AN: Sup. I wrote this immediately following the editing and posting of the previous chapter, so it's just been sitting for a week. If I gave it to you immediately, that would be spoily. I don't spoil. Noooo. I am a cruel, cruel individual.

Take my cruelty!

I do not Own The Things That Belong to Someone Who is Not Me.

The Void King

Eleven

Time was very nebulous when you were dead. Since people in Soul Society aged so slowly, time didn't appear to be passing very quickly at all, and everything felt very slow and leisurely. Out here in the outskirts of the afterlife, few people were in any rush to get things done on a day by day basis, because it was simply an unspoken rule that whatever it was could likely be done just as well tomorrow as it could today. Shu was still new to the afterlife viewpoint of time passing, so his first year felt very slow.

To keep his mind occupied, he was often doing things, although they were typically mundane tasks and nothing particularly glamorous. Sculpting, gardening, caring for Rukia, exploring the wilderness of the afterlife. He would go out at night, sometimes, and play around with his powers. His imagination was his only limit now, and he found great enjoyment in exercising this and challenging himself to try new things. Occasionally, when bored and curious, he sought out Hollows in other Districts. He discovered that yes, he could in fact kill them relatively easily, at least the ones of the power levels he'd encountered thus far—but he didn't do it often, and only when he was certain that there were no Shinigami nearby to sense him doing so. He found out later that, compared to most Souls, he'd really gotten a lot done in a short time frame.

In the daytime, he worked on material for his crystal business. And it had, rather surprisingly, become a business.

It started with a man somewhat infamously referred to as the Pied Piper. He was from a District somewhere in the sixties, and was something of a transporter for miscellaneous goods. The nickname referred to the fact that the majority of his employees—who also transported goods he obtained to various villages and Districts under his direction—were children. Sure, some were older than Hisana, making them closer to adults (particularly considering the time it took for people to mature physically in the afterlife) but many weren't. The man claimed he did this because children could be paid in food and were less likely than adults to steal the goods they transported. He also claimed they were quicker and easier to train and make capable, particularly if they were street kids, in which case he really didn't have to teach them much at all.

The Pied Piper sounded rather suspicious, but Hisana had spoken with him at length and was pretty optimistic about his character.

"He's rough, certainly," she'd said, when describing her meeting with him. Apparently she'd met him through one of his little minions, a recent recruit who Hisana knew from her various town visits and had introduced them knowing that she was looking for a transporter. "He's pragmatic, and very frugal. He definitely knows his trade. But he's not greedy and he keeps his word. All of the children like him. I think he has a good heart." And wasn't that a rare thing in these parts.

Shu trusted Hisana's judgment, and asked to meet the man. The Pied Piper introduced himself as Jin. Just Jin. Shu had no idea what the man looked like, but he could definitely tell he was tall and broad. He offered a handshake rather than a bow, which Shu recognized was done out of consideration of his blindness, and had rough, calloused hands. Probably intimidating by most standards, and certainly not what most people would think of to be working in peaceful tandem with children. Still, Shu went into the meeting with an open mind, considering Hisana's praise of him, and was pleasantly surprised to find that if anything, she'd been modest in her description of him.

Jin was one of the most painfully honest people Shu had ever met. He had a gruff kindness and dry humor to him that Shu found endearing, and Inori proclaimed to be 'sweet'. He was also a very good businessman, and discussed the ins and outs of Shu's commodity at length.

"Can I ask your honest opinion, Jin-san?" Jin was an informal guy, but Shu liked the Pied Piper enough to subtly make fun of him by showing unnecessary respect even when the man insisted he not.

"I hope so, 'cause an honest opinion is all you're going to get, Ouma," Jin said, leaning back on a support beam. They were sitting on the porch of the house, some sake that Jin had brought between them on a tray. They'd moved outside from the main room because Jin wanted to smoke, but didn't want to do so near Rukia. The man was indeed very considerate about the needs of children.

"Do you think my product can be successful?" Shu asked, seriously.

"I'm certain of it," Jin replied immediately. Shu raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised by the confidence of the answer.

"Why?"

"Simple: there's nothing else like it." The Pied Piper shrugged, blowing smoke into the wind. "People love stuff like that. If they could afford it out here, the ragamuffins would buy it as much as the nobles."

"I had thought they wouldn't bother with something largely useless," Shu admitted, doubtfully.

"It's got nothing to do with usefulness," Jin expanded, gesturing as he did so. "Most of the poor don't need much besides shelter and clothes—not much food, not much water. But they still want things. They still crave luxury outside of their needs. People like having possessions and things to treasure. I've seen guys who spend all their time collecting broken glass or dishware, not because it's valuable, but because it's something they can treasure and maybe make pretty in the right circumstances. And these crystal things of yours? They're pretty."

"And people would want them just for that?"

"Yup."

And with that, it was basically settled. Jin seemed to like Shu, and definitely had a soft spot for Hisana, and Shu was willing to trust Jin to be honest and diligent with his cargo. They spent awhile discussing terms of sale, prices, and other such technicalities before making their bargain. This was Rukongai, and Jin was simplistic in his tastes, so everything was agreed upon verbally with promises of retribution from either side should the terms be violated.

A week later, Jin left with the first shipment of crystals to be dispersed in small quantities amongst his little minions as he traveled; they would then scatter further into the Districts, selling as they went until they ran out of products. Since Shu wanted to remain anonymous, Jin made a point to make the origin District of the goods impossible to tell from just a glance at the seller.

In a month, Jin returned to personally deliver the good news: the crystals were a hit everywhere they went. Even after the Pied Piper's assurance that people would want to buy his crystals, Shu was genuinely surprised by the success of his product, and even more surprised by the amount of money Jin presented him with.

"You'll be the richest man in the lower Districts, Ouma," Jin said, amusement thick in his deep voice. "I guarantee you that."

Things seemed to escalate rather quickly from there. Every few months, Jin would stop by the house in the woods to collect a shipment of crystals and deliver Shu's share of money made on previous selling. He normally stayed a few days, sometimes bringing some of his little minions along as pack mules. Shu became good friends with him, outside of their business partnership. The man was clearly a wanderer at heart, never staying in any single place for long, but Inori seemed to think Jin liked having a place he was welcome in, and the girls really seemed to enjoy his company. He didn't remember his previous life at all, but Shu suspected Jin was probably a great father.

Time seemed to ebb by peacefully, once Shu got used to its flow. He had an interesting moment of clarity, when he was playing with Rukia one day and realized she'd grown. She wasn't an infant anymore, but a toddler. Her proportions were about those of a three year old, and it gave Shu pause as he actually thought about the number of years it took for her to grow that much. It was a lot—for a human, anyway. But they weren't, really—they were the spirits of humans.

Change was just different here. Shu didn't think he minded it—it was just odd for him, because unlike most Souls, he actually remembered a time when ten years mattered. For the living, a decade or two was a long time, and a lot could happen. For the dead—well a lot could happen, but most of the time it really didn't. He certainly didn't feel like he'd changed.

"Shu-nii! Hide!"

Oh, yeah. There was that. He'd apparently become an official older brother.

'You know you love it.'

Shu deliberately set aside the crystal he was sculpting before a small body leapt into his arms, giggling madly and burrowing beneath his haori. A few seconds later one of Jin's kids, a boy no more then seven physically, came barreling into the room. He skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding a face plant.

"No fair!" the boy exclaimed, between lungfuls of air. Rukia only laughed from the safety of Shu's lap, the official 'safe zone'. He just chuckled, ruffling soft raven hair.

'Yeah, I do.'

AN:

Time passes. Finally.

GM is being a bitch to me. And I have finals this week. I'll update again...in a bit. Later this month, probably. After my surgery. That'll be oodles of fun, I just know it...

Read, Review, Give Rukia a cookie, cuz just look how cute she is? And Shu, too. He's just so damn adorable.

MB