Bleach: Sabaki no Ken

Chapter Two: Resolve

Suzaku hungrily wolfed down the meal laid in front of him. From his manner of eating it was clearly evident that he hadn't eaten for days despite only having not eaten for one day. He used to eat more than his sister in general, almost finishing two plates of the meal laid out in front of him. This was enough to make the girl that visited his room before to add the name "Glutton" to the existing name of "Freeloader Two", much to Suzaku's annoyance. 

Despite all that, he shamelessly kept eating. Satisfying his hunger was more important.

He occasionally spared glances at his sister who was talking with the raven-haired tall man dressed in the Shinigami uniform. On his left arm he had a brown-colored badge attached with the symbol of Division 13 engraved on it. From their conversations, he learned the Shinigami's name was Kaien Shiba. The little black-haired girl was his younger sister named Kukaku Shiba and they had a younger brother he had yet to see named Ganju Shiba. 

He had yet to meet the youngest of the siblings since according to the older ones, he mostly spends his time outside, loitering around with his friends or gang members as what he calls them.

"How much are you gonna eat?" Kukaku yelled, stomping towards him with a clear intent to kill. She had been made to serve him meals which annoyed her to a great degree. "If you wish to continue freeloading and eating here then you need to work!"

"Work?" Suzaku nearly coughed, staring at her with wide eyes. "You will make guests do work? You lack etiquette."

"You are going to teach me etiquette? Did I hear that right?" A menacing aura took over the second Shiba sibling which almost made the Rukongai citizen imagine her as a demon. "Would you like to try your luck?"

"Kukaku! Don't bully them." Kaien spoke in a stern tone. But that had little to no effect on Kukaku.

"Huh? Why should I not?" She complained before pointing at Suzaku. "He can't just freeload around here and eat all day. Our house rule states that everyone has to earn their keep by working and there are no exceptions!"

"We aren't staying here for long so there is no need for me to work here." The golden-eyed boy protested. "If you insist we can leave right now since I am all patched up."

"About that..." Kaien cleared his throat before continuing. "I have decided that you two will be staying with us. The reason being that the Hollow from before might return for you two. It seemed to be an intelligent one so it would definitely attack when you two are defenseless and we Shinigami cannot be present there all the time. This is simply for your own protection."

'Is he for real?' Suzaku blinked, not believing his ears. Some random Shinigami stranger is being kind enough to give them shelter in his household. Albeit he did save their lives from the Hollow but outright inviting them to stay in his house for nothing in return didn't sit well with him. 

Nothing in this world is for free, he knows that very well. Living in the faraway districts of Rukongai had taught him various ways of life. Living there is anything but comfortable. One is actually thankful if they are able to have a roof above their heads to retire for the night in those districts and get to eat two times a day in those areas.

"What's your deal?" Suzaku narrowed his eyes. "Why go this far for some random strangers? I don't believe that you would do something out of pity or generosity unless you have something to gain from us."

"Suzaku! Don't be rude!" Natsumi scolded even though her brother paid no heed to that at the moment. "They are just trying to help us."

"I think he needs a proper--" Kukaku wasn't the one to tolerate disrespect towards her brother and was about to jump in, if not for Kaien stopping her.