"And so, at the turn of that century, exalted sensei Okuni-Nushi returned from his self-imposed exile of deep meditation and personal experimentation in the realm of magic, bearing great claims of earth-shattering discoveries into the nature of kidou and reiatsu..."

Ukitake's voice slipped into the warm air and joined the gentle drone of honeybees and cicadas as they floated languidly on fragrant afternoon breezes. Warm weather had come early this year, so even though spring had barely intruded upon the cold winter months, Jyuushirou had found it nearly impossible to study indoors, a feeling heartily seconded by his recently-recovered study partner. Refusing to succumb to the languid honey of the afternoon sun, Ukitake took a deep breath and pressed himself to continue reading aloud from the scroll he had laid out on the grass before him, each corner held in place by smooth a river rock.

"While none of Okuno-Nushi-dono's contemporaries dared to contend his theories, the truth was that none existed who had the strength to validate or deny them, and so while such principles form the basis of all kidou theory and training, they remain to this day largely proven..."

A ladybug landed on his nose. Suppressing a smile, Ukitake gently brushed the intruder away and flicked his eyes in the direction of his supine companion. Kyouraku Shunsui fell under no personal demands to remain focused on schoolwork and had been a trial all afternoon; Jyuushirou could hardly tell from one second to the next if Shunsui was even conscious. Every once in a while a delicate snore would alert him to the truth, but so would an unexpected twitch or shifting of position to a more comfortable one when Ukitake was certain the man was dead to the world, so in the end it was hard to tell if he was speaking to a captive audience or a sleeping behemoth.

So, from good practice at this point, Ukitake simply focused on his readings and left Shunsui to his own devices. Jyuushirou had already learned months ago – in a tiny hospital room full of flying pillows and scathing insults – that there was no forcing Shunsui to take notes or adhere to any form of concentrated application to schoolwork known to spirit-kind. Tired of fighting the tide, but determined to do his best by his friend, Ukitake had taken to simply reading school texts out loud and praying to the gods some of it absorbed into Kyouraku's stubborn head.

This arrangement had worked out nicely – Jyuushirou had found within himself something that relished the chance to open centuries-old scrolls and immerse himself in the kanji. Somewhere hidden between dry facts and sweeping character lines was life, was history, was a whole host of people and events that had lived once and dreamed of living again. Finding the heart of these scrolls, the 'voices' of those they contained, quickly became his passion, and Ukitake rarely cared any longer if Shunsui appreciated half of his efforts...although Jyuushriou was not above slipping in the occasional good-natured insult, hearty ribald or comment on Sunsui's parentage into his recitation, just to see if Kyouraku was listening...

"Hey!"

The single word reported across the sun-drenched field like a gunshot, scattering tranquility. Kyouraku, suddenly alert and perched up on his elbows, glared at Ukitake with unveiled hurt. "My mother does NOT have a horse-face!"

Ukitake, accustomed to such recall-lag, quickly did the math. "That was 20 minutes ago, Shun. How long were you asleep?" Kyouraku had a remarkable gift of verbatim-recall, even while unconscious.

Shunsui glowered, looking grumpy. "What difference does that make? It was uncalled for."

"Just wanted to see if you were paying attention," Ukitake returned, unmoved by anything but the text before him. "This is fascinating stuff, you know – there are theories in here on reiatsu development that are mind-boggling..."

"Bah, theory," Shunsui replied, settling back into the grass with a crude scratching of an unmentionable area. "If it can't be proven, what good is it?"

"It presents possibilities," Jyuushirou replied with fervor, scanning ahead through the scroll, hardly able to contain himself. "I mean, if even half this stuff is true...combining kidou weaves, cross-breeding spirit beings, reiatsu transfer..." He glanced up, eyes bright with excitement. "Can you imagine, discovering entire new ways to use spirit power?"

Kyouraku waved a hand, looking bored. "Who needs it? What we have works great."

"Tell that to the caravan last week," Ukitake replied sharply, unable to bite his tongue.

Silence fell over the meadow, less peaceful than before. The report had come in just days ago and its whispered retelling had blazed through the academy students like a wild fire, the details gruesome enough to haunt anyone: a group of travelers, mostly tradesmen, all of them family, had been found along one of the roads from Rukongai. Well, what was left of them had been found, little more than bloody heaps of pulp with the occasional scrap of identifying clothing or jewelry. Much debate had gone up, within the Academy as well as the general public, as to what had caused the slaughter. Most insisted it was marauding villains, that the days of Hollow attack so close to civilization were a decade gone and could not have returned so soon after the establishment of the Gotei 4 and Yamamoto's long-dreamt society of peace.

Others, like Jyuushriou, found the worries knotting in their brain like the hard points of imperfect beams of wood, just waiting for enough stress to crack the structure...

Kyouraku grunted. "They'll catch the marauders who did it, and that will be the end of it." His gruff tone reached for calloused, but just ended up sounding subdued. "Enough of that kidou stuff, it's putting ideas into your head."

"Better than nothing," Jyuushirou groused back, noting that his friend's posture looked decidedly nap-like.

"There's nothing wrong with thinking of nothing, unless it keeps you from thinking of women," Kyouraku lilted back, settling a broad straw hat over his eyes just before sitting bolt upright and shoving the brim back. "Speaking of which..."

In an instant he was gone. Jyuushirou sighed, but having caught a glimpse of the intricate braid wrapped around the object of Shunsui's attentions, he knew there was nothing for it and began gathering his scrolls out of the long grasses. Tucking them safely under his arm, he padded quietly across the field.

Unohana Retsu's long-suffering smile told him all he needed; Ukitake closed the distance as quickly as he dared and broke into what was certainly a patented Shunsui flirtation. "Hey, Retsu-san. What are you doing out this way?"

"As I was telling our esteemed Kyouraku-san," Unohana replied, expertly leaning out of Shunsui's attempts to snake an arm around her waist without seeming to move a muscle at all. "I am going on my yearly pilgrimage to the Upper Steppes."

Dark eyebrows rose; Jyuushirou pushed a strand of pale hair out of his eyes. "That's pretty far – you're going on foot?"

"And alone!" Kyouraku added, with a dramatic wail. "My dear, the unspeakable things that could happen to a maid traveling in solitude..." He leaned closer, his voice dripping with liquid honey. "If it's a ravishing you're after, there's plenty of more...enjoyable options..."

"Yes, I always walk. It's very soothing, I find." Retsu's sparkling eyes answered Ukitake's question first, then turned towards Shunsui. "And I am hardly without resources; I assure you, I will be quite safe."

"Nonsense, there's evil marauders out there!" Shunsui looked aghast, while Ukitake merely raised an eyebrow at Kyourku's lackadaisical attitude just moments before shifting into this fervent over-protectiveness.

Like I should be surprised, when there's a pretty girl in the mix. Still, sharing concern for his sensei's safety, Jyuushirou piped in as well. "You can't go all that way by yourself. Let us come with you, at least to the High Plains."

"Jyuushirou, I am appalled at your lack of courtesy!" Kyouraku wailed, bending over in a sweeping gesture to capture Unohana's hand and lay upon it a lavish kiss. "We shall escort you to the very doorstep of your destination, and not an inch less."

Ukitake restrained his eyes from making a full, exasperated rotation, but only just. Instead, he met Unohana's gaze earnestly. "Do you mind some company?"

Retsu just smiled one of her enigmatic smiles and turned gracefully. "Not in the least, Ukitake-san. I cannot imagine better travel companions."

And as they all turned and set down the path together,Shunsui expounding in extensive themes the lengths to which they would protect an honorable maid, Ukitake found himself stifling the oddly familiar feeling that this was exactly what Unohana had intended all along.

The journey did turn out to be immensely enjoyable. Rumors of miscreants aside, Unohana could hardly have picked a lovelier day for a journey and the company was more pleasant than most. Jyuushirou and Retsu chatted easily about topics of shared interest - of which there seemed to be no end - while Kyouraku vacillated between listening in with elaborate boredom or trotting on ahead in a dramatic show of being on the lookout for trouble.

But days like these were made for traveling in good company, and little bothered them except the occasional stiff breeze or momentary cloud that hid the dipping sun. Ukitake was surprised to find the miles rolling out behind them with relative ease, any strain eclipsed by avid conversation. When they reached the lower steppes and the ground began to angle upwards in ever-more-challenging angles, Jyuushirou caught both Unohana and Kyouraku watching him slant-eyed. Something in the air must have been doing his weak lungs a world of good, for Jyuushirou felt quite up to the challenging terrain. If he took a few breaks to rest it was more to ease the minds of his friends than the ever-thinning air.

The sun was just grazing the horizon as they crested the final bluff on a tiny, dusty trail that had had them meandering skywards for hours. As unkempt and remote as the path was, it was surprising to see a rustic yet substantially-sized village spring into sight before them.

Jyuushirou's steps slowed as his eyes widened. "Wow. This is where you're from?" he asked in hushed tones.

Unohana just laughed, musical and low. "Yes. Does it surprise you?"

Ukitake looked again at the village; underneath the obvious destitution and remoteness, there was something in the air around this place that resonated with a subliminal bedrock of strength and fortitude. Its position on the edge of the steppe afforded an expansive view of the lower regions and, in the distance, Sereitei itself.

Ukitake smiled. "No. I think it suits you perfectly."

Retsu shared one of her small smiles, full of more warmth than mystery for once, but the moment was quickly shattered.

"Yeah, scenery and all that. Where's the pub?" Kyouraku made a show of looking lamed from their hike and beleaguered by sobriety to boot.

"There isn't one," Unohana padded slowly in the direction of the villiage, allowing Shunsui half a dozen heartbeats to despair of life before chirping over her shoulder. "However, the farrier on the southwest end of town has been known to brew some experimental spirits from time to time..."

In a whiff of kidou, Shunsui was gone. Ukitake shook his head, still amazed at how quickly his friend could move when properly motivated. "He's going to shunpo himself right into a wall." They had only learned the skill recently, and it was a risky maneuver at best when in unfamiliar surroundings.

"We'll hear if he does," Unohana replied, approaching the ever-growing crowd of ill-clad villagers and children pouring out of the wretched buildings around them. When she drew near, the huddle opened up and swallowed her up in a tiny sea of chattering voices and reaching hands. Seemingly unphased, Retsu reached into her satchel and began pressing objects into reaching hands, always with a quiet, personal word to everyone who sought her attention.

Ukitake shifted his feet self-consciously. "Uhm...can I help or...anything?"

Retsu turned amidst the din and smiled at him brilliantly. "No, Ukitake-san. Feel free to explore; they don't see many outsiders up here, but you are quite safe among the villagers."

It wasn't until she mentioned it that Jyuushirou recognized his nervousness to wander around a strange town by himself, but he immediately acknowledged the silliness of the sentiment. Taking Retsu's suggestion and cursing himself for being a coward, Ukitake took off on his own and began to meander through the rustic structures around him.

It was quite a fascinating experience; as sheltered as Jyuushirou had been his whole life, he'd rarely been afforded the opportunity to explore on his own and he wandered in quite a whimsical manner. Luxuriously, he took in his surroundings with a keen and curious eye. While the houses around him looked at first glance utterly dilapidated, upon closer inspection he found notable signs of age. The village must have been here for a long time, the leaning buildings fortified with some kind of invisible strength to have held out so long in such a remote area. It was not uncommon for the outlying steppes to be the battlefields of endless wars of dominance and greed, but whatever wars this place had seen, it had survived and stood a resounding testimony to fortitude. Ukitake found it oddly inspirational, this wind-swept little town nestled on the hill, held up by pure will.

But even there lay surprise. for as Ukitake wound through the serpentine roads and alleyways a pattern began to emerge. From every sagging, stubborn building, indeed from nearly every corner of the village, a turn or a pause would reveal a stunning vista view of the lower steppes and even, from time to time, Sereitei itself. This place had been built to last, but it had also been designed with an eye on the surrounding beauty. Every turn and twist offered the most incredible vista of sun, sand and mountain.

By the time the sun sank below the horizon, Ukitake was completely smitten with the place.

But as the shadows turned indigo and a cool breeze began to blow in from the valley floor beneath them, practicalities set in. Finally feeling the exertion of the day, as well as the descending chill in the air, Jyuushirou began trying to find his way back to the main square in hopes of finding Unohana. Sleeping arrangements were clearly in order, and while Ukitake was certain Retsu would not have made that an oversight, the task still remained to meet up with her and find out what they were.

However, Jyuushirou's eidetic memory quickly failed him; either the twisting roads or the failing light conspired against him and he was quite definitely lost by the time twilight set in. Feeling his frustration - and his exhaustion - mounting, he began walking towards the first source of light that presented itself...

A warm orange glow spilled out of a nearby building, drawing Ukitake like a moth to flame. He fairly stumbled into the wide opening which housed the source, thinking at first it was a store front, but once inside he ground to a halt. He was standing in the middle of what was obviously a dwelling; an odd, lean-to sort of arrangement that resembled a wind shelter more than an actual home. Still, the interior setup - fire in the center of the room, cookstove and rudimentary eating area to one side, bedding on the other - was obviously inhabited by the tiny figure crouching near the rock-lined fire pit.

"Oh, uhm. I'm sorry for intruding," Ukitake stuttered, prepared to back away, when a movement from the creature startled him into immobility.

The person - it was impossible to tell if it was a woman or a man - jerked a rounded chin up, revealing a face so deeply lined and wrinkled that it further obscured any hope of ascertaining gender. Wiry, gun-metal hair stuck out in every direction, defying a rather tired scrap of leather that was trying to contain it in a topnot. The face turned in one direction, then another, while a strange noise seemed to fill the heavy air. It took Ukitake a long moment to realize that the person was sniffing.

"Uhm...I was just looking for my friend," Ukitake reiterated, trying to slink back. "I'll just.."

"Sea."

Again, Ukitake froze, his brain trying to wrap itself around the strange sound. The voice, gravelly to the point of near-incoherence, had spoken the word with such fervor that the air seemed to quiver around it.

"Uh..." Now that her - Ukitake arbitrarily chose a gender - head was up, he could finally see the slits of her eyes, nearly hidden by wrinkles and completely white. Understanding crashed into him. "Oh." Jyuushirou felt terrible; clearly the old woman was blind, perhaps she had lost something. "You want me to see something for you?"

Again the woman's head twitched, and a gnarled hand lifted to crook a finger at him. Nearly falling over himself to be helpful, Jyuushirou trotted forward, and at another gesture forward again until he was standing very close to the crouched figure. There he paused, slightly uncomfortable, for a long silence that proved to be even less comfortable.

That strange rasping sound again; the woman sniffed, her tiny nose wrinkling up. "Smell the sea." Ukitake's eyes plowed furrows, but she murmured on. "Salt. Burning. Ocean. Storm..."

His sense of orientation took a nosedive as Ukitake tried to make sense of her ramblings. "Oba-san, there is no ocean. The sea is leagues away and there is no storm..." There rarely were, in Soul Society. Poor grandmother has lost her senses, flashed through Jyuushirou's mind even as he eyeballed the doorway.

As if sensing his urgency to leave, the gnarled hand snaked out and grabbed Jyuushirou's wrist with a surprisingly iron grip. Bewilderment descended into horror as Ukitake found himself dragged closer, until he was practically touching noses with the tiny harpy.

Milk-white eyes locked onto his with a vision that seared across Ukitake's skin. The woman's voice rattled low, urgent. "There is an ocean in you. A sea on fire. Thunder and lightning that tears the sky. The storm rages, waves pounding against a shore of rock. Time and again, time eternal, the sea is held back..." The hypnotic voice dropped until it was barely a hoarse whisper. "But stone cannot last forever. Eons pass, and stone is worn down, worn away...take care the sea does not win."

With a gnarled finger, the woman tapped once against Ukitake's chest.

Something lurched.

A sharp, breeze tore through the shelter, catching a fistful of sparks from the fire, and with a yelp Ukitake tore himself free. His heartbeat thundered in his ears as he gasped desperately for breath, like a drowning man. Something in his sternum burned like fire. Panicked, unsteady, he turned and lurched for the doorway, practically falling into the street as he tried to get away as fast as he could on legs turned to rubber.

Outside was hardly a relief; the world had descended into shades of indigo and gray and pitch black. Objects appeared before he could avoid them, the roads were twistier than before, as Jyuushirou stumbled frantically down one turn after another, seeking something familiar, anything with which to orient himself. He had no idea how long he floundered about - it seemed like half the night - when he finally heard a blessedly welcome voice.

"Oiy! Party's over here, pretty boy!"

Still trying to gasp enough air into his throbbing lungs, Ukitake turned toward the voice like a drowning man towards water's surface and practically threw himself into the firelight of a small clearing.

Still off-kilter, Jyuushirou felt a small amount of panic subside as light and warmth surrounded him. He blinked hard, trying to take in an all-too-familiar scene.

Kyouraku was wrapped around a too-small table in front of a large building, huddled over a tankard and grinning like a lynx. Brown eyes sized him up instantly. "So, you found the farrier too, huh?"

Ukitake shook his head, trying to clear the remaining fog. It didn't work. "I was trying to find Unohana," he said around a thick tongue.

A dark eyebrow quirked; Shunsui seemed to look him over again. "She's inside, sleeping; This is some kind of family home of hers. We've got rooms in the back..."

Without further preamble, Jyuushirou turned and lurched in the direction Shunsui's thumb had indicated. He tripped over his own feet and would have hit dirt if strong hands hadn't caught him under his arms.

"Hey, pretty boy, take it easy." Kyouraku's face was twisted with uncharacteristic concern. "I know you're a lightweight, but you usually quit well ahead...are you alright?"

Ukitake did his best to brush of his concern; he had no intention of recounting his odyssey. "I...just...need to sleep. Please."

Shunsui didn't buy it at first. "Let me get Retsu."

"No," Ukitake replied with an urgency he didn't understand. "Just let me sleep, I'll be fine in the morning..." And with that, he felt a wave of blackness rise up and he sunk underneath it.

That night, he dreamed of the ocean, lit by the searing light of countless silver lightening bolts.

He wasn't fine in the morning. Still off-kilter, Jyuushirou at least had enough rest to put up a decent front. Shunsui was hardly fooled and kept glancing at him askance, but Retsu seemed none the wiser as she made sure they all had a hearty breakfast before setting out for Sereitei before the early fogs had lifted.

The return trip held no easy banter. Shunsui and Retsu played their verbal tete a tete while Ukitake drifted on ahead of them, through the hazy mist that drifted lightly around them. In a strange state of hyper-awareness, Jyuushirou quickly lost sense of time, catching every shifting tendril of moisture in the mist that surrounded them, feeling every stone beneath his sandals. Even the muffled sounds of his companions behind him came to him with utter clarity; Ukitake could hear every word, every footfall, every rustle of cloth. Not knowing why, Jyuushirou strode further and further ahead, absently fingering the hilt of his zanpaktou...

He stopped. Took a breath.

The fog lifted.

A full score of men stood in the road before them. Raggedly dressed, all of them armed. Ukitake stood his ground, looked them over, wondered what was missing. It wasn't until he heard his friends ground to a halt behind them, heard Retsu's sudden intake of breath, that Ukitake settled on a realization.

He wasn't the least bit afraid. Hand on hilt, Ukitake waited.

"Lovely day for a walk, ain't it?" The closest mongrel, the presumed leader, grinned rafishly as he growled in a rough dialect.

Behind him, Ukitake heard Shunsui take a step forward; a rustle of cloth announced his scabbard being bared as well. "Not half bad. Although the landscape is pretty fucking ugly." Kyouraku halted a few steps behind Ukitake, a few in front of Unohana. Jyuushirou mentally nodded; two obstacles to get through in order to reach Retsu. Well chosen.

No longer smiling, the front man cocked a headful of greasy hair and eyed them appraisingly. "Speak fer yerself. Me, I'm seein' a coupla paydays standing right in fron' a me." The other men began to chuckle blackly and stalk closer.

"We're just students, citizen," Unohana said softly. "We're not carrying any money."

"That's cuz yer' assumin' we're common thieves," the leader growled, giving Retsu a look that made Shunsui growl subliminally through his teeth. "Me an' my band play for higher stakes than pickpocketin'."

Ukitake, still feeling oddly centered, felt his pulse begin to rise. Behind him, Shunsui's energy began to pulse as well.

"Oh yeah, rape is so much more elevated." Ukitake could well imagine the hair-raising grin his friend wore beneath a deadly gaze.

"A bit o' sport is all well and good," the leader snarled, closing in on them while his band began to spread out. "But again, yer underestimtin' me and my gang. My intelligence. Which, when ya think about it, is a very..." Black eyes, barely half a dozen paces away now, gleamed greedily. "Noble thing to do. Doncha think?" That wicked grin returned, full of ragged teeth. "I wonder, how much does a Kyouraku ransom fer nowadays?"

The charge in the air suddenly shifted. Ukitake slid to the side, just a hair, glancing over his shoulder. The band of ruffians was all around them now, and Unohana and Shunsui had likewise shifted so that each had their backs to the center.

Kyouraku laughed, a hard sound. "Less than you'd think. Hell, kill me outright and my father might thank you for it." He sounded eager to begin fighting. Unohana must have sensed it; her quiet voice pierced the tension.

"Gentlemen, we're Academy students. You cannot fight us without coming to great harm."

The leader fingered his longstaff, still grinning. "Oh, I doubt that missy."

Something was wrong. Ukitake felt his pulse crashing through his veins as he tried to hear through the roaring in his ears. Something was wrong...

Shunsui bared steel.

"No!" The cry escaped Ukitake's lips before he could think, but not before something crashed into Shunsui's arms hard enough to send his zanpaktou flying through the air with bone-crunching force. Roaring, Kyouraku whirled around, saw nothing. The buzzing in Ukitake's head reached a fever pitch, an electric current flashing through his veins. His wide-eyed gaze darted from enemy to enemy, seeking, reaching...and like a bolt of lightning he figured it out.

They had spirit power. Gods knew how many, or what kinds of abilities, but they wouldn't have attacked armed souls with reiatsu unless they were confident they could defeat them. A final glance at the leader told Ukitake all he needed to know; whoever these men where, whatever they were, they had the upper hand.

That brutal clarity suddenly snapped Jyuushirou into focus. Fear washed away in one cool wave, even as the raging pain in his chest rose high enough to nearly lift him from the ground. Ukitake noted it absently, the searing agony of the spirit power surging through him a remote thing. As if from a distance, Ukitake murmured to his friends.

"It's ok, guys. Let me handle this."

Their protests didn't reach his ears; Jyuushirou straightened up and drew his sword. Wave after wave of energy flowed through him as he held his zanpaktou aloft, both hands gripping the hilt, words tumbling out of him as natural as rainfall.

"All of the waves, become my shield. All of the lightening, become my blade."

Power raged within him, too great to hold in. Lightning seared through him, burning a cleft straight through his spirit body into his soul. Ukitake caught a rising tidalwave, rode it straight into the next peal of thunder, and grabbed hold of the storm.

The name.

"Sougyo no kotowari!"

With a twist of his wrists, he ripped his sword in two.