I fully admit - I wasn't very focused on this chapter T^T . I was too busy watching Iron Man and Thor and Captain America with my AP Bio class - which consists, of me, my teacher, and another kid - and listening to the idiots (read: boys) who eat lunch (or, well, spend lunchtime) in my Psych teacher's classroom. This was done way later than expected, but still sooner than last time, so that's good ^^'. At last, they're on their way to the Gotei 13!
Now, several things need addressing. First; I changed my username from Yuuritai Sou to Kodokunatsuki, if anyone was wondering. Second, a lot of people were wondering about Orihime's inner world. Yes, Tsuki-chan is her zanpaku-tou spirit (Kodokunatsuki).
As for the other people in her inner world, they were the people who mattered most to her nakama, and those who are not resting peacefully (which is why her brother and Chado's abuelo aren't there). The were recreated from her friends' hearts when she healed them, using her god-like rejection powers. (I'm going to do quite a bit with her powers, and Aizen and the Hogyoku, later on, so consider yourself warned ^-^.)
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warmthwarmthwarmth
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His skin felt strange. Not bad, just different. The surging reservoir of reiatsu he was so accustomed to was cut off from him now, hidden behind a wall somewhere in his soul, only a trickle coming through compared to what he had once had. At his hip, Kurotsuki was no longer in its constant release state, needing a command to let out its power.
It wasn't like he was powerless; he was still significantly above the other new students waiting outside the Academy around him. But it was just so strange. It was like his power was the little amount it had been when he first became a shinigami, when Rukia had stabbed him through the chest; but now that he knew what it was like to be so immensely powerful, it felt strange to be starting from scratch.
By his side, Uryu and Orihime felt strange in his reiatsu-senses too. He couldn't feel any of the reiatsu from the powers they had held as humans. They didn't stand out from the crowd anymore.
That was, of course the point. It hadn't even occurred to him until Orihime brought it up. He hadn't even known that she was developing her Shun-Shun Rikka's powers, enough so that she had created a new type of rejection. Futen Fuushun (1), the power to seal away, was nearly as amazing as Souten Kisshun, the power to reverse.
Now he really felt like Shiba Kei, more so than ever. The people at his side were Shiba Kei's otsuki (2), Hatojiki Akito and Ikari Atsumi. The commanding woman in front of him was his older sister, the head of his household, which, even though it was fallen, had once been one of the most important noble families in all of the Soul Society.
"You have all your stuff?"
"Hai, nee-san," Ichigo sighed.
"All of your books?"
"Hai, nee-san."
"Your dye?"
"Hai, nee-san."
"Do you have enough yukatas? Because I can bring you some if -"
"For the last time, I'm fine, nee-san!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the smiles on his companions' faces. His teeth were grinding together in annoyance, and he almost rolled his eyes. Kukaku's concerned face instantly shifted.
"Hunh?" she growled. Her hand came down on top of her head in a way so familiar by now, though the familiarity didn't fend off the pain of his hair being yanked sharply upwards. "What was that, you little brat?" she demanded, eyes narrowed. Their little group was quickly drawing the attention of the other new students. "If this is what I get for worrying about you, then next time I'll just kick you out without a speck of mercy!"
She released him, and his hands instantly went up to his sore scalp. "Kami (3), woman, do you have to abuse me like that?" he complained.
Pink sakura petals drifted through the air, carried by a soft breeze. They littered the ground, crushed underfoot by the dozens of students in white-and-blue or white-and-red uniforms, milling around nervously. Only a few that he could see already had zanpaku-tou. Most looked nervous, unsure of themselves. A few - nobles, most likely - had family with them.
"Hey, fresh meat, listen up!"
It was amazing how much that voice sounded like Kukaku. Ichigo almost jumped. He looked past his sister, to the tall, fierce-looking girl standing in front of the gates to the Academy grounds. Her black hair was a long mane, reaching to her waist, and for a moment, Ichigo failed to recognize her.
Tatsuki was standing there, her arms crossed over her chest, in the white Academy uniform, a katana (4) at her hip. His jaw dropped about a foot. She was grinning at her dumb-stuck audience.
"We're takin' ya all inside now, so if ya have any teary g'byes, hurry up and say 'em!"
"Wow," Uryu said. "She's just like Kukaku-san." He got a cuff on the head for that.
Kukaku looked at them seriously when the Quincy was done muttering complaints under his breath. "All of you, be careful in there," she said. "It's not just us and Rukongai people anymore. There are shinigami who can taste your reiatsu, shinigami who know you, and it might be familiar enough for them to notice. Not to mention that they might recognize you from how you look or act, to don't give anything away."
The trio nodded solemnly. They knew they were taking a risk, but Ichigo couldn't help but feel a flame of excitement in his stomach.
"You." His big sister rounded on him. "Don't you dare go back to that scowl, ya hear me?" Her face was inches away from his, making him lean back in fear. She was the only one who could intimidate him like this. Eagerly, he nodded.
"Good. And practice you kidou more, you suck at it."
Ichigo opened his mouth to protest, but she had already moved on to her second victim. "As for you, skinny, watch over these two airheads for me, will ya?" She jabbed her finger in the direction of the two former redheads. "Make sure they don't do anything stupid."
Uryu smirked. "Of course, Kukaku-san," he said.
Ichigo glared at him. If looks could kill...
A punch in his gut interrupted his attempt to incinerate his smart-ass friend with his eyes. "What did I just say about scowling, ahou (5)?"
"Ah... gomen (6)... nee-sa... n," Ichigo forced out, doubled over. His voice was an octave higher than normal.
His abuser humphed and turned away. "And you, Hime, you be careful. Men are pigs, so beat 'em up if they harass you, got it?"
"Hai, Kukaku-san!" He could hear the grins in their voices. Men might be pigs, but women were demons.
Uryu's thin hand touched his shoulder. "Are you alright, Kei?" he asked quietly. Like most of the time nowadays, there was no condescending tone to his voice. Sometimes, like now, it still surprised him. It felt nice.
He straightened stiffly, still wincing a bit. "Yeah, I'm good," he assured his nakama.
"Okay, newbies, time's up! Get yer buts over here!" Tatsuki's order probably momentarily deafened those standing closest to her. Kukaku wrapped him up in a hug, squeezing the breath out of him with glee.
"Gack! Nee-san! Get off me!" It seemed he was going to be tortured until the very last possible moment.
His sister released him only to drag his two nakama into a suffocating group hug, with him in the middle. He found himself unable to breathe, but somehow, the three pairs of arms wrapped around him made up for it.
"Don't forget, you three are family," Kukaku whispered fiercely. "You will always have a home to come back to." She let them go, all of them blushing.
"Now get outta here! Show those pampered brats who's better, got it?" Her grin was huge, and her eyes were dancing. She moved aside for them.
As they walked toward Tatsuki, he glanced back at her. She was smiling softly at him, and when she saw him look back, she cupped her hand around her mouth. "Make me proud, Kei!" she yelled. Heads turned to the woman, but she was already turning and walking away, back to the Rukongai, back to her home. His home, for the past six years.
Ichigo turned his back to her as well. Now he was making himself a new home, a new place in this world for himself and his two nakama. From now on, he was leaving behind Ichigo Kurosaki. From now on, he was Shiba Kei.
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The students, let out of the hall where they had listened to the customary introduction speech, crowded around the large white posters fastened to the wall. Kei, as respectful as his sister had made him, was still nodding off from that speech. The bright sun and fresh air woke him from the slight daze he was in, though.
The more easily intimidated moved aside for the Shiba and his two "otsuki". Apparently, being from an important noble family, even if it was fallen, gave one some advantages. Those who moved had the clean, well-groomed, decently dressed look of the lower nobility and people from the lower Rukongai districts. The higher nobles considered themselves too high to move for a fallen family, and those from the further out districts didn't know or didn't care.
The left list held girls' names, in pairs. The right held the boys'. These were the room assignments, but unlike the dozens of students around him, Kei wasn't nervous. Again, being a Shiba had its perks - until recently, he had never known just how many privileges were allowed to the aristocracy.
Because Akito and Atsumi had entered with him as his otsuki, they would be in the same classes as him, and Akito was his roommate. Kukaku had told him about it, informing him that the nobles had refused to participate in the Shinigami Academy when it was first created unless they could do things like that. He was relieved to know that he wouldn't be living and learning with complete strangers, but it didn't make him like the nobles any more than he had when he first fought Byakuya.
Kei craned his neck up to scan the lists. It was Atsumi, though, who found her name first. "Ah!" she said, pointing up to it. "I'm with Kuchiki Eishi... ne, Kuchiki!" She turned around to look at the two of them in surprise.
Akito frowned. "Must be one of the branch families," he mused. "Though they usually don't use the family name as individuals..."
"Did you say Kuchiki?" A pretty girl next to Atsumi looked over at the trio. The once-redheaded girl nodded. The other student bowed to them. "I'm Kuchiki Eishi. Byakuya-dono is my cousin. I guess I'll be sharing a room with you, then?"
She shared a fair amount of Byakuya's - Kuchiki-taichou's - features, and she held herself confidently. Somehow, there was less of the inherent superiority projected by Kuchiki-taichou, and less of the rigid propriety in her voice. She lacked his cool exterior, in favor of something a bit more rough.
A katana poked through her obi (7) as well, like theirs. Obviously, she was fairly strong, or Kei doubted she would've been allowed to enter the Academy as a Kuchiki. Her silky black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. Her features held a certain delicacy, like Kuchiki-taichou's, but Kei knew not to underestimate her based on that. (Byakuya could have passed for a girl, but Ichigo knew first-hand how freaking strong the guy was.)
Her eyes were dark brown, darker than Kei's but not yet black. She stood like him, with her thumbs tucked into her obi. Two white barrette-things held her bangs back on either side of her head. A jointed white ring covered each middle finger from the base all the way up almost to the tip. The pads of the fingers were bare, but Kei couldn't see a bit of her nail, and the ring ended in a sharp point. The white things must have been a symbol of her nobility, like Kuchiki-taichou's kenseikan - as well as being a weapon, apparently.
Kei bowed back to her, and Akito and Atsumi followed his lead. "I'm Shiba Kei," he said. "And this -"
He started to gesture to Atsumi, but was cut off suddenly by a not-so-composed-anymore girl. "Shiba? As in the Fallen House, and Shiba Kaien?"
He blinked in surprise, startled. Kuchiki-taichou would never have interrupted with eager-sounding questions. Apparently, cutting someone off was one of the rudest things you could do in a conversation, according to Kukaku. "Yes, that Shiba," he replied, forcing himself to answer instead of just standing there, blinking.
Eishi's little outburst had drawn attention to their little group. Glancing up briefly, he caught the eye of a fellow student, another of the higher class of nobles. In that brief moment, Kei saw a flash of greed in those eyes, staring at him and Eishi.
Evidently, Akito had seen it too - he always was more observant than Kei - because he leaned around Kei and said, "Perhaps we should move away from here, now that we know our room assignments." He had probably checked what room the two of them were in while Atsumi was looking for hers. They took his suggestion, moving out of the small crowd, everyone moving out of the way now that there was a Kuchiki trying to get through - even those from farthest out in the Rukongai knew real nobility when they saw it.
They chose a quieter corner of the courtyard, under a sakura tree in full bloom. Eishi was barely patient enough to wait until they left the large group to start talking. "I saw that woman pushing you around earlier - was that Shiba Kukaku? Because she looked just insane."
Kei laughed. "Well, you can say that again. And several more times." He paused for a moment. "Although I wouldn't recommend doing so within her earshot. She might skin you." The sad thing was, he wasn't even joking. He shuddered, remembering her rather inventive torture techniques.
"So, are you an actual Shiba? Because I heard there were only two left - Kukaku and her younger brother, Gan-something - ever since Shiba Kaien-fukutaichou (8) died." She inspected him curiously.
"Ah, I'm a distant relative of hers. She adopted me into her family, for which I am very grateful."
He leaned back against the slim trunk of the tree, feeling the rough bark through his uniform. Through the hanging tendrils of the sakura branches, he could see some others occasionally glancing over to them, but no one approached.
Eishi nodded. "I'm not actually a Kuchiki, either, but I'm Byakuya-sama's closest blood relative. Byakuya-sama doesn't have an heir, and Rukia-sama can't inherit because she isn't part of the bloodline, so he chose me to be his heir."
Akito touched Kei's shoulder. "Atsumi-chan and I are going to check out our rooms. We'll let you two talk for a little while." Kei nodded in agreement, but when he looked over, he saw a tightness in his nakama's face, one that hadn't been there for years.
After a moment, seeing Akito step away with the cheerful girl, he pushed away the slight worry he felt. It was probably nothing - Akito hated situations he couldn't control. Maybe it was even Uryu's loathing of all things shinigami. He turned back to Eishi without thinking any more of it, for now at least. They were sharing a room - if there was something wrong, Kei could wrest it out of his stubborn friend later, when they were alone.
"Those two seem close to you," Eishi remarked. "More close than most commoners would be to nobles, even if they were otsuki."
"I would die for them," he informed her. He caught her surprised look, and told himself that he hoped he never got so used to being considered above everybody else by those around him that he started to believe it himself. "I told you; I wasn't born noble, and even when nee-san took me in, we lived mostly like Rukongai citizens. It isn't like they're sworn to me or anything silly like that. They're my friends, that's all. We're there for each other." He said it all simply, like something that had always been his truth and would always be his truth.
And it would always be the truth. He would make sure of that.
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Eishi was nice to talk to, especially considering that he had barely talked to any strangers for the past six years. It was kind of jolting, though, to see someone who looked so much like Byakuya interacting with him in a friendly way. Some of it, he thought, had to do with the fact that he was a Shiba - he was a member of one of the very few other Great Houses, and from what he could gather, Eishi admired Shiba Kaien a lot.
He had to remind himself that even though she looked maybe twenty, she had been alive for fifty years - she'd mentioned it in passing. It was a bit of a culture shock. Sure, he'd known Rukia was, like sixty or something, maybe even older (he was pretty sure her claim when she'd first met him that she'd lived ten of his lifetimes was an exaggeration, because that would make her older than Byakuya), but it had never really sunk into his mind. But now, he realized that even to the new students here, who looked mostly as if they were in their late teens to early twenties, he was almost a child. He was, what, twenty-four? Half their age, at least. And yet, more powerful than nearly all of them, even with the majority of his powers sealed away.
It made him realize why the shinigami viewed him as something to keep an eye on, more so than he had known while alive.
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Ieyoshi Kenji knew what he liked when he saw it. And at the moment, he was feasting his eyes on a busty girl standing away from the crowd of people waiting to enter the dining hall. Food could wait for now.
He strolled through the crowd with all of the self-assurance of a high noble. A handsome one, too - he wasn't arrogant enough to believe he was the best-looking guy here, but he wasn't anywhere near as ugly as some of these people.
She really was pretty. Hopefully, he was the first person to talk to her. She wore her long black hair in a braid that even draped over her shoulder reached her hips, and stood with her hands clasped in front of her, swaying slightly from side to side and looking around.
A thin guy stood next to her, his hair brushing his shoulders and his bangs falling over one of his eyes. Ieyoshi took one look at him and decided that he couldn't possibly be the girl's lover. He looked too... wimpy. Feminine.
He stopped in front of the girl. "Aisatsu (9), onee-san (10). I am Kenji, second son of the Ieyoshi family."
Her lips curved into a smile. "Aisatsu, Ieyoshi-san. I am Ikari Atsumi, from Aogoke (11), the eleventh district of the west Rukon. Yoroshiku." She bowed politely.
The thin boy next to her stared him down. It made him uncomfortable, something unpleasant crawling under his skin. Ieyoshi eyed the katana at the guy's waist warily. It was forbidden to wear a sword that was not a zanpaku-tou inside the Academy walls, and he felt the empty space at his side acutely. This skinny guy had a zanpaku-tou already, and that was an accomplishment that Ieyoshi hadn't achieved just yet.
He dismissed it, though, shaking off the strange feeling. "Any aspiring shinigami does well with a noble benefactor, particularly a girl from Rukongai. I'm sure I could put in a favorable word to my parents for you." Every word of it was true; and no one ever refused the chance to be supported by a noble family.
Ikari frowned, and Iyoshi decided that the little crinkle between her eyebrows was adorable. "I'm honored, Iyoshi-san, but why would you make this generous offer to me?"
Ieyoshi smiled. "You are obviously fairly talented, if you already have a zanpaku-tou of your own. And I have a feeling that you would be well worth it." She really was beautiful, and she looked so sweet and innocent. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a few glares, and internally, he smirked. They should have moved faster, if they wanted her for themselves.
Ikari blushed. "Ah - I'm honored, Ieyoshi-san. Arigatou gozaimasu (12). But -"
The thin man at her side stepped forward. "We have a benefactor already," he said. "She has no need of one whose only reasons for offering are those of simple, carnal men. She has encountered enough of your type before, at home. This is meant to be a place of learning, not pleasure." His electric blue eyes held contempt.
Ikari's pretty brown eyes widened. "Akira-kun!" she said.
Ieyoshi turned indignantly to the interruption. "And who are you?" he demanded, glaring at the man. How dare he put a son of the house of Ieyoshi on the level of the scum of the Rukon!
"I am Hatojiki Akito, of Aogoke."
It was infuriating, how a Rukon dog could carry himself with the haughty air of the noble houses even higher than his own.
"Well, Hatojiki, you should learn your place. A Rukon stray is far below a high noble son." The noble sneered down at the thin man, striding forward until they were less than a foot apart. Ieyoshi was large, and that added to his nobility meant that most backed down quickly, intimidated.
Not this runt, though. Hatojiki didn't even bother to look at him, but spoke off to the side, his nose wrinkling in disgust. "Please remove yourself from my personal space. Your breath is making me sick."
A vein throbbed in Ieyoshi's temple. He reached out and roughly grabbed hold of the front of Hatojiki's white shihakushou. "What did you say, iyashii (13)?" he growled. As it always did, his temper was overriding his noble dignity.
The man's cold eyes turned toward him. "So this is how a son of the noble Ieyoshi family acts - like a crude brawler from the outermost districts of Rukongai." The noble's teeth ground as he listened to the words Hatojiki spoke, dripping with condescension. Next to them, Ikari was backing away, looking between them nervously. "I am less than impressed with the state of the Seireitei's nobility, if you are at all an example. Not that I expected much better, of course - you failed the entrance exam, what, five times? Still, I would rather be a simpleton than an oaf."
Ieyoshi saw red. He released Hatojiki to bring back his fist, ready to pound the kid into oblivion. Before he could, though, a muscled and tanned arm entered his vision, reaching across Hatojiki's chest. The design etched into the smooth skin on the inside of the arm gave him pause - the solid black falling wave was the insignia of the Shiba family, the Fallen House.
"Enough," the Shiba said. He had wild black hair, almost as long as Ikari's. His face was like stone.
Now Ieyoshi knew how those who tried to confront him felt. This Shiba was smaller than him, more lithe than heavily muscled, but it was as if he could see the power in those arms. And the knowledge that this was a member of one of the Great Families, no matter that they had no influence over the running of the Seireitei any longer, cowed him.
"Just who are you?" Shiba asked.
"Ieyoshi Kenji," he said back, making his voice bold to compensate for the intimidation he felt.
"Well, Ieyoshi, that's my otsuki you're about to get into a fight with."
He could almost feel his blood going cold. Just as quickly, though, it ran hot again. This brat had no real power. Ieyoshi knew how to play games of politics and favoritism. Shiba was nothing to be afraid of, not anymore, and it hadn't been for more than a hundred and fifty years. This boy, who couldn't be more than forty years old, had no right to regard himself as superior to Ieyoshi. He had no right to otsuki - two of them, because Ikari must be his as well, if Hatojiki was.
"A fallen family doesn't deserve the privileges of real nobility. Your blood is spoiled by treason - you shouldn't even exist. None of your family should!" he spat out, darkly satisfied when he saw Shiba's face go cold.
He lunged forward, his fist tightening just as it was about to connect with the brat's face - and then he was flying through the air. The breath was forced out of his body before he even registered hitting the ground. He gasped, trying to draw in oxygen, unable to breathe. He stared into a bright blue sky, unable to hear over the ringing in his ears.
Shiba's face, stone once again, entered his vision, framed by his long black hair hanging down towards Ieyoshi. He extended a hand to the noble on the ground, but Ieyoshi brushed it aside, infuriated. He pushed himself up, finally remembering how to breathe. Unsteadily, he stood, facing Shiba, and raised his fist again.
Quicker than he could follow, Shiba grabbed it and twisted it around behind him. The brat's voice sounded directly into his ear from behind. "Stop, before I break your arm. My sister - that fallen noble you were insulting - taught me that nobles were supposed to conduct themselves with dignity and set an example. You are the one who doesn't deserve to be a noble."
Ieyoshi snarled. "Shut up, you bastard! I -"
Hatojiki walked around to face him. "I doubt you will be of much use to your family at all. But at least you could try not to dishonor them even more by being thrown out of the Academy on the very day you finally got in."
After a moment of trying to match the electric blue stare, he tch'ed and turned his head away. Shiba loosened his grip, and he shook the smaller male off. Angrily, he strode away, into the dining hall. He glanced back as he entered, to see Ikari smile up at the two males, and their soft expressions as they looked down at her, and he scoffed. They wouldn't last a minute if they didn't learn how things were done in the Seireitei.
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He is lost in darkness. He can't move a muscle under the black cloth bindings. He can see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing. There is no sense of time passing, and no way to tell if he is awake or asleep.
Hallucinations had plagued him sometimes in the beginning, but they had been nothing but indistinct whispers. Even those have faded away after some untellable amount of time.
By now, not that there was really any such thing as "now", he has forgotten what seeing and hearing and feeling were. The idea of moving or talking is incomprehensible to him. His mind floats free from the confines of his body, adrift in a sea of black.
Even the voice of his soul is lost to him. He has not felt her there inside him for eons. Memories are dissolved into a mass of phantom sensations, more ideas of things than captured moments in time.
There is no deception here. The only thing that exists is him, and he cannot conceal himself behind facades. Thoughts come and go without direction from him, and ideas form and dissolve at their own will. He isn't dwelling on anger, he isn't counting seconds - he doesn't even know what a second is, anymore. This place outside of time, without anything to distract him, or anything else to occupy his attention, is an opportunity to think without the limitations of reality.
But even in this universe of thought, one emotion stays with him, one that has been there since his earliest beginnings. Loneliness is his ever-present companion, a different kind of darkness that has festered in his heart for time eternal.
Then something changes. Something new enters his intangible world of ideas. Somehow, he is experiencing something again, something real. It is so strange, so... unrecognizable.
Something, some nearly lost sense, told him that it was pain he was feeling. He knew that it was supposed to be bad, something he wanted to stop, but it was so alien to him that it didn't really matter what it was; all that really mattered was that it existed outside of his mind.
It drew his mind and his body together, slowly, gradually. He became aware of the shape of his body, his legs and arms, pressed tight to the chair he sat in, was bound to. Ironic, that it most closely resembled a throne.
The sensation called pain was right over his heart. His rusty senses told him that it was the tip of a knife, just piercing the skin. He didn't know how it had gotten through his bindings, but somehow, he was grateful for it. He wasn't alone; there was something besides him.
A whisper entered his mind, almost like the hallucinations from before, but the words were clear.
Hello, traitor.
He didn't even mind the insult. It had been so long since he had heard anything, in his mind or not, and a feeling of relief washed over him. He greeted the voice in the only way he could - with a wave of welcoming feeling, and the idea of a question. He couldn't form words.
So, this is what captivity has done to you. Interesting.
His questioning grew stronger.
I am your enemy, young one.
Fear, another feeling he hadn't felt in so long, creeped into his mind.
Don't be afraid. I'm not here to harm you - not today.
Today - another alien concept.
I came to check on you. I wondered if you had changed at all. It appears that you have, though I don't know exactly how. Your mind is a jumbled mess of thoughts and ideas, all abstract and blended together. It's a wonder you can understand me at all.
Amusement drifted through his mind.
I also came to take a look at that thing inside of you. The Hogyoku. It seems that during you time as nothing but a collection of thoughts has bound it to you closer than ever.
It was confusion which he felt now. The Hogyoku had rejected him already, bound his powers, rid him of a part of his soul.
It seems that even the ones who created it do not know much about it. We call it the God-Heart.
Curiosity travelled through his mind. "We" - so this person, whoever it was, was not alone. And he had never heard of such a thing as a God-Heart.
It's time for me to leave now, young one.
Panic was his immediate response. The sensation of pain vanished from his chest, and the feeling of joining minds faded. He didn't want to be alone again - he didn't want to lose himself in his mind, no matter how many possibilities it presented to him.
Would you look at that. The traitor is scared of the dark.
He struggled with the limitations of his abstract state of mind. He had questions for this stranger, and more than that, he wanted someone to communicate with.
Oh, things will change soon enough. Then, you might long for the solitude and serenity of your mind.
He grasped at the fading presence.
I'll see you around.
Amusement infused the voice's last whisper.
Aizen-sama.
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warmthwarmthwarmth
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So, how'd it go? I'm starting to put in a little bit of the plot, but I don't think Aizen's visit was handled very well ^^'.
So, I've got a lot of ideas, but no idea how to write about them. Ah, I'll figure it out as I go along.
Eishi is my version of black. 's Eiji. I like Eiji, but I made Eishi a bit different than him. I'm not sure how much of her I'm going to include; I'll leave that up to you guys. We finally said goodbye for a while to Kukaku, and that's a little sad for me. I love writing her.
As always, tell me what you think. I didn't really like this chapter. A part of it, I think, was that I didn't get much opportunity to work on it. It's amazing how much homework teachers can cram in in the last couple weeks of school. But now that school's done, I'll have more long stretches of computer time to get large chunks of the chapters done at once, which will make it flow better, I think.
Next chapter will be interesting. Rukia will be making another appearance, as well as Keigo, and we'll learn more about the history of the Soul Society.
Important:
I have one question, which won't be relevant for a while. There's a series of a few filler episodes during the beginning of the Hueco Mundo arc in the anime, where Ichigo and company fall into the Forest of Menos. For once, I actually like these fillers. I would like to add Ashido, the character from those episodes, into this story, when the plot really picks up, but I'd like to know how you guys feel about that.
Also, should I continue to refer to Ichigo, Orihime, and Uryu as their new names, or should I go back to their actual names?
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1. Futen Fuushun - Two-Heaven Sealing Shield
2. ostuki - retainers, basically loyal attendants
3. kami - god
4. katana - sword
5. ahou - fool
6. gomen - sorry
7. obi - belt
8. fukutaichou - lieutenant or assistant captain
9. aisatsu - a greeting
10. onee-san - literally, sister, but it is commonly used to refer to a young woman
11. aogoke - green moss
12. arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much
13. iyashii - lowly person
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Review Replies:
La terrible La: Yeah, I'm starting to put together the real plot now. Thank you; I adore Ishida as well!
Maverick14th: I love the relationship between Ichi, Orihime, and Ishida. It's so deep and profound. And here's the first idiot who tries to get close to our Hime ^.^ . As for Karin, yeah, she has streaks of orange in her hair. She didn't dye it, though - her zanpaku-tou's spirit is a tiger, and its reiatsu affected her appearance, like Renji's gave him the tattoos. Please keep reading, I promise I will try my best to improve as much as I can!
KaKashiisWifey: Yay, a new reviewer! Thank you! I hope you keep reading!
KurosakiCrystal18: Thank you so much! Please come back!
Gemini24: As always, a huge review! Wow! I know, this chapter and last chapter aren't my best, unfortunately. I think Uryu is very possessive, because there is so little that was constant in his life. He lived with himself by holding on to his identity as a Quincy, but he doesn't have that anymore, so his identity centers around his two nakama now, and if he loses him he really has nothing. His hidden abilities are a little cruel, but not like Orihime's, so they don't really worry Ichigo. As for Orihime, she doesn't control people, she just removes their desire to do anything or feel anything. Their human powers weren't tied to their bodies, they just could be used while they were in them because they weren't shinigami powers. They were still tied to their souls. Kurotsuchi experimented on Quincy after they died, so I assume that they still had their powers. I love Ryuken ^-^. The twins look like they're about 13, I think. They look a little older than they do right now in the manga. Ichigo's reiatsu changed during his training with Kukaku, like his zanpaku-tou did, and it has changed even more now that it's sealed with Orihime's you! I love your reviews!
Serisa Black: Thanks so much. I love your glowing praise ^-^!
Reina de la Noche: Yeah, sorry for takking so long ^^'. I hope the explanation at the beginning of the chapter has answered all of your questions about Orihime's inner world. And the little voice in her head is the part of her that is still under Aizen's influence - she did mean it, I believe, when she told Ulquiorra that her existence was for Aizen, because at that moment she was a part of Aizen's army. Isshin's zanpaku-tou is much like Ichigo's, he says so himself, so I think that it's constant-release, too. We don't know much about his shinigami identity, anyway so... even if it isn't constant-release, I'm claiming creative lisence ^^'. And as Aizen will be in the plot, his influence on Orihime will be a part of it too. Thank you very much for your faithful reviewing! I will always try to be the best ^-^!