Once I finally crawled back into the right room I fell on my bed, landed face first into a pillow and screamed.
My head buzzed trying to understand so many events crammed into what couldn't have been more than an hour. Ginrei Kuchiki, my parent's murderer, was still alive. I had accidentally killed a man, there was yet another vampire hidden away in this mansion and Unohana and the rest of us would be in grave danger if anyone somehow traced the incident back to me.
I didn't notice Gin was awake until he had flopped next to me and copied me, alternating between play yelling into another pillow and giggling.
Realizing what he was doing, I snorted out an uncouth laugh, then sighed. Hugging the toddler close, I ruffled his hair that was getting too long. I suddenly felt terrible at how much danger I had been putting him in with that stunt.
"Hey Gin."
"Sobababa," Gin babbled.
"It's been a really strange night. I've been sneaking out to see the town behind your back. But you should have seen it out there... The market square is incredible, food, laughter and lights like you've never seen before.
I activated my Curse and tiny figures of light filled my palms. Dancers whirling with color, musicians playing a variety of instruments, the hustling bustling crowds and I even did my best to fill the air with the sounds, scents and warmth I had felt.
Gin clapped and giggled and grabbed at the figures. Since they weren't actually there he just ended up batting my hands, so I let them fade away into the night.
"It was a whole different world than that awful cave. I hope you'll never have any real memory of that place as you grow. But no matter how amazing it was it was foolish and I'm sorry about that."
"Bap bap bap," Gin started smacking my foot.
"Yeah I deserve that. If the Order found out Unohana is harboring us and former Captain Tousen they'd have all four of us killed. Maybe it would be better for everyone if we just left this place behind and found a way back to Hueco Mundo. A hunter tried to kill me while I was sneaking around and I think the Bloodless Emperor saved me with a strange, but terrifying power. It would be dangerous out there for us, but maybe it could save us again if it came down to it."
Gin ceased his assault on my foot and crawled towards the nightstand where we kept his blood vials locked away and started smacking that instead. I glanced outside at the moon, it was about time for his feeding anyway. After some rummaging around, I helped him drink from the vial of human blood, then set it aside in a box of discarded containers. Hesitantly I took the vial that had been crafted especially for me, pondering aloud.
"Then again, if we run away I won't be able to get blood like this will I?"
Rolling it between my fingers, I watched how distorted the moon appeared through the glass. The pearlescent glow that infused the artificial dhampir blood gleaming even stronger in the moonlight. "It's not like we will find a place like the cave ever again where vampires will willingly offer me gallons of their blood because they think I'm a god."
Finally, I drank the thing and continued to ponder my thoughts aloud to Gin, who was now digging through a pile of books on the floor.
"So what do you think we should do? Should we just pretend to be human and hope no one notices how slowly we age? Or just hide away for as long as Unohana is alive in our little paradise of books?" As much as I loved my indulgent lifestyle, I could not imagine I'd feel the same about it decades from now. Not now that I had a taste of the outside world, just beyond my grasp. Yet, I stared at the thick scar on my hand and furrowed my brow. How could I even begin to survive in the human world now that I knew the terror of facing a hunter's blade, ready to kill me without hesitation?
Gin triumphantly raised his selected book.
"Sobaba! Bok! Bok!"
"Fine fine!" I exclaimed as he forcefully climbed into my lap, smacking me in the nose as he shoved it into my face.
I was surprised to see it wasn't the book Nine Tricky Tales of Ichimaru Gin, that he had loved so much I had named him after it. Instead it was that human-penned version of Aizen's Trail of Blood that I told myself I hated, but skimmed through about once a week nonetheless. Gin giggled and stood up on the mattress to pat my head, then went to crawl back into his space in the bed. It took me a moment to process the gesture. I turned the book about, staring at the flaking, gilt letters on the spine.
Gin didn't want me to read to him. Instead, he realized I was sad and was giving me something he knew I enjoyed to make me feel better.
I had to choke back a sudden ugly sob as the realization sank in and held the book close to my chest. Long ago I had known Gin was already important to me, but only just now it dawned on me how much we were now family, no matter what.
In that moment I knew then that I had to do everything in my power to protect him. And to fully repay Unohana for her kindness and sacrifice, I had to grow beyond the comfort of my books and become strong enough that neither of us would ever know that terror of being hunted or trapped ever again. The world beyond Seireitei could wait. For now, I had to use everything at my disposal to protect myself and my small, strange family.
Tomorrow I would tell Unohana everything and ask her to train me. From the little time we had shared it was clear that fighting and the training my parents had given her meant everything to her. That would cover my physical training. I had realized the potential of my Curse long ago, but I needed hemomancy as well to take full advantage of my vampire blood. That would be much more difficult, but I had an idea.
Head swirling, more peacefully this time, sleep finally caught me for that night.
-:-:-:-
That night I dreamed of that dark, misty place, standing atop a pillar of ice. The place that appeared to me after I had fooled the count into thinking I was the Bloodless Emperor's vessel. The dark shadow gathered in the distance. Even in the dream state I felt my gut churn. Before I could say anything his voice filled the void.
"You are forgetting why you are here."
He wasn't wrong. I was so focused on escaping and figuring out my new life, I had pretty much forgotten that the Bloodless Emperor had given me a task to find where his true body was hidden in the human realm.
"I'm still a child in this place. I cannot accomplish much as I am. Give me time."
"I can see that. You are already putting yourself in grave danger."
"So that was you," I said gritting my teeth. "You killed that man with the black fire. Your power has left me scared, you know. I never want to use it again."
"A childish request. Your life would have been forfeit if I had not intervened."
"I will become strong enough that I don't need your help."
"Ungrateful charlatan child. First you claim my name as your own, now you are displeased that I have given you such power." The cold winds of this strange place picked up and the gusts threatened to send me toppling off the edge.
I had to contain my anger. I didn't want anything to do with this ancient being, I was finally finding my own purpose and he would have nothing to do with it, but his presence was inescapable. Especially if he had taken control of me so easily before, I had to be careful.
"What I mean is that it will be hard to stay hidden and gain trust among the humans with that black fire. I will never be able to seek what you need if you burn every soul that wishes me harm."
The Emperor was silent for a moment.
"Very well. I have waited this long, I can wait longer. But I will be watching to ensure you do not forget your promise."
-:-:-:-
"Here, hold still," Unohana ordered as she moved my right arm and began unfurling a cloth bandage. After a long discussion, she agreed to train me in swordplay, though this wasn't quite how I expected the first lesson in her private training room to go.
"There may be times that you are incapacitated in a fight. Severed ligaments, resistance from wound bindings, or losing limbs... you can never be too prepared," Unohana explained, tying it off around my torso. "You would be shocked how many of our hunters lose arms in the field. If you really want to join the Order you should learn to fight with one arm, including your left. Enemies typically aren't considerate enough to just attack your non-dominant side. Too tight?"
I tried to move my right arm, but it was held pretty firmly by the medical bandage. "It's fine. But I've never touched a sword before in my life. Are we really starting like this?"
"If you learn the basics while incapacitated then you will always be ready for the most dire of situations. I will be nice though and wait until after mastery to test you with a blindfold." She tied back her impossibly long black hair and helped me adjust my stance.
"Seeing as you're a sadist who believes in teaching with live steel, I appreciate it." I scowled at the plain, but sharp steel blade she had given me. Thanks to her upbringing as a killing machine and her training with my mother, Unohana had never touched a wooden weapon in her life and she wasn't going to start with me.
"I don't see why you would want it to practice with a fake, wimpy facsimile," Unohana gave her sweetest smile and took a sword from the rack. Luckily a more worn old thing than her legendary soul blade, Minazuki. "With your vampire blood you should be able to heal fine after practice. Leave those toys to Gin."
Gin was resting in the corner of the room on a blanket, reading a picture book upside down and chewing on the end of a wooden dagger. The toddler heard his name and smiled, gripping the blade end of the thing and banging it on the floor.
"Practice the Ochs, Pflug, Von Dach and Alder movements I showed you earlier one-hundred times each with this stance. Then we will spar." I didn't waste a second and began practicing the moves. By the time I was halfway through my arm and shoulder muscles had tensed, but I pushed through, focusing on my goal.
"I appreciate your honesty in telling me about your trips to town," Unohana remarked as she observed my drills. "To be completely honest myself, Captain Tousen told me of your surprise encounter beforehand. I would have been quite disappointed if you had not come forth on your own."
"It was very foolish in hindsight and I apologize once again. I didn't know you were protecting so many important vampires. The sole heir of the dhampir rebel usurpers and the second cousin of Seireitei's reigning queen is a rather hefty roster."
"Captain Tousen is the queen's third cousin, first removed, but that's besides the point."
"Should we switch to the right side?" I asked after a few more drills.
"That's enough for our first night. Besides, we should let your injured hand rest a little more, hmm?" She asked with a deceptively sweet smile. Unohana had used her Gift to heal the burn that had been left by the emperor's power. However, even one of the strongest healing Gifts in Seireitei couldn't completely mend a wound of such a strange ancient power. It was clear from all of her smiles she didn't completely believe my lie that the burn was from "grabbing a hot pipe when climbing" during one of my outings. I truly didn't want to keep lying to her, but I didn't quite understand what was happening with the Bloodless Emperor and wanted to ignore his presence for as long as I could afford.
"One last thing, I have a request. But the choice is entirely yours. You told me you wish to live among humans for a time and your Curse will allow you to appear fully human. Would you be opposed to enrolling at the hunter academy?" Her eyes grew dim. "After what the cult had me do to all those mothers and children in the cave...I never want to carry my own. But the central council who rules the Order is constantly pestering me to hurry up and wed and produce my own Gifted whelps. You already show promise, Sousuke. If you became my son and enrolled, it would shut them up for a little while."
My mind wandered to that market square, so full of life and all manner of joy for the senses. The camaraderie of the students and the flocks of hunters flocked around their captains. But there was also the very real fact that the Order existed to kill vampires. Then again, Unohana was a hunter too, and I owed her my life. Hiding in plain sight did sound delightfully fun. And the prospect of becoming a hunter did bring me closer to other notable captains didn't hurt either.
"I'll consider it," I activated the illusion that hid the glow of my eyes and shorted my fangs, observing the change in the reflection of my blade. "Under one condition."
"Oh?"
"If you will turn a blind eye if and when a certain Captain Ginrei Kuchiki turns up dead under mysterious circumstances."
"Goodness Sousuke, that's not a condition, I would gladly assist you." Her sadist smile returned.
"Well then it's a deal." And we shook on it.
-:-:-:-
Now that Unohana was willing to train me, next was my plan for Tousen. Unohana arranged a more proper meeting for us this time. In the dark of the night, when the servants were asleep, I left for his room with a tall stack of books in hand.
"I can't claim to know that much about life as a vampire, but I brought some texts with me that you might find enlightening. I can read them to you every once in a while if you would like." I said, setting them down on a low table.
"And what do you suppose is so enlightening about them?" Tousen asked, feeling for the books and sizing up the stack.
"I'm sure you're aware of vampire blood magic? I would try it on my own, but since you already have such a strong connection to vitae and that's one of the foundations of hemomancy. Maybe we could work on it together?"
"What are you proposing?"
"Once a week or so I can come over here and read the passages and describe the diagrams for you. Then we can try to figure out the spells from the ground up. As far as I can tell neither of us will find any hemomancy masters in Seireitei that can teach it to us."
"You assume I wish to learn the vampires' magic arts?" He asked after a moment's hesitation.
"Not necessarily, but simply know you have a rare potential for it based on what I've read of the great hemomancy masters." What I didn't say is that I figured he was likely growing bored and frustrated by a life in isolation and would crave some form of camaraderie, no matter what the circumstance. And that as a fellow vampire in self-imposed exile I should probably get in his good graces sooner than later.
"Intriguing. I suppose there's no harm in trying. Where should we start?"
"Would you be opposed to right now?" I beamed, grabbing my favorite from the stack.
-:-:-:-
Every year from then on I read every book in the hunter academy's curriculum front to back and whatever else I thought might supplement that knowledge. If I was going to be Unohana's son then I decided I would become a top student and get the council to leave her alone for good. I trained with her every single night that she was not away on a mission or busy at the hospital. It was some of my most treasured time, despite always leaving sore. Her brutal teaching style worked well for me and she often shared more tales of when she trained with my parents.
Tousen was acclimating to hemomancy even better than I expected. The root of the magic was the ability to sense vitae, the very essence of what gave all living things life and vampires a semblance of life. It was a sense Tousen already possessed through his Gift to manipulate blood and was only enhanced by his lack of sight. While I focused on my books and training as well, Tousen had ample time to practice magic between our meetings. Within a few years we had made it through all the books I had on the subject and the former captain became less of a study partner and more of a teacher.
I was content and thrilled to read, train and practice magic for days, months and years on end, but things couldn't remain so simple forever.
-:-:-:Two Years Later:-:-:-
"Hold still! Why are you suddenly afraid of water!?" I was trying to give Gin a bath, but for some reason he was kicking,screaming, and running around our washroom. He was mobile and talking now and it was starting to take up some of my precious practice time to keep him entertained.
"No bath! No bath! No bath!" he chanted.
I grabbed a towel and chased after him, trying to use it like a net. After I caught him and tried to hoist him up when a burst of mist suddenly exploded into my face. I stood there stupefied, then looked around frantically.
What...
I tore through the suite trying to find him. Under the tub, in the closet, the bureau, under the bed... No matter where I looked, Gin was nowhere to be found and my panic grew. He didn't literally just disappear did he?
There was a heavy knock at my door that startled me. I peered through the keyhole and was surprised to see Tousen standing there. It was very late in the night, but for him to emerge from his room it must have been important. Hesitantly I opened the door and he was holding Gin under one arm as he flailed about.
"Missing something?"
"Wait-I mean yes, but how?" Before I could ask again Gin simply became a silvery cloud of mist and drifted to the bed where he proceeded to become whole again and drop down, landing safely with a bounce. Tousen shut the door and grabbed Gin out of the air as he started to rise into a cloud in order to fall again.
"It is quite early for his Curse to manifest, but from what you've told me he has been constantly fed dhampir blood since birth, it might have sped things along."
Fantastic. The trick I had been using to keep Gin under control back in the cave was now going to make him literally impossible to pin down.
"That spell I have been experimenting on for this sort of thing, shall I test it on him?"
I gnawed at my lower lip. I knew the one he meant, I was just hoping this day wouldn't have to come, especially so soon.
"Just...promise me it's reversible."
Tousen nodded and the vermillion glow of his vitae covered Gin then disappeared. He was released and started running around the room, clearly frustrated that he couldn't puff away.
"Cloud now! Clow now! Wanna cloud!" He started chanting until jumping, still wet and naked from his bath.
"It will likely hold for a while since he is inexperienced at using it. Normally I would be against using something like this, but he is far too young to use his Curse responsibly in our delicate situation."
My stomach curdled at the thought of not having my Curse at hand, but if the wrong person caught him, everything I had been working for would be for nothing.
Gin ran over and clung to my leg sobbing, "Cloud! I wanna cloud!"
This was bad. I had hoped that he would be peacefully able to transition to human society alongside me. However, turning into mist was one of the most well-known Curses a vampire could possess. Not because it was particularly common, but because the idea that a vampire could be lurking and hovering just out of site, ready to strike at any moment, terrified humans and appeared as a common trope in their stories. It would raise suspicion immediately.
"This isn't a Curse we can hide as easily as mine."
"I wouldn't say that yet. We do not know the full extent of what he can do yet. Still, knowing this, do you still want to pursue a human's life for him and yourself?"
I picked up Gin and cradled him against my chest as he cried. There was only one way to fool the world into thinking he was human, but he would have to have the same advantage my dhampir blood gave me.
"If you can craft a spell to block a Curse….can you craft one...to protect him from the sun? It feels wrong to deprive him like this."
"Hmm, I had started toying with the idea before for myself. But I had set it aside. It is already well known throughout Seireitei I am supposed to be a dead man, my sudden reappearance would cause quite an uproar for my house. I could revisit those theories if it will make Retsu's life easier to keep this one out of trouble."
I mopped up Gin's tears and snot with the towel I was still holding. "Hang in there, Gin. If Tousen's working on it, I'm sure you'll be able to 'cloud' around anywhere you want soon enough."