When you mess with fate
Chapter 7
A/N: I do not own Bleach and its characters. If I did... Never mind…
The hiss of reiatsu…
"So, the final vestiges of Yhwach's power have at last disappeared."
"The path is being closed, Ichigo! The path to a world with no fear. The present world, Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo – they were meant to become one. Life and death, twisted and fused together. They were all destined to be one and the same.
"But now, they will likely never happen. You have yourself to thank for that, Ichigo. Sadly, because of all your efforts here, life and death will never lose their current forms and all those who breathe will continue to pass each and every day by living in fear of death... for all eternity."
"Yhwach, you desired a world where fear would no longer be a burden. But in a world without fear of death, people will never attain the hope that is to be found from casting their fears aside and preserving through them. While it is true that people can continue to press forward through the simple act of living, that is in no way comparable to marching forward in the face of death, while doing their damnest to keep it at bay. That is why... That is why people have given that very march a unique and special name: Courage."
"Kazui," Ichigo gasped as he blinked his eyes. The first thing he saw was a blob of black with two stunning violets calling his name repeatedly before it gave way to a head of orange with a worried face.
"Ichigo? Are you alright?" Orihime asked, placing her palm on his cheek.
"Kazui," he repeated before he shoved her aside and rushed up the stairs to his room, both Orihime and Rukia following closely behind.
When they arrived, they found the door to his old room wide open and there was Renji, sitting on the floor with Kazui and Ichika. They were playing a card game and the two kids were laughing at him every time the cards flew from his hands when he tried to shuffle.
They stopped laughing, however, when they noticed the three adults who had just appeared, watching them at the doorway. Renji looked back over his shoulder at his wartime comrades curiously. "Met your son, Ichigo," he said, breaking the silence. "He's definitely a nicer strawberry than you."
Ichigo scowled but disregarded Renji's teasing immediately. "Has he been here all these while?"
Renji furrowed his brows as he nodded.
"Anything... weird happened?"
The redhead shinigami shook his head, looking puzzled.
"Is there something wrong, Ichigo?" Orihime asked, touching his upper arm gently.
It took a while but Ichigo finally replied, still staring at Kazui who was looking back at him innocently. "Nothing's wrong. Just thought I..." he said, glancing to his other side at Rukia.
"What?" she asked, raising a brow.
Ichigo sighed as he shrugged. Orihime dropped her hand at his motion. She was concerned, but years of living with Ichigo taught her that even if there really were something bothering him, she would be the last person he would confide in. In the past ten years, Isshin had become the person he would always turn to. But now that the older Kurosaki was gone...
"Let's all go downstairs for dinner," Orihime uttered, inwardly sighing when no one seemed to be saying anything. "Yuzu-chan has prepared some of your favourite dishes, Rukia-san. And you can try my very own strawberry shortcake for dessert."
Ichigo's eyes widened in horror as he followed Orihime down the stairs. Kicking him in the shin, Rukia glared at him. He was about to curse at her when Renji cleared his throat behind them.
"Erm... Not sure if you've noticed but there are kids around. Take it somewhere else, please," he gritted the last word between his teeth.
"I thought I saw Kazui's hand reaching out to this black hole or something when I passed out earlier," Ichigo told his former soul reaper partner.
They were sitting on the roof of the clinic, a bottle of Sapporo in hand. Orihime had excused herself to put Kazui to bed. The twins were playing video games with Ichika. They were quite fond of her as Karin found that the two of them had so much in common. Yuzu felt like she saw a little sister in the girl.
Mizuiro had left earlier with a drunken Keigo in tow. The latter was never good at drinking but he had wanted to show off to Rukia. Needless to say, the end result was not in his favour as he was picked up by both Renji And Ichigo, and thrown out of the house when he tried to squeeze into the love seat that Rukia was sitting in.
Tatsuki had gotten Renji to spar with her in the middle of the empty road in front of the clinic. She was a bit tipsy, that Renji knew. But he thought he'd give Rukia and Ichigo some time alone to catch up. They needed it. He knew there was really nothing they could both do to change whatever was going on in their lives now. But they still needed this moment, for old time's sake.
"I think what you saw was Yhwach's reiatsu," Rukia commented.
Ichigo snapped his head to the side to face her. "How..."
"I saw it too. And I heard the voices – Aizen's and Yhwach's. I don't know how but I did," she said.
"Do you think it has something to do with how we used to share reiatsu?" Ichigo mused aloud.
Rukia shrugged. "Who knows..."
"Are you going to find out?" he asked.
She released a sigh before taking a swig of her beer. She pondered upon the vision they both had. There was nothing they could do about it even if they did find out what it was all about. She knew, from years of experience as a shinigami, what researchers like Kurotsuchi and Urahara would probably say – that it had something to do with the string of fate or bullshit like that... which really, really means peanuts to them at this point of time. They were both 'married' to other people. It was best not to dwell upon anything that would complicate things. "Nah," she replied, shaking her head. "It's probably just the effects of his remaining reiatsu that caused us both to see the same thing. Who knows, maybe Uryuu, Chad, Orihime, and Renji did, too."
"No, they didn't," he disagreed, narrowing his eyes.
"How would you know? Did you ask Orihime?"
Ichigo gaped. "Well, did you ask Renji?"
"He was with the kids. They would've said something if he had gone into a trance like you did," she explained. Or at least she thought she was explaining.
"You weren't in a trance but you saw what I saw," he argued. "And that just proves my point that no one else saw what we did."
"That's different," she countered, not too sure what she was talking about anymore.
"You do realise we're just agreeing to disagree, right?"
That shut her up as she realised that he had caught her spout of nonsense. She just wanted to retaliate at everything he said. It felt familiar that way – like they were bickering as they always did – and it calmed her nerves.
"No, we're disagreeing to agree."
Ichigo huffed. He was beginning to wonder if she had deliberately come up to the rooftop to avoid talking to him. Either that, or she knew he would look for her here and she had been waiting to pick a fight with him. Kuchiki Rukia and her defiance against him.
"What is it?" he finally asked, getting tired of the cat-and-mouse game they were playing.
Shrugging again, she answered simply, "Nothing."
"Oh, come on. I know you're not one of those women with the hidden message dialogues," he urged.
Rukia sent him a glare. "How would you know if I wasn't one?"
"Because you were not like that ten years ago," he reminded.
"Well, ten years is a long time, Kurosaki. People change."
"Rukia," he almost growled. "If this is about… You told me to get married. You told me to live a normal life..."
"Yes, I did. And I'm glad you married Orihime. She's by far, the most wonderful woman in the world. I don't think you could've done better," she assured with a genuine smile.
Amber eyes gazed into her violet ones to read into the soul behind those enchanting orbs that still captured him like nothing else ever could. Ichigo understood what she was doing. Rukia did not want to talk about it – their past, that is. And whatever that had happened during his one-month stay at Soul Society before he came back to the human world... before they sealed the senkaimon. She didn't want to talk about it because there was nothing they could do about it and bringing it up would only complicate things between them.
As miserable as he was going to be, he would have to respect her wish. She's married to Renji and they had a kid together. And he, too, was married – albeit 'for the wrong reasons', as his father had said – and he had a duty to fulfill as a husband and father.
Ichigo nodded slowly to show that he understood now, and Rukia's smile grew to show that she was grateful that he didn't press on. Their mind-reading connection came in handy at times like these. She was glad they were on the same page. So much had to be left unsaid but it was for the best at the moment.
After ten minutes of staring at the starlit sky above them in silence, Rukia got up to check on Ichika. She said it was time for them to leave anyway. Ichigo nodded and climbed down after her.
When Rukia went into the clinic to get Ichika, Ichigo found Renji standing at the lamppost across the street. The former shinigami took long slow strides towards his friend. They had not really spoken much to each other that evening.
"Tatsuki told me about it," Renji said when Ichigo was within earshot.
The other man shoved his hands into his pockets, his jaw clenched as he glanced up at the sky before making eye contact with Renji. "How much did she tell you?"
"That Kazui isn't your son and the reason why you married Inoue was to take care of them."
Ichigo nodded, despite feeling annoyed with Tatsuki's inability to keep her mouth shut. He sighed, "Yeah."
"So have you told Rukia?" Renji asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
The shorter man shook his head and Renji understood that as, 'No, I haven't and please don't mention it to her yet.' He could see the same stubbornness in Ichigo that he always saw in Rukia. It frustrated him but as a third person, he couldn't do anything about it. The two idiots would someday realise that the walls they had been building to protect themselves and each other would eventually collapse. And that's going to be one hell of a fixing to do.
There was something that I wanted to say for this chapter's A/N but it seems that it has gone AWOL on me. With so many things happening lately, I'm just too tired to think properly.
Anyway, as mentioned before, this fic is like a redemption fic for 686. I'm just filling in the gaps and hoping to give a better future to our OTP while at it. After this, I'll get back to Loosely and then, maybe do an AU, which I wrote a few months back but have not published.
I'm going to rest for a while, now that all the crazies are over. Hopefully, after a couple of days, my mind would be clear enough for me to start the next chapter. The 'ten year after Yhwach' flashback is over. So we will go back to after Inoue's death.
*Yawns* Good night.