#maybe its time to think about him again since i think about arrancar and hueco mundo so much | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

recurring-polynya · 3 years

Note

soul reapers to get paid and their salaries are even quite high! if i remember correctly, lieutenants make around $7k while a captain’s salary is almost triple(nearly $19k)

(cont) that is if my conversion was right, in a JET interview kubo said captains make 2million yen, lieutenants - 700 000yen and an unseated officer - 200 000yen. but then again, i think the living cost in ss is much higher, i remember matsumoto mentioning that clothes in the living world are much cheaper

I have to say this is one of the liveliest discussions on Bleach meta that I have ever participated in on this website. I feel like I can definitively report that is is both fanon consensus and supported by the creator himself that Soul Reapers do, in fact, get paid. For the record, my husband, who started this, conceded days ago and I am sure has not thought about it since.

In any case-- I was very surprised by these numbers, and at first I thought that maybe they were in kan, the fictional currency used in Soul Society, rather than yen. I mean, $19k/year is a terrible salary (for those of you who are not American it is roughly minimum wage). I attempted to figure out the conversion rate between kan and yen once, and at the time, came to the conclusion that kan were worth somewhat more than yen, but I no longer have my scratch pad, so I cannot show my work. Looking at it again, they seem pretty close.

Then, just to get an idea, I googled the salary of a four-star general in the American military, which I thought should be a rough equivalent, and the article I found reported all its numbers in monthly salaries, which I am not used to seeing, but maybe they are more common in other countries. In any case, according to the article I found, the highest salary you can make in the US military is $15,800/month ($189,600/year), which is pretty close to what a Gotei captain makes. I realize that is a lot of money on an absolute scale, but that actually seemed shockingly low to me, in the sense that there have only ever been 246 four-star generals in the history of the U.S., but this is the sort of salary that, say, a C-suite executive might make. A president of even a public university can make 2-5 times this. Now, a career in the military comes with a lot of other perks-- free room and board, free healthcare, etc, but I think this is going to make a much bigger difference to the people in the lower ranks.

The more I thought about it, I do think this tracks, though. Gotei captains are immeasurably valuable and basically impossible to replace. One of the more chilling moments leading up to the Winter War was the part where Hitsugaya is basically like “we don’t know how many Arrancar Aizen has, but if it’s more than 10, we’re screwed” and then it cuts to Hueco Mundo, and Aizen is just surrounded by guys. So, yeah, it honestly makes perfect sense to me that captains are paid a “good living” but it’s insulting compared to the wealth of the nobles that live around them. I don’t usually have a lot of nice things to say about Byakuya, but I do want to emphasize that this has to be chump change for him. This guy definitely works out of a sense of duty, he is not in it for the Benjamins.

The vice-captain salary (~$84k/yr) comes closest to an O-4, which corresponds to a major or a lieutenant colonel, and usually entails about 10 years of service. I guess years count for less when you’re immortal, so I guess that works out. One thing that doesn’t fit is that in another interview, Kubo states that Renji’s sunglasses cost half a year’s salary, but their price is listed in the Bleach Bootleg as 84,700 kan. If a kan is roughly equal to a yen, this is wildly off. I will get back to this later. In WDKALY, there was some mention of vice-captains and captains being given “mansions” to live in (if they chose to). I absolutely cannot accept this fact as canon. I can’t. I mean, there are numerous omake about Hisagi trying to score free food out of Omaeda, yet this man lives in a mansion? And do not tell me he (or Matsumoto or Iba) would pass up living in a mansion if they had the option, even if the commute were an absolute nightmare. Maybe he can’t afford the cost of utilities and furnishings. I don’t know. Please, someone write me a sitcom of Hisagi and Kira living in giant mansions next door to each other, but it’s just like the Bluths living in the sample house in Arrested Development. [Aside: Renji would take the mansion, but he would turn it into an indoor soccer field and continue to sleep in the barracks search your heart you know it’s true]

Back on topic! The unseated officer salary of 200k yen/mo works out to an E-3, which is what an enlisted service member makes after a year. Everyone in the Gotei is considered an officer, and unseating people are awful, so, once again, this seems fine. Well, it seems shitty, tbh, but consistently shitty.

To really answer the question of “is this shitty?” though, we need to consider buying power. Earlier, I mentioned that Gotei service includes free room and board, and that alone is equivalent to a lifetime of wealth for someone from the lower Rukon. I mentioned earlier that I once tried to calculate the exchange rate between kan and yen using a variety of prices for various items. I wish I had kept better notes, because my main takeaway was that prices for things were not very consistent. A copy of the Seireitei Bulletin is 380 kan. Using a straight kan to yen to dollar conversion, that’s $2.80 (I am using 100 yen = $1 because it’s close enough, in case anyone was wondering). Sexy photo books of the captains cost ~$25. The budget of the Shinigami Women’s Association is $2500/year, and the Men’s is $900/year, which is roughly the cost of one pair of sunglasses. I think it must have been the sunglasses that threw me, because I kept trying to peg the cost of a pair of sunglasses to a half year’s salary. The club budgets are just honestly confusing because I have no idea what a calligraphy club budget should look like. It seemed... fine... that a club budget should be equivalent to half a year’s salary? To be honest, I think a kan should be roughly equal to a yen and the sunglasses are just priced too low. (Not a statement I ever thought I would be making).

The comment about clothes being cheaper in the World of the Living makes a lot of sense! Cloth in Soul Society is probably hand-dyed, rather than mass printed, and sewed by hand, rather than by machine. On the other hand, if you wanted goods made in traditional ways, it would be a lot cheaper to get in Soul Society. A chusen-dyed kimono is a luxury good in 2021, because you have to option to order a cheap t-shirt and sweatpants from Amazon. Everyone wears hand-made kimono in Soul Society because that’s what there is, so the price is going to be relatively lower. I do think that cost-of-living jumps sharply inside the walls of the Seireitei, and that it’s very common to do your shopping in the upper districts of Rukongai, where there are lot of highly skilled artisans making goods for the city-dwelling market. I figure that one of the few opportunities for upward mobility, aside from selling your soul to the military is to make enough money to buy your way inside the gates (either through overpriced business licenses, getting a noble patron, or by arranging a marriage to someone who already lives inside)

That being said, I have thought a lot about importing items from the WotL--shinigami usually travel through senkaimon, which do not allow for matter conversion, so they wouldn’t normally be able to bring anything with them. I imagine that it’s sort of a perk of the job that when you go on a mission where you have to go through a matter converter (which would include any time you are bringing a gigai over) you could smuggle back whatever you can fit in your kosode. It’s very strange which technology is adapted from the World of the Living (washing machines, treadmills, urinals) and what isn’t (coffee). In fanfic, it’s common to see shinigami wearing Living World clothing in their off-hours, but I don’t think that’s supported by canon or filler in any way. For my own fanfiction, because it’s fun and world-buildy, I like to pretend that Ichigo is a very popular figure after the Winter War and that World of the Living fashion, music, etc becomes popular, starting during the two-year timeskip, particularly among the younger denizens of the Seireitei, and that there are special bars and such that specialize in that kind of thing. Shinigami who have done extensive stints in the Living World are considered cool for their knowledge of such esoteric subjects as “rice cookers.”

I am done now! I swear! Thank you, everyone for reading all the way down to the bottom of possibly the nerdiest and most boring post I have ever made on this website! (wait, no, I just remembered the one on senkaimon transfer protocols. Second most boring.)

#soul society #bleach worldbuilding #weirdly enough i have just been talking about a number of these topics in my latest chapters of a little in love #i took exactly (1) economics class and it made me a monster

36 notes · View notes

therainroguefanfiction · 4 years

Text

⁂ Days Come and Go (Coyote Starrk) [1 of 2]

Genre: Romance, Comedy ☁

Word Count: 3,666 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Starrk ☁

World: Bleach ☁

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

“Days come and go, but my feelings for you are forever,”

You growled, struggling against the restraints on your wrists. Apparently, you were an ‘important asset‘ to Aizen, so he had Tousen sneak up behind you and grab you. ‘Like a coward’, you thought. He brought you back to Hueco Mundo.

Ichigo and the others had already saved Orihime and brought her back to the world of the living. Aizen retreated from the battle against Soul Society before it even began and sealed off any way of getting into Hueco Mundo – or out, in your case.

Orihime had gotten a hold of the Hougyoku and damaged it, making it take four times as long to awaken. After Ichigo managed to get her, Aizen took you two months later in order to replace her, even though your powers were nothing alike.

You were sitting in Aizen’s room, hands cuffed behind your back so that you couldn’t use any of your reiatsu and, of course, the door was locked. That didn’t stop you from struggling against them, though.

You closed your eyes, focusing all of your power into your hands and wrists and, with one swift movement, you broke through the cuffs. You smirked, ‘If that bastard really thought those would hold me, he’s in for a big surprise,’

You kicked the door open, making as little noise as possible, and closed your eyes again, focusing; you were trying to find your zanpakuto which had been taken by Aizen upon your arrival.

Finally finding it, you set off down the halls of Las Noches, keeping your eyes and ears alert, as well as masking your reiatsu.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

After searching for what felt like hours in the winding halls, you finally came to a door. Las Noches is one hell of a maze! You could feel RyuuKaji, your zanpakuto, pulsing on the other side. You slid the door open enough to look inside.

There was an Espada level guy lying on a huddle of pillows on the floor, fast asleep. There were no others in sight.

You slowly pushed the door open, slipped inside, and shut the door behind you. You tiptoed over to the sleeping Espada, kicking his leg lightly with your foot to make sure he wouldn’t wake up. His chest was rising and falling softly, face content. Your sword was hanging from his sash, right beside his own.

You kneeled down on the pillows next to him and, very gently, untied the sash from his waist, letting it fall to either side of him. His right hand, which was laying on his stomach, twitched slightly, but he made no signs of being awoken.

You proceeded to push the sash to the side and reach for your sword.

“What are ya doing?”

You froze, looking over your shoulder to see a blonde-haired Arrancar. She must be his Fraccion. ‘Shit, why didn’t I sense her?’

She narrowed her eyes and walked forward, kicking the man where the sun don’t shine. He woke with a start, grabbing himself and groaning in pain. “I told you not to do that, Lilinette!”

She rolled her eyes, “You shouldn’t be sleeping on the job.”

“Hmm?” his gaze moved over and he stared at you for a second before closing his eyes with a sigh, retying his sash.

She scoffed and left the room.

You stared at your sword, wondering if you should just grab it and run. For some reason, an idea popped into your head – an idea you normally would never think about, ever. ‘This has got to be my father’s fault,’

You took a deep breath to steel your nerves and got on top of the lazy Espada, your legs on either side of his waist and hands on either side of his head.

He opened his eyes and stared up at you, lazily.

“Look, I can tell you really like to sleep. I’m sure that’s hard, though, having to guard that sword. So, why don’t you let me take it off your hands, so you can sleep, hmm?”

He stared at you for a few seconds before closing his eyes. “Sorry, no.”

You scowled, more dirty thoughts coming into your mind. Biting your lip, you considered your options. He may be an Espada, but he’s still a guy.

‘It might just work. Then again, it may piss him off and he could kill me now. Wonderful,’

You took another deep breath before deciding to go with it. Leaning down, you placed a few butterfly kisses on his neck. He squirmed slightly but made no other movements. You grinned in satisfaction, bitting his neck lightly, earning a grunt from the Espada below you.

You peppered kisses down his neck, unzipping his uniform as you went. Looking up into his face, he looked content. ‘Maybe I will keep my life. Now, to get my damn sword!’

You trailed kisses back up to his neck and bit his ear gently. “What do you say? Can I have my sword back, please~?”

“I can’t,” he responded softly, enjoying what you were doing to his body.

‘He can’t seriously be this hard to break!’, you thought with a frown. You nipped his neck again, earning another grunt of approval as your hand made its way towards your sword.

“Bitch!”

You froze, head whipping up to see a smirking Grimmjow standing in the doorway. “You were supposed to get your sword, not dry hump Starrk!”

You scowled at him, “You really do have a big mouth, ya know that?”

Our eyes connected and he grinned a minute later, “Hurry the hell up, eh?” then he turned around and left the room.

When you looked back down, Starrk was looking up at you, his eyes concealing whatever emotion he felt. You leaned down to his neck again. “Please forgive me for this,” you bit down on his neck, drawing blood as you forced your reiatsu into the wound. You felt him tense under you before he slipped into unconsciousness. “I’m sorry,” you kissed his forehead lightly before grabbing your sword and leaving the room.

Grimmjow was leaning against the wall outside the room, his arms folded over his chest and a cocky smirk on his face.

“Don’t even,” you growled, glaring at him as you passed while putting your sword back through your belt – much like Ikkaku had when he first attended Karakura High.

He grinned, following after you. “Daddy rubbing off on you?”

“Go to hell, asshole.”

“I’ll see you there, bitch.”

You snorted, hitting his arm as you made your way down the halls of Las Noches.

You used to be a soul reaper but left Soul Society right after Kisuke and Yoruichi did; you take turns staying at Ichigo’s house and Kisuke’s. You do not wear the traditional Shinigami outfit, never have. Instead, you wear baggy black jeans, a white t-shirt, a black zip-up leather hoodie, and black and white skull sneakers. You also wear a black belt around your waist to keep RyuuKaji, though it can be hard to see since it blends in with your jeans.

A deep blue ring occupies your middle finger on your right hand; a present from Toushirou before you left, while a black and silver ring, with a silver dragon on top, occupies your thumb, a gift from your father. Around your neck was another ring, blood red, on a chain that hung down to your stomach, a present from Gin before he betrayed soul society.

“Think we can make it?” Grimmjow asked, sounding bored.

You shrugged just as Ulquiorra appeared, blocking your path.

“Aizen-sama has ordered me to bring you back and restrain you.”

“Bring her back?” Grimmjow laughed, “We haven’t even left yet, idiot!”

You rolled your eyes, stepping forward and drawing your sword. “We’re having a bit of trouble, Ulquiorra. See, me and Grimmjow are eager to leave this place, but can’t seem to find an exit. I’m afraid, I’m gonna have to use you to make one!” As soon as you finished speaking, you used shunpo to appear in front of him, swords clashing. You pushed him back, making his eyes widen, with such great force, that he crashed through five layers of wall.

“Hey!” Grimmjow appeared next to you, “I can see the outside.”

You glanced at him before using shunpo again to appear outside, quite a ways away from Las Noches. Grimmjow appeared next to you a few seconds later.

He snapped his fingers with a smirk and a portal appeared. “Shall we?”

You grinned, stepping past him and into the portal, appearing in the sky of Karakura town. He stepped out next to you and the portal snapped closed. You stretched your arms above your head, your back cracking in the process.

Grimmjow chuckled, landing on the ground with you behind him.

“I’m guessing we’re going to go to Urahara’s?”

“Where else?” you muttered, walking towards Urahara’s shop.

Urahara, Jinta, Ururu, Tessai, Noba, Ririn, and Kurodo were waiting for you outside the shop.

“It’s about time you two got here,” Urahara grinned from underneath his stripped hat.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

| Back in Los Noches |

Aizen, Gin, Tousen, and Lilinette were standing over the unconscious Espada. Lilinette had tried to wake him, using the tactics that she always used, but the Espada didn’t budge an inch. Getting worried, she sought out Gin, who in turn got Aizen and Tousen.

Aizen had his hand on his chin in a thinking matter, a smile on his lips. “They simply used a special spell that not many know. No doubt they learned it from the goddess of flash.”

“A spell?” Lilinette asked, staring down at the Espada.

Aizen nodded to Tousen who stepped forward, holding his palms out to face Starrk. He muttered something under his breath and his hands started to glow a deep purple. A few moments later, the Espada stirred, opening his eyes slowly and sitting up, looking at the four people standing around him.

“Haha, they really got ya, Starrk!” Gin grinned his normal, fox-like grin.

“Get ready,” Aizen said lightly. “You will be going after Y/N.”

Starrk looked up at Aizen, his mind running wild.

“As much as I hate to admit it, they are stronger than everyone here except for me and you. Y/N on equal standing with Gin. You are the only one who can beat them and bring them back. You leave in one hour.” With that, the three men turned around and left the room.

It was silent for a few moments before Lilinette spoke. “Why’d you let them do that? Why didn’t you stop them?”

Starrk sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. “I don’t know,”

Lilinette narrowed her eyes, “Yes you do! They took away the loneliness, didn’t they? Y/N made you forget everything!”

He nodded slightly, his voice still low. “They’re the first person to make me feel that way. I…” he was at a loss for words. He couldn’t even describe how you made him feel.

“We can’t doom them by bringing them back here, then,” Lilinette said, firmly.

“We have orders,” he countered, quietly.

“So?” she scoffed, “If they makes you feel that great, why bring them back here just to die?”

“Y/N would never love a hollow, Lilinette. Especially not me. The feeling wouldn’t last but a fleeting moment.”

Lilinette didn’t know what to say. All she knew was she couldn’t let him bring you back if you affected him so much. She had to form a plan and she only had an hour to do it.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

| Karakura Town |

“They’re here,” Grimmjow muttered, staring down at the tea Tessai had placed in front of him.

“To investigate, no doubt,” Urahara said, waving his fan.

“Huh?”

“Soul Society thinks that Y/N went to Hueco Mundo of her own free will. They’ve sent two shinigami to question her and possibly apprehend her.”

“What!?” Grimmjow growled, slamming his hands on the table. “After all the shit they’ve done for them!? This is how they repay Y/N?”

“Unfortunately,”

“Grimmjow,” you muttered, staring at the ground. “Let it be,”

“But – !”

“It’s fine,”

He growled again but kept his mouth shut.

A few moments later, two shinigami appeared at the door to Urahara’s shop.

“Y/N-chan,” the man spoke softly, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Father,” you murmured, avoiding his gaze. You saw Grimmjow glance at you out of the corner of your eye but ignored it.

“Can I speak to you alone?” he asked, softly, holding his hand out for you to take.

Grimmjow glared slightly and slapped his hand away, standing up. “If Y/N goes, I go!”

He nodded in understanding as you stood up. “Stay here, Nanao-chan.”

Nano nodded, sitting down at the table as the three of you left the shop, heading to the river.

Starrk and Lilinette were hidden behind a large tree, watching you, Grimmjow, and the shinigami as you talked. Their reiatsu had been hidden well, so none of you could sense them.

Starrk was listening closely to what was said, all the while curious as to your relationship with the two men.

“So, what happened?” Shunsui asked as he lounged on his back in the grass.

Grimmjow folded his arms over his chest as he stood nearby, a grin on his face. “Why don’t you tell him what happened, Y/N?”

You glared at him before looking back to your father.

Starrk was watching your movements carefully.

“Well – you see -” you sighed deeply, rubbing the back of your neck, “Aizen wasn’t happy about Orihime getting away. So, instead, he sent for me to be taken. Bastard Tousen snuck up behind me and put those damn cuffs on me.” Your voice was full of anger

‘What is this feeling in the pit of my stomach? Why do I want to make their anger go away?’, Starrk frowned.

“So much for vigilance,” Grimmjow sniggered.

You glared at him again, “I was locked in Aizen’s room – ”

“You should have looked for blackmail.” Grimmjow sniggered again.

You ignored him. ” – of course, you know me, can’t stay still for too long.” Shunsui smiled at your words. “I managed to break free and went in search of my sword. Aizen gave it to one of the Espada to guard.”

Grimmjow snorted.

“I would have gotten it scotch free if his Fraccion hadn’t shown up and woken him.” You sighed deeply, looking down as you nervously picked the grass from the ground. “She woke him and left the room. Of course, I couldn’t just take it from him after that. So, I tried to think up a plan.”

“Oh, you thought of one alright.”

Thinking about what you did to him made Starrk feel content for a fleeting second before it disappeared. Oh, how he longed to have that feeling back.

“Oh?” Shunsui raised his eyebrow in question. “What plan did you use, Y/N-chan?”

“Well… I figured that, even though he’s an Espada, he’s still a guy…”

“Oh~?” he sat up, looking eager to hear more.

“I kind of… sat on him,”

Shunsui chuckled, pulling his hat down to hide his amusement.

You continued. “And, err, well… the rest isn’t important!”

Grimmjow burst out laughing, earning another glare. “You were practically dry humping him!”

“I was not!” you growled, slamming him so hard on the back of the head that he face planted on the ground, leaving a small indent in the earth.

“Y/N-chan~” Shunsui cooed, “What exactly did you do, darling?”

You groaned in defeat. “I figured I could persuade him, ya know? All I did was kiss him a bit…”

“‘Kiss him a bit’?” Grimmjow scoffed, rubbing his face clean of dirt. “They were leaving kisses and love bites all over his neck!”

Shunsui stared at you for a few minutes before jumping up and squeezing you to his chest, “That’s my child!”

You managed to struggle free of his grasp and pointed an accusing finger in his direction, “I knew it was right to blame you! Pervy old man!”

He grinned sheepishly, swatting your hand away. “Now, now, Y/N-chan. What did you expect? So, how did he take it?”

“Pretty well, surprisingly. I couldn’t get him to break though,” you shook your head, folding your arms over your chest.

“My lord,” Shunsui whispered in disbelief. “All that and he didn’t give in? There is something wrong with that man.”

You rolled your eyes, “Something wrong with him? Just because he’s not a pervert like you and Grimmjow?”

Grimmjow shot up, glaring at you. “I am no pervert, bitch!”

You scoffed, “Suuurree, whatever you say, asshole.”

Grimmjow glared at you for a moment before his expression turned serious. “You should consider yourself lucky.”

“Hmm?” you raised your eyebrow at him.

“If he was any different, he probably would have killed you.” He smirked at your confused expression. “You didn’t know? You did something like that to him, and you didn’t even know?”

“Know what?” you scowled, feeling annoyed.

Grimmjow stared at you before laughing, falling to the ground clutching his stomach. You kicked his stomach with your foot. He managed to calm down a bit, still chuckling, “Starrk is the Primera!”

You stared at him in shock, “P-Primera?” you took a few steps back, thinking about what you had actually done to him.

Kyoraku cocked his head to the side, watching you curiously.

“Holy shit,” you muttered, falling to the ground, your hands behind you. “I could have died!”

Grimmjow laughed harder, “If he was any different, you would have been dead!” His laughter stopped, then started again, harder this time. “Imagine if you did that to Ulquiorra!”

You glared at him, kicking his foot. “I would never do something like that to Ulquiorra, or anyone else for that matter!”

He scoffed, “Oh yeah? Then why’d you do it to Starrk?”

You rubbed the back of your head, looking anywhere but at his blue eyes as you fought back a blush. “I-I don’t know… it was a one-time thing, okay!”

Shunsui started to chuckled, scooting over so that he was next to you, putting his arm around your shoulder. “Did you feel it, sweety? That special feeling?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know what I felt or what came over me.” You suddenly pushed him away, standing up and putting your hands in your pockets. “It doesn’t matter,”

Grimmjow stayed silent for a minute before speaking again. “You’re right, it doesn’t.”

You raised a brow at him.

“Aizen probably found ’em by now and he’s most likely going to send Starrk to come bring you back. Hell, he might already be here.”

Shunsui sighed, standing up and pulling his hat down over his eyes. “I need to get back to report everything to Yama-jii,”

You nodded, pulling off the blue ring from your finger and holding it out to him. He raised his head, a confused expression on his face. “Give it to Toushirou before you go see the old man, will ya?”

He seemed thoughtful for a minute before he took the ring from the palm of your hand, “Be safe, darling.” He used shunpo and disappeared.

“What do you think?” Grimmjow asked, softly.

“I don’t know what to think anymore.” You started in the direction of Ichigo’s house, “Come on. We’re staying with Ichigo tonight.”

He nodded, following at your side.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

“Ichigo! You’re late!” Isshin screamed from downstairs. A crash followed, along with Ichigo yelling, “It’s only seven o’clock!”

“That’s no excuse!”

More crashes could be heard before it went silent, the only sound being Ichigo’s annoyed footsteps and Grimmjow’s sniggering in the corner. His bedroom door slammed open and he came in, a scowl on his face as he plopped down on the bed next to you.

“Rough day?” you asked as he laid his head on your stomach.

Rukia walked over after shutting the door and plopped down in his desk chair, playing on her phone.

“Yeah,” he murmured, “Damn Keigo kept trying to get me to – ” He shot up suddenly, staring at you with wide eyes. He was frozen in that position before he jumped on you, hugging you tightly. “Y/N!”

Grimmjow snorted, “It took you that long for that brain of yours to actually work?”

Ichigo scowled, glaring at Grimmjow. “Why are you here?”

He shrugged, “‘Cause I can be.”

Ichigo ignored him, turning back to you. “How’d you get back?” Then he turned to Rukia, who was still playing on her cell. “Did you know about this?”

She shrugged, “Of course. I felt Y/N’s Reiatsu as soon as they arrived. They’ve been talking to captain Kyoraku.”

You sat up, moving to lean against the open window above the side of his bed, hanging outside it to feel the cold breeze on your skin. “I managed to escape,”

“How!?” he yelled, sitting in front of me, his brown eyes both concerned and confused.

“That’s not important,” you shrugged, “What is important is the fact that Aizen’ll be sending someone to get me back.”

Ichigo growled, folding his arms over his chest. “Not if I can help it!”

Starrk and Lilinette had followed you to the orange-haired shinigami’s house and watched as he talked with you. The window was open, making it a little bit easier to hear what was being said.

He would be lying if he said he felt nothing in his chest when Ichigo had laid his head on you. He longed to be in that position with you, to feel your skin on his again.

“I can handle almost anyone he sends,” you murmured, looking up at the dark sky. “The only ones I’d have trouble with is Gin, Starrk, or Aizen himself.”

“You know he’s gonna send Starrk!” Grimmjow muttered.

“Starrk?” Ichigo looked between the two of us. “Who is that?”

“The Primera Espada,” you said, quietly, “He’s the one that was guarding my sword.”

Now you had Rukia’s attention. “Primera? How’d you manage that?”

“Details aren’t important,” you waved her off, closing your eyes.

She gave you a quizzical look before her phone started to beep, “There’s an espada here.”

Grimmjow glanced at me, “It’s Starrk.”

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

▸ Part 2 of 2

📜 Read more by checking out my masterlist 📜

43 notes · View notes

arrancarscenarios · 4 years

Note

You uhhh...you got any fluff by any chance? With anyone? Just feeling the need for something soft lately if you know what I mean...

actually, I had this unprompted thing sitting half finished, so I decided to finish it and slap it up here!

some fluffy Szayel/reader sickfic?? soft Arrancars are the best Arrancars

Quite honestly, you can’t imagine where SZAYEL would have picked up something that made him sick.

After all, he rarely leaves his lab, first of all. Second of all, you’ve never really seen any Arrancar ill — physically speaking, anyway — so you can infer that doesn’t really happen in Hueco Mundo. Of course, it’s entirely possible that you accidentally brought something back with you after a visit to the human world. You personally haven’t been sick since you came back, so if that’s what happened, whatever it was would have had to ride along on something of yours that you’d brought which Szayel touched once you got back.

(You can imagine he’d be incredibly offended if you insinuated that he doesn’t wash his hands, so it seems like things would have had to line up just right for him to get sick and you to avoid it.)

The fact remains that he is ill.

Though to you it doesn’t appear to be more than a cold or maybe the flu, it must seem horribly disorienting to him. Heat rolls off his skin to the point where he pushes any blankets away in a huff, only to scramble beneath them ten minutes later, shaking with chills. He complains to you about the world spinning so badly he still feels dizzy even with his eyes closed. Whenever he coughs, it’s a deep, miserable sound that leaves him breathless, and even though you give him enough cough drops to make his mouth go numb, he complains that it hurts to speak.

You get the feeling that a thermometer would be borderline useless for an Arrancar, but it’s plainly obvious that he has a fever. Setting your hand against his face to check always results in a shuddering sigh from him, or a quiet mumble that your hand is cool and it feels good. The whole thing makes him vaguely uncomfortable and irritable, as a fever tends to do to anyone.

Sometimes he opens his eyes to look at you and you see fear reflected in them. Despite the fact that he’s not seriously ill, something about the experience clearly frightens him. One of the possibilities is that maybe he thinks this illness is going to kill him, and that’s why he’s so scared, and that breaks your heart.

So of course, you just do what you’ve always tried to do; take care of him as best you can. This is different than gently guiding him toward bed when you think he needs to sleep, or giving him a careful hug when he seems upset. Though stronger medicine might help, he refuses to so much as open his mouth to take any. He apparently can smell NyQuil from across the room when you open it, even with a stuffy nose, and he wants no part of it.

That forces you to try other methods, like draping a cold, wet cloth over his forehead and sitting him up to drink tea… which, evidently, has a more inoffensive scent than cold medicine. You’re a bit shocked that he allowed cough drops considering how he reacted to the NyQuil, but you’re not about to complain. Hollow senses are weird, and it seems so are sick Hollows.

Finally, you decide to try something he doesn’t have to put in his mouth, because the sound of his coughing and how much pain you know he’s in is just unbearable.

Szayel is still a little out of it as you spread the mentholated rub over his bare chest, but he’s lucid enough to be at least attempting to follow your conversation. “Try to take deep breaths,” you coach, dipping your fingers into the jar again. “Too shallow and you’re just going to make yourself cough more. This doesn’t smell so bad, right? It should help open up your sinuses.”

A grumble leaves him before he lets his eyes drift toward you. “When will all of this be over? I have thoroughly reached my limit with being unable to breathe and having the room list sharply to the left anytime I so much as move my head a single millimeter.”

“I know, I know. Being sick is no fun.” Your free hand gives a light, playful tap to the tip of his nose — which, it’s worth noting, is practically the same shade as his hair by this point. “This is the third day, though. Usually people start feeling a lot better by the fourth day, so hopefully tomorrow you’ll wake up feeling less miserable.”

He scrunches his nose up at you, then offers a dramatic groan as though he’s been suffering for weeks. You can’t be too harsh with him, of course; this could potentially be the first time he’s ever been ill. “Can I lie back down yet?”

One more quick layer of the stuff is smoothed over his chest. “Sure. That’s probably a good idea. You need your rest right now.” As you help ease him onto his back again, you wipe off the excess medicine from your other hand. Your heart truly does go out to him. It’s probably not easy for someone like Szayel to admit to being effectively helpless and having to rely on you. “You doing okay, sweetheart?”

Obviously he seems dizzy, but he doesn’t appear to be in danger of vomiting on your shoes or anything. His eyelids flutter shut and a string of coughs rattle around inside his chest. Once they taper off and he can speak again, he sighs, “Other than the same complaints you’ve been listening to dozens of times over the past few days.”

“Aw.” It’s impossible not to melt right in this moment. Despite being aware enough to hold a meaningful conversation with you, it’s as if that part of his mind telling him to avoid vulnerability and have confidence at 1000% at all times has been switched off. His guard is sort of down, allowing him to be more honest with you than he usually is.

You reach down to run your fingers through his hair. It’s nice to have him so open and a bit, dare you say it, docile, but being that it’s probably thanks to the fever, you hope he’s got a little more piss and vinegar in him tomorrow. “It’s okay,” you murmur. “I don’t mind listening to you complain about things over and over. You don’t feel well; you’re actually more entitled to bitch right now than you usually are.”

A crackly wheeze of a laugh makes its way past his lips. This is more at peace than you’ve seen Szayel in a long, long time. Despite the discomfort he’s in, his face relaxed almost immediately upon feeling your touch. His eyes crack open just a little, and there’s a tiny bit of his constantly inquisitive nature shining through in them. “… It’s easier, you know. With you.”

He closes his eyes again as you continue to stroke his hair. Though you can definitely still hear the congestion in his breathing, for the moment the coughs seem to have settled a bit.

“Being — like this,” he tries to clarify. “I hate… I hate… being seen like this… complaining and confessing to… what feels like w… weakness… I know I’m weak… even most of the time when I’m not… at this huge disadvantage…”

One hand grabs at the edge of his blanket, pulling it up over his waist, as warm as he can be without smearing the rub all over it. “If… if anyone had to… see me like this… I’m glad it was you.”

Alright, fine. There goes your fucking heart.

You lean down and press a gentle kiss to his forehead; relieved to feel that he’s slightly less warm than he was earlier. Maybe his fever is starting to break. “And I’m glad to be here taking care of you. I love you, Szayel.” Your hand finds it way to his, loosely slipping your fingers into the cracks between his.

“Get some sleep, okay? You’ll feel better in the morning.”

#Bleach #Arrancars #Szayel #Szayel Aporro Granz #reader insert #romantic #fluff #ONE HOT AND A SPICY FLUFF FOR YOU MY FRIEND #Anonymous

15 notes · View notes

solitariusdeluna · 4 years

Text

Opinion time: Whether or not Coyote Starrk is deserving of his rank as the PRIMERA

Spoiler alert: he’s completely deserving.

As the title of suggests, this is going to be a very very very long part rant part facts piece about why Coyote Starrk deserves to be the Primera Espada, contrary to what sp many in the fandom think. Brace yourselves, fam.

So it’s no real surprise that way too many people have taken it upon themselves to question if he was ever worthy of being the first Espada and that’s simply because he’s super underrated and hardly got any screen time except when he duked it out with Kyoraku.

Let’s begin with the guy himself. I mean he’s not your regular baddie now, is he? And that makes him rather original in the bleach universe tbh. For a “villain” and given his stature, he’s not all that antagonistic. Like at all. Not even a tiny bit. Out of all the characters in bleach, he’s practically the only guy who actively doesn’t give a sh*t or even care about the HUGE battle that he was taking part in.

And it’s because of that very sentiment that people often mistake him as being lazy and just wanting to get it over with so he can go nap since well, that’s like the only other scene that we saw him in. By design, he’s also quite the understated character and given his position as the first Espada, he’s meant to come off as the underdog.

Especially when you consider that Barragan is the second Espada. Okay, and we all know that Barragan is supposed to be that ALL POWERFUL RULER OF HUECO MUNDO! We’re supposed to think that Barragan is supposed to be number one then and when it turns out that Starrk actually is, it’s supposed to subvert your expectations as to what makes a powerful character within this army.

But going back to his design, even if it looks less flashy than most, I think he has the best design among many in the series. He’s definitely quite the looker, i mean look at those cheekbones! And that wavy brown hair and his striking grey-blue eyes and his tall stature. He’s not flashy but he’s definitely handsome.

He’s also the forgotten Espada, unfortunately. Because despite his position as being numero uno. He really doesn’t show up quite a lot in the Arrancar arc and his fight with Shunsui actually doesn’t take that long either. Not only that, he doesn’t get a volume cover, and he’s also one of the only Espada, it’s only him and Aaroniero that don’t face a single bad guy in the story.

And this is just one of the few reasons that people seem to think that maybe Starrk didn’t really deserve his position at the top. When compared to Espada like Barragan and Ulquiorra who have very extravagant attacks and abilities, Starrk in comparison comes across as a wee bit plain.

So when think cero attacks, they’re so over the top and cool, right? But even though Starrk can practically wield his ceros in manner that none of the other Espada or arrancar can, no one seems to notice. I mean he just has to stand there and it just happens, all on its own. No pick up your finger and point like pew pew pew the way Ulquiorra does, or just rage shoot it out of his entire hand as though he’s shoving someone into oblivion the way Grimmjow does.

As noted by Shunsui, unlike other Arrancar, he can apparently fire a Cero without a "fighting pose", meaning he can fire it without any warning from body gestures. Starrk can do it without any gestures. He can fire it from various points on his body such as his chin or chest and he also charge and fire it rather quickly without any warning, leaving even less time for his target to react.

Starrk’s got guns. Big guns. and they’re pretty badass too especially when you consider the details on the sides and all. But when you compare them to a skeleton with a crown that can dissolve you to the bone, well... it can pretty much be hard to justify why starrk is numero uno while barragan is number two.

Now yeah we all heard the age old argument that all over the fandom that Barragan is actually meant to be number one and is only number two because Aizen put him there to insult him and wanted to deflate his big fat ego plenty. I can see that and it might make some sense but it totally and completely isn’t doing Starrk as a character and a fighter any justice.

Now in spite of his relatively short amount of panel and screen time and given that his abilities are not as impressive as some of the other Espada and by impressive you know i mean showy as heck, I’m gonna lay the facts why Starrk is deserving of his rank at the top of the Espada ranks even if he was not the most memorable character ARGUABLY.

Point#1 Let’s talk reiatsu:

Going off the main canon reason we have to go off the ranking of the Espada is that they are ranked by their reiatsu. Starrk has an abnormally large amount of it compared to almost every other character in the series. His reiatsu was so vast that it killed mountains amounts of hollows and that’s even after he split his power into, an entirely second person, Lilynette. And unlike every single other arrancar and that goes for mister surprise bullshit twist zero espada yammy, Starrk’s zanpaktou is not his power. That was more of a prop for him as wiki states; Sheathing his sword, Starrk, calling Lilynette over, reveals he and Lilynette are one: while other Hollows split their power into their sword and body, they split into two bodies instead, and once they are one again, their full power will be released.

Now whether it was starrk or lilynette that was the original body -- which is going to be a case of the chicken or the egg type of deal tbh. but my headcanon in this regard would be that their hollow being was a huge collection of souls amassed over time and it existed for ages upon ages. but then starrk and lilynette’s souls seemed to be the strongest out of the whole bunch so basically that’s why it’s them who’s the representative power of that original hollow they were a part of and now with starrk being the stronger one of the two since he’s the older one.

But getting back to Starrk’s zanpaktou, lilynette is his source of power and basically his zanpaktou. While every other arrancar turned their power into a blade. According to bleach lore, the size of a person’s zanpaktou is relative to their reiatsu. Going off of that, starrk has managed to condense his reiatsu into the smallest form that it could be and that is that of a human child. But also again the two them combined even after being split up, are enough to kill mountains of hollow. That’s how powerful they are.

special note: when starrk decided to follow aizen, he did it out of his reasoning that, hey i know this guy isn’t going to die because our killer power so yeah, why not? let’s do this.

Anyhoo, since their reiatsu is absolutely and utterly crushing for any hollow that comes within their proximity. hollows that aren’t particularly powerful but still okay. still. no one else can do that so suck on that, haters! Not even this guy:

the self proclaimed and all powerful king of hueco mundo aka barragan louisenbairn. who just so happened to be sat in a court of hollows, like a whole bunch of them. and yet, none of them were getting killed. none of them. not with his reiatsu alone. so. yeah.

moving on.

Point#2 Starrk’s battles:

So this is where the real meat of the argument of why he’s deserving of being the primera espada comes in. Putting aside the fact that starrk wasn’t the least bit interested in the whole battle thing and didn’t have the blood lust or duty bound attitude like the rest of the espada -- and that’s because he’s pretty much indifferent to things in the first place. We know that he’s unmotivated which comes across as very lazy to most people aka that whole omg starrk is a fucking lazy bitch thing that most of the people in the fandom go on about...

He’s not lazy. He’s unmotivated. There is a difference. It comes with his nature of being very apathetic and uncaring. I personally like to think that he doesn’t care to exert energy into things that don’t really matter. But I digress.

At the start of his fight, starrk is very clearly not even trying and he says so himself a bunch of times. Even though kyoraku was trying to pretty much kill him and get this thing over with, starrk not once retaliates in kind. Which makes this INCREDIBLY UNUSUAL for a bleach fight and villain. And a top tier bleach villain at that, and that’s what makes him interesting. He’s not your regular sort of villain. If one can even call him that really.

Anyhoo, let’s stop and actually consider the caliber of opponent that starrk is up against. It’s one of the oldest captains of the gotei 13 and a disciple of old man yama-jii himself. So that’s something in itself, okay?

Let’s take a quick detour though:

And bring back barragan into the picture, mostly because he’s the one who’s supposedly meant to be the primera espada right? (psst, wrong. like really.) Barragan is all about the pizzazz and show and bling bling. I mean look at him, he’s pretty much decked out in the best gold complete with a little crown on his head too.

Barragan is powerful, there’s no denying that. And he knows it. That’s the contrast between Starrk and him though. He knows his power and his unrelenting about his use of it. Because he wants people to know that he’s strong unlike starrk who just doesn’t give a flying monkey’s arse. And when barragan activates his release form we get a tremendously awesome and stunning display of power in the way in which he manages to reduce Soifon’s hand into nothing but it’s bare bone. That was frightening and it was one of those moments that was meant to stay with you as a observer. Because it oozes the sentiment that, this guy should not be trifled with.

The difference is however, unlike starrk, barragan is not consistent. Barragan’s fight goes downhill right after that kickass moment of him dissolving soifon’s hand muscles away. and that was the best part of that fight.

detour over.

Okay, now back to starrk (the one and only and deserving primera).

Starrk in his battle with Kyoraku manages to stay consistent. Something that Barragan failed to do. Barragan is just not on the same level as starrk for a number of reasons.

1. Starrk has a personality that is just not seen among all the other arrancars. He’s cool. He’s calm. And he’s collected. But he’s also incredibly intelligent and ridiculously observant, on a level that we just don’t even see in the series. He was quick enough to observe that Kyoraku was actually ambidextrous despite his trying to hide that as best as he can. He was also able to figure out that Ukitake’s zanpaktou was able to do after seeing it three times in action.

2. He is strategic. That’s exactly why he was able to figure out how to best beat Rose and Love WHO BY THE WAY WERE ALSO CAPTAIN LEVEL OPPONENTS SO STARRK FOUGHT NOT ONE BUT FOUR CAPTAINS -- Again, suck on that, haters! Ahem, anyhoo. A battle is won not only by force and power but also by strategy. But also in one’s ability to keep a cool head and be quick enough to able to adapt to the situations as they arise. Which starrk was able to do throughout his encounters with those four different captains.

3. He is not an Urahara/Askin type of character, those guys are more known for being able to continually use their wits and are something of deus ex machina in their own right in that regard. The type of characters who you know are really really powerful but are downplaying it or hiding it so much.

4. From the start of his battle with kyoraku to the time ukitake (the other discipline of yama-jii and old timer captain of the gotei 13) turns up, Starrk didn’t take a single hit. He doesn’t get hit, once. And that is just badass, especially given the fact that he was going up against ukitake, kyoraku, rose and love. In his resurreccion, starrk was able to keep a level head and access the situation all while dodging every single attack he was thrown with. And despite kyoraku’s tendency to fight dirty and sneaky. Still, starrk managed to dodge, everything. Starrk’s ability to control the battlefield with his ceros and simultaneously dodge everything these two old and very high level captain class characters throw at him is pretty much nothing short of impressive if you ask me. But wait, there’s more.

5. Once ukitake and kyoraku are taken out of the fight, starrk goes up against Love and Rose. You know, the hollowified and presumably strengthened tremendously because of that fact captain level guys that were exiled to live in the world of the living. So that’s back to the point I made early which is pretty badass in its own right and NO ONE ELSE HAD TO DEAL WITH MIGHT I ADD! He was dealt with the TOUGHEST fighters around. Clearly. But you know what was cool? Starrk was literally toying with them, the entire time. He did take a hit because of Love when barragan died but it was like him just laying there and being something of a comedic moment and he wasn’t the least bit hurt. He wasn’t even being serious the entire time and then his awesome bomber wolves wiped them out -- even though it’s still highly doubtful he was fully into the fight even then but. that was that.

Speaking of those awesome bomber wolves;

His resurreccion’s other special ability aside those mad cero shooting skills and he summons his army of spirit wolves and that was his moment to shine pretty much. These wolves decimated Rose and Love with ease and starrk didn’t even have to move from his spot. not once.

Now if we go back to barragan though, he was pretty much freaking out and got half his skull clearly wiped out of his head when he got hit and he was pretty much losing his mind. But that’s because of his personality and that pompous being he is that ended up holding him back. Compared to starrk who remained in control and completely so, the entire time he fought with all these strong opponents.

BUT CONVERSELY;

Okay, so he held his own against four captains but then he didn’t fight a bankai and ended up losing to a shikai. When we take that into consideration, well, yeah. that does sound really bad. not gonna lie. Being the first espada in Aizen’s army killed by a shikai.

Except, we have to take into account with everything that was mentioned thus far, Starrk was winning the fight with ease. He was in control of the entire battle from start to finish, hardly took any damage even though he went through kyoraku, ukitake, love and rose. He was always on top of his game throughout and he wasn’t even into the whole fighting thing okay. that’s the main point here.

He was crushing it. Starrk was winning it. Especially after he wiped out Rose and Love. Until Kyoraku emerged from the shadows and took a stab at him. It was in this battle that we learned more about Kyoraku’s personality when in battle and we find out that he’s pretty much not afraid to be sneaky and low-ball his opponents. And that’s because according to me, he’s pretty much got that mindset that “all is fair in love and war, baby.”

Kyoraku’s unapologetic and that’s pretty awesome of him. Plus, given that he was up against starrk and he noticed how things were going, he decided to up things and go all out without using his bankai. Which he was actually considering by the way, but Ukitake was all no, man. don’t you dare at him so he didn’t. But this was why Kyoraku decided to literally...

...stab starrk in the back.

And just end this once and for all. And there was no way starrk could have gotten out of that scenario because it played perfectly into kyoraku’s hands. And even Rose and Love didn’t expect it, because in the world of bleach, it’s just not etiquette to come crashing into someone else’s fight -- which was exactly what Kyoraku does.

Love and Rose were just superbly outmatched and kyoraku saw an opportunity and he just goes ahead and stabs starrk in the back. And it was that stab that finished it. Game over.

It takes starrk right out of the game. Because from that moment onwards, starrk’s head just wasn’t in the fight anymore. It was so dirty and he didn’t like and he was supposed to be the bad guy.

Tut tut, kyoraku.

Anyhoo, Starrk didn’t want to be there. He didn’t want to fight. He gets a little bit into it and takes out Love and Rose. But when Shunsui stabs him in the back and rattles him. It caused Lilynette to step up and sacrifice herself for his sake but from then on it was just what was the end all for him at that point. He was thrown into an emotional tailspin that shook him to his core, ended his reasoning and that entirety of calmness he had throughout his battle.

That was seriously heartbreaking to watch too. He lost the other half of his soul and one can only imagine the type of pain that brings about. It weakened his resolve and when your opponent’s resolve to fight is weak, well then, of course you’ll be the victor and that was exactly what happened.

Shunsui won. But he won dirty.

But if you consider that he went up against two of the oldest and high level captains and two hollow strengthened captains and still held his own until he was dealt that unfortunate blow, starrk is pretty damn well deserving of his rank as the primera espada. He is not the primera because barragan was slighted by aizen. He’s the primera because he held his own pretty darn well despite not feeling it at all.

And that’s the end of that, friends. Show respect for starrk. He’s the primera and he deserves it.

#PROTECTSTARRK2020

#i dunno what to tag this as #hcs;#or maybe #Facts;#cut for length tbh #and it is long #also that spoiler alert first sentence is thanks to elxfi uvu and i stole it #because it is so true #omg this took me 2 days to write #wow #a whooping 3168 word count #but it's finally done!!

15 notes · View notes

zanguntsu · 4 years

Text

fullbringer arc had some cool ideas but it was also bad writing. it dragged on some, with the main plot being ichigo gaining a new power and thats basically it with the side plot of tsukishima and having ichigo develop new powers isnt the worst plot idea but there could be more.

the new characters in fullbringer are not very enthralling and easily forgettable which is a shame because unlike the other arcs in bleach, it introduces a smaller new cast so there could have been more development since it doesnt run into the trouble of having far too many characters to properly write. and some of the characters had some interesting stories but they were just. swept under the rug and finally fully pushed out of the narrative once the shinigami entered the story again.

the main problem with the fullbringer arc i have is that there is no impact on the next arc like yeah. fb characters are there but there just isnt anything to carry over and that’s disappointing bc all of the arcs affect the next in some sort of way, like how soul society arc influences the arrancar arc but with the fb arc you could just completely redact it and not much would change. ichigo’s fullbring doesnt carry over since its gone lmao so everything ichigo worked for is null and no one really experiences significant growth. chad could have gotten a new power up like its the fullbringer arc cmon kubo why.

i would have wanted to see an arc on the karakura gang adjusting to life after the winter war arc. there’s potential there to expand on characters: ichigo losing his powers all of a sudden, orihime having just been kidnapped would definitely have effects on her psyche, chad’s and uryu’s characters having more overall focus after all of hueco mundo and the events that theyve gone through cause they’re children who were put in dangerous situations. like I appreciate how it does focus on human life like the first arc of bleach however i dont think it runs with the ideas as well as it could. the focus shifted to the shinigami again at the end. also the fullbringer arc should have been chad’s arc. like it kind of was but not really and im so mad about that

maybe its just me being anti soul society but the arc did bring up potential criticism of ss, how they lied to ichigo about the badge with he completely brushes off which i mean, i get that ichigo doesnt care but at the same time ss effectively monitored him and were fully prepared to use the badge to restrict and kill him, a teenage boy, in case he goes bonkers. he’s 15-17 like dude. that’s a little fucked man. ginjo being a former substitute was definitely an interesting topic and his personality pre tsukishima fullbring reveal was better than generic villain tm we got. tsukishima as the generic villain tm worked better honestly and having two antagonists who are not very affiliated would have caused some spicy conflict.

and ichigo questioning the trustworthiness of the people around him could start some internal conflict, like should he doubt the people around him who clearly care about him? that conflict could really question urahara’s morality alongside isshin’s. soul society’s could definitely be there. like maybe it goes somewhere but it could also carry over to tybw since it’s ALL about soul society’s crimes against the quincy. it sets up the stage for the final arc and could amplify the villains (even though they suck lmao) and really hammers in the moral ambiguity of soul society as a military organization.

anyways im done rambling, fullbringer arc could have been an interesting arc

#bleach #ramble tag #long post #sorry this is horribly organized and more train of thought #i might make more follow ups but eh. for now it works

16 notes · View notes

feelingfredly · 5 years

Text

Keep Your Friends Close (And Your Family as Far Away as Possible)

(My contribution to Kitsunegeddon 2019)

Chapter Four: Surely Not Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

It was going to be a bad day.

Ichigo scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to erase the memory, but he knew from experience that it would linger. It always started with the dreams. Dreams of blood and screams and knowing, not just fearing but knowing, that the people he loved and cared for were dead, dead and gone, dead and gone…

In some ways it was worse than watching his mother die, because even though he’d have given his life to save her, he was nine. He was little. He was helpless. But watching Byakuya bleeding out, pleading for forgiveness… Old man Yama slashed into pieces … Kisuke… his Kisuke… bleeding, blind, and breathless in Askin’s Gift Ball hell, apologizing to him... apologizing to him.

And he was still fucking helpless.

Yes, it started with the dream, but today it ended… differently. He remembered his conversation with Hakuzosu. Is there something special—maybe something just beyond your reach—that I could possibly help you achieve?

An old man offering a little business advice. A grandfather willing to give a leg up in the world to someone who did his granddaughter a service. A long lost relative grateful to find a connection in a strange place.

A kitsune offering a yokai bargain.

Ichigo rubbed at his face again. No. Even if Kisuke was right and there were yokai in Karakura Town, there was no way his mother had been part kitsune. No way that he could be. That Yuzu and Karin….

And of course, there was no way he was a human/Shinigami/Quincy/Hollow, either.

What if he’d said yes? Would the old man have sprouted tails and teeth and four furry legs and given him some mystic ability to save everyone he loved? No. He’d said something about not being able to help Masaki— her ties to us were weak enough that even we could do nothing to save her—so, no matter what the connection, it wasn’t enough.

Nothing would ever be enough.

You can’t save everyone, Ichigo.

He grabbed the little glowing ball off the top of his dresser and squeezed it tightly, comforted by its warmth.

But I can try.

He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, throwing them on as he punched a familiar number into his phone.

“Hey Grimmjow,” he said, running down the stairs. “Meet me at Kisuke’s. You owe me a rematch from last week.”

A dark laugh echoed through the line and he could just imagine the grin on Grimmjow’s face. “Just can’t get enough, can you Kurosaki?”

Ichigo snorted. “You wish. Just get your ass over there. Oh, and don’t bother with a gigai. I need to stretch a little this time.”

There was a surprised pause. “You serious?”

They hadn’t fought with Ichigo in his Shinigami form in weeks and Grimmjow had been getting impatient for a real fight. “You ever hear me offer a real fight when I wasn’t serious?”

There was another heartbeat of silence. “I’ll be there in five minutes. Don’t make me wait, Kurosaki.”

Ichigo cracked his neck as he slipped into his shoes, just catching sight of his father coming down the stairs.

“Hey, Goat Face,” he said, opening the door, “I’m heading out. Feeling a little tense, so I asked Grimmjow to spar.”

His father shook his head. “One of these days that Arrancar is going to bring you home in a basket for me to patch up.”

Ichigo shook his head. “Nah, if it comes to that, I’ll just have him drag the pieces straight to Orihime. She’s seen it before, and she doesn’t leave scars, unlike some people I know.”

A sudden flashback to his dream, to Kisuke’s bloody face stitched up with Benihime’s horrific handiwork, left him breathless. Isshin noticed, but just nodded.

“Scars just let us know we’re alive,” he said, waving him away. “Now go on, before I decide to help the panther turn you into a cat toy.”

Ichigo nodded, thankful that Isshin didn’t start the whole You know, Ryuuken might be a Quincy but he’s a good doctor and could help you with your PTSD conversation. He didn’t need to talk about what was bothering him. He just needed to keep himself in shape so he could face the next threat, because if he’d learned one thing from the Shinigami, it was that there was always another threat.

***

“Watch your back, Kurosaki,” Grimm shouted as he swung Pantera wide. “Getsuga isn’t going to do you any good if someone slices out your spine!”

Ichigo ducked and rolled to the side, instinctively turning away from the swing of Grimmjow’s blade.

“Yeah, well, announcing your shot isn’t going to win you any points, dumbass.” He raised the trench knife as he slid to the side, barely nicking Grimm’s side as they rolled apart. “I thought you were going to take this seriously.”

The bloody dreams were still riding him, and he could feel the helpless frustration like an itch under his skin.

Grimmjow stared across the rocky expanse, weighing something. “Didn’t think you meant it.”

Ichigo growled. “I fucking meant it. Now, stop pussyfooting around or I’ll call Orihime to fight me. At least she doesn’t hold back anymore.”

The big man snorted and sonidoed away, only to appear in a flash right behind him again.

“Maybe it’s because she can put you back together after she takes you apart,” Grimmjow’s comment was laced with just enough sexual suggestion to make Ichigo laugh as he stabbed back at the leg he could reach, forcing Grimmjow to dodge instead of attack.

“Yeah, you need to work on your fantasies if you’re thinking Orihime and I are getting hot and heavy down here. First, ugh, she’s like my sister, and second… ugh, she’s like my sister.”

Grimmjow shrugged. “I’m not going to judge. The Princess has wanted you for years. Even rocks wear down over time.”

Ichigo shuddered at the idea. “She’s traded in her crush on me for something a little more emo and a lot more irritating.”

“More irritating that you?” Grimmjow snorted. “Don’t think it’s possible.”

“Don’t tell me there aren’t any mirrors in Hueco Mundo?” Ichigo saw an opening and made a three-point shunpo pass, targeting first an ankle, then a shoulder, and then, just as he forced the bigger man to shift to where he wanted him… he flashed forward and stabbed into his shoulder, the long blade of Zangetsu piercing him like a paper target, or a butterfly on a pin.

In a real fight Ichigo knew Grimmjow would simply jerk himself free regardless of damage, but it would be a crippling blow, and that was their standard cue to call the fight. He stepped back to pull his blade free, but Grimm was faster, throwing himself away from the point, the tip forced down and further through the pectoral muscle, with an almost manic laugh.

“Fuck me, Kurosaki,” he said, grinning wildly, “you do actually mean it. I thought something was different when you showed up. Something wild about you that I haven’t seen since Aizen.”

He spun, blood whipping away from his shoulder in a dark red parabola. “Show me what you got, pretty boy.”

As quick as that Ichigo was jerked from thinking the fight was over, to realizing it had just begun.

His muscles burned, stretched and pushed farther than they’d been in months, and he could hear the beating of his heart over everything. Move. Move. MOVE. Grimmjow was a blue-haired blur, the white of his jacket flickering around the boulders of the training ground, and he imagined he could hear the high-pitched cry of Pantera as she yowled for blood, for vengeance, for pain.

Through Zangetsu he’d always known what his opponents were feeling during battle, but Grimmjow had never sounded like this.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who needed a good fight.” Ichigo grinned meanly. “Nel refusing to scratch your itches these days?”

Grimmjow just shook his head. “Nope. She’s still willing to throw down any time, anywhere.” A tiny red cero was forming in his off hand and Ichigo pretended not to notice. “Fighting her is different, though. Like you and the Princess.”

The red bolt shot through the empty space, and Ichigo smelled the ozone as it burned through the sleeve of his shihakusho. He understood. Fighting your sister was weird.

No words were spoken for a while, all their attention focused on attack, retreat, regroup, until they were both bleeding and breathless.

But, not helpless, Ichigo thought.

Every successful strike eased the worry in his soul. Each bloodied slash that he walked away from proved that he could. He could hold off an Arrancar. He could…

Then Grimmjow feinted, his sonido carrying him too close, too fast. There was no way Ichigo was going to be able to dodge. He needed more time, just two inches of clearance, but he didn’t have them. He wished, not for the first time, that he’d had just a little more of a sense of self-preservation, but he didn’t, so he just braced for the impact. It was going to suck, but hopefully Grimm wouldn’t actually slice him in two.

He breathed, imagining a different outcome, and braced himself for a pain that never came.

“Oi! Kurosaki!” Grimmjow howled across the training ground, Pantera shrieking her displeasure at having her prey stolen from her at the last second. “Where’d you fucking go?”

Ichigo took a step forward and looked around. He was behind the boulder that marked the center of the basement, the one that protected the main kidō support.

The one that was fifty feet away from where he’d just been.

“Over here, dumbass,” he said, trying not to sound as shaken as he felt.

He hadn’t shunpoed. He hadn’t run. He hadn’t moved at all as far as he could remember. So… how did he get here?

Grimmjow covered the territory between them in a blink. “The fuck was that? One minute you were there, and the next you were just fucking gone.”

Ichigo wasn’t about to start theorizing about it.

“You’re just slow.” He tried not to think about how his legs were shaking. “You’re losing your touch, Arrancar.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Shinigami,” Grimmjow spat back. “That wasn’t you just being fast. Your reiatsu, your everything, was just not there. I couldn’t even sense you with pesquisa! Then you popped back up over here.”

There was a high-pitched sound scratching against Ichigo’s eardrums. Pantera was hissing, howling, angry. She sounded like a cornered cat.

“Tell your sword to chill,” he said, trying to block out the noise. “She sounds like she wants to scratch my eyes out.”

Grimmjow tilted his head. “My sword?”

Ichigo jerked his chin at the curved blade resting against his leg. “Yeah. I’ve always been able to feel you through Zangetsu, but today it’s been crazy, listening to her on top of it all. She’s as nuts as you are. I mean, I knew her name, but she’s never really been…”

Grimmjow grabbed the front of his shihakusho and yanked him up onto tiptoes. “You can hear Pantera?”

“Yes,” he said. “Can’t you?” There was a stillness about the big man that made Ichigo pause.

“Sure,” Grimmjow shifted a little from foot to foot, letting his death grip on Ichigo’s clothes loose. “I mean, a little. Sometimes.”

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow and waited. Grimmjow wasn’t the silent, stoic type, so it didn’t take long.

“Usually have to be really calm to hear her. You can imagine it doesn’t happen all that often.” He shrugged a big shoulder. “Doesn’t explain why you can hear her, though.”

It really didn’t.

“Or that smell?” Grimmjow made a face, nose all twisted up.

“I don’t smell anything,” Ichigo said, sniffing.

“That’s ‘cause it’s you that stinks, idiot.” The Arrancar had never been one for social niceties. “You’ve smelled strange since you got here. Maybe that’s what set Pantera off--she’s looking for her Strawberry and thinks you’re some kind of imposter. She hates that. Reminds her of Aizen and his tricks.”

The blue-haired head tilted to one side and Ichigo had to force himself not to shift uncomfortably under the scrutiny. Her Strawberry? Made a strange sort of sense that Grimmjow’s sword was just as much of a possessive freak as he was. It was nice, in a serial killer stalker kind of way. “Is Kisuke screwing around with that tanuki again?”

Ichigo groaned, a new kind of discomfort replacing the old. “You know about the tanuki? How come I’m the last to know?”

Grimmjow snorted, sheathing Pantera. “You’re always the last to know. Haven’t you figured that out yet? But no… this doesn’t smell like the raccoon guy. He always smells like sake and leaves. This smells bitter—like old smoke, and magic.”

Old smoke and magic. Hakuzosu. Ichigo looked over to where his body was propped against the wall, the hoshi no tama was still in his pocket. He could feel its warmth from across the room. Not having it with him felt like being cut off from Zangetsu. Like he was missing a part of himself.

It’s a part of me, he thought, the words echoing in his head but feeling terrifyingly right as he accepted them.

Suddenly it was like all the cells in his body shifted a nanometer to the left and settled into a new form. His spirit stretched and popped and relaxed back into place, loose and comfortable and ready to fight again, and he turned a sharp smile on Grimmjow.

Grimm’s eyes narrowed a fraction and Ichigo knew he was smelling something new. Something dangerous.

He was okay with that.

“Kitsune.” The word was a whisper in the open air of the bunker, and Ichigo shrugged. Grimmjow’s eyes sparkled and he pulled Pantera from her sheath, her screaming now a deep dark thrum of hunger, and Ichigo could almost hear her chanting mine, mine, mine.

“Hell yeah,” he said, Grimm’s voice was almost reverent. “Better than fucking Christmas. You better hope the Princess is ready to put you back together, because I am going to take you apart.”

Ichigo bared his teeth in a feral grin, blinked out of existence, and reappeared halfway across the bunker. He laughed, settled in himself in a way he hadn't been in forever. "You have to catch me first!”

#kitsunegeddon 2019 #Bleach #UraIchi #Kurosaki Ichigo #Urahara Kisuke #kitsune #also on ao3

37 notes · View notes

bleachlists2 · 5 years

Text

Live Tweets from the Shinigami-Human-Quincy-Arrancar-Fullbringer Dinner

By Mod Serenity

Technical Author’s Choice, but also requested by @innersuperhero, @aestheticbleach101, and @shadowfaery7 :)

So, because I made those lists about what various groups of Bleach characters would wear for a formal event, I’ve decided to create a list of this joint formal event as a live-tweeting! So, without further ado, here are the live-tweets from the Shinigami-Human-Quincy-Arrancar-Fullbringer Formal Dinner, held in Karakura Town!

1) Ichigo

“Apparently, there’s a formal dinner tonight with the Gotei 13. And the Espada and Arrancars. And the Quincy. And the Fullbringers. And other Karakura Town people.”

#this is probably gonna end in disaster #especially if Karakura Town is the venue! #not only that #my dad and sisters have been invited as well #I should get ready now

2) Yumichika

“I can’t wait to see what everyone is dressed up in. They’re all going to look wonderful!”

#I love parties #so many pretty clothes to see

3) Rukia

”Okay, we just got to the venue, and apparently there’s some kind of fashion show that we all gotta participate in.”

#the Gotei 13 is going after the Karakura people though #Squad 0 are the judges too #I can’t wait to see what they’re all wearing #especially Inoue #she’s gonna be gorgeous!

4) Shutara

“Kurosaki Ichigo looks pretty fine in that tux. Inoue Orihime looks just like a princess in that gown.”

#well I already know who the winners of the Karakura people are gonna be

5) Sentoki

“Well, the humans and Karakura people are done. Time for the Gotei 13!”

#they’d better look good!

6) Ichigo

“Squad 6 is coming on now. Byakuya and Renji are both in black-tie tuxedos.”

#and Renji’s hair is actually down #he looks so good! #seriously #he should wear his hair down all the time!

7) Renji

“@ flower-noble: I guess wearing my hair down was a good idea, huh? Thanks for telling me that in advance.”

#we both look pretty classy tonight #I can feel Ichigo’s eyes on me actually

8) Byakuya

"Who would’ve thought that Zaraki Kenpachi would actually keep his suit clean tonight?

#I suppose even Squad 11 knows how to keep it classy

9) Ishida

“...WTAF is Kurotsuchi wearing??”

#are those... accordion pants?? #WTAF #the moment Kurotsuchi walked down the catwalk everyone was silent #seriously though #what is up with that outfit?? #especially since Nemu looks normal next to him

10) Orihime

"OMG, Kuchiki-san looks lovely! @ dancing-snow-bunny: I love your dress!”

#so classy and elegant! #and so cute as well!

11) Rukia

“@ robot-princess: YOUR DRESS IS PERFECTION YOU LOOK JUST LIKE A PRINCESS OMG”

#seriously though #that dress was made for you! #so beautiful!

12) Sentoki

“And now for the Espada, Hueco Mundo Crew, and Fracciónes!”

13) Gin

“@ beautifulshopper10: Rangiku, you look simply radiant tonight.”

#she is perfection itself #I wouldn’t mind spending some time with her tonight

14) Yumichika

"Halibel and Nelliel look simply stunning! BUT WTF IS THAT CHARLOTTE GUY EVEN WEARING

#HE LOOKS LIKE A DRAG QUEEN OMG #but Halibel looks like an actual queen!

15) Grimmjow

“@ strawberryprotector15: I can feel your eyes on me, Kurosaki. Admit it, I look good, don’t I?”

#yeah I know how to dress up #I can be classy whenever I want to be

16) Sentoki

“Now the Fullbringers are next!”

17) Orihime

“@ pinkcutie: Omg, Riruka! Your dress is so gorgeous and cute!”

#pink and a ballgown! #we match! #yaaaayyyy!!!

18) Riruka

“@ robot-princess: Why are you so excited over matching...?”

#you look really cute though

19) Renji

“@ coffee-boots: I gotta say, you look fine as hell tonight!”

#I’m serious #that’s such a nice dress you’re wearing

20) Jackie

“@ stray-dog-06: I appreciate your compliments. And you look just as handsome tonight.”

#you really are a good man

21) Oetsu

“Finally, it’s time for the Sternritter!”

22) Byakuya

“Jugram Haschwalth’s hair is a thing of beauty. It practically rivals Ukitake’s hair. @ thebalancer: will you tell me how you get it like that?”

#I must know your secret

23) Haschwalth

“@ flower-noble: You wish to know the secret behind my hair? I’d be glad to tell you. Besides, your hair is also quite lovely.”

#I’d love to share my secret with you #if you’ll tell me the secret behind your hair as well

24) Renji

- “I gotta say, Bazz-B has one nice-looking tux!”

#looks kinda punk #but it’s totally awesome!

25) Bazz-B

“You look pretty cool yourself, @ stray-dog-06!”

#nice eyebrows too! #and your hair!! #I’m so jealous!

26) Rukia

“... As Nodt is wearing a blood-splattered tuxedo. And Gerard is in a Thor costume.”

#I seriously hope that’s not real blood #WTAF are the Quincies anyways?!

27) Hikifune

"It’s time for dinner now! While we decide on the winners, I hope you enjoy my home cooking!

#I made it all especially for tonight! #all of my best recipes are the main course for dinner!

28) Orihime

"OMG, the food is soooooo good!! I’m gonna cry, this is so delicious!!”

#Hikifune: BEST CHEF EVER

29) Nelliel

“This is the best food I’ve ever eaten in my whole life!!”

#Soul Society chefs: way better than Hueco Mundo meals!

30) Tousen

"Soul Society may be a corrupt place, yet Hikifune’s meals are full of purity and goodness that I cannot complain.”

#Hikifune’s meals #perhaps the only good thing about Soul Society

31) Halibel

“I sure hope Aizen-sama told Aaroniero not to release in the hall here.”

#I would like to be able to eat my dinner without seeing a tentacled monster eating the food

32) Riruka

“OMG, what the actual hell is that thing at the Espada table?!”

#a giant tentacled monster!! #omg that’s so gross!

33) Rukia

“Well, now I know what’s gonna be haunting my dreams for the rest of my life.”

#I have to see Aaroniero release again?? #and this time for eating?? #oh god I did not want to know how a tentacled monster consumes its dinner

34) Aizen

“@ tentacles-09: I thought I told you to wait until we got back to Hueco Mundo to eat your dinner?? Just for that, I’m raising my spiritual pressure until you go out of release.”

#maybe Gillian Espada weren’t such a good idea #had I known that Aaroniero would be a tentacled monster I would not have used the Hogyoku on him #I need to think these things through from now on

35) Ukitake

“That’s the Espada that Kuchiki fought against? The one who impersonated Kaien?”

#poor Kaien #he must be weeping

36) Liltotto

“Well... that was a thing...”

#anyways #I can eat anyone else’s meal if they don’t want it

37) Bambietta

“@ quincy-glutton: Touch my food and you die.”

#I mean it

38) Ichibe

“It’s time for the awards to be presented, so listen up, everyone!”

39) Rukia

“Best Dressed Human Female goes to: Inoue!”

#I knew it! #I knew she would win! #if she didn’t I would riot #that dress is just too gorgeous!

40) Ishida

“Best Dressed Human Male goes to Ichigo?!”

#dammit how does Kurosaki have a better fashion sense than me?!

41) Kurotsuchi

"I cannot believe that Kuchiki Byakuya won ‘Best Dressed Male Captain’ over me.”

#you fools just don’t understand fashion at all

42) Byakuya

“And Unohana won Best Dressed Female Captain.”

#I’m not sure how to feel about that

43) Renji

“Hell yeah! I won the Best Dressed Male Lieutenant!”

#I knew wearing my hair down was a great idea! #Squad 6 baby! #we know how to look good!

44) Hisagi

“Best Dressed Female Lieutenant goes to Rangiku!”

#I knew she’d win that award! #Rangiku always looks good no matter what she wears!

45) Grimmjow

"Hell yeah, I’m the king! Won Best Dressed Male Espada! And Nelliel won Best Dressed Female Espada!”

#wow Nnoitra’s pissed off #he just screeched and tried to fight me #Aizen reiatsu-slammed him into sitting back down tho #nice! #eat it spoon-hood!

46) Yumichika

“So Best Dressed Female Fracción went to Sung-Sun. BUT HOW COME BEST DRESSED MALE FRACCION WENT TO CHARLOTTE??”

#he looked so ugly!

47) Tsukishima

“Of course I’d win Best Dressed Male Fullbringer. And of course Riruka would win the Best Dressed Female Fullbringer.”

#we look just perfect don’t we?

48) Kyoraku

“So Haschwalth wins Best Dressed Male Sternritter?”

#must be the hair #of course #his hair is as wonderful as Jushiro’s hair!

49) Bambietta

"That’s right, everyone! The Best Dressed Female Sternritter is me! So eat it, all of you!”

#Haschwalth and I are the king and queen now!

50) Ichigo

“Whoa, whoa, nobody told me there was dancing at this thing!”

#apparently all winners of the fashion contest have to dance with each other?? #that means Inoue and I are dancing together #god I hope I don’t step on her feet #I’m bad at dancing!

51) Tatsuki

“@ strawberryprotector15: You step on Orihime’s feet, I’ll punch you!”

#don’t you dare mess this up for her!

52) Chad

"Ichigo and Inoue are dancing now. Reminds me of Beauty and the Beast.”

#it’s actually very beautiful

53) Yoruichi

“Finally Ichigo does something right!”

#nice to see he’s careful not to step on Orihime’s toes!

54) Rukia

“Unohana-taichou and Nii-sama dancing: possibly the most graceful and elegant thing I’ve ever seen!”

#Nii-sama looks dignified as ever! #as expected of him!

55) Kira

“Whoa, Abarai and Grimmjow sure have some awesome moves!”

#I’m serious #the music changed to something more club-like #those two are killing it on the dance floor #Matsumoto and Nelliel are speechless #so is everyone else #looks like the Sexta Espada and Sixth Lieutenant have hit it off pretty well

56) Orihime

“I danced with Kurosaki-kun. And I managed not to mess it up! It was absolutely magical!”

#I feel like dancing all night now!

57) Unohana

“Looks like the dinner is over. It was truly a wonderful evening.”

#we definitely should do it again

58) Urahara

“Looks like Byakuya and Haschwalth are now talking about hair. And Abarai, Grimmjow, and Bazz-B are bonding.”

#unexpected friendships #the power of fancy dinners??

59) Yamamoto

“This was indeed quite a success.”

#everything worked out #and surprisingly #nothing was destroyed

60) Ichigo

“This... actually went way better than I thought it would. Maybe we should do this again next year!”

#unexpected success #let’s do this again shall we??

#Bleach #Bleach Lists #Gotei 13 #Karakura Gang #Espada #Sternritter #Fullbringers #Ichigo #Shinigami #IchiHime #GinRan

94 notes · View notes

creative-type · 6 years

Text

The Problem with Ichigo Kurosaki

Back when Bleach’s final chapter came out, the one thing that perplexed me most about the omnishambles that was the last arc was that Ichigo had taken over the Kurosaki clinic.

I’d long-since given up on a satisfying end to the series and was following out of morbid fascination more than any sort of interest. I’m not a shipper and the glacial pacing and empty pages killed any spectacle that might have been entertaining enough to cover the massive flaws of the series. I entered the Quincy arc with no expectations and still managed to be surprised by how little thought and effort Kubo put into his product. There was no personal investment left, so I didn’t care enough to get upset over how things ended up.

But Ichigo taking over his father’s clinic...that was a surprise. And through that I came to a startling realization that after almost 700 chapters and 15 years I still knew nothing about Ichigo as a character.

I want to be careful when writing this, firstly because as a self-admitted filthy casual I’m not nearly as familiar with Bleach as I am with most other things I write about. Secondly, while it’s a nice bonus I don’t think that every story necessarily requires a deep, super nuanced character driving it.

I’m gonna use One Piece as an example here because I think it fits well. Luffy isn’t a complicated dude. He’s well-rounded with clearly defined dreams and goals, but ultimately he’s your basic Shonen power fantasy. What sets One Piece apart from almost every other manga in existence is its world building, and by creating Luffy the way he is, Oda has made a main character that facilitates the exploration of his world.

Ichigo starts off well enough for the protagonist of a monster of the week-style battle manga. I think it’s pretty apparent that Kubo wrote Bleach by the seat of his pants, because a lot of early details don’t match what we see later in the series.

...

And, again, this type of writing can be done, but it has to be done carefully because without forethought it’s really easy for plots and characterization become a muddled mess.

Early Ichigo stood out from other mainstream manga protagonists. There’s a mature edginess to early Bleach, and a strong aesthetic that highlights one of Kubo’s greatest strengths as an artist: drawing really cool shit. Ichigo isn’t a hyperactive goofball, in fact he gets pretty good grades and is generally regarded as being a reliable - if grumpy - guy. His backstory isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but again, having a main character that’s hellbent on protecting others is exactly the sort of protagonist that can drive a monster of the week-style story.

More importantly, at this point in the story Ichigo has agency as a character. In chapter 2 of the series, Rukia demands that Ichigo fulfill her duties as a soul reaper while she’s out of commission. He initially says no, but quickly changes his mind when he sees a cute kid almost get eaten. Ichigo agrees to help, but on his own terms. In his own words, he’s only paying off a debt.

Fast forward to chapter 25. Ichigo has survived his encounter with Grand Fisher and had a nice little heart to heart with his dad. He makes the above declaration, effectively choosing to continue on as a soul reaper even after Rukia regains her powers and his “debt” is paid.

What makes the Grand Fisher fight effective is that it highlights how much growth Ichigo needs to undergo, not as a fighter but as a character. It is vitally important for a battle manga not to have fights for the sake of fights, or even because they’re demanded by the plot. A good fight conveys story and develops characterization - a clash of ideals as much as swords.

The problem is that this doesn’t really go anywhere. Ichigo’s gotta protect them all nature suits shorter, one-off arcs but isn’t suited for the long, sprawling epic Bleach would become. The scope of Bleach’s world and story expanded, but Ichigo stayed the same. Or rather, he devolved into something lesser.

Ichigo’s goal to protect those he cares about is problematic in two ways:1) it requires someone to need protecting, and 2) it’s reactionary. This limits how much influence Ichigo has on the plot as a whole. It’s no wonder that the Arrancar saga is copied wholesale from the Soul Society arc because rescuing people from danger is literally the only thing Ichigo ever shows interest in doing.

Instead of taking the time to develop Ichigo as a person, Kubo instead has to create increasingly-ridiculous ways for him to play a part in the plot. This has the unfortunate side effect of making Ichigo literally everybody’s pawn to be used and manipulated in whatever way it takes for the story to get from Point A to Point B. I would think by the time Yhwach comes around he’d be sick of it, but all Ichigo is capable of doing is react, react, react, often looking very surprised when someone plays him like a fiddle yet again.

And maybe to compensate Kubo gives Ichigo a mishmash of powers and abilities, but ironically the more things that are added to Ichigo’s moveset the less unique and special each one becomes.

It’s kind of like mixing colors. Red and blue together make purple but if you add yellow and green and orange along with it, in the end all you’re going to have is a brownish sludge. Ichigo starts the series as a human-shinigami hybrid. For the sake of brevity, I’ll call this version of Ichigo a humigami. As a humigami he has basic swordsmanship, immense spiritual power, and the ability to follow spirit ribbon thingies to find people. So far so good.

But with the introduction of the Soul Society and the massive influx of characters, Ichigo is no longer The Special. Kubo has two choices here: further develop Ichigo’s shinigami powers or add something new into the mix. Kubo elects to do both, and Ichigo gains his hollow masks AND learns bankai in a matter of days.

Now a human-shinigami-hollow (humagollow for short), Ichigo saves the day only to get curb-stomped by Aizen. The post-Soul Society chapters would have been a good place to do some old-fashioned character development, but while there is some nice closure chapters nothing really changes before the next major arc kicks in.

Put yourself in Ichigo’s shoes here. You’ve gone through the gauntlet to save a friend from her execution, witnessed the slums of the afterlife, fought several life or death battles against an organization who keeps, among other things, genocidal maniacs in their employ. You’ve seen corruption, you’ve seen conspiracy, you’ve seen a totalitarian regime that insists on following the letter of the law over common sense and justice. You’ve lived your entire life striving to protect those weaker than yourself and the last several months sending spirits to what you thought was a peaceful, idyllic afterlife.

Would you leave the Soul Society in good terms? Would you consider them allies and fight their wars? Would you be okay with leaving your friend, who you risked life and limb to save, in the very environment that wanted her dead just days before? Would you not have questions and demand answers?

Apparently not, if you’re Ichigo Kurosaki.

Fast forward again to the introduction of the arrancar and visored. It’s about this time where Ichigo loses everything that made him unique as a character. A whole host of characters are introduced that have a mix of shinigami and hollow powers (which, despite ostensibly being antithetical to one another are functionally identical) and it’s revealed that Ichigo isn’t even the only shinigami in his family.

Isshin’s fight verses Grand Fisher becomes especially egregious when we the audience get this little tidbit about how all high-level shinigami compress their sword’s spiritual power into a smaller form

because back when Ichigo first showed off his bankai one of the notable things about it was that it was kind of tiny - a direct contrast to how most releases worked.

It’s the same for all of Ichigo’s other attacks. His bankai is supposed to boost his speed to incredible levels, but he’s constantly out maneuvered by enemies, the surprise attack from behind being a Kubo specialty. His main ability is nothing but a giant energy slash, easily replicated by a shinigami’s kido or a hollow’s cero.

By having Isshin steal the Grand Fisher fight from Ichigo, Kubo robs his main character of a chance to show off how he’s changed since the early part of the series and robs him of his uniqueness as a fighter. The fight itself is not good, memorable, or fun enough to counterbalance how much the author is crapping on its protagonist, a trend that unfortunately gets worse as time goes on.

Anyway, through training Ichigo becomes a human visored (hisored) and goes off to Hueco Mundo to kick ass and get his ass kicked in about equal measure, and once again questions are brought up, if not explicitly than implicitly through the course of the narrative, that are never even addressed.

1) If it weren’t already obvious, the Soul Society cements itself as being absolutely terrible by its treatment of the visoreds. Are they really the good guys here, and why is no one trying to reform their more archaic and barbaric practices?

Unfortunate Implication: Ichigo is willing to ally with complete assholes to accomplish his goals. The whole “protecting those who can’t protect themselves” schtick only applies when people he cares about are in danger.

Conclusion: Ichigo is kind of an asshole, or at least apathetic to the plight of others, a direct contrast to his characterization thus far

2) If hollows are impure spirits, and high-level hollows spirits who have evolved by consuming countless others, would it not be in the best interest of Nel and other “good” arrancar to be purified? Is it even appropriate to think of hollows who have evolved as individuals or a conglomeration of all the souls that have been consumed? Are hollows inherently evil, or has the Soul Society’s understanding of the hollow/non-hollow spirit dynamic been flawed this entire time?

Unfortunate Implication: Either Ichigo doesn’t think through the logical conclusion of having hollows as allies enough to question what he’s been taught about hollows thus far, or he’s okay with leaving countless spirits in an impure state and damning them to a miserable existence of insatiable hunger and denying them access to the proper afterlife/reincarnation cycle

Conclusion: Ichigo isn’t as smart as he’s presented to be, or he’s okay with making friends with the very monsters he’s sworn to destroy...as long as they’re cute and helpful

This is what I mean when Ichigo devolves as a character. By the time the Fullbringer arc rolls around (for those keeping score at home, Ichigo has gone from hisored to fullbringer back to humigami) Kubo has built a world full of shades of grey, but continues time and time again to have Ichigo play it as if it were black and white. The reveal that Ichigo is, in fact, a quincigami is just the icing on the cake, stealing the one thing that made Ishida unique only for it to go absolutely nowhere and confuse an already muddled backstory.

All of these changes in power and the complete disregard for the moral quandaries brought up by the story mean that any change in Ichigo is superficial, like a skin change in a video game. He might look cool and give his attacks spiffy names, but it’s all an excuse for Kubo to draw him in different outfits because once again, all Kubo really cares about is drawing really cool shit. Everything else is secondary. Nothing has to make sense. Who cares about Ichigo’s hopes and dreams and desires when he can have two swords that he’ll never use in battle. Oh, it’s the epilogue and Ichigo needs to be a grown up doing grown up stuff...might as well make him a doctor. It was good enough for his old man, right? It wasn’t as if he said anything against taking over his father’s clinic some day.

Then again, Ichigo never said that’s what he’d like to do either. Almost 700 chapters and 15 years went by and Ichigo never once said what he wanted to do with his life when he grew up.

And that, my friends, is a problem.

#Bleach #Manga #Analysis #ichigo kurosaki #character analysis #character development #bad character development #writing #creative-type analyzes

107 notes · View notes

badheart · 7 years

Note

' what an exquisite mask.. ' she hummed lightly, her hand hovering over it with temptation to touch it. painted fingernail almost ghosting over it. ' ... would it hurt if i tried to remove it ? ' -- not that should would if he let her touch it.. maybe.. B)

Oh what was it now? Was he actually annoyed? No, he had some pleasant company here, if said company wanted to be pleasant, this could always change in a matter of seconds. --- It was rather, quite nice here but that it was probably everywhere in Soul Society, unlike in Hueco Mundo, where it really was just sand. A desert could be beautiful, which Hueco Mundo even was due to the constant night sky, but there still missed so many things, it truly was a godforsaken place.

This time he had brought wine, from the living world of course ; to steal there was easier than here in Seireitei, though the air in the living world was quite a pain, suffocating might suit better as it lacked reishi. Those really small Hollows would be dead pretty soon there. She had not touched her drink so far, no issue for him, more for him then. Drinking while simply staring at their surroundings as he could appreciate the nature, but even more a certain beauty in front of him, not even mother nature could top the curves of this woman here. She really was teasing him though with her outfit, probably not even really on purpose, but damn did she show much. Yet not too much, what he really liked, otherwise it would be too boring. Like this she was still like a present, a pure enigma, not just from looks but character too. Her intentions were still unclear, or too clear that he could not take them really serious, so far he was still alive and nothing seemed to stop him from spending some time with her, basically whenever he could as he had nobody else. Of course there were the few other Arrancar, but at the moment, with his fracción since a long time dead, there was no one he was close to. Which was even for him awful. Some alone-time was nice but too much of it, could not even like Grimmjow, who had in the past no issues with it, his fracción changed this view, especially when he became an Arrancar, more human.

“Hmh?!” He blinked, placing his glass fast enough away before she could touch his mask, but surprisingly she did not, just a tad too close to it. “How the sudden interest?” Actual interest was to see upon his features, curious why she was so curious now, might even feel tad happy that she found something interesting upon him, he had not much after all, actually nothing and women seemed to like rich men. He frowned the moment she told him her actual reason for wanting to touch it. Impressive though, that this lady --- that Katen had still enough manners, to ask and not simply try out. This thought lightened his mood only slightly up and within seconds he had formed a wide grin, showing his teeth. “Ah? I guess, --- I honestly don’t know either as I have never tried it, neither do I absolutely know what happens when it gets removed. Usually it makes Hollow stronger but it is not that easy. Nelliel’s mask got slightly cracked and she lost her memories and turned into a baby. Her fracción, two guys, got their mask completely removed and they are still alive but they kinda changed and pretty sure they became weaker.”

A slight pause. “Do you know what this mask even means? To protect our instincts, which surprises me, because thinking about it --- I would have guessed, you would be more interested in that.” To her astonishment or not, he suddenly unzipped the front of his black jumpsuit, just the top of course, which revealed once again his torso with the large scar upon it, but also his hollow hole. “The Hole, which represents my loss of heart.” His grin only widened before lips pressed together to a smirk, he might be flirting.

Suddenly he grabbed her by the wrist, her one hand still outstretched, thus easy to grab. Gently of course, but still tight enough, so she could not pull away. Pulling her actually closer and letting her feel the mask, on his features might be to see that he felt nothing, as it really was just ( mostly ) a piece of bone for him. Which even changed its position once he goes into his released state. Does she like tails? “Nah?” Does she like it, surely it was interesting to feel the teeth but in the end, the hole below might be more interesting and he guided her soon down his torso, leaving it to her if she wished to touch his skin before letting her hand hover right above his Hollow Hole. Her hand was petite enough that she could shove it all in, if she wanted to, but even a larger arm would have enough place. His Hollow Hole really counted to the slightly bigger ones. It really was just a Hole if she looks closer at it, but inside was certainly something different, not the shadow made it black but there was seriously black skin, a thick membrane. If she ever would get the chance to touch his back, where still was the six tattoo, she could feel around the Hollow Hole his spine, as it splits above it in two halves before coming together again. “Curious?” he questions with a click of his tongue. “Ya’ can touch if ya’ want.” Due to his hierro or whatever might be protecting him there, he was not ticklish neither sensitive in that place. This could change though once he opens his heart, falls in love. Reasons why he was not worried at all, he did not know it anyway, becoming a Hollow does not mean he suddenly knows everything about his race, he only could learn from others, otherwise he would have not known this or that.

“ --- or are you scared, hmh?”

#B'))) i loved this way too much #hope u too #aitaijini #♚「 ask. 」

4 notes · View notes