Chapter 10 – The worst nightmare
Chapter's Music – I won't back down by Fuel
Ichigo remained in Urahara's shop the entire day. Orihime would bring him some tea with an hour or so apart, spending the rest of the time sitting beside him, with her hand clasped inside his own. From time to time he would take his phone out and look at the watch, ignoring the calls that he would receive from the Police Station.
She could feel his shivers running down their connected fingers whenever his mind would make him take a dark path. So, she would say to herself that she had to remain strong, she couldn't show how worried she was, how afraid this ignorance made her feel, it was her time to show her own courage when her family really needed it. But even with those enterprising words, she found herself thinking how it would feel if something happened to her son, would it feel like a blinding pain? Would she feel numb? Would she want to kill whatever hurt him? Would she able of kill? She didn't have to wait longer to know that answer, she would do anything to keep her children from any harm, even if it meant taking another life. She had learned a long time ago that her perspective of the world had changed irrevocably when she heard that small cry on June 17th. When Ichigo brought the small baby wrapped in a soft yellow blanket, dirty with blood, but with an already shocking tuff of orange hair, all her mind could think of was how breakable this little human being was and how she would move hell and heaven to bring peace of mind to his innocent life. And when she saw the tears running down her husband's face she was sure he felt the same way. Making a wordless pact they promised to always protect and love this small light they had created together. And now, all those years later, they would really put in practice such an important vow.
"I'm sick of it!" Ichigo roared, when the sun finally set down and Urahara wasn't back yet. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" he yelled, kicking the wood walls, with all his anger in display.
Orihime's phone started ringing making her jump and Ichigo finally ended his rant looking at the device like it was something from another planet. "Eye of the tiger" echoed through the air and Orihime looked apologetically to her husband.
"Yes, Tatsuki-chan?" she answered, without looking at the receiver. It was her best friend/sister personalized tone, chosen by the karate sensei.
"Orihime-san, it's me Uryuu!" the man said from the other line in a worried tone.
"What happened?" Orihime asked, disturbed, gaining Ichigo's attention. He closed the distance between them and she put the device on loudspeaker.
"I don't know where Katsuo is! We were at the garden, playing with Hanako and Shiro and he was inside, in the library, then we heard glass shattering and his reiatsu totally disappeared. I ran inside and I couldn't find him, the library's windows were broken though…" he said in a breathe and for seconds Orihime thought that her heart shattered like that glass until an almighty roar echoed right beside her ear and she let the device fell.
"What the fuck, Ishida! I asked you to take care of my son and you let this happen? I'm going to fucking kill you, you bastard! I'm gonna burn your fucking Quincy clothes and your skin with it! You brainless idiot! You asshole! You bastard! I'm… I'm…" Ichigo's voice embargoed and he could say no more.
"We… we… are going there…" Orihime whispered, while the strength in her body disappeared with Uryuu's farewell words lingering on the air. She felt her knees fall to the floor and for seconds thought about slipping in a dreamless sleep, until a smiling face appeared in her mind, reproaching her with his eyes. No! She wouldn't let herself fell into depression! Her son needed her more than ever! She had to get herself together and find him as soon as possible.
Jumping to her feet she felt Ichigo do the same behind her, like they were connected by a mental link that let them know each other's reasoning. Whatever it was, she was grateful that when she started running he accompanied her without sparing a second too long.
When they got to Ishida's house they found Tatsuki waiting for them, with her arms surrounding her nine years old son, while the boy looked with worried eyes to his mother's fearful expression.
"I'm sorry!" was the first thing coming out of her mouth when the two worried parents crossed her house's entrance. Ichigo waved her apologies away and entered the house, in search of his daughter. The girl sat at the bottom of the large stairs, hugging her knees against her chest, her eyes red and her cheeks pale. Ichigo and Orihime ran to her, hugging the girl between their bodies and making her shed her last tears, while surrounding their necks with her tiny arms.
Ishida got up from his chair beside the stair and approached the distressed family.
"I called Yasutora, my father and Kurosaki-san…" he said, in a sorrowful tone. "Kurosaki… I'm…" he started saying, but just like with Tatsuki, Ichigo waved his words away.
"When we find my son you will have time to excuse yourself, now let's get to work!" Ichigo said, looking around. Tatsuki was already running from upstairs with a huge map in her hands.
"We have to circle city's areas to search and make it easier!" she said in a tense tone. "When Isshin-san, Ryuken-san and Yasutora-kun get here we will be able of start the search…" she said, while drawing with colored marks circles over different parts of the paper.
"To hell the waiting! I'm going to look for my son right now!" he yelled, making the little girl in his arms tremble. "Oh, I'm sorry baby, dad won't shout again!" he said to her, while she relaxed against his chest.
"Katsuo is no longer Katsuo…" she whispered and Orihime looked at her, curiously.
"What do you mean, sweety?" her mother asked, stroking her hair softly.
"He doesn't feel the same…" she replied, like the word "feel" held a special place in her meaning.
"Feel?" Ishida asked, observing the girl.
"It's been a while… I noticed it… sometimes when I'm at school I can feel him changing…" she kept whispering while the adults looked at her with veiled and confused expressions.
They kept observing her until a bang from the front door made them jump. Without being invited, Isshin entered, followed by Ryuken and some seconds later Sado with Tessai, Ururu and Jinta in tow.
"Did you draw our plan of work?" Ryuken asked, eyeing the map. Tatsuki nodded and explained to him what they would do.
Isshin approached his family and smiling sadly at his son and his daughter-in-law took the girl from their arms and laid her down on the couch.
"You need your arms free to search for Katsuo…" he said simply. "Don't worry, I called the twins, they must be coming in a couple of minutes… Yuzu will take care of them…" he said, eyeing Shiro kneeling beside the weeping girl and patting her shoulder awkwardly.
Ichigo nodded mechanically while Orihime looked Isshin with serious eyes.
"Are you going to tell us what is going on?" she asked, observing the man's eyes change to look at her.
"After we find Katsuo I'll tell what Urahara's ideas are, but only then. Now, we have to focus in the matter at hands!" he said and Orihime felt her stomach settle down. She knew he was telling the truth; finally they would know what the scientist was thinking and why those theories were so worrisome.
After Yuzu and Karin's arrival, the search parties went their way. Ichigo and Orihime went together, just as Tatsuki and Uryuu while the others went alone with Karin refusing immediately her father's suggestion of going with her, storming out before the man had time to attempt again. But, even those that went accompanied from time to time had to report what part of their zone was already searched or if they found anything strange.
The night rose and went away and no one found any trace of Katsuo's reiatsu. At noon everyone reunited at Ishida's place, grabbing with open hands the dishes Yuzu prepared for them, with the exception of Ichigo and Orihime that with knotted stomachs refused eating anything. Their daughter stirred minutes after their arrival and ran to their arms, asking if they had found her brother. With heavy hearts Ichigo and Orihime had to tell the truth and watch the small girl's expression fall.
"Please, save him from the bad man…" she asked, making her parents trade worried looks, but before they had time to question her, Tatsuki called them to show the map and discuss if there were any missing areas or places that needed a better look. After another half an hour of discussion the groups went away again, but this time Tessai went to Urahara's shop, in hopes that his boss might be back and he could finally tell the couple what was going on with their son.
The day passed similar to the previous night, with the worried parents' eyes losing the shine that the dawn brought. Now, the only thing that could bring some happiness into their minds was seeing their son safe and sound, but that prospect appeared slimmer with each passing hour.
Ichigo and Orihime spent their monitoring hours trying to find any justifications to Katsuo's disappearance. His phone kept turned off, they couldn't find his reiatsu, the shattered glass… they were too afraid of saying out loud, but the option that he might have been taken against his will was becoming more and more prominent in their minds. But then, why couldn't Ishida hear any sign of a fight? Besides the broken glass there was no evidence that something wrong could have happened and Ichigo and Orihime knew how strong their son was; he wouldn't go anywhere against his will without putting up a fight that could alert Ishida and Tatsuki that something was happening. God, their minds were so messed up!
Ichigo could see dark circles under Orihime's eyes and how her eyelids were blinking slower than normal, remaining closed for a longer time. He knew that she hadn't been able to sleep for more than a week now, since her nightmares began and finally it was taking a toll over her body. Actually, he was impressed, if he slept two hour per night for more than a week he would be a yelling and grumbling mess. It was another thing that made this woman so amazing: her ability of supporting not only a huge emotional shock but a physical one as well. When the light started fading, the sky gained an orange glow and after Orihime almost crashed against two light poles Ichigo finally put his foot down and grabbed his wife, cradling her against his chest in a bridal fashion. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, but she was too tired to put up a great fight and sighing, she nested her head against his chest and let her eyes finally shut.
"Is she okay?" Tatsuki asked when Ichigo appeared with Orihime in his arms.
"Yes, she is just tired… She hasn't being sleeping that well and with all this…" he sighed, kissing her forehead softly.
Tatsuki looked at their best friends with a constricted heart; couldn't they have a normal, peaceful life like other families? Didn't they deserve to sleep eight hours per night, know where theirs kids were, worry with bills and vacations, make silly surprises at their anniversaries? Then why couldn't they have that? It made her so mad and so scared at the same time… Imagining Shiro disappearing… Uryuu hurt… God, how can they support shit like that? How can her best girlfriend keep smiling after all the shit that happened to her? She couldn't understand, but that was one of the reasons that made her fight so hard to protect the healer: if Orihime couldn't smile then what was there to be expected of the world?
"Mommy!" a girl scream irrupted through the house, making the adults reunited in the dining room appear in the hallway.
Orihime squirmed in her sleep at her daughter's voice and opening her eyes reluctantly found the little girl jumping to be able of seeing her face. Noticing the fear in her child's demeanor she almost flew from her husband's arms into her daughter's.
"I thought the bad man had caught you too…" Hanako whispered, making her mother's brown furrow.
"You already talked about this bad man this morning… Who is he?" Orihime asked and she could see the other people in the room observe with barely wrapped curiosity.
"I don't know, but he scares me… I can feel him sometimes when I'm sleeping and… that night when mommy cut her legs with the glass bowl…" she said, making Orihime and Ichigo's eyes almost pop out of their sockets.
"You felt him that night?" Orihime asked, trying to suppress her fear.
"Yes, but he disappeared again and I couldn't know where he was…" Hanako said, with her brown eyes so serious. They could see how disturbed she was and that made their next decision much easier.
"We are going home!" Ichigo announced. "Hanako is too scared and Orihime too tired…"
"I'm not tired!" Orihime replied with a dark look.
"Yes, you are! You almost destroyed two lamp poles!" Ichigo said, making the woman blush. "Now, that's settled. When you are sufficiently rested we will look again!"
Orihime grumbled the entire way to their house, but Ichigo barely listened to her. He was devising his moves to the next day. He would go to Soul Society and would bring those damn shinigamis here to search for his son and made the other part search in Seireitei and Rukongai even if the probability of Katsuo being there was so small. He would do that even if he had to fucking threaten that fucking Commander! Oh, yes he would!
Grinning with his plan, Ichigo turned his wife's rant on and heard her venting her frustrations. He knew she was acting like that because she felt powerless, she felt angry with her own inability of finding their son and she had to let go of that dark feelings in some way.
When they entered the house, Hanako almost asleep in her father's arms, Katsuo was coming down the stairs. He tried to run through them, but Ichigo's arm snaked past him, making him stop in his tracks.
"Where are you going? Where the hell have you been? What happened in Ishida's place? We've been looking for you since yesterday!" Ichigo yelled with anger boiling under the surface; he didn't know what was more strong, the anger or the relieve. In that moment all their theories were erased and he couldn't think anything more than "My son is safe!". But, then seeing how his son looked distressed, he shut up, observing the boy with a clinical eye. He had sweat running down his temples, his face was pale and his frame looked shaken. "What is going on? Are you okay? Are you feeling sick again?" Ichigo asked, while giving Hana to his wife who was looking at her son like she couldn't believe he was really there.
The substitute shinigami grabbed his son's face and made him look at him and when their eyes found each other, Ichigo felt his heart crush into tiny pieces. It was like looking at Orihime's eyes after he woke up from his death at the hands of Ulquiorra: they were fearful, tear stained, horrified…
"Katsuo…" Orihime whispered, touching softly her son's arm. Hanako jumped from her mother's arms and run to hide behind her legs.
"Not Katsuo…" she whispered, unperceptively to her parents.
He tensed under her fingers and then, from nowhere pushed her behind, making stagger and almost fall. Behind her, Hanako squealed in fear and ran to a corner of the entrance.
"Get the fuck out of my way!" he screamed, making the older woman gasp. She had never heard her son talk like that to someone, especially to her.
"I'm not your son anymore. I'm much more!" he said, but Ichigo was hearing none of that. So, he walked forward, closing the distance between them, but before he could attempt anything a kick from nowhere caught him in the ribs.
"Katsuo!" he gasped, not wanting to believe that his son was capable of something like that. Through the corner of his eye he saw Orihime call her powers to protect Hana and then run to them.
Katsuo grimaced and with another kick sent Ichigo towards Orihime, distracting her from her goal.
"There you are, together as always..."he said, with a cold look in his eyes and both parents knew that whoever this person was he was not their sweet, protective, wonderful son. This person was someone using Katsuo's image or body, whatever it was, to get under their skin, but the worst was imagining what might have happened to their son.
"You are not Katsuo! What have you done to my son?" Ichigo roared, grabbing his shinigami badge and finally readying himself to a fight he tried to avoid while he thought this was his son in a teen crisis. But seeing him attacking his own father, putting his mother and sister in peril made him realize how naive he was being.
When Ichigo brought his badge against his body and felt his spirit being released from his mortal one, he only had a millisecond before a punch tried to break his nose. Ichigo jumped back, hitting the stairs with a soft humph.
"Damn it, it's too small in here to fight! I can't hurt the girls! I have to take him out of here!"
"Stop!" Orihime screamed, when Ichigo prepared himself to launch at the enemy wearing his son's face.
"Yes, stop…" he said, with a familiar laugh. Ichigo looked into his son's eyes but only saw Aizen's. And, in that moment his reiatsu burst from Katsuo's body and Ichigo understood the fear that Orihime felt that night, when she was alone with their kids and that spiritual pressure fell over her.
Orihime tried to run to him, but when she got near he grabbed her neck and squeezed it, making her punch and kick the air uselessly.
"Katsuo-nii, come back!" Ichigo heard a small voice call and his face turned to the origin of the sound. Releasing Orihime, he stepped in Hanako's direction, but Ichigo was quicker and planted himself in front of his daughter.
In the confusion of dust and wood he felt two others reiatsu approach his house and in a second Chad and Ishida were bursting through his front door, almost falling over Hanako's protective dome.
Katsuo's face observed the newcomers with a sneer and Ichigo used that opportunity to jump over him. He was able of punching his nose and some blood ran down his face. But when he tried to repeat the gesture and punch him in the stomach, the eyes' expression changed and for a moment he was his son again, protective, caring and loyal and he was unable of keeping the attack. And that was his mistake…
With lighting speed, he kicked him in the head, making him fly against the stairs, breaking part of the wall in the process. Chad closed the distance between him and Ichigo and tried to help him, while Ishida followed their enemy outside. He couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing, but nonetheless he knew he had to grab Katsuo and imprison him in any way he could.
When he reached the backyard, Ishida felt his body hurt under the spiritual pressure that was being released by his nephew… No, he wasn't his nephew… He knew that reiatsu all too well and that belonged to Aizen… So Orihime was right, he really found a way of getting out of his prison… Damn Shinigamis and their stupid punishments! Why couldn't they kill him and end all the fear? Why?!
All that Ishida could do was watch powerless while the boy he always saw as a second son ran away, leaving his house half destroyed and his family in pieces like a jigsaw puzzle.
Another piece of the conspirancy fell into its place...
What happened with poor Katsuo? Can they bring him back?