Toshiro didn't even try to find their father. Knowing Gin, he'd probably perched on a roof somewhere or something where no one was likely to bother him. He just helped Kinta change himself. He'd brought along the extra clothes in his pack anyway.
"Sorry, Nii-chan," Kinta repeated for the third or fourth time as Toshiro tied the stupid pink obi-did his mother not understand there were other colors?-around his brother's waist and led him back outside.
Toshiro looked around the wide lawn, trying to pick out appropriate entertainment for a toddler. They'd already written their wishes and tied the little strips of colored paper to a pole of bamboo, and eaten way too many treats, and they'd already looked for frogs in the pond-thus leading to the dare that had ended in a soaking baby. He really shouldn't have let the other kids get to him. It annoyed him how stupidly childish he could be when he was around other kids.
And Kinta was tugging him toward a gathering of them. He really couldn't see how Captain Ukitake managed to have so many relations. It seemed unreasonable.
He let Kinta lead him over despite his misgivings. They weren't really bad kids; mostly they were smart and a few even had enough reiatsu they would be going to the Academy someday. It really wasn't their fault they acted like kids; he just had to remember he was smarter than that.
The children, most of them his age or older, had gathered around Captain Kurotsuchi, in what Toshiro considered a very unwise move, and were laughing loudly at how he had hypnotized one of the oldest to crawl around on the ground with his tongue hanging out like a dog.
As Toshiro watched, the boy sat back and scratched behind his ear with his foot. All of the children clapped loudly, and several demanded to know what else Kurotsuchi could do.
Kurotsuchi looked over all the eager young faces. "Well," he said slowly. "There is one ability that I am very proud of, however, despite its usefulness, I have not been able to convince anyone else in the Gotei to adopt it." He drew his zanpakuto and all of the children drew back, watching him in even greater awe. "It could increase our survival rates in the field astronomically. I cannot understand their continued resistance. Even you will be able to see how useful it is."
He lifted the blade and Toshiro just barely managed to get his hand over his brother's eyes before Kurotsuchi severed his own hand. A few children screamed, but most were too shocked to react, especially when a bubbling mass of new flesh grew out from his arm and quickly took shape, replacing the captain's hand almost instantly.
Toshiro's eyes dropped to the hand on the ground, but it was quickly melting into the grass. He lifted his hand from Kinta's eyes; at least he'd be the only one having nightmares.
"You see how useful it is?" Kurotsuchi continued. "We would no longer lose shinigami to blood loss and waiting time for replacement limbs would no longer be any sort of concern. I can lose up to ninety percent of my body without any ill effects. Would it not be preferable to replace the weak bodies of our troops with these stronger, self-repairing constructions?"
Most of the children were still too stunned to move. Toshiro, though, managed to ask, "What do you mean 'replace'?"
Captain Kurotsuchi raised his head and smiled the moment he saw Toshiro standing there with only his little brother. "Ichimaru Toshiro, would you like to come and see? I would happily show you the entire procedure if you would come down to my laboratory. I understand you are unusually intelligent for your age, and I am sure you would find my methods most fascinating."
Toshiro's eyes narrowed. "I'm not allowed to go places with strangers."
"I'm not a stranger. I've known you your entire life."
"You're definitely a stranger," Toshiro said. "I'd better go. Mom doesn't like me talking to strangers either."
Kinta waved as he was pulled along. "Bye-bye," he said happily.
The sun was setting as they walked across the lawn. Toshiro could smell the food being brought out to tables under paper lanterns and saw all the people quickly gathering to get their share, including the crowd of children who'd just been watching Kurotsuchi. He wondered how they could eat after that. It had been really, really gross.
So despite Kinta's protests of food! And hungry! Toshiro dragged him away from the tables and the lanterns. He had noticed a couple far away from the crowd he was curious about. He thought if they had really wanted to be alone they shouldn't have brought a telescope. He'd never actually had a chance to look through one before. He knew they were a bit like his father's binoculars from the World of the Living, but since they were for looking at stars they were obviously much cooler.
As he approached he heard Nemu reading in her always clear, concise voice from what sounded like an encyclopedia description of the star Altair. "You know," she said suddenly, "That they are really millions of miles apart. They never meet."
"I know," Ukitake said, raising his head from the telescope to smile at her.
"Then why are we celebrating?" Nemu asked. "If you know that stars are not kami but only great balls of gas burning millions of miles away and the stars Altair and Vega are in no way connected then why do people gather to celebrate them?"
"Because it's a beautiful story," Ukitake said.
"But it's sad," Nemu protested. "Unless I am mistaken again. Is it not sad that Orihime and Hikoboshi are separated forever, even if they may meet once a year? I would be sad in such a situation."
"It's very sad," Ukitake agreed, and he took her hand, drawing her closer as he spoke. "But it is also a little bit hopeful. They are able to meet again if only-"
Toshiro interrupted before they did anything more embarrassing. "My dad hates it," he said loudly. "Mom got a really pretty picture book of the story, but he wouldn't read it to me, even when she nagged him. He said it was a really boring romance, and I wouldn't like it, but then he 'lost' it, so I really think he hated it."
Ukitake and Nemu had both jumped and turned at the sound of his voice. It was really kinda funny; apparently his parents weren't the only adults who could miss the approach of another person who wasn't even trying to hide his reiatsu if they were focused on each other. It really seemed to him like captains should be better at paying attention than that.
"Hello, Shiro-chan, Kin-chan, have you come to look in the telescope?" Ukitake asked.
"But why doesn't Captain Ichimaru like the story of Orihime and Hikoboshi? Everyone else seems to enjoy it," Nemu said.
"He doesn't like sad stories," Toshiro told her as he walked up to the telescope. It was at least as big as he was, a long cylindrical tube with a huge lens aimed at the night sky. "One time he said that if everyone was just going to end up dead at the end, why didn't someone tell him that in the first place and save him all the pointless reading."
Toshiro looked into the eyepiece and all at once a distant galaxy of a billion stars all locked into a perfect, glittering spiral was before his eyes. He'd read about such things, but he'd never seen it before. He wondered at the brilliance of human ingenuity that had made it had used their tiny, insignificant lives to look out upon infinity. The shinigami, walking beneath the same bright skies, had never even tried. Humans were amazing.
"But Captain Ukitake says even sad stories can be beautiful, and every story is sad if you read long enough," Nemu turned abruptly back to Ukitake. "What do you mean by that? I have read many books to the end and they said, 'happily ever after.' How can that be sad?"
"Because everyone dies eventually," Toshiro said, wondering how she could have missed something so obvious. He stepped back from the telescope and lifted Kinta to get a view, because he wouldn't stop pulling at him and saying, "My turn!"
"Oh," Nemu said, and she suddenly looked very sad. "But my father has designed me not to die. I do not age, and my body is self-repairing; every part is replaceable if the damage is somehow too severe. Even when you and your brother have grown old I will be the same. Even after you have died, and your children have died, and even after-"
Her eyes shifted from Toshiro to Ukitake. He was watching her with a very kind, sad smile on his face. "Your body is not self-repairing," she said like she'd only just realized it. "It is broken and failing. You will die, and I will be alone. We will be a sad story."
Toshiro tried to pull Kinta away from telescope, but the obnoxious toddler had managed to get a grip on the scope and refused to move.
"Come on," Toshiro hissed into his brother's ear. They really shouldn't be here now. The adults had clearly moved on to a very private conversation. He really, really didn't want to be here for this.
"I don't want to be a sad story for you, Nemu," Ukitake said gently. "Perhaps we should end it now, while it's still a happy story."
"I'll get you candy," Toshiro hissed, and Kinta let go. They both tumbled to the ground together.
Nemu and Ukitake were instantly beside the boys, helping them to their feet and brushing them off. It took a couple minutes for Toshiro to get them to let him and Kinta go, but finally he managed to assure them they were both fine and headed back across the grass to the main party.