Bleach (c) Tite Kubo


Once more, if only to see you again


The more things change


As it turns out, Ichigo can purify hollows.

Isn't that a neat trick?

They discover that ability largely by accident when he's six.

Isshin's distracted with one of Yuzu and Karin's paediatric check-ups and wanted to take them to a water park that afternoon for some 'Daddy-daughter bonding time'. And Masaki similarly corralled her twin sons for a trip of their own, intending to test what they had learned under her guidance.

Driven more by boredom than curiosity while they walk through town, each son holding one of Masaki's hands, they ask her why they hide their training from their father? Isshin was, or once served as, a shinigami. It's not like they have to waste time explaining the concept of spirits to him when he was formerly one of their wardens. Despite the fact he pretends they aren't there.

Masaki's pensive silence puzzled them and she remained that way for agonisingly long minutes. Ichigo almost felt compelled to apologise for asking before she responded cryptically, "Your father and I disagree on many things, little moon. But that's a problem for adults to worry about, all right?"

"But we're as much Shinigami as we are Quincy. Wouldn't he wanna teach us too?" Kaien questions.

"You would think, little sun." Masaki signed under her breath, then put on a smile and abruptly changed the subject.

Masaki took them to the town's outskirts, far far away from scrutinising eyes. She'd found and cornered a weak hollow digging around for scraps.

Ichigo felt apprehension back then, standing before a viciously angry hungry Hollow three times his size with nothing more than a conjured pair of reishi daggers in his hands. Kaien was at his side, clutching a thin featureless reishi spear as long as he was tall - to their mother's amused chagrin, neither of them particularly cared for bows.

But they weren't afraid to fight. Not with Masaki watching over them. Drawing courage from her strength, they remain calm and focused, falling back on her teachings. They employed every skill she painstakingly taught; to read the Hollow's moves through the flow of its reiryoku, regulating their own to strengthen themselves, to avoid and dodge and evade until they found an opportunity to go on the offensive.

Despite an admitted lack of confidence and practical experience, the whole thing was over dizzyingly fast.

Stupefaction rooted Ichigo in place after he plunged those twin reishi daggers into the thing's skull mask. Their mother taught them that Hollows would dissolve into black-ish reishi mush before fizzingly out like a candle. Instead this Hollow transformed into ethereal motes of shimmering white before condensing into a fluttering white and blue butterfly.

Ichigo was too young to realise the implications - the magnitude of what he'd done. Too wrapped up in celebrating his success and being swept up in his younger brother's strangling hug. A gesture he returned instantly with joyous laughter.

If the twins hadn't been distracted babbling away and eagerly recounting their own victory, they might've noticed the emotions flashing on their mother's face; a peculiar combination of surprise, pride, contemplation and perhaps sadness and guilt. She hid it well when they beamed up at her, as they always did when they accomplished something, eyes shining innocently. As always, she ruffles their hair with a smile that didn't reach her eyes and bought them ice cream on the way home as a treat.

From then on, Masaki had Ichigo perform the finishing blow whenever they hunted together.

Kaien bemoaned it once or twice, but their mother deftly placated him almost as effortlessly as he drew smiles from her. Bluntly, despite being the same Quincy-Shinigami hybrid as his brother, Masaki didn't want to risk destroying another soul to test if he shared Ichigo's ability.

Life-threatening danger aside, Ichigo thought those were the best days. He felt like a superhero back-to-back with Kaien, growing stronger and more confident in their abilities. Strong enough to protect Yuzu and Karin too. Strong enough to make their mama proud. And they did. Masaki would applaud them with pride and a growing ruefulness she could never completely hide; their strength, their ability to learn, to absorb and master.

Days that come to a grinding halt when they turn nine.


The day Ichigo purified his first hollow was also the day Ichigo started hearing whispers in his head. Whispers that grew louder as he meditated with his mother. He asked her about it once, curious more than concerned.

His Shinigami side is asserting itself, Masaki reassured him a couple days later. But there were precious few details she could expand upon. Nothing beyond what she's already taught. And it's not like she could pry the answers out of goat-face without tipping him off to her clandestine actions.

Not long after that discussion, Ichigo found himself waking up in a straight sideways world. Skyscrapers at a horizontal angle, stretching on for eternity into a night sky illuminated by a single bright moon.

That's where he meets them face-to-face. His spirits. Because apparently he has two. Isn't he a special snowflake?

One looked exactly like Ichigo. Same age, same haircut, same face. But white like he'd been dunked in a vat of bleach. His eyes were golden pin pricks against black sclera and he speaks with Ichigo's voice authored by a rasping static quality. A meanspirited grin that reminds Ichigo of Kaien when he's on a pranking spree seems to be his permanent expression. He's rude, abrasive and seems to make sport of goading Ichigo. But it's hardly anything Ichigo hasn't heard before. Maybe he's just grumpy 'cause it took Ichigo so long to meet him in the first place.

The other spirit is older. An adult man with a scruffy jaw wearing a pair of sunglasses. His long wavy black hair and black shroud billow in an unseen wind. Unlike his white counterpart, he's stoic and reserved, carrying himself with solemn authority and pose. He greets Ichigo with a reserved warmth, and treats Ichigo with more fatherly regard than his own flesh-and-blood parent.

And his mother's guess was correct. These two, or at least the white one, were his zanpakutou spirits.

He proudly boasts his name is Zangetsu.

Of course that confuses Ichigo a little when he turns to speak to the old man.

"Then what's your name?" Ichigo asks the old man innocently. "If he's Zangetsu, what do I call you?"

"I have no name." the man replies.

"Huh?" Ichigo tilts his head in confusion, "How come you don't have a name?"

"I am merely the manifestation of your Quincy powers, nothing more." Ichigo thinks he detects a note of sadness in that response.

"But… I'm a Quincy and a Shinigami, right?" Ichigo begins, "And if part of my power is a zanpakutou, and you're part of my power too, wouldn't that just make you another part of my zanpakutou?"

The old man's eyes widened fractionally. Ichigo turns to his mirror image who folds his arms with a shrug, "Don't look at me, partner. You're the King here. Whatever you say goes."

Smiling at the tacit approval, Ichigo turns that expectant look towards the old spirit.

For a long moment he examines Ichigo with a steady gaze before closing his eyes and allowing his thin lips to curl in the barest hint of a smile. "As you wish."

"Then it's settled. You're both Zangetsu!" Ichigo announces brightly with that charming grin. "But… it'll get super confusing if I keep calling you two by the same name." Ichigo crosses his arm and thinks hard, then he points a triumphant finger towards the elder spirit then to the younger in turn, "I'll give you nicknames! You'll be Old Man Zan. And you'll be Shiro!"

Shiro Zangetsu sputters, "Wha- what the heck?! Why does he still get to be called Zan?! I wanna be called Zan!"

"You just said what I say goes." Ichigo chirps cheekily, ripping the wind right out of Shiro's sails. Wearing the same grin Kaien wears when Ichigo falls for his pranks.

Shiro's mouth flops open and closed like a fish before relenting with a scowl.

"Stupid King." Shiro mumbles petulantly.

"Settle." Old man Zan instructs patiently, amused while placing a steady hand on the younger spirit's shoulder while Ichigo laughs.


Unfortunately, those halcyon days come to an end one fateful July evening.

Losing their mother… It's a scar that will never heal.

Despite that, their secret hunts continue. Though those hunts are a solo gig these days. Kaien tags along every now and then but far less frequently than he used to - and definitely less often than he likes - out of unfortunate necessity.

There's probably healthier safer hobbies in the world but Ichigo's never really been interested in exploring alternatives. Plus, it's a great way to keep his skills sharp and it appeases Shiro, keeping the spirit from getting too bored with mundane life. Whenever he's decided things are too quiet and he wants to shake things up, Ichigo often finds himself paying another visit to their world for impromptu training - that doesn't necessarily make for the best night's sleep.

At least Ichigo can say he manages to moderate himself. He's useless if he's dead, so he doesn't immediately dash around going after every Hollow he sees like a mad lunatic. Only the meddlesome ones that might get in his way. Which is more than he can say for his classmate, Uryuu Ishida.

Ichigo occasionally spots Uryuu running himself ragged, obsessively fending off Hollows with his bow like he's a vigilante straight out of an urban fantasy manga. He carries on his whole shtick as though it's a solemn duty he'd been anointed to carry out. Honestly, it looks so damn exhausting.

(Masaki pointed his family out in the playground when they were children, mentioned off-handedly they were cousins but never elaborated beyond that. And Ichigo frankly never cared enough to inquire further. On the other hand, Kaien did care quite a bit but even his insatiable curiosity died when faced against the silent pain in their mother's eyes, so he let the subject drop).

Setting aside the Quincy shenanigans for a moment, Ichigo also understands the basic premise behind Shinigami, what they're about and what role they're supposed to play in the grand scheme of things, learned from fragmentary information his mother subtly pried from Goat-Face.

He already figured it's only a matter of time before he met his first Shinigami. One he's not directly related to and lives with under sufferance, he means.

Of course, he's extremely irritated when the first one he sees appears in broad daylight, swooping in to slay an insectoid Hollow Ichigo was sizing up, interrupting his gambit to lure it with deliberate fluctuations of reiryoku and purify it.

That's not frustrating at all.

However, what does take Ichigo by surprise is that his first encounter comes in the form of a young girl with black hair and violet eyes, wearing what looks like a standard black uniform and a red-silk wrapped katana in her grasp.

She's far different from the average shinigami he'd pictured in his mind. Ichigo expected hardened combatants, grizzled veterans covered in scars from countless battles against countless hollows. Not someone… dainty. And if Ichigo didn't already know better, he'd swear she was just a teenager no older than him.

She knows how to do her job. She slays his target in two efficient strikes delivered with elegance and practised ease. First to blunt its teeth, second to cleave the mask in two.

Impressive display. But Ichigo privately grumbles to himself, not bothering to acknowledge the shinigami when she stoically spares him the barest glance.

Doesn't that just royally stuff things up for the foreseeable future? With the violet-eyed girl on the prowl, he won't have a chance to play his usual tricks. He'll have to lay low while she's here. No one needs a shinigami poking around or asking questions. Which means Ichigo will have to resign himself to more unsolicited visits to his inner world for training for a while. And when she's gone, Ichigo will pick his routine back up.

After making sure the ghost girl is okay and resigning himself to mundanity in the immediate future, Ichigo walks the rest of the way to school.

He just hopes the Shinigami won't become a nuisance in the coming days.


Damn it. Why is Kaien home?

In the privacy of his office clinic that evening, Isshin grit his teeth in frustration when he sensed his second son's reiryoku turn the street corner towards home. He swears under his breath.

This was not part of the plan.

Isshin sternly instructed Kisuke Urahara to keep his second son well clear of this whole drama. That was the ironclad condition he laid down from the start.

And Kisuke Urahara obliged. Especially after the scientist-turned-shopkeeper concluded when the boys were nine that among other things, the state of Kaien's reiryoku rendered him … unsuitable for the challenges that lay ahead. A detectable instability that wouldn't affect his human life but would harbour catastrophic consequences if he attempted to access his powers. (Isshin chooses to ignore how profoundly relieved he was to hear that, or how disgusted he was with himself at being so relieved.)

Calculations were made and adjustments implemented to their plans accordingly. The timeline was plotted out perfectly, ensuring that Ichigo would be home alone when they got this show on the road; that Ichigo would be the one manoeuvred into position to receive shinigami powers.

To that end, Urahara spent the better part of the day corralling a suitable Hollow for the task, discreetly laying a trail to lure the Kuchiki girl into position. All the pieces were in place.

Naturally, the world picks now of all times to throw a wrench into things. What's the old saying? No plan survives first contact with the enemy?

Isshin checks his calendar, does a bit of mental maths and yes, Kaien's supposed to be participating in his swim carnival for another day.

And it's too late to call off the Hollow attack. Urahara's already camping somewhere, set to swoop in for the mop-up and give the Kuchiki girl the gigai.

Isshin chews his lip in thought, absently eavesdropping on the girls cheering and welcoming their elder brother home.

No. This was salvageable.

There's still time to get Kaien out of harm's way. Especially if the Kuchiki girl spots him, because of course Soul Society sent her of all people to this posting, she might react unpredictably. Possibly quit the field entirely, which would completely derail their own plans.

So Isshin puts his personal irritation under lock and key, and improvises. He scribbles down a hasty list of random items on a scrap of paper, an impromptu shopping list of sorts, and starts towards the main house.

Is it a flimsy ploy? Yes. Does it matter if it gets Kaien out of danger and off the Hollow's menu? No.

Isshin finds his three younger children conversing over the living room table. The girls had finished and cleared away dinner, now Yuzu's cleaning the kitchen while Karin's finishing her homework.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat, Kai?" Yuzu asks sweetly.

"I'm fine, Yuzu. I promise. I ate on the way home." Kaien grins reassuringly, giving Yuzu a brief hug and ruffling her hair.

"You won though, right? If you didn't bring home the gold I'm disowning you." Karin threatens without heat.

"Oh yee of little faith," Kaien shakes his head at her with an exaggerated sigh, "You'll be pleased to know I did indeed win. As if there was any doubt. Which means there will be no disowning today. You're stuck with me. Sorry, not sorry." He says unrepentantly, crossing into the living room to give Karin a one-arm hug and kissing her crown. "Such a harsh baby sister I have."

"I'm just keeping you humble." Karin shrugs him off, wrinkling her nose with disgust. "Take a shower. You stink."

Kaien gives an affronted little gasp staring down at her slack jawed, playing up his offence with a hand over his heart. He looks towards Yuzu imploringly, who tries and fails to hide her giggling behind her hand.

"I didn't want to say anything."

"Rude," Kaien flashes that characteristically goofy grin of his, "Not to worry. Gonna take care of that real quick. Then I've got a pillow with my name on it."

"Enjoy yourself. You earned it." Yuzu chirps happily.

"Oh, but fair warning before you crawl into your cave to hibernate; Ichi's been stupidly grumpy today."

Kaien frowns at Karin, seemingly stumped for a solid minute. "You have met our brother, yes?"

" Grumpier than usual, Kaien." Yuzu explains indulgently before her amusement fades into genuine concern, "I think he's having a hard time lately. With all the… ya know, spirit-y stuff. Do you mind seeing if he's okay? Maybe convince him to come back down and have something to eat - we've saved a dinner plate for him." She then looks apologetic, "Sorry, we didn't expect you home this early so I didn't think to save you one too."

Kaien gives them an effortless reassuring smile of his own and waves it away, "Don't you worry about that. Leave Ichigo to me. Can't make promises about forcing him to eat but I'll cheer him back up. However… if he doesn't want it, I'll gladly sneak down later and nab it for myself later. It won't go to waste."

"It's orange chicken, by the way." Yuzu reveals.

"Oh, you shouldn't have said that. Now I'm gonna steal it for sure."

"Assuming you're even awake enough. You look dead on your feet, Kai." Karin points out bluntly.

Kaien laughs and shrugs, "Don't I feel it. I suppose schemes to abscond with delicious food might have to wait another day. For now… the shower beckons ." He announces, gesturing dramatically towards the second floor.

"Not yet, it doesn't." Isshin announces brusquely, stalking into the living room and surprising them all.

"Dad, hey. I was gonna drop in-"

"I need you to run an errand. Right now." Isshin announces, pushing the folded paper scrap towards his second son.

"Wha- You're kidding." Kaien deflats.

"Nope. Right now."

Kaien looks at him in sheer disbelief, pushing the paper back towards Isshin, then checks his watch briefly. "Dad, you've got to be joking. The shops closed an hour ago and the nearest twenty-four hour store is the next town over, an hour's train ride away. And with those storm clouds brewing on the horizon, there's no way I'm going at this time of night for a few miscellaneous odds and ends. A school night, I remind you."

"Kaien, I'm not asking. I'm telling-"

Kaien interrupts with a half-smile, "Dad, listen, if it wasn't important enough that you didn't send Ichigo out while the shops were open, it can clearly wait until tomorrow. I'm exhausted, ache all over, positively reek of chlorine and the only thing on my mind right now is a hot shower and sleep."

"Kaien-!" Isshin booms, thoroughly irritated that he probably should've seen this half-assed plan wasn't going to work. But he still had to try.

"Look," Kaien takes the scribbled note and demonstratively pins it under a blueberry magnet on the fridge, next to three other-fruit themed magnets in the LEAVE A NOTE corner. "See? It's there for the morning. If we really need them that badly, I'll do a grocery run on our way home from school."

Isshin frowns, mentally cursing the stubbornness inherent to their entire family as his son pushes past him to head upstairs.

Kaien brushes it off smoothly, re-emphasising his point. "Sorry Dad, but unless you want me to pass out on the train and wake up god-knows-where in the morning, I'm having that stupid shower and going to bed. Good night."

"Sleep well Kai~!" Yuzu says happily.

"Hog all the hot water and I'll kick your butt." Karin half-threatens.

Isshin watches him go, biting his lip with a frustrated huff.


The only illumination in Ichigo's bedroom came from a scattering of intermittent moonlight piercing through a cloudy haze.

Reclining on his bed, Ichigo idly flips through the assigned reading for this week's homework. But his eyes glazed over hours ago. The reading is duller than dishwater but even if it hadn't been, his mind would be anywhere but the book.

The twin brothers share a bedroom. Ichigo's bed is nested under the larger north facing window. Kaien's is wedged at an adjacent angle under the smaller east window, the first thing you see as you open the bedroom door. Naturally sharing a room spawned an imaginary divide where half the room is loosely organised with bookshelves mounted on the walls in semi-neat order. The other half of the room has shelves filled with swimming trophies and ocean-themed paraphernalia.

He steals occasional glances over the top of his novel, watching his younger brother laying face down on his pillow sound asleep. Despite appearance Ichigo's an expert at reading the signs. As good an actor as Kaien is before the rest of their family, he knows better.

Kaien's deteriorating again.

Not that the stubborn ass would ever admit it (but openly complaining about him being a stubborn ass is basically the pot calling the kettle black).

Suspicions confirmed by the way Kaien collapsed on his bed with barely a greeting, in a manner that suggested less falling asleep and more losing consciousness. Didn't bother pulling the sheets back either. After Ichigo checked on him, he threw a spare warm blanket over him. It's going to be an unseasonably chilly night tonight. The last thing either of them want is for Kaien to catch a cold on top of everything else. For now he seems to be resting peacefully.

For now.

The next time Ichigo looks over his book to check, he nearly jumps out of his skin. Faint traces of reiryoku gather at his fingertips as a defensive reflex. Then he hisses a curse under his breath.

First, that Shinigami girl steals his kill. Now she leaps in his bedroom through a black formless portal, standing on top of his desk completely oblivious to Ichigo half-glaring at her for the intrusion.

Ichigo grits his teeth in anger, scowling at the brat with occasional glances at his younger brother. He's ready to jump the crazy shinigami but stops short when she mutters cryptic nonsense to herself and leaps out his open window without so much as a 'how do you do?'. Her lack of self-awareness is staggering, meandering about and blissfully unaware Ichigo is looking right at her.

"I swear that chick is stalking me." He grouses, sitting upright to observe her gliding towards the street below.

Ichigo winces. Upon reflection he probably should've seen it coming.

On his way home from school, Ichigo scoped out another Hollow and… well, old habits die hard. He'd been fluctuating his reiryoku output all afternoon to draw it in like a lighthouse in the dead of night, hoping to snag a quick kill before it got too close to home. He hadn't counted on fighting something else for its attention. By the time he got halfway home Ichigo figured it lost interest in their cat and mouse game.

Consequently, the area is now massively saturated with his reiatsu. That's probably why the shinigami got her wires crossed. And, Ichigo reflects sourly, is the main culprit behind why that damn Hollow gets the drop on her the second she touches down in the street.

"'ts tha' girl."

Ichigo jolts in surprise at the sluggish murmur coming from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, Ichigo sees his twin brother, barely awake and pushing himself up on his elbows, peering through the crack in his curtains.

"You've seen her before?"

Kaien nods, his voice low and groggy. "Yeah. Yeah, I have. Saw her at the pool today. Apparently she wanted to help the boy who haunted the place pass on. But before she could she took one look at me and bolted."

There's a joke there but Ichigo graciously ignores it.

"Maybe she freaked out because she's not used to being seen?" Ichigo muses quietly. "How many humans have the ability to see spirits in the first place? She probably didn't know what to think."

"She was definitely spooked. I'll tell you that much." Kaien mumbles, "Never figured Shinigami to be skittish."

They fall into silence, spectating the engagement, wincing when the Hollow's huge fist smashes the girl into a building wall.

"Wow, she is getting her butt whooped." Ichigo observes grimly.

Kaien frowns with an uncharacteristically calculating expression. "No… read the flow of her reiryoku. She should be stomping that thing into the pavement but she's distracted. Something's screwing with her focus."

Ichigo grimaces. Undoubtedly another unwitting consequence of his baiting tactics. "Whatever's distracting her, this skirmish is getting too close for comfort."

The last thing anyone needed was a dead shinigami on their doorstep. If one dies, more will come and frankly, neither of them are prepared to deal with that headache.

The shinigami's reiatsu starts dipping to dangerously low levels, so Ichigo reaches out, slow and deliberate like the old man taught him. It's a new trick he'd been taught recently, a way to manipulate the shadows themselves. Ichigo's not particularly good yet but he can sense the old man just below the surface, guiding him through it.

With steading breaths, Ichigo closes his eyes and concentrates. As the shinigami launches upwards, dramatic battle cry and all, tendrils of Ichigo's power reach out bending the shadows to his will. Tiny threads of shadow comply, just enough to trip it up midcharge final attack. Just a nudge. Like stubbing a toe mid-run, but it's enough to gain the advantage.

Ichigo lingers long enough to see her exhausted expression, disbelief mixed with relief as her zanpakutou plunges deep into the Hollow's mask and it falls, purified into a pure white butterfly.

She's in bad shape herself, but at least she's alive.

"Somebody saw you." Kaien reports, keeping to an urgent whisper.

"What?" Ichigo questions, "Her?"

"I don't know…" Kaien murmurs, concentrating. Searching. After a couple seconds he finishes. "To the right, three roofs down. He's covering his tracks but I can make him out. Barely."

Ichigo readjusts himself, giving the appearance of leaning out his window to inspect the aftermath of the shinigami's fight. For a brief moment he can make out the edges of a shadowed figure, who vanishes without a trace. "That's not eerie in the slightest."

Kaien hums, "Someone she's working with, you think?"

"If they are working together, she needs better comrades. Whomever it was seemed distinctly uninterested in rendering assistance." Ichigo observes sourly.

"Doesn't paint a charming image, does it? Should we be worried?"

"Haven't quite figured that part out yet." Ichigo says, scowling, "I really don't like how this day is turning out. A shinigami showed up at your race; the same one that showed up at the town square to pounce on a Hollow; and now she and a second Hollow duked it out on our doorstep."

Kaien's expression is blank, "I'd chalk it up to a magnificent coincidence but I don't believe in coincidences."

"Neither do I." Ichigo agrees, tapping the window seal while he thinks. "Someone or something out there wants to make our lives more eventful than we generally like."

Ichigo glances around again. He doesn't sense anything. "Is the mystery guy still out there or are they gone?"

Kaien's brow furrows, "I think they're gone. I can't sense anything out there… I'd have an easier time sorting it out if someone hadn't spilled their reiatsu everywhere." He quips half-heartedly.

Ichigo rolls his eyes, pushing down his irritation. "Knock it off. We'll figure out what to do about it tomorrow. In the meantime, You go back to sleep. You're exhausted." He instructs sternly.

"What are we gonna do about her?" Kaien gestures outside.

Ichigo glances out again, considering the collapsed girl for a moment. "We can't let her bleed out in the middle of the street. I'll bring her inside. Go find a first aid kit."


Author's note:

... the more things stay the same. Rukia's in for a shock when she wakes up.

Hope you enjoyed!

Aurora313