A/N

Shen the Lost Namikaze: Thanks for the review! Glad you liked what another reviewer called a douchebag!

Cousland: Here's what I told you about :D

To everyone else, here's a new chapter! Though it's more or less a filler :)

Chapter V:

My legs hurt.

My legs hurt really bad.

"You shouldn't have overdone it, Kotetsu-kun" Yumi said, a soft glow emanating from her hands soothing my foreleg.

"She's right, stupid." Rukia agreed, also applying kido to my other foreleg but at a slightly less soothing way, which was understandable, considering that the other healing me was a genius and Rukia's just on the 'extremely knowledgeable' level. Still, to think that these two worried about me at this level was quite humbling. It's not even a day yet and these two are already familiar to me and vice versa.

Right, how did I get myself into this state? Well, as Yumi said, I've overdone it, and I really did. What she meant was Hoho. Despite my somewhat nonchalant reaction to doing that obviously highly-advanced flash step that the dear captain of the 2nd division demonstrated in her … altercation … with me, my legs had actually hurt though I didn't notice it at first due to the adrenaline and my own elation that I actually did a highly-advanced version of flash step at first try.

Truth be told, I'm still elated up to this moment. How could I not be? The captain of 2nd division of the Gotei 13 and Omnitsukido actually invited me—let's repeat that one more time, Sui Feng invited me personally to her division. Sure she might be a bit tsundere about it but I've seen enough animes to discern what she had really meant. As for that Sui-chan … I admit, it was idiotic of me to say that but, c'mon, I was too happy at that particular moment that I didn't notice that I went overboard.

I'm still quite happy now, but the goddamned pain in my legs is taking too long to go away that it's getting me worried.

"So can I still walk?" I asked in a joking manner.

The glare that Yumi gave me effectively shut me up.

"You shouldn't be making light of this situation, Orochi" Rukia said, also sending a glare my way.

"Yeah, I shouldn't" I replied, somberly. Yumi frowned at me, making me feel guilty for pulling of that stupid trick back at Hoho. What, you think that I could pull a high level shunpo without even resorting to cheating? Let me explain, the way shunpo works is that you coat your whole body with reiatsu and then you have to will yourself to teleport away while at the same time thinking that it's just as normal as walking or running for it to work easier. That's how Shunpo works. The way I did it, I added a bit more reiatsu to my legs before I blinked away, making my speed faster but the same time putting great stress to my legs, a fact that I noticed too late.

"OROCHI!"

Oh no.

The three of us looked to where the worried voice came from, the two of them in surprise and curiosity, and every part of what makes me Orochi Kotetsu in surprise and distress. There was a tall woman rushing towards us, grey hair that reached just below her shoulders swing from side to side as she ran, her body was obviously less scrawnier than mine and more shapely, and her lovely face was the very image of worry.

It was my sister.

Rukia and Yumi parted as the grey-haired girl kneeled before me.

"What happened?!" she said as her hands checked my forehead and neck for fever, opened my eyes, and even checked the pulse on my wrist.

"Don't worry, I'm fine" I said, trying to calm down my worrywart of a sister.

"You're obviously not!" Needless to say, she was not convinced.

Then nee-chan noticed how my legs were shown out instead of tucked underneath my uniform. She frowned upon noticing that, and then she forcefully tapped my leg.

"OW" I yelp and my older sister gave me that look that parents give to their kids when they go home with a bruise or a wound. Like a kid, I just smiled sheepishly.

"What did you do this time, Orochi Kotetsu?" she asked sternly, a pout on her face and her arms crossed.

"Umm … I may have actually gone a bit too overboard on Hoho class" was my sheepish answer. I'd rather face a miraculously skilled Isao, a notorious gang from Kusajishi, or even goddamned Kenpachi Zaraki than my angry/worried sister.

She narrowed her eyes. "You mean you showed-off"

"Eheh … yeah?"

My older sister let out a long-suffering sigh, right before she uncrossed her arms and let her hands hover over my pained legs. Then her hands glowed with kido. To my knowledge of Bleach, my nee-chan will eventually become the scarily awesome Retsu Unohana's vice-captain in the 4th division. Which means her ability in the healing kido is going to be impressive. But as she healed my legs, I could say that my sister's healing abilities are already impressive to begin with.

"There. Done" she said, letting out another sigh as she wiped her suddenly sweaty forehead. Hmm. My sister may be good at the healing kidos now but her reiatsu's still not up to par.

"Thanks, Isane—"

She then enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug that may have given me fresh injuries, particularly on the chest area.

"Don't do things like that again, okay?" she asked, still worried over my well-being. Well, she's my older sister, she'll never stop worrying over my well-being and little Kiyone's.

"Can't promise that" Her hug only tightened. "Okay, okay, I promise!"

She hugged me tighter again, but before I could complain about the lack of air on my person, she let go.

"You're such a worrywart, y'know" I joked.

"I also know advance Hados"

"I was just kidding"

"Is she your girlfriend?"

…

It took a few moments before my shell-shocked mind fully processed what the question but when it did my head snapped towards Rukia and Yumi so fast that I'm sure my older sister would've been worried about the state of my neck if she wasn't as shocked as I am. Innocent Yumi's face was as red as a tomato while Rukia, the one who asked, was sporting a truly curious expression.

"What made you think that?!" I exclaimed, nearly screaming.

"W-well y-you were h-h-hugging and … and sh-she was w-w-w-worried—"

Looks like I underestimated how innocent Yumi really is …

"What Yumi means to say is that you were too intimate with her" Rukia said, and Yumi continued being red-faced in the face of me and my sister, who was equally flabbergasted with the question.

"Nagasawa-san"

"Y-Y-Yes, Kotetsu-san?"

"She's my sister"

" … o-oh …"

Rukia just nodded oh so slowly, the very image of unbelieving, while the taller blonde standing beside her looked totally embarrassed about what she had mistakenly thought to be my relationship with my older sister.

"Are you sure about that?" Rukia asked, somewhat incredulous. "You two look nothing alike"

Isane and I shared a glance, then we chuckled at the same time.

"You should see our younger sister" I replied.

Rukia is correct, sadly. My sisters and I look nothing alike, and they don't have that many similarities either. For starters, the three of us have completely different hair colors; nee-chan's is metallic grey, mine is jet black, and little Kiyone's is as orange as the substitute shinigami with the berry punny name. Then there's the height, Isane is a tall woman who would still grow taller, I'm nearly as tall as her but that's to be expected as I'm a guy, then there's Kiyone who hasn't grown even an inch since the day we met her. We had considered her tall for her height on the day she came to our lives but that day was long ago now, and Kiyone didn't even gain even an inch.

Faces? Only our eyes look alike, and even then we vary. Isane's was dull grey, easily mistaken as black, while mine was so bright they're usually thought to be white, Kiyone's stand in the middle of the two extremes of the color grey. Siblings really differ in personality, but combine that with our lack of familiar traits, and then people do a double take when we say we're siblings. Especially because my older sister is quite pretty, my younger sister is cute, and I … I look like a lazy guy going with the 'As dastardly as Aizen' look when I don't look like a slacker.

Then I remembered that I haven't introduced them to each other yet.

"Oh sorry I forgot" I said suddenly, starting to scratch my head sheepishly. "This is Isane Kotetsu"

The grey-haired girl smiled kindly and took a slight bow.

"She's my onee-san" The two girls smiled back at her.

"And this is Yumi Nagasawa, Isane-nee" I said, gesturing to the blonde who flashed her signature diabetes-inducing smile to my older sister. To my sister's credit, she wasn't even affected by the blonde's attack! I guess that comes with being a woman.

"And this midget right here is called Rukia" I said, a smirk on my face and a thumb pointing at the black-haired girl as I introduced her without an inkling of the politeness and respect I had when I introduced our other friend.

"Pleased to meet you" Rukia said, extending a hand to Isane while a tick mark appeared on her forehead. Oh I'm sure that if my older sister wasn't here, I'd be having a mean Rukia Kick planted squarely on my face, sandals and all.

Onee-chan didn't shake Rukia's hand.

I tilted my head sideways at this, curious why my every amicable, friendly, and polite older sister wasn't shaking the hand of my first friend in school … Okay saying 'first friend in school' sounded too goddamned gay for my tastes, not that I have problems with gays and all, it's just weird for me.

Then my sister did something I never thought she'd do to another person except Kiyone.

She let out a very feminine squeal right before engulfing the smaller, shorter, and thinner Rukia in a hug as bone-crushing as the one she gave me earlier, and several times before in our life together as siblings. As for the recipient of the hug, her face was contorted in a grimace though the blush showed that she appreciated the gesture even if it took her completely by surprise. Yumi, who was as surprised as Rukia, recovered first and the first things she did was to giggle at the scene before her.

Rukia just went more flustered and sent a vicious glare at Yumi first, who was unaffected as she laughed with her eyes closed, then at me. I was affected by the glare, but for a different reason. It just made me smirk in amusement, for I now commit this, the first encounter the short Rukia with my very tall sister who has a love for things considers cute—small, raven-haired girls included.