Breathe Again

Patience was something Shiba Isshin was not familiar with.

So, when I was finally appointed my captain status, it was only natural that Isshin was impatient to be promoted as well. It wasn’t really jealousy. It was more the fact Isshin didn’t like to be showed up; especially when the person doing the showing up happened to be his best friend.

That being said, there were two specific ways to become a captain. One way involved appealing to the captains, getting their backing. If more than half of them liked your style, then you were in. If not, you would have to sway their opinions and just try again later. I, myself, got in this way. Most of the captains had heard about me, about my research and desires to create an institute that would advance our use of technology, so it made sense that they had appointed me the open position in the twelfth division.

The other way to become a captain, mind you, would be to directly confront someone already in office. Isshin, being the person he was, had naturally chosen this path.

But challenging a captain was never a wise idea, and the end results weren’t pretty in the slightest.

*

It was known to those who knew him well that he yet to achieve a proper bankai; he had started the training, sure, and was progressing steadily – but the bankai wasn’t fully formed. This was the reason for Isshin’s loss. Yes, I had been there, on the sidelines, watching. All the captains had been called to watch the fight; it was a mandatory thing or I wouldn’t have attended. It was bad enough I had been forced to see my friend almost die in battle, at the hands at another shinigami no less. And, indeed, Isshin had almost died if Unohana hadn’t been there to give him immediate medical attention.

I ran to his side the moment he fell to the ground, afraid it was too late, afraid I might never get the chance to tell him how much he meant to me before – before I never had the chance again. He wasn’t breathing. There wasn’t even a small rise and fall to his chest. I almost broke down at the sight, but I held strong, reconstructing my fear into anger and glaring as hard as I could at the captain leisurely cleaning the blood off his sword.

“You – you …”

“Aww, poor newbie captain, still holding onto your pitiful little emotions, are you?” the man teased, thinking I was weak, assuming I would have reacted like this even if it hadn’t been my best friend’s life on the line. I clutched Isshin’s limp body closer to me, even when Unohana approached and attempted to pry him away. “You should be thankful I even let this pathetic excuse for a vice captain live to see another day.”

“Bastard,” I bit out coldly, already knowing this man and I wouldn’t get along – not in the slightest.

“Please,” cut in Shunsui before the man could reply to my unsavory comment. “Respect your fellow captain. Don’t go getting ahead of yourself.” He had walked up behind me. I could feel his reiatsu trying to calm me, sooth me. Hands were on my shoulders, gently pulling me back and way from Isshin’s body. “Come on, Kisuke-chan. Let Unohana to do what she does best, all right? He’s still alive, I can tell.”

“But he’s not breathing!” I shouted, quite unlike myself and struggling against his hold on me. “If he’s not breathing how can he be alive?!” The tears were threatening to fall again, the harsh stinging in my eyes not going away this time. “That bastard killed him! It’s against the shinigami code to kill the opponent if you’re a captain!”

“Do you hear yourself, Kisuke?” Shunsui demanded in my ear, bear hugging me to his chest by now to keep me still. “Just watch.”

And I did, my eyes not straying from Isshin and Unohana. I knew she was good at what she did, of course I knew. But this was Isshin’s life at stake. Just to think of him gone, forgotten, not here any more hurt much more than anything else. I would even give up my life if only he could live.

Hell, if Unohana needed more reiatsu, more power, more anything, to keep him alive, I would give it in a heartbeat, no hesitation. Because a life without Isshin was a life not worth living.

Shunsui was whispering something to me, only me, but I couldn’t make it out, my mind too focused on Isshin. Whatever it was he was saying was relaxing me, though. Or maybe it was the way he was saying what he was saying, the gentle voice lulling me into a false sense of security. I vaguely wondered where Yoruichi was, if she was being restrained much like me by another captain.

All I knew was that when Isshin breathed again, I couldn’t have been happier just to know he was alive.