Sorry for taking so long; took a break 'cause I was sick and had a lot of stuff going on. Review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any original characters produced by Tite Kubo or Studio Perrot.
The two teenagers stared at the wall across from them as they heard random things crashing upstairs and Shin's mother yelling.
The boy smacked his forehead and sighed.
Who knew his mother could be so loud?
After much bickering and bantering within the Kurosaki household, Shin just decided he couldn't listen to anymore, so he just went outside... leaving Aoi inside... alone.
He disliked having to leave his girl by herself in the house, but he just needed some time alone. His life was passing by way too fast. Where was his time going? Where was his childhood leaving to? Who was he to become now? How would he fare with his new life as a high school student and military specialist? There were many more questions like this unanswered, and Shin wanted to know how to get the information to them all. Unfortunately, his Kenseigan didn't help.
There was another 'issue' at hand.
He was a Shinigami.
His earlier sight of the Hollow being slain reminded him of that, no matter what had happened. This was important, more important than his current situation in the physical world. The inverted Shinigami needed to be wary of every corner for the unknown enemy lurking in the dark, ready for the predator and prey that would pose as a threat... especially if his physical mechanical eyes couldn't detect them well.
The rain had lessened, allowing for Shin to feel the vibration of the phone against his leg from within his right pocket.
"Hello?" He answered, his hands paling as his grip tightened on the slim model piece of technology.
"Ah," the Doctor's voice was heard through the line, "Surprised that you managed to get away, haha."
"You just left ten minutes ago," the boy's mouth tightened, "Why call me now?"
"I forgot to tell you," the Doctor sort of laughed on the other side, the cyborg couldn't really tell. "You start school in three days."
"I don't think that may be possible, Doc."
"What? Why?" The Professor's voice suddenly sounded confused, "Is something going on?"
"No, I just need to go somewhere... important. Sorry, I'll contact you through this number again when I'm available."
With that, Shin hung up. He looked down at the ground, his orange bangs hanging over his eyes.
Dr. Archibald just stared at his mobile device for a good five minutes.
Whatever it was, he wouldn't even bother.
Shin ran back inside, expecting to find the house still noisy. However, upon his return to the interior of his home, the teenager, whose black dress attire had now become wet again, slowly stepped into the house, finding that it was oddly quiet. He was weary of his mother's yelling, so slipped off his shoes in case she popped out from around the corner, trying to catch him walking upon the carpet with his footwear. Turning the corner to get into the living room, he bumped into a pretty face.
"I-te! (Ow)" Shin's hand immediately covered his nose, trying to catch any blood that might fall.
"Aiii..." Aoi was holding her forehead, a little red from smashing it into the center of her savior's face.
I can't believe I was dumb enough to not notice my girlfriend coming around the corner... Shin mentally berated himself. Upon that thought, his face dulled a bit.
His girlfriend. In fact, she wasn't his girlfriend at all. He was still some 'stranger' that happened to run into her at the 'funeral of his friend' and just coincidentally saved her from many dangerous situations and events that may have been life-threatening.
Right now, he was not supposed to think as if he were Shin. He was to be 'Kira', the unknown high-school mercenary. He saddened at that. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try and become her boyfriend... again.
"A-Aoi," he called for her attention.
"Hm?" She looked up at him with her wide, blue eyes. They instantly captivated him... just as his did hers. He noticed the blood rise to her face as a bright blush became visible to him. "W-what is it?" She was still cutely covering her forehead with both hands, one overlapping the other.
"I'm going away," he sighed out, unable to hold his breath in any longer.
Her eyes instantly widened as tears began to form at the edges, and her mouth dropping open as a gasp escaped her lips. Her hands dropped and grabbed the hem of his shirt, pulling herself closer to his body. She tightened her grip, and forced herself to look into his eyes deeper, hoping that they would not pull away or leave her sight.
"W-why? Where are you going?" She was frightfully filled with panic as she was afraid of... yes, losing her loved one. She had desperately fallen in love with a man that she had only met about eight hours ago. Those precious eight hours had been filled with fear, anxiety and even severe depression. But those were not the only feelings that she felt. She had felt the emotions and feelings of security, happiness, and even the sacred emotion called love. She had fallen helplessly in love with another man that she had only known for so long... and she became afraid.
"Somewhere. This is rather important," 'Kira' looked away from her, trying not to meet her eyes any longer.
At this the tears truly fell. At this her feelings of love and warmth began to fall to the ground. At this, Aoi's sadness surfaced and revealed itself.
"A-are you going to leave me too?" She looked up at him, his eyes now facing her with surprise. She slid to the floor, her legs now unable to support her weight. "I can't bear it... anymore... I lost someone already... not another... I can't..."
Shin looked down at her again. He shut his eyes and wished he could kill himself. The teenager's mindset was still that of before: he was still thinking they were together; that he was still 'alive' and she was still his girlfriend.
He needed to change.
"Aoi, that's not it," he bent down and hugged her, "I'm not leaving you..."
She kept crying, unmoving, obvious that her strength had diminished from the hectic events.
"Shh, shh," Shin tried to calm her down, "I'm not going to leave you..."
The boy swallowed, preparing himself.
"I love you."
"I love you," his voice rang throughout her head.
Aoi heard the three words bounce around within her head, echoing on for all of eternity. Her ears didn't play a dirty trick on her mind... did they? She attempted to slow down her breathing, and calm herself down, but her heart kept thumping so hard. The loud beating noise overpowered her senses, allowing for nothing else to enter her range of hearing. Her crying gradually stopped though, as she began to feel the heat of Shin's body enter her through his tight hug. She just stayed in that position, limp, letting Kira keep hugging her. She couldn't hold it in.
"S-say that again..." the pink-haired girl's blush returned even stronger, darker than the previous.
The silver-haired boy pulled back to look for a confirmation. Aoi's heart began to beat even faster, her eyes still trapped within his gaze.
"I-I w-want to hear..." her voice drifted off, her eyes widened, as a deer caught in headlights. "U-uh..."
"Hm? Say that again?" His voice had a melodious ring to it, almost mischievous, but the girl couldn't hear it. Her heart was still thumping way too loudly.
"I-I..." Her mouth just hung open, her voice drifting off as her she was getting frenzied about this. She couldn't seem to think of a way out. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? Wasn't she supposed to be the one crying while grasping his clothing so tightly that he couldn't run away, confessing her undying love? So, why was it that he was holding her and the one saying I love you, while she was the one being flustered about it? Where had the roles gone?
The truth is, when it comes to love, romantic roles don't take place. They just happen to go with the flow.
"Here, I'll only say this once," the firmness of his muscles pressed up against her as he drew himself to her ear, making her stomach do butterflies as she felt his hot breath go down on the side of her face and neck. "Well...
... I – 'l-o-v-e' you"
She fainted.
Shin tried to hold in a chuckle. The poor girl fainted, so he carried her back up to his bed and left her note with his cell phone number. Of course, he was going to be away, so he wrote that he would call her. It would be rude to just have her call him and not be able to pick up.
"You're an unbelievable little devil with the ladies," the AI chirped within his head. "What do you do to make them fall for you like that?"
"It's just Aoi, there's no way that another-" Shin stopped as KIRA pointed out a group of women on the other side of the street. It seemed to be a coterie of older teenage girls, coming home late from somewhere apparently. The computer program showed him that several of the girls were checking him out...commenting on his hair and eyes. The boy gulped and kept walking forward.
"So, what's the trick?"
"I dunno," Shin sputtered out, his words becoming slurred at the revelation.
The cyborg used his military given skills to slip into the house unnoticed. It was nearly 12:30 in the morning, and he did not want to wake up the manager. He figured he should have come back, but his grandfather had ditched him at the funeral and the boy hadn't come home since. He wondered if the manager was waiting for him or just sleeping. He silently crept across the floor on all fours like a cat, careful not to apply pressure on any old pieces of the wood.
His eyes flickered from wall to wall, corner to corner, quickly looking for any trace of any being that may come out to pounce him. There were none.
"Ahem," a deep familiar voice came up from behind him.
"Eh?" a comical face came over Shin's face.
Tessai had caught him.
"So," Urahara-san sipped his tea. "That's quite a story. Quite glad to see that you gave me all the details."
"Er..." the silver-haired boy rubbed the back of his head. Well, not all of them. He thought of the room incident between him and Aoi as a blush came over his face.
"You are a strange boy..." the store-owner kept drinking his tea. "So many things keep happening to you, you know! And then I'm the one who wakes up at ONE AM to hear it!" The striped-hat wearer had a vein appear on his forehead as he slammed his tea cup on the table.
"Uh-uh... yeah! Ahahaha..." Shin casually laughed along, seemingly calm. Oh crap, I'm dead.
"Hm," the manager entered into deep thought. "You ever wonder, Shin-san?"
"Eh, what?" Shin braced himself.
"You ever get the feeling some author is toying around with your life, you know? Like in those manga-novel-book thingys?"
"Uh..." The boy didn't have an answer for that.
This was it. His fulfillment to the test.
Shin and Ichigo roamed the city in search of Hollow.
"Why are we lookin' for Hollow again?" The older death-god asked.
"We're looking for them because my soul slayer asked me to. And not just any Hollow... it has to be a soul condemned to hell."
"Hmm," Ichigo pondered upon that. He had come upon many of them in his lifetime. The orange-haired man got chills every time he thought of the doors of Hell opening and dragging the Hollow down with it. Kinda freaky. "Your zanpakuto must be lusting to slay a Hollow if its asking for things like that. Heh, well with the crime rate in this city we're bound to find at least one."
"I heard there was a serial killer that died several weeks ago," Shin commented, obtaining information from his computer friend.
"Oh yeah, I also heard from Soul Society's Intel that there was a Hollow out on the loose in this area killing off Shinigami. I need to get on that..." A sweat-drop fell down the side of Ichigo's face.
"Perfect," Shin immediately activated his new 'Reiatsu-Detection' program that he and KIRA had created. The white-clothed Shinigami found that it was increasingly difficult for him to sense other people's reiatsu, so he would use his RADAR system with his spiritual energy to locate the location of spiritual entities. Of course, on-screen, physical enemies were colored yellow, and Hollow would be red. Anything else unidentified was blue. However, in this large metropolis called Tokyo, it made it harder to distinguish enemies as the signals were often blocked or deflected by large buildings. The boy would have to improvise.
The espada look-alike immediately jumped high into the air, above every building. His eyes were now able to scan the entire city from the tremendous hight.
"Shin! Get down you fool!"
Hm? Shin's eyes moved to an approaching ally.
"They can see you!" Ichigo was seen approaching him using Shunpo.
The cyborg death-god turned his attention to several Shinigami approaching him. The contacts on his HUD counted up to thirteen death gods and one captain. A captain. Shin's eyes narrowed. He knew that he wasn't supposed to be seen by the public or Soul Society, yet he had been discovered. So much for the hiding.
"Cheh!" The Arrancar-imitator quickly blurred out of existence and reappeared right into the middle of the attacking group.
"Woah!" one of the opposing Shinigami cried, and brought down his soul slayer upon the younger boy.
With absolute skill and without hesitation, Shin immediately palmed the other in the chest, blowing him about fifty yards away. Another Shinigami came up on his rear and tried to stab him, but the enhanced cyborg twirled in the air and round-house kicked into the man's right cheek with his left foot. The older offender swirled in the air. Wasting not time, Shin continued to use hand-to-hand combat against the other Shinigami, effectively neutralizing them. All that was left was the captain.
"Heh, that was impressive, kid," the elder death god smirked and spit. "I thought all the Espada or whatever got wiped out in the war."
"I'm not an Espada or Arrancar or whatever. I'm a Shinigami."
The captain stared for a few full minutes with wide eyes, then threw his head back and laughed hard.
"Hah! Being dressed like that, who would believe you? You make me laugh!" The man drew his sword, "And you've taken out thirteen of my most capable men in three minutes. I must fight you! Hagh!" the captain swung his sword, a huge blast of odd-colored reiatsu making its way towards the younger fighter.
Shin refused to use his swords in combat against another Shinigami. He couldn't afford to.
"Fight me like a man! Hahahah!" The older death god continued to swing his sword with inhuman strength and speed, almost so that Shin was forced to backpedal his steps to avoid being hit.
"Stop! Stop!" Finally Ichigo had intervened, breathing heavily from trying to catch up to the two fighters.
"Oi! Ichigo! Watcha doin' here? Eh?" the pointy-haired captain pointed his sword at the orange-haired one, completely disregarding the younger Shinigami in front of him.
"Same for you! Kenpatchi! What are you doing here!?" Ichigo was surprised that the man had come to Tokyo in the first place.
Shin was left out, left to wonder what in the world was going on.
"Well, I was sent to get that Hollow runnin' around, ya know? Then I meet this guy here! He's great for sparrin'!"
"He's my grandson!"
"Oh, that explains it."
"W-what!? Aren't you all surprised or whatever?"
"Nah, I was just hopin' to spar with you as a challenge. Then I got to fight this kid instead! Hah, you've trained him well!"
"Er..." Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't really train him... he's all natural with that fighting stuff..."
"Are you for real!? Hahahaha! You have to bring this kid to spar with me later!"
"Y-yeah... eheheh..."
"Taichou! (Captain/Leader)" A Shinigami's voice called from the ground. "Taaiiicchhooouuuu!!"
"Shuttup! I can hear you from miles away! What is it!?" The old warrior grumbled.
"We found it! The Hollow!" The Shinigami was waving at his captain from the ground. "Here, come her-"
All of a sudden, a blurry large monster appeared from the bushes and swept the man away with its mouth, leaving behind large trails of blood as its prey screamed its lungs out.
"Oh damn," the captain sighed.
"I'm on it." Shin instantly used Shunpo to get on the enemy's heels.
"That boy's amazin' at usin' the Flash Step... and he doesn't even have your bankai or anything... He ever train under that Yoruichi?"
"Nah, but at this rate, I'm starting to get the feeling that he's going to be the next Sunshin (God of Flash)..."
"Who is?" a familiar woman's voice came up from behind him. Ichigo turned around to see who it was and let out a huge gasp.
Shin couldn't quite catch the monster. As soon as he tried to reach with his hand, the devious Hollow just bolted around a corner... annoying the wits out of the cyborg. He decided to use that. Pulling up a commands list from his HUD, he selected the recommended skills to use, as recommended by the artificial intelligence. He would use Kido (Demon Arts), specifically Hadou (Destructive Arts), taught to him by Tessai-san... but with a little twist. Being a cyborg Shinigami with a brain that could mulit-task incantations, he would use two hands... instead of one.
Within his mind, he chanted.
Sprinkled on the bones of the Beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! ... (1)
Ye Lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the flame of Man! Inferno and Pandemonium, the sea barrier surges! March on to the South! ... (2)
"Hadou no Rokujuu-san: Raikouho (DA Sixty Three: Thunder Roar Cannon (1))!! Hadou no Sanjuu-ichi: Shakkaho (DA Thirty One: Shot of Red Fire (2))!!"
A wave of yellow energy erupted from his left hand, as a destructive cannonball of red fire burst from his right. The first attacked forced the beast to stop in its tracks to avoid being hit, and the second trapped it as it turned around to flee. A huge explosion occurred, having hit the target on contact.
"That's impressive," a low voice said into his ear.
"Huh?" Shin whipped his head around to shockingly see a woman with short hair standing next to him. When did she get there!?
"Hm, Ichigo was never good at Kido... You seem to be a promising Shinigami..."
"W-who are you?" the orange-tipped, silver-haired death god gulped, hoping that this woman wasn't out to get him too.
"Rukia!" his grandfather called, running towards them. "Geez, don't go running off on your own. Let me at least introduce my own grandson..."
"I-Ichigo-jii, you know this woman?"
"Yeah, she's sorta my colleague... you know? Eheheh..." the Shinigami nervously laughed it off.
"Oi, Ichigo. Your grandson seems to show a lot of potential, although his control is a little fluctuating. You better train him well..." the older woman stared at the two of them.
"More training!? I've been training my ass off!" Shin flustered about, worried he would have to endure more of the fighting hell.
A loud roar was heard from the direction of the destruction of the Kido that Shin used, drawing the three death gods' attention. Soon, Kenpatchi joined them, itching to get into the fight.
The Hollow had survived.
"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bares the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws... Hadou no Sanjuu-san: Soukatsui (DA Thirty Three: Crashdown)!!" Rukia cried as a quick and deadly blast of blue fired from her hand. An explosion immediately occurred afterwards, but the beast still lived. "Damnit!" She became frustrated and unsheathed her sword, ready to battle.
"Damn, that's one persistent bitch, if you ask me," Zaraki commented.
"That things not normal," Ichigo readied his sword. "I'm gonna-"
"Shine, Amaterasu! Destroy, Susanoo! Kasei, Kamikaze!"
The overpowering effects of the sword blew the air with such force that the other three Shinigami were forced to partially cover their eyes.
"Graaaggh! Hahahah!" The Hollow laughed in the face of death. "You'll never catch me!" It blew multiple blasts of red spiritual energy from its mouth.
Some of the blasts met head-on with the fire and wind, but failed to prevent them from coming. The remaining blobs of reiatsu that made their way toward Shin would never reach.
"Reflect, Tsukiyomi! Hansha!"
The familiar shield formed in front of Shin, reflecting the offensive energy back at the monster. Met with its own attack, it screamed unprepared, unable to defend itself. Ichigo, Rukia and Zaraki stood stunned at the performance, not being able to move after witnessing such skill and power from the three swords. The battle had ended way too fast.
The boy wasted no time. Walking up to the downed monster, he grabbed the scruff of its neck and lifted the large beast into the air. It was odd, looking at a smaller being lift something so large.
"Tell me," Shin began, "Are you the soul of the human serial killer who was executed a while ago?"
The monster struggled to escape the white-clothed Shinigami's grasp, but failed to do so, as it was too weak to do anything.
"Will you kill me if I am?" The beast chuckled, then winced in pain as the death god tightened his grip on its neck.
"Foolish being... Does it matter?" The teenager looked into the Hollow's with threatening, piercing eyes. It pissed the monster off.
"Che, yeah! What are ya going to do about it, huh?" The Hollow began to laugh, then jerked to a stop as a blade was suddenly stabbed into its back and came out of its chest. "U-ughh... W-wait... I don't want to die... not y-yet... no...
...no... Nooo!!"
The large doors of hell appeared, and the chains broke as the large, colossal gateway opened itself. A large, skeletal hand rushed out from the dark world and grabbed a hold of the beast, pulling it in.
"No! Nonononono! I can't die yet! Not yet! No! This can't be! Noooooooo!!"
The hand had fully drawn in the Hollow into the Underworld.
Just before the doors closed, Shin looked back at his grandfather and the two companions, smiling.
"Ja-na (See you)." He slipped inside.
"W-what!? Shin! No! What are you doing!? Come back!" Ichigo desperately chased after his kin, hoping to save him. It was too late, the doors shattered, leaving empty space behind.
The eleventh-squad captain held the flailing death-god back, trying to tell him it was impossible to bring back his grandson.
"Why!? Damnit! Why did he do that?" the orange-haired Shinigami cried. "Shin! Damnit! You idiot!" The death-god slammed his fists into the ground.
Rukia stared into the space that the white-clothed Shinigami once stood. She was thinking hard about something. It had caught her ears as to the names and chants to his swords' releases. They were very interesting names... the names of a very important tale told to all and kept safe within Soul Society's research library. No wonder the boy was able to slay the hollow so easily... so quickly with such skill and grace... and it explained the boy's high level of spiritual power. The raven-haired death god wracked her mind as to how this could be. Did Ichigo know? If he was around, then Urahara would definitely know by now. The names of Shin's zanpakuto.
His soul-slayers had the names of the gods of old...
A/N: Oooohhhhhhhhhh!! Epic-ness about to arrive in the next chapter! What will happen to Shin!? Why did he do what he did? What will he do now? What will Ichigo do to save him? Find out in the next chapter, the beginning of ACT 02!!
PS: REVIEW GUYS, SERIOUSLY. lol
