Author's note: This is based off the little clip at the end of episode 272 when Ryuuken got pissed that Uryuu was stabbed. I don't own Bleach.
"No! No! No and No!"
Isshin's voice echoed through the Kurosaki household. Ichigo turned towards his father who was shouting over the phone.
"I know what I said, but come on! You can't really expect me to-" Isshin apparently had been interrupted because he paused mid-sentence. "I understand that Ryuuken," he continued after a few moments "but I won't allow it. Do you even realize how long its been since that happened? Look, I can understand if you can't let it go but Uryuu's alright so there's no need to-" He was cut off again.
Ichigo's mild interest about who his dad was shouting at had, once Uryuu's name was thrown in, become full blown curiosity.
"Dammit I will not just hand over Ichigo to you! I don't care what I said! That's final!" Isshin slammed the phone down only to turn and see Ichigo staring at him. Shit.
"Who was that?' Ichigo asked in a serious voice.
Isshin cursed inwardly. He shouldn't have been so loud. Ichigo didn't need to know about this. He had only be awake for about a week and was still trying to cope with the loss of his powers.
Ichigo seemed to see his father's hesitation, but Isshin's hopes that his son would let it go were soon crushed.
"Spill. Who was that? What does it have to do with Uryuu? And most importantly, what does it have to do with me?" Ichigo gave him a hard look that Isshin really didn't want to lie to.
'Look Ichigo, it doesn't ma-"
"Don't give me that crap! You can't yell 'I'm not gonna hand Ichigo to you' to someone over the phone and expect me to just let it go!"
Isshin could easily see his point, but how could he tell Ichigo the truth? No good could come of it. "Listen Ichigo, just this one time would you forget what you heard?" The sincerity of his voice must have gotten to his son because he looked down in thought and was very quiet for a while.
"Fine." he said at last in a voice that was clearly not fine. Oh well. As long as Ryuuken didn't...but what if he did? He might do that sort of thing.
"Ichigo I know you can't sense spiritual pressure anymore, so I'm just gonna tell you to run if you happen to see a man with silver hair wearing glasses." Isshin thought of something real quick and continued in a rushed voice "Better yet, why don't I just walk with you everywhere so you can stay safe? Your friends won't even notice me promise" His plan resulted in him getting punched in the face.
Ichigo was mad all over again. "Will you just tell me what the hell is going on! Who the hell is after me?"
"Uh well I don't know if he's 'after you' sort of after you, just that...uh...I didn't mean to say...but you should ..." Crap, this was going downhill fast. He hung his head defeated. "Fine I'll tell you, but don't interrupt me."
Ichigo waited quietly.
"The man on the phone was Ryuuken Ishida, Uryuu's father. We uh found out what happened in Hueco Mundo when you...transformed.' Ichigo's face paled. "Ryuuken was, well frankly he was pissed beyond measure about what happened to Uryuu. Pulled out his Quincy bow and fired arrows at me point blank." Ichigo's eyes widened. "Look Ichigo, he was about to kill me over the whole deal, so I shouted at him not to kill me for something that I didn't do. I said that if he was gonna take his anger out on someone, it should be you." At this point Isshin couldn't meet his son's eyes and it felt terrible. "I told Ryuuken that when everything was all over, I'd hand you over to him and that he could do whatever he wanted to you." There he had said it. Now Ichigo knew what a horrible, terrible, no good father he was.
Ichigo was silent for a minute, processing what his father had just told him. "You were right." he said at last "What happened was my fault. You shouldn't have had it taken out on you. I get why you didn't want to tell me, but I'm glad you did." Then Ichigo got up and went to his room. The conversation was over.
Ichigo lay on his bed. Staring up at the ceiling, but not seeing it. He was trapped in his mind reliving that. What happened up above the dome. Even with his hand on his chest he could still feel that gaping hole. Everything had went black after that burst of green. Until he heard her voice calling him, he had to get back to her voice. She needed him and he had to protect her no matter what. One moment he was in that darkness trying to reach her, the next moment that space in his chest had somehow disappeared. But something had happened. He did something but it wasn't really him, and Uryuu...
Ichigo clenched the bedsheet in his fists.
His zanpakuto...
He felt the something in his eyes that might be tears.
Uryuu had looked at him and smiled.
A sob tore from Ichigo's mouth and all he could see was his friend's bleeding form. Rationally he knew that he had no control at the time, he knew that Uryuu had never blamed him, he knew these things but that didn't stop the guilt. He had tried not to think about it because he knew this would happen. He knew he wouldn't be able to bear that heavy guilt weighing down on him.
Whatever Uryuu's father wanted to do to him, he deserved it. In a twisted way, he needed it. He needed some way to atone for what he had done to his friend. Uryuu had shrugged the whole thing off, but Ichigo just couldn't do that. If Uryuu wouldn't do anything, Ichigo would take it from Uryuu's father. All Ichigo knew about the man was that he restored Uryuu's Quincy powers in exchanged for a promise that Uryuu would never associate with soul reapers again, but he'd meet the man soon enough. No matter how worried his father was, Ichigo had made up his mind. He would go confront Ryuuken Ishida. Maybe it wasn't a smart thing thing to do, but it was the right thing to do.
Ichigo told his dad he was going off with Chad, which he did. He told told Chad that he needed to go back home early, which he didn't. He told the lady behind the desk at the hospital that he had an appointment, and he had no idea how much of that statement was truth and how much was a lie.
Standing outside of the door neatly labeled 'Hospital Director', Ichigo took a deep breath. Whatever happened next, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to die. However, he knew for a fact death wasn't the worse thing that could be done to him. Deciding he wouldn't give his resolve a chance to waver, he knocked on the door and entered.
Just one look at the man behind the desk answered questions Ichigo didn't realized he had ever wondered. So that's where Uryuu got those calculating eyes and frigid gaze. The similarities were painfully obvious and as the elder Ishida looked at Ichigo, he felt that the man was really looking through him. Cold, accusing, piercing eyes. Uryuu's eyes had looked a lot like that on the day the two first met. They didn't look like that now though, friendship had softened them. Ichigo suddenly found himself wishing that Uryuu's eyes never looked like that again.
"Ichigo Kurosaki." Ryuuken said the name bitterly. "What are you doing here?"
Under normal circumstances, Ichigo would've been annoyed at the false question and would've said something sarcastic in reply. However, this was not a normal circumstance. Ryuuken's mocking voice only made the guilt in him hurt more.
"I'm here because you wanted me here." he said evenly.
"Sit down." Ryuuken commanded. Ichigo did as told. The chair was stiff and uncomfortable.
"My son is a foolish child." Ryuuken started "Has been for all his life. Insisting on fighting battles that are not his with powers he can barely wield. He's a pitiful Quincy, too soft and weak, with poor choice in friends." He glared at Ichigo with a look that sent chills down Ichigo's spine "But he is still my son. The fact that Uryuu was nowhere near strong enough to take on an espada doesn't surprise me, but you were the one everyone else seemed to place their hope in. They believed you could stop Aizen; you couldn't even stop yourself."
The cold truth of those words hit Ichigo hard.
"I don't particularly care if Uryuu dies from his own weakness. His foolish choices are his to make, but for him to have almost died from your weakness is unforgivable." Ryuuken eyes narrowed. "I will be compensated."
Ichigo didn't know exactly what happened next. Perhaps if he still had his powers he would have seen it coming, but he doubted it. Ryuuken's movements were much too fast. Something blue flashed. Everything went fuzzy. At some point he realized he was on the ground. Was the room spinning or was it just him? Spinning and blurring till at last everything faded away to darkness.
Everything hurt. Hurt so much. Each ragged breath was agony, but Ichigo felt a sort of peace in that darkness and horrible pain.
It's okay now. I did it. I deserved it. Next time I see Uryuu, I think I can look him in the eyes again. I wonder what his eyes look like now...