17 Ways of Erase and Rewind
Disclaimer: Bleach does not belong to me. If it was mine manga 423 page 12, 13 and more would NOT had happened.
Special thanks to my Beta Chancewriter who makes my crazy ideas understandable and readable. You're THE best!
Warning: SPOILER ALERT! This story is up to date with manga 421: Deicide 23, and ignores chapter 423 because I DID NOT like it and also (and more importantly) because I had already written it before it came out, so it's a bit AU. Like usual A/N at the bottom, italics are for thoughts and some cursing but nothing major. Also, a couple of fluff and steamy scenes, but no smut or lemon.
The rhythm of her conversation
The perfection of her creation
The sex she slipped into my coffee
The way she felt when she first saw me
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Chapter 7: Sympathy for the Devil's wife (part 1)
"NO! I said I'm not doing it!" Hiyori's loud screaming could be heard through the entire Seireitei.
"Then you're not going." Shinji crossed his arms over his chest.
"Stop bossing me around Hage Shinji." She retorted "You're not my boss."
"Final word Hiyori! If you're not doing it, you're not putting one foot out of this room."
"Who is gonna stop me?" And her foot was in his face, kicking it in hard. She tackled him and he started to push her away from him with his hand on her forehead.
Urahara laughed. For the last forty-five minutes the couple had been at each other's throats without any real progress. It was more like seeing a movie that lasted 10 minutes played over and over. He was laughing and smiling this entire time because the tone of the bickering, the hits and the insults were a reminiscence of 100 years ago when the two men were Captains and the little blonde, that at this moment was biting Shinji's arm, was a Lieutenant.
"Stupid! That really hurt." The blonde man was finally free but with a teeth mark on his arm.
"Good! That is why I did it!" She said sending him an evil glare.
Shinji ruffled his dark yellow hair and sighed. "I'm serious Hiyori you're not going out in a white –almost see-through– kimono," He wiggled a blonde eyebrow motioning to her body, "Not that there's anything to see". At his words, she threw at him a tea cup he had used for breakfast. He dodged it and it crashed into the wall.
"If you wanna go out, you're wearing this one." And he pointed to the wrinkle-free black Shinigami uniform that was hanging from green hanger on the door's handle with a tag that read:
'To the half-snotty boy:
A little gift to give you a blast from the past.
With love,
Kurotsuchi-sama.'
"Why can I wear my normal clothes, ha?" She was getting madder by the minute. One thing was helping the Shinigami against Aizen, she kind of understood that part. Another one was being thankful to Unohana Taichou for her attentive and fast healing abilities. But wearing that God-forsaken black hakama was practically yelling 'Hey Shinigamis can I join? Please? Please? Please?' She wouldn't do it. It didn't matter how much the idiot Baldy yelled at her. Not going to happen, pal.
"Do the Shinigamis have a freaking rule about normal clothes? Because I'll take my dear track suit over this," She motioned to the uniform disgusted, "any day."
Urahara Kisuke had always been amazed –and a little jealous– of the power that Shinji had of predicting Hiyori's actions, but what the blonde male did in the second she talked about her formal human clothes was beyond comparison.
"You mean you'll be wearing torn fabric?" Shinji took out of a drawer a red and white material that resembled a piece of cloth completely shattered in little pieces and stained with something red and brown already dried.
"Bastard! What did you do to my clothes?"
Shinji narrowed his eyes in indignation.
"Me? You did this, ya idiot! Or did you forget about 'The big time Hiyori didn't listen?'" The girl uncharacteristically pouted, but Shinji went on. "It tore with Ichimaru's sword and while the 4th Division was attending you."
The girl voiced a low growl. If yelling wouldn't do the trick this time, she would have to resort to another strategy that she did not enjoy, especially with Kisuke here, but desperate situations called for extreme measures. Hiyori would show the dumbass that he wasn't the only one that knew her old 'friend' really well.
The ex-Fukutaichou sat on the bed, un-chiseled her normal scowl, smiled without showing her left fang and taking advantage of the opportunity that her hair was down and Shinji's predilection for that fact, looked at the blonde man with a pleading expression and love in her eyes, muttering "Please Shinji can I wear something else? Anything else would do." and she blinked a couple of times.
The male Vizard blushed and it took him a couple of seconds to realize what was happening: Hiyori was flirting with him? This had to be an illusion made by Aizen's zanpakutou or a dream. But remembering yesterday's afternoon, when he was out of the 4th Division room, Hiyori had a different caretaker, he mentally cursed.
He was going to murder Lisa in her sleep. Teaching Hiyori silly girly moves to take advantage of his new found overprotection, love and, why not? desire, towards the injured blonde. That sneaky bitch! I'll promise I'll get even! Lisa does not know who she is messing with.
Hiyori kept looking at him with the same expression and she knew it was working. The girl gave, internally, her biggest grin ever. What she didn't take into account was the interruption that would be voiced by the third person in the room.
"I'm sorry Hiyori-san, but I have to agree with Hirako-san. It's better for you to wear a normal Shinigami outfit while you visit the Seretei. You don't want to stand out so much, right?" Urahara voiced in a fatherly tone.
If the girl had laser eyesight, the stupid nosy bum would be full with more holes than a freaking hollow by now. But for the lack of that, she resigned to hitting him in the face.
"Fine, but keep in mind," she said looking at Shinji with a fearsome glance, "I'll be complaining the whole time."
"Peachy, I can hardly wait." The tall man answered with a sarcastic gesture taking the tag out of the outfit before passing it to her.
She went into the bathroom and changed in a couple of minutes. When she got out, her hair was already tied up in her usual pigtails and the black uniform complimented her small, still attached, body. Shinji couldn't avoid smiling. He had always thought she looked beautiful and full with innocence in their Soul Society days with her tiny shihakushō and her red ribbons. Now she still looked beautiful, but a hint of growth framed the female Vizard. A left waraji hit him straight in the face taking him out of his daydreams.
"What are you looking at, ya pervert?"
"Yer ugly face." He answered her; rubbing his red nose and grabbing her right hand in order to drag her out of the room. "See ya later Kisuke," and without more talking Shinji left the room practically dragging Hiyori to the corridor.
After closing the door the two blondes stood still in the hallway. Shinji turned directly to her scowling face and crouched to be at eye level "Ok idiot, we are doing this, but first I'm putting down some ground rule-"
"Did I missed the announcement of the international day of Hirako Shinji is Hiyori's boss? Because the only thing you have been doing today is bossing me around, Baldy!"
He was tired of fighting her. Besides complaining nonstop, today she'd been really feisty about every single thing, and if he added her little teasing act, Shinji was getting completely annoyed with the blonde Vizard. So he shut her up the only way he could think of: he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply making her open her cherry lips to let his pierced tongue enter and explore every inch of her mouth. After a couple of minutes, he had no other choice than to part from her because he was completely out of breath. Hiyori moaned, complaining of missing her playful partner.
"You deserved that for being a naughty little girl." His words in her ear made her flush crimson and she stayed completely silent. Shinji gave her a butterfly kiss on her mouth and continued with his almost forgotten speech. "Like I was saying, we need some ground rules if you want to get out and walk around the Seireitei."
She was about to talk again but he poked her nose, so she couldn't reply.
"First, if you get tired at any time during the day, we are coming right back. Second, no temper tantrums Hiyori, at the first one, we are coming right back." And he eyed her severely. "Third, I'm leading NOT you, if you insist on doing it, we are coming right back. And fourth, and this is the most important part - you will LISTEN to me! If you can't or won't, we are coming right back." at every rule she was rolling her eyes and imitating his face in a mocking way. However, he didn't care. The outing was not his idea and he wasn't happy to take her around Soul Society, but Unohana and Kisuke had insisted, and he could tell the injured blonde was getting restless of being locked up in a room for so long. "Understood?"
"Do you want me to roll out the red carpet, give you a massage while you walk or fan you with those overgrown feathers, your Majesty?" She said with an annoying face.
He chuckled at her sarcasm. "That won't be necessary…today."
The petit woman pushed him to the side. "Ass!"
He got up and looked at her. "Ok… let's go." He gestured for her to take his hand. Hiyori directed her eyes at him. They would be walking the Seretei holding hands? She wasn't sure how ready she was for something so compromising. However, she didn't get the chance to dwell further on her predicament for Shinji didn't let her choose when he took her cold hand between his warm one and began to walk.
After a couple of hallways Hiyori noticed, for the first time since she had been brought here, the sign that indicated in what floor of the 4th Division she was: Serious Injuries. The girl started to wonder for herself how many people that were in the fight with Aizen were on this floor beside her. She could have asked Shinji, he would probably know, being the busy-body he was, but decided against it. If any Shinigami was injured in the course of the battle, she did not care. After all, they were her mortal enemies.
Her thoughts transpired to reality and she could see at the end of the hallway three people outside of two rooms that were marked as 'Intensive Care Unit (ICU).' Shinji caught her staring at that place, and even when, originally, he was going to turn in an aisle before getting to the ICU, he thought that some sensitization about the fight would be good for her; that, and some closure. He knew who was being treated in one of those rooms, so he tightened his grip on her hand and took her straight to those people.
The steps of the two blondes could be heard clearly through the entire hallway even with the silent warajis, and to that sound the people sitting there looked up. The only one Hiyori could recognize was the boy with white hair wearing a Captain haori and that he had had an argument with her while they were fighting that blonde Espada. Next to him was a blond Fukutaichou with shoulder-length hair. She could tell he was a fukutaichou because of the 3rd Division's lieutenant armband on his left arm. And at the end of the seats, sat a woman with long and wavy blond hair, blue eyes, full lips, and very large breasts; the expression on her face was the worst of the three people. It was like she had lost the joy or the reason to live.
Shinji's voice greeting the trio got Hiyori out of her inner musings.
"Ohayo Matsumoto-san." and he gave the woman a cordial bow with his head.
Of course Hiyori thought, Shinji had to know the name of the beautiful well endowed blonde, he had a freaking magnet to find these type of girls. But he continued without noticing Hiyori's inner protest.
"Ohayo Kira Fukutaichou," he did the same nod and looked to the boy, "Ohayo Toshiro-kun"
"Hitsugaya Taichou." The offended boy corrected Shinji.
The two men returned the greeting, but the woman didn't utter a word. Instead, she was staring at Hiyori like her life would depend on that. The blonde girl was speechless and a little embarrassed.
"I'm glad to see you're doing fine." The Taichou said looking at Shinji's companion.
"Hmm," Hiyori scowled "You'll need more than that to take me down."
Shinji whispered in an annoyed tone. "Bad weed never withers."
"What did you say Baldy?" She looked at him with a contemptible expression and pulled his arm tightly.
"Shut up idiot! We are in a 'be quiet' area! Something I'm planning to put in the entire warehouse when we get home, so I won't have to listen to your screaming."
Glares between the two blondes were being fired left and right, but the beautiful woman broke the battle the new arrivals were having by saying,
"You're Sarugaki Hiyori, right?"
Hiyori eyed her with her usual expression and nodded.
Rangiku's expression got even sadder. "I was wondering if I could have a little talk with you?" Her tone was serious but still a hint of sorrow could be registered.
"Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya called apprehensively.
Kira did the same "Rangiku-san!"
Hiyori narrowed her eyes and nodded again. Rangiku smiled and motioned to the girl to walk with her and the female Vizard let go of Shinji's hand to meet the Lieutenant, but the man caught her hand again. "I'm coming with you Hiyori."
"I hope it's not a problem if I speak just to her, Hirako-san." Rangiku pointed out.
Hiyori replied menacingly stealing Shinji's response "No, it's not a problem." and later looked at him "Wait for me here Baldy I won't be long."
Rangiku entered a door a couple of yards away from where they were originally and the little Vizard followed her closing it after she was inside.
Goodbye to my rules! It took her 5 seconds to break the first one Shinji thought staring with annoyed eyes at the closed door.
"Did she call you Baldy, Hirako-san?" Kira inquired very puzzled breaking the other blonde concentration, but not trying to be disrespectful.
Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. "Now that you mentioned she called me that when we were fighting that Espada"
Shinji laughed and took the chair where Rangiku was previously sitting. "She is talking about the face not the hair." He clarified.
Both Shinigamis sweat dropped.
"How is he?" Shinji asked looking at the wall; his usual expression lost and a serious one ruled his face.
"Better. Unohana said that at this point it's only on his will to live, so Rangiku-san is starting to worry about what could come next." Kira closed his eyes and regained his voice. "That's probably why she is talking to Hiyori-san."
Hitsugaya looked at the blonde ex-Captain.
"How is she?"
"A pain in the ass, so that means she is back to normal. Hinamori-san?"
"Stable, but still in a comma for her own good." The words of the white-haired Taichou were making him travel trough time when she was first hurt by Aizen's sword. But this time for him it was even worse because it was Hyourinmaru who had been the one that had opened Momo's chest.
The three men sighed very loudly.
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A/N: Ok this chapter and the next one originally were only one, but my rambling and the number of scenes I wanted got too much not to divide them, so Sympathy for the devil's wife is part 1 and sympathy for the devil is part 2.
My usual rant about Shinji and erase and rewind are in the next chapter that for your convenience is already uploaded, so no gasping and no cliffhangers. Click on the next button and enjoy!
Ahh… I almost forgot I used a couple of Japanese words so here you have the proper translation:
Hage = Baldy
Shihakushō = the black Kimono Shinigamis wear
Waraji = the straw sandals Shinigamis wear
Ohayo = Good morning
Konbawa = Good night (next chapter)
Kuwai = fear/being scared (next chapter)