Chapter Fifty Two: Kohaku
It was growing dark by the time Mitsuki returned to the Thirteenth Division, dropping out of a slightly ragged shunpo and walking quietly across the gardens towards the glittering sheen that marked out the koi pond, shining in the moonlight. Even in the darkness, she could sense the swirl of reiatsu that surrounded the place and, though she did not recognise the fragments of spirit power that were already drifting apart on the wind, she could tell that,while she had been otherwise engaged, something had occurred here, too. She frowned, drawing her brows together as she tried to make sense of the mix of auras, registering with consternation the clear presence of her old friend and classmate, Shihouin Kai.
Whatever it was had involved the Second Division, then, and their secretive, underground force. There was no sign of them now, but they had definitely been here, dark spots of energy in an otherwise bright division, and a shiver went down her spine, though the night was not particularly cold. Not for the first time since she had left Katsura's side, she realised exactly how big and heavy the secret she had chosen to carry had become. It was no longer just about protecting the life of one scared young man out of his depth, but potentially embroiling herself and those she cared about in a deeper, darker battle. Katsura's words about Keitarou had worried her most, and her gaze flitted across the grounds towards the small chamber where she knew Koku slept. The gentle, even rippling of his reiatsu told her that he was both there and sound asleep, but the relief she should have felt that he had made it back safely did not come. Instead she felt a deep sense of foreboding, followed by a rush of resignation and regret.
I know what needs to be done now. I just have to find the courage to do it...and hope that it doesn't make even bigger waves when I do.
She knelt at the water's edge, reaching her fingers out to brush them lightly against the surface of the koi pond. The ripples distorted the surface, breaking her reflection into scattered colours. An adventurous koi broke through the dispersing image, hungry for food, and, as it returned disgruntled to the depths with an indignant flick of its tail, Mitsuki let out a heavy sigh.
"Mitsuki?"
Naoko's voice came from across the grass, the older girl ducking beneath the remaining branches of the willow tree that had been so ill-treated by Tenichi's sword, anxiety in her greenish eyes. At her approach, Mitsuki turned to face her, and Naoko's eyes narrowed, her brows knitting together as she took in her companion's appearance.
"You're a mess," she said softly, and Mitsuki glanced down at her uniform, taking in the specks of blood that covered her arms and the white fabric of her obi. Her fingers slipped down to touch Yuuyugo's hilt, and inwardly she hoped her friend could not sense how incomplete the sword still was following her efforts to knit Katsura's wound. It had not been a perfect heal, she acknowledged to herself bitterly, and, if her Captain were to find out, likely she would be scolded for using healing skills before she had officially been given clearance to do so, but despite everything he had told her, she had not been able to leave him there to die.
And now...
"Taichou was worried about you, when you weren't here," Naoko was at her side now, dropping down onto her knees on the grass next to her and reaching out to take Mitsuki's hand in hers, examining the delicate skin for any sign that the blood concealed wounds. "Even more so, when you still didn't come back to Thirteenth. He didn't want to tell me at first, but I got it out of him, what happened at Seventh. Charging into a fight like that was dangerous and out of character for you. You know Sougyo no Kotowari's potential - what were you trying to prove?"
"I don't really know how to answer that," Mitsuki said honestly. "I'm sorry, Nao-chan. It was something I needed to do, and that's all. It's fine. I won't run off again, I promise."
"This isn't your blood," Naoko lowered her friend's arm, casting her a quizzical look. "If not yours, then whose? You weren't bloody when last I saw you...and you haven't had time to go to Koku's chamber, so it's not as though you've been nursing him."
Mitsuki's lips pressed together, and Naoko's eyes darkened.
"All right," she said frankly, shifting around to meet her friend's gaze more directly. "Let me try this from another angle. The young man Taichou said attacked Seventh, you knew him, didn't you? Taichou seemed to think you did. He thought you'd met him somewhere before."
Mitsuki lowered her gaze, unable to find words to refute her companion's claim, and Naoko sighed.
"You worry us so much, and you don't even have an explanation?" she asked sadly. "I thought we were better friends than that, Mitsuki-chan. I know a lot has happened and a lot of time has passed...but even despite that, I would've thought..."
"He saved my life, in Rukongai," Mitsuki said softly, turning her gaze to the water's surface once more. "That's all. He saved me from the Hollow."
"And then came here, reiatsu flaring, to assault the Seventh?" Naoko demanded. Mitsuki nodded.
"That was that. This was this," she said simply. "I'm sorry, Nao-chan. It's not that I don't trust you - I do. I just...think I've...maybe been foolish. And...I don't think telling you how foolish would help either of us. I need to speak to a...a Captain about it, really. And that's what I'm going to do, only I'm trying to get up my nerve."
She raised troubled eyes to her companion's.
"I might be arrested, when I do," she said honestly. "I don't want to get you involved."
"Mitsuki?" Naoko's eyes widened in alarm, and she grabbed the healer around the wrists. "What do you mean, arrested? What did you do? What did you..."
"I told you, it won't help anything if I tell you now," Mitsuki shook her head, gently detaching herself from the other's grip. "I'm sorry, but that's how it is."
She sighed heavily.
"I want...to tell Juushirou," she added. "After what happened today, it's him I need to tell, but I'm also afraid of what might happen if I do. I don't want to compromise his position, either. Most of all, though, I don't want him to hate me. I think that he'd have...very good reason to be angry with me. He might already be...beyond the point where he can forgive me. That's why I'm out here...because I don't know how to begin."
Naoko frowned.
"I know, you know, that he was here before," she said evenly. "The young idiot who came to Seireitei today, I mean. I walked out towards Seventh, when things quietened down here, and felt the reiatsu fallout for myself. Houshi-sama was quite certain he recognised it. This person might've saved you in Rukongai, but I've picked up his reiatsu before. He came here once...I thought he was here stalking you, maybe even to cause you harm, but that's not true, is it? You lied to me then. You knew he was there, and you pretended you didn't. You met with him...didn't you?"
"Mm," Mitsuki turned to glance towards the tree, then nodded. "He was in some kind of trouble because he had helped me. I thought that, if shinigami stopped hunting for him, he might be all right. He asked me to stop them looking for him, and I agreed."
"Why would you do that?" Naoko was incredulous.
"Because he was scared," Mitsuki shrugged. "And because he really did save me, Nao-chan. Whatever other things have happened since...whatever else I've learned, I...I am alive because he chose to save me. And because I'm alive, I have to...do what's right now. Will you come with me to Juushirou's office? I want to talk to him, and I'd like it if I didn't have to go alone."
"Well, I don't completely understand, but I'll come," Naoko nodded, getting to her feet and grabbing her friend by the wrists once more, pulling her to her feet. "There, come on. Though if all you've done is be soft on someone who's clearly up to no good, I'm sure that'll be forgiven. You've been away from Seireitei for a long time, and you made a mistake. It happens. Patrols are still out looking for him, and probably they'll bring him back. The report from Seventh is that Kitabata dealt him a fatal blow with his zanpakutou, and..."
She faltered, realisation and alarm flooding her gaze as she gazed at Mitsuki as if seeing her for the first time.
"You let him get away, didn't you?" she whispered. "It's hisblood that's all over you. That's why your reiatsu feels strange. You went after him to help him...to heal him. Didn't you?"
Mitsuki looked troubled, but she didn't deny the accusation, and Naoko groaned.
"Mi-chan, why?" she asked plaintively. "Aside from the fact you're far from one hundred percent fit to use your healing power yet, you have to know from what happened today that he's not someone that Seireitei ought to be putting trust in! He's clearly unstable, and there's something else. I wasn't going to tell you about it, but the investigations we've done into Hollow manipulation, they all link up nicely to him and him alone. He's probably guilty of all kinds of chaos across the Districts. Did you know that as well?"
"Not until today," Mitsuki sighed wearily. "Please, Nao-chan. I'm serious. It has to go before a Captain. It's too important. Even if what I've done is unforgivable, I have to try and explain it properly. You can be angry with me as much as you like later, but right now I need to speak to Juushirou."
"Speak to me about what?" As they rounded the corner to Ugendou, they saw the Thirteenth Division Captain waiting for them, a look of concern on his thin features. At the sight of Mitsuki, he let out an exclamation, hurrying forward to grab her by the shoulders. He glanced her over, looking for injuries, and at his obvious anxiety, Mitsuki's heart constricted and she pushed him away.
"Please, don't," she murmured. "I haven't come for...this isn't..."
"Taichou, Mitsuki has something to report and she says it needs to be reported to a Captain," Naoko took a hand, as Juushirou cast the healer a troubled look.
"To a Captain? Reported?" he asked softly. "Relating to what occurred at Seventh this afternoon, and your subsequent absence from Thirteenth?"
"Yes, sir," Mitsuki gathered her courage, bowing her head low before her old friend. "Please, Ukitake-taichou, I'd like to beg a moment of your time. What I have to say is important, and I'd like you to listen to my confession in full."
"Confession?" Juushirou's eyes became stricken, and he glanced at Naoko, who shrugged.
"She won't tell me everything, but I think you should hear her out," she said gravely. "I also don't think I should be here to hear it all. I'll find out what my rank merits me knowing later, but if Mitsuki can bow her head to you and ask you like that, then she's serious and not even the pull of friendship ought to interfere. I'll go and help Houjou-kun, and leave you to it."
"Naoko..." Mitsuki opened her mouth to protest, but her friend was gone before she could finish, disappearing into shunpo with a curt salute, and she was left alone on the wooden walkway with the Thirteenth's District Captain.
A moment of silence passed between them, then Juushirou sighed, turning and gesturing towards Ugendou.
"As if today hasn't brought enough burdens," he said wearily. "Still, I'm relieved to see you safe. I had feared the worst, when you vanished from Seventh, and didn't return back here before dinner. Nobody knew where you were...I was worried you'd been hurt."
"I'm sorry." Mitsuki's voice was little more than a whisper, and Juushirou eyed her for a long time, taking in every single inch of her expression.
"We'll go inside, Edogawa-san," he said softly, and at his formality, Mitsuki's heart lurched a second time. "I think it will be better if this conversation isn't overheard by anyone else."
"Yes, sir," Mitsuki could barely form the words, but he had already turned on his heel, leading the way towards the small cabin. The first time Mitsuki had visited Ugendou, she had found it relaxing and welcoming, but today, stepping into its cramped interior made her feel stifled, and it was with some difficulty that she settled herself down on the cushion before the desk, watching in mute silence as her companion took his position behind it.
Another stretch of silence, then Juushirou rested his arms on the desk, eying her questioningly.
"Well?" he asked quietly. "The circumstances of today's incidents aside, if you have something to report, do you think perhaps it should be to your own Captain, rather than to me?"
"I think you're the only one who I can tell," Mitsuki admitted. "J...I mean, Ukitake-taichou, I don't want any special favours from you. Not on my own account - I mean, I'm going to tell you everything as I understand it, and you might be cross when I'm done. You might think that I should be arrested, or charged with something, and I won't...I won't resist it, if that's what you decide to do. I'm not telling you because I expect leniency. I want to tell you everything, though. It's too important not to, and I've already...I've already been keeping too much to myself."
"Arrestyou?" Alarm glittered in Juushirou's hazel eyes. "Do you think that I would ever sanction that, under any circumstances?"
"I've been communicating with the son of Aizen Keitarou," Mitsuki cut across him, and Juushirou faltered, struck speechless by the directness of her confession. "I didn't mean to, but it doesn't matter what I meant to do, not given that the consequences are as they are. More, today, even knowing who he was, I healed his injuries and allowed him to escape, despite the fact that he tried to invade Seventh Division and threatened the life of Endou-taichou's associate. I intervened in your battle this morning because I didn't want you to kill him...and I felt sure that I could stay your sword."
"To protect Katsura," At length Juushirou found his voice, and Mitsuki nodded.
"It began in the Spiritless Zone," she whispered, lowering her gaze so that she would not have to see the dismay in his eyes. "I met him the night before we were all attacked, though I didn't know who he was. He knew my name, though...and I thought it was strange, that he was able to disappear so easily from my senses. The next day...eight of my comrades died. Six were murdered in Hokutan, whilst two died at the hands of a Hollow in Junrin'an."
She swallowed hard, then,
"At that time, he saved me from the Hollow," she added. "I couldn't fight any more, but he intervened and used his spirit power to destroy it. He helped me take Seri to the base in Hokutan, but I can't say then that I didn't think there was something amiss. He knew there was trouble at the base, and disappeared before help came to bring us back to Seireitei. Still, I didn't put the details together, not at that point. It didn't occur to me that the person who had saved me might...have been involved in killing my friends."
Juushirou did not speak, and, wanting to prevent another oppressive pause, Mitsuki hurriedly continued.
"A few days after I began to recover, he came here," she said. "He was scared, and I felt as though he was genuinely in trouble. He said that someone had been sent to kill me. He also told me about a spy in the shadows - someone who was already dead, yet not dead. He begged me to stop the shinigami looking for him, because otherwise he would be killed. I believed him. So I stopped talking about the person who helped me in Rukongai. I let you investigate the Onmitsukidou as though he was the one who'd come after me, even though I knew he wasn't. He told me his name was Katsura...and that he found it hard to lie to me. I wanted to find a way to help him, in return for his saving me."
She twisted her fingers together in her lap, taking in a deep breath of air as the chamber once more seemed cloying and oppressive.
"I didn't see or hear anything of him till today, not after that," she added uneasily. "I had almost forgotten - it seemed as though we wouldn't ever cross paths again. When he appeared in Seireitei, I recognised his reiatsu, though it was raw and angry and totally unlike when we met before. I involved Hikifune-san and I'm sorry - I wanted her shunpo, because at the moment I thought it would be more stable than mine. I took Koku, because he said he knew how to stop anyone getting killed, and I...for some reason, I just believed that he did. I made the decision and we came to Seventh. The blame is mine, not with Hikifune-san, and I want you to make sure you don't punish her. It was my pressure and my fault - I put her in a bad position and I had no right to do it."
She took another breath, aware that Juushirou was still watching her in intent silence, his expression giving away not a single flicker of emotion.
"When he fled, the Seventh went after him, and I knew they would kill him," she continued. "Hikifune-san was with Koku, and you were there, and I thought...but I didn't want them to hurt him, so I followed. I didn't even think about it. Before I knew what I was doing, I had started to track his reiatsu, and theirs. I felt Kikyue-dono's flare, and one of her officers, and then sensed them separate. Then I knew Katsura had been hurt. I hid in the shadows, and one of the other Seventh officers called his comrade away from the scene. I think they believed he was dead, or that he very soon would be, else they wouldn't have left so easily. I knew Katsura wasn't dead, though, and I could feel his pain. I healed his wounds. I used Yuuyugo and kidou even though I haven't been given permission to use my skills again. And when I did, he told me that he was Aizen Katsura, and that he had been responsible for the deaths of two of my friends in the Spiritless Zone."
"That was the first time you knew who he was, and what, exactly, he had done?" Juushirou asked softly, and Mitsuki nodded her head.
"Yes, sir," she said uneasily.
"But you still let him escape, even when he told you those things?" This time Mitsuki could hear the pain in the Captain's voice, almost a note of betrayal, and bravely she raised her gaze to his, her heart almost breaking at the distress she saw in his hazel eyes.
"Yes, sir," she repeated. "I did."
Juushirou closed his eyes, pressing fingers to his brow, then he sighed, meeting her gaze once more.
"Why?"
"Because he saved my life," Mitsuki admitted.
"Although he endangered it in the first instance?"
"Yes sir."
"And you didn't think that keeping something so important a secret might have cost more people their lives?" Now there was no keeping the edge from Juushirou's voice as frustration and helplessness began to seep in through the cracks in his Captain's composure. "Naoko's probably told you already, but in case she hasn't, let me. Your testimony only strengthens our case against the individual who came here today. His reiatsu has been located in numerous places, inducing Hollows to attack innocent people across Seireitei in order to increase ill feeling towards shinigami in those areas. It was present in the wasteland Rukon, and it has been detected here. More, there's some evidence to suggest that two officers in Tenth Division were killed by a Hollow under some kind of manipulation, with the body of one of the Tenth officers almost destroyed beyond recognition by a raw form of Kidou energy. It's perfectly possible that this person you let escape is responsible for many more deaths that we haven't identified yet. While he is still free, others are at risk. He might have valued your life, but he has shown no mercy to any others - as his actions here today proved. Moreover, he's Keitarou's son. Today, while you were absent, members of my division arrested a former officer of mine who had been driven almost to despair by Keitarou's games and manipulations, to the point he was ready to kill an innocent girl based on little or no rational reasoning. Now you tell me that you deliberately let his oldest son and heir escape - no, not only that, you healed his wounds and wished him on his way - as though we weren't in the midst of trying to prevent an all out war that could cost thousands of people their lives?"
Tears glittered on Mitsuki's lashes, and she shook her head.
"I don't believe he will kill anyone else," she said unevenly, and Juushirou banged his hands down on the desk, unable to suppress his emotions any further.
"Mitsuki!"
"I'm sorry," Mitsuki swallowed hard. "I know what I've done, and I'm sorry I lied to you. I didn't know he was Aizen Katsura until today, and that's why I've come to tell you about it now. It's too important to hide any more, and if I'd known his real name from the start, I never would've kept it from you. But..."
"Wouldn't you?" With a tremendous effort, Juushirou reined in his temper, clenching his fists for a moment before forcing his arms back down at his sides. "You just told me that you helped him today, despite knowing his real name. Do you think you would've acted differently?"
"We'll never know," Mitsuki whispered. "And if you want to arrest me, I told you - I won't resist. I don't hate him. I don't...blame him. I know...that he's not an evil person. He told me he regretted it, what happened in the Spiritless Zone. Keitarou told him to do it. Keitarou raised him to hate shinigami, but when he met me, he said he realised that we weren't all monsters. He's been struggling with it ever since."
"His behaviour today makes that hard to believe."
"He came here on a mission to kill Joumei-dono," Mitsuki agreed sadly, "and he said he didn't have regrets for that. Joumei-dono killed his sister. Sakaki. The girl who killed Souja-dono and the other healers in the Spiritless Zone. He told me he'd made a choice to avenge his sister, even though it might mean him being killed, or losing everything."
"The Council authorised a kill on sight order for Keitarou and his children, meaning Joumei's killing of Aizen Sakaki will carry no punishment in Seireitei's courts," Juushirou said matter-of-factly, though Mitsuki knew he was coasting over things which, deep down, he too found distasteful. "By contrast, you not only aided and abetted the escape of someone just as dangerous, you interfered in Kitabata Hajime's attempt to follow that Council Order. And, because you did, Joumei may still be in danger."
Mitsuki shook her head.
"No. He said he wasn't going to come back. He wasn't going to tangle with shinigami any more," she protested, and Juushirou snorted.
"Why do you believe him so easily?" he demanded. "What did he do to you, when he saved your life, that's made you blind to the value of other people's? Why are you willing to give a man who's confessed to murder and the intent to kill again the benefit of the doubt?"
"You're willing to protect and aid and worry about Joumei-dono, when he's done exactly the same!" Mitsuki shot back, and then wished she had not, for there was true thunder and lightning brewing up a storm in Juushirou's normally gentle hazel eyes. His fists clenched again, a clear sign he was battling with his temper once more.
"Joumei's case is different," he said in low tones. "I don't condone his actions, but the law is one way and I can't change it. Sakaki's life was forfeit when she struck down the Vice Captain of the Seventh Division. I might not approve of killing in reprisal, but as a Gotei Captain I understand there are times when it happens and I have no power whatsoever to intervene. The Council's law makes Joumei's actions legal, and, as a vassal of the Endou, he would answer to Hirata's justice, not to mine. Besides, Joumei took the life of one woman who killed his childhood friend and future Lord. Ugly as I find that fact, I know he is unlikely to go on a rampage and kill anyone else. In contrast, you are protecting someone who has already killed several times. He killed your friends, and left Aomori Seri in a condition where it is unlikely she will ever wear shihakushouagain! Who knows how much pain he's already inflicted on Soul Society, or how much more he will do? Why do you believe in him, when he's done so much harm already?"
"Because of Kohaku!" Mitsuki snapped back, her temper rising to protect her from the rising accusation in Juushirou's voice. "He promised me, because of Kohaku!"
"Ko...haku?" At this, the wind was knocked out of Juushirou's sails, and he stared at his former classmate, confused. Mitsuki nodded.
"He promised me that he wouldn't do anything here again, because he didn't want to cause his brother any harm," she whispered. "He fought to protect his family - Sakaki and Kohaku. That's why I helped him, and let him escape. I knew he meant that. He only did...what anyone would do to protect those they loved, even...even you. He loved his sister, even though she did bad things. To us she's an evil person, but to him she was kin and he couldn't protect her. And now he wants to protect Kohaku...and so he won't...he doesn't intend to cause the shinigami any more harm."
"But what would Kohaku have to do with anything?" Juushirou was bewildered. "It's not as though we know where to find him, and besides, if the Onmitsukidou's testimony is right, Kohaku's someone we should be fearing. I don't know what he told you, Mitsuki-chan, but..."
"Kohaku is here," Mitsuki interrupted, reaching out to grab Juushirou's sleeve and giving it a little tug. "I'm sorry, and I know that I've put you in a bad position, but you'll understand why you were the one I had to tell when you realise everything. I didn't know this till today, either, I promise, but I knew that this alone I couldn't keep from you. I'm not the only one who's been hiding things, but it's not...it's not what you think. Katsura left Seireitei today because of Kohaku. It wasn't me, or Seventh, or anyone else who drove him away. It was his brother. He told me that they had a psychic connection, and they could communicate through thought waves. It was Kohaku who made Katsura pull back, and because of Kohaku, Katsura won't come back."
"I don't understand," Juushirou admitted. "You're saying Kohaku is here, among us...withthe shinigami?"
"Yes," Mitsuki agreed. "Right here, in fact. In Thirteenth. In your protective custody."
Juushirou's eyes became big as saucers, his already pale features draining of all remaining colour as he put together the implication in his friend's words.
"Koku?" he murmured, and Mitsuki nodded her head.
"But...that's..." Juushirou swallowed hard, agitation clear on his face. "Are you sure? Koku is Kohaku? I mean, not that there aren't a lot of questions still surrounding...but..."
"Katsura told me things which made Koku's behaviour make sense," Mitsuki said softly. "More, I could tell that of everyone, he really loved his brother. That's why he left, even though it meant Sakaki was unavenged. I knew he was telling the truth, Juushirou. I could feel it from him - that was the real Katsura. Not the killer. The one who loved his family so much he'd do whatever it took to protect them...and Kohaku most of all."
"So Shunsui wasright," Juushirou said heavily, burying his head in his hands. "Koku is involved with Keitarou, and in an unavoidably close way."
"No..." Mitsuki pursed her lips, then she sighed. "Well, from how Katsura explained it, it's complicated," she hazarded. "I don't know if I really understand completely, but Katsura wanted me to know that Kohaku hasn't committed any murders. He said that Keitarou has no hold over Kohaku, and that Kohaku hates killing. Death upsets him. Also, that Kohaku had...a rough time growing up. He was isolated for a long time, with a gift that he couldn't control...an ability to see things that other people can't see. Katsura wanted Kohaku to be happy, even if that meant he ended up choosing a separate path. That's why I knew he was telling the truth."
She glanced at the spatters of blood still marring her arms, then,
"I know that healing him was probably a bad thing to do," she added, "but as a healer, it's also my duty to help someone in distress. I haven't been in Seireitei, so I don't pretend I understand the intricacies of the Gotei or what being a Captain really means. I only know that when people are hurt, I want to help them - even if they've done bad things, leaving them to die would be something worse. Katsura understood what he'd done, and he wasn't asking me for mercy. I chose to give it, but I told him that I wouldn't help him further and I'm sure he knew I'd come back here and tell you everything. He asked for my help for Kohaku, not for himself. He wanted me to make sure that his brother was all right. He thought...Keitarou might come for him, or at least, try to use him and his power in some way."
She eyed Juushirou carefully.
"Koku's fits and bad dreams are visions, aren't they?" she asked. "You knew that much, I can tell by your face. That's what you were keeping from me, when we talked the other night. You knew he could see things other people can't see."
"I did, though I hadn't worked out what to do about it," Juushirou acknowledged. "Katsura telling you the same helps support his story. It doesn't help me muddle out what to do, though. Katsura is clearly guilty - if he's caught, providing he's not killed on sight, he'll be interrogated and handled in the way a criminal of Seireitei is dealt with, and there's nothing I can do about that. More, I probably wouldn't try. The lives he's disrupted and stolen deserve some justice, and," he offered her a bittersweet smile, "as a Captain of the Gotei, my duty is to see that justice is upheld. But...in terms of Kohaku...that's more complicated. If he truly hasn't hurt anyone, then he's committed no crime...but if all of Seireitei learned what you just told me, it would cause mayhem. More, given the Council's dictum, it would probably cost the boy his life."
He rubbed his brow once more, then,
"I need you to tell me everything Katsura told you, in exact detail," he said at length. "Your side in it we'll put to one side for now, and wait and see if Katsura is brought to book. If he is, you might have to testify - but my priority right now is Kohaku. If what Katsura told you is indication that Keitarou needs Koku for his plans somehow, then it could get a lot more messy...and I need to know everything I can before I start making decisions that could have far reaching consequences."
Katsura's presence had gone from his thoughts once more.
Koku pushed back the heavy blankets, swinging his legs carefully over the side of the pallet and reaching out tentatively for the wall and then the window-sill as he pulled his aching body to its feet. The events outside the barracks were fragmented in his mind, broken and blurred at the edges so that he wasn't quite sure what order things had come in. His brother had been there, angry and indignant, his reiryoku blazing from him like a beacon. Koku had seen it before in his dreams, this terrifying image of Katsura's vengeance, but it had still alarmed him to understand how deep his brother's feelings ran. Katsura had chosen to come hunt down his sister's killer, regardless of the consequences. In the moments before their thoughts had been segregated, Koku had felt resignation, acceptance and, overall, resolve. Yes, this had been Katsura's wish, Katsura's choice...his family first, and freedom second.
Tears glittered on Koku's lashes, as he pulled his heavy body towards the window and rested his hands on the sill, gazing out blankly over the rear of the division barracks towards the glistening surface of the koi pond. He had never properly seen this view before, yet even so it resonated nostalgically against his senses. Had it been a memory of Katsura's, or some vision of his own? He didn't know.
Following the chaos in the Seventh courtyard, Koku knew he had been returned to his chamber by Kirio, but he must have slept, for when he had awoken, the sun had already set, and though there had been a tray of food left at his bedside, he had found himself unsupervised. The door had probably been locked, he mused darkly, since he didn't imagine the shinigami would give him the chance to go wandering from his room again. Not that he had the will or the energy to - the emotion and exertion of the day had drained him enough already. The food remained where it had been left - he had picked at it, but though his body was crying out for nourishment, he find it difficult to swallow any of it down. Not while Katsura was still out there, his fate unknown.
Closing his eyes, he tried again to reach out to his brother, but was greeted with silence a second time.
Once you promised you'd always be there for me. Now you take yourself off into the sunset, and sever our bond like it was nothing at all.
Koku fought back the tears, yet he could not suppress the deep despair churning up inside of his heart.
The one person I could always count on...but it's not like I don't understand. I do understand. It began when you killed those healers and saved Edogawa Mitsuki - the woman who would end up helping to save my life. I felt the first tremors of it then, but it grew bigger and darker when Sakaki killed Souja-dono. Everything changed at that point and I couldn't find a way to claw it back. Maybe it's entirely my fault. If I'd told Keitarou-san...if I'd told Father about that last hallucination, would he have made sure it didn't happen? That's the trouble, when you see the future. Even if you read it wrong, you can't go back. It doesn't change, no matter how much warning you get...and now here we are. You on that side, me on this. But I haven't chosen sides against you, Katsu-nii. I never could...I hope you know that. Even if I stopped you killing Joumei-san, I hope you understand what choice I've really made.
"Koku?"
His brother's voice washed through his thoughts, and he leant up against the wall, resting his brow against the cool surface of the glass as memories flooded through him - images and sensations from a time long ago rising to the surface as though it had been only yesterday.
"Koku, where are you?"
From somewhere in the terrifying, swirling darkness, a voice began to penetrate, and Koku struggled to cling on to it, pushing through the dizzying waves of panic and terror to reach out for an anchor in the mist. Something grasped hold of his body, tangible and real as it held him upright, and Koku was aware of an exclamation of dismay, followed by a litany of curses. His breath was coming in panicked gasps, half-in and half-out of reality as whoever it was supporting him tightened their hold, and then, spoken so softly he thought he had imagined it, he heard the words,
"Hang on in there. It will be okay...just hang on in there, all right?"
"Katsu...ra?"
Somehow Koku parted his lips, the three syllables forced painfully over his vocal chords, but at the sound of them he felt a reassuring pat on his arm.
"Yep, fraid so. You're gonna be fine, just sit tight. I'm gonna stop the bleeding...it's not as bad as it looks."
Tears glittered on Koku's lashes as he felt someone take his arm firmly in their grasp, then the sudden tension of something being pulled tightly across his wrist. There was pain, but as he forced his lungs to spasm air in bigger and bigger gulps, he realised that the world outside of his mind had begun to take on physical form again and, as his eyes brought his surroundings into hazy focus, he made out the face of his companion, fingers red with blood as he worked to tighten the tourniquet around the slashed wrist. For a moment he didn't speak, intent on his task, and there was silence between them, but at length he seemed satisfied, tapping the arm again then turning to meet his teenage companion's gaze.
"What was that about?" he asked softly, and despite the gentleness of his tones, Koku knew that the older boy was not fooled. There was gravity in the usually bright blue eyes, and something in their deep concern brought Koku's emotions flooding forward. Tears glittered on his lashes, and he swallowed a sob of fear, flinging himself against Katsura's lean frame and burying his head in the other's shoulder.
"Hey!" Katsura seemed startled, but he did not push his companion away, instead patting him reassuringly on the head. "None of that, else Father will come see us and there'll be a fuss. Better he doesn't know about this...about any of this. You agree, don't you? Better he doesn't get to see you...like this."
"Mm," Koku nodded jerkily between sobs, the sound muffled by the rough fabric of Katsura's hakamashita, and the older boy sighed, shaking his head slowly.
"You might fool him, but you can't me," he added pensively. "I heard it...felt it...you screaming out for someone to help you. You were scared, Koku - I thought that things were better, now, but..."
He faltered, and Koku raised melancholy eyes to his rescuer.
"Don't tell him," he begged. "I'm sorry...I...I just...it was..."
He broke off, unable to find the words, but Katsura nodded.
"I know," he said simply. "Like I said, you can't keep it from me in the same way. We're connected, and that's how it should be. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, Koku-kun. Believe in me a little and see that, okay? I promised Otousama the first time we met that I'd look out for you, and dammit, I meant that. If you're scared, talk to me about it, all right? If you don't have the words for it, there are other ways. You can't hurt me - we both know that. You were the one who first reached out to me, and it happened again now. You didn't really want to die, did you? You were just scared."
"I wanted...it...to leave me alone," Koku admitted brokenly. "It...wants...me. It...wants to swallow me up...and...and then..."
"I see," Katsura's blue eye darkened, and his gaze flitted across the ground in the direction of the shadowy building beyond the trees. "Can you fight it off?"
"I was," Koku confessed. "I thought...if I...wasn't here...it...couldn't...be either. But it...wouldn't let me...and...it was trying to...take...me for its own."
Katsura's lips thinned, and he hugged his younger companion tightly.
"Well, I'm here, so no harm done this time," he said quietly. "I'm sorry I took as long as I did, but I'm here, and we'll clean you up, somehow, and nobody need ever know about this. But Koku, listen. You can't lose this fight. You know what we're here to do - what the end goal is. I want to live in Seireitei, but I want you there too, right with me. It's the most amazing place, I swear...if you saw it, I know you'd be happy. I know you'd be better, in a place like that, where it's not so full of darkness and despair. I want you to win this battle, and live your life. For you, Koku-kun. Not for me, or for him, but for you."
"I don't suppose that will ever happen," Koku admitted mournfully. "I've only been here like this for a short time, and already..."
"It's early days, but you can do this and you will," Katsura said purposefully. "I believe in you and I always have. That place you saw, with the flowers and the trees...I will find it. One day, I will. It's in Seireitei, I know it is...and I'll find it for you. So don't give up. Keep fighting it. Father's done what he can to help, and it will settle down more, I'm sure. It waits for you to be weak, as all demons do - so you need to be strong. You need to shut it out. Don't let it shake your emotions so much, or frighten you so greatly. I know its hard, but you're not alone...so please...don't let the demon win."
Koku stared up at the older boy for a moment, then, a faint smile touched his lips and he nodded his head.
"I'm not alone," he echoed, comforted by the simplicity in the older boy's words. "You'll never leave me, will you, Katsura? You'll always be there...won't you?"
"I will," Katsura nodded. "So don't look so pitiful. Let's go sort that arm out properly...maybe ask Mother. We can tell her you fell and cut yourself, and she'll do something to wrap it up. She's not sensitive enough spiritually to know that it was anything else, and Father's not here, so we should do it now. If he comes back and sees blood...you know how he'll react."
"Mm," Koku inclined his head in another faint nod. "All right. All right, let's go."
Koku opened his eyes once more, letting out a sigh. Gently he pushed back the sleeve of his robe, running his index finger over the jagged white line that marked the scar he had created that day. It had been a memory not just of his fear and despair, but the reassurance of his brother's presence. So long as it remained there, refusing to fade and disappear beneath layers of new skin, Katsura's promise remained fresh in his mind. No matter how dark things became, or how frightened he was, Katsura had promised. He would always be there. No matter what.
The view through the window was blurry now, and, as he touched his cheek absently with a pale finger, he realised the tears had come anyway, refusing to be set aside.
So that was why he had seen that view before. He had forgotten, but it had been a vision - an ocean of calm in a sea of panic and pain. Katsura had been so sure that one day he would find it - and now, standing by the window of his small sickroom, Koku could see it stretched out before him.
I was always going to come here, wasn't I? Even though I've tried to pretend otherwise, I've always known that the place I was going to end my life was Seireitei.
"I'm not sure anyone would approve of you getting up on your own like this, after your antics this morning."
A voice from the door made him start, swinging around and almost overbalancing as the sudden movement made his head swim. There was an exclamation, then the sound of footsteps crossing the room hastily, and almost before the world had come back into a hazy focus, he felt two hands on his shoulders, guiding him gently down into a seated position on the bed.
"Yes, you're better there," the voice was light and warm, but Koku was perceptive, and he knew that the tones were somewhat forced, their joviality not quite sincere. He frowned, eying his companion warily.
"Ukitake-dono?"
Juushirou did not respond right away, then he grimaced, running fingers through lank white hair before letting it fall haphazardly back over his shoulders.
"We need to talk," he said, and now there was no false levity in his words. "It's a serious matter, Koku, and I need you to tell me the truth."
Koku merely stared at the Captain, forcing his expression into one of impassiveness, and Juushirou sank back against the wall with a groan. There was another stretch of silence, then,
"I need to know who you are."
Koku flinched, staring at Juushirou warily.
"Who I am?"
"Yes."
"I'm Koku. Koku from Rukongai. Didn't we already establish that?"
"No," Juushirou shook his head, frustrating glittering in his hazel eyes. "I mean, who you really are. That won't do any more, Koku. I need to know what the stakes are, and I need to know them now. There'll be no more playing around...it's gone beyond being a game. I want to know the truth - about you, about the lad who came to Seventh this morning, and anything else you think I ought to know."
"Ought to know," Koku pursed his lips, and Juushirou nodded.
"There's two ways this can go," he said grimly. "If you tell me everything, and I mean, everything, I'll listen to whatever you say. I'll do my best to understand it, and to put it all into the right context and, if I can help you, then I will. But if you lie to me, or you don't tell me...I'm going to end up having to surrender you to a higher authority for proper questioning. Those are the stakes we're talking about."
"Help me?" Koku's brows creased in confusion. "What do you mean - I don't understand? You're a shinigami...and shinigami went after Kat...after the person who came to Seireitei this morning. He's clearly someone of interest to you - and if you believe I'm in league with him, why would you help me?"
"Because he's your brother, and he asked Mitsuki to make sure you were safe," Juushirou said frankly, and despite himself, Koku's heart lurched in his chest.
"He...did what?" he whispered, and Juushirou reached out to rest a hand on Koku's shoulder.
"I know who he is, and who you are," he said quietly, his hazel eyes full of regret. "I just wanted to hear it from you directly. I didn't want to believe it, but your expression tells me I can't pretend otherwise. His name is Katsura, isn't it? And yours isn't Koku, but Kohaku. Aizen Kohaku. Keitarou's son and the one over whom all of Seireitei has been on high alert."
Koku was silent for a moment.
"I can't see how my admitting to being someone like that would help me in any way whatsoever," he said at length. "This Katsura isn't in custody...is he?" this last in an anxious aside, and Juushirou shook his head.
"He's disappeared," he said heavily. "Patrols are still looking, but I suspect they won't find him. He's long gone now. There will be warrants, though, for his arrest. He admitted to killing shinigami in the Spiritless Zone, as well as his interruption here, and those are serious crimes for which there are heavy penalties. I can't guarantee what might happen if he was to be captured."
"I don't know where he is," Koku said sullenly. "I'm not his keeper. I can't tell you that, if that's what you want to know."
"I know that much," Juushirou grasped Koku by the shoulders again more firmly, pulling the reluctant youngster around to face him. "If you did, you wouldn't be so anxious about whether or not he was in custody. Besides, I'm not concerned with him. It's not my case, and I'm not sending agents to hunt him down. My focus is on you, Koku. No...Kohaku. Because that is who you are, isn't it? The person who came here today wasyour brother, and you really are Keitarou's son. That's how you managed to stop him - and why you wanted to go to Seventh. It had nothing to do with Joumei - he just happened to be there. You went because you wanted to make sure Katsura didn't get killed - correct?"
"And if I did? What then?" Koku whispered. Juushirou closed his eyes briefly, then,
"I told you," he said. "If you tell me everything, and trust in me, I'll do what I can to help you. Katsura told Mitsuki that you didn't hurt anyone, and I believe that to be true. He said you didn't like killing, and that you hadn't been involved in the murders in the Spiritless Zone. More, you brought Souja back here, and I believe in his judgement. He had faith in you, so so will I. If you've done nothing wrong, then there's nothing to arrest you for - but unless I know exactly what your situation is, I can't prepare an argument to that effect. It will happen...the Council, the Shihouin, someone will come and want to take you and interrogate you. Even without such clear testimony as Mitsuki or I can now give, people saw you communicate with one another, and it was clear you weren't strangers. Seventh took at least one injury, and it won't take long for the inquiries to come around to you and to Thirteenth. I don't want that to happen - or maybe I feel more like I know you're not well enough to deal with something like that."
"I'm healing," Koku's fingers slipped down towards his bandaged abdomen, and Juushirou nodded.
"There, you are," he said softly, "But it's not that I'm talking about. I was here the other day, remember, when you fell into some trance and saw the attack on people you shouldn't even know existed. More, Katsura told Mitsuki about that, too. About your...your spirit power, and the way in which it sometimes takes hold of you."
"What?" Koku's cagey responses shattered with this final revelation, and Juushirou nodded, lowering his hands.
"Katsura wanted you to be safe," he repeated frankly. "He admitted his guilt to Mitsuki, and told her a good deal about you. I don't know whether she told me everything he told her, but even from the little I know, it's enough to make me concerned for your well-being. I don't know if you believe me, or if you can use this power of yours to tell my intentions, but I do want to help. I need you to trust me, though. I can't defend what I don't understand."
"What makes you think you can understand it?" Koku asked bitterly. "Nobody else does. Nobody else ever has."
"You truly are Kohaku, aren't you?"
"You already know I am. There's no reason for me to keep denying it."
"Does Tenichi know that, too?"
"Tenichi...?" Despite himself, Kohaku stared at his companion, a mixture of consternation and incredulity crossing his features. Juushirou's lips thinned for a moment, then he nodded.
"Kotetsu Tenichi," he said quietly. "A shinigami from the Seventh Division who was arrested today for attempting to kill one of my recruits."
Tenichi-dono...
Kohaku's expression became troubled, and he shook his head.
"I don't know what you mean," he said at length. "I know of Tenichi-dono only from Kirio-san's conversations. We may have met but once, briefly, when I had just regained consciousness, and if he told you otherwise, he was mistaken."
"Tenichi didn't tell me anything of the kind," Juushirou settled himself more comfortably, fixing his companion with a grave look. "He is currently very unsettled, and upset about a good many things. But give me your name he would not. Because he would not, I realised such a connection must exist. Someone told Tenichi that your father didn't intend to murder Souja. You are the only person in Seireitei who could've told him that information...and his refusal to reveal you indicates that your acquaintance was more than just a brief encounter. I've made it clear, haven't I? I want you to trust me and tell me everything - it might mean both your life and his."
Kohaku was silent for a moment, digesting this carefully. Then he sighed, shrugging his shoulders.
"I warned him to keep out of it," he said wearily, realising that no matter how much he prevaricated, he was not going to avoid the intensity in those hazel eyes. There was a genuine concern in them, and though he did not know whether it was for Tenichi, for himself, or for both, something in it made Kohaku want to reach out and trust in its sincerity. "That's all."
"And you met in Rukongai? Or here, for the first time?" Juushirou pressed.
"It's something I agreed not to speak about. It's not as though..."
"I don't want him to lose his life over this," Juushirou cut across him. "Tenichi has already confessed in full to his being held in Rukongai, his meeting with your father, and the events that followed. I need to know what connection he has to you, and whether that connection is going to lead him to the proverbial gallows. Tell me the truth, please. I want to know how you and he are connected."
Kohaku groaned.
"We're not connected," he said finally. "That is the truth, Ukitake-dono. We did meet in Rukongai, it's true. Father made me keep an eye on him, so we spoke a few times about non-important things. He came to...to speak to me, following his Vice Captain's death, and I told him what I knew about what had happened. I told him it wasn't his fault and to stay out of it. He was frightened that something he'd done had caused it, and I felt that vibe from him...that if he didn't step away then, it would slowly unravel him."
He offered a wan smile.
"I suppose my warning wasn't strong enough," he realised bitterly. "If you arrested him today, he chose to ignore my advice. That's all I know. I promise. The last time I spoke to him was not long after I regained consciousness...since then, we've not seen each other at all. I wanted it that way. I didn't think it would be good for him to consider me his ally."
"What you know about Souja's death," Juushirou's eyes narrowed, and he nodded. "And about your real name?"
"He didn't know that. I never told him, and nor did Father," Kohaku shrugged his shoulders. "If he knows it, then the only person who might've told him anything is the Onmitsukidou he tried and failed to kill in the courtyard of Seventh Division. But from how he spoke to me about Kohaku, I don't think he made the connection between us at all. He thought Kohaku was a monster."
He looked pained.
"It's more than a little true, so I let him keep believing it."
"You knew about the incident between Tenichi and Suzuki Naoko?"
"I have sharp senses," Kohaku shrugged. "Once I meet a person, I never forget their reiatsu."
"And today, whatever you said to Joumei that sent him flying off in the direction of Thirteenth - was that your sharp senses too?"
"No..." Kohaku frowned, his eyes becoming clouded. "No, that was...not the same. A swirl of everything else - things happening just out of my reach. I'm sorry, Ukitake-dono. I have been holding back, but it's clear you know a good deal and so I'll be frank. I knew before you told me about Tenichi-dono's actions today, and the girl...the silver fox. I knew all of it before we left Thirteenth - I didn't wish for anything to happen, but seeing something isn't the same as being able to do something about it."
"Then Kohaku's tremendous power...is the power of prophesy?"
"I suppose it is. I don't know. I've never considered it tremendous." Kohaku shuffled back into the corner, out of Juushirou's direct reach, folding his arms across his chest. "Besides, you don't really want to help me. Won't it get you into trouble, harbouring someone that Soul Society is looking for?"
"Maybe, if it were to become widespread, but I don't intend that to happen if I can avoid it," Juushirou said pragmatically.
"Why?"
"The Council passed a motion permitting the killing Keitarou and his children on sight, irrespective of evidence of guilt." Juushirou said grimly, and despite himself, Kohaku's eyes widened with genuine fear. "Yes, that's why I said the stakes are high. I said I didn't want to lose Tenichi's life...well, the same applies to you, too. I was uneasy about the motion to begin with, and now, even more so. Your brother's life is in danger so long as that edict remains, and your sister's death will be ruled justified under the Council's decision. Now I know this extends to you, too, I'm even less keen to let the higher powers take hold of you. I'm probably the only one in any position to help you...and even if Mitsuki hadn't promised Katsura that we would, I have enough doubts myself to fight the Council's edict in your case. But I need you to trust me. If you don't, there'll be very little that I can do to help you...and if you go out of my hands, then...that will be it."
He made a beheading motion.
"I'm only a Captain, not a Clan Leader. I have sovereignty here, but I can't overrule them or their orders. I need as much information and time as I can gather together if I'm to challenge their decision and prove you're not a threat."
"I am a threat, though," Kohaku whispered. "Now you know I'm Kohaku, then you must realise that I'm dangerous...why would you wantto shelter me, knowing that?"
"I don't believe you're dangerous at all," Juushirou said matter-of-factly, "except, perhaps, to yourself."
"Then you're more stupid than I thought."
"Am I?" Juushirou pursed his lips. "You've been here, in my custody, for several days now. In that time, the only person who has suffered ill effects is you. To begin with, I assumed it was the shock of being hurt by Kikyue, but that's not the case at all and I know that now. Your physical wounds are minor in comparison to your spiritual scars...every time your reiryokububbles up inside you, it flares and overloads you and your body can't handle it. So you become faint, and dizzy, and weak, and ill. Those things I know for sure...but who else is it hurting but you?"
"You're wrong," Koku shook his head impatiently. "I...my reiryokuinfluences people. If I'm upset, or desperate, or frightened...it can...spill over."
"I know," Juushirou agreed calmly, and Koku stared at him.
"Did Kirio-san say...?"
"Kirio?" Juushirou was startled, then he smiled, shaking his head. "No, but I had already surmised from what both she and later, Mitsuki said that you'd had something to do with their uncharacteristically impulsive trip to Seventh. Also, with my desire to race off to save the Kitsune the other day - your reiryokuhas the ability to strip people of inhibitions, doesn't it?"
"I don't know that it's meant to. I just can't control it. It leaks," Kohaku spoke bitterly. "It can leak far worse, too. When I see something, that something can be picked up by other people. If I really try hard to, I can make someone else see something...but usually it's by accident that I do. That...something...is what turns people's minds and makes them act unlike themselves."
"And when you broke Keitarou's hold over Joumei?"
"I made him see images of his family being killed," Kohaku lowered his gaze, glancing at his hands. "The same images I saw...that you saw too."
"Of his family being..."
"By doing that, I broke Father's hold over him," Kohaku admitted. "It's experimental - I only learned I could do it recently, so I'm still perfecting it. But..if you scare someone enough, their body goes into survival mode. When it's in that mode, it can fight back more strongly against an invading force than it normally would. It disrupts and disperses Father's control...and so it breaks down. But it's not a nice cure. It wasn't nice for Joumei-dono, and I felt that when I touched him - but it was the only way I knew to break it."
"Fear can break Keitarou's control?"
"I don't know if it's fear, or if it's something toxic in my reiryoku that acts like a corrosive against Father's," Kohaku shrugged helplessly. "Like I said, I didn't know I could do it, till now. It takes a lot of my strength to manage, so perhaps it's my demonic reiryokumore than anything else."
"Then your spirit power can't be seen as all bad, can it?" Juushirou pointed out, and Kohaku snorted.
"You have no idea what I'm capable of doing," he whispered, and Juushirou eyed him keenly.
"But you don't believe in killing," he pointed out, "and you put yourself in serious danger when you brought Souja back here, too. You must've known that was a risk - a huge gamble, if we worked out who you were. Yet you did it anyway. You didn't want him to die, even though he was your enemy...so..."
"He wasn't my enemy," Kohaku shook his head impatiently. "I won't make you understand - I don't have enemies, it's other people who draw lines and use rhetoric to try and make something right or wrong. I just don't like people dying. It doesn't matter to me whether they're shinigami or people in the Rukon, or even whether they're someone who killed my sister. I don't believe in taking life. It doesn't solve anything, and I don't like to see it, over and over again in my head, the different ways in which people can be ripped apart."
He swallowed hard, burying his head in his hands as flickers of panic lurched against his senses.
"Even talking about it, I know they're there," he whispered. "The images of people being killed. I helped Souja-dono because he was hurt. I didn't lie to you about that. But I did know it was going to happen. I did try to stop it. I didn't succeed, that's all. That's the only bit I didn't tell you the truth about, Ukitake-dono. I wanted to help Souja-dono - but he wouldn't listen to me when I tried to warn him he was in danger. I knew that his life was important, and if he lived or died, it would affect everything from that point on. I knew that if he lived, there was a chance of avoiding all out conflict, and so I wanted to persuade him, even if he realised who I was."
"So you did meet him before he was lying injured on the ground?" Juushirou asked softly. "That's the information you knew...the thing you told Tenichi?"
Kohaku nodded.
"Souja-dono came to my hut," he said bleakly. "The hut where Father kept me - did Katsura tell Edogawa-san about that, too?"
"Mm. Yes," Juushirou's lips thinned in disapproval. "I know what place you mean, but we can discuss that more later. So he came there and found you - did he let you free?"
"No...I wasn't a prisoner. Not then. Not for a long time," Kohaku shook his head. "But I still went there...and that day, I went because I knew Souja-dono would be there. I wanted him to turn back. I hoped that, if I talked to him, he'd go back to Seireitei. I hoped...but he wouldn't listen. He told me it was his duty, and then he used shunpo and escaped. I...I can sense people's reiatsu really well, Ukitake-dono. I knew where he'd gone, but I couldn't follow him, not at his speed. I can't do shunpo. I don't know how. So by the time I got to where he was...he was already hurt."
"By your sister?"
"Yes."
"You saw her there?"
"I chased her off," Kohaku sighed, raising resigned eyes to his companion. "It was too late, though. She'd already taken it too far. Souja-dono knew it too...but I couldn't just leave him. I helped him open the Senkaimon, and I brought him back here."
"Did he realise you were associated with Keitarou?"
"Yes," Kohaku admitted. "He suspected I was when we met, and then, when Sakaki spoke to me, she called me by name. It was clear he knew Sakaki was Father's child, and so he knew. But he...he didn't blame me. He said he would help me, if I took him home. I knew that he couldn't...but..."
He paused, then,
"Well, maybe he did," he acknowledged reluctantly. "I know you took me here because Souja-dono asked you to. You've looked after me for his sake. Maybe that's how he kept his word...I don't know."
"Maybe because he knew you were his cousin, too," Juushirou suggested, but Kohaku shook his head.
"He never knew that," he said bitterly. "Sakaki didn't know I was her brother, so how could he?"
"Even Sakakididn't..?" Juushirou was flummoxed, and Kohaku shrugged.
"Safer for me, Father said," he responded wearily. "People in the village associated the name Kohaku with a demon. A man went mad and died because of my spirit power, so when Father found a way to seal some of it in a sword, he decided it was best for the sword alone to keep my name, and for me to pretend to be just another member of the Rukon population. Katsu-nii knew, because he found me when we were small. But Father forbade us from telling Sakaki the truth, so she never knew. To her I was just Koku."
He reached up to brush a finger against his eyelids.
"I have darker eyes than Father, but they're brown like his, not blue like Mother's," he continued pensively. "Father said they're like his mother's, but I never met her, so I don't know. My hair is brown, like his, but darker again, because of Mother's black. I don't look like an Endou, nor like an Urahara. It was an easy lie to tell. Sakaki and Katsura both look like Mother, but I...I don't look like anything. I'm a muddle of genes and a muddle of spirit power - and because of that, nobody ever suspected who I was."
"So he locked you up and denied you were his son, and made you live in a kind of limbo, hiding who you were from everyone around you?" To Kohaku's surprise, there was genuine anger in Juushirou's tones, and he faltered, confused.
"Ukitake-dono?"
"Yet he used you, didn't he? He used this power of yours. He didn't teach you how to manage it properly, even though I'm sure he knew how. He wanted it there, so he could feed off it - and use you for his own ends."
"No..." Kohaku hesitated, a doubtful look on his face. "I...don't know. Honestly, I don't. I'm not sure anything can be done about it."
"And this sword? Souja mentioned a sword with your name on it. That was the sword into which Keitarou confined some of your power?"
"Yes."
"A zanpakutou?"
"No...not a proper one," Kohaku looked troubled. "He would've liked me to summon one, I think, but it never happened. I have a voice in my head, and I wish I didn't, and Father thought it might be one...but it never became what he anticipated. Katsu-nii and Sakaki never had that - only me, and it didn't act as he expected, so he wasn't sure. In the end, I didn't have enough strength or...or control to summon anything. It told me it's name was Kyouka, but that it wasn't its full name, and that a worm like me would never hear any more."
"Kyouka?" Juushirou's lips thinned, and Koku nodded, a hollow smile touching his lips.
"Even now, it delights in tormenting me, and I wish it were gone far far away," he agreed. "Father made this sword to confine it, but it wasn't enough really and he knew it wasn't. It took him a long time, so maybe he began working on it when I was still small - I don't know. I only know that I was sixteen before he brought it near me. He said it was more like an upgraded asauchi - a spiritual sponge to soak up some of the power I couldn't control. It's...really not nice, my power, and it hates me. Because it does, it tries to take me over and do with me as it wishes. Father wanted to stop that happening, so that I could be rational for longer periods. Maybe it was to be of use to him, or maybe it was for my sake - I don't really know. But he still did it, and the result was the same. He sealed the hilt with Sekkiseki so that it couldn't pour back into me if I touched it, and because my power is as it is, I was the only one who could. He couldn't remove all of what he wanted to the blade, but I think he tried..."
"Not hard enough," Juushirou said flatly, and Kohaku frowned.
"Ukitake-dono, why do you care?" he asked softly. "It's nothing to do with you. Father did what he thought was right, and that's all. It was better than how I lived before. Before he made the sword, all I remember are shadows, delusions and being locked in a cold, dark place, often on my own. Sometimes Katsu-nii was there, and we'd play, but those memories are broken and confused with bits of the past and the future, so they're not coherent. I was...damaged. You don't understand...I was broken from the time I was born, and then..."
"He told you you were broken?" Juushirou's eyes widened in dismay, and Kohaku shook his head hurriedly.
"No!" he said hastily, "or well, yes, but not...in those words. But the reidoku damaged me. I wasn't normal when I was born...so there was only so much he could do."
"Reidoku?" It was impossible for Juushirou to look any more horrified, and Kohaku sighed, rubbing his fingers against his brow.
"I'm making this worse," he said heavily.
"Did he make you drink reidoku? Is that what you're telling me?"
"No," Kohaku held up his hands. "He stopped making it - he said he didn't want to have it anywhere around me, because he was worried about the consequences with my reiryokuas it was"
"Then...?"
"He drank it," Kohaku said simply. "He told me that, to escape the shinigami the last time, he had no choice but to. But it didn't clear his system like he thought it would. It stayed. It affected him, and those effects became part of him as he healed. He didn't really understand it either, though he thought it was because...well...because his body was so broken, and there was so much mending to do. The reidokujust bound with his body and became a part of it. But because of that..."
"It was passed on genetically," Juushirou murmured. "Good grief, and we thought it bad enough if ingested by one individual, but something of this level! You, your brother, your sister..."
"Katsu-nii was conceived before," Kohaku shook his head. "It's only Sakaki and I who were affected. I got too much reiryoku, and she got none at all. For that reason, Father wasn't sure if Kyouka was really a zanpakutou, or just a mutation of my spirit power caused by the reidoku, which had allowed it to create it's own split personality inside of me, fighting for control."
"I see," Juushirou chewed on his lip.
"I don't hate my Father, Ukitake-dono. If you ask me where he is, I won't tell you."
"Do you know where he is?" Juushirou asked sharply, but Kohaku shook his head.
"No," he admitted, "but I could find him pretty easily, if I wanted to try. I don't think it matters, though."
"Even if it means more people are killed?"
"They probably will be," Kohaku said soberly. "I understand Father better than you or anyone else in Seireitei. Probably better than any of my family, too, to be honest. I know his good points and his bad ones, and why he acts how he does. I know he won't ever give up, and that talking to him about it is pointless. It's been tried before, but you can't reach him. His heart is too scarred and damaged to be changed. He's looking for something he can't ever find, so he won't ever stop. Even though he knows he can't find it, he'll keep going regardless."
"Yet you don't believe in stopping him?" Juushirou asked. "Are the ties of kin that strong? Even though he confined you, and even though he raised you in such a horrible location, even so...?"
"It's not that," Kohaku said sadly. "I stopped Katsu-nii from killing Joumei-dono because killing him wouldn't change anything. Sakaki would just be dead, and I know Joumei-dono also has a sister, doesn't he? It would be stealing from another family, and that's wrong...it's always wrong. I don't agree with Father's way of doing a lot of things. But you're wrong about something, Juushirou-dono. I grew up in a horrible place, it's true. Supplies were meagre and life hard. But we were alive, and so were the others who lived there. Because of Father's connections, and Mother's determination, the people in Rukongai were able to eke out a living. Your people ignored them. You left them to die. Maybe you didn't know about them," as Juushirou looked stricken, "but I bet somewhere, someone did. Somewhere in the past, a record was misfiled or a decision made without any proper investigation. I know people died in the Rukon before - shinigami, not just ordinary people. I've been to those places and I've felt the fragments of their spirits on the wind. Maybe that's why the shinigami chose to isolate the souls with reiryoku. Maybe this was their solution - I don't know. But I do know that a lot of very poor people would be dead without Father. And I can't condone that. If you go attack Father, wherever he is now, you'll bring them into it and they'll be hurt more. They don't deserve that. So I won't try and find him, nor try and stop him. I don't think Father is any more wrong than the shinigami are when it comes to sacrificing life. All life is as important as each other, isn't that what Kyouraku-dono said? But it seems as though shinigami still hold themselves above ordinary folk. And...and while I admit that you've been kind to me here, I don't know...that that makes you right and Father wrong."
"Koku..." Juushirou paused, then sighed, nodding his head.
"I suppose that's true," he admitted reluctantly. "I know Keitarou is wrong, because I've seen the things he's done to hurt people around me, as well as to me directly. But...when I first met him, he said things about the inequalities in society, and those things haven't changed completely. I...wanted to try and help open up Seireitei, by becoming the first District Captain, and creating a safe place for District graduates to come from the Academy and serve in uniform alongside those from the Clans. But, though some Clan squads do accept District applications, now, we're still known as the District squad, with the least budget to work with. Some Clan shinigami still look down on me and on us. That's just the periphery, isn't it? It's beginning to thaw the inequality in Seireitei, but nobody's paid enough attention to Rukongai. We knew about the Plus Souls, and Fourth have worked hard to help those by establishing the Spiritless Zone. But...but it's been bothering me, too, that there were others. Ones like you, and not like you, who had spirit power but who the Gotei don't officially acknowledge. Since you came here, it's been bothering me more and more. I truly didn't know anything of it before that - but that's also my fault, for not questioning enough. Maybe that makes me as guilty as anyone else in their neglect. If they turned to Keitarou, it was because we refused to notice."
A faint smile touched Kohaku's lips, and he shook his head.
"I don't think you're to blame," he said honestly. "You've known I was from Rukongai, but it didn't affect your care of me. And now, too, even knowing who I really am, you're still talking to me as a person, not simply as an enemy. Perhaps because of that, you can understand that it's not a clear cut case of good and bad, not for me. Father has done unforgivable things, and so have shinigami. Father has done good things, and so have shinigami. I think you're the same...you just approach from different points of view. The things and people that are bad to Father are good to you, and vice versa. It's all on perspective. That's why I don't have enemies...because I don't choose to take sides like that. To me, if someone is alive, they should stay that way. It's not for me to take their life away, or to stop them from doing what they want to do with it. Even if I see it...it's not for me to interfere. I might make it worse, and even if I didn't, I don't have the right to dictate someone else's choices."
Juushirou was quiet for a moment, then he sighed.
"I understand," he replied softly. "I do, more than you think."
"Do you?" Kohaku looked doubtful, and Juushirou pressed his lips together.
"To you, I'm a priveleged Seireitei-jin, aren't I?" he realised. "I've always had food and shelter, and I've taken those things for granted. True, my background isn't rich, but even the poorest families in Seireitei probably can't imagine the things you've faced. Shunsui told me about the place he investigated, and I know how barren and dead it was. I can't imagine living in that kind of surroundings. I suppose for you to look at me, in my shinigami uniform, with this," he touched his haori,"flapping about my shoulders, its hard to believe that I understand anything you say at all."
"Maybe a little," Kohaku confessed.
"You're still talking to me about it, though," Juushirou observed, and Kohaku looked startled.
"I guess so," he realised. "I don't think I've ever talked like this to anyone, not ever. Not even Katsu-nii. I never thought I'd say stuff like this to a shinigami...but you...don't seem angry with me for saying it. You said anything I thought you ought to know. Maybe...this is that. What you ought to know."
"Maybe it is," Juushirou admitted. "The big question is, what to do from here. The trouble is that even if we're at fault, it doesn't mean we can just leave Keitarou to his own devices. You're right when you say that the lives of the people in the Rukon are important, and we must find a way to settle that properly. They can't continue to be treated so badly, and I agree that we mustn't turn our back on them a second time. I promise, I won't let that happen. But the lives...the people here in Seireitei, their lives are important too. And sacrifices like Souja, or the healers in the Spiritless Zone...they deserve justice too. It's not even just shinigami he's targeted. Before you were born, many, many people were killed by Keitarou and his associates in the pursuit of reidoku creation."
"Many people?" Kohaku pressed his lips together. "Ordinary people?"
"Ordinary Seireitei people," Juushirou nodded. "I saw evidence of it myself, when I first met your Father, and many, many people have given testimony about relatives stolen away or in some cases, sold to prevent the whole family being killed. Maybe he's stopped creating reidoku now, but that doesn't change the number of people who died because of his work. I understand Keitarou suffered a lot himself, and that, perhaps, the matter of your Grandfather might've been settled in a better way. Even Nagesu-sama has said that he wishes it had been handled differently. My adopted sister lived with Keitarou for four years, and she said that he wasn't a bad person, just one damaged by circumstance beyond all help. You've said the same about him now, and I...I don't believe he's completely evil. But, if you undergo suffering yourself, you...surely the last thing you want to do is make other people suffer? If you understand it, how could you ever want anyone else to go through the same?"
"I...I suppose that..."
"Kuchiki Ribari, Endou Souja, Amai Suzuno," Juushirou counted the names off on his fingers. "A boy not even into his adulthood, killed simply for being a Kuchiki. An Endou shinigami killed because he wanted to protect his family and do his duty. And a young Unohana who made the mistake of healing your father's wounds...and paid for it with her life."
Kohaku's eyes widened in alarm, as before his eyes the white wraith-like form of a young woman began to take shape, a healing sword held in her hands. She appeared pure and beautiful as an angel, but then blood began to trickle from her throat and her chest, saturating the entire image in a flow of crimson. She gazed at him for a moment, her soulful eyes burning right through him, then, with a ripple of light she faded into nothing.
"Amai...Suzuno?" he murmured.
"When you train to be a shinigami, you expect to fight," Juushirou continued evenly. "As shinigami, though, we're also trained not to fight. We're taught not to kill people we ought not kill. Civilians. Children. Those who show you no hostility. Healers. The wounded. In an ideal world, these swords," he patted Sougyo no Kotowari's hilt, "would only be used to purify Hollows. But, people like Keitarou, they make it necessary for us to consider killing on a different level. I don't like that. I want a peaceful Seireitei, in which we can do our duty and protect the balance of souls between this world and the other. Many of us don't like killing."
"Your sword has never taken a person's life, has it?" Kohaku whispered, reaching out towards Sougyo no Kotowari, half sure he felt the blade calling to him. Briefly, images of two fish splashed across his senses, then, as soon as they were there they were gone, making him sure he had imagined their presence completely. "I can tell...it isn't tainted. There's no blood on the blade."
"Well, I do polish it," Juushirou said matter-of-factly, "but you're right. I've purified many Hollows, but that's all. I know I could, if I needed to, but knowing that is enough...not to need to. There are a lot of shinigami who feel like that. Shunsui told you so, didn't he? We're not blood-thirsty killers, even if sometimes we make mistakes."
"Maybe," Kohaku lowered his hand with a sigh. "It's hard to know. It's hard to work everything out."
"But you do believe killing is wrong," Juushirou pointed out. "Don't you believe people who take life ought to be brought to account for it?"
"I don't believe in taking life," Kohaku said simply. "You might not want to kill, but Shinigami kill people who kill other people, don't they? That's the same as Joumei-dono killing Sakaki, or Sakaki killing Souja-dono. It's all wrong. No matter what the justification, a life is a life. That's what I believe. I don't like death. That's all. And just because Father has killed...or Katsu-nii...I...if they were to be killed...I..."
"What if one death could prevent the deaths of many?"
Kohaku stared at Juushirou, momentarily struck speechless as unwelcome images flooded in from all four corners of his senses. A pale, broken body lying across cobbles amid the scattered remains of black-clad others, the thick white fabric of his haoristained red with blood that seeped slowly between the cracks in the stone. The ends of his obi, torn loose in the struggle, fluttered helplessly in the wind. Two hazel eyes stared up at the sky, sightless and devoid of spirit, and the ragged wisps of snow white hair...
One death, preventing the deaths of many...
He closed his eyes, forcing the images back, but no sooner had he suppressed it than another, more familiar visage began to take shape in his mind's eye. This was a corpse he had seen time and time again, yet this time more vivid and real against his senses. The wispy, sandy-brown hair, and those mud-slurried eyes, unblinking and accusing. The man's lips could no longer move, yet Kohaku still heard him speak a single word, the syllables trickling down his spine like ice water.
"Betrayal."
"Stop it," he whispered, but a flurry of other images washed over him, overwhelming him before pulling sharply back and returning him with a cruel jolt to the small chamber and the concerned gaze of the Thirteenth Division Captain.
"Koku? Are you all right?"
"The death of one..." Kohaku wet his lips, gazing at Juushirou with a sudden flash of alarm. In that instant, the things which had not been clear before had been laid before him in perfect technicolour. At last, he understood.
"Ukitake Juushirou is going to be a problem for me,"
Keitarou's words came suddenly to his thoughts, and Kohaku's heart clenched, interpreting those words anew.
I wonder if you understood what that really meant, Father.
He took a shaky breath into his lungs, struggling to regain some composure.
If I'd understood, would I have ever come here? Would I have taken the risk and brought Souja-dono back? But it's too late. I can't turn back from it. I've tried to run away from it for too long, but I can't escape it forever. I can't, can I, Kyouka? If I act, or if I don't, people die. It just...it's a matter of...of who...and...of when.
Author's Note
Happy New Year Everyone!
