as years pass | kyoraku shunsui

one - 'soulmate'

The Natazaki were a family once well-known throughout the Soul Society for their bravery and their strength. Natazaki Tahara, a kind, chivalrous man, led the group; he had fought his younger brother, Mizuno, for control after the passing of their father. Tahara had won, though despite Mizuno's pleas for it to be a fight to the death, Tahara refused. He had no desire to take his brother's life, not when he still had so much to offer to the world.

Of course, Tahara did not know at the time how big of a mistake that he had made by allowing his younger sibling to live. On that day, Mizuno had been humiliated and disgraced by Tahara; at least, that was how Mizuno saw it. Not only had Tahara mocked him by defeating him, he'd allowed him to live after that. Mizuno never forgave Tahara, and from that day onward he trained every single day in order to become stronger than Tahara.

As Mizuno grew stronger, Tahara decided to settle down. Throughout his work in Yamamoto's Gotei 13, Tahara had met a peaceful woman by the name of Kaita. Before long, the two of them had wed and created a beautiful daughter that they named Shuriken. She had the same dark blue hair as her father, but her baby-blue eyes looked exactly like her mother's. Right off the bat, Shuriken became the center of both of her parent's worlds.

Shuriken grew into a young child and the more time passed, the more she began to resemble her father. Her appetite was huge, signaling that she had a wonderful supply of spiritual pressure growing inside of her. Whenever it came to chores around the house, she was quick to jump in and help. Most importantly, she had that same goddamned Natazaki pride that Tahara possessed; to Mizuno, Shuriken was a miniature Tahara.

Eventually, Tahara and Kaita had two more children, twins that they named Hirana and Mizu, a girl and a boy respectively. Mizu, of course, was named after his uncle; how were Tahara and Kaita to know that would only fuel the fire of hatred that Mizuno held within his heart?

The day that Mizuno made his move, both Shuriken and Tahara had been out of the home. Shuriken had been at her orientation for the Soul Reaper academy while Tahara had been out on a mission. Mizuno took the opportunity to slaughter poor Kaita and her twins, who were little more than toddlers. He hung their bodies right behind the front door, so that whenever Shuriken slid it open, they were the first things she saw.

The young girl couldn't even scream, even though her jaw seemed to drop to the ground. Her wide eyes were unable to comprehend the scene in front of her, although it was obvious. It was only when her knees crumbled beneath her and she collapsed onto the hard, unforgiving ground that a terrified whimper managed to escape her now dry lips.

Mizuno wasted no time in appearing beside of his niece, staring down at her with the utmost disgust. His formal clothing was soaked in the blood of his family, as were his cheeks. His cold eyes showed not the least bit of remorse as he watched the realization surge through Shuriken.

She wanted to run; he could see that easily. Everything in her told her to flee as quickly as she could, to her father or to maybe even that Yamamoto guy, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Shuriken had the mobility of a rock in that moment.

Neither Shuriken nor Mizuno spoke; they merely locked eyes in an exchange that the former would have nightmares of for the remainder of her life. Words were only spoken when Tahara finally arrived home, roughly half an hour after Shuriken.

He told her to escape, to run away just as she had wanted to. It took the frantic screams of her father to get Shuriken's ass in gear, and as she fled, tears streaming from her eyes, she could hear her father releasing his zanpakuto.

She ran as long as she could, all the way until she tripped over a rock and flung herself towards the entrance of a small, nearby village on the outskirts of the Seriete. Shuriken managed to, quietly and quickly, describe her situation to the woman that first saw her before the stress overcame her and she lost consciousness.