A/N: I'm not completely satisfied with this chapter but I hope you like this anyways.

Created Life from Death 16
Otoribashi Rojuro

Rose wasn't sure why he approached the girl for the first time in that park. Yes, she played very well. Yes, she had imbued reiatsu into the melody, thus attracting ghosts. And yes, it was all very strange but intriguing but he wouldn't have needed to interfere.

The song of that day something Rose hadn't heard before. Though most of the girl's songs were unknown to him. It made him wonder if they were simply something out of his comfort zone or something the girl made up on the spot. They did sound nice whenever she succeeded in playing the song from start to end.

The girl's fingers cramped and she let out words that a girl of her age shouldn't know. And the shoe print on the pavement as the result of a reiatsu-enhanced stomp gave an indication that it wasn't the first time of the day that the song had been messed up.

"Well, at least you aren't venting your anger on your violin…" Rose chuckled and was treated the amusing sight of the girl whirling around and falling down quite comically. With dignity, the girl got up again and questioned his presence. He answered truthfully and asked questions back. And when it seemed that she was visibly uncomfortable, Rose bid his goodbye and left.

They met again. And again. They got to know each other. Kotobuki Mirai, frequently called Asagi by her friend, Kurosaki Ichigo. Rose got to know Ichigo too. It was interesting how the two children could see ghosts and even Rose when he was outside a gigai. And it was alarming when Mirai admitted seeing hollows too. The question of her magic cloak intrigued Rose but he held back. Instead, he resolved to start teaching the two about reiatsu and its control.

He'd taught a year at Shin'ou back in the day. He could do it.

He... couldn't do it. Or maybe he could. But only barely. Mirai had a good grasp of control, but she was terribly timid about actively using her reiatsu. (He needed to find out why.) Ichigo in the other hand… he had enormous reserves for his age and little to no control. He only barely could grasp the metaphorical edges of his power. (It was greatly easier once Yoruichi joined to teach the kids.)

In general, though, Rose really preferred playing music with Mirai to teaching about reiatsu to the kids. Mostly because the latter reminded him constantly about what he couldn't have anymore and how people and organization that he'd trusted for decades, centuries, had betrayed him.

But he helped the kids. For their own safety.

It was in October after Kurosaki Masaki's demise that Rose got his first scare when it came to the kids. Mirai disappeared. It was raining and Ichigo ran to him and told the news. That Mirai had vanished and Ichigo needed his help in finding her since he couldn't ask anyone else to help. Because of a kikashinki that Isshin had used on the two. Because now Ichigo was meant not to associate with Mirai at all because he shouldn't remember her and that his sisters truly didn't remember. And that Mirai had been terrified when they'd realized what had happened.

"Of course I help." Rose remembered answering before they'd parted ways. Ichigo to south Karakura and Rose to North as there was more areas to be scoured.

He found the girl. In Yumizawa children's park, underneath the slide, she was curled up tight and dozing off. Rose crouched down and woke her up.

"Gah!"

"Asagi-chan, you shouldn't sleep in a place like this." So alone, so vulnerable… Rose was attached and he didn't want anything happening to the girl.

"Bara-san? How did you find me?" Mirai asked in bewilderment. Really now, Rose had taught her reiatsu control, of course he knew the feel of her reiatsu by now.

"Your friend Kanzo-iro asked me to help finding you." And then a furry black head lifted up from between Mirai's legs and arms. Yoruichi? Here? Why?

"This is Neko-san. He kept me company."

"Is that so?" He decided to question the woman's presence later but now the girl needed reassurance. And Rose needed to know how she actually was in the aftermath of everything. "Are you alright, Asagi-chan? Kanzo-iro told me what happened and about the kikashinki."

He saw Yoruichi's hackles rise and the next question came from her.

"Girl. Was this kikashinki use on yourself by a man named Isshin?"

The tears were both startling and welcome. Startling because Mirai rarely cried. Welcome because it meant that she would be bottling up her feeling of this event and she felt safe enough to let go of her control. And… Rose really didn't like the picture that Mirai painted of her origins and the events that led up to her hiding so far away from her friends and family.

At Mirai's mention of being a mere clone yet wanting to live her life and be happy, Rose drew her into an embrace.

"You have every right to live your life the way you wish to, Asagi-chan. And I'm sure Kanzo-iro-kun would agree with me."

"I know but…"

Then Yoruichi drew attention to the stiffness of Mirai's gigai and the girl told that Nakatomi Tomo was the one to do maintenance for it. And that she had suppressor bracelets that she never took off.

Rose pushed it all aside for a while. It had been more important to get Mirai back home and to Ichigo.

A week later Yoruichi approached him. She'd been observing Mirai and Ichigo's home lives and took note of their families and habits. She told him about the kidou inscribes in Mirai's bracelets that the girl had finally agreed to remove for the lessons. That those bracelets not only suppressed her reiatsu from detection but also forced her to stay inside her gigai.

Rose really wanted to go back to Soul Society and gut that scientist woman. Those actions – plus the systematic horror stories no matter how true – did not speak of protection. They spoke of distrust and possessiveness. Nakatomi obviously didn't know anything of Mirai. She gave gifts but actually wasn't there for her. Rose definitely agreed with the cat about Shinigami being incapable of raising human children. Because that's what Ichigo and Mirai both essentially were. Human. Souls within containers. Mirai might've been created out of reiatsu and Ichigo was offspring of Shinigami and Quincy (yes, he knew what the boy's mother had been), but they still were very much human in all ways that actually counted. Spiritually aware but still human and alive.

Thus Rose was glad when the ex-Onmitsukido commander decided to teach the kids to run. There was no one better.

When Mirai celebrated her eleventh birthday, Rose finally taught the kids Bakudou 1: Sai, and Hadou 1: Sho. It would take time for the kids to learn but they had time. And they really needed to get Ichigo's reiatsu under control. Mirai's waterballoon comparison was surprisingly apt and Rose really hoped that her allusion about bursting the balloon by stabbing would never come true.

Of course that hope was in vain.

Next few years were quite peaceful. Until Mirai came back from Golden Week holiday to Rome with an activated Shikai. Apparently, she'd had dreams and whispers from her zanpakuto for years already but she never spoke of them. Rose could relate. Connecting with a zanpakuto was a private and gradual process even if the final shikai release often happened on battlefield. The mass producing of shikai at academy had never sat well with him.

Rose sighed. Lisa – who had joined their small circle of Mirai's acquaintances a while back – looked up from her manga.

"She is growing quite quickly." The bespectacled woman observed.

"Yes… I miss the days when she was just a little girl that played violin at park." The blonde muttered. Sharing new songs and practicing them with her had been fun. And his job at music store made it easy for him to get the note sheets.

"And now she has a shikai."

"She is using time meditating to actually learn her zanpakuto's abilities but yes. She did achieve a shikai. Probably the only thing that saved her life at Rome. Getting enough power to actually slay the hollow."

"Do you know how she survived afterwards?" Lisa asked then. "She mentioned being mid air and being tired after releasing her swords but…"

"Do you think she would've passed out afterwards?"

"It's possible. I've seen it happen on Shinigami once the adrenaline runs out. Even if they are uninjured, they are still exhausted."

"…The only other thing she mentioned of the trip was a new friend she made… Kitsurubami…"

"Do you think they have something to do with it then?"

"Maybe…"

Mirai was fourteen. So young, both in human and Shinigami standards. Rose helped her to train her shikai. Once the first wobbly and uncontrolled releases were out of the way, the girl was grasping quickly her limits with both sealed and unsealed zanpakuto. And Rose was there to help her train with a live blade instead of kendo shinai or bokken. But she still wouldn't let him see the actual abilities her sword granted.

"Shinigami are arrogant. They like to brag their abilities and explain them to their opponents in order to demonstrate their superiority. What they don't understand is that explaining makes it easier to counter the abilities." Mirai said. "So no, I'm not telling you. I'm challenging you to figure them out yourself."

That… had been a hit right there… Rose grimaced. How many times had he explained his shikai abilities to his opponent in a spar or fight? Many. Too many times.

It was approximately a week after Mirai's sixteenth birthday that Rose received an e-mail from Mirai. It had only one sentence in it.

The water balloon burst.

Rose cursed. He needed to find out what exactly had happened. But since Mirai had only sent him a cryptic message instead of calling, it meant that she couldn't tell the details yet due the situation.

But there was something else he could do.

It took a bit of investigating discreetly but he eventually found out with Lisa what had happened. The newly stationed Shinigami had given her powers to Ichigo and both the kids were laying low. Ichigo concealing his true skills and knowledge and Mirai staying out of sight of the Shinigami.

But eventually they managed to meet with the girl again. And explain her what they were going to teach her. And yes, Lisa was also helping because she was fond of the girl and found the girl's crush on her adorable.

They were teaching how to conceal her zanpakuto inside an object that she could carry around without suspicion while inside in her gigai and thus also use her zanpakuto-strengthened item as a weapon while in gigai.

Mirai chose the fan she'd gotten as a birthday gift from Yoruichi. It was very carefully disguised metal fan that didn't weight or sound any different from regular wooden one.

The process of introducing the fan and zanpakuto to each other was a slow one. Mirai spent the entire time in jinzen with Sazanami and the fan on her lap parallel to each other. Rose and Lisa observed the progress and they way the outlines of the two items wavered in turn.

After hours of work, Mirai finally opened her eyes to see the fan spiraling open into ribbons and wrapping around her zanpakuto and then being the one left. The girl gingerly grasped her fan and picked it up. She examined it from all sides before flicking it open with a single wrist movement.

Even from distance, Rose could feel that the fan was now fundamentally different even if it still looked the same.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Bara-san, Shinbashi-san." Mirai smiled as she let the fan unravel away and reveal the katana within.

"You're welcome, Asagi-chan. Now, shall we review some kidou?"

"Sure."

Overall, even with the Shinigami in town and following Ichigo things didn't change that much. Ichigo kept the Kuchiki girl (and wasn't that a shock, Kuchiki breaking the law) distracted and Mirai ran interference between the girl and rest of the humans and circumstances in the vicinity. She progressed in zanjutsu and kidou and Rose was incredibly proud of her.

She was his student. His first student and trusted friend.

And he would have her back regardless of her decisions.

A/N: And here you can see where Mirai got her fan and how her zanpakuto was hidden inside it.

Replies to Reviews:

-xenocanaan:
That's great to hear! Thank you very much. Next chapter is Urahara chapter. I'm all pumped up for that now!

-Silverlined Phoenix:
You're welcome! I'm glad to hear you like the description of her zanpakuto.
Mirai... well, personally I always think of her as right-handed as I'm right-handed myself but it is entirely possible that she has taught herself do some things left-handed way too. I need to think about this. ;)

-Antex-The Legendary Zoroark:
I'm back! Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked the chapter.

-lovetolongago:
Thank you very much. I'm glad to hear you like this fic and Mirai.
I really understand that sometimes SI-OCs can really annoy and vex. I'm incredibly picky when it comes to reading those fics and when I write I try to deviate at least somehow from already trodden paths.
Yes, Urahara's chapter is next. I can't wait to write it. You might have to wait for week or two until I can get it out since school deadlines are approaching.
Visored are one of my favourite characters. They are brilliant. I wish the manga had showed them more and they'd been like a proper family for Ichigo. Yoruichi is great too even if I like Urahara more. On the other hand, yes, I really don't like Isshin. I've said this many times but aside from a couple of cool lines of advise he delivers to Ichigo, he is ultimately useless.
Umm, could you tell me which comment you refer to of Urahara not liking Isshin? I'm not entirely sure as the only time when Isshin and Urahara and Isshin appear even in the same sentence is when Yoruichi mentions Urahara mentioning Isshin wanting a kikashinki. I think... I probably should reread my own fic...

I already sent the Mirai-nicknames list to Antex, but I'll put it here too:

Ichigo - Kanzo-iro
Mirai - Asagi
Yuzu - Ukon-iro
Karin - Sumi-iro
Urahara - tenchou-san
Yoruichi - Neko-san
Rojuro - Bara-san
Kensei - Kamenozoki
Lisa - Shinbashi-iro
Mashiro - Moegi
Shinji - Kitsurubami

Reviews are still welcome!