~Disclaimer: I do not own any of the bleach characters.
~R&R!!!!
That night I lay hopelessly on my bed, my arms under my head, starring at the ceiling, as if it would give me some clue on what to do. I closed my eyes and thought about everything she said.
Sooner or later, I fell asleep, which was another miracle of God.
That morning Megumi woke me up, reluctantly. She shook me until I fell off my bed, "Today's the day!" She shrieked.
"And what day is that?" I snapped.
Her jaw fell, "Of all the people you don't know?" I gave her a confused look. "The test day! Everyone is going to test!" Her smile stretched from side to side, "You tested yesterday, and your results will come today! Well, of course you passed...but still, it's exciting!"
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, thanks for telling me that, and at the same time, breaking my back." I said, sarcasm filling my voice.
Once she left I got undressed and slipped on the traditional robe and brushed my teeth.
I ran out the door hearing a goodbye from Megumi in the background. While I ran to my school, I heard dozens of "congratulations!" from passing bystanders. Of course they were congratulating me on my graduation...even though I had no clue how they knew.
Once I ran to my school every kid eyed me...I knew why. I ran into the classroom, "Good morning Kaien." Mr. Kuchiki gave me a special smile.
I rolled my eyes and went to my seat. "Hey..." Ichigo greeted me. I gave him a little nod
. "Congrats on...graduating."
"Thanks...so, why're you so glum?" I asked hearing the depression in his voice.
"How do you expect me to pass the test? And he is just using 1/8 of his power, and you beat him with no sweat, purposely trying to loose, using barely any of your strength!"
I slammed my head on my desk...I wish I never graduated. The bell rang which was a cue for class to start. Mr. Kuchiki shut the wooden door and faced us, "Good morning everyone." he said, "Today is the big day. Are you excited?"
There was many "woo's!" and "yeah's!" but also many "ugh's!" and "no's!". He laughed, "Well everyone who wants to get held back can. Remember you have sixteen minutes to place a scratch on me, if you don't, you fail. Who shall go first?" he asked.
Many hands rose up into the air, and Mr. Kuchiki eyed all of them, he chose one in particular, though.
"Sora, how about you?" She stood up with a smug on her face. She walked down from the back of the room like it was a runway and to Mr. Kuchiki.
"Shall we get started?" She scoffed and took out nun chucks. Mr. Kuchiki raised an eyebrow, "That's new," he said. "Well, there's no rule against it."
She started to twirl them around while Mr. Kuchiki pulled out a sword.
"Begin!" he bellowed.
As swift as lighting Mr. Kuchiki ran towards her. Sora's eyes were closed and her face had a smug grin. She threw both of her nun chucks towards his hands. When she did, she put her hands in front of her, separated. They both flew towards Mr. Kuchiki's hands. She clasped her hands together and with her fingers made a triangle. They tied around his hands, which caused his eyes to widen in surprise. "You know how to do...?" he trailed of. "Hmph," she merely said. Due to Mr. Kuchiki's shock, he was frozen. Sora appeared behind him and took out a kunai knife. She made a cut on his cheek and then said, "I pass."
Gasps filled the air, how did she do an actual attack such as that? I was in just as much shock as everyone else was. Mr. Kuchiki broke free of the nun chucks and then cleared his throat, "All right then, shall we move on? We now have two graduates, who will like to be the third?"
More hands filled the air, causing him to scan the room again. "Ah...Ichigo Kurosaki, how about you?" he asked.
Ichigo's eyes widened, "Me...?" he nervously said, standing up. His hand was not even raised.
"Is there another Ichigo Kurosaki in the room?" A few giggles arose in the air.
He gulped and walked to the front of the room beside Mr. Kuchiki.
"Draw your sword," he said. Ichigo hesitantly took a sword out. "
One...two...three...start!" he counted.
Fifteen minutes flew by with clanging swords and injuries...on Ichigo. But at the last second, he managed to scratch Mr. Kuchiki's left cheek. On Ichigo, there was more than just a scratch. His robe was withered and stained, his face had deep scratches and dirt stains. The class giggled, and I shot them a glare.
"Good job Mr. Kurosaki, you pass." Ashamed at his poor performance, he kept his eyes on the floor as he walked back to his seat.
Feeling bad, I whispered "good job" to him as he placed himself upon his wooden chair. At least he graduated; most people in this class could hardly place a scratch on Kuchiki in less than an hour. I bet even half the class won't even graduate.
And my bet was right, about two hours later, only about half the class did graduate. The class consisted of eighteen people, and the graduates consisted of seven. The names of the graduates were: Me, Sora, Ichigo, the girl Inoue that talked to me earlier, another girl named Yukiko, a guy named Yuki, and a girl name Kikyo.
After class the seven graduates including me were called to a meeting with Mr. Kuchiki. We all were given new robes of a soldier that were black and v-necked, a white cloth was tied in the middle with a knot. In the back was a strap for our sword, which would be given to us now, with its own name. First we were given a lecture by Mr. Kuchiki.
"I am very proud to now call you soldiers. Each and every one of you has the potential of doing this," he said. "But all that matters is if your heart wants to. Where is your heart? Can one of you tell me?"
That made us all have confused faces. Of course we knew where it was, weren't we supposed to learn in, like, first grade or something? Yukikio was the first to speak up "Isn't it somewhere around...here?" she said gesturing to her heart. This made Mr. Kuchiki laugh, and we all wondered why.
"Where is your heart? Of course we can all show where the organ is...but do you know where it is? Is it with your friends, family? Most prized possession, lover? Your heart is with the thing you treasure most, the thing you love. Thing or things. It can even be at your home or even in fighting....do you understand?" We all exchanged glances and nodded. What he meant made sense, at first I thought him crazy. But as I contemplated his words I smiled in the inside. Right now, I would have to say, my heart is with Megumi. After all, she is the closest thing I have to my mother and father.
The lecture ended in about another five minutes, and then the time most of the kids have been waiting for arrived, "Now you will be presented with your swords that i think best suit you." Most of the kids smiled at each other I smiled at myself. He pulled out many sheathed swords with all different golden designs on it.
"First of all, the sword entitled Yukitenshi, or 'Snowangel'" he said and showed a sword that had a white sheath with a golden angel imprinted near the hilt. The hilt was aslo white and many silver fabric strings made designs on it. Golden diamonds were going down the middle of the hilt. A white ribbon was attached to the bottom of the hilt, so whenever someone would attack with it, it would flow in the wind. It truly was a beautiful sword.
"This is the most graceful sword, and one of the most beautiful. I prize it to, none other than," he hesitated for dramatic effect, "Kikyo!"
A smile planted across her face and without hesitation took it from Mr. Kuchiki.
"I think your fighting style is graceful and beautiful, much like this sword, which is of the ice element."
Kikyo held it in her palms and looked it all over. Mr. Kuchiki began to speak once more, "Next is the sword entitled Tsuki which means 'Moon.'" he scanned the entire group and set his eyes upon Yuki. He had black hair that went down the sides of his face. He had dark blue eyes. He smiled when Mr. Kuchiki's eyes set upon him, "This sword will be prized upon the mysterious Yuki."
He walked forward and unsheathed the sword. The blade reflected the light off the sun coming through the window. The hilt was black, and golden fabric strings made diamond patterns across the hilt. It was a very good-looking sword, too.
"This sword represents fighting styles of people that are mysterious, the element is wind."
"Next is a man that had a little trouble getting here," everyone, and even me, set their eyes upon Ichigo. I smiled at him and he smiled back. Seems as though he learned to laugh at his little mistake.
Mr. Kuchiki laughed, "But, it is a good thing that Kuchiki did take his time to get here, it gave me more time to observe his fighting style and i now believe i picked the perfect sword for him." He pulled out another white sheathed sword. But down the middle a black strip was printed. The hilt was white and navy blue. It looked very interesting. Ichigo raised an eyebrow.
Mr. Kuchiki continued, "His fighting style is very pure and is filled with light. He truly is perfect to be a soldier, his heart is in the right place, and that is why he doesn't like to fight very much. That is also why he isn't very mastered at it. So, which leads me to announce the name of the sword. It is entitled Hikari, which means 'Light'." Ichigo smiled and walked up to claim his new sword. "This sword has no element, but it does have techniques that you will need to find yourself." Ichigo nodded.
Everyone clapped as he unsheathed his sword. The light from the sun reflected of the shining blade again. He sheathed it once more and walked to stand by everyone.
"Now is a sword entitled Chikara, which means strength. This sword will be perfect for this woman, her fighting style if very head-on. This sword also does not have an element. But, with it's command, which you will have to find out, can grow in size." Everyone looked at each other in surprise.
Dang it, i thought, he said "woman..."
"Inoue, will you please step forth." It was the girl who talked to me earlier. She stepped up with a smile and took the sword.
"This sword is entitled Tasogare, which means twilight. This has no element, either, but it is more powerful than any other sword here," before he could finish everyone started to yell. "What's?!" and "no fair's" filled the room.
Mr. Kuchiki continued to speak, ignoring everyone, "It is more powerful than any other sword here at the time of twilight!" he finished.
Everyone immediately shut up. When is the time of twilight anyway?
"And it is going to be prized upon the beautiful Yukiko."
Yukiko smiled and skipped to claim her sword. She unsheathed the sword, the hilt was black and red.
Now Mr. Kuchiki's voice grew low and hoarse. He looked as though he was glaring at someone, "Now...this sword is entitled Kuraikage. Which means 'dark shadow'. It has an element, but i will allow the person who this is given to to figure that out." He fixed his eyes upon Sora. He glowered at her while she had a smug grin fixed upon herself. Why did he look so mad? I fixed my gaze upon her, too. Something didn't feel right all of a sudden. She skipped to claim her sword.
When she unsheathed it, I had that feeling i had the other day. A bad feeling. What could it be?
I pushed it aside because, finally, there was no other person left without a sword but me. Which meant it was, at last, my turn.
"I left this person for last because, even though he doesn't like to-- and want to-- fight....he is the best at it here. This man is a legend, well, will be a legend. I can smell the scent of captain in him."
I looked down.
"This man here today is the son of the great, amazing, Captain Shiba. I believe that he will follow in his footsteps which is why I prize him with Takaikizu. It means: death or pain, which what he will bring to his victims. Come up here Kaien!" everyone leaped into clapping that sounded like thunder. I walked up to claim my sword. The sheath was black with a red stripe going down the middle. The hilt was also black and red.
But, surprisingly, when i unsheathed the sword, the blade itself was also black. Automatically in a snap everyone's face turned to confusion. But Mr. Kuchiki had a smile on his face. I touched it to see if it was another sheath or something, but when I did I cut myself.
"Why is it black?" I finally said.
He smiled, "Because it's the strongest one here."
I looked around, no one but Sora looked angry. Apparently everyone thought i was the strongest one here, too.
Sora didn't look like she did, though.
"This man," Mr. Kuchiki started, "Defeated me, in less than five minutes, while i was using 1/2 of my strength."
Everyone started to clap again. Ichigo "woo'd!" too.
I smiled, "What is the element?" I asked.
"Fire, but, it also has special abilities that I will allow you to figure out." I nodded and walked back to the group of 7...7 new soldiers that is.
I was walking home, that feeling with me again. The feeling of something going to go horribly wrong. It was eating away at me. What could be going so horribly wrong? What could happen? Before i could try to find the answer to the two questions i was accompanied by Ichigo. "Hi!" he said joyfully. "Hey," I replied not so joyfully.
He is always so happy. That's a good trait of his, hopefully i would gain it, too.
"So i was thinking," Ichigo started, "Can you come to my place for a while? Maybe eat dinner there?"
I laughed, it sounded a little weird when he put it like that. He laughed, too, "Not as a date! Just you know, please? I haven't had a friend over in like a century!"
I smiled, "Fine."
"Yes! Okay, follow me!" he started to run off and i followed.
When we burst through the door his mom immediately turned her head toward us. She gave me a stunning smile and i returned it, being polite. "You are Kaien-sama! What are you doing here?" she said.
My smile faded, but, i was taught manners and i replied in a kind fashion, "Your son invited me over here, if it is okay with you, he'd like me to stay a while."
Her smile grew bigger as she gave her son a look that said: congratulations! She nodded and said, "It's 100% fine with me!" I nodded.
Ichigo told me that we could go around the city and do whatever comes across our mind, so I ran outside with him.
We ended up getting some ice cream from a shack. We walked and talked as we snacked upon our frozen treat.
"Well..." he said and licked his ice cream in between words.
He pondered the question I asked him: so, where do you think your heart is? I was just wondering, we had nothing else to talk about.
"I...guess my heart would be....with my mom and dad." He said, licking in between a few words. I nodded.
He began to ask me a question, "So, is your heart with your mom and dad?"
Before I could answer he discovered the flaw with that question, "Right! I'm so sorry, I forgot, I'm an idiot, if you wanna be my friend you're gonna have to get used to my stupidity!"
I laughed, "It's fine." But truly, in the inside, it was not. I remember so long ago, the six years I did have with my mother and father. I remember as clear as day the warm and tender love they shared with me.
Everyday I came home, my dad would greet me with a friendly "there's my boy!" and then give me a great bear hug. My mom would give me a kiss on the cheek. Back then I would definitely say my heart was with them. Now, it's with Megumi. She greets me the same way my mom would: a kiss on the cheek.
Sure, I don't share as much love with her as I did my parents, but that's only natural. She is my most prized possession right now though; she is the key I have with my mom and dad. I snapped out of my daydream and listened to Ichigo ramble on about some random subject until I figured I should head home about now.
I thanked Ichigo for allowing me to play with him and started to run towards my house. Every inch that I drew nearer toward my house, the feeling in my heart grew even bigger, even till the part where it actually started to cause pain. When i was less than twenty feet away from it, I started to breathe heavier. The feeling felt like someone was jabbing a knife into my heart. I dragged my feet toward the house and, finally, when my hand touched the knob, I screamed in pain and fell to my knees. What was going on? Was it a heart attack or something? I needed Megumi's first aid. I kicked the door open, and when I did, the feeling grew even more painful. I actually began to sweat. For some odd reason, all the lights in the house were off.
"Hey--" I yelped in pain, "Megumi are you home?" I managed to say. There was no response.
Dang it, she probably when out looking for me. Stupid Ichigo...I got up off my knees and started to limp around searching for her.
I looked in my room, living room, kitchen, everything but her bedroom. I decided to look there, because that's probably where she'd be. But normally, she doesn't like me to go in there, she says its her personal space. I decided to forget about that and enter.
Once I touched the knob of her room, I couldn't take it. The pain grew to the point where I knew it was not just any ordinary feeling. I fell down and screamed at the top of my lungs. "Megumi!" I screamed, "Help me!" No response. I got aggravated and pushed her door open, which was the biggest mistake of my life.
When it opened, i forgot about my pain, my day, practically my life.
My arm dropped down to my side, as I stood there paralyzed. My eyes didn't blink, they remained wide open. My breathing stopped. What I saw in front of me was worse than any horror movie, for I was living in one. Forgetting I was a seventeen year old boy, tears accumulated in my eyes and fell down my cheeks, my expression remaining the same. "Megumi..." I whispered, it sounded almost inaudible. I shook my head, refusing to believe what I saw.
In front of me, a dead Megumi was hung on the wall, hanging to the wall because of a knife stuck through her heart into the wall. Her black pupils were now gray. Blood was painted all over her body. "Megumi!!" I screamed. Someone walked out of the shadows and into the moonlight. I only saw the murderer's outline, and it was one of a woman. The girl was wearing a mask.
"Well hello, Kaien." she said. I turned my head toward her. Not even bothering to ask who she was, I rushed toward her to slaughter her. I drew my new sword, Takaikizu. The name was perfect to define what i was about to do to this anonymous murderer.
Before I could cut her to pieces, she appeared behind me. "Are you angry?" she whispered in my ear.
My eyes widened in unison with the massive beat of my heart that just jumped.
"...What do you think?" i whispered back.
"Then harness your anger, use it to destroy me." Her voice was also masked, it sounded like a robotic girl. They shaky psychotic sound of it scratched at my heart. I started to grind my teeth in anger.
"Don't you want to see me dead...like Megumi?"
I opened my eyes, filled with rage. They had the look of lust to see death. I turned around, about to chop off her head. She moved in front of me now, and before i could react, she kicked me and I flew toward the wall. I slid down in pain and looked at her.
"Wh-who are you?" I asked.
She scoffed, "Kaien...do you still want to be a soldier?" I glared at her, not answering.
"You will be doing a lot of fighting, taking away lives of people just like i did to Megumi. You will make people feel the pain you just witnessed as you saw one of your loved ones dead. Do you want that to happen?"
My eyes widened in realization. How right she was. I didn't want such a thing to happen to other people.
"But..." i said trying to defend what i was about to become, "Scum like you deserve to die."
She cocked her head upward and smiled, "Scum has family, too."
With that, the mysterious woman left me bewildered as she disappeared in a flash.
"Scum has family, too"...yes, they do. But, aren't their family like them, too? I didn't know what to do.
Finally, i snapped into reality and saw the dead body of Megumi hanging on the wall of her bedroom. I ran over to her and pressed my hand against her cold cheek. She felt like ice. "Megumi..." i whispered. I became a child again and let my wet, salty tears fall down my skin.
"Megumi!!" I barked. I hugged her hung body and began to weep in her chest, just as i did when i was little child in the war.
"My heart is with you..." i said to her, knowing that she wouldn't be able to reply, ever again.
Now...i had no family. No mother, no father, no guardian...no heart. I knew that my heart was with Megumi, but was hers with me? She is gone, leaving my heart with her will only lead to a state of depression. I punched the empty space of wall beside her corpse. "Why??" i screamed, "WHY?!"
~~OKI DOKE! Lol, thanks for reading! R&R and if u do, u'll be my new BFFAE!! LOL (Best friend forever and ever!) ok, so u guys probably freaking hate me cuz Rukia is not in it yet, but i pinky swear 2 u she will be in the next chapter! I like to take things slowww, like a sloth! Lol, not that slow, well i will shut up now and let u REVIEWWW, ok, so...review. Go ahead...push that button...you know you want to ;)
P.S. im sorry if its so long it made you bored, but I wanted to jump right to the part where in the next chapter it would have Rukia! DON'T HATE ME, PLEASE KEEP READING!!