Chapter 11: Today was a good day

Ichigo made it back home with no more trouble from any other captains. He didn't trust any of them, especially the ones responsible for bringing him and his mother here. None of those people seemed to hold back any subtle disdain or outright hostility towards the boy or his mother. While some of them respected his father because of his previous status as a captain and at least showed him some respect, it was beginning to irritate Isshin to no end how his wife and son were treated. Ichigo could tell that his dad was trying hard to hold himself back when it came to the rest of the captains.

Ichigo was about to open the door to his home here when he felt something was slightly off. Once he opened the door, he was greeted by a foot to his face, courtesy of his very own father. While it caught him off guard and caused him to fall on his back, Ichigo was actually smiling. It had been at least a full week since he last saw his father, and this was the first time in a fairly long time that he greeted Ichigo with a sneak attack like this. Ichigo quickly sat up and saw his father standing there at the entrance with just a standard uniform on and that ridiculously large grin on his face. Ichigo couldn't help but return the grin in kind and jumped up to meet his father head on.

Ichigo threw quick left jab that Isshin dodged while throwing a wild haymaker with his right. Ichigo ducked and swept his leg with a kick. Isshin fell to the ground and Ichigo was about to land another left, but Isshin rolled out of the way and gave Ichigo a sharp kick to his side. The boy skidded a bit before stopping himself and looking back at Isshin only to see another fist about to connect to his face. Ichigo dodged, grabbed Isshin's arm and overextended it before twisting himself so that he could lock Isshin in a head scissors. Isshin didn't know what happened next as he was then flung inside the house by Ichigo's move. He landed on top of his head in a rather comical pose as he had slid over to where Masaki was watching. She couldn't help but smile widely at her son's and husband's antics as it had been the closest thing to normal for her in months. Isshin fell flat to the floor before sitting up only to have Ichigo hug him tightly. Isshin returned it as the two smiled at each other, happy to see each other after a week.

The rest of the day went fairly normal for the family as they ate dinner and talked for hours about random things and their days. It was nice for them to finally have this time as a family to just have a simple chat with each other. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end as Ichigo actually tired himself out after a few hours. Masaki tucked him into his bed, and he fell asleep just like that with a big smile on his face. Once Ichigo was sound asleep, Masaki went over to Isshin and sat right next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"So," Isshin started in a bit of a serious tone. "Who do you think was the one who attacked you both?"

Masaki sighed. "I honestly don't know. Part of me wants to say it was Aizen, but from the way Ichigo described the zanpakuto the man had, it couldn't be him."

"What do you mean?" Isshin looked down to her.

Masaki raised her head to meet his gaze. "I think it was Kisuke that did this."

"What?"

"Ichigo said the sword the man had was fairly wide with an oval shaped guard and a red tassel dangling off of the end of the hilt." Masaki finished as she held a saddened look in her eyes.

Isshin, for the most part, couldn't believe that his friend would do something like that. To attack his wife and son like that and in broad daylight too. Isshin clenched his fist as he was just about ready to go straight to Kisuke's shop and tear the man apart, but that thought went away once Masaki placed a gentle hand on his fist. He looked back to her and saw her stern yet calm eyes and sighed, unclenching his hand.

He placed his forehead onto hers. "And here I thought the only ones who I would have to watch out for were Aizen and a few other captains." He whispered to her.

"I know." She gently squeezed his hand, and he returned the gesture in kind.

Aizen's hidden lab

Aizen sat in his chair as he was watching the family all day. To say he was slightly surprised by what he heard of what Urahara had done was an understatement. Not only had Urahara made himself known and attacked the boy, but he had apparently done so to do the same thing he himself had planned to do. Aizen had heard the report of the mother/son duo being attacked by a masked assailant and even noticed a slight cut on the boys left arm.

Aizen smirked. "It seems you have beaten me to the boy first Kisuke Urahara." He continued to watch the monitors and turned to one of the sleeping Ichigo. His smirk grew ever so slightly as he could see the energy slowly encompassing the boy with each breath he took. "But unlike you, I have a more direct approach to him than you do."

Glad to have this story back on track. Yeah, it's short but I really just wanted to revive it. The next chapter will have more Aizen in it and be longer.

Hope you guys and gals still enjoy this little What If as this Ichigo will be in the crossover later this year. Hope to see ya'll then.

Stay awesome, and as always...

PEACE!