Yuzu and Karin Were Born

Karakura Town, Karakura First High School.

Ichigo Kurosaki had been troubled lately. For some reason, he had suddenly started seeing more ghosts over the past few days. Not only that, he had also begun seeing monsters wearing masks devouring souls. And what could he do? He could only watch helplessly; by the time he tried to save anyone, it was already too late. For some reason, there had been even more of those monsters in recent days. Worst of all, he had watched them kill soul after soul and could do nothing about it.

Ichigo was deeply frustrated by his own powerlessness.

Rukia had finally begun to recover her Reiatsu and had resumed her work, taking out one Hollow after another. It was then that Ichigo saw her and chased after her—

"Hey, you there!" Rukia ignored Ichigo completely.

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

At last, Ichigo ran up in front of Rukia and said, "Hey!"

But Rukia?

She looked around and noticed that, besides her, there was another person in front of Ichigo, so...

Ichigo shouted angrily, "Hey, why are you ignoring me?"

"Freak."

Seeing this, Rukia smiled and tried to slip past him, but Ichigo blocked her way. "Why are you ignoring me, you woman in those weird black clothes?"

Only then did Rukia look around in confusion. She grabbed Ichigo's face and pulled it every which way. "That's not right! Why can you see me?"

"Isn't it normal for me to see you?!" Ichigo shouted.

Rukia nodded. "Oh, right, some humans with high Reiatsu can see us. Well, you've seen me, so that's that! I still have work to do."

She left after saying that. Ichigo tried to stop her, but Rukia was on guard now and easily dodged him. She kicked him in the head and flew off into the distance. Ichigo could only watch her go, unable to do a thing.

Downcast, Ichigo walked into his family's clinic. After a series of seemingly nonsensical actions from Isshin that were actually meant to cultivate some of Ichigo's combat awareness, Ichigo went to his room in low spirits.

Thinking back on everything that had happened when he met Rukia, Ichigo desperately wanted that kind of power—the power to deal with every monster and protect every soul from harm.

That night.

Isshin slowly got up and went out. At Kisuke Urahara's shop, Isshin looked at Urahara as Urahara said, "Ten Unohana has discovered the Hōgyoku inside Rukia. The seal is leaking a little now, so it's no longer possible to use Rukia's Gigai to destroy the Hōgyoku." Urahara glanced at Isshin.

He continued, "But from now on, we need to protect Rukia. With Ten Unohana watching, Aizen wouldn't dare act recklessly. The main problem now is that Ten Unohana has disappeared because he removed the Hōgyoku. We need to protect Rukia until he returns to her side. Then the Hōgyoku will go back into Ten Unohana's hands, and I'll be able to rest easy."

Isshin replied, "So that's why you, who always refused to tell me about the Hōgyoku, were finally willing to tell me?" Urahara covered his face with his little fan and laughed it off. "Oh, don't worry about that. The stakes were too high. But what are you planning to do about Ichigo? If it's that boy..."

Isshin said, "There's no other way. I'm counting on you for this. My powers still haven't recovered."

Urahara looked at Isshin and smiled, still holding his little fan. "Do you really want to do this? You know it's very dangerous!"

Isshin said, "If he can't get through this much danger, wouldn't all the time I spent training him have been wasted?"

Urahara said, "Since that's what you're asking, all right, I'll do it!"

Nothing more happened that night.

The next day, Ichigo got up early and wandered around Karakura Town in low spirits, hoping to see Rukia again and obtain the power to destroy those monsters.

But Ichigo was bound to waste his time. Rukia was deliberately avoiding him, and powerless as he was, he couldn't find her.

However, thanks to Isshin's behind-the-scenes maneuvering, Ichigo found the Urahara Shop and went inside. Once he did, everything fell naturally into place. He happened upon a Soul Reaper's black uniform, which Urahara had deliberately left for him to find.

After all, Ichigo was no match for Urahara when it came to scheming. He stepped straight into the trap and fell right in.

Ichigo hurried to find Urahara and asked him to teach him how to obtain that kind of power.

Urahara looked at Ichigo and said ominously, "Do you really want that power? If things go wrong, you could die!" Urahara's words gave Ichigo a fright, but after recovering, he still decided to obtain that power.

The matter on Urahara's side had been settled, but what about Ten Unohana? Where exactly was Ten Unohana, whom everyone was waiting for?

The Dangai.

Outside the timeline, the Valley of Screams.

Time seemed almost completely frozen, barely flowing at all. That was what made the Valley of Screams so terrifying. Time was nearly at a standstill, and it was completely dark here. There was nothing—only silence and emptiness. One couldn't even speak. That was also the most terrifying thing about the Valley of Screams: complete nothingness, a nothingness that could drive a person mad.

Moreover, time flowed differently here than in the outside world. A day outside might be a year here, or ten years, or even a hundred, because the timeline here was in complete disorder.

But thanks to Ten's arrangements, none of those things were a problem anymore. In the Valley of Screams within the Dangai stood a magnificent palace wrapped in silver chains, comfortable and splendid. Ten had brought all of it out of his Zanpakuto bit by bit. Only time remained a problem, though it wasn't a big one.

"Ah—!"

"It hurts so much!"

Because time flowed differently here than outside, Masaki had already gone into labor and was shouting inside the room.

Ten paced around anxiously. How was a man supposed to know what to do about such things? He wasn't a doctor. Besides, Masaki had told him that, as a Quincy, she could control her body well; even a doctor wouldn't know better than she did.

But something seemed to have gone wrong.

"Darling! Come in."

Ten paid no mind to the rules. As soon as he heard Masaki, he went straight inside. What he saw startled him: Masaki's face was pale and completely bloodless. Gasping for breath, she said, "Darling, I can't go on, but the baby still isn't quite out. What do we do?"

Ten's eyes widened in horror. "What's wrong?!" he shouted.

In a voice as faint as a thread, Masaki said, "My Reiatsu is exhausted, and I've spent too much energy." Ten said anxiously, "Then I'll give you my Reiatsu, and yours will be fine. Tell me how to control it, and I'll do it. You get some rest."

Masaki touched Ten's face. "No, I really can't go on."

Ten said, "That's not true. Remember, you can still become a Soul Reaper."

Ten's words caught Masaki off guard. That's right! Before, it was because I was a Quincy, but I threw away my pride as a Quincy long ago. What's wrong with becoming a Soul Reaper now?

At that thought, Masaki smiled and started trying again. All she had to do was give birth to the babies, wasn't that right?

After another struggle, finally...

"Wah—wah—wah—!"

With the sound of babies crying,

the twins who would later be named Yuzu and Karin came into the world. At that moment, Masaki's soul also swiftly left her body...

Masaki looked at the Chain of Fate on her chest, then at Ten. Ten said, "We don't have the Asauchi issued to Soul Reapers, so we have to pull our Zanpakuto out ourselves, rather than forming them by nurturing an Asauchi like ordinary Soul Reapers do. So I'll tell you a shortcut for pulling the Zanpakuto out of your body. A Zanpakuto is actually Soul Reaper power, and the difference between Soul Reaper power and ordinary spiritual power is that a Soul Reaper's Reiraku is red. Telling Reiraku apart is a basic Quincy skill, so you surely know how. Then you just grab the Reiraku and pull out the Zanpakuto. There's nothing else to it."

Ten suddenly remembered Ichigo's situation and continued, "Oh, right, there's one more thing. You need to pull out your Zanpakuto as quickly as possible, or Hollow energy will erode you. If it erodes you completely, you'll turn into a Hollow. If that happens, I'll have no choice but to keep you until your consciousness returns. But no one's ever done that, so I don't know if it would work!!"

Masaki nodded. "I understand."

With that, they both turned to the twins on the bed. The twins had cried themselves tired and were slowly falling asleep. Ten then looked at Masaki and said with a wry smile, "Masaki, I don't think you can wait too long. If the babies get hungry, all I have for them to drink is spiritual water. A little might be all right, but I don't think they can drink much of it. So, Masaki, once you've recovered, I'll sever the Chain of Fate on your chest completely. Then do as I told you!"

"Mm!!" Masaki answered firmly.

The World of the Living.

The Urahara Shop.

There was another person using the same method to train in Soul Reaper powers—and that was Ichigo Kurosaki...