He smiled at me, looking like a gentleman for all that he wore the white of Lucifer.
"Hello, Koi." His sultry tones made Shiro bristle, my zanpakutou bubbling up in excitement at the bloodlust running in my veins. "I was expecting you here," he told me.
Something pricked the inside of my ears, making me jerk as I was contacted by a foreign kido user. A shaky voice spoke out:
"Connections completed. All captains, lieutenants, and seated officers, attention. And also, the ryoka. This is Squad 4 Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu with an urgent announcement. This will not be repeated. This is a report from Captain Unohana. Captain Aizen has slaughtered all of Central 46..."
Aizen's smile grew as the message continued on, his pleasure at finally being seen taking over. "Tosen." I could hear the undercurrent of self-assuredness in his tone. "Bring me Rukia Kuchiki."
Complying, the purple-haired man approached. She looked tiny in his arms. I found myself lashing out at both of them, the crackling of an electric kido scorching the ground between their feet as it held up the barrier.
"No," I told him firmly. "Not today."
"Oh?" He looked at me, surprised. "Not today?" he asked. I could see him working on something vile to say as he paused. "Then perhaps 100 years ago was better," he goaded me.
My practice kept my face calm. "What?" I asked, knowing very well he had no way of knowing the truth.
" 100 years ago today…you tried to stop me." A glint in his eye, something sardonic. "And you disappeared." He pointed an accusing finger at me, and I released my spiritual pressure to push it down heavy on everything around me as he took one step closer.
And another.
And another.
I let him touch me, my barely bridled will to kill and maim wanting to be closer, closer, closer! to him was going insane. His hand was cold as it gripped my chin, lifting my face up to his, and his previously muted, impossible reiatsu came through in the touch as the barest hint of a taste.
Lust.
Jerking back, I spit at his feet. "I wasn't alive 100 years ago!" I tried to mock him to settle my now flighty nerves. What the fuck?
"Is that so…?" He dragged out the last syllable, hand paused at where my chin had been. A flash of displeasure in his heart now that I was tuned into him. Turning back to Tosen, he ignored the kido between them while he spoke. "Well, in any matter, she doesn't need to be alive for this." He raised his finger up, and I felt the swelling buildup of a high-powered attack kido toward Rukia.
I stepped down heavily, starting to flash step toward him, as I felt Byakuya flash step from my right to shield both Rukia and Tosen. Using the length of my asauchi, I successfully cut a few of Aizen's hairs before he stepped away, releasing the kido spell before it was completed. The weakened shot was absorbed into Byakuya's already weak shoulder, the captain crying out.
"Byakuya!" Ichigo's startled cry and swing at Aizen made me jump back. "Let her go!" he said, now on his feet, blade pointing toward Rukia in Tosen's arms.
"No," the older man hissed, bringing his blade down on Byakuya's good shoulder, destroying it. Byakuya cried out before collapsing, his blood spreading like oil on the Sokyoku-dried earth.
"Damn you!" Ichigo charged him, making a grab with one hand for Rukia and a stab with his sword in the other. Tosen had shifted so that his blade would go clean through her head.
He's going to cut Rukia! I made a desperate grab for his leg as he sailed by me and grabbed his ankle. I ripped him away, heaving to throw him several meters, when Aizen took advantage of the confusion.
Blood erupted before me. Ichigo's blood? I mentally checked myself to be sure. The boy cried out, likely not even seeing the lightning-fast sword stroke, and I succeeded in hurling him away.
"Ichigo!" Orihime's scream made me do a double take as she ran toward him, already healing him.
I flash stepped between them and Aizen, which put Aizen between me and Rukia. Shit! I knew he was going to kill them if I moved.
And based on his smile, he knew it too.
" Good. I was worried you didn't care for your friends after the last time," he teased me harshly, and I felt my lip curl with hatred as I tried to hold back Shiro.
I could only watch in defeat as Aizen flash stepped over my dying kido spell, Tosen presenting Rukia to him. My heart squalled as I saw the familiar sight of her unconscious form being lifted painfully by the red collar around her neck, her head lolling to the side.
"Must have fainted. Poor thing," Aizen remarked as Tosen backed away.
"Who the hell…are you!" Ichigo screamed behind me. I stood at the ready with my blade, not knowing what'll happen now.
"Oh? Didn't he tell you…?" Aizen spoke of his plan, of Kisuke Urahara, his deep tones folding over one another easily as he wove an intricate story. How much of this is real? How much is false? I wondered.
I could only watch, helplessly guarding the children, as he dragged Rukia's limp body a little farther away. He explained the Hogyoku, his aspirations to hold it, how it was hidden. I could hear and feel the shock of the kids behind me at the very idea of it all.
How quaint, I thought sourly. How innocent.
The forbidden ancient kido erupted from his right hand as it became flecked, wood growing from his skin. Angled pillars of the same shade rose from the ground around them as Rukia screamed, her eyes going wide open as his hand dipped inside her chest, inside her soul.
Quickly finding the Hogyoku, he let her drop as the kido rescinded around him. Orihime cried out, making as though she was going to run to her, and I turned to give her a violent glare as I flashed my blade at her. She froze, staring at me with wide eyes. I've already failed Rukia again…I can't fail these kids!
An inquisitive, muted whisper touching the edge of my conscience made me turn back. Is that…the Hogyoku? I questioned the voice that was too quiet to be heard. I felt as though I was looking into a mirror, searching into my own eyes.
Finding myself, I resharpened my blade with stayed bloodlust and kept stance.
I wasn't startled when the bear-like Captain Komamura appeared and tried to annihilate Tosen only to get annihilated in a Kurotsugi by Aizen. I wasn't surprised when Yoruichi and Soifon wrapped themselves around him in an attempt to slit his throat like true assassins only to get cut down just as quickly. I wasn't surprised when Kukkaku dropped out of the sky on Jidanbo's back, forcing Aizen to jump to the side.
It was refreshing to see him forced to do something.
Footfalls landing sounded in front of me as the rest of the captains joined us back on Sokyoku Hill. I felt myself relax somewhat as JuushiroJushiro and Shunsui landed directly in front of me, blocking the direct line of sight between Aizen and I.
T he Head Captain was speaking, saying something to the traitors. Something about execution and Muken. It's too late, I thought hopelessly, watching a tiny black crack form above us all, unnoticed by anyone else.
All at once, I felt myself relax as two beams of light broke through the crack, enlarging it and revealing shockingly large hollows on the other side. Menos, I observed, eyeing their ignorant, shared faces as Aizen taunted and flaunted his way up as they lifted him into Hueco Mundo, the world of the hollows.
The captains gasped. Never had a hollow ever come so close or even into the Seireitei before. Never had a captain defected before.
Well, never have I ever. I grew more and more sour the bigger Aizen's smile grew.
"I wanted to see more of you…'Koi,'" he mocked my new name, and I felt my temper break.
"Fuck you!" I spat, summoning my bow and pointing it at him.
"It's no use," the Head Captain acknowledged me. "Those barriers the Menos use separate them into a different reality. They're made specially for them. Nothing can go in or out," he stated, resigned.
I growled, not liking what he told me. Closing my eyes, I tracked Aizen with my bow as I tentatively searched for that same thing I had felt earlier.
Lust.
My eyes sprang open as I wrapped the single connection between us around my glowing white arrow. Letting my powers grow, I compacted them into the shot before I released it.
"It's no use," Aizen told me lowly, enjoying my efforts. My efforts acknowledging him.
I hissed as I let the shot sing. It reverberated at a high level; the lieutenants that were now standing around covering their ears against the noise. It sang true and in tune with what he had given me earlier.
It struck the yellow barrier, close to the top where Aizen was. It slowed down as it sank in, but successfully sailed through the turbulent waters. A few gasps were heard through the crowd around me.
He caught it easily between his forefingers with that help, making me growl lowly. I couldn't keep Shiro's anger out of my voice.
Examining the arrow, Aizen touched the tip that had held his spiritual energy just before it crumbled away, cut off from me on the other side of the barrier. "Interesting…" He stepped into the garganta, the Menos happily making room for him. He began to speak of his plans, his goal to become God, but I could only hear my blood rushing in my ears as my asauchi sang loudly with bloodlust.
"And…goodbye, Ichigo, Koi." He bid us goodbye just as the portal slammed shut.
U pset, I rounded on Ichigo to begin healing him only to see that Orihime had already started on him. Her special abilities glowed orange, and I found myself transfixed as I sank to the ground next to Ichigo.
"Koi…are you okay?" Ichigo asked me with surprising gentleness from where he rested on the ground.
I gave him a half smile, unable to keep my anger completely off of my face even while I drew my powers into me, diminishing my presence. "Yeah," I told him gruffly. "I'm okay. How about you?"
"Yeah," he agreed as Orihime healed most of his damage. Despite the assurance he gave me, his eyes clouded slightly as he gave Rukia a concerned look.
What kind of power is this? I wondered, staring into the warm light. This isn't healing…
I distantly registered the captains beginning to move behind us, feeling sullen.
X
We had been okayed to spend a full week in Soul Society as we healed. For better or worse, Ichigo needed it the most, which kept him and the other kids out of my hair.
I was struggling with what had happened.
Waking up each day cradled in fine silk sheets made it easier to forgive and forget, though. We had been put up by Byakuya, the current head of the Kuchiki noble family.
I hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since he took us in four days ago, interestingly. He was likely the one in charge of investigating Gin Ichimaru's convenient disappearance. I assumed that Aizen had secreted the pale silver-haired man away before his own reveal.
Byakuya might also still be recovering, Shiro pointed out as we gently ate through the breakfast we had been presented.
I tried to reach back and remember, but my memory failed and I shrugged.
The Seireitei had been almost exactly as I remembered it. Sure, the Twelfth had almost completely demolished most of their buildings in favor of one giant complex, and Squad 8 had added on a smaller addition to their main offices, but the air itself still had that smell of freedom and power. It felt like the same grass under my feet, the same swing on which I sat.
It truly hadn't aged a day since I left.
I think this is our home now. Shiro read our heart correctly.
Stretching, I looked like a cat with a canary with the beautiful kimono that had been provided for me. It was scarlet with embroidered black flowers dancing up the sleeves. Completely impractical but simply lovely, it suited my tastes perfectly.
X
" I wasn't expecting to see you here." I blinked in surprise as I realized that someone was speaking at me from behind. Turning from the bookshop window, I made an oh! sound when I saw Shunsui behind me.
"Hello, you," I teased, making him smile.
"Fancy a drink?" he propositioned.
Sometime later we found ourselves in a hole in the wall, nicely tucked away down several side streets. He was ordering something heavy for himself and light for me.
"Have you been to the Soul Society before?" he started casually.
I shook my head. "No, I haven't. It seems really different than the human world." I pointedly looked at the oil lamp that illuminated our table.
He chuckled at that. "In some ways," he agreed. "But there's a few ways we're similar."
"Oh? What's that?" I felt like a catfish in a trap when he smiled at me.
"We both have beautiful women."
I rolled my eyes, laughing. "Okay. You got me there." I let my eyes focus on our waitress as I contemplated it.
"Seriously!" he complained. "There was a woman I was close with once…who you remind me of." This perked up my attention.
"Oh?" I asked, not sure what to say and not wanting to give myself away.
"Yeah…" Lost in thought, he stirred his drink. "Her name was Lady Keisei. She was beautiful…" He seemed to almost be talking to himself at this point, but I knew very well that he was gauging my reactions.
"What happened?" I bit the hook. What happened to us, Shunsui?
"Ah. I'm not sure," he admitted. "Maybe it just got to be too much for her." His sudden morose mood was palpable as his reiatsu slowed around us in the air. He seemed to find himself after that moment and spoke as if to assure me. "I couldn't love her in the way she needed. It's for the best."
I nodded, my words failing. I see.
"Why don't we talk about you?" he redirected, voice lighting higher. "I'm curious. What kind of parents could raise two siblings strong enough to take on the whole Seireitei?" He puffed me up, and I couldn't help but fall into his sureties. "Tell me about your mom," he bayed me.
Ah, he thinks I'm my own mom. I followed along discreetly. "Well, she was very pretty…" I recalled, allowing myself to relax.
X
I felt pressured in my final days of my time here to visit every spot I had been familiar with before. Walking amongst the same corridors, under the same trees, even occasionally seeing the same officers, I felt a peace nestle deep inside me from where the prior incident with my bankai had ripped it away.
With Shunsui's words, I felt at peace.
They really have both moved on.
Instead of causing me pain, the thought now made me warm with the knowledge that I had been able to learn about and be close to them in the first place.
X
We were standing outside the largest senkaimon in all of Soul Society. The kids were gathered talking to Rukia, who had confessed that she was going to remain and heal more. Ichigo and I were having a quiet discussion with JuushiroJushiro.
"These are Soul Reaper combat passes," he explained, holding out two passes. "They'll assist you in disengaging from your living bodies should you need to fight a hollow." I saw the explanation mostly fly over Ichigo's head as he accepted his.
"Thank you, Ukitake!" He then barreled away to his friends, leaving us alone.
I turned to JuushiroJushiro and shook my head. "I'm sorry," I apologized for him.
"It's okay." He laughed it off. "I remember being young." He smiled at me. I returned it and he continued. "Actually, there's something I want to discuss with you." He surprised me by pulling something out of his pocket. "This was given to me by someone I cared deeply about. I want to pass it on to you."
The black metal hair stick glinted in his hands. I looked at him with wide eyes, confused as to where it had been and how it had survived.
He misunderstood my look. "Please. It would mean a lot for me to give it to you," he insisted. I accepted the hair stick, and he pressed it into my hand along with the combat pass.
"Thank you, Ukitake." I bowed, showing my respect. He waved me off.
"No, we should be thanking you," he insisted, and I allowed him to. My hands tightened around the objects, the familiar weight of the metal soothing a burn in my heart that I hadn't realized was there.
Linking up with the others, I saw that I was the last to say goodbye to Rukia.
"Koi, you came all this way…" she started, surprising me.
"It's not that far," I interrupted.
This seemed to agitate her, and I felt something familiar and full of playfulness grow inside me.
"And you fought all those dangerous people…" she continued on, eyes closed as she tried to focus.
"Eh, they weren't that hard to beat." I dismissed her playfully in the same manner I had when we first met.
"Listen to me, you idiot!" she yelled, grabbing my hair and yanking me down when I managed to evade her jab for my ear. "You…you!" she yelled into my ear, making me wince. "Idiot!" She smacked me in the face, and my hands went up to cradle my nose. She then, thankfully, released me.
"Come back soon, Rukia." I played into my nasally voice as she tried to cover up her violent tendencies with a cough.
"Of course. Idiot. Keep Ichigo out of trouble," she commanded.
"Yes, ma'am." I shambled to the kids, playing up my injuries severely. Orihime laughed as I made a face.
Chad was first into the portal, then Uryu, Orihime, Yoruichi, and myself. With one final glance at Captains Kyoraku and Ukitake as well as Rukia, I tried to burn the image into my mind before I leaped through.
X
"Orihime!" I screeched as we fell through the air. "Stop touching the spirit train!" I yelled at her for again using her powers in the dangerous Precipice World and blocking the cleaner from touching us.
"Sorry!" she yelled back before the wind was knocked out of her. I bounced as well, my legs meeting a material surface.
Is this cotton? I looked down dumbly at the magic carpet. Tessai and the kids sat behind us, and Kisuke was somehow driving this monstrosity. The kids complained as they pulled themselves together, Yoruichi landing gracefully next to me.
"Welcome back, everyone!" Kisuke spun around, holding his hat against the wind as he sat before us.
"Hi, Urahara!" Orihime chirped, recovering quickly from my yelling. I smiled from her happiness.
"Are we all in one piece?" he asked Yoruichi.
"More or less." She sauntered to the back of the magic carpet to lay down, likely tired of our antics.
"Good." He looked us over individually up and down, his eyes pausing on the twin Soul Reaper passes and my hair stick. I had put it up while running through the Precipice World. "Then…"
I watched incredulously as he removed his hat and bowed low before Ichigo and I. "I apologize"—his voice was muffled—"for everything."
My eyes were wide, and I felt suddenly stiff. Ichigo, however, was quick to punch him. I gasped, moving to stop him before I realized I shouldn't because he found it cathartic.
"Apologize to Rukia too," Ichigo told him gruffly before taking a dramatic exit over the shore of the Karakura river.
"Right…" Kisuke rubbed the back of his head as the rest of the kids jumped off after Ichigo, calling his name.
"Just us now," I answered his questioning look.
"I see." He turned around, adjusting the path of our ride before he looked back at me. "What did you think of the Soul Society?" he asked.
"Old-fashioned. Confusing," I complained, making him chuckle.
"Yes, that, it is…" he spoke quietly. "Koi"—he raised his voice now—"Soul Society, did it…jog any memories?" he asked, likely remembering what I had said about the plane crash.
"No." I deflated somewhat. "It didn't."
"I see."
X
Buried under my covers, I clutched at the combat pass. My fingers, a little dry from the mod soul's accidental abuse, traced the hollow face on the front of the wood before I pressed it against my mouth.
I love you all. But I can't rely on you. You'll use my powers for the worst and get yourselves killed by Aizen again.
X
"What?" I asked, voice wavering.
"Yeah." Kisuke's voice lacked the normal cheer. "It'd be best if you two came home right away," he asserted.
"Okay. I'll meet you at the shop after I drop off Yuzu," I agreed. Her head popped up from the ice cream cone as she heard her name.
"Hm?" she asked.
"No, I think it might be better if you stay home once you get there, Koi. I'll send Ichigo home soon. He'll explain." He hung up at this, our conversation apparently over.
Frowning at the phone, I answered Yuzu's questioning look. "We're going to head home now. I think that TV show you like is going to be on soon!" I vaguely recalled, smiling down at her as we held hands.
We made our way to the train station, my senses on alert for danger. "Koi…" Yuzu's voice was quiet.
" What's that, Yuzu?" I asked as we sat on the train, bending down to get eye level with her.
"You seem really different from when you left," she said haltingly, looking down at the melting cone in her hands. I noticed and quickly produced some napkins. "You don't take Karin and me to the beach anymore, you don't play soccer with Ichigo and Karin, and you don't cook with me anymore. Why?" she asked, tearing up as her voice cracked.
I kept the frown off my face as I tried to explain, but heart squeezing painfully. "Well…" I started, looking for my words. "Our father, he's not the most attentive." She nodded. I recalled telling her this many times before.
You recall telling her before college? Shiro interjected. We weren't here then…she warned me.
I could only push that aside for now.
"And so it was up to me to help my little siblings with a lot of things," I explained, putting a hand on her shoulder. "But that was a lot of responsibility," I said honestly. "And I was still a kid too. So I left to find my own way." I tried to explain delicately, not sure if she would understand.
She sniffed. "Did-Did you find it?" She wiped at her reddening face.
I looked inward. "Yes. I think I did," I confessed, recalling the gentle arms of those I cared about around me, the vast and dark power within me, protecting me.
Yeah, I thought sadly, looking down at Yuzu as she gave me a weak smile. There's no way I could parent them all over again.
X
A large senkaimon opened today. I felt five Soul Reapers emerge, one captain and four lieutenant-level reapers.
In short, it made me nervous despite Ichigo's explanation that the hollows that had invaded Karakura Town had been chased off the prior day.
They might be onto our powers, Shiro edged my anxiety. What should we do? she worried, turning to me for help.
I frowned. That hidden warehouse the Vizards have is looking pretty comfy right about now…
These same reapers had come and gone in my original timeline to assist with the fights that would pop up against the powerful Arrancar. Those higher-level hollows had been devastating to fight.
But still…
X
"Hey." I leaned on the wall not far from my residence.
"Hey," Shinji answered, texting on his flip phone.
" I didn't realize I had such an avid admirer," I teased him, looking over with faux shyness.
He chuckled at my antics. "What can I say? When I see a beauty…" His hand slipped over my shoulder, and my breath caught at the feeling, the familiarity. "I can't help myself." He leaned onto me.
Not expecting the weight, I faltered slightly before he let up.
"I heard you helped Ichigo," I informed him. Today he fought Grimmjow, the hollow—Arrancar—that almost killed Ichigo.
"Just a little bit," he answered, arm still pointedly around my shoulders.
I felt as though I was losing myself in the bubble field of my thoughts, chasing a single goldfish as I tried to not get distracted.
Shinji's arms around me. Shinji's lips on my neck. Shinji's lips on my…
I coughed suddenly, making him pull back farther. "Sick?" he asked, wrinkling his nose.
"Uh, no, just dust," I lied.
He looked at me skeptically.
"I, uh…Are you still trying to recruit me?" I lost my words as I looked him in the face.
"Why? Finally feeling tempted?" he asked, putting his arms behind his head and resting a foot on the wall while he leaned back. It looked particularly uncomfortable.
"Yeah. Yeah, I am," I told him dully. Ichigo…I wonder if he has a hollow? I pondered.
He looked at me, shocked. "Really?" he asked dumbly.
"If you didn't think you were going to get me, then why are you here?" I deadpanned.
He was quick to cover up his agitation by coughing into his hand dramatically. "I just didn't think I was so effective!" He tried to convince me.
I laughed, my arm brushing against him. "I have a condition," I informed him.
"Oh?" he asked, dropping the act and becoming serious. "What makes you think you can have conditions? We're deciding if we want you," he enunciated.
"It'll help you. I promise." I looked at him, my eyes warm. I knew this game. I knew his push and pull.
And I knew I was falling into it, a starfish swept from the tide pool out to sea.
He sighed. "I'll talk with the others," he decided after a moment. "And text you tomorrow." He flash stepped away, disappearing for the effect.
You don't have my number, idiot. I copied his line.
X
"I couldn't…beat him." Ichigo spoke slowly, sitting on the edge of his bed. I had brought tea up and sat at his desk after coming inside.
"What happened?" I asked simply.
He was silent.
I could smell the dark reiatsu swirling around him, so much heavier now as it started to mature. Its weight reminded me of my own.
"Your hollow, right?"
His desperate eyes looked up at me. "How do I make this stop?"
"You don't," I confessed, feeling bad as he hung his head again. "But there are ways to live with it." His head came back up, a hand dragging over his tired face.
"Show me," he pleaded.
Standing, I closed the curtains before holding out my hand.
Cold lithe fingers slipped into mine as Ichigo turned awestruck.
"I'm Shiro."
Author's Note:
Thank you for the kind words, BreeB23! Your reviews mean a lot to me! :)