A/N: Hey, so here's chapter three. I'm still sorry it took so damn long to get this finished; but an ill girl turns out to be a busy one. Anyway, enjoy!
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Chapter Three - Memories
"Kyoraku-taichou, this is getting way out of hand!" A young girl flung open the door to the Eighth Division Captain's office, prompting the captain herself to look up slowly from her spot on the couch. Nanao had wrapped herself in one of Shunsui's cheap pink kimonos with his old straw hat pulled down over her eyes and a bottle of sake held in a hand that fell lazily over the edge of the couch. She sat up halfway, causing the hat to topple to the floor and the true state she was in to be exposed. Obsidian eyes were lined with dark bags suggesting little if any sleep all week, and if that wasn't enough to secure the fact, pink was beginning to slip into the corners of her heavily-lidded eyes. Her jet tresses were touseled and knotted, dulled from their original glamour from lack of care. Her pallid cheeks were slightly sallowed and streaked with tears.
The office in itself was enough evidence to conclude that Nanao had just about completely given up on herself. Sake bottles and forgotten paperwork were scattered all over the room, obiviously thrown in a fit of mixed rage and deep sorrow. The girl at the door shook her head as Nanao picked up the hat and replaced it to shadow her face. For the first time in a long time, Nanao closed her eyes to fall into blackness. "Taichou!"
"Wh-what? Wh-who in Hueco Mundo are you?" Nanao shot up straight finally aware of the girl, if she wasn't before. Purely intoxicated, she gave the subordinate an accusing look. "Are you... my conscience?"
The woman sighed deftly, raising a hand to her forehead to rub the pale skin slowly. "Yes, Taichou.... I'm your conscience."
"Really? What should I do, then?" Nanao sank back down onto the couch in pure misery. The shinigami stared at her taichou for the longest time with no idea how to answer, and no idea what her taichou was talking about. "I miss Shunsui and I think I'm starting to turn into him because of it. So now... do I need a Nanao?"
"No, Taichou. You are Nanao." The captain's mouth opened to protest, but then it shut again as the subordinate continued. "Nanao's just a little confused and upset, and it's completely understandable. So, can I help Nanao get up and go to Fourth?" Nanao nodded and shoved herself back up and then slowly wobbled to her feet with the help of the other shinigami. This was something different, since this particular reaper was the new seventh seat, and fresh out of the academy. She was one of the most promising new shinigami and she was the first person ever to notice the soft weeping coming from behind the doors of Division Eight's Administrative Building and go in to investigate.
Walking with one arm around Nanao's back and the other on her forearm, the shinigami was given many strange looks and whispers. Most reapers in her path jumped completely off the wooden deck or at least stumbled back to the wall at the sight of their approach. She was disgusted with the way they treated their taichou, and she couldn't help but wonder how they could see such a monster in her, no matter how unkempt she was. The girl had heard the stories of her, before and after Shunsui's death, and all of it just intriuged her. She had never heard of a woman before that had mastered the level of kido that she had, and to the extent that she had, and it just facinated her almost to the point of idolization.
"Hey, conscience?" Nanao slurred, resting her head limply on the girl's small shoulder. She glanced over at her captain and hoisted her arm over her shoulders for more support. "What's your name? Do consciences even have names?"
"Yeah, we do. It's Haruhi Saki, Eighth Division, Seventh Seat." She gave a ghost of a smile, but Kyoraku Nanao didn't notice. Her eyes had closed and she began to get heavy until her body gave out from underneath her. Saki's smile widened as she shook her head for the second time that day, and scooped her captain's ragdoll body into her thin arms as she flashed to Fourth to find a good friend of hers.
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"What do you mean I can't see him? I'm his one and only best friend! This is an outrage!" Shunsui raised an arm as if to call back the powers of his zanpaku-tou and lay his brutal force down upon the secretary behind the impossibly clean desk infront of him. The woman stared at him with a completely unfazed and slightly annoyed expression, slowly but surely giving in.
"Fine, but he's sleeping so you'll need to make this short and sweet, alright kid?" She rose from her desk and gave a shout to another desk lady that she was taking him off somewhere down the hall. Shunsui didn't hear the room number or the name of the ward, all he knew was that after three days, he'd finally get to see Jyuushiro again.
The hall way was unimaginably long and it bored Shunsui to no end. The mint green of the walls was perfectly suited to the smell of old people, sterilized silvers, and death that came over him in one flat wave as the secretary pushed through swinging double doors. The hall stretched on and was intersected several times, until they were finally stopped by a few doctors pushing one of the beds toward a new wing accompanied by an IV and a heart monitor. They seemed to be in no rush, and none of them spoke. The sound of the monitor's rythmic beeping was the only sound other than the doctor's footsteps as they walked the patient past Shunsui and the desk woman. After what seemed like hours, the two began to walk again and then entered an elevator. Upon entry, the woman pushed a single button, looked down at her clipboard and then waited for the elevator to zing them to the appropriate floor. And then there was more walking. They entered a small lobby, a waiting room that seemed empty execpt for a few people that Shun recognized immediatly.
"Go sit over there for a minute." The lady instructed as she spoke with the secretary of this particular wing. Shunsui gladly obeyed, hurrying over to what he knew to be Jyuushiro's younger siblings.
"Hey, it's Shun!" One of the younger boys looked up, prompting the rest to follow suit. The eldest, only a year younger than Jyuushiro rose from her seat and told the littler ones to stay put. They did as told, though reluctantly, and went back to their games and hushed chatter.
"So... what's up?" Shunsui asked the girl as she neared him. She gave him a glance that utterly confused him, prompting him to knit his brows at her.
"We were hoping you could tell us." The girl said with all the resolve she could muster. It was odd for her to speak at all, though she was pretty for her young age and it was a shame she was so shy. But now she was firm and frusterated, obviously worried for her brother's state. Everyone in the Ukitake family loved one another dearly and they all treasured each and every moment shared, especially after the death of their father. It was a large family, and it had all been raised on pure love. "I mean, you are Jyuu-nii's best friend."
"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, kid, but I have no idea what's going on." Shunsui admitted bitterly as the woman called him back to the desk to sign in. He complied and turned his back to Jyuushiro's family, walking faster than he ever had back to the desk to scrawl his name on a sheet of paper. With that done, the woman lead him off to Jyuushiro's room.
Jyuushiro was laying in his bed, the sheets pulled to his chin. He looked paler than usual, and his molten chocolate hair was now grey, but it was still his hair. Shunsui rushed in and automatically stuck himself to Jyuu's bedside, examining the way his friend's chest rose and fell softly under the powder blue blankets. The nurse closed the door, leaving the two in darkness and silence while Jyuushiro slowly opened his eyes.
"Shunsui, you devil. Visiting hours ended twenty minutes ago, exactly. Where the Hell were you?" Jyuu demanded, throwing a harsh, unseen look at his friend. Shunsui shuddered, knowing that he was receiving the death glare and gave an innocent grin that Jyuushiro didn't need to see to know was coming.
"Sleeping." The answer prompted a sigh from Jyuushiro which was released right on cue. Shunsui's grin intensity increased significantly, until he finally remembered the reason he was here. "Well, you gonna tell me what's wrong, or what?"
"Tuberculosis," Jyuushiro answered solemnly, pushing himself to sit up. Shunsui helped him, and then sat in the chair that sat next to the bed. It was only slightly warm, suggesting the former prescence of Jyuu's mother and older brother. "The same thing that killed my father."
"Oh.... Wow...." Shunsui was utterly speechless. After all, what does one say, especially when they're Shunsui? Knowing he had a tendancy to scew things up with a single word, he wracked his brains to put together a sentance that wouldn't make him sound like an ass. "Well, I... don't know what to say."
"No, obviously. Please, Shunsui, just talk to me like a normal person, not like I'm..." Jyuushiro trailed off, intending to leave the sentance unfinished. However, Shunsui had other plans for the end of the statement.
"Dying?"
"Yes, Shunsui. That."
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"It's a shame he had to fall asleep so early." Shunsui found himself listening to that silken, but daunting tone from the Confectionary a few days ago. He scanned the darkness with no luck until the blond man shifted slightly and caught the moonlight just right through the cornflower drapery. "He wasn't like that in the Seireitei. Not that I remember, anyway. The three of us were major troublemakers, so we did alot of our rampaging at midnight."
"Who are you?" Shunsui asked in pure mortification. It was the third time this man had assulted him with things like this, talk of this Seireitei place. Once at the hospital, and twice in his room after the strange dreams he had been having began to occur. The man, who was still as of yet unnamed, could talk for hours of what he liked to call 'the days' which Shunsui had so far found out referred to before this man had been exiled from the Seireitei.
"Oh, you mean you actually don't remember me? I was hoping you'd be having memories of our little games by now. Alright, but I'm not supposed to give you names to speed up your memory, but I guess one couldn't hurt, could it?" The man stopped to ponder this thought for a moment, then allegedly decided upon it. He opened his mouth, but Shunsui spoke over the answer to his own question.
"What do you mean 'by now'?"
"Shut up, kid." The man laid back on the loveseat by the window, tipping his hat farther over his eyes as if to create some kind of irresistable fly trap for Shun to fall into. "My name's Kisuke Urahara, and I've been slipping you pills to regenerate the memories that you once possessed during your life in the Soul Society for the past three days. Actually, it should all hit home in a few minutes, and the result should knock the wind out of you... if the formula's mixed correctly, that is."
"What are you—" There was a gut-wrenching blow that made him feel like everything inside him had been ripped out as the memories came flooding black. He remembered everything he ever said and did; most predominantly, he remembered Katen Kyokotsu, Jyuushiro, and his lovely Nanao. He remembered Eighth, as messy and unkempt as he was, and as he remained. But that was all, just the basics. Now, the only problem was whether or not to believe Urahara. It wasn't exactly easy to create memories like that in someone's head; infact, Shunsui was sure it was impossible. He had heard of amnesia, but that erases memories, it doesn't create new ones... or old ones.... And now Shunsui was utterly confused. But, he was so easily manipulated, and the call of Katen Kyokotsu was so strong.... "Where is my zanpaku-tou?"
"I'm glad you remember, friend; but to get to your precious zanpaku-tou, you've got to go to the Soul Society." And that lead into the full explanation almost as given to Ichigo more than two decades ago. Kisuke expected it, the medication he had put Shunsui on was a test run, and he refused to exceed three doses incase the mixture turned out to be lethal. Half-ways prepared in advance, Urahara only had enough antidote to reverse three doses, and if a child were to gain Shunsui's memories and not know how to use them, it could be disasterous. Worst case scenario, Shunsui came out on the other side like some screwed up child version of Aizen in Kyoraku's body. For now, however, the experiment seemed to be working so there was no need to worry.
xXXx
"Ukitake, come see your daughter." A young girl stood in a doorway where a shoji screen stood slightly ajar. She was smiling brightly, and that made it obvious that everything had gone perfectly. Excited as any new father would be, Jyuushiro lept into the room with one short flash and was instantly at his young wife's side. He drank in the scene with pure joy, his heart racing and his stomach buzzing with butterflies. Rukia lay in her bed, cradling a tiny pink bundle and looking down upon it fondly. She was sweaty and obviously tired from the look in her eyes, but she still managed to be beautiful, and he had a hard time comprehending that fact.
"A daughter?" he asked, his voice shaking like a leaf in the wind. At first, he had almost been too afraid to speak, but he found that his voice was much clearer than he had first expected it. Rukia looked up at him, violet eyes glowing with some sort of newfound aura. A new type of love, different from what she felt toward Ukitake. And though he didn't know it, he radiated the same aura which in turn bled into his reiatsu, and that was felt over the entire Seireitei.
"Mmhmm. Isn't she beautiful? She looks just like you." Rukia even sounded exhausted, and he noticed it. Smiling softly, he swept down and kissed her forehead gently, then turned to stare at his child. The soft smile widened and he chuckled gently, then biting his lip to make sure he was awake.
"She's absolutly gorgeous. Like her mother." He could feel Sogyo no Kotowari singing inside of him. His zanpaku-tou decidedly was as happy as he was, especially with the strong feeling the child radiated, no doubt the power of her zanpaku-tou. She was going to be strong, perhaps even Captain-class someday. That thought in itself was exciting. "I know we agreed that you would name it if it was a girl, so what did you come up with, Love?"
"Aya.... Ukitake Aya. I think it has class, don't you?" Rukia turned her gaze from her tiny daughter to her husband, smiling like Hisana would have so many years ago. As if to agree, Jyuushiro swooped in and planted his lips directly on hers, passionate, though soft and breif. He pulled back after a few everlasting seconds, leaving both of them star struck.
"I can't wait to see the look on your brother's face, especially after he protested our marriage for so long." His smile turned devious; he could feel the Kuchiki Leader's reiatsu coming closer and closer, and was about to be thoroughly amused by an intensly angry Byakuya. Or perhaps Kuchiki would simply appear displeased, when he would secretly be proud to be an uncle, even though it was also Ukitake's child. Really, Byakuya should have been relieved that he sister was with Jyuushiro instead of Renji or Ichigo. Things could have been much worse... they could always be worse.
Jyuushiro awoke with a start. He gasped and shot up. What on Earth had that been? That dream.... He had so many questions about it, and he knew no one could answer them. No, he thought no one could answer them. However, on his first glance around his room, he could figure out that something was wrong. Shunsui, who was still present, was still awake. That was something to be worried about. And then there was another man that he didn't recognize laying in the loveseat by the window. Everything always seemed to get weirder and weirder everytime he awoke and he was beginning to wish that he just wouldn't anymore.
"Hey, your awake!" The unknown man chimed, grinning like a devil. He explained everything all at once, and it was a rush to the boy's poor head. Too much to take in in one day, and it left him breathless. Ukitake laid back against his pillows, shaking his head. Urahara looked utterly shocked as Jyuushiro was slammed with every memory he once owned. "That didn't take very long did it, Shun? One dose and a little explanation and it knocked the wind right out of him!"
"Well, I guess I don't have to ask, then." Jyuushiro muttered bitterly, staring off into the darkness. Breifly, he wondered why it was so dark, and then decided against point out the fact that there was a working light switch next to the door. He figured that Shunsui would jump up and fly to the lights, flipping them on without any kind of warning, and Jyuu would avoid that if at all possible. There was a long silence, broken only by something nagging at him. "I want to see Rukia again. I know you can take me to her."
"What are you talking about? I can do no such—"
"Don't play dumb with me, Urahara. I've known you for too long; you can't pull something like that on me." Ukitake's voice held a bit of teasing, but the rest was pure threat. Kisuke shuddered and pushed himself up reluctantly.
"I liked you better when you didn't know anything." Kisuke grumbled, dusting himself off with a suppressed growl. He snatched up his cane and opened the window, letting a cool breeze sweep through the room. He explained to the two that the Senkaimon would take a while to raise, but when he had accomplished it they had better be ready; and then he left, flashing off into the night. The two sat together, unable to sleep, reminiscing on the days when they had been together in the Soul Society, comparing and contrasting their new lives to their old ones and found so much to talk about. It was impossible for either of them to close their tired eyes for more than a few seconds; like any teenage boy would be, they were excited to finally be able to put an end to all those nagging needs that had entered their minds. They had to see their families again, first of all. And then there was too much to do afterwards.
Though secretly, Kisuke was biting his nails. It was impossible for him to know how long the doses would last... or what their side effects would be.