Kisuke Urahara was not a timid man. In fact, he had a lot of confidence and was very easily one of the most outspoken of the people he knew. However, at this moment, he wanted to run and hide and send Jinta or Ururu back to talk to Isshin Kurosaki. This was not a conversation he wanted to have, and he really didn't want to have it on Isshin's terms. He had no choice. He'd called and told Isshin he needed to speak with him in person and he said he was tied up at the clinic all day and he'd have to come down. Kisuke wasn't sure if Isshin's powers had unsealed themselves yet. He was about ninety nine percent certain he was about to find out the hard way, however.
He knocked on the door to the office inside the clinic beside the house. "Enter," he said.
Isshin looked up, white coat and all, and Kisuke saw the goofy grin that hid someone who had more power than he cared to test now. He held out hope, that with his daughters nearby, he wouldn't do anything crazy.
"Kisuke, what is so urgent?" he asked, looking up. Both his daughters would be in school, as would Kon in Ichigo's body.
"It…it's about Ichigo, Isshin-san…um, there's been an incident," he said, sitting across from him, looking down at his hands.
Isshin's grin faded. "Is he alive?"
Kisuke nodded. "Yes, yes, he's physically going to be fine, but…ah…mentally…it is questionable as to what state he will be in…"
Isshin had gone deadly silent. "Will be in?"
"It…it is a long story but Aizen took things much farther than I ever would have dreamed in his desires to gain control of White," he said slowly, seeing Isshin arch a brow. "He ah…well, it seems when he found out who Ichigo was, he recognized Kurosaki somehow, and no doubt was curious if he was indeed the child of the one White infected. He suspected, but he had to know for sure. Inoue-san's kidnapping was a ruse to get Ichigo to Hueco Mundo. I can't put it any other way. While there, one of the Espada…attacked him."
"Attacked him?" Isshin said quietly. "Obviously you mean something else by that word, Urahara." All the familiarity was gone from his voice. Now began the dangerous water that Urahara had to tread.
"I didn't come to you immediately. I was afraid that it would have been too much for him to bear, to find out that you were a Shinigami, and about his mother, and what the hollow nature inside him really was… I should have. It, too, like Inoue's kidnapping was a ruse to draw White to the surface. Ichigo retreated, the hollow emerged fully, but he was dying. When Ichigo regained control…two Espada walked into the Serietei and took him back to Hueco Mundo. We were all affected by Aizen's power, and only Ichigo could see them for who they were…" he said quietly.
"Aizen used his Espada to try and get the hollow to reemerge. It failed because Shiro, that is the name he gave himself, knew that surfacing again would kill them. Aizen apparently decided he had no value and chose to rid himself of Ichigo by giving him over to the Arrancar while his powers were sealed. He expected him to die, of course. Hisagi-fukutaichou, Abarai-fukutaichou, and Kira-fukutaichou went on a rescue mission and we retrieved him before it was too late. Inoue-san was able to heal the physical wounds completely," he said, staring at him.
"You keep indicating physical wounds. Was he tortured?" Isshin said, staring at the hatted man. "Was he experimented on?"
Urahara nodded. "In a sense…"
"What aren't you telling me, Kisuke Urahara?" he asked, eyes narrowing.
"Um, Isshin-san, might I ask if you have all your Shinigami powers returned before we continue…?" he asked, looking up hopefully.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Rukia looked up as she heard the distinct click-clop of geta, knowing it was likely the eccentric shop keeper. She blinked. He was sporting an impressive set of black eyes and a red and swollen nose. Behind him was an unruffled Isshin Kurosaki in his shihakuso and haori. Urahara waved at Rukia and deterred into an alcove, emerging later with the damage to his face healed and then led Isshin back toward where they had Ichigo sedated.
Rukia looked at Renji who was staring wide eyed. "I think he must have told Isshin…"
Renji nodded. "I'm…surprised he hadn't already."
Both got up and went down the hallway to hear Isshin speaking with Unohana. They paused until Unohana motioned them forward. Isshin turned and smiled at them.
"I want to thank you, Renji-san, for your efforts in rescuing my son," he said.
"I had to, you know, he's my best friend and all, but Hisagi has taken this hardest," Renji said, glancing into the room with the unconscious Ichigo. In the corner, nearly unnoticed, Shūhei had fallen asleep in a chair that Unohana had brought in for him after he'd refused to leave the day before.
Isshin glanced at the dark-haired man in the chair. "Why?"
Urahara glanced at Renji again. Renji nodded.
"When Ichigo had gone silent, after the first time when Rukia brought him back, Hisagi seemed to connect with him. I think…I think it had to do with the fact that out of everyone, Ichigo didn't care that he had been Tōsen's lieutenant. He didn't judge him on that. They used to walk together through the Kuchiki grounds, Hisagi talking and Ichigo listening, and it just seemed to change him, Hisagi that is. He'd talk about him when we'd go out, just little things, like he'd tell us about something that happened when he sat with Ichigo. We all noticed it, and then, Shiro took over for a while…and he was so different, loud, crass and vulgar. None of us knew what to do with him. He told us…things…and it got Hisagi thinking," Renji said with a shrug, glancing into the room again.
"Things?" Isshin asked. Urahara, of course, hadn't detailed everything for him.
"Yumichika was helping too, because…well, you know about Yumichika and Ikkaku, I guess? Well, you know, Ikkaku is pretty much straight except he's in love with Yumichika, and Hisagi thought the same thing. Yumichika helped roust Ichigo from his inner world finally by telling him about his story and finding Ikkaku…" Renji said, almost rushing.
Isshin held up his hands and shook his head. "Renji, what things?"
Rukia sighed. "He told us that Ichigo was gay. But he hadn't come to terms with that, and then when G-g…" Rukia couldn't even say the name.
Renji put an arm around her. "Shh, don't."
Isshin nodded. "I suspected as much," he said with an encouraging smile.
"Really?" Renji said, eyes wide. "I mean, I never thought that he, and we…I had no idea."
Isshin smiled. "A father knows things like this. Does he know about me?"
Urahara nodded. "I'm not sure how much he'll remember because Shiro pretty much outed him on all those things to irritate him into returning to the surface."
Isshin nodded. "Can you wake him?" he asked, looking to Unohana.
"I can try. He had a panic attack last time, thinking he was still in Las Noches," she said, smiling at him gently.
Together she went in with Isshin while the others stayed back. Hisagi didn't move but he was completely asleep by the look. Unohana leaned over him and cast a kido to wake him. His eyes rolled and she stepped back. Like the last time he woke suddenly, eyes wide and obviously terrified. Isshin squeezed his hand and spoke.
"Ichigo, it's me, you're safe," he said gently.
Ichigo rolled his head to the side and gasped, reaching up and grabbing Isshin in a tight hug. Isshin was pulled down onto him. He wrapped both arms around him and pulled him up a little into his arms. He could already feel the wetness soaking into his clothing.
"Hush, it will be fine, my son, it will, I'm here, we're all here," he said softly, holding him in a way he hadn't in a very long time. "You're so strong, Ichi, so very strong, and you're brave, and you have come through so much, and your mother, she would be so proud of you right now, son, and so am I. I'm so sorry, though, so sorry I couldn't keep you safer than I did…" he said softly, stroking a hand across his head and back.
After a time, he looked up at Isshin with wide eyes still wet and red. "Pop," he said quietly. "Pop…I…I can't…"
"You can, son, I know you can," Isshin said, reaching up and wiping away a tear sliding down his face.
"But look at me," he said, sighing into his arms, clutching him desperately. "I can't even wake up without…without…feeling them…all of them…and it is all I can see when I close my eyes, pop. Make it go away…" he pleaded.
Isshin swallowed thickly, holding his own tears at bay. "I wish I could, son, I wish I could…but I can't make it go away. But I will be here with you… I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier. Urahara didn't tell me out of some insane fear I'd run off to Hueco Mundo to kill Aizen with my bare hands. He was probably correct in that decision. I'm not going anywhere now, though. I promise. I'm staying here with you."
Ichigo nodded, tears spent it seemed, and simply held onto his father. He turned and looked over where Shūhei still slept in the chair. Ichigo, despite his own turmoil smiled at bit.
"You and Shūhei Hisagi, huh?" Isshin said with a grin.
Ichigo's face fell and he shook his head. "Pop, he saw. He saw what…what they did…no. He…he won't stay here with me."
Isshin pulled his face up by tucking a finger under his chin gently and lifting it. "What does that mean?"
Ichigo swallowed. "They, what they did…no one wants that, and no one wants someone that's been through that. Why would they? I can't sleep, I can't do anything normal now, I'm a wreck, no one would want someone like me in their life," he said with such desperation in his voice Isshin thought his heart would break.
"I do," came a voice behind him, and Ichigo's head snapped around and he saw Shūhei, no longer asleep, and standing behind him. "Ichigo, I don't care. I told you, you're the exception to every damn rule. I was willing to fight my old taichou for you, Ichi. I made a choice already, and it doesn't matter what happened and it really doesn't matter what we must get through. I want to help you like you helped me."
Ichigo blinked, his hands tightening on Isshin's where they still held him against him. "I helped you?" he said softly.
Shūhei nodded. "Yeah, a lot. Just being you, you helped me and you weren't even really you. You didn't speak, and you did more for me than anyone in the last hundred years of my life here as done. The only person to impact my life like that was Kensei-taichou," he said, gesturing to the tattoo, the same one the former captain had worn.
Ichigo nodded. "Kensei punches like a freight train," he said softly, making Hisagi blink. Ichigo nodded. "Oh, yeah, he trained me in the World of the living with Shinji and the Visored."
Shūhei smiled. "See there, you have lots to offer me."
"But," Ichigo began, frowning deeply. "How…why would you? I didn't do anything…"
"That's not the point, baka. You were there. You listened. And you didn't look on me with scorn and suspicion. That was more than I ever expected from anyone," he said, reaching a hand out gently to see if he would take it. "I picked you up broken and bloody twice, Ichigo. And if I had to do it again, I would. But I'd prefer to stop picking you up in that condition. I much prefer what I'm looking at now."
Isshin smiled at Hisagi over Ichigo's head. The Shinigami was wise behind his years, and he knew that he could trust him with his fragile boy. "Shūhei, I would ask that you use care in dealing with my son."
Shūhei nodded at the older Shinigami. Ichigo let go of Isshin with one careful hand and placed it into the one Shūhei had offered him. For a long time, they stayed like that, father and son embracing, and Shūhei supporting whatever Ichigo wanted of him. It seemed that a simple touch was enough now.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
There was a commotion near the first division. It wasn't certain what had caused it, but Renji and Rukia were standing outside the fourth allowing Isshin and Ichigo to have time together when it happened. People were running wild toward the first. Renji reached out and grabbed a passing Shinigami.
"The hells is going on?" Renji asked, snagging a passing Shinigami.
He looked at him with wide eyes. "Arrancar. They showed up with Tōsen!"
Renji dropped the younger Shinigami's arm from shock and he was off. The alarms were going off, so it wasn't an invasion. Both took off toward the first to find out what was happening. They were met with chaos and then someone pulled them into the building. They looked up to see that it was Byakuya who ushered them into a side room.
"Wait here," he said. "There's a captain's meeting called about the situation."
Renji and Rukia sat down to wait. They were still worried about Ichigo but he was with his dad now, so he would no doubt be fine. After a long time, Byakuya came back with Ukitake. Renji and Rukia both stood as they entered.
Ukitake put up his hands. "Tōsen has returned with three Arrancar. He has offered to give up intelligence on Las Noches and Hueco Mundo in exchange for protection of the Arrancar and if he is kept from the Maggot's Nest. The Head Captain is deciding what to do now."
Renji and Rukia exchanged a nervous glance. "Which Arrancar?"
"One named Wonderweiss, which Tōsen says was created to neutralize Yama-jii. The other two are a shorter one with green eyes named Ulquiorra, and a third one with bright pink hair named Szayelaporro," he said with a nod. The first is not an Espada, but the others are the fourth and eighth Espada. He also claims that the first and third Espada are working with Gin to overthrow Aizen from within, and are requesting a coordinated effort to do so," Ukitake said with a nod. "Szayelaporro has requested to see to Ichigo, he is their research scientist apparently, but also healed him when necessary. He's also insane about three quarters of the time, however he is lucid currently, so he says it is imperative that he meet with Ichigo and Unohana-taichou before he slips into madness again."
Renji and Rukia nodded. "We are to escort him to the fourth, would you like to accompany us?" Byakuya said solemnly.
Both nodded. Ukitake led them out of the room and toward the area where the four prisoners were being held. Tōsen was sitting in a cell with a small blond haired boyish Arrancar who was chasing specks of dust and giggling randomly. The other two shared the next cell.
"We've come to take you to the fourth," Byakuya said. "If you do anything, you will die."
Szayel nodded. "Yes, yes, but its creeping into my mind so please, we must hurry. I have to…" he paused and blinked, giggling for a second. "Okay, sorry. I have to deactivate it…"
"Deactivate what?" Renji asked as the pink haired Arrancar was positioned in the middle of the four of them.
"The poison, of course," he said, waving a hand as if it should be obvious. "He's been injected with a protein that once outside of Hueco Mundo for more than a day releases a toxin that will kill him in hours if not deactivated. I can deactivate it before that happens. Aizen didn't want him leaving Las Noches alive."
The others hurried their steps and made it to the fourth where Ichigo was still sitting with his father and Shūhei, though he had calmed somewhat. However, that was a thing that changed the minute he looked up and saw Szayel. He gasped and lurched backward away from his father and Shūhei toward the furthest corner of the room and stared at the pink haired Arrancar.
"No, please, it isn't a dream, please…" he said desperately.
Szayel moved forward toward him and kneeled. "Ichigo, you remember me, you remember I healed you, I need to fix something that I had to do, or you'll die. You aren't in Heuco Mundo, I've come to Soul Society. Please, you aren't there…"
Ichigo's mind was trying to grasp reality. He wondered if being rescued was a dream and he had been dying there, and it was instead Szayel that healed him and now he was waking up for real. He shook his head, pressing both hands to his temples. He didn't want to be back there. It was so cruel to let him think he was free and to take it away from him. Why would they let an Arrancar walk into the fourth? How did he get here? That just didn't make sense.
"Ichigo!" he heard a voice pierce through the noise in his head. "Come on, I'm real, okay?"
He looked up into Shūhei's dark eyes and gasped. He looked real. "I…I don't know what's real!"
Shūhei was kneeling in front of him, the Arrancar having stepped back to speak to Unohana about how to deactivate the toxin before it activated. "I'm real, look," he said, holding out his hands to the frightened Shinigami substitute.
Ichigo reached out with his hands and took Shūhei's in his own. He squeezed them tightly and then yanked the other Shinigami into him into a tight embrace. He had to be sure he was real. He had to make sure he wasn't an illusion.
"I don't want to lose you," he whimpered into his neck as Shūhei put his arms around his back. "I didn't want it to be a dream, I couldn't have it be a dream, I'd die, you saved me again, and again, and I can't…I can't…"
Shūhei hushed him and held him all the tighter. He was pretty sure he was going to have bruises on his back considering how tightly Ichigo was clutching him. He didn't care. The whole world had disappeared in a haze of heat and ice, and there were only two real things in that room. He gently leaned back, and reached up to tip up Ichigo's face and stared into wide eyes. Shūhei smiled and shook his head.
"I'm very much real, and not going anywhere," he said quietly and placed a gentle kiss on Ichigo's lips.
Ichigo stared at him a long moment then jumped as Unohana injected something into his arm. "Wait, what's that?"
She smiled and patted him. "You'll rest now," she said, and Ichigo felt consciousness slipping as he slumped into Shūhei's arms. Shūhei didn't let him fall. He never would let him fall again.
