I do not own anything bleach, only my OC.
This story takes place before TYBW, but after the end of the original anime.
Chapter 10 – Ghost
PREVIOUSLY
Kimiko sighed, closing her eyes, feeling his lips against her skin, she pushed her body closer to his, falling asleep.
Kisuke watched her fall asleep, tightening his arm around her. He kissed her neck one more time, before moving his lips to her ear. "I love you." He whispered to her sleeping form, planting one more kiss before falling asleep along with her.
Kimiko woke the next morning feeling the space behind her empty, she took a moment to let her brain fully awaken. Kisuke never left her in bed, without waking her, unless something was weighing on his mind, or he had a mission. She rose and dressed, wearing her black leggings and tank top that wrapped around her neck. Grabbing Suiro she walked out of their room to make her way downstairs.
She walked into the kitchen and saw Tessai there, "Good morning Tessai." She said smiling.
Tessai turned around smiling brightly at her, "Mistress, good morning! I hope you are feeling better today?" he asked, looking at her knowingly.
Kimiko blushed, of course Tessai wouldn't forget about yesterday, "Yes Tessai, thank you. I apologize for my sour mood; I hope I didn't offend anyone."
Tessai waved his hand at her words, "if people cannot understand having a bad day on the anniversary of the day you died, than they are not worth having around."
Kimiko laughed at his words; he always made her feel better about any situation. She looked around and out into the living room.
"He's in the lab, been in there since I woke up, not sure what he's up to." She heard Tessai tell her not looking away from his meal prepping. "Hopefully, you'll be able to convince him to eat today, you know how he gets."
"Indeed, I remember. I'll go check on him." Kimiko replied, walking towards the entrance to Kisuke's lab. She turned the knob and walked down the dark stairwell. Once she reached the bottom she looked around, finding Kisuke hunched over something at one of the benches.
"Kisuke." She said.
"Hm?" he replied but not looking up.
"What are you doing?" Kimiko questioned stepping closer to his work bench.
"I had an idea last night while I was sleeping, I'm creating a cage to capture this Arrancar, hopefully if we can capture him, than I can question him." He said looking up, his eyes tinged with a red hue at the edges.
"Question him?" Kimiko asked, watching him closely.
"I could get anyone in the detention unit to talk, I can get him to talk." He replied, his tone fierce, making Kimiko gasp, slightly.
"Come back to me Kisuke." She told him, that was always their code when one of them was too far down a rabbit hole, it was the tether that brought them back. She watched as the red hue faded from his eyes and he started blinking.
"Got lost, did I?" he asked her, smirking.
Kimiko smiled stepping to stand behind him to wrap her arms around his waist, "just for a bit, took a wrong turn in the woods." she teased, kissing his back through his haori.
"Hmm, knew I should have taken a left instead of a right." Kisuke joked back, resting a hand on top of hers at his stomach, smiling when he heard her laugh.
"I'll leave you to it, I'll come check on you in a bit, make sure you're not wandering around the woods aimlessly." She pulled her arms back, to run them up his back before stepping away. "I'll be in the training grounds."
Kisuke turned to look down at her, her eyes held so much love in them, he leaned down capturing her mouth with his, his tongue licking her bottom lip asking for entrance, which she complied with. He moaned into the kiss, following her lips as she went to pull away, letting her lips hover over his.
"By the way…." She whispered, her breath ghosting his mouth, "I love you too." She finished, claiming his mouth hungrily.
'She heard me.' Kisuke thought to himself as his hand buried in her hair, his project forgotten, groaning as she bit his bottom lip before pulling away.
Kimiko smiled at him as his eyes opened, "I always hear your words, my genius, don't forget that." Kissing him chastely once more she turned and left his lab, leaving him to work on his project.
Kisuke watched her leave his lab, shaking his head, he should have known better than to think that he could hide something from her.
Kimiko made her way to the training grounds, she noticed no one was here, so she had the place to herself. She set Suiro down against a boulder, and took off at a sprint, she flash stepped from boulder to boulder, feeling herself get faster. She leaped into the air flipping around and landing on the ground. She heard a whistle from behind her, turning her head she saw Yoruichi standing there with her arms crossed.
"You always did have an immense Hakuda talent, almost as good as me, you could have been a part of the stealth force." She said walking towards Kimiko.
"Almost as good as you? I do remember beating you," Kimiko retorted standing and facing her. Yoruichi laughed at her comment.
"I let you win; I didn't want to embarrass you." She shrugged with her response.
"Care to have a rematch?" Kimiko inquired, cocking her hip to the side, placing her right hand on it, taunting Yoruichi, who watched her as she considered her offer.
"Why not, nothing better to do at the moment." She said before leaping into the air, swinging her leg at Kimiko's head.
Kimiko blocked her kick with her left hand, pulling back with her right to throw a punch, that was easily blocked.
"Are you going to actually try?" Yoruichi yelled, flashing behind Kimiko kicking her in the back.
Kimiko turned in the air, adjusting her body so her feet landed on the boulder she was kicked into. She pushed off the boulder, launching herself at Yoruichi, before flashing to her right, swinging her leg and connecting with her shoulder, sending her spinning.
Yoruichi jumped up, her eyes searching for Kimiko, she finally sensed her as she appeared mid swing.
Kimiko watched as she blocked her punch, and their speed increasing as they went, both punching and blocking attacks. She saw a move that Yoruichi had always made, where she would swing with her right, but than grab with her left, waiting for the precise moment, Kimiko blocked her right swing, grabbing her wrist, than grabbing her left wrist, she smiled at Yoruichi's shocked expression before she leaned back, placing her foot at her abdomen, and flipping backwards sending Yoruichi flying after the flip, right into a boulder.
Kimiko landed on the ground, breathing heavy as she watched Yoruichi slide down the boulder. When she hit the ground, she heard her laughing, pushing herself up, wiping the blood from her mouth.
"I think you've gotten faster, after you died." She joked as she coughed some blood. "I retract my previous statement." She finished, using the boulder to stand.
Kimiko walked over to her, laughing, "I was always this fast, I just held back so I didn't damage people's egos." She helped Yoruichi stand and walk her over to sit on the ground. She held her hands over Yoruichi, kneeling next to her, as she started using Kaido to heal her.
"I had forgotten you were also good at Kaido." Yoruichi whispered.
"Hhmm… not as good as Tessai or Unohana, but enough to survive." Kimiko replied, laughing. She finished healing her, sitting back on her feet, smiling at Yoruichi, who rotated her arms, feeling full motion.
"All those years shadowing Unohana paid off." She told her as she stood.
Kimiko stood also, pausing as she heard Yoruichi sigh, "What is it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"This Arrancar that's hunting you, I think it wants your ability that you don't know how to control, who else knew about that besides Kisuke, Shunsui, Jushiro, and myself?" Yoruichi turned fully to face Kimiko.
Kimiko took a deep intake of breath, shocked at her words, her mind processing and trying to think.
FLASHBACK
Kimiko worked on the tea, smiling at how domestic this felt. She had never had the desire to do this for anyone. Once the tea was ready, she brought the tray over to the center table and placed it down. She took her seat on the couch with Kisuke bringing her legs up underneath her.
Kisuke sipped some of his tea, before placing the cup down, and turning his body so it was facing her. She took a deep breath in before relaxing.
"Since I was a child, I knew I was different, I grew up int the 78th district of Rukon. I managed, living as best I could. I started to notice that the weather, and trees, and animals would adjust with my moods, or if I just let my mind drift. As I got older, it got stronger."
Kimiko laughed remembering how she would spend her days out in the woods, finding solace in the trees.
Kisuke watched as she smirked, before continuing. "Once I figured out that if I got too upset things could get out of hand, eventually I was found by Shunsui and Jushiro, they took me in, placed me in the academy, taught me how to control my emotions, not matter the situation."
"What can you do with your abilities?"
"So far, I've noticed, I can track, and control the elements. One time I did revive a puppy that had died for a little girl…." She heard Kisuke gasp at the last portion of that sentence. "What?"
"You can restore life?"
Kimiko thought about it for a moment, but then nodded. "Yes, but I only did it once, and have no idea how I even did it." She shrugged as she replied, watching Kisuke's brows knit together deep in thought.
END FLASHBACK
"No, I still don't know how I did it the one time, I haven't tried it since." Kimiko said scratching her head.
"But maybe you did, maybe that's why your reincarnation Kido worked as good as it did…" Yoruichi reasoned, making a good point.
Kimiko rubbed the back of her neck with her right hand, "Possibly, but if I don't know how I did it, what good am I?" she questioned, walking towards the stairs with Yoruichi, who shrugged.
"Just because you don't know how to activate that ability, doesn't mean the enemy doesn't have a plan." She spoke, making her way upstairs, with Kimiko following her after she grabbed Suiro.
Kimiko stepped into the living room after Yoruichi, seeing Tessai, Jinta and Ururu getting ready to serve lunch. She caught Tessai's attention, watching as he shook his head, she understood that as Kisuke still hadn't come upstairs. She sighed, making her way to the lab.
Kimiko walked down into the lab searching for Kisuke, she found him still at his work bench but now with his hands in his hair, his expression one of frustration.
"Kisuke." She said trying to grab his attention, but all she got was a grunt. She sighed as she walked closer to him. "Kisuke, you need to come eat." Another grunt was the response she got.
She walked closer to his work bench, noticing he didn't even look up. "Kisuke, come back to me." She said, watching his movements pause for just a moment, he looked up at her, his eyes redder than they were this morning, he stared at her before looking back down.
Kimiko stepped right next to him, but not touching him, "Kisuke, I said come back to me." She said more forcefully, her tone demanding, letting her spiritual pressure flare a bit more. She watched as his body shuddered, his fists clenching.
"I have to finish…" he muttered, his voice raspy and harsh.
"You can finish later. Kisuke, I need you to come back to me, please." Kimiko said again, sterner than before, she only had to go this far once before in their time together, that was something she did not wish to repeat.
FLASHBACK
Kimiko made her way to over to the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, Kisuke was supposed to meet her, but he never arrived, getting worried she decided to come find him, when she didn't find him in his office at Squad twelves barrack, she came here. She made her way through the building, smiling at the people that passed her, they had become accustomed to seeing her, and made their own assumptions about her relationship to Kisuke and Mayuri.
She found her way to the development lab, and saw Kisuke hunched over the bench, he was alone in the room.
"Kisuke?" she said out loud but received no response from him. Her brows scrunched confused, so she stepped closer. "Kisuke, did you hear me?" She tried again, watching as his movements paused, she realized that he was down a rabbit hole. "Kisuke, come back to me." She demanded, using the phrase they agreed on, to pull themselves back when they got lost.
She watched as Kisuke slowly lifted his head, his eyes almost fully red, she gasped almost reaching out to him, but stopping herself.
"Kisuke, hear me, I need you to please come back to me, you're lost, follow my voice." she said softly, watching his eyes.
"Have to finish, have to figure out how to protect." Kisuke muttered, looking back down at his project.
"I understand, but I need you to come back to me, I need you with me, will you leave me stranded here alone?" she responded to him, coaxing him back out of his tunnel. She watched as the red began to fade, but then started to flow back.
"No, need to finish, have to protect." He mumbled again, not lifting his head.
Kimiko sighed, trying to think of something, "My genius, you're muse is lost in the woods without you, I need you to help me, protect me, guide me, I need you, but you have to come back to me."
Kisuke froze again, lifting his eyes to Kimiko, the red completely pulling back and disappearing from his eyes.
Kimiko sighed, smiling at him, "There's my genius." She said reaching her hand out, placing it against his cheek.
Kisuke shook his head, pushing into her palm, "Was I lost?" he whispered, closing his eyes as she rubbed her thumb under his eye.
"Yes, you took a left when you should have taken a right, but you're back now, you found me." Kimiko replied, "Now, can you come home with me? I've missed you." She kissed his lips softly, feeling him sigh against her, relaxing.
END FLASHBACK
"Kisuke, you're muse is lost in the woods without you, I need you to help me, protect me, guide me, I need you, but you have to come back to me." Kimiko said the words she used back in the soul society, the words that brought him back previously.
She watched his body freeze, processing her words, his hands clenching holding the tools in his hand, he was battling himself, she realized.
"Please Kisuke, I need you." She whispered again, "come back to me." Slowly she placed a hand on his upper arm, squeezing gently. His eyes snapped to hers, glaring, but then she saw the red recede completely.
Kimiko smiled at him, "There's my genius." She said softly, again using the words from so long ago, sighing.
Kisuke shook his head, blinking his eyes before opening them to hold her gaze, "sorry, wandered too deep into the woods." He told her smirking.
Kimiko, placed a hand on his cheek, rubbing her thumb under her eye, "Hhhhmmm, I should have come back sooner to guide you home, but you're here with me now." she replied, continuing to caress him.
Kisuke leaned into her hand, looking back down at what he was working on, "It's almost finished." He said, lifting his hands to start working again, but she pulled his face back to look at hers.
"You can finish after you eat some lunch, even genius' need food, and I won't let you get lost without food." Kimiko instructed him, grabbing his hand and pulling him to follow her up the stairs, she smiled as he didn't resist.
"Lunch, than I can come back?" he asked softly, still not removing his gaze from hers.
"Yes, lunch than you can come back, until I come find you again." She replied, smiling.
A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying it! please let me know what you think so far, reviews are always helpful, any thoughts or suggestions are great! :)