Apologies for not commenting in this chapter. I wrote it six weeks ago, and I'm currently preoccupied with making the SS arc work. See y'all later.
X-X-X
The Striking Snake
ch3
Memory
X-X-X
Gin's eyes snapped open.
The dawn sunlight had not woken him. It was in fact just before dawn, but it would not have mattered. No, today was a day he always woke just a little bit earlier.
Though he kept his terrifying blood-red eyes narrow and hidden, Gin did not smile as he pulled on his uniform. He had not worn his grinning mask on this day since he was nine years old.
He knocked softly on the door of his closet, where Rukia was doubtless still sleeping. "I'm going to school early. You can sleep in later if you want."
He crept down the stairs and, after an extremely fast breakfast, headed out the door.
X-X-X
Gin paid attention in every class. He took notes as any other student did. He talked with his friends and even smiled like a normal person.
By noon, this behavior had made his entire class certain there was something wrong with him. A few even asked after the fact, but his friends changed the subject whenever it was brought up.
His friends didn't think there was something wrong with him, they knew it. The 16th of June was not a good day for Gin Ichimaru - outdone only by the 17th.
Gin didn't miss school often, but for the last six years, he had never once been in school on the 17th.
X-X-X
"Rukia," Gin said as he closed the door to his room behind him. "I'm not going on patrol tomorrow."
"What?" Rukia practically fell out of the closet. "Unacceptable! What if a hollow warning arrives?"
"Someone else can deal with it, tomorrow. It's just one day."
"But there is no one else! We went over this! You never slacked on any of the other hollow attacks. What's different tomorrow?" She paused. "Wait... something's been bothering you all day, Gin. What's wrong?"
"Tomorrow..." Gin sat down on his bed. "Tomorrow is the anniversary."
Rukia raised an eyebrow. "Dare I ask what of?"
"Of the day my mother died. Well... the day she was killed."
Rukia blinked. "What - "
"Goodnight, Rukia."
X-X-X
"Jeez, this hill is so steep." Yuzu Ichimaru wiped her brow. "I forget this part every year."
"Pff," her more athletic sister shot back. "It's just 'cause you aren't in shape. This is nothing to me."
"Do your best, Yuzu!" Shouted Isshin's insane voice from just below them. "I'm behind you every step of the way! Look, I'll climb the hill while walking on my hands! See?" There was a loud crash. "Don't worry! I'm okay!"
"Just ignore him," whispered Karin to her sister. "If you pay attention it just encourages his strangeness."
Gin walked on ahead of the trio, almost smiling at their antics.
Even though it was the same date, June 17th, it was different from that day. It had rained so hard that day, a cold, unforgiving rain.
He blinked. There was another figure on the path ahead of them. That was odd; visitors to this graveyard-park combination were actually quite rare. This person seemed... quite short...
"Say, who is that, Gin?" Karin asked. "Nobody ever comes up here normally."
"Oh, uh, well, if I'm not mistaken," Gin said, scratching the back of his neck, "it's someone from my class. Ya'll go on ahead, I'll talk to her for a minute."
Gin waited until the rest of his family went on ahead. Then he turned to Rukia, his grin painted on and radiating malevolence. "Why did you follow me?" He hissed.
Gin knew that, when he really put effort into it, his grins could make grown men practically shit their pants in fear. Sure enough, Rukia paled, but she stood her ground. "You fool!" She hissed back. "What if a hollow appears and I'm not around? I somehow doubt you brought Kon with you! Day off or not, you'd be defenseless!"
"I..." Gin's anger died. "Okay, I guess ya got a point. But still. Ya might have wanted to be a little more covert. I'm just glad my family didn't question why I'd want to talk to someone I've known only a few days."
Rukia looked away. "Sorry." She actually seemed contrite. "I'm no Onmitsukidõ ninja. The best way for me to avoid attention is to blend in with the people, not the shadows."
Gin blinked. Rukia never apologized. "Hey, what's wrong wit'choo?" He said.
Rukia still refused to meet his eyes. "Killed..." She whispered.
"Huh?"
"That's what you told me," she said, hesitantly. "That your mother was killed. Not that she died... that she was killed."
"What?" Said Gin, faking confusion. "No, I totally didn't say that."
"Gin, you said that you've been able to see ghosts for as long as you can remember."
"So?"
"Gin... was the - "
"Don't go there, Rukia." Gin's face was back to his uncharacteristic steely look.
"Gin, was the thing that killed your mother a hollow?"
Silence.
"With a reiatsu like yours, it seems likely," Rukia said. "Powerful mortals rarely lead peaceful lives. A hollow could have easily mistaken her for you, especially if you were close together - "
"Everything's the work of a hollow to yer mind, isn't it?" Gin's voice was low and dangerous.
Rukia paused. "What?"
"You're wrong. It weren't no hollow that killed Masaki."
"Then why did you say - "
Rukia was silenced by the sight of Gin's jaw dropping and his entrancing ruby eyes snapping wide open, focusing on something behind her. She hadn't known him long, but she knew that he never, ever expressed shock. For him to break this habit...
"No... not here, not now... it can't be."
Rukia frowned. "What - "
Had any Olympic sprinters been present, they would have wept with inadequacy. Gin went from standing to a full-tilt run in less than a quarter of a second.
X-X-X
Gin had regained his composure, but anyone could see that his narrow eyes and plastic smile were different. His eyes were determined instead of mischievous; his smile, malevolent instead of misleading.
He had only seen her on the crest of the hill, over Rukia's shoulder, but it was enough. Six years was nothing; if he lived to be a thousand years old, he would not forget that figure.
He had seen a ghost - literally. The figure on the hill had been the little girl that had been standing by the river the night that Masaki Ichimaru had died.
Beneath his grin, Gin's teeth clenched. Ghosts didn't linger for six years without becoming a hollow - but the child was unchanged, exactly the same as before. Something was very badly off.
Abruptly, Gin skidded to a halt as he reached the stretch of graves where his mother's mortal remains had been laid to rest.
He breathed out heavily. There was nothing there but his sisters pointedly ignoring their mildly insane father, who appeared to be attempting to organize a game of 'gravestone dominoes.'
A minute later, a wheezing Rukia appeared behind him. "Damn it, you stupid fox," she said. "What if there had been a hollow here? Without Kon, you'd be dead!"
They both pointedly ignored the muffled sound of Kon trying to expound how vital his function was despite occupying the plushie lion body that was currently at the bottom of Rukia's backpack.
Gin was not smiling. "Rukia, do ya know how my mother was killed?"
Rukia paused. "I... no..."
"It wasn't no hollow that sent Masaki to her grave," said Gin, his voice dangerously calm. "It was me. I killed her."
"Wh- what?" Rukia almost staggered as if she'd been physically struck.
"Ya heard me," said Gin, venom in his voice. "I killed her."
"B- but how - "
"It was six years ago," he continued. "I was nine. I hadn't really learned to tell the difference between a living human and a ghost, at least at a distance. Me and mom were walking down by the river, and I saw a girl standing on the edge..."
Rukia's eyes widened. That pattern seemed terribly familiar. No, it couldn't be...
"I thought she was going to jump in. It was raining so hard, I couldn't tell she was a ghost until I was already falling... the water was so cold..." Gin's voice trailed off. "When I woke up, mom was on top of me. But she wouldn't wake up. She wouldn't wake up ever again."
Rukia pushed her suspicions aside. "I... I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have brought it up..."
"It's alright." Gin still wasn't grinning, but his face had lost some of its menace. "Today is the day I remember these things, anyway. I just..."
His voice trailed off, just like before.
"There she is again," he whispered. "Something's not right."
"Who?" Said Rukia, her brow furrowing.
"The girl from the riverbank," he replied, still whispering. "I saw her a moment ago on the path, that's why I ran. Why is she here? What the hell is she?"
Rukia followed his gaze to see a strange phantom hovering among the bickering Ichimaru family. Her blood chilled at the sight.
"That - that's the - the lure of the grand fisher!" She practically choked. "It - Kami! We have to get your family out of here! It could attack at any - "
"Wait, wait, slow the fuck down!" Gin almost shouted. "What the hell's a Grand Fisher?"
"It's the name of a hollow!" Rukia was practically hyperventilating. "There's a bounty on it big enough to bankrupt a lesser noble clan! It's not even a Menos, and it's still managed to evade the Gotei Juusan-tai for more than a hundred years! It's killed dozens of Shinigami! It - "
"It's gonna die."
Rukia halted as if she'd run into a wall. "W- what?"
Gin's eyes were open. She swallowed an involuntary pang of fear.
"After six years of blaming myself for mom's death, you've just told me it's this hollow that lured me in. I've got a bone the size of Tokyo to pick with this masked freak. Give me Kon."
"But, the Grand Fisher's bested some of the finest Shinigami known!" Rukia almost pleaded, knowing her efforts were futile. "It can use what you love against you..."
"Stay out of this fight, Rukia." Gin unzipped her backpack and pulled out the struggling stuffed toy. "This is my enemy, and I won't suffer anyone else to fight it. Not even you."
Kon's protests were cut off as Gin abruptly squeezed the soul candy out of the plush lion's body and swallowed it. With a flash, he was back in the shihakusõ and green obi.
"Kon, Rukia, get my sisters out of here." Gin's voice carried a lethal menace. "I don't want any - "
There was a scream.
" - distractions, dammit!"
Gin drew his wakizashi as he turned, sprinting as fast as he could.
A massive, ugly hollow had knocked Yuzu against the graves and held Karin in its huge hand, like it was about to eat her. In fact, it probably was, but Gin wasn't about to let that happen.
He jumped, his reiatsu-powered spirit form flying a good five meters into the air, far higher than any physical human could. He landed like a cat on the fist that held Karin.
"Nii-san?" Karin said weakly. "You should..."
Gin tuned her out, and brought the knife down hard, slicing into the skin between the hollow's index finger and thumb.
The creature roared and dropped his sister, knocking Gin himself off in the process. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rukia and Kon dragging his sister away as fast as they could.
Gin sprang to his feet, twirling the small blade. Even though he'd only fought with it three or four times, it already felt perfect in his hands, like an extension of his body; he could hardly imagine using anything else.
His sisters were out of danger, and Isshin didn't seem to be around. Gin allowed his grin to spread across his face, fueled by malicious glee. His evil eyes remained open, staring knives like torturer's scalpels at the colossal hollow.
"I know you can speak, Grand Fisher," he purred. "Speak... or die in silence. That works for me, too."
The hollow glared down at him. "You," it rasped. "I know you, boy. I almost ate you, some time ago. That woman saved you... she didn't have the same delicious smell as you do, but she was edible none the less."
Gin had kept a straight face through much more skilled and subtle attempts to break his composure - the blunt taunt didn't make him blink. "I'm glad ya enjoyed it," he said. "It's traditional to give the condemned a last meal before execution."
The hollow laughed, a harsh, echoing sound. "You? Kill me?" It sneered. "I have killed greater beings than you, boy! Do you think you can kill your own heart?"
In the blink of an eye, the 'lure' was between them. Before Gin's eyes, the phantom girl changed... into a flawless replica of Masaki Ichimaru.
"Gin," she said, her voice perfect. "Please..."
Gin's teeth clenched, his smile freezing. His arms felt like they were tied to his sides with steel cables. His mother... right in front of him...
"And that's why no Shinigami will ever defeat me! Never!"
Gin's crimson eyes narrowed at the voice, becoming their habitual mask-like slits again. His arm moved.
The decapitated body of Masaki Ichimaru fell to the ground, morphing back into the river-phantom before dissolving into reishi. The silver-haired head remained suspended in front of Gin, although a second later, it also returned to its previous form.
"WHAT?" Roared the Grand Fisher. "Impossible! My lure responds to the heart! No Shinigami has ever been able to strike down what they love most!"
"Some of us are made of tougher stuff, Fisher-san," said Gin, his fake cheer matching his plastic smile. "Ya can't threaten me with the death of my own mother... I've already felt that, and dealt with it. Oh, it still hurts, but cutting down a mockery of her memory doesn't make it any worse."
He twirled his blade, then charged again.
The Grand Fisher raised his arm in defense. Time slowed down as Gin closed in.
Rukia had harassed him about how he let his reiatsu burn wild and unrestrained, never properly controlling his will or emotions. He had never quite understood what she meant.
Now, as his blade rose slower than the short hand on a clock, he could see it. Adrenaline, anger, bitterness, flashing around him and permeating the air like a wildfire, flickering and sputtering, an unfocused wrath hoping to crush its enemy under sheer intensity.
That wasn't how Gin rolled at all. When he wanted to hurt someone he was precise, cold, and heartless. He never lost control. This wouldn't do. His fake grin diminished, giving way to a very real and very menacing smile.
He exhaled as the blade reached its zenith, collecting his thoughts and hardening his mind into a single spear of malice. His reiatsu seethed with newfound power, coalescing around his sword - and compressing the flickering conflagration into a white-hot torch of death.
The blade glittered in the sunlight as he brought the wakizashi down, feeling flesh and bone part like water under the assault of his merciless strike. The Grand Fisher roared in agony.
"HOWWW?!" It howled as it cradled the stump of its severed hand. Gin's one-handed blow had sliced through his wrist as if it wasn't there, cutting the huge hand clean off. The tip of the blade had left a deep groove in the monster's mask, and the weakened region had cracked; had the weapon been an inch longer, the mask would have been completely destroyed and the hollow would have been purified.
"A mere fledgeling! Not even a seated officer! How could you have defeated me? Where did that power come from?" The creature gibbered. "You grew ten times stronger in an instant, like it was nothing! How can this be?"
Gin's lethal focus didn't waver. Now that he saw how to do it, maintaining a mind of death was remarkably easy. "Hold still," he purred, "and I'll solve all your confusion." He pulled back for another strike.
"Gyah! I know when I'm beaten." The hollow pushed itself backwards, and the air behind it seemed to tear open, revealing a black, swirling aperture. "I'm no fool! Find something else to kill, boy, 'cause you won't get me today!"
The hollow took another step back and the 'rip' closed, leaving the graveyard empty. Gin searched around him, fearful of a trap, but felt no trace of the hollow's reiatsu. It was gone.
Finally, he released the tension in his mind and his muscles, falling to his knees. He only just managed to dig the point of his sword into the asphalt, stopping himself from keeling over completely.
"Mom," he gasped, fighting back tears. "Mom..."
X-X-X
Some time later, Gin returned to his family. As far as they remembered, they had decided to go on ahead to the graveyard's shrine, while he had decided to stay by the grave a little while longer.
His sisters were off to the side, talking about something Gin couldn't catch. His father was, for once, acting serious - he was regarding the shrine silently, a cigarette in his hand.
Gin stopped a few yards away. "I never knew ya smoked, dad."
Isshin looked up. "I don't, actually. Gave it up years ago, before the twins were born - hell, right after you were born, really."
Gin raised an eyebrow. "Then why..."
"Long time ago... a few years before you were born... Masaki once told me I looked cool when I had a cigarette in my hand." He absent-mindedly took a drag, blowing a cloud of smoke. "Come to think of it, that might have been the only time she ever complimented me on my looks. But anyway, that's why. Every year, on this day, I smoke one cigarette."
There was a moment of silence.
Isshin flicked the stub away. "Keep biting it back and you'll accidentally cut your tongue off."
Gin clenched his teeth. "God damn it!" He hissed, his grin fading. "Why? Why don't ya blame me? It was my goddamn fault she fell into the river, damn it!"
"Don't be an idiot."
For a second, Gin's eyes opened in surprise. "Huh?"
"It wasn't your fault, Gin - you couldn't have known you were chasing a ghost. And even if it had been, Masaki would never forgive me if I blamed you." He gave a wry half-smile. "She died out of love for you, kiddo. Hating yourself over it doesn't seem like a very good way to return that love, does it?"
Gin hung his head slightly. "But..."
Isshin sighed. "Listen, Gin," he said. "Being tragic and melancholy is all very cool, and sure the ladies swoon over it, but you're too damn young for that shit."
Gin raised his eyebrows in surprise. His father sounded... oddly reminiscent of a bitter war veteran.
"Don't waste your life blaming yourself when her death wasn't even your fault. Live. Be happy. Don't get bogged down in sorrows at your age." Isshin's goofy smile finally returned. "Besides, like I said, Masaki would never forgive me if I let you while away in misery."
Gin said nothing, his narrow eyes avoiding his father's gaze.
"We should probably get home," said Isshin, his trademark crazy gleam returning to his eye. "OOOOH DAUGHTERS OF MINE! TIME FOR - "
Well aware of how long his father could take to say the simplest of things, Gin tuned out the rest.
X-X-X
'sup. Since y'all have been so nice to me, I figure I might as well post my list of potential alter-protagonists here.
(oh, by the way, if you feel like you want to write one from my in-progress list, by all means go ahead - I'm sure you'll come up with something more interesting than mine.)
in progress:
Gin Ichimaru
Sõsuke Aizen
Tatsuki Arisawa
First Tier (best candidates):
Jûshiro Ukitake
Kaname Tõsen
Shaolin Feng
Tõshirõ Hitsugaya
Uryū Ishida
Second Tier (wouldn't try them just on a whim, but not unworkable):
Byakuya Kuchiki
Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto
Izuru Kira
Kenpachi Zaraki
Rukia Kuchiki
Ulquiorra Cífer
Crack Tier (...well, yeah):
Hiyori Saguraki
Kisuke Urahara
Mashiro Kuna
Orihime Inoue
Yoruichi Shihõin
See y'all later.