Chapter Twenty:
Shinji's POV
I watched Sōsuke and Heather spar for nearly a half hour. She had been getting better since we took her in about two weeks ago but the past week her energy had been off. I had talked to Kisuke about this and he wanted to see her today. I wanted to see how the two treated each other. Heather seems extremely cautious of Sōsuke while he accepted her whole-heartedly. I had no idea what to make of all of this. I always had my suspicions of these two. Right now, my lieutenant seemed more innocent but then again, Heather has seemed to make a lot of friends. It turns out that her and Aikawa teeter on being best friends and mortal enemies. Then, I cannot help but notice that Sōsuke, despite how friendly he is, does not have many people that hang around him. Who should be considered the bigger problem? Heather seems to have more connections and by the struggle she was presenting to my subordinate, more drive. Sōsuke always appeared to be lying in wait for something. As I watched the two battle using only bokken, Heather had grown to a point where she could hold her own. I had to say that I was impressed with her progress.
"Not bad at all." I commented, gaining Heather's attention. Sōsuke took this to his advantage and jabbed her shoulder hard enough to regain her attention. "Ow!" she cried more startled than pain. "Consider it a lesson. Do not take your eyes off of your opponent." my lieutenant responded in his usual tone. "Don't critique her too badly, Sōsuke." I spoke up and explained, "She's doing good for a person who's trained for only seven months. Pretty quick, the only thing she's missing now is field experience and a Zanpakutō." "You think that you might be exaggerating…just a little bit?" Heather asked. "Well, let's leave that up to Kisuke." I retorted and continued, "He asked me if there was a way he could test your improvements. So, I guess you both can finish for the day." Heather looked a little put out at the news and asked as she pointed to Sōsuke, "Can I stay with him? Kisuke's going to kill me this time, I can feel it." I cocked my head back. That was really unusual. "Why do you say that?" I inquired. "He almost took all my blood last time and Mayuri's there, so I'm sure to die." she replied uneasily. "Relax, Mayuri is a nobody and I won't let Kisuke hurt ya'." I assured her. She gave me a skeptical look and replied, "You're not going to leave me alone about this are you?" "Nope, now come on." I half-ordered, grabbing her arm.
The walk in general was not eventful but I tried my best to keep a flowing conversation. She seemed compliant at first but after a little while, gotten quiet. She looked wide-eyed and confused as to what I was talking about. I smiled at her half-heartedly and then asked, "So what did you do for fun where you came from?" "A lot of things. Did a lot of drawing." she replied. "Ya' any good?" I asked. "People say I am." Heather shrugged and carried on, "I wanted to make a career from it but, now I don't think that's possible anymore." She was an artist. That explains a lot. She was way too flamboyant to be anything less. "Hm." I replied deep in thought. A lot of her peculiarities seemed to make sense now. "So, I know that you're a music fan. What kind do you listen to?" Heather asked which threw me off. "How do you know that?" I questioned her, and immediately realized the question. "For real?" she asked me skeptically and added, "I know what you're going to get into later but now's the real question."
We talked for a while longer until we got to the Twelfth Division gates. We chatted idly and I nodded to the subordinates who greeted us along the way to the barracks. I opened the door and was greeted by a heavy weight to the face. I felt myself fly off my feet and land on the ground. "Hey, stupid Shinji!" I held onto the affected part of my face. What is with this kid and the face?! I threatened, "Hiyori, you little…" "I'm not gonna apologize!" Hiyori yelled then noticed Heather standing there and snapped, "What are you looking at?!" "You're tiny and you just kicked a six-foot-tall man and knocked him on his butt." the woman stated slowly. I cannot believe she went there. I noticed Hiyori's face flare in anger. She started to flail her arms and scream in retaliation, "What do ya' mean 'tiny'?! I ought'a kick your butt for that!" "I didn't mean nothing." Heather defended herself and explained, "I'm just impressed that you got air time off of him." "What?!" I exclaimed in outrage. Heather looked a little spooked at the outburst and my blonde-haired nemesis looked dumbstruck at her reply. "Sorry." Heather apologized and clarified, "If you were at my angle, you'd be impressed too. She used you like a surf board for all of five seconds."
Hiyori seemed to be stoked by the acknowledgment of her accomplishment and puffed out a bit. "Huh, well, it's about time somebody noticed. Who are you anyway?" the girl demanded. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Heather got the kid to like her! How the hell did she do that?! Heather gave her a soft smile and said, "I'm Heather, nice to dodge your foot." Hiyori shrugged, "You haven't annoyed me yet…" "I see, so we're looking for your captain. Do you know where he barricaded himself?" Heather asked politely. "I'll get him." Hiyori answered and yelled at the top of her lungs in a different direction, "Hey jerk!" "What is it?!" we heard Kisuke call just around the corner. "Shinji's here and he brought a friend!" she yelled back in reply. "Oh! Bring them over here!" Kisuke ordered invitingly. The lieutenant had sighed irritably and turned to us. "Come on." she ordered with a huff in her voice. Heather hesitated but followed the kid. I followed the two of them, cautiously optimistic that Heather put Hiyori in a decent mood so I won't get hurt too badly today.
We arrived into the lab and noticed Kisuke immediately as he was talking to Mayuri about something. Kisuke seemed to have noticed the dramatic change in Heather's energy from the start because he frowned in confusion and turned to her. "Hey Heather, long time no see." he greeted the woman casually and then turned to me, "Nice to see you again, Captain Hirako." Why does he always seem to forget that we're colleagues? "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Shinji?" I questioned with annoyance. He turned to his subject once again and looked her over. "Maybe we should get started. You seem to have changed a little too fast." he suggested. "Changed? How?" Heather questioned completely confused as she did as she was told. Urahara wasted no time in wrestling to pull out a few needles as Kurotsuchi got almost nose-to-nose with the poor woman and huffed, "She doesn't seem like anything extraordinary." Heather tried to back away from him as far as her chair would allow her. "Get away from her you freak! Nobody wants you to get that close to them!" Hiyori defended which caught my surprise. "I bite." Heather warned when he did not immediately retreat. "Hm! I'd like to see you try." he retorted. "Aw, come on, Mayuri. Give the gal some space." I suggested. "I prefer if you would address me formally." Mayuri snapped, tearing his gaze away from my subordinate. "Settle down, Mayuri. Heather needs her space too. I'm going to need you to run the tests once the blood's drawn." Kisuke stated.
"I'll run the machines now." the blue-haired man informed as he moved away from the startled woman. "So apparently, you had a jump in spirit energy.' Kisuke started explaining to Heather and continued, "You give off the energy that you are a full-fledged Soul Reaper. That should have taken months to almost a year. I just want to see if anything is wrong with you." "How much will you need?" I asked, trying to keep my word to Heather as best as I can without hurting the research. "Just a couple tubes, nothing as extensive as the last time. I still suggest that she eats, or something, after this." my fellow captain advised. Heather and I nodded in confirmation. It took a little while and it turns out that I was not needed at all. Hiyori seemed to have built a liking toward Heather and started yelling when she thought Kisuke was doing too much. He advised for us to stay here for almost an hour before he came back with a confused expression on his face. "Hey, Heather, crazy question but what have you done for the past week besides training and the usual?" he asked. "Like what exactly?" she asked just as confused.
"Did you get into a fight, or anything that would transfer Soul Reaper DNA of any kind?" Kisuke inquired curiously. The question took me by surprise, was he trying to say that she merged into a Soul Reaper through some form of contact? I looked to the woman whom was beet red. She had done something worthy of that. "Yeah, why?" Heather asked not wanting to hear the answer. "I need to know what you did to boost your energy that much." Kisuke replied and added, "Research purposes, you know how that goes." She responded sheepishly, "I do but that doesn't mean I have to like it. How high did it jump?" "There's no question what you are now. Your DNA had completely synchronized with ours." he answered. I could believe it. She did seem rather odd lately. I wonder if Rose—I suddenly put the missing pieces that she was not telling us together with what I know and it fit perfectly. Rose, you old dog! "Leave her alone, Kisuke." I interrupted gaining everyone's attention and stated in her defense with a wide smile on my face, "A lady is not allowed to make that kind of small talk with men." Heather hid her face in her hands, confirming what I had said was true. Kisuke's jaw dropped slightly and Mayuri rolled his eyes. Hiyori looked confused and asked, "What are you talking about?"