Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters,
settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the
property of the author. The author is in
no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media
franchise. No copyright infringement is
intended.
Summary: Before he became a monster, Shinji was just a man in love
with a beautiful woman. This is their
story. Prequel to: You Again.
Warnings: This fiction is rated M for Mature Audiences Only. It contains some foul language, violence, and
adult situations. Those under the age of
18 are strongly discouraged from reading.
Pairing: Shinji Hirako x Emilou Eishima
Before the Mask
By LittleRin26
Dreams of a
Funny Smile
A
Long Time Ago…
Shinigami of all ages duck for cover
as a small child—looking no more than the age of five or six—races through the
gates of the Ninth Division, her fire red-hair billowing out behind her. Turning her head to look behind her, Emilou
giggles at the fact that she had once again left her “keepers” in the
dust.
This was not an uncommon scene for
those who lived in or near the Ninth Division’s Barracks. In fact, it was such a common occurrence that
many of the Shinigami milling about merely sidestepped the small child without
even having to look, hoping that they could be spared the indignity of being
bowled over… or more importantly that they could be spared the ire of the
child’s Uncle or Brother should they accidentally hurt her.
As always there was a chorus of cries
in the distance and as per usual, a gaggle of lowly seated officers that
followed, all shouting at once as they blew past. It was always the same; a bumbling mix of
voices all yelling over each other, “Lou-lou, get back here!” Or “Please come
back! The Captain will have our
heads!” To which the little girl would
only giggle and run even faster.
To many of those standing about at
this time of day, the child’s antics were a humorous respite from their daily
toiling of hard work. No one—not even
the officers that tirelessly gave the girl chase—could deny that the
scarlet-haired sister of the Ninth’s 4th Seated Officer; Shinobu
Eishima did breathe a certain kind of life and vitality into the division… and
its unshakable Captain.
The little girl giggled again,
picking up speed in an impressive shunpō that any seated officer of the Gotei
Thirteen could be proud of. Flashing to
the rooftops, Emilou Eishima—sweetly nicknamed Lou-lou by her brother, peered
down at the men attempting to capture her and stuck out her tongue.
“Ah, ah, ah, slowpokes,” she taunted
down at them in a sing-song voice that was personally taught to her by none
other than Squad Eight’s Captain Shunsui Kyōraku. She wiggled her hips and gave them a very
uncouth hand-gesture. “You losers are
gonna have to do better than that!”
There was a chorus of groans and whines that
followed as the men assigned to watch Emilou realized that they would now have
to resort to scaling the building if they wanted to get to the hot-headed
female before her Uncle—their Captain—found her first and then had their
heads. But then again, they also knew
that the moment a foot came into contact with even one terracotta roof-tile,
Emilou would disappear again.
As was suspected, the moment Sora; 12th
Seated Officer neared the rooftop, the girl stuck out her tongue and
flash-stepped to a different roof.
“Seriously, when are you baka’s gonna
learn?” She taunted, but just as Emilou
went to strut in victory, a loose tile of the roof gave way before she could
catch herself and she was sent spiraling to the ground below.
Six sets of eyes turned panicked as
they watched helplessly as their “little brat”, the sister of their 4th
Seat and adopted niece to their Captain tumbled quite possibly to her death. They were too far away to reach her in time
and they all knew it.
“EMILOU,” they all shouted, only to
have their desperate cries die as the child landed rather hard on top of a man
with a mess of long blonde hair.
Shinji surely hadn’t woke up this
morning expecting a child to fall from the heavens and land directly in his
arms, but he was pleased—nonetheless—to be of assistance.
“Hey, you’re alright, Love.” Shinji cooed at the small child trembling in
his arms. She looked up at him with the
brightest pair of green eyes he’d ever seen and smiled.
“You’re funny lookin’,” the child
speculated, giggling at him as she did so.
Shinji’s grin widened and he poked
the girl in one of her chubby, dimpled cheeks.
“Now why would ya go and say a mean thing like that?” He asked with a furrowed brow and a fake
pout. “What makes me so funny lookin’?”
Emilou reached out a hand and poked
the smirking Captain in the nose with a single chubby digit while the others of
the Ninth watched with a baited breath.
They all knew there was no telling what the child might say or do, and
they also knew it would be their hides—and not hers—should she insult the
rather frightening man and it got back to their Captain.
“Your smile’s too big,” the child
finally said with no hint of remorse. It
was as if she were merely speaking about the weather and not slighting the
well-renowned Captain of Squad Five.
Every single one of Emilou’s keepers
groaned and buried their faces in their palms, hoping the act—although
useless—might somehow shield them from Captain Muguruma’s temper when the time
came.
“Is that so?” Shinji asked the child with amusement, the
already strangely large smile widening as he peered down at her.
The girl’s head bounced in a frantic
nod, her fire-red hair spilling out everywhere as she reached out and took his
face in her hands.
Shinji looked like he was deep in
thought as he allowed the child to pull and stretch out his mouth. When it was obvious that she had slaked her
curiosity he angled the girl in one arm and tapped her button nose with his
free hand. “Hmmm. Well then, what would you suggest I do about
it?”
Emilou shrugged. “Nothin’, I like your smile. At least you don’t look all girly like that
sissy Byakuya.”
Shinji blinked down at the child with
an awed expression. He was completely
taken aback by what the girl had just said about the young noble… who was well
known for his “handsome” features, and then Shinji started to laugh, and the
laugh quickly turned into a full on cackle.
This kid’s
too much, Shinji thought amusedly to
himself. But who in the Hell does
she belong to? Surely she wasn’t being looked after by those shit-heads up on the
roof.
“Hey Sweetheart,” Shinji called,
grabbing the child’s attention away from the lengths of his hair. When he was sure he had regained her
attention, he asked, “Where’s yer momma?”
Little Emilou gave a nonchalant shrug
of her shoulders, “I ain’t got no momma, no pa neither.”
Shinji’s eyes narrowed in confusion
as he took in the little girl’s appearance.
She was clean enough and dressed rather expensively for a child of her
age, so it was easily deduced that someone did care for her. She even had a toy on her person—even if it
was a strange toy for little girl as pretty as she to be toting around. Shinji had to admit though, it was pretty
cute… the way she had her wooden Zanpakutō tucked into the folds of her
delicate orange obi.
“Well then, Princess,” Shinji said
sweetly, taking in the frilly color and cut of her tiny kimono. “Who looks after ya?”
In a movement that was faster than
the Captain of the Fifth expected from a little girl, the child removed her
sword and a loud crack rang in his ears, followed by a tremendous pain that
stemmed from the crown of his head. Shinji
looked down at the little girl who had bonked him on the head with said wooden
Zanpakutō hard enough to make his teeth rattle and before he could do anything
about it in amazement. His glare
softened however when he noticed that the little girl’s face was red as a beat
and her electric green eyes were blazing with anger.
“I’m not a Princess, you baka!” She thundered and pointed the tip of her
wooden sword at Shinji’s nose. “I’m a
brat!”
“M-my apologies,” Shinji stuttered as
his eyes crossed comically. He was
unsure why the comment had upset her so badly, but it was clear as a blue sky
to him that this child was definitely not the type to be categorized as a
Princess. He would have asked why she
thought she was a brat, naturally, if not for the strong flare of spiritual
pressure that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
The spiritual signature was
recognizable to him, but it was pulsing at a level that Shinji had rarely ever
encountered when dealing with the level-headed Captain of the Ninth, unless his whining Vice-Captain was afoot.
“Oi, unhand my brat, Hirako!” Kensei bellowed, pointing at the small girl
who was still wrapped in Shinji’s arms and hair.
Shinji supposed that cleared up the
brat comment, but still… his eyes darted from Captain Muguruma to the little
girl and back again before narrowing in confusion. He was sure he had never heard a rumor about
Kensei adopting a child and she sure didn’t look related to him, but all his
wandering thoughts were silenced as the red-head in his arms perked up.
“Ojisan!” She crowed happily and sprung from Shinji’s
arms onto the back of the Ninth’s Squad Captain. She hugged him tightly around the neck and
plastered a sweet kiss directly onto the scowling man’s cheek. Though Kensei did nothing to protest against
the child’s affections, Shinji noted in amusement.
Shinji stood rooted to his spot…
completely baffled by what he was seeing and stared with a gaping mouth as
Kensei Muguruma; a battle harden, temperamental, and usually mean man chuckle
and scold the child for over-exerting his subordinates. He never said another word to Shinji as he
turned and headed back to his office with the little girl propped on his
shoulder as he questioned her about her day and warned her not to scare him
anymore. Apparently one of the lower
ranking seats had gone to fetch him on the girl’s behalf.
.
.
.
Present Day…
“Psst!”
“Psst, Lou-lou!”
“Hirako…
funny smile… baka…” Emilou mumbled sleepily, snuggling deeper into her
oh-so-comfortable pillow as she pointedly ignored the idiot trying to wake her.
“Lou-lou… you’re gonna be late…” The irritating voice grumped and
Emilou groaned.
It was a
masculine voice to be sure… and it was aggravatingly familiar as her friend,
but right now it was more annoying than that yapping mutt of Komamura’s.
“Fuck
off. I hate dogs.” She murmured as she pulled the thick coverlet
over her head in an attempt to block out the noise. She sighed in relief when all went quiet.
There was an
aggravated grunt and a few “choice” words muttered before the wonderful barrier
of Emilou’s blankets were violently ripped away from her, leaving nothing to
protect her naked flesh from the damp morning air.
Startled and
cold, she bolted upright, her hand flailing around defensively and her hand
stung from whatever hard surface she had smacked on her way up.
“Ow!”
Someone cried out; someone who seriously sounded like her friend Rikū.
“What the
Hell?” Emilou growled out as she
clutched her arms across her nude breasts, but stopped short when her bleary
eyes focused on her assailant.
His face was
as red as a turnip, his blonde hair was disheveled, his eyes were wide with
surprise and he was sporting a bloody nose.
Pointing at
the shocked look on Rikū’s face, Emilou threw herself backwards onto her bed
and was lost to a fit of giggles. It
never ceased to amaze the red-headed beauty that her friend could look so traumatized every time he saw her
naked.
You think the bastard would’ve
learned by now that I prefer to sleep in the nude, Emilou mused to herself as she
continued to laugh. Even Ojisan knows better than to storm in here in the morning.
So caught up
in her mental teasing of her 3rd Seat, Emilou never heard him growl
and stomp away, though had she been paying attention she might have saved
herself a lot of trouble.
Rikū returned
several minutes later to find his pray in much the same position as he had left
her; still cackling madly and gasping as she tried to regain her
composure. He eyed her evilly, a
mischievous smile blooming on his face as he crept forward with a pale brimming
with water in hand. He knew that he’d
more than likely get his ass pummeled for the stunt he was about to pull, but
the look on Emilou’s face would be priceless and just the thought of her
reaction far outweighed any beating he might receive in the end.
“Get your
lazy-ass up!” He shouted, tossing the
contents of his pale at her.
Emilou
instantly went from laughing to spluttering as she found herself and her
bedding engulfed in what seemed like a tidal-wave of freezing cold water.
Rikū gulped
loudly as Emilou pulled her drenched scarlet locks out of her eyes and leveled
him with a glare of death… He actually shivered.
“You
BAKA!” She thundered, shaking the thin
walls of her dormitory room.
Puffing out
his chest, Rikū leaned in close and growled directly into Emilou’s face. “We’ve gotta be in the office in fifteen
minutes!”
With eyes
that glowed electric green, Emilou shot up off the bed and snarled, pointing a
finger into her friend’s chest. “I don’t
care if you are The Captain’s little bitch, I’m gonna kill you,
Togakushi!”
With a good
shove to his chest, the 3rd Seat of the Third Division went down on
his ass hard. Emilou expected him to
scream and shout, to throw something or possibly draw on her but she hadn’t
expected this…
Rikū had
gone incredibly silent as his dark gray eyes shifted up, trailing the length of
the soaking wet, nude, and decidedly female form in front of him. He gulped audibly and his face grew even
brighter than before.
“P-put
s-some c-close on, will you!” He
stuttered, walking on his hands in a backwards crabwalk to put some distance
between his face and Emilou’s rather soft looking breasts.
Apparently the idiot just now
remembered that I wasn’t dressed, she thought with a smug smile. It was always a good day when she could make
him all flustered like that.
Laughing
again, Emilou rose and made sure to put some extra swagger in her hips as she
sashayed towards her closet and pulled out her fresh garments for the day. “Don’t be such a prude, Rikū, it’s not like
you’ve never seen a naked woman before.”
“Y-yeah,
but…” he trailed off, his face turned away as he gestured to Emilou wildly with
the hand that wasn’t covering his eyes.
“It’s you.”
“Wow, thanks
for the vote of confidence,” Emilou drawled sarcastically and rolled her
eyes. “What am I not attractive enough
for you?” She asked, feigning hurt
feelings and pouted as she pulled a fresh bathing robe from her dresser.
Rikū
scoffed, “More like I don’t want Captain Muguruma to kick my ass,” he muttered under his breath.
When he
scoffed, Emilou snorted and threw on her thin robe. It was nearly sheer, but it covered what was
important without feeling like it was smothering her.
I still need to thank Shun-kun for
that, Emilou
reminded herself, but sighed heavily when she turned around to see her idiot
friend still huddled on the floor with his hand firmly covering his eyes.
“It’s safe
to look now, you big baby,” she teased.
“Your delicate sensibilities are safe once again… you can open your
virgin eyes now—
“Hey!” He
groused, looking indignant but extremely relieved by the fact that she was now
covered properly… well, as properly as Emilou ever covered up anyway.
“Poor Captain Muguruma, Rikū thought with a grimace. That
man must go crazy with the way she dresses.
Emilou
huffed in annoyance, slightly hurt that he seemed so repulsed by her body. She couldn’t understand it… he was a man
wasn’t he? He wasn’t related to her and
though she had never wanted a relationship outside of friendship with him, it
hurt that he always seemed to react so negatively to her nude body. And it wasn’t just Rikū either. The fact was
that no man had ever paid much attention to her. Emilou wasn’t stupid, she knew that she wasn’t
some grand prize to the female gender like Yoruichi… but damn it, she was still
a woman, and in her opinion she looked alright.
As Rikū
watched Emilou’s face turn sour… then depressed, he felt terrible. He knew what she was thinking without her
having to say a word. He knew that most
men of the Gotei Thirteen avoided her like the plague and that it was a hard
knock to her feminine pride… if only he could tell her. If only he could tell her of the many men in
Squad Three alone that would love the chance to approach her if only they
weren’t so scared... But they were
scared and he didn’t think that’d be changing anytime soon.
“So you
ready for today?” Rikū asked nervously,
scratching the back of his neck as he deliberately changed the subject. “It’s a big promotion.”
Sighing,
Emilou dropped down to the floor beside him and leaned a tired head on his
shoulder. “Not really, but I wasn’t
really given a choice, was I?”
With a
playful nudge to her ribs, Rikū chuckled.
“No, I guess not. But you’ll do
alright.”
“I can only
pray.” Emilou replied sarcastically, slapping Rikū’s knee as she rose and
headed to gather her bath necessities to ready herself for the day.
“Hey,” Rikū
said, swiping at her foot before she could get away. “You’ll be fine. Besides, it’s not like they’re not expecting
you to screw up. I mean… come on… it’s you.”
With a low
growl of annoyance working its way up her throat, Emilou gritted her teeth and
snarled, “Asshole!”
A moment
later a thundering crack shook the foundation of the Third Squad Barracks and
Rikū was left sprawled out on the tatami, nursing a bloody nose as Emilou
stomped off to the Barrack’s Bath House.
She had only
made it a few feet from the door when she heard him laugh, “You feel better,
don’t you?” He yelled and she sniggered,
ignoring the wails of her underlings as they complained about all the
noise. She had to give credit where
credit was due; the man knew her better than most and apparently knew that
pounding his face-in would lift her spirits.
.
.
.
As the warm
water of the shower lulled Emilou into a more peaceful state she truly thought
about what this day would mean for her.
As much as she wanted to pretend that today was nothing special, that
becoming a Lieutenant was nothing more than an office change a few added
responsibilities, Emilou knew that it wasn’t true. She had surpassed her own brother in strength
and skill. She had risen above his
station and done it all only five years after graduating from the Academy.
It wasn’t a
position that Emilou had wanted… or at least under the circumstances that she
got it. It hadn’t even been a full six
months since Iba-san had perished in battle and she felt she wouldn’t be able
to fill her shoes as Lieutenant. She had
never applied for the Lieutenant examination, and if the truth be told she
never would have if it wasn’t for the Captain Commander—of all people—who had
asked her to.
Emilou loved
being a seated officer of Squad Three… she loved her Captain and she felt she
was an exemplary soldier, but she never considered herself the right material for such a respected
position. She was still a troublemaker
and the thought of so much added responsibility made her cringe.
.
.
.
“So,” Emilou
asked casually as she and Rikū walked the long corridor that would lead to the
Third Division courtyard. She wanted to
ask him why he didn’t feel there were more important things to do this morning
besides bother her but he actually did have something she wanted from him. “Still leaving today?”
“He smiled
brightly, “Yes, I leave this afternoon.
I thought I’d visit Mihane while I’m there.” A faint flush colored the apples of his
cheeks as he said her name and Emilou could hold back the teasing but happy
smile that formed on her lips. He really
was just too cute when he was all puppy-eyed.
Seeing that
her friend was in such a good mood, Emilou turned to him and hit him with her
most beaming smile.
He groaned
as soon as he caught sight of her plastered smile, quickly deducing that she
wanted something and palmed his face in exasperation. “What’d ya want?”
She quickly
produced some currency from the folds of her kosode and handed it over to Rikū
happily. “Just that new record Shino’s
been goin’ on about. That bastard’s been
rubbing it in my face that I don’t have it yet.”
Rikū’s smile
turned mischievous as he held the currency in hand. “Can’t have that now, can we?” He asked, his voice turning smug.
“Nope.” She giggled in reply. She loved Rikū to death, but the poor man
really was all too easy to manipulate.
“Hey
Lou-lou?” Rikū called softly.
“Yeah?” She replied, turning her head and just
catching a glimpse of the nervous look on his face. “What is it?”
His face
seemed to turn as scarlet as her hair as he stood there, nervously scratching
at his neck and toeing the path with his sandal. It was very apparent that whatever he was
about to ask embarrassed him greatly.
Fed up with
all Rikū’s pussyfooting about, Emilou smack the back of his head as she scolded
him for being a coward. “Oh for fuck’s
sake, Rikū, spit it out already, I ain’t got all day!”
“Alright!” He bellowed, then after taking a calming
breath he began. “Earlier in your room,
when you, um—
“WHAT THE
HELL ARE YOU TWO DUMBASSES DOING?” Even
at the immense distance, the sound of that voice could not be misplaced, nor
could the small figure with short, blonde pigtails dishing it out. “WE HAVE A MEETING IN FIVE MINUTES!”
Both Rikū
and Emilou both jerked with surprise but it was Emilou who turned to look at
her companion with a glare. Rikū shrank
under the intensity of her vibrant green eyes.
“COME
ON!” Hiyori yelled.
