Work Text:
Being a captain of the Gotei 13 generally meant that one was afraid of very few things. After all, it meant mastering one’s zanpakuto, which took years – sometimes centuries – of practice. It meant having expertise in the skills of a Shinigami, like kido and zanjutsu. And it meant being able to command a squad of two hundred men and women, give or take, who were similarly trained.
Very few captains would have admitted to being afraid of one of their number, except perhaps in the case of the late Captain Unohana. For example, Captain Hitsugaya would never admit that he had what was in fact a healthy fear of Captain Zaraki. And similarly, even Captain Kotetsu would never admit how wary she was of Captain Kuchiki.
Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, that was.
Isane Kotetsu was fully willing to admit that the captain of Squad Thirteen was terrifying when she wanted to be. And her husband, who was rumored to be next in line for a captain’s position, was even scarier. After all, he was the man who’d stormed Soul Society at fifteen years old to rescue his future wife, and then saved Soul Society and the World of the Living – twice.
For all that, Rukia and Ichigo were very nice.
Unless you messed with their daughter.
Sumiye Kuchiki had inherited her mother’s coloring, with skin pale like the moon and silky black hair, but her reckless and stubborn nature was absolutely her father’s. And she was in the Central Relief Station.
Again.
“Sumiye-chan, how did this happen?” Hanataro asked calmly as he examined the girl’s arm. Blood seeped through a makeshift bandage that wrapped around her right bicep, and she clearly had a dislocated shoulder. There was another bandage on her left leg.
“We were just practicing,” Sumiye said casually, and poked at her leg.
“Stop that!” Hanataro exclaimed. Then: “Who were you practicing with?”
And do I need to smuggle them out of Soul Society for a few weeks? Isane asked herself as she listened in. Ah – there was the sound she’d been waiting for. She adjusted the haori draped over her shoulders and talked to the entrance of the station. She placed a hand against the doorframe, blocking the way in.
Rukia and Ichigo flickered into being out of shunpo in the courtyard and hurried toward her. “Where is she?” Rukia demanded, and Ichigo spoke almost on top of her, “Who did this?”
Isane sighed. “Captain Kuchiki, Lieutenant Kurosaki. Sumiye-chan is fine. She is being treated by Third Seat Yamada. You are welcome inside, but you must not upset my other patients.”
Rukia just huffed and slipped underneath Isane’s outstretched arm, striding past her toward her daughter. Ichigo’s hands found his hips as Isane gave him a look. “Fine, fine, I’ll be calm,” he promised.
When Isane let her hand down so he could pass, he gave her one of those insolent grins of his and said, “You’re getting better at looking as scary as Captain Unohana was.” Isane, who knew that Ichigo had liked and respected her former captain, just sighed again and followed him inside.
Rukia was already at Sumiye’s bedside, looking her over with a practiced calm that only partially hid her worry.
“She tell you what happened, Hanataro?” Ichigo asked when he reached them a few steps later.
Hanataro glanced up from his hands, which were radiating blue healing kido. “Ah, Captain Kuchiki, Lieutenant Kurosaki. Sumiye-chan told me she was practicing,” he tattled as the girl huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Because that’s what we were doing,” Sumiye huffed. “Aoki-sensei said he thinks I’m close to learning my sword’s name and that if I practice my zanjutsu more often I’m sure to hear it when I’m in jinzen soon.”
Rukia and Ichigo exchanged a look over their daughter’s head. “Sumiye, you’re very young still, why are you rushing to learn your blade’s name?” Rukia asked. “I didn’t learn my zanpakuto’s name until I was decades older than you are now.”
“Renji ojisan said Otousan had his shikai when he was fifteen, and I’m already fourteen,” Sumiye explained. “So I need to practice.”
Ichigo covered his face with one hand. “I’m going to kill him,” he growled as Rukia scowled and her face started to turn red. “And who were you practicing with?”
Hanataro admirably choked back his laughter when Rukia glared at him, and started working on Sumiye’s leg.
“Just some other kid at the Academy,” Sumiye replied dismissively. “He’s a couple years ahead of me, but no one in my year can keep up with me anyway.” She grinned up at her parents. “Che. Don’t make those faces. I’m fine!”
“I need to fix your shoulder now, Sumiye-chan,” Hanataro warned. “It will hurt.”
Sumiye nodded easily, but let her mother hold her hand. Her dad winced at the noise her muscles and bones made as Hanataro manipulated things back into place. “See?” she asked when it was done. “I’m fine. You both worry way too much about me.”
Ichigo dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “We worry because, as you just pointed out, you’re even younger than I was when I became a shinigami.” He grumbled. “I don’t want you chasing around doing stuff like fighting Kenpachi the way I did.”
His daughter grumbled good-naturedly at the kiss and flexed her newly-healed arms. “Can I go now, Yamada-san?” she asked. “I have a kido class in a few minutes.”
Hanataro smiled kindly and ruffled her hair, making her scowl at him. “Alright, go on then. But be careful,” he chided.
“Sumiye!” Rukia’s voice stopped her daughter as she clambered out of the hospital bed and onto her feet.
“Yes, Okaasan?”
“You will not listen to your Ojisan about your Otousan’s exploits again. Lieutenant Abarai didn’t tell you that he nearly died several times when he was fifteen, biting off more than he could chew.”
Their daughter sighed. “Fine. Can I go now? I’m going to be late.”
Rukia waved a hand dismissively and Sumiye sprinted to the door and then disappeared into shunpo.
“Flip you for who gets to beat up Renji,” Ichigo offered when she was gone.
“Or we could tell Byakuya nii-sama that Renji endangered his precious niece,” Rukia suggested.
Ichigo snickered and nodded a goodbye to Hanataro before taking Rukia’s hand in his. “Both?” he offered as they left the relief station.
“Hn. Should we go back and warn Isane?”
“No. Let her be surprised. Maybe Renji will have the guts to ask her out when she’s fussing over his injuries.” At Rukia’s look, Ichigo asked, “What? He’s been mooning over her for a year.”
“Oh, well then. We’ll be doing him a favor.”