Chapter 10: Aftermath

Shiro sat on the hospital bed with Ichigo holding his uninsured hand. His hand that he had fired the red beam out of was red, swelled and lightly burned, like a really bad sunburn. Next to him Ichigo sat on the gerney holding his uninjured hand. Their mother had been wheeled into the emergency room, leaving them with a nurse who looked weird and an old man that both children knew was a spirit. Closing his eyes, Shiro tried to recall what had happened, but all he could remember was the evil spirit that had tried to kill them.

"Ichi." Shiro whispered, his voice wobbling with emotion. "Am I a monster?" He was asking this because he knew he had done something to cause the monster to leave and only monster could be afraid of other, more evil monsters.

Ichigo watched the nurse talk to another nurse about them before answering. "No. You saved us." he stated as he looked away from the nurses to his twin. "You're my hero, Shiro." He said with a wide grin.

I'm a- "Hero?" he asked with confusion.

"You made the monster leave and saved us." Ichigo reiterated. "So that makes you a hero."

Shiro, overcome by emotion, wrapped his arms around Ichigo's neck before crying and crying some more. "ICHIGO! SHIRO!" Both boys pulled away from each other upon hearing their father's loud voice.

"POP!" They both cried out before jumping off of the stretcher they'd been sitting on and ran towards their father who was at the nurse's station calling out for his son's. Isshin bent down to scoop them up, both of the boy's crying as they wrapped their arms around their father's neck.

"I've got you. I've got you." Isshin's voice repeated. "You're safe." He told them before he kissed the top of their head's before pulling them tightly to his chest in order to reassure himself that his boy's were alive and safe.

"Pop." Ichigo whimpered against his father's chest.

"Mom." Shiro said, surprising his father that he was talking. "Mom is hurt."

"It was a monster!" Ichigo yelled at his father gaining wide eyes.

"Did it touch any of you?" he asked, no sign of his usually joking self.

Both shook their heads vehemently. "No." Shiro answered for the both of them before looking at his hand.

Isshin looked at the bandaged appendage. He was about to ask what happened when a nurse walked up to him. "Mr. Kurosaki, Dr. Horoshi will be a moment; he's the doctor assigned to your wife's case." she said with a gentle smile appearing on her face.

Isshin sighed. "Thank-you." He then looked at Shiro. "What about my son?"

"Ah, Shiro has suffered first degree burns to his finger's, palm and wrist." she explained. "First responders didn't even know he was injured until they saw the swelling of his hand. It looks no worse than a sunburn, but because he seemed to be in some discomfort when touched, I was told to treat his hand with some ointment." She smiled at Shiro who hid his face against his father's leg. "He's a bit shy though."

"How did he get burned?" Isshin inquired as he touched the top of Shiro's head, gently petting the white hair there.

"We are unsure." she admitted. "The powerlines would have electrocuted him, but there's no electrical burns. It's as if he was close, too close at that, to a heat source."

"But there was no such thing near him when he was found." Isshin finished for her, gaining a nod. "Thank-you."

Several hours passed after their father had arrived. The pain meds had finally kicked in for Shiro, meaning he had fallen asleep with his head against Isshin's lap. As he slept, Ichigo had told him about the ugly monster, but for some reason he stumbled with his words as to where the monster had gone or what had happened to it. Isshin had stopped pushing his son for answers when he spotted the tears of frustration begin to form at the corners of Ichigo's eyes.

This led him to think that perhaps Shinigami were involved somehow and after the fight they had erased his son's memories of the event. It wouldn't be the first time they had done such a thing. he thought as he felt Ichigo's head slump against his arm. Lifting his arm slightly, he placed Ichigo's head on his other lap and sighed as he began to settle into the spot he was in for the evening when he spotted Ryuken Ishida with a young boy following him. A woman was on a gerney, which left a hollow feeling appear in the pit of Isshin's stomach. Did something happen to Kanae? he wondered before closing his eyes, praying that the woman would be alright and that he'd be able to see his Masaki soon.

Shiro woke up and found himself in an upside down world with large towering buildings going everywhere! It was a bit chaotic. "Hello?" he called out, causing his voice echo and bounce off of the buildings. "Is anybody here?" Nobody answered, or at least no one spoke as a shadowy figure appeared behind him. Sensing this Shiro spun around on the surface of the building. "Who are you?"

"Should not the question be, who are you?" the being asked as the shadows around it revealed a black masked man wearing a white haori and hakama pants.

Shiro took a step back away from the figure, his dark eyes widening as he spotted the black circular mark on the beings body, coupled with the mask and sword, he felt some fear towards this being. "I am Shiro." he answered. "Shiro Kurosaki."

"Oh?" the being questioned. "That might be partly true, but it's not the full truth." The landscape changed and Shiro was once again by the river with his injured mother, crying brother and the monster spirit. "What kind of monster is that?" the being asked him.

"An evil spirit?" Shiro asked only for the being to feel like slapping his hand to his face.

"Okay. I'll give you that one." he stated dryly. "But the evil spirit is actually called a hollow and this one was after something very scrumptious." Shiro looked confused, because he didn't see anything yummy to eat. "You, ya idiot." The being looked at the stilled version of Ichigo. "And him." He pointed at the orange haired boy.

Shiro's eyes widened. "I won't let a hollow hurt my brother!" he yelled.

"Good ta know." the being spoke before the scene vanished, only to return to the buildings everywhere. "Now, before you gave me your name Shiro, but I told you that wasn't the full answer." Shiro nodded. "Your father is trying to hide your true nature from you. A bit of that nature has leaked into your brother. So, in order to help Ichigo understand himself one day, you first need to know the truth of yourself." The being scratched the back of his neck. "I may have been locked away fer awhile, but when I woke my memories leaked into your dreams. You and I are one and the same. We may not look it, right now, but we were the same being. Being born human has changed us and then having our true self sealed away," He pointed at himself at this. "we became separate beings." Lifting the white sword, that looked like a huge knife instead of a sword, onto his shoulder. "Now, it would seem I've taken on the role of a spirit in your inner world and you're the one in control. I'm what others would call a zanpakuto spirit."

"What's a zanpakuto?" Shiro asked, his golden eyes staring down the masked being.

The being slammed the sword into the glass of the building they were standing on, causing stress cracks to appear around it. "This sword is a zanpakuto and I'm its spirit form manifested." the being answered.

"The what's your name?" Shiro asked.

Under the mask the being smirked. "It's a mouthful." he answered before continuing. "Shiro-..." As he spoke the rest Shiro found it said in silence, as if someone had just muted the spirit's words.

Shiro looked confused. "Huh?" he asked, his brows furrowing in confusion.

"Seems you are not ready." the being said sadly. "Does not matter. The more we speak to each other the more likely you will hear my name next time I speak it."

When Shirk opened his eyes he was once again in the real world and not in that strange world. He found himself looking straight at a sleeping Ichigo, though he did notice that he was laying on an actual bed this time. Pushing himself up, he heard a beeping sound. Turning his head caused his eyes to widen. There laid his mother, sleeping with all sorts of tube and wires everywhere. Fear seeped out of him, causing tears to begin falling. What was wrong with her? Why does she need all that stuff on her? Black/gold eyes brimmed with tears that fell freely from them. His crying woke Ichigo up who upon seeing what made his brother cry, found himself overcome with emotion and begin crying as well.

This was the turning point for the boys. Upon seeing their mother like this would change their perspective on things causing them both to become fierce protectors of those they considered friends and even more so with their own sisters. This path would one day lead them to a life that neither could have ever imagined.

M-Angel: Yay, I got a moment to finish up this chapter. The next chapter will be a bit of a time-skip. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. ^_^