Keichi stood in a large room with the Gotei 13 captains on either side of him. He could feel their eyes studying him. It made his skin crawl.
"You have to understand the situation we're in," the one they called Captain Commander said. He was a grizzled man with a swarthy voice. Keichi thought the guy looked more like he belonged on the cover of some sleazy magazine rather than the head of an enforcement team.
Shunsui Kyoraku had reluctantly taken over as Captian Commander over 100 years ago when his mentor retired. He had done a surprisingly good job as well. Being one of the oldest captains gave him more than enough experience to qualify for the position. Also, with the retirement of his friend Juushiro, he had begun to take things a little seriously. His vice captain, Nanao Ise, would emphasize "little". Nevertheless, the Gotei 13 has prospered under his guidance. Granted it had become a little different with the addition of a nightclub.
Kyoraku stared down at Keichi with his natural lazy gaze. "My my, you really do look like him. Hair is different, but the face is the same. I can see why you'd be mistaken. But, no use crying over spilt milk, right? If you want to learn how to control that power of yours, I suggest you join us."
"Join? You mean, become a shinigami?" Keichi's brows rose. "I'd rather…isn't there some other way?"
"Nope. Not really," Kyoraku shrugged. "Come on, being a shinigami isn't so bad. We've got food, fun, beautiful women."
Unohana coughed politely to remind Kyoraku not to get carried away.
"Right, well, it's not bad at all. Without proper training, you'll only cause trouble here."
Keichi fingered the sash around his borrowed hakama. "I'll have to think about it. I never wanted to get involved with any of this after all."
A bald man with the character for 7 on the back of his haori scoffed and shot a challenging glare.
Yeah…Keichi thought. I'm going to have to think really hard about this. The voice inside him had been silent the whole time. Keichi was surprised to realize he missed it. Perhaps this training would help him understand what was going on inside him better.
"Alright kiddo," Kyoraku said. "Get a good rest. Abarai-kun," he called to a red haired, heavily tattooed, captain of the 5th squad who had been staring at Keichi like he had seen the ghost of an old friend.
"Yes, sir," Renji straightened.
"Can you take Keichi back to your barracks?"
Renji looked surprised but nodded.
Though Kyoraku's decision seemed random, everyone understood his reasoning. One thing that had made Shunsui a successful captain-commander was his ability to work on a personal level. Unlike Yamamoto Genryusai, who had confidence in his own strength, Kyoraku knew the importance of relying on others. This led him to understand, and to an extent manipulate, the bonds between people in a way that would be most beneficial. Right now, he planned on using Renji's closeness to Ichigo as a sensor to what it was that gave Keichi similar power. However, they would fully know why Keichi had the same reiatsu until the boy produced a Zanpakuto. Had Rukia been present at the moment, Kyoraku might have called her for this duty. Alas, she had just been recalled from her search party in Rukongai and would not be back until later.
Dismissed, the captains left one after the other until only Keichi and Renji stood face to face. The more Renji looked at Keichi, the more shaken he felt. He wondered if this was how Rukia felt when first seeing the similarities between Kaien Shiba and Ichigo.
"Um…so…I'm following you?" Keichi tried to sound nonchalant. He actually felt awkward. The people here were so…solemn. It felt like he had walked in on someone's funeral. He rubbed the back of his neck self consciously as he tried to not make eye contanct.
Renji nodded. Even that small gesture was characteristic of Ichigo. "Yeah, come on," he said finally and led the way out toward the 5th squad barracks.
For awhile they walked in silence. Keichi couldn't take it much longer. "Look. I know what you're all thinking, and I'm sorry I'm not your friend or whoever this Ichigo guy is, but I really don't want to get involved."
When the 5th squad captain did not reply, Keichi said a little louder, "I-I'm just a kid still. There's no way I can do what you guys do."
Renji stopped suddenly. Keichi almost ran into his back. "Keichi right?"
"Yeah…?"
Without turning around he continued. "No one will force you to do what you don't want to do. But, if you make a decision for selfish reasons, you'll always be weak."
Keichi stared at the back of the man's blood-red head. Who the hell does this guy think he is…talking as if he knows me…?
Renji moved along but Keichi stayed in place. "I'm not weak," he protested.
That was when the tattooed captain turned with a serious look in his eye. "Oh? The prove it. Become a shinigami and I'll test your strength personally."
Renji continued walking. After a moment, Keichi followed.
The 5th squad's barracks came into view. Keichi paused. It resembled the flatland Nijo Castle in Kyoto. He had gone there for a class trip last year. Did everything in Soul Society resemble ancient Japan? If anything, this afterlife looked more Japanese than modern day. It had taken Keichi a moment to realize the stark contrast between his world and this one. Even the floors in 1st squad's room had been tatami. Were the shinigami copying the human world? If so, they were way out of date.
They entered the courtyard, fashioned in a zen garden style. Keichi paused to notice that there were even koi in the pond. Koi fish were supposed to be extinct. How did they get here?
"Oh…right…they must be dead too," Keichi murmured to himself. The realization hit him. Like me…Keichi sighed heavily, loud enough to catch Renji's attention.
"Captain Abarai?" Keichi began.
Renji looked at him, startled. Then, he suddenly burst out laughing.
"What?" Keichi asked with growing frustration.
"I just…Nothing…I just," Renji said between gasps of breath. "I never…I never thought I'd see that fast say those words."
"Huh?" Keichi blinked. "What am I suppose to call you? People seemed to get upset if I didn't say Captain."
Renji finally began to calm himself, holding a banister for support. "If it's you, just call me Renji in private."
"Fine," Keichi said slowly.
Renji showed him to a sparsely furnished room. "You can stay here for now. There's a men's bath just down the hall, and we passed the squad's main barracks. My room is across the garden."
Renji pointed to a large door on the other side of the garden. "If you need anything, or have questions, just knock," he said. Just as he lowered his goggles and turned to leave, Keichi said,
"Hey. Renji."
The captain turned and raised an eyebrow.
"Don't think just because you're being familiar, I'll go easy on you. If I do become a shinigami, I won't lose to you."
A broad smile crossed Renji's face. "You're 300 years too young to hope to ever have a chance, kid."
Renji nodded a goodbye and slid the door shut. Keichi rolled out the futon in the corner and lay on his back. He stared up at the ceiling thinking. These people were strange. Did he really have to become one of them? But if he was dead, where else could he go? Renji might be right. Being a shinigami might be the best way to get stronger. Was that what Keichi wanted? To become stronger? Or was there something else?
"That voice…I wish it'd tell me what to do now…" Keichi sighed.
His thoughts wandered back to his parents. His father never seemed to care what Keichi did, one way or another. It was probably because he was gone all the time. His step-mother wasn't so bad. Even though she got on his case all the time, Keichi knew deep down inside, she just wanted to have a normal family. Instead, she got stuck with an estranged husband and a delinquent son. Well, now she didn't have to worry about the latter. No one was going to ridicule her for her family life. Instead, they'd probably send her gifts of condolences for her loss.
Tch. What of it. In a few months it'll all be forgotten anyway.
And what of Taro and the rest of his classmates? It'd probably take awhile for them to notice he's not coming back. Would they say something like, "That weird Keichi kid probably killed himself" or "I heard he got expelled" or "They said he joined a gang and was on drugs"?
Dumb bastards.
So no one would really miss him. A person dies, and society pays the proper respects for a day or two. Then, people move on with their lives as if you never were a part of it. What a rotten world.
Keichi closed his eyes tightly. The image of a black haired girl with nearly blue eyes flashed into his mind. What was her name? Kami Ishida? Would she miss him? He did kind of save her life after all. Then again, it was more like he repaid her for saving his. She seemed to have known what was going on. Did she know what was happening now? Would she say a prayer at a shrine and then move on like the rest of them? Not like he cared. However, it'd be nice to think someone in the living world would think kindly of him.
It's your fault if they don't, Keichi thought. Wait. No he didn't.
You ignored the feelings of those around you. Only now do you listen to the hearts you can no longer reach.
"Whose there?" Keichi whispered.
I've always been here. I've always been with you. Now you can hear me because you choose to listen.
"Fine. I'm listening. Talk."
No answer.
Keichi let out an exasperated sigh and threw his hands over his face. I just need to get some sleep.
Keichi opened his eyes to a world filled with blackness. A bitter wind stung his lips. Somehow, this place felt familiar. Then, a light appeared before him. There was someone inside the light. Keichi squinted to make out the features, but he could not.
"What? I can't hear you," he said to the figure. It was trying to tell him something. He knew it was important and strained to hear.
"Your name…what is your name? I didn't hear."
The light filled him with warmth and the bitter wind died down. The black world began to crumble away. But what lay beyond it was too bright for Keichi to see clearly. Everything was light.
Keichi jumped up. It was the third time he awoke and didn't know where he was. Sunlight streamed through the open door. It cast the shadow of a small woman sitting with her legs folded under her and her back to the room. Keichi squinted. By the looks of her haori, she was the Captain of the 13th squad.
"You're finally awake," she said in a voice lower and more mature than he had expected. "I'm sorry for intruding. But it was important that I see you for myself as soon as possible."
Keichi stood and walked over to the woman. "I know I know. You must be one of the people looking for that Ichigo guy."
The woman's shoulders tensed.
Keichi sensed his mistake. "Ah, um…sorry. I didn't mean anything by that," he apologized.
The short woman stood. Her height wasn't much different standing than sitting from Keichi's perspective. She turned large purple eyes upon him that looked up from under raven black hair.
Faster than light, a hand shot up at his face and smacked across the left cheek. Keichi went flying back into the room. Dizzied from the force, he had no time to regain himself when a sandaled foot came down on the same spot he was smacked.
Rukia wiggled her foot into his cheek with satisfaction. "You're the third person with this face you know that?"
"I'm sorry," Keichi said through squished cheeks.
"What was that? I can't hear you," Rukia leaned in which caused more weight on Keichi's face.
He managed another muffled apology.
"Hmph." Rukia let up.
Keichi rubbed the side of his face, certain it would bruise. "What the hell was that for anyway?"
Rukia raised a finger, "One. Rudeness."
She raised a second finger, "Two. Lazing around all day and making me wait."
She raised a third finger, "Three. Your face is annoying."
"What! Two and three aren't my fault!" Keichi protested. "Besides, you're the one who decided to spy on me in my sleep. What gives?"
"Spy?" Rukia shot back. "Who'd want to spy on that ugly mug?" She stuck her tongue out at Keichi and pulled down an eyelid.
"Grrr. Aren't you suppose to be a captain or something? You look more like a kid than me doing that," Keichi copied the gesture.
Rukia calmed. Renji had already voiced his concerns to her this morning. Keichi not only looked like Ichigo, but sometimes acted like him as well. He had thought that it was his imagination. Other times, Keichi was exactly opposite of the Ichigo they had known. But right now, it was just as if it were old times.
"Rukia Kuchiki, Captain of the 13th Squad," she announced. "I am in charge of investigating the whereabouts of Ichigo Kurosaki. His last known position was in Karakura Town over 100 years ago."
"Town? Well, it's a city now. There's a lot more buildings and people so you'll have to look harder," Keichi mused.
Rukia smacked the back of his head.
"What the hell? Stop that!"
"Force of habit," she said without apology. "I don't think the Kurosaki we're looking for is in the human world anymore. That'd be impossible. He's most likely somewhere in Rukongai at best, or the Hueco Mundo at worst."
"Hueco…what?"
Rukia pulled out crudely drown sketches of bunnies and bears. "This," she pointed to a bear with a hole in its chest, "Is a hollow. It's what killed you the other day. Hollow travel between their home world of Hueco Mundo and the human world."
Keichi snickered and pointed to the sketches. "What killed me looked fiercer than that. What is that? A mouse?"
Rukia glared and Keichi dodged another hit to the head only to find a foot to his gut. Bent over in pain, he did not notice a look of fond reminiscence cross Rukia's face.
"I know what the Hollow are at least. That Quincy girl explained it to me right before we were attacked."
"Who?" Rukia looked up from her explanation in shock.
"Uh…Kami Ishida or something," he said, still rubbing his stomach.
"Ishida? And the girl said she was a Quincy? Are you sure?" Rukia grabbed Keichi by the shoulders almost shaking him.
"Yeah. Hey! What's wrong?"
Rukia's eyes were wide and distant. "What in the world is going on?" she wondered out loud. It seemed ghosts of the past were rising up.
Rukia noticed Keichi's confusion. "There is much to explain. I'll get Renji. You get washed up and something to eat, then meet me in his room."
Rukia picked up her pictures and hurried out of the room, leaving Keichi to stare after her.
The men's shower was "just down the hall" Renji had said. Actually, it was just down the length of several halls; make a left, and then a right. Keichi followed the sound of water and the smell of humid air until he found it. Right now, it was blessedly empty. He didn't feel like explaining his presence, or his face, to anyone else.
There was a mirror inside. Keichi took a moment to look his self over. He still looked the same. Death didn't seem to change the spirit very much. His hair was getting darker. He had tried to bleach it blonde last year, but it came out somewhat orange. The result had sent him straight to the principal's office. Now it was returning to its normal light brown. Though, he was sure they'd say something about its shoulder length. Keichi shook the thoughts of his living world away. He had already decided last night it wasn't worth thinking about, hadn't he?
A bruise the size of a small foot began to form on his face already. He poked it gingerly and grumbled. This world didn't seem to be much of an improvement.
Rukia and Renji were bent over a table in deep conversation. Keichi noticed crayons scattered about as well. He suspected Rukia's "preparation" involved doodling a new explanation. They looked up when he entered and fell silent.
"Keichi," Rukia moved aside to open room for him. "Sit down."
Not in the mood to argue about being ordered what to do by some midget girl, he obeyed.
"Look here," she lifted a picture. "This is what Renji and I think."
Rukia began a series of explanations. Souls were, in all sense and theory, a form of energy. Energy could not be destroyed, only transferred. When a person died, their soul either became a hollow, or it was sent to Soul Society. Specifically, souls went to Rukongai which was made up of 4 districts in the cardinal directs. 80 divisions lay within those districts. Thus, looking for one soul in Rukongai was like looking for a needle in a hay stack.
Souls that became Hollows went to Hueco Mundo. It was a desolate waste land that stretched on for miles. It was also as equally difficult, if not more, to search for a missing soul. Especially if that soul became an unrecognizable hollow.
Ichigo Kurosaki, was a powerful human who became a Shinigami through unnatural means. Rukia admitted how she encountered him and that since his arrival in the Seireitei, Soul Society had never been the same. When his task here had finished, he returned to the human world and led a fairly normal life. They expected to see him again when he truly did die and would welcome him as a full shinigami in the likelihood his soul retained its massive amount of reiatsu. However, it was not long after his return to the human world that his spirit energy completely disappeared. At first, they thought he had drained his power and became an average human. Then, his friends came looking for him.
Rukia, Renji, and Toshiro, the current 10th division captain, had searched all of Karakura Town. They met with a former captain by the name of Uruhara Kisuke, their contact in the human world, but he too could not trace Ichigo's whereabouts. It was…in short, a mystery.
"Until you showed up," Renji finished. "Captain Byakuya reported that one of his men sensed the very same spiritual energy. It was on a much smaller scale, but it was still noticeable. Since reiatsu are like a human's fingerprints, we naturally assumed it could only belong to Ichigo."
"Well I'm obviously not him."
Rukia and Renji shared a glance.
"Not exactly. No," Rukia said slowly. "But it is possible that you are his incarnation."
Keichi stared back at the two figures across from him. They were serious. "Incarnation? Of some 200 year old spirit?"
"It's abnormal, but not impossible," Rukia said simply.
"Okay. Let's say you're right. Where was my spirit for the past 200 years? You said energy can't be destroyed, right? It just transfers."
The two shrugged. "That's what we want to figure out…if, you're Ichigo's incarnation," Renji said finally.
"And what if I'm not?"
Rukia spoke. "Then I'll keep searching for him."
Keichi didn't know how he felt about that answer. If he wasn't their long lost friend, he didn't matter? If he was, then he was not himself? What purpose did the individual known as Keichi have in the afterlife? Did he even have a purpose in life?
Keichi stood and bowed. "I'd like to leave now, if you don't mind."
Keichi didn't wait for a reply, but simply left. He didn't know where he would go. Just some fresh air would be nice. A walk around the winding stone walls Renji had led him through last night might do him some good; help him clear his head.
Rukia moved to follow after Keichi, but Renji stopped her. "He needs some time alone," he said. "This is a lot for him to take in."
(Meanwhile)
Kami walked to her apartment alone, listening to yesterday's news report she had recorded. Normally, she rode her bike. Normally, she was in a hurry. However, today she just wanted to take things slow. So her bike just rolled along at her side, occasionally squeaking.
It had been two days since the "accident". The news reporters were all over the site where they found a collapsed bridge and one casualty. Keichi Kurosaki's death was only a notice in the more widely covered mysterious collapse of the bridge. Some people speculated that it had been the victim who did the crime. He looked like a delinquent after all with his several ear piercings and uncut bleached hair.
The media went with the story, though no plausible evidence could be found. Meanwhile, Kami had come up with an excuse to her department why the boy she had personally "taken care of" wound up dead near a sabotaged bridge. Not to mention her car was missing. In short, last night had been long and very stressful. Tonight promised to be no different with the piles of paper work lining her room.
Fortunately, word did not get out that she was the last person to see Keichi alive. The police and the D-Squad worked very closely together to keep things "safe" for the civil eye. She had her older brother Takashi to thank for that. He was both the Captain of the Disciplinary Squad, and Karakura city's chief's lieutenant. Needless to say, he pulled a lot of weight to keep his family's involvement in any matter private.
On other news, the notorious BangBang gang was arrested after a gunfight between it's leader and police. Kami rolled her eyes. Another lie. They were all dead by the time the real police arrived. No one was left to put behind bars. She was surprised they didn't try to link the bridge's fall to gang activities. Perhaps they needed more time to let the media puff its ratings.
No one in class mentioned Keichi's death. It was kind of sad. Kami wondered how his family was handling things. Perhaps she should pay them a visit? But what would she say? She couldn't reveal her short part in his life, especially seems how she was the reason it ended so quickly. Kami didn't normally feel guilty for another's actions. She did feel a strong sense of duty.
Kami changed her course. She headed toward the inner city market place to buy a condolence gift for the family. She had remembered is address from the night before. He didn't live too far from her apartment.
Upon arrival, Kami paused and dismounted. His place was part of the new developing project houses. Four families fit in one large building like a miniature apartment. However, it was set up in a way where one could experience living in one's own house.
Keichi's unit was dark. Kami approached and rang the doorbell. No answer. She tried knocking, but still no one came. An old woman stepped out of the unit next Kami.
"Ah no one's home," she said. "The father's never there and the mother is probably off getting drunk. It's a shame really. Poor boy."
"I'm sorry?" Kami said as she turned to the old woman.
The neighbor eyed the gift in Kami's hand. "You come to pay your respects? You'd be the first. I didn't think that boy had a friend in the world." She leaned in closer like a gossip, "Some thought said he was going crazy you know. My husband thinks he took his own life." She nodded once, quickly, for emphasis.
Kami frowned. Perhaps coming was a bad idea after all. The woman mistook Kami's expression for wanting to hear more.
"Oh yes," she continued. "Now the mother is off doing who knows what. Step-mother mind you. But still, she should show some respect. Things are so different now. In my day, women kept their house in order. Well, you best give that gift to me. I'll see to it that the family receives the proper condolences. I haven't lost my decency, unlike some people around here. Not at all."
Kami relinquished the gift. It didn't matter if the Kurosaki family got it or not. She realized she just wanted to see how things were going. She didn't like the answer. Perhaps she should say another prayer for Keichi's soul. Had life been so difficult for him? He didn't seem like one of those depressed kids. He definitely was the kind who would have taken his own life. Kami suddenly felt angry, but she didn't understand why. She kicked her bike into high gear and rode away from the dreadful place to the comfort of her room. Not once did she look back.