1.2
As consciousness slowly returned to you, a groan of discomfort escaped your lips. Your entire body hurt, just as it had in the Inner World. A body adjusting to owning a different soul? A soul adjusting to a different body? Whatever the reason, it hurt like all hell, and you weren't really inclined to wonder the details of
why. At least, not when your body hurt so much. Maybe if your head didn't feel like it was currently being subjected to a hammer. Besides, there was a more pertinent issue anyway.
I can't move my arms.
Rather, you could move your arms, but not very far. Your arms were tied at the wrist. Your legs, similarly, were tied at the ankle. Manacles made of stone- and it didn't take a genius to know what
kind of stone -were holding you down upon a bed. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened, honestly. There was that time you got
really drunk back in the Academy and---
Too much information!
Shaking your sore head, you frowned a little. That wasn't your
Zanpakutō and it wasn't your own voice. Ichigo...? When no response was forthcoming, you settled for sighing, and scanning the room you were stuck in. Plain, drab stone walls. Only a little bit of natural light. Absolutely no defining features nor any sign of your friends. The most identifying feature
of the room was the fact it clearly wasn't the shack you had been staying in. It was too well built to be anything in the Rukon. So, either someone had taken you into the Seireitei...or you were somewhere much more familiar. Considering who you had been fighting, it was probably the latter.
"Figured it out already, have you?" A deep, almost masculine, female voice spoke up. Your eyes followed the voice, alighting upon a young woman sitting in the shadows. Her face was hidden, only her torso visible. "I'll give you this, you're
smart."
The woman wasn't familiar at all, from what you could see. Her voice didn't sound like anyone you knew, and her outfit left
very little to the imagination. If she wore anything looser, she'd be flashing you.
"Who're you?" You shot back, her outfit doing exactly nothing to really distract you. Memories of Miyako were far too fresh for that. "More importantly, where are my friends? And Ganju, for that matter?" Tugging a little on the manacles, you bit your lip. "Can't be too far away, unless you dragged me into the Seireitei."
A snort answered that question. The woman leaned forward, though her face remained shadowed. "I wouldn't go into that place if you paid me. After what they did to our family, well, I may not hate them as much as Ganju does...but I don't much like them either."
"...fair enough." You sighed a little, deflating somewhat. You should have been more annoyed at that, but the part of you that was Ichigo- and honestly, the rest of you -felt much the same. "Rukia being held like she is...not a lot of good will to go around, right now."
"So I've heard."
Leaning forward more, the woman turned now-visible sea-green eyes upon you. You still couldn't see her face, but what you
could see said everything you needed to know. She was dissecting you with her eyes, trying to find something. What? Did she recognize Nejibana too? That would have been impossible, you thought. Unless someone from your Squad left or...no. No no no. The voice didn't fit, the outfit didn't fit. It couldn't be
her could it? Your death must have hurt, yeah, but not that much. She was always an independent soul. She'd have handled things much better than Ganju had, and he seemed fine, other than hating Shinigami with everything he had. So why would...
"Kūkaku?" Your voice was dry and cracked. You knew your eyes had widened in shock, when the woman chuckled mirthlessly.
"You know, I shouldn't be surprised. Ganju said that you had Nejibana, but you look
nothing like him." Leaning forward completely, a hardened- yet familiar -face appeared. Kūkaku, older and jaded, stared down on you with a harshness you had never seen from her before. "Maybe to someone who doesn't know him, but I can tell the difference. Or I could, until you woke up." Climbing to her feet, Kūkaku walked over to the bed. Her footsteps were steady, though you didn't notice that. Your eyes were drawn to her arm...or where her arm should have been.
There was nothing but a stump, wrapped in thin bandages.
Kūkaku didn't fail to notice that glance. Her own eyes drifted down, a snort escaping her lips. "Rough, isn't it? Lost that a few years back. Firework went off too early, and I never bothered replacing it."
"Why?" You tried to sit up further, ignoring the strain on your body and limbs. This was too important. "Kūkaku, I--I never wanted to leave you two alone. You know that, right?"
The sudden change in subject, was prompted by Kūkaku sitting next to you on the bed. By her intact arm coming to rest on your leg, her sea-green eyes softening if only slightly. She shook her head, long black hair rustling with the movement. Her sharp features twisting into a grimace of a smile.
"Maybe you didn't, but you were still a complete
idiot." She wasn't even denying who you were, now. Maybe she couldn't. "Goddamnit, Kaien, why'd you go in alone? Kuchiki didn't tell us what happened, but Ukitake did. I've never seen that man look more broken than he did that night."
You had to turn away, to hide the shame in your eyes. That night...was far from your proudest moment. "I had to avenge Miyako. It had to be me."
"Fat lot of good
that did." Kūkaku laughed, without any joy in the action. Her hand squeezed on your leg, just enough to be painful, but not enough to actually hurt.
The thing of it was, you couldn't even deny her point. You couldn't look her in the eyes, either, but you couldn't deny her point. You stared at the wall, refusing to look at her. Even as you had fought that Hollow, part of you had known you'd die. You weren't a hand-to-hand fighter. You had always relied on Nejibana and your swordmanship. Having to punch something to death was a Stealth Force thing, or so you'd told yourself. So, you had known you would die. Why hadn't you accepted help from the Captain or Rukia? Well, the answer was simple. It was the same reason that you hadn't accepted help against Grand Fisher.
Honor. Pride. Revenge.
It had to be
you who killed the Hollow that had taken away Miyako. That had turned her against her own friends and comrades. That had eaten her from the inside. It had to be
you who killed Grand Fisher, the Hollow that had killed your mother. That had used her form to try and kill you, in turn. You wouldn't have been able to live with yourself, if you hadn't killed them and someone had saved
you from them. It wasn't that you hadn't thought about what losing would do to your family. It was that you thought the alternative was worse than death.
Heh. Funny how actually dying gives you a new perspective on these things, eh?
"Man, I was an idiot, wasn't I?" You spoke aloud, not really talking to anyone in particular. Nejibana was silent, and Kūkaku was too busy staring at you.
Until she released your leg, and reached over to undo your manacles instead. Your sister, your adult sister, didn't say anything until that was done. Your hands came together, rubbing at sore wrists. She leaned back, stared at you...and then lunged forward. A fist rammed into your cheek, snapping your head back. Before you could even process the impact, the same arm had fallen down, and pulled you into a bone-crushingly tight one-armed hug.
"You
idiot," Kūkaku's own voice was cracking, now, though she didn't let you see her face. You could feel the tears anyway. "I don't care how you came back, or what the kid was. You're
not leaving again. I'll drag you back myself."
Electing to ignore your throbbing cheek, you brought your own arms up and wrapped them around your sister's back. You held Kūkaku against you, and sighed deeply, one hand moving to run through her hair like you had when she was a kid. "I'm not going anywhere, Kūkaku. Once I've saved Rukia, we can catch up, yeah?"
"...I knew you'd say that."
Was there anything else to say, really? You were going to save Rukia. You didn't exactly plan on dying again, doing it, but you weren't going to give up either. And while you knew you'd have to go back to the World of the Living, and explain all of this to your family there...
This is my home. Kūkaku and Ganju deserve that much, at least.
Even if you had to live in two worlds, you couldn't abandon your brother and sister. Not again. Never again.
"Hey, Kūkaku?" Holding your hug, you spoke against her ear. You needed to know something, before you could move forward. "Is everyone else here?"
Your sister knew what you were asking about, and was quick to reply. "They're here. The Quincy keeps trying to fight Ganju, the idiot."
"That's Ishida for you," You couldn't stop the smirk crossing your lips. The Quincy was a friend, who just tried to hide it. "I'm going to need to talk to them. Explain all of this, and figure out how we're going to get into the Seireitei."
And wasn't
that going to be a fun experience?
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How do you explain the situation to your friends?
[] The Truth, all of it. You are Kaien Shiba, mostly, and they need to know.
[] Keep it Simple, Stupid. Explain that something has happened, that you aren't quite Ichigo, but that the details can wait.
[] Let the Cat Speak. Have Yoruichi explain the mechanics of everything, while you fill in the blanks.
)
