IMPORTANT! This is an AU where Yhwach doesn't exist, so the main big bad will be Aizen, and how Ichigo's powers will work will be a little different, too, but he'll still have all his powers, don't worry. Hope you enjoy!
It was wet, and it was cold, and it was hard to breathe. Those sensations were the first things Ichigo noticed while he awoke. As he became more aware, he gradually associated those feelings with rain and with a heavy weight that was laying on top of him. He struggled weakly out from under whatever was on top of him, enough that only his legs were covered and so he could breathe more easily.
Then memory returned. Ichigo wondered what had happened to the girl by the river he'd seen about to jump. And kaa-san had run after him, hadn't she?
Laying on the ground, eyes closed, wouldn't answer any of his questions. He scrunched up his nose, rubbed at his watery face, and opened his eyes.
He first saw that the weight that was covering his legs was a body. An unmistakably dead body, judging by the hole that had been torn through the back. Ichigo quivered and gasped as he recognized his kaa-san's distinctive hair and the raincoat she'd been wearing. He stared at her body, uncomprehending for at least a minute, unable to connect the lively, loving woman his kaa-san had been with the corpse in front of him.
Then he saw his tou-san. His tou-san, who kept the family entertained with his antics. His tou-san, who took care of everyone who came to their clinic. His tou-san, who had decided to accompany him and his kaa-san to his karate lesson that day to cheer him on, leaving the twins with a babysitter. His tou-san, who had been rent almost in two, bloodstained eyes staring at nothing.
Ichigo screamed.
One month later
Kisuke examined the morose child in front of him, wondering about what he could do. This was the fifth time in the past month the local police had caught Ichigo lingering by the river alone, as if searching for his parents.
Kisuke had a lot of regrets. Being too slow to save the Kurosaki parents from the Hollow was only the newest one.
He'd taken in Isshin's children so that they wouldn't be shuffled away by the system, their spiritual talents leaving them vulnerable. He owed that much to Isshin and Masaki, after all. Ishida Ryuuken had come around the shop once, at the beginning, to make sure that Kisuke would take care of his nieces and nephew. Kisuke reassured him that the children's physical needs were being more than met and that all their belongings had been moved into the Shoten, the twins sharing a room stuffed with plush toys and Ichigo right next door, and Ryuuken, satisfied that the children would be cared for, hadn't visited since.
Unfortunately, Ichigo had been shell-shocked for his entire stay at the Urahara Shoten, and his sisters hadn't been much better, both girls crying often and loudly. The children vaguely knew Urahara Kisuke as a friend of the family but not much more than that, and they were wary of going to him with their emotional trauma. Kisuke had problems getting Ichigo to go to school, and Ichigo had dropped out of karate entirely, too depressed to continue the extracurricular activity.
Kisuke wasn't stupid. He knew, from his observations, that Ichigo blamed himself for his parents' deaths. He had no idea how to even begin to address it, though, because it would likely lead to an explanation of what had really happened to Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki, and one of the few wishes they had made abundantly clear before their death was that they didn't want their children knowledgeable about the spirit world until their children had died a natural death, or at least until they were older and could handle themselves.
Not that that had gone too well. Ichigo and Karin had full sight, and Yuzu could sense more often than not when ghosts were around. Considering their parents, their high amount of reiatsu (for Humans, at least) made sense, which led to difficulties in keeping the truth from the children, especially since Kisuke ran a shop that specifically catered to the dead, the candy shop for the living only being a facade. He and Tessai had to be careful to stay in gigai whenever the Kurosaki kids might be around, plus they had to lay down concealing kido around certain areas of the shop that were dangerous for humans or were otherwise connected with the spirit world.
Yoruichi would laugh at him if she were aware of his current problems, had she been around. But who knew where she'd wandered off to this time?
"Yo, Kisuke. How've ya been?"
Kisuke flipped his fan open as he observed the two Vizard in front of him, who were standing in the middle of the open shop part of the store. Hirako Shinji and Otoribashi Rose stood in front of him, the former sporting his normal Cheshire cat grin and the latter looking as fashionable as always. They appeared no different from the last time he'd seen them.
"Hello, Shinji, Rose," Kisuke greeted, nodding. "I haven't heard from you in over a decade. What brings you here?"
"Our old gigai have worn out," Shinji grimaced. "It's about time for some new ones. We do need ta be able ta go buy food, ya know, and it's about time ta find a new warehouse, too. We've trashed the old one."
"Hmm," said Kisuke. "Well, give me a moment to go back and review your specs. The old ones should still work."
He turned to go to one of the back storerooms of the Shoten. "Do try not to cause any trouble why you're here," Kisuke called back.
Shinji's laughter followed him straight to the back of the Shoten.
"Man, what's takin' him so long?" Shinji complained, slouching and examining the candy Kisuke had on display with disinterest. "Well, whatever. I'm gonna go have a look around."
Rose shook his head but didn't move to stop him, so Shinji sauntered out of the main display room and headed back to where he knew the Shoten's kitchen was. He wanted to see how much had changed since the last time he'd been here. He thought he'd be alone as he explored a house he hadn't seen for decades.
He was wrong.
When he entered the kitchen, he noticed a small, muted, Human reiatsu signature by the table. Curious, he stepped forward quietly.
He first saw the mop of bright orange hair and wondered what combination of genes would allow for such a bright color. Then he saw the boy's eyes, and he stilled.
Those were dead eyes.
Shinji stared intently at the boy. Maybe it was a bit creepy, but it wasn't like the Human could see him without a gigai, anyway.
He wondered what had put that desolate look on a face so young – likely less than a decade old, since the boy was Human. He'd seen people look like that before, Shinigami who had lost everything and had broken because of it. It wasn't the devastation that caught his interest; it was that such a young kid could have a look like that.
Besides, the fact that the boy was in Kisuke's house spoke volumes. The shopkeeper wasn't the best with kids, so there was probably something interesting about the boy's origins. If Kisuke felt like he owed someone, he would take whatever steps necessary to repay the debt. It was that feeling of responsibility that had led the exiled captain to work tirelessly in an attempt to find a solution to the Vizards' problem. Shinji wondered what kind of debt someone like Kisuke would owe this kid.
Then he realized that the kid looked very much like a Shiba. Though that couldn't be the case, because the Shibas were a clan in the Soul Society, and this kid was very much Human…
The boy stirred, coming out of whatever bleak thoughts had kept him occupied. He looked straight at Shinji – at, not through – and said, frowning, "What are you looking at?"
"…Ya can see me?" Shinji said with surprise. What kind of Human could interact with the spirit world?
"Oh, you're dead, then," the boy said dismissively, glancing away and curling in on himself.
Shinji wasn't quite done with the kid, though. Maybe it was his old instincts as a captain whose job it was to look after others, or maybe he just couldn't stand seeing such an expression on a face so young. "Oi, what's with that miserable look on your face?"
The kid glared at him defiantly – finally, some spirit! – before the energy drained. "What do you care?" he said grouchily.
Shinji shook his head. He should probably just leave the kid alone; it wasn't any of his business, and it wasn't like he truly cared for the kid beyond cheering him up. But he was curious and stubborn, and he wasn't giving up that easily. "Someone like ya should be out playin' in the sun, not sulkin' in here. What gives?"
Whatever defiant embers the boy harbored burnt out completely as he slumped in the chair, having been reminded of whatever he'd been ruminating about before Shinji stepped in. "My parents are dead and it's all my fault," he mumbled pathetically. Shinji was surprised he'd gotten an answer; the kid didn't seem like the type to want to spill his sob story to every random person on the street. Maybe it was because they were in the kid's home?
"Oh," Shinji said, mind racing. If what the kid was saying was truly the entire story, he'd eat his tie. There was no way someone like Kisuke would take in a kid like this if his parents' deaths had just been an accident on the kid's part. He'd have to grill Kisuke about it when the shopkeeper showed up again.
But right now, he had to console the boy before he burst out crying. Shinji had brought this on himself by asking, after all. He moved forward in a nonthreatening manner and patted the boy comfortingly on the back.
"Buck up," he said, not unkindly. "Your parents wouldn't want ya mopin' inside all day."
The boy looked up at him sharply and appeared as though he was about to protest, but then he shut his mouth and turned contemplative. Shinji was glad the kid was the type that could take a little bit of tough love without breaking down, especially on a topic as sensitive as this.
"I guess…" the boy finally said, twining his fingers. "Kaa-san and tou-san would be sad if they could see me." His lips quivered like he was about to cry, but he stubbornly refused to let the tears fall. Shinji was a little impressed by the kid's control.
Shinji saw the kid moving but did nothing to stop him as he lunged forward and hugged Shinji around the waist. Shinji rolled his eyes but endured the affection with good grace.
When the kid glanced up at him again, there was a sheen of tears in his eyes, but there was a new, determined look that hadn't been there before. "Thank you, um…"
"Name's Shinji. Nice ta meet ya," Shinji said, patting the boy on the back again before gently extricating himself from the hug. The boy stepped back with a flush, evidently a little embarrassed by hugging someone he barely knew.
"Shinji-san, then," he said. "I'm Ichigo. You're pretty nice for a dead guy."
Shinji snorted. Nice was not the greatest way to describe him. Better adjectives were "irritating" and "intimidating." "I ain't nice, kid. Just couldn't stand seein' your pathetic face."
Ichigo scowled. For some reason, the expression looked natural on his face, better than the depressed one had. "Okay, now you're just being annoying. Go away."
Shinji grinned widely. "Yeah. See ya around, kid." He'd likely never see Ichigo again.
Shinji returned to the front of the store, where Rose was still patiently waiting. Kisuke had joined the other Vizard and looked resigned to Shinji's snooping.
"Ya finally get those specs?" Shinji asked unrepentantly.
Kisuke nodded. "Everything looks to be in order. I'll have the gigai ready for you in about a week. Come back then to pick them up."
"Thanks, Kisuke. …So what's the deal with the kid ya took in? A kid that young shouldn't have a look like that on his face," Shinji said unsubtly.
"Ah, you met Ichigo, I assume? His sisters are napping right now."
Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Interestin' kid, for a Human. He could see me. And said he killed his own parents. What's the story behind that?"
Kisuke winced and whipped out his fan, hiding his face. A touchy subject, then. "His parents were good friends of mine." Which was Kisuke for 'his parents were involved with the spiritual world and Shinigami.' "A Hollow killed them."
Shinji stared. "In what way is that the kid's fault? Did he attract the Hollow or somethin'?"
"From what I understand, the Hollow lured Ichigo, and his parents protected him at the cost of their lives. I could only guess what had happened, as I only arrived in time to chase the Hollow off," Kisuke said, his hat shadowing his eyes.
Shinji frowned. "So it's the Hollow's fault his parents are dead, not his. Why does he blame himself then?"
Kisuke looked unhappy for a moment. "His parents wanted their children to be uninvolved with the spirit world. I am following their wishes despite my own misgivings."
"So you'd let a little kid like that drown in guilt instead?" Shinji said disapprovingly. "Seems a little cruel, don't ya think?"
"I've taken him in, but he's not my offspring, so it's really not my place to make decisions like that," Kisuke said, resigned.
Shinji sighed. "Well, it's not my place ta intervene. Consider that it'll be better for him in the long run, though, if ya tell him." Shinji knew that the shopkeeper would take his advice seriously. Shinji was still Kisuke's senior, despite that they'd all been exiled and former rank didn't really matter anymore.
Kisuke nodded gravely and tugged at his hat. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Right. See ya 'round," Shinji said, holding up his hand in farewell and strolling out of the shop with a quiet Rose on his heels. The two Vizards were about halfway home before Rose broke the silence.
"It's not really like you to take an interest in a stranger, especially a child," Rose said thoughtfully.
Shinji hummed. "Eh, if ya saw the kid, ya'd understand. Couldn't just leave him ta be miserable."
"Still, it's strange that you'd look after that boy," Rose said.
"Well, I have all of ya ta watch out for, and you're all worse than any kid," Shinji snarked without too much heat, acknowledging his unspoken but universally recognized role as leader of the Vizards. "Takes nothing out of my day ta help out someone else." Shinji smirked. "Just don't tell Hiyori."
Rose rolled his eyes and acquiesced.
Of course, the minute Hiyori laid eyes on the duo, she knew something had happened, and she was stubborn enough to weasel the story out of even a reluctant Shinji.
Kisuke wasn't sure what Shinji had said to Ichigo, but whatever it was, it made a huge improvement in Ichigo's mental health. He was going to school diligently and had even picked karate back up as a hobby. He was also taking deliberate care of his sisters and acting as parental as possible to them. Yuzu relished the attention, while Karin was becoming a little more standoffish, determined to not burden her brother or sister with her problems. It was one way to cope with how her life had been upended, at least. Tessai took care of most of the housekeeping and cooking for the Shoten, but Yuzu, even at the young age of five, was insisting on learning how to cook and otherwise be useful in the household – her way of connecting with her mother.
Kisuke was glad that the children seemed to be recovering. Staging an intervention for them would have no doubt gone horribly wrong, but Shinji had surprisingly appeared to handle the problem quite neatly. (Though perhaps he shouldn't have been as shocked. Shinji had a well-hidden but strong kind streak, and he'd truly cared for his subordinates when he'd been a captain, save for Aizen.)
"Urahara-san?" came a small voice from somewhere below him. Kisuke looked down and saw Yuzu standing next to him, one small fist curled in his coat. "Is there anything I can do to help with the shop?"
Kisuke knelt so he was looking her in the eye and patted her on the head. "You're a kind girl for offering to help. Thank you. But I can handle the shop okay by myself. You shouldn't have to worry about adult things like that."
Yuzu looked downcast but quickly brightened. "Okay! I'll ask Tessai if there are any chores to do!"
Kisuke shook his head. Weren't kids supposed to want to dodge chores? Tessai would likely set Yuzu up with something that wasn't too dangerous, like sweeping, while the former Kido Corps captain supervised.
Well, it wasn't his business how the kids wanted to spend their time, so long as they weren't being delinquents. He pointed Yuzu in Tessai's direction and returned to minding the shop.
A week later saw Shinji accompanied by Hiyori, this time, back at the Urahara Shoten. Hiyori tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for her old captain to appear, sandal already in hand. Shinji was sure that the shopkeeper was dawdling because he'd felt Hiyori's distinctive agitated reiatsu signature.
"Kisuke! Get your ass out here!" Hiyori roared, her voice carrying through the shop.
Her shout provoked a person into appearing. It wasn't Kisuke, though; it was Ichigo, who skidded on his socks into view.
"Who are you?" Ichigo demanded, glaring. "Can't you see the shop is closed right now? Get out!"
"Move it, you brat!" Hiyori said, stepping up and grabbing Ichigo by the hair. "I'm looking for a kid named Ichigo!" Ichigo bristled and attempted to bat her hand away, but Hiyori's grip was not to be denied.
"That's him, Hiyori," Shinji sighed. "Stop pickin' on the poor kid."
Hiyori blinked once, examined Ichigo more closely, then bodily picked him up and threw him at Shinji, who caught him with a squawk. Shinji set Ichigo, who was making angry pterodactyl noises, down on the ground before the kid could get any ideas and attempt to attack him. (Not that a mere Human would be able to land a single hit on a former captain, of course, but it was the intent that mattered.)
Then Kisuke appeared, apparently ruffled by his former lieutenant's treatment of his ward. "Hey now, Hiyori, you can't go around assaulting my charge—"
"Sorry for not treating him like he's made of glass!" Hiyori snapped. She whirled around. "Shinji! Do like we discussed! I'll keep him distracted." Then she tackled Kisuke to the ground, sandal already poised to attack.
Shinji sighed again and resigned himself to following through with Hiyori's scatterbrained plan. Really, it would be a better idea to just tell the kid in the shop and steamroller over Kisuke, but Hiyori liked complicating things. Or, rather, making things more violent and annoying for her former captain.
"Sorry about this," he apologized to Ichigo before he tucked the boy under his arm without so much as a by-your-leave and sprinted from the shop.
Ichigo shrieked and began struggling. "Okay, I thought you were okay for a dead guy, so let go of me!"
Instead of directly answering, Shinji said, "Hold on tight, kid." And then he leapt straight into the air, soaring over the three- and four-story buildings and forming a platform of reishi beneath his feet about a hundred feet in the air.
"You can fly?!" Ichigo squeaked in astonishment, clutching at Shinji's shirt like a lifeline. (Then again, it probably was, because if Shinji dropped Ichigo, there was no way the kid would survive the fall with a Human body.) "Put me down! On the ground."
Once again, Shinji ignored Ichigo's protests. "I can tell ya what really happened to your parents," he said, and Ichigo immediately went stock-still, eyes wide and breath audibly stuttering in shock.
"But I told you," Ichigo whispered. "It was my fault. I ran after a girl, and when I woke up, tou-san and kaa-san were dead—"
"Was it your fault? Perhaps, perhaps not. Were you the one ta kill your parents with your own hands? Don't be so ridiculous," Shinji scoffed. "Come on, kid. I want ta show ya something."
Ichigo settled in Shinji's hold, still grasping his shirt tightly. "Tell me," he demanded breathlessly.
"I will," Shinji said as he jumped from reishi platform to reishi platform, tracking the nearest Hollow and careful to keep his reiatsu tightly controlled so that the patrolling Shinigami didn't notice him. (Because with his luck, the Shinigami would be someone who knew him from a century ago, and then there would be a whole shitstorm to deal with.)
Shinji landed on an office building downtown and crouched behind a decorative stone outcropping, motioning for Ichigo to do the same. Shinji had seen more than his fair share of Hollows, of course, but Ichigo didn't know what they were, and he was gratified with a stunned gasp from the boy.
"What is that?" Ichigo murmured in horror, instinctually keeping his voice low to keep from attracting the monster's attention.
"That, Ichigo, is a Hollow. A dead spirit that has lost itself to rage or guilt or pain and wants ta destroy and devour," Shinji introduced. Ichigo gripped the outcropping tightly, starting to deduce where the conversation was going. He was a smart kid.
The Hollow was nothing special. It looked like a skunk, boasting a spiky tail and white zigzag patterns all over its plum-colored body. It was attempting to spray the local Shinigami, who wore the usual black shihakusho and wielded the normal zanpakuto, with an acid that smelled foul, even from the distance Shinji and Ichigo were at.
"Who's that fighting it?" Ichigo asked, delaying the undoubtedly painful conversation about his parents.
"That's a Shinigami," Shinji said darkly, thinking of the bad blood between the Vizards and the Gotei 13. "Their job is to fight and kill Hollows."
The two watched from the rooftop as the Shinigami barely dodged out of the way of an acid spray, leaving a ragged hole in his shihakusho. But the Shinigami quickly rallied after that and sliced the Hollow's mask in two, and the Hollow disappeared with an echoing cry. Shinji waited until the Shinigami was gone before turning to Ichigo, who looked as if his whole world had been turned upside-down. (Then again, learning that Plus souls – or ghosts, as Ichigo probably called them – weren't the only beings that made up the spiritual world was probably a shock.)
"So, you're wonderin' what this has ta do with ya and your parents," Shinji began. "You've probably already figured it out, but your parents were killed by a Hollow." Ichigo nodded, looking both devastated and furious. "One lured ya and got your parents instead."
"A Hollow killed my parents… but it's still my fault," Ichigo said, his voice sounding broken. "If I hadn't been lured, if I hadn't gone after that girl, if I had realized she was dead—"
The kid really was grown up for his age, though Shinji supposed his parents' deaths would mature him rapidly. Instead of blaming an outside force, like the Shinigami for not being fast enough to save his parents from the Hollow (though Shinji was certain that that thought had crossed Ichigo's mind), he blamed the correct party – the Hollow – for killing his parents.
Problem was, he was also blaming himself for not being able to see that the lure, the girl, had been a part of the spirit world.
"Listen, ya can't go blamin' yourself when there's another party that instigated the entire thing," Shinji said, drawing on centuries of experience and his own ordeal with his Hollowfication and exile. "And if your parents were here, I'm sure they wouldn't blame ya for what happened." Now Shinji was talking out of his ass; he had no idea what the kid's parents had been like. But Ichigo seemed to genuinely love them, so that at least hinted that his parents had tried to raise him well… Whatever. Shinji didn't really care.
Ichigo seemed to be struggling with Shinji's words. But between what Shinji had said now and what he'd said when he'd first met the kid, he was sure that Ichigo would recover from the trauma of losing his parents.
Shinji was surprised, then, when Ichigo looked straight into his eyes and declared, "I'm going to be strong enough to protect my sisters! I will learn to differentiate between the living and the dead! And one day, I'll be strong enough to take on Hollows!"
Shinji was oddly impressed by the kid's resolve. It took a certain character to face monsters head-on without training. Reckless, yes, but also brave and unwilling to back down. "Now, don't do anythin' rash or go dyin'. You've got a long life left to live. Don't go rushin' ta take on enemies you're not ready for."
Ichigo nodded, but Shinji could tell that the boy wasn't really listening. Shinji rolled his eyes at the kid's stubbornness. The kid would temper that obstinacy with experience someday, and Kisuke would look after him in the meantime. "C'mon. Let's get you back home."
They flew in silence for a while. Then, Ichigo asked astutely, "How come you're the one telling me all this?"
Shinji coughed. "Well, your parents didn't want ya aware of any of this – probably thought ya'd be safer or something. But my friend and I thought ya deserved ta know, since we've had our own fair share of Hollows ruining our lives." Technically, the Vizards' lives had been ruined by Aizen and their inner Hollows, but this was close enough to the truth. The Vizards were a paranoid lot, but Kisuke's support of the kid spoke for a lot, and besides, Shinji sympathized with him. Hiyori had been the one to push the issue, though; for all that she was loud and obnoxious, she had a well-hidden soft spot for kids and a sore spot for departing parent figures. Plus, Hiyori was always up for anything that could annoy or otherwise inconvenience her old captain, like the hellion she was.
Hiyori and a displeased Kisuke were waiting for them when they got back to the Shoten. Shinji landed and gently set Ichigo down on the dusty ground.
"Ichigo, would you go find your sisters? They were looking for you earlier," Kisuke said tightly. The kid nodded, eyeing Kisuke warily, before darting into the shop to find the sisters that Shinji had vaguely sensed but still hadn't laid eyes on.
"He deserved ta know," Shinji started the instant Ichigo was out of sight.
"Whether he should know or not should not have been any of your concern," Kisuke said sharply. "It's not like you to intervene in a family matter that's none of your business."
"You took him and his sisters in, and anything that affects ya affects us, much as I loathe ta admit it," Shinji said. "Havin' some kids livin' at your place unaware of the spirit world sounds like a disaster in the makin'." Anything that affected Kisuke would eventually influence the Vizards. That meant that Ichigo and his sisters would be indirectly involved with the Vizards, so it wasn't as if they didn't have a marked interest in the children's well-being, insofar as they affected Kisuke.
"But that's strange too," Kisuke pointed out. "You're the nosy kind, but you're not the type to intervene for the sake of someone you barely know, even if it benefitted you."
"He can't help out a kid in need now?" Hiyori muttered antagonistically, the fire that had been raging in her eyes when they'd arrived dimmed to a smolder. Kisuke had probably put her in her place while Shinji had been gone. For all that Kisuke was normally a pushover when it came to his foul-tempered former lieutenant, he knew when to put his foot down when she went too far, usually in a display of force that overwhelmed Hiyori, who respected strength. Honestly, she probably would have fit in the Eleventh Division better than in the Twelfth.
"Maybe I liked him. Maybe I couldn't stand the look on his face. Maybe I was bored. Maybe you're overthinking things. Pick one and go with it," Shinji drawled, utterly unrepentant. "Look, what's done is done. Ya can't change that. Now, do ya have those gigai ready for us or not?"
Kisuke blinked, as if he had honestly forgotten about the gigai, before turning to walk back into the shop. "Right. Yes, they're ready. I'll go retrieve them for you." And really, that would be the end of that. The Vizards and Kisuke were too connected to each other, personally and impersonally, for one to just cut the other loose, even if the other acted up. Although…
"…Ya know, if ya really wanted ta keep us from leaving the shop, ya could have just engaged the kido wards ya had Tessai set up," Shinji noticed astutely. Kisuke pressed his lips together but said nothing, so he forged on. "Ya couldn't tell the kids what happened because of your promise ta their parents. But if someone else were ta do it… Well, ya wouldn't be breaking your promise, would ya?"
Kisuke tugged at his hat. "…It's pointless to make suppositions like that." That Kisuke wasn't denying the accusation spoke volumes to the truth that Shinji had hit upon. So perhaps Shinji and Hiyori had really done Kisuke a favor by kidnapping Ichigo and telling him the truth. Kisuke was the type to find a way around contracts he didn't like, after all. Then Kisuke disappeared back into the shop, expecting Shinji and Hiyori to follow.
Shinji took the time to study Hiyori more closely. She looked unharmed, if a bit sullen. She was also muttering under her breath, likely curses directed at Kisuke. She met his eyes and looked away in either embarrassment or shame. She wouldn't accept any mother henning from Shinji, so he stepped around her and entered the shop. He heard Hiyori following him silently.
Once his eyes had adjusted to the lighting change, Shinji saw Kisuke gesturing to the huge box that was sitting in the store that was big enough to hold eight adult-sized bodies in it.
"Here they are. Will you have any problems transporting them?"
Shinji rolled his eyes. "We're not that pathetic, thanks. I trust you've put a kido on it that hides it from Humans?"
"Of course."
Shinji felt another pair of eyes on him and turned to see Ichigo skulking by the doorway to the house. Shinji smiled at the kid, who nodded at him seriously before disappearing into the house again.
This time, Shinji was pretty sure he'd see Ichigo again, if only because the kid lived at Kisuke's place. He doubted they'd ever really get to know each other though.
Ichigo's mind was racing as he catalogued the day's revelations. First, he wasn't as responsible for his parents' deaths as he first thought. (He was still partially guilty for running into the Hollow's trap, but the one who had actually killed his parents was a monster.) Secondly, spiritual monsters called Hollows existed and there were people whose job it was to kill said monsters. People who had failed in their duty to protect Ichigo's parents. Ichigo didn't blame them, though. They'd probably been off protecting someone else, or maybe they just hadn't gotten to the Kurosakis in time. Although he didn't condemn them, Ichigo sure didn't trust these Shinigami. They'd already failed once, after all; what if they couldn't protect Ichigo's sisters when he really needed them to?
He swore that he'd one day find the Hollow that killed his parents and put it down. But his whole world wouldn't be his revenge; he still had Yuzu and Karin to look after, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to them because of his negligence.
He found Yuzu and Karin playing together in their room. They looked up when he entered and immediately brightened.
"Ichi-nii!" Yuzu said brightly. "Where were you earlier? We couldn't find you in the Shoten!"
"I saw Shinji again," Ichigo worded carefully. He'd told his sisters about the encounter with the dead man in the kitchen, and how he'd restored Ichigo's drive and will. "He took me to see something."
Perhaps sensing Ichigo's seriousness, Yuzu calmed (Karin was already quiet). "Did something happen?"
Ichigo nodded. "Yes. He told me…" Ichigo stopped for a second, wondering if he was doing the right thing. Wouldn't his sisters sleep easier at night by not knowing there were literal monsters out there? But they deserved to know. They knew he'd been blaming himself for their parents' deaths (but they didn't blame him at all, the little angels), and they'd been strongly affected by tou-san's and kaa-san's deaths like he had. Plus, if they knew about Hollows, they'd be more careful with things from the spirit world, and they'd know to run the other way if they saw one.
"He found out how tou-san and kaa-san died," Ichigo finally finished. His sisters immediately stilled, lasering in on him. Yuzu's bottom lip trembled.
"Wasn't it some kind of accident?" Karin forged ahead, determinedly not letting the sore subject upset her.
Ichigo shook his head. "No. You know how ghosts are real?" The girls nodded. "Well, there are bad ghosts out there that look like monsters. They're called Hollows. One of them killed kaa-san and tou-san."
Yuzu started crying, but she admirably tried to control her sobs. Karin looked shaken and scared. "Will one of those monsters get us too?"
"Of course not!" Ichigo said, moving to hug his sisters, who cuddled into his embrace and accepted all the comfort and affection he had to give. "There are superheroes out there called Shinigami who kill Hollows. And someday, I'll be strong enough to beat them, too."
"I want to know how to beat them, too!" Karin insisted, her eyes wet but stubbornly refusing to let the tears fall. "I won't let what happened to tou-san and kaa-san happen to me or Yuzu!"
"Stay with us for a while, Ichi-nii?" Yuzu sniffed, clinging to Ichigo.
"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, sounding a little wrecked himself. Their parents' deaths were still a painful wound in each surviving Kurosaki's heart. The three Kurosaki siblings stayed together for as long as it took for their emotions to calm. The two girls got snot and salt water all over Ichigo's shirt – Karin allowing herself one more good cry before she stopped worrying her siblings – but Ichigo didn't mind.
The Kurosaki siblings were in no way healed. But by knowing how their parents had been killed, by gaining even that little bit of closure, they could allow themselves to look forward to the future instead of remaining stuck on what they'd lost.
"Urahara-san?"
Kisuke glanced down to see all three Kurosaki children looking up at him in various states of disarray, having recently been crying. He grimaced. Ichigo must have told his sisters what had happened to Isshin and Masaki. Not the wisest choice, considering how easily small children were terrified by monsters, but perhaps the correct one.
"Yes? What is it?" he asked, kneeling so he could properly look the children in the eye.
Ichigo jutted his chin forward determinedly before he blurted. "I wanna learn how tell apart the living and dead, and also how to fight Hollows!"
"I do too!" Karin piped up.
"I want to protect my family!" Yuzu announced.
Kisuke pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course they'd want to be more involved in the spirit world instead of vowing to stay away from it or even being terrified of it. They were bullheaded kids, that was for sure, but considering who their parents had been, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise. Shibas were known for their stubbornness.
He had two options: he could start teaching them to control their budding reiatsu, or he could forbid them from interacting with the spirit world. The chances of the children listening to him if he chose the latter would likely be slim to none, and they'd probably just be in more danger. But training them would attract unwanted attention when they were out of the shop, at least until they could control their nascent powers. What would their parents have done? Had the kids been older, they likely would have been left to their own devices with a helping hand in case they needed assistance, but younger children needed much more guidance than that.
Isshin and Masaki would not have wanted their children to be involved with the spirit world so young, but even considering their wishes, their children were already abnormal for Humans. There was no denying that their talents would only get stronger as they aged. They'd need training eventually. But to start now?
Ichigo and Karin would need to control their reiatsu to avoid attracting Hollows while they were out of the shop (though, admittedly, the former would be out more with school and karate). And Yuzu couldn't even see spirits at the moment, so she'd need training to increase her reiatsu. His usual, quick, dangerous methods of training wouldn't do in this situation. He'd likely have to poach from half-remembered lessons from the Academy. He'd teach the twins control – and only control – until they got older (they probably wouldn't be able to handle anything else at the age they were right now), but Ichigo, he could start teaching kido as soon as he learned reiatsu control. Normally, a spiritually aware Human would be unable to learn kido, but since Ichigo was the son of a Shinigami, he'd have his own set of fledgling Shinigami powers to use (as soon as he learned to access them, of course).
He'd start training them, but he wouldn't tell them the truth about their parents until the children were older. They would already have enough on their plates with training and learning about the spirit world without knowing who their parents had really been. He'd tell them when they were older and more mature.
Spirit training was hard, Yuzu decided as she watched her brother and sister meditate. Ichigo was having an easier time of it than Karin, who would naturally have difficulties staying still in one place as a young child. Yuzu was still working on trying to see spirits, but progress was slow and frustrating.
Ichigo had learned to tell spirits apart from humans rather quickly, saying something about how they "felt different" from the living. Karin was having a little more trouble telling when their guardians were in spirit form, but she was still making good progress.
Ichigo and occasionally Karin would point out when Urahara-san was walking around in spirit form, and Yuzu would squint, attempting to see what they could. Urahara had given her a small device to "focus her energy into," and such exercise would apparently strengthen the spirit energy inside of her. She often got headaches from concentrating so hard, and she sometimes wound up crying in frustration, but it was worth it when she saw the first blurry outline of Urahara-san a couple of weeks after they started training.
Unlike Yuzu, who was strengthening her energy, Karin and Ichigo already had enough to be able to see spirits, so their exercises often involved tucking away that energy inside themselves and sensing when others were around. Urahara-san would hide their stuffed animals in the underground training room (and hadn't it been a surprise when they were shown the whole huge training room under the Shoten? Of course, they were forbidden from using it without Urahara-san's or Tessai-san's permission, and they had to be carried down the ladder, but it was still impressive, Yuzu thought). Urahara-san would add little beacons that radiated spirit energy (or reiatsu, as Urahara-san carefully taught them), and Ichigo and Karin would stumble around, searching for their toys. Karin was better at sensing, because she had less energy than Ichigo, but Ichigo could at least access his own energy and manipulate it (even if he had difficulties doing so).
Around the same time Yuzu started seeing Urahara-san without his artificial body (or gigai, as he called it), Urahara-san deemed Ichigo ready to start learning kido. Ichigo had gotten in touch with his energy (with some sort of exercise that involved diving into a dark, deep, black hole in his mind) and could manipulate it into a glowing ball that floated above the palm of his hand (a trick Tessai-san showed them). Karin still couldn't reach her own energy, but Urahara-san had cautioned her that she was very young to start learning how to control spirit energy and that she shouldn't be surprised if it took some time before she was able to use it the way Ichigo could. Karin was, of course, frustrated, and she started training with even more fervor.
To be honest, it was nice to have something to occupy her time besides chores and playing. Yuzu was learning something Important. It wouldn't help her in the Human world, but it would certainly help her in the dangerous spirit world. Yuzu and Karin still hadn't seen a Hollow, and Urahara-san had put his foot down and said no when they asked for him to catch one for them. But how could they overcome their fear if they didn't face it head-on?
Urahara-san said they were mature for their age. Yuzu thought she'd become a different person when her parents had died, but maybe this was what growing up was.
Ichigo successfully cast Bakudo #1: Sai about a month after they began training. The Kurosaki children, Urahara-san, and Tessai-san held a small party to celebrate.
"Urahara-saaaaan! Where aaaaaare yooooouuuuu?" Mashiro hollered into the Urahara Shoten. Kensei rolled his eyes at his former lieutenant's antics.
"Welcome to the Urahara Shoten! Please feel free to look around, spirit-san!" said a young female voice. Kensei couldn't find the owner of the voice until he looked down and saw a young Human girl – she couldn't have been more than five or six – squinting up at him hopefully.
Mashiro squealed. "Aww, aren't you cute! What are you doing, working for Urahara-san, hmm?"
"How can you see us? And where's Urahara?" Kensei added, because they weren't in gigai, and a normal Human shouldn't have been able to see them at all. And a kid this young really shouldn't have been manning a shop all alone.
The little girl beamed up at them. "Oh, I live here! I've been training to see and recognize spirits! And Urahara's been holed up in his workshop all day." She paused for a moment, then twisted around and called, "Tessai-san! Customers!"
As they waited the few moments for Tessai to appear, Kensei realized that the little girl was one of the kids Urahara had picked up that Shinji and Hiyori had told them about. The sister to Ichi-something.
Tessai came in from the back, beaming. "Hello, Mashiro and Kensei! Welcome! What brings you?"
"Candy!" Mashiro announced. Kensei released a long-suffering sigh that informed those who knew him that he'd been dragged along by his excitable former lieutenant.
Tessai looked a tad bit surprised. "Nothing to do with the spirit world? Well, this is a candy shop, so please feel free to look around!"
Mashiro squealed and immediately darted off, examining the bowls of candy in each isle. Kensei was content to just stand in the doorway until he noticed a curious little girl staring at him as if he held the secrets of the universe.
"What do you want?" he asked gruffly (but not too gruffly, because he was dealing with a kid).
"Oh, I'm sorry!" The girl squeaked. "I was just trying to see you better! I'm not very good at seeing spirits yet."
"Huh," Kensei said. He squatted. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
The girl squinted. "…Three?"
Kensei snorted. "You're getting there."
"Ah, thank you, spirit-san!" She gave a small, polite bow and wandered in Mashiro's direction to see if she needed help. Kensei shook his head and relaxed in the doorway.
There was electric blue candy in a bowl near the entrance that Kensei stared at. He'd never admit it, but it was interesting to see what Urahara was doing to stay afloat in the Human world. Plus, he'd never seen candy of such a color before. He wondered what it tasted like. Urahara wouldn't miss a small sample of candy, right? Kensei reached forward to grab some of the candy.
"Bakudo #1: Sai!"
Kensei hadn't even noticed the spell caster until his arms were already bound weakly behind his back. It took almost no effort on his part to break the spell and whirl around to face his attacker, who…
…was just another kid. He was older than the girl but was still just a shrimp. Kensei fought the urge to facepalm, because no wonder he hadn't sensed the kid, his reiatsu signature was so weak. Well, it was strong for a Human, but compared to a Shinigami captain, it was nothing. Behind him, Mashiro was howling with laughter, but Kensei chose to ignore that in favor of stalking forward and grabbing the kid by the hair.
"Do you think you can just get away with assaulting me, huh?" Kensei said menacingly. The kid just scowled, unimpressed by Kensei's posturing.
"Candy isn't free. You have to pay for it," the kid said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Well, it was, but Kensei wasn't about to let himself be lectured by a snot-nosed brat.
Until Mashiro pulled him off the kid, at least, still giggling. "C'mon, Kensei, lighten up! The kid's right, you know!"
Kensei growled at her, but she was long-used to his temper (just as he was long-used to her antics). She ignored him and knelt down to greet the kid. "Hi, my name's Mashiro! What's yours?"
"I'm Ichigo," the kid said, still frowning.
"Oh, Shinji told us about you!" Mashiro said. Ichigo jumped at the mention of the former captain. Shinji must have really made an impression. "It's so nice to meet you! You are just the cutest, Berry-tan!"
Ichigo squawked. "That's not my name! What do you think you're doing?"
The little girl, Ichigo's sister, giggled. "I think it's cute, Berry-tan!"
Ichigo looked torn between snapping at his sister and not wanting to make her cry. "But, Yuzu…" he protested. "My name means 'one who protects', not 'strawberry'!"
"Don't worry, Berry-tan!" Mashiro said brightly before glomping the kid. "You're cute enough that you're fine with nicknames like that!"
"I am not fine with a nickname like that!" Ichigo protested, squirming in Mashiro's embrace.
Mashiro pushed him to arm's length and looked at him with big, watery eyes. Kensei snorted. The kid was screwed. "But you're Berry-tan," she said softly. "That's your name from now on, okay?"
As Kensei predicted, Ichigo couldn't hold out against the devastation that was Mashiro's puppy dog face. The kid looked away uncomfortably before muttering, "Fine, I guess."
"Yaaaaay!" Mashiro cheered, tightly hugging him again. Kensei only felt the need to intervene after Ichigo had been choking for a good amount of time. Served the kid right for pulling one over him.
Hiyori, of course, got the whole story from Mashiro when they returned from the Shoten and was rolling on the ground shrieking in laughter by the time Mashiro finished telling the story.
"Yo, Kisuke! You in?" Lisa shouted, eyeing the three kids who were sitting on the floor of the Shoten… practicing with reiatsu? Weren't they Human? Then again, Shinji had mentioned something about Urahara taking in some spiritually sensitive kids, so maybe she shouldn't have been as surprised.
She liked the fire she could see in the oldest kid's eyes. With resolve like that, he'd go far in life.
Kisuke soon appeared, his coat fluttering around him. "Lisa, Hachi! What can I do for you today?"
"My manga. Do you have it?" Lisa demanded.
Kisuke flipped open his fan. "This is a candy shop, Lisa-san, not a manga store. I'm afraid you'll have to find your manga elsewhere."
Lisa raised an unimpressed eyebrow. She and Kisuke had to play this game every single time she went to his store. "I know you've got the good stuff hidden away somewhere. Let's not make this difficult."
Kisuke sighed and then capitulated, remarkably quickly. Usually she had to cajole him more to make him give in. Maybe it had something to do with the kids, who had ceased practicing and were staring up at her either curiously or warily. "Alright. Let me go see what I have in the back. Tessai, I trust you can help Hachi?"
"Of course, boss!" came the yell from somewhere within the bowels of the shop.
Kisuke turned to go searching through his storeroom, and Tessai energetically slid into view, eager to see his old lieutenant. "What can I do for you today?"
"I'm making new seals for the new warehouse and need some sealing supplies, including grade A kido ink and paper, class 5 anchor stones, reiatsu converters—" He proceeded to list several items that sounded rather esoteric. Knowing how secretive the Kido Corps were, they probably were.
"We can sell you everything you need! Kisuke just got in a new shipment today. I think he preordered what he anticipated you would need. Be back with your purchases in a minute," Tessai said before following Kisuke to the back of the shop (hopefully to a different section of storage than Kisuke had gone to for her manga).
"Hi," came a small voice from below her. "You're really big!" Lisa glanced down and saw that one of the girls, the honey-haired one, had approached Hachi and was patting him on the leg.
Lisa could see the moment Hachi's heart melted into goop. Hachi was always a sucker for small, cute things. This girl had the largest member of the Vizards wrapped around her little finger, and she didn't even know it.
"I am," he replied gently. "What's your name?"
The girl smiled. "I'm Yuzu!" She pointed to the other kids, probably her siblings. "And that's Ichigo and Karin!" Lisa noted that the other girl – a twin? – was much less cute than her sister, wearing a frown on her face that looked out of place on someone so young. The boy, Ichigo, was also scowling, faint lines on his face suggesting that he did so often. Lisa wondered what kind of stress the boy had undergone to have visible reminders of it on his face at such a young age, probably just a decade or less. Then again, Shinji had said something about the kid losing his parents…
Karin nodded at the two Vizards. "Hello," she said calmly before returning to what she'd been doing before – it looked like meditation.
Ichigo grunted a greeting, keeping a sharp eye on Hachi to make sure he didn't do anything. Ichigo seemed a bit overprotective, but if he had lost his parents, it would only be natural for him to cling to the family he had left.
"I'm Hachi. Can you show me what you were doing?" Hachi asked softly.
Yuzu brightened at the attention. "Sure! We're learning how to control our rei-reiatsu so we don't attract Hollows. Ichigo and Karin can already see spirits, but I still can only see them fuzzily, so I'm working on that, too." She tugged Hachi toward her siblings and sat him down behind them. Ichigo and Karin eyed him a bit warily, but Lisa couldn't blame them. Soft-hearted as he was, Hachi's size made him a bit intimidating for people who didn't know him.
Well, Lisa was bored, and she didn't have anything better to do while she waited for Kisuke to return with her manga. She joined Hachi in sitting with the children. "I'm Lisa," she introduced shortly and received a chorus of greetings. "Show us what you were doing."
Yuzu blushed and fidgeted. "Well, I'm not very good at it yet, but…" Her tiny reiatsu signature stuttered to a dull candle rather than the cheery campfire it had been. Lisa waited for the girl to lose control of her reiatsu, but she never did. She either had very good reiatsu control, or she simply had a small amount of reiatsu that was easy to manipulate. Lisa was betting on a combination of both.
"That's very impressive," Hachi praised. "How long can you hold it for?"
"Um, not very long, only as long as I concentrate." Which probably wasn't for too long because of how young Yuzu was. While Hachi began to slowly coax Yuzu through a series of beginner's exercises for controlling reiatsu, Lisa took the time to study Yuzu's siblings.
In contrast with his sister's subdued reiatsu signature, Ichigo's was more of a raging bonfire. He had quite a lot of reiatsu – an impressive amount for a Human, actually – but he seemed to struggle more with controlling the output of his reiatsu. However, he was also working on more advanced exercises than either of his sisters were. If Mashiro's story was true, then he could pull off some rudimentary kido, too.
Karin was somewhere between her two siblings, having more reiatsu than her sister but marginally better control than her brother. She soon joined Yuzu in getting lessons from Hachi, evidently curious about what she could learn.
Finally, Kisuke returned with her manga and Tessai appeared with Hachi's kido equipment. While Lisa paid for everything they were buying, Hachi had to work on extricating himself from the young girls, who were quite taken with his soft voice and kind personality. Somewhere in there, Hachi promised to return to visit the twins (the sucker) before Lisa was able to get everyone back on track and her and Hachi out the door.
Lisa had to grudgingly admit, though, those were some pretty impressive little Human kids Kisuke had taken on.
"Yoruichi! You're back!" Ichigo looked on, unimpressed, as his guardian began cooing over a black cat that came sauntering into the shop one day. It yawned and licked its paw before Urahara happily scooped it up.
"This is Ichigo!" Urahara said cheerfully as he brought the cat over to Ichigo. "Say hi!"
"Meow," said the cat in a deep voice that sounded more human than cat-like and really creeped Ichigo out. He'd come to expect eccentricity from Urahara and everything associated with him (and what did that say about Ichigo?), but there were some things even now that he struggled with.
"C'mon, Ichigo, tell Yoruichi hi!" Urahara cajoled.
Ichigo rolled his eyes but acquiesced. "Hello."
Before he could get suckered into playing with the cat, like Urahara would no doubt try to do, he headed back into the store, but not before he heard Urahara say, "So I bet you're wondering what's up with Ichigo…"
A few hours later, Ichigo sensed three reiatsu signatures entering the shop. His sensing at range still wasn't great, but he could kind of sense things that were close by. One of the reiatsu signatures seemed familiar. He headed to the front of the store and saw that he was correct: Shinji had come back and was accompanied by two other men.
Ichigo owed a lot to the blonde for first helping him out of his depression and then telling him what had really happened to his parents and, by extension, introducing him to the spirit world.
Shinji noticed him watching and waved, grinning widely and showing more teeth than most people would be comfortable with.
"Ah, Shinji-san, Rose, Love, welcome back!" Urahara greeted, still holding onto the cat he'd called Yoruichi.
"Kisuke, Yoruichi," Shinji nodded.
"Been a while," Yoruichi said.
Wait. Hoooooold on a minute. Had the cat just… talked?
Apparently his disbelief was written all over his face, because Yoruichi turned his way and said amusedly, "What, you've never met a talking cat before?"
Instead of screaming and overreacting like the first few times Urahara showed up with something creepy and unbelievable (that tentacle monster thing held a place in the Hall of Fame, along with the smell that had emitted from the laboratory a few weeks prior), Ichigo simply let out a long-suffering sigh and gave Urahara a reproachful look. The cat cackled. The long-haired man rolled his eyes, while Shinji and the guy with the afro looked amused.
"Yuzu! Karin!" Ichigo called, trying to think of a good way to get revenge. Siccing his curious sisters (especially Yuzu, lover of all things fluffy) on the cat might just do the trick. "Want to meet a talking cat?" He immediately heard scrambling from deeper within the Shoten and fought the urge to smirk.
"Where? Where is it?" Yuzu asked breathlessly, sliding into view. (It really said a lot to the strangeness of what occurred within the Urahara Shoten that Yuzu had stopped questioning things such as talking cats anymore.) She immediately saw the black cat in Urahara's arms and squealed. "Oh! Oh! Can I pet it? Him? Her?"
"Her," informed Yoruichi, which made no sense because of her deep, manly voice, but whatever. "And I suppose you may," she said loftily.
Yuzu squealed in delight and bounded forward to pet Yoruichi, who seemed to enjoy the attention. Ichigo rolled his eyes. Well, that had backfired.
Then Karin came into the front of the store, a little more sedate but still interested. Ichigo simply pointed her in the direction of the cat and she was off.
As his sisters fussed over Yoruichi, Ichigo approached Shinji, who nodded genially at him. "Been a while," the man said.
Ichigo gave Shinji a formal bow and said, "I never did thank you for telling me what happened to tou-san and kaa-san. So, thank you."
Shinji snorted. "Manners don't really suit ya for some reason, kid. But you're welcome, I suppose."
Ichigo looked up and gave a hesitant smile, as though his face had forgotten the movements. Then he asked, "So what did you come here for?"
"Ah, we're here to catch up on some gossip, so ta speak," Shinji said. "Been a while since we got the latest news from the spirit world. By the way, this is Rose—" The long-haired, lanky man gave a wave, "—and this is Love." The guy with the afro nodded.
"So you're Ichigo. We've heard quite a bit about you and your sisters from our friends," Rose said kindly.
"I can't believe you got Kensei," Love added with a smirk. Ichigo jumped at the mention of the gray-haired man he'd bound for, admittedly, a tiny amount of time. He hadn't known that Kensei and… Mashiro?... had been a part of Shinji's group.
"It's nice to meet you," Ichigo said politely. These people were with Shinji and therefore were to be respected, no matter how it chafed on Ichigo's informal preferences.
"What did I say about your manners?" Shinji complained.
"You know, most adults would be telling me to be more polite," Ichigo pointed out.
"That's better. And I'm not most adults," Shinji said decisively.
"Shinji-san, shall we head to the back?" Urahara called, interrupting the conversation. Yuzu and Karin had reluctantly withdrawn from Yoruichi.
"Sorry, kid. Time ta let the grown-ups do grown-up stuff," Shinji said, ruffling his hair before Ichigo could protest and smack his hand away.
Ichigo wanted to hear what they had to say, but Urahara had anticipated his desire and said, "Sorry, Ichigo. Maybe when you're older." And then the adults were gone.
"So, anythin' new from upstairs?" Shinji asked as he and the others settled around a low table in a room in Urahara's house.
"Well, if you want gossip, I've got everything you could want and more," Yoruichi said. "But if you're looking for something more substantial… I didn't hear anything." Yoruichi, since she had not been officially exiled from the Soul Society, often made trips there to spy on the Gotei 13 and Aizen in cat form.
Only fools would ignore a threat like the Gotei 13. Of course, every time they'd checked, the Shinigami seemed to be unaware of the Vizards' continued existence.
Plus, they needed to keep an eye on Aizen's movements. So far, he seemed to be content to keep experimenting on Hollows and keep his head down as he searched for the Hogyoku.
"Well, no news is good news, as they say," Love said, settling in.
"Do tell us all the gossip ya picked up, though. It's bound ta be entertainin', if nothing else."
Yoruichi gave a feline grin. "So, you know the new captain of the Tenth, that kid genius I was telling you about…"
Welcome to The Pendulum Family! Hope you'll enjoy your stay, and please leave a review on the way out.
So I'm using reiatsu as a blanket term to cover what, in canon, is both reiatsu and reiryoku, because I can't tell the two apart too well.
Sorry that the Vizards haven't actually adopted the Kurosaki kids yet, but I really want to take the time to do all the characters justice. Do you think I've gotten their characters right?
-HM