"Oi, Ishida!" Ichigo Kurosaki called, suddenly appearing in his office. "I'm going to need some time off tomorrow."
Uryuu only sighed, not taking his eyes from the papers on his desk. "Is this how you always intend to treat your superiors?" He paused. "What is it this time, anyway?"
"Just got a hell butterfly from Soul Society," he replied, watching Uryuu's grip on his pencil tighten. "Said they're sending someone to crash at my house again, and I don't really want to leave her alone with Shinichi."
"'Her'? You know who they're sending, this time?" Uryuu mentally ran through a list of all the female shinigami he knew, coming up with many that were at least vaguely worrying. It wouldn't be Rukia; otherwise Ichigo wouldn't be concerned about leaving his son alone with her.
"That any of your business? I thought you didn't want anything to do with them anymore."
"I believe I have every right to know who will be trespassing on this town." He wasn't even pretending to get work done anymore, the atmosphere of one of their usual fights growing thick in the air.
Ichigo snorted. "What, you don't trust me to keep my guests in line?"
"Absolutely not."
Briefly disoriented, he stopped for a beat. "Okay, I walked into that, but seriously. If you don't trust them, that's more reason to give me the time off, right?"
"Kurosaki, you still haven't told me what shinigami will be coming here," Uryuu snapped. "If you don't intend to, please get out of my office. I have work to do, as do you."
"Fine. It's Nemu Kurotsuchi, if you want to know that badly."
Uryuu's pencil, along with the fragile remnants of his sanity, broke cleanly in half.
"Unacceptable!" he cried. "My pride as a Quincy will not allow-"
"Nobody cares about your damn 'pride of the-'"
"Shut up, Kurosaki!" He stood up, pounding his desk for emphasis, and Ichigo began to scan the room for anything he might use as a shield, in case Uryuu pulled out his bow. "You will send a return message to Soul Society, informing them that under no circumstances is that woman to come to Karakura town."
Ichigo almost smiled, but thought better of it. "No can do, I'm afraid."
"Why not?"
"Fresh out of Hell Butterflies," he replied sarcastically, turning his pockets inside-out to illustrate. "And anyway, you think I haven't tried telling them no? It doesn't work."
"Well, try harder, then!"
"What, and have her father show up unannounced to persuade me? I'm sure you'd love that."
Uryuu sank back into his chair, defeated but still twitching. "Fine. Take your time off, but so help me, Kurosaki, if she is so much as one hair out of line, I will kill you both. I swear it by my pride as a-"
"Yeah, yeah." Ichigo waved as he walked out of the office. "See you day after tomorrow, then."
Ichigo left the hospital, deciding to take a shortcut home rather than his normal route in order arrive home before Shinichi. His work as an EMT meant that he worked strange hours, but he liked to make sure he was at least home to greet his son. Having Ishida as his boss, while annoying at times, was certainly in his favor (and Ishida's, although the Quincy would never admit it); their current arrangement meant that they could cover for one another at work should a hollow appear. Or, as was the case this time, should a visitor arrive from Soul Society.
Turning the corner, Ichigo's eyes fell on a familiar building across the street and stopped short. He'd forgotten why he no longer used this particular shortcut. It was because the last time he'd seen this building, it had been the last time he'd seen his father...
...his father, pinned to a building by Gin's far-reaching bankai, like an overlarge, grotesque butterfly.
"DAD!" Gin didn't even spare him a glance, keeping his eyes on his victim. "YOU BASTARD!" Ichigo roared, turning from Aizen, intent on saving his father.
"Are you going to let that distract you, Kurosaki?" Ichigo instinctively ducked and felt Aizen's blade swishing over his head, a few stray hairs snicked off by its passing. "You're making this far too easy."
Ichigo half-turned, keeping Aizen in his line of vision; he couldn't take his eyes off Isshin, but turning his back on Aizen again would be deadly.
"You would think that the son of Isshin Kurosaki would be able to offer more of a challenge, but I see that your father is not exactly living up to his name," Aizen said lightly, as if making a passing comment on the weather. "Watch your father die."
Isshin was free, but had crumpled, falling to his knees- Gin had retracted his blade, too fast for Ichigo to see, and was standing over Isshin, that same damned smile on his face, and-
"Too easy, Kurosaki."
A sharp pain in his back, his chest. Ichigo looked down, dazed, to see the blade of Kyoka Suigetsu had pierced through the center of his torso.
"If you manage to find your father in another life, thank him for me," he heard Aizen say from somewhere behind him as the blade was wrenched from his back. "He raised a son weak enough to let himself get distracted by compassion." His vision began to grow hazy, and he felt his inner hollow tense, clawing at his mind, raging to be let out...
"Kurosaki-san... can you hear me?" This voice was familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"Kurosaki! Wake up!" This one he could place easily. "If you're dead, I won't forgive you for it!"
"I'm awake, Ishida," Ichigo somehow managed, though his mind was filled with a strange, sucking blackness that threatened to pull him backwards. He forced his eyes open to see Ishida, trying very hard not to look concerned, and Unohana kneeling beside him. He realized something was strange about this. "How did you get here? And when-"
"I've been here for hours. It's over," said Ishida, relief spilling through his voice.
"Over?"
"Yes, over."
"...Wait, over?"
"You sound like a parrot."
"He doesn't remember what happened, Ishida-san," Unohana chided. Ichigo shifted, propping himself up on his elbows. "I'm not finished here yet."
Ichigo didn't listen to her, turning his head to view the wreckage of the fake Karakura town. Among the rubble he caught a familiar orange glow. "Inoue? What's she doing here?"
"She came with me and Zaraki-taichou," Ishida explained. "She's unmaking the Hogyoku."
"Unmaking? But what about Aizen?"
"You killed him. There wasn't much left of him by the time we got here."
"I did?"
"Your Hollow form took over." Ichigo felt a sinking in his stomach. So he hadn't killed Aizen after all- that other part of him had. Ishida continued, "You were still hollowfied when we got here with Zaraki-taichou, even though you were almost cut in half. He fought you until you went down."
"Zaraki-taichou made an admirable effort, though I wish he'd put more care into the state he left you in," said Unohana, the smile on her face never wavering. Ichigo shuddered a little.
"Wait- where's my dad?" Ichigo asked. Ishida didn't say anything. "Tell me, dammit! I need to see him!" Ichigo tried to sit up, but Unohana's hands at his shoulders stopped him.
"Your father is dead," Unohana said gently, pushing him down again. "He died fighting against Ichimaru. Kira-fukutaichou was there; he can tell you a little more. But for now I need you to rest and let me heal you."
Ichigo blinked several times and shook his head lightly as he kept walking, as if to clear away the memories of that day. He didn't want to arrive home in a foul mood- that would spoil all the fun.
Ichigo turned the knob of the front door very slowly, making sure to enter in near-silence. He had to find a decent hiding place before his son arrived home. He crept down the hall and passed the kitchen- only to find the boy sitting at the kitchen table.
"Oh, hi, Dad." Shinichi didn't even look up from his math book, the picture of concentration. "You're home a little later than I expected."
"You're keeping track now?" Ichigo said, straightening up from his rather stupid half-crouched position. "How am I supposed to have fun and scare you if you do that?"
He laughed. "So sorry for the inconvenience. If I'd known, I would have waited at school a little longer."
"Make it easier for me next time," Ichigo grumbled half-heartedly, pulling a chair out and plopping down next to Shinichi.
"Sure." Shinichi hopped out of his chair, scanning the room in mock distress with one hand shielding his eyes. "'Where, oh where, could my father be? Surely he's not in the coat closet right behind me!' Something like that?"
"Not really," Ichigo said, unable to hide his affectionate grin. "But you won't beat me tomorrow. Someone's stopping by from Soul Society, so I'll be home all day. She can be a little weird to talk to, so behave yourself."
"Yes, Dad," he replied. "You tell me that every time one of the Shinigami shows up, remember?"
"Oh yeah, but that's because it's important. And this one has an extra side of weird, so it's even more important."
"Okaaaay." Shinichi frowned, wondering what this person could possibly be like, to be weird by Shinigami standards. "She's not gonna try to fight me like that pink-haired girl, right?"
"Let's just say her father would be really interested in figuring out why your reiatsu levels are so high, and he would probably do the figuring out with a scalpel."
His eyes grew wide. "O-okay. I'll be good."
As it turned out (and Ichigo had no intention of allowing Ishida to find out, unless he wanted a couple fingers shot off for his trouble), Nemu was delayed, arriving only a few minutes before Shinichi came home from school and making his day off of work unnecessary.
"Shinichi," Ichigo said, noticing his son's barely-veiled uneasiness at the newcomer seated at their kitchen table, "this is Nemu Kurotsuchi, vice-captain of the Twelfth Division." Nemu nodded politely in Shinichi's direction.
Shinichi nodded in return, but didn't walk any further into the kitchen. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, almost mechanically.
"So... why were you chosen to come to Karakura Town? I mean, Kurotsuchi doesn't usually send you to the living world," Ichigo asked. He had hosted a multitude of Shinigami, but it was normally people he was close with. He had never had the opportunity to talk to Nemu, mostly because she was too busy following her father to talk to the Substitute Shinigami.
"Mayuri-sama volunteered me to collect Urahara-san's report, among other duties on this mission. He takes particular personal interest in this and would prefer that I be the one to enter Urahara-san's premises. He also thought you would not take offense at the nature of my mission. It is well known, after all, that you harbor some resentment for Urahara-san," Nemu said, her tone level and polite as always.
"Yeah, I guess..." Ichigo had done his best to keep his son apart from the meddling shopkeeper after discovering that Shinichi had enough reiatsu to possibly become a Shinigami himself. The birth of his inner Hollow at Urahara's hands had caused more problems than he could count, and even though its strength had allowed him to defeat Aizen, he certainly did not want Urahara interfering with his son's life. Shinichi shouldn't have to deal with the dual lifestyle that Ichigo led. "But wait, why wouldn't I mind that you're getting a report from Urahara?"
Shinichi laughed quietly from his place in the doorframe. "Come on, Dad. You don't get it yet? She's trying to spy on him!"
"Very astute, Shinichi-san," Nemu said with a small smile. Ichigo opened his mouth to complain about the implications of his stupidity from his son when he was interrupted by a strange whirring sound coming from Nemu's direction.
"What's that noise?"
Nemu looked down. "Oh dear." She lifted her right arm up from where it had been at her side, out of sight under the table. It was spinning frantically, having transformed into a drill. "There is something loose inside. I need a tune-up, but Mayuri-sama has been so busy lately." She brought her right elbow down sharply on the tabletop and the whirring stopped, her arm becoming a normal limb once more.
"WAUGH! What-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare, but-" Shinichi struggled to remember how to behave himself in the face of drill-arm. "Uh, Dad, is it okay if I go over to Satoshi's for a little while?"
Nemu's normally stoic expression changed at Shinichi's alarm, her eyes widening. Even Ichigo, with his terrible reiatsu-sensing skills, could feel the massive spike in the boy's reiatsu due to his surprise. "Go ahead. Just come back in time for dinner. I don't want Satoshi's dad to say I'm teaching you to mooch."
Shinichi nodded and practically sprinted out of the kitchen.
"Forgive my curiosity, Kurosaki-san," said Nemu waiting until she was sure Shinichi was out of earshot before continuing, "but Shinichi is not your biological son, is he? You share some traits, but not enough for there to be a father-son connection, and his reiatsu is different from yours. Who is he?"
Ichigo's frown deepened a little. "Shinichi is my nephew. I adopted him when he was a baby."
"Were his parents unsuited for raising a child?" Ichigo wondered if she knew what irony was.
"No." His semi-permanent frown became a dark scowl. "They were killed by a Hollow."
It was raining. It was always raining on days like this, when pieces of his world fell away. While he thought it was stupid to harbor emotions against weather, Ichigo knew some part of him hated the rain. Too many bad things happened when it rained, and this reinforcement only served to justify his feelings.
But how could he hate the rain when it made it look as though Yuzu and her husband were only sleeping? The blood rinsed away in bright rivulets from Yuzu's hair and the tracks of the Hollow were slowly vanishing under the rain's gentle ministrations. The only thing unnatural about his sister's position was the way Yuzu's body was curled around nothing, an empty space in her stiffening arms where her son would fit perfectly.
Ichigo looked down at the baby in his arms, holding him awkwardly and shifting his position slightly to shield the boy from the rain. Shinichi looked back at him. He had been screaming at the top of his lungs when Ichigo had finally arrived, too late to save his sister, but his wails had turned into fussing as soon as Ichigo had dispatched the Hollow. He had picked up his nephew as soon as he knew that the boy's parents were gone, and the boy stopped crying immediately.
"What am I going to do?" he found himself saying aloud, staring at the clouds, the empty park, anywhere but the bodies in front of him. He looked down at Shinichi once more; the baby was still looking up with a bright curiosity.
Shinichi could see him in his Shinigami form, Ichigo realized belatedly. And he wasn't even a year old. Ichigo, even after twelve years, was still terrible at sensing reiatsu, but he knew that being able to see a Shinigami when so young was remarkable. His nephew clearly had high reiatsu levels- high enough to attract the attention of Hollows. Ichigo watched as Shinichi yawned and snuggled against Ichigo's chest for warmth. He held the boy close to him and stood up from where he had been kneeling by his sister. He didn't want to leave his sister's body, but Shinichi would get sick if he was in the rain any longer.
What could he do with Shinichi? Giving him to Karin was out of the question- not after what had happened to Yuzu. Had his father still been alive, leaving Shinichi in his care would have been the best option. Putting his nephew in an orphanage or a foster home never crossed his mind. There was only one place where Ichigo would know that Yuzu's son would be safe, and that was with him.
"I couldn't save Yuzu," he murmured into Shinichi's hair, "but I'll keep you safe." Ichigo supposed he couldn't hate the rain for hiding his tears, either.
"I am sorry to hear of your loss," said Nemu, her expression remaining unchanged. "But that does not explain your son's reiatsu- I would understand if he were your biological son, but as I recall your sister did not even have much spiritual awareness."
"It's probably because I've raised him. My reiatsu might have had an effect on him, so that's why he's so strong. That's all." This conversation was edging uncomfortably closer to one he'd had with Rukia several years ago.
"He makes me uncomfortable, Ichigo." Ichigo looked up from his sleeping son, having just laid the four-year-old down for an afternoon nap, to see Rukia looking at him seriously from the doorway.
"What? You don't like kids?" Ichigo turned and left Shinichi's room, closing the door and turning to face Rukia and Renji where they had been waiting for him in the hall.
"It's not that," Rukia said, shaking her head. "It's something else. He seems... different. Off. I'm not sure how to explain it. He's familiar somehow, too. Something about his reiatsu."
"He's probably familiar because he's related to me," said Ichigo a little stiffly, offended on Shinichi's behalf. "What do you think, Renji?"
"Your kid doesn't make me feel funny like he does Rukia, but there's definitely something weird about him," said Renji with a halfway-apologetic shrug.
Ichigo scowled. "Well what do you want me to do about it? He's a kid."
"You could have someone from Soul Society test his reiatsu," Rukia offered. "Judging by what I sense from him, he could be very strong someday. Unohana-soutaichou will want to watch him."
"And have him become another Substitute Shinigami like me, if he is strong? No thanks," Ichigo scoffed.
"I'm serious, Ichigo, there's something about him-"
Ichigo cut her off. "If you don't like him, then you don't have to come see him."
"No, it's not that I don't like him-"
"Then what is it? He's Yuzu's son," Ichigo snapped. "I can't see what the problem is. Just leave him alone!"
Ichigo braced himself for more prying questions about Shinichi's strength, but to his surprise they did not come. "Of course, Kurosaki-san," said Nemu quietly. She did not press the issue further.
The next day, Nemu returned to Soul Society, and their conversation concerning Shinichi slipped from Ichigo's mind entirely, lost in a tirade from Ishida about welcoming representatives of that division into his house. In any case, he did not think anything would come of Nemu's polite interest in his son- she was always a little odd to talk to after spending her whole life serving Kurotsuchi. Later on, however, he would curse himself for not spotting the danger sooner.