I'm sorry. I know it appeared as if I had vanished off the face of the fandom. I was really sick for a while, and then I got better and went abroad for a few months. Such is life and the Unseen Powers that govern it.
I do intend to finish this story, eventually. Progress may be slow, because I have a much better idea than the one I started with and I must figure out how to integrate things. I've actually been chipping away at this chapter for a few months now, and hopefully it is not as soul-destroying to you as it was to me. I've got to work on a less cumbersome writing style...
Haruka woke up in a bed. A big bed. A clean bed. A bed that wasn't hers. The unfamiliarity made her head spin for a moment, and then she began to remember.
A fresh whimper began in her throat, but she froze, stifling it. Crying had brought those monsters hunting for her. She must not cry. Never, never, never. She musn't make a sound. The importance of this was nearly overwhelming, and she involuntarily curled into a tight ball. Thinking of her mother made her cry. So she must not think of her mother. Never. Not a sound. Not a sound. All would be well if she didn't make a sound. She breathed quietly for a moment, shaking. Not a sound. She reassured herself that she could do that. Slowly uncurled. Cautiously sat up.
The room she was in was nice. There were no toys or anything in it, but it was sunny and warm, with clean white walls. Through the big window, she could see a blue sky.
It was a nice room, but it felt huge and empty around her. She huddled on the bed, uncertain. Then she scrambled off of it, dropping to the floor. Padded over to the door on wobbly legs. She had to find … Kisuke. Yes, that was his name. He was safe. He would keep her safe, he wouldn't let the monsters or ... or anything else hurt her.
She poked her head around the door frame, looking down a long hallway. There were voices, but no people. She listened for a moment. None of the voices were Kisuke's. She took the end of her braid and chewed on it, distressed. Where was he? He had to be somewhere close by.
She slipped out of the room and trotted down the hall, ignoring the other rooms. Somewhere close by ... but where?
"Uh ... hey! Wait!" a flustered voice called out.
Haruka stopped, glancing back up the hallway. A young man in black and white clothing was hurrying toward her. "You shouldn't be out here!"
She could tell, by observing his brisk trot and anxious features, that he would put her back in the room she had just left and make sure she stayed there. There was only one thing to do.
"Ah! Stop!" The young man cried out as she broke into a surprisingly fast sprint. "Come back!" He gave chase, calling protests that attracted other people in the building. One of them called after the young man. "Yuiji? What's going on?"
"Did you leave your paperwork at home again?" someone else joked.
"Shut up! Just help me catch her!" Yuiji shouted, pointing frantically at the small form darting around a corner.
"An escaping patient?" "She's just a kid!" "Hey! Come back!" Several others began to run after her as well, calling for her to stop. They began to chase her in earnest when she took a left turn and darted into the administrative wing. "Stop! You're not allowed to go in there!"
Haruka flew down the hall just out of their reach, small feet pattering wildly on the wooden floor.
A shape loomed out of a doorway as she passed and made a lunge for her, but she skipped nimbly to the side, putting on an extra burst of speed as the man struggled to regain his equilibrium and failed spectacularly, sprawling across the hall and tripping two of the runners. There were yelps of pain and indignation. "Get out of the way, fatso!" "Hey, watch where you're stepping!"
Haruka spotted movement up ahead; a woman in white, pushing a table with wheels. Diving forward, she slid underneath the table and between the woman's legs, then jumped up again, continuing to run. The woman shrieked and threw herself to the side, gaping as Haruka's pursuers shoved the gurney out of their way, sending medical equipment flying, and stampeded down the hall after her.
There were more people in the hallway ahead. "HEY!" Yuiji bellowed. "STOP THAT KID!" Startled, they looked at the crazy pursuit heading toward them and braced themselves. One man's arms opened to catch Haruka as she raced toward him. But she skidded on the slick floorboards and abruptly changed direction, careening down an adjoining corridor.
Behind her, there was the sound of several painful collisions, and then a hotly-renewed pursuit. Ahead, there was a square of light as another pair of women, oblivious to the rapidly-approaching cavalcade, opened a large door and made to step outside. Haruka's little legs pumped faster, propelling her to the door just as Yuiji's hand closed on the back of her robe. "Gotcha, you little-whoa!" He abruptly crashed into one woman, who promptly toppled into the other. Each had been carrying a large stack of papers.
Haruka barreled across the threshold amid an explosion of paperwork and curses and promptly slammed into someone's legs. "Oof! What the-"
She looked up, made out Kisuke's puzzled expression through the glare of sunlight, and wrapped her short arms around his knees with all the gripping power of a suicidal limpet.
Kisuke watched the last of the paper blizzard spiral to the ground and winced as a few shinigami slipped and took undignified spills. "Wow. Looks like a lot of excitement around here today." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the little girl currently squeezing the feeling out of his lower legs. She stared back up at him, green eyes enormous. He placed one hand on the top of her head. "What's wrong, are you scared?" He did a double take, and crouched down to her level. "Wait, are you hurt? You shouldn't be out of bed yet, it's only been a couple of days!"
"Third Seat Urahara!" A Fourth squad orderly navigated the chaos that was the front entrance of the hospice and hurried over to him. "Apologies, sir! We neglected to keep an eye on the patient!"
"'We neglected'?" another orderly objected, extricating himself from the mess. "This is your-" He spotted the person who had accompanied Kisuke and paled, his sentence trailing off. "Ca...Captain Unohana!"
"Captain Unohana!" The first orderly echoed, also paling. "Um...I can explain!"
"No need for you to explain, Yuiji," the Captain of Fourth Division said lightly. "But while such energy and enthusiasm is refreshing, it isn't very appropriate to chase those in our care through the halls, and it certainly wouldn't do to lose those requisition forms." She looked pointedly at the scattered papers, which were beginning to be carried off by an errant breeze. All Fourth Division medics present took this as their cue to begin frantically gathering them up.
It was at times like these that Kisuke wondered what the real power behind Unohana's gentle smile was. And if it could be studied and put to use elsewhere. I wonder if it would work on the inmates at Maggot's Nest. Or maybe it could even be harnessed as a weapon to use in the field.
But while it was intriguing to think of terrifying Hollows into compliance without even having to raise a zanpakuto, he had other things to think about at the moment. Namely, if the small girl currently maintaining a death grip on his kneecaps really was in any condition to be escaping from the relief station staff, and why she had decided to make a run for it in the first place.
Captain Unohana turned to him. "Perhaps it would be best if we took the child back to her room, Urahara." She looked at the little girl clinging to his knees and smiled a motherly smile quite different from the rather chilling one she had just used on her subordinates. "We may conduct an examination there also."
"Oh. Right." He carefully pried the child off himself and picked her up. She promptly re-fastened her arms around his neck, and he had to shift her a little so that he could still breathe. "Please lead the way, Captain Unohana."
He got a better idea of the chaos that his passenger had caused as they retraced her route back to the examination room. The good captain assumed a carefully blank look as they passed an overturned gurney and its smashed equipment, but she only paused to inquire as to whether anyone needed medical treatment. Then she continued on serenely. Kisuke trailed in her wake, growing more nervous at the sight of each new bit of aftermath. He hoped this wouldn't make things more difficult for the little girl in the event that they had to hold her in the Seireitei for a while. I also hope they don't take the cost of that equipment out of my paycheck, he thought wryly.
They reached the room and Captain Unohana ushered them inside, gesturing to the bed that the little girl had so recently vacated. Kisuke tried to ease the little girl onto it, but she only clung to him more tightly. He sighed and sat them both down instead, and only then did she ease her stranglehold enough that he could settle her on his lap.
He looked up and met Unohana's amused gaze rather sheepishly. "Sorry, Captain. I can't seem to get her to let go of me."
"She seems to have taken quite the shine to you, Urahara," she agreed, blue eyes twinkling. "It's understandable after what she has been through recently, however." She pulled up a chair and sat down, examining the child calmly. The child stared back attentively, sitting very still on Kisuke's lap. There was a brief silence as they regarded each other, and then a soft blue glow surrounded them both. Kisuke felt the warmth of Unohana's reiatsu as she gently probed her patient, evaluating her condition.
"Both Captain Shihoin and yourself reported that this child had no reiastu," Unohana noted. There was a slight crease between her eyebrows. "But right now, as well as in some examinations I did while she was unconscious, I am finding some kind of sympathetic resonance in response to my own reiatsu."
"Sympathetic resonance?" Kisuke echoed, intrigued. "Well, there is something unusual about her spirit presence, but...do you mean to say that she is reflecting your reiatsu back to you, Captain Unohana?"
"No." Unohana let her reiatsu grow slightly, brightening the glow. "I mean that when I touch her core, where her saketsu and hakusui would be if she were a shinigami, it feels as if she has her own reiatsu, quite different from my own. But when I withdraw..." The blow glow surrounding Unohana and her patient vanished, "this sensation disappears."
Kisuke absorbed this. "But you're certain that she has no saketsu or hakusui?"
"Quite certain. The tests I performed while monitoring her recovery yesterday confirmed this. Despite the odd effect we have just observed, she would appear to be an ordinary soul. However..." The crease between Unohana's eyebrows became a small frown. "There is also no evidence that she ever had a Chain of Fate attached to her spirit body. None at all."
Kisuke felt his jaw drop slightly. How is that possible? Every soul who ends up in Soul Society once died in the mortal world, and thus had their Chain of Fate severed. To not have one at all would mean...
"Is she a noble, then?" He already knew the answer to this question, but it was the only explanation he could think of right then.
Unohana shook her head. "If she had been born in Soul Society as a member of a noble family, that may have explained her lack of a Chain. But even the nobles have dwelt in the mortal world in their past lives, and traces of their Chains of Fate can still be found if one is skilled enough and knows what to look for. I sense nothing of the kind in this child."
"Of course," Kisuke murmured, glancing down at the girl. She tilted her head back and met his gaze silently. "You've left us with quite a few questions, kiddo," he admonished gently. She blinked at him.
She really was quite cute.
"Some research might be required," Captain Unohana was musing out loud, "I can't think of any situation where the traces might have been erased, but if there is a precedent, it will be in our archives."
"Er...what about in the meantime, Captain? Will you be keeping her here?"
"Yes. That was the directive from Captain-General Yamamoto. In addition, I am quite certain that she needs more medical attention, especially after all the excitement today." She said this with a smile, but Kisuke could tell she wasn't amused about the lack of consideration demonstrated by the relief station staff. He didn't envy the on-duty staff the lecture they were sure to receive. Thank goodness I was with her at the time...
"Now, Urahara, please place her on the bed so that I may examine her back. I'm a little concerned about the current state of her injuries."
"Oh. Yes, ma'am." He moved to stand up, and the little girl clung to him again, cutting off circulation. "Hey, now, I'm not going anywhere. I just need to put you down for a second," he wheezed. Her eyes narrowed in a critical study of his face, and he marveled again at how astoundingly green they were.
"Just for a little while," he repeated cheerfully. "I'll stay right here, I promise." She held his gaze for a moment, then nodded, apparently satisfied. She wriggled down from his lap and trotted over to the bed. As he and Unohana watched, startled, she clambered up and lay down on her stomach, turning her head to the side to look at them.
Unohana laughed quietly. "Apparently she understands more than we give her credit for." She moved to the bed and began to unfasten the child's hospital robe.
"Yeah." Kisuke suddenly felt a bit dazed. "She's really smart." He hesitated, then asked, "Captain Unohana, what do you think could have happened to her to make – Captain?"
Unohana had paused in her movements and her face had gone very still. "Captain? Is everything –" His eyes followed her gaze to the little girl's exposed back and he froze as well, shocked.
Retsu Unohana raised her eyes after a long moment. Her face was grave. "They're healed," she said quietly.
It was true. The two vicious, life-threatening parallel gashes that Kisuke had seen not two days ago had completely healed over. The only remaining signs of any injury were two thin, silvery white scars.
The order came down from Captain-General Yamamoto himself, a scant hour after Unohana delivered her report to the First Division. "Keep patient under surveillance until further notice."
Which, of course, translated as "Keep an eye on her until we decide what to do with her."
It was, Retsu Unohana reflected, fortunate that the girl was so young. The Captain-General and many of the other captains had an unfortunate tendency to view the world purely in terms of "friend or foe." They would be much less likely to consider a child a potential threat to Soul Society.
Yet, even if the girl was not deemed dangerous, she would still be considered a potential liability within the Seireitei. She had no place and no purpose there, which Unohana knew would not be tolerated. There was a place for everything, and everything stayed in its place, from the lowliest shopkeeper's assistants to the members of the Council of Forty-Six. That was how it had always been.
Unohana sighed as she shuffled the papers on her desk. If the Court of Pure Souls found no use for the child, she would be sent back to the Rukongai. The captain of Fourth Company harbored no illusions about what happened to children in some of the rougher districts, and so she determined to use her influence to at least make sure her erstwhile patient had a decent roof over her young head in one of the more affluent areas. Perhaps in district 3...
A flurry of knocks sounded on her office door.
"Come in," she called. The door flew open and a harried-looking assistant healer stepped in and bobbed a quick bow. "Sorry to disturb you, Captain, but the patient in room 2126...well, she is missing!"
That Kisuke did not enjoy paperwork was an understatement. He spent generous amounts of time coming up with ways to pass the necessary forms and documents on to unsuspecting underlings, time that Yoruichi said (in an exasperated, amused way) could be spent actually completing it. But that was not nearly as much fun.
Actually, Kisuke thought, as he chewed the end of his pen and scanned the latest list of casualty reports, That might be a benefit of becoming a captain. More underlings to pass the paperwork to.
There was a slight noise behind him. He ignored it until it came again, a bit more persistently. Then he glanced over his shoulder.
The little girl was standing there, her hands clasped behind her back, watching him patiently. She was still wearing her hospital gown.
"Oh dear," he muttered. The child gave him a brilliant smile, which made her odd green eyes appear even greener, and padded over to curl up next to him.
The Fourth Division Relief Station was a busy place. No one there had the time or the resources to keep constant watch over a small child who was extraordinarily gifted at slipping away from her caretakers and finding her way to the confused Third Seat of Second Division.
It didn't even seem to matter where he was. After a few days, or even hours, whether he was in his quarters, or his lab, or the offices, or in a meeting with the Division squad leaders, or at the training grounds, he would turn around and there she would be, looking at him questioningly.
Before he could start to worry whether this seemingly supernatural ability would take effect when he was in the field, hunting Hollows, the higher ups of First, Second and Fourth finally caved, and assigned the child to him.
He personally thought it was a stubborn refusal to admit that they couldn't contain her, rather than a solution to the problem, but he admitted to himself and to Yoruichi that he didn't have the heart to protest enough to have the girl incarcerated in, say, the Senzaikyu. Which would probably be Yamamoto's next idea.
Besides, having her around wasn't all that bad. She was quiet. She did whatever he asked her to, except when it involved leaving her behind, and she was turning out to be quite the little lab assistant in the meantime. She was plenty clever, and she never broke anything. And she was cute. She had a way of staring at him very seriously whenever he explained an experiment or some aspect of the Division to her, and nodding furiously when he was finished. He found it more than a little bit endearing.
I could deal with kids more often, if they're anything like her, he often found himself musing.
And the weeks turned into months, and no one knew anything about her, or where she had come from, and soon people stopped asking him those questions, too. And little by little, he grew accustomed to having a second shadow.
She giggled, at times, but still never spoke a word.
What say you, readership? Do you like less detail? More? How does the flow feel to you? Is this chapter too boring? Feel free to answer any of these questions in your reviews, please!