Bleach (c) Tite Kubo
Black and Blue
Internal Dialogue
Its hard not to notice how silent Rukia is these days.
Renji remembered this was a budding habit of hers when she was troubled.
Way back in their academy days, and even before in Inuzuri, Rukia was more than happy to mouth off at him whenever he did something foolish, but whenever she was alone, she was a shockingly quiet meek thing who kept to herself. Always had trouble fitting in.
Looking back on it now, Renji regrets not noticing that sooner. Regrets not trying to help integrate her into his new group. He'd been so busy reveling in his own newfound popularity, with his head so far up his own ass, he'd forgotten his oldest friend.
But this feels different than the way she used to shrink in on herself to protect her from their noble classmates' scorn.
She'll sullen. Withdrawn. Acting like there's a perpetual rain cloud hanging over her head. Something's eating away at her and its practically reverted her back to that dispirited prisoner Renji escorted to the Penitence Cell all those months ago.
...The Penitence Cell.
Renji winces as the memory comes to the forefront of his mind and physically shakes his head to free himself of it. It leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.
So much has happened that that day feels like lifetimes ago, but the memory makes Renji cringe and it's left a prevailing air of awkwardness between the two of them ever since.
Frankly, looking back on his actions now and the disgust he feels towards himself, its all Renji can do to stomach looking himself in the mirror in the morning. He doubts he's even worthy of wearing his Shihakusho anymore, let alone the badge of the Lieutenant's office.
Even when Renji reached out to her about the mission to the real world (and they're had scant interactions in between) their discussion was clipped, carrying an underlying tension that made things uncomfortable. Despite their hasty attempt at reconciliation in the escape, the wound is still fresh.
The advanced party have gathered at the Senkaimon assembly point to depart for the human world with their gear. The initial briefing packet declared this a three month-long mission, and so they prepared for it under Captain Hitsuguya's directions. They all carried travel packs with essentials required for the duration of their stay. There's still the matter of their Gigai, but that would be handled in short order.
While Captain Hitsuguya is attending some last minute preparations and briefings with the other command staff, the five of them had gathered at the appointed time and waited at the foot of the inactive Senkaimon.
Ikkaku Madarame and Yamichika Ayasegawa of the Eleventh Division, and old mentors of Renji, are milling about, trading banter with one another in hushed tones until Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto of the Tenth loudly barges into their conversation to provoke an argument. Probably for little more than her own entertainment.
Meanwhile, Renji turns his attention to the last member of their vanguard who stands stiffly by herself, eyes gazing into the distant horizon.
"Are you alright?" Renji asks quietly when he finally musters up his nerve and it startles Rukia out of her daze, her hand flying away from absently fiddling with her Zanpakutou.
For whatever reason, she's chosen to have it wrapped in a maroon silk cloth from scabbard to hilt and tied it off with twine. Renji thought it was odd and wanted to ask her about it. Was this some pre-travelling ritual of hers that she picked up after she joined the Thirteenth? Or just a personal preference?
Rukia wasn't typically so precious of her belongings that she'd take that much extra care with them... but its been forty years of estrangement. Who knew what habits she picked up from the other divisions while Renji was bouncing around the divisions and climbing ranks.
But Renji decides to let the matter drop before he made an issue of it. She seemed very self conscious about... whatever it was, and didn't want to make things more unpleasant than they already were.
"I'm fine." Rukia declares back reflexively.
"You're distracted." Renji points out, "If you're not comfortable with this mission, I can always ask someone else. I know you're just gotten out of recovery from the Sokyoku. And everything else in between has been nothing short of a mess."
A shadow dances over Rukia's face and she bites her lip while contemplating the answer, "More than you know." She eventually replies.
The silence stretches and the tension is so thick you could cut it with a Zanpakutou. Renji glances over at the other three members of their party, still arguing loudly about... Soul King only knows what.
"I'm sorry." Renji confesses at last, guilt gnawing at his guts.
"For what?" Rukia retorts, frowning.
"For everything. For..." Renji stops himself, his eyes slide closed and he tries to think the best way to phrase this. He's never been good with words. Always been more of an action guy so its difficult. "I was angry. Angry at the orders Central 46 gave - that Aizen forged. Angry at you. At Ichigo for taking your powers. But I... shouldn't have acted like that. I should've put my foot down sooner. Should've fought against the whole thing from the very beginning. Should've -"
Renji forces himself to stop before he delves deeper into a tirade. If he didn't stop now, he'd probably spend days lamenting like a fool. Eventually, he settles on something honest and straight forward. "Well, if I could go back and do things again, there's... a lot of things I would do differently."
"You don't need to do that. You'll drive yourself mad with all of that nonsense." Rukia admonishes him lightly, "That whole debacle, it was Aizen's doing. Him and his damnable scheming for gods only knows what. Truthfully, Kisuke Urahara has a fair share of fault in this too. And I'll... I'll confront him alone when I get the chance. To be perfectly honest, I'm not really mad at what he tried to do. I even understand it to a degree. I'm just frustrated that he used me to do it and I want to know why."
"But..." Renji begins but the words die on his tongue.
Rukia toys with the cuffs of her shihakushou before folding her arms, "It was a sticky situation all around. But I suppose we can draw comfort from the fact that everything turned out as well as it had any right to in the end."
"Still... I could've... no, I should've handled it better. Regardless of the circumstances, it was behaviour completely unbecoming of a Lieutenant - even if the official story condemned you, I know I should've done things differently. I represent a whole division now along side Captain Kuchiki, and I need to conduct myself more appropriately to that standard. More than that, I was a terrible friend and I'm sorry." Renji protests weakly, the regret's been eating away at him.
After forty years silence, their first encounter ended like that? With Renji nearly killing a guy he was fast considering a friend, who saved Rukia from an execution she never deserved?
Safe to say there's a laundry list of things Renji wants to beat himself up over.
Rukia laughs. Actually laughs. Its a little haughty but Renji'll take it. She bats his arm lightly, a hint of light mockery in her tone. "Look at you, acting so formally now, Lieutenant Abarai. It doesn't suit you at all."
"Hey! I'm trying to be serious here." Renji snaps.
Rukia allows a small sad almost nostalgic smile, "You know... a long time ago, when I first joined the Thirteenth, I was on a mission with someone." Rukia begin and Renji raises a quizzical eyebrow at her. "We ended up walking into an ambush. A Hollow managed to get behind us and would've killed me if it wasn't for my squad mate. Scored a nasty cut on his arm, nothing too serious that couldn't be healed by anyone with a decent skill in Kido, but I felt so guilty. After the battle was over, I tried to apologize. You know what he did?"
Renji shook his head, trying to ignore the prang of jealousy at this mystery 'he'. "What'd he do?"
Rukia offered a shrug, shaking her head in rueful amusement, "He grinned and laughed it off. He said to me injuries heal and scars fade but death lasts forever, and he'd prefer to get a little scratch over losing a friend."
"Sounds like he was a pretty good friend, huh?" Renji muses then nods at her encouragingly to continue.
This was the first personal conversation they've had in years, and he was eager to keep it going.
"One of the first I ever made when I joined the Thirteenth Division." She answers wistfully, her expression turns morose again. "He wouldn't let anyone belittle me for being adopted into the Kuchiki clan, made me feel like I actually had a place in the Thirteenth and I wasn't a sham trying to fill shoes too big for me."
"Sounds like a stand-up guy..." Renji says, he crosses his arms and peers out over the Seireitei, he manages to keep the edge out of his tone. "Do you guys still keep in touch?"
Rukia shook her head and a haunted look flickers in her eyes for a split second. "N-No. He, um..." Her shoulders slump and her face falls, "Sometimes I think about him, what he'd say about... everything that's happened. What would he say about his idiot subordinate."
"You're too hard on yourself. Always have been." Renji scoffs, looking away and draws in a deep breath, he had the sense he knew who Rukia was referring to. "I think that if he could see you now... I don't doubt that Lieutenant Shiba would be damned proud of you..."
Rukia glances at Rukia, and its a fond yet bittersweet chuckle that tumbles out of her mouth. "Oh please, he'd scold me and cuff my ear for accepting my fate so readily."
Renji huffs a sigh, what little humour they stirred up evaporates just now. "That's the past now. Behind us. In these past forty years, I know I've gotten stronger but you've been no slouch yourself. I've seen you training. You're putting a good chunk of your seated officers to shame in the sparring arena. I think he'd be happy with how far you've come."
Rukia sends a questioning look his way and Renji explains, "I've... taken a few missives to the Thirteenth once or twice on behalf of Captain Kuchiki. I've spied you whipping yourself back into fighting shape. I wanted to talk but, uh, yeah..."
Renji lets the words hang unspoken in the air.
Guilt for his complacency, even if he later tried to atone for the deed, robbed Renji of the courage to actually approach her those days. Even when Captain Ukitake tried to encourage him in subtle and unsubtle ways to talk to Rukia, Renji chickened out at the last minute with some flimsy excuse and returned to his post at the Sixth.
Rukia draws in a breath, "I need time." She admits heavily, "It's all still... still pretty fresh. But we'll get there eventually. I promise."
Renji offers a faint tentative smile. "Yeah. I hope so too."
"Listen up." Captain Hitsuguya arrives in a fit of Shunpo and all five Shinigami halt their discussions immediately to face the Tenth Captain.
Hitsuguya runs a critical eye over them all.
"We've already made an arrangement with Kisuke Urahara and will procure our Gigai there. Our first priority will be establishing contact with the Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki and debriefing him on his encounter with the two Arrancar scouts the other day. From there, we will devise a suitable defensive strategy to deter any further Arrancar attacks on Karakura town." Captain Hitsugaya instructed them.
"Yes sir." All five Shinigami chorused.
"Good. Lets move out." Captain Hitsuguya nods to the Kido Corp officers who signals his men to begin the chant and activate the Senkaimon.
Truth of the matter is the misfit family calling themselves the Visoreds don't have much to do these days.
Of course, you can point to their overwhelming thirst for revenge against Aizen for destroying their lives and banishing them from the Soul Society to cover his own twisted ass. And to that end, they've all put themselves through hell, training their Hollowfication for when the final battle comes, eager to witness the moment when Aizen finally forced to face the music.
But that doesn't change the fact that on the whole they lead a desperately dull existence.
Even the Omnitsukido hit squads that used to dog their steps have evaporated. Not that the Visoreds could do much about their persistent stalkers anyway. They couldn't even engage those idiots for a bit of sport, since that would've been as good as a blaring klaxon announcing their location to the Gotei 13 and Aizen.
While the broken pursuit would ordinarily be cause for relief, Shinji knew better. They weren't a priority anymore. With three traitor Captains dashing off to Hueco Mundo, all forces would've been pulled from 'non-essential' assignments to help sure up the Gotei 13's rotting foundations and hunt the actual traitor Captains down.
To make their exile sit more easily, the Visoreds tried to reframe it as an extended vacation.
After all, there's no seemingly endless mountains of administrative paperwork in exile. No tedious meetings about issues that could've been resolved with a five minute conversation. No travelling half way across the city to attend dry Captain's assemblies. No formal functions to attend on the whim of some cushy noble.
And between the original eight of them (later nine), there were plenty of skills and trades they could ply to make end's meet.
Over the years, the Visoreds accumulated a vast wealth of experience in the human world and, with a little help from Kisuke, managed to hold down a variety of different odd jobs thanks to masterfully forged credentials; things from Librarians to Shopkeepers, bartenders to even authors (under pseudonyms, of course).
They changed vocation every couple years or so, both to avoid any humans they interacted with noticing the fact they didn't exactly age, and to avoid staying in one place for too long.
Its all been a decent bit of fun, life-shattering bullshit circumstances aside. But even travelers possesses by the most insatiable of wanderlust would inevitably develop a longing for home.
Maybe that's why they didn't explode in absolute outrage when Kaien tells them how he's been trying to exploit Ichigo's Combat Pass after he bumped into the kid weeks ago.
Sure, there's raised voices, cussing and maybe a little tantrum throwing from Hiyori and Mashiro, but ultimately, no one can really fault Kaien for it. He's just trying to finish what he started, what he died for, by clearing their names and getting them all home through whatever means necessary.
They'd never trust the government again. Self-important, self-righteous bastards who turned their backs on them without so much as a second glance, but the idea, the hope of being able to return as free men and women to taste the air is so very tantalizing.
True enough, what Aizen did to them was monstrous. He tore out their darkest aspects, gave them form and threw it all back in their faces, forcing them all to confront things about themselves they did their damnedest to bury again. But over time the Visoreds probably could've forgiven that. Hell, they were living with it, and... all things considered, they were coping pretty decently.
What they could never forgive Aizen for was stealing their purpose.
And what Aizen stole, Kaien's trying to give them back. And when a Shiba's made up their mind; neither heaven nor hell, or even death will stop them from seeing things through to the end.
Even though eight Visoreds vehemently protested to the contrary over the century, the desire to return home and reclaim that purpose has always lingered in their minds. Swinging back and forth from a ghostly whisper to a tolling bell.
And right now? Soul Society might just be desperate enough to let them tell their side of the story. Might just be desperate enough to ask for their help. The Visoreds would probably give it, but assistance doesn't equate to forgiveness.
That's something the Gotei 13'll have to earn the hard way.
If nothing else, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
"Psst. Shinji? Is the coast clear?"
Think of the devil and he appears.
Shinji had parked himself on one of the stools set against the bench with a notebook laid out before him, filled with hastily jotted notes. He glances over his shoulder to the kitchen doorway behind him where Kaien poked his head in, suspiciously looking around for a certain blond firecracker.
Shinji offers his usual grin. "You're in luck. Hiyori's out back in that little playpen of hers. Let me guess, she still givin' ya grief?"
"I don't know why. I already said I was sorry. How long can one person hold a grudge anyway?" Kaien complains half-heartedly sweeping into the kitchen. He'd shed his favourite jacket, leaving him in his dark blue-grey jumper and black undershirt.
His nose wrinkles when Shinji arches an eyebrow, "You know what? Nevermind. Bad question."
"I think she's just mad yer hoggin' the new kid." Shinji jests lightly.
Kaien pouts and crosses his arms, leaning against the counter across the bench. "I'm not 'hogging' Ichigo. I have every intention of bringing him back here eventually. I just didn't see the point in screwing around with all the obfuscating cloak-and-dagger bullshit. Ichigo needed help and a face he could trust, not ominous portents of doom and a creepily sinister smirk." He sends a scolding look Shinji's way, "And I still haven't got a clear answer, by the way: what in hell were you and Kisuke thinking? I told you Isshin already called me about Ichigo's hollow problem and that I'd handle it when I got back. Would've spared a lot of frustration on all sides."
"I was thinkin' I wanted Hiyori to shuddap with all her yappin'. In case you haven't noticed, her voice kinda carries." Shinji answers candidly, not at all offended. They've known each other far too long to get twisted in knots over this kind of ribbing.
Kaien hides the snort of amusement behind clearing his throat. "And what an absolutely splendid job you did there." He covers a yawn with his hand, "While Hiyori's in her 'totally not a menagerie you guys, stop calling it that', where's everyone else? It's shockingly quiet. Especially this time of night."
Shinji shrugs his shoulders, idly flipping through his notebook while Kaien starts fishing around in the fridge. "Hachi's over at Kisuke's helpin' Tessai sort some stuff out, Mashiro decided ta tag along on the promise of sweets. Love's out at the cinema watching that new anime movie he was goin' on about for weeks, and the others are either milling about or asleep."
"Huh." Kaien straightens up, eye twitching in irritation. "And Mashiro apparently ate my Mochi Ice-cream. Again. Fantastic. I told her to stop raiding my snacks. At this point, I'm gonna have to buy a mini-fridge for my room and use a kido barrier to keep her out."
Shinji chortles and for the sake of his own amusement, he chooses not to reveal the culprit was Rose after Shinji told him the ice cream was for everyone. "But of course. Why do you think Kensei has already one? Should've known better than to keep 'em in the communal fridge, Shiba. You know if you don't hide your snacks well enough, she'll sniff it out. That nose of hers is uncanny when it comes to sweets."
"Yeah, yeah. Shame on me." Kaien grumbles, he points to the coffee machine on the counter. "Want one?"
Shinji wrinkles his nose and shakes his head. "I'm fine, thanks. Too late in the evening for me."
"Not even Irish?" Kaien goads playfully.
"Ah, well now, since ya twisted my arm I suppose I'll just have ta oblige." Shinji puts on an air of false sincerity. Kaien laughs and sets about making two cups.
Way back when, Shinji thought he was doing Kaien a favour by introducing his friend to one of the greatest pleasures in the all the worlds; coffee. Nowadays, Shinji's wondering if he's created a caffeine-addicted monster (they don't talk about the last time the coffee machine broke. It was a terrifying reminder that Kukaku isn't the only Shiba with a nasty temper when provoked, as Love can attest).
"While we're on the subject of the runt; how's the training going? Having fun hanging out with your baby cousin?" Shinji prods teasingly when Kaien pulls out a half-empty bottle of whiskey from the cabinet, pours a shot into each expresso and slides one Shinji's way.
"He doesn't know any kido. Why doesn't he know any kido?!" Kaien throws his hands up in an exasperated, rather overdramatic manner, and Shinji suppresses the urge to snicker.
Times like this, you can definitely tell this punk was raised by Isshin Shiba.
Shinji grins unrepentantly. "Don't think Kisuke was particularly focused on teachin' him more than the basics of sword fightin' to get by. And he pretty much coasted on luck and guts after that."
Kaien groans into his hands. "It hurts my soul. On a fundamental level. God, a Shiba not knowing kido. Its like a Kuchiki not having a stick up their ass, or a Tsunayashiro not being an inbred gremlin - it's not supposed to exist."
Shinji raises an eyebrow with wry amusement. "With that kid's raw power, ya really think teachin' him how ta channel all that power inta spells is a good idea?"
Kaien stares at him uncomprehendingly, "Your point?"
Shinji shrugs his shoulder coyly. "Nothin'. Just rememberin' another Shiba punk. Much like Ichigo. Liked getting himself in repeated trouble for shall we say 'enthusiastic experimentation' with Kido techniques. And occasionally using a certain firework cannon."
"What can I say? Kids do stupid shit when they're left unsupervised. Not that I took any part in those kinds of antics. I was perfectly well behaved, thank you very much." Kaien lies with a straight face, completely unrepentant.
"O'course. The halo hides the devil horns quite nicely."
Kaien grins, drinking his coffee.
"Oh. Heard you got back. About time. What are you two plotting and scheming about now?" Lisa interrupts in her usual disinterested manner, entering the dining area wearing a very familiar ocean blue hooded jacket over her usual outfit.
Kaien's eyes narrow pointedly at her, "Lisa."
"Kaien."
"What did I say about stealing my stuff?"
"That it was sexy and I should keep doing it." Lisa retorts without hesitation and Shinji watches Kaien pinch the bridge of his nose with a sigh (hiding a rather cheeky little blush if Shinji's not mistaken). "I'm cold. You weren't wearing it so its mine now."
Shinji rolls his eyes in exasperation. Honest to god, these two are menaces. Someone needs to teach these two idiots how to flirt properly (Which is saying something considering one of these idiots used to be married and the other was the Lieutenant of the Gotei 13's biggest womanizer.).
"Looking for this?" Kaien pulls his phone out of his pants pocket, giving her a dirty look when she unsubtly patted down the pockets. "Yeah, I remember last time you got your hands on this. Never again."
"Hn. Careful. He's learning." Lisa snarks.
"You're the worst." Kaien chuckles despite himself, slipping the phone back into his pocket.
"Lies and slander. I'm the best and you know it." Lisa deadpans.
"Kaien. Back on topic. I asked a question: How's Ichigo's training going?" Shinji asks, taking a long drink of his Irish coffee.
"Ah. So... funny story. You remember how Kisuke mentioned he was beginning to hollowfy when Aizen's goons showed up? Yeah. As it turns out, that wasn't his power going rampant. Ichigo was actually in control the whole time." Kaien explains, scratching the back of his neck. "Apparently, he'd just asked his hollow for help and it helped him."
"Excuse you?" Lisa raised an eyebrow.
Shinji's eyes narrow at him. "Ya ain't bullshitting me, are ya Kaien?"
Kaien shakes his head. "Nope. Not one bit."
"And he hadn't lost his sanity, at all? He was fully cognizant? It wasn't the Hollow posing as him?" Lisa questions.
"In our last training session; he actually managed to summon his mask. And he was in complete control of his faculties. Even had enough wits about him to be a little smartass about it." Shinji sees that fond curl of the lips. Kaien continues. "Managed to maintain his mask for thirty-two seconds. Which means he's bumped you out of second place. Sorry Lisa."
Lisa dismisses it breezily, "Fine. Its not a competition."
"Yet, you're perfectly happy to rub it in my face." Kaien mutters under his breath and Shinji would've sniggered if he wasn't preoccupied with the implications.
"I thoroughly doubt Ichigo and his Hollow are best buddies by any stretch of the imagination, but if they managed ta actually come to an agreement and work together..." Shinji muses before giving Kaien a pointed look. "One case is an anomaly. Two cases is a pattern. Which means it's possibly a viable method ta gettin' to better grips with our own hollows."
"Right." Kaien agrees. "I was hollowfied differently to you guys, Ichigo was hollowfied differently again, but the same methodology worked in both our situations. Clearly, there's something to it."
Shinji is silent for a moment, a calculating gaze fixed on his fellow Visored. "Workin' with our Hollows instead of keepin' them in cages... Even with the powers under control, its still splittin' our concentration and willpower to keep 'em suppressed. Might be worth a shot, tryin' ta work along side 'em instead of keepin' them locked up."
Kaien folds his arms, leaning against the kitchen counter once more. "But that's the rub. You guys had to shackle your Hollows. I never did."
"No, you just had to politely disinvite couple thousand other guests instead." Lisa points out.
Kaien winces at the memory. "... yes, I know. I was there. Thank you for reminding me. My point is; after spending a century being confined in some deep dark pit in a soul scape; its not hard to imagine they'd be pretty pissed off at the treatment. And definitely disinclined to give you the time of day. Its not a particularly conducive environment for developing an equitable working relationship."
"True. And I wasn't particularly inclined to try it out before because we thought you were unique. Some weird factor of your hollowfication made it possible ta work together without havin' ta suppressin' it. But now you've proven your solution can be replicated..." Shinji muses out loud, running a finger around the rim of his mug, quietly considering his thoughts.
Shinji remembers when they tried to put Kaien through their training the first time, only for his mask to form without an ounce of sanity lost. Baffled them all to hell and back and Kisuke spent months trying to figure it out.
"Bluntly, we'd be offerin' them their freedom in exchange for not tryin' to take control. You said it yaself, you treat yours like its a second Zanpakutou spirit. I'm thinkin' that's the same kinda attitude we all gotta adopt if we wanna achieve a more permanent kind of balance. And I know we'd all sleep a little easier without havin' to worry about pesky hostile takeovers..." Shinji grins that unnerving grin at Kaien. "After all, can't go havin' the two babies of the group outshine the rest of us."
"Excuse you?" Kaien cocks an amused eyebrow, "Who do you think you're calling a baby here? I'm only a couple hundred years younger than you, thank you very kindly."
Shinji snickers when Kaien points a finger at Lisa, "Pull the pin on that grenade at your own peril."
Lisa raises an eyebrow and actually looks mildly offended, "Why would I want take such a cheap shot? I have plenty of other ways to get under your skin."
"That, you do." Kaien rolls his eyes and Shinji chuckles.
"When Hachi, Mashiro and Love get back, we'll have a talk with the others about it. Then I wanna have a chat with Ichigo. I don't doubt ya word Kaien, but I wanna see what he can do for myself. And if it turns out this ain't a fluke, if he's really managed to work with his Hollow, then I'll try it out first." Shinji announces, slapping his notebook shut and sliding off his stool.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Lisa asks.
"I'm the logical choice. Hollows might vary from person to person, but as far as our times go; the taming and first manifestations, I'm squarely in the middle of the pack. While I try ta get through to my hollow, we'll use what happens to me to function as a baseline for the rest of you to try and unshackle your Hollows. And for what people on the outside should expect." Shinji declares, he focuses on Kaien. "When ya meet him again, invite Ichigo over. Now he knows he's not gonna get jumped by some organ harvestin' cult, he might just be willing to pay us a visit so we can talk things out."
"Charming imagery. But, okay. I'll ask him if he's interested." Kaien answers.
"In the mean time, I'm bone tired and I'm gonna go catch some sleep." Shinji says, slipping away. "Kensei's on watch tonight. If either of you are plannin' on headed out, tell 'im to wake me at six and I'll relieve him. Night."
"'Night." The two of the chorus when Shinji rounds the corner.
"So... Dinner?" He hears Kaien offer.
"Fine. But you're buying."
"Can I have my wallet then?"
"Yes."
"Can I have my jacket back?"
"No."
Shinji just rolls his eyes at the banter. Seriously, its like living with a pair of teenagers.
Author's note:
The BLEACH anime has returned. Believe it or not, I'd originally intended to have this fic completed by the time for the premiere. But life gets in the way of intent and the story's kinda expanded well beyond my original scope. I apologize for my tardiness on this update but hope you enjoyed it all the same.
And... yeah, as certain other parties have hinted before, Kaien and Lisa might be a little bit more than just 'best friends'.
Regards,
Aurora313
