Bandage it in Paper (Bleach OC-Centric Fanfic)

Chapter 9 | Hit the Ground R-

Lyn plopped onto the ground next to Akon, elbows on her knees and head in her hands.

"Do you remember... anything besides your death?" Akon eventually asked.

"Everything that a peaceful, normal life would entail," Lyn answered. "And all I want now is to keep living a normal life. I'm not built to do anything extraordinary, so I'd at least like to make it to a normal Human's lifetime."

They continued to sit in silence.

Akon was eventually the one to break it. "Then how are you so comfortable around me?"

"Hm?"

"You seem to have heard all the worst of rumours about the 12th, and not all of them are false. And while I'm the 3rd Seat, I mostly work directly under Captain Kurotsuchi." Akon kept his eyes forward. "I've partaken in all kinds of experiments most would consider cruel for the pursuit of knowledge and the sake of the Soul Society. How can a normal person accept that?"

"Well..." Lyn stared at him for a long moment. "You're not doing those things for the fun of it. Are you?"

"I'm not."

"Are you planning to cut me up into little pieces and dissect me?"

Akon answered quickly, "Absolutely not."

"Mm." Lyn poked him in the shoulder, and Akon was once again struck by just how casually she treated him. "Well, I'm not going to try and pretend I'm on some moral high ground. You're doing more for Soul Society, the Human World, and everyone in it than I ever will or care to. And since you're no danger to me, I guess you're just my overly invasive, neighbourhood stalker."

Akon had subordinates who respected him, 'comrades' of the other Gotei 13 divisions who feared him, superiors who saw him as reliable, co-workers who were in awe of his intellect and dedication; a network of professional relationships. As a child in the Rukongai, he had been looked at with disgust for his interests and even sent to Mukon for his pursuit of knowledge.

It was funny that a soul as strange as Lyn only wanted to live a normal life, and that she was able to share a piece of that normalcy with him.

"Well, if you want to stay under the radar, then you should wrap your tanto in this," he said, handing Lyn a roll of black fabric from his shihakusho. "While your wakizashi feels relatively normal, your tanto gives of a lot of that unsettling, pseudo reishi you used to give off a lot. That cloth should mask most of its presence."

Lyn looked down at the fabric for a long while before she said, "You know I can't pay you back for any of this, right? And for all the food and stuff you've given me too."

"I don't need you to pay me back, just don't die until I find out why your soul is so strange."

"Actually..." Lyn pulled her zanpakuto onto her lap. She hesitated. "I think it's because these two began to manifest as soon as my soul arrived to keep me alive, that my soul is the way it is. Maybe there are other zanpakuto that change how a Shinigami's reiryoku feels?"

Akon cupped his chin. 'While that may be somewhat true, it doesn't make sense for such a weak soul to be able to begin to manifest their zanpakuto spirit so early, though it's not entirely impossible. Is it because of a heightened desire to live due to passing on as a soul that remembered struggling for its life? But then why didn't her soul develop into a Hollow?'

Akon glanced down at Lyn's tanto in her lap. 'Unless this strange reishi is actually from something in between. No, not in between regular reiryoku and a Hollow's, but something entirely different. Could it just be a unique effect of her zanpakuto's influence? I find it unlikely...'