Tears of confession [Bleach]

Act II: Renji.

Renji:

I still remember the day that I met her, as if it was yesterday:

"Damn it! From all the things I could have been in charge of is protecting this stupid city" I grumbled, as I jumped from building to building "I will never anger Byakuya-taichou again on my life. I can't believe I have to stay here for five years" I sighed, resigning myself to my fate "This will be boring as hell"

"I resent that" a soft but firm voice said behind me.

I rapidly turned around, reading myself for an attack, but froze in shock at what I found.

"How cana human use kido?!" I exclaimed stunned by the whole situation.

"You are not a normal ghost, they normally don't carry swords around... and you are not a demon either" she totally ignored me while thinking out loud.

"Demon?!" I growled, even more confused- what is a demon? Humans and their strange costumes.

"Those black spiritual creatures with creepy masks" she explained.

"Black creatures with masks... you mean hollows? Are you telling me that the reason why this city had had so little hollow activity is because of a human?!" I almost laughed at the ridiculous situation I found myself in, if I weren't shocked as fuck.

"So they are called hollows..." she mumbled "And you? What are you?"

"I'm a shinigami" I replied "I hunt those... demons, between other things"

"Well, your kind has not been doing a great job lately" she said.

I looked at her for a few minutes, before throwing my head back and laughing joyfully. Maybe being in this human city would not be so boring. I thought happily.

"I like you girl" I said, not minding anymore being tied up. But was surprised when I soon found myself being realized "What? Finally trusting me? That easy? That will get you killed" I warned.

"I am very good at sensing spiritual energies, be it bad or good. I feel no ill intentions from you. I apologize for trapping you, but I felt an unknown energy and reacted before thinking"

"Have someone to protect here?" I asked, curiously, and raised an eyebrow when her stance change- getting into a defensive position and gathering kido in her hands, ready to trap me again at any moment.

"Do you know girl what you just did? You used kido and casted spells without even chanting anything. That is pure talent. Even graduated shinigamis have a hard time doing it" suddenly and idea occurred to me "I have a lot of time to kill here, what do you say I teach you about the spiritual world and how to fight better?"

"Why would you do that? You don't even know me"

"I am too strong, this hollows will only bore me. I need some entertainment, also you can always become a shinigami when you die" I replied.

"Wow... how kind of you?" She replied, tone dripping with sarcasm.

"But you will be capable of protecting that special someone" I continued, shutting her up.

Suddenly some kind of bells began to ring, snapping her out of her thinking.

"Stay here, and in an hour find me by the door. I will give you an answer then" she finally said, before turning around and skipping away.

I had no obligation of doing as she told me, but she was an interesting girl and I wanted to know more about her. With nothing more to do I decided to stalk investigate the girl I just offered to train. It seems that this building is a place young people go to study and those strange outfits are uniforms they must wear- just like Rukia and I did in our Academy time. From what I could see, this girl was very smart and looked up by her peers- she must be their lieder or something like that. When people started to come out, I decided to use a gigai. After all, most humans cannot see us shinigamis. I even used one of those strange suits I saw some senseis wearing.

It took a few minutes, minutes that many girls stole glances at me while blushing and giggling, but that girl finally came out... but she wasn't on her own. She had a little boy that was clearly her little brother. She looked stunned by my change of clothes and more when her friend asked her if she knew me, I smirked and winked at her when she whipped her head towards me- having the upper hand feels good. She quickly bid her friend goodbye and dragged her little brother towards me, the other guy glared heatedly at me.

I raised and eyebrow confused by the attitude, but then I understood: Oh, he must have a crush on her. He sees me as a threat.

"Nee-san, who is he?" A small adorable voice, snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked down at the little boy gripping his big sisters skirt, hiding behind her leg.

So cute~! I squealed in my head.

"Ma petit fraise he is a friend of mine. He will be escorting us home" she answered, her voice filled with adoration and her expression gentle as a saint mother "Why don't you go in front of us while I talk with him?"

The boy didn't even ask why, he simply beamed at her and skipped in front of us. What a good behaved boy... he also trusts his sister blindly.

"How..." she began, but knowing what she was going to say I cut her off.

"We shinigamis have our ways. I will explain everything if you accept my offer" I replied.

"That boy over there is my little brother, our mother died a few months ago... a hollow killed her. A hollow that decieved my otouto. He can see them like me, though he can't use kido while alive like me. My dad said that once he dies he will have the ability to become a reaper... sorry, a shinigami. But I hope that does not happen in a long time, until then I want to become strong enough to protect them" she took a deep breath and looked at me in the eyes "Train me"

I knew then, that this stopped being a game for my amusement. This now was serious, a life or death situation. She was trusting me the life of her adored little brother... I could not take things easy anymore. So I called Rukia and asked her for all her academy books for kido and history of the Gotei 13 and Hueco Mundo. Though, those she had to study and learn on her own as I never excelled on those areas. When it came to katana training, well, on that I had her working like a dog. Not to mention that her endurance and speed was shit. Though when I was over with her with her she was almost good enough to match me. She never was capable of getting a zampaktou, though that was expected as she was still alive.

But I never stopped to wonder if that night would have been different if she had had a zampaktou:

That night it had been the day her boyfriend, the same boy that was with her the day I met her, broke up with her. She was very sad, so I did the only thing I knew would always cheer her up: I took her out to dance. And we dance! We cared for nothing and no one that night, we simply had fun loosing ourselves to the music and into each other's body. We left the club a couple of hours before the sun came out.

Hiromi decided to go to the temple at the top of the mountain, the place that has become so important to us- our training sanctuary and where our friendship bloom. We were having a great night... until it happened. I acted like an unexperienced shinigami and put my guard down, that was all that hollow needed to attack.

Hiromi pushed me away all I could do is fall as I watched my best friend's heart being blasted by that hollow. That horrendous experience was all I needed for me to unblock my bankai mode. I blew that hollow into pieces... but it was too late.

Hiromi was dead, my best friend was dead, I could not comprehend what was happening, it was all too much...

All I could do was cradle her body into my arms and cry all morning long, until her father finally came. I've never felt so guilty before in my entire life, whenI saw his face crumpling and falling on his knees.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!!!" I cried apologizing, over and over again "I'm so sorry!"