I don't own the rights to Bleach. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and all the respective studios (which I'm too lazy to google and will therefore remain unnamed)

Chapter 20: Aoi Shichika II

It was already late evening when Aoi walked down the abandoned district. Her goal was the equally abandoned old gaming arcade she used to spend time in. Those were some of the rare memories she actually treasured form a life that had… not always been easy. It wasn't like her childhood or highschool days had been the worst, but she was more often than not picked on, labeled an outcast or both.

One of the only people that always treated her kindly had been the old shop owner, Shiro Kanda. Everytime she had been going through a harder time then usual, he had always turned a blind eye to the opening times, or the miscounted the amount of coins he had handed her out, or the prices for certain items that Aoi had been eyeing for a long time.

She reached the arcade and put down the flowers she had previously bought next to the door. She looked up to the sky and wondered if he was still there, but since she could still see the chains wrapped around the building, she thought that he might still be sticking around somewhere.

As if on cue, he popped up inside the entrance and said: "Now what might you be doing here?"

"JESUS!", she yelled and jumped backwards while instinctively clenching her fists. "Don't scare me like that, one of these days I'm gonna have a heart attack", she said angrily.

"Now now", Kanda-san chuckled kindly, "you're far too young to even think of those. You've still got your whole life ahead of you."

"Please don't remind me."

"Now, now, growing old is not so bad. It brings a lot of life's riches with it."

"Yeah, bills for example. Or the crippling fear of your inevitable end and the realization of how your entire life has just been a really long story about how you died. Truly, growing old must be worth it."

"…is something on your mind young lady?", he asked with a mildly expecting tone, as if he already knew the answer to that question, but just wanted her to confirm it. He was right of course, but she wanted to avoid that conversation. She wasn't really in the mood to talk. It had been a long day at work and she just wanted to go home to the holy safe zone that was her bed. The only reason she had even come here was to bring him the promised flowers from two weeks ago.

"Not really, why?", she asked in a tone as casual as possible.

He raised an eyebrow. "Because you always get mildly overdramatic when you are upset. Are you sure that there is absolutely nothing on your mind?"

She sighed. Trying to deceive the old man was pointless to begin with and she didn't know why she even tried. If there was one person she could talk to about her problems, it was Kanda-san.

"You know what yeah, there actually is something. It's been nagging in the back of my head ever since I helped that boy two weeks ago."

"Ah yes, I remember. Did you find his parents?"

"Yeah we did", she said a little downthrodden, shivering a little with disgust while recalling the events that had happened in that warehouse.

"…I'm sensing a but there."

"His parents weren't exactly… his parents anymore. I can't really explain it other than saying that they were turned into some kind of crazy soul eating monsters. Wasn't pleasant to look at." She suppressed another shiver. She sat down and leaned against the wall of the old building. Kanda-san did the same and for a while they both just sat there, her trying to find the words to continue and him patiently waiting for her to do so.

"Luckily, another person showed up who was somehow able to fight these things. If he wouldn't have, that boy, Toko, and I would have probably been eaten. I've been terrified to even step out of my house since that night. Everytime I see a ghost asking me for help my mind immediately flashes back to that night and it scares me."

She paused and waited for him to ask a question or something, but as he had always done in the past, Kanda-san just waited for her to gather her thoughts and continue speaking. He was never one to ask questions or demand explanations. He just listened until the other person was done talking and had gotten everything off their chest until he would give his thoughts about the matter.

"The person who saved us in that night told me that I have the potential to develop abilitys to fight these monsters. Now knowing that, everytime I see a ghost asking me for something I'm scared and torn inside. Part of me wants to help, knowing that I could, knowing that I could probably gain some sort of strength to do some good in the world. But the other part is scared shitless, because I know that one of these things could show up again and I don't know if there would always be someone to save me. And yeah, that wouldn't be a problem if I learned how to fight those monsters, but if I did, would that change my life for the better?"

She wrapped her arms around her knees, gazed up to the already dark night sky and sighed. "I am absolutely lost here and I have no idea what to do."

Silence reigned the area for a few moments and none of the two said a word. Aoi had spoken her mind and was now waiting for Kanda-san to give her an answer. She didn't know what kind it would be but she hoped it would help, because if he couldn't give her any kind of advice, then no one could.

"From what I'm gathering", he started after a while and spoke slowly and carefully. "You feel some sort of responsibility to this, in your own words, unknown world. Even though you don't really want anything to do with it, even though you wish you'd never gained this ability to see the dead, you feel like you owe it to this world and its inhabitants to try and help them, simply because of the reason that you could be able to do so."

From the corner of her eyes she noticed how he turned her head towards her. "You are so incredibly kind", he said and even though she could not see it, she knew he had this heartwarming smile on his face. "And I wish I could give you a clear answer as to what you should do now, I really do. But I cannot decide your life for you. I can't tell you whether you should embrace this new, unfamiliar side of you, or if you should lock it away and just try your best to forget about it."

She closed her eyes and buried her face between her legs. So there was really nobody who could help her after all.

"What I can tell you however", he continued and caused her to raise her head again and look towards him, "is that whatever you choose, it has to be a decision you can live with. If the responsibility you feel is not overwhelmingly crushing, then turning away from it shouldn't keep you from continuing to live a normal live without having second thoughts all the time. If it is so great that you have to think about it everyday if you don't follow its call however, then considering to go down that new and uncertain path might not be a bad choice either. Whatever path you choose in the end, it has to be the one that let's you continue your life without looking back on that decision and regret it."

She laughed a bit and then said: "That was the best and least helpful advice at the same time anyone has ever given me. How is that even possible?"

He stood up and reached his hand out to her, helped her on her feet and gave her a heartfelt hug. "Live is never easy Aoi", he said as he let her go again. "Life is full with hard choices and unforeseeable occurences. All we can do is make the best out of what we get."

She smiled a little and wanted to add a quippy remark to that, but he suddenly dawned a painful expression and pushed her away. She was confused and almost tumbled over her own feet. She came to a safe stance and when she looked at him to ask what that was for, she saw him crouching on the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

"Kanda-san, what's happening to you?", she asked scared and wanted to run to him and to help, but he looked at her with determination and held out his hand to stop her. He shook his head and shuddered while trying to suppress another coughing fit, but the determination in his eyes didn't waver.

Suddenly, his body started to make inhuman sounds and became surrounded with an unsettling aura. It even started to do something that could only be described as glitching, disappearing and reappearing again in irregular intervals. But through all of that his hand was still held out, signaling her to stay away, even when he had to turn his face away.

Through all of it she wasn't able to do anything. She could just stand there and watch as one of the most important people in her life suffered and endured. The symptoms kept repeating and after a while even the chains coming out of his body and surrounding the old gaming arcade started giving off an unholy rattling sound.

After what felt like half an eternity, the rattling sound died down and his coughing fits got more infrequent and less severe until he was only breathing heavily. He lowered his hand and tried to get himself up to his feet again and she rushed to him to help him up.

"What was that?", she asked frightened and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

"I don't quite know myself", he answered uncertain. "Those seizures started happening a little over a week ago, though this one was significantly worse than the others. I believe they are a sign that my time here is slowly coming to an end."

He tried to give her a comforting smile but failed and just made her all the more worried. She helped him inside of the building and sat him down to lean him against a wall.

"That doesn't make any sense", she said. "I mean, you've already died. You're a ghost, you're in the afterlife, how is your time coming to an end?"

"I don't think I am in the afterlife", he said weary. "This still is the world of the living after all. To get to the afterlife I would probably have to move on from my actual life. But I just can't bring myself to abandon my old arcade." A sudden glance of obsession appeared in his eyes, almost like a fevery mania. "I absolutely can't", he whispered.

She wanted to ask him what that meant when a young male voice resounded from outside the building. "Hello? Anybody in there?"

Damn it. A normal citizen was the last thing she needed right now. She kept quiet in the hopes the person would go away, but to her disappointment she heard steps coming towards the entrance. Shit, shit, shit, what should she do? Should she say something? Should she hide and wait for him to go away? She took a breath and weighed her options.

The voice didn't sound familiar, so he probably wouldn't know her and wouldn't ask that many questions, so-

"If you can hear me, then don't worry. I didn't come here to harm you or anything, I just wanna help you to move on from this world to the next."

Help to move on? Either this guy was on drugs, or…

She took the risk and snuck a peek outside the entrance. Standing there was a tall young man with a black robe, a long sword on his back, a short one on his right waist and orange hair. She tilted her head a little in curiosity and stepped into his line of field.

"Who are you?", she asked and tried to sound as confident as possible.

"Ah, my name is Ichi- hold on, you can see me?", he asked genuinely surprised. He didn't elude any imposing or intimidating aura, in fact his whole body language was pretty relaxed and lose.

"Ye- Yeah?", she answered confused. "Why, should I not see you?"

"No, no it's fine", the man responded and smiled faintly. "It's just that, normally, humans don't see me so I was a little surprised. My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. Who are you?"

Well, that was odd. Aside from the get-up he was wearing and the two unusual swords he was carrying around, he seemed like a pretty normal, friendly and polite guy. Also, she couldn't help but feel like she had already heard his name somewhere a little while ago. "Aoi Shichika", she answered, to which he gave an understanding nod. "So wait, you said that normally humans don't see you. Does that mean you're… not human?"

"Well", he said and his faint smile turned into a slightly pained one. "The answer to that question is yes and no."

She raised an eyebrow and frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah I know", he said with a sigh. "Look, the explanation for what exactly I am is waaaaaay more complicated than I'd like it to be and it's kind of a pain, so let's not delve into that too much. Let's focus on what's more important right now." He pointed towards the old arcade. "This building and whoever's inside it are pretty much a time bomb, so I'm gonna have to ask you to step out of it."

"Time bomb- what are you talking about?"

"There's somebody inside that building. That person is tied to that building by their chain. About a minute ago he started radiating some pretty dark pressure, that's the reason why I'm even here. Listen", he said with a very sincere tone. "I'm here to help, I swear. Let me do my job and I'll explain everything to you afterwards if you want to. Deal?"

"You're here to help?", she asked uncertain after a while.

"Yeah."

"And you're not gonna pull any tricks on me, you're serious."

He started rubbing the back of his head and frowned a little while mumbling something to himself that sounded like "if I were I wouldn't really tell you would I", but then he responded in the same honest tone again. "I'm serious. All I want is to help."

She slowly stepped out of the entrance while he started casually walking towards it. It was abnormal just how calm and relaxed he was. She let him pass and considered waiting outside for a few moments, but then immediately abandoned the thought. No way she'd leave Kanda-san alone with some stranger just because said stanger was a little friendly.

She followed him inside to which he turned around with a little frown and said: "I think it's better if you get some distance. It could get a little… uncomfortable if things go south."

She remembered the last time things went south in relation to ghosts and was immediately overcome by another shudder. "What, is he gonna lose control, get a hole in his chest and turn into some freaky monster with a mask for a face?", she asked sarcastically.

"Actually yeah, that about sums up what "things going south" would be. How did you know that?", he said nonchalantly with a hint of surprise.

"Wait, you're for real right now?", she said as anxiety suddenly took a hold of her. She looked down to the old man who was still sitting leaned on against the wall now with an almost empty, fevery look in his eyes.

"Yeah, I am. Don't freak out", he said while reaching for the big swords on his back. "I'm not going to cut him. This'll just take a second." He walked up to the old man, crouched down and touched Kanda-san's forehead with the end of the hilt of his giant sword.

At first nothing happened. Then, a symbol of light appeared on the old man's forehead and started to encase his whole body. The chains that were coming out of his chest started shining in a soothing, serene blue light that soon lit up the whole building. Meanwhile, the look in Kanda-san's eyes had returned to their normal state again. He said nothing, but he seemed… relieved.

He looked at Ichigo Kurosaki and gave him a nod that almost seemed like it was expressing gratitude. Then he looked at Aoi and for one last time, gave her his usual gentle smile. Then he disappeared.

The soothing light slowly faded away as a dark butterfly emerged from where the old man had just vanished. It was almost like the world had come to a standstill as Aoi watched the butterfly elegantly glide out of the window and disappear out of sight.

Aoi was bewildered. The event she had just witnessed was so surreal and yet she couldn't help but be moved by it. There had been something special about that light, it had almost felt… alive. As if Kanda-sans entire life had been reflected by that light in those few fleeting moments leaving Aoi with bittersweet melancholy.

He had gone through so many hardships himself, but through all of that had always preserved what he deemed most important, which was to be kind to others.

Ichigo Kurosaki stood up and turned around. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

ooo

"So explaining all of that is a little… complicated and we'd have to get into detail. You sure you got that kinda time?"

"My shift is set for the afternoon tomorrow, so that won't be much of a problem."

"Wait, you work a part time job?", Ichigo asked.

"No, it's not part time, it's full time. Sometimes I just have half day shifts and other times I don't."

"How old are you again?", he asked pretty nonchalantly.

"Seventeen", she answered. "I know it's a little unusual for someone my age to have a full time job already, since 98% of everyone else the same age as me is chilling in high school right now. Long story short, money doesn't grow on trees and when things got tough, I had to make a choice."

"…wanna talk about it?" The question was pretty casual, but at the same time had a lot of empathy behind it. She felt like he was trying to put himself into her shoes and try to understand her and the casual manner in which he asked the question made it all the more generous, because it seemed like he was doing that a lot of the time. Listening to people and try to understand them. Not for a study or anything of the sort, simply to get to know them better and comprehend their reasons and life.

"No thanks", she turned him down. "Although the offer is nice, it's not the kind of stuff I'm particularily fond of going into detail about."

"Alright then, I'll get to the explaining. But first, and I know this is kinda inconvenient, but would you mind a change in locations? I just remembered my sister made dinner just before I had to rush out of the house and I had to promise her to return as soon as business was done so that she'd even let me leave."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that it's ok to let a total stranger into your home just before dinner?"

"Wouldn't be the first time that we have a total stranger in the house without an explanation", he said with a slightly agitated tone that suggested he had experienced some embarrassments because of occurences like that. "Besides, we've grown used to it."

Aoi thought about the offer for a moment but there was literally nothing else exciting to do. She could go home, sure, but next to reading books, doing chores or playing some videogames and trying to ignore the damn ghosts that were already walking around in the apartement complex, going with this Ichigo Kurosaki person to get some more answers to her questions and explanations as to what the actual hell was going on with her sounded more enticing.

"Yeah sure", she said. He nodded stoicly, then suddenly grabbed her shoulders and sweeped her off the ground, holding her in bridal position. "What are you doin-"
She wanted to finish the sentence, but was interrupted by him. "You might wanna prepare yourself for some slight vertigo."

From one moment to the other, the world around her transformed into a blurr and for a few seconds, everything was flowing into itself, as if the world was rushing past her with incredible speed. Then it stopped, as fast as it had begun, but the environement wasn't the same.

Ichigo Kurosaki gently put her down and then she realized what he meant by slight vertigo. Her stomach rebelled and her senses were momentarily thrown off balance. She tumbled a little from one foot to another, until she almost fell over, so she sat on the ground to calm down.

"Are you okay?", he asked a little concerned.

"Please, never, ever do that again", she groaned.

"You get used to it after a few times, so don't worry about it", he said and although she couldn't see his face, she was sure that he was wearing a carefree smile. She forced herself to look up to him and shot him a pained glare, followed by an equally pained groan.

He chuckled a bit, extended his hand to her and helped her up. Now that she was standing, she was able to make out the building they were currently in front of. The words "Kurosaki clinic" were written on a sign that was hanging over the entrance door. "Come on, let's go inside and talk about this stuff over dinner. My little sister makes pretty good curry, I hope you like it, else she's gonna be pissed and cook you meals until you like one of them."

"Hold on", she said and stopped. "First off, that's a pretty strange reaction to somebody not liking your cooking. Second off and way more importantly: I'm eating dinner with you and your family?"

"Uhhh, yeah, how else did you imagine how this'd go down? Us eating dinner and you waiting in the living room?"

"…kind of?", she remarked a little embarrassed.

"Well, that ain't happening. There's always more than enough food on the table."

Ichigo opened the door and stepped inside and after hesitating a bit she followed him. She took off her shoes and put them next to the other ones that were already piled up next to the entrance. "I'm home everybody! Also, we have a visitor", he called through the house.

Then she followed him into the dining room where four people were sitting on the table. Or, more accurately described, 3 people sat at the table and one of them, a dark haired man in his fourties jumped over the table head first towards Ichigo. That would have already been weird enough, but to top it all off, Ichigo freaking spinkicked the man mid-air, which led to the him crushing into a nearby wall.

"God damnit old man", Ichigo suddenly burst out, "can't you keep it together for like, five minutes without having to attack one of your kids?"

"Is Onii-chan back and still in his Shinigami form? Because I can't see him. Onii-chan!", somebody chastised him from the dinner table. The voice belonged to a brown-haired girl who appeared to be in Aoi's age. "Don't break our house even if dad attacks you out of nowhere. Dad, stop attacking Onii-chan out of nowhere, we are eating!"

"Oh, but no!", the old man, appearantly their father, said in an overly energetic manner. "One must always be ready for everything coming their way. Includiiiiiing… SURPRISE ATTAC-!", he was about to finish yelling that sentence and had already jumped towards his son again, who in turn had just grabbed him mid-air and slammed him face first into the floor.

"Isn't that a little brutal?", Aoi accidentally asked out loud.

"Oh no", the third person sitting on the dinner table, a black haired girl, casually answered her question. "This is like, the golden standard for these two. If you're thinking about calling this family weird because of that, feel free to go ahead, because it's still not NORMAL TO ATTACK YOUR CHILDREN, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU DO IT!", she yelled in the direction of father and son, currently wrestling on the floor.

"I'm Karin by the way", she said, back in a composed manner again. Her attitude was somehow surprisingly relaxed considering the fact that her brother had just kicked their father into a wall. "The one trying to talk some common sense into these two idiots over there is my twin sister Yuzu. I imagine you've already met my older brother, obviously, and that you can see him too. The one whose bones are probably about to pop because he was dumb enough to attack Ichi-nii again is our father."

"Aoi Shichika", she replied a little nervous and unsure how to react. One minute in this household and the atmosphere was already way livelier than on a Saturday afternoon in the gaming arcade. "Pleased to meet all of you."

"Wait, Onii-chan brought a guest?", Yuzu remarked. "You should have told me so, I would have made more food", she pouted a little. "We are having curry rice today, I hope you like that. If not, I'd be more than glad to make something else, but then you'd have to wait a bit"; she said after having turned to Aoi with a welcoming smile.

"Oh no", the latter replied and energetically shook her head. "Please don't do something like that."

Karin slightly tilted her head and asked: "Is something wrong? You seem a bit off."

"No, no everything's fine. I just wasn't expecting this much sudden hospitality and well…", with a somewhat concerned look she turned to Ichigo who was currently cutting off his fathers air supply with a headlock, "…that."

"Ah, don't worry about it, he'll survive. That reminds me", she turned towards her brother again. "Ichi-nii, beating up dad isn't worth a cold dinner. Go upstairs and get your body, we won't be waiting much longer."

Ichigo looked up from whatever he was currently doing to their father and said: "Sorry, be with you in one second." He released his dad, stood up and from one moment to the other fucking disappeared.

"Wow!", Aoi exclaimed. Yuzu looked at her a little perplexed while Karin said: "He does that a lot, no need to overreact. You'll get used to it if you spend more than a few hours around him. Anyway, go ahead and take a seat, Ichi-nii'll be down here any minute."

"Don't mind if I do", Aoi said, still a little bit uncertain. This much hospitality towards a stranger just wasn't normal. She took a seat and almost instantly, a bowl of rice was handed her way, together with curry in a separate, smaller bowl.

"I didn't know how you like yours, so I just put them separately. You can go ahead and mix them however you wish."

Meanwhile, the father of the family had gotten up from the floor and despite his bloody nose he was as energetic as he had been before. "Apologies my young lady", he said and looked at Aoi. "As you could see I was a little occupied but allow me to correct my impoliteness of not introducing myself. Isshin Kurosaki is my name, pleased to meet you." He walked towards the table and took a seat, while Yuzu gave him a tissue for his bloody nose.

"Are you ok?", Aoi asked a little concerned.

A beaming smile appeared on his face as he said: "Oh but of course. Don't worry, this is nothing."

"Dad, you seriously need to stop attacking Onii-chan when he's in his Shinigami form, and especially when we are about to eat", Yuzu chastised him.

"Yeah dad, you friggin' maniac", Ichigos voice resounded from the bottom of the stairs. "You should really stop that." He had changed his clothes and the two swords he had previously been carrying were nowhere to be found. He took a seat at the table as well and thankfully received a bowl of rice from his sister..

"Oh but I can only stop when I'm certain you're always ready for anything and everything."

"…so then you'll never stop", Ichigo concluded slightly annoyed

"Exactly."

Ichigo simply sighed in unison with Karin and then said: "You know what, let's just eat. Itadakimasu", he wished to everyone and so they started eating. The dinner was lively and full of joy. Despite the fact that his father had attacked him just a few minutes ago, Ichigo seemed to be getting along pretty well with him. From their conversation, Aoi was able to pick up that Isshin Kurosaki was a doctor and that Ichigo was currently studying the subject at the university. As soon as they started talking about medicine, the slight friction that had been between them had all but vanished, making room for an actual father-son relationship that was built on mutual love and respect.

From the casual way they are talking they must have conversations like that a lot, she thought to herself. Just looking at the two made her smile, but also a little sad. It might not have been perfect, but it was more than Aoi had ever had with her own father. He was always away on business trips.

After they finished eating, everyone kind of went their way. Isshin put on a coat and said he'll be back in a few hours. Karin went upstairs to her room to study, and Yuzu started doing the dishes. Aoi offered her help, but Yuzu declined vehemently. "Not even in a million years will I allow a guest to do the dishes or even help with them", she said and crossed her arms, blocking the entrance to the kitchen.

"Let's go to the living room", Ichigo said. "Then you can finally get your answers."

They went to the living room and took a seat. "A'ight, hit it."

She didn't really have to think long to figure out where to start. "What was it that you did with Kanda-san?"

"You mean the old man from a little while ago?"

She nodded.

"Right, that is something called "Konso". With the Konso I help ghosts to go to the afterlife who are unable to get there by themselves, although it usually only works with so called "plus" spirits. I'm gonna go a little bit further into detail, 'cause I can see you're already lost." She gave him a sheepish and thankful smile.

"Alright, so the everyday ghosts that you see, with chains coming out of their chests are peaceful ghosts called pluses. I just call them ghosts. Then there's another term which is "minus". It refers to evil ghosts, who turned into weird freaky monsters with masks for faces, they're called Hollows. While I mention it, earlier you were pretty accurate while describing a Hollow transformation. You watched one before from afar or…?"

"Yeah I did, but not really from afar. I saw one uncomfortably up close actually."

"Really", he asked a bit surprised. "How'd you get out of that situation?"

"A jedi knight showed up and shot some arrows made of energy."

"A jedi knight showed up and shot- wait", he said and thought for a couple seconds. "White clothes, black hair and glasses?", he then accurately described the person from two weeks ago. "Seemed like he was trying really hard to be cool?" She nodded. "Yeah, that'd be Ishida. He's one of the local Hollow fighters. Anyways, my job as a Shinigami is to help the normal ghosts to go over into the afterlife and to slay the Hollows that enter this world. See, when a Shinigami cuts down a Hollow, that Hollow gets purified from their sins they commited as a Hollow. However, if they already lived a sinful life as a human, they get dragged to hell and before you even ask", he stopped the obvious question before she could say it out loud.

"Let's not go there. Hell is an entirely different can of worms you don't wanna open right now, just trust me on this one. But back to the basics. Next to plus spirits and minus spirits, there's also a certain in-between. That would be a so-called Jibakurei, a vengeful ghost that has chained itself either to a person or a building. Those usually take longer to turn into a Hollow, even if they're pretty much already halfway there from the get-go. You didn't misunderstand me, I said vengeful", he added just as she was about to say something.

She took a few moments to process all of that information and then asked: "But Kanda-san wasn't really vengeful. So how does that work?"

"This is something else we'd have to go into a lot of detail for, which we won't 'cause it's a serious pain, so let me just make it short: Basically, God exists, but not the way you'd think. What you'd define as a God is actually known under the term "Soul King". The Soul King acts as kind of a pillar to maintain the borders between our human world and every other one that exists. He can make changes to the natural order of things, but he's not almighty. A few years ago, there was a change in Soul Kings and the new one seems to have made a few… subtle changes. For example, your Kanda-san the peaceful Jibakurei that can be sent to the afterlife with no problems what so ever. Normally, you can't do that with those ghosts, they freak out and turn into Hollows. Your question answered with that?"

"Yeah pretty much", she said a little stunned while trying to digest the fact that something like a freaking god was actually a thing. "God exists?". she couldn't help but ask.

"Yes and no, like I said it's complicated. He's not literally god, he doesn't have omniscience, he can't just do what he wants however he damn well pleases since he's monitored by his guards and he doesn't really have a plan for all of us. But he is the pillar for all of our worlds and the reason why they don't collapse, so he holds a lot of power." He didn't explain any further, so she assumed he was done and thought about her next question.

"Two weeks ago, that Ishida guy said something about me maybe being able to develop certain powers so I can fight these things. He told me to look for either a Sado Yasutora or a Riruka Doku-what's-ma-call-it. Do you know them?"

"Yeah I know them. Why, you want them to train you?"

"I'm still not really sure. Ever since I've seen the other guy with the lighsaber, I was wondering if I should learn these things, if I'm really capable of learning them."

"Well, you won't have much luck with Chad and while it's nothing against her as a person, Riruka ain't exactly the picture of grace under fire when it comes to teaching."

"Who's Chad?", Aoi asked a little confused.

"Sado. Ages ago I read his name wrong once, so I've been calling him Chad ever since."

"So, both are not really an option then", she concluded.

"I mean", he said with a shouldershrug, "I could train you if you really wanted, teach you a bit about this world every now and then."

"Really?", she asked a little surprised.

"Well, it won't be much, it'd be like two times a month maybe and most of those times will be workouts, which are gonna be hell by the way."

"Like, at the gym?"

"Oh no, I have a place. Or rather, I know a place, hold on." He got up and walked over to the phone, dialed in some numbers and waited until someone seemed to pick up at the other end. "Yo Urahara-san. Yeah it's me. Hey listen, are you using your training vault on Sundays? No it's not a room, I refuse to label that as a room. It's a vault if anything at all and you know it. Why I need it? I'm training somebody. I mean, she still has to say yes, but you get what I mean. Yeah, a new medium. Probably a fullbringer. Oh fucking forget it, no way in hell I'm letting you train her! Yeah, but with me the circumstances were different, I had to rush and she's got plenty of time. Correction, you were around when you let Chad fight Renji. That's not training Chad, that's watching him fight from a distance. The answer is no and that's final. Alright, thank you. Yeah I'll come by if I'm around, sure. I'll keep it in mind. Great. Alright, bye." He hung up the phone and turned to Aoi.

"Like I said, I've got a place. You in?"

"How many of you people exist in this city?", she asked bewildered.

"You mean people who can fight against the Hollows?"

She nodded.

"Ah well, there's me, my dad, an old shopkeeper, Chad, my girlfriend, Ishida whom you've already met…", he stopped stared to the ceiling and went through all the people that came to mind before he turned to her again and said: "You know what let's just say there are a lot."

"Would you even need help?"

"Well I mean", he said and sounded completely down to earth, "technically, I could take care of the whole city on my own, but I still welcome and appreciate whatever they contribute."

Aoi spent a couple moments in deep thought before saying: "You know what, then I think I'll say no." In surprise, Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "There are a lot of you people around appearantly and my support isn't really needed. Before you sent him to the afterlife, that spirit gave me some advice."

Her lips formed a faint smile as she remembered the old mans words. "I thought that, if I was the one of the only persons being able to do something, I'd be obligated to do so. But now that I know that I'm not, that kinda changes things. I really appreciate the help you were ready to give me and I'm grateful for all your generosity and sincerity, really, I am. But my life is already complicated enough as it is and I don't want to make it harder than it has to be."

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that's your decision. In case you change your mind, you know where to find me. Little piece of advice though; if you don't want to involve yourself in this life, it's best to stay away from spirits, because spirits lead to Hollows and you already know what that's like. You know where I live now, so just send them my way if they linger around too much. Or give me a call if you see one with a short chain, it means it'll turn into a Hollow soon. Just call this clinic, I'm sure you can find the number in a phonebook or something."

"Thanks", she said and dawned a little smile. "You know I gotta go now. It was nice meeting you and your family though. And maybe go a little easier on your dad-"

"No", was his immmediate stone cold answer.

"Alright", she said and chuckled a little nervous. "Tell your sister that dinner was delicious. If she ever wants a coffee for free in the morning, the cafè I work at isn't far from here, it's around the old trainstation. First one's on me."

"Yeah, I'll tell her that", Ichigo said.

ooo

The door to the Kurosaki clinic closed behind her. It was evening already and she looked up to the sky to enjoy the last bit of sunshine that gave the horizon a red hue.

She actually felt good about herself. The advice Kanda-san had given her was right. With the knowledge in mind that the dangers of this new world would basically take care of themselves, she could simply walk away from it with a clear conscience. And with that, she got on her way home.

ooo

The dojo of the 11th divisions training grounds was empty, except for the two people in it, a teacher and a student.

Kiara was sitting on the floor while she listened to Makotos teachings, which had gotten a lot more educational lately. He had refrained from his usual method of letting her figure out everything by herself and had actually started to properly explain and demonstrate things.

They were still sparring a lot, but now it was more to improve her movements and stances. Actual sparring was now more something she'd do with Akito who was actually on her level. His constant positive energy was still a bit annoying at times, but it was great motivation during training. Makoto had also started to teach her the basics of Kido and she had even managed to learn two or three spells, although she was far from mastering them.

Now they were doing something different though. They did it so Kiara could try and break through to her inner world and finally learn the name of her Zanpakutou, but only with moderate success.

The process was called Jinzen and it was pretty much the only way to hold a proper conversation with their Zanpakutou spirit. There were exceptions to the rule for example when one was getting along with their sword exceptionally well, then they could talk to each other without the use of Jinzen.

Makoto was one of those cases, whose sword, as far as he had told Kiara, was talking to him all the time. Which is why Kiara was getting a little frustrated. Makoto was able to do it with basically zero effort what so ever, while she was plagued by dreams of her inner world and her Zanpakutou spirit that kept making efforts to tell her his or her name (sword spirits had genders, appearantly) and yet she still hadn't made a noteable breakthrough.

The only two noticeable differences that did happen were that each time she entered her inner world, she needed less time than before and that her inner world was starting to appear much clearer to her.

She took a deep breath, put her sword over her lap and then focused on the blade and her connection to it. Realizing Jinzen was almost akin to a trance to her. As soon as she started, she could never tell the passing of time, it was hypnotic.

Slowly but surely she felt herself pulled out of her body into something different. She opened her eyes when she noticed the soft ground under her feet and was once again greeted by the sight of a meadow surrounded by a forest under the serene light of a blue comet that, even if it had a trail of blue light behind it, never seemed to move.

And then there was the center of the meadow, where something that, at first, had looked like an oven but now that it was less blurry, revealed itself to be the chimney of a forge. After hard practice, her entire world had become a crytal clear picture to her. All but one little detail.

The person standing next to the forge.

The spirit of her sword. At first, she hadn't even been able to hear anything at all from the other person occupying er inner world, but now she was slowly beginning hear her opposite, even if her progress was agonizingly slow for her taste. The voice wasn't clear, she couldn't make out even a single letter, let alone a word and the person itself stayed blurry, no matter what she did.

That was issue number one she was struggling to overcome and issue number two was just about to arrive, which was that Kiara was never able to stay more than one to two minutes in her inner world. If she reached that time limit, she was promptly kicked out and found herself n the dojo again. She opened her eyes.

"How long were you able to stay?", Makoto asked.

"Two minutes this time", she said, a little proud that she had been able to hold out until she had reached her upper limit.

"Two minutes… that makes twelve in total. Not bad kid, you're getting pretty good at this. A couple more weeks and you'll be able to hear your swords name. Let's try again, see how long it'll take you this ti-"

Out of nowhere, a messenger Shinigami arrived next to them. A few weeks ago, she would have freaked out about that, but since Makoto and the twins were scaring the hell out of her with that non-stop (which was starting to get really old), she had slowly but surely gotten used to people appearing out of thin air.

"Oh god what now?", Makoto sighed and already massaged his temple.

"4th seat Makoto Souken-san, your presence is requested at captains office."

"A'ight I'll be there, just gotta finish up here", he said a little annoyed.

"Your presence has been requested immediately, it is a matter of utmost urgency."

"Then tell them to start without me, I'm busy."

That had also been one of the things that had changed. A few months ago, Makoto would have immediately left Kiara to her own devices and would have jumped to who or whatever had called him. Now, tough, ever since they got back from old man Ousai, he would always take a few more minutes to finish Kiaras lesson in a way that was still explaining the essence of it so that he could leave without leaving Kiara with just half a lesson.

The messenger hesitated a little and kneeled on the ground with a confused posture before Makoto turned to him again and said: "I just need like five more minutes here and I'll be on my way. If it's really that important then they can come and get me if they really want to." He waved at him a little bit too condescendingly and turned to Kiara again. The messenger hesitated for a few more seconds and then disappeared again.

"Looks like we're gonna have to take the time for your next Jinzen sometime else. Let's go over the other stuff one more time. You memorized the corrections we made to your movements today?"

She nodded.

"Good. As long as I'm gone you can train with Akito. I'm sure he'll never deny a fighting request. If you have any Kido related issues talk to the twins about them. As far as I remember one of them was in the Kido corps before joining squad 11. Just tell them I told you to go to them or else they'll just prank the hell out of you, you know how they do."

"I already know all that, why are you telling me this? It's just a meeting, I mean it's not like you're going on a week long mission again."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. A meeting is something formal and as you know very well, our captain don't do formal. And judging by the fact that he actually called this one, I'm guessing it's something more on the serious side."

"Okay yeah, that makes sense", she muttered to herself.

"Any questions only I could answer? Preferably ones I can answer with one sentence?"

"Do you have a Bankai?", she asked with a sheepish smile.

"Okay, so no questions then", he said and completely ignored the one she had just asked. "Well then, I'll be off. Don't kill Akito, don't kill the twins and don't burn down the dojo while I'm gone."

"Why would I do any of those things? I mean, I don't even have the means to set fire to anything. How would I even do that, with my sword?", she asked as innocent as possible.

He squinted his eyes. "Don't try to get funny with me. I know that one of the spells I taught you was also a fire spell. Which, in hindsight, was a pretty fuckin' stupid idea now that I think about it. Just… don't fire your Kido in the direction of people. Or buildings. No matter how tempting it might be. Know what, as a matter of fact just don't use your Kido at all." She pouted a little, to which he smiled mischievously, gave her a wink and disappeared via Shunpo,

"One day", she muttered to herself and sat back on the floor. Makoto had only said something about taking the time, not postponing her Jinzen training. So she put her sword on her lap again and focused once more.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there meditating, only the amount of times she had managed to enter her inner world, which were three, but that didn't really tell her how much time had passed. All of that didn't matter though, because every single alarm bell in her body was ringing at max intensity and that could only mean one thing.

"Kenjiro, Hiroshi I know you're there", she said out into the open. She felt their two presences, not crystal clear, but it was there. Sensing Hiroshi wasn't really concerning, but if Kenjiro, who had been in the stealth force, was senseable then something had to be severly off. Usually it meant that they were playing a prank on her again and simoultaneously letting her know that they were there, pranking and mocking her at the same time.

"No you don't", a quick response came back from Kenjiro.

"I do now", she said trying to stay as calm as possible.

"Shit bro, she got us there", Hrioshi said in an obviously faked manner of admittance. She could feel them quickly move from somewhere in the roof arch to right next to her via Shunpo. She shuddered a little while trying to not be freaked out by the sudden jumpscare attempt.

"Whatcha doin' there?", Kenjiro asked in a playful tone.

"Jinzen", she answered as dry as possible.

"Oh riiiiiiiiight, it's that thing you do to talk to your sword", Hiroshi commented in an equally playful manner as his brother. "Hey, why don't you show us some of that new Kido Makoto-sama showed you?"

"…how do you even know that? We were alone in this dojo when that happened."

"Ah you know how we do", Hiroshi said casually, "just some light stalking from across the area. The usual."

"Where exactly were you to get a good look at that?"

"Oh you know, around…", Hiroshi started.

"…somewhere on the complex…", Kejiro continued.

"…or maybe in the building…"

"…under the floor…"

"…who knows."

That whole exchange happened in nothing more but a few seconds. Kenjiro and Hiroshi, or simply the twins as they were most commonly referred to, had a habbit of starting, continuing and ending each others sentences. They also had a nack for talking waaaaay too damn fast, so conversations with them could turn into real headaches sometimes.

"Anyway, wanna show us some new tricks?", Kenjiro asked, trying exceptionally hard to sound casual about it, probably on purpose. That was always their game. Set up a trap somewhere and let their target know something is up to get them extra suspicious just so they'd walk right into the twins trap anyway. Kiara had walked into a few of those already, so she had slowly but surely figured out how to play their game, which was to not play it at all. She simply sat there didn't move at all and just said: "If you set up another damned Rikujou Koro around me that triggers when I move, I will rip you a new fucking asshole."

Genuinely amused and a little sarcastic, Kejiro nudged his brother with his elbow. "I don't how how she did it, but somehow she made that sound bloody threatening. And also, that's just unfair."

"And unrealistic. I mean, why would we have a reason to set up something like that?"

"Yeah, we just asked her to show us what new things she may have learned and she threatens us. Talk about being rude."

"Guys", she said, mildly annoyed, "I've already seen enough of your bullshit that I can smell it kilometers away so don't even bother."

Hiroshi scoffed a bit and dropped the façade. "You're no fun", he sulked a little. At that very moment, Akitos unmistakable voice resounded from outside the building.

"Yo, Kiara, you there?"

A devious smile immediately found its way onto the twins' faces as Kenjiro said: "This one on the other hand…", and then both of them disappeared again.

Oh boy, Kiara thought to herself. She gave it a few quick moments of thought and evaluated whether or not she should warn Akito about what awaited him and after remembering that he had been just as much a victim of their pranks as she had been, she chose to give an alert.

"Yeah I'm in here but Akito-", she wanted continue but in his usual too eager manner he had already opened the sliding door.

"Yeah?", he asked in an upbeat manner.

"Twins", she said and dawned an uncomfortable grimace.

"Wha- oh." His good mood had vanished just as fast as the twins a few seconds ago and as if on cue he was hit by a triggered Bakudo Nr. 61: Rikujou Koro. The technique consisted of six thin beams of light that rammed themselves into the targets mid section and prevented their whole body from moving around. Howling laughter resounded from the culprits as the twins reappeared inside the dojo again.

"Works every time", Kenjiro chuckled while whipping away a tear.

"Come on guys, this isn't funny", Akito lamented.

"It kind of is", Hiroshi said, still smiling.

Akito was about to sy something else, but before he could they were interrupted by a messenger Shinigami.

"Kiara Rokusan, Akito Kobayashi, Kenjiro Kaemon and Hiroshi Kaemon. You are all to report to 4th seat Makoto Souken at the entrance gate of the 11th division immediately." He disappeared as soon as he had finished that sentence.

The twins exchanged a couple of looks and then Hiroshi dispelled the Kido. "Alrighty everyone, enough fooling around. If Makoto-sama wants us summoned somewhere then we shall appear."

"Come on fellas, chop chop."

Kiara rolled her eyes. Normally they'd think "half-time entertainment" whenever somebody asked them to do something, because it just gave them more opportunities to fuck with people, but everytime they had to do something for Makoto they were suddenly eager and earnest and ready to fulfil their given task to their full capabilities. It would have been sweet, but it wasn't. It was annoying as hell.

She sighed took her sword from her lap and got up… only to see the amused smirks on their faces, but it was already too late and six beams of yellow light snapped around her waist, rendering her entire body unable to move.

"Fucking hell!", she yelled.

ooo

Kiara was still angry on their way to the rendezvous point. The twins were just insufferable. It turned out they had simply forgotten to undo the Rikujou Koro they had set up for her. They did immediately set her free after she had ran into their trap, but she was still pissed.

That didn't really last long though, because it all disappeared once she saw Makoto. Something was different about him, something was… off. His usual carefree attitude was nowhere to be found and was instead replaced with a brooding and thoughtful one. Something was bothering him. Whatever had happened in that meeting, it must have been something that he didn't like at all.

"Kiara, Akito", he said and turned to the youngest ones present. "I've received reports that the lower districts are in an uproar. The captain himself has ordered me to see it seized. I now give you a choice and whatever you choose, you need to understand that there is no shame in the decision you make."

Shame? Why would there be shame? Kiara was confused. It had never happened before that Makoto had been so intense. He was almost like a different person.

"We will be heading into dangerous territory that is completely unlike the environement here in Seireitei. We will constantly be surrounded by enemies and need to be on high alert at all times. I cannot guarantee your safety and the chances of your survival might just as well be up to coincidence at in certain cases. The captain has ordered me to take all of you with me, but I still want to give you the possibility to decline: do you want to stay here, be safe and continue your training, or do you want to come with us and head into possibly certain death?"

The look in his eyes was unreadable and not giving away any intent behind his words. He was a bit too formal and didn't seem like his usual self. Kiara was pretty sure that this was not really a good sign. Nonetheless, the decision was clear. She wouldn't sit around and wait when she was presented with the opportunity to finally do something meaningful for once instead of just training all the time.

"I'm in", she said determined. They all turned to Akito to which he casually replied with: "I mean… this is not even a question. Let's hit it."

"Alright", Makoto said, gaining the groups focus again. "Then we leave now, there's no time to lose."

This was strange. His voice wasn't concerning, but it was almost as if it sounded a little… heavy? As if he was shouldering a burden with this mission. The look in his eyes remained unreadable and he turned around towards the division gates.

"Let's go."

Author's Notes:

Well would you look at that, back from the grave yet again. Before I get onto the actual chapter, I'd like to apologize to the 20 something people who chose to waste their time reading this fic yet again for being unproductive and lazy. One chapter a month isn't exactly fast enough to keep you all invested in this story, especially when the pacing of isn't exactly that thrilling. I talk about pacing a lot, I know, but I can't help myself, I'm just obsessed with it (even if I think I'm not too good at it).

Now onto the actual chapter:

We meet Aoi yet again and I actually really enjoyed writing her struggle with her new found powers. Usually, a protagonist immediately jumps to the call of adventure and I found it interesting to have a main character who actually straight up refuses to answer the call, because that person knows others will be there instead. Onto the more controversal part tho: Ichigo.
Now some of you might not exactly be too thrilled with how kind he is to a total stranger and I'd be inclined to agree, but I wrote the scene with a certain thought in mind. So Ichigo has been doing this shit for years now, which means he's pretty chill about probably most of that stuff. He's also about 22 years old now, which adds a certain level of maturity to his already pretty mature character. So when he sees someone like Aoi, he kinda sees himself and wants to provide the help he had at the beginning of his journey. Some of you might also not be okay with how mellow and relaxed he is, but I think it kinda fits. He defeated a literal god for crying out loud, so helping a ghost move on and someone who has the same problems he once had seems like no big deal in comparison.
I see it as him having grown up even more than before. He's always been the type to help andsave others, so I think it fits his character.
Also, the Kurosaki family dynamic is pure comedy gold and writing the scene got me nostaligic for simpler times.

The Kiara section of the chapter is rather short in comparison, but still significant. The twins are the biggest trolls around and I absolutely love it, Akito and Kiara are slowly getting along as she begrudgingly begins to respect him and Makoto demonstrates how he has grown as a teacher.

All in all, I'd say I'm pretty statisfied with this one. I hope whoever reads this is too and isn't put off by my infuriatingly irregular update schedule (*scoffs* schedule). Thanks to all of you who dedicate their free time to read a weird fanfiction sequel about deathgods turning ghostly bois into butterflies. (In all honesty though, thanks to everyone who reads this.)

There might still be some spelling errors in here and I'm sorry for those who are confused by it, that's on me.

As always, I welcome reviews and encourage them. Or, you know, PM me if you want to tell me something personally, I welcome that too.