1862

Outside the shinigami academy, I met up with a beautiful blonde student.

Well.

She wasn't a student anymore.

"Congratulations on graduating!" I praised Rangiku.

Rangiku smiled brightly. The lovely blonde had worked hard, blossoming under my tutelage. She had even already awoken her shikai for her zanpakutō. I was so dang proud of her. While Yoruichi could not share in that moment, I'd be sure to tell her all about it when I visited them.

"Thank you, Teacher," Rangiku chirped as a gentle spring breeze blew by us.

"Now, now," I said. "I'm no longer your teacher. We're both shinigami."

"Then... Captain Rirī?"

"Aww. Can't I just be Rirī?"

Rangiku's smile was warm. "Okay. Rirī."

I kissed her forehead—she had leaned down to allow me to do so since she had already grown taller than me. "Thank you, dear. Ah, have you thought about which squad to join?"

Rangiku hesitated. "Squad 10."

"Ah."

That didn't come as a surprise.

Rangiku clearly wanted to reconcile with Gin, but as long as Gin was on the warpath for vengeance, he would rebuff her. She was still hurting from his deliberate distance at the academy, and was afraid how cruel he would be to her if she forced herself on the same squad as him—my squad.

"Well," I said, "Isshin will make a good captain."

And he would.

Since the departure of so many captains, a lot of the squads had been in limbo. I recommended Sōsuke and Sajin as captains, and both would be undergoing evaluation in the coming months. Gin was progressing well in his training, but until he had achieved his bankai I could not put forward with his recommendation.

It would still be some years before Sōsuke and Sajin could take up position as captains. Given the massive loss in powerful Shinigami, Genryūsai decided to re-evaluate the squads as a whole. Nearly every shinigami was forced to undergo re-evaluation, and those that could not pass Genryūsai's standards were sent back to the academy for remedial training.

I wagered it'd take several years until Genryūsai felt ready to assign captain positions again. It'd be nice if Gin was ready by then, but the baby boy needed a lot more time to build up his reiatsu. I figured it'd be closer to a few more decades rather than years until he became captain.

Probably for the best. Once Sōsuke and Sajin became captains, Gin could be my new lieutenant and he'd have more experience handling a higher position before becoming a captain.

For the moment, I'd cherish what time I had left with my squad.

Rangiku let out a soft snort. "Lowsy cook, but nice man."

I giggled at that. "You know you can always come to me whenever you want good food."

Rangiku hugged me. "Yes. Thank you T—Rirī."

"Any time, dear."

Rangiku pulled back and clapped her hands together, eyes glistening. "Since I scored well, that means I get a treat, right?"

"Yes?"

"So you'll take me shopping, right?"

"Yes?"

"And buy me whatever I want, no matter the prince?"

"... Yes."

Rangiku beamed. "Great! Let's go!"

I felt my wallet die a little on the inside.

(◕▾◕✿)

On the patio that surrounded my inner courtyard, a shōgi table had been set up. The pink hydrangeas fluttered in the breeze, the only sound being the click of wooden pieces being moved across the board.

Sajin hung his head in defeat as Sōsuke captured his king on the shōgi board. The werewolf's ears drooped as he sighed. "Bested again. You are a difficult opponent, friend."

Sōsuke smiled politely. "I wouldn't go that far. You tend to be too straight forward, which makes it a little easier to predict."

Sajin's ears flicked at that. "Captain told me the same thing. Speaking of which, Rirī are you—"

"No," Sōsuke and I said at once.

"So-So hates playing against me," I explained.

"You add unnecessary rules," he retorted.

"It's boring if I don't," I defended myself.

"Shogi is a game of patience. Making every move last no more than a second completely contradicts the game."

"It forces you to think faster," I argued.

"It forces you to not think at all," he rebuffed.

Sajin shook his head. "Sounds intense."

Gin said, "I wouldn't mind playing against Captain."

"You'll regret it," Sōsuke promised him.

"He might not," I said with a smile. "Sajin, wanna watch?"

"Yes, please."

"So-So?"

"If only to see the face of regret," he said dryly.

I giggled. Sajin scooted over to let Gin take his place, and I took a seat on Sōsuke's lap because the fella clearly didn't move fast enough. He shifted around to be more comfortable with my extra weight on his legs.

"We'll do a furigoma to see who goes first," I said. "Ah—you know the basic rules already, right?"

"Yes, I've watched Sajin and Sōsuke play often enough," Gin confirmed.

"That's my baby."

Sōsuke corrected me, "He's not your baby—"

"Shhh. Since you're still a beginner, I'll give you three seconds per move instead of one."

"Yes, Captain."

(◕▾◕✿)

1863

After watching the development of Soul Society for the past thousand plus years, I knew the city pretty well. I regularly patrolled it, looking for abnormalities or people I needed to bring in. I still had a small hope that I'd run into an old soul that could work as an additional hero. If I could find a second Ichigo early enough, I could train them and send them into that special Quincy pocket dimension and pre-emptively end the war.

I was not that lucky, but I tried.

For the past eight years I had watched from afar Grandmother Kyoyo raise Tōshirō. Kyoyo was elderly, but in good health. I supplied her a barrier of reiatsu as a precaution since Tōshirō had already started leaking some of his excess reiatsu. Although his memories were suppressed, his raw power could not be. It was limited by the amount of physical energy—vitality—his body could, though. In his prime, he could even surpass Ichigo.

Assuming Ichigo didn't turn out to be an old soul, too, at least. I had a sneaky suspicion he was going to be an old friend too like Gon or Naruto. His memories would be gone, but his raw power from his past lives would still be prevalent.

I had used my money to rebuild and refurnish Kyoyo's home. I sent a weekly allowance that would cover groceries, clothes, and anything else they could need. I had tea with Kyoyo every Saturday to make sure she and Tōshirō were doing okay and ask if she needed anything else. I offered to purchase a nanny as well, but Kyoyo insisted she could raise Tōshirō fine. When he turned eight, she mentioned someone as intelligent as he would do well with a private tutor. She said she had been looking at a neighbor girl named Momo who had babysat a handful of times.

I was tempted to agree, but decided against it. Momo needed to go to the shinigami academy. She was a talented young woman who deserved a proper education and chance for success. If she felt obligated to stay and tutor Tōshirō, I would feel ashamed.

I had someone else in mind.

"Hey you gorgeous lady," I said with a purr in my voice as I stood in the air to sling an arm around Rangiku's shoulders.

"Well if it isn't Rirī," Rangiku said with amusement.

"I heard from a little bird that you might be looking for some extra cash," I said, wriggling my eyebrows. "And maybe even interested in the rights to shop in some of the more... noble exclusive shops."

Rangiku raised an eyebrow. "Oho?"

"How about a little tutoring gig. I'll pay you this much," I said, pulling out a slip of paper with the hours, days, and what I would pay her, "and get you access to those shops."

She gasped when she saw the amount. "Yes."

"You didn't even finish re—"

"Yes."

"Ran—"

"Yes."

"Okay," I agreed. "There's a talented boy. He's too young to join the academy yet."

"You want me to train him in reiatsu or something?" Rangiku asked.

"Prepare him for the academy," I told her. "And, uh... if he asks, don't let him know my name."

Rangiku raised an eyebrow. "Your name?"

"Yeah... just call me captain of the fifth division or something similar," I said. "I don't want him to find out who I am for a bit longer."

She saluted me. "Yes ma'am. Ah, did you already clear this—?"

"Your captain gave me his blessing," I reassured her. "Thanks, Rangiku. Please take care of him."

"I will," she promised me.

I pulled out a huge wad of cash and placed it in her hand. "Here's an advance. Tutoring starts on Monday."

She sighed happily, accepting the money for her future shopping spree. "Life is good."

I kissed her cheek. "I'm glad you think so. If someone as beautiful and intelligent as yourself wasn't able to enjoy life, then something must be wrong."

She giggled cutely. "Stop, Captain. If Aizen sees he's going to get jealous."

"Pish-posh."

(◕▾◕✿)

I hummed, carefully running my fingers through Jūshirō's hair.

My former student sat upright in front of me. We were seated on the patio that overlooked my garden. Shunsui sat on our left, a tray of white tea and onigiri placed between us.

Shunsui took a bite from the salmon onigiri, watching me braid Jūshirō's hair. "You know, Ju, your hair is getting almost as long as Teacher's."

"Yes," agreed Jūshirō.

"You both don't have to keep calling me teacher. It's been centuries since I last taught you two."

"That's not true," Shunsui disagreed. "You taught me how to play knife monopoly just last week."

"Knife monopoly?" Jūshirō echoed, curiosity tinged in his voice.

"Not for the faint of heart," boasted Shunsui. "Even I don't think I could play it more than once a year.

I giggled at that. "Yeah. Russian Roulette is safer than that."

"I don't think I want to know anymore," said Jūshirō.

"Good call," we said.

Shunsui scratched at his cheek. "Hey, uh, Teacher?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"I know my memory isn't the best, but I could have sworn you planted blue hydrangeas."

"I did."

"Why are they pink?"

I smiled. "I guess you could say they were fed something yummy."

"Huh. Neat."

(◕▾◕✿)

A week after Rangiku started tutoring Tōshirō, I ran into him on the streets of the Rukongai district. Tōshirō hadn't been allowed outside on his own until a month previously, so he was exploring the streets still.

Some shopkeepers weren't very kind to him. It wasn't their fault—Tōshirō's reiatsu was tinged with a type of malice from all of his lifetimes spent in bloodshed. It was only in their nature to be afraid of him.

But, as I predicted, Tōshirō wasn't able to make friends because of it. Early childhood development demanded social interactions, but that was difficult since most play dates Kyoyo set up for him ended in the other children crying.

Momo was a kind hearted sweetie who was able to look past the malicious aura around Tōshirō. She was the perfect elder sister who babysat him on occasion for Kyoyo, but that also meant he couldn't view her as equal.

Indeed, he saw her as someone to protect.

(I had to privately wonder if that was either due to Momo's dainty demeanor, or if he subconsciously struggled to view anyone around him as older than him due to how old his soul truly was.)

Regardless, Momo could be a friend, but not a playmate.

And a playmate was what he wanted.

I had literally no shame or dignity, so I was perfectly okay to be his playmate.

I put on a cute yukata, shrunk my size a bit more so he could be taller—he was already sensitive about his height, and I didn't want to make him uncomfortable—and put my hair up in a bun so it wouldn't get in the way.

Then I grabbed a ball, went over to the district, and pretended to accidentally throw it at Tōshirō.

Tōshirō caught it, and I ran up to him with a smile and said, "Hello! I'm Rirī."

"Hello," Tōshirō said, looking me up and down with narrowed eyes. "I'm Tōshirō."

"Wanna play?" I asked him, nodding at the ball. "It's boring by myself."

His eyes narrowed further. "No thanks."

He handed the ball back to me, and I frowned.

'When he was Yagura he liked to bird watch. When he was Killua I could have just tossed him into the air. When he was Kakashi he liked to read. When he was Eri she wanted to cook. When he was Ciel he wanted to play chess,' I thought, pondering how to entertain him. 'So what will he like now?'

I hit the back of his head with the ball when he turned to leave.

"HEY!" he exclaimed, grabbing at it and whirling around in anger.

"You're not very good at dodging, are you?" I teased.

His cheeks puffed up. "Heh, that was only a lucky shot."

I hit him in the shins with the ball next. Not hard, mind you.

'Are you too old even as a child to want to play children games? Then how about training?'

Irritation flickered over his face. "Fine. Two lucky shots—"

I aimed for his face, and he caught it that time with a smirk. He threw it back to me with impressive force for a child, but I caught it with one hand and stuck my tongue out at him.

"That all you got?" I taunted, eliciting an angry response from him.

"Fine," he muttered.

And that was how I tricked Tōshirō into "playing" with me.

I even got him to smile a couple of times.

(◕▾◕✿)

I visited Kisuke and Yoruichi every so often. Regardless of what happened, they were always going to my friends and I wanted to make sure they were doing well.

Plus I missed them and I loved cuddling with Yoruichi in our kitty forms.

Kisuke had been preocoppied trying to save the hollowfied shinigami. They all were staying in one of his safe houses, a place that not even Aizen could find.

I could because I helped him set up the safe house.

Kisuke had stabilized the Hollowed-Shinigamis enough to the point where they were coherent... some of the time. I had popped by to visit, immediately taking a seat in Yoruichi's lap and nuzzling her because I missed my fellow beauty of chaos.

"Oh great, queen of genoicide has graced us with her presence," Shinji dryly remarked.

"Oh great, loser who got outplayed is belly-aching," I said.

Kisuke winced as Shinji glared at me.

"I heard you guys need help controlling your more... fun side," I said.

"That's an understatement," Yoruichi said.

"Lucky for you, I actually have some friends who might be able to help out with this problem," I told them.

"No thanks," Shinji flatly refused.

"It wouldn't hurt to at least meet with her friends," Hachigen hesitantly said.

"Yeah. They're fantastic. I've known them almost as long as I've known Gen-Gen," I chirped.

"Wow," said Kisuke. "Not a lot of shinigami still around from the Head Captain's era."

I giggled. "Oh no, silly. They aren't shinigami."

That got some looks of surprise.

"Shiori, bring 'em through okay?"

Shiori flapped her wings, disappearing for a moment before reappearing and creating a portal beside her.

Stark and Lilynette stepped through the portal, both glancing around. Their presence immediately unnerved the ex-shinigami, and each of them reflexively gripped onto their zanpakutō.

"What's the meaning of this?" Shinji asked me, his voice low.

"Who better than to help you guys control your hollows... than a hollow?" I asked, clapping my hands together. "Plus these two are spying on Sōsuke for me, so if you guys be nice to them, they might help you out with your revenge!"

"Spying?" Kisuke probed.

"Nope. Not spilling. If these two like ya enough they'll tell ya, but I don't trust people who already got outplayed once to not get outplayed twice and ruin my surprises," I said with a shake of my head. "In exchange for helping you guys control your hollows, you have to play board games with them."

"What?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Come again?"

"What?"

I clapped my hands together again, all smiles and sweetness. "Glad everyone's on the same page. Stark, Lilynette, I'll come back to take you guys back in a week, okay?"

"Osu," they said, saluting me.

I kissed Kisuke's cheek then Yoruichi's nose and headed off.

(◕▾◕✿)

I didn't have as much time to entertain Tōshirō as I would have liked. I could only spend a handful of hours every other day or so. We'd meet in the market, and he talk to me about random things, or he'd show off what he was learning with Rangiku. We didn't really play much. He was ornery, downright bratty at times, but he had moments of intense maturity that reminded me of some of his past lives.

He enjoyed having company.

Simply sitting beside him on nice days, neither of us speaking, was one of my new favorite past times. It was comfortable. Just being near his soul soothed my own, and I hadn't realized how much I had missed him.

He started to invite me over to his house for tea, and Kyoyo played along with my act, giving me a knowing smile.

"I'm glad he has someone to play with," she told me.

"Whatever he needs," I answered her. "Always and always."

(◕▾◕✿)

On one such afternoon we were visited abruptly by Rangiku. I was in the middle of biting into a dango when she entered the room unannounced and carrying a wooden sword that looked to be for Tōshirō.

She saw me.

She saw Tōshirō sitting beside me.

I stared at her.

She stared back.

"Rirī, this is my tutor, Rangiku," Tōshirō introduced us. "Teacher, this is my friend, Rirī."

Rangiku snorted, covering the lower half of her face as she fought a valiant battle to keep from bursting out into laughter. "Pfft."

I narrowed my eyes in warning. 'Don't spoil the surprise, yet!'

She busted out into laughter, howling so hard tears slipped out of her eyes. In between gasps of air she said, "I gotta go—come back later."

Tōshirō watched her leave in exasperation. "Sorry. She can be weird."

"Ah, yeah. She's the weird one. Definitely her. Very out of character to react that way," I deadpanned. "Anyway, tell me more about your lessons."

Tōshirō brightened up. "Okay."

(◕▾◕✿)

Rangiku swung by my place late in the evening. I had already set aside a good chunk of bribe money and was all prepared to give it to her, but she caught me off guard with her opening.

"Kind of odd to be friends with someone so younger than you," Rangiku quietly pointed out.

"He's older than me," I immediately protested. "But, well, he doesn't remember."

She raised an eyebrow.

"It's a long story," I said with a sigh. "Let's just say we've known each other in lives prior."

"Ah. That's why you're looking out for him?"

"Yeah. I just want him to be happy. He's one of my precious people. I owe them a lot. I would be... I wouldn't be happy if it weren't for them," I admitted to her. "I've lived... longer than I would care to admit. The things I have seen, done, and had done to me..."

It was hard to put into words. How did one explain the reincarnation loop I was trapped in?

My voice was barely above a whisper as I admitted to her, "My story won't end. The only highlights I have are the people I meet. Those that give me happiness, give me reason to... keep going... I would do anything for them. I would become anything for them."

"I can't say I don't understand," Rangiku said quietly, her gaze distant. She was probably thinking of her own relationship with Gin. "We do odd things for the people we care about, don't we?"

"Yes." My eyes flickered up to the stars that blanketed Soul Society. "I'm—I'm sorry if it's too weird for you. You don't have to keep tutoring him."

Rangiku smiled at me, her eyes kind. "He's a good kid. I'll keep watch over him. I'm only sorry that he doesn't remember you like you remember him. It—it must be lonely."

That—

'Yes.'

I smiled in return, perfectly practiced to hide that jab of pain. "You're a very kind woman, Rangiku."

"Only to my friends."

"I'm grateful to have made that list, then."

Rangiku let out a dry chuckle. "You are the list."

(◕▾◕✿)

I've been writing the chapters that start when the canonical story starts. Getting closer! Only two centuries left xD

Answer: For a friendly rival I'd like to be competitive with Rukia 'cause I feel like she'd be fun. For hated rival fuck Giselle. :)

Question: What type of hobby would you have as a Shinigami?

Reviews are love!