Mirrored Worlds

by Joshiro.ukitake

When you consider that there might be other worlds out there, you think of the human world and Hueco Mundo, possibly even Hell, but would you consider another Seritei? (Note: some references to ships, but very few)

8. Chapter 8

Mirrored worlds 8

Jushiro stirred with a groan before rolling weakly to his side before coughing heavily, bringing up more blood, by this point in the evening, his day had caused him to lose a lot of blood, coughing itself made his throat and chest sore, the blood burned as he coughed it up so he was now too weak and in too much pain to move, to tired to notice that shunsui was right beside him until he sat up looking at jushiro with concern "you ok?" Jushiro couldn't remember how he got back to his room but it took him a mere minute to realise he now had a headache and realise the cause of such headache, shunsui had put him to sleep, jushiro looks at shunsui with weak agitation "your a bastard..." Shunsui looks surprised before nodding "I'll give you that one... You ok though?" Jushiro sighs weakly "yes..." Shunsui looks him over and picks up some water before putting it beside jushiro "here, drink this" jushiro looks at the bottle and drinks a little "why are you still here?.." Shunsui frowns "is there something wrong with making sure your alright?" He sighs "I do have another reason but you should still be grateful..." Jushiro looks at shunsui tiredly "you knocked me unconcious... I have every reason to be pissed at you.. But what do you want..." Shunsui pouts "so mean... I'm not that bad..." he then frowns "I thought you might be interested to know I took care of your guests and the report... It's all finished up for you.." Jushiro looks a little surprised then nods "thank you.." Shunsui smiles "no problem... I'd hate to see you stressing over the matter in this condition.." Jushiro is quiet for a moment before looking a little grateful "I appreciate the thought.." Shunsui nods "anyway.. They wanted to thank you, I said I'd tell you for them.." Jushiro nods quietly, shunsui sighs "do you need to go to fourth... You really do look like your gonna die..." Jushiro doesn't respond for a few minutes and finally shakes his head "I'll be ok... I'm just tired..." Shunsui's doesn't look convinced but is afraid to touch him in case he causes more damage "alright... If you say so... I will call unohana though...", jushiro no longer responds falling into a light pained sleep.

~meanwhile in the otherworld~

the effort from the trip had rather drained jushiro and despite his usual work ready attitude, he just wanted lots of cuddles and sleep, shunsui decided to go home as well as nana-chan was Rather worried about him. Rukia for ease had transformed into her human form and was in the captains office writing forms, rather stressed about her captains absence, as soon as she sensed his return she ran to meet him eagerly "taicho" jushiro was still human and smiles "Kuchiki San... I missed you.." Rukia blushes a little "your too kind... How was your trip?" Jushiro nods with a sigh "it was interesting.. But worrying as well..." Jushiro kneels to transform back to his more comfortable form and he steps out of his borrowed uniform before sitting tiredly, rukia looks a little worried "are you ok..." He nods and frowns "it was just a tiring trip..." Rukia picks up the uniform and folds it neatly "I hope you weren't intending on working that way.." Jushiro shakes his head "not today.." Rukia looks surprised and smiles "that's good then, because I wasn't going to allow you too.." Rukia usually was quite a beautiful eagle, but she was an equally beautiful human, instead of fur, her dies back and shoulders were covered with beautiful feathers, not one of them crooked, she had short black hair and purple eyes, she unlike her human counterpart, only wore a short shirt that covered her chest area, feathers under clothes were rather uncomfortable and often caused pain when they pulled feathers out, this was a general rule for most to all birds, even the dignified Kuchiki taicho only wore a scarf in his human form, shirtless. Rukia despite her small stature was rather strong, her arms were covered in the same gracefully feathers and looked just as perfect as her wings, rukia put the borrowed uniform over her shoulder before gently but securely picking up her captain, jushiro was scared of heights when he was picked up, however he didn't have a problem with them top when he was on his own feet, it was a little strange admittedly. He cuddled into her embrace "what are you doing Kuchiki San...", rukia smiles and carried her captain to his room "taking you to your quarters so you can rest..." She set him on his feet on his bed "I will go get you something to eat ok, so stay right there" she smiles playfully before leaving , her tail gently dragged on the ground behind her. Jushiro sighs but admittedly appreciated the thought and settles the curling up comfortably on his bed letting his thoughts wander, he was still worried about his counterpart... The human had looked like he was on his deathbed.

Rukia returned in a while with a tray of stew and she had managed to get him some sweets too with some tea, she also had a small bowl of stew herself as her captain didn't like eating alone with company, jushiro looks up at her "so how was the division while I was gone..." He then starts eating neatly, rukia used chopsticks and looks thoughtful "I got a lot of worry from thirteenth about your absence... But that was about it.. I finished most of the paperwork..." Jushiro nods thoughtfully and rukia continues "what was it like over there..." Jushiro swallows his mouthful thoughtfully "it's essentially exactly the same.. Only everyone is human... Even you look the same as Kuchiki San from over there..." Rukia smiles "really? So I'm guessing you met your counterpart then?" Jushiro nods with a sigh "he was ill..." Rukia looks surprised "really... Is it the same thing?" Jushiro shakes his head "it's a similar set of symptoms... But the causes are entirely different... His body is dying..." He looks bothered at the thought and a little depressed and eats once more, rukia looks shocked before looking depressed at the thought too "how did you know...", jushiro sighed "I smelt it... The blood smelled poisoned... I can't explain it another way..." Rukia picks at her meal then sighs "he looks like you doesn't he..." Jushiro nods "if I were human he would be my twin.." Rukia looks a little upset at the thought "I can't image it... I don't want to imagine it... It's too sad..." Jushiro nods "it's a strange sensation..." The two were quiet and finished their meals then and rukia changes the subject "so did you learn anything?" Jushiro chiles "quite a lot actually... Kyouraku taicho... Or I should say his counterpart knew me very well..." Rukia looks confused "what's that?" Jushiro chuckles "well he correctly guessed when both shun and I were getting bored and then allowed us to go to the library... He didn't ask us anything.. He just knew exactly how I thought... It was strange... Especially since he looked the same as shun... I felt like I'd known him for years..." Rukia looks thoughtful "how well did he know your counterpart?" Jushiro looks thoughtful "I believe he said about 2000 years... But even so... He must know my counterpart very well to be to so knowledgable about myself..." Rukia nods "that's pretty amazing..." Jushiro nods and starts cleaning himself "I did actually learn about one thing that was interesting... I was going to ask you about it actually since you were friends with the last shinigami here.." Rukia looks at her captain curiously "what's that?" Jushiro smiles "nothing too serious... I'd just wondered if you'd ever heard the term zanpaktou..." Rukia looks thoughtful "zanpaktou... No... But I always used to watch them practicing with their tamashi no hahen" jushiro looks at her a little confused "what were they?" Rukia looks thoughtful "I always thought they were silly... Apparently it means soul shard... Or something like that... But my friend always used to name them..." Jushiro looks surprised "really?" Rukia nodded "as I said, I didn't really understand.. It's just a human thing though..." Jushiro looks thoughtful "I want to research this... Soul shard... It sounds like a zanpaktou..." Rukia looks confused "what's a zanpaktou..." Jushiro smiles "it's basically what you just described.. But more meaningful..." Jushiro suddenly looks tense looking around, he heard something suspicious, rukia looks at him then around sure "taicho?" Jushiro had better hearing then rukia but slightly worse sight, because she was an eagle of course "I smell something... It's new... And I'm not sure I like it..." Jushiro gets up and goes to the door looking around suspiously, one caught another quiet sound but again there was nothing, rukia stands and goes outside standing in the walkway "I'll have a look..." The ground starts frosting where she stood barefoot.

She paces to the end of the walkway where jushiro had been intently staring at, she suddenly saw a flash of blue fabric dissappear further around the corner and immediately took off running, however the blue vanished as soon as she had turned the corner, she stood there in silence and listened but there was nothing, after a minute she walked back to jushiro who still stood listening "taicho... I saw something... But..." Jushiro nods "it's fine... But I believe we are not alone..." Rukia nods. The sound of a roof tile cracking broke the quiet and jushiro nods to rukia motioning for her to go toward the other end of the hall while he went the opposite direction, the roof was silent again though, jushiro was silent and as the end of his room was a climbing vine on the wall which he quietly climbed onto the roof, he gave rukia a nod and she jumped up onto the other side of the roof, rukia was a lot noisier then jushiro and their intruder looked toward her direction giving jushiro the chance to pounce heavily on the person dressed in blue sitting on their roof, the intruder didn't have a chance to react and move after seeing jushiro. Rukia rushed over the apprehended suspect and her captain however they were shocked by just who the culprit was... Or what he was. The culprit was a small child with huge green eyes and he looked afraid, stuck under jushiro's heavy paws, he odly wore blue robes that looked something out of a temple, a priest might wear something similar, his hair was perfectly white topped with a priestly blue hat. Rukia looks stunned "taicho..." The little boy resembled the captain a little, jushiro wasn't sure what to go.. He felt bad, he didn't want to bear his teeth at the child, yet, he obviously didn't belong here "who are you...". The child suddenly teared up and cried out loudly seemingly bringing his capture to the attention to his acomplice, who out of nowhere landed on jushiro's back holding what looked like a short stick with a curved end, the acomplice was dressed the same, proving to to be the first child's twin, however he looked slightly braver and he was holding his stick against jushiro side, only jushiro could tell that the stick was indeed a weapon as he felt the blade against his side, he suddenly felt something he hadn't felt in a while... Fear. Rukia looks shocked and goes to attack "taicho!" Jushiro was frozen where he was but looks at rukia "stop, They are dangerous!"rukia does as ordered though not understanding until she realised jushiro's side had started to bleed where the small twin still threatened to kill the captain. Jushiro sighs before looking at the twin under is paw "who are you..." When the twin doesn't answer jushiro looks annoyed "I'm asking you a question...". The twin on his back looks at the captain "you met us already..." Jushiro looks to the side "I've never met you... What are you talking about.." The twin on the ground looks at the captain "you did so... You came to our dad's world.." The captain looks shocked "are you from that world?" The twin on the ground nods "you met us.." Jushiro was starting to get irritated "who are you... What are you doing here.." Rukia watched unable to do anything or her captain would be attacked, the twins in sync suddenly smile "we are sogyo no kotowari..." Jushiro thinks for a second before looking shocked once more, remembering where he'd heard that name.

The human looks at jushiro "you should stay there, it's safer for you.." The human then walked to the middle of the courtyard and said a chant before saying the name... Sogyo no kotowari, a heavy feeling suddenly fell on his shoulders and there was a huge gust of wind, the human captain stood at the centre of it and then the wind stopped just as suddenly as it came, the heavy feeling was still there though, the human walked over holding an absolutely amazing pair of blades, they were unlike anything he ever seen. The captain smiles gently "this is sogyo no kotowari... My zanpaktou, the shape of my soul". Jushiro looked at the child under his paw "that's impossible... That name belonged to blades..." The twins frown before the one on the captains back jumped off and the one under jushiro's paw raises his hands, a ball of light appeared there before suddenly exploding sending jushiro flying, he landed on his feet and saved himself from sliding off the roof but he couldn't process what just happened, he looked around for the kids and they walked out unharmed from the smoke holding hands "it's not impossible... Your mean..." Both the twins suddenly had a short stick each and they hold it forward, the stick then glowed before the sticks turned into full sized blades connected between the twins via a rope with tags on it, the very same that the human captain had possessed, the twins look annoyed "this is us, but it's not our only form!" Jushiro looks stunned and didn't understand at all "why are you here...", rukia watched with shock standing on the edge of the roof. The blades change back to the sticks they were holding and the twins look at jushiro "we wanted to play:..." Jushiro looks at the twins not comprehending the words "you wanted to play..." They nod "you seem fun to play with.." Jushiro suddenly felt frustrated "what the hell... What kind of play were you intending... You've drawn blood..." Jushiro's tail flicks with annoyance, the twins frown "your the one that attacked us..." Jushiro sighs struggling not to be too annoyed though feeling rather pissed off "did you expect anything less? Should you even be here?" The twins looks annoyed "we can go wherever we like... We are bored.." Jushiro growls under his breath, he still didn't exactly understand what the children were... "Well you came to the wrong place in the wrong manner.." Rukia watched unsure whAt she should do and jushiro sits "you should go home to your dad..."... Wherever he is... He mutters under his breath, the twins pout annoyed "dad is in bed sick.. We can't play with him..." Jushiro looks at then "who is your dad..." They sigh exasperated "jushiro ukitake... We are his zanpaktou spirit... You aren't like dad at all.." Jushiro looks at them disbelieving remembering something about them being able to come to the real world.. But he didn't understand at the time, surely it was impossible that they could come to another world... But here they were... And in quite a bit of trouble too.. Jushiro was starting to get a headache and gives understanding " just whatever... I'm too tired for this..." Rukia had come to take her place beside jushiro and looks worried "are you ok... That blast looked painful.." Jushiro had indeed felt the blast and his chest was rather sore now but he was mostly unharmed "I'm fine... But this is about as much as I feel like putting up with today..." He look at the twins "I'm not in the mood for this today.. You should go home, I'm sure your dad is worried about you" jushiro then turns and finds the vines to climb down off his roof, rukia looks at the twins before jumping down herself and following her captain, the twins look irritated and vanish.