When you mess with fate

Chapter 14

A/N: I do not own Bleach and its characters. If I did... Never mind…

Ichigo came home in his spirit form to see Kazui sitting on the love seat, watching his empty human body sprawled out on the couch across from him. The younger man had his elbows rested on his knees and his fingers steepled. The older Kurosaki wasn't sure if he should enter his body right now. Maybe he should wait for his adopted son to leave the living room. He didn't want Kazui to feel weird about getting caught staring at him. If only he could sense my reiatsu, or at least hear me.

Just then, his front door clicked open, and in came Renji in his usual loud shirt, baggy jeans, and a bandanna. The redhead took one glance at Ichigo the shinigami and he understood that Kazui wasn't aware of his father's presence.

"Kazui," Renji greeted as he shut the door behind him. "You're home."

The human stood up from his seat and bowed. "Konnichiwa, Renji-ojisan."

"Ah, konnichiwa. Your father should be back soon. He's gone out on a patrol. Come, let's go and grab a drink while we wait for him," Renji said, gesturing to the kitchen.

Kazui nodded and led the way. As Renji passed him, Ichigo also gave him a nod of thanks for diverting Kazui's attention somewhere else.

By the time they came back out to the living room, Ichigo was already sitting up on the couch in his human body. Father and son shared a glance, a nod of acknowledgment; like it was the first time they met each other.

Renji cleared his throat. "I'm going to go by Urahara's place for the afternoon. There's something I need to discuss with him," he excused himself before bidding goodbye to the Kurosakis and leaving the house.

"How are you?" Ichigo asked when Kazui sat down across from him.

The son shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"I was planning on going over to Nagoya to see you tomorrow. Renji-ojisan is staying one more night here," Ichigo said.

"You don't have to anymore since I'm here today."

"Are you coming back for good any time soon?" the substitute shinigami asked.

Kazui's eyes travelled around the room, picking up memories he made growing up in this house. "I don't think I want to come back here, Otou-san," he began slowly. "There are just too many things here. It's hard to get over Okaa-san's death when I'm constantly reminded of her."

Ichigo nodded in understanding. "So you're going to settle down in Nagoya?"

"Maybe just for a couple of years," Kazui replied. "And then, I might travel elsewhere."

Ichigo leaned back on the couch and studied his adopted son. Even though he wasn't close to Kazui like other fathers are to their sons, they shared more conversations than he ever did with Orihime. It made him sad to think that maybe he should've tried harder to treat her better but there was always this wall between the two of them. He knew Kazui could sense the existence of the wall and the boy was very protective of his mother. When he was much older and started to understand that his parents' relationship was different from that of his friends' parents', he began to distant himself from his father.

Ichigo could still remember the night Kazui ran away from home after Orihime told him that his biological father left them. He was 12 years old, then. That was also the night Ichigo and Orihime had their first argument because she did not discuss with him before revealing the truth to Kazui. She was left at home alone, crying, while Ichigo went everywhere to search for the boy. When he found him on a swing at a park almost a town away at 1.00am, he sat down with him in silence until Kazui fell asleep two hours later. Ichigo had carried him all the way home.

After that, they never spoke about it until he turned 18. That's when he declared that he was going to look for his biological father in Nagoya. Ichigo didn't want to stop him but Orihime was against it. Being the obedient mama's boy he always was, Kazui decided to put his search on hold.

And then, Ichigo's reiatsu suppression was lifted when Kazui was 21. Once again, the boy felt betrayed that his parents had kept yet another secret from him. What, did they think he would always be too young to understand anything? He was in his second year of engineering school when that happened. He stopped his studies and started job-hopping. He kept going back to enrol in universities, though. But he never graduated until the recent years when Orihime was very ill.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Ichigo asked, breaking the silence.

Kazui twirled the bottle of drink Renji had gotten for him earlier. "Yes."

"That's good, I hope."

"It is."

Ichigo nodded.

"I know about Ichika," Kazui asserted.

If Ichigo was surprised, he did not show it. He just waited for his son to continue what he had to say.

"I know she's your daughter. She came to see me yesterday," Kazui explained.

"So she knows."

"Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was laced with hurt. Despite the fact that his life was full of surprises, it still didn't get any easier whenever something like this turned up.

Ichigo sighed. "I never knew she was my daughter. Renji-ojisan accidentally told me last night."

Kazui smirked. "Seems like they are more alike than they think. I tricked Ichika into telling me the truth. Mum wrote in her letter that she thought Ichika's personality was a lot like yours."

The older man furrowed his brows. Orihime had known all along and she never brought it up. But then again, he couldn't blame her. They hardly talked. Renji and Rukia interacted more like a married couple than they did.

"I think you should go back to Soul Society," Kazui suggested, earning a startled look from his father. "That's where you've always wanted to be. Maybe you could patch things up with Rukia-obasan."

"Kazui..."

"I'll be fine, Otou-san," the son interrupted. "I'm a normal human being. I don't belong in your world. You weren't supposed to raise me but you did. I think Okaa-san and I have taken so much more of your time than we should. I appreciate it that you took care of me all those years. I really do. I'm sure Okaa-san does, too.

"From here on in, I need to find a place where I can live a normal life and die a normal human being. It's not that I want to cut ties with you but I don't want you to feel obligated to carry on living in this human world just because you promised to take care of someone else's human child. I'm an adult now, and I won't be coming back to Karakura. So, there really isn't any reason for you to stay. Even after you've moved to Soul Society, you can still drop by to visit Karin-obasan and Yuzu-obasan, anyway."

That night, Ichigo had a proper dinner with Kazui for the first and the last time in a long while. It was the first time after Isshin had 'passed on' that they had one. The little family never had celebration dinners unless Yuzu or Karin was around. Ichigo used to either skip dinner in favour of working late at the clinic or have his dinner at the living room while watching a football game or the news. It was definitely the last one, as Kazui would take his last ride back to Nagoya after that, never to return to Karakura again.

"You're sure about this?" Renji asked when the senkaimon opened.

"Yeah," Ichigo exhaled. "It's been a while."

"Alright, try to keep up," Renji smirked before the two of them ran through the dangai.

Father and son stared up into the open sky outside the Shiba manor, puffing away on their cigarettes after a full dinner prepared by Kuukaku herself. They were both lying in the grass, arms pillowing their heads, just enjoying the quiet night at the First District of Rukongai. The cigarettes were brought from the human world by Ichigo, who knew his father had missed them. Before this, Renji was his delivery boy who would ensure his monthly supply never ceased. Smoking was like drinking tea to him after he moved back to Soul Society. He didn't have to worry about lung cancer anymore.

Once the Shiba clan had been reinstated, Kuukaku and Ganju made sure to rebuild a proper mansion on their vast Shiba land. Isshin had huge quarters to himself and he had also prepared a few chambers for his kids when they passed over. He wasn't very sure if the twins would be able to find their way when they arrived at the Rukongai but Ichigo was a different case of ryoka who never followed standard procedures. Even his soul was different after everything that he had gone through. Both Kurotsuchi and Urahara had confirmed that Ichigo's transition to Soul Society would be as simple as leaving his human body behind in the human world as if it were a gigai. But of course, he would have to dispose it off by burial or cremation because it cannot be preserved like one.

Isshin inhaled the smoke deeply before releasing what was left that did not enter his soul's lungs. "Ichika-chan, huh? I knew there was something about her. But Rukia-chan kept it so well. I heard they hid her in the Second District until the girl was three before they went back to stay at the Kuchiki Manor. I knew she wasn't Renji's. Just didn't know when she was born."

"I'm surprised things like that get by your nosy self," Ichigo commented.

"I've been busy, son. I only see that girl when I visit the Seireitei to have a drink with Shunsui. I should've recognised the hair, though. But then again, brown is a common colour."

The two lapsed into a familiar, comfortable silence. This was something they used to do after the war until Isshin had to move to Soul Society. The first two years, it was all Isshin who was the one talking. Every evening, without fail before Ichigo went on his roaming, the father would sit at the rooftop with the son who was quietly trying to cope with life without Rukia. Eventually, Ichigo started talking, too. And they would enjoy their nightly routine even when Isshin's gigai had stopped responding and he could only hang out on the roof in his shinigami form.

Isshin never mentioned this, but he was thankful to Rukia for being the catalyst who helped mend his relationship with Ichigo. The substitute shinigami on his part, had to admit that if it weren't for the midget, he would never have known that the serious side of his father existed.

"I'm moving here as soon as I can. There's nothing left for me in the human world," Ichigo said, tossing his cigarette butt into the distance.

Isshin backhanded the side of his son's head. "Before you do that, you've got to learn to put your trash away properly. Your cousin will throw a fit if she finds out what you did."

Ichigo grumbled as he rubbed his sore spot, "Stupid old goat-chin will never change."

But they both knew it wasn't the cigarette butt Isshin was referring to.

The Shiba clan head chuckled. "But you have changed. Why are you not retaliating like you used to? You have lost your energy the day you lost my precious third daughter. I warned you, didn't I, about making the right choice? I think you screwed up big time as a human. It's just not your forte."

"Yeah, yeah. Add lots of salt. Make me feel like the worst person ever. If it makes you sleep better at night, then I'll take it. At least someone is happy," Ichigo huffed as he sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees.

Isshin laughed again. But this time, it was dry and devoid of his usual carefree persona. "I hardly sleep at night, Ichigo. What makes you think Papa is happy watching you suffer all these years?"

The orange-haired man hid the bottom half of his face behind his propped up knees as he surveyed the open field ahead of them. The Shiba property was not regal like the Kuchiki's which reflected their strict, illiberal, and stringent bindings. The Shiba was a different sort of nobility compared to the other clans because their investment was in nature, and family, and a laid-back serene life, independent from the societal demands and pressure. Rukia would be happier here, he thought.

"Any ideas on how you're going to die? I've always loved a tragic end to my human life, like my car derailing off the cliff as I'm drifting down Mount Haruna or something. It was too bad that my gigai had to fail before any of that could happen," Isshin mused.

Ichigo threw an abhorring glance at his father. Isshin never failed to come up with the most ridiculous things to say to spoil the moment. "I was thinking of a sudden death, like a cardiac arrest. No explanation needed. After that, a cremation would be a good idea."

"Hmm," Isshin nodded. "You're going to need a doctor to certify that."

"Yeah..." And I know just the person to do it.

At the Kuchiki Manor…

"That reiatsu…" the petite captain of the 13th Division mumbled, tossing and turning on her futon. "What the hell is he doing here?"

Looks like somebody is going to have to pay someone a visit.

Ichigo-Kazui = difficult to write

Isshin-Ichigo = natural

Yes, I loved Initial D. It was the very first Japanese anime I watched.

NieveDrop mentioned that 'Kazui came across very Uryu-esque' in the previous chapter. I have to agree. I did not realise it until after I've read it a few times.

Thank you all for your comments. Love the support so much! IchiRuki ship rocks. But it'll never sink. We will sail till the ends of the earth...