Kukaku Shiba stood reading over the letter that her uncle sent her. She had expected him to be angry for sending Ichigo to the Royal guard, or acting like a goof like he always was. However she was surprised to see his letter was neither of that. It was a serious attempt from him to check on her and Ganju's health. It was nice and made her smile. She missed the old times though. When Kaien was still alive and had his new wife Miyako around. Isshin would come over regularly to check on them, joking about his fukutaichou being angry about work getting pushed onto her and how his third seat was being well groomed into succeeding him if he retired. Back then their family had not fallen. They were still in the Seiretei and living in peace next to other noble houses. When they were kids she hadn't spent a lot of time with the other nobles, just Yoruichi.
She could still remember that day that Yoruichi told her about meeting two young men. Apparently they were from the west rukongai and seemed like really interesting boys. Kukaku had helped her pick out the location that the three of them could sneak off to to play. The boys had a knack for sneaking into the seiretei unnoticed as Kukaku soon learned. Then she herself got to meet them. Kisuke and Tessai. Kukaku wasn't as close to trio since she couldn't come with them, but she still saw the three of them as her most precious friends.
She never was mad at her Uncle for the fall of their family. There was no need to be. He did what he thought was right and that was all there was to it. Ganju had adjusted quickly to being in the rukongai, making friends with the nearby villages and starting his own little gang with the boar that Kaien found. Kukaku had made the decision to stay in the west rukongai. Ganju had known why, it was in case Yoruichi and the others ever returned, but never once did he object to it. It was true their home was never as full as it used to be, but it certainly was full now.
Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko were setting up the dinning table. Ganju, Kenji Yamashita, Mitsuru Ishino, Sadatomo Saionji, and Taichi Miyamoto were discussing their last outing. Kugo Ginjo, Giriko Kutsuzawa, and Shukuro Tsukishima sat off to the side. She could tell they felt they shouldn't be there. After all, company was coming. She heard voices coming toward the room. Correction, company was already there. Koganehiko and Shirganehiko immediately left to go greet them. The doors opened again and the retainers brought in Ichigo, Karin, Yuzu, Orihime, Uryu, Sado, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizurio, Rukia, Renji, Hanataro, Yoruichi, and SoiFon. Kukaku smiled as she lit a pipe.
"What are you all still doing here?" Ichigo gaped as he noticed the Fullbringers. Kugo smirked, as if he was highly amused. Kukaku took a long drag from her pipe.
"Because it's my house. Do you have a problem with that?" she asked. The males felt a shiver of fear go through their bodies.
"No ma'am." Ichigo immediately said. Kukaku nodded and looked over the other kids. She easily located Yuzu and Karin. So these were her other cousins? Karin was obliviously from the Shiba side. Like Ichigo, she took mostly after Isshin. However the other girl looked like she must have taken after her mother. The combination of Quincy and Shinigami still amazed the fireworks expert.
"I'm Kukaku Shiba, this is my home. It's nice to meet you, let's eat." She decided. She had been looking forward to this for some time.
xxx
Dinner was livelier that it had been since the last time Ichigo and the others had showed up. Ichigo and Rukia were arguing again, and of course Renji had to get in the middle of it. Hanataro and Ganju were catching up on everything that happened since the last time they had talked, that was until Rukia came over and took the healer away. She hadn't talked to him in a while either and was done with Ichigo and Renji's bickering. Orihime was telling her friend Tatsuki all about their friendship with Kukaku and the adventures that they had. The girls were listening in and all looked a little nervous at the part where Kukaku shot them into the sky. Keigo tried to hit on Kukaku, which ended up with him getting a foot to the face. Uryu and Ganju started to talk for a bit, then they talked to Sado and Renji. Overall, Kukaku thought it was a wonderful evening. They were all getting caught up and having fun.
After dinner they decided to crash at her place. She didn't mind. Ichigo was sleeping in a corner, both of his sisters against his sides. Rukia was nearby, and Tatsuki and Orihime were near her. Sado was with Keigo and Mizuiro and Uryu slept on the other side of the room, partially propped up on the wall like he was watching over the others. Renji was next to him. Ganju and Hanataro crashed near them. Ganju's gang were all over the place and Yoruichi was sitting up on the wall with SoiFon next to her. The fullbringers had gone to the guest room, not surprising her in the least.
Kukaku went outside, wanting to get a little air. It was true that she wished Kaien and the others could be here, but things were also nice like this too. They had a large family and it would just keep growing at this rate. She re-lit her pipe as she looked at the stars. She'd have to make a big fireworks display on the day they leave.
xxx
Sounds of battle rang out through the training complex, but that was nothing new. The eleventh division was always having a training match going on. Kenpachi and Ichigo were sparing in the center of the huge arena. Karin and Yuzu sat watching them. Karin didn't look all that interested though. When they first got to the eleventh division, they had come as the entire group. Keigo expressed an immediate desire to leave when he saw both Ikkaku and Yumichika, who expressed a sort of enjoyment out of seeing him again, or rather seeing how afraid of them her was. After the taichou had challenged Ichigo and he accepted, the others left in small groups, not saying where they were going. Now it was just the two sisters watching the spars. Karin stood up and stretched.
"Well, I'm leaving." she decided. Yuzu gave her a stunned look.
"What do you mean Karin?!" she gasped. Karin glanced over at the men fighting.
"I want to go see what else is around here. Ichigo's busy so it's fine." she said. Yuzu looked like she was going to protest again, but Karin just walked away.
xxx
Sado sat across from Shuhei as the tattooed male played the next song he learned. Sado nodded in approval. Two years ago he began teaching Shuhei how to play the guitar during their first rest brake in the Seiretei. Ever since them Shuhei had been improving at an amazing speed. He hardly even needed Sado around anymore. Shuhei sighed softly as he played a song that he had taught himself.
"It's a rather sad song." Sado noted out loud. Shuhei paused.
"I suppose it is." he confirmed. That was all the further the conversation would go, and they both knew it. Shuhei wasn't one to offer up information about himself, and Sado wasn't one to invade others privacy. It was part of the reason why the two got along so well. Shuhei went back to playing and Sado listened closely to pick up any wrong notes or cords.
Kensei stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Neither male had noticed him, and he would rather it that way. He liked to listen to Shuhei play guitar. It wasn't like listening to Rose. Rose had took it upon himself to work with Shuhei on the guitar as well, but Rose always like the more dramatic and loud songs. Shuhei was more into soft ballads. Another thing that contrasted with the boy's punk appearance Kensei supposed. Overall he was just happy that Shuhei was reaching out to others and not staying confined in his usual friend group. the taichou smiled and turned to leave, deciding it was time to get back to work.
xxx
Keigo looked around nervously. He hated that Mizuiro agreed to joining Ikkaku and Yumichika for lunch. The two men were beyond his understanding. Ikkaku was so physically strong that it scared him shitless. However his fear of Yumichika was much different. When he met them Yumichika had been willing to stand there and watch his friend die. The only sign of concern that he showed was making preparations for a funeral. He knew Yumichika must have cared greatly about Ikkaku, and to see someone like that do nothing was what Keigo couldn't understand. He didn't value his pride like they did. "Why didn't you bring Ishida? Weren't you both talking about designing an outfit or something?" Mizuiro asked Yumichika. The male nodded in agreement.
"Yes we were, but he had friends that he wants to go see too. We set some times aside in the next week to work on it." he said. Mizuiro nodded in understanding. There was a lot of people in the Gotie thirteen and Ichigo, Uryu, Orihime, and Sado had regularly interacted with them for some time now. Of course there was more than just Ichigo here that they would want to see. Keigo meanwhile looked from Ikkaku to Yumichika.
"How is your lovely sister by the way?" Yumichika asked Keigo. That made both Keigo and Ikkaku uncomfortable.
"She's fine." he said quickly. Then he remembered that Ikkaku and Yumichika had not come alone to their school when they met. "So what about Matsumoto?" he asked. Yumichika shrugged.
"She's fine I suppose. Haven't had much time to talk to her." he said.
"She's still annoying Hitsugaya." Ikkaku said indifferently. He saw her regularly at the fukutaichou meetings and when they all went out drinking together. Ikkaku usually liked to avoid the nights when Rangiku went though, he didn't want to get stuck with her bill. Most of the time she was able to shove it off on Shuhei. No wonder the poor guy was broke before pay day.
"So who all is going to lunch?" Mizuiro asked, wanting to meet them all. Yumichika shrugged.
"Not sure. Iba might come. We usually have lunch with him and Renji from time to time. We were all in the same division together once after all. I wonder how he is doing with his new taichou." Yumichika mused out loud.
xxx
Orihime, Rukia, Tatsuki, Yoruichi, and SoiFon arrived at the Shinigami woman's association. Nanao Ise stood as the president of the club. Momo, Isane, Kiyone, Lisa, Mashiro, and Rangiku were all in the room already. "We decided to have a lunch here." Nanao said sadly, then she turned to Rukia. "We promise this is the last time we will do this." she said. Rukia knew what she was talking about. They were in the 'secret' club room that Yachiru had picked out in the Kuchiki compound. Byakuya never really liked that they held their meetings in his home, but he never argued too much. They wanted to have one finale meeting and lunch in the old location, the one they shared with Yachiru, Unohana, and Nemu before they picked a new location. Rukia nodded with a smile. Tatsuki was looking around with interest.
"You much be Orihime's friend Tatsuki. We heard a lot about you from Orihime." Momo said. Tatsuki didn't seem to surprised. After all she had heard a lot about these women from Orihime, and she had even seen Rangiku before.
"Hey, Yoruichi, why didn't Hiyori come with you?" Mashiro asked. Lisa looked over, clearly wondering the same thing. The visored would have loved to see her and Hachigen. Yoruichi shrugged.
"I honestly don't know. I suppose they were busy helping Kisuke with the shop." she said. They didn't look like they liked the answer but nodded. Nanao then smiled. Things had been so difficult with everyone working on the repairs that they hadn't had a chance to have a meeting since all the Quincy mess started. Now they had a little bit of leisure time, and she was intent on using it to it's fullest so they could all get something out of it. Of course Rangiku and Mashiro never did a lot of work in the first place.
xxx
Uryu and Renji were sitting at a lunch table with Izuru, and Sentaro. "So how are things going in your divisions since the Qu..." Sentaro started, but froze. He didn't want to accidentally offend Uryu and hadn't been thinking when he asked. Izuru and Renji gave him stern looks, as if telling him he messed up, but Uryu looked at them with interest.
"How are the divisions recovering?" he asked. Renji frowned.
"Ishida, you're not..." he started.
"I'm not asking out of guilt Abarai, I just want to see how you are doing." Uryu almost snapped. He still did feel guilty, but they didn't need to know that.
"The division's numbers are getting replaced. They should be filled again in a few months. It'll take a few years to get all the structures fully rebuilt and the men trained, but it's well on its way to recovery." Izuru said. Uryu nodded, then gave them a soft smile, glad they were doing well.
"And how are you recovering?" Izuru asked. That question caught him off guard.
"Huh?" the male asked.
"Well, you're a kid who went through two huge wars in less than three years. It can be very damaging." Izuru said. Uryu was about to object to that when he remembered that they were all over a hundred years old and he wasn't even at the two decade mark.
"I'm fine." he said stiffly. It was amazing. He helped their enemy and they were worried about him. Renji scoffed.
"Sure, whatever. Let's just have a drink." he said, the other two males cheered, all drowning out Uryu's protest that he was under age.
Friendships that there could be between the humans and the Shinigami. It was expressed in the data books that Sado had taught Shuhei a little of how to play guitar, and Yumichika and Uryu I think would get along over making clothes. I just like to explore different friendships that either have been hinted at or I think would work. Hope you don't mind.