Chapter Text
Izuru had heard rumours about Hisagi Shuuhei floating around the Academy. He was strong and handsome in a roguish sort of way. He had achieved shikai before any of his classmates even though he failed the initial test to get into the academy twice and it was rumoured he would be offered a seated position as soon as he graduated. Izuru hadn’t actually seen him in person yet, but he greatly admired the man already.
As they waited for the senkaimon to open for their field training in the living world, Izuru chatted with Renji. “I wonder who will be leading the mission? I heard it’s usually senpai from the sixth year.” He asked, not really speaking to anyone in particular.
“Who knows.” Renji said, scratching the back of his head absentmindedly. Izuru was about to reply when a ripple of murmurs went through the group of waiting students.
“Is that…” One voice trailed off. The pair turned around to see a group of three students - two men and a woman - walking along the outskirts of the group, towards the senkaimon. One of the men was very tall, standing straight up with a neutral expression on his face. The woman was short with light brown hair and a serious expression on her kind face. Izuru’s eyes glanced over those two, but he found himself rooted to the spot when he locked eyes on the leader. A tall, - though not as tall as the other male student - dark haired man with a 69 tattooed on his face looked over the group of students as the trio came to a stop in front of the senkaimon.
Shuuhei sighed, every time he had to meet a new bunch of students the reaction was always the same. Girls would twitter and squeal, turning to their girlfriends to gossip about ‘how handsome he was’ or other such nonsense and the boys would either look at him with admiration or envy.
As he walked with his fellow sixth years he couldn’t help but notice a really strong earthy smell in the air. He inhaled deeply, looking around to try and figure out where it was coming from. He knew it definitely wasn’t the ground, since the senkaimon platform at the academy was solid concrete with no gardens or grass anywhere. Seeing nothing, he presumed one of the students was pocket mulching or just hadn’t washed their uniforms or something. He wrinkled his nose at that.
His group came to a stop in front of the senkaimon and he turned to address the group. He had to wait for the chatter to quiet down before he spoke.
A couple of girls quietly squealed, pointing and whispering to each other. Izuru was confused, he glanced at Renji, who caught his eye and shrugged. “Who are they?” Renji asked. Izuru had a suspicion but before he could answer, the leader started to speak.
“First, a short introduction.” He said, his voice deep and smooth. Izuru felt goosebumps rise over his body and he could smell a faint scent of the wind, even though there was no breeze to be seen on the clear warm day.
“I’m a sixth year student, Hisagi.” Izuru’s eyes widened. This was Hisagi Shuuhei? His suspicion was way off.
“I’m Kanizawa.” The small brunette said.
“And I’m Aoga.” The big man saluted the group. Izuru spared each of them a glance as they introduced themselves, but found himself unable to stop looking at Hisagi, especially once the man started speaking again.
“We three will be your guides.” He fell silent and observed the crowd. The chatter started back up again and Shuuhei just let them get it out. He took the time to look at each of the students. The first thing that caught his eye was bright red hair, the red head was listening to a slightly shorter blonde explain something - probably talking about him - to the red head. He couldn’t see the blonde’s face as his back was turned to Shuuhei.
“What are those senpai famous or something?” Renji asked. Izuru reluctantly tore his eyes away from the sixth year and turned to face Renji.
“Don’t you know?” Izuru asked, incredulously. “Not all of them, just the one in the middle. Hisagi Shuuhei. I heard he has been assured a position in the Gotei 13, even though he hasn’t graduated yet, which hasn’t happened in years!” Izuru said, recalling the information he remembered hearing around the academy. “They say he’s even certain to get a seated position.”
Renji made an impressed sound at that. “By the way, he failed the academy’s entrance exam twice.” He smirked. “So I might be better in terms of talent, since I got the highest score for it.” Izuru said. Renji gave him an incredulous look. He turned back around when Kanizawa began talking again.
Shuuhei was glad Kanizawa had taken the job of explaining what they would be doing that day because as soon as the blonde turned around all coherent thoughts left his head. His eyes locked with soft blue and he felt heat pulse through him and the earthy scent intensified. He shook his head, trying to get himself under control again and focused on what Kanizawa was saying.
“Now, we’ll break up into groups of three. Look at the papers you drew earlier and find your teammates with the same symbol printed on the paper.” Kanizawa instructed.
Izuru only caught the end of what Kanizawa was saying, his entire world had narrowed to the beautiful dark grey eyes that had locked onto his. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself but he was overwhelmed by the scent of the wind again. It was much stronger and he felt heat rush through him. Thinking became a little easier when Hisagi looked away and Izuru looked down at his slip of paper. It had the same symbol as the one on Renji’s paper.
“So that’s what these were for…” Renji said, adjusting his obi.
Izuru looked over to him, “Who’s our third teammate, though?” Izuru wondered. A small voice sounded from behind them.
“Ah, excuse me. Hello, you two.” A short girl ran over to the pair, her hair was in cute pigtails and her face was open and kind.
“Oh, it’s you Hinamori.” Renji said.
“Hello!” Izuru smiled. Any more conversation was cut off by Hisagi’s deep voice calling their attention again. Once again Izuru couldn’t help but stare at the man.
Shuuhei called out to the group, getting their attention. He deliberately didn’t look at the blonde, instead sweeping his eyes back and forth over the groups of three that stood around. “We’ll explain today’s exercise.”
“A group of Sixth year students have already entered the living world and built a barrier around a suitable area.” Kanizawa continued.
“You are to engage in practice combat with dummy hollows within that perimeter.” Aoga added.
“The sixth year students will create a combat ready environment, but we won’t assist you in the combat itself.” Shuuhei finished. He looked over the group one last time, “Got that? Good. Let’s go!” He turned to face the shoji doors of the senkaimon. “Open!”
Izuru felt anticipation flutter in his stomach as the shoji doors slowly opened and they followed the sixth years through the senkaimon. He was nervous, having never left the Soul Society before and he wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
They came out in a dark, grimy industrial area built on the docks next to the bay. There was a funky smell in the air - like someone had forgotten to take the trash out for a few days. Izuru glanced around. The moon was shining full in the sky and reflected beautifully on the water. He turned his attention back to his immediate surroundings.
“It’s begun.” One of the sixth years stationed on a high walkway called out. “Maintain the barrier strength! During practice it’s common for the real thing to attack.”
“That’s right,” A second, nicer voice called out, “This is a safe zone, though.” Shuuhei pinched the bridge of his nose at his fellow classmate’s antics.
“This is part of our own training, too.” The first voice said back. “Don’t let your guard down.”
“Right, right.” The second voice replied. Shuuhei called the younger group to order and repeated the instructions. He then let them go, before moving himself to a good vantage point to keep an eye on things.
Izuru, Renji and Momo ran off in a random direction, all three had their guards up and were scanning the area for the dummy hollows they were supposed to defeat. They split up but stayed within eyesight.
“Look out behind you, Abarai-kun.” Izuru yelled as a small bug-like hollow appeared out of the shadow of the building. Renji quickly jumped out of the way, but the hollow followed. He ran around eventually jumping up onto a nearby roof. Izuru watched as he unsuccessfully fired a Shakkaho as he jumped from the roof back to the ground. The hollow seemed to lose interest in him and scuttled off towards Momo.
“Hinamori. It’s coming your way.” Izuru heard Renji call out. She too let off a Shakkaho, but it didn’t seem to do any damage to the hollow at all.
“Kira-kun.” Momo yelled. Izuru was already in the air, katana poised to strike the hollow. He cried out, putting all his strength into a downward swing, cleanly slinging the dummy hollow in two. He landed gracefully, resheathing his sword and standing up.
Shuuhei’s face remained passive as his eyes flicked from trio to trio, assessing how they were doing. Unfortunately, his gaze kept coming back to the blonde’s group. He saw the redhead - Abarai, he’d heard the blonde call him - fail to produce a proper Shakkaho and the girl of their group also fail to kill it. Kira, she had called out. So his name was Kira. Shuuhei looked over to another group but his attention was caught by a battle cry. His eyes widened as he saw Kira jump high off the ground and bring his katana up. The moonlight shone behind him, glinting off his golden hair. Shuuhei gulped, he felt the intense need to go to the blonde, but he managed to ignore it. He couldn’t help but watch as Kira’s sword cleanly sliced through the dummy hollow and he landed safely on the ground. Something weird was going on with him, but he decided to ignore it for the time being. Gritting his teeth he fully turned away from their group and focused on another group.
Izuru was proud of himself. He’d just destroyed his first hollow. Granted it was a dummy hollow but still. He smiled as Renji and Momo made their way over to him.
“That was easier than expected.” Renji remarked.
“It was because of our teamwork.” Izuru replied, “No-one could have done it alone.” Momo nodded.
“Idiot. I coulda won by myself, easily.” Renji said, arrogantly, putting his hands on his hips. “Heck, I wish I could fight a real hollow!”
Momo looked at him incredulously, “Ha, only your talk is big.” She teased.
“I got more than that!” He sputtered. Izuru started walking towards the meeting point.
“Come on, let’s go back.” Momo pushed Renji in the direction Izuru was walking. As they were walking Momo stopped and looked back from where they’d come from, frowning. Renji and Izuru stopped as well.
“Hey, what’s wrong, Hinamori?” Renji asked.
“Ahh, it’s nothing, never mind.” She smiled and turned back to the boys, running to catch up with them.
Shuuhei stood with his arms crossed. Kanizawa and Aoga were talking amongst themselves about how it was nearly time to finish. He huffed a laugh when Kanizawa said it had ended safely. He saw a few of the first years trip themselves up trying to do some fancy moves to kill the dummy hollow - or impress the sixth years, he didn’t really know.
He activated the communicator that was sitting around his neck - just above the studded choker he always wore - to contact the other sixth years who were out at the barrier. “This is Hisagi from the meeting point. Barrier unit, what’s the situation there?” He waited for a reply.
He frowned when he received no reply. “Hey, is anyone there?” His frown deepened. “What’s wrong, barrier unit? Can you hear me? Answer me!” Concern was now at the forefront of his mind.
“What’s wrong?” Kanizawa asked him.
“It’s strange, I’m not receiving a reply from the barrier unit.”
“Hisagi-kun!” Kanizawa yelled. Shuuhei turned his head, eyes widening as he looked at the huge hollow materialising right in front of him.
Izuru, Renji and Momo laughed as they neared the final corner, but stopped when they heard a horrific scream. “What was that?” Renji asked.
“I’m not sure.” Momo replied.
“Come on.” Izuru said. They looked at each other and took off around the corner.
The three of them gasped. “Wha-what’s that?” Renji stuttered out, eyes not believing what he was seeing. “It’s huge…” The hollow was taller than the warehouse it was standing next to. It had giant sharp scythe looking claws. It opened its mouth and let out an unholy scream.
Shuuhei quickly got a hold of himself, paling as the hollow swung it’s claw towards them. He and Aoga jumped out of the way, but Kanizawa was too slow. It grabbed her with the scythe-like claw. It looked like it was moving in slow motion as Shuuhei watched the hollow swing its arm out, throwing Kanizawa’s bleeding body to the side like it was nothing. He growled and unsheathed his sword.
’Crap, a huge hollow. It can’t be. Why didn’t we sense it’s approach?’ Shuuhei thought to himself. He glared at the hollow in front of him.
“Bastard! You killed Kanizawa!” Aoga roared from beside him.
“No! Aoga!” Shuuhei tried to stop him, but it was too late. Aoga charged at the hollow brandishing his sword ready to slay the beast. He was too slow. The hollow lazily swung its claw and Aoga was cut deeply in the side of his body. Shuuhei watched in horror as his friend and classmate was thrown to the side, colliding with the wall, unmoving.
He heard gasps from behind him and he remembered the group of first years. “Oi! Freshman, get as far away from here as possible!” He ordered.
Izuru stood frozen staring at the spot Aoga-senpai had been standing. His classmates were running past him, trying to escape. Renji stood next to him, in slight awe. “So that’s a real hollow.” He muttered. Renji started running.
Izuru couldn’t move. It took Renji coming back and grabbing his arm to snap him out of his stupor. He nodded and they both started running.
Shuuhei turned on his communicator again, saying steady but hastily, “Soul Society. Requesting assistance. This is Hisagi Shuuhei sixth year squad leader. At the living world point 1026, being attacked by a huge hollow at northwest 2128…” He was cut off as the hollow opened its mouth again and a ball of light began to form in its mouth. He gasped, jumping out of the way as the blast landed exactly where he had been standing.
Izuru noticed as he was running that Momo had not followed. He stopped and turned around, finding the small girl just standing in the middle of the walk way. He called out to her, “What are you doing, Hinamori-san? We were told to run. Orders must be obeyed.”
“But…” He heard her say.
“It’s impossible!” Renji yelled, having come back to stand next to Izuru. “It got two sixth years in the blink of an eye!” She didn’t listen. Izuru gasped out loud when she started running towards the hollow.
“Hinamori!” Renji yelled again. They took off after her.
Shuuhei grunted as he slammed against the wall. Blood was flowing down his face from three thin scratches running down the right side of his face. He could barely see as the blood stung his eyes. He frantically looked around and was able to focus on the hollow. Its mouth opened again, charging that bright blast and Shuuhei quickly leaped out of the way, flipping to avoid each blast as it came towards him.
He landed and grasped his sword, running towards the hollow and jumping, attempting to slice through the mask. He was thrown back by the hollow’s arm. He landed hard, but stood up again, staring the hollow down. He watched as the hollow’s claw glowed and separated from one big blade into many smaller blades. They came swinging down. He brought his sword up preparing to defend himself.
The claws stopped suddenly as a sword materialised in front of him. His eyes widened as he saw Kira, Abarai and the small brunette girl trapping the hollow’s claws with their swords. He gaped at them. “You guys…”
“Please forgive us for disobeying your orders.” Kira said, his teeth gritted at the effort of keeping the hollow’s claws from moving.
“We came to save you, so overlook this, okay, senpai.” Abarai said, sounding not much better than Kira.
Shuuhei watched as they pushed the claws away and the little brunette started chanting. “Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings...”
“... ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium…” Kira picked up the chant.
“... the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!” Abarai finished.
“Hado no 31. Shakkaho!” They finished together and three blasts of red light joined together and raced towards the hollow.
Shuuhei watched in awe as the hollow reared back from the explosion, screaming. Kira turned to him and yelled, “Let’s get moving, senpai!” They took off down an alleyway.
As they ran Abarai started asking questions, “How could such a gigantic hollow get so close?”
“I don’t know,” Shuuhei replied, “I’ve never heard of it happening before, but it can probably hide it’s reiatsu.”
“We’re not strong enough to defeat it! What should we do?” Kira asked. Shuuhei felt warmth rush through him at the sound of Kira’s voice, but firmly squashed the feeling, focusing on running away.
“I’ve contacted the Soul Society. We just have to hold on until help arrives.” He said. A surge of protectiveness threatened to overcome him at the thought of Kira getting hurt. Once again he filed that away to think about at another time.
The four of them rounded another corner and suddenly stopped. The air in front of them started to distort. Tears appeared and hollows started pouring out, completely surrounding the small group. They stood back to back, swords raised.
Izuru’s hands were shaking terribly and he was terrified that they were all going to die. There was an unexpected warmth coming from his left shoulder, and Izuru turned his head to see Hisagi’s right shoulder was pressed up against his. For some reason the touch calmed him down a little.
Just when all hope seemed lost, a sword appeared between Izuru and Hisagi, just above their heads. It sliced through the nearest hollow’s mask, destroying it. The four of them looked around.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. We came to rescue you.” A voice cut through the still air. Shuuhei’s jaw dropped.
“Y-you’re the Fifth division captain and lieutenant, Aizen and Ichimaru.” Shuuhei stuttered out, shocked to see them there, but also relieved.
The pair walked towards them. Aizen-taicho placed his hand on Hinamori’s head saying in a gentle voice, “You’ve persevered well. It must have been scary. You’re safe now. We’ll take over, you go and rest.” They brushed past and started walking towards the group of hollows.
Izuru watched in awe as Ichimaru-fuku taicho released his sword and destroyed a large amount of the gathered hollows in seconds. Nothing, however, prepared him for the sheer power that swelled when Aizen-taicho released a wordless kido blast destroying the rest.
As the last hollow dissolved into reishi particles Izuru felt himself sag. He was still pressed against Hisagi, who, feeling the blonde start to collapse, caught him with an arm around his waist. “Easy there.” Hisagi said. Izuru looked up at the older student.
“Hisagi-senpai, your eye!” Izuru quickly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it lightly over Hisagi’s face, mopping up the blood. Their eyes locked again - Izuru’s two blue to Hisagi’s one grey - and they both felt that same heat flow through them. Izuru wanted to move closer to him, but the arrival of a relief squad distracted him.
The four of them were checked over by the Fourth and Hisagi was taken directly to Unohana-taicho at the Coordinated Relief Station when they arrived back in the Soul Society.
As Izuru lay in bed that night, his mind went over everything that had happened. Something clicked in his mind and a memory of his parents sitting him down when he was younger and telling him about secondary genders and the signs to look out for as he got older.
Realisation struck him and he sat up.
Hisagi Shuuhei was his mate.
Hisagi Shuuhei was his Alpha.