Twilight: So…Hi.
Kage: …
Twilight: I'm updating again, hopefully I can get more constructive criticism this time…
Kage: When did you become such a review whore?
Twilight: Since I was told my writing sucks and wasn't given an example of what sucks.
Kage: How my heart bleeds for you.
Twilight: …Fleabag.
Kage: Bitch.
Twilight: …Poll! Profile! Go LOOK!
Kage: She doesn't own Bleach and never will; no matter how much money she earns working at McDonald's.
Twilight: I kill you.
. 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 E I G H T:
"The Pink Menace"
Opening Theme: "Houki Boshi" by Younha
Entering Seireitei through the gate, Yuurei sighed quietly, kicking absentmindedly at a rock. She was planning on going back to Matsumoto's room, dumping Keibatsu there, and heading for a nice quiet place to wait for the messenger that Matsumoto was talking about. There was only one problem.
She didn't know the way back to the Tenth Squad barracks.
Couldn't have either Matsumoto or Hitsugaya have given her directions? Wasn't it their job as commanding officers to help her?
Of course not. She silently berated herself. They have better things to do than show me around. The thought had her hunching her shoulders miserably. Besides, Taichou has a captain's meeting today.
Oi! Bitch!
She flinched, but otherwise ignored him.
Don' ignore me! Wha' was tat' stunt back there, lockin' me up?!
She was quiet, hoping against hope he'd leave her alone. Despair welled up as he spoke again, and her stomach squirmed uncomfortably as she registered the threat in that dangerously silky tone.
Oh, so that's how ya want ta play, eh? Disgust coated his words, a premonition of the untold hells to come. Maybe I should remind ya why I'M the one holdin' te reins!
Yuurei's eyes widened in horror. She knew what he was about to do, and desperation flooded her mind. No, please! Not here, not now…
Frantically, she attempted at a shunpo to the safety and seclusion of the large ring of sakura trees next to a large, extravagant house that must have belonged to a noble family. She barely made it when liquid fire began to lick at the ache in her back, causing all her muscles to clench in pain and dropping her like a stone to the grass. The burning began to spread over the muscles of her back, seeping into her veins and turning her blood to molten lava.
I know it hurts. Keibatsu crooned nastily, cruelly mocking her as fiery claws dug deep into her mind, raking through her brain and scrambling her thoughts. But it's for yer own good, ya know.
Digging her broken nails into the moist dirt to brace herself for the agony, she clamped her mouth shut to muffle the tortured screams. She knew that it never lasted long—maybe two minutes at the maximum—but it always seemed to last hours. Her mind fogged and her thoughts grew sluggish as the agony spread and increased, reaching fiery tendrils into her limbs. Her body thrashed wildly, throbbing and suffering flowing through her as she lost control over her muscles and began to writhe uncontrollably. Blood trickled down her chin from a bitten lip as her face contorted in indescribable pain, her wide gray eyes dull and glassy.
The fiery torment went straight through Yuurei's body, her brain processing it, neurons working overtime as it overloaded her system. Through the red haze that clouded her mind, Yuurei tensed, waiting for the worst part.
I've trained ya well…ya know when yer real punishment starts! Keibatsu's voice snarled into her head, unbearably clear. I better not disappoint ya!
A tortured scream tore itself from her lips as a red-hot dagger seemed to jam itself into her spine, igniting a new level of magnified agony. Her body involuntarily contracted into a tight ball, eyes overflowing with pain-induced tears as her body shuddered painfully at the assault on her back.
Then suddenly, it was over.
Slowly, hardly believing her luck, Yuurei weakly pushed herself up on trembling limbs and wiped her watering eyes with a shaky hand. Licking dry lips, she tasted the blood from her bitten lip as she wiped her chin, erasing the line of red. Hearing footsteps drawing closer, she ignored them in favor of unbuckling the katana at her side and intensely shoving it away, uncaring of the dirt that collected on the bare blade. The elongated shadow of her approacher fell across her head and, alarmed, she jerked her head up to face the intruder.
She didn't know what she expected from a noble from one of the Four Noble Families, but this man certainly was part of one of those families.
The first thing she noticed was the white haori draped loosely on the man's broad shoulders, closely followed by the high cheekbones of the man's strikingly handsome face. He could have been considered attractive if not for the prominently icy and haughty look in his midnight blue eyes, the impassive yet somehow arrogant expression on his pale face. The intricate white hairpiece restraining the long black hair abruptly caught her attention.
Kenseikan… Her eyes widened and flitted to the olive scarf around the man's neck before coming back to the kenseikan. A passage from a book of the royal families of Seireitei drifted through her mind.
The Kuchiki clan in particular is known for the kenseikan worn by the higher nobles as well as the priceless scarves of their clan heads. The clan heads themselves are usually powerful and high-ranking shinigami as well…
A taichou…She stared, transfixed, as he approached, frozen in a kind of awed horror.
This man was the exact opposite of her captain. From what she could tell, where Hitsugaya was lithe and toned, this man was broad and muscular. The Kuchiki was tall and Hitsugaya was short; the only thing that could even be considered similar was the icy demeanor of both captains. But even that was different. Hitsugaya showed other emotions and could be quite easily prodded out of his cold appearance to show anger or confusion, but this man seemed…empty. As though the coldness was present inside and out, pitiless, conceited. Compared to her captain, who had been her only exposure to a taichou thus far, this man was much closer to her original assumption of what a taichou would be like.
The contrast between them was pronounced and jarring.
The steps stopped as he stood rigidly next to her, a glimmer of distaste dancing across unfeeling dark blue eyes as he surveyed the scene before him. An angry pulse from Keibatsu brought to his attention the sword she had shoved away. Turning his gaze onto the intruder in his garden, he uttered his first words in a flat yet incredulous tone.
"That is your zanpakuto?"
Snapping out of her daze, Yuurei's eyes widened and she scrambled stiffly to her feet, leaving the katana lying in the grass. Wordlessly, she nodded with a deep bow of respect. The man's expression was unchanged.
"Surely, you must be joking," he retorted in the same flat tone, though suspicion flickered across his stony face. "You have such little control over it. Anyone with a decent ability to sense reiatsu would swear it doesn't belong to you."
"He's mine." Yuurei replied quietly, keeping her eyes trained down respectfully. She could feel the cutting reiatsu seething just under the skin of this man, brushing against her skin like a kind of foreboding mist. He could kill her in an instant. "What can I do for you, Kuchiki-taichou?" She asked politely, tactfully diverting the subject away from her zanpakuto.
"I've come to inquire the reason for your presence on Kuchiki clan property," he responded, his tone slightly irritated. "And an explanation for the… obnoxious spike in reiatsu that your… little fit… caused."
Yuurei froze. Slowly, she lifted her head to look at him. She was forced to tilt her head back to see his face due to the height difference, and the unwillingness to bare her throat to this man pricked at her.
"I have never seen you before." His face was blank, yet somehow threatening as he stared down at her, at this insignificant shinigami that has intruded on his peace and quiet. "I would have remembered your reiatsu."
Her eyes began to flicker in a desperate search for an escape route, but snapped back up to the Kuchiki as she found a gleaming blade aimed directly between her eyes.
"Tell me who you are." He ordered coldly, eyes sharp and callous. "Now. Or I will kill you for this disrespect."
The expression on his face was dead serious. This man would kill her if she made a wrong move.
"Juubantai, unseated, Maboroshi Yuurei." Yuurei responded, her eyes suddenly expressionless and her tone deadpan. She couldn't still her body from trembling, couldn't disguise her fear.
Byakuya tilted his head slightly, analyzing this new pest. He wasn't in the brightest of moods. The pink monster had shown up early that day with the rest of her little club, riding that scooter of hers through his hallways again, breaking several priceless vases and injuring several of his staff. As usual, no one had been able to persuade her to leave and when she had gotten bored with running people over, she had come to bother him. She had stolen his scarf, chewed on his kenseikan, pulled his hair, snapped his best calligraphy brush while vandalizing the portraits of the Kuchiki clan heads, and eaten all the sweets in the kitchens.
Now this additional unwanted nuisance had blundered into his path, and appeared to have a zanpakuto that didn't belong to her though she insisted otherwise.
Keibatsu pulsed angrily one last time before subsiding. Byakuya's eyes narrowed as the katana's reiatsu faded, dissipating altogether as though the foreign taint was never there and quickly saturating itself with the shadow of the young woman's energy. In seconds, the zanpakuto's reiatsu appeared to perfectly match the girl's. His eyes flicked to hers, searching for deceitfulness. Her frightened onyx eyes stared back at him, not quite being able to hide her fear.
Byakuya slowly angled his katana away from Yuurei's face, before sheathing it. "Hn." His face was blank and his eyes were cool. "Leave this place."
Yuurei exhaled in relief now that she didn't have the taichou's zanpakuto in her face. She slowly reached out and hesitantly picked up Keibatsu before bowing low to the Kuchiki in a gesture of obedience. Suddenly, a loud, high-pitched cry of glee seemed to come from directly behind the captain.
"Byakushi, where'd you go?! I wanted to play more!"
'Byakushi' twitched slightly. "Kusajishi-fukutaichou—"
"No!"
In front of Yuurei's awestruck eyes, a little pink-haired girl clad in a shihakusho appeared. A zanpakuto with a flower-pattern crossguard hung at her side by a loose cord rather than at the sash of her uniform, and the scabbard had a pair of wheels attached to the end. She leapt up onto the Kuchiki's head and repeatedly yanked a thick black strand, a disapproving scowl on her adorably pink-cheeked face.
"It's Yachiru, Byakushi! Not Kusajishi-fukutaichou! Ya-chi-ru!" Her reddish-brown eyes suddenly found Yuurei, wide-eyed and standing frozen before this insane scene she was witness to, and widened in curiosity. "Bya-kun, who's this?"
Yuurei couldn't speak, having caught sight of the fukutaichou badge tied to the girl's arm. This little girl was the fukutaichou of the 11th Division? Yachiru didn't even make it to her waist! She snapped out of it upon hearing Byakuya's hard voice.
"This is Maboroshi Yuurei of the Juubantai." Yuurei gulped at the frosty look in his eyes. Yachiru's cinnamon eyes widened in recognition.
"Yuurei?" Her face split into a wide grin. She leapt at Yuurei, using Byakuya's head as a launching platform, and wrapped her arms around Yuurei's neck, almost pulling the frail shinigami to the dirt. "Rei-chan! You're Rei-chan, right?!"
Trying to prevent herself from coughing into Yachiru's face, Yuurei could only nod.
"You're the new member Ran-chan wanted me to bring!" Yachiru sang out gleefully, letting go of Yuurei's neck to drop to the ground. She sprinted toward the manor. "We haven't had any new members in forever! Come on, Zombie-chan! Let's go!"
With a nervous glance at Byakuya, who looked almost visibly angry, Yuurei followed.
Nervously, Yuurei eyed the hole in the wall of the Kuchiki compound. It wasn't very big or noticeable; she could barely fit her shoulders through it and it was cleverly hidden from view by a variety of shrubbery. "Kusajishi-fukutaichou, I don't know—"
"No, no, no!" The pink-haired hellion interrupted, jumping up to smack Yuurei upside the head with her zanpakuto. Ignoring Yuurei's cry of pain, she corrected severely, "It's Yachiru!"
"Yachiru," Yuurei corrected herself, tearfully rubbing her sore head. "I don't think that this is a good idea…what if Kuchiki-taichou finds out?"
"Bya-kun already knows about my secret tunnels." Yachiru flippantly dismissed Yuurei's concerns, busy pulling branches away from the hole. "I showed them to Icchi, too! But You're the only one small enough to fit in them now, so I'm gonna show them to you!" She held a thick branch out of the way, grinning widely. "Come on, Zombie-chan, get in!"
Zombie-chan? Yuurei thought a bit incredulously, kneeling down to peer into the dark recesses of the hole. "Yachiru—" She started uncertainly.
"In!" Yachiru declared stoutly, giving Yuurei's rump a shove, pushing her headfirst into the hole and ramming her head into the dirt that coated the inside of the opening.
"Ouch!" Yuurei rocked back on her heels and rubbed her head for a second time, pain-induced tears welling up in her eyes. No recovery time was given as Yachiru shoved her rear again.
"I'm sorry, Zombie-chan, but we're late! We gotta hurry! I'll give you directions!" She said in a would-be encouraging voice.
Yuurei sighed and nodded, shifting to her hands and knees, ignoring the dirt that was coating her hands and the knees of her new hakama. The inside of the tunnel was larger than it's entrance had made it appear; Yachiru was able to stand up, though Yuurei had to stay low or else risk ramming her aching head into the ceiling. Yachiru pushed against the taller shinigami's rear.
"Come on~" She whined. The gray-haired shinigami obediently began crawling.
The dirt soon gave way to well-kept wood paneling, making the tunnel feel like an exceedingly small hallway. The duo came to a fork in the road; the tunnel split off into two directions. Yachiru giggled and pinched Yuurei's right butt cheek. She yelped and swung around to glare at the little girl. In the darkness, she could only make out a small silhouette.
"Go that way, Zombie-chan." Yachiru giggled as Yuurei obediently began turning. Evidently, the dark-skinned shinigami didn't move fast enough to suit her, so she clambered up onto Yuurei's back, clinging like a monkey. The gray-haired shinigami froze as her back protested briefly, sending a piercing pang through her body before subsiding to a tolerable dull ache. Yuurei gulped as she felt two little hands grab two long strands of her hair like reins. To her surprise and relief, Yachiru was gentle, tugging only slightly to guide her
Time seemed to slow as Yuurei crawled blindly, relying on the pink-haired little girl on her back to guide her through the recesses of the Kuchiki manor. She zoned out until she felt something gritty under her hand, to which she paused and looked down. Dirty handprints with fingers exactly the same size and shape of her crooked fingers spotted the wood. She tilted her head back to try and look at her passenger.
"Yachiru, I think we've already been this way."
"Don't be silly, Zombie-chan, keep going!" Yachiru ordered cheerfully.
Ten minutes later.
"These are my handprints. We've already gone this way."
"Keep going, we're almost there!"
Five minutes later.
"Yachiru, are you lost?"
"Of course not. Don't say such silly things."
Two minutes later.
"There's an arrow in red marker on the wall over there; is that where we have to go?"
"Nope!"
Eventually, it sank in that the fukutaichou of the 11th Division had an absolutely horrible sense of direction. Yuurei tried to make suggestions, but was ignored or brushed off. With a sigh, Yuurei resigned herself to her fate, at Yachiru's mercy. Eventually, the pink-haired child did manage to guide her to a small chamber with a hatch in the ceiling that she assumed opened up to the inside of the manor. Air puffed out between her lips in a thankful sigh as Yachiru vaulted off her back and shoved the hatch. It swung open with a thump, and Yuurei winced as the bright lights streaming through the new opening blinded her.
"I'm here! And I brought Zombie-chan, Ran-chan!" Yachiru sang out; the murmuring from above quieted and Yachiru tugged on Yuurei's clothes before crawling up. "Come on, Zombie-chan, I'll introduce you to everyone!"
"Yachiru…?" Yuurei murmured, searching blindly for the opening. A larger, but still familiar hand clamped onto her arm and yanked her up and out of the tunnels. The hatch thumped shut behind her.
"Rei-chan! You made it!" Her eyes cleared to see her fukutaichou making a face. "You're covered in dirt…" Matsumoto's expression abruptly cheered. "Aw, whatever. Come on, I want you to meet the Shinigami Women's Association!"
Yuurei blinked and looked around the room. The room was large and had amazingly fancy green wallpaper, as expected from a noble's dwelling, but there was an odd variety of furniture. A green chalkboard, a small wooden podium, a large rectangular table, and a refrigerator were the only pieces of furniture. There were a variety of people sitting at the table and one next to the podium.
They were all female, and they were all staring at her.
Yuurei felt herself freeze, but wasn't given any time to recover before Rangiku yanked her over to stand before the chalkboard. "Alright everybody, this is the cute new recruit I was telling you all about! Her name's Maboroshi Yuurei, but I just call her Rei-chan."
"…She looks kind of scrawny."
The speaker was a lithe woman with lightly tanned skin and black hair. She wore a sleeveless haori with a two on it and a yellow obi was tied around her waist. Underneath the haori, she was wearing what Yuurei recognized as the uniform of the Commander-in-chief of the Onmitsukidō (Covert Ops). Her hair was cut short with two long flowing braids wrapped in cloth coming down her back. At the ends of the braids were two gold rings. Instead of wearing the standard sandals with tabi, she wore traditional Chinese shoes with ordinary white socks. Her slanted, dark gray eyes were serious and hard, but had a glint of friendliness that was barely noticeable.
Rangiku scowled at her. "Soifon, that wasn't nice at all! I'm trying to get her to eat more; just give me a while and she'll look as adorable as you." The flattery was obvious, but Soifon still relaxed, albeit with an eye roll.
"She does look rather malnourished." This woman's expression was slightly melancholic, though there was a glint of curiosity in her distinctive emerald green eyes.
"Nemu, not you too!" Matsumoto groaned.
Nemu had black hair with a slightly purple tint, slightly parted bangs, and was pulled back into a long braid. Her uniform consisted of a rather short black kimono with a white nagajuban under it. She wore a traditional wide white obi with a red cord fastening over it and on her left sleeve was an armband with the badge of the 12th Division fukutaichou. White gloves that covered only the back of her hands and wrists adorned her arms and a dark red choker was fastened around her neck. She blushed and bowed her head when she noticed Yuurei looking at her.
"Hey, I've seen you before!" The loud exclamation made Yuurei flinch, but had a bonus effect of drawing attention away from her as everybody turned to look at whoever had said that.
An extremely tall woman with short, fluffy purple-tinted silver hair and excited dark gray eyes had stood and was pointing at Yuurei. Her shihakusho had not been customized like the others, only tailored to fit her height, but the badge for the 4th Division fukutaichou was tied to her arm.
"You helped out Hanatarou when the ditz got himself hurt again. I recognize you from the waiting room when you carried him back." She said, standing and bowing gratefully to Yuurei. "I'm Kotetsu Isane. Thank you for helping. Most people would have just laughed at him." She shrugged and straightened up.
"Eh? So that's where you went, Rei-chan!" Matsumoto said in comprehension, putting a hand on her hip. "Well, what do you know? Hey, Isane, where's Kiyone?"
Isane made a face. "She's with Ukitake-taichou. He's not feeling well again today." Sensing Yuurei's curious look, she explained, "Kiyone is my younger sister. She's the co-3rd seat of the 13th Division. Their captain has tuberculosis, so he has to stay in bed when—"
A strict and impatient voice interrupted her. "Can we get this meeting started?"
At Yuurei's side, Yachiru scowled and grabbed her hand, not noticing the broken finger. "Ne, you have to say 'hi' to Zombie-chan first!"
The last unknown person in the room sighed exasperatedly, pushing her glasses up with one hand, the other curled around a large book. She had severe dark blue eyes and shiny black hair pinned up into a tight, neat bun. "Very well. I am Nanao Ise, fukutaichou of the 8th Division and Vice-President of the Shinigami Women's Association."
Yachiru let out a happy cry, leaping up onto the podium and pulling a hastily made nameplate out of nowhere. "And I'm the President of the SWA, Kusajishi Yachiru, fukutaichou of the 11th Division! Let's get this party started!"
Yuurei took a seat between Matsumoto and Isane, across from Soifon. Nanao brought her hand up to her mouth and coughed delicately into it to get everyone's attention. Once all eyes were on her, she began.
"This meeting is to continue discussion on the new calendars and to propose the revival of the Hell Butterfly Wake-up Calls. For new members who do not know what that is," Yuurei felt the urge to melt into a little puddle of Yuurei-goop as Nanao shot a significant look in her direction. "It is the sending of hell butterflies to the captain's residences to deliver wake-up calls. The project was scrapped after the hell butterfly population plummeted due to the fact that Captains Zaraki, Soifon," Unrepentantly, Soifon shrugged, "And Kurotsuchi are not morning people. But the sudden increase of lateness to captain's meetings call for something to be done. Any ideas?"
There was a long, pregnant silence. Matsumoto flipped open a makeup compact and Yachiru pulled a large rainbow lollipop out of her sleeve. After glancing around tentatively, Nemu spoke.
"Um…perhaps we could propose payment for killing a hell butterfly? A thousand yen a butterfly should deter most shinigami from killing them. Maybe not Zaraki-taichou, but…" She looked down, blushing.
Nanao nodded thoughtfully. "That could work. Very well, I will propose the idea to the Soutaichou. Now, we need to discuss the calendars." She pushed up her glasses, the motion seeming oddly menacing. "They need new pictures."
Almost instantly, an aura of hysteria seemed to fall over the room. Nemu cringed, Isane winced, and even Soifon seemed affected, flushing a bright red while covering her face and shuddering. Matsumoto seemed to be the only one unaffected by the announcement, actually looking eager.
Looking undeniably panicked, Isane spoke up. "Uh, Vice-President? C-Can't we just use last year's pictures again?"
"…We've used those for three years in a row." Nanao said flatly. "Sales have ground to a halt and we're running out of funds. We need new pictures."
Yachiru puffed out her cheeks. "I can do it!"
Nanao grimaced slightly. "But President, all your pictures had Zaraki-taichou's hair covering their faces. A lot of complaints were about that."
The pink-haired girl scowled. "Picky people! They shouldn't be so fussy!"
"But President—"
"Picky!"
"But—"
"Fine!" Yachiru screamed angrily, crossing her arms. "I won't help, then!"
Yuurei flinched as the little girl's reiatsu rose. For such a little soul, her spiritual power was immense. Onyx eyes locked on Yachiru's stubborn, angry expression, so familiar it made her heart ache. For a brief moment, the pink haired little shinigami was someone else entirely.
She spoke before thinking, her voice severe but gentle. "Behave yourself."
"No!" Yachiru pouted, crossing her arms.
Yuurei gulped as she suddenly became aware of the many pairs of eyes on her, but she persisted. "Please? After the meeting, you can take me anywhere you want and I'll do whatever you say."
Yachiru stopped pouting and tilted her head to the side in innocent wonder. "Really?"
Relieved that the girl no longer looked as if she was going to throw a fukutaichou-scale temper tantrum, Yuurei nodded fervently, unthinkingly. "I promise."
She winced as an elbow abruptly jabbed into her ribs, and she flicked her eyes to the side to look at the owner of the elbow, Matsumoto.
"Rei-chan!" She whispered urgently. "Do you know what you just agreed to?!"
The anxiety in her voice made Yuurei realize that she had just made a very stupid mistake. Yachiru appeared to be thinking it over, tapping her finger on her protruding lower lip, her eyes unfocused and staring slightly upward with a pensive air.
"Alright." Yachiru finally said, her gaze refocusing on Yuurei. A wide grin split her face. "I'm going to take you to meet Ken-chan!"
Instantly, a general intake of breath was heard amongst the startled occupants of the room. Beside Yuurei, Matsumoto froze. Forlornly, Soifon shook her head, eyeing Yuurei in a jarringly pitying manner. Nemu paled a shade and Isane gasped loudly.
Nanao's eyes had widened significantly and she spoke up, her voice slightly unsteady. "I'm not sure that that's a good—"
"She promised!" Yachiru insisted stubbornly, a pout again twisting her lips. "Ken-chan would love to meet Zombie-chan!"
"I bet he would." Matsumoto muttered sourly. Yuurei looked at her askance and she explained. "Ken-chan is Zaraki-taichou. He'll fight anyone he thinks is worth a challenge." Noting Yuurei's utterly horrified expression, the older shinigami grimaced sympathetically. "Man, Rei-chan, you've really screwed yourself over this time."
Ending Theme: "Again" by Yui
A/N: I think the ending was a little bit flat, but I really, really needed to get this chapter in. I think you guys have been kept waiting long enough. Questions, comments, criticism; I'll take anything!
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Inuko93, Hikari6007, Leopardstar, n a g a s h i . n o . k u r o;
THANK YOU!
Signing out,
Dragon of Twilight!