In Another Time
By: Dressed In Black
Rated: PG13 (slight cursing)
100-Odd Years Ago
Shunsui Kyōraku knew the things people said about him. He was powerful and long-standing in Soul Society, so many of the younger generations of Shinigami liked to gossip about him. Some of those things weren't particularly nice, but were mostly true. For instance, he was said to be a lazy man by nature - truth. And, they all knew he had a weakness for beautiful women and booze (he couldn't deny that one, either). They talked about him as a superior, frequently, as well. Everyone knew he couldn't run his office if his very life depended on it. But hey, every man had his faults.
He never paid much attention to what was said in the rumor mills, because he had long ago stopped worrying over petty things in life. He knew he had some very noteworthy traits, besides all those negative ones. Some of his finest qualities were very important for a captain to have, too, but weren't often spoken of in gossip.
Probably because very few alive now remembered the old days. There was a time when the former version of himself would have struck terror into those younger soldiers who liked to talk so much. He had considered, once or twice, showing his true colors. Mostly when things were said within his earshot. He used to be a terrible force under the newfound Soul Society, years and years ago, one of the most ruthless death bringers of their bloody histories. The sound of his blades being drawn could send some of the most powerful creatures in the universe running.
Why then, he wondered, was he hiding from his new lieutenant, exactly?
Well, for one, she was batshit crazy. And mean. Also, Lesa had the worst habit of kicking him in the shins. He had the bruises to prove it. Besides that, she frequently drank through his best stashes of sake. And even had the gall to steal his most prized artistic (ahem) magazines. Oh, and she had a particular hobby of lighting things on fire. Notable, him.
Did he mention crazy?
Lesa-chan was close by, too. He could feel her, but couldn't see her. She was damn good at kido, her shields made her invisible to the naked eye, even to him. He had to rely on his other senses to know where she was. She'd been his lieutenant for around 2 years now, but they were still in the beginning stages of getting to know one another. The more he knew, though, the more he kept his distance.
On this fine day, they had just finished up with scouting out training areas for the new recruits in the Real World. Then, he had made a dash for freedom when scouting was over.
This was her own fault, really, because Lesa had made the mistake of informing him that he was to lead combat practice when they got back.
In this heat? With a raging hangover? The hell he would.
Shunsui peaked over the rooftop of the building he stood on, scanning the darkened roads below. Still couldn't see her, though. He thought she was just a few blocks east, if he was calculating right. So long as he kept an iron grip on his reiatsu, she would move on to keep searching.
She would learn from this mistake, unfortunately. She was clever, for all her unpleasantness. She'd know next time to wait until they were back at the 8th before springing such insane requests on him. Here in the Real World, she would run out of time trying to find him.
He smugly pictured her cursing him and going back through the gate that would close soon.
He let out a satisfied stretch, working kinks from his limbs as he laid back on sun-warmed tile. Tipping his hat over his eyes, he wondered how long he could nap before Yama-jii sent someone to fetch him. Few hours, at least. By the time Lesa worked through her pride to inform the old man her Captain was missing in the Real World, he'd be good and rested up anyways.
Besides, he was in a mood today. It was always better to separate himself from people when he felt touchy. Some alone time would be in everybody's best interest, really.
Therefore, this nap was a public service. And he was generous in his duties. He was a nice guy that way.
Musing over how perfect roofs were for such naps, he almost missed the light footfalls behind him. Someone had climbed up here. He almost ignored them, too, knowing it was just an ordinary soul, and couldn't see him anyways. And, gods above, he really did need to sleep off this hangover. He probably would have done just that, if the soft, childish humming hadn't drifted to his ears. A kid? On the roof? Sounded really young, too.
Frowning to himself, he knew sleep would wait. Curiosity always took priority.
He rolled up to his elbow, popping the edge of his hat. There stood a little girl who had joined him on the rooftop. She was standing near the edge, her short inky hair drifting in the breeze around her sweet face, about the age of 6 or 7, in a yukata a size too big. He smiled wistfully, always having a fondness for children. She had something bulky in her arms she was messing with. A doll, maybe?
Climbing to his feet, he approached the little girl, peering over her shoulder.
He let out a surprised laugh, because in her arms she was struggling with a very large rucksack, almost as heavy as she was from the looks of it. She fumbled with it, before heaving it to the rooftop at her feet and digging through the contents. She was panting from the effort.
He wished now that she could see him, he wanted very badly to ask how she had ended up climbing this high up without her parents noticing. She was much too young for such unsupervised stunts.
The kid let out frustrated grunt, pulling a heavy book free of the rucksack and setting it aside. She pulled out two more, similar in size, setting them aside as well. Finally seeming to locate what she was looking for, she pulled out a smaller bag full of seed.
"There you are," she muttered stormily, opening the bag.
Shunsui watched as she stood back up and started to spread the seed all around this corner of the building. She was laying out food for birds, he realized with delight. And it didn't take long before the neighborhood birds noticed, as more and more started to arrive to take the proffered meal. A full flock of pigeons had shown up within minutes. They didn't seem to mind the kid walking around them, tossing out more seeds as she went. He wondered if she did this often enough that they had grown used to her presence.
Bag empty, the child took a moment to just watch the birds as they fluttered about, pecking at the seeds and chortling to each other. He stood at her right, watching with her, his smile genuine. Anyone who cared for animals was alright in his opinion. He was a sucker for wildlife himself.
He glanced down at the girl, hoping to see her face lit with a smile, too. Instead, she had tears rolling down her cheeks. The smile slid from his own lips when he realized she had been silently crying and he hadn't even noticed.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" he asked no one in particular, kneeling down next to the girl. He wished he could comfort her, somehow. He wanted to know what was causing this. Whatever was wrong was the quiet kind of hurt, he knew. The kind that snuck up when you were occupied with something else entirely. When you were trying to lose yourself in some other task, but it caught up to you anyways. "Pretty little girls shouldn't cry."
She blinked tears from her vision, seeming to notice them for the first time, and wiped at her cheeks with her sleeves. She glanced around at the birds, and for the first time she turned her head just so, and Shunsui got a full-on view of her eyes. Startling, violet-colored eyes. She was looking through him, seeing past his form entirely, but he was looking right into her face.
There was a pulling, a strange tug, as if he could feel her sadness all the way to his core. It sent an odd flash of…something through him. He couldn't even name what he was feeling.
And worse, he had to scramble to grab back the reiatsu that had flared around him. He blinked, unsure what had just happened. He didn't lose control of his power. Ever. That hadn't happened to him since…well, he didn't know because it just didn't happen. He nervously checked for Lesa-chan's position, breathing a sigh of relief when he realized she was far away now. Doubtful she'd felt him.
The little girl let out a soft sigh, bringing his attention back. He was still kneeling next to her, and watched as she seemed to compose herself instantly. Her spine straightened, she drew in a deep breath. Whatever had made her so terribly sad moments ago wouldn't conquer her. She had overcome it and shoved it aside.
"You're a strong one," he told her, encouraging even though she couldn't hear the words. Perhaps they would reach her on some level, he hoped.
She sank to the rooftop then, sitting down and hung her legs over the edge. For lack of something better to do, he followed suit, sitting at her side. Hip to hip, he watched as she swung her sock-covered feet over the long drop to the ground, face sky-ward. He marveled at the whole event, wondering at the odd connection he felt for her. The little girl had caught his attention by her simple presence at first. But something else was drawing him in now. Happily, though, he noticed that her violet eyes bright again. No tear-shine to be found.
The sweetest smile touched her pale face as she noticed the fluffy clouds overhead, and Shunsui knew then he could spend forever sitting here with this child. Her happiness over something uncomplicated like cloud watching charmed him further. He leaned back, turning his own face to the sun. He idly kicked his feet over the drop with her, keeping one arm close enough to grab for her if she fell. But he had a feeling she sat here often. She perched with a graceful ease that told him this was one of her spots.
There was something about this child, he knew. Something that made him react to her. Intrigued, he closed his eyes and reached out to her mentally. Concentrating, he picked through the maze that obscured people in the Real World, feeling the rise and fall of the sleeping spirit buried deep inside her human body.
A bright spark - there!
He focused on that, a beautiful fiery beacon. Sifting away the covers that kept it immersed and hidden. It reached for him as he reached for it, crackling with a fierce energy that surprised him. There was a dormant powerhouse in there, leashed and confined by the laws of the Real World.
He hummed his approval. When she passed on from this life, she would awaken as a force to be reckoned with on the other side.
"You're a very special girl, aren't you?" Shunsui whispered, pulling back from her mentally. He was possibly even more focused on her than he was before. That brilliant spirit inside the child resonated through him, still. He felt changes happening, unsure what it meant.
He studied her profile. Huge expressive eyes, glossy black hair. Pale skin, with the lightest smattering of freckles over her cheeks. She was so calm, too. Contemplative as she sat there next to him, watching the clouds pass. If he were to guess, she seemed like a self-contained sort. Most children her age couldn't sit still so long, all by themselves. When he had first noticed her, she had seemed like a typical child. But sitting here now, with the echoes of her sleeping soul still fresh in his memory, she seemed immensely more significant.
What a surprise this was, he mused. Finding another spirit that could calm his own turbulent one was a rarity. In all his life, there had only ever been one other that reached back like she had moments ago. That was Juu, of course.
"I think we may be important to one another," he told her deaf ears. It seemed like the most obvious explanation. Unwilling to break the hushed peace that settled over him at her side, he enjoyed the moment. When was the last time he had felt so content? It was wholly fitting, being here with her beside him.
After a while, she pulled one of her forgotten books into her lap and opened it. She was instantly submerged in reading, he could tell. She blocked everything else out, her brow creasing just slightly as she took in information. He thought maybe he should lay back and finish his nap, as his headache hadn't let up any.
But oddly enough, he decided he'd rather watch the kid as she read to herself than sleep and miss it.
As the sun crossed the sky and the town fell into evening hours, he wondered if Lesa had reported him as absent yet. He hoped they never came looking for him. He'd happily follow this child through her life, watching as she learned of the world. As that bright soul inside her tiny body bloomed and grew stronger, although it could never reach its potential in this lifetime. That would come in the next.
Under his guidance.
He carefully filed away the fingerprint of her energy, committing it to his memory so that he'd never forget what to look for. One day, she would be in his world, and he would have her. Connections this special were a rare gift, and he wouldn't let it slip through his fingers.
The sound of a gate opening drew his irritated attention to the left. Dark, imitation fog billowed around the huge door not too far from where they sat.
Time to go, it seemed.
The birds had finished up, too, he noticed. As one, they all took to the air, gaining altitude quickly.
The little girl casted a yearning look to the sky, and whispered a soft "Goodbye" to the flock.
He knew she didn't aim her parting words at him, but Shunsui pretended that she had anyways. Besides, he knew she was meant for the sky, as well.
"Goodbye, little darling. I'll see you soon."
This was short and not my usual style, but I got the idea and just rolled with it. I think I can thank Fading in the Background for this, as the last chapter in her recent fic got me playing ideas around of meetings in different times and connections and the like. So a big thank you to her, for the inspiration.