| abstract
| - A young girl with brown-red eyes and brown hair sighed as she realized another day slipped by her, the school's final bell tolled, siginalling the flood of students into the hallways. Every day was the same routine, go to class, walk home and prepare for work. While it was typical that students had part time occupations to wittle away their hours, this profession wasn't something you could brag about having. In fact, it were something one could never discuss without being considered a freak. Her closest friend, Gisei Ryogai, walked beside her. Gisei's hair was sopping wet, as he had just come from physical education, and a short, well-needed shower. Unlike his walking companion, he didn't have such a hard to explain job, having a job at the local fast food place. Although it wasn't glamourous, it was a decent way to earn money of his own. "How was Phys Ed? You're pretty beat from the looks of things." The girl asked, as the pair left the school for home. Gisei grinned cheekily at the brown-haired tomboy he had come to view as his best friend, before he went on to explain "Bara-sensei is a complete monster as always, she insists on her class being good enough to participate in the regional championship of gymnastics by the end of the year!" Yuki Bara was a rough, stocky woman whom had once won a Bronze Medal in the Olympics, a fact she tended to open with in every single Phys Ed class. The student body alternated between fear and revulsion as the short, brick-like woman forced each and every student to go through hell. The pair of students continued chatting merrily as they begun their pleasant trip home - it was a routine they had internalized after several years in each others company, though it was rare for it to be just the two of them, as usually some of their other friends from school tagged along with them. Primarily some of Shiroko's numerous admirers. Being considered to be both pretty, cool and remarkably intelligent - Shiroko had grown to become one of the most popular girls in the school, as far as its male population was concerned. "Hey, Shiro wanna hang out later thi-" Ginsei's sentence was cut short at the sudden emergence of three strangers, showing up in a blurr of speed and compressed air; hurling the teenage boy flat on his back. As he struggled to get up, he was grabbed from behind by one of the strangers. Unlike Shiroko, Ginsei's spiritual awareness was quite weak; and whereas most residents of Hama Town could clearly register the finer details of spiritual creatures, Ginsei could only make out vague shapes and blurry shadows; so he stopped resisting the moment he felt the weight of the newcomers spiritual presence emburden his body. They were three men, dressed in inconspicious clothing which would attract little attention; casuaal, yet classical, western-styled clothing which looked out of place on most of them; their inexperience with the human world coming into play in how they mixed different colors, such as brown with yellow or red with blue. "Ginsei!" Shiro yelled, seeing exactly what had transpired. Three men in horridly clashing colors, quite the affront to the eyes had appeared almost from thin air, which was impressive. Hama's reputation as a town full of spiritually aware people wasn't earned for nothing after all, and the three stood out enough in a crowd. Quickly, she instictively reached into her pocket to grab her deck of tarot cards before a dire thought registered in her mind. Most of her powers were wide area of effects, or sometimes lethal reversals if luck fought against her, which put everyone around her in danger, including the very person she wanted to help. Seeing no weapons, or anything of the sort that could be converted into a usable weapon, she had to change tactics from offense to a bit of diplomacy, or risk being overpowered. "What is it you three want? Let him go, and I'm sure we can discuss matters like rational beings, right?" Taking a deep breath, knowing that unless she could get Ginsei away from the trio of garrishly dressed captors, he was their asset to lord over any possible counter-attack. Her only prayer was that the three were indeed rational enough to understand her. The moment she finished the sentence there was suddenly four men standing infront of her, unlike before, there was no shimmer of Shunpo this time around; it was simply that he wasn't there one moment, but in the next he stood there abruptly. He was tall, at least ten inches taller than Shiroko and he his hair was fashioned into a spiky style. Unlike his crime partners, he was dressed more sensibly; wearing black jeans and a crimson partially bottom-down polo shirt; revealed in a manner which suggested that it was definately intended that people stare at his chest. But this wasn't what caught the eyes of the teenagers, no, it was his eyes; they were a particularily warm shade of hazel, but in his grim face they appeared out of place, and they held no mirth nor warmth; they were hard, unrelenting, cynical and callously vindictive. He spoke, his voice was soft and surprisingly polite; but despite his apparent intentions his voice still managed to come off as demanding and condescending, like velvet-covered steel -- cozy and soft on the outside, but unrelenting and determined nonetheless: "I've heard about you, Sorei-san and your unique talents, I've come to bring you to Soul Society, where I personally have need of your gift" When Shiroko opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off with a dismissive wave of the hand. "Now, you've not let me finish yet - I understand that you likely won't work for a guy who scouted you so harshly so I've decided to snatch the decision away from your hands. Which is why your pal will be coming with us, now, I'm a relatively simple man so I'll just get right to the point. Since you'll be my valuable rare pearl, I cannot risk spoiling your body by punishing you physically - so for that reason; whenever you do something wrong, like talking back to me or my men, or saying something you're not supposed to, your friend here will be punished in your stead" the man finished with a cold smile. Shiro closed her eyes tightly, hoping that it was just a bad dream that she had in class, that school was still in session. The four strange spiritual pressures ripped that one small hope to shreds. The knowledge that her best friend was about to become little more than a barganing chip was surreal. The worst part of it all, was the calmness the taller man radiated as he spoke so callously of hurting someone. Whoever this man was, he just proved to be the most terrible force the young Fullbringer had ever encountered. Opening her eyes, she wanted to scream, to beg, anything to save Ginsei at that moment, but she couldn't risk the man ordering his goon squad to smash the practically unaware human boy. "If I do what you want, you'll let Ginsei go, right? He and I will be free to return to our daily lives?" she asked, hopefully. Even wanting to avoid showing a single twinge of guilt or fear, just voicing those words seemed to be a strain, let alone keeping from letting emotion into them. Silence pervaded the air for some moments, before the man's smile grew even wider - but as always there was no mirth in his eyes and his smile was far from happy, it was the kind of smile people got when they were mildly amused; and while Shiroko didn't know this man, she could be fairly certain that his view of humor conflicted strongly with her own. "Sorei-san, I don't think you understand what I'm talking about; when you go with us, it will be for an unspecified amount of time - you're valuable, Sorei-san and I'm not a man to let an unusual pearl like yourself slip through my fingers easily. No, I doubt you'll ever see your family again which is why I've already arranged for them to discover your suicide note - they won't be looking for you" The man then turned around and touched the air infront of himself briefly; as two sliding doors of oriental design manifested into a long corridor, extending into the darkness. Stepping away from the portal, he mentioned silently to one of his henchmen, whom proceeded to drag Ginsei, kicking and sobbing through the portal. His men followed after the boy until at last, only Shiroko and the stranger were left. Turning his attention back to the girl, he spoke with that same eerie calm "My name is Shigenaga; you however will address as me as Shigenaga-sama or simply Master, understood? If so, after you" Shigenaga gestured to the portal in an inviting manner. As shocking as the revelations had come, Shiro didn't want to hear the answers to questions that were blazing in her thoughts. She quietly walked through the portal, the only sounds coming from her were the sounds of her breathing, shallow jagged sounding breaths. As a human, she didn't know what awaited her beyond the ornate gateway to the, she assumed, afterlife. She supposed that there was nowhere else for her, once her family saw 'her' suicide note, it'd be almost impossible for her to go back to her quiet, everyday life. For now, she'd have to wear the mask of a 'good girl' if only to ensure Ginsei's safety, which meant serving the man who just effectively killed her. Yet, the regrets were few as she stepped into the gateway, possibly from the shock beginning to set in. Goodbye life, hello future. she told herself, wondering what her future would be. Smiling icily to the sorroundings one last time, Shigenaga followed his charge through the portal; being a wealthy and influential man, Shigenaga had managed to secure a private passageway into Soul Society and it made illicit trade and kidnapping much easier. Walking beside Shiroko, he proceeded to escort she and her friend-turned-hostage to the end of the corridor and into the light. Once they had passed through the tunnel the first thing that met Shiroko's eyes was a large mansion; with elaborate white walls and black ornaments and roofs, it loomed over them ominously and despite its beauty and extravagance, it radiated a foreboding feel - as if it promised decades of imprisonment. While it might be a magnificent prison, it would be a prison nonetheless. The group moved up to the large double-doors, whom swung open of their own accord revealing a small petite young woman dressed in a beautiful Furisode, made of bright indigo-dyed silk and illustrating floral patterns and depictions, she wore her hair up, held in place by an elegant golden headwear. She was panting softly, she must've run to open the door for her master and as Shigenaga walked by her, she gazed at him like if he was a fairytale prince; no, not that - she looked at him like if he was a god in the flesh. She opened her mouth to speak, but Shigenaga silenced her with a gesture. "Sorei-san now that we're here I'll list up a couple of guidelines I think you'd do well to follow, otherwise your pal will suffer the consequences of your lenience. Firstly, there will be a couple of meals each day, every one of which you'll be sharing with me. I require you to eat well during these visits, cause if I find out that you're starving yourself - I'll be most displeased with your behaviour, and so will your friend. If you do eat well and act politely however, I will feed your friend our leftovers" pausing momentarily, he continued softily "Secondly, you're not allowed to leave this house under any circumstances, if you've not received explicit, written permission from me - and if you ever try to escape, or inform others of your situation; or even use your powers on me or one of my men, I will kill your friend on the spot!" Shigenaga then nodded before he gestured to the beautifully dressed woman "Yoko, this is Shiroko Sorei; she'll be living with us from now on, I've decided to give her the red room, would you show her the way?" The woman in question only now seemed to take any real notice of Shiroko, and when their eyes met, Yoko's face tightened in silent rage but nonetheless she put up an acid smile and proceeded to guide Shiroko up the grand stairs
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