Reflection

[Yuri Nakayama]

Yuri sat on the porch just outside of the mansion, rather quiet and reserved. Her hands were still stained by Luna's blood which the Captain was staring at. It was a hard truth for her to accept. To believe that Luna was dead because she was fighting on her because since she was so angry sickened her. Many flashbacks came to mind. The moment they met. The time they shared as friends. Her becoming a hollow and killing her (Yuri). She nearly became a Hollow herself until someone interfered. When they met again, they were enemies.

She remembered when Luna helped her remember her human past. She recalled the psychotic episode she had during one of the vacations. All Luna wanted was for her to get strong so that when the captain was defeated, the Arrancar would have the chance to end her life and yet.. It was Luna who gave her lie to save her. She felt so guilty for blaming Luna for Ronin's death in in actuality, it was Rin who used her likeness. It was Rin who drove them apart. Why.. Why did Shiori had to stop her? She could have.. No, there was no way she could have defeated her with her being so angry. Her judgement would have been so clouded. However.. Should she follow Rin's own advice and let her anger consume her? Let it become who she is? After all, her Inner hollow grows strong during her emotional outbreaks. That may be one possibility to get rid of her. The other would put her in a state near death. Either way, the methods were very risky at best.

Her children, both from this time and from the future, tried to console her but she wanted no part of it. All she wanted was to be left alone and revenge. That's when she vowed that no matter what it took, she wold become strong enough to avenge both Luna and Ronin. Aysa, who was close by, was a bit scared to approach her past-granny-Yuri, and decided to go find someone who wouldn't be afraid to talk to her. But who could that person be?

When she came to the realization of just the person her granny needed to talk to! That's when the little one searched for said individual and once he was found, she began to speak.

"Mister Uncle 'Ouji, why does Granny-Yuri seem so..angry and sad? I would try to hug and talk to her but she seems.. kinda scary right now. Maybe you could talk to her or something?"

At that point, Yuri slowly stood up and glanced toward the sky. It was a clear and beautiful sky which made the Captain frown. She then walked off to get herself cleaned up and to think of what she needed to do next. AS for Hiroki, he was standing off in the distance, watching his daughter walk off. With a heavy sigh, he slowly shook his head from side to side. Would him telling Rin all those years ago what she was changed anything? Because of the choices he has made, he has made both his family and another suffer so endlessly and he could only blame himself. Thinking of what ifs wouldn't change a thing. It wouldn't change the fact that Rin was their main target and unless she was stopped, the spiral of suffering and despair she created would never end.

Perhaps if he were more involved in Yuri's life instead of hiding in the shadows and watching her grow, he could have spared her some pain. Oh, how his heart ached that there was nothing he could do to fix this problem he had created. Would he have to explain why Rin blames him for hat happened to her? It wouldn't surprise him if they did or didn't. There had to be some way to make all of this end. If this kept on going, the battle would be lost before it even began.

---

After a long, refreshing bath, Yuri had on a simple Kimonio as her uniform and Haori were being washed and all that, retiring to her room. The door was then slid shut and the Captain walks over to the bed and just falls back on it to stare at the ceiling. Among the anger and sorrow, there was confusion. Her father seemed to have known Rin.. Well.. He knows her quite well it appeared. Why was that? What was even more confusing is that Rin even knew him! Who would have thought that even before she was born the Nakayamas and Onigata's fate were already intertwined? She remembered meet Ryouji and Shukumei the first time.. Was that by pure fate or was that something orchestrated by her father?

After all, Rin made it sound like Hiroki knew that the siblings were mere clones of their father and yet chose to hide it. In a way it seemed similar to how Yamamoto would always watch Ryouji and Yuri was beginning to see why he hates the old man so much.Hands crept up to her face, covering her eyes while the rest of her hands rested on her head. This was all so confusing and yet why does she feel so hurt and betrayed? Does she even have the right to feel that way? Would Ryouji and Shukumei come to despise her as well? Part of her knew they wouldn't but the other part was trying to convince her that her father's wrong doings were now hers to carry. She couldn't bare to have the only family she has, besides her own flesh and blood, to hate her.

These thoughts had to be buried somehow so they wouldn't be brought up in a conversation that she knows she isn't ready for. The only thing she could think of was to hide behind a blanket of anger.. Anger at Rin for all that she has done and towards her father who could have somehow avoided this. That would be easy to do since she barely knows the man and can blame him. That's how she was going to cope through all of this.

There was a knock on the door and Yuri had let out a heavy sigh. All this sounded good in theory but if she was pressed hard enough, especially by Azumi or even Shiori, she'd cave in. Heck, Ryouji has known her basically all of her life and would know if she was lying. There was no way she could even begin to hide all that she feels and if he sensed even the slightest drop of wanting to go after Rin, she cold just hear him say how reckless it was and all of that. Soon, there was another knock. There was no way she could keep on ignoring whoever it was at the door.

"Come on in."

She didn't bother to sit up or change what position she was in. She just stayed where she was, keeping her hands over her eyes. She couldn't bare to see who it was. She wasn't even going to rely on her senses to figure out who it was. At this moment, she just didn't care.

"Come for a chat? I'll apologize in advance if I don't talk too much."

[Ryouji Onigata]

After being invited in to her bedroom and hearing her say that she wasn't going to talk much, Ryouji ignored it completely and grabbed her by the foot and pulled her out of the bed and on to the floor. This wasn't the time to sulk or be alone, everything that just happened needed to be discussed and since Rin has such a vested interest in Yuri, not counting the fact that her father is also mixed up in this, she needed to be present for all of it.

"You can sulk later Yuri, you don't have to talk, you just have to listen."

Ryouji picked Yuri up and tossed her on to his shoulder. Naturally Yuri wasn't feel like putting up with this so she began to hit him on his back repeatedly to get him to release her.

"I'm not letting you go and I won't fill you in later. We are all angry and upset by what happened today but we need information and we need it now. Isn't that right Shiori?"

Shiori was following behind her father with her hands covering her eyes. She didn't even want to look at her Auntie Yuri because if she did it would mean that she would have to use thedeath stare her to get her to come along and she couldn't do that willingly against her favorite Auntie in the world. She didn't want to be feared by her Auntie, only respected and loved and stuff.

"Don't worry Auntie Yuri, Shiori won't stare at you!"

It was clear that Ryouji wasn't kidding around about getting Yuri to sit down and listen to everything Hiroki had to say in regards to his Relationship with Rin and why they know each other so well to begin with and then there was Tatsumaki who was lounging about and she wouldn't say a word without Shiori there.

"I didn't bring you along to stare at Yuri, I brought you to make her think you would if she didn't come. You're here for Tatsumaki."

Shiori uncovered her eyes and stared at her father. He tricked her! Well actually he never said that he needed her to stare at Yuri which she wouldn't do! But still!

"Not cool Daddy! Deception is not a weapon to be used on me!! I'll pay you back, Shiori promises this!"

Ryouji eventually made it to the main area of the house where everyone was sitting waiting for Hiroki to begin his explanation.

[Yuri Nakayama]

Yuri really wasn't in the mood to listen to anything, but since she was more or less being forced to. She did eventually stopped struggling as he mentioned Shiori, glancing back to her though she was upside down. It was some consolation that she wasn't going to stare at her though it wasn't much a surprise that her mentor just brought her along to make her (Yuri) think she would be stared at since it's really no secret she can't stand being stared at with the death stare.

Once they were where everyone else was at, she was put down on her feet and just sat down somewhere, folding her arms. She just glanced towards her father who looked rather..sad. Once everyone had gathered, he began to speak.

"I have a lot to explain so I'll start from the beginning. I've known Setsuro for a very, very long time. For those who may not know, that would be the Onigata's father. There was a point in time where he was a kind man with family of his own. Unfortunately, as we all know, Shinigami life is surrounded with tragedy and the child ended up dying due to sickness. I can't quite remember what happened with his wife but that was his breaking point. He became obsessed with having the perfect child. That's where you four siblings come in."

It was no secret or surprise that the siblings were just clones of the father but who would have thought it was out of some obsession to have a family once more that wouldn't end up dying somehow? Hiroki's story didn't end there.

"It first started with Rin. She was subjected to many a horror and when I found out what he was doing, that's when I vowed to stop him. I did manage to rescue Rin but I made a grave mistake. Just like how Yamamoto hid an important factor from Ryouji, I hid the truth from Rin in a naive belief if she never found out, she could regain a peaceful life.That's how it was for a while until she figured out the truth as she got older. Perhaps if I had shared that truth.. No, that wouldn't have made a difference. He still ended up making the triplets and here we are now."

All it was sounding like to her was that he royally screwed up and now they're stuck with the end results of his failure. No, she couldn't think like that. that was just her anger trying to find reason to lash out. It was hard not to do that. It was rather sad though. It just seemed like Rin never really had the chance to learn what life was truly about and was just reacting like anyone would under those circumstances but that doesn't excuse the fact that she killed her husband and former- no.. Her best friend.

"As the four of you used to be one, so were your Zanpakuto so when you split, so did they and gained identities of their own. However, two can't remember this simple fact while one, while her attitude is a blessing and curse at the same time, is the only one that can remember. As you saw earlier, Ryouji and Jin's Zanpakuto will not listen as long as Rin is around so that means you two will have to rely on something other than your Shikai and Bankai to defeat her. Allow me to express my deepest apologies for allowing this to happen. Especially for you, Yuri. I was there that day when Luna had killed you and nearly succeeded in turning you into a Hollow. I couldn't allow such a thing to happen so I used a method I learned from Urahara. So that's why, at first, you never were aware you were dead until you were told."

Okay, so she was really boiling now. So he's basically telling her that it was him that made her into a visored?! There was no expression, really. She was downright refusing to believe it. Yuri just began to lightly tap her index finger on her arm, just listening.

"I've been trying to for all these years to put an end to this but I've now come up the realization that I can't. I know it was my problem and my responsibility to fix it, but I just can't anymore. I'm going to need everyone's cooperation and I understand if all of you are unwilling to participate or even trust me. That's fine. However, I will not let my family, friends, not Soul Society fall because of a single mistake centuries ago.""

Yuri would help but it wouldn't be because she was doing it as a favor or anything like that. She was going to do it as revenge and nothing but. She would excuse herself to go train but something told her she wasn't going to be that lucky.

"I'll join along. It's not like we all don't have a score to settle."

[Jin Onigata]

After hearing more of his and his siblings origins, it all began to make sense. They were not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination but Rin was superior to them in every way shape and form. That doesn't explain how they got here, who brought them to the soul society and he himself was no better than his sister. He's done more of his fair share of killing in his father's name. Yet there was more to Rin and the things he's discovered on the other side.

"There is more to Rin that it seems. She's stronger, smarter and faster than the lot of us. What the old man neglected to mention was her training. I don't understand why it is she can enter and leave the Seireitei at her leisure. I do know however that she was a Captain at one point. Tatsumaki, since you are the only one who remembers everything about her. Could you possibly tell us about her?"

Everyone's attention turned to Tatsumaki whom was just sitting their with her eyes closed, in her own little world. She opened her eyes and noticed that she was being glared and stared at and instantly shielded her eyes.

"I...I think I might pass out from all the hideousness in this room...I...can't take the ugliness."

She fell backwards and passed out. Shukumei facepalmed herself so hard. It was hard to believe that this was her Zanpakutou. They were like night and day.

"Shiori she seems to have taking an extreme liking to you. Will you comfort her while she tells us about Rin. We need to know all we can, it's important."

[Takedakeshii Amatsu Tatsumaki]

Once she passed out from all the ugliness in the room, she was awoken by Shiori and instantly hugged on to her and wrapped her wings around her and immediately started to coo from happiness.

"Tatsumaki, Shiori wants you to tell everyone about you and Akuma and Shinkuremasu and Rin's Zanpakutous, we need to understand why you remember stuff and they don't, kay?"

Tatsumaki stopped cooing upon hearing her request and unwraveled her wings from around the two of them and rested her head in Shiori's lap and took a deep breath.

"Before I begin, I have to correct mister wrinkles, it's not an attitude, it's my ultimate defense mechanism. It's because of this defense mechanism that I was able to avoid having my memory fragmented like Shinkuremasu and Akuma. The old guy is correct. We are all pieces of Setsuro Zanpakutou, not even I remember its name. As our personalities developed, we lose bits and pieces of memory, that is what I've forgotten. Rin's actual Zapakutou name is Akagane. Artica was an experiment in which she kept when she put on the charade of Shiva. Setsuro, I'm not sure how he managed to create a Zanpakutou but it goes without saying he's smarter than the majority of us, perhaps his only equal is Umm...uh that old guy!"

There was a lot more. Rin's history only solidified the mistrust most of the people in the Seireitei had for the Onigata's, while Ryouji and Shukumei and even Shizune and Ami now, it wasn't always that way thanks to their father, his betrayal sparked the distrust.

"Because of his experiments of not only Rin but other Shinigami and Zanpakutou both living and dead. He then sought to create a more perfect version of himself, keep in mind that at this point he was still young. He began to mix his DNA with the DNA of other captains, then came Hollows, specifically the stronger types, Vasto Class as they existed for quite awhile before Aizen conducted experiments of his own. He spliced and took out the weaknesses of all, leaving him with the perfect creation. All the strengths and none of the weaknesses. Skipping the grossness the egg and birth and all that figure ruining nonsense. She was born and subjugated to more experiments. Mental Capacity exams, physical ones. When mister cobwebs found out what he was doing, he took her away to save her."

Shiori ran her fingers through her hair. This was so weird for her but then again she wonder if this is what it was like for Ami and Emi when they were together. It can't exactly be the same because Tatsumaki is a spirity thingy that has pretty white wings and long pretty hair and a pretty dress thing!

"What he hasn't told you is that Rin had a relatively normal child hood I guess, she was entered into the academy. Passed and became a Captain herself. She was the captain of your second squad and Punishment squad. Her stealth training comes from her time in that squad...but as time went on someone was supposed to join the one squad but worked it out so that Rin could join in his stead. To put it bluntly, Rin is a former member of the Royal Guard. Care to explain that one old person?"

[Hiroki]

So, she knew about that little secret as well.The old man folded his arms and exhaled as he looked over to the Zanpakuto spirit. There was no more need for hiding, it seemed. Well, hiding his true identity at least. As for him and Setsuro being equals.. He wasn't quite sure how to take that. While his former ally and friend had the intentions of hurting others, Hiroki only did so through unintentional means. Rather, they seemed unintentional.

He knew deep down there was going to be a confrontation and a hunch his daughter would somehow be involved and his hunch wasn't wrong at all. However, it was best that they believed it was to save Yuri, which indeed it was, than to think that that particular circumstance came into being.

"Setsuro wasn't the only one conducting experiments. I, however, was working on the mineral known as Sekkiseki which I'm sure you know is what is found in the walls of Seireitei and the walls of the prison found within the first division barracks. With it being in great abundance in Soul Society, it wasn't hard to gather and make useful items out of it."

At that time, and still now, was a part of the twelfth division and had a knack for creating various things. It would have served as a great way to cut off anyone who uses Reishi as a source of power. Shinigami, Quinies, Hollows.. Anything and everything would be powerless.

"I imbued this material in many things including my own Zanpakuto. Not only that, i have a great understanding of the anatomy of almost every creature in existence. I know how Reishi flows through the body and what channels need to be open and closed. This came from multiple.. researches on various bodies. Call it cruel if you wish, but that knowledge is what got me to Captaincy.. and an offer to join the Royal Guard."

While he was honored his research made it possible for him to join the Royal Guard, there was no way he could. if he did, there was no way he would be able to protect Rin. The effort to protect her was unfortunately the end result aided in the distrust of the Onigatas.

"I couldn't protect Rin if I was with the Royal Guard since I'd be in a completely different Dimension than here. All my attempts to keep her safe only aided in the factor as to why the Onigatas were held with such bitterness. For a moment, I was wrapped up in that same bitterness but luckily, I was able to see that, for once, it was alright to be wrong. Before this conversation goes any further, I must truly introduce myself. I'm no fool in thinking that you all must be curious as to what Rin meant by me not hiding behind a facade. My name is Shiryo Nakayama."

He had been hiding for so long that it seemed rather odd to even utter his true name. He hadn't heard it in so long it almost seemed so.. surreal.

"It's fine if you don't believe me. Anything that used to exist under that name has long since been erased so you could say, in a sense, Shiryo is dead and Hiroki is what's left. Before this gets further off track, I'll stop there since this isn't about me. Setsuro will stop at nothing now that he has his goal in front of him. that's why certain precautions, whether you know them or not, had to be placed. However, his plan to let the four siblings grow has backfired, in a way. Even though they have indeed grow strong, they've all assumed their own lives. By admitting it or not, they've obtained things that they will not give up so easily. Whether it's a family or just the simple instinct of wanting to live, his children and families will be the factor that ends this unfortunate tragedy once and for all."

[Takedakeshii Amatsu Tatsumaki]

Having gotten bored half way through the old man's explanation of everything, Tatsumaki stretched her wings and began to flap them as if she was going to take flight but was instantly pulled down by Shiori so she wouldn't damage anything. After all she was a wind type and a strong one at that, one flap of her wings and she could destroy things. Instead she huggled on to Shiori and wrapped her wings around her again and rested her head on her shoulders. After Hiroki or Shiryo or Jubei or whatever his name was finished speaking, she stood up and bolted for the door so she could get some air beneath her wings. Once outside she stretched once again and took flight, flying around in slow circles while screaming "WEEE" at the top of her voice. She called for Shiori and as always, when called she comes running. Upon exiting the house Shiori watched Tatsumaki as she landed in front of her.

"When you summoned me all those years back, what else did you learn about me? I'm curious, thinking back you said my name even before I introduced myself so on some level we were able to communicate before you forcefully summoned me here."

Shiori giggled before stretching herself, when finished she put some serious thought into it. She couldn't remember everything for whatever reason then it hit her.

"You mean that you also have another..."

Tatsumaki covered Shiori's mouth with her hand to prevent anyone from listening in. Tatsumaki nodded and lowered her hand. Shiori nodded.

"If we are to have a chance against Rin, Shukumei must learn this as well. Unfortunately I can't have you warning her about it either. She's going to need that in order to face Akagane. Promise me you won't tell her."

Shiori went to speak when her energetic nieces came from inside to join them. Aysa who was riding on Saya's back stopped and both of them just stared at Tatsumaki. Tatsumaki glanced down at them and for once in her life had absolutely nothing to say, she was stunned by their adorable cuteness!

"Auntie Shiori, who is this?! She is sooo pretty! Look Aysa she has wings too! Can you fly pretty lady?"

Tatsumaki nodded and scooped the two girls her arms and grabbed Shiori too and flapped her wings and took flight. She flew around slowly because she didn't want to make them sick. Shukumei ran outside immediately after and stared up, watching Tatsumaki and the three girls being flown around that high off of the ground.

"Tatsumaki you bring those girls down here right now! It's dangerous to be up that high."

Shiori waved to her auntie Mei-Mei who sighed in return, Shiori found fun in everything she's ever done, but it was still very dangerous! Tatsumaki stuck out her tongue and attempted to fly away but unknown to many Shukumei and Tatsumaki are bound by a spirit chain, much like the ones Shukumei use to be bound to before breaking them. So in retaliation to Tatsumaki's defiance, Shukumei planted her feet and grabbed a hold of the chain to keep her from flying off any further.

"Tatsumaki I'm warning you, if you don't bring them down, I'm going to force you to do so. I don't want them to get hurt."

Tatsumaki got more air under her wings and began to fly forward even harder causing Shukumei be pulled forward slightly by pure force.

"Very well then, I'm sorry to do this but, Wither, Takedakeshii Amatsu-sumizome Tatsumaki"

Tatsumaki's eyes widened in not only surprise but sheer shock as the feathers on her wings began to wither away leaving nothing but but the muscle, her pretty dress changed into armor as dark as night itself, her hair changed from it's long flowing white to black and the flowers she wore in her hair turned black and red. Even her make up became dark she was far more sinister looking. She fell from the sky and landed with the girls safely before putting them down and standing up again. She was quiet for the first time in centuries. She knew all along but never forced her wings to wither away until now and now that she knew the command, she felt that she was ready to aid in the fight without restraint against Rin.

"You've known this whole time, haven't you?"

Shukumei nodded before walking over to Tatsumaki and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I wouldn't be your master if I didn't know every little secret about you including your desperate need to be defiant in order to seek my approval. You've always worried that I was going to throw you away or abandon you the way Rin did, but I could never do that to you and I don't want to change who you are. I enjoy the fact that you are defiant and fun loving and even when you make fun of people who are not nearly as pretty as you are. I will never abandon you Tatsumaki, we've been together for this long and I don't want to change that now."

Tatsumaki nodded and kneeled before Shukumei. Shukumei stopped her before she could fully kneel however. She didn't want her to be all serious and start respecting her now even though while in this form she's highly serious. Saya and Aysa were upset with Shukumei, and they marched over to her and glared at her Aysa in particular because she was having fun! Aysa pointed at Shukumei and frowned.

"MEANIE!"

Aysa walked over to her Auntie Shiori and was picked up and comforted. Saya followed to help make her cousin happy again,

"Whirl Takedakeshii Amatsu, Tatsumaki"

Upon hearing the command Tatsumaki's feathered wings returned to normal and she burst out of the armor. She was back to her normal self again

Tatsumaki ran over to Shukumei and hugged her tightly before releasing her and flying into the air, flying at full speed and giggling.