Just like he'd promised, Kisuke sees Ichigo again sooner rather than later.
He's bloodied and injured, his leg burns horribly, but his mission is not yet complete. Another sole survivor, this time he comes stumbling out of a messy fortress in the rukongai. He is not a shinigami, he is onmitsukido, and that means he hunts more than hollows. Today he hunts for a wanna-be gangster and his lover, who had killed a squad of students. Yoruichi had deployed him and a handful of others, the mission papers were heavy in his over-coat.
Wipe out the dissidents. Every one of them.
So he ignored his leg, and the nauseating smell of roasted meat, and followed the trail of his target.
They'd known going in that these people were ex-academy students and a couple disgraced noblemen. They hadn't been expecting the vicious traps or the hard fight that came at them. They'd meant to ambush them, sneak in at night and blitz the group.
Instead someone had triggered a trap and the bloody fight had ensued.
Now Kisuke trails after the pair of escapees. He's limping, but he keeps his footsteps light all the same. The blade in his hand hums faintly with a tune he can half hear.
He finds them in a clearing, talking low and fast and trying to plan. They don't think anyone survived, they don't think they've been followed, and that's what gives him the chance he takes.
Kisuke darts between them, his leg throbbing horribly, and he cuts the woman's throat viciously and drives his blade into the man's chest in one smooth motion.
His mission is complete, so he limps towards the trees again. He needs shelter and he needs to treat his leg before it gets infected. While the adrenaline fades from him he starts to slouch and slow. Eventually, he falls against a tree.
Fuck.
A light appears between the trees and Kisuke shoves himself into the bark, until it bites his shoulders and he struggles to stay out of sight. He's taller than he was in Rukongai, the good food of the Shihoin and the growth spurts that came with age ensured it.
The light comes closer, and closer, not pausing at the bloodied bodies, and Kisuke grips his small knife tighter. He hadn't been allowed to bring his katana with him.
The light moves aside and Kisuke's breath catches.
Ichigo stands above him in a soft looking yukata of deep red and blue. A lantern is held near his face, throwing firelight across his sharp features.
"Hey there," Ichigo lowers himself to kneel in front of Kisuke. His eyes are terribly soft.
"Hello," Kisuke can't explain it, but the fear fades out of him. Ichigo is dangerous, Kisuke knows this, he's always known it, but Ichigo looks at him with such fondness, and the brush of his reitsu, of his soul against Kisuke's is one of the gentlest things he's ever known.
"That leg looks bad." Ichigo nods to it. "And I'm a shit healer. Let me take you home."
"Buy me dinner first," Kisuke blurts out, and Ichigo freezes for a moment, looking stunned. Kisuke mentally cringes at himself. It was a good thing Yoruichi wasn't here, because she would never let him live down the impulsive words that slipped out. But he plasters on a confident, blase smile, and Ichigo shakes his shoulders out and offers Kisuke his free hand.
"You've always been something, Kisuke. Let's go."
Kisuke takes Ichigo's hand and hisses when his leg is jostled on his way onto Ichigo's back.
"Here." Ichigo hands Kisuke the lantern before he reaches back and cradles Kisuke's butt in laced fingers. The hilt of his longer sword bumped Kisuke's leg.
"So. The Shihoin compound?"
Kisuke didn't ask how Ichigo knew. His uniform was distinct, even if he wasn't meant to be seen when he was wearing it.
Kisuke slowly nodded. He wrapped his blood-soaked arms around Ichigo's shoulders and held on while Ichigo took him home. He didn't shunpo, but he did run through the trees, he kept his gait smooth and barely jostled Kisuke at all.
"How did you find me?" Kisuke asked. This close he realized the Ichigo smelled like expensive spices and sand and smoke. Very Shiba like.
"Dunno, I just felt like coming here," Ichigo shrugged mildly. "And here you are."
"You're not serious."
"I am so. I am a… creature of instinct, I suppose. And I followed those instincts to you."
Kisuke ignores the warmth that he swears he's stealing from Ichigo's body.
"What a strange thing to say."
Kisuke has a good grip on Ichigo, it would be hard for him to flee, so-
"You're a Shiba."
Ichigo's steps don't falter, but his mouth draws into a line.
"I shouldn't be surprised that you figured that out. You're too smart for your own good, you know that?"
Kisuke stubbornly ignores the way pride curls, warm in his chest like a cat in a sunbeam.
"My dad is, if you wanna get technical about it. But there's a whole history there, and you have to be a level seven friend to unlock my tragic backstory."
Kisuke only half understands what's said, but he laughs mildly all the same. "And what level am I?"
Ichigo thinks about it for a moment. "Dunno. Three? Four? If I saw you more it would be higher."
Considering that they've met three times now and all of those times involve Ichigo somehow helping Kisuke, he feels like that number should be lower. But people are strange, and Ichigo is certainly no exception to that, so if he has a bizarre way of ranking his friends its no stranger than the fact that he hands around Hueco Mundo for fun.
"You could see me more, if you told me what squad you were in. I would visit."
"Would you visit or would you stalk me?"
Kisuke says nothing, and Ichigo grins faintly. Ichigo shouldn't know Kisuke this well, its disconcerting and if it wasn't the for the curiosity driving him and the strange, weighted comfort of Ichigo's soul pressed against him on all sides, he might be frightened. But his sense, his instincts, the ones born in back alleys and garbage piles, tell him that Ichigo means him no harm. Kisuke hasn't made it this far by disregarding those.
"If you want me to, I'll try to visit you more often," Ichigo offers. Firmly, he repeats, "If you want me to."
Kisuke wonders if Ichigo understands what he's just offered him. To set their boundaries himself is… foreign. Between the two of them, his relationship with Yoruichi, while close and unbreakable, is still defined by her. Whether she realizes it or not she is the princess, she is the commander, she is the captain. So for Ichigo to offer his company, an offer that Kisuke can simply. Reject?
"I have too many questions to never see you again," he finally admits.
"Then I'll see you again. We're here."
Ichigo sets him down just outside of the barrier that surrounds the Shihoin compound. The air ripples faintly with the kido that has guarded this castle for eons.
Kisuke hands Ichigo back his lantern, and Ichigo in turn shoots him a smile. Kisuke knows, has know the entire way back, that as soon as he is back to safety Ichigo will leave. Still, he wonders if there's a way he could get him to stay. Ichigo is obviously a very private person.
"Is Yoruichi the one in charge yet?" Ichigo asks, once he's sure Kisuke is straightened and won't fall.
It's a strange question. Ichigo should know. He is certainly a shinigami, even if he a- a what? An exile? A recluse? Retired? Shinigami don't retire, he knows this well. A renegade perhaps, and Kisuke should really tell Yoruichi that. But he doesn't want to. He shares everything with Yoruichi, so Ichigo- the greedy part of Kisuke wants to keep everything about him to himself.
"Not yet, although she might as well be. Her father is ill."
By 'ill', of course, Kisuke meant that the man had been poisoned years ago by parties whos corpses were long rotted and was only just clinging to life, and Yoruichi was acting as clan head already even if it isn't yet official.
"Shame," Ichigo says. "Ah well. I'm sure she'll be just fine, with you looking out for her."
Kisuke shakes his head disparagingly. "Twice, you've had to save me from a battle," he points out. His pride takes a blow but-
Well, it is the truth.
Ichigo succinctly ignores it.
"You won that last one fine, I just walked you home. Now go get your leg checked out. I'll be around."
Kisuke watches Ichigo disappear, the bobbing of his lantern growing dimmer and dimmer in the trees until he's gone.
Only then does Kisuke turn and limp his way back to the castle.
(The castle whose location is supposed to be absolutely secret. He should tell Yoruichi about this.
He doesn't. )
Kisuke is going to have a heart attack at the young age of 220-some odd and it's all because of Ichigo.
Ichigo, who just stepped out of a garganta directly into his secret training field. The one under Sogyoku Hill. In the middle of the seireitei.
"Yo, Kisuke," Ichigo waved at him.
Sometimes, when he said Kisuke's name, his mouth moved like he was going to say something else but changed his mind at the last minute.
"...Hello. How did you get here? How did you know this was here?"
"Hmm?" Ichigo cocks his head. "I came in a garganta, obviously. And I can sense you. I always can."
Kisuke didn't know how to feel about that, besides warm.
It makes sense, Kisuke figures. Ichigo had felt him even when he barely had enough soul to exist, and here the walls should block out anyone from sensing him but-
If Ichigo can find him in Hueco Mundo and in the middle of the woods when he was doing his best to go unnoticed, he must be a phenomenal sensor.
"I'm not in danger, why are you here?" Kisuke asks. Ichigo actually stops, looks worried and a little bit hurt. Like Kisuke had raised his voice at a puppy.
(A puppy that could kill Kisuke with a napkin)
"You said you wanted me to come around more. Now seemed like as good a time as any since you're not busy."
Ah. Kisuke had said that, hadn't he?
He rubs a hand through his hair, a habit he'd yet to break free of just yet.
"I wasn't expecting you, that's all. And I was training," he gestures to the training dummies he's set up.
Ichigo's hurt vanishes, and he looks… frightening.
"Perfect. Then let's spar."
Kisuke gapes at him. "You can't be serious! You'll win!"
"Yeah, and? It'll be good practice for you, and you're smarter than I am so it'll be good for me too."
"You have far too much faith in me," Kisuke tells him, but he can't help the way his blood starts to sing with excitement. Benihime pulses at his hip, begging to be let out. He'd only planned on practicing Kido today, but this-
"Fine," Kisuke draws his sword. Her familiar weight is warm in his hands. "Awaken, Benihime."
Ichigo draws his long sword and the smaller dagger.
"I hope your wards are strong enough for this," he says mildly. "Split the sky and rage through heaven, pierce the earth and slay hell. Protect thy heart, Zangetsu."
The long sword warps with dark black energy tinged with blood-red into a massive khyber knife, just over half the length of Ichigo's body, not counting the handle. There is a thin, hollowed-out portion that runs along the back edge of the blade from the base to the middle. The second blade remained relatively small, about the size of Ichigo's arm. It resembles a trench knife more than a sword, and the hollowed out portions makes up the hand guard.
The ripple of power that rolls across Kisuke would have driven him to his knees if he was someone else. It's heavy and it swells like a wave ready to crest.
Yoruichi's soul feels like lightning and a storm racing on powerful winds. It's lightning fast and deadly, and only when she's truly lost her temper and started throwing her weight around does it match Ichigo's.
And Kisuke has the terrifying feelings that Ichigo is still holding back.
"Well?" Ichigo points the tip of his longer blade at Kisuke. He looks utterly relaxed, his shoulders loose and his stance light. Ready to move.
Kisuke brings Benihime in front of him. He waits, a fraction of a second, before he lunges for Ichigo.
Two hours find Ichigo helping him into the healing hot springs. His gaze is firmly on the ceiling, offering Kisuke a strange amount of modesty. He's grown used to the onmitsukido and before them it had been the Rukongai. There wasn't much privacy in either of those places.
Kisuke hisses when the water laps across his bruised and broken skin.
Ichigo, meanwhile, isn't even out of breath.
The difference in their power is staggering and terrifying, but Kisuke had known about it all along.
"Shiba-"
"Ichigo," Ichigo cuts him off swiftly. "Not Shiba. Just Ichigo."
"But you are a Shiba."
Ichigo grimaces. "I'd rather you just use my first name. If you're gonna picky about propriety," at this he shot Kisuke a disbelieving look, "then I use my mother's family name. Kurosaki."
Kurosaki Ichigo.
There's a history there, a reason Ichigo wants nothing to do with the Shiba name. A bastard, perhaps? Kisuke thinks it makes sense, but Ichigo is still a puzzle to him. He doesn't act like any noble Kisuke has ever met, and Kisuke has known Yoruichi since she was so young she physically couldn't walk a straight line in her father's haori. A bastard wouldn't be raised with the rest of the clan, would they? Although the Shiba were something of a toss up. They acted strangely, on the edge of impropriety.
No, actually. They crossed that line often. Other nobles hated them, but they were valuable and anciently powerful.
Kisuke watches Ichigo sit on a rock nearby and carefully clean his blades. He loves them dearly, as all shinigami do.
Kisuke makes a private note to himself to steal a roster for each squad to figure out where Ichigo comes from.
Ichigo may answer his questions, but his answers are just vague enough to draw Kisuke closer and closer. He has always been a creature of curiosity.
Kisuke runs into him in a market, of all places.
For once Ichigo doesn't seem to notice him immediately. He's struck up a conversation with the owner of a food stall. He looks like everyone else, besides his hair, but the crowd gives him a birth that Kisuke is jealous of. He has to move through the crowds, and stand on the corner to keep from being jostled.
Kisuke can't hear what's happening, but Ichigo looks sheepish and the vendor is pressing steamed buns into his hands with a firm, ungiving insistence.
Ichigo accepts them, clearly reluctantly, and bows shortly to him.
He walks with easy confidence. He's nearly a cat-like as Yoruichi, but he doesn't have the stiff backed arrogance that comes with nobility. A scion of the Shiba household would have at least a touch of that, right?
Kisuke thinks again of Kukaku, who had nearly burnt of Kuchiki Genrei's hair last autumn with a fireworks display at the dining table, and quietly reworks his assessment on Shiba's.
On top of that, the bastard theory only made a little sense. Miyako was married to the head of the house, but she was no noble by birth. She was from the fourth district, and she had met Kaien during his academy days.
Kisuke follows Ichigo through the streets. He stops near another river to watch a group of children play. There's the same fondness in his eyes again, more gold than brown in the sunlight. If it were anyone else Kisuke might worry for the children. It's Ichigo, so he knows they're safer under his eye than anywhere else.
If Kisuke thinks hard enough on it he can remember how the soft bread Ichigo had shared with him tasted still. He'd barely been older than those children are now. This is a middling district, not close enough to the seireitei for everyone to have shoes, but not so far out that people walk with gaunt faces and bloody knuckles.
The kids are carefree and loud, but it's Ichigo that holds Kisuke's attention.
It's always Ichigo who his attention returns to. Like a loose tooth that he can't stop wiggling. He wants to know more about him.
Kisuke intends to follow him further, see where he's going, but when Ichigo leaves the riverside he ventures into the woods. Between one tree and the next, he vanishes.