Chapter 4: Monsters Exist

Three years had passed since Ichigo and Verena had begun going to the dojo. Both passing every obstical that came at them. Their best friend Tatsuki had passed her tests faster than they had because, as it turned out, her family owned the dojo and therefore she got more practice then they did. Their father, however, did give them someone to beat up on though. The older man never learned not to provoke either of them and as they got older the two began to teach Yuzu and Karin how to defend themselves; which pleased their mother greatly; though it sent their father into tears very often. Ichigo was better at hand to hand combat while Verena was best at using her feet to keep her enemies at bay. She was faster than Ichgo, while he was stronger than she was. However, both children had a slight habit of crying when hurt, like every child their age. They were both determined to get rid of such a weakness, even if they did like the attention from their mother when she would see those tears.

Neither used their newfound strength at school, they thought it would give them an unfair advantage. That didn't mean there weren't times that they would react on instinct to protect themselves or those around them from bullies; especially the bullies. In fact, bullies learned early on never to mess with them if the two Kurosaki children were near one another. Separate, the bullies thought they would be weaker, but that's when their inner strengths would come forward, giving them time for the other to appear.

Currently Ichigo was looking at a spirit child that was crying. Looking around himself he noticed that nobody was paying attention to him. The park was busy, as it always was after school. The trees swayed gently in the breeze and the birds chirping kept most children's attention off of him. His father was busy with his younger siblings, so he went to see if he could help make the spirit child happy. He found years ago that he could see spirits and the older he got the bigger the spirits he could see and hear; Verena didn't always see them.

Standing in front of the little spirit girl, he spoke gently to her. "Hey." he greeted her causing her to look up at her. "Why are you crying?" he asked already knowing the answer. She wasn't the first spirit he had spoken to, nor would she be the last. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." he held out his hand to her. "You need help to stand?"

"You-You can s-see me?" she asked as she sniffed her nose.

"Yeah." he said with a smile. "I've always seen spirits."

The little girl took his outstretched hand. "I-I'm Nia." she sniff as she wiped away her tears. "I'm lost."

"Where do you live?" he asked looking around for his father who was now looking his way. "My dad can take us there." he said pointing at him.

The little girl gave a nod. "I live by the river."

"Ichigo." Hearing his name spoken he turned around towards Isshin.

"Goat face." he said with a teasing smile. "There's a little girl spirit that I want to help."

Isshin sighed as he looked at his son. Just beyond his son was the child spirit in question who was looking at him with hope in her eyes. For years his boy had spoken about seeing spirits. Masaki and him both told Ichigo that they couldn't see them, but the truth was they could, just not like they use to due to what had to be done in order to save Masaki's life many years ago. "Where to?" he asked his son a gentle smile appearing on his face. Just because he couldn't see the child very well couldn't help it.

Ichigo gave a blinding smile. "Thanks Pops!" he turned to Nia. "Let's go." he grabbed her hand causing the spirit child to laugh happily.

They stood in front of a big yellow gated house that stood in front of the river with the big bridge that went into Kurakura Town. The house was burned in one window and had crime scene tape around the entrance of the house. Ichigo looked at his father. "What happened here Goat Face?"

Karin looked down at her papa as he had her on his shoulders. She was curious for the answer as well. Yuzu and Verena looked at him from their place next to Ichigo. Isshin scratched his face as he tried to figure out how to explain that there had been a fire where the child more than likely died in. "Well, you see..." he began only for the child to explain.

"I remember now." Nia said as her memory became clearer. "I was sleeping in my baby brother's room because he was always crying, but when I slept in there he stayed quiet." her mind filled with images from the memory. "I fell asleep but was woken up by a weird smell. I tried to leave the room but the door wouldn't open. I then opened the window and began coughing. I went back and grabbed my brother and wrapped him in his blanket. I dropped him out of the second bedroom window onto the bushes below. Then something fell on top of me and then..." she paused and looked at Ichigo. "Then I woke up in the park."

Ichigo relayed what she'd said to his father. "It sounds like a frightening experience." his father stated.

Just then Nia ran off yelling. "Mommy!" the child ran up to a thin brunette woman with a chain in her chest.

"Nia!" the woman cried out as she held her daughter close to her chest. Both began to cry. She looked at Ichigo. "Thank-you."

"Dad." he looked up at his father. "Her mom is here." He watched the two turn translucent before vanishing. "They're gone."

Isshin had never seen a spirit cross over on its own. His eyes were wide at what Ichigo had done, before he looked down at his son, pride swelling in his chest. "I-" Verena began, her own eyes were wide. "I saw them." she looked at Ichigo. "I saw them before they disappeared!" she yelled excitedly.

Ichigo smiled brightly at his sister's admission. "It's cool, isn't it?" he asked as they began to walk down the street near the river.

"Uh-huh." she said nodding before noticing Yuzu's pout. "What's wrong Yuzu?"

The little girl looked at her older sister. "I wanna see the spirits too!" she cried out in dismay.

Everyone began to laugh. "Yuzu." her twin called out from on top of Isshin's shoulders. "I can't see them and neither can Mom or Dad."

"But they can!" she yelled as she pointed at their older siblings.

"Within time perhaps you'll be able to too, like Verena." Ichigo said softly. "Until then, leave the spirit stuff to us."

Verena suddenly paused as she felt a shiver run up her spine and looked towards the river. A feeling of dread filling her as a soft voice whisper in her mind to stay away from the river. Ichigo looked back towards her. "Sis?" he inquired causing her to look back towards him.

"Coming!" she yelled as she ran towards him.

It was a few weeks later after Verena and Ichigo's birthday, they were standing around waiting at the dojo for both of their parents. They always came together whenever it rained when they had to come pick up them. Both began to horse around with each other, Verena wrapping an arm around Ichigo's neck and trying to make him fall while Ichigo wrapped both arms around his sister and squeezed. Tatsuki turned towards the noise and began to watch them in case they got too rough with each other. She was slightly jealous that the two had each other and she had no younger siblings, but being their friend had its perks as suddenly she snuck up behind them and took them both down. She stood over them and laughed before she noticed tears on Ichigo's face.

"Ichigo! Verena!" came Masaki's voice causing the tears to dry up instantly before both children ran over to their mother.

Isshin smiled as he picked Verena up into his arms. "How was practice?" he asked as put the umbrella up over their heads. Masaki doing the same thing as her husband as Ichigo walked between his parents smiling happily up at both of them.

"Fun!" Verena yelled happily.

"I beat Verena." Ichigo announced as he kept pace with his parents on the sidewalk.

"Really?" Isshin asked before looking at his beloved daughter. "Do you need more practice on your old man?" he asked her causing Verena to giggle.

"No." she said with a bright smile. "I don't wanna hurt you Daddy."

Laughter from Masaki caused Isshin to frown. "I'm not that old yet." he complained causing all three to laugh at him as they walked by the river.

Ichigo suddenly caught sight of a girl about to jump into the raging river and let go of his Mom's hand to rush off to stop her. Time seemed to stand still for a moment before a voice in Ichigo's mind yelled. STOP! Ichigo stumbled before he fell onto his stomach. At that same moment he heard both of his parents voices and then a shimmer appeared in front of him. He felt pressure and heat.

"Masaki!" came a cry from his father.

"Daddy!" another scream, this one from Verena.

Finally the creature appeared in front of him. A mask on its face, a hook that held the young girl from before. A loud cry sounded from the creature. He felt arms wrap around him and his mother's perfume scent filled his senses. He felt a heated wetness touch his face, his eyes widening as he heard his mother give a pained sound before she pulled him tightly against her body. The creature snarled before the hook turned into a spear, the girl vanishing. His father's form appearing different than it had. He now was wearing black hakama with a black and white robe. A long sword in his father's hands with a blue tassel and red handle with hexagonal tsuba and a white cloth wrapped over his arm and shoulder. As his father cried out as he charged the creature and his mother's body began to feel heavy.

"Ichigo." he heard her say softly. He turned his attention towards her and looked at his mother. "Run."

"M-Mom?" he saw blood dripping down her forehead, but her hand was glowing blue with odd ruins on it.

Her eyes met him as a steely look appeared in them. "ICHIGO!" she yelled at him grabbing his shoulders. "RUN!"

Startled Ichigo turn towards his twin, who was shaking their father's body trying to get him to respond and grabbed her hand and ran as fast as he could just as his father's voice rang throughout the area. "BURN ENGETSU!"

M-Angel: Oh boy! Now the question is, should I do the battle of Isshin and Masaki against Grand Fisher or not? Would anybody like that? I could do a big battle. Tell me in your comments below! Next weekend I won't be updating due to Ohayocon, but I'll try to update it that following Monday.