Chapter Text
In a dimly lit room, the windows were closed but the opened curtains provided light. Shunsui Kyoraku sat on a couch, holding a history record book in his hand. The impending and life changing new promotion hanged over his shoulders like boulders. It was a promotion he couldn't turn down. Not when Seireitei is in shambles after what the Quincy did.
He sets the book down and looks over by the window. Expression calm but heart heavy and laden with internal strife. The view of cracked roofs, debris still in the ground, and though the corpses of the dead shinigami who were slain were removed, it didn't lessen the reminder of carnage that came in the Quincy's sudden invasion.
"I can sense your mind and heart are heavy with a lot of thoughts."
A female voice says. He smiles a bit as he recognized it. He turns around and sees Ohana materialize out of the sword before him. Her twin purple drills, her voluptuous body, and her eye, despite the other being covered with an eye patch like he's donned now as well, was full of silent intense meaning that came with the calm yet concerned expression on her beautiful face. She may like to rib and tease him but even she knows when to get serious.
"Heh, did my musings disturb you all the way in my inner world? Sorry about that."
Shunsui apologized in his usual carefree and lackadaisical tone. Though he had a smile on his face, Ohana could tell her master had new weight on his shoulders.
"I'm surprised they made you the new head captain but I suppose you've proven your worth in the eyes of Central 46."
She says with a more serious tone than usual. She steps near him and looks out the window to view the carnage left behind in the wake of the Quincy invading them.
"What are you going to do first when you face Central 46? Don't keep me in suspense. I want to know what your plans are. I'm apart of you after all even if I mainly reside in your sword"
Ohana says, lifting a manicured hand and placing it on his shoulder. Shunsui knows she cares about him despite how she can be. The impending meeting with Central 46 for his induction as the new Head Captain was not something he was admittedly looking forward to, at all. However, the torch has been passed and the fate of the world was at stake.
"Ohana, the burden of this new mantle on me is not an easy one but the lives lost, the destruction caused, and with so many shinigami dead..."
He sighs solemnly as he steps away from the window and sits on his chair, his elbows resting on the desk and his fingers woven together, his chin resting on his hands with a contemplative yet calm expression on his face.
Ohana stands in front of him. Her arms were crossed and she has an expectant look. She was listening and wanted to know what he planned to do. With her master as the new head captain, every decision he made will have an effect on the Gotei 13. He couldn't afford to screw up and she knows it. The domino effect will be felt with everything he chooses to do.
"Right now, we're down on manpower due to so many shinigami slain. The ones who survived are training harder than ever in case the Quincy strike again. Seireitei will need their best warriors in tip top shape. The Gotei 13 and it's current main assets need to be placed in the front lines. One of those is Kenpachi Zaraki."
He looks at her with a calculating gaze and beckons for Ohana to read the page of the history record book he was reading. Ohana looks down on the page. Reading it thoroughly, her eyes widened.
"Unohana...Yachiru"
She mutters the name of the woman who used to be a monster herself a long time ago. She looks at her master who nods.
"Unohana is a lot older than she looks. She was there when the original and first generation of the Gotei 13 fought in the first war with the Quincy and Yhwach over a millennium ago. She was the first captain of Squad 11 and made it into what it is today."
He explains to Ohana who is surprised but she didn't have a dramatic reaction over it. She was far too poised for that and he wouldn't expect it from her either.
"I see...I suppose it explains now why she induces fear so easily from other shinigami with merely her gaze and her aura."
Ohana thinks that's rather impressive. She always did think there was something different and even off about Unohana even though she could be considered a Yamato Nadeshiko kind of woman. She was too good to be true.
"What happened? How did she end up becoming the Squad 4 Captain?"
Ohana asks curiously. Kyoraku closed the book and placed it back on the shelf.
"That, is something I'll have to go and talk to her about. I need to make a decision as soon as possible and she's part of the equation. Kenpachi Zaraki will also have to be involved, one way or another."
Kyoraku says with certainty as he walks towards the door. He opened it and stepped out.
"Try not to be bored waiting up for me."
He says teasingly as he gave his signature lazy smile to his zanpakuto spirit before closing the door. Ohana reckons he's going to the Squad 4 barracks right now to go speak with Unohana.
She doesn't disappear back into the sword. Instead, she sits on the sofa of his office. She may not show it but she's worried. She's been by Shunsui's side for a long time ever since she first manifested in his Asauchi. She knows him better than anyone, even his family.
Now that he's going to be the new head captain after Yamamoto passed, decisions needed to be made. The Quincy were out for blood and they got only one part of what they wanted. There was no doubt they were going to come back again.
Something he said about Kenpachi Zaraki being involved struck her though. Ohana has always found it strange how that man manages to survive and maintain his Squad 11 Captain status without a shikai or bankai. He's certainly quite the exception because he's proven that he doesn't need it because of how he always comes out victorious in his battles
However, there was something bothering her. Something that doesn't seem right. The zanpakuto spirit's eyes landed on Shunsui's twin swords that were lying on the table, the swords in which she belongs and where her powers lie.
She picks up one of the dual blades. The edges of the sword are sharp and smooth but comparing it to Kenpachi's blade that had rough edges and looks mangled but strong, still with the way he used it, there was no way it was empty. A thought comes to her mind.
"What if his sword was...dormant?"