Chapter 11: The Beginning
"Doctor, we have a patient in here!" A voice yelled down the white interior halls of a small clinic.
Isshin Kurosaki quickly exited his office and was met by his youngest daughter, Yuzu. She looked so much like her mother, which caused his heart to tighten every time he saw her. The little girl, who wasn't so little anymore, looked from the crying boy to her father. "What do we have here nurse?" he asked her with a gentle smile as he bent down to examine the boy's leg.
"This is Akihiko, seven years old." she said as she read off his chart. "He was skateboarding when he fell off onto the fresh asphalt near his home. He has multiple abrasions on his legs and a fractured wrist."
As she read this Isshin began examining the boy, his mother's worried look had him working to ensure this was all the boy had. The cut on the forehead could have happened during the fall, meaning a possible concussion as well. "Follow my finger with your eyes." He told the boy and watched the child's eyes follow his finger. His response time was off a bit as his eyes looked tired. "Did you hit your head when you fell?" he asked the boy who nodded. "Did you loose consciousness at all afterwards?"
"He was out of it when his friends brought him home." The boy's mother answered with worry in her voice.
Isshin gave a nod as Yuzu left to quickly find bandages to tend to the cuts and abrasions. "I believe he may have a concussion." He the picked up the child's arm and examined his wrist. When he moved Akihiko's wrist the boy whimpered but held back any cries due to his mother's presence. "A possible fracture as well." When Yuzu returned he smiled proudly at her. "Good call on the fracture." He told her gaining a beaming smile from her. After cleaning and bandaging Akihiko up, Isshin then ordered a set of ex-rays to see if the wrist was fractured or not.
When everything was said and done it was decided the boy would return home but Isshin ordered the mother to do hourly check ups and if Akihiko lost sudden consciousness tocall for an ambulance and then call him and he'd meet her at the hospital. "Tired Papa?" Yuzu asked him as she finished cleaning up the things they had used that afternoon.
"Not really Yuzu." He answered her as he looked at his watch. "You wouldn't happen to know where your brothers are at this time of day?" To his knowledge neither had any extra curricular activities after school, which meant they should have been home nearly an hour ago.
"They were at the park." A new voice said causing both to look towards the owner of it. The eldest of the two girls, Karin, stood at the doorway entrance with a soccer ball in her arms before she threw the ball at her father, hitting him in the face. "Unlike you, they remembered that I had a game this afternoon!" she yelled at him, her face contorting into anger as she pushed her black hair out of her eyes with frustration. "I'm not angry at Yuzu for forgetting but you made a promise to be there!"
"Karin!" Yuzu cried out in shock as Isshin pulled the ball off his face.
"I'm sorry Karin!" he yelled with tears in his eyes before grabbing her up in a hug. "Forgive me!"
"Ugh!" She groaned in disgust at his fake tears but she knew he wouldn't quit until she said she'd forgiven him. "Only if you order from Haswon's Take Out Curry tonight."
"A hard bargain," he mumbled as he scratched his day old whiskered face. "but I'll take it!" he said with a wide grin.
Karin groaned at his childish antics. "I've got homework." she told him as she left him, Yuzu following her asking her about the game.
Isshin touched his chin. Still, the boys should've been home by now. he thought as he picked up the phone to order the take out.
"Shut up!" A very loud voice rang throughout the alleyway. Three boys surrounded one boy with very orange hair. Ichigo Kurosaki had toughened out over the years. Bullies or punks pulling him into an alleyway to beat him up wasn't new to him. The odds were always against him, with some fights starting out with three to six guys against one. He also was a bit touchy about his hair color, as most teased him relentlessly about it until his temper gave in and he fought them.
He threw a punch at one, only for the other two to kick or swing something at him. Going back to what he had been taught at Tatsuki's dojo as a child, Ichigo could move his body at a higher speed than most kids his age. Kicking one kid in the side, catching a pole with his hand from another and then punching the last boy, he quickly was able to defeat them or so he thought as a fourth suddenly jump out of the shadows at him.
Ichigo felt the punch to his face that sent him flying against the alley brick wall. The fourth boy was taller, slimmer than the other two. Kind of reminded Ichigo of one of his closest friends. "A freak like you should just give up." The punk spoke with a high and mighty tone. Frankly, it made Ichigo want to rip the bastards face off.
Snarling Ichigo could feel his anger getting the best of him. Freak. Dilinquent. Hooligan. Gangster. He'd been called these things since middle school solely because of his naturally orange hair. Teachers didn't believe him when he said it was natural. So once his brother had, had enough and said, "The curtains match the drapes and if you don't believe that then we can always show you it." That had caused a commotion in class for a few weeks. Thinking of his brother made Ichigo grin because at that moment a white hand came out of nowhere, grabbed the wanna be gangster and threw him into his friends.
"What the hell Ichi, you lettin' yer guard down now and lettin' these assholes rough ya up?" The white haired black/golden eyed teen looked from his twin to the punks who suddenly shivered at the sight before them. "Nobody touches my brother." He growled lowly before fisting his hand and swinging it at the obvious leader, punching him and knocking his lights out.
"D-D-Demon!" One of the other three screamed out causing all of them to scramble to their feet to run away.
Shiro grinned at the name as he leaned forward to look at the still unconscious leader. "Think he'll wet himself if I stay like this Ichi?" he asked his brother who shook his head at his twin's antics.
"Probably." he muttered as he rubbed his chin. "He's got a good right hook."
"Tch." Shiro snorted. "Pussy." He looked down when he heard a groan and grinned. "Good. Yer awake. Now I can eat yer soul, asshole."
The gangster wannabe whimpered before suddenly screaming bloody murder and running away. Leaving Shiro laughing his ass off and Ichigo shaking his head as he shook from his own quiet laughter.
A moment later a tall shadow could be seen at the entrance of the alleyway. "Ichigo?"
Both young men turned towards the voice. "Yo, Chad." Ichigo greeted happily as Shiro put on his sunglasses to hide his eyes and walked out of the alley behind Ichigo. The sunlight shone on his pale skin. The color of his skin always scared people, as did his eyes; which was why he tried to fit in by wearing normal looking clothes. His jeans were always tight and his shirts always seemed to have grey in them. While Ichigo usually had loud looking shirts on, Shiro couldn't get away with that. He looked up glaring at the sun before deciding to ignore it and follow Ichigo to their destination, home.
Ichigo plopped down onto his bed with a sigh. He heard Shiro drop his school bag onto the floor above him. After they'd turned twelve the boys had separated their rooms. Ichigo lived in their original while Shiro lived in the remodeled attic above Ichigo's head. Sometimes Ichigo missed sharing a room with his twin, but then there were times he was glad to have a room to himself. Like the first time he woke up with morning wood when he was twelve. That could've been more embarrassing than it had been. Or the time he had his first dream about a girl in class when he was in middle school. Shiro would've teased the hell out of him. As it was he still had to dodge questions from his father if he had those kinds of dreams. To this day he would deny making any noise of the sort.
Shiro on the other hand was currently sitting with his legs crossed on the floor meditating. He was once again entering his inner world and training with his zanpakuto spirit or should he say the hollow he once was. Upon learning the truth of his origins Shiro had begun training every single day. He wanted nobody to ever be able to defeat him or hurt Ichigo. He'd begun being able to sense Ichigo's own powers begin to expand. This worried him because of the constant threat of hollows coming after his brother.
As if we'd let anything touch him. His inner demon said as he paused their training session. Nothin' will hurt the kid; trust me."
Shiro raised a thin white brow at this. "Anybody ever tell you never ta trust anybody who says trust me?" he asked the spirit who just shrugged at him not denying or confirming the question. "Ichi's gonna need training soon."
Yer brother can't until you teach him how ta talk to his zanpakuto. the spirit told him. Shiro scratched the top of his head. He'd been procrastinating about talking to Ichigo about his zanpakuto and teaching him the stuff he had learned over the years. If you don't, eventually a shinigami will come near the boy and once that happens, he won't hear it about you being a former hollow or what I am.
"Sure. Sure." Shiro dismissed his zanpakuto's worries. The chances of one of those bastards coming near their home was what, a measly one percent? Returning to the real world from his inner world Shiro began to take his clothes off and change for bed when he suddenly sensed something. With only his pants on he quickly ran downstairs only to see Ichigo rush passed him and a black haired girl wearing black clothing come out of his room looking shocked.
"How did he-" she began sounding dazed and unsure.
"Oi! Bitch!" he yelled at the girl causing her to look at him, her eyes widening as she took in his form. "What the fuck did ya do ta Ichi?" Her mouth opened to answer when Shiro hear Yuzu's scream. "Shit!" he cursed as he ran down a second set of stairs to find Isshin and Karin both unconscious. His eyes widening as he saw Ichigo taking on a damn hollow.
Looks like we're a bit late. His inner spirit stated even as Shiro's legs pushed him to move forward to protect his brother.
M-Angel: I was gonna update Two of A Kind, but I got distracted by this story. I do have part of the next chapter for the other story done though. So, what do you guys think of this chapter. The time-skip went all the way to when Rukia appeared but I will be writing what happened between the time of Grand Fisher and the current timeline.