True to his words Uryuu started to investigate Cirucci's background. His first few attempts at the search revealed that her name was not that common. As a matter of fact it was so uncommon that he was having difficulty even coming up with a hit.
"Every search has come up empty. Do you remember anything about your previous life at all? Like where you were born or lived?" Uryuu was scratching his head in aggravation.
"I know that you're only a human so let me tell you one more time. That was so long ago that I honestly don't remember much of anything at all." Cirucci crossed her arms over her chest and snorted in disgust.
"OK then, let's try something a little different." He punched in 'Thunderwitch' and then pressed enter.
Moment's later one entry came back. It wasn't about a family or to be exact not from a family history. He opened the entry and started reading.
"It says here that in 1598, just before the start of the Edo period, that there was an incident involving a family not far from here that was exterminated by the local samurai on the suspicion of them being witches. It seems that the youngest daughter could see and talk to spirits. She was also prone to standing high atop their house in violent storms watching the lightning, thus the name 'Thunderwitch'. Her personality was also erratic in that at times she was calm and demure and at other times she would rage out of control and have to be restrained. Her behavior was the cause of the families' demise after she flew into a rage and attacked the local samurai after serving him some tea. She attacked him with such ferocity that she broke his arm and would have slain him had he not killed her." Uryuu summarized as he skimmed over the information. "I'm sorry but this is printed in English so it's a little hard to understand. I think this part will tell me the name of the family." He studied the section and suddenly his eyes shot open. "This can't be right. There must be a mistake." He started to re-read the section.
"What? What is it?" She pulled on his shoulder.
Uryuu turned to her with a shocked look on his face. "I'm not completely sure but your family name may actually be Ishida."
Cirucci took her turn at looking shocked. "Y-you mean that we could actually be related?"
"I'm saying that if I read this correctly that the family that was slaughtered that night was a branch of the Ishida clan. That could actually make you a distant cousin." Uryuu was now feeling somewhat faint as was Cirucci.
"We need to take this information to Urahara now." Uryuu said as he felt the world steady beneath him. He quickly printed out the information and collected it and Cirucci who was still a little woozy from the revelation. "Come on, we're going, now."
Urahara's Store:
"Come on Ururu, get to work! Urahara told you to sweep the front of the store." Jinta said with a haughty voice.
"He told you to sweep too, Jinta." She replied in her mild voice. "AHHHH!" She cried as Jinta gave her double nuggies to the head.
"Hey! Is that any way to treat a girl?"
Jinta looked around guiltily and spotted Uryuu standing there with Cirucci. "So what? Ya gonna to beat me up or something?" His haughty attitude returned. He did however stop abusing Ururu.
"Just tell Urahara that I'm here and I need to talk to him." Uryuu said in disgust.
"Why? Did you get dirt on your prissy white outfit?" Jinta yelled as he disappeared into the store.
"Why you little…."
The door slid open revealing Urahara standing there with his fan open before his face. "Welcome Ishida san. Are you cutting class to start early?"
"No, we happened to find this information from an old piece of history that I think you might find interesting. I was hoping that you might be able to give some background. You were a captain at the time, I believe." Uryuu handed Urahara the papers and he and Cirucci and he waited while he skimmed over them.
"You could have at least had them translated into Japanese. My English is a bit rusty. Come in and have some tea. I'll call an old friend and have him look over what you gave me here. I think he may have some insight." Urahara ushered them into the store and had Ururu provide the promised tea.
After a phone call Urahara sat down and re-read the papers and started to grin. "What is it Urahara? I don't like it when you start to smile." Uryuu said with a concerned tone.
"Oh, nothing. I was just reminded of a theory that I had back then. I theorized that if the Quincy's were able to draw their strength from the surrounding spirit energy of their environment and then release that energy into one of their own who had become a hollow, and provided that they didn't shoot to kill, then they might be able to reverse the hollowization and turn them back into plus souls. That would make them eligible for entrance into Soul Society. I advanced that theory to several of my colleagues and was rebuffed as thinking to far outside of the realm of possibility. I think that I may have just been proven correct."
"Hey, Urahara! Where the hell are you?"
Uryuu looked up in surprise. "That's not who I think it is, is it?"
"If you mean Kurosaki san's father, then yes you are correct." He snapped his fan shut. "Back here Isshin, I also have guests."
Isshin slid open the door and looked in "Ah if it isn't the son of my old friend Ryūken. How has he been?"
Uryuu stammered. "W-what are you doing dressed like a shinigami?" Cirucci slid behind Uryuu and cowered slightly.
"Ah ah ah! No telling Ichigo now." He wagged his finger back and forth. "So what's this all about Urahara?"
Urahara handed Isshin the papers and waited for him to read them.
Isshin flipped the pages over until he reached the end. Then he looked at Cirucci. "My god it is you. I see you have a body again."
Cirucci looked at Isshin carefully. "How do you know me?"
"I was the shinigami that delivered most of your family to Soul Society. You were still in a rage and I couldn't do anything for you. You kept screaming about how that samurai had attempted to rape you. I did feel sorry for you but I couldn't just kill him seeing that he was still alive. I did keep an eye on him though, and when it was his turn for konso, he didn't quite make it. As a matter of fact he turned into a hollow almost instantly and when I purified him the hell gates opened taking him. I'm sorry you had to wait for that news but I hope that it helps you." Isshin said with a wan smile.
"Thank you for telling me that. But there is something I need to know that is more important right now. What was my family name? That's the most important thing I need to know right now." Cirucci was leaning forward in anticipation.
"Well, what you read here is correct. The family name was Ishida. They were also Quincy." Isshin responded.
Both Uryuu and Cirucci passed out.
"I think that, that was just a bit too much for them." Urahara tittered from behind his fan. "Why don't we call Ryūken, and invite him to meet his cousin."
"The guy is insufferable, this would take him down a notch though." Isshin laughed. "To think that one of his Quincy ancestors became an arrancar. This would give me ammunition to fire off at him for the next forty years," The grin was from ear to ear on Isshin's face. "that and the fact that his son seems to have a thing for her too."
"Well as of right now you can see that she is no longer an arrancar but the odd thing is that she isn't exactly a human either. The clue may be in the discharge of spirit energy she received from Ishida san while they were in Huco Mundo. Ishida san said that he didn't try to kill her. He only wanted to strip her of her power. From what he told me his shot was almost exactly where a disempowered Quincy has to be shot with a Quincy arrow to restore their power. That one act of mercy may have done this." Urahara mused.
"Well when you figure it all out give me a call. I have to head back. I have appointments this afternoon." Isshin gave his old friend a wave and disappeared.
"My my. Everyone is in such a rush. I guess there is no time like the present to get started with the examination. She won't miss a little blood I hope." Urahara set about conducting his examination and drew his sample of blood from Cirucci. As an aside thought he also drew a sample from Uryuu. "Got to have a control sample." He mused out loud as he withdrew the needle and bandaged the tiny prick.
About an hour later Uryuu groggily came to and noticed a warm pleasant feeling. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that Cirucci had nuzzled up close to him and was using his shoulder for a pillow. Her eyes were closed and her face was at peace. "I wonder how many years it's been since you were able to sleep like this. WAIT! What am I thinking? She's sleeping on me!?" He stiffened slightly but relaxed quickly not wanting to wake her. The shocks of this day had been pretty severe for both of them. "This is going to make for an interesting talk with Dad. I can see his face right now."
"What are you doing sleeping with a hollow?!"
Uryuu started to laugh softly to himself about how his imagination sounded exactly like……. He craned his head back to look at the doorway. There framed against the light was the silver haired patriarch of the Ishida Family. He froze for a moment. Then he reached across himself and tapped Cirucci on the shoulder. When she didn't respond he nudged her a bit more urgently.
"Humm? Wazzup? AHHHH! Why are you next to me?" She scooted away from him and backed firmly into the legs of someone else. She looked up to see the face of a man that bore a remarkable resemblance to Uryuu. She also noticed that he wasn't smiling at all and then she saw the Quincy cross dangling from his wrist. She reversed her scoot and took up position behind Uryuu. "Your father?"
"What was your first clue?" Uryuu asked dryly.
"The hard eyes, they're the same as yours when you fight."
"I'm nothing like him!"
"From where I'm sitting it doesn't look that way but, it's your fantasy." Cirucci kept her eye on Ryūken as she got to her knees. "I am honored to meet the father of the man that defeated me in battle and one of my relatives." She lowered her head to the floor praying that Ryūken wouldn't just shoot her with one of those Quincy arrows. The last time had hurt like hell.
The look of shock crossed Ryūken's eyes for just a moment but Uryuu saw it. "Yes Dad, She is from the Ishida clan and she was once a Quincy."
"I knew that Isshin was leaving something out when he called me. Tell me your tail hollow girl and if you're convincing I'll make your passing merciful." Ryūken said coldly.
Uryuu handed him the papers that he had gotten from the internet. He swiftly read them and his eyebrows seemed to fuse together as he read. "So what? This proves nothing. Where is the proof that you were once Cirucci Ishida?"
"I think that I can provide that for you." Urahara said from behind him. "And I'll do it without any shinigami tricks as you are so fond of calling them, Ryūken."
"Oh? And how do you propose to do that?" Ryūken sneered.
"With science my dear boy, with science. Would you like to examine my equipment so that you don't think that I'm trying to pull a fast one?" Urahara hid his smile behind his fan. That hidden smile still didn't reach his eyes as he looked out from under his hat. "Honestly now Ryūken, have I ever lied to you?"
"Yes." The glare could have wounded a bear.
"Well I'm not and I'm ready to prove it."
"Show me."
"Follow me then. Uryuu, Cirucci, you can come if you want to but I think that you both have homework. I had Rukia drop off your books. Ask Ururu to make some dinner because I think that tonight will be a very long night if I'm going to make my case with your father."
Several hours later Ryūken and Urahara returned from the lab with Ryūken shaking his head. "I'm still not 100 percent convinced but this does seem to be the truth."
"I assure you that I have no reason to mislead you. I wouldn't want an arrancar running around loose on the streets of Karakura either. Enough damage and destruction has occurred already. Besides the genetic pointers have all been checked and now double checked. She is definitely one of your ancestors. Albeit several generations removed. There is also none of the characteristics of a hollow present either, asside from that piece of mask that she has. That one thing is still puzzling me though." Urahara was holding his chin thoughtfully.
Uryuu and Cirucci listened carefully to the two older men as they talked. Cirucci reached up and touched her mask and wished that she could just get rid of it to make her life a little bit easier. She turned to Uryuu. "If I can get rid of this mask what would happen to me?" she whispered.
"I don't know. It seems to be a part of you like your arms or legs. Honestly I don't have a clue." He murmured back to her.
A thought struck him. "Urahara, you know how Kurosaki has his inner hollow and can draw upon that power. When he does his mask materializes until he banishes that power or it fails, correct?"
"Yes, that is part of his Visard power. What are you getting at?" Urahara asked looking thoughtfully.
"Maybe this is a sort of manifestation similar to that." Uryuu put forth.
"I don't believe so. Here it the reason behind my thoughts. Her mask has shrunk from the time you first brought her here. Not by much but it has shrunk. I'd say by about .005 percent."
"Are you saying that she's becoming more human?" Ryūken asked with an incredulous look on his face.
"I'm just stating a fact. I don't know what the ultimate results will be or if the mask will continue to shrink but her mask is definitely shrinking. I have a theory but for now I'll keep it to myself. Don't worry, it isn't bad." Urahara hastily added seeing the looks on everyone's face.
