Chapter Three
"So this is where onii-chan used to run off to..." Yuzu said as she, Karin and Yoruichi flashstepped through the dangai leading to Soul Society. The three departed the next morning from Karakura Town with their next stop being Soul Society. Yuzu was still a little weak from yesterday's ordeal so flash step was extremely helpful in getting to their destination quickly.
Yuzu quietly wondered what was on the other side of these dark tunnels. What is Soul Society like? She had heard folk tales about heaven where it was a land of abundance, streets were made of gold and sorrow and misery did no exist. She already had enough common sense to know that it was not the case. Soul Society was more common to her and her sister for the many clashes they had amongst themselves. Even if that was not the case, Yuzu would silently wonder why Urahara and his gang were here if Soul Society truly was paradise.
Once they reached the senkaimon, it opened revealing lush vegetation growing out before them and a wide expanse of land before them. They stepped out and the twins marveled at the world around them. The house before them was vast and large, an old styled Japanese house that certainly was not lacking in size.
In front of them were a bunch of souls in different uniform, bowing at them to pay respect. Considering that Yuzu had seen the shinigami attire, she deduced that they are not them. But still, Yuzu, Karin and Yoruichi bowed back and greeted before one of them led them towards the manor. "How I do not miss this life." Yoruichi quietly tutted.
"What life?" Yuzu asked.
"Noble life... shinigami life..." Yoruichi said. "Don't let your eyes deceive you. This place is far from the perfection your human folk tales make you believe."
"Who would have guessed..." It was silent yet sarcastic... it was the first genuine emotion Yuzu has seen from Karin. It was no secret that Karin despised this place despite never being here. Karin blamed them for what happened to their mom, she blamed them for the torture that they put Ichigo through and she blamed them for the nightmare they put Yuzu through without even bothering to try and rescue her. Five months into the school year after they turned 13, Karin was chosen for rotary youth exchange and went to live in Colombia for a year. She wanted to go to a Latin American country to play better soccer by learning from the locals and she wanted to learn Spanish especially since their mother was part hispanic herself. Her father only agreed to Colombia because her grandmother lived there since he wanted someone to keep an eye on her and her host family. It was during that year when Kokutō had planned to escape hell and took Yuzu. Karin was livid to learn the situation that occurred while she was gone and immediately took to Urahara for training.
Yuzu held no ill harm towards Soul Society regarding how she was taken to hell and how they believed no one could revive her afterwards. It was a miracle she was even alive. It was a fever dream that was told to her as she could not remember a single thing from being knocked out most of the time. The physical impact did linger. Her heart function was affected because of the chain but she picked up running afterwards to help it. She never looked back and she didn't care to look back.
Karin was not as forgiving.
Leading them inside, the lady servant said; "Kuchiki-sama, your guests have arrived."
The woman inside, short with dark hair that was bobbed at the bottom where it was about hit her shoulders said. She wore the shinigami uniform and had put her katana to the side. She looked at the twins with a sense of warmth in her dark purple eyes.
"Rukia-nee!" Yuzu was the first to gasp before heading over speedily to the shorter woman hugging her.
"Yuzu, you are so big now." Rukia smiled at the girl, holding her by the shoulders to get a good look at her. "How long has it been... four years? I forgot how quick humans grow." Rukia released Yuzu before looking to Karin. "What... is hugging still for sissies to you?" The raven haired girl rolled her eyes before relenting and heading over to hug Rukia. "It is so good to see you two here... but judging by Yoruichi's call you two aren't here for a social meet."
"Sadly not, Kuchiki-fukutaichō. I need to get these girls to the fourth. Did you inform Kotetsu-fukutaichō I was coming?" The werecat asked.
"Yes although she says that she is not quite versed in that area of medicine, she said she'd try her best to refer to Unohana-taichō's previous findings before she died." Rukia confirmed.
"Wait... a captain died?" Yuzu asked in shock.
"Her and Zaraki-taichō, the captain of Jūichibantai got into a duel to the death... I'd rather not go into detail." Yoruichi said. Yuzu blinked at her in surprise, wondering how they were just going slide past that. She looked Karin who shrugged, just as confused as she was. Shinigami are weird... Yuzu thought to herself. Yoruichi and Rukia led them out of the Kuchiki residence and into the rest of Seireitei. Rukia suggested they walk to Yonbantai rather than shunpō just in case duty calls for her at Jūsanbantai or Yoruichi disappears for a while like she normally does when she is in the area. That way, the girls know their way back. Running was a faster alternative but because of Yuzu's injury, it was tossed aside altogether.
Yuzu honestly did not expect the Fourth to look like a modern hospital that even questioned the state of their clinic back in the human world. Yoruichi explained that Divisions all have their special duties and the Fourth was in charge of the well being of shinigami. It was full of kidō experts who specialised in healing. But Yoruichi did taunt them for being pansies during fights and not even knowing the right way to run.
Yuzu looked to Karin who was quiet the whole way since they left Karakura town. Even the smile she had given Rukia was strained and forced. She was evading every single chance to even stand near her sister. Yuzu frowned and felt uselessness bubble up inside. She had no idea how to help Karin through any of this. She wanted to be stronger for her, to be more useful and helpful to her but she was too weak.
Breaking out of her reverie, a tall woman with silvery hair in a short perm with two braids on the sides, wearing the shinigami uniform with a lieutenant's band similar to Rukia's around her arm appeared from down the hall and called the twins forth.
"Matsumoto is a pain in my rectal cavity." Tōshirō Hitsugaya hissed in annoyance as he checked the stack of paperwork being presented to him by the Fourth. Because his Lieutenant, the very free spirited-to-the-verge-where-it-was-just-plain-unnecessary Matsumoto Rangiku had snuck off and abandoned her duties to supervise training between the newer recruits from the Shinō Academy and now because they were practically babies holding knives, a lot of them got hurt.
"She's going to make my division look worse than the Eleventh..." He paused that thought, realising how absurd he sounded. "Make that the ninth." He corrected himself as he quietly checked the forms to see who got injured. Ever since Muguruma Kensei returned from exile, the division was back to its former state of being filled with shinigami who were practically trained to be super soldiers rather than Tōsen and Shūhei who made the division on par with a bunch of peace-loving hippies with swords.
Tōshirō was a far cry from the little boy he used to be years ago. After reaching full maturity in his bankai, he was a lot taller and a lot more built than before, taking the form of a young man. Despite still being a tad bit shorter than a few other male captains, he has stopped being ridiculed for his height and Matsumoto has stopped her surprise attacks of hugging him and engulfing him in her voluptuous chest as a suffocation tactic. His white hair resembled how it was when it was less spiky as a young boy and his face more prominent and sculpted.
His teal green eyes calmly scanned each form one by one, etching to his memory all the people he would give a piece of his mind to when he got back to the Tenth. "Kotetsu-fukutaichō is done running tests on me." He heard a feminine voice say from next to him at the reception desk. "Do I need to fill in a form or something?"
"No... Kuchiki-fukutaichō has handled everything for you." The 10th seat of the Fourth had said. "You can sit around, wait for the fukutaichō to finish with her next patient before addressing you."
"Ano... are you sure because I know–"
"Yes, I am. We are in your brother's debt so everything you need here is handled." The man said.
"Thank you." He heard her say but sensed her freeze as her eyes fell upon him. "Hi...tsugaya-kun?" The Jūbantai captain gave the girl a sideways glance before turning back to the papers.
"Do I know you?" He asked with no interest showing in his voice. This body held a lot more grievances for him than relief. He had often complained that it was harder to move in this body as fast as when he was small and that he grabbed a lot more attention from women than before. Women who would not call him by his accepted name and title.
That was in fact the biggest annoyance.
"Uh... you may not remember me because the first and last time we met was around three years ago and you were friends with my sister so..." Tōshirō stopped, turning his head to take a good look at her again. She did look familiar. He looked down and noticed she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with sneakers... common clothing in the human world.
Human world... friends with her sister... Soul society indebted to her brother... "You're Kurosaki Ichigo's little sister..." Tōshirō blinked at her in surprise. Karin's twin sister... He was almost tempted to say. "Yuzu, correct?"
"I'm surprised you remembered." Yuzu smiled politely.
"I am better with names than faces. Besides, you remember me." Tōshirō shrugged.
"The white hair and the haori are a dead giveaway." Yuzu joked slightly "You don't... visit anymore?"
Tōshirō looked away, hiding his discomfort. "I got busy. So what brings you to Soul Society... the Fourth to be more precise? Was your brother injured in a fight... again?"
"God, I wish." Yuzu giggled. "Actually, I'm here with Karin-chan."
"Was she injured in a fight?" Tōshirō asked, a little more concerned... partly because she wasn't as hot headed and rash so she wouldn't engage in a fight unnecessarily. Besides, she was too lazy for it.
Yuzu's eyes immediately became downcast, pertaining a sadness that ran deep into her brown eyes. Tōshirō immediately wondered if he had said something wrong. "Not at all." Yuzu shook it off with a kind smile but Tōshirō could see the sadness in it.
"But then why are you here?" Tōshirō immediately stopped himself. "I'm prying. Forgive me... it's none of my business."
"No, no, Hitsugaya-kun." She shook her head. "Things have just... been difficult for us. For her, to be exact. She has not had the best couple of past weeks and now she just... I don't know. She unlocked her shikai but lots of things went wrong so Yoruichi brought us here to run some tests."
"Wait... shikai?" Tōshirō cocked an eyebrow at her. "She has a zanpakutō?"
"Yes." Yuzu nodded. "We were advised to train in order to control it and protect ourselves in case another disaster strikes in our family... you know what happened last time." Hitsugaya remembered very clearly what happened last time. It was not the fondest experience to be called to the human world because one of Kurosaki's sisters was captured and taken to hell. He never understood what the blatant obsession was with that family... until he realised who their parents were. Clearly the children of a former noble/captain and a powerful quincy meant that they were commodities to many.
"I don't understand the logistics of things but I guess being the child or a shinigami and a quincy would mean being able to do that even if you are technically alive? It was different for Ichigo but then again, we didn't understand much of it back then." Yuzu continued. "It was never part of the plan but stranger things have happened."
Tōshirō nodded, starting to feel rather uncomfortable with the conversation. Ready to excuse himself, he was cut off by Kotetsu-fukutaichō who made her way over to them. "Hitsugaya-taichō," Tōshirō acknowledged her with a nod. "Your subordinates have been quite rowdy today, isn't it?"
"I apologize if they were any trouble, Kotetsu-fukutaichō." He nodded.
"Don't. These things happen." She smiled before turning back to Yuzu. "Kurosaki-chan, we ran your tests and the results are negative but Karin is a different case."
Whatever told Hitsugaya to mind his own business and get the hell out suddenly disappeared. "Kotetsu-fukutaichō, what are the tests for?"
"Uh... Kurosaki-chan, I am not sure how involved you and your sister are in the shinigami aspect of life but it seems to be that your sister's zanpakutō has been corrupted." Isane said.
"I'm sorry, corrupt zanpakutō... how is that even possible?" Yuzu asked, utterly surprised.
"People naturally forget that zanpakutōs are like us. They have their own personalities, thoughts, emotions... we just forget that because they are a part of us so we expect them to mix well with us. That is not always the case." Kotetsu-fukutaichō explained. "Zanpakutō spirits are passed on from a deceased shinigami to an oncoming one depending on how well the Zanpakutō relates with that soul however at times, the Zanpakutō is naturally corrupt but that is only the case when the soul itself is naturally evil. There are several other cases that are rare with varying causes but the signs are all the same; change in emotion, random changes in demeanor and lacking control over your body. I'm not sure about the amnesia or the inability to remember the name of a zanpakutō and its activation chant during early stages is normal. It may be different since you and your sister are of old noble lineage but that's as far as I know. My former captain was the one who was well versed in this field."
Yuzu ran a hand through her hair, clearly frustrated and confused. "I would like to keep her to run more tests. In the mean time, can you just write down your sister's zanpakutō's name and activation chant? I want to send it to the ninth or twelfth to check any history of zanpakutō corruption related to it." Yuzu nodded and Isane turned around to walk away.
"Kotetsu-fukutaichō..." The woman stopped and turned back to Yuzu. "She... uh... Karin-chan. She went missing for two weeks and was found only a week ago. That's when she started to experience amnesia and irregular emotional changes. Before she had a perfect photographic memory and was as... moody as the average teenage girl."
Isane smiled at the girl. "That is very helpful, thank you. We plan to keep her overnight so once we are done, you can come. I suggest you go relax and get your mind off of things." With that, she left, leaving Tōshirō with the torn little girl who was almost in tears.
"Uh... Kurosaki," Yuzu looked up at the Jūbantai captain. "I can accompany you to Rukia at the Thirteenth if you'd like." Yuzu gave him a thankful smile with a nod before finishing up and following him out.
A/N: For this story, let's just pretend the Thousand Year Blood Arc doesn't exist but for some odd reason:
-Zaraki and Unohana had their showdown to the death
-Komamura also died... or disappeared – I don't know, I can't remember anyways
-Tōshirō did reach full maturity of his bankai.
Nothing else happened... No one died or stuff. I decided to not follow that because that arc of Bleach was confusing as hell. To be honest, Bleach stopped making sense to me after the Soul Society arc. I will try my hardest not to delve into the Thousand Year Blood War because I don't want this story to become incoherent with the plot when they are placed against one another. Also, in this fanfic, Hell Verse (the movie happened) happened but Karin wasn't there. It will be explained better
Omake
"Go off to university, Ichigo. Everything will be fine, Ichigo. I will take care of everything, Ichigo!" The now twenty two year old orange head paced angrily in front of the door step of the family clinic trying to calm down, mimicking his eccentric father. He had taken the bullet train all the way down from Tokyo just to give his dad a piece of his mind. He agreed to letting his sister be trained to protect themselves... true.
What the hell was this about his little sister going missing for two weeks instead of going to a soccer camp, her getting found in the strangest way possible and having bouts of amnesia, attacking their other sister whom she adores and protects with her living being on a whim then running off to Soul Society the morning after? Worse still... what was this about his father only telling him this with a measly, pathetic, short letter after it all happened?
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted the old Goat chin." He said as he calmed down before knocking on the door.
Isshin answered a few moments later. "If it isn't my strong and brave son! Aren't you supposed to be at school?" The young man raised the crummy note to his father's eye level.
"Explain..." Ichigo did not need to say anything more for the message to get across.
Isshin scratched his head as a large drop of sweat formed on his head with a sheepish, goofy grin on his face. "My mind slipped, hahaha! Oof!" The older Kurosaki was kicked so hard that he flew into a wall and broke through it, landing outside the building on the other end.
"And my foot slipped, you old fart!"