[DISCONTINUED] Strive | Bleach

Chapter Twenty-Six: Total Recalls and Final Judgments.

(A/N: One last tiny chapter to introduce the arcs ahead! Sorry!)

OH, P.S: THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN PAST EPISODE 110

Abaron’s POV~ A Week Later~

‘Try and breathe, Abaron. Just try and breathe. Stay calm. Ultimately, you’ve done nothing wrong.’

‘Well, maybe except for turning your back on the Soul Society.'

‘Hey! It was for the right reasons!’

‘You saved a life, big whoop.’

‘And I stopped a few backstabbers from killing more lives. Wait a damn second, why the hell am I having this conversation with you, of all people, in the first place?! Go away!’

She snickered and faded away to the back of my mind, allowing me to focus on my ascent up the long stone staircase. I wasn’t all that thrilled about having to go to Squad 1 for several reasons.

1)      I didn’t exactly want to be questioned by the Head Captain for treason, but I had no choice in the matter…

2)      The chance that I’d be sent back to the bottom of the Maggot’s Nest was about seventy percent imminent, meaning that the prosecution isn’t exactly in my favor.

3)      And the fact that my inner Hollow has reawakened because of Ichigo’s (proven above) states that I’m a threat to the Soul Society all over again.

At the moment, I really hate this life. It makes me wonder sometimes of how my life would be if I was still human. How would my life be if I lived in Karakura Town with the others? And if I died, what if I just stayed in Rukongai?

“I’m so frustrated! This isn’t fair! Ugh!” My hands tucked themselves into fists. It took all of my strength not to punch the walls beside me. I was just so angry with myself! Even when I was human, I always got into trouble, and now that I’m a Soul Reaper, things have gotten just about a hundred times worse! Why couldn’t I just be a normal Soul Reaper with little to no spiritual energy and a nameless Asauchi that is just a regular zanpakutō that isn’t a Hollow-hybrid?! Man, this is really too much for my head right now.

But at least my life hasn’t been boring. Let’s see…

I’ve had Shōri with me since the beginning. We lived as siblings in both the World of the Living and the Soul Society. We lived in solitude for almost a hundred years before we met Yumichika and Ikkaku. We stayed with them for a year before they went off to the Seireitei. Then we travelled to the 78 District of Rukongai. There, we met Shūhei—well, Shōri did. He was still a young plus at the time, almost the same height as my sister (she was extremely small as a kid). They were attacked by a Hollow, when Kensei saved them. A few years later, we met Renji, Rukia, and Izuru. Shōri and I finally had enough spiritual energy to enter the Academy, and we entered it with them. We all graduated, and Rukia was adopted into the Kuchiki Clan.

Byakuya… hmm, how was it that we met? Oh, that’s right. It was because of Yoruichi! Before she became the ‘Princess’ of the Shihōin Clan, she would sneak out to Rukongai. I met her when… well, er, what I did then was slightly illegal, so I’ll only say that she helped me out of a hard spot. Even though I was still in the Academy, and obviously not a Noble, Yoruichi would drag me all over, and the Kuchiki Manor was one of those places.

It was only a month after our graduation that I was officially recruited into Squad 5 under Shinji. It’s still a shock to me that the Head Captain himself had done it, even after all this time.