A/N: No, I have no idea where this came from or where I was going with this.
He's old enough to know, that a longer life isn't always a better one.
Ichigo thinks he can sometimes remember the first couple years in the past. Those days where he was uncertain of everything and didn't know where his life would go… the time when he was so unbearably young that it's frankly amazing to think he was once like that.
Seeing history in the making was awe inspiring at first. Reading about the formation of a country and watching it happen with his own eyes was something completely different and not a little bit terrifying. It's a bit odd to see civilizations pop up and get burnt to the ground so rapidly and sporadically, that he at times needs to fight to keep things straight in his head.
There was once, as he was observing everyday life, back in the Jomun period a situation where he almost accidently accelerated development by mentioning something that would occur in the Nara period or another time where he had accidently called Shogun Ōtomo no Otomaro, Minamoto no Sanetomo even though Minamoto hadn't even been in power yet.
He has learnt to stay as detached as possible from history, and while it is very hard, he has enough experience at this point that it's not as complicated.
Staying linear with Soul Society, is much more complicated if only because people are so more long lived.
The first time Ichigo met a young Yamamoto, the boy was maybe a couple years over a century and Ichigo was already old.
It's a bit backwards and weird now in an Alternate universe kind of way when he thinks about the Shinigami. He was the last Shinigami of his time, stood above and beyond the worlds as the final warrior that watched the worlds crumble and yet he's now the first Shinigami of this time. He is an ending, and a beginning.
His eyes are old, but his body is not.
At this point, when someone asks Ichigo how old he is, he's not even sure if he's lying about his age anymore. As Yamamoto grows older and comes to Ichigo for advice and help as the little twerp gains power and creates his organization of violence turned vigilante group turned official power, the now Captain Commander is one of those that constantly bemoans Ichigo's ever changing answer.
He is an ancient creature walking among mortals.
Or at least, that's how he feels most days.
He's lived longer, seen more, loved more and lost more than anyone else in the known universes at this point and he's absolutely tired of watching everything turn to dust.
A lot of people know him or at least know of him that it's not uncommon to find one person or other asking for guidance, help, miracles as if he were some sort of local deity. Ichigo's actually not sure he isn't one at this point. It was a bit embarrassing at the beginning since he was treated with such deference and awe, but after so many eons it almost feels like it's all he's ever known.
Death… would be a gift.
It really could be considered a gift for him, but he also knows that the end of his life is not yet in sight. He wonders if he has lived too long, but he doesn't know and he doubts even the Spirit King could answer that question for him.
Ichigo has lived all these years as both a person and a detached being. He's had a family, and has remained removed from humanity as well. Some of his descendants roam the streets, and while somedays he looks upon them fondly, other times he doesn't care about them anymore than any other random passersby.
A life as long as his is a battlefield.
Everyday is a battle that needs to be won and a never-ending war with no end in sight.
Tweaking things is so unbearably simple. Really, changing the timeline so that Ywach never causes chaos, so that the Gotei 13 doesn't hunt Quincies is as easy as plucking a string from a harp and seeing the vibrations unfold into something different.
Little Yamamoto listens to him avidly, and since Ichigo is so… otherworldly, he can literally go up to any citizen, tell them to do or not do something and it will be done as he says.
His life is lonely.
He's picked up many friends over the millennium, but it's inevitable that they will slip through his fingers and leave him so it never really lasts long. For all that Ichigo is a powerhouse and deity, he cannot influence another soul's life, and he wouldn't even if he could.
Why would he give someone else a curse like this?
He's so old.
So old.
Old.
.
.
.
.
How many seconds… in eternity?
Not to be continued…