One off kind of. Half of this chapter is in Karin's POV but then it changes to Sakurai's because I'm awkward like that.
This chapter is kind of Karin and Sakurai getting to know each other, as they are pretty close later in the story. And I have a present for you all, something I wasn't going to do until much later. You get to find out why Sakurai's right half of her face is covered.
She's late. I scowled as I waited at the gates of my school. After their football match last night, I had foolishly agreed to waiting for that female taicho this morning. "Screw this." I scowled, I began to turn around, and sighed when my name was called.
"Kurosaki!" I turned round, the chibi taicho himself was walking toward me with the other girl at his side.
"You're attending here too, Toshiro?" I was surprised; looking them both up and down, Toshiro was wearing the uniform as well. The uniform actually suited both of them and the girl now had her long hair tied back in a high ponytail, but a large section still covered her right eye.
"Yes." HE sounded annoyed.
"I take it you were forced?"
"Yes." He scowled at the girl beside him.
"Hey! It isn't my fault! Kisuke was the one that talked you into it. I was with Rangiku-chan!" She smiled innocently. Just from that smile, I could tell she was far from innocent with this matter.
"We should get going." I sighed, as if on cue, the bell rang.
"Right." Toshiro nodded, both he and the girl stayed beside me as we walked into the school.
"We need to wait out here." The girl stopped outside our classroom door.
"Yeah, uh, hey." I stopped before spinning around and addressing the girl who raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah?"
"I forgot your name, mind telling me again?"
"Oh sure. Sakurai." She nodded to me.
"Thanks." I nodded to her and Toshiro before walking into the classroom.
I took in the room briskly. There were three spare seats. Two were near to mine. Right at the back, next to each other. I was on the row second from the back. My seat was next to the window beside Yuzu, in front of one of the empty ones. That should work out well.
I took my seat and smiled at Yuzu. She smiled back and looked up as the teacher walked in, followed by Toshiro, and Sakurai was leant against the wall.
"Don't tell me you're one of the lazy 'I don't do any work and fail all my classes' type." The teacher frowned at Sakurai.
"I've never been to a school before. So 'failing my classes' has never really applied to me." She shrugged, the teacher looked surprised.
"You've never been to a school." I could hear the teacher's shock. Toshiro answered this time when Sakurai looked at him for help.
"My cousin was home schooled. She is extremely smart, so she should do fine." He explained, the teacher nodded simply.
"Class!" She shouted, no one responded. "Class!" Still no response.
"Could we be of help with that?" Toshiro asked.
"I don't see how. They never shut up."
"Sakurai." Toshiro looked over his shoulder at the girl who nodded. I knew what was coming and both myself and Yuzu put our fingers in our ears as she placed two of hers in her mouth and whistled.
"Shut it!" She yelled after whistling. The class was silent after the whistle. The boys obviously staring at Sakurai considering she was hotter than just about every girl I knew other than maybe Matsumoto or Inoue, since Sakurai's breasts weren't nearly as big, not at all really. The girls were staring at Toshiro, which for some unknown reason, kind of ticked me off. But neither Sakurai or Toshiro were paying any attention. Sakurai had quite obviously noticed, as a slight smirk was on her face. Something told me that Sakurai wasn't exactly the quiet type, or the type who wasn't used to being drooled over. But she didn't seem to be taking much interest as now she was laughing as Toshiro noticed the countless girls staring at him and a tick mark appeared on his forehead.
"Class this is Toshiro Hitsugaya." The teacher motioned to Toshiro, who nodded proudly. Sakurai rolled her eyes. "And Sakurai Mitsugayani."
"Hey." Sakurai nodded vaguely, but not proudly. She didn't seem the type of person who though a lot of them self, or their status.
"Well, you two can sit in whatever seat you like." I saw all of the girls sit up straight in hope Toshiro would sit by them, and the boys attempt to look cool. Sakurai noticed too. She smirked before whispering something in Toshiro's ear. I could see him roll his aquamarine eyes at her but I could tell he was trying not to smirk.
Sakurai grabbed Toshiro's wrist and dragged him to the seats at the back behind me and Yuzu, I smirked at her when she winked at me whilst walking past us.
She collapsed into the seat behind me, next to the window, as she let Toshiro go. He sat in the seat behind Yuzu.
It was silent for majority of the lesson from then. I could see Sakurai's reflection in the window, her eyes were totally blank and looking out the window, as if she were literally somewhere else, which wouldn't surprise me with that girl.
Toshiro was just sat there, staring at the board. Every so often his eyes would fall to his notebook where he had scribbled notes, but they didn't appear to be on the subject the teacher had given them.
I couldn't help but jump slightly as Sakurai started. Her eyes snapped back to reality and her gaze snapped slightly to the left of her original line of sight. Then she turned her head to look at Toshiro who was watching her also. She nodded to him and he raised his hand to leave.
"Yes Toshiro?" The teacher glanced up at him.
"Hitsugaya." He corrected grudgingly. "May I please be excused, I, uh, feel ill?" It was unlike Toshiro to not be able to come up with an excuse.
"Of course. Do you need some one to take you to the nurses office?"
"No I'm fine." With that he got up and left the room, taking one last glance at Sakurai before closing the door.
Her eyes fell back to the window.
"Hey." I leant back on my chair, looking at Sakurai, keeping my voice a whisper. She just looked at me out of the corner of her eyes. She hadn't looked away from the window all the time we had been in the classroom. Yet she still managed to have a very detailed drawing of a shinigami in her notebook. It was a man, he wore the same white Haori as Toshiro. His hair was short messy hair and he looked like a reasonably powerful man.
I looked from the picture to her. Her blue eyes were still on me. It wasn't intense. The numbness in them, the pain that I could see they masked, that was what was kind of scary about it.
"Why didn't you go with him?" I asked quietly. She just shrugged.
"Just a minor Menos, he can handle it on his own."
"Okay then." I was kind of surprised when she had said 'just a minor menos'. Just how strong were she and Toshiro exactly? Then I moved on to the next question. "Is that an actual person?" I tapped the picture. She started before glancing down at the picture, turning to face me fully, her hands on her lap.
She let out a reasonably heavy sigh. Her blue eyes momentarily flashed fully with the pain I had seen ever so slightly earlier. Then she stared at the picture as she answered.
"I didn't know I'd drawn that." She paused. "His name's Hanorishi Mitsugayani."
"Your father?" I asked.
"Foster." She corrected. "He was my foster father."
Foster father? Her name isn't actually Mitsugayani?
"What happened?"
"..." She didn't answer for some time. When she did her voice was quiet and empty, much unlike the girl I had met yesterday. "He died. He was killed by another Shinigami. No one knows who." She explained, looking back out of the window.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm used to it." She shrugged, resting her head on her hand again.
"Used to what?"
"All of it. People asking about them. My mother, my foster parents. My friends. Now my little brother."
"What do you mean?" I looked at her surprised.
"They all died. My mother died when I was only a few years old back in Rukongai. I think I was about five."
"I'm sorry."
"Stop saying that!" She snapped, causing a couple of people to look at us. Then something clicked.
She's just like me...
She didn't seem comfortable talking about herself it seemed, especially the past. It also seemed that one of her strongest dislikes was being given sympathy. Judging by the way she reacted. I didn't like sympathy either. After I was old enough to understand, people would give me sympathy over my mother dying when I was so young, but I hated it.
I was lost in my thoughts too much to hear the bell ring for lunch. Yuzu's hand on my shoulder was what woke me up.
"I'm going to find Jinta." She smiled down at me, her eyes looked slightly sad as they briefly glanced at Sakurai.
"Alright. I'll see you later." She smiled at me before running off to find her boyfriend. I stood up and turned around, grabbing my bag. I noticed Sakurai made no movement to move.
"I like the quiet." She said, as if reading my mind. "It will be too noisy out there."
"Come with me." I said bluntly. "Ichigo showed me this place where me Yuzu and Jinta go at lunch. I'm not sure they'll be there today though." I told her, she looked up at me questioningly. "The roof. It's quiet up there. No one really goes up there."
"Alright." She nodded, picking up her bag and standing up. I smiled ever so slightly at her and motioned for her to follow me.
Sakurai POV
It only took us a couple of minutes to reach the roof. When we got there Karin went over and sat on the ledge that held the fence up. She pulled out her lunch and put it on the floor beside her as she zipped her bag up. She glanced at me briefly as I sat down beside her. I just stared out at the view of Karakura.
"Hey, Sakurai?" Karin's voice pulled my gaze away.
"Yeah?" I smiled slightly at her.
"How long have you and Toshiro known each other? I mean you seem close. Have you always been like that? It's really easy to believe you're cousins." She asked, seeming somewhat awkward.
"I've known Toshiro since around when he first entered the academy to become a shinigami back in the soul society. We haven't always been close believe me." I chuckled at the memory of when we first met.
"Really?"
"Really. He hated me when we first met, he thought I was childish. I thought he was a spoilt brat." She smirked.
"Why? How did you meet?"
"I had to go into the academy. Every year a captain or lieutenant has to go and take a couple of classes, just to meet the students. I met Toshiro in his class, kind of. I met him just before class. Everywhere was empty and he was just sat there when I walked in. But we never really spoke."
"This is surprising Mitsugayani-taicho, you're not late." My lieutenant, Riki Hakuro smirked in greeting as I reached the classroom.
"Whatever Hakuro-san." I rolled my eyes. "It's Sakurai, you know that. Now run along and find your sister kiddo." Riki smiled at me before nodding and running off. He was a good kid. He was strong. A prodigy considering his age.
It was a shame the fate that met him...
"Stupid kid." I smiled as I watched him run off, he was a lot like a little brother to me, I'd grown accustomed to taking care of him. I turned back and opened the door to the classroom. I walked down the steps past all the chairs and desks, and to the front, where the teacher was meant to stand. "I'm going to kill that old man for making me do this. This was meant to be Byakuya's class." I frowned, dropped my folded up haori on the stand before sitting on the edge of the stage with my legs crossed.I removed my sword from my back and held it in my hands as I closed my eyes.
Hey there Shi-chan! My zanpakuto began to greet me but she was cut off when was forcibly pulled out of my inner word by some one talking to me.
"Excuse me." I opened my eyes to see a young, short, white haired boy in the row at the back, shouting to me.
"Yes?" I looked at him emotionlessly. I wasn't accustomed to being pulled out of a trance by some one other than my lieutenant and Byakuya, and I wasn't too pleased when they did it.
Relax Shi-chan. We can have a face-to-face conversation later. Nami explained in my mind as I sighed aloud.
Whatever.
"We're meant to be having a taicho teach us today." He said coldly, I felt my hand twitch on my sword. "Kuchiki-taicho I believe it was."
I stood up on the stage, my sword in my hand, my bare feet cold against the wood. I looked back at the boy over my shoulder as I turned around and walked over to the podium.
"I'm afraid Byakuya is off on a mission right now." I informed the boy.
He seemed surprised that I'd used the taicho's first name. His next sentence was making me close to losing it.
"It's incorrect to address a noble, let alone a taicho by their first name. Secondly, why would they send a shinigami of lower class, not even a fukutaicho to take his place."
"I-" I was cut off as the bell rang and the students piled into the room. I rolled my eyes. Typical. I groaned inwardly.
Calm down. Nami told me.
Shut up I am calm. I answered back as the last of the students took their seats.
"Who are you? Kuchiki taicho is meant to be here today isn't he?" One girl asked, I cringed slightly, I knew Byakuya was kind of cute, but the infatuation in that girl's voice was nearly too much for me to handle. Especially considering he was my best friend whose wife-who was also one of my closest friends- had only died just a few years previous.
"Byakuya-san won't be coming. He has a mission."
"She's his replacement." The boy from earlier said coldly from the back. "Not even worthy of being a fukutaicho." He spat, the boy next to him looked at him in surprise.
I sighed, rolling my eyes. Then I used shunpo to disappear from all the eyes of the class, who noticeably gasped. I reappeared behind the boy.
"Toshiro Hitsugaya I believe?" His name had been lingering at the back of my head since I saw him. "Mind your tongue." I scowled before hitting him across the head with my zanpakuto sheath. I smiled gently at the boy beside him as Toshiro cringed in pain. "Good morning Kusaka."
"Good morning Mitsugaya-taicho." He greeted me with a cheerful smile. I nodded to him before shunpoing back to the front.
"How did you know my name?" Toshiro growled.
"Momo told me, you baka. She was pretty excited about me meeting you. Don't see why though. You may be like a little brother to her, but you're unspeakably arrogant Hitsugaya." I scoffed.
"I still don't know who you are." He mumbled. I didn't answer him. A girl at the front stood up and did so.
"Hitsugaya, you idiot." The girl scolded him, she seemed to be the only one with enough nerve to do so. "Surely if you have so much respect for taicho-class shinigami, you should know who she is, not to mention she addressed Kuchiki-taicho by his first name!" The girl looked back at me and smiled. "My name is Mina Kihori. You are Sakurai Mitsugayani, taicho of the juuyonbantai and head of the Mitsugayani clan. Best friend of Kuchiki taicho and one of the strongest shinigami to date."
"Jeez, you did your homework kid." I smiled slightly, rubbing the back of my neck. "Yeah, that's me." I glanced up at Toshiro. "If you don't believe me kid, I've got the Haori to prove it." I walked over the the podium and picked up the Haori, pulling it on, it went past my knees and was therefore much longer than my uniform itself. "This is my zanpakuto, Namine."
"I believe you." He scoffed, looking away.
"I have a feeling I may enjoy this teaching thing." I smirked.
I watched Karin as she laughed at the story. "Sounds like him doesn't it?"
"Yeah, but we got used to one another especially when he became fukutaicho, then taicho." I explained, resting my head back against the fence. "You met Toshiro years ago didn't you?"
"Yes, just before the war." Karin nodded. "I had no idea what he was until he saved me."
"Interesting choice of words." I smirked.
"What?"
"You said 'what he was'. I just found it amusing that we aren't classed as people here. I always forget that."
"Sakurai, do you know what's happening?" Karin asked suddenly.
"What?" I looked at her in surprise.
"Do you know what's going on at the moment. With all the hollows. Menos don't just show up out of nowhere and we've even had those adjucha things around. Ichi-nii said he swore he saw an arrancar the other day. Those were what the war was against. They nearly killed Rukia-nee."
"He did?" I sighed. "Yeah they did. They weren't all bad. Ulquiorra, he just wanted to understand humans. Orihime knows that much." I looked at her sadly. "Sorry, Karin. I know about as much as you do about all this."
Karin sighed, before standing up suddenly. She'd eaten her lunch while I'd been explaining how Toshiro and I met, so her empty lunchbox fell to the floor. "Fancy skipping the rest of the day?" She asked me.
"Seriously?" I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah. Why not?"
"Shouldn't you tell your sister?"
"Probably. But she'd try and talk me out of it." Karin smirked, offering her hand to help me up. I accepted and she pulled me to my feet. "Besides, I bet you don't always tell Toshiro or that Byakuya guy what you're doing."
"Fair point." I laughed, picking up my bag. She smiled and picked her bag and lunchbox up, shoving the box into the already packed bag.
"Then let's go." She announced, grabbing my wrist and pulling me with her down the stairs.
I let her pull me, thought I knew that if I wanted to I could have broken her grip easily. She pulled me all the way down the stairs before taking a right and pulling my down the corridor and out of the single door right at the end.
Okay all this pulling was getting really annoying. I opened my mouth to tell her so but at that point she crouched and hissed at me
"Get down and keep quiet. Teachers room just across there." I followed her instructions and crouched. Without pulling me she led me along the wall, under a window and to the school gate.
"Think you can get out?" Karin asked. I nodded.
"Can you jump?" I asked back.
"Not that high." Was her reply. I rolled my eyes.
"Get on." I said, motioning to my back. Karin looked at me like I was completely crazy.
"Trust me. I'll get us over." I said. Karin gave me a dubious look but climbed on anyway. I jumped, clearing the fence perfectly, before letting Karin slide off my back.
"So where are we going?" I asked, leaning against the gate.
"Hmm, not sure." She shrugged. "How the hell did you jump over that so easily?"
"I'm a shinigami." I replied absently. "Come on. The bell is about to go." I pushed off the gate and began to walk away from the school, Karin at my side. "You'll have to direct me. I haven't been to the world of the living in over 60 years."
"Got it." She smiled. "Come on, we can go to the ice cream shop, then head down to the river?"
"Sure." I nodded once and she took of running. We stopped at the ice cream shop, before heading down to the river.
"Well, that was an interesting walk." Karin smirked, collapsing onto the grass, eating the flake from her ice cream.
"You do this often?" I asked her, sitting down slowly.
"Not particularly. But I have a feeling that you won't be here long, so, I wanted to get to know the only person Toshiro doesn't seem to yell at." She shrugged, finishing off the chocolate and moving onto the ice cream itself.
"I wouldn't be to sure about that." I laughed, lying down on the grass. I hadn't gotten an ice cream, too cold, not my thing.
"So he yells at you too huh?" She laughed, looking down at me. She had been laughing but when she looked at me her expression changed, she looked shocked.
"Karin?" I looked at her questioningly, sitting up.
"Y-your eye." She motioned to the right side of my face, and my breath caught in my throat.
"Yeah, so anyway." I tried quite obviously to get away form the subject. "Toshiro yells at everyone, even people who are higher up than him."
"Sakurai." Karin said my name firmly, which surprised me. "You can tell me. I'll understand if you don't want to though."
"It's just... Karin, not even Toshiro and Byakuya know about that." I motioned to my eye.
"Well, I've already seen part of it. So you may as well fess up." She brushed my hair behind my ear, fully revealing my eye, and she gasped in shock.
"If it helps, I've got more internal damage than external." I smiled sadly.
"It's, burnt."
"Yeah..." I shrugged.
All around my eye had been burnt; the skin was crimson around it. The eye itself would appear somewhat unaffected, if it weren't for the fact it was red. The skin appeared flaky, the burn around it still scolding my skin. There wasn't a day that goes by that I didn't suffer from that fire which occurred so long ago. My lungs had gotten the worst of it. Despite the injury which managed to contrast so boldly to my pale skin, the injury that I'd managed to keep hidden for over a hundred years, that wasn't the worst.
There wasn't a day. Never since that fire had I gone a day without collapsing or passing out. Without my breath being caught in my throat. Without my lungs near enough giving up on the large effort that breathing took.
There wasn't a second of any day that I wasn't in pain.
Yet until now, there was only one person who knew. Heck, some one had to know the reason why I kept fainting or had sudden lapse of heartbeat or breath.
Unohana-taicho.
She was the only taicho that I had ever shown the slightest respect for. Even if my position is considered higher than hers, I still look up to her in every perspective. Ever since I first arrived in the Sereitei, she was the one that I idolised. Not to mention she was the only person I'd ever listened to since I was a little girl.
She had tried to convince me to let her get rid of the burn. To let her heal my lungs. But I hadn't let her. I wanted to suffer. I needed to suffer.
Because I was the one who should have died that day...
"Sakurai?" Karin's voice woke me from my thoughts. "Are you alright?"
I nodded quickly.
"I'll be fine." I assured her.
"You said not even Byakuya or Toshiro know, right?" I nodded. "Do they know your real name?" That startled me.
"What?"
"You said that that Hanorishi guy was your foster father, which means Mitsugayani isn't your real name."
This kid's sharp. Reminds me of the midget.*
Yeah I guess, but he hasn't worked that out.
"I don't know my surname. If I have one I mean. My mother never had one, and my father, I don't know anything about the old man."
"I know you don't like sympathy, but I feel bad for you." She explained, leaning back and placing her hands on the grass to keep her upright. "I lost my mum when I was really young too. But it's not like I can say I know how it feels. Because I still have Ichi-nii and Yuzu, and goat-chin. Where as you, you lost everyone."
"Not everyone. I still have Byakuya."
"You're pretty close to him aren't you? He's Rukia's older brother, she told me about him."
"I am pretty close to him, yeah." I smiled. "He's my closest friend. Not to mention without him, I actually wouldn't have anybody."
"You care about him." She nodded.
"As much as you care about Toshiro." I smirked at her slightly, pulling my hair back over my face.
"W-What?"
"You obviously care about him. You're the one that keeps bringing him up after all." I told her with a smile.
"I-I, uh, it's getting dark..." She changed the subject quickly, I laughed. Then looked at the sky.
"Wow, have we really been out here that long?" I thought aloud. "Come on, we should get back, Toshiro and Ichigo will be wondering where you are."
"Right. I guess so." She nodded, standing up. I followed suit and we made our way back to the Kurosaki household.
"Hey, sorry I'm late!" Karin shouted as she walked into the house, I stood in the doorway silently.
"Karin!" Yuzu came running out of the living room and practically leapt on her sister.
"Yu, what's wrong?" Karin asked, I could hear the worry in her voice.
"We didn't know where you were." Yuzu sniffed, but it wasn't her that answered. It was Toshiro. "With all these hollows around at the moment, you really shouldn't wander off without telling people. Ichigo is out looking for you right now. For kami sake Karin, you-" I stopped him before he lost his temper.
"Toshiro! It was my fault. Don't yell at her." I lied. Karin spun around and looked at me in shock.
"What are you doing?" She mouthed. I just looked away from her.
Yeah, what are you doing Shi-chan?
This.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Toshiro sighed. He walked past Karin and over to me. "Outside. I don't want to tear the house down."
"I doubt you'd have the strength." I muttered. He scowled and I spun around and walked outside, not giving Karin or Yuzu a second glance. But I heard Karin tell Yuzu that I had lied, and that it was Karin's fault. Toshiro didn't hear her. He just shut the door.
"Have you any idea how much trouble you caused?" He hissed. "Sakurai, you've been a taicho for over 60 years. It really is about time you acted with some responsibility. Ichigo has been going out of his mind worrying about Karin."
"You're hurt." I pointed out quietly, my eyes on the scar on his chest, imprinted into his gigai.
"Yes. And Kurosaki thought his little sister was." He growled at me, as in, actually growled. I stayed silent then. He'd never shouted at me before. "You're so ignorant to the world around you! You think of nothing but yourself! Nothing else matters to you, as long as you have fun, everyone else can go die in a hole!"
That stung Shiro, that really stung...
"You're so immature it's unbelievable to think you are taicho of that division. To think you are of any if difficult in itself! You rarely act like one!"
This actually hurts...
Because he means it, mistress...
"You come first to everyone. It's no wonder everyone you've ever been close to is dead! It's a miracle Kuchiki-taicho is still alive!"
...
Shi-chan...
"I see..." I said quietly. Toshiro stopped, seeming to realise what he had just said. "You've expressed your opinion and I'm grateful to know what you actually think of me. But maybe during that, you should have admitted that you were concerned for Karin, not just Kurosaki." I bowed my head. "Goodnight Hitsugaya-taicho." That being the last thing I said, I walked away toward Kisuke's shop. Toshiro just staring after me.
*The bold, italic writing throughout the story is Sakurai's zanpakuto, Nami, speaking to her.
The last part of the chapter was actually harder for me to write than I thought it would be. When I started writing this, I actually had no idea I was going to make Toshiro yell at Sakurai that harshly. I was sat there going "I don't want to make him say this..." at the last thing he said. But I made him, so I slowly stabbed myself(mentally of course).
Well, now you know why Sakurai hides her face. I actually wasn't planning that until much later. But I changed my mind, due to there being a big event in the next chapter that causes even more friction between Toshiro and Sakurai. That alone will be murdering me, and probably one of my friends as I'm writing.
It get worse and a bit more angsty as I get further into it. It will cheer up though...I hope...
As usual, Read & Review! x