Chapter Fifty Nine: Weaver
"Things aren't going entirely as you've planned, it seems."
In the abandoned village, Nagesu raised his voice over the rumbling of earth, watching as Keitarou leapt nimbly out of the way of a deep crack that had begun to split from one side of the abandoned settlement to the other. "Are you simply trying to kill time with me, Keitarou? Or are you really trying to kill me – because I don't see much intent in your moves."
"I didn't say I wanted to kill you. Only that if necessary I could." Keitarou dropped down behind the trembling wall of an empty shack, slipping Chudokuga from beneath the folds of his sleeve. "Ore, Chudokuga!"
Nagesu let out an exclamation as light caught the edge of the glittering threads, but his eyesight was not quick enough to follow the movement of his companion's sword release and instinctively he swept his sword from right to left in front of him. The whole area shook again as a wall of earth shot up between him and his cousin, taking down two or three of the ramshackle buildings as it did so, and Keitarou tut-tutted, reeling back his weapon and hazing out of view. He reappeared a moment later atop the newly formed mound of earth, gazing down at Nagesu with a quizzical look on his clever features.
"I might say the same about you that you say about me." He reflected, settling himself more comfortably as he tapped the silver blade against his palm. "You're moves are defensive ones too, Nagesu-nii. From your release and your reiatsu I can tell that that sword is quite a high level earth element blade and I'm sure that within its core must be stronger attacks than the feeble ones you've shown me so far. You've no desire to kill me either, have you? Even in the name of your Clan and all that goes with it – when it comes down to it, you're not Rikaya-jiisama, are you?"
He launched himself from the mound, dropping down neatly in front of Nagesu and eying him curiously even as the other man prepared to raise his zanpakutou for a fresh assault. Keitarou was not, after all, a man who fought with blades – if that was truly the case, Nagesu felt sure that his advantage lay in the long years of basic sword practice he had done as Kyouki's kouhai. At the time he had found it stretching him to his physical limits, but now he inwardly said thank you to Kyouki for devising the high-powered training regime that had in the end rendered him quite a skilful swordsman. And, he reflected darkly, the more of his reiryoku he could hang on to the better – he did not know, yet, what Keitarou's true strength was or whether the spell that had so afflicted Juushirou might come to be wielded against him, too.
I can't risk that happening. His sword's aura doesn't feel strong enough to cast a second manipulation spell – but that might easily be a deception. Keitarou has survived in exile for a long, long time. There's no telling what skills he might have honed or how little he might be showing me his true self. I have to be cautious – I'm not going to let him rob my children of their father in the way my father robbed him of his.
"I don't know whether to pity you or respect you." Keitarou was still speaking, and Nagesu turned his attention back to his cousin's mocking tones. "For not having Rikaya-jiisama's ruthless nature. You should discard me. I'm not your family any more and believe me, I'm not someone you ought to be lenient towards. I killed your erstwhile Council comrade, Shouichi-dono. I've used Father's notes and I've experimented on people to perfect the things that he wasn't able to do. Surely in your eyes I'm a contradiction of everything you believe in? In which case, why do you not try to strike me down?"
"Bakudou no Kyuu, Geki!" Nagesu responded with a burst of binding kidou, but Keitarou simply laughed, flicking his own fingers towards the stream of red light.
"Hadou no Ichi. Shou." He murmured, and his burst of demon magic clattered into Nagesu's, deflecting and dispersing the crimson energy with ease. "Are you serious? Even your bakudou lacks conviction. Surely you haven't grown into a shinigami this weak, Nagesu-nii? You had so much potential, everyone said. Father said so, too. That you'd be a strong fighter and a great leader of the Urahara-ke one day. Have you forgotten that? Spent too long in your administrative meanderings and sacrificed spiritual power for books and accounts instead?"
"A Clan Leader needs to know how to do both." Nagesu said grimly, gazing at his companion through the earth-specked lenses of his glasses. "To kill when it's time to kill or have mercy when it's time to have mercy. To defend his people with his sword and support them through his government. A strong person isn't just one who fights. You who are not a soldier should know that best of all."
"That's the kind of answer I expect from you." Keitarou nodded. "Well reasoned, thought out and measured, without any room for stray impulse or reckless emotion. You always were that way, even when we were children. You saw the dangers and kept away from them – I suppose I shouldn't have expected you to change."
He smiled.
"I'm at a disadvantage fighting you in open combat." He added now, slipping into shunpo and reappearing some few feet away. "If I stay within the range of your sword, the chances are that sooner or later you'll find your nerve and try and cut me open. I can't counter that kind of attack – Chudokuga is a sword who attacks from distance, not from close range. I don't intend on letting your zanpakutou touch me – after all, your deductions are right. Killing you isn't important to me or my plans. Keeping you here and out of trouble is."
His eyes narrowed.
"I know you, Nagesu-nii." He murmured. "Just like I know that District boy's strengths and weaknesses, I know yours. Your responsibility is what traps you here – a wanted fugitive like me can't be left to his own devices, and your duty to your Clan is such that you will insist on stopping me yourself. So you'll stay here, but you won't kill me. Because in the end…that's not the man you are. I'm the boy to whom you taught how to write his name. I'm that person and this one. You can't separate us in your mind and your sword is hesitating because of it. That's why I still call you Nagesu-nii. Because so long as I do, you won't put any intent into that blade's attack."
Nagesu's gaze glittered with frustration. His cousin was not wrong, he knew that. In that short few moments Keitarou had exhibited his most potent weapon – his analytical understanding of character that had allowed him to manipulate not only the vulnerable Endou princess but also the idealistic boy from the Districts and the ambitious, hot-tempered Seimaru. Now it was his turn, yet even though he could feel the dangerous flaring of Juushirou's stormy reiatsu not so far away, he could not simply turn his back on this battle.
Keitarou knows me too well. Even after this long, he has my measure. Even now he knows I can't leave him here – but he also knows I don't want to kill him. Even if he is the creature he's become now…I'm not sure I'm capable of that.
He raised his head, interpreting the other flickers of spiritual energy on the wind.
"Seimaru-dono is defeated." He said at length. "Your Endou protégé has taken a step too far, it seems, in battling against the heads of the Shiba and Shihouin Clans."
"I've told you already, I'm no longer interested in him." Keitarou shrugged. "His power overloaded, which means he didn't follow my advice and he deserves what he gets in return. I gave him strict instructions – it's no loss to District Seven that he's dead. I've not cared for a long time who really holds power in this wasteland District. You won't distract me with concern for one who was, really, just another pawn to me."
Nagesu frowned at the clinical nature of his cousin's words. Again he remembered the lively-eyed young boy, and he sighed, shaking his head.
"You didn't know, did you?" He said quietly. "How peaceful and gentle your Father really was."
Keitarou flinched, glaring at Nagesu as he did so.
"You aren't going to tell me things about a man your father had killed." He said coldly, and for the first time his reiatsu flickered and flared, showing a different side to the mocking, lazy front he had put up in the battle thus far. "If there's something I don't know about him, it's because he was taken from me when I was too young to do anything about it. That argument won't work with me either. I told you. The past is the past."
But it has worked.
Nagesu gazed at Keitarou thoughtfully, taking in the uneven edge that now coated his cousin's spirit power.
Keitsune-jisama is still your weakness, after all this time.
He nodded.
"I know that." He said out loud. "That's why I thought you should hear it, too. I'm sure you haven't forgotten how kind he was – to you, to me and to my sisters – and how he was always happy to answer questions or show us new things. But you were still young. So young…just learning to read and write. You didn't have the opportunities I did to spend time in the archives with him, going over ideas and learning about the Clan."
He pursed his lips, remembering.
"Father was a judgemental man and a harsh one, at times." He said softly. "He was strict and demanding of me then and as I grew up. I would not say I loved him – because he was not the kind of man you loved. I respected him and I obeyed him – that was so far as it went. But when we were small, Kei-nii…I envied you. Because Keitsune-jisama was a man I loved."
A faint smile touched his expression.
"He was a kind man. A gentle man. A man whose greatest joys were his family and his science." He added quietly. "A man who had no ambition to be great or dominating. A man who provided support, but not a man who ever wanted to lead. He wanted his research to help people, and perhaps he made mistakes. But even if Soul Society remember him as the man whose spirit potion drove many to madness and death, I don't remember him that way. Perhaps I'm the only one who doesn't…but I'm pretty sure my way is how he'd want to be remembered."
"I don't remember him that way, either." Keitarou snapped, and Nagesu's eyes became grave.
"Yes you do." He said sadly. "What you've become proves it. The way you've taken his research and warped it to hurt and destroy people and lives…you see him the same as the rest of Soul Society do. You're not representing him, you're misinterpreting him. You're taking what everyone's always said about Keitsune-jisama and engraving it even deeper into the minds and hearts of a generation who might, without your actions, have forgotten."
His gaze flitted to the sky, then,
"I always think the dead can't rest while people still speak ill of them." He added. "And Keitsune-jisama has been trying to find his peace for over a hundred years now. You're the reason he can't find it, not anything else. You've perpetuated the legend and the myths surrounding reidoku by perfecting it. You haven't vindicated my Uncle. You've added further shame to his name."
Keitarou stared, for a moment struck silent by Nagesu's words, and in that instant the Clan leader felt a flare of something from across the horizon, followed by a deep, sweeping sensation of emptiness and negativity. Keitarou tensed, his eyes widening in dismay, and Nagesu frowned, interpreting the two things as he did so.
"Ukitake Juushirou has been defeated." He said softly, lowering his sword as he cast his cousin a regretful look. "It seems you underestimated your ability to control him –perhaps in the end he chose not to fight against one he considered friend."
He sighed heavily, then,
"Unfortunately, I don't have the same freedom to choose." He said sadly. "Ukitake may have found the will to overrule you and sacrifice himself to prevent an innocent getting hurt. I have to sacrifice my memories to prevent anyone else being hurt by you. I'm sorry, Keitarou. But in this I have no choice. Dachi Yoganryuu."
With that he struck his sword down deep into the earth, and Keitarou let out an exclamation as the entirety of the ground rippled and erupted around him, sending sprays of earth in all directions. As the land split and crumbled, red hot lava began to surge up through the resultant holes, the land pushing up to form mini craters that spewed more and more of the hot, unforgiving liquid rock into the open air. Keitarou slipped into shunpo, trying to avoid the lava's flow, but a second and then a third shudder wracked through the village, opening fresh crevasses and belching hot, noxious gas into the atmosphere. There were a series of explosions as the compressed, scalding air collided with the freezing winter wind, and as the ground shook a fourth time, a gaping chasm began to open up through the centre of the abandoned village. Lava licked at the structures of the last surviving huts, dragging them down in its boiling current towards the deep, choking darkness.
In the midst of this there was a sudden flash of energy, and for a moment, Nagesu could not see clearly through the haze and smoke. He frowned, firing a weak burst of kidou to clear it, but even as the Tenran whirlwind swept the heavy air aside, there was a final rumble that rent through the whole area. As the mountain of earth he had drawn up as a shield between them collapsed down onto the place that Keitarou had last stood, Nagesu watched detachedly, the landscape erupting and settling, and the lava already cooling and setting to earth in the winter wind.
In an instant the eruption was over. And in that same instant, Keitarou's reiatsu was gone.
Nagesu sighed, reaching to pull his now sealed zanpakutou from the ground, giving it a slight shake to remove the stray fragments of dirt from its shining blade. Slowly he slid the weapon into its expensively carved sheath, pausing for a moment as he ran his thumb up against the insignia of the Urahara Clan.
I'm sorry, Uncle. In the end, I had to make the same decision Father did. In the end I had to remove a danger – even beyond my own family feeling.
He turned back to what had once been a village, realising that his sword's most potent shikai attack had rendered it dangerous and unrecognisable from what it had been when he had first arrived. The place where Shouichi had died was no longer in evidence, for there was no sign now of a dried up river, and only a few charcoal stumps remained of what had once been the Urahara-ke's refugee camp.
Perhaps it's best that this is destroyed too. This place had some resonance for Keitarou – and for our family's shameful secrets. In the end, I can't blame Keitarou any more than I can blame you, Keitsune-jisama. All of this could have been prevented…if only the Council then had given us more time. If only they'd tried to understand…but hindsight is hindsight and I won't let it blight my own judgement.
Weariness washed over his body as he registered that he had used a large part of his reiryoku in the battle with his cousin. He had not realised how much energy he had pumped into Sekizanha at the end, yet now he found it difficult to take even a few steps towards the main road and the Endou estate. Somehow he kept moving until he was out of the battle zone, pausing to catch his breath against a tree that marked the perimeter of where he and his cousin had been fighting. Leaning up against it, he raised his gaze to the muggy winter sky. It was starting to snow, he realised absently, yet despite it he was not cold.
Kyouki-dono has often said it – that if I let my sword rail out of control and push my limits I'm capable of a frightening amount of power. But unless I find the boundaries for it, I'll never be able to maintain it for more than a few minutes. If he hadn't been startled by Ukitake's loss…
He frowned, closing his eyes briefly to steady himself.
His reiatsu is gone. It vanished in the blink of an eye behind a haze of smog, and that makes me suspicious. Considering all the things my cousin has managed to do with his time over the past century, I find it hard to believe such a low level landslide would have been able to crush him. He said that he could fight without his sword's full power – and that suggests what he used on Ukitake was the ultimate level of zanpakutou ability. I didn't defeat him, in the end. He chose to be defeated. And…
His gaze flitted back towards the sulphurous landscape, taking in the dense haze that still lingered over the cooling lava.
And I expect, if they excavate, they won't find his body there. I think he used more of his power than he thought on Ukitake – or perhaps the boy's loss affected him more than I've anticipated. Maybe he was even fond of the child, in the final analysis. Either way, that's no longer an avenue of investigation.
Maybe Keitarou is dead. But I somehow don't believe it. It would be too easy. He was there to keep me busy…to protect the boy whose life force has now faded completely from my senses. We won't learn anything from him unless Keitarou's spell left a corpse for Retsu-sama to examine. From the way his power was flaring…there's no clear guarantee even of that.
Keitarou probably saw that fact too. That if that strategy failed, his risking being captured to distract me also becomes a pointless gamble with no clear reward. I'm sure he took that moment, knowing that my eyes are not as keen as his and my senses were stretched by my zanpakutou's technique. It was a chance and he escaped – perhaps using the Senkaimon technology that he seems to have perfected beyond the level the Council understands. All I can be sure of is that Keitarou's reiatsu is gone and gone in its entirety. And I…do not have the strength to try and follow him, even if I knew a way to find out where he's gone.
He took a deep breath to steady himself.
But if Seimaru-dono has been taken down, then the Council's objectives can continue. Find Misashi-sama. Find Hirata-dono. Establish stability in District Seven at all costs. For now that has to be my objective too.
He made to continue his walk, his lips pressed together tightly as he reigned in his emotions.
Wherever you've gone to, Kei-kun, don't try and come back. Stay there, think about what I've said and try to repair your life. Wherever you are…if you still live…for Keitsune-jisama's sake. Don't come back to Soul Society. Because if you do, I will have no choice next time. The Council and I will have no choice…the next time will be death.
Shunsui did not know how long he had sat there, cradling Juushirou's motionless body protectively with his good arm. Though he knew that there was nothing he could do to change things, he found himself unable to loose his grasp, his senses still desperately searching for a clear sign of the other boy's reiatsu in the morass of spiritual vapours that still hung heavy over the battle-stricken landscape.
The storm clouds that had gathered over their heads had fragmented and dispersed as Juushirou had fallen, and now a pale greyish sky was beginning to darken as the evening approached, a chill wind blowing through the exposed area and teasing at Shunsui's messy curls. The first fine flakes of snow began to fall from the sky, settling gently around the two boys, yet still Shunsui did not move, his thoughts on one thing and one thing alone.
Resolve.
He bit his lip, trying in vain to hold back his tears as he gazed down at the bloody wound that marred Juushirou's chest. The bleeding had not been extensive, for there was no longer a heart pulsing to push blood around Juushirou's body, and the cold winter weather had already caused the slick red substance to thicken and congeal like a makeshift barrier between the fresh air and the devastation that lay beneath. To Shunsui, however, the amount of blood did not matter. More vivid in his thoughts was the sensation of the spirit blade going in – of it shattering bone and piercing through the soft organ tissue beneath. Unlike Kai's cold, soulless wakizashi, still laying unheeded on the snowy grass, the sword Seibara had entrusted to him had been aware of everything – and somehow this awareness had made it worse. He knew that his reiatsu probably still lingered around Juushirou's wound – marking him out as the killer of Genryuusai's District prodigy.
There would be ramifications. Political ones. Judicial ones. He would have to face up to his brother and his friends and admit what he had done. His only witnesses were the young girl Juushirou had sheltered – and his own soul, the spirit Seibara, whose voice only he was able to hear. Yet he found he didn't care. If they arrested him, so be it. Imprisoned him, even killed him – so be it. He had broken his own convictions and had taken a life. There was no power in Seireitei who would be more unforgiving of him than he was of himself.
"Oniisan?"
Shikiki's voice at his right hand made him turn, casting her a weary, empty glance. Her eyes were big and apprehensive, he noticed, yet she had not kept away, instead padding purposefully through the falling snow to where the two boys were huddled.
"I want to help Juu-nii." Her words were soft, almost carried away by the breeze, and Shunsui felt fresh pain well up in his heart as he tried to work out how to tell her his friend was beyond help.
"I know." He said at length. "So do I. But it's too late."
"It's not." Shikiki shook her head. "It's not too late. Oniisan, I want to help Juu-nii. Juu-nii's sick, he needs help, he needs…"
"Juushirou is dead, Shikiki." The words came out more harshly than Shunsui intended. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do about that. He's dead. I killed him. You saw it, didn't you? You saw how the fight ended. I had to stop him – but there was no other way. You can't do anything to help him now. He's gone."
"No. He hasn't." Shikiki's eyes became obstinate, and Shunsui felt anger sear through him as he gazed at her stubborn features. "He's still here."
"Dammit, Shikiki, don't make this worse than it is!" Shunsui exclaimed. "Please…Juu's dead. He's dead. His heart has stopped. I…I can't keep repeating those words, so please don't make me!"
"Don't say them, then. Shut up." Shikiki retorted, sending him a dark glare. "It's not my fault if you can't tell. I can tell. He's not gone. He's still here. And I want to help him. So there."
"I…" Despite himself, Shunsui stared at her, and Shikiki poked out her tongue.
"You don't know anything after all." She said stolidly. "You wouldn't let me help him before, or in the fight, or now. You wouldn't let me do anything at all, because you think I'm just a silly little village girl, don't you? You had a special sword – I saw it. That means you're a shinigami too. Like Juu-nii. And shinigami don't know anything about village people or anything like that. You just sit and cry while he needs you to help him – but you don't even know how to do that, do you?"
"Shikiki?" Shunsui blinked at this sudden onslaught, and Shikiki sighed.
"Kei-nii was right. Rich people are stupid." She said resignedly. "But if you can't do anything, don't. Stay where you are. Let me do it. I can help Juu-nii. I want to help Juu-nii. And I'm going to, so stop telling me I can't!"
And before Shunsui could respond, she had pushed past his injured right hand, ignoring his wince of pain and settling herself down at Juushirou's side. Very gently she touched her finger against the ripped fabric of Juushirou's hakamashita, then she nodded, a triumphant smile lighting up her features. To Shunsui, her expression could not have been more inappropriate, but he found he no longer had the strength or will to argue with her, instead watching numbly as she ripped a bigger hole in the abused cloth, spreading both chubby hands across Juushirou's bared ribs. She did not seem to mind the blood that now coated her fingers, Shunsui realised – and the determination in her aqua gaze suddenly made him feel ashamed.
But Juu was dead. I checked. I know he was. She can't do anything. Even if she yelled at me…there's no way you can bring someone back from being dead.
A faint glow began to encircle Shikiki's fingers, and she closed her eyes, pulling a graphic face of concentration as the pink light grew bolder and more intense, slipping around Juushirou's chest in a smooth, protective shield. With a jolt Shunsui remembered the haze of pink he had seen as he had regained consciousness during the battle, and he stared at Shikiki as if seeing her anew.
Had she been the one who had thrown Juushirou off balance? Was it because of her that he had not been impaled on Sougyo no Kotowari whilst Seibara had had his attention? Had that been why she had been in Juushirou's line of fire…had it been her spirit power that he had reflected back out into the atmosphere?
Inwardly he berated himself for not realising it sooner – that this odd looking, ragged child was not just a random peasant child after all.
She was with Urahara Keitarou. She was with him and Juu – Juu said so. She was part of the experiment – whatever that experiment was. She's right – I looked at her as a helpless child. But she's not. Clearly she's not. Still, even so…
"Dai-nii died because I wasn't there when he was hurt." Shikiki said softly, drawing Shunsui's attention back to the present. "I'm not that strong, Oniisan. I couldn't fix a whole body and I couldn't bring him back because he had already gone by the time Kei-nii brought him to me. But I promised myself then I'd practice and practice and practice as hard as I could. I didn't want anyone else to be gone, you see. I had to do better. I had to be stronger. Kei-nii said so too – that if I did that, nobody would be able to hurt me and I'd be able to use my magic to help them."
Shunsui swallowed hard, then,
"Your magic?" He whispered. Shikiki nodded.
"I can turn things back to how they were before." She said brightly. "At least, not all things. But some things. I brought a kitten back from dead before. It was only just dead, so its spirit was still lingering and lost around its body. I helped it go back in again, you see – I put the body back how it was before, so the spirit didn't go out of it but stayed."
Shunsui's eyes widened.
"You mean…you can…with Juu?" He asked thickly, and Shunsui sighed, shrugging her shoulders.
"Juu-nii is bigger than a cat." She said unnecessarily. "An' I've never done a whole person, so I don't think I can heal up all of his wounds and stuff from the fight. He's all messed up inside, Oniisan. His chest and his heart and everywhere is all burnt and tired and horrible at the moment. But…he's not gone. Dai-nii had gone, but Juu-nii's still here. He's all broken up at the moment, but if I try really hard…I think…I can make it so that he goes back where he should be."
A faint, incredulous slither of hope began to flare in Shunsui's battered heart, and he reached up his left hand to grasp Shikiki by the arm.
"Can I…help?"
"If you can't feel where he is now, then you can't." Shikiki said bluntly. "Jus' let me do it. An' don't speak for a minute cos I want to concentrate on finding all the bits of him before the wind blows them away."
The pink sheen of the barrier thickened and strengthened as she spoke, and Shunsui could feel it brush against the edge of his skin as the young girl intensified her focus around the site of Juushirou's destroyed heart. His eyes widened as little by little he saw the puckered skin begin to smooth and stretch to meet edges across the gaping hole beneath, and Shikiki screwed up her face once more, sweat beading her brow as she redoubled her effort, putting all of her strength into bringing Juushirou's heart back into its former state.
At length she fell back on the grass with a sigh, rubbing her blood-specked fingers against the fabric of her gown absently as she did so. She took a deep breath into her lungs, and Shunsui felt afraid to even ask her whether or not her magic had succeeded.
"Juu-nii's pretty big, really, isn't he." At length, Shikiki spoke, eying her hands with a resigned look in her aqua eyes. "I wanted to do more, Oniisan. But I guess I need to practice some more than I have yet."
"Shikiki…" Shunsui faltered, and Shikiki offered him a grin.
"Feel." She instructed, grabbing the fingers of his left hand and pulling them once more towards Juushirou's throat. Shunsui hesitated, then, obediently he drew his index finger down towards Juushirou's jugular. His own heart set up an anxious rhythm in his skull, and for a moment he could not feel anything but the mad palpitations of his own pulse. Then, very faintly, he was aware of it. Soft, and weak, but definitely there…the gentle beat of his fallen friend's heart.
He sent Shikiki a look of disbelief, and Shikiki giggled.
"You look funny with that face." She said frankly. "I told you. I could help Juu-nii. Do you believe me, now? Or are you still going to be rich and stupid?"
Shunsui stared at her, then a faint smile touched his own lips. Gently he shifted Juushirou's heavy form onto the ground, lowering his head towards Shikiki in a tentative bow of acknowledgement.
"I'm sorry." He said soberly. "I'm afraid I'm both rich and stupid, but even if that can't be helped, I'm grateful. I don't know what you did – how your magic works…but…"
His gaze flitted back to Juushirou, noticing for the first time that the sightless eyes had closed.
When did he…did he close them? Did he know we were here, or…?
"He's still sick." Shikiki shook her head. "It took all of my power to do that much, an' his chest is still full of blood an' stuff. I could only heal his heart an' his broken rib – the rest was too much. An' I can't fix your arm either, Oniisan. I wanted to – but I used everything for Juu-nii. He was stubborn. It was like his body wanted to stay dead."
"Perhaps it did." Shunsui felt suddenly giddy as he watched the shallow rise and fall of his friend's ribs. Shikiki was right, he realised – Juushirou was not breathing properly, and he was still in a dangerous condition. But he was alive, and a moment ago he had thought that impossible. "He was poisoned, after all. Poison that made him do bad things. Juu would never attack anyone like that, so…"
"Kei-nii did this." Shikiki cut across him, and then Shunsui knew that her smiles had been masking her own grief. "I don't know why. I don't understand it. But I felt it, when I was healing Juu-nii. Bits of Kei-nii's magic were lodged in his heart. Even though it was broken and dead, I knew what it was. Kei-nii made Juu-nii try to hurt you. An' because of that…because of that…"
She sighed, shaking her head.
"I'm so tired." She whispered. "I'm tired and I don't understand. Kei-nii wanted Juu-nii to stay with us…but he tried to escape and so Kei-nii tried to stop him. I understood that. But this…I don't understand it, Oniisan. I don't know why…Kei-nii would want to hurt you."
Shunsui's gaze softened as he registered the young girl's uncertainty.
So she is just a child, after all. A child with a gift, but more, a child who just didn't want to see someone she liked die.
Out loud he said,
"Perhaps it got out of his control, too." He suggested, knowing he was lying but not wanting to cause this young one any further distress. Shikiki smiled, and Shunsui could see in her eyes that she knew he was trying to protect her.
"Maybe." She agreed, in a tone that told him she didn't believe it either. "Thank you, Oniisan. You might be rich and stupid, but you're kind, I think. You love Juu-nii, don't you? You didn't want to hurt him, after all."
"He's the closest friend I have. Probably, the closest friend I'll ever have." Shunsui agreed softly, his gaze shifting back to the unconscious Juushirou as if to check he was still drawing air into his beaten, haibyou-ravaged lungs. "I don't have many people like that…to tell you the truth, Shikiki, he's the last person in the world I'd ever want to hurt. Let alone…"
"Mm." Shikiki looked thoughtful, settling herself beside him on the grass. "Oniisan is like me too, in the end. Even if you're a shini…shinigami. I don't have many people either. My parents died and Dai-nii was killed by the shinigami. Kei-nii…I had Kei-nii, but now…"
She shook her head as if to clear it.
"I don't know." She whispered. "So I didn't want Juu-nii to die too. Because even though I've only known him a little while – I love Juu-nii, Oniisan. And I want…I want to keep knowing him. I don't want him to be someone who dies…so I…I wanted to bring him back."
"Maybe we are alike." Shunsui acknowledged, struggling to pull his heavy, aching body into a better position. "People around me die or disappear, too. But Juu isn't the kind of person who does that, Shikiki. It doesn't matter how long you've known him…that's just how he is. I don't know how he does it…but people flock to him, and he never pushes them away."
Shikiki raised aqua eyes to his dark ones, then,
"What's your real name, Oniisan?" She asked curiously. "Juu-nii said it, but I don't remember. But I'd like to know – since you know mine. Even if you are rich and a shinigami – I'd like to know anyway."
"Shunsui." Despite himself Shunsui smiled at her manner of asking. "My name's Shunsui."
"Mmkay." Shikiki nodded. "Shun-nii, then."
She grinned sheepishly.
"I never had a real brother." She admitted. "But it's nice to say, even so."
Shunsui's thoughts flitted to his own brother, and he frowned.
"Mine will be worried." He murmured. "I can feel it all around – fighting in the air, though it's too meshed and I'm too tired to make sense of it. I don't feel all that great, to be honest with you – my arm hurts and I'm starting to feel the cold here. It's not good for Juu to be out in the snow for longer than he has to, either, not with a chest like that."
He glanced at his left hand, then,
"I'm going to fire a kidou flare – or I'm going to try to." He murmured, as the world around him shook slightly. "It might take the last of my strength, Shikiki, and I may faint – so I want you to promise me something. Until help comes, will you watch over Juushirou for me? I'm hoping that it won't be long – but since you're obviously less stupid and more skilled than me in that regard – I'd appreciate it if you would."
"Okay." Shikiki nodded. "I don't know what a kidou flare is, not really – but if it will help Juu-nii…"
"Well, move away from my hand since I'm not sure how well I can control it." Shunsui instructed, reaching his good hand up towards the sky as his vision flickered and went in and out of focus. "I think it will take everything just to manage the incantation…so Shikiki…I'm trusting…everything to you."
He dragged together the last stray threads of his spirit power, then thrust his left hand up towards the sky.
"Hadou no S…Sanjuu Ichi. Sha…Shakkah…hou." He murmured, and sparks of red light danced up towards the heavens, ragged and broken and far from the normal neat burst of reiryoku he had been firing since the first year. It illuminated the darkening skyline, and as he heard Shikiki let out an exclamation, the world blurred for the final time. He could feel his body falling backwards, but he could not stop it, and as his consciousness faded away, he thought he could just make out the faintest outline of Seibara's silhouette against his darkening vision.
She did not speak to him, but she did not have to. Comforted by her presence, Shunsui let go of his senses, allowing himself to fall once more into the black.
Author's Note:
Sekizanha
Nagesu's sword didn't get much of an outing, because fighting against Keitarou wasn't something he really wanted to do. However, his sword is an earth type blade, with what you might call 'tectonic' characteristics. His command to release is Jishin o yobe – Summon the Earthquake, and his techniques include throwing up a wall of earth as a barrier. By pushing his zanpakutou into the ground, he can increase the intensity of the earth splitting attacks his sword uses by nature. His ultimate shikai technique is Dachi Yoganryuu which allows lava to be pulled up from the mantle below in a mini eruption of strength covering a very small specific area (in this case, the immediate battle ground).
However, this technique has serious consequences for his reiryoku and his strength so he only uses it as a last resort and can only maintain the tremors for a maximum of four or five times before the technique fades and his sword reseals itself. He has not yet reached bankai – though his final Shikai technique is a clue to what his Bankai might manifest at and after Kyouki, he is the second closest to obtaining this level of those who have not yet done so. The probable truth is that Nagesu's shikai spills out of control and towards Bankai levels but because he lacks that control of the final technique, he cannot yet master that level of power within his sword.
Shikiki
Please, people must know now who Shikiki is the ancestor of? And no, it's not Orihime, although she has Hime's name kanji just because it was fun and the 'weaver' aspect made sense. I suppose if you consider the reincarnation possibilities, Shikiki might ALSO be Orihime's ancestor and that various rebirths between the two worlds have meant that now Hime lives outside of SS. But…I had another character in mind!! Answer in the next chapter's AN!