AUGUST 12th
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Before noon during the eleventh, she spent time with Rukia and Inoue. She got to hear some stories about Rukia's time as a Soul Reaper. Katsuko was eager to know about how it was like, and this time, Rukia didn't hold back and fed her curiosity. In turn, Inoue and Katsuko shared their own stories as humans that also intrigued Rukia. She seemed very interested in the crane machines that kept cute stuffed rabbits in them. Honestly, Katsuko wanted to show her those machines just to see how she'd react when seeing it in person.
Past noon, she met up with Chisaki as planned. She came by the medical station to pick her up just as she finished conversing with Ishida about something trivial. At first, she couldn't help being withdrawn as per her nature around new people. However, Chisaki's amicable aura and smiles gently coaxed her out of her shell. Not trying to be open felt somewhat rude when Chisaki was being nice to her.
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Katsuko traced the first kanji of her given name in the air with her finger. "It's usually used when saying kindness, so on its own it would be gentle, affection, or also meaning excellent, superior. She told me that she gave me that kanji instead of using the one meaning love. She wanted to make it unique somehow." she explained to the noble who had asked her how she wrote her name. "The 'ko' is easy since it just means child."
"What about your last name?" Chisaki asked as she made way for other Soul Reapers who were passing by.
"Hiragi. 'Hira' as in ordinary, or peace since it's usually used for that word. The rest just means tree." Katsuko finished. She paused for a second and then decided to keep the conversation going by asking Chisaki how she wrote her name. She didn't want to be the reason why the conversation just died.
"I don't have a story for my first name." Chisaki said in feigned disappointment before proceeding to shrug once. "'Chi' for harmony and 'saki' for blossom." she explained, then she blinked in a realization. "If we put the kanji of my first name and your last name together, we create the word peace. Isn't that interesting?"
Katsuko mentally pictured the two characters and placed them side by side. Chisaki was right. "Oh... that's true."
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Just by talking about their names, the conversation shifted to where she learned some of the names of the captains and lieutenants of Thirteen Court Guards Squads (minus the meanings of their names). It was fun to learn them. She literally had to play a guessing game with Chisaki by trying to remember which name belonged to which face that she could still remember from when they gathered on Sokyoku Hill.
She also learned some of the seated officers. Speaking of those seated officers, she became truly acquainted with Tokuin and Mitsufuda thanks to Chisaki after running into them. Needless to say, they felt quite dumb for falling for her façade. Mitsufuda was quite loud when it came to being surprised about their similar appearances. He wouldn't stop looking closely at her after she pushed her hair away from her face. Tokuin was silently admiring the phenomenon with a much tamer surprise. They gave kudos her for her acting. And to their defense, Mitsufuda said that he and Tokuin barely saw Chisaki in the first place because she usually resided with the main family despite being from the branch family like them. They mostly knew her in name only.
Chisaki wanted to bring her to a teahouse to have her try a snack that she thought would suit her taste. She remembered that Katsuko had a little sweet tooth. Simply mentioning sweets made Katsuko subtly eager to try whatever they had to offer. Her taste buds were basically screaming for something more flavourful anyway. Chisaki, being the rich girl that she was, had no problem in affording whatever it is that Katsuko wanted to try. Of course, Katsuko didn't want to push it so she chose to pick one item and a drink.
In there, that's where she realized that Chisaki was looking better.
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Katsuko had spent the last two minutes listening to Chisaki list off the treats that they served at the teahouse so she already had an idea of what she wanted to eat. She seemed eager to have Katsuko stuff her mouth with food from the Soul Society, but the teen was adamant about not letting Chisaki spend her money on her when she just returned. The last thing she needed was a noble family shaking their heads in disapproval for taking advantage of their members. She might be overthinking, but she just didn't want to cause trouble for Chisaki.
The teahouse wasn't full. Chisaki greeted the two men sitting at a table as she and Katsuko walked in. One had no hair while the other was just… well, handsome. He had jaw length black hair and purple eyes. He also had red and yellow feathers on the right side of his face. How did he attach them on his eyebrow and eyelash? Katsuko didn't know. She just knew that she was looking at a beautiful man.
"What the hell… this guy is beautiful..." Katsuko mumbled, almost in awe. She was standing a bit behind her lookalike, a little timid.
Half of the guys in her class probably couldn't even compete with this man's looks.
Chisaki looked to her and smiled at how Katsuko's eyes shone upon setting her eyes on Yumichika. The man in question heard her compliment and couldn't help the prideful smirk on his face just as he lifted the cup to his lips, clearly pleased about how she stroked his ego.
"You must be one of Ichigo's friends." The one with no hair realized. The word about one of the Ryoka looking very much like the noble Naogoma Chisaki reached many Soul Reapers so it wasn't hard to identify her.
Chisaki dropped a hand on Katsuko's shoulder, surprising the teen. "Yes, this is her. Hiragi Katsuko." The noble looked at Katsuko and pointed at the two men. "These two are Ayasegawa Yumichika and Madarame Ikkaku from Squad 11."
Squad 11?
"You guys ate curry yesterday." She remembered, dropping a fist in her hand.
"They did?" Chisaki blinked and looked at Ikkaku and Yumichika. She was familiar with the meal since she once saw Katsuko eat it when she was still in her body.
"Ichigo brought it over to the barracks." Ikkaku revealed to the brown haired noble just before he took a bite out of his treat.
"Oh, I see."
"Rukia made some yesterday in the medical station." Katsuko added. "I had some, it was good."
"Yes," Yumichika set down his cup almost elegantly. "despite its ugly appearance, it was quite tasty." Then he looked at Katsuko and Chisaki. The first was quick to notice him examining their appearance with a thoughtful hand on his chin. Hesitantly reaching up to touch her head, she wondered if something was on her hair.
"Ayasegawa-san?" Chisaki called, wondering why his purple eyes were looking at them like that. "Is there something the matter?"
"It's just that you two are almost like walking mirrors in a way. You both are quite pretty so I'm a little envious that you could admire yourself from any angle. How I wish I could as well." He said with narrowed eyes.
"Here we go." Ikkaku rolled his eyes and sipped his tea.
Katsuko's eyes grew large when he plainly said that. The pretty boy had called her pretty. It felt like such a damn honour to be honest.
Chisaki smiled politely at him. "If you had a lookalike, I'm sure people would have more chances to admire your beauty." This wasn't just flattery. Chisaki really found Yumichika quite beautiful.
"I think so too!"
"Naogoma-san, don't get him started." Ikkaku sighed, already sensing one of Yumichika's rambles about beauty on the horizon.
Thinking about what Yumichika said, Katsuko reached up and fingered her long bangs and wondered if she should cut it when she got back home. His words reminded her of how her mother would always tell her to stop draping her hair over her face. She always said that she was pretty so why the heck would she always hide her face?
She was always fond of hiding her face with her hair. In middle school, it made it easy to pretend she was awake in class when her head was down while her hand propped it up, hiding her eyes when she dozed off. It was also useful to look around discreetly. Self-esteem also must have played a part. She also must have thought it was cool to hide her face back in middle school. Who knows. But she was sure there was a bigger reason, she just couldn't remember it.
Now that she was a bit older, it kind of got annoying. It always flicked around in her sight when she ran in gym classes. It also got in the way when she looked down to do something on a desk, it wasn't long enough to curl behind her ear so it always fell in her sight.
Maybe she should cut it shorter, above her eye this time.
Pulled out of her thoughts, Katsuko felt Chisaki place a hand on her back to gently nudge her forward as she pointed out to a free table in the teahouse. Once they were settled, Chisaki opened up the menu in front of her and pointed at one of the items. Because of her lack of knowledge on the currency, Katsuko couldn't tell if whatever she was pointing at was expensive or not.
"You should try this one." The blue eyed noble suggested. "My old lieutenant was the one who made me try this and it was really good. I think you'd like it too."
Katsuko kept her hands on her lap and felt a like self-conscious about being in the teahouse. It was like being in a foreign country. That timidity she felt around other people was surfacing again. "Are you going to get it too?"
The brown haired woman nodded. "I haven't had it in a long time so…" she smiled, excited, and turned to search for a waitress, calling her over politely.
Chisaki seemed to be doing better than yesterday. She seemed less distant.
Katsuko had felt it when she spoke with Chisaki the first time. It was as if there was a thin invisible wall surrounding Chisaki. But today, her spirits seem to look better. She could see it in her eyes.
Did something happen?
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Of course, Katsuko couldn't help but feel relieved that she looked well. She didn't deserve to be depressed over something she couldn't control. But she didn't dare to ask what spurred on this positive mood out of fear of being insensitive or stepping on a landmine.
Unbeknownst to Katsuko, Chisaki had simply made up her mind to keep moving forward.
After parting ways with Katsuko, Chisaki returned to Squad 9's grounds and spend the majority of her time in its forest, simply laid out on the grass and staring up at the sky to do some much needed thinking.
She was back in the Soul Society.
Everyone was aware of the truth that happened that night.
She was obviously not held responsible for her actions.
However, a part of her unreasonably blamed herself for falling victim to Aizen's hypnosis. But the incident was inevitable because she had seen Aizen's Shikai long ago. Yet, her heart could not settle down just yet. It didn't feel right to just wash her hands and keep moving forward without doing something to let go.
When it came to something like this, she was surprisingly strong, but perhaps those thirty long years helped her sort out who to blame, what to feel, and how to stand up. She was always tended to lean towards logic than emotion too.
Time doesn't stop for anyone, not even her. She couldn't just pitch herself into a dark place. She wasn't going to crumble so easily. Her old Captain wouldn't like it if she couldn't pull herself together either. Some members in her family would call it a disgrace as well when knowing full well who was clearly responsible for her actions.
She needed to keep moving forward.
The sun was already beginning to set when she made up her mind, so she went straight for the office of her barracks, hoping to find her old friend there. She ignored the whispers of the squad members who had seen her walking in the halls. It was a little unnerving to feel pitiful gazes on her back. When she knocked, the sound of clothes rustling and startled footsteps responded to it. Blinking, she scratched her cheek with her finger and waited for the door to open.
Shuuhei's eyes widened a little when he saw who was standing there. He quickly composed himself and offered a friendly smile for her.
"Chisaki-senpai, is something wrong?"
She was surprised he was still calling her this. It also seemed quite odd that he still did since he outranked her. She was never really interested in climbing up the ranks though. But she supposed it was only right considering she had been in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads before him.
"Hello, Shuuhei." Chisaki began and clasped her hands together, pressing them against her belly. "I just needed to know something. Is now a good time?" If Shuuhei was alone in the office standing by the door this whole time, then she figured he was thinking back to the time when Tousen was still there. This was the captain's office after all. She extremely disliked Tousen after knowing that he helped Aizen do what he did. However, she could not deny that Tousen was a big help to Shuuhei's development as a Soul Reaper. For his sake, she would not upset him and bad mouth the person he respected.
Eager to help whatever it is that his old friend needed, he nodded. "What do you need?"
"I was just wondering where the graves of the eight people I killed that night. Can you tell me where exactly they are located?"
Midaoka Eijin, Meguro Ukiyo, Nohara Yuuta, Ozashi Kanae, Naruse Aoi, Minemaru Kazutora, Igarashi Tsumako and Aoba Shizuya. The eight poor souls who were slaughtered by her. The poor souls who had to be sacrificed so that Aizen could proceed with his experimentation. The eight souls who had to die while she continued on living.
Blinking, Shuuhei stilled for a second. This was not what he was expecting to hear. But it was not unexpected for her. She was never the type to forever cower away.
He decided to personally bring Chisaki there, even though she insisted she would be fine with directions. There were many graves in that area so it would take a lot of time to find all eight. Upon arriving at the site, Chisaki asked him to point out the rows she needed to visit because she wanted to go on alone.
She needed to make eight prayers and eight apologies.
Instead of heading back, Shuuhei sat down on at the end of the stairs and stared up at the sky, waiting for her to return.
He didn't know how long he had been sitting there for. He was just lost in thought about Tousen and everything else that happened with the Ryoka. No one expected things to end up the way it did.
He remembered the girl who looked strikingly similar to Chisaki who cried in response to his words. Looking back on it now, Chisaki must have been the one who cried when he asked if she committed the crime.
That girl must know Chisaki's pain more than anyone else.
All of a sudden, Chisaki's face appeared above his, upside down, scaring him. He jolted up into a proper sitting position while she leaned back just in time to avoid a head collision. By now, the skies were becoming by the second darker.
"You scared me!"
"I believe that was evident." Chisaki replied cheekily and started making her way down the last few steps. Shuuhei pushed himself up and followed after her to fall into step with his senior. Discreetly, he peered at her face and noted how her face carried a calm expression, her demeanor gave off a relaxed vibe.
"Are you going to be okay?" He finally decided to ask her.
The brown haired noble looked up at the sky just as he did moments ago. "I think so. I just need to keep moving forward, that's the only way I can keep my head up. They wouldn't want me to be sad forever anyway."
She just wished they couldn't have known the truth of what happened too.
The trees rustled around them as a gentle summer breeze flew by. Their hair gently swayed in the wind as they walked down the path that led back into the city. The last light of the day touched their skin through the tree leaves. She looked at the man she once knew as a boy and gave him a half-smile.
"Right?"
Shuuhei had a sympathetic and proud look on his face for the strength she had to carry on.
"Yeah."
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After that trip to the teahouse, Katsuko had asked Chisaki about how she dealt with the Hollow Aizen implanted inside of her. Surprisingly, Chisaki's own Zanpakuto had played a part in keeping the Hollow in check alongside with her. This question about Hollows did not just sprout from sheer curiosity, Katsuko was actually trying to squeeze information out of her for her own benefit without being too obvious about it. She wondered if Arashihoro would be able to do what Chisaki's Zanpakuto was able to do. It would be helpful if she truly had a Hollow inside her.
Currently, they were around Squad 10's area. They were talking about the candies that Ukitake had given Chisaki which she decided to share with Katsuko. With this, it basically allowed Katsuko to check off most of the types of food she had consumed in the Soul Society.
Chisaki's favourite candy was konpeito. Apparently, these candies were what she used to eat while studying for her exams back in the Academy, it helped her stay awake with the flavours that kept being introduced in her mouth. She had gotten this candy advice from one of her relatives long ago (it made Katsuko wonder just how old was Chisaki in the first place). They told her that it should keep her mind awake late at night, and it did. The consequence of consuming sweets made her end up with a sweet tooth though. This gave the initiative for Chisaki to learn how to make food for herself despite being a noble who could have others fetch it for. She was relatively good at making food for herself, a skill that Katsuko had almost zero experience in it. Chisaki used to make sweet things to eat back at home to fulfill her need to satisfy her sweet tooth, an extremely important task.
She told Katsuko the stories where Ukitake used to confiscate them, even during her time as a professional Soul Reaper, whenever he judged it was too much. Now that she was back, it seemed like he wanted to spoil her a little, so he gave her something that she would enjoy and smile about. Katsuko could actually picture the man wearing a friendly smile and handing out konpeito to Chisaki.
"That reminds me, I remember that you usually pull all nighters when you study for you tests." Chisaki said after popping a green konpeito into her mouth. "How do you not fall asleep when staying up late? I could never stay up so late back in the Academy."
Katsuko shrugged. "Willpower, I guess."
And the fear of failing a test.
Chisaki pursed her lips, unconvinced. "You are mostly the type to cram the information into your mind. You must have taken at least something to keep you awake."
For that, Katsuko smiled with her eyes closed and held up a peace hand. "Nope. Once I brush my teeth, I don't consume anything else other than water."
"And you still end up at the top of your classes." Chisaki half-laughed with disbelief.
Katsuko only shrugged nonchalantly in response to that. She wasn't a genius or anything. She still attended that learning center on Sundays and did the extra work to be good at the subject, she basically went to school twice for math. And that was the only place where she genuinely struggled when learning new material. But that was the only reason why she was good at the subject, because she was ahead of her peers and above her grade level in math. She didn't even want to quit attending the learning center because it felt too reassuring to be ahead of her curriculum.
That learning center did help her develop her studying abilities too since it focused on independent studying.
She was also good at retaining information for exams. Most subjects at school require students to memorize material for exams, so it makes it easier to be smart. Through hours of repetition and lack of sleep, she can actually visualize her notebook, its pages (and order of concepts if she tried hard enough) during a test and remember most of her notes to figure out what she needed to fill in the blanks. She didn't know how some people seem to just forget what they studied. She was probably just so scared to fail that she thoroughly hammered her notes in her mind.
Afterwards, her brain simply flushes out to material, leaving only certain pieces of information to remain. Looking at it that way, Katsuko was just an average student who just did very well at school and was lucky. She's far from being academically perfect even though she may seem so. And it's not like she was trying to hide it, her friends were aware. Her teachers would probably disapprove of her studying habits, but she didn't care as long as it got the job done.
Being at the top provided great reassurance for her. It made her feel like she was no where close to failing her class since she never wanted to be at the bottom ever again. And seeing as how most people regarded her as someone smart, she felt the need to maintain that image that she projected.
In the cases where she did not get the top score in her class for a test, because it rarely does happen, she usually found herself feeling bitter about it and threatened. That's why she didn't like it when Ishida was right behind her on the list. He was making her feel insecure when she should be feeling proud of herself, reminding her that one day, her lucky might just run out.
Chisaki began tying the pouch of candy to save for later, no longer paying any attention to where she was putting her feet. Her mistake. Her foot got caught on some crack in the floor and the pouch flew out of her hands when she stumbled.
"My candy!" Chisaki gasped in horror. The bag wasn't even properly sealed closed!
Instead of being a bystander, Katsuko's eyebrows shot up to her hairline as her body automatically moved. Remembering how it was a little gift from Ukitake, she knew she had to catch it lest it fell and flew open, spilling the contents. Of course, it wasn't easy since it was already getting alarmingly close to the ground. Nearly diving onto the ground, her hand made it bounce back up into the air while she ended up stumbling forward after losing her balance, causing her to sputter as she got closer to the ground, nosediving.
A large furry hand caught the pouch.
An arm stopped Katsuko from eating shit.
Chisaki breathed in relief when both her candy and the young teen ended up unscathed.
"That was close." The person who caught Katsuko spoke. She glanced up to the side and found Hisagi Shuuhei looking down at her with a quirked eyebrow. A little abashed, she internally screamed for a good second before apologizing and thanking him while he helped her up. She awkwardly stood there and stared at the ground, replaying the scene in her mind. She must have looked ridiculous fumbling around like that.
"Sorry and thank you, Captain Komamura." Chisaki said sheepishly as the large captain handed her the pouch, bowing down once.
"Just be careful next time." Komamura told the noble who straightened up and nodded her head once. He took a glance at Katsuko who was could only look up at him and his towering figure. He nodded his head to acknowledge her before resuming his walk. Katsuko stared at his large back and had to wonder just what exactly was he. Was he a dog or wolf? She was so curious but she didn't know if asking would be offensive.
"Thank goodness you didn't hurt yourself over konpeito." The brown haired noble approached Katsuko who jolted and brought her attention back to Chisaki. After her words registered, she lifted her hand to her face to scratch a non-existent itch on her ear. "Yeah, it'd be kinda stupid to kill myself over candy." Katsuko mumbled, embarrassed returning from being caught like that. She scratched her temple with her index finger.
"Yet you still dived to get it." Chisaki patted her back. "Thank you."
Hisagi was smiling. Ever since he learned the truth of what happened to his senior, he couldn't help but feel useless when she carried an unreadable expression with a tense air around her whenever she passed him by because he just couldn't find a way to talk to her. She was so insistent on being alone to think. He felt so useless around his old friend that he even went to Rangiku for help.
But the morning after the trip to the grave site, she was definitely looking a little better. She was going to keep her head up and move forward. Perhaps getting to know the Ryoka, the person who knew her troubles best, contributed to cheering her up. Connecting with people was always a good thing.
Seeing the way Hisagi was just smiling while staring at them, it made Katsuko's eyebrows furrow a little. Why… Is he staring at us like that?
"Hm?" Chisaki cocked her head. "Why are you staring, Shuuhei?"
The lieutenant jolted when he snapped out of it, seemingly lost in his thoughts. He was met with similar faces that were expressing curiosity (Chisaki) while the other (Katsuko) was pure confusion. Was that unease he was seeing too?
He was making the younger girl uncomfortable.
His hands shot up in front of his chest, quickly waving them. "Nothing. Sorry. I didn't mean to stare…!"
"Heeeeeey! Shuuuuhei!"
The three of them looked to the side and found Matsumoto holding up a sake bottle and waving at them. She was leaning out of a large window with her breasts hanging out from the way she leaned on it.
"Rangiku-san?" Hisagi blinked.
"I know that you have nothing to do! Come over here and have a drink!" she waved the bottle at him meerily. "You too, Chisaki!"
Katsuko squinted her eyes and cocked her head when she saw a guy behind Rangiku and walking past her. It was a guy with blonde hair that had hair hanging over his left eye like her. Why wasn't he wearing the top of his Soul Reaper uniform? And why the hell was he foaming at the mouth?! Was that guy okay?!
The Soul Society sure had some funny people.
"Katsuko!"
The three of them turned and found Ichigo waving at them while Inoue ran behind him. The teen stepped away from Chisaki and Hisagi and gave Ichigo a curious look. "What's up?" Katsuko held her wrist behind her back and leaned on her left leg.
"We're looking for Kuchiki-san!" Inoue panted, her hands on her knees. "She disappeared. Have you seen her anywhere?"
"Ichigo! Orihime! Katsuko!" Rangiku waved her sake bottle once more. "You guys want some?!"
Big fat no.
"We're underage!" Inoue crossed her arms in form of an X.
She disappeared? Why?
The black haired girl shook her head. "I've been almost everywhere today thanks to Chisaki." She pointed thumb at the noble who greeted them with a friendly wave. Ichigo and Inoue nodded their heads in acknowledgement. "I haven't seen her anywhere."
Where did she go? They stopped her execution and she was allowed to live after the whole Aizen incident. She showed no signs of wanting to disappear from everyone. Okay. Now, she was concerned. Ichigo's eyebrows knitted as he started thinking about where the ex-criminal could have possibly wandered off to. Behind Katsuko, Hisagi and Chisaki exchanged looks while Inoue looked worried about Rukia's disappearance.
"I think know where she is." Ichigo started running off towards the right. Inoue gasped and ran after him to continue the search for Rukia. Katsuko took a step to run after them, but her second step firmly stopped her in her tracks when she remembered about Chisaki. The black haired girl straightened up and just watched them go. She wanted to help look for Rukia. But it would be rude to up and ditch Chisaki, wouldn't it?
To her surprise, Chisaki just placed her hands on her shoulders and told her to go on. With a gentle shove, Katsuko stumbled forward in surprise. Looking back, Chisaki was shooing her off with her hand. "I'll go drink with Rangiku-san and Shuuhei." Chisaki pointed over at the busty women that was still hanging on the window. "You're underage, so you can't drink."
I guess she wants to hang out with people she knew.
That's fine.
Hisagi and Chisaki watched Katsuko just flash step behind the two, scaring them, specifically Inoue. The brown haired noble turned to Shuuhei and she nudged his arm with her elbow.
"Shall we go?" she pointed to where Rangiku was, "Because it looks like Lieutenant Kira could use some help over there." she went ahead and jogged over to the big window. Rangiku was quick to greet her with a tipsy smile and ushered her inside the room, nearly causing her to fall while she climbed in as she tugged on her arm.
Hisagi soon followed in suit.
He may have lost something recently.
However, he also gained back something important.
It made things feel less lonely.
AUGUST 13TH
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It was the day of departure.
Rukia was going to stay in the Soul Society. That's what she decided to do. No one objected to her decision. The Soul Society was her home anyway. It would be wrong to force her to come back to the Human World when she had family and friends in the Soul Society. Besides, everything was going to be okay for her now. She wasn't going to be executed which was the reason why five humans came to the Soul Society in the first place.
Currently, the Ryoka group were walking together towards the Senkaimon that was prepared on Sokyoku Hill. A few Lieutenants and Captains were gathered to see them off. One the way to Sokyoku Hill, Chisaki caught up to Katsuko and decided to give her a small pouch of konpeito as a token of her thanks for spending time with her. She mentioned that because of her, she was able to get a head start to being normal again. However, Katsuko didn't really understood how she could have helped her.
But as long as whatever she did helped, she supposed that she was satisfied and glad for Chisaki.
"So, what's going to happen now…?" Katsuko looked up at the sky, musing.
"What do you mean?" Inoue wondered.
"Well, Rukia was assigned to Karakura Town… right? What's going to happen since she doesn't have her powers?"
"That's true." Ichigo blinked in realization.
"I believe they are going to assign another Soul Reaper to take my place." Rukia informed them.
"They need to do the job you can no longer do." Ishida pushed up his glasses.
"That's right."
"Open the Senkaimon." Ukitake ordered the Soul Reapers situated near the gate. Upon his order, the opening began glowing bright blue and then conjured up a gentle wind.
"This is the official Senkaimon. "Ukitake revealed. "Of course, I incorporated a Reishi Henkanki for you." He added for Chad, Inoue and Ishida who were staring up at the huge gate. The long white haired man directed his attention to the two human Soul Reapers who were whispering to each other about how different it looked from Urahara's Senkaimon.
"Ichigo-kun, Katsuko-san," Ukitake beckoned them over with a hand. The two teens jogged over to the man who held out two badge-looking like objects. They each took one and examined it curiously.
"What is this?" Ichigo looked at Ukitake with a lifted eyebrow. The badges were made of wood and it had a little rope attached to it. There was also a skull design on it, a fitting picture considering its origin came from reapers.
"They're called a Substitute Soul Reaper Combat Pass. It's our old custom to give this to a Substitute Soul Reaper who is deemed useful to the Soul Society. We have decided to give them to you two. It will let you become a Soul Reaper whenever you want. It would be best to keep it on you at all times."
"Sure, I'll gladly accept it." Ichigo nodded and then stuffed it into his Shihakusho, smiling at Ukitake.
Katsuko, who had been tapping the wooden badge with her finger for few seconds, was stiffly holding the badge when he finished talking. She cocked her head and her face skewered in confusion. "Wait… I'm not a Substitute Soul Reaper." She realized. "Isn't that someone who gets power transferred to them like Ichigo?"
That's what Rukia and Ichigo told her that day at the park after all.
"I'm just…" she paused and stared at the badge, trying to pick accurate word to describe herself. "A phony?"
Laughing a little, Ukitake lightly shook his head. "A human who becomes a Soul Reaper by obtaining another Soul Reaper's power is considered a Substitute Soul Reaper. Ichigo-kun's way of obtaining them was through a different method which normally has a low success rate." Katsuko quirked up eyebrow and looked at Ichigo. "You obtained your powers by taking part of Chisaki-chan's. You are without a doubt a Substitute Soul Reaper as well, Katsuko-san."
"Ohh… okay, I see." The girl then tugged the left side of her mouth as she stared at the badge. "I might forget to carry it with me though."
"Do try to remember. It can be quite handy if you need to become a Soul Reaper fast. Remember, it's an official recognition."
Official recognition, huh? Would that mean I could get in trouble with the next Soul Reaper in Karakura Town if they saw me in my soul form without it?
"Alright." Katsuko held it tightly and nodded as her way of showing her acceptance of the badge as well, which was responded with a kind smile from the captain. With that, Ichigo and Katsuko joined the others who were talking with Rukia. She was telling the others to take care of themselves while holding a dress that Inoue handed to her. When she saw the two approaching, she started giving her own farewells to them. "You two take care of yourselves, too." Rukia told the two human Soul Reapers. Honestly, Katsuko felt a little sad that she had to say farewell to Rukia. She had started building more rapport with her during the past few days. And she didn't know when she'd be able to see her again, or if she would ever see her again.
"You too." Ichigo nodded.
"We will." Katsuko smiled and patted Ichigo's arm playfully. "I'll be there to babysit him." she said, making the mood lighter.
He pulled his arm away from her. "Shut up." He snapped playfully at her while she just grinned and looked to the side. Then she looked at Rukia again. "By the way, if by any chance you happen to go to the Human World again, I hope you'll finally master the art of drinking from a juice box."
…
…
…
Katsuko heard Rukia grunt next to her, causing her to look at her in confusion. Rukia was poking a hole in a random spot since she didn't know where to poke. With a sigh, Katsuko pulled out her own juice box and held it in front of her.
"There's usually a circular thing that shows you where to poke a hole in it." Katsuko ripped her straw off her juice box and gently poked at the circle to show her.
"Ohh, I see." Rukia flipped her box around and searched for a similar circle before confidently poking her straw in it. "Like that?"
"Yeah, but next time, try to not poke it with the wrong side of the straw."
Rukia frowned as she stared at her straw. "Why is this so complicated?"
"It really isn't."
…
…
…
Rukia blinked, then she chuckled and gave Katsuko a smug look. "I'll have you know that I already have."
"Oh yeah?" Katsuko laughed and took a step back, waving at Rukia as the others began walking towards the Senkaimon, leaving Ichigo behind. However, she remembered something important and turned around just a second away from passing through, searching for a certain face in the crowd.
Standing between Matsumoto and Hisagi, Chisaki was watching her leave.
Upon noticing her looking at her, Chisaki beamed a smile and waved at her.
She's going to be okay.
And it was pretty fun being around her.
Smiling, Katsuko waved too before passing through the Senkaimon.
But it's time to go home.
…
…
…
"They're fucking with us, aren't they?!" Katsuko snapped as she bolted. She nearly tripped over her own damn feet!
"Yeah, why the hell are we still running for our lives?!" Ichigo yelled. "Didn't we pass through the official gate?!"
They thought it was going to end beautifully like some Disney move. A farewell with a nice send off, followed by a calm walk to the Human World.
No. The damn Cleaner wanted to send them off too.
Send them running for their lives.
Yoruichi, who was leading the group through the Dangai in her cat form, looked over her shoulder. "Unless you are led by a Hell Butterfly, you can't use the official route! Only Soul Reapers can use a Hell Butterfly! Don't worry! Look, while you two were complaining, we've arrived at the exit!"
The light at the end of tunnel got closer until they were all enveloped in it. Katsuko squinted her eyes when the change in brightness attacked them. It was morning in the Human World too. And much like when they arrived in the Soul Society, they were falling down after making it through the passage. Screams were tearing out of their throats as they fell. They were going to hit pavement! Katusko nearly whipped out her Shikai if it were not for some cloth enveloping them all in a ball.
Katsuko's head collided with Ishida's and they both groaned in pain. That hit alone might have just knocked the common sense out of her.
"What is this?!" Ichigo tried to push the fabric off.
They were barely able to register what was happening to them, and then they suddenly found themselves sitting on the same fabric that somehow flattened itself beneath them. Holding her head, Katsuko whipped her head around and noticed how they were still in the air. That's when she noticed Ururu sitting next to her with that weapon that she used to attack Hollows when that giant Hollow appeared in town.
Katsuko turned to Ishida who was holding his forehead.
"Sorry." She felt bad even though it wasn't her fault. "Does it hurt?"
"No, it's fine. Don't worry." Ishida held up his free hand to dismiss it, apologizing as well for his part in causing pain. Thank god she didn't smash her dome onto his glasses.
Urahara had caught them. He was sitting at the helm of this magic carpet, and he was well aware that they all knew about his true intentions. For that, he apologized and bowed his head. But no one was upset or anything. He didn't do anything wrong. Perhaps the only thing that was, was the fact that he hid the truth about Aizen, maybe. Other than that, he helped them all get stronger to make sure they would survive and stop Rukia's execution. And if they were here now with Rukia still being alive, then he did well.
"But I want to ask you one question," Ichigo crouched down in front of Urahara. "The reason why you didn't tell the truth, is it because you thought I would run away?"
Being the clown that he was, Urahara smiled and exclaimed, "Correct!" as if Ichigo had won a prize, prompting the orange head to elbow him in the face without hesitation before stomping away. The candy shop owner pitiful head cradled his cheek while the others bar Ichigo stared at him. The orange haired teen scowled and turned away from the man, annoyed by his happy go lucky attitude. Katsuko just snickered at the two and lied down on her back next to Ishida, listening to Ichigo tell Urahara to apologize to Rukia the next time he saw her. Again, Katsuko had to wonder when that would be.
She rested her hands on her stomach and lazily watched the clouds. They didn't seem that much different from the clouds in the Soul Society. But then, Katsuko shot up when she remembered something, scaring Ishida in the process.
"Did you know Naogoma Chisaki was inside of me?" she asked her former instructor. Knowing now that this man knew more than what he let on, she wanted to know about this.
He turned his gaze on her and then nodded once. "I did." Urahara admitted. "I felt her presence a few times when I trained you. I heard about what happened to her and how she fled the Soul Society, so I was able to piece it together."
Katsuko wondered if he knew Chisaki would somehow step in to assist her in a fight when she needed it. But if he trained her as hard as he did, maybe he was unsure about it. Was he also trying to stir Chisaki awake every time she trained as a Soul Reaper? Would that explain why she was training less than Ichigo? So many curious questions…
"Hold on," Katsuko whipped her head and looked at Yoruichi. "did you know?"
"I figured it out along the way." Yoruichi answered, tail flicking behind her, causing Katsuko to squint her eyes and wonder why the hell didn't she just tell her then. With a little scowl, she slowly looked away from Yoruichi.
"You can't deny that having Chisaki with you helped you survive." Yoruichi pointed out. Katsuko only replied with a sour little hum.
"Come to think of it, when we left the Soul Society, didn't Ukitake-san give you two something?" Ishida was asking about those Combat Passes they received. Katsuko pulled out hers and held it out for him to see. The carrot head brought out his so that Chad and Inoue could take a closer look as well.
Ishida took Katsuko's and examined it curiously when she brought it closer to him.
"They're basically seals of approval!" Ichigo summarized Ukitake's words.
Ishida looked up and furrowed his brows. "A seal of approval?"
"'Substitute Roul Reaper Combat Pass', seal of approval in short." Ichigo handed his pass to Chad who wanted to hold it. He then proceeded to refer to it more like a seal of disapproval because of the skull on it. Katsuko was watching Ishida look at hers closely as Ichigo explained that the pass was useful in various kinds of situations so it would be best to keep it on their person at all times.
"… Uh, Ishida?" The Quincy blinked and looked at the girl who was staring at him strangely. Why did he look deep in thought? "Something wrong?"
"Hm? Oh, no. It's nothing." Ishida handed her back her Combat Pass. Katsuko took it back and her gaze lingered on the boy for a quick second before she tucked it away in her Shihakusho. She didn't want to somehow drop it from this height and break it.
"Ah! Ishida-kun!" Inoue exclaimed, making the two smart students look at the other girl of the group. She was pointing down below. "We're near where you live, aren't we?"
"Oh, you're right. Urahara-san, please drop me off here."
"Okay, okay." Urahara brought his magic carpet close to the ground for Ishida to land safely.
"See you later, Ishida! If something comes up again, we'll be counting on you." The bespectacled boy looked over his shoulder and gave Ichigo a narrowed stare. "What are you talking about? Did you forget, Kurosaki? You're Soul Reaper and I'm a Quincy. The next time we meet, we'll be enemies. Goodbye." He hopped off the carpet.
"What the…? The hell's wrong with that guy?"
Chad watched Katsuko crawl over to the edge and look down to see Ishida. He warned Katsuko to be careful and not fall off but she simply continued looking down.
"Ishida." Her voice carried a flat tone yet everyone could hear a warning in it. The boy looked up and saw her blank stare. It reminded him of the way she looked at him that day he summoned Hollows into town. He almost shuddered. "I'm going home and doing nothing. You better not call Hollows into town again because I'm not moving to help out this time."
"Don't say it like I do it on a daily basis!" he snapped.
"I'm just saying. Okay, bye." Katsuko rolled away from the edge and faced the sky.
…
…
…
Katsuko and Ichigo were the only ones left on Aladdin's carpet. The next stop was Katsuko's house. Urahara brought them near her window and she proceeded to tap five times on the glass with her index finger. No one could see inside since her blinds were drawn and her curtain was let down too. Double privacy.
"Shouldn't you be a little louder?" Ichigo wondered with a lift eyebrow as he gave her a side glance.
"Nah, she should be in here so I don't need to be too loud. Besides, I need to be careful just in case anyone else is home."
Two fingers poked in between the blinds and gently pried it open, revealing dark brown eyes peering outside the window. Upon seeing who was behind the glass, the person on the other side flinched and proceeded to pull up the blinds in a rushed clumsy manner. "Ah, not so fast!" Katsuko fretted when she saw how fast the blinds shot up. "Don't be rough, you might break them!"
The window lifted open, revealing Aiza in her human skin, who was expressing utter relief with tears. "Katsukooo!" she cried, arms outstretched like a little kid that wanted a hug from their mommy. "You're home!"
"Wholesome greeting you got there." Urahara teased behind his fan. Ichigo could only hope Kon was as well behaved as Aiza when he got back home.
Since it was still morning, Aiza was still wearing her pajamas which consisted of red thigh length shorts and a loose black t-shirt. The amount of skin Aiza left showing off had Katsuko practically leaping off the cloth and tumbling into her room at the speed of light. Surprised, Ichigo only blinked at how fast she moved.
"Alright, alright, calm down." Katsuko patted Aiza's head and she gently pushed her away from the window, out of sight. Aiza obediently sat down on her bed with a pouty look on her face. Katsuko grabbed a nearby blanket and pushed it gently against her face to dry her tears. She let Aiza finish up while she sauntered over to the window to wave at Ichigo as Urahara started leaving her house.
"Bye." She gave a half smile.
"See ya." She kept her gaze on them for a few seconds before tearing her eyes away and putting down the blinds, dimming her room. After pushing the curtain to the side, she twisted the wand of the window blinds to allow a certain degree of sunlight into her room. While doing so, she looked over to Aiza who was smiling with the blanket in her hands.
Katsuko couldn't help but huff a laugh. Man, she's busy, huh? First crying and now smiling.
"You're finally home!" Aiza exclaimed only to be shushed by Katsuko who still didn't know if anyone was home. Aiza just reassured her that her mother left for work already so it was alright. It was currently Tuesday so that meant her mother left the house pretty early. Her father was obviously at work with how early he had to wake up.
Katsuko got back inside her body while Aiza was put inside her plush form. However, she did ask Aiza if she still wanted to stay in her body for a while but Aiza was quite insistent on making Katsuko feel at home and having her get comfortable in better clothes.
Katsuko nearly jumped right out of her body after having bad eyesight again.
The ring she brought with her was gently placed in the center of her desk,
She had used her Combat Pass to force Aiza out of her body. After seeing it work, she wondered if she would ever have to use that blue glove Urahara gave her, the Gokon Tekkou. Maybe she should just return it? It seemed pretty useless now that she had the pass.
They spent a good hour talking about what had happened to each other while she was gone. Obviously, Katsuko's side story was much longer with since she was literally on a journey. It lasted for at least a week but yet it felt so much longer than that. Losing track of time during made it feel like so.
Katsuko checked her phone for any messages from her friend and saw just a few from Haru. It was about something trivial that Aiza easily responded to.
After a while, she just fell asleep while Aiza went off on her own in the house. But that little slumber didn't last long because she jolted awake, a hypnic jerk. And instead of falling back asleep, she stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression, recalling all the events that transpired. It all seriously felt like a fever dream, almost because most of it was something she never imagined doing in real life for obvious reasons.
The time she spent training in the Study Chamber, that training she had with her Zanpakuto was really tough...
She was still surprised she achieved Bankai with that doll method. Honestly, now that she thought back, because it was fairly new, she didn't have that much time to work on it at all. The scythe gave her a better advantage when it came to covering her sides with that long handle but she was still a novice at using it and was lucky to survive with whatever it had to offer.
She had enough to increase her survival rate but not to win.
No doubt she did get stronger, but not strong enough to take down a captain class Soul Reaper.
But it's not like she was expecting to win against Tousen either.
She also thought back to the question she asked herself while watching Ichigo battle against Zangetsu. Why was he having a harder time getting his Bankai? It felt like she got hers faster and she didn't know why. It didn't sit right with her. Wasn't it something that took years to obtain? Even with that shortcut, it still had to be hard to obtain. Was it because her Bankai was just weaker than his?
Her Bankai was just a bigger weapon with stronger wind attacks, right?
Katsuko rested her forearm over her eyes.
And I basically got Bankai for nothing now. It was useful to keep me alive, but I know I'm never going to use it again.
Oh well.
With a sigh, Katsuko got up and slipped on her slippers since sleeping was no longer on her mind. Hopefully, there was still some frozen chicken nuggets in the freezer, unless Aiza ate them all.
…
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…
Her mother came home from work early as she always did on Tuesdays. Katsuko was in the living room playing videos games when she heard the familiar footsteps. The way the keys jingled and the way the door opened was enough to give away who was coming home.
"Helloo~"
Happily, with a chicken nugget in her mouth, Katsuko whipped her head and peeked around the corner to see her mother walk past the living room. "Mommy!" she purposely screamed with glee, causing her mother to hush her for being loud. She scampered off the couch and bounced out of the living to greet her mother who was setting down her bag on the table in the hallway.
"I missed you so much. I thought I was going to die like a rabbit. You know, 'cause they can die of loneliness?" She said in a tone that exaggerated sadness. Her mother gave her a side look at that and then huffed out a laugh. Katsuko wasted no time in hugging her mother. She seriously needed this hug after the fiasco she went through with fighting for her life and Rukia's safety.
It was really good to be home.
I mentioned this learning center that Katsuko attends once before. It's basically Kumon. When students attend this learning center, they can advance further than their current grade level, regardless of their age.
Happy Halloween btw. I hope you guys get to eat some candy.