Morning came and Erisia could be found in the kitchen making pancakes... just like her mother used to make. Living alone she didn't often indulge in things like pancakes for breakfast, but she still remembered everything her mother taught her. Breakfast passes and Uruhara bids them farewell, stating that he has errands to run. "Eri-chan, if you can, please keep Tessai-san out of trouble while I'm out." Uruhara jokes as he slips from the store. He made his way quickly to an old place near the river where there are some benches...
He sits on the bench and looks out over the water... It was probably going to be a beautiful day.
"So, what is it you need?" A familiar voice inquires from behind him. Uruhara doesn't turn, he knows who it is...
"Sit down Isshin... this might take a little while." He says with a small sigh as he regards his friend once Isshin sits. "Do you know anything about a girl named Erisia?" Uruhara asks.
Isshin blinks a bit... "That's a name I haven't heard in a while. Heard she took up her mom's surname after the woman passed..." Isshin pauses. "Hito and Kimiko Takenaka's kid. What do you need to know about Eri-chan?"
"Do you know of anything odd that might have happened to her?"
Isshin regards Uruhara carefully then. "Why do you need to know? And I think I've known you long enough Kisuke that you're going to have to clarify what you consider odd in this case."
Kisuke sighs... "Strange things have been happening and unfortunately Eri-chan is right in the middle of it. I have a theory but I need more information. As for odd... anything noteworthy that you may know could prove helpful in this instance." He explains.
Isshin nods and his eyes turn thoughtful as he goes back in memory. He'd known Erisia Takenaka now Nakayama. The last time he'd really seen her she was maybe seven or eight...
"I first met Kimiko and Eri not too long after the Clinic opened up. Their house was nearby enough... Seeing the clinic open, Kimiko came by. It would be more convenient for her to walk to the Clinic than to have someone have to drive her to the hospital if anyone got sick. Don't think Kimi ever drove now that I think about it." He muses, pausing to think a bit more. Uruhara just stays quiet.
"Masaki took a shining to them both right away. But that was the kind of person Masaki was. Whenever Kimi'd come by, Masaki would sit and talk with her. Kimi seemed grateful for the interaction. Of course Hito was a businessman and he traveled a good deal so they were alone a lot... I remember Eri being a sweet tempered, quiet little thing. She wasn't any older than one at the time. Think that mighta been what got the idea of kids in Masaki's head... at least it might have been what planted the seed of the idea." He chuckles.
"Poor Masaki should have known that no kid with my genetics was ever going to be any thing even remotely like Eri." He laughs... Uruhara can't help but chuckle at that... after all he did know Ichigo... and though Ichigo might have his mother's hair... He had his father's spirit. Isshin goes quiet for a little bit, thinking about his wife was always a little hard.
He shakes his head to clear such thoughts. "One day, I get a panicked call from Kimi. She'd been in a couple days before... She hadn't been feeling well. It wasn't anything serious, just a touch of the flu. She'd been cleaning Eri up and got hit with dizziness and nausea. She asked Hito to look after Eri as she made a mad dash for the bathroom. She came back out and Eri was submerged in the water. She got the little girl out and was doing CPR while she called me. If she hadn't known CPR, that would have been the last of Eri-chan." He sighs deeply.
"She hadn't been breathing on her own for probably a minute or more when I got there. I don't remember much except getting in the house, pushing Hito out of the way and rounding the corner to see Kimi standing over that little girl who was just starting to turn blue... I went straight to work... the fog didn't quite lift until Eri was breathing again." He explains.
"Did you use healing Kido?" Uruhara asks. He had to keep his focus.
"If I did, I didn't do it intentionally. It's hard though, seeing a little one like that slipping away. Threw me into a panic I'll tell you... I couldn't think just act... and amazingly enough those dark little eyes opened up and after a coughing fit that brought up water, she smiled this tired little smile up at me... Wish I could say that was the last time I had to see that little girl hurt. God if I'd have known then what I found out after Hito died... Masaki and I would have taken Kimi and Eri out of that house by force if we'd have had to." He mutters...
So very interesting... "What do you mean?" Kisuke asks. Seeing Isshin up in arms about something wasn't all that rare but there was a tone to it...
"Turns out that Hito was a pretty mean, violent drunk. He abused both Kimi and Eri. How Kimi put up with it I don't know. She was a proud, noble woman... Maybe not the kind some actual nobles we both know would have been... But I never thought that Kimi would have put up with anything like that. Maybe against herself... but him attacking Eri too?" He was shaking his head as he talked.
"Noble hearts such as that have a tendency to not believe in divorce. She was probably trying to stay with the man she married... But who can say." Uruhara muses.
"One time, 'bout a year before Masaki died... Kimi comes in with Eri... she's got a towel draped over the girl's shoulders... and when she moved the towel, I understood why. Kimi tells me that Eri was climbing the new book case they'd gotten and fell hitting the small side table... I spent half an hour picking glass shards out of her back... Small whimpers, but no loud sounds... Eri was a curious kid... but after Hito died... well... finding out about the truth of him... I wonder how many injuries that girl sustained because of the man who was supposed to protect her." Isshin's disgust was evident. Of course he could be considered almost insanely protective of his girls.
"So you helped her out a lot?"
Isshin couldn't help but nod. "Once upon a time any way. Kimi didn't come around as much once Masaki was gone... and after Kimi passed away Eri moved closer to the University side of town. Not that she was ever as close as her mother was with us. Though I'm sure in one of the photo albums Masaki kept there's a picture of Eri at maybe five, holding Ichigo on her lap." He chuckles.
"You Kurosakis need to stop meddling with people." Uruhara teases... But it did give him some insight he didn't have previously... Still, knowing the background didn't entirely make the picture he had before him make sense. He was going to have to think more on it.
"That answer your questions?" Isshin asks.
"Yeah... that's all I have now...."
"So, why DO you want to know all this, Kisuke?"
"There have been nearly untraceable anomalous reiatsu readings in the area... Erisia was attacked just over 24 hours ago by a Hollow. She purposely provoked it to get it to turn away from a small group of children. She could see it, she provoked it and she was ahead of it enough to not immediately be it's latest snack. Had Captain Kuchiki not been there, Erisia Nakayama would be dead... Then there is also the small matter of the shadow panther she's spoken of... From the sounds of it, it is an awakened zanpakuto spirit. Yet we can't get any definitive readings on her reiatsu. If she had reiatsu like Ichigo's it might make more sense... But now I have to wonder... If maybe dying, even for that brief amount of time and all the rest of it might have awakened the spirit... and if it did... maybe it's been masking her since it awoke. It's just a theory for now... but right now, it is all I have."
"Byakuya was here? Well that explains Ichigo's surlier than usual attitude. They must have crossed paths. All this is happening to little Eri-chan? Take care of her Kisuke, at least while you're watching over her... girl's had enough trouble to last several lifetimes over... " The father in Isshin was clearly coming out then... but who could blame him? He'd known the little girl that the young woman had once been...
A little chime sounds... and Uruhara looks down at something that looks like a pocket watch. "My, my... is that the time already? We'll have to talk about happier subjects some other time Isshin... I have some research that won't wait. Thank you again." Uruhara says as he rises to stand. Isshin just nods, claps his friend on the shoulder and then turns to go back to the clinic.
Now that Uruhara had all this information the next question was - what to do with it?