The companion story is the oneshot: A Shattered Dream, it's from Retsu's POV when she first entered the Soul Society.
The Flight of the Dragon
Section One-
"All Captains and Assistant Captains report to the Sokyoku Grounds for the execution of Tatsumara Unohana. Repeat, all Captains and Assistant Captains report to the Sokyoku grounds." The announcement rang over the large Seireitei. Many of the shinigami that were wandering around looked up and listened to the announcement silently.
It was heard excessively loud by a group of figures walking across a bridge from the Shrine of Penitence. All of the figures were clothed in white. In the center was a young woman. She was tall, her black hair tied in a bun on top of her head. She wore nothing but white robes and a red collar that had ropes attached to all sides, binding her in place.
Her head was lowered in defeat, but her dark blue eyes glittered with anger and stubbornness. Her hands were tied behind her back, denying her the chance of escaping or using kido to attack.
'Is this how it ends?'
The group walked down towards the execution ground. The woman looked up; she could see the Sokyoku quite clearly from where she was standing. A sharp blade shining beautifully in the afternoon light. It was a cruel joke.
'All that training…for this?'
Memories started flashing through her mind as she walked. It was so long ago…when she first became a shinigami…joined the ranks of the 13 court guard companies. Her friends that she made in the Academy…there were only two left…the only two that decided to stay by her side no matter what…
Section two-
'I grew up in the Unohana household, believing that the healing arts were the only place that was honorable…the only place where we of the Unohana lineage could go with pride. I entered the Shinigami Academy with General Yamamoto as my teacher.'
A girl with long black hair walked down the halls of the Academy. She was wearing the normal attire for the students at the Academy, a red Hakama (reserved only for girls), and a white kosode on the top with the symbol of the Academy in red in the front. Her hair was tied up in two average sized ponytails, common for the girls in the Academy.
'Back then I believed that attacking was cowardly and stupid. My family believed that too. They kept pushing me to do better in healing; I was the eldest child in the family so it was natural to set a good example.'
"Hey, Unohana! Come on! You're late!" a boy with curly brown hair (very close to being shoulder length), a small indication of a beard on his face, waved at her.
"Coming!" she rushed forward towards the departing group.
'This was me. This was how I used to be before I started defying the traditions of my family. I wasn't very aware of my surroundings, all I did was train and train some more to pass all of the exams.'
She ran up to the small group. Only two boys stood back and waited for her to catch up, the boy who had called out to her earlier, and his friend, a frail-looking boy with gray eyes and abnormal white hair.
The white haired boy had a goofy smile on his face…a warm and clueless greeting.
"Good Morning Kyoraku-san, Ukitake-san!" she greeted them with a small bow. With her being part of the healing division, she was definitely lower rank than everyone else since they were part of the offensive division. So being formal just came with the job.
"You're late, Unohana…Maybe we should buy you a watch from the Real World to keep you on time?" Shunsui Kyoraku leaned down to her level.
"Kyoraku! That's not what we're going there for!" Jûshirô Ukitake retorted. Of the small group, he was the most levelheaded of them all, and the intelligent one for that matter.
'I never figured out why I became friends with Ukitake. Kyoraku and I got along well, but he seemed attached to the sickly boy. I didn't know what he saw in him, but Kyoraku always did what he wanted to anyway. Kyoraku was lazy and informal; Ukitake was hard working, proper, and kind. He always had a large number of people around him.
But we became his friend; and as it turned out, we were all going to have similar futures in store for us. A gift for having Genryûsai Yamamoto as a teacher.'
"Aw, Shiro-kun, liven up! Let your spirit free!" the girl giggled, it was amusing to see Kyoraku and his lazy demeanor face off against Ukitake, the direct opposite of his personality.
"Kyoraku, we're going to go to the Real World to practice fighting against Hollows, not to enjoy whatever you and Tatsu-san like to do out there."
'Ukitake was the voice of all reason; he always had good intuition. But he was also stupidly clueless on other things—women, to name a few. He was clueless on their feelings and relationships. A lot of the girls in the Academy liked him, he just didn't understand much to realize what they wanted when they handed him gifts.'
"Well, let's get going, can't keep those Hollows waiting," Kyoraku lead the way down the hallway, following the rest of the group that had already started leaving the Academy.
'I guess I should introduce myself, huh? My name is Tatsumara Unohana, Captain of the 10th Company. I'm sentenced to death by the Sokyoku for…well…that's a different story…
The days that I spent in the Academy were interesting, and not that difficult once I left the family. My hobbies include training to wield my zanpaku-tô better, and sitting around with Kyoraku and Ukitake just talking or drinking sake on the roof of the 13th Company building.'
"Your assignment here is to destroy two Hollows each. Each group should have one who can heal injuries at the very least for safety measures," one of the overseers for the assignment was one of the students in the Academy. General Yamamoto himself was standing behind the top three leaders, observing each of the Academy students as they listened to their instructions.
"Each group will get a map of the area they will patrol while searching for Hollows," paper was handed out to all of the medical students. Tatsu received the paper and adjusted the strap on her supply bag that hung over her shoulder.
"You have six hours to complete your task, good luck to you all!" the whistle was blown and the groups departed. Soon only the group of three was left on the rooftop.
"Where are we?" Ukitake leaned over her shoulder to read the map.
"Pretty far from here. Probably on the roof of some buildings," she re-rolled the map and took off, the other two not far behind.
OoOo
"Wow. Tatsu-chan was right. We are pretty far off from the meeting place," Kyoraku put his hand over his eyes as he scanned the area.
"It's all part of the job," she sat down on the ground.
"Don't lower your guard, Shunsui. Tatsu." Jûshirô looked around. "These are real Hollows."
"Understood."
Section Three-
"Taichou!" a woman with her black hair held up by a barrette landed next to the walking woman. She looked up at the passing group; her eyes were filled with worry behind her small glasses.
"Nanao-chan, please leave," the woman spoke no more. Nanao stood up slowly and watched her captain being led away.
"Taichou!"
A man in a bright pink kimono appeared behind her. He placed a hand on her small shoulder.
"That's enough, Nanao. Your words cannot reach her anymore."
"Kyoraku-taichou," she sniffed. Tears started forming in her eyes. "Taichou!" she started crying; large tears spilled down her face, she lifted her hands to rub them away, but continued to cry.
Tatsumara looked down at the ground, she felt guilty making her subordinate cry like that. Nanao Ise was usually a straight-laced and proper shinigami, nothing made her worry or lose her mind…nothing at all… Yet she could hear the woman crying as she continued walking through the Seireitei.
'Forgive your Captain, Nanao. She hasn't been very good to you.'
Section Four-
The Hollow roared as Kyoraku did the finishing blow on it. He landed and the monstrous-looking Hollow behind him vanished.
"That makes two for you Kyoraku-san, and one for Ukitake-san," Tatsu said.
"Then there's the two for you, Tatsu-chan," Kyoraku smiled. She looked up and shook her head.
"I'm part of the healing squad, I'm not expected to fight."
"Not to make you feel bad, but your healing skills aren't very pretty," he rubbed his nose.
"Kyoraku!" Ukitake warned.
"It's all right, Ukitake-san. He's right. My healing skills aren't very nice. I can't heal a simple cut without tiring myself out," Tatsu sighed and sat down the ground. "I feel useless. My family doesn't know that I can't heal properly."
"Aw, why don't you just forget about them and fight your own way?" Kyoraku leaned down and looked her. "I didn't follow my family, that's how I ended up here."
Ukitake sighed loudly; he had chosen to come to the Academy, unlike the other two in his group.
"You're adorable, Tatsu-chan," he tugged at one of her cheeks playfully.
"That hurts, Kyoraku-san!" she whined, trying to squirm out of his grip.
'You might have met my younger sister, Retsu Unohana, Captain of the Fourth Division. She was exactly what the family wanted—a high-ranking Healer in the family, something for them to feel proud of.
And then there's me—failure at the Healing Kido. Such a failure compared to my younger brother and sisters, but especially to her. When she first entered the Seireitei, I figured that I would hate her, but even I couldn't understand why I should hate her when I'm only envying her skill. At least the Shinigami would have a better chance of surviving a bloody attack with her in the 4th Company than me.'
"Oi, the next Hollow's yours, Tatsu-chan," Kyoraku turned around and walked back to Ukitake. "Don't worry, we'll help you out if you can't do it yourself."
"You make me sound like I'm weak," she scowled, standing up and unsheathing her katana.
"Well, you've never been in a real fight, so I'm not sure what you're capable of."
"So true," she sighed. She had never had to draw her blade before. Even as she drew it now, it never ceased to amaze her at how beautiful and unspoiled it was.
"Tatsu," Ukitake warned her as a Hollow's familiar roar reached her ears. They all watched and waited as the large monster reached their building.
"It's…so…big," she breathed. The other Hollows that her group dispatched were smaller, but this one was huge, and it was powerful.
"Shinigami!" the Hollow roared, raising its hand and knocking all three aside before they could do anything.
"No!" Tatsu could hear Ukitake shout. She looked up.
Several Hollows were now surrounding them, probably around 10 or 20. They all looked similar.
"Why are there so many?!" Kyoraku shrugged at his friend's question.
"Maybe they think we're beautiful?" he replied.
"That's not funny, Shunsui!" the man bellowed back at him. "Tatsu! Get ready to attack, we'll definitely need your help for this fight!"
"Yeah," she drew back her sword in an attack position. Beside her, Kyoraku did the same.
"Now!"
All three jumped up at and attacked the nearby Hollows. Ukitake struck his down with one stroke and Kyoraku took several before his Hollow was dispelled. But Tatsumara was having trouble as three Hollows surrounded her, making her confused at which one to strike first.
"To your left! Your left! Your left, Tatsu!" Kyoraku called out to her. She whirled around and sliced off the advancing Hollow's hand. The creature roared in pain and used its other arm to slam her to the ground.
She screamed in pain, the attack had left several of her right ribs broken and her left wrist sprained.
Ukitake finished off the Hollow holding her down and they both rushed to her aid.
"Tatsu, you okay?" Ukitake breathed as he lifted her up.
"I feel horrible, but it can be healed," she murmured. She glanced up and let out a cry. "Look out!"
But it was too late. As Ukitake and Kyoraku had been tending to her, the Hollow that Ukitake had abandoned, attacked and slammed both males into a nearby wall, knocking them unconscious.
"JUSHIRO! SHUNSUI!" her scream was lost as the Hollow's roared and prepared to finish the two off.
OoOoO
I don't remember much of what happened next. All that I'm sure of is that I woke up to daylight in the Soul Society. I wasn't in my Academy uniform anymore. Someone had changed my clothes and healed all of my wounds.
I had sat up and glanced around and realized with a sinking feeling that I was in my family's household. I could hear people arguing in the next room. What they were arguing about didn't matter, I couldn't understand them anyway.
Then Kyoraku and Ukitake came into the room.
Section Five-
"Good morning, Tatsu-chan," Kyoraku greeted her as he normally did.
"Good morning, Unohana-san," Ukitake was polite as always.
"Good morning, both of you," Tatsu agreed. "What is everyone arguing about?"
"Yamamoto-sensei is planning to start 13-court guard Divisions in the Soul Society. He just listed the Captains for the 13 Divisions," Ukitake explained.
"Really?" she looked excited and then confused. "Why would we need the Divisions?"
"Yama-jii says that only one division is for healing. For some reason, he liked the Fourth Division to be healing. We still don't know why," Kyoraku sat down next to her.
"The First Division is Yamamoto-sensei's own division, Eleventh Division is the fighting division, and the Twelfth Division is for science and technology," Ukitake explained the rest quickly.
"Guess what Tatsu-chan?!" Kyoraku exclaimed loudly.
"What?" she asked nervously. She already knew that Yamamoto knew that her healing skills weren't good enough, but she still hoped to be placed into Fourth Division to please her parents.
"Jûshirô and I are Captains!" he crowed excitedly. "Jûshirô's the 13th Division Captain and I'm 9th Division Captain!"
"That's nice," she raised her eyebrows and glanced at Ukitake. "Is that right?"
"Yes. He's correct. Yamamoto-sensei gave us the news this morning. We were going to wake you up, but things got…complicated."
"Complicated?" Kyoraku rolled his eyes. "Tatsu-chan being the 10th Division Captain? That's not complicated."
"Yes it is! The Unohana Family is known for their Healing Kidô. If Tatsumara is the Captain for the 10th Division then—"
"Unohana-san. May I have a word?" the door slid open and Genryûsai Yamamoto was waiting for her on the other side.
Tatsumara stood up slowly and quietly. She already knew what was going to happen behind those doors…
There! Done with Chapter one! Please Review!
Thanks TideDrop for giving me the ideas to start this story much more sooner than I thought! See you at school :D
01/16/08