Sky's No Limit
Summary: Just a girl, a dream, and a ton of gunpowder. Twenty truths about Shiba Kuukaku.
AN: My first attempt at one of these, I'm really sorry if I irrevocably screwed up : (
1.
Kuukaku gives all of her fireworks short fuses. She finds something oddly humorous and suiting about this.
2.
A small part of Kuukaku feels regretful that Ganju was never able to truly meet their mother. So she overcompensates, by making sure Ganju feels the raw terror and fear of God that only a mother can bring. The process is terribly effective, and she sees a little bit of a five year old boy in his eyes when she prepares to slam her foot against his face.
3.
Although she hides it well, Kuukaku is actually rather sensitive about her prosthetic arm. She expresses her sensitivity by hitting people extra hard with it when she catches them staring for too long.
4.
She is deathly allergic to boar hair. That is why whenever Ganju's little gang comes to the Shiba household, she instructs her servants to fry enough pork so the scent fills the air. That way they know the consequences of bringing one of those things into her home.
5.
Kuukaku loves her terrible architecture. A house isn't her house until it stirs up a bit of controversy.
6.
Yoruichi gets on her damned nerves. Then again, she supposes that is the basis of their uneasy friendship. Afterall, Yoruichi is the only person- or cat, rather- that is not afraid of getting on Kuukaku's bad side. And Yoruichi knows Kuukaku is the only one in Soul Society who's not afraid to get mad at her.
7.
Kuukaku started smoking a pipe because she thought it gave her an air of dignity and wisdom. This was effectively ruined when she choked on the smoke for a good two minutes after she inhaled for the first time. Now she just smokes for the taste.
8.
The only time she ever attempted to solve a dispute with words instead of violence resulted in calamity- ten year old Ganju had actually cried.
From then on, Kuukaku stuck to punches to convey her irritation. For while she wasn't exactly eloquent, she had a damn good right hook.
Plus, Ganju never cried when she hit him, which was a bonus. Tears made his face look stranger than it already was.
9.
The first time Kuukaku ever attempted to create a firework was a disaster. She was nine, and an explosion occurred that burned away her eyebrows. Mortified, she had wrapped bandages around her forehead to hide her failure.
Kuukaku keeps those bandages on her head, to remind herself that even she can make mistakes sometimes.
10.
She knows she would have never become an inherently violent person if the inherently stupid people would have just left her alone. But she plays the hand she was dealt, sometimes with a little more gusto than necessary.
11.
Kuukaku had forgiven Rukia for killing Kaien long before she had shown up on the Shiba's doorstep.
But she punched her anyways.
After all, Shiba Kuukaku had an image to protect, and sometimes people just need a good hit to the face to make them see clearly.
12.
Kuukaku has always held an intense love for both of her siblings, especially Ganju. She's just always held an even stronger love for beating common sense into them, especially Ganju.
13.
Kuukaku never joined the Shinigami Academy because she knew she wouldn't survive for a day. The Gotei 13 was for people who enjoyed rules and regulations, and Kuukaku knows she will only ever answer to herself.
14.
Once, Ganju complained that the repetitive blows to his head were going to cause him severe brain damage. Kuukaku pointedly told him that it was the brain damage that made her hit him in the first place.
15.
One thing Kuukaku never fully comprehended was the comparison made between that rykou kid and her older brother. After all, Ichigo was a stubborn carrot top, and he was loyal to the point of stupidity, brash, constantly bickering with Ganju, always speaking before thinking, and failed to hold the proper respect for those in positions above him.
Kaien would have never been caught dead with that hair color.
16.
She wondered why no one else thought it was funny that she had just catapulted a pseudo shinigami, a quincy archer, two humans, her little brother, and a cat into the sky with only a glorified bubble as their protection against a relatively painful death via falling a thousand feet to the ground.
17.
Her passion for fireworks started when she was very small, when the older kids would tell her that even if she was named after a crane, she would never be able to fly. Kuukaku loves it when people underestimate her more than anything else.
18.
There were few things that Kuukaku truly missed in the afterlife. She missed her death threats holding some form of actual legitimacy, good tobacco, and the absence of annoying animals stampeding into her home. But above all else, when no one was looking or expecting anything from her, she'd admit that she missed Kaien more than any of those combined.
19.
Shiba Kuukaku only wears that revealing outfit because she knows it makes the people around her uncomfortable.
20.
People see fireworks as something instantaneous and beautiful as they light up the darkness. They see Kuukaku as violent, spontaneous, and maybe even a little bit deranged. She wonders when they'll finally see the bigger picture, because she's better than her fireworks. They will eventually fade away and Kuukaku is determined to never burn out.
…but she will admit they both have short fuses.