BLEACH: THE FINAL CUT
HALCYON DAYS
CHAPTER SIX: THE PRODIGAL PATRIARCH

Karin plunked herself down in front of the television and adjusted the channel until she came up Cazh Soul, Don Kanonji's program.

It was her favorite show by far. She never missed an episode. Especially of late.

Don Kanonji stared back at her through the television screen, twirling his hands like he was casting a spell.

"... Phenomena we cannot explain, the chill that runs up our spines - these are not fanciful delusions, faithful viewers," the medium said in a spooky tremble, as if he were addressing Karin directly. "Do not distrust your own eyes; there are spirits among us... "

"Karin, stop watching TV!" Yuzu called from across the room. She was sitting in a circle with their classmates Midoriko Tōno, Kiori, and Chihiro. "You're being misanthropic!"

"What's mis-an-thropic mean?" Kiori asked.

"Oh, it means she's being a total butt," Yuzu replied with a tee-hee.

The girls all laughed together at Karin's expense while she remained stubbornly planted in front of the tube.

"I never ever skip Cazh Soul," she grumbled. "This is important. Tea time can wait."

"Psst," Chihiro whispered to Midiriko. "Yuzu's sister is kinda weird, huh?"

"Don't say that!" Midiriko shushed her, afraid the others would overhear - Karin most of all. "Don't let Karin catch you badmouthing her. She's scary when she's angry."

The group carried on performing the ritual of "tea time," playacting a dainty lunch with their assortment of dolls. Yuzu mimed bringing a cup up to Bostov's mouth so he may sip some nonexistent tea.

This is my nightmare, Kon thought, remaining completely motionless while Yuzu doted on him like a baby. She had even fitted him with a bib - the shame!

Chappy, meanwhile, didn't mind the arrangement one bit. She more than happy to pretend to be an inanimate object while the girls passed her back and forth, bringing invisible tea cakes to her squirrel-plushie vessel. As far as Chappy was concerned, it was all part of the mission. Lady Rukia entrusted her to these girls the assuage suspicion; she would play her part to her upmost.

Karin frowned while the others' laughter threatened to drown out Don Kanonji's monologue. She scrunched up closer to the television, so close that her nose could feel the screen's static field.

"Spirits are real, faithful viewers," Don Kanonji concluded with an ominous drawl. "If you are among the lucky few who can see them, do not be afraid. Be prepared... And we'll be back after these advertisements!"

The program cut to commercial, prompting Karin to scoot back and spare her eyes from more strain. She sat there sullenly, patiently waiting for the show to resume.

A gust of wet wind began blowing into the living room - a storm had arrived.

"Oh no, it's raining..." Midoriko realized, looking over at her open windowsill.

"Karin, can you please get the window for our host?" Yuzu asked from over her shoulder. "It's the least we can do."

Karin shot her sister an annoyed glance. Yuzu was the one who had accepted Midoriko's invitation to the slumber party. Yuzu was the one who insisted that she came along, even though she found Midoriko trifling. And now Yuzu was ordering her around like a Queen Bee.

"Sure," Karin said curtly, hoisting herself up and trudging over to the billowing curtains.

She shut the window closed, only to freeze in fear when she saw an eye staring at her from the other side of the pane.

There was a streak of lightning, illuminating Aisslinger Wernarr and his partially shattered mask. Then came a thunderclap that sounded like a horn.

Aisslinger's massive claw burst through window, shattering the entire wall with the ease of tearing tissue paper. Karin let out a shriek as glass and plaster showered around her. The Arrancar's talons, its fingers gnarled and sharp as twisted tree branches, clasped around her waist and snatched her up from the carpet.

The rest of the party shrieked as well, witnessing the unexplainable phenomena of some invisible force bursting through the wall and lifting Karin up towards the ceiling, as if by levitation.

"Karin!" Yuzu cried, jumping up and running to her sister's aid.

Chappy instantly sprung to life and followed, squeezing out from between Midoriko's hands and bounding forth.

"Kon, come!" the squirrel plushie yelled back at her lion counterpart. "We have to protect the girls! Hop!"

"WHAT?!" Kon shouted, reanimating with an exasperated double take.

What the hell can we possibly do?!

Aisslinger stuck his head through the wide gouge he had punched through the wall and spotted Yuzu charging towards him. Another of his twisted arms burst through the drywall and headed her off, scooping her up. Yuzu, unable to see the hand wrapped around her, kicked and squealed with fright when she was lifted up towards the ceiling.

When Kon saw Karin and Yuzu in the beast's clutches, he felt something well up within him. A protective instinct.

"Aww, dammit!" he cried, picking himself up off the floor and scurrying after Chappy.

The remaining girls all shrieked when they saw the dolls they were just playing with run and talk. What sorcery was this? The harsh winds from outside carried rainwater into the exposed apartment, soaking the ruined carpets through.

Chappy and Kon jumped up after Yuzu and latched onto her sneaker before it was lifted out of reach.

Aisslinger withdrew from the apartment, carrying Karin and Yuzu with him as he leapt onto an adjacent building and climbed up its surface like a spider.

I've done my part, the Arrancar thought, looking down at his terrified wares. Now have your fun, Grand Fisher...


Grand Fisher wanted to exact his vengeance against Ichigo Kurosaki immediately after dispatching Eikichirō Saidō. It took Aisslinger's best efforts to dissuade him from attacking the Shinigami Deputy too hastily.

When they retreated to the dense forests that bordered Kagamino City after Saidō's murder, the subject came up for spirited debate.

"I've observed this boy; he is too much for you," Aisslinger warned. "He's grown far stronger since you last fought. Immeasurably stronger. If you engage him directly in battle, you will perish and all of our work will be for naught."

Grand Fisher swung his arm in frustration, smashing a tree trunk into smithereens, sending the cedar toppling over.

"Is that why you keep insisting I feed in Kagamino City instead of Karakura Town?" Fisher seethed. "You want me avoiding him? Is that why we gotta hide like bottom feeders?!"

"If you had begun working your way to becoming a Menos when I first ordered, you'd have a much better shot at killing him already," Aisslinger reminded him.

Grand Fisher reared upon his handler and bared his let out a screech, his red eyes flaring like hot coals.

"I don't take orders from you!" he bellowed. "I ain't eating a single fuckin' Hollow before I've had my fill of Kurosaki and his kin!"

Aisslinger, trying his best not to appear intimidated, stood his ground.

"We're running out of time," he noted. "If you must kill the boy first, then you'll have to do it my way. The prudent way."

Grand Fisher's burly torso sprouted a fleshy, hideous tentacle. The appendage swirled up serpentinely around Aisslinger until it rested around his neck like a noose. It began to slowly constrict.

"What do you suggest?" Fisher chuckled.

Aisslinger, knowing his answer would decide his life, thought hard before replying.

"We continue observing him from afar, wait for the prime opportunity to strike... and we leverage those he loves against him," he said.

Grand Fisher liked the sound of that. He withdrew his tentacle from around his handler's throat and gave a big gleaming grin.

"Good. Heh, heh, heh... Good!"


Ichigo felt an icy twinge, his face growing pale. He was sensing his sisters' abduction.

Rukia could feel it, too. Oh no.

"That's right," Saidō grinned, outstretching his hand expectantly. "My friend is babysitting them for now. You could say we have a deep connection; with only just a thought I can give him the order to wring their little necks. Heh, heh, heh... Now, give me your badge, Kurosaki. It's the only way you can leave your human body, right?"

Ichigo gritted his teeth, his eyes burning with equal parts fear and hatred. He reached into his back pocket and withdrew his Shinigami Deputy Badge by its chain. He held it aloft, the placard swaying in the rain.

"Toss it over, sonny," Saidō ordered. "Now."

"Ichigo, don't!" Rukia hissed, her eyes wide with apprehension.

Ichigo gave her a look that made it clear his compliance wasn't up for debate. He threw his badge to Saidō, who caught it and let out a triumphant laugh.

"Good! Heh, heh, heh. Now you, woman. You got one of those Shinigami gloves, right? Hand it over."

Rukia bristled. If I surrender my Reioshi Glove, we're as good as dead and so are Ichigo's sisters...

"Rukia!" Ichigo shouted, frantic now. "Do as he says."

She gave him a pleading look, but could only see resignation in his eyes.

Everything she ever learned in her training told her to disregard Ichigo's wishes and slip on her Reioshi Glove. Karin and Yuzu were expandable hostages; her duty was to defeat the Hollow at whatever cost.

She drew the glove out from her pocket and dangled it hesitantly, unsure of what to do. Ichigo would never forgive her if she sacrificed his sisters. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself. But she already knew what it was like to live with that kind of burden.

Saidō watched her negotiate with herself. He narrowed his eyes, his patience run out.

"Time's up."

A fleshy root shot up from the ground, spearing into Rukia's armpit and out through her shoulder. The tentacle curved back down to coil taut around her wrist and, with a fierce twist, ripped her arm clean off, taking the Reioshi Glove along with it.

Rukia's eyes grew faint and she toppled over, completely in shock.

"Rukia!" Ichigo shouted, racing over to her.

Another slimy tendril shot up from the ground, this one spearing through the back of Ichigo's right leg - into the calf and out through his shin. He let out a cry of pain and fell flat on his face. The tendril yanked back, dragging him towards Saidō.

"Gigai... flesh and bone... they're all so fragile, heh, heh, heh," Saidō clucked.

His tendril hauled Ichigo over to lay at his feet. The Strawberry, with a searing pain shooting up his leg, glared up at the imposter.

"Coward!" he spat, his teeth bared and eyes wide with rage.

"Y'think I care?" Saidō replied mockingly, looking down at the Strawberry with smug satisfaction. "Don't make a difference how I do it... I'm still gonna savor your every cry of pain. Just like I savored mommy. Ain't that right, sonny?"

Ichigo lunged up at Saidō and grabbed him by the face. Ignoring the agonizing pain in his leg, he reached as high as he could until his fingers were digging into Saidō's eyes, puncturing them like pustules - blood bursting out from the sockets and trickling down.

"Heh, heh, heh... you think that hurts, sonny?" Saidō cackled, his body beginning to morph. "That's just a paper cut."

The Shinigami contorted and melted before Ichigo's eyes, reforming into the Lure. It was long and slimy, like a wriggling worm sprouting up from the dirt. It retracted back, cutting like a shark's fin through the moist soil until it reached its progenitor underground.

Ichigo let out a cry of hatred when his true attacker rose up from the earth. It was Grand Fisher alright, but he looked radically different now. Gone was that bloated hamster body and smiling mask. In its place stood a hulking behemoth of a humanoid, black stripes running down his broad chest and reaching the fringe of fur around his waist, a yawning hole punched between his pectorals. Thick locks of black hair sprouted from the back of his bony head, their tips hooked through tiny talismans. He was frocked in a white cloak that slung around his shoulders, its ends looped through the silver bracelets adorning his wrists, his fingernails rectangular juts of faded silver. The Arrancar's eyes were scarlet and eyelids pitch black. His gnarled nose reached down and kissed the underbite of the gleaming jawbone wrapped beneath his lower lip - a partial remnant of his discarded mask.

The two of them stared at each other with murderous intent, rain streaking down their faces.

"You wanna fight, right?" Ichigo snarled. "Then let's fight. You and me. Give me back my badge -"

"Nuh-uh-uh, sonny," Grand Fisher hissed, wagging one of his swollen fingers. "No fighting tonight, heh, heh, heh. Just you begging for mercy until your dyin' breath. But first I'm gonna make you watch while I rip apart your little friend over there... "

Fisher trailed off, looking over Ichigo's shoulder and discovering that Rukia had vanished.

"Where'd the bitch go?"

Getting his answer, the Arrancar spotted a wisp from the corner of his eye: Rukia had flanked him, her remaining arm outstretched. She was muttering something under her breath, her voice a barely audible whisper. When they locked eyes, her chant rose to a defiant roar.

"... The sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Shakkahō!"

赤火砲 SHAKKAHŌ (Hadō #31, Red Flame Cannon)

An orb of red flame formed around her palm and fired straight at Grand Fisher's face. The Arrancar sprouted a tendril to shield himself, the fleshy whip surging up and colliding with the fireball. The head of the tentacle splattered upon impact, blown the smithereens but keeping its progenitor unfazed. It was a feeble Hadō attack, but it would've been damaging enough if it had reached its intended target. Fisher, glowering with displeasure, sprouted another tendril to impale his attacker.

Rukia dodged the sharpened appendage by a hairsbreadth, her hair follicles nicked by the tentacle when it surged passed. She fell into a barrel roll and ended up in a crouch, glowering up at the Arrancar.

"What's with the Kidō?" Grand Fisher grumbled. "You oughta be completely useless now. Trapped in that useless body."

"You misunderstood our technology, monster," Rukia panted, clutching at her bleeding shoulder. "We might not be able to eject ourselves from our Gigai without a Soul Candy or Reioshi glove, but we aren't forever helpless in them. They're designed - huff, huff - to unseal our Reiatsu in increments the more we're damaged. By maiming this Gigai, you've given me access to Hohō and Kidō."

Grand Fisher's eyes bulged with annoyance. Only a sliver of access, judging from that last attack.

"You ain't doing nothing to me with that puny amount of power. Try anything clever again and I'll command my friend to gobble Kurosaki's sisters up."

"No, you won't," Rukia said flatly. "They are - huff, huff - you're only leverage. If the tide turns against you tonight, they will be the only bargaining chip for you to make your escape."

Grand Fisher's swollen lips curled into a bemused smile that peeked up over his jawbone mask. If the tide turns against me, eh?

He swerved aside the tentacle that was speared through Ichigo's leg, pinning the Strawberry haplessly in the dirt and out of reach. Ichigo writhed ragefully on the ground while the Arrancar pivoted away from him and began a slow, hulking approach towards Rukia.

"You got a big mouth, Shinigami. Let's see if you talk tough after I pry it off. Heh, heh, heh."

His eyes gleamed red as rubies.

He knows I'm bluffing, Rukia gauged grimly. She knew full well Grand Fisher could and would order Karin and Yuzu's execution on a whim, stratagem be damned. Provoking him only exacerbated that possibility. But their deaths would already be a foregone conclusion if she allowed Fisher to have his way with her and Ichigo. Moreover, they had allies in Karakura Town; formidable allies like Kisuke Urahara, Uryū Ishida, and Yasutora Sado. If she could stall the monster long enough, maybe one of those fighters would come and save the day.

It was their only hope.

On the other side of town at the Murakami corner store, Chad was slumped over the Invaders Must Die arcade tower, sound asleep and drooling on the console. He had spent all day slotting yen into the machine and practicing with torturous dedication, trying again and again to better his score. He only took breaks to buy more rice cakes so that Miss Harumi would stop giving him grief for loitering.

The hours and hours of rigorous repetition, single-minded focus, and tedium had finally caught up to him. He snored away, lost in a deep and bottomless sleep whilst hunched over the game tower, his dreams filled with alien invasions and sweet peppers from Mexico.

Harumi stood behind the register with her arms crossed, her right temple pulsating with indignation while she eyed the sleeping giant.

"Y'see what letting that delinquent in has gotten us?" she harrumphed to her husband. "A squatter making himself at home!"

"His purchases made up 80 percent of our business today, my love," Takashi sighed while sweeping the floors. "Let the boy be."

Dozens of blocks over, Uryū was looking out from the balcony of his father's penthouse. His hands gripped the rail nervously while he surveyed the Karakura skyline, sensing Ichigo's plight from afar.

What are you doing, Kurosaki? he cursed. How did you get outsmarted by a Hollow this badly?

He hung his head in shame, wishing he could banish his spiritual awareness and spend his night blissfully ignorant of the mayhem happening only a few short kilometers away. There was nothing he could do; he was an unremarkable human now. Reduced to a mere spectator. Rain fell upon him in buckets, soaking through his crisp white clothes.

Meanwhile, Orihime Inoue was snoring away in her bed, dreaming of pickle cakes and Ichigo wearing a unicorn onesie. She had retired at 8:30pm sharp, her usual bedtime.

Nine blocks over from her apartment, Shinji Hirako was strolling through Karakura's Night Market alongside a compatriot named Love Aikawa. They were both shielding themselves from the downpour with umbrellas and raincoats.

"That kid's gonna get killed," Love remarked, sensing Ichigo's predicament.

"Yup," Shinji sighed.

"You're seriously just gonna chill, not get involved?"

Shinji rolled his eyes. "He ain't our responsibility. Humans get killed by Hollows every day. Wanna get some udon?"

Back at the Kurosaki Clinic, Isshin opened a window and listened to the slosh of rain. He was horribly anxious, but the sounds of nature calmed him. He let out a sigh and let the drizzling plops calm his unease.

He wasn't sure why, but something felt horribly wrong.


Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihōin were trudging through a world of void, with a billowing swirl of purple surrounding them in all directions. The terrain was shapeless, like smoke above water, thick and weightless at the same time. Everything echoed with the chatter of whispers within a cauldron, infinity's soundscape an intimate hiss straight into their ears. The misty matter flitted at them with the force of raindrops, prompting them to scrunch their eyes while they pressed on.

A third figure, clad in Shihakusho and shielding his face behind a lifted arm, followed close behind.

Their footsteps landed upon Reishi steps that they cohered with concerted focus, providing themselves a pathway through the nothingness. Yoruichi pulled her scarf up over her nose, as if afraid to inhale the vapor twisting around her.

"Can we turn back now?" she shouted over the whistling din. "This is as deep as I wanna venture into this hellscape."

"Oh, c'mon now, it's not that bad," Urahara shouted to her. "You're just not used to it yet. Look at Shiba back there; this is no sweat for him."

Yoruichi chanced a glance back at their companion, who was certainly marching with a more confident stride than her but hardly looked at ease.

"Honestly, I've never gotten used to it," Shiba replied. "I don't think anybody could ever really get used to it. This isn't a place meant for people. But you do forget to be afraid of it after a while."

Yoruichi squinted back at him. "I never said I was afraid."

"Scaredy cat."

"Oh, shut up!"

Urahara came to an abrupt halt at the front, bringing them all to a stop.

"What is it, Kisuke?" Yoruichi asked.

The shopkeeper looked back at them with wide-eyed alarm. "Trace your spiritual awareness back to the World of the Living, in Karakura Town. Do you feel it? Ichigo, Rukia... Karin and Yuzu. They're all under attack."

"What?!" Shiba shouted, his voice cracking with concern.

He turned his attention to the south and grimaced: he could feel it now. The peril shot through him like a bolt.

"The girls are being held in a different point of entry from Ichigo," Urahara sussed out, his Reikaku winding across dimensional time and space to approximate their locations.

"We're too far away," Yoruichi said with dread. "The path back is too slow-going; it'll take us hours to reach them."

Shiba gazed at the endless chasm yawning behind them. He braced himself, his jaw set tight and muscles coiling.

"I can reach them," he said.

Yoruichi's eyes widened with surprise when the Shinigami broke into a sprint towards the south. Reishi planks sprouted beneath his feet like a starry conveyor belt, the path shattering in his wake while regenerating ahead to catch his next stride. He dashed away towards Karakura Town's entry point, leaving them in the dust.

He can traverse the Garganta that swiftly? Yoruichi blanched. How is that possible?

"Don't look so surprised," Urahara said, seeing her disbelief. "You might have him beat in a footrace anywhere else, but nobody's got better sea legs in the Garganta than him. Years of exploration will do that."

"Even so... he won't make it in time," Yoruichi said somberly.

Urahara watched as the galloping Shinigami grew faint in the amorphous horizon.

"Yeah, probably not. But we can hope."


Aisslinger situated himself atop a 12-story office building, his monstrous silhouette invisible to all the human passerby on the ground below. Agitated by how much Yuzu was wailing, he shook her in his claw.

"Shut your mouth, brat," he grumbled.

Karin pounded at the fist clutching her, shouting up at their abductor.

"Let us down, you freak!"

Aisslinger turned his one unmasked eye to the dark-haired twin and inspected her.

"So you can actually see me?" he mused. "Then you must be able to hear me, too. Tell your sister to stop crying or I'll twist her head right off its shoulders."

The color drained from Karin's face. Feeble with fright now, she slowly craned her head to address her sister.

"Yuzu... don't make a sound."

"Wh-What?" Yuzu mumbled, her tears of distress mingling with the raindrops on her face.

"He wants us to be quiet," Karin said nervously.

Yuzu's heart forgot to beat for several pronounced seconds. She gulped and shut her lips tight, her whole body trembling.

"Good," Aisslinger purred. He glared down at Karin. "You have only your brother to blame for your situation. If I'm given the command to tear you apart, know that he sealed your fate."

Ichigo? Karin thought, feeling an icy disquiet prickle her all over. Why is he talking about Nii-chan?


Ichigo was trying to crawl across the ground, but his leg was pinned firmly down. He could feel Grand Fisher's tentacle pulsate, its width burgeoning within the hole it had punched through his calf, stretching the wound. He gritted his teeth, eyes blinking through tears of pain.

He looked on helplessly while Rukia was batted back and forth by Grand Fisher's tentacles.

Rukia evaded one tendril with her modest Shunpo, only to be struck over the head by another fleshy branch. She plummeted down onto the slick concrete with a nasty thunk. Grand Fisher strolled ever closer, grinning when he saw her face swell up with purplish bruising.

"So you said the more I pick you apart, the more power you get?" the Arrancar mused. "Then I'll just keep you in one piece while I wring the life out of ya. He, he, he."

Rukia struggled back up onto her knees, panting with exhaustion.

I hope you try and kill me, she wished. If you destroy this Gigai, I'll be free.

Even so, regaining her spiritual body wouldn't put her in a better position. While her true form wasn't incurring the physical injuries being inflicted on her vessel, all of Fisher's attacks were chipping away at her Reiatsu.

A Gigai's wounds put a heavy toll on its wearer's spiritual pressure. At this rate, Rukia would be completely depleted by the time Grand Fisher finished off her vessel. Her partial access to Hohō and Kidō had already grown faint.

"What's wrong, Shinigami?" Grand Fisher gloated. "That smart mouth ain't got nothing left to say?"

Rukia hung her head, her face obscured by a hazy halo brought on by the rain. She began to emit a soft chuckle.

Grand Fisher craned his ear forward, disbelieving what he was hearing. "You're laughing?"

Rukia threw her head back and sounded out a bellowing guffaw. Grand Fisher began to chuckle in kind, amused by the demented display.

"What's so funny, Shinigami?" he giggled.

"Oh, it's just that... bwahaha!" Rukia chortled, blood running down her brow. "It's just that... no matter what happens to us tonight, you're still going to die, Grand Fisher. You're an incomplete Arrancar expending far too much power for your body to sustain. Soon enough you will burst into nothingness. You're nothing but a two-bit Hollow reaching far beyond his grasp. How pathetic!"

Grand Fisher swung his boulder-sized fist straight into Rukia's face, knocking her flat back into the concrete, cracking it. She lay in a daze for a moment before resuming her laughter. She tasted rain and blood in her mouth while hooting away.

"Stop laughing!" Grand Fisher roared, grabbing her by the legs and swinging her up like a sack of potatoes. He spun around, picking up ferocious momentum before tossing her. She somersaulted through the air and landed in a heap six yards away from Ichigo.

The grass may have provided a softer fall, but Rukia landed awkwardly on her head, her vision going black upon impact.

Ichigo looked at her broken body with sheer horror while Grand Fisher stomped back over to them, repeatedly pounding his chest with his fist.

"I'm not going anywhere!" he barked. "After I feast on Kurosaki's entrails, I'm gonna eat my way through Hueco Mundo and become the strongest Arrancar to ever live. Aisslinger will bring me to Las Noches and I'll take my rightful place as an Espada. All while you two burn in the furnace of my gut!"

Grand Fisher came to a stop five paces away from Ichigo, snarling down at him. A crevice split straight down the Arrancar's forehead. From the flap sprouted his Lure. The teardrop-shaped tendril dangled forth and morphed gradually before Ichigo's eyes, going through several grotesque permutations before finally settling on the likeness of Masaki Kurosaki.

Ichigo let out a gasp. The light went out in his eyes while he gazed up at the visage of his mother: she looked just as he remembered her from the day she died.

"Ichigo, sweetheart, don't let your friend die," Masaki cooed, her face creased with concern. "Don't let her die... the way you let me die. My heart couldn't bear you failing again... "

Ichigo made a sound that hit high above his natural register. It was a hiss from deep within his core, shooting out from his lips like a steam whistle. He attempted to lift himself up, but his leg was pinned firmly to the ground. It hurt so bad, but he'd happily rip it off to free himself and reach Grand Fisher.

The Arrancar grinned from behind his Lure, his red eyes gleaming happily.

"If you really loved me, Ichigo, then why did you let me die?" Masaki wondered, her eyes shifting from a maternal shimmer to a cold, pale stare. "Was it because you lacked the strength... or because you lacked the will?"

"Stop it!" Ichigo screamed, shutting his eyes and attempting to banish her taunts from his mind.

She produced something from her pocket: it was Ichigo's Shinigami Deputy Badge. She held it forth, daring Ichigo to reach up and grab it. She even dangled it by the chain, swinging it back and forth like a pendulum.

"Do you have the will now, Ichigo?" she pondered. "Or are you still the coward who let me die? Come on, reach up and grab your badge. Or are you too useless to even do that?"

Rukia had come to. She squinted confusedly at the curtain of rainfall ahead until her eyes landed on Ichigo and Grand Fisher several yards away.

"Ichigo!" she cried.

Ichigo struggled to raise himself up, feeling Grand Fisher's tendril rip through the muscle of his calf. He didn't care. He couldn't feel any pain anymore; only fury. He reached his hand up to touch the medallion, his quivering fingers coming within inches of it.

It was so close and yet so unattainable.

"He, he, he, that's the spirit, sonny!" Grand Fisher clucked.

He sprouted a tendril from his chest, the branch spearing right through Masaki's visage and surging straight for Ichigo's face.

In that split second, the protection charm cinched to Ichigo's belt loop awakened. The pouch burst with amber light, sending a thick bolt of energy straight up to head off Grand Fisher's tendril.

There was a crack and boom like lightning and thunder. The Arrancar was thrown back, Lure and all, while Ichigo rolled back in the opposite direction like a tumbleweed caught in a twister. Fisher landed in a crouch, eyes glaring with surprise at the smoldering stump that had been his attacking tentacle.

Ichigo lay flat on his back several yards away. He felt Fisher's tendril unhook itself from his leg and slither back. A whoosh of wind filled the void of his wound, hurting like hell. Regardless, he smiled weakly.

Rukia had seen the whole thing, but she had a far better idea than Grand Fisher of what had happened.

That was a protection barrier, a powerful one, she thought. Shinigami who are especially adept at Kidō can enchant material objects with such spells, designing them to activate when their wearer is threatened by a head-on attack. But who in the world gave that charm to Ichigo?

Grand Fisher let out a roar of frustration.

"That's it! Say goodbye to your sisters, sonny!"


Aisslinger felt a twinge shoot up his spine. It was the telepathic command from Grand Fisher to execute the Kurosaki twins.

"Seriously?" he gritted, looking to the direction of Fisher's fight and cursing the madman's heedlessness. "You haven't even finished Kurosaki off yet... "

He cast his one unshielded eye down at the two cowering girls and studied their petrified faces.

"Like I said, child... you have only your brother to blame for this!" he hissed to Karin.

Karin looked up at him in horror. This was the end. She looked over to her sister, struggling to maintain calm. She didn't want Yuzu to be scared in her last moments.

"Yuzu," she said softly. "It's going to be alright... "

Just as he readied to squeeze the life out of them, Aisslinger suddenly became cognizant of something small and fluffy crawling atop his head. He roved his eye up to spot the interloper but couldn't make it out: it was situated right above his brow.

Chappy reached down her stubby squirrel paws and grabbed the Arrancar's upper eyelid, yanking it up with all her might and twisting it in every direction.

It really fucking hurt.

Aisslinger let out an agonized yelp. He reflexively released Karin and Yuzu and shot his claws up to snatch at the Artificial Soul. Chappy, with an artful twist, dived down and evaded the Arrancar's grasp while holding onto his eyelid like a swinging rope.

Karin and Yuzu fell down five feet and landed on the rooftop, both of them startled. Karin looked up and watched in slack-jawed astonishment at the sight of a Nuts doll scurrying around the Arrancar's face, pinching him here and yanking him there. Aisslinger hissed, clawing at himself to try and snatch the plushie, raking his own flesh and mask fragment.

"Guys, c'mon!" Kon shouted from behind the Kurosaki twins. "Let's get the hell outta here!"

Karin and Yuzu both swung their heads around and saw the lion plushie speaking directly at them. They simultaneously let out a horrified scream.

"Bostov, you can talk?!" Yuzu wailed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you don't see something like me every day," Kon said as calmly as he could. He couldn't maintain his composure for long, though. "If you don't come with me right now, then we're all gonna die, alright! Let's get the heck outta here! Get me outta here!"

His plea was enough to get Karin to regain her wits. She wordlessly got back onto her feet and helped her shellshocked sister up. Holding hands, they leapt over Kon and sprinted for the rooftop door.

"Hey, wait for me!" Kon cried after them, scurrying to catch up.

He heard a snarl behind him chanced a look back. Aisslinger had finally cornered Chappy with his claws.

Oh no!

Chappy's beady eyes met his. The flying squirrel gave a final salute: her job was done.

"Hop!"

Aisslinger snapped his claw shut around the plushie, obliterating it. Pieces of felt, stuffing, and shards of Chappy's soul marble squeezed out between the Arrancar's fingers. He unclenched his hand: the Artificial Soul was now just dust in his palm.

Kon stopped in his tracks. He looked over to Karin and Yuzu, who had hit a roadblock at the entrance to the staircase.

"It's locked!" Karin cried, jostling the doorknob desperately.

Kon looked back to Aisslinger. The Arrancar was livid, blinking his poked eye belligerently while bearing his four claws, ready to pounce again.

All Kon could think about was how brave Chappy was in her final moment. He summoned all of his courage, finding new untapped reservoirs he didn't even know he had.

I can't stop you from grabbing them again, he thought. But you're still gonna have to go through me first!

Marshaling all of his adrenaline, the lion plushie launched himself up in the air, bouncing forth to meet the monster head on.

Ridiculous, Aisslinger thought while watching the Mod Soul hurtling towards him. What a stupid -

A beam of light shot down from the sky and cast a curtain over Aisslinger. Kon reached the luminescence's perimeter and face-planted against it. The plushie slid down the pillar until he reached the concrete ground with a flop.

Aisslinger became frantic, darting back and forth within the confines of his prison, immediately recognizing it.

This was Negación.

"No, no, no!" he breathlessly hissed. Soon enough he was levitating, his gnarled body involuntarily rising up towards the clouds.

Kon, after realizing he hadn't died, dazedly watched while the Arrancar was sucked into a yawning portal above.

"PLEASE, NO!" Aisslinger cried fearfully, clawing impotently at the air, trying to swim back down to earth. "I'm not ready. Don't take me!"

The Arrancar slipped into darkness and the portal snapped shut. The glowing pillar dissipated like a torch extinguishing in the rain.

Kon lay motionless for a moment, then ambled back up onto his feet. He looked over at Karin and Yuzu, who stared back at him with petrified astonishment.

"I think we won?" he shrugged.


Grand Fisher let out a howl when he sensed Aisslinger vanishing without a trace.

"Incompetent little welp!" he cursed, eyes bulging from their sockets. "After I'm finished here, I'm gonna track you down and eat you whole."

He returned his attention to Ichigo and saw something strange: the Strawberry was smiling.

"Why are you smiling, sonny?" the Arrancar glowered. "Nothing's changed. You played your little trick, but it won't work again. Now I'm gonna rip you apart, then your Shinigami friend, and then your sisters. So what do you have to smile about, huh? Tell me!"

Ichigo's grin only broadened in response. He closed his eyes and savored the rainfall on his face. It was cleansing.

"I'm smiling because Karin and Yuzu are safe," he said serenely, opening his eyes to smirk up at Grand Fisher. "I'm also smiling because... "

He raised up his right fist and turned it over. His fingers unclenched, revealing the Substitute Shinigami Badge in his palm.

"... You dropped this."

Grand Fisher's expression went blank with panic.

The Shinigami Deputy Ichigo Kurosaki sprung out from his battered human body and stood before Grand Fisher, facing him nearly toe to toe. The Strawberry was clad in his Shihakusho while the broad butcher's blade Zangetsu loomed over his shoulder.

Grand Fisher, momentarily stricken, hesitated before letting out a bloodcurdling roar. He sprouted a tentacle straight from his chest to pierce through Ichigo.

I've got you point blank, sonny!

With a swiftness that the Arrancar couldn't even track, Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu and swung it right across the tendril before it could even bridge the five inches of distance between them. The severed appendage flopped to the ground like a limp noodle.

Fisher instinctually lunged away to put some distance between them, but not before Ichigo cleaved his blade down with thunderous force across his chest. The Arrancar stumbled back, blood spraying haphazardly from his left shoulder down to his right hip. He let out a faint grunt, eyes wide with fear.

Aisslinger was right: the boy had gotten immeasurably stronger.

"Does that hurt?" Ichigo wondered, staring pitilessly at the crimson curtain seeping down Grand Fisher's torso. "I hope it hurts."

Fisher let out a rebellious cry, honing all of his focus into merging his torn flesh back together. Ichigo watched passively while the Arrancar's chest stitched itself back together, staunching the bleeding. Grand Fisher huffed effortfully, his chest now ridged by a fleshy scar.

"I told you before, sonny: that's just a paper cut," he seethed.

"Good to know," Ichigo replied, his blank affect unnerving. "Today you die by a thousand cuts, Grand Fisher."

He clapped a hand over his sword-wielding forearm, eyes welling up with wrath.

"Ban-KAI!"

The Shinigami Deputy erupted into a spiky torrent of golden Reiatsu, the spiritual pressure sending a tremor of dread through Grand Fisher.

This brat has Bankai?!

The gush of spiritual exhaust dissipated, revealing Ichigo in his sleek grim reaper's garb, clutching a jet black daitō.

Fisher retreated a step back, the full scale of his predicament dawning on him. Before he knew it, Ichigo had flitted past him again, this time taking both his arms.

The Arrancar squealed with horror when the stumps below his shoulders sprayed scarlet. He looked over his shoulder and spotted Ichigo standing a mere three meters away, tossing his severed arms aside.

"Go on and regenerate," the Strawberry commanded, viscous red sliding off from his black blade. "Regenerate so I can give you a fresh batch of scars. So I can hurt you some more."

Fisher responded with a tetchy grunt, his black pupils contracting into microscopic pins. I'm not done yet. This ain't how it ends. I WON'T ALLOW IT!

The Arrancar's humanoid musculature began to swell, pulsating veins seeping pronouncedly beneath his hide. His body groaned like a tree trunk bent to its breaking point. With a horrible snap, he burst apart into a horrid tangle of tentacles whipping in every direction. He was now an amorphous, slithering mass.

His face split apart with a brutal crunch of bone and tissue, the Lure slinking out and twisting above the fray. It swiftly, disgustingly morphed back into Masaki Kurosaki's visage.

This fabrication didn't bother feigning the loving look Ichigo remembered. Its eyes were gaunt and gleaming with hatred, lips curled into an evil smile. She hovered above the coiling monstrosity, swaying back and forth like a plumage.

"I have ascended beyond my limits, sonny!" the Lure bellowed, speaking simultaneously with the voice of Ichigo's mother and the rumbling timbre of her killer. "I'm going butcher you just like I did mommy!"

Ichigo gritted his teeth, his eyes ablaze with unchecked anger. His spiritual pressure billowed around him, black torrents whipping about with the velocity of hurricane wind. He could feel his anger and bloodlust surging up from his core. He squeezed Tensa Zangetsu's handle until his fingers bled.

"Shut your mouth!" he screamed.

He launched up from the ground and ripped right past Grand Fisher, shearing off four of his whipping tendrils with one impassioned swing. The monster sprouted eight more limbs in response, swinging all of his sharpened tentacles up at Ichigo. Tensa Zangetsu's black blade flashed as the Strawberry parried the onslaught with concentric whips of his sword, hacking off the head of each incoming appendage.

Rukia watched from afar, unnerved by what she was witnessing. She wasn't concerned by the tide of battle, recognizing that Ichigo clearly outclassed Grand Fisher. But she was alarmed by the tenor of Ichigo's spiritual pressure. His Reiatsu was smoldering around him like a black torch, emitting a silent, malevolent screech. It was subtly changing, turning into an unrecognizable aura.

She finally felt it clear as daybreak, her breath catching in her throat. Her Reikaku was telling her that this slugfest wasn't a match between a Shinigami and Hollow, but a contest between two Hollow Reiatsu.

"Ichigo, withdraw!" she cried.

Ichigo's couldn't hear her over the chatter of rain, the slither of Grand Fisher's endless tendrils, and the hiss of his own sword. With every piece of Grand Fisher's flesh he sliced off, the more he felt alive.

The next thing Ichigo knew, he was no longer fighting by the river but plummeting down an endless sky, encircled by skyscrapers that stretched up to infinity. He recognized this place: it was where he met Zangetsu. He fell into the abyss, discovering that there was no bottom.

Grand Fisher and Rukia both gawped with surprise when Ichigo began twisting in the air, letting out an agonized scream. He clapped a hand to his face, his eyes rolling back into their lids. A torrent of white material sprung out from his mouth and molded itself onto his features.

The Lure squinted up at the odd display. What the fuck is he turning into? the Arrancar wondered before concluding it didn't matter: the Shinigami Deputy was vulnerable now.

Fisher's tentacles surged up in unison, but Ichigo's body instinctively parried every organic spear, swing Tensa Zangetsu around in balletic arcs. After fending off the onslaught, he let out a hideous hiss and fell from the sky, landing on the wet concrete below and rolling down its slope until he reached the edge of the river.

The Lure twisted from its perch to glare down at the immobile Shinigami. Ichigo was perfectly still for a moment, then slowly rose back up, letting loose a high-pitched cackle.

He turned back to regard Grand Fisher, revealing a white mask with stripes of red growing across his face. His smiling eyes had turned into a lantern yellow.

The Lure couldn't believe what it was seeing. What luck! It threw back its head and laughed maniacally.

"All this time you were infected by a Hollow, sonny?!" the Lure gloated. "Oh how delicious, heh, heh, heh. I like you much better this way, Kurosaki Ichigo."

Rukia was aghast, her violet eyes wide and welling up while she beheld the transformation. The memory of Kaien Shiba's possession came to mind, and she felt her heart split apart.

"Ichigo... " she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The Shinigami Deputy levitated back up, his chest thrumming with a hearty chuckle.

"Don't call me Kurosaki Ichigo," he said, his voice now a simpering purr. "That's not my name."

"I suppose you're right," the Lure nodded delightedly. "You'll have to make a new name for yourself."

"Stop talking," Ichigo grinned, his mask expanding its borders across his face. "I'm not here to chat; I'm here to make you bleed."

The Lure frowned. "What've you got against me? That brat's grudge died the moment you took over his body -"

"It's really very simple," Ichigo smirked, his eyes widening with madness. "You killed mommy, right?"

Before the Lure could retort, Ichigo had closed the distance between them with a flash-step and thrust his black blade through its chest.

"Grrrgh?!" the Lure gurgled, staring down in disbelief at the sword impaling its solar plexus.

"That's just a paper cut, right?" Ichigo chuckled, leaning in close to the beast. "Kurosaki was too soft to cut up something that looked like Masaki. But me? I don't have that compunction!"

He grasped Tensa Zangetsu's hilt with both hands and ripped it down, tearing through the Lure's entrails. With a gleeful hiss, he tore the black sword out and used its flat face to strike the shapeshifting tendril like the swing of a baseball bat.

The concussive force ripped the Lure right out from its socket, sending it flying across the downpour and landing in a heap in the mud.

Ichigo turned his attention to Grand Fisher's remaining mass of tentacles and let out an excitable whoop. With a flash, he began darting around the knot of fleshy branches, hacking them apart with abandon. Blood splattered in all directions, Grand Fisher's screams echoing throughout the riverside.

Rukia watched in shock while Ichigo diced the monster into countless wriggling nubs, cackling while he did it. He tore through the beast until it was nothing but a pile of chunks. But he didn't stop there; he began excitedly dicing up the slabs of flesh into even smaller bits, blood splattering onto his Shihakusho.

Rukia summoned her courage and approached, her Gigai trudging with a limp.

"Ichigo, stop!" she commanded, voice quavering.

Ichigo looked back at her, but he was unrecognizable. His mask was nearly complete, eyes crazed and pitiless. He lifted a skewer of Grand Fisher's remnants and whipped it off his sword before pointing the blade tauntingly at Rukia.

She stopped dead in her tracks. Was he about to cut her next?

Ichigo shook with mirth, only to suddenly freeze. He became rigid as a corpse and let out a confused groan when his limbs contorted. A crackle of black lightning hissed around him, but it wasn't his own spiritual pressure.

What is this?! the Hollow wondered, incredulous that he was being clamped down by some invisible force.

Rukia could feel Ichigo's Reiatsu drop precipitously, his body scrunching up like it was being fitted with a straitjacket.

"What the hell is this?!" Ichigo screamed, his demonic eyes turning furious.

Rukia watched with a stupefied stare, unable to make sense of what was happening. Suddenly, she noticed something rise up in the distance. It was the Lure, slinking sback up from the ground like a serpent. With a shudder, Masaki's features melted away, the severed tendril reshaping back into Grand Fisher's humanoid form.

He's still alive?! Rukia gasped.

Fisher let out an exhausted grunt, mending the slice across his belly with high-speed regeneration. Seemingly unaware of where we was for a moment, he stumbled around belligerently before regaining focus. The Arrancar turned his red eyes onto Ichigo and Rukia, his nostrils flaring with fury.

"You shoulda obliterated my Lure if you wanted to kill me outright, sonny," he hissed.

He looked over and saw that Ichigo was immobilized. The tide had turned once again.

"Stay just like that, nice and frozen," Grand Fisher seethed, beginning his approach. "I'm gonna rip your heart out and feed it to you."

Ichigo struggled against his invisible bonds, the forks of foreign Reiatsu crackling around him. His own power was dimming as if it were being lowered by a dial. His mask cracked and sizzled, its white material bubbling.

"No!" he hissed, struggling so hard he threatened to snap his own bones. "This... isn't.. enough... to... "

The air beside him shattered apart like glass, a broad arm swinging out from a pocket of swirling darkness. The limb brought the butt of a sheathed Zanpakutō right against Ichigo's mask, smashing it into smithereens. Ichigo stood dazed, flecks of white falling from his face and his yellow sclera turning back to white. With a soft groan, he fell forward in a heap, completely out cold.

Grand Fisher stopped in his tracks, baffled by this unforeseeable interruption.

Rukia watched while a burly Shinigami emerged out from the jagged dimensional pocket, the air resealing behind him. He stood with his back to her, clad in Shihakusho with a white sash fastened around his left shoulder by an iron pauldron and purple knot, the bottom of its tattered cape fluttering by his side.

Rukia's eyes widened when she recognized the black patterns stitched into the trim: it was the remnants of a captain's hoari. The sigil belonged to the Tenth Division.

"Who the fuck are you?" Grand Fisher grunted.

"I'm this knucklehead's father," the Shinigami answered, gesturing to Ichigo.

Rukia gasped, countless shards of her memory now interlocking. This was unbelievable, and yet many things that hadn't added up for months suddenly formed a coherent picture.

"Captain Shiba?" she murmured.

The Shinigami looked over his shoulder and gazed back at her. She recognized his square jaw, the wisps of stubble, the spiky black hair, the features so solid they seemed carved from rock.

He was unmistakably Ichigo's father, Isshin Kurosaki, but he had a wholly different countenance now. There was none of the overbearing franticness she remembered observing from afar. Instead, there was a serene calm about him.

"Hey there," he smiled. "I'll be right with you after I deal with this guy."

Rukia gulped and gave a meek nod. Isshin returned his attention to Grand Fisher, who was bristling with umbrage.

"You're gonna deal with me, sonny?!" the Arrancar gritted. "That right?"

"That's right," Isshin nodded. "I'm gonna kill you."

Grand Fisher flinched, disturbed by how casually and even amiably the threat was spoken.

"Ridiculous!" the Arrancar bellowed. "I've heard enough empty bluffs already! You're just another scrub."

Isshin scrunched his brow sympathetically and ran a hand over his rain-slicked spiky hair.

"Y'know, I never held Masaki's death against you," he admitted. "You were just doing what Hollows do. I was willing to let bygones be bygones, really... but you've made it clear you're not gonna stop threatening my kids. So you've left me without much choice."

Grand Fisher frowned, feeling condescended to. He swelled up his chest, his veins swirling beneath his hide again as he readied to sprout a fresh thicket of tendrils.

"If you really are Kurosaki Ichigo's daddy, then you can - "

Before he could finish his threat, Isshin unsheathed his katana and flash-stepped right through him, cleaving him cleanly in half with an effortless stroke.

Wh-What?! Grand Fisher realized he had been split right down the middle, his two diverging halves flaking away into raw matter. Did I just lose? No, that's ridiculous. This can't be happening. This is unfair! I don't want... to... die...

Rukia watched with astonishment as the bifurcated Arrancar dissipated like smoke, his soul cleansed at last.

He killed Grand Fisher in just one blow without even releasing his Zanpakutō? she observed with ample awe. He's extraordinary.

Isshin sheathed his sword back into its scabbard and walked back to pick Ichigo up from the ground, holding him under his arm. With his son in tow, he made his way over to Rukia.

"You are Shiba Isshin, aren't you?" Rukia said shakily.

"That depends; do you trust your own eyes?" he replied with a wry smile.

Rukia blushed. "It's just hard to believe. We all thought you were dead."

"Shiba Isshin is dead. If it's all the same to you, call me Kurosaki Isshin."

Rukia thought of Kaien. She hesitated to ask. "Do you know who I am, sir?"

"Of course I do, Rukia. You were squatting in my house all summer, after all."

"Huh? You knew the whole time?!"

"Well, I wasn't around for most of your stay, but Pupples kept me in the loop."

Rukia recognized that name. Pupples was the third most popular Artificial Soul model in the Seireitei. He was renowned for his loyal and loving nature, although he also had well-publicized drawbacks like overeagerness and uncontrollable horniness.

Wait, does that mean... ?

"When you say 'Pupples,' you don't mean... are you really saying... that the 'Kurosaki Isshin' who's been running your household this whole time... is an Artificial Soul?" she stammered.

"Well, about 90 percent of the time, yeah. He holds down the fort while I'm away."

You're away 90 percent of the time?! Rukia processed.

"Wow, you're away from home... a lot."

Isshin's face hardened, his eyes taking on a sincere sheen.

"The night that Hollow attacked our house, I was somewhere else very far from this world. If it weren't for you, I would have come home to a massacre. Thank you for saving my kids, Rukia."

She looked up at him with a mixture of bashfulness and bafflement.

"I... "

A towering figure landed five yards from them, having seemingly dropped out of the sky. It was Tessai Kotsubaki, his glasses fogged up and mustache dripping wet in the rain. He held two bundles in his arms; Karin and Yuzu. Both of them were passed out and snoring away.

"I found these two on a rooftop," Tessai announced. "The Hollow who abducted them vanished before I arrived."

Isshin shot him a fond smile. "I sensed they were out of the woods on my way here. Thank goodness; I don't think I would've reached Ichigo in time if I had to save them first. I appreciate you collecting them, Kotsubaki."

"I also took the liberty of administering a Kiokuchikan to make them forget tonight's events, Captain Shiba," Tessai added.

Isshin made a derp face. "Please don't call me that."

"Wait, what?!" a small voice piped up from over Tessa's shoulder. Kon climbed up and stared in bafflement at Isshin.

"Why's Ichigo's dumb dad wearing a Shinigami suit?"

Isshin waved over at the Mod Soul. "Yo, Kon!"

The lion plushie froze up in shock.

"You know who I am?"

"Yeah, you're the Mod Soul who's been tagging in for Ichigo."

Kon furrowed his felt brow. His pride at being a convincing Ichigo felt dinged a bit.

"How long have you - ?"

"I knew from the beginning," Isshin replied. "Pupples knew, too. You can't fool fathers when it comes to their son's mannerisms, right down to the way he picks his nose."

He carried Ichigo over to his battered human body while the others watched. Getting down onto his knees, he delicately overlaid Ichigo's spiritual form over his flesh and watched them merge back together.

Isshin reached down and affectionately tousled Ichigo's hair before patting the protection charm tied to his waist.

I told you it'd come in handy, he smirked.

He got back up and looked over at the others.

"Grand Fisher did a real number on him," he said. "We'll take him back to the clinic and patch him up as best we can. I suspect Miss Inoue will help erase that nasty hole in his leg when she sees him next. Tessai, you ought to head back to Kakkōībaibusu Shop. Urahara and Yoruichi are making their return through Garganta and they might need your help arriving safely."

Tessai nodded. "Of course."

"Wait, the Garganta?" Rukia questioned. "What are you talking about?"

Isshin looked at her reticently, realizing he had probably said too much. He gently shook his head.

"Sorry, but it's best you don't know," he said. "On that note, I have a favor to ask of you, Rukia and Kon. Please don't say a word of my identity to Ichigo. He can't know."

"Aye aye, sir," Kon mumbled, happy to fully pretend Isshin wasn't actually a Shinigami. Tonight had already been freaky enough.

Rukia, however, began to bristle.

"Now hold on!" she shouted, her violet eyes turning a deep shade of purple. "You're telling me you've been relying on someone else to raise your children all these years, and you want me to lie to Ichigo about his father being an imposter? You're... you're a deadbeat, Captain Shiba!"

Isshin crossed his arms and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah... " he said wistfully, reflecting on that time he spoke with Ichigo at Masaki's grave. "I was there when it counted, though."

He gave Rukia a profoundly sincere, sad smile.

"I'm a bad parent, and I'm not much of a Shinigami, either. But I got my reasons. For Ichigo's sake, please keep my selfishness a secret. He'll learn the truth someday. I'll tell him myself when the time is right."

Rukia's frown relented into an uneasy grimace. After some hesitation, she gave a nod.

"Alright."

"Now, not to change the subject, but you're missing an arm. You gonna be okay?"

"Oh, this?" Rukia nodded to her limbless shoulder. "This Gigai is ruined unfortunately, but I'll be fine once I escape it. Speaking of which, where's Chappy?"

Kon hung his head, unable to look her in the eye. He hated bearing bad news.


Aisslinger woke from an uneasy sleep and groggily surveyed his new surroundings. He was in a cramped chamber, the bone-white walls oppressive in their blankness. He immediately recognized the place and began to panic. He thrashed around, desperate to escape, but he was bound in obsidian chains that kept his gnarled arms fixed to the floor.

To his great dread, the door in the wall before him slid open with a groan. An elegant silhouette emerged from the dark passageway and stepped inside. It was an Arrancar clad in a white trim, his pink hair falling over a posh set of bone-rimmed glasses.

"Welcome home, Wernarr," the Arrancar grinned, his voice like oil seeping over ice.

"Szayel-sama," Aisslinger squeaked fearfully. "I can explain - "

"That's hardly necessary; I can already surmise the riffraff you've been getting up to," Szayel simpered.

The door slid closed behind him, shutting with a disquieting creak.

"Were you really so desperate to get back into Lord Aizen's good graces?" the Arrancar mused, stroking his chin knowingly. "You should have thought about that before displeasing me. Was it hard for you to wander around in the cold night? You must have clung to the first ally you could find. Why else would you work with a delinquent like Grand Fisher? He had great potential, that much is true. But you made the mistake of thinking you could tame a rabid dog. What was your long game, then? Groom him into a formidable fighter and hope that Lord Aizen took a shine to him? No doubt you expected to be among his Fracción and get to bask in Las Noches' light once again. Which Espada did you hope he'd replace? Me, perhaps?"

Aisslinger was thrashing around, delirious with fear.

"No, master, never!" he pleaded. "I only wished to serve - "

"Unfortunately for you, your scheme ran up against Lord Aizen's own design," Szayel continued. "He has some interest in Kurosaki Ichigo, and your meddling has made him most unhappy. So he's given me carte blanche over your fate!"

Aisslinger's eye widened with primal horror. He threw himself on the ground, cowering miserably.

"Please, I beg you, Szayel-sama!"

Szayel grinned, his expression shifting from detached to demented.

"I've thought up a most fruitful experiment that you'd be an ideal subject for: to see what happens to an Arrancar when he's fed bits and pieces of himself! What do you say? Have you an appetite, Wernarr?"

Aisslinger's screams never escaped the chamber. Outside, beyond the room's sleek white door, not a sound could be heard.


Nighttime had ebbed into early morning. Rukia stood outside the Kurosaki clinic, still trapped within her maimed Gigai and holding a torn squirrel tail in her palm, its stuffing spilled out. It was the last remnant left of Chappy.

Rukia sighed and looked up at the clouds rolling across the night sky. The rain had finally dissipated, and now it was cool and foggy.

The clinic's doors slid open and Isshin stepped out to join her, clad in his lab coat.

Rukia looked up at him with suspicion.

"Are you Shiba Isshin... or Pupples Isshin?" she asked.

The surgeon gave her a bashful smile and slunk his hands into his coat pockets.

"Nobody's called me Pupples in a long time. Heard about what happened to your Artificial Soul. I want to give you my thanks for her sacrifice. She saved my daughters."

Rukia furrowed her brow skeptically.

"Are they actually your daughters?"

Pupples considered the question sincerely and gave a shrug.

"I guess you could say Shiba-sama and I share joint custody. I love them like they're my own. It's funny; you play a role long enough it becomes real. Maybe I'm just programmed to care for them, but that's alright. Helping raise them satisfies my purpose."

Rukia's expression softened. She felt ashamed for demeaning him. She smiled up at him and gave an affirmative nod.

"You two getting along?" the real Isshin chuckled, phasing out from the glass entrance to join them.

Rukia's face scrunched into an uneasy frown. It was surreal to see doubles of Isshin like this, even if one was in a lab coat and the other a Shihakusho.

"There was one more matter I wanted to speak to you about, Rukia," Isshin continued, his merry expression turning serious. "What you saw happen to Ichigo tonight... I'd appreciate if you didn't mention it to anyone back at Soul Society."

"His Hollowfication, you mean?" Rukia said reflectively. "I've never seen a Shinigami survive it before. I thought he was lost forever."

"He's got a unique case," Isshin said. "He can maybe learn to control it... if he could just get out of his own way."

"What do you mean?"

"There are Shinigami with a similar affliction who could help him, but he's been too proud to accept their invitation. Maybe if somebody he actually listened to pushed him in the right direction... "

He looked down at her with a sly smirk.

She caught his drift. "I'll talk to him. And I promise I'll keep his condition a secret."

"Good. Unfortunately, Genryūsai and the others wouldn't understand," Isshin sighed.

"And while you're pushing Ichigo in the right direction, maybe you can ask him for a date, too?" Pupples suggested, cocking his head coyly and miming a smooch.

Rukia and Isshin both blushed with mortification.

"Goddamn you are corny!" Isshin chastised him. "Having to mimic your mannerisms over the years has been more embarrassing than you'll ever know."

"I see where the pervertedness comes from," Rukia harrumphed disdainfully.

"Yeah, well, I have to meet him halfway to give the kids some consistency," Isshin grumbled. "I always wanted to be a cool dad, but with Pupples I gotta work with what I got."

Pupples laughed in response, completely unbothered. Being cringe was just part of his programming.

"Anyways, now that we have an understanding, how about we get you out of that Gigai?" Isshin suggested. "I found this back at the river... "

He produced the Reioshi Glove from his robes, fitted it on and clapped his hand onto Rukia's shoulder. She instantly burst out from her damaged Gigai, back in her Shinigami robes and sporting both her arms again.

"That's much better, thank you," she sighed with relief.

With that, Isshin and his doppelgänger began making their way back inside.

"Mr. Kurosaki?" Rukia called after him.

Isshin looked back at her. "What's up?"

"I hope you feel a measure of peace tonight," she offered with an earnest bow of her head. "Now that your wife's soul has finally passed on to Soul Society... where she belongs."

To her surprise, Isshin's expression betrayed no relief. His jaw tightened into a forced smile, eyes mournful and reflective.

"Someday she will," he said cryptically. "But not today."


Ichigo stirred awake, feeling like he had taken a sledgehammer over the head. He bolted upright in his bed, clammy and startled.

"You're awake," Rukia said sweetly, sitting by his bedside. "It's already past noon."

He looked at her, his panic still fresh.

"Rukia? Are Karin and Yuzu alright?!"

"They're going to be fine. Their memories have been modified and they will have no recollection of what happened."

"What about Grand Fisher? Where is he?!"

Rukia stared at him uncertainly for a beat, remembering the promise she made to Isshin.

"I killed him," she said. "You fell unconscious after Hollowfying, but I managed to escape from my Gigai. I finished him off before he could escape."

Ichigo exhaled wearily. He was awash with conflicting emotions: he felt relief, but also disappointment and dread.

"I blew it," he grit. "I could have killed him, but I just toyed with him instead and lost control."

"Ichigo... was this the first time?" Rukia broached. "The first time you've Hollowfied?"

He looked at her vulnerably for a beat, then shook his head.

"No. It first happened when I fought Byakuya on Sōkyoku Hill. I was able to break free of it then, but not this time."

Rukia was surprised. Byakuya had made no mention of this to her. She wondered whether he had told anyone else about it.

She watched Ichigo sort through his feelings for a while before he met her gaze again.

"Rukia... I'm scared," he admitted. "I can feel him all the time, whispering from the back of my mind. He's growing stronger. I don't... I don't think I can use Bankai again without risking him taking me over."

"Well then you just have to get stronger, too!" Rukia shot back.

"Huh?"

"You heard me," she said, growing stern. "If the Hollow inside of you is so terrible, then get strong enough to crush it down. When you infiltrated the Seireitei, you weren't close to being a match against my brother. But you reached his level because you never quit. If there's a challenge you can't overcome, then build yourself up until you tower over it! Whatever it takes. Do you understand, Ichigo?"

He looked at her wide-eyed for a moment, then smiled. That was exactly what he needed to hear.

"Yeah. Thanks, Rukia."

He looked down at his leg; it was encased in a chunky cast. "Damn, this hurts."

"You should call over Orihime to heal you," Rukia suggested. "I wish I could stay and say hello to her, but I'm afraid this is where I leave you, Ichigo. My mission is complete and I have to report back to the Seireitei. I'll tell them I slayed Grand Fisher with your assistance. The knowledge of your Hollow will stay between us."

Ichigo sighed. He was sad to see her go again so soon, but her returning in the first place had already been such a gift.

"Alright then... until next time?" he asked hopefully.

"Until next time."

She got up and headed to leave.

"Wait, Rukia... ?" Ichigo called after her.

"What is it?"

"There's something I can't stop thinking about," he said. "The protection charm my dad gave me; it saved me from Grand Fisher. It looked like Shinigami magic. But that's crazy, right? Why would my dad give me something like that?"

Rukia winced, realizing she needed to lie one more time.

"I gave it to you - indirectly," she answered. "Back when I had a feeling Byakuya was coming for me, I had Urahara whip up a protection charm for you. I left it lying around your father's bedroom, figuring him for a superstitious type. I knew he'd gift it to you."

She watched while Ichigo digested the explanation. He was placid for a while, then smiled. He bought it.

"You're always looking out for me, huh?"

She stared back at him for what felt like a long time, straining not to betray emotion. He looked so much like Kaien. And now she knew why.

"Always."


It was now midnight and the clouds had cleared out to reveal a starry sky above Karakura Town.

Shinji Hirako stood on Yūjō Bridge, listening to jazz on his walkman. He gazed out at the shimmering water, bored and wondering if tonight would be another waste of time.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure approaching. He clicked his walkman off and slunk back his headphones, cracking a smile when he recognized Ichigo Kurosaki.