When you mess with fate
Chapter 3
A/N: I do not own Bleach and its characters. If I did... Never mind…
Five years after Yhwach...
Ichigo ran up the neverending hill towards his mother's grave where he would be meeting his father. The old man had sent him a text earlier to tell him to go to the cemetery because there was something important he needed to discuss with him. Incidentally, he also had something to tell his dad.
When he arrived at the top of the hill, Kurosaki Isshin was standing before his wife's tombstone, puffing a stick of cigarette. This was something he did whenever he visited her.
"What is it, Otou-san?" Ichigo asked. He always made sure to sound like he didn't want to be near his father.
Isshin turned around, unfolded a canvas chair next to him, and gestured for his son to sit down. Ichigo silently did as requested. His father looked like he was in a serious mood at the moment. The doctor remained quiet until he had finished the stick. He threw the cigarette butt on the ground and crunched it with his black leather shoes.
"My gigai is failing, son," he said, breaking the silence.
Ichigo frowned. "What do you mean, it's failing? How can your gigai fail?"
Isshin crossed his arms over his broad muscular chest. "Ever since we came back from Soul Society five years ago, this body has been trying but failing to keep up with my drastically increasing power. When I first got it, I had no power at all because I gave it all up to save your mother. But now, this vessel cannot hold the amount of reiatsu that I have acquired from the war."
"So get a new gigai. I'm sure Urahara-san will be able to come up with something, right?"
The older man shifted in his chair to face his son. "Do you see the deterioration of my gigai?" he asked waving a finger in a zig-zag over his face.
Ichigo studied his father for a brief moment. He had never really looked at the former shinigami captain because most of the time, he was always so fucking annoying. But he could see now, how his tou-san had aged. There were new lines on his face which Ichigo was pretty sure weren't there when they first got back five years ago. There were also shades of white above his ears and at his hairline above the forehead. Even though Ichigo had never really noticed all these, he was still certain they were never there before.
"I have quite a few regular patients and we have neighbours who would notice if I put on a new gigai. I'm supposed to be a human and humans are supposed to grow old. It would be weird if I discarded this one for a new body," Isshin explained.
"So, what are you going to do about it?" Ichigo asked.
Isshin smirked. "I'm going to have to die, of course. Kisuke had warned me about this. He wasn't too keen on letting me come back. But I wanted to see Karin and Yuzu become adults. I wanted to hold my first grandchild. Not sure if I can get that from you, now that you and Rukia-chan didn't work out."
They were both silent for a while, just staring at the inscription on Masaki's headstone. Shiba Isshin had become so much more human after he married her. He had human feelings and human desires. It seemed like such a waste of a human life if one did not live to watch their children grow up, or see their grandchildren run around the house and be able to spoil them with love.
"I'm trying not to let this body die yet. Kisuke is coming up with something temporary to help sustain it but that's all it's going to be – something temporary. I'm hoping it won't crash too soon. Otherwise, my soul would just be roaming around idle in the human world until the senkaimon can be opened again."
After Yhwach was destroyed, his massive reiatsu still lingered in Soul Society. It was seeping through the senkaimon in small amounts. The shinigami had found out that the energy would eventually cause destructions to the human world if they did not stop it from entering through the gates. That's when Kyouraku Shunsui, the soutaichou of the Gotei 13 issued a decree that the senkaimon was to be sealed until such time when Yhwach's reiatsu had completely disappeared.
With the senkaimon closed for an uncertain period of time, no souls would be able travel between the human world and the Soul Society. A small gateway for souls with very minimal reiatsu was made so that the purified plusses from the living world would be able to go through to Soul Society. This gateway could not accommodate anything of a shinigami level. Hence, no one from the other side would be able to come through to the living world. There was no way for Isshin to go back to the Seireitei if his gigai were to give way ahead of time.
"What are you going to do then when you go back to Soul Society? Annoy the shit out of every captain?" Ichigo asked. Somewhere deep inside, he knew he would miss this old man when he's gone. But he wasn't going to tell him that.
Isshin chuckled. "I have a clan to run, Ichigo. Have you forgotten that we're from a noble family as well?"
At the word 'noble', the image of a certain midget crossed his mind. Her beautiful smile, her giant violet orbs, her smooth fair skin framed by midnight black locks, the platinum ring with the amethyst stone on her finger, the tears that pooled in her eyes, the way she said his name, their painful goodbye they didn't dare to voice...
"If fate was on our side, would you have married me?"
"Continue your studies. Get a job. Date. Marry a human girl. Have a bunch of kids and live till you're old and grey before you die a happy death."
"You're asking too much of me..."
Ichigo shook his head as he squeezed his eyes shut. Those memories still hurt. I can't believe she wants me to get married. I can't believe she wants me to have the life and death of a human before I cross over to see her again. What if I don't see her again?
Isshin sighed, "You're going to see her again, son."
Ichigo didn't realise that he had verbalised his thoughts.
"Your soul is not a normal human soul. You're a shinigami and you will most likely not end up in Rukongai when you have passed on," his father continued.
The 23-year-old young doctor cleared his throat before speaking up again. "I've decided to marry Inoue, Dad."
Isshin turned to look at his son with a raised eyebrow. "Are you serious? You just had flashbacks of Rukia not two seconds ago and now you want to marry Inoue?"
The orange-haired young man huffed in annoyance. "Rukia told me to get married and live a normal life before I die. She asked me to 'do it for her'. I wish she didn't ask that much of me. It's crazy, I know. But..."
Isshin eyed his son accusatively. "Did you knock her up? Is that why you're..."
"I did not knock her up, old man!" Ichigo growled.
His father burst out laughing. "I'm just teasing you, Ichigo. You're still a prude like before. Boy, you've got to learn to relax a little."
If only you knew, Dad, he thought. But it's definitely best you didn't. "We're talking about a marriage here. It's serious business. And before you start speaking again," Ichigo paused, putting a hand up. "Inoue is pregnant. The father of the child left her. She's alone, without a family. I thought I'd take care of her and raise the child as my own."
Isshin stared at his son's face as if he didn't recognise him. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, coming from you, son."
"What is so ridiculous about it? The child needs a father so I'm making myself available."
"It's that simple, huh? Just making yourself available. Like you said, marriage is a serious business. I know you will never be able love Inoue because Rukia will always be the one you're hiding inside there," his father said, poking Ichigo's chest a couple of times. "You'd better think carefully about this." The older man paused to let him process what he had just said.
Ichigo bit his lip in agitation. He just wanted to get his life over and done with, do what's required of him, carry out his 'duty', and then get the hell out of here to run back to her. But that would only happen when the senkaimon was opened again.
"Son," Isshin sighed. "I can't stop you if you insist on marrying Inoue, even though I know you are doing it for the wrong reasons. But once you have done it, you have to really treat her as your wife and take care of her until death takes one of you. There will be no turning back, even if, by some miracle, Rukia-chan comes back to the world of the living. You have to stick to your vow. Do you understand me?"
Ichigo's fists were clenched in his lap. His brows crunched as he swallowed. It's been five years and there hasn't been any news from Soul Society, he thought. He had visited the Urahara shoten many times to ask him if there were any messages and every time he would leave the place disappointed.
Maybe she really wants me to move on. Maybe she really wants me live a normal life and forget about her.
Ichigo nodded. "I've thought about it. I'm going to do it, Dad," he said.
Isshin sighed again as he got up and folded his own chair. He gave his son a firm squeeze on the shoulder before leaving the cemetery.
Three chapters in less than a day. I've had some encouragement (NieveDrop!) and every time I get asked a question, I just want to quickly get this fic out, otherwise I might spoil it before the end.
Please bear with me if you find any parts of this fic frustrating, or if I'm giving you the urge to strangle some of these characters.
Ichigo is quite lost here. He doesn't really know what is right and what is wrong. He just wants to quickly live this life and cross over but then, he knows it's not as simple as that (with the whole Yhwach's reiatsu thing and Rukia's plea for him to be normal).
I'm also trying to point it out to everyone, (dreaming of pointing it out to Kubo and SJ) that an earth-bound Kurosaki Ichigo and a non-shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo is a dead Kurosaki Ichigo.
So just hang on till the very end, aight?
Oh, and if you find any parts of this fic familiar, it is because it's a continuation from Don't say goodbye. If you haven't read it, you might want to give it a go before you continue with this one. Not necessarily important as I'm including snippets from there for new readers, but it would give you a better understanding. Somewhat.
Thanks for reading!