Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Shinjitsu no Uta by Do As Infinity
Ending Theme: Ai no Uta by Every Little Thing
Bleach: Cross
Toshiro’s Journey
By Eugena
Chapter Two: The Eternal Flower
Yachiru had set up the grave first, her own zanpaku-to taking the place of her mother’s. Third seat Ikkaku did not object to a few more modifications on his lieutenant’s zanpaku-to. Odd, he felt calm in the presence of the zanpaku-to as he carved a small indentation into it. There, he was done. He stepped out of Yachiru’s way, not looking at her—letting her have this moment alone.
“Look at what I brought you, mom,” she said. She held out her hands, and the silver lotus necklace that Kenny had given Sam dangled from Yachiru’s fingers. “You dropped this, mom. I know it means you’ll come back for it.”
Yachiru sniffled and held back her tears. Not far away, Ikkaku tried to keep a straight face. They were all part of Squad Eleven, and certain emotions usually were not embraced there. But how must his taicho feel? To know that his beloved was now in a world far beyond him?
“Mama,” Yachiru began to cry, “mom!” Her spiritual energy shot up like a flare. Like a young tiger cub, it appeared before the monument, and it roared as Yachiru cried.
“Best to get Zaraki,” Ikkaku thought.
Not far away, Matsumoto Fukutaicho felt Yachiru’s energy. Her zanpaku-to, Haineko could sympathize. Haineko and Yachiru’s zanpaku-to seemed similar, perhaps related.
“Mom!”
Thunder began to roll in Soul Society, rumbling to the rhythm of Yachiru’s cries.
“Moma!”
“This might just kill us all,” thought Rangiku as she hurried to Yachiru.
She sensed a very strong spiritual pressure leap past her. Zaraki.
Ragiku arrived at Shirahime’s gravesite to see Captain Kenpachi Zaraki holding Yachiru in his arms, comforting her as a parent does with a child. Her cries began to subside.
“She forgot this,” Yachiru said, holding the necklace to Kenpachi. “That means she’s coming back. She’ll come back.”
Kenpachi touched the necklace with his fingers. He could hear Shirahime’s voice in his mind: “If our love is strong enough to defy Heaven, then reality itself will be rewritten for us.”
“Maybe she’s not coming back here,” he told Yachiru, “maybe it’s a sign that she’s waiting for us. That she’s gone back home.”
“But this IS mom’s home, Kenny. She has me, you, and Shiro Taicho.”
Even Yachiru suspected something of Rangiku’s taicho. In many ways, Yachiru seemed mature beyond her apparent age, but since discovering her “mom,” her child side had also come to surface.
Kenny looked over at Ragiku, not surprised to see her there. She had no words for him, just a look of apology in her eyes for intruding.
“You forgot someone, Yachiru,” he said.
She looked over at Rangiku, tears almost dry. “Rangi,” she greeted.
Rangiku smiled assuring at Yachiru and said, “I think your mom would be upset to lose her present from Kenny, don’t you? Keep it for her.”
“I was going to put it right here,” said Yachiru, pointing to the new indentation in her zanpaku-to. “I knew when she’d come back to get it, I’d be right here to make her stay.”
Rangiku sat down across from Kenny and Yachiru, “Were you going to wait right here for her?”
“Yeah.”
“But what about your duties? Your mom wouldn’t be happy to find out that you’re neglecting them.”
“Just for a little while. I know she’s coming back.”
Rangiku looked forlornly at the gravesite. “She wouldn’t just want you to wait right here. What if you got a cold? She doesn’t want you to be sick.”
“But I’ve got to make sure her necklace stays with my zanpaku-to. I don’t anyone to take it.”
“I’ll get Hitsugaya Taicho to fuse her necklace to your zanpaku-to, then not even your mom could sneak up on you and take it without you knowing it.”
Yachiru got up out of Kenny’s arms. “Would he do it for mom?”
“Of course he would.”
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
