Sorry this is late, I was working ahead and forgot that I was supposed to update this weekend .
Chapter 2: Dawn of a New Moon (暁新月)
Kuchiki Rukia shook quietly against the wall as the odd family capable of seeing spirits like her rushed to their fallen member. Their cries of distress made guilt flash through her though she could not help but let an emotion closer to terror dominate her mind. After all, despite everything, even the family's worry, the teenager was alive; if in shock and exhausted. And what a terrifying thing it was to know that something with that much power was completely and utterly exhausted.
Rukia knew it was a risk, this whole borrowing power thing. It was best known to Rukia by the illegality of it rather than the process, but with her shoulder obviously cracked and the Hollow right there, the unseated officer could not afford to worry about the legality of it especially with the horrifying thought of the hollow gaining the powers of this spiritually powerful family. But she could not understand what happened with her power. Rather than half of her power, the boy ended up sucking in all of it; Sode no Shirayuki gone from her mind with a yelp of surprise. At least Rukia could still feel her Zanpakutō connected to her, but the sword and spirit was as unreachable as the rest of her power.
This did not even cover the whole of the oddity of what just happened. The boy's power after absorbing Rukia's Shinigami power leapt so high she could feel it through the warding. It felt small, relatively, but she knew that was a lie because she could not feel a Menos class Hollow through the wards. This probably was symbolized in the boy's shihakushō; in addition to what one would normally expect on a Shinigami, the boy had a white with red and black swirls kote with red ties with matching sune-ate with white and red wrappings on his thighs and arms just past the shoulders. The sword would not have surprised Rukia if it was his own; longer than the average katana in the gray area between a daito and a ōdaichi, but if he had taken Sode no Shirayuki in her entirety, he should have been using her. The sword he was using had some elements of her Zanpakutō in its appearance, but was ultimately not.
The fact that he remained in his body might not be anything of note, after all Rukia had never done this sort of thing before. And his skill in wielding the blade could easily be explained with training in the living world. But his speed could have easily have been a shunpo, and that power he released at the end that made even her, a Shinigami, feel like she got a sun burn from the sheer purity of it was what teetered her at the edge of awe and complete terror. No human should be able to do that. No human could.
Rukia flinched at the glare she received from the dark haired girl the boy, Ichigo (not Kaien, no matter how he acted, it couldn't be Kaien, it was too soon for him to have been reincarnated by the time this child was born), had referred to as Karin as the father moved the shivering boy back through the broken wall. It wasn't her fault! She was doing her duty; she told him the risks, why did everyone who cared for her die?
"Wow," an unknown man said from behind her with exaggerated amazement. A quick turn showed him to be a blond with a green striped bucket hat with and a green based traditional style of clothing. He swung a cane that did not feel like a cane in one hand. "You never actually feel anything from over here. I wonder what happened." The man sighed and turned back the way he came almost negligently. "Doesn't matter right now, I suppose. Their Calvary will be here in moments and the moment they hear that a Shinigami was involved, well, I wouldn't want to be a Shinigami in an easy to reach place. Perhaps we could talk more at my shop? I have a number of items available for the stranded Shinigami to peruse through."
Rukia opened her mouth to protest, but knew that in her state surrounded by people who could see her and could do damage to a hollow (even if it was not lasting damage) was probably unsafe to be around until tempers cooled. Giving one last look at the damaged house, Rukia followed the odd man down the street.
'Please live,' Rukia prayed silently to herself. 'I'm tired of not being strong enough to not kill the people who have gained my respect.'
Isshin felt a numbness in his heart that he had not felt since the early days in the aftermath of Masaki's death as he watched his only son shiver weakly with an unnatural cold under the extra covers on his bed, curled around the wooden ofuda that were still giving a golden glow of power visible to his eyes without any other aid. Ryūken, who had arrived with his son not terribly long after Isshin got Ichigo bundled in bed and figured out that the ofuda calmed the unconscious teen, said that the ofuda were giving off energy that Ichigo was absorbing safely in a way that spoke of his latent Quincy abilities working in full. Or perhaps it was Ichigo's kami acting remotely to keep its promise with the teen. Despite all of the odd things that occurred in his life, Isshin wasn't sure he could handle this anymore.
The truly odd things started after his wife's death and subsequent gaining protection from a creature he had only believed in prior because Masaki had gripped at him when they noticed their toddling first born petting what looked like a normal, if large, white dog, and hissed, 'I have no idea what that is, but it's not normal and very powerful.' Even after they researched the local lore on it and deemed it benign unless angered (and then only aggressive towards adults), Isshin did not trust the creature that he had only the barest of understanding of after having to live in the Living world for years. Not even after his son decided to throw his lot in with it.
Isshin dashed through the forests surrounding the graveyard he just laid his wife's soulless (eaten) remains, panic lodged in his throat as he searched for his eldest child. He could not lose them both. He wouldn't be able to survive; his wife might have been the center of his world after he lost his powers and married her, but Ichigo was theirs, he couldn't lose them both without breaking to the point he would probably just hollowfy on the spot.
As it was, he had to foist his daughters onto Urahara (who had not dared to skip out on this occasion even if Ryūken and Isshin had to stuff him into a proper, modern suit) as Ryūken was on the other side of the service with his parents who bore holes into the remains of the Kurosaki family with blame in their eyes. After all, was it not Isshin who gave Masaki that foolish idea of giving up the arts of the Quincy entirely? Who convinced Ryūken of the same? And then had the gall to keep the children away and not have them taught their ancestry and powers? Regardless of not having any Shinigami powers anymore, this was obviously a ploy of the Gotei 13 to finish off the rest of the Quincy.
There was not a Hollow in the area, it would have been sensed by the Quincy or Urahara quickly, but that did not calm the former Captain of the tenth squad. Ichigo has had the look of horrified shock on his face since he was told that his mother was dead and never coming back that worried Isshin. Isshin had been too numb to act on it at the time, having to prepare a pointless funeral, and felt that it was a conversation that would be better had after the service. But Ichigo vanished in the middle of it, and no one noticed until Isshin turned to try and pull him to the side after it was over.
Isshin knew he had to be the one to find him even if Urahara and the others could use high speed techniques (that was the only advantage the others had as the only thing that could be easily sensed in these woods were actively malicious things like Hollows, everything else was faded like in static), the one who Ichigo needed to be found by was his father. His eldest child needed to know that his father was still there for them even if this tragedy has only proven that promising to always be there was an empty one. Needed to know that he was still loved and wanted and apart of this family that would not survive without him.
Isshin had checked the steep sides first, in case Ichigo was contemplating the value of "accidently" falling off them (one could only truly go over the side on accident if they used shunpo as the cliffs had defined edges between the tree line and the drop for anyone to see in time at normal speeds), and did not find anything. He then checked through the woods to the top of the mountain where the great Konohana tree, the natural wonder of a sakura tree that always had some blooms on it even in the winter, stood alone with a view of Mt. Fuji off in the far distance.
There were no defined paths up this way; construction crews always seemed to suffer accidents trying to clear a way to the top and the old stone path was mostly overgrown and broken. It was not like you could not view it from a distance, its age giving it a size that allowed its branches to casually hang above the tree line that was hundreds of feet away and down the mountain. The tree itself laid in what looks like what might have been a crevice or depression when was first planted thousands of years before, but between the weather and its large roots (that were believed to run deep into the mountain) the sides were worn down leaving only flowers, small bushes, annual grasses, and moss to grow at the peak beside it (or on it). The sight was beautiful and awe inspiring. Most people hiked to the neighboring mountain to a lookout station to view the mighty tree without the hard hike, but the Kurosaki family had hiked up to the tree every spring every year after Ichigo's kindergarten teachers taken his class up at the end of the school year and they fell in love with the view.
But even that long hike seemed in vain as the only living creatures on the mountain was the tree (which always felt more than just a tree, even to Isshin) and the small animals and insects that called the tree home. Isshin had circled the tree three times, calling fruitlessly for his son, climbing over and using the exposed roots as raised platforms to get a better view of the rest of the mountain with no result. Finally dropping himself on the top of ancient stone torī that roots had grown into it (practically fusing the two together) after hours of searching, the former Shinigami began to weep.
"Please," Isshin begged the empty air, unable to believe in much of anything that could be benevolent but desperate enough to want something that would listen anyways. "I just want my son. I've already lost Masaki. I can't lose him too.
"I know asking for the dead to return to life is foolish and pointless," he continued. "But Ichigo is alive! He has to be alive! I love him; maybe I haven't said it enough times this week after Masaki's death, but its true! I just want him back! I won't be sad anymore! I have him, and Karin, and Yuzu; the best gifts I could ever ask for, why would I say I need anything more? Oh, kami! Please! Please just let me find him! Please!"
He continued to weep incoherently for few minutes before a sudden wind nearly knocked him off the torī. Gripping onto the wood and stone tightly, Isshin let shock dry his eyes before being nearly knocked off a second time, some of the flower petals from the tree spinning in front of him. It took a third time of being struck by the wind for the former Shinigami to realize that the wind was not natural as the petals remained as they were in a small vortex of wind in front of him despite the strong force trying to remove him from the torī. Spooked, Isshin spoke aloud at a guess.
"I don't-" he stuttered. "Are you wind, or another force? I can't see-"
Another wind gust blew, but rather than an answer, it felt more like an expression of exasperation. Seconds later, Isshin ducked his head instinctively as a small flock of sparrows grazed his hair with their wings. The birds flew in a circle at the entrance of the overgrown pathway but it took the unnatural wind kicking him off the torī (and it really did feel like someone's shoe connected with his back) for him to realize what they wanted him to do.
"Follow, you want me to follow?" Isshin asked aloud as it seemed to be working. The birds flew down the path a ways, still visible to the former Shinigami. Staggering into a run, Isshin began to follow the birds. "Thank you, thank you!"
Following the birds was not as hard as Isshin would have expected, but then normal birds would not have stopped to allow him to keep up. They followed the main path for a while before veering off onto a sub path that was largely unnoticeable from the main path do to overgrowth, not picking up again until a number of stumbles and crashes through undergrowth put him back on broken stones. The path led east, towards the undeveloped forests and mountains that supposedly held the original settlement for the area before a combination of drought, storm, and the illnesses those natural disasters caused led to the villagers to move to the area that would become Karakura and the surrounding settlements. Tradition said the land was taken by the kami and yokai to make up for something (the detail of what were lost in time) and, while Isshin normally laughed that it was just a description of the beauty of the woods that grew back without people cutting down trees to make farms or cities, the events of the day was making him doubt what he held as truth.
But he has read the spirit tales, has heard all the reasons why a kami or yokai one has probably insulted would help. Isshin was a former Shinigami, a shinketsu, born to the Soul Society; he never honored spirits of the Living world. Heck, the closest they got to worshipping someone was the Reiō, and from what the literature said about him was that he was decidedly not a god. Despite the lore involving the duties of the noble houses, unless the sōtaichō or the Kuchiki clan had information the Shiba clan did not, the gods or kami or however else they are called had nothing to do with Seireitei at all. Masaki, as a born Quincy, was familiar with the myths and things that appeared normal that suddenly hit critical mass of reiatsu and developed its own personality (usually they get identified as tsukumogami), but had not believed or honored kami or yokai, either. The one who seemed to know the most about them was Ichigo, and that was because he could talk to them.
It was a talent that Masaki and Isshin had humored, thinking that the dog-that-wasn't was an isolated incident (like that Komamura guy back before he had left Seireitei). A plus of an animal gaining Shinigami powers as opposed to undergoing hollowfication and, not being normal, remained in the living world in something like a gigai rather than in Seireitei. It was improbable, not impossible. Could probably be easily cleared up, if anyone got up the nerve to ask the sō-taichō about the wolf creature. With Ichigo being the child of a shinketsu Shinigami who lost his powers and has yet to go through any other part of the reincarnation cycle and echt living Quincy (who may or may not also be a new soul), odd instances of unusual powers were to be expected. It was no longer funny when, in the past year, Ichigo revealed a rather heinous child abuse case because he overheard a nekomata plotting vendetta against the parents in the school yard for the child that was suffering had fed it when it had sprained its paw and could not hunt despite the fact it led to the child to get in trouble by doing so.
It became downright serious when Yoruichi investigated, in cat form, and found herself almost completely outclassed in seconds when the cat creature ensnared the shape shifter with, what the former captain was told, a low level binding spell that hit like a level ninety bakudō because, as a Shinigami who could shape shift into a cat, the resonance made the woman laughably easy for the nekomata to handle as the Shihōin princess had no training in dealing with yokai. If her Zanpakutō had not called out to Benihime and had Kisuke come running, Yoruichi could have been killed, or worse, ensnared in a compulsion so strong that it would have made Aizen's little illusions look like carnival tricks.
So all of them opened up books on mythology and began to read; Isshin, Masaki, Ryūken, Urahara, everyone. What they discovered was less than reassuring. The sheer number of creatures that would eat a child for no other reason than it thought the youthfulness of it was tasty or empowering was terrifying. For most people this would not a problem, if you could not see them, they would not look at you in most cases. Ichigo could see them like he could see ghosts and people. Masaki began reiterating 'do not give your name out to strangers that did not wear police uniforms' and added 'even if it looks like an animal'. Ryūken had theorized that these creatures might have been what the Quincy clan had initially been targeting in the beginning and continued in depth research on the subject, leaving behind hollow hunting all together.
But this tragedy happened too soon; they were still only just learning everything they might need to know. He did not even know if whatever spirit that was 'helping' meant good or ill. Could not know for he was still spiritually numb from the wound to his spirit he took years ago; at least Masaki and Ryūken were having discernible luck in using their detection abilities in finding the odder creatures of the world (Ryūken discovered that a crow that lived outside his hospital liked to read that way). Aside from the great tree and the sparrows, what else resided in these woods? Was this help a sign that Ichigo was well but lost? Or was it just a way to inform Isshin of his son's death? Or was this just a means to lure Isshin to his own death? And so panic fueled his feet, keeping Isshin moving even when it seemed like the very woods were trying to reject him from their realm.
It took a few moments to realize that the sparrows had stopped all together, and a few moments more to see why. Just beyond where he stood was a small clearing that held what looked to be a small shrine. It was atypical as far as shrines go; looking to be made of stone and copper first and foremost though the amount of plant growth on it made it difficult to tell, with stone pillars holding up a stone and copper roof that, aesthetically, resembled the Ise shrines the most. But the stone did not fully enclose the small stone alter with it's only having walls that were only half as high as the roof. All other details were lost to Isshin when he noticed what lay in the entrance.
The white creature that looked like a dog, though tradition called it the wolf-kami, Shiranui, rested easily on the moss covered stone; one dark eye open staring at the former Shinigami with what looked like a vague interest, matching ear perked. Curled up against the wolf in a muddied formal suit was a sun hair child whose breathing patterns matched those of one asleep. Isshin nearly choked with relief as he collapsed on the ground. It was only after regained control of his emotions did realize the trap it might be. Wolves were protectors of the mountains, as what lore he and Masaki had read stated when they had gone back through the stories. Beyond that, they were known to take in children abandoned in the woods. They usually said that they were infants, but if Ichigo truly had blamed himself for Masaki's death, then maybe he thought that everyone else did too, and….
"Please, Shiranui-makami," Isshin begged, not bothering to pretend that he had any strength he did not have. "Please, let me take him home. I'm sorry that I did not express myself well enough since my wife's death, but I want my son, Ichigo, to come home with me, now. I won't ever ask for anything else again if I can take him home. I love him and won't be able survive without him. Please let me take him back, please."
Isshin heard a huffing sound from the wolf and looked up, unsure if he was being insulted or not. Shiranui-makami had taken to nudging Ichigo with its nose with a purpose that was hard to determine until it huffed again and stuck its nose down the collar of the boy's suit jacket. Twitching, Ichigo stirred and absently tried to squirm away from the wolf's nose until he needed to catch himself when the wolf stood completely. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Isshin's first born noticed his father.
"Dad?" the nine year old asked, his voice heavy with sleep. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" He began to crawl out from the shrine but was quickly snatched into Isshin's arms. "Dad!"
"Don't do that," Isshin reprimanded, trying not to choke on tears. "Don't run off like that again. I thought I lost you, too."
Ichigo tried to wriggle out of his arms, but Isshin held on tighter as he backed away from the wolf. Inhaling as though he was about to verbally protest, Ichigo paused with a tilt of a head that usually meant he was listening to someone, though Isshin could hear no sounds. "I fell asleep?" Ichigo asked in a way that most would have thought rhetorical. No longer trying to get away, Ichigo pulled himself up higher so his arms could wrap around Isshin's neck and could look in his father's face with a guilt laden look. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to worry you more. I just wanted to get away from the service where it felt like everyone was blaming me for Mom's death."
"What?" Isshin asked with aghast. "I don't blame you! Masaki would never forgive-"
"Not you dad," Ichigo said quickly. "But there were some older people there and it felt like they thought that Mom's death was all my fault, and I felt that it was all my fault, but didn't mean to, and so I ran away. Shiranui-sama says that it wasn't very smart because if I had ended up anywhere else I could have gotten hurt."
"Don't think that," Isshin said bleakly, how could he let his son think that for a whole week? "Even if she died, I'm proud of her. She did what every mother would want to in her situation; die protecting her child. I would never think that. You should not think that."
"I know," Ichigo said with a small voice. "Shiranui-sama said the same thing. And I'm going to learn everything I can to make sure that me and Karin and Yuzu don't see her face to face for a long time so she knows she won."
Isshin sighed as he hugged his son closer, absently noting that soon his son would be too big for this- wait. "What do mean by 'learn everything'?"
"Like Mom," Ichigo answered easily. "Shiranui-sama doesn't know what sect Mom belonged too, but she can tell that she was a powerful miko, even if she hadn't practiced in a while. And I have a lot of power I can use like she could, so Shiranui-sama is going to teach me how she does spells so I can protect everyone now that Mom is dead so she doesn't have to worry about us and be happy in the afterlife."
"Is she now?" Isshin asked warily, eying the wolf that rested easily under genkan of her shrine. "Is it something that's going to be expensive? Being taught by a kami must be worth a lot."
"She says that human money isn't worth anything to her by itself so you don't have to worry about that," Ichigo answered. "I'm going to be paying her back with Praise and other things that I might pick up that she likes."
"Praise?"
"Yeah," Ichigo continued. "Praise, or Kō, is what kami and yokai use. I'll be collecting it by doing tasks for Shiranui-sama so she gets recognition, which makes people believe in her more, which makes her more powerful, and goes on in a loop like that. There is a conversion rate of Kō to Yin that got standardize, so I can still earn a salary, and-"
"You don't need to work," Isshin protested. "I'm able to support us all."
"I know," Ichigo said like he thought his father was being deliberately dense. "But I agreed that I would work for Shiranui-sama anyways and she said that it is something that is probably going to come up when I get older so she might as well add it to the contract now."
"What contract?" Isshin asked, his tone level as he kept himself from hyperventilating. He knew how many stories that involved a contract ended badly for the human, and damn it, this was his son!
"The one that says Shiranui-sama is going to teach me how to use her Tenraifude-ryū in exchange for me becoming her vassal and-"
"NO!" Isshin snapped. Leveling a glare worthy of any captain of the Gotei 13 at the wolf, who was now sitting up regally, and continued, "He is my son. He lives under my roof. I am head of my family and you cannot have him!"
"Dad!" Ichigo exclaimed, his surprise evident on his face. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not losing you too!"
"But you're not losing me!"
The wolf barked, neither ruffled nor fearful of the former Shinigami. If anything, it appeared vaguely amused. Ichigo flushed in embarrassment at whatever the wolf had said and looked like he wanted to duck away to hide his face but instead he said, "Shiranui-sama says that she understands why you are worried, and that she had already reprimanded me for having opened negotiations blindly. She also says that we haven't signed a fully binding contract yet as it has been awhile since she has had to make a contract for teaching and wanted to get a second opinion before making it fully official. Though we have come to a general agreement and swore by it already.
"And, Dad," Ichigo continued plaintively, "I made it so you guys come first, no matter what. So you aren't loosing me. I just want to make sure Mom didn't die in vain."
Clamping down on his desire to break down into hysterics, Isshin addressed the wolf. "The final contract has to be seen by me before he signs," he said firmly. "Ichigo is too young to make these agreements on his own and if there is something I don't like, this whole thing is off, understand?"
The wolf barked again and nodded in a very human manner. "She agrees," Ichigo repeated before burying his face into his father's neck. Isshin decided to not let whispered 'I love you, too, dad' as the sparrows returned to guide them out break him. No matter the tears that fell from his eyes.
The wolf had done as she promised, arriving at the Kurosaki household that following Sunday with a lawyer in tow. The lawyer, a conservatively dressed Kitsune woman who introduced herself as Kimura Kiko, had everything a worrying father would want on hand; general law history of Takamagahara and related realms, how it translated into human society of today, the efforts of yokai integrating their customs and lifestyles into the growing human one, which all related into how they agreed to treat children in the Human world.
That was the defining thing; in the Human World. Because there were strong efforts by the yokai that remained in the Human World to integrate into human society; humans, like Ichigo, who could perceive a yokai as they really were was something of a relief and treasured even if they were on their own and vulnerable. Likely the reason why the boy had been able to convince the nekomata to make its vendetta one that would stick to human laws as opposed to just vengeance. Opposite that, if he crossed into a domain of the spirits, something that his innate powers made very likely, he would be highly targeted as either a potential servant or a tasty snack. Part of what becoming Shiranui's vassal entailed was that he was already in Shiranui's service if he ventured into these areas. So if anyone tried to snack on him or anyone else under his protection (like his family), they were liable to receive retribution from Shiranui herself.
And that protection, hell, the rest of the benefits that Ichigo gave his family by being the wolf kami's vassal was good; a deal that if Isshin was being offered for himself, he would take in a heartbeat for the sole reason that it wasn't too good. Absolute protection for himself and his family, until he is able to defend himself and others from most things on his own, and only until that point. Guaranteed back up in the event that something happened and Ichigo was not ready or able to defend himself or those he was sworn to; logical as attacking a loyal servant of a kami was like an attack on the kami themselves. Training that, if the kitsune's flicking tail and smirking lips was a good gauge, would likely make any strong akuma or vasto lorde think twice about messing with when complete. All in exchange for promoting the presence of a once great kami now only remembered in local folk tales and preforming miracles in her name that would result in a return of the kami's power and extending a protection in her domain that only a human could provide.
But this offer was not being offered to Isshin, it was being offered to his nine year old son. He should not have even been thinking of offering his son up to save their lives (and they were in danger, Aizen was only going to continue to lurk around and interfere with his family, and maybe next time in a more direct way). But Ichigo was determined, and serious, and oh so different than the child he had been just a few weeks before his mother's death, so Isshin asked to have time to think it over, keeping a hold of a copy to deliberate over for the week and invited the kami and the Kitsune back to his house the next week at the same time if it pleased them, or if there was some other time or place to meet….
The two non-humans agreed easily, the kami not having any duties that had time constraints and the Kitsune was on maternity leave (which boggled Isshin until he realized that she really was a lawyer at a human law firm) and therefore had more freedom than she would in a few more weeks. The delay made Ichigo edgy until Kiko explained that it was completely normal thing as they were not in any rush, and Shiranui telling him that Sakuya-hime (who a snickering Ichigo had explained was the kami Isshin had inadvertently called on when he was out looking for the boy) was enjoying scaring off anything vaguely malicious from the neighborhood while the contract was being worked on, so he should not worry about inconveniencing her. So the two creatures left peaceably and Isshin called a meeting at Urahara's shop.
The three exiles, the former Shinigami, and the Quincy had looked through the contract and came to same conclusion no matter what Isshin's conscious said; that they should accept it. All the stories about Shiranui spoke of how kind yet powerful she was, aiding both those who worshipped her and those who were in danger in front of her who never even heard of her with equal measure. Combined they spoke of being capable of many different acts of powers from making flowers grow to banishing demons with holy fire. She would run from town to town, even into territories that would not be friendly towards her to look for a medicine, or a special weapon, or a child's lost pet for very little in return. If there was a kami you wanted to sell a child to (even if that was not what was actually occurring, no matter what Isshin's guilt whispered to him), it was Shiranui for the sole reason than she already considered any child born in the areas of her protection her children and rarely asked more of them than any reasonable parent would.
It did not make Isshin feel better. Not even Urahara's assertion that they were gaining an unexpected and direly needed ally could make Isshin feel better. Not even Ryūken's steady, if still grieving, logic pointed out that his family would at least have as much protection that they had while Masaki was still alive could make Isshin feel better. Not even Tessai's confidence that whatever the kami taught Ichigo would be different enough that Aizen would not see it coming should he attack the boy could make Isshin feel better. Not even Yoruichi's wary but determined promise to follow and observe the lessons the kami would teach the child could make Isshin feel better. Not even watching the spark of joy-in-life in his son that Isshin thought was completely smothered after his wife's death grow again in Ichigo's gradually increasing smiles and laughs as he continued to grow stronger, and happier, safe and healthy, could make Isshin feel better. Not even years and a dead Hollow later did it make Isshin feel better.
A cup of warm green tea was shoved unceremoniously into his hands, startling Isshin out of his dark musings to look up into his best friend's, almost brother, face. "Drink and calm yourself," Ryūken said firmly. "Everyone seems to agree that he'll recover when the sun rises and Shiranui-kami's power peaks." Everyone being the ragtag collection of Yokai, both in human form and not, that came running (or flying) almost as quickly, if not faster, than Ryūken had that were aiding in cleaning up the down stairs as Uryū and a Tanuki were sleeping in shifts in the twin's room for everyone's peace of mind.
"Why such confidence?" Isshin muttered. "Do they even know what is wrong?"
"The analogy I was given went like this," Ryūken began. "Every being's soul makes its own ink. Each day they can either use the ink, or leave it for later. If they use the ink then it will stay used until the conditions for the ink to refill itself are met. For humans, it is eating and sleeping. For Shiranui-kami, whose first power involved the sunrise, it is the rising of the sun. If Ichigo was a normal human, he would have died within moments of releasing that much power and become a Plus. However, by being a Celestial Envoy, a piece of Shiranui-kami's power resides in his soul as well, supplementing his strength like a portion of a river of ink diverting itself into another river."
"If Shiranui's power is currently sustaining him, why is he so cold?" Isshin demanded. "Shiranui's power is warm, especially this time of year."
"Because he used up most of it," Ryūken continued calmly. "He, most likely unconsciously from what the others said, mixed his power with what Shiranui-kami allots him of her power and made a shield of energy around the area that blazes as though she had done so herself. It is only feels that way on the first layer, of course, but it appears to have scared off everything in the city from petty criminals to a small group of akuma that had, apparently, recently snuck in and became convinced that they were discovered. Very powerful and very draining to perform."
"To be frank, Isshin-san, if you hadn't done something as stupid as try and heal him the second you reached him, he still might have died. Untested family energy absorbing abilities aside, his living, even if unconscious, body is burning more energy than he is producing at the moment and if you hadn't shoved what reiatsu you had into him to make the difference until you gave him access to a more potent power, his body would have completely shut down. If it wasn't for the Shinigami's power lingering, which is opposite enough Shiranui-no-kimi's power to cause conflict even when working towards the same goal, Ichigo-dono would probably just appear half dead rather than half frozen," Kiko finished, entering the room with silent foot falls, red furred tail swishing into existence as she walked.
"Police are gone?" Ryūken asked needlessly.
"And very happy that the Kurosaki household is neither wanting to track down the 'hit and run' or in need of animal control," Kiko answered dryly, sipping from her own tea. "Apparently they have had a sudden increase in traffic violations this evening that seem to escalate into higher rating crimes once taken in and would rather be on the streets in case there are any more rather than just add to the number of bodies sitting vigil. Even if it is the night shift that generally likes Ichigo-dono."
"Is the Shinigami's power truly having that much effect?" Isshin wondered.
"It has to do with resonances, a thing that humans generally are not affected by directly," Kiko repeated. "As entities of nature, yokai and kami have times when nature favors us, and times when nature does not. Humans, who are creatures of adaptability and change, can adjust themselves to whatever is needed relatively quickly and survive. Animals, such as foxes and sparrows, can make sure our children can survive a change but often cannot change fast enough to save ourselves. An example of this; if a Kitsune yokai who is used to tropical weather (fire or light) gets trapped in a tundra, any child born there would be born with a more favorable element to survive the tundra (ice or dark) while the Kitsune born in the tropics would likely be unable to survive a second winter do to stress.
"Because Ichigo-dono is a Celestial Envoy in addition to being human, he stands on the threshold of being a kami like spirit and mortal human," the Kitsune continued as she gave the unconscious teen a fond look born out of years of watching out for and helping the Kurosaki family. Isshin probably gave the same look to the ankle biters she called kits. "Generally speaking, it means he receives all the benefits of being in resonance without the usual draw backs in the opposing situations. But Ichigo-dono is currently not living off his own power, but off of Shiranui-no-kimi's power which is, above all things, life, sunlight, spring, and warmth. The Shinigami's power lies in death, winter, and frost. If it were the frost of an icy night, we would risk adding our own power to the volatile mix churning inside as all the powers with in him would be in complete conflict and cancel out entirely, but enough of their power is not fighting each other that it safer to strengthen his body until dawn when his soul's power through Shiranui-no-kimi will recover sufficiently enough for him to actually rest and recover his own."
"Does that mean I made things worse?" Isshin asked, stricken that he may have actually hurt his son rather than aided when he instinctively formed a healing kido with all of the reiatsu he could grasp.
"You, Isshin-san, who is almost as familiar to him as his own heartbeat? No, you did not," Kiko sighed, patting the man on the head like a girl would a fond dog. "The stupidity was more in regards to your own health. I do not know what happened to have damaged you soul to such an extent, and I do not know how you human spirits give yourselves mortal guises when you lose the ones you are supposed to be born to (if you are even yet born to them), but you have only just healed enough to begin regaining your powers. Putting stress directly onto your soul as you did this night could have done a more permanent damage if you had pressed yourself enough."
"You know?" Ryūken said with surprise. As great a sensor he was, the reiraku the Quincy formed when he had checked less than a month ago when Isshin thought he had heard Engetsu in a dream was only just beginning to have red thread back through, not enough to be sensed over the feel of a normal human, yet.
"It is a subtle thing that would not have been noticed if you had not shaped your reiatsu for healing and left lingering traces on your son when we came to check," Kiko explained. "Your soul has more the feel of new growth, the dawning of a new soul, and the spark of a new life rather than death. But it only has energy markers that a soul from the domain most noted for the dead of humans as opposed to this one of the living would have when shaped. So the only thing to explain it is a new born soul born to the Soul Society that has yet to properly enter the flow of human reincarnation and once had enough power to learn how to use it. So a Shinigami that has yet to experience death, but weakened enough to take up life in the realm of the living with little trouble or notice. Not terribly hard to discern with my considerable experience."
"Would you mind keeping silent for the time being?" Isshin asked wearily, leaning against the closet door. "I've always meant to explain, but only when my powers came back. And for a long time it looked like they wouldn't."
"I will not bring it up, but if Ichigo-dono asks me, I will not lie," Kiko compromised. Isshin knew he would not get better than this so he nodded his agreement. "Though at least I now know why our little Celestial Envoy is already more than half way to being a full kami; he was a hanshin from the very beginning."
Isshin and Ryūken started as one. "What?"
The Kitsune blinked at the two men in bemusement. "You didn't know?" she asked in something disturbingly like awe. That was rarely a good sign with the trickster yokai, it usually meant you were about to be the butt of a very spectacular joke and yet to find out.
"There are three types of kami," Kiko began slowly; it was a running joke among the Yokai Ichigo associated with the most that Isshin ended up attracting all of the spiritually (more specifically yokai and kami) deprived to himself. Because of this, they automatically assume that anyone Isshin was friends with that hadn't been introduced by Ichigo, was completely ignorant on such matters. Unfortunately, as far as the Yokai were concerned, they have not been wrong yet. "The first are born solely from instances of nature which gain reverence from their beauty or strength, which include Sakuya-hime and others of the old courts. The second is that they gain much power in life and is held in high regard by followers and opponents alike; this is how most yokai become kami, like Inari-Ōkami-sama of the Kitsune. The third is that they gain power after they die; whether through ancestor worship like with the Imperial family or through whatever you human souls do in your Soul Society to become Shinigami.
"Generally speaking," Kiko continued, reveling in the shell shocked looks on the two humans, "the third manner is the weakest manner to become a kami as, if you are dead, there are limited opportunities to gain worshipers, which add to a kami's base strength. But starting off as the child of third classification? Yes that explains much about Ichigo-dono's nature and the fact that he is already showing signs of having his own resonances."
"Shinigami have resonances like yokai?" Isshin questioned, unable to believe that he failed to realize after twenty years in the living world that Shinigami counted among kami of the living despite their title having the word in it.
Now the Kitsune looked confused. "You mean you Shinigami do not wield different elements or have specific strengths in different circumstances?" Kiko questioned back. Suddenly reminded about Yamamoto sōtaichō and his former third seat, Hitsugaya, Isshin flinched at the likely result of a fight between them.
"No your right," Isshin amended. "I just never thought that way about us because Engetsu is not tightly bound to the elements like others that I know. I wonder if that means if Kaien had ever gained bankai if he'd been able to beat the sōtaichō with resonance advantage despite lacking the experience?"
"Not to interrupt your musings," Ryūken interjected. "But does Ichigo's status of being a hanshin by birth affect your diagnosis of his health now?"
"That really depends on how human Ichigo-dono's late mother was," Kiko stated.
Cupping an orb of his reiatsu, the Quincy held it out for the Kitsune to inspect. "She was as human as I am," Ryūken answered. "We were near kin."
Kiko sniffed at the energy and poked at it. "Looks as purely human as you can get in this country," the Kitsune diagnosed. "Maybe something really far back, but not enough to gage by."
"So no change in diagnosis?" Isshin reiterated.
"No change," Kiko agreed. She called back to them as she left the room. "The soup that Mata-san was putting on is probably finished by now. I'll bring some back up for us to force into Ichigo-dono. He is going to need the calories."
It must have only been moments between the Kitsune leaving the room and returning with a bowl of soup and a number of implements to force liquid down an unconscious patient's throat, but without conversation to sustain him, Isshin could feel time slip from him again as he watched his son helplessly shiver. At some point after the teen had a whole bowl of soup poured into him and Kiko took all the lingering dishes away, Isshin must have drifted off while standing because the former Shinigami was suddenly jerking awake as Kiko checked on Ichigo again; the orange and pink light of dawn peaking over the horizon. Ichigo was no longer shivering.
"Is he-"
"I believe that he is improving," Kiko interrupted. "If a lower-mid-grade fever is an improvement."
"Shiranui-kami has a higher than average temperature," Ryūken stated tiredly, shifting in the chair he must have taken up after Isshin fell asleep. "It is possible that is only seems like such to us because Ichigo has yet to regain his own power. Did not his base temperature rise after become Shiranui-kami's student?"
"It did by a degree or two," Isshin replied uneasily, moving to place his hand on his son's now fever warm forehead. "I still don't think it being up this high is normal if he isn't fighting off an infection."
"Perhaps just the next stage of shaking off that shinigami's power," Ryūken said with a tired sigh. Isshin guiltily wondered if he got any sleep though the former Shinigami did not feel all that rested either.
"That does seem likely," Kiko agreed, seemingly little worse for wear after a night of, presumably, being more active than either of the two doctors. "In any event, Ichigo-dono is actually resting now. As long as we keep an eye on his fever, he should be recovering soon. Am I to assume that you are not going to be all that useful until then, Isshin-san?"
"Probably not," Isshin agreed, idly running his fingers through dampening orange hair as the teen slept with a small frown.
"A good thing I already left a memo for my firm that one of my clients was going to be occupying my time for the rest of the day," Kiko said decidedly. "Do you think that my medical license having expired almost forty years ago will cause a lot of problems in the clinic today?"
"Don't mention it and fall back on being a nurse if pressed," Ryūken suggested. "Do you mind if I use your bed for a couple hours of decent sleep, Isshin-kun?"
"No, go ahead," Isshin replied, grabbing the chair Ryūken just vacated. "I'll be here if you need me. Will one of you wake me up before the girls leave for school?"
"Of course," Kiko said with a small smile. "I'll go familiarize myself with your clinic until it is time for everyone to wake up. Good sleeping boys."
The two other adults left Isshin alone with his sleeping son after this. Morosely, Isshin dropped his head onto the edge of Ichigo's bed and held one of his son's hands. "Get better, Ichigo," Isshin said emptily. "I don't want to not be able to see you anymore." He was in a restless sleep in moments.
shihakushō- work uniform. in the case of shinigami it is their black outfit
kote- a type of hand-arm guard in Japanese armor. (think a combination of hollow ichigo [pre-Ulquiorra] colors and Shiranui colors)
sune-ate- a type of foot-shin guard, i think it takes the place of grieves. (think a combination of hollow ichigo [pre-Ulquiorra] pattern and Shiranui pattern)
daito-"long sword"
ōdaichi- what i would call a "stupidly long sword", like sephiroth's sword in ffvii
torī- the red arch in Shinto
shinketsu- 'pure blood' shinigami, in this case a new born soul. in this story, if shinigami has a child, it is considered to be a shinketsu even if tite kubo has yet to confirm or deny whether or not a shinigami can have a child who is someone's reincarnation.
tsukumogami- a item that becomes self animated and a yokai after 100 years
nekomata- fork tail cat or two tailed cat yokai that is closer to the evil ed of the spectrum than the gray-to-good. can shapeshift, control dead souls and corpses, make fire, other magic things to torment people.
makami- a term of address for wolves who die and become kami or yokai afterwards. Isshin uses this term because at the time he thought that Shiranui was a wolf equivalent of a shinigami not a nature kami.
genkan- and entry way
Kō- the japanese word for the praise earned in okami. more on the exchange system in later chapters
no-kimi- an address that is considered archaic form of 'my lady' that was used in feudal japan to refer to lords or ladies of the court. while normally used nowadays the same as "she is such a princess" or "my beloved _", Shiranui's status as a minor goddess form of Amaterasu means that she is automatically a 'lady of the court' and so is a valid honorific to denote respect rather than an insult.
dono- 'my lord/master', in this instance it is more similar to a 'Sir Knight' than 'master of the manor, etc.'
hanshin- demigod, bit can also mean rebellious spirit. according to 'Azumanga Daioh', if you see a toy one at a fair, it is like finding a shrunken head in terms of weird/creepy level
***********Spoilers to manga bellow**********
I would like to make it clear that I started writing this before all of Isshin's flashback ark was finished so there are divergences but it shouldn't be to bad to work around. as for the latest chapter, I don't care if what Tite Kubo used as an explanation makes sense or not, I already set up a system for why there was a Hollow in Ichigo's soul so Zangetsu-oussan can stay Zangetsu-oussan. a hint, it involves mythology.
Also, sorry if Isshin is a bit OoC. I'm trying to make it so that everyone else sees him as only a goofy parent, but Isshin was a Shinigami captain; he has to at least be serious to himself and his allies if his eldest child just did something approaching heroic sacrifice (or maybe it is heroic RSoD?). Besides, while I doubt he will ever be a purposeful social butterfly, in this story Ichigo had a reliable authority figure after his mother's death to keep him from becoming completely introverted and punkish which leads into him trying not to take offense at everything weird by human standards. Though he still scowls when he is thinking or feels insulted, so don't worry.