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Spring Rain

Chapter One

Red was everywhere.

The green grass underneath her feet was dyed bright red, her zanpakuto and even her hands were covered entirely with the colour red. The stench of blood was so strong that even predators would not dare to get an inch closer. Yet, she stood right in the middle of it, blood dripping off the tip of her zanpakuto and her chin. The sight of her dead comrades, their bodies so cut up that it was hard to tell which limb belonged to which body, it excited her.

Her eyelids fluttered open as she sat up on her futon, sweat beading on her forehead and her breathing became heavy to calm herself down. Her knuckles were starting to turn white from how hard she was gripping onto her duvet and only when it was starting to feel sore did she finally uncurl her fists. This was how she had been waking up every morning for the past six months. It started off with just once a week, then it was several times a week, until she was waking up every morning feeling anxious. Like something bad was going to happen. Something really bad.

It's just a nightmare, Urahara said, waving it off like it did not matter. But she knew it was not a nightmare. It felt too real to be one. She could still feel the warmth of the blood splattering on her skin and how it would cool off. She could still see the life leaving in the eyes of those she cut up. She could still smell that heavy, bloody stench; so much so that she would gag just from thinking about it. It was not a nightmare; it was a memory.

What bothered her the most, however, was not the gruesome scene. It was the excitement that she felt. The high that came with bringing down her zanpakuto onto flesh. The pure glee of watching the other person pleading for their life before she impaled them mercilessly.

The sound of the door sliding open snapped her out of her thoughts, and she instantly reverted to her usual self, donning a glare and a frown as Urahara grinned at her. "Well, good morning," he greeted, plopping himself on the floor just outside her room. "Isn't it a great day to start at your new school?" She gave no response, simply glaring with annoyance and wondering silently when he was ever going to leave her alone. "Get out of bed and get ready. Your brother wouldn't like knowing that you skipped out on your first day."

Her brother...

If only her brother really cared. Since she could remember, she had been in the care of Urahara. Her memories did not go too far back but it seemed like all her life, living in the Urahara Shop was all she knew. She could barely remember what her brother looked like. Even as he was mentioned here and there occasionally by Urahara, he felt like a stranger to her. It used to anger her, whenever Urahara would bring up her brother. If he really cares, he would be here, was what she used to say. But slowly, even her anger towards him dissipated and was replaced by apathy.

Throwing her duvet over Urahara, she got up from her futon and slid the door shut. For a few seconds, Urahara remained just outside her room with the duvet over his head. "Well, that's no way for a lady to act." When he finally moved, the cheeky smile that he always greeted her with disappeared but instead, a frown was in its place. Getting up from his spot, Urahara dropped the duvet on the floor as he walked away.

Urahara never viewed himself as a carer; it was just not in his personality to be one. Yet, over the years, he had taken in several people under his wings with her being one of them. Being children, Ururu and Jinta were not difficult to deal with. Urahara was more like an employer than he was a carer to them. With her, however, things were a little different. She was entrusted to him and it was more than just raising her that he had to deal with. It was the protection that was the most difficult. Protecting her from the outside world, from the world she came from, and most importantly, from herself. And lately, it seemed like whatever she was being protected from was haunting her in the form of nightmares.

Of course, Urahara waved them off as nothing. He played it off as if it was normal: Everyone gets nightmares, were his exact words. But Urahara knew they were more than just nightmares and they were getting worse progressively. He had his promise to uphold but with these 'nightmares' and things that were going on in the real world, Urahara could no longer keep to the promise.

"Ururu, have you been keeping an eye on her as I told you to?"

Gripping onto the broomstick, Ururu looked up with big eyes. "Y-yes," she answered meekly. "She's getting the nightmares every night but...um..." The little girl trailed off, looking down at her feet instead. Urahara raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to finish. It was not unusual for Ururu to behave like so but he could sense the fear in her, something that never existed before. Not regarding anyone residing in Urahara Shop, anyway. Urahara had a feeling he knew the reason why. "She um..."

"Just spit it out!" Jinta frowned, hitting the back of Ururu's head as he was getting impatient. "That's the whole reason why you were told to watch her, isn't it? So you can report!"

"It's okay," Urahara said, a gentle smile forming, putting his hand gently on Ururu's head. "You've done well, Ururu. A good morning to you, Yoruichi-san. To what do we owe this visit?" Urahara asked, without turning his head to properly greet the woman he knew so well.

Keeping her eyes on the doors that led to the living quarters of those who worked in Urahara Shop, Yoruichi walked up to Urahara. It was a little unusual for her not to be in her cat form but Urahara did not ask about it. He knew the reason of her visit, and for appearing in human form. "Don't play around with me, Kisuke," Yoruichi said. "I felt it a mile away." A serious look, once again, settled on Urahara's face. "Is she back, Kisuke?"

"No, she's not."

"Kisuke-"

"She's not," Urahara repeated, but firmer this time. "But she might. The seal on her is weakening. It was created for a child but, you and I know she's far from that. We won't have long before it stops working." He could tell from the look in her eyes that Yoruichi was telling him to do something about it. "She's not a bad kid, don't treat her like she is. What happened wasn't her fault."

"Tell that to the twenty-nine shinigamis she murdered."

Clad in Karakura High School's uniform, the girl found herself walking down an unfamiliar road, heading for the one school she had yet to be kicked out of. In the last three years or so, Urahara had decided that it was time for her to finally get associated with the society, enrolling her in a school. It was a great plan in theory but a plan that crumbled as soon as it was executed. Unable to mingle well with her 'peers', she was bullied. To protect herself, she retaliated and got into a lot of trouble that eventually saw her bouncing from school to school within a few months.

She saw no difference between this school and the last. It was only a matter of time before they too, expelled her. That was also the reason why she never made any friends. Besides the fact that wherever she went, she was bullied, she soon learnt that there was no point in establishing relationships when she would leave in a few months. She had learnt that it was better to be alone, although Urahara strongly disagreed and encouraged her to make friends.

A distance away, a figure backtracked behind a corner when they noticed her presence while she was oblivious to theirs. Although a little surprised to see a familiar face, they could not help but smirk. "Ah...this has just turned interesting," they mumbled to themselves.

~.~

Filing into the classroom in the early morning, it was as if nothing had happened. The events of Seireitei were still fresh in their minds yet no one talked about it. As Ichigo walked into the classroom, he stopped just a few steps away from his table, a frown in his brows as he stared out of the window. He was never good at it before but with training and fighting, Ichigo had learnt to sense reiryoku. And a very unusual one, one that he never encountered before, just appeared somewhere near the school.

Just a few moments later, the classroom was soon full and their teacher walked in, telling everyone to settle. "Alright guys, quiet now," Miss Ochi said, standing at the front of the class. "We have two transfer students today so let's be nice and welcome them." The teacher walked over to the door, opening it to welcome the two new students. Except, there was only one. "Ah...there's only one of you. No worries, come on in."

Stepping into the classroom, every pair of eyes looked her way but she simply walked up to the middle of the blackboard, standing with her feet together and faced the classroom. This happened too often in her years of attending school for her to feel nervous or excited. Or any kind of feelings for that matter. The first few times she did this, she still had a smile on her face, feeling a little enthusiastic to introduce herself. Now, it just felt like a chore.

"Well, it seems like only one of the transfer students bothered to show up so we'll let her intro-"

Before Miss Ochi finished her sentence, Ichigo suddenly stood up from his seat, rushing out of the classroom with his usual excuse of needing the bathroom. Following right after was Chad and Orihime, both giving the same excuse. Looking out of the window, the girl frowned a little. Was it coincidence that they ran out as soon as the presence of a Hollow was felt? Whatever it was, however, she took her seat at the back of the room when instructed to by the teacher. She much preferred not having an introduction.

Although, it seemed like escaping from it was near impossible.

It was later in the day but those who left abruptly had returned and the other transfer student finally arrived. Once again, she was called up to the front, standing next to the other new student. "As I told you guys this morning, we have two new transfer students today," Miss Ochi said. "Why don't you guys introduce yourselves?"

Taking the chalk from the teacher, the guy went first. He wrote his name backwards in huge letters before facing the class. "And Hira, from 'lecherous, with Ko from 'Ono no Imoko'. Shin, from 'genuine sadist', with Ko from 'karashi mentaiko'. That makes Hirako Shinji. Pleased to meet you!" This was the first time she had ever heard someone so eagerly introducing themselves, even going the extra mile of writing their name backwards. He was definitely a character.

"Hirako-kun, you wrote your name backwards!"

"Pretty good, huh? I'm good at doing things in reverse!"

"Alright, I see," Miss Ochi nodded, her tone of voice sounded like she was merely entertaining him. "Would you like to write your name backwards too?" She directed her question to the girl but the class erupted into laughter. Ignoring the commotion, she picked up the chalk, writing her name just about big enough for everyone to see. Ishida was the first to notice; those characters that he had seen somewhere else before. He glanced over to Ichigo, who was staring at the girl and not the name on the board.

He felt it that morning, just before he had to run off to slay the Hollow. It was the same feeling as before but it felt much stronger this time. He narrowed his eyes on the girl though they soon widened as she spoke, introducing herself.

"Ukitake...Katsumi."

~.~

All day, they had been feeling antsy.

When they saw her name on the board, they could still convince themselves that it was just a coincidence. But coupled with what Ichigo had been feeling (with confirmation from the other three), there was no doubt that their new classmate was somehow related to the captain of the thirteenth squad who resided in Seireitei. They never got the chance throughout the day to even approach her, let alone ask her a question. It was not until the last bell of the day, signalling the end of school, could they finally gather around her table.

Looking up at four strange faces, Katsumi acted indifferent, neatly putting her books into her bag before standing up. Ichigo was the one who stopped her from leaving, sticking an arm in her way. As she looked up at him, Ichigo could not help but compare her looks to that of the captain he met. They were nothing alike. Not an inch of her face resembled Jushiro's in any way. Surely the name was just a coincidence.

"It's my first day of school, please could we do this another day?" Katsumi sighed.

The way she carried herself, there was no doubt that Katsumi was brought up in a noble household. Even the way she spoke. Although she sounded like she was pleading, her tone of voice was still elegant and her choice of words was somewhat old-fashioned.

"Ukitake Jushiro, do you know him? What is your relation to him?"

That was a name so familiar yet so strange. They carried the same family name, but Katsumi never felt like she was ever part of the family. Ukitake Jushiro was the man one would call her brother. To Katsumi, however, the definition of a brother was someone who actively took part in raising her. Someone who would be there in her times of need. Someone who would support her no matter what. Ukitake Jushiro was no brother to her. Not when she did not even remember what he looked like. Not when he was never there whenever she cried herself to sleep. Not when he handed her over to Urahara and never saw her again.

"Family name is all I share with that man. Please do not associate me with him," Katsumi replied, lowering Ichigo's arm. "Now if you may, I have to go."

Her answer was not satisfying enough but it was enough for them to confirm that she was indeed related to the captain they knew of. Before she could leave, Ichigo grabbed Katsumi by the elbow, forcing her to stay. "Why are you here?" he asked. "Is something happening? Is that why? They sent you from Soul Society because something big is happening, right?"

Katsumi remained calm, even as she was being bombarded with questions. Even with her elbow aching from how tightly he was gripping onto her. She placed her hand on top of his, gently pushing it off to reveal the fingermarks on her skin where he had been gripping. "I have no association with Soul Society, so unfortunately, I would not be able to tell you if anything is happening. Please, I have to go."

This time, Ichigo did not try to stop her. With her bag in her hand, Katsumi walked out of the classroom. Only when she was out of sight did she winced a little, pressing her hand to her elbow, trying to rub out the pain. Whoever those people were, they were not ordinary high school students. That much, Katsumi knew. There was no way ordinary high school students could have known anything about Soul Society, let alone her brother. It seemed like there was a lot more that Urahara was keeping from her than what Katsumi thought.

So deep in her thoughts, it was not until she was about half way home did she finally realise that she was being followed. She suddenly felt alerted, stopping in her tracks and looking around. There was no one behind her but as soon as she turned back around, Katsumi froze. Just a few feet away from her was what she could only describe as a monster. A word popped into her mind; a word from her memory that somehow she knew could be associated with the monster that was right in front of her. Hollow.

"You look tasty," the Hollow snarled. "You couldn't possibly be a human with a reiryoku like yours. Not a shinigami either. What are you, little kitten?"

"I do not understand what you are trying to say."

"Oh? Playing dumb now, are we? Doesn't matter to me as long as you're tasty!"

With that, the Hollow charged at her. Katsumi's body reacted solely on instinct as she jumped up, using the Hollow's head as a vault and landed behind it with one knee bent and the other leg extended out to the side. As she swung back around, the Hollow swished its tail at her. With just one hand, Katsumi caught its tail effortlessly and with just a tug, the Hollow was suddenly flying towards her. Katsumi held her hand in front of her and a large concentrate of reiatsu blasted from her palm, piercing the Hollow right in the middle of his forehead, shooting all the way down his body.

As the Hollow dissipated after death, Katsumi collapsed but was caught in the arms of Urahara. He hoisted her up and swept her off her legs, watching until the very last of the Hollow disappeared. He looked down at the blacked out girl, letting out a soft sigh. "You and I both know, Kisuke, that was not Katsumi." Looking over his shoulders, Urahara stared at Yoruichi who was perched on the fence just behind him. "You know we can't let her return."

"I know."

"And you still insist on continuing with your plan?"

"We all know that there is a war coming. We need all the help we can get."

"Yes, but not her."