outside his vision
4. in steel's reflection
He wakes up under an unfamiliar roof, because he's never slept in the surgery before. Maybe his father's old room would have been better – but he'd probably forget about the other issue and have his heart broken again.
He hasn't seen a spirit for seventeen months, huh. Kazui stares at the ceiling. If only his parents had mentioned that before. If only they'd told him how they fixed it, too, because then he can pass the message along and fix that mess, so the mess he's in himself can be straightened out too. Lucky half the Kurosaki family can still see him, but they don't offer much. Food and a roof over his head, yes, and they're important, but in terms of answers…
He doesn't want to deal with the old man in the shop by himself. He's weird and scary and somewhat condescending at times, though no-one can deny his genius. He'll know something. Probably. Hopefully.
Then again, they're a good decade behind the times. They might be able to help much at all. They haven't managed to give his father back his powers in seventeen months, after all. And he's heard great things about some of the members of the old Gotei 13.
Ichika's mum's a Lieutenant right now, isn't she? Or maybe she isn't. Kazui can't remember exactly when her promotion occurred, relative to the famous Aizen incident. He's also not sure why Aizen is so famous, considering he's not the only one to launch an almost-successful attack on Soul Society. Granted, he's the only one they've had to seal away because they couldn't manage to destroy him.
He's pretty unimpressionable now, though. He's sure someone could have gone back afterwards and dealt with him, no problem, if he was still a threat.
But that's beside the current point. Aizen is seventeen months sealed and his father is seventeen months without his powers. He's not seeing the relationship between those two either, except the obvious one. But that doesn't tell him where his father's power has gotten to.
Actually, does he still have his own power? He focuses, calling forth his own zanpakuto. It comes, humming cautiously. It feels the strange time they're in as well, but it's here nonetheless, by his side.
He breaths more easily. Here's an ally that doesn't keep secrets from him (except that's also a lie, because he hasn't unlocked his Bankai yet.
Maybe that's what happened. He's herd Bankai that are destroyed can never be restored. He's also heard Shikai however can slowly regenerate, and through that the zanpakuto can be restored. Maybe that's what's happened. His father lost his sword and thus his power, because he's pretty bad at casting manage (unlike Ichika's mother who fires off spells like she's got a bottomless magical reserve). But someone whose zanpakuto is broken and then restored… do they make a new Bankai or is that ultimate power lost to them forever? He knows his father has his Bankai but since he doesn't know the answer to that question, that knowledge gives him no hints at all.
Unless he asks what his father's Bankai looks like, of course. But what's the point? He can't exactly speed up the process. And isn't he thinking a little too much about trying to change this part of the world? It might be why he's here… but he looks at his own blade: flat and shining and his own wide eyes staring into it, and thinks that's just his wistful thinking. Maybe there's a reason here's here. Maybe there's not. But trying to change the future carelessly can be dangerous when he doesn't know what'll happen.
He needs someone who does know. And Urahara might. If not him, then Captain Kurotsuchi and he's even creepier than Urahara.
And he needs to see his mother too, even if it might prove to be as pointless an endeavour as seeing his father was.