Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Drawn to the Rhythm (The Easiest Thing ) ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Disclaimer

I don't own Bleach and I am not making any money off of it. Some other lucky bastard is!

 

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Author's Note(s)

**Unimaginably grateful thanks and apologies to my beta, Kitty-chan!**

Longest chapter to date

Please remember, Orihime woke up on Chapter two only 4.5 days ago, so even though this is a long story… it's still only been 4.5 days. Ichigo will be reintroduced; I do have minor plans for him, but again please remember - this isn't an Ichi story.

But in honestly, I completely forgot about Chad. *hangs head in shame* I will try and mix him in with the Ichi parts. Thank you for reminding me.

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Chapter Edit History

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Chapter Summary

There is a death. All kinds of supernatural drama - really loaded chapter. Tatsuki and Uryuu finally have all of their questions about The Raien, the Quincy, their own relationships with one another, and their parents secretive past answered. There is lot about Ryuuken and Shiori's past. A new bad guy shows up, but it turns out he is already dead. We learn more about Ishida Ryuu (Tatsuki and Uryuu's older brother, the one who pretended to be Orihime's brother). The question of what the Raien Elite are is partially answered. Chizuru admits she got way more than she bargained for in her desire to be with Tatsuki.

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CHAPTER 16

 

 

…previously

 

“The cross is alive and has a soul of its own,” Ryuuken reiterated. “The spirit energy of that soul is bound to the spirit energy of its Quincy master from the very moment its young master is conceived. Because of the deep connection between the spirit of the master and the spirit of the cross, together they are referred to as the twin spirits.”

 

 

“Forgive us.” Shiori's voice was quiet and shaken as she seemed to loose herself in her husband's eyes. `Aishiteru wa… Ken-kun.'

 

 

“Only your crosses know the truths of who you are.” Before the twins could react, and before the last syllable left Ryuuken's mouth, he pressed his palms firmly into the foreheads of his children, paralyzing them in place while holding their respective Quincy crosses securely between his hand and their heads.

 

 

In unison, Shiori and Ryuuken chanted, “Twin spirits of these two twins, spirits of twin masters and spirits of twin crosses, obey your creators!”

 

…and now

 

Two androgynous voices in perfect harmony resounded, clear as a sunny day in the heads of the Raien Priestess and her three Quincy. “We are the voices of the Twins Eternal. We accept your offering and recognize you as our creator, Ishida Ryuuken. What do you ask of us?”

 

 

According to Quincy legend, any ritual that called forth the spirit of the cross must be initiated by a Quincy who would be recognized as the true authoritarian or the true parent by all of the spirits involved. A spirit of the cross will not answer to anyone other than those whom are undeniably responsible for its existence. This person is known as the `creator'. The creator bears the burden of trying to prove, beyond all doubt, that he is who he claims to be. Since Ryuuken is the biological father of both Tatsuki and Uryuu and the maker of their Quincy crosses, he was recognized as the indisputable creator of the twin spirits of his daughter and the twin spirits of his son. He was the father to the twin spirits of twins.

 

 

“The truths of creator and creation,” spoke Ryuuken aloud in response to the tandem voices of the Twins Eternal that echoed in his head.

 

 

The attuned voices replied. “We will grant what you ask of us creator, but be warned. We are the infinite that the finite cannot hold. Our truths are too much for you to bear. If this request is truly your will, all mortal lives seeking to hold our eternal truths will be forfeit.” There was brief pause before the Twins Eternal, asked once more. “What do you ask of us?”

 

 

Their united tone was eerie and warm despite their warning of certain death. A person had to either be foolish or so blindly dedicated to his cause for such lethal consequences to be taken lightly. Why else would someone make a request that seemed as futile as trying to fit all the waters of an infinite and mighty ocean into something as finite and fragile as the paper cup of human mortality?

 

 

“The truths of creator and creation,” replied Ryuuken once more with such determined conviction that his resolve could not be doubted.

 

 

Neither Tatsuki nor Uryuu could speak nor move, but both their ears and their minds heard everything clearly.

 

 

`MOM! What does that mean? Mortal lives will be forfeit?' Tatsuki screamed out in her head… `STOP… why? Why are we doing this? What is this? STOP Mom!' Her caged voice fell to a whimper. `You can't leave me.'

 

 

Tatsuki knew the voices she heard in her head were the spirits of Uryuu's cross and her own. She knew that even though these imposing voices seemed to posses them, they still seemed to posses a certain pureness that suggested they would only speak words of truth.

 

 

While locked in her paralysis, Tatsuki tried to remember everything from Ryuuken's crash course on the Quincy cross. She began to brood over his words in search of a connection that might put her mind at ease.

… “We are the Twins Eternal.”

… “We are the infinite that the finite cannot hold.”

… “Mortal lives will be forfeit.”

 

 

She felt like she was trapped in the ridiculously absurd and reoccurring dream she'd been having since she was a kid where left was right, hands were feet, and men wore large bunny suits to formal events instead of elegant kimonos or tuxedos. `What the fucking hell! Did they just say that I'm immortal?'

 

 

On the other hand, Uryuu was in a relatively calmer state of mind. He had read about this. However, in the same manner that he had never seriously entertained the thought that his cross might actually be a sentient being, he never actually believed that the Ritual of Truths was anything other than a Quincy legend. He always figured it was nothing more than a magical bedtime story parents would tell their wide-eyed young Quincies while tucking them in at night. He couldn't believe that the ritual which was intended to expose the knowledge sealed within the spirit of the cross was actually true.

 

 

The ritual would expose the knowledge of the crosses of both the creator and the created, parent and child, to all of the participants involved in the ceremony. Everything the crosses of Ryuuken, Tatsuki, and Uryuu knew would be absorbed into the spirits of the other. And, even though Shiori was neither Quincy nor recognized as a creator, she had physically connected herself to her beloved children by taking hold of their hands; thus binding her to the ceremony. She too would be exposed to the raw images, memories, feelings, emotions, and the spiritual essences that had shaped the hearts and forged the minds of her husband and her two youngest offspring.

 

 

The Quincies whose crosses participated in the ceremony held no hope of hiding anything about themselves from the others involved. This was a ritual of complete exposure. And in the end, when there is nothing left to share, the ritual would merge the twin spirits. The Quincy and the cross would no longer be two separate entities.

 

 

As soon as Uryuu figured out that his father was performing the Ritual of Truths he understood why the elder Quincy had sacrificed his own cross. He felt the unpleasant pangs of shame for having judged him so rashly. It was clear now, that if what Ryuuken said about a Quincy's cross was true, there was no more certain way to for him to be recognized as their creator than to have the very truth of which he was, his own twin soul, bleed its very essence into the other two crosses.

 

 

What he couldn't figure out was why. `Why is this even necessary?' Uryuu thought. Everything seemed so drastic and blown out of proportion. But then again, he'd never known his father to act in such a way. For that reason alone he had to accept that whatever was going on and whatever was about to happen was necessary.

 

 

His father's words echoed in his head.

… “Inside each cross lives the truth of its master.”

… “Only your crosses know the truths of who you are.”

… “The truths of creator and creation”

 

 

Everyone, even Orihime, Chizuru, and Renji knew the moment the Twins Eternal had agreed to grant Ryuuken's request. It was hard to miss as the four bodies of each of the individuals who were flesh bound to the ritual appeared to have a stark reaction to some powerful and unseen force.

 

 

Shiori and Ryuuken both dropped unceremoniously to their knees and doubled over in excruciating pain. As a result, the connected Tatsuki and Uryuu were pulled down with them. The elder pair wanted to scream out, to find some release, but the persistent agony was so intense that no sound could be made.

 

 

The reaction was quite the opposite for the twins. They just seemed relaxed. The forces causing harm to their parents seemed to have no effect on either of them. In fact, neither Tatsuki nor Uryuu seemed to be aware of their parents' suffering at all.

 

 

The moment the ceremony began both Tatsuki and Uryuu felt the electric pulse of excitement ripple through their bodies. It captivated them. Some unknown force seemed to fill them with an unquenchable desire to press on and to allow them to become completely immersed in this spiritual journey that promised to grant the answers to so many different mysteries. And, with each passing moment they could feel themselves become more and more saturated with their own forgotten past.

 

 

The fist of the truths to be shared were the truths of past, the pasts of the created, the pasts of Tatsuki and Uryuu. Their first memories stretched as far back as the womb, to a time so near to conception that even their own mother, the Raien High Priestess whose understanding and awareness of energy was so incredible that it could only be described as divine in origin, wasn't even aware of them yet.

 

 

`Amazing!' Tatsuki and Uryuu silently reveled as every moment of both their lives from birth till just moments ago replayed in their minds and in the minds of their parents with unblemished clarity. The family of four was awed by strange and unexpected circumstances that seemed to testify to the powerful bond between the siblings; a bond that fate had denied them for over a decade.

 

 

In one such occurrence the twins recalled a rather unique conversation they had with one another. It was an unlikely conversation, one of many, that occurred as they swam around in their mother's flat belly.

… `Let's be both,' said one unborn twin to the other.

… `We'll experience more that way,' said the other in reply.

… And just like that, the twins decided to be boy and girl.

 

 

This parentally chaperoned roller coaster ride known as the Ritual of Truths persisted through every second of their collective pasts. It was laced with amazement and wonder, as equally as embarrassment and shame. It was during the most private moments of their lives that the trapped siblings discovered the true meaning of the concept of complete exposure. They decided there were just too many things they didn't want anyone else knowing about them. But, despite how much Tatsuki and Uryuu struggled against the paralysis of the ritual in a futile attempt to break free and force its end, they failed. The siblings were unable to keep their most private moments and private thoughts hidden any longer.

 

 

The twins let out a silent sigh of relief when the chronicles of their pasts had finished. They were both certain that if they opened their eyes they'd find themselves covered in the rich full body blush that seemed to characteristically speak of incalculable embarrassment.

 

 

`CRAP! I'll be grounded for the rest of my life,' thought the immobilized Tatsuki. `Mom knows everything I've ever even thought about doing! She's going to keep me away from all living things and chain me up in a dark basement and put a damn chastity belt on me!' She couldn't help but panic.

 

 

Despite her desolate thoughts of being imprisoned by her own mother, Tatsuki felt sad, sad for Uryuu. She realized just how different their upbringing had made them.

 

 

Now Tatsuki knew of her brother's past, she knew what made him the cranky stand-offish prick that he always seemed to be. Ever since they were separated, the only time her brother had ever felt anything close to love and happiness was when he was alone with his Sensei or when he was alone with Orihime. All other times he either locked himself away as a recluse or walked around making sure everyone disliked him so much that they never bothered him. Tatsuki was certain that after everything she'd just experienced that ninety percent of his personality was just a lie or a protective shell. She would even bet that he really didn't even know who he was underneath that hardened exterior he'd created.

 

 

Right then Tatsuki vowed to herself not to let her mother lock her way if for no other reason than to be with her brother. `We were meant to be together, from the beginning.' She had recovered all of her own memories and through the magic of the ritual she had lived his whole life in an instant. It was no longer weird to think of him as a brother, instead she felt like crying because they really were two parts of a whole that should never have been separated to begin with. `I love him in a way that I can never love anyone else.'

 

 

`CRAP! There's no way I can look any of them in the eye again,' thought Uryuu. `But at least everything I did was all normal stuff!' If he could move he'd probably turn and give his sister a faux-scolding look. The kind that said - you've been a realllly bad girl! Still, he took solace in the fact that his fetish hentai of a sister had much more to worry about than he did when it came to parents finding things out. Part of him was wickedly amused by that very thought.

 

 

However, one thing was undeniable and stood out in stark contrast. Uryuu's life had been completely different from Tatsuki's. It was a lot more stressful. He had to constantly be on guard. He shut himself away from everything because he didn't really know how to deal with anything that wasn't simply black and white. A learned trait he seemed to have inherited from his father. In that respect he was the exact opposite of his twin. Uryuu was completely restrained and allowed himself to be tied down by the circumstances in his life. But he had to wonder, especially after this weekend with Orihime, `If my life were more like Tatsuki's would I be like that too?' There was so much about his sister's life and personality that he envied.

 

 

Now that he knew the kind of mother Shiori-san was, knew the kind of life his sister had lived, and understood how kind hearted, honorable and free spirited Tatsuki really was, he could no longer deny it. Uryuu wished that Tatsuki and he had been raised together, by their mother. Damn his selfish asshole of a father!

 

 

After they had exchanged all of the truths of their pasts, Uryuu felt an amnesia like darkness within him fade. It was a darkness he didn't even know was there until it began to dissipate. The darkness was replaced by a comforting warmth. It was a special kind of warmth that was rooted deep inside of him. This wasn't a new sensation, just one that had been so carefully hidden away that it had almost been forgotten. `Tatsuki,' It was her that he could feel. Even before he was aware of himself, he was aware of her. Tatsuki was the first thing he could ever remember feeling. He remembered when they were babies, he could always feel the unique and warm sensation that was her. It was a constant feeling of security and belonging, but that disappeared shortly after they were separated.

 

 

Now, after such a long absence, this feeling of her, of his sister, was so strong that it could only be described as the miraculous re-growth of a once missing limb. A limb he couldn't ever fathom loosing in the first place. Even though they were always in the same class, Uryuu honestly didn't know how he'd lived so long being separated from his sister. He loved her most of all. `How could I not?' thought Uryuu.

 

 

Almost instantly, the focus of the ritual shifted. Two of the three crosses had shared their pasts. It was now time for the third cross to reveal its life. Without pause, a new lifetime of feelings and memories, a life that belonged to neither Tatsuki nor Uryuu saturated their minds as well as Shiori's. This lifetime held the memories of a father that the twins never knew. They were the memories of the boy, the lover, the proud Quincy, and the husband that Shiori so dearly loved.

 

 

Through three separate minds the life of Ishida Ryuuken was relived in first person, every instant from birth to present. Again, it was a lifetime in the blink of an eye. They lived every thing; they lived every part. They felt all of his light and shared all of his dark.

 

 

As the history and truths of Ishida Ryuuken unraveled, one thing was certain - neither Tatsuki nor Uryuu would ever be able to think of their father the same way again. Even though Tatsuki didn't have much of a platform to base her own opinion of Ishida Ryuuken on, having just lived her brother's life she now understood exactly why he so passionately despised the man. Thus, both twins loathed Ishida Ryuuken with equal venom when his story began.

 

 

There was so much they didn't know. Uryuu never thought of his father a baby, a small boy, or a teenager. He never really wondered what the elder Quincy's life had been like. He could never picture his father caring about anything other than the hospital or money. It was unfathomable to even try and imagine that such a cold hearted bastard even knew how to laugh or had ever experienced love of any kind.

 

 

One by one the moments of Ishida Ryuuken's life took shape.

 

 

Shiori cherished every image and every feeling that pressed through her. She never doubted that the man whom she'd loved her whole life really did love her just as much in return. Still, it was one thing to know or believe, and a completely different thing to truly understand.

 

 

The Priestess couldn't believe how truly remarkable The Ritual of Truths really was. A moment ago she'd lived her daughter's life and miraculously she was given the gift of being a part of everything in Uryuu's life that she had missed out on. Now, she was living the life of the man she loved. Through the magic and the power of this ritual she finally understood just how cherished and adored she really was, by both her husband and her daughter. Despite the excruciating pain that racked her body and the anguished trials of sacrifice and sorrow that paved the foundations of her life, Shiori could feel nothing short of blessed.

 

 

Three minds were all living through the same moments in time. They watched the circumstances that shaped an innocent baby boy into a miserable and misunderstood man.

 

 

With eyes blazing in awe and unabashed idol worship they saw a young boy stare at an older man with a mustache. The boy watched in fascination as the older man willed a blue arrow which materialized out of thin air.

… `Papa, when I grow up will I be able to do that too? Please Papa please. I want to know everything. I want to be a great Quincy just like you!'

 

 

They reveled in the surprisingly sweet, often intimate, and private moments of Ishida Ryuuken's life. He was happiest when he was with Shiori. Those were the times where the hidden side of him shined the brightest.

 

 

The promised bride…

 

 

Even when she was just five, his Shi-chan was the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid eyes on. No one would ever compare. One way or another, they were destined to be married.

 

 

“Ryuuken, my son, you are a special boy. You are perhaps the most gifted Quincy our dying race has ever known. But, sadly we are the last of a proud heritage. And, just as the burden of our race's survival was once mine, it is now yours. Your mother was promised to me by my father, and today I promise you your own bride. She is a beautiful little girl. And, like you she talented beyond expectation. Together I expect that the two of you will create something quite incredible. The combination of her abilities and yours could create a new breed of Quincy, a Quincy far more powerful than anything we could imagine… the Exalted Quincy! So come my boy, today you will meet your future, and her name is Arisawa-Shiori.”

 

 

A ten year old Ryuuken sat respectfully and tried to digest everything his honored father had just professed. His future was planned, he was to marry a girl he never met in order to breed powerful offspring, and the future of the proud Quincy race rested heavily on his shoulders.

 

 

A special time…

 

 

It was a typical day after school. Surrounded by a sanctuary of trees a young girl pretends to do her math homework while she steals coy glances out of the corner of her eye. Adoringly she watched a very serious looking fifteen year old Quincy prodigy stand proudly on a rock in the middle of a stream, training, pushing himself to his limits and striving for perfection. He would do whatever was necessary to be the best Quincy he could be.

 

 

“Aye Shi-chan!” the boy said after their lips parted. “If you weren't so cute I'd have to be mad at you for always messing up my training! I didn't bring any extra clothes with me today,” declared a soaking wet young Ryuuken with a mischievous smirk. He couldn't help but smile adoringly at the little priestess in his arms who would often do weird things like that, like charging at him when he got too wrapped up in his training. Her tackle-hug assaults always sent them flying off the rock and into the stream. Each time she did that he'd get drenched from head to toe, but it was always worth it because every time he'd find himself tangled up in a beautiful mess of wet giggling girl.

 

 

Love is what matters most…

 

 

Ryuuken was now a young man of twenty years. He proudly wore the regal blue and white of a Quincy as he confessed his sins with dignity and professed his love passionately in the presence of a much older man.

 

“Arisawa-sama, I ask for your blessing to have Shiori's hand in marriage. It is not because of her condition or our previous arrangement that I wish to marry her.” Ryuuken looked up with fiery conviction burning behind his eyes. “It is because I love her! But, it is because of her condition that I ask her hand in marriage while she is so young. Our first child will be born before her sixteenth birthday. I wish my child to be born honorably, a child of a husband and a wife.”

 

 

A moment later an excited Ryuuken runs faster than he has ever ran before. He was in such a hurry, he was so happy. Shiori and the twins could feel his excitement; they could feel his overwhelming love as he ran full speed toward the Raien shrine where his love trained her unique abilities. Now that he had the most honored Arisawa-sama's blessing, the young Quincy wished to propose as soon as possible.

 

 

`Shi-chan, I will always do what I feel is best for you, for our child. Always! There is nothing more important than those I wish to protect,' Ryuuken swore silently to himself as he rounded the corner and saw the small shrine he'd been racing to get to.

 

 

Shiori, Tatsuki, and Uryuu saw everything through their father's eyes. They did everything from fall in love with Shiori, to battling with Shinigami and Hollow, to changing dirty diapers.

 

 

Through the memories of their father, Tatsuki and Uryuu both met and fell in love with the older brother they she never really knew. Ishida Ryuu was kind and gentle. He was always smiling, if for no other reason than to get those around him to smile too. There was no denying he was Shiori's son. And there certainly was no denying that his presence and Shiori's presence played a great role in shaping Orihime's caring and selfless temperament.

 

 

Fifteen years their elder, Ryuu was the oldest of the three children of Ryuuken and Shiori. And, at the young age of sixteen, with his mother's guidance, he was entrusted with the task to be the surrogate brother and unofficial guardian of the universe's most invaluable resource and treasure, a baby girl named Orihime.

 

 

Even though Ryuu had unprecedently powerful Quincy blood coursing through his veins, the aura that flowed from him was welcoming, compassionate, and forgiving. The very heart and soul of Ryuu was Raien. The energy that surrounded their older brother seemed to resonate in perfect harmony with their mother's aura. So much so, that when it came time for Ryuu to claim his birthright, he respectfully declined to wear the Quincy Cross that promised to awaken his dormant Quincy abilities.

 

 

Ryuu was simply too much like his mother. He was not a warrior. He did not desire to be a part of the offensive and destructive heritage of the Quincy.

 

 

As Uryuu sailed through this chapter of his father's life, he was completely taken by surprise at how happy his father was with Ryuu's decision to renounce the Quincy lifestyle. What surprised him even more was how sickeningly furious his grandfather was. Sadly, the day Ryuu turned his back on the Quincy lifestyle was the last day Ishida Souken ever spoke to his first born grandchild.

 

 

`Sensei…' Uryuu couldn't believe his grandfather would reject his own flesh and blood for refusing to embrace the way of the Quincy.

 

 

The life of Ishida Ryuuken continued to unravel with one unexpected twist after another. While Tatsuki finally got to meet her older brother, her father, and the love struck boy her mother had eagerly chosen to devote herself to, Uryuu found that he could no longer hate his father with the same intensity as before. Instead his intense hatred was replaced with a desperate sense of pity and a raging anger.

 

 

Both Tatsuki and Uryuu finally understood why their parents chose to keep them apart from one another.

 

 

`Baka, baka, baka!' Uryuu spat angrily to himself. `Everything you ever did for me was all wrong!'

 

 

The thought that the family broke apart so many years ago because Ryuuken and Shiori were trying to protect both Uryuu and Tatsuki was almost too much. If he hadn't seen it himself, if he hadn't just lived through it from the first person perspective of Ishida Ryuuken himself, he would never have believed it.

 

 

`Ryuuken…!' It was the only thought Uryuu could muster in his disbelief.

 

 

He was simply a father, a father who did what he thought was best to protect his children from an unpleasant life. Like any good father, he tried to keep his children safe, to shield them from the storms he knew they were certain to come up against. Ryuuken and Shiori did not want their children to live with all the fighting, the warring, the politics, and the expectations that they had to suffer through. They knew that because of the potential power the twins harnessed that things would be far worse for them. He understood that his children, Shiori's children, were special.

 

 

Uryuu finally understood why his father never wanted him to become Quincy, at least not at such a young age. He finally understood why Ryuuken had turned away from his grandfather. Behind his father's back, without his father's blessing, it was Ishida Souken who gave Uryuu the holy relic, the Quincy cross, responsible for partially unlocking powers so vast that no mortal could possibly fathom.

 

 

`Sensei just wanted my power, our power?' Uryuu didn't want to believe that he and his sister had been pawns from the beginning. `That can't be right. Shiori-san said that he loved me very much, that I was his pride and joy! But if I had renounced the Quincy like Ryuu had, would I still have been Sensei's pride and joy?'

 

 

If his grandfather had gotten to Tatsuki too then the full force of the power of the Twins Eternal would have been awakened. `Children that young are too immature and impressionable to be reasonable for such power. Everyone would just want us for or power!' As the surreal truth took root, Uryuu understood that his life could have been far worse than it had been. He realized that without his parents to hold back the wolves he and his sister could have fallen victim to someone's manipulation and as a result might been responsible for countless deaths and catastrophes of unspeakable consequence.

 

 

The mere thought of that much innocent blood on his hands sent a cold shiver down Uryuu's spine.

 

 

Neither he nor his sister would have ever been able to have the opportunity to make a life of their own or have a childhood that could even remotely be considered normal. `Would I even have any friends at all?' Uryuu had to wonder. `Would we have been forever tied down to the responsibilities of our birth?' Suddenly, all those bad movies about unhappy kings who cursed the responsibilities of their birthrights, like, the Prince and the Pauper, made sense to him.

 

 

Ryuuken and Shiori never wanted to part. Shiori thought that they could find a way to protect their small family if they stayed together, but Ryuuken didn't want to chance it. Ishida Ryuuken was head of the family, in the end it was his decision. They did it, both Shiori and Ryuuken, for the sake of the children they loved. Nothing more than parents of exceptional children who tried to protect the ones that mattered most from being pawns in someone else's power hungry chess game. This chess game was rooted in the most unsavory of Quincy traditions that dated back to a time long before the birth of Christ.

 

 

It felt like two hands griped his heart, twistingly it savagely in opposing directions. `FUCKING BAKA! All wrong… all wrong…' Uryuu felt tears well up, `Everything turned out all wrong, but for all the right reasons!'

 

 

Uryuu found it ironic that a lot of the things his father had tried to protect him from happened anyway.

 

 

After all, he was still a proud Quincy. Uryuu refused to let his grandfather's action tarnish the entire race. Uryuu was proud that he did not turn his back on the Quincy as his brother had. As more events unfolded, it became apparent that it was also no coincidence that he and Tatsuki were separated shortly after Orihime showed up. Ishida Souken knew who Orihime was, and in his continued obsession to bring even greater power under the Quincy banner, tried to set up and arranged marriage between Orihime and Uryuu.

 

 

Even separated from his sister and without his grandfather's influence he would have chosen to become a Quincy. He rather enjoyed the dangerous situations he got himself into even though no parent would wish such experiences on their child. And just as his father was certain that he would marry Shiori, Uryuu was certain that one way or another he would end up marrying Orihime. `Fucking baka! You should have just kept us all together!'

 

 

If it wasn't the reality of his life, Uryuu might have found the whole thing funny. Where he was concerned, life with his father was like an unfortunate sitcom where some poor bastard secretly pours his heart and soul into cooking the most fantastic dinner for a special someone but just makes so many little mistakes along the way that the meal, despite its significance, turns out to be a complete disaster. Nothing at all like it was intended to be.

 

 

Uryuu wasn't certain when it happened, just that it did. Somewhere along the journey through his father's life his beloved Sensei, his grandfather, became the villain and his father the well intentioned but unsuccessful and tragic hero.

 

 

In the eyes of his youngest child, Ishida Ryuuken was no longer a cold hearted and sadistic prick. Instead he was just a man who wanted nothing but the best for the ones who mattered most. Yet the moment Ryuuken made the decision to go against Shiori's recommendations and the moment he made the decision to leave half of his family behind, he'd been nothing more than a shell of his former self.

 

 

Uryuu understood now why everyone always defended his father. `They were all right!' he thought as he realized he had formed his opinion of his father when he was just a small boy. Again he felt shame. Shame for stubbornly holding onto the feelings and ideals he had as a five year old boy. Refusing to ever grow or even take a second look back. The love was always there, the good intent was always there, but Uryuu had realized that all the warmth his father ever had, all the warmth the man had ever felt, came from Shiori. Without Arisawa Shiori to hold his hand, nothing seemed colder than the man who raised him, Ishida Ryuuken.

 

 

`Would I be like that without Orihime?' He thought for a moment then silently scoffed at himself. `I am like that now. Without Orihime around, I'm just like my father. Hell, with Orihime around I am just like my father and Shiori-san!'

 

 

Uryuu just couldn't ignore how alike he and his father really were. The hind sight made everything seem entirely too disturbing. He didn't want to end up like his father. He didn't want his children to ever fear him or think him cold and heartless. `Something's got to change.'

 

 

The pain was agonizing for Ryuuken as the twin's crosses seared into and branded the sensitive flesh of his palms. As the bearer of the crosses he would be unable to pry his hands away until the ritual was complete.

 

 

Yet, all the pain and everything he would end up sacrificing today would be well worth it. He never really knew either of his younger children, but thanks to this ritual he no longer felt like a stranger to them. All of the memories, theirs and his, filled him with a mountain of regrets. If he knew then what he knew now - all of their lives would be different. All of their lives would have been better if he had just listened to his wife, trusted her strength, and worked through the obstacles as a family instead of hiding from them.

 

 

When the past truths of all three crosses had played out, there was only the truth of eternity left to be revealed.

 

 

“We thank you father for all that you've done,” said the united voices of the Twins Eternal in a somber and respectful tone, but this time out loud, through the enraptured lips of Tatsuki and Uryuu. “Your life, your lessons, and your love will live on through us, for eternity.”

 

 

An eerie feeling filled the room when the mystery clad siblings seemed to usher in the final phase of the ceremony.

 

 

“Always traveling through darkness, because somewhere there is light

Reliving lifetimes in a single moment

Seeing eternity in the blink of an eye

All but one begins, but nothing ever ends”

 

 

The twin spirits of master and cross had begun to merge. Things known, things not known, and things intended to remain private or hidden had been exposed. The Ritual of Truths was coming to a close.

 

 

Sensing the end was near, Ryuuken used the unrelenting physical connection he had to his children's foreheads as leverage as he broke through the paralysis and pulled them violently back toward him to gain the momentum needed to thrust his body forward and wedge himself between Tatsuki and Uryuu. With a loud grunt, laced with unfathomable pain and determination, the elder Quincy managed one last miraculous burst of strength born of nothing more than sheer stubbornness and devoted love. Ryuuken fought through the pain and knocked his wife out of the way, thus severing Shiori's connection to the ritual, saving her life.

 

 

“SHI-CHAN!” Ryuuken cried out in agony with his last breath.

 

 

“KEN-KUN!” Shiori screamed in horror as she slammed into the wall behind her and watched the brilliant fire in her beloved's eyes fade to nothingness. Silent tears of heartbreak strew down her face. Though his death was expected, the knowledge did nothing to lessen the pain.

 

 

`He loved me.' She whispered to no one in a raspy broken voice. Shiori balled her fists up tightly. A part of her was now missing. The happiness and comfort that only he could provide her was now a feeling she knew she could never hope to feel again. There were just some holes in a person's heart that were so special they could only be filled by one person. `I love him.'

 

 

Shiori couldn't take her eyes off of Ryuuken's body. He'd always been with her in one way or another, for as long as she could remember. Everything wonderful and horrible in her life happened either with him by her side or because of him. She desperately wanted to cradle him in her lap, hold him close, just one last time but she couldn't. His final effort in life would have been in vain if she made physical contact and rejoined the ceremony.

 

 

`It couldn't be helped. This is the only chance we had left.' Though the reality of the situation helped calm Shiori's mind, but it did nothing at all for her heart.

 

 

Slowly the regal blue light of the Quincy that had decorated ritual the thus far began to fluidly intertwine with a new presence, a brilliant and pure white light. A light so luminous it should have been blinding, but instead it was soft and gentle.

 

 

Orihime's powers, The Power of the Heart of the Universe, were a radiant hue of gold and yellow, Quincy were blue, and it seemed that those who were truly divine, those who could even be considered the gods of gods, were a fitting pure shade of brilliant white.

 

 

As the dancing blue and white lights became more saturated the twins' relaxed bodies seem to transcendentally levitate and hover slightly above ground, towing the dead weight of their father between them. His mass seemed nothing more than a feather to them.

 

 

The priestess could tell by the white lights that began to swarm around her children and engulf the brilliant blue hue of the Quincy that the mortal truths and knowledge of both past and present had been revealed. All that was left was for the spirits of the cross to unveil the unfathomable secrets of eternity to their twin masters.

 

 

Shiori remembered their words. `We are the infinite that the finite cannot hold. Our truths are too much for you bear.' And she understood as she sat watching the elegant display of light and power that filled the room while quietly mourning the death of her husband. `This is what they said we could not hold. This is what they said would kill us. This, the immortal truths that lie within the power of the white lights.' It was as beautiful as it was frightening. `This is the color of a truth even too great for Orihime to hold.'

 

 

Shiori felt a sickening vise grip strangle at her heart when she watched his glasses slide of Ryuuken's face and drop to the floor. `We were supposed to go together. He pushed me away just in time. Baka! My beautiful stubborn baka of a Quincy!' And even though her heart felt empty, her memories of him could still fill her with enough warmth to force a faint smile to cross her lips. `Stubborn fool from the beginning to the end. Some things never change.'

 

 

An unexpected movement forced the lamenting priestess to momentarily pry her eyes away from her husband's body. She sat and watched as Tatsuki and Uryuu reached an arm out toward the other, locking their palms tightly by lacing their fingers. They filled the gap in the Ritual's circle where she once stood.

 

 

The moment Tatsuki and Uryuu's palms met their eyes shot open in unison. Both Renji and Chizuru gasped and instinctively took a cautious step back when they noticed that the sibling's eyes were nothing but solid black. In that same instant Chizuru felt Orihime's body stiffen against her own. The red head turned to face her auburn haired friend, and instantly she yanked her hand away from Orihime's grasp. Chizuru shrieked back in horror at what she saw before mindlessly slamming into a speechless Renji.

 

 

“Orihime!” gasped both Renji and Chizuru.

 

 

This was the first time either Renji or Chizuru had witnessed one of Orihime's personality lapses.

 

 

There were now three sets of black eyes, as dark as a moonless and cloudy night. They all fell onto the limp body of Ishida Ryuuken as he hung lifelessly. Still, he dangled like a weightless ragdoll, strung up by his ritual bound hands to the foreheads of his children. He was the perfect picture of martyrdom.

 

 

“They've awoken,” whispered a still and emotionless Orihime. “They woke up crying.”

 

 

Chizuru looked confusedly toward Tatsuki. `Woke up? Crying?' As far as Chizuru could tell, her Suki-chan, hell all three of them, just looked vacantly possessed. The frightened girl turned a determined glare back toward Orihime. And, threading together every ounce of fortitude she could gather, Chizuru grasped Orihime and forced her to turn and meet eye to eye. Pitch black met emerald green. “What's happening, Orihime? Tell me! Please tell me.” She begged. “How did they wake up? How do you know they are crying? Is Tatsuki ok?”

 

 

Chizuru's resolve failed as she came crashing to her knees, in tears and unable to pull her eyes away from the disturbing sight before her. “Please Orihime. Please tell me. Why am I the only one who's scared?” With each word her voice became softer, till it was just a whisper. “Why am I the only one who thinks this is strange?”

 

 

Renji had seen some pretty messed up stuff before, but nothing compared to this. He dropped down to his knees behind the girl, and in an attempt to comfort her he placed his hands on her shoulders before speaking softly. “You're not the only one Chizuru. My understanding of all of this is just about the same as yours.”

 

 

Renji looked up at Orihime hoping to find some answers. When their eyes met, he was stunned to find that the timid, silly, and bouncy girl he'd come to know over the years wasn't the one looking back at him. The girl looking back him had a presence that was so regal, so commanding, and so powerful that he felt like a humbled, powerless, and insignificant being. Still, it felt right to bow before her. He felt some strange instinct to cling to her as if she were the answer to everything, the one who could fill his every void.

 

 

`Kami-sama?' Renji thought. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her unblinking stare and her expressionless face. His mind seemed to swim around inside of Orihime's pitch black eyes. Suddenly he wasn't afraid, he wasn't afraid of her or anything. “Kami-sama!” He bowed as low as he could, but the way he saw it, there was no way to properly display the kind of respect that she was deserved.

 

 

“Kami-sama?” Said Chizuru as she watched Renji's drastic and confusing change of attitude. `Where the hell is that coming from? He's gone crazy too? Now I really am all alone!' she thought in horror.

 

 

A voice she knew echoed a reply in her head. “You are never alone.”

 

 

`Orihime? Is that you?' she thought to herself as she looked up, only to find Orihime staring vacantly in Uryuu's direction. `Oh great! Now I am going crazy too, hearing stuff and having two sided conversations in my head. She's not even paying attention, how could she answer.'

 

 

Chizuru sighed, still fighting back her desire to grab a hold of Tatsuki and interrupt the twisted family reunion that continued to unravel. `Tatsuki-love, please be ok. Please don't be hurt. Please don't leave me!' Tears welled up in her eyes once again. `Do I even belong here?'

 

 

Orihime's soft voice resounded in her head once again, the rare tone of a mature and serious Orihime. This was a side of her Hime-chan that she rarely ever got to experience. Still, it was a familiar voice that calmed her. It was sweet and pleasant. “Hai Chizuru-chan, I am paying attention even if I do not look. There are many ways to communicate. But what I have to say is for you alone so this way is best.” Chizuru glanced over at Renji who'd finally resumed to his previous stance of silently watching The Ritual. She didn't understand why Renji couldn't be included in the conversation, but she decided not to argue and just accept the voice in her head. Despite how crazy it seemed, this silent conversation was the easiest of the day's oddities to accept.

 

 

She continued to listen, “You have no reason to feel any fear. They are fine Chizuru-chan. They are in no physical pain, but they woke up crying, mourning the loss of the one who created them. Their father is dead.”

 

 

The flood of tension seeped away. She chose to believe the voice in her head when it told her that Tatsuki wasn't in any pain, but knowing that a dead body was mere feet away from her would have been too much on top of everything else. For the time being, Chizuru decided to ignore that.

 

 

“What do you mean woke up?” Chizuru silently asked.

 

 

“I can tell you this now because now Tatsuki-chan knows, and because Tatsuki-chan wants me to. Like me, she is watching you too even if it doesn't seem that way. She's worried about you Chizuru-chan.” Orihime's voice whispered in Chizuru's head.

 

 

“She's… watching me?” Chizuru continued to stare blankly at Tatsuki. “You're worried about me? How the hell would Orihi…” Chizuru's thoughts were interrupted by Orihime.

 

 

“Pay attention Chizuru-chan, my time is short so I can only explain once.” Orihime continued, “Chizuru-chan, your Tatsuki-chan and my Ury-kun are special. Two of a type of being that weren't ever supposed to exist. They are natural anomalies created by a series of unique events that occurred over many millennia. They are the unforeseen results of pure circumstance and selective Quincy breeding.”

 

 

Orihime paused a moment to let her friend digest her words and to allow her a moment to mentally fortify herself for the type of story that was to come. “Ishida Ryuuken's entire bloodline is a history of pure and untainted Quincy lineage. Quincy marriages have always been arranged. The sole intention behind this tradition is to breed stronger Quincy, to build them up from one generation to the next. As a result of their own greed, their arrogance, their endless warring, and their breeding programs the Quincy have become nearly extinct trying to create a their ideal Quincy by forcing natural evolution. They call this ideal the Exalted Quincy.”

 

 

Chizuru sat quietly and listened. All she wanted was to be with Tatsuki, she didn't want or need any of this, but she was a part of it now and she would take it all in. She couldn't forget how shaken up Tatsuki was when she held her in the tub last night, how tightly her raven haired champ clung to her, desperately seeking some kind of comfort while she struggled to understand the mountain of reality that had been so abruptly dropped on her. Chizuru knew that regardless of how disjointed she felt about all of this, her Suki-chan felt worse. And, she wasn't about to abandon her now.

 

 

Orihime continued to soundlessly explain. “Ishida Ryuuken was the strongest pure blooded Quincy to ever be born. It was believed that he was the pinnacle of Quincy power. In other words, a pure blooded Quincy could not become any stronger than him. It was decided that the only way to breed a more powerful Quincy was to breed outside of the race in an attempt add new power. In search of greater power, Ishida Ryuuken's father discovered a tiny religious-based faction called the Raien. Through research he learned that the female leaders of this group, the High Priestesses or the Raien Elite, were not just figure heads but also individuals with true power. Power similar to Quincy power, which are both believed to be divine in origin.”

 

 

“These priestesses are rare and very hard to find, and even though he found no proof that the powers of the High Priestess could be passed on through birth he gambled that it was so and arranged a marriage between his prodigal son and the only Raien High Priestess he could find, Arisawa Shiori. Ishida Ryuuken is the first in his bloodline to marry and breed with a non Quincy.”

 

 

“The Raien High Priestesses are given their gifts individually by their creator - by me, my true self. They are my servants and my guardians who act according to my will. Everything about them has been greatly distorted through the words of man, but the Raien Elite are what mankind refer to as Angels in the New Testament. Although, the Priestesses themselves are unaware of their origins. So, Shiori-san does not know why she has the power that she does, she does not know the full truth behind the ideals she blindly devotes herself to, and she is unaware of the fact that even though her body changes her essence, her soul, is ancient.”

 

 

Chizuru's surprised gasp was audible. The girl wondered if there really was something behind Renji's proclamation of `Kami-sama', but she didn't interrupt. She continued to listen to Orihime's tale. It was truly too creepy and outlandish to be true, but…

 

 

“Ishida Ryuuken's father, Ishida Souken, was incorrect in his assumption that the powers of the High Priestess would be passed on simply through genetics. This was something he discovered when his first grandson, Ishida Ryuu was born with only Quincy power, powers greater than his father but not as a result of his mother's genetics. He did inherit his mother's temperament and compassion though. Still, other circumstances led to Ury-kun and Tatsuki-chan receiving all the powers of both the prodigal Quincy and the Raien Elite.”

 

 

“Shortly after Ury-kun and Tatsuki-chan were conceived, and before Shiori-san was aware of her pregnancy, she attempted for the first and last time what the Raien call the Rite of Purity. This is nothing more than the ability to transform or dematerialize the mind and body into a state of pure and conscious energy. A task that should be simple for any Raien High Priestess after it is learned, almost like riding a bike. It was only after Shiori had spent an exhaustive amount of effort to finally achieve this state of pure energy that she realized she was three minds and three bodies, not just one. She panicked. She knew it would be difficult to just to put herself back together the way she was. She didn't have the strength or ability to restore all of them, and she feared what might happen to her unborn twins if she tried.”

 

 

“She was saved by her own children. With the help of Shiori-san's abilities, Ury-kun and Tatsuki-chan found a way to access their extraordinary Quincy abilities to manipulate energy and help their mother. Together the three of them pieced themselves back together. In the process, the twins gained her power. The combined powers of the prodigal Quincy and the Raien Elite would be enough to create Ishida Souken's ideal Exalted Quincy. But something else happened, something that could never be planned, something that made them far more special and powerful than a simple Exalted Quincy.”

 

 

Chizuru felt dizzy. Everything was fine the way it was. Now, apparently the sweet busty girl whose body she lusted after was a god, the temperamental girl she loved was a god whose mother was an angel, a formerly powerful dead guy was a hanging in mid air, a death god was standing behind her, something really bad was supposed to happen, and apparently not one person between all of them actually knew about everything. They all seemed to know bits and pieces.

 

 

Chizuru was thankful that she was already on her knees. The room was spinning so wildly out of control that she knew she'd passed out if she were standing. Especially since Orihime's voce kept on, still adding new elements to this already massive pile of surrealism.

 

 

“As a result of the trauma and the measures which were taken to avoid certain disaster, Ury-kun and Tatsuki-chan somehow changed themselves. They somehow transformed themselves in a way that made them independent of everything. They became neutral, able to exist in a state of complete stability under any circumstance.”

 

 

“See Chizuru-chan, all things, living and non-living depend upon something else to help them continue to exist once they've been created. They all fit somewhere to help maintain the balance of nature, all things but three: the one who created the infinite universes and the Twins Eternal - my Ury-kun and your Suki-chan.”

 

 

“Even though Ury-kun and Tatsuki-chan were born sixteen years ago, they have lived in a state of dormancy and repression because they were kept apart from one another. They can never die Chizuru-chan. I suspect that is why they have chosen to call themselves the Twins Eternal because that is what they are.”

 

 

“You wanted to know what I meant when I said they woke up crying, and now that you know the circumstances of their existence, you should understand what I meant. Ishida Ryuuken has forced the hand of fate and given his life to free this knowledge. It was his hope; it is Shiori-san's hope, that their children's latent knowledge and abilities might be able prevent another much larger disaster. And, since there is no time left to wait for answers that could prevent this disaster to unravel naturally, the situation has come to this. Otherwise, I suspect that Ury-kun and Tatsuki-chan would still not know that they were related.”

 

 

Chizuru somehow, in the mist of Orihime's the inconceivable story, found that her eyes had drifted away from Tatsuki. “Orihime, what are you?” She asked as sound of her voice echoed in awe and astonishing disbelief, but it seemed that Orihime was through talking.

 

 

Orihime didn't want to scare her friend any more. Still, it helped ease the pain she felt to pretend like she was still talking to Chizuru. `I am everything that is in this Universe Chizuru-chan, but I made a horrible mistake.' Orihime thought to herself. Though her face betrayed nothing, she was racked with immeasurable amounts of shame and guilt.

 

 

`I love everyone. I love everything. How could I not?' Sadness weighed heavily on her chest. If Orihime's thoughts could be read, there would be only one thing that would make her word scary - they were the literal truth, pure and simple. `I am everyone, I am everything. Without a Heart everything will perish.'

 

 

Chizuru felt like her mind seemed light years away from her body. `How can anything bad happen if all of this crap is true?'

 

 

She bit hard on her lip and gasped as her eyes flew wide open. She seemed oblivious to the thin trail of blood that began to drip down her chin. Chizuru wasn't sure how, but it happened. Even if she couldn't manage to keep everything in line, some foreboding omen filled her to the depths of her soul; it sent chills through her body. Her skin prickled in goose bumps.

 

 

`They're all scared.' Chizuru thought as she reasoned out that people are only this frantic when they were afraid of something that was usually bigger than them, something that could yield a very unsavory consequence. `What's so big that even they can't handle with all their supposed power?' The only thing she could come up with… `Armageddon!'

 

 

`Orihime, Ishida… Suki-chan, what are you?' She whispered softly to herself just before something else demanded her attention.

 

 

In an instant the atmosphere changed. It seemed the ceremony had ended just as abruptly as it had begun. In that moment only one man held the spotlight. Everyone's eyes turned to follow the sickening thud that filled the room. Once the ritually bound palms of Ishida Ryuuken were finally set free, gravity took over. The dead weight of the Quincy's body dropped gawkishly to the floor.

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END OF CHAPTER, not the end of the story

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This story will be renamed within the next few chapters to, Drawn to the Rhythm.