Chapter 2: Starting over

Ichigo slowly made his way up the stairs and into his old room. His family didn't seem to want to make his pesky mood go away, sure he was happy to see them, but they were hard to be around because they were human.

As he entered his own room, the sight of his own real, human body wasn't pleasing.

It had probably been lying hocked up to the life support machine and the inhaler ever since he left. Ichigo wondered why his father even bothered to keep it at home; he could easily take it to the hospital and claim that his son had ended up brain-dead after hitting his head too hard somewhere. Ichigo knew his father could easily write some believable medical report.

But no matter how dreadful is looked he had to live inside it. It was harder for Soul Society to find if he was. A sigh escaped from his now tired face as he walked up to the body and pulled the tubes that were connected to the respirator out of its lungs; before shutting the respirator off. He removed the IV and other various kinds of tubes that were attached to his body's arms. His frown deepened as he realised that now he had to hurry or it would suffocate.

"Need help, son?"

Ichigo jerked up and spotted his father, Isshin, standing in the door. Ichigo had been careless and too focused on his body not to have noticed his father coming home from where ever he had been.

They stared at each other for a bit until his fathers gaze slowly made its way over Ichigo's neck and down to Ichigo's chest as if too see if the hole could be spotted even if his clothes covered it.

"Um… yes, actually…" Ichigo mumbled. He didn't want to hurt the body more than it already was. He straightened and crossed his arms over his chest making Isshin look him in the eyes again. He smiled faintly at Ichigo as if unsure on how to approach the body with Ichigo standing next to it. Ichigo stepped back, to make room for Isshin to take care of it.

"You should have taken out the inhaler last Ichigo, your suffocating yourself right now, you see." His father said in a serious tone. "You should have waited until I came back to help you from the start son."

"Whatever."

Isshin wasn't surprised at the rude answer and continued to detach his son's body from the machines it was attached to. He knew his son did not like him much anymore, the reasons unknown to him, at least in detail.

"There, that should do it; you better jump in fast because your lips are turning blue. I'll go get some aspirin that you can take in a bit; since you will have a headache once you're in your body. I'm sure of it."

Isshin quickly glanced at his son before leaving the room to bring what he said he would go get.

Ichigo eyed his body. It was indeed turning blue. He knew it wouldn't nice to go inside it; but he had to and did so.

Pain shot through his body as every scar his soul had received was transferred, every part of him hurting as he pulled and moved his muscles. His skin burned and his fingers twitched uncontrollably, his right arm feeling as if the skin was about to burst. Ichigo harshly sucked in air and his eyes shot open. It felt strange to look with human eyes again as everything seemed foggy and dark. Breathing was hard; it felt like he was breathing sand.

He coughed hard, his lungs burning and he gasped for air, slowly getting oxygen back into his body's system. Ichigo could hardly feel his hands and wondered if he still had any legs.

Faintly felt a hand helping him sit up and a glass was being pressed against his lips. With shaking hands Ichigo tried to hold it himself, but with his numb limbs he barely felt that he was even touching it.

Isshin helped him drink and the water caressed his dry throat and he quickly swallowed most of it until his father told him to drink slower before he went to get some more.

Every part of Ichigo's body was shaking uncontrollably after not being moved for so long. He reached up to scratch his itching eyes, tears flowing from them to make the irritation stop. The way his hands quivered only made him poke them with his knuckles though, making them hurt even more. A whimpering sound escaped him.

"It's alright Ichigo. I'm here to help you." His father was back with another glass of water and Ichigo thankfully swallowed it as well, slowly this time.

After drying his cheeks and trying to clear his throat, he sat up properly with the help of his father. His breath was raged and throat still sore. A moment of just sitting and catching his breath made Ichigo calm down considerably and to his discomfort Ichigo noticed that Isshin was trying to rub life back into his legs. Ichigo glared at his father through teary eyes.

"Don't touch us!" Ichigo squeaked at his father and tried to push his hands away.

"I have to Ichigo or you won't get your feeling back in your legs any time soon!" Isshin said in a firm voice and pushed Ichigo back in a lying position. The teen fell back with a grunt and it made him wonder if he even had any muscles left.

Irritation flared at it and at the rush of emotion Ichigo felt his muscles tighten and he coughed violently again. His father's hands rubbing against his legs became a lot more apparent, and most uncomfortable.

"Don't touch us you fucking shinigami!" Ichigo's raw voice screeched and he slapped his fathers hands away the best he could. "Just… just leave us alone," he managed to slur out before his words got stuck in his stinging throat.

Isshin seemed a bit offended over that his son didn't seem to be able to look past the fact that he was a shinigami.

"I haven't been in duty for a very long time son, and you know it. I will never turn my blade against you, no matter what you may or may not have done," He sighed. "I'll come back and check on you in an hour, you need to rest your body." With that said Isshin left Ichigo alone in his room.

'Well, this started well…' he thought sarcastically and slumped into the soft bed, feeling that the madras had formed after every curve of his body after having been lying in it for so long without moving. He even felt hits of painful bedsores on his buttocks and thighs.

'Ah, don't worry about it King. And don't fall for his talk, I'm sure he will go against us sometime like all the others did. Just like he didn't tell us about him being a shinigami even after you had been one for a at least a year!'

'Yeah, yeah, I know. Just shut up now, we need to rest,' Ichigo dismissed the conversation, he didn't want to think bad of this father, even if it was hard with him being full of lies. Maybe not lies, but at least a lot of untold things. Secrets.

Eventually they managed to fall into a light, but well needed slumber. Unfortunately they were awakened shortly after by their father shaking their shoulder carefully. Ichigo grunted and turned to lie on his side, his back facing his father, but Isshin simply walked around to the other side of his bed to face him and put a small tin with different coloured pills in them on the bedside table.

"These pills should make you feel better in an hour or so if you taken them now," He said in a low voice before leaving again. As he watched Isshin leave, he spotted his sisters standing and looking at him worriedly in the small hall in his room. His father pulled them with him and closed the door behind him.

Ichigo eyed the tin with suspicion before reaching over to grab it. It proved harder than he expected since their hand was still shaking slightly and Ichigo couldn't feel that he was touching it at all. He frowned and clenched his fingers around the tin with all his might and when it at least looked like he had a firm grip he quickly put it on his bed before dropping it.

He grunted and licked up the pills from the tin with his tongue, it was too hard to pick them up one by one with his hand. Somehow he managed to swallow himself with the pills without chocking on them.

Stupid body. Every minute in it made him hate it even more. Ichigo sighed, moved his arm to lie over his eyes and rested until the medicine would take effect.

He had fallen asleep again, he noticed when he woke up, this time on his own. He glanced at the watch what stood on the small night stand next to his bed. He had been asleep for almost four hours.

The teen blinked wearily and sat up slowly, feeling that he had feeling in most of extremities. He had to get dressed. Ichigo knew that if he didn't come down soon someone would come up and make him go down stairs anyway. Ichigo wobbled out of bed, supporting himself on his chair to get to the wardrobe. All his clothes still hung there as if he hadn't been gone at all. It felt strange.

Tight black jeans slipped over thin legs and he put on a simple long sleeved shirt over his upper body. He had to admit it did feel good to wear human clothes again. The big, poofy arrancar clothes could get annoying.

Ichigo slowly made his way down the stairs, his hand clenched tightly around the railingso he wouldn't fall. His legs were still very sore and hard to stay balanced on.

Looking up from the ground he had been staring at to keep his balance, Ichigo heard someone move in the room and approach him. It was Karin who looked like she wanted to help him walk.

"It's fine. We don't need help." He wobbled over to the kitchen sink and turned on the water tap the best he could.

Damn it, my hands are still numb… Ichigo's frowned deepened frown as he leaned down to drink for the running water, his throat still dry. Karin still stood behind him looking worried. Ichigo turned around and glared at her.

"I said we're fine!"

"Why are you so hostile Ichigo?" She couldn't help but to ask.

"Because...!" Ichigo first hissed, but the sighed and looked away. "You wouldn't understand..." He mumbled and went over to the sofa, sitting down with a grunt. The headache was getting the better of him, and he was getting angry again. He didn't want to shout at his sister.

He turned on the TV. He had actually missed some things from the living world like the TV, normal clothes and nature even, when he thought about it. There were no green plants in Hueco Mundo.

Karin didn't know what to make of Ichigo's answer. Why had he left them again? She didn't know what she had done wrong; it was the shinigami, was it not? Not her! She had done nothing wrong, right? She didn't understand.

Maybe Ichigo was just depressed? She knew he had taken medicine against depression before. Maybe it was because he hadn't been around to take them that made him so mean?

Still, she went and sat at end of the sofa. Slowly she made her way closer to him, but he made no response back to show any affection. The only thing that he seemed to do was to focus harder and harder on fixing his gaze on the TV, as if forcing himself not to look at her. Nevertheless she crawled closer; it felt good to sit next to his brother again even if he was doing his best to ignore her.

Ichigo was zapping the channels quickly; as nothing seemed to suit his taste. But as Karin looked up at him, wondering a bit over his actions, she didn't know what to think when she saw his face. His lipswere slightly parted and his eyes half lidded. His breathing grew heavier and his back hunched together. That couldn't be the TV's doing. She jerked away from him.

"What's wrong with you!"

He snapped out his trance, the raw instincts that turned every hollow into a monster were taking control, the sweet aroma from Karin's soul making the instincts within Ichigo rage and urged him to kill, to take her life as his own.

He grabbed her hand, unable to stop himself. She tried to pull away but to no avail. Without thinking, Ichigo dragged her hand up to his mouth, kissing it softly with cold, dry lips. Karin gasped, shocked at his actions.

"Let go!"

"No." His voice was but a dark whisper.

Both his hands clenched around hers and his tongue flickered over her fingers, trailing along her small nails. As instincts controlled Ichigo, his actions not entirely his own, Karin felt her hand being pulled into her brother's mouth, her skin scraping against his teeth. She felt him shudder and her vision started to blur while his seemed to burn.

"What are you doing!"

Suddenly someone pushed Ichigo away, Karin's hand slipping out of his mouth. The force from the blow put Ichigo off balance; he stumbled and fell with a yelp. He glared at his father with still burning eyes, who didn't look too happy with his son.

"I'm sorry!" Ichigo tried, his apologise genuine but his father didn't take any chances and pulled up his son by the shirt and towards the hall.

"Get out, Hollow!"

Ichigo was forcefully pushed out of the house. His old All Star shoes and a jacket came flying after him before the door was slammed shut.

End of Chapter