Chapter 26 (Shizuko)
The roses were all blooming. I smiled as I snipped at a handful of them for my house. They were red—my grandmother's favorite kind—but I had planted a couple white and pink iceberg roses too. Those had been Jirou's favorite. I had planted them all around our house so that he could see them from the windows or when we walked out into the gardens. Now they sat in my apartment's garden as a reminder of those bittersweet years of friendship.
I touched the budding stems of the icebergs with a smile, "For you…Jirou."
A surge of spiritual pressure exploded through the sky, rattling my bones. I looked up towards the Seireitei, where the commotion came from. Ichigo and his friends were there—I could feel his familiar presence. It had just crushed Ikkaku's like he was a nothing more than a fly.
He was a scary kid.
I picked up my roses and headed inside. After arranging them and setting them in my living room, I went around to my kitchen and opened the window. I had a planter hanging off the windowsill that was filled with daisies and poppies. They were bright and colourful, in full bloom and full of life.
Tending to my garden this past week had been very relaxing and what I needed. It had been a way for me to reacquaint myself with being alone. Up to this point since my husband passing on, I had been constantly working and had only slept here.
Suddenly, I felt the odd sensation to sneeze. As I scratched my nose, a black cat hopped up from my garden and beside me on the windowsill. I stared at its golden eyes and realized that it had been the same cat that I had encountered in the World of the Living.
"Byakuya had said you weren't a cat…" I murmured, "So…what—or who—are you?"
The cat only stared at me. I suddenly felt like a moron for thinking that a cat could be anything but a cat and stood up from the window. Perhaps it had followed me back to the Soul Society.
But as I fetched her a bowl of water and set it in front of her, I knew that I was fooling myself. No living creature from the World of the Living could pass through to the Soul Society…not unless they had help.
"You came with them, didn't you?" I nodded towards the Seireitei, where another one of Ichigo's friends' reiatsu stirred up a storm.
The cat glanced up at me from the water, tilting her head to the side, "You are his kid. Nicely deduced—even if it took you a little while to figure it out."
I stared at her for a very long time. The cat…spoke. I looked over my shoulder to see if perhaps my comrades from Squad Eleven were pulling a ridiculous prank on me, but saw no one. This cat…spoke.
"Surely you aren't surprised that a cat who can cross into the Soul Society," She hopped down onto my counter and stretched out, "Can also talk?"
"Surely you don't expect me to believe that you're a cat," I shot back. This called for a cup of tea and I planned to make a strong, steaming pot. I truly hoped that I wasn't having a mental breakdown and imagining all of this.
She watched me with a chuckle as I set a pot of water on the stove, "My name is Yoruichi Shihoin."
I froze. Yoruichi Shihoin—she was the purple-haired woman who had been my father's captain. I turned around and stared at her with wide eyes. This was the former Captain of Squad Two?
"Why…why are you here?" I asked her.
"Why am I here in the Soul Society? Or here with you?" She smirked. Her tail swished back and forth, and I suddenly felt like a mouse. She was intimidating even as a feline.
I rubbed my temples and shut my eyes. My father hadn't mentioned anyone but Ichigo and his friends going to the Soul Society. Why would he have sent one of the exiled Shinigami?
I looked up at her with a feeling of shock, "Kisuke…is he here?"
"Worried about what your mother might do if he was?" Yoruichi chuckled, "No, Kisuke is not here. He can't enter the Soul Society. Which is why he sent me."
"Why is that?"
"To help you," She watched me as I took the boiling water off the stove and filled a teapot with it. "You have a traitor amongst you. They want something."
"Who? What do they want?"
"You're better off not knowing…" She caught the look I shot at her and sighed, "They're after a very powerful device your father created long ago. We need to retrieve it before they can."
I took a long time to respond. The tea leaves were steeping in the hot water, and I watched as the water grew darker. It sounded that she was coming to me for my help, not the other way around.
"My father said nothing about this—"
"Kisuke didn't want to involve you. But I do—" She pounced up onto the table I had set everything on, "Shizuko…your mother knows what it is, and she's digging closer to the truth. I've managed to hide it from her for decades…but she's persistent—she's figured it out for the most part. And when she starts asking around, she'll be put in danger."
I poured my cup full as Yoruichi continued.
"I need you to stop her," She said.
"You clearly don't know my mother if you think I can get her to do anything," I scoffed bitterly.
"She didn't tell you about your father to keep you safe." I looked down at her and she sighed, "Your mother and I have never gotten along. In fact, there's always been a rivalry between us over Kisuke…but that all ceased the moment she had you. You became the most important thing to her then—she gladly put you first—"
"It doesn't excuse her lying to me all these years."
"It does if it meant it would keep you safe. Your mother knows the dark truths of the Seireitei. She knows how they placed the blame on your father and I—she just hasn't figured out the why."
I shut my eyes. What she said made sense, but I couldn't stop feeling the sense of betrayal I felt. All these years, my mother had been on my side—only for me to find out that she had deliberately hid my father's side of the story from me. It was going to take a lot more than a couple weeks to get over a lifetime of lies.
Still, she was my mom. I loved her with all my being, and I would do anything to keep her safe. Glancing up at Yoruichi, I pressed the teacup to my lips.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Simple. I need you to stop your mother."
