Post by Darkoda on Jul 29, 2009 1:10:29 GMT -4
Shinigami
Name: Shimizu Rin (Last/First)
Gender: Female
Age: 509
Division: 13
Rank: Captain
Physical Description:
Rin is an odd shinigami. Unlike the majority of her peers, Rin stands tall at 6’2, much taller than the average Japanese woman. Her face is more mature looking than a teenager, with slightly sharper curves showing the face of a woman in her early twenties, along with dark gray eyes. She has a fair complexion, and a slender figure, with some curves and an average bust size.
Her hair is an enigma, while it was simply jet black when she was alive, as a spirit, when her spirit pressure increased, her aura blended with her hair colour to create an odd mix of black, violet, and red, giving her hair an exotic look, and causing some confusion as there is no way to know what colour actually fits her hair. It is long enough to reach just below her tailbone. Rin almost always wears her hair long, not bothering to put any more effort in hair style than tying a red ribbon to the bangs on the sides of the face, which she maintains is simply to keep the hair out of her face. That said, Rin does go through considerable lengths to keep her hair neat and clean, and adamantly refuses to cut it any shorter than it already is. Oddly enough, Rin also wears a wide brimmed black hat with pink streaks throughout.
Some higher ranked shinigami modify their uniform slightly as much as they can get away with it. Rin is pretty much forced to wear some semblance of the uniform as a captain. She wears a black kimono that stops just below her knees, that is decorated with pink and black butterflies. Her hakama is black as well, and the legs have streaks of light pink along them, the pattern giving the appearance of a blowing wind. Both articles of clothing are decorated with a level of realism that makes it very obvious that a lot of time went into making them. Her sash itself is also pink, and she wears sturdy black boots with pink streaks, instead of the regular sandals shinigami wear. The biggest deviation is in the haori though; her haori is a neon pink colour, with a white diamond on the back signifying her rank and more white markings along the haori where a normal one would have black markings. Rin generally simply drapes the haori over her back like a cloak, using a form of kido to keep it from blowing off while she is on the move.
Rin’s reiatsu is oddly coloured as well, a blend of a deep red and violet colour, creating a medley of colour that is somewhat enchanting to observe, despite the meaning behind it. Also, she carries a zanpakuto on her waist, along with a large umbrella across her back for ‘the shifting weather.’ While the reason behind the umbrella is unknown, she has been known to fight using only that umbrella and win. She is also known to keep a shihakuchi somewhere in her robe, along with some rapid cellular regrowth serums. Having one’s own research section is quite convenient.
Personality:
Rin has a bit of a volatile personality. She can stay calm and collected throughout on the outside, taking adversity in stride. As long as you’re on her good side, she acts a bit like a mentor, helping out others with their problems if they really need it, and generally being a nice enough person.
If one is persistent though, it will become apparent that while Rin is generally friendly, she will never show any kindness beyond simple acquaintances. She always keeps people a certain emotional distance away from her, avoiding attachments to others as much as possible. This is because Rin is of the set belief that anyone she relies on will eventually betray her trust. As such, she finds it best to never place any trust in people in the first place, which makes it quite difficult for her to make any friends. It takes quite a lot of work to gain enough of Rin’s trust for her to actually treat you as a friend.
That said, for the very few people who can actually gain Rin’s friendship, she is a very loyal friend, and will act to defend them whenever the situation arises as much as she is able. Rin highly values the few friendships that she is able to make, and will try very hard to maintain them. As a side note, Rin has a running record for the highest number of turned down suitors in Seireitei. Depending on their methods, her turn downs range from a polite refusal, to a kick in the groin.
Rin is far nicer to other people than her own subordinates most of the time. The reason for that is simple; she can tell much easier what the members of her division are up to. She holds her entire division to high standards, and she will become very harsh if she thinks that her subordinates are slacking off. That really isn’t all that surprising when one considers that her division is essentially the last resort when everything goes to hell in soul society. If they fall, the shinigami are likely screwed, and as such, they need to always be at their best. That’s what she tells them when they question her methods anyway. It doesn’t help matters when Rin is known for spending a good bit of her free time asleep, as far they know anyway.
Rin’s mentor like treatment of people has already been mentioned, but it should be noted that Rin also believes in letting people fight their own battles. She will generally refuse to intervene in another fight unless the situation is either important enough to warrant it, or if a fellow shinigami would die without any intervention, otherwise, they’re on their own. Many of her subordinates have learnt that lesson the hard way.
It’s been said that Rin’s personality can be a bit volatile. However, it’s not like the expected raging temper from a berserker; Rin’s temper is like a smouldering flame; speaking quite calmly, but it will be quite obvious that she’s annoyed; if the reiatsu pushing down on you doesn’t make it clear, the sharp tone in her voice would. That’s the warning before she likely ends up hitting you, which would probably send you flying. Of course, the right stimulus will make her go further to the point of actively trying to kill you; the main one that causes this is when people wake up Rin while she’s sleeping for no good reason. It’s understood in Division 13 that entering Rin’s room when she’s sleeping at night is the equivalent to suicide unless you’re Kubi.
Also keep in mind that Rin is a combat pragmatist; in a serious fight, she will aim to take you down immediately – no fooling around or test swings, her first strike will aim to kill. Yet she hesitates to use her bankai unless absolutely necessary, preferring to take on extra injury with her shikai over it, especially in populated areas.
Rin has a few interests when she isn’t making sure that her division is doing their job, or sleeping somewhere. She spends a considerable amount of time practicing her fighting skills, and typically trains the strongest battle oriented members of her division personally. She is very skilled at playing the shihakuchi, and typically performs at concerts and functions at Seireitei when she can be convinced to play. She is also surprisingly a good singer, although hearing her sing is a rare moment that typically only the members in her division get to bear witness to, when she’s not paying attention to who is around her. She is also quite adept at sewing, although she frequently downplays this skill; it’s not very hard for one to figure out though when you think about the blatantly custom clothes that she wears, along with the massive spools of thread and fabric within the 13th division.
Despite her demeanour of always being in control, Rin can be easily flustered if you bring up her less battle oriented skills. She’s embarrassed about them for some reason, and this makes it a bit of a chore to convince her to show any of them publicly, hence the reason why getting her to play is hard, and singing even harder. So far, no one is known to have managed to convince her to make any clothing, but there are some stubborn people on her good side that are trying to wear her down.
Rin’s relations to almost everyone are pretty much the same; if you attack her, she will attack back. If you’re a risk to the lives of innocent people, she’ll likely attack you. If you aren’t causing any trouble, she’ll ignore you or at most just observe your actions. She doesn’t particularly care otherwise whether you’re shinigami, hollow, vizard or anything else. The only person who really registers as something special is Kubi, who she sees as a little brother. While she may be a bit protective of him, and certainly lets him get away with things that no one else would, Rin is not overly maternal, no matter what her zanpakuto spirits say. Her over-reactions are perfectly natural.
Rin enjoys eating spicy foods, and milk drinks, and enjoys strawberry flavoured ice-cream the most. She will perpetually deny the reason being that strawberry flavoured ice-cream is pink, despite it being quite obvious that pink is her favourite colour. She has an incredibly high alcohol tolerance, although she doesn’t drink enough to become drunk, because hangovers are a pain in the neck and head to deal with later.
History:
In the year of 1500, around forty years into the Senjoku Jidai, within one of the insignificant villages in a province near Kyoto, a peasant mother was in the throes of labour, a mid-wife from the village hovering over her. The family itself was a bit better off than the others in the village; which in this time period meant that they were slightly less poor, and could actually afford a mid-wife’s fee. It was for the best; they needed one. Throughout the pregnancy, it was a wonder that the mother didn’t die during labour with the amount that she was bleeding, but the ability to actually pay for medical care kept everyone alive. Normally, a father would be a bit displeased of giving birth to a girl instead of a man, but with the kind of money he had to drop down, logic dictated that he suck it up and get over it. Also, the girl’s first action being to bite his hand instead of crying said that she was a lot tougher than the standard child, under a mask of beauty, if the tufts of her jet-black hair were anything to go by.
The mother looked at her child’s red-violet eyes, and named her after the rose they resembled. Her father promptly over-ruled her while his daughter was busy trying to gnaw off his fingers, and named her Rin for some unknown reason. The mother let it go, too entranced by the aura that she feeling off her daughter; it was faint, but she had the spark to be a shrine maiden like she was.
Rin’s childhood was as bright as it could be given the circumstances. As her parents were vassals under the daimyo of the area, they had to maintain certain standards, and as such Rin was trained in the things expected of women in the time; cooking, cleaning, weaving, dance, and music lessons. She took quite a shine to the music; she was especially gifted as playing flutes, and managed to attract crowds of people every time she chose to play. That said, she was quite the tough and adventurous child despite her mother’s protests, and frequently ditched studies and snuck out of her house to play in the village, and showed up at home a few hours later – whether off her own volition or by force, with an assortment of dirt patches, ripped clothes, and depending on the day, more than a few bruises and split knuckles. The girl had one hell of a punch. Her mother mourned the violent tendencies her little shrine maiden was picking up, despite her aura growing in strength. On the other hand, her father was never prouder when he heard that she beat up a kid twice her size – granted, he had to conceal a wince about how she did it, but it showed promise. He promptly started giving her training on self-defence; it was convenient really, with the building tensions and uprisings, it was possible that the daimyo’s enemies would try to get at them for information, and their daughter was an easy target.
Two years later, her father’s sucking up to the current ruler of Japan got him promoted to a much more influential position, working directly under the current head of the Hosokawa clan. The official notice, along with the pay raise, came a few days before Rin’s seventh birthday, and her parents decided to get her a special birthday gift; a shakuhachi. Being a very curious child, well experienced in messing with her parents’ stuff, along with the great benefit of being quite capable of reading, Rin found out about the gift long before and promptly entered a hyper fit of glee. A shakuhachi was the epitome of high class flutes and did not come cheap; to give her that meant that they trusted her enough to maintain it – it showed a great deal of trust in her.
The eve of her birthday, she was far too excited to fall asleep, and thus late night found her tiptoeing around her house, searching for that flute. During her miniature expedition, she heard noises that did not come from her; she was far too experienced to even make noises, and her parents were not that quiet.
Being the intelligent girl that she was, she promptly went to her parents’ room to inform them about the current situation, and ran right into her father, armed with that samurai blade of his. She found herself pulled off to a corner of the room by her mother, as her father challenged the intruder. Her blood red eyes took in the fight, as both combatants got cut in various places, before her father snuck in past the assassin’s guard and cut him deeply in the chest. His blade spun around and carved an odd-looking arc into his flesh as the samurai dived to the side, and sunk his blade into her father’s side.
Rin watched her father fall, as her mother grabbed her mouth to muffle the scream that would never come. She just simply too shocked to actually find a voice, and her mouth was just hanging open. She didn’t notice anything besides her father’s body until her mother stuck two papers onto her skull, and she lost all feeling in her body.
“Don’t worry, those seals will hide you from untrained eyes.” To her credit, her normally meek mother didn’t even flinch under the death glare she was getting – or laugh really; a death glare from a seven year old girl was one of the least intimidating things in the world. The former shrine maiden placed her rag-doll daughter in a corner of the room, and kneeled over her in prayer.
“He’s here for us, and you’re known to sneak out; if he doesn’t see you, he won’t look think much of it. Live safely Rin, we have family members who will come by to get you. I’m sorry that we couldn’t get to spend more time with you….goodbye.”
Rin could only watch when the man walked into the room, and his mother turned to face him, gripping the tanto she kept hidden in her robes. Rin knew what was going to happen, but couldn’t turn her eyes away; they were locked on the figure of her parents’ killer. He wasn’t very tall, he looked like a teenager maybe, and had long crimson hair. His father’s blade went further than she thought; the cut went from his chest straight to his cheek in a curved slash. The most piercing thing about him though, was his eyes. You really didn’t forget eyes that were such a piercing gold colour, yet so cold, even when cutting through her mother’s flesh. He did a quick glance of the room while cleaning his blade, and focused on where she was for a few seconds. For that time, Rin wondered if he was capable of seeing her, or if her mother’s seals broke with her death and she was just paralysed with fear. It was odd, she was afraid to die, but she wouldn’t really mind, at least she would be with her parents again.
The man apparently didn’t see her though, as he just walked away, slipping out the door into the night. Rin just sat there, staring at her mother’s fallen body as her blood pooled around her. Really, the seal wasn’t even necessary; she couldn’t think of anything to do besides just sitting there. How long she stayed there, she didn’t know, not even reacting when some guy dressed in all black stepped into the room.
“So, we were too late……..”
Too late? So he was supposed to guard them? Fine job he did.
“First Hosokawa Masamoto gets killed in the bath, and then they decide to be thorough and kill everyone who openly supported him, and either they got a professional to do it, or Shimizu’s a worse fighter than I thought.”
Okay, so he failed at his job, and now he was blaming her father? She would go over and punch him, but she was still pretty much a ragdoll.
“Hey, if you can glare at me like that, you can get up and walk. I’m not waiting all night for you brat.”
So he could see her? Well that was just great, now if only he would take the seal off her head. Upon voicing this, her ‘saviour’ had a gem of advice for her.
“Take it off yourself, you’re not a baby.”
Well Rin could tell one thing about this guy already; she was not going to like him. Ever.
“If your parents didn’t show you how to do even that, no wonder they fell so easily. The whole family’s pathetic.”
Okay, this guy was definitely getting kicked between the legs a few times. He did not insult her parents and expect to get away with it.
“You little arrogant half-rate guard, who are you to talk about my parents! You were the one who failed in your guard duty twice in one night! You’re probably going to get yourself executed for being such a terrible guard. I’m sure that I can beat you in a fight you worthless –“
Rin’s rant that was very quickly going to turn physical got cut short by the sound of an object hitting the ground. The annoying guard’s eyes lit up in surprise and…happiness? What was he pleased about? His eyes bent down to her feet, and she followed the path to an expensive looking flute, that rolled off her lap when she stood up. She picked up the shakuhachi and just stared at it for awhile, while the weight of her parents’ death came crashing down full force. Yet she refused to utter a sound in front of the ass she was being forced to deal with.
“Hey, enough of the tears.” The guy was standing right in front of her now. Just how did he move that fast? Or was she losing track of time?
“You can mourn their deaths all you want, but do you want to avenge them?”
She looked up at him, tears still flowing from her blood-red eyes, and gave him the most determined look she had ever summoned in her life. Her answer was clear, and her new guardian smiled.
“Then come, you have a lot to learn about the Hebi clan. You have the reiatsu to break a binding seal already; you can go far if you work for it.”
“I have what?”
After the assassination of the head of Hosokawa Masamoto, the clan fell into an internal conflict between the two sons, which came to a stand-still when the Ōuchi clan put Yoshitane back in control of the shogunate. This sparked a shadow battle between the two clans over just who got to pull the strings of Japan’s puppet government. The Sengoku Jidai was really starting, and between the civil wars and assassinations, it was a wonder that Japan managed to rebuild itself, but Kyoto was eventually restored from the burnt out husk it used to be during the Onin war, and the Hosokawa clan had set up residence there. The capital was in a reasonable state of peace, the warring clans preferring assassinations and small skirmishes to outright wars there.
This of course meant that the samurai were always busy, and had to be always on guard lest they find themselves dead. It was a rare moment when they got a break, and one such samurai was taking his in one of Kyoto’s many brothels. Hey, a guy needed a break, and this brothel was famous for its younger women. Granted, that made them pricey, but it was worth it. He wasn’t in the brothel for a minute before he saw the most beautiful girl in his life. She had such a fair complexion, and that black hair, with a hint of something ethereal. She fit right into his tastes; a girl just budding into a woman, if those breasts on her said anything. And to top it off, she was coming to him, clearly taken in by his charming looks. It was most likely why she offered him a free night if he could keep up with her anyway, since considering how young she looked, he didn’t doubt that he could out-last her in anything. Anyway, she led him to a vacant room, pulling him in with that siren’s voice of hers. He wanted to question her rush, but a deep kiss wiped that thought from his head.
“Come on, show me what you got…”
He was more than happy to oblige, and made a beeline for the robe she wearing. It hid far too much for his tastes. A quick parting of the robe by the collar, and the samurai was finally able to feast his eyes on the woman’s mounds. He was paralysed by the sight of them, to the point that he couldn’t even reach out to touch her as he so wanted to right now.
It took about ten seconds for it to sink in that he really was paralysed.
The lady leaned in close to him, stroking her hand across his body. For a short moment, he entertained the thought that maybe she didn’t realise his predicament yet, and thus wasn’t the one who drugged him. She put a quick end to that when she pulled a tanto from her robes.
“Now, now, you’re quite the careless samurai for a high ranking guard. Guess when I poisoned you.”
She then proceeded to pull out the hidden papers he had on his person, fix her robe, and then started casually leafing through them while he tried with everything within him to summon the strength to fight back.
“Oh right, you wouldn’t be able to talk, not with what I put in you anyway. Ah well, I’ll tell you what, that poison will wear off by tomorrow. If you help me, I wouldn’t have to use this blade on you.”
The samurai was silent, but then he couldn’t speak, could he?
“I’ll take that as a yes. Tell me, do you know a pale man with red hair and golden eyes? He also has a curving scar across his right cheek, like the beginning of an inward spiral. Blink once for yes.”
The samurai’s eyes first showed confusion, then remembrance before he blinked once. Of course he knew the guy, he was a bit infamous.
“Next question, do you know his name?” Another blink. Progress. She pulled out a vial and poured one drop in the samurai’s throat.
“Okay, you should be able to move enough to start forming words. Start talking.”
“You….bitch….”
If he had more to say, it was interrupted by the sharp kick he got to his ribs. With the drug running through him, it took awhile before he caught his breath again.
“If I have to do that again, I’m going to break something. What is his name?”
“He’s the kaishi…..”
“I want his real name, everyone knows the name he goes by.”
Since he did technically answer her, he got away without any pain, but her heel on his finger dictated that another unsatisfactory answer would end quite badly.
“No one knows his real name…..Wait, wait! I know where to find him!”
“Oh? Do share then.” She was clearly dead serious; she was just about to crush the thumb of his sword hand.
“He is supposed to be showing up at a meeting on Osaka, the location’s in the papers you took.”
She finally looked satisfied with him now. While taking in the information, she pulled out another vial and poured a few more drops of it into his mouth.
“When you wake up, you’ll be able to move again. Goodbye, samurai.”
The man just stared at the woman who bested him, making a silent vow to get revenge when he woke up.
Rin watched the samurai fall into a peaceful slumber, probably plotting her death. She wasn’t concerned, considering that he wasn’t ever waking up with the poison that she put in him. Having to actually kiss the man to get it done was necessary, but still quite disgusting, and she really felt like stabbing him when his eyes glued onto her chest. At least it was worth it in the end; she accomplished her mission and got information on her own personal target. A quick trip out of the window, and by the time anyone checked the room the next day, she was long gone.
Then she had to report to that ass. He was pleased about how quickly she took care of the target and got the information, but he was still complaining about how she did it.
“Just what did you do to tire yourself out so much?”
Rin shovelled some more rice into her mouth before bothering to answer him again – she was not letting her food get cold over this.
“I told you already, I had to take a dose of the paralysis drug to get it in him.” She pointedly ignored his twitching eyebrow.
“Why? You could have just killed him and taken the papers from his corpse! Just because you got the ability to –“
“I use my skills as I please. It got the job done, and you know exactly why I didn’t kill him outright.”
“Yes, your obsession for revenge, your obsession that is going to lead straight to your death –“
“My obsession that you started.”
“The older man rubbed his temples, trying to stem the headache that was forming.
“I regret using that means to wake you up, but honestly, you’re literally aiming to commit suicide.”
“I’m not changing my mind, I will see the Kaishi dead, and then I can finally pass on to see my parents.”
“Then I hope that you never see the end of your quest.”
Rin could understand the grief she was putting her sensei through; in some ways, the guy likely saw her as a daughter since he took her in, but this was a journey that she was set on finishing. When her parents died, her soul died with them, and all that was left was this shell, only fuelled by the desire for revenge.
After a few more arguments, the night written in the papers she stole came around. It was a gathering of members of an opposing clan, and Rin was sent with a team of ninja to gather any valuable information, but more importantly, to ensure that no one left that meeting alive. The rumour of the Kaishi showing up was the main reason behind the elite strike force, instead of simply sending in some samurai to handle to job. Of course that didn’t stop them from sending in samurai anyway; they were quite convenient decoys to draw out the troublesome targets and trip any traps in the area. Like that arrow trap. Or those hidden darts. Nasty things they were.
When it appeared that all the surprises were sprung, the strike force made their move, weaving their way through the shadows while the remaining samurai did battle with the others in the room. It wasn’t very hard to simply take out the stragglers of the party, although a couple of them managed to slip away at the last moment. Not that they were going to get far with Rin chasing after them…
The actual battle was quick; she came out from the bushes, taking out one of the officials with a slash to the torso, and then stabbing his guard through the eye in the same motion before he could even draw his sword. The final official chose to stand up and fight, but he only managed to get in one swing before he too fell to the ninja’s blade.
While they weren’t much as fighters, the group certainly could run; in the few minutes head-start they managed to get, they made it to the outskirts of the city before she caught up to them. She hadn’t had to chase someone down for that long in awhile.
A slight noise, like a chain rattling, was all the warning that Rin got before a sickle came flying straight for her skull. It was a quick roll that kept her head on her shoulders, as she threw a couple of daggers at the masked man, which he evaded, throwing his other sickle right at her, simultaneously pulling at the first one. That didn’t go as planned since Rin had grabbed the chain, moving out of the way of the other sickle while dragging the man straight towards her. That look of surprise on his face stayed there as he got literally yanked towards her like a rag-doll, and had a small blade shoved through his heart.
Anything else trying to kill me today?
The sound of panicked foot-steps drew her attention, but she only got a glance of crimson hair before the owner vanished around the corner.
Crimson hair? Could it be?
She was off like a flash, chasing after the mystery man. The sheer speed the man was moving at just reinforced her convictions about his identity. No normal person was capable of actually out-running her, he had to be a specialist. The chase lasted until the man dived into a crowd of people, weaving through busy roads and alleys. He definitely knew how to lose someone, and sure enough, Rin eventually lost track of him.
“Tch. Next time you little assassin.”
While the strike went well, her sensei didn’t appreciate her running off on her own after the Kaishi, and as such, Rin found herself on shopping duty. She would have argued being recognized on the street, but it’s not like anyone would recognise her through her mask when she was working. She was busy carrying along about a ton of rice, when she got unwanted company from a couple of drunks who wanted to help her carry the heavy barrels of rice. Right, she clearly needed help from drunken idiots when she was clearly walking with no strain. Granted, it was quite odd for anyone to carry those things without breaking a sweat, for less a woman, but if they had a problem with it, they were smart enough not to mention it. These guys were clearly too far gone to understand the meaning of no though. Just when she was going to beat the three of them into the ground, a voice came up behind all of them.
“I believe the lady told you to leave her alone.”
They all turned to watch the new arrival. The first thing that registered to Rin was the crimson hair, and she reflexively tensed up until she noticed his distinct lack of a scar. It helped that his hair was also much shorter, and he looked about her age; the Kaishi should be in his twenties by now.
“Just what…..are you going to do about it boy?”
With that, one of the drunks charged at the kid, and found himself slammed into the ground by the sheath of a sword. The other two chose to rush him together and met the same fate.
“I told you to leave her alone.”
“I could have dealt with it on my own.” Some people would say that she should have been more grateful; some people did actually, they were in the middle of the street, but she really didn’t need the help, and she didn’t need some young samurai going off on an ego-trip.
“I know, but you might have broken your rice barrels if you fought them.”
She couldn’t really argue with that; she likely would have broken one of them over their heads, and then she would have had to get another barrel.
“Well, thanks then.” Conversation over.
“By the way, may I ask your name?”
He wanted her name now? He may have saved her an extra walk, but that didn’t mean that she was going to swoon all over him.
“Just why should I tell you that?”
“Ah, my apologies, I should give you my name first, I-I’m Kasumi Masa.”
“…..Fine, I’m Shimizu Rin. Just why are you blushing so much anyway?”
“Well….. it’s because you’re a very beautiful woman.”
Rin’s face started glowing as red as Masa’s hair….or his face for that matter, it seemed that admitting that sent him into another blushing frenzy.
“You….you….I’m going now.” With that, Rin promptly grabbed the rice barrels and took off, trying to control her blush.
Fortunately, the redness faded away by the time she got back; she would not have liked explaining that to the others. They would never have let her live it down, and she didn’t need them jumping to any conclusions – she did not like the guy.
The fact that when she ran into him again a few days later she spent a good chunk of the day talking to him didn’t mean anything either.
Time passed again, and brought about some more changes. The country of Japan itself was far more prosperous after initiating trades with China, but the clans were still going through their wars. The biggest battles were between the Hosokawa and Onin clans, both fighting for control over the puppet shogunate. Due to the nature of the wars, assassins and ninjas were kept very well employed.
As for Rin, after her sensei followed her and found out exactly what she was doing with free time now, after she dealt with the entire clan harassing her over ‘finally finding love’, they were quite happy that she found something to keep her among the living after she finished her quest. Although it didn’t look like it was ending anytime soon, in seven years she only ran into the guy about five more times, and all their fights kept getting interrupted.
Over the seven years, she did end up getting closer to Masa, even though she still couldn’t figure out how that happened. She just kept running into the guy repeatedly, and he ended up rubbing off on her. It likely had something to do with the fact that he was the only guy around her age to take an interest in her without being a pervert about it. Rin was the one who had to push the issue for them to advance their relationship; the guy was far too timid for his own good.
Those thoughts should have been for another day, but Rin was currently on route to meet the guy on her thoughts. He had said that it was something important eventually, after stuttering quite a bit about it. He had to choose tonight of all night to do it though; she was supposed to be acquiring certain documents from a castle belonging to the Onin clan, and with the time-frame that Masa gave her, she had to move double time to deal with the documents, drop them off, then meet him - she may be a bit rebellious, but she wouldn’t let her personal issues take that much precedence over her job.
She barely felt the darts stab into her shoulder – they sent out the experts if she couldn’t even sense them coming. From her lack of muscle movement, they had some potent paralysis serums too. Definitely the elite assassins.
Rin unceremoniously fell out of the tree she was in, and was promptly grabbed by two men dressed in ninja garb. Out of the corner of her eye she saw six more walking out. That ruled out a random patrol, not like the chances of that was very high to begin with. So either they’re the security force sent after her, or she got set up. Seeing that she killed the security force, that left the latter – there was a mole in their operations who was going to have a very unpleasant death for wasting her time like this, she had better things to do with her time.
“So, this is the master Hebi ninja that Kaishi told us about? She doesn’t seem like much.”
“Yet you came with eight people and poisoned me first. What does that say about you?”
A kick to the stomach, how very original. They also couldn’t be that bright if they forgot that they paralysed her, so she wouldn’t feel them hitting her in the first place.
“So, just how did you manage to find me?” Might as well get to the point.
“Weren’t you listening? The kaishi told us where to find you. He also told us to poison you first before you got the chance to fight back. We thought that it would be a waste for you to die so easily though, not when you had so much information to tell us first.”
The only thing that Rin had focused on was that the kaishi somehow knew where she was going to be. It was one thing for a random mole to be the cause, but just how did he find out? Time to quiz the gullible ones.
“I can’t believe that he was willing to court the enemy for so long, just for this. That’s cold, even for me.”
Court the enemy? Okay what was this, a sad misdirection attempt in the event that they botched the killing? She, her sensei, and half her clan stalked Masa lots of times, and nothing odd came up about him. If they couldn’t find anything, the person was clean.
“I bet all of you at the Hebi clan thought that you were the only ones with special abilities. Guess what the kaishi’s is? Here’s a hint; it’s quite convenient for hiding certain tell-tale marks about you.”
Well that was straight-forward enough, so the Kaishi could mask himself as other people? Did that mean that he….eww. It would also explain the lack of Masa if the guy impersonated him, and killed off the real one. The assassins figured that she got the idea from the look on her face.
“Such a useful ability, isn’t it? Now time for you to talk woman, or do you need some motivation?”
A burning building, in a clearing within a forest. Outside of the roar of the flames, no sounds were to be heard, which suited the only living person there just fine. He had just finished his latest job, but he was waiting for the presence that he felt to arrive. It appeared that he had one more person to deal with tonight.
He felt the small pricks on his skin, and while pulling out the darts, he raised his head towards the support pillars, staring at the person on top with a blank look on his face.
“So, how long?”
He didn’t answer; it didn’t need an answer, she wasn’t asking a question. All his silence did was confirm what she already knew by now.
“So, was it an act from the beginning, or did you actually have some sense of guilt over it?”
After a few tense seconds, he answered with the truth.
“It wasn’t planned. I met you the day after, and needed a reason for why I was staring at you, otherwise you might have caught on. If it helps, it wasn’t a complete lie.” A sigh. “I simply had to put my duty above everything, even my heart.”
“….I see, and I suppose you want to know how I lived. It’s quite simple, I can purge any poison from my body, and your associates have big mouths.”
He could feel the chill in her eyes now, despite the heat of the room. She was never going to forgive him, and he couldn’t blame her – he would never forgive himself for this.
Rin drew her blade, the sound of the metal echoing throughout the room.
“A useful ability, hiding the scars on your face, and shortening your hair. That would be how you recognised me; you saw my reiatsu. It doesn’t matter though. Those darts will kill you by sunrise, but I will kill you long before dawn breaks.”
He steeled himself for what would likely be his hardest fight, as Rin said the last words he would hear from her.
“Prepare yourself, Masa.”
The fight was quick; the music of their blades clashing playing to an empty house, as the flames raised in intensity and threatened to collapse the entire building on the performers. The act was short though, ending with both participants impaled on each other’s blade, both receiving a fatal wound. They both collapsed next to each other, waiting for the inevitable end.
“I am sorry Rin.”
“Somehow I doubt that. You manipulated me for seven years, that’s quite heartless. Most people have a bit more morals than that.”
“I don’t suppose that you will ever forgive me?”
“Not even in death. If I see you, I will kill you again.”
“I thought as much.”
The dawn broke on the forest clearing, the burnt out building providing a stark contrast to the green forest. A masked figure walked into the ruins, stopping at the pair of bodies, somehow still in one piece despite the fires.
“So, your journey has ended Rin. I hope that you at least find peace in the afterlife.”
He picked up the body of the woman; she would probably want to be buried with her parents.
Rin didn’t particularly care about what became of her body at the moment; she was still wondering what kind of screwed up version of the afterlife she was stuck in. The place looked like Kyoto at the beginning of the Sengoku Jidai; destroyed buildings, thieves and murderers running about, and everyone suffering. She would have thought that she landed in the wrong place if someone didn’t confirm that this really was the afterlife. Apparently she was in District 68, and it was supposed to get better as she got closer to the Soul society, which was supposed to be monitoring things here. They were clearly doing a fabulous job.
Her first priority was to find a weapon – with how bad the people were here, she was going to need it. Then clothes – all she had was her ninja outfit that looked like it was about to fall apart - and she had to get food, she was starving. Maybe she should have eaten something on her last day alive –
It took far more willpower than Rin knew she even had to suppress the memories that came up when she thought about that. It was the past now, she couldn’t dwell on it forever, and she would eventually move on, but for now, it was best to not think about it. She couldn’t afford distractions here.
“You look like you’re new around here.”
Rin glanced up at the body the voice came from. He was probably the ugliest person she had ever seen, covered in scars, and missing part of his nose, along with a few teeth. The sad thing was that the scars made him look better. It made Rin worried about what he looked like before the scars. He was also carrying around a nodachi with a broken hilt-guard, and a blade that looked like it had seen better days, but it would do for a weapon, especially with his five goons backing him up.
“I’d take your money and beat you up a bit, but you look like you have nothing to steal. Pity, it looks like I’ll just have to extract your living tax from your body. You shouldn’t mind, you look like you’ve been around anyway.”
The guy’s eyes were fixed on her breasts throughout the entire diatribe. It was likely him being a pervert, but he could have been used to having to look down on people; it wasn’t often that you met a 6’2” person, and it must have been new for him to have someone his own height. It likely must have been rarer for his extortion attempts to fail – he definitely looked surprised when Rin grabbed his arm as he lunged for her, and kneed him in the stomach. As the air rushed out of his lungs, the goons started coming in, but they all stopped in their tracks when Rin took the head guy’s sword and beheaded him with it.
Blood still dripping from the blade, Rin stood there as the headless man’s blood sprayed into the air, landing all over her. Well she needed new clothes anyway…
“You can swear allegiance to me, or try fighting me and die. Choose quickly.”
Four of them chose to rush her at once, using their number advantage. Rin used her reach and strength advantage to cut all of them down in one swing, blades and all. She shook off the blood, looking over her new guide.
“Explain everything you know about this place, and show me where I can get clothes, water and food. Preferably do this all at once.”
The guy looked ready to faint, but he rushed to follow her orders, and actually did everything quite efficiently. The guy could prove to be a useful pawn.
-----------
A group of shinigami were passing through District 68 on patrol; not because the district was acting up, but because it was quite quiet. Far too quiet considering where it was, so they were assigned by the third division captain to investigate the situation, lest Rukongai be planning an uprising against Soul Society again. Upon entering the town, they noticed that everything was quiet, but all the residents appeared tense. A couple of them took off running as soon as they saw the shinigami, and while that wasn’t at all uncommon in the Rukongai, the shinigami chose to follow them on the off chance that they might lead to the cause of the odd peace.
The villagers ran into a bar, after taking enough twisting paths to thoroughly lose almost all of the shinigami. Things were getting even more suspicious now – normal villagers did not have the skill to pull that off, the men were clearly well trained. They entered the bar cautiously, as all eyes were immediately fixed on them, and they didn’t look happy. The shinigami knew that they were generally unpopular in the lower numbered districts due to their lack of help though, so they ignored the looks, instead focusing on a woman sitting in a corner, with clear line of sight of the door; she was hard to miss really, with that freaky hair colour. She clearly had reiatsu, even though it didn’t seem like much, and she definitely looked like she was in charge, if the fearful looks that the men they followed were giving meant anything. Those gray eyes of hers promised that they were not going to like what she would do later for their mistake.
“Just what does Soul Society want down here?”
Her voice sent shivers down everyone’s back. It was just so emotionless, frozen like the tundra. The shinigami weren’t going to be repelled by just that though.
“We’re here to investigate rumours of an uprising, and to bring in potential suspects for questioning, which you are.”
“So you’re here because someone is actually doing your job and keeping this area peaceful, and you’re afraid that we’re going to somehow attack you. Well there isn’t, so you can go back to ignoring everyone in Rukongai now.”
The shinigami disagreed, and one of them tried to pull the woman out by force. In retrospect, they all admitted that the fact that none of her lackeys moved to stop them was an obvious warning of how dangerous the woman was, but she was just a regular villager with some minor spirit pressure, what could she do?
None of them even saw the woman’s hand move before she had grabbed the shinigami’s wrist and squeezed. The sounds of bones breaking rang loudly throughout the bar, followed by the man’s screams as he clutched his broken wrist. His screams didn’t last long though, as the woman stood up and punched him in the nose, sending him across the room, already out cold before he hit the floor.
“Next.”
One of the seated officers in the group took control, drawing her zanpakuto and charging at the woman. Her target turned around to glare at her, and all the unseated shinigami, along with some of the patrons with reiatsu, were slammed to the floor by the sheer weight of her reiatsu. The red-violet aura surrounding her gave her a deadly appearance, even as the aura flaked off into petal shaped flecks at the edges. The shinigami hesitated, and that earned a kick to the chest which sent her into a wall, the blood she was coughing up along with her rattled breathing suggesting that she had a few broken ribs from the encounter.
The other seated officers were a bit more wise, and when their target drew a nodachi, they responded by casting all manner of bakudo on her, binding her tightly. For good measure, they made sure to knock her out after. The group unceremoniously grabbed the woman and her sword, and sent her off to Soul Society along with the injured while the rest stayed behind to interrogate the locals.
Rin was not pleased. She was perfectly content keeping her district under some sense of order, she didn’t need the shingami bothering her. Now they were ticked off that she beat a couple of their seated officers, when they should be more concerned about how weak they were if they lost so easily. Maybe that was why they didn’t come to the lower districts; most of them were too weak to survive. That didn’t explain her being bound in reiatsu suppressing handcuffs in front of some old man in a white haori, and a couple of shinigami.
The old man spoke up first. “You are being charged with assaulting two shinigami, and nearly killing them. However, investigations have shown that you haven’t been planning any uprisings, and all the residents agree that you have been protecting the District for about a century.”
“So, why am I still here?”
“Because you have nowhere to go back to. While you were being brought here, hollows attack the district. Most of the villages were killed in the assault, and only one shinigami and a villager made it back alive.” He paused for this news to sink in, then continued.
“You are a powerful warrior, the Gotei 13 could use a fighter like you at its ranks. You would be more capable of protecting the others, and fighting against hollow.”
“Why would I want to join? You guys clearly don’t have the best training program if a mob of shinigami got beat by some hollows; we get in fights with them every couple of days, and while I’m there we don’t have problems winning.”
“How about this? Enter the Academy, and if at the end you wish to leave, you can walk away. If you agree to this, we’ll forget about the assault charges. It’s normally six years, but with your skill it would probably take you less time. It would take time for us to clean up the area anyway, and you would have free room and board here.”
“….Fine, but you’re also providing shelter to the other survivor.”
“That is fine.”
“Good, now can you unchain me? These things are uncomfortable.”
That was certainly an odd way of getting drafted, but it worked out well enough for Rin; she got free lodgings for a few years instead of having to find a new home, and she didn’t get jailed. Maybe she might actually learn something useful in the academy, but she doubted it.
The next four years at the shinigami academy were a breeze. Her time as a ninja, and living in Rukongai made her the top of the class at zanjutsu; it got to the point that she skipped the first two years, and got to start at the kido courses. Learning how to channel her reiatsu like that was a blast, and while she had to learn control, her sheer reiatsu was enough to make her kido quite strong. The only thing that she was even having problems with was communicating with her zanpakuto. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t make any progress in that direction. It didn’t particularly matter though, she was at the top of the class, and had her pick of squads to join if she decided to stay; it didn’t seem like such a bad idea, the shinigami were actually given access to good training, it was just that most of their soldiers were naturally pathetic, the Gotei 13 couldn’t help that. She had enough of the ninja/assassin life, maybe division 3, to teach those idiots how to patrol properly. Division 11 seemed like a blast too though, a bunch of people who lived to fight.
She was so lost in her daydreams that she didn’t notice the other shinigami until she crashed right into him, and got slammed down by their reiatsu. While recovering from her unexpected trip with the ground, she heard the voice of the other guy.
“Ah, sorry, sorry! Are you okay?”
Rin raised her head, and stared right into Masa’s golden eyes.
Both of them just stared at each other for a few seconds, while Rin was internally panicking. Of all the people to run into, why him? How did he even get in here? Was that a captain’s haori?
Masa broke the ice first. “Ah, sorry, but…do I know you?”
Denial? Or maybe he lost his memory of life? If it was the latter, then he was lucky to escape the memories, and more importantly, it meant that neither of them had to drag up bad memories; she was over her death, and didn’t want to go over it again. Still, if Masa was bluffing, she still intended to kill him. That would require her to keep an eye on him.
“I don’t think so. By the way, who are you?” The lie was accepted; who said that denial didn’t solve anything?
“I’m Kasumi Masa, the new captain of the 13th Division.”
Rin pointedly ignored the flash of relief in his eyes. The 13th Division, the only division without an official title, it was just used to backup any squad when they were lacking, and was known for being the lazy division. Not where she would like to spend her time, but she could get used to it.
“I’m Shimizu, Kasumi-taicho.”
“Please, just call me Kasumi, I’m not used to the taicho. Oh, I should get to the academy meeting before I’m too late! Goodbye Shimizu, I hope to see you in Division 13! ”
Still as careless as ever. Well, it looked like her division choice was set in stone now.
Graduation went on without a hitch, and Rin ended up as a new unseated officer in Division 13. She promptly challenged, and beat the fourth seated officer, seizing his spot; even without shikai, when you had a spirit pressure as heavy as hers, it made you quite difficult to fight. Over the next century, she kept training, pushing herself to become strong enough to take on a captain – she was still keeping an eye on Masa, which meant staying close to him for well over two hundred years. In all that time, after realizing that she wasn’t making any real progress with her zanpakuto for some reason, she trained her strengths; she studied the many different forms of hand to hand and sword-fighting styles, becoming highly efficient at physical fighting.
She made sure to keep her relationship with Masa as strictly captain/subordinate, despite his attempts at a more relaxed setting. The most she conceded was to not call him taichou all the time, and that was solely because he didn’t want anyone treating him with so much formality.
It was an uneasy status-quo, but Rin was slowly letting go of her general anger against Masa, to the point that when he requested her to go on patrol with him, she didn’t protest for once.
There were reports of arrancar within East Rukongai, and as third division was already out trying to control the hollow at a different section, they were sent out to put down the problem. It wasn’t a big issue, there were two arrancar, one a sever foot ugly as hell bald guy, and the other a little girl, both of them rampaging across District 10. Masa looked at the two, and went off to engage the girl, leaving the ugly one for her to deal with. It was simple enough, when he went to slam into another building, she simply ran up to him, and used the force of his punch to flip him over, slamming him head-first into the ground.
She looked over to see Masa and the girl talking, just what was he doing anyway?
“Kasumi, what are you doing?” She didn’t even turn around, sending out a backhand and sending the other arrancar flying as he got back up.
He apparently didn’t appreciate that, as he dragged himself out with a roar, charging energy for a cero. Rin couldn’t care less, but Masa wasn’t aware of how strong Rin really was. As she drew her zanpakuto to deal with the oaf, Masa noticed her situation and panicked.
“Rin, look out!”
What did he call me?
The sheer shock of being called by her first name, a name that she never told anyone, distracted her enough that she forgot about dodging the cero, causing Masa to step in and deflect it, countering with a kido of his own. At this point the little girl interrupted, dragging the oaf away through a garganta, but Rin wasn’t paying any attention to them anymore.
“So, you do remember.”
“I don’t suppose that you can forget I said that.”
The blade pointed at him answered that question. “Rin, we do need to talk about this..” The reiatsu Rin was letting out now was telling him that now was not the time. She was definitely still angry.
“Masa, leave.”
For once, he listened and vanished in a flash of shunpo. Rin wandered off on her own, not really caring about the end destination as long as it was away from Masa.
(Contined in next post)
General Info
Name: Shimizu Rin (Last/First)
Gender: Female
Age: 509
Division: 13
Rank: Captain
Physical Description:
Rin is an odd shinigami. Unlike the majority of her peers, Rin stands tall at 6’2, much taller than the average Japanese woman. Her face is more mature looking than a teenager, with slightly sharper curves showing the face of a woman in her early twenties, along with dark gray eyes. She has a fair complexion, and a slender figure, with some curves and an average bust size.
Her hair is an enigma, while it was simply jet black when she was alive, as a spirit, when her spirit pressure increased, her aura blended with her hair colour to create an odd mix of black, violet, and red, giving her hair an exotic look, and causing some confusion as there is no way to know what colour actually fits her hair. It is long enough to reach just below her tailbone. Rin almost always wears her hair long, not bothering to put any more effort in hair style than tying a red ribbon to the bangs on the sides of the face, which she maintains is simply to keep the hair out of her face. That said, Rin does go through considerable lengths to keep her hair neat and clean, and adamantly refuses to cut it any shorter than it already is. Oddly enough, Rin also wears a wide brimmed black hat with pink streaks throughout.
Some higher ranked shinigami modify their uniform slightly as much as they can get away with it. Rin is pretty much forced to wear some semblance of the uniform as a captain. She wears a black kimono that stops just below her knees, that is decorated with pink and black butterflies. Her hakama is black as well, and the legs have streaks of light pink along them, the pattern giving the appearance of a blowing wind. Both articles of clothing are decorated with a level of realism that makes it very obvious that a lot of time went into making them. Her sash itself is also pink, and she wears sturdy black boots with pink streaks, instead of the regular sandals shinigami wear. The biggest deviation is in the haori though; her haori is a neon pink colour, with a white diamond on the back signifying her rank and more white markings along the haori where a normal one would have black markings. Rin generally simply drapes the haori over her back like a cloak, using a form of kido to keep it from blowing off while she is on the move.
Rin’s reiatsu is oddly coloured as well, a blend of a deep red and violet colour, creating a medley of colour that is somewhat enchanting to observe, despite the meaning behind it. Also, she carries a zanpakuto on her waist, along with a large umbrella across her back for ‘the shifting weather.’ While the reason behind the umbrella is unknown, she has been known to fight using only that umbrella and win. She is also known to keep a shihakuchi somewhere in her robe, along with some rapid cellular regrowth serums. Having one’s own research section is quite convenient.
Personality:
Rin has a bit of a volatile personality. She can stay calm and collected throughout on the outside, taking adversity in stride. As long as you’re on her good side, she acts a bit like a mentor, helping out others with their problems if they really need it, and generally being a nice enough person.
If one is persistent though, it will become apparent that while Rin is generally friendly, she will never show any kindness beyond simple acquaintances. She always keeps people a certain emotional distance away from her, avoiding attachments to others as much as possible. This is because Rin is of the set belief that anyone she relies on will eventually betray her trust. As such, she finds it best to never place any trust in people in the first place, which makes it quite difficult for her to make any friends. It takes quite a lot of work to gain enough of Rin’s trust for her to actually treat you as a friend.
That said, for the very few people who can actually gain Rin’s friendship, she is a very loyal friend, and will act to defend them whenever the situation arises as much as she is able. Rin highly values the few friendships that she is able to make, and will try very hard to maintain them. As a side note, Rin has a running record for the highest number of turned down suitors in Seireitei. Depending on their methods, her turn downs range from a polite refusal, to a kick in the groin.
Rin is far nicer to other people than her own subordinates most of the time. The reason for that is simple; she can tell much easier what the members of her division are up to. She holds her entire division to high standards, and she will become very harsh if she thinks that her subordinates are slacking off. That really isn’t all that surprising when one considers that her division is essentially the last resort when everything goes to hell in soul society. If they fall, the shinigami are likely screwed, and as such, they need to always be at their best. That’s what she tells them when they question her methods anyway. It doesn’t help matters when Rin is known for spending a good bit of her free time asleep, as far they know anyway.
Rin’s mentor like treatment of people has already been mentioned, but it should be noted that Rin also believes in letting people fight their own battles. She will generally refuse to intervene in another fight unless the situation is either important enough to warrant it, or if a fellow shinigami would die without any intervention, otherwise, they’re on their own. Many of her subordinates have learnt that lesson the hard way.
It’s been said that Rin’s personality can be a bit volatile. However, it’s not like the expected raging temper from a berserker; Rin’s temper is like a smouldering flame; speaking quite calmly, but it will be quite obvious that she’s annoyed; if the reiatsu pushing down on you doesn’t make it clear, the sharp tone in her voice would. That’s the warning before she likely ends up hitting you, which would probably send you flying. Of course, the right stimulus will make her go further to the point of actively trying to kill you; the main one that causes this is when people wake up Rin while she’s sleeping for no good reason. It’s understood in Division 13 that entering Rin’s room when she’s sleeping at night is the equivalent to suicide unless you’re Kubi.
Also keep in mind that Rin is a combat pragmatist; in a serious fight, she will aim to take you down immediately – no fooling around or test swings, her first strike will aim to kill. Yet she hesitates to use her bankai unless absolutely necessary, preferring to take on extra injury with her shikai over it, especially in populated areas.
Rin has a few interests when she isn’t making sure that her division is doing their job, or sleeping somewhere. She spends a considerable amount of time practicing her fighting skills, and typically trains the strongest battle oriented members of her division personally. She is very skilled at playing the shihakuchi, and typically performs at concerts and functions at Seireitei when she can be convinced to play. She is also surprisingly a good singer, although hearing her sing is a rare moment that typically only the members in her division get to bear witness to, when she’s not paying attention to who is around her. She is also quite adept at sewing, although she frequently downplays this skill; it’s not very hard for one to figure out though when you think about the blatantly custom clothes that she wears, along with the massive spools of thread and fabric within the 13th division.
Despite her demeanour of always being in control, Rin can be easily flustered if you bring up her less battle oriented skills. She’s embarrassed about them for some reason, and this makes it a bit of a chore to convince her to show any of them publicly, hence the reason why getting her to play is hard, and singing even harder. So far, no one is known to have managed to convince her to make any clothing, but there are some stubborn people on her good side that are trying to wear her down.
Rin’s relations to almost everyone are pretty much the same; if you attack her, she will attack back. If you’re a risk to the lives of innocent people, she’ll likely attack you. If you aren’t causing any trouble, she’ll ignore you or at most just observe your actions. She doesn’t particularly care otherwise whether you’re shinigami, hollow, vizard or anything else. The only person who really registers as something special is Kubi, who she sees as a little brother. While she may be a bit protective of him, and certainly lets him get away with things that no one else would, Rin is not overly maternal, no matter what her zanpakuto spirits say. Her over-reactions are perfectly natural.
Rin enjoys eating spicy foods, and milk drinks, and enjoys strawberry flavoured ice-cream the most. She will perpetually deny the reason being that strawberry flavoured ice-cream is pink, despite it being quite obvious that pink is her favourite colour. She has an incredibly high alcohol tolerance, although she doesn’t drink enough to become drunk, because hangovers are a pain in the neck and head to deal with later.
History:
The beginning.......
In the year of 1500, around forty years into the Senjoku Jidai, within one of the insignificant villages in a province near Kyoto, a peasant mother was in the throes of labour, a mid-wife from the village hovering over her. The family itself was a bit better off than the others in the village; which in this time period meant that they were slightly less poor, and could actually afford a mid-wife’s fee. It was for the best; they needed one. Throughout the pregnancy, it was a wonder that the mother didn’t die during labour with the amount that she was bleeding, but the ability to actually pay for medical care kept everyone alive. Normally, a father would be a bit displeased of giving birth to a girl instead of a man, but with the kind of money he had to drop down, logic dictated that he suck it up and get over it. Also, the girl’s first action being to bite his hand instead of crying said that she was a lot tougher than the standard child, under a mask of beauty, if the tufts of her jet-black hair were anything to go by.
The mother looked at her child’s red-violet eyes, and named her after the rose they resembled. Her father promptly over-ruled her while his daughter was busy trying to gnaw off his fingers, and named her Rin for some unknown reason. The mother let it go, too entranced by the aura that she feeling off her daughter; it was faint, but she had the spark to be a shrine maiden like she was.
Lucky Seven
Rin’s childhood was as bright as it could be given the circumstances. As her parents were vassals under the daimyo of the area, they had to maintain certain standards, and as such Rin was trained in the things expected of women in the time; cooking, cleaning, weaving, dance, and music lessons. She took quite a shine to the music; she was especially gifted as playing flutes, and managed to attract crowds of people every time she chose to play. That said, she was quite the tough and adventurous child despite her mother’s protests, and frequently ditched studies and snuck out of her house to play in the village, and showed up at home a few hours later – whether off her own volition or by force, with an assortment of dirt patches, ripped clothes, and depending on the day, more than a few bruises and split knuckles. The girl had one hell of a punch. Her mother mourned the violent tendencies her little shrine maiden was picking up, despite her aura growing in strength. On the other hand, her father was never prouder when he heard that she beat up a kid twice her size – granted, he had to conceal a wince about how she did it, but it showed promise. He promptly started giving her training on self-defence; it was convenient really, with the building tensions and uprisings, it was possible that the daimyo’s enemies would try to get at them for information, and their daughter was an easy target.
Two years later, her father’s sucking up to the current ruler of Japan got him promoted to a much more influential position, working directly under the current head of the Hosokawa clan. The official notice, along with the pay raise, came a few days before Rin’s seventh birthday, and her parents decided to get her a special birthday gift; a shakuhachi. Being a very curious child, well experienced in messing with her parents’ stuff, along with the great benefit of being quite capable of reading, Rin found out about the gift long before and promptly entered a hyper fit of glee. A shakuhachi was the epitome of high class flutes and did not come cheap; to give her that meant that they trusted her enough to maintain it – it showed a great deal of trust in her.
The eve of her birthday, she was far too excited to fall asleep, and thus late night found her tiptoeing around her house, searching for that flute. During her miniature expedition, she heard noises that did not come from her; she was far too experienced to even make noises, and her parents were not that quiet.
Being the intelligent girl that she was, she promptly went to her parents’ room to inform them about the current situation, and ran right into her father, armed with that samurai blade of his. She found herself pulled off to a corner of the room by her mother, as her father challenged the intruder. Her blood red eyes took in the fight, as both combatants got cut in various places, before her father snuck in past the assassin’s guard and cut him deeply in the chest. His blade spun around and carved an odd-looking arc into his flesh as the samurai dived to the side, and sunk his blade into her father’s side.
Rin watched her father fall, as her mother grabbed her mouth to muffle the scream that would never come. She just simply too shocked to actually find a voice, and her mouth was just hanging open. She didn’t notice anything besides her father’s body until her mother stuck two papers onto her skull, and she lost all feeling in her body.
“Don’t worry, those seals will hide you from untrained eyes.” To her credit, her normally meek mother didn’t even flinch under the death glare she was getting – or laugh really; a death glare from a seven year old girl was one of the least intimidating things in the world. The former shrine maiden placed her rag-doll daughter in a corner of the room, and kneeled over her in prayer.
“He’s here for us, and you’re known to sneak out; if he doesn’t see you, he won’t look think much of it. Live safely Rin, we have family members who will come by to get you. I’m sorry that we couldn’t get to spend more time with you….goodbye.”
Rin could only watch when the man walked into the room, and his mother turned to face him, gripping the tanto she kept hidden in her robes. Rin knew what was going to happen, but couldn’t turn her eyes away; they were locked on the figure of her parents’ killer. He wasn’t very tall, he looked like a teenager maybe, and had long crimson hair. His father’s blade went further than she thought; the cut went from his chest straight to his cheek in a curved slash. The most piercing thing about him though, was his eyes. You really didn’t forget eyes that were such a piercing gold colour, yet so cold, even when cutting through her mother’s flesh. He did a quick glance of the room while cleaning his blade, and focused on where she was for a few seconds. For that time, Rin wondered if he was capable of seeing her, or if her mother’s seals broke with her death and she was just paralysed with fear. It was odd, she was afraid to die, but she wouldn’t really mind, at least she would be with her parents again.
The man apparently didn’t see her though, as he just walked away, slipping out the door into the night. Rin just sat there, staring at her mother’s fallen body as her blood pooled around her. Really, the seal wasn’t even necessary; she couldn’t think of anything to do besides just sitting there. How long she stayed there, she didn’t know, not even reacting when some guy dressed in all black stepped into the room.
“So, we were too late……..”
Too late? So he was supposed to guard them? Fine job he did.
“First Hosokawa Masamoto gets killed in the bath, and then they decide to be thorough and kill everyone who openly supported him, and either they got a professional to do it, or Shimizu’s a worse fighter than I thought.”
Okay, so he failed at his job, and now he was blaming her father? She would go over and punch him, but she was still pretty much a ragdoll.
“Hey, if you can glare at me like that, you can get up and walk. I’m not waiting all night for you brat.”
So he could see her? Well that was just great, now if only he would take the seal off her head. Upon voicing this, her ‘saviour’ had a gem of advice for her.
“Take it off yourself, you’re not a baby.”
Well Rin could tell one thing about this guy already; she was not going to like him. Ever.
“If your parents didn’t show you how to do even that, no wonder they fell so easily. The whole family’s pathetic.”
Okay, this guy was definitely getting kicked between the legs a few times. He did not insult her parents and expect to get away with it.
“You little arrogant half-rate guard, who are you to talk about my parents! You were the one who failed in your guard duty twice in one night! You’re probably going to get yourself executed for being such a terrible guard. I’m sure that I can beat you in a fight you worthless –“
Rin’s rant that was very quickly going to turn physical got cut short by the sound of an object hitting the ground. The annoying guard’s eyes lit up in surprise and…happiness? What was he pleased about? His eyes bent down to her feet, and she followed the path to an expensive looking flute, that rolled off her lap when she stood up. She picked up the shakuhachi and just stared at it for awhile, while the weight of her parents’ death came crashing down full force. Yet she refused to utter a sound in front of the ass she was being forced to deal with.
“Hey, enough of the tears.” The guy was standing right in front of her now. Just how did he move that fast? Or was she losing track of time?
“You can mourn their deaths all you want, but do you want to avenge them?”
She looked up at him, tears still flowing from her blood-red eyes, and gave him the most determined look she had ever summoned in her life. Her answer was clear, and her new guardian smiled.
“Then come, you have a lot to learn about the Hebi clan. You have the reiatsu to break a binding seal already; you can go far if you work for it.”
“I have what?”
Plus seven more years…..
After the assassination of the head of Hosokawa Masamoto, the clan fell into an internal conflict between the two sons, which came to a stand-still when the Ōuchi clan put Yoshitane back in control of the shogunate. This sparked a shadow battle between the two clans over just who got to pull the strings of Japan’s puppet government. The Sengoku Jidai was really starting, and between the civil wars and assassinations, it was a wonder that Japan managed to rebuild itself, but Kyoto was eventually restored from the burnt out husk it used to be during the Onin war, and the Hosokawa clan had set up residence there. The capital was in a reasonable state of peace, the warring clans preferring assassinations and small skirmishes to outright wars there.
This of course meant that the samurai were always busy, and had to be always on guard lest they find themselves dead. It was a rare moment when they got a break, and one such samurai was taking his in one of Kyoto’s many brothels. Hey, a guy needed a break, and this brothel was famous for its younger women. Granted, that made them pricey, but it was worth it. He wasn’t in the brothel for a minute before he saw the most beautiful girl in his life. She had such a fair complexion, and that black hair, with a hint of something ethereal. She fit right into his tastes; a girl just budding into a woman, if those breasts on her said anything. And to top it off, she was coming to him, clearly taken in by his charming looks. It was most likely why she offered him a free night if he could keep up with her anyway, since considering how young she looked, he didn’t doubt that he could out-last her in anything. Anyway, she led him to a vacant room, pulling him in with that siren’s voice of hers. He wanted to question her rush, but a deep kiss wiped that thought from his head.
“Come on, show me what you got…”
He was more than happy to oblige, and made a beeline for the robe she wearing. It hid far too much for his tastes. A quick parting of the robe by the collar, and the samurai was finally able to feast his eyes on the woman’s mounds. He was paralysed by the sight of them, to the point that he couldn’t even reach out to touch her as he so wanted to right now.
It took about ten seconds for it to sink in that he really was paralysed.
The lady leaned in close to him, stroking her hand across his body. For a short moment, he entertained the thought that maybe she didn’t realise his predicament yet, and thus wasn’t the one who drugged him. She put a quick end to that when she pulled a tanto from her robes.
“Now, now, you’re quite the careless samurai for a high ranking guard. Guess when I poisoned you.”
She then proceeded to pull out the hidden papers he had on his person, fix her robe, and then started casually leafing through them while he tried with everything within him to summon the strength to fight back.
“Oh right, you wouldn’t be able to talk, not with what I put in you anyway. Ah well, I’ll tell you what, that poison will wear off by tomorrow. If you help me, I wouldn’t have to use this blade on you.”
The samurai was silent, but then he couldn’t speak, could he?
“I’ll take that as a yes. Tell me, do you know a pale man with red hair and golden eyes? He also has a curving scar across his right cheek, like the beginning of an inward spiral. Blink once for yes.”
The samurai’s eyes first showed confusion, then remembrance before he blinked once. Of course he knew the guy, he was a bit infamous.
“Next question, do you know his name?” Another blink. Progress. She pulled out a vial and poured one drop in the samurai’s throat.
“Okay, you should be able to move enough to start forming words. Start talking.”
“You….bitch….”
If he had more to say, it was interrupted by the sharp kick he got to his ribs. With the drug running through him, it took awhile before he caught his breath again.
“If I have to do that again, I’m going to break something. What is his name?”
“He’s the kaishi…..”
“I want his real name, everyone knows the name he goes by.”
Since he did technically answer her, he got away without any pain, but her heel on his finger dictated that another unsatisfactory answer would end quite badly.
“No one knows his real name…..Wait, wait! I know where to find him!”
“Oh? Do share then.” She was clearly dead serious; she was just about to crush the thumb of his sword hand.
“He is supposed to be showing up at a meeting on Osaka, the location’s in the papers you took.”
She finally looked satisfied with him now. While taking in the information, she pulled out another vial and poured a few more drops of it into his mouth.
“When you wake up, you’ll be able to move again. Goodbye, samurai.”
The man just stared at the woman who bested him, making a silent vow to get revenge when he woke up.
Rin watched the samurai fall into a peaceful slumber, probably plotting her death. She wasn’t concerned, considering that he wasn’t ever waking up with the poison that she put in him. Having to actually kiss the man to get it done was necessary, but still quite disgusting, and she really felt like stabbing him when his eyes glued onto her chest. At least it was worth it in the end; she accomplished her mission and got information on her own personal target. A quick trip out of the window, and by the time anyone checked the room the next day, she was long gone.
Then she had to report to that ass. He was pleased about how quickly she took care of the target and got the information, but he was still complaining about how she did it.
“Just what did you do to tire yourself out so much?”
Rin shovelled some more rice into her mouth before bothering to answer him again – she was not letting her food get cold over this.
“I told you already, I had to take a dose of the paralysis drug to get it in him.” She pointedly ignored his twitching eyebrow.
“Why? You could have just killed him and taken the papers from his corpse! Just because you got the ability to –“
“I use my skills as I please. It got the job done, and you know exactly why I didn’t kill him outright.”
“Yes, your obsession for revenge, your obsession that is going to lead straight to your death –“
“My obsession that you started.”
“The older man rubbed his temples, trying to stem the headache that was forming.
“I regret using that means to wake you up, but honestly, you’re literally aiming to commit suicide.”
“I’m not changing my mind, I will see the Kaishi dead, and then I can finally pass on to see my parents.”
“Then I hope that you never see the end of your quest.”
Rin could understand the grief she was putting her sensei through; in some ways, the guy likely saw her as a daughter since he took her in, but this was a journey that she was set on finishing. When her parents died, her soul died with them, and all that was left was this shell, only fuelled by the desire for revenge.
The assassin and the ninja
After a few more arguments, the night written in the papers she stole came around. It was a gathering of members of an opposing clan, and Rin was sent with a team of ninja to gather any valuable information, but more importantly, to ensure that no one left that meeting alive. The rumour of the Kaishi showing up was the main reason behind the elite strike force, instead of simply sending in some samurai to handle to job. Of course that didn’t stop them from sending in samurai anyway; they were quite convenient decoys to draw out the troublesome targets and trip any traps in the area. Like that arrow trap. Or those hidden darts. Nasty things they were.
When it appeared that all the surprises were sprung, the strike force made their move, weaving their way through the shadows while the remaining samurai did battle with the others in the room. It wasn’t very hard to simply take out the stragglers of the party, although a couple of them managed to slip away at the last moment. Not that they were going to get far with Rin chasing after them…
The actual battle was quick; she came out from the bushes, taking out one of the officials with a slash to the torso, and then stabbing his guard through the eye in the same motion before he could even draw his sword. The final official chose to stand up and fight, but he only managed to get in one swing before he too fell to the ninja’s blade.
While they weren’t much as fighters, the group certainly could run; in the few minutes head-start they managed to get, they made it to the outskirts of the city before she caught up to them. She hadn’t had to chase someone down for that long in awhile.
A slight noise, like a chain rattling, was all the warning that Rin got before a sickle came flying straight for her skull. It was a quick roll that kept her head on her shoulders, as she threw a couple of daggers at the masked man, which he evaded, throwing his other sickle right at her, simultaneously pulling at the first one. That didn’t go as planned since Rin had grabbed the chain, moving out of the way of the other sickle while dragging the man straight towards her. That look of surprise on his face stayed there as he got literally yanked towards her like a rag-doll, and had a small blade shoved through his heart.
Anything else trying to kill me today?
The sound of panicked foot-steps drew her attention, but she only got a glance of crimson hair before the owner vanished around the corner.
Crimson hair? Could it be?
She was off like a flash, chasing after the mystery man. The sheer speed the man was moving at just reinforced her convictions about his identity. No normal person was capable of actually out-running her, he had to be a specialist. The chase lasted until the man dived into a crowd of people, weaving through busy roads and alleys. He definitely knew how to lose someone, and sure enough, Rin eventually lost track of him.
“Tch. Next time you little assassin.”
While the strike went well, her sensei didn’t appreciate her running off on her own after the Kaishi, and as such, Rin found herself on shopping duty. She would have argued being recognized on the street, but it’s not like anyone would recognise her through her mask when she was working. She was busy carrying along about a ton of rice, when she got unwanted company from a couple of drunks who wanted to help her carry the heavy barrels of rice. Right, she clearly needed help from drunken idiots when she was clearly walking with no strain. Granted, it was quite odd for anyone to carry those things without breaking a sweat, for less a woman, but if they had a problem with it, they were smart enough not to mention it. These guys were clearly too far gone to understand the meaning of no though. Just when she was going to beat the three of them into the ground, a voice came up behind all of them.
“I believe the lady told you to leave her alone.”
They all turned to watch the new arrival. The first thing that registered to Rin was the crimson hair, and she reflexively tensed up until she noticed his distinct lack of a scar. It helped that his hair was also much shorter, and he looked about her age; the Kaishi should be in his twenties by now.
“Just what…..are you going to do about it boy?”
With that, one of the drunks charged at the kid, and found himself slammed into the ground by the sheath of a sword. The other two chose to rush him together and met the same fate.
“I told you to leave her alone.”
“I could have dealt with it on my own.” Some people would say that she should have been more grateful; some people did actually, they were in the middle of the street, but she really didn’t need the help, and she didn’t need some young samurai going off on an ego-trip.
“I know, but you might have broken your rice barrels if you fought them.”
She couldn’t really argue with that; she likely would have broken one of them over their heads, and then she would have had to get another barrel.
“Well, thanks then.” Conversation over.
“By the way, may I ask your name?”
He wanted her name now? He may have saved her an extra walk, but that didn’t mean that she was going to swoon all over him.
“Just why should I tell you that?”
“Ah, my apologies, I should give you my name first, I-I’m Kasumi Masa.”
“…..Fine, I’m Shimizu Rin. Just why are you blushing so much anyway?”
“Well….. it’s because you’re a very beautiful woman.”
Rin’s face started glowing as red as Masa’s hair….or his face for that matter, it seemed that admitting that sent him into another blushing frenzy.
“You….you….I’m going now.” With that, Rin promptly grabbed the rice barrels and took off, trying to control her blush.
Fortunately, the redness faded away by the time she got back; she would not have liked explaining that to the others. They would never have let her live it down, and she didn’t need them jumping to any conclusions – she did not like the guy.
The fact that when she ran into him again a few days later she spent a good chunk of the day talking to him didn’t mean anything either.
And another seven years….noticing a pattern?
Time passed again, and brought about some more changes. The country of Japan itself was far more prosperous after initiating trades with China, but the clans were still going through their wars. The biggest battles were between the Hosokawa and Onin clans, both fighting for control over the puppet shogunate. Due to the nature of the wars, assassins and ninjas were kept very well employed.
As for Rin, after her sensei followed her and found out exactly what she was doing with free time now, after she dealt with the entire clan harassing her over ‘finally finding love’, they were quite happy that she found something to keep her among the living after she finished her quest. Although it didn’t look like it was ending anytime soon, in seven years she only ran into the guy about five more times, and all their fights kept getting interrupted.
Over the seven years, she did end up getting closer to Masa, even though she still couldn’t figure out how that happened. She just kept running into the guy repeatedly, and he ended up rubbing off on her. It likely had something to do with the fact that he was the only guy around her age to take an interest in her without being a pervert about it. Rin was the one who had to push the issue for them to advance their relationship; the guy was far too timid for his own good.
Those thoughts should have been for another day, but Rin was currently on route to meet the guy on her thoughts. He had said that it was something important eventually, after stuttering quite a bit about it. He had to choose tonight of all night to do it though; she was supposed to be acquiring certain documents from a castle belonging to the Onin clan, and with the time-frame that Masa gave her, she had to move double time to deal with the documents, drop them off, then meet him - she may be a bit rebellious, but she wouldn’t let her personal issues take that much precedence over her job.
She barely felt the darts stab into her shoulder – they sent out the experts if she couldn’t even sense them coming. From her lack of muscle movement, they had some potent paralysis serums too. Definitely the elite assassins.
Rin unceremoniously fell out of the tree she was in, and was promptly grabbed by two men dressed in ninja garb. Out of the corner of her eye she saw six more walking out. That ruled out a random patrol, not like the chances of that was very high to begin with. So either they’re the security force sent after her, or she got set up. Seeing that she killed the security force, that left the latter – there was a mole in their operations who was going to have a very unpleasant death for wasting her time like this, she had better things to do with her time.
“So, this is the master Hebi ninja that Kaishi told us about? She doesn’t seem like much.”
“Yet you came with eight people and poisoned me first. What does that say about you?”
A kick to the stomach, how very original. They also couldn’t be that bright if they forgot that they paralysed her, so she wouldn’t feel them hitting her in the first place.
“So, just how did you manage to find me?” Might as well get to the point.
“Weren’t you listening? The kaishi told us where to find you. He also told us to poison you first before you got the chance to fight back. We thought that it would be a waste for you to die so easily though, not when you had so much information to tell us first.”
The only thing that Rin had focused on was that the kaishi somehow knew where she was going to be. It was one thing for a random mole to be the cause, but just how did he find out? Time to quiz the gullible ones.
“I can’t believe that he was willing to court the enemy for so long, just for this. That’s cold, even for me.”
Court the enemy? Okay what was this, a sad misdirection attempt in the event that they botched the killing? She, her sensei, and half her clan stalked Masa lots of times, and nothing odd came up about him. If they couldn’t find anything, the person was clean.
“I bet all of you at the Hebi clan thought that you were the only ones with special abilities. Guess what the kaishi’s is? Here’s a hint; it’s quite convenient for hiding certain tell-tale marks about you.”
Well that was straight-forward enough, so the Kaishi could mask himself as other people? Did that mean that he….eww. It would also explain the lack of Masa if the guy impersonated him, and killed off the real one. The assassins figured that she got the idea from the look on her face.
“Such a useful ability, isn’t it? Now time for you to talk woman, or do you need some motivation?”
The end of legends
A burning building, in a clearing within a forest. Outside of the roar of the flames, no sounds were to be heard, which suited the only living person there just fine. He had just finished his latest job, but he was waiting for the presence that he felt to arrive. It appeared that he had one more person to deal with tonight.
He felt the small pricks on his skin, and while pulling out the darts, he raised his head towards the support pillars, staring at the person on top with a blank look on his face.
“So, how long?”
He didn’t answer; it didn’t need an answer, she wasn’t asking a question. All his silence did was confirm what she already knew by now.
“So, was it an act from the beginning, or did you actually have some sense of guilt over it?”
After a few tense seconds, he answered with the truth.
“It wasn’t planned. I met you the day after, and needed a reason for why I was staring at you, otherwise you might have caught on. If it helps, it wasn’t a complete lie.” A sigh. “I simply had to put my duty above everything, even my heart.”
“….I see, and I suppose you want to know how I lived. It’s quite simple, I can purge any poison from my body, and your associates have big mouths.”
He could feel the chill in her eyes now, despite the heat of the room. She was never going to forgive him, and he couldn’t blame her – he would never forgive himself for this.
Rin drew her blade, the sound of the metal echoing throughout the room.
“A useful ability, hiding the scars on your face, and shortening your hair. That would be how you recognised me; you saw my reiatsu. It doesn’t matter though. Those darts will kill you by sunrise, but I will kill you long before dawn breaks.”
He steeled himself for what would likely be his hardest fight, as Rin said the last words he would hear from her.
“Prepare yourself, Masa.”
The fight was quick; the music of their blades clashing playing to an empty house, as the flames raised in intensity and threatened to collapse the entire building on the performers. The act was short though, ending with both participants impaled on each other’s blade, both receiving a fatal wound. They both collapsed next to each other, waiting for the inevitable end.
“I am sorry Rin.”
“Somehow I doubt that. You manipulated me for seven years, that’s quite heartless. Most people have a bit more morals than that.”
“I don’t suppose that you will ever forgive me?”
“Not even in death. If I see you, I will kill you again.”
“I thought as much.”
The dawn broke on the forest clearing, the burnt out building providing a stark contrast to the green forest. A masked figure walked into the ruins, stopping at the pair of bodies, somehow still in one piece despite the fires.
“So, your journey has ended Rin. I hope that you at least find peace in the afterlife.”
He picked up the body of the woman; she would probably want to be buried with her parents.
The afterlife’s not so cheery.
Rin didn’t particularly care about what became of her body at the moment; she was still wondering what kind of screwed up version of the afterlife she was stuck in. The place looked like Kyoto at the beginning of the Sengoku Jidai; destroyed buildings, thieves and murderers running about, and everyone suffering. She would have thought that she landed in the wrong place if someone didn’t confirm that this really was the afterlife. Apparently she was in District 68, and it was supposed to get better as she got closer to the Soul society, which was supposed to be monitoring things here. They were clearly doing a fabulous job.
Her first priority was to find a weapon – with how bad the people were here, she was going to need it. Then clothes – all she had was her ninja outfit that looked like it was about to fall apart - and she had to get food, she was starving. Maybe she should have eaten something on her last day alive –
It took far more willpower than Rin knew she even had to suppress the memories that came up when she thought about that. It was the past now, she couldn’t dwell on it forever, and she would eventually move on, but for now, it was best to not think about it. She couldn’t afford distractions here.
“You look like you’re new around here.”
Rin glanced up at the body the voice came from. He was probably the ugliest person she had ever seen, covered in scars, and missing part of his nose, along with a few teeth. The sad thing was that the scars made him look better. It made Rin worried about what he looked like before the scars. He was also carrying around a nodachi with a broken hilt-guard, and a blade that looked like it had seen better days, but it would do for a weapon, especially with his five goons backing him up.
“I’d take your money and beat you up a bit, but you look like you have nothing to steal. Pity, it looks like I’ll just have to extract your living tax from your body. You shouldn’t mind, you look like you’ve been around anyway.”
The guy’s eyes were fixed on her breasts throughout the entire diatribe. It was likely him being a pervert, but he could have been used to having to look down on people; it wasn’t often that you met a 6’2” person, and it must have been new for him to have someone his own height. It likely must have been rarer for his extortion attempts to fail – he definitely looked surprised when Rin grabbed his arm as he lunged for her, and kneed him in the stomach. As the air rushed out of his lungs, the goons started coming in, but they all stopped in their tracks when Rin took the head guy’s sword and beheaded him with it.
Blood still dripping from the blade, Rin stood there as the headless man’s blood sprayed into the air, landing all over her. Well she needed new clothes anyway…
“You can swear allegiance to me, or try fighting me and die. Choose quickly.”
Four of them chose to rush her at once, using their number advantage. Rin used her reach and strength advantage to cut all of them down in one swing, blades and all. She shook off the blood, looking over her new guide.
“Explain everything you know about this place, and show me where I can get clothes, water and food. Preferably do this all at once.”
The guy looked ready to faint, but he rushed to follow her orders, and actually did everything quite efficiently. The guy could prove to be a useful pawn.
-----------
A group of shinigami were passing through District 68 on patrol; not because the district was acting up, but because it was quite quiet. Far too quiet considering where it was, so they were assigned by the third division captain to investigate the situation, lest Rukongai be planning an uprising against Soul Society again. Upon entering the town, they noticed that everything was quiet, but all the residents appeared tense. A couple of them took off running as soon as they saw the shinigami, and while that wasn’t at all uncommon in the Rukongai, the shinigami chose to follow them on the off chance that they might lead to the cause of the odd peace.
The villagers ran into a bar, after taking enough twisting paths to thoroughly lose almost all of the shinigami. Things were getting even more suspicious now – normal villagers did not have the skill to pull that off, the men were clearly well trained. They entered the bar cautiously, as all eyes were immediately fixed on them, and they didn’t look happy. The shinigami knew that they were generally unpopular in the lower numbered districts due to their lack of help though, so they ignored the looks, instead focusing on a woman sitting in a corner, with clear line of sight of the door; she was hard to miss really, with that freaky hair colour. She clearly had reiatsu, even though it didn’t seem like much, and she definitely looked like she was in charge, if the fearful looks that the men they followed were giving meant anything. Those gray eyes of hers promised that they were not going to like what she would do later for their mistake.
“Just what does Soul Society want down here?”
Her voice sent shivers down everyone’s back. It was just so emotionless, frozen like the tundra. The shinigami weren’t going to be repelled by just that though.
“We’re here to investigate rumours of an uprising, and to bring in potential suspects for questioning, which you are.”
“So you’re here because someone is actually doing your job and keeping this area peaceful, and you’re afraid that we’re going to somehow attack you. Well there isn’t, so you can go back to ignoring everyone in Rukongai now.”
The shinigami disagreed, and one of them tried to pull the woman out by force. In retrospect, they all admitted that the fact that none of her lackeys moved to stop them was an obvious warning of how dangerous the woman was, but she was just a regular villager with some minor spirit pressure, what could she do?
None of them even saw the woman’s hand move before she had grabbed the shinigami’s wrist and squeezed. The sounds of bones breaking rang loudly throughout the bar, followed by the man’s screams as he clutched his broken wrist. His screams didn’t last long though, as the woman stood up and punched him in the nose, sending him across the room, already out cold before he hit the floor.
“Next.”
One of the seated officers in the group took control, drawing her zanpakuto and charging at the woman. Her target turned around to glare at her, and all the unseated shinigami, along with some of the patrons with reiatsu, were slammed to the floor by the sheer weight of her reiatsu. The red-violet aura surrounding her gave her a deadly appearance, even as the aura flaked off into petal shaped flecks at the edges. The shinigami hesitated, and that earned a kick to the chest which sent her into a wall, the blood she was coughing up along with her rattled breathing suggesting that she had a few broken ribs from the encounter.
The other seated officers were a bit more wise, and when their target drew a nodachi, they responded by casting all manner of bakudo on her, binding her tightly. For good measure, they made sure to knock her out after. The group unceremoniously grabbed the woman and her sword, and sent her off to Soul Society along with the injured while the rest stayed behind to interrogate the locals.
Shadows of the past
Rin was not pleased. She was perfectly content keeping her district under some sense of order, she didn’t need the shingami bothering her. Now they were ticked off that she beat a couple of their seated officers, when they should be more concerned about how weak they were if they lost so easily. Maybe that was why they didn’t come to the lower districts; most of them were too weak to survive. That didn’t explain her being bound in reiatsu suppressing handcuffs in front of some old man in a white haori, and a couple of shinigami.
The old man spoke up first. “You are being charged with assaulting two shinigami, and nearly killing them. However, investigations have shown that you haven’t been planning any uprisings, and all the residents agree that you have been protecting the District for about a century.”
“So, why am I still here?”
“Because you have nowhere to go back to. While you were being brought here, hollows attack the district. Most of the villages were killed in the assault, and only one shinigami and a villager made it back alive.” He paused for this news to sink in, then continued.
“You are a powerful warrior, the Gotei 13 could use a fighter like you at its ranks. You would be more capable of protecting the others, and fighting against hollow.”
“Why would I want to join? You guys clearly don’t have the best training program if a mob of shinigami got beat by some hollows; we get in fights with them every couple of days, and while I’m there we don’t have problems winning.”
“How about this? Enter the Academy, and if at the end you wish to leave, you can walk away. If you agree to this, we’ll forget about the assault charges. It’s normally six years, but with your skill it would probably take you less time. It would take time for us to clean up the area anyway, and you would have free room and board here.”
“….Fine, but you’re also providing shelter to the other survivor.”
“That is fine.”
“Good, now can you unchain me? These things are uncomfortable.”
That was certainly an odd way of getting drafted, but it worked out well enough for Rin; she got free lodgings for a few years instead of having to find a new home, and she didn’t get jailed. Maybe she might actually learn something useful in the academy, but she doubted it.
The next four years at the shinigami academy were a breeze. Her time as a ninja, and living in Rukongai made her the top of the class at zanjutsu; it got to the point that she skipped the first two years, and got to start at the kido courses. Learning how to channel her reiatsu like that was a blast, and while she had to learn control, her sheer reiatsu was enough to make her kido quite strong. The only thing that she was even having problems with was communicating with her zanpakuto. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t make any progress in that direction. It didn’t particularly matter though, she was at the top of the class, and had her pick of squads to join if she decided to stay; it didn’t seem like such a bad idea, the shinigami were actually given access to good training, it was just that most of their soldiers were naturally pathetic, the Gotei 13 couldn’t help that. She had enough of the ninja/assassin life, maybe division 3, to teach those idiots how to patrol properly. Division 11 seemed like a blast too though, a bunch of people who lived to fight.
She was so lost in her daydreams that she didn’t notice the other shinigami until she crashed right into him, and got slammed down by their reiatsu. While recovering from her unexpected trip with the ground, she heard the voice of the other guy.
“Ah, sorry, sorry! Are you okay?”
Rin raised her head, and stared right into Masa’s golden eyes.
Dance of lies
Both of them just stared at each other for a few seconds, while Rin was internally panicking. Of all the people to run into, why him? How did he even get in here? Was that a captain’s haori?
Masa broke the ice first. “Ah, sorry, but…do I know you?”
Denial? Or maybe he lost his memory of life? If it was the latter, then he was lucky to escape the memories, and more importantly, it meant that neither of them had to drag up bad memories; she was over her death, and didn’t want to go over it again. Still, if Masa was bluffing, she still intended to kill him. That would require her to keep an eye on him.
“I don’t think so. By the way, who are you?” The lie was accepted; who said that denial didn’t solve anything?
“I’m Kasumi Masa, the new captain of the 13th Division.”
Rin pointedly ignored the flash of relief in his eyes. The 13th Division, the only division without an official title, it was just used to backup any squad when they were lacking, and was known for being the lazy division. Not where she would like to spend her time, but she could get used to it.
“I’m Shimizu, Kasumi-taicho.”
“Please, just call me Kasumi, I’m not used to the taicho. Oh, I should get to the academy meeting before I’m too late! Goodbye Shimizu, I hope to see you in Division 13! ”
Still as careless as ever. Well, it looked like her division choice was set in stone now.
Graduation went on without a hitch, and Rin ended up as a new unseated officer in Division 13. She promptly challenged, and beat the fourth seated officer, seizing his spot; even without shikai, when you had a spirit pressure as heavy as hers, it made you quite difficult to fight. Over the next century, she kept training, pushing herself to become strong enough to take on a captain – she was still keeping an eye on Masa, which meant staying close to him for well over two hundred years. In all that time, after realizing that she wasn’t making any real progress with her zanpakuto for some reason, she trained her strengths; she studied the many different forms of hand to hand and sword-fighting styles, becoming highly efficient at physical fighting.
She made sure to keep her relationship with Masa as strictly captain/subordinate, despite his attempts at a more relaxed setting. The most she conceded was to not call him taichou all the time, and that was solely because he didn’t want anyone treating him with so much formality.
It was an uneasy status-quo, but Rin was slowly letting go of her general anger against Masa, to the point that when he requested her to go on patrol with him, she didn’t protest for once.
There were reports of arrancar within East Rukongai, and as third division was already out trying to control the hollow at a different section, they were sent out to put down the problem. It wasn’t a big issue, there were two arrancar, one a sever foot ugly as hell bald guy, and the other a little girl, both of them rampaging across District 10. Masa looked at the two, and went off to engage the girl, leaving the ugly one for her to deal with. It was simple enough, when he went to slam into another building, she simply ran up to him, and used the force of his punch to flip him over, slamming him head-first into the ground.
She looked over to see Masa and the girl talking, just what was he doing anyway?
“Kasumi, what are you doing?” She didn’t even turn around, sending out a backhand and sending the other arrancar flying as he got back up.
He apparently didn’t appreciate that, as he dragged himself out with a roar, charging energy for a cero. Rin couldn’t care less, but Masa wasn’t aware of how strong Rin really was. As she drew her zanpakuto to deal with the oaf, Masa noticed her situation and panicked.
“Rin, look out!”
What did he call me?
The sheer shock of being called by her first name, a name that she never told anyone, distracted her enough that she forgot about dodging the cero, causing Masa to step in and deflect it, countering with a kido of his own. At this point the little girl interrupted, dragging the oaf away through a garganta, but Rin wasn’t paying any attention to them anymore.
“So, you do remember.”
“I don’t suppose that you can forget I said that.”
The blade pointed at him answered that question. “Rin, we do need to talk about this..” The reiatsu Rin was letting out now was telling him that now was not the time. She was definitely still angry.
“Masa, leave.”
For once, he listened and vanished in a flash of shunpo. Rin wandered off on her own, not really caring about the end destination as long as it was away from Masa.
(Contined in next post)
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