Notes: Okay, I'm so excited. Because when this chapter is over, you guys get a twofer!
I wrote chapter 36 ahead of time. I had to!
I thank all readers for their continued fandom, just to let you know, until January first I won't be starting on another update do to family visits, holidays, Christmas, etc. As well as my 21st birthday. But starting January first I'm taking up the keyboard once again.
Now, before I begin the notes. Remember the song during the rush to try and save Karin? I have the title and artist.
Kon: That's a good thing. That stupid rock song was driving me crazy!
Then pass on the note already Kon you dumbhead!
Kon: Oh, right! (passes out note with song and artist)
Title: Soul Society
Artist: Kamelot
This chapter, in the meantime, is the Shinigami and Arrancar's goings on the hours leading up to the funeral.
Note to self, here are my garbled notes about Nostradamus and the 13th Zodiac Sign, taken in a rush while watching documentary on history channel at 1 am. Sign 13 is Ophiucus pronounced Oh fiu cus (serpent holder) Ophiucus crosses the celestial equator and aligns with the center of the galaxy, located between signs Scorpio and Sagitarrius. Dark rift, or the center of the galaxy, sun rises in perfect alignment. Sagitarius points directly at Ophiucus. Alignment between divine and earthly crosses (same symbol is also used on the tarot card "Wheel of Fortune" (Ophiucus, Earth and Sun) once every 1,300 years. (last date of alignment 1100, marking roughly the age of pieces (age of Christ) Note to self, google Ophiucus on google.
I normally don't like Apocolypse theories, but I /do/ like astrology. I didn't know that there was a mystical 13th sign. So that's a trivia tidbit I don't want to lose.
Btw, any star trek fans want the trivia. I made the antibonding potions the color of Romulan Ale! (cackles) You know, that stuff is illegal for a reason!
ZOMG!!!! BLEACH THE DIAMOND DUST REBELLION COMES OUT ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! (faints) I'M SO HAPPY!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!
I'll be away at my moms on my Birthday. But by the time I get back there will very likely be a dattebayo fansub of it somewhere. (trembles, trembles) Anybody reviewing on the 22nd who's spotted a Bleach:DDR fansub from them please drop a review in my box! I'm beggin ya!
Shiver shiver…… Deathnote. The series makes me shake from opening to credits! Worse! Its Quatre's actor playing Light! I keep thinking Quatre's gone insane again. Only this time he has world domination on his mind. Deathnote really does scare me though. I only stop shaking when Blood+ comes on. And get this Adultswim. I WANT TO SEE MORE BLEACH IN ENGLISH!!!!! WHO'S PLAYING KARIYA????? WHO'S PLAYING GRIMMJOW???? WHO'S PLAYING ULQUIORRA!!!!!????? I NEED TO KNOW!!!!!!!!!
In the meantime, except for the Karin and Hitsugaya and Zephly on duty parts, and, well, the Ulquiorra and Grimmjow sortay this chapter is called Ditty for Daddy for a reason.
Its all about the doting parents! And the pitfalls of either parenting young children, or being pregnant, or being the partner of somebody pregnant.
The Karin thing is going to lead to filler.
And I needed to finish that thing with Hitsugaya. I want to do something special with him and Yachiru. No, not pairing wise. Something far better.
You'll remember that Tousen's vaizard mask was a white lion. That his inner hollow didn't act like others. I did that for a reason.
The white lion is an omen that changes are coming. His appearance is like the Death card in the Tarot. An era is ending. But that doesn't mean that things are gone for good. It means that changes are coming, for better or worse.
I think… if I had to pick a themesong for Heartsbond, (digs) Oh, here it is. How far we've come - Matchbox 20.
Tell you all what. At the /very/ end of the fanfic. I'll put together a discography of songs I've used in Hearstbond. You can put them all onto a CD with your own burners.
Shinigami Pregnancy Report…
Ichigo- 4 weeks
Shuhei- 6 Weeks 2 days
Shunsui-Three weeks 6 days
Gin-1 week 4 days
Urahara- 2 Weeks 4 days
Byakuya-1 week 4 days
Arrancar Pregnancy Report
Szayel-Day 7
Ulquiorra-Day 1
Time of Day When Chapter Starts? Wee hours of the morning…
1:45 am to about 2 am
Hitsugaya didn't sleep well that night. By the time Shinji and he had finished the alcohol was gone, even if the potion was still in effect. Hitsugaya would rather stay awake, and have sex periodically during the night with rest periods in between. He snuggled against the other's chest after one such period. "Hitsugaya…" Shinji whispered. "What do you want from this…? I know you wanted…"
"I don't know… I wanted to cut loose. I wanted…" He shivered closer.
I understand now. Yaminji murmured. He wanted a mate… and my guess is he's never had a relationship. He wasn't sure how to ask, or how to proceed once he got one…
Almost as if he'd heard Hitsugaya murmured. "I wanted somebody to be by me… I don't want to go into war without someone to love."
Shinji stroked that head of white hair. "Its okay to be afraid…"
"But… if I act like I'm scared… the other captains will treat me like a child!"
"Oh for heaven's sake." Shinji chuckled. "We're back to that again." He kissed the top of Hitsugaya's head. "Do you know /why/ you don't grow Hitsugaya?"
"Huh?"
"Because you refuse to let go. Like a little fluffy white dog who's found a bone, when somebody gets you angry you won't let it go. You're so wrapped up in showing everybody how strong you are, you don't think of yourself." Shinji sighed. "Alright… I will love you… who couldn't… you're well… sweet… but please Toushiro, try to think of yourself, and /your/ opinions of yourself, not what others think."
Hitsugaya looked up at Shinji, eyes wide. How could he have… he'd just met Shinji the day prior and already the man had him pegged. How could he have said just the right thing to give Hitsugaya the reassurance and guidance he needed?
"I will… Shinji…" Hitsugaya's eyes felt just a little wet as he snuggled against Shinji.
3:08 AM – 3:48 AM
Ichigo was half asleep when Renji started tickling him. "Re….re….RENJI EEEEEK!" Ichigo squealed. "Ren…heeheeeheeeee, stop that! Heheheeeeee!" He laughed.
Renji half lunged, half snuggled against Ichigo's chest, kissing at his neck. "Mmm…. What's got you so frisky all of a sudden?"
"I just felt like it…"
"Yes… I'm tired, but I feel like it too…" Ichigo groaned. "That was quite a rude awakening though. You'll have to make it up to me…"
Renji started kissing his way down Ichigo's chest. "oh I know /juuuuust/ how to make it up to you."
Ichigo hmmmed in pleasure. Renji took extra pains over his belly. "Hmm… I think you are puffing out just a bit…" Renji murmured.
"REALLY?" Ichigo tried to sit up. Then Renji gently stroked his stomach just as he took Ichigo's member in his mouth. "RENJI…." Ichigo squeaked.
"Hmm?" Renji asked as he slowly pulled the hardening organ all the way in.
"That feels sooooo good love."
Renji hmmmed down their link. This will feel even better. Gentleness, tenderness, streaked with fervent lust drifted up the link.
Renji took Ichigo's sack in his hands, rubbing, massaging the sensitive skin.
"RENJI!!!" Ichigo squeaked.
It happened so suddenly. There was a burning sensation, and something opened, painfully.
Ichigo let out a yell. Renji jumped back. "Ichigo, calm down."
"I'm bleeding damnit, what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything! REMEMBER???? Unohana said that when your womb matures and the birth canal forms the barrier lyses and some of the fluids come out!" Renji hissed.
Oh shit. Ichigo realized, though excitement, not fear, built in him. If what Unohana had said was correct, this marked the beginning of the second trimester. "Renji… we need to get to the fourth division. I don't remember what she had Shuhei and Izuru do. I wasn't in the room for long."
Renji nodded. "I'll wrap you up in a blanket and get you clothes."
Ichigo hissed, the fluid was burning. He tried to remember his anatomy lessons. What did the lysosomes do to destroy the cells they were intended to destroy? Not hormones, no…… Enzymes! He was pretty sure it was enzymes that the body used to break down any sort of matter in the body. (1)
"Okay. This could be a problem later on when I go into labor too…" Ichigo groaned. "It hurts, burning even…"
Renji looked up from where he was furiously grabbing clothes and wadding them up into a ball. He shoved them into a satchel and got up to get some spare bed sheets. "We'll have to have a bag packed ahead of time for that."
He rushed over and Ichigo forced his body to go limp so that Renji could get him wrapped up. And he really couldn't move. It was like one time shortly after he and Renji had bonded, they'd tried to see how long they could go until they got tired. Ichigo had /limped/ to school the next morning.
Ichigo wrapped his arms around Renji's neck securely and Renji flashstepped out of there.
Ichigo felt a little nauseous. Every shinigami who'd studied shunpo knew that severe pain + flashstepsdisorientation of varying degrees.
Ichigo held on tight, and it didn't take long to reach 4th division that way. Ukitake would likely have sensed their flight from the building. But he'd explain in the morning.
Unohana had apparently sensed their approach. She was waiting in the waiting room for them. "This way." She had a stretcher ready. For Ichigo's dignity's sake she didn't unwrap the sheet until they were in the room. "Isane's busy with another case. And there's no need to wake up the rest of the staff for something this minor."
"Minor?" Ichigo squeaked and hissed. "It hasn't stopped burning it feels like somebody's dripping acid on my balls."
Renji giggled.
"Its not funny. Get over here and I'll show you funny!" Ichigo growled, then blushed as Unohana helped Ichigo onto the medical bed and unwrapped him.
"Renji, boil some water, and get some clean cloths from the shelf above."
Renji scrambled to get what he was asked to get. There seemed to be too many unrecognizable things in the cabinets and in his urgency Renji actually knocked over several swab looking things, some gauze pads, a basket of ace bandages and a basket of various pain medicines sorted into blue (thankfully plastic) bottles.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING????" Unohana loomed. "You're a walking disaster!!! The towels are over there!!!! The pots you need are below the towels!!!!"
"what do you think my kidou teacher said?" Renji mumbled like a disobedient schoolboy as he dove for the cabinet. He pulled out three and some clean washcloths to clean up the blood. A sauce pot (you know, the giant kind for cooking soup), was quickly filled with water and put to boil.
Renji was instructed to place one of the towels under Ichigo to catch the blood and stay where he was while she cleaned up the disaster area that he'd made of her hospital room. Renji blushed and Ichigo fidgeted, complaining the whole time. "Those are pain medicines right? Can't you give me one of those?" He whimpered.
"Not until you actually give birth Ichigo. A lot of the things we have aren't healthy for babies." Unohana sighed.
"But it iiiiiiitches!" Ichigo whined. "It feels like somebody injected pee back into my crotch."
Unohana had the most mortified look on her face at Ichigo's language. But then Renji started to howl in laughter. Ichigo wrenched one of the towels free from his hand and smacked Renji with it before squealing in pain at having rolled over too far.
Renji rolled him right side up and covered his koi with a towel until the water boiled.
"This is going to be a looooong." Unohana yawned. "Morning. Do you want to send a message to your captains later asking for the day off?"
"Kuchiki-taichou's on bedrest until the funeral." Renji replied.
"One to Ukitake taichou though." Ichigo sighed.
3:45 AM – 4:35 AM
Ukitake taichou was busy, that was the one thing that Unohana hadn't mentioned. About an hour prior the same thing had happened with Shunsui. Ukitake was just carrying his lover home then. Shunsui flopped on their bed and went to sleep.
Ukitake chuckled, then curled up next to him.
A hellbutterfly (not from Ichigo) waited for the morning to come.
Karin was not sleeping well. Her dreaming mind was ranging all over. She was a few paces back from Shunsui and Ukitake's room in the eighth. (It was closer than 13th.)
FLASH
Karin was dreaming she was back in the living world. She was standing at the pond in the local park. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Two female Arrancar were carrying something wrapped up in blankets. And appearantly the thing was sleeping, because snoring could be heard from within.
"You heard Zeph, if he stays in Hueco Mundo he's only going to get sicker. The kid was rendered a halfwit cause brutes like us kept sluggin it out in the atmosphere. Comon Lolly, put him down. We need to go before he wakes up."
The arrancar answering to Lolly said with a resigned sigh. "Alright. I just don't like leaving him alone. Lets just hope some human shows him kindness."
"Or some shinigami puts the kid out of his misery. Who knows, maybe there is such a thing as a miracle."
"That's cruel."
"Tousen was the only guy the kid opened up to. Because he was kind enough to soothe him. His aura canceled out the emotional pollution comin in. Without Tousen, the kid doesn't stand a chance in hell."
The bundle was set down. "Sorry…" The other one said worriedly.
"Lets get out of here." The gargantua closed.
The dream, surprisingly, didn't end. The bundle slowly unwrapped, as the strange looking Arrancar inside rolled over in his sleep. The look was good enough that if Karin made a sketch the instant she awoke, she'd know him if she saw him again.
The sun made his little legs twitch, then there was a snooork noise and the little Arrancar woke, then squealed in fear and darted into the reeds.
The time had to be close to dark. It was close too, the season was still summer. What were these people doing? That…… thing, was definitely terrified out of its wits, how was that better?
FLASH
Karin sat up in bed, outrage still evident on her face as she took a deep breath. She dove for her diary. First, the most important thing.
Time: Sunset
Place: Karakura, park, near the pond
Sighted: Arrancar, three, two abandoning another
Forget the details. She needed faces. Karin had never gotten a good enough look to see faces.
As a welcome gift, she'd been presented with sketch pencils from Kyoraku. She filled in details she'd seen, as though sitting on a park blanket. The gargantua, two figures carrying another.
She got scenery first, then faces.
The description of what was said happened next. To keep it short, Karin wrote it in script format.
4:01 AM – 5 AM
Comfortable in bed, Urahara rolled over onto his stomach. Isshin watched. Urahara's leg stuck up in the air at an odd angle. And his arms were draped over the pillow. And he /snored/. He hadn't drunk a drop since the pregnancy was confirmed but he was still snoring as if he'd downed a whole bottle of sake.
A foot was lodged in Isshin's crotch. "Ackk…."
"Noooo, Tessai…. That stuff'll…. Ewwww…….." Urahara sat up in bed. "What time is it?" He yawned.
"Ummm….. 4 am, why."
"Because I need to go find somewhere to hide from Tessai."
"What did he do?" Isshin inquired ingenuously.
"I think it was molasses mixed with bat guano." Urahara shuddered. "Hey……. I know I'm not showing yet, but can you get me ice cream?"
Twitch. "Its four in the morning."
"I WANT ICE CREAM!!!!"
"Every conveinance store clerk in town is going to know why I want it. They'll think I have a new wife and didn't tell anyone."
"aaaaawwww…."
"Go to bed. Or I'll call Tessai and have him make ice cream. Out of BAT GUANO!!!!" Isshin teased.
"You're cruel."
"Besides, what place is open at 4 am that has ice cream?"
"I WANT ICE CREAM!!!!!" Urahara whined.
"Alright, alright." Isshin grunted and went for his coat.
"Ice cream."
Isshin, for his koibito's peace of mind, placed a seal on the door. It was formed to keep Tessai comfortably out.
5 AM – 5:45 AM
Uryu was sleeping soundly. He was curled up next to Byakuya when the Hell Butterfly landed on the windowsill. Byakuya grunted, turning over. Some sense the man had honed as a captain must have overridden sleep as Byakuya grunted sleepily half awake and sat up. "Koi?" Uryu asked worriedly. He held out his hand for the butterfly. It landed, and Byakuya took the message.
"What did it say?" Uryu asked.
"When the first division office opens at 7 today, meet me at the meeting room used for captains meetings. Signed, Yamamoto Genryusai." Byakuya muttered, "I'm going back to bed. Love I'd suggest you get up now. For Yamamoto-sotaisho, 7 means 6:30."
Uryu nodded, and chuckled as he got up and headed for the shower. Letting his hair fall under the water he hummed softly. You know, for some reason he felt relieved singing it. It was girly, and in English, and from an anime that he detested. ("Who wants to spend five minutes watching high school girls in sailor suits twirling around to sparkly la la music? Its stupid.") Something about "it's a new day" and because he hadn't paid attention, he mangled the lyrics.
It didn't take long for Uryu to finish and dress in the kimono and hakama that he'd been given. That finished he looped his bow around his wrist, tugged on the tabi socks he'd wear under the sandals. He sprinted to the kitchen. A quick bowl of rice and he was out and away just before dawn.
5:30 – 6 am
Soi was woken up with a wiggly….. thing…. climbing onto the bed. "Soi-dono? Yoru-dono?"
"Mmph… Nel what'sit?" Yoruichi asked, rolling over. Soi fong sleepily propped her chin on her lover's shoulder.
"Nel had a bad dweam!" Nel wailed, snuggling between them. "Dew was two bad meen. N' deys was hurtin Nel's bruddies."
"And who are Nel's bruddies?"
"Nel's broders, Pesche and Donde Chakkr."
She has brothers? Soi wondered.
People in the Rukongai have families. Suzumebashi pointed out. Why can't Arrancar have Brothers or Sisters?
That was true.
"And what happened?" Asked Soi.
"Deys ripped Nel's bruddies' masks off… days was scweamin…" Nel whimpered. "N den one of dem wid an eyepatch kicked Nel in da head n' twew Nel. N' den Nel fell asleep."
"Would you like to stay with us for the rest of the night Nel?" Yoruichi had thankfully put away the sex toys when they'd finished. "Its almost morning but…"
"Dank you." Nel snuggled between them, and as Yoruichi turned over to face Soi, Nel gave each shinigami a kiss on the cheek. "Soi-dono, Yoru-dono, can Nel call you both kaachan?"
Soi's heart almost stopped. Mother… Nel wanted to call her mother. She had to choke back tears, and Yoruichi whispered down the link. Poor thing… I don't mind.
Neither do I… poor little Nel. You think that dream was…
A memory.
Yes… Soi agreed. She can call me mother all she wants. Soi was almost overwhelmed with the need to protect this little one. "Yes… you can call us mother…." Soi whispered.
"Tanks…Nel nebber 'ad a kaachan. Kin de old man be jiisan? And da braids lady be neechan? N' da…." Nel yawned, falling asleep before she could finish the barrage of family questions.
Yoruichi laughed quietly. "Silly kit."
"Kit?"
"Kitten. You're a bee, she can be kit."
I suppose. So… love… when does the new division organization take affect?
Tomorrow. Today we say farewell to Tousen. There's talk that in general he's been forgiven, a lot of division soldiers have the opinion that he had better intentions than the other two, that they mislead and double-crossed him. Yoruichi sighed, snuggling against Soi, but careful not to squish Nel.
Its almost time to get up. Have you picked out what you're going to wear love?
What I plan on wearing will make you drool. The image came to mind, a rich red strap top and red hakama with a gold brocade. And the strap top was small, and would leave her breasts straining to get free.
You're going to dress slinky to a funeral?
They're celebrations of life and rebirth. Yoruichi replied curtly. Why shouldn't I? Besides, you should see what Lieutenant Matsumoto intends to wear!
I suppose.
6 AM – 7 AM
Zephly woke when Szayel woke with the sun er, moon.
"Love get your sleep…"
"Can't sleep." Szayel said briskly. "I'm going down to the abandoned ruin." It was a dark, dangerous part of the complex with lots of hidden artifacts and treasure.
But the very traps within it were useful for training when tripped.
Pregnant Arrancar could take a huge beating before the baby took damage. This was about the same as a lion cub playfighting to Szayel.
The first thing he did when he got into the basement was try something he never did.
The sap from his back could create clones of other people. Why not of himself?
He tried. But how do you /deliberately/ shoot for yourself?
This wasn't working. Which meant that he'd need to find some way of producing a clone on demand.
For now he needed to practice basic skills then. When he did that he could move on to the two items he would need to make his escape should the mission fail.
And he had no doubt that it would.
Item number 1. A cloak over his body that would make him invisible. A silver bracelet? He frowned. The best way to do that would be to engage a shinigami, slip the band on, and then see if it worked.
Item number 2. He needed to be able to create a double on command.
Hmmm……. Quincy had rasotengai, that was threads of reishi. He needed to develop a device or technique that was the arrancar version. That would take care of moving the clone.
Then there was the actual creation. Yammy had complained. "The teme had an "inflatable gigai!" Imagine the indignity. An /inflatable/ double that the coward could put into his place on demand!!!"
Alright, gigai weren't too hard to make.
Wait…… slip into a well made gigai of himself. Then at the last second abandon it, they would have a body. He would have his life. Slip on the silver band.
He could get away clean. If he could prepare all of this in twelve days he could get this done.
That said, with swordwork and other basic combat skills never being Szayel's forte, he got to work on basic training, he would go until, like many vasto lorde arrancar who'd borne children before him, he tired.
In "the wild" of ages past, pregnant Arrancar felt compelled to go as far as they could in search of shelter they could give birth in. They were evolved to protect the fetus even in a sandstorm. If one came up, the Arrancar in question simply released their Zanpakuto, curled up in a defensive posture, and half buried themselves in sand, leaving just enough room for air. If the danger that came up was a hollow, they either ran, sonido kicking in to take them away at near blinding speed, or they struck down the hollow, consuming it to strengthen them for the babe's arrival. They needed less sleep towards the beginning and middle of gestation, but became very drowsy in the last couple of days or so, by which it was assumed the arrancar had found shelter.
In this case, the toughness and restlessness could be put to good use. Szayel had no need to use these abilities or instincts to find shelter. He /did/ have need of using them to preserve his life on the mission that could end it soon after his little girl was born.
He didn't even have to tell the real reason he wanted to test the bracelet on a shinigami. He had plenty of occasions to visit Aizen, the Espada had begun bringing their reports directly to his and Gin's quarters, since Aizen refused to leave Gin's side for more than an hour.
Simply knock when cloaked, and when Aizen asked, tell him he was testing the bracelet's possible use to evade shinigami /directly/.
He'd probably see through it, but as long as Szayel was prepared to answer if Aizen called his bluff he could manage it.
And he didn't have time to delay.
After much thought, Szayel got to work, training in something he had never bothered with.
Poetry in motion.
7 AM sharp!
Uryu arrived at the meeting room door. It was thrown wide to the sunshine, and Chojiro and Yamamoto were already discussing an unrelated matter with one of the instructors at the Shinigami academy. "aaaah, Ishida-san. I was waiting." Yamamoto seemed the closest Uryu had seen him to a smile. Ever.
That was frightening.
"Uryu… please… come in…" Yamamoto dismissed the instructor with a nod. And once he was gone he had Chojiro close the doors. "You are in an unusual position, Ishida Uryu. I did not want to bother you while you and Byakuya were recovering from battle."
Uryu's face twisted bitterly. "That's one way to put it."
"Uryu…" Yamamoto said softly. "You cannot change what Aizen has done… life is not like a path that you can turn back down and run. I am an old man… I turned my back on your people the instant I thought they were not a threat… I do not like seeing a culture die… I left some Quincy alive thinking that they would at least be safe from harm… and when I had full reason to suspect that Kurotsuchi taichou was betraying my trust… I turned my back… Now you see the suffering my stupidity has caused… since then Mayuri's been on a leash tight enough to strangle."
Uryu realized that this was as close as an apology as he was going to get from Yamamoto.
Then the commander general did something Uryu never thought he'd see a shinigami do. He bent down, bowing on the ground to Uryu. "It was the same blindness that lead to the suffering we see now… with Aizen and his Arrancar on the rampage… a trusted and loved pupil to be scattered to the winds as the sun begins to descend… forgive me… when a kingdom's leaders turn their backs, that world dies inside, and their hearts rot with despair…"
Uryu turned, he'd had his back to the old man as if to walk away, but then he turned at the words 'forgive me.' Listening carefully before formulating a response.
"I have no right to offer you this… after the eyes I turned blind…" Yamamoto offered Uryu something wrapped in deepened midnight blue cloth, and he pulled back the protective padding to reveal a sapphire blue and silver version of a lieutenant's badge. Upon it was the kanji for five, and the lilly of the valley for the fifth division.
"Ishida Uryu, the fifth division has no captain, and their lieutenant fell prey to his treachery. To protect the leaderless divisions, we are combining captaincies. But we have been unable to find a lieutenant to represent the division. Ishida Uryu, will you accept the position of interim lieutenant for the fifth division, until war's end?"
Ishida looked up, meeting the mighty sotaisho's eyes. He didn't see a mighty soul reaper there. He didn't see the man who had ordered his fellow Quincy cut down. He saw an old man, saddened by all that he had seen and done.
"Who are you putting in as captain?"
"I think you'll get along with him very well… you're staying at his house." Yamamoto chuckled.
Uryu nodded. Byakuya would be leading him. If he did what he was going to do, then he could live with himself if the man he loved was the one leading him.
The best way that Uryu could get revenge on Aizen for what he had done to him was to step forwards for the men he'd left behind, for the lieutenant who's life he'd ruined. He could take their ruined hopes into his hands and make an arrow fly far enough to hit the moon.
"Then show me where to aim my arrow, general." Uryu knelt before Yamamoto with his head bowed, like the knights of old. "I will fight for the fifth division, and protect what Aizen burned to ruins. That does not mean that I agree with all Soul Reapers. And it does not mean that you, or captain Kurotsuchi, are forgiven. I am fighting for the honor of the fighters deserted. Because even if I didn't see everything, I know what was happening the day Rukia was almost murdered. Friend was turned against friend. Loved one against loved one. Your world was falling to ruin.
"If that happens again, the Soul Society that my father must go to when he dies will lie in ruin. The Quincy fought for, and still fight for, the peace and safety of the dead. If the world the deceased go to is in ruins, then the peace they fought for is for naught.
"We fight, and fought, all those years ago for the ones we loved. Nothing more. That's why I followed Ichigo's leadership. Once I found out about what he'd done and why."
Uryu took the badge, but then as he unwrapped the armband part; and something fell free. "This… this is…" Uryu's eyes widened.
"Your father still loves you Uryu… the only reason he kept you back from your grandfather's teaching was to protect you… in his own way, he was showing how much he loved you… he didn't want you to suffer your ancestor's fate… but now, there's a point where a father can no longer shield his son from battle, he's left you his own brand of protection… please, take it."
"I…" Uryu's eyes filled with tears. He wiped them away, "Yes sir… thank you…" He bowed politely.
"Chojiro, please lead Uryu to the 5th Division Lieutenant's Office. Inform the third seat that I've found him the relief he's so desperately asked for."
Uryu slipped the necklace over his neck. //Thanks dad. I… I'm sorry I was so horrible to you.//
7:30 AM
Shunsui Kyoraku was trying to get what sleep he could. He was half awake, half asleep. Very drowsy. And Ukitake had fallen asleep with his head between Shunsui's shoulder blades.
Then he felt it, something stirring. It was like a tendril reaching into his mind, trying to touch something in him. It was a feeling, lazy curiosity, hesitant, cautious, but rapidly turning cheerful, happy, as if to say 'I found you.'
Kyoraku became, then, fully awake… but he was careful not to startle. Was this… what he thought it was? He carefully moved a hand down to his belly.
Suddenly an image jumped to life, a happy little face, with huge brown eyes, smiling widely at him. A boy, a happy little baby boy's face smiling at him…
Kyoraku was startled out of his reverie. "Jyou-kun!" He giggled, turning around. He would have knocked his koi out of bed if he hadn't clung to him right then.
"AH… Shunsui what the hell possessed…."
"It's a boy…" Shunsui giggled.
"Huh? You sensed the gender?"
"He told me he was a boy…"
"Now you're not making sense."
"It doesn't make sense to me either. Do we bother Unohana-san?"
"Uuuuuuuh… let me wake up and have a cup of tea first." Ukitake grunted. "I highly doubt an unborn baby could /tell/ you its gender."
"I don't know why either… it wasn't even words either… it was… feelings… I felt like he was smiling at me."
"Felt like… so how do you know it was him…"
"Because it was aimed at me… it wasn't /from/ me." Kyouraku replied.
"That doesn't make any sense either." Ukitake's eyes were squinted closed, though slowly waking up. "How does a baby, who hasn't even seen light, doesn't even know words/tell/ somebody anything?"
"Maybe its just me then. But my curiosity is piqued."
"Alright… lets go then."
Suddenly the Hell Butterfly landed on Kyoraku's nose. "Oh, I didn't notice you."
Vice Captain of Twelfth Division Kurotsuchi Nemu is to conduct standard psy aptitude exams on Kurosaki Karin at the shielded laboratory building behind the main Laboratory hall.
Kyoraku growled low in his throat. "And we know what he does with those."
"Hmmm?" Ukitake asked.
Shunsui repeated the message. "Nemu's likely doing it simply because Yama-jii doesn't trust Kurotsuchi enough to do the tests correctly. But it doesn't matter, they're all brutal."
7:45
Uryu felt a chill as he entered the lieutenant's office for division five.
Buildings and offices tended to take on a life of their own, and an affinity for their owner. If the chill in the air was any indicator, being introduced to Momo was not going to go well.
Uryu muttered a Buddhist Sutra under his breath, hoping that that would placate the office that seemed to have taken an entity of its own.
Chojiro seemed oblivious. "Kanno, are you here?" He called softly.
A figure walked out of the captains room. Kanno was lithe, graceful. His long black hair was pulled back in a quip (2). He had pale, frosty blue eyes. He was neither too long nor too short nor too fat nor too thin. There was an unearthly sort of look to both his walk and his coloring.
Kanno smiled politely at Chojiro. "Lieutenant, what brings you today?"
"I've brought Ishida Uryu, the Quincy who died in the attack, to take over for Momo, captain Kuchiki will be by tomorrow to take over."
Uryu looked up at Kanno, who was so ghostly and graceful he didn't even look like he'd once been human. It was as if all color had been drained from his skin, and his face was elongated, casting his expression eternally into a sorrowful one. His Zanpakuto was a small sword, not even Japanese in style. He'd seen the style in books on Celtic armor. On the other side of his uniform was a panpipe and a calabash gourd of something that smelled sweet and delicious, hanging from his obi sash. And he was thin, even for Uryu's spindly frame. (3)
"Momo will not be pleased."
"I know, but perhaps new leadership will shock her out of this. I'm told the fits of catatonia will continue, but her memories, her ability to process reality can be returned to normal. Something must be done."
"Not until after everything has finished some semblance of order." Replied Kanno. "Come Ishida, there is much to be done."
8 AM
"Aaah, Captain Kyoraku, Captain Ukitake, I'm surprised to find you both back already. Do you need to speak about something?" Unohana ushered both captains into her private office.
Shunsui hopped up onto the edge of the medical bed. (Still comfier than the ones in the living world!)
"He /claims/ that the child actually /told/ him his gender."
"It was… it was weird, but its true!" Shunsui argued. "I was half asleep, and I felt something tugging on my mind. Not my riatsu but on my mind. Then I got an image in my head of a baby boy, he had brown eyes even! He was smiling at me like he wanted to say hello!" Kyoraku insisted.
"Hmmm?" Unohana frowned. "Its odd, and rare, but its not impossible. I wonder…" She stood and smiled. "Well… lets see… Ukitake-taichou, why don't we have an ultrasound done on your mate? If the baby is a boy, is that proof enough for you?"
"Huh? But shinigami can still sense the gender of their children. And everyone knows that brown eyes are the dominant gene over blue. Both Shunsui and I both have brown."
"I see…" Unohana sat on one of the stools in the room and looked at the two men with a crafty smile. "Then… I guess I'll tell you both…"
"Some shinigami children /do/ have a certain level of psychic ability. We are all, to a certain limit, empathic. Our ability to sense riatsu, its tone, its strength, even its owner, is a given. But some shinigami born in generations past have taken that ability to a higher level. Usually, the older the pair of shinigami, the more likely. Simply due to the fact that their genes have remained unchanged in literally centuries. Others with enclosed genomes, such as the Kuchikis or Shihouins or Fongs have bloodlines so inbred that the abilities /stay/ there, that's why periodically the clan elders allow newcomers into the clans, they want to balance other more /negative/ effects of inbreeding."
"The essence is, however, that such Shinigami children need both extra care and extra discipline. Few telepaths have been born in the past several centuries, because shinigami have grown numerous, and there are now some of us from places other than Japan." Unohana sighed. "So its not unusual for a pair not to understand what's going on. But some telepathic shinigami are indeed bold enough or inquisitive enough to try and reach their parents from the womb. Especially in times of sleep when the mind is far more open."
"As for discipline, as a shinigami child grows, they need to understand that they are /not/ supposed to read people's minds at random. And if they read yours you should /not/ act like they are frightening or strange. They need to understand that doing so is a matter of courtesy, not that you are trying to staunch their ability. It also means that they need to have a shielded nursery. With all the goings on, the baby won't be able to sleep even if its quiet because all the people going to sleep are thinking about the day tomorrow, those burning the midnight oil or tripping the light fantastic will certainly keep the child awake.
"Other mental practice, later on, will be needed to practice blocking out extraneous mental noise." Unohana sighed. "This is annoying, there's no remaining telepath shinigami /alive/. Miyako Shiba's grandmother was the most accomplished. With the Shiba's near extinct and no heir left of that branch there isn't even the possibility. Likewise, an aunt of captain Kuchiki's about four generations back trained Miyako's grandmother. There have been no significant new telepaths since then, and the last died out in the Quincy Massacre, died of suicide because the mental barrage from the battle and the bitterness from both sides overwhelmed his senses and his heart. He stabbed himself on his own zanpakuto."
Unohana looked both perplexed and mournful. There was nobody to assist her. This was a challenge she was not equipped to handle and how to handle it wasn't something she knew.
How was she to help the babe when its abilities were outside the scope of even /her/ knowledge. She could help /Karin/ a little when the time came. But…
Shunsui and Ukitake looked at each other.
How…… the last one died of suicide?
Then we just need to keep the child safe, and teach him how to be strong… I will not lose my own…… not to something that meaningless. Shunsui wrapped a pair of arms around his middle.
I never took you for the motherly type.
Shunsui remembered that first glimpse of almost unnaturally large brown eyes. I have reason to be.
9 AM
"So what's this freaky net thing for?" Asked Karin as Nemu directed Rin in fixing it around her hairline.
"It's a goose egg sensor." (4)
"A what?"
Rin volunteered. "It's a brainwave monitor, it's a really sensitive type that registers the types of brainwaves that are used for psychic abilities. A normal shinigami has specific patterns for the functions of their spirit powers. For communication with their zanpakuto, for calling shikai and bankai, for spirit bonding, even for calling forth their riatsu. The psychic powers /we're/ looking for are a little closer to the ones you see in living world sci fi movies." Rin popped a jolly rancher into his mouth and sucked on it while he worked. "Candy?"
"She can't have any, at least until /after./ The sugar in candy releases endorphins that modify brainwaves and throw the testing off."
Nemu turned back to Karin. "The other important thing to remember is that the type of ability needs a different type of test. And a few others can only be done in the field. Since kinesis, for example, can have all kinds of outside sources, its near impossible to tell if its /biological/ or an effect of one's zanpakuto for example."
"What we're doing is the card test." Added Nemu. "Its simple. We can't verify your predictive ability beyond what incidents have been proven so far. We have the two separate incidents that you reported in your journal. But we have no way to verify them because we didn't have a goose egg net hooked up at the time and there were no points of reference to go by. They also haven't started to happen yet. So how do we know if they're accurate?"
"So what do I do?"
Nemu put a deck of Rio Las Vegas playing cards through a mechanical shuffling device. At the same time she pulled out a blindfold made of suede and several other materials.
"This should block out your vision entirely. You'll be blindfolded, and when you draw a card, without turning it over you need to tell me what suite it is. To make it harder, these cards were used previously at a /very/ large casino, the energy of the place, cheaters and honest folk alike, is imbued in it. It's a lot harder to predict based on objects that have been touched by many hands than by ones touched only by one person."
"If you can, name the number or face of the card as well." Nemu continued. "I record a point for every correct guess and I will be placing a mark for good or bad guesses alike, so do not try to listen to see whether or not you were accurate."
Do not tense up, simply let your powers flow. Hisuimaru agreed. Tensing, thinking about your power will only make it more difficult. You must let the power flow rather than trying to /force/ the direction of its flow. Treat it like a river.
Karin was very embarrassed to see that the goose egg monitor was moving in time with Hisuimaru's words. "Looks like somebody had some input." Rin giggled.
Nemu frowned, "You've spoken with your zanpakuto spirit already?"
"Yeah, why?"
"When the test begins, tell your zanpakuto spirit to be quiet, please, any input from him will throw off the test."
I will be silent. Hisuimaru consented after a moment's consideration.
"He says he'll be quiet."
"Alright." Nemu's hands were gentle as she affixed the blindfold. "Remember, calm, simply let the power flow. Most of the more difficult shinigami abilities respond better if you remain calm."
Karin emptied her mind of all thought, closing her eyes even with the blindfold. She drew a card from the pile and after a moment's pause the graph began to move. "Queen of clubs." She heard the scrabbling of a pencil, and drew card number two, "Six of hearts," Three, "Three of clubs…"
The test continued on, but Karin had already eaten, showered, dressed, the whole nine yards. She had no bodily needs or stresses. "Five of clubs" Again. "Ace of diamonds." Another time. "Nine of diamonds." "Ace of Clubs."
Karin didn't bother with time either. She was content to sit and recite cards. "Four of diamonds." "Six of clubs"
The deck was rapidly decreasing beneath her hands. "Jack of hearts." "Six of Spades." "King of Spades." "Jack of Spades."
Nearing the end now. "Two of diamonds."
Rin and Nemu were /good./ The both of them were absolutely silent. Not even the shuffling of feet. Nothing beyond the scratching of Nemu's pencil marking her answers. "Three of diamonds." "Four of spades." "Deuce of Spades." "Four of clubs." "Ten of diamonds."
Karin was down to her last card finally. "And the last card in the deck is ten of spades."
Nemu could be heard grabbing the cards and returning them to a nondescript and neat deck with purple backing. Karin couldn't see a trace of whether or not she'd been right. "I didn't hear so much as a scratch other than the pencil."
"That's why we're good." Nemu smiled as she returned the deck to where it belonged. "This is the twelfth division. Science is our specialty. A scientist has to be both patient and efficient. We excel in tactics as well, though I fear we don't hold a monopoly in creating kidou. Fifth division does, or did. Aizen was their best kidou inventor. He understood the theory and pattern better than anyone. Some of our most deadly kidou were created by him."
"Kidou, what are they?"
"Hmm? Oh, they're demon magic spells. Only a shinigami can use them."
"Can you teach me some?" Karin asked, keeping her vision in mind. "I mean even if you don't have a monopoly on them you know how to do them right?"
"Of course, every shinigami is required to learn them before they pass the academy. Although some of them don't bother. I'm one of the better Kidou users, Nanao, and previously Momo, Rukia as well. For some reason a lot of male shinigami have difficulty with using Kidou."
"Any idea why?"
"Not even we've figured that out." Chuckled Nemu. "I can teach you. Just let me drop this off in my father's office. And when we enter/do not/ touch anything. He'll string you up by your internal organs, literally."
Karin shuddered. But then she saw why Nemu said that. Kurotsuchi's office looked like a mad scientist's laboratory. A huge computer databank, a large table with several horrific looking implements. A /ton/ of half made machines. And there were far too many things in jars that Karin didn't want to /know/ the names of. She followed timidly in Nemu's wake, getting a chill just walking in.
Did Nemu have nerves of steel walking in here. "I'm feeling a little faint." Karin whispered.
Nemu set the report down on the desk, her name signed at the bottom. "Where?" She demanded, urgently.
Karin shook her head. "My forehead." She shivered. "I feel like I've walked into a mausoleum."
"Just hang on a little longer." Nemu lead Karin calmly out, a calm, strong, warm hand on skin that was rapidly becoming chill. Karin's head felt fuzzy between the eyebrows. And she shuddered now, as if she were out in the snow, that's how she felt. Though the thermostat was set to a comfortable 72 degrees.
"I was afraid that was going to happen." As soon as they were clear of the office Nemu scooped up Karin and shot out of the whole building using Shunpo.
Karin was near swooning in distress. Her vision was blurred, but clearing.
Nemu took a deep breath and carefully started checking Karin over. "Are you alright?"
Karin shook her head back and forth to clear it. "What happened?"
"You need to learn to shield your riatsu in there. After purposefully using a psychic ability the user needs to close up their third eye, the energy center between their eyebrows. If they don't, they start absorbing residual energy from their environment. My father has a riatsu as cold as ice, and a captain's energy simply by the nature of their strength is overwhelming for most novice soul reapers. To force an opponent to the ground, Zaraki-taichou has only to open his riatsu, he doesn't even need to draw his sword. Your body started absorbing the residual riatsu my father left behind in that place and started going into shock. Please, take a few minutes to warm up and calm down, I'll explain how to close up your third eye while you rest. I feel it's a skill you'll need immediately. Some people who absorb such energy show mood changes, everything from irritability to elation. But letting such energy in all the time is severely damaging to the psyche."
Karin froze, remembering her premonition about the abandoned Arrancar. That must have been it, he was 'sensitive' but he didn't close himself off. Maybe the Arrrancar didn't know they had to do that?
And the poor thing had been injured simply by the energy around him. It made sense, even for somebody who had little knowledge.
"I think it would be wise, Karin," Nemu was saying. "If I instructed you, if my father's riatsu can put you into……."
"Into /what/?" Kurotsuchi demanded. Mayuri strode onto the scene.
"Sir…" Nemu's demeanor changed entirely. Karin bristled like an alleycat. She began to tremble again, the cold seeping clear into her bones. "I dropped off the results from Karin at your office, since Karin wouldn't have known the way out I kept her nearby so she wouldn't disrupt anything. She started to go into…" Karin's body suddenly started shaking violently, head starting to swoon again.
Nemu scooped up Karin again, shooting to the opposite side of the court before she could fall over. Then she was back in an instant, worry crossing her features. Karin kept wary eyes on Mayuri though her body sagged like a sack of flour against the far wall, shaking.
"She started to go into shock, just from the residual energy left behind."
"And you didn't teach her how to shield herself before taking her into a RESTRICTED area?" Demanded Mayuri. "If psi energy gets loose in some of those experiments it could ruin them. Likewise the aura from some of the testing subjects and even some of the /tests/ THEMSELVES being conducted in there would drop a BULL!" He spat. "YOU IMBICILE!!!" He raised his hand to strike Nemu.
Karin gaped. This was /way/way/ different from her own father. How /DARE/ he treat her like that.
But the violent aura coming off of Mayuri, even not directed at her, was going to knock her out if it didn't stop.
"SIR!" Nemu insisted, spotting a Karin ready to fall over. "Captain, courtesy now, you can beat me later sir." Nemu bowed down into a submissive posture.
"Alright." The pressure bearing down on Karin's consciousness lessened a tad. Then the cold withdrew, almost as if Karin had been in the clutches of a stranglehold, and now the noose was being slowly removed from her neck. "Girl." Mayuri said curtly to Karin, exactly as if he didn't care. "If you're conscious enough to still hear me, then you're far stronger than I give you credit for. If you can act on my offer fast enough to save your dignity, picture an open eye between your eyebrows. Picture that eye closing and sealing itself into your skin. Then find yourself some of that cursed boy's candy and eat some chocolate. It will warm you up /very/ quickly." He said coldly.
Karin's temper flared. Her riatsu tingeing with a flame of indignence beneath the cold shuddering of her body. Karin pictured the eye and closed it up, sealing it seamlessly. But not before her ire reached Mayuri.
Though Karin was too weak to see it at the moment, Mayuri sensed Karin's defiance and near instant mastery of the technique. An /almost/ smile crossed his lips. She may not be such an incompetent whelp after all.
Near instantly her vision started to return. Karin's senses came back to her one by one. "I wonder how painfully I can kill him." Karin seethed, the instant she could speak again.
Nemu snorted. "I don't think you'll be up for Kidou today."
"But…."
"Karin. Your spiritual pressure was drained being a brat. Rest. Tomorrow, nine in the am." Nemu promised.
"Alright."
9AM Hueco Mundo
Location: Los Noches
"I can say with a good certainty…." Zephly Ascepilus grunted and Ulquiorra grimaced again at the clamp that nearly /froze/ him. The frozen metal, thing, was removed and Ulquiorra blushed a bit. "Congratulations Ulquiorra. It'll take a couple more days to be sure, I'll sneak into the living world with Szayel and see if I can lift a pregnancy test for you. And at four days I should at least be able to get a blip on ultrasound. I'm putting you on administrative duty. Light work. Aizen-sama doesn't need extra stress with Gin so sick. And I've seen your handwriting. Clear as day." Zephly was beaming.
He had Ulquiorra at pregnant. A tinge of rosy pink surfaced underneath the pale green of his face. His eyes were the most expressive they'd been in a long time.
"Can I get up now?" He asked. They were in his room, and Zephly had a bag of instruments with him. Adaptations of ones from a human doctor's office.
"Sure."
"I want to be left alone with Grimmjow."
"Alright. I won't put you on duty until after lunch." Zephly smiled.
Grimmjow found a green bolt of lightning tackling him to the bed. Ulquiorra snuggled against his koi as tight as he could get. "Hold me… I want to be with you… hold me…"
Grimmjow blinked, and took Ulquiorra into his arms. "What is it? Mi amor?"
"I remembered reading something last night."
"Reading?"
"We were once humans after all. I was fourteen, I think. I never got to finish school. I wanted so bad to read. So I'd sneak into the library every night to find a book to read. I'd even sneak into university libraries, the restricted ones, so that I could find things a fourteen year old who was alive couldn't. I thought it made me better than the other teenaged ghosts. And the stories were so comforting in my loneliness.
"I got caught, that's how I got to be a hollow in the first place. I wanted to be human…oid… I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be /better./ That's how I allowed myself to be cocooned.
"I'd forgotten all I'd read. I'd forgotten, the very night I was… I was caught… the shinigami offered to send me on and I refused him because I resented the fact that other children got to grow up and got to learn and I /didn't/.
"All my memories went fuzzed… like a veil covered them… there was nothing…"
"Including an article. Some people… something goes wrong… their brains, their hormones, they want to be the other gender…" Ulquiorra closed his eyes in pain. "You saw me… I realized that that's what I wanted… I wanted to at least look like a girl…"
Grimmjow enfolded Ulquiorra into his arms. "And there's nothing more feminine than bearing a child and raising it."
"Grimmjow help me… I want… no… I need… I need to clear the resentment from my mind. I resented dying. I resented not being able to /learn./ I resented my body /disobeying/ me by trapping me in a shell I didn't want. Love me. Please. Just love me."
"Qui, when…"
"I couldn't sleep last night… I searched what was left of my soul… I let myself get tattered…"
"Sometimes tattered isn't so bad?" Grimmjow tried to picture what his koi would have looked like as a human.
"Grimmjow, will you help me?"
"With what?" Grimmjow asked gently.
"Take me home." Ulquiorra said with a low growl. "I'll lead the way. I want to /remember/, I want to /know./"
Grimmjow picked Ulquiorra up and set him on his back. He locked the door and reinforced it with a chair. "We'll be back soon."
"Right."
Grimmjow opened the Gargantua. "Lets go."
The living world. Ulquiorra guided Grimmjow through the city. "There…" He pointed. "My sister loved that toystore. She got me a doll there, funny thing, I got her the same one."
And another. "I went there for school. My kite got hung up on the tree in the yard all the time."
"That's the library. The public one. I sat there night after night reading whatever I wanted when I…"
Suddenly they turned down another street. "That's…." Ulquiorra shuddered, burying his face in Grimmjow's neck.
The teal faced Arrancar understood. "Its alright."
"I want to remember… I want to remember!" Ulquiorra whimpered. "Its out of the way, but there…" He turned Grimmjow towards the houses.
"Where?"
"I'm trying… I can… feel it…" Ulquiorra's distress got worse and worse.
Yuzu felt the /rush/. She squinted, trying to see, trying to see. It shimmered. "Who are you!?" She demanded, grabbing a broom. "Get out! I know a shinigami's aura, yours is too cold. Beat it!" She hissed.
"Yuzu?" Urahara had come to visit, helping to pack up some things to take to Karin. And Yuzu was more than happy to cook for him. 'Pregnant people need lots of vitamins and minerals its healthy for the baby too!'
Ulquiorra and Grimmjow ducked into the nearby bushes.
"Do you have a bracelet?"
"Fuck."
"I only have one."
"If I take it I can act as a blind until he goes away." Grimmjow took it from Ulquiorra and went to put it on.
"Yare yare, Aizen-sama will be so angry with a rogue on the loose!" Came the mocking voice near the clinic. The damn hat man had used that same tone when mocking an opponent.
"Fuck." Grimmjow gulped, fumbling. But his wrists were too big for the tiny bracelet!
"But what I want to know, is if you're coming back to finish the job, why are you sneaking around?" Urahara whispered in Ulquiorra's ear.
Ulquiorra screeched in fear.
"Personal business. My mate was looking for something he lost. Spirits do that all the time."
"Pluses do, Arrancar usually go in for the kill."
"Shut the fuck up you monkey retard." Grimmjow bristled.
"Grimmjow." Ulquiorra calmed his mate.
"You…" Ulquiorra peered searchingly at Urahara. "You made the damn thing… tell me… why the hell can't I remember?"
"Layers… Espada…. Peel back the layers of your mind. Arrancar, shinigami, vaizard, hollow, they all evolve from humans. But the higher you go in evolution, the more buried the origin. You lost your memory because your resentment buried it. The moment you entered that cocoon, you sealed your fate."
Ulquiorra was ballsy enough to headbutt Urahara in the chest. "How do I make this /right???/"
"Find the right trigger. Its like any power. It will flow." Urahara replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, you're distressing Yuzu. She can sense your presence, and after your boss's boyfriend murdered her sister. She's been rather stressed out."
"Yes…" Ulquiorra turned to climb onto Grimmjow's back. "We were never here. Do you understand that?"
"Yes…"
They left at a run. Ulquiorra buried his face in that head of soft teal hair. "Thank you." He whispered.
Grimmjow checked the sun. "The library?"
"I want to raid their discard pile." Ulquiorra grunted. "But be careful, they'll notice books flying through the air."
"Alright love. I'll find a place for you to hide your books too."
Ulquiorra actually smiled. "Then lets keep looking. Turn left!"
Zephly had no such luck. He was bringing his report to Aizen, and the two were just outside the door. "ZEPHLY!!!!" Menoly pelted towards them. "Zephly, I'm so glad I found you! Forgive me Aizen-sama! Zephly, Wonderweiss collapsed! Please, come! He won't get up!!!"
"Did you take him to the infirmary?"
"Yes! Loly's keeping a watch on him. Please!"
"Alright, go." Aizen told him. "I'll look at the report myself."
Zephly nodded and followed.
The poor fellow was on his side on the medical bed, they did that so that if someone was coughing blood or nauseous they wouldn't choke. Zephly checked his forehead, out cold and burning up. "Has /anybody/ done a full work up on him?" He asked his staffers, already at work doing routine work. "When he first emerged I mean?"
There was a general consensus of 'no.'
Zephly got a very cold smile on his face, and demonstrated the reason why out of all the Arrancar with healing ability, he was top dog.
The Bara hit the ceiling and shook it. "ALRIGHT!"
He noticed out of the corner of his eye a small twitch out of Wonderweiss on the medical bed.
"There is a reason why we do a full medical workup on /EVERY SINGLE ONE/ of the Arrancar that come out of one of Aizen-sama's cocoons. Can anybody tell me WHY we do this?"
Grimace from the medical bed, and a soft moan. That was good. Maybe he was waking up?
One timid arrancar spoke up. "So we can check and make sure there aren't any congenital defects or illnesses?"
Another Bala hit the roof with a BOOM!!!
"GENIUS this boy is a GENIUS!!!!" Bellowed Zephly.
Wonderweiss was still unconscious, his body trembling on the bed. Just a little longer little one. Zephly thought pityingly.
"Because he's retarded." The bold soul who made that statement found a bala drilling him into the wall.
"AND BINGO WAS HIS NAMEO!" Zephly bellowed. "Now, ladies and gents." Zephly pulled a medical board over. "Put him in a shielded rest room, on /full/ monitor. Put the healing cover over him, if anything it will put healing reishi in his environment and keep his lungs functioning better. It will clear out his systems too." BANG! Another Bala. This one left pebbles falling from the ceiling. "MOVE IT!!!!" He roared.
Zephly pushed a slate board into his office, made sure he had chalk, and snatched his clipboard from his desk.
He tested responses gently. First a prod with a single finger. No response.
Further simple tests the Arrancar ran, even before things like temperature and breathing.
A prod with a reishi infused finger induced a response, faint.
Breathing faint, labored, exhausted. Suffering from exhaustion.
Carefully he clipped the pulse monitor on, then checked temperature.
Arrancar have bodyheat. But it is about three degrees cooler on average than a human. Wonderweiss' fever was a hundred and one. For an Arrancar it was serious.
His face was scrunched up, as if he were in some nightmare. Zephly didn't want to give him something until the /entire/ workup was done. This wasn't something he'd seen.
If it was a disease, one that was contagious, Loly, Menoly, and the entire medical staff would be under lockdown.
But Zephly suspected that whatever this was was an inborn abnormality. In which case, it might be that there was nothing that could be done. Or worse, a treatment for the fever may set something off.
"Sorry." Zephly insisted on running tests like this himself. But even if he knew what it was, he was going to teach his staff a lesson about breaking protocol.
The brainwave monitor hooked up easily. Zephly made more notes. Then he spotted the error. The monitor had to have been broken. Either that or he was sick.
There are several forms of brainwave. Frequencies, like a radio. But the ones that were related to sleep were all violently off.
"Poor kid. You didn't deserve this." Aizen had stolen all matter of data. So he crosschecked Aizen's database with the symptoms.
What came up was. Oftentimes, while of the psychic abilities, latent in less than 3 percent of the shinigami population, do not pose any threat to those who have them. Shielding is necessary to prevent outer stresses from disturbing them while they sleep. Also, such sensitives are recommended to have a physical twice a year, to make sure that their gifts are not causing stress on their bodies.
The most sensitive telepaths or empaths are useful as lookouts or as communication officers. However, they are extremely prone to severe exhaustion in atmospheres of heavy violence. Such illnesses to their psyche are incredibly severe and most prevalent in wartime. Its recommended to limit their involvement to messenger, communication, and other support capacities. However, its warned that distance does not always prevent exhaustion. Its very often the case that such sensitives be taken out of the fight altogether if a threat to their health is posed.
Symptoms include but are not limited to, severe headaches, high fever, distorted brainwaves, the sensation of having injuries when one is not, in fact, injured, severe headache, and eventually unconsciousness.
Treatment: Rest, and lots of it, fever medicine may not help, but it may be a good idea anyway along with pain medication, soothing teas or scents can help lower stress, including an herbal steam infusion (5) but most importantly, the room must be shielded using the same shielding used to protect sensitive material from environmental reishi distortions. It doesn't have a major impact, but an environment heavy in cleansed and warmed reishi can serve as an additional protective barrier.
Zephly blinked. That was a shinigami. Not arrancar. He tried cross-referencing it to include diseases or disorders in arrancar.
Nothing.
"Nnnnmm…" Zephly whirled.
Nope, still not waking up.
Zephly frowned. What was going on.
10AM Hueco Mundo
BAM! A very precise cero blast ripped the office door off of its hinges.
"ALRIGHT!!!!" Zephly bellowed. "Now that I'm sure that our patient isn't going to /die/ while I teach you all a lesson in PROTOCOL and the ROLE that it plays in DIAGNOSING an illness. Now, an initial visit, why do we do it? Now, I know I've given you several reasons when I trained you all. But I have one in particular that I'm looking for."
"to get to know a patient?"
"That's part of it, but while you're asking your patient how many sugars they have in their tea, they could be spewing ichor and fluids." Red sparks flew threateningly from Zephly's fist. "Got another answer?"
Another asked. "Because we want to establish a baseline." Said a female. "We can't tell if there's something wrong with a patient if we don't know what their bodies are like normally. Because shinigamization is an accelerated evolution process as opposed to a gradual one as in Darwinian evolution, error is twice as likely."
"Correct. In order for /any/ organism to stay /alive/ it has to be able to maintain its metabolism. Some hollows who emerge as arrancar have a metabolism that appears normal at first. But then it goes haywire. Likewise, other defects such as errors in power regulation, dangerous defects in muscle and bone composition or structure can be fixed IF WE CATCH THEM EARLY!!!!" BAM! One more bala attack to the roof and Zephly took up the chalk. "Now." He started scribbling madly on the board.
"These are our symptoms. Fever, six degrees above normal. I've taken the time to check his ichor. Arrancar are /very/very/very/ resistant to disease. He's negative for bacteria."
"Doesn't mean its not a virus."
"In which case, we'll know within the day when half the compound collapses. Or if it came from a common source in the compound, we should be seeing our comrades dropping for no reason like flies."
He started up again. "So, unless we have more people dropping, we continue along the line that its not contagious. Symptom number two, he's unconscious."
"We already know he has one 'initial defect'." One of the Arrancar, who sat at the back of the room generally because Zephly thought that repeated bala would 'cure' him of being an imbecile.
"Right. So we're going to write him off because he's mentally defective. Neeeext imbecile wanna take a try? Because if I took a cero to everybody who pissed me off in this office I'd have /very/ few staff left."
"But what if something /else/ went wrong?" Asked a female Arrancar. /SHE/ was one of the staff's angels. She followed the rules and she was perceptive enough that Zephly gave her some of the more sensitive cases. "It happens. Sometimes there are either two conditions that complicate each other, or the one has been misdiagnosed and nobody corrected it."
"Which is why I'm introducing into our first year apprentice training class… symptom… number… three!" CLACK CLACK CLACK! Magnets tacked the monitor up to the board. "Anybody identify these?"
"That's a readout from our new head trauma monitor. The one we used to assess whether a mask injury is bleeding riatsu."
"Yep, I hooked it up to him. Because it has more than one use. Now… when I found these readings, I cross referenced them with the data that Aizen-sama brought. Look at this." He read the passage aloud... "Now… who do we get our humanoid forms and zanpakuto from?"
"The shinigami."
"GOOD!!!" A bala for good measure hit the roof again. "We're keeping him under observation for 72 hours. That's three days. We're going to use the treatment for shinigami. What I suspect happened is this, as a species, we Arrancar are violent by nature. We have hooligans doing shinannigans all over the compound. Including some characters I wouldn't wish on any soul, living or dead. He's suffering from…"
The board spun around.
"Psi exhaustion."
"This results when a sensitive is not cared for and shield. Shinigami are born as babies. They have all their lives to get used to their environment. Arrancar emerge very suddenly and violently. We have no time to get used to it. And our cocoons stay out in the open, unshielded. This is the term I've coined for this condition in Arrancar. Learn it. We're going to use the samples and readings we take/gently/ from this case to try and figure out how to protect our own against it if /another/ one comes along."
"I don't understand."
"Receiving Empath. A strong one. We wouldn't have picked it up just by looking at him. But, in fact, we could have picked it up if we had done AN INITIAL EXAMINATION!!!!!" He bellowed. "Here is my theory as to what happened. The Shinigamization introduced what I am now calling the Psi gene." He placed a rune on the board. "This is what we're using in further equations regarding research. And we will be researching this." It was the rune for Chiron, the Ferryman who brought souls to Hades. Appropriate, since it was a gene introduced by shinigamization, or so the theory went. "We're taking a blood sample and doing both a hormone chemical workup and a DNA test. We need to find this gene to make sure that we can recognize it again in EVERY SINGLE WORKUP that we will do in the future. Because the test regimen is being amended to include gene mapping as well."
Collective groan.
Zephly's glare was murderous. "Right, my theory. As soon as the gene set in, the environment took over. Aizen-sama had no reason to think that the cocoons would have to be shielded. According to the stolen database even in shinigami, the gene is only found in about 3 percent of the population. We have never had an incidence of this before. Or at least not on written record.
"Now my guess is that what we're looking for is a sequence half finished. The shinigami have a way of controlling and closing their psi's off. We are only half shinigami. Its likely the psi gene in arrancar is irregular or cut in half.
"Which means that while he was in the cocoon, the psychic bombardment was wreaking havoc on his systems. You guys wrote Wonderweiss off as a retard. I heard every last one of you. And I can sense right now from your tones that some of you not only don't care. You're not giving it one hundred percent. My mate can eat fraccion. Want me to start up the barbeque? No?
"Good. You have seventy two hours to run a DNA scan, to /shield/ the cocoon area, and I'm telling Aizen that its potentially an emergency, he'll listen to me. Tell the guards that its an emergency medical authorization. Don't use Seki seki that's harmful, treat the cocoons like an unprotected fetus, the chamber and the cocoon wrapping is their womb, we need to tighten the defenses. Use salt and quartz solution and reinforce it with liquid reishi silicate. Make sure your instruments are sanitized and if necessary divert science department personnel for more manpower.
"I want immuno support, nutrients, the whole workup done, don't skimp on anything that could improve his condition. Elgiya, you and Torukia keep watch on him in shifts. You're both far more compassionate in nature than /some/ of our staff. Lets see if we can get him awake again. There are other symptoms, but since he doesn't talk very well, see if you can get his attention long enough to use body language. Like Tousen used to use with him. And get the big stuffed toy dragonfly from the kids area. He likes dragonflies."
Elgiya giggled. She was their sole pediatrician, though they were in the process of training more. After all there were two of the first Arrancar born into families that had been cocooned rather than evolved on the way. But the entire medical department was completely understaffed, and a few personalities more suited to battle but less suited to it in terms of power level may very well have taken it as natural retardation. That's a static condition, this was health degrading. What irritated Zephly was that if this wasn't fixed, or at least alleviated, their department would likely have its first casualty.
"Elgiya." As they got up to leave. "This is what you want to get out of him. He might not understand or be able to focus if the damage is bad enough."
"I understand. I'll go easy."
"Thank you. I'm pissed off, but thank you for sitting through it."
"No problem. I can guess who's going to be doing the reinforcement."
"No, he's out of this period. He's biased. And we're going to scramble."
"Alright."
11 AM
"So what are you going to wear?" Asked Renji.
"My uniform I guess." Ichigo replied. "You act like it's a ball."
"GOD you don't know? You can't wear your uniform!"
"Why? Its black. You wear black to a funeral."
Renji gaped. "Is /that/ what humans do? How boring!!!"
"Wait… then what do you wear?"
"COLOR!" Rekichi twirled in a summer yukata dyed in a lovely red to gold gradient. Black thread stitched koifish. "I'll be waiting below. There'll still be people holding torches beneath the ledge in a lit vigil. At night they'll light a bonfire and fireworks. It's a sendoff, they say some shadow of the deceased shinigami lingers with the people he or she loved and will stay until they're sure their loved ones are happy, then they'll return to the world of the living. With people such as captains, the bonfire, the ritual drumming and singing and incense and candle offerings are all methods of showing that we have no ill will for them. And some just take lights and stand under the stars. The bonfire has to stay lit from dusk until dawn."
"You're awefully dressed up. That wouldn't happen to be for Hanatarou would it?"
Rekichi flushed. "What makes you think…"
"Normally, when you're off duty Rekichi, you wear a hakama too. Right now you're just in a yukata. That's easy access and easy off."
Rekichi turned red.
"So why color?"
"There's a saying, when a warrior falls, the world erupts in all colors but the black." Renji replied. "We celebrate, because they're returning to life. Their sins in the life and afterlife are cleansed. Their spirits their entire being is returned to total innocence. They're born again, and we know that they'll return to us in some form, so why should we cry when they've both died and are going to live?"
Ichigo nodded. "That makes sense… so… um… could you lend me something?"
"Sure!" Renji pulled out something Ichigo could only describe as slinky. The shimmering sapphire cloth of the yukata lightened and darkened in a repeating gradient, with golden dragons, tama in talon, sailing across it. But it was tight and showed a lot of muscle, and leg and… "It shows off your tight and lovely ass quite nicely." Renji groped Ichigo playfully.
Ichigo screeched, then dissolved into giggles. "Its gorgeous, if… perhaps, you could tie it a little lower. My chest is a little tender, and my…"
"Okay, I have something similar, but longer and thicker. Hang on. I should be more considerate." Renji found the same color, with a pair of cranes painted delicately onto the back. "Cranes." He'd been told that within the next couple of days, Ichigo would end up experiencing discomfort as his bones and muscles rearranged themselves slightly to make up for both new organs and the baby. 'Men's hips are normally too narrow for carrying a baby.'
"The symbol of enduring love." Ichigo hugged Renji. "Thanks. I don't want all of me to be seen, really." Ichigo told him.
…And they started getting self conscious. Was Ichigo going to end up like that? Renji would have to think of ways to divert self consciousness.
"Rekichi!" Hanatarou called, poking his head in. "Oh, Kurosaki-fukutaichou…"
"Its okay, you can still call me Ichigo."
"Alright… thank you Ichigo." Hanatarou smiled.
"Why are you doing that?" Asked Renji when Hanatarou and Rekichi had left.
"Because Hanatarou is very shy around higher ranked officers. I don't want him to be thinking I wasn't going to consider him a friend anymore just because I got a leg up. Besides, he gets picked on. If a fukutaichou stands up for him they might leave him alone."
"Reputation has its advantages." Renji chuckled. "You're powerful enough to fight Kenpachi to a draw. So yeah, they won't bother him."
"Then lets go."
"I don't want to go." Shuhei sniffled. "I don't want to remember him burning on a pyre… I don't want to…"
Izuru held Shuhei close, "Its your last chance to say goodbye Shuhei…"
"I know… I know… I want to know him like he was in the forest, tender, warm." Shuhei started to cry again.
"Shuhei…" Izuru pulled his lover to sit with him on the couch. He'd always thought he'd be the one pining over Gin in Shuhei's arms. But here he was.
He gave Shuhei the longest most loving kiss he'd ever given. "Don't you think he'd want to say goodbye?" He asked softly.
Shuhei looked tearfully into his eyes.
"Can you forgive him Shuhei?"
Can you forgive me? He could picture it in his mind, Tousen talking to him. I don't want to leave you knowing I'm not forgiven. I don't want to leave you knowing that you're on your own and you're too grief stricken to go on. I hurt you, I know that's unforgivable, but please forgive me.
"I can forgive him."
"Then come on, please." Izuru begged.
Go.
"Please Shuhei my love. If you love him, you'll come to say goodbye. And you'll be able to come back for him."
Please?
"Alright. Koibito…" Shuhei stood.
And Izuru pulled him into his arms, stroking the growing bulge. "He'll be back Shuhei… know that much…"
"Yes…" Shuhei closed his eyes, and could just picture his captain's departing back the day of the disaster, before Aizen's plan tore his heart asunder.
Lets go Shuhei…
1. For more information (too much for one author's note……) remove the spaces in this link to go to…… http://en .wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Enzyme.
2. Neji in Naruto wears a quip, as does Zoicite in Sailor Moon. It's a man's style from the American Colonial Era.
3. Kanno's physical description is pure emotion. I made him the physical embodiment of what of Yoko Kanno's music I heard. The calabash is a drinking bottle (waaaaaay) smaller than Gaara's gourd, this is more the size of a bottle or canteen.
4. ™ Pegasus In Flight by Anne Mc Caffrey.
5. Put herbs and oil in a pot of water, a lot of them, bring to a boil, close the room up and let the scent fill it. Its very soothing.
6. I'm making him mimic House grilling his team. He's an Arrancar medic. He takes his job very seriously. And if his staff doesn't, he teaches them a terrifying lesson. Thank heavens for seki seki rock.
7. The saying I derived from the Bleach artbook titled "All Color but the Black."
Rosa Rubicondor Lilio Candidor
White like the snow outside on the lawn
Red like the poinsettias in the house
White like the popcorn on the Christmas tree
Red like the new year's jacket I've chosen
White like the lamp next to my father's picture
Red like the crane I put on the tree
White like the tuft of Santa's hat
Red like the stripes on the candy cane
White like the paper beneath my hand
Red like the mug of raspberry cocoa
No matter what the time of year
No matter what the distance away
No matter where the journey takes you
Always be with me in mind
Merry Christmas Heartsbond Fans
Thank you for 400+ reviews
Gwenling