Three months later
The field just outside of the perimeter of the town rang out with grunts of exertion and clacks of practice swords, occasionally punctuated with a sharp yelp.
Rukia found herself panting in exertion, quickly wiping the sweat from her brow as she took a moment to glare at their opponent as she catalogued all of her aches and bruises.
She was grimy, sweaty, and tired. While her bruises weren't bad, they were certainly plentiful, and were making themselves known across her body. Homura and Shizuku were in a similar state - even Homura's legendary energy was waning, though that might have been due to her taking more hits than either of them. Shizuku was doing better, but that wouldn't last long.
Meanwhile their opponent, despite it being one versus three, only looked winded. They hadn't even managed to land a single hit yet.
She let out a grunt of pain as her hands received a hit, and she had to force herself to not let go of her weapon (she wouldn't fall for that again!). The raven haired girl then glared at Shirou as he moved away and lowered his striped practice sword.
"The three of you are doing a lot better." He complimented them warmly, showing them an encouraging grin, "would you like to call it here or keep going?"
It was said with complete sincerity, and she knew that. Still, a part of her couldn't help but bristle at the offer. Three months of training, and they still weren't able to touch him!
Obviously they weren't expecting to beat him anytime soon - as punishing as their training was, three months wasn't that long, even with the assortment of brawling and dirty tricks that she'd picked up over the years. But surely landing a strike was within reason?!
Her motivation for getting stronger might have been to protect Homura and Shizuku… But it turns out that spite was a great motivator as well.
None of them wasted any breath in replying to Shirou's question, though Homura let out a low grow. Instead, each of them raised their swords determinedly.
Shirou looked at them in what she thought might be approval before returning to his own stance, "Alright, but as usual, I'm not going to go easy on you even if you're tired." He warned.
Rukia internally scoffed. Did he ever?
In an instant she dashed forward while Homura and Shizuku teleported behind him causing him to explode into action, their spar continuing. Lashing out with her own practice sword, Rukia couldn't help but reminisce over all that had happened since Shirou had shown up.
So much had changed. It really wasn't an exaggeration to say that their whole world had changed the moment Shirou saved her in that dirty alley. Looking back on it, Rukia found the contrast almost painful.
Before, their days had been focused on survival. Stealing necessities when they had to, fending off bullies and running away from adults, or sometimes just salvaging from abandoned houses. What little downtime had just been the three of them spending time together. They'd play some simple games, draw together… It might not have been anything big or grand, but it had been a little slice of calm that they relished. A refuge from the fear of what might come the next day - be it potential bullies, gangs, or hunger and thirst.
Now, their days were filled with activity.
Sparring, guiding Shirou through another sector of the district, helping people, renovating, hunting, attending one of the lessons that Shirou organized… Every evening they went to bed tired, but it was a good kind of tired.
Rukia had spent the last forty years feeling like she was just drifting through life. Day after day, everything was always the same. Meeting Shizuku and Homura had changed that slightly, giving her… Direction. A purpose. But it was only after being saved by Shirou that she actually felt cared for.
She had been left on somebody's doorstep as a baby, her 'caretaker' having no issues in letting her know how much she wasn't wanted. The moment she was old enough she struck out on her own and never looked back. Occasionally joining other groups for a time, she more often found herself on her own.
Abandoned houses were her home, the streets her schoolyard. What lessons she learned were self taught, and the penalty for failure was steep. If she had her way, Shizuku and Homura would never go through all that she did.
So Rukia was fairly confident that she could be forgiven for feeling so off balance with this new schedule; Having regular meals, somebody she can trust to not stab them in the back, somebody that knew how to do things beyond basic survival and could teach them…
Having somebody that she could actually depend on.
While Shirou was determined to help as many people in the District as he could, he always seemed to have time for them. He was working on building a community house for other people to safely live in, but he had helped them with their own house first (it might not have been their house exactly, buuut… well, finders keepers). Every evening he cooked group meals in a different location in the District, but they were the ones that he cooked breakfast and lunch for. Every evening he'd try to organize a group lesson to teach people how to do stuff like how to hunt, or sewing, but he was always willing to spend one-on-one time with them if asked to explain something better.
Personally, she was determined to get the sewing stuff down. Shirou talked about something called a stuffed animal, and she wanted to make one!
Sure, not everything was perfect. It was aggravating how Shirou did all could to keep them away from danger (pointless really. This was Inuzuri. There was nowhere 'safe'), and she hated how he kept on pushing them to learn less practical skills like reading and writing (He didn't even teach those lessons. He found somebody that used to be a teacher when they were alive, and now they cycled what they taught) but she could live with that after seeing how happy Homura and Shizuku were.
That being said, she never could quite get over seeing the difference between the nice and caring Shirou and… This.
Rukia quickly leapt in front of Shizuku after he was pushed back and blocked the next blow, gritting her teeth at the force, only for his foot to end up in her stomach.
"Focus on what your follow up move is going to be," Shirou stated firmly, twisting and blocking Shizuku as he teleported behind him. "Each blow needs to flow into the other - every pause gives your opponent more time to act."
The sparring had started rather tame actually. Rukia had healed up from her injuries and had thrown herself into the various exercises that Shirou taught, swiftly catching up to the other two. He'd guide them through various forms throughout the week, and at the end he'd spar with all three of them.
However, after the first month, after they had gotten used to that schedule, Shirou apparently decided that they were ready for 'actual' training.
She shuddered, even as her attention remained firmly on Shirou.
Rukia never would have suspected kind, warm, and helpful Shirou of being so… Sadistic.
Sparring became absolutely brutal. Where once he gently guided and instructed them, now he was actively involved in training and pushing them to their limits, and he pushed hard.
Don't even get her started on that evil tiger sword that Shirou started using. That thing stung!
Still, she refused to give up, and Homura and Shimuru seemed to agree with her on that. She had faced pain before, and while this was hardly pleasant she could tell that Shirou was doing his best to not actually hurt them, despite saying that he wouldn't hold back.
Slowly but surely she could see the results. They were no longer gasping for breath (as much) at the end of their lessons, they were able to last longer during their end of the week spars, and lately they could even get Shirou to move from his starting position.
Yet despite all of that, the growth of all three of them, the sweat and pain of the past three months… they had yet to be able to land a single blow on Shirou!
He wasn't even sweating. The three of them were completely soaked. That was just humiliating.
Not that she expected them to be able to beat Shirou, she had already seen how strong he was after all, and they had only trained for a few months… But surely they should be able to at least touch him, right?!
She quickly dodged a flying Shizuku, thrusting her practice blade forward before he could hopefully react… only to watch as he quickly deflected the attempt, his own blade blurring forward to hit her arm before he shifted back.
"Don't overcommit your strikes, if you give an opponent an opening, you need to be prepared for them to take it." He instructed sternly before he spun around, grabbing Homura who had done a leaping attack at his back, redirecting her momentum to throw her towards Shizuku, who had just regained his footing. "Homura, you need to stop jumping like that - once your feet leave the ground you aren't in control anymore."
No, getting a hit in was apparently asking too much… At least, it would be if they were going to keep on fighting like this.
She made a subtle gesture to Homura and Shizuku, the two of them immediately spreading out and seemingly charging him like they had dozens of times before.
Shirou might be training them how to fight with swords, but they were first and foremost street urchins. If you couldn't get your objective one way, then you try a different way. Straight up force was rarely the answer, and would quickly get you killed.
If you wanted to survive, you needed to be smart.
Rukia carefully reached inside of herself, towards the energy she had only heard referenced as 'ryoka', and directed it towards her hand slowly, just in case Shirou could sense it.
She hadn't mentioned to him that she could use it. A part of her was reluctant to ask him about it, hoping that he would bring it up himself since he could obviously use it. He was already doing so much for them, and they had been so busy doing other stuff, that she was reluctant to ask for more.
Now, it might be the perfect tool to finally let them land a blow on him.
'Distractions are the enemy - even a talented fighter can be taken down if he lets himself be startled during a fight.'
That was one of the things he taught them, and she was going to make use of it.
They waited until the end of the spar for this - while they were more tired physically, hopefully Shirou was mentally tired from sparring with three of them, and he had no idea that she could do this.
It wasn't even an attack - before Shirou came into their lives the most she had used it for was to startle shopkeepers they were stealing from. The ball of light didn't do anything, and would vanish as soon as it touched something, but that was all she needed.
Rukia quickly focused her energy, ryoka forming in her hand far faster than she had ever tried before. This was going to be tricky - she had to get Shirou to notice her doing this, but couldn't give him the time to analyze and figure out what she was doing.
As soon as she gathered enough to form a ball, she quickly raised her fist and focused hard, shooting it towards Shirou as best as she could.
The raven haired girl would be eternally grateful for Shirou entering into their lives… But one way or another, they were going to land a hit on him!
Shirou's POV
A few moments prior
"Awww, my little kittens look so cute when they think they're being sneaky."
Shirou rolled his eyes while hiding a smile, "They aren't really the most subtle." He agreed as he watched Rukia signal Homura and Shizuku, "I suppose I'll need to teach them more discrete ways of working as a team." he mused.
A light purr echoed through his head, "Aww, don't spoil it. They're trying something new!" the voice chuckled, "Maybe this will be enough for you to stop being so easy on them. I told you they could take it!"
Now THAT caused Shirou to cough as he did his best to hide his laughter at that comment.
The sound of a foot hitting the ground angrily echoed through his head, and he could practically hear her pout. "Shirou! Don't laugh at me! I'm being serious! They're not going to grow stronger unless you really push them!"
The rebuke did nothing to stop his amusement. "I'm pushing them as far as they need to for now." He replied internally.
As much as he disliked it, he did agree with her on pushing them. He would much rather they get hurt in practice as opposed to during an actual fight.
Like what had almost happened…
He clenched his hands tighter at the thought, and this time Bakuya's voice sounded out. "It almost happened, but it did not." She stated calmly, yet with a firm tone. "Beating yourself up over what might have been will do no good."
True. Focusing on that helped him calm down.
People close to him being targeted was hardly a new thing, however much he hated it. It was why one of the first things he did lately in a new district was to build a community house (safety in numbers) and focused on sparring.
As much as Shirou attempted to help people, the very act of doing so was destroying the status quo. While he had no problem doing so, there were quite a few people that either didn't like him doing so, or they saw how strong he was and wanted to control him.
The farther out he got, the more lawless the Districts became, he had expected that. But this was the first time the various groups had attempted to beat up children because they were associated with him.
While that would usually anger him regardless, the fact that Rukia, Homura, and Shizuku specifically were targeted made him absolutely furious for reasons he'd rather not focus on.
A growl echoed out from his soul, "I already told you." The voice said in an annoyed tone, "it's alright for you to care about them!"
He let out a sigh. If only the voices in his head would stop bringing it up, then he'd have better luck at not focusing on it.
"Just as I've already told you. I don't mind finding people to care about - but getting attached is just going to make it harder on them when I leave."
It was always hard to leave an area after only a year. There was still so much that he could do to help, as well as so many places to search. But eventually he had to trust that the people that he left behind could improve on their own after he taught them the basics.
He had met quite a few people at this point that he felt that he could respect and trust, many that he would call friends. But this was the first time that he felt this attached to somebody. There was something about those three that just drew him in.
So when a particularly nasty gang approached him and threatened them simply for being around Shirou?
He had been furious. Even angrier than when he saw Shinigami that were abusing their position under the excuse of 'upholding justice'.
That anger, surprisingly, had been the final push to allow him to hear his latest Zanpakuto.
Tora-Shinai.
Flashback
Shirou narrowed his eyes angrily at the men in front of him, "Do you really think that I would join you after hearing you make those kinds of threats?" He ground out.
There was some kind of pressure building up inside of him, accompanied by a growling of some sort, but he was too focused on the men in front of him.
Men who were far too confident then they had any right to be.
The lead grunt folded his arms with a smirk, "you can probly beat us, that's true." He acknowledged, "but we've got plenty of boys back at base, and they'll just do the deed instead. Not even you can get ta all of us." He leered at Shirou, "you wouldn't want that to happen to your kiddies now, would ya?"
Something inside Shirou surged, and suddenly he heard a roar of anger that was neither Kanshou nor Bakuya.
The rage and fury of a tiger.
'How dare they?! Those… those heartless imitations of humanity! Let me out of here! I'm going to break their legs! I'll…'
Shirou blinked, his own rage almost forgotten at the sound of a new voice. 'Wait, who are you?' He interrupted the mental tirade, trying to split his attention between the sudden intrusion and the gang in front of him.
'You… wait, you can hear me now?' The surprised voice gasped, before becoming ecstatic. 'YES! Finally! Hah, I knew That you'd hear me before she did! Take that _!"
'I'd hear you…' Shirou's eyes widened in realization, 'you're another Zanpakuto.'
Ever since he had first met his first Zanpakuto, Kanshou and Bakuya, he had suspected that he might hear more. His inner world where he would meet with them was filled with blades like theirs, but they never expounded on it further, saying that he wasn't strong enough.
'Ok, so we can play 20 questions later over dinner, but you can finally hear me, can I pleaaase beat these scum up?'
He blinked, 'Dinner?'
They were spirits of swords that resided in his soul. Was it even possible for them to eat?
She growled, 'less talk, more beat down!'
… Well, she was quite a bit different than his other two Zanpakuto, but something about her felt… Nostalgic?
He shoved that thought aside, focusing on the gang in front of him. 'Do you have a name?' He thought before addressing the men in front of him, "If that's your plan, then I suppose that that means I'll just have to dismantle your entire group."
The men looked stunned before bursting out into laughter. Not that it was entirely unexpected - he hadn't had to go all out in this District, so people didn't know all that he was capable of.
He hated using fear in this way, but if it kept others from hurting innocents, then he would show them what exactly he could do. All he needed to know was where their bases were.
And there were several people that knew just that, standing in front of him.
An attack had been levied against him. An appropriate response was required.
From within his soul he felt the thrummings of power begin, followed by the new Zanpakuto's voice.
'"Created a normal weapon, no special materials nor purpose in mind."
The beginnings of a bamboo practice sword came into focus within the vastness of his soul. Stabbed into the ground with a tiger striped sheath, a cartoon tiger dangled from the hilt.
"Wielded by she who carried wildness in her heart, a reputation we carved through instinct and skill."
The spirit of a woman next to the sword. A little more than five feet tall with short brown hair, Shirou felt something heartbreakingly familiar about her. Were it not for the cat ears and tail, he'd have been positive that he'd known her from somewhere.
"The protection of those we call our charge our only care, for I am the manifestation of that which is wild and free, a symbol of war and death."
Everything had slowed down, the men barely having time to react as a shape began to form in his hands amidst sparks of blue energy. As she formed, Shirou felt the connection forming the same way it had with Kanshou and Bakuya. He felt her excitement for the coming fight, but more than that, he felt her fury that matched his own.
"Neither fear nor pain shall stay my rage once stoked, I shall survive no matter what."
He frowned as more feedback came in. She was surprisingly bloodthirsty, despite having no edge.
He felt a surge of amusement from her at that.
"Now here, to protect those you care about,"
Connection nearly complete, he found himself able to relax a bit. She was furious and angry, but instinctively he knew that she wouldn't kill unless he desired it.
"Call my name,"
He felt the connection established between them, and let out a sigh as the name instinctively came to his mind and all that came with it. He focused on the men in front of him and lifted his arm, "Tora-Shinai," he murmured at the same time she did.
A surge of spiritual energy burst from him, a portion of the energy flowing into the outline of the sword in his hand, and within moments the sword surged into reality, her own anger and excitement blending in with his own.
His gaze fell on the leader, "So, before we begin," He murmured as he felt Tora-Shinai begin to purr in anticipation, "Would anybody like to surrender?"
End Flashback
It had taken the entire evening and part way into the morning, but he had been able to make it back before the three realized he was gone. He was surprised - there had been several individuals that were considerably stronger than usual, which just reinforced his decision to pick up the sparring lessons.
And if a series of gang wars had started when the other gangs realized a rival was in trouble… Well, at least that particular gang was less likely to be an issue.
Two months later, and he couldn't help but look proudly at the three. Despite their own beliefs, they had managed to progress leaps and bounds more than the others.
Each sparring session was open to anybody that wanted to learn, and he encouraged most Rukongai citizens to at least familiarize themselves with how to fight. How long they stayed however was completely up to them.
Tora-Shinai scoffed, "Weaklings." she declared dismissively.
Shirou rolled his eyes, "Not everybody wants to be a fighter." he reminded her. "That, and perhaps they'd stay longer if you didn't insist I use you during training."
Other children he understood, and could hardly blame them. So long as there were adults that could look after them, then he was fine with them simply knowing the basics of fighting. Thankfully, another benefit of the community housing was that there were adults that could do that.
Now the adults? They had no excuse, especially when Rukia, Shizuku, and Homura were still fighting long after they had given up.
"I hardly touched them! And even if I did, pain is a good motivator! If they gave up after those love taps, then they were weak!"
Kanshou gave a snort, "Even if you did not use the fake-sword, their dedication has certainly been lackluster. I doubt it would change much."
"Yeah, hear that Shirou? … wait, what did you call me?!"
The sound of a scuffle erupted inside his head and he withdrew with a small shake of his head. Tora-Shinai was so different from either Kanshou or Bakuya, whom he had had for the past ten years. Yet despite that, there was something... Comforting, something familiar, about her presence. Able to go from cheerful and energetic to lethargic and lazy in a matter of moments, she was a whirlwind of chaos that he had adapted to far faster than he had expected to.
The smell of Homura teleporting behind him forced him to focus once more on his own fight as Homura and Shizuku redoubled their efforts. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept track of Rukia as she stayed just barely in view, the action telling him quite a bit.
Rukia, of the three, was by far the most talented fighter - her instincts and years alone in the district clearly having served her well, even if she had a tendency to leave herself open in order to protect the other two.
While not as far along as Rukia was, Homura and Shizuku were still talented in their own ways. Homura tended to forego any and all subtlety in her fights, charging in with reckless abandon to overwhelm her opponent. Perhaps as a consequence of this, Shizuku tended to fight very defensively, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
Normally Rukia would play the role of the skirmisher - attempting to distract him to leave him open to either Homura's heavy assault or Shizuku's methodical strikes. That she wasn't doing that right now meant that they had something in mind, and he was quite curious as to what that was.
He didn't need to wait very long, as the smell of winter frost - a smell he associated with Rukia - suddenly spiked.
Focusing on her while keeping the other two in his sights, it was to the sight of concentration on her face. Suddenly extending her hand, a small ball of blueish-white light formed and quickly shot towards him.
In hindsight, he reacted rather foolishly. He knew that Rukia had a decent amount of spiritual power, he could smell it, and manifesting it like this wasn't all that difficult. As it was, raw spiritual power like this wouldn't do anything to him - When spiritual power clashed like this, whomever had more would win, and he had considerably more than she.
But in that moment he couldn't think about any of that.
As the ball of energy shot towards him an image overlapped with Rukia form. He saw a girl wearing red and black - older than Rukia, but with similar black hair that was styled in twin tails - and from her hand was shot an orb of red light.
Danger!
His reaction was entirely instinctive.
Shirou flooded energy into his body, Tora-Shinai blurring in his hand as he blocked Homura's attack that was attempting to pin him down and he twisted as he shoved the girl back. Launching himself back with enough force to crack the ground beneath his feet, the glowing orb just barely missed him.
Still moving, a part of him noted that the orb quickly dissipated harmlessly in the air… Just as Shizuku's practice blade hit his arm.
He froze for a moment as his mind caught up with him, surprised with his own reaction as much as the fact that their little ambush actually worked. The silence lasted for all of two seconds.
"Yes! Finally, we got you!" Homura exclaimed happily with a jump, only to collapse in exhaustion right after, letting out a groan as she did so.
Shizuku and Rukia followed suit, their faces a mixture of happiness and exhaustion, and Shirou couldn't help but give a small chuckle.
"I suppose you did," He agreed ruthfully, hearing Tora-Shinai cackle while Kanshou and Bakuya hummed in appreciation while sending thoughts of concern towards him.
He leaned down briefly to lay a hand on Shizuku's shoulder,"You guys pulled that off well." He congratulated them warmly. Despite it not being an actual win, the fact they managed to land a hit on him was impressive, and he would give credit where credit was due.
He'd have to think about his own reaction to that later. For now, he had three exhausted kids to congratulate.
Several minutes later they finished their post-workout exercises that Shirou forced them to do, only to promptly collapse once more. Chuckling at the sight, Shirou joined them in a circle and sat down.
He turned to Rukia, "I didn't realize that you knew how to use your spiritual power like that." He commented curiously.
He felt bad that he reacted as badly as he had. In that instant, and with that memory, he hadn't recognized it for what it was, and had been positive that it was dangerous.
He filed that memory away for later - it wasn't important right now.
Lying on her back and looking like she was about to fall asleep, Rukia suddenly tensed and looked at him worriedly.
"I'm not upset that you did it," He quickly reassured her, "You came up with a plan, coordinated with each other, and executed it well. I'm just surprised - I didn't realize you could manifest it like that yet."
It wasn't a matter of strength, but of knowledge. He knew that they were getting stronger - their 'scents' were a testament to that, even if he didn't have a good frame of reference for how strong. But if they didn't know that it existed, then they would never think to actively use it.
He suspected that Shizuku and Homura both had a decent amount - teleporting had to take some sort of energy after all - but seeing as how their teleportation was an instinctual skill of theirs that didn't help him figure out how much power it actually took.
She relaxed, though her expression turned to confusion. "Spiritual power?" She asked, taking a moment to lift herself into a sitting position, "do you mean reiryoku?"
Shirou blinked in surprise, "that's another name for it," he admitted, "but most people that I've talked to call it spiritual power." By this time, Homura and Shizuku were focusing on the conversation as well.
Rukia nodded pensively, "I've known about it for a couple years now I think," She replied before giving an annoyed huff, "But the only thing that I can do is create that ball of light that you saw."
Before he could say anything she looked at him intently. "That's how you do that stuff, right? How you make yourself go faster and create those swords?
He felt his lips twitch. He had wondered when they were going to ask. "Pretty much. Everybody, even the weakest of spirits, have spiritual power, but when somebody has enough of it they can use it in a variety of ways. Using it to become stronger and creating weaponry are just a couple of ways that it can be used."
Not that he used it for much else. His own training in spiritual power had been… Sparse, to put it generously. Most of what he knew had been figured out through suggestions from his Zanpakuto and doing that which felt natural.
He couldn't do much with it, but that which he could do he made sure he mastered.
"Everybody?" Shimuru asked, his expression sharpening. "So Homura and I can use it as well?"
Shirou shrugged, "I'd be very surprised if you couldn't," he said wryly, smiling when he saw their eager expressions, "though I suppose you won't know until you try."
Homura gave a pout, "We've tried in the past when Rukia first showed us, but nothing happened."
Shirou thought back to the smell of the underground that came whenever the two teleported. Of damp earth and darkness, "It's possible that you didn't have enough at the time." He replied thoughtfully, "And if you didn't think you could do it, it would have affected your ability to do it."
"Really?!" Her entire body seemed to perk up at that before she looked at him in confusion, "wait, so why haven't you brought this up before?"
He grimaced at that. He knew that that was coming. It was only natural to ask after all. "There are a couple reasons for that." He admitted. "The first is that it isn't necessary." He couldn't help but smile as all of them looked at him blankly. "How much do you know of Spiritual Power?"
Rukia folded her arms and gave him the driest look she could summon. "If we knew, we wouldn't be asking."
So, nothing. That was fine.
"From what I know, spiritual power is much like a muscle." Shirou explained, "when your spirit is put under pressure, it will unconsciously use it to strengthen yourself. Every time we train, I'm putting your bodies under a lot of strain, and your spiritual power is growing to compensate for that."
It was a great excuse, made better by the fact that it was true. Everything that he had learned about Spiritual Power indicated that it worked similar to a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.
He sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, "However, the main reason is that, in all honesty, I don't know enough about it to teach effectively."
That statement was met with three skeptical gazes, causing him to let out a chuckle. "I've only learned from third hand sources." He pointed out. "As it stands, I know there is a lot that I'm missing."
Rukia didn't look like she was sure if she should believe him or not, but nodded anyway. "So you were planning on just teaching us how to fight?"
Shirou nodded, "Pretty much. Your spiritual power would grow as a result of that, and in the future if you wanted to learn more there are places you could go to that could teach you how to refine it."
Rukia kept up her stare for several seconds as she processed that. "So you can't teach us a lot…" She mused, "But you could teach us a little if we wanted, right?"
He blinked, having a sudden premonition of where this was going to lead. He might be able to use his own Spiritual Power to create swords and enhance his body, but that didn't mean he understood it enough to actually explain how he did it! "It would be better to -"
"Nope!" This time it was Homura who piped up, already looking like she was refreshed from the spar as she grinned eagerly. "If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for us!"
"It's better than nothing." Shimuru agreed, his eyes bright with interest.
Shirou wasn't as sure about that… he had tried to teach it before, but he had never been successful.
… But, he recognized the look on their faces, and he knew them well enough to know that they wouldn't be dropping it.
Ok, time to change the subject. His eyes focused on something he had sensed earlier.
"Would you four like to join us?" He called out even as Tora-Shinai roared in fury, "I promise that we have enough food for all of us."
Rukia, Shimuru, and Homura looked where his attention was and immediately tensed up. They always packed food to eat after their sparring, and instead of it being on the rock where they had placed it, it was in the hands of four kids who were now looking at them with wide eyes.
"RUN FOR IT!" The redhead shouted in a panicked voice, and all four immediately booked it as they ran for the safety of the houses.
"HEY! THAT'S OUR FOOD!" Homura shouted angrily, she and her brother instantly disappearing in a puff of smoke even as Rukia leapt up and ran.
The four food thieves didn't make it very far.
The brother and sister souls appeared in front of the group and instantly grappled the two in the lead, causing the whole group to stall. Meanwhile, Rukia came and attacked them from behind.
After three months of training, it was a completely one sided slaughter, and Shirou was grateful that they were holding back. Though that might have been because they didn't want to ruin the food.
"Yes, my pupils…" Tora-Shinai purred contentedly, a steady stream of bloodlust coming from the sword, "Show them the folly of trying to steal the food that is rightfully yours."
Shirou rolled his eyes, 'I don't know how you did it, but you're a terrible influence on them." He replied.
When she had discovered that Shirou couldn't bring food to her or cook for her, Tora-Shinai had been inconsolable for days. The best she could do was live vicariously through the children.
Normally the three would be more sympathetic to other kids, but they had just gone through a long sparring match and were undoubtedly hungry.
The thieves had really chosen the wrong target… still, it had created the perfect distraction, so he did owe them in a way.
He got up and calmly walked over to where the four boys were being pinned down. Looks like they were going to make a trip to the community shelter.
Renji Abarai's POV
In hindsight, Renji would reluctantly admit that perhaps it hadn't been the best of ideas to steal from the group that had been practicing fighting…
Ok, look, it had been a calculated risk!
They were exhausted, right? And exhausted people shouldn't be able to run after others very well, and being tired they might not even notice their food was gone before it was too late! And the food… oh man, the food… It had looked and smelled absolutely amazing - better than anything they had seen in years…
If they didn't have freaking cheaters that could teleport he and his friends totally would have made it away!
He sighed heavily, ignoring the ache in his side, and glared at their captors. He was the leader of this group, his friends, so it was his responsibility to put on a brave face.
Though this wasn't really how he thought being captured would go…
"Are you sure that all of you are alright? Normally they… Well, Rukia at least would be more sympathetic, but getting between a hungry person and their food is never a good idea."
He was expecting a bit more discomfort.
Renji grumbled under his breath as the girl with the pink stripe in her hair growled at them, only to yelp indignantly when the man with long red hair reached out and mussed up her hair fondly. She then stuck her tongue out playfully at him, looking completely unrepentant.
He and the others only stole from those that either could afford it or who deserved it, and it was pretty obvious that these people could afford it. Their clothes weren't rags for one, not even a single hole! They even had shoes of all things!
Now if they would just stop pretending to be nice. The man wasn't fooling anybody.
"S-so you said that you had more food at that shelter of yours, right?"
The man nodded, "We brought quite a bit with us, but for a proper meal I thought we should go to the shelter." He explained.
… ok, Renji wasn't being fooled by their captors.
Not that they explicitly said they were captured. They didn't need to. With how nice Shirou was being, the offer for actual food and shelter, the rest of the boys had been charmed immediately.
They weren't being held captive with force, but with the promise of something nice.
Adults were never that nice. They came in two different types - either lazy jerks that didn't care about anybody else, or violent jerks that didn't care about anybody else.
And that wasn't even taking into account the fact that they had just tried to steal from them!
Renji wasn't stupid. You don't reward kids for stealing. Sure, he and the boys might not be tied up or anything, but the teleporters had already proven that they couldn't run away. Their best bet was to go along with the farce until their backs were turned
Pink-stripe turned another glare towards them, but before she could say anything the man gave her a look. "Homura," he said in exasperation, causing her to turn away in a huff.
He turned towards them again with a smile, "as you probably inferred, this is Homura," he gestured to pink-stripe, who resolutely refused to look at them.
The man then pointed towards the boy, "this is Shizuku," the black haired boy gave them a polite, if distant, nod. "And this is Rukia." The black haired girl gave them a frown and nodded in acknowledgment.
"And I am Shirou." He concluded easily before giving them a curious look, "what are your names?"
Renji firmly kept quiet. He didn't know why they were pretending to be so friendly, but it couldn't be for anything good. There was no way he was giving his name.
"Oh, uh, I'm Daigo, this is Unaga, Kudo, and that's Renji!"
Renji resisted the urge to face palm. His friends weren't stupid. They really weren't. They were just… naive, or trusting. Something.
And it was clear that this new group didn't trust them.
The adult, Shirou, didn't seem bothered at all, but the small girl, Rukia, had placed herself firmly between the two groups. Homura's opinion of them was obvious, and he couldn't shake the feeling that Shizuku was staring at him.
Shirou kept on talking and asking minor questions, but since it didn't seem to be anything important he ignored it. The others were answering just fine. Instead, he focused on where they were going.
They hadn't been in this area of the district before - he and his ragtag group had heard rumors that there was a surplus of food somewhere in this area, and they had promptly left to check it out.
The District itself was big. As in, huge, but it wasn't evenly populated. There were whole sections that were abandoned for one reason or another, and at first he thought they were going through one such area.
It was just a feeling at first, but that feeling was increased tenfold when he saw somebody peeking at them through one of the rundown buildings.
Shirou apparently noticed where his attention was.
"Don't worry, they won't do anything since you're with us." He explained casually, as if there wasn't a bunch of people spying on them, "they just get a little worried around new people is all. Not everybody wants to stay at the house, but they like the safety it brings."
The house?
His confusion lasted only a few moments more.
What had probably been three houses side by side had been connected, forming one sprawling building. Where the rest of the neighborhood had been abandoned, this place had plenty of signs of activity, and he could hear hammering and sawing from inside.
Just outside of it he could see what might have been a dozen children playing on the front lawn, more carefree than he had ever seen before, being watched by a few adults.
The moment that they saw Shirou a cheer went out over them and they raced over, and Renji was baffled to see Shirou, Rukia, Shizuku, and even Homura with a few kids at their side asking question after question.
"Oi! Bossman!"
Renji tensed and focused on the new man as he walked out of the house. Another adult, he was shorter than Shirou and had short black hair. In his hands he held several parcels, with a large sack across his back.
"Oh great, it's him again." The girl, Homura, groaned as she gave the man a scowl before resolutely ignoring him in favor of asking the children around her how their days had gone.
The man gave her a smirk, "nice to see you too mini-monster three." He drawled sarcastically before raising his eyes at Renji and the others.
"And more mini-monsters! Joy." He huffed, "You are now mini-monsters twenty-four thru… twenty-seven. My name's Tommy. There, introductions are over."
Renji straightened, "hey, we have names you know!" He snapped angrily, his fists clenching at the insult, his three friends following suit.
Despite his words, all he got was an unconcerned shrug,"Meh, don't care." He glanced at Shirou and tossed the large backpack at him. "Here ya go Bossman," he declared in a bored voice, "Yugen sends his regards."
Easily catching the bag, Shirou smiled at the man despite his attitude, "Thanks Tommy," he hesitated, "Have you heard anything new about…" he trailed off when Tommy shook his head.
"Nope, still haven't found her." He replied promptly, causing Shirou to deflate slightly. "Honestly, you know me better than that - any of us hear anything new, we'd tell ya right away."
Shirou shrugged with a pained smile. "You're right, I apologize. I just… can't seem to help but ask."
Renji ignored the conversation and focused on the bag, "So what's in the bag?" Maybe it would help him figure out what Shirou was planning.
To his shock, Shirou tossed the bag towards him. After fumbling with it, he looked inside himself and frowned at the… "What is this stuff?"
The bag was filled to the brim with some kind of threads of varying colors.
Tommy gave a snort, "it's thread, mini-monster twenty-four." He answered, "straight from Kinohata District."
Renji was about to glare at the man when the girl, Rukia, let out an excited exclamation, the bag suddenly whisked from his hands as she took it from him. She and Homura then huddled together and spoke animatedly to each other and to several kids that looked equally as excited while looking through it.
He could only blink in confusion when he heard Shirou give a small chuckle. "We don't have anybody in the District that can make threads yet, so we have to import them from another." He explained, taking another parcel from the Tommy guy and inspecting the contents.
Import… he looked at Shirou with a raised eyebrow, "so you're merchants?" He asked, having heard that word from the various vendors in the area. It would explain the food and clothes, but why would they care about captives?
… unless they need child labourers…
His suspicion returned tenfold. He had heard that some people kidnapped kids and forced them to work, but he hadn't ever seen it before! Was that why there were so many kids here?
Although… they seemed way happier than they should be if that were the case.
Suspicion swapped with confusion as Tommy burst out into laughter. "Hahahahaha! Oh, t-that's a thought, hahah! Kid, Bossman doesn't know the first thing about business. If it were just him, he'd go bankrupt in a week!"
Shirou looked up from the parcel with a raised eyebrow, "I'm hardly that bad," he protested in a dry voice.
"Heh, Oh no? Business owners have to sink most of their earnings into their business to stay outta the red Bossman. If you had a bunch of money, would you do that or spend it for somebody else?"
Shirou winced, "… Is both not an option?"
Tommy smirked, "and there's your answer. Anyways, I'm headed out. Hoping to make it into Mibishima District by the end of the week. Been too long since I've seen the Missus."
Shirou nodded, "Are you sure you don't want to stay for a meal?" He asked, and Tommy snorted.
"Better not, might not want to leave otherwise," he smirked as he started to walk away from the group. "Drop by the District sometime, the Missus misses swapping recipes with you."
The redhead gave a chuckle as he gave a quick wave, "I'll see what I can do." He called out. He then turned to Rukia, who snapped up from her discussion when he called her name.
"Could you bring Renji and his friends inside and introduce them to Amelia? She should be able to get them settled."
"Alright," she agreed immediately, turning to Renji and gesturing for them to follow her, which they did after a few seconds.
"Who's Amelia?" Renji immediately asked.
"The caretaker." This time it was the boy that answered, quiet though it was. "She watches over the kids."
They brought them into the amalgamation of the houses and immediately a woman (Amelia perhaps?) spotted them and rushed over.
Renji sighed in aggravation. There were too many adults, and this whole ordeal was getting complicated. The plan was to come here just to get food, and now they were mixed up in all of this.
Tonight, he would talk with the boys to see about getting out. There were too many changes happening, and this whole deal was just too suspicious.
That evening, several hours after everybody else had turned in for the night, Renji finally slipped out from underneath the covers of the futon he had been given.
Standing cautiously, he quickly restrained a yawn, giving a mental curse as he did so.
Keeping up a healthy layer of paranoia the entire day had been exhausting. The moment they had entered the house their clothes had been deemed 'unacceptable' by Amelia, and all of the boys had been stripped, told to bathe, and were then fitted for clothes.
Granted, the clothes they were given were far nicer and cleaner than what they were wearing, but it was still embarrassing!
There had then been a long series of introductions where they met a number of adults and, to his surprise, children that lived here. After that, everybody in the house left for another spot in the district, where he saw Shirou and those three kids with him, and they cooked a bunch of food for everybody.
For free, no favors or change of goods that he saw.
Then there was a stupid class that he was forced to attend where they were teaching how to mend clothes. He swore he had been given a bad needle or something, what with how many times his fingers got pricked…
By the time they made it back to the house and were shown a room they were exhausted, the other boys promptly falling asleep.
Not that he could blame them - the bed and blanket were without a doubt the softest that he had ever slept on. Not that he had slept on many beds in the past, but the point still stood.
He felt bad that he was going to have to take all this away from them.
He just didn't trust a place like this. It was too good to be true. The adults were too nice, and Shirou must have a hidden agenda.
Renji was responsible for the lives of his group, and he took that seriously. They might not like it, but they would follow him regardless. Turning to another futon to start waking up the rest of the boys -
"You don't have to leave, you know."
In future retellings, Renji would insist that he did NOT, in fact, scream like a girl. Not even a peep, no matter what Rukia insisted. The fact that none of the other boys woke up was only further proof of that.
Spinning around towards the door, Renji spotted the black haired girl from earlier, her eyes crinkled in restrained laughter as she smirked at him.
"What are you doing here?" He hissed softly, "I thought you guys had left earlier!"
Another mystery. For all that they had encouraged Renji and the others to come here, they were living someplace else. Why?
She tilted her head towards the door before walking out. After a few seconds, Renji followed her.
She was pretty small, he was sure he could take her if he needed to.
Going out into the hallway Rukia turned to him once more, "We did leave earlier. I just had a feeling, and came back." She stated casually as she leaned up against the wall.
Renji glared at her, "So you came here to make sure we didn't leave?" He asked, mind working furiously. If it was just her then he wasn't worried, but if she was actually trying to stop him then she would have brought backup.
Depending on who she brought he was less sure of his victory.
She huffed in annoyance, "you guys could have left at any time." She replied with a scowl, "we didn't force you at any point."
Renji looked at her incredulously, and she rolled her eyes. "Amelia wouldn't let you eat till you were clean, but even then she didn't force you to stay." She snapped. "If you wanna leave, you can leave. If you do though, I'd rather you did it with all the facts instead of a misplaced sense of paranoia."
"Misplaced?!" He looked at her incredulously before gesturing wildly, "Everything about this place is suspicious! Providing shelter? giving out free food and clothes? Adults just… they don't do all that for no reason!"
She sighed, "then what are they doing?" She asked rhetorically, causing him to growl. He had no idea. And that's what irked him.
Her expression softened, "Look, I understand where you're coming from. I know how bad things in this district can get -"
He snorted, "No, you don't. You've gotta be a pretty young spirit if you're willing to trust that easily." He interrupted dryly.
He saw the flash of indignation, but ignored it. People didn't like it when it was pointed out that they were young, and he was a good judge of that sort of thing.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before slowly opening them again, "regardless of what either of us know," she stated testily, "what makes what Shirou is doing any different from you?"
He straightened and looked at her indignantly, "what's that supposed to mean?" He demanded.
She shot him a smirk, "the way you're protecting those other boys." She replied. "Are you telling me that you have an ulterior motive there?"
"Of course not!" He nearly shouted, quickly wincing before lowering his voice. He didn't want to wake up any of the other grownups. "Of course not." He said in a quieter tone, "I look out for them because they put their trust in me! I'm the strongest, so it's my responsibility!"
"Then why can't Shirou have that same reason?" She asked with a victorious smirk, "I can safely say that he's the strongest person in this District."
There was no mistaking the pride in her voice, but Renji wasn't sure why she had any reason to be proud of that. If it even was true.
Although, considering the spar that he saw, it might not have been an empty claim…
Still, he scoffed, "Shirou is an adult." He spat, "all adults are the same."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, "really?" She growled, "huh. I didn't think that you'd claim that you'd grow up to be a selfish jerk."
That threw him for a loop, "wait, what?"
She folded her arms, "well, if all adults are the same, then that means that you plan on being like that when you grow up!"
He jerked back angrily before attempting to come up with a rebuttal…
Rukia sighed, suddenly looking tired. "Look, I wanted to stop you from running away because… Because I saw a bit of me in you, ok?" She admitted. "The way you were trying to protect those boys. I get it. Just… try sticking around for a couple days before you skip out, ok? Try to judge them yourself. I promise that you'll be surprised."
He stared at her for a bit longer before giving a huff. "Fine, I suppose I can do that." He grumbled. There were other children here after all - if this was a dangerous place, it would leave him with a bad taste in his mouth if he were to just leave them behind.
Still, they were secondary to his friends. That was non-negotiable. And if he found any evidence of something bad, then it would be easier to convince them to leave.
Rukia nodded and turned away. But then she paused, "Oh, and one last thing…" she spun, and in a blur that he could barely see swept his legs out from under him. In moments he found himself on his stomach being pinned by the midget girl.
"H-hey! What gives?!" What the heck?! How was she suddenly this strong?!
He felt her breath on his neck. "Just like you're trying to protect your boys, I need to protect mine. If you ever put them in danger, you'll have to go against me." she said in a low voice. Just like that, and suddenly she was off of him. He scrambled to his feet and looked over at the violet eye'd girl, and Rukia gave him a too-innocent smile.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow!" She quickly turned around and made her way down the dark hallway.
Renji let out a breath and patted his chest, willing his frantic heart rate down.
Ok, maybe he wouldn't be able to take her in a fight.
He made his way back into the room and quietly lay down on the futon once more.
Ok, he still didn't trust the people here… but he did acknowledge that Rukia had a good point. He'd stay for a couple days, and then he'd see about convincing the boys to leave.
On a brighter note, that did mean that they'd be getting more of that delicious food, so it wasn't that much of a chore. He just needed to keep on his toes and keep an eye out.
And with that, Renji finally allowed the soft blanket to pull him down to sleep.
Author's Notes:
In canon, Rukia met Renji when the latter was stealing from people. In my story, Rukia meets Renji when the latter is stealing from people. Don't worry guys, I'm sticking to canon! ;)
Normally I dislike OC's in fanfiction stories… Author's have an annoying habit of making their OC better/stronger/wiser/'have way more common sense' than the other characters in the story, which I find off putting. It's hard to explain… In this case however, I don't have much choice. Bleach really doesn't give us a lot of information on people in the Rukongai, so I kind of have to fill it in myself. I'll do my best to keep things enjoyable. I am a GM for a couple tabletop games and am experienced with making NPC's, so I'm trying to apply that here.
NPC of the chapter: Tommy Two-Toes!
Name: Thomas O'Haire, aka 'Tommy Two-Toes'
Died: June, 1929
Residence: Chicago, USA
Occupation: Gangster. Courier for Al Capone.
Quote: "See, you say 'glorified mailman'. But I say 'experienced in ferrying items of interest through areas of extreme hostility'. Who knew? Death isn't that different from life."
I'd like to thank everybody for taking the time to read my chapters. I'm aware that my updating is a bit on the slow side. The truth is, writing doesn't come naturally to me. I enjoy it and find it relaxing, but it takes a while before I get a chapter to the point where I consider it acceptable. Add in that I already have a full time job and have several stories in progress, and that means that it's going to be a while. A lot of people have been very considerate and have told me to take as much time as I need, and I thank them. And even those people that just leave a message saying "Update soon", I'm glad to see that you are enjoying the story, but you'll just have to be patient.
For anybody that is interested or would like to support me, I have a Pa tr eon page that contains various extra's and teasers to future chapters. The link to that page is P a treon . com (slash) shdowstep. (remove the spaces).
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this chapter, and I'll see you in the next.