Crossroads: Declaration of a Journey

Prologue: Sleeping Awake
''Where... Am I?''

A young man stood in the heart of an unfamiliar realm. His hair was black and short, though messier than the head of a mop. He looked around with uncertainty at this vast, open world around him. "Empty" was all that came to mind. Above him was a sky, he believed it was the sky anyway, though he couldn't see anything but endless masses of clouds, not a single shred of the sky made it through the white curtain, the Sun too could not be seen. Below him was an ocean, stretching as far as his eyes could see. It was still, lifeless, not a single wave to echo across its surface. His attempts to touch it were rendered futile. He was suspended barely an inch above it, but each attempt to affect the water was stopped by some unseen force, an invisible barrier that kept everything out.

"I guess I should be thankful, I'd be drowning right now otherwise", the young man mused to himself, realizing that whatever stood between him and the sea was also the only thing between him and a long bath. Instinctually, his focus was suddenly drawn from the body of water beneath him to a figure that now stood before him. He hadn't heard anything to suggest the figure's arrival, instead his body had reacted on its own, as if his muscles were aware of something that he was not.

His eyes cast over the figure, who was doing much the same, the corners of them visibly straining as if it to make his observation clear. The figure looked, of average size and appearance, though his hair was dressed up elaborately just like the outfit he wore. Armour, ornate and well crafted, constructed from some kind of stone by its looks and bleached the clearest white.

Then, his lips moved.

The young man's eyes widened slightly, his ears twitched. He could hear him, he was sure of it, but he could recall no words. The echo was stale, listless, empty. The young man opened his own mouth to speak, only to feel the air leave his lungs and no sound to them to carry the intent he sought to voice.

The figure's expression turned grim. And then they were miles apart.

The young man blinked, the distance between himself and the figure had greatly expanded in a single instant.

"No, wait...", he said as the barrier that kept him from the sea evaporated. His world was filled with the noise of the water. His body could feel the liquid across every point, his ears drowned in the resounding splash, his eyes became lost in the blue.

Part One: A Family of Strangers
Wait!

The young man's voice roared greatly, tearing apart the blue that had enveloped him. Behind it was a ceiling of wooden slats, neatly formed in a pattern of one and then two, creating a flow that could be counted and memorized on a slow and lazy day.

"Hn, Kazuki?", a feminine voice echoed in the room. Kazuki's head turned in response in attempt to get a clear view only for it to be filled with the Sun's rays, blinding him. His eyes forced themselves shut for a moment, tears welled up whilst he blinked repeatedly in order to adjust himself.

"S-Shū-nee?", he uttered, trying to behold the woman sitting on the frame of the opened window, his sight still marginally blurred by light and tears.

"You alright? You look like you haven't slept a wink", she asked, her brow arched as she turned from her perch to better regard him.

"Mm...", he vocalized a sound of assurance followed by a nod of his head, slowly rising from his bed. His feet swung out from under the bedcover, planting themselves on the deck with a pat of skin against wood, the planks responding with a well aged creak. Shū had cocked her head to right, propped up against a raised arm as if to stop herself from giving a look of disbelief. Her fingers moved across her scalp, ruffling her hair somewhat before she righted herself and began moving towards the stairwell at the other end of the room.

"C'mon, we'll get you somethin' to eat, a big breakfast'll keep you running all day", she spoke, her hand weaving through his hair, ruffling it like her own, as she passed him.

"Good idea", he replied with his gaze downcast, his attention clearly elsewhere. ''What was that place? Who was that man?'' The questions floated around in his head, unable to be answered. None of the solutions felt like they fit, though he wasn't sure why a theory needed to, something within kept telling him that each idea he came up with was wrong. Kazuki's contemplation went undisturbed by the journey downstairs, he had repeated this same path a million times, and he could walk it whilst his mind wandered as it often did.

A rhythimic pattern rippled out on the old stairwell as the pair made their way down its hard maple steps. They were led down into the main part of the building, a large room with a table set out in the center, blankets resting beneath its surface, and a boiling pot surrounded by ceramic cups atop it. The room was sectioned off by a pair of waist-high walls, a clear space in between them to indicate a walkway into a stonework kitchen where an elderly woman worked away on assorted dishes. Her hair had gone grey, her skin littered with wrinkles that each told a tale in their creasing. Perhaps most eye catching was her diminutive height as she stood atop a four-legged wooden stool in order to oversee her stewing meals.

"G'mornin', Shū-chan, Kazuki-chan!", their footsteps having altered her to their presence, the woman threw out a cheery call, a smile planted on her face, though she did not turn to regard them.

"Mornin' auntie", Shū replied with a casual wave in the woman's direction. "Good morning Obasan", followed Kazuki, shaking his head rather dramatically to clear out his cycling thoughts. Best to leave them on the back burner for now.

"Take a seat you two, breakfast's almost ready", the woman continued in her cheery tone, clearly enjoying the act of cooking with motions that made her appear as if she was dancing with the pots atop the stone stove. The pair did as directed, taking their places on the floor around the table. Shū was quick to take to the steam-emitting pot, grasping its handle and pouring the contents into the present cups.

Watching the liquid fill it up, Kazuki was lured into his mind once again. Souls, he thought. Ordinarily, they wouldn't need anything to sustain them, but for some reason, there were those like Shū-nee and I, who did.

Kazuki was once again forced into the present with the clatter of several dishes making their way onto the table, his vision filling up with small vapours of steam, beneath which rested several dishes of food. Filleted fish, a bowl of steaming white rice, as well as a mixture of vegetables and other greenery combined into a salad.

I didn't why that was, though I could tell that the answer was always close by. His thoughts continued swirling as his eyes took in the colours of the food in front of him, though it seemed he regarded it less than he did the table that had been resting their before them. Staring into space, as the elderly woman now sitting across from him noticed.

"Oi, don't daydream at the table Kazuki-chan!", she snapped clapping a pair of chopsticks together for emphasis.

"S-sorry, Chiyo-basan", he apologized hastily, beads of sweat forming on his brow from a sudden shock, his hands clasped in front of himself to further emphasize his apology.

"Now, now, don't worry, eat up!", she laughed it off whilst Shū, already gulping down a helping of rice simply watched them both with her eyes, casually shifting between the two from her place at the table.

It was a few slow minutes, filled with the light sounds of food being lapped up and utensils clanging against the interiors of bowls or plates, or those same objects ringing softly when they hit the table, emptied of their contents. Shū and Chiyo chatted away at each other, waving their chopsticks around haphazardly about like swords whilst they did.

Kazuki watched with a growing smile, knowing that all was well with his family of circumstance. They weren't blood related, most families in Soul Society weren't. Those who died were assigned a ticket, a piece of paper that told them where they would live out their time in the afterlife. A weak system, incapable of keeping track of so many beings and where they all came from, it simply dealt with them in which ever manner kept it from devolving into complete chaos. True family would rarely see each other again, only if they entered Soul Society at the exact same time in fact.

But Kazuki, who could scarcely recall his time as a Human was blessed with this family of circumstance, a sister and a woman everyone called aunt.