Hunter POV: We ended up in front of a large bath house, people were walking in and out of the place and I peered down at Kenpachi, "All to ourselves huh?"
"Yep."
He walked forward through the front door of the bath and several people started filing out despite the fact that I'd seen them walk in just moments ago. I giggled as Kenpachi made his way over to the towel area and picked out soap and towels for us. Others silently filed out the doors behind him while he was occupied, men walked over to the door of the women's bath and called for their wives to get out. Seeing as I heard very little argument this seemed to be a relatively common occurrence.
"Good evening Captain Zaraki." said the old lady tending the desk, "Will you be ordering drinks tonight?"
"Nah, got the kid to pay attention to, wouldn't want the kid to drown on me." he said pointing up at me.
"Oh, how sweet. Have a nice evening Captain."
He walked into the men's bath with me still perched on top of his head, "Hey, shouldn't I be over there?" I asked pointing to the wall on the other side of which was the women's bath.
"You're how old? Eight, nine tops? Don't worry about it, they won't care. You're just a kid. Wouldn't do to leave you alone over there, you might drown, go missing ... or worse get caught staring at someones tits."
I punched his shoulder laughing as I slid down off his head, he chuckled and handed me a towel, "There is a stall for you to change in though." he said as he pointed behind us.
I went in and stripped off the rags that used to be my clothes, wasn't sure how I was going to put those nasty ass tatters back on... oh well. I wrapped the towel around my lower half like a guy and pranced out to the edge of the water. Kenpachi had already gotten in and I stood there just staring at him for several long minutes before I got in. It was more of him than I had actually gotten to see as of yet and I was not dissapointed. I was so glad right now that this body didn't yet quite understand hormones past the cute puppy dog crushes, but oh gods for the places my mind was going anyway.
"You got your soap?" he asked.
"Yeah..." I said as I produced the bar.
"Make use of it."
I started scrubbing it up my arms and down my legs, the bar turned an unpleasant shade of brown as did the water near me when I started rinsing. I kept at it scrubbing withe the soap and my nails then moving to a cleaner spot every so often, I even dug the shit from under my nails. Kenpachi walked over and dumped a small bucket of the warm water over my head,
"Hair." he said simply.
I scrubbed the bar in my hands and then ran it through my hair a few times clawing the years of cakes on dirt and blood out. Once I was all bubbles he dumped a second bucket on me. I actually had to scrub my hair again two more times before I was willing to call it done. I felt so much better and smiled as Kenpachi went back to his seat across the bath to just soak. I walked over and tried to sit in his lap as I always had back home, but he shoved me off.
"You're nine Hunter..."
"Oh, right I honestly forgot." I said sheepishly, "Damn it! Some of this is going to suck!" Back home I was twenty-six already with two perfect kids, and a libido worse than most teenage guys. I was also a notorious flirt and kind of a slut when it came to things I saw as sexy, beautiful or exotic. But that was all out of the question now, I wouldn't get him or anyone else into that kind of trouble...
He chuckled again, "Get used to it. We could be here a while... Be glad you're over there..."
"Huh?"
"Not having a great time with this one's mind..." he said glumly, reminding me that he was actually possessing another version of himself to do this mission for my dad.
I realized then what he was talking about wasn't the fact that he had two sets of memories running around in his brain, it was that this version of him was the usual pervert fight happy maniac and he wasn't handling that so well, because he was a bit more disciplined than that.
"Hey, I bet they also cleared out cause you're not wearing your patch, big guy." realizing that he likely had memories of walking in, or at the very least peeping on the girls who no longer dared to remain next door.
"Huh?" he reached up and touched his eye, "You know I hadn't picked up on that before. Hey wait, you're like totally unaffected." he said grinning again.
"Duh, I'm used to it already." I replied stating the obvious for him ... again.
"Right."
He sat and relaxed in his little seat while I waded around the giant tub. I'd always wanted to get into one of these things, I decided right then that we were coming here at least once a week for baths. Eventually I wandered over to him and found a second seat in the stone beside him. I sat there and put my head back against the rest, the water gently lapped at my ears and for the first time since getting dropped here three years ahead of him I could relax.
After a while I got bored with just sitting there, I tugged at Kenpachi's towel a little, he didn't move. Was he asleep? I looked over and found his eyes were in fact closed, I tugged at the towel again, it budged but stayed on. He was out cold, wasn't there something about not staying in hot springs too long? How long had we been in here? I shoved his shoulder and he started awake,
"Huh? Wha-?" he looked at me and I held up my pruned fingers, "Oh, guess we should get going then."
I got up and darted toward the bathrooms, I turned around just as he was getting up and his towel floated away. He started walking forward not even having noticed, I snickered,
"Holy shit Kenpachi! You're huge!"
He instantly looked down, "Fuck! What the...?"
I laughed and ran into the bathroom, "Hunter...! You little!"
Once he finally stopped chasing me around the bathroom in his retrieved towel we got dressed and headed out. He looked me over as we walked out,
"New clothes, now." he said.
The old lady was passed out in her chair behind the desk, Kenpachi tossed a couple of coins into her tip jar and we headed out.
We walked for a bit to a decent looking clothing shop, it had several kinds of standard shiningami uniforms in the viewing window. He walked in, waved to the purple haired ninja looking lady behind the desk and he set me down, "Pick out whatever you like, the fitting room is back there. I'll get your uniforms ordered. Don't break the bank kid, I ain't made of money."
"Okay Senpai!" I snickered as his eye twitched, I didn't stick around to see the rest as I started pouring over the racks, I found several tank tops and t-shirts to my tastes.
Most were powder blue or black with a sand color on it some where with decals like skulls, bones or Asian dragons. I also picked up a few plain tan shirts for training. The sweater-jacket was black with a blue hood and sleeves and had a rib-cage and spine on it like it was an x-ray shirt. The pants were pretty simple, loose fitting and easy to move in, but not so heavy as to make too much sound or be too heavy. I also tossed in a black and blue kimono which faded into tan at the bottom then into white at the hem and a mens hakama in similar colors with black butterflies stitched into the shoulder and around the pant-legs. I wandered to the back of the store and grabbed two pairs of shoes standard shoes one of them was the stilt shoes I planned to wear during training to help me with balance, and at least two dozen socks in assorted colors and styles. As I headed to the counter I was smiling like a kid in a candy shop on Christmas.
I felt great! I was happy, safe, clean, fed and was going to be wearing clean clothes soon too! I tried on a few of the leather gloves at the counter and finally found a pair that fit snug while still allowing me to make a tight fist without being in pain. It would make training easier later when it reduced the damage to my knuckles and arms that I was likely to take, to a more bearable level, it also helped with my fear of being found out by being touched.
Any shiningami worth his/her salt would know who my father was if they made skin contact, it was part of why I was so hostile and skittish about people getting so close.
"Holy shit kid, you sure you can carry all that." he teased as he took the arm load and put it on the counter, I took the gloves off reluctantly and handed them to him. He paid the nice lady and I had to ask,
"Ma'am, I see the weapons pouch on your hip, if I may ask... do you know where I could buy some Senbon ... or Shuriken?"
She looked from me to Kenpachi and he just smiled and shrugged, "Go ahead Lybella, I'll find someone to teach her if she needs help."
"If she's any good with anything in my skill to teach I'll help her myself Captain, I know the kind of strays you bring into the ranks." she said with a happy smile, "My brother runs the shop next door, you can get them there kiddo. Let me know when you start training with them and the two of us will come see what you can do."
"AWESOME! Oh Sen- uh Kenpachi please! Please can I! Oh I can't stand not having any weapons and I forgot all mine in the forest... doubt they're even still there by now. You know how it is..." I said sighing at the end because of the very likely loss of years of hard work, and Rose and the others would be worried about me when I didn't come back. Especially if they could feel his energy in the area, near my tree house. "Kenpachi? Can we go back to the forest soon... I need to talk to someone just to let him know I'm alive before he starts a man hunt."
"Sure, we can do that in the morning after we eat. Now let's go see if I can even afford these specialty weapons you want so bad... and before I say yes to anything I want to know I'm not waisting my money."
"I have some here she can use to test them out and you can use the targets in the back yard." said Lybella excitedly, I guess it wasn't often a Shiningami wanted to learn how to use Ninja Weapons.
"Really! You mean it!" I said excitedly half acting the part of excited nine year old, half real.
"Whatever, come on Squirrel! You want those new toys? Be ready ta' earn 'em!"
He shrugged and started heading out the back door of the shop, as she walked to the front. I assumed she had to close the shop for the moment. Only to hear her laugh nice and hard when she found me scurrying around Kenpachi's body again, as he once again tried to get that bell away from me.
"Yes Sir, Kenpachi sir!" I said as I mock saluted him.
"Alright girly, here I'll make a deal with you. You hit the target with each weapon 3 outta 5 times and I'll teach you how to use them myself, hit it dead center at least once and I'll pay for your weapons." she said handing me five each of senbon, kunai, shuriken and a throwing dagger.
"What if I can hit the center more than once?" I asked in a sickeningly sweet voice... making the lady snicker.
"A cocky little shit you got there captain." said a new voice that startled me.
I hit the ground hissing at the amused man like a cornered cat, as I launched the senbon in my hand at the intruder on auto-pilot... before I regained my composure and apologized realizing ... fuck ... I had just attacked Renji! Oh what I wouldn't give to suddenly not have spent 3 years hunting squirrels, bandits and rabbits with these little needles...
"Gomen (sorry) Abarai Sir, you startled me, I didn't mean to attack you!" I said bowing at the waist quickly as was proper, seeing as he clearly out ranked me in all ways. However Lybella was eyeing me a lot more critically, but no anger showed in her eyes only hope.
"Watch it brat! Great I just fixed this shirt too." he said clearly irritated but I could see well something else in his eyes, was it respect?
'I couldn't tell from here, but he had just admitted I'd managed to snag his shirt... aaaannnd now I was just staring at the sexy red head. Why did I have to be trapped in the body of a child! I did notice he didn't leave however, and I had to sigh, great... no pressure.' I rambled in my own head...
"Hunter, hit the target already or we're leaving." he sighed.
"But she didn't answer me?!" I whined back to him, forgetting momentarily that I was already pushing my luck with the slaughter happy giant, even if we were close friends in another realm.
"Squirrel. Do it." he said his power spiking in annoyance and I startled. Hurt that he would actually get that upset at me when I hadn't really done anything...wrong... he was actually getting irritated... oops that's right he's really tired. Now I was the who felt bad...
I nodded and relaxed so I could focus on the target, I flung my hand and hit the target with all five of the recently returned senbon. Three were in the center ring the other two were in the top of the target.
"Not bad kid but two are way off center..." he spouted only to stop, realizing what I had done, "... If the bull eye is the heart, the other two are buried in its throat and eye respectively." he announced clearly impressed.
I giggled like Anar again, too excited to tone it down this time and saw Renji take a step back, "Yep! You saw it too Renji-san! Awesome!"
"Wait kid... how do you know me?"
Fuck, think fast little Squirrel! "Seriously? Look at my clothes dude, we all know of you out there."
"Oh, right sorry. Well I'm off."
I just shook my head and hit the targets with the other weapons, the throwing dagger however I buried hilt deep into a target 60 feet away, dead center.
"Kid, you have yourself a weapons sponsor. I will buy whatever weapons you need for a least the duration while you are in the academy. After that you'll be on your own but I'll get you that far. You drop out and that's it as well." said Lybella.
Too excited by this news to give a shit I ran over and hugged the lady, she giggled and patted my head, I ran over to Kenpachi and climbed up, "Okay Kenpachi, we can go find some place to sleep now."
When morning came we were awoke by some one knocking at the door. Kenpachi grumbled and got up to answer it, he didn't seem surprised when there was nothing more than a note taped to the door.
"Ah, damn it." he said.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Change of plans Hunter. I've got a mission, going out to the forest will have to wait."
"How long will you be gone?"
"No idea, usually a day or two but it could be longer. Don't go out there without me eh?"
"If you're gone longer than three days I make no promises."
He sighed deeply and we headed for breakfast. After that he showed me to the academy dorms so I'd have somewhere to sleep while he was gone. They approved me to stay there at night even though my training didn't start for a few days because of him having to leave, this was also when I found out he was one of the teachers. He had to leave me there, alone in the lobby of the academy and I damn near cried that he was being taken away from me again after I only just got him back.
I ended up slipping on my leg and arm weights, and my new training shoes. I then started heading to the training yard where I could get a head start on what Kenpachi had said would be and take out my frustrations on dummies rather than a person who I would end up putting into the hospital if they didn't put me there first. As I went through the limited skills I knew I realized I was being watched... the red head from the other day, someone wearing a haori from Squad 10 and one of the other students that I would later find out was my soon to be Roommate.
Byakuya POV: Renji came into my office wearing the same older shirt that he had left in earlier,
"I had to leave it at the tailor again as I managed to get it ripped just minutes after I picked it up. Kenpachi picked up some kid off the streets again and damn! She's like nine or so and boy can she throw senbon."
I let him prattle on all by himself as this was the easiest way to get the full report. Getting him to write it down was impossible and inefficient as he'd forget most of the information by that point. He explained that the seemingly feral child had powerful amounts of reiatsu despite her age, no training as far as anyone could tell and yet a proficiency with daggers and the like that would be disbelieved had he not been the target of her startled attack personally.
"She attacked you lieutenant?" I asked, I could just see the paperwork this urchin was going to cause.
"What-? Oh yeah, but she missed mostly. That's what ripped my shirt again."
"You aren't going to file a complaint against her?" I almost sighed in relief, I had enough paperwork to do this week.
"Nah, it's my fault I scared the shit out of her."
"She knew very well who he was, Byakuya." whispered Death in my mind.
"She knows who you are." I said, cold as ever.
"Wha-?"
"Never mind. Find out where she likes to hang out. I'd like to speak with her. You're dismissed." I cut him off.
'Translation, get the fuck out.' He bowed quickly and left the room, I breathed a sigh of relief. How did I get stuck with him anyway? Oh right... the things I do for family. I shook my head and returned to the paperwork in front of me.
It was about five days later when Renji got back to me. He walked into my office and took up the chair across from me. I looked up at him waiting for him to speak.
"Go ahead and finish that first. I'll leave you alone." he said as he spun around in the chair making it squeal horribly.
"There's no point. Speak so I can then kick you out."
"Fine. She hangs out at the academy dorms pretty much all day now, in the evenings she goes out to the bath house and once she tried going to the edge of the city for some reason but a fellow rookie caught up to her and she went back to the academy with them."
"Good enough lieutenant. Now go."
"Seriously Captain, you always this cranky? You ought to go get-"
"Finish that in your head or elsewhere, otherwise you'll find my sword has a brand new red haired sheath." I said Senbonzakura drawn and pointed at his face dangerously.
"Yep, I'm out." he said as he jumped from the chair and bolted out the door.
"For some one so uptight, perhaps a night down at the bath house will help you relax." came the cold whisper in the back of my mind.
"Perhaps it will." I responded softly as I returned my attention back to my work.
It was well past dinner time when I finally set the last of the papers aside. I took a few coins from my desk, dropped them into my pocket and headed out.
When I reached the bath house entrance I found the old lady who ran the place passed out in her chair behind the desk. I dropped the coins from my pocket into her jar and headed into the bathroom area. A familiar energy radiated from the bath on the other side and I heard his deep voice responding to an young female. Kenpachi had returned today then and I hadn't planned on that, though it did little to deter me at this point. I undressed, took up a towel and soap then stepped into the next room.
They both looked up at me as I walked in, Kenpachi shrugged,
"Ah, you ain't going to ruin my peace and quiet tonight Kuchiki."
It was a little odd coming from him, usually he couldn't wait to start shit with me just so he'd have an excuse to fight me. Then I noticed the girl, sitting there in the stone seat beside him staring at me.
"Do you want the stone seat, Captain Kuchiki?" she asked.
"There are other spots in which to sit, child." I replied.
She crinkled her face, "I have a name damn it."
"Which is?"
"Oh, right sorry sir! Shinin'Risu, Hunter."
"Nice to meet you."
"You ill Kuchiki?" asked Kenpachi, "You're being way too friendly tonight." he said.
"She is a child, and has done nothing to earn my ire, unlike some people." I bit out glaring sharply at him.
"Oh. Whatever."
"I heard from my lieutenant that she's gifted with senbon and other such weapons. A very unusual talent for a Shiningami and I thought I'd like to meet her."
I looked her over for a moment, she seemed unfazed by the energy levels coming off of Kenpachi which was saying something since his eye-patch was sitting in the clothing tray back in the bathroom. There was something about this unusual child beyond even what Renji had explained about her.
"I'm intrigued Hunter that you seem unfazed by the energy levels put off by Captain Zaraki here. His eye-patch is not on at the moment and that would have most people on the floor. So, tell me how is it that you're seemingly fine?" I asked.
"I'm used to it by now." she replied.
"It's not something that you get used to over just the few short days you have been seen around the Captain."
She giggled, "Not him, I'm used to my dad's energy levels. This is nothing really in comparison."
"Who is your father?"
"I am." came the cold whispered voice within my mind.
I stared openly at the girl, wide eyed before I regained my composure.
"We'll need to be friends if we're going to survive what comes next Captain Kuchiki." Hunter explained, her voice just as cold and calculating as her fathers often was.
"You'll have to excuse me. I have other matters to attend to." I said as I walked back towards the bathroom area.
"Of course sir." She replied while nodding respectfully.
How was this even possible? It seemed the girl Renji had spoken of was the child of Death himself. A constant voice throughout my life, often bringing comfort and advice when I needed it most. There was little I could do to heed much of what he said, but I did what I could when able. I hated that I had to deny him in all other ways, my life would have been forfeit any other way. Yamamoto would have seen to that despite my family's lineage. There was a war coming, or at ther very least a great conflict. I knew that now, it would finally come down to a fight among our own, and Death was leading the charge through his daughter. It was high time for me to speak with Onohana, as I knew that she too could hear Death's voice.
It was late when I reached her door and I almost walked away, Death gave me a gentle nudge and I resigned myself to knock anyway. She answered before I'd hardly touched the wood.
"Captain Kuchiki? What's wrong?" she asked at once, she said a bit surprised at first.
"May I come in? I have some rather sensitive important matters to discuss with you."
"Please, do come in." she motioned me in as she stepped aside.
I wandered to the middle of the room, unsure how to begin.
"You said it was important, Captain?" she asked.
"Yes, but the matter is sensitive and I-"
"Say it." came that cold voice again a bit louder and more forceful this time.
"If you mean to speak of Death, then please be frank with me. I know you hear him and you know that I do, there is no need to hide it any longer."
I nodded relieved for her uncanny ability to break the ice, "Captain Onohana, there is a child, a young girl by the name of Hunter who will soon be entering the rookie class at the academy, she is the daughter of Death."
"You know this for certain?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Yamamoto will not let the girl live."
"If he were to find out..."
"Captain Kuchiki... I do believe you are suggesting a coupe."
"I said nothing of the sort. I'm merely suggesting that we keep an eye on the girl until the danger can be appropriately assessed."
"How do we accomplish that?"
"If at all possible, take her into one of the squads early straight out of the academy. If she shows unnatural talent or abilities."
"Whose squad would you suggest?"
"Either of ours or some one else that you would entrust with the girl's safety. We just need to keep her out of Mayuri's hands, God's I don't even want to consider what that sadist could accomplish with her as a test subject. More to the point however, we'd be screwed."
"Agreed." she said smirking slightly "And while Hitsugaya is a kind boy, I don't know if he'll be able to keep her from the science freak, or the Old Man. Very well Captain Kuchiki, did you have anything else to add?"
"That will be all."
"I bid you good night then."
I turned on my heel and left. That had certainly turned up new information, Hitsugaya could also hear Death's voice? How many of us were there? How many were forced to hide for fear of evoking the old man's wrath? Or worse...
"Captain Kuchiki?" asked a familiar voice as I reached home, "Are you alright, brother?"
I turned to look at Rukia, her large dark eyes full of concern over me, "I'm a little distracted." I admitted.
"If there's anyway I can help, Sir?"
"Thank you. Good night."
"Good night, Sir."
Hunter POV: It was nearly three weeks before I had time to visit the forest again, things kept coming up and keeping us from it. It pissed me off and when I couldn't stand it anymore had finally managed to sneak off of school grounds and run to the outskirts of the city. I got to the forest and ran deeper and deeper till I got to my tree. I steadied my breathing and forced my reiatsu to sharply spike only to fade into nearly nothing again, then I climbed up into my tree to rummage through anything I could salvage while I waited.
"Hunter?" asked an unsure voice from near my door.
"Rose!" I said flinging myself at him, "You came... I'm so sorry about taking so long. People kept following me and I didn't want to risk anyone seeing you."
"Captain Zaraki was here that day, we could all feel it, there was a scrap are you okay?" he asked as he ran his fingers through my hair while I sat on his lap.
"Yah, but he wasn't really trying or I'd have been screwed. He was the guy I was waiting for, why I was always bitching about him being late. He was supposed to be here like three years ago but he got delayed due to some unforeseen events. How are the others? Still doing good?"
"They are good, they miss you too but it should be easier now that they know you're alive. So I take it you finally got into the academy like you always wanted?"
"Yep, Kenpachi-Senpai is my sponsor and when Lybella-chan saw my skills with throwing weapons she became my weapons sponsor, but I have to do good in my weapons classes, and not drop out to keep her."
"I'm glad things are working out for you finally. Come back and see us whenever you can."
"Of course I will. Can you help me get this into a bag?" I asked gesturing to the bits of cord, furs and lost buttons I'd dug up.
He helped me get it all into an old side pack that was miraculously still laying around. Some one was getting close to us, the boy I'd seen tailing me most of the way out here. I thought I'd lost him. I looked at Rose, he smiled,
"Come back when you can." he vanished and I turned out the door and jumped down to the ground.
As I turned to go around the tree and nearly ran into the boy and instinctively I growled at him.
"Hey, you're really not supposed to be out here alone kid."
"Look who's talking." I said dismissively.
"Hey, I've graduated."
I looked and sure enough there was a zanpakto strapped at his side, I sighed, "Fine, let's head back then."
"Just feel the need to go for a run through the woods now and then huh?" he asked as we headed for the city.
I looked over at him and he chuckled, "No, I get it. You should see me when I can't get out to the water at least once a week."
"What's your name?"
"Joshu."
"Figures..."
"Huh?"
"Nothing. Come on slow poke, keep up this time!" I teased as I picked up the pace.
I kept coming back as often as I safely could and thankfully Joshu began to look at it as more of a training session and often was the one to tail me during these outings. We had agreed that if he could catch me before I reached the forest I'd go back with him without question, if however I hit the forest boarders he had to wait there for me to come back. His only request was that I not be gone longer than an hour or he'd come after me.
Rose got a kick out of the whole set up and was glad to see that I was making it work, however one evening as we spoke over a freshly cooked squirrel, a huge ominous energy appeared suddenly and shifted towards our direction.
At first I thought Kenpachi was after me again for sneaking out without him, but no... that felt more like an empty rage...
"Its a Hollow, and its heading my way..."
I felt my eyes go foggy as the gift triggered due to the threat of a hollow nearby. I tried to fight against my body as it carried me closer to the creature and straight for the city. I really needed to get a handle on this before it got me killed.
That's when I noticed Rose following me and several other energy signatures were heading this way as well, including Kenpachi.
"Rose hide... go!" was the last thing I remember saying as I approached the city outskirts... everything went black after I saw the young man with the liquid paper skin and black out gold eyes. He carried a zanpakto and had a phoenix tattoo on his left shoulder. I gasped as the energy surged through my body.