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A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed! Meh lurves yeh all!
DISCLAIMER: Prince of Tennis © Konomi Takeshi, Bleach © Kubo Tite — I don’t own the characters (except the OCs) or ideas, okay?
NOTES: “Normal speaking.” / ‘Thinking.’ / “Flashback speaking.” / “Hollow speaking.”
CLARIFICATIONS: This is not a Tenipuri x Bleach crossover, okay? I’m merely telling a Bleach-based fic with the PoT cast instead of Bleach. Something like Akaya as Ichigo and Sakuno as Rukia. And let me notify you guys that I decided to make this take place on Akaya’s second year in high school. Sakuno’s supposedly a year younger. Some events in the PoT timeline may take place here, but in a high school instead of junior high setting… er, yeah…
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SHINIGAMI DAYS
© Doctor Meowzie
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It took Akaya quite a while to regain his composure after hearing what this girl standing on his window sill said.
“Shi…Shinigami?”
“Hai.” The girl, Ryuzaki, suddenly blinked and blushed, much to his wonder. She bowed again and said timidly, “Ah… Sorry if I hadn’t notified Kirihara-san of my arrival beforehand. Through the Bureau of Technological Research and Development, we had immediately detected a Hollow that appeared to feed on a little boy’s soul, and you, Kirihara-san, had also been there.
“It came to our superiors’ attention,” at this point, surprisingly, her gaze and voice had already steadied, both fully directed towards Akaya, “that Kirihara Akaya-san’s reiatsu was… above normal. Fellow shinigami who patrolled this town had also felt your reiatsu, Kirihara-san. One of us had even witnessed your death.”
“Ah… yeah. So I died,” Akaya stated flatly, unsure of how to react. “Died THEN came back to life. Is that even possible?!”
Sakuno paused, thinking of how to relay her explanation without shocking the life out of the young man. When her thoughts had arranged themselves, she smiled slightly and asked him, “Do you recall what happened after you died, Kirihara-san? Anything you saw from where you were?”
Akaya crossed his arms cockily and roughly yammered on his earlier misadventures.
“A chain had mouths on it, a merciless dungeon trapped me like a cage, then I was transported to a misty place where a gloomy-looking man gave me advice that were supposedly his words of wisdom, then all of a sudden I glowed and RAAAWR and came back to the real world looking like a samurai with a katana and I even killed that masked monster who—who… killed… Y-Yumetsu…”
Ryuzaki Sakuno noted how the downcast look on his face replaced the cocky one. She knew that expression; it was worn by someone who was sad, depressed, and guilty even, for not having accomplished what he must have vowed with his life. There was too much regret and hurt written all over—she had seen that face many times, worn by several different people, all by several different reasons. What she was seeing now was Kirihara-san blaming himself for failing to protect a precious friend, a soul, who he thought was now gone without a trace.
“Kirihara-san,” she began with a smile, taking a kind and comforting tone that she thought might sooth him even a little, “That boy was Yumetsu-kun, was it not? No, he was not eaten by the Hollow. He had undergone Soul Burial and is now safely in Soul Society. My—my colleague took care of that.”
Akaya looked at her questioningly. “Soul Burial…? What’s that?”
“It’s the ritual we Shinigami are supposed to perform to send wandering souls where they should be—Soul Society. Um… I—I guess it’s what humans here call ‘Heaven’.”
“You mean… he wasn’t eaten by that monster…?”
“Exactly,” she said truthfully.
Akaya felt relief flood his systems upon hearing that from the Shinigami—from her looks, he supposed she wouldn’t lie. Besides, she was a Death God, those beings who knew death more than anyone else and were deemed fictional and non-existent…
“Wait—So… so you Shinigami exist,” Akaya stated somewhat nervously. Was this cute-looking little girl of a Shinigami going to send him to this Soul Society since he had died back then? “Er… Ryuzaki-san, why are you here? In my room? And what was that monster…? And A Bureau of Technology—you even have those?!”
The Shinigami was silent for a moment, before answering. “I will explain everything you need to know, Kirihara-san, so please listen carefully.”
He nodded, making sure his attention is undivided.
Ryuzaki Sakuno jumped to the floor in his room and stood before him in firm solemnity, before she continued.
“The monster you saw earlier, Kirihara-san, is called a Hollow. They are ghosts, former souls of deceased humans who loose their heart when in despair, or having stayed in the human world for too long—that’s why we Shinigami should Bury them as soon as possible. They dwell in Hueco Mundo and are able to travel to the human world and Soul Society. Hollows feed on souls of the living and the dead, especially those with reiatsu, and differ in physical appearance.”
Akaya blinked a few times, his mind trying to digest what his ears had perceived. “Ah… er, yeah. I get it… but… reiatsu…?”
“Hai, reiatsu—‘spiritual force’. Yours, Kirihara-san was found to be quite high.”
“Ah… okay…”
She then continued. “Soul Society is a place where souls that have undergone Soul Burial go. While most go to the Rokungai, which divided into 320 districts, certain souls that possess quite an amount of spiritual force go to the Seireitei. They can become Shinigami through a six-year course at the Shinigami Academy. However, souls who have embraced evil and are too full of it cannot go to Soul Society. They end up in Hell.”
‘Whoa. A Bureau of Technology… even they have an Academy… And there’s a Hell…’ Akaya thought in none too evident amazement.
“Back to you, Kirihara-san, you were right. You did die. The chain that was attached to your heart proved that; its length would have determined the time you would stay that way, meaning once it completely deteriorates, you would have become a Hollow.”
Akaya involuntarily gulped. He realized he should thank that silver-haired man when the time comes…
“Then you told me that you came back to the real world ‘looking like a samurai’. You wore a black shihakushō with a katana, correct?”
He nodded slowly.
She smiled once again and said, “That was proof that you have earned powers like mine, Kirihara-san.”
His mouth hung, confused on how things had turned out. “What?”
“You’ve earned Shinigami powers.”
…
…
…
He must have already told anyone who had listened to his concern that he was such a normal boy. Now may he point out the facts that he had spent nine months in his mother’s womb, had grown thankfully healthy, had a body mass index which was deemed normal, had normal black hair and normal green eyes… and—to him it made the BIGGEST sense ever in his life—owned a school uniform AND a tennis jersey to boot! They all add up to the fact that he was human, and a normal one at that. No question about it.
But this girl… she’s proving him otherwise.
So he’s become a Shinigami…
That doesn’t mean he believed it a hundred percent.
‘Really, Akaya. Why not say ‘YAY!’?!’ he thought sarcastically.
Did his innate ability to see ghosts foretell any of this?!
What will happen to him now?
The female shinigami looked at him in an odd way, tilting her head as if to examine how serious he looked at the moment. “Ah… Kirihara-san?”
“Huh?” he blinked at her, noticing how she was standing over his sitting form in whatever ways his male mind would describe it as. He cleared his throat and pulled himself together. “Oh, yeah… Right.”
“Uh… so back to where we were, Kirihara-san…” she stood back at a distance Akaya labeled as ‘safe’ and continued, “Your evolution to a Shinigami despite the fact that you are still fully alive has caught Soul Society’s attention. So they sent me, a shinigami from the Seventh Division, to test your capability of becoming a Shinigami representative.”
He stared disbelievingly. “R-Representative?”
“Hai.”
“What do I do if I become one?” he asked.
“We shinigami balance the worlds by purifying Hollows and sending souls to where they should be. Once a representative, you are authorized to wield your zanpaku-to to purify Hollows and perform Soul Burial on souls. Many Hollows appear at random times each day, so having a representative is a big help.”
“Zanpaku-to?”
The girl nodded. “Hai. Zanpaku-to. That’s your sword, Kirihara-san. It is the solid form your spiritual power takes. Each shinigami has a unique one in possession.”
“Ah…” Akaya said, still unsure of what he has gotten himself into. “What do I get out of it?”
“Uhm…” she placed a finger on her chin pensively. “Well, you can visit Soul Society… and even Seireitei, Kirihara-san.”
After she spoke, a thought struck Akaya out of nowhere and he immediately voiced it out.
“Wait,” he stood up now, trying to talk in a firm and louder tone in protest, “What if I refuse? If I’m going to slaughter Hollows for most of my time, then it’ll cause a conflict with my schooling, tennis practices and tournaments!”
Ryuzaki Sakuno seemed taken aback by his opposition, but soon regained her calmness and responded, slightly shaking, “I-If Kirihara-san refuses… part of his memories involving his being a shinigami will be erased, including me and the memories of the ghosts you knew from the past—f-for reasons I have no knowledge of…”
Silence met her words.
Akaya pondered and weighed the possibilities; if he was going to take shinigami representative duties seriously, he’ll be purifying Hollows and be able to save souls to send them to this… er… Soul Society. Or Hell. Whichever. But in turn he might miss important tennis matches and opportunities to play with formidable players that might threaten his goal to be number one. Tennis was important; it was a rule and a fact in his life.
But if he refuses… his memories of Yumetsu will be erased. Won’t it be an insult to Yumetsu and their memories?
The girl spoke quietly, “Anou… it would be okay if Kirihara-san refuses. This isn’t compulsory; we’re only asking for help. But if you wish to go with it, you’ll be on probation under me for one month. If you meet certain qualifications—information about it is confidential, for reasons I again do not know of—you get a representative badge. Um… oh, and only humans with reiatsu like you can see shinigami and Hollows, Kirihara-san, since we’re of spirit particles…”
As Sakuno’s awkward tone trailed off in his ears, he remained quiet for a little longer; and when he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible.
“Can you give me time?”
She blinked curiously. “Anou… what did you say?”
“I need time to… think about it…”
“Ah—hai, it’s okay. I’ll just be around, Kirihara-san. Don’t worry too much…” she tried comforting the uncertain expression on his face with a smile of her own. “Well… I’ll be going then…”
Ryuzaki Sakuno disappeared in a flash, but Akaya had no time to be awed by such act.
He stood there, wordlessly staring at the spot where she had stood on, carefully thinking of what his decision should be.
TBC
Review are appreciated!
-Meowzie
06.24.07
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