17 Ways of Erase and Rewind
Disclaimer: Bleach does not belong to me.
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 423: Farewall swords. A/N at the bottom, italics are for thoughts, and some cursing but nothing major.
This is how you remind me
Of what I really am
It's not like you to say sorry
I was waiting on a different story
This time I'm mistaken
For handing you a heart worth breakin'
I've been wrong, I've been down
To the bottom of every bottle
Chapter 12: The power of Envy
After she was done talking silence ruled the room.
She just couldn't take it anymore. "And…what do you think?" Hiyori opened widely her eyes, eager to hear the answer of both men in front of her.
Shinji moved his head to the side, playing with his straight blonde locks.
"You're really bored, ain't ya?"
A rude hand gesture went to the ex-Captain's direction. But the shop owner who was quietly drinking his tea had a very different opinion. "Actually, Hiyori-san I've been thinking pretty much the same for some time now, but I didn't feel like meddling in Vizards' business. I know how touchy you all are about it."
The girl sweat dropped.
"Since when do you not meddle in Vizard's business? You practically created one, stupid bum."
Urahara Kisuke gave a fake laugh and hid his smirk behind his fan. "Hiyori-san your comments are so raw! I never tried to mess with forces that are beyond my capabilities."
Now it was Shinji who sweat dropped. "You created a force so powerful it dissolved the boundaries between a Shinigami and a Hollow. That is not a force beyond your capabilities?"
The shop owner only kept laughing and ignored the questions from both blondes. "Anyway, returning to Hiyori-san's question. Yes I do think there is something more to the Hollow mask than we know right now."
Hiyori smirked.
"Like a second phase."
Urahara nodded. "If you're really interested in it, Hiyori-san we can start working on it tomorrow at noon."
A triumphant smile could be seen in the petit girl, but after processing the whole sentence that Urahara had said she decided to change her face to her usual expression. The girl yelled,
"Why at noon!"
Urahara hid again behind his fan and refused to answer his former Lieutenant's question.
"I leave you to yourself for 100 years and you become even lazier than you were before! Noon my ass! I'll be here at 9 a.m. and be glad I'm letting you sleep late." Hiyori shouted, getting up to leave.
"Hold your horses' midget!" Shinji intervened yanking her arm to make her sit again. "How exactly are you going to 'work on it,' Kisuke?"
The alluded sipped some more of his tea and answered.
"Actually Hirako-san I have no idea."
"WHAT!" Hiyori's temper when it came to Urahara Kisuke could never be predicted. "I thought you said you had thought about it!"
"Yes I have, but without a test subject it's practically impossible for me to forecast any outcomes, all gets lost in theory."
"And you want her to be your test subject?" Shinji's glance and voice were becoming serious "You're starting to sound a little like Aizen."
"I didn't say I want Hiyori-san to be my test subject. I only thought that she would like to be involved with the process; she is, after all, a scientist too." He said, hiding deeper behind his green and white striped hat.
Hiyori watched the two men with annoyance and sighed. "Bump, I'm leaving. Tomorrow 9 a.m. Be awake or I'll wake you up. Hopefully you remember my methods." and she faked a smile, "Baldy mind your own business, shut up and let's go".
The of them stood up and headed to the door, but the owner of the house, remembering something, came to a sudden stop and making Hiyori crash against his back.
"Ah! I almost forgot I have something for you to take back to the warehouse. Please come with me." And he redirected his steps to the left hallway that led to an underground storage. The route was a little like the one they took to going to the training grounds, but this one neither Shinji nor Hiyori had ever taken.
Urahara opened the door and it made a loud squeaking sound and the three people stepped into the gigantic storeroom.
"As to be expected," Hiyori said moving one of her arms closer to her body because of the dirty surface and narrowing her eyes in a sickening gesture, "You never clean here."
"Well actually Hiyori-san," And he brushed off a spider web with his bare hands, "this part of the storage is barely used and none is allowed to come in here except for myself-"
"That explains everything." She voiced with a grin. "You've never been a fan of cleaning."
But her ex-Captain ignored her and kept walking. "Like I was saying, I made an exception for you two because Soul Society issued an order last week to release the content of Aizen's property and I was asked to be the one to examine it and determine if there's anything potentially dangerous in his belongings. While going through a couple of boxes I found something that you might find interesting." Urahara said and directed his hand to a large, brown, cardboard box marked 'HS'.
"Apparently Aizen Sousuke kept a couple of your own things Hirako-san. You're lucky that I found yours. My own property is missing because Kurotsuchi-san discarded it, I'm quite sure." He directed his grey eyes to the little Vizard behind him. "I'm sorry Hiyori-san, but I could guess that that's the same thing that happened with yours."
Hiyori scowled and rolled her eyes.
"Like I care Kisuke." And she crossed her arms and started heading for the door.
On the other hand, the Shinji was already holding the box that had his initials and was thanking Urahara in every way he could. However, it took him a couple of minutes to realize that his noisy sidekick was nowhere to be found, so he resisted the demanding urges to rip open the box to find out what was inside.
"I'm heading out Kisuke." and he moved to the direction of the door. "Like I said I deeply appreciate this."
"You do not have to mention it Hirako-san."
The Vizard frowned. "How many times do I have tell you to call me Shinji?"
Urahara laughed. "It must be the force of habit."
Shinji practically ran upstairs and out the shop to find a moody Hiyori walking towards their shared home.
"Oi Chibi! Why didn't you wait for me?" He said catching up with her. "You could have at least offered to help me with the box!"
She gave him a side glare. "You're so weak that you can't even carry a box or you have so much crap that it's impossible to load it yourself?"
"I'm a gentleman and I wouldna made ya carry it." He said rearranging the large package in his arms, "But it would be nice if you offered to do to things for me."
"I could kick yer ass, is that a good offer to ya?"
"I'm gonna pass on that for the moment," Shinji threw her a dirty look, "Thank you."
"Anytime." She responded and kept walking, ignoring the ex-Captain at her side.
After they walked a couple of streets and the silence prevailed, Shinji couldn't resist anymore and assuredly not looking in her direction, he said,
"You're mad." He muttered in a steady voice.
She denied in a frustrated tone. "I'm not"
"Ya are."
"I am not."
"You are."
"I'm not!"
"You are."
"I'M NOT!"
But he kept pushing.
"You are."
"I'M TELLING YOU STINKIN' BALDY I'M NOT!" And she kicked his shin.
This was their usual game. Their childish game that had transformed with the years into love, but the dynamics hadn't changed that much: one tease and the other one went on with the bickering. For any outsiders the two blondes must be sworn enemies, but for the people in their lives it was the way the couple got along and dealt with their differences. After all, Hiyori and Shinji's personalities were very different, and Sakanade was, practically, a mirror of two sides for them to be reflected on. The complete definition of opposites attract, like Hachi had pointed out once, gaining himself a very dangerous scowl from the pig-tailed girl. Shinji tripped because of the strike, but managed not to fall and drop his precious box. Turning with a chuckle at his company he said,
"Of course you're not. The fact that people in Seretei can hear your shouting from here is proof enough that you're not mad. Not even a little bit." He mocked her.
Just a little push and he and his stinking box could crash into moving traffic, Hiyori thought, but his voice brought her back to reality.
"What's with you, monkey?" Shinji inquired looking at her while starting to pick up the pace in his way to the warehouse, dropping the state of mind of the girl and starting to focus on the real topic he had in mind. "Why the sudden urgency for evolution in the Hollow mask?"
"Mmmm… no real reason. I just thought that taking precautions for when the next Aizen appears would be a good safety measure. You said it yourself; egotistical evil asses appear out of nowhere." She said, forgetting her bad mood for a second.
Shinji stopped, carefully dropped the box on the floor and put his hand on her forehead. "You're sick, ain't you?"
Hiyori looked confused.
"You're being cautious and talking about safety. Your hollow finally took a hold of your body." And he faked crying.
She punched his nose. "Stop behaving like a child!" Hiyori kept walking, ignoring his protests. "Honestly, there are days I don't even want to know you, dumbass."
He shot her a dirty look while she disappeared through the door of the warehouse. Shinji entered their home with a face of satisfaction and with the large package in his arms, calling the attention of the other occupants of the 'house'. As anyone would expect, Lisa was the first to appear and ask with a curious look,
"What is that you're carrying, Shinji?"
Shinji grinned so deeply his lips were going to either sides of his face. "Christmas in November." He said while placing the box on the floor in front of the couch and sitting next to it as he opened it. It was happiness in the form of objects of the past: his old phonograph, vinyl records, books, old papers, pens, and many other things that reminded him of his time in Soul Society.
Shinji reached to the bottom of the box, but he pulled back fast with a painful gesture. He had hurt his finger with something sharp. Taking everything out he noticed he had injured himself with a piece of a broken mirror. Carefully he moved every piece of glass out of the box to a plastic trash bag realizing that there were even more things at the bottom. A big stack of old photographs were facing him. There were photographs of his years in the Academy, the Graduation, his first seated place, his Captain years, birthdays, pranks to Hiyori… wait a minute. Where in the hell was the pain-in-the-ass otherwise known as Hiyori? She should be here bitching about the mess he was doing in the common room.
He left the photos next to a bunch of other stuff he didn't revise without really looking into them and ignored Love's and Kensei's confused faces. He left the living room and headed in direction of the underground training grounds, but Hiyori wasn't there. If she is not training, there is only one place to look for her: the rooftop, but Shinji checked there and she was nowhere to be found. He went to her room, but there was none there either. Tired and pretty annoyed, he focused on searching for her reiatsu only to find her lying face down on his bed.
"Whatcha doin' idiot?" He asked sitting next to her and undoing one of her pigtails, knowing that that was an effectively annoying method to start a conversation with the short tempered Vizard.
But nothing.
She was faking being sleep, he knew that part already. So he freed her other pig tail expecting to hear something like: Oi Baldy you're doing my hair after this! But again, nothing happened.
If she thinks I do not have any resources to make her talk to me, this midget is dead wrong.
So without any hesitation he moved one of his hands to her firm round butt. First caressing one of her cheeks and later squeezing it hard, revealing the toothiest grin he had ever put on his lips. If she was going to ignore him, at least he would get something out of it.
The next thing he knew his face had hit the wall hard and his nose was bleeding uncontrollably. He opened his eyes to find an infuriated Hiyori seated on the bed with one hand in form of a fist and giving him a death glare.
"WHAT A HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING PERVERT?" Her face the definition of wrath, but a soft pink flush coloured her cheeks. Even when injured his smirk had stayed on his face. "I was talking and you were ignoring me."
"I was sleep imbecile!" She lied. "And I do not feel like waking up to a certain someone groping me!"
"It wasn't like I've never done that before." He muttered and played with one strand of his hair.
"WHAT WAS THAT!" Her angry voice had returned.
"Nothing, nothing Sarugaki-san." He said innocently and got up sitting next to her in his bed, "So what's up with ya?"
All the way from the wall to the bed she had been sending him dirty looks ."Watch your hands Baldy." She was avoiding his question.
Shinji smirked again and asked. "Why did you disappear? I thought you would like to see what was in the box."
"Don't care about the crap Aizen saved for you."
He moved one of his hands to her face placing a rebellious bang behind her ear; she looked so much prettier with her hair down. She smacked his hand away.
"I thought I told you to watch those hands."
He faked being hurt. "Now I can't even touch your hair?"
"No."
"Mmmmm..." and his grin became bigger, more lecherous. "I can't do something with my hands, but how about this." And in one swift movement he was on atop her, pinning her to the bed.
"Get off me you pervert Baldy!"
He dropped all pretences and hugged her tightly.
"GET OFF ME I TELL YOU!"
"You smell just like red apples, Hiyori-chan." He said giving her a kiss on her forehead and loudly inhaled her scent. "Stay still and play nice. I'm only hugging you."
Sbe gave up her attempts to run from his embrace and wheezed. "What do you want Shinji?"
He threw back his head. "An ipod, a computer to connect the aforementioned ipod, a new cellphone because you broke mine, an orange shirt because mine got ruined in the fight with Aizen, the jazz collection we saw the other day in the store," Hiyori's face was the definition of annoyance, but he ignored her the best he could, "But overall I want a grouchy little blondy that enjoys kicking my ass." And he planted a butterfly kiss on her lips.
Her scowling face grew lighter but didn't disappear. "'An orange shirt because mine got ruined in the fight with Aizen.' Idiot. Boo-hoo. I'm sure you miss your shirt more than the Sou Taichou misses his arm." Replied the girl with sarcasm.
He chuckled again. "I also want my cute little brat to come with me to look for something I found inside the box." He wanted to show her the photographs. He knew she would get a crack out of them.
At the mention of the box her face and body tensed again and her light tone was gone in a flash.
"Leave me alone, Shinji."
"Why are you so angry with the box Hiyori?" And she was about to reply but he cut her off with an irked tone. "And don't even pretend you're not. We already had that fight and I won."
She didn't answer right away. First she let his voice linger in her head for a while and then she just rolled to the other side of the bed and pillowed both of her hands to her face.
"Just leave me alone."
He really didn't understand why she was so upset all of a sudden. It wasn't like he had asked Aizen to keep his things. Probably it would have been one of his sick mind tricks to try to look for more weaknesses from Shinji, but the tiny girl was threatening him like he had been the one to blame for her not having a box with her initials and her old stuff. However, thanks to the hundred and plus years that he knew the crazy brat he knew that the best thing to do in a situation like this was to comply with her request and let her be.
"Che, ok I'll do as you want." And he got up from the bed, "But if you're going to sleep do NOT get in the middle of MY bed, or I'll push you, stay on your side." And he opened the door giving a final look to the 'sleeping' girl. "And no yanking the sheets either."
She didn't reply.
Shinji changed his mind, closed the door and walked to the side of the bed where she had positioned herself. "Hiyori," She had already closed her eyes. "If you need me I'll be in the living room for an hour. After that I'm coming right back and sleeping next to you." And he bent and kissed the top of her head.
"Dummy spoiled brat." And he kissed her nose.
When he returned in a blink of an eye to where his precious gifts were, the other Vizards noticed his changed in his demeanour and decided to leave to do another activities. All, except a curious by nature girl.
"Yo," Lisa said while Shinji was putting everything back into the box unceremoniously, forgetting to even look through the old photos. "What happened?"
Shinji gave her one of his annoyed glances. "What's it to you? It's not normal that you'd like to know my state of mind."
Lisa rolled her eyes. "Baka."
Shinji was confused, so Lisa went on because it was crystal clear that there were some men that didn't get women and Shinji was apparently part of that group. "She is not angry at you, just the circumstances, and you going after her to rub your good luck in her face does not help. C'mon Shinji, it's not like you don't know Hiyori. Her being like this...it would be predictable."
Okay, maybe Lisa was right, but there were probably things that belonged to Hiyori in the box as well, with the enormous amount of time that she expended in his room and his office. And yes, he could have predicted that Hiyori would have reacted that way, but he was too excited about his own business to notice much of anything else. Lisa was right. He was a complete idiot.
Shinji grabbed his box and started walking in the direction of his room. "Lisa," and the woman turned to look at him. "You girls should come with an instruction manual."
"Baka!" And the brunette chuckled. "You guys should come with a lie detector and an idiot warning."
He got to his room in a couple of steps and opened the door only to find an empty bed. Making a grunt of disgust he left the box on the floor and went into her bedroom. There she was, the little runt. With only the sight of her body slightly moving up and down in sleep from her sound breathing, all of his displeasure of her leaving his bed disappeared, to be replaced by a warm feeling that surrounded his heart rapidly.
Shinji took a sheet from the chest of drawers and placed it on top of the girl's body. Idiot he voiced out loud and he bent down unable to resist the temptation of kissing her for just a second when he noticed a trail of tears on her freckled cheeks.
Shinji sighed, wiped the almost dried tears with his fingers and walked back to the hallway closing the door.
.
.
It was around 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning and Hiyori was opening –very carefully- Shinji's bedroom door to avoid the damn thing from making the squeaking sound that would wake up the stupid man. After all it was pretty early and she was only up because she had gone to bed before her normal hours. She was intruding into Shinji's dorm only because yesterday with the rush of leaving the forsaken room she had forgotten to grab her red sandals, and she couldn't leave the warehouse to see Urahara this morning barefooted.
However, when she finally managed to open the door noiselessly she found herself completely alone. Shinji was not in his bed and for the lack of wrinkles or movement in the sheets he had not even slept on his bed.
What the hell? Where is the stupid Baldy?
A vein throbbed in her forehead. Had the bastard stayed looking at his crap the entire night? She directed her still shoeless feet to their common area but neither he nor his lovely box was there. A sudden change in the light and reiatsu level made the girl look in the direction of the front door. Rose and Lisa were returning from their morning jog.
"Looking for Shinji?" The wavy blonde asked.
Hiyori rolled her eyes. "As if. I don't care what or where the imbecile Baldy is."
"Good. Because he told me not to tell you." Lisa muttered, cleaning the sweat from her face with a towel. "The only thing I'm allowed to say is that he would be here after dinner."
"Hmmph." And Hiyori left for her room.
"I thought you didn't see Shinji leave." Rose turned to Lisa who was wearing an evil smile.
"No I didn't. But these two always can use a little push."
Hiyori was so mad and annoyed at Shinji that she didn't even return to his room to get her sandals. She had to replace her normal footwear with black flats with a ribbon on the top because it was already 9:20 a.m. and she had to be at Urahara's 20 minutes ago.
When she arrived Urahara greeted her with a small taunt for her tardiness that earned him a blow to the back of his head. The entire day Hiyori was angry, testy and irritable, more than usual that was. And even when Kisuke tried to make her talk about it, the blond girl that today was wearing her hair in a bun because her ribbons were located in the same place as her sandals, had answered with a yell about the shop owner minding his own business.
The whole day passed in a flash and Urahara had even invited the moody Vizard to stay for dinner. Hiyori accepted only because she didn't feel like returning to the warehouse to deal with the mysterious disappearance of Shinji.
Around 9 p.m. she had run out of excuses and said her goodbyes and started to walk back to her 'home', but when she was about to turn the corner she heard Kisuke yell, "And good luck with Hirako-san, I hope you can amend your differences." And she could have sworn that he went into the shop using shunpo.
Even when the temptation of coming back and kicking her previous Taichou's ass was big, Hiyori decided against it. And began thinking all the way back to the warehouse, had she become so transparent that everyone could read her? Because it was obvious that Lisa, Rose and now Urahara knew why she had been so prissy the whole day.
"Ahhhh!" She yelled at the air. "Everything is Aizen and Ichimaru's fault! If I didn't get hurt or as badly hurt I wouldn't mind where he was all the time!" She knew it was a petty excuse and that she had always cared where Shinji was and with whom he was, but right about now she didn't feel like taking the blame for missing the idiot that had abandoned her for the entire day.
When she walked into the warehouse she felt six pairs of eyes on her at the same time. All the other Vizards where sitting down in the entry and at the sight of the girl all rose to their feet and began looking for the exit.
Hiyori narrowed her eyes. "What is going on?"
"We are going out to dinner." Love announced.
The girl looked insulted "And why are you not taking me?"
Lisa replied. "Urahara called and said you've already eaten beside I think you have something much more fun to do." And the same evil smile from this morning was on her.
With angry eyes she ignored the exit of the ex-Shinigamis and directed herself for her bedroom, but when she turned the knob the lock was on. She tried again, but it didn't budge and she tried again, and again, and again, until someone opened the door from the inside.
"Konbawa Hiyori-chan." A smiling Shinji welcomed her, standing in the doorframe not letting her in.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BEDROOM?" She shouted, forgetting the fact that she had missed him the entire day and that she wanted to kill him for not telling her where he had gone.
Shinji's smile didn't move from his lips. "You're always in mine. Why can I be in yours?"
"You didn't answer! What are you doing in my bedroom asshole!" The tiny piece of patience was lost the first time she tried to enter but it was locked.
"Redecorating"
"Redecorating?"
"Aha." He answered her. "I thought your room was missing some things."
At his words she pushed the door to look at her newly decorated room, but his strong grip was holding the door as well, to prevent her from opening.
"Before you enter Hiyori," Shinji changed his fake smile for a tender one, "I need to tell you where I have been the whole day."
"Like I care." Was her only response and she crossed her arms at the height of her chest.
He ignored her. "I went to Soul Society to try to get you a box of your own."
Her grew wide and her arms fell to her sides.
"But," and his angst could be seen in his normal poker face. "I couldn't get any. Kisuke was right, Mayuri got rid of them. I pestered him the whole day so he could tell me, but he doesn't really remember. That's where-"
And a sudden clash in his midsection made him stop on his words. She was surrounding his body with her arms, and he could only smile at her action.
There were a lot of things she wanted to tell him, but her pride, her character and the need she had for his lips didn't let her, so she stood on her toes and separated her face from his body to show him her intentions. He got the message and moved his head down to her, tasting her lips.
Shinji had always thought it was funny how her soft lips tasted as honey, just like the colour of her eyes.
"If you like my attempt, you're going to love my actual doing." He said caressing her cheek, grabbing her hand and leading her into the room.
Hiyori could not believe her eyes and Shinji could not be happier at her incredulous expression. He had placed a lot of old photographs into the walls of her room. There were a couple of her during her Academy days, her graduation, a 12th Division photo with Hikifune, a 12th Division photo with Kisuke, a couple with other Shinigamis, and in the middle a black and white picture of her and Shinji the day she had become a Fukutaichou. That photo had been the only photo in the history of the two of them that she had allowed him to put his arms around her in public, and she had let him because she was so happy that day that she didn't even realize until she saw the picture a couple of days later.
So the real Shinji mimicked the Shinji in the photo and stood behind her grapping his arms around her and whispering in her ear. "Do you like it brat?"
She nodded and smiled shyly. "You didn't have to do this."
"I know," and he kissed her cheek. "Think about it as an early Christmas present. And besides, I thought if I do this, you'll owe me something."
Hiyori threw him a murderous look. "How did you do this?"
"Actually everyone chipped in. I asked a couple of people in Soul Society and in my box – the one you hate-, "and she chuckled at his comment, "had many of these. That's what I wanted you to come to see, idiot."
She kept staring at her new wall.
"I really like it."
She moved her head to look into his eyes/ "Thank you." She was saying those words instead of 'sorry I was jealous of your luck. I promise I won't do anything like that again. I'm really, really sorry. I love you' and she was hoping he would understand the real meaning behind it.
"I'm glad you do." And he tightened his grip on her waist. "And I love you too."
"Maybe I should listen to you more often." She said with a hidden laugh.
"Geez Hiyori you just realized that? I can see why you're so annoying."
And she drove her elbow into his ribs. "Why do you always have to ruin the moments Baldy?"
.
A/N: Yes I know I have abandoned you guys… I'm sorry things have been busy, busy, ironically enough; both my Beta and I had demanding weeks, so again I'm sorry.
Also I would like to apologize for the lack of reply to comments or PM because I have no internet at home. Just a couple of days ago, made my phone work as a modem, but is not really the same, and I can't steal my work computer enough time to reply as good as I would like to, but thank you.
So what Shinji gives Hiyori? Old photos, memories.
Erase and Rewind…. The feeling she has that everything bad happens to her and none actually cares.
Anyway I'll try to update as soon as my Beta handles me 13 and I swear I'm finishing 14 tomorrow.
See ya, hope you have a nice weekend
Luv
Kate