Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo, meaning it does not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original Bleach storyline (such as Anzu) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.
"Mommy, Mommy! There's a big monster chasing that lady!"
Mikazuki looked to where her daughter was pointing, her eyes widening. Mumbling a curse she hoped was too low for the child to hear, the woman scooped little Anzu into her arms and turned, starting to walk quickly through the crowded street and praying that the Hollow wouldn't be able to pick up their spiritual pressures.
Though the woman did, indeed, feel the drive to protect the others around her, the protection of her daughter came first and foremost.
It always had.
It always would.
Mikazuki had had the feeling that moving to Karakura Town would be dangerous; she had felt the unusually high concentration of reishi the moment her husband had driven them into town to show her the house, and she hadn't liked it.
There were far more spiritual particles here than in any other town she'd ever been to… And, as a result, there were far more Hollows.
Hardly a place to bring their eight-year-old daughter to.
Still… Ryuken Ishida lived in town and ran a hospital.
Ryuken and his darling little son, Uryu…
Mikazuki smiled fondly, allowing herself to relax again as the screams of the Hollow faded.
Uryu was such a cute little boy, and with Soken teaching him he would grow up to be a fine Quincy. If only Ryuken weren't so against it…
"Mama, where're we goin'?"
Blinking and snapping out of her thoughts, Mikazuki smiled down at her daughter, "Mommy is going to take you home so you can help Daddy finish unpacking things in your room."
"And where are you gonna be?" Anzu whined, pouting slightly.
"I have some errands to run." Mikazuki answered with a chuckle, sighing and smiling when her daughter went on in her slightly petulant tone.
"But I wanna go with you, Mama!"
"It's getting late, dear." Mikazuki chided softly, kissing her daughter's head and opening the door of the not-yet-opened Kimura convenience store with one hand, supporting Anzu by the butt with the other.
Anzu pouted but stopped arguing, wrapping her legs more tightly around her mother's waist, leaning her head against the woman's shoulder with a soft sigh.
Mikazuki smiled gently, walking around the counter of the store and heading to the door behind it. Even as she was walking up the stairs behind the door, she could feel her daughter's breathing evening out and her grip getting heavy as the girl fell asleep.
Giggling lightly, the mother walked into the upstairs apartment, smiling amusedly when she saw her husband sitting in the living room space, trying to figure out the connections from the television to the DVD and VHS players.
Junichiro looked up from his entanglement of cords, smiling at his wife sheepishly, "Heh, welcome home, hon." He stood, shaking of the cords and walking over to Mikazuki, bending slightly and kissing her forehead, "Did you guys have fun? Get a better layout of the town?"
"Yes, we did." Mikazuki nodded, smiling and giving her husband a brief kiss before handing their daughter to him, smiling at the girl gently and brushing her hair out of her face, "Could you put her to bed? I found the hospital where an old friend works and I wanted to see if I couldn't catch him before he went home…"
"Oh, right, you mentioned that." Junichiro nodded, "Ryuken Ishida, right?"
"Mm-hmm." Mikazuki nodded, smiling, "We went to primary and the first few years of lower secondary school together. I haven't had much contact with him since then… It'll be nice to see him again."
"Alright." Junichiro nodded, smiling and exchanging another kiss with his wife, "Have fun but please don't stay out late. And maybe you could invite him over for dinner sometime?"
"I won't, dear." Mikazuki smiled, turning back to the door and opening it, giggling slightly, "And Ryuken isn't the type to accept dinner invitations. I will try, though. Love you." She slipped down the stairs, carefully closing the doors behind her.
As soon as she was outside of the store and on the sidewalk, Mikazuki prepared her barriers, a small, sad frown twitching on her lips when a few blocks over, a Hollow screamed.
"Director Ishida, your… girlfriend is here to see you."
Ryuken twitched, looking up from the tax form he was filling out to glare at the intercom on his desk.
He wasn't dating anyone (and even if he were, he certainly wouldn't label the woman something so childish as 'girlfriend'), and he certainly wasn't expecting anyone, so who…
Just as he was about to press the button on the phone to page his secretary and tell her to escort the alleged 'girlfriend' from the hospital premises (or perhaps to the psychiatric ward), the door to his office swung open and a joyful, smiling woman flounced in, ignoring the protests of the secretary behind her and shutting the door on the poor woman's face with her posterior.
Ryuken was shocked for a moment, then he quirked a brow.
He should have known…
"Mikazuki."
Mikazuki smiled at him widely, "Ryu!"
Moving with speed Ryuken absently compared to a use of immature hirenkyaku, the woman dashed forward and around his desk, abruptly pulling the doctor out of his chair and into an embrace.
Ryuken sighed and remained mostly limp, raising one arm and setting it on her shoulder so he could adjust his glasses with his pointer and index fingers, "Hello."
"Still such a stiff." Mikazuki smirked up at him, pulling back and clasping her hands behind her back.
"To what do I owe the… 'pleasure'?" The doctor asked, his lips twitching slightly, amusedly, when the woman glared up at him for his sarcasm.
Mikazuki smiled when she saw his slight smirk, then looked out the large window behind his desk, "Junichiro and I just moved here today, and I figured I might drop in before I got so caught up in unpacking that I forgot about you."
Ryuken sighed, turning away and sitting down again to get back to his paperwork,"Well, aren't I fortunate to have such considerate stalkers." He smirked to himself when she scoffed and flicked the back of his head, then continued his deductions, absently asking, "Junichiro, you said? The man you married?"
"Going on ten years now." Mikazuki answered brightly, her long skirt swaying as she drifted around his desk and took a seat, smiling and looking at the corner of his desk as if it were something she cherished, "Junichiro and I… and our little girl, Anzu."
"I remember… She was almost all you talked about in your last letter." Ryuken muttered, slipping the papers he had been working on into a tray and looking up at his old friend, "She's eight this year, correct?"
"Mm-hmm!" Mikazuki snapped out of her thoughts and smiled at Ryuken, even brighter than before, "And little Uryu is five this year!"
"…That he is." Ryuken mumbled, a frown forming on his face as he turned back to his paperwork and found more things to do.
"I take it, by your attitude, he's off with Souken, honing his Quincy powers?" Mikazuki asked with a gentle tone, a soft smile on her face.
Ryuken said nothing and continued working.
After a pause, Mikazuki leaned back comfortably in the chair she was in and looked past him, out the window, her smile taking a reminiscent tone, "I remember, back when I was a child… I knew a boy who wanted nothing more than to be just like his father, and train to be a great Quincy."
Ryuken stiffened slightly.
"It took me a while to figure out that the boy didn't aspire to be a flower." The woman giggled, "The boy made sure to pound the proper differences in pronunciation of 'Quincy' and 'quince' into me. And, when I finally got it right, I asked him what a Quincy was…"
Ryuken said nothing, but his pen did stop scribbling on the papers in front of him.
"The boy's father was quite upset when he learned that he had told me all about the proud Quincy and their fight against the Hollows." Mikazuki sighed, raising her hands helplessly, "But it was too late to take it back. The damage had been done… I was sworn to secrecy by the Quincy code, the only thing the boy's father found I took seriously, thanks to all of the explaining the boy had done."
Ryuken sighed, the corners of his lips twitching again.
"…It was you who taught me how to control my barrier after it first manifested." Mikazuki went on after a pause, glancing at Ryuken and smiling, "It wasn't the same as manifesting the Lone Sparrow or Seele Schneider, but the fundamentals crossed over easily enough."
"And after you had the fundamentals down, you continued to work at it on your own." Ryuken finally started talking, looking up into the woman's smiling face, "Souken would often give you pointers, and you would frequently manage to find us and join in on the training, but it wasn't long before your abilities veered far off into reaches different from Quincy powers."
"I still came to watch." She sighed, looking down at he lap with a slightly jaded, slightly reminiscent smile, "I still joined in every now and then. But I was beyond being offered pointers."
"You were on your own."
"I was." Mikazuki nodded.
They were silent for a moment, both glancing over one another's shoulders and staring off, lost in memories.
"…Anzu can see them."
Ryuken's face immediately turned grave, "Has anything manifested?"
"So far, no." Mikazuki sighed, leaning against the armrest of her chair and cradling her temple with her fingers, propping up her elbow, "Fortunately, I've managed to keep her out of stressful situations that would trigger a manifestation, but with us living in Karakura I'm afraid it's only a matter of time."
"…Why don't you move?" Ryuken asked, frowning.
"Junichiro loves it here." The woman answered with a sigh and a helpless shrug, smiling, "It's a good neighborhood. And, financially speaking, we have nowhere else to go…"
Ryuken sighed heavily and looked back down at his paperwork, "You're as careless about the larger picture as always."
Mikazuki smiled sadly, looking away, "Perhaps…"
They both glanced at the table calmly when the intercom on the phone bleeped, "Director, your son on line one."
"Thank you." Ryuken pressed the button and turned the intercom off.
"Well," Mikazuki stood, clasping her hands behind her back and leaning forward slightly, smiling at Ryuken, "I'll be going home now."
"It's evening." Ryuken stated, glancing up at her and picking up the receiver of his phone, "Don't dawdle."
"You stay safe on your way home, too, Ryu." Mikazuki smiled teasingly, turning and sashaying over to the door. She paused, glancing back as she pulled it open, "Oh, and one day soon enough, I'm going to hunt you down again so that you and Uryu can come have dinner with Junichiro, Anzu and I!"
Before Ryuken could protest, Mikazuki flounced out, slamming the door behind her.
The doctor stared at the door, one eye twitching slightly.
Just like old times, it seemed…
Mikazuki snapped her fingers, the Hollow inside of the barrier in front of her screaming as the red membrane glowed hotly before imploding.
After pausing for a moment to let out a pained sigh, the woman let a smile spread across her face and turned to the group of tired, haggard people behind her. They were panting heavily and staring at her, incredulous.
"You all really should be more careful!" Mikazuki chided in a motherly tone, frowning and waving her finger at them, "If you don't think you can take a whole group of Hollows at once, you should turn and run! They'll disperse fairly quickly, and you can pick them off then!"
The incredulous looks of the eight only became more shocked.
"…It's not our fault!" Hiyori snapped, affronted, "That Urahara bastard did something new to the gigais, and they're heav—"
"Hiyori!" Shinji barked.
"…y…" Hiyori scowled, flushing with anger and embarrassment, "Damn!"
"Gigais…" Mikazuki repeated thoughtfully, crossing her arms over her stomach and clasping her elbows, "Is that what those fake bodies are called?"
"Never mind that!" Hiyori snapped, jumping to her feet and pointing at the woman angrily, "What was that you just did?!"
"Hiyori!" Lisa, Rose and Love all snapped.
Mikazuki ignored them, smiling at Hiyori in a way that made the girl balk.
"I've never really given thought to naming it." She said calmly after a moment, looking at Hiyori with the same soft gaze she had whenever she was talking to a child, "Though if knowing it's nature is any better for you, I would call it 'Contain'. It has at least four offshoots that I've discovered so far, though the default is I can encapsulate a being and, depending on what I do with the reishi trapped within the barrier, I can… make them explode using one of four elements."
"…Elements…?" Hiyori mumbled, frowning.
"But enough of that." Mikazuki said decisively, smiling and walking over to Hiyori, "I think it's about time we got you home."
Hiyori scowled, scrambling back, "Wha—" She screeched when the woman scooped her up, struggling, "LEMME GO!! LEMME GO, YOU CRAZY BITCH!!"
"Now, now, that's hardly language fit for a young lady." Mikazuki chided, smiling and cradling Hiyori against her chest as if the vizard's struggling was nothing, "And that isn't going to work. My little Anzu struggled much more than that when she was less than half your age and I never dropped her once."
Shinji and the others watched, amused and bemused, as Hiyori continued to struggle and scream, even brandishing her zanpakuto, but all for nothing; the woman's grip never relented and she never stopped smiling.
When Hiyori let out one last scream before going limp and glaring up at the woman, Mikazuki smiled down at her softly, "Done? Good. Now, which way is 'home'?"
"I can walk." Hiyori growled. "And I don't need your help. None of us do."
"There's no need to be like that, I assure you." Mikazuki chuckled, "I have met many an oddity in my lifetime thanks to my spiritual awareness, and I assure you I am perfectly trustworthy. Besides," She then smiled down at Hiyori sadly, "You yourself said that these new gigais are hard to move in. You've expended more energy than you would have liked, and far more than you expected to. Besides even that…" She smirked slightly, amusedly, "If you can't even get away from me, what makes you think you're fit to travel?"
Hiyori ground her teeth, livid, then snapped her head around and opened her mouth to scream at Shinji, only to freeze when she saw the appraising look he was giving the woman.
"…Alright, I guess we could use the help." Shinji said after a moment, smirking at Mikazuki when she smiled at him.
"Very good, then!" Mikazuki said brightly, smiling with a chipper bounce, "I'm so glad you agree!" She gave a dramatic sigh, turning her head to the side and letting an overly dramatic sob escape her lips while still smiling, "Had I not helped, I never would have been able to face my darling little Anzu for the shame!"
"Anzu?" Shinji asked, perking up and smirking when the woman started walking beside him.
"My adorable little daughter!" Mikazuki gushed with motherly affection, apparently 'oblivious' to Hiyori's struggling and screeching, "She's eight this year!"
As the vizard leader and the woman continued chatting and walking back towards the warehouse, ignoring the screams of Hiyori, the other vizard followed amusedly, Rose and Love bringing up the back.
"Why do I get the feeling…" Rose started after a moment, glancing at Love with a wry smirk, "That this is just the start of an odd friendship?"
Love chuckled, shaking his head and shrugging, "Because it probably is."
"And then she made me the most adorable little ikebana arrangement in her arts class!" Mikazuki went on as she cooked the vizards a large dinner, smiling widely and adding seasonings to the pot with a flourish, "Her grades may be a little low, but that's just because she refuses to apply herself; she hates sitting indoors." She turned to them as she let the pot simmer, smiling and holding up her hands helplessly, "I suppose it's my fault, really. I never did teach her how to be patient…"
The vizards watched the human amusedly.
She'd been coming over on a fairly regular basis to check up on them, and always came over after she felt them participate in a battle whether it was trying or not. Several times, she'd actually interceded and protected them with her barriers…
She never asked too many questions, and she never overstayed her welcome, and she had the strangest habit of showing up when she was needed…
The woman was clearly using her spiritual abilities to mother the vizards. Why, they weren't sure, but after spending ninety-something years in the human world attempting to acclimate themselves, having a native who helped them without question felt nice.
…Which wasn't to say the woman didn't have her moments where she was unreachable, though.
"Ya talk about Anzu quite a bit, but we've never caught even a glimpse of 'er." Shinji smirked, leaning his head against his hand and slumping back in his chiar, "When do we get to meet her?"
"…Not anytime soon, Shinji. Preferably, not at all."
The group blinked, staring at the back of the woman who had suddenly stopped bouncing around and had such a serious, grave tone.
Mikazuki glanced back at them, her face deadpanned and her gaze slightly cold, "It's bad enough my daughter can see the Hollows; I'd sooner her not develop any abilities and I would appreciate it if you would respect that."
There was silence.
"…'Course, Mikazuki." Shinji grinned.
"…Or at least four more years." Mikazuki amended after a moment with a thoughtful look, her lower lip sticking out slightly as she crossed her arms and looked at the ceiling. "Thirteen seems like a good age, doesn't it? Oooh, I forgot to tell you; she turned nine this year!" The woman clapped, smiling, then turned back to the stove.
Shinji sighed, smirking at the others.
The woman really could be insistently helpless sometimes…
"I think she's clear," Mikazuki said after a long pause, looking over at Ryuken and smiling, "She's known them for almost five years now and no manifestations of any kind."
Ryuken looked up from his paperwork, quirking a brow.
"…What?" The woman quirked a brow back.
"Usually…" Ryuken began after a moment, looking back down at his work, "After you and I have a fight about how I raise my son, you get up and storm out in a huff."
Mikazuki twitched slightly, then sighed and smirked, countering, "And usually, after you and I have a fight about how I let my daughter associate with the ex-shinigami, you refuse to acknowledge my existence."
Ryuken threw her a flat, icy glare, then sat back in his chair and stared at her, "…What is wrong, Mikazuki?"
"…Do you ever get the feeling that something… terrible is going to happen?" When she saw the look Ryuken was giving her, Mikazuki sighed heavily and smiled, a sad look crossing her face, "Ryuken, I want you to promise me something…"
Ryuken blinked, waiting for her to go on.
"…Should anything happen to me, I would appreciate it if you would keep an eye on my daughter."
Ryuken blinked again, then stared at her icily, "Mikazuki, I don't ever want to have to keep an eye on your daughter."
Though at first glance the comment could be taken as heartless, Mikazuki knew better than to take what her old friend said at face value and smiled, "It's not that I want anything to happen, but… people in our positions have to take precautions, yes? You know I would take care of Uryu if anything happened to you… All I'm asking is that you keep an eye out for her. Junichiro is more than capable of providing for her, but she has no one to talk to about matters of the spiritual plain…"
"Because you taught her to run." Ryuken nodded, "And that's a good thing. That's all she needs to know." He sighed, frowning, "If only you'd taught her to keep from fraternizing with the shinigami…"
Mikazuki gave an exhausted smile and sat back in her chair, closing her eyes.
Ryuken stared at her silently. In that position, with that look on her face, she looked far older than she really was… And it didn't help that her hair was starting to turn white in streaks, like Ryuken's had only on a smaller scale.
At least Ryuken could pull it off and still look young… It made her look fragile.
"…Very well." Ryuken turned back to the patient transfer forms in front of him, narrowing his eyes slightly at Kurosaki's name, "Should anything happen, I will… keep an eye on her."
Mikazuki smiled, keeping her eyes closed, "Thank you…"
Ryuken stared at her, then went back to work. He was glad he had decided against marrying the woman; she was married to a normal human and she was already so taxed at such a young age…
…And, though he hadn't confirmed it, he did agree with her.
He did, indeed, feel that something bad was going to happen.
Mikazuki stood stark still over the unconscious form of her daughter, her pupils shrunken to pinpricks and her breaths coming in short, strained bursts.
Slowly, she lifted her hands to the spike running through her chest at an angle, anchoring her to the ground, then let them fall before she touched it.
The world was shrinking and it was getting harder move…
A bolt of white light cut through the fleshy spike in her chest, making it finally disintegrate like the rest of the Hollow was and leaving Mikazuki to stand on her own feet.
Her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed.
Ryuken was there in an instant to catch her, pulling her a few feet away from her daughter so he could lay her on her back and pull away a bit of her shirt to get a look at her wound, propriety be damned and to hell with the shocked vizards still watching.
He scowled.
Her third through fifth ribs on the left side had been obliterated, her lung was punctured, and the pool of blood beneath her was growing larger by the second. He could literally see her heart as it beat slower and slower…
"H-How bad… Ryu…?"
Ryuken looked at her faintly smiling face, glaring at her.
She knew damn well how bad…
"This is hardly the time to be teasing, Mika."
Mikazuki's smile widened and she closed her eyes, "You haven't called me that over twenty years… That bad, huh?" She opened her glazing eyes, barely able to look directly at him as she spoke, "L-Looks like I'll… have to hold you… to your… promise…"
"Mikazuki!" Ryuken hissed when she closed her eyes and her breathing stopped for a moment, pulling her into his arms and glaring down at her.
The woman jolted back to life when his spiritual pressure rose and sent a shock through her, blinking her eyes open with a second of renewed life before her lids slid partway shut again, "D-Don't… tell her…"
"No one will." Ryuken said, reading her line of thought with skill it had taken them both a lifetime to develop.
"And tell her… that I…"
"She already knows you do. You made sure of that."
"…I did…" Mikazuki closed her eyes, smiling, "…Tell… Junichiro… that I…"
"I will."
Mikazuki sighed, her head falling to the side. She opened her eyes and looked at her daughter. She closed her eyes again… and though her smile never faded, her eyes never reopened.
Ryuken stared at her for a moment, his face turning cold and analytical. He then set her down carefully and stood, pulling a cell phone out of his pocket and dialing. "…Yes, this is Director Ryuken Ishida of Karakura General. I'm calling to report an accident at the intersection of Gakuenchou, Yumisawa and Kitakawase, near Yumisawa Children's Park. Two victims, both female, one deceased. We'll need two ambulances…" When the dispatcher on the other end turned spastic and started calling for all units to report to the location, the doctor looked at the vizards and icily bit out, "From this point on, none of you know what Mikazuki was capable of. If the girl asks, all she gets in return are vague answers. Confirm nothing, and do nothing to encourage her growth."
Hiyori, her eyes misty, went to scream at the man, but was silenced when Shinji set a hand on her shoulder.
"Fine." The de facto leader of the vizards mumbled, his eyes still locked on Mikazuki's body, "So long as it can be helped, she won't know."
They kept their eyes on the body, waiting for the soul to emerge, but when the sound of sirens started echoing down the street, the vizards had no choice but to leave the scene, trusting a shinigami to eventually arrive.
Ryuken turned his attention to Anzu as several dispatch officers arrived, giving the girl a cursory checkup. A concussion, at most… Hopefully, one that would impair her memory of this night.
And hopefully she would show a bit more tact than his impulsive, reckless son; the less his charges were involved with the shinigami, the better.
Ryuken stepped back as the medics from the first ambulance that arrived on the scene swarmed the girl, then, with an irritated sigh, assured the medics from the second ambulance several times over that yes, he was fine, no, the blood on the shirt wasn't his, and the body they were looking for was right over there.
He watched as Mikazuki... as the corpse was slipped into a bodybag and lifted onto a gurney, then turned and stepped up into the ambulance that was taking Anzu back to the hospital.
Though he'd never been introduced to the girl and he, personally, held no care for her, he would do what he had promised and watch over her.
For her mother.
For Mikazuki.