After War: 14. Spectator
14. Spectator
Isshin Kurosaki frowned at the sudden ripple in spiritual pressure, unable to determine its exact qualities, but aware it wasn't like anything he'd detected in years. Many years.
He answered the knock at the front door to his house before either of the twins could get to it, and found himself staring back at one of the last people he ever expected to see on his step. The man was equally surprised - and disappointed in himself - to be there. Karin and Yuzu peeked from behind their father as they looked at the man on the porch.
"Kurosaki Isshin."
Isshin nodded, pushing Karin back a foot as her inquisitiveness made her angle around him for a better view of the visitor. "Ishida Ryuuken."
The man's eyes narrowed behind his wire-rimmed glasses, his posture stiff, wary. "What's your son gotten Uryuu messed up in now?"
Isshin couldn't help but smile. There could be so many answers to that question, he thought. "Could you be more specific?"
"You know what I'm talking about." The elder Quincy looked to the two girls staring back at him, and then to their father. "Do you know what's going on, Kurosaki-san?"
Isshin scratched the back of his head, a guarded smile crossing his face. "Do you want the short version, or do you have time for the long version?"
Yuzu busied herself making tea in the Kurosaki kitchen as Karin stood lookout at the edge of the room, dark eyes watching the man with her father at the table in the next room. Something emanated from the visitor that she couldn't pinpoint. He looked unusually unfriendly, appearing to hold back at his words even as he spoke forcefully. And for once, their father hadn't introduced a visitor to the house to the shrine of Masaki.
"I don't like it, Yuzu," she said, watching the two men at the table. "He's of a different sort."
"He looks quiet."
"Then what would he be doing here?" Karin looked to the precisely arranged tray set with a tea pot and two cups her sister had prepared. "At least Ichigo isn't here."
"He is." Yuzu nodded quickly, her face wrinkling when she thought of her brother upstairs in his room picking his nose. "But maybe he won't come down."
Karin rolled her eyes. "That would be a good idea."
Yuzu smiled and carried the tray into the next room. "Oh, Karin, if you see Bostov, let me know. I can't find him anywhere."
"Will do."
Isshin waited for Yuzu to serve the tea before asking his guest as to the nature of his visit. In a rare moment of unquestioned obedience, both girls had vacated the lower level of the house, but he was quite sure they were hunkered on the staircase, eavesdropping.
There was no denying the bad blood between shinigami and Quincy, and the very fact that Ryuuken Ishida had sought him out should have been alarming, or encouraging, but he wasn't sure which yet.
"Surviving Quincys, you say?" Isshin said half an hour later. "Hmm..." He watched the lighter-haired man drink his tea, eyes still on him. "I suppose it could be true."
"Supposedly, it's been verified by one Kurotsuchi-san," Ryuuken said. "Do you know of him?"
Isshin nodded. "Some. What do you think of the possibility?"
"My medical opinion, or my opinion as a Quincy?" Ryuuken asked sharply.
Isshin nodded, shrugging slowly. "I guess that depends on the reason you've come to me with the information."
"If they're genuine Quincy, and if this isn't some sort of shinigami ambush," Ryuuken said thickly, eyes turning more serious behind his glasses, "then I'd say they belong here in Karakura Town. Certainly they should not be in Soul Society. They're still living."
"I agree. So it's not a matter of their legitimacy. What then?"
Ryuuken glanced to the staircase, almost hearing the twins breathing as they loitered out of sight. "I can probably find a ward for them at the hospital on a temporary basis. Housing for a few weeks; longer for the expecting girl, and medical services when she needs them." His voice dropped as he said it, the hardness coming back to his tone. "After that, I can arrange facilities somewhere among acquaintances. But I need validation from another doctor. A colleague with the established credentials to pass the hospital board of directors. Someone who doesn't have to know their background or medical history to help allow me to admit them. A second opinion." He frowned. "Someone like you, doctor."
Isshin smiled. "Is that all? My name on a few forms?"
"No questions asked. No visits; no traps, Kurosaki-san."
"I wouldn't dream of it, doctor."
"Is that your word as a doctor, or a shinigami?"
"As a doctor, Ishida-san." Isshin poured more tea into the Quincy's cup. "Sounds like you've got it all figured out."
For a moment the men stared at each other, the tea cooling in each of their cups.
"I suppose there's more," Isshin said leadingly.
Ryuuken watched his host take a drink of his tea. "I want assurance that no one from Soul Society will interfere with their keep here, that they won't be persecuted, or recaptured at a later date."
"Assurance from a Soul Reaper?"
"Odd as that sounds, yes."
Isshin frowned. "The fact that the Society is even entertaining the idea of returning them to the Living World should be proof of recompense, Ishida-san."
"I understand that. Delivering them to me is for the past," Ryuuken said tightly. "I want a promise for their future."
Isshin nodded, studying the other man carefully. The question of Quincys wasn't one he'd had to think about for many years, and much of their lore had been just that when he was in the Seireitei last. "I'll give you any aid I can as a physician. Tests, treatment, second-signatures on whatever you deem reasonably necessary. You have my word on that."
"And as a shinigami?"
Isshin took a deep breath. "That you're even here is a great step toward restoring -"
"Don't give me that honorable rhetoric about the healing of seething wounds from generations past, Kurosaki-san," Ryuuken said with a bitter edge. "I am not my grandfather."
"Hmm, no, you're not." Isshin nodded. "You have my word, as a physician and a Soul Reaper, that if I hear of any movement from Soul Society toward your new relatives, I'll let you know. That's all I can do. All I can offer, Ishida-san."
"Very well." Ryuuken rose from the table and gave Isshin a solemn look. He bowed slowly and then looked at him again. "I will hold you to that, Kurosaki-san."
Isshin bowed in return. "I reckon you will."
Hitsugaya moved quickly through the Seireitei streets that afternoon as a light rain was misting, alleviating the humidity one notch at a time. Through his mind echoed the words from the captains' meeting.
Impossible, he told himself for the tenth time. The letter was supposed to help her, not defeat her chances of clearing her name. When he reached the Tenth Division headquarters he went directly to Matsumoto's office, surprised to find her there, actually doing paperwork.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, watching her flinch at his outburst.
She looked up at him in surprise. "This is the reaction I get for showing up when I have a good excuse not to be here?"
"I want to know, Matsumoto."
She could see he wasn't in the mood to be amused, but she tried anyway. "My job, Captain. I know I'm behind on my duties, but I'm -"
"Not this. In Second Division? What's going on?"
Her eyes opened wider as his narrowed at her. She'd seldom seen him this worked up over anything. "Interviewing and writing up reports. What happened at the captains' meeting this morning?"
He looked at the papers still in her hands. "Is that one?"
"No, this is Tenth Division -"
"Where's the latest?" He shuffled through the reports on her desk until they were hopelessly rearranged. She frowned at the new mess.
"Captain Hitsugaya," she said gently as he searched in more detail, "I've already turned in the most recent report late last night. The Gotei Thirteen should have a copy." She knew of only one matter that could cloud his green eyes so disturbingly. She decided to set aside propriety and ask. "What happened?"
He abandoned the papers, his balled fists leaning on the table until he was eyelevel with her. "Momo is up on conspiracy charges. I want to know what's been coming out of Ichimaru, Matsumoto. What's he been concocting about Momo?"
Her mouth dropped open for a long moment before she could respond. "Nothing. We haven't even discussed Hinamori yet, Captain."
"At all?'
"No. We start tomorrow on that stage of questions."
For a moment he just stared at her, his scowl a grim line as he considered her words. "Where are the questions?"
"At my quarters."
The simmer in his glare turned inward. "What has he said about her?"
Her eyes dropped to where his clenched fists were still propped on the desk. "The only thing he's said was that he wanted Vice-Captain Kira with him so he wouldn't have to draw on her, Captain. That's all."
"Then why is she up on charges?"
"Who brought the charges?"
"They're looking at everyone very closely, Matsumoto. The question of how Aizen's vice-captain could not have been privy to his actions is drawing attention to Momo, and Vice-Captains Kira and Hisagi."
"Oh," she groaned, shaking her head. "What about the letter?"
"It sounds just as weak now as it did then. No one can understand why Momo would believe it, unless she was involved. It may have done more damage than help." He stood straighter, one hand resting on the baldric crossing his chest. "I think it's just bitterness on someone's part, at letting the subterfuge get as far as it did."
"It can't be serious."
"No one is taking it very seriously, but it has to be looked at, and she's gone through enough with this chaos."
She didn't like to see him so hostile. "Well, if it's just sour grapes, it'll pass. No one suspects her, Captain," she said carefully. "Not really."
"I suppose you're right," he said with a little less force. "No one seconded the motion. No one supported it at all."
"Then you shouldn't worry. She shouldn't worry." She watched his scowl ease up. "Has Hisagi been charged with anything?"
"His name came and went at the meeting two days ago. In your report, Ichimaru claimed Aizen didn't want him. It's believable." He studied her for a long moment.
"What about Kira?"
He shook his head. "There's a stronger case for abetting against him. He's still being examined."
She saw his eyes shift to the paperwork. He began rearranging it into the proper piles, not looking at her. "Am I being considered, Captain?"
He scowled again, tapping the edge of the stack of papers on the table. "No one took it serious, Matsumoto. It was passed around, but no one made much of it. Captain Soi Fon wouldn't be letting you interview him in her absence if she could make any charges stick. It was more of a nominal consideration. No one was completely overlooked, except for Captain Yamamoto. Some names are given more attention now, since the first execution is expected soon."
It wasn't exactly a dismissal, she thought, but close enough. "Who else is still in question?"
He shrugged, placing the paperwork in a neat stack on the desk before her. "This information doesn't get past this office, Vice-Captain."
"Of course not, Captain."
"Captain Unohana was considered. Some captains wanted to know how she could be fooled by Aizen's faked death. She examined him thoroughly, and determined his death legitimate. And Captain Komamura, because of his association with Tousen. But he's been cleared, too."
"Oh. Well, that's good."
"The date on the motion was from a few days ago." He frowned. "Before Captain Soi Fon left for the Living World." He looked to her. "I want to see your questions about Momo."
She nodded. "I'll get them now."
Karin hovered over Yuzu from their second story bedroom window, watching the man in the straw hat and powder blue haori approach the front door. With him was a slight figure, a dark-haired woman with a severe look to her bespectacled eyes.
"This one is weird looking," Karin said, frowning at the new visitors. "Let's get the door before Dad can."
The twins bounded into the hall, past Ichigo's empty bedroom, and down the stairs to arrive at the front door as a knock sounded there. Karin whipped open the door, saw the pair standing there - his broad, laidback smile and her precise, expectant look - and shut the door to within a few inches.
"Yes?" Karin said through the crack.
Shunsui Kyouraku leaned down to see her better, tilting his hat back, smiling widely. "Well, hello there, young pup. Is Captain -"
"Captain Kyouraku, this isn't that kind of visit yet," Nanao said from behind him, giving the girls inside a brief smile. She added lowly to Shunsui as he gazed at her, "We're visiting."
"Oh. Right." He looked back to Karin as Yuzu peeked over her sister from behind. "Is your daddy home, sweetheart?"
Karin's eyes focused sharply on him. "Don't call me sweetheart." She opened the door wider and then looked behind her as Isshin appeared at the door. "More visitors."
Isshin nodded, looking to the two shinigami on the porch. "Well, well, Captain. It's been a long time."
Shunsui nodded, smiling and bowing. "Indeed it has, Captain. You look well."
Isshin opened the door all the way. "Come in."
"He called you captain..." Karin said. Yuzu nodded.
Isshin and Shunsui traded looks, then both glanced at the girls.
"Captain is a nickname we gave each other at university," Isshin said.
Yuzu looked confused. "You both gave each other the same nickname?"
"How odd," Karin said.
"Well, we weren't very imaginative," Shunsui said, sighing.
Isshin closed the door after his guests had stepped in. "My twin daughters, Karin and Yuzu."
"Charmed," Shunsui said, picking up Yuzu's hand and kissing the back of it. She smiled, blushed, and giggled. He reached for Karin's hand, but she crossed her arms, glaring back at him.
"I don't think she's at the age to appreciate that yet, Captain," Nanao said.
He looked to Yuzu. "But they're twins, Nanao."
"Yes, well, in age only." Isshin raised an eyebrow at the Eighth Division captain. "I suppose we have old times to catch up on?"
Shunsui nodded, returning him a knowledgeable look. "Very old times."
Yuzu grabbed Karin's arm, and tugged her toward the kitchen. "Let's make the tea."
"I don't want to make tea," Karin said as they got to the stove. "What's up with all the visitors today? We don't know any of them, but Dad sure does."
"I think it's nice to have company, Karin."
"Not if we don't know any of them. And not when they look as odd as these do."
Yuzu set the kettle on the stove and turned on the heat. "She seems okay."
"Yeah, well, he's odd enough for both of them. I can't believe he went to university with Dad." Karin looked to where their father was introducing Shunsui and Nanao to the poster on the wall of his beloved wife. "I can't believe Dad went to university."
After the tea was served, Nanao offered to take Karin and Yuzu to the park, which was met with only a little opposition by the dark-haired twin, but Isshin insisted. After they left, Shunsui was left with Isshin at the living room, but he was looking at the Kon-filled figure of Ichigo, who sat awkwardly in the chair across from him.
"Please tell me this is a mod soul, Isshin," Shunsui said with a sigh, slouching to one side in his own chair, his expression sagging at the boy.
Isshin looked to Kon. "Of course he's a mod. This clown isn't my son."
Kon had smiled goofily at the introductions to the visitors, and then remembered to screw on his permanent scowl.
"But he knows?" Shunsui asked as he drank his tea, looking to Kon.
Isshin sighed. "Yes." He looked to Kon. "Why don't you be elsewhere for a while? And not the park."
"Huh? Oh. Okay," Kon said, rising to his feet and making a halting bow. "Bye."
"Nice place you've got here, Kurosaki-an," Shunsui said, nodding at the poster of Masaki.
Isshin nodded and turned to him as Kon shut the door behind him. "Well, this is a surprise of a visit, I must say."
Shunsui nodded. "A long time, Isshin. Not many still left in the Gotei Thirteen that were there when you left, or since the disaster with Kisuke Urahara."
"Oh, that's why you're here." Isshin sighed as he poured them both more tea. "I suppose you know then."
Shunsui gave him a lazy smile. "Well, some have guessed, but Captain Soi Fon has told no one."
"But you know."
Shunsui shrugged. "Juushiro and Retsu suspected it for a long time. 'Why not?' I say. Someone needs to keep an eye on that joker. Smart one, he was."
Isshin nodded, sitting back in the couch, one hand resting along the back of it. "Not as smart as the one that slipped away recently."
"No. Aizen took us all by surprise. Lot of mischief behind those glasses."
"And that brings you here because...?" Isshin waited for the Eighth Division captain to expound.
"Ichimaru is under scrutiny. So are others."
"Oh?"
"Questions have come up about Urahara's involvement. How closely he worked with Aizen." Shunsui shrugged. "Why you haven't brought it to Second Division's attention."
"I don't know what you've been told, Shunsui, but the two men didn't work together that tightly. More of a challenge, to see where the other one was, who was ahead on the research curve. Who led, who followed. The impact on Soul Society was secondary, to Urahara," Isshin said with a slow nod. "In my opinion."
"Which you kept out of your reports to Second Division?" Shunsui lifted an eyebrow.
Isshin smiled, but with a grave hint. "Neglect can be more deadly than outcry."
"That's what you were doing? Protecting him?"
"No. It was more personal than that, Shunsui."
For a long moment the two men drank their tea, absorbed in their own thoughts, listening to the finches chattering outside the window near a nest. Finally Isshin broke the silence.
"Vice-Captain Nanao, is it?"
"Oh, yes." Shunsui smiled at the petit woman's mention. "Very sweet. Adoringly attentive."
"You or her?"
"Oh?" Shunsui sighed. "I suppose she's the sweet one."
"Looks very like a former lieutenant."
"Hmm, much, but Nanao hits harder than my former vice-captain ever did."
"One gone to the Vizards."
An uncharacteristic look of dismay crossed Shunsui's face. He sighed heavily. "Yes, my precious Lisa. I should never have sent her that day."
"Then you understand why I would overlook some of Urahara's actions." Isshin leaned over the table between them, setting his tea cup solidly down on the surface, a startling sound in the quiet room. One of the finches flew off outside the window. There was no wit in his tone. "I lost one family member by merely being a spectator," he said firmly. "I was not about to lose another, not when there was some hope of reversal, even if it meant remaining merely a spectator."
The smile dropped from Shunsui's face. "Reversal? Is that what Urahara is working on?"
"I believe there's a chance. He turned Ichigo before I knew my son was even gone. There is no way I'd forego a chance to bring him back. Undo what happened to him in that pit." He took a deep breath, looking to the other captain with slight entreating. "Tell me, Shunsui, would you want to reverse what happened to Lisa if there was a possibility? Or would you turn over the only person who could - perhaps - reach her?"
Shunsui held Isshin's stare for a moment, nodding. "How far? Was he working with Aizen?"
"With him? For him?" Isshin shrugged. "There was so much ambiguity with Urahara. By furthering his own work, he furthered Aizen also. How much was deliberate, I don't know. But I can tell you, Captain, as a father, I kept the door to Urahara open, for my son's sake."
"Well," Shunsui said with a sigh, "that's a clear noncommittal answer. Oh. I have a report for your son to complete." He waved a dismissive hand, smiling back at his host.
"Paperwork? Ichigo will like that. Make him feel like a full-fledged Soul Reaper."
"Right. Just a few things to be cleared up about Soukyoku Hill. As for you, Isshin, if you don't know more than was put in your reports," he said carefully, "then you don't know. If Urahara aided Aizen without your knowledge, I suppose you're not at fault." He shrugged. "That's how I see it, Kurosaki."
Isshin poured him more tea before settling back in the couch. "Now, what's all this about lost Quincys?"
Shunsui sighed deeply. "Ah ... Oi, have you got anything besides tea in this place?"