NOTE TO ALL READERS: This chapter was revised, though not entirely. The old chapter didn't seem to exactly fit in my satisfaction, so I decided to edit some parts. They're not all exactly important…but yeah. No need for my old readers to read the whole chapter again. Oh, and the Author's Notes were the old ones. They aren't new.
I'm so bored, so I just decided to start this chapter just for the fun of it…but also because I couldn't get the chapter out of my mind. Anyways, onwards to chapter 2!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Shugo Chara!
Chapter 2
"No."
"But Taicho, the dress was sooooo cute~!"
"No."
"Mou, Taicho, please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
"Please with a cherry on top?"
"No."
"I'll do my paperwork when we get back home!"
A slight pause. "…No."
"Mou, Taicho, you're such a bore!"
"Matsumoto…" a familiar young-looking boy with white hair and teal eyes growled out to his tall, bubbly sub-ordinate in warning. The walk was just supposed to be a scouting trip for high reiatsu, but instead, it turned out to be, in his opinion, an argument between him and his annoying fuku-taicho…about shopping no less.
"Fine, fine," Matsumoto Rangiku said in a tone that told she wasn't going to let it alone entirely. They walked in silence for a few minutes. There was no one on the road with them, since it was pretty late, so they were spared the obvious stares and gawking for the moment. Rows and rows of different houses lay parallel to the road they were taking. Many lights of the houses were off, though a fair few were still lit.
"Ne, Taicho…"
"What?" Hitsugaya Toshiro muttered, clearly still annoyed, though he became rather suspicious after his well-endowed fuku-taicho leaned in slightly with a mischievous smile.
"…How's school?" she asked, a humorous glint in her eyes as he small Taicho froze. As the words sank in (which wasn't long), he instantly started to silently fume.
"Matsumoto," he growled out. "You will not say another word of that unless you want to end up with your head frozen off."
Matsumoto instantly blanched. "NO! Please, not that, Taicho! My hair will get ruined! It will take weeks to get it back to the way it was! Plus, there's the amount of money I have to spend to buy another ten pounds of hair products, and- oh! I would need someone to carry my bags…I think Renji would be good enough to do it. Or should it be Hisagi? No, I think Kira should join in. He seems to be gloomier lately-"At first, she seemed to be practically begging, but as she continued to speak, she started ranting off to no one in particular.
The white-haired taicho scowled, moved around his lieutenant, and continued walking. "No choice but to do this on my own," he grumbled. As he said this, he searched for any high reiatsu in the area. Locating several, he immediately started running to the area, leaving behind Rangiku who finally noticed that she was being left behind. When she started begging before, she was on her knees. Now, she was still in that position, but was now reaching out to the leaving figure in a dramatic scene while comically crying fake tears of sadness. Besides…she could easily follow him if she wanted to.
"Taicho~! Don't leave me~!" she half-heartedly cried out. His figure disappeared and her present composure broke. She stood instantly and started half-skipping to the nearest boutique with a satisfied smile on her face.
Meanwhile, Hitsugaya was running down the streets, but paused when he felt a different reiatsu coming from the same source. He stopped and focused harder. His eyes widened a fraction of an inch before he continued running, this time at a faster pace. What is going on here? He thought.
When he reached his destination, the first thing he saw were the many human bodies littering the square. He stared silently in shock and noted that every single person was breathing…but that wasn't all. What stunned the white-haired captain more was the empty looks every being held in their eyes- like their souls were sucked out of them and what remained was an empty shell. Above each individual was a small amount of malevolent feeling reiatsu bunched up into tiny oval shaped containers. (1) Because of this, he didn't notice the melody until it rose in volume. Turning his head sharply towards the source of the sound, he noticed a tall figure standing in the moonlight under a small, circular platform.
His teal eyes adjusting to the moonlight, he was finally able to distinguish the suspicious individual. It was a lean male who had short, almost midnight, blue hair, a slim figure, and was currently playing an instrument he recognized as a violin. He was wearing a black outfit (two pieces) with blue trimmed along some of the edges. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, he felt a strange tug in the area where his heart was supposed to be. Looking down in shock and clutching the area, he didn't see anything unusual- yet the tugging continued. He blinked.
Soon, his vision got blurry and he heard a soft thud that he dimly realized was his own knees that had buckled underneath him. Dark thoughts entered his awareness. He fought against it with his own will, but it was proved useless as it continued to overcome his mind. Thoughts of hopelessness, loneliness, weakness, and despair plagued his concentration and he soon found himself succumbing into the darkness of those unforgiving feelings.
The last thing he was dimly aware of was a bright pink light and, across the square, a pair of piercing indigo eyes staring directly into his own before he completely lost consciousness.
~XoX~
After Character Changing into Amulet Heart and purifying many X-eggs, returning them to their rightful owner, she surveyed the area for the culprit, Tsukiyomi Ikuto. With disappointment, she realized he'd escaped. She looked around for any more X-eggs that she might've missed. Instead, a flash of white in the darkness caught her eye and she hurried over to an unconscious figure lying stomach-first onto the ground.
Reaching the form, she marveled at the strange features of a young boy, about her age, with white hair and non-seeing abnormally teal eyes. Concern overwhelming shock, she started shaking the white-haired youth in hopes of waking him up. However, she didn't notice something important until her guardian character pointed it out.
"Amu-Chan, his Heart's Egg!" Ran panicked inside her mind.
Amu jolted from the sudden tone of her Guardian Character and her eyes darted down to look at the boy's chest. That's when Amu noticed that his heart was empty- no sign of his heart egg anywhere- until she heard a distorted voice.
"They're wrong…"
Gasping slightly and turning abruptly towards the dusky sky, she found the lost egg- the lost X-Egg.
"They're going to think I'm weak," the new X-Egg murmured sorrowfully. A crack appeared. "That I'm not worthy of being one of them…" Another crack broke half of the egg.
"Amu-Chan!" Ran warned.
"This is bad," Amu muttered, getting ready to defend.
"Are they right? Am I really like that?" The voice paused and a strange sound echoed around her. A second later, she realized it was the sound of the X-Egg chuckling darkly. "Nope. I'm right. And they…"
Amu flinched as she felt a very dark aura seep through the cracks.
"THEY'RE ALL WRONG!" the X-Egg screamed out, causing the shell to crack all the way through the middle. Several seconds passed, like the calm before a storm. Then, the two halves broke apart from each other and out came, in all its glory, an X-Character. Just like all the other X-Characters they saw, the X-Character was about the same size as a Guardian Character, except it had a huge red X on its forehead and purple skin. However, unlike all the other X-characters, it seemed to be wearing a sort of kimono-looking clothing that blended in with the skin color, and holding a tiny miniature katana, also the same color as the skin of the X-character, with both hands, holding them out in front of it. "I'll kill them! I'll kill them all! I HATE them!" it continued to shriek. "TRAITORS! MURDERERS! HEARTLESS BAS*****!
The X-Character swung its katana towards the first person in its sight, which happened to be Amu, and a slash of tainted black energy forming from the katana sped towards said person at an astonishing rate. It glinted in the moonlight and appeared to have jagged edges throughout its length.
Amu widened her eyes and only just managed to shield herself using her pom-poms before she got pushed back many feet, her feet grinding against the ground and causing a long trail of dirt to billow, and sent through the air. She collided against a tree trunk with a painful cry and fell to the ground with a loud thud.
She gasped at the pain that pricked her senses and she raggedly drew in air. Her pupils were dilated and a pressure was pushing down on her shoulders. Her pom-poms steaming and her body exhausted and aching, she managed to lift her head to behold a long shallow cut in the ground surrounded by tainted purple ice.
The X-Character continued to scream obscenities to himself as he kept slashing the sky, probably in hopes of cutting it open. It apparently forgot its first target.
With huge effort, she managed to finally stand, leaning on the tree for support, all the while panting heavily. "What should I do?" she breathed out, trying to think of a way out of the situation. Her legs were trembling, her back was probably bruised, and the X-Character's power was too tremendous to fight back. The speed it was currently moving around in was almost too fast for her eyes to catch up. Slashes and the glow of the energy constantly appeared in her vision, causing more gaps of lines to form on the hard ground.
It was suicide.
"Open Heart, Amu-chan!" Ran demanded. "Wait for the perfect time to use it and strike!" Amu could just imagine Ran pumping her fist in the air.
Still panting heavily, she continued to think. "But…" Amu looked up towards the X-character still throwing a tantrum. She couldn't possibly be able to use it if it's capable of escaping. She would need to stun it or make it stay in one place for a while. But how could she do that?
The X-character stopped. Amu stared, her honey-golden eyes widening.
Ever so slowly, the X-character descended until was a little over six feet from the ground. That's when the screeching started. Clutching its head, it writhed in mental agony as its katana disappeared and its defenses began to break. "S-stop," it cried out weakly. "STOP IT!" it yelled, along with a voice that was certainly not its own.
If she had the time, Amu would have openly gaped. But this was not the time to stare in awe at the boy who was obviously fighting back. With a shout of encouragement from her Guardian Character, she shook her head and got into her stance.
"Negative Heart," she chanted, holding her hands in a heart shape in front of the Humpty Lock on her chest and pushing her hands outward. "Lock on!" A pink line of light flashed through the middle part of her 'heart' where her hands met and bright, sparkly pink rays in the form of hearts surrounded the X-Character, whom of which was still writhing in pain while holding it's X-mark. Her eyes glowed in tight concentration. "OPEN HEART!" The rays increased in frequency until the red X on the X-character's forehead broke. It wailed as it was consumed into the light.
Several seconds later, the light dimmed and exposed the white-haired youth's guardian character. This guardian character was wearing a light blue and white Shihakushō (2) with socks and sandals, along with a light cerulean sheath holding a matching mini-katana (or mini-Zanpaktou) across the back. For an accessory, the male guardian character had a simple, yet exquisite, sapphire crystal necklace dangling around his neck. Although, what was most foreign about the Guardian was, not the messy sapphire colored hair or the sapphire colored orbs, but the ice-crystal wings that donned the mini's back, spreading a few inches over his own height.(3)
After the silent staring contest, the guardian character flapped his wings once, and in an instant, was eye level with Amu half a foot away. Amu yelped and fell back on her bottom, barely even noticing she had already changed back into her casual clothes. After staring ack at Amu with an expressionless face for a few moments, he finally let a genuine smile float onto the surface. "Arigato ne, stranger-san," the guardian spoke in a soft, yet strong voice.
Snapping out of her stupor, she shook her head hurriedly. "I-Iie," she replied. "No need to thank me." She watched as his smile widened a bit further. "A-ano, are you his guardian character?" she asked, pointing at the white-haired youth lying on the ground.
He glanced at his owner before turning back to Amu. "Hai. I am his guardian character born from his hopes and dreams of becoming strong enough to be able to protect everyone he cares about," he responded. He gave a formal bow, causing her to flush slightly at being bowed to. In her 'impaired' state, she clumsily bowed back. He rose back up and gave a nod to the guardian characters around her. He suddenly gave a small cocky grin. "Until we meet again, stranger-san," he stated as two halves of his heart's egg appeared above and beneath him, slowly closing together. "Jaa ne!" He saluted playfully just before the egg completely closed.
Amu watched as the egg floated towards the fallen teen and entered his chest, causing a ripple on the surface as it went in. She watched his abnormal, vacant teal eyes gradually gain a glow and intensity that she never though anyone's eyes could be capable of having.
Squeezing shut his eyes and then opening it again after a few seconds to take away the sudden dizziness, his eyes adjusted to the moonlight. He lay there, staring into nothingness, presumably trying to recount why he was lying on the ground. He didn't even notice a pair of golden-brown eyes watching his every move in the shadows of the trees.
Amu watched. She didn't dare move an inch in case he hadn't noticed her.
Seemingly finding his memories, he bolted upright, looking immediately at the small performing stage.
Amu's brow furrowed. Did he have to chance to see Ikuto? She paused and then mentally face-palmed. Duh! Almost everyone here had to have taken a glimpse at him before they passed out. Unless they just head the music and listened without looking at where it was coming from.
A long silence descended upon the square until the once unconscious people started waking up. One by one, they sat up, all the while asking each other what happened. Just as Amu was about to go and ask if they were okay, a rather busty woman with light brown/orange hair cascading past her shoulders, started running towards the crowd and calling…captain? The woman, once entering the crowd, surprisingly dodged each body with ease to the white-haired youth she was looking at earlier. Said boy was taking his time trying to stand back up while pressing a hand to his throbbing temple.
Amu watched with a small smile of amusement as he was knocked back on the ground in surprise as the woman tried to grab him into a hug and blabber off questions of concern. When he finally managed to stand again, he instantly began to berate her- to Amu's further amusement. It would have stayed if it wasn't for the woman asking something that made him freeze and caused the woman's playful demeanor to disperse. Ever so slowly, the unknown woman and child looked at his chest, surprise written across their exotic features. Amu blinked.
Are they…able to see the Egg? That just was not possible. Only the people who had Guardians were able to see them…right?
It may be possible for the boy, but what about the woman? She was too old to have a Guardian Eggs inside of her.
As she was contemplating, she noticed the boy and woman alike suddenly tense up. That's the only warning she had before she dove behind a tree just as the boy glanced towards where she once sat. She cautiously allowed one of her eyes to peek out, seeing the boy sweep his eyes over the area around her. The woman asked another question, most likely asking what was wrong, but she could tell that she, too, was uneasy. The white-haired youth shook his head, probably saying that it was nothing.
After making sure they were looking away, she slowly stood up and started walking back home, trying not to make a sound.
She didn't notice the pair of haunted eyes full of wisdom gazing at her retreating back.
1) I'm just going to go with him not being able to see the eggs at the moment.
2) Very similar to the Shin'ō Academy's uniform in Soul Society.
3) Think of Toshiro's Guardian Character as a Mini-Toshiro in Bankai form with only the wings, but with hair and the uniform with slightly different color features. I just wanted to add the necklace because I thought it looked cool…Maybe it could be used for something important? *Thoughtful expression*