Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin or Bleach
First of all, I sincerely apologise about the length of time it took me to update this story. Second of all, I apologise for how short this chapter is considering how long you had to wait. I've had a terrible case of writers block for this story. I hate writers block! Also I have to apologise for not telling you all why I was taking so long to update.
Initially what I was trying to do was to do an episode a chapter but doing that kind of format just won't work. The longer the chapter I have to do, the harder it is for me to release quicker updates. If you look on my profile, you will see my new schedule.
Chapter 4 – The Start of Military Life
After Keith Shadis's 'welcoming' speech, the man started going around to all the new recruits and he began questioning them. After a few minutes of intimidating some of the recruits, Keith finally arrived in front of Armin and Ichigo could see his friend saluting in a stiff manner.
"You there!" Keith barked to Armin.
"Yes, sir!"
"Who are you?!"
"Armin Arlert, from Shiganshina!" Armin replied quickly.
"Yeah? That's a stupid name! Your parents give you that?" Keith snapped at him. Ichigo scowled at the instructor, pushing down the urge to beat the shit out of the man for insulting Armin's name. Ichigo was after all very protective of his name and so it was natural for him to defend his friend's names as well.
"My grandfather!"
Keith nodded, "Arlert, what are you doing here?"
"Trying to aid humanity's victory!" Armin answered truthfully.
"That is indeed wonderful... then you will feed the Titans!" Keith told him coldly. He forcibly turned Armin around and ordered the row Armin was on to turn around so they could watch him critique more cadets.
The instructor then moved onto a young man with short blonde hair, "Who are you?!"
"Thomas Wagner, from Trost!" the young man replied softy.
"Speak up!" Keith said angrily when he barely heard the voice of the boy, "Who are you?!"
"Thomas Wagner, from Trost!" the boy replied slightly louder.
"Too soft! Go practise in the cattle shed!" Keith barked at the boy before he moved on.
"You next!" the instructor ordered a young girl with long black hair.
"Mina Karolina, from Karanes!" the young girl saluted.
"Wrong!" Keith retorted, "You are from the pig shed, worth less than cattle."
"Yes, sir! I am less than cattle!" Mina shouted holding her saluted position.
"No, you're a fly swarming around a pig's ass!" Keith snapped at her.
"Yes, sir!"
"Next!" Keith shouted at the boy next to her. He had short, spiky dark brown hair and heavily tanned skin.
"Samuel Linke-Jackson, from Snate Village!"
"A horrible name! Change it now!" Keith snapped at him, "What are you doing here?!"
"Sacrificing myself for humanity!"
Two soldiers were looking on at the spectacle before them with curious looks.
"Look at 'em... It was like that from the start when you started military training, wasn't it?" the more senior officer asked his lower ranking attendant.
"Sure it was but what is the point in intimidating them?" the younger soldier questioned the officer in confusion.
"It a rite of passage." The officer explained to him, "You've got to throw out everything that person was and start over with a clean slate if you're going to make it as a soldier."
"But it looks like he is ignoring some of them."
"Yeah... you don't have to do if to someone that has already been through a rite of passage." The two of them observed as Keith glanced at a blonde haired girl before moving on. "They're probably the ones who saw hell firsthand two years ago. They've got a different look on their faces."
Keith walked past Ichigo and glanced into his eyes. Ichigo didn't flinch when their eyes made contact and Ichigo almost wished that he would have a go at his name. Ichigo would love nothing more than to beat the tar out of the man, especially for his comments towards Armin but the instructor apparently liked the fire in his eyes and moved on.
"What's your name, maggot?!" Keith roared at a light ash-brown haired, average height and build, teen.
The teen quickly formed the salute, "Jean Kirstein from the Trost District, sir!"
"What did you come here for?!"
Jean hesitated for a moment, "To get into the Military Police and live in the interior, sir!"
Eren gave Jean a swift look but the boy from Trost didn't notice.
"I see! You want to go into the interior, do you?" Keith questioned him sternly.
"Yes, sir!"
Many were surprised when Keith Shadis slammed his forehead into Jean's and the boy from Trost fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain.
"Hey! Who gave you permission to sit down?!" the instructor yelled at him, not fazed at all by the head butt he just delivered. "You think someone that folds here is going to be allowed into the MP?!"
The instructor moved onto the teen boy standing next to Jean. The teen had short black hair, light brown eyes and freckles underneath his eyes.
"What's your name, maggot?!"
"Marco Bott, Jinae Town, Wall Rose south district, sir!" Marco saluted him anxiously.
"What did you come here for?!"
"To join the Military Police and devote myself to the King, sir!" Marco answered quickly.
"I see..." Keith murmured, "that's just fine, a good goal, except," Keith leaned his face closer to Marco's with a dark expression, "I'm positive the King has no interest in your scrawny body!" the instructor informed him coldly.
"Next!" Keith approached a short teen boy with a slim build, bright hazel eyes, and a shaved head. "You maggot! Who're you?!"
"Ragako Village, Wall Rose south district! Connie Springer, sir!" Connie saluted but unfortunately instead of lifting his right arm to salute, he used his left. The salute that he did was completely wrong.
Keith grabbed Connie's head with both of his hands and he lifted him into the air, "You've got it backwards... Connie Springer." The instructor said coldly, "I know that they taught you at the start... the salute indicates your dedication to serve the common good, heart and soul! Is your heart on your right side, Connie?!"
Fortunately for Connie, the painful lecture that he was interrupted when the instructor, in his peripheral vision, saw a female teen eating a potato. He dropped Connie onto his ass and he approached the female. She was average height and had long dark brown hair but he was mainly focused on the potato in her hand.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" Keith demanded to know. The girl began looking around her and she took another bite of the potato. "You scum! I am talking to you!" Keith barked furiously in her face, "What the hell's your name?!"
The girl quickly swallowed the piece of potato that she had in her mouth and saluted the instructor, "Sasha Blouse, sir! Dauper Village, Wall Rose, south district!"
"Sasha Blouse," the instructor asked coldly, "what is that in your right hand?"
"A steamed Potato, sir!" Sasha answered firmly, "I happened to see them in the kitchen and I couldn't help myself!"
"The theft I understand, but why are you eating the potato now?" Keith questioned with obvious confusion.
"They lose their taste when they get cold... so I thought it best to eat it right away." Sasha answered him.
"No... I don't understand." Keith retorted, "Why'd you eat that potato?"
A perplexed expression formed on Sasha's face, "Um... are you asking me why people eat potatoes in general?"
Everyone was looking at her in shock. Ichigo had a dull expression on his face. It was obvious that the instructor was wondering why she didn't eat it before they all lined up instead of eating it during the assembly. Ichigo heard Mikasa let out an audible sigh.
Sasha suddenly realised what the problem was and she reluctantly split what was left of the potato in half and she offered it to Keith, "You can... have half."
Keith accepted the piece of potato, confusion still clear on his face, "Half..?" Sasha smiled at him.
Unfortunately for Sasha she had been punished for her actions and she had to run until she was almost dead. She was more distraught however when she was also told that she wouldn't be allowed to eat tonight.
The 'Rite of Passage' that they had to go through lasted several more hours before they were finally allowed to break for dinner.
Currently the orange haired boy sat on his own eating a loaf of bread in the dinner room. Mikasa and Armin were together at another table while Eren was surrounded by a group of people and he was explaining to them what had happened in Shiganshina.
At least Eren was now surrounded by people that were interested in his ambitions as Ichigo had grown tired of hearing about it for the last couple of years.
"Do you mind if we sit here?" a voice cut through his thoughts and he looked up to see two older teenagers standing at the opposite side of the table he was sitting at. The boy that had spoken was quite tall with broad shoulders and blonde hair. Ichigo noted curiously that the strong looking teen had golden eyes. Next to him stood a taller and more slender teen with short brown hair and green eyes. Unlike the confident looking blonde hair teen, he was much more nervous looking.
Ichigo didn't get the chance to reply as suddenly the seat next to him was taken by a girl with moderately short blonde hair that is tied at the back with her right fringe draping over the right side of her face. She also has blue eyes, a pronounced nose and a pale complexion. The girl simply gave him a cold glance before turning her attention to her own food and she began to slowly devour it.
Ichigo looked back at the two boys with a slight smirk, "As you can see, I can't really stop you, can I?"
The two of them took their seats at the table, the blonde haired teen sat opposite of Ichigo and the brown haired teen sat opposite of the blonde hair girl. Ichigo noticed that the boy seemed to glance shyly at her occasionally.
"It's just polite to ask." The blonde haired teen grinned at Ichigo and then he gave the blonde haired girl a swift glare, "Unfortunately, Annie doesn't remember her formalities."
Annie didn't respond to his goad and she continued to eat her meal.
"I'm Reiner Braun," the blonde haired teen introduced himself and he clasped his friend on the shoulder, "and this is Bertolt Hoover."
"It's nice to meet you." Bertolt greeted him hesitantly.
"The charming girl to your right is Annie Leonhart." Reiner informed him.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meet you." Ichigo nodded to them.
"You weren't one of the ones that the instructor picked on this morning," Reiner noted with interest after he took a bite of his loaf, "where are you from?"
"Shiganshina," Ichigo informed him bluntly, "and before you ask, yes I was there and no, I don't want to talk about it."
Reiner nodded understandably, "I wouldn't have asked you about it. I know how difficult it must have been witnessing it."
"You speak as if you have experience." Ichigo raised an eyebrow at him.
"Reiner and I come from the same village." Bertolt interrupted hurriedly and he cast a worried glance at Reiner, "We come from a village deep in the mountains southeast of Wall Maria."
"I see," Ichigo muttered. He immediately knew what that meant. Anyone that had lived inside of Wall Maria most likely witnessed the horrors produced from the Titans.
"We met Annie when we entered Wall Rose," Reiner informed him, "from there we helped each other out now and again until we came here."
Ichigo glanced at the girl but she remained indifferent to their conversation.
"What does a regular Titan look like?"
The loud voices coming from the group surrounding Eren could no longer be drowned out and ignored and Ichigo looked towards the group. In his line of vision, he could see Eren gripping his mouth tightly as if he was about to throw up and suddenly the people surrounding him backed off slightly.
"Let's knock off the questions, people." Marco spoke up, "There are something's that a guy doesn't want to remember."
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to stir up painful memories." Connie apologised to Eren.
"That's not it." Eren told Marco and Eren ripped into his loaf of bread, "The Titans are no big deal!"
Ichigo quietly scoffed at Eren's declaration and he mumbled, "That's 267."
The other three at his table managed to hear his mumble and unable to hold his curiosity, Reiner asked him, "What do you mean by 267?"
Ichigo looked up at him in surprise, "That is 267 days in a row that Eren has talked about the Titans and how he is going to wipe them out. It can get quite annoying, although I can understand why he wants to."
"He wants to wipe them out, even after seeing them first hand?" Bertolt asked shocked.
"He has his reasons," Ichigo shrugged, "if you want to know then you have to ask him yourself."
"If we can master the 3D Manoeuvre Gear, they'll be no match for us!" Eren exclaimed, "I'm done picking up stones and pulling weeds! I finally get to train as a soldier! I was just choked up about it before! So I'm going to join the Scouting Legion and rid the world of the Titans!"
"What, are you out of your mind?" Jean Kirstein interrupted Eren, "Did you just say that you were going to join the Scouting Legion?"
Eren glared at the short light ash-brown haired youth, "You are the one that wants to join the Military Police and take it easy, right?"
"I'm nothing if not honest," Jean sneered at Eren, "Better than a guy who is shaking in his boots but pretends to be brave. What chance does a brat like you have at killing one Titan, let alone all of them?"
"The Titans aren't as powerful as you think!" Eren snapped at him, "Ichigo was able to kill a Titan two years ago and he was only ten then!"
"Who is Ichigo?" Jean pondered unable to hide his astonishment at the statement.
Ichigo scowled over at Eren and in his peripheral vision, he could see the amazement in Reiner and Bertolt's eyes. He literally could feel the burning stare from Annie.
"He is the scary orange haired boy over there glaring at Eren." Armin piped up with amusement in his voice. Eren flinched when he took notice of Ichigo's glare. It was almost as terrifying as Mikasa's and for a moment, he wondered if she taught him.
"You were able to kill a Titan!" Connie shouted incredulously.
"I am going to say this just this one time!" Ichigo snarled seriously, "I don't remember what the hell happened back then! All I know is that I woke up with bleeding hands and Eren telling me that my uncle informed them that I had killed a Titan. Understood?!"
Everyone backed off just like Ichigo wanted, they were obviously frightened by the expression on his face and the orange haired boy thanked Mikasa's influence. No doubt he had learned how to scowl better thanks to her. He thought that nobody would ask him about it, Reiner and Bertolt clearly understood since they gave him an understanding nod, but unfortunately he forgot about the girl next to him.
"Ah, sorry. Honesty is a bad habit of mine." Jean apologised to Eren, "I didn't mean to rile you up. I don't want to throw cold water on your plans. How you choose to live is your business."
"All right, I had a chip on my shoulder too." Eren admitted.
Jean raised his hand, "How 'bout a truce?"
Eren clapped it for a moment, "Yeah, sure." With that, Eren headed off as the bell began ringing signalling that dinner was over and that all cadets had to head to their cabins.
Ichigo was just about to head out as well but he was stopped by the sound of Reiner's light laughter.
"What're you laughing at?" Ichigo questioned him curiously.
"We're all here to train as soldiers. We are trained to fight against the Titans and to defend the innocent against all threats." Reiner informed him seriously, his amusement gone, "Yet most of the people here aren't mentally prepared for that."
"Most people that come here are only here because it is the thing to do. In the eyes of most, if you don't join the military then you're considered a coward. Many don't want that label and so they come here with the goal to join the Military Police or the Garrisons. No one wants to join the Scouting Legion, except for your friend Eren." Bertolt explained.
"Which brings me to my point," Reiner explained, "It's only the first day and Jean is already infatuated with the good looking black haired girl that followed Eren out."
Ichigo felt a pang of annoyance, a pang that he didn't understand but he immediately shook it off. A more important question was on his mind, "How do you make it into the Military Police, anyway?"
"Only those that finish in the top ten are allowed the option to join the Military Police." Reiner answered him just before he and Bertolt left the room.
A confused frown formed on Ichigo's face, "Wait... top ten?" he muttered out loud to no one in particular.
"So you noticed," a cold voice spoke up next to him, "at least you're smarter than the rest of the fools here."
Ichigo looked over at Annie to see her resting her chin on her hand, staring at her empty plate with clear boredom on her face.
"Why is it that the top ten are the ones that go to the Military Police?" Ichigo questioned her with a frown, "The strongest should be out there fighting."
"Exactly," Annie agreed. "why in this world are the people most capable of opposing the Titans the only ones given the privilege of avoiding them entirely?"
"The king wanting the best surrounding him sounds like the most obvious theory." Ichigo admitted, but he couldn't help but think that there was something much more too this. Like he had just said, the strongest should be out fighting the Titans... shouldn't the top ten be forced to go out and fight the Titans?
Ichigo shook his head in annoyance. It seemed like Eren had more of an influence on him than he had thought.
"Or isn't it because that is how humans really are?" Annie retorted dully, "Humans are weak and they get swept up in the flow. There are few people like your friend Eren that fight against the tide and that requires extraordinary courage. Even though it's probably nothing but foolishness, people like that are rare. They are known as special. So what are you? Are you human or are you special?"
Not once did Annie glance at him.
"I'm surprised at how talkative you are." Ichigo couldn't resist the mock, "From what I have seen of you so far, I thought you were more of the silent type."
Annie didn't reply verbally but Ichigo managed to suppress the shiver at the cold glare that she gave him. Until this very moment, Ichigo had thought that only Mikasa was capable of being this scary.
"I'm just a guy that doesn't want to see his sisters get killed." Ichigo answered her.
"Killed..?" Annie murmured thoughtfully, "That is an interesting word to use. Devoured would be a more fitting word."
"Titans aren't the only monsters in this world." Ichigo retorted bluntly, "You say that humans are weak and go with the flow or that they are special. There is a third category and that is that humans are also capable of being monsters even worse than Titans."
"So, what are you?" Annie questioned him.
Annie was right in saying that Eren was special. There were few people in the world that actually wanted to go out and kill Titans. Ichigo thought that Armin and Mikasa also belonged in that special category. Mikasa was willingly to go anywhere and do anything to protect her brother and Armin was passionate about the possibilities in the outside world.
Ichigo knew that he didn't belong in that category.
"I'm one of those that go with the flow but if push comes to shove," Ichigo's eyes narrowed dangerously as he stared off into space, unaware that only he and Annie were the last people remaining in the dinner room, "I could become a monster."
"If you are able to kill a Titan at the age of ten then perhaps you are already a monster." Annie replied bluntly. "Someone killing a Titan at the age should be impossible, especially someone that doesn't even remember doing it."
"It wasn't the first time something like that happened." Ichigo muttered quietly.
"Did you say something?" Annie glanced at him dully.
"It's nothing important." Ichigo said firmly.
The truth was the despite brushing off the topic whenever his friends bring it up, Ichigo had thought a lot about the incident. There definitely had to be something wrong with him. He could easily brush off what happened when he saved Mikasa from those monsters disguised as humans because he had blacked for only a few seconds in the heat of the moment. However what happened when the Titans attacked was much different. He had blacked out a good while and when he awoke, he had apparently killed a Titan and he had scars on his hands that hadn't previously been there. He couldn't deny that there was something more to him than he understood.
"There isn't anything to be ashamed of admitting that," Annie stood up, signalling that she was done here. She wiped her right fringe that had blocked part of her eyesight, "Sometimes in order to do what is necessary, you have to become a monster."
Ichigo watched her leave the room for a moment with a thoughtful frown on his face, she must have had a tough life so far, he decided. Suddenly Ichigo realised that he was the last one inside of the dinner room and he hastily exited. He needed to go find out who he would be bunking with from now on.
Private Location
"What do you think about him, Annie?" Bertolt asked the cold blonde haired girl nervously. Reiner had headed off to the cabin that they were staying at and Bertolt took the chance to seek out their reluctant partner for her opinion.
"It doesn't matter," Annie replied monotonously, "what I think of him doesn't matter. Nor should what you think of him matter. He isn't a part of our mission. We were just warned about him."
Bertolt hesitated before asking her, "What should we do if he becomes the person that he is expected to become?"
"That's your concern," Annie turned her back on him and she began walking off, "I don't recall desiring your help or Reiner's. I will become a warrior on my own."
Boys Cabin
Ichigo went to the bunk number that he had been assigned, which was numbered 15, to his satisfaction, and he already saw that another teen had already taken the top bunk.
"You don't mind if I take the top bunk, do you?" the boy questioned Ichigo. The boy on the bunk simply wore a white tank top and white pants. It was obviously the clothes that he wore to bed. He had a scrawny looking body, blue eyes and long black hair that almost reached his shoulders.
Ichigo shook his head, "I'm not really bothered. Anything with a mattress will be great to sleep in."
The boy grinned at him, "I know the feeling, what's your name anyway?"
"Ichigo Kurosaki, what's yours?" the orange haired cadet questioned him.
The boy clicked his fingers in realisation and he smirked down at Ichigo, "That's right. You're the one that has killed a Titan."
Ichigo glowered up at the teen and the black haired boy held up his hands defensively, "Sorry, I don't mean to pry, I was just curious that's all. Can you keep a secret?"
"It depends on how serious the secret is." Ichigo retorted.
"You're not the only one that has killed a Titan," the boy whispered with a smirk on his face, "you asked for my name before, it's Denryū Ishida."
End of Chapter
If you like it, then please leave behind a review. If you don't like it, then don't read it.
Denryū – according to Google translations, so it isn't accurate, this means Lightning Dragon. I'm sure you are fully aware who he looks like from the Bleachverse ;)
I have also made a decision on Ichigo's Zanpakutō. He will start off with the Fullbring Shikai but he will eventually get the current large khyber Shikai that he has in canon. Also as I have said, you will see Ichigo use dual-wielding at some point.
Now about the poll about Ichigo's pairings. Majority of people want the Ichigo x Mikasa x Annie relationship and let's be honest, who is really surprised by that? Most people want to read a story where the main character like Ichigo, gets to be with two girls at once. However it is also going to be extremely hard to write and while I am willingly to take on the challenge, I will not force it. I know for absolute certain that Ichigo and Mikasa will be paired together at some point; of course, the romance scenes between them will be minor. You're not reading a Bleach and SnK crossover for romance after all. Annie being paired with them is NOT guaranteed. It is my objective to have the three of them together but don't be shocked if it doesn't work out.
The next time that his story will be updated will be on the 20th of September. I'm sorry that it will be such a long wait. Hopefully the length of the waits will be consistent from now on.
Answering the Readers:
Q: Are you gonna stay canon?
A: There will be some parts that will remain canon but there will definitely be some divergences.
Q: Also, for an original attack for Ichigo, couldn't he do a cero using his Shinigami powers instead of his hollow powers? If so then wouldn't it be practically a blue cero? (Because his Shinigami spiritual pressure is blue while his hollow powers are black/red. So if he just replaced his hollow powers with his Shinigami powers when making a cero, wouldn't it create something entirely different?)
A: It would be something along those lines, but he wouldn't really need to because he already has Getsuga Tenshō. I've got a few different moves that I plan to give to Ichigo to expand his variety of fighting moves.
Q: Maybe Ichigo spins Zangetsu in a circle in front of him to make a shied or something?
A: Creating some kind of energy field is certainly one of my ideas.
C: I do wonder how Ichigo will meet Zangetsu.
R: Slight spoiler, they will converse in the next chapter ;)
Q: how much Arrancars (If that what they are) are you going to put in this story?
A: The last thing that I want to do is to stack up a huge amount of Arrancars/Shinigami fighters in this story. The amount of people capable of using Spiritual Power will remain relatively small.
C: I was wondering if titans were akin to hollows in the manga it says titans were believed to be human once and shifters could be those with enough reiatsu to control themselves
R: Let's just say there is a reason why Titans will be drawn to those with reiatsu that will fit into the SnK storyline.
C: What I want to know is how his relationship with his hollow will be. Personally, I like it better when they're bros instead of trying to kill each other all the time.
R: Both to be honest, at times they will be good allies and others they will be enemies.
C: I kind of thought the Arrancar was Grimmjow for a bit.
R: Inspired by Grimmjow but with some minor differences in appearance.
Q: As for the pairing: I choose number 3! That's Ichigo with both Mikasa and Annie, right?
A: That's right.
C: Somehow you find a way to get our favourite Geta-Boshi sent to help out his old student.
R: *Smirks*
Q: And the scene with the uncle the guy is an Arrancar isn't he?
A: Pretty much, yep.