Ribbon (Bleach AU, Original Character)

[Sarius]

Synopsis:
​

Grayson Carter. Legally blind, early twenties, Asian-Caucasian, adopted. Grayson's life could be boiled down in such a way. When his life was destroyed all too suddenly, thrust from the comfort of home, he was forced to make a move. So where else would he move but his ancestral home of Japan?

This is the story of Grayson and what he learns about himself, the world, and the others around him in a little-known place that just so happens to be the most spiritually active place in all of Japan. Karakura Town.

A few words:
​

This story is one I started with the express purpose of trying to have fun, which then quickly became me trying to think of ways to make a good Bleach fan-fic, that then lead to me placing the events of this story after the events of cannon. In short, this is a post-cannon fan fiction, which is a little atypical from what I've read of fan fictions, but it affords this story far more freedom than those with the chains of cannon binding them to a regimented storyline. This fiction stars an OC main character and most of the main cast, though do not worry! Appearances of old characters will be there, and will be a prevalent part of the story, focusing on how they evolved and changed after the end of cannon Bleach, and how they change through the course of the story.

What should you expect?
​

Within the first month or so of posting, this story will be posted around 3 or 4 times per week and then after that period, there will be a drop to 2 chapters per week.

Hope you enjoy the story!​

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 1: A Place to Go

I have a pet suspicion that planes are really temporal devices in disguise.

Every time I have been on a plane, the flight either takes only an hour, or what feels like twelve, irrespective of the actual amount of time the flight is slated for. What it is that makes this happen, I'm not entirely sure. You could certainly put it down to how you feel about your destination, or maybe what activities you have on the way there, but I don't buy it.

For months I've been in a fugue state, content to sit and contemplate nothings rather than go out and get at 'em. So, it was strange to me that a flight to Japan, a pretty lengthy flight, felt so short.

I made this decision to move to Japan quite radically, not a usual mainstay of my personality, for sure.

I'm what you would call risk averse. Maybe there are good reasons for me being that way, but when it really comes down to it, it's usually out of self-preservation or apathy. Maybe I keep it well hidden from others, or they choose to ignore it out of politeness, but these emotions, or maybe states of being is more accurate, rule my life.

Nowadays I'm a little better. The benefit of good parents, I guess. Socialisation, the case worker had called it. Socialisation and learning to trust.

In the end there I really did try. I tried everything I could, but I'm not sure that I changed all that much from who I was back then.

There was a sharp sound as a crackling noise came over the plane's PA system. The unassuming voice of the captain came over the speaker and talked about landing, and I just zoned him out, content to sit in my bubble and relax my brain before what was bound to be chaos for at least a few hours.

"Are you alright, sir?" I heard someone say from directly on my side, before gently tapping me on the shoulder. The feminine voice was heavily accented English, so much so that I wasn't entirely sure that she was capable of having a nuanced conversation in English, having probably learnt the phrase for the job.

To avoid a possible misunderstanding, I looked in her general direction, smiled and nodded. That seemed to pacify her, and she bustled off to probably go tell that guy a few isles back to quiet down again.

Over the course of the next twenty minutes I felt the plane slowly tilt downwards, a strange experience for everyone, I'm sure. Thrilling in its own way. The moment before touchdown is my favourite, the strange little lurch before the pilot feels comfortable committing to putting down the wheels of the plane was something I adored for signalling the end of a long flight.

Not that I hated flying, but more that I'd rather be in a hotel room sleeping.

The plane touched down and slowly pulled into the little airport that Karakura had. Thankfully they had one, otherwise I'd be forced to endure another two, almost three hours of travel from the nearest airport. From here it was only a good ten minutes and I was where I needed to go.

Ten more minutes of taxiing the plane to wherever it needed to be, and I was gently tapped on the arm again.

"Sir, we have begun disembarking, do you require help retrieving your bag?" This was another feminine voice, smooth and unhindered by an overly strong accent. She was obviously much more learned than the other air hostess. I pushed up the thick lensed glasses that had fallen down my nose ever so slightly.

"Yes, thank you. Will I be passed off to someone else after we get off the plane?" I asked. I didn't really need to know, but conversation never hurt anyone.

"No, I will be guiding you to retrieve your luggage and then to a taxi if needed. After that, it's the end of my shift." She said, a hint of tired joviality in her voice.

"Ooh, lucky." I put on a faux jealous face and she laughed. "I'm Grayson, by the way." Sticking out my hand in a rough approximation of where hers would be.

"Suzumi, nice to meet you." She grabbed my hand and pulled it farther to the right. Almost had it.

"What brings you to Japan, Grayson? Meeting with family?" A question I'm sure she's asked a million times, but a helpful one nonetheless.

"Oh no, I might be a half," I gestured to my vaguely Asian features, broken by blue, lidded eyes and strong jaw, "But I don't have family here that I know of. It was a diversity visa, apparently. Wanted a big change in life, and it seems like Japan decided to open its doors to any sort of diversity it could get for the first time in, well… ever." I laughed, and Suzumi followed with her own peal of laughter.

"Ah, I've heard of it. Quite controversial at the moment. Many purists are not happy, but they are old now, new governance is making a push for a 'better Japan'. Has been a long time coming." I nodded thoughtfully. I had always heard that, at least in the past, Japan was relatively xenophobic due to relative global isolation and extremely low population diversity, but it was good to see that not everyone held the same values.

"Good to hear. The whole world seems to be going through a big change in governance these days. Politicians are quite a fair bit younger than previous decades. Almost everywhere is receiving some much-needed progress." I could feel that she was nodding along. A progressive minded person it seemed.

While chatting about minor changes in the world she gently helped me from my seat and guided me towards the exit of the plane, leading me down a long flight of metal steps. The height of it definitely worried me, entirely too uncomfortable with not knowing how high up I was and feeling the warm, slightly humid air bushing past my face.

As we slowly descended the stairs, one arm held tightly by Suzumi and the other clasping the metal handrail that I swear was too flimsy, Suzumi spoke again.

"A lot of Japanese business and business culture is opening up to outside influence. There is probably a political reason for this, but many people's lives are changing rapidly in their workplace, and they are reflecting it into their regular lives. Its…" she paused for a moment, thinking of the right word as we stepped down onto the tarmac and she guided me towards the door into the international terminal, "endearing. It's endearing to see the world change like this." She said, her voice proud of her usage of the word. I laughed gently.

"Well, it's allowed me to be here, so I'm not going to complain." Suzumi laughed and quickly talked in Japanese to, assumedly, another employee before leading me through the terminal once again.

One thing that, without fail, throws me off about other first world airports is the 'familiar, but not the same' sensation. Simply being here, the smells were similar, mostly, the same flooring was used for basically any airport, either tile, weird carpet, or that weird plastic wrap stuff that I couldn't honestly describe if I tried. But there were differences as well. The way crowds moved, the realisation that someone wasn't speaking English in a private conversation, the smell of food as we walked by a storefront. The smell of a different chemical being used to clean the toilets than what I'm used to. All these things compound to give an uncanny valley experience, something that I prepare myself for every single flight, but always managed to affect me unduly. Suzumi tapped me on the shoulder gently.

"Grayson? Are you alright?" She asked politely, but there was an undercurrent of concern. I smiled towards where she stood beside me.

"I'm just acclimatising. Maybe coming to terms that this is possibly going to be my home for a while." I could feel a spike of concern from Suzumi, a flicker of something entered the murkiness of my vision, but I pushed it down. My tone had been a little sadder than I had meant it to be.

"Are you sure?" She struggled for words after that, but simply let the question stand. I slowed the pace of my walk for a moment and thought.

Was I sure? Was I okay? Was I alright?

"No, I'm probably not alright, Suzumi," I looked towards her and smiled again, trying to be as genuine as possible, "why else would anyone be so ready to leave their home and go somewhere else?" I laughed gently, politely even. Maybe she understood, maybe she didn't. I couldn't see her face to tell.

There was silence for a moment. I wasn't a man uncomfortable with my own emotions, but I was unsure what Suzumi's reaction would be. I could have potentially committed a terrible faux pas and would be forced to commit seppuku along with nine generations of my family, if they can find them anyways.

But it became apparent that it was contemplative silence. Maybe she knew a lot of travellers like me, seeking the new to drown the old, and had prepared a long speech over the course of several showers and restless nights.

"I see." She said simply.

Or not.

But I could tell she cared about what I had said. It was… refreshing. Over the course of our short interaction I had uncovered a woman who cares, truly cares, about a total stranger. I could feel a bond form that escaped direct words, as she gently held onto my arm and slightly increased the tightness of her grip, I could tell that she had that same gripping attention.

It was then that a ribbon formed, directly in front of my eyes. I looked at it and felt an odd wave of calm. I tried to push it down and, as expected, I wasn't able to. I could never actually push down the important ones. A soft peal of laughter escaped me as I looked at the ribbon that directly lead back to Suzumi. I could feel the concerned look but used my other hand and waved it away.

"I'm sorry, an old friend just popped into my head." I grinned. I heard a rustle of hair and clothes, which I presume was a nod or some other gesture, before she realised.

"Oh, sorry. I nodded." I laughed again, and I swear I could feel the blush on her face through the ribbon in front of me.

"It's alright. It happens more often than you'd expect. We say so much through our bodies, it is hard to separate language from that. Even I do it on occasion." I smiled kindly, directly towards where the ribbon led, shrugging for effect. There was a moment of silence where I felt a very specific question brew. I could tell it was coming, so I decided to take the pain out of it.

"Degenerative neurological disorder of some kind. They think." I chimed in. There was a short, shocked pause.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" She trailed off, lost for words, the ribbon in front of me gaining a little bit of tightness to it. It sounded really scary to be fair. I just laughed.

"No, don't worry about it. There is a reason for the 'they think'. Honestly, they have no clue what it is that I have. I may well be the only person in the world with this specific set of symptoms. I even see ribbons, apparently as some sort of weird workaround for my brain to visualise people." I shrugged. The ribbon loosened, relaxing to a happy state.

"I'm unsure if that is a good or bad thing." She said, her voice still laden with concern, but with a joking edge to it.

I looked forwards into the murky fog that was the remnants of my vision. A cloud of murky grey, lights, and shadows. Suzumi's ribbon drifted into my vision once more, vying for my attention. I chuckled.

"Why does it have to be either?"

We simply walked in a comfortable silence, enjoying the short smattering of words between us as we waited for my luggage at the unloading area. Then slowly made our way towards a booth that was going to link me up with a business that was effectively bankrolling my stay here, in return for me being a worker in their office. I had heard the term 'white monkey' jobs being thrown around, but it wasn't like I was going to care if they picked me for such a simple reason.

Suzumi gently guided me along, surprisingly considerate of things that normally weren't thought of by those with sight. No sudden jostling or pulling, gentle suggestions and not a single time were my feet were stepped on, or was I pulled out of the way of anything suddenly.

We arrived at the small booth and I greeted the person that I assumed was behind the counter. There was no response initially, so I tried another few times before I realised that the attendant probably just didn't know any English and was effectively avoiding having a conversation with me.

I turned towards where Suzumi was standing behind me and she moved forward and began to speak rapid fire at the employee. It was a moment later that I heard some of the only Japanese that I know.

"What is his name?" The employee asked Suzumi in Japanese.

"Grayson Carter." I said to the employee, lightly startling them, and then slowly going back to spell out the name letter by letter.

There was a moment of silence before the employee spoke some words that included "I'm sorry."

I felt a strange foreboding sensation before Suzumi even turned to look at me.

"Grayson… The company that was accepting you went bankrupt a few days ago." An existential dread pierced me, anxiousness hitting me in a moment. "Do you have anywhere to go?"

That one single question cut deeper than I expected it to. An open wound simply being cut wider out of pure circumstance. I closed my eyes for a moment, leaving only the pure white ribbon floating in my vision, radiant against the darkness of the eyelids. I opened my eyes and looked directly into the source of the ribbon.

"No. No I don't."


A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter of Ribbon! This story will be updating more very soon, as well as my other fictions; Unwieldy and Fixture in Fate!

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 2: An Application

Suzumi pulled out what seemed like a futon out of a cupboard while I sat on the nearby couch. I guess this was as close as sleeping on someone's couch as I would get here. She grunted briefly with the effort of moving the heavy thing, and I wished that I was confident enough with my surroundings to be able to help her.

There was a thump as the futon hit the floor of Suzumi's small apartment. It was all of three rooms, if you counted the open kitchen. It felt more like a hotel room than anything, lacking the space that houses back home had in droves.

We had ascended five flights of stairs to get to her floor, a total or one hundred and fifteen steps. Knowing that number would make it easier for me to get up and down with less assistance. I whipped out my phone and started to navigate it, the sound of a woman's voice at eight times the normal speed sang out from the speakers as I navigated to my maps app and quickly input where I was staying using the braille keyboard, giving me a quick rundown of the stores nearby and the nearest train station.

There was silence for a moment, Suzumi having stopped moving, and even her ribbon tilting its end to the side, like a confused puppy. I laughed and looked at her, eyebrow raised. The ribbon shook itself free of its confusion.

"I'm sorry, I've never seen a blind person use a phone. Not like that anyway." She said, flustered while returning to setting up a small space for me to be able to sleep on the loungeroom floor.

"No worries, I don't think most people think we can even use phones." She laughed awkwardly, obviously only just learning as much. She seemed to finish setting up the futon and plonked down beside me on the couch.

"Thank you again for allowing me to stay. I'd have had to find a hotel last minute." She made a gesture that I assumed was waving the statement away.

"Honestly, it's no problem. It was my own fault for jinxing it by talking about how the workplaces are getting better." I laughed at that, and then was reminded to check my emails. After a moment of navigation, I ended up laughing bitterly.

"Received 6:22 AM." The robotic voice of the text to speech sounded. Suzumi groaned, having caught on.

"Seriously? That'd have been only a few minutes before the flight!" The email sent from the company to tell me that the entire company had gone bankrupt had only been sent to me three whole minutes before my flight boarded.

"So embarrassing!" Suzumi groaned and seemed to be rubbing furiously at her face in rage and cringe. I just laughed at her antics.

"Oh well, what's done is done. Maybe I won't end up being in Japan all that long after all." I sighed, resigned to simply being unlucky. But it seemed like Suzumi had a different idea. She quickly apologised before bouncing off of the couch and into the other room, which I could only presume was her bedroom, before running back out and launching herself into the air and landing beside me.

"Okay! I have my laptop. We are going to find you a new company!" I turned to her eyebrow raised.

"Would anyone even bother? It took weeks on weeks to set up a position in the other company, who wants to take a foreigner on this short a notice?" Suzumi shook her head, mirroring it in her ribbon and, like the ball of optimism she was she started to read out position after position.

A good half or three quarters of them were way out of my capabilities, being blind and all, but some that include simple rote tasks I had proven in other workplaces that I was capable of performing. And if I was allowed access to certain specialised equipment, I was able to pretty easily use a computer, having spent a fair share of my life desperately trying to use the computer for games to play with school friends.

The evening progressed into night, having only managed to send a few resumes to some of the larger companies. It slowly progressed to be more and more local companies, ones that both Suzumi and I had less faith that they would take me on. After discussing with her just how much work it'd take for a company to give me the ability to be an effective worker, we decided to apply to only the small businesses that I had immediately transferable skills in, like some retail jobs and simple rote learning.

There were a few cafes that were focused on disabled employees and we applied, not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I secretly hoped that someone else would accept me first before I had to work in a place like that.

Not to stigmatize or anything like that, but it sounded like the job had its own challenges. Especially with the other employees, and I wasn't sure that I was all that prepared for that kind of environment.

It'd been hours now and was well into the early morning. Why Suzumi was so committed to helping me out was totally beyond me at this point, even if she had no flights tomorrow. I was about to tell her to go to bed, after her downing a few glasses of wine, when she burst out in uncontrollable laughter. I had no idea what it was she was laughing at, but her semi-delirious laughter was infectious in the best sort of way. I couldn't help but start giggling myself while desperately trying to get it out of her.

"What? What's so funny?" I said, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her gently. She laughed louder at my touch before eventually calming down enough to speak.

"T-there's a job posting for a candy shop and it sounds so macho!" She burst out in another wave of laughter before she started to read the listing in a bad manly voice.

"This job is only for those with the utmost limits of human physicality, striving towards strength beyond strength and willing to challenge themselves to their absolute ends. The weak will not be accepted. If interested, please send a letter to attached address." At the end her voice cracked, releasing another fit of laughter, one I joined in on in earnest. In fact, it ticked us so much that in the next ten minutes that we spent giggling to ourselves, cracking jokes about how I was going to become the strongest person alive at this candy shop, we managed to print off my resume and envelope.

On the front, as a joke, Suzumi wrote 'To become the Strongest' on the front of the envelope, making us giggle even harder, before there was a bang on the roof from the apartment above us, reducing out giggles to snickers.

After a long moment, having finished out almost thirty-minute-long giggle fest, Suzumi and I sat on the couch, tiredly gazing into nothingness.

"Thank you for this." I said, after a long moment of silence. She didn't bother to try and reflect the genuine thank you, just nodding her head in a subtle response. I couldn't help but wear a comfortable smile on my face. Something that I swear I hadn't worn in months. Maybe a year at this point.

"Well, I think I should go to bed." She said but didn't move. Subsequent moments passed, and she still didn't move. I turned towards her, and I could only assume that she was looking back at me. I smiled and wrapped my arms around her, holding her tightly for a moment, breathing her presence in. Those few moments were glorious, and then I pulled away, getting up myself and carefully navigating around the coffee table in the centre of the room, eventually laying down on the futon.

"Good night, Suzumi."

I'm not sure that she ever moved back to her own bed.

---​

There was a long, drawn out hum from a strangely dressed man sitting on a stool in front of a large and even stranger machine. He pressed a finger to the machine and it growled to life, before a high pitched screeching noise started to emit from it, a piece of paper being printed with rapidly fluctuating statistics.

The man himself growled, taking off his hat and scrubbing his unruly blonde hair. He rarely ever got frustrated while working, but this machine had been annoying him for the better part of a few decades. It'd always been a little off, some interference here and there, but this was ridiculous.

As it was, the machine was practically unusable. In theory, the machine was perfectly stable, he must have checked every part and every element thousands of times, replacing them just as many times with more and more advanced parts. It was undoubtedly the most advanced and the most sensitive Soul Reader ever made. As far as he was aware anyways, that bastard always ended up cribbing his stuff and doing crazy things to it.

As far as the man was concerned, he had created the most soul sensitive device ever, and it was going haywire for no apparent reason.

But the man knew himself too well, planned too well, to let 'no apparent reason' slide. Just because the reason was not apparent, didn't make it any less insanely dangerous.

He had always considered the possibility that it was a captain class being, or maybe beyond captain class in the orange haired brat's case. But it was too consistent to be that way. It was always reading the same, and all other variables would shift. Even when major powers would end up here, the readings would always be the same.

It took years for the realisation of that fear to kick in. Something was lurking in the shadows and he had no idea what it was. Not knowing at all was a new kind of terrifying to the man. A special kind of fear that he hadn't truly experienced in a long, long time.

He had always had pieces of the puzzle, at least a few. But this was the only one he had, and it was just downright confusing.

The keening wail of the machine suddenly began to grow louder and louder. The man's eyes widened, before he turned to the door of his lab, rapidly picking up his cane, whose length disappeared to become a sword. He hastily pointed the sword at the door, as it flew open to reveal a tall, muscled man with tanned skin, hair tightly pulled into small braids. There was a moment of silence between the two before the sword was lowered and the large man pushed his glasses further up his nose and coughed gently, before holding out a letter.

Immediately the screeching machine started to burn, shocking the large man, dropping the letter on the floor and making him take a step back.

The blonde man coughed and spluttered as he desperately turned the machine off and waved away the fire and smoke with a hand. After the fire died down, the two men were left looking at each other quizzically.

"I'm going to go tend to the store." The muscled man said factually, before turning on his heel and closing the door behind himself.

As soon as the large man left the room, the blonde-haired man picked up the letter on the floor. There were words written on the front, "To become the Strongest". The man's scepticism rose, apprehension filling ever moment as he slowly pried the clean, white envelope open to reveal it's contents. He hesitantly allowed the envelope to empty itself onto his lab table, watching the paper fall to the table, waiting for something to happen.

A moment passed, then a second. He nodded to himself and evaluated the probability that the contents were a trap and found it exceedingly unlikely. Even still, he decided to lift it off the table without the use of his hands, slowly floating the paper into the air and unfurling it while it floated far enough from his face that he was able to create a simple barrier in time for a possible explosion or other external effect.

As the paper unfurled in the air, a look of consternation passed over his face. He read and re-read the contents of the paper over and over. Even looking his wariness and going so far as to hold it in his hands. He looked for clues, codes, anagrams, secret messages, signals, anything.

But there was nothing. No hidden trick or clue, no mysterious threat or bargain. Just a simple…

"Job application?"


A/N: Hey there! It's the first day of my true uploading process for my stories! As such, you get another chapter of this story. I hope you enjoy!

Also, join my Discord, if you can!

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 3: Hourly Rate

I awoke, snuggled within the futon on the floor of Suzumi's apartment, hearing and smelling the cooking of food from only a few metres away in Suzumi's kitchen.

I quickly began to rise from the floor and plopped myself down on the couch. I checked my phone, the same robotic voice telling me that it was 12:43 pm. The sound of the super speed voice alerted Suzumi to my wakefulness.

"Grayson! You're awake!" She said cheerfully. I looked over in the direction of her ribbon and smiled gently.

"Good—well—afternoon, Suzumi. Have you been up long?" The stove was turned off and food was being removed from whatever it was being cooked in and plated.

"Oh, you know, just going around doing odd jobs and all. I've been up a few more hours than you already." She said as she bustled over to the couch and placed a plate or bowl on the wooden coffee table in front of me.

"What's this?" I asked, curious. I felt out in front of me, placing my and flat on the table and sliding it across to where I thought the plate was so I didn't accidentally get a hand full of food.

"Just quick egg fried rice. Nothing special. Picked up western cutlery from a store on the way home though." I picked up a decently sized bowl with one hand, and my other hand had a spoon gently placed into it and I started to eat.

"Hey, this is pretty good!" I exclaimed. Truthfully, I'd been worried about the differences in foods but this was pretty close to home for me, so if worst came to worst, I was able to survive off of egg fried rice.

"Why thank you, kind sir." Suzumi said smarmily and I rolled my eyes at her. She giggled a little and continued to eat her own.

"Oh! I also put that letter in the post for you." I thought for a second before I remembered the silly job posting and we broke out into another little giggle fit.

"I wonder if I'm going to get a reply from them. Or anyone really." I said ponderously, but Suzumi cut in, seemingly thinking I was getting down on myself.

"If you don't, then I'm sure I can pull some strings with my mother. She wouldn't be able to get you anything fancy, but she'd be able to get you something." I hummed into a mouthful of food and then swallowed.

"What does your mother do?" I said before taking another spoonful and shoving it into my mouth. I was hungrier than I thought.

"Owns a small business on the other side of town. She knows basically every small business owner in Karakura, a real socialite she is. Really good at buttering people up too." She laughed like she'd stumbled upon an inside joke for the first time in a while, and I smiled at her antics.

"Ah yes, now I see where it comes from. Apple never truly falls far from the tree." Even Suzumi's ribbon looked scandalised by that one. I let out a peel of laughter while Suzumi jokingly tried to argue.

We spent a few hours, just sitting near each other talking about nothings. I learned that her full name was Suzumi Hamase, that she was a 'half', her father being American and her mother being incapable of anything but the most basic English—despite her father being both incredibly well learned in English, doctorate level apparently, and also being fully fluent in Japanese plus being obsessed with learning new kanji.

As the story went, he was so terrified that his future daughter would ask him about a kanji, or how a word was said, or what it meant, that he spent years cramming as much Japanese into his brain as he could. He had worked as a high-level English and Japanese teacher, much to the chagrin of the other Japanese teachers who couldn't beat him in niche kanji structures. It was then that I realised that the stories of her father contained a lot of 'had' and 'did', and not much about what he was doing now.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she recounted stories about her father. His wacky hijinks, the strange situations he always seemed to get himself into, all the way to the otherness that her and her father faced together. The slight exclusion, the feeling of inadequacy to her peers because of her heritage, and her frustrations with being unable to show everyone how great her father was, without being looked at oddly, without it being commented on.

Before long we arrived at the part of the story that we both knew had been coming. While she sunk deeper and deeper into my half-hearted embrace, she told me of the day her father hadn't come home. The day that his bicycle remained at work and he had died because of a simple fall in the street. She recounted the terrifying anxiety as the police arrived on their doorstep, when they rushed to the hospital, unable to get there before he had sunk into a long, long sleep.

There was a silence between us after that. I could feel the wetness on my chest, her face buried into as comfortable a place as she could. I couldn't say anything, mostly because I too had tears running down my face. I knew her every word was filled with so much emotion, so much experience behind it. I could almost see the moment when the blue and red light showed through the thin curtains, the horrible suspicion that your door was going to be knocked on, and then the knocks on the door that changed the course of your life forever.

For just as much time as we talked, we sat there in total silence, a lazy hug and gently rubbing circles on her back while she lay on my chest. I wondered if she was now sleeping in my arms, but slight sniffles every now and then said otherwise.

"I'm sorry, I don't usually dump this sort of stuff on strangers." She said, almost mumbling it into my chest. I let out a low chuckle.

"No, you're alright. I'm sure that you also don't let strangers sleep on your living room floor. You've done a lot for me recently. The least I could do is listen." She lifted her head from my chest and her ribbon mimicked her looking directly into my eyes. I lifted my hand from her back and embraced her cheek with my hand.

Her skin was smooth. It was warm and wet with tears, but I gently bushed them away, taking utmost care to not accidentally jab her in the eye. I felt her lean into my touch ever so slightly. I could only smile, if only a little uncomfortable with the intimacy of the situation.

"Your father sounded like an amazing man. I wish I could have met him." Her ribbon quivered ever so slightly, and a hot tear rolled onto my thumb.

"You are a lot like him." She choked out, sadness and happiness intermingling in an odd fusion of emotion. I chuckled, leaned forwards and gently touched my lips to her forehead, a risk that I somehow knew was fine to take.

"A compliment of the highest order!" I said boisterously as I moved back from her forehead and grinned. She laughed, a sound that must be divinely created to soothe the greatest of pains. Just as I was about to speak there was a knock on the door. A heavy knock.

It broke the moment, but I grinned through it.

"Sounds like we have a visitor." Suzumi jumped up, filled with a renewed energy, and just about skipped towards the door. A real energizer bunny, that one. There was a momentary pause before the door unlatched and Suzumi opened the door. Suzumi said something in Japanese that I think was 'Hello, can I help you?'. There was a sound of a throat being cleared and then a very deep, resonating voice reached my ears.

"Is Grayson Carter living here, ma'am?" This was spoken in fluent English with no noticeable accent.

"Uh, yes? What do you want from him?" Suzumi responded unsurely. I sensed the nervousness in her voice and decided to get up and carefully wander towards the door where Suzumi was standing.

"I received a job application from this Grayson Carter, and my boss has made it very clear that he is to be notified of his acceptance as an employee as soon as possible. Ah, you must be Mister Carter." I moved beside Suzumi in the tight doorway space, looking out towards this person who I could only see the feint outline of. From that much I could tell he was huge. He was easily six foot five or taller, just from eyeballing it. I couldn't see what he looked like, but his voice was intimidatingly deep, almost enough to rumble the thin walls of the entranceway.

"I'm sorry, I believe that you may have your hand out. I am legally blind, so if you could clasp my hand…" I reached out my hand and was gently clasped by a very large hand. The man was gentle and considerate despite his size, no squeezing matches against this guy thankfully.

"Yes, I thoroughly read your application. Your specific skills gained from past experience in the workforce and your willingness to learn shone through quite clearly. I know of very few that have elevated their lives past such boundaries as lacking sight, it is highly commendable." The man clasped my hand with his other as well, and bowed in front of me, quite respectfully if I remember correctly from what I read about bowing. I quickly bowed deeper.

"It's quite flattering of you to say that. I was not always without sight, so I feel I have always had more to gain from a life without it." There was a grunt of pleased acknowledgement from the man as my hand was given back to me.

"My name is Tessai Tsukabishi, you are free to call me Tessai, I work as a store clerk for Urahara's Sweets. Mister Urahara would like to meet you as soon as possible." As soon as possible? For a sweets shop this recruitment was quite fierce. The vibe that I was getting from Suzumi clutching my wrist tightly wasn't great.

"You must realise that I can't help but be a little sceptical of this. It's hardly usual recruitment tactics to show up on their front doorstep." There was a rumbling hum from the large man in front of me.

"I see. I have not ever hired someone through 'normal' means. We had employees in the past, but they have since moved on to greater things. I have put up a job listing but have not received any application other than yours so far. The title of your letter was quite compelling, may I add!" There was a quiet snort from Suzumi, but it seemed to go unnoticed. I sighed. The man seemed genuine, from what I could tell anyways. Just because he was odd, and his boss was odd as well, didn't mean that he was malicious at all. In fact, he was quite endearing.

"Mister Tessai, I'd be glad to go with you to this interview, but I'd like to make myself… presentable." I gestured to my attire, nothing more than a tee and a pair of sweatpants. I got the distinct impression that Tessai nodded and I retreated back into the home to quickly clean up and threw on some clothes that were more appropriate for a job interview. Or job acceptance interview?

It took surprisingly little time, having already been to the bathroom once in the middle of the night, and having precisely set up my luggage so that I could find everything I needed in no time at all. Not fifteen minutes later I was wishing Suzumi a quick goodbye, saying that I'd call her once the interview was done, and her promising that she would pick me up. I begrudgingly agreed, only because I didn't have any way of getting home on public transport yet, I'd need someone to guide me through the process at least once.

Tessai guided me carefully down the steps, though I remembered how many steps there were and was relatively confident in getting down the steps without issue. Soon enough I was in a relatively small car, surprising for such a large man, but he seemed to fit in fine.

The drive was punctuated with small snippets of conversations, but Tessai seemed like a man prone to internal pondering and was just as comfortable with silence. I listened to Japanese radio for the first time, which was a very strange experience, but at least the songs were enjoyable—for the most part anyway.

Before long we had arrived at what I presumed to be Urahara's Sweets. As I got out of the car, I looked to see a strangely shaped building, much in what I imagine was a more traditional Japanese style, rather than the modern stone block buildings that surrounded it—a sharp contrast with the regular surrounding buildings. I was led towards a set of doors that slid open sideways, and into a storefront filled with two rows of product.

Honestly, it seemed good. Small and easily able to navigate if I had to restock and potentially manage customers, though I wasn't sure how I'd get around the language barrier just yet. Tessai guided me towards the back of the room where I was lead through a few long corridors and into another room that was far less spacious than the storefront. In the room was a table, low to the ground and who I assumed to be this Urahara character.

Tessai led me to my seat but moved around the table to sit traditionally with his boss. Urahara said something in Japanese to Tessai very quickly, almost impatiently.

"Urahara would like it if you were to drink the tea in front of you, Mister Carter." I got a wave of the heebie-jeebies, but did so, not one to disappoint.

After one sip of the liquid, I almost spat it out for how disgusting it was, but I desperately swallowed the revolting warm liquid—feeling the strange fizz of the liquid course down my throat slowly, like drinking a syrup. A second passed, and then another, and an inexplicable pressure began to form in my ears.

It was a strange and somewhat disconcerting feeling, as the pressure started to rise and rise, and the strangeness only began to increase. A flood of words entered my mind, starting as a trickle, then a torrent. For just a moment, I thought I was going insane, before the words stopped and all became still once more—the pressure lessening until it was finally all gone.

"Well, I assume that worked its trick." A bored voice intoned. I scrunched my face up in confusion. I could swear that the words he was speaking were Japanese, but I interpreted them as English?

"Uhm, sir? What was that I just drank?" I said, slightly nervous.

"Unimportant. What is important is why one of the strongest souls I have ever recorded has walked into my humble little shop?" The same voice, obviously belonging to Urahara, stated, darkening slightly. I gulped, swallowing a sudden overproduction of saliva. I shifted uncomfortably in my kneeling position on my cushion, my knees spontaneously hurting for no reason.

"I don't suppose that we could discuss my hourly rate?"


A/N: Hey there! Hope you all had an amazing Christmas! I didn't post yesterday to spend some time with my family and enjoy the day as best as I could, but I'm back onto it now! Full steam ahead for little old me!

Hope you all enjoy a Christmas gift, just for you!

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 4: Terse Conversations

Silence reigned over the small room, the two men sitting opposite me quietly observing. This Urahara was speaking absolute nonsense, and I had no idea what to even say to it. Souls? Strongest recorded? What did that even mean? Was this some kind of ridiculous scam? The man opposite me sighed impatiently.

"Are you going to let up your ruse, or will you force me to drag it out of you?" His voice progressively became darker and darker as he spoke.

"Honestly man, I have no idea what you're talking about." I said, honestly somewhat offended and mightily confused. There was a snapping sound of a fan being aggressively closed, and the sound of cloth rustling, the shadow of Urahara rising to loom over my sitting form—though much shorter than his co-worker.

"No idea, he says." the man intoned darkly, as if tasting the words and finding them to be revolting, "Not a single clue why your soul might be so powerful that it interfered with a soul sensitivity machine over five thousand kilometres away?"

The man wasn't quite yelling. He was the sort of man with a voice that made you question if he was even capable of it. But if I had to pick the single most intimidating presence emanating from a man, this would top the charts.

"Uh, no?" I mumbled, almost genuinely questioning myself. If that whole sentence wasn't so ridiculous, I would be far, far more unsure of myself. This man could just about tell me that I killed three people last night in a forklift massacre, and I'd believe him just on how intimidating he is.

As I uttered the words, I could swear that the temperature of the room dropped, so much so that I began shivering, my body suddenly feeling weak and my breathing becoming laboured. I started to gasp for air, my lungs seemingly incapable of generating enough force to pull in air. The moment dragged on for an eternity, and I began to see clouds of black in my vision of murky grey. My body sprawled on the ground, my muscles unable to hold myself up in even a sitting position, fighting desperately against what felt like gravity itself, as if I were transported under an ocean, bearing the endless weight. I desperately gasped one last time before I knew unconsciousness was coming, or maybe it was death, but no air entered my lungs.

Just as I had given up, there was a bright flash, something that cut through the murky grey of my vision so clearly I'd swear I could actually see it. A dome of pure white energy suddenly surrounded me, lifting the huge weight off of my back. As soon as the weight had been released, I instinctively took in a breath that left me spluttering, gasping in between coughs, trying to get my diaphragm working in order again.

"What are you doing Tessai?" The question, that was really more of a statement, hung in the air like an incorrigible scent. His voice itself embodied the word black. It was filled with what I could only describe as murderous intent.

"I believe that Mister Carter may be simply entirely unaware." The deep voice was a point of calm within the whirlwind of terror that surrounded me. I swear, at any moment the dome that covered me could go down and I entirely believe that I would die, probably terribly.

"Unaware? Unaware of holding a soul this powerful? Even Kurosaki manifested his powers in ways, and he had nowhere near as powerful a soul as just a kid!" Urahara's voice reverberated through my very bones, making my body shudder with the effort to simply resist falling apart to it.

"He is blind, it is entirely possible that–" and then it hit me. Powers. Manifestation of powers? I had always thought that the ribbons I saw were a power, unexplainable by any number of specialists I saw. I remember clearly as a child being overwhelmed by just how many there where, sprouting from everywhere and everything, covering my entire vision in a brilliant white blockade of intangible cloth.

"The ribbons!" I blurted out, and the conversation between the two men instantly died. I immediately felt an entirely new sensation, separate from that of the crushing weight from before. Now it was simply an intense focus, a really intense focus. It was like I was suddenly in a petri dish, an unwilling subject in an experiment that may just cost me my life.

"Ribbons?" Urahara's voice was less dark but holding a warning of what may come if I don't answer satisfactorily. I try to scramble for the words that I always told the doctors when they asked me about it, but I hadn't been to a doctor in years at this point.

"I see ribbons. I used to see them everywhere, but I think I managed to filter some of them out, and now I only get the ones that are important to me," I said, similarly to how I did when I used to discuss it with a therapist, but suddenly realising that Urahara was probably as far from a therapist as I could get, "I- I mean, I think."

The silence was renewed, but Urahara's extreme attention never wavered.

"What do the ribbons look like?" He said coolly.

"White, excessively clean." I shrugged.

"Have you seen ones of other colours?"

"No?" I answered, questioningly.

"Mister Carter, are you able to see a ribbon from either of us?" The large man rumbled. I felt my face scrunch.

"I mean, I could try? I've never tried to see more ribbons, only trying to see less." There was a silence directly following my words, and it was obvious I was expected to do so. I sighed frustratedly, trying to quell my nerves in the presence of the terrifying men.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I immediately saw Suzumi's ribbon out of the corner of my vision, bobbing in the air not a metre away from my face. It took another moment before other ribbons started to pop into view. It was only a few at first, but as I slowly released my tight grip on this strange sense of mine the ribbons grew, popping into existence from beyond the murky grey wastes. It went from tens of ribbons, to hundreds, until an uncountable amount of them covered every centimetre of my vision, battling each other for space, pushing and jostling others.

I could still immediately tell which ribbon was Suzumi's, staying the closest to me out of the thousands that sit in front of me.

"I can see… well, a lot of them. I don't know how to specifically see yours though." Scratching my head in frustration, trying to sift through the huge amount of them, trying to tie them back to the two men in front of him.

"You may need to focus more locally, Mister Carter. Imagine the bounds of your awareness to be confined to this room, the walls a barrier between your sense of the soul to reach beyond. Constrict it to just this room and what is within it." I nodded, and with some effort I reigned in my sense, drastically cutting down the of ribbons further and further, though Suzumi's ribbon stubbornly remained in my vision. However, as the ribbons slowly dissipated, being pushed away by my constriction of my senses, two ribbons began to shimmer into existence slightly further away from my face than normal.

At first, they were unremarkable, not clear enough within my vision to see correctly, but as my curiosity grew, my focus on those two ribbons became hyper specific.

They were both a striking red. A colour I had never seen a ribbon be before, only seeing the same pure white for everybody. But it went further than just the change in colour, as I looked at them more closely, I saw patterns weaved into the ribbons, as if they were conglomerations of hundreds of different ribbons sewn and weaved into one, blood red ribbon.

"I see them! They are red, and look like they have designs in them even, I've never seen anything–" I was cut off buy another wave of even more intense pressure. The smell of ozone filled the air, as if it were about to rain. Due to the white barrier that surrounded me, assumedly thanks to Tessai, I wasn't as affected as I was last time, but my breathing became laboured and began to feel shaky again.

"He can see our reiraku, in untraceable gigais created by me!" Urahara was very close to yelling at this point, and a spike of fear shot through me. This man had been so close to knocking me unconscious, if not killing me, only minutes before. I had little doubt, after feeling that pressure, that he could kill me if he wanted to, possibly even with Tessai trying to stop him.

"And he clearly as no idea what that means, Kisuke. Absolutely oblivious to how extremely difficult that would be." Tessai's tone was different now. Before his voice was light, despite its deepness. He was clearly servile to Urahara, and extremely respectful of him. But this tone was different, it was commanding, a magnetizing force in its own right. Tessai was drawing a line.

"With this sort of power, he'd be capable of exposing almost anything we did, if the wrong person managed to get their hands on him, he could singlehandedly change everything." Urahara's voice was low and quiet now. Menacing in its intensity. But Tessai moved swiftly, surprising for his big frame, instituting himself in between me and the murderous candy store owner.

"And we have him in our hands. He is a living version of the soul reader we have been working on for decades!"

"He is too dangerous. If we let him live, someone will find him, and then there will be another war." Tessai paused at Urahara's words. I could feel it from how Tessai's ribbon coiled into what almost looked like a rope. A dreadful anticipation built inside of me, waiting for something tantamount to a bomb going off. Tessai's ribbon shifted and I braced for impact.

"I see. If you cannot see reason, then perhaps I shall call upon Kurosaki." The room went freezing cold. Straight to my very core I believed right there and then that I would die. Then it was gone. The barrier, the pressure and that gaze. All gone in a split second. Urahara huffed like a petulant child.

"Fine, keep him as a pet if you want, Tessai." And he strode out of the room calmly. As his footsteps receded down the hallway, and his ribbon disappeared from my view, Tessai turned to me, placing a large hand on my shoulder.

"Are you alright, Mister Carter?" I shook my head immediately. I was decidedly not alright.

"What the actual fuck was that, Tessai?" I said, genuinely angry and terrified at the same time. Tessai grumbled something about swearing but let it pass.

"Mister Urahara has been making a device that is supposed to be top secret, only known to me. He created it to serve as the warning for a potential invader into the Human World. It has been suffering from many issues, despite being the most advanced soul sensitivity device ever created." He paused to sit on the other side of the low table from me, sighing.

"What is a soul sensitivity device?" I asked, having only heard Urahara talk about it earlier.

"Think of it like a radar, but for souls. Especially powerful ones. Though keep in mind that calling it a radar is a gross oversimplification." I nodded, some of the anxiety slowly seeping away now that I was getting answers for what was going on. I suddenly realised that I was absolutely covered in sweat, my clothes soaked and sticking to my skin. Thankfully, Tessai was observant and offered me a handtowel of some description, that I started to use the wipe myself down as best I could.

"Anyhow, we had created this device to sense for powerful intruders to the Human World, something that has become a more recent event in the past few hundred years. However, the device always seemed to encounter issues with interference that neither Mister Urahara nor I were able to account for." Tessai paused, maybe for dramatic effect.

"That interference was you, Mister Carter. From an extremely long distance, your soul itself is so potent that it was capable of interfering with the device. Your job application letter on its own caused the device to burst into flames when in the same room as it. And yet we are unable to detect your actual power, even while doing so much as physically touching you. It is unheard of." Tessai's voice was like a stone wall. There was no room for questioning whether what he said was true or pure fiction, just that it was.

"How is it possible that you are unable to sense it? If it made the machine blow itself up, wouldn't that mean that you'd be able to, I don't know, feel it?"

"We should. And that is precisely why Mister Urahara acted with such hostility." I scrunched my eyes up in confusion and frustration.

"What do I even do with any of this information? I know absolutely nothing about any of this!" Frustration bled through into my words more than I had expected them to. But hell, it was damn justified. Tessai simply hummed in thought for a moment, his silhouette shifted tilting his head to the side and raiding his hand to meet his chin.

"We train you."


A/N: G'day, g'day. How'se you been doin' this past little while 'ey?

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 5: A Rush of Emotion

I was absolutely destroyed.

I'd done far better than I had expected, but I hadn't run anywhere in so many years that I couldn't even fathom how long it had truly been. The sudden addition of cardio to my exercise diet was shocking, to say the least.

My body was shaking from the effort of simply standing now, quivering uncontrollably against the weight of gravity.

The day had taken possibly the oddest turn it could have. From attending a job interview, to accusations of being an interdimensional interloper, to pumping iron with a very buff 6'6, almost 6'7 guy, who is now effectively my personal trainer.

I was blown away by just how quick things had moved. I had almost been killed by this Urahara guy, and now I was being trained by Tessai? It was just baffling. All the while I was dwelling in my confusion, I heard a car pull up hard, the door opening and rushing footsteps towards me.

I admit, I panicked a bit. It had been a long day. I threw my arms and practically cowered. There was silence.

"Grayson?" I heard Suzumi's voice. It's warm tones with just that tiny hint of a Japanese accent warmed and soothed me in a way that I'm not sure that I had since… well, a while. Then suddenly, a spike of anxiety hit me. I had just drunk that potion that made me able to understand and differentiate between Japanese and English. I actually needed to be careful to not speak in Japanese. I paused to make sure I was thinking in English.

"Oh, Suzumi. Sorry I called you out here so late." I said hesitantly, returning to a more neutral stance towards her, but she wasn't having it.

"Grayson, what the hell happened?" She exclaimed, coming closer and touching me gently on the arm, moving close to me.

"Oh, you know. Nothing that interesting." She growled in a half intimidating, half cute way.

"Grayson, you look like you've seen a ghost and ran a marathon to get away from it!" She slapped me gently on the arm in admonishment.

"I mean... yeah, kinda?" There was a pause of possibly just befuddlement.

"What do you even mean 'kinda'? You saw a ghost? You ran a marathon?" She was getting genuinely angry, in a 'I'm worried for you' kind of way.

"A marathon, mostly." I got the distinct impression that her eyebrows were severely scrunched.

"Why would you have run a marathon, Grayson? In a suit of all things?" Incredulousness was practically leaking from her words.

"Uh," my mind blanked, unable to think of any excuse that would remotely explain what had happened today, "I was just told to, alright? I don't think I really had a choice in it. Part of the job description, I think." Even her ribbon looked incredulous now. She was preparing to speak again when I simply put my hands on her shoulders and looked into vaguely where her eyes were.

"I understand that its weird and that it sounds really bad. It really might be that way in the end. But if I let you talk yourself into a fit, you are going to walk in there and demand answers, and I just don't want it. Not now." I pleaded.

Her words stopped, stuck in her throat. She was almost growling with the exertion that it took for her to resist barging right into the shop that sat behind me and trying to suplex Urahara, but she did hold back.

I just sighed, exhausted.

"I'll tell you more about it soon, I swear. But right now, I need to just go home and have a shower and stop standing up. Please?" There was a soulful moment between us, an unspoken conversation had simply by existing near each other, reassuring her that I was fine, but just didn't want to deal with it right at this moment.

Promptly after the silent conversation, she slipped herself under my arm, allowing me to lean on her ever so slightly, making it easier for me to walk to her little car. Once inside, the car ride home was almost silent. More out of necessity of me being wiped than either of us brooding.

The drive home felt long, maybe forty minutes of driving. Far too long for Suzumi to do every morning, especially if she is going to have a shift as a flight attendant again. I have to figure out a way to easily get to Urahara's shop. I wonder if Urahara's shop is on my maps app.

When we arrived home, I suddenly realised that there were steps up to Suzumi's apartment. Each step was just frustrating, though surprisingly my body held up.

All my cares flew out the window when I walked inside the cool apartment and struggled to make my way towards the shower. I had to sit on the floor of the shower because of just how little I trusted my legs to keep me upright. It took almost 30 minutes to do a rudimentary wash of my body.

I stumbled out of the shower, wearing a set of clothes to just relax in. I flopped down on the couch, face down in the soft cushions, too weak to lift myself and reposition. After a moment, Suzumi walked into the room and sat on the couch next to my laying form.

"So, what are you going to explain?" I almost groaned, but I had promised that I would explain… something. I sighed and forced myself into a sitting position. I took a moment of silence to collect my thoughts.

"A lot of weird stuff happened in there." I said.

"Well that much is clear. You were made to run a damn marathon, Grayson!" She said, a little outrage leaking into her voice. I nodded.

"I know, but that's the least weird thing that happened in there. I was told a lot of things. Things I have no idea how to understand or interpret." The anxiety was starting to get to me now. I had all this crackhead information. If I told her all this, she was basically confirmed to think I was batshit insane. But… it was Suzumi. Maybe, just maybe I could convince her.

"What sort of things?" Doubt clear in her voice. I sighed, resolving to tell her some things that might simply lead to me being thrown out of her apartment.

"I was told about my soul. Urahara told me about this thing he was making, had been making for years, decades even. He told me that there had always been interference. He told me that letter we sent, and it came within the same room of the device it exploded." I was exasperated beyond belief. How had this become my life? This stupid, fantastical sentence summed up the reason why I now know that the ribbons I see are reiraku and, according to Tessai telling me afterwards, are visual manifestations of someone's spiritual aura, if not their soul.

"What kind of device would blow up when a letter gets into the same room as it?" She was frustrated with me, a random man from another country who was suddenly spouting near nonsense at her. And she was well within every right to simply throw me out right then, but she simply balled her fists and stared at me so hard I could feel the burning gaze.

"A 'soul sensitive machine' made by the same man that made me able to speak fluent Japanese with tea!" I didn't quite yell, but the frustration in my voice reached a peak that I wasn't quite comfortable with, the frustration bleeding through into the latter half of the sentence where I had spoken in Japanese. I quelled the frustration but was only left with anxiety and fear. I felt liquid touch my lips and realised that tears were streaming down my face, leaving hot, wet scars in my face as if the frustration and anxiety was being pushed into the salty liquid itself. I sobbed uncontrollably once, before I clamped my throat shut and furiously wiped my tears away with the sleeve of my shirt.

There was stunned silence from her, lasting one minute, then the next. Each minute that passed worried me more and more, preparing for words that I simply don't know if I could handle at this moment. If I couldn't hear her light breathing beside me, I'd almost have believed she had disappeared right then and there and be done with the crazy talking foreigner.

"You… can speak Japanese now?" She said in Japanese, still baffled by that discovery.

"Yeah. I have no idea how he did it. But I drank this foul tasting liquid and it felt like my ears were going to burst, then I could talk with Urahara in Japanese. It was terrifying." I shook at the memory of the experience. The feeling of pressure in my ears wasn't that bad, but the conversation with Urahara was easily the most terrifying singular moment in my life.

"But how? I know that your Japanese was terrible. You couldn't have faked being as bad as you were, not with how fluent you are now. This is insanity!" I heard a shift of cloth against the cushions of the couch as Suzumi moved closer to me, hugging my arm into herself and moving close into my ear.

"I don't know, Suzumi. I just drank this stuff and I could. I can't understand what the hell he did exactly, I just thought it was a terrible traditional tea or something." Despite myself I laughed at the past stupidity and just in a self-deprecating way. Suzumi held my arm tighter.

"Well, okay. I mean, it's really hard to believe, but the effect is absolutely undeniable. You speak in perfect Japanese with a perfect Japanese accent. I've even been using old, obscure Japanese words to speak without loan words, and you can still follow along. How did this even happen?" She said, the doubt still in her voice, but the worry began to subsume it. I had thought myself capable of not telling her the whole truth, but here I was, ready to spill out everything. I just sighed in resignation.

"I think I almost died today, Suzumi." There was a sudden shock, her arms clamping around my arm heavily.

"Remember when I told you about the soul sensitive device thing?" She nodded in response.

"Well, it turns out that Urahara was making that device because he was worried about someone threatening the 'Human World'."

"The Human World?" Suzumi said, slightly baffled. I shrugged.

"That's what he called it. The reason he made it was to detect souls that were powerful, and just act as a warning system. I'd been showing up on this sensor thing basically since I was born, Suzumi. Decades."

"What does that mean?" Suzumi said, still baffled but a slight realisation dawning.

"He thought I was the intruder into the Human World. When I didn't have the information he wanted about 'who' I was and 'what I was doing here', I felt this… pressure. It was terrible, like someone increased gravity on me by ten times. I felt crushed by an invisible hand. I couldn't breathe. I thought I was really going to die, Suzumi." I realised I was crying again.

"Tessai saved me. A barrier, I think. Tessai stopped him from doing anything else, just that he called on a name, Kurosaki, and told him off about it. He stopped and told Tessai to manage me and train me. That's why I ran a marathon." I was still sobbing, unable to hold the weight of my emotions anymore, strong enough only to curl up in a ball and brace myself against my emotions.

Suzumi didn't ask any questions after that, but I got the distinct impression that she believed me. It was intensely relieving to be believed with a story that I felt so obviously false. It made me feel trusted, even though I wasn't sure that I trusted myself to truly understand what had happened today.

For the rest of the night I sat there quietly, Suzumi leaning against me, acting as a vital support pillar. Hour after hour passed, the night slowly overtaking day, the TV only paltry background noise to the trauma racing through my mind, the seemingly unending tears.

I don't know why Suzumi was treating me so well, like family. We only met a day ago, but already we had shared so much, and conveyed more than I had with very few others in my life, certainly among those that still lived. We had been physically intimate, hugging and even going so far as kissing her on the forehead, but there was nothing in it that made me uncomfortable, that made me wonder what I was doing, questioning my own sanity. Only an overwhelming sense of closeness, a connection I desperately needed.

After night came in, the rest of those waking hours were spent in a delirium of sadness, an overwhelming, rushing tide of emotion that I had no way to constructively handle, only to desperately brace myself and pray that the next day I wasn't going to feel the same way.

At some point I remember being supported and walking, then being laid down on a mattress. The cool sheets and pillow enclosed my body in a solitary fortress against my whirling mind, not a cure, but a soothing agent to sting of the wound.

It was moments later that I fell asleep, unbeknownst of the beast that I had awakened inside of Suzumi.

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 7: Study Room

I had awoken from my unconsciousness feeling very confused, and very tired.

My body didn't want to respond in the ways I wanted it to do, and as I tried to push myself up from the futon that I had been tucked into, I felt my arms wobble with the effort, my muscles complaining under my own weight.

"Grayson! You're awake!" An excited voice sounded out in the quiet room.

"Suzumi?" I pushed myself upright quickly, ignoring the weakness of my muscles. "Are you okay? Were you hurt?" I reached out towards her ribbon, quickly coming in contact with the silky skin of her arm.

"I– I'm okay. Better than I thought I would be. I understand what you mean now, it was terrifying…" She trailed off, but quickly perked back up.

"Oh! By the way, Tessai came in earlier and told me that I was going to be trained with you?" I blanched at that.

"Wait, you want to be trained? If training was anything like before then it's going to be terrible!" I said, worry overtaking my voice in an effort to convince Suzumi. There was a pause before she spoke again.

"I think it might need to happen regardless of if I want it or not, Grayson." I opened my mouth to speak again, but her hands enclosed around mine. Her grip was steadfast, not too tight, but strong enough to let me know of her conviction on the matter.

"Why?" I asked dumbly. She just sighed.

"I don't want to feel like you are out doing dangerous things while I lay at home in bed at night. I want to be able to help you, be able to be by your side when you need me to be. Just like you were…" I flashed back to when I raced forward, dragging Suzumi out of the way of Urahara's wrath. I hadn't been able to protect her from a candy shop owner, how was I going to be able to protect her from anything else.

Why was this connection to each other already dragging one another into dangerous situations? We hardly know each other, and yet this unknowable connection has silently bound us like steel cable, making it seem almost ludicrous that we move apart now.

I felt something soft and wet gently press against my cheek, and suddenly realised that Suzumi's face was right next to mine. I almost recoiled, if the sensation wasn't sending shivers down my spine. After a long moment, she pulled away.

"That's for saving my butt back there." I could hear the smile in her voice, maybe a bit of embarrassment too. I opened my mouth to respond but was cut off when a sliding door was opened quickly.

"Ah! Mister Carter and Miss Hamase, I must say, its excellent to see you both awake and seemingly doing fine. Mister Carter, are you experiencing any weakness?" Tessai walked through the door and knelt next to me.

"Uh, yeah I am. I'm feeling pretty tired overall." I could head the cap of a bottle being twisted open, the neck ring snapping easily under Tessai's powerful hands. He offered the small bottle to me, which I accepted with hesitancy.

"This concoction should taste slightly better than the other we had you drink, I assure you." I nodded, still hesitant, but the man hadn't so much as fibbed to me yet, so I put my trust in him and took a swig of the small bottle. The effect was immediate. I felt a little bit revitalised, my eyes not quite so dreary and stomach stopped revolting at the lack of rest. I quickly chugged down the rest of the bottle, the strawberry flavoured liquid slowly giving me my energy back.

"Wow, that stuff is great!" I said, wondering where this drink had been all my life. Certainly could have used it during high school.

"It is indeed. It is intended to service those with minimal spiritual energy of their own, replenishing it. However, drinking more than one a day will make someone violently ill, unfortunately." I nodded, I guess there had to be a downside somewhere.

"Are you going to give Suzumi one?" I heard Suzumi begin to rise to stop me from hassling him, but Tessai spoke before she could.

"Unfortunately, at this moment, Miss Hamase has little to no spiritual energy to speak of. Humans naturally generate very little spiritual energy. However, her soul itself is unusually strong. Whether that is an effect of being close to yourself, or simply an inherited trait is not discernible at the moment." I hummed in interest.

"You think I may have the ability to strengthen souls?" Tessai grunted.

"I believe that it is possible, given your ability to apparently steal spiritual energy from someone. The ability to alter souls, or grant people power in such ways, is not unheard of, but increasing the power of a soul is an incredibly complex process. It is, quite literally, easier to create a fake soul than it is to enhance an existing one," The giant of a man seemed to think on his words for a few moment before concluding, "it is extremely complicated, and very few understand souls on the level needed to dramatically alter their abilities and power. I am most definitely not one of them, at least in that specific department."

I couldn't help but be a little confused by that explanation. If you could make a soul, couldn't you enhance one that already exists? Maybe it was a bit like gene editing. Unknowably complex, but all theoretically possible to implement in humans, just with insane reparations if incorrect. I ended up simply shrugging. I wasn't sure if I was doing anything to Suzumi in the first place and worrying about it was a total waste of time. If I could seize the ability to do it consciously it'd be a different story entirely.

"Well, alright. I don't really know what to do with that information, but I hope it'll come in handy?" Tessai laughed, a deep rumbling sound.

"You do that, Mister Carter. Knowledge is truly power in the world we all live in, even if it doesn't seem so." Tessai stood back up from his crouched position and I heard his footsteps receding towards the door.

"As you both seem physically able at this point in time, you will be trained by myself, and then Mister Urahara will train you personally for an hour." We both stiffened and Tessai sighed.

"I understand that what Mister Urahara did was uncouth, on many levels, but there is no-one that I would trust more in finding out about your abilities and increasing your power overall. I urge you to put aside your doubts and listen to him despite his… more recent shortcomings." Tessai walked out of the room without another word, leaving Suzumi and I sitting alone. I listened for a while, but it didn't seem as if Suzumi was going to speak.

"Are you okay with this?" I asked, my voice strained with worry.

"I think so. I don't like Urahara, and I'm not sure that I ever will. But that power…" She trailed off, but she didn't need to say anymore.

Urahara was clearly extremely powerful, on another entire level in fact. I understood little about what Urahara and Tessai were and where they came from, but I can only imagine that there are far, far more than just Urahara at that level of strength. Tessai had even brought up a Kurosaki, someone who apparently even worried Urahara.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." There was no more that needed to be said.

We both stood and walked towards the door, meeting Tessai outside.

"Good. Today we will be training in the Study Room." I quirked my eyebrow.

"Study Room?" Tessai didn't respond, and started walking towards the back of the shop, his steps quick and consistent. After a few moments of walking, we came to a door that opened and released a burst of warm air towards us, through my hair and skin. I could hear the air rushing through what I could only assume was a staircase.

"Watch your step, the steps are quite steep." Tessai said, already moving efficiently down the steps. The day before I had run on an outside oval in a park nearby, this was entirely new to me. Suzumi grabbed my arm, linking it in hers and slowly we started to move forwards.

"Is it dark?" I asked. I felt her nod.

"There are torches, but this staircase goes on forever." She said, nervousness apparent in her voice. I hummed in thought, the dark never really scaring me, obviously.

"We'll be just fine, one step in front of another, Suzumi." She took a deep breath in and we picked up pace. I was counting the steps the entire way, but there was a truly astronomical amount. This staircase was like the equivalent of climbing a hundred stories without the help of an escalator.

By the time we reached the bottom of the staircase, indicated by Suzumi, we were both puffing from the exertion, but I realised that there was a hell of a lot of light for an underground 'study room'.

"Wow! All of this underground?" Suzumi's voice was filled with genuine astonishment. I furrowed by brow, trying to squint enough to get an impression of what I was supposed to be looking at.

"What it is? Can't see, remember." I distinctly felt that she was blushing a little bit.

"Uh, right. Its like a whole mini mountain range under here. Its huge, and the walls look like they've been painted to look like the sky. Its really impressive!" My eyes widened in second-hand amazement and I heard Tessai laugh heartily from in front of us, the warm air carrying his voice.

"I'm sure that Urahara would be quite chuffed with your praise. It took him years to make this area." The mood soured a little at that, but I guess even shitty people can do amazing things.

"Either way, Mister Carter, Miss Hamase, this is the study room. In here, many of exceptional power have trained and found themselves great power to fight equally against foes of greater strength, and so I have decided that you will train here from now on." Tessai stopped and thought for a moment before he continued.

"Training will take up all the time you are capable of giving. Your training will not keep you from loved ones in need, but to train with me and Urahara, nothing but your absolute best will be accepted, and this likely means that you will be unable to do outside work. You will be paid for this time, we have quite an amount of human currency that we do not use, and you will easily be able to subsist off of those funds." I turned to Suzumi, wondering how she would react to that. She didn't respond verbally, so I assume she nodded.

"Good. You will both be worked extremely hard. You will exercise physically with me, learning basic hand to hand combat as well as refining techniques that you learn with Urahara. Urahara will teach you new techniques that will be extremely difficult for you to put into practice. But once he manages to teach you something, then I will refine that so that he is able to teach you something new. I will not understate how incredibly important Urahara's understanding of your abilities are. He knows much, and him sharing it with you is extremely generous." Tessai's voice was like iron, a commander in truth.

"We will start with basic cardio. Follow my lead." And he began to run.

Both me and Suzumi quickly learned that Tessai could run fast. In fact, just keeping up with the man felt almost impossible, but just when you got the tiniest handle on the speed you were running at, the man cranked it up just a little more.

As you could imagine, trying to run over a rocky landscape was precarious and extremely anxiety inducing. Before long, me and Suzumi had worked out a system making it so that I could traverse the landscape while following the man's red ribbon.

"How can you follow him so well!" Suzumi exclaimed, in between puffs, desperately trying to get enough air. I laughed as Suzumi called out a stone ahead, allowing me to avoid it.

"Remember when I told you about my neurodegenerative disorder?" I said, in between gasps for air myself.

"Yeah?"

"Well, that ribbon thing I talked about was apparently me seeing souls." Suzumi called another hazard and I managed to only stumble without falling on that one.

"That sounds amazing! Can you see mine?" I turned towards her ribbon and smiled.

"From day one. I only see the important ones, even when I don't want to see any." I laughed when her ribbon coiled in embarrassment.

"Well, it seems that I am not working you tow hard enough, given that you are still both capable of flirting!" Tessai's booming voice called out, before he sped up once again. I think we both blushed at that.

We raced after Tessai, trying our best to keep up. It wasn't long until I realised that I was actually performing quite well, no, really well. I was barely puffing anymore, able to keep up with the giant man as if he were jogging.

Suzumi was struggling, but she also seemed to be doing better.

"Ah, it seems that they have both started to utilise their spiritual energies." A voice called out, cutting through all other sounds.

"Urahara." I growled.

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 8: Structure

"Yes, yes. It is indeed me. No need to get your panties in a twist." Urahara said, attitude flippant. Tessai looked over to the man with a glare, making him turn away from the gaze and sigh.

"I am sorry from attacking you, though I thought it best to push you so that I was able to draw out what you are capable of, without protracted testing." Urahara said, his voice not apologetic at all, but Tessai looked mollified, so it was possible that Urahara was never sorry about anything.

"Your apology was terrible." Suzumi spoke out, sporting a glare of her own. Urahara shrugged, his overcoat, a haori, rustled along with. Suzumi had explained Tessai and Urahara's appearance to me earlier. They certainly stood out in Japan.

"Do you want training or not?" I gazed up at Urahara's red ribbon, flicking side to side like a cat's tail. I rolled my eyes.

"Sure." I said, making sure he knew from tone alone, that I wasn't glad about it. He sighed heavily but continued on.

"Alright then. Thanks for getting them to a point where they can use spiritual energy at all, even if subconsciously." The taller man gave a nod that reflected in his ribbon, and walked away from us, leaving us alone with the hat and clogs guy.

"Now that you two both have unconscious access to your spiritual power, all we really have to do to grow that power is to put you under a lot of stress, a happy side effect of today and yesterday's mishaps." I gave the man a glare, but he didn't seem to care.

"So, I have this magic now?" Suzumi chimed in, her not being any happier than I was, but the curiosity a more burning issue.

"Well, magic is an entirely different concept. It isn't even called magic, mind you. Too western for the tastes of the very Eastern Soul Society." Urahara waved a hand.

"'Magic' is called Kidō, using spiritual energy in a routine way, instead of freeform, but less structured options. Most aren't extremely well learned in kidō because it takes a lot of effort and time to be able to properly perform it. I would recommend that you learn other avenues and basic kidō barriers before you bother dedicating yourself to it." Urahara's voice was rapid-fire, answering many questions before we had even gotten to answering them.

"What you currently have access to is pure spiritual energy, with no real way to channel it other than through your bodies or expelling it outside of your body and creating spiritual pressure as a by-product. That 'attack' that I used against you was simply spiritual pressure." I grunted, remembering the term from the day before, but it had been a bit of a blur.

"So… what are you going to teach us?" I asked, eyebrow raised.

"Well, there are a few interesting things happening here. For one, we have what could be considered a base human with no real special attributes, albeit a slightly stronger soul, and an entirely unknown being, though presenting human, with a massively powerful soul. Though, said being lacks actual spiritual power reserves, interestingly. Something that will no doubt scale exponentially within the coming years." Out of nowhere I felt a ripple around me, as I heard a clack of something wooden against the stone.

"Tessai has decided that both of you will be trained, and we have trained base humans before—though mostly soul sensitives—to great effect, but this entire process is changed by whatever it is that you are, Mister Carter," the sound of the wooden sandals that the man wore rung out against the stone as he walked closer to the two of us.

"In just the past day alone, since Tessai first met Suzumi, and to when I was subduing her with my spiritual pressure, her soul has drastically strengthened by a not insignificant amount." The man stopped only a metre or so away from me, and I felt a distinct circular object press into my chest. In that singular moment, I realised I was just as vulnerable as I had been when I laid on the floor, suffering under the man's aura.

"What do you think that this tells us, Mister Carter?" I felt like a student that was stood up in front of a class, being forced to answer questions he didn't know the answer to.

"I promote soul growth?" I answered, hesitatingly, the man poked my chest and let what had to be a wooden cane fall down, tapping the ground with its end.

"I told you that already. What it tells us, is that you are able to make base humans that are capable of wielding spiritual energy." The man walked away from me, his sandals and cane clacking against the stone, moving closer to Suzumi.

"Why is that any different?" Suzumi asked after a moment of silence, playing into the man's theatrics.

"Why, what a good question," he replied, his voice a little too jovial, "it is different simply because humans, while not devoid of spiritual energy, are rarely capable of a significant soul sensitivity. Some are most definitely capable of interacting with spirits, controlling spiritual energy like yourself and have enhanced physical attributes and so forth. We call them high-spec humans, and those that we have trained before are considered as such." There was a sudden whipping of cloth as the man turned, the crack of his cane against the stone ringing throughout the cavernous space.

"However! To have those around you improve their soul in such a way is extremely unusual. The last time there was anything that came even close, it was an object of such power that it created an enemy that we had to lock away under a truly astonishingly powerful set of seals, and they still grow stronger despite that fact." A chill washed over me, a sudden realisation of just why the man was so quasi hostile towards me. In fact, it was starting to make me worry about all those who I had been around before… those that I may have accidentally gifted supernatural abilities with no knowledge of what they are and what they meant.

"So, you are worried that I will start raising the power of humans around me, granting them spiritual powers?" In that moment, the man's eyes cut through the fog of my vision, his grey eyes piercing straight into me. I saw a harrowing preciseness in those glowing eyes, like a knife cutting to my very soul itself.

"No, it isn't you I worry about. I worry about who it is that gets their hands on you and decides to empower their army to attack everything I know and love."

The words rung out like a clear bell in the space. The words were not angry or sad. They carried shockingly little emotion. The words were, however, fierce. I pondered for a moment, trying to absorb just how terrifying the outside world suddenly seemed.

"Am I destined to become a tool?" The man scoffed.

"Destiny? No. Anyone who truly believes in destiny will die to the sword of a man who has the willpower to break it. The reason you are alive right now is because I feel that you could potentially be able to protect yourself. I really don't want to make a habit of letting powerful artifacts and beings go walkies, furthering another step towards an apocalyptic event."

"So, when are we going to learn?" Suzumi spoke up, more curious than anything now. Urahara chuckled briefly.

"Well, funnily enough, I'm going to start by hitting you with my spiritual pressure, ramping up through the levels and hopefully coax your souls into figuring out how to protect itself."

The pressure was immediate, but very light. I heard Suzumi gasp, as if she had been punched in the chest.

"Hey! I thought that we were done with this!" I shouted, incensed that the man would just do exactly the same thing that he did before.

"No, we aren't done with this. We are, however, done with me crushing you for little gain. In this format of training, we are effectively training your soul and body to utilise spiritual energies to counteract my own spiritual pressure. For some this comes naturally, for others like us and most others you will meet, we need to train this ability." The weight increased further on me, but Suzumi seemed to stay stable.

"Mister Carter, you are doing well, likely a benefit of your soul being the way it is. Though a strong soul will only get you so far before you need to find other ways to mitigate the hostile aura." The weight continued to grow and grow, my mind slowly being consumed by the weight of it, trying desperately to hold myself upright as it bears down on my body with relentlessness.

"How do I–" I began, but the weight increased further, like I had been punched in the stomach, my body dropped to the floor, just barely staying on my knees.

"Paradoxically, if you are asking the question, you are doing it wrong. Can a fish explain to you how it breathes in water? It is something so inherently natural that an effort to explain it is only of any use after you have learned it." The weight increased again, forcing my torso closer to the ground, my arms shaking with the invisible weight placed on my back.

Suzumi, however, didn't make any noise whatsoever. There were the barest grunts of exertion coming from where she was, not five metres away from me.

"Good Suzumi. You are getting an idea of what it is you need to do. Regardless of if it is instinctual or not, you need to take hold of that feeling and hone it. Make it a core process as if you were breathing. If you cannot do this much, then there will come a time when someone only a smidgen as powerful as I will simply kill you by walking past you." Fear hit me.

Suzumi's life was that frail? A person could kill her by total happenstance? No, I couldn't let that happen, not on my life. I gritted my teeth so hard that it hurt, my jaw groaning under the abuse. I began pushing back against the weight in defiance. I could feel it tremble ever so slightly, but it quickly reasserted itself with much more strength, my face now being pressed into the hard stone, my knees being compressed into by chest.

"Very good, Mister Carter, you somehow managed to bypass the entire point of this exercise and learn how do something else entirely. Using your spiritual pressure to battle someone else's is the kind of contest you want to be sure that you can win. You cannot. Instead of using your muscles, use your brains." I let out a strained growl, but quickly returned to trying to combat the seemingly relentless onslaught of weight increases.

Wait, combat? He had just told me that I couldn't win. It was like trying to have a go at a tsunami. No, I needed a way to circumvent the crushing weight on my shoulders without directly combatting it. Physically combatting it was just as stupid as the spiritual alternative.

So, I did what I do best, and closed my eyes. In a single breath the world around me stilled, though still pressed under the same weight. A second breath allowed for my chest to expand further. Another breath, and another. Each a laboured reprisal of my own mind, freeing it from thinking about the situation, and simply letting my body act.

As I took in a breath, I felt power circulate within me, and with a breath out I felt that power slowly exude from my body. As I continued this breathing, the spiritual energy that was being slowly pushed out of me was creating a capsule of space around me. Using minimal amounts of my energy, I shaped the capsule around me to create a slipstream of sorts within the mire of crushing spiritual pressure. I slowly refined it, creating the barrier around me so that the pressure itself was almost cut, where the force of the pressure was sliced through like the hull of a jet cutting through the air that surrounds it, its aerodynamic shape allowing it to reach speeds greater than sound itself.

I could still feel the intense weight pressing down on me, but it was like a sudden skill that I now know that I always had, and that was ingrained within myself to a degree that I didn't fully understand. However, with my brain disallowed from making any judgements, the sudden memory of a time when this skill was mastered flowed through me, the shape of the capsule around me changed significantly, far past the primitive conical shape I had been suffering with.

The change was rapid, the large capsule suddenly became vacuum fit to my body and as I felt each shift in the energy, the capsule that had become a second skin changed in texture. From a rough and untamed, hazy grouping of energy, it became a solid and incredibly slippery texture that interacted with the spiritual pressure and thankfully not my physical self.

The pressure suddenly disappeared from my back, the weight becoming almost nothing more than a pebble. I could feel the weight increase again, but this time it was different. I knew I had the protection to sustain it, but I also realised that the only way to break through the defences with this type of onslaught was to simply overpower it.

I began to stand up hesitantly at first, making sure each movement was a stable one, not risking Urahara increasing the weight and pushing me back into the ground. In only a few seconds I was standing once again. I moved over towards where I knew that Suzumi was, the pressure entirely disappearing once I passed into her area and felt around for her form. I managed to catch the top of her head, realising that she was sitting.

I sat down beside her and wormed my hand into hers, realising that she was effectively taking the same option as I chose to, and was meditating. I felt my energy touch hers and impart just a tiny fraction of its stability to her energy, intertwining for a moment, learning from each other in that crucial moment.

Like wildfire, the new structure that Suzumi's energy had observed propagated, leaving her with a far sloppier version of my own structure. I glowed with a pride that was instinctual and also happened to wake up my mind from its brief hiatus.

As my mind returned, any pressure that was being forced down upon the two of us was suddenly entirely gone. I looked towards Urahara's ribbon, that had its end tilted in such a way that reminded me of a curious puppy.

I heard Suzumi beside me gasp in relief, the stress fading from her body as her mind receded into unconsciousness in my arms. I held her gently, glowering up at Urahara. He didn't speak for a long while, before I heard the distinct sound of fingers roughly combing through hair.

"Well, can't say that I expected that one."

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 9: Memories of Never

Suzumi and I sat, our new and strange energy barrier surrounding us. Urahara still stood a distance away, mumbling to himself about things that I couldn't even properly understand.

I looked towards Suzumi, who was still panting even after the weight had dissipated from her shoulders.

"Are you alright now?" I asked, my voice soft as I reached out and clasped her hand. There were a few more moments of her panting before she managed to suck in a breath that allowed her to breathe easily again.

"Yes, I think so. I was doing pretty well I thought, but the weight kept getting heavier. I managed to slice through the weight a bit, and then I felt you touch me…" She trailed off, thinking back to the moment. I did as well, remembering that supremely odd sensation. I had shared with her the form that my energy had moulded itself into, and seeded it within her own energy, as if the slight connection had taught her of the structure it should take.

I knew little and understood even less about what happened only moments ago, but the thing that truly does stand out in my mind is the fact that I remembered that structure from somewhere. It was like the muscle memory of a sport you had done years ago, and when you picked it back up again, everything seemed to fall back into place rudimentarily as you started to go through the motions.

There were no memories that came along with the action itself, just a feeling of almost getting it right, but not being good enough yet to do it properly. A feeling of primal frustration, maybe. An instinctual understanding that I could do it better, that I should be able to do it better.

The structure clung to my skin even still, an action that took no thought, just as simple as breathing or standing. It quietly shifted from form to form across my skin, bizarrely feeling like nothing, but also being prominently there to my mind.

"I'm assuming you haven't been taught any of this?" Urahara spoke at me intensely, breaking me from my rapture. I shook my head and he grunted out an affirmation and continued to mumble to himself. I felt Suzumi's thumb slowly stroke the back of my hand in an inquisitive way.

"Are you alright now?" She asked. Maybe she had realised that I'd been under a larger weight than she was, or maybe she was just borderline telepathic, but I answered her nonetheless.

"Honestly? I feel somewhere between amazing and frustrated." I sighed, not sure if I was able to get the emotion across in words, but I begun to feel her grip on my hand weaken.

"Suzumi?" I asked, worry making an appearance despite my best efforts.

"Sorry, I think I might be a little tired. I might just pass out…" She trailed off, her sentence half forming but becoming a jumbled grunt when making it out of her mouth.

"Urahra! Suzumi is passing out." I called out, clasping Suzumi's limp hand in mine and trying to lie her flat on the stone, moving to pick up her legs to keep her blood moving, but Urahara's voice appeared right next to my ear, making me jump.

He snatched her hand from mine and felt for something a few seconds before he spoke, "Ah, perfect! I needed to talk to you anyways. She is simply exhausted, give it a few hours and she'll be just fine. Tessai!" The man yelled, rapid fire in his pace and his voice booming across the league of manufactured rocky landscape. It wasn't that he had strained his voice or that it was spoken with any more intensity than normal, but that the word travelled much, much further, even managing to bounce back and reach my ears a time or two.

Moments later I heard a strange ripping sound in the air itself, feeling a wave of air being displaced.

"Ah, you have completed your training with Mister Carter today? It hasn't been an hour, Urahara." Tessai spoke harshly, a warning perhaps.

Urahara scoffed lightly, "Don't you worry your head about it, Tessai. I am merely calling you to take care of Miss Hamase. I am going to… inquire about a few things with Mister Carter over here." Urahara spoke secretively, and the air tensed between the two men. A slight amount of that same pressure Suzumi and I had been battling against snaked forwards, eyeing each other up before Tessai audibly changed his attention to Suzumi, who was still lying in front of me.

"Mister Carter, I commend you in the extraordinary use of your own spiritual energy to shield yourself from spiritual pressure. Do not let Urahara convince you it is anything but that." Urahara huffed but didn't bother to comment on his employee's warning.

There was another sudden displacement of air as I saw Tessai's ribbon flash from right in front of me to hundreds of meters away. Suffice to say that my mind was sufficiently boggled. The magic, or spiritual pressure, was one thing to comprehend but moving with a speed that was clearly not possible according to physics, or at least not immediately obvious it'd be possible, was something else entirely.

Urahara didn't let me think too hard about it, "Let's move ourselves then, shall we?" My arm was roughly grabbed and with a strange whizz of air around me, like I was suddenly in my own personal tornado. Suddenly, we were no longer in a warm and dry climate, but the very same climate of the room I had first met Urahara in. I sat back, shocked, pulling away from the arm that Urahara had grabbed.

"God damn, give a man some warning?" I said, scandalized, as I felt my world spin around me for a moment, my brain desperately trying to come to terms with just how fast I had just been moving. We had somehow travelled all the way from the study room, all the way to the steps, up them, down a corridor and through a door. By this quick calculation, my mind was sufficiently boggled and I just let the dizziness run its course.

"People find it even more jarring when they prepare for it, in my experience." Urahara said, thumping down to the floor in a sitting position while I haphazardly make my way to the other side of the table, trying to wipe the unpleasant feeling from my mind. He let me sit and recollect myself, before deeming me to be fit enough to answer his myriad questions.

"So, tell me how you came up with the spiritual shielding that you used." For some reason, as he spoke, I couldn't help but see him as an excitable child, begging to be told the answer to a question he had asked his annoyed parent. I snorted at my own mental thought and tried to come up with a 'how' for this strange shield that had popped into my head.

"If I'm honest, Urahara. I just seemed to remember it. It just popped into my head one moment, and the next after I was able to use it. I wasn't thinking about anything when it happened, or well, nothing important anyway." I heard the man rub the stubble on his face while he hummed in thought. Urahara was the kind of person that you could tell was smart just by being around him. You didn't need to be told, it was just something about the way he held himself, the sort of aura he emitted. Disregarding my obvious distaste for the man, I couldn't help but be somewhat in awe of his presence, even as he chewed on the new information I'd just supplied him with.

"A racial trait maybe?" He pondered aloud and I lifted an eyebrow in response.

"I'm half Japanese and half random assortment of European ethnicities. Do you think that it'd make that much of a difference?" I asked, and even his ribbon shrugged. I had realised the ribbons were becoming more expressive as of late.

"Well, I can't say I know much about that. Information on 'afterlives' or spiritual organisations in other countries are… well-guarded, as is the information about the Japanese and Eastern Soul Society. We all live parallel to each other, rarely intertwining."

Confused, I asked, "Uh, Soul Society?"

"Oh, right. You haven't had any of that explained to you properly yet?" I shook my head, "Well, I guess you are in the fold now, and Tessai and I being mysterious about it wouldn't be helping anyone." He cleared his throat and I resigned myself to listen to some information that was surely going to change my view of the world as I know it.

It was then that the door to the side of us opened, "Urahara, Mister Carter. Miss Hamase is currently resting in one of the spare rooms. Can I offer you tea?" I flared with an instinctive frustration, being so close to this information that had been trickle fed to me over the past day. Urahara perked up, taking a green tea from Tessai, and I simply took a water. Urahara cleared his throat again after taking a long, noisy slurp of the tea. It was probably on purpose to frustrate me.

"Alright, back to business," I heard the cup of tea being placed on the table, and I did the same with my glass of water, "Soul Society is simply an afterlife. Other countries and places may call their Soul Societies by a different name, but either way it represents the same thing. All of Japan's dead, and a lot of mostly eastern countries that manage to make their way to us, live in Soul Society amongst other souls of the departed in the Rukongai." I could hear the man tapping on the table, thinking about his words carefully. I mulled over the information, trying to consolidate the information to keep up.

"Essentially, Soul Society—with their army of Soul Reapers—largely act in the interest of those departed souls, delivering them to Soul Society, protecting them from what amount to corrupted souls called Hollows, and protecting the cycle of reincarnation and therefore the balance of all the different realms." I cringed at how dense that single sentence was in the sheer amount of branching questions that just opened up. I heard a chuckle come from across the table.

"Lots to take in, and just as much information is yet to make it to your hands." The tapping of his finger on the table returned, signalling more thinking. He sighed thoughtfully, maybe it was difficult to know just how much information was even useful to me at this point, or what would cross the line and just be confusing or just downright scary.

"I guess what is most important to you is just why I believed you to be, and still believe you to be, an invader of sorts." There was a swish of cloth, signalling the raising of his hand, before I could respond, the air in the room cooled with the heaviness of the topic. This was obviously a lecture, the sort of lecture that was best experienced in an unbroken format where my questions were left to the end.

"Not so long ago, only a few decades in fact," I raised my eyebrow, only a few decades? He coughed dryly and I let him off. "A few decades ago now, there was a massive world extinction level event. Apocalyptic, perhaps. It was something that only a few even saw whispers of coming, and the sort of event that the precursor for only became obvious in retrospect. Not knowing more and acting on flawed or limited information is my largest and most crushing regret. We left the survival of the worlds down to what even you would consider a group of children, when we should have been prepared for something of this scale long before it ever happened." Despite Urahara's voice being as calm as ever, his ribbon was slowly coiling, tightening against itself. It seems Urahara was a hell of a lot more riled up about this than he was outwardly displaying.

"Regardless of all that, I've been working very hard to uncover hidden threats to at least our Soul Society. That you showed up in any of those tests just goes to show how dangerous of an unknown you are. Even though you clearly are half of a western ethnicity and half Japanese, your actual origin is unknown, your powers are unlike anything I have ever witnessed before, and a highly advanced spiritual shielding technique simply popped into your head." There was a distinct wariness seeping into his voice at that point, making the hairs on my arms stand on their ends. After the short pause, he continued again with the room remaining in silence.

"A spiritual shielding technique that let someone with fairly minimal spiritual energy sustain against someone with qualitatively and quantitatively superior spiritual energy. This is all unheard of." Urahara's voice was dangerous and low, but in contrast his ribbon swayed from side to side, like a cat's tail as it eyed its new toy. I didn't like either option.

"This isn't about if you remember, or what you know. This is about the fact that someone with a new origin of power suddenly appears, with no knowledge of the spiritual arts at all. Yet, when he is pushed to his limits, out of nowhere you are supplied with a totally original spiritual shielding technique on a level of complexity that matches some of the most powerful people I have ever met." The room was dead silent, and I could see Urahara's eyes once again, cutting through the fog of my vision like it was nothing. Two grey, glowing discs stared at me with an intensity that made my back prickle with sweat.

"What will you remember next, Grayson Carter?"

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 10: For Tomorrow

Urahara had let me off after his impromptu lecture. Maybe he thought it wasn't worth trying to grill me with questions I definitely had no answer to, or maybe he was just waiting for something else to happen. Maybe for me to 'remember' something and analyse me like a test subject.

Over the next few days, I came to understand the sort of man that Urahara was. In his lessons he was strenuous, testing my shielding to the nth degree, finding its quirks and interests like a scientist dissecting a rat for study.

Most days Urahara would teach Suzumi how to get into contact with her spiritual self, something that I seemed very easily capable of, after the remembrance of that shielding. But Suzumi had to slowly learn to do it by herself. Her own shielding still retained some of the characteristics of mine, but highly diminished. I could 'refresh' the effect, and her shielding would mimic mine much more closely, and Urahara seemed intrigued by that fact.

He had explained to me, after annoying him for hours, that the average Soul Reaper wasn't able to directly affect another being's spiritual energy that way, past supressing it with their own or if they had specific abilities tailor made to do so.

It was much like my ribbon stealing ability in 'uniqueness', just more helpful.

Probably just another mystery to be solved, in Urahara's mind. For me, it was something that kept me up at night. A worry that I was a pawn in a game much larger than what I understood. If I was able to 'steal' and 'alter', what would stop me from unintentionally harming someone's soul?

Urahara made it pretty clear that Suzumi's abilities were increasing incredibly quickly for what amounted to a slightly spiritually sensitive human, and it was likely that she was growing so quickly due to me.

For some reason this didn't seem to bother Suzumi. When I had asked her about it, she had said:

"I don't see what's wrong with that. Maybe your soul is just sharing the wealth around?" Shrugging all the while.

But try as I might, I couldn't possibly take it so easily, so nonchalantly. I couldn't help but worry that I was hurting those I was around, just by being there. Maybe it was silly of me, I'm sure that Urahara would laugh in my face about it.

I sighed and got up from my futon on the floor. Trying my best to not wake up Suzumi, who was only a metre or so from me. I set foot lightly on the cool wooden boards, the early morning chill still lingering, my skin quickly covering in goosebumps from the abrasive cold.

The morning sun was only just starting to crest, judging from the foggy light creeping into the halls, down from the windows and the open store front. My sock clad feet padded down the hallway, trying to remember where the bathroom was again.

It was then that I heard… sweeping? Maybe Tessai was already awake. It was coming from the outside courtyard, just in front of the main doors to the store. I walked towards the sound, confident in remembering a solid pathway through the mess of counters and display bins for products.

I reached the door and slid it open, quickly being buffeted by the cool morning air.

"Tessai?" I called. There was no vocal response, but there was sound of a broom clattering to the ground, and then someone falling, accompanied by a gasp of surprise.

A very high-pitched gasp of surprise. From somewhere far below Tessai's height. It was then that I checked the ribbon of whoever was standing in front of me and realised that this definitely wasn't Tessai or Urahara's ribbon. This was a pure white ribbon, standard for non-Soul Reapers.

"Excuse me, are you alright?" I asked hesitantly, crouching a little and extending my hand towards the ribbon I saw in front of me. The quiet dragged on for a long time before I heard some light shifting and a small, cold hand being placed in mine.

"U–um, I think so!" A small girl's voice said, quiet enough that a light gust of wind almost blew it away. I pulled on the little hand gently, allowing the girl to rise to her feet easily. Once she had, she quickly pulled her hand away from mine and picked up the broom and began sweeping again.

I stood there, somewhat shocked. Was I being ignored?

"Hey, I'm Grayson. Are you Urahara's employee?" I asked tentatively. There was another pause, the sweeping stopping entirely. I assume that the younger girl turned to look at me.

"U–uh, my mum told me not to speak to strangers!" The young girl blurted out quickly, her voice somehow both energetic and nervous. I smiled and nodded along.

"That's good advice!" I said agreeably, "But I'm just worried about you being all alone out here so early is all." Another pause, but shorter this time.

"I–it's okay! I've been doing this since I started school!" She said, a bright spark of confidence entered her voice.

"Really?" I asked, a little more worried now but determined not to let it show, "That's impressive! Do you just clean the yard in the mornings?"

"Yup! Yard in the morning before school and helping restock shelves on weekends!" She answered happily, much more comfortable talking about her work, apparently.

"I see, you're very hard working." I heard a little noise of excitement or embarrassment.

"Thank you!" She said, and the sound of sweeping continued. I stood there for a moment, wondering if the little girl was going to say anything more, but the sound of sweeping continued. I nodded to myself, deciding to get back inside where it was warmer.

"Uyu." A whispered voice reached my ears as I was closing the door behind me.

"Pardon?" I poked my head out of the door again, eliciting an 'Eep!' from the small girl. I gave a warm smile with a chuckle. I could only imagine her pouting face.

"M–my name is Uyu Hanakari! Nice to meet you!" The young girl basically yelled out her words before turning and furiously sweeping the concrete. I made sure I didn't laugh too long at the outburst.

"I'm Grayson Carter. It was nice to meet you, Uyu." I gave the girl's ribbon one last smile before disappearing back into the shop, and making my way towards the toilet, like I had planned to before.

Looks like Urahara has more employees than just Tessai. Too bad I couldn't see Uyu, she sounded super cute. Bet she had big cheeks just made for pouting.

I chuckled to myself at that image.

---​

The day passed as close to as usual as it could. Tessai took us through the regular run, steadily increasing in speed until we were forced to use spiritual energy to reinforce our body.

It was harder than the shielding for me, not coming so easily or naturally. Though I was able to give myself a good amount of speed, just enough to keep up, really.

Suzumi, however, had made it clear that she was simply better at this than I was. Sure, her shield was shabby in comparison to mine, but I couldn't help but feel I had just been handed that particular achievement.

Suzumi, in comparison, was far more efficient when it came to physical enhancement. Something I can't say that I expected.

"What do you mean you didn't expect me to be good at this stuff?" She had exclaimed, jokingly scandalized. "I'll have you know that I was on the national level for three different sports as a kid!"

Those sports had turned out to be Ballet, Gymnastics and Karate. She did admit, though, that she had stopped doing all those when she went into high school. She had only done the sports at a competitive level because she had a self-proclaimed 'knack' for sports. Though she had none of the athletic abilities she once did.

"I see!" Tessai's voice boomed from in front of us, "This is consistent with our understanding that you were spiritually sensitive in some way before meeting Mister Carter. May I ask a personal question, Miss Hamase?" I turned my head towards Suzumi's ribbon, which twisted to face me as well.

"Uh, sure you can Tessai." She said, her words hesitant. I turned back to the blurry form of the big man, interested in this question that was so private. I turned back to Suzumi's ribbon and found that it was ramrod straight, looking more like a very white plank of wood than a ribbon.

"As a child did you experience dreams or illusions of phantoms speaking to you?"

Suddenly Suzumi was quiet. The silence dragged on so long that Tessai simply nodded his head, his ribbon following suit.

"I see. Those phantoms were, in fact, real spirits. Those either unfound by Soul Reapers, or incapable of moving on to their respective afterlife. This is an early childhood indicator of spiritual sensitivity. Night terrors and other similar afflictions are also indicators of such. If these connections to the spiritual world are harnessed, the child may become capable of entirely seeing spirits and even interacting with them. Some are so spiritually potent that seeing spirits is simply their way of life."

Suzumi didn't seem to want to respond to Tessai, stewing in her own thoughts, so I asked my own question. Honestly, if it kept the atmosphere away from utterly awkward silence, filling the social air with the smell of an old wound being re-opened.

"Am I capable of sensing spirits myself?" I asked. I hadn't ever experienced any of the things that Tessai had said were spiritual sensitivity. I did have the ribbons, but there was a chance—

Tessai and Suzumi's ribbon whipped around to stare at me. I swear to god that I could see their incredulousness impressed upon the ribbon.

"Of course, you can, Mister Carter." There was a moment of hesitation in Tessai's sentence, "Though your visual impairment may have impeded your ability to interact or even notices the spirits. Spirits tend to keep to themselves unless it becomes obvious that someone can see them." There was a collective 'Aha!' moment between Suzumi and I.

"Though I am surprised you have not encountered a Hollow, or the equivalent for your prior location." I just shrugged.

"I lived out of the way of big cities, and most of the time before that was… unpleasant." I smiled sadly, and I felt the conversation die. In the silence, we merely redoubled out efforts, Tessai always one step ahead of us.

---​

Night fell after the training with Urahara. It was another session of a fairly rote exercise. This time I was encouraged to try to battle Urahara's spiritual pressure with my own, which was obviously an impossible task, but it was as close as I could get to resistance training. Basically Urahara spent most of the hour doing the spiritual equivalent of bitch slapping me hundreds of times a second, while Suzumi did a tamer version of the same exercise.

After that I had spent some time helping out Tessai in the store. The man always had something for you to clean or do. I didn't have the sight to verify, but I was absolutely sure that the place was cleaner than a hospital.

I'm not sure that I was required to help out in the store, but it was what I had applied for as a job, so I may as well deliver on it a little. Plus, Tessai lit up like a Christmas tree when you complimented him on his work and became a different sort of person when you were doing work for him.

He ran a tight ship, and expected things done in a very particular way, which typically meant efficiency, but he was warm instead of harsh. Unless you were being stupid, but thankfully that was a rarity. The man was like a big teddy bear, and he treated worker safety incredibly seriously.

I can't say that I didn't enjoy being fussed over by the big man when I accidentally cut my finger, but it was kind of ridiculous. I was laughing most of the way through, but I don't think Tessai minded.

And here I was, laying in bed only a metre or so away from me was someone I had connected with so quickly over these past few whirlwind days. But earlier today made me realise just how little I know of her. And how little she knew of me.

I looked over to her ribbon, its radiant whiteness somewhat muted in her sleep.

It wasn't any of our faults that we didn't know much of each other. I knew about her dad, but she didn't know about my parents, or anything else about my life. Actually, I'm pretty sure we haven't had a single conversation about me from before I moved to Japan.

These handful of days have been the most insane tonal shift in my life, and I was sure the sentiment was the same for her. She had a job, a life. Aspirations and conceptions about her home, and they were all torn apart as soon as I stepped foot in her life.

Since then we have both been blind, desperately learning inside the bubble that was Urahara's Sweets.

I wasn't sure if she still had her job as an air stewardess, though I doubted it seeing as she hadn't left the shop in the past week, the same as myself. Did her mother know about this? What was happening to her life?

I reached out a hand and gently caressed the side of Suzumi's face as she slept. She gently moved, leaning into my touch. I resolved myself.

"A conversation for tomorrow." I whispered to myself, before allowing myself blissful sleep.


A/N: Chapter 10! Whew, that was a lot of work to get here. 22 some thousand words, with much more to go in future.

I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and I can only thank you for reading by giving you more to read.

To more chapters!