I'm so glad you guys are enjoying the fic =) I've yet to make any progress toward the end, but I'm sure I'll get to it eventually ;p At least you still have a few chapters left to go, right? Anyway, enjoy the update XD
Chapter 7
Isshin is just returning from taking out the vampire responsible for Keigo's death. It's a triumph that tastes much sweeter than it should. As he heads up the sidewalk to his front steps, he comes to a sudden halt. There's a figure sitting on his steps there, a hood pulled over their head to obscure their features... which are staring at the ground. His arms are lying on his thighs, hands hanging limply between spread legs... it's a sight of utter defeat. The older man sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He remembers this sight all too well.
"Another fight with Ichigo?" he wonders.
"Nothin's changed wit that one," Shiro sighs in depression. "He's just as irritiatin' as he used ta be. It don' take nothin' ta set off that damn temper a his."
"Yeah, so I've heard," Isshin smirks. "He might still call me dad, you know, but I lost my right to raise him. One of the curses set upon me after conceiving your irritating little ass. Come on inside, brat, tell daddy all about it."
He steps past Shiro and unlocks his door, leading the downtrodden boy into his house afterward. If he knows Kisuke, which he does all too well, the other is likely telling Ichigo the whole story at this very moment. He'll have to remember to call after this is over to check on the other.
Inside the house, a typical bachelor pad filled with empty pop cans and take out cartons, Isshin and Shiro sit in the kitchen. It's the only room in the house that hasn't been touched, as the raven haired man doesn't really do much cooking. Instead, he turned it into a sort of shrine to his estranged wife. Her picture sits on the counter, circled by her favorite flowers and aromatic candles. Ichigo always thought it was weird, yet it's all he has of Masaki... she didn't die, she's just returned home.
"What did you do this time?"
"Why is it always my fault?" Shiro sulks. "Fer once ya think ya could blame Ichi?"
"To be fair... it is always your fault."
"All these fuckin' centuries a havin' ta deal wit meetin' 'im 'gain an' getting' back wit him... I only got two challengers fer his 'fection. An' wouldn' ya know... they're both in this fuckin' city!" he gripes. "I ain't never had ta deal wit 'em both at the same time."
"Shuuhei and Grimmjow," Isshin smirks in reminiscence. "I remember how Ichigo used to piss you off so bad talking about them, sometimes on purpose when he caught you flirting with someone other than him. What'd he do this time?"
"He was dancin' wit that irritatin' fuck, Grimmjow," he spits out bitterly. "Told me later he an' that pussy cat were fuckin'! Can ya believe that? He laid down fer that fur ball! Why does it seem like each time he comes back he's more of a whore than the last?"
Isshin shakes his head and pulls out a beer from the fridge, reaching into the back to pull out a pack of cow's blood. When Shiro arrived at the murder scene in the park with Ichigo, Isshin pulled a few strings with a butcher he knows to get some. He hands it to his son, knowing he's a stress eater and nothing stresses him out worse than Ichigo's slightly loose sex drive.
"Shiro, we've been through this," he states. "Ichigo can do whatever he wants with whoever he wants as long as you two aren't mated. The first time was fine, you grew up together and didn't realize your feelings weren't that wrong. He was never interested in anyone else, he depended on you and never strayed too far. Now is completely different, though. Sex before marriage isn't frowned upon, people don't stay with a single lover until the bitter end, and if Ichigo wants to have sex with other people he's allowed. He's old enough to make his own decisions now."
"I know, I know. I just... don' like it."
"And you don't have to. But treating him like you already have him is only going to piss him off more," he points out. "Besides, I thought the last time we burned his body you swore you wouldn't mate him again."
"I say that every time," he grumbles. "I mean it... then I see 'im 'gain an' it just don' seem like such a good idea no more. Dad? Why does Ichi get taken 'way from me all the time? Why can' we have eternity like all the other vampires?"
"Ichigo isn't a vampire, Shiro, he's an angel," he points out softly. "Just like your mother. Angels are required to serve Heaven for a time. His soul is trapped in an endless cycle. He'll grow here until a certain amount of time has passed, get called to Heaven to serve there as his age regresses, and then get sent back to us to repeat the cycle. It isn't fair, but that's the hand we've been dealt."
Shiro sighs and lays his head on the island counter he's set at. It sucks, having to say goodbye to his mate only to know he'll see him again after a hundred years or so have passed. He doesn't like walking the Earth alone, yet can't bring himself to take a temporary mate with the knowledge his Ichigo is still alive. Isshin knows his pain, as he can't take another mate either. Though he knows Masaki will never come back to him, he just can't do it. Her mission was to have the brothers of balance, and then she was called back. It isn't fair and she wasn't aware she would have to return permanently, yet as he said before... that was the hand they were dealt.
He would never tell Shiro that his conception was a curse he wasn't prepared for, that would crush the other. Because Shiro survived the risky birth, Ichigo was cursed into that cycle. They live, they watch him die, they wait, they see him return, and they go through it all again. It breaks his heart each time to see his boys suffer so. He's helpless to save them from it.
"Why can' Ichi serve Heaven here on Earth?" Shiro wonders with a teary voice. "It ain't fair he keeps gettin' taken from me! I do everythin' I'm s'posed ta an' they keep punishin' me fer it! Why should I protect the fuckin' world if mine keeps gettin' taken 'way!"
"Shiro, you shouldn't talk like that. You know you'd still protect the world, because that's what Ichigo would want," he scolds, though it barely sounds it. "He loves this world and it would kill him if you let it burn just because he has to go away for a while."
"It ain't just a while! It feels like a fuckin' eternity!" Shiro sobs. "I'm s'posed ta be wit 'im fer eternity, not witout 'im! How many times have I burned his body? How many times have I held 'im in my arms while he died? How many times have I said good-bye? I lost count! I can' do this no more!"
This is the first time Shiro's reached his breaking point. Isshin takes him into his arms and holds him as he cries, rubbing soothing circles on his back like he used to do when he was just a little boy and scraped his shin. He never thought he would do this again after the boy reached his pre-teen years. Shiro was always strong, always standing proud and arrogant, always sporting a slightly unhinged grin before heading into war. He loved war, it was his kind of habitat and he excelled in it. But this isn't a time of war, not like it was then, and there is no reason to shed the amount of blood he did in the past. Things are dealt with in a different manner now, through words and contracts... through negotiation and patience. This is Ichigo's world and it's lost the need for Shiro.
Ichigo is still in his room the next morning, the blonde sitting at the dining room table when Yorouchi drags herself in. There are dark circle beneath her eyes from lack of sleep and she's in a lasting foul mood from lack of sex. At the sight of Kisuke downing yet another cup of coffee in front of a baby monitor, she raises a brow and takes a seat across from him. She snatches the cup from his hand and downs the scalding liquid without registering the heat.
"So... you told him?" she wonders.
"Yeah... he took it okay," he sighs. "At least he didn't cry this time."
"Any activity from the brat's room?"
"He's sleeping, thankfully. I thought he was going to break a couple minutes into the explanation. He seems so fragile, you know? It's shocking we used to consider him the stronger of the two."
"He's just very emotional, Kisuke," Yorouchi states. "You know how those emotions lead him. It's not too difficult to understand how they can make him just as strong as they would make other weak. He's a complicated creature we have yet to unravel completely."
He nods and turns back to the monitor when there's sound of more movement. It only takes a few minutes and Ichigo is wandering downstairs. It looks like he didn't get any sleep at all. If he did manage to nod off, it wasn't very restful. When he sees that his aunt is finally home, he walks over to her and kisses her head in greeting. Afterward he grabs a cup of coffee and gets out some bread to make toast.
"Ichigo, you don't have to go to class today if you feel you can't, okay?" Kisuke says warily.
"I have a test today," the other murmurs. "It counts for half my grade in my business class, I can't miss it. Besides, it'll give me time to think."
"I don't want you out there when you're this upset," he states. "I'd rather you stay home for the rest of the week, just in case something happens."
"Like what?" he scoffs. "You think a vamp is going to attack me? Maybe that elder than cornered me the other day?"
"Elder? What elder?" he almost demands in shock.
"Aizen," Ichigo waves off. "Dumb ass tried to tell me he wanted to help dad out. I called afterward to tell him before I ran into my friends, he wasn't very convinced... Neither was I. He was tailing Shiro for some reason."
The two older Hunters exchange a glance at that. They've dealt with Aizen in that past, in fact... he had killed Ichigo in his last life. The fact that the other is reborn never occurs to most; they just assume it's a different person with the same name. No one expects Hunters to live as long as they have, they don't know the difference in the first genetic.
Ichigo notices their hesitation, yet says nothing more on it. He doesn't understand why they're so hesitant to let him out of the house. It's not like he's being targeted or something. After grabbing his toast, he picks up his bag and heads out of the house. Yorouchi calls for him and hurries outside.
"What is it now?" he sighs.
"... I need you to stay here for the week," she states. "This isn't the first time we've told you the truth about your origins. You have to trust us when we say it's best you stay here where we can watch over you."
"What for? It's not the end of the world, it's just some seriously fucked up news."
"You said that before, honey... and then tried to hang yourself."
Ichigo stares at her in complete shock, unable to grasp that fact as well as he thought he had the story last night. He never thought he would ever do something that dramatic because of a simple story. The look in her eyes, however, tells a different story. There's more to his past than he was told.
