Memories – Chapter 9

Questions and Answers

(Two years before prologue, in the Soul Society, Seireitei)

Fumiko stepped out of the Senkaimon, still surrounded by the men from the Stealth Force. She found herself in the same room she had just seen the Head Captain standing in moments before on the screen. It was a plain room, with an identical screen filling the entire span on one side of it – apart from that, it was empty.

Her guard exited the room quietly through a door to her left as the Senkaimon closed and disappeared.

Lieutenant Sasakibe, the only one left in the room besides her, turned to face her.

"I apologize for this. The Head Captain will be with you shortly. Please just wait here – and don't try to go anywhere, otherwise we will really have to lock you in."

Then he left.

At least they still trust us enough not to lock us up, Nami no Sasayaki said.

We haven't done anything wrong so far – we just didn't tell the whole truth. They have every right to suspect us, I guess, and no reason to trust us.

Fumiko sighed and wondered whether she should have seen this coming or not. Obviously her Captain had told Yamamoto what had happened – and probably, now that she thought about it, everything she had told him about her past as well.

What, was I actually thinking he'd keep something so important from the Head Captain? That was highly unrealistic to begin with. He's just doing what he has to, what anyone would do…

Her thoughts trailed off into nothingness and she sighed.

This is quite the mess we're in now, but it could be worse, she concluded.

True. I'm sure we can sort this out if we tell the truth this time, the Zanpakuto agreed.

Although… Fumiko hesitated. Wha tif... what if they put me in a higher position then?

Tell them that you're uncertain of your abilities. That will do. And even if you're put up higher – you're not alone, you know? I'll always be there to help you.

Fumiko didn't answer directly, but pondered what her weapon had just said.

I know, Nami no Sasayaki said after a short while, I know that you're not able to hear me yet when your pressure rises. But we can work on that, alright? We'll see how far we –

Fumiko interrupted her without speaking, simply by dragging up a memory for them both to see: The same scene she had remembered while talking to her Captain, the one with the blood and the green and white striped hat flying through the air, splattered with red.

She quickly pushed that thought away, but had clearly made her point.

I'm not trying that again. Master was unable to move for a week, if I remember correctly. So forget it, Nami. It's too dangerous.

If you never try, how will you get stronger?

Fumiko sighed. Who said I wanted to get stronger, huh? I never asked for this power. I never asked to –

She stopped herself.

…to hear my voice?, Nami finished for her.

No! No, that's not what I meant. All I said was that – all I really wanted was a normal life. You are a part of me, and I'm not complaining about you. In fact, I wouldn't know what to do without you. We're partners, aren't we? We're in this together now. I just thought that… life would have been so much easier if I had never had powers in the first place.

The Zanpakuto sighed. There you have it. Life's not fair, is it? But we can do this together, trust me. I'll be watching over you.

Nami no Sasayaki left her thoughts and returned to the underwater world of Fumiko's soul – and the next moment, the door opened.

Fumiko turned to see the Head Captain walking inside, followed by two middle-aged men who were both wearing a Captain's haori and a black kimono. One of them had draped a pink flowered kimono over his haori and wore his wavy brown hair in a ponytail under a straw hat. The other had long white hair and a friendly face.

"Fumiko Yoko. These are Captain Kyouraku of Squad 8 and Captain Ukitake of Squad 13. We will be asking you some questions now" Yamamoto stated.

"Yes, sir" Fumiko said obediently.

The three Captains stood in a row, facing her and watching her intently. The white haired Captain, Ukitake, had a kind of sympathetic look on his face and smiled slightly as she looked at him. Captain Kyouraku did so, too. They had probably expected someone more fearsome than a small human girl.

Fumiko felt extremely strong spiritual pressure emanating from all three of them, enough to crush her in her current state if they wished to do so. The pressure she herself was letting out at the moment could barely withstand, but she hesitated to release more.

The truth, she reminded herself. And so she allowed some more of her pressure to show, enough to make her able to stand comfortably in front of them. She was aware that her level of power was now at a Captain's.

All three Captains instantly noticed the change. Ukitake and Kyouraku frowned, but Yamamoto looked like his suspicions had been confirmed.

"Why don't you reveal all of your power to us now? You are still hiding some of it" he said.

Fumiko shook her head, but didn't break eye contact with the Head Captain.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't."

Captain Kyouraku took a small step towards her. The movement was almost irrelevant, but the meaning was clear.

"Why ever not?" he asked.

"Because, sir," she said, turning to face the brown haired Captain, whose gray eyes were watching her intently from beneath his hat, "I would endanger not only every person in this room, but also everyone else in- and outside this building, if not more."

The Captains looked at her in disbelief. She opened her mouth to explain when she felt a disturbance in the air and turned her head to the left.

A Senkaimon appeared at the same spot where Fumiko had emerged earlier – but it looked different from the usual Senkaimon. Somehow it seemed familiar.

The gate opened, and a man emerged, carrying a walking stick and wearing a very characteristic green and white striped hat.

"Master" Fumiko said.

Urahara looked up and saw the scene enfold in front of him.

"Looks like I'm just in time, then. Let me explain the situation to you, Head Captain, since she is my pupil."

Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyouraku both looked surprised.

"Kisuke" Ukitake said. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Urahara nodded at him. "Indeed, it has."

Kyouraku narrowed his eyes and turned to the Head Captain.

"What about the incident – "

"There's no need to worry, Captain Kyouraku. Kisuke Urahara is on our side" Yamamoto said, as if that settled the matter.

Kyouraku looked puzzled, but seemed to trust his judgment.

Urahara move to stand next to Fumiko. He smiled down at her, then turned back to face the Captains.

"As I'm sure you've noticed, Fumiko here is able to control the amount of spiritual pressure she emanates, up to hiding herself completely.

He nodded at Fumiko to demonstrate.

It took her mere seconds to make all her pressure disappear, suppressing it into the deepest depths of her body and not allowing any of it to escape.

Captain Kyouraku gasped at this, and Captain Ukitake looked shocked.

"It's gone!" he said. "Not of a trace of her presence is left… how do you do that?"

He stared at her with something close to awe in his eyes.

"My master taught me" she said simply.

Urahara nodded and explained: "It started… when she was born, I guess. There was an immense disturbance in the pressure of Karakura Town, and suddenly a great number of hollows appeared. They were drawn to where she was. I felt it and went to see what the cause was – and found a baby girl as the source of all that pressure. Since she was helpless on her own, I put up a barrier around her to hide her from anyone who would want to harm such a powerful child."

Yamamoto nodded, and the other Captains looked interested. Somehow Fumiko felt they were looking at her differently than before.

"This barrier worked out at the beginning," Urahara continued, "but the older she got, the stronger her pressure became. By the time she was three years old, I could no longer contain it. It was already hard to stop her from damaging things when she was two – especially glass tended to shatter when she got close. Her parents had no idea what was wrong, obviously. When it became too much for me to handle, I showed myself to them and explained the situation as I had understood it. After that, they agreed to let me take their daughter with me and train her."

"And that is what you did, as we can all see" Yamamoto said, looking down at Fumiko.

"Yes, sir. He trained me for years, until I was completely able to control my pressure. In between, he taught me everything I was missing, since I couldn't go to a normal school – and also a few things about the Soul Society as well" she said.

Captain Kyouraku looked impressed. "So you're able to perform kido, hoho, zanjutsu and hakuda?" he asked her.

"Yes, and quite well if I may say so" Urahara answered for her. "Her bond with her power is strong, and she is a fast learner. She first heard her Zanpakuto say its name when she was only ten years old."

"Ten?" Ukitake exclaimed. "That's extremely early!"

Urahara nodded. He seemed proud of Fumiko somehow, but in a friendly, not a boastful way.

"Then, I trust that you have tested her limits?" Yamamoto inquired.

Fumiko shuddered unwillingly. Her master looked down at her and smiled.

"I tried, but her power is too much for me to handle. My body ended up slightly damaged in the process, and –"

"Slightly damaged?" Fumiko repeated incredulously. "I almost killed you!"

She hated the fact that he took this so lightly. He had never blamed her for what had happened, but she had always felt guilty about it. In truth, even though so much time had already passed since then, she couldn't help blaming herself.

Kisuke shook his head at her.

"You can't expect to be able to control such high spiritual pressure, Fumiko, in such a short time. The more often you try, the better you get at it."

"No way" she said, glaring at him. "I'm not doing that again. I've had enough of hurting people, especially you."

"I see" Yamamoto said, linking himself and the other two Captains back into the conversation. "So you don't know where your limits are."

"I do know how far I can push myself before I lose control of my power, I guess. What I don't know is how much power I truly have inside me."

Urahara nodded at the three Captains and said: "Even so, before she loses control she still possesses more power than the average Captain. I daresay she could be more powerful than most of the Captains if she wanted to."

Fumiko looked up at her master and frowned. The way he said it, he made it sound so… extraordinary. But at the same time she knew he was right. She was actually pretty confident to be able to defeat a Lieutenant using Bankai while she herself was only using Shikai. She refrained from saying this however, because whatever way she put it, it would sound overconfident and boastful.

Yamamoto was looking down at her with a slight frown on his face.

"If you are indeed that strong," he said to her, "then why did you not demonstrate that power to me when I asked you to?"

Fumiko looked down. She had been afraid of that question.

"Well, because I…"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Urahara asked. "She still has a life to return to in the world of the living. She agreed to help you because you asked her to, but she didn't agree to die for you. She wants Aizen defeated, same as you, but she intends to return to her family."

"Of course" Ukitake said, nodding. "You were separated from your parents while you were training with Kisuke, weren't you?"

Fumiko nodded. "I was afraid that you would give me a higher rank, sir, since the Gotei 13 are short three Captains and one Lieutenant. I… I wanted to help, but I'd rather not be in such an important position."

She was aware of the fact that she sounded like a coward, then reminded herself that she had never asked for power.

We did complain about not having anything to do, though, at the beginning. But that doesn't mean we asked to be killed in this war, Nami no Sasayaki said quietly.

"I see" the Head Captain said. Then he turned to Urahara.

"Thank you for explaining this to us. I will see what I can do to help. You can leave now; Sasakibe will organize a Senkaimon to take you back to the world of the living."

Urahara nodded, patted Fumiko on the shoulder and left the room.

Yamamoto looked at her for a moment, then turned to his fellow Captains.

Captain Ukitake smiled. "She isn't our enemy" he said.

"I agree" Captain Kyouraku said, nodding.

"I'm glad you've come to this conclusion, it is the same that I myself have come to. You may leave now. I thank you for your help."

Kyouraku grinned at the old man. "Any time."

Then he followed Captain Ukitake out of the room, leaving Fumiko alone with the Head Captain.

He looked down at her thoughtfully, then beckoned her outside.

"Come with me."

She nodded obediently once more, at the same time suppressing her power to her usual level – that of a Third Seat.

Yamamoto led her through the building, which turned out to be one of Squad 1, and into another empty room. At least it looked empty to Fumiko at first, then she saw there was another Senkaimon inside it, along with two members of the Kido Corps, who had apparently opened it for them.

Fumiko didn't know much about the Kido Corps, but then again, nobody really did. It was mostly their job to open the Senkaimon from the Soul Society, and she had heard they released powerful seals when necessary, but that was about all she knew.

"Follow me" Yamamoto said to her, beckoning again. He stepped forward, nodding to the two figures standing on either side of the gate, then walked right through it and vanished.

Fumiko narrowed her eyes.

What now?

I have no idea. But we'd better follow. I think he doesn't mistrust us so much anymore… but I could be wrong. So be careful.

Fumiko sighed quietly, almost warily.

I will, she assured her Zanpakuto, then followed the Head Captain.

Hey there, you guys :D Chapter 9 is now officially HERE :D

I wanted to thank all of you once again for your wonderful reviews, they always make my day :D Thank you so much, animefreakiscool, NightWing101, KuroTenshiShiroTenshi, Pelawen Night, Apple Slice, Nightmaera, chaelaellis, toshirolovr94, metsfan101 and "addy"! You're all awesome :3

I'm trying my best to upload once a week, but I don't know whether I can do this so regularly since school work is piling up here D: But you know I'll try, alright? :D And remember, reviews tend to motivate me A LOT :3 *coughs*