Sorry about just suddenly stopping, I had some serious health issues that temporarily took over my life but now I am back. I will work to update this now every three days or so. It should go on for about another ten chapters or so and I am debating on whether or not to make it a series or a stand alone story….mmmmm….we will see….Now back to the show!
It was time for Kana's first solo mission. She was both nervous and excited. Her mission was to dispatch a particularly hard to track hollow in the southern rukogai. Her captain had just finished briefing her on the details and handed her a map showing the various locations that the hollow had been spotted at. So far the hollow had not killed anyone yet but even with high level hollow it was only a matter of time before the hunger overcame the hollows consciousness and it went into a feeding frenzy. The longer the hollow waited to eat, the worse it's frenzy would be. And that is why it was making the higher ups so nervous that they were sending a highly skilled fighter after it. It would also act as a test for Kana. If she successfully completed this mission she would begin her training to be able to lead other soul reapers in battle. The time that she would take her place as squad thirteen's lieutenant was drawing closer and closer. But first Kana had to go kill this hollow.
"Well that's about all we know about this hollow and its location. We still have not received any reports regarding its abilities so be especially cautions at first. Stay back and attack from a distance until you determine its capabilities." Captain Ukitake said worriedly. For some irrational reason he felt the need to protect this girl from any kind of harm. Though when he thought about his last lieutenant, he supposed it was not all that irrational. He attributed the worry to that and did his best to dismiss it from his mind. Kana was poised to fill the lieutenant seat and he needed to be confident in her capabilities. It was natural that he would be concerned but he had to get himself under control.
Jushiro smiled down gently at Kana as she bowed one last time and left. As she walked out the door he noticed again how much she looked like Retsu. A shock of realization and hope suddenly ran through Jushiro like a bolt of lightening. "Wait up a moment Kana, I just remembered something Captain Kurasutchi told me. Mind if I get a quick blood sample? He lent a prototype of one of his new inventions to test out." Jushiro lied with an ease that would have surprised anyone who knew him well. Most people only saw him as a gentle peace loving man but Jushiro was a capatain for a reason. Someone did not achieve the rank of captain because they were powerless. It took a strong willed person to advance so far through the ranks. Kana gave him an odd look but allowed Jushiro to take the blood sample. She left quickly after that. Jushiro cluthed the vial to his chest and took a deep breath before flash stepping over to the 12th.
Kana wondered what the blood sample was all about. She highly doubted that the self absorbed captain of the 12th squad had given her captain a device to help him out. But while she did not trust Captain Kurasuchi, she did trust Captain Ukitake and hoped like hell her blood would not be used in some creepy way. She forced her mind away from the topic and refocused it on her current mission. She used flash step to get to the last know location of the hollow she was to hunt. She found herself deep in the woods in a clearing. Kana took a deep breath to clear her mind then set out to search.
Jushiro wondered yet again what had possessed him to take that blood sample and give it to Myuri. In exchange for running the blood test, Myuri had made Jushiro promise him a boon in the unspecified future. Jyuri had then taken the preciouse vial of blood and disappeared into the lab, leaving Jushiro waiting in Myuri's office for the results. Jushiro was not entiriely sure which result he was most hoping for. It would be wonderful to find the daughter that he had just found out he had but then lost. However, if it was Kana, there were repercussions to be considered. As things stood now, Kana was poised to fill the vacant lieutenants seat in his squad in the near future. Jushiro was pragmatic enough to know that he already had fears about loosing his new soon-to-be lieutenant because of the loss of his previous lieutenant. If Kana turned out to be his long lost daughter it was going to be nearly imposible to treat her like any other soul reaper and a normal lieutenant. He would be so over protective that he would cosset her, and Jushiro did not think that Kana would take well to that. The girl was clearly a fighter, there was no doubt about that. Just one look at that half smile that was always on her face during a battle was enough to determine that.
After 3 hours of searching the various locations where the hollow had been sighted, Kana was no closer to completing her mission than when she had started. It was causing her to become more and more frustrated. Kana had not even detected traces of the hollows spiritual pressure. If she had not received the orders directaly from the head captain she would have suspected some kind of trick or practical joke. As it was, Kana was beginning to wonder if there even was a hollow out there at all, or if this whole mission was going to wind up being a wild goose chase started by a coulple of drunk villagers.
Kana was on the verge of giving up when she heard a faint wimper. She followed the noise to a small cluster of bushed. Kana pushed the bushed aside and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the hollow mask. Kana's zampacto came to her hand as if called before she even fully processed the sight. She cut away the bushed surrounding the huddling figure to get a better look. "huh?" was all Kana could think for the first few minutes. On the ground before her was a small dog like creature with a hollow mask on its face. It had no hole that Kana could see and did not give off even the faintest traces of a hollow's spiritual pressure. This made her hesitant to attack. The dog barley moved other than to tremble. Kana slowly lowered her blade, though she kept it firmly in her right hand. She reached out her left hand slowly to the creature. The dog stopped trembling and looked up. It saw her hand and hesitantly reached out its nose to sniff at Kana's hand. It started to wag its tail tentatively and licked Kana's hand. Kana smiled down at the dog then frowned slightly when she noticed that what she had assumed was a hollow mask was bobbing around on the dogs face. Following an impulse, she grabbed the edge of the mask and tugged at it. With a sucking sound it peeled away from the dog's head. The dog gave a soft yip the started to franticly lick at kana's hand and face. Kana smiled again and picked up the creature. With a laugh she used flash step to take herself, the dog, and the mask back to the 13th.
It felt like hours to Jushiro before Myuri came back to his office with the results of the tests. There was an interested gleam in his eye and he kept prattling on and on about some blood anomaly but Jushiro was not listening. Myuri had handed him a piece of paper with the results on it and Jushiro was having a hard time processing what was on the piece of paper. When it finnaly sunk in Jushiro had to focus on his breathing so he did not start to hyperventilate.
Positive.
The test was positive.
Kana was the daughter of Jushiro Ukitake and Retsu Unohana.
Kana was his daughter.
Kana was his daughter!
KANA WAS HIS DAUGHTER!
Jushiro wanted to scream the news out to the whole soul society. He just could not believe it. He had gained, lost, then regained a daughter in the space of less than a month and it left Jushiro in a state of emotional whiplash. It was too much and based on the familiar flash of spiritual pressure he had just felt enter his office he would have to get himself under some kind of semblance of control quickly. How was he supposed to face his daughter without revealing what he just learned? He would just have to keep it brief and hope that he could blame any odd behavior on a new bout of his long term illness. This was going to get interesting
The long awaited fight scene will be in the next chapter. Kana does not find out her parentage for another couple chapters or so due to some story line stuff that needs to get done first.