"I know you wanted to fulfill your promise to Aizen…but look at what it has cost you…never mind that we will avenge your death…the shinigami and your precious little wolf cub will feel our wrath for what they've done won't they…Brother…" a voice growled standing over the stilled form of her twin waiting for the time when her brother would awaken.
"4th seat Reitoushin report to the Captain-commander Yamamoto's office immediately…priority one transmission coming through from the world of the living."
Kasumi sighed putting down her brush with a wide yawn noting that dawn was only a few short hours away 'So much for getting the squad caught up on paperwork while Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto are stationed in the world of the living.' She grabbed her Zanpakuto and utilized flash step to get to the squad 1 barracks to see what the problem was.
"Please go in 4th seat Reitoushin the Captain-commander and 3rd seat Kurosaki are already inside waiting." One of the squad 1 members said opening the door to the conference room.
"Captain-commander Yamamoto, Karin…Captain Hitsugaya what can I do for you." Kasumi said kneeling with her head bowed in respect while in the presence of her superiors.
"4th seat Reitoushin your captain has requested that you join him in the world of the living. You will be enrolled in Karakura High school in the same class as Captain Hitsugaya in order to provide back up for Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto as you have trained your bankai to a level where it is not hazardous to you when used for extended periods in battle." Captain-commander Yamamoto stated. Her head jerked up at the mention of being enrolled in high school again.
"Please tell me that the part about me being sent back to that hormonal hell hole known as high school was a joke…Please somebody anybody…tell me it's a terrible joke being played on me…" Kasumi begged.
"Sorry Kasumi it's not a joke I'd go in your place but I kinda graduated from Karakura high and it'd look rather weird if I suddenly reappeared on the rosters." Karin said.
"I will fulfill my duties to the best of my abilities including returning to my own personal hell as ordered." Kasumi said bowing her head.
"Good I will expect you within the hour." Captain Hitsugaya said before ending the transmission.
"I'll go pack." Kasumi stated rising from her knees.
"Be careful 4th seat Reitoushin I would prefer not to lose such a promising shinigami and future captain." Captain-commander Yamamoto stated.
"Of course Captain-commander Yamamoto I will do my best to avoid life threatening injuries…although they tend to find me fairly easily." Kasumi stated before flash stepping to her room in the squad 10 barracks.
She packed everything she would need along with a few extra items like her favorite little ice statuette of her Zanpakuto spirit in his regular wolf form before heading to her office to grab her soul pager. Once she had gotten her soul pager she headed for the senkaimon where she was joined by and led through the gate by a hell butterfly.
"Bout time ya got here Kasumi…" she heard someone say.
"Stuff it Gin I got here as fast as I could." Kasumi replied to the exiled Shinigami tossing him her bag to take to the Kurosaki's home.
"I was sent ta meet ya since tha chibi captain is a migh' busy got ya uniform, class schedule, and books righ' here." Gin Ichimaru former captain of the 3rd squad stated handing Kasumi a bundle of clothing and a messenger bag.
"Thanks I trust directions to the school are in the bag…it wouldn't do for me to be late on my first day would it?" Kasumi stated headed to collect her body from Urahara.
"Ahh Reitoushin-san you're here! Follow me I have prepared a special gigai for you since your human body won't be suitable for this mission not at all…" Urahara stated holding up a gigai for her to slip into that was dressed in her favorite outfit.
Once in it she went to change into her new school uniform.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" she roared upon seeing the uniform.
"Tha's ya school uniform…" Gin stated outside the door "come on out I'm sure it can't be tha bad."
"NO WAY IN FUCKING HELL FOX BOY!" she yelled back.
"If'n ya dun come out in tha next minute o' so I have permission from ya captain ta drag ya out. He figured ya migh' be reluctant ta wear tha uniform." Gin replied.
"Just you try it Fox Face I'll fill you so full of holes even the Swiss wouldn't claim you!" she growled.
"Ran-chan could ya lend a hand." Gin said pretending Kasumi's lieutenant was there.
"NO! I'm coming just don't sic Matsumoto on me!" Kasumi shouted panicking.
Thirty seconds later she emerged fully dressed in the offending garments expecting to have her ribs crushed in one of her lieutenant's famous hugs.
"So help me Gin one of these days…" Kasumi growled rounding on the hapless exile.
"Easy there nah Kasumi…les not be rash…" Gin said holding up his hands defensively.
"Kasumi that's enough!" Captain Hitsugaya said effectively halting any plans for murdering Gin.
"Captain please don't make me go wearing a freaking skirt! There is a reason I only have a couple dresses and skirts…I HATE THEM!" she pleaded.
"Sorry but rules are rules you'll just have to deal with it." Captain Hitsugaya stated leaving for the school.
"Captain! Wait up!" Kasumi shouted running to catch up to her captain.
"Crap…" Kasumi muttered to herself ignoring the stares of the students in her class "English just had to be my first class didn't it…my least favorite class second only to math class the first time around and now I'm stuck in this hellish melting pot of youth, hormones, and pimples yet again."
"All right class we have a new student joining us this morning…Please step to the front of the class and introduce yourself…" the teacher said.
"I'm Kasumi Reitoushin please call me Kasumi no need for any suffixes or formalities seeing as how I was raised in the US." Kasumi stated shyly she had always hated being put in front of strangers.
"Very well then Kasumi. I need a volunteer to pair up with Kasumi for today's lesson." The teacher said mildly as every boy began clamoring to be the new girl's partner.
Kasumi shot a desperate look at her captain begging him to rescue her from their classmates before she decided to freeze the lot of them.
"Hitsugaya-kun would you be willing to pair up with Kasumi?" the teacher asked.
"Sure why not…" Captain Hitsugaya said with a resigned sigh.
"Excellent now class I want you to converse with each other in English and then you will present a condensed version to the rest of the class. Get into pairs and begin." The teacher said picking up a book to read.
"Christ captain could you have been any more reluctant to be my partner." Kasumi hissed quietly so that only her captain could hear in her native tongue of English "I was tempted to freeze all of those idiots just so I wouldn't have to pound whoever I got stuck with."
"I figured if I was reluctant the teacher would put you with me and you will have to deal with me if you freeze any of them." Captain Hitsugaya stated loud enough for only Kasumi to hear "Oh and its Hitsugaya drop the captain until we're not in our gigai."
The rest of the day passed uneventfully until Kasumi attempted to join the kendo team.
"You may be cute but there's no way a weak little girl like you could handle a shinai much less a bokken." The captain said.
"Really then may I propose a test?" Kasumi asked with a sweet smile.
"Sure why not…" the captain said rolling his eyes "what kind of test did you have in mind?"
"A match between me and your best fighter if they score one hit on me before I score ten hits on them they win I score all ten hits I win. If I win you let me on the team if I lose I'll go away and leave you guys alone for the duration of my time here at Karakura high." Kasumi said sweetly.
"Fine I'll have my teammates find some gear for you to use." The team captain grumbled.
'I'm going to enjoy this…' Kasumi thought.
A few minutes later dressed in a kendo outfit and protective gear Kasumi took her stance. The team captain charged Kasumi easily parried the attack before scoring the first hit on the captain's head. Minutes later Kasumi had scored the remaining hits to secure her place on the team without taking a single hit.
"How in the hell can you be that fast?" the captain panted flat on his back from Kasumi's last attack "How can you have no openings that I can hit?"
"Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I can't fight…and I actually took it easy on you since you didn't know better. Besides your stance is like Swiss cheese… holes everywhere" Kasumi stated removing the protective gear "Now you want to try again or are you…"
Kasumi never finished the sentence due to an arrancar appearing. Swallowing her gikon Yoko she was immediately propelled from the gigai.
"Yoko get them out of here I can't fight at full strength when I'm protecting humans." Kasumi ordered the mod soul. While Yoko got the unconscious members of the kendo team to safety Kasumi activated her shikai with the release command "Awaken and fall from the heavens, Hokkixyokuyoruken!"
"Crap why the hell did it have to be now!" Kasumi growled launching herself at the arrancar.
The kendo team's captain was slowly regaining consciousness and was sure he was seeing things because he saw an older version of the girl that had just kicked his ass fighting a monster with a beautiful blue and white sword.
"K-Kasumi…" he managed to say unfortunately distracting her from her fight causing her to be stabbed in the stomach.
"Ok now I'm pissed." Kasumi growled still impaled on her opponent's Zanpakuto blood trickling from the side of her mouth drawing a laugh from her opponent.
"You really believe you can beat me Shinigami? You are not even worth using my resurrection on…" the Arrancar laughed pulling its Zanpakuto from Kasumi's stomach.
"We'll see about that…" Kasumi coughed spitting a wad of blood from her mouth and wiping the trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth away with the back of her free hand before bringing the pommel of her Zanpakuto to meet the palm of the bloodied hand "Bankai, Arekuruukaze Hokkixyokuyoruken!" she yelled ripping her hand away from the pommel only to grasp the chain that appeared. "I am Kasumi Reitoushin 4th seat of squad 10 under Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya…prepare to be cleansed of your sins." Kasumi growled as a massive wolf prowled behind her never taking its icy blue eyes off its master's enemy.
"Kasumi that boy over there…" it began.
"Yes Yoru I know I can tell that he has a decent amount of reiatsu enough even to probably see this fight fairly clearly…by the way would you mind taking care of the stomach wound just enough that I won't be hacking up blood while trying to deal with this bastard." Kasumi said spitting out another glob of blood.
"Of course Kasumi after that is seen to shall I fight alongside you?" Yoru asked.
"Wouldn't say no but I'd prefer you use your human form." Kasumi said "two swords are better than one in this case."
"Of course…" Yoru said with a chuckle before putting his nose to the back of the wound.
From his nose ice spread encasing the wound glowing softly as the wound began to heal much quicker. The tide of the battle turned from favoring the Arrancar to favoring Kasumi and her Zanpakuto spirit.
"How can it be a 4th seat is defeating me?" the Arrancar asked.
"Because I am no ordinary 4th seat Shinigami arrancar I am human and my power parallels that of captain class Shinigami. Seeing as my power is that great but I'm not a lieutenant or captain yet I am not required to wear a limiter." Kasumi said before yelling "Hado 33: Sōkatsui!" distracting the Arrancar long enough to allow Yoru to slice its sword arm. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens…Hado 73: Sōren Sōkatsui!" Kasumi yelled firing twin balls of blue fire.
"Reign over the frosted heavens, Hyōrinmaru!" Captain Hitsugaya yelled sending an ice dragon to imprison the arrancar.
"Captain Hitsugaya!" Kasumi yelled running over to her captain "It's about damn time you showed up! I was getting my ass kicked here!"
"Sorry I was fighting another arrancar on the other side of the school apparently it was this one's subordinate and it took time to get the limit release authorized." Captain Hitsugaya stated glancing at the ice on Kasumi's back and stomach "I see you managed to get yourself injured as usual."
"Hey! That dumbass kendo captain is the one who distracted me!" Kasumi yelled blocking a cero "Anyway you want to help me get this over with so I can let Yoru off the hook?"
"Sure lets finish this so I can take a look at your stomach." Captain Hitsugaya stated "Ready?"
"Ready…" Kasumi and Yoru yelled in unison unleashing the most destructive and disorienting attacks they had.
"Bankai, Diguren Hyōrinmaru!" Captain Hitsugaya said "Ryūsenka!" with that one word the battle was ended. Kasumi walked over to the kendo team's captain her bankai still active.
"You can open your eyes now the battle is over and I know you can see me and my captain…" she said kneeling down beside the boy.
"H-how…w-what…" the poor kid stammered.
"I'm a shinigami that happens to be a human which is why I got sent back here to protect the likes of you from monsters like the one me and my captain over there destroyed. Now hold still while I see if you're hurt…" Kasumi said holding a glowing white hand over his shoulder "Damn it Yoko he's hurt. You should have gotten him off the field first!" she growled at her errant gikon "so help me if you don't start following orders and stop running off with my body to get chocolate I will use you for target practice…all areas kido, zanjutsu, hohō, and hakuda."
"I'm Sorry please don't use me for target practice! I still haven't gotten all the ice shards out from last time!" Yoko said nervously.
"What's your name anyway? You were such an ass about me joining the team that I never found out…" Kasumi stated as she sent ice crawling over her patient's body to heal his injuries.
"It's Raiden Nao." He said amazed that his aching shoulder was no longer hurting and that the ice while cold wasn't unpleasantly so.
"I've got things covered here Captain if you want to go make your report to Captain-commander Yamamoto and I'm sure Karin is worried sick." Kasumi stated pulling Raiden to his feet before saying the sealing command and sheathing her blade with the ease of many years practice "Return to slumber silently in the heavens, Hokkixyokuyoruken."
"Who or what is Hokkixyokuyoruken?" Raiden asked confused.
"Hokkixyokuyoruken is my Zanpakuto a physical manifestation of my own power and in my particular case the other half of my soul…" Kasumi stated touching the hilt of her beloved blade resting lightly between her shoulder blades.
"Do I have one?" Raiden asked curious to know if he also possessed a similarly magnificent blade within him.
"Don't know…you have decent reiatsu but the only way to know for sure…well you don't want to find out this soon let's just leave it at I'm an exception that proves the rule." Kasumi stated slipping back into her gigai.
"At least I know how you managed to beat me…" Raiden said ruefully "Do you think you could train me to be as strong as you are?"
"Why not it's not like I have much to do besides patrolling the town and I usually take the night shift anyway…" Kasumi stated "Be at the Urahara candy shop in two hours I've got to go make my report to my superiors and finish getting my wound treated. Oh and don't worry about bringing any protective gear you want to get strong you're going to have to learn how to dodge and how much it hurts when you don't."
"That's supposed to make me want to show up?" Raiden asked.
"No you show up because you are willing to do anything to get stronger including suffering a few hits with a shinai." Kasumi replied helping Raiden to his feet.
"Oh so if I'm not afraid to suffer a little pain in order to get stronger I will show and you'll teach me how to fight like that." Raiden stated more for his own understanding than for Kasumi to confirm "I'll be there…Urahara's right?"
"Yeah see you soon Raiden I'm off before my wound starts up again." Kasumi said walking off in the direction of Urahara's shop.