#4)

Title: Similar Paths
Characters/Parings: Ishida Ryuuken & Kurosaki Isshin. Mentions of the whole Kurosaki family as well as Ishida Uryuu. Implied Ryuuken X Isshin.
Rating: PG
Words: 700
Summary: They hadn't been so different after all.
Warning/s: A broken nose, plus crack theory about Ryuuken and Isshin's past. Slight spoiler about their real identities as well.
Dedication: For all the peeps who can't have enough of the two ol' daddies.
Author's Note: I'm not a real fan of this lil' pairing, but I do find 'em rather fun to write about. Especially when their pasts are so mysterious. -laughs- Anyway, enjoy it. And apologies for the oddball ending – I just didn't know how to end it. -sweatdrops-

Kurosaki Isshin was a shinigami.

Ishida Ryuuken was a Quincy.

Isshin was a natural girl magnet.

Ryuuken, on the other hand, was a self-disciplined woman repellent.

Everyone figured they would be completely different.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

Both hunted all manner of Hollows as what Isshin would call, 'A hidden part-time job'. Ryuuken only scowled at this term and said it as 'a necessary thing to do'. However, it was still the truth – both of them still went to kill and purify Hollows together on a daily basis. Well, nightly in reality, but who would really want to get kinky on all the details. Besides Ryuuken, that was.

Both of them had been seeing each other faces from the beginning of senior high. Isshin could remember how they first met. The Kurosaki had 'accidentally' bumped into the man ever since their first day at school, laughing at Ryuuken about his white hair. Said boy punched right back, having the clinic doctor having his first ever broken nose.

Most people would be out to get revenge.

However, Isshin was not what most people would define as 'most'.

The very next day, the ex-captain had went to seat right next to the Quincy, much to Ryuuken's horror. No matter how many times the then-young Ishida threatened for the then-young Kurosaki to just shove off, Isshin had not. So for the next few years until graduation, Ryuuken was forced to endure the brash and (at times) hyperactive man beside him with a scowl of distaste. So when they finally graduated (which, itself, seemed to be a miracle given how often Isshin skipped classes), Ryuuken was glad that it would probably be the last time he would see the annoying guy beside him.

However, the Quincy couldn't have been more wrong. When he entered medical school, the first person that greeted him was Isshin. The man had half-screamed his name as the Kurosaki flew in from seemingly nowhere and hugged the latter tight. Everyone could remember just how red Ryuuken's face had been just then. Not to mention the legacy of the Ishida's special kick that would endure in the myths of the school the two attended.

It was also then, when they started to accept each other despite their differences. After all, they had their own similarities as well: they both aspired to be doctors, they both were the probably the only two people who knew about the existence of spirits and to that, the only two who were charged with the duty of hunting Hollows. Even if they were worlds apart, they were still the same somewhere. And on that basis, they went to get along with each other.

They never left each other even after finishing medical school. Instead, they lived together for the next few years, cherishing each other's presence well until the point where Isshin started to date Masaki. Ryuuken was slightly heartbroken at losing his good friend, but accepted it as the natural way of things before he himself started to date as well. Another few years had passed before the two doctors went to marry their girls, both on the same day, the same time. Be it coincidence or well-preparedness, both men joyfully wished each other luck as good friends and pals.

Both shinigami and Quincy both had first-born sons. And ironically, both men also lost their wives later on in life. Ryuuken lost his first to the shinigami, while Isshin lost his to the Hollow Grand Fisher. Both wives lost to spiritual beings and creatures. In a sense, it was poetic justice.

Now, many years later, Isshin grinned rakishly as he took a small puff of the cigar offered to him. The restored shinigami captain looked at the white-haired Quincy as he took a drag of his own expensive pure tobacco cigars.

"It's been a long time, huh?" commented the man as he looked at the place where Uryuu had trained with his father. And also where they themselves had always had their private moments in their younger times.

Ryuuken only grunted in response as he scowled at the elder.

Some things just never change.

Woke up with yawn; It's dawning, I'm still alive.
Turned on my radio to start a new day
As goddamned DJ's chattered how to survive
Amazing news got over on the air wave

- Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Bleach OP 4