TBTP: Alienation

''This story is the first chapter of a Turn Back the Pendulum arc consisting of the author's characters. Respect for the article is expected, but opinions of all spectrum are welcome and encouraged on this article's talk page. Thanks! --- Ten Tailed Fox 03:42, July 1, 2011 (UTC)''

Turn Back the Pendulum
A pendulum is ticking, swaying back and forth in the blackness of space-time. In the present, the man named Raian Getsueikirite knows the moment has arrived. The evil man from the past is about to set his devilish plans into motion. As he looks over his home in the Human World, he begins to ponder the events of the past. Back in space-time, the pendulum is now swinging in reverse, bringing us back in time many years to exactly one year after Akujin rampaged in Soul Society.

At this point, Raian was living a not-so-peaceful existence in the human nation of America; far from the city of Karakura, which resided in Japan. He stepped out of a grocery store, shutting the glass door behind him, and slinging the plastic bag containing his purchases in in over his shoulder.

"Can't believe it has already been a year." he thought to himself as he walked slowly down the street.

After Akujin had been stopped in Soul Society, Raian was tried by the Central 46 for use of Hollow powers and conspiring with a fugitive from justice. However, his part in saving Soul Society from Akujin had spared him a death sentence, instead causing the 46 to exile him to the Human World indefinitely, and ban him from the Gotei 13 forever. Needless to say, he wasn't coping well with this.

Raian arrived at his apartment fifteen minutes later, through the bag of food on the counter in his kitchenette, and plopped down on his couch to contemplate his situation for what must have been the billionth time that year. Due to his exile, a seal had been placed on his body that completely sealed his Shinigami powers until he was permitted to enter Soul Society once more. He could still feel reiatsu, however, and that allowed him to avoid Hollows on his routine midnight strolls through the local city park.

Raian lazily reached for the television remote with one hand and flipped on his TV. He grumbled as he flipped through the channels. Humans had no taste in entertainment in his opinion. His thoughts were distracted from the television by his current predicament once again, though. Even though he was hundreds of years old in terms of Shinigami lifespan, he appeared to be no more than seventeen years old in human society, and so he was forced to enroll in a local high school. Something he was not at all pleased with. Tomorrow was to be his first day in said school.

"Great..." he thought to himself. "How am I suppose to survive in a school full of stuck up brats...?"

Sighing, he flipped off the television and sprawled out on his sofa, falling into a restless sleep minutes later. His dreams were filled with visions of his final battle with Akujin and of his unlikely ally, Seireitou. He attempted, fruitlessly, to find solace by seeking out his Zanpakutō spirit, but with his powers sealed, it just wouldn't happen.

The Kid With All the Answers
Morning came all too quickly for Raian. 6:00 AM was far too early for a guy like him to get up, but he had to regardless. He packed his backpack, through it over his shoulder, drank a small glass of milk, and struck off for school. Though the city he lived in was massive, he lived only two blocks from his school, so the walk went quickly and before long, he was in the building.

The noise of the building alone was enough to make Raian want to scream. Children annoyed Raian, oh so much. Teenagers were worse, in his opinion, though. He grumbled the entire distance from the entrance to his locker on the second floor, but was interrupted only feet from the locker by three thugs attempting to make a name for themselves on the first day.

"You don't look to happy to be here, kid." taunted the first one, and by far the largest. Apparently, he was a senior.

"And yet, here you are to make my morning worst." Raian spat, not in the mood for idle chat.

"Aw, a smart one too, Danny." one of the smaller boys said to the senior.

"I'll cut him some slack." Danny said. "After all, he is new here. He doesn't know me or my reputation."

Raian was clearly growing annoyed, but was in no way threatened. Hundreds of years of daily training as a Shinigami made him more than capable enough to deal with this thug, even without his powers.

"Look, as much as I would like to be a goody-two-shoes and tell you 'I don't want any trouble', if you don't get out of my way, I may have to enlighten you as to what I do to those who make my day shittier than they already are." Raian said, glaring at Danny.

This time, it was the third boy to chime in first.

"Sounds like a threat to me, Dan." he sneered.

"So it did." Danny replied, stroking his cheek. "You've got guts kid, but as you'll learn, I don't care much for kids with guts."

Danny didn't wait for a reply. He charged, aiming to take Raian in a headlock. Before Raian could release any of his held back frustration with the thug, however, a kid dressed in a long trench coat and sporting a mop of blondish-brown hair stepped in the way, catching the larger thug's attack almost effortlessly; holding him back.

Danny's other two thugs had apparently attempted to save him, but another individual of similar appearance had stepped in to block their attempts in a similar manner to the first. Raian narrowed his eyes. The two newcomers exerted a familiar force; reiatsu. What caught it as odd to Raian, though, was that both reiatsu signals were identical.

"Reiatsu...clones..?" Raian pondered, watching the confrontation with renewed interest.

"You two?!" Danny barked in the meantime. "You two know what I can do! Do I need to thrash you to remind you or something?!"

"Just leave." the first kid replied, "It'll save us all some embarrassment."

"You think I-" the thug began to reply, but was cut cold by the the other newcomer's voice.

"Besides, class is about to start. You've already been held back twice, Big Dan. Keep missing classes to pick a fight and you'll be here 'til you're forty." he shot.

Danny growled and barked to his thugs to come to him, "We'll finish this at lunch." he threatened and stormed off, thugs in hot pursuit.

It was safe to say that Raian was beyond annoyed at this point, but he shrugged it off for the sake of appearing to be at least somewhat optimistic and returned to attempting to get to his locker. In his frustration, his reiatsu surged momentarily, causing him to rip the locker door off its hinges. He dropped the door in shock and looked at his hand for an explanation. He had used reiatsu even though he wasn't suppose to be able to, due to his seal.

"That couldn't be-" he started to whisper to himself.

"Reiatsu?" the first newcomer chimed in, causing Raian to freeze and get a chill down his spine.

"Yeah, we know all about reiatsu." the second one said, "Just like we know all about you, Getsueikirite Raian...!"

Raian's chill turned into a full body sensation. How did they know his name?! He hadn't even introduced himself to anyone yet.

"How do you know me...?" Raian snarled, immediately on the defense.

The first newcomer simply walked over, picking up Raian's cellphone, which was sitting in an outside pocket on the strap of his backpack, punched in a few buttons and then placed it back.

"When you want to know - really want to know - then give us a call." the newcomer replied, and then he, and his comrade left Raian alone in the halls to contemplate his new situation.

When Raian finally unfroze himself from fear and uncertainty, he pulled out the phone and went to his contacts. A new numbers was there... under the title Yūga....