Author's note: I'm sorry the last few chapters have been kinda short. I suck at expanding things. Anyway, with the way I had written chapters 9 and 10, I decided to combine them. I'll try to update in a few days. Enjoy!
Chapter 9: You are my sunshine
I woke up in the underground space. Shinji stood above.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"Like someone bashed me over the head with a cement block," I said.
"That's to be expected," he said and helped me up.
"Now what?" I asked. I had a feeling that question was about to become habitual.
"Now we train you so you can maintain your mask for a while," he said.
"Define a while," I said.
"Hours. Mashiro can maintain for up fifteen," he said.
"Fantastic," I said.
Yes, fantastic. All the more so because you don't know how to use your own sword," he said. "Which is very cute by the way." He smirked.
"That's not a sword," I grumbled," I grumbled.
"Shut up, whiner," Emerdo kasai hissed.
"Bite me, you over-grown lizard," I said.
"Huh?"Shinji said.
"Sorry. My sword," I said.
"Ah. Getting along I see," he said.
"Like water on a burning house," I said.
"So yours is especially irritating?" he asked.
" 'Oh, I'm sorry. Did I forget to mention the time limit?' I want to use him as fish bait," I said.
"No, you don't," Shinji said. He walked over and placed an arm around my shoulders and started leading me towards the massive staircase.
"Come on. Let's get you cleaned up," he said.
We walked up the stairs and went into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and gave a low scream.
"Oh my god! My hair! I look like the bride of Frankenstein!" I said.
Shinji sighed. "Typical female. You're covered in cuts and bruises and all you see is your hair. And you don't look like Frankenstein's anything."
"Out. Get out. I need to take a shower. I feel nasty," I said.
"I'll get you something the wear. The towels are in the closet," he said. He shut the door and I stripped, then stepped into the shower. My body stung and it felt wonderful.
I was washing my hair when I heard the door open. I stuck my head out and saw him lay some clothing on the sink counter.
"Thank you!" I said smiling.
"You're welcome," he said and leaned against the door.
"Did you have something else you wanted to say?" I asked. He shook his head.
"O…kay," I said and ducked back behind the curtain. I finished washing my hair and turned off the shower. I heard the door open then shut, and looked to see Shinji had left. I dried off and got dressed.
I went upstairs and entered Shinji's room. He was on the bed, hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling. I closed the door and climbed into bed with him, snuggling into his chest. His hand came down to play with my hair.
"How are you really?" he asked.
"As well as can be expected, I suppose. Does it get better?" I asked.
"Not better, so much as manageable," he said. "But on the bright side, I get to have my way with you for eternity."
I punched him in the stomach. "Ouch! I knew you liked it rough."
I squirmed to the other side of Shinji and kicked him off the bed. "You don't have your way with me now. Rough or otherwise. Now, I am going to sleep. I've had a hard day and I deserve it," I said rolling over and shutting my eyes.
"You've had a hard day? I'm the one that's been keeping your ass in check. Making sure you don't kill anyone."
He got undressed and shoved me over so he could get into bed. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to him.
"Goodnight, Rei."
"Goodnight, Shinji."
I was jolted from sleep by a hard slap on my rear. I shot up and saw Shinji standing next to the bed, smiling down at me. I looked at the clock on his desk. 5:30 a.m. I snorted and flopped back into bed, pulling the covers up over my head. If he thought for a minute I was getting up this early on a weekend, he was out of his hollowfied mind. I clutched the pillow and started to drift off. The covers were ripped off and Shinji pulled me out of bed by my ankle. I sat up on the floor and threw the pillow. It smacked him in the face and I smiled. I got up and walked to the closet. I started to take off my shirt when Shinji screamed. I turned. He had a nose bleed.
"What are you doing?!" he said.
"I'm changing. What do you think?" I said.
"Aren't you going to make me leave?"
"I would if this were, say, 10 a.m. But it's not. It's 5:30 in the effing morning and I just do not care. So, either be a gentleman and turn around or shut up and enjoy the show."
I turned back around and took off my shirt and shorts. I put on a pair of jeans and a tank top. I felt arms go around my waist and Shinji's lips against my ear.
"You shouldn't talk like that. It might make me do something."
"What? Something like this…" I turned around and gave him a sound kiss on the lips. I started to pull back, but he jerked me forward, keeping contact. As much as I was enjoying this, I wanted to know why he'd woken me up to begin with. I pushed him back a little.
"Hey! Hey! Focus! I'm up here!" I said, lifting his chin as he tried to go for my neck. "Why did you wake me up?"
He straightened up. "We need to start your training. You can't maintain your hollow mask, yet."
"How do you know?"
"I just do."
"Yeah, but how?"
"Because you were-" he stopped abruptly, realizing whatever he said next would get him in hot water. Too late.
"I was what?"
"You were only human. Happy now?" I kicked him and left the room.
"Reiko! Get back here! I'm not done talking to you!"
"Bite me!"
The next minute, I found myself pinned to the wall by a very pissed off Shinji.
"Why are you being such a bitch? Are you on your period?" he asked. I made a choking sound.
"You wake me up this early under the assumption that I can't hold my mask because I was a mere human and you wonder why I'm being bitchy? Do use both a favor. Go to the store and buy yourself a clue." I started walking downstairs.
"Fine. Don your mask and hold it for 30 seconds," he said, leaning against the railing. I shrugged. I reached above me and pulled down. My mask covered my face and I looked at Shinji.
"Are you counting?" He looked at his watch.
"1, 2, 3, 4," he started.
As he counted, I went in to the kitchen and started making rice. Lisa was at the table looking at a swimsuit magazine.
"26, 27, 28," Shinji called. He finished counting and came into the kitchen. He walked up to where I was leaning against the counter and put his hands on either side of my hips, leaning in.
"It's still on," I said.
"You know I only act like this because I care. You're my first love," he said.
"Really?" I said, hopefully.
"Don't take him too seriously. He says that about every cute girl he meets," Lisa said.
"Shut up!" he said.
"What? She should know what a flake you are about these things. In fact, he said it about Orihime the other day," she said.
My head snapped up to Shinji so fast it cracked. I lifted the mask.
"Is that right?" I said
"Yes, but I didn't mean it. You're the only one I love. I swear," he said. He sounded sincere.
I pulled him down by his tie. "I love you, too." I gave him a light peck on the lips.
I let go of his tie and got my rice out of the steamer. I left the kitchen and sat on the couch eating. When I was done, I brought my mask back down.
"Hey, princess. How long do you think you can keep me at bay?" my hollow hissed.
"As long as I need too. I beat your ass once, I can do it again," I said. It hissed and shut up.
"Bravo! You're getting the nasty cat to shut up. I'm so proud," my zanpakto whispered.
"I'll be sure to weep tears of joy," I said.
I stretched out on the couch and stared at the ceiling.
"Yes, dearest?"
"How long do I have to do this?"
"You've only been at it for half an hour. You can take your mask off again in seven hours."
"Seven hours?"
"Don't start."
"I'm not starting anything."
"Yes, you are. I've already fought with you once today. I don't want to do it again," he said.
"Some fight. Didn't even have make up sex," I mumbled.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Nothing," I said. I rolled on to my stomach and looked at him over my shoulder. His eyes narrowed. I mock widened my eyes and looked away.
I saw the trap door was open and got off the couch. I started down the staircase and as I got to the bottom, I saw Hiyori was already beating the crap out of Ichigo. I sat on a rock and enjoyed the show. While I watched Hiyori knock Ichigo through another boulder, Rose settled next to me and gave me a curious look.
"You're not going to train?" he asked.
"No because I am going to prove our fearless leader wrong and maintain my mask for seven hours," I said.
"Shinji's rarely wrong, you know."
"That's not the point. It's the principle. He needs to stop under estimating me. It's not as though I was a normal human before all this happened," I said.
"Give him a break. He's on edge. The war's drawing closer. Then there's the matter of you. You know he's not going to let you fight. There's no way you'll be ready in just a few weeks," Rose said.
"But Ichigo-"
"Ichigo's been at this since spring. Not to mention the fact that his reiryoku is vastly stronger than yours. Yours is high, don't get me wrong, but it's nowhere near to Ichigo's."
I knew he was right. I didn't want to admit, but he was. I wasn't ready. I wasn't going to be ready. From what Shinji had told me of zanpakto releases, it might take me decades to where everyone else was. So, I needed to find a way to speed up the process.
