Chapter 17: Of August
[So… it's that time again…]
Chiaki drummed her fingers on the table as she waited for the rest of her family. August 17… it was almost time for that important day, the anniversary of Masaki's death. Today was technically the day before, but that was the point of the month where their preparations really kicked into high gear. Tomorrow would be the day that they would dedicate everything to the memory of their mother, and spend the day simply thinking about life. A shroud of negative emotions had been cast over the entire day, and Chiaki was no exception to this. The only difference was, in Chiaki's case, she was not replaying any bad memories in her mind, but rather, planning hard to deal with an upcoming ordeal.
[Grand Fisher is going to be the next challenge… I'm not sure if I'm going to be ready for this…]
Chiaki mulled over the issue as well as she could while in class. By this point, having acclimated to the improved mental capacity afforded to her by Akane's presence, all her classwork was a breeze, with Chiaki burning through the most difficult math equations with the greatest of ease. The only thing that provided her any trouble were problems that had more to do with memorization or learning information that she hadn't yet. However, Chiaki was confident that with the clarity of thought she currently possessed, studying would be a breeze. Truly, the fusion with the mod-soul had been a incredible blessing… albeit not an unconditional one… Case in point:
["Worrying some teensy hollow instead of mourning your mother? I knew you were callous, but that's cold even for you."]
Chiaki rolled her eyes. Even though she'd started to get used to Ayane's occasional comments enough to not respond to them out loud, sometimes she couldn't help but emote a little bit. Her presence did help ease the loneliness she'd felt, but sometimes she wished the two weren't as connected as they were.
[Grand Fisher is the one who killed Masaki in the first place… I think vengeance is more important right now. Besides, I wasn't there to be raised by her.]
["You might as well have, considering the depth of your inherited memories, which, by the way, I can see. Besides, aren't we strong enough to deal with Grand Fisher pretty easily?"]
[…We can't say that for sure yet, we don't really have a frame of reference. Besides, that's not the real issue…]
["Oh? What would you say the real issue is then?"]
Ayane's mental voice had a teasing tone to it, but Chiaki knew she was just trying to lighten the mood, which did help her feel a little better. Still, she could have chosen a better way to do it, so Chiaki decided to mess with her in exchange.
[Really? You couldn't figure it out? Grand Fisher is the type to pick off any strong reiatsu it can find to try and grow his strength. If he decides to lure in any of the others while I'm not there, things could get bad in a hurry. Even if it's Ichigo, if he isn't quick enough with the Soul Candy, there's a chance he might not make it out alive.]
["Hmmmmm"]
Even Ayane couldn't find fault with that point so easily. There was a pause in the conversation, a rare moment of complete mental silence between the two, before Ayane pushed forth a new proposal to try and resolve the issue:
["Maybe you should try and get the jump on Grand Fisher then? What he's really looking for is people who can see the lure, so he's not going to be lured by our reiatsu, but he also won't be scared off by it. Ooooo, better yet, why don't we split up? I can push you out and pilot the body and we can lure him in reverse!"]
[Tempting, but also not an option. Ichigo and Rukia could still see us, and I don't want to explain why there's two Chiakis running around. That leads to a lot of questions, questions lead to Soul Society getting involved, and Soul Society being involved means getting experimented on by Mayuri. I think we both agree that becoming research subjects sucks.]
["Yeah….]
It seemed that no matter what the two thought of, there were too many problems with what they thought of. People often said that being smarter only made you aware of your own limitations and shortcomings, and Chiaki was starting to feel like they were right. Every time her and Ayane came up with a possible solution, they'd come up with many other variables they'd need to keep track of to elongate risk. In the end however, there was no choice but to just accept the possibility of danger and move forward. At the very least, they'd have a day to prepare.
__________
The next day, Chiaki got up with the rest of her family as scheduled and began packing her things for the hike to Masaki's grave. Despite the somber occasion being even more prevalent on the day proper, Chiaki couldn't help but feel a little more hopeful. After a lot of thinking, she'd decided that no matter what, she would have to just stick with the weakest links and trust Ichigo to be able to take care of himself. It certainly wasn't perfect, but just having a plan was a massive boon and inspired a sense of confidence.
"Alright, I'm heading down now. Everyone watch out!"
Chiaki dashed downstairs, her trademark smug smirk on her face as she looked at her family and their preparation for the day. Yuzu looked excited to leave the house, Karin was neutral as always, Ichigo was frowning; everyone was completely in character, except for Isshin, who had something of a nebulous expression on his face, a look of melancholy that you'd find only on someone remembering a tragedy they'd long since forgotten. Chiaki had to admit, while she hadn't always been close to the man, she felt a twinge of empathy for what he was going through. Part of her felt compelled to try and take charge in his place for the day, but she knew Isshin would object entirely and go on anyway.
"Alright Kurosaki family, let's move out!"
With that, Isshin called the family to start their yearly procession, with everyone following in harmony up to the grave. It oddly lighthearted for what it was, but that was probably Isshin's way of trying to cheer up his family, as well as himself. She felt a little obligated to make this go as smoothly as possible because of that fact.
"Don't worry dad, nothings gonna go bad on my watch. You guys should worry about making mom's spirit happy, I'm make sure no one interrupts or anything silly..."
It may have sounded like an odd declaration in a vacuum, but there was some real truth to it. It was Chiaki's plan to more or lessstick around keeping an eye on the two younger siblings, and excuse herself if she saw an opportunity to go after Grand Fisher. It was the best option available to them for now.
After a little time spent walking, the group of four got ahead of a very out of breath Isshin, until eventually, a new figure came into view within the pathway's confines, being none other than Rukia, a fact which made Yuzu very confused.
"Huh, Ichigo, Chiaki, do you know that girl?"
Ichigo sighed, evidently being a little annoyed that she was bothering him on such a important occasions, before looking towards Chiaki. The two exchanged glances for a bit, a quick discussion made only of facial expressions, until Ichigo sighed.
"Yeah, she's a friend of mine. I'm going to go say hi. Chaki can keep you two company while you go on ahead, don't worry."
"Huh, alright then. Have fun Ichigo!"
Chiaki caught a glimpse of Ichigo now rolling his eyes as he made his way towards Rukia, likely to have a conversation similar to the one in canon. It was for the best admittedly, Rukia probably needed some space to cool down since they had last fought. That left her as the guardian for the rest of the day, which was fine by her. Turning towards her siblings, Chiaki grinned.
"Alright, let's show mom we care. No more wasting time, let's get to it.."
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