After the mess that followed Rukia's introduction to a bunch of teenagers, Ichigo told Chad they needed to talk.
"…alone, Rukia," Ichigo griped, shooing her with an extra angry squint to his eyes. The girl fumed as the orange-haired teen and his large, quiet friend disappeared down the hall and around the corner. She was further prevented from following when several of her new classmates crowded around her in curiosity. Damn it, Rukia grumbled and then proceeded to pull something with how hard she forced her lips into a bright smile. Your ass is grass, Kurosaki Ichigo.
Ichigo made sure they weren't being followed by the black-haired midget as he led the way to the roof. The walk was silent on the staircase up. Ichigo settled next to the fence, and Chad waited behind him, recognizing that his friend needed a moment to gather his thoughts.
Trying to relax the tense line of his shoulders, Ichigo took a deep breath.
"I can see ghosts. Been able to for as long as I can remember," The teen began, staring out over the school campus. Besides some initial shock shown by the widening of his eyes, Chad didn't respond. "Yesterday, Rukia Kuchiki barged into my bedroom window wearing black robes and carrying a sword. She was, supposedly, tracking an evil soul. She is a Death God, stationed in the world of the living to help wayward souls make their way to Heaven or whatever, and cleanse the souls that had stayed too long and become monsters." The orange-haired teen glanced over his shoulder. "Long story short, an evil soul crashed into my goddamn house and nearly killed my entire family," Ichigo shifted from one foot to the other. "Rukia was beaten up so she gave me some of her Shinigami powers… Then I was the one wearing weird-ass robes, wielding a sword, and… killing the thing that used to be human."
Something ugly curled inside of Chad's chest, listening as Ichigo's voice wavered and his shoulders drew closer and closer to his ears with each word. He laid a gentle hand on his friend's back, careful to stay calm when Ichigo flinched. The giant kept still, not moving until the orange-haired teen had been properly grounded.
"Ichigo."
His friend did not respond.
"I believe you. And if Kuchiki was telling the truth, then not only did you save your family—you also saved a soul lost on the path to the afterlife."
There was a long moment where Chad did not feel Ichigo take a breath. Then, after a stretch of silence where the large teen worried he'd have to force some air into his friend's lungs, Ichigo took a shuddering inhale. He ducked his head and turned, side-stepping the warm hand at his back and going straight to the source. Chad opened his arms for the head of soft, orange hair that bumped into his chest. Wrapping one arm over a back covered in lithe muscle and the other around Ichigo's nape to rest a large hand on his head, Chad leaned in and breathed deeply.
Soon they'd need to head back into the building and grab lunch, but for now neither felt like moving.
After school, Rukia looked about ready to combust. Human children were pushy, really pushy, and she still hadn't been able to talk to Ichigo yet. He'd taken all her powers and now there was no one to protect Karakura. Rukia needed a game plan, fast.
"Ichigo! Just the guy I was looking for." Said teen craned his neck to see Rukia sprinting over with a look of ominous glee. "How would you like to be the new Shinigami of Karakura? It's fun, it's free, and it will kill you the moment you let your guard down!"
"That's the worst goddamn sales pitch I've ever heard in my life," Ichigo didn't even stop walking to consider the inconvenience of her short legs against his long stride. I almost got away without her spotting me, too. "That was a one-time thing. Thanks for your help yesterday but I'm never doing it again."
Rukia, with the ease of practice, shot Ichigo the most disdainful look she could muster.
"How insolent! You think that you can just take my powers, kill one hollow, and that's it? There are millions of hollows, with strength beyond your wildest beliefs! How are you going to protect anyone if you don't train and fight against the small fry right in front of you?" The girl's violet eyes were cold, her posture rigid. But a golden gaze bore right into her own, and Rukia shivered at the realization that Ichigo had halted in the middle of the sidewalk to focus the entirety of his attention on her small frame. Her stance wilted.
"I think I'm missing something; why can't you just do your own goddamn job in the first place?" Ichigo's features became a disinterested scrunch once more as he turned back towards the vague direction of the clinic. Rukia scrambled to catch up, grumbling under her breath.
"I told you, dolt! The idea last night was that I give you a little bit of my reiryoku to transform you into a Shinigami for a few days, you kill a few other hollows maybe, and I recover in no time so I can continue my duties as the reiryoku fades from your body." Rukia glanced at the teen walking beside her, "Instead, you somehow drained me of my abilities. I am now only capable of simple kido, and I estimate that I will not be able to do much more until the end of the month," Here, the dark-haired girl faltered before stopping entirely. "…Please, I cannot allow any innocent lives to be lost in my absence. I would not ask this of you if it was not important."
Ichigo turned. Rukia stood, bowing, at a perfect ninety-degree angle. The teen sighed, she really knows how to hit deep, doesn't she?
"Alright, fine. Whatever. I'll 'cleanse' these souls and do your other reaper stuff until you get your power back. You have my word." Ichigo reached over and pushed the girl's head down a bit to set her off balance, smirking when she spluttered and fought to right herself.
"Wuh—Idiot! I'm not going to thank you when the choice was obvious, anyway," Rukia pouted, stomping ahead with arms crossed.
The orange-haired teen just shoved his hands in his pockets, lamenting the semi-peaceful life he knew he was leaving behind. If she does any more of this tsundere shit, I'm out.
During the school week, Ichigo thankfully only had to deal with the simple aspects of his work at Unagiya's such as sorting and filing, or easy-to-do jobs like delivering packages—the latter of which he was doing right then. It would've been easier, however, if Rukia wasn't shadowing his every move and playing incessantly with her phone.
"Can't you silence that thing?" Ichigo snapped, stopping to look at how poor of a job the girl was doing trying to immerse herself into the nearby foliage. "I can see you, you know."
"No, you can't," She muttered, light from the phone screen clearly illuminating her pale face. She didn't even look up.
"Unbelievable," Ichigo scoffed, finally spotting the address for the delivery and carefully placing the package on the doorstep. He knocked just loud enough for the possible residents to hear and turned back to the street, sending a quick text to his boss saying he'd finished for the day. The teen almost dropped his phone in surprise when an alarm went off behind him, and Rukia was running past with a determined look on her face.
"It's a hollow! We need to go." She was around the next corner in seconds, eyes glued to the glowing red dot on her screen. Ichigo cursed and shot after her.
It was hard keeping track of Rukia's petite figure in the late afternoon crowd. At first Ichigo struggled to zero in on her presence, but he was relieved when he somehow latched on to her the same way he could with his father. It almost felt like wrapping a ribbon around his wrist that oozed her energy. Content with his sixth sense success, Ichigo could now focus on other things. How am I going to get through fighting another one of those things? I can't even remember what the hell I did last time.
He vaguely recalls slicing clean through bone, followed by the feeling of sinking his teeth into raw flesh and tearing—
It took everything the teen had to keep himself from throwing up on the strangers he was blazing past. Nevermind, I'll figure it out.
Eventually the crowd thinned out and then disappeared altogether, survival instincts keeping the general public away from the invisible threat.
"We're here!" Rukia shouted back, and as Ichigo skidded to a stop he could only stare at the scene in front of him.
Through the massive hole in the building wall ahead it was easy to spot Tatsuki sprawled on the floor, unconscious. Her friend, Orihime Inoue, was crying over her, and another Orihime was laying down, unmoving.
Blink.
No, the girl was out of her body, wasn't she? There was a chain connecting one Orihime's chest to the other. And Tatsuki… there were marks all over her body. Claw marks.
"Wha—… What the hell?" Rukia was already running up the stairs to the apartment, and again Ichigo hurried after her. The dark-haired girl dropped to her knees beside the two, hands glowing green as she hastily ran them over the wounds on Tatsuki's body. Ichigo scanned the streets outside but couldn't spot the hollow. Unfortunately, he knew that didn't mean anything if every hollow could hide in some kind of void like the previous one.
"I'm treating her wounds as best I can, do not worry." Rukia declared, already sweating from the amount of focus and exertion it took to keep up healing kido in her condition. Orihime had jolted in shock when the smaller girl knelt beside her, and now watched as her friend's wounds began to heal.
"Kuchiki-san…?" She questioned, trying to get her mind to catch up with the current situation. Orihime shifted her gaze to the two people who had appeared in her home.
"K-Kurosaki-kun?" The girl squeaked. Oh gosh, he's in my apartment! I haven't even cleaned! She blushed furiously and slapped her hands to her cheeks. Though, it wasn't long before Orihime deflated like a leaky balloon. It doesn't really matter if I've cleaned or not, huh…? Everything was a mess. That monster had torn through her apartment like a tornado.
It was then that Orihime remembered why her friend was laying on the floor covered in blood.
"Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san, you have to get away! Something attacked Tatsuki and me! I don't know where it went but it's going to come back, I can feel it," The blonde pleaded, another batch of tears welling up in her eyes and flowing down her red cheeks.
Rukia gave her a wane smile. "That's exactly why we're here, Inoue-san. Do not worry, we'll get rid of it." A drop of sweat rolled down her forehead.
Ichigo was about to make a remark along the lines of 'who exactly is going to get rid of it, midget?' when he was brought up short by a ripple he felt in the fabric of reality. The teen turned quickly to see a red, snake-like hollow with shaggy black hair; its greasy strands falling over a gruesome mask of bone. It leaned out of a black, abyssal mouth made in the wall right behind the three women. With its fist already reared back, he barely had the time to shout in warning before Rukia was thrown out of the gaping hole in the apartment by a crushing blow.
Ichigo's adrenaline spiked as he rushed to block a similar hit to Orihime. The teen seriously had no idea how he was going to fight the hollow, and not even because he didn't know how to wield a sword. I'm still in my body! He yelled to the space inside his head, pushing the girl out of the way and bracing for impact.
Ichigo could feel something crack painfully as he was thrown into the last undamaged wall of the apartment. Pain radiated from multiple points on his back and head. For a moment, his sight went dark and it felt like the entire room had tilted about 70 degrees to the right. However, after shaking off severe disorientation, the teen was bemused to realize that he had been punched right out of his body, and was not concussed—just laying down a bit to the right of where he'd been thrown. Guess that works, Ichigo thought wryly, face scrunching as he fought to stand. Is that why Inoue's out of her body as well? Speaking of…
Orihime looked terrified as he caught her eye and reached for the large hunk of metal on his back.
"K-Kurosaki…-kun?"
"Don't worry, Inoue." Unbidden, a smile stretched across his face, "It'll all be over soon, promise!"
A roar reverberated off the walls, and Ichigo turned to face the large creature thrashing about in a senseless rage. The teen was ready, his sword held out to the side.
He swung.
The hollow lunged.
His sword caught in the ceiling... Shit.
Snake-hollow pounced head-first onto his sword anyway. Score.
Ichigo watched as the hollow's mask cracked in two, wondering if that counted for purification. However, instead of the hollow dissipating, part of its mask fell off and Ichigo got a good look at the very human face beneath it. The features even tickled at his memory, as if he'd seen them before.
"Nii-san!" Orihime cried. Her brother's face was one she'd never forget.
That's right. He's the brother she brought to the clinic a few years ago. Ichigo fought to cut off the increasing chill he felt spreading through his chest. The same brother that died before he could get proper medical care.
"…Ori...hime," Sora whispered back, bringing a cautious hand up to his exposed face. "You…—you stupid little girl!" The hollow violently grabbed for his sister, but Ichigo was faster.
The orange-haired teen tackled the monster to the ground, a hand on the reaching arm as well as Sora's neck. Lacking strategic thought, the man fought to free himself from the grasp by scratching at Ichigo's body. The teen's shihakusho was torn apart, and Ichigo hissed as the sting from the claws set in, angrily growling at the inferior hollow that dared lay a finger on him.
Destroy it. It is a stain on the world.
Consume. Grow strong. Become whole.
And who was he to deny such kind encouragement? Letting instinct guide, the orange-haired teen opened his mouth and breathed in. Burning-red reiatsu was pulled into his mouth from the broken mask fragments of the hollow beneath him, and Ichigo automatically routed it to the hungry void in his core.
"O-Orihime… I'm so sorry," The hollow called out. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I was so content… just watching you live freely and happily… But you s-stopped talking to me…!" Sora reached for his little sister once more, something soft breaking through the coldness of his gaze. Ichigo paused, trying to decipher the man's intent. He turned to the blonde. The hollow was her brother, so Ichigo figured looking to Orihime for an answer would be the best choice.
Love…?
Ichigo felt rational thought snap back into place at the desperate look the blonde cast over the monstrous form of her brother. The lonely, sorrowful eyes that saw right through the claws and twisted mask to the caring, worried elder sibling underneath. Horrified and realizing what he'd done, the teen scrambled back. Again… again I did some weird, stupid shit. Just what the hell is wrong with me? He questioned into the recesses of his mind, numbly yanking his sword out of the ceiling.
There was no answer.
"Nii-san, is that really you?" Orihime questioned, tentatively reaching out her own hand to put on her brother's. She sobbed when the large, clawed hand gave a gentle squeeze in response, "Sora-nii…! I'm the one who should be sorry. I just didn't want to worry you anymore because I thought you'd be in a happier place. Please don't be sad!"
Ichigo couldn't bear to watch the tears roll down the girl's face as her precious brother began to dissipate. He tried to give them the illusion of privacy by looking away, and instead was met with the sight of his own wretchedness in a mirror across the room. That's… me?
His skin held a sickly pallor, blood was all down the front of his chest, and the top of his robes were in tatters. However, Ichigo found himself distracted more by the color of his eyes and the fatal hole through his chest. What the hell? He raised a hand to his sternum in disbelief. What was going on? Why did he look like that? Yet, as the warmth he'd taken from Sora settled and thawed the cold spread from his core, his sclera faded back to white, his irises lost their inhuman shine, his skin regained its healthy shade, and the closing hole in his chest disappeared completely. The teen could see his own astonishment reflected in the mirror.
A wolf in sheep's clothing.
Clenching a hand in the pieces of robe left over his chest, Ichigo turned to watch as Sora was finally laid to rest. The man smiled softly and whispered one last quiet adoration to his little sister before his body dissipated.
As Orihime cried over the last remaining particles of her older brother, Ichigo went down to the street and tried to rouse Rukia. The girl likely had a massive bruise blossoming on her upper back from the hit, and he could see road rash on her arms, legs, and left cheek.
"Hey, you gonna nap forever or what?" No response. The sound of Ichigo's conscious, measured breaths shadowed a final, keening wail of renewed loss from above. "Oi, Rukia!"
Quiet sobs were his only answer.
The orange-haired teen knuckled his tired eyes and then ran a hand over his face. Hissing out an exhale, Ichigo lifted Rukia and jumped back into the apartment. Orihime hiccupped and observed with weary eyes as Ichigo placed his small friend beside Tatsuki.
"…I'm sorry." He whispered into the chasm between them. Orihime couldn't bring herself to say anything back.
Trying not to grimace, Ichigo walked over to his own slumped form and effectively dropped into it. Once his vision settled into the new view from the ground, he became aware of the throbbing pain in his arm, back, head, and shoulder where he had been hit by the hollow and consequently the wall. Though painful, it wasn't exactly the worst he'd dealt with. After taking a second to gather himself, Ichigo went over and wordlessly coaxed Orihime back into her body as well. And while it worried the teen when she didn't wake up, he figured it made sense after all the stress she had gone through.
Bone-tired and aching on every kind of level, Ichigo laid all three girls in a line in the back corner of the apartment and sat down in front of them, facing the hole in the building. This way, Ichigo figured any unwanted visitors could be detected before disaster struck.
The teen pulled out the brick of a communication device he had in his back pocket, glad that the cheap thing seemed to have the durability of a nokia. It was one of the only phones he could afford when there were also home, food, and school expenses to consider for his sisters, but it did the job decently well. In any case, it could handle this funny cat app that Chad had shown him. It would do for now to pass the time.
As some idle, bouncing music filled the air, Ichigo watched with unseeing eyes as a fat, white cat laid with its paw on its stomach in front of the food bowl he had filled in the afternoon before his errands. The bowl was empty, and the afternoon had bled away to night.
Just then, a soft groan sounded from behind him. Ichigo whipped around and jumped up while putting his phone back in his pocket. He knelt by Rukia's side as her eyes fluttered open.
"Wha—…what happened?" She croaked, pain marring her features as she tried to sit up. Ichigo felt tempted to lend a hand, but remembering his actions in the recent fight kept him at a distance.
"You uh, you got punched out into the street by the hollow and passed out. I beat it and then brought you back up here." The teen explained. He was crouched awkwardly, gaze averted, trying not to think back on how he'd won, and how good it'd felt once the hole in his chest was filled with the energy of another soul. So warm. Rukia couldn't find it in herself to focus on anything but the stinging all over her back and the left side of her face, so his fidgeting went unnoticed.
"I was…—" Rukia started.
"Punched, yeah." Ichigo monotoned.
"And you—"
"Defeated the hollow."
"But how did—"
"I was also punched but it just so happened to be out of my body—"
"Stop interrupting me!" Rukia looked unimpressed, a vein pulsing in her forehead. "Just what the hell happened, you oaf?"
The orange-haired teen made a face. "Ah… after you got hit the hollow also went to hit Inoue. Though, she'd probably already been dealt a blow before because her spirit was out of her body: I figured that was the case when I ended up in Shinigami form after getting knocked into the wall by the big guy."
Rukia's frown turned contemplative, and she settled narrowed eyes on the blonde girl lying next to her. "Yes, it is known that some hollows are able to easily kill humans by extracting their souls from the flesh and then severing their chains. It makes the resultant pluses weak because their attachment to the world is gone." Ichigo dipped his head in acknowledgment. Finally, Rukia took stock of the other's injuries and fatigue, "You look terrible. Let's memory-wipe these two and get home, I will call my contact in to fix the building."
Ichigo rolled his eyes but carried Rukia back to his house anyway.
A steel-colored gaze followed them until they rounded the corner, gears ever-turning.
Rukia ended up staying the night, of course. It wasn't even hard to keep it from his family as they were already asleep when Ichigo got home, and both he and Rukia got up early to leave without incident.
Cue the strained silence during the walk to school together.
Chad likely hadn't even gotten up yet, and the only people in class this early were the crazy nerd types. Ichigo squinted at a middle-parted four eyes sitting in the front row. Has he always been there? The teen shook his head and sat down at his desk. He was ready to commit a homicide, but a nap before class would have to suffice.
Ichigo ended up missing both when Chad walked into class, and the first bell. It was a wonder he didn't make a fool of himself when it was time for roll call, but he was woken up by the murderous aura of his teacher before she could even get started.
Another failed date for Ms. Ochi?
The teen dozed through all his classes and later accepted the day's notes from Chad with a tired grin.
"You're the best. I'll make it up to you," Ichigo yawned, mustering all the sincerity he could while running on empty. Chad simply lifted a hand to run it over his friend's head. Thoughts about anything other than the base necessities thrown away for the sake of conserving energy, the orange-haired teen only closed his eyes and 'hm'd at the action. Then he turned and shuffled out of the classroom, eyes still closed, unable to process that he had just accepted pets from his friend in front of the entire class.
Rukia blinked at where the teen had disappeared around the corner, and then flicked her eyes over to Chad. The guy was staring so hard at his own hand that she was afraid a hole would soon appear. What's his deal?
It was then that Rukia remembered the note on her pager from her living-world contact.
"Kuchiki-san, I would love to meet the new partner! ~ Why don't you bring him over for some tea today?"
Now, let it be known: Rukia Kuchiki was not a dumbass. She understands that Kisuke Urahara is a suspicious bastard, and as such is much more aware of the fact that she did not tell the man anything whatsoever about a partner. And though maybe it could've been gleaned from the items she bought recently to aid Ichigo, a Chappy konpaku does not really scream 'him'.
Rukia had typed out a curt "sure", just to be contrary to the flowery voice she was sure Urahara would be using if the conversation weren't over text (and definitely not because typing on the weird human-based contraption was foreign and confusing). Then she wondered what the hell the shopkeeper wanted with the grumpy kid who'd taken over her job.
That's when Rukia managed to snap out of her thoughts, and she hurried to catch up to Ichigo before he left the gates.
The petite girl called Ichigo's name as she approached his retreating back, smiling and waving while acting like she was only having an after-school chat with the orange-haired teen. With everybody's eyes on her as the new student, she wanted to make sure no one thought otherwise.
Ichigo only glanced back at her with a half-open eye. "What do you want?" He mumbled, continuing the walk to his house.
Rukia felt her cheeks starting to cramp with all the teeth she had on display, "I received a message from my contact, he wishes to meet with you today." She managed to walk side-by-side with him, likely due to how slow he was trudging down the street. Ichigo closed his eyes again so only a sliver of his pupil could see between his eyelids. He really does look exhausted… Surely the fight didn't take that much out of him?
"Your contact…? Oh, the person that cleans up and memory wipes people." Ichigo ran a hand over his face, "What the hell do they want? I need to do the homework assigned today."
Finally at a safe-enough distance from the school, Rukia relaxed her face muscles. Subconsciously rubbing her cheeks, she replied an honest, "I'm not sure." The teen at her side grumbled and slouched even further at the answer. "He said he wanted to have tea with you," Rukia continued.
"I'm sure he can handle a rain check. Go have tea with him, yourself."
A tick appeared on Rukia's forehead. "You dolt! He must have a reason for wanting to speak with you," especially if I didn't tell him about you in the first place, "it's best if you get it out of the way. Think of it like ripping off a Band-aid!"
"Tedious and irritating?" Ichigo scoffed, "You really know how to convince a guy, Rukia."
The conversation quickly deteriorated—devolving into insults and cheap shots. Somewhere between kicking Ichigo in the back of the knee and getting knuckles ground into the top of her head in return, they'd arrived at the Kurosaki residence. Rukia said nothing as she watched Ichigo yawn, rolling his shoulders and neck. She didn't want to admit that she couldn't force Ichigo to do anything, and so silently conceded to his wish to visit Urahara's later.
As his back once more retreated from her grasp, Rukia felt like the slant of his figure was… wary. She couldn't place why the thought had entered her mind, however, and shook her head. My mind must be playing tricks on me after it's been jostled so much these past few days. Reaching up to fix her noogie-disheveled hair, Rukia stood in front of the house gate and tried to decide what she would tell Urahara.
Ichigo yawned to wake himself up a bit and worked to loosen his muscles. Goat face wouldn't catch him lacking again; fool him twice and all that.
The teen left Rukia behind, walking up to the house and opening the door while on alert for his father's scalding presence. He walked in, confused when nothing pinged his senses. There's no way he's not home… Ichigo took off his shoes and peered through the doorway to the kitchen and living room. Nothing.
Weirded out by how quiet it was but unable to focus on the feeling when exhaustion crept back into the corners of his mind, Ichigo ascended the stairs. He tread lightly, skipping steps and avoiding known creaks in the wood with ease.
At the top, the teen realized that he could feel something just around the corner to the hallway. Eyes widening, Ichigo brought his arms to his head in an amateurish move that he thought he'd rid himself of long ago. He knew it was the wrong thing to do even as his hands slapped onto the back of his neck, but he couldn't help the instinctual response.
Isshin slid out from behind the wall between the time Ichigo had reached the top of the stairs and then realized the man was there.
"Wrong move, my son!" He laughed, lifting a leg. To Ichigo, there was a brief eternity between being kicked in the solar plexus and falling back. As the foot he brought back for the sake of balance met air, Isshin let a playful frown turn down his mouth, "You need to be more observant."
And Ichigo fell down the stairs.
Brained against the 3rd step, he lay in a heap in the entryway. It felt like all the strength had been sapped from his limbs.
Isshin skipped down the steps after him and patted his head right over an area of warmth that had spread, trickling, towards the floor. The action sent waves of static pain down his spine, but all the teen could do was twitch his hands. "You have to be more careful with yourself, boy! There are bandages in the clinic, I'm sure you know where to find them." There was no mistaking the way Isshin pulsed with a fiery heat. Where was that obvious aura earlier?
Isshin did not hesitate to make an exit. A flippant, "You should wear a hat. It might keep all those punks from coming after you!" was called back as an afterthought. And then—
"Masaki! I try so hard to teach your thickheaded son!" Were the man's final words, muffled as he entered the clinic's office.
It was silent once more.
Ichigo felt cold. So very, very cold. It clashed with the burning feeling that seemed to come right out of his brain and leak onto the floor. He could've sworn there was some angry, warbled yelling coming from somewhere, but that didn't make any sense so he didn't bother with it. Instead, he had no trouble focusing on the way he slowly began to lose feeling in his body. There was a sharp throb from where he suspected his head had hit the stair, and then nothing. In place of the paralysis, everything became numb. Ichigo's ears stopped ringing, and his arm actually responded to his requests that it move. It was because of this that he finally managed to get up.
Ichigo stood, vision swimming for a moment before settling. Lifting a hand to examine his skull, the teen found an area where his hair was matted down with something wet. No pain filtered through the nerve limbo he was afflicted with, but as he brought his hand back around it was entirely covered in blood. Oh… fuck. Bandages, in clinic…? No, wear… a hat?
Like hell he was going to follow Isshin into the clinic—a hat would have to do.
…Everything was way too bright.
Ichigo ran an absent hand on his pant leg and grabbed the gray beanie he kept in the hall closet. It was cold, and he should wear something to keep warm. The teen could even feel the chill when he was still in the house. Or was that just him? No, Rukia felt cool too. At least, her presence did.
Wait, Rukia was still outside?
The orange-haired teen opened the door and meandered back out to the gate where Rukia stood, hand on chin and staring at the ground.
"What are you doing?"
The girl jumped and whirled around.
"Ichigo!" She looked up and noticed the hat—confusion marred her features, "Have you… decided to come to Urahara's after all?"
"Urahara's?" Ichigo had no idea who that was, "Sure."
Rukia resisted the urge to violently shake her own head, even though it felt like she was suddenly in some other universe, "O-…K… Well, it was about time you listened to me!" Without another look, she walked off. Ichigo watched her for a moment before following.
Neither of them said anything for a long while, but they were almost to the shop, and Rukia decided to break the silence that had blanketed the walk thus far. It would help to have Ichigo amicable before meeting her contact, because the man was a bit… eccentric. She turned to say something to Ichigo, only to realize he was about ten feet behind her.
"Ichigo! You're—" The girl glances down to his dragging feet, "…not wearing shoes?" Rukia, perplexed, watches as the other—who is shoeless but still wearing socks—catches up while she stands there and takes all of him in. A beanie, no shoes, and… a mysterious stain on his grey school pants? The teen even had a pale tinge to his skin that Rukia hadn't noticed before.
Ichigo looked down at his feet.
"…Oh. Guess not," A strange look crossed his face, but he shrugged and kept walking. Rukia jogged for a moment to stay ahead. Ichigo was already aiming to pass the entrance to the shop, and she had to steer him back towards it.
"Ichigo, just what—" Rukia had a gentle, guiding hold on her friend's elbow. She peered up at him with concern, but the sound of the shop door clacking open startled them both.
"Why, hello! Kuchiki-san and her wonderful guest, how lovely to see you both! Do come in." Both looked toward the shop, where the front door had been opened wide. A male stood on the veranda, upper half covered in shadow. Rukia doesn't notice Ichigo stiffening beside her, instead walking the both of them into the shop.
"Thank you for the invitation, Urahara-san. I was going to have Ichigo meet you soon, anyway."
Urahara shut the door behind them and proceeded to another door behind the shop's counter. Rukia knew it led to the section of the building where all the employees were housed.
"My, you are so welcome, Ms. Kuchiki! I'm sure it was only a matter of time, but I was simply too curious to wait! You must understand." The man flipped open a paper fan, brandishing it in front of the beginning of a smarmy grin. "Now, let's get to the tea! My partner has prepared something special for the occasion. If you wouldn't mind leaving your shoes—" Urahara paused mid-sentence, caught off guard in a way Rukia was sure he hadn't been in a long time. She glanced first to Ichigo, and then to his clear lack of footwear. Rukia sucked in a large breath and let it out slowly; not even close to ready for whatever came next.
"Is this a 'fashion statement'? Kuchiki-san, you didn't tell me your friend was so forward-thinking! Why, even I haven't heard of this new trend!" The blonde flapped his arms in an erratic manner, "No shoes, but a beanie in the summer. What an amazing idea, Mr. guest! I am Urahara Kisuke, and you are…?" There was a flash of teeth peeking over a re-settled fan. Ichigo swayed back, uncertain, as the blonde slid in way too close for comfort. Rukia's continued grip on his elbow forced her to follow.
A long moment passed where Rukia realized that Ichigo was not stopping himself, and they were both going to end up crashing to the floor. The petite girl strained, but she couldn't gather enough strength in her powerless body to right them both.
"Whoops!" But then Urahara was gripping Ichigo's other arm, bringing him back to his feet, "There we go. Gently, now… here," The man guided both Ichigo and Rukia to a small room with a round table in the center, and assisted Rukia in lowering her friend to one of the plush pillows surrounding it. The poor girl looked quite concerned. But really, she had even before Urahara called out to her in front of the shop.
"Well, Mr. Guest, would you mind telling us why you have a concussion?"
Ichigo absently wondered if Rukia hurt her neck snapping her head his way so fast.
"Dunno what you mean." He replied. How is this single-bulbed room so bright?
Urahara only looked a bit amused at his poor deflection.
The fan was flipped back out, "Your pupils are nearly covering up your irises, I don't think it's that dark in here. Also, with a head wound that bad I'm surprised you haven't passed out. A concussion is only natural in this case."
The shopkeeper covered the frown he pulled when he observed the teen shift into a more upright position.
Ichigo made a face, "…Don't see how it's any of your business."
"What an answer! One moment," Urahara turned a bit toward a sliding door separate from the one they'd entered. "Tessai, your services are needed in the tearoom!"
A deep, "yes, boss," came from the other side, and Ichigo was already halfway to his feet when Tessai's hulking form entered the room.
"Oh, hell no," The teen mumbled to himself, doing his best to 180 with a fresh head wound.
He wasn't even close.
A wordless Sho brought him back to his knees, and then two large, dark hands were holding him in place. Unbidden, Ichigo could feel a snarl forming from somewhere deep within his soul.
"Now, now, everyone. Why don't we all just calm down?" In the back of his mind Ichigo cataloged the alarmed look Rukia was sending all those in the room alongside the fan Urahara held in front of her to prevent any interference. "Tessai, why don't you take Kurosaki-kun to the clinic? I will escort Ms. Kuchiki to the front." The blonde put a guiding hand to the girl's back, leading her out with a flourish and launching into a pleasant tirade on their new stock. Ichigo had no idea how things had gone south so fast.
Trapped in unknown territory, taken down by a weird spell for the second time now, and his only ally effectively neutralized… Was it too much to admit he was feeling cagey?
Ichigo felt the mountain of a man behind him moving to adjust his hold, and the teen took that chance without hesitation. As hands moved from his shoulders to his midsection, Ichigo pushed as hard as he could to both jump up and break his arms free. He managed to connect his head to a chin as planned, however, not only was it much harder to break Tessai's version of the spell, but Tessai himself was not affected by the headbutt in any way that counted. Alternatively, Ichigo's near-forgotten head injury flared with unbearable pain, and he folded like a wet paper bag.
Just as the teen pondered where that useful numbing effect had gone, he was thrown the other way over a broad shoulder. Then, it returned. In tandem came the snarl he held in earlier, which now tore his vocal cords with a warbled echo. Ichigo welcomed the vicious second wind, using it to disrupt the hold Tessai had on him.
"Tencho!" This time the teen could feel the rumble of the man's voice along his very spine, positioned as he was. Then it clicked. "...Kisuke!"
The first threat was being called back into the room.
Ichigo dropped and rolled, feeling his aura explode outwards. The overhead light burst into shards, and his invisible bindings creaked before shattering in the same manner. That's about when Urahara threw the door open, only taking a moment to catalog the scene before he started mumbling. Ichigo was crouched in a corner by the opposite door he wanted to exit, frozen in anticipation. The blonde stepped forward, his hand outstretched and glowing.
All three of them were startled by the involuntary hiss Ichigo let out in retaliation, but the shopkeeper was undeterred.
"Sleep, Kurosaki-kun. We are only trying to help, and I hope you will recognize that soon."
The warm glow emitting from Urahara's palm consumed Ichigo's field of view, and the teen's eyes drained of light. Consciousness fading by the second, Ichigo could only catch a few bits of conversation before succumbing to the new spell.
"Getting rusty hm, Tessai?"
"We train every week, Tencho. His hollow is stronger than we thought." A gentle hand covers an empty, golden gaze. "And yet we have heard nothing from Isshin."
"...Seems like we owe an old friend a call." Rustling, and then a limp body is being cradled in thick arms and the scent of warm, spicy cologne. "But first, let's examine our little fighter, shall we?"
Hello everyone! It's been so long, omg. Sorry about that; I was seriously intending to have this out by like, Christmas of 2019….
Clearly, that did not work out. However! I figured it would work out as something nice to bring in the New Year :)
Hope you all are doing well!