AN: More warnings for violence and offensive language in this chapter.
Over two months have passed and Ichigo is congratulating himself for the improvements he has made with his psyche. After a rough couple of weeks when he kept 'forgetting' about his alters, Ishida eventually drilled it into his head. Now Ichigo recognizes that most of those weird thoughts that seemed to come from nowhere were actually spill-over from Shirosaki, Tensa, or Zangetsu. He hasn't had a black-out or a switch since that auspicious day in Ishida's office. Moreover, Ichigo has grown to notice when switches are more likely to occur: during moments of great stress or panic. Armed with this knowledge, Ichigo is learning to fight his alters' influence with the armory of Ishida's calming techniques.
All in all, he can't complain.
In a perfect world, he could attain mental health and a boyfriend at the same time. Unfortunately, he has chosen the former in order to spare the latter. Just the idea of Ishida suffering any misfortune because of him—as all of Ichigo's exes have—is unbearable. When Ishida had stood drenched and shivering in his apartment and admitted his feelings for Ichigo, he almost lost it. Though a part of him had fantasized about it, he never really believed it was possible. The fact that Ishida likes him back nearly ruined him in the best way. But he knows he couldn't do that to the one person who has given him so much for so little in return. Better he get well as soon as possible and get out of Ishida's hair so he can get on with his life without Ichigo.
It's been working well enough so far. He asked Ishida to be his psychiatrist and that's exactly what he has been. Though they're friendlier than they should be, as usual. At least they're not spending half their sessions making out, as Ichigo's mind likes to idly imagine. Sometimes Ishida calls him out on his dirty thoughts. Hiding a smile and telling him to focus on the current topic or exercise. Sometimes Ichigo does it for the knowing little smirk alone.
Aside from avoiding criminal acts and unnecessary aggression, Ichigo's personal relationships have been improving. He spends less of his free time staring at his apartment ceiling from the flat of his back and more time with his family and friends. Yuzu is pregnant. Karin is considering adoption. Old Goat-Chin is ecstatic to the point of tears daily. Chad has a new job and Mizuiro is engaged. Tatsuki is entering grad school next semester and Keigo is finally starting that brewery he's been talking about for years. He even promised Ichigo free beer from the first batch. They have all been inviting him to parties and demanding he hang out when they see how well he is doing. Ichigo couldn't be happier for them.
It almost seems too good to be true. Everything in Ichigo's life is coming together now. Old habits compel him to pessimism, waiting for something to go wrong or fall apart. Ishida tells him that's normal but not exactly productive. Ichigo does his best to focus on the good without dreading the bad; it's hard. A task made harder by the negative influences he occasionally encounters.
Celebrating Keigo's venture into the vast horizons of entrepreneurship one Saturday night, Ichigo is enjoying this precious time with his friends. They are 'taste-testing' around the pubs Downtown when they run into the Terrible Trio themselves.
"What's zis?" Ichimaru slurs, sauntering across the street to their group. "Hey, look who I found! Blondie, 'Spic, Dumb, 'n Dumber!"
He snickers heartily at the colorful nicknames as his two cronies catch up to him. Aizen tosses them a contemptuous leer and Tousen sighs disinterestedly. Ichigo still doesn't understand why a racist idiot like this is friends with a blind black dude, but hey—he's not judging. In fact, he is calmly walking around them, trailed by his gang.
"Looks like he doesn't care to play tonight, Gin," teases Aizen. "Too bad."
"Welll…my partic'lar brand o' playin' don't need nobody's consent."
That said, Ichimaru sticks a foot out to trip Keigo as he passes. The naturally clumsy man hits concrete, cutting his palm on some glass in the road. Ichigo bristles.
"You okay?" he asks as he helps him up. Ichigo knows better than to glare at the culprit and feed his sadistic humor. Instead, he focuses on picking a couple slivers of glass from the wound. "Take my wrist cuff and squeeze tight. We need to wash this ASAP."
"Nurse Ichigo to the rescue," Keigo weakly jokes, complying as instructed. "Thanks. I'm fine."
"Did he just call you 'Nurse Strawberry'?" howls the silver-haired fox-face. He cackles and slaps his knees as they start to walk away. "That is too rich!"
"This is childish," scoffs Tousen.
The man heads off down the sidewalk without his companions. His exit sobers Ichimaru, who follows Ichigo's group. Resolutely ignoring the cretin, he does a quick breathing exercise and stares straight ahead.
"Hey, Blondie," Ichimaru whispers a couple times to get his attention. "Wanna know a secret?"
Sensing an inevitable confrontation, Ichigo purposely slows his pace to let his friends pull ahead. Whatever these assholes have in mind, he doesn't want them caught up in it.
"Go on ahead," he says when they catch on. "I'll meet you in the next one."
"Ichigo…" Chad dissents.
"I've got this."
It's another measure of how far he has come that Chad's response is not a worried frown but a trusting nod. He has faith that Ichigo will manage not to lose control this time. Bolstered by this reassurance, Ichigo waits until they leave before turning on the tenacious pair.
"It's a pretty juicy secret."
"What do you want from me?"
"Your blood on the ground would be nice," Aizen tonelessly remarks.
"I've never done anything to you!"
"Ya sayin' we need a reason to bash a flamboyant pretty-boy strollin' in our turf without a care?" Dropping the false smile, Ichimaru's narrow eyes crack open a fraction. "Told ya before, didn't I? Yer kind's not welcome here."
It's not the first time he's been slammed with pointless bias-based hatred. Ichigo has always had oddly-colored hair and a bad attitude. But this seems almost personal. It's possible Ichigo has done something to them—as Shirosaki—and forgotten about it. No matter how long he tries, some memories remain hidden from him. There's nothing he can do about that now, though. The best thing he can do is defuse the situation before it comes to blows. He's not sure he can keep it together if it does.
"Fine. Then how about I take my 'kind' and get the hell out of here. Will that work for you?"
"Nah, 'fraid not."
"We've already warned you once. Now it's time for punishment."
With a swipe fast enough to blur in the dim lap light, Ichimaru aims a strike at his stomach. Ichigo dodges that, plus another thrown by Aizen. He skips back a few steps and clamps down on the adrenaline tainting his reason. Ichigo has a second to wonder what Ishida would do in this situation before they're on him again. It takes all of his concentration to avoid their combined onslaught. After a few minutes of this, Ichimaru pauses to laugh.
"Hey, Nurse Strawberry. That secret I mentioned…it's about yer baby sis'."
Ichigo freezes. Both men's smirks widen as their ploy hits the mark.
"The fuck are you talking about?" Ichigo angrily barks. "Don't pretend you know anything about me."
"Oh, but we do," Aizen smoothly steps in. "Your lesbian whore of a sibling has been making quite the splash in certain circles lately."
"'Kurosaki Karin Leads Attack Against Domestic Violence'," Ichimaru quotes from a local newspaper article. "Bitch got my woman to run out on me last month. After I'd spent so long gettin' her juuust the way I wanted her."
Eyes flaring, Ichigo recalls Karin mentioning this person, Matsumoto Rangiku. She said she'd been getting beaten for years, too afraid to tell anyone until Karin's speech on a news station inspired her to seek freedom. They're close friends now. Working together to overcome similar issues and help others suffering the same pain Rangiku has. To think a piece of scum like this dares to show himself in public…Not to mention terrorizing innocent people like Keigo for the hell of it. And who knows what kinds of cruelty this Aizen character gets up to in his downtime? He seems the more enigmatically sinister of the two.
Ichigo hears the disdainful hiss of Shirosaki's rage echo in the back of his head. Feels tendrils of unforgiving ferocity twist inside him. He resists the switch as he has been taught and Shirosaki recedes.
"Though that's not quite the secret, is it, Gin?"
"Yer gonna love this," the fox-bastard grins, dipping low in a faux-conspiracy. "Don't tell anyone but…that lesbo's got a hit out on 'er."
"What!?"
"Well, you say 'hit' but it's more like a personal vendetta," Aizen clarifies. "Gin gets into these moods sometimes…You know how it is."
"I'm gonna kill the bitch," he avidly agrees. "Right after I do you in."
"But Gin is a bit of a pervert."
"Damn straight."
"So he won't kill her right away, to be sure. No, he'll teach her a man's touch first."
"Mmhmm."
"So don't fret."
They keep at it for a while but Ichigo can't hear them anymore. He is too busy watching Karin being cornered by Ichimaru. Held down and raped. Tortured. Murdered. Flashes of his mother's terrified face pepper the scenario. The feel of her fresh blood cooling on his skin. Guttural sounds she had made because she couldn't bring herself to speak. He pictures Karin going through that and Shirosaki's outraged screech cuts into him like barbed wire. Fear and agony settle over Ichigo, a caustic wash eroding his restraint.
Ichigo looks at these smiling men and sees demonic abominations. He sees creatures too evil and corrupt to call human. Zangetsu rumbles things like enemy and battle and instinct. Protect your family. Tensa exudes a silent fury waiting for an outlet to unleash it all. The three alters rage against his hold and struggle to the surface simultaneously. Rather than shove them away, he invites them on board. Consequently, Ichigo is able to use their strength, their resolve, and their combined efficacy to augment himself. In this way, he can access the abilities of each while maintaining his autonomy.
So, when Aizen slips on a pair of brass knuckles and Ichimaru whips out a butterfly knife, Ichigo raises his head and evenly appraises them. Zangetsu draws attention to various openings in their stances as Shirosaki tells him how to block one and strike the other in one fluid motion. Tensa helps him keep a hold on his temper and use it as an extra boost of strength. The result is Ichimaru knocked into the grimy Dumpster behind him and Aizen staggering up against the oily brick wall.
Yet, their shock is quick to transform. They are up and bracketing Ichigo in a pincer attack. He kicks Aizen in the stomach hard enough to wind him. Ichimaru gets a slash in across Ichigo's arm but it's shallow. Shirosaki screams at him for taking the injury, distracting him when Aizen lunges. They go down in a haphazard crumple of limbs. Zangetsu urges him to use his superior torque to throw the man before he can be pinned. Ichigo reverses them and throws a heavy fist into Aizen's cheekbone. Again and again until Ichimaru comes up behind him and presses the blade to his throat.
The knife nicks his skin but Ichigo catches the man's wrist before it can finish the job. Whatever panic and pain he should feel are contained by Tensa's calm resolve. Ripping the weapon away, Ichigo tosses Ichimaru up and over to land hard on his side. Ichigo hears the dull crack of a thick bone under a short shout of agony. Laughing high and wild, Shirosaki whoops in delight. Aizen growls something indistinguishable from the ragged sounds of their breathing, unsheathes a small dagger, and loosely slashes at him. Occupied with assessing Ichimaru, he doesn't notice it until Zangetsu yells an urgent warning. Ichigo manages to jerk back and miss most of it, but the edge catches his upper thigh, close to an artery. His training tells him the wound could become grave if it's not tended very soon.
Standing and taking several steps back, Ichigo watches the two men slowly pick themselves up. They spear him with the most vicious intent to kill he has ever seen. Ichimaru holds his arm with one hand, tightening his fist around his knife with the other, and turns his wince of pain into a deadly sneer. Aizen wipes blood from his cheek and licks it from his thumb.
"You put up a good fight, kid," he praises. "But we're just getting serious."
"Say bye-bye!"
They attack as one, swinging wide and fast. Ichigo tilts and dips and side-steps but it's not enough. Small lacerations accumulate and it's too much like that time by the river. Black, choking panic billows up, cloying and destabilizing. His intricate synchronicity quakes at the core until he loses contact with his alters. Loses track of his own thoughts. Ichigo catches photos of the affair like the erratic flickering of a strobe. Blood loss addles his taxed consciousness as he gasps and gasps and gasps. Ichimaru's scowling face is superimposed with that bone-white mask. Aizen is dripping not the sweat of exertion but the same cursed rain that fell on Ichigo and his dead mother.
Ichigo's eyes slowly close.
