Disclaimer: I do not own BLEACH if I did, I obviously wouldn't be working a job that pays just barely over minimum wage.
Authors note: Briefly stated, this is a work of fiction, my ideas are my own, my beliefs my own, if you don't agree with them than obviously don't read. Also, I recently restarted school, so I will be updating less as the semester goes on, sorry about that, but please enjoy as many chapters as possible.
(0000)
They told you that dying was like falling asleep, easy and peaceful. Ichigo disagreed; it felt like being drenched in the rain on a cold afternoon. It was a shock to the system, something both unexpected and unwanted, Ichigo wanted to live until she was old and prune-like. But apparently for that damned bus that was way too much to ask for, she didn't even say goodbye to her family or friends. God damn it!
Waking up in Soul Society after forty years of no responses was like meeting an old friend. Granted it was an old, ass of a friend that looked the other way when you saw them on the street, but an old friend nonetheless. The familiarity of reiatsu, from the abiotic factors like rocks and trees to the other people in the distance, caressing her like a lover was missed from before. Ichigo took a deep breath lying faced up on the soft grass and for the first time since her mother passed away broke out into giggles -the least manly kind. Once she started, she couldn't seem to stop. It felt like the release that she had desperately needed, everything had just come out. In fact, it seemed that she had giggled right into the next hour.
With a sigh Ichigo looked up to the clouds and lost herself in her thoughts. Her death was a little unexpected and wee-bit unwelcomed, but she had given up trying to understand fate or the infinite possibilities of the future. Now that she was here on the field, it was amazing.
Grrrrrrr.
Okay, then maybe not anymore since apparent she was hunger. Ichigo sighed and stood up dusting the dirt off her beautiful mauve yukata, unadorned with needless designs, no cherry blossoms or ribbons. Her hair was short again, not as long as it had been before she had died. But about clavicle length, Ichigo sighed, annoyed before pulling her hair away from her face and behind her ears, really, did it have to be in the…
Wait a minute…
She was hungry. She felt hunger!
That meant that she, Kurosaki Ichigo whom had given up her powers to defeat Aizen ten years ago still had her powers! She still had had the ability to sense and use Reiatsu! That's when she felt the tears stream down her face, it was so long! It had been far too long. Ichigo wiped the tears away furiously and attempted to dive into her inner world, she wanted… no she needed to see them. Both of them.
Opening her eyes again, Ichigo found herself in her black shihakusho on the side of a building. The sheer amount of relief that she felt at being in her inner world, seeing the familiarity of both the buildings, it was earth shattering. How long has it been since she had been back, at first she was just too tried to try, but then after she was terrified at what she would find should she try to dwell in her inner world even for a moment. Now being here, she felt just as safe as before and an immense amount of relief. She reached back for Zangetsu but couldn't find him, it was peculiar to her. Reaching into her enormous Reiatsu she tried to feel out her partner. When she couldn't Ichigo decided that perhaps physically looking for him would work best.
Ichigo started walking away and looking around, on the ground she saw people walking around and mingling. There was no rain, and no sunshine. Every building's glass gleamed brightly. "Welcome back, Ichigo." Ichigo turned like lightening and saw both of them, her Hollow and the Old Man. She moved before even thinking, pulling them taut against her as if embracing an old lover. "I am so sorry, never again, I promise, never again will I let you go." It took a while before either of them moved, it had been years before they had felt each other, at this intrinsic level.
It took a while of meditation and debate between the three of them before they figured out exactly what they wanted to do. By that time, Zangetsu had talked her down from going back to Seireitei. Ichigo had sighed through it all but he had made sense, she owed them nothing. After all, she had lived her life without them there, and she knew from off-hand comments that they had checked up on her. So she had left, not wanting to surround herself with the remnants of her past. She had left for America and made a name for herself as a doctor. She had enjoyed her life in America, speaking with her family weekly but isolating herself from everything. She had enjoyed her life, she had even married, a normal, intelligent and kind American man. A decade older than her, and they had no children but they had a comfortable relationship, a companionship. They both worked in the same department at the Mission West Hospital, and he had been her mentor before she had taken him as her lover first and than as her husband.
Ichigo sighed again as she made her way to the Shiba household, or where she remembered it to be, where she hoped it would be. The familiar weight of Zangetsu was sealed and hooked onto the obi of her yukata. She was already starving so she hoped that they would still be there. It took almost three days of walking, she had landed in the 68th district, one of the worst ones. When she had arrived and she found the household to be there, exactly as she remembered it from almost 42 years ago. The house was plain and simple, except for the two giant granite arms holding up a red banner. Ichigo drew in a breath and held her head up high before walking forward.
You can only go forward. Zangetsu's voice echoed in her head.
When she had arrived at the door, she was surprised to see neither heads nor tails of Koganehiko or Shiroganehiko, the Gatekeepers of the Shiba Clan. Just knock on the door already queen, Shiro's voice echoed in her head and Ichigo worked on autopilot, raised her small hands, useful in surgeries and knocked three times on the large set of double doors. It was no more than a few minutes before the familiar youthful face of Shiba Kukaku appeared, deep blue typical Shiba eye widened before narrowing in contemplation. Ichigo didn't say anything as the older woman surveyed her form, from her yukata to her somewhat messy hair. And then Kukaku straightened, before opening the door wider.
"You died."
Her voice seemed stuck in her throat before she nodded and stepped into household. Despite her well-known stubbornness, Ichigo wasn't stupid or incautious, she was loyal and believed in doing anything for her friends and family. She swallowed the unexpected saliva and attempted to respond to the untold questions. "It was an accident, I didn't have anywhere else I could go."
"So you came here?" Ichigo gave a small, weary smile but didn't answer. She hadn't needed to, Kukaku was a friend, a not well known one, but she was still a friend. Both walked down the stairs in a semi-silence, mostly covered between half-assed questions and somewhat quiet and solemn answers. Ichigo had grown up quite a bit, she enjoyed the peace ad quiet that her husband, ex-husband had taught her. Well, that would take some getting used to.
"Ganju," Ichigo greeted with a small smile. She watched his eyes grow wide before looking between Ichigo and his sister, Ichigo frowned and looked back to Kukaku before realizing exactly what he was seeing, oh, how oblivious she was, she looked quite a bit like Kukaku.
"K-urosaki? What are doing here?" Then he paused and looked between the two women before attempting to open his mouth again – only to be cut off by his sister's sandal. Ichigo winced before helping the poor man off the ground.
"Are you hungry?" Ganju questioned, a little thrown off by the help. They hadn't left on these sort of conditions, before they had yelled at each other and teased each other. They had an okay relationship but not the same as now.
"Ah," Ichigo rubbed the back of her hair. "I kind of haven't eaten in three days." Ganju's mouth dropped open before Kukaku threw the other shoe into it.
"Well, move it, dumbass! Get your ass into the kitchen and make some food! She's hungry!" With that she dragged Ichigo into the bathroom and drew her a bath. Ichigo allowed herself to be dragged along, she really didn't feel like being assaulted by her lovely, um, aunt? Cousin? Who knows what exactly their relationship was, but it seemed likely that they are related at least based on appearance. Ichigo stripped with a silent efficiency and dropped her yukata into the laundry bin near the set of sliding doors before turning to the tub. Ichigo walked towards it and carefully arranged herself into the somewhat hot water.
After the bath and the food, Ichigo dressed in one of Kukaku's old yukatas, a deep turquoise colour, sat between Kukaku and Ganju on the terrace, in front of the large yard. All three were nursing a glass of sake, Kukaku's favorite, her mind supplied her. "What are you going to do now?" Ganju's voice sounded above the pleasant background noise of nightly animals and grasshoppers.
"I don't know." Ichigo swirled the sake in her cup before, folding her legs into a more comfortable position. She shifted her gaze to Seireitei and considered once again her options, she really didn't want to do anything for the shinigami. "I want time to myself to figure out where to go from now."
"Will you go back to medicine?" Kukaku sounded from her right, a sort of perplexed sound.
"It's different here, on earth, we used medicines and cut into people to try to help them. Here it's all reiatsu training and using our spiritual energy to fix the cells with the least amount of poisoning or without disturbing the already ill body. It would take me years to relearn all that." Ichigo's voice sounded foreign to all three adults as she contemplated everything that had already passed.
"So," questioned Kukaku. "There is nothing holding you back, girl, you don't have to march up to the Gotei 13 nor do you have to let yourself lose something that clearly makes you happy. Stay here for a bit. You have your zangetsu, I'll train you in kido." Ichigo turns to Kukaku and stares with an easy contemplative gaze. "You don't have to be Kurosaki Ichigo. You can be whoever you want to be. We have enough cousins around that I can adopt you into the famiy. You can figure out what to do from then." Ichigo sighed, it wasn't that hard of a choice, it was the best option all around and it... she glanced between the siblings, it gave her a family again. Ichigo turned and bowed deeply.
"I'm honored." Kukaku smiled before patting Ichigo's head, still wet from her bath.
That had been two years ago, give or take. Ichigo had trained under Kukaku's tutelage, she learned to mold and control her spiritual energy. She learned a little about healing kido, whatever was in the library and she learned a lot about other types of kidos, mostly Hado, offensive spells, but she did learn the first ten Bakudos. It was enjoyable, even though it was a lot of work. Ichigo was learning and training, advancing through techniques, Kido, Hoho, Hakuda. Techniques that both Ganju and Kukaku were proficient in.
When she wasn't training, or reading up on old medical journals, she and Ganju would go shopping together in the third district, hiding from patrols. She and Kukaku would talk in length about the history of the Shiba family and there parts in each war. They went shopping together, picking new Kimonos, but Ichigo refused to buy more than four, especially because it was not her money.
Slowly but surely, Ichigo became Shiba Kazuko, the youngest daughter of the Shiba clan, a quite and somewhat thoughtful women, of athletic stature, and of brillant mind. She was polite and respectful, she smiled and laughed, she sung drunkenly with Kukaku and fooled around with Ganju. She became a part of their family.
Hazel eyes took in the imposing main building with an equally imposing gate. The entire building was white and made of wood, with this cream colored roof, pairing traditional slightly curved eaves in all directions. The entirety of the building was made out of different types of woods planks, straw and tree bark and so on. The oversized eaves give the interior rooms and halls a characteristic dimness, she knew this when she came to apply a week ago. The main building and the other minor buildings she knew to be behind it were in a traditional style much like the rest of Seireitei. The gate also had on oversized eaves with two guards standing in front of it dressed in traditional black Shihakusho, with the white undergarment underneath. Tucking long locks, the color of midnight behind her right ear, she moved towards the gate. She bowed as a greeting to the two shinigami before striding towards the main hall inside for the entrance ceremony.
Looking around she attempted to stay aloof as she walked down the main hall and scanned the area, four exits, a stage with a podium, and around 200 seats that were half-filled. She found the nearest seat towards the middle of the room (that hadn't been occupied) and sat down, crossing her arms underneath her breasts. The rustle of clothing caught her attention and she looked down, attempting to keep her face plain, she felt wrong, not for the uniform but never before had Kazuko changed so much into this monochrome uniform. It made her feel awkward, before when she had the color of rust for hair, she would never be caught dead in red, but now it almost seemed to suit her.
She looked up at the speaker, a tall man whom was obviously head of the Academy as he spoke about tradition and honor. He spoke in a monotone voice, introducing the faculty the Chief Instructors, the volunteer fifth and sixth year teachers assistants, the other teachers of the extra classes such as medic arts, math, science, literature so on and so forth and the classes all of the above plus hoho, hakuda, Kido, zanjutsu, calligraphy, history, all briefly, Kazuko listened half-heartedly as she gazed at the patterns on the ceiling of the large temple-like building. She really couldn't find the effort to listen to the speech when she had already read the entrance brochure and the three books they were given about all the extra classes and extracurricular activities such as art club, kido club, and physical activities club and so on and so forth. There was not much to do since she was granted admittance but of course begin her reading her coursework and all the other brochures.
Kazuko pulled out the schedule from her large sleeve and glanced down, quietly, she had taken every classes she could possibly take, plus extra kido classes. Having already memorized her schedule on a night that promised no sleep due to the overactive behavior of her mind, Kazuko sighed and looked up at the somewhat imposing man. Her entrance exam had guaranteed her not only a place in the first class, but she was also slated to graduate within a year.
Her few months were both dull and interesting, she already knew most of the theory in principle and through self study, she had the power to back up the spells and the techniques. She was leagues above the most talented person in her graduating class and wasn't that an interesting thought. She had joined the calligraphy club, the literature club and the art club within the first week. She had attended meetings and attempted to make friends but it seemed that no one really cared to take to her. She was quiet and kept to herself after a few failed attempts to talk to people. The most interesting thing though was that Aizen Sosuke was teaching not only calligraphy, the teacher in charge of the calligraphy club but he was also teaching a few classes in kido.
How much exactly had changed in fifty years for him to be pardoned?
Kazuko still remembered the first time he walked into the room and it descended into silence, she had almost leapt up until both Zangetsus had calmed her down and wasn't that a surprise? She learned later through eavesdropping that there had been a war against another faction of enemies, and that the only way the word survived was through releasing him from Muken. Later, she discreetly looked through old newspapers and magazines to figure out exactly what had happened. He was made the fifth captain again and had two reiatsu limiters. He went through lieutenants like they were candy, especially since the mental breakdown Momo-san had suffered after seeing him for the first time outside of the last battle before Ichigo lost her powers.
It was still strange when Aizen had shown up to her usual study area on the seventh floor of the library. Kazuko was pouring over healing kido when his reiatsu came closer and closer towards her. She stopped and looked up just to see the contemplation etched onto his face. "Aizen-taichou," She stood, bowed shallowly before sitting back down. He stood there for a moment before placing a hand on the wall beside him, she watched with widened eyes as the entire corner became blanketed with Kido, a barrier.
"Kurosaki Ichigo," Aizen said in his base-baritone voice, deep and pleasing. Ichigo's throat became unnecessarily dry as she dropped her pencil. Ichigo's reiatsu spiraled out of control, blowing her papers and scrolls off the table and for a moment she forgot to breath. It took her a minute, but Ichigo forcibly clamped down on her spiritual energy, took a moment to remember to how to breath as she watched his eye's, dark like molten chocolate dance with amusement.
"Taichou," Ichigo's voice barely came out without contempt, though it was not civil. "I'd thank you not to use my name while in the Academy, the walls have ears." She glared up at him, Aizen chuckled before seating himself in front of her. "What are you doing here?" Ichigo growled out, barely keeping the civility within her one.
Aizen seemed to be clouded in a perpetual cloak of amusement. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Ichigo glanced over him before sighing, "If you must know, I was studying higher level Bakudo spells."
"You surprised your handlers by disappearing." Aizen spoke as she staked her work, whatever wasn't on the floor, or on the chairs. Ichigo stopped and looked him dead in the eye.
"I had to leave," Ichigo said, she knew that Aizen would understand. In some ways. "I was driving myself crazy."
"Where did you go?" Aizen seemed genuinely interested in her answer. Ichigo searched his expression before answering, keeping her voice disinterested. "Area 89." She paused, remembering all the thing she didn't really want to keep in her head. "I lived a better life than if I had stayed." Ichigo put down her papers, properly stacked and looked up at him.
"What about you? No megalomaniac tendencies?" Ichigo quirked her lips, but they both read far more, this was a serious question and would shape their future relationship. Or therefore lack of.
"I'm reformed." Aizen stated dryly. Ichigo couldn't help the snort that escaped, of course, this is her life. Ichigo stalked the scrolls that she had finished on the left and the ones she needed to take out on the right before glancing up. Aizen was watching her with a one-minded intensity. Ichigo frowned and watched the metaphorical wheels turn in his head.
"Where's your mind?"
"I want you to become my Lieutenant."
Ichigo snorted again, and thought back to the most recent articles. The fifth squad had the least amount of recruits and required the most work. No one trusted Aizen, let alone Ichigo. "Why?"
"Why do you think?" Ichigo sighed and lent back in the wooden seat before studying the man in front of her. Ichigo sighed and checked her organized papers.
"Give me a better reason," Ichigo stood and moved all her papers into her messenger bag before grabbing the rest of the scrolls to put them away. Aizen stood, a somewhat smug look on his face. "I won't let you go until you answer me."
Ichigo sighed, "Puh-lease," Her spiritual energy expanded, cracking the barrier before moving out of her corner, more than aware that Aizen was watching her back.
Ichigo was reading a novel at the table whilst eating her lunch when she felt his reiatsu enter the mess hall. All at once, the hall quieted as they watched him, Ichigo didn't need to look up to know that he would come and sit by her. In fact, it seemed that he moved slowly as if not to startle her, Ichigo glanced up when he arrived at her table. "May I sit here?" Aizen's tone was polite enough, and despite the façade of amusement, Ichigo knew that it wasn't a question and more of a warning. Aizen's eyes flashed.
"It's a free mess hall isn't it?" Ichigo looked back at her book as he sat down. She resolutely ignored him and tried to focus on the characters in the "timeless classic". "Hm, I'm not a fan of his work." Aizen's voice was quiet as he gestured to the novel. Ichigo looked up, she didn't need this right now.
"Are you trying to make me more unlikable?" She questioned as she put down the novel and picked up her utensils. It was so quiet, that the entire mess hall heard their conversation.
Aizen's snort was more than derogatory. "I assumed that you wouldn't be bothered by the fickle." He also picked up his chopsticks and then moved to the bowl of rice. Ichigo watched him eat for a moment before picking up the pickled radish.
"It's like your trying to get every squad to take an instant dislike to me so I have to become your lieutenant." Aizen adopted a somewhat innocent expression, despite them both know differently.
"I would never, Kazuko-kun."
"Try to be more sincere Sosuke." There was bite to her tone that had the entire mess hall hold its breath including the teachers. Ichigo watched him with jaded eyes, quiet and waiting. Aizen seemed more amused, as he started laughing. That did nothing to relax neither students nor teachers. It was quiet for a moment.
I must be out of my mind, Ichigo thought as she stared at him.
"I thought his representation of female characters were one-dimensional. Miyoko seems like the common prostitute, without any good characteristics, let alone a purpose other than trying to kill Takashiro and destroy his family." Ichigo picked up her spoon and the soup. If I am going to hell, I might as well enjoy the ride she thought.
Aizen's smile was more sincere.
"Are you Shiba Kazuko?" Ichigo looked up in surprise when she saw Soi fon's fukutaichou Marechiyo Omaeda step into her usual study space, the sixth floor corner of the Academy library. For once, she didn't see a chip bag in sight, and he looked a little intimidating. Oh, god. Why the hell would he come by her and try to intimidate her? She didn't think that the Gotei 13, pare Aizen had figured her out. Was it because of the little seen yesterday afternoon in the mess hall? Ichigo felt the slight shift in spiritual energy, oh the Onmitsukido decided to drop by.
Ichigo studied him for a moment, pondering his appearance before replying, "Yes, how may I help you Fukutaichou?"
He didn't even hesitate before asking, "If you may come with me?" Ichigo sighed again, and then gathered her scrolls, healing kido and advanced kido (bakudos) as well as some scrolls on history, nothing really special.
"Is there any specific reason that I am in trouble?"
Omaeda's eyes narrowed, "Is there any reason you would be in trouble?"
"Well no, but it's not exactly normal for academy students to be called upon by the second division, now is it?" Ichigo's voice became dry and her lips stretched into a wry smile. Omaeda didn't respond. When everything was gathered up and in her messenger bag, she followed the much larger man through the library. The walked all the way down to the second division. When they walked into the building her bag was taken and she was escorted to the division leader, Soi Fon. Well, Ichigo thought. This was ridiculous. What exactly did she do to warrant such attention?
When she entered the room, she saw Soi Fon, hair longer than before but still the color of midnight, dark eyes pinned her in a glare and arms were folded behind her back. "You are Shiba Kuzako." It wasn't really a question, more of a statement. Ichigo watched the shorter woman run her eyes over her figure.
"Hai, Taichou." Ichigo in turn watched the woman, hands unclenched at her side. She would not cross her arms and she would not be intimidated by the smaller woman. She hadn't even done anything wrong.
"It has come under our attention that Aizen Sosuke has gained an interest in you." Ichigo raised an eyebrow in question and put her hands in her pockets.
"Okay, and that warrants a visit to the second division?"
Soi Fon's eyes narrowed in contempt. "It does when he is a former Muken prisoner and attempted destroyer of three separate worlds." Ichigo sighs and takes out her hands from her pockets and crosses them in front of her chest.
"So what does that mean for me exactly? Why exactly am I here for something that happened 50 years ago?"
Soi Fon's eyes narrowed further and her hands came undone from behind her. Instead her hands crossed underneath and her chest and she walked forward. "If you think that this doesn't concern you then you are less intelligent than you appear. Word of mouth has brought to our attention that Aizen has sat with you and has addressed you familiarly. And you have addressed him familiarly."
Ichigo tilted her head and looked down at the Taichou. "So, you believe that what? I am his underling? That he has swayed me to what exactly?" Ichigo snorted and didn't even let the Taichou reply. "Firstly, speaking with another person does not warrant my immediate eviction to the second division, nor does it warrant an interrogation. Secondly, any communication between Academy student, especially a noble, even if I am adopted would have to go through the head of my household. Where is my sister exactly?" Again, Soi Fon's eyes were filled with contempt as Ichigo opened her mouth to finish. "And thirdly, Aizen-taichou is petitioning my being his lieutenant come my graduation in less than six months."
When she left the second division, a little pissed off at the Captain she was really expecting Aizen to be there waiting for her. Ichigo's eyes narrowed and she sighed, "Is this going to happen every time I see you?" Aizen shrugged his shoulders and gave a genial smile, faked, obviously as if to say boo hoo. It isn't my fault that your so interesting to other captains.
Ichigo thrusted her bag into his arm and cocked her head. "Come on, dinner finished an hour ago. You owe me dinner." Ichigo hid a smile and knew that he wasn't really expecting her to do that. Nor would he expect her next move, instead of walking toward the Academy, she walked toward the Fifth Division. When they walked inside, the entire division was quiet and in a small frenzy, running around trying to get dinner done. She was sure that more than one head turned when they watched, her walk in with their thrice-damned Captain.
"So, you bring him home?" Kukaku questioned with bite, "That man has almost destroyed Soul Society, the Human world and the King's realm." Ichigo sighed and chopped the greens as she watched her sister. Not once did she believe that her life would turn out this way. It was family dinner night, a Sunday and unfortunately, Sosuke had invited himself along.
"It's not my fault, he's like a puppy." Ichigo rolled her eyes. "He follows me around everywhere and gets me in loads of trouble for nothing. People are starting to think that I am an insincere person and they won't sit with me." Ichigo pouted and crossed her arms like a child. "It sucks! I didn't mean to be so friendly."
Kukaku looked between a scowl and a snort. As if this was the worst of a self-labeled overlord and all around asshole followed her younger sister around. And into their home, Kukaku glanced behind her and watched the brown haired man watch their conversation.
Well, Kukaku thought, it was never a dull moment in the Shiba home. "Aizen!" Kukaku barked out. "Set the table." She pointed at the low table to their left. If he thought that he was a guest, he had another thing coming. He would work for his meal.
Aizen said nothing as Ichigo led him into the kitchen to grab the plates and utensils. She helped him set the table, and attempted to make small talk. "Sorry about that." Ichigo ran a hand through her growing black hair and frowned, she would need to re-dye it. Aizen made a non-comical sound and placed the napkins down beside the chopsticks and spoons.
"It is to be expected." Ichigo stopped and looked up at the man and frowned. She had been spending a lot of time with the man and yet she couldn't tell until now that he was lonely. That he looked tired of being isolated.
Well that would have to change then. Ichigo hid a smirk.
They had enjoyed the dinner, after Ichigo had gestured to her sister and Ganju stopped looking like an idiotic cross between angry and surprised. They had spoken a bit and Aizen had even helped her clean up, make tea and desert. They sat on the terrace overlooking the field behind the house in a comfortable silence. But from that moment Ichigo had a mission.
She would not allow the idiot to become lonely. She popped up at the fifth division with the premise of kido help, both knew it to be unwarranted. She would always stay and have tea and dango with him, chatting about his division or sometimes she would tell stories of her previous life. Ichigo grew quite unpopular due to it and found that she would have to work twice as hard to make the same grades as before, and with one week of hiccups, she took her case to the head of the Academy and that was the end of that.
Eventually though, things fell into a lull, it wasn't that surprising to see them together nor was it surprising to see her laughing at something he had said or did. Nor was it surprising when they had dropped all suffixes and just started calling each other by their first names.
Ichigo didn't really get when it happened. But eventually, even her siblings started seeing Sosuke as a somewhat annoying friend. They genuinely enjoyed having him over, even when he became crude or harsh. In fact, he seemed to drop his façade more often and became a generally enjoyable person to be around.
It wasn't really a surprise when at her time of graduation she took up the mantle of Fifth lieutenant, and even through the displeasure that was rampant at the ceremony she saw the pleasure in Sosuke's eyes when they had called out her position after her name. Ichigo bowed once to the Soutaichou and then once to crowd before going to stand beside her Captain.
For over five years since she became the fukutaichou, she worked hard to raise morale of her men and women, because they became hers somewhere between the first visit and now. Nothing much changed for the other departments. She had no friends among the other fukutaichous or taichous, in fact, the people she had considered her friends became quite disappointing. Nasty glares and scoffs when she spoke, even if her ideas were good. She took it because, well to be honest she hadn't really cared. There were more important things to worry about. That was until, her third year into the position when she had seen the way her men and women be treated. She pulled them all into a room, had Sosuke put up a privacy barrier and then proceeded to tell them everything.
How she was actually Kurosaki Ichigo. What she had done with her life before. What her plans were now. At the end of that, it was like morale hit an all time high. No one spoke of it outside of that night. The other divisions started noticing the changes. The four division was no longer called upon for healing or anything else. Ichigo began doing all the annual physicals and healing. The eleventh division found a change in the members, both seated and unseated and a sort of mutual understanding arose. The rest found, that the secret smiles were annoying and the exchanged looks when the battle of fifty years ago war brought up, were annoying but harmless.
It wasn't until the fifth and sixth went out on patrol together that shit literally hit the fan. When Abarai-fukutaichou left Ichigo's back unattended long enough for a hollow to strike, especially since Ichigo was more preoccupied with getting the children out. Sosuke went nuts when he heard her cry.
"Ichigo!" The name came out of his mouth as she hit the ground. Ichigo gasped in pain and her hand immediately went to her wound.
Within seconds Sosuke was at her side, his spiritual energy released, all hollows disintegrated.
"I'm fine." Sosuke made a derisive sound and pulled back her black kosode exposing her wound. The hollow's graze went down to the bone. "Sosuke, I'm fine. Just a little scratch I swear." But he ignored her and ripped off his sleeve and wrapped it around her wound.
"Sosuke!" She grabbed his hand, and looked him in the eyes. What she saw almost took her breath away. It was fear. Her eyes widened and then softened before lacing their fingers together. When Ichigo looked up she saw the entire battlefield was quite.
Both Byakuya and Renji looked shocked in the silence. Ichigo braced herself on Sosuke and stood, stumbling a little. But that was okay because Sosuke would catch her.
"I-ichigo?" Renji's voice cut into the silence. Sosuke wrapped what was left of her kosode over her shoulder and shielded her away from prying eyes.
"Hm," Ichigo glanced once at his direction before her officers came running toward her. "Shiba-fukutaichou!" Ichigo waved an hand in their direction.
"I'm fine, I swear. Just a little scratch." Two of her officers, unseated, who wanted to shadow seated officers and see if it was a viable career choice looked dubious. Well, her secret identity didn't last long, only eight years but meh? What does one do?
"Kurosaki Ichigo," Byakuya's voice sounded, impassive and unimpressed.
Ichigo looked up at him and sighed, "I go by Shiba Kazuko now."
"A-and Aizen knew?" Renji voiced surprised.
"Yes. He called me out on it a while back. I' m pretty sure it's why I became his lieutenant." Ichigo felt Sosuke squeeze her hand and she squeezed it back.
"If you'll excuse us gentlemen. I would like to get my fukutaichou healed." Without even looking at the two men Sosuke moved, pulling Ichigo along. Ichigo sighed and silently followed the man. Later, after she had gotten her four seat to heal her back she soaked in the onsen in the five squad barracks, like hell would she go to the fourth. Especially when everyone would probably know by the end of the day. Ichigo's head moved toward the feeling of Sosuke's spiritual energy. She felt him move toward her, and looked up toward the door as it opened. Ichigo tried to ignore Sosuke's naked body bare the towel around his hips. Ichigo didn't feel embarrassed, if anything she patted the area to the left of her.
Sosuke sat down beside her and turned to look at the healing scar on her back and then looked up at her face. Ichigo linked their hands together and leaned her head on his shoulders. "I'm sorry about before."
"Hm?" Ichigo looked up.
"Your name popped out." Sosuke murmured and rest his chin on her head, on top of where all her hair was piled and pinned in place.
"It's okay." Ichigo sighed. "It was going to happen eventually." Sosuke pressed his lips to her forehead as Ichigo sighed and burrowed deeper into his warmth.
"Don't go."
"I'm not going anywhere."
(0000)
Thank you for all the support and faves. Please as always share your thoughts on this chapter. It is a bit longer, the story idea came from a friend of mine, who thought it would be a good solid long format but I didn't really have the patience. So thanks but no thanks Rachel.
CoffeeNerd