SOULS BOUND ACROSS TIME: A KISUKE URAHARA LOVE STORY

Chapter 21- Back Into Your Arms

Sayas POV:

Although my time under the direction of the Royal Guard had come to an end, I was sent forward as an extension of their abilities and knowledge. Each of the dismissed recruits waited around to watch the Senkaimon close for the final time, sealing the bridge between the two worlds. Knowing that I was the last to walk through, I too turned to watch the mirage-like opening slowly dissipate before our eyes. It felt like a string had been cut, the link that we all had shared with the world had been severed  before we knew it; leaving our heads fuzzy. All that was left were memories of a place unlike any other and secrets that were burned into our minds but would never spill from our lips. A hard and lonely life that we each took on to gain a wisdom, skills and strength that could only come with that solitude and comradely of the training that we received.

The moon lit up the night sky, only letting the occasional star stand out from its brilliance.  Now armed with a newfound confidence, we slowly began to make our way back to our respected division that we had left, some longer than others. 

"What are we supposed to do?" Asked one young shinigami in distress, "Act like nothing has changed?" he questioned out again to the crowd.

"You are to return to your divisions," Captain Yamamoto ordered out as he walked up the narrow path toward the 30 or so of us walking in a pack, "Your living quarters should be as you left them and you will be expected to report to your Captains at daylight." Finally he stopped at the edge of the area that we had been gathered around,"You will be expected to continue on as if you never left. You will blend back in with your respected divisions, knowing that you may be called forth for special missions that will require your expertise. " he paused almost looking through us. "As you have been told the knowledge that you poses could be of great benefit in the wrong hands and that is why you now feel that foggy feeling in your head. As a precaution, when the bridge between the two worlds was sealed,  your tie to it and the captains was also broken. This is what has created the feeling of uneasiness that you all share right now, a feeling that your memories are fading away."

I grabbed at the wooden seal that had been bestowed to me before leaving through my shirt as I gazed around me to see the look of distress fall over everyone around. It was like watching someone being drained of their powers before my eyes while they dropped to their knees each placing their hands to their heads. They all crouched down not in pain but almost catatonic for a single moment leaving me exposed. His blank expression now humbled as he looked on to me, my body trembling as I was the only one left standing in the shadow of the great leader.  My place as the liaison the Royal Guard now revealed only to him and his lieutenant and accepted with the raise of his eyebrow, nothing more.  There was no sound other then the soft rattle of the wind through the trees below and the commanding instruction of our Head Captain that continued once more.

"Be assured that although you will not be able to recall them at will, they still remain engrained in your mind, able to be released only at times of need. Your bonds and partnerships will remain, you will be able to perform at the same level that you had been trained to but you will have no memory of the tactics that it took to get you there. It will feel as if you have been given these specialties as a freely as a gift."  he paused dropping the end of his zanpakuto, cocooned in the form of an old walking stick, to the ground twice.

The loud sounds eerily echoed off of the columns that surrounded the area seeming to snap everyone out to he state that they had been in. Like a spell had been lifted they stood up with a sense of direction and duty that they didn't speak of. I silently walked in the mix as we made our way back to our divisions, listening in as they spoke of the good times that they had, as if they had just been away on a long training mission.

A gift indeed," I mumbled off at their naiveté. 

Quickly the conversations faded as they branched off, returning to their divisions, until only a few were left in the long walk to the last few division entrances.