Suzume wiped her eyes against the sleeves of her kimono as her tears stopped flowing. As soon as she did this, the blonde man gripped her hair and pulled it, causing the child to scream out in pain.
"So you spent how long with them and you have nothing of value to show for it?"
"I don't work for you," Suzume shot back through gritted teeth.
"You work for me until I say you don't!" The man growled as he forced her to her feet before flinging her. An arm reached out and caught her with ease, then pulled her in close to the person it belonged to. Glancing up she blinked at the shaggy black hair and crimson eyes of Tetsuya.
His eyes which were normally either warm and kind or bored and indifferent held an unfamiliar look to them. As Suzume observed him, she gained an understanding of it. This look—it was the look of someone who was determined to protect something.
The blonde man scowled as he demanded, "who the hell are you?"
Tetsuya remained silent, stoic, his eyes holding the man's gaze. Suzume felt her lip tremble, and her throat tighten before a sob escaped her. The boy's gaze became less intense and he glanced at her with tenderness. The silent inquiry was met with, "you followed us. You chased him."
"Why does that surprise you?"
"You hate me," Suzume wailed.
"I don't hate you, Suzume. You might be an annoying little brat who gulps down chili faster than me—that's even more annoying since Neji can't even eat the same spice level that I like. You drink all of the milk and juice, you even creep into my room at night and hog the blankets! Even Grandpa pays more attention to you than me lately and that's irritating because I thought I had more time with it just being him and me before the pipsqueak arrives. Yeah, it's true, you're all of those things. You're an absolute pain in my neck, but—that's all part of the deal. You take the bad with the good, as long as it isn't too bad, and it isn't. It's annoying but I can tolerate it. Especially since I never even had a snowball fight until recently, it was pretty fun. I never thought throwing pillows at someone would be enjoyable either, but with you it is. I might get annoyed with you but I'm not about to let some creep hurt you or say nasty stuff about you. Only I get to do that," Tetsuya replied.
He glanced to her before adding, "And yeah you get a pass to tease and annoy me. Don't fret about it, shrimp."
"I am not a shrimp!"
"Oh really? You barely come up to my shoulder, shrimp," Tetsuya kept pestering her.
"You're older than me!"
Tetsuya pulled the bottom of his eye down, stuck his tongue out at her and blew a raspberry. The blonde man stood speechless watching the exchange between the two children. They were behaving like actual siblings.
Suzume blinked before laughing which earned her a smile from the dark haired boy. He surprised the blonde man by deflecting his on coming punch with his wrist, diverting his full attention to the adult.
The man's eyes grew wide as he looked directly into Tetsuya's eyes and whispered, "Genryusai."
"I knew him. Why?"
"You have his eyes," The man replied as Tetsuya tossed the man back to his original position. The man flipped in mid air and landed on his feet.
"I should know—I learned directly from him," The blonde stated and smirked, "I guess you could say I'm the original defector. Once I learned to control my powers there was no point in me sticking around anymore."
"My Uncle managed to take you down with a few well placed punches, that either says a lot about him, or very little about you," Tetsuya countered.
He grinned before adding, "Besides, even if Gramps did train you, he'd be disgusted with how you turned out. Poor ol' guy would be spitting fire in Hell as we speak."
The blonde man smirked before his hand went behind his back, drawing a green handled katana with a square shaped tsuba. Tetsuya raised an eyebrow at the man, and repositioned himself so Suzume was being shielded by his body.
"That kid is my property! She has no name. No identity. No family. No friends. I'm all she's got. I'm warning you boy, go home!"
Tetsuya's head lowered hiding the smirk that he gained and then glanced up with a rage, deep within his red eyes that was reminiscent of a look once held by the founding Captain-Commander.
"If any of that were true I wouldn't be here," He stated with a simple shrug of his shoulders. Suzume smiled and wrapped her arms around Tetsuya from the back, cuddling into him. He brought his hand up gently cupping it over the younger girl's hands.
"I guess you'll just have to see won't you," The blonde haired man challenged.
"Rise, Razarasu!"
His blade gained a black glowing aura and around him several bodies emerged from the ground. Suzume's eyes watered at the sight of one of the women. The blonde man smirked as he offered, "last chance. Hand over the brat and leave. They'll go back to rest if you do."
"What a disgraceful power. Exactly what I'd expect of your character," Tetsuya responded. He shook his head and elaborated, "I pity you. Using the dead to fight your battles because you're too much of a coward to take a few hits yourself, you really are slime. You're disgusting!"
The snow around him began to melt as his spiritual pressure flared just a little, "but that's alright. I'll reduce them to ash so they can be cremated and have the proper rest they deserve. After all, I am Yamamoto's great-grandson."
The blonde haired man's eyes widened at the last sentence then visibly trembled as he heard the boy announce, "end your slumber, Beniryu!"
AN: Razarasu = a translation of Lazarus. In Christian scripture the rising of Lazarus was the last of the miracles that John relates. I grew up Christian and honestly trying to think of a name for a Zanpakuto that brings people back from the dead, I could only think of 'Lazarus' and asked a friend who speaks Japanese to translate it for me.
