After Ten Years – Chapter 1 – Recap

The story continues, ten years after the first installment, 'In the Blink of an Eye'. The thirteen-year-old Kurosaki twins, Homura and Shizuku, plus their ten-year-old sister Rena, have learned that their parents are extra-human beings called Soul Reapers, charged with the duty of protecting the Soul Society, the other world that their father fought to save ten years ago. Since then, the Ichigo Kurosaki family has moved into the Soul Society, and Ichigo has been graciously given a position in the still-vacant Squad Five, Rukia has resumed her position in Squad Thirteen. Homura and Shizuku have since discovered the incredible Spiritual Power their parents knew they were born with, and, at their Uncle Byakuya's request, have been enrolled in the Shino Academy. Unfortunate Rena was born with weak Spirit Energy. She has yet to be enrolled in the Academy, and probably never will, much to her entire family's grief... Here, our story resumes, after ten years...

The clock in the large auditorium of the Shino Academy ticked mindlessly as the minutes drew on... Thirteen-year-old Homura chewed on her pencil as she worked on the assignment before her. She racked her brain for the much-needed answers, but they didn't come to her. She looked back at the clock. Five minutes had passed, and the bell was due to ring any moment. She let her eyes wander as they fell on her brother, Shizuku, on the other side of the room, who looked like he was struggling with the assignment as well. Their eyes met for a brief moment before the turned sharply back to the papers in front of them. Homura had noticed that the rest of the students in the large auditorium were making decent progress with their work.

Homura pushed a lock of her bright orange hair out of her face and began to madly scribble answers on her paper. She knew most of them were going to be wrong, and that the professor would undoubtedly say something to her, but she didn't care. She wanted to get out of class as soon as possible.

The bell rang sharply, jarring Homura from the Algebra II paper in front of her. She had forty-eight problems left undone, and that was going to affect her grade. Homura sighed and gathered her papers and pens. Amidst the confusion of every other student in the large hall, Homura heard snickering and sneering in her and Shizuku's direction.

Homura sighed again as she slung her pack over her shoulder and began to walk slowly over to her brother's seat. She knew that everyone in the Shino Academy looked down upon them both. Apparently, being the child of a human was something to be ashamed of. Even though their father, Ichigo, was now the Third Seat of Squad Five in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, and their mother was the Lieutenant of Squad Thirteen and a member of the Kuchiki Family, they still were barely treated as normal students. The way they were treated, they felt more like they had just come to the Academy from the Rukongai. They were treated like literal trash, and many of the other students constantly sneered in their face, claiming that she and her brother would fail before they got their Zanpakutos...

Although the other students in the Shino Academy were supposed to be nobles or the children thereof, they still acted no better than high school bullies. Homura had a hot temper, regrettably, something that she inherited from her father. She had many extra assignments and punishments from the fights that she had started. At the other students' spurring, of course. The last fight she was in was three weeks ago, and she had broken a student's nose with an untamed punch. What made it worse was the student was a distant relation of the Fon clan, which meant that the student, Tomoko was her name, fought back... Homura had come home that day after a sound beating, with bruises all over and a fractured arm. Rukia and Rena instantly tended to her, but that didn't dull the pain of anger she felt towards the rest of the student body, who had stood back watching and cheering, not for her of course.

The only person that stood up for her that day and the rest before, was her brother. As Tomoko viciously dropped her foot down on Homura's already battered ribs, Shizuku had barreled in, grabbing the girl and dragging her to the ground, where he bombarded her face with punch after punch. He didn't care that he held a sharpened pencil in his hand that had come dangerously close to Tomoko's eye several times.

Homura shook her head as she tried to forget the torturous memories that flooded her mind. The Head Captain had been hard on them; they lost a letter grade in all of their subjects and were suspended for two weeks, they also had to clean up the blood 'they had spilled' and were forced to apologize to the entire Fon family for disgracing one of their members.

Homura and Shizuku had complained to their mother, and although Rukia agreed that even the Head Captain was being biased towards her children, as Tomoko had started the fight, she gently reminded them that it was not their place to go against the orders of the Head Captain.

Homura sat down beside her brother, who was still consumed by his work. This class was the only class she had with her brother, and she barely saw him the rest of the day. Her closeness startled him.

'I didn't hear the bell ring.' Shizuku said as he jumped and began to hurriedly shuffle his papers. 'What did you get for number 117?' he asked, studying the math paper before him as he fiddled with his pencil.

Homura looked over his shoulder and studied his neat script, which detailed the involved process of solving a complex velocity-related word problem. The scratch work had been erased and reworked several times and the paper was worn thin, but Homura could easily make out Shizuku's solution.

'Not that...' She sighed dejectedly, pulling her own pencil from behind her ear. 'What about 163? What did you get for that?'

Shizuku flipped through a couple pages of his answer sheet. Homura began to read his solution, but a sharp rapping on the table in front of them caused them to jar. They looked up into the squinty eyes of the professor.

'I'm sorry children, but if you wish to discuss your assignments, you will have to do it elsewhere...' He stated simply and coldly, frowning down upon the children. 'My next class is in five minutes, I expect you two to be gone by then...'

Homura and Shizuku nodded fervently. 'Yes sir, Mr. Tsukada...' They said in unison as they hurriedly picked up their few meager belongings and rushed out of the auditorium. As they walked away, they felt his judgmental eyes bore through their bodies, watching them... waiting for them crack under the pressure of their education.

'This sucks...' Homura groaned as she kicked a stray pebble as she and Shizuku walked through the Sereitei towards home, their shoulders still laden with their crammed book bags.

Unlike the other students in the Shino Academy who lived on-campus, Homura and Shizuku still lived at home, since they were what the Soul Society deemed 'under-age'.

Shizuku nodded silently, as he was still deep in thought about his Algebra homework.

'Oh come on!' Homura's violet eyes flashed. She was getting agitated, as it seemed her brother was ignoring her. 'How long can they continue to treat us like that?'

'Treat us like what?' Shizuku asked meekly.

Shizuku was one that, if troubles arose around him, he would retreat off to a corner in his mind, and completely ignore the conditions surrounding him. He had tried to ignore everything about the Academy except the assignments.

'You haven't noticed?' Homura scolded gently. 'Can't you feel that air everyone has around them? Can't you feel that they're appalled by us?'

Shizuku thought for a moment... 'There will always be a stranger in every school.' he reasoned. 'Two in our case...'

'But you know why they hate us!' Homura started to raise her voice, trying to get her reasoning through her brother's head. 'They treat us like dirt just because our father was human, because we're human!'

Shizuku's eyes flickered. 'Don't blame it on Dad! Don't ever bring him into this!' He yelled, but quickly lowered his head in shame. He never liked to yell at his older sister.

'Shizuku can't you see?' Homura pressed. 'Our mother is a member of the Kuchiki family and a Lieutenant, and Dad practically saved the Soul Society three times over! Just because he's a human and bore children with a Soul Reaper isn't reason enough to-'

'Please!' Shizuku yelled, trying to hold back his anger, his eyes shining. 'Can we just focus on our school and not the other people watching us? If we act like we know we'll fail, it'll only make them frown on us more?'

'But Shizuku, you saw what Tomoko and the Head Captain did to us! They-'

Shizuku interrupted again. 'Please! Can we just cool it?'

Homura couldn't believe her normally calm brother's change of attitude. She raised an eyebrow as they continued walking home.

After a few minutes of silence, Shizuku spoke again. 'I'm sorry I yelled...' he said meekly.

Homura cracked a smile towards her brother. 'No, I'm sorry... I should keep my problems to myself.'

'I'm glad you did... I would've been too afraid to talk about them myself.' Shizuku continued. Everyone that knew Shizuku, knew that he was a timid, quiet-spoken fellow.

Homura looked at her brother eyes. Amidst the violet hue, she saw tenderness in her younger twin. Her gaze was interrupted by a deep growl from Shizuku's stomach.

Shizuku groaned. 'I'm so hungry...' He winced as he dug through his book bag, looking for something to eat.

'Didn't you eat lunch?' Homura asked, concerned for her brother.

Shizuku shook his head. 'Huh-uh... Hiroki and Yuji threw a fit when I walked past them, and they dumped my lunch all over the floor...' Shizuku rolled up the sleeve of his blue uniform and exposed a large, blackened bruise on his forearm. 'They beat me, too.'

Homura gasped, but immediately her horror turned to anger towards the older students at the Academy that dared to claim they were nobles. Shizuku caught on to her emotions and quickly tried to calm her down. Her temper was getting the best of her. Shizuku could tell by the way her eyebrows quivered.

'It's okay, though!' Shizuku tried to sound cheerful, quickly rolling down his sleeve. 'The lunch at the Academy is disgusting anyway, so I wouldn't have eaten much if they had just left me alone!'

Homura tried to relax a bit, but her anger continued to simmer.

'And don't worry about my arm!' Shizuku continued. 'It's just a bruise, which only hurts if I think about it!' Shizuku forced a smile, but knew his sister couldn't be fooled by his fake cheer.

Homura looked and studied the pleading eyes of her brother, which wanted her to not worry or be angered more than anything. She giggled lightly as she realized just how pitiful Shizuku looked. The paleness of Shizuku's skin didn't bother her, as she knew he had always been the fairer of them anyway.

Homura dug through her book bag, and crammed between the many textbooks and papers, she found a rather crushed rice ball. Rukia usually put some form of snack in their bags, as the walk home from the Academy was rather long.

Homura offered her brother her snack, because she was sure if he had gone without lunch, he had already eaten his...

'Here you go.' She said with her usual pleasant smile, her violet eyes beaming.

Shizuku eyed the food hungrily, feeling his empty stomach growl once more. 'Are you sure?' He asked. 'Aren't you hungry? It's yours after all.'

Homura forced the rice ball into her brother's hungry hands. 'I'm sure Mom will have dinner ready by the time we get home... Take it.' She answered gently.

Shizuku held the rice ball; his hands shakily undid the wrapper. Before he shoved the snack into his starving mouth, he broke it in half and offered it back to his sister. 'Please take at least some of it... I can't eat all of it in front of you. You have to be hungry too...'

Homura smiled genuinely at her brother's persistent thoughtfulness and chivalry and took half of the rice ball.

As she chewed her half thoughtfully, she was glad she had such a brother... She was hungrier than she thought.

'You know...' Shizuku started, his mouth still full. He swallowed before he continued. 'We still have three more years in the Academy... That's three years for us to make them eat their words. Three years for us to prove that we're no different than them, cuz we aren't, really.'

Homura listened to her brother intently.

'I'm going to put my all into my studies... especially this Algebra. And if we want to be able to stand up to them... we have to stand together... As brother and sister.' Shizuku finished and looked to his sister. He had put some deep thought into his words.

Homura continued to ponder her younger brother's wise words. She knew he was smarter than her. He always was, and always will be... She finally spoke. 'Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing already?' she smiled, fighting a stray tear. He brother's words had touched her deeply.

Shizuku smiled back and gently hugged his big sister, although he was slightly taller than her.

'But do you think we could walk a little faster, and save talking for later?' Homura asked gently, adjusting her book bag over her shoulder and smiling. 'I'm still hungry...'

Shizuku chuckled, and walking in step together, they picked up the pace and eagerly walked towards home and the delicious dinner they knew their mother, Rukia, was cooking.

AN: As promised, the sequel! After a few weeks off from 'In the Blink of an Eye', I had to beat my head against my desk to figure out a story for the sequel that many begged for... I had many ideas, but only one of them I really liked, so here it is... hopefully everything will work and make sense. :D If anyone can't tell, I have preformed what some call a 'time-skip'. Homura and Shizuku are now thirteen years old... They are the subjects of cruel bullying due to their human father. Homura and Shizuku's appearances are similar to Homura and Shizuku's appearance in Fade to Black. Only, Homura's eyes are violet and her hair is solid orange. Shizuku doesn't look quite as sickly, but still timid and quiet-spoken. I figured the Homura and Shizuku from Fade to Black actually did look like possible children of Rukia and Ichigo, so I kept their appearances very similar. Actually, I think of the Homura and Shizuku of these stories as being one and the same as the Homura and Shizuku of Fade to Black... If it's stupid, I don't care...

I really hope everyone enjoys the sequel. Thanks so much for following the stories! Feedback and Reviews Please!

Updates will be on Tuesday mornings, and, same as before, will be up before Noon EST. Enjoy everybody! Thank you!