Chapter 13
/Beware, you, who read this passage
No past and future without the present
No death and life without these souls
No darkness and light without the gray/
/Just like the Son grew to be a Father
And the Daughter into a Mother
There is their child, and only then
When the two of them have come together/
/In perfect balance, will the millennia old prophecy be fully realized/
"Come on, Kurosaki. Use that head of yours to interpret the remaining stanzas," Uryuu goaded the orange-haired Substitute Shinigami.
"Calm your four-eyed ass down," Ichigo fired back. "I did the bulk of the work already. Why don't you do the rest if you're so smart."
"I am smart, but I am also allowing that thick skull of yours to prove itself to be functional for once!" Uryuu stood up, sized up the other teen and grabbed him by his collar.
"Or what?!" Ichigo stepped closer and grabbed the Quincy's collar as well. "You're gonna shoot us near our Saketsu again?"
"Shut that trap of yours, or I'll do it again," Uryuu warned through gritted teeth.
"Enough! What the hell is going on between you two?!" Yoruichi-san raised her voice. "As you argue like children, Inoue is not getting any better. I su-"
"No, Yoruichi-san," Ichigo gestured for the woman to pause. "This is between us."
"Why you!" Yoruichi-san inched closer but she was held back by Urahara-san with a gentle well-placed hand on her shoulder. "Kisuke.."
The shop owner merely shook his head, before lamenting, "Let them settle this one. Please?"
Yoruichi-san huffed indignantly before she resumed her seat.
"Do you have a problem with me, Kurosaki," Uryuu removed his grip from Ichigo's collar.
"Heh!" Ichigo snickered darkly, releasing his hold as well. "It's not me who has a problem."
"Are you implying that it was me who have a problem when I was the one who volunteered to fucking find that fucking piece of poem!"
"And then?" Ichigo mocked using a patronizing tone.
Uryuu seethed.
"You expect us to kneel before your magnanimousness, Your Highness, Heir Apparent to the Throne of the Quincy Empire…and then what? Do your bidding or suffer the consequences, Your Highness?"
Uryuu threw a left hook that landed on Ichigo's right cheek, flesh and bones making a disgusting sound from the impact. The force was enough to make Ichigo turn his head, but not enough to displace him from his standing position. "How dare you," Uryuu muttered.
"Haha," Ichigo snorted derisively before he spat out blood. "Did you really think that you won't suffer any consequences for what you did, Your Highness?"
"Stop calling me that," Uryuu warned, stepping forward menacingly.
"Did you ever stop to think why Inoue…our gentle, compassionate friend would despise you to the extent that her Koten Zanshun would activate and deal you irreparable damage?" Ichigo pointed at Uryuu's makeshift arm made from Ushoda-san's barrier.
"I…" Uryuu hesitated.
"And now, you expect us to do all the grunt work while you hide behind us, deluding yourself into thinking that you're actually doing something for her." Ichigo snorted. "What am I saying? I should have expected this from you, you uppity blueblood twat. You and your clan of Quincies always play the victim, never taking accountability for the things that you've done."
"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT!" Uryuu snapped. "I KNOW, KUROSAKI! I FUCKING KNOW!" Uryuu jabbed his finger on Ichigo's chest. "I knew the reason why she targeted my Saketsu! I knew that she wanted to deliver retribution on me because she saw and knows that I do the same to others!"
Ichigo continued to stare him down.
"I know that she hates me…and that's the fucking reason why I'm trying to keep my distance from her! Because my presence turns her into someone that she would not like to become! Is that enough reason for you, Kurosaki? Or should I grovel before her and beg her for forgiveness? Because I would, Kurosaki! I would!"
"And?"
"And what?"
"You don't expect me to just magically accept your sob story, Your Highness, do you?
"I said stop calling me that!"
Ichigo punched Uryuu in his left cheek, sending him crashing to one of the chairs. "While I still consider you as a friend, that means different when it comes to Inoue. Your actions hurt her more than wounds could ever do. You trusted her to heal the wounds we received from you and your Quincy friends, but that does not mean that she's alright with the fact that you caused it in the first place."
"I-I'm sorry…"
Ichigo brushed Uryuu's apology off. "Know this, Quincy. Inoue still brought back your mother despite already having resentment towards you. That Inoue who we all have sworn to protect…that Inoue that always hated the idea of violence…that Inoue despite her limited knowledge in battle…she had to fight tooth-and-nail, and she almost died several times trying to end this war that your kind started. And yet she still saved your mother from Yhwach. Think about that, Ishida and you'll see why you don't have any fucking right to hide away from her. You deserve her anger."
"I uh…" Uryuu began to stand up, wiping the blood from his mouth with his sleeve. He refused to meet Ichigo's eyes. "I'm sorry…"
Ichigo walked back and took his seat, crossing his arms against his chest. "Now, I suggest you all sit down so that we can continue."
The rest of the people settled down as well, carefully avoiding Ichigo's heated gaze.
"I'll have the interpretation of the last few stanzas done later, once I take over watching Inoue. But given that the last few stanzas may refer to what could happen in the future, I think it would just be a waste of time since interpretation may be more susceptible to changes, and that having a prepared explanation may blind us from considering other angles."
"I concur," Yoruichi-san agreed. "Let's entrust this to Ichigo. In the meantime, we have to look for the other Shun Shun Rikka," she said, gesturing towards the man beside her. "Kisuke?"
Uryuu resumed his seat, keeping silent as Urahara-san brought out an object.
Urahara-san raised the gray-colored device, and explained, "This is a common tracking device mass produced by the Twelfth Division. I made some adjustments so that it would specifically track down Inoue-san's Reiatsu signature. That would mean that this device would ignore sensing other spiritual entities and only monitor the location of her Reiatsu, and by extension, the presence of that light that came out of her. I'm still working on expanding its radius. But as of right now, it is usable since its sensors already have a wide range of coverage."
"Thank God," Ichigo breathed out.
"Urahara-san," Sado raised his hand. "Did anything come up from testing Inoue's brother's Reiatsu? Can we use it to bypass her defenses?"
Urahara-san pursed his lips, and slowly shook his head. "Sadly, Inoue Sora's Reiatsu does not bear any similarities to our Inoue. Even if it did, his Reiatsu is far too contaminated with Hollow Reiatsu. Fortunately, Inoue already woke up. This means that we can focus on just finding the rest of the Shun Shun Rikka…"
"But?" Yoruichi-san quipped.
"But what?" Urahara-san repeated.
"Your face says that there's a but ."
"Ah," Urahara-san bit his lip. "Yes. I'm puzzled. Normally, blood families have very similar Reiatsu signatures. Look at Ichigo…he has inherited both of his Zanpakuto Spirits from his father and mother. The same with the majority of the Quincies, who have a similar Reiatsu signature from Yhwach. In the case of the Inoue siblings, I'm afraid that they have vastly different Reiatsu. Are you sure that they're blood-related?"
"Yes," Sado answered. "Definitely."
"Does age difference affect having different Reiatsu?" Ichigo asked.
"What do you mean by age difference?" Urahara-san clarified.
"Well, there's a huge age difference between the two of them. I am only four years older than my twin sisters, and yet we have vast differences in the level of our Reiatsu. Maybe it's the same with Inoue and her brother."
"How much age difference do they have?"
"Fifteen years," a voice answered for them.
Collectively, the group turned to the source of the voice, and they were greeted by the sight of Sora Inoue. He was by the door, offering a kind smile. "May I join you?" Sora asked
"Yes," Uryuu answered, gesturing towards another seat. "Come in, please."
"Ah. Sora-san," Urahara-san smiled jovially. "Why don't you clarify certain things for us. We're actually having a hard time trying to come up with an explanation as to why you have a different Reiatsu from your sister. I've told you the reason about this already when I was examining you, but just for the sake of making sense of whatever is happening, would you answer some questions…uncomfortable questions…for us? Please?"
Sora Inoue nodded gently. "It's okay."
"First question…when you were both younger…was there a time that Inoue showcased some sort of spiritual abilities? Things like staring or talking…actually making a conversation with an empty space? It's actually one of the earliest signs that a human is capable of interacting with spirits."
"No. And the only time that I have observed Orihime capable of seeing and talking with spirits is that time that her soul separated from her body," Sora Inoue looked away. "...when I, as a Hollow, attacked her and her friend. But prior to that, she was not able to sense my presence at all."
Urahara-san nodded. "I see. This may sound insensitive, but can you tell me something about your parents?"
Sora Inoue's eyes widened a fraction, and he pursed his lips together as he avoided the gaze of the people from the table. He contemplated for a moment, sighed and answered the question. "Our mother was a whore , our father a devil. When a child would cry, they would hit it until it stopped. That's the kind of people they were."
Urahara-san continued to nod, as if to encourage Inoue's brother.
"To hide her from our parents, I would take care of my sister. And then, on the March I turned 18 , I…took my sister that had become 3 years old and ran away from that house."
Uryuu continued to listen intently.
Sora Inoue shared the story of his life with his sister, and the unconditional sacrifices that he had to make for her.
He said that to keep them afloat, he worked countless odd jobs, pushing himself beyond exhaustion. When he was alive, his days began in the early hours, carefully preparing everything his baby sister would need. He would take her to the neighbors, bowing deeply as he mildly put it, "shamelessly" asking them to watch over her before rushing off to his first job at a convenience store by seven in the morning.
After finishing his shift at three in the afternoon, he barely had enough time to rest before heading to his second job as a construction worker at four. He worked there until nine at night, and only then would he return home, stopping first to bow in gratitude to the neighbors who had cared for his sister all day.
He lived this grueling routine for years, always putting his sister's needs before his own. Eventually, he managed to find a stable job as a salaryman. With that job, he could finally afford to send his sister to daycare and later to school.
"...and though there were days that we struggled to make ends meet, we were just happy to have each other," Sora Inoue ended his recollection with a rueful smile.
'I see,' Uryuu lamented to himself. Sora Inoue was not just a brother to Orihime. He was like a father to her. He was the one who raised her as someone befitting of the title father.
'How luck-' Uryuu began but he immediately paused. No, it was not Inoue Orihime who was lucky…Hearing the story of the Inoue siblings, Uryuu was forced to confront the reality of his own family.
Here he was, a child from one of the most affluent families within Karakura Town, with a very much living father who pays for everything—a father who, despite their strained relationship, ensured he had every material comfort he could ever need. Uryuu Ishida had always carried resentment in his heart, feeling every bit of his father's coldness. Now, hearing Sora Inoue's story, he could not help but feel ashamed of his bitterness...of why he was so adamant to reject any form of interaction that his own father keeps trying to establish between the two of them.
Sora had no wealth to lean on, no one to share his burdens with, and yet he poured every ounce of himself into his sister's survival and happiness. He woke before dawn, worked through exhaustion, and prostrated himself to the ground in gratitude to complete strangers who helped him do what he could not manage alone. He sacrificed his youth, his health, and probably his dreams, all out of love.
Uryuu thought of his own complaints—of late nights spent studying, of gruelling training as a Quincy, of a father who was aloof, distant and detached but never asked anything in return. Compared to Sora's unrelenting cycle of work and worry, Uryuu realized he had lived a life of privilege, even within the confines of his loneliness.
Uryuu felt a sting in his chest.
'What am I doing with my life?' Uryuu asked himself. While all of his misgiving is valid and understandable, he had one thing that many others did not have. A second chance. He and his father may never have the typical father-son relationship common to other families...but they are still both alive, and now that his mother is miraculously back, they can take a first step.
"Last question, Sora-san," Urahara-san's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Are your parents still alive?"
"No."
"Were they turned into Hollows?"
"No."
"Then, they're in Hell. Am I right?"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The gray-colored tracking device began emitting a piercing sound.
"What's happening?" Ichigo promptly stood up, his chair falling and hitting against the wooden floor.
Urahara-san glanced and checked the screen of the device. His eyes widened in alarm.
"What the fuck is going on, Kisuke?! Speak, dammit!" Yoruichi-san demanded.
"It's here! The presence is here!"
"INOUE!" Ichigo immediately bolted from where he stood, the wind whooshing as he ran.
"Oh, no!" Urahara-san warned. "It's on the move! Ichigo, go to Inoue. Renji, contact the Thirteen Court Guards, and inform them of the situation. Everyone, get out and spread in different directions. We have to block out all possible escape routes of this thing . We need to extract the Shun Shun Rikka. Now!"
"HAI!" Everyone agreed, and moved towards their designated places.