"About the kid"
"Hmm?"
I gazed down at Kukaku, who had her head resting on my lap. We were in her bedroom, enjoying some sake and catching up while the kids were working on the Reishūkaku. While it was easy enough for me, since I had years to learn perfect control over my reiryoku, the teens hadn't. Ichigo especially, while he had an insane amount of it, he didn't have any control over it.
"The orange haired one"
"Ichigo?"
She hummed a confirmation. "Is he yours?"
I ended up choking on my saliva. "W-what? God no. I'm not old enough to have a kid that old"
"Isshin's then?"
"Obviously. My kid would be way cuter" I scoffed.
"Is he the reason you left?"
Her question caught me off guard. I spared a glance down at her, and the expression she had on her face reminded me of when she was a child. Kukaku was always a energetic child, always smiling, always trying to make people happy. But after Ganju's birth and the resulting loss of her mother, I had been her only female relative. With me, she was alot more open. And it seemed like that hadn't changed.
"No. But he was one of the reasons I stayed there"
"Then why did you leave?"
"Isshin, of course. Him leaving Seireitei.. it was just so out of character. I had to find him, find out why he'd just leave me... and when I did find him, I couldn't leave him behind"
"Why not? Isshin was a captain. He could have taken care of himself"
"That's the thing... Isshin didn't have powers anymore. I had to stay to keep him safe. I had already lost two brothers.. I didn't want to lose another.."
It went silent after that. All the losses our family was hanging over our heads. It started with my mother, who died in childbirth. Then my father, a shinigami who was slain by a hollow. My sister in law, Kukaku's mother, died from an illness not long after Ganju's birth. My brother, their father, followed soon after, another victim to a hollow... then Kaien.
There were only four of us left now. And we'd been split between two worlds for a long time. It broke my heart, we were all very close once. Kukaku was my baby sister, and Ganju was just my baby as we all helped raise him after the death of his parents. Now he doesn't even recognise me.
"This is depressing" Kukaku sighed.
"Tell me about it" I reached over to the jug of sake and filled our glasses again. "Let's drink"
Kukaku grinned and sat up, taking her glass before she knocked it back. I laughed softly, but then copied her actions. Soul Society sake was still the best I had ever tasted, bittersweet memories and all.
"Hey, Kukaku?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry.. for leaving you.."
She snorted. "Stop being so sappy, Enka. I forgave you a long time ago"
I smiled. It honestly felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. When this was all over, I'll definitely have to figure out a way to come back and visit Kukaku and Ganju as much as I couldn't. I don't want to be separated from my family again
•••••
A sudden surge of reiatsu started shaking the house, jerking Kukaku and I out of our relaxed atmosphere immediately. The sake was discarded as we both jumped up and rushed towards the door.
"What the hell is that?!" Kukaku yelled as she slammed the door open and left the room, with me on her tail.
"It feels like Ichigo!"
There was no doubt that it was Ichigo's reiryoku, despite his age he had a large amount of it. The only problem was that it was wild. He didn't have the age and experience needed to control all of it yet.
It didn't take us long to reach where we left the teens to train, and what we found was Ganju on the ground outside the room. His face was twisted into a look of shock.
"What happened?" Kukaku asked her brother, but the younger Shiba didn't answer. "Hey, Ganju!"
"I-I'm sorry, sis.." Ganju finally stuttered. "I just showed him once..."
I pushed past Kukaku and looked into the room myself, and what I saw was shocking. Ichigo had managed to form a sphere with the Reishūkaku, but it was way too large and too strong. He was pouring in way too much reiryoku, and the strain of it was starting to show on his face.
"You fool!" Kukaku snapped as she entered the room beside me. "Gather your reiatsu together already!"
Kukaku's seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he had been, and the reiatsu started to die down. The Reishūkaku surrounding him started to shrink, before finally settling into its rightful form. I breathed a sigh of relief as the house stopped shaking, I don't think the building could handle any more excitement today.
The relief was short lived, however, as Inoue's cry of congratulations broke Ichigo's concentration, and I saw the sparks across the Reishūkaku bubble. I immediately turned around the corner, out of the room, just as it exploded. I cringed as I heard something creak from above, those arms were already skew and I wouldn't be surprised if they were now reaching their end.
Although the reishūkaku explosion wasn't as bad as the one that followed from Kukaku, who had immediately taken to scolding Ichigo. I couldn't help but smile a bit. I glanced over at Ganju and went closer to him.
"The next time you want to teach him something," He glanced at me, the look in his eyes one of suspicion. "You should probably check with an adult to make sure it would be fine"
I ignored his protests of how he was an adult, rather leaving him to the wrath of Kukaku as I headed back towards the room Kukaku insisted I share with her. It still managed to surprise me how fast Ichigo managed to learn something. He may be destructive about it, but he did learn eventually. And the amount of reiryoku he had... although I assume it mostly came from our noble blood, there was a part of me that wondered if it came from.. it.
•••••
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kukaku asked as she came into the room, I noticed she was holding something in her hands. All I could make out was that it was a green material.
"You know, you're not the first to ask me that" I sighed and stretched out on my futon. "My answer has been the same to all of them. Yes, I'm sure. I can't let Ichigo just wander into Seireitei with just a bunch of kids at his side"
"Yoruichi is with them"
"Yoruichi is more wanted than I am. She's not going to reveal herself that easily. I don't really care if any of them see me"
"You left alot of people behind. Aren't you at least worried about them seeing you?" She arched a brow at me.
"Honestly? I've spent years imagining all the scenarios that could happen if we saw each other again. I never expected this one, though. And this is the only one that I'm sure that I just wouldn't care"
"Because of the kid?"
I hummed in the affirmative. "My family will always come first. Even before them. And if I have to stand against them for Ichigo's sake.. then I will, without any remorse"
"You've always been scary when it came to us" Kukaku grinned.
"Hey, you lose enough family members, and you get pretty protective of the ones that remain" I shrugged.
"Speaking of family members..." She approached the futon I was laying on and held down the cloth she was holding.
I sat up and took the cloth, before unfolding it. I immediately recognized it, the spiral on the back making it glaringly obvious. Not only that, but the cloth it was emblazoned on was just as familiar.
"This is Kaien's"
"I'm not even surprised your recognise it" She snorted.
"Of course I do. I did make it for him" I chuckled softly and gazed up at her. "Why are you giving this to me?".
"I always intended to give it to you" She shrugged. "But by the time we were ready to speak with you again.. you were gone"
I frowned and gazed down at the haori, rubbing the fabric between my fingers. I had spent weeks on it, I wasn't exactly a master at sewing after all. The fact that it's lasted this long has been a surprise.
"Thank you, Kukaku.."
Soon we would be infiltrating Seireitei, and I've decided I'll be doing so with the Shiba emblem on my back. Even though I haven't gone by Shiba in a long time, it felt right to do so. I'll show Seireitei that house Shiba was still going strong, and we won't be standing for whatever bullshit is going on with the Shinigami. Especially not when our friends and family are involved.
••••••
Hey guys!
I'm sorry about the long wait for this chapter! A little fun fact about me is that I crochet, and have a small Instagram business. Sometimes it's quiet, other time I get alot of stuff piled on. The biggest thing that ate my time was an almost life sized dog! Now it's quiet again, so I can get back to writing.
Just a note, I won't abandon my fics without any warning. So rest assured, if I take a while to update, it's because I got busy again!