Chapter Twenty-One
"Mm… Let's see… Excuse me, sir… Could you tell me where this address is? I'm afraid I'm hopelessly lost…" Hinata said sheepishly. A young man looked at the piece of paper, and nodded.
"Sure… You going for a checkup?" He asked. Hinata, confused by this statement, merely agreed.
"Yes, sir." Hinata muttered, not sure he was giving the right answer. Still, if it got him where he needed to be, then he shouldn't care.
Hinata felt a little bit odd in a gigai. He hadn't gone to the Human World in decades, and the last time he went, he only needed the Gigai for a few hours before he could leave it and start fighting a Hollow. The young man drew out a map on the back of the piece of paper, and put their current location as a star, drawing a line between where they currently were and where Hinata needed to go.
"Okay. This is where we are right now. Just go over two streets that way and go down until you get here." The man said. It was a crude map, but it got the job done.
"Thank you, sir." Hinata said, bowing politely, and heading north.
"Um… You're going the opposite direction. You need to go South." He said.
"Why don't I just take you directly to the address?" He asked. He figured that this strange man with the strange accent would wander around the city for hours if he didn't just lead him right to the location.
"Thank you, sir. That's very kind of you. I don't have any money, though." Hinata said. The man laughed at this.
"No, no… I don't want any money. I enjoy learning about people. So, where are you from? You speak fluent Japanese, but your accent doesn't seem like it's from around here… And to say you have no sense of direction would be an understatement."
"I'm… From… About as far north as you can go and still be in Japan. It's a very small town called Zaraki…" Hinata said. He wasn't exactly lying.
He did originally come from Zaraki. It was as far North as you could go in Rukongai, and within Zaraki, he was pretty far North.
"Ah, you're from Wakkanai?" He asked. Hinata shook his head, following along behind the man.
"No. But I was pretty close. It's a tiny town called Zaraki. It doesn't even show up on most maps." Hinata said. The man nodded.
"Mm… Okay… We're here… You can go in the clinic door if you're here for an appointment." The man said.
"Thank you very much." Hinata said, walking up the steps and ringing the doorbell. The man turned and hurried off, realizing that he was actually late.
"Hello, young man… How may I help you?" Isshin asked.
"Excuse me, sir… I'm here to see Miss Yuzu?" Hinata asked, rubbing his arm nervously.
"I see… You're a Shinigami, aren't you?" Isshin asked, his eyes narrowing. Hinata gasped.
"N-no… I mean… Well… H-how did you know?"
"My birth name is Shiba… I was a member of one of the Four Great Noble Clans. I was a captain. And you clearly have the Reiatsu of a Shinigami… Though slightly off… So what are your intentions for my daughter? Do you plan to take her away as well? I've already lost Ichigo and Karin, and Yuzu-chan is already gone over to the Quincies."
"No, sir. I just want to take her on a date… If it's alright with you."
"Have her back before dark… She probably has homework to do…" Isshin ordered. Hinata nodded nervously. If this was the man he was thinking of, then in spite of his unthreatening appearance, he was actually quite dangerous.
"Yuzu-chan! You have a boy here for you!" Isshin called. Yuzu hurried to get her shoes on. She hadn't expected Hinata to come to see her so soon. In little more than a minute, Yuzu appeared before Hinata, looking just as beautiful as she had when he first met her.
"Hello, Miss Yuzu… Do you have the time this evening?"
"Sure… The weekend starts tonight, so I don't have school tomorrow. I'll be back later, Dad."
"Have fun, sweetie." Isshin said, closing the door as they left.
"So, what did you want to do tonight, Hinata?" Yuzu asked. Hinata shrugged.
"I've been completely lost in this city for the past three hours. I was kind of hoping you had a plan."
"Sure… Let's go to Urahara Shoten… He's always fun, and he has two kids about our age there as well." Yuzu said. Hinata nodded, following Yuzu to a strange looking shop that was emanating some powerful Reiatsu. Whoever was in there was more powerful than Hinata had imagined. He thought that they must either be so dangerous that Soul Society didn't dare attack them, or so good at hiding their signature that Soul Society didn't know.
Otherwise, how could they have remained here for so long unharassed?
"Urahara-san!" Yuzu called cheerfully. Soon, a man in a black, billowing jacket with a green and white striped fishing hat came out, yawning widely.
"Oh, uh… Hi, Miss Kurosaki… The kids will be happy to see you. They don't get much company anymore…" Urahara said, yawning again.
Had he been sleeping? It was the middle of the evening. What businessman would be asleep when he should be tending his shop?
"Oh… Hello, young man… You have a somewhat intimidating Reiatsu…" Urahara said, smelling Hinata and backing away.
"You wouldn't happen to be an Arrancar, would you?" He asked, as though he would answer honestly if he was. Hinata shook his head.
"No, sir. I think I was what you Shinigami call a Vasto Lorde before I was purified, and sent to Soul Society. But my soul wasn't completely cleansed, and because of that, when I got to Soul Society, I had strange powers that scared other people.
"I was lucky that Captain Soi Fon gave me a chance to become a Shinigami… But… I'm afraid my Zanpakuto kind of puts some people off." Hinata said nervously. Kisuke nodded.
"Mm… Yes, I've heard of cases like yours. They're rare, but not unheard of. Usually, a Hollow's purification is complete. But when you get more powerful Hollows, such as yourself, there are sometims complications. You don't seem evil. Miss Yuzu would have been able to sense if you were.
"She's much more intuitive than even most Quincies. But please, come in. I've always wanted to meet a being like you, Mr…"
"Hinata, sir."
"Mr. Hinata…"
"Please, just call me Hinata… Given your power, you must have held a high position in Soul Society."
"That was a very long time ago. Over 100 years, now. I was a captain. But we were betrayed by a man called Sosuke Aizen. A story for another time. Come in, come in. Take off your shoes." Kisuke said.
"Kids! We have guests!" The strange shopkeeper called. Two children came down. One looked rather meek and unassuming while the other looked like he belonged in the Yakuza.
"Yuzu-chan!" The thuggish redhead said, shocked that she was here.
"Hello, Jinta, Ururu… How are you?" Yuzu asked. Ururu smiled.
"We're doing pretty well. And you, Yuzu? Who is this young man?" Ururu asked.
"Oh! This is Tomoe Hinata… We're on a date, and I thought I'd show him the city." Yuzu said, completely unaware of the effect this had on Jinta, who stiffened.
"Oh, great! Hey, Hinata… You ever played Soccer before?" Jinta asked.
"Mm… No… I'm not even sure I would know what it is. Maybe you could show me?" He asked politely. Jinta smirked.
"Sure… We can show you. Ya mind learning by doing?"
"Well, that's how I learned most of my swordfighting skills. There aren't many Shinigami who can use Kerambits, so I sort of had to learn on my own."
"Wait… Maybe we could spar a bit…"
"If that's what you want to do… Jinta-san…" Hinata said, annoying Jinta with how agreeable he was being. "You don't happen to have any wooden daggers, do you?"
"We can do you one better, Hinata… We've got wooden kerambits.
"They were carved by our very own Tessai…" Kisuke said cheerfully, disappearing into the back and coming back with two curved wooden blades. They didn't have any sharp edges, but they had a hole in the end to stick his finger through.
"I can sell those to you for 1,500 Kan! They're enchanted to be unbreakable!"
"Sure… I could always use a spare pair." Hinata said, taking out his cell phone and transferring the money to Kisuke, who smiled.
"Business finished. Go out and have fun!" He said.
"And try not to break anything, Jinta…" He added. Jinta scowled and flipped him off. A very brave or very stupid move, Hinata thought to himself.
Jinta took a giant wooden Kanabo with him that looked very heavy, swinging it around with one arm. Hinata had no doubt that Jinta could wield it with ease. Ururu looked uncomfortable, whispering frantically to Jinta. Hinata heard little snippets of their conversation. "Hurt him" "Be careful" "Go too far". Either way, a Kanabo was a clumsy weapon, and no matter how practiced someone was with it, it tended to slow the person down. If Hinata could work around that, he could avoid it without trouble.
"O-okay… Three… Two… One… B-begin!" Ururu called. Jinta attacked first, swinging the Kanabo hard and making a huge dent in the ground, cracking the earth all around them. Hinata leapt up and over the giant bat, and swiped at Jinta, who dodged the Kerambit as well. For now, Hinata was just seeing exactly how strong Jinta was, as opposed to how skilled he was.
It seemed that he had fair skill as well as admirable strength. Strength was not Hinata's forte, so to speak. He always had greater speed and agility. He leapt over Jinta's next Kanabo strike, landing on the club itself and jumping up, flipping over Jinta's head and landing, twisting and striking at Jinta's back.
"Sneak!" Jinta snarled angrily as he barely dodged the attack. Hinata laughed.
"I'm afraid that's my business model. I am a member of the Onmitsukido…" he said, dodging underneath a wide swing of Jinta's Kanabo and sweeping his legs out from under him before immediately striking to the chest.
"I win. It was a good fight, though. You likely would have brained me if you had hit even once with that Kanabo." Hinata said, reaching down to pull Jinta up. Jinta swatted Hinata's hand away, standing up on his own, looking fiercely at Hinata, and stalking off angrily.
"Wow! Good job, Hinata-san! It's not easy to beat Jinta! He's had a lot of training with that Kanabo."
"Thank you. My specialty is not head to head combat, though. I'm more of an assassin than a fighter. My Zanpakuto is called Kyuketsuki no En for a reason." Hinata said soberly. Head to head combat had never made him feel good. He didn't get satisfaction out of winning a difficult battle. He did get satisfaction out of completing a mission, though, regardless of the tactics he used. It was probably leftover from a time when he was an emotionless killer leading a cult.
"Well… That's why you're in the Onmitsukido, right, Hinata?" Kisuke asked. Hinata nodded silently.
"Hey, Yuzu! You wanna play soccer with us? Some other friends of ours just showed… And we were gonna get some teams together!" Jinta said cheerfully. Yuzu shrugged and nodded. Sports were never her strong suit, but she needed to get in better shape anyway to be a proper Quincy.
"Great… You, you, you and I will be on one team. You, you, you, and you… Will be on the other." Jinta said. Yuzu went to the team opposing Jinta with Hinata. She had explained the rules of soccer a bit. She wasn't as good as Karin was, but she was decent. She had to learn it in gym class.
"Now, for those of you who don't know, the point of the game is to get the ball into the other team's goal. You have to kick the ball, you can't pick it up. They have to deflect the ball." Jinta said. Hinata nodded, seeming to be picking all this up pretty easily.
"Maybe I should be the goalie. It won't help your team if I make a beginner's mistake, Miss Yuzu.
"C'mon… Call me Yuzu… We're on a date…" Yuzu whispered, blushing slightly.
"Sure… Y-Yuzu…" Hinata said self-consciously, heading over to the goal, and standing in front of it, waiting for something to happen. The rest of the team started the game. It was difficult for normal humans to have a chance against someone like Jinta, but since Jinta found quickly that he couldn't get the ball past Hinata, it was more or less even until about the middle of the game when Ururu decided to join the game. Jinta didn't seem terribly worried.
But when she showed that she was better at sports than she looked, and he realized that he still had no way of scoring, he started to slip up a bit. In the end, the game ended with a score of 1-0 in Hinata's team's favor. Hinata went over to Jinta, and bowed politely to him, but Jinta didn't bow back. He merely scowled and stalked off. Kisuke came over and tried to smooth things over.
