Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Chapter Text
Snow.
It always snows in this place - white, cold, carrying nothing behind it. She always sees these white fields and bare trees. Sakura called this place the winter forest, but she never felt the cold, the snow just fell on her and didn't even melt, as if it equalled the temperature of this place. She could hear heavy footsteps that were accompanied by the noise of armour as well. From behind her back appeared the tall, statuesque figure of a man walking in samurai armour, his face completely covered by a Hannya mask and his long white hair gathered in a low ponytail as usual. This stranger was always here, always standing beside her like this, looking out over these vast fields, but never saying a word. Sakura didn't even realise if it was a woman or a man because of the shapeless garment that hid the figure. They just stared at each other and when she tried to start a dialogue he never continued it but always listened to her.
Here she is again standing next to the samurai and she can't even get a word out of him. They don't even have a place to sit because there are only trees around. The snow begins to fall more intensely and the storm begins and at that moment she hears fragments of phrases that the man says, but the snow blocks the sounds and the dream is cut short.
Cracking her eyes open, Sakura lifts her torso and switches off the alarm clock. She falls back onto the bed and starts to throw back the blanket because of in outrage. The samurai finally decided to say something to her, to talk to her and at that very moment she had to wake up. Anger woke her up better than coffee and she began to get ready for her first day of work as a school nurse. The position might not seem serious to someone with a medical degree, but for Sakura it was the best fit. For three years after graduation she had worked in Tokyo as a therapist, but this big city, the hospital, the people - everything seemed to pressurise her and she decided to return to her hometown. The new job was calm and measured, even paid well, not everyone's life to save. Perhaps she would have liked to work as a highly qualified therapist in some private clinic, but still a quiet life was her priority.
The prepared beef and lit incense stand at the altar, and Sakura begins to ask her parents to bring her good luck at work. She wishes they would wish her the best of luck themselves, but unfortunately too much time has passed and she even vaguely remembers their voices. Sitting for a few more minutes in front of their pictures she extinguished the incense and made a final bow and walked towards the exit of the house.
With a light step, Sakura arrived at the appointed time, when the sleepy school children were still just slowly getting ready to go to their classes. She stopped at the school fence to look around the building that she had once studied in, and she had never thought that she would decide to return to this place, but as an employee. The school hadn't changed in any way in all that time, perhaps except for some cosmetic repairs to the building and perhaps the interior. Nostalgic for the past, Sakura continued on her way to the principal's office, ignoring the people watching her.
The former head of the medical office, after explaining her duties, what and where she was, thanked Sakura and hurriedly left. The girl, in turn, also sighed with relief and sat down in her chair. It was unlikely that anything serious would happen on the first day, since it wasn't even the season of illnesses and the maximum she expected was schoolchildren who wanted to skip gym class.
"Guys, we have a new nurse!" Keigo exclaimed happily to his friends.
"So what?" Ichigo asked, not understanding the joy in his classmate's voice. To him, this news is like saying the weather is nice - it doesn't matter much. "Oh, and I thought Mizuiro was an older amateur."
"How can you talk so nonchalantly when there are beautiful ladies in the collective! I got a glimpse of her pretty face! I think Mizuiro will like her too!"
"Calm down. Class is starting."
Sakura decided to start her work routine by checking her medication and making journal entries. There was no rush, and she wasn't given any clear instructions for her work. But what she hadn't expected was a crowd of young boys outside her office after her first class. She felt like a gimmick to them and so she politely asked them to leave if they didn't need help and at the same moment some of them started complaining of headaches, stomach cramps or just not feeling well and she had no choice but to examine these simians.
A couple of minutes later a teacher came running in carrying some unconscious student and she asked everyone to get out as there was a real need to help the person. Sakura began to question the teacher about what had happened and if it was common, he replied that it was the first time Kurosaki had fainted and there were no signs of it, as he was a very healthy guy. She didn't find anything strange, neither epilepsy, anaemia nor sunstroke, except that she felt something strange and asked the man to leave, saying that the boy was just overworked and needed to rest. When the door closed Sakura proceeded to test her hunch. Using her powers she began to check Kurosaki's body and confirmed her thoughts - the soul had separated from the body. Except she couldn't figure out where it was if it wasn't near the body and the boy wasn't on the verge of death. She decided to just wait and observe him. The body was functioning steadily, she didn't see or feel any danger, if something happened to the soul the body would react immediately, so Sakura decided to just wait and do nothing for now.
And her expectations paid off in ways she didn't want to know. As Sakura sat filling out a journal while she waited, she was hit with a wave of strong spiritual energy and then she heard voices, both male and female. The female's energy was rather weakened but still palpable, while the male's screamed her presence. Trying not to let it show, she turned around in her chair to put the magazine down and saw the presence of a black robe, sandals, and most importantly a sword behind her back. Sakura had in no way expected to find a shinigami here, but her eyes were also caught by the red hair like the boy lying there. She tried to keep her face calm, but she still wished she could at least react in some way to what she saw. The shinigami turned out to be the same Kurosaki boy who was lying in her bunk. She sat back down in her chair, waiting for the guy to do something about it. He immediately started to get up, grumbling and kneading his body. Just then Sakura turned to him, smiling sweetly, beginning to question him about how he was feeling.
"Thank you I'm better now." The young man said, trying to avoid her gaze because of the feeling that she could see right through him.
"That's good, but you should go to the hospital in case it happens again. Better get some tests to confirm." Sakura suggested "Give me your name and surname, please. I need it for the records."
"Kurosaki Ichigo, 15 years old. Thanks for everything, um..." Ichigo wanted to thank the nurse, but he didn't even know her name, since there was no sign on the office door yet.
"Urahara Sakura. Call me Urahara-san."
Sakura walked into her house announcing her arrival to the empty space. Perhaps someone would say ‘welcome back’ to her, but she wanted to be alone now, without strangers. The grocery bag dropped to the kitchen table and from it was pulled out a bag of meat that she wanted to roast and eat with her beer. It probably wasn't the best end to the day, but she always drank non-alcoholic beer so she wouldn't have headaches in the morning, especially on weekdays. Right now she wished she could forget what she had seen earlier today. The shinigami schoolboy was big news and worry for her. Kurosaki Ichigo was clearly human, which meant the shinigami's powers had been given away by someone.
The meat sizzled in the pan, beginning to darken, signalling its imminent readiness. The vegetables were being finished cooking and were only waiting for the meat to be placed on the plate. When everything was ready, Sakura prepared her table for dinner and opened the can. The cool drink poured down her throat, refreshing her and causing her to make satisfied sounds. The drink was followed by the meat that melted in her mouth. Such a pleasant meal made one put aside the humdrum of everyday life and enjoy the present. Even if some shinigami broke a rule it shouldn't concern her. Right? And the unknown female reatsu next to Kurosaki came to mind. She couldn't see that girl, but her spiritual powers were like at minimal stages, even though she was talking freely to Ichigo, so she saw him. And that means... She stifled her thoughts with the next sip.
*
Sakura hasn't seen Kurosaki since the incident and is more than happy with it, as it's one less headache she has to deal with, but she's often visited by other students who come to talk to her, and she doesn't say no. She feels as if she were a kindergarten teacher and needed something to keep the kids busy. She was especially amused by the young man Kojiro Mizuiro. He complimented her on her poetry and tried to ask her out for a walk or to a restaurant, but she just waved him off, saying he was too young.
But she was especially fond of the girl Inoue Orihime. She had dropped by with her friend Arisawa Tatsuki on her second day of work. Orihime was peeking through the door as if trying to spy on her, but Sakura noticed a glimpse of brown eyes and forced them in. Inoue turned out to be a cheerful, simple-minded girl, who tells everything off the cuff, can embellish a story and amazes with her cooking skills, but recently she started to notice Orihime's strange behaviour - the girl hurts a lot and Sakura was worried about it, as she told her that she was alone and had no one to worry about her now. The phrase made her heart prickle in her chest. She was struck by the indifference from the adults who had taken her into care, but Inoue had said that the money they sent was already enough for her. This was a wake up call for Sakura and so she decided to make her an amulet that her father had taught her to make, although it was time consuming, it might work once, Sakura would want this one to save an innocent child. And maybe she should do a few.
Inoue thanked the nurse very much for the gift of the amulet, to Sakura it was nothing, but to her it was a gesture of kindness and concern for her, as if from an older sister. Orihime had often told Sakura that she missed her brother and wished he would take care of her, but nothing could be changed and she was glad that Urahara-san worried about her like she was her own.
The next time they meet, the amulet is gone and so are the wounds. Sakura was thinking that maybe her gift had warded off the unwanted creatures stalking Orihime, and the girl was cheerfully recounting how a sumo wrestler had gotten into her house yesterday, for some unknown reason, and it only made Inoue laugh at her story, for which Inoue pouted and began to say that it wasn't a lie, asking Tatsuki to confirm, and her friend hesitantly agreed, since she had witnessed it herself. Now it made Sakura believe that the girls were telling the truth, at least in their minds.
*
The next object of her observation was Sado Yasotoru, or rather his parrot that he walks around with. He didn't even visit her office, she just happened to run into him and sensed the child's soul in the bird, which startled her. Souls didn't usually resort to taking up residence in living things, and Chad himself looked bruised and scratched, so she just grabbed Sado's hand and took her to her office and treated the wounds. When she asked him where and how he got the wounds he just kept quiet and only when she said that animals weren't allowed to be brought to school did he say that he couldn't be left alone. This made her even more wary and thoughts of hunting the child came into her head. Sakura opened her drawer where there were two more amulets from the time she had made them for Orihime and handed it to Yasotor hoping it would help. It wasn't her job to interfere with the shinigami's progress, but she was reminded of the red-head who was suspiciously often absent from class. But she immediately brushed it off, for the teenager couldn't be the one patrolling the neighbourhood.
The next day, she heard that Sado had been admitted to the hospital and had run away from there. Then she got stressed that the amulet was already exhausted since they were all disposable and she was already thinking of finding the guy and keeping him out of trouble, but her teacher came in and asked about Kurosaki Ichigo and Sakura realised everything. She just brushed off that she had given him some pills and he went to the toilet. Now Sakura was wondering if a normal teenager could handle an hollow, if he would be strong enough. She comforted herself with the fact that there must be shinigami from the soul society nearby, they always patrol the neighbourhoods.
Her relief came when she felt Kurosaki's presence at school and when Chad came to school the next day, with his parrot, but she no longer felt the child's soul. When they crossed paths in the corridor the student simply bowed to her, not as a sign of appreciation, not as a greeting, she didn't care as long as he was alive.
*
Her phone rang in the office and Sakura rushed to see who was calling in the middle of the work day. The mobile screen read ‘Daddy’ and it was starting to bother her gut since he tried not to bother her while she was at work, but if this was happening, it meant something serious.
"What happened?"
"Oh, you always know what that old man needs!" - a voice on the other side of the phone babbled happily. - "How's your work life? Nobody bothers you? You don't call me at all."
"Get to the point."
"Serious as always. To make a long story short, if there's any weirdness in any of the students at your school, report it to me immediately and try to detain them."
"Did you sell substandard goods?! What is this and to whom?"
"Just a soul lollipop made from defective goods to Mrs Kuchiki Rukia."
This information made it clear what had happened and what could be expected. From the tension, Sakura dropped the call without even saying goodbye, starting to massage her temples. This new girl Kuchiki has been featured a lot lately in class sneaking cases, along with Kurosaki. Now she needs to hurry to Rukia's place to pick up the lollipop otherwise bad things might happen.
And at that very moment she heard a rumbling in one of the classrooms down the corridor. Sakura immediately rushed to the shouting and when she arrived she saw the classroom trashed, the terrified students, Kuchiki and Kurosaki, in shinigami form, looking out the window. She had missed the modified soul! If she didn't hurry, Ichigo might not get his body intact, and she rushed down the stairs otherwise two people jumping off the third floor in one day would be a lot for this school.
This modified soul, was proving to be too fast for her, especially when she's in her body. But at least she could feel the remnants of his reatsu. When she was close to catching him, she felt the hollow. Just what she needed! Sakura didn't care about the people around her anymore, the shinigami could just change their memories later. The safety of the citizens and Kurosaki's body was paramount, so when she saw the void next to the modified soul she didn't hesitate to attack the enemy. A strong kick came at the supposed head of the hollow without hitting the mask, and at the same moment his leg was cut off. Her gaze immediately darted to the attacker and seeing Ichigo jumping aside, Sakura only shouted:
"Cut him all the way off!"
At first taken aback by the familiar face, Kurosaki twitched, but immediately swung for a second, controlling blow. When the attack was completed, the hollow began to crumble. And the modified soul kicked him once more for some reason. Kurosaki and the soul had a verbal altercation, and Ichigo argued that he should take care of the body and that the void would disappear without kicking it, and then the shinigami saw a colony of ants. Kurosaki decided that would be too petty for a modified soul, but then that very soul began its tale. How right after birth they were threatened with death, how slowly his fellow ants were leaving, that even after escaping he was scared that he wanted to decide for himself whether to live or die. Sakura was touched by this monologue in a way. She would be scared too, knowing that after being born only death awaits her immediately and living in fear of having everything decided for her, but still it's not up to her to decide their fate.
"But that doesn't undo what you've done." Sakura raged, grabbing the teenager's body by the shirt. "If you wanted to live, you could have just performed the normal function of a modified soul. Why did you trash the class? Why did you run away? If you want to live, you have to follow the rules she sets. Even if it's just brief moments of possessing a body, you have to appreciate it!"
Soul couldn't match anything she said. Her words sounded very convincing, and he acted like a teenager in puberty.
"I had no doubt you'd find him, Sakura!"
Urahara Kisuke appeared on the horizon and immediately separated his soul from his body. It looked harsh, rough, but that was his job, the body was immediately caught by Sakura, starting to examine it. Kurosaki began to resent the situation and further action. Urahara on the other hand said he would be disposed of and Kurosaki couldn't figure out what struck him more, his words or his ability to see him in his shinigami form. The next shot was of Rukia taking the pill calling Kisuke a greedy merchant, something Sakura basically couldn't deny.
"Urahara, does your shop take back the goods you sold without compensation?" Rukia asked, and Kisuke offered to pay. "I'm more than satisfied with the product. But you're outlawed, so you're not responsible for the product.
Sakura was amused by these words. Kuchiki was right about the illegality of her father's work, but also Kisuke still wanted his product to remain high quality and his customers to be satisfied with his work.
"If there's a problem, then we'll be out of business." Urahara answered her, telling her that she shouldn't expect help from him in the future.
"Don't worry, Kuchiki-san, you can count on me for help." Sakura cut into the conversation and finally the attention was on her. Rising from her seat, she approached Urahara.
"Sakura, you shouldn't throw around words like that if you don't know if you can do it or not." Urahara said indignantly.
"Calm down dad, I don't think this modified soul is as dangerous as you think. If I'm wrong, I'll take the full brunt of it." She finished her sentence, smiling gently at him. Sakura knew her father was weak against her. In these moments he was just melting with love for his child, seeing her as that little girl.
Urahara, on the other hand, simply folded his lips into a tube and walked towards the house, taking his workers with him. Now there were only three of them left on this rooftop and two of them had questions. Sakura just stared at them, waiting for their reaction, questions, outrage, whatever, but not waiting for a response she just hurried back to her workplace.
At the end of the school day, Kurosaki and Kuchiki unfortunately couldn't catch the nurse at her desk, the office was already closed, neither in the teacher's lounge nor on the way out of the building, as she had already gone home after asking permission to leave early.
A measured step guided her to a detached shop, on the doorstep of which two children were tidying up, and hearing the approach of someone they turned their eyes on her.
"Sis!"
"Long time no see, Ginta, Ururu!"
The children quickly ran up to the girl and grabbed her in their arms. They liked Sakura and she was a more authoritative figure to them than Urahara Kisuke, who was their guardian. She had always played and cared for them when she lived in the shop, but she had moved to Tokyo after graduation and now decided to live separately in her parent's house, which Urahara had kept for her in the same condition she remembered.
The first person who was brought to Urahara's shop was Jinta, and his temper was much more fierce then, and he insulted and tried to fight with Sakura, but he never managed to offend her, although when he touched on the subject of her figure she became more irritable, and then the boy got a bad tongue, but still she did not try to hurt him, but only tried to teach him that you can not insult people like that, even if they are annoying. He tried his best to make fun of her, but it was pointless, Sakura only pretended to fall into his trap, but he knew it was a lie. When he got tired of pissing her off he just ignored her already, and in return she just followed him around and asked him what he was doing and what he liked. She tried to get close to him and so she bought him sweets, which he accepted without thanks. A warmer relationship with him began when the kids bullying him were caught by Sakura with clear evidence. That was when he found out what she was like in anger. The kids were older than him and that didn't stop Sakura from dragging them around by their ears and asking them who their parents were and what school they attended. At the children's cries, their mothers came in and started yelling at the girl who turned her attention to the parents and started reprimanding them. Sakura shouted at the mothers and what a bad upbringing they had for bullying a child younger than them, the parents didn't even have time to squeak before their children were hit in the calves with a wooden sword. Sakura was a kendo practitioner during her school days and sometimes worked part-time as a trainer for the younger groups during university holidays, so she could be seen with him. To the cries of mothers that you can't hit other people's children she only responded to them:
"What makes you think they can hit my little brother!"
And at that moment the mothers shut up, silently leaving the playground, and Jinta began to admire Sakura and fear her.
Ururu's acquaintance was more relaxed than the boy's, but there was a problem in that the child was shy and quiet. The slightest rustle startled her and when Sakura tried to get close to her she just apologised. Jinta would say Ururu was a weirdo and Sakura would look at him disapprovingly. But a way out was found. Like any child, Ururu loved sweets or just plain good food, and Sakura was on a mission to fulfil that mission. Each day cooking something new she learnt what she liked best and tried to cook it more often. Sakura quickly made her feel comfortable with cooking, but she was still afraid to talk, so she started to tell her what was going on and Ururu listened and nodded, gradually inserting short phrases to herself. Ururu is a good kid and after talking to Sakura, she tried to befriend Jinta, but he only ran away from her. When Urahara tried to get them to bond over cleaning, Sakura would offer them a bet with a prize and from then on they turned every activity into a game or competition, they especially liked to play for a bet, the loser of the game doing the task alone and it became their routine.
Sakura walked deeper into the shop looking for her father and found him sleeping on the floor of the room. He was lying on his back with a magazine covering his face and she decided to wake him up by knocking on wood, but he didn't wake up so she went to the extreme of tickling him. Urahara burst into laughter and blushed all over, asking her to stop and telling her that he was faking it and regretted it.
"I knew from the beginning, you could wake up at the mere sound of footsteps, and here you were lying still and your breathing was atypical."
"All you know me, Sakura, come to visit your old man?"
Sakura only picks up the bag of groceries and offers to go grab a bite of the noodles she bought on the way out.
Arriving in the kitchen she sat her father down and started cooking herself. She decided to only boil the noodles and fry the meat so that the snack would be more filling. When the water came to a boil she immediately sent the boiling water into the already prepared bowls of noodles, covering them to let them cook. Sitting down at the table, Sakura placed a plate of noodles in front of them each, preparing to finally eat, but noticed the corners of Urahara's lips lift and she raised an eyebrow in question.
"I remembered how as a child you often asked me to make ramen and I couldn't make it and we had to eat just instant noodles."
"But Tessei-san could make it and I didn't have to ruin my stomach. I'll be honest, you weren't the best cook and it's a good thing we had Tessai-san with us."
"It's cruel of you to talk about my cooking skills like that. It wasn't that bad!"
"Yeah, it was just awful at first, it felt like you were using the cooker for the first time." Sakura laughed at the memory of the awful taste of his first attempts at cooking. "But then you got better at cooking, not like Tessai-san, but the progress was noticeable."
The conversation broke off as the noodles cooked and they began their meal. Until their plates were emptied they didn't say a word and only then did Sakura begin her question.
"You do realise that the modified soul could start rebelling again, right? I don't think you were moved by his speech about wanting to live, although I admit I was moved by it at the time."
"You're right as always, daughter. In fact, I was afraid Kuchiki-san would leave a bad review of my work!"
Urahara often liked to turn his phrases into jokes, as Sakura had noticed in all the time he had been her father, but she couldn't blame him, she hadn't really delved into how he lived before he was in the world of the living and maybe it was his defensive reaction to the situation
"Well, at least she said she was happy with the goods, so we may not see any complaints in the future." Sakura paused for a moment before asking the next question. "Kuchiki Rukia is a shinigami? I noticed her unusual spiritual energy the first time I met her, but now it has a place if she buys goods from you."
"Yes, she's a shinigami stuck in the world of the living indefinitely."
"Stuck?" Eyebrows drew together in thought and rose upwards as Sakura concluded. "Kurosaki Ichigo had taken her spiritual power to become a shinigami!"
"As she told her, it was certainly his initiative, but still she supported her so that Kurosaki could kill the Void One and save his family. And now he's acting as interim shinigami."
"She could be executed." Her own phrasing was cutting into her ears.
"If she didn't return to the community of souls in time to answer to them." Urahara decided to be the first to leave the table and only patted his child without saying anything further about the situation. "If you want, you can sleep at my place tonight."
And the door slammed shut, leaving Sakura alone with her thoughts.
Chapter Text
That night in her dream she still saw this snowy forest, but now the samurai was not here. She was alone in this cold deserted place. Sakura called out for him but all was to no avail. She was left alone in this forest and just lay in the snowdrifts. It wasn't snowing today, the weather was surprisingly bright and she could see the blue sky.
“Maybe because there's no snow it can't come out.”
Sakura lay in the snow and felt as if the snow was melting. This was new to her. She took a handful in her hands and brought it up to her face, but it stayed in the same state and the melting sensation didn't go away. It was too strange and incomprehensible. This world had always operated outside the rules.
“Rules are made to be broken.”
The thought popped into her head and she remembered Rukia. She too had broken the rules and would have to be punished. Sakura didn't understand how she should behave towards her. Kuchiki Rukia was nothing more than an acquaintance, though she couldn't even call her that. But she felt sorry for her, because she wanted to help Kurosaki, and she would have to pay for it with her life. Thinking about it, she couldn't come to a decision. Changing her bored posture, she got to her feet and started sweeping the snow off of her. She saw someone's shadow in her side vision, hoping it was the owner of the property, she quickly turned her head but saw no one.
*
"Are you Urahara Kisuke's own daughter?" Rukia questioned when she finally got to be alone with Sakura a few days after the meeting and then had to leave class on the pretext of feeling ill. In a few days Kuchiki had realised that being alone with the nurse was not an easy task, the woman was quite popular among the students, especially the male ones, or Orihime and Tatsuki were with her.
"Good morning to you too, Kuchiki-san." Smiling sweetly, Sakura greeted, as if teasing the girl." It's a lovely day, we can have tea. "Over the past week, the nurse had organised a small tea brewing corner for herself and the patients. She began pouring boiling water into mugs while Rukia just silently accepted the offer and sat down at the table.
"Now I hope you'll answer me,’ Kuchiki took a sip of tea and spoke, taking a bite of a biscuit she was enjoying."
"Mmm, where to start." Sakura, as if trying to delay her answer to the question, stirred the sugar in her tea and hummed some kind of tune. It seemed frivolous to Rukia and thought that perhaps this habit had been inherited from Urahara. "I'm his daughter, but not his own. I don't know what makes you think I'm his daughter. Such a greedy peddler didn't even have a chance to win a woman." Sakura let out a light chuckle, remembering how Kuchiki had judged her father and his resentment. She loved her old man, but still, he too must be put in his place at times. "He adopted me when I was about 8 years old. I don't remember exactly, but I was just orphaned then, and he was a kind of salvation from that period. Dad tried to cheer me up in every possible way - he bought me toys, took me to parks, even won me a toy at the shooting gallery."
And Sakura began to talk about their walks together with a smile on her face. She was happy to remember it, it saved her from thinking about the death of her parents, and then she began to talk about her part of life, how she had done kendo in high school, how she had gone to medical school, and how she wanted to go to medical school. Rukia listened to her, attentively, not interrupting her and absorbing everything she said, having already forgotten the original purpose of being here. And when Kuchiki sat like this with Sakura, with a cup of tea and conversation, she felt as if she were listening to her older sister's stories, as if they were just having a family get-together. She'd never had that in the Kuchiki clan. Her always aloof brother hadn't even cast a glance at her the entire time she'd been at the manor.
As Sakura's voice faded she noticed that Rukia continued to look at her with such childlike, innocent eyes, even propping her chin up to listen comfortably. And then the nurse decided to find out about her listener's life - where she was from, what she did, what she liked, and how she ended up here. The question made Kuchiki come to her senses and consider her offer, but she didn't dare to tell her about her life yet, as they were not so close. But she wanted to open up to her like Sakura did, even a little, but she couldn't. Rukia felt as if Sakura could be trusted, and even more so if she was the daughter, though not her own, of Urahara Kisuke, then she should know about the Soul Society, even if only superficially.
Sakura heard her interlocutor clear her throat and waited for the story.
"Anyway, I'd like to know the most important thing" have you seen Ichigo as a shinigami?
"Oh, what an insensitive Kuchiki-san you are." she sipped tea from her mug to stall for time. "Yeah, from the first time too." Sakura said it so easily, as if Rukia had asked her about the weather and it amazed her because the girl was so calm about it. The nurse just smiled at her again and took a sip of her tea. "You shouldn't be so surprised, after all, the Void killed my parents because of my oversight, and the shinigami saved me."
And the bell rang like thunder, sending goosebumps running down Rukia's spine. She hadn't expected such an answer. So Sakura has been seeing souls since childhood and that the void ones wanted to eat her as a child.
"I shouldn't be so shocked, I'm at peace with the idea now. As a child, I wanted to help the soul that was being chased by the void, but I made it worse by bringing it to my home, where the monster had killed my parents." Sakura looked out the window at the sun, trying to hide the pain in her eyes, and said quietly "Stupid kid."
Rukia pretended as if she didn't hear anything and fixed her eyes on the table. She didn't think the girl in front of her would make a revelation about her life that shouldn't be told to the first person she met, and she was beginning to feel embarrassed that she herself couldn't tell her anything about herself, apparently drinking tea made people open up, even to a stranger.
The sad atmosphere was dispelled by the sound of a sharply opened door and the loud voice of a schoolgirl.
"How are you feeling, Rukia-chan?"
Orihime briskly lined up her steps forward, stepping inside and turning around to face the seated people. A smile coloured her face and she immediately walked over to the table.
"Good afternoon, Urahara-san! Did you and Rukia-chan decide to have tea? May I join you?"
Sakura's sadness was only dispelled by Orihime's presence. This bright personality could cheer her up even in times of need, this schoolgirl was easygoing, her strange thoughts made her smile, and her red colour made the nurse compare her to the sun. Sakura gave her her seat with her hand inviting her to sit down, she could sit at her desk too. The girls began to talk, Orihime telling whatever she could think of and the others supporting her. Sakura liked this cosy atmosphere, and she didn't want it to disappear.
*
Then the 17th of June came and Kurosaki didn't show up at school. Perhaps Sakura wouldn't have noticed his absence if Orihime hadn't come to her with a detached look and told her about it. Afterwards, she stared at nothing for a long time and didn't continue the conversation like she liked to do, so Sakura decided to take the initiative.
"Did something happen to Kurosaki-kun?"
"No... Maybe. Today is the anniversary of his mum's death."
And Sakura got an electric shock. She never thought the boy would be so hurt.
"Tatsuki told me that he lost his mum when he was about 9 years old. And after that, she never saw him smile and he quit sports because of it. And I got to thinking about the fact that I don't remember him smiling genuinely either."
Sakura couldn't say anything. She never thought they could be so similar to Ichigo. For a child, the loss of a parent would always be a tragedy, but it was up to the child to determine how long it would take for that wound to heal. Mum will always be a whole world to a child and when that world disappears, the child may get lost and never come back. Sakura thought of nothing better than to pour tea and offer it to Orihime.
The next day Orihime came to see her again even more sadly saying that Kurosaki and Tatsuki didn't come today and she was now bored. She felt abandoned and alone. Inoue sat slumped in her chair, with the eyes of an abandoned puppy, and looked down at her feet, trying to count how many dust specks were on her shoes. Sakura could tell from her mood that she wasn't in the mood to talk, so she suggested that she get some sleep and she'd deal with the lessons later.
A week later everything was back to normal and Inoue was smiling and laughing with everything again. Such a cheerful girl liked Sakura more than her depressed look. Orihime told her about a programme with an exorcist who was coming to Karasuno next week and she really wanted to go there and called her along, but Sakura wasn't interested, she didn't like shows like that, so she politely declined the offer to go together.
A week later, Sakura wasn't too sorry about not going to the show when the new screen stars were in the principal's office, and even better, they didn't know her father, who had also been on TV as the man who had helped with the mess. The best part was that the footage of Ichigo had been chosen to be the most beautiful, but the man had guffawed about it being just his twin brother, and Tatsuki had quickly brushed them off, taking Orihime with him, and Sakura had waved goodbye. And from this situation was saved by Kuchiki's acting and pretty good she noted, so much so that the guys managed to escape through the window.
"Urahara-san, why didn't you stop them!"
"Oh, you know kids are so fast these days I can't keep up with them." Sakura smiled sweetly.
*
The students' final exams were over and the grades for the previous term were posted. Sakura was curious to see how the boys were doing in their studies. They too rarely cross paths outside of her office. It might be strange to see the nurse outside of her workspace, but still, she likes to walk around the school too.
Just as she thought, a crowd had already lined up outside the booth and she saw Kurosaki's group. Even from her seat she could already hear her friends resenting Ichigo and she decided to see what the reason was.
"Wow, 23rd place Kurosagi Ichigo. I thought you were a slacker."
"Urahara-san! What good timing! Tell Ichigo he's a crammer! Instead of spending time with his friends, he's studying!!!" Keigo yelled in indignation, grabbing the girl by the shoulders.
"Don't be silly, when I was your age I was ranked number one!"
"Were you a crammer too! How could such a pretty girl devote her time to studying instead of going out and enjoying her school days!"
"Maybe she was also pestered by her dad and teachers with her hair colour."
Sakura never really thought about it, but it's true that she has pink hair and Kurosaki has red hair. Often people think he dyes it, but maybe it's because of his bully image and behaviour, while she was at school no one charged her for her hair colour.
"I actually found it quite easy to study and no one picked on me. Nobody picked on me for my hair colour. Just change your image of a bully or carry a child's picture to keep them away, then maybe you'll be in first place like me."
Laughing Sakura pointed to the first place and decided to find out who the student was. Ishida Uryuu. Further down the list she saw third place and the name Inoue Orihime and was pleasantly surprised. Though the girl looked winded, she still had enough intelligence to study. Lowering her gaze a little more she saw Sado Yasotora's 11th place. Now she felt that she had underestimated the boys' mental abilities too much.
"Orihime-chan, well done, I didn't think you were in the top three!" Sakura patted the girl on the head, and she was glad for the praise. Then remembering the candy in her pocket she reached in for it and handed it to Orihime. "Sado-kun, you did your best too." Chad silently held out his hand and a yellow wrapped candy fell to him. "Oh, and we can't forget about you, Kurosaki-kun." He received a red candy.
"What about us Urahara-san!"
"Sorry boys, the candy is only for the top 50."
Keigo and Mizuiro fake sobbed in frustration. Sakura, on the other hand, only smiled sweetly at them and wished them to take seats higher than they were now if they wanted the reward. Now she had to get back to her workplace.
As she approached her office a student with dark hair and glasses was already waiting for her. It was the first time she had seen him apparently he didn't get out of class too often. He held a handkerchief to his hand and waited humbly for her, and when he saw her approaching he bent down to greet her. Urahara hurriedly opened the classroom, realising that perhaps he had waited too long for her and apologised. The boy mumbled something and quietly entered the office, and Sakura quickly got out a bandage and antiseptic to treat the wound. She asked her student to let her examine the cut that was starting to crust over. She carefully treated the wound and began to wrap the arm, and the student sat quietly the whole time just watching. When the work was done she proceeded to fill in the data in the log book and asked for her name.
"Ishida Uryuu, class 3, 15 years old."
When she heard the name she realised that it was the student who had won first place. But her concern now was how he had cut himself, to which he replied - he had grabbed the knife unluckily. Sakura thought of nothing better than to give him a candy and congratulate him on his first place. Ishida accepted the candy and thanked the nurse. A bow and he was lost behind the office door.
*
School time was over and now the only people left at school were those who had extra classes or those who went to clubs. Sakura had nothing left to do either and so she went home as one of the first of the teachers.
The weather was great and Sakura decided to treat herself and get some ice cream on her way home. She had loved sweets since she was a little girl, but the older she got, the less she wanted to eat them, and today it was hot enough to have a little snack before dinner.
But unfortunately her treat had to be postponed for later due to the huge cluster of empties in the city that she had noticed just now. She didn't understand at what point they had managed to accumulate so many of them, and most of them were concentrated in one place, about a kilometre away from her. The worst part was that they weren't confined to that area, but were now spreading out all over the place. One void was already heading towards her, and she found nothing better to do than to run away to a deserted place so that no ordinary people would be hurt. Unfortunately for her the hollow was quite fast and was already catching up with her and she started to panic as she couldn't find her bottle in her bag and just when it looked like it was ready to hit her on the pavement someone picked her up. A huge puff of dust and a rumble went up due to the hollow's attack, but the sound that followed was his shriek and Sakura could only see the outline of him scattering. When she was able to fully open her eyes and see who had helped her, the first thing she saw was a plaque with the sign 7 and iris, then her gaze was caught by the blonde hair.
"Naruto!"
"Long time no see, Sakura-chan!" The boy smiled happily at his friend.
Notes:
It was a spontaneous desire to publish two finished chapters at once, without having thought of a title and description for the story. There are plans to edit them in the future, but it's not certain. There are also a few finished chapters in the pipeline that I still plan to edit.
I'd love to read your comments in the future. Thanks for reading!
See you soon!
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Chapter Text
Their first encounter happened when Naruto saved her from the void.
After that tragic night, when Sakura had brought danger into the house with her own hands, the hollows had become more and more aware of her presence. When they found her, the fear of those monsters always made her blood run cold, her small body frozen in the face of danger, and only the voice in her head screaming "run" could make her move. She was saved by the shinigami on patrol in the neighborhood, or by amulets that blinded them and allowed them to run away, to hide from danger.
But that day she had escaped that evening from her new home to visit her old neighborhood, the house that belonged to her family. The sun was just starting to lower, the sky was still burning a pleasant shade of pink, and she thought she would make it before dark, especially since the house was not far from her new residence. At that moment she regretted her idea. Sakura thought of herself at that moment as a petty idiot who doesn't learn from mistakes. She met an hollow, lizard-like man, and the worst part was his speed, as soon as he sensed her spiritual energy he immediately rushed to her side while she rushed away from him. The chances of her escaping were almost zero. She screamed for help, but as if to spite her misbehavior, no one heard her. A moment and an hollow hit her with its tail. She skinned the skin on her arms and legs, but she hurried to get up and then a heavy paw was on her back and she could feel the Void breathing heavily, about to open his mouth to taste her, but he was saying something and the ringing in her ears muffled that awful voice. For fear of the inevitable, she only called out quietly to her parents, apologizing to Urahara for running away, tears streaming from her eyes. The sound of the blade reached her ears, followed by the monster's death cry of pain. The heaviness from her back disappeared, but she continued to lie there, whether it was because of the pain or the fear hadn't left her body.
"Girl, are you okay?"
An unfamiliar male voice spoke to her. It seemed so soft, so kind to her. It was the voice of her savior. The question was followed by warm hands that lifted her torso to examine her. Her body slowly began to obey her, and she turned her head to see the one who had saved her. When their gazes crossed, Sakura was met with blue eyes as clear as the sky. A guy who looked to be about 18 years old was holding her in his arms to keep her from falling. His blond, spiky hair stood out, against the fading sun and would probably blend in with his daytime color. Three mustache-like markings on both cheeks made him atypical of her surroundings. And the most important thing Sakura noticed was the black clothing. Shinigami. Oh well, at this point she didn't care who would save her, she wanted to live and she was glad not to become dinner for an hollow. All this time the tears didn't stop, her eyes swam and now she could only see the general outline of the guy's face. Shinigami, realizing that it was a normal living child, was frightened by her crying and started to soothe her in all ways, but the howling didn't stop and then he just hugged her, saying in a comforting voice that everything was fine now.
*
"Naruto, why are you here?"
"I'll explain later, there are more of them."
Naruto cut another blank that came running after the previous one. Sakura slipped from his arms and fumbled for the pill bottle, swallowing it quickly.
The next moment, Sakura separated from her body and stood in her shinigami form. Ordering the gigai to get to safety, she drew her sword in readiness to attack. Naruto had already chopped up a couple of hollows, but they kept coming and then she joined the fight as well. She wasn't as skilled at sword fighting as the trained shinigami, but she knew how to cut through the hollows. She had to learn.
No matter how many they killed, new ones would come along and try to eat them. Sakura and Naruto tried to destroy the Void before the regular people got hurt. The empties kept coming and coming, and they tried to find the reason for their attraction to the neighborhood. It's a black crack in the sky, it would be good to know how to close it, then the empties would stop coming.
"Sakura, follow me!"
Naruto tried not to stray any farther from his friend than necessary worrying that another disaster might befall her. Unlike her, he was an experienced fighter and taking out the hollows was a regular job for him. Sakura followed the shinigami hoping he had found a solution to the situation. As they reached their destination the cracks began to come together. And Naruto led them to Rukia.
"Rukia, what the hell is going on here!"
"It was the first time Sakura had seen Naruto so angry. His eyebrows were drawn together at the bridge of his nose, and his gaze was fixed on the girl, who looked at him fearfully when she heard her name."
"Naruto-san, what are you doing here?"
"I'm asking why the empties started breaking through to the world of the living?! This neighborhood was on you, why aren't you in uniform?!"
"I-I don't know why the hollows made their way into the world of the living. My phone beeped, and that's when I noticed it."
Rukia shrank back considerably, as if she wanted to hide from Uzumaki's gaze that was drilling her. Sakura felt sorry for the girl, she walked past the guy and blocked Kuchiki's figure and began to question her.
"Kuchiki-san, was Kurosaki with you? Where is he now?"
"He ran after the quincy. I think he called him Ishida.
Ah, quincy now Sakura could speculate on what this scuffle of blanks and fisticuffs might have been about.
"It must have been a decoy for the hollows." Naruto voiced his guess. "We'll talk to you later, but right now the main thing is to keep the civilians safe, so get out of your gigai."
At that moment, Sakura tensed up as well. She didn't know what Naruto might do if he knew the reason for her being in human form. Rukia's eyes darted around in doubt, she didn't know what to say or if she should. Touching hands found themselves on Kuchiki's shoulders, the confusion of not knowing what to expect, she slowly raised her eyes and was met with a gentle smile as if to say, everything would be alright.
"I haven't recovered from the void attack yet."
Not quite true and not quite a lie. Rukia didn't understand why she couldn't recover after such a long time, but she could only wait.
"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Sakura stay with Rukia while I look for the so-called Kurosaki and Ishida.
Naruto quickly disappeared using the shunpo heading off to find the guys and the girls were left alone, though now a red mop of hair peeked out from the bushes and ran up to them.
"Oh I was so scared of his reatsu!"
"What if it was hollow? Would you have left me, too?"
"Oh, that modified soul," Sakura drifted off in her thoughts. Surprisingly this gigai turned out to be quite functional, something she hadn't expected from a 'marriage'. She was worried that he
would go on another rampage and then she would have to destroy him for sure. Her thoughts were interrupted by a woman's voice.
"Are you also a substitute shinigami like Ichigo?"
"Not really, the circumstances of shinigami status are different for us and I don't exterminate the hollows on a regular basis."
*
Naruto found the guys thanks to their reatsu, which was different from normal humans, and he could feel that it was quite large. More and more of the hollows were coming at them, and he decided to intervene in their battle, destroying the hollows with a single movement of his zanpakto. When the path was cleared two teenagers stood before him, covered in abrasions and cuts. They exchanged glances and Naruto realized that a huge reatsu was coming from the guy in shinigami clothes.
A crack of the heavens was heard and followed by the huge head of Menos Grande and more of the void began to pile up beside them. There was no end to them, the lieutenant of Squad 7 began to worry about the safety of the area. Naruto was about to unleash his bankai, but gunshots followed and a painfully familiar voice greeted him.
"What do I see! Uzumaki-san, what are you doing here?"
"Kisuke, you've come to kill Menos?"
"Oh, no, no, let's give the young ones a chance, they're just learning."
"I don't remember you training Sakura with such methods." The snide remark was followed by a sly smile.
"Sakura is my daughter. A parent can't let their child get hurt."
"But allows strangers to suffer"
Naruto always responded to the man with a barb, but the man never responded with anger, it
amused him how his daughter's friend liked to play jokes on him. A child will always try to compare themselves to adults. They don't have a bad relationship, they are just too sarcastic in their words to each other. The reason for this communication is not clear, but Sakura didn't care about that as long as they can communicate without manhandling. Menos stretched out his tongue piercing the small void, stuck it in his mouth and began chewing on it, throwing all the unaware into shock.
"Menos Grande is a dangerous wastrel, a couple of kids can't handle him! I'll use my bankai to chase him away."
Naruto was about to use his weapon and then he was struck with the cane on his hands with such force that he couldn't keep his feet and crouched down, following the lowered katana, followed by another man's hand touching him and then he couldn't even move his fingers or utter a word. This old man was using a binding spell on him! Sometimes Naruto forgot that Urahara wasn't just a simple store clerk. Even if he broke the spell now, the merchant would simply apply a new one and knock him out. An annoyed look met with a stern one. Urahara may have lost his status, but not the power and experience gained over the years. Sakura and Rukia soon came running over to them and saw only a squatting Naruto shifting with Kisuke while Ichigo was already running to meet his doom. Sakura wanted to stop the guy, but her path was blocked by her father.
"He could die! Naruto can chase him away, stay out of the way!"
Urahara didn't move away in the slightest, but simply used the same method on her that he had used on Uzumaki. Kisuke picked Sakura up in his arms and kept her from falling, all she could do was glare at him. Rukia stayed back realizing that it could be her turn if she decided to interfere.
"The only question is, why?"
"This fight will be pivotal for you and him."
The guys were too stupid to think that he could be defeated like a normal hollow. Ichigo was especially foolish for attacking him with a straightforward attack that sent him flying back a couple of meters. More absurd was their new combination, where Kurosaki's sword was tied to Ishida's head. Sakura wanted to laugh at the sight, but unfortunately she couldn't, and the increasing spiritual power began to tear at her inner voice. She wanted to yell for them to run or else the school kids could become dead, but the idiot Ichigo ran forward and she wanted to tear her throat out for his idiocy. Except Kurosaki was able to hold off the hollow's attack and even chopped him up, which shocked all the onlookers and even made Menosas run back.
Naruto was as shocked as anyone. For a novice shinigami to do such a thing, even without releasing the zanpakto, he could be equal to the level of a captain, except that he couldn't control his reatsu to the fullest extent.
*
"You probably already understand why I'm here."
"If you've been sent, I guess I'm starting to get suspicious."
"No. Rukia, you haven't been in touch since May. The area was being cleaned up and that gave you a break. Ukitake turned a blind eye to your silence, but not everything lasts. You have to go back."
"I can't."
"Because of Kurosaki Ichigo? Because you gave him shinigami powers?"
Rukia remained silent. Any answer didn't make sense anymore. Naruto understood, he may not have suspected the schoolboy of breaking the rules at first, but when he saw his abilities he realized that if he had been in the ranks of Gotei-13 he would have known about him. But he saw him for the first time, his huge reatsu just screaming "notice me" and when he returned to his body he went home.
Naruto often sneaked off to the world of the living, unannounced. He'd been caught doing it a lot, but there was nothing he could do about it, he'd done it as an officer, but now he was a lieutenant, and as if his temporary absence could be forgiven by his captain and parents, as long as he didn't disappear for more than a day. So now he decided to take this chance to warn Kuchiki. Not to say that they were good friends, but still Naruto tried to keep an eye on the girl as she was having a hard time, especially when Shiba Kaien, who she was on good terms with, died. And now he wanted to keep the girl from dying.
"They'll be coming for you soon. I overheard you. So get ready and warn the kid."
And he disappeared into the shunpo, leaving the girl alone in the sunset.
*
A knock on her office door, announcing the last visitor to this office for the day, which Sakura was about to leave soon.
- Urahara-san, may I come in?
Rukia asked out of politeness rather than really wanting to know if she was allowed in or not, since Sakura accepted everyone at all times. The nurse pointed to a chair next to her while she sorted through a box of medicine. The girl came in towards the evening, when all the students would have gone home and the office would be empty, so there was no one who liked to just sit in her office during recess. Finishing up with her business, Sakura sits down and looks at the person sitting next to her. A moment of silence passed and she decided to ask.
"Is something bothering you?"
Kuchiki remained silent and looked for something on the floor. Sakura didn't know what to expect from the girl, as she hadn't told her much about herself, all she knew about her was what her father had told her, and it was just bits and pieces of information. The silence continued for a few more minutes and in that time Urahara had already decided to start checking the new box.
"You know, you're probably a few decades older than me and I guess you could call me Sakura."
"Sakura decided to defuse the situation and take Rukia out of her thoughts."
"Do you think Ichigo will be too upset at my sudden disappearance?"
"Did they come for you?"
Question upon question made Kuchiki twitch. How did she know about this? No. She probably knew a lot if she knew Uzumaki Naruto especially being Urahara Kisuke's daughter. Sakura hid as much as Rukia herself, but at least she thinks they're on equal footing.
"I know your circumstances. I think Kurosaki will be very upset. Especially if he finds out about your execution.Э
The last word made goosebumps run down Rukia's body. She didn't know that a word out of someone else's mouth could make her shiver in fear. She knew punishment awaited her for the crime she had committed, but she thought she would be able to get around it. Avoid execution. But most of all, she would hate to see Ichigo get hurt. It wasn't his fault what happened, he just wanted to save his family.
"He won't be killed if he doesn't stick his neck out and you don't give him away."
Sakura spoke as if this was a discussion about what to make for dinner rather than the topic of executing the girl sitting across from her, but the pen in her hands was visibly trembling. She didn't wish Rukia dead. She didn't wish it on anyone, but she couldn't change the rules of someone else's world.
"But given how "idiotic" Kurosaki is, he can do anything we don't expect."
"Yes, you're right. Sometimes I'm surprised at his stupidity." Rukia said of the boy in a soft and friendly manner, without anger or reproach. "Ura... Sakura-san, why did you tell me so much about yourself? I'm a stranger to you."
"I wanted to tell you. I don't see anything wrong with that, all acquaintances start somewhere."
Sakura shrugged, as if she hadn't told Rukia an episode from her life and hadn't gotten a kick out of listening. Kuchiki didn't understand the woman's ease. She was no more to her than a student
of this school and with other students she allowed such ease in talking to her, despite the difference in social status. Remembering the same Orihime, Rukia thinks that the classmate always comes to Sakura for no reason and tells her everything and she listens and supports her. Kuchiki would also like to tell her about herself, but that would be unnecessary since they will never meet again.
"You know, as much as I hate to say it, this meeting might be our last." Sakura said something that was on Rukia's mind and made her wince. "I'd like to know at least what you prefer to drink your tea with."
Sakura walked over to the table and switched on the kettle, already intending to give her visitor a hot drink. From under the table she pulled out the biscuits and sweets she'd been hiding for herself and beckoned Rukia over to her, letting her choose. Her eye was caught by a cake with a creamy filling, covered with dark chocolate on top, shaped like a heart and the nurse didn't mind treating her favourite sweet.
Once the kettle was boiling, Sakura poured the boiling water into cups and offered to proceed with the tea. The sound of biscuits being eaten diluted the silence of the study and broke the silence. The first to break the silence with words was Rukia.
"I've never tasted such delicious cakes."
"What's more, they're from my favourite pastry shop! Although I guess aristocrats often have such tasty treats at home."
The casually thrown phrase made Rukia shiver, which was noticeable.
"Dad told me that Kuchiki is a noble bloodline in the soul community, that's why he tries so hard to give you the best goods."
"I'm not related by blood, I was adopted into the family by my older brother."
"So, would you say we're in similar situations?"
"I wouldn't say." Rukia took a sip, trying to clear the lump in her throat before she said the words that were unpleasant to her. "Ever since I joined the family my brother, the current clan head, has paid no attention to me. In your situation, however, Urahara-san cares for you like a true daughter. I'm just a nominal member of a noble family. I don't even know why I was accepted."
Rukia grabbed the cup so hard her fingers turned white. It hurt her to talk about it. It didn't make any sense for a girl like her to join a noble family. She wasn't strong in her studies, her average grades upon entering and during her studies didn't stand out, but for some reason she was the one who got noticed. Sakura placed her hand on top of hers and took the cup, setting it on the table.
"There are reasons for everything, even if they aren't immediately apparent. Your brother must have had his reasons for doing so. There's more to his aloofness than just bad things. Believe me, there's an explanation for everything and I think he can help you right the wrongs."
Of course, Rukia realised what ‘mistake’ Sakura meant, but she decided not to elaborate. Maybe she was right and things weren't as bad as they seemed. I wish she could believe her. Believe what Sakura herself hoped.
That same night, Sakura felt a huge surge of spiritual power.
Chapter 4: Papa's girl
Notes:
This is a bonus chapter that just fleshes out the story of Urahara and Sakura.
Treat it as an Extreme in the manga
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After the death of her parents, Sakura ended up in an orphanage. The few relatives were reluctant to take custody of a child they considered mentally ill. From infancy, Sakura's perpetual stares to nowhere frightened the adults, especially when she spoke to the void. They even begged her parents to take her to a shaman to exorcise the evil spirit from her, but they only argued and distanced themselves from the relatives, saying that their daughter was fine and just experienced the world differently.
Even during the memorial service, the evil whispers were not missed by the little girl. Sakura could hear the adults saying that she was the reason for the tragedy and if anyone took her into their care, the curse would pass to them. There was nothing she could do to resist them, for it seemed to her that everything they said was the truth. She was the one who had led the child's soul, the one who had caused the monster to follow her home. It was her fault that Mum and Dad were dead. And after so much accumulated emotion, she cried, hiding her tears in a bow, sobbing quietly, giving a final bow to her parents.
The kindergarten teachers at the orphanage were nice people, trying to make friends with the new child, but Sakura was withdrawn, quiet, trying to blend in. If she was asked to do something, she did it, but afterwards she went straight back to her own business. Adults asked other children to invite her to play with them, but she only looked at them with empty, faded eyes and went back to reading without answering them. Then the children would return in tears, saying she was scary or resenting her for apparently being fine on her own.
Since then, Sakura had been careful to pretend not to see ghosts. She had been able to talk to them without being judged, as her parents had always treated her with warmth, but now she was alone and needed to become her own person. But those who saw her talking to ‘air’ and staring into the void saw her as a target for bullying.
"You're a weird!"
"You're crazy!"
"Stay away in case it's contagious!"
Listening to the taunts Sakura found nothing better to do than just ignore them, but that didn't make the offenders get behind her.
"My mum told me you're the reason your parents are dead!"
The limit had been exhausted. The loud words from a boy in her class were the last straw for her, and she pounced on him, toppling him to the ground. Small hands clutched at the boy's short hair and pulled it in different directions. All the accumulated anger and resentment was expressed in this hair pulling. The boy didn't stand for it and threw Sakura off of him and he was already on top of her with his hand already swung. His fist was aimed at the girl's face, leaving a red mark behind it. Sakura retaliated by making the boy fall and then his friends got involved and grabbed her in both arms, immobilising her. The crippled boy slapped her chest with even more force, making the air stick in her lungs. It was such an intense searing pain that she didn't feel the physical pain, even making tears come to the corners of her eyes. Another blow followed, already in her stomach and another and another, tears began to run down her cheeks, but she couldn't bring herself to scream, not in front of these beasts. Sakura bit her cheek to hold back her screams, but the next blow didn't come. The boy was yanked away as the blow skidded by the collar of his t-shirt. Behind him stood a tall man with a striped hat that covered his eyes, dressed in a green summer suit with a dark green haori worn over the top, his stern masculine voice asked the only question that made the bullies startle:
"What are you doing here?!"
*
Walking around the neighbourhood was a normal daily routine for Urahara, who did it to dispel boredom. The weather outside was beautiful, the sun was shining and warm, and the cool breeze kept him from sweating in his clothes. Looking at his neighbourhood from a power line pole, he noticed a group of kids in the playground. It didn't seem like anything ordinary, until he saw a pink-haired girl jump on a boy and start pulling his hair. To Urahara it was just a normal childish scuffle, until the offended boy punched the girl with his fist. He was getting tense by then, starting to hope for the boys nearby, thinking they would break the kids up. But it only got worse when they grabbed the girl and the violence began. Not a single adult in the area and Urahara had to act fast. He grabbed the boy by the collar and pulled him towards him trying to ask the question more menacingly.
"What are you doing here!"
The other boys immediately let go of the girl and ran away from the area. The offending boy tried to do so as well, but was restrained by the man's hand. Urahara shifted his gaze to the girl. Her clothes were covered in dirt, her once beautiful pigtails were now no better than an old broom, her eyes were red from crying, her cheek was swollen from the blow and it pained him to imagine what might have been happening to the areas hidden beneath her clothes. Kiske forcefully turned the child towards him, already tugging at his ear, speaking even more menacingly, threateningly than before.
"Never to see you again."
That was enough for the boy to run away in fear, holding back tears.
Now all his attention was focused on the still sitting on the ground girl. Moving closer to her, he squatted down, causing her to twitch slightly in fear. Grey eyes met green eyes that were like those of an intimidated animal. Urahara wanted to check the haematoma on her face, but the girl recoiled due to fear, not understanding what he wanted. When his finger touched her cheek, he could feel that the injury was quite serious, blood had collected in one spot and wasn't going to dissolve. If he didn't apply a cold one, it could only get worse. Moisture touched his finger and Kisuke turned his attention to his eyes. She was crying again. Not either from pain or resentment.
"I'm not a murderer, honestly."
The girl said them so quietly, as if she was trying to make sure that no one else could hear it but him, and the tears flowed with even more force, now with sobs.
The picture was becoming a little clearer. So those boys had bullied her and called her a murderer. Pretty cruel words from child to child. Children repeat what they hear from adults, so this girl has had some kind of tragedy to which she plays no small part.
"...I wanted to help... the monster. got away..." Scraps of words between sobs were reached by the listener.
"What monster is she talking about? Is it really..."
The thoughts were cut short by a sudden warmth at her waist. This child clung to him as a last resort. Perhaps she was seeking comfort from an adult, support. He couldn't say for sure and all he had to do was hug her back.
"Children are so small..." A hand stroked the girl's head, tucking her hair "...and fragile."
The day was coming to a close and after a comforting hug, Urahara asked to show him where to walk her. On the way he picked up an ice cream to reduce the haematoma a bit and for further eating. He never thought he would spend money on a child, but he hadn't yet thought he would hold his hand so he wouldn't lose it. The baby's hand seemed so tiny to him, clasp his hand tighter he would have easily broken it.
Their path ended in front of the orphanage. Kisuke realised what kind of ‘murder’ they were talking about. Seeing the battered girl the caretaker immediately ran over to her and began to examine her.
"Sakura, what happened?!" The kindergarten teacher was in a panic and everything about her reflected worry for the girl.
"I fell" A cheeky lie, a small hand reaching down, clasping the strap of her backpack.
The woman finally noticed the man escorting Sakura and bowed in thanks.
"Oh, thank you for escorting her."
The woman led Sakura away into the building, leaving him alone.
Urahara stood there for a couple more minutes, watching the light come on in one of the windows and seeing the silhouette of a child being treated for wounds. He took one last look at his arm, where a small hand had recently been placed, and left for his shop.
"Tessai, do you think I'd be a good father?"
The man choked on his tea. He never thought the shop owner would be interested in the topic of family and children. And Urahara had been mulling over the idea lately because of his encounter with Sakura. The child was apparently alienated from the people in the neighbourhood because of her peculiarity, but still she tried not to bother the adults, remembering her lies in front of the tutor. He would like to observe her some more.
"I guess everything can be learnt." Was all Tessai could answer him.
If it could be called that, he would say that luck had smiled on him. He met the girl as she was running away from an empty. Not the best time to meet, but suitable for his verdicts. Sakura - had a strong reatsu that attracted the void. He decided nothing better than to kill him himself.
"Y-you can kill them?"
The hope in her eyes burned brightly and he didn't want it to go out.
"You want to adopt Sakura?"
"Yes, it would be good to do it soon."
Urahara sat in the office of the director of the orphanage, discussing all the details of the adoption. The collar of his shirt was pressing against his neck and even a loosened tie didn't improve the situation. He had bought a trouser suit especially for this meeting to look presentable in front of the director, showing that he was a self-sufficient adult. The atypical clothes felt like shackles to him, but he must endure these couple of hours to be approved to adopt a child.
"That's very good, but aren't you intimidated by her aloofness? There were people ready to adopt the girl, but as soon as they looked into her eyes, they said it was like she was out of this world and changed their minds. She had to survive the death of her parents. The house collapsed and collapsed right on top of them. But Sakura treats you more warmly than other adults."
"I'm flattered by that. The sudden loss of a parent takes a big psychological toll on children, but I think I can handle it. Sakura is a wonderful child and I believe we'll have a good relationship."
A month later, he adopted Sakura. It was a decision without her input, and he didn't know how she herself would react to it, but her gaze was still accompanied by emptiness. Moments of enlightenment were short and so Urahara diligently researched what children liked. He decided to start with walks around the neighbourhood, telling her what there was in the surrounding area, showing her interesting places and stalls where she could buy groceries. She wasn't really interested in it, but at least she listened to him and asked some questions. Sakura didn't call him daddy and Kisuke understood the reason for that, he was a stranger to her after all. At first she called him ‘Urahara-san’, forgetting that she had that surname now too, and then Sakura started using ‘Kisuke-san’.
One summer day, Kisuke decided to take Sakura to an amusement park, having learnt that children like to spend time there. Still as aloof as ever, she agreed to the outing so as not to offend the adult. They got there close to sunset, when the prize stalls began to glow brightly, creating a special atmosphere of fun. The first attraction that caught Urahara's eye was the Flight. A small structure consisting of ten seats went upwards spinning the children around its axis. The ride began to pick up speed and small rockets lowered and rose back up, creating a wave. When it was over Kisuke expected some positive reaction from Sakura, but she just got down and thanked him for the ride. Next, he decided to ride the rides together. The slope amplitude of some of the cars was quite large and even Urahara screamed with pleasure, but the girl only held back and closed her eyes. She still kept a calm face after them as well, which made the man a little nervous. They decided to just take a walk and then Sakura stopped in front of a prize stall and looked at the panda shaped toy that was the grand prize. In this game you had to hit a target ten times with a shotgun, given twelve attempts. Deciding that this was a chance to cheer up a child, Urahara paid for the attempt, only he noticed that the muzzle was a little slanted, making it difficult to hit the target accurately, but not for him. He won the grand prize in just a couple of minutes and gave it to Sakura. The panda was the size of her, but her eyes shone so brightly at the moment of handing it over. She was so pleased that Urahara had tried his best for her, she didn't think he would notice her gaze on the toy and decide to win. It was getting quite dark outside and then they headed back home. A small hand touched the man's and took hold of hers. It was the first time Sakura had ever taken his hand herself. He was pleased with his decisions.
One day, Sakura asked him to make ramen. He couldn't ignore the child's first request, so he pulled out the recipe book to make it work, but he didn't take into account that such complicated dishes were beyond him. The difficulties started already when preparing the noodles. The dough was not going to become ‘soft and stretchy’ more like porridge, which had been chewed before. He decided to fry the meat, which caused it to burn, and the broth was too spicy even for him. The kitchen was a disaster and he had no choice but to make instant noodles, add boiled eggs and the remains of the burnt meat. Expecting disappointment in his daughter's eyes he prepared for her to refuse to eat, but all he saw was her eating his creation. Maybe he didn't know, but Sakura had seen Kisuke's efforts to make her dinner and how it had gone downhill from the start. She didn't care about the outcome, only how Urahara felt about it. And he had tried his best, but apparently he had no experience before. After she ate the whole plate she thanked him for the delicious dinner and started to clean up after herself.
After a couple of months, the girl ran away. Urahara heard her sneaking out of the house, but decided to let her commit her ‘crime’. He assumed that Sakura would decide to visit her old neighbourhood for once. Even though she didn't show it, kids still miss their home no matter how much time had passed. Especially since he had learnt that her relatives had decided to sell her parents house without her knowledge and Urahara had decided to buy it back to give it back to Sakura in the future. It would be a coming of age present for her.
The child returned not alone, but with a shinigami and an unusual and Uzumaki Naruto - the heir to the Uzumaki clan, Lieutenant Gotei 13, but seeing the state Sakura was in the guy retreated to the background. Her clothes were all stained with dirt and blood, her knees were skinned along with her arms, her eyes were swollen from the tears that were still coming, she was choking on the air she couldn't get into her lungs properly. Urahara fell to his knees beside her and restlessly began to ask what was wrong, but the child's tantrums only intensified and she clung to the man, hanging onto him like a koala.
"Papaaa!"
Urahara didn't know what he was more shocked from now. From the state of the child or the fact that she called him daddy. For the first time. Sakura had never uttered such an address to him until that moment. Hearing the word ‘papa’ something clicked in his chest, warmth spreading through it, his arms trembled and he hugged the girl.
"Papa... she called me Papa."
Notes:
In my opinion, Urahara would be a disaster in the kitchen🤭
I'd like to write more about them, but I think I'll keep that for later
Maybe in the future there will be more bonus chapters between chapters with other characters I'd like to cover
Chapter Text
Sakura had expected Rukia to leave them soon, but not on the same day they discussed her plan to silently disappear. And the last thing she wanted was to feel a few strong reatsu in her neighbourhood. She knew that interfering in a battle with experienced shinigami was foolish. She didn't have decades of training and even less of a chance to get anywhere near their level, but knowing Kurosaki she could guess that the idiot would decide to rush in to save her friend. She had to wait for the two sources of strong reatsu to disappear, but her patience ran out when she felt a surge of new power in one of the sources and at her own risk she decided to take Ichigo away from there by force.
As she approached the scene her gaze was caught by two bright spots that were visible even in the night. A shinigami with red hair was hovering over Ichigo's body and holding a zanpakto near his throat, threatening. Her gaze caught the unusual shape of the zanpakto and then Sakura feared for the life of the schoolboy who had forced the shinigami to unleash his shikai. She wanted nothing more than to push her opponent away and quickly carry Kurosaki away, but her plan collapsed when the zanpaktō headed halfway towards her and she managed to save herself from serious injury with only a scratch on her arm.
"Who are you? What squad are you from?"
Sakura was silent. She didn't know if there was any chance of fooling them, even if she lied now then she'd have to confirm her identity and then she could definitely screw up. She could only stand in a defensive stance with her hand on her zanpakto. She surveyed her surroundings to see if there was anything that would help in their escape and her gaze locked onto a frightened Rukia. She was covered in abrasions, but her fear was more for Ichigo than for herself. The silence stopped with the sound of metal against metal. The shinigami pointed his weapon at her again, but now hitting her ribcage. The wound wasn't fatal, but the pain from the cut was serious, causing her to pull back and fall to her knee. Breathing hard didn't help ease the pain, the blood was flowing harder.
"I see. Did Rukia share her spiritual power with you too?"
"No! I don't know her!"
Rukia tried to stop the guy from taking another blow, restraining his arm with her small body. She didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of her. There was a ringing in Sakura's ears, blocking out the voices of those around her, her breath wasn't helping matters either, she couldn't even hear her own thoughts and was only instinctively able to tighten her wound. Her strength should have been enough to push the guy away and carry Kurosaki away from this place. He had already lost enough blood and she needed to hurry. Determined to attack the guy, she used shunpo to discreetly push him away, but her plan was foiled by someone's attack from the side. Her gaze went to her opponent and in front of her stood a man with black hair and hair jewellery that was strange to her. Their gazes met and a ringing went up in Sakura's head. The expressionless face hesitated for a moment and his hand twitched, seeing her face, Sakura noticed.
"Another one gets in the way."
Sakura raised her zanpakto in defence, but there was no follow up attack. In addition to her chest, her arm was now damaged as well, and the ringing in her head was getting worse and her vision was beginning to swim. Her strength was leaving her so quickly that she didn't realise why herself. She couldn't have used up so much reatsu in such a short period of time. Her gaze darted from one thing to another, her thoughts confused and her breathing quickened. She decided to attack the guy with red hair to save Ichigo, who was losing consciousness due to blood loss. Her arm could only swing weakly to force her opponent to step back, but he stopped her easily, pushing her back. Adding to the ringing was the dizziness now.
"Say my name."
The voice in her head sounded so clear through all the noise that it helped Sakura come to her senses a little. The voice sounded familiar, but the person it belonged to did not appear in front of her eyes.
"I don't know your name!"
"You know"
The voice didn't stop repeating to her only ‘you do.’ She couldn't concentrate as the phrase filled her head. Now the words and the ringing mixed together and made her feel like her head was going to burst. The urge to crack her skull open was growing stronger and she wanted to end this suffering by folding herself in half. The shinigami just stood and watched her, preparing to attack, but Sakura only gritted her teeth in pain. Unfamiliar places, houses, faces flashed before her like a rewinding film, cliffy and fast. A little more, and she was ready to scream in pain, but the ringing was replaced by a vacuum. Words hidden in the recesses of her subconscious broke free and began to come out of her mouth.
"Creature-"
But his name was never meant to be spoken now, stopped by the attack of a man with black hair. She didn't have time to react, all she had to do was watch as the stranger's zanpakto was in her chest, blood began to flow from her mouth to free her lungs and the previous wound opened up following the new one, causing her to lose even more blood. Green eyes met grey eyes, darting around in concern.
Ah, those eyes."
The man's zanpacto came out of her chest and Sakura's fulcrum disappeared, causing her to stagger. She tried to gather more air into her pierced lungs, but only managed to cough up blood, not even the strength to run. Her vision was leaving her and now she could only hear the voices of those around her.
"Byakuya-aniki, why did you do that! She had nothing to do with this!"
"Renji, let's head back."
With her last strength, Sakura pulled her katana from its sheath and gathering the rest of her reatsu used the shunpo to wound her attacker. The zanpakto strode across his cheek, not as much because of her efforts as he let it. Her heavy breathing made his chest burn, but her eyes didn't pull away from him. The eye contact lasted a couple of seconds, and he said only, ‘Let's go,’ no longer looking at her. The sounds of distant footsteps were a farewell to Rukia. Sakura hadn't expected this outcome for her and Ichigo, she had been too naive to assume that the shinigami would quietly let go of the man who had taken their mate's powers and the one who had unknowingly gained her powers.
*
Opening her eyes she sees that she is on the roof of the traditional houses of Japan's aristocrats. She could see the crumbles of other parts of the mansion, and she kept running, looking for someone. Her body was leading her, and she didn't mind looking around. Including her appearance, which consisted of a shinigami uniform with a lieutenant's plaque, only she couldn't see it. Her senses led her to a scene where a girl with purple hair and a white haori with the number two on it was taunting a teenager who was trying to get his ribbon back. The game continued until the girl spotted her and with a sly smile, disappeared. The teenager only resented the girl who ran off with his item, but immediately his eyes went to the one who was trying to hold back laughter.
"Come down now!"
Without the slightest hesitation she came down to the boy and bowed respectfully.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I apologise, young master Kuchiki, for my intrusion. I am Lieutenant Hitsugaya Sakura of the Fourth Squad."
Body, words it all acted automatically without her will. Straightening up Sakura saw a patch of white hair falling down her face. Wasn't that her body? But the names are similar. This isn't a dream? An illusion? Where is she and what's going on? The words won't stop coming out of her mouth.
"I came to take Shihoin Yoruichi with me, but she escaped."
Now she could fully look at her interlocutor, who was the same height as her. He looked to be about sixteen, dressed in a white kimono, his hair messed up on his head. His dark hair lay haphazardly on his shoulders and tangled in some places. Large grey eyes looked at her with irritation, and the right one seemed to be drooping. When she heard her say Kuchiki's last name, she expected to meet the same shinigami who had tried to kill her, but he was different. There are similar features, but the age and his gaze were not similar. Those grey eyes looked at everything with coldness and indifference, and Sakura could only detect a speck of other emotions in them. This boy's eyes and face, on the other hand, screamed what he was feeling. Could there really be another child in the Kuchiki family?
"That woman is as nimble as a cat, so as you noticed, she ran off with my stuff."
"If you were a little more nimble like a cat maybe you could get it back, Byakuya-san."
The barb and familiarity she said was still as if scripted and spoken without offence, but when the name was spoken something inside clenched. This boy is that shinigami? But how did he get younger? Was she stuck in someone else's memories or someone else's joke? Her flood of questions couldn't come out, she wanted to move away from this guy, but her body kept acting on its own. Seeing the teen blushed at the girl's remark and remained silent. Then her hand started to move on its own and ended up on the top of the guy's head, starting to stroke it in a comforting action. Inside, Sakura was burning with embarrassment, but she couldn't stop it.
"I'm sorry, it's just that when my little brother is upset I always stroke his head."
"This girl has a brother?"
The gesture of kindness stopped after a couple of minutes, but now it seemed that Byakuya was red because of her stroking.
*
The next time she opened her eyes, her surroundings changed to wooden houses and people in yukatas. It was as if she was in ancient Japan. She walked along the market streets and looked at the goods on display and her eye caught sight of a green, ripe watermelon and the thought flashed through her mind that she would like it, but she didn't know who it was.
After paying, she walked towards someone's house, before she reached it she heard a child's cry and the top of her white hair.
"Oneechan!"
A child about 5 years old crashed into her with all speed and buried his face in her clothes. He barely reached her waist, but stretched out on his toes to make himself appear taller and wrapped himself more tightly in her clothes as if trying to blend in. Small arms wrapped around her and made her heart flutter.
"Ah, Toshiro, you're sucking up because I bought you a watermelon!"
Her free hand begins to ruffle the white fluffy hair and the boy follows the hand like a cat. Toshiro peels away from her and she sees the child's round dark green, turquoise-like eyes. She grabs the child by the nose and jokingly starts tugging on it. The boy didn't mind as long as he knows the treat will go to him anyway.
"That's the brother she was talking about."
*
The next instant she was met by the reflection in the sword. Now she could see herself in that reflection. Eyes, forehead, lips, cheekbones, everything was identical except the colour and length of his hair. It was short, barely touching her shoulders and white like that child's, but his eyes were a darker colour than hers. She continued to stare at the sword as if in a mirror until she was interrupted by a woman's voice.
"Looking for wrinkles on you?"
A young woman appeared before her with blonde hair braided into two low ponytails, a diamond-shaped mole on her forehead, and large forms. She wasn't dressed like a normal shinigami, but more like the everyday clothes of humans - a green haori underneath which was a deep-necked grey blouse tied with a sash, dark green breeches, and high-heeled sandals on her feet.
"Tsunade-san! Have you come to check on Unohana-san?"
"Yeah, I need to visit old friends, so bring Yoruichi too, I think she'll be interested. Anything's better than the red tape of being captain."
And Sakura ran off without hesitation to carry out the order, crossing paths with the young master again, who blushed at the sight of her as she tried to overcome her fears. She was glad now that her body was acting on its own.
So Sakura began to live scraps of someone else's life. She couldn't act or speak on her own, but still the actions were similar to her desires. As time went on, she began to realise she was in Gotea 13 by the people in black around her and the setting in general. She had always wanted to see this place and now her wish had come true, but in someone else's body and for an unclear amount of time. Her role as lieutenant consisted mostly of paperwork or helping to heal the wounded. Her captain Unohana-san was a very kind shinigami and never overworked her. Tsunade, on the other hand, was only too happy to take her friend out for a drink and leave the captain's job to her. And after their parties, Sakura listened to Senju tell her how wonderful she was and that she hadn't met her all those years ago for nothing.
She didn't notice how she was now a part of someone else's life.
There were occasional encounters with Byakuya, who acted very spunky, especially compared to the first impression his adult version had made on her, and didn't cause fear when they met now. He was a nice guy and they managed to become friends. Kuchiki would invite her to have dinner with him as his grandfather was busy with work, call her out for training or to sit together on the roof of the estate and talk about anything, he even illegally took sake from his grandfather's supply so they could have a drink together. These moments brought out his nicer side and what kind of person he was and Sakura thought, could growing up really have changed him that much? When Byakuya entered and graduated from the academy, she rejoiced with him. When he became a lieutenant they started seeing each other more often. Yes she definitely liked that version of him.
The rare meetings with Toshiro showed him to be an energetic kid and how he liked to play pranks on his older sister in every way possible, and Sakura didn't mind. He was a good kid, she could say great, but due to work she couldn't visit him often, but when she did come home she gave all her attention to him, anything he wanted she fulfilled. ‘If I was going to have a little brother, I'd like to have one like that.’
Tsunade wasn't exactly a serious woman, as she realised she used to be the captain of Squad 4, but had given way to a friend. She liked to drink, she liked to take Unohana away from her work and take her for a walk around Rukongai, she liked to gamble, but when it came to the sick she was serious. Even though she had left her position as captain, it didn't change the fact that she was an excellent medic, and Sakura admired her abilities.
And in an instant, she's in a place she shouldn't be. She felt a heaviness in her body her lungs vomited and her stomach wanted to curdle. She felt something wrong in her body and her reatsu fluctuated, her breathing hitched and whiteness came over her eyes for a reason unknown to her. The floor of her face was covered by something and her mind clouded over completely. When she came to her senses it was the moment of coming face to face with the injured Byakuya and his zanpakto in her chest. Noticing that Sakura's gaze had cleared Byakuya decided to retreat, but Sakura prevented him from doing so. She held the blade with her bare hands and made it cut into her side, afraid to lose control again. The pain was hellish, but forced her to stay conscious and her body went limp, falling to her knees, finding support in her hands. She touched the closed part of her face and fumbled for some sort of bone mask on herself. She tried to pull it off but was only able to break part of it. In her hands was a piece of what looked like a hollow mask and it made her fingers tingle. Had she become a hollow? Is that why Byakuya is hurt?
The guy ran up to her and knelt down to be on the same level with her now. Tears streamed down his face and he whispered words of apology trying to stop the blood. He didn't care about the wounds on him now he was worried about Sakura and just kept repeating that everything would be alright. But she felt her time was running out, she had lost enough blood, her breathing was weakening, the pain felt fainter and fainter and her heart was slowing its beat, cold feminine hands took the masculine's and pulled away from the wounds that could no longer be saved. Byakuya didn't understand why she did it, meeting her gaze, Sakura could see his eyes reddening with tears, the rest of her strength she could only spend smiling, trying to show that everything was alright.
*
The next time she opens her eyes, she hears a familiar voice calling her. An abrupt rise to an upright position, large gulps of air, and she starts groping herself, looking for wounds. There are none, her body is intact, the mask is gone. Was it a dream? Sakura lets out a relieved exhale, but notices that the shinigami's clothes are still on her as well, and the place was the Squad 4 captain's office.
"Hitsugaya-san, are you alright?"
Turning her head at the voice in front of Sakura stood Urahara Kisuke, only a younger version of him in shinigami clothes, without his favourite hat.
"Dad?"
"Aren't you awake yet?"
Urahara looked at her with a bewildered expression as if looking at a madman. And Sakura realised she wasn't out of this world yet and then everything started to happen again, only the starting point was different. This time she saw her father as a shinigami, he was the third officer of the second squad, under the leadership of Shihoin Yoruichi. New faces appeared that she hadn't seen before, new memories were added to old scraps, but old acquaintances still appeared and new memories of them were formed. She could see now that Toshiro lived with his grandmother who took care of him. Unohana was revealing her caring attitude towards her, as was Tsunade, who she now interacted with in a more domestic way. Yoruichi wasn't just a mischievous woman now, she revealed herself to be a good carer for her, like a good carer for Soi-Fon. Byakuya remained the same sweet teenager, but now she could see his moments of worry that he wasn't strong enough.
But once again, it's cut short, the wounded Byakuya in front of her again, but the actions are different. He unleashes his shikai and attacks with it. Seeing those endless petals Sakura only had the thought of how beautiful it was and calmly accepted her death.
She opened her eyes again and a new cycle of Hitsugai Sakura's life began, but in an earlier version, with new people around her, but retaining her previous experiences and people from the past, with more tangible control over herself in some movements and each time not only the people changed, but also the reason for her death. After that night as Byakuya would kill her, time would roll back to an even earlier time until she became a child.
This cycle of going back had messed with her brain severely, and she was now unable to separate herself from this life. She had become fully a part of it Sakura had lived here longer than she had in her real world, the people here were near and dear to her and she was just going through it as she should. As a child now she would live her life from beginning to end. Now she had lived all the key moments - meeting Tsunade-san, growing up under her tutelage, enrolling in the academy, meeting her zankpakto and becoming a lieutenant of Squad 4 under Unohana's guidance, meeting Toshiro and taking him under her tutelage, making new acquaintances, becoming friends with Byakuya and fulfilling her duties. But the ending was still the same. She finds herself in some field and a cough comes to her throat, followed by a searing pain in her chest - it was a sign that she was becoming hollow. She had lived this more than once, but she still felt pain and fear, again the loss of control, again she hurts Biakai. Each time she was afraid to see his dead body and at this moment she wouldn't want Toshiro to see her as a monster, she wanted him to remember her as a wonderful older sister, maybe if Tsunade and Unohana saw her in this state they could help her in some way, but they weren't here. All she had to do was wallow in the madness alone.
"Sakura!"
She regains consciousness from screaming a second before stabbing Byakaya with her hand and finds nothing better to do than chop it off. The severed part rolls around on the grass and her blood soaks the ground. Her gaze switched to the guy who was looking at her warily, waiting for her next move, holding his zanpakto at the ready. Their gazes crossed. Grey eyes looked into green eyes and waited for a response. They looked at each other without saying a word, but the silence was broken by the girl.
"I'm sorry."
The quiet apology didn't immediately reach the guy, the slight hesitation in his movement didn't change Sakura's mind. With her hand, she thrust her zanpakto into herself and with a smile, as if she wanted to say goodbye to him with it, she said:
"Bankai."
*
The next time she opened her eyes, she was greeted by cherry blossom branches and a snow-covered field, but now it was warm, which seemed strange in comparison to her surroundings. It felt like the beginning of spring, but the snow continued to lie quietly, still not melting even when she touched it.
"You've finally come to your senses."
A low male voice forced Sakura out of her own musings. Turning around to face her interlocutor she saw the same samurai from her dreams, in whom she could see the familiar silhouettes of Hitsugai Sakura's zanpaktou, and she threw herself at him, grabbing him by the throat, knocking him to the ground. Sakura was angry with him. Her hands clenched around his strong neck, but met no resistance. She felt like he was complicit in her wheel of samsara, in having to feel that pain of death every time, in leaving her little brother alone, in getting close to people again and again and losing everything in an instant.
"Why did you do this to me, Shogun!"
The man didn't try to shove her aside, to soothe her somehow, or remove her hands. He simply lay there and accepted her suffocating embrace. His mask hid his emotions, what he was feeling, didn't even make a voice. Only his white hair rippled across the snow, following the movement of his head. He placed his hands on hers, not in an attempt to remove, but to soothe her. It was then that Sakura realised what she was doing. Her hands relaxed and then the man was able to remove them without resistance.
"I-I... I'm sorry, Shogun" She didn't know what words to use, what she should say, because she didn't think a simple sorry was enough for trying to strangle him. "It's just... I don't understand."
"Your mind kept everything under lock and key." The man from below spoke, still holding her hands so she wouldn't do anything to herself. "Every time you relive a new part of the past, you start remembering things you don't want to remember."
"No. No. It's not me, it's another Sakura!" The woman shook her head in the negative, hoping to banish the thoughts. "Yes we look alike, but I've lived my life after all, I was born human! Oh, and you..." she began to realise.
Shogun had always been with her, in the past and now. The voice that helped her come to her senses, the strange dreams, all of it had always been with her. Since she was a child, she had seen things that normal people couldn't. It was all a part of her life and she took it for granted, she just thought that was what she had in mind, but if you look at what she lived now, she was just born in a new shell. Her looks, abilities, even her name were all in her originally, only the memories remained buried in the depths of her mind and so now came out. She is Hitsugaya Sakura.
"I was by your side, I was born into this world with you and waited for you to hear my voice. Even if you didn't remember your past it doesn't change the fact that I was and will be with you."
Shogun assumes an upright position and reaches his hand towards the demonic mask proper that hides his face, revealing what lies beneath it. His skin was white as snow, almond shaped eyes framed by white lashes only added to his image of sophistication, even the scars streaking from the corners of his eyes did not hinder his beauty, the pale pink iris contrasted markedly with his black eye sclera, and his lower jaw was covered by a bone mask resembling hollow whith sharp teeth. He then removed the glove from his left hand and it was covered in black scars, his nails were sharpened to resemble those of an animal, and his fingers were also covered in bone.
"When you committed suicide, I mixed with the hollow that took over your soul, and now I look like this."
Sakura couldn't believe her eyes. The man she had seen in her memories still had the same features, but his face now resembled the hollow that had taken on human form and now he had to wear the mask that used to hang idly on his belt. Running the pads of her fingers over the site of the scars, she didn't feel any major bumps in her skin. The new look didn't frighten her, but it did make her judge herself for what she'd done to him. It was hard for her to accept that she had lived the life of a shinigami, that she was different. All her life she had grown up knowing that there were some higher powers, another world, but she had never been able to be a full part of it. But if you remember how Kuchiki Byakuya reacted to her appearance, then there are still those who remember her. Also if memories are to be believed, Urahara Kisuke was also part of Gotei, they crossed paths, albeit rarely, but maybe he remembered her, but why is he in Karakura and trading now? How much had changed since her past?
Notes:
The chapter was finally finished and I thought about how to introduce Sakura's past, I thought about whether I should write everything, but I decided to cut it down to short moments, I would like to write these moments in other characters' memories and if I wrote everything I think the chapter would be quite long.
In the future I would like to write more of the problems of Sakura's past and present self, but I'm not really getting there yet.See you soon!
Chapter 6: Chapter 5
Chapter Text
Heavy footsteps sounded on the wooden floor in the quiet house, revealing the owner's tension. The tall man wandered around his own house in search of something unknown. First, he ended up in the kitchen and looked at the table where the fruit was lying, and he took it with him, grabbing a knife. Then he came across his room, entered it for no apparent reason, and was met only by the black eyes of a toy panda lying alone on the floor. He approached it and put it back in its place, dusting it off, his thoughts lingering on the toy, remembering how little Sakura used to gently hug this panda in her sleep, considering it her protector. After she left to study at university, he took the toy for himself so that he could also sleep hugging it. He kept it with him as a piece of his memories of little Sakura. When she left, Urahara understood how parents feel when they let their children go far from home. He experienced loneliness for the first time, realizing that a child had grown up and was leaving the parental nest. When Sakura returned to Karakura, he was immensely happy. Even though she no longer lived with him, he remembered her tears of joy on his clothes when he brought her to her parents' house, her repeated “thank yous,” and her strong hugs. He would always see her as his little daughter, no matter what.
Urahara expected Kurosaki's reckless behavior. He expected it and was ready for it, but when he found his child next to him, he panicked. Kurosaki took a back seat and Tessai took care of him, while Kiske ran to Sakura, who was frozen in a sitting position, leaning on her sword. Her clothes were soaked with rain and blood, which was already flowing onto the asphalt. Her eyes were open, but her gaze was unfocused. She was unconscious, her breathing was weak and wheezy due to her injured lung, and her heart was barely beating. She was only able to hold herself in that position because of muscle spasms; otherwise, she would have fallen long ago. Urahara tried to call out to her, but there was no response, and he could only decide to pick her up and carry her home. Although Kurosaki was in no better condition, he knew that he would survive, but he couldn't say the same about Sakura, and with every passing second, her chances of survival were diminishing. He assumed that she would go to Ichigo's aid, but he thought that everything would be fine, that her resemblance would save her, but he was wrong.
Kurosaki woke up a day later, just as he had expected. The teenager was still lively, but Sakura remained unconscious even after ten days. Her breathing had stabilized, as had her heartbeat. Her wounds had been stitched up and bandaged, but she was not going to wake up, even from the noise that could usually get her up. She was in a coma, Urahara concluded, and he was not happy about it. He had heard that some people could remain in this state for years or never wake up at all, and he was not happy about it. Kisuke gave her various medications and infused her with nutrients through an IV drip to keep her body in good condition. He didn't want to bury his child before her time. The only thing that distracted him from his heavy thoughts was training with Kurosaki, who was already on the verge of gaining the powers of a Shinigami. Kisuke picked up the plate of fruit from the floor and headed to his daughter's room to spend at least a few minutes with her.
*
Opening her eyes, Sakura looked around at her familiar surroundings. This was her room. Her things were still in their places; apparently, no one wanted to change the environment, not even the children who spent time here, as she could visit on weekends. As she stood up, she felt a sharp pain in her chest and, looking down, saw that the wound had been bandaged. She heard the sound of a plate hitting the floor, and the man next to her immediately approached her, looking at her face.
"You're finally awake." The tremor in his voice was palpable, and his eyes looked at her with excitement.
"Kisuke-san..." Taken aback by what she had said, she hastened to correct herself. "I mean, Dad."
Kisuke did not expect to be the first to hear his name from her. Sakura had not called him that for many years. Her nervous, darting gaze alarmed him. It was as if she did not know how to talk to him. Urahara sat back down on the floor and placed the plate of fruit he had cut earlier between them, then waited, peeling the next piece of fruit, while Sakura just stared at one spot, replaying everything she had been through in her head. In those memories, her father was a Shinigami just like her, and she had to address him by his name. She didn't know whether to confess to him or not. From what she had seen, her father must have known her as a lieutenant in the past, but in all the time she had lived, he had never even hinted that he knew her. Her thoughts consumed her, and before her eyes appeared a decision in the form of a rabbit made from an apple by Urahara. He had learned this art for her, a girl who was often sick as a child and asked for apples from a man who didn't even know how to peel the fruit properly. She mercilessly bit off the hare's head, and the man continued his work.
"I remembered" Kiske continued peeling the apple. "I remembered living in the community of souls, being a lieutenant in the 4th squad, having friends, a younger brother." The rest of the apple was completely eaten. "And you were there too.'
The plate was filled with rabbit figurines and pushed toward Sakura.
"I relived my past over and over again, reuniting and losing everything I had. I had to go through many versions of my death, and it was unbearable. I don't know how, who, or why someone made me empty, but now that part of my zanpakuto is a part of me. And now I don't understand how to feel about myself. I lived my life as a human, but that doesn't change what happened in the past, how I feel about those I knew in the past, how you felt about me when you first saw me?" Sakura expressed everything that had accumulated in her head. She didn't understand how to act now, and the current image of Byakuya also popped into her head, who was not like his younger version. He had grown taller, his shoulders were broader, his round face now had sharper features, and he no longer tied his hair in a high ponytail as he used to, but left it loose, decorated with hairpins. But most importantly, his eyes no longer reflected the warmth they used to, and the spark was gone.
"You are you. Now you are my daughter, and I adopted you not because of your resemblance, which, to be honest, I saw when you got older. When I first saw you, you were so defenseless and frightened, it was as if my parental instincts had awakened! You were like a flower — fragile and beautiful, but still holding on with all your might. Over time, you awakened more and more parental feelings in me, and when you called me dad, it made everything inside me tremble. I'll say it again, you are you. It doesn't matter if you know your past or not, it doesn't change who you are, you just know a little more than usual now. As for the people from the past... I think you'll figure it out as you go along!"
These words touched Sakura. When she was in her own world, she thought about what to do now. She couldn't treat herself the same way as before, but her father's words made her believe in herself regardless of who she was. You are you. Urahara loves her not because she is the former lieutenant of Hitsugaya, but because she is his daughter Sakura, whom he raised and loved. The consuming feeling that she was in a foreign place began to recede. There are those who remember her as Hitsugaya Sakura, and she accepts that, but now she has the experience of living as Urahara Sakura, and there is no point in avoiding it. Difficulties in self-perception will still haunt her, but now she must fight them.
"Would you like to check on Kurosaki-san?" The man began to get up, putting on his hat and reaching out to help the girl out of bed. The wound still hurt, but the risk of it opening up was small.
*
While she was unconscious, Ichigo trained hard and now tried to awaken his Shinigami powers, just as Sakura had once done, but remembering that time now, she realizes that she doesn't remember how it all happened, everything seems like a fog. Back then, it was a necessary measure, because if she hadn't become a Shinigami, she would have become empty due to the broken chain of fate, and now the boy was in a similar situation. He now had two hours left before his chain disappeared, and this was the most dangerous time, when the corrosion was getting stronger and the risk of becoming empty was increasing. Sakura heard Kurosaki's cries and wanted to run over to see what was wrong with him, but Kiske stopped her, holding her in place. Jinta's cry that he was becoming empty made her hold her breath. He now had only seconds to overcome it, but the mask had already completely covered his face, and Tessai had used a powerful binding spell that could kill him. There was little time left before the collision, but the scream was replaced by an explosion, and something flew out of the pit at high speed. As it landed, it formed a cloud of smoke from the sand and followed the one stepping forward. Urahara shielded the children in case of danger and was ready to protect them, but Ichigo emerged from the smoke in his Shinigami form and with a mask on his face. His hand reached for his sword, and the others took up a defensive stance, but he only broke the mask with the hilt, showing that he was fine and in his right mind. Sakura sighed with relief.
"Congratulations! Now you're officially a Shinigami!"
"I'll kill you, hat guy!"
Ichigo went on the offensive, but Urahara easily stopped him, saying that the next lesson was to knock his hat off. The next thing Sakura saw was her father taking his sword out of his cane and beginning a new stage of training.
Although she could call it more of a beating of minors. Ichigo just ran away trying not to fall into Urahara's hands, and after releasing his zanpakuto, his chances decreased even more, but Kurosaki finally got a chance when he was able to summon his zanpakuto, and then the hat fell off Kisuke's head, who had to use a shield to avoid more serious injuries. Ichigo fell asleep immediately after the attack from exhaustion.
"You did well.”
*
"Are you going to open a portal to the Soul Society and let children in there?!"
"Not children, just Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends, so they can save Kuchiki Rukia." Urahara pursed his lips, pretending to be an offended child.
They were sitting at the kitchen table, it was already late at night outside, and Ichigo and the other residents of the house had long since gone to sleep, except for them. Urahara invited Sakura to sit down and have some tea with him, as he could finally sit with his daughter without fear of her waking up. When the cups were empty, he decided to tell her his plan of action, which she did not appreciate.
"Even better." Sakura began to massage her temples from the headache. "You understand that they are only 15-16 years old. They will kill them without a second thought!"
"But you saw how strong Kurosaki is." Urahara repeated, still sounding offended.
"Yeah, and in the Soul Society, there are 13 divisions, each with a captain and a lieutenant, and there are also ordinary Shinigami. Haven't you forgotten that?"
"Inoue and Yasatoru are very capable children, so they will be able to help Kurosaki." said a male voice, and a black cat sitting on the window said this.
"Oh, Yoruichi-san, how are your days going?'
Sakura looked at the black cat and tried to match Yorichi from her memories with her current form. Of course, the possibility that this was Shihouin Yorichi was not zero, but Sakura did not remember her doing such a trick when she was the captain of the second squad. The cat landed on the table and began to lick its face. Sakura's darting glance from Yoruichi to Kisuke signaled that she was waiting for an explanation.
"This is Shihouin Yoruichi, whom you know, although she is not in her human form right now, but believe me, it is her."
Sakura felt her head start to ache even more. Well, Yoruichi obviously had a lot of tricks up her sleeve; it was no wonder she was the head of the secret operations squad.
"Yoruichi-san, I understand that you often support my father's crazy ideas, but I don't think this is appropriate right now."
"Oh, so the resemblance wasn't a coincidence! You really are Hitsugaya Sakura." The cat began to purr in satisfaction.
"Urahara." Sakura corrected Yoruichi. ”My surname is now Urahara. Don't forget that I grew up under his care. That's not the point right now! You're about to send the children into the jaws of a beast! You must understand that the Soul Society is not an amusement park where they will be welcomed with open arms. There are shinigami there who have trained and studied martial arts for decades. How can schoolchildren, one of whom has been using shinigami powers for a couple of months and the others have only just learned some combat skills, stand up to them?" Sakura finished her monologue and hoped that Yoruichi and Urahara would finally come to their senses and understand the danger awaiting the teenagers, but her wish was not to be fulfilled.
"You and I will help them with that." Yoruichi approached Sakura, and now they were face to face. "The original plan was for only me to go, but now that you remember everything, it will make the task easier." Sakura tried to argue, but the cat interrupted her, covering her mouth with its paw. "Urahara simply won't let the portal through. I was ready to go with the guys and help them if necessary, but now that your memory has returned, you will help me. Don't forget that I was the captain and you were the former lieutenant. Maybe it won't even matter that you look like your old self.
Or it will be our mistake, and then I will also be executed for conspiracy or something like that. Think about it, everyone I knew knows that I'm dead, and then a shinigami who looks like a former lieutenant appears. They'll kill me rather than welcome me with open arms. I'm even curious what my father did to be barred from the soul society and what will happen if someone finds out my last name.
The image of Kuchiki Byakuya, who tried to kill me on that rainy night, came back to my mind. She was betting that they would try to kill her, thinking that her image had been copied by one of the invaders. On the other hand, it might really play on the feelings of nostalgia among her acquaintances, but she had had an unpleasant experience with the past.
"Even if you don't go, it won't stop them.”
Yoruichi was right. These children would stop at nothing, and that was their mistake. They were too fearless, too eager for justice. If she didn't go, it wouldn't change their decision, especially when they didn't even know who was going with them.
*
Seven days later, their operation to rescue Kuchiki Rukia began.
Sakura waited humbly for the others at the appointed place, already dressed in her shinigami uniform. Walking in circles did not relieve her anxiety; excitement increasingly enveloped her. How everything would turn out, what awaited them in the Soul Society, and whether they would all return unharmed—that was what worried her. She felt sorry for Rukia, she didn't deserve to die, but when she transferred her powers to Ichigo, she must have understood what the consequences would be, but she also had a glimmer of hope that Byakuya would help her, because he was her brother after all, and something of her memories must have remained in him. She heard many footsteps, and she immediately cast aside her fear, because she had to protect not only herself but also the children.
"Urahara-san! Are you with us too?" Orihime ran up to the girl happily and hugged her.
"I'll be one of your babysitters, so to speak." Her hand immediately found its way to Orihime's head and stroked it. "From now on, call me Sakura, otherwise there may be problems." Sakura did not explain all the nuances; the main thing was to warn the kids that Urahara's surname could cause even more problems.
Kisuke summoned the Senkai Gate and began his explanation. He explained the nuances of the fact that only souls could enter there, but since this would bind them to their bodies with chains of fate, they would have to use another technique that would simply change their bodies into souls without harming them. But he clarified that their time was limited and there was a danger of getting stuck between worlds, and then Yoroiichi came on the scene, saying that she would be their guide.
Problems arose already on the path when Ishido was grabbed by his cloak and Yasatoru had to rescue him and carry him. The second big problem was the cleaner who tried to eat them, and Orihime decided to use her abilities, causing them to fly out of the gate like bullets. For this, Inoue was hit by the cat and told that she doesn't listen to what she is told. Sakura looked around, noticing wooden houses, realizing that they were now in one of the districts of Rukongai, and noticing more modern-style houses, where Kurosaki had already rushed.
"Stop, idiot!”
A white wall with a gate and a huge Shinigami Jidanbu appeared in front of Kurosaki. Yoruichi suggested making a plan, but Orihime and Chad were already rushing to support Ichigo, and Sakura could only slap herself in the face at the recklessness of the children, but they were stopped by the boulders of earth created by Jidanbu. Sakura grabbed the kids and dragged them back so they wouldn't do anything else.
"I can handle him, don't worry!"
Sakura really hoped that his words were true, even though he had trained with Urahara, who had only taught him endurance and flexibility in battle. But Kurosaki withstood all the blows, now striking back and breaking his opponent's axes, which no one expected and upset Jidanbu, and Ichigo had to apologize. His victory forced the guards to open the way for them, but when the gates were raised, Sakura felt a strong spiritual pressure and a man in a captain's haori stood before them.
"Who is he?"
"Captain of the Third Division, Ichimaru Gin."
Ichimaru Gin? He's already made it to captain? Sakura remembered that when Gin joined the ranks of the Gotei, he was already called a boy genius and immediately took the position of third officer after graduating at a young age, but Sakura didn't expect to meet him like this. This wasn't part of their plan. Gin cuts off Jidanbu's arm as punishment for opening the passage, but Jidanbu explains that he was defeated in fair combat, remaining to hold the gate with one hand. Sakura thinks they could just go in while the guard is still on his feet, but that would be tantamount to suicide, which is what Ichigo did when he attacked the captain.
"You idiot, don't fight him, you'll die!" Sakura shouted at him in anger, but this attracted Ichimaru's attention, and she hurried to hide behind her hair, afraid that he would recognize her. Now she felt like a coward.
Gin used his zanpakuto to push them out the gate, waving his hand sweetly at the end. Sakura cursed silently, but ran after the severed arm to save it. The guard's arm was several times larger than hers, but that didn't stop her from lifting it with the help of reatsu, which she applied to her hands. She was glad she remembered Tsunade's lessons. If she was lucky and Orihime had enough skill, the arm would be able to grow back immediately.
"Orihime, use your powers!"
Orihime quickly ran over and summoned Soten Kishun and began her healing, which Sakura supported while the others gathered around them and began to help hold his arm. They spent about three hours healing him, and during that time he didn't even move. Sakura examined him and found no more injuries, either internal or external. He just needed to rest. The residents of the area thanked them for their help, and Orihime simply replied kindly and bowed. Sakura did not expect the girl to already have such healing abilities in such a short period of time. This ability was very unusual for her. Now she headed to the house provided to rest.
They had to discuss a new plan to infiltrate, because now the path through the gate was closed to them, and Yoruichi asked about Shiba's whereabouts, and at that moment, a boar broke down the door, followed by a man who ran in and began to greet the old man, but when he saw Kurosaki, his face immediately tensed.
"What is this shitty shinigami doing here?"
"Hey, take it easy, that's unpleasant to hear." Sakura stood in front of Ichigo so that he wouldn't do anything stupid, and the stranger's gaze was now directed at her.
"Oh, there are two shinigami assholes here! Get out of here!"
When his face was close enough to her, she grabbed the rude man by the face with one hand and began to squeeze it like a ball.
"I hear you're an asshole! How do you talk to your elders?! Who are you anyway?"
Gandzu began to introduce himself as a candidate for the head of the Western Rukongai, calling himself the greatest shinigami hater. Sakura was about to hit the guy for his irritability, but he attacked Kurosaki, pushing him out into the street, where his own gang was waiting for him on boars. Ganju and Ichigo started fighting each other, and people tried to separate them, but it was useless until one of the gang members shouted about the time, and they ran away, demanding that he stay there. The next day, they had to drag Ichigo out by force because he was not going to leave, waiting for the enemy, for which he was punished by Sakura and Yoruichi.
Their destination was very noticeable, Sakura noted, when they saw a banner with the name held by huge hands. Their path was blocked by tall, muscular twins who, upon seeing Yoruichi, immediately took them to the boss. Kūkaku turned out to be a woman, and a beautiful woman at that, Sakura noticed.
Kukaku admitted that she did not trust them and would send her younger brother, who turned out to be yesterday's rude man, with them. Then Ichigo and Gandzhu clashed again, and Kukaku separated them, for which the others were grateful. The next stage was a demonstration of the cannon, which they would use to get to Seireitei, and everyone thought it was not a very safe idea. Kurosaki got a glass ball, which he had to fill with his reatsu, but he couldn't do it and had to show Sakura how. Kukaku began to explain that this was necessary because Seireitei was surrounded by invisible protection and it was almost impossible to get there on their own, and they needed training to master the protection, which they had to learn in a day.
The boys' training was going very well, only Ichigo was doing very poorly. Sakura thought he should have coped with it much faster than the others, but it turned out to be the opposite due to the fact that Rukia taught him only to fight hollows, but not to use reiatsu. Unlike the same Orihime, who remarkably controlled reiatsu, or Ishida, who had been studying the art of the Quincy since childhood. The sky had long been covered with stars, and Kurosaki was still working, the boys were called to dinner and everyone left him and Ganju in the room, Sakura wanted to help him too, but the guy said that he could handle it himself, and she decided to trust him, but now it seemed less likely, they had to leave for Gotei in the morning and they had no time left. Ichigo and Ganju began to quarrel again because Ganju was just lying there and drilling a hole in him with his gaze, and then began to interfere. Returning to the hall, Sakura captured the moment of Ganju helping Ichigo in the method of using reiatsu. It was surprising to her, because he seemed so principled, and she decided that he would rather die than help the shinigami. The door swung open and they met eyes, she could not see more than irritation, Ganju turned and went towards his room. "Thank you!" was all she could say to him, and he only raised his hand as if waving away her gratitude.
The next morning, they set off for Seireitei.
Chapter Text
The calculations did not indicate the possibility of the spheres being destroyed, much less that they would be scattered in different directions. And Sakura had to stay alone. It did not scare her, she was more worried about how the guys would behave, especially Ichigo and Ganju, who acted earlier than they thought. Ordinary shinigami ran to the place where she landed and it was good that she managed to hide, it would be easier to sneak into the ranks of the shinigami, pretending to be a recruit who was sent to catch intruders. She ran in the opposite direction from where she landed, hiding in the alleys from the crowds of shinigami. When she found a freer street, she came out of hiding and joined the crowd, asking if they had found anyone. When she received negative answers, one of the shinigami, apparently with a higher rank than the others, began to command them to split into groups and survey different sides, saying that the enemy should not have gone far. When she went after one group, she found an option where she could escape. They didn't suspect her, so they didn't know how many opponents they had and what they looked like. It was a huge chance that they could hide, even just pretending to be ordinary. Hiding further and further from sight, hiding in the back streets, she was unlucky enough to cross paths with two more Shinigami, who were quite relaxed and apparently didn't care much about the fuss going on around them. The blond with long hair was leisurely stretching to his full height and yawning, showing that he would now prefer to sleep rather than look for violators, his partner, on the contrary, didn't show any emotions, he didn't care about the situation anymore, he was just following orders.
"Sasori, maybe we should go hide and rest, there are so many Shinigami here anyway that if two of them don't work, no one will notice."
"Deidara, even if we don't want to, we need to patrol, it's our job." Having passed by her hiding place, the red-haired guy slowed down and stopped a few meters away from the hiding place. "As Shinigami, we have to protect Seireitei, right?"
The man instantly appeared to her left, where she was hiding, looking at her sitting on the ground with her legs pressed to her. Her partner only watched him with his mouth open in surprise. This made her skin crawl, she thought that she had hidden her presence as much as possible, she didn't move and even tried to breathe less often so as not to be noticed. Sasori continued to stand in front of her, waiting for her to act, and Sakura could only put on a tense smile, laughing, starting to justify herself.
"Haha, you caught me, Sasori-san."
It's good that she heard and remembered their names. This man with red hair and indifferent brown eyes could not be a regular private, but she did not see a lieutenant's chevron on his shoulder, so she decided that he must be an officer and she decided to address him more respectfully.
"What division? Name?"
"Sakura, recently joined the 7th division."
Getting up from their knees, they could finally look straight at each other, their height was the same, so they looked without any arrogance. Sakura hoped that this lie would work, the squad was chosen randomly, the first thing that came to mind, wishing that they were not in it and would not suspect anything. Sasori only raised an eyebrow and turned around, walking towards his partner, calling her to follow him. They continued walking and Sakura had to follow them because now there was no way to escape, if she tried to do so, it would only cause suspicion. So the three-person group continued on their way in silence until they got closer to the landing site, the crater was already visible.
"I was already here with other shinigami, not a single intruder was noticed, so everyone split up. - Sakura decided to maintain the role of an ordinary shinigami who at least a little, but does his job."
"Why didn't you go with them?"
"Oh, I just wanted to rest a little haha."
The laughter sounded rather nervous. A hand was on the back of his head, scratching his head, spoiling the high ponytail he had gathered. Sasori could become a big problem for her. He was not stupid or indifferent, although the second impression was very appropriate due to his gaze and facial expressions, she did not know what to expect from him, at what moment he would put his zanpakuto to her throat or just grab her, and she would not even understand it. Sasori turned to face her and the distance that Sakura tried to keep between them was rapidly decreasing.
"You know, Sakura, just recently an emergency was declared when enemies tried to invade Seireitei." the bomb was set. "It is unknown how many of them there are, what they look like and what their goal is, but when they passed through the barrier they were scattered in different directions and there were 5 directions where they could fall. We are in one of them now. What do you think they would do to avoid being caught by the Shinigami?"
"Well, if I were them, I would hide where there is no one." This question made her tense up. Could it be that he had already figured everything out and was just waiting for her to give herself away?
"If I were them, I would find clothes from some Shinigami, blend into the crowd and look for the one who was right in front of them." The distance was reduced to indecent proximity, a man's hand lay on her shoulder, and the next sentence was spoken right into her ear, in a quiet monotonous voice. "You see, I don't remember that the 7th division recently took in newcomers. Not at all. You know who we are, right?"
Damn-damn-damn-damn! Could it be that he had already figured out who she was? Could it be that they themselves were from the 7th division? Sakura tried to keep a mask of not understanding until the last moment, as if this was the most absurd question that could be asked of her, but mentally she was already preparing to fight them. Sasori increased the distance between them by an outstretched arm to watch her reaction and frowned in anticipation of her answer, and Deidara was already at the ready, holding the hilt of his zanpakuto. Sweat came down from her forehead from stress. Sakura quickly pulled out her zanpakuto, defending herself from Deidara's blow, who decided to act and attack first. Another blow, the grinding of the blade, they do not dare to use shikai until the situation is clear, and Sakura was ready at that moment to release shikai and just run away from them, but then at the moment when the blades were crossed, a kunai flew past them, forcing them to move away from each other a couple of meters.
"Guys, what kind of fight is this?"
Sakura heard a familiar cheerful voice and turning her head saw Naruto, sitting languidly on the roof and still smiling from ear to ear. He came down standing between them to stop the fight.
"I thought we should look for enemies, not fight each other." the lieutenant cheerfully reproached them, turning to face the guys.
"Lieutenant, I suspect that this girl is one of them, posing as a new member of our division." Deidara expressed Sasori's guesses, still holding his zanpakuto in combat readiness.
"Who?" Naruto seemed to laugh at their speculations, shaking his head, as if showing that he did not understand who they were talking about and stopped his gaze on Sakura. "Are you talking about Sakura? Guys, she is our new girl, why are you so categorical?!"
"Sorry, we just don't remember accepting newcomers into our ranks." Sasori spoke out.
"You were on a mission then, so you don't know! She came at that moment and you had never met before, huh. Since everything has been resolved, perhaps I'll take her with me, we'll patrol in pairs."
Naruto put his hand on Sakura's shoulder and turned her around along with him, continuing to walk in the opposite direction, moving further and further away from the guys. Sasori and Deidara remained in the same place as if expecting the truth to be revealed now, but the two figures were moving further and further away and they had no choice but to continue on their route, obeying their lieutenant. The feeling that they had been deceived did not leave their chests, but they could not disobey their lieutenant and so they could only close their eyes to all this
When Sakura and Naruto had walked a sufficiently large distance, the guy turned the girl to face him, looking sternly at her.
"What are you doing here?! Rukia's execution cannot be cancelled, in the easy case you will leave with a couple of wounds, in the worst case you will die after her! Do you at least understand that those guys are the 3rd and 4th officers of my division? And they are no weaker than lieutenants, so it's lucky that you lied about the squad and for some time they decided to do nothing."
Naruto sighed heavily. The day the invasion was announced, he tensed up. Not out of fear, but out of concern for his friend. When Kuchiki Rukia was declared a criminal and sentenced to execution in a month, he couldn't believe what he heard, it seemed to him that her brother would decide to help her somehow, but apparently he had too much hope for him, although he hadn't paid attention to Rukia after she joined the clan, Naruto simply believed that he should somehow influence the fact that his sister was sentenced to execution. When he visited her prison, he offered his help, but she only refused, saying that he himself warned her and all she could do was tell him how she enjoyed being friends with the guys, and she was glad that she lived the last months with a smile on her face, she wasn't so happy when she was in Seireitei, Rukia only regretted that the guys suffered when they tried to stop her brother, she quietly said that she hoped that they were still alive. Her hopes were not in vain, when he learned about strangers trying to infiltrate Seireitei for an unknown purpose, a puzzle came together in his head and he understood who and what their purpose was. When she saw 5 beams of light flying in different directions, he simply determined which of them was Sakura and hurried after her. Naruto simply believed that Sakura would somehow get out of it before he arrived, and he was right, she managed to hold out for a while while he was looking for her. Although Deidara and Sasori looked at him with incomprehension, he didn't care, the main thing was to take Sakura away from them. He couldn't let her die here.
"I told them that this was a bad idea, but even if I hadn't gone with them, they would have left anyway. Ichigo is too worried about Rukia being in this situation because of him, and he will save her without listening to anyone, especially since he is in her debt. Now is not the time to scold me, I need to find the children before the other Shinigami do."
As if mocking her, they heard the explosion of fireworks. Her suspicion that it was one of the guys was high and her suspicion that it was Ganju was 99%. She slapped herself in the face, starting to moan. If she were with any other person, she would not have behaved like this, but Naruto was next to her - her friend, with him she could relax. If it was Ganju, then Ichigo should be next to him, which means that a crowd of Shinigami is running after them now. She did not even want to think about how much trouble they caused themselves with these damn fireworks, literally screaming "We are here! Hurry up and catch us!"
"What idiots they are." Naruto could not restrain himself and cursed at the guys.
Sakura did not stop moaning from the realization of their recklessness. If she rushes to them now, her image of "ordinary Shinigami" can be thrown in the trash, although she hoped to use it all this time so as not to attract unnecessary attention.
"You will not go after your "children"?"
"If they have enough brains for such antics, I think they will cope. Kurosaki managed to learn a lot during the time that his dad trained him."
"Kurosaki? That kid is a temporary Shinigami under the patronage of Rukia?" The image of a daring teenager with red hair who was able to drive away Menos Grande popped up in his thoughts. Naruto remembers him and thinks that even then he showed high promise, and if Urahara Kisuke himself trained him, then he became stronger than he was. After all, Urahara was a sign of quality for him, although he seems like an infantile man, when it comes to important things, he was a reliable person. Since Sakura had decided to leave the boys to deal with everything themselves, it was now his job to help her stay safe. They needed to reinforce the image of a private Shinigami, and to do that they needed to continue patrolling, which Sakura agreed with, and they had to storm the appearance of her allies in order to find them before other Shinigami did.
The day of searching ended unsuccessfully. They couldn't find any of the boys, and Sakura hoped that they had simply hidden well, and not that they had been caught or, even worse, already killed. She tried not to even say the last words in her head. Naruto secretly brought her to his room, trying not to be seen by anyone, especially the captain. Once they were inside, they could relax a little. All day they walked around the area, finding only debris from the destruction caused by the boys. Only in the evening did Naruto find out that there were wounded among the officers of the 11th squad, a lieutenant of the 6th squad, and a Shinigami from the 4th squad had been taken hostage. Sakura blamed Ichigo for the lieutenant's injury, since only he could match that red-haired guy, especially since she had a personal score to settle with him. She went to the window and watched the lonely moon in the sky. For some reason, it seemed so sad to her, the night was quite bright and the number of shinigami who would patrol the area had decreased significantly. Standing like that for a couple more minutes, Sakura turned to Naruto, smiled and said:
"Naruto, I'm a little hungry, can you bring me something to eat, please."
Uzumaki only smiled and said "Of course" before leaving the room, going to the kitchen for food, hoping to find at least some leftovers, at least make a sandwich for a friend.
"I hope you don't mind curry and rice. It's the only thing I could find in the kitchen."
When the door opened all the way, the room greeted him with silence. Sakura was gone. Only a light breeze blew from the open window.
***
Kuchiki Byakuya stood in front of the memorial altar, looking at the photo of his wife. Only candles lit the room where she lived. How would he look her in the eyes now if she found out that he was sending Rukia to execution. Don't even try to use that bracket. Maybe she would hit him, yell at him, or just cry, demanding an answer from him. He felt like he simply didn't care about Hisana's request to take care of her sister, as if he had forgotten how, on the threshold of death, her cold, thin, searching hand that he held, trembled and how she cried, said how sorry she was for leaving her alone, begged him to find and take care of her. He was a terrible husband and son. He only asked Hisana for forgiveness for this offense, because he could not break the promises his parents made on their grave, he could not let them down again. Guilt ate him silently from the inside. In the 40 years that Rukia had lived in the mansion, he had never even spoken to her or paid attention to her, or shared a meal with her. He hadn't even told her about his sister, who wanted to see a member of her Kuchiki family. She had lived there like a ghost, unwanted, nominally a member of the family. He had given her only a family, and she had received nothing else from him. No love, no affection, not even support or praise. He continued to stand there and look at the photo of his wife, clenching his fists tighter, forcing his nails to dig into his palm, and his eyebrows were drawn together in anger at himself.
"It's been a while, Byakuya." A female voice was heard behind him. The painfully familiar voice of a girl he had once known.
Notes:
New figures appeared in the background in the form of Sasori and Deidara! At first I wanted to unite Sakura with one of the guys, but then I decided that it would be better if she was alone in a place that she both knows and doesn't know. And I also wanted to include these two, since it would be nice to see them as shinigami.
The meeting with Byakuya took place, but the conversation will be in the next chapter, and Sakura will also meet other characters.
I'm trying to fight the image loading. I'd like to show you my drawing related to the end of the chapter.