Setting: right after Ichigo finds Kon's stuffed animal body.
Concept: Ichigo (transgender) and Chad have a two-year old daughter, Issin fucking talks to his children. Ryuken worries about Masaki's legacy—but does he worry about his own son's heart? Kon gets the dressing down he deserved after episode 7. A bit overly expository because this is the first time writing this concept. Has anyone besides TBS's Kochira Hon-Ikegamisho covered this with a message of acceptance of the teen parent's free will and "don't abandon your goddamn child"? A bit hyper-real with how people get derailed from train of thought and start to ramble.
Warnings: Mention of attempted assault, some may also pick up the anti-Asian white power fantasy being the motivation, possibly dysphoria inducing concept of a trans male person having given birth. (The child is a result of Ichigo and Chad fooling around after someone else tried to assault him, this is made explicit below, don't worry about that)
""I'm learning to fly
But I ain't got wings
Coming down
Is the hardest thing"-"Learning to fly," Tom Petty, USA, 1991
Ichigo walked into his room, shutting the door behind him, Rukia leading the way.
"Daddy!" A little girl, two years old, almost the spitting image of her grandmother save features of her not-present father, leapt off the bed, chocolate covered hands going around her father's trouser leg
"I'm home, Yasuko. How was your day?"
"YOU BASTARD!" screamed the stuffed animal in Ichigo's hand, "I'M GONNA Fi-"
"He talks!" Yasuko shouted with joy, yanking at the stuffed animal.
"STOP! STOP, YOU RUNT!"
"ARE YOU CALLING MY DAUGHTER A RUNT!?"
"DINNER'S READY!"
When all four occupants of the room turned, Karin was leaned against the doorframe.
"Does this have anything to do with Dad being in the witness protection program and you turning transparent or whatever?" Karin asked, eyeing the sentient toy.
Ichigo looked at the still-screaming stuffed animal and back to Karin, smiling nervously "Kinda?"
She pointedly glanced at his shoulder, "Well, get sewn up and-"
"Uh, hey, listen," Ichigo picked up Yasuko, balancing her on his hip opposite the arm that held the stuffed lion, who'd gone silent, "If anyone says anything to you about anything because of me, uh..."
Karin stood up straight, "Everyone thinks you dye your hair, we're mixed, you're a year behind in high school, you smoke cigarettes and have a kid at sixteen."
And Karin walked off.
Ichigo side glanced at his daughter, but spoke to Rukia, "this country's been losing its mind since I was her age.* Me and her other dad both are at least part something not Japanese nor white like most of the army that makes us worhip them..."
"Kurosaki Ichigo," the lion spoke angrily.
Ichigo sat him none to gently on the bed, noticing something else on it.
"I wanna play with him..." Yauko whined, reaching out one chocolate covered hand.
"I have to talk to him," Ichigo turned his attention to his daughter, "But first, why is there a bag of choclate as big as your head on my bed?"
Yasuko put on her most serious face, nodding gravely, "Grandpa let me have it."
Rukia crossed her arms, "Are you sure?"
"No, Rukia," Ichigo cut in, "you said you knew my dad from before. Think about it."
Rukia put her hand to her chin, "Now that you mention it, I see it."
"Can I play with the toy now?"
Ichigo sighed, lowering her to her own feet, "He's not...I mean, he kinda... He just looks like a toy. Go ask Aunt Yuzu to help you..."
Ichigo looked at the setting sun outside the window, and back to Yasuko, "Go ask her to help you take a bath. I have to talk to our new friend."
Yasuko beamed at the thought of the talking stuffed animal being a friend, "Okay!"
Calling her aunt, she ran down the hall and out of sight.
Ichigo looked to the stuffed lion and then to his new roommate, "Rukia, I have to change. I know you know, but, you know."
"Yeah, I'll take him into the hall."
Within two minutes, Ichigo called them back in.
Rukia raised an eyebrow at the sight of Ichigo still obviously with his chest bound but otherwise in pajamas, having been told sleeping bound was unsafe, but knowing he knew better with his own body, she said nothing, sitting the stuffed animal on the bed as she joined Ichigo in leaning on the closet doors facing him.
"We're not gonna kill you. You were brought to life, you have a right to live it," Ichigo started, "But you fucking accosted people today!"
Rukia widened her eyes at Ichigo's sudden screaming, but quickly regained her composure. She agreed.
"You have a right to live and determine what you do with yourself, but so did every young woman in that room that you reached out and grabbed whether they wanted or not," Rukia leaned over, making her small body as imposing as she could.
It seemed to work, the stuffed animal squirmed where he sat on the chocolate-smeared, crayon-marked bedspread.
"She's right. You took away their ability to choose whether or not they wanted to be touched. You forced yourself on them..."
He glanced at Rukia, biting his lip, and back. She knew he saw the shadow of a white army man's son throwing him to the floor, and Chad and Issin arriving just in the nick of time. He wondered if she saw any shadow reflected over the stuffed animal—who could not be trusted to know.
Ichigo walked over and sat down on a large purple scribble on the bedspread. Elbows on his knees, he rubbed his face with both hands before turning to the stuffed animal, who was backing away.
"I'm willing to give you one more chance. You probably haven't experienced life much, locked in a pill.. but if you ever-"Ichigo turned his body at an angle toards him, pointing a finger directly at him, "and I mean EVER do that again, force yourself on someone, take away the same sort of rights to determine what you do with yourself you were talking about on that rooftop... I have sisters and a daughter. I will not kill you, but you will never be welcome in this house, or near any of us, as long as you live."
The stuffed animal nodded, face somehow contorted in an expression of some understanding of guilt, "yeah, I..."
A shadow of what might have been at the hands of those who didn't recognise his own rights flashed in front of his eyes, "I'll try to be better."
"Good," Ichigo stood and patted his head, "well, then, I'm gonna—oh, you need a name!"
"What about...Hayashi...maru...?" Rukia offered.
"Grea~t!" Ichigo fake smiled, "If it was the Nara era!"
"Well, you just glued 'ko' on to one of the character's of your daughter's other parent's name! What would've happened if you two had a falling out? 'ichi-ko'? "go-ko'?"**
"Rukia, I was fourteen and the only adult I could ask for help named me and my sisters homynymous with fruit, okay!? It came out a respectable name! I got this!"
Ichigo whispered something to her.
"Oh, that's cute," she replied, "Stupid, but cute."
Ichigo stuck his tongue out at her before turning to the newest member of the household, "Your name, I think, should be Kon."
"Kon?" Kon asked back, "how's that even written?"
"Katakana, I guess. It's originally a Thai word, anyway. I'm gonna go check on Yasuko now."
Ichigo left the room.
Smoke wafted above the heads of Issin and Ryuken, both standing, tense, over the dining table.
"You let one of my sister's children have a child at fourteen, Issin. My son changed genders, too, but this is going too far. If she is out there, how can you face her?"
"How could I if I controlled my son's body?"
Ryuken took a long drag from his cigarette, clearly displaying his exasperation, "You've got to control your children at this age."
"It's his own body, Ryu. It's his own heart," Issin took a subtle puff from his own cigarette, exhaling wistfully. "He didn't hurt anyone. He and his best friend got real close after an incident with an army brat. He's a great kid, too. I have the resources, she's come out fine so far."
"Being a parent that young is ruin-"
"Because most parents don't take care of their children in their time of need. I love you as I love my wife, and I always will, but..."
Issin braced himself against the table, exhaling tension along with the smoke.
"But nothing. My son is consistently at the top of his class in school, never gets in fights, and he-"
"And he doesn't even live with you...or call you dad."
Ryuken stopped, jaw hung open, "Kurosaki...that's unlike you, to go for such a low blow."
Issin looked at the remaining cigarette, seemingly mesmerised, "Maybe it is. But, Ryu..." Again, Issin sighed, this time smokeless as he stubbed out the filter, "And having a kid at fourteen is hard—it's not been easy for him. But what was I supposed to do? It was his right to choose. If he'd wanted an abortion, I'd have helped him get one, or learned to do it myself, if I had to, like his hormone therapy. If he wanted to have the baby but give her up, now that woulda hurt, but I'd have been there, too, alongside him. In the end, he chose what he chose. And I've been learning how to support him, and her, too. Through everything. Because when Masaki decided to have him, that was what we signed up for. We were pledging ourselves to our future children for life. Pledging to care for them, to support them. Not control them—they're as alive as we are. Just younger. They just need help. They need us. But not to treat them like pets to send to obedience school. Kids are humans, just young, inexperienced ones. But they have their own minds, and their own hearts. And... they're not obligated to be an extension of our will, or to do anything for us. We've gotta prove ourselves worthy of their love. We've gotta be worthy of what we promised when we decided to become their parents...That's what I've been trying to do. It's worked so far. I want to keep that promise I made to my kids...or else, if Masaki is out there," he shook his head, gazing out the window, "I couldn't face her."
Ryuken sat at the table, sipping on the gone-cold tea and taking out another cigarette. Issin joined him, folding at his former spot across him.
"That was hard," he said, slumping his shoulders and lighting another cigarette of his own. "I do not like doing that to people I care about. And I do love you..."
Issin stood, clearing his throat and extending a hand to Ryuken, singing as loud and off-key as possible, "I LOVE YOU COMES THE APRIL BREEZE! I LOVE YOU ECHO THE-" ***
"I get it!" Ryuken shouted, hands over his ears, "Just stop!"
Issin smirked as he sat back down, leaning over the table towards Ryuken, "on one condition."
Ryuken said nothing, but raised an eyebrow.
"Call your son tonight."
"Ah," Ryuken looked down, nodding once, "Yeah, good idea."
Issin leaned his chin in his hand, beaming at Ryuken.
"Before that," Ryuken looked back up, face as neutral as ever, "do you have anything harder than lukewarm tea."
Issin chuckled and stood, going to the kitchen cupboards, "thought you'd never ask."
As two o'clock in the morning crept over the town, Kon wriggled out of the grip of Yasuko, who herself was in Ichigo's arms, around Rukia's cot, and out of the room.
Making his way around the house, he found in the living room what he sought.
A bookshelf.
He wasn't an experienced reader, but he'd come with a basic grasp of Japanese, having been created in Japan's corner of Soul Society.
With luck, he found the book he sought, and with more luck, the dictionary rendered Thai in kana alongside the proper character set. Ichigo had said it was a word.
He had to stand to turn the pages, being a very small stuffed animal looking through a fairly large dictionary.
He found the Thai letter chart, and, with enough trial and error for not knowing the Thai alphabet, the entry he was looking for.
Khon (kon)-person, human.
He wasn't sure how he was able to cry.
END
Footnotes:
*Ichigo is referring to Prime Minister Nakazone of the far-right LDP (Abe's party) making nationalism welcome in Japan. Nakazone was a contemporary of Regean and Thatcher, and of like mind.
** She's making fun of him. These aren't real names. A lot of Westerners are stupid about anything not Europe. Don't be stupid. I shouldn't have to write this, but here we are.
***KSH Issin is not good with languages, and would not be able to do this well with Frank Sinatra, and would be singing Awaya Noriko or Enomoto Ken (my own dad's fave) songs, but I'm not gonna deal with translating lyrics in a test drive fic. As long as all characters present understand it, it should be written in the same language as the rest of the work, and this is in English and makes more sense for you.