#mashiro making me cry on the finale i knew it would probably happen but it got me just like the star twinkle separation did | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

verdantcrimson · 7 months

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Shutter Chance - 1

Writer: Yuumasu

Season: Winter

TL: verdantcrimson

(Unproofread)

1 | 2

Tomoya: Hello, Hasumi-senpai. Could I sit next to you?

Keito: Mashiro. You can sit wherever you'd like.

Keito: But this is the final rehearsal before the performance. Since only associated parties and guests are allowed to watch, there's no need to sit close together, right?

Tomoya: That's true. But you know, Narukami-senpai told me I should bring a kerchief, because their performance would be a tear-jerker.

Tomoya: And I thought, it'd be super embarrassing to be seen crying by a random person that happened to be sitting near me, right? Which made me think that if someone was going to see me cry, it'd be better if it was someone I knew.

Tomoya: But even if it's Hasumi-senpai, it still feels embarrassing. Ehehe.

Keito: Hm. The more reputed a play is for being a 'tear-jerker', the more conscious of crying you feel, don't you think?

Tomoya: Ah, that's true. If you feel self-conscious, you'd probably be less prone to crying.

Tomoya: Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing this sad, but heartwarming story. Hokuto-senpai praised your script too.

Keito: Hidaka did?

Tomoya: Yeah. This performance is in a completely different style than the ones you've written before. He was impressed, saying, "I'm surprised he can handle a wide range of genres, from serious to comedic."

Tomoya: I heard that they were careful with adapting the script so as not to kill its charm. If I didn't have work, I would've loved to take part too!

Keito: … I also had some work to do, so I just handed the script over to them. The members of Dramatica are all quirky, and are a bit of a handful sometimes.

Keito: But because of the passion they put into their performances, I have faith in them. Next time, I hope to participate as an actor too.

Keito: Hm, an announcement from the stage… Looks as though the show will be delayed for around ten minutes.

Tomoya: This is a rehearsal after all. I just hope it's not serious. Maybe they aren't done checking equipment.

Tomoya: I guess I could read the pamphlet I got at the entrance to kill time.

Keito: That reminds me, I haven't read it yet either. I'll have a look as well.

Tomoya: … Ah. Like usual, there's a feature article on one of the members of Dramatica. This time, it's Hasumi-senpai right?

Keito: Yes. They interviewed me after the script had been finished. That was a while ago.

Tomoya: Isn't it hard to take pictures for these sorts of interviews? Even if they tell you to act natural, you can't help but feel self-conscious because of the camera.

Tomoya: Even when I try to pose casually, I end up looking like an industry professional. I always feel concerned about that.

Keito: You just have to get used to it through experience, I suppose.

Keito: Whether to sit or stand, where you should look, how you position your hands… No matter how much you overthink it, there are limits to variation.

Keito: The thing that readers are most concerned with is the interview, the photos merely act as decoration.

Tomoya: The photos are decoration… Understood. I guess I won't worry too much, since the main attraction is my answers to the interview questions.

Tomoya: Thanks for the advice Hasumi-senpai.

Keito: It isn't a big deal. I just stated the obvious.

Tomoya: Even if it's 'obvious', it still helped me realize it. Thanks to you, I'll be less afraid of making mistakes.

Tomoya: As the leader of Ra*bits, I feel like I have to be all put-together. I'm immature, so I constantly worry about the littlest things.

Tomoya: Hasumi-senpai, I bet those sorts of little things don't faze you at all…

Keito: No. I have plenty of worries myself.

Keito: I have a meeting regarding the 'Feature Live' after this play. We haven't decided on the kind of performance, what to put on the pamphlet, or anything like that.

Keito: AKATSUKI as a Unit has a distinct aesthetic, so I've been consciously trying to distance myself from that to avoid similarity but… Besides that, we're working with a completely blank slate.

Tomoya: Hm… But even if you gave Anzu-san that much information to work with, I'm sure she'd be able to whip up something nice.

Keito: Hm. But this is an opportunity to respond to all of the fans who would show up to support me at the solo live, so it'd only be logical for me to take the lead when promoting it.

Keito: … The buzzer signaling that the show is opening just sounded, so let's end the conversation here.

Keito: Now, let's direct our attention to the show.

[3 Hours Later, in the Terrace seating area of Cafe COCHI]

Keito: (That performance… After I submitted the script, I didn't show up to any of the rehearsals that followed.)

Keito: (Perhaps that was why it was so good. It was refreshing to see such an unconstrained interpretation.)

Keito: (When I write, even though I try to imagine how it would look on the stage, It always ends up surpassing my expectations, which is what makes writing feel worthwhile.)

Keito: (What kind of story should I tell next—)

Keito: Hm…. What was that sound... ?

Keito: … So the culprit was you, Anzu. Why did you just take a picture?

Keito: "I liked your mellow looking gaze" you say? So you wanted to capture me in my natural state for the Feature Live pamphlet?

Keito: If you want to take a picture, it's usually good manners to ask first… That's the extent I'll nitpick though. If that was your intent, I don’t actually take issue with it.

Keito: How long are you going to stand there? Sit down. I want you to show me if you got any good shots.

Souma: …… dono! Hasumi-dono!

Keito: ? That voice…

#shutter chance #Keito Hasumi #Tomoya Mashiro

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animeloverskylarmoon · 3 years

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Bleach Fanfiction- Chapter 6

"What did I tell you about eating my candy!!" you fired. You were at it again. Shinji always came by your room just to steal your stuff.

"I dnft know whaf you mean." he said with a mouthful of sweets. The pulse on your head grew.

"You stuffed your face and you're acting like you didn't do it!!"

You pulled out your zampaktou with a dark chuckle. He started to sweat nervously. He swallowed.

"N-Now now, you wouldn't raise your blade against your captain." You smirked and he flash stepped away. You sighed glaring at the door.

"Baka."

~~~

"Things have been really slow."

You were strolling through the Rukongai with Kensei. The both of you were on patrol, just to make sure nothing unusual was going on. Since your confession, things had actually been better than ever. Your feelings had been a weight you were carrying around all those years.

Now that he knew you felt lighter. Of course at the beginning it was awkward. Kensei would refrain from touching you and patting your head at the beginning because he thought you didn't want the contact. You assured him that it was fine and now you talked to Kensei about everything. You were glad you never had to risk his friendship. In the back of your mind you were sort of relieved.

"I'm going to fall asleep if something doesn't happen soon." He said boredly.

"Is that so reaper?"

You flinched, turning at the voice behind you. Neither of you had a chance to react. A tentacle came out at you, striking you in the shoulder. You gasped when the appendage went right through. It pulled back and you stumbled forward. (Y/N)!!" Kensei's eyes blazed. You were shocked when his reiatsu released in a burst. He pulled his mask on and the hollow look just as surprised.

"H-How do you possess a mask!You're a reaper!"

It sounded panicked. Kensei raised his blade, slicing the hollow directly down its center. It let out a shrill cry disappearing. When it was gone Kensei turned to you, his mask vanishing. He picked you up into his arms. You winced slightly. Your shoulder was bleeding badly.

"U-Usually I could sense them better.." you said apologetically. He grunted.

"Stop talking I'm getting you help." he took off with you in tow.

Hanataro was tending to a patient when Kensei appeared out of nowhere. The blue haired boy stumbled back. "M-Muguruma-taicho!!" Kensei didn't waste time. He placed you on an empty bed. "She needs help!" Hanataro moved forward watching the huge hole in your shoulder.

You had fallen unconscious on the way. "Please wait outside." Hanataro instructed. Kensei was about to object, but Unohana walked in.

"He can't work efficiently if you hover around. So please wait outside. "

She said it in a polite voice but the look in her eyes assured him that it wasn't a request. Kensei sweat dropped. "H-Hai.." he stepped out of the room as Hanataro got to work.

"Where is she!!" you jumped when you heard the door slam open. Shinji looked frantic. He stormed in the Fourth Squad barracks. You turned to Shinji with a blush. He stopped short when he saw your attire. Your shoulder was covered with gauze and you had your black bottoms on, trying to pull the top part back over your body.

You were holding your uncovered chest. You didn't think anyone would come in so you didn't think twice about changing. Now you realize that was a wrong move. You spun around dropping to your knees with a scream and Shinji finally reacted. He ran out of the room hurriedly. Shinji's cheeks were visibly red.

"I-I had no idea she was so.."

Hanataro appeared, hearing the scream. "Is she hurt!!" he panicked, rushing in the room.

"H-Hey wait!!" Hanataro had already entered.

"K-KYAH!!!" Hanataro came running out almost immediately with flushed cheeks. He stumbled back hitting the wall. The door was wide open now. Shinji ducked when he saw a lamp come hurtling out the room. It hit Hanataro square in the face.

"P-PERVERTS!!!" you shouted embarrassed.

~~~~

"S-Sorry Hanataro..." the male was on a bed being attended to. He laughed. "I-It's fine I should have knocked." You were now fully clothed. You directed a glare at you captain.

"I w-was worried." he defended. You sighed. You bowed to Hanataro, thanking him for his help as you left him to rest. "Next time knock why don't you." He looked away.

"Sorry, the last time you got injured you didn't even say anything. When Kensei came and told me what happened it sounded bad. Then again I just took off so maybe it wasn't as bad as I assumed." you looked at him. "He must have been really worried.." you smiled up at him.

"I'm fine taicho." you assured him. He glanced at you. His eyes seemed focused on your shoulder. He could see the bandages peeking out from the side of your neck. "Kensei was worried too." he commented. You nodded. "Yeah, I should probably let him know that I'm okay. "

"You should be more careful, you underestimate hollows sometimes." You raised your head with a huff, walking off in the front angrily.

"I know, I'm not a kid. You don't have to keep lecturing m-" you paused when you felt his arms wrap around you from the behind. His buried his face into your shoulder. His hair tickled your neck and your breath hitched.

"I just want you to be safe (Y/N).."

You didn't reply verbally, just nodded your head. Lately it felt like things were changing between you and Shinji. He was a lot more...affectionate.

"I'll b-be careful." you stuttered out.

"Good girl.."

He whispered against your ear. A pleasant shiver ran up your spine and you clenched your fist to keep yourself from making a sound. Why was his words affecting you? He always made comments like that before. Albeit always in a teasing fashion but still. Why did it feel different now?

Shinji watched you when he raised his head. Studying how much his words seem to be affecting you. He grinned. "So adorable. " he loved your innocent reactions. Teasing you always made his day. He liked that he was the one making your breath hitch. He was responsible for the redness that seemed to grace your cheeks now. He pulled away, turning you around slowly. Your eyes were trying to look at anything but his face.

His palm came down, lifting your chin. Your eyes darted up almost immediately, trembling. He could see the emotion behind them. He loved the way you were looking at him now.

"That's right, don't look at anyone that way but me."

Shinji had seen all those years you were pining over Kensei. There was always a longing in your eyes. He had to admit it made him jealous. But the look in your eyes now. The raw emotion, it gave him hope. It gave him life.

"Shinji..." even the way you said his name. It made him want to ravish you.

"How have I been able to resist you all these years?"

He really had no idea. Sheer luck maybe. You were nibbling your lower lip nervously. Your eyes searching his.

"Is..this real?"

You weren't sure anymore. Maybe you were hallucinating. That hollow must have put a number on you. At this point you didn't care. You just wanted him closer. Shinji leaned forward, and you were apparently doing the same. Your eyelids lowered with every passing second that he got close.

"Shin.."

"SHINJI!!!" you jumped back when something green crossed your vision, tackling Shinji to the ground. You stared owlishly for a few seconds.

"WHY THE HELL DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING!!!" He roared.

When you looked over Mashiro was clutching unto Shinji. She was pointing at the side.

"Kensei is being a bully again!!" she wailed. As if hearing his name he appeared. He looked pissed. His eyes softened when he saw you.

"Hey, you're out already. I thought Hanataro said you needed to rest." you waved him off. "I'm fine with just a few scratches. Shinji stood with a grouchy look. "I'd appreciate it if your girlfriend didn't tackle me." He picked her up like a football, tossing her and you sweat dropped. She squealed when Kensei caught her with ease.

"Don't worry I'll take care of her." he said with a sinister look. She paled.

"Save me (Y/N)-chan!!" You laughed awkwardly as he disappeared with her. You turned back to Shinji who still had a look of annoyance on his face. He caught your stare and you looked down quickly.

"W-We should get back." you said hurriedly. You were already walking off and he followed behind. You knew he was staring at you, you could feel his eyes drilling holes in your back. You flushed.

Things were changing alright.

#bleach #shinji hirako #love #admitting feelings #friends #gotei13 #care #soul reapers #vizards #shinjixreader #kenseixmashiro #friendship #hollows #soul society #ichigo x orihime #captains #new feelings #trust

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visored-headcanons · 6 years

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Trial run

@imaginemeandyouforever i know you’ll hound me if I don’t post it tonight.

I’m going to post the first chapter of a series of one shots I’ve wanted to for a long time to see what reaction I get. If people like it, then I’ll post it and the others on AO3 and fanfiction.net, and if they don’t I’ll cry and hide in the space behind my fridge.

This is a little bit I wrote as an introduction for the whole fic of oneshots and prequel stories for the Visored.

————-

Enjoy

Chapter 1

To say that the past few days hadn’t gone as well as they could have would be to say the least.

It had been 3 days since the defeat of Souske Aizen and since the Visored had returned to their base to heal their wounds after the true Karakura town had been returned to the world of the living and the remaining Soul Reapers returned to their own dimension.

Shinji and the other Visored hadn’t so much as fled as they somewhat frantically limped back to their base out of fear of their sort-of allies turning on them and putting them in jars in the twelfth. Upon arrival they had moved their mattresses to the center of the main building, they hastily checked their wounds and bandaged as much as they could before they collectively passed out in main room of the Warehouse out of exhaustion into a deep sleep, to which not a single one awoke in the following 16 hours.

Aside from the youngest- at least in appearance- of their group surviving being cut in half, in comparison the rest had gotten off easy, but were left to heal the old fashioned way as Hachi was hesitant to perform any sort of kido with his newly repaired arm. It wasn't that Hachi didn’t trust Unohana’s amazing work, he was just being cautious. In the 100 years that the Visoreds had been together, Hachi’s self taught kido skills had not only saved their asses time and time again but it had reached unimaginable levels, to the point in which with a few snaps of his fingers that he could complete spells that were were in the 70s and 80s and even use his new and far more powerful spells. At least before he sacrificed his hand to defeat Barragan and with this potentially unreliable and untrained new hand he gently refused to try any healing kido of his own until he was sure that he wouldn't slip up and potentially hurt a member of their little family.

It was that choice that led Shinji to wake up on the third morning after the war to a group of soundly sleeping half-hollows.

To save themselves the effort of having to continuously going up and down stairs to the bedrooms or jumping from one crumbling platform to another, they had dragged all their mattresses down into the center of the Warehouse near the entrance to the training grounds, the hidden door open in case they would need to quickly hide. The result ended up looking like a fight club sleepover.

As he began to get up and stretch, Shinji took notice of the various injuries that the group was dealing with, which was no small list. He viewed the now unusually quiet Visoreds as they all slept wearing nothing but comfy pajamas.

Mashiro was laying on her side, curled around a large pillow, wearing nothing but an orange sports bra and a pair of matching pajama shorts with large, ugly bruises covering her body, most of which were still a painful shade of purple, a black eye visibly throbbing from one of Wonderweiss’s punches with broken blood vessels stretching out across her face from the bruise. He grimaced at the sight of the nearly black bruise around her neck from the arrancar swinging her around by her scarf, just looking at it made Shinji’s neck hurt. Off the side of the mattress, half hidden by the kicked off blanket was a small pile of ice packs that would need to go back into the freezer when she exchanged those for new ones to dull some of the pain.

Beside her, Kensei was laying flat on his back one hand on his forehead, his other near Mashiro’s, not quite touching her hand but close enough to feel if she moved at all during her sleep. He wasn’t quite as injured as some of the others but using his mask and his bankai in one day had exhausted him, and when he used them as often as he did and against so many high level hollows, it left him at minimal functionality, leaving him to act on autopilot. The only times he had gotten up over the past few days were to use the bathroom or eat the first food object he saw before immediately flopping back onto the mattress. Judging from past experience Shinji guessed that at some point today that Kensei would return to the land of the conscious and finally act like a legitimate soul being.

Rose, who usually attempted to do everything with grace, was flopped face down on his mattress, limbs splayed out in a the least artistic manner. Bandages covered slashes, burns, and large bruises here and there, but once again the over use of a mask had caused problems. Rose’s inner hollow, Arpeggio, was a rude little thing that hated bending to his Maestro’s control and in retaliation for using the hollow like a instrument of destruction whenever he pleased, the little bastard would make the the poor Visored throw up the liquid bone of the hollow mask for days at a time, leaving him exhausted and unable to keep any food down until the hollow would believe his Maestro had suffered enough, thus there was a need to keep a large bucket on hand wherever the Visoreds made their home. Considering that the now half full bucket had been replaced just a few hours earlier meant that Rose hadn’t sleep soundly last night as Shinji had thought and that it was probably another day without food for him, and with a wince Shinji noticed that fragments of Rose’s mask had also come up with the hollow vomit, which would mean that someone would have to check to make sure that his throat wasn’t cut up. The first time that happened Rose had ended up puking up blood alongside the liquid bone and had lost his voice for nearly a week and had left the rest of the gang mentally scarred.

Mentally adding checking out Rose’s throat to his list, Shinji turned to where Love was snoring away. Love was wearing only a pair of pajama pants, leaving his upper body bared and half off the mattress. Small cuts and bruises were here and there but a continuous dark purple bruise encircled his body several times over from where Aizen had used Kinshara to bind Love when they tried to take him down. Kinshara was not a friendly weapon in the slightest and even just a glancing blow could leave a nasty bruise or cut depending on what part hit you, but getting wrapped up in it and then getting yanked to the ground from a few hundred feet in the air was definitely not going to make for a fun time. Before the puking had begun and they had all passed out, Rose had been apologizing nonstop for letting something like that happen, to which Love had to continuously tell him that he was okay. Love had taken it like a champ, even moving most of the mattresses himself before flopping down on his own, simply stating “sleep now, ache later” and had only risen a few times to perform his bodily needs and get ice packs.

Lisa began to roll over in her sleep, a sure sign that she was going to awaken in the next hour. Sure she had the least amount of injuries, but she had dutifully been tending to the various injuries of the others, and judging from the fact that she had one of Rose’s shirts near her meant that she had probably been the one to hold back all that long hair when he was turning himself inside out and then help him change out of cloths that most likely had also gotten splashed, and the dark circles under her eyes also meant that she probably had been up with the two most injured until she had passed out.

Hachi had fallen asleep sitting up on his easy chair, a strange habit of his that he had even prior to the exodus to the world of the living that still frightened a majority of the Visored, though not as much as when he fell asleep with his eyes open, but that did lead to a few funny moments. Rose and Love had once kept up a one sided conversation with Hachi for nearly 2 hours before he woke up, but Hachi was so passive that no one found out until dinner that night when he admitted that he had no idea what Love and Rose were talking about.

His new arm was in a sling against his chest, resting while his other arm was slightly gripping the appendage even in his sleep. For Hachi, whose kido relied mainly on his ability to use his hands, giving up one of his hands had probably been one of the hardest things he had ever done, and something he never wanted to do again. Despite only keeping up the minimum amount of barriers, they all knew that Hachi was exhausted from only doing that after all the work he did to take down Barragan and keep Hiyori alive until Unohana had arrived. Shinji noted that Hachi had his old copies of kido books spread around him, pen marking the pages where he was having trouble making certain hand gestures, and guessing from the fact that nearly all the pages were colored with red ink meant either Hachi was in one of his perfectionism moods or that the hand was giving him actual trouble, which wouldn't mean anything good.

Aside from a few cuts and bruises Shinji had gotten away easy, the wound on his back making him wince every time he had to move his arms, or bend down, or breathe, the injury that worried them all the most was the deadly blow that Gin Ichimaru had dealt a certain blonde that had left one half of her in Shinji’s arms and the other half nearly two blocks away, which in the process of hitting the ground had broken her right ankle. Thankfully Unohana had been able to put the young girl back together and fix the ankle after Hachi had dragged her pieces back together and desperately tried to keep her alive, but Hiyori had yet to make any movements on her own. She was sleeping so deeply that every once and awhile one of the Visored would check to make sure she was still breathing, but that was just one of their worries. There was the chance that Hiyori may never walk or even move her legs again, but what worried them more was the fact that she had yet to wake up. Shinji couldn’t remember if she had eaten anything that day, and with each passing day it was another that she didn’t eat anything, and if she didn’t wake up soon they would have to take drastic measures to find someway to get her nutrients and fluids beyond dripping water into her mouth to keep her from drying up. They weren’t doctors and Shinji was ready to call Urahara at a moment’s notice to beg for his help.

Shinji sat on the edge of her mattress and felt like absolute crap that she had ended up that way. Pale, with dark circles under her eyes she looked exhausted for someone who had been sleeping for 3 days. Her hair was let down from her pigtails and fell in neat waves around her face after Mashiro had taken the time to brush the dust out if it, something she only got to do when Hiyori was in one of her rare good moods and was willing to play nice with others.

Shinji sighed and gently ran a hand down one of her cheeks, his heart sinking even lower when not even that got her to make any sort of reaction, not even an unconscious one. It had only been three days but he was aching for their old routine where Hiyori would wake up with the sun as always, and start running about, getting ready for the day, waking up the other Visored as she went about her little schedules. Sometimes she would be gracious and change the schedule to let others sleep in a little bit more while others were cursed to be the ones she chose to rise early. He missed all of them being healthy enough to get up and all eat breakfast together, but so long as Hachi’s kido wasn’t up to par and unless one of them suddenly had the ability to use healing kido or stop angry little hollows inside their heads from throwing massive fits they were stuck healing the old fashioned way while waiting for Hiyori to make her decision to either wake up or—

“Shinji?” He turned to see Lisa sitting up, stretching as she let out a massive yawn. “Any response yet?”

“No. The little brat is taking her own sweet time waking up.” Shinji’s tease felt hollow, the smile forced as he lightly brushed a finger against the tip of Hiyori’s nose, saddened as there was still no response. “Anyway you look terrible. Were you up helping Rose last night?”

Lisa nodded, “He nearly choked on a chunk of mask and as soon as I managed to Heimlich it out of him he puked nonstop for nearly 3 hours.”

As she let out another yawn Shinji raised his arms above his head is a lazy stretch, “You take it easy, get some more sleep. I can handle whatever comes for a few more hours.”

“This coming from someone whose injury is causing him pain every time he moves, but refuses any sort of treatment aside from a bandage?” Love grunted as he raised himself off of the mattress, grimacing as the Kinshara wounds protested. “We all need to rest, even you oh so fearless leader, unless you think that the moment that you decide to rest that Pharaoh will try to take over again?”

Ah the ever frustrating issue of the hollows inside their inner worlds. Because it got so frustrating to just call them ‘Kensei’s inner hollow’ or ‘Lisa’s inner hollow’ all the time, the hollows had consented to taking on names. Now and days the Hollows were now content to laze around in the inner worlds of their rulers, calling the former soul reapers their king, princess, master, and so on, but sometimes the little bastards liked to tease them and play games. Rose and Kensei had their little problems happen every once in awhile but the hollows still liked to whisper into the minds of their masters, trying to needle them into letting the hollow take over, even for just a tiny bit of time.

One thing that happened pretty often would be that while meditating, sleeping, or even when just conversing with their hollow that they would unconsciously form their masks, waking up to find that they had been meditating or sleeping comfortably with a hollow mask adorning their face, which even after 100 hundred years would still leave them jumping out of bed in a panic, and was the very reason why when they would sometimes nap up of the ledges of the warehouse that they had to be careful to place themselves near the wall furthest from the edge, especially after Love broke his arm when he jumped up and there was no floor to catch him. It had also been his bad luck that he had been the last to wake up that day so the rest of the Visoreds got to watch fierce captain Aikawa let out a distinctly unmanly yelp and then fall 15ft to the concrete below with a comical thud.

Shinji smiled to himself as he recalled the moment, chuckling as the echo of Love’s screech, and began thinking back on all the memories of the past centuries that they all had shared… who would have thought that they would have ended up where they were now?

That small happy moment was interrupted as Hachi gave out a small snort and sat up straighter. Eyes wide he turned to the three other Visored. “Someone just knocked on my barrier.”

“What?” Lisa and Love began to disentangle themselves from their blankets as Shinji jumped up from Hiyori’s side to run to one of the broken windows in the front of the warehouse, heart nearly dropping out of his chest as all the current captains and lieutenants, along with a few other scattered members of the Thirteen Court Guard squads stood outside of the Kido barrier surrounding the warehouse, guided by Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukibihi. Most of them looked confused and a little girl with pink hair kept poking the barrier, making Hachi jump every time the sensitive barrier was touched.

Shinji grumbled, wondering what in hell they were doing here, when for a scary moment he thought ‘they’re here to finally execute us’, a sentiment he knew was probably running through the minds of his fellow Visored.

“Shinji Hirako, Love Aikawa, Rojuro Otoroibashi, Kensei Murgurama, Hachigan Ushoda, Lisa Yadomaru, Hiyori Sarugaki, and Mashiro Kuna.” Captain Yamamoto’s voice rang out, awakening every one of the sleeping Visored except for one. For someone with a fire zanpaktou he sure knew how to make someone feel like their blood was freezing. “We ask that you take down the Kido barrier so we may speak with all of you.”

Almost immediately the room went into panic mode. For once in the past few days Kensei was up and actively participating in a situation, Rose and Lisa were frozen in place, Love and Shinji were jumping for their swords, Hachi was preparing to throw out another set of barriers to knock back the soul reapers to allow them to escape to the training grounds when Mashiro managed to stop all of them in their tracks as she turned to Kensei and began to cry as she looked up at him “Kensei, are they gonna finally execute us?”

“Mash…” Lisa walked over and pulled her into a hug before turning to Shinji. “What are we going to do?”

Shinji knew they weren’t in any condition to fight, and any attempt to do so would lead to a quick and most likely sad looking defeat. “Hachigan.” He sighed, “Don’t take it down just yet. Can you make the barrier clear and cancel out the soundproofing?” After receiving a quick nod Shinji picked up Sakanade and began to make for the door. Before he made it through he looked back to the group of confused half-hollows, “Lets go see what they want.”

Before any of them could argue, Shinji lifted the door high enough to slink through before quickly dropping it to hide themselves once more as Hachi worked his magic enough that the barrier turned a nearly transparent shade of orange.

“You rang Head Captain?” Shinji threw up a calm and collected smile, stretching out in a Cheshire Cat like manner as he leaned against the outside of the warehouse, his drawl deceptively lazy and relaxed to cover up the screaming going on inside of his head. The rest of the Visored, sans Hiyori, made their way out, some leaning against the wall of the warehouse for support while Mashiro immediately plopped down on the ground rubbing one of her sore bruises as it ached, too tired to stand.

They sure had to be some sight, looking like they had gotten hit by a couple trains and then gone out to get some ‘tasteful’ sleepwear. Behold the horrifying hollowed captains and lieutenants of years past, beware their bed head and taste in sleepwear as they trudge towards you.

“You all go by the title of…Visoreds now, correct?” The old man had one eye open and was watching all of them with a careful gaze.

In response to the question, in an almost synchronized manner, they all materialized their masks, lazily gazing at the group of soul reapers. Shinji pulled his off and threw it through the barrier where the double mouthed mask landed with a clatter at the feet of the head captain, Pharaoh’s two mouths seeming to both smile and frown at the gathering of soul reapers at the same time.

“We thought calling ourselves the Masks or something like that would sound silly. Love heard the term ‘Visored’ while we were traveling through the United States a few decades ago and it seemed to be perfect for us, granted we’re a pretty small army.” As the rest threw off their masks Shinji and the other former captains moved to the forefront of the group, blocking Hachi and the girls from the immediate threat of the high level forces of the soul society. “Does it matter what you call us? We know what's coming.” Shinji let out a little shrug as he shifted Sakanade into better position to be drawn. “Its old news now and days, and we ain’t going down as easily as you want and we ain’t gonna let Mayuri take us apart that easily.”

“We aren’t going to let you do this to us without a fight, especially since we never even got a chance last time.” Kensei growled as he spun his knife between his fingers.

Before Love, Rose, or Shinji had the chance to even draw their swords every soul reaper before them dropped to their knees in a low bow. For once in their lives, the Visored were speechless, Kensei pausing in his knife spinning, the blade flying out of his hand, narrowly missing Mashiro who didn’t even seem to notice the danger as they all stared forward.

“We offer our greatest thanks to the eight of you, and our humblest of apologies. A great injustice was done to all of you and we chose to act upon fear and hate rather than recognize the friends we had behind the masks that were forced onto each of you.” Yamamoto spoke quietly as he too settled into a deep bow. “You are correct. We never gave you a chance. We chased you from your home and hunted you as if you were animals and despite all we did, even if it wasn’t for the sake of the Guard or the Soul Society, you all came and helped us.” Motioning to the other captains and lieutenants, “you fought side by side with those who were your enemies, proving to us that not only were you stronger than before in your power and abilities but you were strong enough to look beyond your hate to defend Karakura Town.

“We ask that you allow us to attempt to start to right our wrongs, something that perhaps we will never be able to fully do.”

Shinji’s jaw was dropped, along with everyone else’s.

“Soooo,” Mashiro stood up and poked her head up from over Kensei’s shoulder, her one good eye confused, “you’re not going to execute us for being monsters created unwillingly from the experiments of madman and his two followers?”

“Considering that we came here to help in whatever ways we could, I say that its likely that you will continue to live.” Unohana’s kind voice began to relax the Visored. “If you would allow us, we would like to start by tending to your wounds and helping you all begin to recover from your ordeal.”

There was a pregnant pause.

Yamamoto watched as the Visored began to share looks amongst each other, silently having a conversation. Much like an injured animal they were wary in accepting help from a potentially harmful source. The hand they were offering to the small group of exiles had reached out and harmed them many times before, so why should it be different now?

Hachi snapped his fingers and instantly a sound proofing barrier returned, blocking out the sounds of the Visored as they turned to one another to discuss.

“This could be a ploy to get us to relax and then they take us down.” Kensei glared over his shoulder at their old coworkers as he pulled Mashiro away from the edge of the barrier and flush against his chest.

“But Unohana said they want to help.” Mashiro whispered.

“They did help us heal Hiyori in the field.” Lisa had turned to peer through one of the windows near them to see Hiyori just as they left her. “She would have died without Unohana and they do owe us, and not just for kicking us out. We helped get rid of the last three Espada and killed all those Gillians. They owe us their lives.”

“True,” Love looked over the crowd. “They look nervous but not one of them has attacked us yet.”

“Perhaps peace is what we need.” Rose looked a little hopeful, “We could possibly allow them entry.”

“I still don’t like it. Not only do they have a bad track record with us but with our luck Hiyori will wake up the second they walk through the door and unleash hell.” Kensei was firmly stuck in his ways.

Shinji had been silent the entire time, lazily gazing at each of their ‘allies’, trying to determine any ulterior motives. So far it seemed like they could possibly be trusted. After all Kisuke brought them all the way out here just so they could apologize, not to mention the fact that all the current members of the Captain class were here and in the same area without destroying the vicinity had to mean something.

To those outside it looked like a very tense conversation made up of growling words and a number of interesting hand gestures. After what seemed like a century of waiting, the Visoreds went still and nodded in agreement.

After what seemed like another lifetime they all turned to Hachigan, who with hands as steady as he could keep them, made a few swift gestures and the barrier began to glow as it turned to a golden dust.

“Make any wrong moves and we won’t hesitate to act like the monsters you thought us to be.” Shinji’s warning made the Soul Reapers pause briefly as Love raised the large garage door. “Welcome to the current Casa del los Visoreds. Make yourselves at home.”

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