. . . Yeah, I'm sort of beyond making excuses besides the fact that life got busy on me. I also don't really have anything to say before the chapter starts, so I'll just go ahead and end the AN here.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Shizuko and Toshiko are my OCs.
Chapter 25
"You know, I'm perfectly capable of going there myself," said Shizuko as she made her daily walk towards the warehouse. Toshiko shrugged.
"Sorry, even though I'm not from his division, I still have to follow Hitsugaya-taicho's orders. Besides, I'm only here as a precaution. I'm not going to be a pain in the ass when it comes to weak hollows or arrancars, if you can handle it," she said. In truth, Toshiko was only there because nobody wanted Shizuko to walk alone after the Ichimaru incident and Toshiko, having no other job since she just got there, was assigned as the escort.
With Renji training Chad at the shop, Rukia and Orihime leaving that morning to train in Soul Society, and Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Rangiku all patrolling around, it wasn't like Toshiko had anyone to hang out with, anyway. And while she did appreciate Shizuko rigging the shower to spray something called "Kool-Aid" (she had stopped Toshiko from going to the bathroom since she didn't want to pull a prank on the newest person . . . yet), which really got Renji (the victim) mad, she still didn't understand why Aizen was after this person. Nobody had yet to explain that beyond the fact that she seemed to have what Aizen wants.
Toshiko didn't see what Aizen would want, since Shizuko appeared to be a substitute shinigami in training. She was the same as Ichigo, wasn't she?
Oh well, in the end, it didn't matter. So long as Shizuko stayed out of Hueco Mundo, Toshiko could claim that her mission was successful. Besides, everything was going to be explained eventually. For now, she just had to protect Shizuko from arrancar attacks.
Shizuko knew better than to think that she could get Toshiko to leave her be, but she wasn't sure if she was supposed to let a shinigami follow her all the way to the warehouse. Nobody ever said anything about their relations with anyone from Soul Society, but she couldn't help but think that there was a chance things could go sour if the vizards met with Toshiko, especially given Toshiko's temper last night.
But for now, since they were still quite a ways from the warehouse, she might as well try to get to know Toshiko, if only to kill time and distract herself.
"What division are you from?" she asked. Toshiko frowned, finding the question a bit random, but decided to answer anyway.
"I'm from the 11th division, like Ikkaku and Yumichika."
"You must be strong, then," said Shizuko. Toshiko nodded.
"Yep. I have to be, since I'm the 4th seat." Shizuko's eyes widened a bit in surprise.
"Scratch that, you must be really strong, since that division is focused on fighting," she commented. Toshiko nodded. The others must have told her about Soul Society for her to know this stuff.
"Yeah. It can be a pain, having to deal with so many idiots, especially if they forget how I got to my position, but I can handle it," said Toshiko nonchalantly. Shizuko then eyed the Zanpakuto at her waist. Toshiko didn't have a gigai yet, so she was walking around, invisible to the rest of the world. Shizuko was thinking back to last night.
"But, from what I saw, isn't your Zanpakuto a kido type?" Toshiko froze at the question and stared at Shizuko, who stopped walking as well. Toshiko's eyes narrowed.
"You are not to discuss that with anyone. Got it?" she said, coldly. Shizuko nodded, seeing that she had hit a nerve. So talking about her Zanpakuto was taboo. That must mean that she wanted to stay in the 11th division, since everyone in the 11th division would only use physical attacks in their –
Shizuko flinched as she felt another headache coming. Toshiko noticed this.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked, not really out of concern. She just wanted to shift the conversation onto another topic.
"Nothing. Just a headache." That was starting to become a frequent phrase of hers. Toshiko shrugged it off, since it was nothing serious.
"So, where are we going, anyway? I've been told that you would go somewhere for a whole day, even though you need to train," said Toshiko.
"I am training. Just not with Urahara," clarified Shizuko.
"Why do you need to go all the way out here for training? Who are you meeting?" asked Toshiko, not understanding any of the other woman's actions.
"I'm meeting people who've been helping me," said Shizuko as they drew closer to the warehouse the vizards resided in.
"And these people live in a warehouse with that strong barrier protecting," stated Toshiko, seeing why the others had trouble finding her whenever she would run off like this. Shizuko nodded.
"Don't worry. These people can be trusted. However, I'm not sure if they would like me bringing in a stranger . . ." Toshiko walked off, taking the hint.
"I'm not going in with you, since the fact that you've been able to come back every day so far is proof that whoever is in there isn't planning on harming you now. However, I'm supposed to be your escort, so I'll wait out here until you come out." Toshiko's tone left no room for argument.
Sounds like someone takes her job somewhat seriously.
Either that or she just doesn't want to be around Renji at the moment. Shizuko still remembered the tension between the two yesterday. She was still debating whether or not to ask about that, even though it could be a private matter that she should avoid.
Shizuko was still thinking this as she walked through the barrier and into the warehouse. Maybe she should give the issue a wide berth for now, and if it persisted, pester Toshiko about it. After all, Toshiko would probably be compliant about telling her if she was pranked enough. She smiled evilly as she thought of all the things she could do to her new roommate (since there were no more spare rooms for Toshiko).
"Shizuko!" She looked up to see that she was halfway down the stairs and that Mashiro was waving up at her. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, the rant came.
"Are you okay? We sensed Ichimaru coming after you last night and got worried. We had to restrain Ichigo and we were about to come out when we sensed one of the shinigami helping you. But then Ichimaru left for some reason. He didn't try to take you to Hueco Mundo, did he? Do you need an e-"
"Mashiro!" She stopped talking once Shizuko raised a hand and said her name.
"I'm okay. I didn't exactly get what happened last night, since I couldn't remember at what point I went to the park or why I was out so late, but a shinigami did help me and he did go away. But he didn't try to take me by force, so I don't get why he was there." Shizuko frowned. Just what did that guy want? And what did he mean when he said he was a friend?
"So I'm guessing the shinigami outside is an escort the others assigned to you as a precaution against another incident like that," said Shinji as he made his way over. Shizuko nodded.
"Yeah, I didn't know how you guys would feel about me bringing someone here, but nobody wanted me to be out by myself after last night. She did decide to respect your privacy and wait outside," explained Shizuko, who remembered that she didn't know their policy on outsiders (well, technically she was one, since she wasn't a vizard).
Shinji just shrugged.
"I understand the precaution, so I won't mind her just hanging around outside. Besides, it's not like she can get inside without our permission anyway," he said, referring to the barrier, "Now, you said that you didn't remember how you got to the park last night?"
Shizuko nodded.
"What was the last thing you remembered?" he asked. She frowned and looked down as she thought back to when she left.
". . . I was leaving the warehouse and got as far as fifty feet away when, the next thing I knew, I was lying in the park with a headache and a man with silver hair standing next to me." Shinji frowned.
"How bad was the headache?" he asked.
"It felt like my head was about to explode. I think I remember knowing nothing but that pain for a long while before becoming aware in the park," she explained. Shinji nodded.
"And you're ok now?" She nodded.
"Hey Shizuko! You can spare with me today," said Mashiro, who saw that Ichigo and Hiyori were currently in a heated battle and that it wasn't going to end soon. Shizuko nodded and walked off with her. Shinji had let her go and, instead, walked over to Hachi, who had been sitting within earshot of the conversation.
"What do you think?" Shinji asked.
"It sounds like she went through a regular trauma. While we do know that she had chased Ichimaru into the park on her own, she can't seem to remember doing that. He must have almost forced a memory to surface, which caused her enough pain that, as a defense mechanism, her brain made her forget the incident that involved the seal and everything that lead up to it. However, it does confirm what I fear about trying to break the seal with force," said Hachi. Shinji nodded.
"That's what I thought." He looked over to where he saw Shizuko and Mashiro spare. She didn't look like she was really affected by what happened. She looked the same as always.
Suddenly, he felt a surge of reiastu. The reiastu of a hollow. He looked over at Mashiro to see that she had her mask on. Not good.
"Mashiro! What are you doing?" The commotion, of course, caught everyone's attention. However, it didn't stop the sparring session.
"She asked for it!" replied Mashiro as she fired a cero at the amnesiac shinigami. Shizuko jumped out of the way, only to have to block a kick to her side. She was now fast enough to defend against Mashiro with her mask, but she could hardly find room to go on the offensive.
"What could she have possibly done to make you mad?" asked Lisa, who'd put down her book in favor of watching this incident.
"She didn't make me mad!" said Mashiro as Shizuko dodged another kick to her head, "She asked to spar with me with my mask on!" Now this took everyone by surprise.
"Shizuko! Why would you do that? You're not ready!" shouted Shinji.
"I'm testing something!" yelled Shizuko as she monitored her Zanpakuto during the fight. She was starting to take a beating at this point, but she was prepared for that. There was something she wanted to confirm from this fight.
Shizuko . . .
The warning came seconds before the same black aura from the last time surrounded the sword. Mashiro backed off from the fight and took her mask off when she saw it.
"Shizuko!" Shizuko ignored the cry as she focused on concentrating the energy. She held Shadobisuto horizontal in front of her with the blade facing away from her. The black energy then started to form a sphere in front of the blade. Shizuko focused on controlling the overflowing energy as it turned from black to blue.
Then, in one slashing motion, she commenced the attack.
"Cero!" Mashiro jumped out of the way as the cero left a path of destruction. A few boulders got destroyed, but no one got hurt. Shizuko also noticed that, now that she fired the attack, the energy in the sword was less concentrated and wasn't threatening to overwhelm her. Once the dust cleared, Shinji looked at Shizuko.
"How did you do that?" he asked, having an idea as to what happened. Shizuko stared down at her sword, which was now calm and lacking a black aura surrounding it.
"Shadobisuto continually takes in the reiastu of the enemy in order to see how it is manipulated for certain attacks so that she can copy it. I was testing a theory I had about being able to mimic a hollow's attack, like the cero. It would be better if I remembered this from the get-go, but . . ." Shizuko trailed off as she realized what she said. Shinji frowned.
"What is it?" he asked. Shizuko looked up at him from her Zanpakuto, wondering how to explain it. She had never once told them that she wasn't human, or that she couldn't remember much of her life. And now she had let something like that slip. These people were too smart. She knew that they would realize the slip-up soon.
You can always be honest with them. I remember telling you that you have nothing to fear from them.
Right. She did say that before. However . . .
"Shizuko, what is it? What do you mean by remember?" Shinji had already caught it. There was almost no turning back now. She sighed as she finally decided on a course of action.
"Well, it's a somewhat long story." She might as well tell them. Shinji, seeing where this was going, walked over to the side to take a seat.
"If that's the case, then why don't you make yourself comfortable," he suggested. She nodded as she sheathed her sword.
Five minutes later found not only her sitting with her back against a boulder across from Shinji and next to Mashiro, but everyone else seemed interested in what she had to say as they were now part of a rough circle, looking at her expectantly. Even Ichigo and Hiyori were taking a break to hear this.
Yeah, no pressure. Shizuko cleared her throat.
"Well, I guess I should start by apologizing. While I don't think I said anything about it, I went and let you guys assume that I was a human."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Hachi. Everyone knew what she was trying to tell them now, thanks to Yoruichi, but they couldn't let Shizuko know this. They needed her to keep trusting them. So they would play dumb for now.
"Basically, I'm not human," she said bluntly.
"Then what are you?" asked Rose. Shizuko shrugged.
"I don't know. I can't remember."
"Then how do you know you're not human?" asked Lisa.
"Well, from what I saw, humans don't go 40 years without aging. So that was kind of a hint for me there," she said dryly. Everyone had sweat-dropped at her response.
"Do you know why you can't remember?" asked Shinji, moving things along. Shizuko shook her head.
"No. I just woke up in an alley one day. I had no idea how I got there or why I was there. In fact, I couldn't even remember my name," she explained.
"Wait, then where did you get your name from?" asked Love. Her explanation didn't add up.
"That was where Shadobisuto came in." When no one said anything and just frowned at her, Shizuko sighed.
"I said before that I had been hearing her voice before I was able to call on her. I first heard her voice shortly after I woke up." Shinji frowned.
"What did she say?" he asked.
"She asked me if I was ok. When I couldn't remember anything about her, she had assured me that she was my friend. She even told me her name and my name, so that I would know how to address myself. It was actually through her advice that I knew where I lived at the time and how to avoid the hollows I eventually started to see." Shizuko's gaze took on a faraway look as she thought about how her Zanpakuto had been helping her all these years.
"And that's how you lived for 40 years?" asked Mashiro. Shizuko nodded. Shadobisuto was right. They were being more understanding about this than she had assumed. Maybe nothing surprised the shinigami and vizards anymore.
"I have one question. Are you able to manifest your Zanpakuto's form?" asked Shinji. Shizuko frowned at the random question.
"I haven't tried. Why do you ask?" Shinji shrugged.
"I was just wondering. I also wanted to talk to Shadobisuto for a bit," he said. Shizuko studied him for a moment, wondering what he wanted.
". . . Well, I would require some training, but I guess I can try," she finally said. Shinji nodded.
"No need to rush. After all, you still need to build up your strength to fight off the arrancars by yourself," he said. Shizuko nodded, but she still watched him carefully. Finally, Love and Rose stood up.
"Well, it's our turn to go get lunch," said Rose. As they left, Ichigo, Hiyori, Shizuko, and Mashiro continued with their training. While they were busy, Shinji, Hachi, Lisa, and Kensei gathered. Three of them were staring at one.
"Okay, Shinji, talk. Why do you want to talk to her Zanpakuto?" asked Lisa. Shinji looked over at the two sparring groups to make sure that they were too busy to notice them. When he was satisfied, he answered the question.
"Because it's clear that the seal had no effect on her Zanpakuto whatsoever. It remembers everything, and from what I can tell, it hasn't done anything to try to restore Shizuko's memory. I want to know why."
What a twist! Shizuko finally speaks the truth, only to reveal a sword's secret without realizing it! What will happen from here? Find out next time!
In the meantime, please leave a review and tell me what you think of the story so far. It helps.
Later!