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pinkhairedlily · 3 years

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Blue Fire Tree

Prompt: Everlasting (last day omgggg) | Gift for @tinaillustrations ! Hope you like this fluffy piece! I enjoyed writing this one. 🤗| Happy HitsuHina Week! @hitsuhina-week 💛💙

“Fire trees should be blue not red,” Ichika mumbles while filling in the traced pattern of the tree on the canvass as Hinamori gathers her unruly red mane into a semblance of a bun. Her charge was a Shinigami apprentice and had the hodgepodge attitude of both of her parents. She was sarcastic, blunt, inquisitive, passionate, and kind.

Renji thought she was the best person to teach his daughter common spells to start off her training. Not that Hinamori disliked being the resident kido expert. She particularly loved the monicker, but there were times she felt she didn’t deserve the title. Like today when, for some other reason, Ichika and her was blindsided by arts and crafts.

“Wouldn’t you like the flowers to resemble your hair?” Hinamori clips the last of the strands and looks over the child’s shoulder. The colors spill out of the lines and the scenery seems to change from summer to winter.

“But blue is the hottest color. Imagine trees blooming with the brightest flames, the most intense warmth, and the most lasting flowers.” Ichika finishes the piece with a last dash of blue paint. The apprentice turns to her and asks, “Does it look so desolate?”

“No, not really. To me, winter has always been warm.“

Someone coughs behind them to get their attention. Hitsugaya Toushiro, captain of the 10th Division, stands awkwardly at the entrance of the dojo with a tray of tea and pot of biscuits. It doesn’t escape her notice that he used the tea set she gave last Christmas, and this observation makes her feel giddy inside.

Maybe I’m just appreciative of people who use my gifts, Hinamori justifies to herself.

“Hello, Captain Hitsugaya. Is that for us or for Vice-Captain Momo?” Ichika greets him as she takes the tray off his hands.

The blush creeps on the captain’s face just as quickly as his brows furrow in annoyance. He quickly glares at the mischievous remark of Ichika and redirects his gaze to his equally flustered childhood best friend. “This was not of my own good will. I was threatened by Byakuya to take good care of his precious niece, and it just so happens that this space is under my jurisdiction.”

Hinamori tilts her head in a slight apology. “I hope we don’t bother you too much. Would you like to join us for some art session? Ichika loves to paint today.”

He almost says something, but he stops himself. His stance goes from alert to rigid, and tension fills the air. “Maybe some other time.” Ichika glances from her current teacher to the captain and back to her teacher again.

“Oh, sorry for taking up your time.” Hinamori slightly bows, unsure of what transpired just now, and Hitsugaya nods in return. Before he is completely out of her sight, she calls out to him again.

“Shiro-chan?” He glances back at the sound of his nickname. “Thanks for the tea.”

He smiles in mild annoyance before he flash-steps out of their sight. “It’s Captain Hitsugaya to you.”

--------------------------

“Something’s bothering you,” Rangiku says to Hinamori as she slides beside her in the ramen booth. “Your treat in exchange for my wisdom.” She proceeds to order her usual ramen and sake combo.

“How was your trip to the Land of the Living?” Hinamori asks, obviously skirting the issue she wishes to raise.

“Kazui is subdued and gentle like his mother, but somehow, he manages to get into fights with bullies on the street. It’s his Ichigo genes.” The combo meal arrives along with two shot glasses. “How are you doing with the chaotic devil spawn Ichika?”

“She’s progressing really fast with the kido, but she gets so distracted easily. It’s cute though that Renji and Rukia are not pressuring her. Great parents. How nice it must be.”

Rangiku side-eyes her while slurping the thick noodles. “How nice what now – “

Hinamori plays with her empty bowl and fidgets with her chopsticks. “To not be alone.”

She chokes on her noodles and quickly downs half of the sake bottle. “Oh, this is great news! I have someone on my mind who would like to be in your company forever.”

Hinamori gives no response and instead continues fiddling with her bowl. “How nice it is to be also like Shiro-chan, content and busy enough to be single. How do I become like your captain, Rangiku?”

The smile fades from the woman’s face and is replaced by a bustling vein near her temple. “I’m sorry what did that short man do or say to you?”

“I asked him if he would like to do some art with us, you know, help me with babysitting for a few minutes, but he literally stiffened like a stick. Seems like he doesn’t want to waste time with kids or do any family-related activities. Or maybe he’s just too busy, captain duties and all.”

And yet he took the time to bring you tea, a voice screams inside her mind.

“That’s….rude,” an exasperated Rangiku remarks. She pours a glass for Hinamori and decides on a plan. “Unless you’re seeing him as….?”

“Huh? Oh no no no.” Hinamori downs the liquid in one gulp, suddenly embarrassed by her friend’s insinuation. “We’re just friends, childhood friends. I…don’t see Shiro-chan that way.”

“Sure, whatever you say Momo. Do you want me to introduce you to some people?”

Hinamori looks up at her, doe-eyed.

“I guess that’s a yes.”

--------------------------

Hinamori actually forgot about her request to Rangiku as she and her student started to settle in a rather serious kido training. The plan apparently was set to happen after a week when she came across a bulletin announcing her quest for a perfect match through a one-day interview application. This was the first time Hinamori wanted to be swallowed by the void and never return to Seiretei.

She finds herself visiting Division 10 HQ every afternoon but to no avail since coincidentally, Rangiku has some errands to do in Karakura, and won’t be back until the date of the interview. Or maybe it has also something to do with Hinamori avoiding Hitsugaya and having to do all the explaining. And so she had no choice but to wait for the inevitable day.

“Uhhh Vice-Captain Matsumoto, you said introduce, not organize a whole dating screening process!” Hinamori’s voice goes a pitch higher for each word, but Rangiku is too busy arranging the people lining up to notice her.

Her current captain, Shinji Hirako, chuckles beside the blondie, amused by the growing line of eligible Shinigami singles in their HQ. “You are quite the eye candy in our division, huh. Didn’t expect you’d have this many suitors.” He squeezes his vice-captain’s shoulder as form of reassurance. “You should have told me, Hinamori. I could have set you up in an arranged marriage.”

“Captain, that’s atrocious!” Hinamori protests. She walks over to Rangiku to disperse the line, but Yumichika and Ikkaku move to her side and grabs her midway through her litany of objections. They lead her to a makeshift container with two chairs facing each other and a table in between.

“This is ridiculous,” Hinamori mumbles her breath, her energy already defeated by the two dumbasses in front of her.

“Well to be fair, Hinamori, this is a long time coming,” Yumichika says.

“And the result necessitates this kind of method so stop mumbling and screen your admirers, babe,” Ikkaku supplies. Irritated, Hinamori chases them off with two fireballs.

The first ten Shinigami ‘applicants’ were too insufferable as they were clearly aiming for the prestige of her position.

“If dating a vice-captain would give me a higher seat in Gotei 13 then why am I still single?” she bats the question to the 11th person who sat across her. When they didn’t give her an answer, she sighs, “Next please.”

“Would you know what’s my favorite brand of tea?”

“Uhh, Robusta.”

“I believe that’s coffee. Next please.”

“Hello, vice-captain Hinamori, I brought you peaches. They’re my favorite.”

“I’m allergic to them. I’m sorry. Next please?”

“What are your strengths?”

“Well, I can do shunpo.”

“That’s basic Shinigami skills.”

“…………..”

“I’ll see myself out. Thank you for your time, vice-captain.”

“I know you’re traumatized by Aizen-“

The container collapses as Hinamori summons Tobiume.

--------------------------

“I think I will be forever alone.” Hinamori looks on as her fellow vice-captains clean up the mess she incurred over the unfinished statement earlier.

“I’m really sorry if I did the whole thing over the top,” Rangiku tells her sincerely. She hugs the raven-haired girl and waits in silent for the commotion to die down. “Though the last one was really foul, and you were valid to be angry.”

“I was afraid I’d burn down Captain Shinji’s quarters.”

“You can, just to piss him off. The whole process is so draining, huh?” Hinamori nods at the observation. Rangiku continues, seemingly voicing her own thoughts, “It’s hard to put yourself out there especially when they don’t know batshit about you. Would be easier if you have common interests or when they’re already your friend.”

The last phrase is said so pointedly that Hinamori’s mind automatically pictures Hitsugaya. She runs along with her imagination. How easy it would be indeed to spend the rest of her life with him. And as if her mind conjured him, the 10th Division Captain comes into view alongside Ichika. It looks like her student dragged him to the unfortunate event.

There’s an angry glint in his eyes that Hinamori noticed. It was the torn expression he wore when she wounded her knees back when they were kids, the same frown when she told him she would kill for the traitor, the same worried eyes when she almost died. But his eyes refuse to meet hers.

“You missed all the fun, Captain.” Rangiku stretches out her arms as she stands up. She gestures for the rest of their friends to come nearer so they could re-group and go home. “It was a bad plan, and I owe Hinamori one. So we’re kinda ready for your scolding.”

Hitsugaya stays silent throughout the shuffling of his fellow Shinigami, in fact he remains frozen for too long that Ichika elbows him to get a response out of him. “Come on, you ruminated one week for this, and I had to physically stop you from harassing the interested applicants.”

“Shut up, Ichika,” the silver-haired captain mutters.

“I’ll tell on you to Uncle Byakuya!” the redhead sticks out her tongue and runs over to the side of Rangiku.

More annoyed than ever, Hitsugaya grunts and storms off towards Hinamori. “I’m not here to scold anyone. I’m here for the….dating application,” he gulps amid the collective gasps that ran through the group and the muffled laughter of Rangiku who clearly foresaw this.

“Well, what can I say, but fucking finally!” The blonde swigs a new bottle of wine from inside her robes and goes to do a little crowd control.

Hinamori’s eyes get a little bit bigger, and she stares at him with mouth agape, but she lets him grab her hand, in a gentle manner that he usually does, and brings her to the farthest fire tree in the area.

“Shiro-chan, what did you mean……” She continues to stare at his hand who somehow refuses to let go of her yet.

Ironically, he is also staring at the same hand, unsure whether to let go right now before he can actually say something. “I don’t know why you had to go through all of that.”

“I’m..I’m still confused, to be honest. It was just a passing feeling of loneliness, and I rambled to Rangiku which she took seriously….” Hinamori knows she is starting to word vomit out of nervousness, but she halts when he finally lets her go. Maybe she has misunderstood his presence again.

Hitsugaya raises his palm to her. “Would you let me…uhhh…word vomit this time?”

She slowly nods, rather shocked at his insistence, and even more so when he chooses to ramble.

“Momo, I have a cold reiatsu. My touch is never warm. But I know you like green tea, steeped in warm water for exactly 10 minutes, and that you don’t put sugar. You are afraid of storms, and you need a blanket around you to calm down. You like watermelon, but I think it’s because I subjected you to multiple summers of conditioning. You’re my childhood best friend. You’re hardworking. You are a kido expert. You earned your right to be a vice-captain, and you’ll do greater things.

And I know it’s not enough to say that I know you, I’ve always known you, but will it be enough for you to allow me to stay beside you?”

Hinamori leans against the trunk of the fire tree, breathless from his train of words. “Oh my god, this is too overwhelming. I thought you hated being not single.”

“What?” Hitsugaya looks at her with a puzzled expression.

“You don’t like Ichika. Or doing art…with kids.”

“Well, Ichika is a brat to me, but she’s a good student and will be a good Shinigami like her parents.” He nurses his temples for the growing headache. “Momo, listen to me.” He steps closer to her and makes sure she’s only looking at him. “I panicked because I visualized you and me….and you know. It wasn’t right when I haven’t even told you anything yet.”

“Oh.” The moment of realization dawns on her. “Oh, that’s great.”

“So we can finally go back to how we were.” Hitsugaya lets out a shaky breath as he sits on the grass and watches as the red petals of the fire tree shower them lightly.

A blushing Hinamori crouches down to his level. “Well, not quite. You should know, Shiro-chan, your reiatsu has always been warm and comforting to me.” She reaches out to take his hand and intertwines their fingers.

Hitsugaya smiles as he silently thanks himself that he outgrew her by two inches so he could easily slip a kiss on her forehead. “It’s Captain Hitsugaya.”

--------------------------

Ichika tries to see beyond the wall of spectators but Rangiku is not letting anyone through. She huffs indignantly, wanting to know whether her incessant prodding and pestering of the oblivious Hitsugaya bore some fruit. She has no choice but to juice out all the details later on from her uncle.

On second thought, maybe she won’t have to. Blue petals swayed with the light breeze of the wind, and on the far edge of the Fifth Division’s HQ is a lone blue fire tree.

#hitsuhina week #hitsuhina day 14 #hitsuhina #toshiro hitsugaya #momo hinamori #hitsugaya #hinamori #bleach couples #anime fanfiction #this is my first time participating in a gift exchange im so happy

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littleeyesofpallas · 4 years

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I forgot what I was calling the series on zanpakutou names...

...but this one’s been sitting in drafts for a while.

Yamamoto[山本]: Mountain + Root, meaning the “Foot of [a] mountain”

Genryuusai[元柳斎]: BeginningTime/Original + WillowTree + Holy/Pure

Shigekuni[重國]: Chief/Main/Important + Country/Nation

“Ancient Holy Willow, from the Mountain base, of the Chief Nation”

I did this once before going over character names specifically, but I figured it was worth repeating: The personal name Genryuusai is a direct play on his character design; the old kungfu master style eyebrows mirroring the hanging leaves of a weeping willow. The family name is straight forward and locational, but combined with the given name paints a little picture of a tree at the foot of a mountain.

And the 3rd name(?) seems to be like an epithet more than a name; he is Yamamoto Genryuusai “of the Chief Nation,” presumably referring to Soul Society itself as said nation. This becomes more meaningful once we learn that he is the leader of the original Gotei 13, before they were a military organization, and when they were just a gang of 13 powerful shinigami. It seems to imply that he’s not just a chief representative of Soul Society, he’s so named because he helped found Soul Society.

Ryuujin[流刃]: School/Style/Way + Sword

Jyakka[若火]: Young/New/Premature + Fire

“Sword Style, Young Fire“

The irony of course being that Yamamoto is old as dirt, but his sword -the reflection of his innermost self- is explicitly youthful.

And then there’s his bankai,

Zanka no Tachi[残火の太刀]: Remain(s) + Fire + Thick + Sword

Zanka[残火]: “Embers”

Tachi[太刀]: a “tachi” is a specific kind of sword, often compared to the western Long Sword

“Tachi of [the] Ember(s)”

Most Bankai don’t really change names, they add extra titles to the shikai name. But a few have wordplay that break that trend, and this is one of them...

Yamamoto’s here swaps “young fire” for “fire remains,” jumping from the start point of a fire to the end point of one. The only shared kanji being ka[火] for “fire.” It also changes out the “sword style” as subject, for a singular sword. Although, chi[刀] is the same root kanji in [刃] meaning “sword”/”blade” which was an obviously intentional choice to further the parallel between names. But because they’re pronounced totally differently, without the kanji present, it doesn’t come across in an English translation at all.

Higashi, Kyokujitsujin["東": 旭日刃]: “East,” RisingSun + Blade

[旭日]: Rising + Sun, not that this translates any differently, but it is the term for THE Japanese Rising Sun symbol, and not just the literal two words in proximity. So while there's the obvious "sun rise" and "East" tied together, it's also got a distinct nationalist flare to it.

“Rising Sun Blade”

This one’s really pretty straight forward, but it plays into the overarching theme...

Nishi, Zanjitsu Gokui["西": 残日獄衣]: “West,” Remainder + Day + PrisonUniform

Gokui[獄衣]: Prison/Jail + Clothes, the term for a “Prison Uniform”

“[The] Day(s) that are Left Prison Uniform”

For some baffling reason the Viz translation for this was “Sunset Hell Robe” which is just wildly off base. This seems evocative of prisoner watching the sun fall on the last day of a sentence; but whether that’s the last day before release or the last day before execution, isn't by itself clear. Given the rest of the names here, though, I assume execution.

I actually feel like this is a scene from an old jidaigeki film but I can’t remember which... (it was the plot of an episode of Samurai Champloo, and a random plot for a dungeon in Wild Arms 5, so it might just be a general trope, but I’m positive there’s a singular core film it references. Is it Hashire! Melos I’m thinking of? I thought I remembered it being a Japanese period piece though...)

Minami, Kaka Juumanokushi Daisoujin["南": 火火十万億死大葬陣]: “South,” FireSquad + TenTrillion + Death(s) + Big + Funeral + Formation/(military)Camp

English translation Viz went with was “Trillion Flame Great Corpse Formation” which, I can sort of see the logic in trying to make sense of an otherwise really tricky collection of kanji, but is once again pretty far off base...

So, I was super confused by why he’d used the construction kaka[火火] which is just “fire” twice, when A) that’s not any kind of a special compound word, and B) [炎] is the kanji for “blaze”/”flame” and the attack name was written vertically, which seems to clearly be a kind of word play here, but I couldn’t figure out what the other side of it was. But I think I figured it out...

The Ritsuryou was the Chinese influenced law system in Japan during the 700s, and it borrowed a lot of Confucian bureaucratic systems, which included elaborate systems of measurement for uniform inventory of people and assets, many of which are no longer in use. One such unit of measurement is a ka[火] which is a military squad consisting of 10 soldiers, and is in fact a homonym with ka[火] which just means “fire.”

kaka[火火]: Fire + (military)Squad

Juu-mon-oku-shi[十万億]: 10 + 10thousand + 100million, which is 10,000,000,000,000(ten trillion)

Another little aside, but Japanese has different major units than English does. juu[十]:10, hyaku[百]:100, chi[千]: 1,000 all line up with English pretty simply in multiples of 10, but then mon[万]: 10,000 has its own designation rather than the compound of "ten + thousand;"

What we call "hundred thousand(s) are written juu-mon[十万]: "10 × 10,000"; and "million" is actually a compound, written as hyaku-mon[百万]: "100 × 10,000" instead of getting its own unit;

oku[億]: is the unit for "100,000,000"/"hundred million(s)" like it's being used here; and then there is also chou[兆]: "10,000,000,000,000"/"ten trillion" which Kubo seems to have avoided using (probably just for the sake of sounding more dramatic) and kyou[京]: "10,000,000,000,000,000"/"ten quadrillion."

“Fire Squad, TenTrillion Deaths, Big Funeral Formation”

So, to be clear... (military)Formation is the core subject here.

Who’s in formation? The Fire Squad

What kind of formation? Funeral formation

What kind of Funeral? Big

How Big? 10 trillion

A military squad equipped with fire starting weapons, carrying out a mass military burial, of ten trillion corpses; all of which is pretty literally reflected in how it raises a bunch of skeletons of dead warriors. That is just a preposterously high death toll though, and it honestly reminds me of the stupid meme shirt, "BORN TO DIE, WORLD IS A FUCK... 410,757,864,530 DEAD COPS."

I do want to clarify that [葬] means "funeral"/"entombment"/"burial"/”interment” etc... and is explicitly about the dead and frequently (although not exclusively) about whole body burial... I am super confused why the biggest bestest most powerful fire sword doesn't seem to CREMATE people...

but I also want to clarify that together [葬陣] does NOT refer to something like a "concentration camp." Also "interment" as in to put a body in the ground, is not the same word as "internment..." The Japanese words for something like an internment camp, or specifically the Nazi concentration camps are [捕虜収容所]: "Prisoner of war housing site" and [強制収容所]: "Forced housing site" respectively.

Kita, Tenchi Kaijin["北": 天地灰尽]: "North,” The World/Universe + Ash + Last day of the month/End

Tenchi[天地]: Heaven + Earth, very literally “Heaven & Earth” but in that it refers to “all creation” or “the whole world” or “the universe.“

I'm assuming this uses [尽] to mean "Last Day..." because of the rest of the names' theme of the passing of time.

“The Last Day... The World is Ash“

“The World Reduced to Ashes” was the Viz translation, which at least has the same general imagery as the intended meaning, but it misses the specificity of “The Last Day” and how that plays into the cycle from East to West, South to North in the different forms. Also, in English it’s a little clunky, but I feel like it evokes two phrases, “The (Whole) World [is] Ash” and “[Your] Last Day [on] Earth” simultaneously. The whole thing has a distinctly apocalyptic tone to it.

So, his bankai starts at dawn, gets to sundown of the final day, he's brought out to the execution/burial grounds, and then all that's left in the end is ash. It tells a neat little story, and Kubo clearly had to fiddle with this for a while to get some of these names to come out right, so that's neat to see at work. It's a shame this fight was so anti-climactic.

#bleach #yamamoto genryusai

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midnightactual · 3 years

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The Onmitsukidō and Yoruichi’s Early Career

In the Yoruichi Combat Uniform Recognition Guide, I described Mk. 0 Mod. 0 (pictured below for clarity) in the following fashion:

It’s unclear what her rank was as of this time, although she was likely Gundanchō of the Punishment Force as this isn’t a standard rank-and-file uniform and there’d be little reason for her to have wide latitude in customizing it (and we see no other Onmitsukidō members do so).

I’ve since come to realize that this probably isn’t entirely accurate. We do see this uniform elsewhere... sort of. In chapter 113, we see this guy from the Onmitsukidō’s Riteitai (裏廷隊), the Inner Court Troop or Inner Court Force:

You’ll notice in the top-left panel, at the bottom-right, under the speech bubble, you can see some lighter-colored fabric. It could be that this is incorrectly colored here, as is perhaps the fabric at the bottom of the bottom panel. The reason I suggest this is because of how the anime renders this same guy in episode 39:

Notice that here his uniform has flaps similar to Yoruichi’s. We also see members of the Inner Court Force in chapter 500, but only from the waist up, which doesn’t help clarify this discrepancy. We also see one in SOULs, here, which actually confuses the issue even more as they appear to be straps rather than a flap.

Either way, their uniform is far and away the closest thing we ever see to Yoruichi’s first Onmitsukidō uniform pictured up above. (With said uniform, as the Recognition Guide makes clear, being the basis for her future jacket which she wears up to the present day.) This leads me to two possible theories regarding her early career. However, before addressing them, it’s important to review the structure of the Onmitsukidō itself.

The Onmitsukidō

Unfortunately, as it’s routinely based on fan translations and is thus routinely wrong, the best source on the Onmitsukidō is the Bleach Wiki, as much of the information given out about it was provided in data books (such as SOULs, MASKED, and KaraBuri+). To briefly summarize, the Onmitsukidō is organized into five units of decreasing authority and prestige, which I will refer to by their more literal translations rather than the Bleach Wiki’s, and will only give the most basic description of here:

刑軍, Keigun, Punishment Force: active counterintelligence, counterterrorism, battlefield reconnaissance

警邏隊, Keiratai, Security Force: domestic intelligence gathering, undercover operations, apprehending suspects

檻理隊, Kanritai, Management Force: prisoner management

???

裏廷隊, Riteitai, Inner Court Force: Seireitei messengers

There is apparently some overlap of responsibilities: in TBTP, it seems to be the case that Punishment Force members are guarding the Management Force’s Maggots’ Nest facility, and it likewise seems to be the case that Punishment Force members were dispatched to apprehend Kisuke and Tessai rather than Security Force members, although this isn’t certain and is based exclusively on the uniforms seen.

It’s also important to know that, despite what the Bleach Wiki says on its pages for Yoruichi and the Onmitsukidō, there is no overt textual evidence that she was ever in the Management Force or the Inner Court Force. Any such suggestion based on dialogue or narration is either outright wrong, or is at best right for the wrong reasons.

With all that said, from here onward we’ll be moving from facts to speculation. A question presents itself at this point: what is the 4th Unit of the Onmitsukidō? Given its comparatively low authority within the organization, its mission almost certainly cannot be terribly special or exotic. It probably isn’t some super secret elite special forces group.

By considering the other four units, the most logical mission for the 4th Unit is to function as an Outer Court Force: a unit for delivering messages to locations outside the Seireitei, be that Rukongai, the Living World, or Hueco Mundo. Another possibility is that it’s a Remote Reconnaissance Force, tasked with monitoring those same locations. Or perhaps it’s both, or something else entirely. From here onward, I’ll be taking it for granted it that it’s both those.

Possibility 1: the Inner Court Force

The first possibility is that Yoruichi’s uniform resembles an Inner Court Force uniform because it is one. Given that it’s white, that white is often used within the Seireitei to denote command (as with the haori of Captains), and that the rest of her uniform is clearly non-standard, one fairly obvious conclusion would be that she was, at that time, the Unit Commander of the Inner Court Force.

We know that when Soifon first sees Yoruichi, the latter will eventually become the Unit Commander of the Punishment Force, but that she isn’t yet, just like she’s the “princess” of the Shihōin Clan and not yet the Clan Head.

It’s striking how long Yoruichi’s hair is here. It’s notably longer than every other time we see her in flashbacks and the past, to include when she was training with Kisuke, and looks like it’d go to at least the bottom of her shoulder blades. The implication is that she cut it sometime after this, and kept it short for the rest of her service; she might not have joined the Onmitsukidō yet at this point, or she might have and only held some lower rank. Regardless, this is probably actually the first time we see her chronologically, although she doesn’t really look younger than in that training flashback.

(It’s also striking that it’s stated she’ll be the Unit Commander of the Punishment Force, and not the Supreme Commander of the Onmitsukidō as a whole. Perhaps Soifon’s relative doesn’t care about that because their clan serves exclusively in the Punishment Force, or perhaps it’s just implied because those two offices are usually coterminal, or perhaps it indicates it wasn’t anticipated that the position of Supreme Commander would open so soon. It’s unclear which is the case. It’s still interesting.)

Anyway, think about what we know about Yoruichi: she’s independent and has something of an anti-authoritarian streak. She does things her own way. If it’s expected that she become Unit Commander of the Punishment Force, maybe she would go out of her way to do something else instead.

Consider: the heir apparent of one of the Great Noble Clans suddenly comes into your organization as an upper echelon officer. Do you immediately trust their abilities, or do you resent them for leapfrogging to the top on the basis of their blood and imagine that they’re likely unqualified? Probably the latter.

What’s a good way around that? Start from the bottom at the lowest of the five units in the Onmitsukidō. Work your way up to show what you’re worth. Or, as KaraBuri+ puts it:

If that’s the case, Yoruichi’s continued use and customization of that jacket even after transferring could be seen as a badge of honor and symbol of pride on her part: “I earned my place here. I worked my way up from the very bottom to the very top. Nobody really handed me anything.” Perhaps what we see with Kisuke is her having risen to the top of the Inner Court Force.

The mission profile of the Inner Court Force, interestingly, fits with her skillset quite well:

Possibility 2: the Outer Court Force

The second possibility is that Yoruichi’s uniform resembles an Inner Court Force uniform because the Outer Court Force wears something very similar. The logic for this possibility is essentially the same as the above, except that Yoruichi need not necessarily have been Unit Commander of the Outer Court Force to readily explain her seemingly unique uniform; she may instead have still been rank and file.

This possibility would likely expose Yoruichi to more dangerous and adverse circumstances than the former one as she’d likely be operating far from the Seireitei, possibly for extended periods of time depending on how messaging was logistically organized. (Would it be dispatch and return, or some kind of circuit?)

Subsequent Career

One downside of serving in the Inner Court Force (and to a lesser extent the Outer Court Force) would be that, while doing so would demonstrate that Yoruichi was “unpretentious”, it would ironically also be exactly the sort of position you would expect a wealthy, cowardly, and pampered noble to want to take. Dispatching messages within the Seireitei isn’t normally a hazardous or trying job. One still might be inclined to imagine that someone serving in those units was “soft”, especially if one was in a “hard” unit like the Punishment Force.

One way around this perception for Yoruichi, regardless of whether she was in the Inner or Outer Court Forces, would be to enter the Punishment Force as a rank-and-file grunt, even if she had previously been the Unit Commander of one of those other units. Officers don’t usually willingly accept demotions with transfers, and doing so would be another highly unusual move, but would effectively communicate, “I’m one of you, and I can do your job as well or better than you can.”

Given Yoruichi’s continued use of a uniform article from the lower echelons of the Onmitsukidō, this kind of enduring “I did it My Way” attitude seems most likely to me—it’s certainly how she’s lived the rest of her life afterward! So, a likely career trajectory for her:

Joined the Onmitsukidō, entering the Inner Court Force or Outer Court Force as rank-and-file

[Various promotions?]

[Promoted to Unit Commander of the Inner Court Force or Outer Court Force?]

Transferred to Punishment Force as rank-and-file

[Various promotions?]

[Promoted to Unit Commander of Punishment Force?]

Promoted to Supreme Commander of the Onmitsukidō [becoming Unit Commander of the Punishment Force if not already]

Joined the Gotei 13 as Captain of the 2nd Division, retaining dual-hatted command

Abandoned positions

Anyway, I’ll be updating my History and the Recognition Guide to account for all this fairly soon.

#Out Of Character #Long Post #Meta #Headcanons

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rayshippouuchiha · 5 years

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Ready Made Family. How even would an Aizen style version go? Seriously. Maybe it's all the Good/Redeemed Aizen fics ive been reading lately (cravings, y'know?), but everytime i try to picture him (Aizen) actually /getting/ with /anyone/ it devolves into "Bored and Lonely Rich Guy Seeks Entertainment (where did this Romance come from??)"

Okay for the Aizen Style I think it’d have to be another Soul Society AU for a number of reasons.

So! Aizen, lonely and isolated, hiding behind a pleasant demeanor, soft empty smiles, and glasses, is basically going through the motions.

Life is sickeningly boring for him. He craves interaction on an equal level, craves someone to look at him and see.

But aside from Urahara Kisuke who, unfortunately, focuses much of his intellect elsewhere and the majority of his spirit in Shihouin Yoruichi’s direction, Sosuke has yet to find anything close to an equal in all of Seireitei.

And that isolation has begun to drive him towards a ... darker train of thought. Insidious whispers of “what if” and “how dare they” and “I could do so much better” begin to slink through the back of his mind, becoming more and more prominent by the day as he looks around him and sees just how much and how often the Seireitei fails.

And his motivation to hold those thoughts back lessens more and more each day.

Then, on one of his walks out in the further reaches of Rukongai where he’s in no danger of being spied upon by anyone from any of the Divisions, everything shifts.

Sosuke feels her before he sees her, feels her reiatsu brushing against his senses like someone pressing a palm to his back and dragging it down.

The feel of it sets his hair on end and his heart pounding in his chest.

Such power and not of a flavor he recognizes. So that means it cannot be a member of the Gotei 13 because he would have recognized that level of power before now. Would have sought it out, studied it, determined if the owner was worthy.

And that’s when he feels the presence of a hollow in the direction of this new curiosity.

So of course he hones in on that presence and, with a burst of shunpo, heads directly for it.

What he finds is not at all what he was expecting.

In the mere seconds it took for him to flash step across the distance the hollow has been rather brutally destroyed.

It’s killer is a woman. With her back turned toward him all he can really see beyond the flair of her hips in the ragged hakama she’s wearing is her long braid of sunset colored hair and the fact that she stands a handful of inches short than his own height.

Well that and the fact that she’s also carrying the largest zanpaktou he’s ever seen outside of someone’s bankai.

And then she turns and Sosuke is forced to pause because she is beautiful.

A sculpted face, soulful eyes, and berry bitten lips. Perhaps not a classic beauty but striking just the same.

Boredom might be one of Sosuke’s curses in life but even he can admire a beautiful flower from time to time. Especially one with such impressive spiritual reserves.

And then she locks her gaze on him and those eyes narrow sharply and some deeper part of Sosuke perks up in interest.

“Ah,” Sosuke steps up, the well worn and always effective soft smile of Aizen-taichou already spreading across his face. “That was rather impressive Miss ...?”

He lets the question trail off, fishing for a name.

But, unlike most others, this woman doesn’t seem particularly impressed with him. If anything his pleasant smile makes her gaze sharpen. Which is, in its own way, riveting.

“Karin, Yuzu,” the woman barks out instead of answering him. “Come here.”

And, much to Sosuke’s surprise, two little girls come tumbling out of the trees like little fawns, scrambling to get to the woman’s side. Sosuke hadn’t even sensed them, hidden as they were beneath the flood of the woman’s reiatsu and yet, somehow, looking not the slightest bit worse for the wear for it.

Fascinating.

“Ichi-nee,” the little pale haired one whispers. “It was so scary.”

And, like the sun rising, like a storm clearing, the woman smiles.

“Told you I’d protect you didn’t I?” She murmurs as, one eye still trained on Sosuke and her sword still firmly in hand, she crouches down to look the girl in the eyes. “Always going to protect both of you. From anything.”

“Ichi-nee is First Protector,” the dark haired one sings out.

“Exactly,” the woman, Ichi, agrees. “You two hurt at all?”

Instantly the bright haired one begins to squirm.

“Yuzu?” Ichi’s attention hones in on her. “Show me.”

And, lower lip trembling, the girl reaches for the hem of her yukata and does. It’s not much, just a scraped knee really. If anything she looks more concerned about the rip in her already threadbare yukata.

“I’m sorry,” Yuzu whimpers. “I ripped it.”

“Hey,” Ichi soothes softly, free hand coming up to brush tears off a tiny cheek. “it doesn’t matter. I’ll fix it later or get you a new one.”

“But the money,” the girl that must be Karin whispers, eyes owlish as she glances towards where Sosuke is standing, like it’s a secret.

“Isn’t something you worry about,” Ichi interrupts. “Ever. That’s why you’ve got me.”

And then she places her zanpaktou on her back and reaches over and rips a strip of cloth from her already ragged sleeve. With swift motions she wraps the girl’s knee, smooths down her yukata, and then straightens back up.

The two girls move to stand behind her without even being asked.

Then and only then does Ichi give Sosuke her attention again.

“You still here?” She asks bluntly, a scowl settling on her face again.

“Of course,” Sosuke smiles again, dipping his head in the two children’s direction only to bite back a smirk as they both flush and duck further behind their protector. “It would be remiss of me as 5th Division Taichou and a Shinigami to abandon you out here after an attack Ichi-san.”

“Ichigo,” the woman huffs. “My name’s Kurosaki Ichigo.

‘Ichigo,’ Sosuke turns the name over in his mind. Yes he could see that. Both interpretations seem to fit her rather well.

“A pleasure to meet you Kurosaki-san,” Sosuke smiles wider, “I am Ai-”

“Don’t care,” Ichigo interrupts his introduction with a sharp wave of her hand. “We’re leaving. You go on back to your Division Taichou.”

Sosuke blinks once but manages to not show his slight shock at her outright rudeness.

“Would you like an escort home?” He asks instead even though it’s blatantly obvious that she doesn’t need one.

“Nope,” Ichigo waves the children forward, making a wide circle around Sosuke, seemingly careful to keep herself in between him and the children in her charge. “Specially not from someone with your kind of power who still smiles like that.”

“And how, exactly, do I smile?” Sosuke finds himself asking.

“Fake,” Ichigo tells him shortly. “Doesn’t reach your eyes. You smile like you’re lying.”

And with only a handful of words Sosuke feels seen.

‘Well then’ Sosuke can’t help but think as he reaches up to pull his glass off of his face, eyes trained on Ichigo’s retreating back, ‘how about that.’

And oh, Sosuke realizes with a stab of surprise as he stares at the sway of her braid, for the first time in a long time he wants.

#Ready Made Family AU #Ready Made Family: Aizen Style AU #Bleach #well shit i think i made a au where i actually like him #Anonymous #RayRambles

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yume-tsuki · 3 years

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Bleach Recuerdos Mundo part 5 The Orb

Day Zero It wasn’t the first time I saw the black orb like thing floating around. But It happened that It vanished for some years. Today after school then, first, I thought someone called out my name and when I felt this spiritual pressure I saw the flouting orb again. Why it happened on the parks playground I don’t know. At last it was near my home and I used to come here often in the past. Of course I was curious, to curious, if you would ask my friend Hiyo, he is the same age as me a few months younger but not much. He is the son of Captain Hirako and Hiyouri. We are on the same school in this world. We both are Shinigami in training, but less at the academy , we get training at Kisuke’s place or at some of the Gotei 13. Hiyoshin, that’s his full name, is a talented Kido user and gets much training by his fathers lieutenant Hinamori Momo. He often says one day he will be as good as she is. He isn’t able to build a Shikai jet, it drives him mad what makes me laugh a lot. He is mostly so stiff. for my sake I’m training with my father or his friends, I’m a good sword fighter but not as good as my childhood friend Ichika. I also was able to form a Shikai lately, but not for long. I’m good at healing but not as good as mum. I love to listen to mothers tales of dad and the others, even when it sounds like a fairytale a lot. But at some point I’m jealous why can’t I have such an incredible story? The last of us three is Ichika, the daughter of Rukia and Renji Abarai. She is the most talented swords fighter I knew. She also mastered her Shikai. The most time she spends at the Soul Society but then she comes over living here like she lives always lived here. However this works… Sometimes when Hiyo is such a good Kido master and Ichika is such an fine swords master what will I become? Let’s finish this chattering, you know what happened after I touched the orb… …but what happened to us?... Not long after our Spiritual Pressure was gone our Parents were alarmed and tried to find us but the only thing what was left was our soulless bodys laying on the playground. To protect us from harm they used Kisuke Urahara’s Mod Souls so it wouldn’t to strange for our class mates when we are lost. Days and Days went over but we three were not to be found, not here, not at the Soul Society and also not at Hueco Mundo. They had countless of sleepless nights full of fear and tears... I feel sorry for them... No one knew we went to a place of rotten Memories. Called Recuerdos Mundo the Anderswelt More than a month had passed since we ended up here, but what is this world now? The time to see the truth is now to come! -Kurosaki Kazui

part1 Recuerdos Mundo Day ??.??.???? So much days had past since we arrived in this ‘other world’. We thought about a name and after realising what it was and a lot of talks we decidet to call it Recuerdos Mundo, the world of Memories. A world full of Reiryoku, it’s mostly made of it. We still don’t know why but, the ground, the trees even the air is filled up with it. The Hollow like creatures consume it, sadly we can’t use our powers becouse they would swollow it right away. Ichika got the idea to collect the light of Reiryoku who floats through the sky. She noticed that they stuck often on branches of this death looking stone like trees , even we can consume them in this place and this is a nice way to eat or trick the creatures. First when she tried her Zanbakuto this giant bird, together with other creatures appeared. But instead of the others who wanted to eat us it protected us and now travels with us. It’s still fascinating that we can see our world through the camera of our mobile phones. It was such a surprise what Kazui made when we tried to call for help. Sadly we still havn’t found a clue to contact one of our parents. They must be full of sorrows about us, when they can’t even feel we are on earth... But the most fascinating thing and the true reason we called it Recuerdos Mundo was when we found buildings with things in it. When we send out some little energy pictues of the past appeared and showed us who this thing belonged to and themselfs story...Maybe we can find a way out of this world when we find the right item! Now it’s time to end for today, we rest at a old hotel, next day we saw a white shimmering reflection on the horizont, well this our next goal.

jornal end -Hiyoshin Hirako

Recuerdos Mundo The Salt lake After a full day walk we arrived on the edge of an Salt lake, behind it we could see trees and hoping to find more informations about this world. But for today we rested on the edge, Hiyoshin build himself a flute made of an antler he found. Somehow it was creepy but his music is great. It always calms me down when I’m listening to him. Also our spirit hollow bird seems to enjoy his music. We noticed that the Spirit Hollows mostly change into an easy ball form . Only to fight they change into a form who needs more energy. The best part is still that we don’t need food in this world! We just catch this flying energy orbs and swallow them. So more time to listen to the music. But we weren’t the only one making music on the salt lake. There was this strange surring noise like when you stamp on this special white beach sand of this Japanese city we went with our parents ones. It sounded like music and something in me wanted to find out who is making this music! Kazui and Hiyo where pretty worried and said I shouldn’t go…. Scaredy cats! Now I woke birdy up and we flew through the night sky. The night is so clear on this place, so much stars we never saw back in the city. There wasn’t a single soul out there till we saw a long track and followed it. Also the sound came nearer and we saw a long red thing. Birdy hated it but we landed, he hissed the whole way to the head of that giant snake, what it was. When it turns it’s purple head I saw this crazy eyes and wondered if fathers Zabimaru would have such strange eyes if it wasn’t a bone snake. Somehow she was so calm and there wasn’t single moment I was afraid she could eat me. Then we finally traveled back on the head of the snake, oh man you should have seen this boys worried faces. They argue the whole snaky ride to the jungle with me about disappearing in the middle of the night in a strange world where whatever could have happened. I just laughed, not even my parents try to lecture me only uncle B. tries it sometimes but gave up on me. Both stubborn souls created an even more stubborn soul. He says and turns away. Now then that’s enough jornal for now -Abbarai Ichika

Recuerdos mundo part 3 Day 33 I guess We crossed the desert and thought we arrived at a jungle but it wasn’t just a jungle and it wasn’t just on a giant turtle like thing. We were standing o a rock when Ichika noticed a building on it’s back nnd for the first time we saw that it wasn’t just the human world who collapsed , infront of us where the whole Seireitei on the back of that damn turtle! We decided to jump on it and searching through it. The most parts were destroyed and everywhere trees , flowers and spirits. Soon I lost track of the others, they were so quick and there was something else what came to my mind. A voice calling for me… yes, it sounds strange but it was for me not for Ichika, not for Hiyoshin. Just me! I followed it till I arrived at a place I havn’t seen before. Maybe because the time I was at the soul society with dad wasn’t that often and only at aunty Rukia’s place. Dark walls changed into white or what was white one day. “It looks like a research lab!” I heared the voice of Hiyo . What scared me to death. Somehow it made me damn angry that they found me this fast. At last we entered a room, I was still hearing that voice >Come to me! I waited for you so long my young friend!< Yes, I know it could be dangerous but I was so curious… Then we saw it a bright flower floated in the sky, on it’s roots was a strange seat surrounded by light. >Finally you are here!< the voice came from that blooming thing but Hiyoshin and Ichika weren’t hearing it. “I wonder what this is?” Hyio was curious too but his attention soon was on the rest of the room. Screens on the walls and a lot of buttons at a panel. Ichika’s attention was the less, I wonder what she was thinking right now? She just looks around and seems like she already wanted to leave this place. Suddenly one of the screens start to work, but it wasn’t much to see just to listen… >>…What happened….<<…>>…what is that?....<<>>..the other world?...no wait it’s H……<< …>>they collapsing..<<…>Help!!<< ..Only a few pictures were to see, first the Seireitei , then in the sky a city suddenly white snow or sand. We were scared,yes, it still could happen, it could happen right now. “We have to find a way back, telling father and the others of this. Maybe we can stop it before it happens.” Hiyoshin said. “Maybe you two find something else in the other rooms!” I said, I wanted them to go so badly. Why?.... I wondered why does I wanted to be alone with this voice so desperately? … Then I was alone. >>Kazui I waited for so long<< “How can you know my name?” >> I know you since the moment I looked at your fathers eyes.<< “You know my father? Are you a Shinigami?” >> No<< “Who are you then?” >>Sadly I forgot my name << “I see. But you know mine. Why?” >>I’m here to give you something<< “Really?” >>Yes!<< >>Do you want it?<< “Y-yes.” I was so excited that I totally forgot that this situation could be dangerous… man I was only 12 how should I ever had known what could have happen? >>Then eat me!<< Does I was hypnoticed? Maybe… does I wanted to gain power? Maybe… I only I knew I did it… When the flower was gone I was still feeling normal but the others wondered where I went and came back. Of course they wondered where the flower went but I said I touched it and it became dust….they believed me and told me about the stuff they found...

Recuerdos Mundo part 4 Day??.??.????? I thought I would never ever meet another soul again in this death world. Since the day I arrived here day after day past and it wasn’t important where I was or when. There was no one to be found till this day. Who ever made me come here to this place where I always have to cry and I wished to leave when I just think about visiting. Here I found this three. When I showed myself first they were surprised but not for long. They brought me to their place made a fire and told me who they are. I never thought that Ichi or Ruki would ever have a child. I was so surprised that it caused me to tears. Of course they asked who I was and so I told them a little I could remember. I remembered that I was always on Kenpachi Zaraki’s side and I remembered that I was the 11th Division Lieutenant. I remember a fight against an opponent who was even hard von Ken-chan but I barely remember the persons face even how I ended up here. I just remember the strong feelings I had that day. To protect the person I deeply loved to be with. Then one day I woke up, covered in injuries, it was somewhere in this world. Somehow I healed, later I know that it was this air filled up with spiritual energy. I started wandering around, finding ruins and this soul-hollow spirits. Days became months and years and on one point I ended up to believe to see one human being ones more. I even lost the interest in the secrets of this world covered in ruins. The only thing what I knew was that my world, the world of the living and Hueco Mundo collapsed in the past for some reason. At least it was a calm time, there was no war, no fight anymore, just souls without a soul… The children were surprised and couldn’t believe that I lived here alone for so long. Then of course I asked the one question. Do you know a way back home? Sadly they didn’t but they remembered that Kasui used a black hole to came here in the first place. I asked him if he could do it again. He said he tried but he didn’t know how to activate it, then he stopped for a moment. It was like someone talked to him and then he told that he maybe know how to return. For a single moment I was scared to hell, there was a feeling I hadn’t in years, like a long lost memory but then he opened a black hole and everything I had in mind was vanished. There was only one desire: Maybe I can go home now finally.

-???????

Then Ichika asked me something they totally forgot to ask. What’s your name? I looked at her face, puzzled from that question.

My name?... what was my name? I can’t remember…

They then told me something, something about Ken-chan who she likes to visit from time to time. He isn’t very talkative but one day he told her a name Yachiru… Yachiru? Wasn’t this my name? It sounds so unfamiliar familiar…. But the tears that run over my cheeks told me it was true.

How could I even forgot who I was? When did it start that I even lost my name?

What a cruel peaceful world this could be.

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dokuhai · 4 years

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// @godkilller

how does rangiku rationalize / justify things in her head seeing as she also remembers gin’s vow to her that day and the events thereafter – what does she think is gin’s reasoning, what was she so close to saying and asking to confirm her beliefs had she not hidden her feelings behind mentioning izuru to him that day instead?

𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 as it relates to the question posed by @cptn13 previously! ( and I say next because I have like 60 asks in my inbox currently LOL ) —- It’s hard to say how she justifies the events that transpired after Gin’s vow, really, because the ways in which both of them had to live in order to survive really toyed with Rangiku’s perception of right and wrong. This is something she grapples with to this day, and is also why she’s ultimately capable of forgiving Gin for his actions. Had they not shared such a volatile and dangerous upbringing in one of the worst districts in Rukongai, her morals and personal views / beliefs might’ve been completely different, rendering her unable to accept and/or love Gin post-Winter War ( had he survived, like in our canon divergent verses. )

That being said, Rangiku has always trusted in Gin ... to a fault, unfortunately. And when he made that vow, and ultimately saved them from a life of starvation in Rukongai, Rangiku trusted that Gin was doing what he believed to be right —- even if she disagreed with it. IT’S ALWAYS BEEN EASIER FOR HER TO TURN A BLIND EYE -— which, truthfully, makes her just as responsible ( or perhaps even an accidental accomplice ) for his actions leading up to his initial betrayal. She KNEW something was wrong initially, but she did nothing to stop it. And as they both continued to mature and come into their own within the walls of Seireitei, Gin got so much better at hiding these things from her. They weren’t living together anymore —- and while Rangiku was off practicing her kido and studying / training to become a Shinigami, Gin had his own responsibilities as a seated officer that helped him to justify leaving early, or being unavailable to her whenever she was hoping to spend time with him.

It was only when Gin started to change dramatically that Rangiku was reminded of that initial vow, and the blood on his face ... THE WAY SOMETHING IN HIM CHANGED, or perhaps the way the mask dropped, if but only for a moment —- and, ultimately, Rangiku remembered how she was unable to question him then, and was STILL so incapable of a) believing that he was doing something so terrible / ‘wrong’ in the eyes of the Gotei 13, and b) that he would ever so blatantly lie to her, or betray her trust.

And while Gin painted a very vivid picture in Rangiku’s eyes of WHY he was changing their direction in life, and MAKING THINGS BETTER FOR THEM, she still did not have a real answer for why those night terrors were always coming back, or what actually transpired right before she met Gin. Everyone handles traumatic incidents or situations in their lives differently, and as a child, Rangiku buried those memories in order to protect herself ( this is also related to the headcanon / answered ask I linked earlier in this reply, where Haineko harbors the memory of that important piece of Rangiku’s soul being taken from her. ) I truly don’t believe that she knew Gin had seen those men in person, and knew that those reoccurring dreams of hers were based on something traumatic that had happened to her as a kid.

I think Rangiku puts so much blame on HERSELF for not calling Gin out on his behavior. She truly DOES feel responsible for not poking and prodding him, and getting answers that could’ve led her to convince him to take a different route in life. In canon verses where Gin dies, it’s something she has to live with —- that awful, awful guilt that perhaps she could’ve done more .. could’ve sprinted, grabbed his collar, FOUND A WAY TO REACH HIM despite Gin always being so far ahead of her. In canon divergent verses, she’s able to forgive him ( even without knowing his true motives, though she wants answers more than anything ) because of that same guilt, and regret that she buries deep inside of her.

If we circle back to canon where Rangiku approaches Gin during the Winter War, and calls him out in the most indirect way possible on that rooftop, we can see how she’s still struggling to name that guilt she carries. She’s doing everything in her power to find a way to finally call him out on his bullshit, and yet she still can’t make it personal ... is it because she’s afraid of what he’ll say? Absolutely. Again, Rangiku has always chosen to turn a blind eye to Gin’s behavior —- but at this point, she can’t run from it anymore. He’s not only hurt her, but HE’S HURT IZURU ... and it’s SO much easier for her to use the pain Gin has brought upon Izuru as a means of obtaining answers to the questions she’s always been unable to ask. She can’t come to terms with her own regrets and doubts / fears, so she steers the conversation away from her and hopes that that’s enough to get Gin to open up —- which, unfortunately, it isn’t. And now I’m upsetti.

#ask ; answered #godkilller #headcanon ( rangiku. )#i wrote a lot here and i probably deviated from your initial questions but #hopefully this paints a clearer picture!

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feelingfredly · 5 years

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Home Is Where You Hang Your Heart

Fluffy/Angsty Goodness for GinIchi WinterFest 2020

Ichigo pulled another handkerchief from his pocket and pushed it across the table. He’d learned to come prepared to these meetings. “He’s doing fine, Ran. I swear. Please don’t cry.”

The redhead thanked him and swiped once at her eyes before the cloth disappeared into a shaky fist. “I know, I know,” she sighed and straightened her shoulders, “I just…” her voice faded away and her gaze clouded. “I just worry, you know?”

Ichigo knew.

Rangiku was a fierce fighter, a bottomless pit when it came to alcohol, and a shameless flirt. She was also a mother hen, a victim of spiritual abuse, and someone still desperately trying to come to grips with the truth about a relationship that had turned out to be nothing like she’d always believed. It was no wonder she was torn up.

“I don’t want him to think..” She couldn’t even begin to put all the things she didn’t want Gin to think into words.

“What?” Ichigo snorted. “You don’t want him to think that you don’t care? That you wouldn’t take on the whole of Seireitei if it would make a difference?” He rolled his eyes and Ran gave him a watery smile. Just like Yuzu and Karin, he thought, she just needs someone to tell her it’s okay. That she’s done enough. “Trust me. He knows. He also knows that it wouldn’t make any difference.” Ran’s face puckered up a little and he raised a hand to stop her before the tears could start again. “Yet. It wouldn’t make any difference yet. It’s going to take a long time for people to stop believing the worst of him.”

She nodded and then looked at him, weighing her words. “You don’t believe the worst of him.”

Ichigo settled back in his chair and shrugged. “I’m also the guy with a hollow living in the back of his head who spends all his time with a Visored who turns the world upside down and a banished Captain of the Gotei 13 who I’m pretty sure sells sex dolls out of the back of his candy store. Some of those housewives that come by regularly are pretty scary.” He shook his head. “Understanding Gin is a walk in the park after that. But don’t tell him I said that. It might make him feel like he has to prove something.”

Ran laughed, her first real laugh since they’d sat down together. “Oh no, you wouldn’t want that. The human world might not survive.”

Ichigo thought about Gin laser-focused on teaching him a lesson and struggled to fight back a flush before it gave the woman across the table something else to think about. The last thing he needed—even less than another occasionally sadistic ex-Captain—was a matchmaking Rangiku.

He lifted his drink in a silent toast, hiding his red cheeks behind the rim of his cup. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

***

“Here. I brought some hot chocolate.” Gin handed a wide ceramic cup across to the little girl sitting on the tatami. She was posed beside a window made of balsa wood and rice paper, a small lamp on the other side giving the impression of winter sunlight streaming in on the puddle of brightly colored silk that wrapped her tiny frame. “If you like it, I have a tin for you t’ take home. You’ve been so patient.”

A blush of happiness pinked her cheeks. Never too young to appreciate being appreciated, he thought, taking a moment to readjust his camera, or to be susceptible to bribery.

“Is it good, Suzu-chan?” He cocked his head to one side as he asked and the little girl nodded, her face buried in the steamy cup, eyes big as they stared at him over the rim. Perfect. He snapped another photo.

He kneeled up and moved across to the other side of the mat, moving slowly so as not to startle the child. She’d clung to her mother when they arrived, tears threatening during the long process of putting the layers of the kimono on her, but she’d relaxed after a few gentle compliments and a few sweets.

“Ah, your hair’s so pretty today. Did your mother fix it for you?”

The big eyes narrowed a fraction as she nodded. So… not totally susceptible to flattery. That’s a good girl. Stay smart like that. He looked down at his camera, watching the suspicious look fade from the girl’s face through the preview screen and when she raised the cup again, he snapped another picture.

Gin paused, checking the light and the little girl’s positioning for the umpteenth time. Suzu-chan’s mother was waiting patiently in the alcove off the set watching and he motioned for her to come over.

“I’m almost finished, but I would like to try to get at least one standing photo now that she’s calmed down. Could you help her up, please? She was afraid she was going t’ trip in the hikizuri earlier, and I don’t want her to panic again.”

The woman bowed to him and smiled, creeping over to the little girl and holding her hand out for the cup with a sing-songy, “Kashite, Su-chan?” The child handed the cocoa to her easily and smiled as her mother helped her to her feet, getting her balance on the tiny okobo before sending a shy smile to Gin, proud of her accomplishment.

“Jus’ perfect, Suzu-chan,” he said, moving so her mother could step away. He ducked in and straightened the hem of the kimono with a practiced twitch. “Stand right there for me.” He focused the camera in his hands and palmed a remote for a second camera on a tripod on the other side of the tatami. A single press of the button and the camera started taking automated photos on a timer, a hidden eye on the tiny subject in front of him. “Now,” he said, making a production of raising the camera in his hand, “can you bow for me? Jus’ once, please?”

The little girl looked at him, a fierce look of concentration on her face, and she dipped into a bow so lovely that it would have made a maiko rage with jealousy. The grace of innocence, he thought, taking a final picture of the girl, half-turned away, miniature rice-paper kanzashi swinging beside her cheek.

And then they were done. It took almost as long to remove the hikizuri as it did to put it on, but at least by the end of it the child wasn’t crying. He bowed deeply to the pair of them and made arrangements with the mother for the finished photo package to be sent for approval before turning to his model and bowing again. “Thank you so much, Suzu-chan. You made my job so easy, and now you’re all finished.”

A big grin spread across the little face. “Thank you, shashin-ka-san!” She gave him a bow in return. “Do I still get to have the hot chocolate?”

Gin smiled. That’s right, little one, never lose track of what’s important. “Of course.” He nodded seriously. “You’ve earned it.” He handed her the tin and she hugged it to her chest with another bow of thanks before leading her mother back out into the festival in a whirlwind of excitement.

“Another happy customer,” a voice murmured behind him.

Gin didn’t jump but it was close. The gigai from Urahara was many things, but good at reiatsu sensing wasn’t one of them. Yet another thing to get accustomed to. “All my customers are happy, Kurosaki-kun. I take pride in my ability,” he tilts his head a fraction and looked at the redhead over his shoulder, “to satisfy.”

He was fairly certain that the color on Ichigo’s cheeks wasn’t from the winter wind. At least he didn’t need to relearn that.

“Clearly,” the younger man said, aiming for cool. “That’s why you’re booked solid for the whole festival.”

Gin walked over to the corner where his computer was set up temporarily, plugging the camera in to download the pictures he’d taken. “You sound surprised, Kurosaki-kun.”

Ichigo shrugged. “I’ll admit that the whole ‘authentic Meiji era costume photography’ thing wasn’t something I saw coming, and the fact that you’re a freaking child whisperer is oddly unnerving, but your success? No surprise there. I’m pretty sure you could sell freezers in the Artic if you set your mind to it.”

A bitter retort hovered on the tip of his tongue-- Even without Aizen hypnotizing people for me, Kurosaki-kun?—but he forced it back. Ichigo didn’t deserve it. He was one of the most straightforward people Gin had ever dealt with. It wasn’t his fault that no one else said what they meant.

“I jus’ know what people want, Kurosaki-kun.” He tipped his head to one side. “Like you. I know what you want, too.”

Ichigo froze like a red deer suddenly faced with a wolf. It was adorable.

“A-and what do I want, if you’re so smart?” His voice was a little too shaky and Gin could tell he was on the verge of retreating into denial and bluster. He really shouldn’t push so hard. It was just too much fun sometimes.

Gin took a moment to unplug things and slide the laptop into its bag. He’d work on today’s photos back at the apartment.

“Why the same thing I want, of course,” he said, smiling a little as he caught the bob of Adam’s apple out of the corner of his eye. “Dinner. It’s been a long day. You want t’ get takoyaki from the vendor next door, or d’ you have something else in mind?”

Ichigo paused and shook his head like he was trying to clear out cobwebs.

“Takoyaki.” He picked up the now packed computer bag and slung it over his shoulder leaving Gin to lock the little studio up for the night. “I’m starving.”

***

Ichigo bulled his way through the crowd trusting Gin to stick close behind him. He didn’t look around. He was sure his face was still red, and he didn’t trust himself to keep his mouth shut if Gin decided to tease him more.

I know what you want, too.

The words echoed in his head, and he wished he could have the moment back, just once, to do something differently, to be brave and face this thing that hung between them. To admit that yes there was something he wanted, something he wanted badly, and it sure as hell wasn’t takoyaki.

The crowd parted in front of him, his scowl was good for that, and almost before he realized it, they’d made it to the food stand.

Ichigo had never liked takoyaki growing up, but the first day of the festival Gin had pointed out the stand, excited over something in a way that Ichigo’d rarely seen, and he happily let the older man drag him there for dinner after they’d worked up an appetite setting up the studio. Gin didn’t remember his human life any more than most occupants of Seireitei, but it was clear he’d lived in the Kansai district from his accent, so it made sense that he’d love a food that Osaka was famous for. What Ichigo hadn’t been prepared for was the sheer pleasure on Gin’s face as he ate the little fried bites like he hadn’t eaten in forever.

Just what he needed on top of Gin’s teasing.

The vendor greeted them with a smile and started shoveling the steaming balls into paper boats. “I have something for you Ichimaru-san,” he says, handing over a little dark pot along with the takoyaki. It smells sweet and sour and like citrus and vinegar.

“Ponzu!” Gin looked like one of the kids he took pictures of, all pleased smiles and gracious head tilts. “Thank you, Sato-san!” He drizzled it generously over his boat and breathed in deeply, his enjoyment clear on his face. “This smells amazing!”

Sato-san nodded with satisfaction. “My wife made it and when I told her you’d mentioned missing it, she wanted me to bring you some. It isn’t for the menu, but for a good customer like you?” He bowed deeply and chuckled. “I am happy to be able to do this.”

Gin looked almost startled by the kindness and bowed deeply. “Please let your wife know that her generosity was most appreciated. If there is anything I can do for you—I’d be happy to do a portrait for her if she’d like. I have a new kimono that needs a model.”

The vendor laughed. “My Himari would be too embarrassed for something so grand. Your happiness is all she wanted, Ichimaru-san. I will pass along your compliments, though. A little flattery goes a long way, you know.”

Ichigo watched as a shutter closed across Gin’s face, the pleasure banking into something more polite and less real.

“Absolutely, Sato-san. It is even better if it is true, though, and it is. Thank you again! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He handed Ichigo his boat and bowed again before leading them to one of the few high-topped tables separating the counter from the crowd.

They stood there enjoying their food, Gin’s quiet mood so different from what Ichigo had been expecting, before he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“He didn’t mean anything by it, you know.” Ichigo waved a chopstick for emphasis. “He was just trying to be friendly.”

Gin paused for a moment and then nodded. “I know. It’s just hard sometimes t’ separate the real from the phony.” He took a bite and chewed silently, staring off into the crowd. “I’m tired of the lies and the manipulation. I just want people to know that I mean what I say. I want it to be real.”

Ichigo nudged him under the table with his knee. “It is real, and they know you mean what you say. A little bit of flattery isn’t the same as lying, it’s just… social lubricant.”

Gin made a noise in his throat and Ichigo could feel the heat returning to his cheeks. “I see. And lubricant is something you’re familiar with Kurosaki-kun?”

“Bastard. You know what I meant.” His flush got worse and Ichigo couldn’t help but be thankful for the cold breeze blowing. He could pretend his face was just… wind-chapped. Right. “I guess what I was trying to say is that I know what it’s like when someone doesn’t do it, like Isshin. Or can’t do it, like me. Do you have any idea how many fights I could have avoided if I’d just learned how to say things differently? How many feelings I wouldn’t have hurt? How many times Karin wouldn’t have stomped on my foot because I said something completely honest and still managed to completely miss the point of what I was trying to say?” He snorted and picked up another takoyaki.

“You missing the point, Kurosaki-kun? Surely not.” Gin teased, and Ichigo felt the tightness around his chest loosen a little. It was working.

“You have no idea.” He shook his head ruefully, perfectly willing to humiliate himself if it made Gin feel better. “One time I told her homeroom teacher that Isshin couldn’t make it to the parent/teacher conference because the yakuza thug with the stab wound was more important than she was. Completely true? Yes. Totally honest? Absolutely. Utterly the wrong thing to say? Hell yes. We had three social services visits that month because I was too stupid to realize what that would sound like to someone that didn’t live my life. Being able to spin things a little would have been a godsend.”

Gin sighed and pushed his empty takoyaki boat away from him. “After everything I did people don’t see it that way. As harmless spin, I mean. I lived a lie for more than a hundred years. My best friends… the people I loved... None of them could tell the difference, and now that they know that the person they thought I was never existed, they doubt everything I say. Honestly, I don’ blame them.”

The tightness squeezed Ichigo’s heart again, and he made an aborted reach across the table to touch Gin’s hand. “I get it. I really do. You’re better at double-talk than most, and you haven’t always been the most honest guy in the world, but now you’re using your skills for good instead of evil, so it’s different. You don’t have to be so afraid of just being yourself, you know. Especially not with me. And if they can’t tell the difference? Fuck ‘em. Just be you. The people that care will figure it out.”

Ichigo popped the last fried dough ball in his mouth deliberately. He had learned a little bit about shutting up over the years, even if he wasn’t good at the whole moderated-honesty thing, so he chewed and waited.

Gin didn’t say anything for a few minutes and Ichigo was afraid that once again he’d managed to make things worse rather than better.

“You make it sound so easy, Kurosaki-kun.” His voice was almost wistful under its normal layer of snark.

Ichigo shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be hard. Just, I don’t know… treat people the way your treat the kids you take pictures of. Tell them what you want. Say thank you when you get it. Be firm but fair. Oh, and don’t let Hirako talk you into going to jazz bars, and never drink anything Urahara hands you. Simple.”

Pale blue eyes peered at him through dark blond lashes. “Only you, Kurosaki-kun.”

Ichigo frowned. “Only I would what?”

Gin shook his head and gave one of his closed-mouth smiles, clearly pleased but also clearly unwilling to explain.

Well, at least he was smiling.

***

Ichigo puttered around in their little kitchen and Gin could hear the sound of the tea tin and the kettle. It was amazing how comfortable he’d become sharing his space. He hadn’t felt this way since he and Ran shared the back room of a little inn in the Rukongai where the innkeeper was kind enough to let them do errands for a space of their own, however small.

“I told Yuzu that we’d come for dinner Sunday evening. She found a recipe for dojima roll that she wants your opinion of.”

Ichigo had stopped asking if Gin wanted to do things once he realized that the answer was always going to be some form of no. He insisted that interaction was necessary if Gin was going to survive staying in the human world and that his family and friends were the least likely to cause problems if he slipped up and spoke of things that humans wouldn’t—or shouldn’t—understand. It didn’t seem to occur to him that their familiarity with Seireitei and the problems with Aizen meant that his family and friends were also the ones most likely to have a problem with him in the first place, or that it might be hard for Gin to sit across the table from Isshin, Ran’s old Captain, and pretend that nothing was wrong, pretend that he didn’t know that the man would prefer anyone else for his eldest child.

“You know I appreciate the offer, but I can’t. Please apologize to Yuzu for me.” Gin kept his voice even. “It’s the last weekend of the Winter Fest and I have a full day of sittings scheduled…”

His voice trailed off as Ichigo wandered out of the bathroom. He had a towel draped over his shoulders, his hair still wet from the shower, and Gin didn’t think he’d ever seen him so at ease. The water darkened the spiky locks turning the natural orange into something softer, and his eyes glowed amber against his tan. It took his breath away.

Luckily, Ichigo had no clue about the effect he had.

“You don’t have to worry about that. I checked the schedule and you have the second set of Shima portraits to do in the afternoon—the youngest boy I think. You had him down for the hitatare, although why anyone wants to put a three year old in a samurai outfit is still a mystery to me—but you should be done with him by four and then it’s just back here to drop off the equipment, and then I can open a garganta from anywhere so we won’t have to worry about travel time, and…”

Gin held up a hand and Ichigo ground to a halt. “Kurosaki-kun, please.”

Something in his voice made the redhead frown. “What?”

He stilled himself, the shallow smile he’d worn for years hovering, but he forced himself not to give into the lie. He could do this. “I just… don’t think I should go. I appreciate the invitation but, no. Not this time. Thank you.”

A light dimmed in Ichigo’s eyes and Gin wished he could take his words back, but this was for the best.

“Oh,” the spiky head nodded, and he could see the shudder of a breath drawn too deeply too fast. “Okay. I get it. Simple, right?” There was nothing simple in Ichigo’s response.

“What do you mean, Kurosaki-kun?” Gin tilted his head a little, a tiny whisper of dread shot through his curiosity about what would happen next.

He should have known nothing about Ichigo would play out the way he expected. Slowly the younger man fisted his hands in the ends of the towel, pulling it tightly over his chest, and he shrugged, too casually, before answering.

“It’s like I said. You’re telling me what you want—firm and fair—and saying thank you. Couldn’t be much clearer. Sorry if I was making you uncomfortable, I just…” he looked away, his composure slipping into something soft and hurt.

Gin wanted to tell him, wanted to explain that he hadn’t made him uncomfortable, that Gin was being a coward, that he wanted to keep Ichigo to himself, that he dreamed of them hiding away here in Osaka not just for the festival season but always. He couldn’t, though. He’d driven enough distance between people that he cared about. He wasn’t going to be the cause of a rift between Ichigo and his family and friends.

“It isn’t like that.” The explanation sounded weak even to him.

“Then what is it like?” The words burst from the younger man. “I don’t understand. I thought you liked spending time with…”

Me, Gin could almost hear him say, and wouldn’t that open Pandora’s Box?

“I do.” The conversation was quickly becoming something Gin wasn’t prepared to deal with. “It’s just that I’ve been worried. Your father has been very generous to allow me into his home, but I know it must…”

A twisted bark of laughter split the space between them “You’re kidding. You’re worried about Isshin?”

When he put it that way it sounded a little strange, but Gin remembered the way the Taichō had watched him when he’d pushed Rangiku away. Remembered the judgment in his eyes. That kind of feeling didn’t just vanish into thin air.

“He was Rangiku’s captain. He didn’t approve of the way I treated her back then, and I’ve seen the way he looks at me now. I don’t want to cause any more trouble, Kurosaki-kun, and I certainly don’t want to force you to choose between me and your family.”

Ichigo looked at him like he was insane, and maybe he was. After everything that had happened, it was probably a foregone conclusion.

“First off, Isshin can take care of himself. He isn’t as much of an ass as he seems, but if he has a problem with you, he’ll deal with it his own way in his own time. Trust me. He learned to deal with the Visoreds, and with Yoruichi, and Urahara, and he’ll either learn to accept you or I’ll punch him in the head until he shuts up, but either way that isn’t something to worry about.”

Gin’s heart stuttered a little in his chest. No one but Ran had ever been willing to fight for him before.

He forced his mouth to form words. “You can’t just punch anyone that doesn’t want me around in the head until they give in, Kurosaki-kun.”

Ichigo stuck his chin out a fraction and met his eyes fiercely. “Try me.”

And, oh Soul King help him if he didn’t want to.

***

He was a grown man. He would be 200 next year. He could do this. It was only dinner.

“So, Ichimaru-san,” the bland voice could have hidden a dagger in it, or it could have just been Isshin being polite. “How’s the photography business going?”

Ichigo shifted minutely beside him and Karin shot an under-lashes look at him and he marveled for a moment when he realized that they were both preparing to jump in and defend him. From a question about his business. That he was proud of.

Kurosakis. They were insane. The whole lot of them.

“I won’t pretend there wasn’t a steep learning curve, but I’m pleased with it.” Gin sipped his miso and smiled appreciatively at Yuzu who was watching every bite he took. The girl had pulled out all the stops with dinner, making a whole bevy of Osakan favorites in his honor. “There is something magical about being able to capture a moment forever.”

Yuzu nodded when she was satisfied that he like the food well enough. “I love the kimono you designed for Inoue’s engagement portrait. I thought Ishida-san was going to have a stroke when she declared that she wanted you to handle the wedding, but even he was pleased with how the pictures turned out, and you know how fussy he is about everything.”

Gin had been surprised as well, but the Quincy was besotted and whatever his Princess wanted she got, even if it happened to be a disgraced Shinigami as his wedding photographer. Although, honestly, the fact that he’d killed a number of traitorous Shinigami was probably a point in his favor as far as Ishida was concerned.

“Matsumoto told me you’d been sponsored by the Sōtaichō himself.” Isshin raised an eyebrow. “Must have made things a lot easier having that kind of backing.”

It was true. Money made money and Gin wouldn’t have been able to do nearly as much as quickly if he’d been working from zero. It was a situation that benefitted Kyōraku—human world money wasn’t an issue for the Shinigami, and he’d have one fewer reminder of Aizen and the destruction around him if Gin wasn’t in Seireitei every day—but he was fairly certain that it had been Ichigo who convinced him.

“Indeed,” he nodded and smiled a careful smile, “he wanted me out from underfoot, and the seed money for my business was less than he’s funneled into Urahara-san’s shōten or what he provides for Hirako-san and the other Visored.”

Karin snorted. “I bet. Having you out of sight meant he didn’t to have to explain to everyone that you were smarter than everyone else and had been trying to take Aizen out of the picture before the rest of them ever got their heads out of their asses.”

Isshin made a startled noise and snapped his eyes across the table to his daughter; she glared right back at him. “You know I’m right. And anyway, what was he going to do? The amnesty wouldn’t have protected Ichimaru-san from the nuts in Seireitei that wanted a scapegoat, and he couldn’t just dump him in the human world without having his presence draw every hollow within a hundred miles. He had to make a deal with Urahara-sensei, and you and I both know that he wasn’t going to do anything without some cold, hard, bankable reasons for helping the Gotei 13 after all the ways they’ve screwed him over.”

Isshin choked on a laugh. “You know, sometimes I think that letting you work with Urahara might not have been the best idea I ever had.”

Yuzu shoved a bowl of yakisoba at him with a huff. “Like it was ever your decision.” She looked at Gin and smiled, as sweet to him as she’d been gruff to her father. “We would have found a way to study with Urahara-sensei no matter what Dad said. He just went along with it because he didn’t want to look like a pushover because we went behind his back.” She shot a pointed look at her brother. “He’s learned to pick his fights.”

Ichigo couldn’t smother his own grin at that. He was so proud of his sisters and he’d trained them to stand up for themselves no matter what. Gin knew that if they wanted to study with the Shinigami, Isshin wasn’t going to be able to stop them. Ichigo would never allow it, and from what he’d seen of Karin and Yuzu, he might not even have needed to step in.

Isshin sighed dramatically. “You see how they are? So stubborn,” he smiled at Gin for the first time, a sharp little glint hinting in his eye running counter to the broad grin, “they get it from their mother. Just like Ichigo. Once they get something in their heads there’s no talking them out of it. No matter how dangerous it might be.”

You’re a bad influence on my son, but I know him well enough not to push. He’d dig his heels in and be even more on your side, and I’m not dumb enough to do that, no matter what people might think of how Shibas handle things. Gin could almost hear the wheels turning. He could play that game, too, though. He’d spent enough time with Aizen that he could probably carry on twelve-layer conversations if needed.

“Luckily, all three of your children seem to be blessed with the uncanny ability to accumulate allies who will back them up no matter how dangerous the situation they find themselves in.” He smiled at the girls, wide and guileless, and he forced himself not to respond to the disbelieving snort from the redhead sitting beside him. “I know that there are at least half a dozen Captains willing to fall in line and ask how high if any one of them said jump.”

You don’t have to worry about Ichigo. There is a line of people willing to remove me from the picture in an instant if I hurt him. Gin let the smile drop from his face and actually met Isshin’s gaze, waiting until the man recognized the message and nodded once, satisfied at least for the moment.

“Have you seen Matsumoto-san recently, then?” Gin changed the topic, remembering what Isshin had said about them discussing Gin’s sponsorship.

The ex-captain nodded. “She drops by every now and then. Now that she’s forgiven me for disappearing on her.” He sighed. “Neither of us have been very good to her, have we, Ichimaru-san?”

There was a pain in the other man’s voice that echoed in Gin’s chest. No. Neither of them had been very good to Ran, no matter how much they cared for her.

Ichigo spoke up. “I saw her yesterday. She needed help with something Hitsugaya wanted her to set up in the training yard at the tenth.”

Gin looked at him and noticed there was a bit of flush along the tips of Ichigo’s ears. Like something was embarrassing him.

“Aw, did she flash her boobs at you again, Ichi-nii?” Karin teased, also having noticed the redness. “If she keeps doing that you should have Toshiro reprimand her for sexual harassment.”

Ichigo’s face was burning now. “It wasn’t like that at all. She hasn’t flashed me in…”

Amber eyes shot up to aqua ones and Gin couldn’t figure out what the panicked look in them meant.

“We set up some new kidō exercise targets and then had lunch. She offered to feed me because I’d done her a favor and we hadn’t talked in forever.” He glared at his sister. “That was it, and don’t start threatening to talk to Toshiro just because you want an excuse to talk to him. Ran doesn’t need any more trouble.”

Yuzu stood and headed for the kitchen, probably to bring out the dessert she was so excited about, but Gin couldn’t take his eyes off Ichigo. There was something strange, there. He hadn’t seen that kind of reaction in him in a long time. Not since… well, not since he’d defended him.

Karin stood to help her sister with a huff. “Fine. But you shouldn’t let her treat you like that. I’ve seen the way she gets all handsy and flirtatious when she’s out. It’s bad enough when it’s someone like Hisagi-san that she’s already had a relationship with, but she needs to know that there are boundaries that aren’t cool to cross.”

“I can take care of myself, Karin,” Ichigo said. “You’re just jealous because Toshiro gets an eyeful just standing next to her. It isn’t Ran’s fault.”

It was true, the younger Kurosaki was obviously jealous, her feelings for the snow prince out there for everyone to see, but Gin couldn’t explain away the curdling feeling in his own stomach at the idea of Ran hanging on Ichigo, drunk and flirtatious, her copious charms on display. She was beautiful, and Ichigo was only human, after all.

Ichigo tapped Gin on the shoulder, the warm hand pulling him from his reverie. “Look. Yuzu’s dojima roll. She’s been waiting for this for forever.”

Gin leaned into the touch a little, ostensibly to get a better view of the tray Yuzu was carrying and the heat of Ichigo’s skin almost scalded him he was so hyperaware of it.

And I’ve been waiting for this forever. The thought sucker punched him, and he couldn’t stifle a gasp.

“Everything okay there, Ichimaru-san?” Isshin asked, his eyes taking in the closeness between Gin and Ichigo.

Gin shoved it all down into the box where he kept all his emotions, refusing to let his feelings cause yet more problems.

“Of course, Kurosaki-san,” he said with a tilt of his chin, pulling his phone out of his pocket as a distraction. “I was just surprised by Yuzu-chan’s skills once again. That looks amazing.” He lifted the phone enquiringly. “Could I take a photo, please? It’s just too lovely not to record for posterity.”

Yuzu smiled brightly enough to not need extra lighting, and Gin was thankful that the dojima roll was, actually, impressive enough to merit his attentions. He spent a few minutes fussing over it and Yuzu, taking different pictures and letting Karin tell him about the other roll cakes that had failed and been passed off to Jinta at the shōten. Gin smiled and nodded and allowed the noise to wash over him as he slowly reassembled his shattered reality around his newly recognized feelings for the man sitting next to him.

He put the phone down and picked up his plate, nibbling at the sweet to make it last as long as possible before he had to face Ichigo alone on their trip back to their apartment.

It was ridiculous how obvious his feelings were when he stopped and actually looked at them; he wondered if they were that clear to everyone else. Isshin’s comments could have easily been a shovel talk, and he’d gotten similar don’t fuck with Ichigo lectures from several of his friends. Probably worst, looking back, had been the hand pats and understanding looks he’d gotten from Orihime. She’d said “Once Ichigo decides someone is worth caring about you just have to let him. He isn’t going to stop; he just takes a while to figure things out. So, be patient with him. Okay, Ichimaru-san?”

He takes a while…? Gin would have laughed if he didn’t think he wouldn’t be able to stop.

They stayed like that for a while, the wound-spring-tightness of his nerves slowly relaxing as they finished dinner and prepared to leave.

“Ichimaru-san!” Yuzu piped up from the table where she was standing. “Don’t forget your phone. Can I get a copy of that photo you took?”

She dragged her fingers across the screen and the phone lit up, and as quick as a striking cobra she was flipping through the icons searching for the camera function.

“Oh, here they are. I’d just sync the phones, but mine is charging upstairs and I…”

She stopped, staring at the photo library and Gin wondered what she’d seen. He didn’t use the camera for much, just random candid shots. He’d taken a lot of pictures of the displays at the Winter Festival, the lights and the people. Nothing special.

She flipped through screen after screen, her eyes getting bigger until Karin reached over and snagged it from her.

“Here, let me look. It can’t be that hard to find. I mean, he just took the pictures an hour ago.”

She looked down at the screen and then back up at her sister, sharing some twin mind-meld apparently before Karin stopped on one photo in particular and pulled it up.

“Ichi-nii,” she said, looking over at her brother where he was gathering their things to leave. “You should see this.”

Something heavy settled in Gin’s stomach.

“Sure, what is it?” He noticed that it was Gin’s phone in his sister’s hand. “Don’t tell me you stole his phone. Come on, what are you? Twelve?”

He reached out and as she dropped it in his hand Gin caught a glimpse of the screen.

It was Ichigo standing at the window of their apartment, the dawn sky casting a slanted light over his grinning face. He remembered the moment—they’d been laughing after breakfast, getting ready to open the Festival Studio, and Ichigo had been so striking in the half-light, the expression on his face so clear and bright, that Gin couldn’t resist taking his picture, even as Ichigo groaned and complained that he always looked stupid in photos, and why did Gin insist on doing this to him.

It was an attractive picture, no doubt, but he didn’t understand why it seemed to affect the girls so much.

Ichigo didn’t understand either, apparently.

“Huh, this one turned out pretty good.” He looked at Gin and rolled a shoulder. “I guess you’re good enough at this photography thing that you can even make me look okay.”

The girls were still doing the silent conversation thing and Isshin had caught on. He took two of his oddly graceful strides across the room and took the phone from Ichigo, looking at the image that was causing all the fuss.

First came surprise, but hard on its heels was something else, something softer, and Isshin’s whole stance changed as he looked up. He looked at Gin and paused before asking. “You think I could get a copy of this one?” He waggled the phone to indicate the picture and Gin nodded. “Don’t have any recent pics of Ichigo for the scrapbook, and Masaki would love this one.”

Ichigo snagged the phone and groaned. “Come on, old man, it’s just a picture. Gin takes tons of them. It’s no big deal.”

“But you’re smiling, Ichi-nii.” Yuzu’s voice was quiet. “You were smiling in all of them. I don’t think we have any pictures of you smiling. Not since… well, not since you were little.”

Not since his mother died, Gin filled in. The girls were looking at him intently, an almost painful hope on their face. He understood. He’d do almost anything to make the redhead smile, too.

“Well,” Ichigo was pinking around the edges again, the silent conversations finally making him too uncomfortable. “I guess he’s just good at getting me to smile. The sign of a good photographer, right?”

Isshin nodded. “Still. I’d like a copy. Sometime. There’s no rush. It’s not like you won’t be coming back for dinner next week, right Ichimaru-san? I’m sure Yuzu would love to use you as a guinea pig for more of her new recipes.”

Something settled between the two ex-captains with the invitation, an olive branch extended. Isshin was willing to bury the past because somehow Gin had made his son happy and he would do anything to help keep him that way, and Gin… well, Gin was no fool. The girls watched him, looking like they expected him to run from whatever this silent agreement was, but all Gin could think was that they weren’t going to fight to keep him out of Ichigo’s life, and for that he would put up with a thousand family dinners.

“I’d be delighted. Have you ever had persimmon bread, Yuzu? Karin? I’ll bring some with us the next time we come. You’ll love it.”

***

“Tonight is the last night. You should get to enjoy the festival a little instead of just working through it.”

Ichigo had been wheedling and coaxing for the past two days saying that Gin needed to relax a little, that he’d been working too hard. The truth was, Gin had been using work to hide from this thing that was threatening to consume him. He would see Ichigo over breakfast and long to brush the soft spikes of his hair down. He watched from the protected corner of his workspace, two monitors hiding his face as he spied on the other man reading or playing video games or sketching. He would lose his train of thought as he was matching silks for his costumes because a color would remind him of Ichigo, and at night? At night his dreams were haunted by aches that he hadn’t allowed himself to feel for decades.

“You know I have clients scheduled right up until five, Kurosaki-kun.” Gin couldn’t help but laugh at the pout that flitted across Ichigo’s face.

“Well, then, just promise that you’ll meet me for dinner as soon as your last appointment is finished. You don’t have to break down the studio until tomorrow. Classes have been over for six weeks and I still haven’t gotten to really celebrate having survived another year.”

Gin gave him a snake-sharp smile. “I see. Since that’s the case, I suppose I can make time. It isn’t safe to let you loose unsupervised. You’re like an unsupervised toddler… someone will give you a puppy and an espresso and then we’ll all be doomed.”

Ichigo laughed. “I’d point out that you’re the one that’s good at wrangling toddlers, but I don’t want to be wrangled. Although, if you followed me around like a puppy, I probably wouldn’t complain.”

Gin’s heart was imitating a taiko from the twilight kumidaiko performances, slowly ramping up to a ferocious pace before dropping off and then starting up again without warning.

Ichigo was dressed in black trousers and a long black jacket that looked surprisingly like his bankai robes and Gin had been caught staring more than once. It must have been welcome, because the redhead’s usual awkwardness in the face of that kind of attention had turned into a terribly attractive swagger of confidence that Gin wanted to inspire in him again and again.

He was so attractive, and not just physically. It was as if a gravitational field surrounded him, that pulled people towards him, and Gin longed to stop fighting and let it pull him closer and closer until there was no space left between them, to let the whirlpool that was Ichigo Kurosaki suck him under, surround him, and drown him.

“Is this a special occasion?” he asked, his voice light and still teasing. Ichigo paused and then nodded once, slowly.

“Sort of.” He didn’t explain, but his face was pink, and Gin didn’t think it was from the cold.

“In that case, how can I say no?” He bowed, an almost snarky thing from the waist, and Ichigo smiled. “Where shall I meet you?”

Ichigo looked like he’d won a prize and Gin was afraid that his face was turning pink as well. He hadn’t blushed like a schoolboy even when he’d been a schoolboy.

The things this man did to him.

“Seven, sharp. At the izakaya row. We’ll start there and see where the evening takes us.”

“Seven it is, then.” Gin watched Ichigo scoot away, obviously following plans that only he knew, and turned and headed into the studio, a spring in his step and a smile on his face.

Tonight, he would tell Ichigo how he felt, and if he was right, he wouldn’t be alone in his feelings.

***

Ichigo was walking on air.

Gin had finally agreed to go out with him, a night on the town… or at least on the festival. The izakaya alley would be a start with something to eat and then they’d get hot shochu and wander down to the light tunnel and look at all the displays.

He knew he hadn’t been imagining the looks being sent his way, and he certainly wasn’t imagining how those looks set his pulse racing. It was more nerve-wracking than battle in some ways; he wasn’t inexperienced, but he’d never felt anything like this.

Which is why he called in reinforcements.

“I want it to be perfect, Ran.”

Ichigo appreciated the older woman’s willingness to help, but he was worried that she was going to turn it into a side-show. She wasn’t exactly known for her tact.

“Are you sure about this, Ichigo?” She’d been waiting for him, slowly—or not so slowly—making her way through a bottle of something alcoholic, and the wobble in her voice indicated that things were likely to get a little emotional. She was Gin’s only family, though, and if Gin could run the gauntlet at the Casa Kurosaki, he could deal with a sauced sister.

“I’ve never been more sure, Ran.” The words came easily, and Ichigo was almost surprised by the depth of truth in them. “Watching Gin get comfortable in his own skin over the past year has been amazing. Getting to see him puff out his chest and posture with tiny samurai or soothe a tiny tearful geiko? I can’t even begin to explain how it makes me feel. I have to give this a try.”

Ran looked at him seriously, her gaze taking his flushed face and shining eyes. “And if he doesn’t feel the same? I’ll be honest, Ichigo. I can’t remember the last time he let anybody close enough to do more than have a quick tumble. Kira moped after him for decades, you know.”

Ichigo swallowed hard. “Yeah, I know. If he doesn’t feel the same way, it’ll be rough for a while. But I’ll be graduating next year, and I can find another apartment. He’s doing well enough that he can hire an assistant if he needs the extra help, so he won’t have to deal with me at all if he doesn’t want to. I’m not going to take my disappointment out on him, if that’s what you’re worried about. That wouldn’t be fair.”

Ran shook her head. “Every time you open your mouth you either make me think you’re stupid or you’re perfect.”

Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck. “Which is it this time?”

Ran leaned forward and put her arms around him, embracing him tightly and planting a kiss on his cheek. “Right now, I’d say you’re pretty damn perfect, Ichigo Kurosaki.”

They stood like that with the crowd parting around them, and Ichigo laughed, wrapping his arms around her as well.

“You really think it might work?” He looked down at her and grinned as she nodded.

“He’s smart enough to know a good thing when he sees it, and you are definitely good for him.”

Ichigo couldn’t hold his happiness in and swung her around like his would one of the twins, his heart filled with anticipation.

“Thank you Ran,” he said, setting her back on her feet, “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support in this.”

Rangiku punched him in the shoulder and stepped back. “Don’t get too comfortable. If you screw up, I’m still going to tell your dad. And Renji. And Rukia. Believe me, I’ve thought this through.”

Ichigo grinned. “You wouldn’t be Gin’s sister if you hadn’t.”

***

The irony settled on him like a weighted blanket. His last appointment had cancelled—the child had come down with a cold—and Gin had been so excited to get to Ichigo early. He’d changed clothes—Ichigo had once seen him in a traditional kimono and had been enthusiastic in his praise, and whether it was just because it was a fine outfit or whether he thought it particularly attractive on Gin, he thought it would be a nice surprise since Ichigo had gone to such pains to dress up as well.

He’d chosen a gray silk montsuki and black hakama, something close to his shihakusho, and if he found comfort in it, then no one else needed to know.

The comfort hadn’t lasted.

He walked out of the festival grounds, just picking a direction and going. He didn’t know where he was headed, he just needed to get away. Clouds had moved in and the wind had picked up and the chill nipped at his skin. He barely noticed it.

The snow crunched under his feet. It was strange to make so much sound—his gigai made more noise than his reiatsu-silenced steps ever did—but everything was strange in the human world.

It was cold. His fingers were trembling and blue. He couldn’t feel them.

He couldn’t feel anything.

That wasn’t true. He felt pain. Pain that he hadn’t felt since he died in Ran’s arms, her scalding tears hot on his face. His blood hot as it gushed around her fingers.

That pain was icy now.

He forced one foot in front of the other, following the path carved into the snow by hundreds of other people. The sounds of the festival surrounded him, but they seemed distant. Muffled.

The only thing he could hear was Ichigo’s laugh. It echoed through his memory, clear and warm and everything he’d ever wanted to hear and nothing he ever wanted to hear again. It hurt too much when he was laughing for someone else.

Laughing for her. With her.

He hadn’t meant to spy—honestly—he’d left the studio early hoping to pick up two of the ridiculous hot chocolates that Ichigo had become so fond of as a surprise. He thought…. Well, it didn’t matter what he thought.

But Ran?

It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand someone loving her—he’d loved her forever—but… Ran? She was everything Ichigo rolled his eyes at in his sisters, all the over-the-top emotions and the talking and the teasing and the laughing.

Oh my God, the laughing.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed. No, that wasn’t true either. He’d laughed over dinner when they hadn’t ordered enough takoyaki and he’d managed to distract Ichigo long enough that he stole the redhead’s out from under his nose without him noticing. He’d laughed at Ichigo’s ridiculous Chappy pajamas—a gift from Rukia—when he’d run out of clean laundry. He’d laughed at the frown on Ichigo’s face when he realized that Gin had taken a picture of him cooing over Orihime’s new pet rabbit.

He supposed it was only fair that Ichigo would prefer the company of someone that could make him laugh, too.

His shuddering exhale surrounded his head in a cloud of fog.

It made sense in other ways. Ran asking for his help would explain why Ichigo’d invested so much time and effort in getting Gin on his feet. Helped him adjust to the human world. Certainly made more sense than him wanting to do it for Gin. They barely knew each other, and what they did know… well, it wouldn’t inspire kindness.

The weight of his thoughts dragged at him, just as the wet fabric of his hakama were dragging at him. His zori were soaked, tabi ruined in the snow, and he was cold. So cold.

And tired.

Maybe if he sat down and rested, just for a few minutes, he would be able to think of something else. Figure out what to do next. Right now, though, he just needed to rest. He just needed to close his eyes and pray he’d stop seeing the only two people he’d ever loved laughing together.

Without him.

***

Ran was crying again.

She was always crying around him.

“Stupid. Stupid. Never thought I’d be so happy that Urahara was a paranoid mad scientist. Never would have found you without the gigai’s tracking signal. Stupid. What were you thinking? Were you thinking? If you didn’t want to date the boy you didn’t have to do something this drastic, and this was drastic even for you.”

The words ran together, like water over stones.

“Kurosaki thinks you hate him. That somehow he pushed you to this. But I know you don’t hate him. I know you don’t hate him. Maybe you hate yourself. Maybe you hate being banished to the human world. But you don’t hate him.”

The only person Gin hated was Aizen, and he was out of the picture, so she was right. He didn’t hate Ichigo. Could never hate him.

“I swear, if you don’t die from reishi loss, I’m going to kill you. Isshin is going to kill you. Gods, that little almost spiritless one, the one with the red hair like Kurosaki? I think she was planning on chopping you up into stew before she remembered this body was just a gigai.”

Yuzu was going to turn him into stew? Why would Yuzu be angry with him? He didn’t do anything.

“He isn’t eating. He isn’t sleeping. All he does is stare at the wall like a zombie. You’ve been unconscious for three days, Gin. Three days. You’ve got to wake up. You’ve just got to wake up.”

A warm hand rested over his. He could feel the too smooth skin of a gigai, no sword callouses on her fingers. So, Urahara was keeping busy. Maybe Ran could keep this one so she could stay in the human world with Ichigo.

“I just got you back; I can’t lose you again, Gin. And Kurosaki,” she sucked in a shuddery breath, “I don’t know what he’s going to do. I just don’t know. He loves you so damn much. I think he might love you more than I do. So why? Why did you do this to him? To us? Why didn’t you just tell him no?”

She was crying again, her hands grasping his hard.

He loves you so damn much. Gin replayed her words, and something lurched in his chest. What did that mean? What did she mean? He forced himself up through the layers of exhaustion and weakness, swimming up through the waves that slapped at his consciousness.

“He loves you.” The words were broken glass in his throat, dry and sharp and everything he never wanted to say, but he got them out. “I saw the two of you at the festival. Laughing.”

His eyes wouldn’t open. Apparently Urahara’s gigais had a built-in sense of self-preservation. He knew he’d never survive looking at her face as he admitted what he knew.

A gasp and choking sound caught somewhere in her throat, whether in shock at his having regained consciousness or at what his first words were.

Then the rant began in earnest.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You unbelievable idiot!” Ran leaned over the bed and slapped his face, once, then twice, until finally Gin forced his eyes open a slit to see her tear-streaked, furious, face. “You mean to tell me that all of this, this hell, is because you saw me laughing with Kurosaki?”

Gin turned his face away, unable or unwilling to continue the conversation. Reishi loss or not, he could still feel the pain simmering under his skin and Ran clearly didn’t understand.

“Gin,” Something of his pained expression must have registered. Ran started, stopped and then started again, her voice wavering between tears and angry laughter. “Dear, stupid Gin. He was asking for my blessing. As your family. He wanted…” a hot tear dripped on his chin as she hovered over him, “he wanted everything to be perfect for you, and that meant making sure that I approved. Of him. For you.” The last words were practically spat out and he finally looked at her. “What you saw was him incandescently happy because he loved you, you utter, utter fool.”

Time stopped and Gin’s brain kicked in running through everything Ran had said since he’s first regained consciousness.

Oh no…

“Where is he?” the words shook, along with every cell in his borrowed body as he tried to push himself up. “I need to speak to him. To explain.”

If the pain of seeing him happy with Ran was excruciating, knowing that something he’d done had made him so miserable was infinitely worse.

And Ran… he tried to raise his hand to her face but still didn’t have enough reishi reserves to operate the gigai fully, so he squeezed her hand where it rested on the bed instead.

“Oh Rangiku, I am so sorry. I can’t seem to stop hurting you.”

Ran leaned in and pressed their foreheads together, her breathing not yet steady but getting there.

“I hadn’t noticed,” she said, a few final tears meandering down her cheeks. “I’m too busy being happy to have my brother back.”

Gin marveled at her forgiveness and swore to himself again that he would do his damnedest to save her from this kind of pain in the future.

“Now,” Ran said, perching on the side of his bed, still holding his hand. “How are we going to fix this, because I’m not letting Isshin kick your ass. I have my family honor to protect.”

Gin didn’t know. A hundred years with Aizen had done a lot for his ability to manipulate people, but it sure as hell hadn’t taught him how to grovel, and he was afraid there was a lot of groveling in his future.

If it worked, though, it would be worth it. His pride was nothing compared to Ichigo.

***

Ichigo jumped a little as the alarm buzzed in his pocket. It looked like one of those coasters the restaurant hostess gave you while you were waiting for a table to open, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Kisuke had liberated a few and repurposed them to run on reishi rather than reinvent the wheel. It didn’t matter, though. Kisuke could steal all the gadgets in Tokyo and Ichigo wouldn’t care as long as he let Ichigo keep this one.

This one was telling him that Gin was awake.

He let himself slump against the basement wall, the muscles in his legs refusing to hold him up. Gin was awake, the gigai was functional, the worst hadn’t happened. Gin was awake.

It had been a nightmarish couple of days, and he knew people were worried about him. His dad threatened to tie him down to one of the beds in the clinic and hook him up to an IV if he didn’t at least drink some tea and eat the power bar he thrust in his face. Ichigo had, but only because it was easier than fighting. After that, the girls had hugged him and Tessai had checked on him like clockwork, and even Jinta, the little punk, had hovered in the background in case he wanted something.

They figured it out soon enough: all he wanted was Gin.

For twenty-four hours he’d been glued to the bed upstairs, watching for any sign of consciousness—a finger twitch, a breath, anything—but unlike a healing body a gigai was essentially corpse-like in its stillness. Gin’s pale skin was faded to gray, his hair limp and stuck to his head where it had been soaked with snowmelt and dried haphazardly.

He was a gruesome wax doll laid on a bier, a horrible half-ghost waiting to float away, and somehow… somehow, he was still beautiful. The quiet buzz of Gin’s reiatsu echoed through the room, the only thing that mattered, because as long as Ichigo could feel that, there was hope.

The training ground was dark and quiet except for the new buzzing in his hand. He’d taken over the basement on day two, at first determined to stay there until the moment Gin waked up, but he became more hesitant as the silent room loomed and questions ate at his mind.

He still didn’t understand what happened—why Gin had wandered out into the storm instead of meeting him as they’d arranged, and he was struggling with the aftermath.

It had taken him hours to realize Gin wasn’t just late he was missing, and then hours more to find him, finally having Kisuke activate Gin’s gigai’s tracker. When he finally found him, Gin was past shivering, so cold that his body had given up trying to warm itself, and Ichigo could vividly remember the bird-bone weight of him under yards of sodden silk as he scooped him into his arms. It was not the way he’d daydreamed of holding him at all, all the joy leached out of it, and he ripped open a garganta straight to the shōten and Kisuke’s labs, turning his precious cargo over to his mad scientist best friend.

Ichigo sighed and levered himself to his feet, shoving the alarm back into his pocket. It was time. Kisuke had pointed out that Gin might not be up to facing everyone when he woke, and Ichigo was quick enough on the uptake to hear the unspoken you in that message, but it didn’t matter. If Gin was there, then Ichigo would be there, too.

Being Kurosaki Ichigo came with a lot of baggage, not the least of which was people thinking they understood him, but only three or four actually knew that underneath all the shiny hero stuff he was incredibly selfish. He fought for who he loved and what he wanted and what he believed, and if someone else didn’t like it, then screw them. Whether Gin ever shared his feelings was immaterial. The truth was that Gin was his, and he would do whatever he had to to keep it that way. If that meant keeping his feelings to himself, he could do that. If it meant giving the other man space, fine. He’d stand back and watch and wait when he had to, chase and cheat when he could, and if after all of it Gin never came to feel the same way, well, Ichigo would just stay. He’d be a friend. Assist in the studio. Find Gin someone else that he could love and hold and grow old with because he’d been alone too long, and he deserved something more, and because loving someone was just that simple.

But, if Gin ever did something self-destructive like this again, he’d lock him in a room and throw away the key, because loving someone was simple, but losing them was hard, and he couldn’t do that again.

***

Gin shrugged into the clothes Urahara had brought him, grateful for the soft workout pants and the extra pair of socks, but his lip twisted at the yellow hoodie on the top of the pile. It wasn’t his first choice of style, but he was freezing, and the extra layer made sense. After all the trouble he’d put the man to over the past few days, the last thing he was going to do was complain about the color of his generosity.

It was a pity that the silk kimono had been another casualty of his breakdown. He’d daydreamed about the look on Ichigo’s face when he saw it for the first time, fantasized about the temptation that the layers would present to him, but now he could only imagine what kind of memory it would drag along with it. Maybe he would get the chance to try again someday.

Ran had left soon after Gin’s awakening, clearing out so that Urahara could run his diagnostics and he’d only left after he’d satisfied himself that there was no more leaking from Gin’s spirit body. He explained that he’d had to remove the reiatsu limiter from the gigai during his healing because it was interfering with his reishi levels returning to normal and it would feel strange after all the time he’d spent in the other, muffled state.

He was right, but it was a good strange. It was almost like having eyes again after having been blind. Urahara and Tsukabishi kept their reiatsu tamped down tightly, but he could feel the sunburst of power that was Ichigo, at first tucked away in the basement where he’d apparently been for the past two days, but now clearly moving in his direction.

Gin pressed his shaking hands against the soft cotton covering his legs. Hiding wasn’t an option; he wasn’t going to be a coward and run away again. He just didn’t want to see the hurt that he knew he’d caused.

There was a soft knock at the door sooner than he’d expected. Ichigo must want to get their meeting over with as well.

“Come in, Kurosaki-kun,” he answered, his voice thankfully steady.

The door slid open and the sheer power that flooded the room was overwhelming. Ichigo had always had that power, but seeing him like this, without the veil over him, was breath-taking.

The redhead, though, looked almost as stunned by what he saw, awkwardly standing frozen in the doorway.

“I’m sorry.” Gin got right to the groveling. “Kurosaki-kun… Ichigo-kun… I am so sorry.”

He watched Ichigo’s face closely, watched the amber eyes widen and the lips part on a breathy intake.

“I’m just glad you’re alright.” His voice was hoarse, and his eyes took Gin in from his bedhead to his long, narrow rabbit-feet. It didn’t look like he was angry, but he didn’t know everything yet. Angry was still a definite possibility.

“I’m afraid there isn’t anywhere to sit except the bed,” he waved behind him, wishing he’d taken the time to straighten out the messy bedding, but it was too late for that now. “I’d like to explain. Or to try. If you wouldn’t mind.” He felt the muscles of his face try to smile, but there was nothing happy about it.

Ichigo was still just standing there, staring.

“Do I have something on my face?” Gin asked. The words fell a little flat, but he didn’t know what else to say. Ichigo shook his head and brought himself back to something a little more normal.

“No, it’s just that that hoodie is…”

Gin snorted a little laugh. “I know. Not the most attractive thing, but Urahara was gracious enough to loan it to me since my own clothes… well, at least these were warm and dry.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Ichigo shook his head again, but this time with more intent. “I was just going to say that it was mine. I must’ve left it here the last time I stayed.” He swallowed and Gin watched his throat work, a faint hint of red dusting his cheekbones. “It looks good on you.”

Ichigo’s sweatshirt. He was wearing Ichigo’s sweatshirt. That was why Urahara was grinning behind his fan as he left the clothes. The man was a menace.

“I didn’t know,” he said, halfway through an apologetic little bow before Ichigo could step forward, a hand outstretched.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind. I like it on you. It…” a battle of thoughts was happening behind those eyes and Gin forced himself stand perfectly still so he didn’t startle the younger man into pulling his hand back, finally breathing again when whatever process Ichigo was working through was finished. He met Gin’s gaze, unblinking. “It makes you look like you’re mine.”

Like you’re mine. The world tilted and suddenly Ichigo’s arms were around him, guiding him back to the bed and settling him on the edge before he could end up in a pile on the floor.

“Take it easy,” he said, chafing Gin’s freezing hands between his warm ones. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Shit. And after pushing you so hard…”

Ichigo’s voice was rough with suppressed emotion, but his hands were incredibly gentle, and Gin couldn’t believe that this was happening.

“Did you talk to Ran?” It was a cheap way to start, hoping that Ran had already shared his shame, so he didn’t have to break that ground fresh.

“Matsumoto? No. Kisuke said something about her having to go back to Soul Society. I think Kyōraku wanted an update or something since she’d been here so long without an assignment.”

“Oh, okay.” Gin had known she had to go back, just as he now knew it was up to him to explain. “I just didn’t want to waste your time on things you already knew.”

Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck with a rueful sound. “Yeah. It’s probably safe to assume I don’t know anything. What happened? I thought…” he stared at Gin and there was a flash of heartbreak in his eyes that Gin would have given years of his life to erase.

“Please,” Gin gripped Ichigo’s hand in his lap, refusing to let it go, leaning forward to almost touch their temples together, “just let me explain. I screwed up—monumentally, according to Ran—not you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Ichigo turned his hand palm up, leaving it in Gin’s grip. “Okay. If you say so, I’ll believe you, but something happened, and I’d really like to understand so it doesn’t happen again.”

Gin sucked in a deep breath and tried to slow his heart. He didn’t deserve this much understanding, but Gods he was greedy enough to want it.

“You know me. I’ve never let people close. Ran-chan is the only person I’ve ever cared about. I’m not… temperate in my love. You saw what I did in the name of protecting her. Saw what I became.”

Ichigo nodded but didn’t interrupt, a sad look on his face.

“I don’t know if you realize what it was like for me, following Aizen for so long. I didn’t have friends. I didn’t have relationships. Sex wasn’t common and when it did happen it didn’t mean anything. I didn’t see anyone more than once or twice, and I was okay with that. I didn’t have the room or the resources or the time to actually care about someone.”

He paused and tried to straighten out the tangle of his thoughts. “It wasn’t until the fight with Aizen was over and my wounds had healed that I even began to feel like I had a soul again, and then I was sent to the human world where everyone’s emotions are so close to the surface all the time that you can practically see them. It was like having all my skin rubbed raw, I was feeling again, and I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t know how. I certainly didn’t know what to do with you.”

Ichigo made a noise. “What do you mean you didn’t know what to do with me? You never seemed to have a problem with me.”

“I didn’t have a problem with you, you just weren’t what I expected. Do you know how strange it was to deal with someone like you after a hundred years of Aizen? I watched everything you did for hidden meanings and agendas but every single time you were just exactly what you promised. No lies. No manipulation. No long game.”

The redhead snorted. “Yeah. Kisuke told me once I had all the cunning of a golden retriever, and that he was lucky that I was almost as trainable.”

It was true enough to be funny and they shared a laugh.

“After a while I stopped searching for subtext and just started accepting you at face value. You were the only person I’d trusted in a hundred years, kind and smart and for some reason you valued me. I never had a chance. I fell. Hard.”

Ichigo made a sound deep in his throat, something that sounded wounded and hopeful and confused, and Gin couldn’t look at him or he’d never get the next part of the story out.

“At first I didn’t believe that you could feel the same way. No one would or could. Self-loathing isn’t a pretty thing, and I stewed in it. I told myself I was happy with what I had—not many people could count themselves on the short list of people you’d go to war for, and I was so grateful that you’d put me on that list but it wasn’t enough. I wanted more.”

Ichigo raised his free hand to rest on the back of Gin’s neck, the warm weight of it grounding and comforting, and the blond sighed.

“Then things started to change. You started touching me more, smiling at me more, and I couldn’t believe my good fortune. You seemed interested in something more than just being friends, but I still didn’t trust that something like that could ever happen for me. I started to doubt almost as much as I hoped, and then you asked me to meet you at the festival and I told myself that if you did feel like I did, then every moment I put off telling you was a moment lost, so I—how did your Shakespeare put it?—screwed my courage to the sticking point and told myself that it was time to put myself out there and let you decide what you wanted, and I would take whatever you were willing to give me.”

“At the Festival?” Ichigo asked, and Gin nodded.

“It seemed like you had the same idea, so I dressed in my finest, wanting to offer you the best version of myself, and I left the studio early hoping to find you so I could spend every moment I could with you. And then, when I finally found you, you had your arms wrapped around another. Laughing. Allowing her to kiss you.”

Ichigo sat bolt upright and hissed out, “You saw me with Matsumoto.”

Gin nodded, curling in a little on himself with the pain of the memory. “It made a twisted kind of sense. Your family teased you about her, and she visited you often when she didn’t even come to see me. If you cared for her and she’d asked for you to help me, to take me under your wing, it is exactly the kind of thing you’d agree to. You’d go to any lengths for someone you loved, even rehabilitate a villain. And you looked so happy.” He couldn’t keep the wistful tone out of his voice. “It’s ironic that even while I felt like my world was falling apart, I couldn’t begrudge you your happiness. I just couldn’t stay and watch it. So, I left. I didn’t make a conscious decision, I just turned in the opposite direction and started walking. I didn’t stop until my gigai stopped me.”

And that was it. He’d laid it all out, and now it was up to Ichigo.

God, he was tired.

“I didn’t ever intend this.” He waved haphazardly at the room and the mess that his collapse had caused. “And I cannot begin t’ apologize enough for any hurt I caused you.”

Ichigo pulled him forward, hand tight on the back of his neck, and Gin could feel a tremble as it passed through his body. They sat like that in silence, heads together for a long time before Ichigo spoke.

“So, you don’t hate me?” The words were a whisper between them, insecure but hopeful. Gin whispered back. “I could never. I love you; I’ve loved you forever.”

Ichigo pulled back a little, his eyes huge and dark, searching Gin’s face for something he apparently found because he nodded once and leaned a fraction closer. “Good. I love you, too. I’m going to kiss you now.”

***

Gin’s lips were thin and dry, frozen still under his, shocked into immobility but not pulling away. Ichigo pulled back and their breath mingled hot between them, panting as if they’d shunpo’d the breadth of Seireitei.

“Wanted this for so long,” he murmured, leaning in to nip along the edge of Gin’s lower lip, “was so afraid I’d lost you.”

Something in that sparked movement and long fingers suddenly cupped his chin, tilting his head so that Gin could lean back in and slot their mouths together. It was sweetness and heat, lighting up all of Ichigo’s nerves, everything more intense than a simple brush of lips should be.

Gin was the one that pulled back then, fingers sliding up to hold Ichigo’s head where he wanted it, pressing their foreheads together again as they caught their breath.

“God, you’re gorgeous. Can’t believe you’re mine.” Gin’s accent is thicker, his pupils huge, the aquamarine nothing but a gossamer rim, and Ichigo has never seen anything so beautiful. “You’re stuck with me now. Never going t’ let you go.”

The possessiveness of the words sent a shiver through him and Ichigo slid his hands over Gin’s narrow hips, ghosting them along his long, lean flanks. He was thin, but it was all whipcord strength and sinew. Ichigo couldn’t wait until he had time to explore the sharp planes of his body, to dig his thumbs into the bony ridge of Gin’s hipbones, to kiss the dip between the wings of his shoulder blades. Those things would come soon enough, though. For now, with his arms around this man, he had everything he could ask for.

He leaned into his future, breathing hot against Gin’s cheek, recognizing his words for the promise that they were. He would always be there, Ichigo belonging to him as much as Gin belonged to Ichigo. He’d follow Ichigo into the depths of Hell if he had to to pull him back home, because that was what this was. What they were together.

He settled his arms around Gin’s waist, his embrace tight and insistent. “Why would I ever want to leave?” He pressed their lips together again, heart stuttering at how perfect it felt, before pulling back and smiling the way that only Gin could make him smile. “You’re my home.”

#ginichi winterfest 2020 #ginichi #gin ichimaru #ichigo kurosaki #ANGST AND FLUFF #also on ao3 #feelingfredly #panic attack/accidental self-harm #if that's a problem #be good to yourself #bleach

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windstormwielding · 4 years

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@hanabiira said via Send in “kabedon” to pin my muse against the wall (accepting!):

kabedon lmao

He really didn’t want to point it out. He really, really didn’t want to point it out before, but Captain Fuyuno did not come across as threatening to him, not in the least. Her stature as one of the Gotei 13′s Captains did give her an edge in the intimidation factor, certainly—the same would apply to any Captain when they whirl around and pin you to the wall.

However... her actual physical stature, her typically sunny disposition, and witnessing her moments of weakness when geese were in the picture only bogged down her actual threat level, and no amount of wall slams would change that—even if he did see Enjōji get torn a new one the other day. Still, Miki seemed upset about something, given the frown and furrowed brow wrinkling her face, so Kōtarō opted to play along instead of running off. He had time to kill after the Lieutenants’ meetings wrapped up.

“Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis... something the matter, Fuyuno-taichō?”

#hanabiira #{ ...what did shigeru do this time- }#{ a badge of honour ☁ verse ☁ }#{ whispers in the wind ☁ replies ☁ }

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missstormcaller · 6 years

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CAN’T FEAR YOUR OWN WORLD Vol. II Part 9 Full Translation

This is the second half of part 10 on the app

Chapter 10

Karakura is by no means a desolate countryside town.

Located on the outskirts of Tokyo's urban area, it is a relatively populous town with a network of railroads passing through the heart of the city.

Supporting a population exceeding one hundred thousand, a general hospital classed as one of the largest even among neighbouring towns, is situated beside Karakura Honchō Station.

Therefore, the station is both used by people living within and without the town with many people travelling in and out of it. In order to protect the town from Aizen's clutches, the Shinigami once used a trick to transfer it along with all 100,000 people to Soul Society, regarding that effort, it was unfathomable even to many Shinigami let alone an ordinary person. Entering and exiting by means of train or traffic was completely blocked for a temporary amount of time, things like electric power, water and sewer services of the surrounding area were also handled so that no abnormalities would occur, furthermore memory manipulation was carried out on a large number of residents living adjacent to Karakura Town, it was one large-scale operation conducted by an entire force of technicians among the Shinigami. As a result, the Shinigami made a success of their astounding foul play technique to deceive the world whilst isolating Karakura Town in a twofold sense. Although this gave rise to victims in the end, the Seireitei managed to keep that number at a bare minimum considering the goals of Aizen and the Arrancar. And now, Karakura Town was isolated from the world once more. The objectives of the people responsible for the isolation, is unclear. If the thing which one might call 'the walls of the dimension separating reality from virtual reality' existed in physical form, then perhaps 'it' causes one to feel as if that was indeed the case —— in accordance with this obscure curtain that intermingled with static noise, it could not even be identified through the eyes of an ordinary human. However, maybe it could have been described as a moderate isolation. The trains never came to a stop. Neither did the vehicles that would normally come and go through the borders of town, and the same could be said of the pedestrians too. The birds in the sky fluttered past one another, the flow of the river also advanced smoothly. Another ordinary day. But the town was unmistakably isolated. "The heck? My TV stopped receiving broadcasts?" "Hello, hello? Guess I got cut-off…" "I'm not getting any reception." -- "Neither am I!" "These e-mails for work, they've got me beat…" "Are you kidding me, I actually lost connection just when I was about to win!" Voices such as these could be heard scattered all throughout Karakura Town. Various telecommunications equipment and transceivers of radio waves connecting to the outside of town stopped working, it was no longer possible to make any electronic contact whatsoever with the outside world. Nonetheless, it was a matter that lasted only a brief few minutes. The telecast signals were restored first of all, other functions subsequently returned in an ordered fashion from radio stations, to landlines, wireless connections, the internet and then cell phones. Whilst tilting their heads in puzzlement, everybody came to accept it in their own way believing that it was "probably caused by a power outage at the relevant facilities" and then returned to their daily lives. What they remained oblivious to, is the fact that during those brief few minutes, all communication devices present within the town which easily exceeds one hundred thousand, had also been 'tagged'. And some communication devices that were sorted through those 'tags', failed to recover their communication functions even after the few minutes had passed.

"Huh… that's strange…" At Ururu's words, Jinta replies wearing a look of agony. "What are you talking about? The only thing that seems strange right now is my condition!" Whilst disregarding the noise coming out of Jinta who was forced to carry half of the 500kg worth of an infinite number of super-balls on his back alone, Ururu posed a question to Tessai who was walking beside her. "Tessai san, my cell phone, it's become unusable…" "Heh, if you're just going to be looking at porn sites anyway then it might as well be broken, whoa- hyahaha!? Stop, wait, damn you! Don't tickle me when I'm in this state!" Away from Jinta whose quivering knees were about to give way, Tessai responds to the words of Ururu. "Hrmm? Could it be some kind of electromagnetic interference?" In contrast to Jinta who was propping up a bag weighing around 250kg on his back, Tessai effortlessly lifted the remaining baggage with one arm. With the hand that was not currently occupied he took out his own cell phone and confirmed the status of its reception. "…It's true, my phone doesn't seem to be working either." However, after executing several operations from there, Tessai knit his eyebrows together in unease. "This… doesn't seem like any ordinary electromagnetic interference. And I sense a fluctuation of strange Reiatsu too… let's return to the shop quickly."

"From here onwards it's all Karakura Town… but I wonder what this is all about?" At the border of a town which sits on the west side of Karakura. A young Shinigami who is in charge of said neighbouring town had finally arrived at that spot. "Considering the fact that an urgent transmission had come from Seireitei… could this be the doing of a Hollow? Or even a Quincy…?" Confronted with a curious barrier, he spontaneously whispered to himself.

A hologram-like curtain being projected in mid-air, is completely covering the entirety of town whilst emitting static noise. Despite this, cars, pedestrians and even the trains on top of that, stormed into the curtain and passed through it as if nothing had happened, was it not visible to them? "Okay then, to hell with it!" Although there was a moment of hesitation, the Shinigami who was a man of action made his steps towards the curtain as it currently stood. And then —— "…Oof? What, was I just able to pass through normal-…" In the midst of speaking, he noticed that there was another shinigami before his eyes. "Who are you? Aren't the guys in charge of Karakura supposed to be a young male and female duo?" At the query, a Shinigami with the appearance of a man in the prime of his life sporting grey streaked hair, in turn, posed a question of his own to the young Shinigami. "I'm in charge of Kagamino City further east from here. And I'd like to ask you the same thing. Just now, you came out from Karakura Town, regarding the current situation on the inside, what's happening?" "What are you talking about…?" It was at this point the young Shinigami noticed an abnormality. The scenery around him, was completely different to the one he saw before passing through the curtain. "Where is this place…? Where is the railway station?" "This place is at the east side of Karakura Town. The railway station you speak of, you mean Karakura Honchō Station right?… By some chance, could it be that you… were at the west side of the town just now?" Then, he realised. The curtain performed different actions towards Shinigami and ordinary humans. At the same time, he was concerned about the safety of the Shinigami on the inside. "Are they going to be okay…? I don't expect the Shinigami in charge of Karakura Town are that strong…" "In any case, I'll be reporting upwards.… Don't worry about it, Kurosaki Ichigo, former captain Isshin and former captain Urahara in addition to that are all present in Karakura Town. That guy will likely demonstrate some kind of breakthrough solution." They were oblivious. Oblivious to the fact that both Kurosaki Ichigo and Kurosaki Isshin were currently not in town. As well as the fact that instead, it was one among the vice captains who doesn't quite match Kurosaki Ichigo and Isshin as a fighting power, that happens to be visiting.

Urahara Shōten

"Yukio Hans Vorarlberna…" Hisagi was perplexed by that lengthy name for an instant, but it was a proper noun he had certainly heard of before when he went around collecting information on Kurosaki Ichigo. At the same time he recalls that this is a name that had entered his ears only recently. —— "That's because we travelled there directly through Yukio and Riruka's abilities. I guess our side was running a fair amount of risk in our own way too huh?" "…! Ginjō's comrade!?" "…You could say that. So then, who might you be? Though frankly, I have no business with anyone other than Urahara san." In response to the question posed by the young boy who spoke in a dispassionate tone through the airborne monitor, Hisagi replies whilst clenching his fists tightly. "I'm the Gotei 13's Squad 9 vice captain Hisa—— ” "Oh, never mind. I doubt there's any point in even remembering it." "Arrgh!? What's your deal jerk!? Have a little more patience to at least hear the rest! This is the goddamn opposite of what happened with that guy Ganju!" (TN -- as a reminder, back in volume 1 during their first encounter, Ganju could only remember half of Hisagi's name "[…] you’re the vice captain of some squad… vice captain…Hi…Hisa…" except here the roles are sort of reversed with Hisagi only able to say half his own name.) Paying no heed to Hisagi who had worked himself into a frenzy, Yukio turned to Urahara and began to address him. "It's been half a year since I last saw you it seems, I want you to come along with me for a little while." "Oh my, I would have come out to meet you if you had given me a phone call in advance you know? But I get the picture more or less." "Oh…?" In contrast to Yukio who narrowed his eyes, Hisagi's eyes widened in surprise as he raised a question. "Is it true Urahara san? You have some idea of whatever the heck this guy's objectives may be…?" Thereupon Urahara closed his fan with a snap whilst smiling fearlessly. "With gaming ventures as its cornerstone, the president of 'Y. Hans Enterprise' which has achieved rapid growth at the heart of the entertainment industry, will only have one firm request of me." All of a sudden the fan which had just been closed, flew open with a loud thwack as Urahara made his assertion. "Just say it! You want to poach me away to your own company don't you?" "…Whaa?" "……" Hisagi wore a bewildered look as if to indicate that he wasn't sure how he should respond, Yukio's face was completely devoid of expression.

Unfazed by the stance of the other two, Urahara brazenly continued. "Oh no, perhaps I should say you have a discerning eye, as someone who continues to develop new products for a small-time candy store, I personally think it's about time to get noticed by big companies. Having said that, if you think I'm a man that can be swayed by money then that's disconcerting you know? If you want to buy my Shitamachi* craftsmanship, then I would hope you'd answer with sincerity rather than money. More specifically, how about a 7% stake in your company?" (*TN -- a concept that refers to "old town Tokyo" where minor vendors and artisans can be found, Shitamachi culture is in keeping with traditional methods and is deemed more authentic/reliable. It is therefore in opposition to mass-production and modernised techniques.) "Isn't that still asking for money in the end!? What is up with that dramatic 7% figure!? Or rather, how is Karakura Town Shitamachi!? Also a small-time candy store doesn't have any particular need to develop its own merchandise in the first place does it!?" "…Hisagi san, you genuinely retort with such civility. Perhaps Vorarlberna san should also follow your example?" In response to Urahara who said as much without the slightest hint of shame, Yukio was neither surprised nor offended, but merely spoke his own opinions with an unconcerned air. "As frightening as ever, with regard to you that is. You're the type I'd least like to encounter in a player versus player game." "What's the matter? To hear this all of a sudden." "While you were spouting irrelevant jokes, just now, you were observing every reaction on my side weren't you? Your manipulative tactics had already begun with your jokes that looked down on the person in question didn't it?" "You overestimate me. Do I look like that kind of scoundrel?" Urahara gave a strained laugh as he veiled himself deeply with his hat, and from under the brim of that hat, with a daring gaze he stared up towards Yukio who was on the other end of the monitor. "Owing to the nature of my business, I tend to evaluate the other party, however it's not like I can see through everything." Watching Urahara who tactfully evaded his questions, Yukio heaved a sigh as he spoke. "Whatever, forget about it. But, you understand enough to know that my objectives are not to poach you away right? It's the first reasoning phase. Even though I still haven't given you any key items*, are you able to guess the objectives on my side?" (*TN -- he's using gaming terminology, "key items" here refers to collectables players would be able to pick up in their virtual world to aid themselves in-game.) "I want to say I know what your game is, but I can't be sure at this stage. Just how many times would the answer be right? At least I know there is no intent to kill or hostility coming from Vorarlberna san, so I hope that I also have time on my side." "Huh?" —— No hostility? —— Come to think of it, it certainly doesn't feel like we're under attack. What Hisagi is able to determine from the monitor that appeared in midair and the static noise like substance which began to flicker around the shop, is the presence of an ability which has forced a digital virtual world to fuse with the real one. Therefore, whilst cautiously considering whether or not the data of his own physical system could be rewritten at will, using his Reiatsu perception Hisagi attempted to feel around for the whereabouts of Yukio himself. Though there was indeed no indication that they were undergoing an attack, Hisagi had recollections of being manipulated in the past whilst remaining completely unaware of the fact that he had succumb to an attack by the Quincy known as Pepe and is thus unable to allow himself the carelessness. —— Crap, I remembered it. How the hell could I… with that weird old fart… Although the brainwashing which was applied through the power of Pepe's Schrift had since been lifted, he recalled that he once 'loved' the Quincy in question even if it was only for a moment, whilst twitching in discomfort he shook his head. "Urahara san, you say this guy has no hostility… well then, why did he go to the trouble of isolating Karakura Town?" A short while ago, Hisagi had sent a transmission to Soul Society in order to request a Gentei Kaijo, however a reply has still not returned. He feared it likely that communications had been obstructed by some means, but he couldn't afford to ascertain whether or not that was also part of the isolation. In order to effectively do battle in a state where his power has been suppressed by a substantial margin like this, Hisagi has grown through continuous training, having said that, he would probably be forced into a fierce struggle if his opponents also happen to be the likes of Adjuchas or Vasto Lorde class Hollows. "Ah yes, it's true that I carried out the isolation of this town." It was Yukio himself who responded to Hisagi's question. Despite watching Yukio doubtfully, even from Hisagi's intuition, there was nothing that seems to indicate that this other party held any animosity. Faced with Hisagi who was just considering what his goals might be if that was truly the case, Yukio continued his sentence. "But there is no hostility… when it comes to me that is." Then, almost simultaneously, a change materialised in the scene. Hisagi perceives the fluctuation of a faint Reiatsu at his back, as he leapt forward without a word, he turned to look over his shoulder at the spot he was standing in until that point. What was standing there as a result, is the figure of person who had emerged from the static noise in the air, an extendable baton decorated with some sort of curious ornaments had just been swung down towards the spot Hisagi was in only a moment ago. Even though it wasn't a blade, as a blunt instrument its force will not allow one to get away without consequences so long as it was able to strike one's head Considering the endurance of a Shinigami, its strength seems to be no big deal, however it also did not appear likely that this was an ordinary extendable baton. And above all —— the moment he caught sight of the individuals holding identical batons gushing forth one after another from the surrounding static noise, Hisagi determined that the situation had already transitioned to battle status. That he was able to dodge it right away, even while listening to Urahara's comical conversation, is likely due to his long-standing experience of continuous battle as a Shinigami. As he extended his hand towards the hilt of his Zanpakutō, Hisagi observes the crowd of people that had appeared in front of Urahara Shōten. —— This isn't Hollow or Quincy Reiatsu. —— These guys… are they, human? It's not the case that they were souls of the deceased, rather a group of men and women who clearly had a Reiraku colour no different to that of an ordinary human being living here in the Human World. In uniformity, they all wore suits adorned with white patterns on a black cloth, on their faces they donned gas masks with the same colour scheme and as a result it was impossible to examine their facial expressions. —— Assuming they're human, I can't afford to end up killing them so rashly. —— But, if these guys are ordinary humans, then this disparity in numbers is not a problem either… Hisagi made an attempt to knock the whole crew senseless through Shunpo and Hakuda, however —— "!?" The moment he moved around and cut in behind his opponent using Shunpo, he perceives a sense of discomfort and in that way was forced to dive backwards by one step. In an instant, a baton brushes past the tip of his nose. Despite having completely moved around to his opponents' blind spot, to his surprise they dealt an attack his way with the utmost precision using moves that almost made it appear as if they had eyes in the back of their heads. To go further, their movements were much faster than that of ordinary humans, even to the point where it seemed far beyond the level of Shinigami foot soldiers. —— What the heck is up with these guys!? —— Could they be detecting my position with Reikaku (spiritual sense)? The likes of Shinigami, Hollows and some unique humans are all able to detect the Reiatsu belonging to other beings through a sense known as Reiatsu Chikaku (spiritual pressure perception) — commonly referred to as "Reikaku". However it did not appear likely that ordinary humans living in the Human World would be able to perform such an action, Hisagi considered the possibility that they were some kind of gifted individuals. But naturally, the enemy did not give him the leisure of thinking things through. As he evaded the swarm of batons which came swooping down on him in quick succession from the surroundings, Hisagi senses that a slight anomaly has emerged within himself. —— What the hell? —— My moves, they're getting sluggish…? Even counting the fact that his limiter had not been released, he still got the feeling that his reaction speeds had slowed by around 10% compared to usual. After visualising the movements in his mind, it took his body a brief moment of delay before putting it into operation. Having observed the situation, Urahara narrows his eyes whilst muttering to himself. "Poison… no, this is manipulation of souls and Reishi… isn't it?" "What are you implying Urahara san!?" "Let's see, just now, you were lightly grazed by the baton belonging to Mr. Black suit guy over there correct? Since then, Hisagi san's Reiatsu feels as though it's been thrown a little out of order. I'm afraid it's likely that this is the application of a Fullbring where contact amounts to a trigger for activating the ability." Urahara attentively puts the conjecture derived from his own observations into words. "So that's how it is…! As expected of you Urahara san. It's just like you to remain so calm in the midst of a free-for-all like th-… wait a minute?” Hisagi evaded the enemy's attacks using taijutsu and at the same time was impressed by Urahara, but then he noticed a great difference in the situation surrounding himself and Urahara. "…Why do I get the impression, that it's only me who's being attacked!?" The black suited group clad in gas masks who made an appearance in the vicinity of the shop, all uniformly rushed in to attack Hisagi alone and did not even attempt to make an approach in Urahara's direction who at a glance, appears to be unguarded. "Well, I wonder how this came about? Is it down to a so-called difference in personal virtue?" "Isn't that a little unfair!?… Hey, Yukio right!? What's the big idea jerk!?" At Hisagi who yelled towards the projected image in the air, Yukio replied in a bored-looking manner. "Didn't you listen to anything I was just saying? I told you, I have business with Urahara san." "…Having important business with him, doesn't mean having him wiped out or something does it?" "If that were the case I would have mounted a surprise attack a long time ago. Do I look like the type to launch an offensive after announcing myself in an act of fair play?" While the static noise surrounding the mid-air screen flickered, Hisagi who eyed Yukio as he spoke, clicked his tongue thinking "…he doesn't seem like that type" and drives the heel of his palm into one of the black suited assailants. "If that's true, then what is the motive for attacking me?… Well, considering the story I heard from Ginjō, that the comrade of that guy would hate us Shinigami, is understandable I guess." Due to the Shinigamis' betrayal, his fellow Fullbringers who were once his comrades were all slaughtered. If they were made to hear of such a past from Ginjō, then it's not surprising for the Fullbringers to even consider any Shinigami they come across as a clear enemy who should be cut down immediately. Was Urahara not a target simply because they knew he is an individual who had been exiled from the Shinigami's world? As he sidestepped the black suited gang's assault, it was Hisagi who guessed as much, however, what emerged on the face of Yukio who had heard his words, was an expression that intermingled with slight astonishment. "…Really? That guy Kūgo, went as far as to talk to you about something like that?" Finally, at Hisagi towards whom he was thus far as indifferent to as a stone by the roadside, Yukio opens his mouth to speak with a look that harboured interest for the first time. "I don't think Kūgo would have succumbed to torture or interrogation. How are the two of you acquainted?" "…We simply got to know each other through a round of drinks on one occasion. At present we are neither friend nor foe." "……?" "Well, it suffices to call it a cooperation between a journalist and an interviewee… look, if you're interested in listening to what I have to say then make these guys stop!" Dodging the black suited group who continued to advance on him as before, Hisagi finally took a wide leap towards the sky and escaped. In that way, he fortified the Reishi under his feet in a position that was out of the reach of the black suits, and remained motionless in the air. As he fixed a glare at the Yukio within the projected image which he had come to meet at the same eye level, Hisagi sets the situation straight. —— Phew, thank goodness I went without entering a Gigai. If a member of the public were to see me flying around the place… —— Wait? Does the fact that they can see my spirit body, mean that every single of those guys down there are indeed Fullbringers? Supposing that the black suited gang were Fullbringers, it was entirely possible that they could also leap as far as this point. Realising be was in no position to take a breather, Hisagi once again looked down on the black suited group below. In a split second —— he became aware of the fact that what was before his lowered gaze, was somebody's arm entangling itself around the upper half of his body. "…?……!?" It did not feel like something was touching him. Even Hisagi's sharpened sense of Reiatsu Chikaku couldn't detect a single abnormality whatsoever there. However, the image of somebody's slender arm did indeed enter his eyes, gently embracing Hisagi's body from behind. Then, as if to prove it wasn't a hallucination —— an enchanting female voice resounded close to his ear. "How fascinating…" "……Gah!" Suddenly, a chill ran down Hisagi's spine. "…That occupations such as journalism exist even in Soul Society." At the whisper which sounded as though it could melt one's mind just by listening to it, Hisagi forgets he was standing on a field of battle for a moment. Nevertheless, the voice was so out of place that it quite conversely evoked a sense of wariness in the battle-hardened Hisagi, as if to dispel the voice he fanned out both arms as he turned to look back. There was no sensation indicating that his arms had made contact with anything. But "she" was certainly there. "…Who the hell are you? It seems you're neither Shinigami nor Hollow…" What met Hisagi's eyes, was a beautiful young woman. The woman was clad in a style of suit which was a combination of dignified and flirtatious, she exudes a mysterious allure which cannot be described in words. "Quincy?… That's not it. Assuming you're Yukio's associate, are you perhaps a Fullbringer?" "That would be correct… no hang on." The woman made a momentary pause in her speech, with a meaningful smile spread across her face, she corrected her answer. " ——In this instance, perhaps it's better to say 'exacta'? Mr. Vice captain of squad 9." "……!?” In Hisagi's mind, vigilance levels towards this opponent spiked by several notches. The unique catchphrase "exacta" which had just been uttered, is the habitual saying of Findorr Calius, an Arrancar whom Hisagi once battled in this place —— or strictly speaking, a replica town which imitated Karakura. Although he announced his rank to Yukio a little earlier, it turns out she knows information personal to Hisagi. Moreover, if she has knowledge of even the details contained within that inner sanctum of battle, then it is no longer possible to underestimate her as a mere human. "…You know me that well huh? What's up with that, could it be that you're something of a fan of mine?" Even if she was a bewitching woman, the sort of which would cause Hisagi's heart to sway —— "Sure. If I told you, that's right… after learning all about you, I've been wanting to get closer to you for a long time, would you believe me?" "……" Even if she uttered charming words in a voice which would cause Hisagi's heart to sway —— "…Th-there's no way I would believe something like that!" Maintaining his reasoning power which was being pushed to its very limits, Hisagi places a hand on the hilt of his Zanpakutō. —— Be careful, be careful damn it. This would have been a close call if it weren't for the warning I got from captain commander Kyōraku and captain Muguruma. While he recollected the time he was judged as "seemingly second to none when it comes to falling into the snares of dubious women", in his mind Hisagi began to meditate under a serene waterfall. As if seeing through his inner thoughts, an unwelcome warning came resounding through the air all the way back from Earth. "Are you alright~! Hisagi san~! Please be wary of honeytraps!"

In response to Urahara who called out to him in such a way from below, Hisagi protested as his cheeks began to redden. "What are you insinuating!? Why would you have that sort of impression of me!? It's not like I'd be taken in by her schemes is it!? At any rate, I'm still a vice captain you know!?" Hisagi yelled with vigour that would likely put him on the verge of tears were it not for these exceptional state of affairs, the woman on the other hand cast words at Hisagi which were difficult to discern as either satire or seriousness. "Oh, what a pity. If only I were able to avoid a fight using my feminine charm, things would have been easier that way." With a seductive smile playing on her face, the female Fullbringer inclined her head as she gazed fixedly at Hisagi. —— Calm down, I need to calm down! Don't let her deceive you, that's right, think about Rangiku san! Without revealing the fretfulness of his inner thoughts on his countenance, Hisagi feigned a cool visage and gave his response. "…That is a pity. You certainly are attractive, but if you want to seduce me then you've got to adopt a risqué style on par with Rangiku san." "Hisagi san. It seems you intend to clinch victory with a suave act, but if Rangiku san were to hear you, don't you feel it's likely she would make you eat an axe kick, and on top of that, blurt out the cold, hard truth which would no doubt kill the mood?" "Huuuh…? What did I do…?" Regaining his senses at Urahara's words, Hisagi avoided meeting the gazes of those around him whilst the blush on his face crept up to his ears. The woman who was floating in midair giggled after seeing the state Hisagi was in, at the same time she slowly extended both arms. "You're quite the amusing one. It would be pleasant if others among the Shinigami also had a similar sense of humour." Then, as if conducting an orchestra, she begins to wave her hands around. "Allow me to reintroduce myself … I'm Michibane Aura." Her dancing fingertips resembled that of a performer's pulling the strings of a marionette, that alone made one sense a kind of beauty. "Although my station is life is nothing more than a maid for the gods who govern death, I am most pleased to make your acquaintance." "……?" —— Gods who govern death? —— Is that referring to us Shinigami? What does she mean by “maid”? Though puzzled by the words and actions of the woman who gave her name as Aura, Hisagi immediately notices an unusual change in their surroundings.

As soon as the reiatsu belonging to the humans at ground level mutated, the whole crew raised their batons towards the air. In response to that spectacle which even appeared to resemble vegetation extending its vines towards the sun, Hisagi got a bad feeling. Then, his forebodings were proved justified. The patterns which decorated the surface of the extendable batons materialises and floats up to the skies above, remaining like that, they bloat to take the form of enormous tentacles which then charge towards Hisagi who was standing in midair. "Whaa…!?" The symbols and characters reminiscent of a summoning circle began to flock together, the tentacles flailed about like it was perhaps a single organism. For Hisagi who contemplated the possibility of something more akin to a Cero on the verge of being fired, this was an unexpected attack. Hisagi unsheathes his Zanpakutō on the spot and swiftly cuts away a number of the tentacles approaching him, but then —— The 'branches of the patterns' which were severed off, instantaneously attaches itself back together and resumes its attack on Hisagi once more. "…They're just like a huge swarm of insects! What gives damn it!?" Hisagi continues to dodge whilst dealing slashing attacks, but owing to the fact that this was ineffective regardless of how many cuts he made, Hisagi concluded that his physical endurance would be the first thing to drain at this rate. In addition, as he crossed his sword with 'branches of the patterns', Hisagi perceives another danger. Every time he would slash a cluster of characters, a strange distortion is produced in the Reiatsu of his Zanpakutō. A sensation that made it seem as though the sharpness of the blade itself had grown blunt, it felt like something close to the decline of his physical ability which he sensed a little earlier. "Damn… this feeling, it's awfully similar to the time that guy Ayasegawa got me…" Hisagi once crossed blades with Ayasegawa Yumichika in the mayhem that was created when Kurosaki Ichigo appeared in Soul Society for the first time. The result was a humiliating defeat for Hisagi. The ability of Ayasegawa's "Ruri'iro Kujaku", which was a hidden ace up his sleeve, is 'Reiatsu absorption', Reiatsu is sucked up by the light rays of the blade which spread like the feathers of a peacock, the sensation of his body being rendered motionless is something Hisagi still distinctly recalls even now. —— But, it's different from that time. Rather than being absorbed… it's more like the feeling of being pinned down. —— Is this the "manipulation of Reishi" Urahara san mentioned earlier? What a drag. Although the Reiatsu itself remains unchanged, he could not help thinking that the way in which his sword had become eerily blunt, is perhaps comparable to his blade being immersed within a muddy swamp. He feared it likely that this was the enemy's ability, however he could not quite comprehend that theory at the same time. —— Perhaps it's closer to Kira's "Wabisuke"…? If that's the case, then a game of endurance isn't the best idea. A Zanpakutō which doubles the weight of whatever it strikes flashed through his mind and Hisagi prepares himself to deal with the threat. "It can't be helped…" Then, towards Aura and the black suited group on the ground, Hisagi uttered words which took the form of a warning. "Even though it's not very clear what your goals are yet… from this point onwards, I will judge you as an enemy." "…Oh my, who would've guessed that you'd also be capable of wearing an expression like that." Realising that the atmosphere surrounding Hisagi has changed, Aura responds while narrowing her eyes. "But if you give me your word that you would no longer be an obstacle for us, then we would even be willing to lay down our arms this very minute you know?" It was different from the mood in the moment he was teased by Urahara only a short while ago. An intent to kill begets one to return the favour, he wore the face of a "Shinigami" who is capable of cutting down an enemy without any hesitation whether they were human or not. If one were to ask the captains who were either the belligerent or dutiful type, he believes they would probably say he was "too slow when finding his resolve", despite this Hisagi once again solidifies his resolve to kill the 'enemy' before his eyes. Nevertheless, perhaps it comes down to the influence of the 'path' Tōsen had preached to him? It is precisely because he understands that his own blade is an article capable of killing others, that Hisagi deliberately gave one final warning to those who stood in his way. "To those of you who are readying a sudden attack, you won't be an obstacle for me either. First and foremost, what do you hope to achieve by covering the town with something like this?" "…This is the preparation." At Hisagi's remark, Aura lowered both hands and gave her response. Accordingly, the cluster of patterns that writhed around Hisagi also began to exhibit calmness, its material body swayed left and right where it had maintained a distance. "Preparation…?” "This very Karakura Town, is the greatest Jūreichi in the world. You know that right?" "Of course.… Wait, surely not." Hitting upon a certain hypothesis, Hisagi involuntarily raises his voice. "You guys wouldn't be trying to forge an 'Ōken' now would you!?" Ōken. The key to the "Soul King Palace" which can be manufactured through a Jūreichi with a radius of half a spirit mile, and an offering of one hundred thousand souls. Considering the fact that Aizen Sōsuke once launched an invasion towards Karakura Town in order to destroy the "Soul King", it's more than conceivable that this theory would be the objective for isolating this town. However, Aura slowly shakes her head in response to Hisagi's outcry. "Perhaps I should say that making such a speculation… is regrettable." "What did you just say…?" "We do not intend to sacrifice the souls of innocent citizens, and there is no need to forge an Ōken either." As a bold smile revealed itself on her face, Aura threw Hisagi's mind into disarray through her roundabout manner of speaking. "Because our purpose… is to turn Karakura Town itself, into a true capital that will seat the 'king'." "…Huh?" For a moment, Hisagi couldn't comprehend what his opponent was saying. Could it be an ill-natured joke, or an unreliable statement made in order to confuse his side? Rather, if he was instead told that they were manufacturing an Ōken by carrying out a massacre of all the humans belonging to this town, he probably would have been able to accept it more easily. However, his mind could not at all register the meaning behind the words stating to 'turn this town into the king's capital'. At the bewildered Hisagi, Aura continues to speak. "The Soul King Palace, and Las Noches. With the thrones established in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo as two wings, the throne would be whole supposing the town itself also became a wing above the two. That is the destiny bestowed upon us after all." "…What are you talking about? I mean… who is this 'king' you're referring to?" As a natural consequence, questions began to emerge in Hisagi's thoughts. —— There's no way, it can't possibly be Aizen could it? —— Or maybe Yhwach? No, that guy was definitely killed by Ichigo…. Despite several names floating to his head, one young face comes to mind in a corner of a dizzying myriad of ever-changing memory fragments. —— K…King…? —— "-- said he would -- allow me -- king --" —— No doubt, they were at the nobles' medical institution, the one who said that…. Even regardless of the fact that he had explained the encounter to Urahara a short while ago, he was unable to make an immediate link between the current situation and the person in question. Though there were various inexplicable aspects to the encounter, to Hisagi it appeared unlikely that there was also a connection to this absurd notion in which Karakura Town would be made the king's capital of the Human World. However —— Recalling the exchange of words from that time in detail, it occurred to Hisagi that his core temperature had rapidly chilled to the bone. —— "Besides… Tokinada sama said he would allow the likes of me to become king!" "…*gasp!*" The scattered puzzle pieces began to link together and produce a disturbing sound in Hisagi's head. What he still couldn't understand is whether this was a coincidence or an inevitably, or perhaps he was even being played into the palm of somebody's hand, as if with a groan, Hisagi muttered a name that was in the depths of his memory. "Ubuginu… Hikone?" " ! " It was at that point that the smile began to fade from Aura's face for the first time. "I'm surprised…. How is it that you know this name?" "Are you… by some chance, Tsunayashiro Tokinada's subordinate…?" "As I mentioned earlier, I am a maid, but to call me a subordinate… that would not be accurate. However, are you really fine with that? That someone such as yourself, would actually address a member of the Tsunayashiro clan, one of the four great noble houses, without the proper honorifics." Aura spoke as if to stir a reaction, but Hisagi was unfazed by it. "…Just now, it became no longer a necessity to attach 'sama' to his name." "…I think how Hisagi san should rather put it, is that 'sama' doesn't particularly suit Yoruichi san nor Byakuya san either…." When Urahara who was following the conversation from ground level whispered as much, the transmitted image of Yukio opens his mouth to speak as if matching that. "Aren't you going to go assist him? I feel Aura is a tough opponent to challenge for a solo player, don't you agree?" Looking at the projected image which blended with the sporadic static noise, Urahara spoke as he rhythmically poked at the ground with Benihime which takes the form of a sword cane. "Not at all, if anything I'm the support type specialising in buffs and recovery after all. Though somewhat capricious, Hisagi san is more outstanding as an attacker wouldn't you agree?" "Hmm? From the looks of it, it doesn't seem like he's doing that much DPS." "If pushed to say then I suppose he's more of a tank. He stands out by being tough to kill."

(TN -- If you're unfamiliar with gaming lingo: Buff = enhances the power/effectiveness of a game element/player. DPS = damage per second, refers to a player's, or more specifically their weapon's damage output. Tank = a class of playable character that typically occupies an enemy thereby redirecting the aggressor's attack while another player deals damage or completes some other objective, tanks generally have a lot of HP or “health” and can thus survive longer or are more difficult to kill as Urahara put it.)

In this space which was made to be dominated by the static noise and the sound of his cane prodding the earth's surface, Urahara closely observes the black suited group on ground level. After the tentacled patterns were shot from the batons, without even moving a muscle they merely continued to gradually release the Reiatsu in their possession towards the sky.

"…However, you guys are really playing dirty huh? About that, will both the 'person on the inside' as well as the 'person on the outside' be alright?" (TN -- When Urahara says "person on the inside' the furigana says "貴女" referring to a lady, that is, Aura. When he says "person on the outside" the furigana says "依り代" which means "spirit-dewelling object", you should be able to put the pieces together about Aura and her black suits now.) Aura took a scowling Hisagi's gaze in stride with a smile, but she somehow managed to catch the sound of Urahara's voice, raising her own voice ever so slightly she addresses him from midair. "As expected… you are a frightening man, Urahara Kisuke." "Oh my, you heard me?" "Were you able to discern my innate abilities, already?" " ! " Hisagi also reacts to those words, whilst being wary of his surroundings, he turns his line of sight in Urahara's direction. Each Fullbringer has their own special set of abilities. As far as Hisagi had investigated, the man known as Tsukishima who was with Ginjō for instance, possessed a terrifying ability in which he could insert his presence into the past of another person, and though by individual units, it could also alter history itself. Assuming the woman before his eyes is a Fullbringer, then the cluster of symbols and characters writhing around him, and the reason why he felt the strength within himself and his Zanpakutō diminishing, may surely be put down to a result of her abilities. In order to carry the progress of battle in their favour, Hisagi awaited Urahara's response, but then —— "Well I never, how can that be? Don't go pulling my leg now." With a soft chuckle, Urahara answers Aura's question. "You don't use any so-called innate abilities do you?" "……" "…No, perhaps it's more accurate to say, you 'can’t use' them, right?"

#CAN'T FEAR YOUR OWN WORLD #CFYOW #BLEACH #BLEACH NOVEL #mytranslationtag #Ryohgo Narita #Hisagi Shuuhei #ururu tsumugiya #jinta hanakari #tessai #Urahara Kisuke #Michibane Aura #Ubuginu Hikone #yukio hans vorarlberna #ginjo kugo #fullbring

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cheshiresense · 6 years

Text

UraIchi + car

The first time Kisuke makes the drive over to pick Ichigo up, Ichigo ends up gaping for a good ten seconds at the nondescript Toyota parked at the curb.

“You can drive?” is the first thing out of his mouth, because hell if this isn’t the strangest thing he’s ever seen, and he’s seen a lot of strange things in his life.

Kisuke peers at him from underneath his hat, amused and faintly exasperated in turn. “Did you think I only ever walked around?”

Ichigo never really gave much in-depth thought about that but- “I always figured if you wanted to get anywhere farther than Karakura, you’d just cook up a portal or invent instant teleportation to take you there.”

Kisuke visibly pauses and seems to consider this for a moment before conceding the point with a nod. “Fair. I probably would. But even I want to stretch my legs and do things the old-fashioned way sometimes, Ichigo. Besides, what did you think I meant when I asked if you wanted me to pick you up?”

“Shunpo,” Ichigo answers promptly.

Kisuke smiles a bit at that even as he pushes off the side of the open driver’s door he’s been leaning against. “There’s no rush today. It’s only a two-hour drive each way, the scenery isn't bad, and I’m not Yoruichi-san.” He turns to duck back into the car. “Now get in. Unless you would rather shunpo, of course.”

Ichigo huffs but quickly jogs around to the passenger’s side. He won’t say no to a free ride, and even he likes doing some things the human way instead of resorting to his Shinigami powers all the time.

Two minutes in (and wow, Kisuke is a great driver, not too fast, not too slow, and smooth as a skater gliding on ice; Ichigo would never have guessed, the guy definitely seems the type to speed and cheerfully cut people off at every possible intersection), Ichigo frowns and remembers to ask, “Wait, if there’s no rush, why are you picking me up? When you called, I thought there was some kind of trouble again.”

Kisuke slants an unreadable sideways look at him. “I can’t give you a ride home just because I want to?”

Ichigo blinks back, mystified. “Well… of course you can. But it’s an extra four hours’ worth of fuel for you, and it literally takes me like five seconds to open a Garganta from here to Karakura. It’s what I’ve been doing for months now. I’m a regular taxi service for Chad and the others because we’re all too cheap to shell out for an apartment in Tokyo when we don’t have to. Well, except Inoue. She and Tatsuki share a flat.”

“Old-fashioned way,” Kisuke reminds him airily, which explains exactly nothing but Ichigo is used to that from Kisuke by now. “And gas money is pocket change to me.” He honest-to-God pouts here. “Can’t I just do something out of the goodness of my heart?”

It’s Ichigo’s turn to side-eye him. Something in there rang a bit more honestly than he suspects Kisuke intended it to. He flicks his gaze from the perfectly relaxed grip the shopkeeper has on the steering wheel to the slight cant of his head that lets his hat throw just enough of a shadow to hide his eyes.

Ichigo sighs. He still doesn’t understand but- “It’s your fuel. If you go bankrupt, don’t blame me.”

Kisuke beams at him. “Tessai-san would never let me go bankrupt. He would kill me first.”

Ichigo snorts, far too used to Kisuke’s odd sense of humour to be particularly disturbed by it, but also, he’s probably right. Tessai’s the responsible one, on top of being friends with a pair of amoral (ex-?)assassins.

He puts it out of his mind and relaxes back in his seat instead. It’s been a long day and an even longer week. He spent three nights in a row helping the Gotei 13 put out literal fires after a flame-spewing something escaped from the Twelfth, which meant three nights of no sleep and then having to drag his ass to class the next day.

A two-hour drive sounds perfect for an afternoon nap.

It doesn’t take long for Ichigo to notice the pattern. Every time he has a particularly crappy few days, either because he was kept busy helping the Shinigami or just because classes have gotten stressful, or both, Kisuke calls to ask if he wants a ride, and he never fails to show up after Ichigo’s last class for the day gets out. Sometimes, he even buys snacks for Ichigo, ice-cream or a burger, crepes one time, donuts another, always something Ichigo enjoys, and of course Kisuke would already magically know.

Occasionally, if Ishida and Chad finish at around the same time, Kisuke doesn’t mind them piling into the back of the car and driving them all home. But the first time Ichigo has to scramble to answer a text from Ishida asking where he is because he forgot he was supposed to wait an hour after his class let out in order to take them all home that day, and he’s already halfway back to Karakura in Kisuke’s car, he was all set to tell Kisuke pull over so he can open a Garganta back to the university, only for Ishida to reply with a disgruntled but unsurprised :Tell us earlier next time, Kurosaki. Sado-kun and I will stay with Inoue-san and Arisawa-san for the night.:, and that was that.

He apologized again when he saw them next, because that really was kind of irresponsible of him. But Chad just shrugged, and Ishida didn’t seem particularly bothered either by the fact that Kisuke wasn’t actively offering them a ride home even though they help out with almost as many Shinigami crises as Ichigo, and school isn’t any easier on them either.

“Well it’s you,” Ishida just said, looking annoyed that they were having such a pointless conversation at all when he could be working on his essay.

Ichigo didn’t get it. Ishida called him a moron and ignored all of them for the rest of the afternoon as they spent it studying in the library.

Ichigo let it go. Ishida was taciturn on a good day, and if they really didn’t mind, then he wasn’t going to kick up a fuss. But from then on, he always made sure to tell them if they had class and Kisuke was giving him a ride home that day, so they knew to just head over to Inoue and Tatsuki’s place afterwards instead of waiting for Ichigo.

Kisuke continues picking him up from campus. He gets odd looks sometimes, probably for his outdated outfit. He doesn’t even change out of his wooden sandals when he makes the trip over. Ichigo wonders if he took his driving test that way, then he wonders why he would think Kisuke took a driving test at all. He’d bet his sword arm Kisuke taught himself and falsified the license and papers afterwards.

“Do you own modern-day clothes?” Ichigo asks once out of curiosity. He tries to picture Kisuke in a casual shirt and jeans, and fails.

“I don’t,” Kisuke admits easily before casting a searching look at Ichigo as they slow to a halt at a red light and a railroad crossing beyond it, with the rumble of a train approaching from the right. “Does it bother you?”

Ichigo shrugs quizzically. “No? You wear what you wear. But I wondered cuz apparently you drive cars now-” Kisuke looks a bit like he actually wants to roll his eyes. Ichigo grins. “-although honestly, I can’t even imagine it. You’d probably look pretty weird.”

“Highly likely,” Kisuke nods, glancing down at himself. Something rueful and wry curls at one corner of his mouth. “This used to be a lot more common, even among humans. I guess I’ve gotten old without noticing. Time passes quickly when you aren’t paying attention.”

Ichigo snorts. “Don’t go getting all senile and nostalgic on me yet. You still think circles around literally everybody I know, and you kick my ass on the regular when we spar. You don’t get to lament your old age until you can’t pull shit like that anymore.”

Kisuke smirks but it doesn’t do much to hide the way he’s preening behind it. “So never then?”

Ichigo rolls his eyes, and he’s a little disgusted with how fond it feels. “Don’t let it get to your head. I’ll beat you one day.”

He expects another flippant quip, maybe something about how Ichigo will need another century to even get close or how his Kidou is so (admittedly) horrendous that he’s never going to be able to win so long as Kisuke still has that trump card.

Kisuke doesn’t though. Instead, he just smiles, and it isn’t even one of his sly scheming ones that means something is about to blow up or someone is about to regret putting themselves in the shopkeeper’s sights very much, in the most humiliating way possible. This smile is faint and quiet, aimed at Ichigo in a way that’s a little proud and a lot warm, and Ichigo freezes in the face of it, feeling abruptly like he’s been handed something priceless and breakable.

“You will,” Kisuke agrees with the kind of simple absolute certainty that doesn’t allow an inch of space for doubt.

A strange tension fills the car, and for a long moment Ichigo just breathes and flounders for something to say. There’s no way Kisuke doesn’t notice it but all he does is step on the gas pedal when the gate finally lifts and the light turns green again.

Karakura’s looming ahead by the time Ichigo clears his throat to break the silence. He’s not even all that sure why two words stunned him so much. Everyone has faith in Ichigo’s ass-kicking abilities. It’s pretty much what he’s known for. If he can’t beat someone the first time, everybody knows by now that he’ll just keep getting stronger until he can. It’s his wheelhouse, and it’s not even that great a wheelhouse, hitting things until they stay down, but it’s what he’s good for, and he’s more or less accepted that.

Yet somehow-

“Thanks,” He mutters gruffly, far too late for it to not be awkward, but Kisuke just takes it in stride the way he does everything else. His eyes crinkle with amusement, but for once, he doesn’t tease.

Somehow, it means more when Kisuke says it. Maybe it’s because Kisuke trained him. Not well, at first, certainly not particularly thoroughly. The Hollowfication was fucked up, the secrets and schemes even more so. But Kisuke was there every step of the way, through every fuck-up and power-boost, before Aizen, after Aizen, through every misadventure and catastrophe, encouraging him in his own way every time Ichigo faltered or stumbled or thought this time is finally going to kill me, and he’s still here now.

If he thinks about it, Kisuke’s the only Shinigami Ichigo still interacts with regularly. Being thrown together for a crisis and getting drinks after doesn’t really count - that’s work and might-as-well-hang-out-since-we’re-all-still-alive obligatory celebration, and half the time Ichigo doesn’t go anyway. He still considers quite a few people in the Gotei 13 his friends, but… well. Nobody up there gives him rides home or visits him at university or spars with him whenever he wants or teaches him Kidou or invites him out for dinner, now do they? Outside of his human friends and skyping his sisters every few evenings now that Karin is training for the summer Olympics and Yuzu is at culinary school overseas, it’s Kisuke he sees the most of these days.

So if Kisuke says it, says Ichigo can grow to be as powerful as he is one day - as Urahara Kisuke whom Ichigo has never been able to defeat because the shopkeeper strategizes twenty steps ahead and is pretty much a master of every branch of Shinigami combat in existence, and he may not have as much raw power as Ichigo but he utilizes what he does have with a lethal efficiency that far outstrips anything Ichigo can bring to the table right now, and it would take a lot more than just blitzing him with Getuga Tenshous to put him down - so if it’s Kisuke, who knows Ichigo’s potential and limits and resolve and still says he can, then it’s not so surprising that his faith means far more to Ichigo than what other people expect from him when he steps onto the battlefield.

“Shop or flat?” Kisuke asks as they enter Karakura proper.

Ichigo doesn’t really even think about it. “Shop.”

It’s almost time for dinner anyway. He can cook tonight.

(He doesn’t notice the pleased smile Kisuke turns away to hide this time.)

After the first few times one of his newly made, non-spiritually aware friends sees Kisuke waiting for him, she asks with some interest, “Is he your dad?”

Ichigo blinks, more bewildered than anything. “Does he look like my dad?”

It’s hard to tell age with Shinigami, and not just because all of Ichigo’s Shinigami acquaintances are technically at least a century old. There’s something ageless about most of them, especially to human eyes. The stubble makes Kisuke look physically older but he could probably still pass for anywhere between his thirties to fifties. He looks nothing like Ichigo though so Ichigo’s not sure where Hotaru’s guess came from.

Hotaru looks slightly embarrassed. “I guess not. Sorry, I just see him picking you up every week so I thought he might be family or something.”

“He sort of is,” Ichigo allows. “Family friend. He gives me a ride back to my hometown when he has the time so I don’t have to- take the bus.”

“Oh.” Her smile turns impish. “Not boyfriend? That was my next guess.”

Ichigo stares. Hotaru shrugs, still grinning. “What? Older men are hot.” Ichigo flushes red, and she cackles even as she flicks an appreciative eye over Kisuke again. “And he definitely lucked out in the looks department.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Ichigo hisses, and he can feel his ears go hot, which just makes her laugh harder. Why are all the friends he makes so terrible?

They part ways at the corner, Ichigo still grumbling, Hotaru waggling her eyebrows like an idiot as she waves goodbye. Ichigo rolls his eyes back before heading over to where the car is idling.

Kisuke’s eyebrows go up as Ichigo steps within hearing range. “Is everything alright? You seem… flustered.” His gaze slides past him, presumably to where Hotaru is walking in the opposite direction back to the dorms. “A friend of yours? I don’t know this one.”

“Yeah, Nakamura Hotaru, met her in my Latin course,” Ichigo sighs, tossing his bag in the back. He snorts, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips as he recalls, “First thing she ever said to me was that my face was scaring people away and that’s why nobody would sit with me.”

Then of course, she sat down and wouldn’t be budged, and they’ve been friends ever since. It was probably the easiest friendship Ichigo’s ever gained. He didn’t even have to fight anyone.

“Hmm,” Kisuke hums noncommittally, and Ichigo glances over as the blond slides in behind the wheel. The shopkeeper smirks back slyly. “You do have a propensity for making friends with rather unique individuals. This one seems like another.”

“...Yeah, maybe,” Ichigo answers slowly as Kisuke pulls away from the curb. That line of conversation dwindles to an end when he doesn’t say anything else and Kisuke doesn’t ask anything else.

Ichigo frowns. The shopkeeper looks normal enough but…

He thinks… it might have been the words. The way Kisuke said them, light and airy and full of a humorous cheer that rang completely hollow.

Kisuke looks over at him now, arching an eyebrow in question, nothing out of the ordinary, and yet, when Kisuke’s gaze meets his, there’s a sharpness in the man’s eyes that reminds Ichigo of the bite of Benihime’s blade.

“Not boyfriend?” Hotaru’s words come back to him abruptly. “That was my next guess.”

Something clicks in his mind, like pieces of a puzzle he didn’t even know he was collecting suddenly falling into place and forming a picture he wasn’t even aware of.

“Ichigo?” Kisuke looks a little more concerned now, and the gleam of silver in his eyes has faded. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ichigo says automatically. “Just tired. It’s been a long day.”

“Take a nap,” Kisuke suggests. “I’ll wake you when we get home.”

Ichigo nods and settles into his seat. He closes his eyes but he doesn’t sleep.

“Ishida!”

Ishida twitches violently like he wants to conjure his bow, and then he rounds on Ichigo and snaps, “What?”

Ichigo suspects the hostile response stems more from the way Ichigo startled him with his ambush than any real irritation at having Ichigo strike up a conversation with him.

“Sorry,” Ichigo says shortly before rushing on. “Listen, I didn’t know who else to ask, but then I remembered something you said-” He falters, not quite sure if he should just blurt it out.

Ishida taps a foot against the ground. “Said what?”

Ichigo grimaces. “Remember that day Kisuke gave me a lift and I forgot to tell you that first time? And the next day, we were talking about it, about him offering me a ride but not you, and you said “well it’s you”, and I just need to know what you meant by that cuz I think, maybe- he’s been- I mean yesterday-”

Ishida heaves the most long-suffering sigh Ichigo’s ever heard from him. “Yesterday, you finally realized Urahara-san’s been courting you in the slowest, most roundabout way known to mankind?”

Ichigo’s breath sort of stalls for a moment. “...So he is?”

Ishida rolls his eyes. “Yes. Congratulations on noticing. It only took you four months. Honestly, I thought it would take you a year minimum.”

“Shut up,” Ichigo retorts automatically. “...But why didn’t he just say? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ishida shrugs. “It was none of my business. And how would I know anything about Urahara-san’s romancing techniques? Maybe he wanted to ease you into the idea. Maybe he was worried about pushing you too hard. He is technically a lot older. But then,” He scoffs. “He’s been making eyes at you since we were seventeen. I’m impressed he’s waited five years before doing something about it. I thought he would stake a claim the moment you turned legal.”

Ichigo stares, speechless. “...Seventeen?” He repeats weakly.

Ishida gives him a condescending look that’s mostly meant to be sympathetic. Ishida’s version of sympathetic anyway. “You never were very good at noticing people crushing on you.”

Ichigo is silent for a long moment. Ishida generously waits him out.

“You’re sure he really-” He makes a vague gesture with one hand.

Ishida sighs again. “Do you really think he’d drive two hours here and back just so he can spend time with you if he didn’t like you? Or buy you food? Or offer to let you call him by his first name? He didn’t offer to the rest of us, and you know he uses formalities like a shield. He gets all of us birthday presents but it’s usually just food or training equipment for us. He made you-” Ishida jabs a finger at the bag currently slung over Ichigo’s shoulder. “-a bag with an entire separate dimension’s worth of storage space inside just because you wanted to go travelling after high school. He made you a laptop with wifi that runs on reiatsu for your twentieth when you finally decided to go to university. Trust me, he is disgustingly head over heels for you.” Ishida gives him an impatient look. “Now go do something about it and stop bothering me with it. What am I, your relationship counsellor?”

“You could probably get a job as one if the fashion-designing thing falls through,” Ichigo deadpans, and then bolts before Ishida can try to shoot him. “Thanks, Ishida!”

Later that day, he takes his friends and himself back to Karakura via Garganta. Then he calls Kisuke’s favourite sushi place to reserve a table for two. Then, well.

He’s never really done this before. Never had a significant other, never even gone out on a date. Or, well, he supposes Kisuke’s been conning him out on pseudo-dates for years now, that tricky bastard. God forbid he just tells Ichigo what he wants.

What he wants is apparently Ichigo, and… it’s not actually that much of a shock once the initial surprise has worn off. On hindsight, Kisuke wasn’t actually trying very hard to hide it, there were tons of little hints that even Ichigo would’ve picked up on if he knew to look for them in the first place.

And Ichigo is… not entirely opposed to the idea. Or at all, as it turns out. The thing is, he likes spending time with Kisuke. He enjoys the conversation, whether it’s about Shinigami or Ichigo’s classes or one of Kisuke’s experiments or even just banter. He enjoys their spars, with or without their Zanpakutou, and the little tricks with shunpo footwork that Kisuke likes to teach him, usually only reserved for Second Division members.

Four out of seven nights, Ichigo stays at the shop in the room he was given years ago rather than make the trip back to his modest flat. His childhood home was sold a while back; Isshin packed his bags when the girls moved out and headed back to Seireitei. Ichigo hasn’t heard much from him since.

Honestly, he probably spends more time with Kisuke than literally anybody else, and clearly neither of them has a problem with that. He can’t say he’s in love with Kisuke, but he finds himself wanting to see where their relationship could go. They practically live together already, and the thought of moving into a romantic relationship with the man doesn’t make him as nervous as he probably should be.

There’s no harm in trying, he thinks. And whether intentionally or not, the fact that Kisuke’s placed the decision entirely in his hands does a lot to help Ichigo make up his mind.

Beyond the first time with Aizen, Kisuke’s never tried to manipulate him, not in any way that was seriously harmful. It’s no different now. And coming from a man who practically makes a living out of manipulating people, Ichigo can acknowledge just how highly Kisuke must regard him.

Ichigo swings by the shop, asks Kisuke out for dinner, and they head over to the sushi place. It’s nothing they haven’t done before. Ichigo worries for a moment that things might get awkward now that he knows, but it’s easy to fall into their usual pace of conversation, and soon it feels like any other evening spent together over a good meal.

Except this time, when they get up to leave, instead of each of them paying for their own food, Ichigo pointedly bats Kisuke’s hand aside and sets down enough money to cover both of them.

“I invited you out,” Ichigo says, boldly, bravely, determined to make his point. “First date, my treat. You can get the next one.”

Kisuke freezes, and Ichigo almost has to laugh. It’s rare to see the shopkeeper so stunned. It only lasts a few seconds, and by the time Ichigo finishes paying, Kisuke’s moving again, one hand placed almost absently on his hat as he follows Ichigo out of the restaurant.

“...That was terribly unromantic,” Kisuke eventually says, half a street down.

Ichigo shrugs a little tightly, but when he chances a look at the shopkeeper, Kisuke is already watching him, warm and fond and hopeful, and relief crashes into Ichigo, loosening his lungs again.

“Gimme a break,” He pretends to scowl, but it’s offset by the smile trying to spread across his face. “I’ve never done this before.”

“I suppose I’ll have to show you then,” Kisuke agrees. “As the wiser and more experienced lover.”

Ichigo sniggers, he can’t help it, it sounds ridiculous when Kisuke puts it that way. He catches a glimpse of the man’s expression transforming into an exaggerated pout, and he ends up laughing outright.

“Sure, I look forward to it,” He says, still grinning.

Kisuke slants a look at him, and his features soften at the grain of truth embedded in those words despite coming out as a joke.

They reach the shop. Kisuke unlocks the door and glances back. “Stay the night?”

It isn’t anything he hasn’t asked before.

“Sure,” Ichigo says easily, and it isn’t anything he hasn’t agreed to just as often.

It still feels like the beginning of a new chapter when the two of them disappear inside.

#bleach #uraichi #urahara kisuke #kurosaki ichigo #ishida uryuu #original character(s)#myscrap #uryuu the relationship guru #car verse

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