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.
Hate to love and love to hate her
Like a broken record player
Back and forth and here and gone
And on and on and on and on…
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Chapter 8: Sympathy for the Devil (part 2)
After some time the door opened and both women came out. Hiyori's face didn't really reveal anything to Shinji.
"Let's go Baldy." she ordered him and without even saying goodbye or waiting for him Hiyori started to leave the Serious Injury floor.
While he stared at her back in the moments that took him to catch her, Shinji started to think about her. There wasn't anyone in the entire universe that knew Hiyori like he did and even when he was very intrigued by what had transpired between the two women, he would have to wait for her to bring it up for discussion. When it came to serious topics, it was better to let her voice them on her own, rather than forcing her to tell what probably would result in a lie and a kick to the chest. He finally caught up to her and took her hand again.
"I'm leading, remember idiot?"
She ignored him but kept her hand where he had put it and intertwined her fingers with his.
So they started walking the Seireitei like nothing had happened between leaving her recovery room and going out of the 4th Squad building. Shinji took Hiyori to a bunch of different places. First, they visited the Gotei Divisions that they had access to through old friendships: the 2nd, 5th, 8th and the 13th. Leaving the 12th for last, because it would be where they would spend more time. They could go to that Division, only because Urahara had charged Mayuri with a couple of old favors he had done for him. The shop owner had arranged for Hiyori to have a guided visitation to the new (for she it was new) building of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute. Akon was the one that showed them around the place, going to the different labs, the new projects and the newest technology in gigai development. Hiyori pretended she was bored and that Akon was a know-it-all, but Shinji could see a shadow of glee in her eyes trough the entire visit. They left early because they 'casually' encountered Kurotsuchi Mayuri and he made a comment about her shihakusō that had been a gift from him and hell broke loose when Hiyori lost her temper. Having omitted that tiny detail had been a bad idea. Shinji's swollen face could vouch for that.
In an effort to calm her down, he took her for an early lunch to a place they had gone to when they celebrated her last birthday in Soul Society because she had been complaining over 100 years that none in the 'Real World' made ramen like that place.
In the afternoon they went visiting some of the Rukongai's stores including the one that sold her ribbons. And when the sun was finally setting and Shinji could see she was starting to get tired, he tried to persuade her to call it a day.
"Hey brat…do you wanna come back to your room?"
"I'm not tired yet dumbass."
Of course she was lying. He could tell by her expression and her movements, but only because it was today he would let her get away with this one.
"I still have one more place on my list that I want us to go." He turned and raised her to put her in the top of his shoulder.
"Oi Stupid! Put me down! I'm telling you I'm not tired I can walk!"She was yelling while punching his back.
He ignored every one of her punches, kicks and screams moving fast through the Rukongai with his reiatsu. She knew before she could see where they were heading; a couple of yards outside the north Gate, the tallest tree in Soul Society; her favorite tree.
They reached the place and Shinji put her down at the bottom of the tree. She was about to start climbing when he stopped her.
"Not going up today, monkey." And he motion to her to sit on one of the overgrown roots, while he started to light a couple of torches that were at the sides of the tree, bringing with him, out of nowhere, a picnic basket and one blanket. The blonde put the white fabric in the grass and sat stretching his legs moving his hand to grab the little blonde by the sash and placing her in his lap. Hiyori had, during all this time only looked at him with shock and amusement.
"I hope that that haven't been there for over 100 years Shinji, because if it has I'm not eating it." She said pointing to the basket.
He grinned.
"Just fifty."
"Ha-ha." The blonde girl rolled her eyes.
"No sense of humor as usual." He said in her neck, moving a strand of her hair and placing a wet kiss. He felt her shivered. "Just like old times." he was very comfortable nibbling her neck.
She moved suddenly facing him, Shinji was not happy about it. "How did you do this?"
"I'm that great!" A toothy grin.
"Be serious Idiot!" She hit his cheek.
"I had help."
"Whose?"
"You're very curious today. Can we just enjoy the view?" He had been dying to get to this part of the day since this morning's kiss and her curiosity was definitely spoiling his time with her lips. So taking advantage of her new position facing him he started to kiss her. First her lips, then her nose, her chin, her jaw, her neck, then he returned to her lips again.
"Sh-shinji…" She tried to talk between intakes of breath and kissing, but he wasn't stopping "Wait… dumbass…I need… I need advice." This time he did stop and his brown eyes found hers. If she was actually asking for an opinion on something instead of rushing and doing whatever she liked, it had to be something he had to hear. Although, he was already imagining what the subject would be.
A very blushing Hiyori decided to move again and face the forest. It would be easy to talk if she wasn't looking at him.
"Let's talk hypothetically," She started what was going to be a hard thing to explain.
"Aha." Shinji suppressed a laugh due to the seriousness in her tone.
"If someone would ask you for leniency on someone else, because that someone else did something wrong," She scowled more deeply, "Would you go all forgive and forget?"
"There are a lot of 'some' in that sentence Hiyori."
She was deep in thought and decided to drop the entire hypothetical conversation. "Rangiku told me the Sou Taichou is thinking of asking me to recommend a sentence for Ichimaru. And she asked me for mercy on him and gave me the reason he had been working with Aizen." She was looking at the dark clouds in the sky and decided not to elaborate on specifications of the reason, after all that had been told to her in confidence.
Shinji narrowed his eyes. He was surprised by Hiyori's analysis of the situation. She was probably thinking of the pros and cons of the entire circumstance.
If she is actually considering forgiving him, it has to be a hell of a reason he thought, but Hiyori's next comment made him understand why she was considering it.
"Everything for love…" She chuckled "Not blowing a cover over a hundred years to take revenge is quite an accomplishment. He should work in the black ops."
He closed his eyes mentally kicking himself for being the one who had to force her to make up her mind, but in Hiyori's life one of his jobs was to make her face real facts. "What are you going to do Hiyori?"
She sighed "I don't know. A part of me screams that that man is Ichimaru Gin with his fox face and venomous comments, a sneaky bastard with no heart that cut me in half without second thought. And the other part of me –the one I sincerely despise– sympathize with him and wonder if things would have come my way, our way, wouldn't I have done the same thing in order to kill Aizen? One hundred years of planning revenge."
"Hiyori," a little laugh came to his mouth, "we actually tried something like that."
She smiled a little sadly turning part of her head to look at him. "I don't want to be his executioner. Not this way. It just reminds me so much of Kisuke's trial. There are too many 'what ifs' to jump into a conclusion."
He re-tightened the grip around her waist and spoke in a whisper next to her ear.
"Then you tell the Sou Taichou what you're telling me, that you believe his motives and it's not up to you to send him to be killed."
She sighed again and rested her head on his shoulder. She still wasn't sure, but the day had been so hectic and had made her so tired that when he started caressing her face and neck she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and fell asleep.
A couple of hours had passed and Shinji was walking the hallway that led to the ICU rooms. He had left Hiyori in her room and stayed there some time making sure she was asleep because the blond needed to do this without her knowledge. He came to a stop in front of the rooms and without knocking opened the door. The entire room that resembled a lot like Hiyori's room was completely deserted except for the patient on the bed; he had made sure of checking for Matsumoto Rangiku's reiatsu before leaving the other room. He gave a couple of steps towards the bed.
"There's no need of playing dead Ichimaru, I know you're awake."
"Konbawa Hirako-Taichou," His trademark facetious tone did not get lost with all the injuries. Gin directed his words toward the ex-Captain. "Came to take ya vengeance for yer precious Hiyori-chan?"
Shinji closed his left fist enraged. This was going to be harder than I thought. "I would not be a coward to attack someone when he's down or at her back."
"I believe all is fair in love and war." Gin was talking to the ceiling incapable of turning to face Shinji due his injuries.
"Che, yeah I heard that's your excuse for many things lately." This time Shinji's comment had actually got to the fox-faced man, making him opening his light blue eyes.
"So Ran-chan didn't listen to me and talked to Hiyori-chan on my behalf." Ichimaru sighed entertained. "And you're here because…"
"I don't believe a word you're saying." Shinji's tone was filled with hate and revulsion. "You and Aizen spent so much time together acting your roles and pulling people's strings that is impossible that a snake like you could actually feel something, 'specially love. Your sad little soap story is only a way to get yourself into safety taking advantage of a woman who truly loves you."
Gin actually laughed "So I can't expect any favor of-"
"Hiyori is not like me." The blonde interrupted. "She had built walls to protect herself and portrays her tough act really well, but she's a compassionate person and believed the grief of a woman who asked leniency in your name." Shinji came closer so that Ichimaru could tell how serious his intentions were. "So if you get away from it, like you probably would, I'll be watching you, and if you get to a yard within Hiyori," His reiatsu intensified, "I'll cut you in so many pieces that not even a repelling ability would put you together."
"Kowai, kowai, such a scary face Hirako Taichou." Gin teased.
Shinji turned to leave and said in his usual light tone.
"Not a threat, just a promise Ichimaru." And with that he opened the door to leave, but the seriousness in the tone of the man in the bed made him close it again.
"Unlike you Hirako Taichou I took the necessary precautions not to meddle the woman I care about in my affairs, so I wouldn't bring her even more pain."
"Deceiving and lying is more your style than mine." Shinji replied.
"Aizen knew," Gin spat, "He knew even before I joined the 5th squad about you two. Apparently your discretion when it comes to that little blonde girl left much to be desired. I would never have let him put his filthy hands on Rangiku…"
Shinji opened the door and this time he did use it and left. When Gin heard the closing noise he finished his sentence
"…again."
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A sudden hit to the face woke Shinji from his deep dreams, in his not-so-comfortable chair. Someone had thrown something at his nose and when he half opened his eyes, he found a red sandal in his lap; the object that had crashed into him.
"What's the matter, Hage Shinji!" A blonde girl was facing him with a wicked grin. "Your face was particularly easy to hit this morning."
He wasn't really aware of whether he was still sleep or not because this scene look fairly familiar to one that had happened 100 years ago.
"What was that for dummy!" his nose had started to bleed like usual. "I haven't even said anything! I was sleeping."
"What is this Shinji?" And she pointed to the red sandal in her hand.
He rolled his eyes "It's a sandal, idiot." For that answer he received the other sandal she didn't throw at him the first time.
"I know it's a sandal. I'm asking where did it come from?"
He chuckled and looked around her to check that there were no more deadly shoes.
"The store."
This time she jumped at him pulling his hair and staying in his lap.
"Stop being funny, moron!"
He took each of her wrists with his hands to make her stop pulling his blonde locks. "I bought them yesterday while you were busy with your freaking ribbons."
"You're wearing sandals now. Cute!" She said giving him an evil grin. "It will go perfectly if you let your woman hair grow again."
"Who's being funny now?" He narrowed his eyes and yawned loudly. It was too early to be awake. "What if you give me a side in your bed, huh? I'm still sleepy."
"No way perv! Besides, you deserve to be awaken for going into night excursions to threaten people."
He flinched and widen his eyes how did she know?
She answered his mental question.
"You're not the only one who was friends that can be helpful." And she raised one eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "Baka I know how to take care of myself." Her tone had acquired a more serious character.
"I know that."
He let the silence linger between them for a couple of minutes, but thinking how much less time they would have alone now that she could move more freely, he decided to take a chance. "You know Hiyori, you haven't thanked me for your gift." And he started to put a couple of her rebellious bangs behind her ear.
"Like hell I'll thank you. I did not ask you to get them for me." She had done her speech with closed eyes and when she opened them, she realized how close his face was to her.
"I would like that thank you right about now." his voice was getting lost in his lips.
"Bite me." She half whispered on his lips.
So he did.
He bit her lower lip. Many times before he had told her he would if she kept the same threat, but probably the petit girl didn't believe him.
The biting became kissing and he raised himself with her in his arms and walked towards the bed. He had found a way to sleep on a bed for the first time in many weeks.
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A/N: So what does Shinji gives to Hiyori? Advice, trust, her sandals, the nighttime picnic, the freaking tour and protection.
Erase and Rewind? Well I would like to say the bifurcation, but I don't think she can actually forget that so easily. Maybe the whole thing between Rangiku/Gin/Hiyori/Shinji could be taken as a first step to get past it.
I really tried not ramble too much in this chapter and I even took a whole part and made the tour through Seireitei way shorter than originally planned, but even with all those changes I couldn't made it smaller. It's A LOT of words and my longest yet… taking into consideration that actually from 1 there were 2.
At first I was going to go for a whole new outfit for her but honestly it gotten hard to think of what because I'm a bit fashion forward and I also wanted it to be clothes that fit her character, but I couldn't find any I liked… I'M NOT PUTTING HER IN THE TRACK SUIT AGAIN! Maybe I'll figure it out in a couple of chapters. If you guys are interested in a visual of Hiyori's new sandals (because I really never got why she wears yellow sandals instead of red, sorry I'm very matchy-matchy with clothes), here's the url: www . mynewshoe. com/ content / UserFiles/ just close the gaps. If you have a suggestion on her human clothes PLEASE do tell me!
I just HAD TO write Shinji vs. Gin. It's something I hoped that Kubo showed, but with the manga 423 my hopes were completely lost. I thought this two guys in a talking battle would be interesting because in my opinion their motives were a bit close, but the execution of their plans were completely different. And that 'chat' took me around 90 minutes because I had no idea of how to describe what the original idea was.
There are many new characters in this one; hopefully Kira, Hitsugaya, Rangiku and Gin are not too OOC. It's hard to write a serious Ran-chan.
Why does Shinji know people that are in the canon Bleach timeline? Well, Shinji is quite friendly. Did you honestly expect that he would not have met at least the people who were fighting against Aizen?
The line when Hiyori hits Shinji with her new red sandal is almost the same as the one she uses in TBTP when we first see her, chapter 206 my favorite of all Bleach.
BTW the title is a great song by the Rolling Stones. I thought about it when I was writing the scene in the tree.
Last thing, I went a little, let use the word hot for lack of a better term, in some scenes. I'm sorry I just was in a weird mood the two days I spent writing this. And FYI get your mind out of the gutter they didn't had sex! Just a tiny clarification of my ending.
We are practically half way in our '17 Ways to Erase and Rewind,' thank you for the faves and alerts, and please do not forget to REVIEW!
With luv!
Kate
PS.- Guys I have a new job! (so excited!) and I start on the 18th, so I'd try to get as much done as possible before I start because instead of being a couple of hours like my old one is practically all day, meaning less time to write. So expect a couple of updates before the 18th and less after, ok?