A/N: So I wanna start this off saying that the artwork I made for this chapter did not… come out as well as I had hoped. I'm just so bad at 'shading'! Check it out on deviantart under my same username if your interested.
Meeting the Kurosaki twins was happenstance. She didn't know the teenagers could see her when she dropped in through their window while hollow tracking, and she would have probably avoided them if she had known.
Finding out that they already knew about hollows, pluses and Shinigamis almost seemed like a coincidence or maybe even fate. They were calm in the face of the unknown and showed no trace of shock when Rukia walked them through the afterlife stuff.
Giving Kurosaki Karin her powers so she could protect the family had been an accident. Karin had actually held up the hollow pretty decently for a human, but she was still a human and that meant she couldn't just crack a hollow's mask unless she had crazy control over her reiatsu which didn't seem to be the case. So the only option was giving her the boost needed to become a Shinigami.
Being invited into the house afterwards, getting nursed to health and escorted to the weird candy shop owner for a gigai and then being corralled back to the Kurosaki household almost felt like some sort of plot, though it certainly didn't look diabolical and in the end, Yuzu was the one that insisted she should stay over like a fun long term sleepover.
Asking Karin to help on hollow hunting while she got her powers back made the entire debacle from yesterday seem tame.
"Wh-what?" Rukia stutters as she stares at Karin with utter bafflement at what she had just been told.
Karin waves her off from where she's curled up on the couch watching TV and only spares a brief glance at Yuzu who is busy in the kitchen but is likely listening in too. "I'll help take care of the hollows while you recover your powers as thanks, but while I'm at school I'll ask one of the retired clansmen to help out."
"That!" Rukia points at Karin and finds herself bristling at the teen's bored expression. "What do you mean clansmen? This is hollow hunting we're talking about! Only Shinigami can hunt hollows!"
Karin heaves an exasperated sigh but straightens up and turns her attention away from the screen. "Look, they technically aren't considered Shinigami anymore, but they do have the skill and they can take care of hollows just fine."
"You're still not making sense!"
Karin finds her brows furrowing as she shifts her eyes to Yuzu who has stopped her rice washing and is staring at them too. A thought passes her mind, and she turns back to look at Rukia and asks hesitantly. "You did say your name was Kuchiki right?"
Rukia crosses her arms over her chest defensively as she avoids eye contact with the other raven head. "Kuchiki Rukia, yes."
"Then you should know," Karin begins curtly. "that Karakura is Shiba territory."
The blank confused look Rukia continues to give her as all the answer she needs so she hauls herself to her feet and hollers in the direction of the Clinic door. "Hey Goat-Face!"
She hears a bang followed by a noise that sounds like multiple boxes crashing into the floor but very shortly after, her idiot father has seemingly materialized at the door.
"Yes my darling daughter?" he asks.
Karin sighs but doesn't mention the endearment so that they don't get off track. "Why doesn't Kuchiki Rukia know Karakura is Shiba territory?"
"Oh." The older Kurosaki pauses as if caught completely off guard from the question before a somewhat out of character expression passes quicksilver across his face. "Don't worry about it so much Kuchiki-chan, the Shiba have claim over Karakura and we have a compound here where some of the retired folk settle. It's not an uncommon practice among the Clans."
Rukia is only more confused than she already was, but that line of questioning seems to have been swiftly shut down and when she tries to inquire further, Yuzu cheerfully announces dinner is ready and it all just gets swept under the rug.
The next day she is introduced to a calmly smiling older man who is very clearly visible to the neighbors around the house but is also very clearly not human. He's dressed in a casual navy blue Yukata and he gives a very cheery hello while he reassures them that he will take care of any hollows that may pop up during class. She's left with more questions than answers, but whenever her soul pager goes off, it always inadvertently stops not even two rings later so that leaves her with the impression that the man had actually kept to his word.
This pattern actually continues. When they leave for school in the morning, there is always someone waiting for them outside the door promising to take care of hollows during school hours. She has gotten to meet six different people overall, and any sort of inquiring just gets her nowhere.
"You're best not knowing much Rukia-chan." Yuzu tells her one day at lunch while the two are off getting something to drink from the vending machine. "We appreciate you as a friend, so I'll tell you this much, but you can't let anyone know."
Rukia finds herself paling and feeling uneasy in the face of this serious Yuzu who looks like she will not take any answer but a solemn promise for silence.
"Of course I won't, you're my friends too."
Yuzu smiles as if Rukia has promised her the world and tells her in hushed and brief words.
They are Shiba, not adopted Shiba like Rukia is adopted Kuchiki, but actual Shiba. The blood of the Heaven Keepers run through their veins, but they were born from a human mother and so they stay as hidden as possible to avoid any issues with the government. As Noble Clan, they should be able to get away with a simple slap on the wrist, but it's been generally agreed that it should be best not to court trouble.
"Don't ask anymore Rukia-chan." Yuzu ends her explanation with this. "The less you know, the better but…" Here she hesitates, her feet stopping at the top of the stairs before she can open the door to the roof where Karin and their other friends -Jinta and Ururu- should be waiting for them. "I might be just paranoid, but I feel like something bad might happen, and I want you to be sure that if things go wrong, we'll have your back, all of us."
Yuzu doesn't let Rukia give any sort of response to that vague promise before she's swinging open the door to the roof and they are greeted by cheer and yells demanding why they took so long.
Rukia tries to forget the eerie and focused brown eyes that seemed to glow with something Other when she stated in no uncertain terms that they would have her back but finds that she can't.
Later, when Renji and her brother are dragging her through the Senkaimon and into Soul Society, she glances back to see Karin lying on the ground with her tattered Shihakusho and somehow finds Yuzu hidden behind one of the corners. She slowly comes out to settle by her sister before glancing up to meet Rukia's eyes spot on even from such a distance. That's the last thing she sees before the doors close in her face.
Sitting in a cell at the Sixth Division barracks is not… uncomfortable, but it is humbling, and it leaves her alone to her thoughts in a way that just makes herself spiral into depression. No one really comes to visit her, and the only company she gets is from the one assigned to bring her food.
On the third day of her imprisonment, that changes.
The first thing she notices is a commotion down the hall, not exactly yells, but some frazzled voices and the noise of footsteps resounding against the stone floors of the detention building. It's not long before she finds herself hearing the iron door at the end of the corridor opening, and what seems like a delegation stands in front of her cell.
There are two Shinigami she recognizes from the Sixth division who seem to be in charge of guarding and managing the building, with one smiling man wearing a nice but simple yukata and a more serious faced but still kind looking woman wearing an almost exact replica of the man's outfit. In the middle of the group, the one who stands out the most and seems to demand attention in a way she has seen her own brother do, is a tall young man with orange hair that reminds her of tiger lilies at their brightest. That analogy might have to do with all the flowers seemingly woven into his long braided hair for no apparent reason, but she feels she is justified in her assessment. He's wearing much nicer clothing too, compared to the two who must have come with him, his Kimono is a patterned mixture of blues with a dark gray haori lazily thrown over his shoulders. As his hand reaches up to gesture at one of the Sixth division Shinigami, she notes that he has a tattoo on the inside of his right wrist that looks a bit like a curl that has the point going down his arm in a zig zag manner.
It's only this last thing that has her brain kick starting back into work mode and she finds her eyes widening as the cell door is swung open and the orange haired Shiba quirks her a half smile and tilts his head in gesture for her to step out.
"Hello Kuchiki Rukia." This person greets her without any sort of prompting. "Shiba will be taking custody of you for now." His smile becomes more prominent and amused as if he's pulling off some sort of joke but at who, she has no idea. "Until a trial occurs and this all gets resolved, you'll be staying in our compound."
The Shinigami look so out of their depth and confused in a way Rukia can instinctively relate to. She's ushered out of her cell and walked towards a nice room where the female joins her and pulls out a nice pale blue yukata with white flowers and gives her a kind smile.
"I'll assist you Rukia-sama." She tells her gently. "It would not do to have you out in about in that attire."
Rukia looks down at her stark white yukata and can't find any objection with that last comment.
"I'm sorry," she begins softly, her entire world has been tilted on it's axis too much as of late, and she feels so lost and confused in a way she hasn't since her brother had adopted her into the clan. "just, who are you and…" she hesitates. "who was that?"
"Oh!" she gasps, as if the thought hadn't occurred to her that Rukia would not know this. "Apologies Rukia-sama, my name is Keiko and I will be your retainer while you stay in our compound." Her smile is just as kind, but for some reason Rukia feels her eyes have brightened with something akin to admiration with her next words. "That was Shiba Ichigo-sama, he has sorted everything out for your stay with us."
Rukia already knows that man had been Shiba, it would be downright suicide to bear the clan marking if you're not Shiba so that makes sense. The thing that has her brain screeching to an abrupt halt is the name though, because Shiba Ichigo is the exalted Clan head of the Shiba family. Somehow, for some reason she can't compute, the Clan Head came to personally get her and escort her to the Shiba compound.
All this swirls in her mind while the retainer, Keiko helps her dress into the yukata with practiced ease, and once they are done, they step out of the room where the Shiba Ichigo and the as of yet nameless other man are waiting.
"Done?" he asks rhetorically. "Good, we'll swing by the Captain's office before heading out."
The walk towards her brother's office is downright terrifying, and the dread only increases when she sees Renji leaning on a desk outside it speaking with the Shinigami stationed there. He glances up once he registers their presence, and his eyes widen as he glances from Rukia outside her prison to the orange head.
"We'd like to speak with Kuchiki Byakuya." Shiba-sama tells the red head without even letting him open his mouth to speak.
Renji flounders a bit before shifting his attention to solely rest on him with a furrowed brow.
"Umm… who's asking?" he questions briskly and Rukia visibly winces at the curt and informal tone.
Shiba-sama merely quirks an amused smile before dropping the bomb. "Ichigo, Head of Shiba to inform Kuchiki-san that we will be taking Rukia into Shiba supervision for the foreseeable future."
Renji blanches instantly at the introduction and stammers out an apology that the orange head doesn't seem to really care about before stumbling to the door and knocking twice.
"Captain," Renji speaks up in a shaky tone. "Shiba Ichigo-sama is here to see you about-" he hesitates, quirking a glance back at Rukia before continuing. "-about Clan Shiba taking in Rukia."
The red head must have gotten a response, but it was too soft for her to hear because soon enough they are being ushered into the office. Her brother is standing in front of his desk, Rukia knows from all the etiquette that was shoved at her that it would be wrong for her brother to receive a person of equal standing while sitting at his desk and is not surprised when they are gestured towards the sitting area instead of the seats in front of his desk.
Shiba-sama takes his place with a controlled elegance that has her comparing the two nobles in her head, but whereas her brother is poised and dignified, the orange head is more lethal grace. She hesitates to sit -should she take her place at her brother's side as a person of the same Clan, or should she stay besides her apparent benefactor- but the decision is soon taken from her when Shiba-sama gestures towards his left, so she takes that as a queue and sits.
"Welcome to my division, Shiba-san." Her brother begins the pleasantries. "I apologize for the lack of welcome, I had not been aware you would be coming."
Rukia knows this one, that's pleasant noble speak for you-should-have-sent-word-about-intruding-why-are-you-here? She would be more proud of herself if she weren't currently sitting with two Clan Heads.
The orange head doesn't even batt an eye at this, but Rukia is positive the man had gotten the message -can't really be a Clan Head without knowing the language of passive aggressive pleasantries.
"I would have sent word ahead, but I thought it would be best to get Rukia out of that stifling cell as soon as possible." he answers back without any visible pause.
This one is a bit harder, but Rukia thinks there was a veiled comment about the Sixth not treating her as best as they should but maybe she was reading too much into this.
Her brother only nods once in acquiescence and doesn't say anything further on the topic. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Shiba-sama straightens a bit at this, and Rukia is honestly a bit surprised that he can seem even taller when he was already perfectly poised. "Clan Shiba is giving the individual, Kuchiki Rukia of Clan Kuchiki asylum until a trial is arranged and everything is sorted out."
The words are more formal and stilted compared to when he spoke with her, but that does make sense in a way. Rukia notes that her brother's face remains as impassive as ever, but there is a slight furrowing of his brow that gives him away to people who know him. Whether Shiba-sama notices this or not, he makes no show of it.
"I… see." The Kuchiki clan head begins. "And why would Shiba go out of their… way to provide Rukia asylum? Kuchiki has not asked any of the Noble Clans to do so."
The orange head nods in agreement and answers. "True, but Shiba feels compelled to do so. We have our reasons, many of which will come to light once a trial is scheduled and evidence can be presented, but please be mindful to remember at the very least, that my Cousin Kaien considered Rukia a very dear friend, protégé and even Named her Honorary Friend of Clan Shiba."
Rukia is shocked when her brother actually twitches at this, but she's more focused on that last part that anything else. She didn't know she was… Honorary Friend of Clan Shiba, and she is well enough versed that she can hear those capital letters.
She shifts her attention back to the orange head who is smirking and then back to her brother who has composed himself quick enough that he might have never lost composure to begin with.
"Then Kuchiki is grateful for Shiba's generosity." Her brother ends up saying. He still sounds almost baffled, as if his entire world view has been upended and she's honestly slightly concerned at this turn of events.
The orange head nods but his smile is still positively evil -it does seem like he's playing a joke on people, and she can't help but think her brother was one of them.
Soon enough they say their departing words -Shiba-sama even tells her brother to come by the Shiba compound to visit- and before she even realizes it, they are walking down the Seireitei roads and towards the Shiba Compound.
When they are sufficiently far away, the orange head turns back to look at the male retainer who nods and makes some signs in the air that has a blue bubble shimmering around them and then disappearing but Rukia can feel it's still there, and notes that it's following them as they walk.
"Well," Shiba-sama speaks up, his tone different and yet not as he stretches out and lets out a tired but relieved sigh. "that worked out."
Rukia finds herself doing a double take at the man and he instantly zeros in on her reaction and gives her a cocky smile.
"Shiba-sama-" she begins before she's swiftly interrupted.
"Please," he states in a resigned tone. "call me Ichigo. You'll be living surrounded by Shibas, and that will get tiring very quickly."
"Ichigo-sama." She corrects herself swiftly and is honestly a bit amused by the way he scowls at the -sama she was not going to drop. The way the retainers walking a step behind them giggle makes her think this might be a reoccurring topic. "It's not that I am not grateful for all your assistance but… why are you doing this? I could have stayed in the detention center until the trial."
This makes the other three go quiet, and she grows the slightest bit concerned when Shiba-sama Ichigo-sama glances around to make sure the weird reiatsu feeling bubble thing is still there before informing her in an even tone that only barley manages to hide the violence she can see reflected in his eyes.
"There was not going to be a trial." This sends a chill down her spine and she finds herself stumbling slightly. "Those Central 46 bastards were just gonna pass judgement and sentence you -they might still try but we'll make sure they don't." he glances down at her, and she sees his brown eyes shift to something Other and she is erringly reminded of Yuzu and the last time she saw her. "Giving you asylum really has nothing to do with getting you out of that cell, and everything to do with making sure the old geezers and the other Noble Clans know Shiba has your back."
This has her pausing, and Rukia only distantly realizes that the others have stopped with her but those words just resound in her mind like some sort of broken record and another voice easily joins in.
I want you to be sure that if things go wrong, we'll have your back, all of us.
That… that cannot be a coincidence.
She takes a breath and then looks up to stare this man in the eye with a resolve and determination to live she had thought she had lost during her three days surrounded by prison bars.
"Yuzu said that." She says, her tone even and somehow knowing that the orange head would know what she was talking about.
The smirk he gives her is an even wider and scarier version of the one she had seen before, the one that spoke of a joke being played on an unaware victim, the one that gave off a vibe of amusement in it's stilted form but now- now she could see the strength and utter intensity that suggested an eldritch sort of power that should have terrified her but didn't.
"Well, she is my sister." Ichigo-sama informs her but Rukia had already put the puzzle pieces together. "She would know that there was never a question about it."
Rukia takes a deep breath before continuing her walk and is swiftly joined by the rest of the group. "So what now?" she asks.
"Now Kuchiki will have to demand a trial before us unless they wanna seem like Shiba cares more then them. Once they do, we'll second it which will make two out of three. I spoke with Yūshirō-san, and he said Shihoin would follow. With three out of five, the other two will have to put in their support or look bad so of course they'll vote in favor." The orange head breaks it down for her. "With all five Great Clans clamoring for a trial, the Central 46 will have to open their gates, and when they do…"
He trails off, and Rukia shifts her attention back to him to see the intensity in his eyes.
"When they do?" she inquires.
"When they do," Ichigo-sama continues, his eyes lighting up even further in a dangerous an ethereal way that has the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. He smiles. "it will all be revealed."
Not to be continued…?
Remember guys! Chose your favorite chapter and let me know in the comments below and I will type a sequal/prequal for the one that has the most votes!
Also, I'm not sure if anyone is interested in the lil backstory about why Ichigo has flowers in his hair, but I had this idea that once a little Shiba toddle picked a flower for Ichigo so he put it in his hair to show he liked it but then all the kids wanted to give him flowers and because he's a big softie, he tries to wear them all -the kids totally fight over who's flowers Ichigo likes the most.