Chapter 01

Blind Sighted

Now—

"I present to you the newly instated fifth squad taichou, Kurosaki Ichigo."

The old man had said that there was a man that was going to be taking place of the former captain of the squad, but no one knew whom it was until now. Everyone turned his or her attention to the bright orange-haired male that stood tall despite scratching the thin trimmed contemporary beard against his face. It did not matter whether the man either looked up or looked down with a black long blindfold covering his eyes from the world because of one simple reason.

Five years ago, Kurosaki Ichigo died on Earth, and was found blind.

"Kurosaki!" A young male voice called out, sliding the door with a loud crack at the end. "Who do you think you are for removing Hinamori from being a second seated officer? You had no right whatsoever!"

"Having her accept me so suddenly wouldn't really be fair to anyone. She's still unstable from that whole betrayal thing, and it took a great deal of concentration to cover up the fact that you had stabbed her with Hyourinmaru. " Ichigo stated with his right ear in the other's direction. "The others agreed to this, so I did receive permission to have her step down. Sorry I didn't tell you about that Toushirou, but I knew you'd—"

"First, it's Hitsugaya taichou, let it sink in after twenty years you bastard!" The little one did not want to deal with the shenanigans of this man right here. "Second, the meeting was adjourned behind my back!"
"We knew that you would have a fit either way, so we had a quick meeting before you got word of it." He stood up with a stack of papers in his hand. "I didn't want to do this behind your back, we're friends a—"
"We are not friends at all." Toushirou turned around with a stomp of his foot as he was getting ready to leave. Yet he felt the man do a quick flash step to be behind him. He turned and spoke, "Kurosaki—!"

"It's Kurosaki taichou." Ichigo stated in a bitter tone before holding up the papers. "Can you help me?"
"Why would I want to help you with anything? You can read it by yourself, or can't you read Japanese?"
"I could read Japanese once upon a time, but, I can't see in order to read now." He admitted sorely to it.
Toushirou flinched when hearing this; of course, he forgot this man was blind. "Fine, just this once, idiot."
"It's Kurosaki taichou, idiot." Ichigo reminded cockily as if mocking. "Let it sink in after five hours will you?"

The tenth squad captain let it slide—only because he was right… for once.

They sat on the couches as the smaller one began reading the reports aloud with reluctance since he felt a little guilty for accusing him of not being able to read. After two hours of reading through reports as the blind captain signed the finished papers where there was a slight bump on the form, the small one paused when in the middle of the last report. It said that the lieutenant, Hinamori Momo, was temporarily dismissed from active duties as a seated officer, and was given a month for vacation upon the request of the fifth captain with all expenses on his soon to be very large salary. For hours, he had believed that his childhood friend was removed off the squad she had served under for so long, only to find out that she was removed from the second seat, but even that was incorrect! She was only temporarily removed and placed on an extended vacation, which meant that she could regain her position sometime in the future—wait, that meant that the blind one was outsmarting him… now he was furious.

"Why didn't you tell me it was temporary!" Toushirou slapped the report on the desk.

"You needed to vent because I removed her from her position as fukutaichou, the reason why I didn't fully remove her from my squad, is because I believed that you and I were friends." Ichigo stated calmly as his hand searched the desk for the last report. He found it, took it, and signed it. "That's the last one, right?"

"Kurosaki," Toushirou looked at the other apologetically for being so rude. "I'm sorry for accusing you—"
"Don't worry about it, thanks for helping with the reports." The man stacked them and began walking out.
He thought about it for the moment, watching him avoid objects. "Are you really blind?" He blurted aloud.
"Yes, would you like to see?" His formed turned around towards the little one. "Or, would you rather feel?"

Taken back by the offer, the boy just stood there with a flabbergasted expression. Ichigo huffed lightly as he came over, gently grabbing the small captain's hand with a callused hand while the other lifted the blindfold to show severely dark eyelids. The latter immediately withdrew his hand while stating that he did believe that he was blind, but also questioned how the man could maneuver around everything. Only he did not expect to hear that Ichigo learned to see the vibrations, trying to compare to bats and sharks… whatever those were. Without permission, Matsumoto Rangiku jumped into the office happily since the door was wide open, jumping onto the man who had his blindfold back in place before she could see.

"I thought you two would be fighting with each other, so I ran as fast as I could to stop you, but it looks like you two are getting along." Rangiku smiled approvingly. "Anyway, you need help with something Ichigo?"
Ichigo patted her head with the reports in hand, "don't disrespect a taichou, Toushirou will be a little kid about it." He began to walk out, waving the papers. "I have to discuss something with Byakuya anyway."
Just then, a redhead came in, crashing into Ichigo, falling over him as they collided onto the floor. "S-Shit, sorry Ichigo! I was trying to get here before you saw Kuchiki-taichou!" He looked at the man beneath him.
"Renji…" Ichigo tried to say as calmly as possible. "I know we were close when I was a teenager and all, but do me a favor and get off." Instantly, the man got off and helped him to his feet while apologizing.
"S-Sorry about that, I didn't mean for it to look like that… I mean…of course I wouldn't intentionally since you were with a woman last…" He thought about what he said. "Wait, that didn't come out right Ichigo—!"

Ichigo smacked him upside the head with the hand of reports before walking out. "Don't worry about it."

"Are you saying that Ichigo is gay?" Rangiku gasped, paused, and screeched. "You're gay Renji?"
The redhead looked at her with shock, surprised to see her. "I—what? N-No! No I'm not gay, woman!"
"Come now, you don't need to be embarrassed." Ichigo spoke tauntingly. "Tell them the truth, Ren-chi."
"ICHIGO!" Renji's entire face went red, brighter than his hair even. "You said you wouldn't say that!"

"You said that you wouldn't cause problems for me in return." The captain who was Renji's height after growing up, began to poke at Renji's cheek abusively. "Tell them the truth and I might forgive you, fair?"
"So you're both gay, it's okay! I won't tell anyone—!" Rangiku was interrupted by Ichigo's dramatic reiatsu.
Ichigo did not seem like he wanted the woman to interrupt his dominance on the man he was talking to so he flared his reiatsu to have her be quiet. Then turned to Renji again, "what's it gonna be, Abarai Renji?"
The redhead turned his head away, mumbling under his breath. "I-I'm only gay for K-Kurosaki taichou."
"Good boy, Renji," Ichigo said with amusement, patting the man's shoulder. "Now come with me."

His head dipped as he turned around to follow the man who was twenty feet down the hall. "He's mad…"

With this blurted out in the open, Renji followed the fifth squad captain who draped the reports over his shoulder as if he were a teacher with a binder. Rangiku snickered and giggled about the whole homo relationship the two had appeared to have, but out of nowhere, Ichigo's reiatsu began to flare again—this time it was higher than earlier. Toushirou hurried out the office to see what was going on with his large breasted lieutenant behind him in case they need to help with something. The orange-haired male stood tall in front of a certain clown-faced captain that did not seem to have any interest of stepping aside.

The two were whispering something until Ichigo grabbed him by the throat with a dark creepy sinister aura surrounding the small group before finally hesitating, causing him to throw the clown a few yards down the hall. Renji grabbed Ichigo by the upper arm to tell him that he could not do whatever he wanted anymore due to having responsibilities as a captain, and he too was grabbed by the throat and thrown against the wall to be reminded. Toushirou and his lieutenant heard the tall captain say that Renji knew better than to go against him to help another, that if he did it again, there would be more than just Heaven and Hell to pay when he was done with him. Rangiku came over, demanding Ichigo to stop harassing Renji for telling him what the rules of Seireitei, and his attention unfortunately went slowly to her now.

Ichigo brought his free hand out, extending it towards her, "stay out of it." His voice echoed scarily.

Without much thought on how to protect their friend, Renji slapped Ichigo's hand away from his throat, grabbed his face, and kissed him on the lips, earning him a furious punch in the face before walking off. It did not matter too much to Renji about being smacked in the face so ruthlessly because he did what he wanted to do; protect their friend, and get a kiss from Ichigo. Now Rangiku was fussing over his busted lip from the hard punch while asking what was Ichigo's problem at that moment, causing Renji to somewhat stay out of her touch so he could explain what the problem was at the moment.

"If you tell anyone about what just happened, he could be banished from Seireitei." He murmured as he wiped his face with a fist. "He's been in a lot of pain recently, and being forced into the Gotei 13 was a major issue. He just wanted to be a soul… no fighting… no rules…just freedom." Renji frowned as he wiped the blood away again. "His Hollow is something that has not been too happy with the changes."

"His Hollow? What are you talking about?" Rangiku was someone with an obvious short-term memory.
Toushirou remembered though, that ambush on them years ago. "He is… a Vizard, am I wrong?"
"…!" Renji tried to covering his mouth before he had a chance to say the breed's name, but was too late.
Ichigo appeared behind the little captain in deadly silence until he spoke coldly. "Do I look like a Vizard."
The female lieutenant felt something definitely wrong, "w-what's wrong Ichigo?" She began to back away.

Renji knew what was going to happen though, and did a quick flash step to Toushirou's side before slowly walking in front of him. "He didn't mean it, really, just report this to soutaichou and it will be taken care of. Hitsugaya taichou is your friend, remember?" The redhead swallowed hard and nervously due to worry.

"Do I look insane to you?" Ichigo's head tilted towards Renji as he continued. "Fighting side by side with him, saving him from Gotei 13, not killing him when no one believed in me," he asked again, this time, it was much darker. "Do I look insane to you, Abarai fukutaichou? Do I look like I'm about to kill him?"

"Yes… you do…" Renji brought his arms up to protect the small captain. "Please just report this incident."

"Did you always get so protective of others when I'm angry?" Ichigo brought a hand out, white liquid pooling out of his hand that molded into a ball slowly. "It's good we're apart, otherwise, I'd be jealous."
Worried that he was even going to attack him Renji yelled at him before he could. "Ichigo don't—!"
"Stop whining," he interrupted, the Hollow white liquid stopped with a pulse and molded instantly into a dragon identical to Hyourinmaru, and calmly gave it to the boy. "I would never attack a friend again…"
'Again?' Toushirou thought to himself, looking at the dragon. 'This is exactly like Hyourinmaru…'

"Besides, killing him would be no fun…" Ichigo began to walk away casually after picking up the reports from the ground, without paying attention to the others. "How about the hot springs after work, my treat."

Rangiku heard this and jumped all over Ichigo happily, "oh I would love to! Let's meet at your lodge!"
"That's fine by me," he gave a wave with his free hand. "Renji, Toushirou, I expect you both to join us."
Renji smiled lightly because the other lightened up. "Sure, why not, let's get a drink or something too."
The orange-haired captain smirked. "You know as well as I do that drinking is not something that I do."

"While you all fool around, I'll be doing my work." Toushirou stated as he turned to leave the conversation.
As he was leaving, Rangiku thought it was be a good time to ask. "hey Ichigo, are you gay or straight?"
"Matsumoto! You have work to do now!" The little one yelled, tired of hearing sexualities for the day.
"I'm bisexual," Ichigo muttered under his breath unhappily. "I have reports to turn in thank you."
After he walked away and was out of sight, Renji explained. "He had a girlfriend when he died."
Toushirou paused when hearing this, and turned to look at him. 'Kurosaki Ichigo… had a what?'

"He stayed with her for a few years." Renji scratched his head. "They dated for two years, she got pregnant, and well… he has a ten year-old kid without a father now." He sighed and put his hand down.
"Ichigo has a kid? Is it a boy or girl?" Rangiku tackled the redhead. "How come we didn't know about it?"
Toushirou thought of something as if it clicked in his mind. "You know how he died, don't you Abarai?"
"How he died is something he's confused about, both happy and sad about. But his kid is alive, so he doesn't complain about what happened." Renji waved at them as he began to leave. "See ya later."

"Can we go to a shared hot spring? I know where one is!" Rangiku cheered happily, clinging to Ichigo.

"Ask Toushirou, he would have to be stuck with either one of us unless we all share a bath." Ichigo stated.
This caused the trailing captain to look at the three staring at him, so he flinched. "I prefer separate."
Renji thought of this and snickered. "He's never seen a woman's body before." He whispered to Ichigo.
"Not even Momo's body?" The orange-haired captain thought about it. "Well, she isn't developed yet."
Rangiku frowned at him. "But I am! I can be the first to show Hitsugaya taichou a woman's body!"

"No, he's right. It would be best not to traumatize him with his first view," Ichigo waved the thought out of his mind. "Besides, I think he would know your body first hand from when you surprised him at the store."
"Ichigo!" Renji barked at him as Rangiku and Toushirou's eyes widened in surprise to this.
The other paused and looked at him curiously. "What?" He looked to the others and noticed it. "Oh… that wasn't something that everyone in Seireitei knew about that?" His head shook. "Must've been a secret…"

"How and why do you know such a thing?" Toushirou scowled at the other captain with suspicion.
"Well... I don't want to lie, but I don't want to explain either." He tried to think about it wisely. "I forgot?"
Renji frowned and came to his side to get him to tell. "You know they're not going to tell anyone, right?"
"Toushirou isn't the problem, but Rangiku-san doesn't understand the complexity of it being kept quiet."
"Make them understand then, at least they'll expect your outbursts." The redhead tried to pursue him.
"I think they've learned enough today, from both of our sides." With this, Ichigo continued forth.

Toushirou did not like how things were going, something was suspicious even though he did not know what it was that made him unnerved. Yes, soon enough, they were at the hot spring resort and Ichigo paid for their entrance as promised, so the boys separated from Rangiku. Renji chuckled and sneered towards the tall captain, mentioning how surprised he was for not reconsidering for a shared hot spring, despite it being the right thing. The only thing the little captain regretting was that he was stuck with immature idiots who were probably going to talk about women, and possibly other males. Ichigo knew what the boy was thinking, so he retorted to Renji that he was somewhat on a timeout when it came to being in a partner type of relationship.

"Anyway, enough about that, who watched over your exam?" Renji was practically in the tall one's face as they were undressing themselves before wrapping a towel on their waists. "Tell me the details about it."

"Well, there's nothing much too say, I was asked more questions than I did showing off my bankai. I mean seriously, everyone knows that I have a bankai, let alone superior powers above that." Saying this made him grumble a bit in annoyance. "Actually, they just wanted to make sure I'll stay loyal to Gotei 13, but I'm on a limiter no matter what I do or where I go." He chuckled lightly. "Komamura-san made a funny point though, that I would cause trouble with a Hollow side within me, but Soi Fon… she bit my head off man…"

"Yeah… guess those are the only two that you haven't got to know you yet. But they should know how far you go for us, I mean, you went against everyone in Soul Society to protect Hitsugaya taichou from the Gotei 13." Renji chuckled while jabbing him in the shoulder. "Not to mention what you did for Rukia."
"Jii-san brought that up too, especially me going to Hueco Mundo and 'bringing you along' too. That really brings back some memories." His hand went out to Renji's head, measuring it to the tip of his nose. "But weren't you taller than me back then? Looks like Rukia and Toushirou aren't the only midgets now—ow!"
"Call me that again and you'll really regret bringing me along to the resort, Kurosaki Ichigo." Toushirou bellowed, mainly because he was startled out of his trance on the carrot top's back. So many scars and faded markings, he had no idea he fought so much. "You idiots are falling behind anyway—Kurosaki!"

Ichigo had placed a hand on the little captain's head, and literally gaped in surprise at just how tall he was getting; twenty years ago the boy could barely reach his chest, but now he was at his collar bone? He had to rustle those white stands of hair while stating just how impressed he was at how big he was now, and it earned him a nice smack to remove his hand. His body stiffened for the moment and turned his head in another direction as if he sensed something that was causing a disturbance. Renji and Toushirou glanced at one another before turning back at the man, and the former decided to snap him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, let's go soak in the hot springs before they somehow get cold." He patted the man's shoulder.
Ichigo shuddered out of concentration, "what? Oh… yeah, that would be bad, they give no refunds too."
"What got you so interested." The little one spoke sternly. "Did you hear a scream without us knowing?"
His head turned towards the boy. "You heard it too? But it was a Hollow." Now he sounded a bit crazy.
"Is it in our world Ichigo?" Renji watched as he shook his head. "Then there's no worries, let's go now."

"Whoa, now that was refreshing." Renji stretched with full energy. "I wouldn't mind some sake 'bout now."
Ichigo raised a hand to state differently as he sat next to the redhead. "I'll take ice cold tea instead of it."
"Okay, waiter! A whole round of sake and two ice teas!" Rangiku cheered, sitting across from Ichigo."
This irritated the smaller captain, "I actually would have preferred green tea." Toushirou grumbled quietly.

Of course the 'grown ups' supposedly ignored him, well, Rangiku really did.

"Ichi—I mean, Kurosaki taichou," she purred, leaning over the table between them. "Do you have a kid?"

"You mean, how did I die, don't you?" Ichigo could feel her flinching. "I have a son name Kenshin, he has the gift of seeing souls too, and collided into a barrel of chemicals, destroying his eyesight." He heard a platter being placed on the table, so he blindly reached for the closest cup. "Since I was chief of surgeon, I forced others to take my sight as his. Despite it causing my death, my son can now see once again."

Renji sighed and looked at him, then realized that Ichigo was drinking sake, "Ichigo wait!"

The other two blinked confusedly, wonder if Kurosaki Ichigo could not hold his liquor, but he seemed fine as he stood up in a… sudden tense manner. Renji quickly pounced the man to the floor while begging the short captain to bind Ichigo the best he could before he started going ballistic. There was no hesitation from Toushirou as he bound the man, and watched Renji carry him out, so he and the lieutenant followed.

Seconds later after dragging the new captain out into the middle of nowhere, Ichigo punched the Hell out of Renji's right cheek, slowly swaying back and forth like a drunk. The smaller captain rose a hand while taking a step towards him to settle him down, yet the large Zanpakutou in shikai from appeared in a flash in the hands of the taller one—challenging him to fight. Something was wrong here, so Rangiku jumped in front of her superior to make sure that he would be out of harm's way, but Renji called out to them quickly.

"Don't—he goes into a fighting frenzy when he's drunk!" The redhead yelled. "It's why he doesn't drink!"

"Ichigo, I found you!" A large breasted woman with shining green hair called as she lunged at him.
Squeezing him to death snapped him out of his frenzy and turned to her. "N-Nel—get off!"
"You left without saying a word, I was lonely!" Neliel whine sadly to this.
"I put you in charge of Hinamori Momo damn it!"

"She went to bed a while ago… so there's nothing to worry about." A light blue-haired male called.
His attention went towards the voice and snickered. "One second seat happy, the other second mad."
"Shut up ass hole, it ain't like you'll let me kill the bitch—I mean, the girl." He growled lowly for correction.
Ichigo chuckled at this. "Sorry Grimmjow, but my other seated officers aren't here." He hinted his humor.
Grimmjow glared at the blind one pointlessly and snorted. "Whatever, I'm going to go take a nap now."

"All right, oh wait—introductions!" Ichigo pried Neliel off. "Grimmjow, Nel, this is Abarai Renji, Matsumoto Rangiku-san, and Hitsugaya Toushirou." His blind attention turned to the others. "Guys, these are Neliel Tu Oderschvank and Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, both of them are announced as my second seats." He smiled.

"WHAT?"