to fight. Ichigo is pissed. Ichigo complains a lot when he's pissed. So what does that make? An annoyed Shiro and Captain Abarai."
"Well you deserve it, Haku Tsukino! I warned you guys and-"
"Oh shut up Ichigo, and tell it to someone who cares," Renji interrupted, much to Ichigo's annoyance.
"What if I don't want to shut up? Just because I can't kick your ass anymore doesn't mean anything, Renji!" Ichigo retorted angrily.
Renji froze midstride. He slowly set down the lifted foot, but didn't meet the curious gazes of the long-lost brothers in front of him. 'He couldn't have remembered! Soul Society put a block on his memories! Everything from then should just be a blank!' He thought to himself, panicking inwardly. He wanted the old Ichigo back, not this authority respecting one that he was stuck with, so when he heard his given name said by his old friend, it had shocked him greatly. But if it came at the cost of recovering his memories, which might have happened judging by the 'anymore' in his shout...that wasn't good. Soul Society would not be happy.
"Excuse me, Kurosaki? What did you call me?" Renji asked quietly.
Ichigo thought back on what he had said, and his eyes widened as he realized his 'mistake'. He immediately bowed, his eyes staring at the floor. "Please, forgive me, Abarai Taichou! It was an accident, and will not happen again!"
When Ichigo didn't get a response, he straightened slowly out of the bow, and lifted his eyes to look at the red-haired captain. The captain was gazing at him emotionlessly. The facade broke for a moment revealing disappointment, and...Was that sadness? Hurt? Both? Why would Captain Abarai feel like that?
"Don't worry about it, Ichigo. Let's go get some food," Renji responded wearily, as if he had aged greatly in the past 20 seconds, and continued leading the way towards the food. Ichigo and Shiro followed; the latter had remained silent throughout the entire exchange, pondering both responses, though he couldn't come up with any idea on what it could mean.
For some reason, watching Ichigo bow to Captain Abarai apologetically really grated against him. Yet he didn't know why. Ichigo had to do that, like all the other Soul Reapers, so why did it affect Shiro so much whenever Ichigo did it? It just felt like such a weird image. Like it wasn't normal.
'But it is,' he argued with himself. They'd been doing that since getting out of the Academy a few months ago.
'What do you think, Taiyo?' Shiro questioned his Zanpakutou, hoping that maybe he would have an idea.
'You will figure out soon enough, Haku.' The Zanpakutou murmured, sounding very out of character saying his real name unlike what he normally called him; Shi or Shiro.
Shiro went to question the spirit again, but he felt him go into the depths of his soul, and gave up, silently following Ichigo and the Captain as they turned into the room with the food.
Shiro broke out of his reverie to grab a plate and pile some food on it, following his companions' examples, and settled down at a table with the 2, who were still awkwardly silent.
Man, Mondays suck
The next day, we got our transfer papers for Squad 5. Captain Hitsugaya was reluctant to let Ichigo go to Captain Abarai's squad, but eventually allowed him. When Captain Ukitake found out that I was going to be in the same squad as Ichigo, he smiled, but refused to tell me why, and signed that I could transfer, recommending me to be a 3rd or 4th seat.
Ichigo and I met up outside the squad 5 barracks and decided to share a room, since that's what we'd done for most of our lives in Soul Society. By the time we were completely moved in, and our transfers were granted, it was late at night, and both of us collapsed onto our beds.
Silence hung in the air for a while, before Ichigo tentatively broke it.
"Hey Shiro?"
"Hmm?"
"Do...do you ever think about what happened in your human life?" He asked me hesitantly.
I pondered that for a moment, before replying. "Not really. You know me. I'm not really a live in the past kind of person. I live for the present, and spare the future a quick glance. What happened when we were 'alive' isn't really a big deal, ya know?"
Ichigo mulled over my response for a moment, thinking over the words. "But...don't you just wonder if you had a family? Don't you wonder if maybe you were a really great person then, but now you can't remember it? Or that now you're completely different than you used to be? I managed to get Hitsugaya to tell me that I lived in a place called Karakura town. Apparently I died by getting hit by a truck. Wonderful way to die, huh?"
I chuckled. Ichigo, one of the Shinigami Academy's prodigies, dying because he got hit by a truck.
"I suppose you're lucky someone told you about how you died. Ukitake refused to tell me, saying it was pointless to think about the past. And then I asked him if he remembered his human life..." I trailed off, unsure if Ichigo wanted to know about what I'd found out.
"And?" He pushed me to finish my sentence.
"Apparently he does, but he's lived so long that he can't really pick out certain parts; that it's all a blur. But, we've only lived in Soul Society for a few years; why have we forgotten our pasts? Everyone I asked remembers...but why not us?"
Ichigo sighed, brushing orange locks out of the way of his face. "I don't know. But sometimes, I feel like I'm about to remember something important from that time. It's like when you want to say something, and it's on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't get yourself to say or remember what it is. And I keep seeing weird stuff..." It was orange-haired soul reaper's turn to trail off, but he did it to keep himself from telling the events he'd seen; he didn't want to think Shiro was ever a hollow. But was that his past?
I exhaled slowly, just staring up at the ceiling of our room, wondering if Ichigo would say anything else. Then I remembered something.
"If I'm right, the winter war was going on while we were still alive. What do you think we were doing when that happened?"
Ichigo shrugged, but didn't look at me. "I'm not sure. I was probably around 15 or 16 so I was probably doing something pointless. It's weird to think Soul Society's saviour was our age at the time, huh?"
Frowning, I finally turned to look at him. "Have you noticed that no one mentions his name? They only say he was one of the greatest Soul Reapers of all time. But apparently, he was just a substitute; not even a full Shinigami. They also say he died..." Something clicked in my head.
"Ichi!" I called his name excitedly, sitting up to stare at him. He glanced over, curious, and rolled his eyes at my excited expression.
"Yes, Shiro?"
"Soul Society history says the saviour was just a substitute, right?"
Ichigo sat up, wondering where this was going, but decided to humour me. "Yes..."
"That means he was probably a human with Shinigami powers, right?"
Ichigo's eyebrows scrunched in thought. "It makes sense." He admitted slowly, unsurely.
"And they say he died, right?"
Ichigo snorted impatiently. "Yes Shiro, now what the hell are you getting at?"
"Touchy, touchy. Patience is a virtue. But that means he's here in Soul Society! He's probably in one of the squads right now! Soul Society would immediately get him to go through the academy when he died, and then put him in the squads! We should find out who he is since no one will tell us!" I told him my thoughts excitedly. A nice mystery would brighten this boring place up real quick.
Ichigo chuckled, but agreed that it would be really cool to find out who saved the Soul Society's asses so long ago.
"Alright, let's do it."
"We'll have to go to the 12th squad's library tomorrow. We can tell Captain Abarai that we need a few days to adjust to the change, and that we can go back on duty soon after. We can do research and find out what Soul Society is hiding."
Ichigo grinned, reached over and clapping my hand in a handshake. "Sounds good, partner. Let's do it. But first, sleep."
I nodded, reaching over to flip off the light switch, emptying the little room of the fluorescent glow.
"Night Ichi!" I whispered excitedly.
A sleepy chuckle was my only reply, before a little murmur wishing me a good night drifted to my ears. My eyes shut, and I willed myself to sleep in preparation for tomorrow.
1- I have absolutely NO idea how old Renji is. So I'm just totally making up a number XD Woo for imagination! –makes a rainbow with hands like Spongebob-
2- That's what I think of when I see Zabimaru in shikai. That it's connected by stretchy wire-like things. Shut up, and don't flame if I'm wrong. Simply tell me, and I shall correct my mistake :P
So, is this chapter suitable for you guys? Clear up some questions? Is anyone else amused by the fact that theyre basically gonna be researching themselves? Seems vain huh? Why am I asking all these questions? Does anyone care? XD
Review, and it'll inspire me to update sooner -hint- -hint-
I only got 2 reviews last time (dont get me wrong, I totally appreciated that guys!) but come on! You can do better! -points finger in your face- REVIEW!
