The twelfth division was monitoring the millions of souls released within Soul Society with the purification of dozens of arrancars when Kuna Niko, a scientist of the SRDI, heard rumors about her sister Mashiro and former captain Muguruma helping the ninth division out in Rukongai.
tags: Kuna Mashiro & Kuna Niko, Kuna Niko, Kuna Mashiro, Kurotsuchi Nemu, Muguruma Kensei, Urahara Kisuke (mentioned), Kurotsuchi Mayuri (mentioned), original shinigami characters, Soul Society, Post-Winter War, family reunions
She's the scientist girl with chains in her hair and she's Mashiro's sister, so. Here. Take this. I doubt many people will be reading this, but I don't care.
Rukongai together
Niko threw a nervous look towards the monitoring screens, where Kurotsuchi-taicho was directing the SRDI's efforts in keeping up with the soul-arrival data while Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho assigned scientists to go with one of the 20th seats and their squads on the field. She knew that, usually, no one would send her of all people – while she was a great researcher, she'd barely made it out of Shin'o because of her poor fighting prowesses, and she might not have lived so long if... – out there, but this was different.
During the last weeks, several arrancars – most of them menos grande – had been purified, and that meant thousands upon thousands of souls were being fed back into Soul Society. The hollows themselves and their entire collections of souls. They'd gotten a first taste of it once before, when the Karakura team had killed the Sexta's fracción – five fields of arrival in Rukongai had seen a few thousand confused souls be dumped together at their center-stone.
This time, it wasn't only five adjuchas-level – of the weakest kind, which meant fewer souls in their collection – getting purified.
This time, it was eight espada and dozens of numeros over barely more than a day. It was gillians and adjuchas and vasto lorde. It was millions of souls released from agony – and right into Soul Society.
So far, they'd identified sixty-three hotspots of arrival in Rukongai. It was theorized that one hotspot was one arrancar and their collection of souls – which supposed that sixty-three menos grande had been purified within that time frame.
Needless to say that it was difficult to both manage so many new arrivals for the shinigamis assigned to the fields of arrivals – even a gillian meant several hundreds of souls – and make sure that the sudden influx of new souls wasn't destabilizing the balance between Soul Society and the Living World. Hollows already counted as being on "this side", so it wasn't that much of a problem, but sometimes Hueco Mundo spilled into the "other side" and it was better for everyone for the SRDI to keep an eye on the balance anyway.
That was why Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho was sending scientists across Rukongai, to check on... everything they could think of.
It was the fourth day after the battle, already, and Niko had heard the rumors.
The scientist decided it was time to do something about it – or the team for South Rukongai would leave before she could ask.
Niko approached her vice-captain gingerly.
"Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho?"
The woman took a moment to finish assigning Rin and Urushido-san to go with the team for East Rukongai before turning towards her.
"What is it, Kuna-san?"
The shinigamis waiting for their orders looked over, too – and Niko barely knew them, in passing and nothing more, because they weren't part of the SRDI even if they did help them out in many ways. The twelfth division still had normal soldiers, as the former captain had thought it necessary to ensure that someone would be there to protect the scientists who couldn't do it themselves when they had to leave their labs.
Most of the members of the SRDI didn't leave Seireitei without being part of a team, like today.
The former captain... Niko shook her head. This was for after. For now, she needed to ask:
"I... Can I go with the South team?"
Tanimoto-san, one of the few regular soldiers she was familiar with, frowned in confusion.
"You don't usually leave the labs, Kuna-san...?"
A woman by his side rolled her eyes and muttered:
"She's asking for the South team, idiot. Don't you know who's out there today?"
The vice-captain continued on as if she hadn't heard any of it – for that, Niko was grateful. Even if she was one of the weirdos of the SRDI, she had no idea how to even explain something like that to Kurotsuchi Nemu, should she ask.
The captain wouldn't give a damn and look at her like she was wasting his time, but Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho just nodded and added something to her notepad.
"Kuna Niko and Nagao Hibiki, with the South Team, then. Twentieth-seat Yonezawa, you are in charge of that team, take eight soldiers with you and go through the fourteen hotspots. Make sure not to lose the equipment."
"Of course, Vice-captain. Come on, everyone!"
Hibiki-kun threw Niko a glance.
"...I'll take care of most of the sciencing around, then."
"...Thanks. I... Just when I find them. I'll help the rest of the time, I promise."
Their team made their way to the twelfth division's ishikaimon.
oOo
It was by the fourth center-stone that Niko finally saw her sister.
The team was still walking out of the center-stone's portal – Rukongai was way too big to travel it all on foot in case of emergency, so each district had a portal, an ishikaimon, for transportation, and from there you could reach anywhere in the district in less than a day, and it was also the point of arrival for konsoed and purified souls – and Niko was trying to look over the heads of all the new souls waiting for an explanation when she heard the voice.
It wasn't hers, but nonetheless. The scientist knew that voice, and where Muguruma-taich... Where Muguruma Kensei was, you could usually find Mashiro – or at least, it had been true a century ago.
Niko froze on the spot.
Hibiki-kun groaned and pushed her from behind.
"Niko-san, don't you dare chicken out now! You have no idea if you'll get another opportunity, if..."
She'd told him, once, about what had happened to her older sister. Hibiki-kun had just been recruited by the SRDI, and he'd asked about the founder, and...
Niko hadn't taken it well, so she'd made sure he knew exactly why the genius founder of the Research and Development Institute had been exiled from Soul Society and now they had to deal with Kurotsuchi-taicho instead. Not that Kurotsuchi-taicho was always horrible, but at least he didn't lie about being a decent person.
...There was no avoiding it, was there? With Aizen Sosuke's defection and subsequent defeat, with everything that had happened... Niko wasn't high-ranked, she didn't know what had happened exactly, but it was obvious that she'd need to reassess her feelings about Urahara-tai...
About Urahara-taicho.
But not yet, not now. For now, the point was that Hibiki-kun was right: with what had happened to her sister, a century ago, she had no idea if Mashiro would ever be allowed back in Seireitei, if she'd want to come back, if...
This – today was Niko's chance.
"You're right, Hibiki-kun! I'm not going to chicken out!"
He raised an eyebrow at her and pushed her once again. Niko almost fell down – she thought about complaining, but he was about three feet taller than her on top of being right – but ended up walking in the direction of Muguruma's voice.
She navigated between dozens of people, all more lost than their neighbors, and finally – she spotted the edge of the crowd.
The field of arrival here wasn't quite as packed as at the previous locations, even if there had to be around two thousands new souls waiting for an explanation – and a new life, but they didn't know that yet. Getting away from the center-stone and the ishikaimon had been much easier than the other times, too. The three – no days off for the third one until this all died down – shinigamis in charge of this field of arrival were holding a stand with the help of reinforcements a bit further away, going through the new arrivals methodically. The souls who'd finally gotten their "welcome speech" – explanation, quick rundown of the communities existing within the district, and a severely watered-down starter pack – could be seen wandering down the paved road, heading for one of the cities or villages uncertainly.
And sitting on a large boulder to her right was Muguruma's silhouette. Hisagi-fukutaicho stood just underneath, talking to one of his subordinates – and it was pretty obvious that the former captain of the ninth division was keeping an eye on the proceedings even if it wasn't his responsibility anymore. Hisagi certainly didn't seem to mind.
Muguruma Kensei was perhaps the only captain – other than Niko's own – from back then whom she'd been familiar enough with, due to her sister being his vice-captain.
That was, perhaps, the reason why he noticed her before she could get close enough to call out. Niko felt his eyes on her more than anything, imagined his ever-present frown getting a bit frownier – he'd changed, appearance-wise, shorter hair, weird clothes from the human world, but he seemed pretty much the same otherwise.
She saw him turn around a bit, saw his mouth open and close before she could properly hear the words.
"Oi, Mashiro! Someone for you!"
Niko's sister emerged from behind the boulder with her usual enthusiasm.
"For me? Where?!"
She had leaves on her head, and Niko couldn't help but notice that she'd straightened her hair. She couldn't even begin to fathom what she'd been doing to get leaves in her hair, but...
That was Mashiro.
Niko felt the tears well up and barely managed not to cry quite yet.
Muguruma pointed her out, and she saw – she saw Mashiro's face lighting up completely.
In less than three seconds – shunpo, her sister had always been good at that, much better than Niko, like with everything physical – Niko was being hugged fiercely and...
...swept up her feet and swung around in a flurry.
"Niiiiiikooooooo!"
"Aaaaaah, Mashiro-neeeee, pleaaase put me dooown!"
"Niko-chi, Niko, missed you so much!"
Mashiro finally let her down. Niko had the impression she was still being whirled around, the world swirling around her head.
When she found herself able to see and not only think, she adjusted her glasses back on her face and took in her sister's happy face. Everything always seemed so simple when you looked at Mashiro – or at least at how she looked at the world.
The tears came back with a vengeance, and this time Niko didn't even try to stop them.
"M... Mashiro-nee..."
"Aww, look, Kensei, Idiot, my sister's the best, she missed me, see!"
Niko wiped away the tears as she heard Muguruma's growled reply:
"Of course she missed you, Stupid! But maybe take her away from the middle of the road, you're causing trouble for those who are trying to work."
"Aye aye Captain!"
Mashiro picked her up once again, this time more carefully – or at least, less chaotically. They had only an inch in height difference, but it had always seemed so easy for Mashiro to just pick her up and bring her wherever she wanted...
They'd gotten to Rukongai together, nearly a century and a half ago. Mashiro had barely been an adult when she'd died, and Niko... Niko hadn't been one. People often assumed they were born in Soul Society, the both of them – because of Mashiro's hair color – but it wasn't the case at all.
Niko glanced back at the collection of souls who'd arrived following the death of an arrancar. They probably had vague – terrible, terrifying – memories of being eaten by a weird monster, and then – nothing more. Some of them might not even be aware of it, if they'd been alive and had no spiritual powers at the time.
Niko knew how that felt.
There were two ways to get into Soul Society at the same time and at the same center-stone. The first one happened very rarely, when two ghosts were konsoed with minimal time delay and while in physical contact. The second and most common way was to be within the same collection of souls and get sent to Soul Society together as the hollow who'd eaten you was purified.
The fact that Niko remembered what had happened back then and Mashiro didn't was another thing altogether.
It didn't matter, because her sister had taken care of her until she'd been grown-up enough to survive on her own, because Mashiro had been picking her up and carrying her whenever Niko would get tired as they made their way from Takaioka, thirty-eighth district in Rukongai West, to Junrinan.
Mashiro put her down under a tree and let herself fall on the ground.
"So, so, Niko, do you have a boyfriend? A girlfriend? How's the twelfth with Clown-face at the top? Say, would you mind if I came by to visit, now?"
Niko didn't answer her sister's questions right away – she wasn't certain Mashiro expected any answer, anyway. Not the way she kept piling up the questions.
Instead, the scientist buried her head between her knees and looked at the ground.
In a lull in Mashiro's babbling, she said it for the first time:
"...I missed you, Mashiro-nee."
Niko felt her sister ruffling her hair.
"I'm glad! It means you care, Niko-chi!"
Niko looked up – just a bit, just enough not to be staring at the ground and instead to see the sister she'd thought she'd lost so many decades ago.
Mashiro was pouting, as it was.
"...Hope you weren't too sad, though! I don't want to think of you sad."
Niko strangled a sob and reached out to touch her sister's hand.
"...was alright. I was sad about you, but a lot of other things happened, and some of those were good too. I made several friends at the SRDI, and the vice-captain isn't bad, though Kurotsuchi-taicho isn't any more approachable as he was back... back when..."
She'd thought so many times that Kurotsuchi-taicho, at least, wasn't Urahara-taicho. That even if Urahara-taicho had seemed kinder and better in so many ways, it had been a lie, and he'd taken her sister and that meant he'd been a horrible captain.
Now she could remember the panicked look on his face when he'd asked, the night right before her world had changed once again, if Sarugaki-fukutaicho had left already. For a long time she'd thought it was because he hadn't expected his vice-captain to get caught in it all, but that didn't make any sense, did it? He was the one who'd sent her to Fugai to help Muguruma and Mashiro- nee.
Now she had to wonder if the twelfth wouldn't have been a much better division if Urahara-taicho had remained the captain.
Niko couldn't help but wonder, from there, if everything that had happened back then wasn't also because of Aizen Sosuke.
"Say, Mashiro-nee..."
"Hmm?"
"When you... When it happened to you, when you disappeared... I was angry at Urahara-taicho for a very long time, after that, you know."
"Uh? ...Oh! You thought he'd done it, right!"
"Yeah, that."
The thing was, Niko knew that without Urahara-taicho, she might not be standing there today. Not only because the SRDI wouldn't exist and she wouldn't have transferred to the twelfth – she'd talked with Akon-san about those years, once.
She hadn't realized that half the researchers of the original SRDI – the first nine years, when Urahara-taicho had still been there – had been rescued from a secret prison – how could she?
She hadn't known either that a lot of the other half had come to the captain's attention because they were headed there too, because of their hobbies, because of the questions they asked sometimes.
"Is he..."
He'd probably saved her life, back then.
Maybe he'd saved Mashiro's, too. Niko didn't know what had happened, after they'd all fled, but it wouldn't surprise her to learn that Urahara-taicho was the reason her sister and the others hadn't become raving hollows.
She'd have to ask, one day.
"...Is he well?"
Mashiro's smile was blinding, and the hug was warm and happy.
"You're so, so kind, Niko-chi! I'm sure Ki-tan would love to hear from you and the others! He took in more strays, too, a girl and a boy, I think it's an unacknowledged hobby!"
Mashiro let go, and before Niko could say anything – about how she didn't even know how to get into contact with Urahara-taicho, about why exactly her sister thought Ki-tan was an acceptable nickname for a former captain – she was rolling in the grass, a large smile on her face.
"I always knew you were kind, Niko! Knew it when we were in the Living World and you always wanted to help me, knew it when I realized you didn't say anything after my hollow-self killing you, knew it..."
Niko froze, her heart beating wildly – and blurted out a "you know?!" absolutely panicked.
Mashiro didn't seem fazed at all.
"Sure. See, getting hollowfied has all kinds of consequences! And those of us who were hollows before coming to Soul Society, we remembered all of it! Well, no, not all of it, only little bits, but..."
"You remember what happened."
Mashiro stared at her, a pensive pout on her lips.
"Kind of? I know why my hair's green, too! And, uh, I'm sorry about killing you after my death?"
Niko blinked – waved the concern away, she'd forgiven that a long, long time ago, she wasn't even certain she'd ever actually blamed her sister, it wasn't like she'd understood right away that the hollow was Mashiro.
"I don't care about that, but thanks, I guess. No, no, I mean, you actually remember..."
The scientist licked her lips. Mashiro and the others were part-hollow, now, and obviously they had it under control, but... Central 46 might not want to let them back into Seireitei, given... well, everything. Hollows weren't pets, and they certainly weren't allies.
If she wanted her sister to be able to come back – or even visit – Niko needed to be able to prove that there was no danger. That they had perfect control over themselves. Urahara-taicho's word might not be enough, and of course the – what were they calling themselves, visoreds? – of course the visoreds weren't objective on this, but Niko...
Niko was a scientist.
She wanted to know things, to understand how they worked, to see what you could do with it all.
She could...
"Mashiro-nee..."
"Yeah, Niko-chin?"
"If I... Would you let me see your new powers? If I can see... If I can study the hollowfication, maybe I can get Central 46 to agree that you aren't dangerous and you can come back."
Mashiro blinked at her, her head doddering left and right in confusion.
"You think?"
Niko didn't want to make a promise she might not be able to keep, but.
"I think it's worth a shot."