Crows x Souls

 “Both knowledge and awareness are equivocal. One’s reality might be another’s illusion.” — Itachi Uchiha. 

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Itachi’s days as a Shinigami passed slowly with the most part of it being uneventful. Without the need to eat or sleep, and no mission assigned for a long stretching period of time, Shinigami found themselves bored most of the time but it was how they utilized this ‘boring’ time that created the difference between Shinigami.

The Gotei 13 was lax in its rules when it came to how Shinigami lived their lives, and as long as they didn’t break any set down rules nobody cared how they spent their time away from their Shinigami duties. 

For Itachi, it was falling into a routine he had never done for years: training proficiency in his abilities. As a natural genius, he had mastered everything he needed to be an extremely skilled Shinobi at a very young age. 

Since he found himself with nothing to do through the majority of his time, unless when he was either with a Captain or with Yoruichi and Soi Fon, he spent most of his time in learning ways his Shikai could be further utilized. 

After his conversation with Tsukuyomi a while back about the true nature of his Zanpakutō, Itachi forced himself to stop thinking about his illusions as simple metal mirages. 

In his mindscape, he noticed that both he and Tsukuyomi could make illusions into real and tangible things. 

He breathed in softly and swung his sword lazily at an empty space yet his eyes was squinting in focus on a marked tree off to the side. 

‘Am I overreaching or am I truly not at that level yet?’ He thought with a frown. 

At that moment, a voice interrupted his silent pondering. “If you want to cut the tree, you should swing your sword at it, don’t you think?”

Turning to the direction of the voice, he saw a pink haired child in standard Shinigami attire freely swinging her legs off the tree branch she sat on. 

‘How did she get here?’ He thought as he observed her. ‘A Lieutenant armband, I see.’

“Ano, you were trying to cut something right? Kenny also likes to cut things too.” Her voice, her mannerisms and her exuberant emotions in a carefree display gave Itachi the opinion of her being a normal happy-go-lucky child, but one could never know when it came to souls. 

“Lieutenant Yachiru,” Itachi started slowly, gauging her reaction that remained genuinely carefree, “Are you by chance looking for me?” He remembered a far off warning Yoruichi gave him about the pinkette in front of him. 

“Oh no I’m not the one looking for you, Kenny is. He’s been bored recently so I decided to look for you, erm…”

“Itachi.”

She clicked her fingers upon remembering his name. “Tachi-tachi! Yes, Kenny is looking for you because none of the Captains accepted to fight him so he’s hunting for the Lieutenants and you.”

“I apologize but I’d have to decline.” Despite everything about her telling him that she was just a child, Itachi maintained his politeness, especially when he remembered the ‘monsters’ that were the Captains and also his first conversation with Captain Kyōraku. 

“Awwn, that’s too bad~” She pouted in dissatisfaction which slowly merged with a difficult expression on her face. “I don’t think Kenny will let you go even if you say that.”

Just then, they heard the shout of a hoarse voice and their senses finally registered the blazing sun that was the incoming Reiatsu. 

“Kenny, over here!” She shouted in response. “I made sure he didn’t run away like you asked!”

Itachi looked at Yachiru, not knowing the appropriate reaction to her words. ‘Is she this naïve? Or is this simply the personality she lives as after living for centuries?’

Regardless of the nature of the eccentricities of century-old souls, Itachi promptly decided to retreat. Why he would like to fight Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, he would prefer it to be on his own terms. And besides… 

‘There’s something dangerous about his wild and simple nature.’

“Kenny, hurry up! I think he wants to run away!” Now that surprised Itachi as she said that immediately after he decided to leave. Unknown to Itachi, Yachiru was so accustomed to people running away from Kenpachi that she’d basically developed a sixth sense for it. 

Feeling the incoming spike of Reiatsu that somehow gave Itachi the illusion of crashing waves, Itachi knew that it was time to retreat. 

‘His physical strength is immense.’ He noted when he finally saw Kenpachi running at him with a mad grin, his feet leaving cracks on the ground with every step he took. 

No technique. No Reiatsu utilization. The haphazard nature of the Captain’s Reiatsu gave the initial impression of an amateur to any trained eye. 

Apart from his Captain level Reiatsu, which was one of the greatest in the Seireitei, nothing about Kenpachi showed proof of him deserving the position he held, but that just made him all the more dangerous in Itachi’s eyes. 

“Brat, we meet again. Let’s fight!” Kenpachi shouted with a manic grin as he drew close to Itachi, his sword already stretched backwards for a powerful swing. 

“I’m afraid I’ll have to respectfully decline, Captain Zaraki.” Itachi’s body began breaking apart into crows but Kenpachi could care less as his sword cleaved through Itachi. 

To his confusion and eventual annoyance, Itachi’s body burst into a murder of crows as soon as Kenpachi’s sword touched him. 

“What the hell is this, Yachiru? Where did he go?” Kenpachi asked the little girl that was now hanging off his shoulders. 

“Oh no, he ran away Kenny. Why does everyone keep running away from us when Kenny just wants to fight?” She sounded genuinely sad, which she was, upon seeing Kenpachi losing another prospective opponent, worse being one that could actually fight against Captains according to some of the Captains. 

Kenpachi snorted. His annoyance was slowly bleeding away as Shinigami running away from him at the mention of a fight was a common occurrence. 

“Don’t worry, Kenny, I’ll find him again. Let’s go and meet boobies since he’s from her Division.” She said, referring to Yoruichi as she did so. 

Kenpachi grunted, willingly going ahead with anything she said. “What about the one from the Twelfth?”

“Captain Shaggy? Umu, we can also check if he’s free to play with Kenny.” She nodded to herself at how much sense her words made, fingers pointing forward as she stood balanced on Kenpachi’s shoulder without leaning on his head, “Onwards, Kenny!”

…… 

Since his training was abruptly disturbed by Lieutenant Yachiru and her berserker of a Captain, Itachi didn’t return to the barracks of the Second in case they went and looked for him there. 

Knowing Yoruichi, even as little as he did, he knew for certain that she’d happily blurt out his location without hesitation should they go to her looking for him. 

Unfortunately for him, apart from the barracks of the Second, Captain Kyōraku’s courtyard and the tranquility of Captain Unohana’s 4th Division, he had no personal safe space to hide inside the Seireitei. 

At the end of it, he decided to walk through the roads of the Gotei 13 inconspicuously to escape the wild Captain and also let his mind wander on his recent failure in trying to utilize his illusionary abilities in an unconventional way. 

During his walk, he saw a group of Shinigami leading a larger group of students from the Shin’ō Academy and from the discussion the excited students were having among themselves, it seemed like a combat related activity. 

He remembered Junpei and the youth’s dream to join the Academy and become a Shinigami and remembering that another entrance exam was around the corner, he decided to follow them and watch what they did to pass the time. 

Entering unimpeded inside the vicinity of the Academy, he arrived at a training field where a bunch of students were gathered, a Zanpakutō strapped to everyone’s waist. 

Some of them had unlocked their Shikai, and based on the way they were grouped, whatever activity they were about to do wasn’t based solely on their Zanpakutō. 

From the uniforms of their instructors, Itachi identified members of the 2nd Division, 4th Division, 12th Division and even the reclusive Kidō Corp, a division that was solely focused on the mastery of the Kidō Arts. They were also responsible for the defenses of the Seireitei and also the creation of the system that monitored the Rukongai, along with all the tools a Shinigami might need in a mission, though that was now under the jurisdiction of the 12th Division. 

“It’s a sorting format if you’re wondering. Activities like these help sort the students into areas they have a talent for.”

Itachi took only a short glance at the brown haired man in glasses that was watching the sorting exercise with him and went back to looking at what brought him here. 

“Oh excuse me. I’m Sōsuke Aizen, Lieutenant of the 5th Division.” The soft spoken man introduced himself with a polite nod to Itachi who returned it and was about to reply in kind but Aizen beat him to it. “Itachi Uchiha, I presume.”

“…”

Seeing the unasked question Itachi’s eyes directed at him, he chuckled and scratched the back of his head embarrassingly. 

“All the Lieutenants know you defeated Lieutenant Lisa Yadōmaru of the 8th Division on the same day you arrived in Seireitei, so of course we Lieutenants were curious.”

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