"I'm home." Ichigo said, walking through the front door of the small house where is father practiced his profession. It was a nice enough place, though sparsely furnished, the only decretive thing in the entire place was a painting of Ichigo's late mother in the middle of the far wall.
Though Ichigo had hardly gotten through the door before a foot slammed into his stomach. He took a half step back and lifted up his uninjured arm as a fist came around to smack him in the temple, only barely blocking the hit in time. His head swam as he tried to regain control of his lungs after the first hit. His eyes focusing on the man standing in front of him, Ichigo's own father.
The fist that had tried to hit him in the head opened and grabbed Ichigo's blocking around, tossing him to the floor as it pulled him out of the doorway and into the house. "You idiot!" Isshin Kurosaki shouted as his son while Ichigo rolled back to a crouching position, and grabbed the knee that was aimed for him.
He lifted the knee, pulling his father off balance and sending the man tumbling to the ground. "Shut up! I'm not the guy attacking his injured son, stupid!" Ichigo shouted back.
Isshin glared up at his son, his wide chin, strong shoulder, large hands and dormant nose, as well as his more aggressive tendencies showed his dwarven heritage and upbringing, though he was as tall as any human man and one of the most selfless people you could come across. His black hair was rather greasy and pointed up a bit and his chin was covered in a stubble that never went away, no matter how much he shaved.
"Not when the son was the one stupid enough to get hurt in the first place!" Isshin lunged forward, tackling Ichigo to the ground and the two of them scrappled for a few seconds, exchanging swears in the several languages that the two had gain over their years.
"Enough of that!" The two stopped in a comical position, with a hand on the other's collar and a fist pulled back in order to throw a punch. Yuzu, one of the two twin little sisters of Ichigo was standing over them with her hands on her hips. She was trying for her best scowl, but with her soft features it really didn't have the effect she was looking for. She looked more adorable than intimidating. The apron she was wearing also diminished the attempt.
"He started it." Ichigo said as the two males seperated.
"I should have ended it two." Isshin grumbled, but a cough from the girl silenced them.
"Honestly, you two are so childish." Karin said with a sigh. The second twin was sitting at the table behind her sister. The two couldn't have looked less alike. Yuzu's brown hair was shorter and have a more mousy look to it, while Yuzu's hair was shoulder length all around, mostly to hide the slight point to her ears. Though they did both share the same brown eyes. "At least wait until we have cleaned Ichigo up before you to do this again."
"Fine, you get the bandages, thread and needle. Yuzu, you get him something clean to wear." Isshin said grudgingly. He then grabbed Ichigo's left arm and started to inspect the wound.
Though his hands were large and rough, his fingers were surprisingly nimble as he cleaned the wound. Though he had enough practice. He was the town's healer, though a none magical one, and Yuzu and Karin were both apprenticed under him for the last three year, since they turned eight.
"Dammit Ichigo, how many times are you going to do this. Your risking your life out there you know. I didn't train you so that you could go looking for trouble, it was so that you could protect yourself and your little sisters." Isshin said angrily as he worked, starting on the thread and beginning to sew Ichigo's arm shut.
"If I didn't, she wouldn't have been able to pass on." Ichigo reply came. They had the same argument every time. Everytime someone was killed by a monster, Ichigo would see their restless spirits, and he would talk to them. He would find out what happened, and then hunt down the creature responsible for it. dozens of times this had happened. It had gotten to the point where some people would go to him directly rather than posting on the Witcher's board. Wasn't like there were any Witchers around anyways. At least not as many as there needed to be in order to keep up with it all. "There has to be a reason. A reason for why I can see all this. For why I keep managing to get out in one piece. There has to be a reason I am still alive."
"Don't think like that!" Isshin shouted. "Don't you dare get reckless on me! Go out if you must, but don't think that you are predestined to make it our alive! If you die before I do, I will make sure you never rest in peace! You hear me, boy!" Isshin closed his eyes. "To hell with destiny. To hell with it." He finished tying Ichigo's bandages and pulled the boy up. "Wash yourself off. Having all this monster blood around isn't good for anyone. Besides, tomorrow is..."
Isshin never finished that sentence, though he didn't have to. Both men gave sad looks towards the picture of Masaki Kurosaki. "Yeah... tomorrow." Ichigo said, nodding to show that he understood. The rest of the day passed without a word. The shadow of the day after hanging over them.
It was that day. The day all of Karakura knew to be extra careful on, because if you managed to get yourself in a pickle and needed a healer fast, then you were shit out of luck. You'd find the Kurosaki house locked up tight for the day as the entire family went out.
The Kurosaki males didn't have any formal wear clothes, instead choosing sets of none work related evening wear, while the twins wore their dresses, black to mark the sad memory.
Some people might have mocked them for continuing the ritual of grief year after year, when death and war were the only true constance in the world, but it was dwarvish costume. It was taught by blood to the father and by action to the children. Dwarves only ever take on wife who is to be their last until their dying days. Though should the husbands can hardly expect the same treatment even in life. Leading to the males of the species being overly protective of their mates, convinced that everyone else is trying to steal them, forcing dwarves to try their damned hardest to make enough money to keep the girl's love. Ironic, since most would consider the dwarf girls to be squat and unappealing, and they swear and bite like sailors.
So, eight years after the death of Masaki Kurosaki, the family of four went to the lone hill outside the city boundaries where they had buried her. It was common for people to be buried outside of the cemetery. Most of the people in Karakura never went to the Church of the Eternal Flame anyways, and they were too remote to have less known temples.
They brought tokens and flowers, as well as some of the fruits that Masaki had loved so dearly during her life. They cleaned away the fallen leafs, and poured water over the grave marker. Isshin hummed low tones and recounted short stories from the past to entertain his children and give memoriance to his lost love. Finally they sat there on the hill, silent, each lost in their own thoughts.
Ichigo looked out past the stone, towards the horizen and the sea, remembering the day his mother had died, struck down my a force that Ichigo couldn't have understood and still didn't understand. He remembered the feel of the cold sand underneath him, growing warmer as his mother's blood drained from her body.
He had been pinned underneath her when it had happened. The dark shadows, the bitter cold, the sounds of horses and of turning waves, screams and noises for which he had never found a right comparison, shards of ice littered the area; everything had happened so fast, and afterwards no one on that beach was left alive. No one, save for Ichigo.
That day had haunted him, not only in his own nightmares, but in the waking world. People began to say he was cursed by the events, tainted by the bloodshed there. It had left him with the eternal question that plague him day after day, 'why am I alive?' For what reason had he survived when so many had not. He hadn't been the strongest, or even the most out of the way. In fact, he had seemed to be a ground zero of whatever event had driven the disaster. His mother had been killed, her body cast on top of him, her blood filling his vision. Yet he had remained completely untouched.
Had it been simple chance? A twist of fate dressed up as a small miracle? Or had something else been at work? Did the world require him to live and fate itself shielded him from the disaster? His life was spared because there was something he needed to do.
He had clung onto that belief. That he had something that he needed to do. That there had been a reason that he was permitted to still live. So he through himself head long into the only thing that made sense to him; the spirits. He had always been able to see them, though he had learned to hide this fact from all save his family.
He did whatever he could to comfort the spirits, trying to help them pass on. Later, when monsters became involved, a young boy had been eaten by a hag, Ichigo took up a silver chain and strangled the offending monster to death. Since then, his body count continued to rise as he fought with monsters of all kinds on land, sea and air; hags, kikimora, drowners, harpies, necrophages, a vampire, the list goes on.
He had found that he could sense their presence, that he knew when and how they would attack. He was faster than anyone should have been natural. When so many others would have dead, Ichigo found himself pulled through time and time again.
Yet, he felt no satisfaction in it. He didn't feel as though he was fulfilling his purpose. He simply killed more and more monsters, and after each one he felt a strong pull, something telling him that he had to head North. A few times it had been so strong, that he had found himself standing on the northern edge of the town, staring out on the long road. But it was his family that anchored him to Karakura.
Ichigo was taken out of his thoughts by his dad's hand on his shoulder. "Ichigo. It's time we start heading back home." Isshin said, flicking his head towards where Yuzu and Karin half stood supporting each other as they fought off sleep. The entire day had gone by and the sun would soon be setting.
Ichigo could hear him, but it felt like it was over a long distance. "I... think I'll stay a bit longer." He said, turning his head away. He wasn't sure why he had said it. He wasn't even sure it was him and not someone else using his voice. But he felt like he couldn't leave, not yet anyways.
Isshin looked down at his son with a cocked eyebrow, but soon nodded. "Alright, just try to get home before too long." He said before walking away, helping his two daughters along the path back home.
Ichigo turned back to the grave, resting his head on the backs of his hands. "Mom, I just don't know what I am supposed to do anymore." He said solemnly.
He was there for almost another hour and was starting to wonder just what it was he was waiting for when something caught his eye. Movement near the base of the hill. He squinted trying to make out what was going on as a small figure dismounted for a horse and headed off into the marsh's woods that lay to the south east of the city.
Ichigo frowned, no one he knew in town would have dared enter those woods, especially at such a late hour. Not to mention that the figure look to be no more than a child sitting on the large horse. Standing up, Ichigo moved down the hill towards where he had seen the person entering the woods, his feet moving of their own accord. Once again, Ichigo felt a pull, drawing him in, and this time he could not resist.
