A/N: This story will take place years before Canon. Ichigo will be born about 9 years before he actually does. Thought I would clarify that here.
When Kurosaki Ichigo is first born, the young Kurosaki couple rejoice and find themselves unbelievably happy to have their little miracle. He is their first born son, and they know without a fraction of doubt that he will be special.
Two years- almost three years down the line they remember their proclamation and back track. They did not mean special in this manner.
"Hmmm…" Kisuke hums inquisitively from where he is observing the little baby seated on the floor and seemingly content to ignore the adults for the time being.
"Seriously Kisuke, what's going on?" Isshin asks impatiently. "I've asked Ryūken to take a look, and the only thing he can tell me is that physically speaking Ichigo is not two and ¾ ."
"Well," The blonde begins as he straightens from his hunched form. "I'd have to agree with him. Ichigo has tremendous reiatsu, and it looks like being the first born son of a Quincy and Shinigami -no matter if your powers our dormant or not- has kick started the funny little thing that makes us age at such a slow rate."
Masaki turn quickly to look at the shop keeper with wide eyes that do nothing to hide her fear. "But then that would mean- he's going to age like a spirit in Soul Society?"
Kisuke opens his fan with a flourish and gives them a wan smile that does not reach his eyes in the slightest. "That's the gist of it. I'd wager he'll follow the norm of high reiatsu spirits and age slowly but still noticeably for the next couple years until reaching his prime and stopping."
Masaki and Isshin look at him in horror. It's understandable, spirits in Soul Society can be thirty and still look like children, this is not something they can hide very easily.
They do try though. They don't really have friends that aren't spiritually aware and in the know so it's not like they have to lie to them. The neighbors may prove to be a problem but a memory modification every now and then works wonders. They put off having further children because they can't risk another problem like this and Ichigo needs their attention.
By the time the orange head is six but looks like a three year old or maybe a short four year old, Isshin brings up the topic again and Masaki knows she can't continue lying to herself.
They can't hide forever.
Ichigo is very smart for both his physical and actual age. They explain things very carefully to him, and while it is obvious he is confused over many points, he also understands that it is dangerous for him to continue being with Masaki and Isshin.
Kisuke whips up his very illegal Senkaimon and temporarily changes Masaki's body so she can walk into Soul Society for a week without disintegrating. Isshin writes an introductory letter and Yoruichi escorts Masaki and Ichigo to the rapidly changing Shiba compound as a guide and proof of what they will be telling Kūkaku.
Kukaku is very shocked when the three arrive, but when Masaki takes a deep breath and bows asking- pleading Kukaku to take care of Ichigo, she throws away her surprise and firms her face into a determined expression.
"I have no idea what made you want to marry a nut job like Isshin-ji, but you did so that makes you family and family is always there for each other." Kukaku tells Masaki with a stern tone and a promise in her eyes.
Masaki is relieved and pained in equal measure. She is leaving her son -her little treasure- with this woman she had never met before. Yet it was also easy to see this person was everything Isshin, Yoruichi and Kisuke had told her she was. Ichigo would grow safe and happy in her hands.
The goodbyes are sad, but Ichigo understands and puts a brave front as he holds Kūkaku's hand at the Shiba gates and waves as if he were not crying. Masaki smiles through the event as if she is not choking back sobs herself.
Ichigo does grow safe and happy with Kukaku, Ganju, the other Shiba under the roof, out of the roof and the retainers of the clan. Masaki visits maybe twice a year and those are joyous but heartbreaking occasions for Ichigo -he prefers it though, over not seeing his mom at all.
When Ichigo is ten, he finally looks like a child and not a toddler which is a win in his mind. He's not much a kid mentally anyway, he's serious, diligent, takes his studies with Kūkaku-nee very sternly and sets time to train his katas with Ganju-ni or other Shiba. He sometimes gets teased for acting like such an adult when he's very clearly still a small infant, but he merely bristles through the taunts and vehemently disagrees when his family calls it a pout.
He is also ten when Yoruichi comes to visit without Masaki and brings him interesting yet shocking news.
"Congratulations brat." Yoruichi tells him with a good-natured smirk on her face as she ruffles his already messy hair. "You're going to be a big brother."
A part of him doesn't quite know how to feel about this proclamation, but after a couple days of thinking about it and giving Kūkaku-nee and Ganju-ni sidelong glances, he gets his thoughts organized and decides that while he can't really be in their lives, they will still be his younger sibling and he will protect them no matter what because he will be the older brother for a change.
When he runs up to Shiba Yuichi -the unofficial Zanjutsu specialist of the clan and his second cousin once removed- and asks for training, the older Shiba gives him a laugh, an amused grin that speaks of humoring a younger relative and doesn't expect much when he ushers Ichigo into the dojo.
Ichigo proves them all wrong as he takes the small bokken and doesn't hesitate in executing the katas with an uncanny ease and determination that has more than one Shiba gawking.
They have Shiba in the Gotei 13, but none have reached high enough position to bring glory and power back to their clan. Most of their members had been offed one by one in the last one hundred years, and when their last high ranked member had died -Isshin didn't really die, but no one technically knew that- they had been booted out of the 'Noble ranks' by the foolish C46.
Those from the other four great noble clans knew that whatever C46 claimed, they couldn't just take away a Great Noble rank -that was given by the Spirit King himself! But no matter what fuss they threw it wouldn't make much of a difference and so they waited. Once the Shiba put a clansmen in a Lieutenant position, then they could band against the geezers at C46 and bring their peer back.
Case in point, the Shibas had talent in their clan, but none had reached lieutenant, and none of them had ever been as talented as this baby ten year old seemed.
Ichigo became their hope.
By the time the twins had been born, Ichigo was getting very good at defeating his Shiba clansmen who worked at the Gotei 13 and was becoming even more consistent in his wins. Of course, these were all duels with bokkens -Ichigo held no illusions that he could stand a chance against his family when they used their Zanpaktou- but this showed Yuichi his progress, and before Ichigo was to leave with Yoruichi for the human world to meet his sisters -because he was a big boy now and he could go visit his parents too!- Yuichi handed him his very own Asuchi.
Arriving at Kisuke-ji's shop was as exciting as ever, getting to meet his little sisters was amazing and only renewed his determination to be a great big brother. Seeing his dad after four years was great too but he could have lived without the excessive hugging, seeing his mom's reaction to the Asuchi hanging on his back was not so great.
He wants to show her what he has learned from his cousins, uncles and aunts from the clan and beams as he happily retells his training and lessons. As he excitedly rambles on Masaki's expression slowly loosens until she has no other choice but to smile.
Ichigo is safe and happy which is the important part.
Kisuke-ji offers to act as a sparring partner so Ichigo can present to his parents what he has learned and Ichigo finds himself giving the blonde his patented puppy dog eyes and asks for more training.
Kisuke holds strong for all of four seconds before he folds like a wet paper towel.
Yoruichi would have laughed at how easily Kisuke had caved if the big brown eyes hadn't moved over to her once the blonde caved.
"You'll teach me shunpo too, right Yoruichi-ba-san?" he asks, his expression so eager and innocent that she agrees before she even realizes she's doing it.
All the adults are so busy laughing -Masaki and Isshin- or grimacing -Kisuke and Yoruichi- to notice the small, satisfied and smug smile that curves Ichigo's lips.
Now that he has coerced Kisuke and Yoruichi into training, every other month Ichigo will be in the living world for a week receiving lessons from the duo and getting to see his parents and sisters.
As the years go by Ichigo grows a tiny bit and the twins grow at a normal rate so they all sigh in relief and thank the universe for the respite. The twins don't exactly know they have a brother, but whenever Ichigo is around Karakura he makes a habit of going to the Kurosaki household and checking on his little sisters so both girls sometimes catch a glimpse of 'the strange orange haired kid' that comes and goes as he pleases.
When the twins are nine and Ichigo is nineteen -going on seven physically- Kurosaki Masaki dies.
Ichigo withdraws into himself a bit, but two weeks later he seems to get his wits about him and he shakes off his depression.
"Teach me Bankai." Ichigo tells Kisuke the next time he sees him after the funeral. "Zan thinks I'm ready."
The blonde looks at him inquisitively with pursed lips before asking. "What does Getsu think?"
Zan is what Ichigo endearingly calls the older of his spirits -his Quincy powers in manifestation- and Getsu his white doppelganger -the Shinigami and Hollow.
Ichigo snorts. "Getsu thinks it's preposterous that I don't have it yet."
Kisuke feels instinctively wrong that a little kid like Ichigo knows the word preposterous even know he knows that the orange head is really nineteen -most spirits don't mature this hastily, don't show the sometimes uncanny genius Ichigo easily wields.
"Alright." He says instead and hopes Masaki will not revive to castrate him for teaching her baby boy such a dangerous technique. It gets confusing at times to remember Ichigo is older than the twins when he looks younger now.
Of course the orange head learns Bankai within the limit, and what a powerful Bankai it is. His dual blades were already powerful enough but Ichigo tells him -with a brow furrowed and a weird seriousness plastered on his face as he listens to his spirits in his mind- that his Bankai has phases. Right now he can only reach the first stage -Imachizuki, the Waning Gibbous Moon phase- but the thin black Nodachi that enhances Ichigo's speed is already dangerous enough so Kisuke finds himself wary already of the next moon phase.
Kagen-no-Tsuki -Third quarter moon phase- comes next, and Kisuke almost feels like fleeing or releasing his bankai when Ichigo chases him around the underground training area with an oversized meat cleaver that the orange head swings around as if it were as light as feathers but which splits stone and creates earth quakes when it hits the floor -Kisuke doesn't want to know what will happen to him if he's hit.
Ariake-no-Tsuki -Waning crescent moon phase- looks innocent enough. It's a black bow made out of metal that could probably pass off as a double ended spear in a pinch. Ichigo learns to make different arrows with his reiatsu. Arrows that are so precise and small you don't notice them until they hit one of your pressure points and you find an arm not responding or your reiatsu unreachable. Other arrows are so dense with power they can destroy a town with a detonation that would have destroyed the training area if Kisuke wasn't working full time on getting it sturdier as Ichigo learns more and more of his Bankai.
Shingetsu -New Moon phase- is… Kisuke finds himself blanking out whenever he thinks about Shingetsu. Ichigo merely gives him a sly fox grin when Kisuke wakes up dusty and dead tired but won't speak about it. All Ichigo says is that he has figured out Shingetsu and Kisuke leaves it at that -there must be a reason why his genius mind erased the event from his memory.
Mikazuki -Waxing crescent moon phase- is interesting because Ichigo can use hollow abilities with an ease that does not come outside of Mikazuki. He uses Sonido without thinking, Cero and its variations are deadly and can be worse than the super charged arrows, instant regeneration is a cheat and his hierro is tougher than any steel Kisuke has ever seen.
Jogen-no-Tsuki -First quarter moon phase- is very misleading but the dual knifes that Ichigo gets in this stage are perfect for the stealth he gains as he wraps the shadows around himself and the black mass that Kisuke thought was just reiatsu when he saw the Getsuga Tenshous makes much more sense if he thinks of them as shadows. In this form the darkness wraps itself around Ichigo and it seems he can use the shadows as he pleases.
Jusanya -Waxing Gibbous moon phase- gives Ichigo a deadly sharp scythe that Kisuke has no idea where it came from but the orange head seems oddly content about. When the blonde presses Ichigo decides this stage should be left for now and that no training on it is needed.
Mangetsu -Full moon- is terrifying.
That day Kisuke had observed Ichigo through the choking sensation around his throat and pressing against his body with an inquisitive gaze. Ichigo had a haori that seemed made of shadows, chains wrapping around his arms and chest, red tattoo like lines on his face bellow his now eerie golden eyes and a blue pulsing power originating from his chest. Kisuke had not seen a weapon before he had promptly passed out from the pressure of the reiatsu, but the blonde hadn't needed to see one to know if was a formidable Bankai and not really friendly to comrades.
By the time Ichigo had learned and mastered his Bankai he was twenty-five years old on the inside but eight, maybe nine on the outside. Obviously, no one took him seriously besides his clansmen, and no one knew how powerful he was because he would not put himself in Aizen's radar just yet and so no Shinigami academy for him either. Just by being a Shiba and a baby Shiba, he was bound to attract attention, they didn't want to risk it.
He was still twenty-five but not really when his sisters -his sisters!- barged into the Shiba compound with Yoruichi and another three teenagers Ichigo vaguely knew hot on their tales.
The teenagers took one look at his short form wearing a nice breezy kimono with cute little fireworks and promptly ignored him for some of the older Shiba milling about. Yoruichi gave him a sly cat grin and winked from her position on Karin's shoulder.
Like if Ichigo was going to ignore that.
As the fumbling and ragtag group made their way into the building, Ichigo walked towards the kitchen, asked one of the retainers to prepare tea for eight and walked with the smiling Shiba vassal towards the sitting room Ichigo knew they would be. Emiko -the retainer- opened the panel door after announcing her presence –"Ichigo-sama and Emiko are here with tea Kūkaku-sama"- and waltzed into the lounge to serve.
Kūkaku took one look at his occupied hands carrying the tray and snorted before gesturing towards the open seat beside her.
The teenagers look baffles that such a little kid is allowed to sit in on the very adult and serious discussion, but Ichigo gives them no reason to deny his presence as he sits stoically at Kūkaku-nee's side and drinks his tea with an elegance that seems to disturb the brats even further.
Once they are done explaining the situation, Ichigo turns to look up at his older cousin and gives her The look™.
"What?" she snaps back with unease as his eyes intensify. "You're father would kill me."
Ichigo snorts but does not relent. "Don't be a hypocrite."
Kūkaku winces but complies. "Fine. You keep an eye on the brats, if anything goes wrong, it's your fault."
The teenagers still look confused but Yoruichi is definitely laughing on the inside.
"Of course Kūkaku-nee-sama." He teases and finds glee in the way her expression twists. He turns back to look at the other occupants of the room and nods in greeting. "Apologies for not doing so earlier, but my name is Shiba Ichigo and I will be your chaperone and observer for Sereitei."
"What?" Karin characteristically explodes first. "You're just a brat, you can't come with us!"
Ichigo finds his smile freezing on his face and a tick developing at his brow. "That was not a suggestion."
Ishida -Ichigo recalls vaguely from his memories of the white-haired doctor and his son- looks down at him with a sneer Ichigo has seen more than once on Rukongai residents who look down on him because he's small. "This isn't a game kid, go outside and play ball or something."
Before Ichigo can finish taking a breath to avoid the shout that wants to tear itself from his lungs, Yoruichi howls with laughter and almost falls off her perch on the black-haired Kurosaki's shoulder. They all turn to look at her, Ichigo automatically scowling as she tries to lower her laughter to snickers.
"This is hilarious!" she exclaims as if she hadn't already shown her amusement for the situation. "Seriously, Ichi-boy may be four foot nothing but he's still the heir to the Great Noble Shiba Clan, older than you kids and can kick all your collective asses blind folded if he wants to!"
Silence rings as Ichigo groans into his hand and tries to ignore Kūkaku's laughter. "This is mortifying. Yoruichi-ba-san, please stop spewing comments that have no substantiation."
Yoruichi merely grins -and how she does that in cat form Ichigo will never understand- as if she already won before pointing out. "No self-respecting kid would speak as eloquently as you do Ichigo. Saying words like chaperone, mortifying or substantiation does not help your case."
Ichigo deadpans. "I was using that language already when I was actually ten."
The cat waves her tail in the air. "Don't fret the details."
So Ichigo tags along on their little invasion and helps where he can without gaining the attention of the Shinigami. When the captains reconvene, they all think there are five ryoka instead of six and a cat so Ichigo thinks he is succeeding in his plan. By the time Karin learns her own Bankai -incredible yes, but she's like a newborn and Ichigo knows she will not be able to show her full potential just yet- Ichigo shadows her steps and waits to intervene if it looks like she can't handle Kuchiki Byakuya.
She wins of course, by the skin of her teeth but she wins and that's enough. Ichigo helps her reach Inoue and Yuzu much faster than she would have on her own and Ichigo was willing to call the mission a success when the broadcast came in.
Things become… interesting from there.
Karin is too hurt, broken and tired to stand a chance against Aizen, and so when the megalomaniac swings his blade in preparation of slicing Karin in half, Ichigo swiftly and easily steps in with a speed that has most of the audience baffled.
Everyone stares completely out of their wits as this child stops Aizen's Zanpaktou with a one-handed grip on his own sealed blade as if it were effortless. Aizen's eyes widen as well because here stands a ghost he had thought died when Ichigo disappeared from the human world and he seems to exceed any and all expectation.
Ichigo gives him an analytical look that is very out of place in his features as he tilts his head in mild curiosity. "So you're Aizen Sosuke." He says blandly if a bit intrigued. "Kisuke-ji told me you might make a move soon, I didn't think I'd get to see it though."
Aizen looks at him just as curiously once he gets over his surprise and gives the orange head a once over. "You are… Kurosaki Ichigo, son of Kurosaki Masaki and Shiba Isshin, correct?"
Ichigo hears gasps behind him but ignores them for the time being. "Now in days I am Shiba Ichigo, heir to the Great and Noble Clan of Shiba."
The two blades locked in contact shift a bit as Aizen increases his force the tiniest bit at this revelation.
"I see." Aizen states stoically. Ichigo privately thinks Aizen really doesn't see. "Well this changes nothing, I will stop those who are in my way, take the Hogyoku inside Kuchiki Rukia and enact my plan's next stage."
Ichigo finds his brows furrowing as he adds pressure to his blade and pushes back the traitor captain the tiniest bit. "No." he denies as he adds his second hand to the handle and observes Aizen falter and get pushed back several feet even though the man already had both hands on his Zanpaktou. Zangetsu thrums in excitement. "I don't think you will."
Ichigo's reiatsu flutters, he feels all the captains and lieutenants around him and knows he can't use Mangetsu -he won't need it anyway, his opponent will be highly underestimating him.
"Ban-kai." He speaks the words softly but the whole battlefield can hear him. "Tensa Zangetsu Ken: Shingetsu Dankai (天鎖斬月剣: 新月段階)"
A screeching sound almost like static or a dying hollow echoes around them, the skies darken and start to ooze shadows while the silhouette of the moon highlighted by a red outline appears in the eerie sky. Ichigo's eyes get consumed by a deep blood red color that looks wrong and terrifying to look at but Aizen who is locked in battle with what feels like the embodiment of the very darkness around him can't look away.
This time Ichigo does not stop Shingetsu like he did for Kisuke.
Aizen ends up eaten as he stares into what seems like the only color around him -those red, red eyes.
For if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
Not to be continued…
A/N: I feel like for the first time in this week I have typed something I actually planned in my head before putting to paper. I don't feel confused this time, yay!
Since we never did find out what Ichigo's real Bankai does I took my liberties and created a Zangetsu that has different forms based off of the Moon phases, I hope you like it.
I am not saying this chapter was an excuse to type a midget Ichigo where someone states he is four foot nothing. I am also not not saying this chapter was an excuse to type a tiny Ichigo. Take what you will from this.
Thanks as always guys, much love!