Chapter Text
- Disguise -
They always say that the sky is a different color when viewed from the Kidō Corps Watch Tower. It’s dark and gloomy just before the first ray of sunlight hits, scorching the clouds’ edges a deep crimson. The darkness before the light signals the start of the daily duties at the Kidō Corps, and before long the tower will be bustling with energy.
For now, all is quiet.
As you stare out across the blackened sky from the tower rooftop, you think to yourself that this is the one : the time you’ll finally get to capture the transition from darkness to light for your own eyes.
A bell goes off in the tower. It’s a deep, hollow sound that reminds you of the ceremonial bells at home. You close your eyes for a moment, engrossed in the comfort of familiarity and embrace the cool morning breeze. Yet when you open them again, after only a brief moment, the sky has been lit by the peeking sun. You slump your shoulders and sigh.
Then, you hear the voices below.
“What do you mean, she’s in the office?! There’s nobody here!”
“B-but I saw her come in a few minutes ago…”
“Damn, she fooled us again!”
As soon as you hear the commotion coming of footsteps and shouts, you immediately crawl to your feet in the quietest way you can manage. The roof’s tiles make it rather difficult to do so. Best get away before they ―
“There she is! Quick!”
The familiar male voice from behind belongs to Sakashita Jun , your second-in-command. So they’re here already . Your lips grimace in annoyance. “Tch.” A few more shouts and footsteps approach from below as your men climb and scramble to the roof, though just as they arrive you jump off, your teeth bared anxiously.
“ Bakudō #4: Hainawa! ”
“ Bakudō #9: Hōrin! ”
“ Bakudō #9: Geki! ”
You don’t even look back as their voices call out, summoning various kidō spells against you. Beams of energy―yellow, orange, and red―shoot towards where you stood just a moment ago while you drop, the spells flying over your head and missing by an inch. “Hah! It’ll be another thousand years before you can hit me with those!” You can’t help but laugh out cheerfully at their futile efforts of catching you, most of your voice drowned out by the whipping air around you.
Although the fall distance is quite huge, you land perfectly on the polished ground of the Seireitei in a firm crouch, barely lifting a small circle of dust around you. You stand and dust off the sleeves of your shinigami uniform, which are puffed up by the air.
“Later, nerds!” You crane your head back to blow a raspberry at the rooftop of the tower, though you doubt they can hear you from all the way down here. Their tiny heads retract from the edge, and your mind fills in the gap of what must be their curses. Jun, especially.
You make a run for it before they can even begin the chase in the vast Seireitei.
Now, you don’t consider yourself a particularly insubordinate person, but the daily tasks at the Kidō Corps are just so damn boring that you can hardly bear to even think about spending another day confined to that claustrophobic office, doing nothing but paperwork. The days have been calm in recent years, and while that’s certainly a good thing, you can’t imagine that anyone in a respectable military would not get bored of such a situation. You’ve completed all of the necessary tasks for the last two weeks! Can’t they cut you some slack for a few days?
Ever since you took over the operations of the Kidō Corps some decades ago as the Grand Kidō Chief and the Kidō Corps Commander , this farce has been something of a routine to you. You’re a hard worker―sometimes―and every once in a while you muster up the determination that you will not sit today , and lead your men on a wild goose chase across Seireitei. They’re not usually amused by this, but you’re the big boss around and there’s not much they can do but try to reel you back.
Besides , you’d argue, this is an excellent way of keeping your subordinates on their toes and practicing their skills during times of peace. You could swear that their reaction times have significantly shortened ever since you began pulling these escapes. And just look at that casting speed! You wipe a figurative tear from your eye and take a turn at a random corner.
Even though you’ve been in the Kidō Corps for a century, you don’t really keep track of where you go. In the past, you haven’t been able to make it very far beyond the perimeters of your organization before either getting caught or summoned back for legitimate duty. And since practically all of your duties only require you to be in one of two locations―the watch tower or the Senkaimon ―you actually haven’t travelled to many places in the large, circular Court. You don’t even know half of the Gotei 13 ’s Captain names! Today, however, looks like a good day for exploring .
You glance backwards at the tower, decide that it’s still not far enough, and shunpo a few blocks in another direction to put some more distance, and then again in a different direction as you conceal your reiatsu .
This should fool them for a little bit . You snicker at the thought, and keep running.
―
“Ah! I’m so hungry...”
After some time on the run― how long has it been, hours?! ―you’re rather out of breath, and the hunger in your stomach is finally making itself known. You clutch it and grumble softly. There’s more people on the streets now, mostly other shinigami , and if your fellows are to ask them about your whereabouts you’d be given a hard time to keep running. If only I thought of a disguise!
You are , however, wise enough to have brought a snack with you. Two rice balls, stuffed conveniently against your chest underneath your shirt. It’s definitely not to compensate for anything. Keeps them nice and warm, though.
Instead of curling up in a corner to eat your lunch depressedly, you opt for a comfortable spot on a nearby rooftop where you can bask in the sun. It’s such a lovely day outside, after all. Plus, you have a much better view up here, so if your subordinates are to approach you can easily spot them while you rest.
The tiles upon which you sit are a warm, golden color, and look rather lavish against the―pardon you―lame white paint of the walls. The majority of Seireitei is quite monochrome; the shinigami uniform is a fair testament of this, and even for yourself the only splash of color is the small knot in red string tied in the center of your obi sash.
You miss the gorgeous robes of unwed aristocracy.
“Oi, what the hell are you doing up there?!” Someone shouts in your direction just as you barely finish one of your rice balls. You turn and look down to see a man with bright red hair in a spiky ponytail. He looks irritated.
“I’m eating, can’t you see?” You reply as-a-matter-of-fact-ly, and wave your second rice ball at him. This seems to make him more angry.
“You can’t eat up there―this is the barracks, not some lunch location!” He yells back, frowning. “Get down here immediately and report your Division!” He obviously doesn’t recognize you, which is normal. Not many people in the Gotei 13 know who you are, just as you don’t know them.
“What, no!” You object, putting your rice ball away. “You have no right to question me, and I’m not even breaking any rules!” Unless, of course, there’s a written rule in the shinigami handbook that clearly states ‘ one is not to eat while on top of building roofs ’. You haven’t read the thing―does it even exist?
He bares his teeth and rolls up his sleeves threateningly. “Don’t make me drag you down by force, you brat!”
Your temper rises. “Who are you calling a brat?!” You hop to your feet, shaking a fist agitatedly. “You chili-pineapple-head!”
“What’d ya call me?!” He hisses, then proceeds to jump onto the same roof as you.
Okay, maybe provoking him was a bad idea… Although there’s no weapon on him, as per the legitimate non-wartime regulations of the Gotei 13, he’s definitely advancing with the intent of a fight.
“ Bakudō #21: Sekienton! ” You immediately call, drawing on your spiritual power and placing your hands on the beam of the roof. Instantly, a large puff of red smoke erupts from your hands, engulfing the area.
The man shouts incoherently, and you hear him tripping and falling, followed by the sound of something dropping to the ground and breaking. You glance down, and see a few shattered tiles on the floor. Shit! “Look what you did!” He growls despite his coughs, but sounds rather nervous himself.
“Hey, you’re the one who fell on it!” You retort through the smoke, covering your face. At the same time, you jump back and off the beam, landing on the roof of the building across. “Kiss my butt, red-pepper-man!” You taunt, and hop to the ground before continuing running.
Behind you, you hear the man’s voice grow increasingly small as you turn a corner, “Hey, get back here!” You choose to blissfully ignore him and keep going forward.
Unfortunately, you can’t afford to stop moving; even with that tiny spell you’d cast, you’re sure that your searching subordinates will be able to locate you, even though you’ve once again concealed your spiritual pressure. In fact, you can already sense their presence gathering this way.
You glance behind you as you run, and not seeing nor hearing them anymore you breathe out in slight relief. “Good, I think I’ve lost hi―ouch!” As you mumble to yourself, you fail to notice someone exiting a door and run into them at full speed! The force of the impact makes you bounce off the person, and you hiss as the solid floor kisses your derriere. “Ow, ow, ow, ow!”
A mere grunt comes from the person along with the sound of a sandal rub against the ground tile. “Watch where you’re going.” The voice is distinctly male, deep and stoic.
You look up to see a man, steel eyes cold and reflecting the slightest hint of annoyance mixed with surprise. He’s tall, slim, and elegantly beautiful, with long black hair and dressed in shinigami garb without a single wrinkle. Save for the one you just made, perhaps. You can’t help but gape your mouth in admiration: what a handsome man!
Feeling his gaze grow somewhat impatient, you’re reminded of your current situation. “I’m so sorry, mister!” You blurt out, quickly hopping to your feet and bowing in apology. “I was in a hurry and wasn’t looking―please forgive me!” As opposed to your attitude towards the red-haired man earlier, you put on your best behavior as you’re at fault here. Besides, that other guy did pick on you first. Better to act nice than not so you can get off the hook easier!
The man seems to completely ignore your apologies, and narrows his eyes slightly as he scrutinizes your face. “I have never seen you around before; which Division are you from?”
You almost sweatdrop. Why are these people all asking the same question? “Well, that’s…” You don’t really want to tell him you’re from the Kidō Corps, in case he sees you in the future again and just goes straight to report you to your organization. Somehow he looks like the type to do that… Besides, you’re not technically in any such Division that he must surely mean…
“There!”
You suddenly hear the slightly distant voice of Arakawa Kensuke , one of your subordinates, from behind. You flinch and turn your head in shock to the source, but see no one.
“I heard her voice over there!”
Crap! You quickly turn back to the stranger, whose expression harbors no change whatsoever. “Sorry, gotta go!” You say, preparing to run off again, but before that, “Ah, if anyone asks you about me, just say you have no idea! Bye now!” With a hopeful grin, you glance back at him, and shunpo into the distance, disappearing within seconds.
Somehow , you know he’s going to tattle on you.
He looks like the type, anyway.