Kapitel 5: Chapter 5: Black Coat

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

*Sound Effects*

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AN: Unohana did not have a gang in canon, or rather it wasn't confirmed nor denied, but I thought it would be a fun idea to write with.

Chapter 5: Black Coat

Civilization.

At last Koda had found a settlement with real, living people.

Most of them appeared to be tired and devoid of hope as they laid on their makeshift mattresses composed of foliage and cardboard, but that didn't matter to Koda.

The sight of seeing people not motionless filled him with a twisted sense of joy, he had actually made it somewhere.

The houses were only marginally "better" than the ones he had seen before, merely because there were remnants of concrete used to build them rather than just pure straw.

As he walked through the town's dirt path, people shot glances of greed, caution and fear upon noticing his blade, not to mention the fact that his haori was bloodstained and tattered.

But he paid them no heed, unless they tried to start anything there was no point.

Eventually he had come across a rundown shack with the Kanji for "Bar" plastered on it, out of curiosity he decided to approach it, wondering how someone could sustain a business in a place like this.

The bar was run by merely one person, a thin presumably old man with spectacles glanced over at the sight of Koda, slightly hopeful that he might have some cash on him since his blade seemed rather refined.

"5 Kan per drink" He said bluntly.

Koda tilted his head in response, seemingly puzzled at the mention of what appeared to be some sort of currency.

'Didn't Tōsō say this District had no economy?' At a loss for what he should do, he pulled out his dagger and gently placed it on the counter.

"I don't have any money on me, will this do?" The dagger was still in relatively good condition, save for a few chippings here and there.

Since he wasn't very adept at using it in the first place, he could afford to trade it off, especially considering how sick he was of drinking muddy rainwater.

"Hm" The bartender picked it up and carefully examined it, slowly running the tip of his finger across the blade's edge.

Without saying anything he reached for one of the cabinets and pulled out a large bottle, slamming it on the counter as he put the dagger aside.

"Enjoy" He said blankly.

His eyes widened at the sight of receiving not a cup, but an entire bottle - however he had no intention of rejecting the bartender's generosity, immediately opening the bottle and chugging down its contents.

'Sake…it's been a while' Though he couldn't help but wonder how someone could stockpile something like this in such a run down area, where exactly did he get his supply from?

"Hey bartender, can I ask you a question?" He was met with nothing but a simple nod.

"How does one leave the 80th District?" Koda was met with an audible sigh, as the bartender inched closer and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You can't" Koda was taken aback, his heart even sank momentarily but he didn't want to give up hope until he had all the details.

"Care to elaborate?" He took a sip of the sake as he awaited a response.

"The border between the 80th and 79th District is guarded by Balancers, or Soul Reapers as they now call themselves…"

"Soul Reapers?"

"You don't even know who they are? Well I suppose they're still somewhat new so I can't blame you" The bartender poured himself a glass as he continued his explanation.

"Try thinking of them as the police of Soul Society, all of them are trained and are notoriously strong, so don't even consider trying to force your way in" Koda sat there dumbfounded, trying to remember the two new terms he had just been introduced to.

'Soul Society? Could that be the name of the world I was sent to?' He scratched his chin as he tried to gather his thoughts, to which the bartender merely looked at him with a pitiful gaze.

"Hey bartender, are you sure there's no way to leave?" Something about the old man's demeanor made it apparent that he was withholding more information than he was letting on.

The weary shopkeeper groaned, he had been asked this question time and time again, and it never went well for the people who got answers.

But he didn't know them, he'd hardly even consider them friends - if they got themselves killed it wasn't his problem.

"There is a method…" Koda's eyes immediately gleamed with hope, staring right at the bartender as if he was some messiah.

"If you keep walking, you'll eventually come across a white building made entirely out of concrete, I assume you've at least heard of the name Yachiru?"

Koda's eyes darkened at the mention of that name, which didn't escape the bartender's attention.

"I have…" His voice had grown rather raspy, and his attempt at a friendly attitude was practically thrown out of the window.

"That place is essentially a recruitment office for her 'gang' if you can even call it that, they have methods that can get you across" Koda put down his bottle, and stared at him intently.

"Any plan on telling me how you have all this information?" Taking a moment to simmer down and retract his hopeful attitude, he realized that it didn't make any sense for someone like a bartender to have all this knowledge.

The man in question simply pulled up his sleeve, revealing an endless sea of wounds, cuts and bruises.

"Let's just say I have my history, anything else you want to interrogate me about?" He asked sarcastically.

"Actually there is, let's say I did manage to force my way through, what then?" Koda wanted nothing to do with the supposed kill-happy maniac, even if his hands weren't all that clean.

In but an instant, the dagger Koda had handed the man was aimed right at his throat, despite him not even feeling the slightest hint of killing intent.

"Listen kid, it would do you good to heed the advice of your elders, you'd be nothing more than fodder if you tried to take a Soul Reaper on, either take my advice or try make a living for yourself here…the choice is yours" He retracted his blade and started cleaning a few glasses nonchalantly, no longer having any interest in Koda.

The latter didn't utter a word, he simply got up, grabbed his bottle, and started walking down the dirt path.

'White building…' He had to choose between his morality and livelihood, and he had let his mind guide his decision making rather than his heart.

—

Within the confines of the aforementioned structure sat a well-built man with tan skin, spiky brown hair and a distinct scar that ran down from his temple to his upper lip. He donned a long black haori with red accents and the Kanji "剣" plastered boldly on its back, which stood for "Sword", truly original.

His name was Okita, the man entrusted with moderate oversight of the 80th District, namely taking care of young recruits and bolstering the group's ranks.

He sat down cross-legged, cleaning his blade in hopes of being able to use it again soon; he had never expected that he would end up babysitting after decades of serving as a Roamer.

Indeed, that was the group's name "Roamers", a name that was rather juxtaposed when compared with its sheer and utter brutality, albeit their leader's naming sense was rather lackluster.

Okita himself was a bona fide battle maniac, a characteristic truly befitting a Roamer, every second he spent out of battle was essentially torture for him, but Yachiru herself had entrusted him with the task, and he dared not rebuttal.

'What a waste of my ability, all the recruits nowadays are spineless fools who merely seek the protection of our name, Yachiru-sama, I want to fight by your side once again…as a matter of fact I'd rather receive the honor of being cut down by you than waste away here for even another second…' Once he had finished tending to his blade, he simply sat down with his chin rested upon his fist, and waited aimlessly.

*Knock*

Okita's head shifted upwards as a result of the knocking sound that had greeted his front door, he didn't bother getting up and proceeded spoke with a low, uninterested tone.

"Enter" The door opened and revealed a fairly thin man with snow hair and crimson eyes, his skin was fairly pale but his demeanor hardly seemed timid.

Okita's eyes widened upon noticing the blade that hung from the man's waist, it similar to his after all. Originally, he was led to believe that the young man had killed a Soul Reaper in order to obtain it but the strength that his aura portrayed wasn't all that convincing, unless he was concealing it somehow.

With a slight amount of renewed interest, Okita gestured to the seat opposite him and Koda complied.

'He has a fair bit of Reiryoku, actually it's rather impressive, but it doesn't look like he's had any training with it…an unpolished gem perhaps?' It was far too early to draw conclusions but Okita couldn't help but feel slightly hopeful about recruiting the intriguing figure.

"I was told this was the place to join Yachiru's gang?" A soft chuckle escaped Okita's breath, amused at Koda's choice of words

"Hah, I guess you could call us that" Okita calmly poured two cups of Green Tea, to which Koda thanked him politely for as they both took a sip.

"So, why do you want to join?" He found it perplexing that someone like Koda wouldn't try to seek a future with the Gotei 13, whether that was a result of ignorance or some sort of personal grudge, Okita didn't care too much for, but it was still intriguing nonetheless.

"I want to leave the 80th District" Koda responded bluntly, the natural pressure that Okita exuded had put Koda on edge, lying to him hardly seemed like a good idea.

"That's all?" It was in fact possible, rather quite easy for the Roamer's to get someone across, but having that be your entire reason for joining them? How idiotic.

"Is there a problem?"

"Hm" Okita debated telling Koda that he could just try becoming a Soul Reaper, but what kind of a recruiter would that make him? The boy had promise after all.

"That blade, where did you get it?" Ultimately he decided to avoid the topic and just got straight to "interviewing" Koda.

"This? I found it" Though Koda didn't specify where he had found it from, it wasn't as if he lied, not to mention he had no idea what Soul Reapers even looked like to begin with.

"Have you noticed anything strange about it?" Okita had already managed to awaken his Zanpakuto, but he wanted to get a read on how much of his soul Koda had managed to imprint into his Asauchi.

Koda hesitated to speak for a brief moment, but unlike the man himself, the question didn't seem to be laced with any malice, so he complied.

"Well, I'm not sure how to put this but, I sometimes feel as if it's…sentient?" Koda had expected the man to look at him as if he was crazy, but to his surprise Okita merely nodded in understanding.

"Interesting, how about you show me how good you are at using it?" Okita, as per his nature, was able to get a read on people's characters best - through combat.