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Spring Rain

Chapter Two

There was only one mission he was entrusted with; the recruitment of Kurosaki Ichigo. Yet, he could not help but be tempted by the option of chasing down another individual; one that they had been looking for but never even found a single clue as to her whereabouts. He got lucky to just run into her at a simple high school in Karakura. He chose to stick with the original mission, lest he be reprimanded later on, but his mind kept wandering off to his fellow transfer student.

Ukitake Katsumi.

He knew her by another name, one that had been forbidden to be spoken of in Soul Society. He never met her in person, although there were rumours that she was one of the most beautiful in Seireitei. He had only ever heard her name floating around, associating her with the one family most likely forgotten about by now. Her story was that of tragedy but he could not bring himself to pity her. She was, after all, the reason why he was who he was now. Though, it seemed like there was no point in going after her now. With a change of name, perhaps she was hiding?

But there was no time for him to dwell on such thoughts. Instead, he drew his zanpakuto, springing a surprise attack on the unguarded Ichigo. He was quick enough, however, to block the attack with his own zanpakuto. "Hirako! That's a...zanpakuto! Who the hell are you?" Putting a finger to his lips, Shinji hushed Ichigo with a smirk.

"Don't make too much noise, Kurosaki Ichigo. Guys with reiatsu like you shouldn't make such a fuss. The world will tremble and they'll notice you."

"They'll notice me? Who will?"

"Must I tell you everything before you understand?" With a push against his zanpakuto, Ichigo put some distance between himself and Shinji. For a moment, the transfer student looked away, sensing something. "They've come. See? I've told you. This is all because you were releasing your reiatsu." Ignoring Shinji's comment, Ichigo asked who he was once more though he was clearly angered by this point. "You sure are difficult," Shinji smirked, raising his hand above his head. "Well then, since you're so interested to know."

A mask started manifesting where Shinji had his hand, a mask that was all-too-familiar to Ichigo. The only difference being that Shinji was able to summon his mask just like that but for Ichigo, it was very much touch and go. Just who exactly was this guy?

"A zanpakuto and a Hollow mask," Shinji said. "I'm a shinigami who's stepped into the domain of the Hollows. I told you, did I not? 'Let's be friends'. I'm a Vizard and you're the same as me. Come with us, Ichigo. You shouldn't be on that side."

However, just moments after he made the offer to Ichigo, two bursts of reiatsu were simultaneously released. Both Ichigo and Shinji looked in the direction of the two different reiatsu. One of them was slightly different but anyone who could sense reiatsu would know that they were both powerful. Although Shinji was quite confident in identifying one of them, he was not quite sure who the other belonged to.

While he was momentarily distracted, Ichigo started running off in the direction where one of the reiatsu was sensed. Before he could try to convince Ichigo once more, the other guy stated that he had no interest in joining him or his organisation, proudly stating that he was a shinigami and nothing else. With that, Ichigo ran off, leaving Shinji behind. "He sure is difficult," Shinji sighed, reaching into the back pocket of his trousers and pulled out a phone to call someone. "Hello? This is Hirako, is this Miss Sarugaki? I'm sorry but...I failed.

"It can't be helped! It's only a matter of time. Let's be patient. Oh...and, I've discovered something quite interesting. Remember a shinigami by the name Katsumi?"

~.~

Cherry blossom petals floated all over her.

She looked up to the sky but all she could see was endless petals falling all around her. She held her hand out in front and watched as several petals landed on her palm. When she looked over her shoulder, she could not help but grin at he who made this possible. The pure glee on her face was what he wanted to see. Turning back around to enjoy the cherry blossom rain, she sat on the ground, picking up the fallen petals. When both her hands were full, she stood up and ran over to him, sitting just in front of him with a bright smile. "You would look great with these in your hair...

"Byakuya..."

For the first time ever, she did not dream of that gruesome scene. For the first time ever, she was able to see a face so clearly in her dream. For the first time ever, she spoke in the dream. But just like before, it felt like a memory rather than a dream. She could feel the gentle cool breeze of the early spring blowing in her hair. She could smell the sweet scent of cherry blossom surrounding her, and feel the soft warmth of the sun shining down on them. Most vividly, however, she could feel how soft his hair was. How his smile warmed her.

While her nightmares would last all night, this pleasant dream came to an end. As she slowly opened her eyes, the first thing Katsumi saw was several thin, wide beams of light around her waist. Her first instinct was to move away but no matter how hard she thought of it, her body could not move. "Don't move, you'll only hurt yourself." Urahara's voice caught her attention and Katsumi looked up, seeing the man himself approaching her. "Don't worry, it's only for safety measures," he smiled.

"What is this? Where are we?"

"We are underneath the shop. Welcome to my secret lair!" Urahara reached his hand out and used his thumb to lift her eyelids up, examining her eyes. Despite wanting so desperately to swat his hand away, Katsumi's body remained unmoved. She could not even move her pinky. As he finished examining her, Urahara released the binding spell and caught her as Katsumi fell. He lowered her gently and propped her against a huge rock, sitting down in front of her. She tried moving her legs and although she was finally able to move them, it hurt to do so. "Your body will be aching for a while. You haven't fought in years and for you to suddenly release that amount of reiatsu, it's going to hurt like hell for you."

"What are you talking about? Reiatsu?"

"Ah...of course, you don't remember." Instead of giving Katsumi a straight answer, Urahara placed his hand on her forehead. "I'm sorry about this, Katsumi." Before she could even ask, Urahara started muttering under his breath. As soon as he stopped, a surge of energy shot through Katsumi and her eyes widened in response. Her body went limp as Katsumi fell deep into sleep. "Let's hope this works."

Just as Urahara uttered that, Katsumi suddenly opened her eyes. Except, they were not the emerald green eyes that Urahara was so used to. They were blood red. She grabbed his hand, using her other hand to cover his mouth before Urahara could cast a binding spell on her. The smirk on her face was a dead giveaway as to who she was. The murderous look in her eyes too. This was what they were afraid of but it was a side effect of the Kido he cast on Katsumi that Urahara expected. All he needed to do was to hold off until the effects of the Kido wore off.

Grabbing the girl by her wrist, Urahara yanked her hand off him and used Shunpo to put some distance between them. Except, she caught up with him in a split second, a punch coming right at him. As Urahara stopped her punch with his palm, a huge burst of reiatsu was released and the rocks around them cracked from the sheer force.

Holding her in place, Urahara used Rikujokoro and bound the girl on the spot. Once she was unable to move, Urahara jumped back to put more distance between them. Although he could fight her, Urahara had opted not to. It was not his desire to but more importantly, he did not want to hurt Katsumi. Binding her was the best choice here. But she was not making it simple.

Using her reiatsu, the binding spell was forcefully released by the girl. Urahara knew she was much better than Katsumi in all areas when it came to combat. He never knew she was this good. Just as she was about to charge at him again, the girl suddenly stopped as she turned her head back to where she woke up from. As she turned to look at Urahara again, a smirk slowly crept onto her face. "Oh Kisuke..." she smirked, shaking her head. "I must applaud you, for your efforts. But you're not really the genius they say you are."

Disappearing with Shunpo, the girl appeared next to the zanpakuto that had been leaning against the rock where she had been sitting. "Shit." Urahara must admit that he was careless. He intended to bring Katsumi's memories back and from there, train her to fight once more. He brought her zanpakuto along in hopes that he could help her regain her previous abilities. Catching up to the girl, Urahara stopped her from touching the zanpakuto. They started going back and forth, with her going offensively while Urahara was acting defensively.

Pointing two fingers at Urahara, she shot a Hado at point blank. Urahara, however, managed to escape unscathed but at the same time, he was too far away to stop her from finally getting her hands on the zanpakuto. Unsheathing the zanpakuto, she pointed the blade in Urahara's direction with a victorious smirk.

"Cry, Harusame."

~Meanwhile~

When she opened her eyes again, Katsumi was standing right in front of someone who looked exactly like her. Letting out a surprised gasp, she took a step back. Only for her to realise that she just walked right through someone instead of colliding with them. In her panic, Katsumi started stumbling about. Even though the room was full of people, whenever she stepped, Katsumi never bumped into anyone as she walked right through them. Breathing heavily, Katsumi tried calming herself down and started to realise that she was in a dream. No, a memory.

The person who looked exactly like her was her. A younger her.

As she finally looked around calmly, Katsumi realised that she was in a memory of her own. A memory that had been locked away. This was the memory of her graduation from Shin'O Academy, the day she officially became a shinigami. It was starting to become clear to her, what Urahara said about her reiatsu. Although she had forgotten for unknown reasons, Katsumi had always have reiryoku and could release reiatsu. The reason why she could evade that Hollow so effortlessly was because she used to be a shinigami and knew how to fight.

Watching as her younger self held a zanpakuto in her hand, the memory started fading into another.

This time, she was standing on a tree branch right next to her younger self who was hiding. Her hand clutched the hilt of her zanpakuto and although it was dark all around, Katsumi could see herself shaking. It was coming back to her, that feeling of fear when she was sent on a mission for the very first time. She kept looking over to her comrades, waiting for someone to make a move before she did. And although she held her own fight, Katsumi never found the heart in her to finish the enemy off. It inconvenienced her comrades, as they often had to do her job for her.

But why was she living in the human world now? Why was she not a shinigami anymore?

She knew of the existence of Soul Society. She remembered it like she remembered her brother. But to Katsumi, Soul Society was just a home she was taken away from. She always thought she was just a soul, a part of the Ukitake family. Never in a million years did she think that she was a shinigami, one who worked in the Gotei 13 and carried around a zanpakuto.

Before she could dwell longer and uncover more of her memories, Katsumi suddenly felt as if she was being sucked away. Her entire world was spinning and Katsumi could barely see what was going on. The next thing she knew, she was holding onto her zanpakuto that was piercing the right shoulder of Urahara, pinning him against a rock. "Welcome back," Urahara grinned, wincing a little in pain. Katsumi's eyes widened at the sight, letting out a gasp. "Hey um...you mind pulling your zanpakuto out first before you freak? Your blade's a little too long for me to do it myself."

Finally coming back to her senses, Katsumi pulled her zanpakuto out of his shoulder and Urahara let out a groan, pressing a hand to his wound. Looking down at her own hands, Katsumi was more confused than she was before. Staggering onto his feet, Urahara looked over to Katsumi and walked up to her, flicking her on the forehead to catch her attention. "Old man..."

"It's so good to have you back, Katsumi-chan. She's not very nice."

"Who?"

Letting out a groan of pain, Urahara managed to escape the question. "See those set of stairs over there?" Urahara asked, using his cane to point over to the left. Katsumi thought Urahara was joking when he told her they were in his secret lair underneath the shop.

Running over to the stairs, Katsumi went up to the shop before returning a few minutes after with a first aid kit in her hand. She ran up to Urahara and started tending to his wound. As much as she found Urahara irritating, Katsumi would never believe that she was the one who stabbed him in the shoulder if she was not holding onto the zanpakuto just moments ago. She never even knew she had a zanpakuto or how to fight to begin with. Seeing the worried and confused looks on her face mixing together, Urahara used his free hand and gave her another flick on the forehead between the brows.

"If you keep frowning like that, you'll get permanent wrinkles," he grinned.

"How can you be joking in this situation?" Katsumi asked, pressing the cotton wool soaked with disinfectant roughly onto his wound purposely, making Urahara scream out in pain. "What did you do to me, old man?"

As he calmed, Urahara suddenly had a very serious look on his face. One that Katsumi was not used to seeing. He stared at Katsumi, trying to think of what to say to her. There was an agreement between him and Ukitake when Katsumi was entrusted in his care; that she should never know about her past, or what happened in Seireitei that resulted in her leaving with him. It was for the best of Katsumi and all of Soul Society, really. But desperate times meant desperate measures and the Gotei 13 was running into some desperately desperate times. They needed all the help they could get.

Or, at least, that was how Urahara justified his actions.

"All I did was help you remember," Urahara said. "Think of it like giving your brain a jump start. Your memories were sealed away when you came to the human world, for the safety of your own and everyone else but that's another story for next time." As Katsumi tied up the ends of the bandage, Urahara stood up and pulled his clothes back in place, picking up his cane. "Come back here tomorrow after school. And bring your zanpakuto. We have a lot of work to do."

Katsumi could not sleep the entire night. She tossed and turned, eventually settling on her back while she stared up at the ceiling. Although Urahara gave her some answers, she knew he was hiding a lot more from her. It was a bit of a forbidden subject, her past. She had learnt a long time ago not to waste any time trying to squeeze anything out of Urahara; he became an expert at evading her questions. That was when she turned her head, staring at the zanpakuto leaning against the wall near the door. When she first discovered it hidden away in Urahara's room, she was told it was because she used to practice Kendo.

So many questions clouded her mind for the rest of the night and before she knew it, it was morning. The whole day in school, she could not focus. When she was supposed to be taking notes, Katsumi was doodling. Subconsciously, she started drawing herself in the shinigami attire wielding her zanpakuto. The name Harusame was written all over her book too, though Katsumi had no idea to what it was related. It was just a name that kept popping up in her mind.

Unknown to her, someone had been watching her over her shoulders the entire time.

After school, as Katsumi was making her way home, she could not help but feel like she was being followed. Every time she looked over her shoulder, however, there was no one there. Or at least, not on the street. Something in her guts told her to look up and when she did, Katsumi's body reacted instinctively. She jumped back as Shinji slashed his zanpakuto down on her.

"Ukitake Katsumi."