A/N: Alright, first chapter with the main character as the... narrator. Sort of. This rambles a bit and cuts off then suddenly but I think this was still an okay chapter.

Created Life in Death 2
Kotobuki Mirai

Life after Death was and interesting concept. Different cultures had their own views of it and different fictional realities added their own twist to the 'circle of life'.

Why did it matter here?

Simple.

She died, leaving her previous family and friends behind when a lighting struck her umbrella. Takeno Airi died and now apparently she had a new shot in life despite having died in such a stupid way.

Well, a new shot of life in afterlife. Who knew?

Never mind really, she could breathe again.

And maybe soon she would also see something else than mysterious blobs of color.

Yes, she knew that babies had a shitty eyesight and could properly see everything around them only after about twelve months of life… Well, she had assumed that she'd be a bit more exceptional since she did have a mind of a grown woman.

Apparently not. This body needed to grow as much as normal baby's. Which was ironic considering that this baby body was no way normal.

At least not on the standards she was used to in her previous life.

And not really on the standards in her new life either.

Eh?

Airi's new name was Kotobuki Mirai. She was not born to Kotobuki Kenji and Dina but called them still papa and mama. There was that other woman visiting occasionally that was Mirai's 'kaachan'. She was Nakatomi Tomo.

And she was a Shinigami.

Yep, that's right. Mirai's mother was a Soul Reaper and thus it was possible that Mirai was one too. Hmm… wonder who her father was then…

Airi as Mirai didn't remember much about the first days in her new life. Just faint snippets here and there and sometimes when she felt like opening her eyes, also some colored blurbs. Nice.

But she did remember being carried on the arms of a woman and the woman soothingly whispering to her. About making sure that she, Mirai, would be safe. At the time Mirai hadn't thought much about it. It just felt nice to be held again and nice to know that she had also in this life someone who cared for her.

Soon enough she was introduced to the Kotobuki's, a couple who'd been trying to have a baby but were unsuccessful and were considering medicinal treatments when they'd met Tomo. Mirai had been a month old.

Or alternatively had been living outside the glass tube where she'd grown during the nine months of pregnancy, for a month already. In the tube she'd been for ten months. So did that make Mirai a month or two old? Let's just say month. Apparently they put the 4th of May as her birthday. Midori no Hi, nice.

Anyways, Tomo had begun to explain things for the couple. Some things she'd apparently told them beforehand so they knew the basics of the Shinigami, spiritual awareness and Soul Society…

Wait, what?

Soul Society? Really? What was this? Bleach?

Yep, there was more words… Gotei 13, Twelfth Division, 9th Seat. So Tomo was a scientist and… Yeah, apparently Mirai was a test tube baby she didn't dare to keep in Seireitei but hadn't realized the fact until after Mirai had been fully developed. Great going kaachan…

And there was more explanations… Mirai was apparently in a gigai that would grow with her in human rate… That her reiatsu was that of normal spiritually aware human, like the Kotobuki's, but would grow during the years. Tomo would try and visit as much as possible or otherwise keep in contact. And yes, the Kotobuki's wanted Tomo to stay in Mirai's life. And yes, they didn't care that Mirai was special or might endanger them.

Nice… They were so wonderful… Mirai felt like crying.

No wait, she didn't mean to actually cry.

Oh, there she went. This baby body reacted quite well to emotions.

And there was Kotobuki Dina holding her and rocking her and soothing her… It felt so nice. It was the best feeling in the world. The feeling of being loved.

Mirai was a lively child. Understandably from her own view point. Being a baby was incredibly restrictive. But also incredibly fun. Testing her limits and finding balance. Sleeping whenever she felt like. Even meal time and bath time were great. (Changing diaper was annoying and embarrassing but she could cope.)

Within a year since arriving to the Kotobuki's Mirai could already stand on her own two feet. Walking was still a challenge without support but she could always crawl to almost wherever she wanted to go. And hide beneath furniture. That was fun and surprisingly Kenji and Dina both were good at finding her, never panicked when she vanished to next hiding place.

The little toddler babbled to her mama and papa and kaachan. She also babbled at mama and papa's friends and neighbors. They knew that Mirai was adopted. Blonde hair color was explained away with her having a foreign father. Just as well. Airi's mother had been European and she had grown up to be bilingual and had had European blue eyes and light brown hair. In this new life blonde hair and grey (with a hint of green) eyes weren't that different to her.

Reincarnation was an interesting concept. Airi had read several self-insert and oc-insert fics when she was alive. They were right in the top of her favourites along with time-travel fics. Fandom didn't matter with them.

Those fics had some common elements in them though. Some of which Mirai had dodged.

One of them was language. The main characters were quite often from Western countries so they didn't that often know Japanese right of bat. Or then mysteriously could understand it right away. Well, as half-Japanese herself, that wasn't a problem for Mirai as she had spoken Japanese in her everyday life.

The second was existential crisis. Some mains thought they were stealing the lives of the original person supposed to have been born to the body they were inhabiting. Cue angst and desire to prove they were worthy of this life. Or alienation from the other people of their new world. Well, no thanks. Mirai was quite happy to be alive again in her own special-made gigai, thank you very much. And she would let things progress and then see if she'd do something to help.

Third was the desire to save everyone. If this were a world like Naruto where people already lived shitty lives and villains popped out of every nook and cranny, Mirai might've been more worried. While Bleach was no way 'safe' world, it was still better. And Tomo had already ensured that Mirai was safe. She would live on and – like stated above – let things progress. Mirai wasn't even sure where in timeline she was at. Other than it was obviously modern Japan.

Mirai was in Karakura. The fact she found out many months after her third birthday. While she had been outside a lot and seen places of her home town, she had never managed to spot or hear the name of the town. But it wasn't by hearing the name that Mirai found out about it.

It was her second first Shichi-go-san Day. November 15th at the local shrine. Mirai was excited. She was dressed in a brand new kimono with a hifu(padded vest) instead of an obi keeping it together. Her hair was also put up prettily. Her blonde locks may have reached only her shoulders but were still long enough to be scooped up and held together with a hairpin that was of black lacquered wood and decorated with a cluster of autumn gingko leaves. They were beautiful almost golden yellow that complimented Mirai's pale hair. By her temples, she also had hair pins of some tiny white flowers. Mirai liked them too. And her kimono was lovely too. Light blue with white flowers trailing the hem and sleeves. And it was nice to wear tabi-socks and a pair of zori after a while.

At the shrine there was a lot of people. Families of different sizes. Most common combination was parents and one or two children but some had several members of extended family with them. No wonder really, this was the main shrine of Katakura.

Ah yes… The reason how she figured out the place. It was the vibrant orange hair that one three year old boy had. Daylily colored actually. He was accompanied by a pregnant woman with lighter brown hair and silly and loud man. They were talking to another family. A mother, a grandfather and a black-haired boy with a pair of glasses already perched on his nose.

"Oh kami…" Mirai thought. She could recognize them. How could she not? They had been more or less in her mind since the day she found out her kaachan was Shinigami and she was in the world of Bleach. The first family was the Kurosaki's and apparently Masaki was already pregnant with the twins. The other was the Ishida's. Uryuu and Souken and Katagiri Kanae, Uryuu's mother.

It was so strange. Both boys were clinging to their mothers' hand and were both wearing formal wear. Kanae was also in kimono while Masaki had opted for modern clothes. Isshin was in modern clothes and Souken was dressed similarly to Uryuu. Or was it the other way round in this case?

"What is it, Mirai-chan?" Dina asked. Mirai looked up at her mother before pointing at Ichigo.

"Orenji!"

A/N: And the first contact is about to be made.

Orenji = Orange

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218:
Thank you. I'm glad you liked this. I skipped a lot fo the scienc-y parts because I simply didn't know how to write them. Maybe I'll mention something in the later chapters but for now only the end-result matters.