Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, it belongs to Tite Kubo. Only the OC is my idea, her backstory, abilities, appearance, etc. I do not make any money from this story.
The girl's eyes fluttered open, her vision was blurry she could make out what looked like a woman with long jet black hair, oddly pulled in front of her and tied under her chin. 'Weird,' she thought before her vision darkened again.
The next time she regained consciousness, she spotted something she hadn't expected to see a dark haired boy in a grey kosode and blue hakama laying on a tatami matt on the floor. He had his fingers to his hands interlocked behind his neck, his eyes were closed and he seemed to be prepared to settle in for the night. On the other side of her was a man with pale skin, an angular jaw. He had shoulder length black hair, and some kind of a metal hair piece that he wore on the left side of his head. His bangs were neatly pushed to the left side of his face and currently he was observing the boy. He was kneeling next to the girl on a pillow, and wore the standard shinigami uniform from what she could tell. After a moment, his bluish violet eyes met hers and a warm smile graced his lips as he announced, "ah, you're awake."
At this the boy on the tatami matt seemed to scramble so he was sitting up on his knees as well. She almost laughed at his hurried response to the man's simple statement, but instead nodded. "Yes," she agreed.
She glanced to the boy as she apologized, "I'm sorry about your shirt."
Byakuya almost spat his answer at her angrily but when catching his Dad's eyes, restrained himself and elected to reply with, "it's just a cheap piece of clothing. It washes."
"Still, not a pleasant experience," the girl pointed out. The boy shrugged it off as if he couldn't care less. "Where are our manners? I'm Soujun Kuchiki, Lieutenant of the Sixth Division. This is my son, Byakuya Kuchiki. He's currently training to become a shinigami," Soujun introduced them.
"I'm Tama Shimizu—that kid—the one that beast was going to bite, are they—"
"He's safe. I handed him off to Byakuya who got him to one of the older teenagers to take him to safety," Soujun assured her.
"That's good news," Tama expressed her relief with a heavy sigh. 'But I lost my sword. I'll never be able to defend my village again—and worse—'
Soujun then placed an object on the bed next to her. Tama recognized the white handle, the cat's claw shaped tsuba and the pale colour of the steel blade instantly. "My sword," Tama whispered as she grasped the blade. She glanced to Soujun, "So you not only saved me but also my blade?"
"This is a special kind of blade, Tama. I guess you don't know as much as I'd hoped," Soujun revealed. He then asked, "have you ever heard a voice inside your head, like someone whispering your name, maybe when you're frightened or injured?"
The dark haired girl thought for a moment before nodding her head slowly. "That's a Zanpakuto spirit," Soujun explained.
"Which means you have Shinigami powers," Byakuya contributed.
Tama quirked a thin eyebrow at Byakuya and held a hand up for him to stop as she objected, "slow down. Let me understand this: I swing around a blade and I hear a voice in my head so I must be a shinigami? Yeah, okay. They use fast movements, and spells—I don't know anything about that. I swing steel and throw fists. That's it."
Byakuya blinked a little as he probed, "you 'throw fists'? What method is that?"
Tama brought up her open hand in front of her face, closed her hand into a fist and punched the air in front of her, she smirked as she added, "I kick too."
'Savage. Just like that despicable woman,' Byakuya seethed, crossing his arms over his chest. Soujun gave a light hearted chuckle as he proposed, "calm down, Byakuya. Her life is quite different than ours. She likely had no other choice."
The girl gave a friendly smile and nod of her head. Byakuya counted to ten in his head and gave a sigh as he looked to Tama and asked, "what do you like to eat?"
"Food, usually," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders which earned a laugh from both of the Kuchiki men.
"I prefer spicy food," Byakuya offered.
Tama shrugged and admitted, "I don't know if I've ever had anything spicy. What does that taste like?"
Byakuya sweat dropped before suggesting, "Maybe we'll make you a smaller portion of my lunch one day and you can try it."
"Personally I prefer bananas, cucumbers and onigiri," Soujun chimed in.
"Hmm? I mean bananas are good—cucumbers are okay and—what is onigiri? I just eat what I find and what I can fish from the water in my village," she replied.
Soujun's eyes widened in surprise before giving a smile to her and stated, "we'll have to see about trying you with some onigiri and maybe some ebi chili once you've settled in."
At this the girl raised a brow in intrigue and inquired, "settled in where?"
"At our mansion," Byakuya replied. Tama's jaw dropped while her face deadpanned and she inwardly stuttered, 'M-m-ma-mansion?! Uhh kill me now!'
Soujun's smile fell as he asked, "is that a problem?"
"You're nobles—I should've guessed. The way he was talking about just buying new clothes because they got a bit of vomit on them," Tama stated.
The adult nodded his head in agreement while asking, "Yes, we are. Is that an issue?"
Tama bit her lip a little before sitting forward in her bed a little and telling him, "come see for yourself."
She held the top of the back of her shirt out a little, and shifted her hair off to the side. Soujun glanced but shook his head sadly as he admitted, "I can't get a good look. I'm uncertain of what I'm supposed to see."
Her arms shifted so they were protecting the front of her shirt from going up as she conceded, "fine. Lift up the back of my shirt."
Soujun's curiosity was now peaked as he shifted his position so he was behind her, and raised the back of her shirt up enough that he could see under it. He gasped in horror at the scene that stared back at him. Byakuya chanced a glance himself and cupped his hand over his gaping mouth as he whispered, "—Dad-"
"Byakuya, please get Captain Unohana in here," Soujun requested. The marks weren't as fresh as the injury from the hollow attack, but it was evident this had occurred within the past week.
He lowered her shirt again, he moved to grasp her shoulder in effort to comfort her, but stopped himself. He knew enough to know that any kind of forced contact wasn't a good idea.
"Sweetheart, do you think you could tell a colleague of mine what happened?"
Tama shrugged as she remarked, "won't make a difference anyhow. Dirty entitled noble dogs are always taking what they want."
"I will ensure it does make a difference. That I can promise you," Soujun objected.
"Oh well if you promise—get over yourself," Tama shot back.