Bleach (c) Tite Kubo

Black and Blue

Visitation

Kukaku Shiba sets down a pair of cups on the tray before the shrine and its offerings, opposite of each other, and pours a measure of sake into each. Wordless, she offers a toast to the portrait of her elder brother, grinning forever, and downs hers in one gulp. Its comforting burn settles in her stomach.

Ganju is off... somewhere, riding Bonnie the boar through the streets of Rukongai with his gang, stirring up whatever trouble wherever he went - because of course he is. And the house is blissfully silent, save for the workings of Shiroganehiko and Koganehiko tending to their various duties.

With everything going on and the Seireitei still more or less in chaos, Kukaku takes the time to dwell on recent events. And she tells her brother everything.

Who would've thought? This upheaval was sparked by that orange-haired little runt of a Shinigami and his human friends who took up residence in Kukaku's palace not too long ago. All because they wanted to save a friend.

Oh, Kukaku knew fireworks were on the horizon when Yoruichi herded those teenagers to her doorstep.

With Kisuke Urahara involved? No damn choice in the matter, but it didn't stop Kukaku's triumphant holler of laughter when she learned not only had the whole execution been averted, but little Kuchiki was pardoned entirely and the kiddos were hailed as heroes by the end. Heroes!

Kukaku only wished caught a glimpse of that crusty old relic's face when he had to bitterly swallow his pride. And what a bruise to the Captain-Commander's ego that must've been; being forced to accept that a group of teenaged Ryoka, humans, managed to protect their precious Seireitei better than the cadre of comparatively ancient supposedly 'elite' Shinigami officers.

Unintentionally, at that.

The thought still tastes so sweet and makes Kukaku snigger with grim satisfaction, but she knows Kaien would cuff her on the ear for being too mean spirited if he were here... even if it is well warranted.

Before long her thoughts turn to Ichigo Kurosaki. When that orange-haired brat waltzed into her anteroom, Kukaku hid her momentary stunned silence well enough behind her usual bravado and negotiating Yoruichi's dangerous little business proposition, but out of the corner of her eye, she'd watched him like a hawk.

Ichigo. A boy who resembled Kaien so much there's no chance in hell there isn't some Shiba blood running in those veins. She's smiling nostalgically as she recounts that visit to the shrine.

Their interactions were brief (too damn brief, in her opinion), and sure, Ichigo wrecked her house in those pissing contests with Ganju, but actions always spoke louder than words. And Ichigo's screamed everything Kukaku needed to know; he's got the Shiba's fire in his eyes and their bull-headed determination in spades.

Its so easy to pin the tag 'baby cousin' on the brat, and that makes Kukaku grin.

Ichigo Kurosaki is a good name, but Ichigo Shiba doesn't sound half bad either.

Sure, Ichigo was born and raised as a human in the human world, but more than a few Shiba went to ground there when their clan fell - if only to avoid the wrath of the Omnitsukido.

If anything, Kukaku's honestly surprised it took this long for the first errant thread of their bloodline to make it back home... she's less surprised and positively gleeful they made their grand debut by giving the Gotei 13 a bloody nose, and the Gotei 13 effectively ended up thanking the kiddo for it.

Kukaku decides the next time Ichigo shows up in the Soul Society, she'll be sure to corner him and drag him back here. Try to tease out a few details; figure out which parent's the Shiba and then she'd add his name to the family registry.

It'll feel good to brush off that dust-caked tome and add the first new addition in nearly sixty years, instead of crossing another name out.

Kukaku shares this desire with Kaien's shrine too. She admits that Kaien would've liked Ichigo. They're similar in more ways than Kukaku can count. Hell, she wagers if Kaien were still alive as the Thirteenth's Lieutenant, he'd be the first to help smuggle Ichigo and his friends into the Soul Society to help save the Kuchiki princess.

And what a sight that would've been.

It's a fun little image to ponder (an impossible one to be sure, but no one ever said the heart's fool desires were ruled by conventional logic), but Kukaku doesn't have much time to dwell on whatever hypothetical mayhem they'd of unleashed together upon the Shinigami when a knock interrupts her musings.

"What is it?"

"Master Kukaku," Shiroheneko's voice floats through the closed door with utmost contrition, "A thousand apologies for the interruption, but Captain Jushiro Ukitake has requested an audience with you this day."

"He's here now?" Kukaku enquires, feeling a bone-deep disappointment and irritation at the unexpected guest.

At least it's not some Village Elder telling her Ganju screwed something over again. Minor consolation there.

"Fine. Let him in. Send him to the main floor anteroom, I'll greet him there." Kukaku orders and she can see Shiroheneko bow his head in obedience through the thin doors.

"It will be done, Master."

She hears Shiroheneko's footfalls fade down the hallway, leaving Kukaku in silence. She doesn't want to leave this room that's become a private sanctuary, but does duty beckon. And after a minute longer, she relents with a muttered curse.

"We'll talk again later, big brother." Kukaku replaces the stopper in the sake bottle and sets it down on the tray, with a forlorn smile she hoists herself to her feet moves to close the shrine's doors.

It's certainly a rare sight indeed to see a Captain so far removed from their precious Seireitei, but if Kukaku had to tolerate one's presence in her home, Ukitake's was by far the easiest.

The Thirteenth Captain has always been considered a friend to the family, but these days there's only so much Kukaku can stand of any Shinigami. The sooner the good Captain concludes his business here, the sooner he can be sent on his merry way. The sooner Kukaku can resume her conversation.

"Its been quite a long time, Ukitake." Kukaku says by way of greeting, she's reclined on the cushions in her anteroom, puffing on her pipe with her usual wry mask in place. One that fractionally falters when she notices the unusual ashen cast on the Captain's face.

Ukitake sketches a respectful waist-low bow to the Master of the House before assuming a seat on a proffered cushion across from her, "It has. I'm glad to see you're looking quite well, Kukaku. And I apologize for the abruptness of my visit; I would have sent word ahead but matters have grown complex within the Seireitei and without."

"I can imagine, with all that nonsense with Aizen - I figure you're all still scrambling around trying to pick up the pieces." Kukaku takes a small puff from her pipe and blows out a little cloud of smoke, "But you wouldn't make the journey all the way out to my home just to state the obvious. So out with it. Something's clearly on your mind and I want to know what brought you my way."

She watches his lips quirk up in a little half-smile for a second but it fades before it can form completely, "You're as perceptive as ever, Kukaku. And you'd be correct. I've come here to request your aid in an investigation."

Kukaku arches a dark eyebrow intrigued. "Investigation, you say. And pray tell, exactly what are you investigating? Or have the Shinigami finally decided to take an interest in Rukongai gang wars and territorial disputes? What, has your precious Omnitsukido found some sort of criminal syndicate rising up and you need feet on the ground?"

Ukitake takes the barb on the chin and Kukaku had to respect him for that much, but he shakes his head. "No, not in regards to Rukongai. This is something a bit distant in the past; specifically the Hollowfication incident from a century ago. I'm certain you may have heard of it, at least in passing."

"I might have." Kukaku gives a noncommittal hum.

She remembers something like that a century ago, if only because she remembers her brother storming home to the Shiba Compound in an absolutely towering temper, red-faced and more apoplectic with a rage than she'd ever seen before or since. He'd polished off the entire liquor cabinet by himself that night.

The house servants gave Kaien a wide berth, distraught and wondering what could put their usually so affable Clan Head in such a foul mood. Not even Uncle Isshin or Miyako could talk him down from that fierce temper. About a day later, an official announcement declared several officers as renegades with standing 'kill on sight' orders. When Kukaku spied the names in question, she saw one of them was the Eighth's Lieutenant Lisa Yadomaru, his best friend and the woman who introduced Kaien to Miyako in the first place. That pretty handily explained why Kaien was so thoroughly pissed off.

Yoruichi's was another name on that list, but Kukaku always got the sense her friend didn't mind the exile too much. Certainly didn't care to talk about it either. But it had the side bonus of giving the Shihoin princess all the freedom in the world to act as she pleased, albeit with the caveat of not being able to visit as regularly as she'd like.

"I vaguely recall hearing some broad strokes about what happened. Eleven Command staff exiled at the drop of a hat or something like that, right? Its all very interesting, very shady stuff. And why exactly has it garnered attention after a century of silence?"

Ukitake considers his words, he licks his lips and begins his explanation carefully, "Because information has recently come to light linking that event to a host of others in the past hundred years; by implication most if not all of them had been orchestrated by Sosuke Aizen in some fashion or another."

"And here I thought we all simply assumed Aizen was responsible for everything bad that's happened to the Soul Society at this point." Kukaku says blithely, "You still haven't answered my question; why come to me with this?"

Its only now that Ukitake hesitates, and Kukaku raises an eyebrow at this. It's not like the Captain to mince words on important matters, "It's been suggested that the Hollowfication incident has some relation to the murder of Kaien Shiba."

Kukaku's caustic tone stops dead and she straightens up at the word, it sits in her stomach like a sickening weigh, "Murder." She repeats.

"Yes." Ukitake nods gravely.

Kukaku stares at him, then puffs on her pipe to give herself time to think. Her voice is hoarse with barely restrained emotion when she speaks next, "For years you've insisted it was an accident. An honour duel turned foul, and that you and the Kuchiki princess had to step in to deliver mercy."

Kukaku doesn't voice her resentment. Though she has forgiven both the Captain and the Kuchiki Princess for the deed, she still isn't convinced honour was worth her brother's life. Or enduring the painful void he left behind, not when his body came home looking like that. It's a semi-regular argument they've had many times over the years, but there's more important things to consider now than to repeat that tired old song and dance.

"I did. And I sincerely believed it too. I had no reason to think otherwise." Ukitake wears sorrow and regret like millstone around his neck and it makes her relent a little. Only a little.

Kukaku leans forward, her face lined by anger. "I'd choose your next words wisely, Ukitake. It sounds like you're trying to imply that mission was a set-up from the start."

"That's exactly what I'm beginning to believe, yes." Ukitake confirms solemnly.

It's an effort of will to keep her tone something approaching civil. "And given the theme of this conversation, you think it was arranged by that bastard Aizen?"

"I do."

Kukaku huffs a breath, brows drawn together. She doesn't like where this is going, and if that son of a bitch really did arrange her brother's death - she wants to know why. More importantly, "And exactly what brought this wild speculation to light? What's your source? And if Kaien's death really was a murder like you claim; why have you waited until now to act on this information?"

Ukitake's hands curl into tight fists on his lap, he's stoically baring the brunt of Kukaku's rebuke and, despite her anger, she has to admire his willingness to do at least that. "In truth, the possibility simply didn't occur to us until our source made that connection. When laid out in such a manner, the correlation between those two events was undeniable."

"Who is this person? I want to speak with them." Kukaku wants to dig deeper. She wants to know whose ass she has to kick (and quite possibly brutally murder, herself) for not coming forward sooner. And if they're some ex-schmuck of Aizen's? She won't make it quick.

"That's... not possible at this time." Ukitake responds cautiously,

"I want a damn name, Ukitake." Kukaku demands again, her flesh hand curls into a trembling fist as thunderous anger roils just below the surface.

The Captain meets her furious green eyes steadily, and its an eternity before he replies, "Kaien."

The name strikes a wrong note and emotions bleed through, Kukaku scoffs and shakes her head. Her words overflow with venom, "Kaien. Kaien is your source? How? He's dead. What - did my brother somehow miraculously rise from the grave as a spirit and whisper this tale of whimsy into your ear? Or have you finally gone senile in your old age, Captain?"

Okay. Respect be damned, Kukaku's heard just about enough of this farce and she's about ready to call her retainers to escort the good Captain out. Its only the absolute sincerity painted on the man's face that stays her at the last second, along side the quiet acceptance of her fury. Seems like he was thoroughly prepared for a hostile reaction from the start.

He has his head bowed slightly as he speaks, "I'm afraid there's nothing I can say to make the pain of this news any easier to bare, but we have unsubstantiated reports that a man matching Kaien Shiba's description and reiatsu signature is alive and active in the World of the Living."

Kukaku stares at him for a long moment in silence, closes her eyes with a derisive snort and draws the most obvious albeit outlandish conclusion she can with the knowledge at hand, "And here I thought it was generally forbidden to interfere with a reincarnation's life. Some ancient credo to protect the cycle or some such," She muses sardonically, "We are speaking of Ichigo Kurosaki, aren't we? It certainly would explain a few things I sensed about the runt. What; are you trying to tell me that somehow parts of Kaien's past life managed to migrate over to the new one?"

Its a stupid fleeting hope amidst a maelstrom of fury that she quashes in short order, but if there's a sliver of a chance to get her brother back in some form or another? Well, what little sister wouldn't want that?

Kukaku's assumption is cast aside when Captain Ukitake slowly shakes his head, "No, we're not speaking of reincarnation."

"What are you saying? Are you saying that Kaien Shiba really is alive in the living world? How-" Kukaku halts disbelief, she seethes and spits her words out through gritted teeth, "How is that even possible? He was dead. His body was cold. I stood vigil through that night and I watched him dissolve into reishi. How could he have possibly come back from that?"

She remembers that night all too well. Its seared into her memory, holding her lifeless brother as his body finished disintegrating completely, feeling the crumbling lines of his ice cold hand evaporate into nothingness. It's a uniquely dreadful despair that she'll remember until her last day.

Ukitake bows his head, "We are currently operating under the assumption that this man truly is Kaien-"

"Then why haven't you gone to the World of the Living and brought him home?!" Kukaku's fist slams down on her armrest, the impact resounds through the anteroom. Her control slips for just a second and a surge of reiatsu washes over the room like a windstorm.

To his credit, Ukitake takes her outburst in stride. "Please understand that due to recent events, with Aizen feigning his own death to play us all for fools, we are keeping Kaien's... resurrection classified - not just for his safety, but for others as well."

Kukaku bites her lip, she growls bitterly before conceding the point. "Fine." She hisses, reigning in her power, "Then tell me what the hell happened to him? And how does this relate back to the Hollowfication incident?"

Ukitake pauses for a contemplative minute, like he's mustering up the nerve to relay some sickening tale. "From the details we've been able to ascertain; it appears the hollow that possessed him was designed to reconstitute itself in Hueco Mundo upon its destruction."

Designed, Kukaku notes. As in deliberately engineered. She frowns at it, disliking those implications immensely.

"When it did so, Kaien's consciousness was restored along with it. After a subsequent capture and experimentation for an undetermined period of time, through some unknown means he'd managed to escape Aizen's clutches and find his way into the human world at great cost. He was subsequently discovered and nursed back to health by a group of exiled Shinigami, but since his Zanpakuto had been destroyed and we'd retired his Jigokucho, he had no way to return or even contact us regarding his status."

Kukaku's face is etched with a scowl, coming to a grim understanding and her disgust for the traitor Shinigami grew exponentially. "And if what you say is true, and Aizen really plotted that whole scenario, odds are if he caught wind of it, that son of a bitch would've hunted Kaien down and finished the job personally."

"I believe that's a fair assumption as well." Ukitake agrees, he frowns as he continues, "Moreover, its been indicated he shares their affliction. And, I'm not certain if you're awre of it, but there's a standing kill-on-sight order for Hollowfied Shinigami."

Kukaku groans as her eyes slid closed. Of course there was. Which meant that even if Kaien had nothing to do with the incident a century ago, setting foot in the Soul Society was enough to see him lose his head. Damn it, as if Kukaku didn't have reason enough to loathe Shinigami.

"Exiled Shinigami." Kukaku repeats, regaining a more civilised tone. "I guess its not too far fetched to assume you're referring to those same exiles from the Hollowfication incident. And that's why you want my help investigating that event a hundred years ago?"

"Specifically, I'd like your assistance in determining what Kaien may have uncovered. If Aizen targeted him, its very likely he may have come across something incriminating, dangerous or likely both." Ukitake glances over his shoulder to Shiroganehiko, "The satchel I brought with me, may I have it back please?"

Kukaku raises an eyebrow as her retainer dutifully hands a medium sized pack to Ukitake, who subsequently passes it to Kukaku.

Curious, she undoes the cord binding and peers inside, "Books?"

"They're the last personal affects from Kaien's office. He'd claimed these books were gifts to others whenever I asked after them, and I'd had every intention of sending them on their way. But now I've come to believe what he may or may not have known about Aizen is hidden somewhere in these pages." Ukitake declares, staring at the satchel like it held the answers, or so he clearly hoped,

"You're saying that whatever's in these books are what got him killed?" Kukaku asks.

"Yes, there are handwritten notes in some of the margins that... upon inspection seem innocuous, but its hard to say whether or not these were simply quirks of character or something more." He meets her gaze, imploring. "You knew him better than anyone, certainly better than me. I know I have no right to ask, but if you could have a look through them, see if there is something more to those notes than meets the eye?"

Kukaku ponders the tomes with a grim look, but there's been a question gnawing at her since the very beginning and now her temper has cooled some, she's able to give it voice, "Ukitake, where did you come across all of this? If its not possible to talk with Kaien right now, then how was he able to point you in this direction?"

The Captain adopts a curiously cagey expression, "I'm afraid that's not something I'm at liberty to share, Kukaku."

She scoffs again. Of course not. "And, you think that if this does lead down some kind of rabbit hole, there's information here that'll... what? Prove that Aizen's more of a treasonous hateful bastard than he already is?"

"My hope is that it'll be enough to challenge, and ideally overturn, the execution orders set down by the Captain-Commander." Ukitake admits, "If nothing else, it might point us in the general direction to uncover enough proof to exonerate the exiles."

Kukaku plucks the first book out of the bag and flips through the pages idly, noting the ones that have her brother's distinct scrawl in the borders. There's no rhyme or reason behind their locations on the page, which doesn't shock Kukaku. When it came to personal literature, her brother tended towards being a bit of a scatterbrain. She slaps the book shut.

"Fine. I'll try to decipher this puzzle for you and I'll find whatever Kaien wanted to hide away. But I will hand it over on one condition and only one condition." Kukaku agrees with a razor sharp edge in her tone, she meets the Captain's expectant gaze, "Whatever I find; Kaien is the one to present it to the Captain-Commander. Am I understood?"

Her green eyes narrow and glare at the Captain, "Bring him home to me, Ukitake. Swear it."

The Captain meets her gaze with a solemn vow, "I promise I'll do everything in my power to return him safely. On my honour and my life, I swear it."

Author's note:

Sorry this chapter took two weeks. I was umming and uhhing about it for ages. So, what did Kaien discover? Clearly enough to get him killed. Well, if the war doesn't kill him, Kukaku certainly will.

Edit: 11/12/2022 - just cleaned up the chapter to make it flow better.

Regards,
Aurora313