So, figured I'd cross-post this from AO3 because I have this dusty old account I haven't used in god knows how long. so here we go. btw, I took some liberties with the setting, most are from me blitzing the writing as I am a pantser all the way, but I kind of like the changes I kept better than canon, and they don't really change anything anyway. As for the moment that birthed this plot bunny? The soul ticket exchange.
Kukaku Shiba was in a mood. Not only had Shunsui finessed the central 46 to establish the Shiba clan as one of the great clans again, he foisted upon her the responsibility to tell Ichigo and his family what the bastard had planned for him.
She really wished Kisuke could have made the other arm work so she could have a smoke from her pipe. Why couldn't they have solved the whole replacing limbs issue before she got her arm bitten off on a patrol? Kukaku sighed. Carefully unfurling the directions with her only remaining hand. She was at the right place. She didn't need to look at Kisuke's handwritten directions to know that. "Kurosaki Clinic" was emblazoned on a sign above the front door. So she knocked.
The door opened almost immediately "Hello, I'm…" Isshin stopped almost immediately.
"Been a long time, hasn't it Isshin," Kukaku grinned. It was like the old times were back again. When she still had both arms, Kaien was head of the house, and they all were still in the noble district.
"It has, please, come in, I think the kids would love a visit from their aunt," Isshin had quickly waved her in but was far more quiet than usual. Probably knowing this wasn't a simple family visit, but fuck it, she hasn't seen her brother in decades, she'll indulge herself.
"Kids? Plural, damn, you and Masaki must have enjoyed each other," she almost immediately regretted saying that as Isshin immediately ran over and prostrated before a giant poster of his late wife and wailed like an idiot.
She snapped him out of it with a swift blow to the back of the head with her left arm. "You haven't changed at all you fucking oaf. I think we should catch up before Ichigo shows up and I have to do what I came here to do."
Catching up was apparently the right idea. Isshin was entirely in the dark about what happened to the clan after he left. As far as he knew, they were still big shots in politics, and that the clan was still doing well in spite of having three heads in less than a decade.
It was rough. Now though he had patients. While Ichigo had come back, he was busy helping his father. He had apparently been informed by Kisuke to put his life on hold until they heard from the seireitei. Urahara had either been aware of or suspected, what was going on.
She slammed back her beer while sitting in the kitchen. It was far enough away from the clinic that she couldn't really hear what was going on. She hated doing this to the kid. He's a mortal who isn't even twenty yet, he should be worried about whatever mortals do at that age. Not about what some assholes over ten times his age were doing, but she didn't really have a choice. She doesn't have any, nor want any, children of her own, not to mention marriage is basically off the table for her due to her reputation, Ganju is too dumb and even blunter than she is, and while Isshin had his sentence from the Gotei commuted, the central 46 hadn't reinstated his noble titles. Ichigo however, Yamamoto and the 46 had given him a full pardon once they learned Ichigo used the final getsuga fucking tensho to beat Aizen, and while his father was unpersoned, he was a damned hero. Not to mention he had enough of a head on his shoulders to actually run the damn clan when she either finally steps down or croaks. He wasn't just the only option, but by any other metric, the best option, and she hated it.
The door opened that connected the house and the clinic, her brother and nephew. Apparently, Isshin only said there was a visitor, not that it was her.
"So, how's my nephew doing?" She had a shit-eating grin, messing with Ichigo was always fun.
"What the hell are yo- wait? Nephew!? " Apparently, Isshin played his old game of half-truths again and was just as shit at it as ever. This was going to be fun. "You said you were the head of a branch family! Not the whole damned clan!"
"To be fair the main branch is a branch," Isshin was flustered and kept up the classic idiot mask he always wore. Oh, how she missed this. But she had work to do.
Kukaku cleared her throat. "As much as I'd love to see you kick his ass, I'm not exactly here just for a family visit," now came the meat and potatoes.
Ichigo immediately snapped all of his attention to her. "Is something wrong?" Good guess, since Soul Society didn't really involve him unless it was a crisis situation.
"No, actually, in most circles this would be considered good news," Ichigo let himself relax, but his scowl deepened.
"Implying that it isn't here," Ichigo was quick on the pickup as always.
"There are a few details I don't think you'll like, but the Shiba clan has been reinstated as a great house," she didn't know what to make of it herself. One part was elated, the arrogant little girl that she was before she got her arm bitten off, and the other part, the old woman who just wanted to be left alone, dreaded losing her privacy, the peace and quiet, and the freedom she had wandering the rukon when the only responsibility she had was to the soul palace.
Ichigo walked over to the table, sat down, put his head in his hands, and sighed, "What's the catch?"
"I needed to formally select and declare an heir," Kukaku didn't feel the need to say he was the heir, her being here said that in and of itself.
Ichigo groaned loudly as he contemplated who cursed him with this luck so that he could beat the shit out of them.
Kukaku finished her beer in one final gulp, then flashed Ichigo a grin, "There are other details that need to be covered, but I'm also genuinely here to visit an extended family that I didn't know I had."
The visit was largely going well. Yuzu was an absolute darling and was prone to her family's more theatrical tendencies. Though it was clear her quincy heritage ran more strongly in her than her Shiba blood. Karin on the other hand was pretty much the opposite. She was quiet, wore a scowl similar to Ichigo's, and also joined him in ganging up on her father for being an idiot. This showed she was of the more reasonable variety of Shiba, but Karin was suspicious of her, probably for good reason. Kisuke said she knew Ichigo was involved with something to do with hollows, especially since she could see them, and now was even capable of hi-spec manipulation of her spiritual energy. She sighed, she needed to talk to her too. Hopefully, she could just get this out of the way, finish visiting family, and get to work on rebuilding her clan's long-atrophied political connections.
She and Isshin decided to keep Yuzu out of the loop for now. She had no need to know what was happening and so they had gone out to get more food and beer. Enough time to get to business.
"You're not actually our aunt, are you?" Karin swung for the fences, and she was damned close too.
"Worse, she is, " Ichigo's response surprised Karin. As far as she knew her parents were normal, if weird. This, however, was a surprise that caught her off guard and threw her off balance.
"Your father is my older brother, a former noble in Soul Society, and the former captain of the tenth division," this got Ichigo's attention.
"You mean Toshiro's?" Kukaku nodded at Ichigo's inquiry. Karin was stunned into silence. Her father wasn't just a shinigami but was one of the strongest. A scary thought began creeping into her mind.
"Correct. But let's not burn time here. The head captain has concerns and plans," Kukaku didn't want to waste time. The smaller details could be gone over later. "Kyoraku is worried you are becoming too powerful to be allowed to live in the living world without refining your spiritual control, if at all."
Ichigo sighed at this. Karin was about to say something in protest but her brother stopped her. "I don't like this, but I understand it. Hat-n-clogs warned me this could happen, and I figure I don't really have a say in it anyway."
"Yeah. 46 wants you up there on a permanent basis. Probably so they can finally put a leash on you. Kyoraku was able to talk them down to you being able to return once your reiatsu is better controlled if they deem it safe. Unless you decide to stay anyway," Kukaku ran her hand through her messy hair as she broke the bad news, she knew the 46's bullshit all too well. That was a big if... This is why she hated Seireitei politics. Way too messy.
"Will I be allowed to make visits?" Ichigo's question was expected. Hell, she had whole plans to make sure he could.
"The 46 would probably say no, but Kyoraku and I will deal with that when it comes to it. Just let us know in advance so we can cover for you if necessary," Ichigo didn't like the answer, but he could live with it.
"Now for the part you really won't like," this was going to be an argument, she knew it. "Kyoraku convinced the 46 to revive the substitute shinigami program in a trial run, and Karin, you are at the top of the list."
Karin was floored. So much so in fact that she entirely missed Ichigo's explosive reaction, and Kukaku scaring him straight with a mere glare.
"The choice is yours, but I'd recommend taking it," Karin silently acknowledged her aunt. She never thought she'd get involved like this. She was apprehensive. Ichigo rarely talked about the work he did. He'd talk about his patrols, but he never shared 'war stories.' Given what little she heard, she really didn't know if she wanted that life.
"Thanks, but I… I don't know," Karin was unusually meek about this.
Kukaku sighed. "You don't need to answer now, but with your powers developing as they are, you eventually are going to run into some of the issues your brother did, and are going to need it anyway. So as far as I see it, why not?" Kukaku gave her a reassuring look. One an older sibling or parent would give an uncertain child. Karin guessed she kind of was one given Kukaku was probably centuries old at least.
"I'll think about it," Kukaku smiled faintly at her niece's reply. Her caution was actually reassuring. She was worried she'd jump at the chance. However, it seemed that Ichigo had done enough to inform her how dangerous shinigami work is.
At this Isshin and Yuzu finally returned from their trip. Forcing Karin to shelve her many questions until later as focus returned to family, and the mask they had all chosen to use to hide from Yuzu this world of spirits and monsters fell again.
The next day was tense. Isshin could feel it. Then again his side of the family had a reputation as chaos incarnate so that was to be expected. However, he knew he needed to have a talk with Karin. Ichigo was still trying to figure out how to say goodbye to his friends, especially those who had no idea about the spirit world, so it fell to him to help his daughter make an informed decision.
Fortunately, Yuzu was going to be hanging out with friends. So soon she would be leaving the house and doing that. Karin usually didn't go on these journeys as she generally preferred solitude over company. Granted, Karin was the easy part. Ichigo… he had his entire world uprooted in a single night. Isshin knew the Central 46, they wouldn't let him come back. Once he left for Soul Society, he wasn't coming back for anything longer than visits. They just won't let him walk away without a leash to pull on. He had told Ichigo as much, he knew Kyoraku and Kukaku likely knew this as well.
Ichigo had figured that as well. Thankfully since he had his sentences commuted, he could at least visit his son, and if Karin takes up the offer, she could as well.
"Bye everyone, I'll be back tonight," and that was Yuzu leaving. He replied back with his usual overdramatic theater, mainly because he found it fun to do so, but once the door closed, he could feel the weight on his shoulders increase as he heard Karin come down from upstairs.
"So dad, you wanted to talk?" She looked like she hadn't slept last night. It made sense. She didn't really like her world-shaking that much.
"I just wanted to expand on a few things Kukaku said," expand was close, but there really wasn't a word for 'your mother was a quincy and her getting bit by a hollow similar to the one that killed my older brother, who I harassed to the point of him moving out of the compound, and thus was doomed to oblivion if I didn't give her my power,' didn't really have a word for it. So 'expand' was good enough.
"I'm starting to hate our family's tendency to keep secrets," she had a point. He was bad about that. He probably should have come clean to Ichigo when he came back from Soul Society. Him learning he was Uryu's cousin back then would have been hilarious, but he had the opportunity to make sure Karin didn't jump in blind as Ichigo did. So he dropped his mask and stared at one of the two final gifts his lovely wife gave him.
"Do you understand it though, why Ichigo and I didn't tell you?" Karin glanced off to the side, then sighed.
"Yes," she was agreeing to keep Yuzu in the dark. She hated it, but she got it.
"Alright. What I am telling you, I probably should have told Ichigo the moment he came back from Soul Society the first time," he'll let Ichigo tell her that story, after all, he was there.
He told the story almost exactly the same as he did for Ichigo, the only changes were explaining what a quincy was, and why telling anyone outside of a specific group what he told her was a very bad idea, and not hiding any of what Kukaku had already told her.
Karin had absorbed it all. She didn't like what she was hearing, but she trusted that her father was finally coming clean.
"So. That hollow is what everyone is worried about," Karin's sharp inference surprised Isshin.
"Yes, your brother developed powers that seem to have come from it," he had spoken to Uryu after the war with Aizen concluded, and he had informed him of Ichigo's battle against Ulquiorra. He still didn't know for certain, but he has a strong hunch that it was from White.
The gears were turning in Karin's head, and it was beginning to look to her as if she practically had no option but to accept. "I'm assuming bad things happen if those awaken without any training."
Isshin sighed. "We Have no idea. If you don't awaken your shinigami powers you could very well never face this, but if that's not the case, and they don't activate under controlled circumstances, yes. It could be very bad," he didn't want to elaborate further. Losing one of his daughters to this was simply a gut-wrenching thought. One he didn't want to linger on.
Karin's scowl deepened. "Then yeah, I guess there is really no option," Karin was beginning to see why her father was such a massive buffoon. This was depressing. "When do I start?"
So, this is the first of seven chapter's I'll be posting in rapid succession in order to catch you all up to where I've published on AO3. I would still appreciate feedback on each individual chapter.