Within the confines of the lavishly designed house, designed to conceal her reiatsu and act as a defense system against arrancar if she were injured, Rin's right arm, her sword arm, fell to her side. Her back pressed against the secured door of Sekiseki stone as silent tears began to cascade down from her eyes. Leaving her cheeks, the droplets of water splashed onto the smooth marble floor. Vaguely a thought ran through her mind, 'cherry blossoms…. How like him to design a house with cherry blossoms.'

She slid down against the door as she hugged her knees up to her chest, and buried her face into arms as her tears continued to fall, strangled sobs began to emit from her as her body quaked with each shuddered breath.

'Mamy-I'm sorry. I know you'd want me to be strong-But it hurts. It hurts so much-I feel like I can't breathe. This is worse than any cut, broken bone—I've never felt any pain like this before. I just can't keep a stiff lip. I wish I could. I know you don't want me to be sad, but that's the only way I can describe it. I'm scared, I'm alone, and I don't know what's worth fighting for anymore. Why did I become a Shinigami? I don't know. What's the point of it? I wish I had your clarity right now,' Rin thought to herself.

"Why do you want to be a Shinigami?"

The question left 100- year-old Rin's mouth faster than her mind could process what she was asking.

Mamoru gave a rambunctious laugh, as he gave Rin a playful grin, "you're teasing me right now, aren't you?"

"No," Rin replied.

Mamoru was quiet for a moment before offering, "well, let's see what both of our answers are. Why do you want to be a Shinigami?"

Rin blinked at him before giving a small shrug, "It's something to do, I guess. I don't know. With you, I feel like I'm accepted. I'm not some frightening ice sorceress or something."

Mamoru gave a slight chuckle, "I don't know about that. You scare me sometimes."

Rin gave him a stunned expression, " I do?! Since when? "

"Since as long as we've known each other," he admitted.

He gave a small shrug, "You've got a temper, and you don't hide it when it flares up."

Rin crossed her arms, scowling coldly.

"Yeah, that's the look. You look like you could turn me into an ice sculpture in a second," Mamoru jested.

"I am not that powerful! I'm not your Aunt Rukia," Rin growled out.

"She isn't really my Aunt," Mamoru replied, softly. He'd spoken so quietly that Rin wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly, she glanced at him.

"I-I'm not even Captain Kuchiki's real son," Mamoru confessed.

Rin gave a slight chuckle, "Well anyone with eyes can see that. The two of you look nothing alike."

Mamoru met Rin's eyes and held eye contact as he spoke, "Exactly my point. It's exceptionally rare for a greater noble family to adopt a child, let alone to adopt an outside into their lineage twice. So then why- why did Captain Byakuya Kuchiki adopt Captain Rukia Kuchiki, and myself? Rukia is the simple answer. He had a wife once, Hisana. They were only married for five years, and she passed away in the spring of the fifth year. Her frail health had completely dissolved—yet for some reason unknown to him, Hisana always returned to Inuzuri. He'd never forbidden it, but he'd asked her several times why she kept returning there if she was happy. All she replied with was she couldn't stop searching."

Rin's brow had furrowed together.

"The answer, was Rukia is the younger sister of Hisana Kuchiki. The infant sister, that Hisana had abandoned in order to care for herself. She grew to greatly regret her decision and spent her entire marriage searching for the little sister she'd given up. On her death bed, Hisana asked that Byakuya continue her search, told him of Rukia, and asked that Rukia be permitted to call him her elder brother," Mamoru concluded.

Rin gave a small smile before asking, "And what of you?"

"My story is nowhere near as up lifting a tale," Mamoru replied, his shoulders sagging at the statement.

Rin could pin point the exact tell-tale signs of sadness in her best friend.

"I was born in Muken… the third underground level of the maggot's nest, the child of two prisoners. One deemed to forever be a threat to soul society and the human world, the other died in childbirth," Mamoru answered.

Rin felt the air leave her lungs, his biological parents were criminals. Here was a boy, so gentle he could catch a moth in his bare hands and release it from a four wall prison into the night without damaging its wings.

A boy who cried if he saw a cute baby bunny rabbit become a fox's prey for its next meal. A boy who had always protected her, defended her, and told her she was as strong and beautiful as she was intelligent.

Rin wet her lips before asking, "Who?"

"My mother's name was Yoshino Hisakawa, I was the second born of a set of fraternal twins. My brother and I were separated at birth. I was raised here as my spiritual pressure would draw too many hollows out in the human world. My brother, was raised in the human world by a wealthy couple, they named him Alexandre. It was all to protect us from our father, keep us separate. That way if one of us should join forces with our father one day, the hope was the other would fight against both of us. He's the worst. My biological father, he was one of the worst criminals to ever exist in soul society. The pain he inflicted, the illegal experiments, the deception, the torment…."

Rin felt her stomach knotting tightly, 'No-no it can't be!'

Mamoru let a few stray tears fall from his eyes as he broke eye contact with Rin, "My brother was lucky. He looked like our mother. Her crime, truly, was loving a monster and reproducing with him. I'm the splitting image of our father. I can't look myself in the mirror without wanting to throw up since I found out."

Rin held her breath as she waited.

"My real father is-"

He clutched his fists hard enough that he broke the skin, blood beginning to ooze onto the grass.

"Mamoru, it's okay," Rin coaxed.

The brown haired boy grimaced, 'If you knew. If you knew what he did to your mother, to your grandparents—'

Rin placed a hand on Mamoru's back, only for him to move away from her touch.

"You'll hate me," he whispered as his voice cracked with a pained sob.

"We've been friends longer than I can remember, Mamoru. It doesn't matter to me. I mean if you want to tell me, I'll listen, but—honestly—it isn't going to change anything. You're still the boy who kept me from falling into the river, knowing I'm not a strong swimmer. You're still the boy who snuck into my room when I had the measles - and got sick with them too! Kinda lead to our first slumber party. You're still the one that held my hair back when I got sick from eating too many strawberries," Rin responded, giggling a bit at the last memory.

Mamoru gave a small smile, 'I don't deserve her.'

"you don't have to tell me now if you're not ready," Rin continued.

Mamoru glanced to her with a shocked expression.

"When you're ready, you can tell me. And you can tell me what you've learned about your brother and any other family you've learnt that you have," Rin offered.

She gently slipped her hand into his, forcing his fist to unclench, his blood getting on to her own hand as she began using kaido to heal the self-inflicted injury.

"You're too kind, Rin," Mamoru stated.

"I only speak the truth," Rin answered.

"He's why—my biological father—he's why I want to be a Shinigami. I can't undo what he's done… the suffering he caused, but I hope if the time ever came, I can stop him from causing more misery," Mamoru answered.

Rin gave a small smile, 'And I'll be right there with you, because that's what friends are for.'

The snow-haired girl wiped her eyes as she forced herself up to her feet and headed up the winding marble staircase. Once she was there, she raced towards the third door on the left and pressed her entire palm against an electronic security system, granting her access to the room. Inside was a room designed to her liking. It featured a queen sized canopy bed with a purple and red bedding set, a walk in closet, computer desk, upon wish sat an iMac computer. Directly at the foot of her bed, against the opposing wall was a flat screen wall mounted television. She had her own karaoke machine in the bedroom. Next to her bed on the night table was a photo of herself and Mamoru on her last birthday.

She fought back another onslaught of tears as she rested the photo of them face down on her night stand.

She opened up the closet door, and found her gigai right where she'd left it. She climbed into the faux body, and stood in front of a floor length mirror, looking over herself. 'Oh yuck! Girl you need some new clothes,' She thought to herself, and hey a little retail therapy may just be what the doctor ordered.

Undeniably the t shirt depicting a cat wearing sunglasses was a bit more childish than she should be wearing, not to mention the clothes felt incredibly tight.

'online shopping, here we go,' Rin thought to herself as she turned the iMac on, entering the password.

After an hour and roughly $500 spent on on a new wardrobe, Rin decided to try the chatrooms for the local area of Paris France.

She found a chatroom for local teenagers in her area and saw several were talking about College Dupoint Francois.

Fashionista_Sweets: Hey, Snowy, which school do you go to?

SnowyXTiger: Actually, I'm homeschooled lol

Fashionista_Sweets: Really? Oh wow, I can't imagine.

SnowyXTiger: yeah, all of my friends and I have been home schooled our entire lives… we keep the circle kinda small but we're a nice group of people, always room for some more.

Fashionista_Sweets: That's cool, I guess. So any hobbies? I mean how do you meet people outside of your circle if you're home schooled? I meet most of my friends at school!

SnowyXTiger: no worries! It's totally cool I go to parties, join clubs, extra curricular activities, things like that.

Fashionista_Sweets: Oh? Like what? I guess you might be able to tell but I'm kind of into fashion, myself. I like creating new designs. I actually wear clothes I designed myself.

Rin's jaw dropped as she read that.

SnowyXTiger: That's amazingly awesome. I wish I had talent like that… unfortunately my talents aren't exactly along the same lines. I'm fairly good with calligraphy, I'm good with kendo, martial arts, and poetry I also dabbled a bit into music. I play guitar but I'm definitely not a rock star! Lol

StrayCat04: Few people ever are. Lol

SnowyXTiger: Just when I was thinking I was the only cat in here. Haha! Hi SC (Sorry, but I am not calling you Stray)

StrayCat04: that's okay Snowy, you can call me anything.

StrayCat04: Actually, you sound a lot like me. Although I quit karate a while back, I still practice kendo, I play piano, I'm a big time anime fan, I like basketball and I've been home schooled my whole life as well. I actually want to attend a regular school like everyone else.

StingQueen: Eww, no you don't SC! I'm actually grossed out that I have to mix with those commoners. You're better off being home schooled. But honestly if you did go to a regular school, you should go to College Dupont Francois with me! Then I'd get to see you everyday!

StrayCat04: Right, well have your Dad convince mine that it's a good idea and we'll see. No promises though :'(

SnowyXTiger: Wait, you want to attend a regular school? So why don't you?

StrayCat04: It's kind of hard to explain.

StingQueen: Come on, Snowy, you're one of us. One of the elites, you must understand the need to separate commoners from the betters in society.

SnowyXTiger: Actually, I believe quite the opposite. I believe we have a duty to assist those less fortunate than us in every and any means possible. If I let someone suffer today just so I could stay safe or stay wealthy, I couldn't look myself in the mirror tomorrow.

StingQueen: Ugh, I always regret talking to bleeding hearts.

Fashionista_Sweets: Oh for crying out loud! Nobody cares what you think.

StingQueen: Oh look, the little uppidy baker's daughter is getting upset.

SnowyXTiger: Hey, watch it. Her Dad might slip a little something extra into your top of the line birthday cupcakes, your royal highness ;)

StingQueen: Do you have any idea who I am?

SnowyXTiger: apparently someone whose ego needs to come down about ten pegs so she can join in with the real world.

StingQueen: As if! My ego is completely fine, thank you!

SnowyXTiger: Right, and I'm the lead in Swan Lake *eye roll* look… let's make this easy: If you're nice, I don't care what your social status is, you're cool with me. If you're a bully, then I don't care who you are, who you know, or whose on your payroll, I want less than nothing to do with you. Bully someone in front of me, I don't care if your Dad is the Prime Minister of France, I will hand you your own backside on a silver platter and force you to eat it.

StingQueen: How dare you! Expect to hear from the chief of police!

SnowyXTiger: I look forward to it. Shall I print off this conversation as evidence of your economic prejudice?

StingQueen: My what?

SnowyXTiger: seriously? Which word eludes you, "economic" or "prejudice"?

StingQueen has signed off.

StrayCat04: That… that was actually pretty cool. I don't think anyone's ever stood up to her.

Fashionista_Sweets: You know her?

StrayCat04: Well… yeah. I mean… our Dads sometimes cross paths and I've known her since we were kids. In some ways she's kind of my only friend.

Fashionista_Sweets:…. Right… Hey Snowy, come on by parents bakery. I'll PM you the address.

SnowyXTiger: Err… okay? Anything strawberry flavoured? I'm not a huge fan of sweets, but strawberry anything and I'm sold.

Fashionista_Sweets: Oh you don't need to eat sweets. We have pastries here too, breads, all kinds of things.

SnowyXTiger: okay… but why?

Fashionista_Sweets: well, honestly I want to thank you. She's been bullying me for years now and…

SnowyXTiger: LOL Oh! Don't worry about it. I just moved here from Japan… and where I'm from, the area I'm from, stuff like that gets you sent home with a written warning, and then an expulsion. So no big deal.

Fashionista_Sweets: Hey cool! I'm half Chinese myself.

SnowyXTiger: Cool, but I think I'll take sushi over traditional Chinese food any day… sorry.

Fashionista_Sweets: Oh no, no worries. It's what you're used to, and what you prefer, right?

SnowyXTiger: Yeah, true. Hey SC, are you in a fencing club or something?

StrayCat04: Well, actually yeah.

SnowyXTiger: Maybe I'll see you there. Let's see how you guys hold up against a girl ;)

StrayCat04: Seriously?! Well, I kinda suspected with a name like "Snowy" but… alright I gotta ask, how good are you?

SnowyXTiger: You'll have to wait and see.

StrayCat04: Alright, I'll tell you this much, I can go up against my Sensei and even beat him a few times in matches.

SnowyXTiger: seems you might be my greatest challenge then. See you tomorrow, if we're in the same class.

SnowyXTiger has signed off.

Rin sat back with a slight sigh, how was she going to find Alexandre's descendent? She knew one thing to be true, she'd have to break a Shinigami law and create a substitute once she did find the Agreste distant relative of Mamoru.

She flopped down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling as she considered a few things. She knew that in human years, 150 years is a long time. Long enough for a few generations to have passed. In fact the youngest descendent of Aizen could be no more than 13-15 years of age.

Rin gave a small sigh as she opened her night table drawer pulling out a red diary with a red gel pen and ripped out a page from the back of the book.

'Alright, So I know it started with Sosuke Aizen… he had two sons Mamoru and Alexandre. According to Mamy, Alexandre had a son named Charles…' Rin thought to herself as she began writing.

By the time she was finished she written down: Alexandre - Charles - Gregoire Gabriel ?

Rin bit her lip, lightly, Gabriel she knew that he had at least one child. The odds of Gregoire and Charles still being alive were very slim.

She gave a heavy sigh as she looked over at the mansion across the street from her, blinking as she could've sworn she saw a boy of around 13-15 years of age staring back at her. He smiled and waved. Slowly, Rin brought her hand up and waved back to him.

'The only way to know is if they can harness the power of the black cat while in soul forum… only then can I be certain that he is in fact the true Chat Noir,' Rin thought to herself.

The price of doing this carried a hefty sentence. She could be sentenced to death for creating a substitute, but she had little choice in the matter. Her world, this world, both depended on the Hogyoku being destroyed.

Alexandre had been a true Chat Noir himself, but her mother had cautioned her that someone like that is only born once a century.

'Oh god I hope I don't have to hide this thing from Arrancars for 50 years! God damn it,' Rin thought to herself bitterly as she left the window, hardly noticing that the boy across the way was standing with his finger poised on his chin deep in thought at her expression and response to him.