Chapter 14 – Dead meet the living…
Chapter's music – Make it without you by Andrew Belle
Ichigo was walking slowly through his semi-destroyed hallway, eyeing the things he had buy with Orihime through the years, screech under his feet. He sighed, crouched and with rough fingers cleaned a framed photo from glass and wood. Miracously that little thing made of blue plastic survived when everything around it was destroyed. He felt his throat contract at the irony and looked up to see his little daughter sipping tea from a small cup in a shape of a pink rabbit; she was observing her mother filling three bags with clothes and others necessities with mechanical moves.
He looked down again to his hand and his free fingers traced the shape of the smiling faces: it was Hanako's first month anniversary and she was enjoying her first day in the wild after a difficult birth; she was in her mother's arms, sitting outside in their garden bench while the woman explained to her the names of the different flowers. The girl didn't pay any attention just like any other newborn, but he could notice how happy she felt, surrounded by those arms. Kneeling beside them was the proud father, trying to grab the girl's attention, while she had a firm grip in his index finger, but with no avail luck. And then, the fourth person, the one the girl was looking at, the one that was able of grabbing her attention. He was grabbing a green blanket and Ichigo remembered how the boy looked like a mother hen, worried that the baby or their mother might be cold… He tried to cocoon them with his small blanket, but the piece of cloth was too small and he was pouting until a few minutes back, when, with a squeal of delight, the baby girl made him smile. Isshin took that opportunity to take the picture without anyone noticing and only when he gave it to them in that blue plastic frame did they find out.
Ichigo got up, with the frame securely inside his hand and approached the packing machine that was his wife. He put the frame inside one of the bags, under the watchful eyes of the healer and some moments later she put the green blanket over it, protecting the delicate object.
"Are you ready?" Ichigo asked when the woman closed the bag.
She remained in silence for some moments, but then, looked up with a obstinate shine over her eyes and nodded.
Hanako jumped to his arms and then, after she was secured, surrounded by his left arm, Ichigo extended his right hand to grab his wife's.
The senkaimon was already open, in their backyard, when they exited the house, still in a daze.
At dawn, when Isshin got there he had a long talk with Ishida, telling him what he should do next to organize a kind of escape plan. The Quincy, after giving his own suggestions, immediately left to tell Tatsuki what happened and contact Soul Society again, through Tessai. He hoped he could talk directly with the Research Department and explain what happened at the Kurosaki household and what the former captain expected from them.
Isshin then made all he could to help his family reorganize their minds and prepare to leave the quickest as possible to Soul Society. He didn't want them here, like easy preys, and since his son wasn't in his right state to come up with a logic plan (not that this was one of his strengths in his best days…) he felt responsible to contact with Ishida and Soul Society and bring them to the spiritual ground. After Isshin made that plan he was informed, through the connection with the Research Department, that a senkaimon was open at the first hours of dawn with a zanpakutou known as a belonging of Kurosaki Katsuo and that made his plan more solid in his mind; if the boy went to Soul Society they should bring his parents there, to help in any way they could.
"Yes, they are almost ready…" Ichigo could hear his father's voice from somewhere in his garden.
When he closed the door the older man appeared with a phone right beside his ear, to which he was talking to.
"Oh, they are here, I will let them into the senkaimon right away! Yes, good, thank you…" he said and taking the phone from his ear disconnected the call.
Ichigo approached his father, after letting Hanako go to Orihime's side, grabbing her hand with her two.
"Hey, dad…" Ichigo said, when they were closer to each other.
The older man looked into his son's eyes and smiled with contemplation.
"You don't have to say anything… I understand…" Isshin said, and surprising his son embraced him, not in an I'm-going-to-break-your-bones-kind of way, but in a supportive and heartfelt manner. When they retreated, Isshin's eyes were strangely glossy and Ichigo smiled sadly.
"When we are back, I will punch your nose for your secrets, but now…" Ichigo just sighed, not able of saying anything more. His father chuckled darkly, knowing that his son would keep that promise, especially after seeing the last addiction to the habitants of Seireitei.
After hugging Orihime, whisper some words into her ear, which Ichigo wasn't able of hearing, and grabbing his granddaughter against his chest and ask her to take care of her parents, he let them go.
Yuzu, Karin, Sado, Ishida, Tatsuki and Shiro were waiting beside the portal to bid their goodbyes as well. The small boy made Hanako hear ten different ways of defeating an enemy before her father could drag her away from the boy, while Orihime hugged her best friend and her sisters-in-law in a profound way.
"Don't worry, Yasutora and I will follow you in a few hours, we just have to organize things over here and explain in your job how hurt you are and how you must be kept in my hospital after your accident…" Ishida said, in a professional way, but even then, Ichigo could see a light smirk trying to get a hold of the corner of his lips. To his words, Tatsuki frowned and her scowl made Ishida sigh and rub his temple; he knew it would be a huge discussion in his house when he had to go and leave his wife with his son, but no way he would let the woman endanger her life by accompanying him to Soul Society, even if he had to strap her to a chair.
After trading the last words, the family entered the senkaimon, with the man's arm sagely surrounding his wife's shoulders, while his other arm kept his daughter against his chest.
"Please, bring all my family back…" Isshin whispered to the closed door, when the three orange heads disappeared behind it.
When the senkaimon opened, blinding them momentarily after the darkness, the Kurosaki family found one captain, two lieutenants and one teenager waiting for them.
Shunsui had his arm over Kaoru's shoulder, but when the girl saw the family she ran from her position to embrace Orihime with her arms. She started sobbing in the older woman's shoulder, while the healer patted her hair with affection. Right behind her, Rukia, Renji and Shunsui closed the distance and took their protective and supportive stance beside the hurting family.
"Thank you for taking care of everything with my dad…" Ichigo said, without looking from the two women's embrace.
"No problem…" Renji said, letting his hand fall over his friend's shoulder in a reassuring way.
Ichigo nodded, in an absent way, and then, tensing his shoulders, like he was taking a stance, he looked at his friends and asked "What do you know about all of this? My dad wasn't specific about it, but I could understand that you're working with Urahara to find out what the hell is going on…"
At his words, Renji and Rukia looked at each other, and biting her lip, the woman replied "We can't tell you right now, it's… complicated… unbelievable…"
"Try fucking creepy…" Renji supplied and Ichigo scowled at him.
"Don't use that kind of language with my daughter near!" the man growled, and Renji sighed in relief, finally his friend was regaining part of his fieriness.
"Why do you say that?" Orihime asked, finally entering the conversation. Kaoru regained her place beside her mother and was much calmer, actually, her eyes held a fire similar to her own father's when faced with a challenge.
Renji looked around, opened his mouth to say something, but before he could organize his thoughts, Shunsui stepped forward and put a hand over his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, my dear…" he said, looking at Orihime, with apologetically eyes. "But we can only speak of this somewhere more private… It's a matter of great secrecy and we wouldn't want a bunch of gossipers hearing it…"
Shunsui looked at Kaoru's face, noticing her stance and how her expression changed from tearful to challenging and weighting the cons and pros said, looking at her, "You should come too, Kaoru-chan… You've the right to know!" and taking Orihime's hand in his own, made the group restart their walking, directing them to Yamamoto's Quarters.
When they arrived, they could tell that what Urahara was planning was something incredible worrisome. Orihime, more than Ichigo, could feel the smallest flicks of reiatsu, and those waves of fear, anxiety, incredulity and in some exceptions, excitement, made her blood run cold and her face paler. She could see Hinamori's face, ashen colored but with a determination stretched over her face that made the healer smile warmly; the woman changed so much under Shinji's command, it was really a beautiful sight to be held. However, she also noticed the absence of one captain and one lieutenant and asked herself what might have happened with Toshiro and Rangiku that could explain their absence; she didn't know why, but that made her fear increase even more. She squeezed Shunsui and Ichigo's hands, and the first looked at her with a sad smile and the last with a confused and worried expression. Hanako, secured in Ichigo's free arm, was looking around, observing the people around her, sensing their moods and feeling her lungs constrict with fear; something dark was happening in one of the rooms, something she felt was forbidden, like stealing or hurting someone, something she felt should never be done… she looked at her mother and father but apparently they couldn't feel that energy in specific, because their eyes were glued to the group of captains and lieutenants and not the corridor, to the right, that hided that strange feeling.
"Mommy…" Hanako said, grabbing Orihime's attention. "What is in there?" she pointed to the hallway and all the captain looked at her with surprised expressions, however, one of them held a curiously creepy expression that none of the parents enjoyed very much.
"I don't know, sweety…" Orihime said, letting go of Shunsui's hand to clutch her daughter's reassuringly.
The woman saw how the girl kept looking at that place and noticing the others' expression directed her senses to find out what she was feeling. Some strange kind of reiatsu lingered there, but it was just a remaining energy, at least to her own perception and she couldn't stop her mind from wondering to her daughter's revelations about feeling the strange changes in her brother's reiatsu… Could the small girl have an extra perception of what was happening around her? Even stronger than her own, always complimented by the captains as one of the best? Orihime looked at her husband and saw that the man also noticed the change his daughter's words brought to the group of shinigamis and was now looking towards the hallway with curiosity.
Ichigo frowned when no one supplied an answer to his inquisitive eyes and realized that it probably meant that whatever Hanako was feeling had something to do with Urahara's secret plan; he just hoped his daughter wouldn't be considered as a pawn thanks to her powerful perception, that, for the first time, he was considering might be stronger than Orihime's.
Ukitake was talking softly with Unohana and Orihime when all people in the room held their breath; a strong reiatsu was released in waves, coming from that dark hallway. Some seconds later, Yamamoto finally appeared and all the eyes were instantly glued to the man.
"Urahara finished his preparations!" the man announced.
"Okay, I'm done with all this bullshit" Ichigo roared, without noticing the reproaching look that Orihime sent his way "You know what is going on with my son better than me and I'm sick of this! Tell me immediately what is going on! What is Urahara doing in there? Why couldn't Rukia and Renji tell us what is going on? And what the fuck was that reiatsu just now?" he was fuming. He was never a man of patient and the shock of seeing his son fight him was quickly wearing off, leaving him with the desire to fight, to know what was going on, and to take part of the plan he knew the shinigamis were creating. Orihime looked at him and smiled, finally her husband was back from the dark place he had fallen in after all that happened in their home. She felt reassured by his anger, by his desire to fight and make everything alright again. She squeezed his hand and he pulled her against his chest, like he wanted to hide her inside his own body.
And then, everything changed…
She felt the reiatsu…
He felt the reiatsu…
And the light gray haired man, with his strange smile appeared from the dark corridor, waving like they were all old friends.
Ichimaru Gin was back…
And Kurosaki Ichigo thought he had just lost his mind…
I know Ichigo is a bit off in this chapter, but try to imagine fighting your own kid, seeing him trying to kill you and your family... It must be rough, especially when he is so protective of his family. But don't worry, the fierce Ichigo is back.
Now, please review, I'm always curious to know your feedback in the story! ;)