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Chapter 9

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"So… You didn't know?" Asked Lana, looking from her husband to the captains in front of her.

"No." Said Shunsui, shaking his head. "A human's memories are wiped when they receive soul burial Lana-chan."

"But Nanao… Nanao-san told me she remembers, that her memories weren't wiped because she was too powerful…"

"It's an inexact art Lana-chan." Said Retsu gently. "Nanao held on to most of her memories of life and death it's true, but the most important of those are the familial memories, those are wiped first on burial, to avoid the heartache."

"I remember dying, Lana-san." Said Nanao softly. "And I was with my father at the time, but his face is missing. I know I had sisters, three, and a mother, but I don't see them in my memories, I see just faceless people…"

"So the father you talk about… Is the man that raised you in the Rukongai… Not Larry."

Nanao nodded.

"I placed a lot of my trust in that man… I woke beside him with memories of a father with no face."

"It is an incredibly difficult thing to come to terms with." Said Retsu softly. "For anyone to remember anything of their human life is cruel. For a child to remember is almost unbearable."

"I was a victim of circumstance. I truly believed that man to be my biological father, it's his face I see when I think of my human life."

"But he isn't… Larry was your human father."

Nanao nodded.

"But you have no memories of each other?"

Both shook their heads.

"But… You share the same genes."

"Your genes receive no alterations on entering soul society." Shunsui agreed.

"So when you run a DNA test you still match."

"All genetic testing will identify them as father and child." Said Retsu.

"So all genetic testing will identify Sun-chan and Nanao-san as… as sisters?"

"Yes. Biologically Nanao and Sun-chan are half-sisters."

"They're actually shockingly alike for half-sisters Lana-chan." Said Shunsui gently. "They both favour the recessive side of the family heavily."

"You have the same eyes… the same hair…"

"You can't sense it but they feel like each other too Lana-nee. Generally reiatsu similarities translate quite well into physical similarities. Reiatsu is genetic too."

"But-"

"The recessive side of the family, remember?"

"The power comes from my grandmother, Larry's Mother." Said Nanao quietly. "I cannot see her face, but I remember her stories."

"So… Somewhere in soul society your grandmother, your biological one, is still around too."

"Provided she hasn't died and been reborn to the human world yes."

"And your sisters?"

"Yes."

"So really it doesn't matter… This is just a massive coincidence, that you are the people you are."

"Yes." Said Nanao and Shunsui, relieved that she'd gotten there at last.

"The only point at which a biological connection can have an effect is in future generations." Said Retsu. "If Larry had unwittingly married Nanao the resulting children would probably be physically or mentally impaired, there are cases where this has happened. In this situation it matters little beyond what it means for Nanao and your children as they will be in close contact."

"They'll sense the familial connection… Like with Shunsui."

"Yes and no." Said Shunsui. "Sun-chan can sense it, as the spiritually powerful child of two reiatsu lacking parents she craves the contact with reiatsu possessing family."

"Like you with grandmother."

"Yes. Non non possessed the power I needed. It's why she favoured me so strongly. The more powerful the child the harder they cling."

"So only the powerful baby will crave Nanao."

"Yes. Lana-chan the girls are a little complicated… Nanao told you they were single reiatsu children."

"Yes."

"That is… incredibly rare… Lana-san." Said Retsu softly… Favouring is common, the same way a child may favour a parent visually, but to hold a single reiatsu source is unusual."

"But that doesn't make sense… I'm no doctor but making a baby requires combination of genetic material…"

"Ah. Now we reach the nitty gritty details." Said Shunsui with a smile. "This is incredibly difficult to explain, and I'm no geneticist, but spiritual power isn't entirely linked to DNA, as I understand it anyway…" He glanced at Retsu who nodded.

"It's like a second set of inheritable material. This set doesn't require the input of both parents."

"But how can it effect appearance if it isn't linked to DNA."

"Ah but it is, at least to a point. For example I can tell you right now for an absolute fact, that one of the twins will have brown hair and brown eyes, while the other will have black hair and Nanao-chans beautiful violets. Colouring is very very linked to reiatsu, particularly the eyes, as they're the windows to the soul."

"So Sun-chan favours Nanao-san, because Larry's input was more substantial than mine?"

"Not really… Sixty forty usually gives you a pretty good mix." Shunsui admitted. "The eyes don't shock me all that much, I think an idiot could tell Nanao-chan's eyes aren't quite natural, she wears her reiatsu more obviously than most. It's a very VERY dominant trait, there's no way the Kyoraku Reiatsu could fight with that. The hair is pure luck though. You can tell it isn't quite as reiatsu linked as her eyes, Sun-chan has curls."

"Definitely a Kyoraku thing." Nanao agreed to laughter.

"If Nanao's hair was a less unique colour you'd think Sun-chan favoured her a lot less to be honest. She's gained too very unusual traits there. Underneath the obvious similarities Sun-chan actually favours you Lana."

Lana snorted.

"He's quite correct." Said Nanao. "Her face is all Kyoraku and she's got skin significantly darker than mine. If I were to hazard a guess I'd say she'll have a stature quite like yours too when she's grown."

"So back to the twins."

"The weaker of the girls probably won't favour visually." Said Shunsui. "And if she does it's all normal genetics. She will favour me over Nanao though because the small amount of reiatsu she does possess will be Kyoraku. The barrier will have a say there too. The safety from the barrier will linger subconsciously in her mind."

"Will she dislike Nanao?"

"No. Nature is kinder than that." Said Nanao. "Remember when we talk of my reiatsu we talk of her twin sister's too. Twins are a special bond. She will always love her sister and by default cannot hate my power. A child's reiatsu is pure innocence. There is no vindictiveness, and no blame."

"What about the stronger?"

"She is going to favour Nanao very very strongly. The Kyoraku reiatsu will get no input at all. Straight black hair, violet eyes, skin pale as snow. She'll have a birthmark on her left side, right on the curve of her hip."

Nanao smacked him.

"You're reiatsu marked Nanao-san?" Said Unohana, interested.

"There's another two she won't tell me about. I saw the first by accident." Said Shunsui smugly.

"What's the difference between a reiatsu mark and a normal birthmark?"

"It'll be white, almost silvery on skin like Nanao and Larry's."

"Sun-chan has two of them." Larry piped up, surprised.

"Really?"

"She has one just like yours on the back of her neck Shunsui, and another one on her chest."

"Chest one isn't mine, but they're absolutely inheritable. One more Nanao-chan." He teased to a smack and laughter.

"She'll be absolutely identifiable as Nanao's family to someone who can sense, right?"

"Sun-chan is already identifiable as related to us both to anyone who looks, but the stronger of the girls will be incredibly obvious."

"You said single reiatsu children are extremely rare… why did this happen?"

Shunsui glanced at Nanao who sighed, she'd known it was coming.

"There are a couple of reasons…" She avoided.

"Oh come off it Nanao-chan! It's because both the Kyoraku and Ise reiatsu are captain capable. The stronger the reiatsu the more likely it will function alone. The fact that the girls are twins says a huge amount."

"It does?"

Nanao refused to meet anyone's eyes and Shunsui couldn't bring himself to say it so Retsu stepped in.

"Shunsui-san and Nanao-san woud be widely considered to be the best reiatsu combination in the goeti thirteen. Their spiritual powers work so well together it's almost considered fairy-tale. Reiatsu wise it woud be extremely difficult to find a better team. That the twins favour one of each of them so heavily is almost a repeat of Nanao and Shunsui themselves."

"Do something right and keep doing it that way." Said Lana.

"Nature at its best. Whatever your little girls get up to in life they will make a breath-taking team as they do it."

They were almost home free, almost, when Lana asked the question Nanao was dreading.

"So if Shunsui-nii and Nanao-san had children…"

There was a mischievous sparkle in her eye that told Nanao she was being teased. Shunsui was laughing softly at Nanao's pout.

"Oh come on Nanao-chan. You know they'd be amazing."

That earned him a half-hearted smack as she blushed to the roots of her hair. Shunsui actually felt sorry for her. She was horrifically embarrassed.

"They'd be single reiatsu, right?"

"Never." Said Shunsui.

"What?"

"I don't get it." Larry admitted.

"Neither do I." Retsu grudgingly.

"He's right." Nanao admitted. "Reiatsu is all about what is best for the soul. Nobody quite knows how it works, but it does, and…"

She sighed.

"There's no way nature would let us put a single reiatsu child on this plane unless it had a twin because it isn't in the child's best interests." She admitted grudgingly.

"Still don't get it."

"Ise-san and Kyoraku-san are better together than they will ever be apart." Said Retsu, getting it and saving them from the awkward topic. "It makes sense then that any child they had should be a mixture of their best bits."

"If you had children with other people?"

"Almost certainly single reiatsu." Said Shunsui

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Said Lana amused. "If they had kids with other people there would be a baby Nanao to balance baby Shunsui."

Shunsui shrugged. Nanao still looked incredibly uncomfortable and he decided to move the conversation along.

"Right. Let's get this barrier sorted."

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"You okay Nanao-chan?" Asked Shunsui softly.

They were walking back from the fourth and it was the first time they had alone to talk.

She nodded, offering him a shadow of a smile.

"I'm sorry, that Lana-nee asked…"

Nanao shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. They're only hypothetical children anyway."

That didn't ring true with Shunsui but he didn't comment on it. It had hurt him too after all. He'd never have children with Nanao-chan, and they both knew it.

It wasn't something as simple as duty and responsibilities, it wasn't about rank and propriety, it wasn't because they didn't want children.

No, it was because they couldn't. They'd never be able to conceive a child and that was as it should be.

Nature was too kind to let any child of theirs into the world.

Any child of theirs would be an unmitigated disaster. They were just too strong, their reiatsu's too stubborn. It was a reiatsu condition, one that even some normal couples came across, where reiatsu just wouldn't mix, or relent, to allow a child result. They had plenty of pretty names on it… Reiatsu rejection, compromise deficiency… soul mate syndrome…. In a somewhat perverse turn of events it was always the best matched couples that ran into the issue….

Shunsui'd known that Nanao was someone he could never have children with since she was a child herself. It was a passing understanding, unimportant at the time. It was something he'd known as long as he'd known her, and he knew she knew that too.

He hadn't expected it to hurt so much.

It had really knocked the wind out of him though, to talk about those children they couldn't have and he could only guess it may have hit Nanao just as hard. She was quiet and agitated beside him as they walked.

"Nanao-chan."

She looked up at him.

"We'll always have the girls."

She nodded, eyes glassy, summoning a smile from somewhere.

So strong, his Nanao-chan.

They entered the office and Nanao dropped onto the couch tiredly.

She only opened her eyes when she felt the cushions depress beside her.

"Thanks." She murmured, taking the offered mug of tea. Camomile, she realised on sniffing. She probably looked quite worked up. She could tell from the smell he'd made his own mug too.

"They don't understand." Said Nanao at last.

"No, they don't. They won't, not until they see her. It's far too hard to comprehend unless you've seen it. We've done all we can in warning them."

"He didn't deserve even that."

Shunsui's face darkened.

"No. He deserves to rot."

She sighed.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to stand being in the same room…"

"Are you-?"

"Oh I'm fine." She promised. "Not a ripple. But every time I see him… every time I think of how I'm letting him off the hook… I want to hurt him." She admitted smally. "I want him to hurt and that's terrible."

"I think it's perfectly understandable personally, but I understand your point. I feel quite similarly. At least we know my father will not be going out of his way to force us into his company any time soon."

She scoffed. The elder Kyoraku had neglected to even attend the scan and hadn't been unaccompanied in Larry's presence since he found out.

They fell quiet.

"What are you thinking?" Shunsui asked ten minutes later.

"I'm thinking about how I'd really love to have Sun-chan right now."

Shunsui could understand that. Perfectly. Sun was the perfect comforter after something like today. Just non-judgemental support and a reiatsu touch that was loving.

She could have both from Shunsui… But it would require letting him in… Letting him see how she hurt under the surface…

He brushed her reiatsu, just a surface touch, a question, rather than contact.

She returned it and he allowed his reiatsu settle against hers, trying not to read too deeply. She cuddled into the contact spiritually, and into his side physically when he opened an arm.

She sighed softly.

"I'm seeing Lisa-san tomorrow."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I don't know yet." She admitted, sleepy against the contact. It was like a warm fluffy blanket.

"Do you need me to come?"

She shook her head.

"It's something I need to do on my own, I know that."

He nodded, stroking her hair.

"Will you appeal it, if they exile her again?"

"No." Said Shunsui quietly. "I'd like her to stay, Lisa is a friend, but she frightened me that day Nanao-chan. She was not in control of her hollow and truthfully I don't think it can be truly controlled. She tried to kill you Nanao-chan. Possessive of her position or not the Lisa I knew would never have threatened a life over a job, and certainly not your life."

She nodded slowly.

"I don't know what to tell you Nanao-chan…"

"Don't apologise for her. It isn't your fault."

He nodded, resting his head down on the crown of hers.

"I'll tell Lana quietly the next time I see her."

Nanao nodded. She couldn't argue with the fact that she never, ever, wanted to talk about their imaginary children again.

"It's just a power thing Nanao-chan."

"I know." She mumbled. "It's stupid to get worked up over it. I'm never having children anyway, I know that."

Shunsui nodded. She was right. Nanao was way too pragmatic for that. She was a soldier.

She yawned hugely.

"Why don't you take a nap Nanao-chan. Your drill isn't until five and it's been a crappy morning. Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Not really."

That wasn't all that shocking. He hadn't either. Just the idea of facing his brother in law filled him with enough rage to keep him awake.

"Cuddle down."

"That would be completely inappropriate sir-"

"Shunsui." He interrupted. "And you and I both know you can cast a kidou spell strong enough to take the arm off any unwanted visitors."

She hesitated.

"Please Nanao-chan?"

He really really didn't want to let her go just yet…

She paused before relenting, throwing up a basic privacy kidou. They both knew it was enough, their officers respected that simple spell.

Namely because they never misused it like this, he acknowledged with a smile.

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A/N: So there you have it. A bit detail heavy I know but necessary to keep moving. No Lisa just yet but it's coming.