#and the concept of being born and marked for patricide

[the-narwhals-awaken]

OK so I have seen some of those in the wild (check out Katrina, she's a fount of great stuff, unfortunately I can't remember her Tumblr at this moment) but more importantly, I have ideas of my own.

Kisuke always knew who his father was.

He'd never told anyone, ever- his mother and his uncles already knew since they'd been there when he was born, Benihime knew as she was part of him, and nobody else had ever asked. He wasn't particularly interested in telling them, either. None of them needed to know.

It had been both accidental and intended, that he ended up with the Shihouin. Intended, because despite the fact that she was ill-suited to raise a child his mother loved him and intended to see him to a place where he could grow and thrive and learn, and had chosen a family she had ties with to ensure his safety to a reasonable degree. Accidental, because the caravan he'd been traveling with had encountered danger along the way and ended up wrecked, and he'd spent several years in the Rukon before catching the eye of Shihouin recruiters.

Kisuke didn't really regret it- he made a friendship with Yoruichi and with Tessai, he learned much, he had his crimson princess by his side, he grew into himself (with only a few things to hide from them, a few inheritances from his father that were not to be shared with the Shinigami) with food to eat and a reasonably safe place to lay his head to sleep.

His secrets were his own. Firstly, it was amusing to see how people reacted when they thought he was just some Rukon rat, one more kid no better than Hollow bait till he got lucky and happened to get lifted out of his poor circumstances. People didn't think twice about him. They became unwary. They talked a bit more.

Secondly, and far more importantly, they used him only for his capability and not his ancestry. The Great Noble Clans, after all, had gained their power by attacking his father. The Gotei had formed itself to fight his elder brother. The politics among them was intricate enough that Kisuke was far happier as a single Shihouin pawn, protected by his friendship with Yoruichi and his status as first Third of Second, then Captain of Twelfth.

Thirdly, he did not trust his family enough to seek them out. Most of them were not so bad as it might have seemed- Oetsu had been entertaining, if a bit focused on his craft (though Kisuke was little different) and Tenjiro had always had a minute to spare for a small child. Mother had had high expectations but loved him as she could, he knew, and he suspected that if Kirio knew of him, she would not turn against him without reason.

But he'd been given a role upon his birth- his nearly-dead Father reaching out a single fragment of His will and assigning him the role of ensuring His demise, full and complete. His family was the Royal Guard, after all, and they took their duty seriously.

He remembered the tale of what Ichibe had done to his elder brother- for a far lesser crime, merely acting as was in his nature, a crime not even committed yet- and he knew that he could not return home save it were with a replacement to sit the Throne, and he knew that there were none that could bear the burden. Even then, performing the duty he'd been born to would hurt- for all that he knew little of his Father, he'd felt His love, though little enough had escaped His bindings.

So Kisuke lived, and hid, and plotted, and watched. If there was one thing he knew, it was that things went as they would, and it was far better if one was prepared for it- whatever 'it' was- than simply being dragged along by fortune's fancy.

keep seeing stories where kisuke is the second son of the soul king and honestly it slaps

Oh shit I've honestly not seen one of those but mmmm