Disclaimer- I do not own Bleach
Chapter Six – Solitude
The day dawned a solid gray color, with clouds hovering overhead to cast a pall on the early morning light. Kaien woke to the sound of his alarm and rolled over to turn it off, "This whole 'waking up early' thing is starting to wear thin." He said to no one in particular. He rolled out of bed and grabbed the wrinkled Academy uniform off of his floor and stumbled out of his room towards the bathroom he shared with his sister.
The days had begun to blend into weeks, and those into months as time passed by at the Shinigami Academy for the twins. The lessons had gotten progressively harder, and the twins had been more challenged at first, but the near daily supplements with their older brother had given Kaien a better retention factor for the incantations, and more control over the raw power, which was needed for the higher level spells, to Masaki.
Though the days passed and the twins grew more accustomed to the strain of everyday life in the Academy, they still functioned in the World of the Living as well. The strain of the double life was wearing thin, and the novelty of it had ceased to hold any amusement for the young children. They had brought this up at dinner the night before, and had somehow managed to talk their parents into moving them into Soul Society, at least for the remainder of the summer.
Kaien, now showered and dressed in his uniform, stumbled downstairs to get breakfast, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He was followed by his ever-present and always chipper sister, "Good morning Kai!" She practically shouted, bounding down the stairs after him.
"Morning." He mumbled, unable to match, or even come close, to her enthusiasm.
"So are you excited for school today?" She asked, her voice wavered slightly, anyone else would have missed it, but Kaien caught on. His sister was anxious about school today.
"Very much so. I'm glad they put us on the accelerated course. I can't wait to meet my zanpaktou." Kaien became giddy at the prospect of beginning his Trails at the Academy; the necessary steps to getting a zanpaktou. Nothing too dangerous, but taxing nonetheless.
Wolfing down the rest of his cereal and putting his bowl in the sink, Kaien walked towards the basement with his sister. Rain had began to pour outside and Kaien looked out the window, "I wonder if it's raining in Soul Society too."
"I hope not. Nii-san said the Trials are held outside." Masaki said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail on their way down the stairs, "Do you think they'll make us go separately?" her voice was slightly uneven, bellying her fear.
"Most likely, they have to monitor us remember? They said it could be dangerous communing with our inner spirit for the first time. You'll be fine Saki-chan." He reached out and sent a pulse of reiatsu down into the Senkaimon for the last time, "At least now that we'll be living closer to the Academy we won't have to get up so early." He smiled at this.
"You're so lazy!" Masaki shouted after her brother, who had already stepped through. She rushed after him, leaving the house they had lived and grown up in empty.
They reached the Academy a couple minutes early and decided to talk to Momo about what they were going to be doing today.
After looking in her office and finding nothing, it was almost time for classes to start, "All well, we'll see her in class, right?"
"I'm not sure, she said that Ukitake-sama was going to have us go through the Trials. I hope Nii-san is there." Kaien looked back towards his sister as he answered.
The tremor was back in Masaki's voice, "Me too. I'm not sure I want to do this anymore Kai."
"All right, I guess you'll just have to stick to pulling pranks for the remainder of your time here while I go on ahead." Kaien shrugged and started walking off towards the room they were supposed to meet Head Captain Ukitake in.
"Oh no you don't!" Masaki rushed past her brother in a flurry of orange hair.
Kaien smiled to himself as he watched the quickly shrinking form of his sister. "We can do this," he thought, "The only thing stopping us now is ourselves." He rushed off after the orange-haired girl that was as much a part of him as his calculating intellect.
When he finally caught up to his sister she was standing outside a door, "This is the one." Masaki looked over at her brother and reached for his hand.
"Let's do this." He knocked on the door.
"Come in." The voice of Ukitake filtered out and instantly calmed the young children.
Kaien reached out and slid the door open and followed his sister inside.
The room was bare except for five cushions, three of which were already occupied. The wood paneled flooring looked the same as the rest of Academy, but with subtle differences. The grain patterns seemed to make up different designs. All seemingly simple with an underlying complexity that made them all fit together in some pattern more ethereal than material. The walls were plain black with the exception of the white, red, blue and yellow characters depicting the four cardinal directions.
The three people occupying the taken cushions were the twins' older brother Toushirou Kurosaki on the far left, Head Captain Ukitake seated in the middle, and on the far right sat a slight, dark haired woman the twins failed to recognize.
She sat ridged and unmoving. Her eyes were a shade of green that was somewhere between jade and lime, not quite either but taking the qualities of both. They were both luminous and dark, complementing their almond shape beautifully.
Her face wasn't lined except for a few wrinkles around her eyes, giving the impression that she laughed quite a bit; the otherwise smooth face gave no hint as to her age, though, knowing that Shinigami could live almost indefinitely, she could be hundreds of years old. She gave off a calming aura and the twins warmed to her immediately.
"Hey guys, I heard you were going to be moving in with me for the rest of the summer. How'd you manage to talk Dad into that one?" Shiro smiled at his younger siblings as they sat down on the two unoccupied cushions laid out for them.
"I think that the niceties can wait Toushirou." the voice of the Head Captain rang out and silenced the captain of the Tenth Division, "Good morning Kaien, Masaki," he nodded once to each of the children in turn, "I trust you know why you're here?" The question was obviously a formality.
"We do, Sir. " Kaien's clear voice sounded before Masaki could even draw a breath, "We're supposed to start our soul search today. You sent the Hell Butterfly yourself, Sir."
Masaki looked up to see Ukitake grinning and quivering with suppressed laughter, "Grandpa Ukitake?" Masaki's confusion was evident.
Ukitake cleared his throat and shook his head to clear it, "Sorry, your brother's boldness almost rivals your father's. But yes, today one, if not both of you, will walk out of this room with a sword. After that, the rest is up to you." He grinned again as he look at the woman on his left.
"I am Kaiya Amako. I will be guiding you into your spirit realm." The green eyed girl rolled up her sleeves as she spoke, revealing tattoo covered arms, "From there your task will be to speak with your soul and wrest control of yourself from them." Her eyes seemed to glow and the twins figured she was reaching for power to force a soul search.
"Don't worry guys, this has never gone wrong before. It's completely safe." Toushirou's familiar voice and warm smile comforted the twins and they relaxed some.
Ukitake spoke, "Who's going first?" the question hung in the air as the twins looked at each other.
"I will." Kaien again spoke before his sister.
"Look into my eyes then Kaien." The woman to Ukitake's left spoke and began a soft chant.
The world seemed to lose its color and the edges of shapes became blurred. Kaiya's voice drifted away from Kaien and he found himself drifting in a colorless, soundless, shapeless void. Before he could panic, his eyes slammed shut and he knew nothing more of time.
Kaien woke up to dappled green-gold light. It seemed as though the sun was filtering down through a leafy canopy above him. For a minute, Kaien panicked. Then he remember the last few minutes, or was it hours? He figured this must be his Spirit Realm. So where was his soul? "It must be around here somewhere," he thought to himself.
"I'm right here if you decide to look Kaien." The voice sounded familiar so it didn't startle the dark haired boy too bad, but he still jumped at the sudden noise. He turned around and was only a little surprised to see the old man from his dream, the familiar staff held in both hands.
"I'm looking, now what?" The young Kurosaki's voice sounded very much like his father's and would have surprised anyone that knew him, if anyone was there to be surprised, that is.
The old man sighed, "Why must you be difficult? The only thing you're postponing is the inevitable. Do you want me gone that bad?" His voice was soft but the threatening undercurrent was unmistakable as he sat down one the soft grass.
"My apologies. I'm new at this, how does it work?" Kaien sat with the old man and talked for what seemed like hours. The subjects ranged from Kaien's spirit realm, to school, to the staff carried by the old man.
"The staff? This is me. I will not come to you in this form for some time, but Kaien, do not forget this form for when the time comes, your memories will be as precious to you as your loved ones." The old man stood up as he said this, the warning clear.
"What do you mean? What about my memories?" Kaien voice had taken on a panicked edge that he couldn't control.
"In time." Was all that the monk-like man would say, "For now, this is goodbye." He tapped the ground with the staff and Kaien felt himself jerked up and out of his spirit realm.
He opened his eyes and felt instantly drained, "What happened?"
"This happened." Said his older brother, holding out his hand towards Kaien. There, clutched in his hand, was Kaien's Zanpaktou.
About three and a half feet long, the blade curved back like a Chinese broadsword, but was very thin. The handle fit his hand perfectly and a black tassel hung from the end. The hand guard was diamond shaped and four prongs shot up four inches from the points.
"Congratulations Kai!" Squealed his sister.
"Yeah, thanks..." Kaien heard his voice from a far off place. His mind was still on the parting farewell of his sword. He didn't know what was going on but supposed that he had no choice but to wait patiently until things were revealed to him.