Twilight: Hello my lovelies!
Kage: …You're being extraordinarily creepy today.
Twilight: Well, I'm happy.
Kage: I like you better in a severe state of depression.
Twilight: Hey, I've never been depressed, just…sad.
Kage: Dumbass…hey, what are you doing on the computer anyway? Aren't you still grounded?
Twilight: …Maybe.
Kage: …
Twilight: …Remember everyone! I have a poll on my profile, so please go check it out!
Kage: She doesn't own Bleach. Thank the spirits.
Twilight: HEY!
. Requiem of a Wandering Spirit .
… a bleach fanfiction
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Requiem of a Wandering Spirit © Dragon of Twilight
Bleach © Kubo Tite
This introduction format © B a y o – B a y o
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CHAPTER S E V E N:
"Tense Discussions"
Opening Theme: "Houki Boshi" by Younha
Hitsugaya fumed silently as he waited. Where the hell is she?
Waiting was not one of the things the tensai was accustomed to doing. Especially not particularly for new subordinates. He preferred to take things into his own hands. Things that were incomplete usually got done when he leaked a tad of reiatsu, and yelling was only required occasionally. He was starting to regret agreeing to wait for Yuurei, and was toying with the idea of ditching the meeting altogether. A rumble from directly above him caught his attention, and he looked up in alarm.
Squinting eyes deeply set in an enormous, broad face looked down at him from the top of the gate, a red cap with swaying yellow tassels perched jauntily on the giant's head. The man's eyes focused on Hitsugaya's distinctive white hair and the colossal man smiled in recognition.
"Oi, Toushirou…I mean—Hitsugaya-taichou!" He rumbled joyfully, the two braids in his brown beard swaying. "Nice to see you again!"
Hitsugaya managed a friendly smirk. "Hey, Jidanbō. It's been a while. Still Gatekeeper, eh?"
"Of course! I'm the best Gatekeeper there's ever been!" Jidanbō boasted, grinning widely.
Hitsugaya thought it wise not to mention the invasion of Seireitei by a certain Substitute Shinigami to his emotionally unstable childhood friend and simply nodded.
Jidanbō tilted his head to the side and rested his cheek on the wall with a curious expression. "What are you doing here, Toushirou? It's not often you come to visit." Suddenly, he began to tear up. "D-Did you… forget about me?"
"No, no." Hitsugaya hastily reassured the sniveling giant, though he felt a pang of guilt; he had indeed not visited his old friend in a long time. "Paperwork takes a lot of time to get through, and there's more every day." Which was true.
Jidanbō sniffled, wiping his eyes with a boulder-sized fist. "Well, I guess captains are always busy…" He let out a vast, shuddering sigh that momentarily flattened Hitsugaya's hair to his head. "So, why are you here now, Toushirou?"
The white haired tensai growled in irritation, annoyance abruptly returning as he remembered the reason he was waiting by the Hakutōmon at one in the afternoon.
"Waiting for one of my new subordinates to show up so I can finally get some answers out of her. Her file was useless, and I can't let her stay unless I can get more information on her." He explained exasperatedly, inwardly cursing Matsumoto.
Jidanbō blinked confusedly, resting his square chin on a burly forearm. "Can't you just ask her family?"
Hitsugaya sighed quietly. Jidanbō wasn't the brightest, but he did hit on certain points. "I—"
"Taichou!"
Hitsugaya flinched instinctively at the dreaded voice before whipping his head around and spotting a speeding orange and black bullet. His eyes barely had time to widen before Matsumoto crashed into him, slinging her arm excitedly around his neck and almost yanking him to the ground. Hitsugaya's shocked face was quickly replaced by a livid, red-faced one the instant he recognized his lieutenant's bubbly reiatsu. Jidanbō quietly retreated back over the wall.
"What the hell, Matsumoto?!" He panted slightly from shock, prying her arm from around his neck and angrily straightening to his full, if rather diminutive, height. To his alarm and displeasure, there was an enthusiastic grin plastered over Matsumoto's face.
He did not like that grin.
Matsumoto's grin widened, if it was even possible. "I was wondering…" She drawled, leaning in uncomfortably close to his face. "If I…" He closed his eyes and scowled, about to shove her face away. "…Could come with you guys!"
His eyes snapped open. It had not been what he was expecting. "How—"
"Eh, I weaseled it out of Rei-chan." Matsumoto said nonchalantly, shrugging, a smug look on her face.
His mouth worked wordlessly for a moment before he let out an exasperated grunt, crossing his arms. "Whatever. If I refuse, you would follow anyway just to eavesdrop." Hitsugaya let out an imperceptible sigh of exasperated relief as Matsumoto retreated from his personal bubble.
"Thanks!" Her eyes were wide. "Taichou, you're being very lenient today." Matsumoto grinned at her captain mischievously. "You should go out more often."
Apparently, it took more than an angry captain to subdue her. Having a subordinate who remembered him as a skinny boy who had gotten a nosebleed when he slammed into her chest really did not help Hitsugaya in maintaining his dignity. He scowled bad-temperedly.
"I'm not being lenient, I just have more important things to do than argue with you!" He snapped. "Where's Maboroshi?"
Matsumoto shrugged. "She was following me…I think she got lost."
"What?!" Hitsugaya fumed and was about to explode violently at his fukutaichou when a black and gray blur slammed hard into Matsumoto, sending both flying in a tangle of limbs.
The blur, the subject of the conversation herself, lay sprawled on the ground underneath the larger shinigami. Briefly stunned, Yuurei recovered quickly and struggled free from suffocating in Matsumoto's cleavage, standing before her new captain and gasping for breath.
"Sorry, Rangiku…" She huffed slightly, straightening her new shihakusho and offering her superior a hand. Matsumoto took it and the slight girl pulled her up. "I'm sorry for being so late…"
Hitsugaya opened his mouth to reply with an irritated comment, but Matsumoto abruptly grabbed Yuurei in a tight hug and turned to him with pleading, watery eyes. "Please don't be mad at Rei-chan, Taichou! It was my fault she was late; I made her let me tag along!"
He glanced at Yuurei. Hugged tightly around her abdomen, she hung limply from Matsumoto's arms, a patient look in her eyes. He mouth tightened as he observed the tolerant expression on her face and the serene air. She'd already become accustomed to Matsumoto's unpredictable hugging moods, familiarizing herself with her new commanding officers.
Matsumoto had done a good job, he admitted grudgingly, but it caused a slight problem. That was a good display of adaptation, but it meant that, if he had to refuse her, Matsumoto would fight doggedly to keep her new comrade/plaything.
"I'm not mad at her, Matsumoto." He snapped at the pleading light blue eyes of his fukutaichou. "Stop pouting; you look pathetic."
The protruding lip immediately disappeared, replaced by a bright smile as Matsumoto released her captive, who gave a quiet cough. Hitsugaya winced; he almost preferred the pout…
"Thank you, Taichou!" Matsumoto cheered, grabbing Yuurei's hand and tugging her in the direction of the gate. "You're going to the Yomigaeru Shishi again, right?"
"Oi!" Hitsugaya snapped as he was nabbed as well. "Let go of me, Matsumoto!"
"No can do, Taichou~!" Matsumoto sing-songed, her iron grasp on Hitsugaya's wrist unyielding despite his attempts to pry his fukutaichou's hand from his wrist.
Yuurei's eyes glassed over as she resigned herself to the several hours of misery ahead.
The drag to the Yomigaeru Shishi seemed to take forever, Yuurei being towed unresponsively along, eyes glazed. Hitsugaya stopped trying to escape after fifteen minutes of futile struggling and marched along with a dark look on his face, glaring at anyone who looked at him. Things didn't improve when they arrived; Matsumoto didn't notice that she almost slammed Yuurei into the door in her excitement. If it wasn't for Hitsugaya yanking her out of the way, she might have been knocked out cold.
Oji-san and Obaa-san, who Yuurei now knew as Hiro and Anzu Kawagichi, greeted all three with cheerful familiarity.
"Oi, Rangiku-chan, the usual?"
"Yuurei, welcome back!"
"Haven't seen you in a while, Hitsugaya-san! How's life as a taichou?"
At the table Matsumoto had 'assigned' for the three of them, both white-haired shinigami stared blankly at the big-breasted woman as she inhaled her rice at a pace more fitting to a starving wolf. The plate of sweet nattō and the large pile of random breakfast foods Anzu put in front of the other two lay untouched. A detached, disconnected look lingered in both pairs of eyes, black and green.
"Ne, Taichou, why did you agree to take Rei-chan here, anyway?" Matsumoto said suddenly, words muffled by the mouthful of rice. She swallowed as the addressed cocked an eyebrow at her, continuing when her mouth was empty. "You're usually such a scrooge!"
"That's none of your business, Matsumoto!" He snapped coldly, finally reaching forward and stuffing some nattō in his mouth.
Matsumoto frowned. "That's mean, Taichou, especially when I'm paying for your food!"
Hitsugaya ignored her with a huff and began eating greedily, the first taste of his favorite food having his stomach begging for more. Yuurei sighed quietly and also began eating, her movements weary and sluggish at first, but abruptly picking up speed as her body demanded more nutrients. The white-haired captain watched her out of the corner of his eyes until she finished, noting the lack of sophisticated table manners but not necessarily disgusted by it. Yuurei gave a contented sigh and glanced at Matsumoto, watching her eat and making no attempt whatsoever to start a conversation. Matsumoto herself was watching the two out of her peripheral vision out through her guise of enthusiastic eating, and getting gradually more annoyed. It was obvious that her sharp-witted captain had figured out that she wouldn't give Yuurei up without a fight, and would not ask Yuurei anything while Matsumoto was there to divert his attention. Matsumoto's eyes narrowed imperceptibly at Yuurei, who caught her eye and tilted her head slightly to the side, questioning.
Contrary to popular belief, Matsumoto was not just an orange-haired, big-boobed bimbo, but also a powerful and sharp-witted shinigami in her own right. In the same way that Hitsugaya did, she knew that Yuurei had some dark secrets from the unobtrusive way she moved, her quiet mannerisms, and odd habits. Everything she did, from the way she'd dig her nails into the bandages on her wrists, from the way she avoided arguments, suggested great pain. But unlike Hitsugaya, she'd gathered that the secrets were dark enough that the girl still felt guilt over them, and would not defend herself against any accusations believing they were justified. And again, unlike Hitsugaya, Matsumoto believed that if Yuurei wouldn't defend herself she'd do it for her. Whether the white-haired girl liked it or not.
But it was obvious that Hitsugaya was reaching the limits of his already-strained-to-the-limit patience. He was getting closer to just kicking Yuurei out and sparing himself the effort of trying to get information. Her bowl almost empty, Matsumoto suppressed a sigh as she decided to leave Yuurei in her taichou's prying clutches. She'd been pushing her luck with the white-haired captain and she knew it. He knew she was trying to protect Yuurei from him. Matsumoto was walking a razor's edge, and it was time to get some solid ground under her feet.
She slurped up the broth from her bowl of ramen and set it down with a loud, satisfied sigh, ignoring the slight glare from Hitsugaya. "Delicious as always, Obaa-san!" She called, giving the door to the kitchen a thumbs up. A chuckle from the old woman drifted back in reply.
Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow as the orange-haired fukutaichou stood in a luxurious stretch that made a man who happened to be glancing through the window at that moment drop his jaw.
"I better get back to the Seireitei, Rei-chan, Taichou. Isane asked me to help with the preparations for today's Women's Society meeting, and I owe her for bailing me out of that liver check Unohana wanted to do." Matsumoto winked at Yuurei and thumped her roughly on the back as a sign of companionship.
Matsumoto pretended not to notice the sudden pallor of Yuurei's brown skin or the sudden outbreak of sweat on her forehead. She didn't hear the girl's mouth hang open to emit a harsh gasp of agony, couldn't see her huge pupils contract in distress. She didn't see Yuurei hunch forward, almost withering in her seat, dropping her chopsticks and digging her nails into her thighs.
Matsumoto walked out the door, giving a nonchalant backward wave. "See you later, Rei-chan. I'll send someone to get you." With that, she was gone.
Hitsugaya blinked slightly, leveling a penetrating stare at his fukutaichou's retreating back. What was that all about? Matsumoto had been overly protective of Yuurei and never left them alone for long, but now she'd abandoned her new toy without a backward glance. He shifted the piercing look to Yuurei, who looked almost asleep, her head resting on the table and her eyes half-lidded and foggy.
Yuurei felt ill with pain, her head bent forward to rest her forehead, slick with cold sweat, on the cool wood of the table. The constant burning ache in her back suddenly exploded into an inferno of agony too strong for her to stand against the second that the pressure of Matsumoto's hand reached her brain. She fought helplessly against it before succumbing entirely, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists on the thighs of her hakama as she felt her captain's eyes bore into her. Under the mind numbing agony, a deep sense of shame welled up in her, the accusing stare inflaming deep emotional scars. She took a deep breath and dragged her eyes up to meet his impatient expression.
Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed as he observed her face. Her face was pale, or as pale as a person with her skin color could be, and sweat glistened on her forehead. The pupils of her eyes were contracted to little black points, revealing her true eye color. The fact that her pupils were always so dilated made them look black, but they weren't. Gunmetal gray, her eyes were, though now they seemed a dull stone color, fogged by what he recognized now as pain, though he couldn't tell whether it was emotional, physical, or both.
Yuurei blinked through murky eyes as the agony suddenly disappeared, the blazing fire shoved back to a smoldering ember stretched through the skin of her back. Her vision abruptly cleared as a cold, familiar voice slammed through her mind.
Listen up, bitch. There's no way I'm gonna let ya ruin this for me. Keibatsu growled harshly. I already taught cha how to deal wit pain. Answer te pipsqueak. He just asked ya somethin'.
"What?" Yuurei blurted, suddenly focused on what Hitsugaya was saying. "Could you repeat that?"
"Sure." Hitsugaya said sarcastically. "I asked you where you came from."
Yuurei blinked. "Didn't my file—"
"Yes, but I don't believe it." The white-haired tensai cut in, his eyes sharp. "You're filed as a recruit coming from Zaraki, and you certainly show the signs of living for an extended period in a dangerous district." His eyes narrowed. "But you don't show enough of them. The way you interact with your environment is Zaraki, but the way you interact with people comes from the more lawful districts such as Junrinan."
Yuurei bowed her head guiltily. "...I stayed in the farther districts for a very long time. I've only lived in Hokutan (3rd District) for the past fifty years."
"How old are you?" He pried further.
"I don't know the exact number, but my best estimate is about 200 years." She replied quietly.
A whisper of cloth and a rustle of paper made her look up. A plain manila folder was pushed across the table to her. Opening it, she saw her own name and the information she'd given the teachers when she first entered the Academy. Feeling decidedly nervous, she looked at her captain. She was not reassured.
An elbow resting on the table, cheek cupped in his hand, Hitsugaya's expression was the epitome of nonchalance, nonthreatening but somehow menacing. "Exactly how much of what is in that file is true?"
Her lips thinned and turned pale as she pressed them tightly together. "Not much." She admitted through stiff lips.
"Would you mind if I request a more accurate account?" He asked coolly, suspicious emerald eyes boring into anxious, dilated black.
She swallowed a lump in her throat. She did mind. "…Not at all, Hitsugaya-taichou. Where should I start?"
"Start from where you appeared as a new soul, and work forward from there." He ordered, tenting his fingers and looking out at her through the triangle they formed. "Leave nothing out."
Yuurei took a deep breath, mind racing. What do I say?! He can't know! No one can!
Shut up, ya annoyin' harpy! What do ya say? Tell 'im ta truth! Keibatsu hissed in a loud, drawn out shree not unlike that of a hawk. Tell him everythin' but just skip the time ya let me out! Speakin' of which…
Yuurei abruptly cut him off, shoving him back and shivering involuntarily as she felt his rage at being interrupted. She would be punished later, she knew. But right now, she had a prodigy to convincingly lie to, and she needed no distractions.
"I appeared in the North Alley of Loitering Spirits, but I'm not sure whether it was Zaraki or Kusajishi. It was very long ago, and my memory is blurry, most likely because of the violent manner in which I died. I remember some things of my human life, but only the last few hours I lived." Her eyes darkened, recalling the flashes of bleeding to death in the snow.
"Like most souls, I was adopted by a family group that had formed. But it took a very long time to assimilate with them, as I had died as a teenager, and was too old and stubborn to adapt easily to such a large family. As a new soul, I was confused much of the time, and it made me a very angry person and unpleasant to be around. I spent most of my early years wandering, watching, learning how to fistfight in alleyways and bars. One day, I noticed a small child playing with what looked like a ball of blue energy. She told me about reishi, reiatsu, and how to strengthen my reiryoku so I could learn to make that fascinating little ball as well. After weeks of practice, I managed to do it. But when I returned to the street that I saw her, she wasn't there. She never came again." Yuurei closed her eyes.
"I never learned her name." Her hands clenched into fists, then relaxed. "Shortly after, I discovered what hunger was and had to put time in to look for things that were edible, as none of my adopted family required food to restore their energy." She smiled faintly. "A few times, I got very sick because of some of the things I ate. But I continued to practice with my energy. I was able to materialize it into forms other than a simple ball. Strings, shapes… I could make anything. The more I experimented and used my spirit energy, the more I gained to be able to be used. I don't quite remember when, but in the midst of my practicing, a creature came to me."
Yuurei clenched her eyes shut. "I didn't realized what it was and retreated in a panic. Every time I used spiritual power, it came to me, trying to talk to me. Frightened, I went off on my own, thinking that I was dangerous and unstable. I knew my adopted guardians wouldn't miss me much, as there were simply too many souls to keep track of."
Hitsugaya could see the dull ache in her eyes as she talked, and knew that it had pained her to leave them. He felt a pang of sympathy, remembering his dear granny, but he pushed it away and continued to listen closely.
"I grew stronger despite avoiding using my reiatsu, but during a particularly vicious bar fight I was jumped by five men that were much heavier than I was. I lost consciousness and found myself face to face with the creature that haunted my dreams. I did not understand, but did as it commanded and called its name."
Hitsugaya saw the faint tremor that ran through the young woman's body and watched her eyes glass over. She snapped out of it and gave her head a faint shake, meeting his eyes.
"My memory cuts off there."
A lie. Yuurei thought bitterly, but it didn't show on her face or in her tone.
"But the next memory I can recall is seeing the face of the man that trained me, a retired shinigami who requested I call him Kaemon. He trained me for many years in writing, cooking, fighting, thieving, anything he had books on. He taught me to speak with my zanpakuto, how to refine my reiatsu abilities. He couldn't teach me kido, though. I had conditioned my body to only channel reiatsu in the manner I always had, through my own will rather than a chant. When I released my shikai by accident during one of my training sessions, he said he'd finally had enough. He told me to join the shinigami academy, or he'd kick me out."
A smile twitched her lips at the memory. "My choice was obvious. I entered the Academy, managed to mimic the effects of kido to pass the exams, and was put in a recruit line-up within two years."
Yuurei fell silent. Hitsugaya nodded slowly, taking it all in. Her story had a ring of truth to it and seemed sound, but he found several small holes that he disregarded. But there was one big one he had to address.
"You never mentioned your zanpakuto's name." He pointed out bluntly, ignoring the obvious rudeness of the question.
Rude actually wasn't a strong enough word. It was almost considered taboo in shinigami society to ask another shinigami about their zanpakuto's name. But it was obvious to the white-haired tensai that Yuurei did not know this, and worked it to his advantage.
A look of distaste flickered across her features, before her face went unbearably blank once again, sealing up all her emotions behind a mask of cool apathy. Hitsugaya watched this carefully with a flicker of irritation. She was unreadable and emotionless once again.
"That's rather personal, Hitsugaya-taichou." She put her elbows on the table and rested her chin on interlaced fingers, carefully watching her boss's reaction to her insubordination. To her displeasure, Hitsugaya-taichou recovered quickly from the abrupt rebuke and countered with a cool composure that was beginning to irritate her for some reason.
"No more personal than sharing your own history or the reason you joined the Academy." He pointed out coolly.
Her face remained relaxed, but her eyes hardened even further. "It's not the same." It was an undeniably blatant refusal.
He raised an eyebrow at the unexpected rebuff; his quick mind assessing the situation as he carefully scrutinized the cool, blank face that belied the tense set of her shoulders. Hitsugaya stifled his annoyance as he figured out that she had realized what he was doing, and was now most likely aggravated with him. He turned a cold glare on her, wondering if she would cave, but the face that stared back at him seemed unaffected, if not even stonier. He had infuriated her, and she was not backing down. It seemed that Maboroshi used detachment as a defense mechanism, much like he did. Not surprising, given their own early years were spent in partial isolation.
I can work around that.
He switched tactics.
"As a Captain of the Thirteen Protection Squads, I have the right to information that has the potential to compromise my squad's efficiency and stability. And as your captain, I have the ability to order you to tell me." A smirk devoid of humor flitted across his face. "Or you will be charged with insubordination."
Yuurei's lips compressed to a thin line, inwardly cursing his sharp mind. "I guess it was a matter of time until you would use your rank against me," she said, clearly angry. "My zanpakuto's name is not significant enough to compromise the squad."
"I'll be the judge of that." He retorted complacently, the cold smirk still in place. "Spill."
Yuurei's lips pulled back from her teeth slightly, but answered in a tight voice and through gritted teeth. "…His name is Keibatsu."
Judgment. Penalty. Punishment.
Slowly, Hitsugaya leaned back in his chair. "That's all I wanted to know." He said almost lazily. "Now all there is to do is decide where you'll fit in with my squad."
Yuurei's head snapped up from where she had been staring blankly, almost angrily, at her hands. "Wha—?"
Hitsugaya continued blithely, rising from his chair with ease. "I'll schedule an assessment for you and find you a room, but until then you will have to stay with Matsumoto. Until the assessment, you will report to me every morning at eleven to receive your daily tasks, which will range from helping with paperwork to tending hell butterflies. I will see you in my office tomorrow."
And he was gone, leaving a dumbstruck Yuurei staring after him.
Hiro, who had been eavesdropping, grunted. "Still a icy little prick, eh?"
"Hiro!" A tomato was thrown with pinpoint accuracy into the little man's head. "Watch your mouth!"
"Hehehe…sorry."
Ending Theme: "Again" by Yui
A/N: Well, that's her story. Not really. She left out a HUGE chunk, but you'll learn about it later. But, let me ask you this…WAS IT WORTH THE WAIT?! Tell me my lovelies, tell me~…
Make sure you look at the poll on my profile; I really need more votes. ^^;
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Inuko93, Hikari6007;
THANK YOU!
Signing out,
Dragon of Twilight!