Disclaimer- same old same old. yada yada yada. don't own Bleach just having a little fun with it. Please read and review.
A/N- Hitsugaya's not in this chapter but yay Isshin!
Chapter Ten- Enter Isshin, the Shinigami?
It had been a couple of days since captain Ukitake was assigned to the world of the living and during this time he'd become somewhat acclimated to his surroundings. It was late evening and he decided to go to one of those 'convenience stores' to get something to eat since Urahara, Tessai, Jinta and Ururu weren't home and it was just him.
As he walked down the street, lost in thought, he was almost caught off guard when a massive Arrancar appeared behind him. Sensing its presence at the last moment Ukitake dodged its attack. Jumping to the side Ukitake pulled his Gikongan from his pocket and quickly popped the small green pill into his mouth. Leaping from his gigai, Ukitake immediately released his zanpaktou which split into dual blades, connected by a cord attached to each hilt. However he just barely managed to get into a defensive position before the Arrancar swung one of its massive arms and had his reflexes been a fraction slower he would have been sliced in half.
As it was Ukitake managed to block the blow and he swung his twin blades in an attempt to end this battle before things got out of hand. Both blades made contact with the Arrancar's flesh, slicing deep gashes where they struck, but the Arrancar seemed unphased. In fact it actually began to laugh.
Facing the Shinigami, a maniacal grin still on its face, the Arrancar opened its mouth.
"Cero," Ukitake muttered, quickly crossing the blades of his swords and raising them to form a shield.
A beam of light erupted from the Arrancar's mouth and struck Ukitake's swords at the point where the two blades crossed. Ukitake managed to keep the Cero from striking him however the force behind the attack was great enough to knock the captain backward several feet.
"Not good," Ukitake thought to himself.
He attempted to use his feet as brakes, but to no avail. Unable to stop Ukitake felt his body collide with something, which was what he'd been expecting to happen, although the something wasn't hard and solid but soft and yielding. Ukitake felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him and he came to a stop. Turning to see who it was who had helped him, Ukitake saw the last person in the world he'd expected to see. In fact, he'd never expected to see this particular person again.
"Isshin?"
Isshin Kurosaki nodded and drew his zanpaktou from its sheath at his side. "Need some help Captain Ukitake?"
"That would be welcome," Ukitake said, turning back to the Arrancar. Swinging his twin blades, Ukitake summoned a large wave of water, which crashed down upon the surprised Arrancar.
Using the beast's momentary confusion to his full advantage Isshin sliced the creature in half with his sword.
Isshin and Ukitake sheathed their swords as the Arrancar vanished.
"Well that was fun," Ukitake said, a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice. He turned to face Isshin. "I didn't expect to see you again Kurosaki. What brings you to this neighborhood?"
"I felt the Reiatsu of the Arrancar and I had to come and check it out," Isshin replied. "So what brings you to the world of the living?"
There was a look of curiosity in Isshin's eyes as he stared at Ukitake. He really wanted to know what could be so bad that it brought the sickly Captain Ukitake to the world of the living.
"There's a traitor in the Seireitei," Ukitake explained, knowing that he could trust Isshin with the truth. "And together with a couple of exiled Shinigami, they're trying to kill a friend of mine."
Isshin nodded, a look of understanding in his eyes. "And that friend would be the young white haired boy who's now staying at my house, correct?"
"Toushirou's staying with you?" Ukitake asked. The young captain had neglected to give him that little bit of information.
Isshin nodded. "Yea. He saved Yuzu from a Hollow so I invited him to stay with us."
"He didn't mention that," Ukitake said.
"Well he probably didn't see the need to," Isshin said in Hitsugaya's defense. "Thanks to the gigai that Urahara designed for me he can't sense my reiatsu so he doesn't know I was a Shinigami. He probably just thinks I'm some good Samaritan."
"This is true," Ukitake said, not sure that he was quite ready to forgive Hitsugaya this omission just yet. "However he still should have informed me that he was staying with Ichigo."
Isshin chuckled. "He probably wants to forget about that fact. Those two fight constantly. I swear if I didn't know better I'd think they were siblings."
"I'm not really surprised by that," Ukitake said. "I've witnessed a little of that myself."
"So tell me why exactly you have to keep an eye on him," Isshin said, thinking it odd for a captain to be sent to the world of the living to keep an eye on a subordinate. "Is he weak or something?"
"Hardly," Ukitake said, shaking his head. "I had to come and keep an eye on him because he's grown a bit reckless since he was attacked and he has this desire to go looking for trouble. However as to his strength, he beat the Reiatsu Poison Darts with his powers intact if that tells you anything."
Isshin's eyes widened. "Damn."
"He's also the new captain of Squad Ten."
"How did that happen?" Isshin wanted to know, this little piece of information catching him by surprise. He never would have pegged the kid for a captain. "Did something happen to Okano?"
"You could say that," Ukitake said with a nod. "He picked a fight with the wrong person."
"That little kid beat him?"
Once again Ukitake nodded. "It was quite a battle. And Toushirou reached Bankai in record time as well. The only ones known to have achieved it faster are Kisuke and your son."
"That is impressive," Isshin said, inwardly thinking that the boy's gigai must be well designed indeed to have hidden such powerful Reiatsu from him. He'd realized that the boy was a Shinigami the moment he saw him however he hadn't known that the kid was so powerful. "Well I'm glad someone finally beat the snot out of Okano. That guy was a jerk."
"You know, a lot of people said that," Ukitake said with a chuckle. "My vice-captain Kaien even referred to him as Captain Jerk a couple of times."
Isshin roared with laughter at that. "That's great! I wish I'd thought of it, I'd have said it to his face."
Turning serious once more Isshin gazed at Ukitake intently. "If you need any help with this problem you can feel free to let me know Jyuushirou. I'm not quite as strong as I was before I left Soul Society but I can still hold my own and I'll help you in any way that I can."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks Isshin."
Isshin offered Ukitake his hand, which the old captain grasped. The captain and the former captain shook hands and then parted ways.
Ukitake continued on his way to the convenience store, where he bought a couple of frozen dinners. Then he made his way back to Urahara's shop. The unexpected battle with the Arrancar, coupled with his little chat with Isshin Kurosaki, had caused Ukitake's trip to take longer than he'd anticipated and when he arrived back at the shop he found that everyone else had returned as well.
"Welcome back," Urahara said from his usual spot at the table.
"Guess who I saw while I was out," Ukitake said to Urahara as he entered the room and placed his bags down on the table.
"Who?" Urahara asked.
"Isshin Kurosaki," Ukitake said. "He helped me fight an Arrancar that decided I'd make a good meal."
"Isshin fought?" Urahara said, a disappointed look in his eyes. "And I missed it? That's depressing."
"Hmm," Ukitake said, thinking about the former Shinigami who was Ichigo's father. Before leaving Soul Society he'd been the captain of Squad Six however when Urahara had been exiled Isshin had left along with him and Yuruichi, protesting the banishment of the captain of Squad Twelve. And although it hadn't been part of the plan Isshin had met Masaki and the two had fallen in love. Ichigo, Yuzu and Karin were the product of that.
Isshin had been a talented Shinigami and Ukitake knew that he could prove useful in their fight when they discovered the identity of the traitor in the Seireitei. However, unfortunately for him, if he did indeed help them then his secret would be revealed to his son who, Ukitake had the sneaking suspicion, would not take the news well.
"Oh well," Ukitake thought to himself with a shrug. "Isshin offered to help and he had to know that Ichigo's bound to find out his secret if he does. It's his decision."
As he made his way to the corner drugstore Isshin thought about the repercussions of what he'd just done. He'd just offered to help Ukitake at the cost of his own cover. Ichigo was bound to be somehow involved in the situation since he and Hitsugaya had been spending so much time together, which meant that if he helped Ukitake then his son would find out that he'd been a Shinigami.
Isshin shuddered involuntarily as he pictured Ichigo's reaction to the news. It would not be pretty, of that he was certain, and Isshin suddenly got the mental picture of Ichigo slicing him in half with his zanpaktou. Shaking his head fiercely Isshin tried to get that scenario out of his head.
"I must be out of my mind," Isshin muttered to himself. "I really hope Ukitake doesn't need my help. I'll help him if he asks for it, because I said I would, but if helping him results in Ichigo finding out my secret then it's likely to be the last thing that I ever do."
Lost in thought Isshin grabbed bandages and other first aid supplies from the shelves. Having three Shinigami in the house was reeking havoc on his supplies since at least one of them ended up torn up every other day and he continually had to restock his supplies while at the same time pretending not to notice that someone was stealing them. If Ichigo didn't think he was a complete idiot this approach would probably never work howevr no one ever brought up the missing supplies and neither did he. Once he'd found everything that he, and they, could conceivably need Isshin went to the counter to pay. His eyes widened in disbelief when the clerk gave him the total.
"Man," the former Shinigami thought as he pulled the bills from his wallet and handed them to the clerk. "I should seriously give Ukitake an invoice for all this stuff and tell him that I want Soul Society to reimburse me for it."
"Come again sir," the clerk called out as Isshin grabbed his bags and left the store.
"Not if I can help it," Isshin muttered.
When Isshin arrived back home he found the place unusually quiet. No one was shouting, there were no loud bangs or explosions. This was not normal for the Kurosaki residence and Isshin was slightly alarmed as he entered the house and made his way into the kitchen. There he found Yuzu, alone, cooking dinner.
"Where is everyone?" Isshin asked, pausing to gaze at his daughter.
"Ichigo's out with some friends from school," Yuzu replied, turning away from the stove to face her father. "And Karin said that she and Toushirou were going to the park to practice soccer."
"Alright," Isshin said and with that he turned and made his way upstairs. As he put away the medical supplies Isshin thought about his daughter's sudden interest in their houseguest. She didn't know what Hitsugaya was of course. She just thought he was a lonely kid and she felt sorry for him. Or at least that's what she'd told Yuzu.
"I don't know whether this is good or bad," Isshin thought to himself. After all Karin was like Ichigo had been before becoming a Shinigami and she was able to see both Hollow and normal souls, which meant that if Hitsugaya left his gigai while with her then his secret would be out. And then someone would have to explain to Karin about Shinigami and Soul Society. And that was something that he really didn't want to have to do or else then his secret would be out.
"Oh well," he thought to himself with a shrug, deciding that there wasn't really anything he could do to stop the two from hanging out that wouldn't need major explaining and threaten to blow the kid's cover. "At least I know she's safe while she's with him."