A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, here is the second chapter of The White Whiskermarked Mask
Welcome to Rukongai.
'What… Happened?' A baffled Naruto wondered. Having had his head cut open by a sword tended to do that, especially after the painful experience of hollowification.
Suddenly a voice cut through his confused thoughts. "This is Zaraki Kenpachi, captain of the 11th division, sending a soul through, priority class E." The voice was gruff, belonging to the strangely dressed person who had cut his head open. As Kenpachi slowly turned towards him, raising his long sword, Naruto panicked.
"Who are you and what are you trying to do? No, wait, stop!" Naruto screamed.
"I am Zaraki Kenpachi, captain of the 11th division of the Gotei 13."
"What?" A confused and irritated Naruto ground out… "What are you then, and what just happened to me?"
"I am a Shinigami, a Soul Reaper. And as to what just happened to you, you died, and were turned into a hollow. After you had devoured that other hollow, I purified you. Now you will be sent to Soul Society or, as the living call it, Heaven."
Swiftly hitting Naruto on the head with the hilt of his Zanpakuto, Naruto felt a warm sensation flow through him, and saw himself sinking into the ground. A black butterfly flitted off. Yelling out one last time, he was submerged completely.
When he finally came to, he was lying in a clearing somewhere, his body was aching all over, and it was hard to breathe.
'Where in the blazes am I now?'
Taking a moment to examine his surroundings, he saw a forest around him, tall pine trees reaching for the blue sky, the sun shining brightly, and the green soft grass underneath him.
'Definitely not Konoha then.' He came to that conclusion due to the fact that, because of the recent heatwave, Konoha's grass had withered and the ground had dried up. Konoha's current situation definitely did not match his present lush green surroundings.
Sitting up, he felt a pressure on his leg. When he looked down to see what was pressing up against his thigh, he saw a mask that strangely resembled one the Konoha ANBU used. It was white, with dark slashes matching the whiskerlike birthmarks on his cheeks, slanted eyeholes, and a grinning "mouth" full of sharp teeth.
All of a sudden, he heard a noise, soft whisper of the grass, and the crack of a dry twig snapping.
"Come out, I know you're there." Naruto warily shouted out.
Two teens came out of the bushes, both about the same age as Naruto. The other was a petite and pale girl with black hair and dark, kind eyes. The other was a boy, about the same height as Naruto with dark red hair and brown eyes. Both were dressed in rags of particularly low quality, obviously orphans. They watched him warily, wondering who the stranger was, and what he was doing here.
The stare-off continued for a few moments, until Naruto, tiring of the continuous nervous fidgeting, decided to speak up.
"So… Where am I? And why do I feel like I've been beaten up by herd of particularly angry monkeys?"
"You are in Soul Society, 78th district of the Rukongai to be specific. And I would imagine that you feel like that because you died." The red-headed boy told him.
"Now it's our turn, who are you?" The red-head demanded.
"Uzumaki Naruto. And I can't really remember much beyond that…"
"Shut up, Renji!" The black-haired girl hit the one called Renji in the back of his head. "I apologise for my friends rudeness, my name is Rukia, and this is Renji. We live in an abandoned house near here." There was a sad quality to her voice.
"We could show you around if you like?" Renji propositioned.
"I don't know, I wouldn't want to be a burden…" Naruto hesitated.
Rukia piped up cheerily. "Oh no, it wouldn't be a problem at all, we were just going to go get some food, we can show you around on the way."
"Okay." Naruto conceded finally.
After leaving from the clearing, the trio walked along a winding forest path, until they finally reached the edge of the forest. They were on top of a cliff, looking down at a series of run-down suburbs ranging as far as the eye can see.
"Naruto, welcome to Rukongai." Rukia said.
"How large is this place?" Naruto asked in wonderment. In the distance he could see a large white tower, surrounded by high walls.
"What is that?" He asked, pointing to the walled area in the distance.
"That? That is Seireitei, the Court of Pure Souls. It's where the Shinigami and the nobility live." Renji answered.
"And the tower?"
"It's the Shrine of Penitence, Senzaikyuu. It's where the Shinigami that are sentenced to death are kept. See the cliff next to it? That is called the Soukyoku Hill, where executions take place."
"Come on! We have to hurry if we want to get some food before the lunch-hour rush!" Rukia shouted from down the path.
"Coming!" Renji shouted back as they ran to keep up with Rukia.
As they walked down the street, Renji asked Naruto inquisitively. "What's with that mask?"
"Oh this?" Naruto asked pointing to the mask still clipped to his belt. "This is just a memento from my living days, the special ops section of my city used to wear these to conceal their identities."
"How come you have one then?" Rukia enquired from beside Renji.
"I don't know, I had it with me when I woke up at the clearing." Naruto had to wonder about that too, how did he get this mask?
'A question for another day, I'll have time to think on it later.' He decided.
"Ahh, old man Jotunshiro, cheap bastard, he never sells us anything. Actually, most of the adults here think of us children as nothing but pieces of trash." Renji muttered angrily, pointing at an old man running a stall at the end of the street.
Naruto shouted. "What are you doing?" As Renji and Rukia started running towards the old man.
"Come on, follow our example and don't get in the way." They both hollered back at him, as he started running after them.
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked quietly when he finally reached them near an alleyway.
"What does it look like? I tie his shoelaces while Rukia distracts him, then we run to the stall, grab the food and run like hell!" Renji described the battleplan.
"But… Why?"
"Because he won't sell us anything! And we don't have any money."
"But stealing is wrong!" Naruto shouted back at Renji.
"Naruto, if you want to survive here, you have to learn to do anything for it, even break your moral code. Anything for survival." Rukia said grimly form behind him.
"But…" "No buts, just do it!"
"Okay… But I don't have to like it!"
"No, you don't. Now let's do this!"
"On my mark. 3… 2… 1… Go!" Renji initiated the operation.
"Phase one: distract." Rukia whispered under her breath as she walked towards the old man.
"Please sir, I've lost my parents and I'm all alone. Have you seen them?" Rukia was pulling off the lost girl act extremely well.
"No, get lost brat, you're costing me time and mone…" "But please sir, I have to find them!" Rukia had large crocodile tears pooling in her eyes. The old man almost broke just then, but quickly regained his sour disposition. "No, away with you!" He yelled at her.
Meanwhile, underneath the table, Renji had tied the old mans shoelaces together, and pulled at the hem of Rukia's dress as a signal to her that the distraction was not needed anymore. Rukia quickly grabbed one of the honeypots, as Renji grabbed several loafs of bread and Naruto took two bottles of milk and a whole ham.
"Get back here you little ruffians!" Yelled Jotunshiro, trying to run after them, but tripping on the tied together shoelaces at the first step. He could only watch as Renji, Naruto and Rukia ran off with his merchandise, laughing merrily all the way.
When they finally reached the abandoned house Rukia and Renji call home, foodstuffs tucked safely under their arms, they walked in.
The inside of the house was a lot nicer than its rundown look from the outside would suggest.
There were a few couches, two beds and a closet inside, all covered in a small layer of dust.
Peeking inside the closet, Naruto saw it was full of random junk, ranging from broken chairs to dirty clothing.
"Go on, make yourself at home." Renji hollered from another room, apparently the kitchen.
Lying down on the couch, Naruto felt more exhausted than ever in his life. He fell asleep in moments.
"Come on Renji, let the poor boy sleep. You know how tiring crossing over is." Rukia whispered to the suddenly red-faced Renji, who had been going to wake him up and inform him that there would be food served soon. "Of course." Renji agreed, and went back to reading his old well worn manga.
As the days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, Rukia and Renji felt as if Naruto had been there from the start. He fit extremely well into their little group, tricky as a Kitsune of legend, nigh uncatchable when it came to hiding, running or deceiving people. It was scary, how well he could hide himself when push came to shove.
They continued stealing food, and survived, no, thrived on the streets of Inuzuri.
Finally, months rolled into years, and it was the anniversary of Naruto's coming to Soul Society.
"Hey, the Soul Reaper academy is recruiting again!" Renji shouted excitedly as he ran in, waving around a newspaper.
"What's so special about that?" Naruto asked disinterestedly from the couch.
"Don't you know? Soul Reapers live in Seireitei, think about it, we would finally be able to leave this dump!" Renji shouted again.
"I don't know… Besides, I happen to like this dump! And we also have to ask Rukia-chan about her own opinion on this."
"Ask my opinion on what?" Rukia announced her presence.
"On joining the academy." Renji replied.
"I think it's a wonderful idea, we can finally leave this dump, and actually get some real food to eat."
"You too, Rukia?! Oh very well then…" Naruto grumbled under his breath.
"Great, so it has been decided, we will apply for the academy tomorrow morning. Isn't this exciting!" Rukia squealed.
"No." deadpanned Naruto.
That night, Naruto couldn't sleep. Maybe it was his nervousness about tomorrow, or something else, he did not know. After tossing about, he decided to go for a stroll.
After tip-toeing past Renji's and Rukia's beds, he quietly opened the door and walked out.
As he walked down the peaceful night-time streets, he heard a sudden commotion. Turning to the source, he ran towards it in top speed, reaching the place in moments. When he glanced around the corner, he saw a gang beating up a little girl with black hair, about the same age as him. He couldn't just stand there and do nothing. He had to act. Thankfully having retained his throwing skills, he picked up a rock and flung it at one of the attackers as hard as he could. When it hit, the Older boy dropped like the sack of shit he is. As the others started glancing around in suspicion, Naruto was panicking. 'Oh shit, a small rock like that can not possibly knock a person unconscious like that...' All of a sudden remembering one of his classes back at the Ninja Academy when he was alive, he figured out the reason for the gangleaders easy knockout. 'Of course, pressure points!' Quickly sniping off the rest of the gang, he ran to the sobbing girl.
"Shh, it's okay, they're all gone now." He comforted the girl. "What's your name?"
"Momo." Hiccup "Hinamori Momo." Sob
"Come on, Momo-chan, let's go get you cleaned up, you can go back home tomorrow."
"Really?" She asked hopefully.
"Yes, you can stay with me, Renji and Rukia-chan for the night."
"Ohh, but I'll be late for the academy tomorrow."
"The Soul Reaper academy? Me, Renji and Rukia-chan are going to go apply tomorrow too!"
"Great." She squealed.
Once they got back home, Naruto cleaned and bandaged Momo's wounds, and tucked her into his bed.
Deciding to go outside to think, he left to the roof. Momo was smiling brightly in her sleep, tightly wrapped in Narutos blankets.
A/N: Next chapter, Shinigami academy!
Sorry if it's a bit fast-paced, but I want to get to the real stuff faster (namely, the mask, the Gotei 13, Naruto's Zanpakuto, and some relaxing hollow killing.)
Inuzuri: (lit. Howling Dog) South alley of flowing spirits, the 78th district of Rukongai. (and, as such, a bit rougher than the relatively peaceful 1st district.)
As always, constructive criticism is warmly welcomed, and flames will be used for a barbeque.
A bit faster than I expected, but it is the weekend, and I am bored…
Chapter size will go up once we get to the later years of the academy.
