10AUTHOR NOTE: TO HELL WITH IT! I'm continuing! ~has a little happy dance~
So basically wrap up of Academy Arc this chappie, so enjoy!
I haven't updated in ages . . . I feel bad =='
FORGIVE ME! SCHOOL OVERLOADS!
DISCLAIMER: Sooooo, Ikkaku-san, how do you feel about your brief entrance in this chappie?
IKKAKU: ~twitches eyebrow~ I hardly appear!
ME: ^^ You weren't going to appear originally, but I've given you a nice couple of paragraphs, so feel happy and honoured!
IKKAKU: Honoured? I'll be honoured if I was the main character! Heck, even you got a longer cameo than me in chapter 1!
ME: Well, tough! This story is about Momo and Toshiro, so unless you are petite innocent girl or an icy short dude, then you're not appearing much in the story.
IKKAKU: Humph. I'm tempted to-
ME: NOOO! Don't say it! Don't you dare say it! They all do it in the end!
IKKAKU: Say what? Do what?
ME: ~puppy eyes~ Please don't release your Bankai on me!
IKKAKU: Actually I was going to use shikai, but since you know I've got Bankai, why should I go easy on you?
ME: ~dies~ I'm just an INNOCENT FANGIRL OF BLEACH! Why must you all destroy me! It's so sad! I love you all and you all kill me in return? That's such a nice thank you . . .
IKKAKU: Aprilup does own Bleach or me.
ME: O_o what are you planning? You're up to something aren't you? You wouldn't have said that willingly!
IKKAKU: ~rolls eyes~ Che. I just felt sorry for your pathetic self. Now hurry up with the story the readers are getting impatient.
ME: ~bows~ Arigato gozaimasu! And for my readers, ENJOY! Dozo!
Chapter 5: Jigoku (Hell)
~As the crossroads draw near, the sighs of time grow incessantly louder and more frequent, the time of decisions is close at hand and the balance hangs so fragile in the air. . .~
"Ikkaku-san?"
The bald man grunted in reply but didn't shift from his position.
"Abarai, isn't it?"
"Hai. Yes."
The two of them stayed in that position for a long time; Renji standing and Ikkaku sitting with his eyes closed and his zanpakuto on his lap. Renji didn't make any moves to rush Ikkaku and just patiently waited. There was no one else better to go to if he left right now. After what felt like an eternity, Ikkaku stirred and looked up at Renji.
"You're a determined one, aren't you, kid?"
Renji scowled.
"I'm not a kid."
Ikkaku laughed, it was a friendly one full of mirth.
"Sure, sure, kid."
He emphasised the last word and watched Renji's anger rise. Ikkaku placed a hand on the hilt of his zanpakuto, feeling the tingling feeling before a battle start to flow through his blood stream. He was about to get up when Renji spoke again.
"You know what I'm here for don't you?"
Ikkaku was surprised. That kid had reined in his anger. Whatever he wanted from Ikkaku, he wanted it desperately; he needed it. A smile flickered across his face, but he bent his head to hide it from the red head.
"Probably."
He grasped his zanpakuto and stood up.
"You're here for some training from me?"
Renji nodded.
"Please. Oshiete. Teach me."
Ikkaku had slung his zanpakuto across his shoulders and he studied the boy who was concentrating on the ground. It was obvious that his mind was elsewhere and not staring at the ground.
"Please. Teach me how to fight. I need to get stronger; I must get stronger."
Ikkaku considered it. The youngster clearly had a strong heart and a strong mind. It would be worth it to teach him a thing or two; plus, he was really serious about this. There was reason why he wanted to get stronger and Ikkaku had to be lying is he said that he wasn't interested by Renji.
"Eh, why not. You look like an alright fighter to me kid, let's give you a shot."
Renji looked up for the first time into Ikkaku face.
"Arigatou!"
"Tha' was harsh ya know, Aizen-taicho."
"What do you mean, Gin?"
The newly promoted Captain laughed.
"I realised all tha' fuss before over all those hollow-fied Captains and Vice-Captains; didn't we lose a lot? An' it was just to get littl' ol' me on ta tha' Captain spot?"
"No. You are mistaken Gin. I was just . . . testing something. It just happened that I accidently hit two Hollows with one swing."
"Ah. Then I'll been taking my leave now, Aizen-taicho."
"See you around, Ichimaru-taicho."
He replied, his mocking voice still echoing in Gin's head long after he left for his new Division.
"Come on Kuchiki! Don't be such a slow poke! At this rate, we'll take until winter arrives until we reach Mount Koifushi's training area!"
Rukia panted as she tried to keep up with her superior's flash steps but it was just so hard. It pained her to admit it; however, she really was shorter than normal. Her little legs couldn't keep up with the Vice-captain's long ones.
'Coming, Kaien-dono!"
Rukia wondered what this training was for. She knew she was pretty weak and needed some expert training one-on-one to master her zanpakuto skills. At the academy, they always did zanpakuto practice in groups of 5 or higher because there just weren't enough teachers to go around.
"Ta-da!"
Rukia stopped. They had reached a little clearing where the grass was tall and lush and the trees were healthy and vibrant. However, it looked exactly like the rest of Mount Koifushi did and Rukia couldn't seen a point of travelling so far for a place that was the same as if you travelled half that distance. Frankly, it made no sense to her. Hardly anything related to her Vice-Zanpakuto rarely did.
"Ta-da? What is so special about this place?"
Kaien placed a his hand on Rukia's head and ruffled it up.
"You'll see. Now sit down and try to contact your Zanpakuto spirit."
"Kira-kun?"
The blonde boy jumped a little and turned around hastily.
"Y-yes?"
Hinamori bit her lip and fiddled with her zanpakuto strap.
"D-does your zanpakuto ever . . .well, does it ever, um, that is, not talk to you?"
Kira frowned.
"Well, not really, we have to talk to each other to work together, like everyone else. When it doesn't talk to me, it's when I did something wrong."
"Ah, yeah, um-"
Hinamori trailed off, feeling stupid for asking such a question. But she couldn't help feel that the reason that her zanpakuto wasn't talking to her wasn't because she did something wrong. Ever since she discovered Tobiume, the spirit ignored her and only talked to her when she was needed. She remembered the sad, lonely days during zan-jutsu class when everyone else would be happily off in their inner worlds, learning their techniques and having fun with their spirits. She would just sit there in vain, trying to contact the unresponsive spirit.
And then, because everyone was so busy, her thoughts would always turn to her friends in Rukongai, her grandmother and Toshiro. She actually missed him a lot when she thought about it. How many times had she wished that he was here so at least she had a familiar face from home?
She frowned.
Weird. If she missed him that much shouldn't she have visited him during the breaks in the school year? If she did-
"Argh!"
Her left eye started throbbing madly.
"Hinamori-kun?"
She shook herself out of her thoughts.
"Oh, yes, we should get going shouldn't we?"
She started walking quickly past Kira so he wouldn't see the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
"Hinamori-kun! What about Abarai-san?"
"I'm sure he'll come later. We can't be late! Our first day at our new division and if we give off a bad impression . . ."
Kira immediately followed.
"Y-yeah, you're right."
Hitsugaya's face was buried in his arms as he tried to block out the annoying chatter of his fellow classmates and get some well needed rest. His whole body ached with the results of another secret overnight training. If anyone looked closely, they would see bags under his eyes from the many nights he spent either training or just staring up at the sky.
He had to hurry.
Hinamori had slipped through his fingers once again. He had missed her just by that little gap. That's why he had to hurry and graduate so he could look after that stupid idiot. It amazed him how she even graduated in the first place. After all, her eye . . .
"Hey."
There was no reaction from the white head boy.
"Oi, are you awake?"
Hearing his first name being called, he reluctantly sat up and shot a death glare at the boy who had slipped into the chair next to him.
"And who might you be?"
The other boy grinned.
"Sweet! I knew it! You are the Hitsugaya Toshiro; the child genius? Everyone is like so scared to approach you because you can bash them into pulp or something! But actually you're quite short aren't you? Oh, wow, so your hair really is white! It's unbelievable, just like the colour of snow!"
Hitsugaya stared at the boy who was just rambling on and on, not noticing that Hitsugaya wasn't even listening to what he was saying.
What a strange boy.
". . . I bet you do secret training or something-"
Hitsugaya stiffened and grabbed the boy by his collar, cutting him off abruptly.
"Leave me alone."
He dropped the shocked boy and slumped back onto the table, satisfied that he had shut him up. Maybe now he could get some sleep. He closed his eyes and was just drifting off into sleep when . . .
"Doesn't look like it to me."
Hitsugaya mentally groaned. Can't this kid leave him alone?
"What the hell is your problem? Leave me alone."
"That's the thing. You don't look like you want to be alone."
Hitsugaya's eyes widened.
The words; those familiar words were the first that she had ever spoken to him.
"OWWW!"
"Quick, run Hinamori! You tripped here because of that white demon, he sits around here! Let's get out of here!"
"White demon?"
"Yeah, come on! Let's go! Hinamori, what are you doing?"
She ignored her friends and walked into the alleyway.
"Hello? White demon? Did you make me trip over?"
"Stupid Hinamori, you're crazy, that boy will kill you! That's it, let's go guys, I don't want to get killed."
Hinamori turned around to see all her friends running away.
"You should leave."
She gasped and sure enough, behind her was the "white demon". His hair was unbelievably white, like the purest snow and his eyes were a clear blue, the exact colour that Hinamori always imagined the sea would be.
"Are you, um, are you the white demon?"
"Yes, now you must go and leave me alone or you'll get hurt again."
Hinamori looked closer at the "white demon".
He was just a boy, maybe several years younger than her.
"What's your name?"
The boy looked incredulously at her.
"It doesn't matter, you better leave me alone."
"Why?"
"Because! Just go!"
Hinamori took a step closer.
"You don't look like you want to be alone."
"Hellooo? Seireitei to Toshiro?"
He came back out of his memories.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't call me that."
The boy looked confused.
"But isn't that your name?"
"Only people I know can call me that."
The other boy laughed.
"Alright, I'll be someone you know then! Nice to meet you!"
"When introducing yourself, shouldn't you give your name?"
"Oh, yeah. Haven't I already?"
Hitsugaya's eyebrows twitched. This guy's attitude was exactly like Hinamori's and it was really starting to piss him off.
"No, you haven't."
He said through gritted teeth.
"Ok, then, I'm Soujirou. Soujirou Kusaka."
"Welcome to 5th Division, I'm the Captain! Aizen Sosuke, pleased to meet you."
Hinamori stared.
He looked so kind, so nice.
"A-ah, um, I'm Hinamori Momo. Pleased to meet you."
The Captain smiled.
"Yes, I've been expecting you, Hinamori-kun."
He traced his hand across Hinamori's scar. It felt strange. Normally she would freak out if anyone besides Toshiro touched her scar, but with her new captain, she felt at ease and calm.
"So, your left eye . . ."
Hinamori gasped.
"Y-you can tell?"
Aizen nodded and softly stroked her hair.
"It's alright I won't tell. You tried so hard didn't you, Hinamori-kun?"
"Taicho . . ."
Hinamori felt her eyes well up with tears.
He understood her. Just by looking at her, he knew. She had thought that she had hid the fact from everyone very well. She reached up and touched her scar. How she wished she could erase that stain from her face. She wanted to look like all the other girls and be normal.
"Yes taicho,I-"
"Who trained you?"
"T-trained me?"
Hinamori thought for a moment.
"My childhood friend, Hitsugaya Toshiro. He helped me get into the Academy."
"Hitsugaya Toshiro."
Hinamori nodded.
Aizen smiled back and gently patted her hair.
"He must be a good friend. If you excuse me, I have something I must take care of."
"O-of course. It was nice meeting you, taicho!"
As soon as Aizen was out the room and into a corridor he stopped in front of a seemingly blank wall.
"Did you hear that, Gin?"
"O'course Aizen-taicho."
"It looks like we need to change some plans."
"Wha' do ya suggest we do?"
Aizen smiled again, but it wasn't his kind smile that he shown Hinamori.
"We wait."
~What is love? Is it when your emotions run so strong, it overpowers everything else? Is it when you do the most unpredictable things? If so, then why does it sound so much like . . . anger? ~
AUTHOR NOTE: Siggghhhhhh . . . I feel this chappie was basically a filler. The excitement will come next chappie is I get reviews "nudgenudgewinkwink".
P.S has anyone watched diamond dust rebellion? "coughkusakacough" :D
I thought he deserved a part!
ANYWAYS, just click that button, click it!
Aprilup