Disclaimer: I do not own the Bleach franchise it is owned by Tite Kubo.

Unexpected Deviations

Chapter 11

"AAAAAAAAAAA-!"

Most of the group started screaming in shock and surprise as they emerged from the Senkaimon, considering it had opened up high in the sky. This gave them a splendid view of the gleaming expanse of the Seireitei before them, built from white stone, neatly-clustered buildings arranged into a grid of streets that formed a perfect circle around a hill that towered in its center, with a palace of some sort next to it.

Then there was the Rukongai, stretching out as far as the eye could see outside the Seireitei. Not nearly as eye-catching, but this close to the latter, they weren't slums either. Indeed, these parts of the Rukongai wouldn't have looked out of place in a historical documentary or a period drama set in the Meiji Era, or the early-Taisho Era, or even the late-Tokugawa Shogunate.

That said, two people weren't screaming as they literally fell out of the sky. Yoruichi for one, well aware as she was of her lifelong partner's habit of opening his portals – for some reason – up in the sky. And Karin, because this had happened to her before, when returned to the past.

Not to mention…

"…the Seireitei…" she thought as her eyes took in the gleaming city of the Shinigami. "…so this is what it looked like before Yhwach turned into the grave, prison, and memorial of the Royal Guard…"

Karin closed her eyes, briefly losing herself in her memories. She'd only ever entered the Seireitei once before, during the war, but it had been enough. The sheer…despair, that filled the Crystal Expanse…

…and their were four other such places, all just as filled with despair. The Garden of Sand…the Procession of Colors…the Fount of Emptiness…and the Named Pillar…

…well, in the case of the Named Pillar, she wasn't that sympathetic. In a way, everything that had happened, would have happened, was all thanks to that damn monk and the Five Ancestors. All because they couldn't have found a better solution than sealing and then mutilating the Soul King.

Karin gasped as her eyes flew wide, her blood burning as spiritual particles flooded it to an extent she hadn't known since she left the future. But of course: the Human World simply lacked the density of ambient spiritual particles that Soul Society had, and which the World Without Fear – oh the irony of that name – would have.

No…

…more than that…

…her Quincy blood burned…unbidden, her eyes turned up, gazing with fear and instinctive hatred up into the sky.

My daughter…

…born in darkness…

…forged by fire and blood…

…do you see the light at last?

Spiritual particles fountained under Karin's feet as she brought herself back into iron control, and reaching grabbed both Orihime and Chad. "Ichigo!" she barked. "Uryuu! Use your flash-step to control your fall! And grab…!"

"I'm fine!" Yoruichi interrupted, leaping as you'd expect a cat would from one platform of spiritual particles to another.

"…got it." Karin said, before breathing a sigh of relief as both Uryuu and Ichigo brought their fall under control. "You alright, you two?"

"Yes, thank you." Orihime said with a nod. "Thank you, Karin."

Chad nodded as well. "Thank you." He said.

"You're welcome." Karin returned the reply. Slowly but surely, the group made it to the ground safely, landing on a dirt road that seemed to lead straight into the Seireitei, abruptly turning paved past an unmarked point.

For a long moment, they just stared, and then scratching at his head, Ichigo made to move forward. "Come on." He said. "Let's get…!"

"Whoa!" Karin said, quickly restraining her brother by a shoulder. "Where do you think you're going, big bro?"

"Eh? Big bro?" Orihime gasped, and then blushed as everyone looked at her. "Um…I know you said earlier that you were relatives but…you never said you were siblings…"

Ichigo and Karin looked at each other, the latter having an undone wince in her eyes at accidentally unravelling the ruse. They'd agreed not to deny their sibling relationship even in front of others, but also to keep the details quiet for now.

Only…now…

Ichigo sighed. "It's complicated." He said. "Anyway…isn't it obvious? That's the Seireitei, right? And Rukia's in there, so we have to go in there to get her."

"Yeah, but the Seireitei's not exactly undefended either." Karin said. "The Gotei 13 hasn't known war in a long time, but that doesn't mean they've gone completely soft in the head."

"Pretty much." Yoruichi said, padding over to sit next to Ichigo's feet, licking at her paws. "Just wait and see…wait for it…wait for it…and there…!"

Great walls of white stone literally fell from the sky, slamming down into the ground with thunderous reports, forming a towering bulwark that cut off the Seireitei from the Rukongai. "…that's a big wall." Ichigo said, and Uryuu sighed.

"Yes, that is obvious." He said while pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Huh…those are the Sekkiseki walls of the Seireitei…" Karin remarked, and preempting an argument between her brother and cousin. "…even here I can feel the way they repel spiritual power."

"Yes," Yoruichi said with a nod. "The walls passively form a spherical barrier around the Seireitei, extending into the air and underground, the Shakonmaku. Any spiritual particles that aren't already vaporized and tries to pass through it will get vaporized. The only way to get through, normally at least, is through one of the four gates."

"…I'm guessing that's not an option." Uryuu said.

"Yeah…now that I think about it…" Ichigo said while scratching his head. "…while we could just bust our way through one of the gates, that'd be like waving a red flag for the Shinigami…it's practically asking them to come for us. I don't mind having to fight…but fighting a whole army…"

Yoruichi snorted. "So you can use your head." She teased. "Very good…you've come a long way."

"Um…thanks, I guess?" Ichigo fumbled, even as Uryuu smirked at his expense. "So what now?"

"We go find our cousin, Kuukaku Shiba." Karin said after sharing a glance with Yoruichi. "If what Urahara told me is true, she's got a way into the Seireitei past the Shakonmaku."

"Indeed she does." Yoruichi said, already walking away in the direction of the Rukongai. "Of course, finding her will be a challenge in itself."

"…this is where our cousin lives?" Karin asked, one of her eyes twitching.

"…I can see how she's related to the old man." Ichigo replied, also with one eye twitching.

The Shiba residence by itself didn't look anything unusual, even with the giant chimney in the back. But there was that pair of upraised stone arms in front of the property, both looking as though they were pumping fists into the air.

"It's very…unique?" Orihime offered in a conciliatory tone.

"Yes." Chad laconically agreed, while Uryuu pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I can see how you're both related to them." He said with a smirk at the Kurosaki siblings.

"Since you're our cousin, that also makes you related to them." Ichigo dully said, and Karin nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, what he said."

"Ah, but I'm only related to you on the maternal side of the family." Uryuu smugly said. "And you're related to the Shibas through your father's side of the family. So they're not related to me, are they now?"

Karin and Ichigo's were wide, practically bulging, even. Then they narrowed, even as Ichigo began to draw his sword, and Karin pulled out her Quincy Cross. In the next breath, Orihime and Chad quickly moved to restrain the siblings before they could pounce on their cousin.

"I'll get you for that, you four-eyed prick!"

"You see this? I am going to stick it so far up your ass, you're going to…!"

Yoruichi sighed and shook her head as both Orihime and Chad struggled to keep the Kurosaki siblings away from Uryuu. "Shibas…" she thought with exasperated bemusement, before approaching the Shiba property.

Once she passed a certain point, however, a pair of towering, hugely-muscled men wearing distinctive clothing and red caps stepped in front of her way. "Halt!" one of them barked. "Who goes there?"

"Identify yourselves, strangers, and the reason for your presence here!" the man's twin barked.

"My, my," Yoruichi said, sitting down on the ground. "I know I've been gone for a long time, but I didn't think you'd have forgotten me so soon, Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko."

"OH!" the twin giants shouted before bowing low. "Lady Yoruichi! It has been a very long time! Please accept our apologies for failing to recognize you sooner! And your companions, of course!"

"Oh, it's no trouble at all." Yoruichi said. "By the way, see that Shinigami over there? And that Quincy with the hood? They're Isshin's kids."

Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko immediately turned their gaze on Ichigo and Karin, who froze as though getting caught in a spotlight. Then they both pulled themselves free of Orihime and Chad, with Karin quickly pulling back her hood.

"Do you see what I see, Koganehiko?" Shiroganehiko asked.

"Indeed I do, Shiroganehiko." Koganehiko said. "The resemblance cannot be denied."

"To say nothing of Lady Yoruichi's word." Shiroganehiko added.

"Lady Yoruichi…?" Ichigo, Orihime, and Uryuu echoed. Karin rolled her eyes while Yoruichi scowled at her secret getting blown.

"Please, allow us to escort you all inside." Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko chorused, and bowing them an invitation to enter the Shiba property. "To say nothing of your business with Lady Kuukaku, family will always be welcome here."

"You know," Ichigo began as he sat with everyone else in the living room. "When dad told us about the Shiba being nobility, I imagined something a little more…uncharitable."

"You mean a bunch of elitist pricks with ten-foot-long sticks up their asses?" Karin asked. "Or basically, Rukia's brother and the rest of her adopted family?"

"Don't remind me." Ichigo said with a scowl. The idea that the Kuchiki would be so willing to have even an adopted relative be executed without a word of protest, all because she broke the law to save a few souls from a Hollow, rankled. He wasn't just going to rescue, Rukia he was going to beat sense into Byakuya Kuchiki's head no matter what.

"Yes, well," Yoruichi began, already in Human form and lounging nearby. "The Shiba have always had an…eccentric, reputation among Soul Society's nobles. Eccentric as in they always preferred to live out here in the Rukongai, though they used to have an estate and residence in the Seireitei."

"Let me guess…appearances?" Karin asked.

Yoruichi grinned. "Pretty much…" she said. "This left most of the noble families, like Tsunayashiro and Kuchiki to name the most egregious ones, very leery of the Shiba. That said, for most of Soul Society's history, despite keeping them at arm's length, they did respect the Shiba. Your family might have been eccentric, but they're still among the oldest, and they always produce at least one great Shinigami every generation. Great as in captain-level, and we already talked about those before we left the Human World."

"So what happened?" Karin asked again. "How'd that bunch with sticks up their asses finally manage to banish our family from…polite, society?"

Yoruichi snickered at the sheer contempt dripping from that one word. "Well, there's the fact that your cousin Kaien got possessed by a Hollow and had to be euthanized for it." She said, looking and sounding completely serious. "The other nobles spun it into a scandal…"

"That's sick." Ichigo said with a scowl.

"Yeah, if that's what passes for nobility these days I'm glad our family doesn't have to put up with assholes like those anymore." Karin agreed.

"…hey, why do you think I didn't really mind getting exiled?" Yoruichi asked in her turn. "Don't forget, the Shihouin are nobles too, and from the same rank Shiba once belonged to. Of course, it wasn't just Kaien, there was also your father just disappearing…"

Yoruichi trailed off and shook her head. "Don't get me wrong," she said while sitting up. "I admire and respect Isshin for what he chose to do. Having a family with Masaki aside, and I saw her as a friend, there's nothing nobler that sacrificing everything to preserve the dignity and wellbeing of an innocent soul. Though I doubt the likes of Kuchiki and Tsunayashiro would agree."

"…Rukia's a Kuchiki too, though." Ichigo guiltily pointed out. "Not by blood, true, but she'd agree with dad's decision…then again, that's probably the point."

Yoruichi was silent, wondering herself if she'd gone too far lumping the Kuchiki as a whole with the likes of Tsunayashiro. She had been Byakuya's mentor in his youth, and despite his arrogance, she knew the man had once been a good-hearted boy. He'd even married a commoner, going against the disapproval of his entire clan in the process…

…if Hisana hadn't died…then maybe…Byakuya would be sitting with them as an ally right now?

Yoruichi blinked as she heard the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching, and then the sliding doors into the room simply crashed to the floor as another pair of siblings crashed to them. Both sets of siblings stared at each other in the aftermath.

"Holy shit…" Karin gaped, staring at Kuukaku Shiba. "…no wonder dad called me Kuukaku that one time…"

"…h-h-h-hey…" Ichigo similarly gaped, pointing a shaking finger at Ganju Shiba. "…this isn't funny…why the hell do you look so much like the old man?"

"I could say the same for you!" Ganju exploded, pointing a finger at Ichigo. "If not for that orange hair of yours, I'd say you're practically my big brother, Kaien!"

"…damn that crazy bastard…" Kuukaku raged. "…please tell me he did not up and vanish simply to elope with a Human?"

Karin and Ichigo's eyes went flat. "You got a problem with Humans?" they chorused.

"In general? Of course not…" Kuukaku snorted. "With Uncle Isshin…? Oh hell yes…he could at least have kept in touch, but no. Not a word or a hint he was even still alive, until his kids show up here needing help…"

Kuukaku trailed off with a deep breath, and running a prosthetic hand over her face. "Sorry about that." She said before giving a grin. "How about we start over? The name's Kuukaku Shiba, and this idiot here is my little brother, Ganju Shiba."

"Hey, I'm not a…!" Ganju began to protest before getting cut off by Kuukaku putting him in a headlock.

"Oh…um…right, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo said with a bow before gesturing at Karin. "And this is my little sister, Karin. Um…she actually has a twin, Yuzu, but…um…it's complicated."

Ichigo scratched at his cheek, and then coughing, gestured at his friends. "Oh, and these are my friends." He said. "First, our cousin on my mother's side of the family, Uryuu Ishida. Then my classmates, Orihime Inoue, and Sado Yasutora."

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Kuukaku!" Orihime cheerfully said with a bow.

"Call me Chad." Chad said with a bow. "All my friends do."

"What?" Yoruichi asked with a pout. "No introductions for me, Ichigo? I'm hurt."

"Aren't you already friends with Kuukaku?" Ichigo dryly asked.

Yoruichi just scoffed, even as Kuukaku burst out laughing. "Alright, it looks like we might just get along!" she said. "Hey, Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko! Get some food in here, and make it special! While I'm sure we can't throw a proper family reunion party until after your business is done, that doesn't mean I can't give my little cousins a decent meal while they're here! Hey, Ganju! Don't just stand there staring at Orihime's tits, and get us something to drink!"

"He was what?" Ichigo spluttered with red cheeks, as Ganju similarly spluttered out his denials before rushing off to as his sister told him to. "You bastard! I don't care if you're my cousin, I'll…!"

"Now, now, Kurosaki…!" Orihime said, quickly distracting Ichigo before he could start a brawl with his cousin. "I'm sure he didn't mean anything bad by it. He probably just couldn't help it, after all."

"That's…that's not a…" Ichigo spluttered.

Kuukaku snorted even as she filled her pipe with tobacco. "Don't worry, I'll discipline my little brother later." She said. "Anyway, while we're waiting for the alcohol and food to arrive, why don't you tell me about yourselves, Uncle Isshin, and then why you're really here. Don't worry, I'll do what I can to help…on one condition!"

"And that is…?" Karin prompted.

"Show me to Uncle Isshin when this is done." Kuukaku growled. "It's not like I'm going to kill him or anything like that, I just need to give him a piece of my mind."

Ichigo and Karin looked at each other. An unspoken conversation passed between them, and they shrugged at each other. "Sure, why not?" Ichigo asked.

"It's not like me and the rest of my siblings don't already give him what's for whenever he does something stupid." Karin agreed.

Kuukaku grinned while lighting her pipe. "Great!" she said. "Now, start talking."

"So let me get this straight," Kuukaku began. "You first became a Shinigami when that Rukia chick got stomped on by a Hollow, and had to give you her powers to keep you and your family from being eaten by a Hollow?"

"Yes." Ichigo said.

"And this whole mess started because Uncle Isshin sacrificed his powers to keep your mom Masaki from having her soul rotted away by a Hollow?" Kuukaku asked again.

"He's regained his powers, but yes." Karin confirmed in her turn.

"Then of course that bunch up in the Seiretei got all hot and bothered over the technicalities of Rukia giving her powers to a Human," Kuukaku continued. "And completely ignoring the circumstances, arrested and now plan to execute her for it."

"Pretty much." Ichigo said with a nod.

"And now you want to break into the Seireitei and rescue her?" Kuukaku asked.

"Yes." Ichigo said.

Kuukaku puffed on her pipe in thought. "I say forget it." Ganju burst in. "Look…I get you became a Shinigami to protect your family. And you're my cousin too, so I can't hate you for it. I mean…my big brother was a Shinigami too. But that Rukia Kuchiki…no…I absolutely can't forgive her for it…"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"What do you know about my big brother Kaien, Ichigo?" Ganju asked back.

"Only what Yoruichi here told me." Ichigo said with a nod at the woman in question. "He got possessed by a Hollow, and had to be…euthanized, for it."

Ganju snorted. "Oh, is that all?" he bitterly asked. "No, what you don't know is that the Shinigami who did all that is the same one you're trying to rescue: Rukia Kuchiki."

Ichigo's eyes went wide. "…she didn't even have the decency to properly explain it to us." Ganju just as bitterly continued. "She just showed up in the night with our brother's body, and told us she killed him before leaving his body on our doorstep before leaving. It wasn't until that Ukitake guy paid his respects that we knew about what really happened, but Rukia Kuchiki…"

Ganju trailed off with a snort. "They say she's from the Rukongai." He said with a shake of his head. "If true, then she sure doesn't act like it. She's too much like her brother and the rest of their relatives."

"Ganju," Kuukaku softly but firmly said. "That's enough."

Ganju still looked angry, but complied with his sister regardless. Ichigo looked down at the ground, his mind awhirl with everything Ganju had told him. And as much as Ichigo wanted to deny it, he could sense that his cousin had told him the truth. But…why? Why would Rukia act like that? That didn't sound anything like the woman who'd saved the lives of him and his family?

The woman he'd learned to trust with his back.

The woman who…

Ichigo's thoughts broke off as he felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn and look into his sister's face. Karin said nothing, merely looking into his eyes and silently offering him strength and reassurance. After a few moments, Ichigo nodded, and placing a hand on Karin's own, squeezed it in thanks.

"Even with everything you've said," Ichigo began, turning back to Ganju. "I still owe Rukia my life, along with the lives of the rest of my family. I can't just stand by and do nothing while they execute her even when she did nothing wrong. At the very least, she deserves to tell her side of the story. I owe her that much."

Ganju silently met Ichigo's determined gaze, and then after several moments, sighed in defeat. "Well," he said. "You're definitely a Shiba, even if you use your mother's name."

"Huh?"

Ganju smirked. "You've got our eyes, that's all I'm saying." He said.

Kuukaku blew out a plume of smoke even as Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko arrived with food to much fanfare. "Well," she began. "We can talk some more about how to get you into the Seireitei after we have something to eat. Speaking of which…Yoruichi, we need to talk later. I'm getting the feeling this is even more complicated than it looks or sounds."

Yoruichi snorted, turning away from where the awed Uryuu, Orihime, and Chad were reacting to the fresh tuna belly the Shiba retainers had managed to conjure up. "You have no idea, Kuukaku." She said with a wink and a smile.

"Yeah," Kuukaku said with a sigh, even as she set aside her pipe and instead took her teacup for a drink. "I was afraid of that."

A/N

Canonically, Karin does actually look like Kuukaku, at least by the end of the manga. Similarly, you can't tell me Ganju and Isshin don't have more than a passing resemblance to each other, just like Ichigo is basically a younger, brunette version of Kaien. They even act more or less the same way.

Care to hazard a guess which of the prisons the future Seireitei had been turned into corresponds to which Royal Guard? Well, the Named Pillar is pretty much a giveaway in that sense.