#Help...

[boxbusiness]

Gosh he's pretty...

[stormsthatrage]

Have a Bleach extended-winter-war time-travel-fix-it idea. In this AU Kaien's death happened before the whole turn-back-the-pendulum arc. (Yes, another Bleach time-travel AU, I know, shut up.)

As Ichigo and Kisuke are planning to go back to the past, Kisuke makes sure to emphasize to Ichigo that they have to protect Shiba Kaien. Apparently, it's of the utmost importance.

Ichigo doesn't know exactly how Kaien's continued well-being plays into saving the future. Kisuke never really explains it, or gives him a straight answer when he asks. But Ichigo knows that the Shiba Clan-Head carried a great deal of political power, and Ichigo also knows that Kaien -- according to Kukaku and Rukia -- was highly competent, incredibly noble, and fundamentally kind. It's not exactly unintuitive that a person like that could be important to bringing down Aizen.

So Ichigo listens, when Kisuke tells him to protect Shiba Kaien. He memorizes how Kaien died in the original timeline. He's attentive as Kisuke reiterates for the thousandth time that Aizen will keep trying to assassinate Kaien until he succeeds. He takes notes when Kisuke hypothesizes about what Aizen's various assassination attempts might look like -- poison during a meal, hired assassins at night, an ambush during a mission.

Ichigo ingrains the assignment into his core: protect Shiba Kaien, because if Kaien falls, the mission fails.

So when Kisuke slips a paralytic into Ichigo's tea and places Ichigo in the middle of the time-travel kido array and drains the entirety of his own spiritual energy to activate the array, a sacrifice that Ichigo never would have agreed to--

Well. The first thing Ichigo does when he arrives back in the past, numb and alone and only able to function by focusing on the duty that is his purpose -- is track down Shiba Kaien.

After all, if Ichigo is going to kill Aizen -- and he is, no matter what it takes -- he needs to keep Kaien alive.

Ichigo goes straight to the Shiba family grounds. In true Shiba fashion, they accept him immediately as family. They tend to his wounds and give him a meal and welcome him home. They let him get away with his weak excuses and explanations, and they defend his presence to the rest of Soul Society.

Kaien, in accordance with everything Ichigo has heard about the man, personally takes the newest addition to the family under his wing.

Ichigo's plans to deal with Aizen take shape around his need to keep an eye on Kaien.

Ichigo, instead of running as far and fast as he can from the Shiba clan, accepts the offer to live in the Shiba compound. He gets to know every clan member and retainer, subtly vetting for traitors. He sleeps in a room near Kaien's, allowing him to both guard against assassins at night and place warding runes around Kaien's door without having to worry about being caught somewhere he has no business being.

He joins the Court Guard in the 13th division instead of the 5th, because the only real way to protect Kaien on a mission is to be there with him. Ichigo knows that if there's an ambush, or if the mission details have been tampered with, he'll be more than enough fire power to get Kaien out of it. And it's easy to always get paired with Kaien; Kaien -- reliably taking every opportunity to hover around Ichigo that he's offered -- does most of the work, leveraging his status as lieutenant and Ichigo's combat ability to keep them together.

Ichigo finds himself frequently taking meals with Kaien and Kaien's friends. Kaien always invites Ichigo, and Ichigo accepts so he can subtly check the food for poison.

(Ichigo does not tell Kaien about Aizen. Ichigo is still unsure what Kaien's role is in the whole fight, and in the meantime, telling him about Aizen is a sure way to get him killed.)

Things heat up. Ichigo prevents both Miyako and Kaien's death, killing Metastacia before it can hurt anyone. Ichigo's shadow war against Aizen gets more intense. Ichigo sneaks out regularly to dismantle Aizen's illusions, destroy his labs, and attack his network of power, slowly weakening him.

Ichigo waits for the assassination attempts against Kaien, but they don't come, even several weeks after Metastacia fails. Ichigo takes it as a sign that he's got Aizen distracted.

Things continue for a while. Ichigo falls into a strange routine.

(And Ichigo tries not to break, seeing so many of his loved ones alive and unknowing of him. It is agony, to be around Shunsui, who is not his mentor, and the Visored, who are neither visored nor pack.

But the worst is when Captains Urahara and Shihouin catch on to his war against Aizen. He finds himself working with them as allies.

Allies. Mere allies, instead of --

Well. Not that it matters anymore.

All that matters is his duty.)

Time passes. Aizen weakens. There are no attempts on Kaien's life yet.

And then Aizen's web has unraveled enough for Ichigo to attack.

It's a long battle. It's a bloody battle. It's a very public battle.

Ichigo wins.

And it's only after it's all over -- after Aizen's crimes are revealed and Soul Society is at peace and the future is saved; after Ichigo finds himself still alive and adrift, with nothing left obligating him to keep going and everything telling him to give up; as Kaien refuses to leave Ichigo alone and escorts him to regular appointments with Unohana and forces him to talk about the truth of his past --

It's only then that it clicks.

Ichigo is whispering secrets about the future into Kaien's chest, Kaien's arms wrapped tight around him, when Ichigo confesses that he messed up, that he put the Shiba clan in unnecessary danger. Ichigo tells Kaien about his death in the original timeline. He talks about how Kisuke told him that in this timeline, Aizen would try and kill Kaien again if the first attempt failed. Ichigo promises desperately that he never would have sought out the family -- would have kept the danger far, far away from them -- if he hadn't thought he had to watch Kaien's movements so closely.

And Ichigo admits that Aizen never actually tried again. Ichigo admits that he and Kisuke miscalculated, that Ichigo brought danger to the Shiba's doorstep for nothing.

It happens like this:

First, the words leave his lips, "Kisuke" and "miscalculated" in the same sentence. Hearing himself say it lays bare the absurdity of its premise.

Then, Kaien draws away slightly, to look Ichigo in the eyes. Ichigo sees, plain on Kaien's face, a terrible, damning gratefulness.

Then, Kaien says -- fierce and defiant in the face of what could have been -- "I am so glad you came home."

And it clicks. At last, Kisuke's final manipulation reveals itself to Ichigo's eyes.

The emotions flash through him: the sting of betrayal; a flavor of love that bursts across his tastebuds as hurt; a familiar brand of exasperation that, a split second later, has his knees giving out under the weight of old pain made fresh.

Kaien catches Ichigo before he hits the ground and holds him as he shatters. And Ichigo can barely breathe through the knowledge that Kisuke would have been so smug to see them.

A sob rips itself from Ichigo's chest, and it's followed by another, and another.

Ichigo's older cousin holds him, in the home of their family, through it all.

_________

THE END except not really.

This must immediately be followed by a whole arc where Kaien, much to his own dismay, finds himself trying to hook Urahara up with his little cousin.

After all, Future-Urahara sent Ichigo to the Shiba clan. Future-Urahara tricked his little cousin into bypassing his own self-destructive tendencies to seek out family and love and support. Clearly, Urahara would actually be good for Ichigo.

And, you know, Ichigo clearly loves Younger-Urahara, judging by Ichigo's whole... well, everything, whenever the two interact.

(This whole matchmaking endeavor is made easier by the fact that 1) Kisuke is already infatuated, fascinated, and not a tiny-bit madly in love, and 2) Yoruichi is also, from the other end, trying to set Kisuke up with Ichigo.

This whole endeavor is made more difficult by the fact that 1) Ichigo is in denial that he loves this younger Kisuke since he never thought this younger Kisuke could also fall in love with him, 2) Kisuke is in denial that he loves Ichigo because that is a Shiba and he himself is a creepy low-born ex-assassin mad-scientist, and 3) neither Ichigo nor Kisuke know what it looks like when someone is interested in them.)

Poor Kaien. He succeeds eventually, but not before witnessing truly legendary social ineptitude.

[cupid-tune]

enable your boops. coward

What the FUCK are you all TALKING ABOUT

[tinukis]

would i be forgiven if i redraw some of these but i remove his shorts

[finnmash]

what liking an underated ass character is like

[kkyus]

[bleeping-cartoon]

hotel oj

[theriverbeyond]

btw. the unwanted guest gave me a brain disease.

[mako-neexu]

oooh i feel sick even more...have you thought about it? have you ever thought about it? that your so-called title as "Last Master of Humanity" is more than just coincidence? whoever operated Chaldeas to manipulate the test and delay your arrival, its clear enough you were chosen from the start to be that person or that thing's puppet. you should have died had it not been for that intervention. but it did. it did and now you dance atop that mastermind's palm. you are forced to do things you never wanted and now here you are

[soaringmeteor]

Inktober Day 5

B12 from the game Stray

[apatheticcinaroll]

i should mention im going to get all this stuff anyways, im just going to get way more of the highest voted item than a reasonable person would get UPDATE! I ALREADY GOT GROCERIES AND 9LBS OF CHEESE THERE IS SO MUCH CHEESE HELP

[undercover-underdog]

I'm gonna be honest here. So, this isn't a usual funny post. Babe doesn't know. She's too discouraged right now for me to want to bring it up.

Even with the extra pay from other jobs, I'm not making enough to pay our bills and survive. Hell, I'm not even making enough for rent, car payment, and insurance... Rent alone is a week behind and the late fees don't do us any favors..

And with babe losing her job... We need help.

And a lot of it. Because we were barely making it before with 2 incomes. I traded and sold a lot of shit to get the things I have. But we're out of things to trade and sell. Food, electric, gas, fuel for the car, animal foods and litter? We can't afford them... I'm working 3 jobs as much as is humanly possible. But Amazon flex and stage handing aren't exactly stable gigs on top of my full time.

And it is absolutely humiliating to be back here after getting sober and promising myself we wouldn't have to ask for help again.

But I can't control the world and the chaos that ensues.

So... Here I am. Being honest. We need help. We are drowning.

If you can help my info is below.. again..

PayPal: @RaeTheGae

Cashapp: @$RaeTheGay

Venmo: Rae-Rumbelow

Zelle: rae.a.zimmerman@gmail.com

[cyellolemon]

Frkz.. nothing to say they just gay

[dailyhalaffirmations]

It's ok if people don't like me. Not everybody has good taste.

day 4:

[jiminthestreets-bonesinthesheets]

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!?!?

Seriously??? SERIOUSLY?!?!?

The one character I picked from the very beginning as my favourite, turns out not only to be a bad guy, but also ENDS UP DEAD?!?!?! Why, Kinnporsche, fucking why?! I am heartbroken, completely devastated.

I also literally just wrote an entire, very lengthy, fic that was entirely based around Ken because I couldn't wait until the freaking series was over until I started writing it, of course -_-

So what am I supposed to do with that now???? Do I completely scrap the idea (which would be so sad because I love the idea)? Do I pick a different body guard in place of Ken, but then like who would I pick because who's left, really? Do I explain away Ken's death with some kind of deep fake bullshit?? Make him still be alive and on some kind of undercover double/triple agent mission for Kinn?? Do I write the fic and just pretend that the entire evil Ken plot line never happened and Ken and Big are still alive and well and still working for the major family????

Dear god, what do I do??? What do you guys think??