"Great.. " I murmured softly as I wandered through the streets of Squad 13's district. It was my first day as an official shinigami, and I had already gotten lost. This definitely wasn't going to leave a great impression. "They should have given me a map or something!"
"I'm pretty sure I did"
I let out a squeak before I spun around to face whoever had spoken behind me, and I found Kaien doubled over and laughing.
"What's so funny?!" I snapped, glaring as I crossed my arms.
"T-that noise you made!" He managed to answer between laughs. "You sounded like a mouse!"
"I did not!" I huffed. "And why were you sneaking up behind me anyway? Were you trying to scare me?!"
"I thought you'd be able to sense me" His laughter had slowly subsided, now he was just grinning at me. "You're a shinigami now, kid. And being to sense someone else's reiatsu should be a piece of cake"
"Not when they're hiding it to sneak up on someone. And who are you calling kid? I'm your aunt! You should be respecting me"
"But I'm still older than you, so really you should be respecting your elders"
"You're only a couple of months older than me, Kaien. And I'm still your father's sister, and you shouldn't be so mean to me"
"Nah, you're more like a bratty little sister" He grinned before he put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair. I slapped his hand away. "Look at you, you're even shorter than me"
"Quit rubbing your height in my face" I scoffed and corrected my ponytail. "I'm not even short. Hell, I'm taller than the average woman!" I literally was just under his eye level!
"You're still shorter than me" He went to pinch my cheek, but I quickly stopped his hand. I huffed and stuck my tongue out at him, before I turned on my heel before heading back in the direction I was going in. "Hey, where are you going?!"
"To the barracks, of course!"
"You're going the wrong way, idiot!"
•••••
"Lost in thought?"
Yoruichi found me on top of the house we were staying in, where I was leaning back and staring over at the walled Seireitei. I briefly glanced at her.
"Remembering"
"You were in the thirteenth, weren't you?"
I nodded my head... "for.. eighty years, I think. Before I transferred to the tenth"
"It must be hard" Yoruichi said sympathetically, and I just shrugged.
"It was. But I got over it. It was my choice fo leave, after all"
I say that, but I was hurting. Every time I look over towards Seireitei, I feel a twinge of pain. Of regret. I didn't regret leaving to find Isshin, but I did regret leaving everyone behind. Even Jidanbō, who I had caught up with when Inoue had healed him from Ichimaru's attack.
"It being your choice doesn't mean you can't feel hurt over it"
I stayed quiet, I couldn't really think of an answer to that. But luckily I didn't need to, as soon I could hear Ichigo yell out for me. I sighed and stood up, dusting off my pants before stretching out my arms.
"I guess it's time for a plan of action"
Yoruichi casually jumped into my arms, and I just managed to catch her with a slight glare. "You just like using this form to be carried around, don't you?" But Yoruichi didn't say anything, just started purring. I sighed before I went over to the edge of the roof and jumped off. I landed casually on the ground, scaring Ichigo had been searching for me on the ground.
"What the hell?! Next time let me know you're coming down!"
"Where's the fun in that?" I grinned before I went inside the building with Yoruichi.
It was determined that going through the gate was impossible. Out of all the gates, Jidanbō was the only gatekeeper we would have had a chance of getting to open the gate. It was also impossible to get through the sekkiseki wall. But then Yoruichi suggested something even I didn't feel comfortable with.
"There has got to be another way other than that" I frowned at the cat.
"What exactly is that?" Ichigo scowled, having gotten annoyed at us actually using the term.
I was going to answer him, but something caught our attentions. A noise. Was that... hooves? A bunch of hooved animals? I knew Rukongai was rural, but I wasn't exactly expecting an animal stampede in the first district.
"What is tha-"
Ichigo was cut off when someone came falling through the doors. A young man by the looks of it, dressed in white and green, a white scarf with polka dots, and glasses? Weird outfit choice, even for Soul Society. Muttering in pain, the man eventually stood up.
"Who is this guy?"
Good question, but it became less important to me when I noticed the creature coming into the building after the man. A boar,with a pink bow. It couldn't be... could it?
"Damn" the man muttered, dusting off his clothes. "Thrown again by my Bonnie"
It was! It was little Bonnie! "Bon-chan"
With everyone focused on the man, Bonnie was the only one to actually hear me. She snorted in my direction, then started coming in my direction. I held out my hand to her, and she pressed her snout against it, making me smile at her. "I'm glad you remember me, Bon-chan. But why are you with this weirdo?"
"What's a shinigami doing here?"
I raised my head to look at the man, and seeing him remove his sunglasses, the familiarity of his face hit me. It took me a couple of seconds before I remembered. Ganju. My sweet little Ganju. It makes sense why Bonnie was with him now.
Unfortunately I wasn't up to a reunion with this specific relative, especially since his hatred of shinigami was still pretty strong. Made clear by how antagonistic he was acting towards Ichigo. Oh, if only these two idiots knew.
"Are you going to stop them?" Yoruichi asked, as we watched Ganju getting more into Ichigo's face.
"Nope" I answered, stroking Bonnie's head. "I'm the aunt, not the parents" Although I did flinch when Ichigo punched Ganju straight across the room.
"Weren't you supposed to be the responsible one?" Yoruichi mused.
"I'm responsible for keeping the kids alive. If I wanted to be responsible for getting between childish fights, I'd have had kids of my own"
I turned my attention back towards Bonnie, who was clearly enjoying the attention I was giving her. She really did bring back alot of memories of Kaien.
"It's been a long time hasn't it, Bon-chan?"
She snorted in reply. Too long, I imagined her saying.
I still remember when Kaien first brought her home, just a little piglet. She really had grown alot since then. Although I'm surprised she treated Ganju so roughly, maybe she never got over Kaien.
"I hope the kid is treating you well"
She opened her eyes to look at me, annoyance in her eyes.
"Hey, I use to tell him all the time to not ride you. You're not a horse or something"
She snorted in agreement.
"I'm surprised you let him ride you at all. Maybe you are fond of the kid"
She glared at me.
"Sorry, sorry..."
"Enka..."
Before Yoruichi could finish, I saw what she wanted to warn me about. Ganju tackled Ichigo outside. I snorted at the two of them.
"Like little kids. I swear, my brother's use to fight like this all the time"
"Weren't they already grown when you were born?" Yoruichi inquired.
"Exactly"
Hearing the commotion outside, Yoruichi sighed and wandered off to see what the idiots were doing. I reluctantly got up, much to Bonnie's annoyance as I had stopped stroking her.
"Don't look at me like that" The boar glared at me harder. "I'll give you more attention when the morons are done" She snorted in acceptance, allowing me to head to the door. Four of Ganju's henchmen were blocking the door, all of them riding boars. None of the boars were as cute as Bon-chan, though.
"Move" I glared at the four.
"Get lost, old lady"
"O-old..?" My eyes went wide, before I started flaring my reiatsu in anger. I then leaned closer to them. "What the hell did you just call me?"
I had barely released any reaistu and I could see them struggling. The human teenagers were unaffected, which just shows how weak Ganju's cronies were. And they must have definitely realised it wasn't a good idea to piss me off.
"He didn't mean it!" Cronie number 2 whimpered, immediately bowing his head.
"Yeah!" Number 3 chimed in. "He meant to call you a beautiful lady!"
Number 1 nodded his head meekly. "A -a beautiful, youthful lady.."
Good enough, I guess. I stopped letting out my reiatsu, bringing it back to feeling like there was nothing. That was probably why they thought they could get away with insulting me, but it was important to learn that you can't just insult someone because you think you're stronger than them.
"Move" I repeated, crossing my arms. This time, they listened, letting us see the fight between Ganju.
"Enough, Ichigo!" Yoruichi yelled out to the teen. "Don't use your strength in a meaningless fight!"
"He wouldn't really be using his actual power" I shrugged. I loved my nephews, but Ichigo similar to Kaien. And Ganju.. was Ganju
"He started it" Ichigo stated casually, completely oblivious to how childish that sounded.
"Like I said, like kids" I snorted.
"If you want us to stop, tell him"
"Well, good luck with that, Yoruichi" I turned back towards the building and went inside, ignoring Yoruichi's protests. Isshin and our brother use to fight like this all the time, and they always ended up fine.
Instead, I went back over to Bonnie, who was watching me expectantly. I sat down beside the boar and continued to give her attention, much to her enjoyment. Although I was busy with Bonnie, I still listened to what was going on outside. Hearing Ganju still going on about his hatred of shinigami still hurt, even though I wasn't a shinigami anymore. It just reminded me of when Ganju decided to cut us off for still being shinigami after Kaien...
I briefly noticed Sado retrieve Ichigo's zanpakuto, that I only just noticed he had left behind. I couldn't imagine just leaving Baku behind, she wouldn't let me without throwing a fit. In response to my thoughts, I felt her buzz at my hip, as if agreeing. As I continued listening, I realised Ganju had used a Shiba technique, which admittedly did make me happy. I didn't think it would be taught with us older Shiba's gone, but it seems like Kukaku still carried on.
The fight didn't take much longer, as soon it was interrupted by a clock alarm. This seemed to also rouse Bonnie, who seemed to be disappointed by the alarm.
"It's bad, big bro! It's nine already!"
I heard one of the cronies, and I couldn't help but snort at the idea that they had a curfew. Knowing Kukaku, they probably did. I heard a whistle coming from outside, and before I could react, Bonnie took off. I stared at where she was for a second, before I got up and followed her out.
When I came outside, I just caught the five of them running off to who knows where. I raised my one hand and started waving, while cupping the other by my mouth. "Bye Bon-chaaaan! I'll find you later!"
"Aunt Enka?! Why are you so comfortable with a boar?"
"Well, she's an old friend"
"Huh?!"