WARNING!

This chapter includes: attempted child sexual assault. Non-explicit.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

"To rise above monsters, we have to abandon our humanity."

Dozens of boxes surrounded Ichigo as he fell. It was cold and dark and empty, even with all of the boxes. Hundreds of ribbons were attached to them, tangling and snagging on each other while Ichigo falls through them.

"Where–what–how can I find them? All of this–fuck!" Ichigo slowly turns in the air, righting himself so he could fall feet first. He has half a mind just to fall and see if there's a bottom to this bottomless void.

Ichigo sighs heavily and whips around, eyes zipping back and forth. Find the zanpakutō, find the zanpakutō, find the other part of his damn damned soul. Heh. Damn damned. That's quite funny.

"This shit fucks, bro," Ichigo sighs heavily while leaning his head back. The wind whistles in his ears and makes his sleeves whip against his bandaged arms.

Red flickers in his peripherals right before he closes his eyes. They snap open and turn towards where he saw it. A long red ribbon, lighter than crimson but darker than blood. Okay... maybe not fucks, but it still sucked to be endlessly falling searching for the box that held his zanpakutō.

Ichigo grins widely as he directs his body towards the red ribbon. He's gonna kick his inverted twin's ass and then go kick Geta-bōshi's! Or give his damned fucking best!

"You bitches better get ready!" Ichigo grabs the ribbon with both hands and wraps it around one wrist. He releases a cackle as his body continues to fall, now anchored and reaching towards the specific box that he was meant to look for.

Things are about to be in his fucking favor and it's going to be glorious!

"Motherfucking–" Keigo trips over his feet and rolls onto and over his face, dodging the bullets from a damn sealed machine gun piece of shit. He scrambles up with one hand, his other holding his throbbing nose.

"Mizuiro, where the fuck are you?!" Keigo shouts while he dead sprints out of the way of a barrage of more bullets that the third most adorable little girl was targeting towards him.

Keigo slides underneath a sudden swing of a kanabō towards his head. He pushes up against his hands and kicks back the little shit attempting to knock his head off with the kanabō, careful not to truly hurt the boy.

"I need a little bit of help, you techie asshole!" The screech echoes throughout the entire impossibly large basement. It might have even been heard up in the shōten.

"And I need a charger, you foolish idiot!" Mizuiro shouts back, much more cheerful than what the situation called for.

"Who needs a damn charger when there–" Keigo cuts himself off to jump over a boulder, the exact one Mizuiro was hiding behind "–when literally babies are trying to kill us?! AND STOP HIDING YOU ASSHOLE!"

The red haired boy jumps over the boulder, his kanabō raised and a grin stretching his face. "Found you!"

"Keigo~!" The black haired teenager leaps away, rolling across the ground as he manages to dodge a big hit from the weapon. He stumbles to his feet and begins running, opposite from the brunette's direction.

"Oh, don't "Keigo~!" me! How's I supposed to know you were there, asshole?!"

Mizuiro slides underneath a sudden barrage of bullets, wincing when two pierce through his arm and shoulder. He twists his body as his sliding starts to stall, turning it towards where the bullets were coming from.

Dark green eyes focus on the small girl targeting him and narrow at the blankly innocent expression on her face. He pushes his feet against the ground and rushes towards the girl, weaving in a zigzag direction.

The bullets follow, some hitting in front of him, but Mizuiro keeps sprinting forward. He spins to avoid a straight shot of a barrage of bullets and uses the momentum to turn a hard right.

Keigo jumps high in the air before a kanabō could swipe out his legs from underneath him. He steps onto the metal weapon before jumping forward. He uses the momentum to keep up sprinting.

He takes off his jacket and flings it behind him, not glancing back when he hears a muffled shout. He does grin though, as he slides against the ground to turn left.

Mizuiro and Keigo start sprinting next to each other, both smiling. They glance at each other and nod their heads. Time to do it!

"These idiots are getting on my nerves!" The boy exclaims loudly, finally flinging the jacket off of his face.

"They're good at Kisuke-san's training..." The adorable little girl points out quietly, still consistently shooting at the two teenage boys.

And truly, the two were. After the first half hour of figuring out how it was meant to go, Keigo easily outran the bullets and managed to dodge almost all of the kanabō attacks while Mizuiro kept managing to hide for long periods of time and managed to hit the two kids with loose rocks to distract them.

Both were fast, Keigo being faster, and both were agile, Mizuiro being more agile. It was a good combination.

Keigo and Mizuiro suddenly split in opposite directions, right as the boy swings down with his kanabō at both of them. A growl of frustration leaves his mouth as he watches both teenagers take another turn, now sprinting parallel towards the little girl.

He scowls and chases the slower of the two, the one still managing a smile on his face. Mizuiro glances back to watch the boy quickly gain ground and hides a smirk. It's working.

He's about to glance over at his best friend to give a nod when a sudden pressure makes him stumble to his knees. Mizuiro gasps for air that he couldn't take in as a booming explosion of power makes his ears ring and his head spin.

Bloodthirsty. Unhinged. The heaviness of an incredibly dusty day, suffocating anyone and everyone with the smell of petrichor. The absolute calm before a torrential storm, but instead of rain, it was blood.

He can count the number of times he's felt this presence on one hand... and never this immense. Ichigo...

It was too bright and sunny for a day like this. The birds were chirping too cheerfully, singing and playing with each other. Kids were screaming as they played in the parks, all filled on a nice summer day like this. Even people on the streets were scarce–odd for a weekday in Naruki City.

It could be a nice day... if it weren't for the fact that it was another day of unwillingly listening to the next "new dad" twice the age of Mizuiro's mother fucking her so loudly that even the people in the streets below the apartment complex can hear it. And he wasn't exaggerating.

He can't exaggerate when he's currently being circled around like some meat on a hook for wolves in the alleyway right next to his mother's apartment. Mizuiro doesn't think he can call it his home anymore.

"Think he'd sound just as good as his mom does?" One of the sleazy pieces of trash asks his the rest of the trash.

Cold dread fills the 10 year old's stomach. Mizuiro slides his foot back, glancing between the five men surrounding him. Fuck... Fuck!

Mizuiro swallows down the slow burning in his throat and the itchiness of his eyes. "How... how much does she owe you?"

Of course. Of fucking course! Another damn problem meant for his mother and now he has to deal with it. Another problem he's forced to handle, because that damn woman will just push all the blame on him and refuse to take responsibility.

Mizuiro's sick and fucking tired of it. He just wants to be a kid. He just wants that woman to be a damn mother to him and not sleep around and leave the adulting to her own child. He doesn't even care if that woman becomes a mother to him if the rest of his family just tries to love him.

But no. He's just the product of a drunken one night stand and the permanent reminder that his mother fucked up and ruined her entire life at the age of 15. He's the permanent stain of the Kojima family. Like they all weren't worse stains on the family legacy–if there was a chance for it to live on.

"Nah... It's too late for payment. Well, monetary payment," The first piece of trash states with a revolting leer. He grins and takes a step forward, making Mizuiro step back with a shaking hand reaching for his pocket.

"We'll forget all about what she did to us, if ya let us play with you a bit. You look like her enough... You understand what I'm saying, yeah?"

Mizuiro tightens his grip around the small pepper spray he managed to buy by snagging some money from that woman's wallet. She was getting bolder with her escapades and trickery before leaving the men high and dry. The familiar gaudy chain around the main trash's neck makes Mizuiro tremble in terror.

That woman messed with a local yakuza. Fuck. He can barely protect himself from one person! But–five?! He's–he's not going to have a choice. Fuck! He's–

Kojima Mizuiro, always more sensitive to the people around him with a certain intuition that is never wrong, tenses up as the hairs on his arms and neck stand up straight beneath the long sleeved shirt. He almost coughs at the sudden heavy stench of petrichor, feeling it coat his throat in lungs as he breathes. He glances up at the sky instinctively, wondering if it was suddenly about to storm.

It was still sunny, so why does he feel like blood is raining down and hitting against him?

"Oi!" A booming voice, young and incredibly familiar, thankfully interrupts what was just about to happen to Mizuiro. The 10 year old snaps his eyes over to the entrance of the alleyway, the pieces of trash following after him.

All was silent except for the loud moans and fucking coming from the open window to that woman's apartment. A boy, 10 years old and has clearly seen better places despite being so young, and a girl, the same age and glaring like she's actually murdered someone before, blocked anyone exiting the alleyway, both staring down the five pieces of trash attempting to have their way with Mizuiro. The boy's hands were out of his hoodie pocket, one holding a smartphone that was currently on call with the police, and the girl had a baseball bat in one hand and her other shoved in her jacket pocket.

"Leave Kojima alone, you fuckers!" Arisawa Tatsuki sneers loudly while waving her baseball bat, dozens of nails protruding from it. Sirens slowly start to get closer.

"Hear that?! The police are on their way an' I gave them your descriptions!" Kurosaki Ichigo exclaims while holding up his phone.

The main piece of trash sneers before looking back over at Mizuiro. "You got lucky, kid. But don't think this is over. Next time, I'll have my fun with you and your friends over there."

The trash trudges past the two child saviors, all of them glaring down at them as they leave. Ichigo watches them walk down the street to make sure they don't come back while Tatsuki rushes forward.

The... presence of petrichor is slow to disappear; now it just simmers just below its containment. Ichigo would release it at a moment's notice to keep those pieces of trash away.

"Kojima, you okay?" Tatsuki asks worriedly. Mizuiro releases a stuttering breath before his legs give out from under him. The tomboy easily catches him before he could hit the ground and holds all of his weight to help him stay balanced.

"You–you both... I..." Mizuiro tries–he really does–to give his immense gratitude, but his voice catches in his throat. Ichigo finally walks over, and places a hand on Mizuiro's shoulder.

"It's okay. We'll keep ya safe. We're classmates, yeah?" Ichigo states with a small smile and a head tilt.

Mizuiro sucks in a breath before he breaks down. He falls into Tatsuki's arms and cries, releasing all of the terror and fear he had felt.

"C'mon. Let's getcha some ramen so you can cry comfortably." Tatsuki keeps an arm tightly wrapped around Mizuiro as she leads the way out of the alleyway. Mizuiro could only nod through his sobs.

Ichigo takes his first step out of that damned pit, unbothered by the dust billowing around him. He has more important things to worry about... like murdering a creepy shopkeeper!

Everything buzzed, outside and inside of Ichigo. Something thrummed in sync with the beating of his heart, like it was always there–and maybe it was, just sleeping.

The light through the dust pierced his eyes like a flashlight. He could hear the minute crunches of someone carefully walking and the breathing of six people–two adults, two teenagers, and two kids. He could feel different things dance across his skin; air, dust, reiatsu. Ichigo opens his mouth and tastes the faint traces of reiatsu. Mint and sea salt. Jasmine tea. Cayenne pepper. A dying campfire. Morning dew and dead leaves. Blood.

Ichigo takes a deep breath, barely noticing how odd it sounds, and smells the taste even more and where those different reiatsu were coming from.

Mint and sea salt–calm and composed, cautious and meticulous, but kind and protective. Tessai.

Jasmine tea–shy, soft, gentle, worried and innocent, but so protective and perceptive. Little Ururu.

Cayenne pepper–fiery, hotheaded, but passionate, protective and playful. That brat Jinta.

A dying campfire–passionate, loud, bright, and cheerful, but suspicious and protective and so very desperate to be worth something. Keigo.

Morning dew and dead leaves–calm, quiet, intuitive, but distrusting and resentful, protective and terrified that it'll be over in a flash. Mizuiro.

Blood hidden by matcha and ink–concealed, but just barely released enough to feel. Unhinged, protective, possessive, curious, analytical, guilty and vengeful. Geta-bōshi.

Ichigo huffs out a laugh, only for it to hitch when he feels the breath hit back against his face. He doesn't notice the dust clearing as he reaches a hand up to his face. Something cold and smooth shocks his skin and makes his fingers twitch at the heightened feeling.

There's a... mask on his face... when the actual hell did he get a mask? Did he go on a manic spree again?

"They won' fuckin' know what's comin' for 'em!" Ichigo's inverted twin cackles loudly in his mind, maniacal and insane. Ichigo can't help but grin widely in agreement.

"...Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo can't help the full head twitch at how piercing the voice was. His eyes snap into focus on the only figure standing in front of him a few meters away.

Geta-bōshi had a tight grip on the handle of his cane, and his entire body was tense. "...are you alright?"

Ichigo blinks at the question before looking down at his hands. He finally notices the hilt of his zanpakutō–of one of his zanpakutō gripped tightly in his hand. He silently turns it around in his hand to admire it.

It was completely black and just a few inches longer than his arm. It was in the shape of a khyber knife, but had a white ribbon wrapped around the tang instead of an actual hilt.

Ichigo flips it around and suddenly slams the pommel of the sword against the center of his mask. Sounds of bone cracking and chipping away fills the quiet basement as the mask easily caves in and falls away in pieces. Ichigo grabs the remainder of the mask still whole and pulls it up and away from his eyes.

"Oi, Geta-bōshi..." Ichigo looks down and grabs the hilt of the other part of his zanpakutō. "Would ya rather get impaled by my zanpakutō or have your head on a pike?"

"...pardon me?" Geta-bōshi asks, blinking rapidly at the sudden question.

A grin, unhinged and maybe a little insane, stretches across Ichigo's face. He unsheathes his other blade while pointing the longer one towards the shopkeeper.

"You honestly think I'ma just let ya throw me in a pit? You're fuckin' dead!"

"E-eh–wait, Kurosaki-kun–" Geta-bōshi quickly ducks below a sudden swing of a sword, his hat getting sliced in half like it was butter.

"I wonder what we should have for dinner... Pizza?" Mizuiro asks curiously as he and Keigo start walking towards the entrance of the basement.

Keigo stretches his back, expertly ignoring the screaming and shouting behind him. "Well, Ichi eats three pizzas by himself–Chad eats four. Orihime eats two and you and Tatsuki can share a pizza. I'll get two for me and you and the others... Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan each can eat one pizza, so... Five more pizzas? Nineteen?"

"Hmm. I'll call in the order, you call everyone and get the money," Mizuiro says, already holding up his phone to his ear.

"Yeah, yeah." Keigo starts climbing up the ladder first. "Ichigo still has his dad's credit card, right?"

"Yep."

Despite being older than Karin by three minutes, Yuzu is considered the baby of the family. That's okay. She's fine with it, and it makes sense why people outside always assume.

She's sensitive, a bit of a crybaby, and wants a pet cat to cuddle with. That doesn't mean she isn't any less mature or... distrustful compared to her siblings.

Onīchan raises them and does all the stuff Isshin is meant to do. Pay the bills, run the clinic, take her and Karin to school, show up to their competitions and contests, be a parent. During the first two years, he even cooked, and cleaned, and taught her and Karin how to read. Both in Japanese and in German, like Mama always wanted, and then in English!

Onīchan still does most of the work, but once she grew older and realized how much he was doing for them–especially when that damned man kept hurting Onīchan–Yuzu took over the cleaning and the cooking. Onīchan still had his own school after all.

Karin thinks she doesn't have anything useful for them, but she still helps when she can. She's actually better at keeping the clinic organized and running–since Isshin can't run the logistics side of business for the fucking life of him–than both her and Onīchan combined. And she keeps everything else in order. Grocery runs, yardwork, and keeping Isshin in line–sometimes.

Tatsuki-nēsan and Orihime-nēsan help with the cooking and keeping Isshin in line when it's Onīchan's turn to host their hangout spot. Keigo-nīsan and Uryū-nīsan handle the cleaning and the running of the clinic. Mizuiro-nīsan and Chad-nīsan help with the yardwork, and sometimes help with the cleaning and keeping Isshin in line or away from the house.

And when Rukia-nēsan was here she–she... she almost made this damned house feel like a home once again. Like–like it was safe to live in. Yuzu really, really misses her.

Onīchan and Rukia-nēsan sat them down a while back and told them about the night that the truck that went through their house wasn't really a truck. Onīchan actually intended to keep them in the dark, but he said someone got rid of her and Karin's memories–with Isshin telling the person to. Which means, Isshin knew about it all and that means he's involved.

Yuzu and Karin will be involved eventually and it's better if they're prepared. Even though they can't really tell anyone that they know about it–except the family of course!

But with Rukia-nēsan missing... and the rest of the family seemingly disappearing for three days... Yuzu's getting worried. And so is Karin, despite her vehement denial. She's so cute! Like a mini Onīchan, but less like a feral animal and more like a feral cat!

"Are you sure this 's where they are?" Karin asks suspiciously, looking up at the small old shōten in front of them. Yuzu rolls her eyes and shows the screen of her phone where she had pulled up the map to find this place.

"I smell the pizza too," Yuzu points out before she starts walking towards the opened shoji doors. "Onīchan~! We're here!"

"Yuzu-chan! Karin-chan! We're back here!" Tatsuki's voice shouts from the back of the store.

"Ya know, tellin' us to come with only sayin' there's pizza ain't exactly the best way!" Karin states loudly as she walks into the private area of the shōten first.

"You both still came for it!" Orihime points out cheerfully before taking a bite of her pizza.

Karin gives her an incredulous look. "It's pizza. Who in their right minds would deny pizza?"

"Everyone! You're all here too? Hello!" Yuzu greets cheerfully, walking past Karin with a bright smile. She blinks when she spots everyone–excluding the people she doesn't know–bandaged up and most of their clothes torn.

"What happened?! Did one of those foolish yakuza gangs jump you guys again? If it was Watase an' his boys, I told 'im that if he tries to harm you, I'd send those pictures to his little girlfriend's father!" Yuzu rushes forward to begin her mother henning.

"It ain't Watase. Jus' some trainin' Yuzu." Ichigo stumbles into the room from the back, pulling on a long sleeved shirt over his bandaged stomach.

"Who's the creepy lookin' dude and the dreads?" Karin points towards two of the strangers in the room while plopping down between Tatsuki and Orihime. She grabs one of the unopened pizza boxes and immediately begins eating.

"Ah. Geta-bōshi an' Tessai-san. These two over there are Ururu-chan an' Jinta," Ichigo points to each person he introduces. "Geta-bōshi's the creepy shopkeeper that's trainin' us to go save Rukia. Tessai-san's cool. Oh and the damned cat friend of Geta-bōshi, Yoruichi."

"Damned brat!" A black cat hisses back at Ichigo, making Yuzu gasp in delight.

"Kitty! Oh, you are so cute!" Yuzu squeals in delight. She sits down in Chad's lap and gently holds out her hand towards Yoruichi.

"Karin. That's Yuzu," The black haired girl introduces them both with a mouth full of pizza. Ichigo gives her a look while plopping himself down in Mizuiro's lap.

"Karin, don't speak with your mouth full and introduce yourself properly."

Karin rolls her eyes, but follows Ichigo's demand without complaint. "My name's Kurosaki Karin. That's my twin sister, Yuzu. Nice to meetcha, creepy shopkeeper an' others."

"N-nice to meet you..." The little girl appearing around their age speaks up shyly with a small head bow.

"Nice to meet you, I guess," The boy states, looking a little bit red around his cheeks while he stares at Yuzu.

"When are ya gonna go save Rukia-nēsan?" Yuzu asks while cuddling the adorable black cat to her chest and ignoring the boy staring at her.

"Fuck if I know. I don't pay attention to that kinda shit." Ichigo leans into Mizuiro and taps his temple before taking a bite of pizza. "How long it's been?"

"Three days. We have seven more days of training and then we'll leave in a week after that," Mizuiro answers without even glancing away from his phone. Ichigo makes a humming noise and waves towards Yuzu before he leans back to rest his head in Keigo's lap.

"Well, we'll get everythin' ready for Rukia-nēsan! Karin-chan an' I've already planned the excuse to give Goat Face! An' we've already bought the new futon an' she looks to be my size, so we're gonna go by her some clothes later!" The blonde girl beams with an even brighter smile.

"You're quite confident that your brother and his friends will return, Kurosaki-chan! And with Kuchiki-chan too!" Geta-bōshi states with a fan covering his face.

Yuzu and Karin both stare at him, eyes wide and suspicious. Silence fills the somewhat crowded rooms before it's Karin who barks out a laugh. Yuzu follows after with her giggling.

"Of course they will! Rukia-nēsan belongs here!" Yuzu grins, just a bit of Ichigo's influence shining through. He did raise her and Karin after all!

"Everyone knows not to take Onīchan's things away from 'im! That's just a death wish!" Yuzu continues before grabbing her own pizza box.

"Wanna bet Ichi manages to make a bomb in the first hour?" Keigo asks with a wide grin.

"Fuck off, Keigo! He'd be makin' two bombs in the first hour! An' he'd be blowin' them up in the second," Tatsuki dismisses the proposal with a wave of her pizza.

"Seriously?! I ain't gonna be blowin' up any bombs!" Ichigo denies with a glare pointed at Tatsuki and a light slap to Keigo's chest. "I gotta save it for when we save Rukia and hafta start runnin'!"

"You don't even know the infrastructure of where we're heading to, Ichigo-kun, so you can't set up the bombs beforehand," Orihime points out before delving into her second pizza.

"If it's in any form of a grid pattern, then we cool." Ichigo lifts up the okay sign before finishing his slice of pizza.

"You are all quite the terrifying group of kids!" Geta-bōshi states with an amused smile and a lazy wave of his fan.

The entire group, excluding Yuzu and Karin, turn and glare at the shopkeeper. "We ain't kids."

"And all of you skipped over the terrifying part," Yoruichi continues for the shopkeeper, looking at each of the teenagers with an indecipherable look in his eyes.

"Oh, they've long since accepted the fact that they're all terrifyin' years ago," Karin speaks through another mouthful of pizza. She raises her hands and quickly swallows the food when Ichigo gives her another glare.

Yuzu giggles and leans back into Chad's chest. The gentle giant wraps his arms around the 11 year old girl in a protective hold. She immediately relaxes further and snuggles closer, Yoruichi still in her arms.

Everything's going to be fine in the end. Onīchan's going to save Rukia-nēsan and bring her back... and everyone will just be a little bit brighter for them all.

Hey! Hope you all like the new chapter! So, like another one of my stories... I lied. Next chapter will be the start of the ryoka invasion!

Also, sorry for not posting! I already said it in a few other stories, but I'm taking a break from writing–well, writing AS much as I was doing. So updates will be sporadic.

On another note, as of February 28th, I am now officially 20! Woo! I also celebrated my birthday with a sickness that STILL HAS IT'S FUCKING HOLD ON ME AND IT'S FRIDAY AS I'M FINISHING UP THIS CHAPTER (my birthday was on Tuesday and I started feeling sick on Sunday)!

Anyways, I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! Bye.

WhovianWhoudini