Bleach (c) Tite Kubo
Black and Blue
Aftermath
When Ichigo stirs the first thing that greets him is a parched throat and pounding headache.
And, hey, he's not dead. Promising start.
But everything is sore. Like someone gouged out his insides with an ice cream scoop and then threw what's left in the path of stampeding elephants.
Peeling open his eyes takes forever and the effort saps what little energy he has, but when he manages the monumental feat he's greeted by a mercifully dark room.
Slices of moonlight slip through the drawn curtains and a thin slither of brighter yellow-white light cuts through the dark from a crack in the door. It takes Ichigo's aching sleep-addled brain a minute to register he's in his bedroom at the Kurosaki clinic.
Instinctually relaxing, he brings his right hand to his brow. Everything's a blur and he's trying to piece together what happened, only to flinch when he sees his right hand wrapped in a bandage.
Adrenaline spikes in his veins and Ichigo jolts upright only to immediate regret that decision. An angry ache shoots through his left shoulder and the room spins. Overcome by the sudden dizzy spell, he flops back on his pillow with a groan and spends the next few seconds focusing on counting his breaths until the world stops spinning.
When the light-headedness finally abates, Ichigo takes stock.
He's in his bedroom and his injuries have been tended to, which means he can comfortably assume someone saved him from those creepy hollow-ish guys.
But what happened to Chad, Orihime and Tatsuki?
Ichigo scans his room and notices a tall glass of juice sitting on his desk. Glittering beads of condensation ran in tracks down the sides and the small chunks of ice floating on the surface hinted exactly how long it'd been sitting there. Wedged under it was a damp note in handwriting he didn't recognize.
'Drink me when you wake up! ^-^'
Figuring he may as well handle his most immediate problem first, Ichigo gingerly pushes himself up to a seated position, careful not to throw himself into another dizzy spell, and reaches for the cold glass with his good hand. He takes a few tentative sips of juice to wet his tongue before chugging the rest down in one go, pressing the empty cool glass against his throbbing forehead when he's done.
Both the drink and the cold are an instant relief for his headache.
Now its time to answer question number one: What the hell happened after Ichigo passed out?
His lips press in a thin line. Did his father know?
Ichigo frowns.
They hadn't really... talked. It wasn't really their thing. Ichigo knew he should have. He could lie and say he never found the right opportunity or incentive to do so, but the truth was he figured his father would come to him in his own time.
They were like that. Heart-to-heart talks or having what passed for normal civilized conversations which didn't begin with kicks, punches or other rough housing just wasn't in their repertoire. He and his father gave each other space to do their own thing in their own time, and it worked for them.
But Isshin Kurosaki was once a Shinigami. Odds are he'd probably know what happened and maybe he'd actually answer if Ichigo just came out and asked directly. Or would he put on his usual obfuscating act and play the fool? Ichigo ponders it a little while longer, nursing his headache before shaking his head.
No. Ichigo'll just come up with some vague broad statement about how he got roughed up by some bullies, Isshin would accept it, tease him for some hooligans get the better of him, and they'd both go back to pretending like they knew nothing about each other's secret lives.
When he's got something in his stomach and a fist full of painkiller for his headache, Ichigo'll make his way to Urahara's shop. Hat'n'Clogs knew everything about everything, maybe he could shed some light on what happened.
Hand on his desk for support, Ichigo hoists himself to his feet with some effort and tentatively puts weight on his injured left foot. Its tender, but not intolerably so. He can walk albeit with a slight limp.
Damn it. If this is the price of his Hollow's help every time, Ichigo might reconsider asking in the first place.
Oi, King. Don't ya go blaming me for bein' a reckless idiot. It ain't my fault ya couldn't handle my power ya first time. Need I remind ya you sucked at Bankai on your first run too?
Ichigo rolls his eyes and blows out a heavy breath. They could argue on that point but Ichigo's head still hurts too much. It doesn't hurt enough to not appreciate Shiro's voice doesn't feel like razors dragging across his mind anymore, despite his Hollow's caustic tone.
It feels normal now, weirdly comfortable even. Like when old man Zangetsu speaks to him.
"Don't suppose you don't know what happened after I passed out either?" He murmurs, his throat hoarse from disuse.
Not a damn thing. When ya hit the deck, I clocked out too. Ya welcome, by the way.
Ichigo's hand raises to his left shoulder. Its about as tender as the rest of his injuries, but there's no gaping hole. Always a plus. If Shiro hadn't pulled him to one side, that would've been a fatal strike through his heart.
Ichigo shudders and tries not to think about it. "Yeah. Yeah, thanks. Saved my ass."
Gingerly, he limps to his door, out of his room and down the hallway. The hallway lights sting his eyes for a few seconds, but he adjusts. Passing Yuzu and Karin's bedroom door, he dearly hopes his little sisters hadn't seen him like this. (He's worried them enough these last few weeks.)
Two people are happily chatting away down stairs in the dining room and Ichigo freezes, instantly recognizing the jovial tones of his father and Kaien. There's something pretty damn delicious cooking away downstairs as well and Ichigo's stomach growls when he catches a whiff of that aroma.
On one hand; Ichigo wants to be pissed. The town just suffered an attacked and it left several of his friends injured or near death. On the other; he figures if they're relaxed enough to be trading jokes and catching up on gossip like its a regular family visit (Ichigo thinks he can get used to that idea pretty quickly) then the damage must not have spread too far from that park, and his friends must be okay.
Small comfort there, at least.
Step by step, Ichigo makes his way downstairs while Kaien is in the middle of some story.
"-There's this absolutely gorgeous reef as far as the eye can see. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. There I was, enjoying a pleasant swim exploring this breathtaking underwater abode; and what does that stupid little thing do?" Kaien poses the question rhetorically, irritation clear.
"Stung you on the butt?" Ichigo hears his father offer, sniggering.
A hand slaps down on the dining table, "It stung me on the freaking butt! I don't even know how it got under my board shorts! The guides said there weren't supposed to be any jellyfish in the area!"
Isshin's deep baritone laughter fills the dining room. "Just be glad it wasn't a Blue-Ring Octopus. One bite from those little suckers has enough venom to kill twenty-six humans."
Kaien whistles. "Good thing we're already dead then, huh?"
"Undead, in your case."
"You know, now that you mention it I've had this really weird craving for brains lately. Can't possibly imagine why. Maybe I should go see a Doctor." Kaien muses in a faux serious tone.
"I'm sorry kiddo, but you're my nephew; you're beyond help." Isshin reaches over the table to ruffle Kaien's hair who laughs and bats him away playfully.
"I'll drink to that!" Kaien cheers proudly, raising his beer bottle in a mock toast and downing a mouthful.
"And if we can circle back to the main point; what do you think the takeaway is here?" Isshin prompts and Ichigo sees that teasing grin on his face.
"Next time there's a jellyfish nearby, kill it before it stings me." Kaien offers innocently.
"Next time a tour guide tells you to wear a wetsuit; wear a damn wetsuit." Isshin jokingly reprimands.
"Pssh. They're not the boss of me." Kaien grumbles petulantly with a slight slur to his speech, Isshin laughs.
"But here's some consolation, at least it didn't sting you somewhere really important. I can think of a certain someone who would've been very disappointed if she'd tagged along on your trip." There's a sly knowing tone to Isshin's comment which Kaien dismisses a little too quickly to be convincing.
"I have no idea what you mean."
"Oh no no. I'm sure you don't." Isshin replies mischievously.
They're sitting at the dinner table, sharing a drink and Kaien's giving Isshin a childish scowl but his face lights up when he spots Ichigo halfway down the stairwell. "Hey, sleepyhead. Bout time you woke up."
For his part, Ichigo tenses, frozen in place. Like he's stumbled upon some clandestine meeting he wasn't supposed to witness.
Isshin breaks the tension after a few seconds and heads to the kitchen. "Good timing. Dinner's almost ready. Take a seat, why don't you."
Ichigo shakes his head, snapped out of a surreal daze brought on by his two worlds colliding so casually. Its like a dam burst and the questions come out in a jumble. "H-Hey wait. Just hold on a minute. What happened? H-how did I get back here? And what happened to those-"
"Hey." Kaien cuts him off, pointing to a third place setting on the table. "Sit down and eat something first. You've been out for three days and you've been running on fumes before that. We can talk shop after."
Ichigo blinks, stunned. "Three days - but, what about-?"
"Ichigo." Kaien interrupts in a stern commanding voice. "Do you really think we'd be sitting here chatting away if any permanent harm happened to you or your friends?"
Ichigo shoots him a challenging look but Kaien simply raises an eyebrow and continues to point at the third place setting. Only reluctantly does Ichigo concede and limp over to take a seat, about the same time Isshin placed down a serve of chicken katsu, and picked up his chopsticks. They were all halfway through their meals in silence before they started talking again.
Kaien has a sip of beer, "To answer your questions from the top; after you collapsed, Kisuke and Yoruichi showed up and forced the Arrancars into a retreating through a Garganta."
"Arrancars?" Ichigo interrupts, he hesitates for a second, a shifting look towards Isshin's way before pressing forward. "So they're - they weren't, ya know, Visoreds? And what's a Garganta?"
Thankfully, as he has before, Kaien takes the interruption in patient stride and answers when Ichigo asks. "No. A Visored is a Shinigami who gained Hollow powers manifesting as a hollow mask. Arrancars are Hollows who obtained Shinigami powers by tearing off their masks. In a very literal sense, they're our inverse. The opposite side of the coin. And Garganta are tears in the fabric between worlds that allow Hollows to cross from Hueco Mundo to this one. Think of it as their rough equivalent to a Senkaimon."
"As for the Arrancars. They used to be few and far between, one of them showing up in the human world is an anomaly. Two of them is unprecedented. Nowadays it looks like something or someone is bolstering their numbers. I think you're smart enough to guess who and why." Isshin adds in an unusually serious manner, probably the most serious Ichigo has ever heard in his life.
Its jarring to say the least. But it implies that Isshin's up-to-date on current events. He didn't even surprise to hear that Ichigo had hollow power either. Guess that spares any awkward questions... or raises a host of new ones?
Ichigo puts that thought aside for later.
"After that retreat, Kisuke and Yoruichi carried you and your friends to his shop to patch you all up. As far as casualties go, the short-haired girl is fine. Bit shaken but she recovered. Your orange haired friend isn't injured either. From what I understand she spent a good couple hours and change alternating between healing your shoulder and your other friend's arm. Got a weird technique, that one. Nothing like any Kido I've ever seen." Kaien explains between mouthfuls. "As for how you got back here? I brought you back here yesterday. Figured you'd be more comfortable recuperating here. Since then, I've been in and out."
"Real mother hen, this one." Isshin jokes and Kaien shoots him a look.
Ichigo nods slowly, digesting all this. He's relieved his friends are okay, but he still blames himself for letting them get hurt in the first place. He should've been quicker, reacted faster. Maybe he could've stopped it all from escalating.
There ya go again, King. Throwin' yaself a pity party gets ya nowhere and we don't fancy bein' rained on so stop moping, will ya? Its pathetic! Ya know the old sayin'; When those assholes try ta kill us, we go kill 'em right back.
Ichigo grunts, ignoring Shiro's unwanted commentary. Revenge is all well and good, but right now he's focused on more important matters. "What about Yuzu and Karin? Do they - I mean, are they-?"
"Your sisters are on their school camping trip right now. I called the teachers; they're fine. They won't be back until tomorrow, so you don't have to worry about them fretting over you." Isshin reassures.
Ichigo looks at him, searching for... he doesn't know what for a long moment. Eventually, he shifts his attention to Kaien who's watching the both of them silently. Not too long after that his hunger becomes too much to ignore and Ichigo continues to eat his meal. He's starving and it barely touches his sides on the way down.
In that moment, Isshin seems uncharacteristically nervous and a little awkward. He opens and closes his mouth a few times. "You... don't have any other questions? About... everything else? About this?"
"Of course I do." Ichigo's more than a little peeved when he shoves another piece of dinner into his mouth. "But I'm leaving it for now. I know you must have your reasons and they're probably pretty damn good ones if you kept them quiet for so long, so I'm not gonna get on your case about it. There's no real way I could ask without making you feel lousy, anyway. But... you'll tell me one day, right?"
Isshin seemed lost for words at this mature reaction before giving a single nod. "Yeah, I'll tell you eventually."
"Okay then. Then, we don't have a problem." Ichigo declares and notices Kaien trying very hard to hide a sigh of relief behind his drink.
"That being said; I figure your powers are probably gonna come back eventually, right? Soon as they do, I'm kicking your ass out of that Gigai and pummeling you into dirt for keeping so many secrets from me." Ichigo threatens, though it lacks any real heat.
It's cheap bait. A segue to return to their norm and Isshin practically leaps at the chance.
Isshin gives an incredulous bark of laugh and turns to Kaien who stares at him blankly.
Kaien shrugs unsympathetically, hands raised. "Hey, don't look at me. I promised I'd hold you down for him."
Kaien sends a conspiratorial wink Ichigo's way and Ichigo smirks in response. Good to know he has his cousin in his corner.
It's then that Isshin completely returns to form, dismay painted over his face in a comedically exaggerated fashion. He bawls, big crocodile tears running down his cheeks while dashing towards the poster of Masaki, wailing about 'his boys ganging up on him'.
Ichigo groans at the display, Kaien just looks bemused. "Did he do this a lot while you were growing up too?"
"Not the poster thing for obvious reasons. But, uh, off the clock? This is... fairly classic Isshin, yeah."
"Terrific." Ichigo rolling his eyes, all the while his father is prostrating himself before the wall-sized memorial to his mother.
"Then again, I don't exactly have any room to comment, do I?" Kaien gestures to the tattoo on his neck.
"Your wife's name?" Ichigo figured as much and Kaien gives a single nod to confirm.
"Miyako, yeah. We all pay tribute in our own ways." Kaien sighs with a brush of melancholy, he traces the name down his neck before waving a dismissive hand towards the overly dramatic bawling man-child in the living room, "So to recap while Isshin is being all... 'Isshin'-y," That earns a tiny chuckle from Ichigo, "Your friends are recovering and the the Arrancars were forced into a retreat. All and all, you did a good job. I'm proud of you."
What little good cheer Ichigo had evaporates. "I got stabbed in the shoulder and passed out." he grumbles sourly, ignoring his father's wailings.
"You held the Arrancars at bay long enough for backup to arrive and everyone on our side got away with comparatively minor injuries. Against a new unknown threat, that's the honestly best outcome for all involved." Kaien reassures him.
"They still got hurt because of me. Because I wasn't fast enough." Ichigo mutters, feeling his appetite suddenly vanish as guilt gnarls at his guts.
It doesn't have time to settle before Kaien challenges him with a scoff.
"What? You're some kind of omniscient god now? You had no way of knowing what was gonna happen. And even if you did know and did everything right in a situation, you can still lose. That's not weakness. That's how life works. But you're focusing on the wrong things; the fact of the matter is everyone's alive to fight another day. There's no point fretting over what could have happened because it didn't. Trust me, wasting your energy doing that is a sure fire way to drive yourself mad. And madness is super overrated."
Ichigo doesn't respond, simply stares down at his dinner.
"Injuries heal and scars fade, Ichigo. Death, on the other hand, is a rather permanent state of affairs. The former's preferable over the latter every day of the week."
"Big words coming from the guy too stubborn to stay dead." Ichigo mumbles sourly under his breath, and instantly he regrets it. He shouldn't be taking his bad mood out on his cousin. The guy's just trying to help him and he's about to apologize.
On the other hand, Kaien guffaws like it's the funniest punchline in the world. "Touché, baby cousin! Touché, ah..." He wipes a tear from his eye, "Good. That's good."
"What's good?" Ichigo's confused, watching Kaien like he's grown a second head.
Kaien smiles kindly at him. "You've still got a sense of humour. Means you're winding down from all that crap."
Ichigo hums, finishing off his dinner and he's got a hungry eye on seconds.
"Actually I do have a question for you; something that's been bothering me since we met. Where exactly were you when the whole thing with Rukia's execution was going down?" Ichigo asks, ignoring his father's antics to in favour of his (marginally) more sane cousin.
Its an innocent enough curiosity but the way Kaien winces guiltily and suddenly squirms in his chair increases that curiosity tenfold. "Ah. Right... so, um, full disclosure: there's real no way I can answer that without sounding like a colossal asshole."
"I promise I won't hold it against you." Ichigo says, shrugging. "I'm guessing maybe Kisuke or Yoruichi sent you off somewhere to handle some super secret mission or whatever? I mean, if that's the case then... well, that's just bad timing I suppose."
Kaien scratches the back of his head awkwardly. "Ah. No. Uh. I... was maybe slightly having a vacation... in Australia."
Ichigo's expression goes blank, he stares at his cousin for a few seconds incredulously. "Okay. Let me get this straight; while I was in Soul Society, saving your student and the Gotei 13 from Aizen's bullshit... you were in hitting up some tropical tourist trap?"
Kaien offers a sheepish guilty smile, "Swimming off the Great Barrier Reef, if we're being specific. Look. In my defence, had I known what was going on I'd of been on the first flight back here."
Ichigo leans forward, fixing Kaien with a stern look. Oh, he's going to milk this for all it's worth. "And whilst I was getting shredded to pieces by Byakuya's Senbonzakura, you were cheerfully swimming away in some vacation spot working on your tan?"
Kaien squirms even more in his chair, hiding behind his beer without actively looking like he's trying, "I get the suspicious feeling that I'm not gonna live this down for a good long while, am I?"
"Nope."
Luckily for his cousin, Ichigo is more inclined to needle him over it instead of expressing any legitimate annoyance. It all worked out in the end, and from what little Ichigo knew of the guy, through other accounts and his own interactions, everything he's saying is completely true.
Kaien would have come if a certain someone (namely one Kisuke Urahara) had called.
Won't stop Ichigo from having his fun though.
Kaien polishes off the last of his meal and stretches. "In a not-so-subtle effort to avoid becoming your new favourite punching bag, it's getting late and I should probably start making tracks."
"Coward." Ichigo mutters under his breath.
Kaien presses his lips in a thin line, eyebrow twitching irritably. "Anywho. I just wanted to check in on you, make sure you're doin' okay. And judging by that attitude of yours, you little smartass, you're doing just fine."
"Oh no you don't. You're staying the night." Isshin announces sternly, back at the table with his fists on his hips. When Kaien pulls a face and makes a noise of protest Isshin cuts him off. "Kaien, you're three sheets to the wind. Last time I let you go home like that you shunpoed into a wall and knocked yourself out."
"You shunpoed into a wall?" Ichigo echoes, giving an incredulous bark of laughter.
"I didn't-!"
Isshin raises a silent eyebrow.
Kaien relents. "Okay I did a little. I'm not the first drunk Shinigami to do it, and sure as hell won't be the last either. Uncle, I appreciate the thought but I'm fine." Kaien replies as he stands, only to stumble and snatch the table to balance himself then promptly sits back down. He clears his throat. "You know what? On second thought, I'd love to stay the night. Thank you."
"Good." Isshin claps a hand on his shoulder. "Go have a shower. I'll go find some spare clothes for you to sleep in."
Kaien frowns petulantly at his uncle, "Are you trying to tell me I stink?" Before Ichigo could even process the question, Kaien jabs a finger in his face. "Don't you dare answer that."
"I didn't say anything." Ichigo denies.
"You were thinking it." Kaien accuses.
"I didn't say anything." Ichigo repeats.
Ichigo was thinking it. Besides, his cousin set himself up for that one. And he's certainly done his fair share of teasing. Only right that Ichigo got his petty revenges.
"Alright, enough of that. You. Shower. Now." Isshin orders, pointing up stairs. "There's some spare linens in the closet, I'll set up the spare bed in Ichigo's room."
Without further protest, Kaien climbs to his feet, swaying slightly as he makes his way upstairs. Ichigo watches him fish his phone out of his pocket and call someone but he's already around the corner before the call connects.
"I guess on that note; I should probably get back to bed too. I'm still recovering and I need the rest, right?" Ichigo sighs, pushing himself to his feet. He'd honestly kill for seconds, but he's pretty sure he'd fall asleep halfway through eating and that would be embarrassing.
"Right." Isshin agrees.
Author's note:
So that was a fun family dinner. And yes, Kaien couldn't help with Rukia's execution because he was in Australia... (NGL. I think if he had the chance, he totally would've tried to take a Koala home with him.) :P
Edited: 24/4/2023 - Cleaned up the chapter's grammatical errors and spruced up the language a little.
Regards,
Aurora313