Bleached: Four Years Later
Ep. 3
Disclaimer: We don't own Bleach, just Airi, Zezuri, and Eyon.
Note: Sorry about the wait! The third finally gave me her part. I hope this was worth the wait!! -Airi
Cyerra went down the halls and looked around one last time. She might not have been here for all that long, but it already had that homely feel to it. It had only taken her a few minutes to gather her belonging; a few spare uniforms, some books and some other paraphernalia was all that she had in the first place. Zezuri had wanted to see her off, but Cyerra didn't want that and the captain had withheld.
She exited the fifth division's grounds and began the long walk to second division. The sun was at its highest spot in the sky and the weather was mild, unusual, since it was mid-May.
Cyerra arrived thirty minutes later at the front gates of what was to be her new home. "That's a lot of stairs," she grumbled under her breath. She'd only been here once or twice on her note-carrying missions, but today this staircase looked extra long. Soi-Fon was waiting for her at the top. "I'm here!" Cyerra waved slightly as she reached the top.
Her new captain greeted her with a quick nod. Soi-Fon led the way into the large pagoda like building atop the mountains terrain. The hallways inside were enormous well polished and highly decorated. One would not have expected to see brush painted screens of nature to adorn the special forces barracks. As the two shinigami moved further inside, climbing up many a stair case, the decorations became more impressive to the point of looking like the scenes would suddenly come to life. Cyerra knew the reason for all this was due to the previous leaders of the squad and special division; the royal family of Shihoen. "Insanely rich and not much else to spend it on", thought Cyerra.
They passed several larger rooms and stopped at a slightly smaller one at the end of the hall. "This is your room," said Soi-Fon as she opened the door for her new fifth seat.
Cyerra's mouth was agape with awe, the room was about the size of fifth division's meeting hall. A large western four-poster bed with curtains surrounding it was off to one side along with an ornate dresser, but the brown haired shinigami's attention was caught most by the windows in the back of the room. Light poured through them from the afternoon sun and made large patches of luminance on the floor. They ran from the floor to the ceiling 15 feet above and one part slid open to a balcony large enough to use as a dance floor for the entire fifth division.
Cyerra set her things on the bed and was about to walk over to the windows when she remembered Soi-Fon was still present. "Off to the prisons?" she asked her captain who nodded in response.
After proceeding down all the stair cases they'd come up and then some, the two arrived in the prison's control room. "We have to leave our weapons here," Soi-Fon removed her zanpakto and placed it on a table along with a dozen or so throwing knives.
Cyerra hesitated but also set her Zanpakto down on the table and once again followed her captain out of the room. As they began to go through the prison, Soi-Fon briefed Cyerra on her new duties. "All these people you see out on this level are considered too unstable to remain in service, but they are still our comrades, therefore we do not use weapons when dealing with them." They proceeded further through the roughly hewn rock caves. As Soi-Fon explained more to Cyerra she began to wonder more and more about what this secret was.
Cyerra was beginning to wonder if Soi-Fon had possibly lied to her after two hours of dungeon tours. But as they rounded a sharp corner and came to a barred door, she knew her captain had been truthful.
"What's in there?" the young shinigami felt a strong power eminating from behind the door.
"The most dangerous prisoner we have and something only the head captain and I know exists," Soi-Fon pulled out a special key and unlocked the door which swung open with a low moan.
"Back again you heartless witch?" sneered a voice.
Soi-Fon entered the room without a word.
Cyerra hesitated, this power and hatred made her want to turn and run, but curiosity pulled her in. She entered the cell not sure what to expect.
"What's this? You brought ANOTHER one of your flunkies? Couldn't find the old one? Did she get eaten? I don't think she would have tasted all that great, but I don't care to really know."
A million questions were forming in Cyerra's head as she gazed upon the lone prisoner. He, or at least she was pretty sure it was a guy, had black hair, darker than her uniform's color wore the traditional white under robes of a prisoner. And was that a barrette in his hair? She didn't think prisoners would be allowed to keep such things. But was caught her eye the most was the prisoner's eyes; an interesting shade of violet that shimmered even in the dim cell, illuminated by torch. Cyerra didn't realize she'd been staring until he returned her gaze with a fierce glare full of hatred and loathing. She looked down and away from the prisoner and then to Soi-Fon.
"This is the most important detail of your job; making sure this one doesn't get out," her captain went on to explain her other duties as the prisoner ranted on behind them.
"Just going to ignore me are you?!" he waited for a response, but the shinigami were too much in conversation to respond. "Fine! I warned you!" with a sudden motion he charged for the weaker of the two.
Cyerra's hand flew to her sword, only to remember it wasn't there. In the other half second she had to act, the tan shinigami swung around blocking his fist with her shin.
Soi-Fon had been faster, she was behind the prisoner, arms and legs preventing any further resistance from him.
The prisoner struggled aimlessly in the second taicho's grasp, "Just you wait! One day I'll be the faster one and I won't show mercy!" he ranted.
Cyerra looked from the prisoner's maniacal face to her captain in time to see her release a kido spell.
The black haired prisoner suddenly went limp.
"Did you kill him?!"
"Of course not. What's the point of a dead prisoner?" Soi-Fon bluntly stated, dropping the prisoner on the ground roughly.
--
Hours later Cyerra was sitting in the second division's cafeteria eating dinner by herself in total silence. Not only did she not say a word, the other occupants of the room were just as quiet. It almost felt like the room was a vacuum. No one said anything even when Soi-Fon entered the room. Cyerra ate quickly, longing to leave this abysmal, silent room.
--
The sun was sinking into the west when Cyerra made it back to her room. She walked over and began to unpack her things, putting them in their respective places in the dresser.
--
It was the morning of her second day on the job. Cyerra had gotten up bright and early so she would get a good seat in Second Division's mess hall. Somehow, even with the early start the dark and gloomy mess hall was already full. The only place left to sit was a rickety old table in the darkest corner of the room, right next to the big paper doors. "What did I do to deserve this?" thought Cyerra as she sat down, "And why is this room so darn quiet?" After sitting at the table thinking about her new job, the strange prisoner, and various bits of gossip she had heard for a good five minutes before she realized that she hadn't grabbed any food yet. The brown haired shinigami eagerly headed over to the food bar. To her dismay, breakfast was cold miso stew and water.
Cyerra was heading back to her table when the big paper doors at the end of the hall slid open letting the bright sunshine into the gloomy mess hall. Standing in the doorway was the silhouette of a tall shinigami caring what appeared to be a plate of rice balls. "Geez it's quiet in here!" the shinigami complained loudly. After looking around a moment the tall blue-haired shinigami sat down across from Cyerra. She had blue eyes and her hair was pulled back into a bun with small braids on the side. "Hi! I'm Èyon!" she said loud enough for the whole room to hear, "I'm here from ninth division because eleventh division destroyed our mess hall yesterday and seventh division's was too crowded." She then sat down. The blue-haired shinigami stared at Cyerra for a moment and said, "Hey, I thought you were in fifth squad Cyerra!"
Cyerra stared blankly over her food. Sure, it had been too quiet mere moments ago, but suddenly the situation had been reversed. "Good morning… Eyon…" she murmured, still half asleep. Cyerra could hardly be called a morning person.
"You didn't answer my question," Eyon leaned over the table, "Why are you here, you know my reason, so tell me yours."
Cyerra yawned and took a few spoonfuls of the cold miso stew before answering. "I got a promotion…" she rubbed at her eyes.
"Promotion? Looks more like DE-motion to me."
Cyerra didn't respond and went back to eating, choking down spoonful after spoonful of the awful excuse for breakfast.
"So, what is this 'promotion' for?" the blue haired shinigami asked.
"I can't tell you," said Cyerra glumly wishing she could talk to someone about it.
"Aw, c'mon!" Eyon yelled indignantly, "I thought we were friends!"
Cyerra had only seen Eyon on her rare trips to ninth division and not on all of those. The tall blue haired shinigami was the fourth seat of the division and had been given that spot by the ex-captain Tosen himself. Needless to say, Eyon certainly had a lot more seniority than Cyerra in the Gotei Thirteen.
The tan shinigami decided it would be best to be unresponsive.
"Well, I've finished my breakfast! I'll see you around! My division's mess hall won't be resurrected anytime soon… thanks to the sorry state it's been in the last four years… stupid Tosen!" She muttered the last part under her breath. She stood up and walked out the doors slamming them behind her leaving the second division in a state of mild shock.
Cyerra slowly finished the rest of her breakfast wondering exactly how much more of Eyon she should expect to see.
--
Noon signaled the start of Cyerra's long trek into the depths of the dungeons. She carried a tray of food for the prisoner as she had been instructed by Soi-Fon yesterday. Wondering why prison food looked better than her own fare she reached the door. She bent over and gently set the tray on the floor in order to get the key out of her robes. Cyerra picked up the tray again before unlocking the door. The heavy door let out a low moan as she slid it open slowly. Would the prisoner attack her? She wondered over and over again until she saw his figure sitting in the lone chair in the room.
"Psh, I guess I didn't scare you enough yesterday," he muttered. He stood up and Cyerra tensed up as he stretched his lanky form. Judging by his physical appearance, the shinigami really would never have thought him to be much of a threat but she knew there was a good reason he was being held here under this level of security. "So maybe I did and you're just stupid enough to come back for round two?!" he let out a laugh and then sighed, "Ah, don't worry too much you pathetic excuse of a shinigami. That woman's smarter than she looks," the prisoner made reference to Soi-Fon, "Fortunately for you, I'm harmless today."
"Excuse me?!" Cyerra flushed with anger. "I happen to be the fifth seat you know!"
The prisoner rolled his violet eyes and sat back down again. "Shinigami, all of you, you're just weak. Inferior. Annoying. You catch my drift, right?" he messed with his hair; it was slightly in his eyes. As he brushed it, Cyerra caught a glimpse of three pink diamond tattoos over his left eye.
"You speak as if you're something else? What are you then?" she was still angry, but her curiosity was taking over quickly.
The prisoner scoffed, "OBVIOUSLY I'M NOT A SHINIGAMI!" he laughed incredulously and then became serious, "I'm an arrancar, you can see this, right?" he put a hand to the barrette like object in his hair.
"An arrancar? What's that?"
"I'll tell you if you'll give me the tray already. I'm starved enough as it is, I can't live off the air here."
Cyerra had forgotten about the tray in her hands. "Oh, I'm sorry!" her standard response came out. As she gave the prisoner the tray, she got a glimpse of the barrette thing in his hair. It wasn't a barrette as she had initially thought, but something that resembled a jaw bone. "Wait, I've seen this before, does this mean Grimmjow is like this guy?" she thought. Cyerra was about as naïve on some issues as one could get. She knew that Grimmjow wasn't a shinigami, she'd always meant to ask someone about why he had a hole through his stomach and an extra jaw.
The shinigami waited for the arrancar to finish eating before she asked her question again, but as soon as he had finished, he slumped in his chair. "Food poisoning!" was her first thought, until she noticed he was still breathing. It was then she noticed the red collar around his neck. She leaned in closer and tapped it lightly, it seemed to suck away any pressure that got near it like a strong vacuum. Suddenly dizzy she backed away quickly, not wanting to pass out from her curiosity. Whoever or whatever this guy was, his reaitsu was phenomenal, perhaps even greater than Soi-Fon taicho's.
"Well, I guess I'm not getting any answers today, at least not from him," she muttered and picked up the tray, walked out, and locked the door behind her.
Thanks for reading! Well, how was it?? Please review!!