Chapter 50

Yuzu had tackled Silent to the ground and was now staring up at Silent inbetween sniffles. The apron she was wearing over a yellow hoodie and pajamas was wrinkled and had come undone in her abrupt lunge. Even the pin that she had securing her bangs away from her eyes had fallen off and caused her brown hair to become disheveled.

Yuzu could care less about her appearance. Her hands that were wrapped around Silent's waist felt like vices unwilling to let go now that they'd made solid contact with a person Yuzu understood was not a figment of her imagination.

In the time spent influenced by Ichigo, Karin, and Isshin's spiritual energy, the dormant spiritual awareness within Yuzu had already half-way awakened. She'd known about the presence of spirits and the supernatural ever since Ichigo had begun talking about seeing ghosts.

To an extent, Yuzu knew that Ichigo wasn't lying ever since the recent visit to her mother's grave where something blurred and unseen had rendered her unconscious. She'd been told it was just a dream, that she'd just randomly fainted, but deep down, Yuzu had her suspicions.

The spiritual world was dangerous, and she played along with Ichigo when he assured her that everything was fine.

But then Ichigo 'disappeared.'

Yuzu didn't mean that Ichigo had disappeared in the literal sense, but something about Ichigo in the past few weeks felt off. He wasn't acting the same, and it felt as if someone else had taken over her brother's body if only to act as a stand-in.

Yuzu was concerned and sought Karin out to alleviate her worries, but different from before, Karin had begun brooding. Yuzu also paid careful attention to the fact that Karin hadn't called Ichigo 'brother' in the past few weeks.

The biggest change to the Kurosaki lifestyle was Isshin. Nowadays, he no longer sneak-attacked Ichigo and was often out on business trips he refused to elaborate on. What was strange was that Karin seemed involved in said business trips, and that the both of them refused to allow Yuzu to come.

Now it had been two days and neither Karin or Isshin had returned home.

It struck Yuzu then that perhaps something beyond her understanding was going on. The blurred figures she'd see in her everyday life were becoming clearer and clearer. She'd even seen some person in a black Shihakusho jumping from roof to roof.

Yuzu had convinced herself that she was just imagining things. Spirits could exist, but she thought only Ichigo could really see them. However, it was in seeing Silent, the mother that should have been dead for years, that Yuzu stopped deluding herself. If being able to see spirits meant that Ichigo had been able to see their mother every day, then it just wasn't fair that he hadn't told her after all the years that had passed.

"M-Mommy?" Yuzu's voice cracked, the sheer desperation in her tone unable to be described.

In turn, Silent shuddered.

The emotion welling up from deep within her; a feeling of protectiveness mixed with grief and regret, it was overwhelming.

Silent had many words she wished to say and express, and even if she couldn't say them, even silence was an answer. Still, her mouth opened, her breath hitching as she tried to form words despite knowing the futility of the endeavor. All of her efforts were meant solely to assuage the trembling teenager before her.

In Silent's mind, she was still seeing the image of a tiny girl, one of two born as twins, now older beyond anything Silent could have imagined.

Yuzu…her daughter if she was remembering everything correctly.

Silent winced, her left hand moving to press against her temple to sooth the growing migraine in her head. Her thoughts and memories were all in a jumble, with many parts and pieces unmistakably blurred. It hurt just to think too deeply about memories she felt too strongly for. The body remembered, but the mind could no longer link the experiences and emotions once felt to a certain degree.

It felt awful. The fact that she knew Yuzu was her daughter, but couldn't reliably recall any of the memories she no doubt cherished. The thought terrified her as it would any mother.

Silent would later admit that something inside her broke when Yuzu hugged her tighter in her silence, and she immediately tried to squirm free. In the end, Silent had underestimated her strength as a spirit and had inadvertently pushed Yuzu away.

The devastation and the tears that threatened to spill from Yuzu's eyes made it clear to Silent that she'd made a mistake. Yuzu looked insecure, her knees were wobbling, and her lips quivered as her cheeks gradually began to puffin. Her right hand was gripping tightly onto the elbow of her left arm, and the experience of being shunned made it look as if Yuzu would bolt at any second.

For the first time in a long time, Silent was beginning to curse not being able to speak.

She tried to shout, to scream that she didn't mean to do what she did, but not a sound escaped her mouth. It was heart wrenching.

Yuzu ran, running straight for her room where the loud bang of a door slamming echoed in Silent's ears. The shattered plate that Yuzu had dropped upon seeing Silent was left forgotten. Subconsciously, Silent knelt and began cleaning the mess up if only because her mind was in turmoil while listening to the muffled crying in Yuzu's room.

What a mess. This was not how Silent wanted things to go.

She sucked in a breath, doing her best to compose herself, yet failing miserably.

She couldn't give up.

Never.

She realized now that it didn't matter if she remembered everything or not. Something stood out to her through the haze of her jumbled thoughts. No matter the time, place, or even her state of being, two words always existed ingrained in her soul.

Protect them.

She'd once died for the sake of that belief, and it was from those very words that she drew inner strength as a mother.

Silent abruptly stood up, walking with purpose to Yuzu's room where the sound of crying was only growing louder and louder.

If her words could not reach her daughter, then her actions could speak on her behalf. She didn't mean anything with her previous actions. It was more of an impulse that she'd failed to quell, as her mind related the image of teenage Yuzu to child Yuzu and became jarred with the differences.

Standing in front of her daughter's door, Silent did not waste a second and stepped right on through. As a spirit, unless she wished to interact with the physical world, she could phase passed solid objects.

It became clear upon steeping into Yuzu's room, that Yuzu was aware of Silent's arrival. However, different from before, Yuzu further buried her face into her pillow rather than run to Silent. No child took rejection from a parent well, no matter how okay they said that they were.

Yuzu was sprawled on her bed, lying flat on her stomach while her plush toys and pillows had been scattered across the floor. One plush toy in particular kept glancing between Yuzu and Silent and was being entirely ignored.

"G-Go away," Yuzu stammered, her voice hoarse.

Silent approached, but Yuzu began to tremble. It was evident that she feared rejection a second time, as her mind would not be able to cope with it. Not from the one person she'd cherished in her childhood above all else.

Silent pursed her lips at Yuzu's reaction, but steeled her resolve. A parent could not allow themself to grow soft and weak when it came to their children. It was their duty to their children to guide them on the right path, but it also meant that if a parent made a mistake, they shouldn't shirk away from it.

Heedless of Yuzu's words, Silent sat by Yuzu's bedside and began gently drawing circles on her back to coax her to at least look in her direction. Yuzu froze, the familiarity of Silent's actions like a zap of lightning that caused a lump to form in her throat. It was the same gesture Yuzu remembered Silent doing in the past whenever she or Karin were having a bad day.

Seconds passed, time droning on into a full hour.

Yuzu had not yet looked Silent in the eyes, but she'd been glancing up every couple of minutes as if to make sure Silent was really there. When caught in the act, she'd hurriedly avert her gaze, but the way she began clinging onto Silent again showed her real sentiments. Her hands had wrapped around Silent's waist, and her head found itself resting on Silent's lap even while snot and tears marred her face. In same ways, Yuzu was still the baby girl Silent recalled. She'd never been a person who could hold her anger for long, and her emotions were always apparent on her face.

Any awkwardness that the two had felt at their first meeting was gradually fading away in the quiet lull. Words need not be spoken. Sentiments were enough.

Lost in the familiar warmth of her childhood, Yuzu's eyelids began to droop, her head bobbing. Silent used that as the cue to gently run a hand through Yuzu's hair and hug her closer, ruining Yuzu's motivation to stay awake.

Three minutes later, and Yuzu slumped, asleep in Silent's arms.

Silent kissed Yuzu on the forehead and carefully moved to lie Yuzu down on her bed. She tucked Yuzu in under her covers in the same way she'd done for Ichigo in his room. Watching Yuzu's sleeping form, Silent knew more than ever that she had to fix things with not only the situation as a whole, but her family as well.

She was going to have to leave again.

It pained Silent to think of what Yuzu may feel if she woke up and she wasn't around, but Silent knew that she wouldn't get anywhere doing nothing.

Making sure that Yuzu was fast asleep, Silent got up, gave a cursory glance at a lion plushie feigning death on the floor, and then made her way out of the Kurosaki house.

In Silent's hands was a pad of paper and a pen. Being unable to communicate was vital to get her point across and she was fairly certain that she was shit at charades.

Now then, she was sure it was around here somewhere.

Silent was jumping over the rooftops while staring down at the streets for a peculiar candy shop with a vendor she could only describe as the very picture of a man children should stay away from. The bowl-hat, scruffy beard, and eccentric attitude did nothing to help the man's case.

Kisuke Urahara.

In Silent's mind, it was the name of a friend she'd once been referred to by Isshin himself.

If anything, her first impression of the man was shady. He had many secrets, and even more reasons for her to avoid interacting with him. He just struck her as the wrong type of careless, as if he'd shove a person down a pit with a hollow and draw amusement from watching the poor individual try to crawl out. Either get strong or die. It was the impression Kisuke gave her which was why she'd never introduced her kids to him even if Isshin called Kisuke friend.

Still, Kisuke was known for knowing how to solve a problem.

Her mind was wandering, lost in the memories of the past.

Silent would have missed the inconspicuously placed show in an alley in the middle of nowhere had she not picked up on a spiritual energy rapidly dashing towards her.

Silent paused in the air, forming a platform of spiritual energy beneath her to stand on just as a black cat stopped five feet in front of her.

Yoruichi? The name appeared at the forefront of Silent's thoughts.

"Masaki?" Yoruichi sounded incredulous. She had come ready for a fight when she'd sensed a particularly high spiritual pressure tinged with the chaotic aura of a hollow, but this wasn't what she was expecting. "How did you manage to escape?" Yoruichi pressed.

Silent shook her head. She wasn't in the mood to discuss such a meaningless question. She took out her pen and paper and quickly began writing.

'Kisuke,' Silent wrote adamantly while beckoning towards the shop.

Yoruichi's eyes widened. "Y-You remember?"

The last time Yoruichi and Silent had met, it was clear for someone of Yoruichi's former profession as the Captain of Squad Two, that Silent had treated her as a stranger. Aizen, the bastard had probably done something with her memories, but now it seemed like whatever Aizen had done may have been temporary. Still, former friend or not, Yoruichi was within her right to be suspicious. Aizen was always the cunning one. Perhaps it was best to just detain Silent and allow Kisuke to run a diagnostic?

Silent nodded to Yoruichi's question, but didn't miss the way Yoruichi still remained on edge.

'I need to talk.' Silent quickly wrote.

Much to Silent's surprise, Yoruichi relented. Unknown to Silent, but there was something in her gaze that caused Yoruichi to lose much of her caution. Aizen or not, there was no way to fake the genuine concern in Silent's eyes. Aizen was proficient in leading other's astray, but Yoruichi was trusting her intuition in this instance.

"Follow me," Yoruichi beckoned, turning her back to Silent while raising her tail up. "The shop's empty. Kisuke's been underground after recent developments."

Rather than move towards the front of the shop on the road, Yoruichi led Silent towards the back where they both jumped down a hatch that led to an open wasteland training field. It was barren and filled with earthy brown rock formation with leafless trees.

Kisuke was seen fiddling with some device while muttering some form of jargon that only he could understand. He was sitting with his legs crossed, and his back hunched. Tessai and Kisuke's other employees were nowhere to be seen.

Upon noticing Yoruichi and Silent's arrival, Kisuke raised his brows at Silent before dipping his head and pressing his hat further down to shadow his eyes. "Well, isn't this an unexpected surprise."

Silent didn't beat around the bush and immediately moved towards Kisuke. 'I need your help,' she wrote.

"Oh," Kisuke let out a small easy-going grin. "As much as I'd love to help in the troubles of a long-time friend, I'll have to ask that you explain yourself first? You see, I may act all laid-back and all, but this situation leaves me no chance to do even that."

Kisuke's tone became flat, a sharp edge appearing in his features as one hand held his wooden cane close. "If this is another elaborate ruse by Aizen, then I'd much rather not take the chance. Not with the kind of 'help' Aizen seems to have obtained."

If it came down to a fight, Silent knew that she was outnumbered, but in the face of Kisuke's unconcealed threat and Yoruichi's inaction to chastise Kisuke for said threat, Silent wrote one sentence.

'Shirou isn't bad! He was the one who saved me!'

And suddenly, both Kisuke and Yoruichi blinked in confusion. This was the moment Silent used to elaborate her point now that she'd gotten their attention.

"…I see," Kisuke hummed lightly to himself, a hand placed beneath his chin after Silent's summary of events. Yoruichi's thoughts in comparison were difficult to gauge in her cat form, but she seemed stunned regardless.

Silent waited for a response from Kisuke, hoping that he could somehow discover a method to salvage everything. At the very least, she'd stressed that Shirou was not an enemy even if he was a Hollow. She'd even spoken about how human Harribel and the others were. Both Kisuke and Yoruichi took a moment to process this fact as they were more open towards hollows, but to believe that a majority of them hailing from Shirou's lands could be trusted? That was more difficult.

"Putting aside your views on Hollows, the fact that you've said that Shirou is working with Aizen is disconcerting," Kisuke said after a moment. "Kind and compassionate as you portray him to be, Yoruichi tells me that he didn't seem to be the sort that was taking orders from Aizen."

'Shirou's strong,' Silent wrote as an explanation. 'Maybe stronger than Aizen.'

Kisuke, though disbelieving of Silent's claim, humoured her. "All the more reason he has to be defeated."

And here, Silent disagreed. She tried to make her displeasure known, but she stiffened.

Silent suddenly felt uncomfortable. There was a look of pity in Kisuke's eyes that was being directed towards her. "The concept of Good or Evil, Hero or Villain, no longer matters at present. The distinction is obscured in the face of impending catastrophe and death. A choice has to be made."

Yoruichi sighed in the background, clicking her tongue in distaste, but doing nothing as she knew their options to save the world's balance was dwindling by the day.

Silent did not like where this was going. She made to stop Kisuke from suggesting what she thought he was going to suggest, but failed to do so in time.

"This Shirou seems to trust you," Kisuke looked Silent right in the eyes. "For the benefit of all, will you not lend us your help and subdue him before he causes the end of the world as we know it?"

'NO!' Silent immediately refused, but Kisuke was prepared and quickly countered.

"Do you have any idea what Aizen actually intends to do, and what will happen to your family because of it?"

Silent felt an ominous premonition.

She wasn't going to like what she was going to hear, and she looked utterly appalled at the small prayer bead Kisuke placed in her hands after his explanation of Aizen's goal.

Thereafter, Kisuke said seven words. Seven words and it looked as if he'd aged several years all at once.

"Good or Evil, do the right thing."

By the time Silent left in a flurry of spiritual energy, Kisuke felt Yoruichi shift into her human form and sit down behind him. Their backs were pressed together, and the two long-time friends did not have to speak to understand what the other was currently thinking.

Kisuke was tired of the world's bullshit, and the fact that he'd been the cause of the sheer turmoil in Silent's eyes.

"Hey, Yoruichi," Kisuke called softer than he'd ever spoken before. "I'm a bastard, aren't I?"

Yoruichi's only response was to lace her fingers over Kisuke's own and squeeze to show her support. Through thick or thin, back to back, just like old times.

Even if everyone hates you, I'll always believe in you.