Notice: Still wished I owned the Bleach franchise...but I don't.
"U-U-Uncle Isshin!" Kūkaku all but blurted out. She wasn't expecting this strange visitor to be her uncle's late wife. "Wait a minute if you're his wife than that makes you my -" Kūkaku was shocked, and not for the first time in the past few minutes. Here she was, sitting with her recently deceased aunt, in their family estate.
Masaki was confident before, but she was just as shocked by the outburst from Kūkaku. 'Isshin why didn't you tell me you had a niece!' She mentally chided her husband. 'Actually we have a niece!' the realisation dawned on Masaki, that she was in the presence of family.
The commotion brought the attention of a certain 'Enforcer of the 48th Rukon District' who heard his sister raise her voice in a shocked tone. Taking this as a sign something was wrong, he rushed into the meeting room and found his sister cordially talking with a brunette haired woman. 'Eh what's this, why would Big Sis talk so easy with a stranger?' His mouth agape, he closed it shut, and cleared his throat. "Hey sis, why did you raise your voice? Who's this?" That got Kūkaku's attention. She wasn't happy, being interrupted by her little brother.
Masaki on the other hand was intrigued by this young man, who apparently was her nephew!
Kūkaku looked back to Masaki. Exhaling she decided to take it a little easy on her brother – especially in the presence of their aunt. "Ganju, little brother, this-" she nods to Masaki's direction "-is Uncle Isshin's late wife, Masaki. Show her the proper respect, as a member of this family."
"Wah!?" Ganju was trying to wrap his head around this situation, but was coming up blank. His response didn't amuse his big sister, but Masaki chuckled at the indelicate return. "Hi there, I'm Masaki. It's so nice to meet you!" She held out her hand for Ganju to shake, and he certainly did! Mouth wide, and almost drooling, his sister's irritation reached its peak and she yelled at her brother (where she would normally punch him), "Ganju! I said the proper respect." He took that as his queue to be on his best behaviour. He saluted his sister "Yes sis!" Kūkaku was not amused. "Don't salute me you idiot! I'm your sister, not your drill sergeant!" the head of the household suppressed her annoyance – barely.
Masaki looked on seeing her niece and nephew interact with each other – with so much vigour! 'Wow Isshin, so that passionate personality really does run in the family...I wonder if our children will be like that too!?' at the thought, Masaki was overcome by a wave of sadness, knowing that she would not see her son, daughters and husband, till they reach Soul Society too.
After a few minutes of the siblings bickering with each other and Ganju seemingly grovelling for forgiveness, Kūkaku cleared her throat and looked over to Masaki. "Sorry Aunty, but my kid brother – your nephew – has a problem hearing exactly what is being said to him!" the Shiba Head glared at her brother. 'Yep she's mad at me!' Ganju gulped at the piercing gaze his sister gave him. Then he slowly looked at his Aunt – this Masaki person. Again he couldn't quite make heads or tails of the situation, since the last time he saw his uncle, was just before he disappeared, and he wasn't even married! Of course, while Ganju was thinking about this situation, Masaki and Kūkaku continued their discussion.
"So Aunty, if you knew a hollow attacked you, does that mean you could see them, or did you assume it was one, because you were struck by an invisible force?" Kūkaku continued her light inquiry. Masaki didn't want to relive that experience so soon after the ordeal. Her expression darkened and Kūkaku knew this was a sensitive subject. "U-um, well if it's too much for ya then I won't nudge 'kay?" Kūkaku thought she was walking on eggshells here. Masaki puffed out a sigh, "well I don't really want to dwell on my demise, so soon after the experience, but you have a right to ask this of me." She breathed in and out slowly. "Actually I could see the hollow, as it was trying to attack my son – your cousin. And before you ask, yes I do have spiritual powers." The Kurosaki matriarch was unsure if she should say what she was, but decided it was fine – she was in the presence of family after all. "I'm actually a Quincy," it was almost a relief to say that. As for the Shiba siblings – they were speechless! If Ganju's jaw could drop deep into the earth, causing a chasm, it would. Kūkaku's eyes were wide from the sudden revelation. Though unlike her sibling she composed herself quickly.
"I see..."
The Kurosaki matriarch continued, "the hollow shouldn't've been much of a threat, so I was initially going to take it by surprise and shoot it point blank, but something was wrong." Masaki's heart quickened at the sheer terror she experienced at the time. "It was like I lost all my powers. I couldn't use my high speed movement, or summon a spirit weapon – nothing." Her head slumped, almost in defeat. "However, I was fortunate that I always carried a few cannisters of gīnto – used for Quincy spells. This was what I used to take on that hollow. Before I knew it the beast was aiming to strike down my boy and out of instinct I went in front of the attack!" Masaki was shaking, remembering the gruelling battle, and was only pulled out of her trance by Kūkaku's alarmed words. "H-hey! Masaki! Aunty!" Once out of her trance, she saw that both the Shiba siblings were staring at her. She was a little embarrassed being looked at so intensely, so cleared her throat again and continued. "Well I did battle with that hollow, aiming to keep it away from my son, since I knew that's what it wanted. A powerful soul to eat. I was fortunate that my first set of spells staggered the beast, but I was also gravely injured so knew I had little time..." The Kurosaki Matriarch calmed herself, and continued the tale of her final battle. "I launched the most powerful spell I could at the monster, and miraculously injured it enough to make it retreat. However I blacked out. When I came to, I used every bit of strength I had to crawl over to my unconscious son, and tried to embrace him...I fell unconscious for the last time, and that's how I ended up here." A genuine smile graced her lips, sad but genuine.
After hearing how valiantly her aunt fought, she was wondering about, just one thing. "If you don't mind me asking, where was uncle at this time? I mean he's a captain class Soul Reaper, so wouldn't he have been able to sense what was happening and save you?" Masaki was waiting for this. She looked at her nephew, and he too was waiting for her answer. She sighed. "The incident that lead your uncle to disappear from Soul Society, was part of the reason why he couldn't help. As far as I know, Isshin lost his powers, in an attempt to save my life nearly 15 years ago." The Shiba siblings were being hit with revelation after revelation. Ganju spoke up "Ehhh, wait? Uncle Isshin lost his powers!? H-how?"
Masaki politely answered. "As I said, he saved my life, along with a fellow Quincy and a guy with a hat and...clogs. I think Urahara was his name? They initially tried to keep this from me, since the procedure meant I couldn't remember what actually happened. However, I knew something was wrong, and after months of badgering Isshin, my Quincy friend and Mr. Urahara, they relented. I think Isshin was a little guilty, because he thought I'd blame myself for him losing his powers and position. I didn't, and actually thought it sweet that he'd do something so drastic for a complete stranger."
Kūkaku had heard of the name Urahara before, a name synonymous with one of the greatest traitors in Soul Society. Though from what she could gather, the stories she heard, and her aunt's recount of him painted a different picture. Perhaps one not as bad as she was lead to believe. Makes sense, considering the shady stuff that went on in the Seireitei. The truth was difficult to decipher in that place.
Ganju however was wide eyed, frozen – almost as if he'd seen something truly terrifying. "U-U-UUUU-Ura-Urahara! The Urahara!? As in the mad Soul Reaper who experimented on other Soul Reapers!?" Masaki was intrigued by this 'wow, he has that bad of a reputation here?' "Well I'm pretty sure those stories are over exaggerated, but yes his name was Kisuke Urahara. A little weird, VERY business minded, but not that bad a person in my book. Though with the outfit he wore, he looked SUPER shady!" Masaki laughed at the thought – remembering that Urahara's fashion sense left a lot to be desired. After a bit of laughter Masaki calmed herself.
Looking at her niece and nephew Masaki started: "Okay so with introductions out of the way, what are we going to do about my situation? Where would you like me to stay? I want to help around the estate to pay for my stay here if that's okay with you?" She directed her gaze at the Shiba Head, who looked like she was very deep in thought. After a little while, Masaki decided to rouse Kūkaku out of her thoughts: "Um, Lady Shiba, are you alright?" This earnest question pulled Kūkaku from her thoughts, "o-oh yes I'm okay! And you're my aunt, no need for formalities like that. You feel free to call me Kūkaku or niece!" she commented heartily.
Ganju was even more shocked at the declaration and change in demeanour from his sister, 'I didn't think I'd ever see big sis like that.' Ganju tried not to stare but couldn't help it – his sister was almost creeping him out!
"O-Okay...Kūkaku then!" Masaki beamed a response. She looked over at her nephew, addressing the scruffy young man. "And how would you like to be addressed young man? As young Lord Shiba or...?" Ganju almost didn't register the questions, but hastily pulled himself out of his stupor, and replied to Masaki. "Y-Yeah, you can just call me Ganju, ma'am." The Kurosaki was happy that she could be informal around her Shiba niece and nephew. For some reason Ganju's reply set off Kūkaku and the two siblings had a bit of an argument (if you could call it that). Masaki was just happy to be around lively people. It reminded her so much of her husbands antics. After a few minutes, Kūkaku calmed down, and spoke to her aunt: "Aunty, you're free to stay here with us, and honestly I wouldn't want you to stay anywhere else – considering your circumstances. The Soul Society still has bad blood with Quincies, and I've also heard that there's someone in the Seireitei who has been experimenting on Quincies. Disgusting if you ask me, but that lot has always been shady." The Shiba Head was angry and sick of some of the dark stuff that went on in Soul Society. It was the reason her brother Kaien died, and likely the reason her Uncle disappeared to the human world.
Masaki was thinking hard about the words her niece said. She remembered vaguely that Isshin talked a little about a certain Captain that he was creeped out about – largely because he was into very shady experiments. 'That couldn't be, right?' She decided to ask her niece something: "Um Kūkaku, you don't happen to know of a Soul Reaper Captain who was into experimentation right?" Kūkaku thought for a little bit and replied: "Yeah, his name was Kurotsuchi, I think...apparently he was a protege of Urahara's which is why I usually believed he was just as bad as the stories said." Masaki now realised what Ganju was talking about. This brought into question the motives of Urahara, however she also realised that apprentices didn't necessarily take after their mentors.
Time flew by talking with the Shiba siblings. The conversation was lively, with laughter and familial bonding. Apparently it was already night fall, as the two retainers interrupted their conversation. "My lady, it is now evening, we have prepared a meal for you, the young lord and the visitor. Please convene at your pleasure." The retainers bowed low.
Kūkaku addressed her retainers. "Yes, thank you, and this visitor is a member of the family. My Aunty, Masaki Kurosaki. Please afford her the proper respect." Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko bowed even lower. "Our humblest apologies Lady Masaki, please forgive our rudeness, now and prior!" The Kurosaki waved off their apology: "Please, don't worry about it. I was an intruder initially and you acted accordingly. In fact you were gracious enough to allow me audience with Kūkaku! For that I thank you!" She bowed as best she could while seated. The act made Kūkaku and Ganju speechless, while Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko teared up.
End of Chapter Notes: Well that's the end of this chapter. It was around double the length of the last one, but this sets up Masaki's stay at the Shiba Estate. As I've mentioned in my profile, I have no update schedule, and with three stories on here already, and other large ones coming down the pipe, updates won't be regular. Also since this story will be changing everything from the Soul Society arc, onwards, there's a lot of planning needed to get this right. Anyway, happy for constructive reviews, comments and critiques.