YES PEOPLE, I AM ALIVE! AND I COME BEARING A MASS UPDATE TO MAKE UP FOR THE WAIT!
I have had a really, REALLY bad case of luck for a full month. Starting with the car finally giving up the ghost and ending with my mother being in and out of the hospital. On the plus side, my muse has gotten the swift kick in the ass it needed to update some of the older fics. Here's to hoping the rest of the month is better after the mess the last was.
The Winter War. That was what they called the battle between Aizen's forces and that of the Soul Society. Several good people fought in this battle, and even more died.
Everything was at a standstill until one man risked his life and his powers to put an end to the conflict.
Ichigo Kurosaki, a teen who was born half soul reaper, half human.
He used up all of his considerable powers to kill Aizen...but in the process he almost lost his ability to access the power he inherited from his father. However, he would be unable to access it for some time after.
Among those killed in the war was Ichigo's father, Isshin. Without a primary caregiver, Ichigo was forced to take odd jobs just to stay in high school. Upon graduation, he set out for America, leaving his twin sisters Karin and Yuzu in the care of the same man who helped Isshin get his clinic started originally... Uryu Ishida's father, Ryuuken Ishida. Despite the past conflict between Quincy and Soul Reaper, he agreed to house Ichigo's sisters and help take care of the girls while Ichigo found a steady job to pay for living expenses.
His brief attempts to get employment closer to home were proven futile for multiple reasons.
One, most seemed to think he was a delinquent because of his natural hair color.
Two, Ichigo quickly realized he could still see souls, and the need to kill hollows was something he had been forced to develop despite Ryuuken informing him that the entire blame for what happened was Urahara's fault for giving Rukia a faulty gigai in the first place.
Three, the job market for someone of his limited skills was dramatically reduced, as hunting hollows had actually caused him more problems when it came to finding a job that could use his powers. It was actually the real reason Ryuuken had tried to dissuade his son Uryu from following the family tradition with his powers...hunting down fallen souls didn't pay a single yen, and he wanted to avoid his son being put in the same position Ichigo now found himself in.
And while a mercenary might make decent money, Ichigo refused to take a job where he might have to one day kill people.
Hence why he got a work visa so he could legally enter America and hopefully find a better job. At the very least it kept the Soul Society from ruining his life more than it already had.
And it would open up his narrow world even further than the soul society had...as well as give him an idea of what he could do once his visa was expired.
It was all over the supernatural grapevine. The half Reaper Kurosaki was leaving Japan for America. While the reapers already on assignment in the States were curious about their oriental cousin, there were others who were worried that on top of increasing demon attacks they would now have to deal with the annoying fallen souls that seemed to be infesting Japan for the past three hundred years.
However one such demon wasn't the least bit worried. If he could keep the likes of Lilith and Alistair unaware of his plans while giving hunters the run around, then he could handle some half-reaper brat.
So it was to his great surprise when he ran into the kid. Literally.
Ichigo sighed. He had hoped leaving Japan would open up a few more employment options. He would even work as a translator at this point!
Instead it seemed his bad luck proceeded him. Well that and a discrimination against odd hair colors. Fortunately unlike Japan, he wasn't being forced to dye it for a decent job. He just hid it under the most annoying hat in existence while working at a coffee shop.
So when a well-dressed man in what looked like an accountant's outfit came in for some coffee he had never heard the name of before now, he didn't even bat an eye.
At least, not until he was heading to his crappy apartment and was attacked by some nut with black eyes. Ichigo reacted accordingly, just barely refraining from hitting him with the pommel of what many would call an 'oversized butcher knife', but he called his zanpakuto.
He almost did summon it (a trick he had finally figured out a year after his father's death when his powers started coming back) when he heard someone clapping.
"Impressive. Then again I heard you were a decent fighter after having to deal with those hacks in Japan," said a voice.
It took Ichigo a minute to recognize him. It was the accountant from earlier.
"Why did you attack me?"
"Curiosity, mostly. That and I wanted to see what a 'soul' reaper could do. Frankly I don't get why Death allowed that group to make their own little version of the afterlife when there's already enough of them around," he said flatly.
Ichigo blinked.
"You make it sound like there's more than the soul society around," he commented.
"Kid, that little afterlife is just a drop in the bucket. Barely a fraction of what hell alone has. Then again it's only been around for about four hundred years or so, whereas hell has existed since the first human killed another," said the man blandly.
Ichigo ran that through his head.
"Okay, I know you have to be joking because last I checked Yamamoto was like several thousand years old at least, and he was around from the beginning!"
"One, once you die time moves at a different rate. Two, I said the Soul Society didn't exist until four hundred years ago, not that they weren't around. And three, from what I can tell the only reason Death allowed them to make that place was because he wanted those mutated fallen souls over there taken care of, and they filled out the proper paperwork."
Ichigo would claim he was delusional, except he had noticed that they spent more time than he liked after rescuing Rukia, yet when they got back it was like they had barely spent two weeks.
"So who are you anyway?" asked Ichigo.
The accountant smirked.
"Call me Crowley. So tell me, how do you enjoy working at some crappy Starbucks?"
Ichigo grimaced.
"If it wasn't for the fact I refuse to become a mercenary, I might as well have stayed home," he stated flatly.
Crowley's smirk widened.
"How would you like a job? I could always use someone with half a brain who can get rid of certain non-human nuisances that wouldn't be bothered by salt or iron...or the annoying hunters that crop up."
"Salt or iron?" said Ichigo incredulous. Though it was tempting. So long as he wasn't being sent out to kill for a living he was almost up for anything at this point.
"You'll find out soon enough," said Crowley, "So, you interested?"
"No killing, right?"
"Not unless you have something about breaking and entering, no. I have other people to do that job," said Crowley.
Ichigo took off his hat and said "Then screw the coffee, I'm in!"
Ichigo would later wonder the wisdom of accepting a job from a perfect stranger who had already attacked him...but then thought about the crappy luck he had beforehand getting a decent job that paid well. At least this Crowley character paid him more than the menial jobs he had before, and he included room and board.
Four months later...
"Okay...chalking that up to another weird thing I've seen since finding a decent job..." said Ichigo.
Four months, and already Ichigo had seen more weird crap working as Crowley's personal ward-breaker than he had in eighteen years in Japan. He had thought Hollows had made him immune to bizarre things, but apparently they were just the tip of a freaky iceberg.
On the plus side, unlike the last gig he had taking out monsters, this one at least paid.
Even if he did have to deal with the freaky invisible dogs. And sometimes running into the pit of hell (which was strangely enough on a plain right next to the hell he had gone into back when he was still a normal soul reaper) to deliver messages for Crowley. Or the occasional hunter who were shocked beyond belief that none of the usual protections against demons worked on him. Those guys were annoying.
Ichigo was currently dealing with what looked like some bad mockery of the wolf-man.
Freaking werewolves. Just because he couldn't be turned by the damn things he had to play keep away because one of the hellhounds was in heat. If it weren't for the fact Crowley was paying him extra to get rid of the damn things, he would make one of the black-eyed freaks deal with it.
Ichigo slammed Zangetsu into yet another werewolf.
"Why does every time one of those damn things go in heat, it draws the freaking werewolves out of hiding from three states away? Why couldn't that idiot keep the dogs in hell where they belong like any normal person!" Ichigo ranted while he used the force of his spirit to slam the next ten werewolves back.
After one nearly bit him (he wouldn't turn, but the fangs still hurt like a bitch!) Ichigo had enough.
"BANKAI!"
In a flurry of cuts, he turned the remaining werewolves into mincemeat for the hell hounds to eat in the morning. Crowley could bitch about him feeding the dogs 'junk food' all he liked, if he had kept them in hell during their heat season Ichigo wouldn't have to clear out the pests that kept coming after them.
The second the sun came up, Ichigo put away his sword, went straight up to the manor and told the guards flatly "The clean up and cover story are officially your problems now. I'm taking a shower."
"Get some sleep," snickered Barry.
"Sleep, food, shower and telling Crowley he now owes me for exterminating twenty werewolves and twelve vampires who were attracted by the smell of blood," said Ichigo.
Crowley paid Ichigo for each monster he killed and every assignment. His primary job was keeping hunters out of the area, and breaking whatever wards those who were dumb enough to make contracts had put up to keep the hellhounds out.
Ichigo didn't have to kill anyone, but he usually left the area before the hounds broke in.
Once he was in his designated room (as evidenced by the heavy salt line on the windows and open areas including the vents) Ichigo all but dropped into his bed.
He had to salt his room after a nasty encounter with Lilith's bitch Ruby, who was supposed to seduce him away from Crowley. And since the white-eyed witch sometimes dropped in unannounced, Crowley had told him how to demon-proof his room to keep Ruby out.
Sure it meant he had to use the intercom in Ichigo's room to get him out, but that was a small price to pay to keep Ruby out.
There was a soft 'thump' as something jumped onto the bed and curled up against him. Ichigo put an arm around the hot body against his.
A year into his employment as Crowley's "hunter and clean-up man", one of his hellhounds had a litter of pups. One of which was so runty that Crowley was tempted to kill the thing as soon as he saw it.
Ichigo happened to like animals. So when he expressed an interest in the pup, Crowley said it was his problem. The odds of it surviving while fighting with it's siblings for food were next to nill.
So Ichigo bottle fed the thing in between work.
The dog was now his only partner when he had to leave the mansion. It was more loyal to him than the pack, but thanks to it's presence Crowley didn't have to leave a demon with Ichigo to keep the hellhounds from ripping him apart when they went to collect a contract.
Kiba was what Ichigo had named his new 'pet'. Mostly because he reminded Ichigo of an anime he liked, and the hound was more like the main character than the beta wolf Tsume.
"Next time I'm dragging you to help me kill those damn pests," said Ichigo, scratching the unholy hound between the ears. Kiba licked him.
If there was one perk to working under a demon like Crowley and owning a hell hound, it was the fact he didn't have to sit on some damn plane whenever he got his vacation time.
Ichigo had asked for a week off to see his sister's on their combined birthday. Crowley gave him two. Ichigo had very little time off that he wasn't required to work outside of emergencies, among them was a week off Christmas, his mother and father's death, and strangely enough three days off during Halloween.
When asked why he got that, Crowley told him the actual origin of Halloween. Ichigo honestly had no idea that the entire holiday was just humanity's attempts to avoid being killed by some demon called Samhain who used to drag up the dead before he was finally sealed away. After a while humanity forgot about the origin, but the traditions stuck.
Ichigo, however, was taking full advantage of the fact that hell quite literally reached across the world. Or in his case had branches one could walk through to cut on travel time.
Aside from proving he wasn't a demon, foreigner, criminal, or out to cause trouble with the local Omnyouji (some of whom would be quite happy to hire him once his contract with Crowley finally expired) Ichigo headed straight to the house where his sisters were living.
"Ichigo-nii!" said Yuzu happily. Even Karin hugged him.
"Sorry it took me so long. Had to get you two birthday presents," said Ichigo.
Inside the bag were a few things that he had picked up while on jobs for Crowley.
"So Ichi-nii...have you got a girlfriend yet?" asked Karin mischievously.
"This coming from the girl dating Toshiro?" smirked Ichigo. Karin blushed.
"That reminds me! Rukia-san came by a few months ago. She seemed upset about the fact you weren't around anymore," said Yuzu.
Upset was putting it mildly. The second she found out Ichigo was now employed by a demon, she nearly had a panic attack. It didn't help that Ichigo had the story Crowley told him about the Soul Society confirmed by a few reapers, once he found them...well, that and Death flat out told them they weren't a subspecies, but a bunch of bored Reapers who opted to make their own afterlife to avoid having to deal with heaven or hell.
The only reason he allowed it was because of the hollows, because Japan's natural aura seemed to warp souls that lingered too long into monsters that ate other souls and targeted the living. After the first Menos, the reapers were hard pressed to kill the things.
However hearing what happened with Aizen and the fact they had tried to kill Ichigo for simply existing really irritated the Horseman. He gave them a little leniency and now they forgot who they served.
Hence why the next time they got uppity Ichigo was told to send them his way. He wasn't having another reaper get a god complex and try to make his workload even worse.
Well that and he was still really pissed about the way the whole Quincy situation was handled. Ryuuken and Uryu had been furious when they found out the real reason the Quincy had actually been wiped out was because the reapers didn't like the 'mortals' getting uppity enough to actually provide competition.
Balance of souls his ass. The reapers had apparently forgotten their own damn origins if this was how they were acting.
"She was pretty pissed you left that badge behind," added Karin.
Ichigo snorted.
"Badge, yeah right. More like they wanted something to keep track of me. Did you know that thing whispers in the middle of the night?"
There was a reason why Ichigo didn't take it with him. He heard whispers. Whispers in voices he wanted no part of ever again, Rukia among them.
"Gah! LET ME OUT!" cried Kon.
Ichigo had taken the mod soul with him to America, partly for someone to talk to, but mostly because he didn't trust the damn perv with his still developing sisters.
Kon had been petrified meeting Death, but frankly the horseman could care less about the soul. Well, outside of his increasing irritation at the Soul Society going up upon learning they were experimenting with fake souls.
At the rate they were going, it was quite likely Death would be replacing the reapers of Japan very, very soon.
"Come on, let's get inside and you can tell me how the past few months have been," said Ichigo.
"Ichi-nii, what's with that weird shadow beside you?" asked Karin. Between the two of them her 'Sight' was the strongest.
"Kiba, sit," said Ichigo. The 'shadow' sat down on command.
The twins stared.
"I got a new pet. Though I doubt Rukia will be happy," said Ichigo smirking.
"What kind?" asked Karin.
"Hell hound."