A/N: Alright, this chapter was a bit difficult to write but not as difficult as Yoruichi's... I hope you like this and how the ripple effect that Mirai is has also affected the twins.

Created Life from Death 8
Kurosaki Karin and Yuzu

The twins liked Mirai. She was their big sister. Even though it was a bit confusing how Ichigo had known her for so long but never talked about her at home before. But Mirai was brilliant help when it came to explaining the spiritual world for them. Ichigo tended to simplify things a bit too much in their tastes.

And with Mirai's help they managed to find closure over their mother's death too. It was terrible and sad that they couldn't see their mother again, that she was gone… But they held hope that eventually they had a chance of meeting again.

(Mirai very carefully left out that most souls lost their memories in afterlife and never met their loved ones again. Then again, Masaki was at Kuukaku's house and hopefully they would find a loop hole later for the members of Shiba Clan to be reunited again…)

And Mirai's parents were great too. Kenji had Yuzu assisting him in the kitchen and at the same time teaching her how to cook. He had Ichigo practicing kendo for free so that Karin could get her soccer lessons and was in general an attentive father figure without overly smothering the girls, like Isshin did.

Dina taught the girls and Ichigo how to take care of home otherwise. How to sort laundry and change sheets. How to fold them up in the cabinet in a way that they remained smooth and didn't take that much space. She taught them how to utilize cleaning products safely and wait until they are older to use the heavier cleaning substances. She also took them a couple of times for a tour in the theater and let the try on costumes there. Dina was different from Masaki and it was fine.

Yuzu frowned at their homework. They were supposed to draw their family trees and put basic information under the pictures of their family but…

"Otou-san… How old are you?" She asked the man who just came to the living room from his shift at the clinic.

"Hm? Why do you need to know?" Isshin smiled jovially at the twins who were lying on their stomachs on the living room floor with papers, books and coloring pencils strewn over the carpet. Karin was still coloring the background lime green for the foliage of the tree. Yuzu in the other hand had opted for pine green. (And Ichigo had colored it bright red of Japanese Maple when he had done the homework four years ago.)

"Because it's for school. We found kaa-san's birth certificate and counted her age from that but couldn't do the same with you." Karin scowled.

"From that birth certificate we also found the names of okaa-san's parents. Otou-san, what are your parents' names? Are they still alive?" Yuzu asked then.

Isshin was sweating.

"If you want to, you can copy what I put down on my homework back then." Ichigo said from the doorway.

"Really?" The fairer twin perked up. "Thank you, oniichan!"

"Thank you, Ichi-nii." Karin nodded too. "Thanks for nothing, goat-face…"

"I got it somewhere in my room so you can take you stuff up there." Ichigo nodded and the girls followed after him, leaving Isshin half-frozen in the living room. He had never really anticipated that his children would ask about family beyond him and Masaki. And as they'd never celebrated his birthdays either… Well…

"You seriously put 439 as goat-face's age?" Karin stared at the paper.

"I was frustrated with the lack of information. So I went to hospital to ask information. The director apparently knew our parents so he could fill in for okaa-san's part." Ichigo pointed at the grandparents and great-grandparents on Masaki's side of the tree, all of them marked dead. "He couldn't help with father though and said to just toss some random number there. So I did." The boy shrugged.

"That's mean, oniichan." Yuzu muttered while faithfully copying down the names and dates.

"Hmm… We got the same teacher than you did… What if we just added four years to that number? Hashinaka-sensei, got to appreciate the humor."

"Well, I got relatively good grade of this, despite it so why not." Ichigo shrugged.

And so the age box under 'Otou-san: Isshin' was filled with the number 443.

"Nee, oniichan?"

"Yeah?"

"What was otou-san's family name before he married okaa-san?"

"No clue. I never managed to track down their marriage certificate."

The years went past and Mirai remained in their lives. Whether it was Dead-or-Alive game or shopping clothes for the twins, she was there to instruct them. She taught Yuzu and Karin how to write a letter to be sent to the spirit world for their mother and they made it a tradition to send one with Ichigo whenever it was their birthday, some big holiday or festival, like Obon, and of course after visiting Masaki's grave on the day she'd died.

Mirai and Ichigo taught them both how to punch and kick correctly so they could defend themselves if they every found themselves in trouble and alone. Because no matter how much Ichigo wanted to protect his sisters, he couldn't follow them everywhere.

"But who protects Ichi-nii then?" Karin asked one day. Ichigo blinked, like the thought hadn't even occurred to him. Because since he was little, he had always thought it was his job to protect his sisters and his mother. His sisters because they were younger and smaller than him. His mother because she had also protected him. And of course that all was something Isshin was telling him to do while beating him up.

"I will." Mirai answered, garnering stares from the three siblings. "Oh, shush. I'm older than Kanzo-iro, of course I look after him and got his back. So he can concentrate on protecting you."

She smiled. And with the summer wind blowing into her hair and sunlight shining upon her, she seemed both so gentle and strong at the same time. Karin trusted her. And Yuzu admired her.

"Okay… We get stronger together and look after each other." Ichigo swallowed thickly.

"As equals." Mirai reminded.

"As equals." Ichigo nodded. They knew very well that girls could be as strong as boys. And that boys were allowed to show weakness too, just like girls. The world wasn't black and white no matter what adults preached.

And that applied to Karin and Yuzu too.

While in one world Karin would've been a tough tomboy that never cried so she wouldn't burden her family, here she still kicked bullies and played soccer but also helped around house so Yuzu didn't need to do everything. If something hurt or she was really angry, she let herself to cry but only when with Yuzu or Ichigo or his two best female friends. She wore t-shirts and skorts in dark colors but had occasionally some splash of color when she borrowed Yuzu's hairclips or peach colored t-shirt instead of using her own white one.

In one world Yuzu would've been oblivious homemaker that never got angry, epitome of girly-ness and bathed in pastels and the smell of cinnamon, here she remained stern when her father started strange and ridiculous anticts. Here she put her foot down so Ichigo didn't leave home without eating first. Here her weapons were both gentle smile and puppy eyes that made the men of her family to give in. (She once heard her father muttering something about scary smiles and terrifying women and felt proud.) She wore peach and soft green and cream and lilac and while preferring skirts over pants, she did have several pairs of jeans in her closet too.

Karin wanted to be tough girl like Tatsuki. Yuzu wanted to be gentle but strong like Mirai.

Yuzu and Karin loved their father. Isshin looked after them and after pulling out of the funk where he was after Masaki's death, he tried to make them laugh and smile as much as possible. It worked sometimes but sometimes his continuous antics were tiresome. But he was very loving father despite his obvious denial of all things spiritual and overprotectiveness over his daughters.

Of course there were some strange things as well. A rule that Ichigo implemented when he introduced the twins to Mirai.

"Do not talk about her while at home. Do not tell goat-face that you know her."

It was strange at first. But considering how strongly Isshin denied the ghosts that Ichigo saw, it seemed safer that Mirai, who obviously knew a lot about ghosts and other spiritual beings (like the bakeneko that followed her sometimes), was not mentioned around the man. Neither Yuzu or Karin believe that Isshin would do anything bad to the older girl but better safe than sorry. They didn't want to be banned from seeing her just because she had a disagreeing worldview from their father's.

Mirai and Ichigo were twelve. The twins were eight. It was September. They were cornered. Thugs had approached from both sides of the street and boxed them in. Ichigo and Mirai were standing back to back, with the girls between them.

"Damn, I can't use kidou on them…" Mirai muttered from the corner of her mouth.

"Shush, you can take them without one." Ichigo hissed back. Then one of the thugs flicked open a pocket knife.

Everyone froze. Yuzu could feel how Ichigo's back muscles tensed under her hands that clutched his shirt. Karin counted the amount of opponents they had and wondered if she could be of any help. There were six thugs altogether and one knife. Correction. Three knives and a pair of iron knuckles. Karin swallowed heavily.

"Kanzo-iro…" Mirai began.

"Pity that Tatsuki isn't here." It would've evened the odds. "Karin, Yuzu can you take one without weapons. Just kick in the crotch will do. Otherwise just dodge."

The instructions made sense.

"Can do…" Karin said.

"Stop whispetin' weirdo gakis…" One of the thugs declared. He had a lisp due to some missing teeth.

"Yuzu-chan, do you have the ground pepper in your bag?" Mirai asked then. "They had just been grocery shopping and had all sorts of stuff in their shopping bags. Karin freed Ichigo's hands from the bag he had and tested the weight. It had a bag of flour in it. It should be heavy enough…

"I got it." Yuzu groped around her bag and closed her hand around the pepper can. She slowly screwed it open.

"Alright. Leave the knives to me." Mirai said, slipping her hand into the pocket of her hoodie. She drew a butterfly knife and twirled it open. "Then I can claim self-defense."

"Roger that." Ichigo slid into ready stance. Yuzu dropped her bag. Karin took a hold with two hands of her own. Mirai remained seemingly relaxed but the line of her shoulders told a different story.

The thugs laughed. Said stuff about some pitiful brats having no chance against them. About big shots rewarding them if they put Ichigo and Mirai (and Tatsuki) in their places. Karin didn't like the sound of that.

The tension rose up and then it broke. Everything exploded into action. Ichigo took down the knuckles. Yuzu threw pepper in the face of the guy next to him. Karin swung the flour bag at the head of one with a knife and kicked him in the crotch while Ichigo engaged other weaponless guy. Mirai weaved and ducked around the other two knife guys and masterfully used her own knife to deflect them. Then she managed to cut shallowly at their wrist and even stupider person realized that they got to drop their knives to stop the blood flow.

That ended the fight.

"Let's get out of here." Ichigo said and they ran. They made it to the closest park where they ditched anything incriminating. Like the bag of flour that had been punctured by the knife guy and left a trail of flour after them. Mirai wiped her knife clean of blood and concealed it again. Then the older kids checked the twins to make sure they were unharmed. Karin and Yuzu were fine. And now they understood their older brother and 'sister' better.

They were awesome. They were strong. But they also allowed themselves to fear and then become stronger by overcoming that fear.

They were influences to each other, encouraging and holding back simultaneously.

They complimented each other yet could accommodate anyone they included in their circle. Tatsuki, the twins, eventually Sado, eventually Mizuiro and Keigo, eventually Rukia, eventually Orihime and Ishida…

"Mirai-nee, what are you looking at?" Karin frowned at the older girl. She was leaning against window sill and peering out of the window intently, her brows scrunched up thoughtfully.

"I just now noticed really but…" The girl began and looked away from the window, away from her own mirror image. "Kaachan visited last night after my birthday party was finished… And I noticed that the shape of my eyes doesn't match hers. It doesn't match touchan's either for that matter even if the color is his."

"Did you ask her about it then?" The nine-year-old girl asked, sitting down on the bed of the bedroom. Yuzu and Ichigo were downstairs of the Kotobuki residence, going through so recipes together and questioning Kenji about some ingredients in them.

"I did… But she didn't see any difference between us. But it's so obvious! Her eyes are narrow and about an equal level all the way, touchan's eyes tilt downwards at outer corners while I…" Mirai drew her right eyelid closed. "It's the inner corner that's narrower than outer corner. Not cat-like eyes but…"

"What do you suspect then?"

Mirai sighed. "I don't know. Kaachan insist that no one else knew about her project and that all in her notes are in order that no one could've tampered with them or the reiatsu samples she had. I haven't seen either of them so I can't verify on my own but…"

"Have you talked Ichi-nii about this? Or Dina-ba and Kenji-ji?"

"Kanzo-iro, yes. When I brought it up, he did agree with me but without any further evidence and with kaachan strong denial, it's impossible to make any further conclusions." Mirai shrugged. "Now, how would you like to learn a kidou spell? Bakudou no.1: Sai, would be the one I'm thinking."

"Are you sure?" Karin asked with wide eyes.

"Sure." Mirai grinned. "And when Yuzu-chan has enough reiatsu to learn it, I'll teach it to her too."

A/N: Alright... I really thought hard when I'd tell the issue with Mirai's eyes but then decided to introduce it at this point already so people can speculate it. Mwahahahaa!

Replies to Reviews:

-CallmeCrazylol: (chapter 6)
Sorry, I didn't reply to you last time. I was writing replies and posting the chapter and then I refreshed the review page and noticed that your had arrived 17minutes earlier!
Rukia... her introduction chapter will be from her own pov. :D The plans for the exact chapter number are still in flux but right now it seems to be number thirteen... :)

-Yatocat19:
Probably. I just try not to have povs from the same character too close to each other. Mirai is the exception since she is the protagonist.
The link will activate again and that's when Urahara finally gets the chance to put pieces together.
It's great to hear that you liked this.

-OTrizy:
You're welcome. :)

-xenocanaan:
Kisuke is a mystery. And his chapter is in the future! :D

-CallmeCrazylol:
Not really. That's why I've tried to convey how Yuzu has only been learning and assisting with cooking. That's why Ichigo has been taking the lessons too and why neighbors have helped with the food too.

-mk0008:
Great to hear that you like my choices. It took me a while to get used to that order since I was at first used to translated manga with first-last name order as opposed to the Japanese one but with time and series that I've read as fantranslations rather that 'official' ones, has helped me a lot. :)

-Silverlined Phoenix:
I hope you like this chapter. Suggesting Karin and Yuzu was a good idea since they are so big part of Ichigo's life. And through them I could give a glimpse better how they've coped after Masaki's death and how they view Isshin.
I'm sorry to say that Ichihime won't happen. For me it came out of nowhere on Ichigo's part even if Orihime's feelings were genuine.
And glad you liked Urahara cameo. ;)

-ZiggySmallz:
I agree. I thought is weird how Tatsuki was sidelined for Rukia and later Chad sidelined for Renji. But at the same time Ichigo's and Rukia's chemistry is interesting and engaging (though sometimes I hate how Rukia treats Ichigo).
I do remember. But aside from that, he was surprisingly one-sided character with mostly just humor-value. Maybe with Ichigo less stuck-up and lonewolf here, he might consider Keigo and Mizuiro better friends too. That's what I'm hoping to achieve eventually.
Thank you very much.
(Chapter 3): It's alright. Thank you for your opinion of this matter. I fully agree with you that it would've been interesting to see Ichigo meeting Shiro since the beginning and gotten to know him. While the Old Man is cool too, I still think (especially after the Quincy arc revelations and Zanpakutou filler arc) that he does not suit Ichigo as Zanpakuto spirit. But I have a plan. People do like Old Man so I won't completely get rid of him.

-DragonClanMaster:
I understand. Mostly my handling of Isshin comes from my own bias towards him. He is violent and doesn't really pay much actual attention to Ichigo. While I understand that he tries to protect his family, he amounts of denial he exhibits are astounding. And when he finally appears as shinigami, it's to hit Ichigo in the head and then basically tell him about a suicide technique that will leave him crippled for the rest of his life. And then in the quincy arc the only two times we see him is to fess up about Masaki and then in the end to deliver the Deus Ex Machina quincy-blood-silver-arrowhead with Ryuuken.
Towards Mirai in the other hand. Denial. And the fact that in his head if Kisuke had a kid, he probably would've told Isshin. Especially if the kid and Ichigo were as close as Mirai is to him. The other thing is that other than coloring, Mirai does not look like Kisuke that much. Her build and hairtype is from Tomo and her eyeshape is different too. Her mannerisms are occasionally similar to Kisuke but not constantly. Nature versus Nurture. She is very much Dina's and Kenji's child in that respect. And if Isshin had known that Mirai was Kisuke's, he wouldn't have used kikashinki on her that easily. His children yes, since they are his. But not on Mirai. He would've talked to Kisuke and had him to do something to Mirai.
And after the kikashinki incident it's pretty much "out of sight out of mind". Mirai doesn't visit Kurosaki Clinic, the kids don't talk about her, thus Isshin thinks problem is solved even if the kids still visit Dina and Kenji.

-Guest:
Thank you. I can't wait for writing it either!